Posted on 07/24/2012 5:26:28 PM PDT by Eleutheria5
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Turkey and Israel are looking for ways to normalize political relations, saying, “We want to restore relations with Turkey.”
Netanyahu spoke to a group of Turkish journalists in Jerusalem and his comments were reported by the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman.
“In a region where instability reigns, Israel and Turkey are two quite stable countries. I believe in [our] common interest,” Netanyahu told the journalists, adding that Turks and Jews have a long history.
The newspaper noted that the conversation between Netanyahu and the Turkish journalists was the first time since the May 2010 incident on the Mavi Marmara, which occurred when the ship tried to break the blockade on Gaza and refused to turn aside when ordered to. When IDF soldiers boarded the ship they were violently attacked. Soldiers opened fire in response, killing nine Turkish activists.
The incident caused Israel’s relationship with Turkey, already strained, to break down completely. Turkish leaders demanded an apology, but Israeli leaders refused, saying Israel had acted in self-defense.
Today’s Zaman noted that Netanyahu received the Turkish journalists in the same room where Israel’s National Security Cabinet meets. In the back, behind Netanyahu both Israeli and Turkish flags stood.
A high-level Israeli official told the Turkish daily that the two countries have been trying to find a magical formula to mend the bilateral ties, but as of yet the efforts remain fruitless.
“The formula needs to not only appeal to both countries but it should also not harm the dignity of either country,” the official remarked....
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
While in Congress, Wexler founded the Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations and served on the Congressional Study Group on Turkey. Wexler was co-founder of the Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations, the Taiwan Caucus, and the Indonesia Caucus. He was also an active member of the India Caucus and the Serbia Caucus. In addition, Wexler served as a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property.
TURKEY received $21 billion economic/military US foreign aid. The US Dept of state reported Dec 2011 that as part of the cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more than $7 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance over several years.
Ex-Cong Robert Wexler (Dem-Fla)---an admitted liar who falsified govt records to get into Congress--- is now president of the DC-based non-profit S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East (gag) Peace.
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BACKSTORY Robert Wexler was a Democratic member of the US House representing Florida's 19th congressional district, from 1997 until his resignation on January 3, 2010.
In July 2008, it was revealed that Wexler claimed his mother- in-law's home in Delray Beach as his official residence (though he was listed on the House roll as "D-Boca Raton"), but lives in a Maryland suburb for most of the year.
Edward J. Lynch, a Republican running for Wexler's congressional seat, researched Wexler's living arrangements and took his argument to Fox News. "The house he lists on his voter registration is his in-laws' house, in a gated 55-and-older community," Lynch said. "Legally, he can't move back with children under 18."
After Wexler was confronted about the allegation, he stated that his mother-in-law does own the house in Delray Beach. But he also said he stays there when in Florida which, according to his office is, on average, about twice a month.
As a putative Florida resident, Wexler did not pay personal income tax, and his vehicles were also registered in that state, despite his near-permanent residency in Maryland and the Washington metropolitan area.Wexler, born in 1961, did not personally meet the age requirements for his mother-in-law's senior community. Wexler later obtained a separate address within Palm Beach County.
Throughout his tenure in Congress, Congressman Wexler has been an outspoken advocate for the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel, and a leading proponent of Israel's right to self-defense and the need for a just and comprehensive resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has traveled on numerous congressional delegations to the Middle East and met with the leaders of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, and Oman.
At President Clinton's invitation, he was the only member of the House of Representatives present during the signing of the Wye River Peace Agreement. In addition, Wexler was one of two Congressmen to travel to the International Court of Justice at the Hague to oppose the Palestinian case against Israel's construction of a security barrier.
Congressman Wexler served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and as a member of the Middle East Subcommittee. Wexler worked to strengthen the transatlantic alliance, build security and economic bonds with the European Union and the nations of Europe, and help guide the economic and political development of the former Soviet States.
Wexler was an outspoken advocate of impeaching VP Cheney and Pres Bush.
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GOOD COP BAD COP ACT During Wexler's 2008 campaign, Wexler agreed to receive JStreetPAC’s endorsement and financial support and lost funding from Washington PAC as a result. Morris Amitay, the head of the ardently pro-Israel "Washington PAC," made clear to candidates seeking support from his pro-Israel PAC that he does not view favorably those who receive funds from the outatively anti-Israel JStreet PAC. Amitay said “There’s a striking resemblance between the people they support and the anti-Israel Hall of Fame.”
PEACE (gag) PARTNERS American Cong Wexler in abject fealty to Israeli leader Netanyahu.
All that being said, Assad is on the ropes, which leaves Hizbullah exposed to Israel, and Iran perhaps hesitant to make an open move just yet, or at least weakened without Assad’s hand. So Turkey very well might be interested in making nice, but with an Islamicized military, that’s probably impossible. But Erdogan and Gul might be willing to keep commercial relations going, and conduct some QT military and intelligence cooperation. That’s probably worked out in advance with Bibi, and his public overture is therefore intended only to give Erdogan something to angrily reject in public, in order to save face while he quietly shifts his position in the corner where he’s painted himself. Real dignified.
If Assad’s going to go, Iran will beef up relations with Iraq and Egypt.
More likely Egypt. Iraq has enough trouble with its Shiites without outright capitulating and knocking the legs out from the Quietist clerics that hold sway there. So Egypt in the South with its proxy Hamas in Ghaza, and Iran in the North with its proxy Hizbollah. No Assad, and possibly no Erdogan, for whom it might be well worth while to be the feather that tipped the scales for the West. He is not an Islamicist, so much as an intriguer and a schemer. If he can get into the EU, he’ll jump for it, if the military lets him, but they won’t. So he’ll quietly help Israel and NATO, while noisily but emptily supporting the Islamists, while receiving lots of aid and treating it like tribute as he continues repeating anti-Western shiboleths. That is the absolute best case scenario I can think of, and it’s not very good.
He’s on the side of Sharia right now because it helps enhance his personal power. He’d turn as westward as the Islamized military would allow him, if he saw some political advantage to it. This is as old as politics itself. Why do you think the Dems want socialized medicine? Compassion? Why don’t the Republicans? Because they’re so staunchly conservative? It is all about power. Dems get their power from the urbanized coastal areas, so they offer handouts. Republicans get theirs from rural and suburban areas, so they offer more freedom. Same thing with Erdogan. He threw out Ataturk’s legacy and Islamicized—not because he gives a damn about the cause of Islam—but because he’s dedicated heart and soul to his own ambitions. It’s too late for him to do a 180, but a covert leg up here and there might be doable, if it’s in his interests to play a double game. It can be made so.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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BACKSTORY Thanks to assurances by Israeli-centric Cong Robert Wexler (ousted from office under a cloud), TURKEY received $21 billion economic/military US foreign aid. The US Dept of state reported Dec 2011 that as part of the cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more than $7 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance over several years.
As one sage opined: "Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminds us, in his region, democracy is a bus you get off when it reaches your stop."
America needs to disentangle itself from the neocon stranglehold----we dont need a foreign policy rooted in yesterday’s dollar-draining dreams of global democracy.....and other cockamamie policies fomented by the pukerneos.
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REFERENCE Your tax dollars at work, thanks to the pukeneos.
(1) The US stupidly gave Pakistan billions in the wake of 911----the country that was openly harboring Bin Laden. Despite all its advanced technology, Israel "did not know" Bin Laden was in their neighborhood? And isn't it nice that a tiny country like Israel--- surrounded by enemies---has zillions of dollars to conduct these costly activities--- as US citizens struggle to survive?
(2) TURKEY received $21 billion economic/military US foreign aid....thanks to neocons. The US Dept of state ----duped by neocons----reported Dec 2011 that as part of their stupid cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States stupidly loaned and granted Turkey more than $7 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance over several years......So much for "peace"....Turkey is now getting ready to acquire nuclear weapons. Despite all its advanced technology, Israel did not know this?
(3) Neocons duped the US into pouring trillions into Afghanistan.....the most corrupt area on the globe. The Bank of Kabul is engaged in massive fraud---the bank where the US deposits billions of US tax dollars to run the war----if you are "connected" you can withdraw billions with no responsibility to pay it back. Afghan Pres Karzhai was seen loading billions of US dollars to transport out of the country .
SUMMATION US citizens are being extorted at the pump as the US leaves Iraq with no promise of oil (having spent trillions of US dollars there, leaving rivers of young US blood). Yet, according to the WSJ, conniving neocons are starting their own oil company in Iraq. The cost is immense----facilitated by n/c Richard Perle's war profiteering. Your tax dollars at work.
NOTE There is nothing in the US Constitution that says US citizens should go broke while foreign loyalists and their countries get rich on our tax dollars.
Didn’t Erdogan just have a personal meeting with the leader of Hamas at his house?
Thought so...
“BACKSTORY Thanks to assurances by Israeli-centric Cong Robert Wexler (ousted from office under a cloud), TURKEY received $21 billion economic/military US foreign aid. The US Dept of state reported Dec 2011 that as part of the cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more than $7 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance over several years.”
Israel and Turkey haven’t been on speaking terms since about 2009. Turkey under Erdogan has become chummy with Iran, Hamas, Hizbollah and Syria, and somehow a congressmen whom you characterize as Israel-centric is handing them huge gobs of cash; in 2011 $21B! Israel gets $3B a year for not going to war with Egypt, and we never hear the end of it. Turkey gets seven times that much despite its disavowal of secular democracy, closer ties with terror sponsors and terrorists, and more in the pipeline to help them grow “self-reliant”?!
Israel needs to find better friends than either the US or Turkey, imho. The US is full of good people with good will, and is still the strongest country in the world, but...pardon me for saying it...YOU’RE ALL NUTS! Keep your money. Keep the strings it comes with. Keep Turkey the hell away from us, I don’t care how much money you offer them to make nice while they systematically stab the US, Israel and NATO in the back.
Let them make war on us, and we’ll arrange a “right of return” for all the Armenians whose land they stole. We’ll “end the occupation” of Cyprus. We’ll “stop the oppression” of the Kurdish people. As for Turkey itself? Good riddance. Whatever’s left of it can become the “Palestinian homeland”.
There. Done freaking out. $21B in aid. unbe-freakin’-lievable.
Whew-—you let it all out-—no stone unturned-—that musta felt good.
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