Breaking: Turkey expels Israeli ambassador

[Viking]

Wrong. Avigdor Lieberman is a wako with no consistent policies.

Statements like this make me tremble with fear. Being too whacko for Seigy puts you pretty high on the crazy-meter.

It was Seige's condemnation of him being racist against Arabs is what made my eyes pop.

I'm pretty sure Siegy's condemnation was not about the hating israeli arabs bit but rather about only hating israeli arabs.

[Octavian]

Yes grumbler, but with the shit going down in Syria, the non-revolution unfolding in Egypt, and Palestine about to be recognized by the UN. NOT GOOD

When was the last time good news came out of the Middlle East?

Founding of the State of Israel, her victories over the Arabs and her continued existence.

[Viking]

2000 BC - Egyptians Invent Beer
1500 BC - Sumerians Invent Wine
1000 BC - Phonecians Invent Spirits
350 BC - Babylonian Jews Invent the idea of Human Equality
250 CB - Macedonian Egyptians Invent Science

since then it's been pretty barren in terms of good news... despite what the Christians keep saying..

[LaCroix]

Founding of the State of Israel, her victories over the Arabs and her continued existence.

[Razgovory]

2000 BC - Egyptians Invent Beer
1500 BC - Sumerians Invent Wine
1000 BC - Phonecians Invent Spirits
350 BC - Babylonian Jews Invent the idea of Human Equality
250 CB - Macedonian Egyptians Invent Science

since then it's been pretty barren in terms of good news... despite what the Christians keep saying..

Wait, you consider that "Science"?

[Neil]

Yes grumbler, but with the shit going down in Syria, the non-revolution unfolding in Egypt, and Palestine about to be recognized by the UN. NOT GOOD

When was the last time good news came out of the Middlle East?

Founding of the State of Israel, her victories over the Arabs and her continued existence.

I'll give you the second and third, but the first was a victory by terrorists, and thus bad.

[Viking]

2000 BC - Egyptians Invent Beer
1500 BC - Sumerians Invent Wine
1000 BC - Phonecians Invent Spirits
350 BC - Babylonian Jews Invent the idea of Human Equality
250 CB - Macedonian Egyptians Invent Science

since then it's been pretty barren in terms of good news... despite what the Christians keep saying..

Wait, you consider that "Science"?

Yes, in the same way I consider slightly fermented bread juice to be beer, old grape juice to be wine, distilled grape juice, which they need to add anise to to make it drinkable, to be spirits, abd a misunderstood banality from rabbis to be human equality.

[DGuller]

Isn't the Foreign Minister from one of the nutbar parties of Bibi's coalition?

Lieberman's from Yisrael Beitein which is the third largest party in the Knesset.  They generally reresent the Russian-speaking Israelis (I think their name means 'Our Israel' which reflects that those Israelis were perhaps previously marginalised in Israeli politics) and I think especially non-religious settlers.  They're having a pretty negative influence on Israeli politics in my view. 

They're nutbar in the sense that their views are extreme, but they're not one of the small religious parties that cause problems in Israeli coalition they're a significant party.

Edit:  They're also larger than, say, Ehud Barak's party, or Labour ( ).

Yeah, for whatever reason, Russian Jewish immigrants tend to be very fascist in their outlook, whether in Israel or in US.

[The Brain]

2000 BC - Egyptians Invent Beer
1500 BC - Sumerians Invent Wine
1000 BC - Phonecians Invent Spirits
350 BC - Babylonian Jews Invent the idea of Human Equality
250 CB - Macedonian Egyptians Invent Science

since then it's been pretty barren in terms of good news... despite what the Christians keep saying..

If science wasn't invented until 250 BC how do we know the earlier dates?

[starbright]

Yeah, for whatever reason, Russian Jewish immigrants tend to be very fascist in their outlook, whether in Israel or in US.

Communism rots the brain. 

[Martinus]

More fun:

Turkish PM Erdogan pushes Palestinian statehood
 
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that recognition of a Palestinian state is an obligation not an option.

He told the Arab League that before the year's end "we will see Palestine in a very different situation".

Mr Erdogan made a new attack on Israel, saying its government's mentality was a barrier to peace in the Middle East.

The Palestinians are currently preparing a bid for United Nations membership despite Israeli and US opposition.

Mr Erdogan is in Egypt as part of a tour of three Arab states that recently ousted their leaders, in an attempt to improve Turkey's standing in the region.

Turkey's relations with Israel have worsened since Israeli forces boarded an aid ship in May last year as it was heading for Gaza.

Nine Turkish activists were killed during the raid. Israel has refused to apologise and said its troops acted in self-defence.

'Spoilt child'

The Turkish leader, who has won popularity among Arabs for his denunciations of Israel, was earlier met by an enthusiastic crowd in Cairo.

Mr Erdogan called for support for the Palestinians' attempt to achieve recognition at the UN.

Continue reading the main story "Start QuoteLet's raise the Palestinian flag and let that flag be the symbol of peace and justice in the Middle East"

End Quote Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish prime minister
"We must work hand in hand with our Palestinian brothers. The Palestinian cause is the cause of human dignity," he told a foreign ministers' meeting at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League. His remarks were broadcast live on Egyptian TV.

"It's time to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations. Let's raise the Palestinian flag and let that flag be the symbol of peace and justice in the Middle East."

He accused Israel of behaving like a spoilt child and building a blockade round its own people through its policies.

"Israel will break away from solitude only when it acts as a reasonable, responsible, serious and normal state," he said.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Cairo says that, while there were no new threats in the speech, it was fiery enough to sustain Mr Erdogan's reputation as a champion of ordinary people in the Arab world without alarming Arab governments that have resisted change.

The Turkish prime minister made an appeal for freedom and democracy in the region.

"The legitimate demands of the people cannot be repressed with force and in blood," he said.

"Freedom and democracy and human rights must be a united slogan for the future of our people."

Meanwhile in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday, Mr Erdogan warned of possible civil war in Syria between majority Sunni Muslims and Alawites, who make up the ruling elite.

More than 2,500 people have already died there in pro-democracy protests since March.

Mr Erdogan's tour will continue with a visit to Tunisia, where the popular overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January sparked similar movements across the region, including Libya.

Mr Erdogan has said he will not attempt to carry out his plan to travel to Gaza from Egypt during this trip, but hopes that he can travel there in the near future.

[Admiral Yi]

The legitimate demands of the Armenian people cannot be repressed by force and in blood.

Palestinian statehood does however look to have an air of inevitability to it.

[Sheilbh]

He made a very important contribution saying he hoped for Egypt would have a 'secular' constitution and be a 'secular' state and described himself as a 'Muslim Prime Minister of a secular state'.  Here's some of the lines:
'Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on Egyptians to adopt a secular constitution, noting that secularism does not mean renouncing religion.

A secular state respects all religions, Erdogan said in an interview with the private satellite TV channel Dream before heading to Egypt for a two-day visit.

"Do not be wary of secularism. I hope there will be a secular state in Egypt," Erdogan said.'

That's leading the reports of the video in the Egyptian press and he's making a key point that secularism doesn't mean hostility to religion.  I think it often seems that way, especially to Muslims, because everyone keeps opposing Islam to democracy and pushing for extreme Franco-Turkish style laicity as the only alternative.  I think the successful coexistance of a secular debate and a vibrant religious life makes America a model for this.  Sadly the people who most like America's religiosity seem most ooppose to Muslims voting.

[Tamas]

Well, always keep in mind who a politican is saying these stuff to.

Like our PM. He has been a raving laisez faire capitalist to business cycles, a firm believer of NATO and EU to foreign diplomats, and a raving nationalist isolationist state capitalist to his voters.
That's how populists operate.

It does not really matter what is Erdogan saying to the more sophisticated crowd, while he is using intolerance and anti-semitism to mobilize his country. The practical effect will be the same, regardless of how much he actually believes the bullshit he is pouring out.

[Tamas]

And I would argue that the religiousness of the American public life is the greatest drawback of that country. I cannot name an other first world country, where evolution can be so mainstreamly challenged by one of the two leading political powers.