Sunday, September 10, 2006

NEWS THAT'S NOT FIT TO PRINT IN AMERICA

“The American people deserve to know that they're not just watching the administration's spin on their local newscasts -- they're paying for it, too.”
~ John Kerry.


A friend sent me an interesting piece of news from Turkish media. Apparently, in October, 2005, Marc Grossman went on board with Turkey's Ihlas Holding as a consultant. The announcement came after a meeting with Ihlas' CEO, Ahmet Mucahid Oren. There's another notice from the Ihlas Holding site itself, which is kind of nice because it's got a picture of Grossman and Oren sitting together, possibly discussing globalism and how Grossman's going to spin the propaganda for Ihlas' media empire.

What, exactly, is Ihlas Holding? It got its start in the newspaper publishing business in 1970, and is still active in media, but it has since expanded into other areas, including marketing, construction, health care, education, insurance, and real estate investment. Ihlas recently sold its TGRT television to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and Atlantic Records. There's more basic info on Ihlas at Google Finance.

The odd thing is that when I checked around for this news in English, I couldn't find a thing about it. Not a single, English word on it. Why is that? What are they trying to hide?

I wonder about it because you would think that becoming a consultant for one of Turkey's largest business concerns would be something for Grossman to crow about, especially given that he's a vice-chairman of The Cohen Group, which is nothing but a bunch of former generals, diplomats, and assorted bureaucrats who advise businesses in the global market and fix problems for them. . . kind of like an American version of ASAM (see yesterday's post for more on ASAM).

After all, The Cohen Group's chairman and CEO, former Defense Secretary William Cohen, took the time to publicly acknowledge his other vice-chairman's appointment as the US "special envoy" to advise Turkey on the PKK. Yeah, I'm talking about Joe Ralston. In fact, this is what Cohen had to say about Ralston's appointment, from TDN:


"I am pleased that General Ralston has been selected for this assignment that is very important to our nation as well as to the stability of Turkey, Iraq and the region," Cohen said


But Grossman never got the same public pat-on-the-back from the boss over his job with Ihlas. Isn't this another feather in his cap? Isn't this another illustrious notation on his resume? He's not even blowing his own horn about it.

With the size and scope of Ihlas Holding, I suppose Grossman's monthly $100,000 salary is small change, and if you take a look at that link, you'll see I'm not the only one who has noticed The Cohen Group's close ties to Turkey. However, that article does mention a few other details, such as JINSA honors bestowed on General Cevik Bir and General Ilker Basbug, who recently took over Yasar Buyukanit's old digs as Land Forces Commander.

Also mentioned is the interesting connection with Fethullah Gulen. It says that the Gulen Gang and the Ihlas Gang have close, insider connections. This would mean that Grossman, as a consultant to Ihlas, and a vice-chairman of The Cohen Group, is that much closer to Gulen and his Nurcular. If you don't know about the Nurcular, there's an excellent little backgrounder on Gulen and his gang here, by Aland Mizell.

From Mizell's article, Gulen operates way behind the scenes, something that he began at least as far back as Turgut Ozal's time. Ozal, the guy who negotiated the Turkish-Islamic synthesis with the Turkish general staff, was a member of Gulen's Gang. You might ask, why would the official gatekeepers charged with maintaining the purity of Kemalism go along with the creation of this synthesis? Simple. They thought they could control it, kind of like they thought they could control their creation of Turkish Hezbollah. Their attitude is that if there will be communism in Turkey, they will bring the communism. Ditto on Islamism. When it became clear that Gulen was intent on taking control of the state from the Turkish general staff, the pashas were willing to do whatever was necessary to maintain their power.

With that, Gulen high-tailed it to the US, where he sits now, in control of the same network that spreads the same ideology that has turned Turkey into a highly anti-American place (as well as highly anti-semitic). Let's not forget that Gulen's network is worldwide. Given the connections that we are digging up on the Deep State in America, it is no longer so surprising to see Gulen safe and sound under the sheltering wing of his American protectors.

Isn't it fascinating about all the good dirt that never makes it into the American media? Again, why is that?

I wonder what Sibel Edmonds would say?

4 comments:

Wladimir van Wilgenburg said...

Fethullah Gülen's group is a splitt off from the Nurcular.

Btw, Rasti.. did you know that Ocalan thought Turgut Ozal could solve the Kurdish question?

Anonymous said...

Rasti, great update. I'm an American who recently started studying the Deep State and I'm finding some very shocking things. I was reading your article "Deep State Comes to America, part 2" on Turkey's involvement with drug trafficking. One article linked puts the value of the drug trade through Turkey at $37 billion in 1996. Imagine what those numbers might be like today. Afghanistan is producing three times as much opium as in the late 90s, and all Afghan-derived heroin passes through Turkey before making it to the West. Definitely going to keep studying.

Regards,
- Matthew Lanier

Mizgîn said...

Who do you think controls the Nurcular in Turkey, Vladimir? If you say that Gulen's Gang is a split from the Nurcular, you are looking at it in the wrong way.

But you have not chosen the red pill.

Everybody thought Ozal could solve the Kurdish situation, and so what if he had? Why do you ask me if I know that Apo thought something? I don't know a THING about Apo, man, not a THING.

Thanks, Matthew. The article you refer to was the one by Kendal Nezan. The trade was extremely lucrative, at the time, and I suspect that one of the reasons Çiller's government tried to drive the Kurdish "businessmen" like Baybasin out of the business may have had something to do with recouping losses from the Gulf War. Losses that the members of the Deep State would have suffered.

The Susurluk accident blew the lid off that for about a nanosecond, before the Turkish government covered it up. You may want to do some background reading on Susurluk.

Afghanistan is also providing the stuff for the population of Iran, which consists of a good number of needle-freaks, and what I hear from Kurds from Iranian-occupied Kurdistan is that this is becoming a big problem among the Kurdish population. Of course, PJAK, a PKK-affiliated organization, is working to get Kurdish addicts clean. In Iran, drugs are encouraged because the country is shit, and because if heroin is the only way you fly, you're much less likely to take up arms against the filthy mullahs.

As for the Deep State, a couple of us are planning to do a Social Network Analysis of the individuals, organizations, and corporations that are involved. You can get an idea of what a Social Network Analysis looks like by checking out something like NameBase.

Anyway, that should give you the idea. Welcome to Wonderland, Alice.

Anonymous said...

Some of you guys should know that the old Prez of Turkey, Turgut Ozal was actually ethnically Kurdish himself and was openly Kurdish too. That is why he wanted to topple Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s.