NATO country (Turkey) just caught planning a false flag attack to jumpstart war against Syria

[Catherina]

A NATO member country (Turkey) was just caught planning a false flag war, by instigating a fake "Syrian" attack on technically Turkish soil which would give NATO-member Turkey a *legal* pretext to jump in the war against Syria. The Western press, which is owned by the same corporations that buy our government every election cycle, is minimizing this to "Turkey bans YouTube". There's a thread in LBN about this "Turkey blocks access to YouTube after leaked recordings of key security meeting".

Turkey blocked twitter after the first leak, of Erdogan calling his son to move a ton of money around for him and hide it, prompted growing calls for him to resign. This Syria business that just came out is the second leak and now Youtube is blocked there with talk of blocking other social media like Facebook too.

Look at this deceitful, minimized, nothing-to-see-here reporting from CNN:

(CNN) -- The Turkish government banned YouTube on Thursday, less than a week after Ankara made a similar blackout of the social networking site Twitter, which is estimated to have more than 10 million Turkish users.

Neither website can be reached on Turkish Internet networks.

The crackdown comes just days before Turks are expected to go to the polls in nationwide municipal elections.

The Turkish government said its YouTube block came as a response to the leak of a conversation between top government officials purportedly discussing the possibility of going to war with neighboring Syria.

...

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/27/world/europe/turkey-youtube-blocked/

Our entire MSM is whistling the same tune with little variation.

BBC: "Earlier, what appeared to be a leaked audio recording of Turkish officials discussing Syria appeared on YouTube.

It relates to a discussion of possible military operations in Syria, which was apparently attended by Turkey's intelligence chief, its foreign minister and the deputy head of the armed forces."

The Independent:"YouTube has been blocked in Turkey after alleged leaks of high-level security talks regarding Syria were uploaded to the site."

Bloomberg: "Turkey defended its decision to block YouTube after a leaked recording of a meeting where top officials discussed a possible military incursion into Syria appeared on the site."

Channel 4: "YouTube was blocked on Thursday after an anonymous account posted what it presented as a recording of intelligence chief Hakan Fidan discussing possible military operations in Syria with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Deputy Chief of Military Staff Yasar Guler, and others."

Daily Mail: "Block comes after leaked audio seems to record Turkish officials discussing Syria"

CNN: "The Turkish government said its YouTube block came as a response to the leak of a conversation between top government officials purportedly discussing the possibility of going to war with neighboring Syria."

and finally some important information from Reuters which seems to be the only Western outlet out there with any integrity.

"They even leaked a national security meeting," Erdogan said at a campaign rally. "This is villainous, this is dishonesty ... Who are you serving by doing audio surveillance of such an important meeting?"

...

"NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE"

Turkey threatened two weeks ago to retaliate for any attack on the tomb following clashes between militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda breakaway group, and rival rebel groups in the area, east of Aleppo near the Turkish border.

"An operation against ISIL has international legitimacy. We will define it as al Qaeda. There are no issues on the al Qaeda framework. When it comes to the Suleyman Shah tomb, it's about the protection of national soil," a voice presented as that of foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu says.

When the discussion turns to the need to justify such an operation, the voice purportedly of Fidan says: "Now look, my commander, if there is to be justification, the justification is, I send four men to the other side. I get them to fire eight missiles into empty land. That's not a problem. Justification can be created."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/us-syria-crisis-turkey-idUSBREA2Q17420140327

Then the whole story and transcript

RT: YouTube ban: How Turkish officials conspired to stage Syria attack to provoke war

“I'll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey.” This leaked conversation is coming back to haunt the highest echelons of the Turkish government as it plans a provocation in Syria, while scrambling to contain social media internally.

The leaked audiotapes that reveal Turkey’s highest ministers staging an anti-Assad military intervention in Syria, have already caused YouTube to be shut down in the country, as well as leading to fevered accusations of treachery and betrayal of Turkey’s political interests – “a declaration of war,” as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu put it.

This is of course after intelligence chief Hakan Fidan suggested seizing the opportunity to secure Turkish intervention in the Syrian conflict - a war that has already claimed 140,000 lives, and counting. In the conversation, Davutoğlu is heard saying that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sees any attack as an "opportunity" to increase troop presence in Syria, where it has staunchly supported the anti-Assad rebels.


Below is a transcript of that conversation in full. The video can be found below.

(+ full transcipt, + video)

A few more details. It's all over the net. You can research it yourselves.

Hakan Fidan: “I’ll send 4 men from Syria, if that’s what it takes. I’ll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey; we can also prepare an attack on Suleiman Shah Tomb if necessary.”

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: “Our national security has become a common, cheap domestic policy outfit.”

Yaşar Güler: “It’s a direct cause of war. I mean, what we’re going to do is a direct cause of war.”

...

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: But if we decide on an operation in there, it should create a shocking effect. I mean, if we are going to do so. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but regardless of what we decide, I don’t think it’d be appropriate to notify anyone beforehand.

...

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: That’s what I told back there. For one thing, the situation is different. An operation on ISIL has solid ground on international law. We’re going to portray this is Al-Qaeda, there’s no distress there if it’s a matter regarding Al-Qaeda. And if it comes to defending Suleiman Shah Tomb, that’s a matter of protecting our land.

Yaşar Güler: We don’t have any problems with that.

Hakan Fidan: Second after it happens, it’ll cause a great internal commotion (several bombing events is bound to happen within). The border is not under control…

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: I mean, yes, the bombings are of course going to happen. But I remember our talk from 3 years ago…

Yaşar Güler: Mr. Fidan should urgently receive back-up and we need to help him supply guns and ammo to rebels.

http://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/21ib4d/leaked_recording_of_turkish_officials_discussing/

The tomb of Suleyman Shah is sovereign territory of Turkey under a treaty signed with France in 1921 while Syria was still under colonial rule. Turkey maintains a force of two dozen special forces soldiers at the tomb to permanently guard it. ISIL and other rebels groups fighting Assad have clashed near the tomb.


...

Turkey has blocked access to YouTube in an attempt to stop the video from being disseminated. This block follows a week after the Turkish government blocked Twitter in a similar desperate bid to limit the reach of other damaging leaked recordings.

...

When asked about justification for an incursion into Syria, intelligence chief Hakan Fidan allegedly responded: "Justification can be created. The matter is to create the will."

...

http://www.businessinsider.com/erdogan-leak-about-syria-2014-3

Here's a Reuters video about this

The Young Turks has been discussing this too.

[Jesus Malverde]

1. Edrogan is one of the biggest promoters of terror in the region.

His cynical use of jihadist to as an instrument of foreign prelacy is a threat to all of us.

Every battle hardened jihadist that survives the Syrian meat grinder is threat to the people of the west as they return to their countries of origin.

[Catherina]

3. All week long, Turkish media has been carrying stories about a supposed tomb threat by ISIL

You'll get no argument from me about Erdogan being a terror promoter.

The puppet, lying media reported that the threat was that if the Turkish flag above the tomb was not lowered then the terrorist group would attack the tomb.

Daily Sabah, 26.03.2014:

AL-QAEDA OFFSHOOT ISIL, A NEW TERROR THREAT FOR TURKEY

He noted that ISIL's threats against Süleyman Şah tomb where Turkey has an extraterritorial jurisdiction, clearly indicates the group's hostility towards Turkey. In this context, ISIL may serve to the interest of the Assad regime. "Süleyman Şah tomb is Turkish territory according to the Ankara Agreement. If Syrian army entered there, this would be casus belli. But instead of doing that, the Assad regime may use ISIL as it used Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the past against Turkey," he said. Caşın said ISIL might be employed by the Assad regime in the wake of rising tensions between Syria and Turkey after Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet.

Defense News (AFP) Mar. 26, 2014: Turkey Vows 'Any Measures' Against Syria Threats

It has also warned it will protect a historic shrine that is under Turkish jurisdiction but located inside Syria’s northern Aleppo province against threats from Islamist militants.

A Turkish flag flies over the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of Ottoman Empire founder Osman, and a small garrison with a symbolic number of troops is permanently stationed there.

The site, located 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border, has been threatened by the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Davutoglu accused ISIL of clashing with Free Syrian Army rebels while refraining from attacking regime forces.

He said “Turkey is ready to take any legitimate step under international law if its national security, including the area where the tomb of Suleyman Shah is situated, is threatened.”

also carried in Hurryet Daily News

IHS Jane's Intelligence Weekly 25 March 2014: Threat to Turkish sovereign exclave in Syria by ISIL increases risk of conflict

Militant group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has threatened to attack the Tomb of Suleiman Shah, a sacred mausoleum based in a Turkish exclave in Syria, around 25 kilometres from the Turkish border.

...

In another development, President Abullah Gül has responded to threats from ISIL to Turkey lower its flag over the Tomb of Suleiman Shah, which is located in a Turkish sovereign exclave of Jabar Fortress and is guarded by Turkish soldiers. Fighting between ISIL and other militant groups close to the tomb has recently intensified. Turkish daily Hürriyet reported on 23 March that the Turkish Armed Forces (Türk Silahli Kuvvetleri: TSK) are preparing a "small scale" operation in the event the tomb is attacked by ISIL militants. The re-emergence of Syria on the political agenda comes as Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi: AKP) heads into municipal elections on 30 March embattled by allegations of corruption.

I'm going to be very sick. I just found a KOS entry about this.

In the meeting, the four discuss conducting a false flag attack--blamed on Al Qaeda--in order to justify war with Syria.

The conversation revealed that John Kerry had been pressing Davutoglu to strike Syria.

Turkey's plan involved either orchestrating a missile strike on Turkey or faking an attack on the tomb of Suleyman Shah, founder of the Ottoman Empire. The tomb is in Syria but is considered a sovereign enclave of Turkey per the terms of the 1921 Treaty of Ankara.



...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/27/1287823/-Updated-Turkey-Planned-Fake-Al-Qaeda-Attack-in-Syria-to-Justify-Invasion

At about the 5:00 mark Foreign Minister Davutoglu says

...cogu zaman Kerry bana aynen sunu soyledi peki siz kararinizi verdiniz mi dedi bu vurma ve sey yapma...

Translation: Many times Kerry has said to me "Ok, did you make the decision to strike?"

What is less clear is whether Kerry was aware that Turkish plans for how to pull off an invasion included faking an attack by Al Qaeda on its own territory, either firing missiles from Syria into Turkey or attacking the tomb of the founder of the Ottoman Empire (the tomb is in Syria but is considered a sovereign enclave of Turkey).

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/27/1287880/-John-Kerry-Encouraged-Turkish-Invasion-of-Syria

KOS has the whole conversation up in readable form.

[kelliekat44]

79. Too bad YouTube wasn't around for all the false-flag ops by US and Isareal in the past. nt

[quinnox]

2. I think NATO needs to be disbanded, or reduced significantly

Its ridiculous how many countries they put in NATO now, we don't need to expand our empire that much. Damn.

[JVS]

5. I highly doubt that Turkey is acting in Syria without the ok of a certain more powerful NATO member

[Catherina]

8. See the last 2 excerpts in post 3 and this excerpt

I'm not naive. I think I'm rather cynical but that shocked me. Post 3. I literally found that moments ago and am still reading it, barely beginning to:

SEVENTH SCREEN:

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: We have done these before, these can be done of course. We can make it done,

Hakan Fidan: I mean, if we are ready to use that thing, in correct time and place, let us do it with a purpose determined by us.

Ahmet Davutoğlu: Hakan, as you said, if what you mean is a lack of strategy in fabricating a justification, you are right. Against these men…

An officer: Sir, without that happening-

Ahmet Davutoğlu: Yes, we will pass on to that okay take it and I am coming. You cannot say to the US Secretary of State, "we need to take strong measures."

Hakan Fidan: Well, sir, what I am saying is-

Ahmet Davutoğlu: Then he will say, you did not even defend your own land. We had many friendly conversations, mostly with Kerry and he told me exactly this, did you decide to strike and …

EIGHT SCREEN:

Yaşar Güler: Sir, we did, we did a hundred times. With US…

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: Well, look, three days ago, a thing happened at the office of General Chief of Staff, this thing came up and they had a coordination meeting. I see that for the first time. The Americans-

Yaşar Güler: No, we do it regularly!

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: No, no.. The Americans in that meeting distributed the plans for the No Fly Zone. For the first time. Do you know that?

Hakan Fidan: Hmm, what I underline is, sir, if we are going to take such an important decision for this sort of reason, Sulayman Sah Tomb, if we are ready to take this decision

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/27/1287823/-Updated-Turkey-Planned-Fake-Al-Qaeda-Attack-in-Syria-to-Justify-Invasion

Of course all the NATO countries are going to report this as "YouTube ban", nothing-to-see-here, just-Erdogan-being-a-dick before the elections, move on...

[cheapdate]

15. Turkey denied the United States land access

to deliver equipment and personnel to the war in Iraq. It caused US operation great difficulties. Turkey is a NATO member but they are a sovereign and independent nation. Everything in the fucking world isn't the United State's doing. People in foreign countries do have individual agency.

[Catherina]

7. I think the same thing. It's gone way beyond the Atlantic Coast

It's just a huge multi-trillion dollar suckhole at this point, an old boy colonial network securing oil for the same people who are bleeding us dry.

I like Chomsky's short answer

“How should NATO develop? Immediately disband.”

...

Q. A question asked more and more is ‘what is NATO for?’ If no one knows what it is for, why do you think it has survived 20 years after the end of the Cold War?

Professor Chomsky: Yes, that is the right question, isn’t it? You might ask why it lasted even one month after the end of the Cold War. Why did it survive? If you look back to when the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev agreed to a quite remarkable concession. He agreed to let a united Germany join the NATO military alliance. Now it is remarkable in the light of history, the history of the past century, Germany alone had virtually destroyed Russia, twice, and Germany, backed by a hostile military alliance, centered in the most phenomenal military power in history, that’s a real threat. Nevertheless he agreed, but there was a quid pro quo, namely that NATO should not expand to the East, so Russia would at least have a kind of security zone. And George Bush and then-Secretary of State James Baker agreed that NATO would not expand one inch to the East. Gorbachev also proposed a nuclear free weapons zone in the region, but the US wouldn’t consider that. I don’t think they even replied to the proposal. So that was it, no more Soviet Union – game over.

So what did the Bush administration do? They issued a defense strategy document that effectively said that the real threat was actually the advanced technological level of third world countries and the need to preserve the superiority of the US technological military industrial base, problems not attributable to the Kremlin. So suddenly the original threat turns out to be a lie and it is business as usual for NATO.

...
Q. How do you see NATO developing in the future?

A. If the question was ‘How ought NATO to develop?’ the answer is ‘immediate disbandment’. In reality there is little sign of change. You may have noticed that despite the financial crisis there is no serious attempt to limit US military spending since Obama became President. They may cancel some expensive high tech projects like purchase of the F22 fighter. You don’t need those sorts of planes for the sort of wars we have now. Before Bush left office 30 billion dollars was voted to support Israel over ten years. Today Israel is just a military outpost of the United States. The plan is to increase the number of ground troops. That’s what you need for the sort of wars they plan. Look, during the Gaza invasion the United States planned to deliver thousands of tons of ammunition to Israel in German ships via Greece. The Greeks stopped it, so they have to find some other way to send it, but the Pentagon said it was for pre-positioning for future conflicts.

...

http://rt.com/politics/how-should-nato-develop-immediately-disband/

[quinnox]

9. I agree. Fuck NATO. Its a relic at this point.

[Catherina]

14. A dangerous animal desperately seeking a reason to continue existing n/t

[2banon]

66. Chomsky strikes at the heart of the matter...

Chomsky delivers the facts of the matter in this bit here:

Nevertheless he agreed, but there was a quid pro quo, namely that NATO should not expand to the East, so Russia would at least have a kind of security zone. And George Bush and then-Secretary of State James Baker agreed that NATO would not expand one inch to the East. Gorbachev also proposed a nuclear free weapons zone in the region, but the US wouldn’t consider that. I don’t think they even replied to the proposal. So that was it, no more Soviet Union – game over.

So what did the Bush administration do? They issued a defense strategy document that effectively said that the real threat was actually the advanced technological level of third world countries and the need to preserve the superiority of the US technological military industrial base, problems not attributable to the Kremlin. So suddenly the original threat turns out to be a lie and it is business as usual for NATO.

All the faux surprise and hand wringing regarding Moscow's annexing Crimea (and potentially other eastern regions in the possible future) manufacturing outrage and revisionism of history and willfully ignoring East-West AGREEMENTS, specifically regarding NATO encroachment on Russian borders, defies all meaning of intellectual honesty and borders on pathological disillusionment... The quintessential underpinnings of "American Exceptionalism", imo.

[Catherina]

69. +1 Gorbachev should have consulted with the native Americans who got the same kind of promises

The faux surprise is too laughable.

NATO wants a theatre of war for its troops. Russia is being surrounded by missile sites so who in their right mind could expect Russia to stand back and see the Crimea and the warm water port fall into NATO hands.

Please correct me if I am wrong. In 1959, there was a revolution on a small island to the south of Florida that's close enough to our borders but quite a bit further than the distance from Ukraine to Russia. It was an indigenous revolt without foreign aid against a brutal dictator who was the best forever friend of the US elite.

There was no American minority community threatened by the Cuban revolution. Correct me if I am wrong but didn't the US arm and sponsor and logistically and financially and militarily support an armed invasion of Cuba? Didn't the US impose an embargo which has lasted 65 years even though Cuba has never threatened America or Americans? Wasn't there a UN vote 188 to 2 (US and Israel opposing) calling for an end to this economic war against Cuba?

The faux surprise and neo indignation leaves me colder than an ice cube.

No one in Russia can vent his anger over NATO's eastward expansion quite as vehemently as Viktor Baranez. The popular columnist with the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda ("Komsomol Truth&quot , which has a readership of millions, is fond of railing against the "insidious and reckless" Western military alliance. Russia, Baranez writes, must finally stop treating NATO as a partner.

Baranez, a retired colonel who was the Defense Ministry's spokesman under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, asks why Russia should even consider joint maneuvers after being deceived by the West. NATO, he writes, "has pushed its way right up to our national borders with its guns." He also argues that, in doing so, NATO has broken all the promises it made during the process of German reunification.

...

In an interview with SPIEGEL at his residence outside Moscow in early November, President Dmitry Medvedev complained that when the Berlin Wall came down, it had "not been possible to redefine Russia's place in Europe." What did Russia get? "None of the things that we were assured, namely that NATO would not expand endlessly eastwards and our interests would be continuously taken into consideration," Medvedev said.

...

On Feb. 10, 1990, between 4 and 6:30 p.m., Genscher spoke with Shevardnadze. According to the German record of the conversation, which was only recently declassified, Genscher said: "We are aware that NATO membership for a unified Germany raises complicated questions. For us, however, one thing is certain: NATO will not expand to the east." And because the conversion revolved mainly around East Germany, Genscher added explicitly: "As far as the non-expansion of NATO is concerned, this also applies in general."

...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-s-eastward-expansion-did-the-west-break-its-promise-to-moscow-a-663315.html

From Spiegel Online, dated November 26, 2009: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-s-eastward-expansion-did-the-west-break-its-promise-to-moscow-a-663315-2.html

What the US secretary of state said on Feb. 9, 1990 in the magnificent St. Catherine’s Hall at the Kremlin is beyond dispute. There would be, in (James) Baker’s words, “no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east,” provided the Soviets agreed to the NATO membership of a unified Germany. Moscow would think about it, Gorbachev said, but added: “any extension of the zone of NATO is unacceptable.”

Now, 20 years later, Gorbachev is still outraged when he is asked about this episode. "One cannot depend on American politicians," he told SPIEGEL. Baker, for his part, now offers a different interpretation of what he said in 1990, arguing that he was merely referring to East Germany, which was to be given a special status in the alliance -- nothing more.

[2banon]

77. Dishonoring treaties and agreements not to mention the contemptible hypocrisy...

Yes, Gorbachev should have consulted with Native Americans before signing on to any agreement with the U.S. indeed, given our flagrant disregard for dishonoring them.

Now, 20 years later, Gorbachev is still outraged when he is asked about this episode. "One cannot depend on American politicians," he told SPIEGEL. Baker, for his part, now offers a different interpretation of what he said in 1990, arguing that he was merely referring to East Germany, which was to be given a special status in the alliance -- nothing more.

[sabrina 1]

81. And now the world is pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of our claims. Something that

Last edited Sun Mar 30, 2014, 06:08 PM - Edit history (1)

normal people predicted would happen if we did not clean up our own act. And we are whining about it as if it wasn't true.

If you want to stand on the moral high ground above all others, you need to be able to get there before you start preaching from that pinnacle you cannot reach unless you get there first. We are not even halfway to that platform and it's odd that anyone thought we could fool the world who was watching our behavior in shock.

[Catherina]

89. Beautiful post but disagree on "not even halfway". We haven't even begun

WE still have 154 prisoners being held without charge and going mad at our illegal detention center in Guantanamo Bay. The Iraqis, Afghans, Yemenis, Pakistanis etc are still mourning their dead- without even a whiff of an apology, just chest-thumping historical revisions between drone attacks killing more innocent people. We're a long way from the most minimum requirement of an apology to our victims and to the world.

There's no excuse for doubling down on the criminal Bush audacity. Point away world.

[bvar22]

64. NATO has become nothing more that the "Enforcement Arm" of the GLobal Banks and the IMF.

Disaster Capitalism at its ugliest.
What "NATO" did in Libya should remove ALL doubt about who NATO works for:

” For all his dictatorial megalomania, Gaddafi is a committed pan-African - a fierce defender of African unity. Libya was not in debt to international bankers. It did not borrow cash from the International Monetary Fund for any "structural adjustment". It used oil money for social services - including the Great Man Made River project, and investment/aid to sub-Saharan countries. Its independent central bank was not manipulated by the Western financial system. All in all a very bad example for the developing world.”

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD27Ak01.html

If you do NOT have a current "disaster",
NATO will be glad to create one!

[Catherina]

71. +1 You really have to admire the diabolicalness of it.

They tax us, take our money to pour into the MIC that functions as the "enforcement arm" of the IMF. They tax us, take our money to put into the IMF so the IMF can go into countries and privatize resources that the 1% buys for a pittance, the same 1% that slithers out of paying its taxes.

The US gets 18% of the total vote at the IMF now with Japan running a FAR second at 6.5%.

We, we whose schools are falling apart, whose poor are sleeping out in the cold as families have a harder time paying bills, are financing 18% of that monster (and that's not enough! They want to raise it. Just last year, they started pushing to shift $63 billion we loaned to the IMF in 2009 into the IMF’s general account because someone who wants more voting power promised to double our normal contributions. They failed to push it through but they'll keep trying. No one asked me. Did anyone ask you? Did anyone ask Detroit?

Detroit's being foolish right now. They should hold a referendum, secede from the US and beg Ukraine to annex them so they can get a little of OUR cash instead of the rotten deal they got of 100% Austerity.

It's all so diabolical.

[2banon]

84. and we have the willfully ignorant supporters of these policies in the party that's supposed

be about our interests, advancing socio-economic and equality policies and legislation in repairing and building a better, more equitable society here. it's so beyond outrageous, beyond disturbing, it is indeed diabolical.

[Catherina]

90. They've gone beyond being parodies in an ever shrinking circle jerk n/t

[Maedhros]

78. +1 [n/t]

[nationalize the fed]

4. YAEP

Yet Another Excellent Post k/r

You are better than all of the cable "reporters" put together (which is a disgusting image)

Thanks for what you do!

[Catherina]

10. Read the 2 KOS diaries in post 3. Stupid me, I really thought it was just pre-election censorship

and paid no attention to the headline until I saw read the posts in an LBN thread and couldn't believe what I was reading.

Turkey blocks access to YouTube after leaked recordings of key security meeting

Thanks for your gracious words and welcome to DU

[KoKo]

6. Recommend!...thanks...hadn't seen this anywhere...

Will have to catch up tomorrow..

[Catherina]

12. It's like the Ashton and Nuland tapes. Not getting any exposure by our corrupt MSM

and what little exposure the Nuland tape got was reduced to "Nuland said a naughty word about the EU". I don't believe the Ashton tape was reported in our MSM.

[KoKo]

24. Exactly...I saw some mumbling on Bloomberg Business about Turkey blocking Twitter

and then You Tube...but they made it sound like it was a human rights blunder that would harm business. I think they might have mentioned the Elections but...it was sort of lost in dialog.

Yep...Its how they trivialize and deflect serious coverage.

[Catherina]

73. Same here. This is the most blatant and shameful example I've witnessed n/t

[Oilwellian]

11. The neocons in State & Defense are throbbing for war in Syria and Iran

Thanks to their manipulations in Ukraine, they just succeeded at nixing Obama and Putin's working together to ease tensions in both of those countries. We are now inching toward these motherfuckers wet dreams. Obama better wake up and get control of these neocons before they destroy his precious legacy.

[Catherina]

13. That was one of their goals but I'm not letting neolibs off the hook

The neocons have plenty of help on this one.

Kerry and Obama promoted Victoria Nuland to Assistant Secretary of State after Hillary brought her in to the State Department as a spokeswoman in 2011. Obama appointed Nuland's husband, PNAC co-founder Robert Kagan, to the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board. You can see Kagan's happy, smiling face here: http://www.state.gov/s/p/fapb/185585.htm I watched the video of Vicktoria's appointment to Asst Sec in 2013. Her whole PNAC family was there, even good old Fred Kagan who's working at the American Enterprise Institute, they guy who wrote the 2007 "surge" for Bush.

WHY?

Transcript here: http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rm/2013/nov/217560.htm (Transatlantic Renaissance, TTIP, energy, Russia, "LNG terminals, new pipelines and interconnectors, shale gas and nuclear power", "historic moment for Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia", grab a barf bag if you listen)

[Oilwellian]

16. You make a very good point

And yes, the video was vomit inducing. I'm surprised Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush weren't in the crowd as well.

[Catherina]

17. Well.... McCain was there to represent them.

I'm going to listen to it again tomorrow. It was too much for tonight. Sorry I imposed it on you so late at night.

[dreamnightwind]

46. Fred Kagan is her husband's brother

The guy who wrote the surge at AEI is her brother-in-law er Wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan

Thanks for the heads-up on her and her husband, I hadn't put this together. Wow, that's not good at all, very disappointing.

Also thanks for this OP, fascinating.

[Catherina]

49. No, not good at all

It explains why McCain is front and center, trotting around to the same hotspots making all sorts of promises, too.

DUer Koko tried to sound the bell about Nuland. Koko's post was where I got my head's up

Thursday, 19 May 2011
The strange appointment of Victoria Nuland as State Department Spokesperson
By Patricia H. Kushlis

Update: 7/12/2013 - Toria grilled about Benghazi role at Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing today for her next high level position: Assistant Secretary of State for Europe
.
Is Hillary asleep at the switch? What is going on here?

Earlier this week, Josh Rogin at FP and Eric Martin at Progressive Realist both flagged the curious appointment of Victoria Nuland as the next State Department Spokesperson to fill P.J. Crowley’s shoes.

Martin questions whether this has foreign policy implications, in particular the replacement of an anti-torture appointee with someone who served as Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice President Cheney.

Rogin doesn’t directly raise potential administration policy shifts but does point out that once upon a time Nuland was Strobe Talbott’s Chief of Staff when he was Deputy Secretary of State during the Clinton Administration and that Talbott had thought very highly of her at the time and still does. In fact, he, according to Rogin, praised her to the hilt in an interview about the pending appointment. So the seemingly amoral Nuland, we’re led to believe, can and will do anyone’s bidding and do it well – in short, a consummate career diplomat.

Why?

But why would Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration agree to appoint to this politically sensitive position someone who willingly served such a controversial figure in supporting and implementing the “war on terror” and all the baggage that comes with it? Furthermore, how reliable is a Talbott reference anyway? After all, I understand that he just helped his friend Robert Kagan, Nuland’s neocon husband, get a job at Brookings and Talbott is also a friend of neocon writer Marc Gerecht, the husband of Diane Zeleny who also just latched onto a likely sweetheart deal sort of appointment as Head of External Relations and Congressional Affairs at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). Whether Zeleny deserves or is qualified for the position or not.

From what I know about the Department, an FSO doesn’t just get detailed to the staff of a highly charged and ideological Vice President unless that detailee agrees to follow the boss’s dictates. Cheney’s were all too often forceful and odious. Furthermore, does anyone really think that Cheney –with his penchant for super loyalty and secrecy - would have ever accepted Nuland (or anyone else) for the position without some kind of loyalty test?
Surely the State Department under Hillary Clinton could have found equally (or likely even better) qualified career candidates who do not carry Nuland’s political baggage.

Behind the scenes trade off?
......Continued at the Link.....

http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2011/05/the-strange-appointment-of-victoria-nuland-as-states-spokesperson.html

Taken from http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024461021#post2

Thanks for being interested

[2banon]

85. Indeed! I appreciate certain metaphors used here. :)

It's pretty astonishing to see Obama moving in lock stop, arm in arm with the Neo-Cons and their agenda.

[Catherina]

91. Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't pick up on that until ur post. +1000 for those metaphors! n/t

[Catherina]

18. The NYT. Decent report lacking details though

Recordings, Posted Online, Rattle Officials in Turkey

By TIM ARANGO
March 27, 2014

ISTANBUL — If any meeting was meant to be private, it was this one: the top spy chief, the foreign minister and his deputy, and a top military official discussing secret plans for possible military action in Syria.

But in Turkey little, it seems, is beyond the skills of those who have been wiretapping and bugging the conversations of high-level officials and releasing the recordings on social media.

On Thursday morning, a recording was posted on YouTube in which the officials were heard discussing a plot to establish a justification for military strikes in Syria. One option that is said to have been discussed was orchestrating an attack on the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, which is in northern Syria and is considered by the government here to be Turkish territory.

By Thursday afternoon, the Foreign Ministry building in Ankara, Turkey’s capital — where the secret meeting was held — was being swept for surreptitious listening devices, and the government had moved to block access to YouTube, just a week after a similar ban on Twitter, which has also been a conduit for the leaking of documents and telephone conversations.

The government, citing national security concerns, also banned news coverage of the contents of the meeting, and officials have suggested that a broader crackdown on the Internet may be coming.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/world/europe/high-level-leaks-rattle-turkey-officials.html

How cute. A little lapdog destroying the very freedoms we're apparently trying to bestow upon the poor Syrian people.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. K & R for another excellent post.

I doubt turkey did this all on their own.

[Catherina]

30. I highly doubt so too. If they had, it would be on he front page of every single paper

with huge screaming headlines. Instead we get petty stories of "Youtube banned before elections" and another illegal plan for a war of aggression kicked off with a false flag attack blamed on al-Qaeda is distorted and suppressed.

[dipsydoodle]

20. Turkish journalist detained over leak of key Syria meeting

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government was caught planning a false flag attack on ISIL rebels in Syria according to audio recordings (with translation) released today on YouTube. Erdogan warned Syria that any attacks on the shrine to an 11th century religious figure revered by Turks would cause a military response by Turkey. The shrine is located just inside Syria on the border with Turkey. There are no reports that any party in Syria has attacked the shrine. (Syrian False Flag, Mar 24)

A false flag operation could mobilized much needed support for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is facing major challenges in March 30 local elections. Since December 17, audio tapes of secret wiretaps exposed criminal behavior by Erdogan and his cronies. The PM's response has been varied but a clue to the desperation came when Erdogan said that he would be vindicated of all charges when his party received an endorsement from the people in the elections, now just days away.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343357-turkish-journalist-detained-over-leak-of-key-syria-meeting.html

See also :

Proof of Turkish False Flag

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government was caught planning a false flag attack on ISIL rebels in Syria according to audio recordings (with translation) released today on YouTube. Erdogan warned Syria that any attacks on the shrine to an 11th century religious figure revered by Turks would cause a military response by Turkey. The shrine is located just inside Syria on the border with Turkey. There are no reports that any party in Syria has attacked the shrine. (Syrian False Flag, Mar 24)

A false flag operation could mobilized much needed support for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is facing major challenges in March 30 local elections. Since December 17, audio tapes of secret wiretaps exposed criminal behavior by Erdogan and his cronies. The PM's response has been varied but a clue to the desperation came when Erdogan said that he would be vindicated of all charges when his party received an endorsement from the people in the elections, now just days away.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Proof-of-Turkish-False-Fla-by-Michael-Collins-False-Flag-Attacks_Recep-Tayyip-Erdogan_Syria-Revolution_Turkey-140327-815.html

[Catherina]

31. lists of "suspects", including well-known journalists, are already ready and mass arrests coming

From your first link

Investigative journalist Önder Aytaç, a former official in Police Academy, has been detained late Friday over allegations that he might had information about the bugging of the top secret meeting in which high-level officials were discussing options regarding Syria.

...

However, the way the journalist was detained led to questions over the motive behind the detention. Pro-government journalist Cem Küçük has claimed that the lists of "suspects", including well-known journalists, were already ready and mass arrests would be carried out. Regarding government's critics and opponents, he said everybody will reap what they sowed.

In the hours following the detention of Aytaç, unconfirmed reports said two more journalists and a former head of İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit have also been detained. Journalists Nazlı Ilıcak and Mehmet Baransu, both outspoken critics of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, were taken into custody after an overnight operation, unconfirmed reports said.

Officials have yet to make a statement on the developments.

...

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343357-turkish-journalist-detained-over-leak-of-key-syria-meeting.html

Thanks!

[Judi Lynn]

21. Kicking for reading later today. Thanks for bringing so much information. It's all important. n/t

[bemildred]

22. I've been wondering when Erdogan would try to create a distraction.

He must be getting near the end of his rope.

[woo me with science]

23. K&R

[woo me with science]

25. kick

[darkangel218]

26. Im not surprised.

Theyve always been shady like that.

[Comrade Grumpy]

27. Meanwhile, the US is ratcheting up its own war on Syria

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/132287/obama-in-riyadh-ready-to-expand-covert-aid-to-syrian-opposition

[Catherina]

43. At the same time another NATO country is busted discussing a false flag operation

Coincidence? I think not.

[JackRiddler]

28. Re: Media, missing the story as usual...

Just like the coverage of the leaked recording of Victoria Nuland discussing State Department support for a coup in Ukraine. The media didn't talk about that but...

Only in the reality-show world of the mass media is it a story that Nuland in passing happened to say, "Fuck the E.U." (oooh, how terrible!).

Should the U.S. have supported the coup in Ukraine?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024734895

[Catherina]

48. Great point. But missing or suppressing?

The people talking on the tape are

The Head of The Turkish Intelligence Agency, of a NATO country
THe Turkish Undersecretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, of a NATO country
The Turkish Foreign Minister, of a NATO country
The Deputy Chief of Staff for the Turkish Prime Minister, of a NATO country

The people talking on the two Ukraine tapes were

Vicortia Nuland, US Assistant Secretary of State
Geoffrey Pyatt , current United States Ambassador to Ukraine

Catherina Ashton, EU foreign affairs chief
Urmas Paet, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia

Result 1 > twitter and youtube ban
Result 2 > Fuck the EU
Result 3 > silence


It takes a lot of blindness to miss that much.

[malaise]

29. I'm shocked I tell you

NOT!

[Catherina]

32. FOX News (#Fail)): " Jihadist threat against sacred Turkish tomb threatens to widen Syria's war"

Complete with pictures of the so-called terrorists and two professors distorting things. "Al Qaeda-linked fighters would be foolish to carry out their threat", "They would be nuts to attack the hand that feeds them".

Jihadist threat against sacred Turkish tomb threatens to widen Syria's war
Published March 28, 2014



A man who has been dead for nearly 800 years could be the catalyst that draws Turkey into Syria’s bloody civil war.

Jihadists who poured into Syria to help the Free Syrian Army only to turn on them, have threatened to attack the sacred tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The tomb is located inside Syria, in the border city of Aleppo, but the site is considered Turkish territory under a near century-old treaty.

"There is now a threat to that shrine; there are 25 Turkish soldiers currently there and the Turkish government takes this threat seriously because it is Turkish territory," Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar for the Carnegie Europe institute, told Voice of America.

...

Jenny White, Professor of Anthropology at Boston University and currently Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Stockholm Institute for Turkish Studies, told FoxNews.com the Turkish government "also has an interest in a firefight to defend the tomb just before Sunday's local elections.

"A wiretap of a conversation between high level officials was recently leaked in which they discussed the usefulness of such an attack to boost election results, causing public outrage."

....

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/28/jihadist-threat-against-sacred-turkish-tomb-threatens-to-widen-syria-war/

Jenny White should be stripped of her professorship for such blatant distortions.

[WillyT]

33. K & R !!!

[Catherina]

34. (Saturday) Syria Urges UN Probe into Audio Leak of Turkey Plot

Sat Mar 29, 2014
Syria Urges UN Probe into Audio Leak of Turkey Plot


TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian envoy called on the United Nations to investigate a leaked file containing discussions by top Turkish authorities on how to stage a false-flag operation to justify invasion of Damascus.

"I’d like to refer once again to this audio tape leak by the Turkish foreign minister and the deputy chief of staff of the Turkish army," Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari said on Friday, adding that the Turkish officials talked about the attack by "sending a terrorist group inside the Syrian territory", Al-Alam reported.

"And then this group is supposed to launch eight missiles within the Turkish territory and it would be a justification for further Turkish aggression against Syria," the Syrian envoy stated.

He also denounced some members of the UN Security Council and its secretariat for refusing to hear the truth about the situation in Syria, saying those countries themselves are "deeply involved" in "spreading terrorism" across the Arab country.

...

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930109000129

[bemildred]

36. Good catch. I wondering why they started blathering on about that tomb all of a sudden.

[Catherina]

39. I read comments from many Turkish people who said they never even heard of this tomb

until the government started 'educating" them about this threat and how valuable this tomb was to their heritage. That valuable lol? I didn't even notice until afterwards. Where did you catch all the blathering?

[bemildred]

41. I knew it was some form of bullshit.

I just didn't know he was desperate enough to start a war. Now we know. And getting in bed with the Neocons, Oh my. What a fool. They should throw his ass out now, or throw Turkey out of NATO if they don't. (Not being realistic, I suppose.)

[Catherina]

52. I agree, they should but they won't

A whole Pandora's box would be opened up.

Imagine if this had been Russia plotting a false flag operation

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. Good. It looks like Turkey may have its own Snowden doing what's right.

[bemildred]

38. We are all Snowdens now. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell

[Catherina]

53. +1 All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way.

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
George Orwell

[Catherina]

42. Erdogan blames the opposition. I'm closer to you. I think a new front in cyberwarfare has opened

Between all the little Snowdens, Anonymous, wikileaks efforts, I think something new is happening and the powers that be have no clue how to deal with it. The gap between the politicians and the people is so wide now that something's gotta give.

[bemildred]

45. They are going to throw more people and money at the "problem".

I am tempted to wise them up about the likely results of that, but I really don't want to, and they aren't ready to listen yet anyway.

[Catherina]

56. Lol!

You crack me up bemildred, in a good way.

[bvar22]

67. And THAT^ is what it will take to behead the Hydra....

Individual HEROES who will Do the Right Thing despite the consequences.

In the 2002 off year elections,
Paul Wellstone was in a neck & neck race for his Senate seat with Republican Norm Coleman.
Minneapolis & St Paul was overwhelmed with BIG NAME Republican Campaign Fund raisers for the Republicans including sitting President Bush and Dick Cheney (numerous times) for Norm Coleman.
As usual, Paul Wellstone was On-his-Own.
No Big Name Democratic celebrities were showing up in Minnesota to help out Paul Wellstone,
like the BIG Dog did for conservative Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas.

The vote for the Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq was scheduled in late October,
just a couple of weeks before the November election,
and ALL the Talking Heads and "Political Advisers" had told Paul that if he voted "NO",
he could kiss his Senate Seat goodbye.

Paul Wellstone thought it over....and voted NO! to giving Bush permission to invade Iraq.
Believing the election was lost, the next day he had a meeting with his campaign workers at his HQ on University Avenue in St Paul,and he explained:
[font size=3]"Sometimes you just have to DO the right thing despite the consequences."[/font]

The odd thing is that the next week, Wellstone surged ahead in the polls,
even in conservative areas of Minnesota. Apparently, most Americans support people who tell the truth,
and STAND UP for their beliefs!

Unfortunately, Paul and his wife were killed in a plan crash a week later.


disclaimer:
I was a Campaign Worker for Paul Wellstone in 2002. I frequented the University Ave HQ in St Paul, but I was not there the night that Paul made this statement,
nor was I there the night that Paul disclosed that Dick Cheney had made threats against his person and family in October before the IRW vote.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x973521

My statements about what Paul Wellstone said that night in St Paul Minnesota ARE hearsay from trusted Campaign Workers who attended that session, but I have NO DOUBT that Paul explained his vote EXACTLY that way.
Remember, that day, we ALL thought his Senate seat was LOST.
It was only a couple of days later that the polls showed he was surging coming into the election.
...and then.... he was killed.


[font color=firebrick size=3][center]"Sometimes, You just have to do the Right Thing!"
--- Paul Wellstone[/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]

[font size=3 color=firebrick]Solidarity with ALL the Wellstones & Snowdens who have the courage to Do-the-Right thing despite the consequences![/font]

[2banon]

68. I didn't know Cheney made a direct threat against Wellstone.

I assumed he and his family's death was a hit job... but I never there were actual, direct threats. Of course there's "no evidence" so nothing to see here but a terrible accident, just a coinky dinky.

[bvar22]

70. It is all hearsay,

I was THERE on the Wellstone campaign in Minnesota,
and I personally heard a restatement of what Paul said that night from trusted Campaign Workers BEFORE Wellstone was killed.

There are other sources on the Internet.
I believe it to be absolutely TRUE.

If anyone cares to challenge me,
I will be glad to provide documentation that I was in St Paul,
and working for the Wellstone campaign in 2002 when Wellstone was killed.

In my heart, I believe that "they" Took him OUT.
The NTSB reported no evidence of "sabotage",
and many "accidents" happen in exactly that kind of weather,
but I also can't deny that it is very possible to take out a light plane without "evidence of sabotage".

This is one of the very few incidents in my life that has made me wish that Life After Death is REAL,
because I would REALLY like to know for sure.

[Catherina]

37. wsws: "Turkish officials plan false-flag attacks to create pretext for war with Syria"

Turkish officials plan false-flag attacks to create pretext for war with Syria
By Alex Lantier
29 March 2014

In a devastating exposure of the criminality of the US-led proxy war in Syria, Turkish officials have been caught planning an attack on their own forces to manufacture a pretext to attack Syria.

...

The leak is an unanswerable indictment of the war on Syria led by Washington and the European powers. Recklessly arming Islamist opposition militias linked to Al Qaeda in a semi-covert dirty war for regime-change in Damascus, the Western powers have devastated Syria and created fertile ground for the type of provocations exposed by the leak.

The leak provides evidence of a conspiracy to attack a state that has not attacked Turkey—implicating Turkey, a NATO member state, in crimes against peace, a violation of international law for which Nazi officials were hanged at Nuremburg after World War II.

In this, the conduct of the Erdogan regime is not substantially different from that of the leading NATO powers. A decade after Washington launched the 2003 war in Iraq based on lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, it tried to launch a war with Syria based on false claims that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons. NATO powers nearly attacked Syria on this pretext last September, even though similar accusations in May had fallen apart when UN officials stated that the poison gas had been used by the US-backed opposition.

...

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/03/29/turk-m29.html

[randome]

44. Belgium has a king. Belgium is a member of NATO. Therefore, NATO is to blame!

Your ridiculous attempts to link everything of the Western world to evil shenanigans are...well, ridiculous. Especially when you continue to link to RT to 'prove' your various cases.

We get it. You don't like the United States. But implying that everything Turkey does is a reflection on us is tiresome and unworthy of the time it takes to post all this crap.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[ProSense]

50. These threads are

nothing but conspiracy theories based on propaganda.

I mean, every report from American media is suspect

"Look at this deceitful, minimized, nothing-to-see-here reporting from CNN"

"Our entire MSM is whistling the same tune with little variation. "

"The NYT. Decent report lacking details though (and on the report: How cute. A little lapdog destroying the very freedoms we're apparently trying to bestow upon the poor Syrian people.) "

...but every report from sites that are less than credible is presented as evidence.

Above, Kerry swearing Victoria Nuland is somehow proof of Obama and Kerry's collusion with Turkey.

A link to a Daily Kos post where the diarist isn't even sure what s/he's interpreting, and most of the comments are dismissing it as unsubstantiated is also part of the justification.

It's simply stringing together stuff found on the Internet to justify a narrative while dismissing actual reporting for leaving out the conspiracy.

[randome]

51. The ditto-heads cackling and congratulating themselves for seeing through the illusion.

Women’s status in Poland: a permanent crisis
http://www.socialwatch.org/node/11595

Poland is a member of NATO so: Thanks, Obama! NATO!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[JI7]

58. it's typical conspiracy theory BS

[joshcryer]

80. Basically.

[randome]

47. Hungary clamping down on media freedom and human rights, report says

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/16/hungary_clamping_down_on_media_freedom_and_human_rights_report_says.htm

Hungary is a member of NATO so: Thanks, Obama! NATO!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[woo me with science]

54. kick

[Catherina]

55. US Dept of State responds:“In terms of the alleged recordings, just aren't going to have any comment

UN against further militarization of conflict in Syria

29.03.2014 09:42:13

...

The United States, however, refrained from directly commenting on the leaked voice recording. During a daily press conference on Thursday, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said she would not comment on the alleged recordings and the tomb of Süleyman Şah.

“In terms of the alleged recordings, just aren't going to have any comment on those. I haven't heard them, I don't speak Turkish, and don't have much of a comment on those … and on the religious site that you keep asking about, again, don't have any details on any of that to share with you,” she said.

On a question noting that Davutoğlu had mentioned his conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the recording and said Kerry had asked whether Turkey had made a decision about this religious site, Harf said, “Again, I'm not going to comment on this alleged recording that's a third-hand rumor about something Secretary Kerry's alleged to have said.”

Although reporters at the conference tried hard to get a direct remark from the US official on the recording over Turkey's incursion into Syria, she avoided saying anything on the issue.

A reporter asked about the US's position over a “likely Turkish intervention in Syria” against ISIL to which Harf briefly said, “I'm not going to guess in a hypothetical situation about what our position might be.”

...

http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/UN-against-further-militarization-of-conflict-in-Syria_4205-CHMTM4NDIwNS80

[sabrina 1]

101. I guess the State Department doesn't have translators? Lots of people in the US could

help in that regard.

Pretty embarrassing that they have no comment, no plans apparently to verify the recordings and condemn such a crime being planned by a NATO country.

But just imagine if this was Russia! Lol, there would OUTRAGE! And they would have plenty of comments, round the clock comments.

But this is how it is when there are no real principles involved. The OUTRAGE and SHOCK becomes extremely selective. And the public notices and loses all faith in all governments. Which is the polls show a total lack of confidence in our own Congress.

[Catherina]

105. Yeah, if it was Russia, we'd never hear the end of this story.

24/7, front page everywhere, and all the usual suspects lining up with huge boulders to stone Russia.

I don't think they respect us enough to care that the polls show a total lack of confidence in our own Congress because they feel firmly ensconced in their positions. And whenever a decent challenger comes along who has a chance of unseating a corporate Congressperson, out come the big guns or you get a replay of the Dean scream 24/7. Hillary cared enough that the "US is losing the propaganda war" because people felt like they were getting real news when they watched Al-Jazeera and RT, which she watches, that she got how many millions to escalate our worldwide propaganda war a few years ago. The trouble with her approach is that our media can't report real news. They trip too much over themselves trying to package it according to the government's narrative and pretend there are any principles involved but give the lady a cigar for trying.

It's their own doing that the public has a total lack of confidence. Now if only they cared to do something more than slapping new lipstick on a pig.

Mar. 2, 2011

Hillary Clinton was defending her department budget in front of the U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities committee this morning on C-Span.

She says a major reason the State Department needs money is because "we are in an information war and we are losing that war."

Clinton said private media is not good enough to handle the job: "Our private media cannot fill that gap. Our private media, particularly cultural programming often works at counter purposes to what we truly are as Americans. I remember having an Afghan general tell me that the only thing he thought about Americans is that all the men wrestled and the women walked around in bikinis because the only TV he ever saw was Baywatch and World Wide Wrestling."

Meanwhile she says Al-Jazeera, CCTV and Russia Today are killing it: "Al Jazeera is winning. The Chinese have opened up a global English language and multi-language television network, the Russians have opened up an English language network. I've seen it in a couple of countries and it's quite instructive."

...

http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-al-jazeera-2011-3

LOL! How about reporting real news for a change?

[Catherina]

57. US Dept of State, Daily Press Briefing- 'No comment'

US Dept of State, Daily Press Briefing, March 27, 2014

....

QUESTION: About the content of this last YouTube ban – it’s about the religious site and the likelihood of any military intervention on Turkish side, to this religious site within Syria. I’m trying to get something from you since Thursday, and – but you keep being silent on this issue.

MS. HARF: You think today’s going to be your lucky day?

QUESTION: Because yesterday you said that you were going to check with your folks. Did you have any chance to look at this issue?

MS. HARF: Well, in terms of the alleged recordings, just aren’t going to have any comment on those. I haven’t heard them, I don’t speak Turkish, and don’t have much of a comment on those --

QUESTION: No, no, I’m --

MS. HARF: -- (a) – wait, I’m getting to (b) – and on the religious site that you keep asking about, again, don’t have any details on any of that to share with you. Again, I’m happy to keep checking, but just don’t have anything for you on that.

QUESTION: No, when you were asked about whether you are concerned about any Turkish military intervention in Syria, you said that you were happy to check with your folks. I mean, are you concerned about Turkish military intervention in Syria?

MS. HARF: I just don’t have anything more for you on this topic. I know this is all being based off alleged recordings that, again, I’m not going to comment on.

QUESTION: And also, this – another national security – turns into a national security issue for Turkey too, because it was very high-level – I mean, confidential meeting that they took regarding Syria, and they leaked the voice records of this meeting.

MS. HARF: Again, I have no idea if this has been tampered with. I have no idea where it came from. Again, I haven’t heard it, and I don’t speak Turkish, and I don’t want to comment on a recording that I have no idea the origin of it, and where there’s a lot of things on it I’m just not going to comment on.

QUESTION: Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s talking about his conversation with Secretary Kerry too in that meeting, and according to the – Mr. Foreign Minister, Secretary Kerry asked whether Turks made a decision about this religious site or not.

MS. HARF: Again, I’m not going to comment on this alleged recording that’s a third-hand rumor about something Secretary Kerry’s alleged to have said. I’m just not going to.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/03/224055.htm

US Dept of State, Daily Press Briefing, March 28, 2014

QUESTION: According to reports in Turkey, the Foreign Minister Mr. Davutoglu planned a provocative act inside Syria so Turkey has the excuse to invade Syria. Do you want to comment on this?

MS. HARF: Are you referring to an alleged phone conversation?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS. HARF: As I said yesterday, I don’t have anything for you on alleged calls or conversations that are out there among Turkish officials.

QUESTION: Yeah, but Mr. Davutoglu --

MS. HARF: It’s not for me to comment.

QUESTION: But Mr. Davutoglu said that the tape is genuine.

MS. HARF: Again, not for me to comment on those allegations that are out there.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/03/224104.htm

[2banon]

59. Outstanding report and analysis Catherina

[Catherina]

62. Thank you. I appreciate your support and the support of the other respected recommenders.

[Catherina]

60. Reuters: Turkey begins espionage investigation after Syria leak

Turkey begins espionage investigation after Syria leak
Sat Mar 29, 2014

(Reuters) - Turkey has started an espionage investigation after a discussion between top officials on potential military action in Syria was leaked on YouTube, heralding a possible government crackdown on its political opponents after elections on Sunday.

The recording of the meeting between Turkey's intelligence chief, foreign minister and deputy head of the military was by far the most serious breach in weeks of highly sensitive leaks, a scandal which Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has cast as a plot to sabotage the state and topple him.

...

CNN Turk meanwhile reported Erdogan's lawyers asked prosecutors to take precautionary measures to stop both Aytac and Emre Uslu, a newspaper columnist, academic and former senior anti-terrorism police official, from fleeing abroad.

Aytac said in a statement on the Hizmet-affiliated Samanyolu news website that he had been asked whether he was a spy and how he had known so much about the content of the leaked recording, after he discussed it on a television program.

...

Today's Zaman, a newspaper close to the network, said on Saturday Erdogan had filed legal complaints against its editor and deputy editor, as well as its contributors Aytac and Uslu and a former Istanbul police intelligence chief.

...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/29/us-turkey-election-idUSBREA2R12X20140329

[ProSense]

61. So now the MSM is good?

That's a report about the leak and Turkey's inevestigation. There are numerous reports about the leak, Turkey's crackdown on You Tube and Twitter. There are reports about the U.S. condemning those actions.

This thread is about trying to link the U.S. to Turkey's actions using conspiracy and propaganda.

[randome]

65. Shh. She's busy responding to a post by Catherina.

Oh. Wait. Never mind.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Catherina]

63. Turkey prohibits news coverage, reporting, commentary etc... of the recently released recordings

Some Updates on Recent Events in Turkey

by InAntalya

...

The Recording

The Radio and Television Supreme Council of the Turkish Government has issued two press releases regarding the prohibition of coverage of the recently released recording.

The first, dated March 27, 2014 at 6:30pm, describes how the Turkish Prime Minister or his deputy can prohibit broadcasts under Turkish law when necessary for national security reasons. It then goes on to state that an order prohibiting the broadcast of the recording has been issued by Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç.

The Press Release (in Turkish): http://www.rtuk.org.tr/sayfalar/IcerikGoster.aspx?icerik_id=6cd3cd42-95e9-4364-84d6-e3bc21243f5b

The Deputy PM's order (in Turkish): http://www.rtuk.org.tr/upload/File/123bsn.pdf

The second, dated March 29, 2014 at 1:30pm, states that in accordance with a court order which cites national security, public order, and the protection of the government's security as its justifications, the council has prohibited all types of news, reporting, commentary, etc. about matters included in the scope of the investigation into the recording on all written, visual, and internet media.

The Press Release (in Turkish): http://www.rtuk.org.tr/sayfalar/IcerikGoster.aspx?icerik_id=ddc37cdc-626e-40ab-81ee-797dfbdebee1

The Court Order (in Turkish): http://www.rtuk.org.tr/upload/File/bsn29032014.pdf

...

Twitter and YouTube

Twitter is still impossible to access normally but can easily be accessed by using VPN.

...

It seems that all legal grounds for the Twitter ban have been overcome and/or overturned but Twitter is still banned.

YouTube is now generally not accessible by normal means, it seems that the ban is now fully in place, but YouTube can also be accessed by using VPN.

...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/29/1288193/-Thank-You-and-Some-Updates-on-Recent-Events-in-Turkey

[sabrina 1]

82. Too bad our ally over there cannot censor the World. So they were planning to attack themselves,

claim the Syrians did it, giving NATO the excuse they were looking to 'intervene', naturally for humanitarian purposes, to protect the civilians etc etc. Just like they did in Libya!

I wonder how many other false flag operations were carried out in Syria, certainly some of what happened there was suspect from the start.

Despicable, reprehensible and evil beyond belief. It is SICKENING that our government has not spoken out against this evil by now. They surely know about this.

And I keep wondering, who are the leakers? The should be given medals of honor for exposing this evil.

[Catherina]

93. It's sickening. The press complicity is even more sickening

so's the complicity of the enablers.

Whoever the leakers are, leak on guys! The gap between politicians and the people they claim to represent has grown so large that of course something's gotta give.

[bvar22]

72. WOW.

This thread reminds me of the OLD DU.
How NICE it is to be able to discuss REAL issues without the interruptions.

[Catherina]

74. Does it? Thank you bvar22. I think it's nice too n/t

[DireStrike]

87. Now that bvar22 mentions it...

This has all the hallmarks of classic DU. Wealth of information from multiple sources, information that has been buried or half-ignored in the press of infotainment. In fact I did see the article about Turkey banning Youtube, and just skipped right over it.

I only joined in 2003 or 04, so I only saw so much. But this kind of citizen journalism is what I hope to see when I click on a thread. Your effort is appreciated.

[Catherina]

92. Between the features to ignore certain posters and auto-trashing threads by keyword

DU is vastly improved. I highly recommend using those features to avoid getting bogged down in stupidity.

Thanks very much DireStrike!

[G_j]

99. it's another country,

I suppose that helps..

[Catherina]

75. "Turkey to scrutinise foreign office after espionage leak"... "everyone and everything"

Turkey to scrutinise foreign office after espionage leak

ISTANBUL
Saturday 29 March 2014

Turkey's foreign minister has vowed to investigate "everyone and everything" in his department after a meeting discussing military intervention in Syria was recorded and leaked online.

The breach occurred despite a recent purge of thousands of officials by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who accuses a covert network of enemies of sabotaging the state.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in whose office the security meeting took place, said "everyone and everything within the Foreign Ministry will be investigated with utmost scrutiny" - a measure of the alarm stirred by the tape and fear that others might follow.

"This is an act of ­espionage against the ­security of the state, it is audacity the like of which we have never seen before," said President Abdullah Gul, an ally of Mr Erdogan.

...

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/turkey-to-scrutinise-foreign-office-after-espionage-leak.23820830

[sabrina 1]

94. Looks like they were plotting a CRIME, and they have they have the nerve to ignore what was revealed

and try to hide it, then lash out at those who rightfully revealed it.

It says a lot that he had to get rid of thousands of people he didn't trust already. Let's hope some of his 'good friends' in the West will let him know that it isn't the whistle blowers who are the criminals, and remind him that if he 'nothing to hide he had nothing to fear'. Looks like he has an awful lot to fear though and I was just kidding about his friends in the West.

[Catherina]

96. An international crime for which past criminals were hung at Nuremberg

Think we'll ever see criminals like Cheney hung? Instead they walk free, their acolytes are in high government positions and the world is told to get over it, ignore all sorts of ongoing criminality, the historical revision that comes with it, and look forward.

Erdogan's telling his people the same thing today.

(Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in local polls that had become a referendum on his rule and said he would "enter the lair" of enemies who have accused him of corruption and leaked state secrets. "They will pay for this," he said.

Erdogan spoke from a balcony at his AK Party headquarters to thousands of cheering supporters as early results showed it winning some 44-46 percent of the vote, and the opposition CHP trailing with 23-28 percent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/30/us-turkey-election-idUSBREA2R12X20140330

[sabrina 1]

97. I was told on DU that there no rule of law for the Ruling Class and it is foolish of us to demand

equal treatment under the law. I was told that no US President will ever be charged with crimes, regardless of how obvious the crimes are.

All I can say about that is, if it's true then this country is not a democracy. If we are at the point where it is accepted that those in power are free to commit whatever crimes they wish, somewhere along the way a coup has taken place without our noticing.

Erdogan, and many of our other allies which include many dictators, apparently have received the same immunity from prosecution from somewhere.


Sad to see him winning that election. But I suppose if the people are not allowed to access the facts about him, what else can people expect.

I don't see outrage over his censoring his people in the Western media though.

At least we know for sure that if there IS an 'incident' involving Turkey giving NATO the excuse they want to go bomb yet another country, we will know where it came from. Just as we know where the 'incidents' that led to other interventions came from now.

[Catherina]

103. Pres Carter wins this one: "“America does not at the moment have a functioning democracy,”

We'll have to give this one to our courageous President Carter.

...

“America does not at the moment have a functioning democracy,” he said at an event in Atlanta on Tuesday sponsored by the Atlantik Bruecke, a private nonprofit association working to further the German-U.S. relationship. The association’s name is German for “Atlantic bridge.”

...

Carter’s remarks didn’t appear in the American mainstream press but were reported from Atlanta by the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, whose Washington correspondent Gregor Peter Schmitz said on Twitter he was present at the event. The story doesn’t appear in the English-language section of the Spiegel website and is only available in German.

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/18/jimmy_carter_us_has_no_functioning_democracy_partner/

The people saying we're foolish to demand "equal treatment under the law" are the same ones who defend American Exceptionalism and are working to make sure these despicable crimes can continue. It's a fine company we're keeping these days when lawbreakers in the US demand this form of protection. The hypocrisy, that this is one of the measures we use to paint rulers we don't like as "tyrants", is staggering.

The coup took place in 2000. I hope we have an administration one day that will undo that damage instead of enshrining Bush practices as SOP. Erdogan is a tyrant. The sooner he goes down, the better for the Turkish people and the rest of world he's working to drag into a war against Syria.

Turkish military fires into Syria after rocket hits mosque

ANKARA Mon Mar 31, 2014

(Reuters) - The Turkish military fired back into Syria on Monday in retaliation for mortar shells and a rocket from over the border that hit a mosque in the town of Yayladagi, the provincial governor's office and local media said.

Three mortar rounds landed on Turkish soil, fired during fighting between the Islamist rebels in Syria and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for control of the Armenian Christian village of Kasab, Turkey's Dogan News Agency said.

...

Since then, Assad has sent army and militia reinforcements, backed by air power, to repulse the rebels, leading to heavy fighting across the strip of territory along the Turkish border.

"Our artillery troops have fired back at the region from where the shots originated," the Hatay governor's office said in a statement on its website.

....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/us-syria-crisis-turkey-idUSBREA2U0X320140331

Yeah right, sure. The truth is much closer to this

Turkey accused of sending fighters to Syria
Damascus says Ankara sends foreign fighters to Syria to fight government troops.

Last updated: 31 Mar 2014 10:18

Syria's information minister has lashed out at Turkey, accusing Ankara of sending foreign fighters across the border to fight Syrian government troops in President Bashar Assad's ancestral homeland in Latakia province.

Omran al-Zoubi told the state TV on Sunday that neighbouring Turkey is facilitating the entry of "groups of foreigners, armed to their teeth" into Latakia, where fighting is raging between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters trying to oust Assad.

Recently, the Syrian government complained to the UN that Ankara was providing cover to rebels crossing the border to Syrian soil.
...

Hostilities have flared along the border on several occasions and last week, Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet, saying it violated its airspace.

Damascus rejects Ankara's airspace violation allegations, saying that the plane was hit on Syrian airspace.

Source: Agencies

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/03/turkey-accused-sending-fighters-syria-201433110314185295.html

By the way, you really have to love the corporate news. So many times I'll find an article on the net then, because of so many corporate screechers demanding corporate sources, will look for a corporate link to close that ridiculous line they use to attack news they don't like, only to find out that our MSM conveniently lops off whichever facts it doesn't like.

Look how ABC reports the same story, conveniently ignoring that there's any controversy regarding whose airspace the plane was in. Turkey's keeps trying to manufacture causus belli for NATo to go in and our press is just as complicit.

[Catherina]

76. "Google Says Public DNS Intercepted by ISPs in Turkey"

Google Says Public DNS Intercepted by ISPs in Turkey

Google on Saturday warned that its Public Domain Name System (DNS) service has been intercepted by the majority of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Turkey.

Google’s Public DNS resolution service lets people use the search giant’s DNS servers as an alternative to their DNS provider, often an ISP. The service offers both performance and security benefits over many IPS DNS services.

According to Google’s Steven Carstensen, Turkish ISPs have set up servers that are essentially masquerading as Google’s DNS service.

“We have received several credible reports and confirmed with our own research that Google’s Domain Name System (DNS) service has been intercepted by most Turkish ISPs (Internet Service Providers),” Carstensen wrote in a blog post Saturday afternoon.

...

The moves are apparently to prevent the spread of online videos said to feature the voices of Turkey’s foreign minister, intelligence chief, army general in a state security meeting suggesting that the Turkish military should take action and move into Syria to protect the tomb of Suleiman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Dynasty.

...

http://itsecuritynews.info/2014/03/30/google-says-public-dns-intercepted-by-isps-in-turkey/

[Cali_Democrat]

83. Thanks, Obama. nt

[cprise]

86. K&R

[Emelina]

88. Turkey violates Greek airspace all the time.

So why is Turkey making such a big deal over this unless their corrupt NATO-stooge president wants to get people looking away from what he is doing at home.

[Catherina]

95. That's the added bonus n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

98. Erdogan is Turkey's Bush.

These smaller countries think that if America can use false-flag attacks to instigate war, they'll do the same thing. America has set a terrible example for the rest of the world. Bush/Cheney opened a Pandora's Box with 9/11 and its aftermath.

[Catherina]

104. Yes! ^^This^^ n/t

[Blue_Tires]

100. Thanks...I posted this story last week and it fell off the table

Posters were too busy shitting themselves over Obama's pledge to help the rebels...

I tried to mention the larger involvement of Turkey, France and other nations, but too many DUers couldn't see past their ODS

[bvar22]

102. Kicking this thread again,

....and bookmarking for future reference.