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Reign of Terror Accelerates in Turkey
Stephen Lendman
Crises create opportunities for leaders to more easily do what otherwise would be harder, not feasible or practicable.
Turkey’s Erdogan is taking full advantage - mass arresting regime critics in the wake of last Friday’s real or state-sponsored rebellion - practically stillborn when launched. Perhaps it was planned this way.
He and prime minister Binali Yildirim vowed retaliation against US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his “movement,” accusing him of orchestrating Friday events - despite no corroborating evidence.
Calling his supporters a “parallel terrorist organization,” he vowed to “dig them up by their roots so that no clandestine terrorist organization will have the nerve to betray our blessed people again.”
Lockdown in Cleveland: Party Unity v. Anti-Trumpism
Stephen Lendman
Cleveland is occupied GOP territory, the area around the Quicken Loans Arena convention site taken over from city residents.
Thousands of heavily armed state and local police, DHS and federal secret service agents, along with National Guard and federal troops available if needed to control things. Police states operate this way.
What’s orchestrated resembles a militarized event as much as a party unifying one to choose its standard bearer. Monday’s theme was making America safe again.
US and French Warplanes Massacre Civilians in Syria on Phony Pretext of Combating ISIS
Stephen Lendman
Rogue states like France, other NATO nations, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and regional ones allied with America’s imperial project represent the greatest threat to world peace - committing genocidal high crimes in waging war on humanity.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry repeatedly appeals in vain to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and rotating Security Council presidents.
On July 19, it sent them identical letters, saying “French unjust aggression claimed the lives of more than 120 civilians, most of them are children, women and elderly, in addition to tens of wounded citizens, the majority of them are also children and women as reports say that the fate of scores of other civilians who still under debris are unknown too.”
Four in Five Americans Say Nation Heading in Wrong Direction
Stephen Lendman
Eight years ago, Obama promised hope and change. Betrayal and dirtier business than under George Bush followed.
All politicians lie. Judge them solely by their actions. They serve wealth, power and privilege exclusively. Popular needs increasingly go begging.
Each wing of America’s duopoly party mimics the other - in lockstep on issues mattering most. No wonder most Americans distrust politicians. What’s to like - Bernie Sanders’ sellout to war criminal/racketeer Hillary Clinton the latest outrage. The guy millions trusted is as dirty and rotten a scoundrel as all the rest. His lofty rhetoric turned out to be Big Lies substituting for honor and principle.
According to an AP/GfK poll, “(a) stunning 79% of (respondents surveyed) now believe the country is heading in the wrong direction…voters…strikingly unhappy with” both major party candidates.
Wall Street Angry that Trump Says Restore Glass-Steagall
Eric Zuesse
On July 18th, Rob Nichols, the President of the American Bankers’ Association, which is controlled by the mega-banks, struck back against Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. Nichols criticized Trump’s insistence to restore the Democratic U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s top reform of the U.S. economy, the Glass-Steagall Act, which prevented another taxpayer bailout of Wall Street firms for their gambling losses — it was the law President Bill Clinton with overwhelming Republican support in 1999 repealed. Trump is committing himself against that Clinton-Republican repeal of FDR’s law. Trump insists it be restored so that there won’t be a repeat of the Bush-Obama Wall Street bailout.
False Flag Coup in Turkey
Stephen Lendman
When is a coup more illusion than real - when ruling authorities stage a fantasy uprising to consolidate greater power and eliminate opponents.
Erdogan was never in danger of being ousted, controlling events once begun to their short-lived conclusion, last Friday’s uprising more a manufactured tempest in a teapot than anything threatening his rule.
He straightaway began mass arresting alleged coup plotters, participating soldiers, political opponents and others earmarked for elimination.
Iron-fisted consolidation of power works this way. Erdogan’s aim is establishing tyrannical over democratic rule, lawful principles discarded - regime loyalists and security forces in the streets hunting down opposition elements, inciting violence.
Hardened Fascist Dictatorship in Turkey
Stephen Lendman
Some observers suggest Erdogan may have staged Friday’s botched coup, a false flag to solidify unchallenged power - retaliation coming hard and fast, long knives out in full-force, rule of law principles discarded.
According to justice minister Bekir Bozdag, around 6,000 alleged coup plotters and regime opponents were arrested and detained. “(C)leansing…continu(es),” he said.
Numbers likely to rise, Erdogan is using what happened to eliminate political, military and other opponents, how despots always operate.
He blamed exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, living in Pennsylvania, Turkish intelligence claiming (without evidence) “signs that (he) is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the civilian government.”
Despotism’s Triumph in Turkey
Stephen Lendman
Friday’s coup was state-sponsored false flag deception, Erdogan using it to consolidate tyrannical rule - eliminating shaky remnants of democratic governance.
Regime authority already is unforgiving, waging slow-motion genocide against Kurds the way America ravished its native people, how Israel massacres Palestinians, NATO and rogue regional leaders complicit through silence.
Erdogan partners with Obama’s naked aggression on Syria - endorsing regime change, actively supporting the scourge of terrorism he rhetorically opposes. He, family members and regime officials profit from selling stolen ISIS oil, lets Turkey be a launching pad and safe haven for terrorist operations, supplying their fighters with weapons, munitions, other material support and medical treatment for their wounded.
Anyone criticizing or insulting him risks prosecution for terrorism, espionage or treason. Press freedom is pure fantasy. Turkey imprisons more journalists than any other country. Political assassinations remove opposition figures.
Public Support for Turkey’s Erdogan More Suspect Than Real
Stephen Lendman
In the wake of Friday’s aborted coup, thousands rallying for Erdogan looked suspect. Like all leaders, he can mobilize hard core faithful on short notice to show public support.
Saturday demonstrations looked more staged than authentic. Genuine support in the wake of an aborted coup would bring tens or hundreds of thousands out in force.
After the April 11, 2002 coup attempt against Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, popular support was overwhelming. Spontaneous mass protests erupted. Tens of thousands took to the streets, demanding he be reinstated.
On April 13 he was back, telling Venezuelans “(w)e demonstrated that a united people will never be defeated.”
Chavez was a world-class democrat, a populist hero, beloved and widely supported. Erdogan became prime minister in March 2003, then president since August 2014.
Tyranny’s Ugly Face in Turkey
Stephen Lendman
Friday’s coup appeared state-sponsored, a vehicle to roust out political, military and other regime opponents - long knives unleashed against them with a vengeance.
The toll keeps mounting - scores, maybe hundreds, killed, countless numbers injured, massive numbers of arrests made.
According to prime minister Binali Yildirim, 7,500 were rounded up, arrested and detained so far, more likely coming - witch-hunt charges to follow, guilt by accusation automatic.
Victims include 6,000 military officers and lower-ranking personnel, 755 judges, 650 civilians and 100 police.
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