World Bulletin - Turkey

 Seeing the whole picture 
Supporting the halt of blood flowing in our country, regardless of the reason, and becoming reconciled with realities that ideological blindness considers non-existent is a commendable act, even if it is late. At least we want to believe that there are intentions in this direction.
By not getting caught up in illusions in the name of truth, it may be possible to put forth realities. Dreams may not always overlap with realities. At this important juncture the World Bulletin, with its accumulation of news and depth of analysis, will continue to show the whole picture.

 American preeminence disappearing fifteen years early
In November 2008, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) predicted that America's global preeminence would gradually disappear over the next 15 years -- in conjunction with the rise of new global powerhouses, especially China and India.As a result of the mammoth economic losses suffered by the United States over the past year and China's stunning economic recovery, the global power shift the report predicted has accelerated. For all practical purposes, 2025 is here already.

China survey suggests sustained industrial expansion
China's vast manufacturing sector expanded in October at the fastest rate in 18 months, a survey showed on Sunday, and economists said they expected the momentum to be sustained in the coming months.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) issued by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing rose to 55.2 last month, the highest level since April 2008, from 54.3 in September.

It was the eighth month in a row that the official PMI has stood above the boom-bust line of 50. The index, which is designed to provide a timely snapshot of business conditions in industry, slumped as low as 38.8 last November as the global financial crisis raged.

Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center, a think-tank under the State Council, China's cabinet, said the report showed the economy was now firmly on the recovery track.

Sudan: US sanctions renewal contrary to "mediation" role
US President Barack Obama renewed the sanctions on Tuesday, a week after unveiling a "new" policy toward the Khartoum government. 

Iran’s nuclear threat is a lie

In 2001, the Observer published a series of reports that claimed an "Iraqi connection" to al-Qaeda, even describing the base in Iraq where the training of terrorists took place and a facility where anthrax was being manufactured as a weapon of mass destruction. It was all false. Supplied by US intelligence and Iraqi exiles, planted stories in the British and US media helped George Bush and Tony Blair to launch an illegal invasion which caused, according to the most recent study, 1.3 million deaths.
Something similar is happening over Iran: the same syncopation of government and media "revelations", the same manufacture of a sense of crisis. "Showdown looms with Iran over secret nuclear plant", declared the Guardian on 26 September. "Showdown" is the theme. High noon. The clock ticking. Good versus evil. Add a smooth new US president who has "put paid to the Bush years". An immediate echo is the notorious Guardian front page of 22 May 2007: "Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq". Based on unsubstantiated claims by the Pentagon, the writer Simon Tisdall presented as fact an Iranian "plan" to wage war on, and defeat, US forces in Iraq by September of that year - a demonstrable falsehood for which there has been no retraction.

Dark omens for the U.S. in the gathering Afghan storm
Now officially in its ninth year since the invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. should have little reason to recount, in Chalmers Johnson's words, the Sorrows of Empire. By now everyone on the planet knows by heart the tragic tale. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan without a clear understanding of its goals and after eight years remains as torn as ever over defining them. It was hoped that the incoming Obama administration and its new AfPak strategy would finally end the drift toward quagmire, but that hope is fading fast. Last week, AfPak architect Bruce Riedel revealed in the Financial Times that "Pretty much six months has since gone by without a rigorous implementation of what was agreed to and that has only made a bad situation worse."
As Washington's paralysis deepens and Afghanistan slips further into chaos, the U.S. faces a crisis of credibility. Can Washington shift its focus to nation-building and help the Afghan people restore their ravaged nation to health? Or should the U.S. continue to pursue what seems at this point an opium dream; hunting an elusive Al Qaeda, who are "believed" to be hiding in Pakistan? Last week one major player on the world scene made their opinion known, but nobody in the U.S. was listening.
Amidst the deafening internal debate in Washington, a startling event occurred. On Monday September 28, in the Chinese government owned English language newspaper China Daily, an article titled, "Afghan peace needs a map," by Li Qinggong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, stated flatly that the time had come for the United States to withdraw from Afghanistan:
To promote much-needed reconciliation among the parties concerned, the US should end its military action. The war has neither brought the Islamic nation peace and security as the Bush administration originally promised, nor brought any tangible benefits to the US itself. On the contrary, the legitimacy of the US military action has been under increasing doubt.

Epitaph on Empire
There must not be one more senseless death, be it of an American or an Iraqi or an Afghan or an Iranian. Not one. We must make this demand to our politicians.

Real genocide in Ethiopia with West fund
The refugees of the Darfur conflict were and are the beneficiaries of one of the largest, and most effective relief works in history.
In contrast, relief aid to the Somalis living in the Ethiopian Ogaden, what little there was to begin with,  has been effectively shut down now in almost all of the Ogaden for several years, despite one of the worst droughts in history.
Darfur has had an international police force in place for years, who work along side Sudanese security forces and most of the violence has ended.
Today, the humanitarian situation in Somalia, where aid workers still operate, has been declared the worst in the world (and with what is happening to the Tamils in the concentration camps in Sri Lanka that is saying a lot). Next door in the Ethiopian Ogaden, conveniently there are almost no aid agencies, other than in a few towns, to witness what is as bad or more likely worse than in Somalia. Yet what do we hear from those who are collecting so much loot on behalf of suffering Africans about the real genocide going on in the Ogaden?
While peace has been slowing taking hold in Darfur, in the Ogaden peace is a long lost memory. War, famine and disease are spreading across the Ogaden and is becoming a situation that is increasingly the norm in growing areas of Ethiopia. While the western hucksters rake in  beaucoup millions of dollars while peddling their "Save Darfur" bunkum , Sudanese have seen peace break out. In contrast, Ethiopians, suffering under a regime that is the largest recipient of western aid in Africa see only a future of growing ethnic and religious conflict and worse, active programs of genocide.
The problems developing in Ethiopia  can invariably be traced back to the west, mainly the USA.  The west, in particular the USA are hell bent on keeping Africa in a state of crisis, the better to exploit. And the "Save Darfur" lobby is all for bringing more violence to Africa under the guise of "humanitarian intervention", while little of the tens of millions they collect ever reaches the Sudanese who it was intended for.




Gaza costs Israel another friend: there aren’t many left

For years Israel has acted as if the unconditional support of the US would be enough to shield it for ever from the consequences of its behaviour – which is why last week was an unusually traumatic one for them.
No suicide bombers detonated themselves and no rockets or mortar shells fell, but the double whammy of a Turkish snub and a UN Human Rights Council vote shook Israelis even more than any aimless shelling would have done. Those two events signal profound changes that leave Israel paying a growing political price for the attack last winter that killed some 1,400 Palestinians and reduced Gaza to rubble.
It was the brutal pummelling of Gaza that prompted Turkey's democratically elected government to break the silence among the region's moderates and stand up for the Palestinians. At the time, the prime minister, Recep Erdogan, condemned the Israeli actions as war crimes, in language deemed intemperate and inappropriate by western leaders.
Curiously, Erdogan's "intemperate" language was endorsed by the findings of a UN Human Rights Council investigation headed by the Jewish South African judge Richard Goldstone, known as a friend of Israel – findings that were adopted by the Council on Friday despite the efforts of the US and France to shield Israel from being formally accused of war crimes in an international body.

  
Slavoj Zizek on capitalism, healthcare, financial crisis
Interview with Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek on Capitalism, Healthcare, Latin American "Populism" and the "Farcical" Financial Crisis. 

Syria's power play 
Mohamad Bazzi analyses the methods and motivations of Syria's attempts to rejoin the Arab political order after years of isolation.
Assad's regime is likely to fall back on its most effective strategy: playing regional dynamics better than anyone else. Syria has shown time and again that it is prepared to destabilise the regione to advance its interests. Assad will try to exert influence on his proxies, play different factions off one another, and continue reaching out to the United States and Arab powers – ultimately hoping to convince everyone that the road to regional stability must run through Damascus.

Pregnancy complications may be tied to kids' poor thinking
A study from Denmark hints at "a modest association" between such complications and poorer reasoning, intuition, and perception skills in young adult men.