Friday, March 7, 2014

Obama, Turkey and Double Standards: Obama Silent As Erdogan Threatens to Shut Down Facebook and YouTube

Do you remember Obama's State of the Union address? Did you hear any mention by the president of his pre-election promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide by Turkey? No way! You see, autocratic Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has been declared by Obama to be one of his best overseas friends (see: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/world/2013/05/16/Erdogan-and-Obama-Best-friends-no-more.html).

The radical Islamization of Turkey and the end of that country's civil liberties? As reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists at the end of 2013 (http://cpj.org/reports/2013/12/second-worst-year-on-record-for-jailed-journalists.php):

"For the second consecutive year, Turkey was the world’s leading jailer of journalists, followed closely by Iran and China."

Even a whimper of protest from Obama? No way!

Now, after the dissemination of a recording in which Erdogan purportedly tells his son to dispose of large sums of money following police raids connected to a burgeoning corruption scandal, Erdogan is threatening to shut down Facebook and YouTube in Turkey (see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/07/us-turkey-erdogan-idUSBREA2609A20140307).

Again, not a word from Obama.

You see, Obama is too busy castigating Israel for its "intransigence" involving the establishment of a Palestinian state (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2014/03/new-york-times-editorial-israels-choice.html).

But do you think Obama is bothered in the least by the fact that there are some 30 million stateless Kurds in Turkey (20 percent of Turkey's population), Iran, Iraq and Syria, who have been systematically oppressed by all of these countries? No way! Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, couldn't care less. Alleged Israeli inequities are all that matter to this dynamic duo.

Double standard or not, you can be certain that Obama will continue to obsess over and fulminate against his "nemesis" Netanyahu until America's president finally leaves office in January 2017.

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