Over-summitting

Last week the G8 met in Huntsville, Ontario and this week the G20 meets in Toronto with even greater fanfare and to do.  Canadians, typically a cheery and chirpy bunch, are rightly pissed off.  Al Jazeera cites the estimated cost of the two summits as a whopping $1 billion on security alone.  The cost of security at the last two G20 meetings in London and Pittsburg came to only $25 million put together.  NPR reported that the G20 created a fake lake in downtown Toronto for journalists--  newsflash, Toronto is on Lake Ontario.
This merely reconfirms an increasingly popular opinion that these G-whatever summits are great get-togethers for world leaders that achieve nothing but wasting money.  Nowadays they're a dime a dozen.  It is way easier to keep track of the bowel movements of celebrities than these great summits of world leaders.  The fact that they are increasing in regularity merely means that their annual costs are skyrocketing and that taxpayers worldwide are footing the bill for their parties.
Don't get me wrong, I am a big advocate of open channels in diplomatic communication, of transparent relations, and of summit meetings of world leaders to solve critical issues, but this has gotten out of hand.  To put it in perspective: there have been five G20 summits since I started my degree in November, 2008, and there's another one scheduled for this coming November.
It is hard to say what, precisely, these summits achieve aside from creating amusingly nonsensical photo ops (thank you Silvio Berlusclowni, at right).   Can anyone explain that part to me?
I just wonder why, if the objective of these meetings is economic welfare, why the people who need it most are getting the shaft while the people who need it least have a luxury weekend getaway.  I propose that the G20 summit in Seoul this November be sponsored by Skype, and save the Korean taxpayers a billion dollars or two.

Calling All Young Diplomats - WE NEED YOU!

Today in Jerusalem, the Jewish Agency will be hosting a concentrated focus group aiming to establish a base for the new direction that the agency must take in its objectives to strengthen Jewish identity within the United States and that identity's cohesiveness and attachment to the State of Israel. With this being said, the Agency appears to be moving away from its historical mission of actually building the State of Israel and moving more towards one hindered on strengthening the Jewish people and their external connection to the State.

A conversation with a good friend who will be speaking at today's panel triggered a number of pressing issues regarding the Israeli-American alliance and Israel's lack of a concrete plan to counter the new generation of anti-Israeli attitudes amongst an astounding number of bright minds on the American street and its college campuses. This is not a matter of bigoted anti-Semitism, rather, it is a combination of educated (albeit misinformed)and intelligent young adults who are easily and understandably swayed by an extremely powerful Palestinian narrative. Unfortunately, Israel - in its Public Relations strategy - has neglected and taken for granted its American Jewish support base by not having the proper resources in place to allow those Jewish liberals to properly defend the state in a manner that stresses compassion for the Palestinian people while at the same time reinforcing the sentiment that a two state solution is the only way.

It is scary to think that these well-educated, anti-Israel individuals are the future of America and its leadership. There is a new generation that is no longer enamored with the state of Israel; rather, they are angry and do not understand how America can keep its constant support for Israel at a maximum. It is this same generation that will be leading American over the next 50 years - a 50 year period that has never been more crucial in terms of Israel's long term survival.

Wake up people. The existential threat that Iran poses to Israel is not nearly as threatening and immediate as is the one coming from those that will eventually be shaping American foreign policy and its policies on Israel. In this sense, Israel is its own worst enemy, slowly fulfilling a self professing prophecy of an 'existential threat' by not having the proper resources in place to educate some of America's brightest minds. The battle for Israel will be neither by its Air Force nor its Cold-War tactics in slowly eliminating immediate threats to the state; rather, it will be won both in the Media and on American college campuses.

Over the last few years, the American Jewish community has become justifiably disillusioned with the State of Israel. No longer is it the mighty David that defeated the Arab Goliath in a "do or die" fight for existence; rather, it has become a an extra stress in trying to explain and understand its policies in both contrast and connection to their generally, American-Liberal perspectives. So although the majority of these American Jews may still feel that support for Israel within themselves, they are mentally exhausted in having to defend her while at the same time being taken for granted as a bastion of support by Israel and its policy makers. We are already losing the battle within future generations of non American Jews, that much is clear; however, we still have the opportunity to influence the hearts and minds of our own kind.

This same friend to whom I was speaking told me about a "forum" denouncing Israel that he attended on a college campus in the states. He proceeded to tell me of the Palestinian Americans and their PR machine that came out at the forum: intelligent, organized and convincing. "Who wouldn't jump on the bandwagon after hearing their rhetoric?", he chided. In turn, the Jews (save my friend) who were set to speak were unorganized, misinformed and many of them had not even seen the facts on the ground over here, let along stepped off the plane to smell that musty Mediterranean air. A double slap in the face.

With all that I have stated above, it only seems logical that the Jewish Agency in conjunction with other Israeli organizations would make a 180 degree shift in how it manages its image within the United States - both within the Jewish and non Jewish communities. That does not mean it has to make throw in the towel and stop shaping its internal policies in a manner that would be a threat to its security; rather, it must learn how build bridges of understanding with those that will eventually help shape our destiny via their external influence.

Calling all Young Diplomats

FIFA Foreign Policy

I typically do not follow professional sports.  I haven't in several years.  Yet every four years I get this itch, this craze:  World Cup Fever.  Once again I feel the need to watch football, follow the games, get into the spirit, and as a result play.
But my other passion is politics and international relations, and so I am always excited when interesting match-ups are made between rival countries (like last World Cup when Germany and Poland sparred, all I could think was "Come on, Poland!  Revenge for '39!").  Unfortunately the system is not such so as to produce a plethora of these conflicts, and so games between two actual enemies are quite rare.
That pisses me off.  I want more of these trouble-starting matches!  When I heard North Korea qualified to the World Cup I wanted to know when they would match-up against the South Koreans, or Japanese, or Americans.  Unfortunately, the likelihood of the two Koreas playing one another is not only miniscule, it is virtually impossible (we should all pray to the Dear Leader that such a miracle can come about).  Not only did Israel not qualify, but neither did Iran.  Had they both, I should have hoped they would duke it out on the pitch.
Sadly, that's not how FIFA operates.  Before the World Cup, teams are designated to groups randomly by picking balls out of a bucket like its senior bingo night.  Enough of this.  FIFA should instead adopt a policy whereby states with historic tensions are assigned to the same groups, making the group stage all the more interesting-- especially for those who couldn't care less about the game itself.  What better way of demonstrating national pride is there than rooting for your home team to trounce its bitter, lifelong opponents.
India v. Pakistan?  Sounds explosively fun!  China vs. Japan?  Rape of the Right Wing!  Iran vs. Israel (or Iraq)?  Atomically charged!  France, Germany, England, and Russia in the same group?  Triple entente round two!  USA vs. Mexico?  Take that, immigration policy!  Or, when in doubt, follow the simple formula of (Colonialist power) vs. (3 Former Colonies).  It makes the UN seem even more boring and unimpressive than it actually is.
Come on FIFA, give us something to look forward to besides the incessant droning of the vuvuzela.  Maybe, just maybe, these states would be able to get their frustrations out with legs instead of arms and resolve conflicts on the pitch instead of the field of battle.  If that's the case, I am all for professional sports.

June Book Review: "Istanbul: Memories and the City"

Istanbul née Constantinople had long been referred to as the navel of the world, an unparalleled global metropolis.  Even as the city as waned from international political import since the fall of the Ottoman Empire—and replaced by Ankara as the Republic’s capital--it has nonetheless remained the heart and soul of Turkey.  A friend living there this past year ("Iceman") has fallen in love with the booming city on the Bosphorus, and reports that there is none like it in the world. 

Orhan Pamuk, the acclaimed Turkish author, takes painstaking care to describe Istanbul as he remembers it.  His 2005 memoir/proclamation of love “Istanbul: Memories and the City” paints a picture of the city, its inhabitants, its sights, sounds, and emotions and of mid-20^th century Turkey.  He describes life in the Republic and living in the shadow of the great Ottomans, their past glory ever-present and in ruins. 

Pamuk likens the mood in the Istanbul of his youth to a fog—hüzün, calling it “a communal feeling, an atmosphere, and a culture shared by millions” of melancholy and malaise.  With the delicate brushstrokes of an Ottoman miniaturist, he demonstrates Turkish society’s gloom through lengthy catalogues of the peculiarities of Istanbullus and their once magnificent capital.  To me this collective depression and nostalgia for an historic glory was surprisingly familiar though I have not (yet) been to Turkey.  It hearkened (albeit not identically) to Jewish longings for a return to Zion, especially those found in the Bible. 

This prolonged collective depression, a feeling of inadequacy, of failure, of weakness, continued until fairly recently.  But a resurgent Turkey’s leaders have channeled this inferiority complex into political aggression.  No more, they would say, will Turkey take a back seat to Western powers in what used to be its empire.  No more, Turkey says, shall it be a lesser power in Middle Eastern affairs.  Regaining Turkey’s former prominence, nay, supremacy in the Muslim world is the Erdoğan administration’s aim.  Only by representing itself as worthy successors of the Ottomans can hüzün cloaking Istanbul and the Turkish Republic be dispelled. 

In many regards this mentality is reminiscent of Zionism’s reactionary disgust for everything suggestive of the derisive “old Jew” and laudation of Maccabean heroes and Biblical glory.  Likewise, Israel has crowned itself champion of Jews worldwide and fights as tenaciously for their rights and protection as the Turkish Republic has of late for their Palestinian brethren (as Muslims).  

It is as though Israel and Turkey are working the same ideologies from opposite sides of the candle, and like that candle their relations are starting to gutter, sputter, and fizzle out.  

Tel Aviv Passive University

Gate number 5, Tel Aviv University

Student: “Do you happen to know about any possible demonstrations in the University today?”

Security Guard: “Why should I know?”

Student: “It is pretty natural to me, that as a part of the security formation you should know about this…” 

Guard: “Hell no!”

She walked away with a surprised look on her face.  This expression does not represent Tel Aviv University these days, at least from my point of view.

When I think about students’ involvement in politics, the pictures from Athens 2008 keep coming back to me.  I do not support violence (the riots in Athens were very violent, see photo); I am just surprised that one of the most important universities in Israel lacks any political involvement despite the rising tensions of the last week between Israel and the world.

Whether supporting the Israeli government's actions or opposing them, supporting the flotilla and Gazans or calling them provocateurs – I do not hear students voicing their opinions.  I see no announcements or posters about conventions or demonstrations, not a single sticker in the toilets.

Classes and hallways are usually fertile grounds for political debate and discussion.  Yet, in my university it is absent.  I may have missed demonstrations because of my unusual schedule, but even during classes professors tend to avoid discussing “sensitive” issues such like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  You can’t imagine the frustration I feel when we do not examine local case studies in political discussions.

I guess Israeli students have to travel to American and European campuses engage the conflict.  Tel Aviv University is just a continuation of Tel Aviv in general: an avoidance of controversy taken with a morning cappuccino.

Public debate must start with academia and expand into the public sphere.  This ensures that voices are heard from the bottom up and not dictated from the politicians down.  

Turkish Interests in the name of Humanitarian Aid

The founder of political Realism Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote: “Politics have no relation to morals”. This saying that was written 400 years ago is still relevant to the current international political environment and specifically to the hidden interests of those who stand behind the recent Flotilla incident. I argue that the primary goal of the organizers of the Flotilla aid convoy was to create a violent incident that would serve personal, domestic and international Turkish interests, while supplying aid to Gaza and increasing international awareness to the Gaza blockade were only secondary aims. Turkey took advantage of time, situation and naivety of some true peace activists to promote its international stand and was willing to sacrifice the lives of its own civilians to do so.


The flotilla was organized by two groups: The Free Gaza Movement and the Insani Yardim Vakfi, known for its initials I.H.H. The first of these was created in 2006 and since 2007 attempted to brake the Gaza naval blockade several times. Since the Gaza War in 2008, Israel denied all attempts of this movement to reach Gaza, fearing it would transfer arms and munitions to Hamas. The second group – I.H.H was founded in the early 1990s’ as a charity for the poor in Istanbul. However, since then its changed to what Henri J. Barkey, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University defines as an organization which is “an Islamist charity, quite fundamentalist, quite close to Hamas... They say they do charity work, but they’ve been accused of gunrunning and other things, and their rhetoric has been inflammatory against Israel and sometimes against Jews”. The I.H.H. is funded by donations which come from Turkey’s religious merchant segment –the same group which supports the Islamic oriented ruling party- the AKP. Besides leading the flotilla, the I.H.H bought three of the six boats including the infamous Mavi Marmara. Therefore, the Turkish involvement in the flotilla is clear as Turkish newspaper Hurriyet columnist Mehmet Ali Birand writes: “The Turkish part of the convoy was organized under supervision of Ankara. Ankara could have prevented the incident but did not. On the contrary it facilitated the job of people resisting”.


The interest of the I.H.H. was the first to be addressed through the clash of the flotilla. The organization and its leaders received national and international recognition and donations will probably follow soon, as one of its board members Omar Faruk said: “We became famous...we are very thankful to the Israeli authorities”. The second beneficiaries of the incident are Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party the AKP. Since elected in 2003, Erdogan and the AKP are engaged in a harsh domestic struggle against the country’s secular elite. The outcome of the Israeli raid serves Erdogan’s islamists not just by increasing support among Turkish Islamic public, but it also created public unity and gained support from Turkish seculars. Another Hurriyet columnist Yusuf Kanli wrote about the raid’s outcome in Turkey:” People who perhaps would not even go to the same coffee house, have divergent political views and have virtually nothing in common were united, all anathematized the Israeli action as totally incompatible with international law and norms and a humiliating attitude that Turkey should not definitely leave unanswered”. The timing for the flotilla is also comfortable for Erdogan who is facing pressure due to the deaths of 28 soldiers who were killed by the PKK in the last two months. Erdogan used the Israeli raid not just for a spin but also to alienate the Turkish military elite from Israel, as he unofficially tied the Israeli raid to a PKK attack on Turkish naval base which occurred few hours apart, claiming that the PKK received munitions and guidance from Mossad agents.


Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkish foreign policy also benefited from the outcome of the Israeli raid. Davutoglu is the mastermind behind the renewed Turkish foreign policy which main goal to regain Turkey’s leading role in the Middle East and to put Turkey as a major player on the international arena. After failing to take the mediating role between Israel and Syria, Davutoglu searched for another way to get involved in the Middle East and the Gaza blockade looked like a golden opportunity. In the aftermath of the raid, Turkey is seen by Palestinians by and the Arab world as the true leader for the Palestinian cause. This not only empowers Turkey but weakens its regional rivals: Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Thus, it should be no surprise that Davutoglu stated on June 2nd that “Turkey would be willing to resume normal relations with Israel if Israel opens the Gaza blockade”. If Israel would comply with this demand then Turkey and Davutoglu will be remembered and admired on the pages of history as those who removed the Gaza blockade. Finally, it is very plausible that Iran (Turkey's ally) would benefit from the incident. The discussions at the UN Security Council regarding the new round of sanctions against Iran will be probably postponed or encounter great difficulties to pass.


To conclude, no one should be deluded into thinking that the Free Gaza flotilla was a purely humanitarian mission with a pacifist character. All those who deal with international politics know that international relations are driven by national interests and not by moral considerations. The I.H.H and the leadership in Ankara relied on past experience and presumed that Israeli forces would board the boats and prepared a violent welcome for them. The unavoidable bloodshed would serve the interests of Turkey and its leaders. The majority of the people on board the boats of the flotilla did meant to serve humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, however they were cynically used by the Turkish authorities as Evan F. Kohlmann, a terrorism analyst, said: "American diplomats and politicians, Holocaust survivors and leftist writers all have offered their names, time or money to the cause, ignoring or oblivious to the role of others with more militant connections".The one significant supporting evidence is that the boats were offered to unload the aid in an Israeli port but rejected this offer.


Nevertheless, the Turkish leadership is unaware of two important implications of the flotilla interception. The first is the outcome of the raid has created an overwhelming consensus in the Israeli public as for the justified use of force as self defence. This unity will help the Israeli government hold international condemnation and pressure to remove the Gaza blockade. The second is that in the eyes of the international community and especially the US, Turkey is losing its historical role as a neutral mediator. The close relations with Iran, the nuclear deal it recently brokered and the implicit anti American rhetoric Erdogan used in his speech on June 2nd, all put Turkey in the Iranian-Syrian axis. The American support for Israel, even in times of strain between Washington and Jerusalem, could imply that the US is aware of the real Turkish intentions. For a country who wishes to enter the EU and still in need of American financial and political support, Turkey should calculate it steps carefully as much as it seems tempting. Thus, Erdogan and Davugtolu should take care of their overambitious foreign policy because it could eventually backfire. As Machiavelli said: "Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied"

Another development of import

The Washington Post reported today that one of the activists killed in this week's Israeli assault on the Mavi Marmara off the coast of Gaza was a Turkish-American citizen.  An already complicated matter just got interesting.  This raises two fundamental issues: 

1)  What will the Obama administration response be to the killing of an American citizen by the Israeli military? 

2) What legal measures will be taken by the deceased's family in the United States?

Now that Furkan Dogan has been identified as an American citizen, it is impossible for the US government to do nothing.  Whether the United States will verbally rebuke Israel or slap its wrist is a subject of debate.  It is not likely that the US will take a hard stance against Israel for this.
There are serious legal ramifications for Israel.  American citizens killed in state-funded terrorist attacks have found recourse for compensation in the American legal system.  This has been the case with the Lockerbie bombing of 1988 and in many cases since.  Of particular import are the cases involving the estates of American-Israeli citizens killed by Hamas and the PLO that have successfully tried those terrorist organizations in American courts and won multi-million dollar settlements.  
Can this incident be construed as a case of state terrorism, and if so, can Israel be taken to court in the US for it?  If so, will they behave as their Palestinian counterparts did and reject the jurisdictional validity of the case, or play ball with the US Department of Justice?


Another thing to keep an eye out for is the incoming final ship of the Freedom Flotilla: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/03/rachel-corrie-remaining-freedom-flotilla-boat-sails-towards-ga/
How will Israel deal with this last blockade runner after its disastrous handling of the remainder of the fleet?

The Late Great Jewish State

Early yesterday morning the State of Israel was hospitalized after months of severe illness.  The Jewish State had been suffering from minor chronic disorders for years that had exacerbated since the 2009 elections.  Symptoms included irrational panphobia, violent outbursts, and press blockage.  Experts at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv diagnosed early onset dystopia triggered by inept high-level decision makers -- a syndrome commonly referred to as acute governmentia.   

Dr. Hugh G. Czech, the patient's practitioner, further explained: 

"Acute governmentia is by and large a tropical disease.  Most case studies are from developing African and Latin American states that lack critical infrastructure.  Encountering such an extreme case of metastasized incompetence in a Westernized state at this age is exceptional and very troubling."

Norman Finkelstein, another critic, avoided mincing words and simply called Israel "a lunatic state" (see video).

Israel, 62, had been an active member of the international and Middle Eastern community until late.  Its neighbors described Israel as "the life of the party," "always willing to have another round," and "the abhorrent Zionist entity."  As a leader in scientific and technological innovation and a patron of the arts, Israel's calamitous decline in health marks the end of an era.  Israel's academic achievements now seem a thing of the past.  While an economic pulse remains, doctors report little brain activity.

Friends and relations are in a state of shock.  Israel's uncle Samuel Amabo had this to say: "I have always admired Israel's spirit and enduring strength.  I really don't know what went wrong.  We are all trying to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy."

While doctors are hopeful for successful recovery after lengthy rehabilitation, hospital chaplain Rabbi Mosh Túped told reporters that "I'm not saying we should start sitting shiva already, but we must pray for a remedy.  What else can we do?"