From American dream to American nightmare

In his inauguration speech following the resignation of his predecessor President Richard Nixon, former U.S. President Gerald Ford said, "my fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."

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From American dream to American nightmare
Divided States of America

Divided States of America

The U.S. election is over. Contrary to expectations, there was no landslide in the elections. There was no blue wave and there was no overwhelming victory of one candidate over the other. The major losers of this election are again the pollsters. It turned out that the Democrats were right to have anxiety over the polls as they demonstrated a solid and consistent Democratic lead in major key battleground states. There will be a lot of evaluations and assessments of the election results. My initial observations include the following.

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Provided that the incoming president will take over on Jan. 20, 2021, the transition period is expected to be painful if Trump loses the election. The elephant in the room is not unknown: Even if Trump were to lose, what he stands for (let’s call it Trumpism) remains influential among American voters.

There have been ongoing debates about the U.S.'s declining relevance in regional crises over the last several years. Although the U.S. administration has consistently reiterated its interest in the developments across different regions and expressed certain positions on regional crises, its effectiveness in determining the outcome of these crises is in constant decline.

On Tuesday, millions of Americans will go to the ballots to vote for the president that will occupy the White House for the next four years. As asserted several times in this column, it will be an election like no other, taking place during the deadliest pandemic for the U.S. after the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Michael Scott Doran of Hudson Institute and Kilic Bugra Kanat of Turkish group SETA discuss next week's elections in US

How US elections may influence Washington’s ties with Ankara

The presidential elections in the United States are a significant concern for almost all international actors, including Turkey. What is happening in the globe's superpower and biggest economy affects practically every country in the world.

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How US elections may influence Washington s ties with Ankara
Wishful thinking and allegations instead of strategy

Wishful thinking and allegations instead of strategy

The second U.S. presidential debate took place on Thursday in Tennessee. The disastrous first presidential debate between the two candidates lowered the bar, with some calling for the cancellation of future debates and many analysts declaring it the lowest point in U.S. politics.

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The 2020 election is going to be one of the most significant in recent history for the U.S. Earlier this column examined the several reasons why this is such a critical election year for America, including the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis and deep divergences in the worldview of the two candidates.

There are only 25 days left to the most significant and consequential elections in recent U.S. history. Mail-in and early voting have already started across the country. According to the latest statistics, almost 7 million people have already cast their ballots, which signals that this could be the election with the highest turnout in U.S. electoral history. It seems that instead of suppressing voting, COVID-19, through mail-in and absentee ballots, may increase the voting in many states in the U.S.

The aftermath of Nov. 3, however, remains a mystery for U.S. politics. The current level of uncertainty is arguably unprecedented. As the Turkish saying goes: Live long enough and you'll see everything.

There is a general consensus around the globe that 2020 will be a unique year in history. The COVID-19 pandemic put its mark on the year from the very beginning, and the developments that took place in the U.S. demonstrated that the year will continue to surprise and shock us until the very end.

Last week in this column, I wrote about how important the debate between two presidential candidates can be, not only for the United States election but also for the country's standing around the world.

Analysts regard the debates as the last opportunity for candidates to change citizens' voting preferences and thus presidential candidates make painstaking efforts to prep themselves beforehand.

Turkey called back its research vessel Oruç Reis to port in order to support efforts by Germany and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to facilitate dialogue with Greece. As Ankara and Athens continue to exchange statements, tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean will be discussed at the Special European Council on Sept. 24-25.

The 2016 presidential election in the U.S. is being remembered not only as an election that many pollsters and political analysts failed to predict, but also for the debates about Russian meddling in the elections. Even before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the tensions between the U.S. and Russia had begun to rise in regard to the activities of Russian operatives in the U.S.

After a long COVID-19 interval, the two U.S. presidential candidates launched their campaigns and started to meet voters. Trump campaign prefers to organize large rallies in the battleground states, despite a rise in the number of COVID-19 infections there. Joe Biden's campaign, on the other hand, chose to organize small gatherings as per social distancing rules and broadcast the former vice president's remarks online.

Last week U.S. President Donald Trump officially launched his presidential campaign by speaking in different rallies in Oklahoma, Arizona and Wisconsin.

The 2020 presidential elections in the U.S. will be one of the most important elections in recent history. It will not only show if the voters in the U.S. will give President Donald Trump another term in office but it will also have serious ramifications in international relations.