When you live in the place where Europe and Asia meet, you are just bound to be strategically important, and so it is for Turkey, so it was for Turkey’s antecedents Anatolia and Ionia in times past, and so it will be long into the future.

When you’re that strategically important and your Supreme Court is going to hear a case that could result in your President and Prime Minister—and the Nation’s majority political party—being banned from politics, it’s big news.

For some reason that news is not in the headlines in the United States—and it absolutely should be. Lucky for you, your friendly fake consultant has been on the case, and you will get a story today that touches on the confluence of Islam and secularism, military coups, and the desire of one of our allies to become a member of the European Union…and the European’s fear of what might happen if they do.

"Military humanitarianism" is a phrase coined by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek in the Guardian to describe the rationale behind the US invasion of Iraq and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Under this doctrine, military intervention is dressed up as humanitarian salvation, justified according to depoliticised, universal human rights, so that anyone who opposes it is not only taking the enemy's side in an armed conflict but betraying the international community of civilized nations.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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About midway through the first year of the Iraqi occupation; back when Americans still believed the administration’s lies and Dubb’ya’s declaration of, “Mission accomplished,” I was paying particular attention to Kurdistan and its volatile northern border with Turkey. The PKK or Kurdish Worker’s Party was busy back then launching small incursions across the border. They didn’t make much news especially not in the U.S.

Turkey in the Crossroads or crosshairs: A model for the middle east to follow or a set-up for additional future middle east crisis?