That news flash just in!
Actually, they've always known how to do that, which just proves that those nine deaths on the Mari Marmara were a calculated message to the would-be blockade busters.
Showing posts with label Gaza blockade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaza blockade. Show all posts
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The Teflon Turk
Haaretz has this perspective on the wily Erdogan.
Haaretz generally has a liberal/secular take on ME issues. If the linked article is any indication, they too see Erdogan's main challenge coming from the Gulen loyalists in his country.
Turkey-Israel relations have been all over the map since Erdogan came to power. Turkey is a full-patch NATO member, and Israel is "the only democracy in the Middle East", so on an official level one might expect a substantial overlap in interests.
The Mavi Marmara incident was a turning point. Regardless of what one thinks of the illegal and immoral Gaza blockade, any realist will first need to acknowledge that there are plenty of others who view it as legal, moral, and necessary. Turkey's connivance with those who took direct action in attempting to breach the blockade was a classic case of over-reach.
In hindsight, that was the turning point in Erdogan's tenure, and also a turning point in the fortunes of the Muslim Brotherhood. The NATO bigs in Brussels and Washington realized that the NATO chapter in Ankara was no longer on the same page as the rest of the gang.
The Chinese missile deal was the last straw.
That's why you're hearing more these days about the influence of Fethullah Gulen, whose minions are poised to dispose of Erdogan. What then?
The appeal of the Muslim Brotherhood in Washington and Brussels was always that, all things considered, they were more moderate, more pliable, more US/Israel friendly than the alternatives.
The MB star is fading because there is a more moderate, more pliable alternative waiting in the wings.
Unfortunately, for a lot of conservative folks who held their noses and put up with the MB, any option that is even more moderate and pliable will simply be unacceptable.
The Teflon Turk may be on his way out. Whoever comes next will have a very serious problem with the fundamentalists who have taken root next door.
Haaretz generally has a liberal/secular take on ME issues. If the linked article is any indication, they too see Erdogan's main challenge coming from the Gulen loyalists in his country.
Turkey-Israel relations have been all over the map since Erdogan came to power. Turkey is a full-patch NATO member, and Israel is "the only democracy in the Middle East", so on an official level one might expect a substantial overlap in interests.
The Mavi Marmara incident was a turning point. Regardless of what one thinks of the illegal and immoral Gaza blockade, any realist will first need to acknowledge that there are plenty of others who view it as legal, moral, and necessary. Turkey's connivance with those who took direct action in attempting to breach the blockade was a classic case of over-reach.
In hindsight, that was the turning point in Erdogan's tenure, and also a turning point in the fortunes of the Muslim Brotherhood. The NATO bigs in Brussels and Washington realized that the NATO chapter in Ankara was no longer on the same page as the rest of the gang.
The Chinese missile deal was the last straw.
That's why you're hearing more these days about the influence of Fethullah Gulen, whose minions are poised to dispose of Erdogan. What then?
The appeal of the Muslim Brotherhood in Washington and Brussels was always that, all things considered, they were more moderate, more pliable, more US/Israel friendly than the alternatives.
The MB star is fading because there is a more moderate, more pliable alternative waiting in the wings.
Unfortunately, for a lot of conservative folks who held their noses and put up with the MB, any option that is even more moderate and pliable will simply be unacceptable.
The Teflon Turk may be on his way out. Whoever comes next will have a very serious problem with the fundamentalists who have taken root next door.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Why is Muslim Brotherhood doing Israel's dirty work in Gaza?
There has to be a good deal more to this story than Bloomberg Businessweek is sharing with us.
Flooding the Gaza tunnels is the sort of gesture we would have expected from Mubarak. After all, he was an unapologetic US stooge and everybody knew it.
But Morsi is supposedly a different breed of cat. Hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, just like the Hamas leadership on the other side of the fence.
Is it possible that after mere months in power Morsi has capitulated to US pressure to distance himself from his Islamist brothers in Gaza?
Is it not curious that this story emerges just as Hamas and PA delegations are in Cairo negotiating a reconciliation?
Is this story true or have a few token tunnels been temporarily flooded to make photo-ops and float a propaganda story?
"Oh look, that Morsi is not such a bad chap after all! We can do business with him..."
Flooding the Gaza tunnels is the sort of gesture we would have expected from Mubarak. After all, he was an unapologetic US stooge and everybody knew it.
But Morsi is supposedly a different breed of cat. Hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, just like the Hamas leadership on the other side of the fence.
Is it possible that after mere months in power Morsi has capitulated to US pressure to distance himself from his Islamist brothers in Gaza?
Is it not curious that this story emerges just as Hamas and PA delegations are in Cairo negotiating a reconciliation?
Is this story true or have a few token tunnels been temporarily flooded to make photo-ops and float a propaganda story?
"Oh look, that Morsi is not such a bad chap after all! We can do business with him..."
Sunday, December 30, 2012
IAF blasts Gaza trebuchet sites
The Israeli Air Force launched several Hellfire missiles at suspected trebuchet sites in Gaza early this morning.
An IAF spokeswoman linked the trebuchet sites to the newly-relaxed restrictions on the importation of building materials into Gaza.
"Our information is that the militants were preparing to lob concrete blocks into Sderot," she said.
A Hamas representative denied the accusations and claimed that the trebuchet construction activity was for peaceful purposes only.
An IAF spokeswoman linked the trebuchet sites to the newly-relaxed restrictions on the importation of building materials into Gaza.
"Our information is that the militants were preparing to lob concrete blocks into Sderot," she said.
A Hamas representative denied the accusations and claimed that the trebuchet construction activity was for peaceful purposes only.
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