SPEAKING OF CHANGE

"I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed."
~ George Carlin.

Speaking of change, here's what might be required as a basis of convincing the world that change has really arrived:

The USA has a history of crimes, but also of positive change. It has the potential for changing the world, both for the worse or for the better. One of the greatest achievements of the American people, if not the greatest, has been the abolition of slavery. This liberated the black people and gave hope for millions of others under oppression. One wonders if there will be real change with the new American administration, with President Obama. The USA has still the power and the potential to abolish slavery in the Middle East.

However, any real change must address the injustice camouflaged under the name “US foreign policy”. The policy of change needs to be concrete and clear. It must end the support for despotic and fascist regimes, even if they are "US allies" or NATO members. The USA must abolish its system of client states, which is a modern and global form of slavery. It must not accept and allow pseudo democracies and racist regimes to continue committing crimes against humanity. It must stop applying the term “terrorism” to liberation movements of indigenous peoples; but instead openly support their rights, including the right for self-determination.

Cooperation with puppet regimes and parasitical elites that prevent progress, freedom and democracy in the region must end. In a new US foreign policy, trust and friendship with other nations should come before profits. A new strategy must be developed that does not divide the world into spheres of influence and leads to more wars for territory or resources. In that new strategy, principles of justice should dominate rather than military power.

One of the main obstacles for global justice and peace has historically been the fight for resources between groups or states. It is high time that the raw materials and energy sources of the world should belong to everyone instead of being in the hands of a few or prey to corporate competitors. A new American policy should lead to an international agreement that will manage our depleting resources in the name of and for the benefit of mankind alone.

The first test of change may be coming up soon:

Amidst reports that Turkey has been negotiating with Russia for the purchase of around 32 Mi-28 attack helicopters as a stop-gap measure to meet its urgent needs in the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Pentagon has developed a formula that will allow it to sell four or five Cobra attack helicopters to Ankara.

Under this new formula, the US-based Bell Helicopter firm will interrupt the Cobra production currently under way for the US Marine Corps and instead use the production line to manufacture helicopters for Turkey, according to well-informed Turkish defense industry sources in Ankara.

Top Pentagon officials will submit this plan for approval by the new administration under Barack Obama, who took office yesterday as the 44th US president, Today’s Zaman has learned.

The US had turned down a Turkish request made early last year for the purchase of AH-1W “Whiskey” Super Cobra attack helicopters as a stop-gap measure for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), which has a shortage of Cobras in its inventory. The US had cited the unavailability of Cobras and offered instead Boeing-made Apache attack helicopters, which were turned down by Ankara.

Turkey has six AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters ready for combat from its original 12, while the remaining six either crashed or are no longer in service.

Yeah, six Cobras "crashed or are no longer in service",but there's no mention of why they "crashed or "are no longer in service". I can give you the answer in one short abbreviation: PKK.

There's something else here, too, from the I-Told-You-So Department:

Turkey expects its relations with Israel, which strained due to the Gaza operations, will return to its normal course shortly as Ankara continues to play an active role in the Middle East. The Turkish president could soon pay a visit to Israel.

. . . Turkey had considered cutting diplomatic relations with Israel and suspending a defense deal. Still it is very unlikely Turkey will take any of these steps.

. . . Turkish President Abdullah Gul may pay a visit to Israel in the near term.

The Turkish foreign ministry says [i.e. claims] it has made a major contribution to the peace process and will continue its pro-active foreign policy strategy. Therefore relations with Israel are expected to normalize in the short term.

And one other, from the same Department:

Diplomatic sources denied and slammed reports that the political spat between Israel and Turkey has been deepening despite the ceasefire in Gaza.

An Israeli newspaper reported on Tuesday that a request by the Turkish prime minister's special representatives to meet the head of the political-security bureau at the Israeli Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, was rejected and that Egypt also refused to have Turkey present during the ceasefire talks with Hamas.

Turkey played an active role, led by the prime minister's special representative, Ahmet Davutoglu, during the crisis that erupted after Israel's aggression against Gaza that has left more than 1,100 dead, mostly civilians.

"The story in the Israeli newspaper is incorrect and it is a mistake. A meeting was scheduled with the Israeli officials to discuss the course of the ceasefire process. But the meeting could not be held due to a lack of time and the Israeli official apologized for the situation," a source said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Davutoglu had said that Turkey convinced Hamas to agree to a ceasefire during Turkish officials’ shuttle diplomacy. The Turkish diplomats held talks with Hamas officials in Cairo and with the group’s exiled leader in Syria.

And a former JITEM dirtbag gets his due:

An alleged member of JİTEM, a clandestine and illegal gendarmerie intelligence unit whose existence has thus far been officially denied, was found dead yesterday afternoon in his Ankara home.

Maj. Abdülkerim Kırca, believed to be a higher up in JİTEM, had replaced Maj. Cem Ersever, a former major who left the army after Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Eşref Bitlis was killed in a suspicious plane crash. Ersever, in a confession made to the press after he left the army in 1993, provided accounts of JİTEM activities. Ersever's confessions were later compiled in a number of books by author Soner Yalçın. Before his assassination, the major also said he was in charge of JİTEM's operations in the Southeast.

Ersever's body was found in Ankara on Nov. 4, 1993. His girlfriend and right-hand man were also killed, and his archive disappeared.

Numerous allegations from families of the victims of hundreds of unresolved murders accused Kırca of being behind most of the murders committed in Turkey's East and Southeast in the '90s. An upsurge in the number of unresolved deaths in the region does coincide with the term he served in the region.

[ . . . ]

In a report prepared by the Prime Ministry on the 1996 Susurluk affair, Kutlu Savaş, the author of the report, had referred to Kırca as the "planner and executor" of most of the incidents.

The paşas claim it was suicide. Oh, right, I know I believe them. It's ridiculous, naturally, especially since, in Turkey, particularly in The Southeast, women are more likely to "commit suicide". But you know that if the paşas stick their big, fat noses in it, it's going to be hilarious, and it is:

The Turkish army slammed some media organs, saying their coverage relating to former military officers violates basic human rights, and urged them to act responsibly.

BOO-HOO-HOOOO!

Violates basic human rights?!! That's rich! Notice how the issue of basic human rights only applies to TSK. My only complaint is that PKK only managed to put Kırca in a wheelchair and not in his grave, and may this son-of-a-bitch burn in hell.

There, I hope I've sufficiently violated his "basic human rights".

DEEP STATE, IRON TRIANGLE, AND THE KURDS

"As it happens, the ATC is a creation of AIPAC (and other Israeli lobbying interests) - and there is significant overlap in the membership, goals and activities of both AIPAC and the ATC. This is perhaps not surprising given the long-standing tri-lateral military (and military 'defense' spending) relationship between the three countries. In fact, Sibel refers to AIPAC and the ATC as 'sister organizations.'"
~ Luke Ryland.

I have been very busy in the last week but I wanted to take a moment to point out a few new threads on Sibel Edmonds by Luke Ryland:


Sibel Edmonds' Case: the untellable story of AIPAC

Sibel Edmonds' Case: the untellable story of AIPAC, part 2

Sibel Edmond's Case: New (and old) revelations of spying at the FBI


As always, Luke is very thorough in his research of Sibel's case and her angle on the Deep State in America. The Deep State does include the Israelis, hence Luke's recent emphasis on the Israel lobby, AIPAC. It should be remembered that in the 1990s, the Israelis conducted flight training in the skies over Turkey--with Turkish permission of course--and both Turkey and Israel are routinely gifted with billions of dollars worth of US military equipment, such as Lockheed Martin product. Thank you, American taxpayer!! This is why the relationship between the US, Turkey, and Israel is called the "Iron Triangle."

Sibel mentions Israeli air force "training" over Anatolia in her documentary.

How much of this "training" was conducted over Turkish-occupied Kurdistan is one question. Another question would be how many of the bombing raids the Turks conducted under the so-called "Safe Haven" (with the acquiescence of the US and the UK) were actually "training" sorties by the Israeli air force.

How many South Kurdistani villages were, in fact, bombed by the Israelis? How many bombing sorties in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan were actually carried out by the Israelis?

Enquiring minds want to know.

For a backgrounder, check out something from The Nation. Don't be surprised to see the same names popping up over and over again.

WAR GAMES

"The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes."
~ Justice Felix Frankfurter.

The news is just breaking on an incident which happened last Thursday. Apparently, two American F-16 fighter aircraft based in Iraq broached Turkish airspace over Turkish-occupied Kurdistan for a period of four minutes. News of the incident was first released on the Turkish general staff website late yesterday. From Bloomberg:

U.S. jet fighters from Iraq crossed into Turkey in an area where the Turkish military is building up forces in preparation for a possible attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Two U.S. F-16 combat aircraft flew over the southeastern province of Hakkari for four minutes on May 24 in a violation of Turkish airspace, Turkey's army said in a statement on its Web site late yesterday.

[ . . . ]

Turkey, with the second-biggest army in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has threatened to enter northern Iraq without the approval of the U.S., saying the U.S. has failed to stop militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, from using Iraq as a base from which to attack Turkey. The deaths of six people in a May 22 suicide bombing in the Turkish capital, Ankara, blamed on the PKK, has increased pressure on the government to order an attack.

Turkey has sent tens of thousands of troops to the region bordering Iraq in the last month, saying the operation is to prevent PKK rebels from entering Turkey. Hundreds of tanks are being deployed to reinforce the troops, the Sabah newspaper reported today without saying where it got the information.

I have long wanted to see NATO's two largest militaries go head-to-head. Figuring that they both have about the same military hardware, it would be interesting to see how well US hardware stands up to US hardware. It would all boil down to which of the two forces are better trained, I imagine but, still, the results of a hot war game between the US and Turkey would be something that the engineers in the US military-industrial complex would like to know. Imagine all the new bells and whistles that they could come up with to jazz up their products.

How can the war industry properly design a product when the product is always used against unarmed civilian populations? What if there actually existed a real threat to US interests and, most importantly, US credibility? Such as, oh, I don't know . . . a Turkish invasion of South Kurdistan which would lead to Turkish control of Northern Iraqi oilfields?

Imagine the blow to American "credibility" if such a thing were to happen?

Why is it that Turkey has amassed more Mehmetçiks along the border that divides Kurdistan into north and south than the US has in all of Iraq? Really think about that, now, and ask yourself if it makes any sense at all that it takes hundreds of thousands of Mehmetçiks to fight several thousand lightly armed Kurdish gerîlas.

It only makes sense if Mehmet is a truly, incredibly, astoundingly crappy soldier, which is the message that the fabulously noble Paşas (and ultra-nationalistic Turkish population) are sending the world by their military buildup along the border with South Kurdistan, not to mention the excruciatingly intense and paranoiac pontifications that the Paşas continually disseminate through Turkish media.

Obviously, the entire Turkish general staff, as well as most of the Turkish population should be investigated, prosecuted, and convicted of "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the TCK. But no, as it stands, the Turkish general staff, supported by the lapdog Turkish government and the lapdog Turkish media, is allowed impunity to insult Turkishness in this manner. It simply boggles the mind.

While the US is claiming that the broach of airspace was "inadvertent", and the US claims that the matter is being looked into, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the broach was a deliberate reply to the Paşas' threats of invasion, including the Turkish breach of Iraqi (specifically, South Kurdistani) airspace. Coincidentally that event also took place last Thursday, along with Turkish artillery bombardment of Kurdish villages.

So,the complaint of US violation of Turkish airspace by the Turkish general staff is nothing more than a case of "Kick Me". Turkey violated Iraqi airspace as a provocation, but then cries like an overgrown baby when the US retaliates.

Crybabies.

It appears that Lockheed Martin is deploying its forces to bring Turkey into the war industry's latest scam--the missile defense shield. To that end, a pack of Lockheed Martin vermin were in Ankara last week at the war industy show (Inernational Defense Industry Fair) to push their wares. More from Zaman.

Unfortunately, no Lockheed vermin were blasted to bits at the conference by the Turkish state's black operative and suicide bomber, Güven Akkuş.

Recently, Frieda Berrigan, a senior researcher for the World Policy Institute's Arms Trade Resource Center penned a nice little collection of facts on the world's Number 1 exporter of arms--the US. Ms. Berrigan lists a number of first place winners for the US war industry, including first place in surface-to-air missiles, warships, war training, and mercenaries. Then Ms. Berrigan goes on to criticize Lockheed Martin's sales of tactical fighter aircraft to Turkey (and we all know that Lockheed Martin's PKK "coordinator" Joseph Ralston was the middleman for that):

In order to remain number one in the competitive jet field, Lockheed Martin, for example, does far more than just sell airplanes. TAI -- Turkey's aerospace corporation -- will receive a boost with this sale, because Lockheed Martin is handing over responsibility for parts of production, assembly, and testing to Turkish workers. The Turkish Air Force already has 215 F-16 fighter planes and plans to buy 100 of Lockheed Martin's new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as well, in a deal estimated at $10.7 billion over the next 15 years.

$10.7 billion on fighter planes for a country that ranks 94th on the United Nations' Human Development Index, below Lebanon, Colombia, and Grenada, and far below all the European nations that Ankara is courting as it seeks to join the European Union -- now that's a real American sales job for you!

You're absolutely correct, Ms. Berrigan, and let's all give a big round of applause to Joseph Ralston, The Cohen Group's lobbyist for Lockheed Martin tactical fighter aircraft, for a job well done.

Ms. Berrigan concludes:

Why does Turkey, which already has 215 fighter planes, need 100 extras in an even higher-tech version? It doesn't… but Lockheed Martin, working the Pentagon, made them think they did.

We don't need stronger arms control laws, we need a global sobriety coach -- and some kind of 12-step program for the dealer-nation as well.

Of course, as Ms. Berrigan knows well, arms control laws are a huge joke. There are millions of ways around them and those ways are exploited to the benefit of the ruling elites.

Speaking of elites, word is going around that the infamous Bilderberg Conference will be held in Istanbul this year. If you're unaware of the Bilderberg Group, you can check out some information from Wikipedia's entry on them. The Bilderberg Group is the target of criticism and conspiracy theories because, as Wiki notes, they undermine the game of democracy by planning global policy in secrecy. If democracy were a reality, then the fact that the elites plan everything in secret would certainly be a worry. For those of us who know that democracy is a fantasy, the Bilderbergers are a manifestation of the normal order of things.

Everything that you could want to know about this year's Istanbul conference can be read here, including an article by Turkish journalist and Bilderberg 2007 attendee, Cengiz Çandar.

Spooky is as spooky does.


By the way, besides being Memorial Day in the States, you might also say that it's Independence Day for Armenia. For more on that, check out Heval Vahe's post on Hyelog. Bijî Ermenistan û Serkeftin!