This suggestion came out of no special animosity for the Turkish state, but for the fact that I oppose NATO in its current form, and it's obvious that Turkey is the soft underbelly of NATO that should be exploited accordingly. 

Little did I know at the time that Europe was already planning to informally announce that Turkey was pressing its luck with other NATO members. 

On Thursday, had I looked, I would have noticed that Benny Avni at the New York Post was suggesting that NATO is headed toward ending with a "whimper." Avni asks: "[C]an anyone envision America — or anyone else in the alliance — rushing to Turkey's aid in a military confrontation with Russia?"

Avni is pro-NATO, but he does seem to be observant, since The Daily Mail reported on Saturday that Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn had told Der Spiegel "NATO cannot allow itself to be pulled into a military escalation with Russia as a result of the recent tensions between Russia and Turkey."