Sidste nye interview med Farage fra King World News, – ikke noget med at lægge fingrene imellem. Artikel om interviewet:
Nigel Farage – Europe is Collapsing, Buy Gold & Expect QE
7. juni 2012
On the heels of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s comments, Spain being downgraded and key meetings taking place in Europe, today King World News interviewed MEP (Member European Parliament) Nigel Farage, to get his take on the ongoing crisis. Farage told KWN that “when I look into the eyes of the leaders of Europe … what I’m seeing now is madness, absolute, total and utter madness.” Farage also discussed the action in the gold market, but first, here is what Farage had to say about the deteriorating situation in Europe: “Of course, over the last couple of years we’ve had two bailouts of Greece, a bailout of Ireland, Portugal. We’re now on the verge of needing a bailout in Cyprus, but perhaps more significantly, a bailout in Spain.”
Nigel Farage continues:
Mere HER hos King World News. Og selve audioen – King bruger altid samme følgetekst til sine Farage-interview, den kommer med her for en gangs skyld:
Nigel Farage: Member of the European Parliament (MEP) & Founding Member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) – Nigel is MEP for the South East region and is the leader of the parliamentary party in the EU parliament.
He has worked for British, French and American companies operating in the commodity markets, especially the London Metal Exchange (since 1982).
The central aim of the party is the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and to regain control of this nation’s governance through our own Parliament at Westminster.
Nigel was a Conservative activist from his schooldays until the overthrow of Margaret Thatcher; John Major’s signing of the Maastricht Treaty brought his membership to an end.
Startes HER – åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed små 14 minutter.
Vi snupper også lige denne video om den elendige verdensøkonomi. Kathleen Walter interviewer – fra 31. maj 2012:
Jim Rogers: Greece Should Go Bankrupt, Stay in Euro
Det er længe siden, vi har set noget til Michael Rubin her på bloggen. Det retter vi lige op på:
Michael Rubin: Developments in Turkey — Implications for the US
Michael Rubin is Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; Senior Lecturer, Naval Postgraduate School.
He spoke to the Center for Security Policy’s National Security Group Lunch on Capitol Hill regarding the latest geopolitical developments in Turkey and the implications for United States policy.
Og et interview:
The Future of terror: Michael Rubin interview with Intersec Magazine
April 25, 2012 – Robert de la Poer
As al-Qaeda’s influence grows, Dr. Michael Rubin tells Robert de la Poer that the Western countries must co-operate and continue to take the lead in the fight against Jihadist terrorists.
RP: Do you think there has been enough international co-ordination of law enforcement and intelligence efforts to attack the logistics and financing arms of Jihadist terrorist networks since 9/11? Who should be taking the lead in this fight?
MR: If there is one success story since 9/11, it has been the efforts to combat terror finance. If military action is sometimes akin to conducting surgery with an axe, efforts to dry up sources of funding are like wielding a scalpel.
Mere HER hos AEI. Intersec her. Ytringsfrihed i Tyrkiet? Nej da:
Turkish pianist charged with insulting Muslim values
June 01, 2012
An internationally acclaimed Turkish classical pianist is to stand trial on charges of insulting Muslim religious values in comments posted on Twitter, an Istanbul court ruled on Friday.
Fazil Say has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Tokyo Symphony Orchetra and has served as a cultural ambassador to the European Union.
Opdatering 12. juni 2012: Michael Rubin fortæller i Commentary Magazine, at Tyrkerne har arresteret en borgmester og 2 embedsmænd, fordi de havde klikket “Like” på Facebook. Og det skal man ikke gøre med artikler, regimet ikke kan lide:
The island’s new opportunities are tempered by a real threat from an assertive Turkey.
Cyprus, an island near Turkey and Syria of roughly 1.3 million inhabitants, finds itself on the cusp of momentous change. As it belatedly makes its grand debut on the world stage after domestic Greek-Turkish communal issues have consumed its first 51 years of independence, it faces both great opportunity and great danger.
That communal problem originated in 1570, when the Ottoman Empire conquered the island and its almost entirely Greek-speaking Orthodox Christian population. Over the next three centuries, immigration from Anatolia created a Turkish-speaking Muslim minority. British rule between 1878 and 1960 left this situation basically unchanged. At the time of Cypriot independence in 1960, Turks constituted one-sixth of the population.
Mere HER i National Review Online. Middle East Forum HER. Daniel Pipes blog her.
Den største svinestreg i nyere tid er denne: IHH-folkene bag den palæstinensiske flotilla har via bla. Facebook og Twitter lavet og offentliggjort en liste med navne på israelske soldater, der deltog i den operation, der stoppede aktivisterne - med billede og det hele:
Turkey: IHH draws up list of IDF soldiers linked to Gaza flotilla raid
Speaking to the Today’s Zaman daily, Turkish prosecutor denies list was result of an official investigation; directory includes 174 names identified using Facebook, Twitter accounts.
September 26, 2011
A Turkish public prosecutor said Monday that the Turkish IHH organization drew up a list – reportedly found through Facebook – of Israeli soldiers who were involved in the 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman reported on Monday.
Istanbul Deputy Public Prosecutor Ates Hasan Sozen denied reports that the Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office asked the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) to identify the soldiers and prepare the list.
Mere HER hos Haaretz. Ynetnews skriver, at tyrkeres liste er fuld af fejl:
Turkish list of flotilla soldiers a sham?
September 27, 2011
Reports in Turkish media claimed IHH compiled list of 174 soldiers, security officials who took part in raid on Gaza-bound ship, but closer glance reveals that names were recycled from previous lists, belong to soldiers who already completed military service during 2010 naval operation
Mere HER hos Ynetnews. Dagen før skrev Ynetnews, at Tyrkiet havde brugt efterretningsagenter for at få fabrikeret listen.
Erdogan opfører sig som en elefant i en porcelænsbutik. Hvis manden ser sig selv som kommende kalif, må det have været lidt af en bet, at alle arabiske statsledere i sidste uge udeblev fra Erdogans tale i det ellers stærkt islamiserede FN. En journalist fra det tyrkiske dagblad, Hurriyet Daily News, var til stede under talen og skriver skuffet:
In the end I understood that I was looking for Abbas and other Arab leaders in vain.
Optakten til talen var præget af vold, skriver Jyllands-Posten. Erdogans sikkerhedsvager gav sig til at slås med FNs vagter på hele to etager. Manden benyttede sit besøg i New York til at træde yderligere i spinaten:
Israeli PM slams ‘outrageous’ Erdogan remarks
September 26, 2011
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday described as “outrageous” remarks by Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which he claimed Israel had killed “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians.
In an interview with the English-language Jerusalem Post, excerpts of which were published on Monday, the Israeli prime minister expressed anger over comments made by Erdogan in an weekend interview with US cable network CNN.
In the interview, footage of which is available on CNN’s website, Erdogan said there were no accurate statistics about the number of Israelis killed in the conflict, suggesting up to “200″ while he said “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were killed.”
Mere HER hos AFP hos Google Hosted. Tyrkerne har efterfølgende hævdet, at CNN oversatte Erdogan forkert, fortæller The Jerusalem Post:
Erdgoan said hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed by the Israelis, not hundreds of thousands
Seriøse kritikere er bekymrede over Tyrkiets kurs. Først Daniel Pipes, hvis artikel delvis findes på dansk her. Den engelske version er komplet:
Is Turkey Going Rogue?
by Daniel Pipes – September 27, 2011
In a Middle East wracked by coups d’état and civil insurrections, the Republic of Turkey credibly offers itself as a model thanks to its impressive economic growth, democratic system, political control of the military, and secular order.
But, in reality, Turkey may be, along with Iran, the most dangerous state of the region. Count the reasons:
Islamists without brakes: When four out of five of the Turkish chiefs of staff abruptly resigned on July 29, 2011, they signaled the effective end of the republic founded in 1923 by Kemal Atatürk. A second republic headed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Islamist colleagues of the AK Party began that day. The military safely under their control, AKP ideologues can now pursue their ambitions to create an Islamic order.
Mere HER hos Daniel Pipes. Kan også læses her hos National Review Online. AINA her. The Washington Times her. National Post her.
Tyrkiet spiller åbenbart dobbeltspil hvad Syrien angår. AFP har en interessant artikel om Tyrkiet, Syrien, Det Muslimske Broderskab, Erdogan og taqiyya:
Turkey ‘offered Syria support’ if Islamists given posts
September 29, 2011
Ankara asked Damascus to offer the Muslim Brotherhood government posts in exchange for Turkey’s support in ending rallies in Syria, an offer rejected by Bashar al-Assad, officials and diplomats said.
The plan, which would have required that at least a quarter of ministerial positions went to the currently banned organisation, was initially mooted over the summer.
“In June, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered, if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ensured between a quarter and a third of ministers in his government were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, to make a commitment to use all his influence to end the rebellion,” a Western diplomat told AFP.
“The head of the Syrian state refused such a proposal,” said the diplomat, who did not want to be named.
Mere HER hos AFP via Yahoo News. Tyrkiet benægter alt, skriver Asharq Alawsat.
Dernæst Michael Rubin:
The Trouble With Turkey A nation that once aspired to be European now curries favor among Islamists
By Michael Rubin | October 3, 2011
“We stand together on the major issues that divide the world,” Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Ankara while preparing to depart Turkey, on a cold and windy day in December 1959. “And I can see no reason whatsoever that we shouldn’t be two of the sturdiest partners standing together always for freedom, security, and the pursuit of peace.”
It took almost a half century, but Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has succeeded in ending that partnership. Certainly Turkey no longer stands for freedom. Like his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Erdogan roughs up and imprisons those who challenge him. In 2002, the year before Erdogan became prime minister, Turkey ranked 99th in the world in press freedom out of 139 nations rated by Reporters Without Borders. By 2010, it ranked 138th out of 178, barely nosing out Russia and finishing below even Zimbabwe. Nor can American officials any longer say that America’s relationship with Turkey bolsters national security. Just one year ago, the Turkish air force held secret war games with its Chinese counterparts without first informing the Pentagon. Erdogan has also deferred final approval of a new NATO anti-missile warning system. Meanwhile, Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s new intelligence chief, makes little secret of his preference for Tehran over Washington.
Mere HER hos AEI. Der er mere kritik hos Hudson New York:
Turkey: Erdogan’s New “Secular” Islamism
by Anna Mahjar-Barducci – September 28, 2011
During a recent meeting in Cairo, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that secularism does not mean giving up religion, and called on Egyptians to adopt a secular constitution. “Do not be wary of secularism. I hope there will be a secular state in Egypt,” Erdogan said. Immediately, from Cairo to Saudi Arabia, there was a shocked reaction.
Secular circles had long ago expressed their concern that the AKP-led government in Turkey wanted to change the secular nature of the Turkish Republic. With Erdogan’s new, “revised” definitions of language, they may well be right.
The Saudi-owned paper Asharq Al-Awsat wrote that the Muslim Brotherhood had portrayed Erdogan as a “Muslim Caliph mounted upon his horse, commanding Muslim armies all across the world,” and had thought to hear some support for their dream of having Islamic Sharia Law as the only source of legislation. Instead, Erdogan trashed their hopes. “Picture this” wrote Asharq Al-Awsat: “a moment of utter silence where the cheers died down and eyes were wide open, only to be broken by a well-known, ‘moderate’ Brotherhood voice, namely Essam el-Eryan, who said: ‘We thank Erdogan and love Turkey, but he should not interfere in Egypt’s affairs. Secularism is not a solution for us. Turkey is free to adopt its own choice. The power of the Islamic civilization lies in its diversity’…among other loaded phrases.”
Mere HER hos Hudson New York. Også Anders Fogh Rasmussen er urolig:
Turkey’s Rifts With 2 Nations Worry a Top NATO Official
By Steven Erlanger and Stephen Castle – September 30, 2011
NATO’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, expressed disquiet on Friday about tensions over natural gas exploration in the Mediterranean between a newly assertive Turkey and Cyprus, as well as Turkey’s strained relations with Israel, saying that they were both “a matter of concern.”
Mr. Rasmussen said he did not foresee the tension turning into conflict in the Mediterranean, and he praised Turkey as an indispensable member of NATO that could be “a bridge” between the West and the Arab countries now engaged in revolts.
Mere HER i The New York Times. Fogh Rasmussen har god grund til uro. Præsident Obama konkurrerer med Erdogan om titlen som årets torsk. Rubin igen:
Why is Obama Rewarding Turkey with Attack Helicopters?
Michael Rubin – Oktober 2, 2011
If Obama were a poker player holding a full house, he’d fold to let the guy across the table with a pair of twos feel like a winner. Not even Jimmy Carter was so adverse to squandering leverage when dealing with friends and foes.
Time Magazine bragte et interview med Erdogan i den forgangne uge. Her har man ikke fattet en islamisk bønne af, hvad der foregår:
Exclusive: TIME Meets Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
by Ishaan Tharoor – September 26, 2011
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the international statesman of the moment. Greeted as a rock star in Egypt and other countries transformed by the Arab Spring, the Turkish Premier looms like a colossus over the Middle East. In recent weeks, he has been one of the most vocal world leaders to back the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. Popular at home, Erdogan has held his position since 2003, and was recently re-elected to a new term. All the while, both Turkey’s economy and geopolitical footprint have been growing noticeably. Erdogan sat down with TIME’s Jim Frederick, Bobby Ghosh, Tony Karon, Matt McAllester and Ishaan Tharoor on the sidelines of U.N. meetings in New York City. The following are excerpts from the conversation, touching upon Turkey’s deteriorating relationship with Israel, the failures of the Middle East peace process, Erdogan’s support for the Arab Spring and frustrations with the U.N., and whether anybody in Ankara still cares about joining the E.U.
Mere HER i Time Magazine. Michael Rubin har en fin kritik af interviewet i The American:
The many commentators who have lamented in the past few days about the isolation of Israel in the Middle East have apparently forgotten that this is nothing new. Arab armies tried to destroy the newborn state in 1948; successive attempts having failed as well, Arab states dealt with the existence of the Jewish state as with something which had to be endured, not accepted. Yes, peace was achieved between Israel and Egypt, then Jordan, but this was a peace between governments, not peoples. Incitement against the Jewish state never stopped, finding fertile soil in the minds of youngsters taught from the cradle that Jews are the enemies of Islam and will be destroyed on Judgment Day.
What was left were agreements fueled by transient political interests.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan brings to mind the story about the housewife who calls her husband during rush hour. “Be careful driving home on the Beltway, dear,” she advises. “The news says that there’s a maniac driving in the wrong direction.” “What do you mean, ‘a maniac’?,” he replies. “Everybody’s driving in the wrong direction!”
Now that Turkey has threatened Europe with a “freeze in relations” if Cyprus (as planned) assumes the presidency of the European Union in 2012, it must seem to Erdogan that everyone is driving in the wrong direction. Earlier this month Turkey declared “null and void” the United Nations’ Palmer Commission report, which supported Israel’s right to enforce a blockade against Gaza. That was a minor gaffe, because United Nations dicta have the authority of revelation to the liberal media, except, of course, when they support Israel. It’s one thing for Turkey to freeze relations with Israel — we take it for granted these days that everybody hates Israel — but the Europeans? Everybody likes the Europeans, who have replaced their defense ministries with an answering machine that says, “We surrender.” And over Cyprus? Even Russia, Turkey’s key trading partner and the host for millions of Turkish guest workers, is aghast at Erdogan’s tantrum. Russia has strong ties to Cyprus.
Turkey’s Moralpolitik: World Leader in Imprisoning Journalists
by Anna Mahjar-Barducci – September 23, 2011
Some analysts, under the impression that Turkey is severing relations with Israel because Turkey claims that it is its duty is to champion “human rights” in the Middle East, have written that Turkey is abandoning “realpolitik” for “moralpolitik.”
According to a large number of academics and journalists in the Western media, especially in Europe, Turkey has chosen to follow a new ethical policy based on moral attitudes. This simplistic and naïve interpretation of the Turkish agenda is becoming so that the international community fails to denounce human rights abuses in Turkey. In Italy, several media sources, such as the newspaper La Stampa, wrote that Turkey is an example of democracy to be followed in the Middle East, whereas the Washington-based Middle East Institute wrote in an article published by Dr. Gonul Tol that Turkey is balancing strategic interests with idealism.”Turkey views its conduct of foreign policy as a balance between diplomacy and hard power to pursue its interests, both moral and geopolitical,” Tol wrote..
Erdogan Creates International Complications for Turkey
Dore Gold – September 23, 2011
While Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has been using his anti-Israeli rhetoric to build up Turkey as a new great power in the Arab world, his neo-Ottoman policy is sparking a reaction among other countries that could pose for him serious problems in the period ahead. For Erdogan has not only been using aggressive rhetoric against Israel. In the last few weeks the Turkish government has also been threatening Cyprus for developing its undersea gas resources in the Mediterranean. As a result, Russia has been drawn in to neutralize Turkish behavior.
Cyprus just signed an agreement with the Texas-based Noble Energy, which is in a partner in developing Israeli maritime gas fields, as well. Turkey’s Minister for EU Affairs, Egemen Bağış let it be known that the Turkish Navy could intervene if Greek Cyprus does not call off the project. He said “That’s what a navy is for.” As a result, the Russian Foreign Ministry publicly backed the right of Cyprus to develop its Mediterranean gas. Cyprus, in turn, described Russia as “a shield against any threats by Turkey.”
Turkey has suspended talks with Syria and may impose sanctions on Damascus, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said, the clearest sign yet that Ankara has parted ways with President Bashar al-Assad over his bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Jeg har brugt en hulens masse tid på at læse om konflikten mellem Tyrkiet og Israel. Og noget af det bedste tog jeg fra til bloggen. Men først et nyt interview med Tyrkiets præsident, Abdullah Gül:
“Turkey is No Longer a Friend of Israel” Says President of Turkey
Det, man siger, er man selv? Erdogan er en dårlig taber. Det var Tyrkiet, der handlede i strid med international lov, fordi de ikke stoppede den “flotilla”:
Turkish PM declares freeze on Israel ties
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces a total freeze on military and trade ties with Israel and threatens to visit Gaza as the one-time allies’ diplomatic spat intensifies
Desuden audio fra NPR – Talk of the Nation den 13. september 2011. Man kan følge med i en komplet udskrift her:
Israel Feeling Increasingly Isolated From Allies
Israeli diplomats have fled Egypt after an attack on their embassy in Cairo and were forced to leave Turkey after a diplomatic row. As Israel appears to lose its Muslim allies, many worry about possible repercussions on the peace process, Israel’s security and the U.S. role in the region.
Guests
Joel Greenberg, Jerusalem correspondent, Washington Post
Akiva Eldar, chief political columnist, Ha’aretz
Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations
Host
Neal Conan
Startes HER eller her - åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed ½ time. Og til artiklerne:
UN Report on Flotilla Incident Exonerates Israel
Sep 3, 2011 • By Elliott Abrams
The United Nations report on the Mavi Marmara incident, entitled “Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident,” is now public and largely exculpates Israel. All the facts are as Israel contended and as the Commission notes “Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure” and “Israeli Defense Forces personnel faced significant, organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers when they boarded the Mavi Marmara requiring them to use force for their own protection. Three soldiers were captured, mistreated, and placed at risk by those passengers. Several others were wounded.”
The Commission makes the judgment that the use of force by the Israelis was “excessive and unreasonable,” but the real verdict is evident in the way the Israeli and Turkish governments have reacted. Israel has accepted the report and its findings of fact while of course disagreeing with that judgment about its soldiers; Turkey has rejected the report entirely.
First, the panel challenges the motives of the flotilla:
Turkey no economic powerhouse, Erdogan’s credit bubble will soon explode
Guy Bechor – September 15, 2011
Some refer to him as “the Middle East’s new sultan in a neo-Ottoman empire” – yet the truth about Erdogan’s kingdom is utterly different. We are not facing an economic power, but rather, a state whose credit bubble will be bursting any moment now and bringing down its economy.
The budget deficit of the collapsing Greece compared to its GDP stands at some 10%, and the world is alarmed. At the same time, Turkey’s deficit is at 9.5%, yet some members of the financial media describe the Turkish economy as a success story (for comparison’s sake, Israel’s deficit stands at some 3% and is expected to decline to 2% this year.)
Why the West Cares about Turkey’s Diplomatic Conflict with Israel
September 10, 2011 – Dore Gold
Under the surface, there have been growing concerns in the West about the general direction of Turkish foreign policy under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP Party. In an extremely important 2004 cable from the US Department of State, revealed by WIKILEAKS, that was described previously in this column, an American diplomat in Turkey wrote about his concerns with Ankara’s “new, highly activist foreign policy,” Like many other commentators he focused on what he called the “neo-Ottoman fantasies” of Ahmet Davutoglu, who was then only an advisor and today is Turkey’s foreign minister.
But the American diplomat went much further in his description. He attended a meeting at the main think tank of Turkey’s ruling AKP Party where he heard many in the AKP saying that it is Turkey’s role to spread Islam in Europe. He added that among the participants in the think tank there was “the widespread belief” that Turkey should ”avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683″–where the Ottoman armies loss to the Hapsburg Empire.
Mere HER i The Algemeiner. Kan også læses her hos Dore Gold.
A Brilliant Fraud
By Stanley Weiss – September 15, 2011
It was the first time that cattle cars would be used in the 20th century to carry people to concentration camps, a systematic annihilation of a whole population so horrific that a new word had to be invented to capture its brutality: genocide.
In the midst of World War I, over a million Christian Armenians in Turkey were rounded up by the Ottoman Empire and slaughtered in unspeakable ways. No less a mass murderer than Adolf Hitler, in a speech to Nazi commanders before he invaded Poland, reportedly defended his order to, “kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race” by asking, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
Turkey rebukes Israel: do they remember Northern Cyprus and the Kurds?
04 Sep, 2011 – Boutros Hussein and Lee Jay Walker
Turkey is once more playing the “Israel card” whereby in order to gain credibility at home and to appease the anti-Israeli lobby, the same issue keeps on popping up. However, while individuals or governments who oppose Israel may welcome the ongoing outbursts which break out frequently it is obvious that mass hypocrisy in Turkey renders this a farce.
If Turkey is so concerned about human rights then why not focus on leaving Northern Cyprus, give greater freedom to the Kurds, install equality for the Alevi Muslims, stop attacking Kurds in Northern Iraq and recognize the mass genocide of Christians which took place in 1915 (pogroms before and after this date).
Under Islamic law (“Shariah”), non-Muslims (such as Christians and Jews) are mostly free to practice their religion in private but are discriminated and treated as second-class citizens, or dhimmis. As the Quran clearly states, non-Muslims must “feel themselves subdued” (Sura 9:20). When the Jews regained their independence in 1948, they not only rebelled against “dhimmitude.” They also regained and freed, like the Spaniards after the Reconquista, a land once ruled by Islam. To Muslims, this was -and still is- a double offence.
Turkey’s Islamist Prime Minister Erdogan has taken upon himself to make Israel a “dhimmi state.” Edorgan was raised as a Sufi Muslim and was imprisoned in 1998 for singing out loud that “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers.” While mainstream Western media are at pains to describe Turkey’s Islamist AKP Party as “moderate,” Erdogan himself declared on Kanal D TV in August 2007 that describing Islam as moderate “is offensive and an insult to our religion.” Erdogan has been embracing the presidents of Iran and Sudan. While Sudan’s president is accused of genocide by the International Criminal Court, and while Turkey has been asked to apologize for the Armenian genocide, Erdogan has declared that “No Muslim can perpetuate genocide.”
Mere HER hos For the Sake of Zion. Kan også læses her hos Arutz Sheva.
As Israel-Turkey Alliance Disintegrates, Analysts Worry
By Piotr Zalewski – Sep 6 2011
The rapidly worsening fall-out between these two allies could have serious repercussions for an already fragile Middle East
After Turkey’s decision to suspend military ties with Israel, expel the country’s ambassador, and now possibly to apply to the International Court of Justice for an investigation into Israel’s Gaza blockade — on account of Israel’s refusal to apologize for last year’s lethal attack on the Mavi Marmara, a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship — it’s difficult to decipher who, if anyone, might benefit from the current impasse. For Turkey, the breakup with Israel is another nail in the coffin of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s vaunted “zero problems” policy that, until recently, allowed the country to keep lines open with all sides of the Middle East’s conflicts. For Israel, the potential loss of a crucial regional ally only deepens the country’s isolation as it scrambles to come to terms with the Arab spring and its fallout. Among experts, there is some hope that the Turkey-Israel relationship could recover, if slowly. Yet there is also fear that it will deteriorate much further — and quickly.
Not long ago, Turkey could rightfully claim to maintain open diplomatic relationships with practically everyone in the Middle East. But, as Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, told me, “those times are over.” “Turkey is not going to have much of a role to play. It cannot replicate the Syrian-Israeli proximity talks, which it masterminded a few years ago.” Same, he said, for the Israeli-Palestinian talks. “Turkey will probably be hailed by the Palestinians but it will isolate itself from the peace process, if the process ever comes back to life.”
Only weeks after its release, the Palmer Report into the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident appears to have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
Despite leveling criticism at Israel for “excessive force”, the report could and should have been a major prize for Israel public diplomacy. How often, and particularly at a time of precious few PR gifts, does a UN-sponsored investigation uphold the legitimacy of Israel’s naval blockade as well as highlighting the danger of Hamas from Gaza?
Mere HER hos Ynetnews eller her hos HonestReporting.
Og endelig to artikler om de israelske naturgas-fund, som siges at styrke Israels position både i Mellemøsten og i Vesten. Fra hhv. Foreign Policy og Family Security Matters:
The Jihad against the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christians
Janet Levy – August 10, 2011
In Germany, where Holocaust denial is punishable by up to five years in prison, Stuttgart University recently capitulated to pressure from resident Turkish Muslims and canceled an event entitled, “Persecution, Expulsion and Annihilation of Christians in the Ottoman Empire 1912-1922.” Ironically, this occurred in a country that was forced to confront its own genocidal past, educate its population and pay restitution to victims. University officials explained that they wanted to “remain neutral” on the subject of the nearly 100-year-old, well-documented Turkish massacre of more than two million Christians. Citing neutrality in the face of crimes against humanity is deeply troubling, particularly in light of Germany’s Holocaust past and the missed opportunity the event represented to educate students about genocide and potentially prevent its recurrence.
Equally troubling is Turkey’s continued denial and banning of information about these crimes, not only within its own borders, but, as exemplified in Germany, within other countries as well. In contrast to Germany where laws since the end of World War II seek to prevent a Holocaust from ever happening again, the Turkish government under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, passed in 2005, makes it a crime punishable by up to two years imprisonment to insult the Turkish state. This provision prevents any public commemoration or consideration of the Turkish Muslim atrocities committed against Ottoman Christians.
Christopher Hitchens: Turkish military is no longer the guardian of secularism
Christopher Hitchens – Aug 3, 2011
To read of the stunning news, of the almost-overnight liquidation of Turkey’s Ataturkist or secularist military caste, and to try to do so from the standpoint of a seriously secular Turk, is to have a small share in the sense of acute national vertigo that must have accompanied the proclamation of a new system in the second two decades of the 20th century.
For example, today’s vice-president of Kemal Ataturk’s historical political party, the Republican People’s Party or RPP, was quoted last Friday as speaking of “a second Turkish republic” with a heavy heart “in the seaside city of Cannkkale,” and not long after, it seemed that some high-ranking Turkish officers would now be arrested rather than, as previously reported, having had their resignations accepted. That famous seaside peninsula, as The New York Times did not emphasize, also bears the name of Gallipoli. It is the place where Gen. Mustafa Kemal inflicted the most bloody and tragic defeat on British imperial forces in 1915-16, while also convincing Rupert Murdoch’s cocky colonial ancestors that their brave Aussie forebears had been used as cannon fodder by teak-headed British toffs. The apple of the notorious 1981 Mel Gibson movie did not roll very far from the tree. Within a few years of Gallipoli, the same Turkish general had, in fact, reversed the local verdict of the 1914-18 war, and expelled Greek, French, and British forces from Anatolia.
Mere HER i National Post. Kan også læses her i Slate.
Turkey’s Islamic Revolution
Benny Morris | August 1, 2011
The Turkish Islamists, who took control of the country after democratic elections in 2002, are well on their way to completing a revolution which will radically affect the Middle Eastern balance of power and perhaps, more generally, the international arena (West versus Islamic East), practically without protest or opposition. This weekend, they ticked another important “V” in their gradual desecularization of the country with the mass resignation of the country’s top military brass and their immediate replacement by Islamist-friendly generals.
The dramatic resignations of the chief of staff and the heads of the army, air force and navy were prompted by the ongoing trial of about 200 military officers for conspiring against the regime. Most observers regard the charges as trumped up. But their purport was clear: To cow the army and the country’s secular, educated middle classes. As it emerges, the trials served to defang the army in advance of the takeover of the high command.
Mere HER i The National Interest. Tyrkiet er en sikkerhedsrisiko. Men det vidste vi jo godt:
Turkey and the risks to EU security
Jeff Taylor – August 3rd, 2011
Monday a Home Affairs select committee report said that Turkey must bolster its border controls before it should be allowed to join the European Union.
The Committee said that thousands of migrants were already entering the EU using Turkey as an illegal conduit to get into Greece. Many of these migrants said the committee have Britain in mind as their destination.
Nej, to er ikke nok. Grækerne skal have deres områder tilbage. Det er der også andre, der skal. Men at få Tyrkiet ud af Kurdistan, ville da være da en start:
Turkish intolerance of ethnic minorities resulted in the Armenian genocide
A Two State Solution for Turkey?
Daniel Greenfield – June 21, 2011
Imagine a European Union member nation which represses an ethnic minority that makes up a fifth of its population. Now imagine the EU being forced to take sides in a domestic civil war within its own union in which ethnic cleansing is the order of the day. That is the fate awaiting the EU if it admits Turkey as it is.
Turkish intolerance of ethnic minorities resulted in the Armenian genocide. And in the ongoing repression of its Kurdish population. Turkish prisons are full of Kurdish political prisoners, some who have done nothing more than use the Kurdish language in the wrong place or sing a Kurdish song. Kurds have fought back against Turkish state repression with a political and militant struggle. And despite what Turkish authorities are telling their European counterparts, that struggle is not over.
Mere HER i Canada Free Press. Kan også læses her hos Sultan Knish. Right Side News her.
The Sound of Turkey Clapping
Thoughts on the recent elections, mostly ignored around the world
Claire Berlinski – 22 June 2011
Having long before accepted a lecturing assignment on Hillsdale College’s Baltic Cruise, I wasn’t in Istanbul for the June 12 general election. So despite months of following the campaign in minute detail, when it actually happened, I was physically and metaphorically isolated from the mood in Turkey. There was some value to that: contemplating the pale, glassy, silent Baltic Sea puts Turkish hysteria in perspective.
Endnu en advarsel om forholdene i Tyrkiet. Kristofobi overalt:
Turkey’s Christians under Siege
by John Eibner – Middle East Quarterly
The brutal murder of the head of Turkey’s Catholic Church, Bishop Luigi Padovese, on June 3, 2010, has rattled the country’s small, diverse, and hard-pressed Christian community.[1] The 62-year-old bishop, who spearheaded the Vatican’s efforts to improve Muslim-Christian relations in Turkey, was stabbed repeatedly at his Iskenderun home by his driver and bodyguard Murat Altun, who concluded the slaughter by decapitating Padovese and shouting, “I killed the Great Satan. Allahu Akhbar!” He then told the police that he had acted in obedience to a “command from God.”[2]
Though bearing all the hallmarks of a jihadist execution, the murder was met by denials and obfuscation—not only by the Turkish authorities but also by Western governments and the Vatican. This is not wholly surprising. In the post-9/11 era, it has become commonplace to deny connections between Islam and acts of violence despite much evidence to the contrary. [...]
Mere HER i Middle East Quarterly. Kan også læses her hos Family Security Matters.
Det ville da være skønt! Desuden: EU vil splitte England op i nye lande – og Frankrig, åbenbart:
EU countries scrap open borders to halt flood of Arab refugees
By Daily Mail Reporter on 14th May 2011
The European dream of a continent without borders appeared dead last night.
A majority of EU countries voted to reimpose passport controls between countries – in response to fears they would be deluged by refugees from the revolutions in the Arab world.
Fifteen out of the 22 EU countries who currently operate the Schengen Agreement said they would be in favour of its demise at a meeting of home affairs ministers in Brussels.
Mere HER i The Daily Mail. Sindsyge bureaukrater i EU går helt over gevind. Det er tvunget at flage med det grimme fascistsymbol, EU-flaget:
Angry Pickles flies in the face of EU flag rule
By Alison Little – May 14,2011
The EU will come under renewed attack today from the Government for forcing public buildings in Britain to fly the European flag.
The edict reveals “a deep sense of insecurity” in Brussels, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will say.
In the absence of American leadership in Libya, Europeans are looking more and more like the Keystone Kops. It would be funny if it were not so serious.
March 26, 2011 – by Soeren Kern
After more than a week of shameless haggling by its squabbling members, the NATO alliance reluctantly agreed to take over the least risky part of the military operations in Libya: the enforcement of a no-fly zone to protect civilians from attacks by a Libyan Air Force that no longer exists.
But in classic transatlantic political fudge, European and American leaders say NATO will not assume command of riskier ground attacks in Libya. For the time being, such heavy hitting will continue to be done by a coalition of countries led by the United States, even though the American president insists that his country is not in charge of the military intervention in Libya.
Fra en konference afholdt af ASMEA den 4. – 6. november 2010 – “The Middle East and Africa in the 21st Century: Local Trends, Regional Challenges, Global Impacts”. Den mest interessante video er den med Gerald Prunier, som er ret chokerende, men videoerne er faktisk interessante allesammen.
Bernard Lewis indledte konferencen med en tale, som kan ses i posten nedenfor:
Roundtable A: Turkey’s Future as a Democratic Ally
ASMEA 2010 Conference Panel “Turkey’s Future as a Democratic Ally”
Prof. Bassam Tibi ( University of Göettingen )
Prof. Joshua Walker ( Brandeis University )
Prof. Birol Yesilada ( Portland State University )
Mr. Nuh Yilmaz (Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research)
I Q&A-delen hører man bla. debatindlæg fra Bernard Lewis – der er stor uenighed om Tyrkiets udvikling:
Den næste video går hurtigt over til at omhandle militære angrebsstrategier helt ned til det operative niveau. Hvad gør man konkret, hvis USA skal angribe Iran? Den video syntes jeg ikke, var voldsomt interessant:
Roundtable B: “Iran’s Nuclear Program: The Military Option”
Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (USAF-ret.)
CAPT Chuck Nash (USN-ret.)
I denne video hører man bla. om den danske flådes arbejde i farvandet ud for Somalia:
Roundtable C: “The Furture of Military Operations in the Horn of Africa”
RADM Terry McKnight (USN-ret.)
Her får man en god indsigt i et land, men ellers ikke hører alverden om:
Roundtable C: Eritrea and its Discontents
ASMEA 2010 conference discussion led by Dr. Gerald Prunier
Den afsluttende taler her forsøger lidt faderligt at berolige alle:
Lunch Banquet and Keynote Address:
“How to Stop Failing, From Israel to Pakistan”
Dr. Leslie Gelb (President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations)
Since leaving 10 Downing Street, Tony Blair has faced continuing public condemnation for leading the U.K. into Iraq, converted to Catholicism, and plunged into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Debating Blair in Toronto, the author finds the former prime minister battered but unapologetic.
By Christopher Hitchens – February 2011
Say “Toronto” or “Ontario” and the immediate thought associations are with a somewhat blander version of North America: a United States with a welfare regime and a more polite street etiquette, and the additionally reassuring visage of Queen Elizabeth on the currency. But this part of Canada also has its quixotic and romantic dimension. It was to here that the Tory loyalists fled the American Revolution. In the village of Deptford, Ontario, on the banks of the local river Thames, the great Canadian novelist Robertson Davies cast and situated a trilogy variously composed of the elements of magic and exile. One of his chief characters, Percy “Boy” Staunton, gives up much of his life and energy to the cause of the Prince of Wales, a once dashing and promising young blade who shatters and demoralizes his admirers by falling under the thrall of a designing woman and abdicating the throne without a fight.
“The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern.” — Henry Kissinger
Over the last few weeks, this modest little column of mine has been acquiring an almost eerie prescience and potency. I called for the death sentence on Tariq Aziz to be commuted, and it was only a matter of days before the president of Iraq announced that he would not sign Aziz’s death warrant. I called for Julian Assange to turn himself in, and he appeared at a London police station within hours of my words being published. Small stuff, you say. Show us something with a bit more heft and handle to it. All right, how’s this? In a November column, I denounced the shameful offer made by the Obama administration to the Netanyahu Cabinet in Israel and called for it to be withdrawn. And last week, in a wretched and furtive manner that befitted its original taint of bribery and corruption, withdrawn it was. How do you like that?
Mere HER i National Post. Kan også læses her i Slate. Christopher Hitchens har skrevet mere om lydoptagelserne:
Mr. Kissinger, Have You No Shame?
Ignore the recent excuses. Henry Kissinger’s entire career was a series of massacres and outrages.
By Christopher Hitchens – Monday, Dec. 27, 2010
Until the most recent release of the Nixon/Kissinger tapes, what were the permitted justifications for saying in advance that the slaughter of Jews in gas chambers by a hostile foreign dictatorship would not be “an American concern”? Let’s agree that we do not know. It didn’t seem all that probable that the question would come up. Or, at least, not all that likely that the statement would turn out to have been made, and calmly received, in the Oval Office. I was present at Madison Square Garden in 1985 when Louis Farrakhan warned the Jews to remember that “when [God] puts you in the ovens, you’re there forever,” but condemnation was swift and universal, and, in any case, Farrakhan’s tenure in the demented fringe was already a given.
Under artiklen følger der en længere disput mellem The American Jewish Committee og Christopher Hitchens – læs mere HER i Slate. Kan også læses i National Post her.
The Pak-Af Problem
Are we committed to Afghanistan or to Hamid Karzai’s government?
By Christopher Hitchens – Dec. 20, 2010
Friends of his would enjoy disputing whether his heart or his ego was the larger, but it was sad to know, as Richard Holbrooke’s heart eventually burst, that he had strained a good deal of it in upholding a policy in which much of his best advice had been, or was being, ignored. He was frequently left off the Obama plane when sensitive talks with Pakistani officials were in prospect. He was publicly rebuked by the administration when he stated that almost every Pashtun family contained at least one Taliban sympathizer. His early warning about the stupidity of incinerating the Afghan poppy crop was often ignored. And his death coincided with the latest confused review of a policy—known as “Af-Pak”—whose very abbreviation contains the seeds of its own negation.
Europe’s Christmas and New Year holidays this year were overshadowed by widespread Islam-related controversies in nearly every European country — conflicts that reflected the growing influence of Islam thanks to mass immigration from Muslim countries, and an ominous sign of things to come, considering that Europe’s Muslim population is expected to double by the end of the decade that began this week.
Some of the most heated multicultural dust-ups during the December 2010 holidays took place in Britain, where a Muslim group launched a nationwide poster campaign denouncing Christmas as evil. Organizers posted across Britain thousands of placards claiming the season of goodwill is responsible for rape, teenage pregnancies, abortion, promiscuity, crime and paedophilia. They said they hoped that the campaign would help to “destroy Christmas” in Britain, and instead lead to Britons converting to Islam.
Denne video bliver muligvis ikke liggende, så man skal holde sig til, hvis man vil se debatten. Veritas Universalis har haft et uddrag her på bloggen for få uger siden, men her er det hele. Moderatoren hedder Laurie Goodstein – fra 5. oktober 2010:
Christopher Hitchens vs Tariq Ramadan – Is Islam a Religion of Peace
With the Obama administration in its nascent years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proving as intractable as ever, relations with Iran reaching a boiling point and the political landscape changing rapidly both in the United States and the Middle East, wrestling with the issue of Islam is more crucial than ever and will be a defining feature of the 21st century. Join famous atheist and prolific author Christopher Hitchens and the accomplished and controversial scholar Tariq Ramadan as they debate one of the most pertinent questions of our modern age.
Der er endvidere en artikel og en audio med og om Christopher Hitchens nederst:
Artikel og audio:
Christopher Hitchens On Suffering, Beliefs And Dying
By NPR Staff
October 29, 2010 Christopher Hitchens — an outspoken atheist, a gleeful provocateur and writer who has skewered everyone from Bill Clinton to Henry Kissinger to Mother Teresa — was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in June as he was on book tour for his memoir Hitch 22.
Artiklen fortsætter HER hos NPR. Samme sted finder man også den dertil hørende audio på 9 minutter.
Mit ordvalg. Men det var, hvad jeg konkluderede. Denne artikel bør man læse. En alarmerende rapport fra det islamistiske Tyrkiet, et land der inden længe bliver det nye Iran, – i en sunnimuslimsk version, spår Peter Hitchens. Tyrkiet er allerede midt i en islamisk revolution:
As David Cameron calls for Turkey to join the EU,
- PETER HITCHENS on the disturbing picture of growing repression at the heart of ‘Eurabia’
By Peter Hitchens In Istanbul – 2nd August 2010
Among the bayonet-like minarets of ancient Istanbul, an East wind is blowing. It will chill us all… says The Mail On Sunday columnist in the week David Cameron calls for Turkey to join the EU
Down a glum, dark back alley in Istanbul, I found a sinister sight. In a workshop two stern and bearded men were bent over sheets and patches of very black cloth, their sewing-machines whirring urgently.
I was plainly unwelcome and they objected to the very idea of being photographed. I quickly saw why. They were making dark robes and masks for women to wear. They looked to me as if they longed for the day when every woman in sight was clad in their workmanship.
Erdogan: “It’s not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide.”
Wow!
The Hudson Institute’s New York afdeling har pga. situationens alvor lavet en ny følgegruppe, der nu dagligt rapporterer om udviklingen i Tyrkiet. Gruppens hjemmeside med bulletiner kan findes HER. Man skal vist enten være journalist eller politiker for ikke at se, hvad der foregår.
Opdatering: Time Magazine har også en ny, lettere kritisk artikel om emnet, men den er mere halalhippieagtig. Vi lever jo i en tid, hvor journalistik er gået af mode blandt journalister. “Why Turkey Still Gets a Cold Shoulder From the E.U.” – link HER.
Man kommer vidt omkring her i udsendelsen. Om humanitærpopulister, venstrefløjen, USA, krig – moderne og historisk, WikiLeaks, Afghanistan, Irak, konservatisme, Libanon, Israel og mere. Der er Q&A, hvor folk ringer ind.
Jeg har taget interviewet med, fordi Victor Davis Hanson giver et godt indblik i konfliktforståelse. Det savner man i moderne mediers overfladiskhed.
Historian Victor Davis Hanson joins us in the studio to discuss his new book, “The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.”
Victor Davis Hanson, author and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University
Fra 29. juli 2010. Værten hedder Michael Krasny. Man kan downloade interviewet som mp3, hvis man foretrækker at gemme det (højreklik på downloadlinket og vælg “Gem distinationen som”). Download HER - varighed 52 minutter.
Den ulykkelige aktion ud for Gazas kyst var en veltilrettelagt provokation fra antidemokratiske kræfter mod Mellemøstens eneste demokrati.
Af Karen Jespersen
Vi er blevet snydt, så vandet driver af os med fremstillingen af det ulykkelige sammenstød mellem aktivister og israelske soldater ud for Gazas kyst. Uden at nogen kendte de nærmere omstændigheder, efterlod især TV med det samme et klart indtryk: Fredselskende aktivister ville bryde Israels blokade af Gaza ved at sejle nødhjælp til den sultende befolkning. Men de blev angrebet af tungt bevæbnede, blodtørstige israelske soldater, der dræbte ni af dem.
Det er et stærkt fortegnet billede. Aktionen var tværtimod koldt og kynisk planlagt af yderligtgående islamister, der var med om bord. En velplanlagt propaganda til gavn for terrororganisationen Hamas, der har magten i Gaza og på alle måder bekæmper det demokratiske Israel.
Resten HER i Berlingske Tidende. Nu venter vi så på artiklen “Dansk presse i selvransagelse”. Nå, ikke?
Gazaaktivister i selvransagelse
Flere aktivister erkender, at de brugte vold mod de israelske soldater på det tyrkiske nødhjælpsskib. Det var stik imod fredsaktivisternes retningslinjer, siger talsmand
Af Allan Sørensen.
At noget gik rivende galt, da israelske kommandosoldater for mere end en uge siden bordede det tyrkiske nødhjælpsskib “Mavi Marmara” og dræbte 9 af skibets 700 passagerer, er der bred international enighed om. Siden episoden er Israel blevet fordømt, og en række lande kræver en international undersøgelse af hændelsen.
Et klart mønster tegner sig. Konservative medier får etiketten ‘højreorienteret’, hvorimod venstreorienterede får ‘uafhængig’, ‘velanset’ eller ‘troværdig’.
Nigel Farage: Member of the European Parliament (MEP) & Founding Member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) – Nigel is MEP for the South East region and is the leader of the parliamentary party in the EU parliament.
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