Free Republic

It is not possible to understand China without understanding race and racism. Specifically, without understanding whiteness. Yet far too often the conversation around the rise of this new superpower is in predominantly geo-political terms, about authoritarianism versus democracy, about human rights — or whether we will go to war. But race sits at the heart of it all. We were reminded this week when China described the AUKUS agreement — between Australia, the UK and the US – as a race-based military bloc of white countries. China's Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, says that's how it appears to people in...

On January 20, the Turkish military began an invasion of the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region in northern Syria. Turkey’s government has declared that its operation aims “to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity,” remove “terrorist elements,” and protect civilians. The Independent, however, published the first Western media report from Afrin, and Robert Fisk reports that the list of dead includes infants. “One-year old Wael al-Hussein, a refugee…was killed on 21 January, six-year old Moussab al-Hussein from Idlib (clearly from another refugee family) on the same day,” he writes.Many journalists in Turkey, in the meanwhile, are rubbing their hands. Necati Doğru, a columnist with...

"The reason for the intervention was that Greece cannot be allowed to te this part of the Mediterranean": this is how Ankara explains its response to the 1974 Cyprus coup in which Archbishop Makarios was overthrown (1). The strategic issue came well before any concern for the fate of the Turkish Cypriots, as they soon realised. "Until 1974, we were needed. Once the Turkish intervention was over, we had served our purpose", wrote Turkish Cypriot politician Özker Özgur six months ago (2). Mr Özgur is well placed to testify to the powerlessness of native Cypriots in the face of the...

"As I have little time at my disposal, I will use that time to deal with enlargement, in particular the application of Cyprus. I had the honour of visiting northern Cyprus during the summer with two of my colleagues from the House. To my surprise the ambassador chose to object in the strongest manner on my return. It was not my first visit and it was obvious to me that on the island there exists two democracies and two sovereign states representing their distinct peoples. Turkey has never expressed a wish to make Cyprus a Turkish island or an annex...

Attempted Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Cyprus	 By Michael Stephen, former British Parliamentarian (1992-97) The assertion by Mr. Christides (May 10, 1999) that there was no ethnic cleansing or attempted genocide of Turkish Cypriots by Greek Cypriots is ridiculous. Until influential Greek Cypriots come to terms with the appalling behavior of their community toward the smaller Turkish Cypriot community and stop trying to persuade themselves and the world that each side was as much to blame as the other, there will be no reconciliation in Cyprus. What did George Ball and Sir Alec Douglas say about the intentions of ...

EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned Greece against electing “extreme forces” into power and said he would prefer “known faces”—so far the strongest intervention of the EU top brass in the Greek campaign. “I think that the Greeks—who have a very difficult life—know very well what a wrong election result would mean for Greece and the eurozone,” Juncker said during an Austrian public TV debate with EUobserver and several other Brussels-based journalists. He steered clear of explicit political advice ahead of presidential elections in Greece next week, but said: “I wouldn’t like extreme forces to come to power.” The...

Greek authorities are investigating a pre-dawn, drive-by gunfire attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens, which caused no injuries or damage. […] There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. …

There is an illegal occupation that has gone on for decades in the Middle East and it's not being enforced by the IDF. In August 1974, Turkey seized nearly 37% of the then-independent Cyprus. The pretext for the invasion was the protection of Turkish Cypriots, who made up about 18% of the island's population. On July 15, EOKA B, a Cypriot paramilitary organization supporting union with Greece, backed by the junta in Athens, overthrew the government of Archbishop Makarios. But the coup failed. Makarios survived and his thuggish replacement was ousted after eight days in office, when the regime of...

Click to enlarge(CNS/Emily Thompson) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just 13 months after he visited the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI will give Christians in the Middle East his full attention again as he visits Cyprus June 4-6. Christians on the small island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea share a biblical heritage with Middle Eastern Christians and face some of the same challenges in finding ways to live in peace and security in a land shared with people from other ethnic and religious groups. Since 1974, Cyprus, which is about half the size of Connecticut,...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI, often under fire for political missteps on foreign trips, is heading into a potential diplomatic storm when he visits Cyprus this week, a pilgrimage to a divided island that could anger Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world. Divisions between Greeks and ethnic Turks, splits in the Orthodox Christian community, and concerns over damaged Christian and Muslim houses of worship will be come under scrutiny during Benedict's three-day trip starting Friday. The visit will be a key test of whether the pope has found his diplomatic feet. The pope's linking of Islam to...

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Greek and Turkish Cypriots pulled down barricades on Thursday separating them for half a century, reopening a street which became a symbol of Cyprus's ethnic partition. The reopening of Ledra Street was meant to be a step towards ending the island's division, an obstacle to Turkey's membership of the European Union and a source of tension between NATO partners Athens and Ankara. Hundreds of Greek and Turkish Cypriots crossed Ledra after the 80-metre (262 ft) stretch of road in the main commercial district of Nicosia was opened to pedestrians in a ceremony attended by UN envoys and...

Brussels/Berlin/Ankara - Senior European Union officials Tuesday voiced divergent views on Turkey's troubled bid to join the 25-nation bloc, with Germany and France set to call for tougher conditions on Ankara but Finland, Sweden and Estonia warning against any move to break off entry talks. Representing EU hardliners, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac are expected at talks in Mettlach, Germany, to demand stronger action against Ankara for refusing to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels. Both leaders say last week's proposals by the European Commission for a partial suspension of Turkish accession talks needs to...

German chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to moderate her hard-line stance on Turkey’s bid for membership of the European Union, apparently withdrawing a proposal for an 18-month deadline for Ankara to open its ports to Cyprus. She said the European Commission should report on Turkey’s progress on this issue, with the report to be delivered after elections in Turkey in autumn 2007 but before the elections to the European parliament in spring 2009. ADVERTISEMENT Her comments followed talks in Mettlach near Saarbrücken, western Germany, with Jacques Chirac, the French president, and Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland. Ms Merkel has...