Josh Stanton suggests a plan that just might work. We'd need a president who recognizes just how evil the Fat Bastard is and who would do something. Perhaps Marco Rubio, Rick Perry or Scott Walker can step up...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2015 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] It's true that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... angered us by interfering in Arab affairs, but he isn't a rival -- the dispute with him was merely over details. The results of the recent parliamentary elections in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... came as a surprise as they ended the dominance of Erdogan and his party, though they are still the biggest victors. His rivals occupy around 60 percent of parliamentary seats, enabling them to obstruct government decisions. The implications of this are worth studying.
Most of the reasons for the poorer showing by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) are not related to foreign affairs. One of the main reasons is the long time spent in governance. AKP rule lasted for 12 consecutive years, and it is normal for time to disintegrate its popular base.
During these 12 years, the party lost its most important ally, Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen. It also became at odds with social and economic parties that once supported it. Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had been cornered by the banditti... protests and criticism have increased. AKP is no longer as coherent as it once was. All this is normal in democratic disputes and competition.
AKP is still the most capable of forming a new government by allying with another party. Erdogan will continue to be an influential politician. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... parliamentary life and governance will not be easy. This is how liberal democracy works: you win some, you lose some.
How does this affect Turkey's role regarding Syria, or its relations with Iran, the Moslem Brüderbund, and particularly Egypt? For the past four years, Erodgan's government had not do much militarily to fight the Syrian regime, but it aided millions of refugees and kept its borders open for fighters.
A core Turkish interest Regardless of who the next Turkish president will be, Syria will be a core Turkish interest, and it is unlikely that the new government will alter its stance. We also expect Turkey to continue avoiding direct involvement in the war, especially amid the presence of Iranian forces and militias inside Syria. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... it will continue to influence the Syrian opposition.
Ankara will maintain its alliance with Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... because it enhances its influence and strengthens its stance in the West. Turkey's importance in the Syrian war has increased as Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... has weakened. The war will require Turkish involvement to confront the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar will continue to demand the removal of the Assad regime or at least Assad himself.
I do not expect a change regarding relations with Iran, because Erdogan has maintained a good relationship with Tehran throughout his years in office. Another significant reason is that Iran's relations with the West are improving, and Turkey is a member of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... .
What about the Brotherhood, which has found a comfortable haven in Istanbul especially after being exiled from Qatar? Erdogan has adopted the Brotherhood as his cause, putting him at odds with much of his party, mainly with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who resigned this week and who has repeatedly voiced his dissatisfaction with Erdogan's interference in Egyptian affairs.
The Brotherhood is expected to lose Turkish protection, as it has failed in Egypt and become a political burden on Turkey. AKP is no longer interested in looking after it. The Brotherhood failed in replacing their imprisoned leaders in Egypt, and has failed to mobilize the street, so their political weight will decrease.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] BY any stretch of the imagination, riding a two-wheeler in the free-for-all that is Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's chaotic traffic is to play Russian roulette with one's life.
The gamble becomes far more risky if one does so without protective headgear. Thus, the announcement by Karachi traffic police that helmets are now mandatory for all cycle of violence riders, including women riding pillion, was long overdue. However,
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] ONCE again, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government appears bent on raising the temperature in the India-Pakistan relationship. He wasn't talking to Pakistain. He was talking to Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistain. The 1971 version of the Pak govt handling of what started as an argument over use of the Bengali language and script was singularly oppressive. India's help to the Bangla rebels resulted in a humiliating defeat for the Paks. The Paks don't like to talk about it, but it's pretty understandable that India and Bangladesh would reminisce over old times.
Once again, it is difficult to discern any wisdom or even common sense in the Indian strategy. Having travelled to Bangladesh as part of his extensive outreach to the region — an outreach that increasingly looks like Mr Modi’s attempt to try and isolate Pakistan inside Saarc
...The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, established in 1985 for no apparent reason and consisting of seven countries plus, recently, Afghanistan. The seven founding nations are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, which must make group discussions on any topic very interesting, indeed. Saarc has a special poem as a placeholder until a proper anthem is devised.
— the Indian prime minister rather bizarrely harkened back to the terrible events of some 45 years ago that led to the break-up of Pakistan and boasted about the Indian role in the creation of Bangladesh. Since it was Indian help that tipped the scales it's entirely appropriate to talk about it. In private they probably talked about Pakistain's efforts to subvert both countries. In Bangla it's through the nasty Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP.
If that were not enough, Mr Modi decided to go on to attack present-day Pakistan in the same speech in what can only be described as the most un-prime-ministerial terms. You think he might be cheesed at the way Pakistain keeps sending bad boyz across the Line of Control? It goes pretty much like clockwork: Pak firing across the border to provide cover for infiltrators. They blame the firing on India. Anywhere from three days to a week later there are three or four or a dozen hard boyz killed in a shootout at Kupwara or someplace like that. They don't even try to be subtle about it.
In Pakistan the subtle is so overlain by fantastical Byzantine plotting that it quite disappears into the plain fabric somewhere underlying the embroidery.
Extraordinarily, what the Indian leader had to say about Pakistan and the history of Bangladesh were not even the most provocative of statements emanating from Indian quarters in recent days. That rather dubious honour instead goes to a junior Indian minister who suggested that the Indian cross-border raid into Myanmar in response to an attack on Indian security forces in India’s northeast late last week could be repeated on the western, ie India-Pakistan border, if necessary. Maybe the Indian army could fire across the LoC to provide cover for brainless cannon fodder to shoot up Muzzafargah or someplace like that.
How would they be able to differentiate from natives shooting up Muzzafargah and points elsewhere for the usual variety of reasons Pakistanis shoot things up?
Consider the breathtaking Indian arrogance on display here, and even naked war-mongering. Mr Modi’s comments in Dhaka hearken to a dark past for all sides — Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Especially Pakistain: Their military pretty much just rolled over, unconditional surrender, something like 90,000 PoWs. I'm sure the Indian public was just overjoyed to keep them in chapatis until they were finally repatriated.
To be sure, West Pakistan committed many errors and even crimes against what was then East Pakistan and there has never been any real introspection or accountability for that period here in present-day Pakistan. It was swept under the national rug. If you don't think about it then it didn't happen.
And according to "West Pakistani" society ladies, it only beautified the East Bangladeshis that so many babies were born in the year that followed with substantially lighter skin than adorned their mothers' husbands. So that was a kindness, you see.
Yet, Pakistan and Bangladesh managed to go on to build ties that were reasonably stable and respectful and not even remotely comparable to the almost seven-decade-old effectively failed relationship between India and Pakistan. Relations between Pak and India would probably be much better if the Paks didn't do stoopid stuff, like sending jihadis backed by regulars to start wars over disputed glaciated territory. Pak and India have managed to fight four wars in approximately 70 years, losing every one of them.
It's those legendary Pakistani generals. They helped Jordan against Israel, too, as I recall.
Is Mr Modi’s goal really to try and drive a wedge between Bangladesh and Pakistan? In any case, Pakistan’s political and diplomatic leadership have for a while now needed to urgently reach out to the Bangladeshi government of Prime Minister Hasina Wajed because of the attempt by that government to stoke tensions with Pakistan for domestic political reasons. Howzat Fifth Column idea working out for yez?
An India bent on meddling with an already stand-offish government in place in Bangladesh can rapidly become a much sterner diplomatic test than the Pakistani state appears to have realised until now. It doesn't help matters that the current PM's father (also Father of His Country) was bumped off by Pak agents. The much more recent grenade attack against her--I believe the corpse count was a couple dozen--probably didn't make her any happier with the Pak govt, even though their connection with HuJI was plausibly denied.
The flame-throwing from the Indian side has rather predictably riled politicians here. Instead of allowing the foreign and defence ministries to respond to the Indian provocations, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan decided to wade into the controversy created by Indian junior minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s allusion to cross-border raids inside Pakistan. Come to think of it, there's a difference between a defense minister and a minister of the interior who's incapable of keeping Karachi from looking like 1970 Dhaka.
Meanwhile, the army leadership too has waded in with a strong statement against Indian interference yesterday. Perhaps the prime minister needs to convene his national security council to draw up a concerted, diplomatic response. Table thumping is so much more satisfying as a response.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] ONE often wonders how a police organization tailored to colonial needs can meet the ideals of democratic policing. Public satisfaction is the benchmark for police effectiveness, yet this cannot be accomplished with mere cosmetic measures and quick-impact projects. Viable transition from the colonial model to democratic policing is not possible without structural adjustments within the policing edifice.
After defence, policing is the second most important priority of the state. Civilised societies have extensively debated the options between bureaucratic and democratic accountability models. To control the police, tight bureaucratic control, accountability to government and accountability to autonomous public oversight bodies are a few global practices. The standard of police control determines the quality of policing and standards of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... .
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] THE escalating war of words between India and Pakistain will do good to neither side; on the contrary it could cause incalculable harm to people of both countries. File under Pakistani Truculence.
Pakistain was too easily provoked by the disclosures/confessions of the Modi sarkar. Each time New Delhi has recalled an episode from the history of confrontation between the two closest neighbours the hawks on this side have welcomed the opportunity to revive their confrontational narrative. A better response could have been a dispassionate analysis of the Indian strategy.
Take Mr Parrikar's statement regarding meeting terrorism with terrorism. The Indian defence minister did not disclose anything that was not known to the world. Instead of getting hysterical over what was considered as confirmation of India's incurable perfidy, Pakistain's leaders and the media managers should have dismissed the affair as part of BJP's drive to broaden its popular backing by unfurling its ultra-nationalist standard.
New Delhi's reported decision to celebrate the 1965 war also should have been taken as part of a design to play up its military power and its capacity to defend nationalist ideals.
Now Mr Modi has provided grist to the confrontationists' mill in both countries by recalling his country's role in the making of Bangladesh. Again he has not revealed any secret. The story of India's part in raising the Mukti Bahini and the use of regular troops inside East Bengal much before their open involvement and the 1971 conflict has been told in numerous books.
Again instead of issuing statements that can only whip up anti-India sentiment Pakistain's political and other leaders as well as the media should have pondered the thinking behind the Indian premier's obviously calculated oratory.
It is obvious that the Modi government has adopted a revanchist agenda. The populist slogan-mongering is designed to convince the Indian people that their country is a great power and that it has the means to change the geography of the region. A second and a more important plank of this strategy is wooing the neighbours except Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2015 00:00 ||
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[Breitbart] The niece of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is blasting liberal leaders such as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Al Sharpton for engaging in race-baiting in order to stir up discontent within the black community.
In an editorial at CNSNews.com, Dr. Alveda King asserts that liberal race-baiting serves only to create unrest as it overlooks -- for the purpose of maintaining a mindset of victimization -- the true nature of African Americans, who have survived overwhelming oppression "from first slavery and then segregation and racism."
She writes:
When I hear Mrs. Senator Hillary Clinton or Mrs. Michelle Obama, or Al Sharpton, or other leading speakers stir up memories of racial unrest and oppression, even when they are pointing out the obvious current racial overtones and undertones that Blacks in America are still facing, I don't hear hope. They don't offer solutions, only more anger, pain and despair.
As a survivor of the 20th Century Race Wars, my back remains unbent, and I move forward for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all who were created equal in God's eyes.
#1
There would be no 'baiting' if there wasn't a whole lot of fish to catch to make it worthwhile. Bigotry is race blind, it's not just for white people regardless of the Wormtongues excuse makers.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] It's true that Turkish President 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir .jpg)
[DAWN] BY any stretch of the imagination, riding a two-wheeler in the free-for-all that is 
