Turkey: Essay: A ''religion-friendly secularity and a pluralist concept of the nation''

Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol, in Huriyet Daily News and Economic Review in a striking essay, ''Imagine there's no religion'' [Dec17,2k10] issued what amounts to a private manifesto.  persons who write well on 

such matters don't have along shelf-life.


-- Politicarp

Israel: Enemy flotilla: Evidence emerges re violent Hamas supporters in waters approaching Gaza

Thanks to law blog Volokh Conspiracy for these YouTube video stunners:


And:



Click on my blog-entry headline above, which will take you to David Bernstein's blog entry yesterday, "Pro-Palestinian "Peace Activists" in VC. Please read his text. Thanks and Hat Tip to Bernstein, VC, YouTube, and whoever video-documented the evidence.

<br /> Reformational political philosophy has rarely taken up the questions of military and strategic concerns. <br /> <br /> The Rookmaker Club files edited by Politicarp allow the community of the Protestant philosophy initiated by Dooyeweerd, Vollenhoven, Mekkes, Rookmaker, and Stafleu (all of whom underwent the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, two of whom were Dutch military -- Mekkes and Rookmaker -- they ending up in prison camps for the War's duration), allows the present-day Protestant Christian philosophical community in the USA to address one another as Americans not in denial about terrorism, the present wars, and future mass conflict. -- Politicarp<br />

I greatly regret the political impact of this "incident." Turkey has severed ties with Israel, where previously they had been allies, altho recently a cooling-off of relations between the two countries had already begun. Turkey was Isreal's only ally in the region, but the Turks have re-elected an Islamist party which greatly strengthened itself internally against the secularist Army there. The flotilla, a Trojan horse of 10,000 tons of aid carried on 6 ships sailing from Turkey, had among its 1,000 or so passengers embedded a cadre of pro-Hamas paramilitaries among its "peace activists." Bernstein's text, together with the vids, makes the point clear regarding the provocateurs in midst of the "mere" activists.

Further info on this breaking-news story:

•Israel processes Gaza activists, eyes new aid ship (Reuters via Yahoo! News, found it on the blue breaking-news ticker on my sidebar)

•Analysis: High-seas raid deepens Israeli isolation (Associated Press via Yahoo! News, May31,2k10). An excellent overview of this breaking news-story.

-- Politicarp

Iran: Mediation: A deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey fails, 'Big Powers' sanction Ayatollahland

Brazil brokers a swap deal between Iran and Turkey regarding enriched uranium (nuclear grade) for use in a key Turkish medical project, but meantime the slow grind of Big-Power diplomacy reaches agreement on draft resolution to be presented for a vote at the UN Security Council. Reuters via Yahoo! News offers this May18,2k10 dispatch, "Big powers agree on Iran sanctions draft":

The United States handed the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution on Tuesday that would expand U.N. sanctions against Iran by hitting its banking and other industries for refusing to halt nuclear enrichment.

The 10-page draft, agreed by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia after months of negotiations, also calls for international inspection of vessels suspected of carrying cargo related to Iran's nuclear or missile programs.

The Security Council draft restricts Iran's international expansion of banking for nuclear-war purposes, and it specifically names the Revolutionary Guard's activities, alerting the world to the latter's insidious if clandestine manoeverings.