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Category: Europe

  • Turkey’s Near Abroad, and Russia

    Turkey’s Near Abroad, and Russia

    ISTANBUL — In the waning days of the conflict between Russia and Georgia last month, politicians in Turkey focused elsewhere — on Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Central Asian players in regional energy markets. Turkey’s energy minister visited the two former Soviet states to discuss longterm energy strategies (Today’sZaman), just three weeks after a tentative ceasefire was inked between Moscow and Tbilisi. The meeting, which came on the heels of a costly trade dispute (Today’sZaman) with Russia over Ankara’s decision to authorize U.S. naval access to the Black Sea during the Georgia fighting, has been widely interpreted as a warning shot to Russia that Turkey “is not about to be pushed around” (Stratfor).

    Looking east in troubled times comes naturally to Turkey, which was among the first countries to recognize the independence of Central Asian states (TurkishWeekly) when they split away from the disintegrating Soviet Union in the 1990s. Under former President Turgut Ozal (1989-1993), political and economic ties between Turkey and these Turkic-brethren states took off. Since 2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) took office, a renewed focus on Central Asia has led to rising foreign investment and international trade with Turkey’s eastern neighbors.

    Turkey’s Near Abroad, and Russia – washingtonpost.com.

  • Terror inquiry proves a nice little earner

    Terror inquiry proves a nice little earner

    Police claim £5 million in overtime bonanza

    Britain’s biggest anti-terrorist investigation was a £5 million overtime bonanza seized on by police as the chance to pay for Caribbean holidays, plasma televisions and nights at The Savoy.

    The Times has seen e-mails circulated to officers across Thames Valley Police offering “premium rates” of pay to those “with a raging credit card habit”. Volunteers were told that night shifts, believed to be paid at £300 each, would give them time to “read a good book, take up botany or ornithology, study for your sergeant’s exam [or] work out the compound interest on a rest day’s pay”.

    One message, which was marked “108 shopping days to Christmas”, sought officers for Saturday shifts and said that the payments “could buy the joy and admiration of your children on Christmas morning . . . is that not priceless?”

    The internal e-mails were sent to officers across the force at the height of a big search in King’s Wood and Fennels Wood near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The work was part of Operation Overt, the inquiry into an alleged terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic airliners

    Thames Valley Police said yesterday that the e-mails were “in poor taste” and that its involvement in the operation cost the force £8 million, including £4.9 million in overtime.

    After the end of the airline plot trial last week, Andy Hayman, the former Scotland Yard officer in charge of special operations, disclosed in The Times that he had resisted pressure from Thames Valley Police Authority to stop the searches, which it said were too expensive.

    While specialist teams searched the woodland, uniformed Thames Valley officers were required to stand guard. The e-mails seeking volunteers were sent by Sergeant David Bald to colleagues in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Wolverton and Newport Pagnell.

    Mr Bald, who signed off as “Miracle Worker” in an e-mail of August 24, 2006, added: “So there you have it. Not only would you be insuring [sic] the integrity of evidence in the most important terrorist trial in the UK for 30 years (and that is reward in itself, not to mention a great PDR [personal development record] entry) but you could also afford one of the above rewards which would give you great enjoyment and satisfaction.”

    The next day he wrote: “If you’re available then please ping me an e-mail – it’ll pay off the credit card.”

    Another message was circulated on September 6 and said: “For all officers (especially those scared of the dark) I now have a significant number of day shifts available on premium rates.”

    On September 8 he said that the duties required “little effort, no paper-work and a restful time away from the stresses and strains of everyday life”.

    The disclosure comes as the police service is increasingly concerned about its image. Ian Johnston, president of the Police Superintendents’ Association, issued a warning this week that the public was losing confidence in officers.

    Home Office assessments ranked Thames Valley last year as the third-worst performing police force in Britain. A report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said that the diversion of Thames Valley’s resources to Operation Overt had “significantly depleted its operational capacity”.

    A spokesman for the force said: “The e-mails were unacceptable but do not reflect the attitude of police officers as a whole. They were misguided and written in poor taste and recalled as soon as senior officers became aware of them.”

    Hundreds of Thames Valley officers took part in Operation Overt over a six-month period. The spokesman said: “We deployed officers from their usual Thames Valley postings for 5,184 working days, at an opportunity cost of £1.4 million. This put a strain on the policing of local communities and therefore overtime at a cost of £4.9 million was used, as well as assistance from other forces at a cost of £1.9 million.”

    Sean O’Neill, Crime Editor

    The Times

    Source:

  • Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes rise in Europe

    Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes rise in Europe

    By Brian Knowlton

    WASHINGTON Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes have been rising nearly in tandem in several European countries, apparently reflecting concerns over immigration, globalization and economic ills, according to a new international survey.

    Anti-Jewish feelings were particularly strong in Spain, Poland and Russia – with negativity up significantly since 2006, according to the Pew Research Center’s polling. Anti-Muslim views were also strong in those three countries, as well as in Germany and France.

    “There is a clear relationship between anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes,” said the report from Pew, released Wednesday. “Publics that view Jews unfavorably also tend to see Muslims in a negative light.”

    Negative views of Muslims were also strong in several Asian countries: Half or more of the Japanese, Indians, Chinese and South Koreans surveyed said they had negative impressions of Muslims.

    Negative feelings about Jews were somewhat less strong, from 32 percent in India to 55 percent in China, with Japan and South Korea falling in between.

    The survey also underscored rising concerns in several predominantly Muslim countries, including Indonesia, about a struggle for dominance between Islamic fundamentalists and those favoring modernization.

    In Europe, negative views of Jews and Muslims were strongest among older people, the less educated and those of the political right.

    In some countries, including Germany, negative feelings toward Jews had risen along with favorable feelings – fewer people were left undecided.

    Moreover, positive views toward Jews outweighed negative ones in every European country surveyed but Spain.

    Still, 46 percent of the Spanish held negative opinions of Jews, as did 36 percent of Poles and 34 percent of Russians. The three countries on average were 6 points more negative than in 2006.

    “There may be some backlash toward minority groups going on in Europe as a consequence of the EU’s expansion and globalization,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. As for the Spanish, “I think they’re on the cutting edge of globalization – with Muslim immigrants” in large numbers.

    In contrast to the other countries, 77 percent of Americans held favorable views toward Jews, compared with 7 percent unfavorable. Britain stood out among Europeans, with 73 percent favorable toward Jews, compared with 9 percent unfavorable.

    Views of Muslims tended to be more negative than those of Jews.

    Fully half of the Spanish and Germans surveyed had unfavorable opinions of Muslims, as did nearly half the Poles and 32 percent of Russians.

    One in four British and American respondents had negative views of Muslims.

    There seemed to be a closer correlation with immigration and economic trends in the most negative societies than with the size of resident Jewish or Muslim populations. Germany and France have large Muslim populations, while Poland has a small one. Spain has a tiny Jewish population.

    “Some of this ethnocentricity is obviously related to attitudes toward immigration, which is a big issue,” Kohut said.

    In predominantly Muslim countries, negative views of Jews were particularly high: 96 percent in Jordan and 97 percent in Lebanon.

    Large numbers of Muslims – including majorities in Turkey and Tanzania, and nearly half of Indonesians – said that Islamic fundamentalists and modernizers were locked in struggles for dominance in their countries.

    Support for terrorism continued a six-year decline, particularly in countries that have suffered from terror attacks. In Lebanon, the view that suicide bombing was always or sometimes justified plummeted from 74 percent in 2002 to 32 percent. But significant minorities still endorse such tactics in Lebanon, Jordan and Nigeria.

    Skepticism over U.S. motives was strong in Pakistan, where tensions are high over U.S. pressure for a crackdown on Qaeda and Taliban militants, and in Turkey, which has continuing frictions with the United States over Iraq.

    The survey was conducted in March and April in 24 countries, with average samples of about 1,000 respondents in each. Statistical margins of error ranged from 2 to 4 percentage points.

    Source: International Herald Tribune, September 17, 2008

  • Georgia on Our Mind

    Georgia on Our Mind

    by Morton Abramowitz

    09.16.2008

    Whether provoked or entrapped, President Saakashvili’s folly cost the United States $1 billion and counting. But that is only money. He has changed the world in ways neither he nor the West ever dreamed. If any compensation is found to tame Putin’s Russia, it will not likely be by the actions of Western governments, but by capital fleeing from Russia and the price of energy continuing its precipitous decline. The Bush administration is a spent force with little credibility. Only a new administration might pursue a policy that has coherence, purpose, and international support. A number of issues emanating from the Georgian conflict will face the next president, including energy policy in Central Asia and power politics in NATO.

    Following the conflict in the Caucuses, the energy equation of the region has radically changed. In Georgia, even if Saakashvili survives—that appears to be in doubt and will require huge Western help—he will face unremitting enmity from Moscow. Moscow was previously too weak to prevent the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline—the East-West energy corridor—to be built. But the notion that investors will put billions of dollars into a new pipeline for gas from Central Asia through the Caucasus before Georgia’s relations with Russia are restored defies the imagination.

    In any event, gas from Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries is unlikely to be transmitted through Georgia on its way west. Georgia may be too bitter a lesson for these states. Pressure from Moscow makes it more likely that gas will continue to go through Russia onto the West or to Turkey.

    In addition to this shifting energy landscape, NATO has suffered a serious setback: Expansion of the alliance has reached a dangerous fork. Giving membership prospects to Georgia and Ukraine later this year is more likely to endanger, not strengthen them. The two countries would be under constant pressure from Russia, damaging or destroying Ukraine’s unity and Georgia’s stability. Besides, it is unlikely that consensus could be achieved on the membership issue. Turkey, for example, has few illusions about Putin’s Russia. But the Georgian war has cast doubt on Turkey’s full cooperation with the United States on Russian issues and NATO expansion. Turkey does not like Russia’s egregious intervention in the Caucasus, but is not particularly sympathetic to Shaakashvili’s Georgia either. Increasingly, the Turks are skeptical of American foreign policy management, and are not interested in getting into a hassle with Russia. Russia is Turkey’s leading trade partner and the supplier of the vast bulk of its imported energy (some $50 billion this year). The United States has expressed displeasure with Turkey’s choice of energy suppliers—Iran and Russia—but has yet to tell Ankara how they realistically propose to make up for them. Turkey can make money whether energy comes through Georgia or Russia. The Turks remain committed to NATO, but the Russian relationship is a matter of realism for Ankara—not an alliance matter—unless the Russians were to attack a NATO member. Most likely, Turkey, along with several others, will seek to postpone any potential membership offer to Georgia and Ukraine.

    Another international institution, the European Union, has also been impacted by the Georgian conflict. Although the EU is under attack in many quarters in the United States and Europe for its pusillanimous reaction to Russia’s brazen behavior in Georgia, it has the real ability to do something important for Ukraine and Georgia—namely beginning a serious process to admit these countries to the EU. One must be skeptical that the EU is actually prepared to do that. The EU also has the practical ability to do something about Russian behavior. Whether they will seriously try to or not remains to be seen. The Russians have skillfully created tensions between the “old” Europe and the “new” one.

    As for America, the Bush administration will continue to pay for Saakashvili’s battle with the Russians and give Georgia strong moral support. But with a financial system in disaster, the administration’s writ on controversial matters during their last months in office does not extend far.

    Although the next president will have many foreign-policy challenges, cleaning up after the Georgian war needs early attention. Most importantly, the United States and its allies must create an effective Russian policy. They have to sort out their relations with an angry and internationally disruptive Russia, while ensuring Russian cooperation on pressing issues, such as stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons program and energy security. Slogans and fulminations won’t do the trick.

     

    Morton Abramowitz is a former president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and senior fellow at The Century Foundation.

  • Invoking Both Kosovo and Abkhazia, Tatar Independence Movement Steps Up Its Campaign

    Invoking Both Kosovo and Abkhazia, Tatar Independence Movement Steps Up Its Campaign

    Paul Goble

    Vienna, September 16 – In advance of commemorations of the 456th anniversary of the Russian defeat and occupation of Kazan, the Tatar Ittifaq Party of National Independence this week has launched a website to ensure that its declarations and those of other Idel-Ural nations will reach a larger audience.
    The site, which is located at azatlyk-vatan.blogspot.com/, consists of three sections: current news, including a declaration posted online today concerning the upcoming anniversary; a file of earlier posts in Tatar, Russian and English; and an extensive listing of Tatar and Muslim resources on the Internet.
    In her lead post for yesterday, Fauziya Bayramova, Ittifaq’s leader and a member of the executive committee of the World Congress of Tatars, argues that the fall of Kazan to the forces of Ivan the Terrible was “the greatest tragedy in the history of the Tatars, not only extinguishing their independent statehood but opening “centuries’ long slavery” for them.
    Let no one be fooled by statements about the “sovereignty” of Tatarstan,” she writes. “Tatarstan is not an independent state and Kazan is not a Tatar city because [there] Russian laws rule. To say nothing about such historically Tatar lands as Astrakhan, Siberia and Crimea, which long ago were hopelessly russified.”
    But the Tatars of Kazan must not give up, Bayramova continues. “If we cease to struggle for independence and the right to our own bright future, the same fate awaits us, the Tatars of Idel-Ural, because Russian laws prohibit instruction in [Tatar], courses on Orthodoxy are included in the curriculum in many regions, and there is ongoing talk about the destruction of national republics and the unitarization of the Russian state.”
    “After the occupation of Kazan, the Russian empire set itself a single goal – to russify and baptize all the peoples of the empire, in the first instance the Tatars. But the empire was never able to subordinate the Tatars all the way. Even having destroyed [the Tatar] state, it could not destroy the language and religion of the Tatars or the spirit of resistance which helped the Tatars to survive as a nation.”
    The situation has continued to get worse in recent decades, the Ittifaq leader insists, and “in such conditions, we have only two ways out – to struggle for independence and having build our own Tatar state, to begin to live by our own laws or to cease to exist as an independent nation.”
    “We Tatars must choose the first path, the path of life, struggle and victory! Right is on our side!” she says. And she points to one new reason for her hopeful conclusion: shifts in the position of the West and of the Russian Federation itself concerning the recognition of the right of nations to self-determination.
    “The international community having recognizing the state independence of Kosovo, and the Russian Federation having recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” Bayramova says, “must recognize the independence of the Republic of Tatarstan! The Tatar nation has every right to live in its own independent state!”

  • Turkey, Europe, The military, and the secularists.

    Turkey, Europe, The military, and the secularists.

    Turkey and Greece were invited at the same time to join the Common Market, which later became the European Union (EU). Greece accepted the invitation and is now one of the states of the EU. Bulent Ecevit, a Social Democrat, was the Turkish Prime minister at that time. He declined, saying that “Turkey is not yet ready”. In more recent times other Turkish governments thought that they were ready and applied for membership. This time EU set unbelievable stumbling blocks before Turkey, conditions that were not asked from the other applicants. It was obvious that Europe had changed its mind about inviting Turkey. But for some inexplicable reason, Turkish governments did not want to see that.

    E u r o p e´ s V i e w s:

    Most of the EU states leaders have been officially supportive of Turkey´s membership application. Only Germany´s conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel wants that a partial membership be offered to Turkey. France´s Nicolas Sarkozy is also against granting full membership. But the European populations are generally opposed to full membership. Unofficially, Europe is dead set against Turkish membership but could not say so openly, diplomatically. In stead of saying “no” they put such conditions, so that Turkey says “no”.

    Here are statements of top EU leaders, after they retired:

    American Chronicle | Turkey, Europe, The military, and the secularists..