Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Fort Russ: The death of South Stream - maidan in Turkey or government collapse in Bulgaria?
Yurasumy - Live Journal
Yesterday was eventful with statements. The energy sector perhaps most important:
"Given the fact that we still have not received permission from Bulgaria, we believe that Russia cannot continue the implementation of this project on these terms," - said Putin, stressing that to start a project without permission from one of the countries "is ridiculous".
"Are we going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars, go through the entire Black Sea and stop before the Bulgarian border?" - he said to journalists. "Therefore we will not implement it" - he concluded.
"This is not consistent with the economic interests of Europe and unfortunately undermines our cooperation, " - the President said. "But that is the choice of our European friends".
"But in the end they are the buyers, and it is their choice," - said Putin, calling the EU's position unconstructive. "If Europe does not want to implement the project, then it will not be implemented," - he said, stressing that everything was ready for South Stream from Russia's side.
In this regard, Putin advised Bulgaria, which is blocking the project, to demand from the EU a compensation for lost profits. "If Bulgaria is denied the opportunity to behave as a sovereign state, they should at least require money for lost profits from the Commission, because just direct transit revenues for Bulgaria would have been 400 million euros per year," - he explained.
"Ultimately, this is also the choice of our Bulgarian partners they probably have some obligations, but it's not our business, and the work of our partners," - added Putin.
Complete story at - Fort Russ: The death of South Stream - maidan in Turkey or government collapse in Bulgaria?
Yesterday was eventful with statements. The energy sector perhaps most important:
"Given the fact that we still have not received permission from Bulgaria, we believe that Russia cannot continue the implementation of this project on these terms," - said Putin, stressing that to start a project without permission from one of the countries "is ridiculous".
"Are we going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars, go through the entire Black Sea and stop before the Bulgarian border?" - he said to journalists. "Therefore we will not implement it" - he concluded.
"This is not consistent with the economic interests of Europe and unfortunately undermines our cooperation, " - the President said. "But that is the choice of our European friends".
"But in the end they are the buyers, and it is their choice," - said Putin, calling the EU's position unconstructive. "If Europe does not want to implement the project, then it will not be implemented," - he said, stressing that everything was ready for South Stream from Russia's side.
In this regard, Putin advised Bulgaria, which is blocking the project, to demand from the EU a compensation for lost profits. "If Bulgaria is denied the opportunity to behave as a sovereign state, they should at least require money for lost profits from the Commission, because just direct transit revenues for Bulgaria would have been 400 million euros per year," - he explained.
"Ultimately, this is also the choice of our Bulgarian partners they probably have some obligations, but it's not our business, and the work of our partners," - added Putin.
Complete story at - Fort Russ: The death of South Stream - maidan in Turkey or government collapse in Bulgaria?
Monday, December 8, 2014
Russian news: Turkey Shows the US Is Not the Only Game in Town - Russia Insider
In what may possibly be the biggest move towards multipolarity thus far, the ultimate Eurasian pivot, Turkey, has done away with its former Euro-Atlantic ambitions.
A year ago, none of this would have been foreseeable, but the absolute failure of the US’ Mideast policy and the EU’s energy one made this stunning reversal possible in under a year.
Turkey is still anticipated to have some privileged relations with the West, but the entire nature of the relationship has forever changed as the country officially engages in pragmatic multipolarity.
Turkey’s leadership made a major move by sealing such a colossal deal with Russia in such a sensitive political environment, and the old friendship can never be restored (nor do the Turks want it to be). The reverberations are truly global.
Missing The Signs
It’s amazing how much the West lost in such a short period of time and due to such major and totally unnecessary political miscalculations, and they owe their roots to the disastrous regime change operations in Syria and Ukraine.
Complete story at - Russian news: Turkey Shows the US Is Not the Only Game in Town - Russia Insider
A year ago, none of this would have been foreseeable, but the absolute failure of the US’ Mideast policy and the EU’s energy one made this stunning reversal possible in under a year.
Turkey is still anticipated to have some privileged relations with the West, but the entire nature of the relationship has forever changed as the country officially engages in pragmatic multipolarity.
Turkey’s leadership made a major move by sealing such a colossal deal with Russia in such a sensitive political environment, and the old friendship can never be restored (nor do the Turks want it to be). The reverberations are truly global.
Missing The Signs
It’s amazing how much the West lost in such a short period of time and due to such major and totally unnecessary political miscalculations, and they owe their roots to the disastrous regime change operations in Syria and Ukraine.
Complete story at - Russian news: Turkey Shows the US Is Not the Only Game in Town - Russia Insider
Friday, December 5, 2014
Shipping Chokepoint Strangles Ukraine Hopes for U.S. LNG - Businessweek
Ukraine’s plan to diminish its energy dependence on Russia is adrift in the Bosporus Strait.
The nation, which gets half its gas from Russia, wants to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Black Sea and held talks with Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG:US) to import U.S. cargoes. The only path to the terminal is through Istanbul’s 17-mile waterway.
Turkey doesn’t allow LNG shipments through the Bosporus because of safety concerns and congestion. The strait is about half a mile wide at its narrowest point and classified as a maritime chokepoint, among the most difficult to navigate.
“If Turkey were to agree to LNG ships transiting the Bosporus to deliver fuel to Ukraine, other states in the Black Sea would also want to invest in their own terminals,” Michelle Berman, the head of shipping and freight research at Business Monitor International in London, wrote in an e-mail Nov. 27. “This would lead to a considerable ramp up in the volume of traffic passing through the already congested Bosporus.”
Ukraine’s LNG plans may be further complicated by Russia’s decision this week to scrap its $45 billion South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, favoring instead a Black Sea link to Turkey. Strengthening ties between Russia and Turkey may make it even less likely that the government in Ankara would open up the Bosporus to LNG tankers. Russia already supplies 59 percent of Turkey’s gas.
Complete story at - Shipping Chokepoint Strangles Ukraine Hopes for U.S. LNG - Businessweek
The nation, which gets half its gas from Russia, wants to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Black Sea and held talks with Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG:US) to import U.S. cargoes. The only path to the terminal is through Istanbul’s 17-mile waterway.
Turkey doesn’t allow LNG shipments through the Bosporus because of safety concerns and congestion. The strait is about half a mile wide at its narrowest point and classified as a maritime chokepoint, among the most difficult to navigate.
“If Turkey were to agree to LNG ships transiting the Bosporus to deliver fuel to Ukraine, other states in the Black Sea would also want to invest in their own terminals,” Michelle Berman, the head of shipping and freight research at Business Monitor International in London, wrote in an e-mail Nov. 27. “This would lead to a considerable ramp up in the volume of traffic passing through the already congested Bosporus.”
Ukraine’s LNG plans may be further complicated by Russia’s decision this week to scrap its $45 billion South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, favoring instead a Black Sea link to Turkey. Strengthening ties between Russia and Turkey may make it even less likely that the government in Ankara would open up the Bosporus to LNG tankers. Russia already supplies 59 percent of Turkey’s gas.
Complete story at - Shipping Chokepoint Strangles Ukraine Hopes for U.S. LNG - Businessweek
Thursday, December 4, 2014
The Vineyard of the Saker: The Importance Of The Cancellation Of South Stream
by Alexander Mercouris
The reaction to the cancellation of the Sound Stream project has been a wonder to behold and needs to be explained very carefully.
In order to understand what has happened it is first necessary to go back to the way Russian-European relations were developing in the 1990s.
Briefly, at that period, the assumption was that Russia would become the great supplier of energy and raw materials to Europe. This was the period of Europe's great “rush for gas” as the Europeans looked forward to unlimited and unending Russian supplies. It was the increase in the role of Russian gas in the European energy mix which made it possible for Europe to run down its coal industry and cut its carbon emissions and bully and lecture everyone else to do the same.
However the Europeans did not envisage that Russia would just supply them with energy. Rather they always supposed this energy would be extracted for them in Russia by Western energy companies. This after all is the pattern in most of the developing world. The EU calls this “energy security” - a euphemism for the extraction of energy in other countries by its own companies under its own control.
It never happened that way. Though the Russian oil industry was privatised it mostly remained in Russian hands. After Putin came to power in 2000 the trend towards privatisation in the oil industry was reversed. One of the major reasons for western anger at the arrest of Khodorkovsky and the closure of Yukos and the transfer of its assets to the state oil company Rosneft was precisely because is reversed this trend of privatisation in the oil industry.
In the gas industry the process of privatisation never really got started. Gas export continued to be controlled by Gazprom, maintaining its position as a state owned monopoly gas exporter. Since Putin came to power Gazprom’s position as a state owned Russian monopoly has been made fully secure.
Much of the anger that exists in the west towards Putin can be explained by European and western resentment at his refusal and that of the Russian government to the break up of Russia's energy monopolies and to the “opening up” (as it is euphemistically called) of the Russian energy industry to the advantage of western companies. Many of the allegations of corruption that are routinely made against Putin personally are intended to insinuate that he opposes the “opening up” of the Russian energy industry and the break up and privatisation of Gazprom and Rosneft because he has a personal stake in them (in the case of Gazprom, that he is actually its owner). If one examines in detail the specific allegations of corruption made against Putin (as I have done) this quickly becomes obvious.
Complete story at - The Vineyard of the Saker: The Importance Of The Cancellation Of South Stream
The reaction to the cancellation of the Sound Stream project has been a wonder to behold and needs to be explained very carefully.
In order to understand what has happened it is first necessary to go back to the way Russian-European relations were developing in the 1990s.
Briefly, at that period, the assumption was that Russia would become the great supplier of energy and raw materials to Europe. This was the period of Europe's great “rush for gas” as the Europeans looked forward to unlimited and unending Russian supplies. It was the increase in the role of Russian gas in the European energy mix which made it possible for Europe to run down its coal industry and cut its carbon emissions and bully and lecture everyone else to do the same.
However the Europeans did not envisage that Russia would just supply them with energy. Rather they always supposed this energy would be extracted for them in Russia by Western energy companies. This after all is the pattern in most of the developing world. The EU calls this “energy security” - a euphemism for the extraction of energy in other countries by its own companies under its own control.
It never happened that way. Though the Russian oil industry was privatised it mostly remained in Russian hands. After Putin came to power in 2000 the trend towards privatisation in the oil industry was reversed. One of the major reasons for western anger at the arrest of Khodorkovsky and the closure of Yukos and the transfer of its assets to the state oil company Rosneft was precisely because is reversed this trend of privatisation in the oil industry.
In the gas industry the process of privatisation never really got started. Gas export continued to be controlled by Gazprom, maintaining its position as a state owned monopoly gas exporter. Since Putin came to power Gazprom’s position as a state owned Russian monopoly has been made fully secure.
Much of the anger that exists in the west towards Putin can be explained by European and western resentment at his refusal and that of the Russian government to the break up of Russia's energy monopolies and to the “opening up” (as it is euphemistically called) of the Russian energy industry to the advantage of western companies. Many of the allegations of corruption that are routinely made against Putin personally are intended to insinuate that he opposes the “opening up” of the Russian energy industry and the break up and privatisation of Gazprom and Rosneft because he has a personal stake in them (in the case of Gazprom, that he is actually its owner). If one examines in detail the specific allegations of corruption made against Putin (as I have done) this quickly becomes obvious.
Complete story at - The Vineyard of the Saker: The Importance Of The Cancellation Of South Stream
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Putin Kills "South Stream" Pipeline, Will Build New Massive Pipeline To Turkey Instead | Zero Hedge
In retrospect, it should have been obvious in August.
Back then we wrote that the EU's poorest member nation, Bulgaria, had been an enthusiastic supporter of the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline project, whose construction has stoked tensions between the West and Moscow as it enabled gas supply to bypass troubled Ukraine (thus squeezing the desparate economy back into Russia's hands). In early June, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski ordered an initial halt (after Europe offered the nation's suddenly collapsing banking system a lifeline). Subsequently, Energy Minister Vasil Shtonov has ordered Bulgaria’s Energy Holding to halt any actions in regards of the project as it does not meet the requirements of the European Commission.
And then, just to send Putin a very clear message where the allegiances of this former Soviet satellite nation lie, NATO deployed 12 F-15s and 180 troops to Bulgaria's Graf Ignatievo Air Base.
A dozen F-15s and approximately 180 personnel from the 493rd, based at RAF Lakenheath, England, have deployed to Graf Ignatievo Air Base to participate in a two-week bilateral training exercise with the Bulgarian air force, Pentagon spokesmen Col. Steve Warren told reporters Monday.
The exercise began Monday and will continue through Sept. 1.
The purpose of the deployment is to “conduct training and focus on maintain joint readiness while building interoperability,” Warren said.
The move comes at a time when America’s Eastern European partners and allies are concerned about Russian military intervention in Ukraine. There are fears that Moscow might try to destabilize other countries in the region.
“This is a reflection of our steadfast commitment to enhancing regional security,” Warren said about the exercise.
Complete story at - Putin Kills "South Stream" Pipeline, Will Build New Massive Pipeline To Turkey Instead | Zero Hedge
Back then we wrote that the EU's poorest member nation, Bulgaria, had been an enthusiastic supporter of the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline project, whose construction has stoked tensions between the West and Moscow as it enabled gas supply to bypass troubled Ukraine (thus squeezing the desparate economy back into Russia's hands). In early June, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski ordered an initial halt (after Europe offered the nation's suddenly collapsing banking system a lifeline). Subsequently, Energy Minister Vasil Shtonov has ordered Bulgaria’s Energy Holding to halt any actions in regards of the project as it does not meet the requirements of the European Commission.
And then, just to send Putin a very clear message where the allegiances of this former Soviet satellite nation lie, NATO deployed 12 F-15s and 180 troops to Bulgaria's Graf Ignatievo Air Base.
A dozen F-15s and approximately 180 personnel from the 493rd, based at RAF Lakenheath, England, have deployed to Graf Ignatievo Air Base to participate in a two-week bilateral training exercise with the Bulgarian air force, Pentagon spokesmen Col. Steve Warren told reporters Monday.
The exercise began Monday and will continue through Sept. 1.
The purpose of the deployment is to “conduct training and focus on maintain joint readiness while building interoperability,” Warren said.
The move comes at a time when America’s Eastern European partners and allies are concerned about Russian military intervention in Ukraine. There are fears that Moscow might try to destabilize other countries in the region.
“This is a reflection of our steadfast commitment to enhancing regional security,” Warren said about the exercise.
Complete story at - Putin Kills "South Stream" Pipeline, Will Build New Massive Pipeline To Turkey Instead | Zero Hedge
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Russia and Turkey have agreed to build a new offshore gas pipeline
Gas dynamics in Europe have taken a surprise twist with announcement Monday that Russia and Turkey have agreed to build an offshore gas pipeline.
Gazprom’s head Alexey Miller said that a memorandum of understanding had been signed for the construction of an offshore gas pipeline to Turkey with the annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, the same volume as the proposed South Stream pipeline.
Speaking about South Stream, Miller said, "That’s all, the project is closed.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had told a news conference that Russia would not continue the South Stream project “in the current conditions.”
"If Europe does not want to carry out (South Stream), then it will not be carried out," Putin said.
Complete story at - Russia and Turkey have agreed to build a new offshore gas pipeline
Gazprom’s head Alexey Miller said that a memorandum of understanding had been signed for the construction of an offshore gas pipeline to Turkey with the annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, the same volume as the proposed South Stream pipeline.
Speaking about South Stream, Miller said, "That’s all, the project is closed.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had told a news conference that Russia would not continue the South Stream project “in the current conditions.”
"If Europe does not want to carry out (South Stream), then it will not be carried out," Putin said.
Complete story at - Russia and Turkey have agreed to build a new offshore gas pipeline
A couple more nails in the petrodollar's coffin, courtesy of Turkey, India and Russia - Red Pill Times
This nail courtesy of Turkey and Russia, (via Sputnik news agency):
Russia and Turkey are set to work on increasing payments between the countries in their national currencies, the Russian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission said Wednesday.
“The working group on financial and banking cooperation, taking into account information about detected barriers, is to continue its work to eliminate them and increase the volume of payments in the national currencies of Turkey and Russia,” the commission said.
Both sides noted the absence of legal and infrastructural constraints for conducting payments in their national currencies and agreed to work alongside representatives of the business communities to identify possible obstacles.
This nail courtesy of India and Russia, (via Sputnik news agency):
Transition to national currencies, the rupee and ruble, in trade between India and Russia will significantly increase bilateral trade, P.S. Ragahvan, the Indian Ambassador to Moscow told Rossiya Segodnya news agency on Tuesday.
“I would like to mention actually three specific ways in which we are looking to see a significant increase in trade exchanges between our two countries. The first is as mentioned, trade in national currencies,” Ragahvan stated. “It is obviously advantageous, because trade between Russia and India is now through the currency of a third country which means that business people have to hedge against two different currencies – between the rupee and the dollar and then the dollar to the ruble and vice versa,” the ambassador stated in an interview ahead of the Indian Trade and Industry exhibition in Moscow.
Besides the transition to national currencies, the ambassador proposed another two elements that could “have a huge impact on trade between the two countries.” The second and the third elements are discussions between customs authorities and the active use of the North South Corridor, going “from ports in India to ports in Iran, up by the overland route and then into Russia, either across the Caspian Sea or through Azerbaijan.” According to the ambassador, this could reduce “the total length traversed by goods between India and Russia by half.”
While Obama tries to hammer Russia into submission via Ukraine and sanctions with the support of the “international community”, Putin is hammering away at the petrodollar with an all to enthusiastic and willing group of participats known to many of us as the “rest of the world.”
Complete story at - A couple more nails in the petrodollar's coffin, courtesy of Turkey, India and Russia - Red Pill Times
Russia and Turkey are set to work on increasing payments between the countries in their national currencies, the Russian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission said Wednesday.
“The working group on financial and banking cooperation, taking into account information about detected barriers, is to continue its work to eliminate them and increase the volume of payments in the national currencies of Turkey and Russia,” the commission said.
Both sides noted the absence of legal and infrastructural constraints for conducting payments in their national currencies and agreed to work alongside representatives of the business communities to identify possible obstacles.
This nail courtesy of India and Russia, (via Sputnik news agency):
Transition to national currencies, the rupee and ruble, in trade between India and Russia will significantly increase bilateral trade, P.S. Ragahvan, the Indian Ambassador to Moscow told Rossiya Segodnya news agency on Tuesday.
“I would like to mention actually three specific ways in which we are looking to see a significant increase in trade exchanges between our two countries. The first is as mentioned, trade in national currencies,” Ragahvan stated. “It is obviously advantageous, because trade between Russia and India is now through the currency of a third country which means that business people have to hedge against two different currencies – between the rupee and the dollar and then the dollar to the ruble and vice versa,” the ambassador stated in an interview ahead of the Indian Trade and Industry exhibition in Moscow.
Besides the transition to national currencies, the ambassador proposed another two elements that could “have a huge impact on trade between the two countries.” The second and the third elements are discussions between customs authorities and the active use of the North South Corridor, going “from ports in India to ports in Iran, up by the overland route and then into Russia, either across the Caspian Sea or through Azerbaijan.” According to the ambassador, this could reduce “the total length traversed by goods between India and Russia by half.”
While Obama tries to hammer Russia into submission via Ukraine and sanctions with the support of the “international community”, Putin is hammering away at the petrodollar with an all to enthusiastic and willing group of participats known to many of us as the “rest of the world.”
Complete story at - A couple more nails in the petrodollar's coffin, courtesy of Turkey, India and Russia - Red Pill Times
Monday, October 13, 2014
The Siege Of Kobani: Obama’s Syrian Fiasco In Motion | David Stockman's Contra Corner
Another humanitarian catastrophe may be just hours away at Kobani. The latter is the Syrian Kurdish town on the border with Turkey that is now surrounded by ISIS tanks and is being pounded day after day by ISIS heavy artillery. Already this lethal phalanx, which fuses 21st century American technology and equipment with 12th century religious fanaticism, has rolled through dozens of Kurdish villages and towns in the region around Kobani, sending 180,000 refugees fleeing for their lives across the border.
Self-evidently the lightly armed Kurdish militias desperately holding out in Kobani are fighting the right enemy—-that is, the Islamic State. So why has Obama’s grand coalition not been able to relieve the siege? Why haven’t American bombers and cruise missiles, for instance, been able to destroy the American tanks and artillery which a terrifying band of butchers has brought to bear on several hundred thousand innocent Syrian Kurds who have made this enclave their home for more than a century? Why has not NATO ally Turkey, with a 600,000 man military, 3,500 tanks and 1,000 modern aircraft and helicopters, done anything meaningful to help the imperiled Kurds?
Let’s see. The US is making perfunctory air strikes. Yet with no boots on the ground in the context of close urban combat in a city of 50,000—–a major air onslaught would result in massive civilian casualties. Although Obama already has much blood on his hands, he is apparently not ready for a Gaza-on-the-Euphrates.
So then why doesn’t Turkey put some infantry and spotters on the ground—-highly trained “boots” that are literally positioned a few kilometers away on its side of the border?
Well, Turkish President Erdogan just explained his government’s reluctance quite succinctly, as reported by Bloomberg on Saturday:
For us, ISIL and the (Kurdish) PKK are the same,” Erdogan said in televised remarks today in Istanbul.
And that’s literally true because from Turkey’s vantage point the Kobani showdown is a case of terrorist-on-terrorist. The Kurdish fighters in Kobani are linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK. The latter has waged a separatist campaign of armed insurrection and terror inside and around Turkey for 30-years and has long been considered Turkey’s top security threat. In fact, Turkey has received untold amounts of US aid, equipment and intelligence over the years to help suppress this uprising. That’s the reason that PKK is officially classified as a “terrorist” group by the U.S. and the government in Ankara.
Complete story at - The Siege Of Kobani: Obama’s Syrian Fiasco In Motion | David Stockman's Contra Corner
Self-evidently the lightly armed Kurdish militias desperately holding out in Kobani are fighting the right enemy—-that is, the Islamic State. So why has Obama’s grand coalition not been able to relieve the siege? Why haven’t American bombers and cruise missiles, for instance, been able to destroy the American tanks and artillery which a terrifying band of butchers has brought to bear on several hundred thousand innocent Syrian Kurds who have made this enclave their home for more than a century? Why has not NATO ally Turkey, with a 600,000 man military, 3,500 tanks and 1,000 modern aircraft and helicopters, done anything meaningful to help the imperiled Kurds?
Let’s see. The US is making perfunctory air strikes. Yet with no boots on the ground in the context of close urban combat in a city of 50,000—–a major air onslaught would result in massive civilian casualties. Although Obama already has much blood on his hands, he is apparently not ready for a Gaza-on-the-Euphrates.
So then why doesn’t Turkey put some infantry and spotters on the ground—-highly trained “boots” that are literally positioned a few kilometers away on its side of the border?
Well, Turkish President Erdogan just explained his government’s reluctance quite succinctly, as reported by Bloomberg on Saturday:
For us, ISIL and the (Kurdish) PKK are the same,” Erdogan said in televised remarks today in Istanbul.
And that’s literally true because from Turkey’s vantage point the Kobani showdown is a case of terrorist-on-terrorist. The Kurdish fighters in Kobani are linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK. The latter has waged a separatist campaign of armed insurrection and terror inside and around Turkey for 30-years and has long been considered Turkey’s top security threat. In fact, Turkey has received untold amounts of US aid, equipment and intelligence over the years to help suppress this uprising. That’s the reason that PKK is officially classified as a “terrorist” group by the U.S. and the government in Ankara.
Complete story at - The Siege Of Kobani: Obama’s Syrian Fiasco In Motion | David Stockman's Contra Corner
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Turkey and Israel Are Directly Supporting ISIS and Al Qaeda Terrorists In Syria - Washington's Blog
U.S. Allies Support the Terrorists We’re Supposedly “Fighting”
The Jerusalem Post reports that an ISIS fighter says that Turkey funds the terrorist group. Turkey is a member of NATO and a close U.S. ally.
A German news program – with English subtitles captions – shows that Turkey is sending terrorists into Syria:
Opposition Turkish lawmakers say that the government is protecting and cooperating with ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorists, and providing free medical care to their leaders.
According to a leading Turkish newspaper (Today’s Zaman), Turkish nurses are sick of providing free medical treatment to ISIS terrorists in Turkish hospitals.
According to Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh and leaked phone calls between top Turkish officials, Turkey also carried out the chemical weapons attack which has been blamed on Assad, and has planned other “false flag attacks” within Turkey.
Foreign Policy documents that Israel is also treating ISIS terrorists for free in its hospitals:
Complete story at - Turkey and Israel Are Directly Supporting ISIS and Al Qaeda Terrorists In Syria - Washington's Blog
The Jerusalem Post reports that an ISIS fighter says that Turkey funds the terrorist group. Turkey is a member of NATO and a close U.S. ally.
A German news program – with English subtitles captions – shows that Turkey is sending terrorists into Syria:
Opposition Turkish lawmakers say that the government is protecting and cooperating with ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorists, and providing free medical care to their leaders.
According to a leading Turkish newspaper (Today’s Zaman), Turkish nurses are sick of providing free medical treatment to ISIS terrorists in Turkish hospitals.
According to Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh and leaked phone calls between top Turkish officials, Turkey also carried out the chemical weapons attack which has been blamed on Assad, and has planned other “false flag attacks” within Turkey.
Foreign Policy documents that Israel is also treating ISIS terrorists for free in its hospitals:
Complete story at - Turkey and Israel Are Directly Supporting ISIS and Al Qaeda Terrorists In Syria - Washington's Blog
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Turkey’s Erdogan comes closer to Russia | New Eastern Outlook
Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is nothing if not a political survivor. After weathering a US led year-long attempt to oust him for his failure to execute a Turkish military ground war to topple Bashar al Assad in neighboring Syria, now Erdogan, a student of Realpolitik perhaps even more than the Koran, is looking abroad for new strategic allies. At a time when NATO, the Obama Administration and others are doing everything to demonize Russia’s Putin, using the pretext of Ukraine, Erdogan is moving significantly closer to—guess which world political leader. Yes, Vladimir Putin and Russia. The implications of a Turkish fundamental geopolitical realignment could have global consequences far beyond Turkey’s mere size or political weight.
The first steps to a closer economic alliance between Turkey and Russia came this past April, well after the illegal US-orchestrated coup in Ukraine and after the Crimean Parliament requested to join Russia, opening a flood of anti-Russian propaganda from the west. On April 21 Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz invited Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev to Akara to work out details of a major increase of Russian gas to come to Turkey via Gazprom’s Blue Stream pipeline. Turkey is already Russia’s second largest gas and oil importer after the EU. The two agreed how to increase the capacity of the Blue Stream gas pipeline from 16 to 19 billion cubic meters per year, further adding to the economic ties binding the two historical rivals.
Joining Eurasian Economic Union?
Now Erdogan’s government is opening talks with Russia and other member nations of the Eurasian Economic Union to open a free trade zone between Turkey and the EEU countries– Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, according to Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev after talks with Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on July 19 at the height of the NATO and Washington demonization of Putin and Russia and blaming them for the MH17 Malaysian airliner downing over eastern Ukraine.
“We have discussed the possible forms of cooperation, including the formation of a free trade zone between the Customs Union and Turkey. We have agreed to create a working group and to begin a more detailed discussion of these possibilities and prospects in September,” Ulyukayev said on the sidelines of the meeting of G20 trade ministers in Sydney, Australia. The talks took place during the recent G20 summit in Australia.
Complete story at - Turkey’s Erdogan comes closer to Russia | New Eastern Outlook
The first steps to a closer economic alliance between Turkey and Russia came this past April, well after the illegal US-orchestrated coup in Ukraine and after the Crimean Parliament requested to join Russia, opening a flood of anti-Russian propaganda from the west. On April 21 Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz invited Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev to Akara to work out details of a major increase of Russian gas to come to Turkey via Gazprom’s Blue Stream pipeline. Turkey is already Russia’s second largest gas and oil importer after the EU. The two agreed how to increase the capacity of the Blue Stream gas pipeline from 16 to 19 billion cubic meters per year, further adding to the economic ties binding the two historical rivals.
Joining Eurasian Economic Union?
Now Erdogan’s government is opening talks with Russia and other member nations of the Eurasian Economic Union to open a free trade zone between Turkey and the EEU countries– Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, according to Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev after talks with Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on July 19 at the height of the NATO and Washington demonization of Putin and Russia and blaming them for the MH17 Malaysian airliner downing over eastern Ukraine.
“We have discussed the possible forms of cooperation, including the formation of a free trade zone between the Customs Union and Turkey. We have agreed to create a working group and to begin a more detailed discussion of these possibilities and prospects in September,” Ulyukayev said on the sidelines of the meeting of G20 trade ministers in Sydney, Australia. The talks took place during the recent G20 summit in Australia.
Complete story at - Turkey’s Erdogan comes closer to Russia | New Eastern Outlook
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Turkey Cuts Water Supply to Syria - Euphrates Shut Down
Western hostilities toward Syria are reaching a new level of viciousness. Al-Akahbar English reports:
"The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akahbar found out that the water level in Lake Assad has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water." Suhaib Anjarini, Al Akahbar, May 30
The water cutoff by the Turkish government caused Lake Assad to drop six feet threatening two million people in and around Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and also provides a critical water source for Iraq.
Turkey, a NATO member, strongly opposes to the current government of Syria. The Turkish border to Syria is a major supply route for weapons and foreign fighters against the Syrian government.
Along with China and Brunei, Turkey refused to sign the United Nation's agreement on International Watercourses. The agreement calls for the "equitable and reasonable" sharing of rivers, wither they originate or flow into a nation. In addition, the agreement states that nations shall “take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm.”
Turkey and Iraq have claimed Turkish manipulation of the Euphrates as far back as 1975. Syria and Iraq argue that years of drought conditions are caused or worsened by Turkish water policy. The outright cutoff of the Euphrates by the extremist and unstable government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan represents a Turkish act of aggression against both Syria and Iraq.
The Turkish propaganda machine is gearing up to blame the water crisis on ISIS, an Al Qaeda affiliated Syrian rebel group. The Al-Akahbar article below notes that this could not be the case.
Watch closely how the U.S. State Department handles this crisis. If we're told that Syrian rebels are to blame, that's a red light that NATO is creating a false flag to justify the Holy Grail of NATO military action against the Syrian government. Hopefully, the U.S. and other nations call this what it is -- a human rights abuse of epic proportions committed by an unstable autocrat, Turkish PM Erdogan, at the head of a major NATO nation.
Complete story at - Turkey Cuts Water Supply to Syria - Euphrates Shut Down
"Euphrates Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)
"The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akahbar found out that the water level in Lake Assad has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water." Suhaib Anjarini, Al Akahbar, May 30
The water cutoff by the Turkish government caused Lake Assad to drop six feet threatening two million people in and around Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and also provides a critical water source for Iraq.
Turkey, a NATO member, strongly opposes to the current government of Syria. The Turkish border to Syria is a major supply route for weapons and foreign fighters against the Syrian government.
Along with China and Brunei, Turkey refused to sign the United Nation's agreement on International Watercourses. The agreement calls for the "equitable and reasonable" sharing of rivers, wither they originate or flow into a nation. In addition, the agreement states that nations shall “take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm.”
Turkey and Iraq have claimed Turkish manipulation of the Euphrates as far back as 1975. Syria and Iraq argue that years of drought conditions are caused or worsened by Turkish water policy. The outright cutoff of the Euphrates by the extremist and unstable government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan represents a Turkish act of aggression against both Syria and Iraq.
The Turkish propaganda machine is gearing up to blame the water crisis on ISIS, an Al Qaeda affiliated Syrian rebel group. The Al-Akahbar article below notes that this could not be the case.
Watch closely how the U.S. State Department handles this crisis. If we're told that Syrian rebels are to blame, that's a red light that NATO is creating a false flag to justify the Holy Grail of NATO military action against the Syrian government. Hopefully, the U.S. and other nations call this what it is -- a human rights abuse of epic proportions committed by an unstable autocrat, Turkish PM Erdogan, at the head of a major NATO nation.
Complete story at - Turkey Cuts Water Supply to Syria - Euphrates Shut Down
"Euphrates Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Tragedy of the Soma Mine-Workers: A Crime of Peripheral Capitalism Unleashed | naked capitalism
By Erinç Yeldan, Dean of the faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yasar University and an executive directors of the International Development Economics Associates. Cross posted from Triple Crisis
One of the greatest work-crimes in mining industry occurred in Soma, a little mining village in Western Turkey. At noon-time on Tuesday, May 13, according to witnesses, an electrical fault triggered a transformer to explode causing a large fire in the mine, releasing carbon monoxide and gaseous fumes. (The official cause of the “accident” was still unknown, at this writing, after nearly 30 hours.) Around 800 miners were trapped 2 km underground and 4 km from the exit. At this point, the death toll has already reached 245, with reports of another 100 workers remaining in the mine, yet unreached.
Turkey has possibly the worst safety record in terms of mining accidents and explosions in Europe and the third worst in the world. Since the right-wing Justice and Development Party (AKP) assumed power in 2002, and up to 2011, a 40% increase in work-related accidents has been reported. The death toll from these accidents reached more than 11,000.
Many analysts agree that what lies behind these tragic events is the unregulated and poorly supervised attempts of a corrupt ruling government to push through hasty privatizations and a forced informalization of labour. The Soma mine itself was privatized in 2005. In the heyday of an anti-public sector campaign, the new owners of the plant proudly declared a decline in production costs from the US$120-130 range under the public ownership of State Coal Inc. (TTK) to US$23.80. It was not very long before it became clear that what actually facilitated this ‘miraculous market success’ was the determined evasion of safety standards. On that front, the president of the private company Soma Inc., Mr. Gürkan, was heard boasting, “You can ask ‘what changed in the mine?’ The answer is ‘nothing.’ We simply introduced methods of the private sector only.”
Over this process of “introduction of the methods of the private sector,” average gross daily pay of the miners hovered at 47 TL (approximately US$20), while the existing mine tunnels were extended from 350 m to more than 2.5 km. The dissolution of the Council of Public Inspection by government decree in 2011 was clearly instrumental in reducing the role of formal inspections to no more than friendly visits to the company headquarters, with no attention paid to the actual working conditions in the tunnels.
Complete story at - The Tragedy of the Soma Mine-Workers: A Crime of Peripheral Capitalism Unleashed | naked capitalism
One of the greatest work-crimes in mining industry occurred in Soma, a little mining village in Western Turkey. At noon-time on Tuesday, May 13, according to witnesses, an electrical fault triggered a transformer to explode causing a large fire in the mine, releasing carbon monoxide and gaseous fumes. (The official cause of the “accident” was still unknown, at this writing, after nearly 30 hours.) Around 800 miners were trapped 2 km underground and 4 km from the exit. At this point, the death toll has already reached 245, with reports of another 100 workers remaining in the mine, yet unreached.
Turkey has possibly the worst safety record in terms of mining accidents and explosions in Europe and the third worst in the world. Since the right-wing Justice and Development Party (AKP) assumed power in 2002, and up to 2011, a 40% increase in work-related accidents has been reported. The death toll from these accidents reached more than 11,000.
Many analysts agree that what lies behind these tragic events is the unregulated and poorly supervised attempts of a corrupt ruling government to push through hasty privatizations and a forced informalization of labour. The Soma mine itself was privatized in 2005. In the heyday of an anti-public sector campaign, the new owners of the plant proudly declared a decline in production costs from the US$120-130 range under the public ownership of State Coal Inc. (TTK) to US$23.80. It was not very long before it became clear that what actually facilitated this ‘miraculous market success’ was the determined evasion of safety standards. On that front, the president of the private company Soma Inc., Mr. Gürkan, was heard boasting, “You can ask ‘what changed in the mine?’ The answer is ‘nothing.’ We simply introduced methods of the private sector only.”
Over this process of “introduction of the methods of the private sector,” average gross daily pay of the miners hovered at 47 TL (approximately US$20), while the existing mine tunnels were extended from 350 m to more than 2.5 km. The dissolution of the Council of Public Inspection by government decree in 2011 was clearly instrumental in reducing the role of formal inspections to no more than friendly visits to the company headquarters, with no attention paid to the actual working conditions in the tunnels.
Complete story at - The Tragedy of the Soma Mine-Workers: A Crime of Peripheral Capitalism Unleashed | naked capitalism
Thursday, April 17, 2014
The 4th Media » The Red Line and the Rat Line: Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and Syrian Rebels
In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress. Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons.＊ Then with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention.
The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia. Why did Obama delay and then relent on Syria when he was not shy about rushing into Libya? The answer lies in a clash between those in the administration who were committed to enforcing the red line, and military leaders who thought that going to war was both unjustified and potentially disastrous.
Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff.
The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack.
For months there had been acute concern among senior military leaders and the intelligence community about the role in the war of Syria’s neighbours, especially Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan was known to be supporting the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist faction among the rebel opposition, as well as other Islamist rebel groups. ‘We knew there were some in the Turkish government,’ a former senior US intelligence official, who has access to current intelligence, told me, ‘who believed they could get Assad’s nuts in a vice by dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria – and forcing Obama to make good on his red line threat.’
Complete story at - The 4th Media » The Red Line and the Rat Line: Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and Syrian Rebels
The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia. Why did Obama delay and then relent on Syria when he was not shy about rushing into Libya? The answer lies in a clash between those in the administration who were committed to enforcing the red line, and military leaders who thought that going to war was both unjustified and potentially disastrous.
Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff.
The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack.
For months there had been acute concern among senior military leaders and the intelligence community about the role in the war of Syria’s neighbours, especially Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan was known to be supporting the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist faction among the rebel opposition, as well as other Islamist rebel groups. ‘We knew there were some in the Turkish government,’ a former senior US intelligence official, who has access to current intelligence, told me, ‘who believed they could get Assad’s nuts in a vice by dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria – and forcing Obama to make good on his red line threat.’
Complete story at - The 4th Media » The Red Line and the Rat Line: Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and Syrian Rebels
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Media Manipulation: Seymour Hersh Unearths More Lies on Syria | Global Research
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has a second fascinating essay that rewrites the official record of the sarin gas attack on Ghouta, near Damascus, in August last year. As usual, Hersh uses his sources in the US security establishment to throw light on what really took place. The bottom line: Turkey was almost certainly the party responsible for the attack, hoping it would force Obama to honour his threatened “red line” if Assad used chemical weapons. Was the Assad regime to be brought down by a US military campaign, Turkey assumed it would be able to turn Syria into a client state.
Like the earlier article, this one will probably gain very little attention. It is published in the obscure UK literary publication the London Review of Books. Presumably like last time, Hersh could not find a mainstream publication willing to take it – and I’m guessing that, like last time, these stunningly important revelations will be shunned by the liberal media. Instead, it will be consigned to the memory hole, along with so much other evidence of western crimes against humanity. Pundits and analysts will continue to tell us confidently that Assad carried out the Ghouta attack, oblivious to Hersh’s findings.
The reason the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian have been studiously ignoring Hersh’s investigations on this, it seems to me, is that they show the Obama administration’s foreign policy is just as criminal as the previous Bush White House’s.
Here is a summary of Hersh’s main findings:
* Obama’s sudden climbdown on his threatened military strike against Assad was in part forced on him by a chemical analysis of samples of the sarin used in Ghouta, which showed that its signature did not match that of the stockpiles held by the Assad regime.
Complete story at - Media Manipulation: Seymour Hersh Unearths More Lies on Syria | Global Research
Like the earlier article, this one will probably gain very little attention. It is published in the obscure UK literary publication the London Review of Books. Presumably like last time, Hersh could not find a mainstream publication willing to take it – and I’m guessing that, like last time, these stunningly important revelations will be shunned by the liberal media. Instead, it will be consigned to the memory hole, along with so much other evidence of western crimes against humanity. Pundits and analysts will continue to tell us confidently that Assad carried out the Ghouta attack, oblivious to Hersh’s findings.
The reason the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian have been studiously ignoring Hersh’s investigations on this, it seems to me, is that they show the Obama administration’s foreign policy is just as criminal as the previous Bush White House’s.
Here is a summary of Hersh’s main findings:
* Obama’s sudden climbdown on his threatened military strike against Assad was in part forced on him by a chemical analysis of samples of the sarin used in Ghouta, which showed that its signature did not match that of the stockpiles held by the Assad regime.
Complete story at - Media Manipulation: Seymour Hersh Unearths More Lies on Syria | Global Research
Monday, April 14, 2014
NATO Members Conduct False Flag Terror In Attempt to Whip Up War | Zero Hedge
Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh (who uncovered the Iraq prison torture scandal and the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam) says that high-level American sources tell him that the Turkish government carried out the chemical weapons attacks blamed on the Syrian government.
Indeed, it’s long been known that sarin was coming through Turkey.
Turkey is a member of NATO. So we’re really talking about a NATO member launching a false flag attack against a non-NATO member, and then blaming it on the victim.
Indeed, a new tape recording of top Turkish officials planning a false flag attack to be blamed on Syria as a causus belli was just leaked a couple of weeks ago, and confirmed by Turkey as being authentic.
In other words, since the last big Turkish false flag didn’t succeed in launching war against Syria, they’re going to try again.
This is not the first false flag by NATO members. For example:
Sunday, April 13, 2014
NATO Members Conduct False Flag Terror In Attempt to Whip Up War | Zero Hedge
Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh (who uncovered the Iraq prison torture scandal and the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam) says that high-level American sources tell him that the Turkish government carried out the chemical weapons attacks blamed on the Syrian government.
Indeed, it’s long been known that sarin was coming through Turkey.
Turkey is a member of NATO. So we’re really talking about a NATO member launching a false flag attack against a non-NATO member, and then blaming it on the victim.
Indeed, a new tape recording of top Turkish officials planning a false flag attack to be blamed on Syria as a causus belli was just leaked a couple of weeks ago, and confirmed by Turkey as being authentic.
In other words, since the last big Turkish false flag didn’t succeed in launching war against Syria, they’re going to try again.
This is not the first false flag by NATO members. For example:
Saturday, April 5, 2014
The 4th Media » The Implications of Turkish Crisis in the Domestic and Foreign Policy
The corruption’s scandal that has deeply wounded the Islamic government of Prime- Minister of Turkey, Tayip Erdogan, is a complex issue with important consequences to the politics, economy, society and the foreign policy. Turkey has become a “battlefield” between two powerful men, two former allies. PM Erdogan and the influential Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen are in bitter power struggle.
The old alliances are now void and new allegiances are being created. Erdogan re-approaches the old – enemy, the Army, seeking to review those convictions of whom have accused for conspiracy for overthrowing the Islamic government. In this analysis we refer to the domestic and foreign policy implications of this crisis.
The bribes’ scandal targets directly the Prime Minister and the core of leadership of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) seriously affecting Turkey’s political future.
Erdogan adopted an offensive stance by removing the competent prosecutors and the Police officers from their positions. Erdogan accused foreign governments of being implicit in the campaign against him. He claimed that the bribes’ scandal is a conspiracy directed by foreign organizations and dark forces that seek to undermine the international prestige of Turkey.
Clearly, Erdogan may not have foreseen the domestic and international developments that turned the tide against him. The summer’s huge anti-governmental demonstrations for the commercial and Islamic reconstruction of Gezi Park gave the first blow to Erdogan’s profile. The corruption’s scandal provided one more reason for a part of the society to rally against the government. Erdogan’s ambitions to become a nation- leader in the modern Turkish history (equal to Kemal Ataturk) have stalled.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
