17 | March | 2016 | WarSclerotic

Archive for March 17, 2016

Not Satire | Anti-Trump protesters are patriots

March 17, 2016

Anti-Trump protesters are patriots, Boston Globe, Renée Graham, March 17, 2016

(Please see also, US democracy at stake amid campaign violence, major Jewish group warns.

— DM)

Aniti trump protestors

Protesters are removed as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., on March 9, 2016.

Donald Trump slams protesters at his rallies as “thugs” but, as usual, the unhinged GOP presidential front-runner is dead wrong:

They’re patriots.

By now, any protester at a Trump rally knows what they will face. The lucky ones will only be ridiculed by the candidate, have their anti-Trump signs yanked away and torn to pieces, and be hustled out of the arena. At worst — at least so far — they’ll be peppered with racist or anti-Semitic invective, manhandled by security guards, spat on, or sucker-punched by some moron sorry only that he couldn’t have inflicted more lethal damage.

With Trump nearly sweeping this week’s primaries, those rallies will become more hostile toward anyone pushing against his hideous rhetoric. Yet those patriots will still come, not just because they oppose Trump but for the love of their country which is being shoved toward the abyss. As poet Adrienne Rich wrote in “An Atlas of the Difficult World”:

A patriot is one who wrestles/ for the soul of her country/ as she wrestles for her own being.

Odds are these aren’t the people who fueled an all-time spike in Google searches on moving to Canada after Trump won multiple states on Super Tuesday. They weren’t checking real estate prices in Toronto or job openings in Vancouver. Patriots don’t surrender their nation to a preening narcissist or to his supporters, who, like goats unable to discern between what they should chew up or spit out, swallow whole all the nonsense they’re fed.

Armed with nothing more than the unshakeable certainty that their nation will collapse under the weight of Trump’s insatiable ego, they walk into arenas where they will be met with scorn, even physical retaliation. This stunningly frightful time demands more than hash tags, and these protestors have placed themselves on the front line.

That’s a lot more than Trump’s fellow GOP candidates have done. On “Meet the Press” last Sunday, Governor John Kasich of Ohio said, when asked if he would support Trump as the presidential nominee, “It’s tough.” Actually, Governor Kasich, it’s not. Likewise, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas condemns the bombastic billionaire’s bruising style, but in his next breath says he will back the party’s nominee — even if it’s the troubling GOP front-runner. Kasich and Cruz would rather save their floundering party than the nation they claim to love.

For his part, Trump told CNN that if he doesn’t get the nomination, “I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen.” That veiled threat is nothing more than a dog whistle for Trump’s rowdiest supporters.

Still, even under the risk of mayhem from those supporters, rally protesters are determined to keep that craven man with his dark dreams from running this nation into the ground. That is the essence of patriotism.

Especially after 9/11, patriotism was remade into something regressive and divisive, not unlike what extremists have done to various religions. It became flag pins and “freedom fries,” while dissent became tantamount to treason. Too many were left sputtering in enraged silence. Perhaps spurred by the success of the Black Lives Matter movement, many have found again the lasting power of voices joined in a common cause.

And that cause is to stop Donald Trump. Those who oppose him — and they will grow in number as he racks up primary and caucus wins — will not relinquish their country to the kind of made-for-television tyranny that Trump spews as easily as he breathes. A true patriot knows that for America to be great, it must be wrested away from this vain, empty man who believes in nothing but himself.

Categories: Democrats, Donald Trump, Freedom of speech, Moral equivalence, Patriotism, Republicans, Trump rallies, U.S. 2016 elections
Tags: Democrats, Donald Trump, freedom of speech, Moral equivalence, Patriotism, Republicans, Trump rallies, U.S. 2016 elections

Comments: 4 Comments

Kerry Pirouettes Halfway Out on a Limb About ISIS and Genocide

March 17, 2016

Kerry is willing to list the ways in which ISIS is horrific and to say HE THINKS it is committing genocide, but unwilling to definitively say it is.

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus Published: March 17th, 2016

Source: The Jewish Press » » Kerry Pirouettes Halfway Out on a Limb About ISIS and Genocide

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. March 17, 2016.
Photo Credit: screen capture http://www.state.gov

In a statement on Wednesday, March 17, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry went halfway out on a limb and announced that ‘in his judgment,’ ISIS is committing genocide against Yezidis and Christians and Shia Muslims and other living things.

But –fair minded man that he is — Kerry refused to say definitively that ISIS actually is committing genocide. Such a definitive statement, Kerry insisted, could only be made by an international court.

Once upon a time, our world had people — they were called “leaders” — who were not afraid to name evil, and condemn evil when they saw it. Can you imagine Churchill or Roosevelt issuing a statement that, in their opinion, the Nazis were evil, but that any definitive conclusion on the subject would have to be issued by someone else?

So if you see other reports about Kerry’s statement today, you may find headlines saying the U.S. has announced that ISIS is committing genocide. Sadly, though, Kerry did not quite say that. He said ISIS (he now calls it Daesh, its Arabic acronym) is doing lots of terrible things that the U.S. and its coalition partners detest and want to stop.

Kerry mentioned, at the outset, the taking over of major cities and seizing of territory in Syria and Iraq, committed by ISIS over the past two years. He mentioned that ISIS has overrun major cities, seized territory in Syria and Iraq.

Those are not the first things most humanitarians would list, when listing the atrocities which ISIS has committed.

Kerry then boasted about the U.S. efforts, that it “responded quickly by denouncing these horrific acts and – more importantly – taking coordinated actions to counter them.” He mentioned the international coalition which is working “to halt and reverse Daesh’s momentum.” And ticks off the coalition’s successes and actions.

Kerry boasts that the international coalition has “attacked their revenue sources, and disrupted their supply lines,” and is currently working on a diplomatic initiative to end the civil war in Syria.

Then the U.S. Secretary of State gets to the heart of his statement: how to characterize what ISIS is doing. Is it genocide? Is it simply extreme aggressiveness? Is it random killing, albeit on a large and gruesome scale?

And here it is that Kerry disappoints. He cannot bring himself to actually state: ISIS is committing genocide.

In the administration’s world of moral relativism, in that world in which legal niceties trump reality, the Secretary of State of the greatest nation in global history can only come up with: “in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.”

And then he musters a lengthy legal and factual basis for his flaccid statement. Yes, “Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions – in what it says, what it believes, and what it does. Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.”

Okay, then, but Kerry continues to hedge because heaven forbid he actually flat-out accuses ISIS of genocide. He cannot do that, you see, because there is not yet a complete record: it is “impossible to develop a fully detailed and comprehensive picture of all that Daesh is doing and all that it has done.”

Further down in his statement, Kerry lays out the the rather compelling – one would think – argument that ISIS is committing genocide, to wit, that ISIS “kills Christians because they are Christians; Yezidis because they are Yezidis; Shia because they are Shia. This is the message it conveys to children under its control. Its entire worldview is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology. There is no question in my mind that if Daesh succeeded in establishing its so-called caliphate, it would seek to destroy what remains of ethnic and religious mosaic once thriving in the region.”

Still, even after naming what it is that ISIS does, is doing and promises to continue doing, Kerry states that the opinion that he draws from all the evidence currently available does not amount to an actual and official position.

Why?

Because Team USA believes it is not worthy of making such a determination. Nope. They want a legal determination to be made by a judge or legal tribunal after all the facts are put forward, though an independent investigation.

Kerry wrote:

I want to be clear. I am neither judge, nor prosecutor, nor jury with respect to the allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing by specific persons. Ultimately, the full facts must be brought to light by an independent investigation and through formal legal determination made by a competent court or tribunal.

It isn’t as if Kerry or his staff are even vaguely unaware of all the horrors ISIS has committed and promises to continue to commit. Kerry ticks off many of them, near the end of his lengthy statement: faith-based sexual slavery, mass rape, starvation, forced dehydration, executions, forced conversions and destruction of cultural heritage treasures.

Kerry said he wanted his statement to assure the victims of ISIS that the U.S. “recognized and confirms the despicable nature of the crimes that have been committed against them.”

Recognize and confirm? Yes. Name it for what it is? Not yet.

And what is to be served by refusing to take that last final step? Nothing, except to make clear that the U.S. does not value, and therefore neither should anyone else, its ability to pass judgment.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Genocide, Kerry, Obama, Terrorism, USA

Comments: Be the first to comment

US democracy at stake amid campaign violence, major Jewish group warns

March 17, 2016

US democracy at stake amid campaign violence, major Jewish group warns American Jewish Committee appears to take on Trump a day after the Republican front-runner threatened riots at convention

By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil March 17, 2016, 8:53 pm

Source: US democracy at stake amid campaign violence, major Jewish group warns | The Times of Israel

Jews jumping on the bashing Trump band wagon also , with lies and half truths .

ASHINGTON — Threats of political violence threaten the viability of American democracy, the American Jewish Committee warned Thursday, a day after Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said that there would be “riots” if his party tried to edge him out through a brokered convention.

“I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots,” Trump said Wednesday in an interview with CNN. “I’m representing a tremendous many, many millions of people.”

Although the AJC’s statement did not mention any candidates by name, its dire warnings seemed to reflect directly on Trump’s comments.

“Violence and threats of violence have no place in American politics. There should be no threats to disrupt political rallies and no threats to disrupt a convention if a candidate is denied the nomination by his party’s convention,” the organization admonished. “Too many democracies have failed, to be replaced by autocratic governments, when violence became a sanctioned political tool, especially by those who feel disenfranchised and choose not to await ordinary change at the ballot box.”

Warning that “nothing less than the survival of American democracy is at stake,” the AJC emphasized that “we hope that the violence seen so far is an aberration which stops now,” and called on “those who have resorted to, or sanctioned, violence” to “repudiate it now.”

Trump’s comments regarding a scenario in which the Republican establishment would seek to nominate someone else as the GOP candidate for president were far from the first time on the campaign trail that the brash businessman was seen as giving a nod to violence.

During a Fayetteville, NC rally, a non-violent protester was sucker-punched by a Trump supporter. As protesters were removed from the event, Trump himself told backers that “in the good old days this didn’t use to happen, because they used to treat them very rough. We’ve become very weak.”

Last week, a major campaign event in Chicago teetered on the brink of becoming an all-out melee when fistfights erupted between protesters and supporters.

Journalists and protesters alike have complained on a number of occasions that they have been victims of physical violence from Trump’s supporters and even senior staff members.

On multiple occasions, Trump suggested that the violence was due to agents provocateur in the crowds.

The AJC warned that such incidents could be a slippery slope.

“We do not draw analogies to the rise of communism and fascism lightly, but both of those tyrannical movements rose to power replacing democratically elected governments, by virtue of threats of, or actual, violence against their opponents,” the organization said.

The statement emphasized that the AJC is “strictly non-partisan” and “abstains from taking stands on candidates and is content to let the electoral processes play out. “But when the process is infected with threats of violence and disruption, it is not a candidate at issue; it is the viability of democracy itself.”

AJC Executive Director David Harris (Olivier Fitoussi/AJC)

As a non-partisan advocacy organization with a 501c3 tax status, the AJC does not – and in fact cannot – endorse or oppose candidates for elected office.

“Would AJC meet with Donald Trump? Yes, we would,” the group’s head, David Harris, answered in response to a Times of Israel query. “He is a leading candidate for the highest office in the land and, as an agency deeply involved in public policy issues, we would be absolutely remiss if we didn’t avail ourselves of such an opportunity to meet.”

Still, Harris continued, “while we are strictly non-partisan, it doesn’t render us mute in an election.

“We speak out on policies, not parties, and on issues, not individuals. For example, we stand for a healthy, respectful American pluralism, a robust US-Israel relationship, and strong American global leadership,” he added. “If those core principles are challenged by any of the candidates, then we won’t hesitate to reaffirm our views in favor of these principles, as we have in the past.”

The AJC’s statement came amid an impassioned debate in the American Jewish community around Trump’s plans to address an audience of over 18,000 next Monday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Donald Trump

Comments: 2 Comments

Trump opens Pandora’s box in US – Global Times

March 17, 2016

Trump opens Pandora’s box in US Source:

Global Times Published: 2016-3-14 0:40:36

Source: Trump opens Pandora’s box in US – Global Times

China jumps on the demonizing Trump band wagon, Trump touch a Chinese nerve !

Donald Trump, front-runner to be the GOP’s candidate for the upcoming US presidential election, encountered a major protest at his campaign event in Chicago on Friday evening. Over a thousand people, both his supporters and opponents engaged in a physical confrontation, which was quelled by police who arrested a number of people.

Fist fights among voters who have different political orientations is quite common in developing countries during election seasons. Now, a similar show is shockingly staged in the US, which boasts one of the most developed and mature democratic election systems.

Trump’s mischief has overthrown a lot of conventional norms of US political life.

His remarks are abusively racist and extremist, which has left an impression on the US public that he is intentionally overthrowing political correctness.

Trump’s rise was not anticipated by most analysts and observers. At the beginning of the election, Trump, a rich, narcissist and inflammatory candidate, was only treated as an underdog. His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters’ attention to the GOP. However, knocking down most other promising candidates, the clown is now the biggest dark horse.

Trump is the last option for the GOP establishment. If he wins the primaries, the GOP will face a bitter dilemma. On the one hand, it will be a big compromise to GOP values, and the party takes a major risk of losing the game if they choose Trump as their candidate for president; on the other hand, if the GOP refuses to choose Trump, he might run as an independent candidate and split the vote, in which case, the GOP will also stand no chance in the final game.

The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora’s box in US society. Trump’s supporters are mostly lower-class whites, and they lost a lot after the 2008 financial crisis. The US used to have the largest and most stable middle class in the Western world, but many are going down.

That’s when Trump emerged. Big-mouthed, anti-traditional, abusively forthright, he is a perfect populist that could easily provoke the public. Despite candidates’ promises, Americans know elections cannot really change their lives. Then, why not support Trump and vent their spleen?

The rise of a racist in the US political arena worries the whole world. Usually, the tempo of the evolution of US politics can be predicted, while Trump’s ascent indicates all possibilities and unpredictability. He has even been called another Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler by some Western media.

Mussolini and Hitler came to power through elections, a heavy lesson for Western democracy. Now, most analysts believe the US election system will stop Trump from being president eventually. The process will be scary but not dangerous.

Even if Trump is simply a false alarm, the impact has already left a dent. The US faces the prospect of an institutional failure, which might be triggered by a growing mass of real-life problems.

The US had better watch itself for not being a source of destructive forces against world peace, more than pointing fingers at other countries for their so-called nationalism and tyranny.

Categories: Uncategorized

Comments: 1 Comment

To defend our democracy against Trump, the GOP must aim for a brokered convention

March 17, 2016

To defend our democracy against Trump, the GOP must aim for a brokered convention

By Editorial Board

March 16 at 4:41 PM

Source: To defend our democracy against Trump, the GOP must aim for a brokered convention – The Washington Post

There is no end on DEMONIZING Trump !

Defending democracy by killing the democracy, the new norm.

DONALD TRUMP’S primary victories Tuesday present the Republican Party with a stark choice. Should leaders unite behind Mr. Trump, who has collected the most delegates but may reach the convention in July without a nominating majority? Or should they do everything they can to deny him the nomination? On a political level, this may be a dilemma. As a moral question, it is straightforward. The mission of any responsible Republican should be to block a Trump nomination and election.

We do not take this position because we believe Mr. Trump is perilously wrong on the issues, although he is. His proposed tariff on Chinese imports could spark a trade war and global depression. His proposed tax plan would bankrupt the government while enriching his fellow multimillionaires. But policy proposals, however ill-formed and destructive, are not the crux of the danger.

No, Mr. Trump must be stopped because he presents a threat to American democracy. Mr. Trump resembles other strongmen throughout history who have achieved power by manipulating democratic processes. Their playbook includes a casual embrace of violence; a willingness to wield government powers against personal enemies; contempt for a free press; demonization of anyone who is not white and Christian; intimations of dark conspiracies; and the propagation of sweeping, ugly lies. Mr. Trump has championed torture and the murder of innocent relatives of suspected terrorists. He has flirted with the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists. He has libeled and stereotyped wide swaths of humanity, including Mexicans and Muslims. He considers himself exempt from the norms of democratic contests, such as the release of tax returns, policy papers, lists of advisers and other information that voters have a right to expect.

[Republicans stain themselves by sticking with Trump]

Does a respect for democracy require the Republican Party to anoint its leading vote-getter? Hardly. We are not advocating that rules be broken but that they be employed to maximum effect — to force a brokered convention and nominate a conservative candidate who respects the Constitution, or to defeat Mr. Trump in some other way. If Mr. Trump is attracting 40 percent of Republicans, who in turn represent about one-quarter of the country, that is a 10 percent slice of the population — hardly a mantle of legitimacy.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump offered what was meant as an argument for his nomination. If he reaches the convention with a lead short of an outright majority, and then fails to win, “I think you’d have riots,” Mr. Trump said. “I think you’d have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen.”

A democrat disavows violence; a demagogue wields it as a threat. The Republican Party should recognize the difference and act on it before it is too late.

Read more:

The Post’s View: GOP leaders, you must do everything in your power to stop Trump

Greg Sargent: Trump just threatened more violence again. Only this time, it’s directed at the GOP.

Seven top Republicans lay out how the GOP should respond to Trump as front-runner

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Donald Trump

Comments: 5 Comments

Trump Presidency Is a Global Threat, Economist Intelligence Unit Warns

March 17, 2016

Trump Presidency Is a Global Threat, Economist Intelligence Unit Warns

by Jon Schuppe

Source: Trump Presidency Is a Global Threat, Economist Intelligence Unit Warns – NBC News

They starting to make Trump now an international terrorist, they creating a climate wherein it is complete normal to kill him .

A British research organization has warned that a Donald Trump presidency could have a dangerous impact on the world economy, increasing the potential of Islamic terror attacks and of a trade war with Mexico and China.

The Economist Intelligence Unit released its updated global risk assessment, ranking the election of Trump a 12 on a scale of one to 25 — the same number it assigned to the possibility that jihadi terrorism would destabilize the global economy.

The firm pointed to a number of reasons, including Trump’s hostility toward free trade, his accusing China of being a “currency manipulator, his advocating the killing of terrorists’ families, and his proposal to move troops into Syria to fight ISIS and take its oil.

Image: Donald Trump Holds Campaign Town Hall In Tampa — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters Monday in Tampa, Florida. by Brian Blan / Getty Images

This appeared to be the first time the EIU had rated a presidential candidate’s election as a global risk, the firm told Politico.

“His militaristic tendencies towards the Middle East (and ban on all Muslim travel to the U.S.) would be a potent recruitment tool for jihadi groups, increasing their threat both within the region and beyond,” the EIU said.

The organization ranks risks by impact and probability. A Trump presidency bore high impact, but moderate probability, the EIU said.

The threat list. Economist Intelligence Unit

“Although we do not expect Mr. Trump to defeat his most likely Democratic contender, Hillary Clinton, there are risks to this forecast, especially in the event of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil or a sudden economic downturn,” the authors wrote.

Trump also will likely face stiff opposition in Congress, both from Democrats and Republicans, the EIU said.

That “internal bickering,” however, could weaken the country’s policymaking, the firm said.

Other global threats on the list included a “sharp economic slowdown in China,” a collapse of investment in the oil sector, the break up of the European Union, the further rise of jihadi terrorism, and Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria leading to “a new ‘cold war.'”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Also Wednesday, the Washington Post editorial board called for the Republican Party to aim for as brokered convention to prevent a Trump nomination, arguing that Trump “presents a threat to American democracy.”

“Mr. Trump resembles other strongmen throughout history who have achieved power by manipulating democratic processes,” the editorial board wrote. “Their playbook includes a casual embrace of violence; a willingness to wield government powers against personal enemies; contempt for a free press; demonization of anyone who is not white and Christian; intimations of dark conspiracies; and the propagation of sweeping, ugly lies.”

Categories: Uncategorized

Comments: 4 Comments

Trump Campaign Releases New Details About Sessions’ Role As Foreign Policy Adviser

March 17, 2016

Trump Campaign Releases New Details About Sessions’ Role As Foreign Policy Adviser

17 Mar 2016WASHINGTON D.C.

Source: Trump Campaign Releases New Details About Sessions’ Role As Foreign Policy Adviser – Breitbart

The best of the best gathering around Trump .
And we will see more coming out the coming weeks / months !

Julia Hahn

Donald Trump’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller is explaining the detailed role

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)80%

will play as chairman of Trump’s Foreign Policy Advisory Committee.

“The news that I’m here to tell you about tonight,” Miller said on The Kelly File, “is that Senator Sessions is the Chairman of his Foreign Policy Committee. And that’s a major piece of news, I mean, who’s

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97%’s guy? Who’s John Kasich’s guy?”

For first time, Miller detailed the effort Sessions has poured into this new role. “Jeff Sessions has been meeting for hours now putting together a team of foreign policy advisers, military experts, [and] intelligence experts,” Miller said. “I had a chance to speak to Sen. Sessions today and his military advisers for about half an hour before coming here and we discussed some robust foreign policy ideas.”

Miller informed viewers that Trump has “sat down with Senator Jeff Sessions and has spoken about these [foreign policy] issues at length.”

Miller also discussed the expertise Sessions would be bringing to the role: “Sessions has been for twenty years on the Armed Services Committee” and “is one of the most respected members of the Senate,” Miller said. “Anyone who knows Jeff Sessions will tell you that he is the most straight-shooting, sincere, honest, [and] frankly apolitical person that you will ever meet in Washington.”

During the interview, Miller also criticized Ted Cruz for being “reflexively interventionist.”

“If you look at the last 15 years, he [Trump] has been prescient on the major foreign policy issues that we’re facing,” Miller said. “As a businessman, he managed to see what all the people in Washington couldn’t see. He saw it with the threat of Osama bin Laden, [and] he saw it with the war in Iraq—to cite two very big examples.”

When Kelly tried to push back on this point, Miller said: “the public record shows that he was critical of it [the Iraq war] when there was support of it. And that’s a very big distinction between him and, say, Senator Cruz, who’s reflexively interventionist. And that’s a huge difference in this race.”

Kelly concluded by asking Miller about Trump’s new ad attacking Hillary Clinton. The ad features video footage from a Clinton campaign event in which she was heard barking like a dog. Kelly prefaced the ad by saying that one of the things that people “love about Donald Trump is that he’s tough.” Miller agreed and said:

Donald Trump is brilliant when it comes to getting to the weak spot, and, of course, we’ve seen it throughout this campaign… You had some very might and powerful politicians who have crumbled to nothing trying to go up against Donald Trump… so I might say that tonight he is previewing just a sampling of how he might go after Hillary Clinton in a general election.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Donald Trump

Comments: 2 Comments

Turkey’s Erdogan Goes Full-Dictator: Designates Journalists And Teachers As “Terrorists”; Arrests Lawyers

March 17, 2016

Turkey’s Erdogan Goes Full-Dictator: Designates Journalists And Teachers As “Terrorists”; Arrests Lawyers TSubmitted

by Tyler Durden on 03/17/2016 02:00 -0400

Source: Turkey’s Erdogan Goes Full-Dictator: Designates Journalists And Teachers As “Terrorists”; Arrests Lawyers | Zero Hedge

“It is not only the person who pulls the trigger, but those who made that possible who should be defined as terrorists, regardless of their title,” Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan said on Monday, in an attempt to convince parliament to include journalists, politicians, academics, and activists under the country’s anti-extremism laws.

Erdogan’s comments came a day after the latest in a string of suicide bombings ripped through Ankara, killing 34 and wounding more than 100 in Kizilay. Since then, Turkey has arrested nearly 50 people with “suspected ties” to the PKK against which Erdogan is waging a highly personal crusade.

Apparently, the President doesn’t think parliament is moving fast enough on his “request” to expand the definition of “terrorist” because in a speech on Wednesday, he effectively instructed lawmakers to get moving before also urging parliament to deal with “the issue of immunities.”

Erdogan desperately wants to prosecute HDP members who he says are guilty of “inciting terrorism.” “We must swiftly finalize the issue of immunities,” he said. “Parliament must take steps on this issue swiftly,” he added, as if the first statement was in some way unclear.

(Erdogan gets it, why don’t you?)

But frankly, we’re not even sure why he bothers parliament with these things. Erdogan is going to do whatever Erdogan wants to do. We’re talking about a man who arrested two of the country’s preeminent journalists and had the nerve to charge them with “deliberately aiding a terrorist organization” when what they were in fact doing was exposing Erdogan for… wait for it… deliberately aiding a terrorist organization.

And if that’s not absurd enough for you, there are countless other examples including an incident which saw a medical doctor put on trial for posting a picture of the President next to a picture of a fictional creature from a Tolkein novel on social media.

Turks are in fact so scared of their “leader” that just last month, a Turkish truck driver literally sued his own wife for cursing at Erdogan when he spoke on television. “I warned her,” the man later said.

True to form, Erdogan didn’t wait on parliament to expand the definition of “terrorist” before he went ahead and arrested three academics for “terrorist propaganda” after they made the mistake of publicly asking the government to stop the siege on Cizre and other cities in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

“More than 2,000 academics signed a petition in January criticizing military action in the southeast, including round-the-clock curfews aimed at rooting out PKK militants who have barricaded themselves in residential areas in southeastern cities,” Reuters notes. “The petition outraged President Erdogan, who said the academics would pay a price for their ‘treachery’“.

A few days ago, a group of lawyers made the mistake of holding a press conference to defend the academics who signed the aforementioned petition. On Tuesday, Erdogan arrested the lawyers too.

Finally, when a British citizen who teaches at Bilgi University showed up at the courthouse to support the lawyers, he was also arrested. His crime, in his own words: “I am accused because I had several invitations to Kurdish new year (celebrations on March 21) published by the HDP – the third-largest party in the Turkish parliament – in my bag.”

So there you go. Lessons learned all around we suppose.

Better still, the President says he plans to start campaigning in April for his long-planned push to expand the powers of the presidency (because clearly he’s not powerful enough). Erdogan will look to rewrite the constitution (literally) in order that it might, in Bloomberg’s words, “feature a strengthened presidency while retaining a key role for the parliament.”

Yes, “a key role for parliament,” where the third largest party is about to have their immunity stripped away so that Erdogan can prosecute the whole lot of them for being terrorists.

Erdogan, Bloomberg goes on to write, “has devoted much energy to expanding the executive role of what’s traditionally been a largely ceremonial post, arguing that strong leadership will help extend a record of economic growth [but] only holds 317 seats in the 550-member parliament, short of the 330 votes needed to take a new charter to a public vote.”

Trust us. He’ll get it to a referendum. Votes or no votes. And then he’ll rig the referendum.

Clearly, Nihat Ali Ozcan at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara (who spoke to Bloomberg) doesn’t get it: “The PKK is engaged in a direct confrontation with Erdogan with the aim of preventing him from turning his office into an executive presidency. However, Erdogan may benefit from a growing nationalist backlash in his campaign for a presidential system, as long as he maintains his crackdown on the PKK.”

Gee, do you think so?

That’s been the entire gambit since last June’s elections. Erdogan lost ground to the pro-Kurdish HDP and so, he used the war on ISIS as an excuse to deliberately restart the conflict with the PKK in order to convince the public that it needs his protection lest the entire country should descend into chaos. Three months and a whole lot of lost lives later, AKP performed better in a November redo election that Erdogan – gun to his head – was “forced” to call when the coalition building process was sabotaged fell apart in August.

We have no doubt that Erdogan will succeed one way or another in his bid to rewrite the constitution. Even if it kills him. Or wait. No. Even if it kills you.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Erdogan, PKK, Turkey

Comments: Be the first to comment

Why the F-35 May Not Be Combat-Ready Until 2022

March 17, 2016

Why the F-35 May Not Be Combat-Ready Until 2022

By Jackie Leo, The Fiscal Times

March 15, 2016

Source: Why the F-35 May Not Be Combat-Ready Until 2022 | The Fiscal Times

Israel still buying this fighter jet ?

Reuters

If you were the CEO of an airline business and got a negative report about your new, very expensive aircraft that has been in development for a number of years, what would you say to your engineering and production managers? The report highlights look like this:

Key Tests Have Been Delayed Repeatedly
Flight Controls Impact Maneuverability
Serious Safety Concerns Remain
Significant Logistics Software Problems
Deferring Cyber Security Testing Leaves Aircraft Vulnerable
Maintenance Problems Keep Aircraft Grounded
Simulation Facility Failure Threatens Testing Program

Related: 5 Attack Planes That Could Replace the A-10 Warthog

At the very least, people would be fired for incompetence and the contractors would be held accountable.

The details above are not about a commercial aircraft. They are from the latest forensic analysis of the $1 trillion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has been in flight tests for more than 10 years. Each unit costs about $100 million, and so much is money is riding on this aircraft that it’s been deemed “too big to kill.”

The F-35 was redesigned in 2004 because it weighed too much. So Lockheed Martin put the plane on a diet and shed 2,700 pounds — at a cost of $6.2 billion. In 2010, the Pentagon admitted that the F-35 program had exceeded its original cost estimates by more than 50 percent.

The delays are especially costly since pre-orders from multiple countries can’t be filled until the aircraft is combat ready.

Related: Here’s the New, Secret Warplane Everyone Will Soon Be Talking About

And now an independent watchdog group is saying that the long list of unresolved problems means that the F-35 won’t be ready for combat until 2022. The watchdog group, the well-respected Project on Government Oversight, is basing its analysis on a recent Department of Defense report that found numerous serious problems with the fifth-generation fighter.

The watchdog analysis comes after one of the three F-35 variants has already been declared combat ready. The F-35B, designed for the Marines, was declared ready to go in July 2015. However, the jet has not been used by the Marines in combat, despite plentiful opportunities in Syria and Iraq. And the Project on Government Oversight maintains that the declaration was premature, and that official testing proves that the jet is not ready for active duty. Some analysts have speculated that the Pentagon is trying to buy hundreds of planes before testing has been completed.

The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office has pushed back against the most recent analysis by the watchdog group, citing a long list of achievements for the program. The office reminded its critics that “the F-35 program is still in its developmental phase” and that there are “known deficiencies that must be corrected.” But that’s exactly the point: The plane that was supposed to be flying combat missions in 2012 is still costing taxpayers billions to develop, with no end in sight.

Categories: Uncategorized

Comments: Be the first to comment

“Muslim Jerusalem”: Turkey’s Message of “Peace” to Israel

March 17, 2016

“Muslim Jerusalem”: Turkey’s Message of “Peace” to Israel, Gatestone Institute, Uzay Bulut, March 17, 2016

♦ Turkey’s attempts at “normalizing relations with Israel” apparently do not actually aim to normalize the relations.

♦ “We do not forget Gaza and Palestine even in our dreams, let alone in negotiations. … Whatever is wrong for Palestine is also wrong for us. We discussed these issues in detail during our meetings with my dear friend, Khaled Mashaal [leader of Hamas]. This is the main objective behind the talks of normalizing ties with Israel.” – Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister of Turkey.

♦ Do Turkish government representatives also tell their Israeli colleagues that Khaled Mashaal is their “dear friend”? Do they also divulge that the only aim of the negotiations is to get compensation for the Mavi Marmara incident and to remove the “blockade” on Gaza, possibly again so that weapons to be used against Israel can come in?

Turkey’s attempts at “normalizing relations with Israel” apparently do not actually aim to normalize the relations.

As often happens in the Middle East, there are two sound-tracks going on — one perhaps in English to Israel, and one in Turkish to Turkey’s citizens. Both sound-tracks cannot be right.

On July 1, 2010, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addressed his parliament:

“Jerusalem is our issue. Contrary to what you assume, it is not a territory of Israel. According to the international law, East Jerusalem is a part of the state of Palestine and is one of the territories under occupation. Al-Aqsa Mosque is in East Jerusalem, too. Al-Aqsa Mosque is not Israeli territory and will not be. If peace happens one day, — and that is what I mean — East Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine and a meeting of the Arab league will be held there, as well. We are giving a message of peace here. Yes, there will be peace and East Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine.”

Jerusalem, he said, was a Turkish issue because of its period of Ottoman rule:

“Even the religious sites in east Jerusalem are administered according to the Ottoman ‎precedent. There is no other practice. There is no other law. The Ottoman precedent is still ‎valid.”

Then, referring to the Mavi Marmara incident, in which a Turkish flotilla, trying to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, was intercepted by Israel, he said:

“This is the first time Israel has been isolated to this extent in the world. We have seen enormous solidarity. That is why its [Israel’s] government has started to break down. It is going to break down. It is our national honor to follow the law of Turkish citizens.”

Davutoglu, foreign minister at the time of the Mavi Marmara incident, added that Turkey would continue to isolate Israel in international platforms.

Since Davutoglu became prime minister in August, 2014, his stance against Israel has not changed.

On April 26, 2015, in an AKP party rally in the province of Erzincan, he targeted Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), and alleged that Kilicdaroglu had asked earlier “Why do we not have ambassadors in Syria, Egypt and Israel?”

“Kilicdaroglu asks us a question on the side of Israel. They would be scared of asking questions to Israel. For their masters get instructions from them [Israelis].”

He then went on to explain his government’s criteria of forming international friendships:

“One: We cannot be friends with tyrants. Two: We cannot be friends with those who [stage or support] coup d’états. Three: We cannot be friends with those who trample upon human dignity. One: We are the friend of the oppressed. Two: We are defenders of liberties. Three: We always say justice.

“As long as Israel persecutes Gaza, as long as it enters Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa Mosque with its combat boots, our becoming friends with Israel is out of the question. We will not be [their friend].”

Earlier on July 18, 2014, Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the CHP, had criticized Erdogan for not keeping promises about Gaza:

“Erdogan made an announcement after the Mavi Marmara incident: ‘I will go to Gaza in April.’ Then he said, ‘I will go to Gaza but not in April, in May.’ But it did not happen again. Then John Kerry told him: ‘Do not go to Gaza. Then Erdogan made another announcement: ‘The statement of Kerry was not nice. The date has been set. I will go to Gaza.” How many Junes have passed? Is the prime ministry of the Turkish republic so cheap?”

Even if you join the chorus of bashing Israel publicly and continually, no bashing seems to be enough for the government authorities. What is more tragic is that Turkish political parties, the histories of all of which are filled with many massacres and ethnic cleansing campaigns against minorities, seem to be in a competition to condemn, pressure or punish Israel for defending itself.

On May 26, 2015, Davutoglu attended the opening ceremony of an airport named after Salah al-Din al-Ayubbi (“Saladin”), a Muslim sultan of Kurdish origin and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt and Syria, who invaded Jerusalem in 1187. “We decided to name this airport after Salah al-Din al-Ayubbi to say Jerusalem eternally belongs to Muslims,” Davutoglu said. “Those who say ‘Jerusalem is the holy site of Jews’ should be ashamed.”

His remarks were aimed at Selahattin Demirtas, the co-head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who had earlier said publicly that Jerusalem belongs to Jews. Then he called out to Sultan Saladin:

“Just as you said ‘Jerusalem does not belong to the Crusaders,’ be our witness that we will keep on saying Jerusalem belongs to Muslims. We have not been friends with those who entered Al-Aqsa Mosque with their combat boots. And we will not be [their friend]”.

In Istanbul, on May 30, 2015, before hundreds of thousands of people who were celebrating the 562nd anniversary of the fall of Constantinople, Davutoglu delivered another speech, targeting two of the Turkish parliament’s opposition parties and their leaders: Selahattin Demirtas, the co-head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

“Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Mavi Marmara [incident]. Demirtas asks for your votes. I am calling out to my Kurdish brothers with faith and conscience. Demirtas betrays the martyrs of Mavi Marmara and betrays Salah al-Din al-Ayubbi and says ‘Jerusalem belongs to Jews.’ How can one who votes for such a person find peace? I am also asking the candid voters of the CHP who have always held their heads up high against imperialism: How will you vote for Kilicdaroglu who does business with Israel and with those who have staged a coup in Egypt?”

Then, on December 22, 2015 Davutoglu was “suddenly” talking about the ongoing negotiations with Israel: “Talks with Israel are going on positively,” he said, “but there has not been a final solution yet.” Regarding the apology that was made by Israel to Turkey, Davutoglu said:

“The breakdown of our relations with Israel is about the incident of Mavi Marmara and the martyrdom of our dear citizens there. After the incident, we announced that we have three conditions in order to normalize our relations with Israel. Israel will apologize to Turkey; it will pay compensation to the families of martyrs, and the blockade on Gaza will be removed. The first condition was met in 2013 when Israeli PM Netanyahu made an apology. The apology was made openly and clearly and was also confirmed in writing just on the same day. The State of the Republic of Turkey has lived the honor of being the first state that has made Israel apologize for such an incident.

“The negotiations to meet other conditions are going on between the two parties [Turkey and Israel]. … Speculation made about this matter should not be taken seriously. Whatever our position was yesterday, it is the same today, and it will remain same tomorrow. Turkey insists on its demands of the compensation and the removal of the blockade on Gaza.”

From Israel’s point of view, removing the sea blockade would permit Hamas, which rules Gaza and is openly dedicated to destroying Israel, to import weapons intended for that end — the very reason the blockade was established in the first place.

As for his meeting on December 20, 2015, with Khaled Mashaal, Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, Davutoglu implied that they were on the side of their Palestinian brothers every time and everyplace:

“Turkey will keep providing limitless support for the people of Palestine. No one should have any doubt that until the free state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital is established, our support will continue.

“None could dare question our sensitivity towards the cause of Palestine. Whoever says that ‘Turkey is forgetting about the people of Gaza and is in the process of approaching Israel by ignoring its support for Palestine’ commits the biggest slander against us. We do not forget Gaza and Palestine even in our dreams, let alone in negotiations. No one can lecture us about Palestine. Whatever is wrong for Palestine is also wrong for us. We discussed these issues in detail during our meetings with my dear friend, Khaled Mashaal. This is the main objective behind the talks of normalizing ties with Israel. We would never take a step that would hurt Palestine, Gaza and we would never hesitate to take any step from which they [Palestinians] would benefit.”

1514

Cozying up to Hamas: Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu poses with Khaled Mashaal, Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau (left). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan poses with Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh (right).

Turkey — after damaging or even destroying its relations with almost all of its neighbors – is now at the door of Israel, which the Turkish government has condemned several times by referring to it as “more barbaric than Hitler” and even expressed its wish of establishing “a Muslim Jerusalem.”

Due to such negative statements regarding Israel, the Turkish public has largely been brainwashed and filled with intense prejudice against Israel. Ridding them of it will be extremely difficult.

Turkish leaders would do well to stop seeing Israel solely as a “source of weapons and trade” with whose strength and cooperation they can do anything they want while they continue to bully their neighbors and minorities.

Turkish leaders might also do well publicly to recognize the sovereignty of the state of Israel. Actually, it may even be too late for the Turkish government to make positive statements about Israel. Turkish politicians have relied so much on their anti-Israel rhetoric to get public support that many of their voters would most probably go into a rage if they heard their political representatives say something nice about Israel.

They would also do well to stop making demonizing statements about the Jewish state and saying completely different things to their Israeli colleagues than they do to the Turkish public.

Sadly, the current Turkish government does not seem to have the potential to do so.

Turkey’s attempts at “normalizing relations with Israel” seem to aim more at gaining deeper Israeli support — economic, diplomatic and military — from which to benefit; but the “not so friendly” references to Israel by Turkish officials will not stop

Do Turkish government representatives also tell their Israeli colleagues that Khaled Mashaal is their “dear friend”? Do they also divulge that the only aim of the negotiations is to get compensation for the Mavi Marmara incident and to remove the “blockade” on Gaza, possibly so that weapons to be used against Israel can come in again? Is Israel to gain nothing out of a possible normalization? More importantly, do Turkish officials openly tell their Israeli counterparts that they eventually aim to see a “Muslim Jerusalem”?

No Anatolian city is to Turks what Jerusalem is to Jews historically, culturally and theologically. What is deeply rooted in Anatolia is Christianity. What would Turkish officials think if Israeli officials also told their citizens about “reviving the Christian cities of Anatolia”?

Probably, however, neither the Jewish roots of Jerusalem nor the Christian roots of Anatolia mean anything to Davutoglu and his representatives; many Islamic extremists think that Islam has been the only true religion since the beginning of time, and they deny the authenticity of other religions.

If Turkish authorities were to aim at an honest and productive deal with Israel, as well as real peace between Arabs and Jews, they would also address the problem of Arab violence against Jews in Israel, and say that they would strive to reduce it.

Also, instead of trying to legitimize Mashaal, a genocidal terrorist leader, Davutoglu could have said: “For peace to prevail in Israel, Hamas should also change its violent ways and aim for peaceful coexistence with Israel. We are ready to do our best to bring both sides together in a non-violent way.”

Unfortunately, Davutoglu did not say anything of the kind. He talked about “the pride of making Israel apologize,” thereby revealing that Turkey’s government officials do not see this apology as just a diplomatic gesture made for the sake of compromise; they see it as one of their triumphant acts through which they insulted and subjugated the Jewish state.

If Turkey is still so fond of Hamas and is still so dedicated to its dreams of establishing a “Muslim Jerusalem,” what good could emerge from these talks with Israel?

Until a different approach in Turkey prevails, these talks and deals seem destined to bring great damage to Israel.

Categories: Israel, Turkey
Tags: Israel, Turkey

Comments: Be the first to comment

Archives