Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Yesterday was other-worldly, watching the sick march of hypocrisy on display at the U.N. for the vote in the General Assembly to grant "Palestine" nonmember state status. Of course, "Palestine" already declared independence in 1988 and that declaration was recognized by almost all of the 138 countries that voted "yes" yesterday. What was other worldly was watching the speech of the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.  I watched it live.  I haven't been able to find a link to the text, but it was unreal, talking about the inalienable rights of peoples to a state.  This is the same Turkey which brutally supresses the Kurdish independence movement both inside Turkey and neighboring states, and which has threatened in the past to go to war if Kurds in neighboring Iraq established their own state. The same Turkey whose Prime Minister declared Israel a "terrorist state" because it defended itself against hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza, even though Turkey retaliated against Syria when a handful of shell landed on Turkish territory, and which repeatedly has launched retaliatory attacks against Kurdish rebels in Iraq. The same Turkey which has threatened military action over Israel's exploration for natural gas in conjunction with Greek Cyprus. The same Turkey which continues to occupy the northern part of Cyprus. The same Turkey which threatened to send warships to break Israel's military blockade of Gaza, a blockade which even the U.N. found to be legal. The same Turkey whose Islamist ruling party has been methodically destroying secular institutional counterweights. There was a parade of hypocrites yesterday, but none more so than Turkey.

While Turkey proclaims the inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination, be sure not to mention the Kurds: firstthings.com/blogs/firsttho…

— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 29, 2012