Baroness Ashton

What’s up in Libya and in Arab World. A massive roundup.

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  Thinking strategically: Libya from Ideas on Europe by European Geostrategy By James Rogers and Luis Simón US sees Gaddafi going, going… nowhere by Mark Mardell (the Reporters) President Barack Obama has said repeatedly that Col Muammar Gaddafi should go, now his top adviser on intelligence has said the Libyan ruler will probably win his … Read more

Euro roundup: The EU won the Olympics, the World Cup, an Oscar … but still in pain

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The EU won the Olympics, the World Cup…and now an Oscar by Open Europe blog team The EU won the 2006 and 2010 World Cups in football (at least according to Romani Prodi and Jean-Claude Trichet, so it has to be true). Interview with Olivier Roy on ‘Islam in Europe’ by Reflection Cafe New Perspectives … Read more

So, Turkey did let US use airbase for rendition flights…

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photo source here. WikiLeaks cables: Turkey let US use airbase for rendition flights from World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Mark Tran Turkey allowed use of Incirlik airbase as refuelling stop, US embassy cable reveals, after Turkish denials of involvement Turkey allowed the US to use its airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey as part … Read more

Turkish suspicions continue on the new EU president…

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[Note: The latest book by Anouar Majid, We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades against Muslims and Other Minorities (University of Minnesota Press, 2009) provides a provocative thesis, suggesting that we examine the issue of Muslim minorities in contemporary Europe through the prism of history, specifically the treatment of the Moors (los Moros) in Spain. Here is a sample of his argument (from pp. 3-4).] FOUND IN We Are All Moors

EU president: Herman Van Rompuy no friend of Turkey

Mavi Boncuk
EU president: Herman Van Rompuy opposes Turkey joining
The poetry-loving favourite to become the first president of Europe, Herman Van Rompuy, is also a hard-line opponent of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union because it is an Islamic country. Speaking five years ago, as an opposition politician, Mr Rompuy, a Christian Democrat, argued that Muslim Turkey could not be considered a candidate for EU membership.

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Herman Van Rompuy, the new EU president; Baroness Ashton, the new EU Foreign Affairs Minister

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Not particularly good for Turkey’s EU fantasies. Mr. Van Rompuy is known to be against Turkey’s membership.. I still work on a roundup from the Turkish press. let’s what Turks think… However, nearly all presidential candidates were against Turkey, so this is not the most surprising situation.

Having two low profile political figures for the EU’s top positions maybe a strategy to downgrade the importance of these positions. Nation states are still very important in EU-wide policy making and this leaves EU still relying on nation state fantasies…

And because these are low profile political personalities, the fate of Turkey’s membership maynot too affected, which is already negatively affected… And of course, I continue to lose my respect towards EU decision making processes.  You keep continue to negotiate Turkey for membership and you have a president who is against that membership. Turks seems to care less and less ….

Brussels Blog (Financial Times): Van Rompuy-Brit combination would signal EU disunity on Turkey

from Bloggingportal.eu – Today’s posts
The sun is shining in Brussels and the sky has an unseasonably blue, cloudless, late-November-in-Rome quality as European Union leaders make their way here for the summit of summits – the event where they will choose the EU?s first full-tim…

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