Category: EU Members

European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 Dec. 2004

Turkey questions its EU future as Brussels looks to Balkans

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan gestures during the Istanbul Conference of the Ministry For EU Affairs in Istanbul June 7, 2013. Turkey must investigate whether police used excessive force in a crackdown on days of anti-government demonstrations and hold those responsible to account, European Union enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said on Friday. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY – Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

03 OCTOBER 2013

Turkey has been trying for years to join the European Union, presenting itself as a growing economic and political power and a bridge to Asian and Middle Eastern markets.

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But the next country to join the EU’s existing 28 members is more likely to be one of six small Balkan countries, five of which still formed part of Yugoslavia when Turkey made its first membership bid.

Several powerful EU states are reluctant to open the door to a large, mainly Muslim country, even a member of the NATO Western military alliance, fearing a troublesome integration whereas small countries have a track record of smooth accession.

While the EU focuses its attention elsewhere, the Turkish government and public are increasingly despondent and have started to wonder whether it really needs Europe after all.

“I guess that nobody wants to say that we are not going to continue with the accession process, neither the EU nor Turkey,” said Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, Selim Yenel, speaking at a Brussels think-tank in September.

“But there will be one day in which we will have to decide on what to do about it, because this is going nowhere.”

Joining the EU can bring the benefits of easy access to the world’s largest trading bloc, free movement of workers, funding for poorer regions and infrastructure and the chance to belong to a relatively stable political union.

Over the next decade or so, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo may all be able to take advantage of those perks, following Slovenia and Croatia to a spot on the members’ list.

Meanwhile Turkey’s membership bid has been virtually frozen for three years, held back by political obstacles and resistance in some EU countries, including Germany, France and Austria.

Support for EU membership among the Turkish public fell to 44 percent this year from 73 percent in 2004, according to a recent German Marshall Fund report.

Ankara’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis said last month his country would probably never join the EU because of the attitudes of the bloc’s existing members.

GEOGRAPHY

A senior official with direct knowledge of enlargement discussions said EU leaders were not focused on Turkey which would be the most populous member, giving it the largest share of seats in the European Parliament and influence across Europe’s institutions.

via Turkey questions its EU future as Brussels looks to Balkans – Independent.ie.

October 4, 2013
Beauty contest Miss World 2013 took place in beautiful Bali

The 2013 Miss World pageant has been won by Miss Philippines, Megan Young, on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Miss France, Marine Lorphelin, came second in the contest. Miss Ghana, Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter, took third place.
Young was born in the United States and moved to the Philippines at the age of 10.
The new Miss World is a college student is an actress and presenter since she was 15.

Miss World’s 127 contestants competed in beach fashion, fitness, world fashion, talent and “Beauty with a Purpose” which was consists of charitable work.

Dance of the world

Magical scene, colorful costumes, traditional Indonesian songs, dances, show and talents of the contestants impressed viewers.

The competition was moved to Bali from the capital, Jakarta because of protests from hardliner Muslim groups, the pageant abandoned the swimsuit competition and replaced it with less-revealing beachwear and the security for Saturday’s event was very high in Bali. The event, broadcasted in 180 countries, was guarded by heavily armed police

September 30, 2013
The Troodos Conundrum

Craig Murray

The GCHQ listening post on Mount Troodos in Cyprus is arguably the most valued asset which the UK contributes to UK/US intelligence cooperation. The communications intercept agencies, GCHQ in the UK and NSA in the US, share all their intelligence reports (as do the CIA and MI6). Troodos is valued enormously by the NSA. It monitors all radio, satellite and microwave traffic across the Middle East, ranging from Egypt and Eastern Libya right through to the Caucasus. Even almost all landline telephone communication in this region is routed through microwave links at some stage, picked up on Troodos.

Troodos is highly effective – the jewel in the crown of British intelligence. Its capacity and efficiency, as well as its reach, is staggering. The US do not have their own comparable facility for the Middle East. I should state that I have actually been inside all of this facility and been fully briefed on its operations and capabilities, while I was head of the FCO Cyprus Section in the early 1990s. This is fact, not speculation.

It is therefore very strange, to say the least, that John Kerry claims to have access to communications intercepts of Syrian military and officials organising chemical weapons attacks, which intercepts were not available to the British Joint Intelligence Committee.

On one level the explanation is simple. The intercept evidence was provided to the USA by Mossad, according to my own well placed source in the Washington intelligence community. Intelligence provided by a third party is not automatically shared with the UK, and indeed Israel specifies it should not be.

But the inescapable question is this. Mossad have nothing comparable to the Troodos operation. The reported content of the conversations fits exactly with key tasking for Troodos, and would have tripped all the triggers. How can Troodos have missed this if Mossad got it? The only remote possibility is that all the conversations went on a purely landline route, on which Mossad have a physical wire tap, but that is very unlikely in a number of ways – not least nowadays the purely landline route.

Israel has repeatedly been involved in the Syrian civil war, carrying out a number of illegal bombings and missile strikes over many months. This absolutely illegal activity by Israel- which has killed a great many civilians, including children – has brought no condemnation at all from the West. Israel has now provided “intelligence” to the United States designed to allow the United States to join in with Israel’s bombing and missile campaign.

The answer to the Troodos Conundrum is simple. Troodos did not pick up the intercepts because they do not exist. Mossad fabricated them. John Kerry’s “evidence” is the shabbiest of tricks. More children may now be blown to pieces by massive American missile blasts. It is nothing to do with humanitarian intervention. It is, yet again, the USA acting at the behest of Israel.

craigmurray.org.uk

September 7, 2013
UEFA punishes Poland’s Legia for racism

LAUSANNE: According to Star, Polish top-flight club Legia Warsaw were on Wednesday ordered by UEFA to shut a stand used by its die-hard fans after racist chanting by supporters at a Champions League match.

UEFA said that Legia would have to bar fans from the north stand of the Stadion Wojska Polskiego during their Champions League play-off on Aug 27, when they face Romania’s Steaua Bucharest.

In addition, UEFA slapped a fine of 30,000 euros (RM130,100) on the club.

Nicknamed the “Zyleta“, a play on the word “razor“, the north stand is home to the most passionate and, frequently, controversial fans of the club in the Polish capital.

The regularly have fallen foul of both Polish and European football authorities, as well the club itself.

The racist incidents in question occurred during Legia’s Champions League second qualifying round victory over Welsh club The New Saints on July 23.

August 19, 2013
Ex-MI6 head ‘might air memoirs’ to set Iraq War record straight

by Joseph Fitsanakis

The former director of Britain’s external spy service has hinted he might publish his personal account of the decisions that led to Britain’s entry in the Iraq War, if he is criticized in a public inquiry on the subject. Sir Richard Dearlove led the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, known as SIS or MI6, from 1999 until his retirement in 2004. He is currently on sabbatical from his post as Master of Cambridge University’s Pembroke College, in order to research and author his autobiography. The memoir is believed to be largely preoccupied with the intelligence that led to the British government’s decision to enter the United States-led 2003 war in Iraq. Sir Richard had previously indicated that he intended to make his memoirs posthumously available as a resource to academic researchers. But in an email to British tabloid The Mail on Sunday, he hinted he would consider publishing his personal account if he finds himself criticized by the Iraq Inquiry. Known in Britain as the Chilcot Inquiry, after its Chairman, Sir John Chilcot, the Iraq Inquiry was commissioned by the British government in 2009 to investigate the executive decisions that led the country to participate in the invasion of Iraq. One of the inquiry’s many goals was to evaluate the intelligence provided by MI6 to the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair. There have been rumors that the inquiry’s declassified findings, which are scheduled for publication soon, are critical of MI6’s performance and place particular blame on Sir Richard’s role in the debacle. In his email to The Mail, the former MI6 director made clear he had “no intention, of violating [his] vows of official secrecy”. But he added that he would reconsider his decision to make his memoirs available to scholars only after his death “depending on what Chilcot publishes”. The core of Sir Richard’s dispute with Chilcot is said to center on the claim, propounded by the British government in 2003, that Iraq’s armed forces were able to fire chemical weapon missiles at British troops stationed on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This allegation, which found its way to the British press following a series of controlled leaks, largely informed the British government’s public argument in favor of joining the US war effort in Iraq. It later turned out, however, that MI6 had stressed to British government executives that the intelligence referred strictly to short-range battlefield munitions, rather than long-range weapons. Sources close to Sir Richard say he is adamant that the Chilcot inquiry should place the blame for the chemical weapons claim to Prime Minister Blair and his chief spokesperson at the time, Alastair Campbell.

IntelNews, July 26, 2013

July 27, 2013
NSA spied on EU diplomats in Washington, NY and Brussels – report

Not only European citizens, but also employees of the EU diplomatic missions in Washington and the UN were under electronic surveillance from the NSA, Der Spiegel magazine reports citing a document obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The German magazine claims to have taken a glance at parts of a “top secret” document, which reveals that US National Security Agency has placed bugs in EU offices in Washington and at the New York‘s United Nations headquarters in order to listen to conversations and phone calls.

The internal computer networks in the buildings were also under surveillance, which granted NSA access to documents and emails of the European officials.

The document, which categorically labels the European Union as a “target”, was dated September 2010, Der Spiegel says.

The magazine reports that the NSA also targeted communications at the European Council headquarters at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Belgium by calling a remote maintenance unit.

According to Der Spiegel, more than five years ago EU security officers had noticed and traced several missed calls to an area of the NATO facility in Brussels, which was used by NSA experts.

The US previously acknowledged that they were collecting data on European citizens under the PRISM program, but not on large scale, only in cases of strong suspicion of individual or group being involved in terrorism, cybercrime or nuclear proliferation.

Former NSA contractor and CIA employee, Snowden, is believed to be currently staying in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport where he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23.

The 30-year-old, who leaked details of top-secret American government mass surveillance programs to the media, is waiting for Ecuador to decide on giving him political asylum as he’s being charged with espionage in the US.

RT.com

June 29, 2013