“In a desperate attempt to crush the uprising, Syrian forces have executed people in cold blood, civilians and opposition fighters alike,” said Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They are doing it in broad daylight and in front of witnesses, evidently not concerned about any accountability for their crimes.” – Syria: Extrajudicial Executions [...]
Tag Archives | Turkey
FP Report: Israel Buys Airfield in Azerbaijan
From Foreign Policy, Mark Perry breaking the story: [...] In particular, four senior diplomats and military intelligence officers say that the United States has concluded that Israel has recently been granted access to airbases on Iran’s northern border. To do what, exactly, is not clear. “The Israelis have bought an airfield,” a senior administration official [...]
Culture Quakes: Turkey’s Soap, Historic Daytime Gay Kiss, Ellen & JC Penny
“Here are the values that I stand for: I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for. Oh, also I believe in dance.” – Ellen DeGeneres Here it is yet again, the [...]
Abbas: ‘We need to have full membership at the U.N.’
It’s a go. Just when you thought Pres. Obama’s challenges couldn’t get any rougher. The Times calls this decision unsurprising, but “stinging.” Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey called recognizing a Palestinian state “not an option, it is an obligation.” PM Netanyahu said simply, “Peace will not be achieved by a unilateral approach to the United [...]
Israel Drops Threats Against Journalists Covering Gaza Flotilla
If there was anything dumber for the Israeli government to do I don’t know what it could have been. Threatening journalists who are covering the Gaza flotilla backfired, as it should. Netanyahu said in a statement that the policy for journalists covering the flotilla should not be the same as against infiltrators and those who [...]
PM Netanyahu Invited to Congress
The invitation came from Republicans, announced by Rep. Eric Cantor. “People seem to think that whoever goes first gets the upper hand,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator and a director at the New America Foundation. Using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname, he said: “If Bibi went first and didn’t lay out a bold peace [...]
Sec. Clinton: NATO Takes No-Fly, U.S. in Broader Role
“We’ve also authorized military authorities for NATO to take on the broader military protection mission.” – Sec. Clinton Before Clinton spoke, the news coming through multiple news sources is NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the alliance has reached an agreement to take over no-fly operations from the U.S., also known as “the coalition.” [...]
Well, That Worked Out Well
The original intent of the no-fly zone was to prevent carnage in Benghazi. It did. Now fears are growing that a humanitarian crisis is coming across Libya. Who could have predicted that? After all, war never causes these types of secondary issues– Oh, strike that. Pres. Obama and his administration say this isn’t a war. [...]
Politics and the Israeli Flotilla Raid Investigations
–updated– President Barack Obama’s point-man for his latest approach to the Muslim world is John Brennan, the White House’s counterterrorism czar, recently described by the Washington Post as one of the president’s most trusted advisers. Two weeks ago Brennan explained to a Washington audience that “we need to try to build up the more moderate [...]
Turkish Ambassador: ‘For a final solution, you cannot ignore Hamas.’
The exploding head version to match the Turkish ambassador’s offensiveness can be found in Charles Krauthammer’s column today. Turkey meets the Israeli government stupidity, then raises them using a historically incendiary phrase. In an unfortunate turn of phrase, the Turkish ambassador to Washington twice said Friday that the terrorist group Hamas is a necessary and [...]
19-year-old Turkish American Among Flotilla Dead
An official from the Turkish Islamic charity that spearheaded the campaign to bust the blockade on Gaza identified the U.S. citizen as 19-year-old Furkan Dogan, originally from the central Turkish town of Kayseri. Dogan, who held a U.S. passport, had four bullet wounds to the head and one to the chest, Omer Yagmur of the [...]
Between Israel and Turkey
“We will not be silent about this,” (Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu) said. “We expect the United States to show solidarity with us. . . . I am not very happy with the statements from the United States yesterday.” – Turkish foreign minister: Israeli raid on Gaza aid flotilla ‘like 9/11′ for his country Israel [...]
Netanyahu’s Folly
… Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences. Israel has sounded an alert throughout the country fearing rocket attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Arab League has called an urgent meeting on Tuesday to decide on a common response. Egypt is [...]
On the Eve of Netanyahu’s Visit to White House, IDF Kills 10 on ‘Freedom Flotilla’
[...] The other possible reason is that the far rightwing government of Binyamin Netanyahu and his foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman gave a green light to the commandos to respond with excessive force. That is, the deaths and woundings may have been a brutally frank warning to any future Gaza aid activists that they are taking [...]
Obama Administration Reacts to Iran ‘Fuel Swap’ Deal
“Of course they are not thrilled,” Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Pentagon official, said of the administration. “They thought [the Brazilian-Turkish diplomatic effort with Tehran] was going to fail and didn’t stop it, or couldn’t stop it. It looks like it undercut their diplomacy. – President Obama’s [...]
Recent Comments