Kadri Gürsel

Obama yönetimi İsrail’in, nükleer programını engellemek amacıyla İran’a saldırmasını istemiyor.

Çünkü bir Amerikan yönetiminin seçim yılında arzulayacağı en son şey, Ortadoğu’da bir savaşın neticesinde, petrol fiyatlarının roket gibi arşa yükselmesidir.

İsrail saldırırsa, Başkan Obama bunu istemediğini ne kadar anlatırsa anlatsın ve bu ne kadar doğru olursa olsun, kendisine inanmak istemeyenler inanmamak için bazı nedenler bulacaklar.

Mesela şu durum, o nedenlerden sadece biridir: İsrail’in yeraltındaki İran nükleer tesislerine karşı kullanacağı “sığınak deliciö Amerikan malı GBU-28 bombalarından en az 55 adedinin Obama yönetiminin onayıyla 2009’da bu ülkeye gizlice satıldığı, uzun bir süredir sır değil. 2009’da da İsrail’in İran’a saldırabileceğinden bir ihtimal olarak söz ediliyordu. Dolayısıyla ABD bu bombaların İsrail tarafından İran’a atılmak üzere satın alındığını biliyordu.

Bu yazı www.milliyet.com.tr web sitesinden alınmıştır. Yazının tamamına buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Nihat Ali Özcan

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is increasingly becoming rigid on Syria. Opponents are continuing their meetings in Istanbul under the auspices of Turkey. Mr. Minister is complaining that international actors were not sufficiently solicitous about the issue, while saying he feels anxious about a turn of the screw of the situation in Syria.

Nobody is willing to use force in Syria or take responsibility, especially after having seen the financial and political outcomes of trillion-dollar U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the bargain, all experts are of the same opinion that the Libyan model, which did not cause much of a backlash in Western public opinion, could hardly work in the country. In the end, it doesn’t seem possible to get a result only with air support and the covert operations of special forces. Moreover, there are not rich oil wells that would encourage others to line up to go to Syria. On the other hand, the idea that “something must be done” is shared by many as time drags on.

The success of the revolt depends on the ideological integrity of the Syrian opposition, effective leadership and functional politico-military strategies. As for the most important components of this strategy, they depend on the existence of military training, logistics and, most of all, “safe havens.”

For the rebel party, clinging on militarily and improving and protecting themselves at this stage are possible if and only if they get “safe havens.” The zones in question can never be acquired with the initial military capability of the rebel party. In other words, either a country must open its territory to the rebels, or some parts of Syrian territory must be left to the rebels by removing them from the Syrian state’s hands.

Bu yazı www.hurriyetdailynews.com web sitesinden alınmıştır. Yazının tamamına buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Nasuhi Güngör

Suriye konusunda birbiri ardına, üstelik çoğu kafa karıştırıcı gelişmeler yaşanıyor. Ankara’nın tam da böyle bir aşamada, kendi içinde yeniden denge kurmak zorunda kalması gerçekten can sıkıcı. Çünkü küresel ve bölgesel ölçekteki hemen tüm oyun kurucuların ‘iç dengesi’, en azından bize oranla daha sağlam görünüyor.

Üçüncü kez burada yazıyorum. Suriye konusunda en küçük gelişmeyi bile haber, sansasyon ve ‘flaş, flaş’ ölçeğinde yansıtanlar, her nedense Türkiye Dışişleri Bakanı Ahmet Davutoğlu ve Rus mevkidaşı Sergei Lavrov arasında imzalanan 30 maddelik işbirliği metnini ısrarla görmezden geliyorlar. Oysa iki ülkenin bölgesel sorunlar başta olmak üzere pek çok başlık altında konuşabildiğinin değil, konuştuğunun, bundan sonra da gerekirse daha fazla konuşacağının imzasıydı bahsettiğim metin.

Kim dinler, Rusya dediğiniz öylesine bir ülke, zaten Soğuk Savaş bitmiş, parçalanmış, gücü kudreti kalmamış bir garip memleket! Şu halde memleketimizde en üst düzeyde ağırlanan Çinli konuğumuz da sıradan birisi (!) olmalı.

Dileyen yanlış anlayabilir, sakıncası yok. Lakin şunu demeye çalışmıyorum: Türkiye, ani bir manevrayla Rusya-Çin ekseninde yer almaya karar verdi ve bölgesel sorunlar başta olmak üzere beklenmedik adımlar atabilir. Hayır, şunu söylüyorum: Suriye ve onunla birlikte asıl hedef tahtasındaki ülke olan İran başta olmak üzere her konuda, sadece bir bloğa kulak vermek zorunda olmadığını lisanı hal ile anlatıyor Ankara. Hepsi bu.

Bu yazı www.stargazete.com web sitesinden alınmıştır. Yazının tamamına buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Amanda Paul

Four months before Cyprus takes up the EU’s rotating presidency, tensions are increasing on and around the island. While this is partially to do to with a last-ditch attempt by the UN to speed up progress on the peace talks for the reunification of the island, which has ruffled a few feathers, it is far more a consequence of ongoing Greek Cypriot gas exploitation efforts and the linked upgrading of ties with Israel.

Energy reserves in the Levant Basin, which are estimated to be some 122 trillion cubic feet of gas and some 1.7 billion barrels of oil, could make Cyprus energy self-sufficient while transforming Israel into an energy exporter. These developments have annoyed both Turkey and Lebanon, which claim they also have rights to these rich reserves, further destabilizing an already volatile region.

Following the visit of Israeli President Shimon Peres to Cyprus some three months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Cyprus last week, and it was the first time an Israeli prime minister has visited the island. Historically, the Greek Cypriots have had a very cautious approach towards developing closer ties with a country that shared such close military ties with Turkey. However, since Turkey fell out with Israel, Tel Aviv has moved to warm up relations with both Greece and Cyprus, with which it is now building up ties in a number of different sectors. The top priority is energy including the possibility of a joint pipeline to export gas to Europe and Asia, although this has not yet been agreed to by the Greek Cypriots.

Bu yazı www.todayszaman.com web sitesinden alınmıştır. Yazının tamamına buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Beril Dedeoğlu

Along with Russia, China too has shown the world that it still talks to the Syrian government. This attitude has naturally been analyzed together with Russia’s and China’s recent veto against the international sanctions in the UN Security Council and presented as supplementary proof that both countries support the Syrian regime.

It is perhaps an exaggeration to claim that China and Russia are totally happy with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and methods or that they have a common plan to resolve the ongoing crisis. It is even too early to say that these two countries are strong allies, as even concerning Syria they have different expectations.

Nevertheless, Russia and China have a common concern: If the Baath regime keeps acting the way it has acted in recent months, political and economic control of Syria will slowly be seized by the West. The members of the UN Security Council, except China and Russia, and NATO members (in other words, the EU-US axis) are already talking about opening humanitarian corridors and establishing buffer zones. This is nothing but a “soft intervention” and a way of declaring to Russia and China: “Do whatever you like, but we’ll figure out a way to intervene somehow.”

Bu yazı www.todayszaman.com web sitesinden alınmıştır. Yazının tamamına buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

İbrahim Kalın

When was Europe born?Any guess is possible from antiquity to Charlemagne and the post-World War II efforts to create a united Europe. Some prefer the formal establishment of the European Union as a realistic explanation.

What is certain is this: The birth of Europe is coterminous with the rise of the idea of Europe. Europe was born when it became conscious of itself as a distinct entity with a particular identity. According to Italian historian Federico Chabod, who wrote one of the earliest books on the “idea of Europe” in 1947, “the concept of Europe is formed by counterposition to all that is not Europe, and it acquires its characteristic … through a confrontation with what is not Europe.”

From antiquity to the present, “Europe” seems to have been formed and shaped in opposition to an “other” or many others as the case may be. Barbarians, i.e., those who cannot speak Greek; Persians; Asians; Africans; Saracens, i.e., Arabs and Muslims who were deemed to be both irrational and violent; Ottoman Turks; contemporary immigrants; Indians; and others have been enlisted as Europe’s significant others and helped shape the idea and, in some important ways, the identity of Europe.

In Greek mythology, Europa was the daughter of Phoenician king Agenor and was kidnapped by the love-stricken Zeus, who appeared in the form of a white bull in order to seduce and ravish the beautiful princess Europa. Zeus takes Europa to Crete, where she is forced to become the mother of what came to be known as Europe. Thus the first self-conscious history of Europe begins in Asia with the abduction and forced migration of a Phoenician princess in what is the Levant.

Bu yazı www.todayszaman.com web sitesinden alınmıştır. Yazının tamamına buradan alınmıştır.