rolling middle east 2013 thread

Washington Post's neo-con op-ed page editor Fred Hyatt today asserts that the Syrian humanitarian food crisis is just about the same as the Darfur one from awhile back, and that there's no reason why the Obama administration can't solve it. Not even gonna link to that overly simplistic take from a guy who's itching to get the US active in Syria and Iran

how the kurds are beating al-q in syrian northeast:
http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/syrias-kurds-beating-al-qaeda-balint-szlanko/

Western nations have indicated to the Syrian opposition that peace next month talks may not lead to the removal of President Bashar al-Assad and that his Alawite minority will remain key in any transitional administration, opposition sources said.

The message, delivered to senior members of the Syrian National Coalition at a meeting of the anti-Assad Friends of Syria alliance in London last week, was prompted by rise of al-Qaeda and other militant groups, and their takeover of a border crossing and arms depots near Turkey belonging to the moderate Free Syrian Army, the sources told Reuters.

“Our Western friends made it clear in London that Assad cannot be allowed to go now because they think chaos and an Islamist militant takeover would ensue,” said one senior member of the Coalition who is close to officials from Saudi Arabia.

Noting the possibility of Assad holding a presidential election when his term formally ends next year, the Coalition member added: “Some do not even seem to mind if he runs again next year, forgetting he gassed his own people.”

The shift in Western priorities, particularly the United States and Britain, from removing Assad towards combating Islamist militants is causing divisions within international powers backing the nearly three-year-old revolt, according to diplomats and senior members of the coalition.

surely the point of representative democracy is you can gas your own people but they'll remember it next election?

i'm sure the next elections will be free + fair!

we can't allow free and fair elections to endanger democracy, tho

boom

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/18/israel_s_demographic_time_bomb_is_a_dud_israel_arab_two_state_solution

There are countless reasons for Israelis and Palestinians to seek peace, but a false demographic panic should not be one of them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/world/europe/turkey-jailing-the-most-journalists.html

For the second consecutive year, Turkey is imprisoning more journalists than any other country, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists released Wednesday. Turkey was followed by Iran and China; the three countries account for more than half of the 211 journalists jailed worldwide as of Dec. 1. The number of journalists killed and imprisoned fell in 2013, but the year was the second worst for the number of imprisoned since record keeping began in 1990; the worst was last year, when 232 were held. The report said 52 journalists were killed so far this year. The largest number, 21, were killed in Syria’s civil war. The second largest number of fatalities was in Egypt, with six dead.

good piece: http://pando.com/2013/12/19/the-war-nerd-saudis-syria-and-blowback/

i doubt we'll see a large aliyah movement from the US in the near future, but a little over a half million french jews - maybe:
http://www.jta.org/2013/12/15/news-opinion/world/from-anti-semitism-to-recession-french-jews-find-wealth-of-reasons-to-leave-for-israel

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypts-military-backed-government-declares-muslim-brotherhood-a-terrorist-organization/2013/12/25/7cf075ca-6da0-11e3-aecc-85cb037b7236_story.html

http://ottomansandzionists.com/2013/12/26/this-is-what-a-panicked-erdogan-looks-like/

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579288430866906254

Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion to bolster Lebanon's armed forces, in a challenge to the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia's decadeslong status as Lebanon's main power broker and security force.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman revealed the Saudi gift on Lebanese national television Sunday, calling it the largest aid package ever to the country's defense bodies. The Saudi pledge compares with Lebanon's 2012 defense budget, which the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute put at $1.7 billion.

Lebanon would use the Saudi grant to buy "newer and more modern weapons," from France, said Mr. Sleiman, an independent who has become increasingly critical of Hezbollah. It followed what he called "decades of unsuccessful efforts" to build a credible Lebanese national defense force.

As a direct challenge to Hezbollah, the Saudi gift—and the Lebanese president's acceptance—has potential to change the balance of power in Lebanon and the region. It also threatens to raise sectarian and political tensions further in a region already made volatile by the three-year, heavily sectarian civil war next door in Syria.

new middle east thread here:
Rolling MENA 2014

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-txz4VCoikbU/UKpkcjK2PHI/AAAAAAAAGKw/esADD4Qj-QU/s320/Tayyip+Erdogan.jpg

NAME recep tayyip erdogan
TITLE turkish pm
INTERESTS supressing restive minorities, european integration, containing syriafalse flag sarin attacks in syria, sinister sub rosa manipulations
SPECIAL POWERS n/a
ZIONIST RATING b-

― things that are jokes pretty much (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Tuesday, 1 January 2013 18:51 (1 year ago)

EDIT

SPECIAL POWERS dispensing advice to suicidal people prevented from jumping off the bosphorus bridge by his bodyguards

http://i.imgur.com/Kv4MHk4.jpg

Turkish-president-Erdogan-stops-motorcade-talk-man-trying-jump-Bosphorus-Bridge.html

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s latest comments in favour of greater executive powers are unlikely to help him bring those critics round. On Friday he was quoted by Turkish media as citing a striking example of an effective presidential system – Germany under Adolf Hitler.

Asked on his return from a visit to Saudi Arabia whether an executive presidential system was possible while maintaining the unitary structure of the state, he said: “There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler’s Germany.

“There are later examples in various other countries,” he told reporters, according to a recording broadcast by the Dogan news agency and reported by Reuters.

A Turkish official sought to clarify Erdoğan’s remark. “There are good and poor examples of presidential systems and the important thing is to put checks and balances in place,” he said.

Rated by Recep

lol even if he was "putting aside the invasions and the genocide" he's still offering up an autocratic usurpation of the democratic process as an example of an effective presidential system. well i guess effective might still be in play but only a presidential system in that it very briefly flirted w/ democratic legitimacy b4 jettisoning the entire thing.

Asked on his return from a visit to Hitler whether an autocratic system was possible while maintaining the unitary structure of the state, he said: “There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Saudi Arabia, though you need to make sure the autocrat isn't old, senile, bellicose and causing huge budget deficits."