<story><title>Social media shutdown in Turkey</title><url>https://turkeyblocks.org/2016/11/04/social-media-shutdown-turkey/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>myf01d</author><text>Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia -&amp;gt; Friends&lt;p&gt;Syria, Iran and Russia -&amp;gt; Enemies&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s how pay for play works, everybody. If you don&amp;#x27;t pay, your government is labeled as a dictatorship. Simply fallen from the US grace. The UN is just a diplomatic tool to discredit you and NATO is another tool to kill you.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hackuser</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m pretty confident that it has nothing to do with pay, but with geopolitics. In fact, I think the U.S. generally gives them more money (and other aid) than vice versa. The former three are allies and provide essential value to the U.S. Off the top of my head:&lt;p&gt;Turkey gives NATO an very valuable geopolitical position, with leverage as the most powerful nation in the Mideast neighborhood, as well as dominating the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean, and providing a position on the southern flank of Russia, eastern flank of the Balkans (less essential post-Cold War), and a stable border with countries to the east and south. Turkey as an enemy would be a serious headache.&lt;p&gt;Qatar and especially Saudi Arabia, the wealthiest and most powerful Arab state, give the U.S. leverage and stability (at least for decades until recently) in the Mideast, which, due to the oil supply, is essential to world peace and prosperity. They also counter-balance to Iran.&lt;p&gt;Those benefits don&amp;#x27;t necessarily justify supporting oppression, but those are very serious considerations.</text></comment>
<story><title>Social media shutdown in Turkey</title><url>https://turkeyblocks.org/2016/11/04/social-media-shutdown-turkey/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>myf01d</author><text>Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia -&amp;gt; Friends&lt;p&gt;Syria, Iran and Russia -&amp;gt; Enemies&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s how pay for play works, everybody. If you don&amp;#x27;t pay, your government is labeled as a dictatorship. Simply fallen from the US grace. The UN is just a diplomatic tool to discredit you and NATO is another tool to kill you.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ztratar</author><text>What do you mean pay for play, here? Please tell me how Turkey, Quatar and Saudi Arabia are &amp;quot;paying&amp;quot; for anything in terms of meaningful value for the US.&lt;p&gt;This is simple geopolitics, not some corruption scandal.</text></comment>