President Franklin D. Roosevelt is attributed as saying that Nicaraguan dictator “(Anastasio) Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.” In a world of fair-weather friends and intensifying adversaries, the United States’ political leaders must make unsavory trade-offs about the quality of global relationships.

In many cases, an American president has to choose to ally himself with the devil he knows rather than an unknown and untested one. If known devils are democratically elected, it makes the choice easier but still distasteful.

A supporter of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, holds a portrait of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as people celebrate outside AKP headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1, 2015. Turkey’s ruling party secured a stunning victory… — A supporter of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, holds a portrait of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as people celebrate outside AKP headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1, 2015. Turkey’s ruling party secured a stunning victory in last Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, sweeping back into single-party rule only five months after losing it. Emrah Gurel The Associated Press

At the start of November, one of America’s SOBs got another electoral win in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, ran a nasty campaign where domestic political opponents were characterized as terrorists and fear was the musical score of the nationally orchestrated vote. AKP’s ruling majority assures Erdogan will be Turkey’s unchallenged ruler and an all-powerful regional force.

Erdogan goes out of his way to jail journalists, kill Kurds, injure Israel and bolster Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Read More