The authoritarian, Islamist leader of the Republic of Turkey delivered a shot in the arm to embattled Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin this week, by threatening to block the accession of Finland and Sweden to the NATO military alliance.

Some observers believe Russian influence with Ankara could be one of the factors behind Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration regarding the two Nordic nations, and not just Turkish complaints against them being a kind of haven for Kurdish refugees, which it views as terrorists.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Turkey has not sanctioned Russia, unlike most NATO members who have. It has reportedly become a safe haven for Russian oligarch money and it has already thumbed its nose up to the U.S. when it purchased Russia S-400 air missile defense system which led to U.S. sanctions in 2020.

RUSSIAN S-400 DEFENSE SYSTEMS ARRIVE IN TURKEY AFTER U.S. WARNS OF SANCTIONS

U.S. officials raised alarm bells that the S-400 deal with Russia could endanger NATO security and jeopardize American-Turkey intelligence sharing.

Marshall Billingslea, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former assistant Secretary General of NATO, told Fox News Digital, “It is important to understand that Turkey is playing the same game today that it is always has played in the region with respect to Turkey taking stances that benefits its own interests and run counter to NATO’s.”

He continued that Ankara is an “independent actor and took stances that had benefits for the Russians,” Billingslea said. He cited one telling example when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and Turkey closed access to the Black Sea. The closure prevented U.S. naval vessels from aiding Georgia.

However, Turkey’s independence of action also means it delivered drones to Ukraine, the NATO expert noted. The Turks work “to benefit their interests,” he said.

Theodore Karasik, a fellow on Russian and Middle Eastern Affairs at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, told Fox News Digital that Turkey wants to “avoid being on Russia’s target list later.”

Erdogan recently announced the return of Syrian refugees living in Turkey back to their country, and Russia’s cooperation is necessary for this due to its strong presence in the Syrian Arab Republic, noted Karasik.

PUTIN LAYS OUT HIS DEMANDS FOR CEASEFIRE IN CALL WITH TURKEY’S PRESIDENT

The Turkish and Russian “struggle over shipping issues” could be an additional worry for Erdogan, said Karasik. If the Western powers sanction Russian vessels, Ankara could be confronted with demands to close the vital Dardanelles shipping route to Russia’s maritime industry,” he continued.

Karasik added that Erdogan is “using the Finnish and Swedish applications to garner favors from other countries so Turkey benefits in the end.”

Erdogan’s efforts to destabilize the NATO alliance gained traction after a segment of the Turkish military launched an unsuccessful coup against him in 2016.

TURKEY SENTENCES FORMER SOLDIERS TO LIFE OVER FAILED COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST ERDOGAN

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Mehmet Yalinalp, who was dismissed from the military following the failed coup while he was serving as the head of NATO’s air command strategy in Germany, whose email was recently quoted in a book, titled “Erdogan Rising: A Warning To Europe,” by Hannah Lucinda-Smith, where he noted the change of views on NATO: “As the historical purge of thousands of military personnel takes a faster speed, I and my Turkish colleagues observe a considerable rise of ultra-nationalist, anti-western sentiments within our military and throughout our state departments.”

Yalinalp noted that new Turkish military personnel in NATO “have a radical mindset, some question the values of NATO and even hate Western organizations, while holding pro-Russia/China/Iran sentiments.”

Burak Bekdil is prominent Turkish political columnist who wrote for Hurriyet Daily News for 29 years, and is now a fellow for the Middle East Forum, told Fox News Digital : “I called Erdogan Putin’s man in NATO though there are nuances to my more ideological assessment. Erdogan feels at home comfort when he deals with authoritarian leaders like himself, instead of liberal democrats who remind him of Turkey’s widening democratic deficit.”

Bekdil, who was fired from Hurriyet Daily News in 2017, for writing critical articles about Turkey on a US news site, added that” There is also a transactional Erdogan who is programmed to use the West and its institutions, including NATO, where it’s useful and confronting them when that is useful. Despite the transaction-himself, Erdogan has been Putin’s man in NATO, too, for ideological reasons as well: His ideological raison d’etre is pillared on a rigid anti-West thinking.”

TURKEY RISKS ‘HISTORIC’ SWEDEN, FINLAND NATO BID BY PRIORITIZING POLITICAL AGENDA

Some commentators say enough is enough and Turkey should be kicked out of NATO. Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia, said recently, “I don’t think Turkey belongs in NATO. I’ve been saying this for a decade.

“It is time to expel Turkey from NATO. Let it go to Russia, let it go to China. Good riddance,” Pipes declared.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/turkey-russias-secret-weapon-inside-nato

The post Is Turkey Russia’s secret weapon inside NATO? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

—Turkey blocks NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden
—Russian soldier pleads guilty at murder trial in Ukraine
—Ukrainian and Russian officials say peace negotiations have stagnated
—Finland and Sweden submit NATO membership applications
—This article was last updated at 22:25 UTC/GMT

This live updates article has been closed. For the latest on the war in Ukraine, please click here.

Zelenskyy says the war will be long in nightly address

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to prepare the Ukrainian public for a long war in their country during his nightly video address late Wednesday.

He told the Ukrainian people, “Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar, Mariupol and all our cities and towns that are under occupation, under temporary occupation, should know that Ukraine will return.”

He said however the length of time that would take is dependent on battlefield conditions.

“We are trying to do it as soon as possible. We are committed to driving out the occupiers and guaranteeing Ukraine real security,” Zelenskyy said from Kyiv.

Ukraine extended martial law and the mass mobilization by 90 days until August 23.

UN chief hopeful about talks on Ukraine, Russia grain and fertilizer exports

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was in “intense contact” with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union to try and restore Ukrainian grain shipments and revive Russian fertilizer exports.

“I am hopeful, but there is still a way to go,” he told a food security meeting at the UN hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The complex security, economic and financial implications require goodwill on all sides.”

The war in Ukraine has further fueled already-soaring global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer.

At a separate meeting earlier, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “using hunger as a weapon.”

She announced plans to launch a global food security alliance. “The terrible consequences of Russia’s war go far beyond Ukraine,” Schulze warned.

On Wednesday, the World Bank also announced an additional $12 billion (€11.5 million) in funding for projects to address the global food security crisis, bringing the total to $30 billion.

Russia closing Canada’s CBC Moscow bureau

Russia has withdrawn the visas and press credentials of Canada’s CBC and Radio Canada journalists and is shutting the organization’s Moscow bureau.

“With regret, we continue to notice open attacks on the Russian media from the countries of the so-called collective West who call themselves civilized,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The move comes after Ottawa banned Russian state TV station Russia Today (RT).

In a statement, the CBC and its French-language unit Radio Canada said they had operated a bureau in Moscow for 44 years and were “deeply disappointed” by the decision.

Several other news outlets have lost their credentials and accreditation since the start of the war, while DW was told to clear out its Moscow bureau shortly before the invasion of Ukraine.

US reopens embassy in Kyiv

The United States reopened its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

In February, the embassy was closed, and diplomatic personnel “temporarily relocated” to Lviv in western Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian people, with our security assistance, have defended their homeland in the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, as a result, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the embassy once again,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Secretary Antony Blinken@SecBlinken

United States government official

The Stars and Stripes fly again over Embassy Kyiv. I can announce that we have officially resumed Embassy operations in Ukraine’s capital. We stand proudly with the government and people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country from Putin’s brutal invasion. Slava Ukraini!

Many western countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom have reopened their embassies in Kyiv over the past month, after Russian troops pulled back from the city to focus on an offensive in the east of the country.

Prominent Austrians call for national debate on country’s neutrality

A group of prominent Austrians has written an open letter urging the country to engage in a “serious, nationwide discussion about the future of Austria’s security and defense policy.”

They called for this discussion to take place without blinkers. Acknowledging that they themselves were of different opinions on specific issues like neutrality and non-alignment, a deeper EU defense policy or Austria joining NATO, they said they agreed on one thing: “We are united in the conviction that the status quo of our security policy is not only unsustainable but dangerous for our country,” they wrote.

The group includes military and economic experts, as well as former ambassadors.

“We are now unprepared, and this is the worst security crisis in Europe since 1945,” they wrote.

Since the start of the war, Chancellor Karl Nehammer has struck a delicate balance with regard to Austria’s position. He has maintained that the country has no plans to change its security status, while at the same time declaring that military neutrality doesn’t necessarily mean moral neutrality.

Austria has strongly condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

European Commission starts work on joint defense spending

The European Commission urged member countries to replace stockpiles of arms sent to Ukraine.

The Commission is offering €500 million ($526 million) over two years to countries willing to work in groups to replenish their stocks.

It is part of a new plan under which the EU would play a more significant role in coordinating increased military spending amongst its members.

“We need to spend more on defense, and we need to do it in a coordinated way,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

A joint procurement taskforce would coordinate spending to replace stockpiles of arms sent to Ukraine in the short term. It would also help countries phase out Soviet-era equipment and improve air and missile defense systems.

The commission eventually wants the task force to lay the groundwork for a bigger joint procurement program in the future.

Czechs to get German tanks as it arms Ukraine

Germany would donate 15 tanks to the Czech armed forces.

It is part of a program under which Berlin aimed to help countries pass their stocks of Soviet weaponry to Ukraine.

“The exchange is another good example of how we are helping Ukraine in its brave fight against Russian aggression,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said.

Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said the move showed Germany’s appreciation of her country’s military help to Ukraine.

The Czechs have given Ukraine Soviet-era heavy weapons worth at least $130 million (€124 million). Prague has not disclosed the exact equipment, though local media reports suggest it had sent Soviet-made T-72 tanks and other heavy technology to Ukraine.

The Czech Republic also talked to Germany about purchasing up to 50 more new Leopard A7+ tanks.

Ukrainian refugees employed to help with Oktoberfest preparations

Ukrainian refugees have been pictured making and decorating gingerbread hearts at the ‘Zuckersucht’ bakery in Aschheim near Munich in Germany, for Oktoberfest.

Maria, a refugee from Mykolaiv in Ukraine, decorates gingerbread Oktoberfest hearts

Over the weekend, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote on Twitter that around 2,000 refugees were arriving in Germany each day, down from 15, 000 at the start of the war.

She added that many more were returning to their country across the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Refugees from Ukraine will be able to receivebasic welfare benefits in Germany as of June 1.

US and Russia contradict each other over sanctions impact

The US Treasury Secretary said sanctions against Russia had an enormous impact, but Russia said its economy was showing resilience.

“Russia is experiencing recession, high inflation, acute challenges in their financial system, and (an) inability to procure the material and products they need to support their war or their economy,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters ahead of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Bonn, Germany.

Russia Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, though, was confident that inflation in Russia would slow down further.

Without directly commenting on Yellen’s remarks, Reshetnikov said Russia had withstood the first hit from sanctions, and it is impossible to isolate the country from abroad.

Turkey blocks NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden — sources

Turkey has blocked the start of NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden, diplomatic sources told DW on condition of anonymity.

Sources told DW’s Teri Schultz, currently on assignment in Stockholm, that NATO’s governing body could not decide as planned to start the accession process for the two candidate members as Turkey objected.

Teri Schultz@terischultz
Not yet, Nordics.

#NATO ambassadors discussed the Finnish and Swedish membership bids this morning and could have approved opening negotiations, but #Turkey blocked the decision.

Finland and Sweden submitted their bids to join the military alliance earlier on Wednesday.

Turkey claims that both Sweden and Finland have provided a refuge for Kurdish groups it labels “terrorists,” and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara will not approve the expansion.

Erdogan reiterated his objections on Wednesday, during a speech to lawmakers from his party, saying that “we cannot say yes” to Finland and Sweden’s bid until they return “terrorists” to Turkey.

Russian soldier pleads guilty of murder at Kyiv trial

Vadim S., a 21-year-old Russian tank commander held in Ukraine, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing an unarmed civilian.

After his convoy was hit, the defendant and four other fleeing soldiers are alleged to have stole a car from outside the village of Chupakhivka in the early days of the invasion.

He is accused of attacking the 62-year-old, who was riding past them on a bicycle, to prevent him from reporting their presence.

“One of the military servicemen ordered the accused to kill a civilian so that he would not report them. The man died on the spot just a few dozen meters from his home,” Ukrainian prosecutors said.

The soldier is charged with war crimes and premeditated murder and could face a life sentence.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it had not been informed about the case.

“We still have no information. And the ability to provide assistance due to the lack of our diplomatic mission there is also very limited,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says it is expelling scores of diplomats from several European countries in a retaliatory move to their expulsions of Russian diplomatic personnel.

Moscow said it was expelling 34 “employees of French diplomatic missions” in a tit-for-tat move.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said 27 employees of the Spanish embassy in Moscow and the Spanish Consulate General in Saint Petersburg “have been declared personae non-gratae.” Meanwhile, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian news agencies that 24 Italian diplomats had also been expelled, also in an apparent retaliatory move.

A diplomatic source told the AFP news agency the French diplomats had been given two weeks to leave the country. The announcement comes in response to France kicking out 35 Russians with diplomatic status in April.

The French Foreign Office said the step had “no legitimate basis.” In a statement, it said that “the work of the diplomats and staff at [France’s] embassy in Russia… takes place fully within the framework of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic and consular relations.” Paris expelled the Russian staff in April on suspicion of being spies.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Wednesday condemned Russia’s expulsions of the various nations’ diplomats. “This is clearly a hostile act,” he said.

EU proposes up to €9 billion in more aid to Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed extra aid to Ukraine this year of up to nine billion euros ($9.5 billion).

Speaking in a broadcast statement, von der Leyen said the fund would help the country cope with the ravages of war.

The Commission president said it was time to think about rebuilding Ukraine whenever the war ends. She added that the EU had “a strategic interest in leading this reconstruction effort”.

Speaking in a broadcast statement, von der Leyen said the EU also intends to mobilize up to €300 billion of investment by 2030 to end the bloc’s reliance on Russian oil and gas.

The investments will include €10 billion for gas infrastructure, €2 billion for oil, and the rest for clean energy, von der Leyen told reporters.

Ukraine calls for Azovstal fighters to be exchanged

Ukrainian military officials say they still hope fighters extracted from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol could be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war.

However, Russian lawmakers plan to take up a resolution that would prevent the exchange of Azov Regiment fighters on Wednesday.

The soldiers held out for months inside the Azovstal steelworks plant while Mariupol was under siege.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, nearly 1,000 Ukrainian holed up at the works have surrendered this week — many of whom are wounded.

They are reported to have been taken to a reopened former penal colony in Russian-controlled territory.

It’s unclear how many fighters still remain at the sprawling site which became the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance within Mariupol.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has said negotiations for the troops’ release are ongoing with some fighters still believed to be inside the mill.

Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin has said a court will decide the fate of the Ukrainian fighters, a local media outlet reported.

G7 ministers meet to discuss finance for Ukraine

The finance ministers of the Group of Seven leading economies are meeting in Germany to discuss short-term aid to stabilize the Ukrainian national budget.

It’s believed that the country needs some €5 billion of assistance for an initial period of three months.

The consultations beginning on Wednesday near the western city of Bonn are to be attended by central bank governors and some experts. A joint declaration is planned for Friday.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said the European Union was likely to make significant financial contributions to keep Ukraine going. Yellen added that she hoped other G7 members like Britain, Canada and Japan would also step up.

Yellen, who was in Brussels on Tuesday, said the US has made a strong commitment to funding Ukraine and that it was clear that the EU was “very serious about wanting to provide the necessary aid as well.”

US Treasury officials have also said they plan to propose the idea of European countries imposing tariffs on Russian oil — as a faster alternative to an outright ban on it — at the meeting.

EU officials are now considering a phased embargo on Russian oil, but there are concerns from eastern European countries about supply. A tariff mechanism would be designed to keep Russian oil on the market but limit the amount of revenue that can flow to Moscow from exports, the Treasury officials said.

Finland and Sweden formally submit NATO bids

Finland and Sweden have formally submitted their bids to join NATO , despite Turkey’s threat to block the addition of the Nordic nations.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had received application letters from the two Nordic countries’ ambassadors.

“I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg told reporters.

Finland — which has a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia — and its neighbor Sweden have been disturbed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The two countries’ accession would end decades of military neutrality to join the alliance as a defense against feared aggression from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday warned that the expansion of NATO might trigger a response. However, the main obstacle to Finland and Sweden’s membership comes from within the alliance.

Turkey claims that both Sweden and Finland have provided a refuge for terrorist groups and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists Ankara will not approve the expansion.

Any bid to join NATO must be approved unanimously by all 30 members of the alliance.

US sets up conflict monitor on Ukraine

The United States has set up a new monitoring body to build legal cases against Russia for crimes committed during its war against Ukraine.

The State Department says it aims to contribute to eventual prosecutions in the domestic courts of Ukraine and those of third-party countries, plus US courts and other tribunals. The monitor would also provide information refuting Russian disinformation campaigns.

Announcing the creation of the Conflict Observatory, State Department spokesman Ned Price said it would “ensure that crimes committed by Russia’s forces are documented and perpetrators are held accountable.”

“The program will capture, analyze, and make publicly available open-source information and evidence of atrocities, human rights abuses, and harm to civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s cultural heritage,” he said.

Reports will be posted on ConflictObservatory.org. Price said the observatory was a collaboration that would involve scientists and the private sector.

First war crimes trial against Russian soldier in Kyiv

The first war crimes trial against a Russian soldier since the start of the invasion is set to start on Wednesday.

A Russian soldier will appear at Kyiv’s Solomyansky district court from 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) accused of killing a 62-year-old civilian in northeastern Ukraine on February 28. He faces a possible life sentence.

“He understands what he is being accused of,” his lawyer Viktor Ovsiannikov told the AFP news agency. “This is the first such case in Ukraine with such an indictment. There is no relevant legal practice or verdicts on such cases. We will sort it out.”

Ukrainian authorities said the suspect is cooperating with investigators.

Prosecutors say the suspect was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came under attack. According to prosecutors, he and four other soldiers stole a car and as they were traveling near the northeastern village of Shupakhivka, they encountered a 62-year-old man on a bicycle.

“One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian so that he would not denounce them,” the prosecutor’s office said. The suspect then shot the man from the window of the vehicle, prosecutors say.

The trial is likely to be followed by other cases. Two Russian soldiers are due to go on trial on Thursday for allegedly firing rockets at civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region.

On Tuesday, the office of the Ukrainian chief prosecutor tweeted that it had registered 11,846 cases of “crimes of aggression and war crimes” and 5,644 “crimes against national security” involving 623 suspects.

Peace negotiations have stagnated — Ukrainian, Russian officials

Ukrainian and Russian officials have said that negotiations between the two countries have stagnated.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of hardening its stance. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko that Kyiv has “practically withdrawn from the negotiation process.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Western countries want to use Ukraine to their strategic advantage. He argued that no peace deal can be made if negotiators focus on the West’s concerns rather than the immediate situation in Ukraine.

“We always say that we are ready for negotiations … but we were given no other choice,” Lavrov said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that talks are “on hold” as Russia is not willing to accept it “will not achieve any goals.”

“Russia does not demonstrate a key understanding of today’s processes in the world,” Podolyak said, according to Ukrainian media. “And its extremely negative role.”

Russia’s Lavrov says NATO accession for Finland, Sweden makes ‘no big difference’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Finland and Sweden joining NATO would not make “much difference.”

“Finland and Sweden, as well as other neutral countries, have been participating in NATO military exercises for many years,” Lavrov said.

“NATO takes their territory into account when planning military advances to the East. So in this sense there is probably not much difference. Let’s see how their territory is used in practice in the North Atlantic alliance.”

Russian deputy PM visits Kherson region

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has visited the Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

RIA Novosti reported that Khusnullin said that the region would take a “worthy place in our Russian family.” Kherson is under Russian occupation.

On May 1, Moscow introduced the Russian ruble as official currency in the region.

A few days ago, the Russian-installed local government in Kherson said it plans to appeal to Moscow for the right to become part of the Russian Federation.

EU to unveil plan to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels

The European Commission will unveil a €210 billion plan ($222 billion) to end Europe’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and accelerate the shift to green energy.

Russia supplies 40% of the EU’s gas and 27% of its imported oil.

According to draft documents cited by Reuters, Brussels plans to import more non-Russian gas, implement a faster rollout of renewable energy and make efforts to save energy.

Summary of events in Ukraine-Russia crisis on Tuesday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise video address at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. The former actor turned statesman asked for the cinema world’s solidarity with his people in the face of the Russian invasion.

The International Criminal Court sent war crimes investigators to Ukraine in what it called the largest deployment of its kind in the ICC’s history.

Eight people were killed and 12 wounded in a Russian airstrike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, the regional emergency service said.

Finland’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a proposal to join NATO.

Ukraine’s military said it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkish concerns over Finland and Sweden’s possible membership in the alliance need to be addressed.

The western Ukrainian city of Lviv was reportedly hit by at least eight explosions.

Catch up on yesterday’s events by clicking here

si,rc/jsi (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-give-czechs-tanks-so-it-could-provide-more-weapons-to-ukraine-as-it-happened/a-61832918

The post Germany to give Czechs tanks so it could provide more weapons to Ukraine — as it happened first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Immediately following the start of the war, Israeli officials began to circumnavigate the globe, shuttling between many countries that are directly or even nominally involved in the conflict. Early last month, Israeli President Isaac Herzog flew to Istanbul to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This meeting was “a turning point in relations between Turkey and Israel,” according to Erdogan.

Though “Israel is proceeding cautiously with Turkey,” Lahav Harkov wrote in the Jerusalem Post, Herzog hopes that “his meeting with… Erdogan is starting a positive process toward improved relations.” These “improved relations” are not concerned with the fate of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation and siege, but with a proposed gas pipeline connecting Israel’s Leviathan offshore gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean to southern Europe via Turkey. This project will improve Israel’s geopolitical status in the Middle East and Europe. The political leverage of being a primary gas supplier to Europe would allow it even stronger influence over the continent and would certainly tone down any future criticism of Tel Aviv by Ankara.

That was just one of many Israeli overtures. Tel Aviv’s diplomatic flurry included a top-level meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and a succession of visits to Israel by top European, American, Arab and other officials.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on March 26 and was expected to put some pressure on Tel Aviv to join the US-led Western sanctions on Russia. Little of that has transpired.

For years, Israel has hoped to free itself from its disproportionate reliance on Washington. This dependency took on many forms: Financial and military assistance, political backing, diplomatic cover and more. Many Palestinians and others believe that, if the US ceased its support for Israel, the latter would simply collapse. However, this might not be the case, at least not in theory. Writing in March 2021 in The New York Times, Max Fisher estimated that US aid to Israel in 1981 “was equivalent to almost 10 percent of Israel’s economy,” while in 2020, the nearly $4 billion of US aid was “closer to 1 percent.”

Still, this 1 percent is vital for Israel, as much of the funding is funneled to the Israeli military, which in turn converts it into weapons that are routinely used against Palestinians and other Arab countries. The Israeli military technology of today is far more developed than it was 40 years ago. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute placed Israel as the world’s eighth-largest military exporter between 2016 and 2020, with an estimated export value of $8.3 billion in 2020 alone. These numbers continue to grow, as Israeli military hardware is increasingly incorporated into security apparatuses across the world, including the US, the EU and also in the Global South.

Much of this discussion is rooted in a document from 1996, entitled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” It was authored by Richard Perle, former US assistant secretary of defense, jointly with top leaders of the neoconservative movement in Washington. The target audience of that research was none other than Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then the newly elected Israeli prime minister. Aside from the document’s detailed instructions on how Israel can use some of its Arab neighbors, in addition to Turkey, to weaken and “roll back” hostile governments, it also made significant references to the future relations Tel Aviv should aspire to develop with Washington.

Perle urged Israel to “make a clean break from the past and establish a new vision for the US-Israeli partnership based on self-reliance, maturity and mutuality — not one focused narrowly on territorial disputes.” This newly “self-reliant” Israel “does not need US troops in any capacity to defend it.” Ultimately, such self-reliance “will grant Israel greater freedom of action and remove a significant lever of pressure used against it in the past.”

An example is Israel’s relations with China. In 2013, Washington was outraged when Israel sold secret American military technology to China. Tel Aviv was quickly forced to retreat. Eight years later, despite US demands that Israel must not allow China to operate its Haifa port due to Washington’s security concerns, the port was officially opened in September 2021.

Israel’s regional and international strategies seem to be advancing in multiple directions, some of them directly opposite to those of Washington. Yet, thanks to continued Israeli influence in the US Congress, Washington does little to hold Tel Aviv accountable. Meanwhile, now that Israel is fully aware that the US has changed its political attitude in the Middle East and is moving in the direction of the Pacific and Eastern Europe, Tel Aviv’s clean break strategy is moving faster than ever before. However, this comes with risks. Though Israel is stronger now, its neighbors are also getting stronger.

Hence, it is critical that Palestinians understand that Israel’s survival is no longer linked to the US, at least not as intrinsically as in the past. Therefore, the fight against Israeli occupation and apartheid can no longer be disproportionately focused on breaking up the “special relationship” that united Tel Aviv and Washington for more than 50 years. Israel’s independence from the US entails risks and opportunities that must be considered in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), now available on Amazon.com

Source: https://www.eurasiareview.com/05042022-israels-clean-break-from-us-gathering-momentum-oped/

The post Israel’s ‘Clean Break’ From US Gathering Momentum – OpEd first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

An explosive device was found under a police car securing a rally held for Erdoğan in the southeastern city of Siirt.

The device was found only moments prior to the start of the rally, Turkish media reported.

After the device was found, it was dismantled and defused by a Turkish police bomb disposal team, according to Turkish news outlet KARAR.

Forensic investigators scanned the explosive device and police vehicle for fingerprints and an investigation to find the perpetrator has reportedly begun.

This is a developing story.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/attempted-assassination-of-turkeys-erdogan-foiled-687844

The post Attempted assassination of Turkey’s Erdogan foiled – report first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The swift takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and an upcoming final August 31st deadline for all NATO troops to leave the has triggered panic among European politicians about the possibility of a new refugee emergency — especially in countries that are facing elections in the coming months, such as Germany and France.

Candidates for high offices have been quick to reassure voters that 2021 won’t be a repeat of 2015, when more than a million Syrian and Afghan refugees streamed into Europe and caused one of the most serious challenges that the EU has faced in recent times.

“The mistakes made in the Syrian civil war must not be made again,” promised Armin Laschet, the leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. He was echoed by Merkel herself and the chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party, Olaf Scholz.

Never Again

Both have stressed that it is Afghanistan’s neighboring countries that now need support to deal with the challenge.

French President Emmanuel Macron was even blunter, stating in a televised address that France should have a robust plan to “anticipate and protect itself from a wave of migrants (….)”, adding that “ dealing with those fleeing the Taliban would need a fair and organized international effort.”

Greece has gone further by installing a 25 mile long fence along its borders. Most of the criticism directed at the U.S. president by European partners seems to be caused by the fear that it is they who will have to deal with the destabilizing consequences of a humanitarian crisis provoked by the sudden collapse of the pro-western government in Kabul.

Events in Afghanistan have exposed how six years after the events of 2015 there is still a lack of a clear EU framework for dealing with large inflows of migrants: How to process and, most importantly, distribute refugees still very much depends on the willingness of individual EU member countries to accept them on their territory.

A Need for a Framework

The so-called Dublin EU framework that put most of the onus on first entry countries has not been replaced by anything new and durable. The EU beefed up its border police force Frontex and financially supported countries, such as Turkey and Libya, in return for their efforts to keep refugees away from Europe. But this approach was always supposed to buy time — not become the only pillar of a shaky immigration framework.

The conflict in Afghanistan has once again revealed the brittleness of Europe’s patchwork of migration policies.

 

The absence of any new ways of dealing with non-EU immigrants has forced the EU and its leaders to resort to the same imperfect tools employed in the wake of the last crisis. Just like in 2015, Merkel spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — although both Ankara and Berlin deny that the possibility of a new deal was discussed or even mentioned. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is pushing to get the G20 involved by including China, India and Russia into any efforts to deal with the aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

The EU is discussing funding schemes for Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. While critics have pointed out that the EU is unnecessarily putting itself in the position of being blackmailed by potential recipients of financial aid, the aim of the exercise is clear: Once evacuation efforts are concluded, don’t expect EU countries to welcome many more refugees.

Numbers of those currently entitled to resettle in western countries vary — no overall official figures are available, but based on promises made by individual governments it is safe to assume around 100,000. However, these numbers pale when compared to those of the United Nations’ refugees organization. According to the UNHCR, there are currently 3.5 million internally displaced people in Afghanistan.

Worldwide, there are currently around 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees. Notably, most of them — 2.2 million — are in neighboring Pakistan, not in Europe. It is in fact unclear whether the current crisis will necessarily result in a dramatic increase in refugee flows from Afghanistan toward Europe. The countries that will likely continue to bear the brunt of the humanitarian cost of the war are Pakistan and Iran. The potential corridors for refugee flows from Afghanistan toward Europe are currently largely choked off.

Also, the Taliban themselves seem to be determined to stop migrant outflows, at least for the time being. They seem to have concluded they can ill afford to bleed expertise when what they need are Afghans with some experience of running a bureaucracy.  Much of course depends on how much and quickly the Taliban will alienate Afghan civilians — and whether a bloody civil war can be avoided.

Engaging with the Taliban?

Once the current visible turmoil subsides — and western witnesses have left the scene — EU governments will likely try to engage with the Taliban directly to address a possible migration emergency. Merkel obliquely hinted at this before the Bundestag on August 25th when she declared that unfortunately one had to accept that the Taliban are now in charge. But much of this tentatively emerging approach of careful engagement is largely based on hope rather than sound policy.

The situation in Afghanistan has once again revealed the brittleness of Europe’s patchwork of migration policies. The country could represent a new wake up call or recede in politicians’ minds if the worst can be avoided. Unfortunately, geopolitical instability is here to stay, and will be further fueled by the impact of climate change on vulnerable societies.

As a result, migration flows will likely continue to increase, further exposing the lack of a coherent European strategy to deal with the crisis at hand.

Source: https://www.brinknews.com/is-europe-facing-a-new-migrant-crisis/

The post Is Europe Facing a New Migrant Crisis? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A new generation of audio weapons makes the latest offensive in a decades-long war of sound

For the past year, Greece’s land border with Turkey, bounded by the fast-flowing Evros river, has been a focus for the country’s conservative government. Activists describe this heavily militarized area as a communications dead zone. Journalists and NGO workers struggle to access it and refugees trying to cross regularly have their phones confiscated by police. But some videos do escape through the cracks. Including desperate pleas from people stranded on islands in the middle of the river and grainy, seconds-long footage from inside government-run detention centers.

In May, Greek police staged a press call near the border town of Feres to proudly show off their latest technological acquisition. Mounted on a vehicle, it looked like a large, grey tannoy — a little bigger than a megaphone, equipped with dials and colored buttons. Wearing earplugs, a police officer grabbed its handles and moved the device in different directions as it emitted a piercing alarm sound.

“Our task is to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally. We need modern equipment and tools to do that,” said Police Maj. Dimosthenis Kamargios, head of the region’s border guard authority.

The model on show — the LRAD 450XL — is produced by Genasys, a leading U.S. company that has been developing long-range sonic devices, or sound cannons, for three decades. The 450XL is capable of emitting sound levels up to 150 decibels. Equivalent to having a shotgun blasted directly beside your ear, sounds of that volume are capable of causing permanent hearing loss.

“The vibrations are simply too intense for the tiny hairs in our ears that capture sound. They kill those little hair cells. And once they’re dead, they don’t come back,” said Marisa Ewing, a sound engineer and hearing health advocate in New York.

In late February 2020, as the world began to batten down its hatches against the coronavirus, thousands of migrants from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere gathered along the Turkish-Greek border. After years of threatening to do so, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey announced that his nation’s border with Europe was open, encouraging thousands of people to rush to Evros, believing they would be able to cross, unhindered into European Union territory.

Instead, they were met by Greek forces, who quickly deployed tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons. EU authorities praised Greece, referring to the country as Europe’s “shield.” Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, was deployed to reinforce Greece’s land and sea borders. The onset of the pandemic meant that Turkey closed its borders again in mid-March, but it also ushered in a new era, in which the Evros region has become a testing ground for new, anti-migrant technology.

The still relatively new center-right Greek government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has used the crisis to make a show of strength against refugees. “They want to satisfy their voting public,” said Evgenia Kouniaki, a lawyer at Human Rights 360, which monitors the border at Evros. “Now, in Greece, refugees have no rights. It’s the darkest period that I’ve seen as a refugee lawyer.”

Migrants were described in the Greek media as “Erdogan’s weapon” and the border was likened to a war zone. The Greek state began to buy up stun grenades, chemical grenades and other military devices, installed new steel fences and electronic surveillance systems. Now, migrants are watched by drones, infrared night vision and surveillance airships. They are also targeted with deafening levels of sound.

Sound has been used as a weapon throughout the past century. During the siege of Stalingrad in the early 1940s, Soviet troops broadcast the Argentine “tango of death” on loudspeakers throughout the night, interspersed with booming German messages describing the area as “a mass grave for Hitler’s army.” In 1989, the U.S. army attempted to force the opera-loving dictator Manuel Noriega out of hiding in Panama City’s Vatican Embassy by blasting non-stop rock music outside his window. The playlist included “I Fought the Law” by The Clash, U2’s “All I Want is You”, and AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” At the Vatican’s request, the Army stopped after three days. Despite reportedly sleeping soundly through the sonic assault he did give himself up the following week.

In 2016, diplomats working in Havana began reporting mysterious symptoms including brain fog, loss of hearing and balance, and described hearing “intensely loud” buzzing sounds coming from a specific direction. Their testimonies led the U.S. to accuse Cuba of waging “sonic attacks” on its envoys. Last week, two dozen similar cases of the so-called “Havana syndrome” were reported in Vienna, where diplomats are in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Sound is already being used to deter migrants along Europe’s borders. At the Hungarian border with Serbia and Croatia, a recorded voice speaks constantly to people trying to cross, loudspeakers instructing them to go away in five languages. “Attention, attention,” it says in English. “I’m warning you that you’re at the Hungarian border crossing, the property of the Hungarian government. I’m warning you to hold back from committing this crime.” The announcement then switches to Farsi, Arabic, Urdu and Serbian.

Unlike regular loudspeakers, LRADs work directionally. They have been described as sound lasers, and can be precisely targeted. Lauren Rosen, 32, has direct experience of them. She was at a June 2020 protest in Detroit demanding justice for George Floyd and an end to police brutality when the wail of an LRAD ripped through the air.

“I could feel vibrations all over my body,” she said, describing how people in the crowd began to moan with pain. “I began to feel really disoriented and off balance. I was having a hard time standing, I felt dizzy and fell backwards.”

While the LRAD stopped after two minutes, the sound continued to ring in her ears. For days after, she experienced hearing loss and tinnitus, alongside vertigo and nausea. She lost her appetite, and dropped 20 pounds within six weeks. More than a year on, she still experiences intermittent tinnitus. “My hearing doctor said the hearing loss I had was similar to people who had been at war,” she said.

LRAD technology was first developed in the early 2000s, as a tool for the U.S. military. Now, such devices are owned by law enforcement agencies across the U.S.

In 2017, in a lawsuit brought by protesters who had sustained hearing damage from LRADs, the New York Police Department argued that the devices could not be considered weapons, because they had not touched anybody. The city settled the case in April, agreeing to pay a total of $748,000.

Natalie Gruber is the co-founder of Josoor, a cross-border human rights group that works with migrants in Evros. She was shocked to hear that LRADs would be used at the border.

“There’s been a constant militarization of the borders, and some people are diminishing what effect these sound cannons have. It’s not easy to know what effect these devices have when used on hundreds or thousands of people,” she said.

According to Robert Putnam, a spokesman for Genasys, LRADs are not weapons, but communication tools. “I think border agencies and law enforcement agencies are using them to talk to people and have their directions heard and understood,” he said.

When asked about the extremely high-decibel sounds they can produce and the irreversible hearing loss they can cause, Putnam said it was “no different to being at a rock concert.” However, rock concerts generally reach peak levels of 120 decibels — far less than the Evros LRAD’s 150 decibels.

Ironically, the border at Evros has remained quiet since the purchase of the LRADs. Experts believe that the devices have not been used and that, ultimately, their purchase may remain a symbolic one, demonstrating that Greece is willing to repel migrants by every means possible.

The post Greece aims long-range sound cannons at migrants across its border first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Then US Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016. Biden called Erdogan the day before making his announcement on Armenia. Photo: AFP/Kayhan Ozer/Turkey’s Presidential Press Service

Over the weekend, President Joe Biden became the first US leader in history to acknowledge that the World War I-era deaths of about 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians constituted a genocide.

In doing so, he ended decades of US hedging on this controversial subject, while also satisfying many in the Armenian diaspora and in the Caucasian country itself.

Yet Biden’s acknowledgment also plunged US-Turkish relations to a new low.

“We entirely reject this statement,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, following Biden’s announcement, adding: “Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice.”

The US ambassador to Ankara was duly summoned for an official complaint, while Turkish opposition parties also joined in to denounce Biden’s move.

“This statement will cause irreparable wounds and have an adverse impact on US-Turkey relations,” an April 25 statement from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) representative office in Washington read.

Biden’s statement thus becomes another dispute to add to the long list of disagreements between Turkey and the US.

This list includes Turkish allegations of US support for groups Ankara sees as terrorists in Syria, Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles and alleged Turkish busting of US sanctions on Iranian oil and gas.

Yet, it may be that with relations already so poor, “there was no additional strategic risk for the US in doing this,” Hratch Tchilingirian, from Oxford University’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, told Asia Times.

At the same time, too, while in the short-term, Biden’s acknowledgment has undoubtedly made poor US-Turkish relations worse, it may also create the potential for longer-term normalization.

“This statement closes the file,” Tchilingirian added. “Now they have to move on.”

A picture released by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute purportedly shows Armenians hung by Ottoman forces in Constantinople in June 1915. Photo: AFP/AGMI

Dark times

The Armenian genocide refers to the organized killing of some 1.5 million ethnic Armenians – and the displacement of some two million more – during the death throes of the Ottoman Empire.

That empire – the precursor to modern Turkey – included a large Armenian population, spread throughout its extensive domains.

In 1915, during World War I, the Ottoman authorities – who deeply mistrusted the Armenian community – ordered most of these people out of their homes to resettlement areas in remote regions.

These relocations quickly turned into death marches, as defenseless Armenians were attacked by Turkish and Kurdish irregulars ­– and sometimes regular Ottoman troops and police.

Many, indeed, never made it to their destinations.

In recent years, Turkey has acknowledged that this horror did occur.

Indeed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his own April 24 message, addressed to the Armenian patriarch of Istanbul, that, “I remember with respect the Ottoman Armenians, who lost their lives under the harsh conditions of the First World War, and offer my condolences to their grandchildren.”

For Ankara, though, those “harsh conditions” do not amount to “genocide.”

This has long infuriated most Armenians, for whom the catastrophic events of those years shaped much of their present identity – and constitute a major barrier to any reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.

A row of 10 Thunderbolt II planes, also known as ‘tank killers,’ at the Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Turkey, on October 22, 2015. Photo: AFP/Incirlik Air Base/Anadolu Agency

Ways forward

Now, many are waiting to see whether responses from Ankara to the US move will constitute anything more than verbal denunciations.

Potential consequences range from a possible impact on current efforts to smooth the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, to uncertainty over continued US use of a major military base in Turkey.

Regarding the first, since Biden announced the US would pull out in September, Washington has been trying to arrange a power-sharing administration to take over, once it has withdrawn.

A conference on this – involving Turkey – is due to take place in Istanbul after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“Turkey could spoil this conference,” Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the German Marshal Fund’s Ankara Director, told Asia Times, “as it wouldn’t have any impact on Turkey’s security, but Biden needs to make sure the US withdrawal isn’t a disaster.”

The military base – Incirlik in southeastern Turkey – is a Turkish facility that is also a NATO airbase, used by the US air force for many of its missions around the region.

Closing it to US planes might have a serious impact on American military capability in Syria and Iraq.

In those neighboring countries, “since 2019, under an agreement with the US, Turkey hasn’t made any more incursions into northern Syria,” says Unluhisarcikli, “but could do now. Likewise, in Iraq, Turkey could take action and go in there.”

Potential versus likelihood

Yet, for all these possibilities, doubts remain if Turkey or the US are really looking for confrontation right now.

Biden’s statement on the genocide may contain some clues on this, too.

In it, the US leader stressed the historical, Ottoman-era nature of the horror.

“He didn’t mention Turkey at all,” points out Unluhisarcikli. “He even used the old name for Istanbul – Constantinople. This was Biden providing Turkey with some leeway.”

The US president had also called Erdogan the day before making his announcement, giving the Turkish leader fair warning and allowing him to stress Ankara’s continuing importance to the US.

This was also the first time Biden had spoken to the Turkish leader since taking office in January, tying the genocide announcement to a resumption of US-Turkish presidential dialogue.

Erdogan also participated in the US-sponsored Earth Summit last week, taking a generally positive view of this new US effort to lead the global fight against climate change.

“Turkey is not going to break diplomatic relations with the US over this,” says Tchilingarian. “It just ends something that has been going on for 50 years, with the US saying, ‘this is our position.’ Turkey doesn’t have to agree with it.”

Armenia supporters watch from a balcony during a rally in Hollywood commemorating the 106th anniversary of the Armenian genocide on April 24, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP/Mario Tama/Getty Images

For Biden, too, acknowledging the genocide fulfills a campaign pledge he made to Armenian-American voters, while also establishing that “he’s someone ready to acknowledge shameful events in the past,” Unluhisarcikli adds. “Whether that be in the US, with support for Black Lives Matter, or elsewhere.”

This establishment of moral leadership is clearly important to Biden.

Yet, to many in Turkey, such moves may not appear so noble.

“To many, this singling out of Turkey seems to highlight a perceived ‘double standard’ in the West,” Unluhisarcikli says. “Citizens of Turkey will make a judgment from this about the US that will be a problem, in the longer run.”

For many Armenians, too, the whole issue illustrates what they have regrettably come to expect, as the long struggle for recognition has gone on.

“You know that under the veil of moral certitude,” says Tchilingirian, “the genocide is just being used for political gains. Its politicization does make many Armenians pretty angry.”

Source: https://asiatimes.com/2021/04/biden-drops-a-genocide-bomb-on-erdogan/

The post Biden drops a genocide bomb on Erdogan first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

(March 30, 2021 / JNS) While Israel was busy with the domestic political imbroglio surrounding last week’s Knesset elections, a strategic threat that could threaten the country’s very existence was developing. If the Iranian-Chinese alliance reaches its full potential, the Middle East could once again be dragged into a new cold war between superpowers.

Soviet support for the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s radical policies ensured him regional hegemony that threatened Israel for more than a decade. The American attempt to placate the Egyptian leader only made things worse.

Now, massive Chinese assistance to the radical regime in Tehran could provide Iran support in its attempts to impose its hegemony on the region within the framework of another kind of cold war now developing between Washington and Beijing. Such Chinese support, along with U.S. President Joe Biden’s conciliatory tone, could pose the kind of strategic threat Israel has not seen since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

In recent years, Israel has faced an escalating war with Iran in an attempt to prevent it from attaining the kind of power that would allow it to construct massive military infrastructure around its borders. Iran understands that only Israel can thwart its aspirations for hegemony. It has tried to deter Israel by threatening its population centers.

Most Arab regimes have also come to understand that only Israel is strong and determined enough to stop the ayatollahs. While the United States is more important, it is less reliable and determined. These Arab states were appalled by former U.S. President Barack Obama’s approach but temporarily encouraged by that of his successor, Donald Trump.

Under Biden, they have begun to worry once again. That is the meaning of the Abraham Accords. In many ways, the old, familiar Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been replaced by an Arab-Israeli coalition that opposes Iran and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and is suspicious of the new U.S. administration.

Trump’s determined stance offered a comprehensive response to the Iranian challenge. It did not relate merely to the nuclear threat.

A focused response in the form of the 2015 nuclear deal, which effectively bolstered Tehran’s position, does not effectively meet the challenge. What is required is a zero-sum game that seeks to harm Iran, mainly in the economic arena, and deters it from conflict by ensuring U.S. support for Israel’s military actions it.

When Iran engaged in numerous provocations against Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, Trump responded by assassinating Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force. Tehran didn’t dare offer a suitable response to the painful and humiliating blow it was dealt. But the main tool was sanctions that hit Iran’s economy to such an extent that, had they been in place for another four years, the ayatollah regime would have been unlikely to survive.

We are now witnessing something reminiscent of what we saw under the late U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower: deep economic and military involvement by a superpower competing with the U.S. and a conciliatory response from Washington.

China’s foreign minister signed a 25-year strategic deal, first drawn up during Chinese President Xi Ji Ping’s 2016 visit to Iran, aimed at increasing bilateral trade tenfold, to $600 billion in 10 years. The deal will provide China with priority access to huge investments in Iranian infrastructure, banking, and communications.

The agreement also allows for joint military exercises and military cooperation in the future. In return, China is set to provide Iran with vast amounts of oil and gas in the long-term at relatively low rates.

This kind of agreement serves to effectively neutralize U.S. economic pressure, seriously bolsters Iran’s bargaining position, and could herald a renewed Iranian effort toward regional hegemony. The rate of its realization and its characteristics depend crucially on U.S.-China ties. This is a very important Chinese bargaining chip in the international area—one that was suspended under Trump and pulled out once again under Biden, with significant repercussions for Israel.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Source: https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-iran-china-deal-is-cause-for-israeli-concern/

The post The Iran-China deal is cause for Israeli concern first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

(March 1, 2021 / JNS) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to change the name of the Directorate of Religious Affairs to the “Directorate of Jerusalem and Umrah Affairs” isn’t about semantics but substance. Erdoğan views himself as a successor to the line of Ottoman sultans. He wants to restore the empire of old and sees himself as responsible for Jerusalem from the Islamic perspective.

In his own eyes, Erdoğan is the successor to Salah al-Din and Suleiman the Magnificent. Hence, Erdoğan has adhered to the dream of a Muslim caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. Consequently, he has reintroduced Ottoman language studies in Turkish schools and receives visiting leaders and dignitaries with an honor guard wearing old Ottoman caliphate uniforms.

From Erdoğan’s point of view, Jerusalem is “under occupation,” is of utmost importance after Mecca and Medina, and should be part of the “Umrah” (the “regular” Muslim pilgrimage throughout the year, unlike the Hajj). True to this worldview, as early as 2017 the Turkish president called for “conquering” the city through a mass infusion of Muslim tourists to Israel. “We must visit Al-Aqsa much more,” he said at the time. He noted disappointedly that during the previous year, only 26,000 Turkish tourists had visited Jerusalem, the highest number of any Muslim country but far lower than the hundreds of thousands of Americans, Russians, and French who visited the city and the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Erdoğan believes that Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem is a historic accident. All his moves relating to Jerusalem, including the aforementioned name change, are geared towards amending it. In his vision, he sees himself as the modern Salah al-Din and the future liberator of Jerusalem. The Muslim tourists—who in some cases are “unemployed” Turks whose visit to Israel is funded by the Turkish authorities—are Erdoğan’s soldiers in the fight for Jerusalem.

In a viral video posted to social media by pro-Turkish elements two years ago, an anxious Palestinian man is seen asking urgently for Muslims to defend al-Aqsa. The video quickly shifts to images of ships, planes, and vehicles draped in the Turkish and Palestinian flags, and their destination is singular: al-Aqsa. The video then shows a mass of people charging the gates of the compound, pushing back Israel Defense Forces soldiers, and filling every square inch of the site. “Al-Aqsa is liberated,” the words finally appear.

The murabitun and murabitat (groups of Muslim “guards”), who routinely harassed and prevented Jews from visiting the Temple Mount, were ultimately outlawed. They were the vanguard of Erdoğan’s grand vision and the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, his ally in the Holy Land. Now—by registering Turkish pilgrims within the framework of the Umrah—Erdoğan wants to continue his “war of liberation” on behalf of Al-Aqsa, which has been “captured, contaminated and defiled” by the Jews and Israel.

In 2015, Erdoğan sent Mehmet Gormez, the head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, to Jerusalem,  to organize the “Laylat al-Qadr” (“Night of Decree”) prayer on the Temple Mount, essentially incorporating Jerusalem as a “pilgrimage” station even then. Now he has made it official. Were it up to him, he’d probably lead the next Laylat al-Qadr prayer himself.

Nadav Shragai is a veteran Israeli journalist.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Source: https://www.jns.org/opinion/erdogan-again-has-his-eyes-set-on-jerusalem/

The post Erdoğan again has his eyes set on Jerusalem first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Read more: BulgarianMilitary.com 24/7 – War in Syria: Who controls what and what happens

One of the Russian brigades’ commanders told TASS that joint exercises are currently being held between the Russian and Syrian military. The primary purpose of the practices is evacuation training, tactical reinforcements, and repulsed by enemy attacks. “Our mission is to monitor the ceasefire, show the Russian military presence and protect the Russian military,” he said.

After some time ago, the Syrian military managed to drive out several terrorist armed groups loyal to Turkey. The Russian military police took control of the patrol. Russia currently has five observation and reconnaissance military posts in the area, monitored by UN peacekeepers.

It is unclear how Israel will react to Russian actions in the region and whether this will not affect future Israeli attacks. Israel continues to claim that it is in this area of ​​Syria that Iranian forces and their supporters are operating. However, Russia has decided to send troops to the place, aiming to prove the truth of Israeli allegations. The presence of Russian forces ensures that there will be no future armed clashes in the region.

Israel launched massive airstrikes on Syrian targets, Damascus says

The Syrian Ministry of Defense has confirmed on November 25 that the Israeli Air Force has launched multiple airstrikes against targets along the Quneitra-Damascus line. This was also reported by the Lebanese news agency Al-Masdar News, citing military sources.

The Ministry of Defense of the Syrian Arab Republic [SAR] informs: “Exactly at 23:50 [local time – ed.] on the night of November 25, the Zionist enemy launched an airstrike from the Israeli-occupied Golan towards southern Damascus, and the losses were limited by material means”. Other agencies report that heavy attacks by Israeli strike aircraft have targeted the Jabal El Mania Heights [south of Damascus] and the vicinity of Al Quneitra. Photos of IDF Air Force attacks have appeared online. Some photographs taken from a distance show that Israeli planes hit their intended target.

Experts note that the Israeli military is seeking to squeeze out the Iranian troops and the Tehran-controlled Shiite militia цHezbollah and others; from the SAR, as soon as possible, or, at least, have time to inflict unacceptable damage on them. This rush is timed to coincide with the assumption of the presidency of the United States, Joe Biden, as Israel does not count on the support of his administration. Moreover, Jerusalem fears a resurgence of the nuclear deal and Washington’s relationship with Iran, which is Israel’s existential enemy.

BulgarianMilitary.com recalls that on November 18 according to the Syrian state news agency SANA, the Israeli air force has carried out large-scale airstrikes on positions of the Syrian army and Iranian special forces Al-Quds in the area of ​​the Syrian capital Damascus.

The strikes took place early at the morning [November 18 – ed.] and were confirmed by the Russian side, as a number of media officially quoted a press release from the Russian Ministry of Defense, including the Russian media RIA Novosti. According to the Syrian news agency SANA, earlier this morning the Syrian air defense managed to repel another Israeli attack.

Syria claims the strikes began in the Golan Heights and so far the Syrian army has lost three soldiers who were killed in the strikes. Israel has not clearly violated the airspace of the Arab Republic and may have used the F-16, and with the precise use of air-to-surface missiles has managed to strike the positions of the Syrian army and Iranian special forces Al-Quds. Al-Quds is a special unit of the Iranian army that is responsible for Iran’s operations outside the country.

Military experts say Israeli strikes on November 18 were a response to Syrian actions until days ago when Bashar al-Assad’s army installed and loaded highly destructive explosive devices along the border between the two countries, better known as the Alpha Line.

Syria and Israel have not had diplomatic relations since the creation of the two countries. The military conflict between the two countries has been going on for decades, mostly over the ownership of the Golan Heights. Israel periodically launches airstrikes on the Syrian army or on Syrian army positions around Damascus. Tel Aviv is also trying to destroy the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which is based in Syria and is supporting the Syrian army.

War in Syria

In February, Turkey lost at least 62 troops killed in Syria, nearly 100 soldiers were wounded, dozens of Turkish armored vehicles were destroyed and more than ten drones, including drones, were shot down. Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of involvement in the deaths of Turkish soldiers, Russia rejects these allegations.

In early March, the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, concluded an agreement according to which a ceasefire came into force in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad later said that if the US and Turkish military did not leave the country, Damascus would be able to use force.

The reason for the Russian-Turkish negotiations was a sharp aggravation of the situation in Idlib, where in January a large-scale offensive by the Syrian army against the positions of the armed opposition and terrorists began.

Government forces recaptured nearly half of the Idlib de-escalation zone and left behind a number of Turkish observation posts. After that, Ankara sharply increased its military contingent in the region and launched the operation “Spring Shield” to push the Syrian troops. Turkey is also supported by militants loyal to it.

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Source: https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2020/12/12/russia-sent-troops-to-the-golan-heights-in-syria-will-the-israeli-attacks-stop/

The post Russia sent troops to the Golan Heights in Syria. Will the Israeli attacks stop? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.