Archive for category Turkey

the full monty

Israel displays its petty and sophomoric nature with the Turkish diplomatic incident and subsequent fallout. Behold.

Background: Israel needs Turkey. Turkey doesn’t need Israel. Turkey has been making friends all over the place. Erdogan stood up to Peres last year at Davos over Operation Cast Lead. In typically myopic Israeli style, everything is always about Israel and Israel’s glass feelings. So when a Turkish television drama depicted Israeli security forces kidnapping children and shooting old men — a depiction supported by conspiracy facts on the ground, lest we forget Operation Cast Lead and organ stealing, just two recent examples of genocidal behaviorIsrael’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon could not resist behaving like a seventh grader while meeting Turkish ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol in Jerusalem.

At the beginning of the conversation with the Turkish envoy on Monday, Ayalon told cameramen in Hebrew: “Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair … that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling.”

One Turkish source said that Ayalon “set a trap” for Celikkol, and that the envoy had no idea that he was being humiliated until afterward when Ayalon’s words to the cameramen were broadcast. The source also mentioned that Ayalon did shake his hand, but not in front of the cameras.

And does anyone have the sense to say, you know, maybe that’s not a good idea? NO! In fact they all seem to think this is a splendid smack-down. The Israeli dailies splashed the news all over the front pages. We hazed that fucker, boo-yah! High fives.

TEL AVIV - Israeli newspapers on Tuesday played up what they called the “hazing” of Turkey’s ambassador by Israel, in an incident likely to ratchet up already high tensions between the two allies.

The media highlighted the fact that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon made Ambassador Ahmet Celikkol sit on a low couch while the Israelis sat on high chairs.

Rather than summoning Celikkol to the ministry as is the norm, Ayalon saw him in his parliamentary office after making him wait in the corridor and telling staff to remove the Turkish flag and refreshments that were on the table. “The important thing is that people see that he’s sitting low down and we’re high and that there is one flag,” Israeli television aired Ayalon as telling invited photographers and camera crews.

Israeli dailies all splashed the story on the front page, with Maariv headlining: “The ambassador gets a hazing” above a picture showing the Turkish envoy sitting much lower than Ayalon and looking uncomfortable.

Some people in Ayalon’s party, sensing the faux pas, say he ruined his career. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1263147877256

“He is finished politically,” an Israel Beiteinu official said. “This ruins his reputation as a diplomat. It is a stain that cannot be erased. He damaged Lieberman and first and foremost himself. It is too soon to say if it will completely disqualify him, but people in the party will no doubt remember this if a decision would be made on who should be acting foreign minister. This erases the notion that he is the obvious front-runner.”

…”We have enough problems with the Muslim world without picking a fight with a country that has 72 million Muslims,” Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio from India, where he is on an official visit. “When I met with the Turks [in November], I told them what needed to be said privately. This is not the way [to do things]; it is the way to get the entire Muslim world against us. Whoever wants the entire Muslim world against us, well, the best of luck to him.” Former deputy foreign minister Majallie Whbee of Kadima called for “the diplomat Ayalon to fix the damage of the politician Ayalon as soon as possible, apologize to the ambassador, and promise to put the agenda of the country ahead of that of his party from now on.”

Labor MK Daniel Ben-Simon called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to summon Ayalon to his office and put him on a low chair, “so he will see how low Israeli diplomacy has stooped.” He said Netanyahu should replace Lieberman before he does even more damage to Israel’s image internationally.


But *those* people make up a small minority! Far MORE people consider Ayalon da bomb!

Ayalon’s associates responded that the messages of praise he had received from inside and outside his party outnumbered the condemnations by a ratio of eight to one. They stressed that everything he did was coordinated with Lieberman. “The party seems to be behind him on this,” an Ayalon associate said. “Our phones and fax were ringing off the hook, he got great support on Facebook, and he was received very warmly on a lunch visit to a humous restaurant in the [capital's] Mahaneh Yehuda market. There has of course been criticism, but the support has been overwhelming.”

Not enough rope? Wait there’s more. There’s the non-apology apology — actually several:

Ayalon, before the statement was released, told Army Radio that he would not apologize. “It’s the Turks who should - for what [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan said and for the television series,” Ayalon said. “We are merely setting boundaries.”

“The prime minister believes that the foreign ministry’s protest to the Turkish ambassador was just in its essence but should have been conveyed in an acceptable diplomatic manner,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

So there. Neener neener to you too. And the truth of the matter: Israel does not like Turkey’s friends. Israel decided to give Turkey a little spanking.

Netanyahu expressed concern at the deterioration of relations between Israel and Turkey. In talks behind closed doors, he said that during the past two years “Turkey has been steadily and systematically slipping eastward toward Syria and Iran,” instead of westward, toward Europe and the United States. “This is a trend that should really trouble Israel,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

Sources in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau said Tuesday the decision to invite the Turkish ambassador for a reprimand by Ayalon was made together with Lieberman. They noted that the Israeli PM was not aware of the way the reprimand would be carried out, “but the minute it happened the prime minister [gave] the foreign minister his full backing.”

Official sources in Tel Aviv said Erdogan had changed his attitude towards Israel since Operation Cast Lead. “This process started when Erdogan abandoned a debate with President Shimon Peres (in Davos), so actually what is being done in Jerusalem is less important than what is happening in Ankara,” one source said.

Aha, still smarting over Erdogan standing up to Peres in Davos. And now Barak has to go to Turkey and make all kiss kiss hug hug. Ha good luck with that.

BEIRUT- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will head to Ankara over the weekend for talks with Turkish leaders including Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and senior military officials , an official in Barak’s office told AFP on Tuesday, as tension between the longstanding allies again spike.

He added that the visit would take place despite the rising tension, which erupted on Monday after [SPIN:] Israel complained to Ankara over the broadcasting of a television series portraying Mossad agents as baby snatchers.

“We give this visit much importance. The ties between the two countries are important, and they must be maintained even if there are ups and downs,” the official said.

Clarification: The tensions erupted after Israel’s obnoxious leaders could no longer maintain diplomatic protocols and revealed their true petty nature for the world to see.

They dropped the mask.

the full monty

Israel displays its petty and sophomoric nature with the Turkish diplomatic incident and subsequent fallout. Behold.

Background: Israel needs Turkey. Turkey doesn’t need Israel. Turkey has been making friends all over the place. Erdogan stood up to Peres last year at Davos over Operation Cast Lead. In typically myopic Israeli style, everything is always about Israel and Israel’s glass feelings. So when a Turkish television drama depicted Israeli security forces kidnapping children and shooting old men — a depiction supported by conspiracy facts on the ground, lest we forget Operation Cast Lead and organ stealing, just two recent examples of genocidal behaviorIsrael’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon could not resist behaving like a seventh grader while meeting Turkish ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol in Jerusalem.

At the beginning of the conversation with the Turkish envoy on Monday, Ayalon told cameramen in Hebrew: “Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair … that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling.”

One Turkish source said that Ayalon “set a trap” for Celikkol, and that the envoy had no idea that he was being humiliated until afterward when Ayalon’s words to the cameramen were broadcast. The source also mentioned that Ayalon did shake his hand, but not in front of the cameras.

And does anyone have the sense to say, you know, maybe that’s not a good idea? NO! In fact they all seem to think this is a splendid smack-down. The Israeli dailies splashed the news all over the front pages. We hazed that fucker, boo-yah! High fives.

TEL AVIV - Israeli newspapers on Tuesday played up what they called the “hazing” of Turkey’s ambassador by Israel, in an incident likely to ratchet up already high tensions between the two allies.

The media highlighted the fact that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon made Ambassador Ahmet Celikkol sit on a low couch while the Israelis sat on high chairs.

Rather than summoning Celikkol to the ministry as is the norm, Ayalon saw him in his parliamentary office after making him wait in the corridor and telling staff to remove the Turkish flag and refreshments that were on the table. “The important thing is that people see that he’s sitting low down and we’re high and that there is one flag,” Israeli television aired Ayalon as telling invited photographers and camera crews.

Israeli dailies all splashed the story on the front page, with Maariv headlining: “The ambassador gets a hazing” above a picture showing the Turkish envoy sitting much lower than Ayalon and looking uncomfortable.

Some people in Ayalon’s party, sensing the faux pas, say he ruined his career. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1263147877256

“He is finished politically,” an Israel Beiteinu official said. “This ruins his reputation as a diplomat. It is a stain that cannot be erased. He damaged Lieberman and first and foremost himself. It is too soon to say if it will completely disqualify him, but people in the party will no doubt remember this if a decision would be made on who should be acting foreign minister. This erases the notion that he is the obvious front-runner.”

…”We have enough problems with the Muslim world without picking a fight with a country that has 72 million Muslims,” Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio from India, where he is on an official visit. “When I met with the Turks [in November], I told them what needed to be said privately. This is not the way [to do things]; it is the way to get the entire Muslim world against us. Whoever wants the entire Muslim world against us, well, the best of luck to him.” Former deputy foreign minister Majallie Whbee of Kadima called for “the diplomat Ayalon to fix the damage of the politician Ayalon as soon as possible, apologize to the ambassador, and promise to put the agenda of the country ahead of that of his party from now on.”

Labor MK Daniel Ben-Simon called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to summon Ayalon to his office and put him on a low chair, “so he will see how low Israeli diplomacy has stooped.” He said Netanyahu should replace Lieberman before he does even more damage to Israel’s image internationally.


But *those* people make up a small minority! Far MORE people consider Ayalon da bomb!

Ayalon’s associates responded that the messages of praise he had received from inside and outside his party outnumbered the condemnations by a ratio of eight to one. They stressed that everything he did was coordinated with Lieberman. “The party seems to be behind him on this,” an Ayalon associate said. “Our phones and fax were ringing off the hook, he got great support on Facebook, and he was received very warmly on a lunch visit to a humous restaurant in the [capital's] Mahaneh Yehuda market. There has of course been criticism, but the support has been overwhelming.”

Not enough rope? Wait there’s more. There’s the non-apology apology — actually several:

Ayalon, before the statement was released, told Army Radio that he would not apologize. “It’s the Turks who should - for what [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan said and for the television series,” Ayalon said. “We are merely setting boundaries.”

“The prime minister believes that the foreign ministry’s protest to the Turkish ambassador was just in its essence but should have been conveyed in an acceptable diplomatic manner,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

So there. Neener neener to you too. And the truth of the matter: Israel does not like Turkey’s friends. Israel decided to give Turkey a little spanking.

Netanyahu expressed concern at the deterioration of relations between Israel and Turkey. In talks behind closed doors, he said that during the past two years “Turkey has been steadily and systematically slipping eastward toward Syria and Iran,” instead of westward, toward Europe and the United States. “This is a trend that should really trouble Israel,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

Sources in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau said Tuesday the decision to invite the Turkish ambassador for a reprimand by Ayalon was made together with Lieberman. They noted that the Israeli PM was not aware of the way the reprimand would be carried out, “but the minute it happened the prime minister [gave] the foreign minister his full backing.”

Official sources in Tel Aviv said Erdogan had changed his attitude towards Israel since Operation Cast Lead. “This process started when Erdogan abandoned a debate with President Shimon Peres (in Davos), so actually what is being done in Jerusalem is less important than what is happening in Ankara,” one source said.

Aha, still smarting over Erdogan standing up to Peres in Davos. And now Barak has to go to Turkey and make all kiss kiss hug hug. Ha good luck with that.

BEIRUT- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will head to Ankara over the weekend for talks with Turkish leaders including Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and senior military officials , an official in Barak’s office told AFP on Tuesday, as tension between the longstanding allies again spike.

He added that the visit would take place despite the rising tension, which erupted on Monday after [SPIN:] Israel complained to Ankara over the broadcasting of a television series portraying Mossad agents as baby snatchers.

“We give this visit much importance. The ties between the two countries are important, and they must be maintained even if there are ups and downs,” the official said.

Clarification: The tensions erupted after Israel’s obnoxious leaders could no longer maintain diplomatic protocols and revealed their true petty nature for the world to see.

They dropped the mask.

turkey plays central role in ME developments

1. Jim Jones to visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestinian territories

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian territories, announced the White House on Monday….Diplomats of the Quartet, namely the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, will meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss a new U.S. plan to resume the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  Meanwhile, representatives from the P5+1 (the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) are to meet in New York at the end of this week on additional sanctions against the Iranian government.

source: chinaview

2. Israeli campaign to conflate Lebanese Army and Hizbullah

Israel has launched a diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading countries providing military assistance to Lebanon that any equipment and technology delivered to the Beirut government is likely to fall into Hizbullah’s hands, The Jerusalem Post reported. The newspaper quoted Israeli government sources as saying the Jewish state is trying to convince countries supporting Lebanon that the “Lebanese army and Hizbullah are indistinguishable. As such, Israel is calling on countries that provide military aid to Lebanon to rethink the matter.” An Israeli official told The Post that “there has been a great deal of concern” in the Jewish state since the adoption of the Lebanese cabinet’s policy statement, which gave Hizbullah “the mandate to defend Lebanon” against Israel. The main concern, the official said, is weaponry being provided or pledged by the U.S. The issue is likely to be raised by Israeli officials during the expected meetings on Tuesday with U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones.

source: naharnet

3. Erdogan, in joint statement with visiting PM Hariri, says he will not go to Davos

ANKARA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he would honor his word and would not attend this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos of Switzerland….Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said he will attend this year’s Davos meeting instead of Erdogan and stressed the importance of Turkey’s presence at Davos in terms of relations with international investors, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported on its website Monday.

more @ chinaview

4. Israel “hazes” Turkish ambassador

TEL AVIV - Israeli newspapers on Tuesday played up what they called the “hazing” of Turkey’s ambassador by Israel, in an incident likely to ratchet up already high tensions between the two allies. The media highlighted the fact that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon made Ambassador Ahmet Celikkol sit on a low couch while the Israelis sat on high chairs. Rather than summoning Celikkol to the ministry as is the norm, Ayalon saw him in his parliamentary office after making him wait in the corridor and telling staff to remove the Turkish flag and refreshments that were on the table. “The important thing is that people see that he’s sitting low down and we’re high and that there is one flag,” Israeli television aired Ayalon as telling invited photographers and camera crews.

more @ middle east online

5. Lebanon signs six agreements with Turkey

Lebanon and Turkey have signed major agreements on military, agriculture and transport cooperation, including a deal to lift entry visas and a Turkish pledge to supply Lebanon with natural gas and electricity. …The agreement on visa-free travel between Turkey and Lebanon comes after similar deals between Turkey and Syria, and Turkey and Jordan. Visa requirements have already been cancelled between Syria and Lebanon and between Syria and Jordan.

more @ naharnet

6. last week: Iran, Turkey to discuss industrial cooperation

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Industries and Mining Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergun on Thursday discussed ways to bolster the two countries’ cooperation in Industrial fields….Mehrabian said during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Iran visit, Turkish and Iranian authorities agreed to boost commercial ties, and the two countries have been working on it.

more @ fars

7. Saudi Arabia awards prize to Erdogan

RIYADH: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose achievements have set an example of judicious leadership in the Islamic world, on Monday won the 2010 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for Service to Islam….According to the citation read out by Othaimeen, Erdogan has pioneered a major campaign that placed Turkey among the world’s leading countries, economically and industrially. “His unyielding position on various Islamic and global issues, particularly the rights of the Palestinian people, has gained him the respect and admiration of the entire Islamic world and the international community at large,” it added.

more @ arab news

8. Assad to visit Saudi Arabia

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to travel to Riyadh on Wednesday for talks with King Abdullah, who paid a landmark visit to Damascus last October, Saudi Arabia’s official news agency SPA said.  The visit on Wednesday comes amid stepped-up efforts by Riyadh to build Arab unity around the Palestinians ahead of a possible resumption of peace talks with Israel.  Damascus-Riyadh ties were severely strained for years, partly over Syria’s role in Lebanon and its support for Hezbollah, before a thaw marked by King Abdullah’s trip to Damascus. But the two countries still differ over Lebanese politics, over the Palestinian division between the Hamas and Fatah factions, and Iran’s role in the region, according to diplomats and analysts.

source: al manar tv

the real crotch bomb is pedophilia

Wayne Madsen reports that US embassy personnel and military people are involved in pedophilia in Southeast Asia.

From Hans Vogel in Pravda (opinion):

If there actually has been an attempt to blow up an airplane and the would-be “crotch bomber” was escorted by another person, the logical thing to do would be to check out security at Amsterdam airport. Not to increase security measures for all passengers….I believe the Detroit charade was part of a concerted scheme to increase passenger “security” which I suspect has very little to do with any genuine concern for the passengers. It certainly seems part of a grand design to make airline travel unattractive and to get the public used to police state controls.

…In its sinister efforts, the US government is supported by the governments of its vassal states. This time, a major role was assigned to the Dutch government. The first Dutch actor to make a public statement was the Minister of Justice, Ernst Hirsch Ballin. It is a mystery how this man ever made it back to a cabinet position, after being forced to resign in 1994 as justice minister for his involvement in a billion dollar drug trafficking operation. The man is also suspected of paedophilia. Moreover, the highest ranking public servant in the justice ministry is a notorious paedophile. Hirsch Ballin called for the immediate introduction of full body scanners at Dutch airports. A few days later, Dutch interior minister, Mrs. Guusje ter Horst was cued to chip in. This woman, an alcoholic who is routinely let off the hook by the police whenever she is caught driving while drunk, actually had the nerve to say that the world had escaped disaster when the “crotch bomber” plan was foiled.

…After the Dutch cabinet ministers had played their bit parts, the leaders of other European vassal states came on stage. One after the other, Germans, Italians and Englishmen gave their performance, with the main stream media predictably spreading the message without any accompanying critical editorial commentary. Thus within two weeks, the European public has ostensibly been won over to support the introduction of security measures that will make air travel an even more miserable experience, and that will certainly not improve security.

However, the fact that the Obama regime now has to rely on vassal state officials with demonstrable criminal records an assorted deviant behavior, is another indication that the US empire is in a deep crisis. Nor does the support from the vassal states come spontaneously. For instance, the chief explanation for the obsequiousness of the Dutch seems to be blackmail. That is right, blackmail. Mr. Joris Demmink, the justice ministry’s director general, is being blackmailed by the Turkish intelligence service at least since 2002. The blackmail concerns Mr. Demmink’s orgies with under age boys in Turkish seaside resorts. Given the close ties the Turkish intelligence services have with their US counterparts, it can be easily understood the US is blackmailing the Dutch as well. In other words, what we are witnessing are scenes from a Hollywood mafia movie, only this time its title reads “international diplomacy, US style.”

The US government does not seem to realize that its hold on the vassal states is becoming a tenuous one, since the popular acceptance of their puppets and stooges is dwindling at an ever faster rate.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, a judge’s order to seize COSMIC documents sends Turkey’s “deep state” into crisis:

Turkey’s “Deep State” of military, intelligence, and law enforcement officers, linked to the CIA and Israel’s Mossad through the Ergenekon network of spies and “false flag” operatives, has been shaken over the decision of Ankara Judge Kadir Kayan to order NATO COSMIC Top Secret rooms at the Turkish Special Forces Command’s Tactical Mobilization Group in Ankara to be searched by civilian prosecutors and police.

“COSMIC” is a NATO classification and the investigation of the shadowy Ergenekon network has turned up evidence that COSMIC documents may contain proof that Turkey’s Special Operations forces were planning to assassinate top Turkish political leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. There are also reports that the Turkish military, with the support of the United States and Israel, was planning a military coup against President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. The Turkish leaders have been highly critical of Israel’s bloody invasion of Gaza, code named “Cast Lead,” and Washington’s call for increased sanctions on Iran.

The documents seized by prosecutors and police may also show that the CIA’s “Gladio” networks, so-called “stay behind networks” established in NATO and neutral countries during the Cold War to coordinate sabotage in the event of a Soviet invasion and occupation, may have continued in Turkey and serves as the core component of Ergenekon. A similar network exists in Lebanon and was the core of the infamous White House Murder Inc. which carried out all the assassinations in Lebanon over the last decade, starting with the assassination of Mr. Elie HOBEIKA, January 24th 2002 in Hazmieh, Lebanon, home to the SCS and more…

Some of the seized NATO COSMIC Top Secret documents involve the operations of Gendarmarie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Organization (JITEM), which was composed of Turkish special operations forces and police who carried out assassinations of academics, Kurdish politicians, and even fellow military personnel in terrorist attacks that were blamed on the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), deemed a “terrorist” organization by Turkey and the United States.

The documents may also reveal the involvement of the CIA, as well as top Turkish military and MIT intelligence personnel in the 1978 assassination of Turkish prosecutor Dogan Oz. Oz was the first prosecutor to investigate the CIA’s Gladio operations in Turkey. Since the investigation of the NATO COSMIC Top Secret documents began, prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili and Judge Kayan have received death threats.

We have also learned that some of the COSMIC Top Secret documents seized in Turkey point to an American “Deep State” Pentagon counterpart to the Turkish Ergenekon network. Former FBI Turkish translator Sibel Edmonds spoke of this network being uncovered by wiretaps of U.S. political leaders and Turkish lobbyists in the United States.

Some things which may possibly be related:

The story on the two female Mossad agents in the psychiatric ward, which possibly links back to Sibel Edmunds testimony:

Edmonds’ allegations under oath that “the Turkish Lobby in the United States was under the direction of the Turkish Government and engaged in operations including bribery, espionage and blackmail with certain members of the US House of Representatives to further its objectives in the United States including one of which is the denial of the Armenian Genocide.”

Then, of course, you have to view things like this with a skeptical eye:

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — The United States is concerned about the continued “provocative actions” and false allegations against U.S. personnel working to implement the new partnership between the leaders of Pakistan and the United States, the U.S embassy said here on Thursday. Pakistani authorities recently briefly detained U.S. personnel and their vehicles in different parts of the country for what they say using fake number flats for their diplomatic cars.He said that the staff was preparing for the upcoming visit of U.S. development assistance staff to one of Pakistan’s most impoverished regions….The spokesman said that the U.S. Mission renews its call on Pakistan officials to implement immediately the mutually agreed upon procedures for the issuance of license plates to U.S. Mission vehicles and to cease these contrived incidents involving U.S. Mission vehicles and personnel.

And the Romanian envoy to be investigated…a cover-up in the works? Investigating a hit-and-run accident seems to pose quite a problem:

ROMANIA’S Foreign Ministry has asked its government Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the Bukit Panjang hit-and-run accident on Dec 15 which has been linked to the charge d’affaires of its embassy in Singapore.

The move came after it carried out an internal investigation, ‘which led to the conclusion that from the point of view of legal procedures and international regulations, the MFA has neither the competences nor the means to identify the author, the cause and the circumstances of the accident, all such aspects pertaining to penal procedure,’ said a press statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday.

…As part of the probe, it has also recalled Mr Silviu Ionescu, its charge d’affaires, from his Singapore post. The diplomat returned to Romania several days after the Dec 15 accident, which left two men injured and another dead. …’Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs deeply regrets the occurrence of this accident, irrespective of its still unclarified circumstances, especially as it ended with casualties and a loss of a human life. The MFA conveys its condolences to the family of the young man who died in the accident,’ said the statement.

And from the sidebar:

NO IMMUNITY FROM STATE JURISDICTION

Article 31, first paragraph, from the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations (18 April 1961) stipulates that ‘A diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State’.

But paragraph 4 of the article in the Convention states: ‘The immunity of a diplomatic agent from the jurisdiction of the receiving State does not exempt him from the jurisdiction of the sending State’. As a consequence, the penal investigation in a case in which a diplomat is involved in the receiving state takes place in the state whose citizen he/she is.’

Both Romania and Republic of Singapore are parties to the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

So in other words, these diplomats can get away with bloody murder or whatever else, and they only need to worry about being prosecuted back home. If the home country decides they just can’t find the evidence, or whatever ($$$$$), nothing happens.

Diplomatic immunity. That’s some good shit, huh?

western: you’re doing it wrong

Defne Bayrak…… and…..Defne Bayrak!

Defne Bayrak, the Turkish wife of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, told Turkish media she learned that her husband had blown himself up at a US base in Afghanistan on Dec 30 after receiving a phone call from one of his friends in Pakistan. — PHOTO: AFP (on the left) from Reuters story at Straits Times

Defne Bayrak, the Turkish wife of al-Balawi, said she was proud of her husband (on the right) from AlArabiya story

The story:

The wife of a double agent who killed seven CIA officers in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said on Thursday her husband regarded the United States as an enemy and she was proud of his mission. Defne Bayrak, the Turkish wife of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said she doubted he was working for the CIA.

“I am proud of my husband. He has carried out a very important mission in such a war,” Bayrak, who now lives in Istanbul, told reporters. “I think it’s impossible that he was an American agent. He was too adversary to work for America. He only could have used America and Jordan to reach his goals.”

Bayrak, a journalist who has written books including one entitled “Osama bin Laden: Che Guevara of the East”, earlier told the newspaper Sabah she believed her husband was in Afghanistan to pursue his medical studies and she was shocked at news of his death.

Wearing a black chador, she said she learned in a phone call from one of her Jordanian husband’s friends in Pakistan that he had blown himself up at a U.S. base in Afghanistan on Dec. 30. The friend also told her he would send her husband’s will and last letter, she said.

“Our last phone call took place about four to six weeks ago and we made contact through the Internet 10 days ago. He told me he would come back to Turkey and would even apply for Turkish citizenship. He would continue his medical studies here.”

Balawi blew himself up inside Forward Operating Base Chapman, a well-fortified compound in Khost province near the southeastern border with Pakistan. Al-Qaeda’s Afghan wing has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, the second-most deadly attack in CIA history, saying it was revenge for the deaths of their leaders. “He’s a very strong character. If he did it, he must have done it on his own will. Nobody can make him do things,” Bayrak told Sabah.

Former intelligence officials have said Balawi, a doctor, was recruited by Jordanian intelligence to try to infiltrate al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Balawi had associated with Islamists in the past, but U.S. and Jordanian spy agencies believed he had been successfully “de-radicalized.” Bayrak said she met her husband while he was studying medicine at Istanbul University. They lived in Jordan, where they had two daughters, before moving back to Turkey in October 2009.

Why is it necessary to Westernize this woman with the flowing hair, the plump cheeks, the pixillated hairline, the broad shoulders, the Glamour-don’t choice of tops. ? ? ? ?

I’ve read some other interesting explanations about what happened, like this one.

The shorter being this: Allegedly those CIA people killed these schoolchildren, a heinous crime, which would prove exceedingly difficult to brush under the rug.