Erdoğan & the EU: Give and take

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday in Istanbul to cajole him into lending a hand in the unfolding refugee crisis that is engulfing the EU, namely to put a lid on the flow of refugees entering Europe through Turkey. The situation pretty much gives Erdogan the upper hand which, as for any megalomaniac despot, is basically a wet dream.