Puppet Masters
Before beginning my analysis, I'd like to thank Mr. Erdogan for the profound lessons he and his entourage ever so generously imparted to the world. How lucky we are to stand in the shadow of a man whose expertise encompasses all subject matters and all issues.
If I didn't know better, I would dare venture that Turkey's president suffers from a Messiah complex - thankfully such impure thoughts would never enter my subterranean brain - I am only a woman after all, and women cannot possibly hope to equal men - let alone understand them.
And so I would ask of you my fellow readers to please bask with me in the glorious wisdom Mr. Erdogan - the great Sultan of all Turkey - decided to share with us, common mortals.
President Recep Erdogan had a busy week. In the span of a few days our gallant head of state managed to anger women, make a parody of Islam, and threaten a few nations with dire reprisals should they defy his will. Who said it was easy being dictator? I must admit that when it comes to dedication to a job well done - totalitarianism - Erdogan is putting in the extra hours.
It all began with my personal favorite: "We will multiply our descendants. They talk about population planning, birth control. No Muslim family can have such an approach," said the Turkish president before ranting on: "Nobody can interfere in God's work. The first duty here belongs to mothers."
May I assume that like me your jaw hit the floor. Did Erdogan just appoint himself as God's personal spokesperson, demanding that the whole of Turkey reproduce? It appears he just gave a whole new meaning to the term 'Godspeed'.
Now, however, it's clear that Saudi Arabia, which along with Russia is the world's largest oil producer, is going down a dark road to ruin. Washington seems more than happy to cheer them on.
The long-term Washington strategy since at least 1992, well before September 11, 2001 and the Washington's declaration of its War on Terror, has been by hook or by crook, by color revolution or outright invasion, to directly, with US "boots-on-the-ground," militarily control the vast oil reserves and output of the major Arab OPEC oil countries. This is a long-standing institutional consensus, regardless who is President.
"Thousands of people have written to me with concerns, deep concerns, about the TTIP, the deal being negotiated largely in secret between the US and EU officials. Many are concerned, quite rightly, that it could open public services to further privatization and make privatization effectively irreversible," he said at a press conference. "Others are concerned about potential watering down of consumer rights, food safety standards, rights at work or environmental protections." Corbyn pledged to reject TTIP and veto the controversial deal in government.
His announcement follows an explosive leak of TTIP documents which showed how climate protection, jobs, food safety and online privacy rights will be whittled away under the agreement. Greenpeace Netherlands published the documents last month. Executive Director of UK social justice campaign War on Want John Hilary said the leak shows TTIP "is even worse than we feared." "Today's leak shows the European Commission preparing to sell us down the river, doing deals behind closed doors that will change the face of European society forever," he added.
Comment: If your country is an EU member, then TTIP will flood your market with hormone-tainted meat and GMO - genetically-modified - food products, TTIP will take your job away.
Say goodbye to your rights with TTIP:TTIP will prevent the introduction of any new social, public health or environmental regulations that might represent a burden on business.See also:
- People Power! Europeans protest secret US-EU trade deal - TTIP
- The Truth behind the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
- 'People before profits!' Thousands rally in Rome against TTIP, US corporate rule, GMO and wars
Armenian genocide resolution: Turkey vows to take steps in response, recalls ambassador from Germany
Ambassador Huseyin Avni Karslioglu is expected to fly back to Turkey on Thursday afternoon, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Turkey has also decided to summon Germany's charge d'affaires to the Foreign Ministry in Ankara following the vote.
Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has issued orders to the Saudi court banning any manner of meeting with the king due to his "brain damage", said the report published by the Palestinian Manar online newspaper on Wednesday, citing an informed source.
The denial of visiting rights encompasses all members of the royal family and foreign dignitaries.
"Appoint Anders Fogh Rasmussen as adviser to the President of Ukraine outside the official staff (subject to his consent)," says the decree also published on the Ukrainian president's official website.
Rasmussen was the twelfth Secretary General of NATO in the period from August 2009 to September 2014. He was also Danish Prime Minister from 2001 to 2009. In 2014, Poroshenko awarded Rasmussen, who still was NATO Secretary General at that time, with the Order of Freedom - the highest Ukrainian award for foreign citizens - for his "significant personal contribution to the development of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO as well as for considerable support for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity."
Rasmussen is yet to comment and either confirm or deny his appointment. Last year, US Senator John McCain, also appointed by Kiev to a similar position, eventually turned down the proposal claiming that the US constitution prohibited him from getting on board.
Comment: By surrounding himself with warmongers and criminals, Poroshenko has set himself and Ukraine up for an even further descent into chaos and destruction.
In an unprecedented move, the US vetoed the reappointment of Seung Wha Chang, a respected South Korean expert in international trade law whose four-year term on the seven-member resident appellate body ends today.
The sited reason for blocking the reappointment - the appellate body's decision in several cases involving the US, and a pattern of what is being called "overreaching" and "issuing abstract decisions." Or to put it bluntly - dissatisfaction over the fact that the global trade court didn't always rule in favor of the US, as it was apparently expected to.
The US told WTO members:
"The appellate body is not an academic body that may pursue issues simply because they are of interest to them or may be to certain members in the abstract. It is not the role of the appellate body to engage in abstract discussions."Members of the WTO, including Brazil, Japan and the EU begged to differ, saying that the US objection to Mr. Chang serving a second four-year term, risks undermining the appellate body, its independence and therefore the entire dispute system.
Comment: The US attempting to stack the deck in its favor is par for the course.
The resolution, proposed by lawmakers from the ruling coalition of Conservatives and Socialists together with the Green party, was voted through the Bundestag after an hour-long debate, with one lawmaker opposing the resolution and one abstaining.
Turkey's newly installed Prime Minister Binali Yildirim labeled the vote "absurd and wanton" in comments made Wednesday, warning that a vote on the resolution would mar German-Turkish relations.
"It is necessary to make sure as soon as possible that the shelling of the Donbass cities and villages stops and, for that end, to strengthen the monitoring mechanisms. A reminder that the leaders of the Normandy Four member-countries spoke about this on May 24," he said.
Security in Donbass will be impossible to achieve without a long-term political settlement in Ukraine, Gryzlov added.
"While addressing security problems it is essential to ensure the long-term political settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict. Let me point out that the former will be impossible without the latter," he said. "I believe that the Contact Group's priority task is to consider the documents concerning all main aspects of the political aspect of the Minsk Accords that have been agreed with Donbass representatives.".
In the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, the US military is positioned in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. This is in addition to its economic and strategic relationships with other smaller Southeast Asian nations, most of whom run for cover under the protection of the US against China's territorial assertions. Along with the presence of its French NATO ally on Reunion Island and through its military base on Diego Garcia, the US can effectively influence strategic manoeuvres across the entire axis of the Indian Ocean. The US has thus situated itself at vantage points all over the region, compelling China to recalibrate its future course of action in the Indian Ocean. Currently, approximately 80% of China's critical petroleum and oil imports are routed through the straits of Malacca, in Malaysia. China, from a strategic stand point, urgently needs to reroute a portion of this traffic.















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