John Dolva

Thursday, February 11, 2016 5:25 PM ŞIRNAK - ANF 31 more corpses have been recovered from the area of the basements in Cizre's Cudi neighborhood where dozens of trapped people were massacred while awaiting evacuation 3 days ago. The newly recovered 31 bodies, which were also burnt and fragmented like all the others previously retrieved from the same area, known as the 2nd basement, were taken to Cizre State Hospital. Two days ago, as many as 29 corpses were evacuated from the scene after the operation conducted by Turkish forces on the building on Cudi neighborhood's Narin Street where 10 slain and 52 wounded people were three days ago. Yesterday, 12 more corpses were taken from the area and take to Cizre State Hospital. On the other hand, there were 7 slain, 15 wounded and 9 exhausted people in the other basement, which was the first to be revealed, on Bostancı Street of the same Cudi neighborhood. While there is still no news available as to their aftermath, two bodies retrieved from the scene and identified through autopsy yesterday turned out to be of Sultan Irmak and Fehmi Dinç, both of whom had remained stuck in this basement. With this most recent development, it came out that the first basement was also targeted by state forces on the day the offensive against the second basement. In the meantime, it came out yesterday morning that 45 other people were stuck in another basement in Sur neighborhood. Turkish forces have been shelling this building as well, as a result of which 22 people lost their lives since yesterday. 23 other people, many of whom were with wounds, were also awaiting evacuation when they were last reached. A total of 82 corpses have been retrieved from the area of three buildings where 149 people were known to be sheltered before the offensives of Turkish state forces.

The Feminist, Democratic Leftists Our Military Is Obliterating 5 February 2016 by Debbie Bookchin, originally published in The Nation Right now, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is undertaking a massive assault on Kurdish communities in southeastern Turkey in an effort to wipe out the only truly democratic movement in the Middle East. In December, he unleashed a force of 10,000 soldiers, armed with tanks and mortars, who have cut water and electricity supplies, imposed draconian curfews, and razed buildings; they are following shoot-to-kill orders against local residents who venture from their homes to seek food, first aid, or alternative shelter. Already more than 200 Kurdish defenders, and 198 civilians, including children, teenagers, and the elderly, have been murdered. In photos, the areas under siege look like war zones, comparable in destruction to Syria and Bosnia. Reuters estimates that as of late December 200,000 people from 19 cities had been displaced, becoming refugees in their own country. Erdogan has justified this rampage in the southeast as an act to “cleanse every place” of militant Kurds affiliated with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), the organization that has fought the Turkish state for independence on behalf of some 15 million Kurds living within its borders who’ve been subjected to decades of repression. The PKK is labeled a terrorist organization, not just by Turkey but also by the United States and many countries in Europe. This label has stuck despite the fact that the PKK in 1999 initiated a unilateral cease-fire that lasted until 2004, and in 2013 again halted its violent confrontation with the Turkish state for two years, trying to negotiate peacefully for greater autonomy for Kurds until Erdogan withdrew his support for the talks. European Union parliamentarians from Holland, Denmark, and Iceland have stated recently that the EU countries’ continued designation of the PKK as a terrorist organization is hypocritical, because Europe supports the PKK’s Syrian Kurdish sister militias, the People’s Protection Units (the YPG and the all-female YPJ), which have successfully fought off the Islamic State and are ideologically allied with the PKK. Worse, they say, the designation is hampering peace by giving Erdogan license to abandon the negotiations with the PKK that began in 2013 and ended last year. It’s no accident that Erdogan’s assault on Kurdish cities was stepped up dramatically just days after the EU voted against delisting the PKK as a terrorist organization, and that some of those murdered have been members of a Kurdish opposition political party. What exactly is the PKK political model for autonomy that Turkey—and, apparently, Washington and the EU—find so frightening? Imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, and the Kurds in Turkey and Syria who follow him, seek to create communities that enshrine the values of direct democracy, non-hierarchy, the empowerment of women, ecological stewardship, a moral economy, and religious tolerance. Abandoning their ideological bent toward Marxism and demand for an independent Kurdistan, these activists have instead focused on democracy-building: putting power in the hands of local citizens. Unlike the Iraqi Kurds in Erbil who, with US support, have implemented a capitalist, consumerist, and decidedly patriarchal mini–nation state, Öcalan proposes a decentralized political system through the establishment of local assemblies and councils that prioritize self-managed, municipal-based economics, ecological harmony, and gender equality. As Öcalan has noted, this model, which he calls “democratic confederalism” and which deliberately eschews a centralized state, is based on the ideas of my late father, Murray Bookchin, a social theorist and historian, who called this philosophy “libertarian municipalism” or “Communalism.” The notion of citizen empowerment at the core of this philosophy has its roots in the Greek city-state of Athens; it can be seen in the Committees of Correspondence preceding the American Revolution, and still lingers today in the form of Vermont town meetings. It represents an extraordinary development in the Middle East, one that deserves widespread support. In the region of northern Syria along the Turkish border known as Rojava, the power vacuum created by the Syrian civil war has allowed the Kurds to more fully implement Bookchin and Öcalan’s vision. In Rojava, roughly the size of Connecticut, the Kurdish YPG and YPJ militias have pushed the Islamic State out of thousands of square miles of territory. At the same time, under conditions of war and deprivation, they have instituted ground-up neighborhood assemblies in the four “cantons” that comprise Rojava, encouraging citizens of every ethnicity—including Armenians, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen—to participate in the decision-making processes of all aspects of communal life: land distribution, industry, agriculture, business, healthcare, education, and self-defense. My father believed that this kind of participatory assembly democracy would transform, and in turn be transformed by, an increasingly enlightened citizenry. It would allow us to reclaim and redefine politics not as a detested thing done to us but something we dofor ourselves, remaking society into a place where all human beings could fulfill their highest potential: as liberated, creative subjects living in harmony with the natural world. Communalism, he believed, provided the alternative path in the longstanding debate between Marxists and anarchists over whether to work within the state or outside it. The pushback against this decentralized, democratic model has come in both direct and subtle forms: Not only Turkey but also the Iraqi Kurds have implemented embargoes that have prevented medical aid, building materials, and other desperately needed supplies from reaching devastated Rojava towns such as Kobani, some of which are still under attack from the Islamic State. And in October 2015, Amnesty International released a widely publicized report, accompanied by a hyperbolic press release, criticizing the Kurdish militia for forcing local Arab residents in some YPG-controlled areas to leave their homes, which were then demolished. The YPG issued a point-by-point rebuttal that raised serious questions about the methodology and accuracy of the account, including the reliability of some of the witnesses, who, according to the YPG, were working with the Islamic State. However, the YPG response received far less media attention than the original Amnesty International report. As the YPG, the autonomous government, and non-Kurdish residents of the region have noted, the level of cooperation among ethnic groups in Rojava is widespread. Power-sharing arrangements actively encourage the participation of non-Kurdish residents and particularly emphasize a role for women. In addition to having full legal rights and privileged decision-making powers over all women’s issues via separate women’s councils, and serving as co-presidents in every significant administrative position, women are, by law, empowered to make up at least 40 percent of every governing body in Rojava. In a contrast with ISIS that couldn’t be starker, the Rojava Kurds have achieved something unparalleled almost anywhere else in the world: the creation of a stateless, religiously tolerant, pluralistic, anticapitalist, ecological, egalitarian society. It’s a model of meaningful political change that should inspire progressives all over the world—and for which the American left should show its strong solidarity. For about a decade, Kurds in the southeast region of Turkey have also begun to put into practice Öcalan’s ideas, creating directly democratic governance structures over institutions such as schools, libraries, and health clinics, even while coexisting with local Turkish officials. A new generation of young people, largely aged 15–25, has formed militias within these towns to defend this self-rule. Calling themselves the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, or YDG-H, they are committed to Öcalan’s vision of democratic confederalism, vowing to protect this nascent experiment in their neighborhoods by keeping out Turkish armed forces. These are the insurgents that Erdogan is targeting. Erdogan says Turkish forces killed 3,100 PKK members in 2015. In December, Erdogan’s government told 3,000 teachers to vacate southeastern towns in what observers feared was a move to isolate the YDG-H youth who remain behind—and who Erdogan has vowed “will be annihilated.” During that December assault by Turkish troops, the YDG-H youth employed trenches, blockades, and small firearms to keep out the tanks. More recently, as the world has largely ignored the plight of these besieged cities, the violence has escalated. Recently, the PKK took responsibility for a police-station bombing that killed five civilians as well as police officers. Diplomats have been quick to blame the PKK for this escalation of violence, but as others, including Noam Chomsky and 1,200 academics, have pointed out, it is the chaos created by Erdogan that has led to this tragic downward spiral. The PKK should not succumb to Erdogan’s bait by engaging in acts of retaliatory terrorism—but the West should be ashamed for its hypocrisy in failing to take the president to task for the deaths of some 200 civilians, including 39 women and 29 children, at the hands of a government that is aiming artillery strikes and executions at the civilian population as a whole. The answer to the question of who is really terrorizing southeast Turkey is all too clear. There can be no doubt that the Obama administration, when it wants to, can influence Turkey directly. When Turkey encroached upon Iraqi territory in December, President Obama asked Turkey to withdraw its troops, and Erdogan promised to do so. Common wisdom suggests that the US and EU are reluctant to intervene because they are playing realpolitik with their NATO ally—appeasing Erdogan in exchange for their continued use of Turkey’s airbases for anti-ISIS missions and his preventing refugees from migrating to the West. But despite massive military aid, Erdogan has proved the most unreliable of allies, preoccupying himself with bombing PKK outposts in northern Iraq rather than fighting ISIS. He has helped smuggle ISIS fighters and weapons across Turkey’s borders and is widely suspected of purchasing ISIS crude oil, thus providing direct economic assistance to the Islamic State. And he has repeatedly tried to undermine the only consistently successful fighting force against ISIS in Syria: the Kurds. As academics and newspaper editorial boards have pointed out, Erdogan no longer cares about democracy or liberal values. Praising “Hitler’s Germany” as an effective model for the consolidation of power he seeks, Erdogan makes no secret of his authoritarian leanings, clamping down increasingly on press freedom, torturing political prisoners, and polarizing the country’s population by labeling dissidents as “terrorists.” When the 1,200 Turkish and foreign academics from a group calling itself “Academics for Peace” signed a petition in mid-January calling for an end to the violence, Erdogan accused them of being enemies of the Turkish state. In the intervening weeks, 27 of them living in Turkey were detained and some were dismissed from their posts; some of their offices have been raided; and investigations have been launched that could send them to jail for five years if convicted. Erdogan has also initiated investigations of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party and threatened its co-chair, Selahattin Demirtas, with prosecution for a statement supporting Kurdish self-rule. Why would Erdogan resume the peace process when his NATO allies give him tacit permission to brutalize his own people in the name of combating terrorism? As long as the West supports the PKK’s terrorist designation, Erdogan is cynically betting that Washington and the EU will remain silent while he doubles down on his longstanding goal: to obliterate the Kurdish freedom movement altogether and mop up every last political opponent. So far, he has been right. But it is time for Obama and his European counterparts to call Erdogan’s bluff. Western diplomats should insist on the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from the towns of southeastern Turkey, before a complete slaughter of political opponents and Kurdish youth is committed in the name of “protecting” the people from the PKK. And if American and European officials truly believe in human rights and the need to foster democratic values in the Middle East, they should revisit Öcalan’s social vision, clearly spelled out in Rojava’s constitution, the “Social Contract”—which reads like a modern-day Bill of Rights—and follow the advice of the Dutch, Icelandic, and Danish parliamentarians and other experts in delisting the PKK as a terrorist organization. To help end the violence, and as a matter of human rights, Western negotiators should pressure Erdogan to end Öcalan’s isolation on the prison island of Imrali. They should insist that Syrian Kurds be included in any negotiations about the future of Syria, and they should mediate a settlement that will support autonomy for the Turkish Kurds just as the United States has for the Kurds in Iraq—not only because the PKK’s sister militias in Syria have been the only consistently effective fighting force against ISIS in the Middle East, but because it is time to recognize that all Kurds deserve what has been so long overdue them: the freedom to rule their own lives. If the United States refuses to send Erdogan the message that his vengeance on opposition parties and the Kurdish people will not be tolerated, it’s time to ask what exactly the West is aiming for in the Middle East and what kind of “democracy” it believes it is fostering. Last summer, Kurdish leaders stated that they would gladly abide by a US-mediated cease-fire. Every death since then has been blood on our hands. Debbie Bookchin, journalist and author, is co-editor of The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and The Promise of Direct Democracy (Verso Books, 2015), a collection of essays by her father, Murray Bookchin. She served as presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ press secretary from 1991-1994. Follow her on twitter @debbiebookchin

Peace talks collapse, aggression continues against Syria By Joe Mchahwar posted on February 9, 2016 As the war against Syria draws closer to entering its fifth year, peace talks have once again fallen apart, as anticipated. The Western powers, right- wing regional regimes such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and the terrorist-ridden opposition refuse to recognize Syria’s sovereignty in the fight against such reactionary forces as the Islamic State group (I.S.), Al Nusra and the Islamic Front. Those seeking to overthrow the Syrian government call for a ceasefire while they themselves continue to bomb and destroy Syria. Russia and Syria, on the other hand, have continued to fight against these reactionary terrorist elements and have recently made major gains. With all the strife at the negotiating table, some governments have made serious threats, which, if taken to their conclusion, could make this regional war a global one. The Russian Ministry of Defense said Jan. 31 that Turkey is building up forces on its border with Syria, possibly with the intention of invading. Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of the border say that Turkish forces have crossed the border and are building fortifications on Syrian land. (presstv.ir) Turkey’s President Erdogan made provocative statements Feb. 7 that are only building upon these fears. “We don’t want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq,” Erdogan said to journalists when returning to Turkey from a trip to Latin America. (bloomberg.com) The statement references the Turkish Parliament’s 2003 decision not to let the U.S. use Turkish land for the invasion of Iraq. Turkey is making these threats while the Syrian government makes military advances in the north near the border with Turkey. The Erdogan regime responded to these advances by shelling the Syrian Army and killing one soldier on Feb. 1. Spokespeople for both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stated Feb. 6 that they are prepared to send troops to Syria to combat I.S. (cnn.com) This is despite their ideological ties to I.S.; in fact, many sources say these two countries directly support I.S. Another factor complicating the proposed military operation against I.S. is that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE still openly seek the fall of the Syrian government, an objective they share with I.S. With the help of Russia and Lebanon-based Hezbollah liberation fighters, the Syrian government has been making tremendous military gains in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and in several other areas. These gains have prompted recent threats of aggression against Syria. Syria and Russia have not taken these threats lightly. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned, “Any ground intervention in Syria, without the consent of the Syrian government, will be considered an aggression that should be resisted by every Syrian citizen. I regret to say that [any foreign soldiers] will return home in wooden coffins.” He repeated this statement three times. (Al Jazeera, Feb. 6)

“The US will create the role of a special ombudsperson within the US State Department who would follow up complaints and inquiries by individuals on national security access upon referral by EU data protection authorities,”

Amazing admission (the free republics have been defending themselves from criminals) : “According to all juridical norms and practices, and to the Ukrainian Constitution, speaking in meager legal terms, the Right Sector volunteer battalion is an illegal armed group” - Judge Advocate General Anatoly Matios- Ukraine’

Latest news 31/01 PYD co-chair Moslem: We won't recognise a Geneva-3 excluding Kurds 31/01 Still no news from the basement, mothers walking to the scene detained 30/01 YPG: We will no more remain silent on Turkey's violation of Rojava border 30/01 HDP MP in Cizre calls on Red Cross to mediate for people in basement 30/01 No contact with the wounded in Cizre basement for 5 hours 30/01 Berkin Elvan's mother: Every child killed in Botan is a Berkin to me 30/01 Wounded cannot go out after demolition of the basement's wall 30/01 Another death in Cizre basement upon attack by state forces 30/01 People trapped in Cizre basement expected to be retrieved today 30/01 Blast in Cizre leaves one dead 29/01 First images from the basement where humanity is dying 29/01 Building where dozens remain trapped targeted by mortar attack 29/01 Constitutional Court rejects application for measure on those in basement 29/01 Ambulances once again denied access to the basement in Cizre

https://www.rt.com/news/329793-alleged-kurd-civilian-shooting/ <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.rt.com/news/329793-alleged-kurd-civilian-shooting/video/"frameborder="0" allowfullscreen/></iframe>

Tuesday, January 19, 2016 7:55 PM NEWS DESK - ANF Hawar News Agency (ANHA) has reported that Turkish troops have entered Syrian territory through Jarablus border crossing Tuesday evening. According to the ANHA report which is grounded on local sources, the Turkish force of military vehicles and heavy equipment accompanied a mine detection and removal device. After crossing the border, Turkish soldiers moved westwards within the Syrian territory. Sources reported that ISIS gangs in the area were all unresponsive to the activity of Turkish soldiers, and just watched them as they moved. According to another unconfirmed report,a Turkish troop of thousand soldiers has now been deployed on Syrian land close to the border. NEWS DESK – Turkish President Erdoğan’s party AKP’s support to radical jihadi gang groups in Syria continues. It has been reported that Turkish AKP government sends munition and aid to radical jihadi groups on “Turkmen Mountain”. Pictures from the mountain show that jihadi groups use tents of the Turkish Red Crescent which is an official organization. In front of the tents, there is a Turkish flag flying. The pictures and videos from the region also show that this region is also used as a base for the jihadi gangs where Turkish government sends munition and heavy weaponry. The etiquettes on the munition read Makina Kimya Endüstrisi that is the official department of Turkey producing military equipment. (lg)

1,128 academics from 89 universities in Turkey, and over 355 academics and researchers from abroad including figures such as Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler, Etienne Balibar and David Harvey have signed a text calling on state of Turkey to end state violence and prepare negotiation conditions. The petition is ongoing. As academics and researchers of this country, we will not be a party to this crime! The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan, Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been ongoing for weeks. It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated. This deliberate and planned massacre is in serious violation of Turkey’s own laws and international treaties to which Turkey is a party. These actions are in serious violation of international law. We demand the state to abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region. We also demand the state to lift the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations, and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and psychological damage. For this purpose we demand that independent national and international observers to be given access to the region and that they be allowed to monitor and report on the incidents. We demand the government to prepare the conditions for negotiations and create a road map that would lead to a lasting peace which includes the demands of the Kurdish political movement. We demand inclusion of independent observers from broad sections of society in these negotiations. We also declare our willingness to volunteer as observers. We oppose suppression of any kind of the opposition. We, as academics and researchers working on and/or in Turkey, declare that we will not be a party to this massacre by remaining silent and demand an immediate end to the violence perpetrated by the state. We will continue advocacy with political parties, the parliament, and international public opinion until our demands are met. (BK/TK) * For international support, please send your signature, name of your university and your title to info@barisicinakademisyenler.net .

15:14 January 11 / 2016 JINHA ANKARA – Spontaneous demonstrations have spread in Turkey’s capital of Ankara, after a Diyarbakır teacher who made a call for peace become the target of a lynch campaign by Turkish mainstream media. On January 8, a woman named Ayşe Çelik called in to the live talk show Beyaz Show, one of Turkey’s most popular late-night talk shows, broadcast on Channel D. Ayşe was calling from Diyarbakır, where dozens of civilians have been killed in a 24-hour curfew that the state has now implemented for 41 days. Ayşe made a desperate call, saying, “children should not be killed.” The host of the program thanked Ayşe for sharing her message, but Channel D administration soon released a statement. “This is a provocation. We always stand with our state,” said Channel D. The statement dismissed the killing of children in Kurdistan as something from an “unimaginable film script.” Multiple mainstream media outlets have demonized Ayşe and accused her of spreading “propaganda,” with alleged efforts to find Ayşe underway. Yesterday, a single woman appeared in front of the Channel D building in the Turkish capital of Ankara, where she held a sign reading, “Children should not be killed. I am Ayşe Çelik.” Today, similar signs have now appeared across Ankara, with citizens spotted carrying the message “I am Ayşe Çelik” in the streets, on buses and on the metro. (sy/cm) 15:00 January 11 / 2016 JINHA ISTANBUL – Turkey’s Academics for Peace have held a press conference to share their call for the Turkish state to end its attacks on Kurdish regions. The academics have announced that they will continue Parliamentary and international activities as long as their demands are not met. As Turkey’s ruling AKP implements a state of blockade and curfew against the provinces of Kurdistan, academics gathered in Istanbul to announce their opposition to the severe violations of rights in the region. Alper Açık spoke on behalf of Academics for Peace at Istanbul’s Taksim Gönen Hotel. “The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan, Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been ongoing for weeks,” said the statement. “It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated.” The academics demanded that the state immediately stop the massacre and forced displacement of the peoples of the Kurdistan region; punish perpetrators of human rights violations; compensate aggrieved citizens; and allow independent national and international observers into the region. The academics called for the government to allow for peace negotiations involving representatives of a range of segments of society, in which academics are prepared to participate. Alper announced that as long as Turkey did not recognize these demands, the academics would continue contacting individuals in Turkey’s Parliament and internationally in order to raise awareness of the scope of the violations. 1,128 academics from dozens of universities in Turkey, in addition to academics from many more countries, signed the statement, according to academic Zeynep Kıvılcım. She noted that the state has escalated repression in Turkey’s universities in parallel with the escalating violence in the Kurdish provinces. “We will continue to struggle, organize and strengthen our existing organizations against all of this. We will defend the right to opposition and resistance, peace and negotiation, with panels and activities at the universities. We will continue to be in solidarity with our colleagues and students who have been imprisoned for their thoughts,” said Zeynep. (ck/fk/cm)

I had to momentarily permit cookies to get at it.

Wonderful! Somebody finally gets it (kinda). Never thought it'd be you Evan, but that's me. You're absolutely right. If you want bias in favour of Turkey (in this inbstance) just read the daily rag wherever you are in the west. Then look to here and : Women Defense Units (@DefenseUnitsYPJ) | Twitter On Nov 15 @mickthehack tweeted: "It will only be in years to come, when I.." - read what others are saying and join the conversation. Firat News Agency (@anfenglish) | Twitter The latest Tweets from Firat News Agency (@anfenglish). Facebook: https://t.co/pqEGMjaKS7 Rojava Defense Units (@DefenseUnits) | Twitter The latest Tweets from Rojava Defense Units (@DefenseUnits). Official Twitter Account for Rojava's People's Defense Units (YPG) Press Office | Follow/RT≠Endorsement. Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) News about #YPG on Twitter 19h ago @WNews_Reddit tweeted: "Syria exclusive: Kurds dig in near ISIS .." - read what others are saying and join the conversation. ANF | Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê Kürdistan, ortadogu ve dünyanın her yerinden özgür haberler. JINHA || www.newsagencyofwomen.com JINHA || www.newsagencyofwomen.com News | ANHA People's Defense Units Syria Pulse Home The Rojava Report | News from the Revolution in Rojava and Wider Kurdistan News from the Revolution in Rojava and Wider Kurdistan (by ---) The Kurdistan Woman s Liberation Movement | Partiya ... CAMPACC: Campaign Against Criminalising Communities - Home ABOUT - Delist the PKK Harvest for balance. Len.

you talking to me?

Monday, January 4, 2016 3:25 PM NEWS DESK - ANF Botan Democratic People's Initiative has released a statement calling on Kurdish people to rise up as state forces have started executions in Şırnak's Silopi district. The Initiative informed that state forces have entirely encircled Silopi town from four sides, and are now executing people one by one and in groups. The statement remarked that Turkish forces that continue to shell neighborhoods with tank and artillery fire are now killing Kurdish youths and civilians in the areas they have managed to enter. The Initiative called upon all the Kurdish people in Botan region, Kurdistan and Europe as well as all democracy forces to take urgent action and start uninterrupted protests against this inhuman savagery and massacre. "Everywhere should be turned into hell to stop the AKP fascism. If the Kurdish people in Silopi, Cizre and Sur aren't granted a right to live, life must be made unbearable for the AKP colonialism as well. It is not time for marches and press releases anymore. All our people must rise up and stop the life everywhere as of now. We have no single second to lose in the face of this massacre. Those who do not act now shall do nothing later."

There's also the building being built that Carr was in. Plus the pergola of course. IOW all of them. Show me a map of DP where they are all correct. I've never seen one.

All of the ones south of main.

It matters to anyone interested in a shot from the south, or left. It also matters in perpetuating a 'myth'. The two halves are not mirror images. Apart from the significant shape and location difference of the road and the location of the pergola, the pond is shorter. The location of buildings south of main is wrong in the map. It matters if you want to locate photographers/people correctly.

the southern half of Dealey Plaze is not a mirror image of the northern half. Various maps also misplace buildings.

That's a very broad, almost meaningless, stroke, Ernie. It applies to every single news print article ever written, every polemic, biography, monologue. Biased in favour of ones own view and in turn ones own view becomes just that.

snippets from an article : http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-28/stroke-of-genius-the-legacy-of-blue-poles/4228672 At the time Blue Poles was acquired for the Australian National Gallery (now the NGA) the gallery did not even have a building. Then director James Mollison was determined to build a collection worthy of a national institution. The gallery did not have the authority to sign off on purchases of over $1 million, so the purchase was referred to the Federal Government, and approved by then prime minister Gough Whitlam. Going against political advice, he decided that the price paid for the artwork should be made public. And so, a political ruckus was ignited. '$1.3m for dribs and drabs,' raged one newspaper headline. 'Barefoot drunks painted our $1 million masterpiece', read another. Patrick McCaughey recalled giving multiple public lectures in packed theatres about Blue Poles after it was purchased. "The public wanted to like the painting," he said. "But they needed to be assured the painting was not an American con job." Indeed, the painting marks an interesting juncture in the history of US-Australian relations, according to Sean Gallagher from the USSC. "It shows the ties between the two countries go deeper than the alliance," he said, "extending to the arts and culture." While artists in New York were embracing abstract expressionism as a way to internationalise their work, Australian artists were looking to the movement to achieve their own unique style. Abstract expressionism championed the expression of the subconscious, In the 1990 film Storming the Citadel, American artist Robert Motherwell says, "in the history of all art there was never a moment as hated as abstract expressionism". If there was fear among the Australian public that Blue Poles might be an American con job, its purchase by the new Labor regime under Gough Whitlam probably compounded that distress. Australian art historian and curator Anthony White told the NGA symposium that even after nearly 40 years, the piece still asks more questions than it answers. "You have a long time to think about it and yet you're never quite done with it," he said.

Cool. Welcome back.

How I arrived at my conclusion: I copied the image to Gimp and looked at it closely. Sensitive is clearly hand drawn. It's all over the place and the shade and texture of black you get from texta on paper. Individual letters on these document look like from a low res copy of an imperfect document. At this res the edges of all letters are too sharp and the letters whicle in the right font are too 'wobbly,' yet all black. Except it look like someone has used a times new romean for a T. . There are a couple of lines that are wrongly spaced. The censored areas are not right. Looks like the texta or whatever was used to make them bled in an unusual way around the too wobbly edges.

Looks real bogus to me. Sensitive is hand drawn, line spacing uneven, individual letters too clean on too clean background.

Hi, when I said "a lounge for BS" I had just been reading a discussion on a forum where the owner describes it, somewhat cheekily, as a place where all the stuff that doesn't have to do with the public topic directly happens instead in a 'members lounge'. A hidden to visitors, a members 'room' with many 'lounge rooms" off it. All members can 'enter' the main 'lounge' to see lists of topics, some you can post in others not or partially. Some may be discussions between two or three people. It may be hidden or open for guest members. You can create and delete your own however long temporary topics. Maybe to start with a limit of 15 (hidden or visible) topics in the members only area per member. There is also, off the main lounge, a private research room for every member where posts and topics can be prepared and saved without posting in the public forum. You can invite guests to have a look, preview the topic in the members main longe, whatever, until ready to post. edit add : I just realised that this private research room can simply be a topic where you have the power to hide, lock and give permission to, and rename the topic you can save it as a topic and keep working on it later, preview it, name it and post on public forum.

Good to see the management is exploring new things. Cut down on pinned topics taking up space on page 1 by grouping them into pinned subforums. Create a members only lounge for BS.