This collection of quotes was primarily from linkage by Will S. There is a theme.

Choose your allies by who they are, not what you would like them to be. In general, the Turk is the enemy: our forefathers got that right in WWI.

From the time when they first entered the Middle East in the 11th century and provoked the crusades, the Turks have been a destabilizing and dehumanizing force – except possibly for the brief period when they served as an ally against the global menace of Communism. But, in recent years, with the chaos flowing from the Arab Spring, we have seen the old Turkish traits of cruelty and sinister ambition re-emerge, leading to the destabilization of Syria and the rise of ISIS.

Whatever one thinks of ISIS – either as Satan incarnate or as a form of displaced Sunni nationalism – this is hardly the kind of thing that a prospective EU state should be involved with. Yet, despite this, idiots like David Cameron still think Turkey is an ideal candidate for joining the EU. Well, maybe it would be because it might serve as the necessary “kiss of death” to that vile organization, which needs to die before a healthier form of European unity can take its place.

NATO ally or not, the best thing is to let Turkey deal with Russia on its own. According to some reports, Putin has expressed the wish that we – the Western nations – muzzle our “rabid dog” – a flattering but misleading characterization of the West’s relationship with Turkey, which clearly sees itself as the tail that should wag the dog. Better to just wash our hands of Turkey and let it bear the costs of abusing its position as a NATO member.

Well, Putin is an adult. Unlike Erdogan. He is not rattling his sabre: he learned at the school of Reagan. Disruption of economic activity is more effective.

As Fat Tony would say, Putin "walks the walk"; other "leaders" are "all tawk". https://t.co/YJ2Qtlo0Jz

— NassimNicholasTaleb (@nntaleb) November 28, 2015

The decree, posted on the Kremlin’s website, spoke of the need to protect Russia’s national security and Russian citizens “from criminal and other illegal activities”.

In it, Putin ordered the government to prepare a list of goods, firms and jobs that would be affected. Some of the measures announced have already been informally introduced.

The government is expected to publish the list of banned imports on Monday, Interfax news agency reported, citing a government source. The list is likely to include food and some other products, a second government source said.

Turkey mainly sells food, agricultural products and textiles to Moscow and is also one of the most popular holiday destinations for Russians. Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said he thought up to 200,000 Turkish citizens could be on Russian soil.

Putin signed the decree days before a climate change summit in Paris. Erdogan said earlier on Saturday it could be a chance to repair relations with Moscow.

“Confrontation will not bring anyone happiness. As much as Russia is important for Turkey, Turkey is important for Russia,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in the western city of Baliksehir.

Peskov said Putin was aware of a Turkish request for him to meet Erdogan on the sidelines of the Paris conference but gave no indication of whether such a meeting would take place.

He called the behavior of the Turkish air force “absolute madness” and said Ankara’s subsequent handling of the crisis had reminded him of the “theater of the absurd.”

“Nobody has the right to traitorously shoot down a Russian plane from behind,” Peskov told Russia’s “News on Saturday” TV program, calling Turkish evidence purporting to show the Russian jet had violated Turkish air space “cartoons”.

Turkey’s foreign ministry advised people on Saturday to postpone all non-urgent travel to Russia.

Peskov, according to the TASS news agency, also spoke on Saturday of how Erdogan’s son had a “certain interest” in the oil industry. Putin has said oil from Syrian territory controlled by Islamic State militants is finding its way to Turkey.

One more thing: you should not assume we will be disproportionate. Putin is not being disproportionate: a military response would be proportionate. But he does not want to let that out yet. Because Europeans kill with industrial dispassion and efficiency.

Saudi Arabia, please sue me.I will be in Leb next week for extradition. "Saudi Arabia to sue anyone who compares their justice syst to Isis"

— NassimNicholasTaleb (@nntaleb) November 26, 2015

It is a mistake common (but not exclusive) to the western people to react in a manner that is perhaps disproportionate to attacks made upon them in a certain manner.

While we will happily tolerate in oblivious silence decades of slow-drip Cultural Marxism – an insidious social mechanism disseminated by the universities and the media & entertainment complexes that is as much an attack on our people as any bomb or mass shooting – we seem zealously willing and able to consider the previously unthinkable in the wake of a public attack upon one of our cultural institutions.

The time of the Cronulla Riots.
A good example of this was the inaptly named “Cronulla Riots” in the southern suburbs of my native city of Sydney. Locals had endured years of Muslim gangs from the western suburbs coming into the area, beating up locals and harassing young Australian women, but after a group of young volunteer lifeguards were attacked and beaten on Cronulla beach one summer weekend, the gloves suddenly came off. Via mass text messages, the Muslim gangs were “invited” to attend Cronulla the following weekend, where they would be warmly welcomed. Attendance by Muslims was virtually non-existent, and for those few foolhardy types who ventured to the seashore, their incautious action was not without unpleasant repercussions. The liberal media went hysterical, but Muslims learned to behave themselves in Cronulla, and that was that.

It was portrayed as an overreaction, but really, it was a late-coming, entirely reasonable reaction to a perceived common threat. Now, if calmer heads had prevailed and nothing whatever was done, the Muslim gangs would have decided that these Australians were doormats eager for more, and they would have supplied it to our detriment.

For all his (I’m certain) good intentions, this inaction seems to be what Roman is advising in this case. I do not agree with him, and this is why.

This morning, before the second Muslim attack which we are now learning was upon a French policewoman and a Paris city employee, I ran into an old friend of mine, a particularly bright young Japanese woman who was married to an Anglo-Australian.

Literary industry types, I knew they were both on the far left of the ideological spectrum. Much to my surprise, however, after just a few minutes of conversation, I was shocked to learn that this friend of mine who was until that day a staunch advocate of multiculturalism, was now expressing deep concern and even cautious rejection of the multicultural experiment.

I cannot emphasize enough what a polar shift this was for this couple.

And, if the rulers do not protect the peasants, the peasants will organize their own protection, and disavow the rulers. Erdogan has broken the first rule of European realpolitik: Leave the bear alone . And winter is coming.