Jewish News Service

January 30, 2023 / JNS) The U.S. Embassy in Turkey on Monday warned Americans of possible “imminent retaliatory attacks” in the country in response to several recent incidents of Koran burning in Europe.

“The U.S. government cautions its citizens of possible imminent retaliatory attacks by terrorists against churches, synagogues and diplomatic missions in Istanbul or other places Westerners frequent, especially in the [city’s] Beyoglu, Galata, Taksim and Istiklal areas, (attack took place there Nov. 22) ” said the embassy in a statement.

Previously covered

Erdogan’s re-election would serve Putin

For Russia, Turkey is the “gateway to the rest of the world”

The war in Ukraine, for example, has contributed to the Turkish and Russian leaders moving closer together, confirms foreign policy and energy expert Aydin Sezer. “For Russia, Turkey is like the gateway to the rest of the world. The Kremlin values its relationship with Ankara very highly.”

In Russia, on the other hand, the image of Erdogan and his government is good, says Turkish political scientist Umit Nazmi Hazir, who conducts research in Moscow. “Putin and Erdogan have known each other for twenty years. They are both familiar with each other and can communicate directly.” This naturally makes it easier to communicate their individual concerns.

Should the opposition win the elections in Turkey, this would also run counter to Russian interests, according to Hazir. The new government would possibly be more democratic: “Russia’s ability to control Turkey would diminish. Moscow would then have to talk to several actors.”

The US cannot allow this cooperation to stand. By getting friendlier to US interests leadership into Turkey they (US) can throttle Russia. And further plunder Ukraine!

Western media outlets are already managing western minds with the idea that Erdogan will not win this election. I think he will. He’s popular in Turkey. And the Turkish population is surely aware of western duplicity and the targeting of their country

Sweden and Finland have launched a new diplomatic offensive to convince Turkey to approve NATO membership for the two Nordic states after months of thorny negotiations turned what was supposed to be a smooth path to alliance expansion into a major diplomatic headache.

This was never supposed to be a ‘smooth path’ to alliance expansion. I had my doubts all along.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg traveled to Turkey this week to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and lobby him to move forward on the two countries’ accession. New Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is expected to travel to Turkey next week to drive the message home.

Turkey is the last of NATO’s 30 members that has voiced opposition to both countries joining; 28 member states have already approved membership for Sweden and Finland, and Hungary has signaled that its parliament will greenlight the bids in the coming months. ( We’ll see if that happens?) New members require unanimous signoff from existing NATO members.

The Turkish government has said it wants Sweden and Finland to do more to crack down on individuals it considers security threats, including Kurdish militants and those allegedly involved in the country’s 2016 botched coup attempt, and it has focused most of its criticism on Stockholm.

Behind the scenes, U.S. and European diplomats are becoming increasingly frustrated with what they see as Turkish intransigence over an issue that should have been resolved months ago (In their opinion)

“These two countries must take important steps on combatting terror because one of the biggest threats NATO is facing today is terrorism,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday after talks with Stoltenberg, adding that Turkey supported NATO expansion in theory. “It’s not possible to say right now that the two countries have completely implemented all aspects of the memorandum.”

“Our counter-terrorism work is a priority, and we take our commitments seriously,” a spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry told Foreign Policy in an email response. “We have communicated this to all allies, including Türkiye, and to the NATO Secretary General.”

The “terrorism” issue is of core concern to Erdogan ahead of next summer’s election, as he must court the vote of Turkish nationalists who are deeply opposed to Kurdish separatism. Many experts believe that, despite the recent diplomatic full-court press, Turkey will defer any decision on Nordic NATO membership until after its 2023 elections.

I have real doubts about the seriousness of Sweden’s counter terrorism work. Finland isn’t credible on terrorism issues either.

DW

Sweden has not yet extradited suspects Turkey seeks over terrorism-related charges, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slammed Finland and Sweden for allowing “terror propaganda” as the two countries await Ankara’s permission to join NATO.

“They must fulfill their responsibilities, or we’ll block their NATO bids,” Cavusoglu said, according to state broadcaster TRT World.

See video at link.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but were faced with opposition from Turkey over claims that the Scandinavian countries were supporting “terrorism.” Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused them of being a haven for Kurdish militants.

Ankara dropped its objectionsin June after the Nordic states to “address Turkey’s pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously.”

On Wednesday, Cavusolgu said the deal is currently being processed by his ministry.

“If obligations are fulfilled, it will be sent to the president and he will send it to Parliament. Of course, Parliament will decide, but it cannot be sent right now,”

At my big tech censored blog, I’d stated what seemed to be obvious to me and no new information has contradicted the fact that the PKK functions as a sort of stay behind army partly used to keep a potentially ‘wayward’ Turkey in check. Also beneficial for smuggling drugs etc., a definite plus when covert ops are being funded.

Previous prognosticating regarding this agreement in an earlier report, as follows:

I don’t think Biden incentivized Erdogan’s compromise. My thought is this entire memorandum is dead in the water. At best this provided some useful PR. Of course things could change, but, there isn’t any real indication that it will.

So far. Nothing’s changed.

Turkey has sent letters to Sweden and Finland renewing its request for the extradition of people it considers terror suspects, the Turkish justice minister said Wednesday.

Turkey last week lifted its deal-breaking objections to Sweden and Finland´s NATO accession. But Ankara has warned that it could still block the process if the two Nordic countries fail to meet its demand to extradite people suspected of links to outlawed Kurdish groups, or to the network of an exiled cleric accused over a failed coup in 2016.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told Haber Global television in an interview that letters were sent renewing Turkey´s requests for the extradition of suspects for whom earlier requests had been rejected.

The letters also “reminded” the two countries about suspects whose cases are still pending, he said.

Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a joint memorandum last week that allowed NATO to move ahead with inviting the Nordic countries to the military alliance that seeks to enlarge and strengthen in response to Russia´s invasion of Ukraine.

With the memorandum, Finland and Sweden agreed to address Turkey’s “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly … in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition.”

Canada was first out the gate to approve NATO accession for Finland, Sweden

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-nato-turkey-sweden-169a0386e3f6016da0b519b265645575

BRUSSELS (AP) — The 30 NATO allies signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, sending the membership bids of the two nations to the alliance capitals for legislative approvals.

The move further increases Russia’s strategic isolation ( ??) in the wake of its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February and military struggles there since.

“This is truly a historic moment for Finland, for Sweden and for NATO,” said alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The 30 ambassadors and permanent representatives formally approved the decisions of last week’s NATO summit when the alliance made the historic decision to invite Russia’s neighbor Finland and Scandinavian partner Sweden to join the military club.

Despite the agreement in the alliance, parliamentary approval in member state Turkey could still pose problems for their final inclusion as members.

Last week, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara could still block the process if the two countries fail to fully meet Turkey’s demand to extradite terror suspects with links to outlawed Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

He said Turkey’s Parliament could refuse to ratify the deal. It is a potent threat since NATO accession must be formally approved by all 30 member states, which gives each a blocking right.

Every alliance nation has different legislative challenges and procedures to deal with, and it could take several more months for the two to become official members.

To my knowledge Turkey is not the only NATO nation that has expressed opposition to this move. We shall see if this accession is formalized. As of now it is not.

Following up on the topic covered below

Nord news

Erdogan issued his straightforward warning at the end of a NATO summit in which the US-led alliance formally invited the Nordic countries to join the 30-nation bloc.

A 10-point memorandum signed by the three sides alongside the NATO summit on Tuesday seemed to address many of Erdogan’s concerns.

Nevertheless, Erdogan told reporters at an impromptu press conference held at the end of the summit that the memorandum did not mean that Turkey would automatically approve the two countries’ membership.

Applications from new countries must be approved by all members and ratified by their respective parliaments.

Erdogan warned that the future behavior of Sweden and Finland would determine whether he forwarded their application to the Turkish parliament.

“If they fulfill their duties, we will send it to Parliament. If they are not fulfilled, it is out of the question,” he said.

A high-ranking Turkish diplomat in Washington said the ratification process could come no earlier than the end of September and could wait until 2023, with parliament taking a break from Friday.

Link

“This should be known: these signatures don’t mean the issue is done… Without our parliament’s approval, this does not go into effect. So there is no need to rush,” broadcaster NTV cited Erdogan as saying.

“The ball is in their court now. Sweden and Finland are not NATO members currently,” he added.

Asked about the extradition of suspects, Erdogan said if the Nordic countries did not send these individuals “then we will do what is necessary through our institutions and units.” 

Following realpolitik for more years than I care to admit.. Since March 2008. Which means after just over 14 years there are some things you know right off are not being accurately portrayed. And this NATO agreement was another one of those inaccurately portrayed instances. Too much weasel wording.

Why would Turkey make a deal to allow Finland and Sweden into NATO knowing full well neither nation, like the US, will keep their word. Stick to agreements. Or adhere to any deals, made. Turkish leadership understands the duplicitous nature of the aforementioned nations. Turkish leadership concerns itself with Turkey.

Unlike, say, Justin Trudeau? Who is definitely not a Canada first sort of leader!

Leading the news: Turkey allows ‘invitation’ to Sweden and Finland for NATO

Leading the news: Turkey allows ‘invitation’ to Sweden and Finland for NATO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed not to veto NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, breaking a months-long impasse. The intervention of US President Joe Biden, who spoke with Erdogan by phone on Tuesday morning, helped smooth the agreement, as Nazlan Ertan reports. NATO leaders have been pressing Erdogan to allow the bids by the two countries, who applied for membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.   

But the “trilateral agreement” reached by Turkey, Finland and Sweden at the NATO summit in Madrid this week does not make membership a done deal.

The Trilateral Memorandum: Signed by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland on June 28, the agreement is less an endorsement of membership than a checklist of Turkish expectations.

First, the memorandum concludes with Turkey agreeing to the "invitation" of the two countries to join NATO. That’s it.

Second, it established a "joint mechanism" for implementation of agreed-upon "concrete steps," or Turkish conditions, for Swedish and Finnish membership.

They will require the two Nordic countries to:  

• Address deportation and extradition requests of “terror suspects” — meaning those affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), People Protection Units (YPG), Democratic Union Party (PYD), and Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO). 

• Investigate and interdict all financing and recruitment by these groups. 
• Fight “disinformation” regarding these groups. 
• Enforce and apply new provisions in Finland’s Criminal Code and Sweden’s Terrorist Offenses Act to these groups. 
• Adjust their laws to allow arms sales and exports to Turkey. 

“Turkey got what it wanted,” Erdogan’s office said in a statement following the announcement, as Andrew Wilks reports.  

Turkey could slow fast-track accession: Following NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland, the next step is for each of the 30 NATO member states to ratify the protocols one by one, according to their own systems — usually via approval in their parliaments (or Congress in the US). Once approved, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg formally will invite Sweden and Finland to accede, which they do according to their own internal processes, and then US Department of State is notified to complete the process.  

NATO will want to fast-track the process, but Turkey’s approval will ultimately depend upon its assessment of the "concrete steps" taken by Sweden and Finland. 

Yahoo

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it was not possible for NATO-member Turkey to support plans by Sweden and Finland to join the pact given that the Nordic countries were “home to many terrorist organisations”.

Turkey has repeatedly slammed Sweden and other Western European countries for its handling of organisations deemed terrorist by Ankara, including the Kurdish militant groups PKK and YPG, and the followers of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. Ankara says Gulenists carried out a coup attempt in 2016. Gulen and his supporters deny the accusation.

“We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t hold positive views,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul

Scandinavian countries are guesthouses for terrorist organisations,” Erdogan said, without giving details.

Aaron Stein, research director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said on Twitter with respect to Turkish opposition: “Turkish national security elites view Finland and Sweden as semi-hostile, given the presence of PKK and Gulenists. It’s gonna take arm twisting to get sign-off.”

Finland and Sweden are already NATO’s closest partners, sitting in on many meetings, getting regularly briefed on the situation in Ukraine and taking part in regular military drills with NATO allies. Much of their military equipment is inter-operable with NATO allies.

However, they cannot benefit from NATO’s collective defence clause – that an attack on one ally is an attack on all – until they join the alliance.

All NATO members have to agree or this will not pass. Expect the US to engage in strenuous arm twisting. Or give up their PKK pals?

In 1948 The Finno- Soviet Treaty was signed

The text is here

Considering Finland’s desire to remain outside the conflicting interests of the Great Powers; and Expressing their firm endeavour to collaborate towards the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with the aims and principles of the United Nations Organization:
Have for this purpose agreed to conclude the present Treaty and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:
The President of the Republic of Finland: Mauno Pekkala, Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland;
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.: Viacheslav Mihailovich Molotov, Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the U.S.S.R. and Minister for Foreign Affairs,
who, after exchange of their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed on the following provisions:

Article 1

In the eventuality of Finland, or the Soviet Union through Finnish territory, becoming the object of an armed attack by Germany or any state allied with the latter, Finland will, true to its obligations as an independent state, fight to repel the attack. Finland will in such cases use all its available forces for defending its territorial integrity by land, sea, and air, and will do so within the frontiers of Finland in accordance with obligations defined in the present agreement and, if necessary, with the assistance of or jointly with, the Soviet Union.

Article 4

The High Contracting Parties confirm their pledge, given under Article 3 of the Peace Treaty signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, not to conclude any alliance or join any coalition directed against the other High Contracting Party.

The treaty was updated BUT Finland’s neutrality remains the same:

Link

The new agreement — Russia’s first political treaty with a Western country — replaces the 1948 Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, which required Finland to help defend the Soviet Union against any attack through Finnish territory.

Finland and Russia have (long) now committed themselves not to use force against each other and to respect their 800-mile border. They also promise to respect the rights of each other’s citizens on their territories.

Link

Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, has long maintained neutrality and sought to play the role of an intermediary between Moscow and the West.  

The Foreign Ministry added that it believes Finland’s NATO membership will stand in violation of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty and the 1992 Russian-Finnish bilateral relations treaty.

“Taking into account the current indifference of the collective West toward international law, this behavior is the new normal,” the statement concludes.

As mentioned Finland is directly related to the Arctic encirclement/confrontation of Russia

UN Refuses to Back Ukraine ‘Genocide’ Claims

Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was addressed on the issue by journalists on Friday, RT reported.

“No, we have not documented patterns that could amount to [genocide],” she responded.

Shamdasani pointed out there were “a lot of these legal qualifications – crimes against humanity and genocide – at the end of the day would be for a court of law to determine”.

Ukraine: Russian forces renew offensive, now control 80% of portion of Donbas

(LVIV, Ukraine) — The Luhansk governor said Russian forces now control 80% of the region, which is one of two regions that make up the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

One of Russia’s stated goals is to expand the territory in the Donbas under the control of Moscow-backed separatists.

Before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, the Kyiv government controlled 60% of the Luhansk region.

The US and UK made Russia’s invasion of Ukraine possible. I saw it happen

A few excerpts- I’m not fussy on most of the article- But the touching on of history is worth recalling. Nothing happens in a vacuum.

Joe Biden wants ‘regime change’ in Russia. Last time the US did this, the result was kleptocratic capitalism and soaring unemployment

US president Joe Biden has called for ‘regime change’ in Russia, a statement that should recall previous US-led regime change crusades – in Chile, Iraq and Afghanistan, among many.

To put it mildly, these episodes have not been unmitigated successes. But the regime change initiative that deserves our scrutiny today was the United States’ most ambitious, and is the most relevant to Biden’s latest demand. This is because it concerned Russia and Ukraine themselves 30 years ago.

So what was the foreign-directed strategy? Although different proponents had variants, it enshrined a doctrine – known as ‘shock therapy’ – fostered by economists at Harvard, the London School of Economics and elsewhere.

One cannot overemphasise the folly of the anti-state ideology at a time when what was desperately needed was the nucleus of a professional civil service, backed by a proper legal system. But all the western financial advisers wanted was full-blown capitalism, which they saw as leading to a ‘Russian Boom’, in which ‘democracy and free markets have taken root for good’.

The third plank of the shock therapy sequencing was mass privatisation. It began as a bit of a joke, with privatisation ‘shares’ being handed out like confetti. I still have a voucher somewhere, given to me by the mayor of St Petersburg. But privatisation soon became a wild-west plunder. The World Bank, USAID, the new European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London and other foreign bodies allocated vast amounts to assist in speeding up the transfer to the new ‘entrepreneurs’. Over 15,000 state firms were sold off; kleptocrats became oligarchs overnight; their American and other foreign ‘advisers’ became multi-millionaires. This is when the criminality stretched across the Atlantic.

In sum, the US’s regime change strategy had generated a venal kleptocracy, and in line with that today we have globally a morally indefensible form of rentier capitalism where plutocrats are funding major political parties and politicians in their interest.

Check out the embedded interview below as the plunder is mentioned

Russia, Ukraine and the Arctic (Finland- Sweden).

It’s connected. Have you all noticed how large Canada is looming in this situation? I often wonder about the role of Finland in all this as well? Finland already participates in NATO activities. Perhaps some of the arms alleged to be earmarked for Ukraine are going to surreptitiously make their way to Finland? With those jihadi mercenaries that had made their way to Finland too?

War in Ukraine threatens geopolitical balance in the Arctic

Russia’s senior diplomat at the Arctic Council intergovernmental forum, Nikolai Korchunov, spoke out on April 17 about NATO’s increased presence in the Arctic since the war in Ukraine began. He said long-planned military drills between NATO, Finland and Sweden in the region in March were “a cause for concern” for Russia.

Previous reports at my big tech censored blog

https://web.archive.org/web/20181102211634/https://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2018/10/with-russia-in-its-crosshairs-canada.html

https://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2018/10/with-russia-in-its-crosshairs-canada.html

From the article below:

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/10/29/with-russia-in-its-cross-hairs-canada-moves-to-buy-a-sub-hunter/

https://web.archive.org/web/20191114101050/https://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2018/07/nato-needs-strategy-for-countering.html

https://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2018/07/nato-needs-strategy-for-countering.html