Officials in Turkey Confirm Hundreds of Miners Killed in Coal Mine Explosion

At least 245 miners in western Turkey were killed when a transformer in a mine shaft exploded during a shift change. The death toll is expected to rise after rescuers have been continually hindered by smoke and fallen debris. It was believed that there were as many as 787 workers underground at the Soma Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş. mine during the blast.

First responders were able to rescue some 88 workers in the minutes immediately after the blast. However, while some rescuers believe that a number of the estimated 120 miners trapped below the surface could have made it to underground 'safety chambers' carved into the mine shaft and equipped with oxygen masks, hopes for their rescue grow dimmer by the hour. Family members of some of the missing and dead were waiting outside the mine or local hospitals in Soma. Autopsies performed on two of the miners pulled from the Soma mine show that they were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.

The mine, which was once state-owned, had been recently privatized and the CEO boasted of bringing down costs from $140 to $24 per ton since the facility was run by the state-controlled TKI Coal Mining in a 2012 interview with Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.

However, the repercussions from this disaster could be felt well beyond the western coal-producing city of Soma. As recently as the end of April, opposition members of the Turkish parliament wanted the government to look into working conditions at the mine as the facility was racked by intermittent strikes and labor stoppages during the last two years with workers claiming unsafe working conditions. The motion was blocked by members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.

Erdogan himself visited Soma on Wednesday and was greeted by jeers and heckling from residents of the mining town. While addressing some of the families of the miners, Erdogan stated that these types of accidents were fairly common- citing a number of 19th century mining disasters in Great Britain in his speech.

Insane shot of PM Erdogan advisor @YusufYerkel kicking someone in Soma y'day. #Turkey pic.twitter.com/AiyQMqQQNU

— Alexander Marquardt (@MarquardtA) May 15, 2014

Public anger at the Prime Minister only grew further after an image of one of Erdogan's aides kicking a protestor being restrained by Turkish military police in Soma.

After his remarks, relatives of some of the dead and missing miners and angry residents of Soma reportedly forced the Prime Minister and his entourage to seek refuge in a local supermarket. Others reportedly ransacked the local headquarters of Erdogan's Justice and Development party.

Demonstrators also hung banners that read 'MURDERERS' and staged demonstrations in front of government offices in Ankara and Istanbul as police moved in with tear gas and water cannons to break up those protests.

Turkish Protests Enter Fifth Day Despite Police Attempts at Crackdown

Protests resumed at an Istanbul park after the country's deputy prime minister issued a conditional official apology over the heavy-handed police attempts to disperse the crowd last week. The demonstrations, which appeared to have caught the ruling government of Recip Tayyan Edrogan off guard, represent the first serious challenge to Erdogan's authority since his taking office nearly a decade ago.

In a decade at the helm, Erdogan has become the most powerful Turkish leader in generations, overseeing a remarkable economic transformation of his nation and making Turkey a much more assertive player in international affairs and a key U.S. ally.

But Erdogan has lost a bit of swagger at home since he visited Washington last month and failed in his very public efforts to persuade President Obama to send more military aid to Syrian opposition forces. Widespread condemnation of violence by government security forces in Taksim Square stands to chasten Erdogan further, analysts said.

On Tuesday, Turkey's largest trade-union confederation announced a two-day general strike as more protests spread throughout the country. The strike is expected to affect schools and universities along with select government offices throughout Turkey as Erdogan went ahead with a previously scheduled state visit to Morocco.

The protest and clashes began last week when peaceful demonstrators gathered in Istanbul's Gezei Park. The park itself was slated to be razed so that a new shopping center could be built, part of a massive construction boom in Istanbul that has seen a number of historic buildings demolished to make way for newer residential and retail spaces as well as construction firms closely allied with Erdogan's government being awarded lucrative contracts. The plans also reportedly call for the demolition of the nearby Ataturk Cultural Center and historic Ottoman-era military barracks. Fans of Istanbul's three soccer teams- considered despised rivals under the best of circumstances- donned their respective team colors and joined protestors in the park while taunting police in riot gear.

"Go on spray, go on spray, spray your pepper gas. Take off your helmets, put down your truncheons and let's see who's the tough guy," sang the fans, taunting police with a Besiktas chant which has become popular with the demonstrators.

There are tales of Galatasaray fans coming to the aid of Fenerbahce supporters trapped by the police, or of fans rushing down the hill from Taksim to the aid of rival supporters in the nearby Besiktas district on the shores of the Bosphorus.

"We are normally enemies, but this has really brought us together. It's never happened before," said university student Mert Gurses, 18, wearing a black-and-white Besiktas scarf and chatting with friends near the fish market in Besiktas.

It is a remarkable transformation in mood among fans more usually soured with animosity which sometimes spills into violence, tainting the image of Turkish football.

Just three weeks ago, a Fenerbahce fan was stabbed to death at an Istanbul bus stop by someone wearing a red-and-yellow Galatasaray shirt after an end-of-season derby match.

Some municipalities have also reportedly have refused to provide water to police vehicles- specifically the riot controlled vehicles called TOMAs. Images and video of uniformed police in riot gear striking unarmed demonstrators- some of whom were already subdued and handcuffed- with truncheons and fists circulating online have only served to galvanize the opposition.

While there has been opposition to Erdogan in the past, it has been mostly fragmented. Despite Erdogan and his allies being caught off guard by the protests and public backlash against the government's handling of the demonstrators in the park, the Turkish PM has enjoyed support from about 50% of the population until fairly recently. A number of Turks say that recent legislation restricting alcohol sales and lowering the age at which school children could enroll in Islamic madrasas show that Erdgoan's government is moving towards a gradual Islamicization of Turkey, despite safeguards in the nation's constitution preventing exactly that happening.

Report: CIA Operatives Denied Help During Attack on US Consulate in Benghazi

In the latest development regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, reports are circulating that multiple requests for military aid during the consulate attack were rejected by the chain of command.

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to "stand down," according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to "stand down."

Woods and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Spectre gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights.

Particularly damning is a report that appeared on milblogger Blackfive's page indicating that CIA and Special Operations forces had a GLD (Ground Laser Designator) on site in Benghazi during the attack, a device used to 'paint' targets on the ground for air support. Only during the Benghazi attack, both the CIA and Special Operations operatives were given orders to stand down.

An unarmed surveillance drone over Benghazi had reportedly relayed real-time footage of the attack to the chain of command. The attack went on for hours, meaning there was more than enough time for commanders to dispatch AC130U Spectre gunships from Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily- some 480 miles away from Benghazi. The AC130U was designed for ground support and is capable of saturating a fairly compact are with precision fire from a 25mm gatling gun as well as precision 40mm and 105mm cannons. Such weapons systems also can operate with even greater precision with a GLD like what was reportedly on site at the CIA annex in Benghazi.

If true, this basically means that the chain of command in the CIA, State Department and White House left Ambassador Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods to die while the US Consulate was under a well planned and coordinated attack with heavy weaponry from Islamist militants- reportedly including Ansar al Sharia.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has denied that any of the C-130s had even left Sigonella during the attack while a CIA spokeswoman denies that requests for military aid from Benghazi during the attack were turned down. However, since both the State Department and White House continued blaming a short anti-Islamic YouTube video for weeks after the September 11th attacks, the denials are significantly lacking in credibility.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities detained a Tunisian man identified on surveillance video of the attack but so far, US interrogators have been denied the opportunity to interview him.

UPDATE 11/1- Foreign Policy magazine and Dubai's Al Aan television reported the discovery of more sensetive documents in the wreckage of the Benghazi consulate after the September 11th attacks, including a travel itinterary for Information Officer Sean Smith and e-mails from Ambassador Stevens to Libya's foreign minstry requesting additional security and reporting 'troubling surveillance' from a local police officer who was reportedly taking pictures inside the compound. Stevens even identified the car number the Libyan policeman arrived and departed in.

The Ambassador's report of the policeman taking pictures is consistent with Information Officer Smith's online message just hours before the attack that read "Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures".

Turkey Forces Syrian Passenger Jet to Land, Claims Civilian Aircraft Was Carrying Military Equipment From Russia

Turkish authorities ordered a Syrian civilian airliner flying in Turkish airspace to land in Ankara this week. The Turks claimed they had recieved intelligence that the Damascus-bound airliner was carrying cargo that violated international sanctions against Bashr Al Assad regime. Not surprisingly, both Damascus and Moscow claim an entirely different series of events than what the Turks claim happened.

The civilian A320 plane, which was carrying 35 passengers, landed in Damascus early Thursday after Turkey allowed it to take off, but Turkish officials will continue to investigate the confiscated cargo, Mr. Erdogan added.

"These are equipment and ammunition sent to the Syrian Defense Ministry from the Russian [state-owned arms manufacturer]. At the moment, our authorities are continuing their investigation of these items and the further statements will be made as necessary," Mr. Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara.

Asked to clarify precisely what the plane's cargo included, the prime minister's spokesman said that "it would be more accurate to refer to call it military equipment and not ammunition."

According to Syrian authorities, Turkish air-traffic control contacted the pilot at 5:20 local time and altered the GPS coordinates of the preset flight course. Turkish jets then appeared without warning to force the plane to land in Ankara, where the airliner sat for two hours before being searched.

Turkish authorities contested those charges, stressing that the Syrian plane was warned before it entered Turkish airspace that it would be forced to land, but the pilot opted not to change course.

Once grounded, the passengers' needs were catered for and that their safety was compromised are "baseless," the Turkish authorities said.

Although Turkish authorities declined to specify what exactly was among the cargo, a number of private and state-run media outlets throughout Turkey reported that the contraband included military-grade communications devices bound for al-Assad's army upon arrival in Damascus. Other sources had claimed the cargo possibly included missile components, but Russian officials denied any weapons or weapons components were on board.

Russia has provided Syria with arms since the Cold War, and until the mass uprisings against Bashr Al Assad's regime began in 2011 Turkey has enjoyed fairly cordial relations with both Syria and Russia. Since the uprisings began, Turkey has taken in a number of refugees from Syria and in recent weeks has traded artillery fire with forces loyal to Syrian president Bashr Al Assad after the Turkish border town of Akçakale was hit by mortar fire earlier this month, killing five Turkish civilians.

Shortly after the Syrian aircraft was forced to land at Ankara, Russian president Vladmir Putin announced that he was postponing a scheduled visit to Turkey.

Syria-s Business: Syrian Troops Launch Mortars Against Turkish Border Town; NATO Member Turkey Responds With Artillery

Immediate aftermath of Syrian mortars being fired on the Turkish border town of Akçakale. Five civilians were reportedly killed in the barrage and the Turkish military returned fire with heavy artillery

A barrage of mortar fire, reportedly launched by Syrian troops loyal to the Bashr Al Assad regime, killed 5 civilians and wounded another 12 in a southeastern Turkish border town earlier this week.

A mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in a residential district of the southeastern Turkish town of Akcakale, killing a woman and four children from the same family and wounding at least eight other people.

Footage taken shortly after the attack shows how a cloud of dust and smoke rose up over low-rise buildings as residents ran to help the wounded. Others, infuriated by the increasing spillover of violence from Syria's civil war, took to the streets shouting protests against the local authorities.

Turkey's military responded to the attack by directing artillery fire on the Syrian town of Tal Abyad which was reportedly controlled by forces loyal to Bashr Al Assad. State and privately run media sources in Turkey report that a lengthy convoy of armored personnel carriers and artillery was enroute to the Akçakale district of Şanlıurfa province.

The two sides have been trading fire since the October 3rd attack. Over the weekend, an AP reporter observed a mortar round fired from Syria land 200m inside Turkish territory, although there were no reports of additional injuries.

Earlier this year, Syria shot down a Turkish Air Force jet over the Mediterrenian Sea. Syrian officials defended their actions, claiming they had assumed it was an Israeli aircraft that had violated their airspace. A report from Dubai-based Al Arabia network alleges that the pilots had bailed out and were captured by Syrian forces, but were subsequently ordered executed on direct orders from Damascus.

The cross border conflict could have broader repurcussions as an attack on the sovereign territory of one NATO member means they can counterattack with the full military backing of NATO.

UPDATED 9/17- Democrats Honor Veterans And Military at Charlotte Convention With Russian Warships, Turkish Air Force Jets in Backdrop

May or may not be the actual backdrop image used at the DNC 2012 convention in Charlotte

The Democrat Party's national convention in Charlotte, NC has been over for more than a week, but the gathering still made headlines when four massive warships used prominently as a background image as a retired US Navy Admiral addressed the delegates in a speech paying tribute to veterans were in fact Russian.

Having grown up in a dark blue state, I can clearly hear the inevitable scorn and incredulity in the voice of your garden-variety Democrat and Obama supporter- sneering 'Jeez Fenway- what batshit insane right-wing fringe blog did you hear that from?'

Try The Navy Times

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president’s Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as “Flat Screen” for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of “Combat Fleets of the World.”

Similarly, the third ship has a MR-310 “Head Net” air search radar, shaped like two off-set bananas, at its masthead and is mostly likely the guided missile destroyer Smetlivyy. The first two ships seem to be Krivak-class frigates, but it’s hard to discern from the silhouette, experts said.

But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. In addition to the ship’s radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X’ at the ships’ sterns.

The blue cross on white background has been part of the Russian Navy's insignia since czarist times. The vessels in the photos have been identified by experts as belonging to Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

DNC officials apologized for the error, blaming 'vendor error' in failing to catch the oversight [Democrats blaming others for their mistakes? I know- toally shocking, isn't it?- NANESB!]. The nationality of the ships also hearkened back to a March conversation between President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that was caught on an open microphone where Obama promised the Kremlin 'more flexibility' on a missile defense treaty after the 2012 Presidential election.

UPDATE- 9/17 - It gets even better, though. Apparently the Democrats thought that Turkey's military should be represented at the 2012 convention.

According to an Austrian editor of a military aircraft journal, the planes depicted flying in formation above the Russian Black Sea Fleet are F-5s from the Turkish Air Force.

Martin Rosenkranz, a military aircraft expert and editor-in-chief of a military aviation journal in Austria, revealed the fighter jets’ origin to The Daily Caller.

“The aircraft in this image displayed are not U.S. [operated] aircraft,” he told TheDC.

“The jets are most likely from the Turkish air force [because] the formation and the type (F-5) flown is very typical of the seven-ship formation flown by the Turkish Air Force Display Team known as the ‘Turkish Stars,’” said Rosenkranz.

“There is no other display team worldwide” that uses a similar seven-aircraft formation.

Rosenkranz’s argument is bolstered by two other factors.

The aircraft shown at the Democrats’ convention are old F-5 aircraft. They were were designed in the United States and sold to many countries, including Turkey — whose display team uses that same model.

Also, the planes depicted in the Democrats’ Sept. 6 photo montage display an unusual red and white striped pattern painted on the underside of their fuselages — most visible on the lowest and best-lit of the F-5s in the image.

The Russian Ships and Turkish jets as backdrop fiasco was reminiscent of another election year debacle where the Democrat party accompanied an article about US combat veterans on their website with an image of a Canadian soldier in 2006.

Bollywood Actress Set to Become First-Ever Indian Playmate

A Bollywood actress will become the first Indian woman to grace the cover of Playboy, even though the print edition of the magazine is banned in her native country.

28 year old Sherlyn Chopra will be appearing in the upcoming November issue of the magazine and while her fans in India won't find the print edition at newsstands, Chopra will also be appearing in the online edition.

Born to a Christian father and Muslim mother in the southern city of Hyderabad, the news of her appearing on the cover of the American edition of the men's magazine has caused quite a stir in the subcontinent. Some commentators openly questioned if her appearance there would contribute towards continuing voyeurism and the exploitation of Indian women while Chopra defended her decision in an interview with the Hindi edition of the BBC last week.

"I have become the first Indian to pose naked for Playboy and nobody can take away that achievement from me," Ms Chopra said.

"My sister is proud of my achievement. I haven't told anything to my mother, but I think I will visit her and tell her that she has to accept me the way I am."

The 28-year-old actress, who has played some small roles in Bollywood films, said she had visited Mr Hefner and his friends at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.

"I had fun meeting him and his girlfriends. I am thinking of making him my idol because he lives his life on his terms and conditions. I also live my life on my terms and conditions," Ms Chopra said.

While Playboy and certain American publications have identified Chopra as a 'bombshell' and 'screen siren', the fetching Bollywood beauty has actually appeared in a relatively small number of films and didn't receive top billing in any of them.

Even with a ban on the print edition of Playboy in effect, India is no stranger to controversies involving cover girls. In late 2011, actress Veena Malik angered most of her native Pakistan by posing topless for the Indian edition of FHM with a grenade the initials of Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency scrawled on her arm. Malik [pictured above] was born in the Pakistani province of Punjab and was married to a Pakistani cricket star, but much of her work over the last decade was out of Mumbai, India.

Chopra would not be the first woman from an Islamic background to appear on the cover of Playboy, however. In April 2011, German actress Sila Sahin- the daughter of Turkish immigrants to Germany- appeared on the cover of the German edition of Playboy.

Sahin [above] had reportedly received a number of anonymous death threats within weeks of the magazine hitting the newsstand.

Syrian Forces Open Fire on Refugee Camp Across Turkish Border; Suspected Iranian Arms Shipment Diverted to Turkey

Gunmen fired from Syria into a refugee camp across the Turkish border a few days prior to a UN-brokered ceasefire between the forces loyal to Syria's Assad regime and rebel soldiers and defectors from the Syrian army.

Syrian activists claim that Syrian forces were responsible for a fusillade of gunfire that raked a refugee encampment near the south central Turkish city of Tilis earlier this month.

At least 15 other people were wounded outside the facility as they were fleeing Syria into Turkey, the activists said.

Clashes between Syrian forces and Free Syrian Army rebels are taking place regularly during the night along the Turkish-Syrian border, activists told The Times. However, this reportedly was the first known incident of direct fire at a refugee camp.

"There were clashes in the border area between FSA and the regular army," said an activist at the camp who requested to be identified only as Tariq. "It started around 3 a.m. We hear gunfire every night. But it is the first time they directly fire at the camp.”


The camp is 400 to 500 yards from the border and hosts about 8,000 refugees, though it has a capacity of 12,000, he said.

"The regular army fired at the camp around noon," he said. "There are four wounded, including a Turkish nurse, and two Syrian refugees who were killed. They were both standing next to me on a higher ground, watching the clashes; I was filming when they were killed."

The incident could be construed as an attack on Turkey by Syria, which could trigger a mutual defense agreement Turkey retains with the rest of NATO.

On Wednesday, Turkish police and customs officials boarded a German cargo ship in the Mediterranean after a Der Spegiel magazine investigative report claimed the Atlantic Cruiser was carrying Iranian weapons destined for Syria.

Turkish Foreign Ministry and port officials said the ship was being towed into the port which is located on Turkey's eastern Mediterranean coast just over 100 km (60 miles) north of Syria, on suspicion it was carrying weapons.

The officials could not confirm if there were weapons aboard but said they were planning to inspect all the ship's cargo once it had been offloaded. The ship had been due to offload some of its cargo in Turkey as part of its route, they said.

A Reuters reporter in Iskenderun said he could see Turkish police from the customs and smuggling department on board the ship. Port officials said they had already inspected parts of the ship and would allow photographers aboard once the ship was docked.

German shipping company W. Bockstiegel, which owns the Atlantic Cruiser, ordered the vessel on Monday to turn its transponder back on after the ship switched off the tracking system because its crew feared attack.

The company has said it has no information about any weapons on board the ship which was originally destined for Syria.

White Whale Shipping, the Ukrainian company that chartered the Atlantic Cruiser has denied there were arms on board and said its cargo was civilian goods. Sending weapons to Syria would be in violation of a European Union arms embargo.

A website which tracks maritime shipping reported that the vessel was flying an Antigua Barbuda flag while Turkey's Dogan news agency had reported that the ship was displaying the Bahamas flag when it was intercepted.

At Least 75 Killed, Many More Trapped and Injured After Magnitude 7.2 Quake Rocks Eastern Turkey

AFP Photo

At least 75 people were reported killed and many more feared trapped in collapsed buildings after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake jolted the mountainous province of Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday.

Up to 30 buildings collapsed in Ercis, including a dormitory, and 10 buildings collapsed in Van, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said.

Rescuers in Ercis scrambled to find survivors in a flattened eight-story building that had shops on the ground floor, television footage showed. Residents sobbed outside the ruins, hoping that missing relatives would be rescued.

"My wife and child are inside! My 4-month-old baby is inside!" CNN-Turk television showed one young man crying.

Witnesses said eight people were rescued from the rubble, but frequent aftershocks were hampering search efforts, CNN-Turk reported.

"There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed. There is too much destruction," Zulfikar Arapoglu, the mayor of Ercis, told NTV television. "We need urgent aid. We need medics."

The quake's epicenter was in the village of Tabanli, 10 miles from Van.

Between the aftershocks and the number of people feared trapped in some of the collapsed buildings, the death toll is expected to rise. Authorities had no word on damages or casualties from the remote villages in the region, but local officials beginning to assess damage via helicopter.

Assad Regime Crackdown Continues Amid Reports of Syrian Troops Defecting; Syrian Army Masses at Turkish Border

As troops loyal to the Bashr al-Assad regime continued their crackdown of anti government protesters, media reports claim that defecting soldiers and policemen are among the thousands of Syrian refugees streaming into southwestern Turkey.

Unwilling to open fire on demonstrators who have taken to the streets chanting the revolutionary slogans of uprisings across the Arab world, some Syrian troops have chosen to lay down their arms and flee to neighboring countries like Turkey.

It is difficult to estimate how many have done so, partly because they are afraid to speak out and partly due to severe restrictions on foreign media reporting in Syria, which makes it hard to corroborate accounts inside the country.

But Internet videos have begun increasingly to surface in recent weeks of men displaying military insignia and identification cards who say they have left an army that has used tanks and guns to suppress protesters calling for freedom.

Assad has relied on the armed forces, whose commanders are mostly from his minority Alawite sect, to crack down on protesters, who are mostly from the majority Sunni population.

Syrian troops have been massing along the Turkish border, occupying positions in border villages and attempting to block the flow of refugees to Turkey during the Assad regime's crackdown. The deteriorating situation within Syria has caused Turkish forces to be on aert and raised tensions across tge region.

Turkish Delight- Muslima Poses for Cover of German Edition of Playboy

A 25 year old Turkish actress living in Berlin has turned heads and raised the ire of islamists and much of her own family for appearing in the German Edition of Playboy this month.

Sila Sahin, a 25-year-old Turkish German living in Berlin, had until now been regarded as a glowing example of how a modern Muslim girl should behave in a multicultural society.

A successful actress starring in German television soap opera Good Times, Bad Times, she pleased her many fans and made her Turkish family proud.

But her latest move has shocked some of those fans, and enraged those closest to her.

Posing provocatively on the cover of German Playboy magazine with one breast exposed, Sila Sahin seems to be sending a clear and deliberate message to her conservative Turkish family.

'I did it because I wanted to be free at last,' she said. 'These photographs are a liberation from the restrictions of my childhood.'
Her family have, unsurprisingly, reacted with horror, and her mother has cut off all contact with the actress.

'My mother is still angry. It will be even more difficult with my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles,' she said on the website devoted to her television soap.

She has, however, managed to talk to her actor father, who expressed concern over the pressure she will inevitably face from those not only within the Turkish community in Germany, but from the wider Muslim community as a whole.

Ms Sahin's declared intention was to used the controversial Playboy photoshoot as a call to action for other Turkish girls who suffer the effects of their strict backgrounds, where women's choices are often limited, husbands are chosen for the girls and chastity closely controlled.

Salih (center) with cast members from German soap opera 'Good Times, Bad Times' in earlier photo shoot

Now granted some may question the wisdom of posing nude because you thought your parents might've been too strict, but Muslim women have been known to pay for much less with their lives at the hands of their own family- even in America.

Warning! The preceding image may be NSFW!

All that's missing is a verbal beatdown of some stupid mullah. On the plus side, her Turkish father is an actor himself and while probably not thrilled with her decision, isn't ready to write her out of the will or run her over yet.

Aside from the possible Rule 5 implications, I'm in favor of Ms. Sahin's decision for no other reason than I'm glad to see Muslimahs who aren't coerced into wearing what amounts to a Hefty bag with eye slits to appease some of their violent and backwards 7th century relatives.

They don't necessarily have to take everything off, either [altho' who am I to stop their exhibitionist displays? NANESB!] but I think an attractive Muslima not afraid to show off her beauty would be an even more effective emissary than any representative from the various crumbling authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.

[Hat Tip- Jammie Wearing Fool]

Another Horn of Africa Update: U.S. Commandos Re-Take Japanese Tanker; Danish Yacht Seized by Pirates

OMAN: U.S. Commandos have boarded a Japanese oil tanker that was seized by pirates off the coast of Oman and re-taken the vessel without firing a shot on Sunday.

Twenty-four crew members on the MV Guanabara took refuge in a protected part of the vessel after reporting they were under attack Saturday, roughly 328 nautical miles southeast of Duqm in southern Oman.

A special unit from the destroyer USS Bulkeley boarded the oil tanker Sunday and detained the suspected pirates, according to a news release from the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). No shots were fired and no injuries were reported.

"The ships and aircraft under my command have today scored a real and immediate victory through the disruption of a suspected act of piracy and the detention of individuals believed to be engaging in piracy," CMF's counter-piracy commander, Abdul Alheem, said in a statement.

Two vessels from the NATO counter-piracy task force- the USS Bulkeley and the Turkish frigate TCG Giresun- received a distress call from the Guanabara and shadowed the vessel before it was boarded by the commandos.

The captured pirates will reportedly face trial in Tokyo.

PUNTLAND: Seven Danish nationals were captured by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Feb. 24th after their yacht was seized. This captives includes a family of five (the parents and three children) as well as 2 crew members.

An official from the village of Bandarbeyla in Puntland said that it was likely the Danes were being held in a mountainous region called Hul Anod. The official also said that a warship was spotted some 1.5 miles off the coast of the village and cautioned against any sort of military operation after the massacre of 4 Americans at sea last month.

According to piracy expert, the average ransom payout for a large shipping vessel and its crew is in the neighborhood of $5 million. A couple from the UK were released in September 2010 reportedly after a ransom of $1 million was paid out.

MOGADISHU: Somali officials have reported that an American from Alabama who joined the Al Shabaab Islamist group was killed in clashes with soldiers from the Somali transitional government and African Union peacekeepers this week.

Somali Defense Minister Abdihakim Mohamud Haji Fiqi told The Associated Press that Somali officials do not have a body and that the intelligence reports have not yet been confirmed.

"We have information saying that he died," Fiqi said. "I'm not sure 100 percent sure but this is the information that we get from different sources. We need to make sure."

Omar Hammami, who grew up in the middle-class town of Daphne, Alabama, joined the al-Qaida-linked Somali militants in 2007 while he was in his early 20s. He became the most high-profile American member of al-Shabab and had taken on the nom de guerre of Abu Mansour al-Amriki, or "the American."

Forces from the Somali transitional government, backed by African Union peacekeepers have been mounting a countrattack against the Islamist al Shabaab militia. On Monday, the Somali and multinational forces were able to seize control of the border town of Bulo Hawo- along the Kenyan and Ethiopian border- from Al Shabaab; the first time forces from the UN-backed Transitional government were able to exert control over territory outside of Mogadishu.

[hat tip: Jammie Wearing Fool]

Nine Killed as Israeli Commandos Board Gaza-Bound Ships

A few days after a violent clash between Israeli commandos and Gaza-bound foreign activists in the Mediterranean killed nine and left dozens injured, some interesting facts are starting to see the light of day that seemingly derail the narrative that some well-intentioned do-gooders bringing food and clothes to the Gazans were arbitrarily attacked and roughed up by the Israeli military.

After announcing well in advance their intention to try and run the Israeli Naval blockade of the Gaza strip a few weeks ago, things came to a head over the weekend when 'activists' on the MV Mavi Marmara attacked Israeli Naval commandos boarding the vessel (other vessels in the six ship flotilla were boarded without incident). With members of the boarding party outnumbered and being beaten, stabbed or thrown overboard, the Israelis responded with deadly force, with 9 activists dead, an estimated 60 wounded and 10 of the commandos wounded when the dust cleared.

The ships and their cargo were eventually diverted to the Israeli port of Ashdod. From the onset, the goal of the 'activists' was likely more about scoring propaganda points against Israel than it was helping the Gazans. If you stop and think about it from that perspective, the two most likely scenarios put the flotilla organizers out ahead- either they'd succeed in running the Israeli blockade and show the world that they could come and go at will, or they could instigate a confrontation and garner sympathy and outrage from the ensuing bloodshed.

While there apparently weren't any firearms on board the ships, the IDF displayed pictures of bulletproof vests, Kevlar helmets, night vision optics and a rifle scope they claimed to have recovered from the MV Mari Marmara. Granted the IDF may not be considered impartial on the matter, but some more news came out earlier today that supports the notion that the 'Flotilla for Gaza' was more about propaganda than aid.

Now the flaw in the argument that da Jooooooos the Israelis were out for blood is the fact that they boarded the ship with paintball guns as their primary weapons (they did have pistols holstered and eventually ended up using them). If they were intent on massacring the 'activists', I suspect they would've boarded with something more potent than an Airsoft slung over their sholders.

A former high-ranking anti terror magistrate in France said that the Turkish aid group that organized the flotilla had ties to terror groups, including a plot to set off bombs in the Paris Metro and attack targets in the French town of Roubaix by an Algerian cell. Another member of the same cell was apprehended in December 1999 in Washington state with explosives in the trunk of his rented vehicle after crossing over from Canada via ferry. After Ahmed Ressam was arrested, he said the explosives were destined for Los Angeles International airport and to be detonated in the passenger terminal.

In an AP Interview, the French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere, said that he was present when French and Turkish police raided the Istanbul headquarters of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms (Known by its Turkish acronym- IHH) in 1998. There, they found weapons and fake documents and it was determined that the IHH was a front for moving weapons, money and fighters to Bosnia and Afghanistan.

"It's hard to prove, but all elements of the investigation showed that part of the NGO served to hide jihad-type activities [snip] ...I'm convinced this was a clear strategy, known by IHH."

French investigators found in the 1990s that "several members of Fateh Kamel's network worked at the IHH as a cover," Bruguiere said. "It was too systematic and too widespread for the NGO (non-governmental organization) not to know" their real goal, he said

A US State Department spokesman said on Wednesday that they were aware of IHH representatives meeting with senior-level Hamas officials in Syria, Turkey and the Gaza strip since 2006 and that it was "obviously of great concern to us".


Spin, Strangeness and Charm has more on this, including the almost Pavlovian international condemnation of Israel just hours after the MV Mari Marmara incident and video shot at the scene.