Trump 'Monitoring the Situation in Iran'

"The truth is only President Trump knows what he's going to do and a very, very small team of advisers are read into his thinking on that."

"He continues to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Iran."

"All options remain on the table." 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt 

 

"President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations."

"He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter."

Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

At least 52 prisoners were executed in Iran based on prior non-political convictions during a period of nationwide protests and an ongoing internet shutdown.  Iran International

 

Last June Leavitt had read a message to reporters saying it had come "directly from the president". Trump himself would decide, he maintained, whether to strike Iran "within the next two weeks"; this at a time when Israel was carrying out strikes on Iran, and the president was weighing whether he would order the U.S. military to become involved. Before two days elapsed B-2 bombers were ordered to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. 

 

"It might be that they're delaying things and using the time for getting that posture correct", ventured Jeremy Shapiro, research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, on the theory that the American president might have been concerned over the current U.S. force posture in the Middle East spurring him to hesitate. No U.S. aircraft carriers, an asset during a military operation in the region were available having been deployed to an operation focused on Venezuela.

 

The perceived shifting tone of U.S. President Donald Trump leaning away from his threats to attack Iran following his continued warning issuing warnings against Tehran for its brutal crackdown on Iranians mounting a countrywide protest against the oppressive Islamist Republic's theocratic regime saw a drop in oil prices as markets reacted to the uncertainty of this mercurial president's changeable sentiments.

 

The intervention of top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar warning that an American military intervention would have the effect of destabilizing the global economy as well as shaking an already volatile region moving it close to a total regional war appears to have had an effect on the president's decision-making. This is a Muslim Brotherhood reaction to the potential removal of the Islamist theocracy ruling Iran.  

 

Anti-government protesters demonstrate on January 8, in Tehran.   Getty Images

 

While Oman and Qatar are in full support of Iran, as Muslim Brotherhood-linked states, the Muslim Brotherhood has been officially proscribed in Egypt, where it was formed almost a century ago, as a fundamentalist Islamist group dedicated to strict Sharia and jihad by any means, and in Saudi Arabia as well it is outlawed, though it seems that the severe orthodoxy of totalitarian Islamism dictates the decision making in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood whose agenda the Islamic Republic of Iran represents a living example.

 

Qatar in particular, with its massive oil wealth, has bought respectability and recognition as a 'moderate' Muslim state in the United States. Its persuasive power lies in its massive financial investments there, in its universities where it has been able to influence academia to respect its agenda of portrayals of Islam as benign, not the Western values-destructive totalitarian threat it carries. President Trump admires the trappings of wealth and power and is not immune to appreciating those whose generosity benefits him personally.

 

Iranians took to the streets despite the danger they face from their despotic, oppressive government that has, over almost a half-century persecuted them through force of threats and state punishment from imprisonment, torture and a relentless death penalty. Despite Iran's authorities warning the population that taking part in mass protests against the government would be construed as grounds for capital punishment, Iranians kept turning out in their hundreds of thousands in cities across the nation, facing police violence.

 

Iran International

 

Estimates of the rising death count have reached well over 30,000 people. The wounded have overwhelmed hospitals and now reports emerge that the Basij are entering hospitals to take away and execute those wounded in the protests. As for families frantic to recover the bodies of their loved ones for burial, without the thousands of dollars demanded by the regime to release them, those families that cannot afford the price to redeem the corpses are left disconsolate in their grief. 

 

After having issued vehement threats to the Iranian regime for the rising death count, and promising Iranians that the U.S. military is prepared to rescue them,  Trump's assurances that "help is on its way", while urging Iranians to take over their country's institutions, abruptly declared information had been given him from "very important sources on the other side" that Iran  had put a halt to killing protesters and executions were no longer proceeding. No need, therefore, to intervene.

 

At the same time that Qatar, Oman, Egypt and Saudi Arabia persuaded Trump to stand down from his word to the Iranian people, they urged Iranian officials to end the visible repression of protesters, warning that continued Iranian responses or an action against the U.S. would significantly impact Iran. Through social media Trump repeated the speaking lines of those persuading him not to strike Iran: "This is good news, hopefully, it will continue!", he posted over the commutation of a death sentence for a young Iranian shopkeeper-protester.

 

Iran's response was to once more completely shut down the Internet connections across the nation.  And nor can cellphones be operational. No news in or out of the theocracy, other than what the regime may permit. No guarantees that the hunting down and slaughter of Iranians, disconsolate over their abandonment by the world at large and fearing now to emerge from their homes, is ongoing. This is what is meant by a pact with the devil some might compare to the 'art of the deal'. 

"[Thousands have been killed], some in an inhuman, savage manner."

"Those linked to Israel and the US caused massive damage and killed several thousand."

"We consider the US president criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation."

"[Iran considered President Trump to be a] criminal. [The US must be] held accountable [for recent unrest]."

"America's goal is to swallow Iran."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 

Iran's supreme leader has for the first time publicly acknowledged that thousands of people were killed during recent protests, blames the West. Iranian leader press office via Getty Images

 

 Chinese DNA Studies : Scientifically Nefarious

"Defining ethnicity is extremely, extremely messy. So actually, ethnicities is first a social and cultural concept. And now suddenly, we're talking about genes. However, it makes it possible to tomorrow decide that someone does belong or does not belong to a certain population."
"I'm extremely concerned about this because in history, actually, if you look back in the first half of the 20th century, German and then Belgian colonists in Rwanda and Burundi actually went there, and they were using pseudoscientific ideas about race and assigned people to a particular ethnicity. That actually was a significant factor in genocides. And the risk for this in the midterm is actually really worrying."
"[When Western journals publish such papers -- pseudo-scientific studies co-written by state-linked scientists, police, security agencies -- it amounts to selling a knife to a friend] knowing that your friend would use the knife to sill  his wife. If you produce a piece of knowledge and know someone is going to take that and harm someone with it, that’s a huge problem.”"
"The [scientific] community has to take a major step and say: 'This is not us'."
Yves Moreau, geneticist, professor, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium

China's program in studying the DNA of the country's ethnic minorities has come under scrutiny for the very simple reason that it smacks of Nazi-era preoccupation in similar studies with the aim of categorizing ethnic groups such as Jews and Roma as sub-human distinguished by abhorrent traits that civilized and technologically modern cultures reject for their disruptive, threatening-to-society goals, an observation that led to the public, social dehumanization of such groups making it easier for the Third Reich to target them for obliteration lest they continue 'corrupting the social order'.

The global scientific community is reacting to China's DNA-inspection agenda, warning that Beijing could make use of its assemblage of data for the purpose of ongoing oppression as it spies on minority groups within its immense population base. Prestigious Western scientific journals have been placed on notice, leading them to the response that they would undertake a re-evaluation of the standards that permitted them to publish papers on Tibetans, Uighurs and other minority groups in China.

Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang, the region where China has locked up more than one million people from predominantly Muslim minority groups in the name of quelling terrorism.   Credit...Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times

Those that are known to be persecuted, defamed and closely watched for activities the Chinese deem to be 'splittest' or lacking in 'harmony', bringing unrest to the public sphere, making Beijing nervous to the degree they will take steps to stifle any potential degree of protest are subjected to programs such as the mass round-up of Uighurs, said to be in the hundreds of thousands to a million, for re-education purposes, where the institutionally incarcerated are bombarded with psychological duress to impress upon them the existential requirement of submission to the state and renunciation of cultural or religious roots.

Measuring the skull of a Romani woman

Harnessing technology for the purpose of tracking minority groups particularly on the western frontier in China's Xinjiang province, Muslim minorities languish in internment camps because they have been recognized by authorities as terrorists-in-the-making. Facial recognition systems whose selling point is the claim they can differentiate when someone is a Uighur, as well as blood collection with the intention of designing new tracking tools aimed at minority groups, appalls Western scientists and with good reason. All the more so that some scientists in the west have unwittingly collaborated.

In early December, the journal Nature published an essay by Dr. Moreau who has called on all publications to retract papers submitted by scientists with Chinese security agency backing, focusing on the DNA of minority ethnic groups in China. He and other scientists are concerned over China's research meant to be used in contrived methodology in monitoring and subjugating ethnic minorities in China. Research into DNA is a violation of the scientific rules regarding consent. The focus being on whether Uighurs willingly submitted their blood samples.

Frontiers in Genetics journal rejected a paper in February, based on findings from the DNA of over 600 Uighurs, where some of the journal's editors cited the treatment of Uighurs. Chinese research into the genetics of China's ethnic minorities are not all given blanket censure; studies in fields such as medicine, with research geared toward medical treatment of people -- and forensics in matters of criminal justice are viewed as legitimate.

Between 2011 and 2018, of 529 studies in genetic forensics, Dr. Moreau discovered that roughly fifty percent were co-authored with the Chinese police, military, or judiciary. Tibetans were 40 times more frequently  studied than the majority ethnic Han. Similarly, the Uighur population was thirty times more intensely studied than was the Han Chinese majority. Three journals over the past eight years published 40 articles co-authored by members of the Chinese police, describing the DNA profiling of Tibetans and Muslim minorities.

China’s efforts to check the DNA of the nation’s ethnic minorities have incited a rising backlash from the worldwide scientific neighbourhood, as plenty of scientists warn that Beijing may use its rising information to spy on and oppress its individuals.

Beijing's Totalitarian Social Credit Control

"The unified rewards and punishment system significantly increases the potential for one violation to snowball across your operations until you have this avalanche of penalties that make it impossible to operate until you solve that one thing."
Kendra Schaefer, Trivium China, consulting firm

It occupies a spot next to Black Mirror and Big Brother in popular imagination, but China’s social credit project is far more complicated than a single, all-powerful numerical score.STR/AFP/Getty Images

Good citizens in Beijing's social credit system never have to face being blacklisted by their government; rewards for never causing problems, for accepting all government edicts, for expressing profound respect for the Chinese Communist Party, for being completely obedient to all government expectations, and above all, never questioning anything. Citizens deemed to be averse to all of this or merely running afoul one way or another, of government authorities can expect all manner of indignities and denials of what they may feel as their rights as citizens.

From being blocked from making travel arrangements by rail or air, from attending theatres, from staying at the best hotels, from making bank loans, from starting up new businesses. They run the risk of being publicly named and shamed, of having their beloved dog confiscated, facing difficulties in finding employment, their children banned from attending schools of choice, even interfering in  Internet speed. Life can get very complicated.

As it did for Loren Fei, 30, daughter of an owner of a silk factory, now on a blacklist of businesses, their owners and their families. Her father, unable to pay his bills, her bank accounts were frozen, and she was denied the ability to travel. Her family's silk factory was given dispensation by local government authorities for years, to break environmental rules in the greater local interests of economic growth. But, on the national agenda of getting a grip on befouling the natural environment, the factory was shut down by authorities.

Ms. Fei had been on a work trip in late 2017 and discovered she was unable to acquire a train ticket to return home. Following this, her bank accounts were frozen. And she was fired from her employment as a financial analyst. She had signed for a loan on her father's behalf. And because her mother is a shareholder in the family business she too is on the blacklist, and her monthly pension payments have been frozen. Leaving the family deep in debt and now Ms. Fei sells goods on the Internet, eking out a living.

Students sing the national anthem at their school in Shanghai.,

AFP/Getty Images

The social credit system initiated in 2014 by the government in Beijing has been a useful experiment for the country, which is now turning its attention increasingly outward. Having tightened control over its 1.4 billion population, it is toward the global business world that Beijing now turns its attention, satisfied that its citizens understand how beneficial it would be to their credit standing to become a member of the Communist Party.

Chinese companies are graded as well as those who run them. Low grades can be instrumental in banning companies from borrowing money or simply involving themselves in ordinary business routines, to find roadblocks at the most unexpected junctures. It's a learning curve, and the Chinese are quick studies. Business owners or executives understandably fall into line when they are threatened with frozen bank accounts or are forbidden from travelling for business reasons.

United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have received notification that their records will be receiving black marks on their credit rating should they fail to attend to wishes expressed by Beijing. The kind of pressure that has been applied to businesses anxious for entry to the huge and lucrative Chinese marketplace, where entry can be achieved at the cost of surrendering corporate autonomy and closely guarded business secrets.

Reward or punishment, a primitive but highly successful manipulation to bring individuals, groups and businesses into line with China's interests should they wish to burnish their own. The age of digital Big Brother has long since arrived, but in China it is blatant and impervious to any chafing by civil libertarians and proponents of human rights. China's central economic planning agency has completed its initial evaluation of 33 million businesses with ratings from1for excellent to 4 for poor.

China's credit rating system extended to foreign companies is geared toward commanding access to the world's largest market by making it clear to United, Delta and American Airlines, informing them that Chinese aviation officials warn their social credit score could suffer should their websites labelled Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan not identify those sites as part of China. A lower score could guarantee investigations, possibly frozen bank accounts, limitations on local employees' movements.

President Xi Jinping is intent on gripping the country and any who wish to take part in the wealth it is prepared to share at a steep price, in the iron grasp of conformity to CCP rules. And because the instructions come from the very top executive branch of the country's government there are no appeals and nor can anything be done to hinder enforcement. The other half of the grip is the installation of separate facial recognition technology as a monitor enabling dissent to be quelled and just incidentally crime as well.

There is a positive element in the situation, given the widespread pollution, rampant violations of labour laws, crime statistics and other problems, that would in one prolonged swoop clean up these areas of malfunction. There is in China no anonymity. Government sees all, knows all, controls everything. Nothing is opaque, transparency from the top to the bottom, but not, obviously, the reverse.

A demonstration of monitoring technology at the headquarters of Huawei Technologies in Shenzhen earlier this year.   Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images

Foreign corporations have the freedom to express their concerns over how their business partners in China could influence their own welfare. Concerns over social credit impacting as a weapon in trade wars between Chin and the United States recognize reality. The European Union Chamber of Commerce cited FedEx as an example, where the U.S. package carrier has been threatened by China of being placed on a list of foreign companies considered 'unrelable'.  It did, after all, break Chinese law in withholding a shipment of Huawei products.

Perspective: Terrorist Cult or Freedom Fighters?

"Members and supporters of the MKO terrorist group hold a rally on first of July each year in Paris."
"Harper attended this year's event alongside his former minister of foreign affairs, John Baird."
"'Thank you for your long battle for a free and democratic Iran', Harper told a crowd at the Free Iran rally in Paris in a defiant support of the MKO terrorist group."
"#Canada should seriously investigate the scope and nature of @stephenharper [Canada's 22nd Prime Minister Stephen Harper] and @Baird's [Former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird] relationship with the #MEK [MKO] cult during their tenure as Prime and Foreign ministers', Reza Nasri, a prominent law expert from Geneva's Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies tweeted recently."
Islamic Republic News Agency

So that is the take from the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the presence of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the annual National Council of Resistance of Iran group. The group had, in fact, invited an entire smorgasbord of well-known and -connected international public figures to attend and to speak at this publicized event. The group, whose founding came out of the Mojahedin--Khalq (MEK), dedicated to the overthrow of the Iranian Republic, has more than its share of critics damning it as a terrorist group.

Based in Paris, the MEK's reputation is frequently assailed; though devoted to overthrowing the current Iranian regime, even among some Iranian dissidents abroad it is considered extremist and controversial, with claims of a cult of leadership along with a questionable history of violence. Mr. Harper's appearance at the event became  hugely unpopular among many critics of the MEK, along with some expatriate Iranians living in Canada such as Samira Mohyeddin known as a critic of the regime who called the MEK a "well-documented terrorist cult who have committed many crimes against humanity".

In fact, the MEK was on a terrorist watch list in the U.S. and Canada and elsewhere, but has long since been removed. Farzan Sabet, an Iranian policy expert with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University claimed that Mr. Harper's presence at the conference "speaks to the sophistication of MEK political operations, and naivete or venality of Western politicians who chose to attend." Harsh condemnation by no uncertain means. And reflective of the usual polarized opinions strongly held by opposing parties in the Middle East.

When Stephen Harper was Prime Minister of Canada, Iranian interference in Canada with its propaganda and its efforts to control its expatriate population for propaganda and infiltration purposes -- along with its well-known record of supporting terrorism and the lesser-known fact that Iranian-produced school curricula was found in Shiite madrasas and parochial schools operating in Canada, redolent of hate-mongering -- persuaded his administration to cut diplomatic ties with the country. In so doing, he closed the Canadian embassy in Tehran and shuttered the Iranian embassy in Ottawa in a distinct persona-non-grata rebuke.

For years, Canada's UN ambassador led a well supported move to single out Iran at the United Nations on an annual basis as a human rights abuser, stemming from the murder in Evan prison of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi. Under Prime Minister Harper, the government of Canada held close ties with the State of Israel. Coincidentally the MEK has ties with Israeli intelligence. The State of Israel is in the direct cross-hairs of the Iranian Republic's goal of destruction, often enough publicly stated, even within the United Nations.

It seems passing strange that among many international guests at the MEK conference there were two notable personages, one of whom was the former director of the FBI, Luise Freeh who held his position with honours for an eight-year period before stepping down. Another was the former French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kurchner, who also happens to have been a co-founder of Medecines sans Frontieres. How likely is it that two men of their calibre would support a terrorist group? They were there to support a group dedicated to dismantling a terrorist theocracy.

Stephen Harper‏Verified account @stephenharper

Proud to stand up for freedom and democracy for the people of Iran. While the Iranian regime poses a threat to us all, the most oppressed are its own citizens. Freedom, dignity and self determination are universal values.

"The Free Iran event was attended by thousands of Iranian dissidents, from all political backgrounds from around the world."
"Mr. Harper has not, and will not, endorse specific political movements or candidates."
Anna Tomala, spokesperson, Harper & Associates

Although at its founding in the 1960s,the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) helped to overthrow Shah Palevi's unpopular regime, and was involved with the typical Middle East assassinations and violence, it has long since renounced violence. Its headquarters stationed in Iraq on the border with Iran at the time of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 led to its being forcibly disarmed which initiated its transformation, prompting Canada and the U.S. to remove MEK from their roster of terrorist groups.

When Mr. Harper addressed the gathering of thousands, comprised hugely of expatriate Iranian supporters, he took pains to denounce the Republic's repressive regime, speaking of his own actions as prime minister of Canada including having listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and his move to sever diplomatic relations with the government. "We closed the Canadian embassy in Iran and told the mullahs to get out of Canada!"

John Bolton, current American national security adviser was present at the Free Iran rally, as was Rudolph Guiliani, former New York City mayor at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A Seemingly Insolvable Human Conundrum 

"The RCMP is in a very difficult position."
"You have farmers complaining about under-policing and you tend to have an Indigenous population complaining about over-policing."
Glen Luther, professor of law, University of Saskatchewan

"When you go to your local coffee shop and you find out your neighbour was robbed last night, it sticks in your mind, and you have to start thinking about protecting your own properties."
"It doesn't deter them [First Nations young men] from trying again [without prosecution resulting from crime sprees]. It's an easy get if you're not going to be brought to justice."
Rick Kehler, Saskatchewan farmer, Paynton, Saskatchewan

Colten Boushie, left, was fatally shot in August 2016. Gerald Stanley, right, was acquitted of second-degree murder in the death of Boushie. (Facebook/Liam Richards/Canadian Press)

And there lies the problem of social dystrophy, where two solitudes view their social obligations, security and responsibilities in wildly variant ways. First Nations Canadians across the spectrum and across the country complain that their youth are disproportionately represented in Canadian prisons. That there is a distinct reason for that state of affairs in that First Nations youth are involved in the commission of more crimes per their population size than non-Indigenous youth appears not to sway them from their complaints.

That Canadian Aboriginals face discrimination and lack of respect, feel oppressed and under-valued is another reality. But the simple reality also is that there is a reluctance to integrate with the larger society alongside a wish to remain separate, to embrace their heritage, and to live on reserves administered by councils that in too many instances, enrich themselves and ignore the needs of the reserve residents, apportioning government funding disproportionately.

Another unfortunate reality is that in greater numbers than the general public, violence and suicide stalk Aboriginal populations in Canada where First Nations people are prone to drug and alcohol addictions so that crime appears to naturally follow. In First Nations communities violence against men, women and children perpetrated by other residents is also disproportionate to the general society, as is the neglect of children's most basic needs for emotional support and guidance.

The insistence among Indigenous leaders that remote reserves should have medical services equal to that of urban dwellers is so obviously impractical. Impractical too is the prevalent view that government provided reserve housing can be allowed to disintegrate because the people who live in them cannot bother simple household upkeep. Just as impractical as complaining of high unemployment in isolated communities where there are no employment opportunities.

A trial just recently concluded where a white farmer in Saskatchewan was found not guilty by a jury of his peers in the death of a 22-year-old Cree man who, along with four friends, drove inebriated onto his property, attempting to steal an all-terrain vehicle there when the same group had an hour previous driven onto another farm property and failed in an attempt to steal a truck there. The entire area is one of rampant crime where farmers report tools, equipment and vehicle theft on a constant basis. And because of a lack of police follow-up have initiated their own monitoring.

The actions of the five young people in the SUV, inebriated and out of control, alarmed the farmer, his adult son and the farmer's wife. A melee ensued resulting in the death of Colten Boushie of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, by a shot from a handgun held by 55-year-old Gerald Stanley who feared for the safety of his son and wife. Boushie shot dead while seated in the SUV, had a rifle on his lap. Two young women in the SUV exited the vehicle and proceeded to beat the farmer's wife before running off.

The RCMP investigating the death is under criticism because officers entered Boushie's mother's home without a warrant, both informing her of her son's death, and looking for the presence of a witness to the event. The SUV the five young people were driving with a flat tire was impounded, presumably because it was stolen. When the trial jury was selected both the defence and the Crown had the opportunity to refuse jurors which ended up an all-white jury of men and women, no Indigenous.

When RCMP cadets are being trained they are exposed to classroom exercises in Indigenous rights and culture. An interactive exercise introduces them to a sense of the "betrayal, loss, suffering and discrimination Indigenous people suffered following European settlement". In Canadian law when Indigenous people are on trial especial consideration is given to their background circumstances, excusing them where white accused would not be through a process known as the 'Gladu' principle.

Despite all the efforts on the part of non-Indigenous Canada to cater to the needs of First Nations people, nothing seems to work to the advantage of the entire society. At the present time there are 1,500 Indigenous officers on the federal police force, representing roughly 8 percent of the officer ranks. RCMP members have regular meetings with national Indigenous organizations to speak of methods in hopes of preventing crime, to reduce victimization of Indigenous people.

"This testimony [from a witness], although this is entirely up to you to decide, is at odds with the autopsy report that definitively states that Mr. Boushie died from a single gunshot to the head."
"If you have a reasonable doubt about Mr. Stanley's guilt arising from ... the credibility or the reliability of one or more of the witnesses, then you must find him not guilty."
"There is no dispute that Mr. Stanley was lawfully justified in the circumstances of this case to retrieve his handgun and fire it into the air as warning shots, if you find that this is what he did."
"Beyond that, it is for you to determine if his actions continued to be lawful."
Chief Justice Martel Popescul :  Instructions to the jury, Stanley second-degree murder trial : Not guilty

His Way, All The Way, Full Speed Ahead

"The European Parliament ... strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt in July."
Non-binding motion сalling on the European Commission and national governments to institute the largely symbolic freeze in negotiations with Ankara.

"The government and parliament can extend the length of state of emergency. What's it to you? Does the European Parliament rule this country or the government [of Turkey]? Know your limits! Those days are over."
"Saying ‘don't fight terrorism’ to a country who fights against terror every day is to tell them to put up the shutters."
"Are you [European Parliament] inviting terrorist groups? [Turkey will continue to] go on its way no matter what they say."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan feels that he should be imperviously protected from criticism emanating from within his own nation. To that end he has launched a series of lawsuits against anyone who dares defame him or question his authority. And since the independent press in a democratic society is given to questioning the legality or the justice in certain processes undertaken by governments, those enquiries are viewed by Mr. Erdogan as "terrorist" activities, which require that the government crack react forcefully.

Any hints of support for Kurdish nationalist aspirations is tantamount to treason. If news stories forget to state the number of people killed in the attempted coup of last summer, this represents proof of sympathies toward terrorism. According to Erol Onderoglu as the Turkish representative with Reporters Without Borders, 150 news outlets have been closed down while government-loyal business people have been urged to take possession of the remaining news outlets. Turkey has succeeded in out-distancing China's repression of journalists and the news media.

"What's left, they are all basically Pravda", Gulsin Harman, a former journalist for one independent now in government hands, observed glumly. While a senior official with the government stated that jailed journalists were in prison for criminal and terrorist offenses, certainly not for their unfortunate journalism.  Erdogan took on emergency powers in the wake of the failed military coup purportedly carried out by supporters of Turkish Muslim cleric in exile Fethullah Gulen.

Other "terrorists" abound in Turkey. There is, for example, the Kurdish movement restive to persuade anyone who will turn a sympathetic ear to their just wish to be finally accorded the national homeland their heritage status in the geography demands -- their actions and their perceived alliance with the PKK, designates them a terrorist group of the first order, seen to be a threat to Turkey that must be countered by arrests and whatever other means suggest themselves.

Oh, yes, and then there's the Gulenist movement which Turkey accuses of having masterminded and carried out the attempted military coup which loyal Turks helped the government to successfully defend itself against. They too, needless to say, are terrorists, which explains why tens of thousands of civil servants, police, lawyers, judges, teachers and other riff-raff within Turkish society have been arrested as enemies of the state.

The insufferably interfering European Union protests that Turkey's over-reaction to these events disqualifies it from membership in the EU.

The summary and absurdly justified arrests of Kurdish members of Parliament, the military bombardment of Kurdish enclaves and villages in the south-eastern Kurdish-majority areas of Turkey
all represent glaringly obvious instances of violent repression from a government that insists it is justified in whatever action it takes to counter the "terrorism" it faces from within and without. 
Turkey has historically repeatedly faced criticism from the EU for its record on human rights, democracy and freedom of the press. No less so today.

President Erdogan's declaration that he is seriously considering the reinstatement of capital punishment to deal with terrorist traitors who he charges took part in the coup has also alarmed EU lawmakers. Entirely justifying Mr. Erdogan's not-so-veiled threats that he is also considering releasing himself and his government from the year-old agreement with the EU to hold back the tide of Syrian refugees from once again overwhelming Europe by dangerously crossing the Mediterranean in flimsy boats to invade Greece in their passage through Europe.



This is Erdogan's Trump card. Perhaps the EU should consult with the president-elect of the United States, a man they have learned to love to hold in deep abhorrence and who they might feel has much in common with Erdogan, and who may yet surprise them when it turns out they are wrong. The simple fact being that it takes a very special mindset to reflect Erdogan's grandiose vision of himself as the caliph the Muslim world has long been yearning for. Mr. Trump has a personal aversion to that kind of aspiration, even though it mirrors what he has himself orchestrated elsewhere.