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Putting out fires
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss should conduct himself impartially, not try ...
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss should conduct himself impartially, not try to score popularity points by broadcasting his own sentiments.A layman’s common sense would automatically balk at a scenario wherein a judge in a high-profile trial approaches the victim’s relatives and assures them that he will mete out harsh justice to the defendant.Even if public opinion exudes sympathy for the injured party, the presiding judge is still expected to conduct himself impartially and not try to score popularity points by broadcasting his own sentiments. Some boundaries simply cannot be crossed in an honorable system.Yet this is precisely what much-respected State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has done in the Mount Carmel fire case. According to persistent reports from divergent sources, he met with the bereaved families and promised he would settle accounts with those responsible, he said, for their loss. The casualties’ kin assert that Lindenstrauss told them he aims to pin personal blame on two ministers – Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Interior Minister Eli Yishai.This teasing expectation in itself fuelled furious media speculation, as did with a series of tantalizing leaks from the report itself. To be sure, during Lindenstrauss’s tenure we were occasionally allowed previews of coming attractions.There is no denying this comptroller’s fondness for publicity. Over time, the number of sneak-peeks increased, as did their scope and depth.The immediate detriment is that the state comptroller seems to be playing to the gallery. This is something that should be avoided as assiduously as the appearance of a judge pandering to the emotions of the aggrieved family or the spectators in his courtroom.The comptroller in a democracy is charged with seeking the truth, pointing to failures and recommending ways to correct shortcomings. If the comptroller slips into populism, all trust in his objectivity and integrity would be lost. This would crucially undermine his effectiveness.None of us want such a crisis of confidence, especially as Lindenstrauss is one of the most no-nonsense and proactive comptrollers we have had for a long time. He has won the admiration of many Israelis, and not for naught. It would be a great shame if toward the end of his term he tarnished his own impressive record and wasted some of the immense credit he had justly earned.There’s logic behind the customs and traditions that accompany the release of each Comptroller’s Report.These reports are rightfully compiled away from the limelight, with plodding, meticulous methodology to ensure utmost fairness and to preclude even so much as the semblance of preconception and ulterior motives.Keeping a dignified quiet is an integral, indeed an indispensable part of the substance. Anything else detracts from the gravitas of the end-product.Safeguarding confidentiality has always been a ground rule. When newspapers receive the bulky detail-laden reports for early perusal, they undertake to disclose nothing until the embargo on publication is lifted. Thus, for the comptroller’s office to breach rules it sets so strenuously for others is doubly troubling.Inviting conjecture and innuendo while work is ongoing contaminates the investigation. Making headlines and grabbing ratings may constitute the essence of media competitiveness but these are precisely the temptations that the comptroller and his staff must resist uncompromisingly.Otherwise, avoidable suspicions will inevitably arise when individual ministers are singled out. The comptroller, after all, is entrusted with the task of bringing ills to light but he cannot determine whether or not a given minister is fit for office. That’s for the prime minister or the electorate to decide.Monday morning quarterbacking and decrying lack of clairvoyance are particularly problematic. Yishai couldn’t pad his own budget and Steinitz, charged with steering the entire economy though particularly stormy seas, couldn’t print money.This underscores why form is no less important than content. Where culpability isn’t simplistically self-evident, the content of a Controller’s Report might be controversial.Flawed form only adds ammunition to those predisposed to reject controversial content.The state comptroller and his personnel damage the credibility of their own report when they disrespect conventions that require discretion and propriety. This is not only true of the Carmel fire probe but of all probes – regardless of how hot the issues or what the conclusions may be.Click here to play
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Fuerza Bruta offer Rolling Stones tour producer shelter
Behind the surrealistic spectacle of the popular Argentinian show now ...
Behind the surrealistic spectacle of the popular Argentinian show now wowing Tel Aviv lie logistics and planning.There isn’t a much greater thrill for an event producer than to be on tour with The Rolling Stones – the grand production, tons of equipment and staging, and weeks of insurmountable logistical headaches, until finally the crowd fills up, the lights go out and the greatest show on earth begins.Where do you go from there? For 29-year-old Stephen Shaw, who lived that reality traveling with the Stones on their last couple of tours, the answer is Fuerza Bruta.“It’s absolutely fantastic, and what I love about it is that it’s something we’ve never seen before, it provides a unique experience, to say the least,” Shaw said during a visit last month to announce the dates for the Argentinean theater/circus/musical extravaganza, which on Thursday opened a month-long run at the Maxi-Dome of the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds.“There’s something incredible that occurs when live entertainment can push the boundaries and create something that’s heartfelt, makes you feel emotions and gives you goose bumps and shivers,” he said.Fuerza Bruta might be the only live performance these days that packs the punch of a high-energy rock show, a Cirque du Soleil circus spectacle and a gravity-defying visual feast. Although TV viewers might be sick of seeing the promo ads running nonstop on Channels 2 and 10, in the case of Fuerza Bruta, the hype may be justified.Developed by the Argentinean creators of successful interactive dance production De La Guarda, Fuerza Bruta (meaning “Brute Force”) has traveled around the world since premiering in 2006 at the London Roundhouse in 2006. The show has found a permanent home in New York with over 1,500 performances in the past four years and everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher to Beyonce and Jay-Z showing up to see what the buzz is about.And what they find is an audience, standing in arena rock-style surroundings, while above them suspended in some kind of futuristic hi-tech staging, over a dozen performers spend 65 minutes integrating music, dance, acrobatics and eye-rubbing visuals and optical illusions to create a different reality. Shows like Stomp and Blue Man Group and our own Mayumana have provided elements of what you’ll find, but according to Shaw, Fuerza Bruta provides the complete package – complete with audience participation.“When you call something interactive, some people walk away a bit scared, so I don’t use that term loosely,” said Shaw, who has worked for Fuerza Bruta’s parent company S2BN for six years and has served as executive producer of the show’s touring production for the past eight months.“It’s more the energy that’s built by the performers cause the audience on the floor to move together as one – that’s the capacity of the interaction. And in some scenes, the cast come out in the audience and experience what they’re seeing. The audience is standing the whole time, it’s general admission – you feel more part of it when you’re not segregated in one seat.”Part of the energy created by the performers is derived from the seemingly impossible acts they’re undertaking overhead – including use of a vertical wall of technicolor cloth, a huge whirling sail and, in the most surreal moment, exotically clad dancers performing a “water dance” in a sea above the audience’s head, courtesy of special 1/4-mm. thick transparent material.While some reviews of the performance have referred to performers clad in suggestive outfits, Shaw disagreed with that assessment and provided reassurances that Fuerza Bruta is an “all-ages” show.“I don’t like that negative connotation of ‘scantily clad.’ The performers are dressed appropriately for the show, and I think that anyone from the age of seven will enjoy it,” he said.Shaw, who left Israel to set up the show’s recent performances in Berlin, returned last week to direct the logistics of setting up the staging and equipment for the Tel Aviv shows, which are being sponsored by Orange.“We have troupes touring in Asia and Europe simultaneously as well as our New York show, and we have enough manpower, performers and equipment to run four tours at the same time,” he said.That level of coordination requires expertise that Shaw acquired from his years touring with The Stones in what was, for a recent college graduate, a dream job.“It was an incredible experience – both from a personal life experience of being able to see the world and receiving a paycheck for it – and from a career and professional standpoint. I was able to learn about different markets, meet promoters, see how different cultures react to live entertainment. It’s been invaluable to my career,” he said.Shaw was part of the operational crew, arriving at the venue a few days early, overseeing the building of the stage, merchandise stands, and insuring that everything is working properly when the band arrives.“You don’t see the band much, sometimes backstage before the show, but it’s run very professionally – it’s not the lifestyle you see in movies like Almost Famous,” said Shaw, who worked on his first concert at age 16 as a local stagehand in his native Toronto, pushing boxes around for pop boy band ‘N Sync.Ten years ago, Shaw interned for Canadian promoter Michael Cohl who now runs the S2BN entertainment company.He sold posters at shows, and was eventually hired and worked his way up the company ladder.That path has led him to Israel, helping Fuerza Bruta take that last step off the rung into the stratosphere.Click here to play
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US 'disgusted' after Russia, China veto UNSC on Syria
Washington's UN envoy warns: Further bloodshed "will be on your ...
Washington's UN envoy warns: Further bloodshed "will be on your hands"; Obama decries "unspeakable" violence, says regime that "massacres its people does not deserve to govern."Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution Saturday calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign, prompting the US delegate to react with "disgust" that the permanent council members had thwarted international action to stop 11 months of bloodshed.“The United States is disgusted that a couple of members of this Council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said. “For months this council has been held hostage by a couple of members,” she said, which she said had been “delaying and stripping bare any text to force Assad to stop his actions.”Rice said the vetoes were “even more shameful” given Russia has continued to sell weapons to Damascus. In language far more aggressive than Washington had yet employed, Rice called the vetoes “unforgivable” and said “any further blood that flows will be on their hands.”The setback in diplomatic efforts came after world leaders and Syrian opposition activists accused Assad's forces of killing hundreds of people in a bombardment of the city of Homs, the bloodiest night in the nearly year-long uprising.Shortly before the Security Council vote, US President Barack Obama denounced the "unspeakable assault" on Homs, and demanded that Assad leave power immediately and called for UN action against Assad's "relentless brutality.""Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help," Obama said in a statement. "Any government that brutalizes and massacres its people does not deserve to govern."He and other Western and Arab leaders put unprecedented pressure on Assad's veto-wielding ally Russia to allow the Security Council to pass a resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to transfer powers to a deputy.Apart from Russia and China, the other 13 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, which would have said that the council "fully supports" an Arab League plan for a peaceful transition in the country.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday it had not been possible to work constructively with Russia ahead of the vote, even though military intervention in Syria - fiercely opposed by Moscow - had been absolutely ruled out."I thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a few of the concerns that the Russians had. I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been possible," she told reporters at the Munich Security Conference."If we do not begin the process, I know what will happen: more bloodshed, increasing resistance by those whose families are being killed and whose homes are being bombed, and a greater likelihood that Syria will descend into civil war," she said.Clinton told the conference: "As a tyrant in Damascus brutalizes his own people, America and Europe stand shoulder to shoulder. We are united, alongside the Arab League, in demanding an end to the bloodshed and a democratic future for Syria."Russia has balked at any Security Council language that would open the door to "regime change" in Syria, a rare Middle East ally where Moscow operates a naval base and sells billions of dollars in advanced weapons.After what US officials called "vigorous" talks between Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Moscow announced that its foreign minister would fly to Syria in three days to meet Assad.Mohammed Loulichki, the UN ambassador of Morocco, the sole Arab member of the 15-nation council, voiced his "great regret and disappointment" that Moscow and Beijing joined forces to strike down the resolution.French Ambassador Gerard Araud told the council, "It is a sad day for this council, a sad day for all Syrians, and a sad day for democracy."French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "The Syrian authorities have jumped a new hurdle in savagery. The massacre in Homs is a crime against humanity and those responsible will have to answer for it." In remarks aimed at Moscow, he said any country that blocked UN action would bear a "heavy responsibility in history."Diplomats said China had been expected to follow Russia's lead. Russia's decision to vote against the resolution came after US and European officials rejected a series of Russian amendments to the draft resolution. Moscow said before the vote that the resolution was not "hopeless," but its wording needed to be altered to avoid "taking sides in a civil war." Lavrov said it was still possible to reach consensus, but Rice said amendments that Russia had proposed were "unacceptable."Syria's erstwhile allies have one by one peeled away. Turkey said hundreds had been killed and the United Nations must act. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "If the Syrian administration is given the understanding that the current situation of hundreds of people dying daily can continue and the UN will not take a stance against it, the atmosphere of clashes will increase more."Tunisia announced it was expelling the Syrian ambassador and revoking recognition of Assad's government, and the head of a committee of parliamentarians from Arab states said Arab countries should expel Syrian ambassadors and cut ties.Click here to play
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Iran threatens to ban Samsung following Israeli ad
HOT produces television advert for Samsung tablet in which Mossad ...
HOT produces television advert for Samsung tablet in which Mossad agent accidentally detonates nuclear reactor via an application.Teheran is considering a ban on Samsung to protest an advertisement for an Israeli cable provider that makes light of the war of words and mysterious explosions being waged between Iran and Israel, an Iranian lawmaker told the country‘s state-run Press TV on Saturday.In the ad produced by Israeli cable provider HOT, a bored Mossad agent meets in an Iranian wasteland with three characters from the Israeli comedy series Asfur who are dressed in drag. Casting furtive glances at passersby, the agent shows off a Samsung Galaxy tablet, and said he kills time on assignment watching “on-demand” episodes of Asfur on the tablet.At the end of the clip, one of the three Asfur characters (“Newton”, the show’s loveable moron) accidentally activates an application that detonates a nuclear reactor on the horizon. Moments later, one of the Asfur buddies (“Moti”, the series protagonist), swats a fly that lands on his neck, and curses “ya Khamenei!” at the insect. Khamenei is the Israeli slang for Maladera Insanabilis, a beetle drawn to the light of Tel Aviv apartment building stairwells during the summer months. The winged pest beetle acquired the name because the species is believed to have been accidentally imported in Israel in the late 1970s by a traveler returning from Iran.The tablet is offered as an enticement for prospective customers to sign up for the on-demand package.The South Korean electronics giant said "Samsung Electronics is aware of a recent news report in Iranian media regarding an advertisement aired by HOT cable network of Israel. This advertisement was produced by HOT cable network without Samsung's knowledge or participation.""As a member of the global community, Samsung is committed to demonstrating respect for all people and cultures around the globe," the statement added.Arsalan Fat'hipour, who heads the Iranian parliament’s energy committee said Saturday that the country could impose an urgent and complete ban on buying all Samsung products, according to Press TV.Iran holds the Mossad responsible for a series of opaque accidents and targeted killings of scientists from the country’s nuclear program. In the most recent incident, scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was on his way to work at the Natanz nuclear plant on January 11th when he was reportedly killed by a magnetic bomb attached to his car door by a passing motorcyclist.The HOT ad isn’t the first time that Israeli advertisers have mixed black humor and espionage. In 2010, Israeli supermarket chain “Mahsenei Kimat Hinam” (Almost Free Warehouses, Ltd.) aired a talked-about ad that poked fun at the killing of senior Hamas operative Mahmoud Mabhouh in Dubai in January 2010. In the ad, surveillance camera footage is shown of actors portraying the alleged Mossad hit team believed to have carried out the killing, perusing the aisles of a Mahsenei Kimat Hinam branch. The ad’s tagline read “we have killer prices” and included a double entendre of “clearance sale”, which in Hebrew is the same word used for targeted killings.Click here to play
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Egypt council wants earlier presidential vote
Responding to protests, civilian council recommends starting preparations for election ...
Responding to protests, civilian council recommends starting preparations for election two months early.CAIRO - A civilian council appointed to advise Egypt's military rulers said on Saturday preparations for a presidential election should begin on February 23, a step that would bring forward the presidential election from an expected June date.The recommendation from the advisory body was a response to a week of violence that has heaped new criticism on the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which assumed power from Hosni Mubarak a year ago.The advisory council said formal nominations for the presidency should be accepted starting February 23, nearly two months sooner than the April 15 date previously announced by authorities.The recommendation was made in a memo which the council members said had been sent to the ruling generals. Three members of the council said the recommendation could result in a presidential election as soon as April, while a fourth said it would bring the election forward to May."The advisory council will consider halting its meetings if the military council does not respond," Sherif Zahran, a member of the body, told Reuters, reading from a statement prepared during the meeting.Mona Makram Ebeid, another member of the body, told Reuters: "In view of the seriousness of the events, the carnage that has happened, we cannot be silent, we cannot wait."The army-led government has faced criticism this week over its failure to prevent a soccer stadium disaster in which 74 people were killed. The incident has triggered protests in which another 12 people have died.Click here to play
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Jews in Super Bowl history
Jewish pro football players reflect on the big game, and ...
Jewish pro football players reflect on the big game, and their religious identity.With less than a minute to play in the biggest football game of his life, Jewish punter Josh Miller wanted a ham sandwich.“I was hungry,” he said in an interview with JointMedia News Service, recalling one of his many thoughts from Super Bowl XXXIX, when his New England Patriots edged the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21.Miller played an important role in the Patriots’ third NFL championship. With time running out, he booted the ball with enough backspin that it was downed at the Eagles’ four-yard line with 46 seconds left in the game. Before such a pressure-filled moment, Miller recalled the advice of head coach Bill Belichick, long regarded as one of the NFL’s top minds.“He called me over and said, ‘Hey, man, just catch [the snap] and get rid of it,’” Miller said.As his old club prepares to take on the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday in Indianapolis, Miller recalled his big-game moments with New England and his pride in being able to achieve such heights as a Jewish athlete.“It’s the greatest game you’ll ever play in, but it’s the worst game you’ll ever play in,” Miller said. “Nothing is fun about it. The pressure is unbelievable. When we won, and I hadn’t done anything that would be on Sports Center for the next 50 years, I was very happy.”Miller enjoyed the ultimate thrill that only a select few athletes ever experience: being part of a Super Bowl-winning team. The list of Jews to win the big game is even smaller: including Miller, Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Randy “The Rabbi” Grossman (who won a Jewish-record four times in 1975, ’76, ’77, ’78), San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Harris Barton (1989, ’90, ’95), 49ers tight end John Frank (1985, ’89), Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Alan “Shlomo” Veingrad (1993), Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Bobby Stein Bobby Stein (1970), and Los Angeles Raiders defensive end Lyle Alzado (1984).Grossman grew up Conservative in the Philadelphia suburb of Haverford, earning his fitting nickname from defensive end Dwight White.“He was the primary nicknamer back then,” said Grossman, who now works as a financial adviser for Wealth Management Strategies, in an interview with JointMedia News Service. “Being Jewish, there weren’t a lot of people who would be nicknamed ‘The Rabbi.’ It caught on. What choice did I have? What else are you gonna to call a Jewish kid from Philadelphia?”Veingrad, who now tours the country speaking about his personal transformation (he embraced the Chabad-Lubavitch Hassidic movement), began observing the Sabbath after his playing days. In an interview with JointMedia News last September on the topic of Sabbath-observant Jews in high-profile careers, Veingrad said he has given the prospect of being Orthodox in the NFL “a tremendous amount of thought.”“I don’t think it would be a possible thing for me to say to the coaching staff or the ownership of the team that I am shomer Shabbos and therefore I can’t make the team meetings on Friday because I have to travel Friday and I can’t travel with the team on Saturday and keep Shabbos,” Veingrad said. “I think if I took that approach, I would no longer be in the National Football League.”However, Veingrad said that if “you’re one of the greatest players to play in the game,” the team and ownership “would make certain exceptions for you, as you’re the franchise and you’re the guy, and if they wouldn’t, there’d be some other team to make those exceptions, and I think it’s black and white like that.”In a 12-year NFL career also spent with the Steelers and Tennessee Titans, Miller made just the one trip.Miller, 41, embarrassingly recalls an on-field meeting with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton while stretching. As the two leaders of the free world walked by, Miller nervously said something unprintable that he now laughingly regrets, though it provided comedy for him during the game.“I panicked,” Miller said. “The whole first half, I would talk to random guys on the sidelines and say, ‘Can you believe what I said to two presidents?’”Miller has been a much better talker since. He anchors a drive-time sports talk show in Pittsburgh. Additionally, he often speaks to kids’ groups, and one of his favorite topics is embracing his Jewishness. He’s even working on a book, titled, “Who Let Jew In?” that features interviews with other Jewish athletes.While Miller’s sharp sense of humor will likely permeate the book, the message is simply to teach children to be proud of their heritage.“I can’t tell you who to fall in love with, but I can tell you what you are,” said Miller, who was raised Conservative in East Brunswick, N.J. “Kids would like to hang their hats on somebody who’s the same. There are a lot more Jewish athletes out there, and I think that's why this book is going to be good.”Grossman went undrafted after a fine career at Temple University, but was viewed as “undersized” by NFL teams. He overcame long odds and eventually stuck with Pittsburgh. The Steelers won the Super Bowl in Grossman’s rookie season of 1974, and he caught a touchdown pass in his second trip.Almost immediately, Grossman said he felt the pull of the city’s Jewish community.“Every kid who is growing up may gravitate to a person for a different reason,” said Grossman, who still lives in the area. “If you have some sort of connection, it makes for a strong bond. Being a young Jewish man at that point in time—and Pittsburgh has an active Jewish community—it was nice for them to have somebody of their own. It’s far from a good comparison, but when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, the African-American community took to him.”A 1999 inductee into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Grossman jokingly refers to himself as a “Manischewitz Jew.”“It’s like being a ‘Chef Boyardee Italian,’” he said, with a laugh. “I grew up in a Conservative congregation, but would consider myself Reform. The rabbi at my bar mitzvah [wasn’t] sure I was going to get there, but said if they didn’t know where I was, they could look at back of the synagogue and find me playing football.”Click here to play
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Turkish jails filling up with journalists
Kurdish reporter’s arrest over weekend is the latest in wave ...
Kurdish reporter’s arrest over weekend is the latest in wave of detentions.Aziz Tekin, a correspondent for the Kurdish-language newspaper Azadiya Welat, had the misfortune of becoming a news item himself over the weekend when he became the 105th journalist in Turkey to be put behind bars.That places Turkey – a country usually hailed as an exemplar of democracy and Islam – ahead of such repressive regimes as Iran and China with the largest number jailed journalists in the world according to the Platform of Solidarity with Imprisoned Journalists. Others take issue with exactly how many of the detainees are being held purely for doing their jobs, but they don’t deny that scores of media professionals are being detained and face laws and a judicial system that makes it easy to put and keep them behind bars.“The press is quite pluralistic and rather free, but it remains dangerous for a journalist who writes a critical article against the government, especially on the Kurdish issue or criticizing the judiciary. The risk of getting arrested is really high,” Johann Bihr, head of the Europe desk at the international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, told The Media Line.The number of detentions has increased “exponentially” in recent months, he said. Turkey fell 10 places on Reporters’ International Press Freedom Index to 148 among 179 countries. In December, some 30 journalists were rounded up in raids across the country targeting the Kurdish separatist movement. A day before Tekin was hauled in, a court in Istanbul refused to release 13 journalists including Ahmet Sık and Nedim Sener of the Oda TV news portal.The wave of arrests prompted the US author Paul Auster, whose books are popular in Turkey, to declare he is boycotting the country. “I refuse to come to Turkey because of imprisoned journalists and writers. How many are jailed now? Over 100?" Auster told the Istanbul daily Hurriyet this week. The arrests come against a background of a changing power dynamic in Turkish politics. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), the first Islamist movement ever to rule in Turkey, is marking a decade in power, presiding over a booming economy while it gently inserts more religion into public life and its backers into key institutions like the courts and the military.The army, which once dominated Turkish politics and served as a guardian of the country’s secularism, is in retreat. Erkan Saka, who teaches at Istanbul Bilgi University’s communications school and blogs at Erkan’s Field Diary, said the arrests are part of that realignment, which is now encompassing the secular, establishment media. “Under normal conditions, mainstream media has values in parallel to establishment, but now establishment itself is changing,” he said. The arrests almost always involve journalists linked to Kurdish separatism or a shadowy anti-government conspiracy called Ergenekon that officials have been investigating in what they say was a wide-ranging plot by the army and other members of the old elite to overthrow the AKP.Critics say the judiciary, which is directly responsibility for the arrests, makes little effort to distinguish between people covering controversial issues and the people and movements they are covering. Thus last December, the scores people rounded up for alleged links with a Kurdish separatist movement included journalists and Kurdish activists alike. “All their interrogations have focused on the articles they have written and trips they have made -- why did you attend a conference by left-wing or pro-Kurdish academics? Why did you decide to cover a pro-Kurdish demonstration?” said Reporters Without Border’s Bihr. “It’s really likely that prosecutors have nothing on them except their profession.”Arrests are not the only problem besetting the country’s media. Turkey has introduced tougher Internet censorship, has pursued what critics say is politically motivated tax cases against media groups and deals harshly with people who violate bans on denigrating the Turkish state. Media observers blame the judiciary first and foremost for the arrests. Turkey’s anti-terrorism law and penal codes give them a lot of latitude to detain people and to keep them under lock and key without filing formal indictments. One of the reasons media experts are not sure about the number of journalists under arrest is that it is impossible to see the charges filed against them.When the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published in December its annual census of imprisoned journalists it could only verify that eight were actually being held for their writing and reporting, a fraction of the 64 or so others counted. The estimate triggered a sharp debate in the human rights community. But Erdogan and others in the government have come to the defense of the country’s media freedom. “Turkey does not deserve the negative image portrayed to the world by the main opposition and some journalists and writers,” he said last week at an event marking the 25th anniversary of a pro-government newspaper, Zaman. Others would beg to differ. They say that Erdogan has encouraged an atmosphere of press hostility with personal attacks on journalists who criticize him and his government and by personally pursing defamation lawsuits. Indeed, while defending the country’s record on media freedom, he decried in the same speech media conspiracies against the government.“If you claim to have media freedom, you shouldn’t launch attacks on [newspaper] columnists who are critical of you. But he does that all that time,” Saka said. “That triggers anti-journalist feeling in the bureaucracy and judiciary.”Click here to play
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Russians defy cold, stage rival protests over Putin
Tens of thousands of Russians assemble in Moscow to demand ...
Tens of thousands of Russians assemble in Moscow to demand fair elections, march against Putin.MOSCOW - Tens of thousands of Russians defied bitter cold in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair elections in a march against Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, and thousands of others staged a rally supporting the prime minister.Opposition protesters also organized smaller protests in other cities across the vast country, one month before the March 4 presidential election which Putin is expected to win.Putin was president from 2000 until 2008, when he ushered Dmitry Medevedev into the Kremlin because of a constitutional ban on three successive terms as head of state. Putin became prime minister but remained the dominant leader.Temperatures far below freezing tested the power and perseverance of a street protest movement fueled by suspicions of fraud in a December parliamentary election and dismay among some Russians over Putin's plan to rule at least six more years.In the capital, tens of thousands of demonstrators bundled up against the cold marched down a broad central street, many wearing white ribbons that have become symbols of protests. A digital clock flashed the midday temperature: minus 17 C. Opposition leaders are trying to maintain momentum after tens of thousands turned out on Dec. 10 and Dec. 24 for the biggest opposition protests since Putin was first elected president in 2000."We have already reached a point of no return. People have stopped being afraid and see how strong they are together," said Ivan Kositsky, 49. He said Putin "wants stability, but you can only find stability in the graveyard."Kositsky wore an orange ribbon in a reference to the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, where peaceful protests following allegations of widespread election fraud helped usher an opposition candidate to the presidency.Opposition leaders said up to 100,000 people had joined their protest in Moscow, which appeared as large as the last December rally.Police said up to 90,000 people were at the pro-Putin rally a few kilometers away in Moscow, but attendance at demonstrations in support of the former KGB spy has previously been swelled by the authorities ferrying in sympathizers by bus.Teachers have said they came under pressure from trade unions to attend the pro-Putin rally."Trade union representatives called us together and said at least five to 10 people from each school had to go (to the Putin rally)," said Sergei Bedchuk, a 54-year-old headteacher at the opposition protest in Moscow."I have something I believe in. We could not go there," he said, his daughter at his side with white ribbons in her hair.Click here to play
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Activists, police clash at Syrian embassy in Kuwait
Protesters try to storm Syrian mission; activists in Egypt, Germany ...
Protesters try to storm Syrian mission; activists in Egypt, Germany storm embassies there causing damage.Kuwaiti security forces fired shots in the air as activists protesting outside the Syrian embassy tried to storm the mission, injuring at least two protesters, AFP reported Saturday.Kuwaiti authorities made several arrests after activists gathered around the Syrian embassy to protest against the ongoing Syrian crackdown on anti-regime protests in the embattled country.The demonstration was organized by activists who arranged the gathering through Twitter, calling for its commencement after dawn Muslim prayers.Activists protested at embassies across the world Friday against Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on citizens. Rallies in both Cairo and Berlin degraded into riots as people broke into and vandalized embassies, while activities remained peaceful in the United States and Britain. Syrian President Bashar Assad has waged a bloody campaign against the pro-reform movement, which has led to more than 5,600 deaths. More than 200 people were killed overnight Friday in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs.In Cairo, Syrians activists stormed the Syrian embassy, smashing furniture and equipment and setting fire to parts of the building in protest over the latest bloodshed in the country, an embassy official and a witness said on Saturday.Embassy official Ammar Mohamed said he had been told by security officials about the overnight attack and arrived at the site to assess the damage. The scene was calm by early morning and Egyptian police were guarding the embassy.Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a police station a few streets from the embassy to demand the release of six Syrians who they said were detained during the protest at the mission.The gate of the embassy in central Cairo was broken and furniture and computers were smashed on the second floor of the building, a Reuters witness said, viewing the site after the attack. Parts of the first floor were burned, he said.It was the second such attack on the mission. The embassy was broken into last week in another protest against Syria's crackdown on protests against President Bashar Assad's rule.In Germany, a group of about thirty Syrian protesters charged into Syria's embassy in the Berlin district of Tiergarten Friday, demolishing sections of the interior, according to German media reports. The action prompted a strongly worded statement from Germany's Foreign Ministry, as a spokesperson condemned the occupation of Syria's diplomatic building. "Attacks on embassies and consulates must be prosecuted with all consequences," said the representative of the German Foreign Ministry, adding that the security of embassies is a matter to be taken seriously.Reuters contributed to this report.Click here to play
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Iran says Europe oil ban won't halt its nuclear work
Tehran warns of turmoil in markets if EU oil ban ...
Tehran warns of turmoil in markets if EU oil ban enforced, says it can easily replace EU as buyer.TEHRAN - Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear program even if its crude oil exports grind to a halt, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.But he also called on the European Union, which accounted for a quarter of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011, to review its decision last week to bank Iranian oil imports from July 1."We will not abandon our just nuclear course, even if we cannot sell one drop of oil," Rostam Qasemi told reporters, according to IRNA.Tension with the West rose last month when Washington and the European Union imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Iran in a bid to force it to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures are aimed at shutting off the second-biggest OPEC oil exporters' sales of crude.Qasemi said Iran would cut oil exports to some nations in Europe - he did not specify which - in retaliation for the 27-state EU's decision to stop importing Iranian crude."Our oil exports will certainly be cut to some European countries ... We will decide about other European countries later," Qasemi told a news conference, IRNA reported.He urged Europe to reconsider its ban, and said the oil market is in balance now but would be thrown into turmoil without Iranian crude supplies."Unfortunately the EU has succumbed to America's pressure. I hope they would review their decision on sanctioning Iran's oil exports," Qasemi said. "The international crude market will experience turmoil in the absence of Iranian oil with unforeseen consequences on oil prices," he said.However, analysts say the global oil market would not be greatly affected if Iran were to turn off the oil tap to Europe.The EU's ban on Iranian oil came after US President Barack Obama signed new sanctions into law on New Year's Eve that would block any institution dealing with Iran's central bank from the US financial system.If fully implemented, these measures will make it impossible for countries to buy Iranian oil.Isolated Iran is also facing problems over the price it charges neighbor Turkey for its natural gas exports. Turkey said on Jan. 31 that it was taking Tehran to international arbitration over the matter.Qasemi rejected Ankara's complaint that the price was too high. "Iran surely cannot decrease its natural gas price (for Turkey) without legal authorization," he said.Iran exports 10 billion cubic meters of gas each year to Turkey, making it Ankara's second-biggest supplier after Russia.Click here to play
