Turkey flounders, Iran rides high, Egypt reforms
Significant transformations are taking place in three of the Middle East’s foremost powers.
The five most important countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from the standpoint of military power and economic clout, are the Arab states Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the non-Arab states Israel, Turkey and Iran. Three of those countries are undergoing significant transformations: Egypt, Iran and Turkey.
In the case of Turkey, the bad news proliferates. The chaos on its southern frontier is getting worse and the security threats to Turkey are increasing rapidly. The fact that the Islamic State (IS) is attacking the Syrian Kurds is a nightmare for Ankara, which is faced with deciding whether to get involved in the attack on IS or stand back and watch what happens. As of now, the wait and watch strategy has been adopted, but it is not likely it can continue, as Kurdish refugees flood north across the border and Kurdish fighters move south to aid their cousins in Syria.