22 Monday Dec 2014
Posted in Islamic Small Wars, Pakistan
A wounded nation on the edge of rage heard with sheer horror and disbelief as the mandated leader encapsulated the collective wisdom of the political parties in a committee that would take a week to decide what the plan of action should be. And then to ensure that no wound was deprived of any salt, Mr Sharif talked politics and joked with Imran Khan sitting next to him.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/809904/sharif-sharif-and-us/ – 12/21/2014.
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19 Friday Dec 2014
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has invited the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to Moscow next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in the second world war, the Kremlin’s spokesman said on Friday.
It would be Kim’s first foreign visit since taking the helm of the reclusive east Asian state in 2011. His personal envoy travelled to Moscow last month as part of efforts by the two Cold War-era allies to improve relations.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/19/vladimir-putin-invites-north-korea-kim-jong-un-moscow – 12/19/2014
Hollywood didn’t even dare to kill Hitler, the most evil of all dictators, during his lifetime. When Charlie Chaplin made The Great Dictator at the height of World War II, he lampooned the world’s most dangerous man without even considering the possibility of offing him.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120599/interview-sony-hack-obscures-north-korea-human-rights-abuses – 12/18/2014.
We’re in it now.
The International Club of Bad Little Boys has been mightily insulted.
You don’t even have to show the movies even though the head-vaporizing clip has been making the rounds of the web for hours.
It may be enough for the malignantly narcissistic to know what they look like in America and, perhaps, how some of their people may be perceiving them via their own private adventures across the World Wide Web.
From The Awesome Conversation (FTAC) earlier today when asked where North Korea got its madly skilled IT hackers:
KGB–>VEVAK–>SSD Russian purpose or cover has been replaced by Putin’s neo-feudalism, but, possibly, probably, old relationships persist. China (–>MSS) is also not the west’s best buddy. As regards IT in general and possibly demonstrated by Assange and Snowden, the arc of despots seems quite capable of seducing western talent as well as producing prodigious security dictatorships sophisticated in every aspect of computer science concerned with the control of information.
Say it ain’t so, if you can.
It appears to me the United States — and, in general, the open democracies — is under attack in myriad ways daily, internally via foreign investment in influencing the nation’s intellectual assets, externally through means better known to James Bond movies — and now wild cinematic sendups, temporarily suppressed (one hopes) — than to foreign affairs readers.
I revise the axis “Putin-Assad-Khamenei” (“together they are defending political absolutism”) to Putin-Assad-Khamenei-Jong-Un.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395130/tribe-liberty-jonah-goldberg – 12/20/2014.
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13 Thursday Nov 2014
The US administration must candidly introspect whether it is the St John Philby type converts in its policymaking circles, sheer naiveté and skin-deep understanding of the regional dynamics or pure political expediency that the mother load of jihadists still survive and thrive in Pakistan. What the era after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan portends for that country and South Asia will depend a lot upon such soul searching.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/13-Nov-2014/robin-raphel-the-female-philby – 11/13/2014
13 Monday Oct 2014
Americans are not victims of America.
We own America.
We work for America as Americans and whether in private industry or government, we and every neighbor is in one or the other, Main Street to Wall Street, police station to military barracks in the far reaches of the world.
Hate America, undermine America, blame America — look in the mirror.
When aid to Pakistan, domestic and military, reaches Pakistan, it’s in Pakistani hands to spend. If much of that spending gets lost, goes without audit, does not make it to The People of Pakistan, does not improve security or domestic qualities in living, we didn’t spend it: we gave it.
Secrets-keeping governments naturally inspire conspiracy thinking and paranoia. Knowing this, in the U.S., we divulge our secrets, many, most, and all across time. Some decades may pass between act and acknowledgement but the truth (here) always surfaces. Our real armies don’t wear uniforms. Sometimes they don’t even get out of their jeans and sweatshirts, but they’re up to their elbows in historical research that may be and will be examined by peers and third parties and very possibly by God Almighty himself. That knowledge tends to make everyone responsible.
Such as ISIS love ambivalence, doubt, and weakness in targets, and the degree to which the same will sacrifice others not for God but for plunder and the merciless dominance of others is breathtaking.
If you think Iraq was a mistake, look over Saddam’s palaces built on the backs of his people. Ask the Marsh Arabs about the destruction of their timeless way of life. Ask the Kurdish people about what it’s like to be gassed en masse by an implacable tyrant. Speak to the Shiite about serving the Baathist “cause”.
Really hate the west: stop taking our money, time, resources, ingenuity, and available spending. The “west” for its part could and should do better to encourage better ecological and labor practices in its trading partners plus greater insistence on democracy and human rights. Beyond that, we give — Pakistan spends. If the state has problems with itself, swap out the politicians in the next round of elections.
Whether through the sewage pumped out by the solidarity movements are loose souls wandering in the shadows of one fascist past or another, there are global “Hate America First” crowds.
When cozy, they talk, inventing words that never existed, but it makes some feel good to have a central fixture for pelting with verbal stones.
Sound like something of which you may be aware?
Well, that’s language for you. It has echoes, ghosts, mirage, murmurs, and reminders, and while it may be easy to go with so many programs that create ideas and relationships in our heads, we sometimes stop to think a moment about Iraqi poverty in the age in which Saddam Hussein maintained his palaces, and then we say “wait a minute — let’s have a closer look at how that works.”
That’s all it takes sometimes: a closer look at gross inequality, injustice, implacable will, and the numbing cruelty that accompanies them.
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26 Friday Sep 2014
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taliban with weapons roam there freely…….it seems that they are making another sawat or waziristan……no one can ask them about their activities even the tribal chief nawab is silent…..and just 100 away from killa saif ullah there comes loralai city ,a city of 5 lac population most people educated, the in loralai a young man was beheaded by taliban his video of slaughtering also came on scene…there was a letter with his body in which they had warned the people that whoever speaks against taliban would see the same fate
Posted verbatim as received 9/26/2014.
After more than a decade of effort, Taliban continue to promote and produce mayhem and murder in many districts of as yet unsecured frontiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The miscreants remain “hard to see” until they show up, and Out There they continue to show up in force and continue demonstrating ability to choreograph their assaults.
Pakistani Dawn reported a decapitation in Loralai back in June of this year, and I cannot tell whether the correspondent had that to rely or something new.
Taliban have beheaded 12 civilians and torched some 60 homes in an assault on security forces in the eastern Ghazni province, an Afghan official said.
The province’s deputy police chief Asadullah Ensafi said the Taliban have attacked several villages over the past week in the Arjistan district.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/09/26/foreign/taliban-behead-12-civilians-in-ghazni/ – 9/27/2014.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1112630 – ” Decapitated Body Found in Laralei” – 6/14/2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killa_Saifullah_District
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loralai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loralai_District
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/Balochistan/index.html – “Balochistan Assessment – 2014”.
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20 Saturday Sep 2014
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Turkish broadcaster NTV said Turkey did not pay a ransom for the hostages who were held for three months by ISIS militants.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/09/20/Turkish-hostages-seized-in-northern-Iraq-are-free.html – 9/20/2014.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is struggling to cut off the millions of dollars in oil revenue that has made the Islamic State one of the wealthiest terror groups in history but has been unable to persuade Turkey, the NATO ally where much of the oil is traded on the black market, to crack down on an extensive sales network.
In relation to “hoping the crocodile eats you last”, the definite-maybe “crocodiles” of the Islamic Small Wars may be ambivalent about whether their role is to be crocodile or the prey of one.
We’ll have to imagine the degree of leverage or rollover, either, involved in securing the 49 hostages taken by ISIS in their sweep into Mosul, Iraq.
Davutoglu said their release was the result of the Turkish intelligence agency’s “own methods”, and not a “point operation” involving special forces. He gave no further details.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/20/isis-releases-hostages-turkish-consulate-mosul – 9/20/2014..
http://www.thetower.org/1057-sale-of-smuggled-oil-to-turkey-boosting-isis-coffers/ – 9/12/2014.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/tr/business/2014/06/turkey-syria-isis-selling-smuggled-oil.html – 8/13/2014.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-makes-million-day-selling-oil-analysts/story?id=24814359 – 8/2/2014.
While the details of the hostage deal are still unclear, Ankara has had interlocutors with IS — from Arab tribes to former Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who sought refuge in Turkey — who could have been instrumental in reaching it. Such a deal, however, may include a promise of continued non-involvement in the campaign against the jihadist group, with the soldiers stationed at Suleyman Shah serving as an insurance policy for the jihadists.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/21/islamic_state_turkey_hostage – 9/21/2014.
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10 Wednesday Sep 2014
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Under perhaps the pretext of defending Turkey from ISIS, Turkish Prime Minister, now President Recept Tayyip Erdogan appears to have methodically trounced basic western values in the maintenance of open responsible and responsive governance.
When this past June ISIS took control of Turkey’s embassy in Mosul, Iraq, which site it today uses for its headquarters, and kept hostages, then Prime Minister Erdogan ordered coverage of the matter kept out of the state’s news: whatever was to happen, Turks would not be able to follow it in a free press.
When ISIS then “offered” (or ordered, for this matter also appears dark) ISIS oil in exchange for Turkish cash, it appears then Prime Minister Erdogan accepted the offer (which perhaps he could not refuse, either for defensive purposes or patently offensive ones — i.e., perhaps nothing beats hiding a venal intent behind one’s own hostages).
In the matter of NATO radar defense arrangements in Turkey, then Prime Minister Erdogan whined across months that the same not be used to protect Israel (“the only democracy in the” yada-yada and once robust trading and defense partner with Turkey).
Finally, and with unmistakable reference to anti-Semitism, now President Erdogan has refused Israel an oil pipeline westward.
Back in May: “At least 10 firms bid for Israel-Turkey gas pipeline: Report.”
Yesterday: “Turkey nixes energy partnerships with Israel.”
While Turkey may wish to look strong as a Muslim-majority state and reliable as a NATO partner, anti-Semitism itself has a reputation as a great deflector of attention away from mediocrity and weakness.
Turkey’s discomfort with NATO and its pro-Semitic western stance comes through its lax border control, which it is now being asked to address, its battering relationship with the Jewish State, and its perhaps compliant position with the Islamic State — and saying it ain’t so won’t prove it ain’t so as now President Erdogan perhaps walks down both a familiar and increasingly lonely road. He may feel enlarged, as autocrats do, by the “narcissistic supply” arranged through deflection and cultivated with pandering, but as that story grows large too in the chaos and disruption it engenders, it never ends well for the host.
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When ISIS took Turkish photojournalist Bunyamin Aygun hostage in 2013, he said the militants repeatedly told him “Turkey is next.” After the first few weeks of his detainment, he was transferred to an ISIS brigade made up of mostly Turks. “They rained curses on Erdogan, and Davutoglu, saying they were ‘infidels,’” Aygun told al-Monitor. “They claimed that if Turkey sealed the border gates that were under IS control they would hit one Turkish village after the other and trigger a civil war inside Turkey.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/nato-coalition-against-isis-turkey-role-mostly-symbolic-1680708 – 9/7/2014.
Since Turkey’s 49 consulate staff and their family members were taken hostage in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on June 11, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has taken all measures to keep the public in the dark on the issue.
Mahmut Tanal, a lawmaker from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told The Daily Beast he was trying to get an official government comment on reports saying that ISIS was exporting up to 4,000 tons of fuel to Turkey every day and earning $15 million every month from the trade. “I am expecting some answers here,” he said.
“For energy projects to proceed, the human tragedy in Gaza will have to be stopped and Israel will have to instate a permanent peace there with all elements,” Yildiz told reporters in Ankara, referring to the recent counter-terror Operation Protective Edge.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184930#.VBBOQcJdV8E -“Turkey Refuses to Transfer ‘Inhumane’ Israeli Gas to Europe” – 9/9/2014.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/zaman-isis-turkeys-mosul-consulate-headquarter-iraq.html – 7/17/2014
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/turkey-tomb-suleiman-shah-syrian-territory-pretext-incursion.html# – 3/27/2014.
An 18-vehicle convoy was dispatched to the Tomb of Suleiman Shah to rotate the troops and resupply. The convoy entered Syria from the YPG-controlled Kobani and returned via ISIS-controlled Jarablus. A Syrian Kurdish source told Al-Monitor that, as per the accord reached with the officials of the “Kobani canton” who recently visited Turkey, the YPG provided security to the Turkish army convoy while passing through Kurdish-controlled area. According to this source, the convoy was stopped by ISIS in Cadde village, three kilometers [two miles] from the tomb, after it left the Kurdish area. Since official sources kept mum on what transpired at Cadde and along the way, speculation grew.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/turkey-usa-syria-iraq-isis-coalition.html##ixzz3CvAeBuNa – 9/8/2014.
Needless to say, if Obama would find an enthusiastic NATO ally in his quest to construct a coalition to deal with IS, his attitude toward his Turkish counterpart might be different. Yet, Turkey’s reluctance in taking part in the efforts led by the United States against IS is also confirmed by Turkey’s media outlets following the Erdogan-Obama meeting.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/15/us-nato-turkey-israel-idUSBREA0E0NZ20140115 – 1/15/2014.
(Reuters) – Turkey has accepted assurances a planned NATO missile defense system in which it is playing a part is not designed to protect Israel as well, the alliance’s deputy secretary-general said on Wednesday.
Alexander Vershbow said objections by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government had resulted in part from confusion about a Turkish-hosted NATO radar. Ankara had been further assuaged by alliance Patriot anti-missile batteries assigned to protect its territory from Syria.
Related:
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http://www.worldtribune.com/2014/08/04/nato-commander-u-s-radar-turkey-wont-used-help-israel/ – 8/4/2014.
Turkey has opposed Israel’s participation in NATO exercises. Officials said Ankara was abandoning plans to improve relations with Israel.
“Normalization with Israel is a fantasy,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/umut-ozkirimli/stoking-the-fire-antisemi_b_5779302.html – 9/8/2014.
Yet something was different this time around. Something to do with the intensity and audacity of displays of anti-semitism, and the not so covert official backing they received, which was one of the talking points of the recent meeting between U.S. President Obama and Turkish President Erdoğan who discussed, according to the statement by the NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden “the importance of … combating the scourge of anti-Semitism,” among other things.
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http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703279704575335043894776482 – 6/29/2010.
Brothers in Arms
Some major Israeli arms contracts with Turkey
1997: $632 million order for Israel to outfit Turkish F4E Phantom aircraft with advanced avionics.
1998: $90 million order for Israel to provide AGM-1 and Popeye-1 missiles for the upgraded Phantoms.
2002: $687.5 million deal to upgrade Turkey’s M60-A1 tanks to Israeli Sabra-3 version, the last of which was delivered in April.
2005: $183 million deal to provide 10 Heron drones.
Note: All contracts completed except drones, which are being delivered. Source: Serdar Erdurmaz, Turkish Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies
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http://www.dailysabah.com/mideast/2014/09/10/over-40-states-combine-forces-against-isis – 9/10/2014.
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25 Sunday May 2014
Tags
Assad : al-Nusra, ISIS, etc. | Erdogan : DHKP-C ?
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Turkish police were forced to respond with rubber bullets and tear gas after coming under attack by extreme left-wing DHKP-C members in the Istanbul district of Okmeydani on Thursday.
Bystander Ugur Kurt and Ayhan Yilmaz died as a result of their injuries they sustained during the clashes, as DHKP-C members hurled grenades, Molotov cocktails and stones at police.
World Bulletin. “DHKP-C brandish guns in Istanbul riots.” May 24, 2014.
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It’s too soon — and yet never soon enough — to note the possibility of Prime Minister Erdogan’s using the surfacing of the long outlawed DHKP-C as a foil with which to ramp up the repression of more moderate democratic people’s resistance to both his potential and so far evident drift toward greater absolute authority.
As much has been accomplished by Bashar al-Assad’s uneven decisions about barrel bombing noncombatants while leaving, as author Aboud Dandachi has suggested, terrorist havens intact, the better to cast himself as the Hero of the Secular Engaged in Fighting Islamic Terrorists.
While the possible path — Putin : Assad : Syrian Resistance–> Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party – Front (DHKP/C) vs Erdogan / Turkey : NATO/US — may seem ironic in its mirrored facet, the effect may be to taint modest internal Turkish resistance to Erdogan’s authority with the vivid red brush of a faction of the New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left.
As regards the interests of the global human rights community, these games help no one; as regards the interests of dictators, letting the fox slip into the hen house may give the farmer the excuse he needs to pick up his shotgun and go in and shoot the place up.
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By April 2011, over 500 people had been taken into custody and nearly 300 formally charged with membership of what prosecutors described as “the Ergenekon terrorist organization”, which they claimed had been responsible for virtually every act of political violence—and controlled every militant group—in Turkey over the last 30 years.
Wikipedia. “Ergenekon (organization)”.
On the other hand, as regards Turkey’s deeply compartmentalized politics, the noise made in the streets — and occasional bombing — by the now and then visible DHKP/C may be just part of the chaos roiling the currents beneath the surface of comparatively calm waters.
If the reports are true, it might mean that the terrorist group, which some experts describe as long past its heyday, is seeing a revival now that the Syrian conflict has given the U.S. and Turkey new reason to cooperate on foreign policy.
Hurriyet Daily News. “DHKP/C claims responsibility for the attack on U.S. Embassy.” February 1, 2014.
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