Has Erdogan been reading this blog?

You'd almost think so.

Here we are almost four years ago speculating that Erdogan would be sold down the river. Now, not even us paranoids here at Falling Downs saw the coup coming, but it was obvious that, with Assad bunkering in for the long haul, Erdogan and his puppeteers had a problem.

The puppeteers thought they could solve the problem 15 July. After all, you knew they'd play the Gulen card sooner or later.

Alas... HE'S BACK!!!

Now what?

Axis of Evil redux

You remember when W introduced us to the Axis of Evil. Ya, that was the brainchild of a certain Canadian speech-writer whose speech-writing contract went for a shit soon after.

At the time, the "Axis of Evil" was comprised of Iran and Iraq and North Korea.

But we've got a far more evil axis in play today...

Yup; the Ruskies have joined up.

And not only that, but our erstwhile democratic ally the wily Erdogan seems to be swiftly slipping into the club too.

And who can blame him... I mean the coup that was not a coup and definitely had nothing to do with Gulen, well, shit happens.

Just because shit happens doesn't automatically mean that Uncle Sam is pulling the strings behind the scenes, does it?

Of course not!

The fact that Fethullah Gulen has been cooling his heels a couple hours drive north of The Farm for the past twenty years doesn't mean a damned thing!

Here's some news you won't see on your evening newscast

How are things shaking out at Incirlik air base over there in Turkey? As far as we know, the place has been locked down since the coup attempt two weeks ago.

"Locked down" means that the 50 to 90 US nukes on site are not under the control of the US military establishment. Yes, they're still being guarded by some 1500 US troops on site, but what's that worth? They're under lockdown too.

That's why you had Marine General Joe Dunford, who happens to be Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, over there kissing ass this week. Normally you'd expect a trip like that to end in photo-ops and lovey-dovey joint pressers. What did you hear after Dunford's trip?

Nothing.

The think tank here at Falling Downs believes the wily Erdogan is holding out for the extradition of Fethulla Gulen before he lifts the lockdown on Incirlik. Will that happen?

Who knows. No question that the rogue Islamic cleric has been a CIA asset being groomed for big things. I suspect the big things he was being groomed for were expected to unfold two weeks ago. That obviously didn't unfold the way we expected.

Now Uncle Sam is up a stump.

Erdogan is talking normalized relations with Russia, Iran, and Syria.

Uncle Sam can't let that happen at any price...

Hold onto your hats!

What are the top news stories in America as Erdogan seizes 90 nuclear warheads at Incirlik?

I've done my morning review of the mainstream news. The two stories vying for top headline news status are, in no particular order;

- Is Donald Trump insensitive? Has he finally gone too far in hurting the feelings of the Khan family?

- Is Hillary dishonest? Were her Sunday media interviews an exercise in creative bullshitting?

Yes, those are the stories the American public must grapple with today.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the wily Erdogan has for all practical purposes had a lock on some unknown number of US nukes since July 15. Oddly enough, a number of fighter aircraft involved in the short-lived coup attempt on that date flew in and out of Incirlik that night.

Coincidence?

And let's not forget that Erdogan, and Erdogan alone, decides how many Syrian refugees will walk to the EU this year.

Seems to me that should be a way bigger story than Trump's insensitivity or Clinton's dishonesty.