Category: Middle East & Africa

  • Iran president’s maiden Turkey visit to benefit declining trade cooperation

    Iran president’s maiden Turkey visit to benefit declining trade cooperation

    ANKARA: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s upcoming visit to Turkey next Monday is expected to lay a foundation for the future recovery of bilateral trade and economic cooperation that withered substantially last year.

    Trade volume between Turkey and Iran was 21.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. It dropped to 14.6 billion dollars a year later, a decline of 33 percent. And the downward trend continued throughout the first four months of this year. “The huge distortion in the trade volume partially came from gold-for-gas scheme through which Iran, pressured under the unilateral financial sanctions by Western powers, was purchasing lots of gold from Turkey to circumvent sanctions,” Mesut Cevikalp, Ankara-based analyst told Xinhua.

    “What we see now is the return of trade volume figures to a more realistic level which is still short of what we should see given the size of economies of both countries,” he added. Previously, both sides announced that they agreed to bring the annual two-way trade volume up to 30 billion dollars in 2015. Though the ambitious target seems unlikely against the backdrop of sharp trade regress, Rouhani’s maiden Turkey visit, which were delayed several times since taking office last summer, may provide a breakthrough in boosting their economic ties.

    According to Turkish media reports, both sides are expected to convene their first High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council during the visit. The Council is a kind of inter-governmental conference, which is participated by cabinet ministers and hosted by heads of governments, so as to fast-track talks, and cut bureaucratic red- tape. A high-level delegation is going to accompany the Iranian leader, whose members includes several ministers. Rouhani will meet both Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his tour.

    In Tehran this January, Erdogan and Rouhani witnessed the signing of a preferential trade agreement finally reached between the two sides after years of talks. Several agreements on trade, culture, tourism and education are expected to be inked during the Iranian president’s visit, according to some Turkish media reports. Rouhani’s visit will be first official state visit to Ankara since then President Hashemi Rafsanjani visited Turkey in 1996. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad only visited Istanbul twice. One was a working visit in 2008, while the other was because of his participation of an international conference in 2009.

    Chief among the disputed issues between the two countries is the pricing of natural gas Turkey imports from Iran. In 2012, Ankara took Tehran to an international court of arbitration over prices and quality of imported natural gas. Turkey later won the arbitration. Much of the problem in the gas trade between Tehran and Ankara derives from a “take or pay” condition that requires Turkey to import pre-determined amounts of natural gas, which is 10 billion cubic meters per year, according to a gas deal signed in August, 1996 with a 25-years-validity.

    Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz recently said his country will most likely receive more than 2 billion dollars from the lawsuit filed against Iran over gas pricing. The pricing issue is expected to come up during a discussion between Rohani and Erdogan.

    via Iran president’s maiden Turkey visit to benefit declining trade cooperation.

  • THE BEAST

    THE BEAST

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    Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and as such a war, against every man. (13/8)

     To this war of every man against every man […] nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law: where no law, no justice. (13/13)

     The Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1651)

     

    Defined by its own horror, The Beast defiles the living and the dead. Lies! Cheating! Stealing! Killing! Its toxic mouth spews division, hate and felonious encouragement. It has no interests except its own and those are all-consuming. It rules in a Hobbesian world, where every person is at war with every person and The Beast is at war with all. Consumption, greed, violence and wealth are the supreme virtues. The Beast’s police are everywhere with its deadly violence. The streets are bloody with death. The Beast has strangled justice. It rules by rules, not laws. The Beast has many backs. Media, corporations, opposition politicians, the brain-washed, the brain-dead, the needy greedy, the destructive tycoons that assassinate mountains, rivers, streams, valleys, virgin forests, farmland, the air, the sea. The Beast divides all, rages against all, slaughters all opposed to its rules. It reigns supreme in triumphant arrogance. If it pleases, even the corpses of its enemies are consumed, not by some purifying fire, but as a vengeful hate-weapon to threaten and increase its power. War is perpetual. Fear of violent death rages like a plague. The arts are destroyed.  All representations, and imagination itself, are threats to The Beast. All nature, all living and inert things are raped to satisfy its brutish appetites. Bigger, better, taller, deeper, faster, more, more, more… Society has become a vast wasted land. There is no political community. Public gatherings are attacked. Life is poor, fear-filled, nasty and brutish. Death always comes suddenly in this land called Shame. And The Beast is always pleased with its beastly work.

    301 coalminers died suddenly and violently in Soma while feeding The Beast. The Beast was not embarrassed, not at all. No one believes The Beast’s death toll. But there is another number, a horrific number that can indeed be trusted. The Beast’s mass murder left 432 children fatherless. And then The Beast came to the grieving town.  It beat and gassed the mourning families. It defiled their children. It proclaimed that its own violent mass murder was really quite comfortingly beautiful and, in beastly “truth”, inevitable and, in beastly “fact,” irrelevant. It’s to be expected, said The Beast. For what is life but death? And having finished The Beast hid from its grieving subjects in a supermarket, looking quite pleased with its beastly self.

    The other day a handful of people protested the Soma tragedy in an Istanbul section called Okmeydanı. The 15-year-old Gezi murder victim, Berkin Elvan, was memorialized. It’s an Alevite neighborhood and the Alevites are open-minded and sensible people. Of course, The Beast despises Alevites. The Beast tries to do in Turkey what it failed to do in Syria—exterminate them. So The Beast’s Police developed yet another diversionary incident. They opened fire in the street, both gas and bullets. The cops heaved a few Molotov cocktails to make it look like an attack on themselves, pure self-provocation. But it’s now an old trick—they did the same provocative deadly nonsense during Gezi Park. Predictably, chaos ensued. Gunfire filled the air. Two innocent men attending a funeral died, one in the street, one in the Cemevi, the Alevite worship house. The Beast called the protesters “ruthless.” As for the dead boy from Gezi?  “He died and it’s over,” said The Beast, adding that these “terrorists see themselves as the saviors of the world.” Such biting, irreverent sarcasm. Such malice. And again The Beast seemed pleased with itself. The Beast feeds on slander, violence and provocation.

    Such name-calling! Looters, plunderers, terrorists, atheists, anarchists, Marxist-Leninist communists, screams The Beast. They may be even Maoists! The Beast does not care how stupid it sounds. We, the opposed, are all of these and more, and proudly so. Its snarling  face, its hard, black stares, its hooded eyes baggy and black… what made such a…thing?  “You are the sperm of Israel,” shouts The Beast. What fuels The Beast’s incomparable fury? Could it be hell itself? Or something even worse?

    The Beasts’s mind rages with conspiracies. When caught in a deceit, it spews hate to create war. Its so-called police and its so-called civil police and its so-called bodyguards are just deputized street thugs, some tricked out in uniforms, all of them goons on the order of Hitler’s brownshirt street gangs. All of them praised by The Beast as heroes, saving the nation from…what? Democracy? Life itself?

    War, war, war…it’s always war with The Beast. It has many backs but The Beast rides on the backs of even bigger, master beasts. These are the master killers from beyond the sea, George W. Bush, Barack H. Obama, killers and displacers of millions. Obama even won the Nobel Peace Prize! Such beastly, hypocritically evil behavior. It’s their nature. So get used to it.

    James (Cem) Ryan
    Istanbul
    29 May 2014

     http://www.brighteningglance.org/

     

    Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security. [….] In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit therefore is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. (13/9)

    Reference: Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Oxford University Press, 2008.

     

  • Official Bilderberg 2014 Membership List Released

    Official Bilderberg 2014 Membership List Released

    Globalist confab reveals this year’s list of participants, set to attend in Copenhagen, Denmark, from May 29 – June 1, 2014

    bilderlist2014

    Current list of Participants – Status 26 May 2014

    Chairman
    FRA Castries, Henri de Chairman and CEO, AXA Group

    DEU Achleitner, Paul M. Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG
    DEU Ackermann, Josef Former CEO, Deutsche Bank AG
    GBR Agius, Marcus Non-Executive Chairman, PA Consulting Group
    FIN Alahuhta, Matti Member of the Board, KONE; Chairman, Aalto University Foundation
    GBR Alexander, Helen Chairman, UBM plc
    USA Alexander, Keith B. Former Commander, U.S. Cyber Command; Former Director, National Security Agency
    USA Altman, Roger C. Executive Chairman, Evercore
    FIN Apunen, Matti Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA
    DEU Asmussen, Jörg State Secretary of Labour and Social Affairs
    HUN Bajnai, Gordon Former Prime Minister; Party Leader, Together 2014
    GBR Balls, Edward M. Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
    PRT Balsemão, Francisco Pinto Chairman, Impresa SGPS
    FRA Baroin, François Member of Parliament (UMP); Mayor of Troyes
    FRA Baverez, Nicolas Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
    USA Berggruen, Nicolas Chairman, Berggruen Institute on Governance
    ITA Bernabè, Franco Chairman, FB Group SRL
    DNK Besenbacher, Flemming Chairman, The Carlsberg Group
    NLD Beurden, Ben van CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
    SWE Bildt, Carl Minister for Foreign Affairs
    NOR Brandtzæg, Svein Richard President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA
    INT Breedlove, Philip M. Supreme Allied Commander Europe
    AUT Bronner, Oscar Publisher, Der STANDARD Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H.
    SWE Buskhe, Håkan President and CEO, Saab AB
    TUR Çandar, Cengiz Senior Columnist, Al Monitor and Radikal
    ESP Cebrián, Juan Luis Executive Chairman, Grupo PRISA
    FRA Chalendar, Pierre-André de Chairman and CEO, Saint-Gobain
    CAN Clark, W. Edmund Group President and CEO, TD Bank Group
    INT Coeuré, Benoît Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
    IRL Coveney, Simon Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
    GBR Cowper-Coles, Sherard Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group CEO, HSBC Holdings plc
    BEL Davignon, Etienne Minister of State
    USA Donilon, Thomas E. Senior Partner, O’Melveny and Myers; Former U.S. National Security Advisor
    DEU Döpfner, Mathias CEO, Axel Springer SE
    GBR Dudley, Robert Group Chief Executive, BP plc
    FIN Ehrnrooth, Henrik Chairman, Caverion Corporation, Otava and Pöyry PLC
    ITA Elkann, John Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.
    DEU Enders, Thomas CEO, Airbus Group
    DNK Federspiel, Ulrik Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsøe A/S
    USA Feldstein, Martin S. Professor of Economics, Harvard University; President Emeritus, NBER
    CAN Ferguson, Brian President and CEO, Cenovus Energy Inc.
    GBR Flint, Douglas J. Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc
    ESP García-Margallo, José Manuel Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
    USA Gfoeller, Michael Independent Consultant
    TUR Göle, Nilüfer Professor of Sociology, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
    USA Greenberg, Evan G. Chairman and CEO, ACE Group
    GBR Greening, Justine Secretary of State for International Development
    NLD Halberstadt, Victor Professor of Economics, Leiden University
    USA Hockfield, Susan President Emerita, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    NOR Høegh, Leif O. Chairman, Höegh Autoliners AS
    NOR Høegh, Westye Senior Advisor, Höegh Autoliners AS
    USA Hoffman, Reid Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn
    CHN Huang, Yiping Professor of Economics, National School of Development, Peking University
    USA Jackson, Shirley Ann President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
    USA Jacobs, Kenneth M. Chairman and CEO, Lazard
    USA Johnson, James A. Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners
    USA Karp, Alex CEO, Palantir Technologies
    USA Katz, Bruce J. Vice President and Co-Director, Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution
    CAN Kenney, Jason T. Minister of Employment and Social Development
    GBR Kerr, John Deputy Chairman, Scottish Power
    USA Kissinger, Henry A. Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
    USA Kleinfeld, Klaus Chairman and CEO, Alcoa
    TUR Koç, Mustafa Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
    DNK Kragh, Steffen President and CEO, Egmont
    USA Kravis, Henry R. Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
    USA Kravis, Marie-Josée Senior Fellow and Vice Chair, Hudson Institute
    CHE Kudelski, André Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group
    INT Lagarde, Christine Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
    BEL Leysen, Thomas Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group
    USA Li, Cheng Director, John L.Thornton China Center,The Brookings Institution
    SWE Lifvendahl, Tove Political Editor in Chief, Svenska Dagbladet
    CHN Liu, He Minister, Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs
    PRT Macedo, Paulo Minister of Health
    FRA Macron, Emmanuel Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency
    ITA Maggioni, Monica Editor-in-Chief, Rainews24, RAI TV
    GBR Mandelson, Peter Chairman, Global Counsel LLP
    USA McAfee, Andrew Principal Research Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    PRT Medeiros, Inês de Member of Parliament, Socialist Party
    GBR Micklethwait, John Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
    GRC Mitsotaki, Alexandra Chair, ActionAid Hellas
    ITA Monti, Mario Senator-for-life; President, Bocconi University
    USA Mundie, Craig J. Senior Advisor to the CEO, Microsoft Corporation
    CAN Munroe-Blum, Heather Professor of Medicine and Principal (President) Emerita, McGill University
    USA Murray, Charles A. W.H. Brady Scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
    NLD Netherlands, H.R.H. Princess Beatrix of the
    ESP Nin Génova, Juan María Deputy Chairman and CEO, CaixaBank
    FRA Nougayrède, Natalie Director and Executive Editor, Le Monde
    DNK Olesen, Søren-Peter Professor; Member of the Board of Directors, The Carlsberg Foundation
    FIN Ollila, Jorma Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell, plc; Chairman, Outokumpu Plc
    TUR Oran, Umut Deputy Chairman, Republican People’s Party (CHP)
    GBR Osborne, George Chancellor of the Exchequer
    FRA Pellerin, Fleur State Secretary for Foreign Trade
    USA Perle, Richard N. Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
    USA Petraeus, David H. Chairman, KKR Global Institute
    CAN Poloz, Stephen S. Governor, Bank of Canada
    INT Rasmussen, Anders Fogh Secretary General, NATO
    DNK Rasmussen, Jørgen Huno Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The Lundbeck Foundation
    INT Reding, Viviane Vice President and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, European Commission
    USA Reed, Kasim Mayor of Atlanta
    CAN Reisman, Heather M. Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
    NOR Reiten, Eivind Chairman, Klaveness Marine Holding AS
    DEU Röttgen, Norbert Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, German Bundestag
    USA Rubin, Robert E. Co-Chair, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury
    USA Rumer, Eugene Senior Associate and Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
    NOR Rynning-Tønnesen, Christian President and CEO, Statkraft AS
    NLD Samsom, Diederik M. Parliamentary Leader PvdA (Labour Party)
    GBR Sawers, John Chief, Secret Intelligence Service
    NLD Scheffer, Paul J. Author; Professor of European Studies, Tilburg University
    NLD Schippers, Edith Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport
    USA Schmidt, Eric E. Executive Chairman, Google Inc.
    AUT Scholten, Rudolf CEO, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG
    USA Shih, Clara CEO and Founder, Hearsay Social
    FIN Siilasmaa, Risto K. Chairman of the Board of Directors and Interim CEO, Nokia Corporation
    ESP Spain, H.M. the Queen of
    USA Spence, A. Michael Professor of Economics, New York University
    FIN Stadigh, Kari President and CEO, Sampo plc
    USA Summers, Lawrence H. Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University
    IRL Sutherland, Peter D. Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; UN Special Representative for Migration
    SWE Svanberg, Carl-Henric Chairman, Volvo AB and BP plc
    TUR Taftalı, A. Ümit Member of the Board, Suna and Inan Kiraç Foundation
    USA Thiel, Peter A. President, Thiel Capital
    DNK Topsøe, Henrik Chairman, Haldor Topsøe A/S
    GRC Tsoukalis, Loukas President, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy
    NOR Ulltveit-Moe, Jens Founder and CEO, Umoe AS
    INT Üzümcü, Ahmet Director-General, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
    CHE Vasella, Daniel L. Honorary Chairman, Novartis International
    FIN Wahlroos, Björn Chairman, Sampo plc
    SWE Wallenberg, Jacob Chairman, Investor AB
    SWE Wallenberg, Marcus Chairman of the Board of Directors, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB
    USA Warsh, Kevin M. Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Lecturer, Stanford University
    GBR Wolf, Martin H. Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
    USA Wolfensohn, James D. Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn and Company
    NLD Zalm, Gerrit Chairman of the Managing Board, ABN-AMRO Bank N.V.
    GRC Zanias, George Chairman of the Board, National Bank of Greece
    USA Zoellick, Robert B. Chairman, Board of International Advisors, The Goldman Sachs Group

    AUT Austria GRC Greece
    BEL Belgium HUN Hungary
    CAN Canada INT International
    CHE Switzerland IRL Ireland
    CHN China ITA Italy
    DEU Germany NLD Netherlands
    DNK Denmark NOR Norway
    ESP Spain PRT Portugal
    FIN Finland SWE Sweden
    FRA France TUR Turkey
    GBR Great Britain USA United States of America

    ***

    Infowars analysis note: The official list ends above. What’s important to understand is that there are always members who will be attending, but who don’t want to be included in the list.

    Yesterday, Bilderberg put out a press release detailing the official talking points to be addressed at this year’s meeting. From our research, this is not their primary agenda, but usually one put out to appease the media:

    Copenhagen, 26 May 2014 – The 62nd Bilderberg meeting is set to take place from 29 May until 1 June 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. A total of around 140 participants from 22 countries have confirmed their attendance. As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media have been invited. The list of participants is available on www.bilderbergmeetings.org

    The key topics for discussion this year include:

    • Is the economic recovery sustainable?
    • Who will pay for the demographics?
    • Does privacy exist?
    • How special is the relationship in intelligence sharing?
    • Big shifts in technology and jobs
    • The future of democracy and the middle class trap
    • China’s political and economic outlook
    The new architecture of the Middle East
    • Ukraine
    • What next for Europe?
    • Current events

    Founded in 1954, Bilderberg is an annual conference designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. Every year, between 120-150 political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media are invited to take part in the conference. About two thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest from North America; approximately one third from politics and government and the rest from other fields.

    The conference is a forum for informal discussions about major issues facing the world. The meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor of any other participant may be revealed.

    Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights.

    There is no desired outcome, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.

    ***

    Below see Paul Joseph Watson’s latest article revealing this year’s agenda from inside sources.

    ***

    Bilderberg Agenda Revealed: Elite Desperate to Rescue Unipolar World

    Paul Joseph Watson

    The 2014 Bilderberg meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark is taking place amidst a climate of panic for many of the 120 globalists set to attend the secretive confab, with Russia’s intransigence on the crisis in Ukraine and the anti-EU revolution sweeping Europe posing a serious threat to the unipolar world order Bilderberg spent over 60 years helping to build.

    Inside sources confirm to Infowars that the elite conference, which will take place from Thursday onwards at the five star Marriott Hotel, will center around how to derail a global political awakening that threatens to hinder Bilderberg’s long standing agenda to centralize power into a one world political federation, a goal set to be advanced with the passage of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which will undoubtedly be a central topic of discussion at this year’s meeting.

    The TTIP represents an integral component of Bilderberg’s attempt to rescue the unipolar world by creating a “world company,” initially a free trade area, which would connect the United States with Europe. Just as the European Union started as a mere free trade area and was eventually transformed into a political federation which controls upwards of 50 per cent of its member states’ laws and regulations with total contempt for national sovereignty and democracy, TTIP is designed to accomplish the same goal, only on a bigger scale.

    The deal is being spearheaded by Obama’s U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, a Wall Street insider and a CFR member, Bilderberg’s sister organization. Froman is simultaneously helping to build another block of this global government, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a similar project involving Asian countries.

    Given that Bilderberg schemed to create the Euro single currency as far back as 1955 (Bilderberg chairman Étienne Davignon bragged about how the Euro single currency was a brainchild of the Bilderberg in 2009 interview), the results of the European elections are sure to have stirred outright alarm amongst Bilderberg globalists who are aghast that their planned EU superstate is being eroded as a result of a populist resistance mainly centered around animosity towards uncontrolled immigration policies.

    In Denmark itself, the buzz is centered around Morten Messerschmidt and the Danish People’s party, which won 27% of the vote in the Euro elections and doubled its number of MEPs. Although some are wary of Messerschmidt’s far right inclinations, his success reflects a general resentment not only in Denmark but across Europe towards immigration and the welfare state, concerns that the EU has only exasperated.

    Meanwhile in France, Marine Le Pen is carving out a role as the face of a conservative movement that threatens “to break up one united Europe,” with her European election win being described as an “earthquake” that has rattled the political heart of Europe.

    Voters in the United Kingdom also delivered a thumping rejection of the EU and in turn Bilderberg with the success of Nigel Farage and UKIP, a Euroskeptic triumph some are labeling the “most extraordinary” election result for 100 years.

    As well as TTIP and the fallout from the European election disaster, Bilderberg will be tackling a number of other key issues, most of which will revolve around the continued effort to centralize economic power under several different guises, including a carbon tax paid directly to the United Nations, with the financial hit being taken by individuals as big companies are granted special “waivers” that will allow them to continue to pollute.

    The rumbling crisis in Ukraine and the relationship between Russia and NATO will also be a focal point of Bilderberg 2014. Globalists now consider Vladimir Putin to have ostracized Russia from the new world order because he dared to “challenge the international system,” as John Kerry put it.

    Bilderberg will discuss fears that Putin is intent on constructing an alternative world order based around the BRICS countries, a “multi-polar” system that would devastate the dollar as the world reserve currency and also heavily dilute the current US-EU-NATO power axis.

    ***

    Note: Infowars reporters will be on the ground all this week to cover the 2014 Bilderberg Group conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

    Infowars.com | May 27, 2014

  • Why Arabs are confused on Turkey’s ethnic minorities

    Sinem Cengiz

    At a time when Ankara and the Gulf countries are at odds due to Egypt, a significant workshop on “The Future of Turkey’s Model and Role” took place in Abu Dhabi last week where Arab and Turkish intellectuals discussed future of relationship between Arab world and Turkey.

    One of the main discussions in the workshop was on the impact of minorities’ issue on Turkey’s political scene and possible effects of this issue on Turkey’s regional role.

    What I observed during the discussion of the topic was that Arab intellectuals are very much confused on the situation of the minorities in Turkey. Regarding the issue of Turkey’s Alevi community, which finds many of the government’s policies and regulations troubling, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge in the Arab side on who Alevis are, what their situation in Turkey is, and what their demands are.

    Alevi problems

    The problems of the Alevi community – constituting 15-20 percent of the Turkish population – are one of the main topics within the framework of Turkey’s democratization process that needs to be tackled.

    Arab intellectuals, who strive to understand the Alevi issue, feels that Turkey will be facing a serious challenge on the matter

    Sinem Cengiz

    The fundamental demands of Alevis in Turkey are the formal recognition of “Cemevleri” (houses for religious gathering) as Alevi places of worship by state, transformation or reform of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and the scrapping of compulsory religious classes for students. However, so far none of these demands have been addressed by the Turkish government – a situation that created anger and a disappointment by the Alevis.

    Arab intellectuals, who strive to understand the Alevi issue, feels that Turkey will be facing a serious challenge on the matter if it fails to handle it appropriately. Arab participants in brief stated that: “We believe that Turkey is a developing country that works to solve its problematic issues.”

    However, when we see the Alevi problem in the country, a deep confusion emerges towards the admiration for the Turkish model. If Turkey wants to become a regional actor, it should first be able to deal with three main issues: Alevi, Kurdish and non-Muslim minority.

    These issues should not be considered as a threat by the state rather the deadlock of these issues probably will be a threat for the future aspirations of the Turkish state in the region.”

    The Kurdish issue in Turkey was another crucial topic that Arab intellectuals touched upon although in that matter also there is a lack of proper understanding on what the situation of Kurds in Turkey is and where the ongoing settlement process launched by Turkish government in order to resolve the decades-old Kurdish conflict is heading to.

    Kurdish worry

    Arabs stated that they have a worry about the Kurdish issue in the region and they wonder that what will be the impact of the settlement process on the situation of the Kurds in the region.

    According to Arab intellectuals, Turkey is facing challenges regarding its Kurdish issue as the matter is not well understood by the policy-makers. “We are in a worry that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is running after his political ambitions rather than the benefit of the country” said one participant.

    Indeed, the Kurdish issue should be Turkey’s number one priority to solve. It will remain as a burden on the shoulders of every Turkish government until it is solved sincerely.

    However, the main cause and root of all these issues is entirely related to Turkey’s failure to become a full-fledged democracy and its failure to establish a state based on the rule of law at international standards.

    The deficit of democracy leads to the persistence of problematic issues of Kurds, Alevis and religious minorities in Turkey.

    Getting to the root cause

    Arab intellectuals came to a conclusion with their Turkish counterparts in the discussion that unless a right reading to the root cause of the issue is done, it would be not possible to find the proper method to solve the issue – which may eventually cause Ankara’s dream to become a major player in the region to come to an end.

    Arab intellectuals noted that Turkey should be able to achieve a balance between different groups and have equal policies regarding these groups, adding that only a Turkey that succeeded in solving these issues could serve as a model for the Middle East.

    This workshop once more made us realize that one major obstacle between Turkey and Arab countries to understand each other’s domestic issues is the lack of knowledge and comprehensive understanding on both sides.

    However, while the Kurdish and Alevi issues occupies a complicated place in Turkey, it becomes quite normal for the Arab intellectuals to fail to understand what is going in Turkey regarding these issues. However, I would say “better late than never” for the rising interest of the Arabs on the minority, Alevi and Kurdish issues in Turkey.

    ___________________

    Sinem Cengiz is an Ankara-based Diplomatic Correspondent for Today’s Zaman Newspaper, which is the best-selling and the most circulated English daily in Turkey. Born and lived in Kuwait, Cengiz focuses mainly on issues regarding Middle East and Turkey’s relations with the region. Cengiz is also a blogger at Today’s Zaman’s blog section where she provides fresh and unusual accounts of what’s going on in Ankara’s corridors of power. She can be found on Twitter: @SinemCngz

    via Why Arabs are confused on Turkey’s ethnic minorities – Al Arabiya News.

  • Erdogan Called Protester “A Sperm of Israel”

    Erdogan Called Protester “A Sperm of Israel”

    During clashes between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and protesters in Soma, Erdogan called out to one of them: “Why are you running away sperm of Israel?” The protesters stress that Erdogan’s government ignored the shortcomings in mine safety which led to the Soma disaster that killed hundreds of people.

    Rachel Avraham

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is documented cussing a demonstrator and calling him “the sperm of Israel.”

    In the documentation, Erdogan appears shouting: “Come and yell at me in front of my face. Why are you running away sperm of Israel?” He then beats him.

    According to the country’s authorities, at least 282 people were killed in the coal mine in Soma, which is defined as the most serious mine disaster in the country’s history. Rescue workers continue to search for survivors against all odds. The protesters stress that Erdogan’s government ignored the shortcomings in mine safety that led to the Soma disaster.

    www.jerusalemonline.com,May 16, 2014

    Djugashvili
    By now, we all know, of course, that Erdogan’s family has Georgian (speaking) (Armenian) Jewish roots from mother side and Pontus Greek roots from father side.

     

  • KILLER KOAL

    KILLER KOAL

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    “Most of the things one imagines in hell are there—heat, noise, confusion, darkness, foul air, and, above all, unbearably cramped space.”

    “Watching coal-miners at work, you realize momentarily what different universes different people inhabit. Down there where coal is dug it is a sort of world apart which one can easily go through life without ever hearing about.”

    George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, 1937

    Soma, a small town near Manisa in western Turkey. By the Aegean Sea, a beautiful place, if you don’t have to be a coal miner or love one.

    It’s now an ant swarm. It ebbs and flows around the human conveyor belt that runs from the endless rows of ambulances and the mouth of the lignite mine. Lignite is the poorest quality coal useful mostly for power generating plants. And the people in Soma are poor too, but in a different sense, a tragic sense. The stretchers bearing the living, the dead and the dying beat an endless track from the suffocating depths to the white ambulances. The bearers stack their loads in the back of the ambulances like well-cut logs. And off they go, back to the pit. And the ambulances crawl through the swarm to the hospital whose morgue is overflowing. It’s a simple, deadly rhythm now in its twentieth hour. Most of the women are covered. They weep alone in small groups.

    A transformer blew up deep in the mine. The electricity failed. No elevators. A fire down below. No way out. No air, just carbon monoxide. The death count rises. It’s now at 205, but it’s more like 250. (In the interest of accuracy. as of 2:42 pm 14 May 2014 the “official” count is 232…now 238, now 240.) There are hundreds still buried hundreds of meters underground. The fire still burns. The deaths will be in the millions because every time one sees a stretcher with a limply swinging foot, or covered over, one dies a little. And there are more than 70 million of us living here, watching this absurd tragedy. They just brought out a 15 year-old boy, dead. Turkey’s, rather the Turkish government’s treatment of children is abysmal. One weeps thinking about all of this. And then, if one is human, one gets angry. How can all these poor people die at work? The record for coal mining deaths is 263 at Zonguldak in 1992. It seems in easy reach since so many are still unaccounted for and time inexorably wears on.

    Not too many years ago, five or six, there was another mine disaster, small compared to Soma, “only” 130 died. The television channel ran some file film of a miner underground. And next to the miner what should appear but a canary in a cage. Jesus, I shouted, this stuff disappeared a hundred years ago! Well, it would be nice, but extremely naïve, to think so.

    For this is Turkey. And here coal mining safety is a joke. One disaster after another comes to the mining families of this saddest of countries. And again neighborhoods are devastated by the massacre of its men. Except for China, Turkey has the worst coal mining safety record in the world. This industry like most others has been privatized by the government. That means cut costs to maximize profits. That means low wages. That means Soma Group, the mining company, operates uncontrolled and unregulated despite all the official blather. But why shouldn’t it? The Turkish government operates the same way and no one does anything about it.

    So who is at fault? Easy.  Soma Mining is owned by Alp Gürkan. In a 2012 interview, Gürkan said the company had managed to drop the cost of coal to $24 per ton from $130 before privatization. How grand!  Yes, grand, indeed. How did he do it? Well, he hired subcontractors “for hard work with low salaries” thus undercutting union workers organized by Maden-İş. But his master stroke of “genius” seems to be Gürkan’s decision to have his company simply manufacture the electric transformers instead of importing them. And it was one of these “home-made” transformers that caused this human catastrophe, this mass industrial murder, this genocide of the working class. So it seems clear that prima facie evidence of criminal negligence points toward one Alp Gürkan, Chairman of the Board. The police can find him for purposes of preliminary investigation at: Soma Holding A.Ş, Lale Sokak No:5, Levent – İstanbul.

    There is also another material witness and perhaps a co-conspirator. On 29 April Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party rejected a demand for a parliamentary investigation regarding safety in the Soma mines. Why was this petition refused? Does it have to do with the hoses he has everywhere? That refusal was just two weeks ago! Question him! Erdoğan can be found somewhere in Ankara. He has yet to appear at Soma. He, like Godot, may never come. It would be good.

    As I write, the students in Ankara are protesting this horrific tragedy. Everything is normal, for Turkey. The police are gassing as usual, shooting canisters directly at them. The cops are chasing them through a beautiful pine forest. TOMA and helicopters are on the scene. Beatings will follow. Students of Ankara unite! You have nothing to lose but your brains.

    The air is as heavy as lead.

    No more words…

    James (Cem) Ryan
    Istanbul
    14 May 2014

    EXCEPT…

    HUKUMET İSTİFA!

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