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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (21335)	7/7/2004 4:00:38 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 75751

Re: Welcoming an Asian Muslim country into the European Union is the natural way forward?! Branding Turkey as an "Asian country" is a revisionist viewpoint... Remember that, for the past hundred years, European scholars and historians dubbed Turkey "the Sick Man of Europe" --not the sick man of Asia!! Clue: Decline The breakup of the state gained impetus with the Russo-Turkish Wars in the 18th cent. Egypt was only temporarily lost to Napoleon's army, but the Greek War of Independence and its sequels, the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 (see Adrianople, Treaty of), and the war with Muhammad Ali of Egypt resulted in the loss of Greece and Egypt, the protectorate of Russia over Moldavia and Walachia, and the semi-independence of Serbia. Drastic reforms were introduced in the late 18th and early 19th cent. by Selim III and Mahmud II, but they came too late. By the 19th cent. Turkey was known as the Sick Man of Europe. [...] infoplease.com As for Prez Bush and US officials urging the EU to adjoin Turkey, I'm afraid it's all hypocritical posturing... US officials are well aware that the shortest way to kill an idea in Europe is to spin it as an "American idea". Hence the US's routine calls for Europe to grant Turkey EU-membership is actually counterproductive --and Bush knows it. As I said several years ago, the US interest is quite the opposite, that is, it's to keep Turkey isolated and surrounded by foes locally with the US (thru NATO) and Israel as its only "remote" friends.... If European policymakers were smart people, they would have yielded to Christian conservatives on the issue of Christianity: they should have inserted a rider on Europe's Christian heritage into the EU constitution AND AT THE SAME TIME granted Turkey EU-membership!!! After all, the two points are not mutually exclusive. Then it would have been much, much easier for the EU to deny Morocco, Algeria and other Muslim countries their bid to EU membership: EU officials could tell them, "Look, we just can't bring you in, you're not European... It's not that we're Islamophobic --hey, we DID welcome Turkey after all-- but we deem you unfit.... Well, luckily for US policymakers, EU officials are not that smart!! Gus

To: sea_urchin who wrote (21335)	7/7/2004 5:14:09 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 75751

Footnote --my email to arabnews.com: Turkey’s EU Membership I beg to disagree with your editorial analysis (Chirac’s Rationale, July 1) on the French stance vis-à-vis Turkey. But first, let me debunk the myth that the US earnestly supports Turkey’s EU membership. It’s in the best, if covert, interest of the US to keep Turkey isolated and surrounded by foes — Russia, Greece (on the issue of Cyprus, at least), Kurdistan, and Turkophobic EU countries (Poland, Bulgaria, etc.). However, US officials are smart fellows and well aware of the current climate of anti-Americanism across Europe. Hence they realize that the shortest way to kill a proposal — any proposal — in Europe is to brand it “American”. My point is that if the Bush administration really wanted to hasten Turkey’s entry into the EU they would keep quiet about it and wouldn’t sweat EU leaders into accepting Turkey’s candidature. Now you claim that the current French administration is racist and Arabophobic. How wrong: The previous French administration — dubbed “Raffarin II” — boasted of two ministers of Algerian extraction []. And what of President Chirac’s triumphant visit to Algeria last fall? Keep in mind that, back in 1954-1962, Lt. Jacques Chirac did fight the French-Algerian war, unlike President Bush who watched the Vietnam War on TV. Chirac is a Gaullist, that is to say, he is keen to preserve France’s Gaullist legacy: Independence of Algeria and respect for the Arab people. Therefore, don’t misconstrue Chirac’s statements regarding Turkey. Obviously, he must take into account French opinion, which is lukewarm about welcoming Turkey into the EU club. Yet Chirac’s anger was not so much directed at the idea of Turkey joining the EU as at Bush’s cunning attempt to foil it. After all, it would have been in France’s best interest to have Turkey as a full-fledged European partner back in March 2003 when France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg openly opposed the US occupation of Iraq. Gustave Jaeger • Brussels, Belgium, published 7 July 2004* arabnews.com [] YOUNG people waving Algerian and Moroccan flags flocked to the Place de la République in Paris to celebrate the re-election of Jacques Chirac on the night of the second round of the French presidential election on 5 May 2002. A few days later Tokia Saifi* joined the new government as secretary of state for sustainable development, and Hamlaoui Mekachera was appointed minister for veterans. Saifi is the daughter of Algerian immigrants, Mekachera a former Algerian officer in the French army. [...] mondediplo.com