Turkish Forum

Category: East Asia & Pacific

  • Barack Obama Is No Jimmy Carter. He’s Richard Nixon.

    Barack Obama Is No Jimmy Carter. He’s Richard Nixon.

    THE NEW REALISM

    By Michael Freedman | NEWSWEEK

    Published Apr 25, 2009
    From the magazine issue dated May 4, 2009

    Republicans have been trying to link Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter ever since he started his presidential campaign, and they’re still at it. After Obama recently shook hands with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez, GOP ideologue Newt Gingrich said the president looked just like Carter—showing the kind of “weakness” that keeps the “aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators” licking their chops.

    But Obama is no Carter. Carter made human rights the cornerstone of his foreign policy, while the Obama team has put that issue on the back burner. In fact, Obama sounds more like another 1970s president: Richard Nixon. Both men inherited the White House from swaggering Texans, whose overriding sense of mission fueled disastrous wars that tarnished America’s image. Obama is a staunch realist, like Nixon, eschewing fuzzy democracy-building and focusing on advancing national interests. “Obama is cutting back on the idea that we’re going to have Jeffersonian democracy in Pakistan or anywhere else,” says Robert Dallek, author of the 2007 book, “Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power.”

    Nixon met the enemy (Mao) to advance U.S. interests, and now Obama is reaching out to rivals like Chávez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the same reason. “The willingness to engage in dialogue with Iran is very compatible with the approach Nixon would have conducted,” says Henry Kissinger, the architect of Nixon’s foreign policy. “But we’ll have to see how it plays out.” Hillary Clinton has assured Beijing that human rights won’t derail talks on pressing issues like the economic crisis, another sign of Nixonian hard-headedness. And echoing Nixon’s pursuit of détente, Obama has engaged Russia, using a mutual interest in containing nuclear proliferation as a stepping stone to discuss other matters, rather than pressing Moscow on democracy at home, or needlessly provoking it on issues like missile defense and NATO expansion, which have little near-term chance of coming to fruition and do little to promote U.S. security. Thomas Graham, a Kissinger associate who oversaw Russia policy at the National Security Council during much of the younger Bush’s second term, says this approach by Obama, a Democrat, resembles a Republican foreign-policy tradition that dates back to the elder George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, and then even further to Nixon and Kissinger.

    It’s hard to know if such tactics will work, of course. But Obama has made clear he understands America’s limitations and its strengths, revealing a penchant for Nixonian pragmatism—not Carter-inspired weakness.

    © 2009

    Source: Newsweek, Apr 25, 2009

  • 23-24-25 April

    23-24-25 April

    The April 23 International Children’s Day Festival, April 25 Anzac Day Celebrations and the sad and baseless April 24 Commemorations

                                                      April 20, 2009     

    On April 23rd, as the Turkish World and their friends will celebrate the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day holiday, as they have done since 1920 when the Turkish Grand National Assembly was established, over a thousand young students from 50 countries will come to Turkey for the 31th International Children’s day celebrations in Izmir, joining their hosts commemorating an event in a spectacular show of peace and friendship. While annual allegations that perpetuate hatred are made by the Armenians in April every year, Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) invites children from all over the world to promote love and understanding, with hope that the children of the world live in peace. It is sad that the children from the Republic of Armenia will not be among them, enjoying the wonderful bond with students from Turkey and other countries, denied by the government of a nation which supports terrorism and perpetuates hatred. There is also a  school from the US participating this year , as there was one representation last year.

    On April 25, the Australians and the New Zealanders will travel to Gallipoli , Turkey , and hold another commemoration and dawn services at the Anzac Cove, as they do every year, and will celebrate the establishment of their states. As they pay their respects to their fallen comrades in 1915, they will read the message of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk to the parents of the Anzac soldiers, engraved in the Turkish Memorial.

    ”Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives..you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in Peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace after having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well” (1934)

    On April 24th, most Armenians in the United States and around the world will commemorate a mythical genocide, invented for the sole purpose of creating hatred against the Turks everywhere as a revenge and catalyst for the continuation of their identities and raising money for their poor country. Armenia has become the second leading per capita recipient of U.S. foreign aid, behind Israel . Many of their supporters will join them, not knowing the real truth behind their motives and without realizing that the Armenian Diaspora in the U.S. and other countries were established by the thousands who left the Ottoman Turkish lands willingly, long before the conflict and the relocation in 1915. If, as claimed 1.5 million Armenians were annihilated, the number close to the total population of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the time, where did all the people in the Diaspora come from, especially close to half a million in California?

    We should all protest this meaningless Armenian commemoration and urge everyone to speak against the meaningless Resolutions full of distortions and fabrications and convince their congressmen not to bring this to the House of Representatives or the Senate. The Armenians should read some of the books written by Greeks on the establishment of friendship and business relations between the two peoples. The Greek writer Dido Sotiriyu tells the following in her book  ”Send My Greetings to Anatolia ”: 

    ”And you, the son-in-law of  Blind Mehmet! Especially you. Why are you looking at me with revulsion on your face? Yes, I killed you, so what? And again I am crying….You killed too!  Brothers, friends, fellow countrymen… A huge generation killed each other for no reason!. The son-in-law of Blind Mehmet, send my greetings to my homeland! Send my greetings to Anatolia !. You should not feel hatred against us because we soaked your land with blood. God damn the executioners that allowed the brother kill his brother:” 

    Greeks invaded Anatolia in 1919 with the support of the Western powers, killed thousands of civilians and destroyed many villages and towns. They were defeated by the Turks under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal who spared the life of the Greek Commander Trikopis and established good relations with Venizelos, who later became the Prime Minister of Greece and nominated Mustafa Kemal Ataturk for the Nobel Peace Prize. Turks and Greeks have been able to create a sense of reconciliation and peace that benefits the people of both countries.

    Armenians rebelled against their own government following the 1878 Berlin Treaty to establish a state of their own on lands where they were not the majority and joined the Russians in the fight against the Ottomans. William Saroyan, the Armenian-American writer, the son of an Armenian from Bitlis, wrote about this episode that came closest to the above statement by his Greek colleague when he said that ‘‘The real enemy of the Armenians were the Russians, not the Turks”. Saroyan wrote many books, received the Pulitzer prize for his book on the second world war ”The Human Comedy” and told the story of the Armenian Tragedy in his short story  ”Antranik of Armenia ”. 

    The war was with the Turks of course. The other enemies were less active than the Turks, but watchful. When the time came one of these, in the name of love, not hate, accomplished in no time at all what the Turks, who were more honest, whose hatred was unconcealed, could not accomplish in hundreds of years. These were the Russians. 

    What happened between 1878 and  April 24, 1915, the day that the Armenians commemorate as Genocide Day, claiming falsely that the Turks massacred 1.5 million Armenians, was the consequences of Armenian uprisings in the eastern Anatolia while the Armenians in the western Anatolia were continuing their lives as an integral part of the Ottoman society. The Armenians, deceived by the British who promised support for esteablishing a state of their own in the east started killing Turks long before 1915 when they formed armed committees and started wholesale massacre of defenseless Turkish villagers and revolted against their own government. Some members of their committees also carried terrorist activities in Istanbul . The Ottoman Government, which had many Armenian members, retaliated and issued an order for their relocation from the sensitive areas. Many Armenians died for different reasons. These are all well documented and told by the Armenian authors in their never ending ”Memoirs”, totally ignoring the atrocities committed by themselves and the killing of innocent Moslems. Books written by the Turks and Americans like Samuel Weems tell the other side of the tragedy, which is ignored by the Armenian authors.

    Please look beyond the Armenian propaganda, first started during the late nineteenth century wave of nationalism and the first world war by the outside powers, just as Sotiriyu and Saroyan tell in their books. British Arnold Toynbee and American Ambassador Morgenthau produced misinformed and misguided documents with false statements and fabricated facts on the Armenian issue to induce the United States to enter the war on the side of the Allies, and authors like Aram Andonian and Franz Werfel wrote books based on distorted facts, admitting later that they had erred. The US Holocaust memorial Museum exhibits a fabricated quotation from Hitler on the Armenians, which is a disgrace.

    Extremist Armenians around the world and their supporters should heed the April 23rd and April 25th celebrations and stop deceiving the people of the world with fabricated Armenian Genocide commemorations on April 24, instead honor the death of everyone. Turkey and Armenia should be friends. The only path for this is through a declaration to the world that they have been lied to and that they were also responsible for the tragedy, which resulted in  killings on both sides, not by pressuring the US Congress and State Assemblies to pass resolutions proclaiming a mythical genocide. They should admit their share in the tragedies, just like Sotiriyu does in her book. Perhaps the new President of the U.S. Barack Obama will heed the truth and declare on April 24 that both sides suffered and that the past should be remembered as it actually evolved, not as it has been reconstructed by some selfish Armenians, and let its lessons guide us as we seek to build a better future for all the children of the world.

    Respectfully,

    Yuksel Oktay
    Washington, NJ

  • Global Commitments vs. Regional Balances

    Global Commitments vs. Regional Balances

    Deglobalizing U.S. military commitments will require the “civilianization” of defense policy.

    Judah Grunstein | Bio | 09 Apr 2009
    WPR Blog

    More smart stuff from Sam Roggeveen, who points out that alert is not the same thing as alarmed, but nevertheless admits to a case of nerves:

    The thing to remember is that China does not have to match the U.S. in global capability terms for U.S. allies in the Pacific to start getting nervous about the strategic balance. All China has to do is be a credible competitor in the region, and that is already the case.

    Roggeveen goes on to argue that “. . . we have already passed the point at which the U.S. could militarily intervene in a Taiwan conflict at acceptable risk,” and that the coming years/decades will witness an inexorable expansion of that perimeter.

    Click through to see what he’s got to say about whether the budget priorities as signaled by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, compared to the alternatives, are a good thing or not for Australia. You might be surprised.

    The broader point here is that while the “American unipolar moment” might be drawing to a close, we’re still the only country that is forced to calculate in terms of global, as opposed to regional, military capability. That reflects the magnitude of our power, influence and interests. But while an advantage in a scenario of geologic resource scarcity, it becomes potentially problematic in a scenario of political resource scarcity and a distinct disadvantage in times of financial resource scarcity.

    This reinforces the need for scaling down our commitments by involving regional powers more prominently in advancing our foreign policy objectives, what I call Middle Power Mojo™. France and Turkey were my illustrative examples before they both started acting out. But part of the initial concept was the idea of identifying regional players that have got their mojo working, so that’s inevitably going to evolve with time.

    Perhaps most significantly, this provides a political context for U.S. defense policy. The limitations of discussing the U.S. defense budget without the context of a strategic vision have been pointed out elsewhere. But so far, that’s mainly been shorthand for, “Wait until the Quadrennial Defense Review comes out next year,” and reinforces the militarization of foreign policy. Deglobalizing America’s defense commitments, on the other hand, will require filling gaps with both friendly capability and stable regional security architectures. And that’s more of a long-term interagency project that will “civilianize” defense policy.

    Source:  www.worldpoliticsreview.com, 09 Apr 2009

  • South Australia Passes Armenian Genocide Motion

    South Australia Passes Armenian Genocide Motion

    MEDIA RELEASE March 25, 2009

    The Peak Public Affairs Committee of the Armenian-Australian Community
    ADELAIDE: An Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) delegation was present as South Australian Parliament’s Legislative Council passed a motion recognising the Armenian Genocide as “one of the greatest crimes against humanity”.

    The motion, introduced by the Hon. David Ridgway MLC (Leader of the Liberal Opposition in Legislative Council) and seconded by the Hon. Bernard Finnigan (Member of the Labor Government in Legislative Council) went through unopposed, and sees the Upper House of South Australia’s parliament join the New South Wales parliament in condemning “the genocide of the Armenians and all other acts of genocide”.

    However this motion is unique, as it is the first to include recognition of recently-uncovered material detailing the significant humanitarian effort by the people of South Australia who aided the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide almost a century ago.

    South Australians, as part of the global Near East Relief effort, answered to calls for aid by donating clothing, money and infrastructure – an orphenage in Lebanon which housed the child survivors of the attempt by Ottoman Turkey to exterminate its Christian-Armenian minority.

    When introducing the motion a fortnight ago, a proud Mr. Ridgway said: “I would like to recognise South Australia’s role in the first major international humanitarian relief effort. As was the case for the genocide itself, that effort was not broadly publicised.”

    Mr. Ridgway added: “It goes without saying that such acts as the Armenian genocide epitomise prejudices against race, religion and culture. For most Australians those attitudes are difficult to comprehend but, unfortunately, they remain commonplace in many societies today.”

    Mr. Finnigan also addressed the house in seconding the motion: “In light of growing international awareness of the Armenian genocide – and given the horrific nature of the genocide itself – it is time for we South Australians to do our part.”

    ANC Australia Political Relations Officer, Mr. Vache Kahramanian commended Mr. Ridgway, Mr. Finnigan and their Legislative Council colleagues for recognising what he described a “proud intertwining of histories for Armenian-Australians”.

    He said: “It is fitting that South Australia is the first to honour this significant moment in Australian history – the first time this great nation came to the aid of a needy people a whole world away.”

    Mr. Kahramanian added: “It is important for nations like Australia to recognise and condemn all acts of genocide, as some – like the Armenian Genocide – remain unpunished.”

    Mr. Ridgway commended the Armenian-Australian community and ANC Australia for their excellent leadership.

    “I am grateful to be in an ongoing working relationship with the Armenian community,” he said. “The Armenian National Committee is dedicated to a campaign which advocates recognition of the genocide, and today’s motion is also a tribute to its tireless efforts on behalf of the Armenian community.”


    THE MOTION IN FULL

    That this Council recognises that the Armenian Genocide is one of the greatest crimes against humanity and –

    I. joins the members of the Armenian-Australian community in honouring the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to this genocide;

    II. condemns the genocide of the Armenians and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of racial, religious and cultural intolerance;

    III. recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated;

    IV. acknowledges the significant humanitarian contribution made by the people of South Australia to the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide; and

    V. calls on the Commonwealth Government to officially condemn the genocide of the Armenians.


    ———-YORUM – RESPONCE BY SUKRU SERVER AYA ————————-

    To: david.ridgway@parliament.sa.gov.au; finnigan@parliament.sa.gov.au
    Subject: Counter Comments For The Genocide Motion
    Att: Hon David Ridgway and Hon Bernard Finnigan,

    We’ll publish your response in full, if you care to respond

    Kind Regards

    ———————————————————-

    AVUSTRALYA ‘YA  İLK  DİREKT  CEVAP  SAHİPLERİNE  ULAŞTI –  BAKALIM CEVAP  VEREBİLECEKLER Mİ?

    Reply By Sukru Aya (Bold & Blue)

    Armenian National Committee of Australia, March 25, 2009

    ADELAIDE: An Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) delegation was present as South Australian Parliament’s Legislative Council passed a motion recognising the Armenian Genocide as “one of the greatest crimes against humanity”.

    The motion, introduced by the Hon. David Ridgway MLC (Leader of the Liberal Opposition in Legislative Council) and seconded by the Hon. Bernard Finnigan . . (Member of the Labor Government in Legislative Council) went through unopposed, and sees the Upper House of South Australia’s parliament join the New South Wales parliament in condemning “the genocide of the Armenians and all other acts of genocide”.

    However this motion is unique, as it is the first to include recognition of recently-uncovered material detailing the significant humanitarian effort by the people of South Australia who aided the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide almost a century ago.

    * Armenians in the city of Van Revolted and declared their own Republic in mid April 1915. Their (235) leaders in Istanbul was rounded up on April 24th (the day they commemorate as Genocide) and ANZAC landing started next day, on April 25th! Law of temporary relocation was enforced in late May and people in war zones or sections causing fifth column activities were sent to Southern provinces where there was no war. None was sent as south as Beirut where there was no war! Hence, Armenians in Beirut cannot claim any connection with relocation or victimization! There is no verdict or even a court case to name this past drama “genocide”. The parliament is fabricating a verdict by self-given authority!

    “The administration committee at Beirut, until the recent Cilician exodus, has been free from the more pressing problems of general relief until has been able to place large numbers of orphans in homes, thereby reducing the number of orphans in Near East Relief institutions in Syrian area to 6.775.” ( p.9 Near East Relief Report, US Congress 22.04.1922 No.192)

    South Australians, as part of the global Near East Relief effort, answered to calls for aid by donating clothing, money and infrastructure – an orphanage in Lebanon which housed the child survivors of the attempt by Ottoman Turkey to exterminate its Christian-Armenian minority.

    * There were several RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS, the largest one being U.S. Near East Relief Organization. Excerpt proves that the orphans at Beirut, were those of the Armenians who were sent to Syria-Palestine, who did not die, and went back with the British and later French troops in 1919, some in soldier uniforms. New atrocities met resistance of the people and French armies had to make peace and evacuate the lands in Sept. 1920 signing peace with Nationalist Government. The orphans in Beirut are those mentioned in the Relief Report. They have no connection whatsoever with the relocation; they were the children of those who went back to resettle again to Turkey (estimated 150 to 300.000) but decided to leave with the French army. Beirut was the transfer port of those to several countries, Egypt, Greece, France, USA etc.

    When introducing the motion a fortnight ago, a proud Mr. Ridgway said: “I would like to recognise South Australia’s role in the first major international humanitarian relief effort. As was the case for the genocide itself, that effort was not broadly publicised.”

    It is ironic that Mr. Ridgway, does not remember why the ANZACS went to Gallipoli -to fight people they had no connection,- and die there, yet building a reciprocal sentiment of chivalry, respect and decency even under warfare. The Armenians successfully collected money from all countries, to buy arms, ammunition under excuse to save victims. (Reno Evening Gazette, Oct.15, 1915: “Professional beggars who have bled their own countrymen for years and now trying to induce kindly Americans to support them, not caring whether United States would or should not be embroiled with Turkey…” . The Armenian contribution to WW1 was to be one of the largest trouble mongers, exploiting the benevolence of all other Christian nations. ANZACS did not only donate money, but they lost their lives there for unjust cause, and not this vital part but the money part of the episode is remembered!

    Mr. Ridgway added: “It goes without saying that such acts as the Armenian genocide epitomise prejudices against race, religion and culture. For most Australians those attitudes are difficult to comprehend but, unfortunately, they remain commonplace in many societies today.”

    The speaker has not read anything on the subject, other than what has been drafted to him by lobbyists and in doing so, he forgets the dramas and genocide executed to the Aborigines in their own homeland. The speaker is in no position to lecture other nations tens of thousands kilometers away. There was never any genocide or racial hatred! These charges are lie!

    Mr. Finnigan also addressed the house in seconding the motion: “In light of growing international awareness of the Armenian genocide – and given the horrific nature of the genocide itself – it is time for we South Australians to do our part.”

    Mr. Finnigan speaks of “international awareness” but not of international law and justice and right of defense. He does the mistake of supporting a huge slander, to please some politicians of Armenian ethnicity who bring their old mythological grudges all the way to Australia, to provoke societies, spreading hatred instead of compassion and tolerance.

    ANC Australia Political Relations Officer, Mr. Vache Kahramanian commended Mr. Ridgway, Mr. Finnigan and their Legislative Council colleagues for recognising what he described a “proud intertwining of histories for Armenian-Australians”.

    He said: “It is fitting that South Australia is the first to honour this significant moment in Australian history – the first time this great nation came to the aid of a needy people a whole world away.”

    These are cheap salesmanship talk. Did this person offer any condolence or respect for those ANZACS who lost their lives for no serious justification? No! Their concern has always been benefit – money for their own. Let others die, but pay!

    Mr. Kahramanian added: “It is important for nations like Australia to recognise and condemn all acts of genocide, as some – like the Armenian Genocide – remain unpunished.”

    Mr. Kahramanian is selling a fabricated lie, not even scholarly argued for the truth essence in it. This person, like his forefathers is “selling victimization”, buttering others with polished words, as long as they serve ANC’s interests only!

    Mr. Ridgway commended the Armenian-Australian community and ANC Australia for their excellent leadership.

    “I am grateful to be in an ongoing working relationship with the Armenian community,” he said. “The Armenian National Committee is dedicated to a campaign which advocates recognition of the genocide, and today’s motion is also a tribute to its tireless efforts on behalf of the Armenian community.”

    Armenian Communities are famous for their Monuments and Museums for blood and hatred. Did they ever think of contributing anything or participating one of the remembrance days held every year in Gallipoli for the ANZAC martyrs? [From Reno Evening Gazette Oct.15,1915: “. . by apocryphal tales of outrages, have procured contributions from their Armenian countrymen abroad and in this country and have lived in luxury on the proceeds for the past 30 years.”

    THE MOTION IN FULL
    That this Council recognises that the Armenian Genocide is one of the greatest crimes against humanity and –

    I. joins the members of the Armenian-Australian community in honouring the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to this genocide;

    II. condemns the genocide of the Armenians and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of racial, religious and cultural intolerance;

    III. recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated;

    IV. acknowledges the significant humanitarian contribution made by the people of South Australia to the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide; and

    V. calls on the Commonwealth Government to officially condemn the genocide of the Armenians.

    The details and justifications shown in this selfish motion, serves nothing to the interest of Australia. On the contrary it injects feud and hatred in the minds of “peaceful, well-wishing people” and exploits the Australian society’s sense of benevolence and fairness.,


    This site will publish their messages here, if they care to respond

  • A New World Order

    A New World Order

    An end of hubris

    Nov 19th 2008
    From The World in 2009 print edition

    America will be less powerful, but still the essential nation in creating a new world order, argues Henry Kissinger, a former secretary of state and founder of Kissinger Associates

    Reuters

    The most significant event of 2009 will be the transformation of the Washington consensus that market principles trumped national boundaries. The WTO, the IMF and the World Bank defended that system globally. Periodic financial crises were interpreted not as warning signals of what could befall the industrial nations but as aberrations of the developing world to be remedied by domestic stringency—a policy which the advanced countries were not, in the event, prepared to apply to themselves.

    The absence of restraint encouraged a speculation whose growing sophistication matched its mounting lack of transparency. An unparalleled period of growth followed, but also the delusion that an economic system could sustain itself via debt indefinitely. In reality, a country could live in such a profligate manner only so long as the rest of the world retained confidence in its economic prescriptions. That period has now ended.

    Any economic system, but especially a market economy, produces winners and losers. If the gap between them becomes too great, the losers will organise themselves politically and seek to recast the existing system—within nations and between them. This will be a major theme of 2009.

    America’s unique military and political power produced a comparable psychological distortion. The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union tempted the United States to proclaim universal political goals in a world of seeming unipolarity—but objectives were defined by slogans rather than strategic feasibility.

    Now that the clay feet of the economic system have been exposed, the gap between a global system for economics and the global political system based on the state must be addressed as a dominant task in 2009. The economy must be put on a sound footing, entitlement programmes reviewed and the national dependence on debt overcome. Hopefully, in the process, past lessons of excessive state control will not be forgotten.

    The debate will be over priorities, transcending the longstanding debate between idealism and realism. Economic constraints will oblige America to define its global objectives in terms of a mature concept of the national interest. Of course, a country that has always prided itself on its exceptionalism will not abandon the moral convictions by which it defined its greatness. But America needs to learn to discipline itself into a strategy of gradualism that seeks greatness in the accumulation of the attainable. By the same token, our allies must be prepared to face the necessary rather than confining foreign policy to so-called soft power.

    Every major country will be driven by the constraints of the fiscal crisis to re-examine its relationship to America. All—and especially those holding American debt—will be assessing the decisions that brought them to this point. As America narrows its horizons, what is a plausible security system and aimed at what threats? What is the future of capitalism? How, in such circumstances, does the world deal with global challenges, such as nuclear proliferation or climate change?

    America will remain the most powerful country, but will not retain the position of self-proclaimed tutor. As it learns the limits of hegemony, it should define implementing consultation beyond largely American conceptions. The G8 will need a new role to embrace China, India, Brazil and perhaps South Africa.

    The immediate challenge

    In Iraq, if the surge strategy holds, there must be a diplomatic conference in 2009 to establish principles of non-intervention and define the country’s international responsibilities.

    The dilatory diplomacy towards Iran must be brought to a focus. The time available to forestall an Iranian nuclear programme is shrinking and American involvement is essential in defining what we and our allies are prepared to seek and concede and, above all, the penalty to invoke if negotiations reach a stalemate. Failing that, we will have opted to live in a world of an accelerating nuclear arms race and altered parameters of security.

    In 2009 the realities of Afghanistan will impose themselves. No outside power has ever prevailed by establishing central rule, as Britain learnt in the 19th century and the Soviet Union in the 20th. The collection of nearly autonomous provinces which define Afghanistan coalesce in opposition to outside attempts to impose central rule. Decentralisation of the current effort is essential.

    All this requires a new dialogue between America and the rest of the world. Other countries, while asserting their growing roles, are likely to conclude that a less powerful America still remains indispensable. America will have to learn that world order depends on a structure that participants support because they helped bring it about. If progress is made on these enterprises, 2009 will mark the beginning of a new world order.

    Source: www.economist.com, Nov 19th 2008

    “New World Order” transmutes into “Age of Compatible Interest”

  • Turkish-Australian community speech of Senator Ferguson

    Turkish-Australian community speech of Senator Ferguson

    PLEASE JOIN US IN THANK YOU CAMPAIGN FOR SENATOR FERGUSON

    From: Nihat Canikli <ncanikli@yahoo.com>
    Subject: Turkish-Australian community speech
    To: senator.ferguson@aph.gov.au
    Date: Friday, March 20, 2009, 9:36 PM

    Dear Senator Ferguson,

    As a Turk living in Ankara, Turkey, I was informed of your Turkish-Australian community speech in the Senate on 18 March 2009. I would like to express that most of the Turks respect their enemies although Turks suffered a lot facing invading armies and their collaborators. As you may know, Turks and Muslims experienced massive death, exile and atrocities in the final period of Ottoman Empire. My grandfather fought in the World War I including Gallipoli front and later in the War of Independence against Greek army. In spite of all these wars and sufferings, we, Turks, do not feel hatred and animosity against our former enemies, their country and people.

    Unfortunately, most of the Greeks and Armenians continue anti-Turkish racist hate campaigns with the aim of gaining support from politicians and government officials in different parts of the world including Australia. They give a distorted picture of events in Turkey between 1915-1923. Armenians who collaborated with invading Russian army in eastern Anatolia in World War I caused mass killings of more than five hundred thousand Muslims and Greeks committed atrocities against Turks with the occupation of Greek army although those Christian communities enjoyed peace and prosperity in the Ottoman Empire for centuries.

    I thank you for your fair and objective position on the history of and modern-day Turkey. Your remarks will undoubtedly contribute a lot to the friendship of Australia and Turkey.

    With warmest regards,

    Nihat Canikli

    Ankara, Turkey

    0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    From: Turkish Consulate General Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 12:21 PM To: Turkish Consulate General Subject: Duyuru (1000 adrese dagitimli) Sayi: 1247
    Tarih: 20/03/2009

    Sayi: Melburn –  1247

    E-Konsolosluk:

    Melburn,  20 Mart 2009

    Kanberra Buyukelciligimizin girisimi ile Guney Avustralya Senatoru Alan Ferguson’un 18 Mart 2009 tarihinde Avustralya Parlamentosu’nda yaptıgı konusma:

    Senator Ferguson, gundem dısı soz alarak yaptıgı konusmada, Adelaide’daki Goc Muzesi’nde 20 Aralık 2008’de acılan “Pontus” plaketi ve bu munasebetle Guney Avustralya Eyaleti Cokkulturluluk, Adalet ve Muharip Gaziler Bakanı Atkinson’un konusmasına yonelik tepkisini ortaya koymaktadır.

    Vatandaslarimiza saygi ile duyurulur.

    T.C. Melburn Baskonsoloslugu

    Level 8, 24 Albert Road, South Melbourne  VIC  3205

    Tel: 03 9696 6046

    Fax: 03 9696 6104

    email: turkcons@bigpond.com

    000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    From: atamanatlas@hotmail.com Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 1:31 PM To: senator.ferguson@aph.gov.au Subject: RE: Your Speech on 18 March 2009 Turkish – Australian Relations
    Dear Senator Ferguson,   I have had the privilege of reading your speech in relation to the above mentioned topic in the Senate on the 18 March 2009.  I would like to convey my most heart felt gratitude to you and your family for such an inspiring speech.  One can well glean from the content, text and context of your speech that you are a man of honour and integrity, which are two very rare character traits in many politicians of the modern era.   I thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting onto the public record such important facts as you have.  I myself am a Turkish born Australian citizen and it is very rare that we as a community ever get the Australian “Fair Go” from any politician but especially the Australian Media.   I grew up in this beautiful nation of ours facing racism and continual allegations about how barbaric the Turkish race was and still is.  The political ploy employed by Pope Urban when he called on the first crusades is still alive and being used to this very date.  The most disappointing and hurtful of all is when democratically elected Politicians use the same or similar rhetoric as used by Pope Urban all those centuries ago, and the fact that the Australian Media by and large fall for it hook line and sinker.  Yet when a Turk tries to put forward their side of the story (whatever issue or topic it may be on) we are continually shut down and not heard.   This great Nation of ours needs more men and women of integrity and honour such as yourself if we are to successfully navigate through the troubled waters that lay ahead of us.  Sir I wish to mention that I was like many other Turks a committed Labor voter for many years until relatively recent times, however after your speech and dare I say the former Prime Minister Howard’s stance on the fallacious Armenian Genocide issue I will forever VOTE Liberal and I will try and convey that message to as many Turks as I can all over Australia.   Regardless of any perceived faults that Mr Howard may have had, I also admire him and his utmost honourable stance on the alleged Armenian Genocide issue which in reality cost him his seat at the last Federal Elections.  That fact has not been missed by the Australian Turkish Community.  He too could have pandered to the Armenian Voters in his former electorate like that grubby vote grabbing dishonest Maxine Mckew.  Mr Howard will always be remembered by the Australian Turkish Community as a man of principle, integrity and honour, as you will too.   The month of April is nearly upon us again, and another ANZAC Day nearing, what certain sections of the Armenian community could not achieve via acts of war, treachery, treason and terrorism, they are now trying to achieve via political means.  Like many thousands of other Australian Turks I hope that our voices will be heard one day by Australian politicians but especially the Australian Media and that we get a fair go in putting our side of the story to various issues.  Certain sections of the Armenian community are now trying to disgrace the memory of ANZAC day in this country by supposedly connecting their fallacious genocide claims with ANZAC day.  There is much that I would like to say but alas I do not wish to bore you with details.   You have provided me with great hope that my three children will grow up in an Australia that is fair and Just and that they will not face the same accusations that I faced whilst at school of coming from a barbaric race that slaughtered many millions of Armenians, Greeks and others.  We truly do live in the Luckiest Country in the world.   Sir I can not thank you enough.   My warmest regards Ataman Atlas