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Re: Regional geopolitics
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Re: Regional geopolitics
shet is hitting to fan so hard in turkey
Turkish police raid opposition Zaman daily HQ, unleash tear gas & water cannon on protesters
Watch the videos in the link
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Re: Regional geopolitics
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Re: Regional geopolitics
Turkey and Saudi Arabia hit back for the Obama-Putin Syrian pact
Debka
Turkey and Saudi Arabia have taken separate steps to break free from Washington’s dictates on the Syrian issue and show their resistance to Russia’s highhanded intervention in Syria. They are moving on separate tracks to signal their defiance and frustration with the exclusive pact between Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin which ostracizes Riyadh and Ankara on the Syrian question.
Turkey in particular, saddled with three million Syrian refugees (Jordan hosts another 1.4 million), resents Washington's deaf ear to its demand for no-fly zones in northern and southern Syria as shelters against Russian and Syrian air raids.
Last year, President Reccep Erdogan tried in desperation to partially open the door for a mass exit of Syrian refugees to Europe. He was aghast when he found that most of the million asylum-seekers reaching Europe were not Syrians, but Muslims from Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in search of a better life in the West. Most of the Syrians stayed put in the camps housing them in southern Turkey.
Even the Turkish intelligence agency MIT was hard put to explain this setback. According to one partial explanation, organized crime gangs of Middle East dope and arms smugglers, in which ISIS is heavily represented, seized control of the refugee traffic heading to Europe from Libya, Iraq and Syria.
This human traffic netted the gangs an estimated $1 billion.
Turkey was left high and dry with millions of Syrian refugees on its hands and insufficient international aid to supply their needs. No less painful, Bashar Assad was still sitting pretty in Damascus.
Finding Assad firmly entrenched in Damascus is no less an affront for Saudi Arabia. Added to this, the Syrian rebel groups supported by Riyadh are melting away under continuing Russian-backed government assaults enabled by the Obama-Putin “ceasefire” deal’
The oil kingdom’s rulers find it particularly hard to stomach the sight of Iran and Hizballah going from strength to strength both in Syria and Lebanon.
The Turks threatened to strike back, but confined themselves to artillery shelling of Syrian areas close to the border. While appearing to be targeting the Kurdish YPD-YPG militia moving into these areas, the Turkish guns were in fact pounding open spaces with no Kurdish presence. Their purpose was to draw a line around the territory which they have marked out for a northern no-fly or security zone.
Saturday, March 5, President Erdogan proposed building a “new city” of 4,500 square kilometers on northern Syrian soil, to shelter the millions of war refugees. He again tried putting the idea to President Obama.
The Saudi Defense Minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman put together a more high-risk and comprehensive scheme. Its dual purpose is to hit pro-Iranian Hizballah from the rear and forcied the two big powers to treat Riyadh seriously as a player for resolving the Syrian imbroglio.
The scheme hinged in the cancellation of a $4 billion Saudi pledge of military aid to the Lebanese army, thereby denying Hizballah, which is a state within the state and also dominates the government, access to Saudi funding. But it also pulled the rug from under Lebanon’s hopes for combating ISIS and Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, which have grabbed a strip of Lebanese territory in the northern Beqaa Valley.
The Saudi action, by weakening the Lebanese military and its ability to shore up central government in Beirut, risks tipping Lebanon over into another civil war.
The London Economist commented that this Saudi step against Lebanon seems “amateurish.” Under the young prince (30), “Saudi Arabia sometimes acts with bombast and violence that makes it look like the Donald Trump of the Arab World,” in the view of the magazine.
But the Saudi step had a third less obvious motive, a poke in the eye for President Obama for espousing Iran’s claim to Middle East hegemony. Resentment on this score is common to the Saudi royal house and the Erdogan government.
As a crude provocation for Washington, the Turkish president ordered police Friday, March 4, to raid Turkey’s largest newspaper Zaman, after an Istanbul court ruling placed it under government control.
The newspaper released its final edition ahead of the raid declaring the takeover a "shameful day for free press" in the country. A group of protesters outside the building was dispersed with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.
Zaman is owned by the exiled Muslim cleric Felhullah Gulen, who heads the powerful Hizmet movement, which strongly contests Erdogan government policies. A former ally of the president, the two fell out years ago. In 1999, after he was accused of conspiring to overthrow the government in Ankara, Gulen fled to the United States.
Today, the exiled cleric runs the Hizmet campaign against the Turkish president from his home in Pennsylvania, for which he has been declared a terrorist and many of his supporters arrested.
The takeover of Zaman was intended both as a blow by Ankara against Muslim circles opposed to the Erdogan regime and as an act of retaliation against the United States, for harboring its opponents and sidelining Turkey from Obama administration plans for Syria.
Oddly enough, the Turkish president finds himself in a position analogous to Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi, who is at war with the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement which enjoys Obama’s support.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has his own dilemmas. Struggling to keep his balance while walking a tight rope on the Syrian situation between Israel’s longstanding ties with Washington and handling the Russian tiger lurking next door, he is in no hurry to welcome Erdogan’s determined overtures for the resumption of normal relations.
Turkey is in trouble with both major world powers and, after living for five years under hostile abuse from Ankara, Israel does not owe Erdogan a helping had for pulling him out of the mess.Comment
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Re: Regional geopolitics
Not sure if it is the Europeans not having balls. The Turks are part of almost all major European political/economic organizations. I think it's more like they have no idea how to handle a fellow member that's gone so wrong and far off the script. The Euros don't seem as weak as the Turks seem so xxxxing uncivilized.Originally posted by Joseph View Postand then there's this:
It never ceases how much the Europeans are willing to deal with when it comes to Turkey. They have no balls.Comment
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Re: Regional geopolitics
Next American President will be faced with Turkey’s affiliation with NATO
By Brad Blankenship
08/03/2016
As we now begin to narrow in on party nominations for the upcoming presidential election, an important issue (almost entirely ignored in the Democratic debates) is foreign policy. The American foreign policy pursued during the post-war period up to the present can be described in one word: consequential. In the context of today’s global developments this cannot be overstated.
The United States has been put into a particularly indeterminate situation with the unimpeded and reckless actions of NATO-ally Turkey. The military had begun to have internal disagreements about the current policy in Syria, that Turkey had been the keystone state in facilitating, during the summer of 2013. Analogous at this time was the open concession that, in fact, an al-Qaeda affiliate called al-Nusra had found a home in Syria fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the opposition to President Assad. Prior to this, any talk of al-Qaeda in Syria had been branded a conspiracy theory, a fact that we take for granted today. Famed journalist, Seymour Hersh, wrote in the London Review of Books in January that the driving factor for resistance within the military was a classified document released by the Defense Intelligence Agency.
He writes: “The new intelligence estimate singled out Turkey as a major impediment to Obama’s Syria policy. The document showed, the adviser said, ‘that what was started as a covert US programme to arm and support the moderate rebels fighting Assad had been co-opted by Turkey, and had morphed into an across-the-board technical, arms and logistical programme for all of the opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State.
The so-called moderates had evaporated and the Free Syrian Army was a rump group stationed at an airbase in Turkey.’ The assessment was bleak: there was no viable ‘moderate’ opposition to Assad, and the US was arming extremists.” The traditional ‘moderate’ opposition has been essentially abandoned by the Pentagon, the media, and has had a very marginal mention during presidential debates for the upcoming election.
A key piece in the Washington-Ankara relationship, that has only been forwarded by the abandonment of the U.S.-backed moderates, is the ongoing conflict between the Kurds and the Turkish government that has caused deep tensions. Whereas the United States has lined up with the Kurds to combat ISIS and other radical jihadi groups, Turkey has denounced the Kurds and lead a vicious campaign against them. Even so, the Obama administration has been careful (likely disingenuous) in its support for the Kurds, instead openly supporting Kurdish groups such as the YPG (People’s Protection Unit), PYD (Democratic Union Party), and Peshmerga (Iraqi Kurds) while designating PKK (Kurdish Worker’s Party) a terrorist organization.
YPG’s alleged involvement in a bombing carried out by the PKK has lead Ankara to question Washington’s unconditional loyalty; a loyalty seemingly pledged by being bound to NATO. In December of 2015, Professor Noam Chomsky, arguably the world’s leading critic of American foreign policy, had this to say during our correspondence about Turkey: “[Turkey] is playing a very dangerous game in Syria, tacitly supporting ISIS by allowing the borders to stay open, openly supporting the al-Qaeda affiliate (al-Nusra), attacking the Kurds who are the main ground force combating ISIS and defending their own territories and more. Not a pretty picture.”
Whether or not we choose to believe the testimony of Chomsky or Hersh, there is evidence to this claim floating around social media which has been a persistent hub of narrative-shift. More importantly, we can see the relevance in these claims and their sensitivity in relation to the Turkish administration by how the government treats their press. According to Reporters Without Borders’ most recent index, Turkey ranks 149th out of 180 for press freedom.
Unfortunately, there is no clear end in sight for the terrible crackdown on free speech, as can be seen in the unfolding situation where “the state seized Koza Ipek and its media outlets, including the newspaper Bugun and television station Kanalturk, in October on suspicion of financial irregularities, prompting criticism from rights groups in Turkey and abroad.” Chomsky and other academics who denounced Turkish President Erdogan and his democratic regress in a petition earned a remark from Erdogan in which he called them “dark, nefarious, and brutal.”
Chomsky goes on to say in our correspondence to say that “so far, NATO has been silent or supportive of Turkish actions.” A few weeks before this correspondence in late November, Turkey had downed a Russian jet (an incredibly irresponsible if not totally imbecilic move) and sparked further tensions between Russia and NATO. The United States at the time had remarkably little to say about the exchange, and this event (which could have very well triggered direct conflict between the United States and Russia) has been pretty much forgotten by the press.
While we can see that this compliance was a matter of political expedience in the way Chomsky described, the current ceasefire in Syria as well as the continuing and lauded diplomatic success of John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov continue to be an annoyance to Erdogan and Ankara. No doubt the next administration will have to face a consequential choice in continuing strong ties to Ankara or not, and certainly Ankara is attempting to force this decision.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/32649/ | Al-Masdar NewsComment
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Re: Regional geopolitics
Islamic State commander Omar Shishani targeted in US strike in Syria
BBC
The US military says it targeted a top commander of so-called Islamic State in an air strike in Syria last week.
An initial assessment suggested Tarkhan Batirashvili, also known as Omar Shishani, was likely killed along with 12 other militants, officials said.
The strike took place on Friday near the north-eastern town of Shadaddi, where Shishani had reportedly been sent to bolster local IS forces.
The US had offered a $5m (£3.5m) reward for Shishani, a Georgian national.
The US defence department said his potential removal from the battlefield would negatively impact IS's ability to recruit foreign fighters and degrade its ability to co-ordinate attacks and defend its strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.Comment
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Re: Regional geopolitics
The BBC as pro turkish as ever....
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Museum of Lost Objects: The Armenian church in Deir al-Zour
By Kanishk Tharoor and Maryam Maruf
BBC News
Twenty-five years ago a new church was consecrated in the town of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria, dedicated to the Armenians killed en masse in 1915. Ironically the building erected in memory of the victims of violence has now been destroyed by bombs.
In the basement of the Armenian Martyrs' Memorial Church in Deir al-Zour lay a shrine - a sunken area filled with sand, and laid on top, a pile of human remains.
"I was so shocked. I just stood and looked at the bones," says British-Armenian writer Nouritza Matossian, who visited the church in 2001.
"Everybody was hushed, it was silent in there. We were all lost in our thoughts. It was really quite an isolated moment. It wasn't pulling at you to cry or weep. It was just very simple and dignified and noble."
A stone pillar rose up through the ceiling, into the church and up to the roof.
"I looked at this beautiful shrine and I thought, 'What an amazing idea to have taken this column which was like a tree, rooted in the ground, and take it right up through the body of the church, right up into the cupola and up into the sky,'" she says.
It was not an old building - the Syrian government had approved its construction in the 1980s and it was consecrated in 1991 in memory of Armenians who died in 1915.
Matossian's ancestors were among those caught up in the events a century ago. As the Ottoman Empire crumbled, hundreds of thousands of Armenians, mainly from eastern Anatolia, were rounded up and sent hundreds of miles away across the Syrian Desert.
Some were forced to walk, while others were taken in trains and caravans to the city of Deir al-Zour.
Matossian's grandfather, Hovhannes, on his wedding day in CyprusImage copyrightNouritza Matossian
Matossian's grandfather, Hovhannes, had already left Antep - now Gaziantep in Turkey - after an outbreak of violence in the 1890s. Although he had moved to Cyprus, the rest of his family stayed behind and were eventually deported.
They were "driven across these deserts starving, without water, stripped naked, their clothes were torn off their backs everything was taken from them," says Matossian.
"Deir al- Zour was the end of the road, it was the last Ottoman outpost into the desert in the eastern part of Syria," says Heghnar Watenpaugh, a Lebanese-Armenian historian at the University of California, Davis. "Beyond that there's really nothing, no settlements.
"Very few people made it there, and once they made it they were killed outright, or just succumbed to disease and starvation."
The Museum of Lost Objects traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria
Listen to the episode about the Armenian Memorial at Deir al-Zour on Radio 4 from 12:00 GMT on Thursday 10 March or get the Museum of Lost Objects podcast
Also in this series: The Tell of Qarqur, The Winged Bull of Nineveh, The Temple of Bel, The Lion of al-Lat, Aleppo's minaret, Mar Elian's monastery and The Genie of Nimrud.
Armenians say 1.5 million people were systematically killed. Turkey maintains the number is closer to 300,000, and denies accusations of genocide, saying that many ethnic Turks also died during World War One.
In the years that followed, Deir al-Zour became "a major pilgrimage site for Armenians," says Watenpaugh, and a shrine was finally built. But the Armenian Martyrs' Memorial Church stood for less than a quarter of a century before it was destroyed.
In 2014, it was blown up during fighting between the so-called Islamic State group and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front. The central church of the complex was almost completely demolished.
"It's a very dark moment in our life, in our history. I never thought this could be repeated," says Matossian.
Before the Syrian civil war, there were an estimated 100,000 ethnic Armenians in Syria - most of them descendants of those who survived the deportations. There were small communities in cities across the country but the majority, more than 60,000, settled in Aleppo.
For many of them Aleppo "is like a sacred word, a magical incantation," says Watenpaugh. "All of our families went through Aleppo at some point during the deportations. For some, it was a place where salvation was possible, where you could bribe your way out of the deportation or find some way to escape."
She says Armenian women were often taken by Bedouin families, sometimes willingly and sometimes by force.
"They became part of extended Bedouin households and the concubines or wives of various Bedouin men.
"Today, when Bedouin come to Aleppo on business and go to a store run by an Armenian they will often call the Armenians of Aleppo khalo - brother of my mother. That's because there is this very strong connection between the Bedouin who know that their mothers or grandmothers were Armenians."
Nouritza Matossian's great-aunt was one of the Armenian women picked up by local Bedouin. Years later, she was spotted in Aleppo.
"Our relations saw her in the bazaar, and they recognised her, they called out her name - Berjouhi," says Matossian.
"She recognized them but there were children with her, and she swept up her children and disappeared into the crowd. She was married or she was living with these people and she didn't want to leave her children behind.
"Her face was covered in tattoos. In order to assimilate them, the Bedouin made them change their religion, and they tattooed their women - it was a sort of tribal thing."
Deir al-Zour made a deep impression on Matossian and she returned to the city in 2007.
She bought a small box there inside is a tiny cross made of olive wood, two ears of wheat, two little candles, incense, and a tube of soil.
"The priest told me that that is the earth of Deir al-Zour. Some people take earth from where they're born and they spread it on their grave when they die. This soil has that significance," she says.
"I always keep this box within eyesight, on my desk. I never expected that one day I would be looking at this box and that church would be gone, destroyed. It's very hard to accept."
The Museum of Lost Objects traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria.
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Re: Regional geopolitics
In video: Syrian Army deploys new tactic to defeat rebels at strategic hilltop in Latakia
By Chris Tomson -
10/03/2016
Two days ago, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) captured the strategic mountain of Jabal Zuwayqat which overlooks Idlib province from the northeastern fringes of the Latakia governorate.
Now, Al-Masdar News is able to bring exclusive video footage from this battle in which insurgent forces were forced to retreat: As seen in the video, troops of the SAA’s reconnaissance repeatedly call upon ATGM fire support as to force Islamist rebels to pull back.
Also, according to an al-Masdar source imbedded with Syrian military in Latakia, aftermath of the battle left scores of dead Islamist rebel fighters on the battlefield; however, this footage was deemed too graphic to show.
While ATGM missiles are usually used to combat tanks, the Syrian Armed Forces in Latakia have increasingly used their heat guided missile weaponry against foot soldiers. This kind of tactical warfare is largely unseen in Syria before; however, it has proved very effective in inflicting casualties upon the enemy.
Also, due to the Latakian terrain, which is dominated by mountains and woods, tanks on both sides of the conflict have been rendered largely useless. Previously, government-held ATGM missiles in Latakia were mostly stockpiled on the Syrian coast. However, SAA commanders now seem eager to explore new usage for this highly important weaponry.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...op-in-latakia/ | Al-Masdar NewsComment
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Re: Regional geopolitics
Finally, he seems to have survived....Originally posted by Vrej1915 View PostIslamic State commander Omar Shishani targeted in US strike in Syria
BBC
The US defence department said his potential removal from the battlefield would negatively impact IS's ability to recruit foreign fighters and degrade its ability to co-ordinate attacks and defend its strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.Comment
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