- Wagner boss Prigozhin says his forces are stopping their march on Moscow to avoid bloodshed
- Wagner paramilitary forces were earlier driving north on the main highway towards Moscow, where new security measures had been put in place, and local residents were told not to travel.
- The Kremlin accused the boss of private paramilitary company Wagner of attempting to stage a coup.
- Yevgeny Prigozhin insisted his forces were "patriots" who had the support of the Russian people.
- Prigozhin said his Wagner troops captured the Russian army HQ in Rostov-on-Don without firing a shot
- In a speech to the nation, Vladimir Putin described Wagner's actions as a "stab in the back."
- Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says that in Russia there's "so much chaos, no lie can hide it". Read more at:
- https://www.euronews.com
Showing posts with label Coup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coup. Show all posts
6/26/23
Ukraine war: Putin's regime threatened
8/4/22
Is Russia Ripe for a Coup?
Is a coup possible in Russia? Several months ago, most analysts would have dismissed the idea as absurd. Today, with the war in Ukraine going badly for Russia and President Vladimir Putin, the question is relevant. It might even be urgent.
Indeed, that question has been supplemented by another: Can a leader who has created such an immense catastrophe for his regime and his country possibly survive?
Read more at: Is Russia Ripe for a Coup? - 19FortyFive1/21/22
USA: Draft Trump order told defense chief to seize swing-state voting machines - by Ed Pilkington
That would have pushed the chaos that Trump assiduously attempted to sow around Joe Biden’s legitimate victory well beyond the handover of power at the inauguration on 20 January.
The publication of the document will provoke intense speculation as to who wrote it. Politico pointed out that at the time the draft order was dated, 16 December 2020, the idea of seizing voting machines in key states was being vigorously promoted by Sidney Powell, a controversial lawyer who had Trump’s ear at the time.
Read more at Draft Trump order told defense chief to seize swing-state voting machines | US elections 2020 | The Guardian
The publication of the document will provoke intense speculation as to who wrote it. Politico pointed out that at the time the draft order was dated, 16 December 2020, the idea of seizing voting machines in key states was being vigorously promoted by Sidney Powell, a controversial lawyer who had Trump’s ear at the time.
Read more at Draft Trump order told defense chief to seize swing-state voting machines | US elections 2020 | The Guardian
2/28/21
Myanmar coup: Deadliest day of protests as police open fire
Police have fired on protesters in Myanmar killing at least 18, the UN human rights office says, on the deadliest day of anti-coup rallies.
Deaths were reported in several cities including Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay as police used live rounds and tear gas.
Read more at: Myanmar coup: Deadliest day of protests as police open fire - BBC News
Deaths were reported in several cities including Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay as police used live rounds and tear gas.
Read more at: Myanmar coup: Deadliest day of protests as police open fire - BBC News
2/24/21
USA: Evangelical leaders condemn role of Christian nationalism in Capitol attack - by Ed Pilkington
In an open letter released on Wednesday, the evangelical leaders say they are speaking out now because they do not want to be “quiet accomplices in this ongoing sin”.
They call on all church people to clarify that Christianity is incompatible with “calls to violence, support of white Christian nationalism, conspiracy theories, and all religious and racial prejudice”.
The letter, first reported by NPR, notes that the evangelical community in the US has long been susceptible to the “heresy” of Christian nationalism – the belief that the country is fundamentally Christian and run by and for white conservative Americans. The signatories blame that tendency on church leaders accommodating white supremacy over many years.
Read more at: Evangelical leaders condemn role of Christian nationalism in Capitol attack | Christianity | The Guardian
They call on all church people to clarify that Christianity is incompatible with “calls to violence, support of white Christian nationalism, conspiracy theories, and all religious and racial prejudice”.
The letter, first reported by NPR, notes that the evangelical community in the US has long been susceptible to the “heresy” of Christian nationalism – the belief that the country is fundamentally Christian and run by and for white conservative Americans. The signatories blame that tendency on church leaders accommodating white supremacy over many years.
Read more at: Evangelical leaders condemn role of Christian nationalism in Capitol attack | Christianity | The Guardian
1/26/21
USA: Congress must expel its coup plotters, then somehow find truth, reconciliation, or U.S. is doomed - by Will Bunch
If tradition holds (and who knows about that anymore), on a cold night this February Joe Biden will motorcade from his new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue up Capitol Hill, and a new House sergeant-at-arms will proclaim, “Madame Speaker, the president of the United States!” In front of that so-familiar flag, the 46th president will ask a joint session of Congress for unprecedented, bipartisan help in facing the worst domestic crises since FDR and the Great Depression — a race to vaccinate millions of Americans as thousands die daily, amid food lines of the many unable to work.
Yet as Biden looks out over the House chamber, he will see staring back at him the blank faces of 147 lawmakers who just days earlier had voted to suspend not just the basic tenets of U.S. democracy but the very notion of rational truth in voting to halt the certification of the Democrat’s election, on utterly unfounded voter fraud claims. And arguably that’s not the worst of it.
Read more at: https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/attytood/congress-expel-members-who-aided-insurrection-20210114.html
Yet as Biden looks out over the House chamber, he will see staring back at him the blank faces of 147 lawmakers who just days earlier had voted to suspend not just the basic tenets of U.S. democracy but the very notion of rational truth in voting to halt the certification of the Democrat’s election, on utterly unfounded voter fraud claims. And arguably that’s not the worst of it.
Read more at: https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/attytood/congress-expel-members-who-aided-insurrection-20210114.html
1/6/21
USA - A Trump Coup ? : ‘This is not America’: Europe reacts as Trump supporters wage chaos in US capital – by Emma Anderson
European politicians expressed concern over “highly disturbing” scenes as supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building and clashed with police in Washington amid a push to overturn the U.S. president’s electoral defeat.
The breach of the Capitol building came as Congress members were in the midst of counting Electoral College votes in the election — the final step toward certifying Joe Biden’s win. Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the proceedings, was among those evacuated from the Senate chamber and Getty images broadcast on national television appeared to show an armed standoff at the door of the House of Representatives’ floor.
“In the eyes of the world, American democracy tonight appears under siege,” Borrell tweeted, saying the November election results must be respected. “This is an unseen assault on US democracy, its institutions and the rule of law. This is not America. The election results of 3 November must be fully respected.”
Read more at: ‘This is not America’: Europe reacts as Trump supporters wage chaos in US capital – POLITICO
The breach of the Capitol building came as Congress members were in the midst of counting Electoral College votes in the election — the final step toward certifying Joe Biden’s win. Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the proceedings, was among those evacuated from the Senate chamber and Getty images broadcast on national television appeared to show an armed standoff at the door of the House of Representatives’ floor.
“In the eyes of the world, American democracy tonight appears under siege,” Borrell tweeted, saying the November election results must be respected. “This is an unseen assault on US democracy, its institutions and the rule of law. This is not America. The election results of 3 November must be fully respected.”
Read more at: ‘This is not America’: Europe reacts as Trump supporters wage chaos in US capital – POLITICO
11/11/20
USA - Presidential elections: Can Trump really stage a coup? Experts weigh in on whether it's possible - Nicole Karlis
For the first time in history, an incumbent president is refusing to concede after clearly and indisputably losing a presidential election. That's making observers, citizens, and experts nervous that Trump may be preparing to stage a coup of some sort, or perhaps call again on his supporters to commit violence to sustain his rule.
Read more at: Can Trump really stage a coup? Experts weigh in on whether it's possible
Read more at: Can Trump really stage a coup? Experts weigh in on whether it's possible
11/10/20
USA: Will Donald Trump cause a civil war? by Elizabeth Drew
Note EU-Digest: "The political situation has become extremely dangerous and critical in the USA, as Trump and his cronies set his illegal planned "coup" in action. The guard rails of US democracy are coming down. US diplomats around the world are in despair not knowing how to respond to local government officials questions as to the present political chaos in America."
Trump’s disinclination — and perhaps inability — to reach beyond his right-wing base, which is insufficient to elect him, also calls into question his political acumen, and is one of many reasons to doubt his basic intelligence (an issue on which he is quite sensitive). But one thing about the president is now clearer than ever: In order to perpetuate his hold on power, Trump is testing the constitution in unprecedented ways.
Read more at Will Donald Trump cause a civil war? | The Japan Times
Trump’s disinclination — and perhaps inability — to reach beyond his right-wing base, which is insufficient to elect him, also calls into question his political acumen, and is one of many reasons to doubt his basic intelligence (an issue on which he is quite sensitive). But one thing about the president is now clearer than ever: In order to perpetuate his hold on power, Trump is testing the constitution in unprecedented ways.
Read more at Will Donald Trump cause a civil war? | The Japan Times
11/15/17
Zimbabwe: Military takeover - Mugabe dynasty which has been ruling the former Rhodesia since its independence comes to an end - by Jason Burke
Robert Mugabe
and his family remain under detention in Zimbabwe twelve hours after
the military declared on national television that it had temporarily
taken control of the country to “target criminals” around the head of
state.
The move by the armed forces appears to have resolved a bitter battle to succeed the 93-year-old president, which had pitted his former vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, against his wife, 52-year-old Grace Mugabe.
Mnangagwa was reported to have returned to Zimbabwe on Wednesday morning from South Africa, where he fled after being stripped of his office by Mugabe last week in an apparent attempt to clear Grace’s path to power.
The military takeover comes two days after the army chief – flanked by other senior officers – warned that he was prepared to “step in” to end turmoil in the ruling Zanu-PF party.
It is likely to signal the departure from power of the world’s oldest leader within days, weeks or at most months.
Soldiers have sealed access to parliament, government offices and courts in the capital, residents said. Access to the president’s official residence was also blocked by troops. But Harare appeared calm.
There was no sign of any resistance to the takeover or to the arrest of a series of senior officials associated with Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction. The youth wing of the ruling Zanu-PF, which had made defiant statements directed at the military earlier in the week, appeared to condone the military action.
Mnangagwa, a former spy chief, has strong support among many in Zimbabwe’s armed forces, and it is unclear who might oppose him in coming days.
In contrast, Grace Mugabe is deeply unpopular and has few allies internally or, crucially, regionally.
Read more: Mugabe family in detention after military takes control of Zimbabwe | World news | The Guardian
The move by the armed forces appears to have resolved a bitter battle to succeed the 93-year-old president, which had pitted his former vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, against his wife, 52-year-old Grace Mugabe.
Mnangagwa was reported to have returned to Zimbabwe on Wednesday morning from South Africa, where he fled after being stripped of his office by Mugabe last week in an apparent attempt to clear Grace’s path to power.
The military takeover comes two days after the army chief – flanked by other senior officers – warned that he was prepared to “step in” to end turmoil in the ruling Zanu-PF party.
It is likely to signal the departure from power of the world’s oldest leader within days, weeks or at most months.
Soldiers have sealed access to parliament, government offices and courts in the capital, residents said. Access to the president’s official residence was also blocked by troops. But Harare appeared calm.
There was no sign of any resistance to the takeover or to the arrest of a series of senior officials associated with Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction. The youth wing of the ruling Zanu-PF, which had made defiant statements directed at the military earlier in the week, appeared to condone the military action.
Mnangagwa, a former spy chief, has strong support among many in Zimbabwe’s armed forces, and it is unclear who might oppose him in coming days.
In contrast, Grace Mugabe is deeply unpopular and has few allies internally or, crucially, regionally.
Read more: Mugabe family in detention after military takes control of Zimbabwe | World news | The Guardian
2/17/17
USA: Wave of leaks stirs fears of a U.S. ‘deep state’ - by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher
A wave of leaks from government officials has hobbled the Trump administration, leading some to draw comparisons to countries like Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, where shadowy networks within government bureaucracies, often referred to as “deep states,” undermine and coerce elected governments.
So is the United States seeing the rise of its own deep state?
Not quite, experts say, but the echoes are real — and disturbing.
Although leaks can be a normal and healthy check on a president’s power, what’s happening now extends much further. The United States, those experts warn, risks developing an entrenched culture of conflict between the president and his own bureaucracy.
Issandr El Amrani, an analyst who has written on Egypt’s deep state, said he was concerned by the parallels, although the United States had not reached authoritarian extremes.
The growing discord between a president and his bureaucratic rank-and-file, he warned, “is dangerous, it encourages deep divisions within society, it creates these constant tensions.”
Read more: Wave of leaks stirs fears of a U.S. ‘deep state’ - Las Vegas Sun News
So is the United States seeing the rise of its own deep state?
Not quite, experts say, but the echoes are real — and disturbing.
Although leaks can be a normal and healthy check on a president’s power, what’s happening now extends much further. The United States, those experts warn, risks developing an entrenched culture of conflict between the president and his own bureaucracy.
Issandr El Amrani, an analyst who has written on Egypt’s deep state, said he was concerned by the parallels, although the United States had not reached authoritarian extremes.
The growing discord between a president and his bureaucratic rank-and-file, he warned, “is dangerous, it encourages deep divisions within society, it creates these constant tensions.”
Read more: Wave of leaks stirs fears of a U.S. ‘deep state’ - Las Vegas Sun News
1/18/17
Turkey: Erdogan plotted Turkey purge before coup, say Brussels spies - by Runo Waterfield
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan planned to purge opposition forces in the military before July’s attempted coup, according to a secret EU intelligence report.
The European intelligence contradicts the Turkish government’s claim that exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind the plot to overthrow the Turkish government. Ankara is seeking Mr Gulen’s extradition from the US.
The report by the EU intelligence centre Intcen found the coup was mounted by a range of opponents to Mr Erdogan and his ruling AK Party.
“The decision to launch the coup resulted from the fears of an incoming purge. It is likely that a group of officers comprising Gulenists, Kemalists (secularists), opponents of the AKP and opportunists was behind the coup. It is unlikely that Gulen himself played a role in the attempt,” said the report, dated August 24.
“The coup was just a catalyst for the crackdown prepared in advance.”
Mr Gulen’s followers spent decades placing their supporters in senior positions in the police, judiciary and other institutions, building a network that enabled him to “influence the situation in the country and control the activities of President Erdogan”, according to EU intelligence sources
That situation “changed” after Mr Erdogan began purges of the police and state administration in 2014, weakening the Gulenists as well as targeting other opposition tendencies such as Kemalists and civil activists.
In a blow to Turkey’s claims that Mr Gulen masterminded the coup, the European intelligence report noted that his Islamist followers were weak in the Turkish army, which until last July remained a bastion of secularism.
Read more: Erdogan plotted Turkey purge before coup, say Brussels spies
The European intelligence contradicts the Turkish government’s claim that exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind the plot to overthrow the Turkish government. Ankara is seeking Mr Gulen’s extradition from the US.
The report by the EU intelligence centre Intcen found the coup was mounted by a range of opponents to Mr Erdogan and his ruling AK Party.
“The decision to launch the coup resulted from the fears of an incoming purge. It is likely that a group of officers comprising Gulenists, Kemalists (secularists), opponents of the AKP and opportunists was behind the coup. It is unlikely that Gulen himself played a role in the attempt,” said the report, dated August 24.
“The coup was just a catalyst for the crackdown prepared in advance.”
Mr Gulen’s followers spent decades placing their supporters in senior positions in the police, judiciary and other institutions, building a network that enabled him to “influence the situation in the country and control the activities of President Erdogan”, according to EU intelligence sources
That situation “changed” after Mr Erdogan began purges of the police and state administration in 2014, weakening the Gulenists as well as targeting other opposition tendencies such as Kemalists and civil activists.
In a blow to Turkey’s claims that Mr Gulen masterminded the coup, the European intelligence report noted that his Islamist followers were weak in the Turkish army, which until last July remained a bastion of secularism.
Read more: Erdogan plotted Turkey purge before coup, say Brussels spies
11/25/16
US Economy: Wall Street Is Suddenly in Love with Trump, now they think he is one of them - but will it last?
 |
| What is next? |
There was also the matter of Trump saying things on the trail like: ”hedge-fund guys are getting away with murder” and ”Wall Street has caused tremendous problems for us” and ”I’m not going to let Wall Street get away with murder”.
But after a brief moment of panic, wherein it became clear Donald J. Trump, he of ”grab them by the p---y” and “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” fame, would be the next president of the United States of America,
Wall Street quickly adjusted to the new reality. In fact, a lot of people are downright giddy about Trump living in the White House (during the week, anyway).
All the usual Wall Street cronies were happy: “Regulatory overreach probably peaked,” said Robert McTamaney, a former Goldman Sachs partner who helped run the firm’s equities-trading business in Asia until 2011 and now manages his own money. “It’s going to come off the boil, and you can probably cut back on the legal team and compliance.”
The impact of the rapidly changing tide in consumer confidence, though, won't be limited to just Trump and Republicans. Already, we have seen the consequence of falling Democratic voter confidence foster spontaneous, peaceful protests. Should Democrats' moods fall further, those protests will become angrier; and we will see the same divisiveness and and extremism seen recently within the Republican Party.
As mood falls, rising self-interest challenges the cohesiveness of even the strongest organizations.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, one could watch as falling confidence split support between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. If Democrats' confidence remains low, it would not be at all surprising to see even greater divisions form. Based on what I see, a young, leftward leaning, heretofore unknown leader could easily emerge as the new hope of the party — an anti-Hillary Clinton Democrat, as it were.
While Elizabeth Warren is receiving all the media attention now, if mood stays low, the spotlight will almost certainly move on to a true outsider. For the Democratic Party, the outcome of the 2020 election will rest squarely on the party’s ability to pull together young voters in opposition to the Trump presidency.
While admittedly very early, one can expect anti-Wall Street/anti-capitalism sentiment to play a major part, particularly given Trump’s business pedigree. While economists will likely look at the post-election surge in confidence as a reason to expect strong holiday sales, don’t count on that.
Rather than reflecting the improving financial condition of American consumer, the latest Gallup figures are expressing a return of hopefulness to Republican voters, offset by a mild decline in optimism among Democrats — a change in the political tide. Nothing, however, has changed in the wallets and pocketbooks of voters.
For Trump, he must now translate the "Evengelical tent revival" resurgence in confidence among Republicans into higher confidence for all Americans.
As rising confidence is the critical input to economic growth, financial prosperity and social cohesion, what happens to Americans’ mood over the next several months will drive the trajectory of the next four years. While many Americans feel better today than they did last week, many, many more need to feel good.
Right now, looking closely at the Presidential election results one can only ask: "has the Trump election win been a silent coup of Corporate America and the Republican party, or have they been just as surprised as the rest of us"
It seems more likely Wall Street could be in for a big surprise and possibly a total meltdown of the US economy. Only time will tell.
EU-Digest
10/30/16
Turkey fires thousands more civil servants, shuts media outlets
 |
| Crackdown or Erdogan dictatorship? |
More than 100,000 people had already been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested since the failed coup, in an unprecedented crackdown the government says is necessary to root out all supporters of Gulen from the state apparatus.
Thousands more academics, teachers, health workers, prison guards and forensics experts were among the latest to be removed from their posts through two new executive decrees published on the Official Gazette late on Saturday.
Opposition parties described the move as a coup in itself. The continued crackdown has also raised concerns over the functioning of state.
Read more: Turkey fires thousands more civil servants, shuts media outlets - France 24
9/11/16
Turkey removes 24 mayors over links to Kurdish rebels
The Turkish government has dismissed 24 local mayors over alleged ties
to Kurdish militants. The crackdown comes as President Erdogan pushes
ahead with a purge of opposition supporters following a failed coup.
Read more: Turkey removes 24 mayors over links to Kurdish rebels | News | DW.COM | 11.09.2016
Read more: Turkey removes 24 mayors over links to Kurdish rebels | News | DW.COM | 11.09.2016
8/12/16
Kurdish Statehood: The Case for Kurdish Statehood - or Israel+USA+Kurds=Turkish Coup?
The Kurds have been instrumental in fighting the Islamic State (ISIS); have generously accepted millions of refugees fleeing ISIS to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG); and embrace Western values such as gender equality, religious freedom, and human rights. They are also an ancient people with an ethnic and linguistic identity stretching back millennia and have faced decades of brutal oppression as a minority. Yet they cannot seem to get sufficient support from the West for their political aspirations.
The Palestinians, by contrast, claimed a distinct national identity relatively recently, are less than one-third fewer in number (in 2013, the global Palestinian population was estimated by the Palestinian Authority to reach 11.6 million), control land that is less than 1/15th the size of the KRG territory, and have not developed their civil society or economy with nearly as much success as the Kurds. Yet the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League, and other international bodies have all but ignored Kurdish statehood dreams while regularly prioritizing Palestinian ambitions over countless other global crises.
Indeed, in 2014 the UK and Sweden joined much of the rest of the world in recognizing a Palestinian state. There has been no similar global support for a Kurdish homeland. Moreover, Kurdish statehood has been hobbled by U.S. reluctance to see the Iraqi state dismantled and by regional powers like Turkey, which worries that a Kurdish state will stir up separatist feelings among Turkish Kurds.
With an estimated worldwide population of about 35 million (including about 28 million in the KRG or adjacent areas), the Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East (after the Arabs, Persians, and Turks), and have faced decades of persecution as a minority in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq.
The 1988 "Anfal" attacks, which included the use of chemical weapons, destroyed about 2,000 villages and killed at least 50,000 Kurds, according to human rights groups (Kurds put the number at nearly 200,000). Several international bodies have recognized those atrocities as a genocide.
The Kurds in Turkey have also suffered oppression dating back to Ottoman times, when the Turkish army killed tens of thousands of Kurds in the Dersim and Zilan massacres. By the mid-1990s, more than 3,000 villages had been destroyed and 378,335 Kurdish villagers had been displaced and left homeless, according to Human Rights Watch.
The drive for Kurdish rights and separatism in Iran extends back to 1918, and – during its most violent chapter – cost the lives of over 30,000 Kurds, starting with the 1979 rebellion and the consequent KDPI insurgency.
A 2007 study notes that 300,000 Kurdish lives were lost just in the 1980s and 1990s. The same study states that 51,000 Jews and Arabs were killed in the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1950 until 2007 (and, because that total includes wars with Israel's Arab neighbors, Palestinians are a small fraction of the Arab death toll).
Perhaps because of the Kurds' own painful history, the KRG is exceptionally tolerant towards religious minorities and refugees. The KRG has embraced its tiny community of Jews, and in 2014, the Kurds rescued about 5,000 Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar after fleeing attempted genocide by ISIS. Last November, the Kurds recaptured the Sinjar area from ISIS, liberating hundreds more Yazidis from vicious oppression.
The KRG absorbed 1.8 million refugees as of December, representing a population increase of about 30 percent. The KRG reportedly needs $1.4 to 2.4 billion to stabilize the internally displaced people in its territory.
"Most of the refugees [in the KRG] are Arab Sunnis and Shia, Iranians, Christians, and others," Nahro Zagros, Soran University vice president and adviser to the KRG's Ministry of Higher Education, told the IPT. "Yet there is no public backlash from the Kurds. And of course, we have been helping the Yazidi, who are fellow Kurds."
The Kurdish commitment to gender equality is yet another reason that Kurdish statehood merits Western support. There is no gender discrimination in the Kurdish army: their women fight (and get beheaded) alongside the men. Last December, Kurdistan hosted the International Conference on Women and Human Rights.
The Kurds are also the only credible ground force fighting ISIS, as has been clear since the ISIS threat first emerged in 2014. ISIS "would have totally controlled the Baji oil field and all of Kirkuk had the [Kurdish] Peshmerga not defended it," said Jay Garner, a retired Army three-star general and former Army assistant vice chief of staff who served during "Operation Provide Comfort" in northern Iraq. "Losing Kirkuk would have changed the entire war [against ISIS], because there are billions of dollars [per] week in oil flowing through there. The Iraqi army abandoned their equipment [while the Kurds defended Kirkuk, which has historically been theirs]."
Masrour Barzani, who heads the KRG's intelligence services, says that Kurdish independence would empower the Kurds to purchase the type of weapons they need without the delays that currently hobble their military effort against ISIS. Under the present arrangement, Kurdish weapons procurement must go through Iraq's Shia-led central government, which is also under heavy Iranian influence.
Besides bolstering the fight against ISIS, there are other geopolitical reasons for the West to support Kurdish statehood: promoting a stable partition of Syria, containing Iran, balancing extremist forces in the Middle East, and giving the West another reliable ally in a volatile region.
Now that Syria is no longer a viable state, it could partition into more sustainable governing blocs along traditional ethnic/sectarian lines with Sunni Arabs in the heartland, Alawites in the northwest, Druze in the south, and Kurds in the northeast. KRG leader Masrour Barzani recently argued that political divisions within Iraq have become so deep that the country must transform into "either confederation or full separation."
Southeast Turkey and northwest Iran also have sizeable Kurdish areas that are contiguous with the KRG, but those states are far from disintegrating, and would aggressively resist any attempts to connect their Kurdish areas to the future Kurdish state. However, the Kurdish areas of former Syria should be joined to Iraqi Kurdistan as a way to strengthen the fledgling Kurdish state and thereby weaken ISIS.
In a recent article, Ernie Audino, the only U.S. Army general to have previously served a year as a combat adviser embedded inside a Kurdish Peshmerga brigade in Iraq, notes that Iran currently controls the Iraqi government and Iran-backed fighters will eventually try to control Kurdistan. He also makes the point that Western support for the Kurdish opposition groups active in Iran would force the Iranian regime to concentrate more on domestic concerns, effectively weakening Iran's ability to pursue terrorism, expansionism, and other destabilizing activities abroad.
Because the Kurds are religiously diverse moderates who prioritize their ethno-linguistic identity over religion, a Kurdish state would help to balance out the radical Mideast forces in both the Shiite and Sunni camps. The Kurds are already very pro-American, thanks to their Western-leaning values, the U.S.-backed-no-fly zone, and the 2003 toppling of Saddam Husssein that made the KRG possible.
A Kurdish state would also have excellent relations with Israel, another moderate, non-Arab, pro-Western democracy in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed Kurdish independence in 2014, and Syrian Kurds – after recently declaring their autonomy – expressed an interest in developing relations with Israel.
By contrast, the Palestinian Authority slanders Israel at every opportunity: Abbas recently claimed in front of the EU parliament that Israel's rabbis are trying to poison Palestinian drinking water. The Authority raises Palestinian children to hate and kill Jews with endless anti-Israel incitement coming from schools, media, and mosques. Palestinians have also shown little economic progress in the territories that they do control, particularly in Gaza, where Palestinians destroyed the greenhouses that donors bought for them in 2006 and instead, have focused their resources on attacking Israel with tunnels and rockets.
By almost any measure, a Kurdish state deserves far more support from the West. After absorbing millions of Syrian refugees while fighting ISIS on shrinking oil revenue, the KRG is battling a deepening financial crisis. Aggravating the situation, Iraq's central government has refused – since April 2015 – to send the KRG its share of Iraqi oil revenue. The economic crisis has cost the KRG an estimated $10 billion since 2014.
U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced House Resolution 1654 "to authorize the direct provision of defense articles, defense services, and related training to" the KRG. Fifteen months later, the bill is still stuck in Congress.
Helping the Kurds should be an even bigger priority for the European Union, which absorbs countless new refugees every day that ISIS is not defeated. If the EU were to fund the KRG's refugee relief efforts and support their military operations against ISIS, far fewer refugees would end up on their shores."
Note EU-Digest: obviously not trying to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could this, given the friendship of the USA and Israel with the Kurds fighting in Iraq and Syria, and Erogan's long standing feud with the Kurds indirectly also have led to the failed military coup in Turkey?
Read more: The Case for Kurdish Statehood :: The Investigative Project on Terrorism
8/11/16
TURKEY. How Putin "checkmated" the "coup d'Obama state" in Turkey
The failed attempt of coup in Turkey, which was implemented by the US military, in concert with NATO, will precipitate an unprecedented change in the Middle East.
The coup was doomed from the start because its implementation plan was defective. As a result, the plotters of the CIA, MI6 and Mossad managed to distance Turkey from the Anglo-Zionist Axis (AAS [1]) and were closer to the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and BRICS.
The decision of the United States to implement a coup from the Incirlik air base will prove disastrous for their warmongering regimes that want to control ALL the Middle East region and complete their project of " Greater Israel ". This absolute fiasco of US foreign and CIA agencies must have been undermined from within the United States by a "Coup against" double agents.
Read more: TURQUIE. Comment Poutine a fait "échec et mat" au coup d'état d'Obama
The coup was doomed from the start because its implementation plan was defective. As a result, the plotters of the CIA, MI6 and Mossad managed to distance Turkey from the Anglo-Zionist Axis (AAS [1]) and were closer to the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and BRICS.
The decision of the United States to implement a coup from the Incirlik air base will prove disastrous for their warmongering regimes that want to control ALL the Middle East region and complete their project of " Greater Israel ". This absolute fiasco of US foreign and CIA agencies must have been undermined from within the United States by a "Coup against" double agents.
Read more: TURQUIE. Comment Poutine a fait "échec et mat" au coup d'état d'Obama
8/7/16
Turkey: The story behind post-coup siege mentality in Turkey
Turkish politicians and media were quick to blame the West for the
failed July 15 coup. The idea that world powers have designs on Turkey
has been around for over a century - and it's not totally without basis.
In the weeks since the July 15 coup, Turkey's government has cracked down domestically on the network led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Many officials and media outlets have taken things a step further, implicating the imam's American hosts in the coup - an idea that has gained some traction.
The idea that foreign powers seek to weaken and divide Turkey is a powerful force in domestic and foreign policy. The Ottoman Empire dissolved at the hands of ethnic nationalism and foreign interference. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ottoman lands in the Balkans succumbed to national liberation movements, often with the support of European powers.
At the same time, Ottoman territories in Arab North Africa were lost to the machinations of European powers, and, by the eve of World War I, the empire was a shadow of its former self. During the war, British-backed Arab revolts left an indelible mark on Turkish minds of the dangers of foreign instigation on emerging national consciousness. Even today, many Turks view Arabs as traitors.
The experience of losing the Ottoman Emptire to ethnic nationalism has created hypersensitivities to external meddling within Turkey and on its periphery, with regard to Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and most recently in Syria.
Since coming out of the coup attempt stronger than ever, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has helped stoke the notion that the coup was part of a bigger international plot, calling Gulen a "pawn" controlled by a greater "mastermind."
Stating it bluntly recently, Erdogan said: "Unfortunately, the West is supporting terrorism and stands by coup plotters."
The United States has denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the coup, but the accusations have set the stage for a further deterioration of relations between Washington and Ankara so long as the United States refuses to extradite Gulen.
Last week, US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said he was "deeply disturbed and offended by the accusations without a shred of fact in so much of the commentary in this country."
Indeed, pro-government media has fueled anti-Western sentiment and freely peddles conspiracy theories. In some ways, the rhetoric is a reflection of the anti-Turkish and Islamophobic sentiment that comes out the West.
Yeni Safak Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Karagul, who is close to Erdogan, wrote that the US was directly behind the coup and had declared war on Turkey by bombing the parliament, shooting people and attempting to assassinate the president.
Karagul has accused the US and Europe of working on a "scenario" to prepare the "invasion and occupation" of Turkey. Preparations for the "siege," a second invasion of Anatolia, started with the "Crusade intervention" throughout the Middle East in the 1990s, he wrote. Karagul's other recent articles contain subheadlines such as "European Union now a threat to Turkey" and "US intends to destroy Turkey."
Turkey lives in a dangerous neighborhood that, over the past three decades, has witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the violent collapse of Yugoslavia, the disintegration of Iraq and the slow-motion meltdown of Syria. Adding to this is a 35-year insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
From the perspective of some in Turkey, the United States has been a major driver of instability in the Middle East, especially through its second war in Iraq, which has heightened sectarianism across the region and given birth to a quasi-Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
But it is in Syria - where Turkey attempted to oust President Bashar al-Assad - that Ankara feels abandoned by its allies. The conflict has led to heightened tensions with United States over its backing of Syrian Kurdish groups tied to the PKK who have carved up autonomous regions along its border.
From Ankara's perspective, the United States is now backing two factions that it considers terrorist groups: the PKK-aligned YPG Syrian Kurdish militia and the Gulen movement, which has its headquarters in the state of Pennsylvania.
This is not to say that Turkey hasn't contributed to its own problems and those in the region. Certainly, the country's leadership seeks to externalize problems for domestic political reasons. Nor does it discount real concerns over the authoritarian direction that the country is taking under Erdogan.
However, it might behoove the West to at least understand the drivers - both real and imagined - behind the perceptions in Turkey.
EU-Digest
In the weeks since the July 15 coup, Turkey's government has cracked down domestically on the network led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Many officials and media outlets have taken things a step further, implicating the imam's American hosts in the coup - an idea that has gained some traction.
The idea that foreign powers seek to weaken and divide Turkey is a powerful force in domestic and foreign policy. The Ottoman Empire dissolved at the hands of ethnic nationalism and foreign interference. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ottoman lands in the Balkans succumbed to national liberation movements, often with the support of European powers.
At the same time, Ottoman territories in Arab North Africa were lost to the machinations of European powers, and, by the eve of World War I, the empire was a shadow of its former self. During the war, British-backed Arab revolts left an indelible mark on Turkish minds of the dangers of foreign instigation on emerging national consciousness. Even today, many Turks view Arabs as traitors.
The experience of losing the Ottoman Emptire to ethnic nationalism has created hypersensitivities to external meddling within Turkey and on its periphery, with regard to Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and most recently in Syria.
Since coming out of the coup attempt stronger than ever, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has helped stoke the notion that the coup was part of a bigger international plot, calling Gulen a "pawn" controlled by a greater "mastermind."
Stating it bluntly recently, Erdogan said: "Unfortunately, the West is supporting terrorism and stands by coup plotters."
The United States has denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the coup, but the accusations have set the stage for a further deterioration of relations between Washington and Ankara so long as the United States refuses to extradite Gulen.
Last week, US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said he was "deeply disturbed and offended by the accusations without a shred of fact in so much of the commentary in this country."
Indeed, pro-government media has fueled anti-Western sentiment and freely peddles conspiracy theories. In some ways, the rhetoric is a reflection of the anti-Turkish and Islamophobic sentiment that comes out the West.
Yeni Safak Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Karagul, who is close to Erdogan, wrote that the US was directly behind the coup and had declared war on Turkey by bombing the parliament, shooting people and attempting to assassinate the president.
Karagul has accused the US and Europe of working on a "scenario" to prepare the "invasion and occupation" of Turkey. Preparations for the "siege," a second invasion of Anatolia, started with the "Crusade intervention" throughout the Middle East in the 1990s, he wrote. Karagul's other recent articles contain subheadlines such as "European Union now a threat to Turkey" and "US intends to destroy Turkey."
Turkey lives in a dangerous neighborhood that, over the past three decades, has witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the violent collapse of Yugoslavia, the disintegration of Iraq and the slow-motion meltdown of Syria. Adding to this is a 35-year insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
From the perspective of some in Turkey, the United States has been a major driver of instability in the Middle East, especially through its second war in Iraq, which has heightened sectarianism across the region and given birth to a quasi-Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
But it is in Syria - where Turkey attempted to oust President Bashar al-Assad - that Ankara feels abandoned by its allies. The conflict has led to heightened tensions with United States over its backing of Syrian Kurdish groups tied to the PKK who have carved up autonomous regions along its border.
From Ankara's perspective, the United States is now backing two factions that it considers terrorist groups: the PKK-aligned YPG Syrian Kurdish militia and the Gulen movement, which has its headquarters in the state of Pennsylvania.
This is not to say that Turkey hasn't contributed to its own problems and those in the region. Certainly, the country's leadership seeks to externalize problems for domestic political reasons. Nor does it discount real concerns over the authoritarian direction that the country is taking under Erdogan.
However, it might behoove the West to at least understand the drivers - both real and imagined - behind the perceptions in Turkey.
EU-Digest
7/30/16
Turkey coup attempt: Government cancels 50,000 passports amid international concern over crackdown
The Turkish government
has cancelled the passports of around 50,000 people to prevent them
leaving the country as a crackdown continues following a failed coup.
Efkan Ala, the interior minister, said more than 18,000 have so far been detained over the attempt to oust President Tayyip Erdogan, while thousands of government staff are under investigation.
The purges have provoked alarm in the international community, presenting a major stumbling block for Turkey’s campaign to join the European Union.
Read more: Turkey coup attempt: Government cancels 50,000 passports amid international concern over crackdown | Europe | News | The Independent
Efkan Ala, the interior minister, said more than 18,000 have so far been detained over the attempt to oust President Tayyip Erdogan, while thousands of government staff are under investigation.
The purges have provoked alarm in the international community, presenting a major stumbling block for Turkey’s campaign to join the European Union.
Read more: Turkey coup attempt: Government cancels 50,000 passports amid international concern over crackdown | Europe | News | The Independent
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