14 Saturday Jul 2012
Posted in Foreign Policy, Military and Defense
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Military allies of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An increasingly cash-strapped America is promising significant cuts to its military. Coupled with a rising China, would the U.S. have to give up on its allies? (more) http://t.co/DF8NSTgv
06 Sunday May 2012
Posted in European News, Foreign Policy, Israel, Turkey
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Locator (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Turkey is blocking Israel and the EU from participating in the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago. Turkey recently celebrated its 60th year of membership in NATO. The West is also anxious to prevent Turkey from moving further away from western interests in its foreign policy decisions.
The stated purpose for blocking Israel is to force Israel into issuing an official apology for the deaths and injuries that occurred during the raid on the MV Mavi Marmara. The ship claimed to be carrying humanitarian aid and attempted to circumvent Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Israeli forces boarded the ship, killing eight Turkish civilians and a U.S. citizen. Israel claims its personnel acted in self-defense and refuses to apologize. Turkey also accepts no blame for the incident, despite supporting the effort to run the blockade.
Israel claims a terrorist organization with ties to Hamas provided the ship for the activist flotilla that intended to run the blockade. Turkey insists the flotilla was entirely manned and organized by activists who only wished to bring humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
Turkish block on Israel, EU at NATO summit raises eyebrows in West
According to (Sedat) Laçiner (a Turkish academic and specialist on the Middle East) Turkey cannot consider Israel, a country that has killed its citizens in international waters, a partner country in NATO, the organization that is committed to ensuring international security. “Israel, a country that has killed Turkish citizens and one American citizen, first needs to acknowledge the crime against humanity it committed in the Mavi Marmara ship raid, offer an apology to Turkey over the raid, pay compensation to the families of the raid victims and normalize bilateral relations with Turkey,” said Laçiner adding, “Only after that can Israel have the chance to cooperate with NATO allies.”
Turkish foreign minister rules out any cooperation with Israel
“It is out of the question for us to be together with Israel in any partnership activity in any international organization, not just NATO. We have already said that we have suspended such cooperation, except for forums such as the United Nations where all countries are members,” (Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet) Davutoğlu said.
Turkey vetoes Israel’s latest NATO partnership bid, despite criticisms
When asked whether Turkey would allow Israel to participate in the NATO process if Israel offers an apology and pays compensation for the lethal Mavi Marmara raid, diplomatic sources replied that a new assessment of the situation would be done in that case. “For Israel the biggest prize will be the normalization of relations with Turkey,” said the same diplomatic source. In addition, Turkey prevented Israel from taking part in NATO’s long-term operation “Active Endeavor” in the Mediterranean Sea.
The naval patrols — known as Operation Active Endeavor and usually including four warships — were launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The operation was initially restricted to member nations but since 2004 has included vessels from partner nations. Turkey is also blocking Israel’s attempt to appoint a representative to NATO headquarters due to Israel’s non-membership in NATO.
11 Wednesday Apr 2012
Posted in European News, Foreign Policy, Military and Defense, Turkey
Tags
Erdogan, Iran, Kofi Annan, Syria, Turkey
Several articles on Turkey today, most related to the situation with Syria.
Three of the articles are from Turkish media outlet Today’s Zaman:
One is a commentary about apparent preparations the Turkish government is making to clear the way for intervention in Syria.
Another is a story on Kofi Annan‘s visit to Syrian refugee camps in Turkey.
The third is on Turkey requesting the UN Security Council to take action to protect Syrians.
Another story, this one from Enduring America is a review of several issues in Turkey, and focuses on Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s leadership in the country’s response to the Syria crisis.
Two articles, also from Today’s Zaman, relate to Turkey’s complicated relationship with Iran.
The first Iran article is a column about the twists and turns in Turkey’s efforts to gain influence with the Arab world and Iran, and how Iran appears to have turned away from those efforts.
The second Iran piece describes Turkey’s negative response to Iranian claims that Turkey apologized for recent harsh criticism of Iran.
11 Wednesday Apr 2012
Posted in European News, Foreign Policy, Military and Defense, Russia
Ten articles today on Russia, ranging from the mundane to the bizarre.
I’ll start with the bizarre, or at least surprising, story from Business Insider. It says that Russian troops are massing near the border to the Republic of Georgia, ready to move to Armenia to respond to any Israeli and/or U.S. attack on Iran. I say the article is bizarre because this is the only article (picked up by a number of sites, I must admit) I’ve seen about this. Maybe it’s a huge scoop.
I also found an interesting Christian Science Monitor story about Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin and the challenges he’ll face at home and abroad as soon as he takes office on may 7.
Here is article on Russia’s “willingness” to talk with Syrian opposition groups and here is an opinion piece on Russia’s (and China’s) “victory” on the Syrian issue and how that signals America’s decline.
Russia is apparently busy on the rocket and missile front, as suggested by three DefenceTalk articles on various Russian weapons systems: S-400 Missiles deployed in Russia’s Baltic Fleet, a new thermobaric rocket, and the S-500, a new generation surface-to-air missile system.
Atlantic Sentinel, via Wikistrat, has an interesting story on a Baltic port to be built for shipping oil from the Urals.
Moscow Times has a report on ongoing unrest, at least among Russia’s communists and other opposition groups, about the Russian government’s plan to let NATO use a Russian airport to help move people and equipment out of Afghanistan.
And for the mundane, but also a bit odd – the German sports clothing company Adidas has been fined for late delivery of sports uniforms and shoes to the Russian Army, according to this report by Europe Online.
10 Tuesday Apr 2012
Posted in European News, Foreign Policy, Turkey
BRICS summit April 2011 participants: Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, President of China Hu Jintao, President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff, President of South Africa Jacob Zuma. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Several stories on Turkey today covering cultural, political and economic issues involving the increasingly important country, which recently celebrated 60 years of membership in NATO and has been very involved in crises throughout the region.
Foreign Policy Magazine has a very interesting article by Andrew Finkel that discusses several facets of life in Turkey. The article is likely to educate readers and incite some heated debate as well.
Balkans.com has an interesting post about Turkey and speculation about it joining BRICS, the group of “growth market” countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, that are asserting themselves in the world economy.
Enduring America has a post about Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s trip to China, starting in the Uyghur Autonomous region and then proceeding to Beijing and Shanghai.
Enduring America also has a post about Turkey’s role as the host of on-again off-again back on-again talks between Iran and P5+1 countries (U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and Germany).
CNN, CBC, and Euronews carried stories on the fighting near and on the Syria-Turkey border, which led to the wounding of several people, including two Turkish officials.
08 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted in European News, Foreign Policy, Israel
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AP is reporting that Israel is renewing its calls for the U.S. to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. He’s supposedly in the hospital suffering from severe pain. Maybe it’s his conscience.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister has called on the United States to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard after the former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst was hospitalized this week.
Pollard, 57, was sentenced to life in prison 25 years ago for leaking classified documents to Israel. Many Israelis believe the sentence was too harsh and officials often demand his release.
Those calls took on urgency after Pollard’s wife Esther said he was hospitalized after suffering extreme pain last week.
Israel’s President Shimon Peres said he would also appeal to President Barack Obama after hosting Pollard’s wife on Sunday.
Democratic and Republican administrations in the U.S. have repeatedly refused Israeli appeals to release the convicted spy.
Bruce K. Anderson 