The current crisis in Turkish-Israeli relations which started two years ago after Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, has received international media attention and inspired political analysts in the West to repeatedly ask the same question: Does Turkey still remain in the Western camp? This essay approaches the issue from the viewpoint of Turkey’s domestic policies. It analyses the impact of domestic dynamics on its relations with Israel during the current AKP government and the RP led government in the 1990s and suggests that domestic developments in Turkey play a major role in its relationship with the Jewish state. One cannot understand the sudden change, first in Turkish rhetoric and then in political behaviour towards Israel, without understanding the changes that took place in Turkey after the AKP came into power. Simultaneously the strong alliance with Israel during the 1990s has to be interpreted in the context of political issues within Turkey of that time.
This paper argues that the relationship between Israel and Turkey is strongly affected, if not determined by the power relations between political Islam vis-a-vis the military and the secularist establishment of Turkey.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Coming War on the Occupy Movement
As I begin to write this, Occupy Oakland circulates in a by-now familiar pattern: forced from the camp at the break of day, the occupiers reconvened as they have done before on the steps of the Public Library. Later, they will attempt to close a repeating circuit that stretches a short six blocks along 14th Street between City Hall and the Library. This circuit, moreover, is one which draws its familiarity not only from recent weeks, but also from the early moments of what is a single cycle of struggle spanning years: it was down 14th Street that Oakland Police pursued us during the first rebellion, on January 7th of 2009, that greeted the murder of Oscar Grant. And it was in front of the same Public Library that I crouched behind a bush as an armored personnel carrier sped past, only to sprint off as heavily-clad militarized police-troops dismounted to chase myself and others on foot. It has become all too apparent that the Occupy Movement is under attack, and that even my title is wholly insufficient: this war is not “coming,” this war has already begun.
NSA whistle-blowers want seized computers returned
Four former analysts at the National Security Agency who had complained that waste and mismanagement impeded efforts to protect America are trying to force authorities to return personal computers seized from their homes in 2007. Among those joining the motion filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore is Thomas Andrews Drake. The former NSA employee was charged with felony espionage for retaining classified information for a reporter but convicted only of a single misdemeanor for inappropriate computer use. After the government backed down on all of the felony charges this summer, a federal judge criticized prosecutors for dragging Drake and his family through "four years of hell."
Poland paroles convicted Russian spy
The Polish authorities on Thursday released on parole Russian national Tadeusz Juchniewicz, who was sentenced to three years for espionage in 2010, the Polish Press Agency said, quoting court officials.
The last round of negotiations on the EU/Ukraine Association Agreement
On 11 November in Brussels, the last round of negotiations of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was held. Compromise was reached on two of three issues. Kyiv agreed to a term-free contract, which Brussels had called for, but won the option to revise it after five years with both parties’ consent. Ukraine also agreed to make changes in its law (including constitutional amendments) extending the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to citizens of Ukraine. The most important issue remained unresolved, however; the inclusion of a formal note on the prospect of EU membership, which Ukraine has been pushing for. It was only established that agreement on this issue would be reached during a meeting at the political level, but no date was specified for this.
U.S. Banks Face Contagion Risk From Europe Debt
U.S. banks face a “serious risk” that their creditworthiness will deteriorate if Europe’s debt crisis deepens and spreads beyond the five most-troubled nations, Fitch Ratings said.“Unless the euro zone debt crisis is resolved in a timely and orderly manner, the broad credit outlook for the U.S. banking industry could worsen,” the New York-based rating company said yesterday in a statement. Even as U.S. banks have “manageable” exposure to stressed European markets, “further contagion poses a serious risk,” Fitch said, without explaining what it meant by contagion.The “exposures” of U.S. lenders to major European banks and the stressed nations of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, known as the GIIPS, are smaller than those to some of the continent’s larger countries, Fitch said.
Russian Military Chief Warns of Nuclear War Risks
Russia is facing a heightened risk of being drawn into conflicts at its borders that have the potential of turning nuclear, the nation's top military officer said Thursday. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, cautioned over NATO's expansion eastward and warned that the risks of Russia being pulled into local conflicts have "risen sharply." Makarov added, according to Russian news agencies, that "under certain conditions local and regional conflicts may develop into a full-scale war involving nuclear weapons." A steady decline in Russia's conventional forces has prompted the Kremlin to rely increasingly on its nuclear deterrent.
America’s War on Terror in Africa
Reports of a new deployment of U.S. Special Operations Forces to help subdue Boko Haram in Nigeria, shared by the Guardian and Danger Room last week, are somewhat misleading. The reports are misleading not because they are unconfirmed, but because the United States has been quietly engaging in counterterrorism in a wide range of African countries, including Nigeria, for almost a decade. The U.S. currently provides counterterrorism assistance to the militaries of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, under the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Partnership, a large-scale expansion of the Pan-Sahel Initiative, which was launched in 2002.
Les Etats-Unis accusent la Chine et la Russie de cyberespionnage
La coupe est pleine. Tel est en quelque sorte le message que les autorités américaines ont adressé à la Chine et à la Russie en publiant, jeudi 3 novembre, un rapport sur le cyber-espionnage mené aux dépens des Etats-Unis dont le ton est inhabituellement accusateur. Depuis 2009, "les réseaux informatiques d’un vaste éventail d’administrations publiques, d’entreprises privées, d’universités ou d’autres institutions, toutes détentrices d’un gros volume d’informations économiques sensibles, ont été victimes d’espionnage", indique le rapport remis au Congrès par l’Office national du contre-espionnage. "Une grande partie de ces activités semblent provenir de Chine", poursuit le document, qui désigne aussi la Russie, dans une moindre mesure.
Des déserteurs attaquent un centre des services de renseignement
Des déserteurs de l’armée syrienne ont attaqué tôt mercredi une installation des services de renseignements près de Damas, une première depuis le début du soulèvement populaire contre le régime du président Bachar al Assad mi-mars, rapportent des militants de l’opposition. Des membres de l’Armée syrienne libre ont procédé à des tirs de roquette et de mitrailleuse sur l’installation des services de renseignement des forces aériennes syriennes, située au nord de la capitale vers 00h30 GMT. L’attaque a été suivie d’une fusillade et des hélicoptères ont survolé la zone, ont indiqué des sources proches de l’opposition. "J’ai entendu plusieurs explosions, des échanges de tirs de mitrailleuses", a dit un habitant de la banlieue de Harasta, qui a requis l’anonymat.
L’intelligence économique est efficace et responsable
Il faut arrêter d’utiliser le terme "intelligence économique" pour qualifier des dérapages et des manœuvres "tordues" de quelques entreprises et consultants. Evidemment, pour ceux qui y recourent, ce terme passe mieux que de parler d’intrusion, vol d’informations ou trafic d’influence. Il est dans leur esprit plus facile d’obtenir des informations ou des faveurs de cette manière qu’en travaillant dur pour traiter professionnellement l’information. Avant même la malhonnêteté, c’est la paresse et l’incompétence qui poussent à ces dérives. Mais c’est un faux sens du terme, dur à admettre pour les vrais praticiens, qui doivent le combattre sans répit.
Le MI6 déjoue une attaque contre le CNT en Libye
Les services de renseignement britanniques ont déjoué une attaque des forces fidèles à Mouammar Kadhafi contre les dirigeants du Conseil national de transition libyen et des représentants occidentaux, a affirmé mercredi le chef de la diplomatie britannique, William Hague.
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