The drumstick country

At first you might assume the 'drumstick country' would probably be Turkey. But as you can clearly see, Turkey is not shaped like a piece of a Turkey at all. No, that would be Niger.



Turkey is shaped more like a chicken McNugget©. I hope this clears everything up for you. Class dismissed.



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Note: Headline links to source. Clicking on image will enlarge it (usually).

Insanity Compounded by Insanity: Bush Offers to Bomb Iraqi Kurds

Bush can't find enough people to bomb. He keeps coming up with new targets.

I suppose its just a matter of time until the entire Mid-East is nothing but glass.

A few things to consider when reading this story. First, PKK guerrillas are believed to be holed up in highly-protected mountain redoubts and it's doubtful that airstrikes would have much of a long-term effect on their operational capabilities. Second, while the Iraqi Kurdish leadership has been taking a cautious approach to the escalating conflict, "Kurdistan" president Massoud Barzani has twice promised that the powerful Peshmerga militia -- estimated at more than 100,000 strong and arguably the most effective ground forces in Iraq -- would join PKK fighters in the case of a Turkish ground incursion. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership would be hard-pressed to make that move, but might not have a choice given their own domestic political calculus. Lastly, PKK fighters' cross-border attacks are seasonal; they slow during the winter when the mountainous border area where they operate becomes too difficult to negotiate. During the "off-season," they mover deeper into Iraqi Kurdistan, where the job of finding clean targets for airstrikes and/ or shelling becomes much more difficult. That means that if the U.S. did strike PKK camps, most of the fighters would likely to dissolve into the population and be ready to return next spring.

Via AlterNet.

Bush presses Turkey not to invade Iraq

For some reason this reminds me of the bumper sticker.

President Bush said Wednesday that the White House is "making it very clear" to Turkey not to launch a cross-border military strike against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

"We don't think it's in their interest to send more troops in," the president said at a morning news conference.

Via McClatchy.

Opium in Afghanistan: Eradicate or subsidize?

This is working in Turkey. The report I saw (and lost) stated almost no one grows opium and sells illegally to drug dealers. They lose their licenses to grow opium for, I believe three years, and the farmers can't afford that. The government also closely watches over the farmers.

Its good income for the farmers and for the government which buys the crops and produces morphine.

Eradication causes loss of income, resentment and pushes the people to embrace the Taleban.

As opium harvests in Afghanistan have steadily increased, some politicians and think tanks have raised a trenchant question: Rather than trying to eradicate Afghanistan's poppies, why not buy them and make morphine?

Now there has to be some graft and corruption. I mean huge sacks of morphine have to be tempting.

Via IHT.

Turkish military warns secularism under attack

Gul has stated on several occasions he has no intention of trying to change Turkey into an Islamic state, but look at Bush. Ideology and faith do enter into running a country even if the leader doesn't intentionally work to make it happen.

This should prove to be quite interesting theater in the months to come. I think I'll be needing lots of popcorn.

On the eve of a devout Muslim's expected accession to the country's presidency, Turkey's resolutely secular military leadership issued a sharp warning yesterday against any attempt to erode the constitutional separation of religion and state.

The strongly worded statement by the powerful army chief of staff was not expected to derail today's election of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul by lawmakers. Gul needs only a majority of votes in parliament, which his party dominates, to assume the presidency.

Nonetheless, the army's warning illustrated the continuing rift within Turkey over the role of Islam in public life -- a debate that was muted, but not silenced, by the decisive victory of the Islamist-pedigreed ruling party in July's general election.

"The Turkish armed forces, as in the past, will never deviate from its determined stance and its duty of protecting and guarding the democratic, secular . . . Turkish republic," General Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the military's general staff, said in a statement.

The good news is Buyukanit, even before the election is finished, has come out and very bluntly stated the military won't let Gul steer Turkey toward an Islamic state. Gul has been warned in no uncertain terms.

Via Boston Globe.

Gates warns Turkey not to invade Iraq

What the hell is Turkey thinking? Jesus H Christ on a skateboard, only the US has the right to invade a foreign country.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern Iraq, as it has threatened, to hunt down Kurdish rebels it accuses of carrying out terrorist raids inside Turkey.

(read more)