Terrorist attacks in Ankara and Berlin - TTG

I recommend RT.com and RT America if you get MHz Networks digital broadcast for coverage of the attack in Ankara. The Berlin attack at the Christkindlmarkt in the glow of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche will be well covered in the Western press. That attack seems a repeat of the attack in Nice in July. I will comment on the Ankara attack mostly with RT live updates.

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“This is a tragic day in the history of Russian diplomacy. Today, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov died after being shot at during a public event in Ankara,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Monday evening. The assault on the Russian ambassador is an “act of terrorism,” she added. “We are in touch with Turkish officials, who assured us that there will be a thorough and comprehensive investigation [into the case],” Zakharova said.” (RT)

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Putin has already addressed the nation in a televised statement. In addition to praising Ambassador Karlov and expressing his sorrow for his murder, he made the following comments.

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"This murder is clearly a provocation aimed at undermining the improvement and normalization of Russian-Turkish relations, as well as undermining the peace process in Syria promoted by Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries interested in settling the conflict in Syria,"

“We need to know who organized the killing, who gave orders to the assassin.” 

“Our only response is stepping up the fight against terrorism.  The killers will feel it.”

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"An AP photographer Burhan Ozbilici was covering a photo exhibition when a gunman opened fire, assassinating Russia's ambassador to Turkey. He recounts the chaos that unfolded as he captured the scene. "Don't forget Aleppo. Don't forget Syria!" the gunman shouted in Turkish, referring to the Syrian city where Russian bombardments have helped drive rebels from areas they had occupied for years during the war. He also shouted "Allahu akbar" but I couldn't understand the rest of what he said in Arabic." (Richmond Times Dispatch)

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An RT update added this about what the assassin said. “Following the shooting of Karlov, the assailant shouted: “Don't forget Aleppo! Don't forget Syria!” “Only death can take me away from here. Whoever has a role in this cruelty, they will pay for it one by one. They will,” the man went on to say.” (RT live update)

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Turkish authorities said the assassin was a former Turkish police officer who was let go after the failed coup.

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“A senior Turkish security official said there are “very strong signs” that the gunman was linked to the network of exiled US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Reuters reported. He also added that the current investigation is trying to establish links.” (RT live update)

“US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen strongly condemned the attack and has absolutely no links to the gunman, Alp Aslandogan, Gulen’s advisor on media issues, told Reuters. "Mr. Gulen categorically condemns this heinous act,” he stressed.” (RT live update)

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So we have an assassin yelling in Turkish and Arabic with threats of retribution for Aleppo while giving the one finger jihadi salute. I think that senior Turkish security official is trying to throw the Russian wolfhound off the scent. I also think the trail will lead to the FSA/Nusra jihadis currently enjoying the benevolence of the West and the Turks. As Putin said, “The killers will feel it.” I can hear my old friend, master sergeant Al Rivers in that booming rebel voice of his, “The shit’s on, good buddy!”

TTG

Comments

[The Beaver]

Croesus,

some info on Palantir:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/agent-of-intelligence-how-a-deviant-philosopher-built-palantir-a-cia-funded-data-mining-juggernaut/#38965aff3da8

[The Twisted Genius]

Bemused,

There's a good chance those new Scania trucks are automatic and have power steering. I drove one the Army's massive eight wheeled HEMTTs with no instruction whatsoever.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I think that the secularists' and Kemalists' failures in nurturing Liberty had a detrimental effect on the World of Islam - they did not discharge their duty to Muslim Civilization in as much as they used the same tactics as Hassan Sabbah to silence dissenting voices.

In that manner, they perpetuated the same evils that had afflicted Muslim polities since the time of the Seljuks, if not earlier. Kemalist Turkey could have been a model for other Muslim states to emulate. That was not to be.

And if you think she could not have served as a model, you would be wrong. During the heydays of AKP rule, Iranians would point Turkish practices to their own government and asking: "Turks are doing this and that - which you oppose illegally - are they not Muslims too?"

That was an argument that could have altered minds in Iran.

And likewise, all those Muslim dictators and autocrats and doctrinaire religious people, had there been a dispensation in Kemalist Turkey that was nurturing and developing Liberty, could have been challenged in their assertions that Liberty is License and must be suppressed.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

BM,
Two questions:
1-What kind of "Liberty" do you aspire to, and where does it exist in the known universe?
2-Has it ever existed in any nation?

The followers of Kemal Ataturk were/are secular Turkish nationalists. We did not aspire to set a religious example to any.

IMO, the accomplishments of the tayyip, or of gulen, as well as the intellectual level of their "followers" need no discussion.
Ishmael Zechariah

[Babak Makkinejad]

To answer your question #1: Liberty is the Absence of Fear.
On your #2: The comparison, like many things empirical - such as Reynold's Number - are relative. Turkey is not as Free as Spain, for example.

So you feel that you do not need discussion with the lesser people; for myself, I know that many of my own ideas and insights have been generated through this discussion forum. And Gulen and his followers, however sheep like they may be, have to be defeated on the plane of ideas.

This fear of discussion is another bane of not just Turkey but many other countries in the world.

[kooshy]

I don't think he was trying to pass truck driver test, he aimed to kill innocents in cold blood to do that all you need is to start and drive forward.

[Poul]

One should also add that the views of Arab Jews or Jewish Arabs (however they see themselves) is nowhere in sight in this discussion. A very substantial percentage of Israel's population.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

BM,
1-Those w/out fear are not necessarily free. Those who are "free" can be in mortal fear.
2-Spain, Torquemada, Franco, Guernica, Lluís Companys i Jover, Katalunya...fear, freedom, Reynold's #?
3-gulen, tayyip, cultists, planes of ideas? You are fond of quoting "rectification of names". Re-read Mencius. The question of whether a king or a robber was executed when Zhou was eliminated is still extant.
We can always debate whether islamists engage in discussion or verbal masturbation. The day these vermin will drown in their "accomplishments" is not far off.
Ishmael Zechariah

[FkDahl]

The truck reported to the driver's company that it was driven in such a way it was about to choke and stall: the company called the driver who did not respond (because he was stabbed already).

[Babak Makkinejad]

You are quibbling.

I do not think we are engaging in verbal masturbation.

Kemalist forbid women in hejab to enter government offices.

They put that genius poet, Nazim Hikmat - in jail because he was communist.

How many times did Aziz Naseen was sent to jail for expressing his opinion?

I have started wondering if Franco's Spain was not a freer country than Muslim state today.

I am not against Mustafa Kemal - only pointing out its failure in truly charting a new path - towards Freedom and Devolution of Power.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

BM the "non-quibbler";
Some thoughts in random order:
i-With all its faults, the secular nationalist state founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had better governance than any of the islamist states you can point to today. It jailed dissidents, and executed secessionists. So what? We are not claiming it was ideal; just that it was a significantly better starting point from which an ideal might be sought if one were so inclined.
ii-The Turkey of tayyip and gulen is a good example of what the islamist females in hijab and their males can create. Do you think it is better than the Republic of Turkey between 1923-1948?
iii-Given the past (global) performance of islamists over the last 1/2 millennia or so, what makes you anticipate better performance from these in the future?
iv-A long time ago Turks used to be more progressive: in pre-islamic times Turkish women did not wear "hicab". They rode horses, took part in councils and were considered worthwhile citizens. Sticking a woman into a sack to prevent males from being led astray seems like a quaint idea.
v-What would happen to someone who rejects islam and converts to Shamanism in Iran, KSA, or the Turkey of the hijabis?
Pax Vobiscum.

Ishmael Zechariah

[Cee]

Hood,

I will in this case.

Of course this is just a coincidence. Just like it’s a coincidence that all this occurred shortly after President Obama vowed to retaliate against alleged Russian “interference” in the recent presidential election. And just like it’s a coincidence that former acting CIA chief Mike Morell has publicly advocated “killing Russians

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2016/12/20/death-in-istanbul/

[Rd]

.. and to add, the 7 year old speaking English very well!!! didn't know they had english classes in E Aleppo!!!!

and if you get to see the full video, his dad looks like had a very recent clean shaven face! good for western viewers. perhaps his beard was in the pile of beards BM had posted a picture of.

[J]

TTG,

From what I understand Russia had not been allowed by the Turkish government to have their special protective services in Turkey to guard their Ambassador. If they had been in place, this wouldn't have happened.

And something else, you can call it coincidence or what, but a week before the death of Putin's driver in Moscow, and a week before the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, former Asst DCI putz Morrell called on national TV for the Russians to suffer some pain or another. I'm sure that that particular has not gone unnoticed by the Russians. IMO Morrell is playing a very dangerous game with his clap trap.

[Serge]

The "reavers" released barbaric footage of the execution of two Turkish captives today, in the style of the Jordanian pilot.One of them sent as a spy,part of the gendarmerie intelligence, and the other a TSK private. Both were apparently captured in 2015, so they are not the two(SF iirc) captured a couple weeks ago. Hard to believe but this one dwarfs anything they've done so far in sheer savagery, releasing this a day after the Al Bab debacle of yesterday was obviously a calculated move to cause as much turmoil in Turkish society as possible. Erdogan shut down all social media access as it came out, facebook youtube twitter etc.

[mike allen]

Serge -

One of the victims was reportedly a fan of the "reavers", with tributes to al-Baghdadi on his Facebook page. Poetic justice.

The other was a poor Kurdish conscript. But that will never be admitted in Turkey.

[Serge]

mike allen-
He was a spy sent to IS territory, and caught(gendarmerie intelligence).This is why his facebook was styled that way(in a transparently amateurish fashion, I might add)