It must be big news then.
"Economic panic rising, Britain hopes to stay in European market" by Stephen Castle and Sewell Chan New York Times June 27, 2016
LONDON — Britain struggled Monday to absorb the magnitude of its voters’ decision to leave the European Union, and there were no signs that the EU would let Britain off the hook so easily.
On Monday morning, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, tried to calm the markets, citing Britain’s underlying economic strengths. But the markets did not seem assuaged.
See: Stocks, pound fall again due to UK vote uncertainty
Maybe if you gave it a day.
Cheerio!
In the first meeting of Parliament since the referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron said he considered the referendum binding. About three-quarters of lawmakers had supported remaining in the EU.
A senior Conservative lawmaker, Kenneth Clarke, suggested that Parliament could override the referendum — which is not, in the end, binding on the government — while a Labor legislator, David Lammy, called for a second referendum....
What part of NO do they not understand?
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"Brexit is a symptom of globalization’s deeper ills" by Jeffrey D. Sachs June 27, 2016
Populist supporters tend to be older, whiter, less educated, and working class. They believe that immigration is out of control, culturally destabilizing, and adverse to their economic interests. They believe that the political and financial elites have joined forces to abuse power, evade taxes, and twist globalization toward narrow ends.
These attitudes are not racist, xenophobic, or fascist (despite claims to the contrary, and despite enough racists and xenophobes in our midst). They are based on facts on the ground. At the same time, inequality of income has soared; the top have made off with the prize.
The economic elites took little interest in this: Companies made profits on low- wage immigrant labor, while richer consumers enjoyed the low-cost services supplied by the immigrants. The elites turned a blind eye to the falling wages of the working class, who were also being hit by increased trade competition, offshoring of jobs, and automation.
US militarism has greatly amplified the migration. The US war on drugs in Latin America has caused mass violence and a flood of refugees into the United States. The senseless, absurd contra wars of Central America in the 1980s destabilized the US neighbors. The recent CIA-led efforts to topple governments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere have been the single biggest cause of the influx of refugees to Europe.
I'm stunned to see such things in print.
Dire effects could arise from bad policy responses. The worst would be to mock or ignore the underlying causes of Brexit. Anti-immigrant, populist politics require a change of policies in the United States and Europe.
Related:
MICHAEL A. COHEN Blame the voters for Brexit
MICHAEL A. COHEN In defense of politicians
He didn't learn.
OPINION | ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ Post-Brexit, US needs a centrist leader
Who do you think he means? Certainly not Trump.
The rich countries really do need border controls. The potential flow of migrants in search of peace, jobs, and generous social benefits will otherwise be overwhelming. Yet the pressures on migration will be unstoppable unless the source regions are themselves peaceful and economically viable. The United States should ask itself why its near-neighborhood is so violent, war torn, poor, and financially strapped (including the recent bankruptcy of Puerto Rico). And then it should look in the mirror, heaven forbid, to remember how US policies have contributed to these awful outcomes.
The United States has been the magnet for narcotics trafficking; the overwhelming supplier of small arms throughout Central America and the Caribbean; the hub of regional organized crime; the author of countless CIA-led coups against democratic governments (too many to list here), often to protect US corporate interests; and the leading contributor to human-induced climate change that now creates environmental refugees. Through it all, the US political elite has been generally uncaring of the consequences.
Brexit, in short, is a powerful signal of deep and pervasive problems in our approach to globalization. The proper response is to fix the deeper problems. Within our economies we need to combine realistic limits on migration with a social-democratic ethos to take care of those left behind by globalization. Abroad, we need to shift from war to sustainable development. The United States and Europe will be secure only when their neighborhoods are also prospering and safe....
Then we are all doomed because the looting leaders and their psychopathic political puppets are driving us in the other direction.
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Unless....
"‘Texit’? British vote revives a Texas secession dream, spawns hashtag" New York Times June 30, 2016
HOUSTON — And it’s not just Texas. Brexit has given a nudge to modest pre-existing secession movements in New England, as well. On Sunday, a small group of demonstrators gathered in Manchester, N.H., to support “NHexit.”
Related:
"Taking a cue from Great Britain's recent historic vote to leave the European Union, a group of New Hampshire residents is now advocating for the state's independence. The Concord Monitor reported 13 members of the "NHexit" movement gathered Sunday in front of the Norris Cotton Federal Building in Manchester to push their agenda of breaking away from the United States. NHexit founder and organizer Dave Ridley said his goal is to use Great Britain's exit from the EU to bring attention to issues has with the federal government, such as taxation. Ridley said the federal government is so corrupt that the values of New Hampshire and the rest of the country no longer align."
That's where it all started. Don't tread on me!
And in Vermont, a secession movement, the Second Vermont Republic, wrote that it had received a surge of inquiries in the days after the Brexit referendum.
The other side of the northern New England coin.
Despite the excitement online, there is no formal legal means under federal law that would allow Texas to secede. In 2013, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Jon Carson, said as much in a written response to an online secession petition.
You expected a different response, like go ahead and break off?
“Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States ‘in order to form a more perfect union’ through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government,” Carson wrote....
And the federal government will murder millions rather than allow you to declare independence from what has become an imperfect union, rather than allow relatively peaceful secession like the Soviets in 1991.
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You know where I want to secede from.
"EU leaders divided over how to respond to British vote to leave" by James Kanter and Alison Smale New York Times June 28, 2016
BRUSSELS — Stunned and divided by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, leaders of the bloc’s member states converged in Brussels on Tuesday to prepare for a painful divorce, although Britain’s own political crisis made any rapid separation unlikely.
Going to drag it out, huh?
European leaders were struggling to strike a delicate balance: leaving the door open just enough for a possible compromise with Britain, while making it clear that they would not make any further concessions to get Britain to change its mind.
Is there anything they could do?
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said she would use “all her strength” to prevent the European Union from drifting apart, but she emphasized that nothing legally could be done to address Britain’s relations with the bloc until it triggered the legal mechanism for leaving — Merkel told her Parliament that Britain would want to maintain “close relations” with the European Union but also signaled that it could not expect business as usual.
Merkel quashed any idea of exploring alternative arrangements before then until Britain starts formal procedures to leave. She made it clear that Britain could not expect full access to the EU’s common market without accepting its conditions, including the free movement of people. Immigration was the crux of the often ugly debate that accompanied the so-called Brexit campaign, Merkel said.
President François Hollande of France was among a group of European leaders who pushed Britain to act quickly and resolve the uncertainty that has consumed the Continent.
“We need to begin the United Kingdom’s exit process from the European Union as quickly as possible, and then start the negotiations that will follow,” Hollande said. “I can’t imagine that a British government, whichever one it may be, would not respect the choice of its own people.”
I can; we see governments doing it all the time. They are trying to do it was I type.
Besides, he has his own problems.
Hollande said that Britain had decided to leave and that it was important for the EU to move on.
Other leaders shared Hollande’s impatience, but Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, said the bloc should not obsess over the minutiae of Britain’s departure but instead on the bloc’s future.
“I think it’s utterly disappointing that, when we are faced with the biggest political crisis in the history of the European Union, what’s grabbing the headlines is the obscure Article 50,” he told reporters, referring to the treaty provision that details how a country can leave the bloc.
The major issue is “that this is a Europe that people are feeling increasingly estranged from and that it is in our duty that we take action,” he said.
Cameron, who plans to resign by October, arrived for what was almost certainly his final meeting at the European Council, was scheduled to dine with his counterparts to discuss the aftershocks of the referendum but will then return to London....
The rest has been cut and then reedited, and I've seen that movie before.
Apparently, the pre$$ didn't like Farage shoving it up the EU's a$$.
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Related:
"The bloc faces a bewildering range of concerns beyond the pending divorce with Britain: a continuing migration crisis; pressures on the eurozone; a resurgent Russia; the precarious economy in several countries, notably Greece; terrorist attacks like the one that killed scores at Istanbul’s main airport Thursday night; and populist, anti-European movements roiling domestic politics across many nations."
Leaders of Europe are traversing the various stages of grief — anger in particular.
HA-HA. How does it feel?
"With parties in turmoil, Britain weighs a general election" by Steven Erlanger and Stephen Castle New York Times June 30, 2016
LONDON — There is growing talk that the endgame for Britain’s political crisis could be another general election, perhaps as soon as this fall, in an effort to bring some clarity to the nation’s leadership and direction after the vote last week to leave the European Union.
If at first you don't succeed, rig, rig again.
The current Parliament, elected in May 2015, still has nearly four years of its five-year term to run. But once the Conservatives settle on a successor to David Cameron as prime minister, a process that is likely to play out by September, the new prime minister may well want to secure his or her own electoral mandate, especially given the sharp turn Britain has taken and the conflicts over how and whether to proceed with the process of decoupling from Europe.
But even the question of an early general election is proving divisive.
Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leader of the Leave campaign, has been canvassing fellow Conservative members of Parliament, seeking support for his candidacy and getting their views on the advantages of an early general election, but his main rival, Theresa May, the home secretary, who supported staying in the EU, is considered more of a continuity candidate and may not want to go back to voters so soon.
It is the prospect of a quick election that has motivated Labor members in Parliament to try to oust their party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, voting overwhelmingly on Tuesday for a motion of no confidence in him that is a necessary prelude to a leadership contest.
Well, at least the $tring-pullers behind government will have a silver lining to all this.
The rebels fear that under Corbyn, 67, a leftist who has repudiated what remained of the centrist New Labor movement of the Tony Blair era, the party will be crushed and they will lose their seats with an even worse showing than in the last general election.
How did Bliar help? He lied them into Iraq, and now his party is paying the price.
Related: “Your Lies Killed My Son’’
Whatever happened to that investigation and report anyway?
It is unclear whether Corbyn remains as popular among the rank-and-file after leading a halfhearted campaign to keep Britain in the EU, when many traditional Labor voters chose to stay home or vote against the party’s position.
The outcome of any contest would also depend on whom the more centrist Labor legislators find to run against Corbyn. That may be Angela Eagle, a senior figure of the softer left and the daughter of a printworker, or a more centrist figure like Tom Watson, who was elected deputy leader last year. Other possible contenders include Dan Jarvis and Chuka Umunna, both of whom decided not to run against Corbyn last year, or Yvette Cooper, who did and lost.
“Jeremy would be letting down Labor voters and communities across the country who badly need a strong Labor voice right now, and who badly need a Labor government, if he drags this out any longer,” Cooper said. “I hope he does the right thing in the party and stands down swiftly because we cannot drift and leave” the Conservatives “to shape Britain’s future.”
In Parliament on Wednesday, Cameron got in on the act, calling on Corbyn to quit and attributing to him some of the blame for the outcome of the referendum.
“It might be in my party’s interest for him to sit there,” Cameron said. “It’s not in the national interest. And I would say, ‘For heaven’s sake man, go!’ ”
How interesting that that failure there is commenting on politics in the other party.
For the Conservatives, there is at least a clear path toward a new leader, and Johnson and May are clear favorites. But party history suggests that favorites sometimes founder....
Does it really matter what Rothschild puppet rules in Britain?
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Related:
"Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn overwhelmingly lost a no-confidence motion among his fellow lawmakers. It technically changes nothing. “I was a democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning,” Corbyn said after the vote by Labour members of Parliament. “Today’s vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.” He added: “We are a democratic party with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour Party members, trade unionists, and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.” In the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Corbyn has been hit by the mass resignation of most of his leadership team. While Corbyn, a lifelong euroskeptic, did urge Labour supporters to vote to remain, critics regarded his campaign as lackluster and his message as lukewarm. Corbyn’s staunch ally John McDonnell, the party’s top spokesman on economic issues, has said that Corbyn is “not going anywhere.”
He shall fight on the beaches, he shall fight on the landing grounds, he shall fight in the fields and in the streets, he shall fight in the hills; he shall never surrender.
Jeremy Corbyn Draws Analogy Between ISIS and Israel
Boris Johnson Quits Tory Leadership Race
There Will Be No Early General Election
Why There Will Probably Be a Second Referendum on Brexit
Looks like London has lost its luster.
"Spanish parties reject attempt to form governing coalition" by Ciaran Giles Associated Press June 27, 2016
MADRID — Spanish politics have been in an ungovernable deadlock since December. Part of the problem is that Spain, unlike other European nations, has never had a coalition government. Instead, the Popular Party and the Socialists have alternated in power for decades. That means the political art of forging a coalition government deal is new to all.
‘‘With his big victory, Mariano Rajoy, the leader of Spain’s conservative Popular Party, now certainly has a stronger hand than after the December election,’’ Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consulting group, said Monday. ‘‘However, it is unlikely that other parties will rapidly give him their support.’’
In third place with 71 seats was the left-wing United We Can group, which brings together the communists, the Greens, and the 2-year-old Podemos party that grew out of a grass-roots antiausterity protest movement.
The alliance, headed by pony-tailed political science professor Pablo Iglesias, had been heavily expected to overtake the Socialists and break the country’s traditional two-party political system, but it did not.
Another rigged vote!!
The United We Can’s main goal has always been to oust the Popular Party and install a leftist government, so it’s unlikely to lend Rajoy any support.
The German government, meanwhile, called for an end to the stalemate.
What business is it of theirs?
‘‘We hope that the parliamentary election opens the door to the quick formation of a government and that Spain’s good path, with reforms and growth and falling unemployment, can be continued,’’ German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in Berlin.
The newly-elected deputies will take their seat July 19, after which King Felipe VI will consult party leaders and likely nominate one to try to form a government. Rajoy said he hoped the country would have a government by August.
‘‘The pressure on the mainstream parties to avoid a third round of elections will be immense,’’ Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding wrote in an e-mail.
After the December election, Rajoy acknowledged he didn’t have any support to form a government and renounced the opportunity to even try. The king then called on the second-placed Socialists to try, but they were also unable and the monarch eventually called for a repeat election.
No one wants to work with the people, huh?
In recent years, the Popular Party had championed its role in Spain’s economic recovery following a severe crisis but it has been deeply criticized for the country’s high unemployment, cuts in government spending, and its involvement in corruption scandals.
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It's a political scenario that could leave Spain with a caretaker government for many more months.
"Ikea recalls 29 million chests and dressers after 6 children die" by Mike McPhate New York Times June 29, 2016
NEW YORK — In a deal with federal regulators, Ikea announced Tuesday that it would recall 29 million chests and dressers after at least six toddlers were crushed to death in tip-over accidents.
Thank God they were not shot dead.
The move by the Swedish company, the world’s largest furniture seller, represented a crucial victory for consumer advocates in a yearslong effort to hold it accountable for a growing death toll of young children dating to 1989.
Lars Petersson, the president and chief executive of Ikea USA, said in an interview Tuesday, “If you are assembling correctly, the product is actually a very safe product.”
Did he just blame the victims?
A child dies, on average, once every two weeks in accidents that involve the toppling of furniture or bulky television sets, according to the safety commission. Every year, about 38,000 people visit emergency rooms for injuries related to tip-over accidents, a majority involving children under 5.
In many cases, the children slide drawers out from a dresser and then try to climb them like stairs. In a moment, an everyday item becomes lethal.
The latest case, in February, added urgency to the recall campaign....
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The kid chose to wear a jumpsuit?
"Lawyer: CIA gave Romania millions to host secret prisons" Associated Press June 30, 2016
BUCHAREST — The CIA paid Romania ‘‘millions of dollars’’ to host secret prisons, a rights lawyer said Wednesday as the European Court of Human Rights heard accusations that Romania allowed the agency to torture terrorism suspects in a secret renditions program under President George W. Bush.
Your tax dollars for crimes against humanity based on lies, 'murkn!
Amrit Singh told the court on the opening day of the case that CIA prisons were in Romania from 2003-2005 with the government’s ‘‘acquiescence and connivance,’’ something authorities have denied.
Romanian government representative Catrinel Brumar said an investigation was ongoing.
The court said it would rule in a few months on whether Romania knowingly allowed CIA secret prisons where torture occurred and whether it failed to prevent the torture of Singh’s client.
Sorry to shrink from the highlight.
The alleged presence of CIA secret prisons remains a sensitive subject in Romania, a strong US ally that at the time was seeking support from Washington to join NATO.
Singh said her client, Saudi Arabian national Abd al-Rahim Al Nashiri, was shackled, sleep-deprived, subjected to loud noise and bright lights, slapped, and given forced rectal feeding at a Bucharest CIA prison in 2004. He is currently in US custody at Guantanamo Bay.
The Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture was completed in 2014. It did not directly mention Romania.
Has it really been more than two years in the hole?
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Also see:
France opens manslaughter inquiry into EgyptAir crash
Italy recovers 2015 sunk migrant boat, hopes to ID victims
Should have tunneled out instead, and that is my final trip through Europe.
Was trying to catch a flight from Turkey when....
Suspected ISIS bombers kill at least 36 at Istanbul airport
Print said:
"Although no group claimed responsibility for the attack, initial speculation centered on Turkey’s two main enemies: the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdish militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Almost immediately after the attack on Tuesday, there was speculation that it might have been a response by the Islamic State to the recent reconciliation between Turkey and Israel. “The fact that the attack came right after the Turkish-Israeli deal might be not an accident.” Other analysts, though, noted that attacks involving multiple suicide bombers take time to prepare and are not typically attempted on very short notice. Turkey has been rocked by a series of bombings since 2014, and officials have variously blamed Kurdish militants or the Islamic State."
See: Israel reaches reconciliation deal with Turkey
"Israeli, Turkish leaders look to gain stability from reconciliation" by Josef Federman Associated Press June 27, 2016
JERUSALEM — The deal gave a welcome boost to the leaders of the two countries, both of whom have seen their international standing deteriorate in recent months, but there’s no indication the two countries will restore their once strong security ties.
Turkey also took steps toward improving strained ties with Moscow on Monday by expressing regret for bringing down a Russian plane near the border with Syria last year.
Interesting timing.
Related:
Russia military’s actions in Syria cause rift with Turkey
Russia-Turkey feud deepens
Russia expands sanctions against Turkey after downing of jet
Incident raises Russia-Turkey tensions
What happened was Turkey did what NATO wanted in downing the plane, then was cut loose to fend for themselves.
Turkey warns Russia after new flight violation
And then they struck in retaliation for Istanbul.
"The fighting has raised fears of a possible regional escalation, with Turkey strongly backing Azerbaijan and Russia obliged by a mutual security pact to protect Armenia. Russia also has sought to maintain friendly ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan and given it weapons in a bid to shore up its influence in the Caucasus region, a conduit for energy resources from the Caspian Sea to the West."
Actually, some are hoping for it and this has all the hallmarks of CIA destabilization (Gandalf to the rescue!).
The flare-up soon came to a halt after a few squirmishes, and despite tensions running high the truce held -- thanks to the efforts of Iran!
Also see:
German Parliament declares Armenian deaths a genocide, angering Turkey
With moral force, Germany calls the Armenian massacres a genocide
Pope in Armenia denounces twisted, planned ‘genocide’
Pope to Armenians: Never forget the genocide, but reconcile
Turkey, Vatican at odds on genocide
ADL leader: massacre of Armenians was ‘unequivocally genocide’
Cardinal O’Malley leads prayer service for Armenian genocide
Billboard on Armenian Genocide taken down
One can't help but note the irony of those accusing Turkey of such behavior.
That doesn't excuse anything they have done; it just makes you realize the selectivity at hand and its use as a cudgel against Turkey.
The agreement with Israel will include an exchange of ambassadors and Israeli compensation for the deaths of 10 Turkish citizens from a 2010 Israeli naval raid on an activist flotilla that aimed to breach the Gaza blockade.
Turkey will also be allowed to bring relief supplies into Gaza and carry out new development projects there.
Israel is going to build a $5 billion island off Gaza, a bridge that Israel would control, so that supplies can come in. Isn't that so nice of them?!!
‘‘The world is convulsing. The Middle East is convulsing. My policy is to create centers of stability in this unstable and stormy region,’’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he announced details of the deal during an official visit to Rome.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who became president two years ago, has sought closer ties with Muslim nations in the region while trying to distance his country from Israel. Erdogan’s close ties with Hamas, an Islamic Palestinian militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, further strained ties.
Relations took a turn downward during Israel’s three-week war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008 and 2009, when Erdogan criticized Israel over the high Palestinian death toll.
Israel said the action was needed to halt Hamas rocket fire and that the heavy civilian death toll resulted from Hamas using residential areas for cover. The animosity peaked on May 31, 2010, when Israeli commandos stormed a ship while stopping the international flotilla.
Nine Turks, including a dual American citizen, were killed and dozens of activists were wounded, one of whom died several years later. On the Israeli side, seven soldiers were wounded by activists.
Under Monday’s deal, Israel will pay $20 million in compensation for families of victims of the naval raid. In return, Turkey agreed to halt any legal claims connected to the raid. The countries are to exchange ambassadors within weeks.
In addition, Israel agreed to allow Turkey to deliver aid to Gaza through the Israeli port of Ashdod. The first ship, carrying more than 10,000 tons of aid, including food and clothing, will depart for Israel on Friday....
Let's hope it all makes it to where it is supposed to be going.
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Oh, right, the airport. Good thing flight was delayed:
"Victims in Istanbul airport attack reflect city’s international character" by Tim Arango, Sabrina Tavernise and Ceylan Yeginsu New York Times June 29, 2016
ISTANBUL — A majority of the victims appeared to be Muslims, either Turks or visitors from Muslim countries. If the bombings are confirmed to be the work of the Islamic State, it would show once again that the group, which portrays itself as defending Islam and fighting Western powers, kills far more Muslims on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria or in terrorist attacks in the region, than it does non-Muslims.
And who benefits there?
The attack cast a pall over a city that until recently was brimming with self-confidence, projecting itself as a rambunctious, multicultural hub for the arts, with great cuisine and a dazzling history as a former imperial capital.
But a series of terrorist attacks over the last year, some attributed to the Islamic State and others to Kurdish militants, have destroyed Turkey’s image as a haven in a dangerous region, and they have damaged its once-thriving tourism industry.
The chaos enveloping Turkey, including the attacks and an enormous influx of refugees that has strained resources, vividly illustrates how the civil war in Syria has rippled outward and destabilized neighboring countries.
Turkey is grappling with growing domestic strains as well, with deep divisions between Islamists who support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and secular and nationalist Turks who oppose what they regard as his increasingly authoritarian grip on power. Making matters worse, a war that Turkey had fought for more than three decades against Kurdish militants resumed last year, turning cities in the southeast into war zones.
On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said early indications suggested that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, was behind the latest attack, although officials had not released any information about the assailants by the afternoon.
After other attacks, Turkish officials have equivocated, citing as potential culprits either the Islamic State or Kurdish militants. This, critics have said, provided the government with the pretext to crack down further on Kurdish militants, which has been a greater priority for Turkey than fighting the Islamic State.
However, some analysts said the airport attack might be a game-changer for Turkey’s approach to the Islamic State. The United States and other allies have accused Turkey of not doing enough to fight the militant group, and even of contributing to its rise by allowing fighters and weapons to pass through Turkish territory as part of a policy of supporting Syrian rebels.
“I was impressed with the rapidity with which the government said it was Daesh,” said Soli Ozel, a Turkish columnist and professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “It suggests to me that finally maybe they have learned what the hell they have done.”
John O. Brennan, the director of the CIA, said Wednesday that the attack “bears the hallmark of ISIL’s depravity” but he did not confirm that the group was responsible.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, Brennan added that the Islamic State typically does not claim responsibility for attacks in Turkey to send the Turkish government a grim warning but not alienate sympathizers and potential recruits in the country.
Istanbul appeared determined to get back to business as usual....
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Related:
Apparent suicide bombing kills at least 5, wounds dozens in Istanbul
Kurdish militant group claims Istanbul bombing, warns tourists not safe
Istanbul bomber identified as militant with ISIS links
Turkey detains suspected IS suicide bomber
Attackers identified as Russian, Central Asian
Who were the Istanbul airport attack victims?
And are they crisis actors?
In Turkey, it’s not a crime to be gay, but LGBT activists see a rising threat
Istanbul is now Orlando.
ISTANBUL AIRPORT - JE SUIS FALSE FLAG PSYOP?
Who Bombed Ataturk Airport In Istanbul, Turkey?
CIA Director: ‘I’d Be Surprised’ If ISIS Not Trying To Carry Out Istanbul-Style Attack In US
Who is trying to kill Turkey? And Why?!
Istanbul Airport Terrorist Attack – An Act of the Israeli Mossad?
They already tried a coup.
Ataturk Airport Bombing ala Gladio 2.0
Gladio 2.0: Ataturk Airport Suspects are Named as “Russian” as Russia and Turkey Repair Relations
All part of the history of World War III.
"Blasts kill scores in Turkey in sign of worsening instability" by Erin Cunningham Washington Post October 10, 2015
BEIRUT — Two bomb blasts ripped through crowds at a rally of peace activists in the Turkish capital Saturday, killing at least 95 people and wounding 248, in a reminder of the growing conflicts Turkey faces both at home and across the border in war-torn Syria.
The explosions in Ankara, which occurred just minutes and yards apart, were set off as people gathered to call for an end to the violence that has flared between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists in recent months.
The renewal of the decades-old conflict between Turkey and the Kurds has left more than 150 police and soldiers and hundreds of militants dead since this summer. Ethnic Kurds have also accused Turkish authorities of failing to protect them from what they say is violent spillover from Syria’s civil war.
In July, a suicide bombing targeting another rally of Kurdish peace activists in the town of Suruc killed 33 people and was blamed on the Islamic State. Turkey then joined the US-led coalition carrying out strikes on the jihadists inside Syria and was braced for potential retaliation from the extremists. Turkey hosts more than 2 million refugees from Syria, which the government says is a major source of political instability.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday there were “strong indications” the attack was carried out by suicide bombers, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility. He said the target was Turkish unity, democracy, and stability.
“Early indicators would point to ISIS as the culprit,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. ISIS is a common acronym for the Islamic State.
WINEP is the acronym for a Zionist War Lobby.
Either way, “this could well be Turkey’s 9/11,” Cagaptay said. “This is simply the worst terror attack in Turkish history.”
Or not after Istanbul, but rather than unite them....
Ankara bombings mark polarization across Turkey
At the end of everything.
The United States also condemned the twin bombings as a terrorist attack. “It is particularly important at this time that all Turkish citizens recommit to peace and stand together against terror,” the State Department said.
The demonstrators, mobilized by a coalition of Turkish trade unions, had gathered outside Ankara’s main station hours earlier to chant, wave banners and flags, and call for peace. The crowd included a mix of Kurdish and leftist Turkish activists, local media reports said.
A video circulated on social media showed demonstrators linking arms to perform a traditional dance before a fiery explosion erupted in the background, sending the crowd into a panic. Tensions between police and demonstrators flared following the explosions, after activists accused security forces of blocking ambulances arriving to treat the injured. Turkey’s pro-democracy activists say they are fed up with a state that is quick to crack down on dissenters but cannot keep its own citizens safe from terrorists.
In a live television broadcast, Turkish Interior Minister Selami Altinok said in response to a reporter’s question that he would not resign because there had been no security breach. Still, Turkish authorities announced a news blackout.
Related: Turkish leader suggests Syrian link to suicide bombings;
He admitted to lapses in security during the attack at rally, so they shut down the press.
Turkey, which media watchdog groups say has one of the world’s worst records on press freedom, often blocks access to Twitter and other sites for content the government deems inappropriate.
Also Saturday, the militant Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a hard-line Marxist organization that has led the fight for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey, called a temporary cease-fire to calm tensions ahead of general elections scheduled for Nov. 1.
The PKK has been locked in a struggle with the Turkish state for three decades to win more rights — and possibly independence — for Turkey’s more than 16 million Kurds.
Kurdish communities also live in areas of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, where PKK-linked militias have carved out territory and taken on the Islamic State. Some observers say the success of the Syrian-Kurdish militias in seizing land in Syria has worried Turkish officials, who fear it could inspire its own Kurdish minority.
In 2013, the PKK had agreed to withdraw its fighters from Turkish territory to militant hideouts in northern Iraq in exchange for expanded constitutional rights for Kurds. But each side soon accused the other of failing to implement the accords, and violence flared again this summer.
PKK militants attacked Turkish troops and security installations, particularly in the country’s volatile southeast. Turkey launched an air campaign against PKK positions in northern Iraq, killing scores, the militants said.
“I think with the attack [Saturday], the perpetrators are hoping to induce the PKK, or its rogue and more radical youth elements, to continue fighting Turkey,” Cagaptay said.
cu bono?
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So smells like a false flag.
So despite the attempts to form a coalition to break the impasse, new elections had to be called:
"The election is a redo of June elections in which the ruling Justice and Development Party, known by the acronym AKP, stunningly lost its majority. The ballot comes at a sensitive time for Turkey, a key Western ally that has major issues to navigate, including rising instability in neighboring Syria and Iraq and a refugee crisis that is spilling into Europe. There are also doubts about the country’s once-booming economy.... In divided Turkey, election unlikely to resolve uncertainty"
Except the rigged vote did just that in a stunning landslide! Had the people behind him!
Turkey’s president seeks to silence critics at home and abroad
2 ministers quit Turkish government amid heightened tension
Relations have soured amid renewed violence between Kurdish rebels and Turkey’s military.
Turkey’s prime minister announces resignation
Erdogan loyalist nominated to be Turkey’s prime minister
"Binali Yildirim, the transportation and communications minister and a founding member of the ruling party, was tapped to replace Ahmet Davutoglu, who stepped down amid growing differences with Erdogan, including his wish to overhaul the constitution to give the largely ceremonial presidency executive powers. Yildirim has said he would work to legalize the ‘‘de facto’’ presidential system by introducing a new constitution to that effect."
They used to call that a dictatorship, and with citizenship being stripped from Kurds, Turkey is entering a period of darkness.
Soldiers died in a series of deadly attacks as forces clashed. Turks rallied against the Kurds and dozens died. At least 7, anyway, as civilians were caught in the crossfire and surrounded by tear gas before fleeing for home -- where Turkish authorities have reduced many Kurdish cities to rubble.
The car bomb attack came two days after the US Embassy issued a security warning about a potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing. It targeted Turkey's riot police, and "a Kurdish rebel suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside a police headquarters near Turkey’s border with Syria Wednesday, killing four other people, according to Turkish officials. The Interior Ministry official said authorities had strong evidence indicating that the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, had carried out both Tuesday’s attack in Istanbul and the Wednesday bombing in Mardin."
A Kurdish lawyer was also killed in the explosion that killed at least 28 and wounded 61. A Kurdish group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkey blamed the U.S. and attacked Kurdish bases before prayers.
Then the Turkish military wheeled south:
"In a separate development Sunday, the United States said it will withdraw its Patriot missile defense system deployed near Turkey’s border with Syria when its mandate expires in October. Because the border area in Syria is occupied by the Islamic State, there is now less of a threat of Syrian military shells landing in the country. A joint Turkish and US announcement said units could be returned to Turkey within a week if the need arises. It said US Navy ships would be present in the Mediterranean to support Turkey’s defense."
They haven't even removed them yet.
Rights group claims Turkish border guards killed 5 refugees
Witness to migrant disaster that killed 37 describes horror of final moments
Turkey under pressure as Syrians mass at border
I wouldn't head for Iraq, either.
"Turkey has launched its first wave of airstrikes as part of the US-led coalition to fight the Islamic State, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday. Turkish fighter jets carried out joint operations late Friday against Islamic State targets in Syria, which posed a threat to Turkey’s national security, the statement said. Islamic State militants gained control of five villages in northern Syria on Thursday and advanced toward the Turkish border, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group."
It's a de facto ‘no fly zone’.
Also see:
Turkey and US bomb ISIL positions inside Syria
That's a violation of international law.
Turkey claims success against Islamic State cell
That excuses everything.
So what's next for Turkey, a ground operation in northern Syria or war against China?
