"Edmonds reportedly added that the recordings also contained repeated references to Hastert’s flip-flop, in the fall of 2000, over an issue which remains of intense concern to the Turkish government – the continuing campaign to have Congress designate the killings of Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1923 a genocide."
~ David Rose, An Inconvenient Patriot.
~ David Rose, An Inconvenient Patriot.
Above is a photo from a friend, taken last June on the road between Hewlêr and Silêmanî. The flags are the Chinese flag and the Kurdistan flag, and this was a Chinese construction company hired to widen the highway. I had passed along the same road in mid-April, 2005, and at that time there was only one of these Chinese "camps" along the road. I assume that they were just arriving when I passed by, but my friend informs me that in June, there were four or five of these Chinese "camps".Thanks for the photo, heval.
It is time that China, Russia, and the SCO are explored in order to create other alliances that might be mutually beneficial, especially in light of recent developments with the Americans and the EU. Such exploration needs to be done by a coalition of all the major Kurdish political organizations and intellectuals in order to work for the benefit of all Kurdistan. If Kurdistan stands unified, no one can stand against her.
At such time, we need to rethink all the current business arrangements with the US, EU, and the Turkish military, and if the SCO can do better, the current contracts should be cancelled and new ones negotiated with the SCO. By "better" I mean by tying business to human rights and political freedoms.
On to the news . . .
Trouble for Turkey in 2007? You bet, and it's coming from those pesky Armenians:
The new Democratic-dominated Congress elected in the Nov. 7 polls is due to open on Jan. 4, and pro-Armenian lawmakers are preparing to introduce fresh genocide resolutions to both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Armenian groups have made it no secret that they are seeking congressional approval of at least one genocide resolution before April 24, designated by U.S. presidents as day of commemoration for the killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
New Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced before the Nov. 7 elections that she would back recognition of an Armenian genocide in the new Congress. On the Senate side, Democratic majority leader Harry Reid and Joe Biden, who is due to become chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are both sympathetic to the Armenian cause.
And Turkish diplomats are concerned. "We are heading for a tough year in Congress, and anything is possible," said one diplomat.
Bijî Ermenistan!
The Ankara regime wouldn't have this problem if it would be generous and spread around some more of its drug money to the new members of Congress, as it did the last time an Armenian Genocide resolution was due to come up for a vote. That was back in the year 2000, when Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, accepted a Turkish bribe to the tune of half a million dollars to pull the resolution, from Lukery at WotIsItGood4:
In David Rose's blockbuster (but whitewashed) article in Vanity Fair, there are three separate bribery claims:
a) Hastert received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions
b) Hastert received tens of thousands of dollars in surreptitious payments in exchange for political favors and information. These bribes were apparently delivered in cash, in suitcases. We don't know specifically what these payments were for.
c) Hastert is believed to have accepted another $500,000. Reportedly in return for pulling a Congressional resolution acknowledging the Armenian genocide.
Got that? At least three different bribes that we know about.
We aren't exactly sure who was doing the actual bribing, or whether there are more than one group that 'owns' Hastert. There are three groups suspected of bribing Hastert, and there is probably significant overlap between the groups.
The first group is a criminal element of the Military Industrial Complex, represented primarily by Richard Perle, Doug Feith and Marc Grossman among others - generally using AIPAC and the American Turkish Council as front organizations.
The second group suspected of bribing Hastert is the 'mafia-like' Turkish 'Deep State', probably a mix of Turkish military, heroin producers and drug-runners. It is suspected that these funds are laundered through 'lobbyists' - originally Perle & Feith's company International Advisors Inc, and later (and currently) through Bob Livingston's company The Livingston Group.
The third group is a bit more hazy, but it is suspected that it is a group of Turkish heroin 'baba' (mafia) operating in the US, probably headquarted in Chicago. This group appears to use front organisations such as the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (A.T.A.A.) and the Turkish American Cultural Alliance (T.A.C.A.)
Check out the rest of that post for much more information.
From the TDN article on the Armenian Genocide resolution fears, a Turkish member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is quoted. The CSIS is another one of those think-tanks that should be watched, just like AEI. Among the trustees and counselors of the "think-tank" are William S. Cohen (of The Cohen Group), Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft (head of the ATC), and Frank Carlucci (of the Carlyle Group).
In what may be one of its greatest acts of collective hubris, in 2003 the CSIS demanded that, "US government officials be given the right to sit in on the European Union's inter-governmental conference and on meetings of its other executive bodies so that the USA can keep an eye on the direction Europe is taking." From Scoop:
The proposal was signed by one of those ephemeral constellations into which the luminaries of the American political establishment frequently arrange themselves in order to encourage policy to navigate by their lights: Madeleine Albright, Harold Brown, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Frank Carlucci, Warren Christopher, William Cohen, Bob Dole, Lawrence Eagleburger, Stuart Eizenstat, Al Haig, Lee Hamilton, John Hamre, Sam Nunn, Paul O'Neill, Charles Rob, William Roth, and James Schlesinger. [2] That makes four former Secretaries of State, one former National Security Adviser, two former Secretaries for Defense, a former Secretary of the Treasury, a former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a former Director of the CIA, and three Senators.
How many of those names do you recognize from the Iraq Study Group? More on CSIS from Sourcewatch.
Finally, in connection with the looming Armenian Congressional crisis, there's the usual Turkish threat of a temper tantrum, in which the Ankara regime would cut all ties to the Washington. The Turkish stooge at the CSIS, Bulent Aliriza, darkly warns that Washington should "prepare for the worst." After all, it's too much to ask for Turkey to have elections and an Armenian crisis all in one year, especially when it's still throwing temper tantrums over EU accession. But in reality, Aliriza is throwing around red herrings instead of serious threats. After all, there's business to be made . . . just ask Lockheed Martin Board of Directors member, Joseph Ralston.
Speaking of whom, there's something from the Cover-Your-Ass Department: The terrorist Turkish "Defense" Ministry claims there are no direct contacts between it and Lockheed Martin:
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it had awarded a $635 million contract to Lockheed Martin. Under the terms of the Dec. 22 contract, Lockheed Martin will provide 216 modernization kits to upgrade Turkish F-16C and F-16D model aircraft in the air force inventory.
The Defense Ministry's statement was actually a response to Turkish news reports that interpreted the Pentagon announcement as meaning that the contract was granted to Lockheed Martin, on whose board of directors sits retired Gen. Joseph Ralston.
Of course there's no direct contact between the "Defense" Ministry and Lockheed Martin; Ralston is the go-between, and therein lies the problem, which is called "conflict of interest." TDN even quotes Ken Silverstein's article on Ralston's conflict of interest from the influential Harper's Magazine, titled "Lost in the Valley of the Wolves. Kudos Ken; they've got you under their skin.
Now we know that Turkey knows all about the conflict of interest that Ralston represents.
Last item of the day . . . the secular Turkish government's Directorate of Religious Affairs has issued a warning to everyone: Don't mix infidel champaigne bubbly with bayram on New Year's Eve. Such a mix might lead to "provocations" and confusion.
You've been warned.
By the way . . . please check out Nijmaldin Karim's excellent essay, "Justice, but No Reckoning" at KurdishAspect.
8 comments:
Is this a joke post, Mizgin? You want to form an alliance with Russia and China? Perhaps your knowledge of the East is not as expansive as your knowledge of the Deep State. Your focus is incredibly short-sighted. Not that I don't agree that new alliances should be sought, but rather that China's ties with Iran and Syria are just as America's are with Turkey. Russia and China supply essentially all of Iran's military capability. China and Russia along with the West also equipped Saddam, and Syria's campaign against Kurds has been as bad as any. If they had fifteen million Kurds like Turkey, they'd be committing genocide the same as Ankara.
We already have to deal with betrayal by the West, but now you want to willingly put money in the hands of people that will turn around and give it to nations that will stab you in the heart. The future of northern Kurdistan certainly is bleak.
"By "better" I mean by tying business to human rights and political freedoms."
Your going to get help with human rights, and political freedoms from the Russians and Chinese?
Good luck with that!
Anonymous, we know that the West betrays Kurds, but since no one has seriously dealt with the SCO, we do not know what opportunities may lie with them.
China will end up dominating Asia both economically and militarily; it is only a matter of time. When it reaches that point, what will happen if the SCO countries, as well as other regional countries shift from a dollar-based economy to a yuan-based economy, just as the EU changed to a euro-based economy?
Already China has an urgent need for energy resources, specifically oil. By 2030 its total energy consumption will equal that of the US and Japan combined. Will China be interested in a deal that will help it to meet its energy consumption?
The West will still need oil too, therefore if they see that there is an alternative market for Kurdish oil, perhaps they will be willing to FINALLY walk the walk that they have been talking for so long.
I didn't hear any complaints about the Southern Kurdish leaders attempting to engage China for South Kurdistan, but through this means they have already started the process. The question is, are they exploring a relationship with China for ALL of Kurdistan (and not simply for the North)? Are they doing this for South Kurdistan? Or are they doing it for their own interests? They have an opportunity here to work for all of Kurdistan, but they do not have the will or the inclination to do it.
The single biggest problem is that the two Southern leaders are barely passable as politicians and they will certainly never be mistaken for statesmen. Statesmen are what is needed to make a deal with the SCO, statesmen who think of ALL of Kurdistan.
If the Southern leaders can't even stand up to the US and their Shi'a partners to guarantee a finish for the Anfal trial--and they caved on that--then they'll never be capable of doing anything for all of Kurdistan. Who was it that was insisting that Saddam should finish the Anfal trial? You watch, the same guy will cave in on ISG recommendations too. Then everyone else will fall into line and tell us what wonderful things the ISG recommendations are.
These leaders have no vision, and that does not create a bleak future for the North, but rather for the South.
Madtom, we know for certain that the Americans have betrayed Kurds repeatedly but we do not know that about Russia or China.
You misjudge. china. Guess what, there is oil in Cuba, the Chinese are there, you think there going around the system? No they are going to get at the oil using the easiest route. If China is going to go looking for oil on Kurdistan, they are going to go through Ankara. You think they are going to piss off Ankara. You have a big surprise waiting for you.
China is very afraid of etnic nationalism. If China supports "Northern Kurds", Turkey will support Ughur Turks in Xinjiang. So China will never support Kurds in Basur.
And about the Anfal trial, the trial will continue..
I am not concerned about "pissing off" others, Madtom. If others are "pissed off," that's their problem. Ankara is not the capital of Iraq.
I don't care about ethnic nationalism either, Vladimir. If the Chinese were as sensitive about that as you claim, they wouldn't already be involved in Başûr, would they?
It's too bad no one bothered to read the JINSA report on the SCO. . . except me.
There also Turks active in Basur. Not on the same level off course. You mean the JINSA article about the SCO? What I see is that the SCO has good ties with Iran and Syria. Also "enemies of the Kurds"... The power of the SCO is growing. But will they help Kurds? Maybe better ties with the Basuri. But Iran and Syria will always be more important. Do you btw think they will wage a new war against Iran? Such a thing could change a lot. Currently Kurds benefit from instability.
Yes, I know there are Turks active in Başûr, much more so than the Chinese. Why?
Yes the SCO is growing, JINSA is worried about it and so is the rest of America. I have already hinted why they are worried and we can use that to our advantage. I don't want SCO to "help" Kurds; I want the possibility of a business deal to be discussed with them with political strings attached . . . just like EVERYONE else does.
Of course, the Başûrî leadership either does not have the will or does not have the inclination to do this in the way it needs to be done in order to gain something for ALL of Kurdistan, which is why I specified that negotiations must be with all the main political organizations and intellectuals representing ALL of Kurdistan. Is the Başûrî leadership capable of the humility necessary to do this?
Do I think whom will wage a war with Iran?
Kurds are not benefiting from instability; the US is. The US always has.
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