Category: political

The Turkish government now requires all female visitors to Hagia Sophia to wear headscarves and to cover their legs. The government had given assurance that visitors could visit Hagia Sophia for free, but anyone who is not properly dressed must now pay to purchase coverings in order to enter Hagia Sophia. Throughout much of the Muslim world their continues to be praise for the Turkish government for its actions in converting Hagia Sophia.

The support of Palestinian groups for the conversion of Hagia Sophia and Turkey should be seen by Greeks as a signal that alliances are changing. Greece and Cyprus have been establishing better relations with Israel over the last decade or so, and this must continue. Greece must view any and all governments that support the conversion of Hagia Sophia in an unfriendly light.

The Greek Foreign Ministry should call diplomats from those countries to raise a formal protest over their public support for the conversion of Hagia Sophia. The Ministry of Culture should also begin putting pressure on UNESCO to take a more aggressive stance on the issue. UNESCO sent one letter of protest to the Turkish government and went silent again.

The further conversion of the the Church of the savior at Chora indicates that the conversion of Church-Museums in Turkey may not stop. The Greek world, the international media, and cultural institutions waited much too long to respond to these Turkish provocations. This is a process that began in 2013 with the conversion of the Church-Museum of Hagia Sophia in Trebizond.

As far as the international reaction is concerned, better late than never. However, the danger now is that the media and cultural organizations will simply accept what Turkey has done and will go back to sleep. There needs to be a continued reaction of protests and boycotts of Turkey at all levels.

Greece should also make it clear to any country that has praised the actions of the Erdogan government that this will lead to a deterioration of relations with that particular country. Hagia Sophia can never be considered a Mosque as its Christian origins are beyond dispute. The Erdogan government’s conversion of all Churches since 2013 constitute acts of aggression.

Those governments which supported these acts of provocation display an unfriendly attitude toward Greece. The Greek Foreign Ministry should convey this stance to the diplomats of those countries that are stationed in Athens.

Reuters news agency writes that CNN reported that Iran had offered bounties to the Taliban. This on top of earlier reports that Russia had offered bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops. All of this is preposterous.

It is hard to argue whether it is more ridiculous that the Russians or the Iranians offered bounties on American troops to the Taliban. All should be able to agree that the Taliban represent the lunatic fringe of Islamic extremism, exceeded in its violence and fanaticism only by the Islamic State.

The Iranians have religious and political differences with the Taliban, most notably the persecution of Shiite Muslims by that movement when it ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Whatever differences with the United States the Iranians have (this is a foreign policy area where Trump is in the wrong), the fact is that Tehran’s officials sat down with American officials to negotiate the nuclear agreement that Trump (wrongly) withdrew the United States from.

Russian collusion with the Taliban would also be insane. The Russians and the Iranians both fought against the type of extremism that the Taliban adheres to when they combined their efforts to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria and to bring about the downfall of the Islamic State. Where is the evidence of either Russian or Iranian collusion with the Taliban?

The anti Russian hysteria that has been predominant among the Democrats and their media (CNN, the New York Times etc) is as strong as ever. There are many reasons why Joe Biden must be defeated in November. The most important reason why Biden and the Democrats must be defeated is because of the risk of a potential conflict with Russia.

The demonization of Russia by the Democrats and their media over the past four years will have consequences in the realm of foreign relations were the Democrats to actually hold power. Russia has been blamed for Hillary Clinton’s election loss and more recently Russians have been blamed for inciting the riots in America. In 2017, Democratic official Paul Begala called for the bombing of Russia.

While the Democrats are the more dangerous of the two parties, the Republicans are also a cause for concern. The neocons who still have a dangerous influence within the Republican Party are advocates of war with Iran. As with Russia, war with Iran would be an act of madness.

President Donald Trump seems to have taken control of his foreign policy when he fired psychotic National Security Advisor John Bolton. Conflict with Iran has been avoided. A continuation of the Trump administration is preferable to a Democratic administration which could provoke a war with Russia.

This idea of a Russian or Iranian bounty on American soldiers is inherently stupid. It should be kept in mind that the Democrats (and the Republican neo cons) who supported the downfall of the Asaad regime were in effect endorsing a policy that was favorable to the Islamic State. It is far more accurate to say that the policies favored by the traditional foreign policy elites (which Trump has removed) were supportive of the Islamic State and other Jihadists.

The Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq and the Obama administrations policies in Syria and Libya were to the benefit of the Islamic State and other Jihadists. Russian and Iranian policies have been in opposition to fanatical Jihadists.

Turkish President Erdogan has criticized the Republican People’s Party for “losing” the Greek islands that are off the Turkish coast. The Republican People’s Party was the party that was founded by the murderous dictator and general Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Kemal was responsible for conquering territories that had been lost to the Ottoman Empire in 1918 including Constantinople (occupied by the western powers), Smyrna and other lands liberated by Greece, and independent Armenia.

The forcible reconquest of all these territories was carried out through genocide and ethnic cleansing. Only with the deliberate murder and forcible expulsions of the native Christian populations was it possible for Kemal to reclaim these lands for the successor state to the Ottoman Empire that he subsequently created. At the Lausanne Conference of 1923, Kemal practically dictated the terms of “peace” between his own movement and Greece.

Despite Kemal’s conquests of all these territories, Turks like Erdogan remain unsatisfied. Erdogan openly covets the Greek islands that are near the Asia minor coast despite the fact that the populations of these islands are overwhelmingly Greek and have been Hellenic for many centuries before the Turks ever showed up. Turkey today could only take these islands through genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Erdogan would not be the only Turkish leader to advocate genocide and territorial expansionism at the expense of Greece. Kemal of course is the most notorious practitioner of genocide (along with the Young Turks who preceded him). Another leader of the Republican People’s Party, Bulent Ecevit ordered the invasion and occupation of Cyprus in 1974 which led to the ethnic cleansing of 200,000 Greek Cypriots. For Erdogan, Kemal and Ecevit were much too soft on the Greeks.

It is very clear that Erdogan is a psychopath and an extreme narcissist. Greece and Cyprus need to be fully prepared to defend themselves and their native populations from Turkish aggression. Fortunately, Prime Minister Mitsotakis seems to be prepared for the difficult road ahead. For the first time in decades, Greece has a government that is competent in both foreign affairs and in domestic affairs.

The successful handing of the coronavirus epidemic in Greece has won Greece good will and the Prime Minister has a good reputation with a good deal of political and diplomatic sophistication (in contrast to his predecessor). Mitsotakis has been standing up to Turkey over the matter of the continental shelf and has won the backing of Egypt, Israel, the European Union, and the United States (although it is unclear how far American support will go). Mitsotakis could become another Venizelos if he continues to succeed in building up international support against Erdogan’s genocidal ambitions.

The Turkish government lied to the world when it declared that the mosaics of Hagia Sophia would be protected. The iconography is covered up when Islamic prayers are not being said. The upper gallery of Hagia Sophia has also been closed to tourists.

This is very likely a first step to permanently cover or erase the iconography. The flags of the Taliban and Hamas have both been raised inside Hagia Sophia. The most extreme and fanatical elements in the Muslim world are behind Erdogan. Erdogan has lost the support of much of the native Turkish population but he has made Islamists throughout the world very happy.

After writing one letter to Turkish officials, UNESCO has gone back to sleep and is ignoring the continued desecration of Hagia Sophia. The international media is continuing to write about Hagia Sophia but the protests from the academics have gone silent once again. All the worst fears about Hagia Sophia are being realized.

The covering up of Christian iconography can be construed as disrespectful, if not blasphemous. Erdogan has failed his own citizens by causing the further spread of coronavirus but he is a hero for the world’s Jihadists. When it comes to the future of the mosaics of Hagia Sophia the Jihadists are likely to have more influence on Erdogan than Turkish critics of the conversion of Hagia Sophia or foreign governments who have criticized the conversion.

The blowback from Turkish President Erdogan’s decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a Mosque continues. Articles and commentaries continue to be published daily throughout the world criticizing Erdogan’s decision. Many of the commentaries are written by Turkish dissidents who are appalled by collapse of Turkish secularism and the growing authoritarianism of the Erdogan government in recent years.

The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque was supposed to be a symbol of neo-Ottoman triumphalism. The Erdogan government was supposed to celebrate the victory over the secularism of Mustafa Kemal as well as the conquest of the capital of Eastern Christianity by the Ottoman Turks. It is now known that a Muslim cleric who lead prayers in Hagia Sophia died of a heart attack. Furthermore, three thousand people in or outside Hagia Sophia were infected with the corona virus.

The conversion of Hagia Sophia was an initial public relations disaster. The health threat as a result of the huge gathering at the site is an even bigger disaster. President Erdogan himself can be blamed for spreading the corona virus among his own population. This is an act of blatant incompetence and moral failure.

There has been speculation that the whole Hagia Sophia affair was intended to bolster Erdogan’s popularity. If so, this attempt was a spectacular failure. The Turkish population will not be thrilled with the fact that a dangerous disease has spread because of the narcissism and arrogance of the President.

This could be a significant moment for Turkey. Hagia Sophia could become the cause of the downfall of the Erdogan regime. That is very unlikely, but possible. Leaving aside the Turkish President causing his own citizens to become infected with corona virus, the regime had been planting the seeds of its own destruction by interfering with Hagia Sophia.

The Erdogan regime has expansionist tendencies. Ankara tried (and failed) to expand its influence in Syria. It has more successfully established influence in Libya. The Hagia Sophia debacle has had very minimal benefits (that have been heavily outweighed by the international backlash) in terms of establishing closer Turkish ties with Iran, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Erdogan has territorial claims on the Greek islands. The international climate was already critical of Turkish influence and expansionism even before the Hagia Sophia debacle. Erdogan’s stunt succeeded in bringing unwanted attention to Turkey. As such, any Turkish expansionism has been preceded by an awakening throughout the world that Turkey is a menace and a danger.

Theological interpretations aside, Hagia Sophia has become a curse for the Turkish leadership. The political and diplomatic fallout has led to maximum media coverage throughout the world. Attention has been brought down on both Turkish expansionistic activity and the domestic abuse of political dissidents and minorities.

Whatever happens in Turkey, the debacle at Hagia Sophia will have seriously damaged the Erdogan regime.

Fascism was introduced by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini who seized power through a march on Rome in 1922. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco who ruled from 1939 following his victory in the Spanish Civil War until his death in 1975 also presided over a fascist regime. National Socialism (Nazism) is frequently confused with fascism and while there are many similarities between them, the latter ideology is distinguished by the additional doctrines of racism, paganism, and occultism.

Fascist doctrine as espoused by Mussolini emphasized statism (the importance of the authority of the state over the citizen). Mussolini further opposed classical liberalism which is the basis for modern democracies such as the United States. Contempt for classical liberalism is something that the alleged “anti fascists” of today happen to share.

In his “doctrine of fascism” Mussolini wrote that fascism is “all embracing”; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist.” In addition, “fascism is totalitarian”. This is an elaboration on statism and the concept that the “state creates the nation”.

Further characteristics that can be attributed to fascism include anti-communism, activism and action on the part of its loyal adherents, a favorable attitude toward war, and opposition to majority rule. Nazism shares all these traits while throwing in anti semitism and racial hatred. While it is true that Mussolini’s regime is recognized as the first fascist state, in actuality it was not.

Several years ago, historian Stefan Ihrig published a book entitled “Ataturk in the Nazi imagination.” The author of the work spent much time researching the archives of old Nazi party newspapers during the period of 1919-1922. The author found praise for the Turkish racist and dictator Mustafa Kemal (later called Ataturk) by the Nazis. The Nazi newspapers praised the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Armenians and Greeks and viewed the mass murders as a model for Germany’s Jewish population.

The Italians may have invented the term “fascism” but the concepts and principals predated Mussolini. Ihrig writes in his book that Mussolini and Hitler viewed Kemal as a model. In addition, the principals that Kemal imposed on Turkey following the extermination of the Greeks and Armenians were authoritarianism, statism, secularism, the cult of personality around the leader. In addition there are certain similarities between Kemalism and Nazism with both the Turks and Germans espousing mythical ideas of racial superiority.

In the post World War II era, right wing extremism continued to exist but no such movement was willing to adopt the term “fascism” as that term became associated mostly with Hitler. Extreme right wing dictatorships existed in South America which could very clearly be categorized as fascist not only because of the brutal methods and ideas they shared with the regimes of Italy and Germany, but because they also became havens for Nazi war criminals. Other extreme right wing regimes could be classified as fascist such as that of Augosto Pinochet in Chile, Idi Amin in Uganda, and the Colonels in Greece.

In some cases, historical writers will assert that a right wing dictatorship is not necessarily a fascist government. Christopher Montgomery Woodhouse who wrote many books on modern Greek history stated in his book, “The rise and fall of the Greek Colonels” that the Colonels regime in Athens was not fascist. This is true from a technical point of view and certainly one historical factor in the success of fascist movements of the 1920’s and 1930’s that of mass support was something the Colonels did not enjoy. Even so, from an ideological standpoint the Colonels modeled themselves on the Metaxas dictatorship of 1936-1940 which was a fascist regime and which adopted outward symbols of Italian fascism and German national socialism such as the stiff arm salute.

This brings up now the activities and agenda of the organization known as “antifa” which considers itself to be “anti fascist”. Presumably, they consider the Trump administration to be fascist. Admittedly, President Trump has done himself no favors with his inability to articulate what he means. He spoke very badly after the events at Charlottesville in 2017 and his misstatements have haunted him ever since.

In any case, the idea that “antifa” is opposing fascism is preposterous. America is a liberal democracy and if the administration were fascist groups such as this would feel it. America has not become authoritarian or evolved into a totalitarian state. Furthermore, returning to the Turkish example. Throughout the twentieth century the Turkish military served to foster the cult of Mustafa Kemal and maintained influence over civilian governments. Because of a history of coups and interventions, the term the “deep state” came into use which is an excellent description for the Turkish version of fascism.

The use of the term “deep state” has come to America and is used to describe the establishment in Washington which has been trying to undermine President Trump since his inauguration. One cannot accuse a President who has been repeatedly undermined and even nearly impeached as being a “fascist” when it his democratic opponents who are in fact trying to overturn the elections that made President Trump President.

Furthermore, fascists do not get elected. Mussolini led a march on Rome in 1922. Hitler was appointed chancellor by President Von Hindenburg to preside over a coalition government. Mustafa Kemal seized power as leader of the Turkish military after slaughtering the Christians. Pinochet in Chile and other dictators came to power through military coups and assassinations.

Furthermore, fascists cannot boast about preventing genocide. The Trump administration was successful in its policies in Iraq and Syria and contributed to the destruction of the Islamic State which had perpetrated genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shiite Muslims. Furthermore, the Trump administration has tried to reform American foreign policy by ending pointless wars such as those in Iraq which led to civil war and genocide. Mussolini endorsed the idea of war in his “doctrine of fascism”. Hitler violated every agreement he ever made with foreign leaders and conquered all of Europe.

President Trump has sought reconciliation with Russia. For his moderation in international affairs, his critics have questioned the legitimacy of the elections. Mussolini’s ideas on fascism express opposition to the very concept of majority rule. In this regard, President Trump’s critics who are attempting to overturn the outcome of the 2016 Presidential elections seem to agree with Mussolini’s disdain for majority rule.

The impeachment of Donald Trump was one of the high points of absurdity. President Trump was almost impeached for seeking evidence of misconduct on the part of former Vice President Joe Biden from the Ukrainians who would be in possession of the alleged evidence of wrong doing by Biden. If anything, President Trump is a reformer more than anything else.

An example of a fascist state is that of Croatia which declared independence from the former Yugoslavia. That government under the leadership of the late Franjo Tudjman embraced the symbols of the Ustashe movement. The Ustashe was the pro Nazi movement that ruled the Nazi puppet state of Croatia during the second world war. The Ustashe slaughtered over eight hundred thousand Orthodox Christians Serbs.

During the 1990’s, the Clinton administration armed and abetted the Croatian offensives in the region of Krajina which led to the ethnic cleansing of over 200,000 Serbs. In Ukraine in 2014, the Obama-Biden administration overlooked the pro Nazi militias that the Russians fought against. Speaking of fascism?

Finally, in addition to maligning the President, so called “anti fascists” have maligned the Russians. Hillary Clinton compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler. Never mind that Putin lost an older brother and two Uncles during the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

American foreign policy during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations pursued a staunchly anti Russian policy that became increasingly more radical. The Clinton administration began by supporting the expansion of NATO. NATO expanded further and further until it tried to expand up to the Russian border under the Obama administration by including Ukraine as a member of the alliance.

The anti Russian foreign foreign policy that the Democrats have pursued and will likely pursue in the future is one that Hitler himself would have approved of. The Democrats (and in all fairness the pre Trump Republicans) emulated Hitler’s policies by pursuing the destruction of Yugoslavia (another country Hitler hated and destroyed).

The fake anti-fascist groups need to go back to school and study history. Then they will learn what fascism really is. There is an interesting new biography of the late Greek journalist Elias Demetracopoulos that has just been released called “The Greek connection” about the military dictatorship in Greece and the Republican Party during the Nixon administration.

Mr. Demetracopoulos was a brave journalist who risked his life to oppose the Colonels regime in Greece. That is an example of being an anti-fascist. Not burning Bibles, the American flag, and smashing statues and public and private property.

The Iranian government has praised the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. Likewise, the Palestinian Hamas has praised the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque, as has Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In addition, it has been asserted that a pro Taliban group in Turkey raised the flag of the Taliban in Hagia Sophia. The Taliban of course being the psychopathic regime in Afghanistan that imposed a policy of complete repression on women, that outlawed books, music, films, and sports. The Taliban was also the regime that hosted Al Qaida.

There are some disputes as to whether this was the flag of the Taliban. Some have asserted that this was actually the flag of the jihadist groups affiliated with Al Qaida in Syria. In any case, the flag was that of a fanatical jihadist movement complicit in acts of terrorism.

As difficult as it may be for Orthodox Greeks to see Hagia Sophia as a Mosque, there is no question that there are political benefits for Greece and Cyprus. The Erdogan regime continues to associate itself with the most fanatical and extreme jihadists. The display of a flag associated with terrorists (it does not make a difference which terrorists ) is further evidence that Turkey is becoming the center of international jihadism.

There are going to be negative political and diplomatic repercussions for the disturbance to Hagia Sophia. We are beginning to see those repercussions by the international show of support for the Erdogan regime by Jihadists around the world. Turkey is now the Jihadist state that is at least geographically part of Europe.

This represents a serious problem for Europe, America, and Russia. Greek diplomacy must focus on and highlight this threat.

The Turkish government has announced that it will stop drilling for oil near the Greek islands. The Turkish plans to drill for oil escalated tensions and made the possibility of war with Greece inevitable. The strong stance exerted by Greece under the leadership of Prime Minister Mitsotakis is to be commended.

It is not very often that the Turks back down, so this can be considered a genuine success. One is reminded of the imia crisis of January 31, 1996 when the Simitis government agreed to remove the Greek flag from an islet that maps very clearly showed were part of Greece. The era of surrender and appeasement that characterized the reign of Prime Minister Simitis is long gone, and good riddance.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis has proven to be effective in international diplomacy and has brought together a wide coalition against the Turkish-Libyan plan to partition the Aegean. Allies ranging from France to Israel to Egypt have been supportive of Greece as of late. Greece also did not back down as many previous governments had backed down in similar confrontations with Turkey.

A small but significant victory for Greece. A good time also that perhaps will take away some of the nationalistic and triumphalist momentum that President Erdogan built up by his conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. Times have changed.