Harry's Place

This is a cross-post from Just Journalism.

Following Tuesday’s speech by David Cameron in Ankara, where the British Prime Minister controversially described Gaza as a ‘prison camp’ in the context of regional challenges that Turkey should help to resolve, The Guardian yesterday published an editorial on the growing influence of the secular Muslim country. While ‘Turkey: A vital player’ claimed that the paper did not seek to ‘paper over’ some of the less palatable aspects of the government’s conduct, the editorial did not give any specific details of the criticisms that are often raised by human rights groups. Instead, the editorial favourably listed some of Turkey’s notable foreign policy decisions – including defending a head of state indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Stating that Cameron had acknowledged ‘how important a regional power’ the country had become, the editorial went on to describe some of the decisions that make up ‘the dramatic expansion of Turkey’s influence.’ Some of these were described in neutral terms – such as the signing of ‘accords with Syria and Iraq.’ On the other hand, The Guardian also implicitly commended some of the decisions. The newspaper held that Turkey’s argument that it brokered a deal with Brazil to transfer Iranian uranium for external refinement ‘could still form part of the solution to the crisis’, and noted that the country ‘was the first to rush to Kyrgyzstan after the attempted ethnic cleansing of Uzbeks in the south.’

There was one statement, however, that stood out from the others: Turkey ‘defended the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir as a good Muslim.’ Appearing in a list of events that show how Turkey’s influence has grown, in an editorial that praises the country for ‘using its soft power effectively’, the reference to defending al-Bashir as a good Muslim could be read as a commendable example of Ankara reaching out to the Middle East whilst still trying to join the EU, a development that would give Europe a ‘secular, majority Muslim bridge to the Middle East, the Caucasus and central Asia.’

The reality is that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, was arguing that al-Bashir could not be guilty of genocide because he is a Muslim, and that the Sudanese ruler was free to visit Turkey without fear of being extradited to The Hague. This view is at odds with that of the International Criminal Court, which in 2010 made legal history by indicting al-Bashir on genocide charges, the first time such a charge had been made against an incumbent head of state. This followed the issuing of an arrest warrant by the ICC for al-Bashir in 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity; again, the first time such a warrant had been issued for a current head of state.

Given the seriousness of these charges, it is unclear why The Guardian has chosen to uncritically include Erdogan’s defence of al-Bashir in its list of notable foreign policy achievements by Turkey. This is especially true given the broadsheet has previously argued that the international community must take an active role in holding those accused of war crimes to account.

In ‘Arrest warrants: Short arm of international law’, The Guardian’s editorial from December 2009, the broadsheet criticised the British government for seeking to make it more difficult for Israeli politicians to be prosecuted for war crimes in the UK. The editorial stated that since ‘law is meaningless without enforcement, we also have to buy into the principle that universal jurisdiction is an essential arm of international law. Without it, war crimes are commited with impunity.’ However, in ‘Turkey: A vital player’, it seems that The Guardian is commending, rather than condemning, Ankara’s decision not to take seriously the accusations levelled against Omar al-Bashir.

Press conference of the International Committee Against Stoning

11am – Friday 30 July 2010,

Conway Hall,
Red Lion Square,
London
WC1R 4RL

New information on the threatened execution of 43 year old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, and others who have been also sentenced to death by stoning in Iran, will be revealed at a London press conference this Friday by Mina Ahadi, Coordinator of the International Committee Against Executions and the International Committee Against Stoning.

Other press conference speakers include Maryam Namazie, Iran Solidarity spokesperson, and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

The press conference will take place this Friday, 30 July, in the Brockway Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL, from 11am to 12 noon.

The meeting is open to the media and the public. All opponents of the death penalty and supporters of international human rights are welcome to attend.

“In response to the international outcry, some Iranian officials report that Sakineh’s execution has been put on hold,” said Peter Tatchell.

“Other reports suggest that the stoning sentence has been revoked and that she will be hanged instead.

“All these reports remain unconfirmed by the Iranian judiciary, which has the final say.

“Sakineh is still under threat of execution.

“The government of Iran has banned the country’s media from reporting Sakineh’s case, which suggests they know most Iranians do not support the barbarity of stoning. 

“To deflect international condemnation, the Iranian authorities have falsely claimed that Sakineh was sentenced to death for committing murder, when court documents clearly show that she was condemned to be stoned for having sex outside of marriage.

“The Tehran regime has issued an arrest warrant for Sakineh’s lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. It has arrested his wife and brother-in-law, neither of whom have committed any crime. They are being detained in an apparent bid to force Mostafaei to hand himself over the police.

“The death sentence passed on Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani for committing adultery is disproportionate, excessive and a violation of human rights.

“Stoning a person to death is particularly barbaric. It has no legitimate place in any legal system in the twenty-first century; especially for a non-violent act of adultery between consenting adults.

“Even if the sentence has been changed from stoning to hanging, any execution is immoral.

“The real crimes are the cruel, barbaric and inhuman acts of stoning and other forms of execution. The death penalty should be abolished – in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, the US and worldwide.” added Mr Tatchell.

Please sign the Avaaz petition to save Sakineh’s life:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?cl=651962225&v=6766
For more information about the press conference and campaign, contact:

Maryam Namazie
iransolidaritynow@gmail.com

International Committee Against Executions: http://notonemoreexecution.org
International Committee Against Stoning: http://stopstonningnow.com
Iran Solidarity: www.iransolidarity.org.uk

See also: Open letter by international campaigners.

Lee Barnes, BNP Legal Director, reports on the on-going BNP meltdown:

Every day now the leadership challenge within the BNP is dragging the party deeper and deeper into the gutter.

The supporters on all sides are waging a war against each other that is causing immeasurable harm to the party and the British Nationalist movement.

It appears that there are people in the BNP who now want to purge everyone who has supported one of the leadership challengers and that there are some people in the BNP who now want to flounce off and set up a new political party to stand against the BNP and split the nationalist vote.

Lee can’t let that happen, so he’s, er, flounced off and set up a new political party, the ‘European National Alliance’ (it even has a Blogspot and everything!). But, fear not, Lee promises he ‘will remain as an officer of the BNP as well as helping run the ENA’.

So, what’s this ENA all about then? Quick summary:

an essential development in the pantheon of British political parties … pro-European people and European cultural party, but anti the European Union … takeover the EU from inside … spread European Nationalist ideas into the wider consciousness of the British public … re-engage in the nationalist struggle … Never again will we allow our nations and people to undergo the disaster of another Brothers War … scrap all race relations laws … ancestral rights … establish community farms … create an autarchic system of industry … create a new European Military Alliance based on EU states forming a Fortress Europe … seek to work with Russia … European unity, virility and power … Celtic ‘Brothers of the Arrow’ … comradeship … united in defence of our common blood, heritage, culture and lands … true European brotherhood.

Onward to victory, comrades!

(Artist’s impression of what the ENA’s inaugural meeting might look like)

David Cameron on Turkey:

Turkey is a great NATO ally and Turkey shares our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms, whether from al-Qaeda or from the PKK.

Turkey’s prime minister:

“Despite bloody attacks against civilians and security forces, there are countries which have failed to cut the financial channels of the terrorist organization, turned a blind eye to its activities and propaganda and failed to extradite criminals”

That’s a rather neat description of what Hamas is doing at home and in Europe, and how little the UK and others are doing to stop it.

Good old Erdogan.
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This is a cross post by Mark Gardner of The CST Blog

Film director, Oliver Stone, famously knows a thing or three about conspiracies. Odd then, that when telling the Sunday Times about his next project, the “Secret History of America” he should have fallen foul of the hoary old one about Jews running the world.

Stone’s comments appeared at the end of an interview with Camilla Long and they were neither challenged; nor referred to in the headlines and sub-headlines accompanying the article. This was how it appeared

“Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than [to] the Jewish people, 25 or 30m.”

[Long asks] Why such a focus on the Holocaust then? “The Jewish domination of the media” he says. “There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years.”

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This is a cross post by Edmund Standing

The Nation of Islam (NoI) is a ‘black nationalist’ organisation that preaches a bizarre Afrocentric form of Islam based around the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, an American black separatist who teamed up with George Lincoln Rockwell of the American Nazi Party to preach a message of racial disharmony. After one meeting, Rockwell gushed:

Muhammad knows that mixing is a Jewish fraud and leads only to aggravation of the problems that it is supposed to solve. . . . I have talked to the Muslim leaders and am certain that a workable plan for separation of the races could be effected to the satisfaction of all concerned—except the communist-Jew agitators.

Today, the NoI is led by Louis Farrakhan, a professional race baiter and anti-Semite who is currently barred from entering Britain, much to the consternation of his British followers. Farrakhan is a fanatical Jew hater who has made statements such as:

And you do with me as is written, but remember that I have warned you that Allah will punish you. You are wicked deceivers of the American people. You have sucked their blood. You are not real Jews, those of you that are not real Jews. You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell. But I warn you in the name of Allah, you would be wise to leave me alone. But if you choose to crucify me, know that Allah will crucify you.

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Remember Counterfire?

It was the pre-existing political project into which Lindsay German and John Rees parachuted after they fell out with the SWP at the beginning of the year. It was going to open itself up to the ‘movements’ and use new technology to revolutionise the Trotskyesque left. It was going to be, like, totally massive.

Six months on and how has the new outfit benefitted from Rees and German’s years of leadership experience? One way to guess is by measuring the debate their blog has generated.

Oh dear! It looks like the level of online communication amongst the comrades not only started laughably low but has made not a jot of progress since. The assorted Trot scribblers have been posting multiple articles every day for over a year and practically begging for comments underneath each one – to no avail. They may as well have been shouting and waving their arms around in an empty room for all the reaction they’ve received so far.

Is that what the comrades stormed out of the SWP for? To be ignored and unloved, blogging into an uncaring political universe? What happened to ‘If we build it they will come?’

Go and visit the poor dears. They’ll be grateful to have their comments-box cherry popped, even if it is with a hairy brute from Harry’s Place.

The Twentieth Century will possibly go down in history as the genocide century. One of the most appalling examples of this horrendous crime was that of the Cambodian Genocide. The reign of the Khmer Rouge  in Cambodia commenced in April 1975 and ended in January 1979.  In a period of less than four years approximately 30% of the population were killed.

Unlike the reign of the Nazis in Germany where the Nuremberg Trials were staged to put on trial leading Nazis very soon after the war, the Cambodian survivors have had to wait a long time for justice. The reasons for this are long and complicated but finally there has been a proper trial of Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known as “Duch,” the notorious prison chief of Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia.  The Guardian explains:

Over a four-year period in the late 1970s, more than 16,000 men, women and children passed through Tuol Sleng, only 14 are thought to have survived. Most were tortured into making confessions before being loaded onto trucks and driven to the killing fields of Choeung Ek, where they were bludgeoned to death.

Duch had authorised the tortures and executions – including the pulling out of prisoners’ toenails, administering electric shocks and waterboarding – sometimes taking part himself, the court heard.

Duch was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but this is reduced by 11 years for time served and by a further five years for time when he held captive and as such he is due to be released in 19 years time, assuming he will still be alive. Many are not happy with what they see as too short a sentence:

Theary Sang, whose dad was murdered at Tuol Seng, said: “Eleven hours per life taken – it’s a joke.”

Bou Meng, one of only a dozen people to survive the death camp, added: “The verdict seems to slap me in the face and kick me in the head.”

I have some sympathy with those that claim the sentence was too light. The Bangkok Post from neighouring Thailand observes:

having found Duch guilty of the worst cruelty and thousands of the most gruesome murders ever recorded, they handed down a sentence that is roughly what mid-level drug dealers have received in courts in Thailand.

They have a point.

There are four more major trials of senior Khmer Rouge officials next year. I hope that by the end of this, Cambodians will be able to see that justice is being done.

This is a cross-post from a piece Just Journalism Executive Director Michael Weiss published at Standpoint. With a major research assist from habibi.

Given David Cameron’s latest statements on Gaza, the flotilla, and Turkey’s proper place in the European Union, it’s worth exploring Ankara’s new geopolitical strategy in the Middle East. The following piece argues that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party is closely involved with I.H.H., the charity behind the Mavi Marmara and a self-declared financier of Hamas:

At the heart of Israel’s deadly raid of the Mavi Marmara on May 31 is the Turkish charity Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (I.H.H.), the “Free Gaza” flotilla’s lead organiser. But the extent to which I.H.H. has been enabled and underwritten by the Turkish government has been increasingly scrutinized by international observers over the past several months and for good reason. In the aftermath of the violent showdown on the high seas, which left nine Turkish passengers dead and a number of Israeli commandos critically injured, Turkey’s parliament passed a resolution to “reconsider economic and military relations” with the Jewish state, a decades-long ally. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, returning to Istanbul after an emergency meeting with Hillary Clinton, blamed Israel alone for the confrontation and accused it of committing a “crime against humanity.” But the most incendiery rhetoric came from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself.

Recent months have seen a weakening of the once assured Israeli-Turkish relationship almost to the point of dissolution and in the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara clash, Erdogan has not only depicted Israel as an anathema, worse than “bullies and pirates,” but also full-throatedly endorsed its main clerical enemy in the Levant. “Hamas are resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land,” he told an ecstatic anti-Israel rally a few weeks ago in the Turkish city of Konya. “They have won an election. I have told this to US officials… I do not accept Hamas as a terrorist organization. I think the same today. They are defending their land.”

Most of Turkey’s independent political class see domestic and international calculation behind this bluster, a way for Erdogan to shore up Islamist credibility in advance of an upcoming election and reposition Ankara as a renascent power broker in the Middle East – Iran’s chief competiton for that role. One writer for the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet observed that, it’s “almost as if [Erodgan] was waiting for a new crisis with Israel to be able to work the streets in order to regain some of the political ground his ruling Justice and Development Party has been loosing over bread and butter issues at home.”

But this raises the fundamental question of why a country that is both an ally of the United States and Nato as well as an aspiring member of the European Union would brazenly declare its solidarity with a terrorist group outlawed by both. The answer lies in the increasingly Islamist nature of Erodgan’s regime as well as the complicated relationship his party AKP has enjoyed with I.H.H., a suddenly infamous non-governmental organisation that acts more like a governmental one. Its evolution has been from a rogue and highly suspect charity into the advance guard of a new Turkish foreign policy.

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Oliver Stone has issued the following statement:

“In trying to make a broader historical point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and I regret. Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry. The fact that the Holocaust is still a very important, vivid and current matter today is, in fact, a great credit to the very hard work of a broad coalition of people committed to the remembrance of this atrocity – and it was an atrocity.”

Norm says:

Well, an apology is an apology and it would be churlish not to accept that he means it. A question remains, all the same, about how it is that Stone could come to make the mental associations he now regrets having made: between public interest in the Holocaust and Jewish domination of the media; between the Jewish tragedy in Europe and the far greater damage he said was done by Hitler to the Russians. It’s good that Stone should be sorry for what he said. It will be even better if he’s not only sorry but also understands how he came to say it.

Let’s take a step back and compare Stone’s outburst with Mel Gibson’s.

Mel Gibson is a racist drunk with a very messed up family life. While drunk, he expressed the following view

“Fucking Jews…the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

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