Turkey preparing for war with Syria?

There are several ways one could take this article, but the bottom line is that Turkey believes that it will need troops to handle some sort of confrontation with Syria in the foreseeable future, whether as part of NATO or to protect refugees from Syria, or for some other reason. In anticipation of what is expected to be a massive influx of Syrian refugees, Turkey has taken extraordinary measures

Turkey helping Iran beat sanctions

Here's yet another reason why sanctions against Iran are not very effective: A state-owned Indian oil company has announced that it is paying its bills for Iranian oil via a state-owned bank in Turkey (Hat Tip: Joshua I). India's top state-run refiner, Indian Oil Corp Ltd, said on Wednesday it had begun paying its debt to Iran for oil imports and would clear an outstanding of 380 million euros