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In this mailing:
by Khaled Abu Toameh
• August 23, 2016 at 5:00 am
- Both of the
journalists who were arrested made the mistake of reporting on the
suffering of Palestinians living under Hamas rule. These are not the
kind of stories that Hamas wishes to see ahead of the local and
municipal elections. Rather, Hamas wants to see printed lies of
prosperity.
- It is a puzzle
why foreign journalists choose not to report about the campaign of
intimidation facing their Palestinian colleagues.
- One might
wonder if the human rights groups neglect these abuses because of
their continued obsession with destroying Israel.
Ahmed Said (left) and Mahmoud Abu Awwad (right) are
two journalists living in the Gaza Strip who were recently arrested by
Hamas security forces. Both journalists made the mistake of reporting on
the suffering of Palestinians living under Hamas rule.
Palestinian journalists are at the top of the Palestinian Authority
(PA) and Hamas hit-list in the crackdown occurring alongside preparations
for the Palestinian local and municipal elections, scheduled for October
8.
The crackdown is part of an ongoing campaign by the two rival parties
to silence critics in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Neither Hamas nor the
PA tolerates a free and independent media -- especially on the eve of a
crucial election that could have far-reaching political implications in
the Palestinian arena.
A Hamas victory in the upcoming elections would be catastrophic for
President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority. Such an electoral
outcome would be tantamount to a vote of no-confidence in their policies
and performance.
by Burak Bekdil
• August 23, 2016 at 4:00 am
- "What is
the moral of the story? Until a few weeks ago, the West was
comfortably day-dreaming that, despite his foibles, Erdogan was a
staunch U.S. ally and an eager EU candidate. After all, had he not,
only recently, downed a Russian jet? Then, suddenly, what do we see?
Putin and Erdogan kissing and making up ..." — Fuad Kavur,
London.
In July 2016, Erdogan apologized for downing the
Russian plane, and in August he went to Russia to shake hands for
normalization. Once again, Russia is trendy for the Turks, and the West
looks passé. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin with Turkey's
then Prime Minister Erdogan, meeting in Istanbul on December 3, 2012.
(Image source: kremlin.ru)
Turkey has been a republic since 1923, a multi-party democracy since
1946, and a member of NATO since 1952. In 1987, it added another powerful
anchor into the Western bay where it wanted it to remain docked: It
applied for full membership in the European Union (EU). This imperfect
journey toward the West was dramatically replaced by a directionless
cruise, with sharp zigzags between the East and West, after President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist AKP party came to power in 2002.
Zigzagging remains the main Turkish policy feature even at this day.
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