The Eternal State

As the Ottoman Caliphate called itself. And, after all, it lasted from 1299 until, depending on how you measure these things, 1922 or 1923.

The latest news is not that the secular ultranationalists of the Army have tried to stage an anti-Islamist coup. There is nothing remotely new about that.

Rather, the news is that they have failed to do so, and that those apparently responsible face prosecution. The AKP can now do that sort of thing.

In a country to which that most modish of terms, "strategically vital", really does apply.

The Eternal State, indeed.