Baghdad: 21 dead as twin bombs rip through market

Map of Iraq (Wikipedia)

From: BBC

At least 21 people have been killed and 40 people wounded in a double bombing at a busy market in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.

The explosions, said to have been caused by improvised explosive devices, happened in the al-Sinak market in central Baghdad on Saturday morning.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Iraqi capital has been experiencing frequent militant attacks that mainly target crowded and public areas.

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Clashes, air raids tarnish Russia and Turkey's Syria truce

A man carries a baby near damaged buildings in the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, Syria December 30, 2016 (REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh).

From: Reuters

By John Davison and Ellen Francis | BEIRUT

Clashes, shelling and air raids in western Syria marred a Russian- and Turkish-backed ceasefire that aims to end nearly six years of war and lead to peace talks between rebels and a government emboldened by recent battlefield success.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, announced the ceasefire on Thursday after forging the agreement with Turkey, a longtime backer of the opposition.

The truce went into force at midnight but monitors and rebels reported almost immediate clashes, and violence appeared to escalate later on Friday as warplanes bombed areas in the country's northwest, they said.

Asaad Hanna, a political officer in the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a loose alliance of insurgent groups, told Reuters violence had reduced but had not stopped.

"We cannot be optimistic about someone like the Russians who used to kill us for six years ... they are not angels. But we are happy because we are reducing the violence and working to find a solution for the current situation," said Hanna.

The ceasefire is meant as a first step toward fresh peace talks, after several failed international efforts this year to halt the conflict, which began as a peaceful uprising and descended into war in 2011.

It has resulted in more than 300,000 deaths, displaced more than 11 million people and drawn in the military involvement of world and regional powers, including Moscow and Ankara.

The agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey, which said they will guarantee the truce, is the first of three ceasefire deals this year not to involve the United States or United Nations.

Moscow is keen to push ahead with peace talks, hosted by its ally Kazakhstan. But the first challenge will be maintaining the truce, which looked shaky on Friday.

People walk past a damaged building in the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, Syria December 30, 2016 (REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh).

WARPLANES AND HELICOPTERS

Syrian government warplanes carried out nearly 20 raids against rebels in several towns along the provincial boundary between Idlib and Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Clashes between rebel groups and government forces took place overnight in the area, the Observatory and rebel officials said.

Warplanes and helicopters also struck northwest of Damascus in the rebel-held Wadi Barada valley, where government troops and allied forces clashed with rebels, the British-based Observatory reported.

A military media unit run by Damascus's ally Hezbollah denied any Syrian government air strikes on the area.

An official from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki rebel group said government forces had also tried to advance in southern Aleppo province.

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Diana Buttu & Gideon Levy on Israeli settlements, Kerry, military aid & end of two-state solution

Democracy Now interviews Palestinian attorney Diana Buttu and Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, a Haaretz columnist.

From: Democracy Now!

Secretary of State John Kerry has blasted Israel’s government, saying in a major address on Wednesday that the relentless expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank threatens Israel’s democracy and has all but ended the prospect of a two-state solution with the Palestinians. "If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or Democratic; it cannot be both," Kerry said. "And it won’t ever really be at peace." Kerry’s speech followed intense Israeli criticism of the U.S. for refusing to veto a Security Council resolution last week. The measure condemns Israel’s expansion of settlements as a flagrant violation of international law. The resolution passed in a 14-0 vote. The U.S. abstained. 

More at: http://democracynow.org

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UK condemns Kerry after settlements speech

Senator John Kerry giving his farewell address as Secretary of State (Times of Israel)

UK issues unprecedented rebuke towards its closest ally America but defends decision to back UN motion

From: Times of Israel
By Justin Cohen

Britain has issued an unprecedented rebuke of its closest ally America following a speech by John Kerry on the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The unprecedented statement came after the US Secretary of State delivered a withering attack on Israel’s settlement policy that was seen by Jerusalem as “obsessively” focused on the issue over all others.

In his speech yesterday, Kerry warned that the possibility of a two-state reality was being out in grave danger and branded the governing coalition in Israel as “the most right wing in history” with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements.

A British government spokesperson said: “We do not believe that the way to negotiate peace is by focusing on only one issue, in this cases the construction of settlements, when clearly the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is so deeply complex.

“And we do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically-elected government of an ally. The Government believes that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between the two parties, supported by the international community.”

Last Friday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution against settlements by 14 votes to zero, with a the US breaking with tradition to abstain rather than veto the text. The passage of the motion provoked an unprecedented diplomatic rift between the US and Israel, while Israel limited trips by ministers to all those countries that backed the motion.

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UN: Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes reach record high

Contractors accompanied by Israeli military demolish homes (Photo: N. Nawaja - 19.06.16).

From: Middle East Monitor

Israel demolished more Palestinian homes in the occupied territory in 2016 than in any year since the United Nations began documenting demolitions in 2009, while Israel also increased restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the occupied territory in 2016.

The unprecedented demolition campaign left some 1,593 Palestinians homeless and affected the livelihoods of another 7,101, according to preliminary analysis of data collected by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The UN agency’s documentation encompassed the occupied West Bank as well as East Jerusalem, where Israeli authorities demolished or seized 1,089 Palestinian-owned structures since the beginning of 2016 until 28 December.

The “vast majority” of the Palestinian structures were destroyed or seized for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, according to the report.

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, forcing most Palestinians to build illegally. However the 550,000 Jewish settlers residing in illegal Israeli settlements scattered across Palestinian territory are given building permits and allowed to expand their homes and properties.

Israeli soldiers surround homes prior to demolitions (Photo: N. Nawaja - 19.06.16).

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Official: ‘Rather ironclad’ intel shows Obama behind UN vote

US President Barack Obama (right) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, November 9, 2015. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

Citing Arab and Western sources, Netanyahu spokesperson says anti-settlement resolution ‘a deliberate push by the United States’

From: Times of Israel

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel has “rather ironclad information” that US President Barack Obama played an active role in both formulating and pushing for the UN Security Council resolution lambasting settlement construction, which passed on Friday after Washington decided not to exercise its veto and abstained.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, David Keyes said Arab sources, among others, had informed Jerusalem of Obama’s alleged involvement in advancing the resolution.

“We have rather ironclad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally that this was a deliberate push by the United States and in fact they helped create the resolution in the first place,” Keyes told the US media outlet.

The White House has adamantly denied “cooking up” the resolution, rejecting accusations by Netanyahu to that effect.

“We did not draft this resolution; we did not introduce this resolution. we made this decision when it came up for a vote,” said Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes on Friday. But because of its opposition with settlement activity and concern for what it could mean for the region, the US “could not in good conscience veto,” he added.

Netanyahu held a 40-minute meeting with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro on Sunday evening, having summoned the envoy to explain why the US abstained in the vote on Resolution 2334, enabling it to pass 14-0, rather than vetoing it. He had earlier summoned the envoys of the 12 nations with representatives in Israel that voted for the resolution for a dressing-down at the Foreign Ministry.

Earlier on Sunday, addressing the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu reiterated his staunch opposition to Friday’s passage of the resolution, which condemns Israeli settlements and all forms of terrorism and incitement, and blamed Obama for not only withholding a veto but for having been a driving force behind its passing.

“We have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated its versions and insisted upon its passage,” he said.

Netanyahu is now reaching out to the incoming Trump administration, which takes office on January 20, and to friends in Congress, in the hope of “deterring” what he sees as further potential Obama administration-led diplomatic action against Israel, a report by Channel 2 said. His aim is for the Trump team to make plain that his administration will “economically hurt” those countries that voted against Israel in the UN and that do so in the future.

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Turkish-Russian Relations in the Wake of an Assassination

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From: Muftah

The assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey on Monday, December 19, was shocking in its brazenness. In light of often tense relations between the two countries, it was also unnerving. Almost immediately, speculation about a new world war began circulating.

Perhaps at no other time in recent history, however, have Turkey and Russia stood as little of a chance of going to war, as now. Just a year ago, this was not the case.

In November 2015, Turkish F-16s downed a Russian fighter jet over northern Syria. Turkey claimed the pilot had crossed the Turkish border and received numerous radio warnings from Turkish military, before being shot down. The pilot of the Russian jet, as well as a Russian marine sent to rescue him were killed. Russia took these events very seriously, particularly since Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to apologize for the incident for several months.

This summer, the two countries began to step away from the diplomatic precipice. In the wake of the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, Erdogan changed his rhetoric about the jet’s downing. Now, he blamed the incident on a rogue Turkish pilot who was allegedly a follower of Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is the exiled leader of a religious organization and was once allied with, but is now opposed to, the ruling Turkish government. Erdogan has blamed Gulen and his followers for instigating the failed coup.

Immediately after the assassination, Turkey made various conciliatory overtures to Russia. Erdogan personally called President Vladimir Putin to inform him of the incident and promised Russia would be allowed to participate in Turkey’s investigation into the assassination. At the same time, the Turkish government almost immediately blamed Gulen and his followers for the ambassador’s murder. Unlike the jet downing, it was relatively easy for Turkey to distance itself from the incident, since the assassination could not be directly tied to any direct orders from the Turkish government.

It is in Turkey’s immediate interest to prevent its relationship with Russia from turning sour. Before the assassination, Turkey, Russia, and Iran had scheduled negotiations to address the ongoing war in Syria. Out of the three countries, Turkey had the most to gain from a successful summit and much to lose, if it was canceled or postponed. Turkey has taken in millions of Syrian refugees and suffered numerous terrorist attacks, as a result of the war’s spillover across its southern border. Thanks to Turkey’s quick and diplomatic response to the assassination, the negotiations did, in fact, take place on Tuesday, the day after the assassination.

While Turkey’s response to the assassination was unsurprising, I was fascinated by how measured and calm Russia’s response was. Like any good student, I decided to ask my former professor, Karl Qualls, to weigh in. Professor Qualls teaches history at Dickinson College and is an expert on Russia. In this interview, we discuss how Russia views its relationship with Turkey, the ever-present specter of Fethullah Gulen, and the likelihood Russia and Turkey will remain on good terms in the short-term.

Claire Sadar (CS): Why was there such a contrast between Russia’s response to this incident and the downing of one its jets by Turkey over Syria about a year ago? Is it the shifting geopolitical landscape or are there other factors at play?

Karl Qualls (KQ): I think the rapprochement after the shoot-down has repaired relations to some degree. I think there is also a perceived difference between the downing of Russian military might and the assassination of a public official in an art gallery. Turkish security officials will come under scrutiny, but the willingness and ability to shoot down a Russian jet is humbling and humiliating.

Both countries understand there are mutual economic benefits to being friends rather than foes. Both also have a mutual interest in fighting terrorism and in re-establishing stability in countries near their borders. Russia has played this well; it has been carving NATO and EU countries away in a series of bilateral agreements and negotiations. It is quite clear that Turkey is not moving into the EU any time soon, so a closer relation to Russia could make sense. We might be seeing a change in the balance of power in international diplomacy, which has been one of Putin’s strategic aims. He has been vocal in denouncing the West’s dismissal of Russia after 1991. He blames the United States in particular for unilateralism after the Cold War and for the massive destabilization in north Africa and the Middle East. He wants Russia to be a central player again. The Iran-Russia-Turkey talks this week on Aleppo have done just that.

Turkey is clearly the subordinate player in this relationship, but what does Russia have to gain by strengthening its ties with the Turkish government?

KQ: Russia sees in Turkey, as well as in Iran, a new regional partner that now places Moscow at the center of Middle East diplomacy, unseating the United States and Saudi Arabia. If this relationship holds, Turkey can be a growing economic partner and a transit country for Russian fossil fuels to Europe.

How will/how is the Russian government reacting to Turkey’s decision to blame Fethullah Gulen for the assassination? Do you expect Russian investigators will back the Turkish government’s claims?

KQ: Russia is already responding hesitantly to Erdogan’s knee-jerk scapegoating. Could Gulen have been involved? Possibly. But Putin will want to find the real culprit so he can exact revenge. Gulen is obviously a convenient target for Erdogan, but Putin could care less about Gulen unless he threatens Russia. The Kremlin has already stated it wants to get to the bottom of the incident, to understand if this was a lone wolf attack or a larger conspiracy and whether there are other assaults being planned against Russian interests.

I want to follow up on the Gulen point, as his extradition from the United States is one of Turkey’s major political objectives at the moment. Given Russia’s influence on the incoming U.S. President, its support for extradition could be extremely influential. If the Turkish government continues to blame Gulen and his followers for the assassination, even if Russian investigators point to a different culprit, how do you think the Russian government will react? Is it possible Turkey could convince Russia to back its extradition request?

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