Etiket arşivi: Gaza war

President Biden’s Foreign and Security Policy

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January 16, 2025

Last Monday, at the US State Department, Mr. Biden delivered his last foreign and security policy speech as president.[i] His remarks were only words of praise for the achievements of his four years at the White House.  The following from his speech reflects his broad assessment: “Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker, and we have not gone to war to make these things happen…  During my presidency, I’ve increased America’s power in every dimension… And now, America is more capable and, I would argue, better prepared than we’ve been in a long, long time.” 

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Türkiye at an Inflection Point

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December 19, 2024

The history of Türkiye-West relations over the last fifteen years has been characterized by a lack of meaningful dialogue, unfriendly rhetoric, and confrontation despite a promising beginning.

In April 2009 President Obama came to Ankara on his first bilateral visit to Europe as president. He started his address to the Turkish parliament with the following:

“This morning I had the great privilege of visiting the tomb of your extraordinary founder of your republic. And I was deeply impressed by this beautiful memorial to a man who did so much to shape the course of history. But it is also clear that the greatest monument to Atatürk’s life is not something that can be cast in stone and marble. His greatest legacy is Turkey’s strong, vibrant, secular democracy, and that is the work this assembly carries on today…”

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The Year 2024 in Review

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December 16, 2024

People aspire to democracy.  Regardless of their respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and the rule of law, all regimes claim to be democratic in some form because it remains the ultimate source of legitimacy to govern. Sadly, the year 2024 was not an inspiring year for democracy.

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The Race Toward January 20th

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December 2, 2024

The year 2024 was largely dominated by the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Lebanon, and in mid-summer attention started to shift toward the US presidential election.

President Biden was determined to run for a second term. A growing number of Democratic leaders urged him to leave the race.  He fought them bitterly until he finally concluded that he had no other option than quitting. But that came too late. Thus, the Democratic Party not only lost the presidential election but the Republicans won the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Then a race started among the actors in the two conflict areas for better bargaining positions before Mr. Trump assumed office.

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The ICC Deals a Blow to Israel and the West

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November 25, 2024

This is how I started a post a year ago, two months after the Hamas onslaught of October 7:

“Jews are a gifted people. They have made great contributions to science, culture, and the arts. Israel is among the top twenty countries winning the most Nobel prizes. However, the first Nobel prizes were awarded in 1901. Israel was founded in 1948. Had Israel existed in 1901, surely it would have been among the top ten if not the top five today. Unfortunately, Jewish people have experienced endless tragedies, persecution, pogroms, displacements, and annihilation attempts prompted by racism, antisemitism, and jealousy of their achievements.

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President Trump and the Middle East

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November 13, 2024

The stunning comeback of Mr. Trump as President-elect has triggered speculation about the future of US foreign policy, particularly regarding the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The latter’s past decade might offer some clues into the future.

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The West in Disarray

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October 14, 2024

The November 5, US presidential election is only three weeks away. On January 20, 2025, the new US president will take office. Thus there will be a six-week period of transition. Then the new president will form her/his government and get a closer look at the challenges ahead. In brief, the new US administration’s fully taking the reins will take time.

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Escalation in the Middle East

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September 30, 2024

Last week, world leaders, though not all, gathered in New York to engage in the annual high-level General Assembly debate to “explore solutions to intertwined global challenges to advance peace, security, and sustainable development” to use the UN language. Yet, nobody expected them to do much about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

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Blasts in Lebanon

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September 20, 2024

At least 37 people were killed and thousands more injured, many seriously, when pagers and walkie-talkies, used by Hezbollah, exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the operation. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant complimented the Israeli Intelligence Agency, the Mossad, for “great achievements”, but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the two days of attacks in Lebanon. However, American and other countries’ officials have reportedly said that Israel was responsible for the explosions.

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“Normalizing” Relations between Türkiye and Syria

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September 2, 2024

Hafez al-Assad was the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until he died in 2000. He was the number one regional enemy of Türkiye. Starting in the mid-1980s, Syria provided the PKK and its leader Ocalan with safe havens from where they launched terrorist attacks against Türkiye across the 910-kilometer border. President Assad, despite irrefutable evidence provided by Ankara over the years, constantly denied support. Türkiye’s patience finally ran out. In the fall of 1988, the Turkish land forces commander delivered an ultimatum on the border saying that either Syria deported Ocalan or the Turkish army would move in. Hafez al-Assad complied. On October 20, 1988, Türkiye and Syria signed the Adana Agreement which was essentially a commitment by Damascus to end its support to terrorism.

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