|
|
June 18, 2013
|
|
|
|
 Erdogan, Peres and the Soufflés of DavosPosted on Feb 4, 2009
By Sandy Tolan News item: DAVOS, Switzerland—Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey walked off the stage after an angry exchange with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, during a panel discussion on Gaza at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, and vowed never to return to the annual gathering. (The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2009) [Erdogan] was upset because moderator David Ignatius had permitted Peres to speak twice as long as the other participants and then didn’t give Erdogan much time to respond. (The panel was already overtime and dinner was waiting).—Blog of Stephen M. Walt, Foreignpolicy.com Open Letter [Political satire] Dear Mr. Prime Minister: It was bad enough that Mr. Shimon Peres was forced to respond to the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, who spoke of the “unacceptable” bombing to rubble of the United Nations compound there and the deaths of 1,300 Gazans. Making matters worse was your outlandish suggestion that this destruction in Gaza was excessive. Advertisement Moreover, the dinner required precise timing, as I have it on some authority (or at least my own speculation) that soufflés were to be served. Perhaps you are not aware, given the kind of ke-babby food that is served in your country, that timing is everything in matters soufflés. There is a reason that nearly every cookbook worth its truffle oil concludes its soufflés recipes—be it for Gruyère, smoked salmon, broccoli rabe, Caribbean crab, or for that matter apricot, amaretto with chocolate sauce, blackberry or frozen citrus—with this urgent admonition: Serve immediately. How could it be that you are unaware of this? After all, you of the temerity to apply for membership in the European Union do, by definition, lay claim to the title European—even though only a tiny portion of Istanbul lies in that continent, and the rest of your former “empire” is in the land of the Other. I digress; back to soufflés. Now, even if those puffy delicacies were not served—and truth be told, they probably were not—it is beyond appalling that the leader of such an insignificant country as Turkey should exceed the one minute Mr. Ignatius generously provided you to respond to the courageous speech by Israel’s president, who pointed out that there was no siege in Gaza, that “Israel does not want to shoot anybody,” and that “the people in Gaza are not our enemies.” Indeed, this towering recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize generously offered, “We are in favor of restoring life in Gaza,” and even went so far as to reassure you, “We would like to see Gaza flourishing.” And yet there you were, insisting on rebutting Mr. Peres’ remarks with impolite discussion of the deaths of children. Furthermore, I should like to categorically reject the complaints levied against Mr. Ignatius for trying to quiet you by placing a hand firmly on your shoulder. It may be true that he would have never laid a hand in this manner on Presidents Bush, Obama or even Sarkozy. But this sore-loser rhetoric is well out of line. The fact is, time was up! Mr. Ignatius, like any moderator of decorum, was being sensitive to the hunger factor in the audience, and wished to stop your rant before your narrative became too detailed. Just imagine the discomfort of the important thinkers in attendance had you pointed out the actual numbers of dead and wounded, or, even more inappropriate given the dinner hour, began citing the details of the November 2008 Red Cross report on the “devastating effects” of the so-called “blockade” in Gaza. (The preferred term is “to put the Palestinians on a diet,” as Israeli official Dov Weisglas humorously put it.) How dreary it would have been to listen to such a litany of Red Cross slogans: food insecurity, chronic malnutrition, progressive deterioration—etc. etc., ad infinitum, enough already! At least we can be thankful that you stormed off the stage before resorting to such wearisome details. In conclusion, allow me to emphasize that if your nation wants to join the ranks of the civilized (read: European Union, with Israel as a kind of honorary member), it would be incumbent upon you to observe the rules of engagement in future Davos fora. I realize you have announced your intention to never return, but we understand that such passions of the East are quickly fleeting. You will be back, and when you return, please be advised to listen to the moderator, to keep your comments brief, and above all to remember this when evening approaches: We really do need to get people to dinner. Sandy Tolan is the author of “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East” and associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.  TAGS:
|
Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Ex-Employees Say
Email 
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Newsletter 
Like Us
Follow Us
Get Our Feed
Tags|Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|FAQ: Comments and Moderation | Google+
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
By Folktruther, February 16, 2009 at 12:33 pm Link to this comment
Margot Stokel- let me second Diamand’s analysis, with which I strongly agree. You ask why would Israel prefer a state of war, putting its people in danger, when it could live peacefully with another terror-free economy?
It’s quite simple. Israel has been taken over by a power structure that prefers to steal the Palesitinian land, homes, business, and resources rather than live with them peacefully. The power structure prefers imperialist and colonialist expansion to security.
And it has partially hijacked US policy to support this violent and insane policy. Which is why those Americans who have come to be aware of it have joined the entire world to oppose Israeli ethnic cleansing. Including Jews like myself who prefer the reasonable truth to the emotional truth that you are in the grips of, and oppose oppression not only because it is immoral, but also because it is self-defeating historically.
Report thisBy diamond, February 14, 2009 at 2:15 pm Link to this comment
Margot Stokol let me explain it to you. You see, we’ve all seen this kind of behaviour before. We’ve seen the same contempt for the rule of law and international opinion before. We saw it in the Nazis and where did it end? It ended in a world war and the holocaust.We saw it in the neo cons and where did it end? In the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the concentration camps of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. I have grave fears that Israel is planning a holocaust of its own, against the Palestinians. I live in daily fear that should Netanyahu regain power he will send the IDF back into Gaza to carry out a final solution. And just so we’re clear:I don’t hate Jews. I don’t hate any group or religion at all, anywhere. I loathe with all my heart what happened to the Jews of Europe at the hands of madmen (and women) but I have no intention of remaining silent while Israel, under the guise of protecting Jews, does the same thing as the Nazis did. In the end we all bleed, we all die and we all love our children. We share a common humanity and I don’t believe that zealotry and fanaticism are good for humanity. Why would I when I’ve seen what they can do and what they can make people do to each other? And my opinion of Mr. Netanyahu which was already as low as I thought it could go, took yet another nosedive over the weekend when I read an article on one of his previous acts of statesmanship involving the attempted assassination of a Hamas leader in Jordan when Bill Clinton was President. The two Mossad agents botched the job and got caught. They were captured by another member of Hamas who chased them down and hailed a taxi (!) driven by another Hamas man to take them to the authorities. He listened as the Mossad men in the back seat discussed in English (he spoke English) as to whether or not they should claim they were Canadian tourists. It then developed into an international incident because Hussein, the king of Jordan had just gone out on a limb to sign a peace accord with Israel and now a high ranking member of Hamas had been injected with a deadly poison in Jordan. An Israeli representative sent to Jordan to clean up the mess told Hussein it would kill the man in 24 hours. Netanyahu tried to phone Clinton but Clinton wasn’t taking his calls. In the end another Mossad agent, a woman (a doctor of all things) was sent with the antidote to the hospital and the Hamas leader was given the antidote. The truly frightening thing to me was that this woman doctor told Hussein she didn’t know what the poison was called or what the antidote was, she just did as she was told. In my opinion it’s time for Israelis themselves to stop being sheep and start thinking. We all know where these things end and Likud and the even-further right in Israel are pefectly happy for it to happen.
Report thisBy Margot Stokol, February 13, 2009 at 1:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I find this open letter, and subsequent comments, terrifying in the extreme. What strikes me about the furious anti-Israel sentiment I see in this letter is that I couldn’t imagine the same level of sarcastic virulence in a letter about Russia, Sri Lanka, or even, dare I say it, Turkey itself?? Why do leaders and people in places like Venezuela and Sweden (in a nod to the shoe-thrower incident described in another comment) take this so personally? I don’t believe for a second that it has anything to do with pure love-your-neighbor humanitarianism. Why also does no one ask the obvious - why are Palestinians still refugees? Why don’t their kindly arab neighbors, who take it so much to heart when they are “massacred” open their doors and say, please, we’re all brothers, come on in? Or why do those same kindly neighbors keep sending weapons into Gaza if the result is bloodshed? Or why does Hamas steal food and blankets from the very people it is purportedly fighting for? Or why does Hamas use children as human shields, and fire rockets from hospitals and schools, in the first place? Here’s the most obvious question of all - why would Israel prefer to be in a continual state of alert and war, continue to put its own young people in danger, over coexisting peacefully with a neighbor that has its own sustainable, terror-free economy? Does this suggest to you that it’s not just up to Israel whether violence stops but also up to the surrounding countries continuously inciting anti-semitic and anti-Israel sentiment and giving Hamas weapons, and to Hamas itself for putting the Palestinians in this mess? Think hard about why you care about this issue and not others.
Report thisBy M Henri Day, February 6, 2009 at 12:45 pm Link to this comment
As background to Sandy Tolan’s satire, Truthdig readers might find Stratfor CEO George Friedman’s analysis of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s actions at Davos (http://tinyurl.com/czo4mk) of some interest. When reading Dr Friedman’s article, however, don’t forget to take into account his political Weltanschauung....
Henri
Report thisBy Ed Harges, February 5, 2009 at 5:40 pm Link to this comment
Once again, I invite one and all to write to David Ignatius at his e-maill address:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
— and let him know what you think of the job he did as “moderator” at Davos.
Report thisBy diamond, February 5, 2009 at 3:10 pm Link to this comment
Cyrena: I will try to get hold of that book. I saw a review of it a while ago but it’s a case of so many books, so little time.
Report thisBy Folktruther, February 5, 2009 at 12:18 pm Link to this comment
World opinion against Israeli brutality is getting to the point where a world demonstration against Zionism may soon be possible to fight its ethnic cleansing. This would give an incresed intensity to the Israeli boycott, and cost US power for supporting its barbarian behavior.
Report thisBy M.B.S.S., February 5, 2009 at 11:14 am Link to this comment
a few months ago i read a post in an online forum from a young guy from turkey who was asking the international commnunity, as represented in that forum, what they thought of the armenian genocide. it eventually came out that he didnt believe it was genocide.
i left a glib response along the lines of “yes there was an armenian genocide, thats why they call it the armenian genocide.”
he replied that he didnt care what the prevalent terminology was, or what popular opinion was. he wanted to know what each of us thought of the incident.
then i repeated that “yes, it was genocide.”
Report thisBy abdo, February 5, 2009 at 10:40 am Link to this comment
I wrote a letter to the foreign ministry of Turkey thanking them for their independent stand on the attack on Gaza, considering their active membership in Nato. However, I added in may letter, that supporting the right of the palestinian people will be also served by changing the current policy on the kurdish issue in Turkey. It is possible to encourage positive changes in any countries policy while keep pressing demands for change on remaining ones.
Report thisBy Robert, February 5, 2009 at 8:18 am Link to this comment
And the beat goes on.
Sweden: Shoe hits Israeli ambassador
02.05.09 | http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com
By Laila
A shoe was thrown at Israel ‘s ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Benny Dagan, when he was giving a speech at Stockholm University today. The shoe hit its target. It was followed by two books and a note pad, all hitting the severely embarrassed ambassador.
The two protesters, a young woman and a young man, shouted “Murderers!” and “Intifada!” while pelting Dagan with the objects. They are currently under arrest, suspected of assault and public disturbance.
The lecture was organised by the Foreign policy association at Stockholm university. The ambassador was supposed to talk about the upcoming elections in Israel , but turned quickly to issues of Hamas and Iran and developed a lengthy defence for Israel ‘s recent actions in the Gaza Strip.
Some 20 minutes into the lecture, a woman stood up in the audience, threw a red shoe at the ambassador and shouted “Murderers!”. The shoe hit Dagan in his stomach. Another protester then joined in and hurled two books and a note pad.
Dagan was dumbstruck and paralysed, but returned to his lecture shortly after a few minutes – only to face shouts and other verbal protests from the audience. The meeting ended in chaos, while the two protestors were taken to custody.
The boycott movement in Sweden has gained momentum during the last weeks, not the least since Veolia lost its Stockholm metro contract, worth some 3.5 billion euro a year, after a long campaign against the company’s notorious involvement in the Jerusalem tram project. The movement is now taking aim at the Davis Cup tennis match between Sweden and Israel scheduled in Malmö 6-8 March.
Report thishttp://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=2676
By prole, February 5, 2009 at 1:37 am Link to this comment
“Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
I write with grave concern over your impertinent remarks to the president of Israel at the World Economic Forum last week” - but not apparently, with any “grave concern” over Turkey’s own dreadful human rights record. Somehow, in light of Turkey’s own repression of the Kurds - who are also seeking self-determination of their own - and it’s illegal occupation of part of Cyprus; as well as its ruthless suppression of political dissent and curtailed civil liberties, Erdogan’s grandstanding at the foppish Forum have more than a hint of hypocrisy about them. Granted, everything he said - or tried to say - about the recent carnage in Gaza is spot on…BUT! coming from him it sounds more than a little hollow. In fact, there’s probably a large measure of political opportunism here. Feelings among the underlying population in Turkey were running very high over Israel’s crimes in Gaza, much more so than, say, in the U.S. So Erdogan, like any astute pol with an eye for the main chance used the occasion as a convenient photo op to appease the restless masses back home. As it turned out, when he returned to Turkey, thousands of citizens gathered at the airport to greet him and gave him a hero’s welcome. So as a publicity stunt - just like this sophmoric satirical Open Letter - it struck a responsive chord, but it accomplished absolutely nothing. As Erdogan himself explained later, he stalked off the stage in a petulant fit because he felt he had been personally insulted by not being afforded equal time to speak, not to protest Israel’s depravity - or because he prefers kebobs to souffles (yuk, yuk). Perhaps “it is beyond appalling that the leader of such an insignificant country as Turkey” should not be given more than “the one minute Mr. Ignatius generously provided you to respond to the courageous speech by Israel’s president [cum war criminal]”. But while he’s at it, perhaps the righteously indignant Turkish PM can explain just why it is, if he is sincere, that Turkey has such close relations with Israel - closer in fact than any Muslim country other than Egypt. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Turkey, like Egypt, receives quite a bit of American military aid (third overall) and has been assidously cultivated as a key ally by both the U.S. and Israel in their so-called ‘war on terror’. None other than Richard Perle and Doug Feith touted this unlikely tripartite alliance as far back as the mid 80’s; and Perle even served as a paid lobbyist for Turkey between stints in government. Turkey received an added benefit by cozying up to Israel (and the U.S.) in support it received from Jewish lobbies in America when opposing Greek and Armenian lobbies. This was particularly helpful last year, when under strong pressure from the White House and certain lobbies, the House of Rep.‘s shelved a proposed resolution condemning the Ottoman’s WWI slaughter of Armenians as ‘genocide’. Little wonder then that after his little temper tantrum at Davos, Erdogan hastened to reassure all that it would in no way alter Turkey’s close relations with Israel in any material way, stressing they would not be affected “by momentary anger on such issues”. Obviously, Erdogan values the perk’s of Turkey’s close collaboration with Israel and the U.S. more than he does the lives of Palestinians - or Kurds.
Report thisBy Palestine in Words, February 4, 2009 at 11:48 pm Link to this comment
An extremely clever execution. Few would’ve been able to cover such a serious and heated issue in this humourous manner, while still managing to shed light on all the fundamental and critical points of the matter!
Report thisBy cyrena, February 4, 2009 at 5:43 pm Link to this comment
By diamond, February 4 at 1:28 pm #
Congratulations Sandy Tolan on a superb piece of writing. Very funny, very frightening and pretty heartbreaking. You’ve captured the lunatic deceit of Israel’s public face perfectly.
~~~
I ditto diamond, and I’ve long been an ‘appreciator’ of Sandy Tolan’s work and dedication. He knows and understands the reality of this conflict better than most. Do read his book, “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East” if you have time. I’m about to read it again, just because it is so well done, and helpful to my own work.
I’m also a fan of Sandy Tolan.
Anyway, read it if you have time.
Report thisBy eileen fleming, February 4, 2009 at 5:06 pm Link to this comment
YES WE CAN and this ad is a MUST SEE!
FROM US CAMPAIGN TO END THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
DIRECTV Censors Our Gaza Strip TV Ad!
We thought, “What better way to bring this important information to the attention of people in the United States than to advertise nationally on DIRECTV?” the largest satellite television subscription service in the country.
After detailed discussions with DIRECTV, including agreement on rates, times, and network placements of the ad, when we gave them the final product, they abruptly decided not to do business with us.
This blatant act of censorship is preventing millions of U.S. households from learning the truth about our government’s crucial role in enabling Israel’s war on and siege of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
DO SOMETHING:
Watch both an extended internet version and the original 30-second commercial by clicking here:
http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1817
Contact DIRECTV to protest its act of censorship and demand that they accept our ad by clicking here:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26579
Make a tax-deductible contribution to the US Campaign so that we can purchase as much air time for this commercial as possible by clicking here:
http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1817
Take action requested in the commercial and sign our open letter to President Obama calling upon him to cut of military aid to Israel by clicking here:
http://endtheoccupation.org/form.php?modin=137
Report thisBy troublesum, February 4, 2009 at 4:29 pm Link to this comment
Shocking that such a rational, intelligent person was part of our government. How did that happen? http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/4/former_state_dept_official_hillary_mann
Report thisBy john from ojai, February 4, 2009 at 3:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Here’s a copy of a note I sent to Ignatius.I would encourage everyone to do the same and, as Naomi Klein recently suggested, boycott, divest and sanction Israel until it becomes a responsible member or the world community.
Shame on you Mr. Ignatius, You could have used your power for good but instead you maneuvered to support a rogue, war nation that has no qualms of killing innocent children. Have you heard of the Geneva Conventions? Given your performance I won’t assume anything. Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention outlaws the collective punishment of civilians. How would you describe an illegal 18 month blockade of 1 1/2 million people, 55-60% of whom are children? I hope the check you get from Israel covers the loss of sleep you will suffer when you “stumble” upon a photo of Gazan children blown to bits and realize that you were partly responsible. I’m sure you won’t seek out the truth in such a photo or in any truths for that matter, but eventually you’ll see one of those photos and you will pay the price of your cowardly behavior. Peace, John
Report thisBy Ed Harges, February 4, 2009 at 2:32 pm Link to this comment
If anyone would like to tell David Ignatius exactly what they think of the job he did “moderating” the discussion at Davos concerning Israel’s deliberate, vicious, slaughtering rampage in Gaza, his email address is as follows:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Report thisBy diamond, February 4, 2009 at 2:28 pm Link to this comment
Congratulations Sandy Tolan on a superb piece of writing. Very funny, very frightening and pretty heartbreaking. You’ve captured the lunatic deceit of Israel’s public face perfectly.
Report thisBy P. T., February 4, 2009 at 1:03 pm Link to this comment
The Israeli government has announced another new West Bank settlement expansion that will violate the US-backed road map. Israel says it will establish a new settlement to replace a settlers’ outpost it hadn’t approved. Up to 1,400 housing units will be built under the plan. Last month, the Israeli group Peace Now reported settlement expansion increased nearly 60 percent in 2008.
Report this