Norwegian Report confirms Turkey is receiving large amount of oil from IS

[norseamd]

The report was made by the consulting Rystad Energy, on behalf of the Foreign Ministry. The secret report states that large amounts of oil have been smuggled across the border to Turkey from IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq. IS sells this oil "at greatly reduced prices, from 25 to 45 dollars a barrel." The report is based on the figures from the consulting Rystad Energy's own database, as well as conversations with sources in the region.

Original article.

http://www.klassekampen.no/article/20151217/ARTICLE/151219811

Translated article.

https://translate.google.com/transl...20151217/ARTICLE/151219811&edit-text=&act=url

 

[Jaskalas]

1. They arm ISIS.
2. They trade with ISIS.
3. They attack the enemies of ISIS - in both countries.
4. They arrest their opposition media / party.

Turkey isn't doing so hot right now. More like Pakistan than Europe.

 

[MongGrel]

Turkey has tended to just veer that way ever since the end of the Cold War over time.

Why the US has tended to pull some things out of the area also since then, I'm sure.

I wish we would pull more.

 

[Pocatello]

Turkey is turning more into an Islamist state. Maybe it's time for the military to take over instead of the current regime under Erdogan.

 

[alcoholbob]

Eskimospy's favorite regime. Surprised he hasn't packed up and moved there already

 

[arsjum]

Turkey is turning more into an Islamist state. Maybe it's time for the military to take over instead of the current regime under Erdogan.

No, it is time for the Turkish people to elect the kind of government they deserve, not something an outsider wishes for them.

 

[Pocatello]

No, it is time for the Turkish people to elect the kind of government they deserve, not something an outsider wishes for them.

There is nothing more dangerous than giving what the people want, especially power to the majority who don't respect the rights of the minority.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Turkey might be showing a crack in NATO, or displaying a weakness in the alliance.

Initially, I surmise that we only got them in as a member because of their proximity to the USSR. So any glaring shortcoming in their political system and justice system from other western NATO countries may have been ignored. And after all, the entirety of western Europe went through a process of reconstruction after the war. I'm not so sure that pattern was followed in Turkey.

Their varied interests in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict are contrary and conflict with a clearer set of goals evident in France, Britain, . . . . US. They have their own Kurdish insurgency, so their support for the Iraqi Kurds either doesn't exist or is far short of anything meaningful.

 

[Jaskalas]

No, it is time for the Turkish people to elect the kind of government they deserve, not something an outsider wishes for them.

I'll stand for that insofar as a military "option" may just mean more instability, more violence. Our reaction should be to clearly state our goals, and if Turkey pushes back too far we find economic means of persuasion with their chosen government.

 

[MongGrel]

Turkey might be showing a crack in NATO, or displaying a weakness in the alliance.

Initially, I surmise that we only got them in as a member because of their proximity to the USSR.

I'd say it is more like a version of a large canyon as far as NATO goes these days.

 

[norseamd]

I'd say it is more like a version of a large canyon as far as NATO goes these days.

This.

And it was a "large canyon" that got them into NATO in the first place actually.

 

[Victorian Gray]

How else is Erdogan going to afford this place:

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'd say it is more like a version of a large canyon as far as NATO goes these days.

I just think the entire transition from ~1992 through end of the Yeltsin years and beyond has been mismanaged.

Back then, Washington Post published a cartoon of a big Mother Bear (Russia), with a bunch of bear cubs eagerly seeking western aid. It was cynical, but in part, true. There was no "Marshall Plan," since the Cold War didn't leave any Dresdens or Berlins.

Obama's chucklehead-predecessor was all goo-goo-eyed about Putin, while aggressively seeking to build up NATO. While bringing in many of the former iron-curtain states would seem logical, the sense of isolation folks inside Russia may have felt could have led to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Pussy-Riot or no, they've now got these local Russian teenagers organizing into quasi-ROTC groups, disassembling AK-47's on their parents' kitchen tables. And where are the Russian equivalents of mass shootings by nut-cases? They couldn't hide the Beslan attack. And they couldn't hide a James Holmes-ovich, Dylan Roofsky, Adam Lansko or Robert Dearkin.

It's the long-run mess of short-run Cold War developments. Festering pustules of troubles that even date back to the end of WWI.

So -- with Turkey at the forefront of the problems, how would YOU "repair the world?"

 

[arsjum]

There is nothing more dangerous than giving what the people want, especially power to the majority who don't respect the rights of the minority.

Right, and having them ruled with an iron fist by the military with its fascist roots is better. It is amazing that you show such a disdain for the wishes of the Turkish people (as if all they want is disrespect their minorities) and yet wonder why Turkey has been taking a different direction than Westerners such as yourself want to see.

Jaskalas

I'll stand for that insofar as a military "option" may just mean more instability, more violence. Our reaction should be to clearly state our goals, and if Turkey pushes back too far we find economic means of persuasion with their chosen government.

History is your lesson. The 1980 coup brought bloodshed and mass repression to the Turkish people. Many folks seem to have forgotten that Turkey's murderous policy against Kurds was institutionalized by supporters of Ataturk's cult of personality and the military. The worst excesses against Kurds were also carried out by those two. Before he drifted into current insanity and megalomania, Erdogan from 2002 to 2008 was the best thing that ever happened to Kurds in Turkish Republic's entire history.

The military trying to take over the government today will bring much worse instability and violence than it did in previous ones. The mass will not easily tolerate it, regardless of their growing dislike of Erdogan. The result will be a much bloodier confrontation. And I don't think, after being crippled to a significant degree by Erdogan and a different international climate, the military is in a position to take over again.

 

[norseamd]

Right, and having them ruled with an iron fist by the military with its fascist roots is better. It is amazing that you show such a disdain for the wishes of the Turkish people (as if all they want is disrespect their minorities) and yet wonder why Turkey has been taking a different direction than Westerners such as yourself want to see.

Well it actually is. In comparison to Erdogan. And I am willing to bet many Turks would take back the old military junta over Erdogan also. Less worse is not as bad as shitastic vile cesspool of fundamentalism.

 

[arsjum]

Well it actually is. In comparison to Erdogan. And I am willing to bet many Turks would take back the old military junta over Erdogan also. Less worse is not as bad as shitastic vile cesspool of fundamentalism.

And I am willing to bet for real that you are only willing to bet for that stupid, unsupported by any evidence, argument only in an online forum where you can talk nonsense without knowing anything about the subject you are talking about. Even among the secularist Turkish people, the longing for the rule by military junta is an extreme minority opinion. Majority of Turkey has put it behind, period.

I don't think you or others wishing for a military coup in Turkey are genuinely concerned for the rights of minority in Turkey or its neighbors. If you were, you should know that whether its Turkey murderous and racist policy against Kurds or discrimination against Armenians, it all began under the government of Ataturk and was upheld for eight decades by secularist governments in collaboration with the military. Erdogan has full backing of the military in its policies against Kurds that undermine Kurdish fight against Daesh/ISIL.

 

[norseamd]

And I am willing to bet for real that you are only willing to bet for that stupid, unsupported by any evidence, argument only in an online forum where you can talk nonsense without knowing anything about the subject you are talking about. Even among the secularist Turkish people, the longing for the rule by military junta is an extreme minority opinion. Majority of Turkey has put it behind, period.

I don't think you or others wishing for a military coup in Turkey are genuinely concerned for the rights of minority in Turkey or its neighbors. If you were, you should know that whether its Turkey murderous and racist policy against Kurds or discrimination against Armenians, it all began under the government of Ataturk and was upheld for eight decades by secularist governments in collaboration with the military. Erdogan has full backing of the military in its policies against Kurds that undermine Kurdish fight against Daesh/ISIL.

Yeah I am just going to guess that you think you are an instant authority because you may know or understand something, and thus you never read other comments and understnd what they said, or put what you know into critical analysis and understanding it in the overall reality.

 

[arsjum]

Yeah I am just going to guess that you think you are an instant authority because you may know or understand something, and thus you never read other comments and understnd what they said, or put what you know into critical analysis and understanding it in the overall reality.

If you feel anything I said about Erdogan, the military, the Kemalist legacy, or the policies of the Turkish Republic towards Kurds and Armenians is wrong, feel free to point that out and correct it.

 

[norseamd]

If you feel anything I said about Erdogan, the military, the Kemalist legacy, or the policies of the Turkish Republic towards Kurds and Armenians is wrong, feel free to point that out and correct it.

You might be right that any military coup might turn out worse than the earlier military junta, and maybe even worse than Erdogan. And my comment that most Turks would probably take the old military junta back again over Erdogan was not suggesting that many Turks would care if it might be even worse for the Kurds and other minorities. Although given the current geopolitical dynamics America might be able to pressure any new military junta to not wage overt warfare against the Kurds as long as ISIS is still existing. That does not mean their would be no intelligence services or clandestine operations, but it would not be as bad as the current clusterfuck Erdogan is creating and sustaining right now. Regardless I do not want a military junta, and I would take a truly democratic government if it is possible, HDP or otherwise, but the sole point was the the old military junta was NOT AS BAD as Erdogan is right now, not what it was like under Erdogan in the early years of his rule, or that the military junta was any type of good government.

 

[Jaskalas]

ISIL Leader’s Mobile Phone Shows Turkey’s Support

Apparently if you kill ISIS leaders you find direct Turkish intelligence and logistical support.

 

[mikeymikec]

I wonder how the EU will react to this.

 

[zephyrprime]

No, it is time for the Turkish people to elect the kind of government they deserve, not something an outsider wishes for them.

I agree but there is one thing you have to understand. Many people deserve shitty things. Despots are often better than the people they rule over.

 

[woolfe9998]

1. They arm ISIS.
2. They trade with ISIS.
3. They attack the enemies of ISIS - in both countries.
4. They arrest their opposition media / party.

Turkey isn't doing so hot right now. More like Pakistan than Europe.

Yeah, and they're a NATO "ally." With allies like this who needs enemies.

 

[Jaskalas]

Wiretapping reveals communication between Turkish officers and Islamic State
Another day, another media report on Turkey

 

[Joepublic2]

How else is Erdogan going to afford this place:

He spent 1/3 of a billion to build that? It reminds me of brutalist architecture but even uglier, somehow.