1. destabilization in Turkey: the deep-state agenda
The name "Ergenekon" may not be familiar to non-Turks, but this murky affair has riveted Turkey's 70 million people. Thirty-three members of a neo-fascist group called Ergenekon have been on trial, accused of murder, terrorism, and trying to overthrow the elected government. The trial was temporarily suspended after the courthouse was flooded out.
The trial has been laying bare the workings of the "deep state," a powerful cabal of retired military officers, security forces, gangsters, government officials, judges, and business oligarchs that has long been the real power in this complex nation.
Turkey's military vigorously denies any links to the Ergenekon.
The "deep state" advocates extreme Turkish nationalism and revived Pan-Turkism, or Turanism, the unification of all Turkic peoples from Turkey to the Great Wall of China. Its extreme right-wing members are bitterly anti-Islamic, and violently oppose any admission of guilt for the mass killing during World War I of many of the Ottoman Empire's Armenians. Most Turks insist the killings occurred in the chaos of war and insurrection. Armenians insist it was the 20th century's first genocide.
read more @ ergenekon
2. destablilization in action: Kurdish opening lands Erdegon in tight spot, "no surprise" to pro-Israel WINEP
ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to expand Kurdish rights and end a bloody insurgency, analysts said Tuesday. But the government has been criticised since last week when a group of rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) crossed from Iraq into Turkey in symbolic surrender to show support for Ankara's Kurdish opening and were set free shortly.
Although Erdogan initially hailed the group's arrival as a boost to his reconciliation plan, the subsequent hero's welcome organized for the rebels by thousands of Kurds chanting pro-PKK slogans soured the mood.
Amid accusations of showing leniency to "terrorists" behind a 25-year rebellion, Erdogan announced that the arrival of a second rebel group had been postponed and that his government would take a break to assess the situation.
The development was no surprise, said Soner Cagaptay from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. [uh huh why's that? - ed.]
read more @ middle east online
3. false flag activity on Israeli Lebanon border?
A Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel on Tuesday night without causing casualties, prompting Israel to retaliate with artillery, sources on both sides said.
The attack, which was not immediately claimed, was the latest incident in growing cross-border tensions, and an Israeli military spokeswoman laid ultimate blame on the Beirut government.
The rocket landed in open ground east of the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona and started a fire but caused no serious damage, sources there said.
A security source in Lebanon said eight rockets fired from Israel then hit near the border village of Hula. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
read more @ france 24
4. "NOT UNEXPECTEDLY," Iraq is being divided, a little piece of "mission accomplished" hell on earth sponsored by the Clean Break crowd
Robert Dreyfuss is a contributing editor to The Nation magazine
The perpetrators of the huge bomb attacks are unknown. Not unexpectedly, every Iraqi faction is blaming its enemies. ...
Indirectly speaking for the Shiite bloc, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran has blamed "foreign agents" for the attacks: "The bloody actions being committed in some Islamic countries, including Iraq, Pakistan and in some parts of the country (Iran), are aimed at creating division between the Shiites and Sunnis.... Those who carry out these terrorist actions are directly or indirectly foreign agents."
Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but such claims have to be taken with a grain of salt.
The basic fact remains that, as US forces draw down, Iraq is perched on the brink of renewed civil war. One flashpoint is Kirkuk and other areas of Iraq claimed by the Kurds. Many Sunnis are increasingly resentful of Maliki's arrogance, his refusal to accommodate Sunni demands, and his fealty to Iran. And various Shiite militias, including the Sadr's Mahdi Army and the ISCI Badr Brigades, are likely to support their electoral efforts with armed might. It is going to be a bumpy ride.
read more @ middle east online
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