In this article I’m breaking a personal vow. It is a vow that I never made publicly but kept internally for a decade or more, probably since around 9/11. Anyone who has followed my writing over the years may have noticed that I rarely comment on American politics. While I have written widely on US foreign policy, I almost never write or talk about US internal or domestic politics.

I have long understood the US administration(s)—with the exception of JFK’s brief tenure—to be a puppet show that is two-parts smoke screen, one-part entertainment and one-part distraction from the neo-con, war mongering, globalist deep state that actually calls the shots. This is so true for me that when other people talk about US politics with deep seriousness—i.e., as if political candidates, parties, democracy, a free press, etc., actually matter or exist in the US—I almost automatically tune out. While all politics is theatre to a certain extent, the US is exceptional in this regard. And the notion that there is much that is real, authentic or autonomous in US government and politics is so foreign to me that I cannot connect to it, or respond to it, with much seriousness.

With all that said, today I break my silence, in order to comment briefly on the 2016 US presidential election in the aftermath of Trump’s victory. At the beginning of this presidential campaign, I thought Donald Trump’s candidacy might be a publicity stunt; like a bombastic prime time reality show. But I was aware that the hard-core neocon, war mongering Hilary Clinton was the real danger, in terms of foreign policy and international politics. Her policies and past crimes are completely in-line with the current US-imperial agenda of endless war and military might, and this makes her far far more dangerous than Trump. It also made her far more likely to win the election, I presumed. Continue reading →

As a “secular Muslim” (I use that term loosely, as more of a cultural description because I do not practice organized religion) I am rather perplexed by the social fallout of the failed military coup in Turkey. While it remains to be proven, Erdogan has officially blamed the coup attempt on the US-backed, self-exiled hard-line Islamist Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is a former political ally of Erdogan and is just as radical—if not more so—an Islamist as Erdogan and his AKP party. If Gulen (with help from the US) was indeed behind the coup attempt, then it is a case of Islamist vs. Islamist and not secular factions within the state trying to take the country back from Erdogan and the Islamists (as many initially thought).

Even though it may be a case of Islamists vs. other Islamists, it appears that the social fallout will be felt most among the secular, moderate and or non-religious people of Turkey. These are the reports I am reading in some media outlets and receiving from Turkish friends in Istanbul and Ankara, most of them artists, writers and intellectuals. While the secular demographic are not “to blame” for the coup, the failed coup has emboldened the local Islamists against them in frightening ways. As Patrick Cockburn reports, one female journalist and photographer felt scared to walk through Taksim Sqaure—Istanbul’s tourism and cultural hub—recently because of her non-religious attire: “I was so scared because all the women there looked at me as if I was a demon. The men said that ‘if you go on dressing like that you deserve to die’. Most people there were carrying red Turkish flags, but there were some black flags with Arabic writing on them like you see in Daesh (Isis) videos” [1] [2]. Continue reading →

With many predicting that the failed coup attempt in Turkey will push Erdogan towards Iran and Russia, I find myself having mixed thoughts. The very first thought is that the only place Erdogan should be at the moment is paying the ultimate price. Erdogan’s crimes are numerous and unforgivable, especially the role he played in attempting to destroy Syria and flooding the region with radical, rabid, violent, barbaric, heavily armed, western-backed, Islamist mercenary thugs. He has been a long time supporter and puppet of western Empire and has been instrumental in the rise of Sunni radicalism in the Middle East. Continue reading →

Like many analysts, the attempted coup in Turkey took me very much by surprise.I did not know what to make of it initially and my early elation at the possibility of the Erdogan being ousted was tempered with equal trepidation that this may be a US or NATO backed coup that would see Erdogan replaced—for failing in Syria and for his recent overtures to Russia—by a far more troublesome and more pro-US Islamist, Fethullah Gülen. Then, as the events unfolded, and Erdogan was able to quickly subdue the coup and play it very much to his advantage, I began to suspect that he may have had some hand in it or, more likely, had some foreknowledge of the coup and was able to use it as a pretext to eliminate his enemies—real and imagined—within the state. While we may never know for sure, there is no denying that the coup has hitherto turned out to be a political gift horse for Erdogan and his rabid Islamists. Continue reading →

It remains to be seen, but if Erdogan’s recent claims are true then one of my initial interpretations of the coup may be correct. In my first post on the situation I lamented that if this coup has US backing then it may see Erdogan replaced by an even worse Islamist and even more pro-western client, Fathallah Gulen. As RT reports, “The Turkish government has indirectly criticized its NATO ally, the US, for harboring Fethullah Gülen, whom Ankara blames for masterminding Friday’s military coup attempt. The cleric is currently living in self-imposed exile in the States” [1]. While it may or may not be true, this was one of my fears from the beginning. I would be extremely pleased to see some form of anti-imperialist secular leadership replace Edrodgan.

But Fethullah Gülen, a cleric and former political ally of Erdogan who has been living in self-imposed exile in the US for years, is the anti-thesis of these and would arguably be far worse for Turkey and the region than Erdogan. When news of the coup first broke I had hopes that it was a genuine domestic coup by the secular anti-Erdogan factions within the military. But if indeed the western client and hard-line Islamist cleric is behind the attempted coup, then it is better that it fails, for Gulen would take Turkey from bad to worse. Continue reading →

UPDATE: As new reports continue to come out of Turkey–some claiming that the coup continues while others report that Erdogan has successfully repelled the coup and is arresting and or killing those involved–more and more questions are arising.

A question that was recently raised to me is, considering how quickly Erdogan was (allegedly) able to put down the coup, is it possible that he had foreknowledge of the coup plot and allowed it to play out in order to weed out those not fully loyal to him in the military and make strategic arrests ? If this is the case–and I am not claiming that it is, merely speculating about the various possibilities–and if he is able to remain in power, will we see him introduce even more authoritarian and draconian laws (i.e., anti-treason and or anti-terrorism laws, etc) in the near future and what will this mean for the already autocratic political atmosphere in the country?

For now, there are no definite answers, just mounting questions, as the situation continues to unfold and takes some unexpected twists and turns. As someone that very much would like to see Erdogan and Islamist leadership out of Turkey I wonder and worry about the fate of the country. If Erdogan is able to regain full control of the state, then the country must brace for what is to come.

As the events unfold in Turkey my thoughts are a mixture of tentative exhilaration and possible trepidation. As a secular anti-imperialist, the exhilaration stems from the possibility of seeing one of the region’s most troublesome western imperial-collaborating Islamists finally ousted. But, as a secular anti-imperialist, there is also mounting trepidation that, if this coup turns out to be NATO or US sponsored, Erdogan could be replaced with an even more pro-Empire/pro neoliberal globalization Islamist. The person that comes to mind is Fethullah Gülen, a very pro-US and pro-capitalist Islamist cleric currently living in the US. While I would like to believe that the unfolding coup is the result of an independent, secular, Kamalist military trying to return Turkey to its former secular glory, I also fear that turkey’s military, which is aligned with NATO and western power, may be being used by the west and NATO to punish Erdogan for failing to get rid of Syria’s secular leader, Bashar Al Assad, and for Erdogan’s recent overtures to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. I very much hope the former turns out to be true. But the timing seems strange. Turkey’s secular generals have been at odds with Erdogan since he came to power over a decade ago. Is this a coup fourteen years in the making? Or, is the military but a pawn in a NATO/western scheme to get rid of their existing stooge in hopes of installing a more competent one?

It is still too early to be able to answer any of these questions. We do not presently have enough information to know for certain one way or another.

UPDATE: Reports that Hillary Clinton has voiced support for the Turkish government may suggest that it is a domestic coup but we have to wait and see how it plays out. Also, reports that part of the Turkish military remain loyal to Erdogan and that the military factions are engaged in armed combat against one another raises concern for a potential civil war. There are so many moving parts right now that it is difficult to predict what might happen next. I will be posting on the situation in Turkey as it unfolds.

Having written about the Egyptian revolution and the ensuing political twists and turns since the 2011 uprisings, five years later I look on and wonder about the sum gains and costs. In 2011 I wrote about the importance of coupling any type of street protests and reactionary political momentum with behind the scenes, long term strategic and ideological planning for what comes after the “revolutionary moment.”

While numbers and street protests play a part in popular uprisings, without strategic planning for what comes next (i.e., plans and alternatives for the post-revolutionary trajectory) people’s uprisings can be easily co-opted and revolutionary hopes thwarted. As I noted in an article last year, “the Egyptian revolution originally began with calls for ‘bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity.’ Nowhere in this popular discourse were there demands for greater religiosity or increased state force” [1]. Yet this is the trajectory that the revolution took, with the Muslim Brotherhood co-opting the people’s uprising and coming to power in 2012, to later be ousted by the Mubarak-esque military regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which, for many, has thus far been as draconian as that of former president Hosni Mubarak.

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It remains to be confirmed, but western officials are already blaming ISIS/ISIL for today’s bombings in Istanbul. The American special envoy to coordinate the fight against the Islamic State, Brett McGurk, has condemned the Istanbul attack. He tweeted: “Strongly condemn suicide attack in heart of Istanbul and stand with the people of Turkey in our common fight against ISIL terrorists.” [1]What is both interesting and extremely frustrating (not least for the poor innocent victims of the bombing, who were mostly German nationals and for the people of Istanbul who will likely live in fear in its aftermath) about the Istanbul bombing is that Turkey (and certain western allies) has been supportive of ISIS.

If ISIS is behind today’s Blue Mosque area bombings, then this is yet another tragic example of blowback; a regime that has supported particular terrorists groups later has to deal with the same group committing violent acts of terrorism on its soil. Turkey is a NATO member and a strategic ally of the US. While western powers like the US readily condemn Islamic terrorism, they seem unwilling to take out terrorist groups like ISIS, despite having the capacity to do so. This is something even the mainstream media acknowledges. After the 2015 Paris attacks, the Guardian lamented that: “we can expect western heads of state to do what they always do in such circumstances: declare total and unremitting war on those who brought it about. They don’t actually mean it. They’ve had the means to uproot and destroy Islamic State within their hands for over a year now. They’ve simply refused to make use of it.” [2] Continue reading →