Breaking: Turkey expels Israeli ambassador

[Sheilbh]

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 ( ).

[Razgovory]

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

Yeah, some extremist.  The guy has worked very hard to damage relations with the Saudis and Turkey.  God knows why, maybe he wants another war.  I don't understand why they haven't  sacked him.  I guess he's popular in Israel, but undermines the rest of the government.  It's like if they made Siege their foreign minister.

[Martinus]

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

Yeah, some extremist.  The guy has worked very hard to damage relations with the Saudis and Turkey.  God knows why, maybe he wants another war.  I don't understand why they haven't  sacked him.  I guess he's popular in Israel, but undermines the rest of the government.  It's like if they made Siege their foreign minister.

If he is an Eastern European, that's understandable. People in these parts seem to hold a view that foreign politics is about dignity, ego and "being right", rather than pursuing interests.

[Sheilbh]

If he is an Eastern European, that's understandable. People in these parts seem to hold a view that foreign politics is about dignity, ego and "being right", rather than pursuing interests.

He's Russian.  According to wikileaks the Krelmin consider him 'our man' in Israel.

What you said sort of goes with him talking about even considering an apology to be a sign of national weakness.

[Queequeg]

I hope all the people who thought the islamists winning in Turkey was not a bad thing eat their hats now.

Cute.

[Queequeg]

Israel 20 Years Ago: Secular, militaristic, hostile to neighbors, functional democracy with the greatest economy in the Middle East. 
Turkey 20 Years Ago: Secular, militaristic, largely isolationist, semi-functional pseudo-democracy with a relatively weak economy. 

No obvious conflicts, areas of mutual interest, lots of similarities.  The Turks and Israelis both disliked the Arab Middle-East, both had an interest in maintaining military superiority over local Arab neighbors, and had a reasonably similar political ideology.

Israel Today: Secular but coerced by fanatical Settlers and the Putinesque Lieberman, militaristic, hostile to neighbors,  semi-functional democracy with an incredibly vibrant economy.
Turkey Today: Secular but influenced by Islamist-leaning Erdogan and Davutoglu, militaristic, expanding influence and clout in the ME, more functionally democratic with an incredibly vibrant economy. 

Obvious areas of conflict, but interestingly there are-if anything-more similarities now than there were 20 years ago.  Turkey wants to expand it's clout in the Middle East, and sees (non-military) conflict with Israel as a crucial part of that strategy.  This is likely increasingly important as Turkey's attempts at strengthening ties with it's autocratic near abroad complicated it's image in the Arab street during the Arab Spring.  I think this is rather clever, to be honest

But I forgot; the Turks should just do whatever the fuck the crumbling EU says so that Tamas and Martinus can't accuse Erdogan of being a towel-head, even though these are the same people who would not let Turkey in to the EU if the Turkish president was a lesbian atheist.

[Zoupa]

I'd vote for accepting Armenia over Turkey. 

[Martinus]

Israel 20 Years Ago: Secular, militaristic, hostile to neighbors, functional democracy with the greatest economy in the Middle East. 
Turkey 20 Years Ago: Secular, militaristic, largely isolationist, semi-functional pseudo-democracy with a relatively weak economy. 

No obvious conflicts, areas of mutual interest, lots of similarities.  The Turks and Israelis both disliked the Arab Middle-East, both had an interest in maintaining military superiority over local Arab neighbors, and had a reasonably similar political ideology.

Israel Today: Secular but coerced by fanatical Settlers and the Putinesque Lieberman, militaristic, hostile to neighbors,  semi-functional democracy with an incredibly vibrant economy.
Turkey Today: Secular but influenced by Islamist-leaning Erdogan and Davutoglu, militaristic, expanding influence and clout in the ME, more functionally democratic with an incredibly vibrant economy. 

Obvious areas of conflict, but interestingly there are-if anything-more similarities now than there were 20 years ago.  Turkey wants to expand it's clout in the Middle East, and sees (non-military) conflict with Israel as a crucial part of that strategy.  This is likely increasingly important as Turkey's attempts at strengthening ties with it's autocratic near abroad complicated it's image in the Arab street during the Arab Spring.  I think this is rather clever, to be honest

But I forgot; the Turks should just do whatever the fuck the crumbling EU says so that Tamas and Martinus can't accuse Erdogan of being a towel-head, even though these are the same people who would not let Turkey in to the EU if the Turkish president was a lesbian atheist.

You caught me on a double standard there - I am a known supporter of Israel on this board.

Seriously, though, I wouldn't let either of them in.

They should be happy they are in the Eurovision. That's as far as they will get as far as I am concerned.

[Capetan Mihali]

The picture of Apartheid Israel saddens me more than that of Islamicistic Turkey.

[Siege]

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

It's like if they made Siege their foreign minister.

Wrong. Avigdor Lieberman is a wako with no consistent policies.
He wants to give away israeli land, as the far left wants, in exchange for a paper that says "peace", and all his "right winginism" is about hatred of israeli arabs.
The guy ain't a right winger, he is just a racist, banking on pro-ashkenazi domination.

And he never served in Southern Lebanon, nor in the infantry, let alone in the Golani.

[Neil]

Giving away Israeli land is absolutely critical.

[Sheilbh]

Wrong. Avigdor Lieberman is a wako with no consistent policies.
He wants to give away israeli land, as the far left wants, in exchange for a paper that says "peace", and all his "right winginism" is about hatred of israeli arabs.
The guy ain't a right winger, he is just a racist, banking on pro-ashkenazi domination.

And he never served in Southern Lebanon, nor in the infantry, let alone in the Golani.

Siege, I've read a lot about him being pretty hardcore irreligious (as I believe is common in the Russian-speaking community in Israel) and sometimes quite anti-religious but do you have any examples of it?

[Razgovory]

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

It's like if they made Siege their foreign minister.

Wrong. Avigdor Lieberman is a wako with no consistent policies.
He wants to give away israeli land, as the far left wants, in exchange for a paper that says "peace", and all his "right winginism" is about hatred of israeli arabs.
The guy ain't a right winger, he is just a racist, banking on pro-ashkenazi domination.

And he never served in Southern Lebanon, nor in the infantry, let alone in the Golani.

It's trading some land a pretty mainstream position?  I was under the impression that all the major political parties had accepted that some land will have to be lost.

[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.

[jimmy olsen]

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.