Turkish repression targets Germany, Russia as EU panders to Erdogan’s autocratic regime

Finian Cunningham (born 1963) has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he is a Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. For over 20 years he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organizations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. Now a freelance journalist based in East Africa, his columns appear on RT, Sputnik, Strategic Culture Foundation and Press TV.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. © Umit Bektas / Reuters

Turkey’s President Erdogan wants Germany to jail one of its TV satirists, and has also this week shut down a Russian news website. Europe’s pandering over the refugee crisis is unleashing Erdogan’s autocratic streak.

It seems something out of a satire. This week Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed criminal proceedings against a well-known Germany comedian over a television sketch in which he crudely mocked the Turkish leader.

The complaint was sent to the German Foreign Ministry, reportedly at the personal behest of Erdogan. And, incredible as it might seem, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has reportedly consented to the prosecution going forward.

If the comedian – Jan Boehmermann – is found guilty of defaming Erdogan he could face three years in jail under an arcane German law which forbids profanity towards foreign leaders.

View image on Twitter Follow RT ✔‎@RT_com DETAILS: Boehmermann warned the reading would breach regulation on insulting foreign leaders http://on.rt.com/7a4e 6:33 AM - 15 Apr 2016 4646 Retweets 2626 likes

The dramatic development comes in the same week the Turkish broadcasting regulator shut down the country’s website service belonging to Russian news channel Sputnik. It is not clear why the Turkish authorities took the measure, but “national security” concerns were reported and the fate of the channel is now dependant on a court case. The move prompted Sputnik editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan to decry freedom-of-speech violation.

Ironically, also this week the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted overwhelmingly for a resolution that condemns what it calls Turkey’s repression of democratic rights and media freedom in particular. Repression in Turkey has been steadilymounting since Erdogan became president in 2014.

Currently there are some 2,000 legal cases pending against journalists, academics, artists and members of the public who are deemed by the Ankara authorities to have “insulted” the presidency or other institutions of state.

Earlier this month, two senior journalists, Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, editors at the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet were on trial over “espionage” charges.

Last year, their newspaper published an article on alleged cross-border weapons smuggling by Turkish state intelligence to militants in Syria. The report was accompanied by photographic evidence purporting to show humanitarian aid supplies were providing cover for large quantities of concealed weapons. Erdogan personally intervened in the case and has accused the journalists of treasonous conduct. If convicted, they could face life in prison.

READ MORE: Turkish weapons ‘heading to end in ISIS hands’: RT speaks to Cumhuriyet journalists

Last month, Turkish police raided the offices of the biggest opposition newspaper, Today’s Zaman. Senior editorial staff were sacked and replaced by appointees loyal to Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party. The news outlet has since adopted a decidedly pro-government editorial stance.

Erdogan’s sensitivity to criticism seems to know no bounds. One Turkish man was prosecuted over social media posts he had made that appeared to compare the Turkish president with Gollum, the creepy fictional creature from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

The repression of critical media comes amid the backdrop of a severe security crackdown by Ankara on separatist Kurdish regions. As many as 400,000 people have been displaced over the past year since Turkish state forces resumed open hostilities against the Kurdish guerrilla PKK movement. There have also been reports of mass killings by Ankara’s security forces in Kurdish cities in the south east of the country.

Human rights violations by the Erdogan government have been well documented by international rights groups and the EU, culminating for instance in the parliamentary resolution in Strasbourg. Still, European governments have maintained a studied silence over Ankara’s troubling transgressions.

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QUIZ: Do you get Erdogan's sense of humor?

This is obviously because the EU – and Germany in particular – is desperate to keep favor with Ankara over the refugee crisis. Last month, the EU signed a deal with Turkey in which tens of thousands of refugees currently stranded in Greece are to be forcibly returned to Turkey, allegedly for an orderly registration process for those seeking asylum in Europe.

Chancellor Merkel has been facing a political backlash in her own country and across Europe for her previous “open door” policy towards immigrants mainly fleeing Syria to Turkey and thence to Europe. The EU-Turkey arrangement is intended to slow down the influx of refugees.

However, the refugee deal has come under fire from rights groups for allegedly violating international law and the EU’s own treaties on asylum. Some commentators have even gone as far as slamming Turkey for “blackmailing” the EU over the crisis. The doubling of EU aid to Turkey, at Ankara’s insistence, to some $6.6 billion, and the strong-arming of pledges to fast-track membership of the bloc – all suggest that Erdogan does indeed have the upper-hand in extracting concessions for his government’s cooperation in handling the refugee problem.

The blatant repression under Erdogan of Turkish media and the Kurdish minority also indicates that the increasingly autocratic leader knows that he has the EU over a proverbial barrel. Erdogan’s regime seems emboldened to do whatever it wants, knowing that the European governments need his favor in mitigating the refugee crisis.

This week, while hosting national leaders at a summit of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, in Istanbul, Erdogan issued a haughty rebuke of Western countries for their “ambivalence” towards fighting terrorism. This was a veiled reference to Belgium and France over jihadist terrorists traveling from there to Syria.

Much more pertinent is Turkey’s bigger role in supplying fighters, and weapons, including industrial chemicals, as well as smuggling of oil and antiquities, to fuel the conflict in Syria, as reiterated again this week by Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador the United Nations Security Council. One wonders if Churkin’s scathing broadside against Ankara at the UN this week was related to the decision to shut down Sputnik’s Turkish website?

View image on Twitter Follow RT ✔‎@RT_com ‘Dangerous, disproportionate’: Sputnik shutdown in Turkey slammed by OSCE, rights activistshttp://on.rt.com/7a53 10:55 AM - 15 Apr 2016 4141 Retweets 3131 likes

When German media first reported earlier this week that Turkey was pressing ahead with a formal complaint against satirist Jan Boehmermann for his disparaging TV skit against Erdogan, it was notable that Merkel was in a bind. She quickly telephoned Erdogan’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a damage limitation exercise, while to the German public she appeared to give a spirited defense of “artistic freedom”.

Merkel’s government now seems to have relented in the face of Turkish diplomatic pressure to proceed with a prosecution against the comic that could see him wind up behind bars.

Is this the kind of regime the EU is seriously considering admitting to its ranks? One that has been evidently involved in sponsoring terrorism, withering repression against minorities and locking up anyone who dares to criticize its autocratic ruler. The fact that Erdogan’s Turkey is now going after international media in Germany and Russia shows that homegrown despotism has taken on megalomaniac proportions well beyond its borders.

It also demonstrates how feeble and expedient the EU is. Despite high-minded proclamations about democratic rights, it is obvious that when base needs are pressing, the EU government is prepared to stoop to any level. Getting a squalid fix over a refugee problem – a problem the EU and Turkey have created in the first place by colluding with Washington’s regime-change covert war against Syria – is the height of expedience.

It should be recalled too how EU governments appeared to make a defiant defense of free speech over the killings by Islamists at the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris last year. The magazine’s routine profane mockery of Islam was defended as “a European principle of free speech”. Now, however, when self-serving political calculations shift for expediting a refugee deal with Turkey, the supposedly hallowed right to free speech seems to be expendable.

Pandering to a rogue regime in Turkey – even if that means locking up your own citizens – is a sign of just how craven and unscrupulous EU leaders are. Principles, treaties, rights, freedoms – they are all disposable when push comes to shove.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

(RT)

The End of April: A Time of Human Sacrifice

VigilantCitizen

Why do we often witness tragedy and senseless deaths during the second half of April? The list of violent events that occurred during this time period is simply staggering. Here are some of them:

• April 19, 1993 – Waco Massacre: An FBI assault lead to the burning down of the compound of a sect named Branch Davidians, killing 76 men, women and children.
• April 19, 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing – 168 people killed.
• April 20, 1999 – Columbine High School Massacre – 13 people murdered, 21 injured.
• April 16, 2007 – Virginia Tech Massacre – 32 killed; 17 injured.
• April 16, 2013 – Boston Marathon Explosions – 3 killed; 107 injured.
• April 18, 2013 – Fertilizer plant explosion, Texas – 5-15 killed (Notice that this event occurred almost exactly 20 years after the Waco Massacre, which is in the same area. Also, on April 16, 1947, a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate docked at the Port of Texas City and erupted in flames, causing a massive explosion that killed approximately 576 people).

There were many other violent occurrences that happened during that time period. In fact, CNN published an article in 2011 titled What is it about mid-April and violence in America?, discussing the events that occur in Mid-April. Sadly, the article only bashed “conspiracy theorists” and basically said “If you look for answers further than mass media, you are crazy and potentially dangerous”. However, two years later, the violent trend continues.

Is it all a coincidence? For those in the know, there are no such thing as coincidences. In 2011, I wrote an article about the death of Bin Laden, announced between April 30th and May 1st (see Why the Death of the Man Who Was Not Behind 9/11 Was Announced on May 1st). In that article, I briefly described the ritualistic significance of May 1st (May Day) and its relation to a god that is still important for to the occult elite: Baal.

The Cult of Baal Never Disappeared

Throughout many centuries and across many civilizations, the second half of April has always been a time of blood sacrifice. The worship of Baal took many names (Enlil, Molech, etc.) and spread across several civilizations. Being a sun god and a god of fertility, rituals celebrating Baal took place after the vernal equinox (a time of rebirth) and often involved human sacrifice.

“The cult of Baal celebrated annually his death and resurrection as a part of the Canaanite fertility rituals. These ceremonies often included human sacrifice and temple prostitution.”
– Baal, Encyclopedia Mythica

Although the observance of these rituals was sometimes condemned by religious movements, it never truly disappeared.

“The religion of the god Baal was widely accepted among the ancient Jews, and although it was put down at times, it was never permanently stamped out. Kings and other royalty of the ten Biblical tribes worshiped the god. The ordinary people ardently worshiped this sun god too because their prosperity depended on the productivity of their crops and livestock. The god’s images were erected on many buildings. Within the religion there appeared to be numerous priests and various classes of devotees. During the ceremonies they wore appropriate robes. The ceremonies included burning incense, and offering burnt sacrifices, occasionally consisting of human victims. The officiating priests danced around the altars, chanting frantically and cutting themselves with knives to inspire the attention and compassion of the god.”
– Ibid.

As a sun god, Baal’s worship involved human sacrifice and fire. Today, in the occult-elite ruled America, this time period often equals fire (or gun fire) and death. These rites were even mentioned in the Bible:

“They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal–something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.”
– Jeremiah 19:5

From the Babylonian, Assyrian and Phoenician civilizations of the Middle-East (their Mystery religions come from the same point origin), the cult of Baal spread to distant civilizations, such as the Celts, who observed Beltane rituals on May 1st (Beltane originates from the word “Baal”). While the observance of Baal rituals differed from one civilization to another, they were nevertheless grounded in the same occult concepts of numerology and sacrifice. In other words, they were all tapping into the same magickal knowledge.

Today’s occult elite still observes these rites, but with one major difference: They are now carried out on unsuspecting civilians and spread across the world through mass media. Fed and amplified by the fear and trauma of the masses, these mega-rituals are seen by all, but only celebrated by the occult elite. More than ever, we are dealing with Black Magick.

Other sites dedicated to occult numerology have published information emphasizing the importance of this time period.

“April 19 – May 1 – Blood Sacrifice To The Beast, a most critical 13-day period. Fire sacrifice is required on April 19.

April 19 is the first day of the 13-day Satanic ritual day relating to fire – the fire god, Baal, or Molech/Nimrod (the Sun God), also known as the Roman god, Saturn (Satan/Devil). This day is a major human sacrifice day, demanding fire sacrifice with an emphasis on children. This day is one of the most important human sacrifice days, and as such, has had some very important historic events occur on this day.”
– Occult Holidays and Sabbaths, Cutting Edge

Another article briefly describes the elements required to carry out the elite’s mega-rituals.

“The human sacrifice required during many of these occult dates needs to contain the following elements, each one of which is exaggerated to the highest possible degree:

1. Trauma, stress, and mental anguish, sheer terror
2. The final act in the drama should be destruction by a fire; preferably a conflagration.
3. People must die as human sacrifices, especially children, since The Darkness views younger human sacrifice as most desirable”
– Advent of Deception

In Conclusion

Zika Fake Science Back In The News; Con Artists At Work

Therefore, right up front, a new Zika study published in the NEJM is highly suspect, to say the very least. There is no reason to accept its data, methods, or findings. Except perhaps as an article of religious faith. But medical journals aren’t supposed to be religious publications, the last time I looked.

The new NEJM study on Zika aims to eliminate doubt that the Zika virus causes microcephaly.

Until now, that doubt was widespread. Even the World Health Organization was making careful statements: “…although no definite causal link has been established between Zika and microcephaly (babies born with smaller heads and brain damage), we believe there is a connection…” That sort of thing.

The new NEJM study is supposed to erase, once and for all, that “maybe.”

But it doesn’t. It’s not even close. Because when you wade through the rather dense language, what you see is an attempt to show a correlation between the presence of the Zika virus and the occurrence of the birth defect.

Correlation is not causation. And that’s just the beginning of the problem.

Even on the basis of correlation, nowhere in the study do we see anything approaching a high degree of association. You would expect to find evidence that in, say, 80 or 90 percent of cases, the Zika virus was found in babies who developed the defect. That evidence isn’t there. Well, how about a 90-percent correlation between microcephaly in the baby and Zika found in the mother? Not there, either. Again, not even close.

Then there is the issue, rarely if ever touched on in studies these days, of “how much Zika was found.” Why is that important? Because, in order to begin asserting that a virus causes a condition, you need to discover a very high volume of it in a person. A small amount causes nothing.

The new NEJM study doesn’t explore this vital factor.

So the study is a dud.

Nor does the study consider the obvious fact that a condition can have several or even many causes. And what could be causing birth defects in Brazil may not be causing it in the US or Guatemala.

As I’ve clearly established in prior articles on Zika, only a fool or an outright liar would fail to notice the toxic pesticide drenching that takes place in Brazil, the number-one country for pesticide-use in the world. Some of those chemicals are banned in other countries, because they’re too poisonous.

Therefore, in Brazil, a virus that has never been proved to cause microcephaly can function as a cover story. Zika protects, and diverts attention away from, pesticide manufacturers and agri-corporate giants who spray, spray, spray.

And what about medical drugs ingested by pregnant mothers? Again, no recent studies on microcephaly investigate this “protected area.” Given that these medicines kill 106,000 people in the US every year, and maim at least hundreds of thousands more, any rational researcher would be highly motivated to look for a causal connection to microcephaly.

Want another correlation? Try severe malnutrition in the pregnant mother. It’s the number-one cause of immune-system collapse on the planet. Immune-system failure opens the door to many raging infections in the mother and fetus. But no, malnutrition isn’t “medical.” How can you develop a vaccine or a drug to treat it? No money in it.

There is, of course, money in research, and as I said at the top, US health agencies are trying to get more of it from Congress.

The Zika virus was discovered in 1947-8. Since then, it has never been known to cause more than mild transient illness. Suddenly, it’s being blamed for severe and tragic birth defects. On what basis? On no basis.

Who knows how long the virus has been on the planet? 5,000 years? 100,000 years? It’s had ample opportunity to spread across the world and around the world many times. The notion that, now, suddenly, it’s traveling, is absurd. It’s already there. And here. And everywhere. It has been here and there and everywhere for a long time.

Fear sells.

And the people who sell it control the whole operation.

What about actual science? They’ve never heard of it and don’t care about it.

If you persist in believing they do care about it, you’re doing religion, and you’re in the wrong pew.

Meanwhile, the multiple factors that can actually cause tragic birth defects are being ignored.

In this article, I haven’t tried to cover the full range of “who benefits” from the fake war on Zika; but I should mention one group: the collaboration of companies, research labs, and foundations that propose using genetically engineered mosquitoes on a global basis to cut off future generations of Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Among this collaborating group are researchers who also want to release “gene drives,” mechanisms which sterilize the bugs in the wild. In both strategies, no human safety studies have been done. That is highly significant. The same absence of studies highlighted the original release of GMO crops in the 1990s. We were (falsely) assured then, as now, that no problems would develop.

Why don’t these researchers wear long robes and ornate hats, and wave wands and scepters that emit clouds of smoke? We’d be able to recognize them more easily.

Can we get a simple bill passed to fund the installation of stained glass windows in CDC buildings, and the employment of choirs to intone Gregorian chants around the clock?

Instead of publishing fake studies in journals, CDC priests and their eunuchs could appear on high balconies, overlooking packed plazas, and, in practiced monotone, read summaries of their research from parchment scrolls.

Much better.

Much more honest.

(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, Power Outside The Matrix, click here.)

5 MAJOR EARTHQUAKES IN 48 HOURS AS A SEISMOLOGIST WARNS ‘CATASTROPHIC MEGA EARTHQUAKES’ ARE COMING

Why is the crust of the Earth shaking so violently all of a sudden?

Michael Snyder | End Of The American Dream - APRIL 15, 2016

Why is the crust of the Earth shaking so violently all of a sudden?
Over the past 48 hours, there have been five major earthquakes globally, and one prominent seismologist has declared that “catastrophic mega earthquakes” could be on the way. In fact, seismologist Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado has made headlines all over the world by warning that “current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude”. If his projections are accurate, our planet could be on the precipice of a wave of natural disasters unlike anything that any of us have ever experienced before.

Since the beginning of 2016, south Asia has been hit by an unusually high number of large earthquakes, and this has scientists groping for an explanation. The following comes from the Express…

Scientists say there has been an above average number ofsignificant earthquakes across south Asiaand the Pacific since the start of the year.

The increased frequency has sparked fears of a repeat of the Nepal quake of 2015, when 8,000 people died, or even worse.

Roger Bilham, seismologist of University of Colorado, said: “The current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude.

“And if they delay, the strain accumulated during the centuries provokes more catastrophic mega earthquakes.”

A single magnitude 8.0 earthquake in a populated area would be a disaster of historic proportions.

If we were to see four of them like Roger Bilham is projecting, that would be a complete and utter nightmare.

It is important to keep in mind that a magnitude 8.0 earthquake would be many, many times larger than the twin earthquakes that hit Japan earlier today…

A devastating 6.4-magnitude earthquake has struck Japan hours after a first which killed at least three and injured 19 others.

The quakes, which struck the south-western island of Kyushu, leveled more than a dozen homes, sparked fires and trapped several people under collapsed buildings.

Around 350 military personnel have been dispatched to aid the rescue effort, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

The first earthquake, measuring 6.5-magnitude, hit the south-east Asian country late on Friday, local time, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

On Thursday we also saw a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Vanuatu, and a magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook the southern Philippines…

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Mindanao early Thursday, April 14, seismologists said, with no damage or casualties immediately reported and no tsunami warning issued. The quake occurred at 2:21 am (1821 GMT Wednesday) off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte, with its epicenter at a depth of 15 kilometers, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

And of course on Wednesday a huge magnitude 6.9 earthquake caused tremendous devastation in Myanmar…

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Myanmar on Wednesday, causing tremors around the region, including in neighboring Bangladesh where scores were reported injured in stampedes and buildings were damaged. The quake, which took place at a depth of 134 kilometers (83 miles), hit some 400 kilometers northwest of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), and was also felt in parts of India and China. There were no immediate reports of casualties, although the region where the earthquake hit has poor communications infrastructure like many of Myanmar’s outlying provinces.

So why is this happening?

Why is Asia shaking so violently all of a sudden?

And does this shaking bode ill for other areas along the “Ring of Fire” including the west coast of the United States?

I think that it is important to point out that all of this shaking did not just begin this week. In fact, ever since the start of this calendar year there has been a lot of unusual earthquake activity all over Asia…

Just four days ago, on April 10, six people died in Pakistan when a 6.6-magnitude quake hit Kabul with aftershocks in India

Two days before, on April 8, there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in Nepal.

Nepal had suffered a larger 5.5 magnitude one on February 22.

A month before, on January 20, there was a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in China, and 16 days earlier 11 people died when a 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Manipur in India.

In addition, let us not forget about all of the volcanic eruptions that have been in the news in recent weeks.

According to Volcano Discovery, 38 volcanoes around the globe are erupting right now. This is definitely an unusually high number.

In Matthew 24, Jesus warned us that there would be earthquakes in “divers places” just prior to His return. This is something that I discuss quite a bit in my new book. If we truly are in the times that the Bible refers to as “the last days”, we should expect the shaking of our planet to continue to intensify.

If seismologist Roger Bilham is right and we do begin to see a series of absolutely massive earthquakes, that could dramatically change the course of world events literally overnight.

Even a single magnitude 8.0 earthquake in a major city in Japan, China or the United States would cause global markets to crash and would mean billions of dollars in economic damage.

So let us hope that the crust of our planet begins to stabilize, but let us also not ignore the warnings of the scientists.

What they are warning us about right now lines up perfectly with what Jesus warned us about nearly 2000 years ago, and that is a very sobering thing to consider.

(Infowars)