Snail's Dream

Had I followed my intention you would now read a short story, afterwards watch a short film and then ...

Anticipating the then :) I decided to not manipulate your thoughts and feelings with my writing, but leave you alone with the film.

Voilà.

Turkey on tenterhooks

'Normally' I do set links - yes, yes, it's time to overcome my lazyness and perhaps even for a revival of my 'Wordy Wednesdays :) - however this synopsis of what keeps great parts of the Turkish society on tenterhooks is so excellent that I asked Erkan - after the private, here the official congratulation, Dr. Saka :) - for his permission to pinch it.At the bottom you'll find - in chronological order - several links to the best source one can find when being interested (not only!!) in what's going on in Turkey.
End of the eulogy. :) Judge yourself.

Forensic officers search for weapons in a wooded area in central Ankara January 9, 2009. More than 40 people, including three retired generals, nine military officers, a state prosecutor and a former chairman of the higher education board, were detained for their suspected links to a right-wing group. The military, which has unseated four governments in the past 50 years and views itself as the guarantor of Turkey's secular order, denies any link to the group, known as Ergenekon. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY)

Here are some ideas Erkan briefly notes
about the Ergenekon case:

1. I am personally not upset that coup plotters and their sympathizers are at least 'harassed' during the never ending Ergenekon case. All arrested, detained, investigated personalities are part of dark relations in Turkey's recent past. One is happy to see that there is a sort of "divine justice" in life.

2. I am suprised that the Case continues even after the end of closure case against AKP. There is a widespread belief that there is an understanding between the military bureaucracy and government now. PM Erdoğan's pro-State statements and cadre changes in AKP leadership seemed to be evidence for this belief. The case seemed to have lost AKP's political support.

3. Ergenekon is a very broad, powerful and well-supported network. Its illegality is reversed or justified by a particular civil mode of political culture. There are many civilians who support coups in order to protect the regime. This is still a strong pattern of political thinking in Turkey. One should not forget that in 1960 an elected PM was hanged! In order to protect Kemalism, many civilians would not mind a military coup and even execution of government members. In such a political climate, Ergenekon gang members could easily operate, settle and be protected. Many gang members become inseperable from the rest of smypathisers.

4. Turkish legal system is conservative, backward and has loopholes. In such a political and legal context, it is very hard for prosecutors to operate against Ergenekon. No need to say, system is totally politicized.

5. In order to operate, political and communal support is needed. I do not mind that prosecutors have some "backing".

6. In order to operate, there might be some violations of "procedures", that are constantly highlighted by secularist circles. "procedures" that are never settled, that are constantly manipulated. Same procedures that were not criticised when PM Erdoğan was imprisoned before, when Beşir Atalay, current minister of interior affairs, was thrown out of his university years ago, when pro-Islamic columnists were detained in the same like some columnists are now detained....

7. Despite my support in general, I have to admit that the Case process sometimes becomes too problematic to support. the Indictment itself is an interesting text but messy, long and evidentially weak.

8. I feel better with the latest wave of arrests after which hidden weaponry is found. Technical analysis finally secured the fact that some newly found grenades are now part of a group of grenades that were found initially in Ümraniye, İstanbul that started the whole process.

9. I understand that some of the arrests are just meant to harass pro-coup personalities who does not have any organic membership with the gang. But evidential connections have to be secured. Only after hard evidence, this very difficult process of Ergenekon case can continue and maintain public support.

10. But how can there be more evidence? That's a hard task. Turkish intelligence seems to be divided. Only some can provide direct help. Army intelligence act mostly after the fact. Evidences can easily be hidden or destroyed under the cloud of sympathy in several levels of bureaucracy. Police forces can be helpful but according to media reports, which are themselves quite suspicious, evidence is not collected properly (such as data found in computers are not registered according to proper procedures) and despite good intentions, evidence is corrupted most of the time.

11. In case of lack of hard evidence, evidentiality of the case becomes inevitably political. If there was a strong mainstream media support, instantiation of strong evidentiality could be more easily achieved. This also lacks.

12. If political support is secured limitedly through some negotiations, then there will only be some victims, and Ergenekon case will be closed without much sensation at a particular moment.

13. If political support is secured strongly, then there will be sensational conclusions. If AKP secures another big victory in March elections, this might lead to a strong political support for the case.

14. If Ergenekon gang members decided to retire after the AKP rule, their old misdeeds would be forgotten and they would live happily after. But their belief that they own the State led them to this particular predicament...

15. This is a good lesson for some: if you politicise the law, this is what you will get. This is in turn a lesson for those who rule now: If you maintain this level of politicization, you might again become the victim of the process. Justice is needed for all, although revenge tastes good for the moment...

On the same topic:

Here come the pain - Ergenekon gang receives a serious blow in the 10th wave of arrests

'Turkish judges' - so anxious ...

Why does military intelligence fail to see what the police can see?

Did the last Ergenekon operation just save us from a military coup?

Think about it

Think about it, man is the enemy of man
and he meditates on his own annihilation.
Think about it always, think about it now
as you look at the overcast sky
this moment in April,
as you believe you hear growth like a gentle rustling,
the girls are cutting thistels
under the lark’s song,
think about it at this very moment:

as you sample wine in the cellars of Randersacken,
or squeeze oranges in the gardens of Alicante,
as you fall asleep in the Hotel Mirarmar near the beach of Taorina,
or light a candle on All Soul’s Day in the churchyard at Feuchtwangen,
as you haul the nets, if you’re a fisherman, over the Dogger Bank,
or in Detroit remove a screw from a conveyer belt,
as you set out plants in the rice fields of Setzuan,
or ride a mule across the Andes—
think about it!

Think about it when a hand strokes you tenderly,
think about it when your wife hugs you,
think about it when your children laugh at your side.

Think about it, after the great destructions
everyone will try to prove their innocence.
Think about it:
Korea and Bikini aren’t on any map,
they are in your heart.
Think about it, you are responsible for every atrocity
committed far away from you—

Günther Eich

with thanks to Jim Doss (translator) and Loch Raven Review.

Fits for all (d)evils

After the great destructions
Everyone will prove that he was innocent.
Günter Eich - "Think of This", 1955

Convention against Torture ...

... AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN
OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

The States Parties to this Convention,

Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Recognizing that those rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person,

Considering the obligation of States under the Charter, in particular Article 55, to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Having regard to article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,

Having regard also to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1975,

Desiring to make more effective the struggle against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world,
Have agreed as follows:

Part I
Article 1

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising
only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.

Article 2

1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to
prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal
political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Article 3

1. No State Party shall expel, return (refouler) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

Article 4

1. Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.
2. Each State Party shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature.

Article 5

1. Each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the offences referred to in article 4 in the following cases:
(a) When the offences are committed in any territory under its jurisdiction or on board a ship or aircraft registered in that State;
(b) When the alleged offender is a national of that State;
(c) When the victim is a national of that State if that State considers it appropriate.
2. Each State Party shall likewise take such measures as may be necessary to establish its
jurisdiction over such offences in cases where the alleged offender is present in any territory under its jurisdiction and it does not extradite him pursuant to article 8 to any of the States mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article.
3. This Convention does not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised in accordance with internal law.

Article 6

1. Upon being satisfied, after an examination of information available to it, that the circumstances so warrant, any State Party in whose territory a person alleged to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is present shall take him into custody or take other legal measures to ensure his presence. The custody and other legal measures shall be as provided in the law of that State but may be continued only for such time as is necessary to enable any criminal or extradition proceedings to be instituted.
2. Such State shall immediately make a preliminary inquiry into the facts.
3. Any person in custody pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article shall be assisted in communicating immediately with the nearest appropriate representative of the State of which he is a national, or, if he is a stateless person, with the representative of the State where he usually resides.
4. When a State, pursuant to this article, has taken a person into custody, it shall immediately notify the States referred to in article 5, paragraph 1, of the fact that such person is in custody and of the circumstances which warrant his detention. The State which makes the preliminary inquiry contemplated in paragraph 2 of this article shall promptly report its findings to the said States and shall indicate whether it intends to exercise jurisdiction.

Article 7

1. The State Party in the territory under whose jurisdiction a person alleged to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is found shall in the cases contemplated in article 5, if it does not extradite him, submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution.
2. These authorities shall take their decision in the same manner as in the case of any ordinary
offence of a serious nature under the law of that State. In the cases referred to in article 5, paragraph 2, the standards of evidence required for prosecution and conviction shall in no way be less stringent than those which apply in the cases referred to in article 5, paragraph 1.
3. Any person regarding whom proceedings are brought in connection with any of the offences
referred to in article 4 shall be guaranteed fair treatment at all stages of the proceedings.

Article 8

1. The offences referred to in article 4 shall be deemed to be included as extraditable offences in any extradition treaty existing between States Parties. States Parties undertake to include such offences as extraditable offences in every extradition treaty to be concluded between them.
2. If a State Party which makes extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty receives a request for extradition from another State Party with which it has no extradition treaty, it may consider this Convention as the legal basis for extradition in respect of such offences. Extradition shall be subject to the other conditions provided by the law of the United States.
3. States Parties which do not make extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty shall recognize such offences as extraditable offences between themselves subject to the conditions provided by the law of the requested State.
4. Such offences shall be treated, for the purpose of extradition between States Parties, as if they had been committed not only in the place in which they occurred but also in the territories. of the States required to establish their jurisdiction in accordance with article 5, paragraph 1.

Article 9

1. States Parties shall afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with
criminal proceedings brought in respect of any of the offences referred to in article 4, including the supply of all evidence at their disposal necessary for the proceedings.
2. States Parties shall carry out their obligations under paragraph 1 of this article in conformity with any treaties on mutual judicial assistance that may exist between them.

Article 10

1. Each State Party shall ensure that education and information regarding the prohibition against
torture are fully included in the training of law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment.
2. Each State Party shall include this prohibition in the rules or instructions issued in regard to the duties and functions of any such persons.

Article 11

Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture.
Article 12
Each State Party shall ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction.

Article 13

Each State Party shall ensure that any individual who alleges he has been subjected to torture in any territory under its jurisdiction has the right to complain to, and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by, its competent authorities. Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his complaint or any evidence given.

Article 14

1. Each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of torture, his dependants shall be entitled to compensation.
2. Nothing in this article shall affect any right of the victim or other persons to compensation which may exist under national law.

Article 15

Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.

Article 16

1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article 1, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
2. The provisions of this Convention are without prejudice to the provisions of any other international instrument or national law which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or which relates to extradition or expulsion.

Part two and three is to be found here.

Coincidence: Here's Bock posting 'something' in re war-crimes

Monsanto and Obama: Yes, we can!

Now watch the organic cowboy. He's to become minister in Mr. Obama's team.
Enjoy, if you can.




- Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack supports genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn.

- The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He was also the founder and former chair of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership.
- When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child of economic development potential was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning dairy cows.

- Vilsack was the origin of the seed pre-emption bill in 2005, which many people here in Iowa fought because it took away local government's possibility of ever having a regulation on seeds- where GE would be grown, having GE-free buffers, banning pharma corn locally, etc. Representative Sandy Greiner, the Republican sponsor of the bill, bragged on the House Floor that Vilsack put her up to it right after his state of the state address.

- Vilsack has a glowing reputation as being a schill for agribusiness biotech giants like Monsanto. Sustainable ag advocated across the country were spreading the word of Vilsack's history as he was attempting to appeal to voters in his presidential bid. An activist from the west coast even made this youtube animation about Vilsack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmoc4Qgcm4s The airplane in this animation is a referral to the controversy that Vilsack often traveled in Monsanto's jet.

- Vilsack is an ardent support of corn and soy based biofuels, which use as much or more fossil energy to produce them as they generate, while driving up world food prices and literally starving the poor.

"Vilsack lobbied hard to get seed pre-emption bills into state legislative bodies, beginning in 2005. These bills seek to control the use of seeds on the state level, and thus deny local communities (and small farmers, and even backyard farmers) the power to establish their own regulations for protection from genetically engineered seeds If seed pre-emption bills become law, citizens will not be able to regulate where genetically engineered crops are grown, the creation of GE buffer zones, or the banning of pharmaceutical crops, among other things. The use of seeds becomes entirely regulated by government, and opens the door to human and plant exposure to every adverse effect of genetically engineered crops. - And simultaneously ruins biodiversity, because once transgenic seeds prevail, there's no going back. Seed pre-emption bills have been introduced in sixteen states, and the battle is ongoing. But Vilsack has been one of the chief architects of looming biodiversity disaster, and there's no reason to believe he'd halt his love affair with genetic engineering and Big Ag just because he's working for Obama."

Courtesy Campaign for Liberty

Má's bréag uaim í,
Is bréag chugam í.

The World according to Monsanto

Here's to make all those poor souls happy who are indefatigably monitoring this tiny blog.
To increase their happiness, I do ask my esteemed readers to post this documentary by Marie Monique Robin on their blogs, too, and ask their readers to do the same.

By doing so, you all might
a) not only help saving the jobs of my dear poor watchdoggies, you might even create new jobs, and
b) increase your amount of regular visitors.

It would be also useful to copy each part*, as it has happened in the past that this film miraculously vanished in the orcus of the cyberpace.

* Thanks to C'est la Craic, instead of in ten parts here's the full video.

And now watch, and spread the praise that those altruists deserve.

Farts in the wind

It's the fourteenths night the Israeli War Force (IWF; sic!) is 'trying' to create peace.

Much has been written about what according to Mrs. Livni (see previous posts) is no humanitarian crisis.

What happens will be what my friend Giulio Stocchi would call ' A fart in the wind'. No missile will change anything for the better.

And so won't - be sure - much of what you could read on 'the web'.

Short live the stupidity!

Not one of the worst, just a 'tiny' example. A young woman in Turkey - to protect herself I won't set the link -, on the first sight not uneducated, would obviously have no problem at all to write:

I'm sorry to say that but i think Adolf Hitler was not very wrong with his decision about converting them into soap.

(i insist that i'm not nationalist but this is absolutely genocide).

Ladies, gentlemen: And this is one of the nicest of the bad**.

Which is why, after having studied the history and followed for more than 40 years what some people would call 'the conflict', I am tired.

Old German saying: The prudent gives in.

Which is why the idiots reign the world!

Thank you very much.

The peace of the night.

* I did not comment on her site as I have dismissed trying to change any super-intelligent lady's mind.
In case the lady happens to insist on her copyright, I shall, of course, set a link.

No humanitarian crisis?

Just in case someone has / had difficulties to understand the previous post(s).

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established by United Nations General Assembly resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees. The Agency began operations on 1 May 1950. In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011. [emphazise: mine]

Did Mrs. Livni say there's no humanitarian crisis?

An evil woman - alive and kicking

... or what else ought one to call Zipi Livni, if Israel's foreign ministry is being quoted properly, either in German:

"Es gibt keine humanitäre Krise im Gazastreifen, und deshalb ist eine Waffenpause für Hilfslieferungen nicht notwendig".

and in English:

There is no humanitarian crisis in the [Gaza] Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce."

?

Asking this question my friend, Tetrapilotomos spake: Personally I have been taught that Israeli politicians would never lie, but I do know someone who would wish the cheerleaders of Hamas rather than seven virgins, a very long life and slowly rotting testicles, and at the same time deeply regret that he can't wish Mrs. Livni the same.

An admirable woman - dead

For many many years she was one of those lonely voices in South Africa who would speak out against Apartheid. Today Helen Suzman died.

I am bowing with deep respect.

Courtesy Helen Suzman Foundation

Happy New Year

May 2009 bring you and those around you:
Health
love
peace
inspiration
success
leisure
contentment

and
- in case something does not immediately work -
lots of serene calmness and calm serenety.

And ... who knows ... why not? ...

... perhaps you might even find
the pot at the end of the rainbow ... :)

Same procedure as every year

If counted well the Germans today can watch Dinner for one (The 90th birthday) - history here - twelve times at different times on various TV-channels.
Very strange folks, the Germans.
Well, judge for yourself.

Tiny tip-off: Be absolutely determined not to laugh.