The big news story of the day concerns the latest document dump of classified material from Wikileaks. This time the incriminating documents are diplomatic cables sent to and from American embassies and consulates overseas. Included in the embarrassing information that was exposed:- President Obama has a low opinion of British Prime Minister David Cameron.
- Washington is worried about Islamic fundamentalists in the Turkish government.
- Saudi Arabia urged a military attack to stop Iran from getting the bomb.
- Hillary Clinton ordered that foreign diplomats at the UN be spied upon.
…and much, much more.
In other news, despite the dire state of finances in the European Union, the European Court of Justice ruled that the 3.7% pay increase for EU officials in Brussels must not be cut.
To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, DF, DL, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, Klein Verzet, McR, Nick, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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3 comments:
Get ready for another battle in Islam's jihad against Christmas.
Of course you knew it all the time, that the Saudis would be begging the likes of the US and UK to risk their own boys' lives to deal with their Iran problem, but it still beggars belief, doesn't it?
That they can commit themselves financially and logistically to the existential attack of the West for decades, and then want the very societies that they are systematically undermining to spring to their defence.
AKP's lack of cohesion as a party and lack of openness as a government is reflected in the range of murky, muddled motives for wanting to join the EU we have encountered among those AKPers who say they favor pursuing membership...or at least the process. Some see the process as the way to marginalize the Turkish military and what remains of the arid "secularism" of Kemalism.
We have also run into the rarely openly-spoken, but widespread belief among adherents of the Turk-Islam synthesis that Turkey's role is to spread Islam in Europe, "to take back Andalusia and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683" as one participant in a recent meeting at AKP's main think tank put it. This thinking parallels the logic behind the approach of FonMin Gul ally and chief foreign policy advisor in the Prime Ministry Ahmet Davutoglu, whose muddy opinion piece in the Dec. 13 International Herald Tribune is in essence a call for one-way multi-cultural tolerance, i.e., on the part of the EU."
A cable from the US embassy in Ankara
Bingo! We have another winner.
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