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| I will never come back to Davos |
| 2009-02-02 |
| Damn, we are all sitting here in open-mouthed astonishment. Turkish premier Tayyip Erdogan has just stormed off the rostrum after calling Israel's president Shimon Peres a "killer" to his face. Mr Peres in turn has been thundering and fulminating at the top of his voice for 25 minutes -- while the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sat in embarrased silence next to him, mostly looking at his shoes. The incensed leaders then walked out passed packed ranks of trembling Davos enthusiasts - all believers in civilized comity, and all horrified by this display of raw and visceral feeling - into a hall where a light-hearted Strauss Waltz being played with shocking insouciance. If we journalists missed our deadlines - and leaving a big gap in our newspapers tomorrow - you must forgive us, because we none could concentrate on anything as this extraordinary spectacle of Mid-East passion unfolded before our eyes. Mr Peres -- winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace prize -- had reason to be angry. The Turkish leader called today for the Obama administration to list Israel as a terrorist state for alleged atrocities against civilians in Gaza. "President Obama must redefine terror and terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and based on this new definition, a new American policy must be deployed in the Middle East," he said. This seems to have tipped Mr Peres over the edge. A genteel panel on Mid-East issues flew out of control after he let rip such eloquence and emotion that nobody dared stop him, and people sat enthralled, or in tears, or aghast, as he related how Hamas was deploying terror in Gaza. A hundred Fatah prisoners in Gaza had been thrown from roof-tops, he said. Dozens had been shot in the legs. The Gaza schools had become a Gulag of Palestinian prisoners, he said, reading aloud a letter from Fatah's secretary-general. "The tragedy of Gaza is not Israel, it is Hamas. They created a dictatorship. A very dangerous one." Israel had withdrawn its troops and settlements from Gaza. It had complied to the letter with all accords, yet it was still attacked, and bombed, and rocket daily. (I merely relate his words this without wishing to make any judgment of my own on a conflict that has killed 1,300 people in Gaza, and 14 Israelis) "What would you do?" he screamed into the face of Mr Erdogan, who sat stony faced, pulling slightly back, his legs twisted, his whole body language at war. "We have been a nation for sixty years, and which other nation has had to fight seven wars?" Mr Erdogan perhaps feels betrayed because Turkey was mediating on behalf of Israel when the Gaza occurred. "I saw this as a lack of respect for us and also a shadow cast over peace," he said. His Swiss trip has ended very badly. "I will never come back to Davos", he said as he strode out, complaining that his own rant had been cut short by the moderator. It has been a bad hair day for Turkey's pro-Islamic leader. The negotiations for an IMF stand-by loan broke down. "It's not the end of the world", he said. We'll see what the markets have to say about that tomorrow. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #14 Jack is Back, that's because back then the Israelis needed construction workers and were willing to shell out the schekels. Times have changed. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-02-02 18:00 |
| #13 I thought he lived in Westchester or across the border in Conn.? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-02-02 16:33 |
| #12 The videolink : |
| Posted by: mhw 2009-02-02 16:25 |
| #11 Even as the writer lays out the facts about Hamas' terrorist character and provocations, he has to give a little shout out to his anti-Israeli culture of origin. Hey, folks. I'm not judging here so don't blame me, just sayin what he said is all. I see lots more dead Gazans than Israelis so the Jews are still bad. I'm still one of you. We're cool, right? The "more dead Israelis should would make me feel better about the whole thing" meme should be called out for the whacked out moral blindness it is. Since more Germans than Americans died in WWII, does that mean defeating Nazism was a mistake? Would more dead GI's and maybe a bombed out US city have made it ok to defeat fascism? Few Americans and many Iraqis died in the liberation of Kuwait; should we have handed the country back to Saddam with our apologies? We'll try again when you're stronger, when you can get in a few more kills. Keeping your people alive is the point. The Israeli military should be proud of their achievement, not castigated for it. If you want to accuse a nation of misbehavior in war you should have more than just a body count to make your point. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2009-02-02 12:37 |
| #10 The EU will never _say_ never. They want to say "If you just hobble the military a little bit more we'll let you join..." when the military is basically the only thing keeping Turkey secular. Kinda makes ya wonder, doesn't it? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-02-02 11:57 |
| #9 Erdogan is playing for domestic politics. The Turkish economy is getting creamed in this recession and he needs scapegoats and support. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-02-02 11:57 |
| #8 It seems the mask is now off Erdogan. He is an Islamist radical at heart and is leading Turkey away from secular democracy towards an Islamist Republic. No to admission of Turkey to the EU. |
| Posted by: Lagom 2009-02-02 11:31 |
| #7 I'd like to see one of them there ARCLIGHT raids dropped on Davos. Shoot, maybe even two. And while we're at it, drop one on the next Bilderburgers get together. Say, does anyone know where G. Soros lives? |
| Posted by: Slomp Johnson5461 2009-02-02 10:59 |
| #6 When I was traveling and working in Israel, the Turks were doing a lot of business there, especially construction. This is when the Paleo's were barred from transit and working because of all the bus bombings. Most of the skilled and semi-skilled additional labor was Turk as well as big Turk construction firms working with the Israelis. Turkey has really backtracked here. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-02-02 10:54 |
| #5 Let's give these genocidal primitives stealth technology! |
| Posted by: ed 2009-02-02 10:53 |
| #4 What happened is that Tayyip Erdogan said out loud what about two thirds of the "cool kids" at Davos think in their heart of hearts--and then Shimon Peres refused to just smile and take it. |
| Posted by: Mike 2009-02-02 10:15 |
| #3 Crazy, Powerline has something. |
| Posted by: Blackbeard Greter7953 2009-02-02 09:33 |
| #2 In the early 1990s Erdogan made his Islamist bones as mayor of Istanbul and as head of the Islamist Refah Party. He was an early supporter of jihad in Bosnia and was an adept fundraiser for mujahideen operating in the Balkans. He worked with Sudan's Hasan al-Turabi and Al-Fatih Hassanein in support of the very Islamist Third World Relief Agency. He is a very devious SOB. |
| Posted by: balthazar 2009-02-02 09:22 |
| #1 Oh please say that someone has this on Video..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-02-02 01:14 |