it's pretty clear to me that most of the room realizes that the travel ban is to keep out reporters. but, despite knowing that, nobody states as much or challenges the spokesperson on it; instead, the discussion turns to press freedom, which produces the usual meaningless verbiage from the spokesperson, as she's announcing a policy meant to restrict press access. it's a conspiracy of silence, but a means of pressure nonetheless. they won't address the issue, but they'll coerce her into making a fool of herself.
what i'm unclear on is whether it's really seriously meant to be pressure, or just a cynical form of self-amusement.
it's typical rock star baddassery - the kind of thing you'd see in some macho 80s rock video, or something. an old cliche. and fox is playing the role of the offended conservative. in the end, it's all image - and it sells because of the reaction fox gave it.
there's no coherent messaging. no worthwhile analysis. the establishment has nothing to fear from this. but, it takes a hefty cut.
excellent production. but the machismo, misogyny & generally trite vocal content is hardly serving anything but his bank account.
disaster capitalism.
"what erdogan is saying is offensive and wrong"
...and absolutely factually accurate, with a plethora of scholarly literature to support it - much of it drawn from direct statements from israeli leaders. it's actually refreshing to hear somebody with political influence stand up and say it. and, it needs to be said and understood in order to make any real progress on dealing with it.
it's not an anti-terror operation. it's not even apartheid. it's systemic, intentional and planned genocide.
from a us geo-strategic perspective, though, this is concerning. turkey is a nato ally. blah blah blah. what is pushing them to speak like this? it's a little too wavering from the narrative to be purely internal, although that's no doubt part of it.
i've been posting about turkey for a while. they're isolated, and they don't like it. the eu doesn't want them and, frankly, if i was turkey, i wouldn't want them, either. the saudis are more interested in competing with them. their military alliances are leaving them in an economic limbo. turkey needs to be integrated into a stable economic partnership. they're not big enough to go it alone. otherwise, "turkey is a nato ally. blah blah blah" is not going to be true much longer. this needs to be a focus by us foreign policy. this relationship needs mending; turkey is not getting much out of it, and that needs to be resolved.
they're increasingly being forced to economically integrate with russia and iran, which are traditional enemies. but, given that europe sees them as foreigners and the saudis see them as rivals, this is what is left - central asia and eastern europe, which is some kind of stew of their historical homeland and their byzantine roots.
everybody knows how important turkey is to nato. but, nato is not working out for turkey. if that's not addressed, turkey is going to bolt for the cementing asian alliance. and, nato will only have itself to blame.