Observations 6.5

I should start by saying this is made up of thoughts I had over the past few days as protests erupted in Turkey. I'm not trying to go anywhere with it, just connecting some of those random thoughts.

Ozan Kose, AFP/Getty Images

Watching Morning Joe yesterday I was struck with a thought. Thank the gods talking heads and pundits didn't exist 200 years ago or we would be a territory of Canada. After spending an hour discussing the IRS non-scandal, non-scandal because imbecilic job performance does not make a scandal, the topic turned to the protests in Turkey. They praised Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for keeping Turkey from becoming an Islamic Republic, made note that he was democratically elected, than briefly turned to the protests themselves. What I got out of their discussion was that some felt that Erdogan was a good leader who had maybe gone to far in pulling Islam back into Turkish politics. The protesters were regarded as mostly young secularists and idealists who have numbers, social media, but no real plan or power to change things after they mess up the staus quo. After five minutes they moved to the next story.

What Erdogan exemplifies to me is arrogant power on the verge of running amuck. I'm not saying Turkey needs to change or that the protesters are completely right. Unlike the Arab springs this is being compared to Turkeys protests are more of a warning than a revolution but in that region of the world there is a fine line between the two.

I heard somewhere that John McCain called Erdogan the most arrogant leader he has ever met. To live up to that Erdogan went on an official trip to Algeria as his country entered a two day general strike and protesters filled its cities. Also, unable to run for a fourth term as Prime Minister Erdogan, who was first elected in 2003, plans on running for President which is a path first taken by that other famous democrat, Russia's Vladimir Putin. Erdogan would like to change the office before he does because currently it has no real power. It should be noted that Erdogan was first elected in 2003 and is into his third term as Prime Minister. Even Iran limits its President to two terms in office.

The are a few lessons Americans can learn in this if they want to listen. The conservative talking heads forget a simple fact in their passion for all democratically elected leaders. Barrack Obama was elected with over 50% of the popular vote not once but twice.

The other lesson is a bit scarier to think about. What you have in Turkey is a now predominately secular democracy being spoon fed religion by a wealthy ruling elite which thinks it knows better. Turkish life and politics has become polarized to the point that the Turkish people think they have no option other than taking their grievances into the streets. Now you might think something like that couldn't happen here but sit back and think about the polarization of American society today. If the current pro-wealthy, anti-government, and very nonsecular version of the Republican Party ever gained total control (the House, Senate, and Presidency) it could very easily happen here.

In an article today The Guardian asked 21 year old Mervenur Erol what she had been doing when the Turkish police charged into Gezi Park. "I was reading my English literature books," she said.

A quick note, I used the photo above because when I first saw it my immediate thought was "holy crap how did my sister get to Turkey?" It just reminded me of her so much.

update - For anyone interested I found this very good paper written by Turkish journalist Anna Wood. It's an analysis of the Gezi Park protests she wrote to try and explain the events to those outside Turkey. You can read or download the paper here.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 6.3

Over the past few days Turkey seems to have exploded in protest but you wouldn't know it by following the major American networks. They would much rather cover the DC non-scandals, Senator John McCain's latest attempt at starting a war, or whatever wingnut Rep. Darrell Issa fabricated today. Yesterday Issa called White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a "paid liar," but when asked why he said that he couldn't answer. "We're getting to proving it," is all he said.

It's easy to understand why the major networks aren't covering the Turkish protests very much. I had some trouble thinking of any reasons they should but I did come up with a few. I could start by saying Turkey is an American ally but given some of the countries we call allies I wont count that one. But Turkey is, or seemed to be, an actual secular middle eastern democracy, it is a member of NATO and the European Union, and counts among its neighboring countries Greece, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Turkey is host to 350,000 refugees from the Syrian Civil War, a number that is expected to swell to over a million before summer's end. Finally Turkey has one of the largest standing armies in Europe and, before I forget, the U.S. stations 90 nuclear weapons at the Incirlik Air Base.

It should be easy for you to see why Issa is so much more important to cover.

While I'm on the subject of Turkey I want to mention this from the 'you can't make this shit up' file. Yesterday Syria's Foreign Ministry advised Syrians "against travel to Turkey for the time being for their own safety, because of the deteriorating security." Honestly this would be hilarious if not for the 90,000 Syrians who have died in the Syrian Civil War.

I'm not going to get into why the protests started other than to say Turkey isn't quite as democratic as the wizards inside the beltway like to think it is. If you want more background here is a very good article from Jadaliyya you should start with.

Observations from the Window 11.16

Age can be a tricky thing in politics. I remember when I first saw Willard's motto "real change" and thinking sure vote for the old rich white guy for real change. Yesterday I had the exact opposite feeling when Luke Russert was rude enough to ask Nancy Pelosi if not stepping aside as Democratic leader in the house was keeping the party from grooming new leaders. Pelosi, who is 72, said she found the question offensive and as much as I like Debbie Wassermann Schultz I would agree, what has age got to do with the job? Russert, who I also like, quieted down like a spanked puppy.

Now I give you Arizona Senator John McCain who at the age of 76 seems to have just lost it completely. First McCain trashed UN Ambassador Susan Rice over what she had said at the start of the Benghazi mess even though Rice was just passing on what the CIA had told her. Evidently CIA Director Petraeus was too busy screwing his biographer that day to appear himself. McCain's outburst prompted this from an obviously pissed off President Obama; "If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after someone they should go after me. When they go after the U.N. ambassador apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they've got a problem with me."

But it got even better yesterday when McCain held a press conference demanding more information on what happened in Benghazi. The thing is McCain gave his presser at the very same time the Senate Homeland Security committee was being given a classified briefing on that very subject. When questioned about it by a CNN reporter later in the day McCain went into a meltdown worthy of Fox News on election night. From the CNN article ....

"'I have no comment about my schedule and I'm not going to comment on how I spend my time to the media," McCain said. Asked why he wouldn't comment, McCain grew agitated: "Because I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?" When CNN noted that McCain had missed a key meeting on a subject the senator has been intensely upset about, McCain said, "I'm upset that you keep badgering me.'”

Where will McCain go next? Maybe, as The Daily Kos noted, he will demand a hearing into which hearings he should have attended while demanding more hearings.

Observations from the Window 9.13

I've probably mentioned before that there was a time that John McCain was a Republican I actually liked. That was a time before he ran for President, met Sarah Palin, and drank the wingnut kool aid. Every now and than the old McCain screams to get out and he says something that reminds me why I once liked him, yesterday was such a day. On a day when Willard* tried once again to show the world why he shouldn't be President of The United States McCain stood on the U.S. Senate floor and said this ....

"It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to speak about the horrific attack yesterday on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans. The two confirmed thus far to be among the dead are Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran turned State Department Information Management Officer – and Ambassador Chris Stevens, one of America’s finest and bravest Foreign Service Officers.

I did not know Sean Smith, but I had gotten to know Chris Stevens quite well. And in Chris’s death, the Libyan people have lost a great champion and believer in the peaceful aspirations of their democratic revolution. The American people have lost a selfless and dedicated servant of our interests and values. And I have lost a friend. My thoughts and prayers today are with Chris’s family and the loved ones of his fallen colleagues. May God grant them comfort in their time of grief ...."

Full text of McCain's statement.

That being said McCain was just on the morning news shows blasting President Obama and rattling the sabers as he is wont to do at the drop of a hat. That kool aid as a long shelf life.

As I write this, a full 24 hours after the event, as far as I know Willard still hasn't even offered his condolences to the families of the diplomats killed in Libya. Maybe today he will or maybe he will just triple down on the ignorant statements he made yesterday. Time will tell but I know what side I'm betting on.

*If you want to know a little more here is a good column on the Willard/Libya subject posted on Forbes yesterday afternoon.
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