When the US goes into the region everybody suspects us of doing everything. I mean the bottom line is from anybody in the Middle East whether it’s from Istanbul to Cairo; everything is run by the CIA.I mean that’s just the way things work obviously. Everything that happens in the world whether it’s an earth quake or a terrorist attack is run from Washington that’s the way it works. Now when Turkey does this, nobody has the same suspicions. Yes there are lingering doubts and suspicions about Turkey but I think turkey has much better hand to play in this regard. And I think the idea of kind of having these close relations that sometimes sit uncomfortably with the west. The idea that turkey has this relations with Hezbollah and Hamas and Syria and Iran and the Axis of Evil should not concern as much cause I’d much rather have Turkey have those close relations than other players have those relations. And I think that part of it is being able to understand what the intentionality behind it is. And I think a lot of what Turkey is trying to do is look we’ll work with whoever is in power. I was very frustrated when the Turks were first, the second country I’m sorry to recognize Ahmedinejad in the midst of the green with… in the midst of all this horrible uprising. They were the first ones to jump out and say congratulations. Because they said look he’s going to be in power, clearly he’s running the country we want to get on his good side.

And we think back to the Iran sanctions well it also, they did, the Turks kind of miscalculated on how badly they thought we would take this. They assumed that an ascension or in a no votes since they’re not a permanent member meant the same thing and they tired to explain to us, look by saying no we’re actually helping you because we’ll keep our relations with Iran, that was completely missed in Washington. It was completely missed on the idea of the Turks to see how seriously they take it. But I mean to me what they’re trying to do fundamentally is a good thing. The question is does the real world in terms of the real politics kind of environment allow this kind of more idealistic view and kind of a more philosophical approach to foreign policy. We’re seeing the limits of her right now. If you’d ask me a year ago I’d probably be a little bit more optimistic than I am today. And unfortunately today when we have a discussion about there’s lot more problems that I see on the horizon than some of the more positive aspects which leads me to the second question.

Is the US over reacting? Yes absolutely. I mean I think the Turks are over reacting, I think the Americans are over reacting especially DC. I tend to see that people, when I say DC let me be clear I don’t mean the administration, I think the administration has been relatively helpful and has worked very closely. I used to work in the States department. When I look at what the States department is doing is they’re trying to ratchet down the problems that are there. But when I look at the domestic players whether it’s on Capitol Hill and the different comments form congressmen and senators about Turkey switching side and is it supporting a terrorist organization and blaming Turkey for what happened on the ships that one is particularly unhelpful to me and it looks to me like that’s just a mess of politics. And I think in a globalised environment which the media picks up on any comment any where in the world you have to be careful. We’re playing a two level game here. That might be good for your domestic constituency here in your home state but the way it plays in Turkey or the way that comments by the Prime Minister in turkey off the record affect us, you have to be careful.

I think politicians need to be more leaders as opposed to what Juliet was saying earlier which is kind of taking public opinion. This thing with Turley and Brazil is absolutely fascinating. What’s fascinating about it is if you don’t have the Brazil comment then I would think you’d only, you’d have a very strong argument on why Turkey is trying to use the list. But the fact is what does Brazil have to gain in this whole situation? I mean to me what Turkey and Brazil are doing other is demonstrating that the world has changed. No longer can the ‘big boys’ of the world, the European or the P5 members dictate to the rest of the world how things are done. Brazil and Turkey are very poor and raising states in their perspective neighborhood. They’re pivotal states; they are kind of the key for those regions whether it’s Latin America or the Middle East. And by coming together and working on this, I mean my understanding of the reason that the deal in Iran went the way it was is the Iranians wanted to give a Lula something. He was coming on a visit and the Americans miscalculated fundamentally how baldy the Iranians wanted to give Lula some things to go home with and so the moment that Lula arrived and they began to realize that hey we might actually be above to negotiate this letter that the American sent you back in April which the Turks and the Brazilians fundamentally miscalculated in terms of that was seven months ago, the enrichment has already increased.