Is Erdoğan a Man of His Word?

Yesterday Al-Jazeera quoted Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:

I will say something very strong here. If such a thing is proven, the nobility of our nation would require that I would not stay in office.

So he commented recent Vladimir Putin's accusations that Turkey had shot down the Russian Su-24 to protect oil supplies from ISIL.

Meanwhile, earlier today Elissa Smith of Pentagon told RIA Novosti:

We reject the assumption that the Turkish government is in arrangement to IS for oil smuggling. We didn't see any proofs in support of such charges.

Come on, people, here are the proofs as presented today by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Why Does NATO Fight for ISIS?

Here is how it happened when the Turks (?) shot down our plane.

It was a thoroughly planned ambush; they knew perfectly what they were doing; for more than an hour (that day only) they waited in the air for an optimal moment to hit and hide.

No Amnesty for Hypocrisy

In their recent news release, the Amnesty International inform about current situation with Syrian refugees.

Refugees in the region

More than 4 million refugees from Syria (95%) are in just five countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt:

• Lebanon hosts approximately 1.2 million refugees from Syria which amounts to around one in five people in the country
• Jordan hosts about 650,000 refugees from Syria, which amounts to about 10% of the population
• Turkey hosts 1.9 million refugees from Syria, more than any other country worldwide
• Iraq where 3 million people have been internally displaced in the last 18 months hosts 249,463 refugees from Syria
• Egypt hosts 132,375 refugees from Syria

On Freedom of Speech - 2

Last week Margarita Simonyan met Julian Assange. Yep, that very person behind WikiLeaks.

Margarita is not only a beautiful woman and happy mother of two; she, being of ethnically Armenian descent, is a true patriot of Russia and a really smart editor-in-chief of the RT TV, doing an excellent job in her position.

I am not going to translate her full article on their meeting. I just want to draw your attention to one thing she says Assange told her.

He remainded the story of Kurdish TV in Denmark.

It was quite democratic and within the general freedom of speech rule that Denmark gave home to Kurdish TV, to a great dislike of Turkey.

Once Danish Premier-Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was chosen as a NATO General Secretary to be. And Turkey said they would veto his election. Just because of this Kurdish TV channel.

It was a minor problem in comparison with the necessity of consensus within the NATO. Even Barak Obama asked them to find a creative solution (so that nobody could feel the freedom of speech was in danger). The solution was found, and Rasmussen got a consent from Turkey and became the General Secretary.

Now, when his term is over, as far as I know there is a Kurdish TV in Denmark again. Evidently, until they in Denmark decide to have another politician in the top NATO circle or do anything else that require a consent of Turkey.

Just to finish.

The RT UK has already got nine warnings from Ofcom. They threaten to withdraw the RT's broadcasting license, because RT is biased and do not reflect to an extent this or that point of view. When RT asked why the BBC is not getting such warnings, being quite biased and contended in reflecting certain viewpoints (e.g. teh viewpoint of the Kremlion upon the Ukrainian issues), the response was they did not regulate the BBC. Nice!

What is that if not a perfect sign of hypocrisy? When it comes to really big business (and no tiny little doubt the strengthening NATO or weakening Russia being such), one of the basic liberal values, the freedom of speech can wait.

Is the RT propaganda, funded by the Russian gov't? Definitely so. But so are the BBC World Service, die Deutsche Welle, France 24, funded by their gov'ts. One of the basic values of capitalism of which we suffered the lack in the USSR, is free competition. Yet it seems that in the field of information and media competition is limited. You are free to say anything — until it satisfies the NATO and the USA behind. And they say these were we Russians who lived under a totalitarian regime...

Bye bye, freedom.