<story><title>The H-Bombs in Turkey</title><url>http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-h-bombs-in-turkey</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>cm3</author><text>While Turkey has conflicts with some groups who want to grab part of the land or overthrow the government, they are FWIW a useful ally in the region because they have mostly-friendly dealings with UAE, Saudis, Iran, parts of Africa and also Israel. The degree of diplomacy varies, but there aren&amp;#x27;t many NATO members in that region who are as compatible when it comes to diplomatic ties with the region&amp;#x27;s powers. Russia, unfortunately doesn&amp;#x27;t deal with Iran, Israel and the Saudis the same way.&lt;p&gt;Given their growing business ties and influence in the region, maybe China can be another powerful ally. Or India. It certainly would help to have more than one dependable ally there, but China, like Russia, is in a weird power-play game with the USA, Australia, etc. Russia is more biased than Turkey, and that says a lot since Turkey cannot be a neutral Switzerland type because of their borders and demographic, so they&amp;#x27;re less of an option.&lt;p&gt;Also, let&amp;#x27;s not forget that Turkey has better relations with some ex-USSR nation that have considerable natural resources, due to cultural heritage, but then again strained relations with most of the ex-USSR countries.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a mess, but that&amp;#x27;s world politics.</text></comment>
<story><title>The H-Bombs in Turkey</title><url>http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-h-bombs-in-turkey</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>mikeash</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m skeptical that the PALs are as easy to bypass as this article says. It&amp;#x27;s possible that the arming code includes critical information necessary to properly detonate the bomb, such as timing info for firing the various detonators. Even if it doesn&amp;#x27;t, the critical PAL hardware is deep inside the bomb, requiring the bomb to be disassembled to get to it, then reassembled afterwards, and that&amp;#x27;s not quite as easy as swapping out your car&amp;#x27;s spark plugs.</text></comment>