Lightning Times

Morning Report: 2013-01-02

France: Charlie Hebdo publishes Mohammed comic. The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published on Wednesday a comic book biography of Islam's founder entitled "The Life of Mohammad," based on writings by a Franco-Tunisian sociologist.

Turkey: Erdogan talks to Kurds. Walter Russell Mead: 'It’s all very messy and complicated, but a settlement with the PKK would bring big advantages to Turkey—not least an end to the guerrilla war in the southeast, which has drained a lot of blood and treasure and hampers Turkey’s efforts to exert influence in the region.'

Space: Giant leaps for private space travel. Space.com: 'Of the many spacecraft being developed only one has already flown in space, the Dragon capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in Hawthorne, Calif.The unmanned cargo ship has flown in space three times so far, and carried supplies to the International Space Station twice in 2012 — first in May during a test and then again October. ...' But there's lots more in the works. Full article at the link.

Commentary: Scary times - VDH.

There is no historical appreciation among the new progressive technocracy that central state planning, whether the toxic communist brand or supposedly benevolent socialism, has only left millions of corpses in its wake, or abject poverty and misery. Add up the Soviet Union and Mao’s China and the sum is 80 million murdered or starved to death. Add up North Korea, Cuba, and the former Eastern Europe, and the tally is egalitarian poverty and hopelessness. The EU sacrificed democratic institutions for coerced utopianism and still failed, leaving its Mediterranean shore bankrupt and despondent.

Nor is there much philosophical worry that giving people massive subsidies destroys individualism, the work ethic, and the personal sense of accomplishment. There is rarely worry expressed that a profligate nation that borrows from others abroad and those not born has no moral compass. ...

Erbil Essence

Al-Monitor: Is Erbil the next Dubai?
'Beymen, one of Turkey’s leading apparel producers and retailers, opened its second outlet abroad in the rapidly developing city of Erbil, in northern Iraq. Beymen CEO Elif Capci said that Erbil Beymen was opened through a partnership with a well-known local businessman, owner of Elegan Construction, Sarp Turanligil. ...'
Go read it all. Note that the article, originally published in Turkish at Taraf, refers only to "northern Iraq" and avoids mentioning the Iraqi Kurdistan region by name.

Turkey/Kurdistan/Iraq

Telegraph: Kurdish guerillas parade Turkish hostages.

Kurdish separatists paraded eight Turkish hostages on Tuesday in a move certain to raise pressure on Ankara to launch cross-border military operations against terrorist camps in Iraq.

A website linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carried video footage of the soldiers captured in an ambush at the weekend in which 12 of their colleagues died. A caption on the website claimed they had not suffered ill-treatment.

But popular pressure on the Turkish government for a retaliatory operation increased as tens of thousands marched at the funerals of the 12 mostly young conscripts who were killed.

The prospect of military action appeared to rise as the government sought to shore up political backing from foreign allies, including Britain.

MSNBC: Iraq says it is cracking down on PKK.

BAGHDAD - Under growing pressure to crack down on Kurdish rebels using northern Iraq as a base for guerrilla attacks in Turkey, the Iraqi government ordered the rebels’ offices closed Tuesday and promised to curb their movements and block their funds.

Turkish troops were massing along the border, with military helicopters airlifting commando units into the area overnight. Earlier Tuesday in London, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his country cannot wait forever for the Iraqi government to move.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the offices of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by its Turkish acronym PKK, closed, and said the government will “not allow it to work on Iraqi territory.”