May 16, 2014

Crazy Erdogan? Turkey's PM Loses his Grip

Crazy Erdogan? Turkey's PM Loses his Grip
By Michael Collins

The Turkish Medical Association may have been right when it announced it was "terribly worried " about the emotional well-being of [Turkish] Prime Minister Erdogan." (March 16) (Image: WAFF)

The PM reinforced the medical opinion when he broke from reality in his remarks on the major mine disaster in Soma, Turkey. Erdogan casually dismissed the tragedy of the 282 dead miners. ...

These very public incidents reveal an increasingly autocratic and erratic PM. Erdogan doesn't know how to behave in the presence of mourners at the site of their tragic losses. He diminishes their losses by reducing them to a mere calculation. He shouts out at speakers who dare to disagree with his policies, as though it is his divine right. In the past, Erdogan's critics labeled him the sultan due to his imperious style. In the future, a reference to Vlad the Impaler may be more accurate.

Link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Crazy-Erdogan-Turkey-s-PM-by-Michael-Collins-Disaster-Mining_Rejep-Tayyip-Erdogan_Turkey-140516-341.html

May 9, 2014

Hot War with Russia - The Saker

Hot War with Russia - The Saker
By Michael Collins

What's the likelihood of a shooting war with Russia over Ukraine? What are the military realities that U.S. and it's NATO collaborators see when they consider a real war in behalf of their proxy government in Ukraine? Leading edge blogger, The Saker, provides an extended analysis that answers these questions convincingly. Along with OpedNew's George Eliason's superb analysis, The Saker is taking citizen journalism to new heights. (Image: Thomas Williams)

A short time before The Saker's post, we got a bit of good news. The official propaganda organ of corporate America, Associated Press, ran this headline at 12:38 PM PDT - AP: Ignoring Putin, Ukraine Insurgents to Hold Vote. It doesn't take much to read these tea leaves. Putin is being let off the hook as the evil genius behind the people of Eastern Ukraine. After a little bit of corporate media rehab, Obama will be able to accept Putins ongoing offer to negotiate a reasonable ending to the mess that they reated (unless the neocons sabotage it).

Remembering the important lessons of the Cold War
The Saker at The Vineyard of the Saker

Link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Hot-War-with-Russia--The-by-Michael-Collins-Brand-Obama_Donbas_NATO-Combat-Caveats_Peace_War-140508-928.html

May 1, 2014

Turnabout is Fair Play - Cuba and Ukraine

Turnabout is Fair Play - Cuba and Ukraine
Michael Collins

Russia's response to United States and European Union efforts in Ukraine represents a more restrained, lower stakes version of the response by the U.S. to the installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba by the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1962. Today, the headline above could be inverted to read:

Russia Blockades Ukraine, Tells US to 'Lay Off"

More than 50 years ago, U.S. President John F. Kennedy initiated a naval blockade of Cuba based on photographic evidence of medium range nuclear missile on the island just ninety miles from Florida. In his address to the nation of October 22, 1962, the president declared:

All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back.

Any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union." President John F. Kennedy, Oct 22, 1962

Link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Turnabout-is-Fair-Play--C-by-Michael-Collins-Cuban-Missile-Crisis_JFK_Russia_Ukraine-140501-344.html