Turkey: Vision versus Suppression, "What a difference a day makes", as Turkey Celebrates its "Victory Day" over invading Allied Troops 96 years ago

Turkey's visionary leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Turkey commemorated the 96th anniversary of the War of Independence today Aug. 30 Victory Day with celebrations, as politicians marked the day’s importance and stressed their determination in protecting Turkey’s independence.

Throughout his presidency, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk diligently implemented his visions of a modern nation.

For over 600 years, Turks had only known Sultans as absolute monarchic rulers, a system to be obeyed.

But to bring his nation into a new era, Atatürk knew he needed to expedite Turkey’s social, political, and technological standards to those of Europe. He also understood that encouragement was needed for the citizens who were war-shocked, exhausted, near poverty, and confused about this new way of governing.

He was also quite aware that progress meant a struggle with those who advocated the return of ancient traditions and the religious Ottoman Sultanate dynasty.

Atatürk scrapped the archaic, convoluted Ottoman form of government and replaced it with policies and principles based on Swiss and other European laws. More than just trading one system for another, Atatürk dedicated himself to his people, believed in them, and knew that they would value the reformations as deeply as he did. As a result, Turkey was transformed into a secular nation with westernized legal, economic, social, educational, and cultural programs.

The following highlights the most prominent aspects of Atatürk’s reforms:

• Abolished the Ottoman Sultanate (late 1922).
• Declared the Turkish Republic (29 October 1923).
• Formed the office of Prime Minister, President, and a democratically-elected National Assembly (1923).
• Adopted a new constitution (1924).
• Abolished the Caliphate (leadership of the Muslim religion) and restricted its theocratic institutions (early 1924).
• Replaced the religious education system with a national education system (1924).
• Adopted the Gregorian calendar and western time zone system, including defining the workweek as Monday to Friday (1925).
• Prohibited the veil and other religious-based clothing but only encouraged western-style clothing for women. Atatürk believed that women would follow fashions according to their free will.
• Enacted a revised legal system, including the Civil Code, Penal Statute Law, and Trade Law, based on Swiss and Italian civil law (1924-1937).
• Replaced the Arabic script with the Latin alphabet, which was mandated to be taught in schools (1928). Atatürk believed that the Latin alphabet would be easier to teach to a largely (90%) illiterate population, easier to learn, and therefore would immediately impact the literacy rate.
• Promoted construction of thousands of new schools, made literacy reform a priority, and made primary education compulsory and free.
• Accelerated Turkey’s post-war economic development by establishing state-owned factories for textile and agricultural industries.
• Supported construction of the national Turkish State Railways (1927).
• Modernized state banking systems.
• Promoted advancement in the fields of science, health and medicine, law, and education.
• Adopted the international numeric system (1928).
• Supported Turkey’s culture by establishing a Turkish Historical Society (1931), a Turkish Language Association (1932).
• Adopted the International System of Units to standardize national measurements (1933)
• Changed the tax code to reduce the tax burden on peasants.
• Enacted women’s suffrage rights (1934).
• Legalized gender equality and women’s emancipation rights (1926-1934). 
• Passed a law to require that everyone have a surname instead of surnames based on titles of honor (1934).
• Developed foreign policies of neutrality and cultivated friendly international relationships.
• Replaced a provincial legal system (called millet) that allowed every minority community to govern themselves with a unified, secular constitution.
• Established the Directorate for Religious Affairs, which affirmed the new Republic of Turkey’s protection and equality of all religions, including Islam.
• Encouraged reform of the Turkish language by establishing a Language Commission that replaced foreign words with Turkish ones with standardized spelling and phonetics.
• Declared that “Culture is the foundation of the Turkish Republic.” Strongly supported the arts, such as opera, theatre, literature, and music; opened museums; encouraged interest in Turkey’s indigenous Anatolian heritage, eg, naming the state-owned banks Sümerbank after the Sumerians and Etibank after the Hittites; and encouraged the importance of Turkish folk Art.

Today on August 30, 96 years later, Turkish present President,  Recep Tayip Erdogan, wrote in the guest book at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, without mentioning Turkey's greatest leader Ataturk by name, the following comment.
 
“Increasing threats, violations and attacks against our country’s independence will not withhold us from our ideals and aims. The Turkish nation is defending its independence as it did 96 years ago with the inspiration from its thousands of years of historic values,” 

Parliamentary Speaker Binali Yıldırım, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, high judicial authorities, ministers and top soldiers were among guests who visited Anıtkabir as a part of official celebrations.

So far, President Recep Tayip Erdogan,  now the sole ruler of Turkey, major claim to success has been the elimination of all opposition forces against his regime, which included: 

1) Some 160,000 people were detained for questioning, of which over 77,000 were formally arrested for alleged links to terror organizations, including Gulen’s network and outlawed Kurdish rebels. Those arrested include military personnel, police, journalists, lawmakers, judges and prosecutors.

2) According to Justice Ministry figures, close to 35,000 people put on trial for links to Gulen’s network have been convicted so far. Around 14,000 others were acquitted.

3) More than 130,000 people have been purged from the public service through emergency government decrees. Those dismissed include tens of thousands of teachers and close to 6,000 academics. Around 1,300 people were re-instated to jobs by a commission that was set up to review cases but 18,000 other appeals were rejected.

4) Some 170 generals and around 7,000 other senior military officers were arrested as part of the crackdown. At least 58 generals and 629 senior officers have been convicted to life terms in prison so far in trials against military officers, according to Justice Ministry figures. Eight generals were acquitted.

5) At least 143 journalists or media workers are currently behind bars, most accused of links to Gulen or Kurdish rebels, according to the Turkish Journalists Syndicate. Using emergency decrees, the government closed down around 200 media organizations, including newspapers, periodicals, radio stations and television channels.

6) Ten legislators from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish political party, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are in prison on terror charges for alleged links to Kurdish militants. Enis Berberoglu, a legislator from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, is in prison convicted of espionage for giving an opposition newspaper images allegedly showing Turkey’s intelligence agency trucking weapons into Syria.

7) Human rights activist and businessman Osman Kavala is in jail pending trial, accused of seeking to overthrow the government and having alleged links to Gulen. Eleven prominent activists were arrested last year at their hotel on an island off of Istanbul while on training. They were eventually released from jail pending the outcome of their trial for supporting terror groups. Among them was Taner Kilic, Amnesty International’s former Turkey chairman, who was released earlier this month.

Note EU-Digest : “Authenticity is the language of visionaries" wrote  Andrena Sawyer - Unfortunately Turkey today lacks that vision, so brilliantly carried out by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and is turning back the clock towards pre-Atatürk days.  

A  report from the Canadian AP  Global News  
and EU-Digest

EU-France: Macron Wants to Create a European Army—But First He's Reviving French Military Might - by David Brennan

French President Emmanuel Macron has long wished for greater European military cooperation. This week, he continued the drive, suggesting the bloc can no longer rely on American military support to protect members against outside threats.

In a speech to relaunch his political agenda Monday, the president explained, “It is up to us to guarantee European security” and said he would “launch an exhaustive review” of security relations with “all Europe's partners, which includes Russia.”

After decades of underinvestment, Macron is spearheading a push to revamp France’s military, returning it to its historical position as one of the most well-funded and potent forces in the world.

With Europe facing an emboldened Russia and the Western allies battling Islamist threats across Africa and the Middle East, France needs its bite back.

President Donald Trump’s residency in the White House has presented a challenge for European nations. For decades, NATO stood united and firm against the threat of the Soviet Union and later the new Russia.

In recent years, Russian foreign policy has become more bellicose, and relations have deteriorated as Moscow's military tendrils reached into countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and Syria, to name but a few.

But Trump’s disdain for nearly every multinational alliance or agreement apparently includes NATO. The president incorrectly believes that European nations are not paying their fair share toward the shared military budget, and reportedly threatened to pull the U.S. out of the bloc unless its allies took on a greater part of the burden.

Read more: Macron Wants to Create a European Army—But First He's Reviving French Military Might

Turkey: No question, Erdogan is a ruthless dictator, who has bled his country's economy dry, and the EU must not look the other way - by Ahmet Ardani

Turkey: If this is not a dictatorship, what is it?

One publication in the EU recently noted in a report about Turkey's Erdogan: "The man in the big palace is not only a crook. but also a full fledged dictator ".

This should also reinforce the doubts that every intelligent person had about whether it was a real coup attempt at all two years ago in Turkey, or just a staged one. There are plenty of people who thought it was put on by the government of Erdogan, for the sake of purging and jailing its opponents.

We need not do more than to listen to Erdogan’s own declarations. He openly called that “coup” an opportunity for purging his enemies, and just as soon as he defeated the alleged coup attempt, he had a very long list of thousands of enemies to eliminate.

His forces moved immediately to arrest these folks. For most of them, their only failing was that they don’t blindly follow Erdogan.

Ruling in an ever more totalitarian fashion, Erdogan has taken control over all public institutions – the media and the schools, the courts and the police, the civil bureaucracy and the armed forces.

At least 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 purged. His Islamist party, AKP, has used these methods to consolidate control in practically all of the structures of Turkish life.

There’s even a detailed report of the Stockholm Center for Freedom, which found evidence from four days before the ostensible coup that a plan was circulated, with Erdogan’s approval, in the Armed Forces to make it look like there was a coup attempt.

It’s sad that most of the EU press, eager-to-please their governments have become quite lazy about this. They have developed a habit of calling it a “coup attempt,” when they do not in fact know that it was any such thing.

It’s high time to stop being complicit in playing Erdogan´s PR game and start being honest to the public. From all we know for sure, it’s just an alleged coup attempt.

The Erdogan regime, however, is profiting from it enormously, to pseudo-legitimize its totalitarian turn and to conduct purges from top to bottom.

We need not do more than to listen to Erdogan’s own declarations. He openly called that “coup” an opportunity for purging his enemies. Just as soon as he defeated the alleged coup attempt, he had a very long list of thousands of enemies ready to arrest.

His forces moved immediately to arrest these folks. For most of them, their only failing it is that they don’t blindly follow Erdogan.

Erdogan was also immediately ready to organize a mass mobilization against the alleged coup, and to synchronize the mosques for this. These are steps that required lots of advanced preparation.

This has even gone on at an accelerated pace after he won his recent Presidential "bogus" snap election 

Ruling in an ever more totalitarian fashion, Erdogan has taken control over all public institutions – the media and the schools, the courts and the police, the civil bureaucracy and the armed forces.

At least 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 purged. His Islamist party, AKP, has used these methods to consolidate control in practically all of the structures of Turkish life.

Previously, Gülen was Erdogan´s most important domestic ally. He led the Islamist religious movement, while Erdogan led the Islamist political party.

Very much with the support of Erdogan’s party, Gülen had built up a state within the state. But then Erdogan decided that, to consolidate his power, the imprint that Gülen left on public life in Turkey needed to be removed completely.

Let´s also remember that the real reason for the fallout between the two was that Gülen´s forces, strongly represented in the body of public prosecutors, were closing in on the massive acts of corruption that Erdogan and his immediate family systematically organized.

It was also only logical that Erdogan demanded the extradition of Gülen and Gülenists from the US, because he is familiar with all of Erdogan's plans and corrupt swindles that have bled the country dry.

Not that the Gülenists are anything but squeaky clean. But Germany, Britain, the United States and many others have all found that Erdogan had produced no convincing evidence to justify his extradition demands.

They want no part of Erdogan´s witch hunt, to the contrary. He is considered vindictive and untrustworthy.

Erdogan responded to this refusal with demagogic attacks on Western countries. Even calling some European countries Nazis, when they were not wiling to have his "disciples" speak to Turkish immigrants in Europe, during his "bogus" referendum campaign, on a new Turkish Constitution.

The EU must definitely not cozy up to the Erdogan regime, just because of Donald Trump's tirades against him, who has been trying to get his Evangelical Pastor back to the US, so he can win the Mid-Term US election.

It has nothing to do about Trump in this particular case, but all about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Trump and Erdogan might have similar characters, but their issues with the EU are different

Europe must start calling a spade a spade - and make the long term survival extremely difficult for Erdogan, who is not only a ruthless dictator who can not be trusted, but also a danger to the European Union's democracy and security.

EU-Digest 

CAPITALISM: OIL RICH COUNTRIES AND CAPITLISTIC COUNTRIES ARE WARNED BY UN CONTRACTED SCIENTIST OF IMMINENT CAPITALIST DEMISE

Scientists Warn the UN of Capitalism's Imminent Demise

Read more at:
http://flip.it/J2.VCW

EUROPEAN UNITY UNDER ATTACK: FAR RIGHT PLAYERS TEARING EUROPE APART

For the complete report click on link below;

The dark clouds of the ultra right and facism are once again gathering over Europe

USA: Vice President Pence Faces Heightened Scrutiny Over His Relationship with Paul Manafort - by Gwendolyn Smith

The "American Nightmare" has become a reality

Pence has remained largely in the background of the Trump presidency, often working behind the scenes on policy and other issues while Trump takes center stage. As Trump's fortunes have waned, however, those in his orbit are being reexamined.

The line of succession would call for Mike Pence to replace Donald Trump should he be removed from office. Many have feared what a Pence presidency would look like, given his actions as the Governor of Indiana against the LGBTQ community, women, and others.

Amongst the bad news for Trump last week was the indictment of Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Manafort was found guilty last week on eight counts of financial crimes in his fraud trial.

It was Paul Manafort who chose Mike Pence as Donald Trump's vice president, with the president reportedly preferring Chris Christie for the role.

The link between Manafort and Pence is leading to additional scrutiny for the vice president, as people ask just what Pence knew about Manafort and his connections.

Many are also curious about Pence's involvements with former adviser Mike Flynn, questioning if he lied to protect the general in January of 2017 when he declared that Flynn had not discussed, "anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia" with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Read more: Vice President Pence Faces Heightened Scrutiny Over His Relationship with Paul Manafort | Alternet

The Vatican - "Shame and Scandal in the family": Pope Francis knew of abuse scandal says ex-Vatican envoy

The Vatican - "shame and scandal in the family"

Archbishop Carlo Vigano has launched a fresh attack on Pope Francis, urging him to resign.

The accusation came as the pope concluded his trip to Ireland where he begged for forgiveness for decades of Catholic abuse.

A former high ranking Vatican official has called on Pope Francis to step down, accusing the pontiff of knowing about sex abuse allegations against a prominent US cardinal for five years before finally accepting his resignation last month.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano laid out his argument in an 11-page letter that was published Sunday in the National Catholic Register and another conservative site, LifeSiteNews.

The 77-year-old Vigano, an arch-conservative with strong anti-homosexual views, said he told the pope in 2013 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had faced voluminous allegations of sexually abusing lower-ranking seminarians and priests.

Read more: Pope Francis knew of abuse scandal says ex-Vatican envoy | News | DW | 26.08.2018

USA: Politics in America are Corporate, not Citizen focused - Why are guns a right in the US, meanwhile education and healthcare are not?

USA: Corporate controlled Insurance sucks

The fact that the US isn’t among the countries with universal healthcare and free college has been a topic of many heated political debates and complaints, especially among the Millennials faced with the prospect of repaying their student loans well into their adulthood. If they have a misfortune of getting hit with a major hospital bill as well, declaring a bankruptcy is often the only solution.

Universal healthcare is something that is available in a vast number of countries across the globe. While the programs offered by each government varies from nation to nation, they’re all based on the same concept – offering access to free healthcare to everyone, old or young. Most often than not, insurance is offered freely for the underaged and the elderly, while those in the working force have a small portion of their paycheck directed to the national fund sustaining this system.

Free education is something that is widely encountered across the globe, although college isn’t always included on the list. Many countries offer a number of free university seats while others subsidize them.

Many argue that this type of education, just like universal healthcare, isn’t actually free since it is funded by the government, who in turn gathers the cash by taxing people’s paychecks and businesses. 

Basically that is an argument used in the US which in reality does not fly, because the end result in countries which do provide this service  is offering everyone access to what they need, be it education that will provide them with a better future without having to spend half of their lives paying back the student loans or getting the healthcare they need.

Across the globe, there are quite a lot of countries that offer free healthcare, from the Americas, Asia, although the most are from Europe where this seems to be the way to go when it comes to this important issue.

Many European (EU)  countries regard free education also as an investment to the economy. There is skilled workforce available on the free labor market. The opposite solution could be for example that every industry would educate their own work force starting from day one.

Capitalism or socialism doesn’t define who must pay the education: the society, the industry or the individual.

It’s the same with the healthcare: there isn’t any rule that tells that either the society, the employer or the individual should be the one who pays for the health care. It could be also so that every industry should build their own hospitals and educate their own doctors - or so that the people, the work force, do it together. But it can also be regarded as a state’s investment in the economy so that the free work force remains available and capable on the market.

These investments by the state are comparable with other investments in the infrastructure and the functionality of the society. The state offers some base for the free economy to thrive, like roads, security and so on.

Socialism is so abused and so polymorphic concept that it’s hard to define simply. But in the basic concept of socialism is about how the economic power is divided between the capital and the labor.

It certainly has nothing to do with communism, which unfortunately many right-wing conservatives like to call socialism.

.
The ultimate goal is a society that has stopped the domination of capital over the labor and where the labor has taken the domination on the production. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the state should own everything.

Both of these functions can also be shared in different ways as long as it benefits the citizens and the country as a whole.

In America the concept has become totally lopsided over the years. Today about 3 % of the US population controls all the wealth in the country, with corporations basically influencing all the decision making processes of the political establishment.

If not corrected soon, it will have disastrous consequences for America.

EU-Digest

USA: The 25th Amendment Could Doom Trump — And Mike Pence Would Play A Crucial Role - Seth Millstein

Yes indeed. Mike Pence could safe the Republican party from possible, if not certain defeat, in the mid-term elections, and also "rehabilitate" the tarnished image of the US Right-Wing Evangelical movement, by invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution.

This is only feasible, if Pence is able to work a deal with his Republican party members in Congress and some Democrats to get 2/3 of the House in favor, to invoke this somewhat obscure 25th Amendment, whereby Trump would be declared mentally unfit to remain President and Pence would become President.

Read more: The 25th Amendment Could Doom Trump — And Mike Pence Would Play A Crucial Role

USA: More dark clouds are gathering over Donald Trump's credibility as the President of the USA

Even though the US President is not openly showing much anguish over the troubles surrounding his Presidency, it is becoming very apparent that his credibility to govern the US is more and more in doubt.

Specially in light of the recent court verdicts against many of his close associates, and damaging daily press reports, including :

David Pecker, CEO of National Enquirer Publisher, Granted Immunity in Michael Cohen Case

Sessions hits back at Trump: DOJ won't be 'improperly influenced'

The only reason that Trump hasn’t been indicted is that he’s the president

Embattled Trump Startles Israel by Demanding 'Higher Price' for His Delusional Achievements on Jerusalem

Bottom-line, this is not a pleasant time in the history for the United States.  Who would have thought that after the Republican President Nixon was impeached, that another Republican President possibly faces the same fate as Richard Nixon did and,  as a consequence, had to resign on August 9, 1974.

copyright: the above report can be copied
 only if the source - EU-Digest- is mentioned.

EU-Digest 

EU Parliament: Guy Verhofstadt calls Donald Trump ‘head alligator’ of the swamp – by Paul Dallison

Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament and a former Belgian prime minister, said on Twitter Wednesday that Trump had promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington, “but instead he created his own one and is acting as its head alligator.”

He added that Trump’s presidency, “one in which values and integrity do not seem to count, is detrimental to people’s faith in democracy.”

Read more: Guy Verhofstadt calls Donald Trump ‘head alligator’ of the swamp – POLITICO

The Netherlands - Weather: Four years of hot summers expected in the Netherlands - by Mina Solanki

This year, the Netherlands has experienced an unusually hot summer, with a code orange being issued due to the heat and two heatwaves engulfing the country in a short period of time. Not to mention the drought that did not go unnoticed across the land.

Well, if you thought the weather was just a tad too warm, you won’t have any luck in terms of cooler summers for the next few years. According to a new statistical analysis by KNMI climate researcher Sybren Drijfhout and colleague Florian Sevellec, globally, we are in for another four years of warmer than usual weather.

From now until 2022, the earth will be in the throes of a “warm anomaly”, in addition to the slow advance of global warming due to greenhouse gasses. Although the anomaly may only contribute to temperatures worldwide by a few hundredths of a degree, it could result in heatwaves, extreme weather conditions and hot summers.

Drijfhout credits the coming warm period to a four-year hiatus, roughly between 2010 and 2014, in which the earth’s temperature hardly increased. During this period, it seems as though the extra heat was absorbed by the sea; extra heat which could still be released into the atmosphere, he says. Up until 2022, there is a 70 percent possibility of extra hot summers and higher temperatures in general the world over, the weather model currently reports.

Read more: Four years of hot summers expected in the Netherlands

This year, the Netherlands has experienced an unusually hot summer, with a code orange being issued due to the heat and two heatwaves engulfing the country in a short period of time. Not to mention the drought that did not go unnoticed across the land.

Well, if you thought the weather was just a tad too warm, you won’t have any luck in terms of cooler summers for the next few years. According to a new statistical analysis by KNMI climate researcher Sybren Drijfhout and colleague Florian Sevellec, globally, we are in for another four years of warmer than usual weather.

From now until 2022, the earth will be in the throes of a “warm anomaly”, in addition to the slow advance of global warming due to greenhouse gasses. Although the anomaly may only contribute to temperatures worldwide by a few hundredths of a degree, it could result in heatwaves, extreme weather conditions and hot summers.

Drijfhout credits the coming warm period to a four-year hiatus, roughly between 2010 and 2014, in which the earth’s temperature hardly increased. During this period, it seems as though the extra heat was absorbed by the sea; extra heat which could still be released into the atmosphere, he says. Up until 2022, there is a 70 percent possibility of extra hot summers and higher temperatures in general the world over, the weather model currently reports.

Read more: Four years of hot summers expected in the Netherlands

German -Turkey Relations: German journalist says Turkey court lifts travel ban

A German journalist and translator who is on trial in Turkey on terror-related charges said Monday that Turkish authorities had lifted her overseas travel ban.

"The reports about the lifting of my exit ban are correct," Mesale Tolu wrote on Twitter.

"I would like to thank my supporters and all those who sympathised with me and stood by my side to win my freedom."

An Istanbul court in December had conditionally released Tolu, 34, who was held for over half a year on charges of membership of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), which is banned in Turkey as a terror organisation.

Under that ruling, she had to report to the authorities every week and could not leave Turkey.

With the latest verdict, she will be allowed to leave the country.

However Tolu wrote on Twitter that the next hearing in her trial is scheduled for October 16. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

In February, an Istanbul court ordered the conditional release of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel after receiving an indictment from prosecutors seeking a prison sentence of up to 18 years.

The latest court ruling on Tolu comes amid a thaw in Turkish-German relations after months of sharp tensions.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he was relieved by the "good news" that Tolu would be allowed to travel and called it "a step forward in improving our relationship with Turkey".

But he added in a statement that more steps must follow and said that "we continue to view critically many rule-of-law issues in Turkey and are addressing these openly with our Turkish counterparts".

Read more: Flash - German journalist says Turkey court lifts travel ban - France 24

Britain - Brexit: Fashion tycoon seeks second EU vote

Just seven months until Britain is due to leave the EU, the co-founder of global fashion chain Superdry has donated 1 million pounds (€1.1 million, $1.28 million) to a group seeking a new referendum on membership of the bloc.

Julian Dunkerton, whose streetwear brand has outlets in 46 countries, wrote in Britain's Sunday Times that he is backing the People's Vote campaign because he predicts Brexit will be a "disaster" and "we have a genuine chance to turn this around."

His donation will be spent on one of the biggest polling operations ever undertaken in the United Kingdom.

Dunkerton used Sunday's opinion piece to complain: "There is no vision for Brexit and the politicians have made a mess of it."

"Increasingly, the public knows that Brexit is going to be a disaster. Maybe they just need to be given that little bit of hope that comes when they see how opinion is moving.

Read more: Brexit: Fashion tycoon seeks second EU vote | News | DW | 19.08.2018

Global Politics: Europe must break the shackles and show off its power - by Professor Zaki Laidi

EU: Only in unity can progress be achieved

Zaki Laidi professor of international relations at L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), who also was an adviser to former French prime minister Manuel Valls. recently wrote in an opinion piece, which is not only worth reading, but also implementing as part of the EU's  Parliament and Commissions long range strategy.

 "US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker may have averted a trade war last month, but the challenges confronting the EU are far from resolved. In today’s increasingly Hobbesian global environment, the EU can survive only by increasing its capacity to project power — no easy feat for an entity that was formed precisely as a repudiation of power politics.

With the 1957 Treaty of Rome, Europe shed what remained of its militaristic impulses and focused on building a sprawling and peaceful single market. From then on, Europe’s only means of projecting power would be its trade policy. Yet that policy has never been guided by strategic thinking, leaving the EU with only limited global influence, despite its tremendous success in world markets. The time has come for Europe to reestablish itself as a true global player, not by attempting to emulate a classic superpower, but rather by consolidating and deploying different types of power.

Europe already has considerable normative power — that is, the capacity to create global standards through the so-called Brussels effect, which can be seen in its efforts to rein in technology companies.

The recently enacted General Data Protection Regulation, for example, set guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the EU. Now, digital platforms, including powerful American companies, are scrambling to adjust. The “big four” US tech firms — Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Apple, Facebook, and Amazon — are also facing pressure from the EU stemming from their dominant market position.

Yet the EU has often failed to recognize its normative power, let alone take full advantage of it. This both reflects and reinforces weakness in three areas: Self-esteem, risk awareness, and the capacity for action.

Self-esteem includes the belief that the EU is a worthy undertaking, the confidence to express that publicly, and recognition of the EU’s true potential for power projection. Such a dispensation is severely lacking in many parts of the EU, beginning with Germany, which, despite having regained confidence in its own future, jealously guards its resources.

As Trump berates Germany for accumulating surpluses without contributing sufficiently to transatlantic defense, the country should be all the more motivated to use its capabilities to strengthen Europe. But, while the discourse in Germany on resource-sharing has begun to shift, concrete changes will take time.

Europe’s unwillingness to nurture and deploy its clout contrasts sharply with America’s assertive use of its market power to advance its interests and preferences. For example, since Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — better known as the Iran nuclear deal — and reinstate sanctions on Iran, many European companies, fearing loss of access to the US market, have decided to withdraw from the country.

To convince European companies to remain in Iran, the European Commission updated the 1996 Blocking Statute, which forbids actors under EU jurisdiction from complying with extraterritorial sanctions, allows companies to recover damages from such sanctions, and nullifies the effect in the EU of any foreign court’s judgment based on them. But the update has proved ineffective, as exemplified by the situation faced by SWIFT, the secure messaging system used for global cross-border financial transactions.

As Iran learned in 2012, losing access to the SWIFT network essentially means losing access to the international financial system. Yet that is exactly what the US is pushing for: If SWIFT fails to cut off Iran by early November, it will face countermeasures. SWIFT’s compliance with that demand, however, would all but destroy any remaining incentive for Iran to remain in the JCPOA. This would amount to a major political failure for Europe, because SWIFT is under EU jurisdiction.

Europe has also shown a self-defeating lack of confidence in the euro. Although the euro is the world’s second most important currency, it lags behind the dollar on almost all metrics, increasing the EU’s vulnerability to US trade sanctions.

The second weakness the EU needs to address is risk awareness. For example, China needs access to Europe’s industrial technology to realize its economic ambitions, and it needs access to European ports to complete its Belt and Road Initiative. Yet Europe is allowing itself to be effectively plundered, not least by China’s takeover of ports and airport facilities. The EU-China relationship must be made more reciprocal, with the EU — and, in particular, the Southern and Eastern European countries that have welcomed Chinese investment with open arms — recognizing the security risks posed by Beijing’s activities.

For that to happen, however, Europe will need a more united approach to Russia, which, despite posing less of a threat to the EU than China does, is keen to highlight — and exacerbate — internal division. How can one blame Greece for selling ports to the Chinese while Germany pursues the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which will increase Europe’s energy dependency on Russia?

All of this is complicated by escalating tensions between Europe and the US, which, among other things, is spoiling cooperation to contain China. This is where the capacity for action comes in. Rather than waiting for someone else to push back against the Trump administration’s demolition of multilateral structures, Europe must take the initiative, imagining a system without the US.

This means not only ensuring that the international trade regime can survive without the US, but also developing a military capability that can increase the EU’s geopolitical credibility and shift the global balance of power. Here, French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to create a European military force beyond NATO is essential. Its success will hinge on a united, cooperative approach that potentially even includes the UK. The challenge is obvious. But the payoff — for the EU and the world — would be well worth the effort ". 

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully European political leaders at all levels of the European political spectrum will take note of this report by Professor Zaki Laidi. Europe must show far more courage to quickly undo itself from the US directed policy shackles and choose it's own independent course. If not, it will be devoured country by country in today’s increasingly Hobbesian global environment.

EU-Digest

Germany′s planned immigration law – what you need to know

The German government is preparing a new immigration law aimed at bringing more skilled workers to Germany – but has apparently rejected the "points-based" system that other countries favor.
The new "key-point" paper, seen by DW, acknowledges that low unemployment and an aging population in Germany have meant that companies are struggling to fill posts with qualified people, and even creating more opportunities for other European Union citizens will not meet the shortfall – so " we will have to be significantly more successful in winning qualified specialist workers from third countries" – meaning countries outside the EU.

Read more: Germany′s planned immigration law – what you need to know | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 17.08.2018

EU-Turkey Relations: Ankara Notes Normalization of Relations With EU Amid Rift With US

Relations between Turkey and the European Union have begun normalizing, and Ankara idetermined to step up the visa liberalization dialogue with the bloc, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said amid recently exacerbated Ankara-Washington tensions.

Read more: Ankara Notes Normalization of Relations With EU Amid Rift With US - Sputnik International

CATHOLIC CHURCH PA : Immoral behaviour by Pennsylvania Priests with more than 1000 children says report

More than 1,000 children abused by Pennsylvania priests, report says

For the complete go to: 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/catholic-abuse-report-pennsylvania-1.4784445 

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EU under Attack: America’s Billionaires Battle Each Other for Political Control over Europe - by Eric Zuesse

Whereas Soros claims to represent the public’s interests, Bannon claims to represent the population’s interests — that’s the ‘populist’ side of America’s billionaires, versus the established ‘public-interest’ (Soros) side of them.

Two American brands of ‘philanthropists' will thus now be fighting for control over Europe's political markets (or institutions).

It’s a battle to serve either ’the public’ or else ’the people’, and each political brand will be struggling to keep Europe as an ally in American billionaires’ war against Russia (which all American billionaires want to defeat), but each team does this from a different ideological perspective, one being ‘liberal’, and the other being ‘conservative’. 

Just as there is liberal-conservative political polarization between billionaires domestically within a nation, there also is such political polarization between billionaires regarding their given nation’s foreign policies; and America’s billionaires are politically very highly polarized, both nationally and, increasingly, internationally as well. None of them is progressive, or left-populist. The only ‘populism’ that any billionaire currently promotes is right-‘populist', which is Bannon’s team. (Stalin was left-‘populist’; and Hitler was right-‘populist’; but neither dictator really was at all populist, which is simply democratic and against the aristocracy.) Both teams demonize each other within the United States for control over the US Government, but both are now competing against each other internationally for control over the entire world, by two different brands: liberal versus conservative. Both brands endorse ‘democracy’ or “the allies”; and both support spreading that ‘democracy’ by means of invading and occupying ‘dictatorships’ or “the enemies.” 

In Europe, this is called “imperialism”; in America, it is called “neo-conservatism” or “neoconservatism”; but no American billionaire actively opposes it (because to oppose it would be to oppose the aristocracy itself, the billionaires’ control over the Government — the very system that has been enormously successful for them, far more than the public itself recognizes)

For the complete report click on: America’s Billionaires Battle Each Other for Political Control over Europe

Turkey - Economic Meltdown ?: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames lira crash on Donald Trump 'plot - by Chris Baynes

Turkey’s president has blamed the crash of the lira on the United States, claiming a “political, underhand plot” had sent the value of his country’s currency tumbling to record lows.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Donald Trump of waging “economic war against the entire world”, after the American leader escalated a diplomatic feud by doubling tariffs on steel and aluminium.

“The aim of the operation is to make Turkey surrender in all areas, from finance to politics,” the Turkish president told supporters in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.

The lira has lost more than 40 per cent of its value against dollar this year, amid worsening ties between Turkey and the US and concerns over Mr Erdogan’s influence over the economy.

The fall turned to meltdown on Friday, when the lira dropped 14 per cent, rattling global markets.

Speaking in Trabzon, Mr Erdogan dismissed suggestions that Turkey was facing a financial crisis like those seen in Asia two decades ago.

"What is the reason for all this storm in a tea cup? There is no economic reason,” he said. ”This is called carrying out an operation against Turkey.”

“We will give our answer, by shifting to new markets, new partnerships and new alliances, to the one who waged an economic war against the entire world and also included our country.

“Some close the doors and some others open new ones.”

Mr Trump announced additional sanctions on Turkish metals last week as relations between the two nations continued to sour over Ankara's detention of a US pastor.

"Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time," tweeted the US president, two days after talks between American and Turkish officials about pastor Andrew Brunson, 50, ended without any obvious progress.

Note EU-Digest: this whole confrontation between the US and Turkey has mainly to do with the mid-term US election and boosting the Evangelical support for the Republicans. Specially if Trump is able to bring Pastor Andrew Brunson back to the US, from Turkey, where he is under house arrest for supposedly collaborating with what the Erdogan government called "terrorists".

Read more: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames lira crash on Donald Trump 'plot' | The Independent

Middle East - Iran: US demands Britain back Trump with Iran sanctions

Ambassador Woody Johnson has challenged the UK to abandon its European neighbours who back the 2015 international deal to constrain Iran's development of nuclear capabilities in return for  trade with Iran. Johnson said on Sunday that Britain should join forces with America to enforce the US president's hard-hitting sanctions. He also delivered an explicit ultimatum to British companies, telling then to stop doing business with Iran or face "serious consequences" for their trade with the US.

The comments are a direct challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May's minority Conservative government, days after a minister point-blank refused to go along with Trump's sanctions on Tehran and keep the nuclear agreement alive.

They also come six days after Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, signed a joint statement with the EU which promised to push ahead with blocking the impact of the sanctions on European businesses. Johnson's comments escalate the tensions over what is the first test of the so-called special relationship between the US and UK since Trump's visit to the UK last month.

Britain negotiated the original Iran deal in 2015 with France, Germany, China, Russia and the US in a process coordinated by the European Union. The Tehran regime agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

But Trump pulled out of the deal, which was struck by his predecessor Barack Obama, three months ago because Trump believes it is not stopping Iran from meddling the Middle East. Hard-hitting economic sanctions were reimposed last week with more to come in November.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully Britain will not cave in to the bullying tactics of Trump, instead reurn to the welcoming arms of the EU in a new Brexit referendum.Like was said before, getting out of the EU for any member will mean losing your EU "security blanket" in standing up against the "big powers".

Read more: US demands Britain back Trump with Iran sanctions

Middle East: Global powers condemn US sanctions against Iran and encourage businesses to ignore the Trump administration

Several global powers have decried President Donald Trump's administration for reinstating tough economic sanctions against Iran, while actively calling on businesses to ignore the White House over the coming months.

Despite pleas from key members of the international community, the U.S. re-imposed sanctions targeting the Iranian government's purchase of U.S. dollars on Tuesday. The measures also impact Tehran's trade in gold and other precious metals, as well as its automotive industry.

In a tweet posted earlier this week, Trump said: "These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!"

Read more: Global powers condemn US sanctions against Iran and encourage businesses to ignore the Trump administration

The Netherlands - Islam: Dutch Children from Turkish descent Forced to Submit to Islam

Parents in the Netherlands can't stop their children from being indoctrinated with Islam against their wishes.

A new report from Cultuur onder Vuur (Culture Under Fire) documents evidence from hundreds of cases where children in Dutch schools are instructed by an imam on how to pray and how schools are taking measures to hide these trips from parents.

Church Militant spoke with Hugo Bos, the campaign leader for Culture Under Fire, who said they started investigating Islamic indoctrination in Dutch schools after they found one video of a school trip to a mosque.

"We found it very shocking," he said. "We found proof of 19 cases where children took part in Islamic rites."

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, told Bos that when children pray at these mosque excursions, it is "exercise in Islamic dawah" — a form of proselytism. From the Muslim perspective, these children are "purposefully prepared for converting to Islam."

One of the cases from 2014 involves elementary school children who were taken to a mosque in Zwolle. That mosque hosted the hate-preaching Pakistani imam, Mohammed Anas Noorani Siddiqui. Siddiqui reportedly said, "Non-Muslim Dutch people live like dogs and b*****s."

They found other mosques children had visited had allegations of extremism and anti-Semitism and ties to the Turkish nationalist movement and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party.

Last year, Erdogan called on Muslim Turks to have five children and "educate your children at better schools."

Bos noted a survey found three-quarters of Catholic and Protestant schools visited a non-Christian place of worship. In 41 percent of those cases, it was a mosque.

Additionally, parents are often not informed of the field trips and schools take steps to hide the information from the public. Oftentimes, Bos found that the school would take down the information from their website after parents complained or they were contacted by him.

"The government has made goals for education that include respect for other religions," Bos said. The curriculum includes spiritual direction, yoga, meditation and visiting a church. In practice, Bos found little to no efforts being made to take Muslim students to non-Islamic places of worship.

Read more: Dutch Children Forced to Submit to Islam

EU's Migrant Dilemma: Spain takes more African migrants despite signs of tension - by Barry Hatton and Valerio Nicolosi

A rescue boat carrying 87 African migrants who were saved in the Mediterranean Sea docked Thursday at the southern Spanish port of Algeciras, but without the welcome offered to previous groups as the political mood in Spain began showing signs of tension about a spike in migrant arrivals.

The boat operated by Spanish aid group Proactiva Open Arms brought what it said were mostly Sudanese war refugees, including 12 minors, picked up off the Libyan coast on Aug. 2.

Spain allowed the boat to come after other, geographically closer, European Union countries refused to let it dock amid continuing tension among EU governments about how best to respond to the wave of migrants crossing from Africa.

Spain's new center-left Socialist government made fair treatment for migrants one of its headline policies after coming to power two months ago.

In June, it announced measures to "put people's rights first" in the country's migration policies. Among other things, it took the first steps toward extending public health care to foreigners without residence permits.

That same month, it accepted the Aquarius rescue ship with 630 migrants on board after Malta and Italy turned it away.

Authorities gave those migrants who arrived in Valencia a special entry permit into Spain of 45 days for humanitarian reasons. A further 60 who arrived on a rescue ship in Barcelona last month were given a 30-day permit while they decided what to do. Their paperwork was also fast-tracked.

But those who arrived in Algeciras on Thursday will get no such special treatment.

They will be processed, the government said, like any other migrants rescued at sea: held by police for 72 hours at a migrant camp, given a medical check-up, identified and detained while they await asylum or are given an expulsion order.

Note EU-Digest: The European Migrant crises is another top priority the EU Commission must tackle. In this particular case, as in most others, this above mentioned group of young African men, came to Europe basically for no other reason but economics. The EU must either return them from where they came, or better still, increase development aid to the nations they came from, under very strict rules, to avoid development money going into the pockets of corrupt politicians in these countries. Right now the EU Migrant policy is totally dysfunctional, and causing  major tensions within the EU. 

Read more: Spain takes more African migrants despite signs of tension - ABC News

Middle East: Iran - US Relations: Donald Trump bullies rest of world they must choose between trade with US or Iran - by Bethan McKernan

European companies should still be able to trade with Iran despite new US sanctions, according to minister of state for the Middle East, Alaistair Burt.

Donald Trump tweeted “anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States”.

The EU has launched a “blocking statute”, designed to allow companies within the bloc to sue the Trump administration, if they are adversely affected by US sanctions, and has encouraged member states to continue trading with Tehran.

This EU legislation should protect businesses in member states who do not wish to break off economic ties with Tehran despite the reinstatement of US sanctions which came into effect on Tuesday, Mr Burt told the BBC.

“If a company fears legal action taken against it and enforcement action taken against it by an entity in response to American sanctions then that company can be protected as far as EU legislation is concerned,” added Mr Burt.

Read more: Donald Trump says rest of world must choose between trade with US or Iran | The Independent

EU Citizens under threat from populist right-wing local and foreign politicians who are endangering the EU's unity and economic stability - by RM

Right-wing populist politicians destabilizing the EU

Democratic and Cultural Fortress Europe is under attack, by devious right-wing populist politicians and their followers

These include, but not limited to, (see picture insert) from top left to right: Donald Trump (USA), Steve Bannon (USA), Marine Le Pen (France), Nigel Farage (Britain), Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands), Dr.Jörg Meuthen (Germany), Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (Poland), Viktor Mihály Orbán (Hungary),Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (the Netherlands) Luigi Di Maio (Italy), and Sebastian Kurz (Austria)

It is not a question anymore of how to come to terms with this threat, but how this threat can be eliminated effectively.  Tthe majority of Europesn citizens certainly do not want Europe to fall apart into a feuding group of nations, and easy prey for China, Russia and the US.

This issue certainly must, if it is not so already, become the number one objective on the agenda of the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and each individual EU Nation state.

Maybe, in this context it might help to refresh our memory as to the importance of the EU among the world of nations, with some historic background on the EU, and the benefits its citizens enjoy.

The European Union was set up with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbours in Europe, which culminated in the past, and more recently in the First and Second World Wars.

Europeans were determined to prevent such killing and destruction from ever happening again.

After the Second world war, Europe was split into East and West,  resulting in a 40-year-long Cold War.

To counter this political problem, West European nations created the Council of Europe in 1949.

It was a first step towards cooperation between them, but six countries even wanted to go further.

As of 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community begins to unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace.

The six founding countries were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The 1950s were dominated by a cold war between east and west. Protests in Hungary against the Communist regime are put down by Soviet tanks in 1956. ’

On the 8 of May 1950 French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presents a plan for deeper cooperation. This historic event is celebrated every 9th of May as ' Europe Day'

On 18 April 1951 based on the Schuman plan, six countries signed a treaty to run their heavy industries – coal and steel – under a common management. In this way, none can on its own make the weapons of war to turn against the other, as in the past.

In 1957, the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC), or ‘Common Market

One thing led to another, making the EU what it is today, operating as a single market with 28 member countries, one of the major global trading powers.

EU economic policy seeks to sustain growth by investing in transport, energy and research – while minimising the impact of further economic development on the environment.

In terms of the total value of all goods and services produced (GDP), it is bigger than the US economy. EU GDP in 2017 was €15.3 trillion

Over 64 % of EU countries’ total trade is done with other countries in the EU bloc.

On January 1, 2017, the population of the European Union (EU) was estimated at 511.8 million, compared with 510.3 million on 1 January 2016. During the year 2016, as many births as deaths were recorded in the EU (5.1 million), meaning that the natural change of the EU population was neutral.

With just 6.9 % of the world’s total population, EU trade with the rest of the world accounts for some 15.6 % of global imports and exports.

Consequently, together with the United States and China, the EU is one of the 3 largest global players in international trade.

The 28 EU countries had the second largest share of global imports and exports of goods in 2016.

For individual EU citizen some of the benefits include:

    1) Eligibility to live and work everywhere within the EU without further permission.

    2) Eligibility to take part in local elections of the community where you are a resident. So if you       are a Frenchman living in Munich you can vote for in the election of the Munich
city council, which chooses the mayor. You can even run for a seat in that local municipality.
   
   3) Eligibility to vote in the EU parliamentary elections, and you can even run for a seat.
   
    4) Coming from another EU member country one may not be discriminated against, in relation to local citizen in your place of residence. That means: If local residents are allowed to send their children to public school for free, you are also allowed. If they receive social security payments, you may also receive them.
   
    5) Say you want to run a workshop in Germany, you may even have benefits over and above those of local German citizens. If you are a German running a car repair workshop, you either need a master certificate as a trained car mechanic, or you have to employ somebody who has such a certificate. If, however, you are coming in from another EU country, you only have to show proof that you are a car mechanic with a work experience.
   
    6) As an EU citizen you also have diplomatic protection. If you are in a country where your home country does not have its own embassy, every EU embassy of a member state is obliged to help you if you need help.
   
    7) EU citizens also have the right to communicate with every administrative office within the EU in your own language - and you have the right to receive an answer in your own language.

Bottom line - don't let these right-wing Populists mislead you with vague and confusing arguments, Ask for specifics, like how they would set up things differently, and what the benefits would be for you as a citizen.

And if this results in more garbled rhetoric, like we so often hear from those populist politicians,  make sure you tell them they are not convincing you.

There is no way EU citizens would benefit from going back to their own currency, border controls, banking regulations, and nationally protected local trade.

Probably the most remarkable success for the EU has been that, apart from its economic prominence, following the ‘Schuman Declaration’, on 9 May 1950, there have been 68 years of peace across the continent, following this declaration.

The European project, known as the EU is the best thing that ever happened for peace, economic stability and prosperity on  the European continent. Another positive is that since it is still a project under development, it can only get better.

We must therefore use all means at our disposal to protect and safeguard it from the destabilizing forces which are presently attacking its existence.

© This article can be republished only if EU=Digest is mentioned as the source

EU-Digest 

Europen Heat Waves to worsen study predicts

Study predicts worsening killer heat waves in Europe

Read more at: 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/europe-heat-waves-1.4236629 

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Britain: Ukip to team up in 'unholy alliance' with Steve Bannon's new far right European movement

Ukip has pledged to work with Steve Bannon’s new European alt-right movement, forging what critics have branded an “unholy alliance” to bring down the EU and fuel populism across the continent.

Mr Bannon, a former investment banker who founded the website Breitbart, has pledged to bolster the continent’s far right with a new foundation called The Movement that would dole out resources to eurosceptics and anti-EU populists.

The former chief strategist of Donald Trump has rattled Brussels after stating his intention to create a “supergroup” in the European parliament after next’s year’s EU elections, with extreme right-wingers taking as many as a third of the legislature’s seats.

Though Ukip MEPs will not be able to participate directly in the parliament because of Brexit, a spokesperson pledged that the party would share experience with Mr Bannon’s project to give it a leg up, stating they expected the group to have a “large impact” on European politics and hoped for “a new army of eurosceptic MEPs”.

Mr Bannon’s move into Europe also appears set to have an impact on the dynamics of Brexit talks, with one source close to Brexit negotiations telling The Independent that Brussels has been spooked by the alt-right project.

As a result, EU officials are increasingly resistant to calls for the Article 50 negotiating period to be extended, so as to avoid eurosceptic Britain participating in the European parliament elections scheduled for next May.

The EU is said to fear that such an outcome would see Ukip, which won the 2014 European elections in the UK, return to the parliament and bolster the numbers of Mr Bannon’s new anti-EU group.

Note EU-Digest: Democratic EU member states and the EU Commission better wake-up to this threat, which certainly is no laughing matter and must be taken very seriously. 

Read more: Ukip to team up in 'unholy alliance' with Steve Bannon's new far right European movement | The Independent

Turkey: The pastor, the banker, and the irresistible drama in Turkish-US relations

US President Donald Trump once looked to be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest fan, uttering at a recent NATO summit: “I like him, I like him.” No longer.

This week, the US Treasury announced sanctions on two Turkish ministers over the case of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who has been in jail for 21 months and who has been the subject of months of secret negotiations between Ankara and Washington.

Although the move is symbolic – given the plethora of bilateral disputes between the sides and Turkey’s drift away from liberal Western norms – the Trump administration’s decision could become a historic milestone for Turkey’s position in the West.

Nonetheless, in the unpredictable global environment we live in and with volatile leaders on both sides, it is also possible that this will end up being a detour in relations between the two long-time allies. As happened with Russia after the Turkish air force downed a Russian fighter jet in 2015, and with Germany following the Turkish authorities’ arrest of two dozen German citizens last summer, this crisis might blow over in seven or eight months, leading first to a thaw and then to normalisation.

Still, the events of this week are momentous – the first serious fissure between Ankara and Washington since the 1975 US arms embargo on Turkey following the Turkish incursion into Cyprus.

Using the Magnitsky Act, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Turkish Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül and Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, designating them “leaders of Turkish government organizations responsible for implementing Turkey’s serious human rights abuses” – and, as such, accountable for the decision to persecute Brunson on trumped-up charges.

Brunson has been living in Turkey for 23 years, running a small protestant church in Izmir. He was caught up in Turkey’s massive dragnet after the coup attempt, accused of “supporting terrorism” – as most foreign nationals detained during that period were – by way of his alleged links with both the Gülen movement and Kurdish separatists. It took more than a year for the authorities to produce an indictment – which turned out to be a jumble of espionage charges, secret testimonies, allegations of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and local Gülenists, and an insidious plot to create an independent “Kurdistan” through the Christianisation of Syrian-Kurdish immigrants. A pro-government newspaper even claimed that, had the coup attempt been successful, Brunson would have been appointed as director of the CIA
.

It is troubling, if not unusual, for Turkish prosecutors to come up with wild accusations against foreign detainees. The practice reflects, above all, the emergence of a deeply paranoid security state that senses a threat from, as opposed to camaraderie with, Turkey’s traditional Western allies. German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel and human rights activist Peter Steudtner were similarly accused of “aiding an armed terrorist group”. The perception that the American “deep state” is behind the coup attempt and is harbouring Fethullah Gülen – a US-based cleric whose supporters played a leading role in the event – has now become the standard view in the Turkish bureaucracy. Turkey’s new national security ideology casts suspicion on foreigners, human rights activists, journalists, and liberal-leaning non-governmental organisations for knowingly or unknowingly participating in an effort to weaken or destroy Turkey.

But Brunson’s case is unique because his name has emerged as a rallying cry for the evangelical community in the United States – ultimately making the fate of the Presbyterian pastor a key issue in the strained Turkish-US relationship. When Erdogan held his first official meeting with Trump in Washington in May 2016, the White House organised a prayer vigil calling for Brunson’s release. 

Trump brought up the case three times during a luncheon with Erdogan that day and during subsequent phone conversations with Erdogan. Meanwhile, Congress has held hearings on the case and referred to Brunson in various legislative bills on Turkey. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Trump supporters such as Jay Sekulow – an attorney on the president’s legal team who leads the American Center for Law and Justice – have all been involved in the Brunson saga. In this way, demands for Brunson’s release have become a permanent fixture in Turkey’s messy alliance with Washington.

Of course, the alliance is no less steady than a tired marriage mired in bickering and a litany of mutual grievances. Ankara has never quite forgiven Washington for not handing over Gülen. Turkey also objects to US support for Syrian Kurds affiliated with the PKK in the fight against the Islamic State group (ISIS). On top of this, the Turkish president has lashed out at the prosecution of Halkbank executive Hakan Atilla in a New York court case concerning the evasion of US sanctions on Iran. As Halkbank is one of Turkey’s largest state banks, Ankara fears that a US Treasury fine on the institution would trigger a domino effect in the Turkish financial system, at a time when the economy is experiencing a serious downturn.

In Trump, Ankara once had a sympathetic ear. From the get-go, the US president seemed eager to build a good relationship with Turkey’s strongman leader. This accorded with the prevailing view of the foreign policy establishment in Washington, which continues to believe that it is important to keep Turkey anchored to the West. However, Erdogan’s anti-Western rhetoric, poor human rights record, and decision to purchase Russian S-400 anti-aircraft systems have all made it harder for American friends of Turkey to make the case for improved relations. US officials have publicly warned that Turkey’s purchase of S-400s would jeopardise NATO’s defences and could result in US sanctions.

Meanwhile, Congress has introduced legislation that threatens to block the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and also discusses the case of Brunson and Turkey’s imprisonment of US citizens and consular employees. (Several other US citizens, and two Turkish citizens who are US consular employees, remain in custody in Turkey; a third remains under house arrest.)

 One of the most dispiriting aspects of all this is that Turkey’s hostage diplomacy sometimes works. Ankara’s decision to return Yücel to Germany has led to the normalization of relations with Berlin and ended an unofficial German embargo on arms sales to Turkey.

 

Last week, the Turkish courts released Brunson from jail and put him under house arrest at his home in Izmir. But Washington saw this as a half-measure. Both Trump and Pence took to Twitter to threaten sanctions if Brunson was not released. US officials continued quietly looking into the possibility of using the Magnitsky Act to penalise Ankara

.

This drama even includes an Israeli sideshow. In expectation of Brunson’s release, Trump reached out to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to ask for the release of Turkish activist Ebru Ozkan, who Israel jailed for allegedly aiding Hamas. The 27-year-old was released on 11 June, the day after Trump’s call. 

Erdogan has recently acknowledged as much, but said this week that Turkey never entertained the idea of a direct swap for Brunson. In a meeting this week, Turkey’s National Security Council said that “threatening” rhetoric against Turkey was “unacceptable.” 

 

Even in difficult marriages, divorce is not an easy choice. In the case of Turkish-US relations, there have always been considerations and strategic imperatives that prevented harsh measures against Ankara – such as Washington’s reliance on Incirlik Air Base, and goals of keeping Turkey out of Russia’s arms and maintaining an important NATO alliance in the Middle East.

But the mood in Washington seemed to change very fast this week. Following Trump’s threat of “large sanctions” on Turkey, Turkish officials attempted a quiet diplomacy with the US, offering to release Brunson at his next hearing in October. However, they appear to have misjudged Washington’s patience with the matter, as the sanctions announced this week suggest.

It is hard to predict how long this saga will continue but, as one US official noted, “this is just the beginning [of US measures]. Brunson must be released in the end.” Meanwhile, the knotty set of problems in the Turkey-US relationship – from S-400s to Syrian Kurds, F-35s, and the Halkbank fine – have all somehow become intertwined, with Brunson at the centre of it all.

Note EU-Digest: Again the dirty game of power politics. Also, what is quite interesting to note is that the US government leaders in the past and present have never been able to give some clear picture on the status of the Gülen movement in the US. What kind of a deal has the US with him, and why are they so tight-lipped about why he was allowed "to set up shop" in the US?

Read more: The pastor, the banker, and the irresistible drama in Turkish-US relations | European Council on Foreign Relations