By
Sajjad Shaukat
Despite some
dissimilarities, the Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump and
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan share several similarities. Having lack
of political wisdom, both the leaders are wavering between fact and skepticism.
Hence, in one way or the other, even their dissimilarities show similarities.
Renowned historians
opine that William II and Adolf Hitler were impulsive rulers, guided by
ungoverned temper. Particularly, Hitler’s character and adverse circumstances
in Germany helped him to come to power. Hitler was a great orator and his
techniques of propaganda helped him to influence millions of people. The more
Hitler manipulated the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles, the more he
became popular with the public.
Imitating William II and
Hitler in the modern era, Donald Trump promised to make America great again. In
order to win the presidential race of the Republican Party, Trump had started
exaggerating the threat of Islamophobia by manipulating each terror attack in
Europe and the US, including shooting at the night club of Orlando, (Florida)
and left no stone unturned in fueling anti-Muslim racialism in America and to
get the sympathies of a majority of the ordinary Americans.
While addressing a
rally, Trump had called for a ban on Muslims, entering the United States.
Trump’s opposition to Muslim refugees, especially from Syria is very well
known. During his appearance with the National Border Patrol Council’s Green
Line radio show on May 15, 2016, Trump has predicted that refugees with
ISIS-funded cell phones will conduct another 9/11-like terrorist attack in the US.
In this regard, Khaled
A. Beydoun pointed out on the Aljazeera multimedia network on March 13, 2016,
“The world brand Trump is becoming synonymous with expansion of racism and
incitement of Islamophobia…I think Islam hate us, said Donald Trump, 24 hours
before the Republican presidential debate in Miami…is a call to his voting
base, to further galvanize them around a disdain for Islam that not only
heightens hateful fervour at his rallies, but incites violence on American
blocks and pushes bigots to the ballot box…the statement is rooted in the very
ignorance and hate which made him the darling of bigots and surged him up the
polls…Islamophobia—the suspicion and fear of Islam and its 1.7 billion
adherent-is political ideology for Trump.”
Regarding shooting at
the night club in Orlando, on June 28, 2016, The New York Times wrote, “The
mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 included a
curious phrase: false flag…the victims in the shooting? They were “crisis
actors” hired to promote the story as a pretext to impose tighter gun
restrictions, the theory goes…the term false flag relates to naval warfare when
a ship would fly a flag that would conceal its true identity as a way to lure
an enemy closer. Today, it is commonly a shorthand for an act of
deception…conspiracy theorists have applied the label to high-profile attacks,
including the shootings by a husband and wife last year in San Bernardino,
Calif, that killed 14…the phrase has even been used to doubt the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.”
The Washington Post
wrote on June 13, 2016, “Trump’s standards, his comments about the Orlando
shooting have been reckless and self-serving. They are also dangerous for the
country…the strongest remaining force that propels the Islamic State is the
Islamophobia of Trump and his European counterparts, argue senior intelligence
strategists for the U.S.-led coalition. Inflammatory, xenophobic statements
about Muslims reinforce the jihadists’ claims that they are Muslim knights
fighting against an intolerant West. Trump unwittingly gives them precisely the
role they dream about.”
Like Hitler, Trump
succeeded in mobilizing the electorates and despite the resistance from his own
party, he won over his fellow candidates in the nomination race.
On the other side, as a
harbinger of ideological revolution in Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan who rose to
power by the virtue of Justice and Development Party’s Muslim backgrounds,
assumed the office as the prime minister of Turkey on March 1, 2003. Like
Hitler and Trump, though in some other way, the more he spoke against the
Westernization and secular status of his country, the more popularity he gained
among the general masses. He became very popular in the Muslims countries due
to various decisions and measures such as veto of a proposal to allow the US to
use Turkish territory to open a second front against Iraq in order to topple
Saddam Hussein, defiance of the US by receiving Khalid Meshaal, the head of the
political bureau of Hamas, rejection of an invitation from former prime
minister Ariel Sharon to visit Israel, refusal to meet Ehud Olmert, the then
Israeli minister of labour and trade’s visit to Turkey, strong stand for the
Palestinians during the war on Gaza in 2008 and accusing Israel of committing
war crimes.
In January 2009, while
addressing Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Tayyip Erdogan
told the Israeli president, “President Peres, you are old, and your voice is
loud out of a guilty conscience. When it comes to killing, you know very well how
to kill. I know well how you hit and kill children on beaches.”
When Israel started the
blockade of Gaza in 2007 by preventing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, in
May 2010, Israeli navy stormed the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara—the flagship of a
flotilla of vessels, which was carrying humanitarian aid and thus, killed nine
Turkish citizens. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan told the Turkish parliament,
“Turkey’s friendship is strong; and all should know that our hostility is
strong too…the international community has to say to Israel enough is enough.”
The Arab world defended
the Turkish prime minister who withdrew his ambassador from Israel. Besides,
Erdogan was considered by the Western countries as a devoted Muslim whose wife
Emine wears a headscarf.
However, Tayyip Erdogan
who emerged as leader of the Islamic World surprised the Muslims when his own
dual approach and secret strategy was exposed when on September 30, 2015, the
Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq, the Syrian army-the National Defense Forces
(NDF) and Lebanon-based Hezbollah started attacking the US-CIA-Mossad-supported
terrorists of the Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS or ISL)
Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front and the rebel groups who have been fighting to oust
the Syrian President Assad’s regime and against the current Iraqi regime as
part of America’s double game to secure the Israeli illegitimate interests in
the Middle East. Turkish President Erdogan’s real face was exposed. Covertly,
he acted upon the policies of the US, Israel and Western Europe, and distorted
the image of Turkey in the eyes of the Islamic World, because he was assisting
the rebel groups and the ISIS militants.
In the recent past, by
setting aside the Palestinian issue and showing silence over the two-state solution
of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and the Jewish settlements in the occupied
Palestinian territories, Turkish president Erdogan has reconciled country’s
relations with Tel Aviv.
Notably, Trump who is
staunch supporter of Israeli policies, in an interview with the Daily Mail on
May 2, 2016, stated that Israel should continue construction of illegal
settlements across the occupied West Bank. In an interview with the Fox news on
September 20, this year, while talking after the recent bombings in New York
and New Jersey and a multiple stabbing at a
Minnesota mall, shortly before New York police arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami, a
naturalized US citizen born in Afghanistan in connection with the bomb attack
that injured 29 people in Manhattan on September 17 for which ISIS claimed
responsibility, the Republican nominee Donald Trump praised the Israeli
authorities for their “unbelievable” anti-terror policing, and “profiling.”
He elaborated, “Our local police, they
know who a lot of these people are. They are afraid to do anything about it
because they don’t want to be accused of racial profiling” of the terror
suspects…the Muslim refugees…they stay together. They’re plotting.”
Nevertheless,
overtly and covertly, both Trump and Erdogan are favoring Israel and double game of the US in relation
to ISIS and Syrian war.
In October 2014, US Vice
President Joe Biden told a Harvard gathering that Erdogan’s regime was backing
ISIS with “hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons.
On April 26, 2016, RT
(Russian TV Channel) documentary with exclusive eye witness reports and
documents, abandoned by retreating jihadists and found by RT documentary crew
members in a region liberated by Syrian Kurds, pointed to commercial scale oil
smuggling operations and cozy relations between ISIS and Turkey. A teenage oil
refinery worker told RT, “Of course, they wouldn’t get any weapons from Turkey
if they didn’t ship them oil…they…go with the oil and come back with the guns.”
Besides RT, Sputnik,
some other analysts and especially the Veterans Today have also shown solid
proof by pointing out, “While we patiently dig to find who the on and offshore
commodity trading middleman are, who cart away ISIS oil to European and other
international markets in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars, one name
keeps popping up as the primary culprit of regional demand for the Islamic
State’s terrorist oil-that of Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s son Bilal
Erdogan…who owns several maritime companies has signed contracts with European
operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different countries…ISIS is
being fed and kept alive by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish intelligence service,
including MIT, the Turkish CIA. ISIS militants were trained by US, Israeli and
now it emerges by Turkish Special Forces at secret bases in Konya Province
inside the Turkish border to Syria.”
The billionaire
businessman Donald Trump is also like Tayyip Erdogan. As regards Trump, while
mentioning Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, golf courses in New York and his chain of
hotels, violation of the US tax laws, tax-evasion and payment of penalty-taxes,
The Washington Post wrote on September 20, 2016, “Donald Trump spent more than
a quarter-million dollars from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits
that involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses. Those cases, which
together used $258,000 from Trump’s charity, were among four newly documented
expenditures in which Trump may have violated laws against “self-dealing” —
which prohibit nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves
or their businesses.”
In this respect, on May
31, 2016, nearly 400 pages of a US court documents disclosed, “Trump University
instructed employees on how to play on peoples’ emotions to get them to buy more
expensive seminars for succeeding in real estate…it is our job to rekindle
peoples’ motivation…to make them once again see the potential of achieving
their dream…the documents unsealed in San Diego were part of a lawsuit by
customers who say they were defrauded…a judge who has earned Trump’s scorn
agreed with attorneys that the public had a right to know what was previously
confidential.”
Speaking to The New York
Times on July 20, 2016, Donald Trump stated that
under his leadership, America would not necessarily come to the aid of a NATO
ally under attack, saying he would first consider how much they have
contributed to the alliance. Trump also warned that if elected, he would not
pressure Turkey or other authoritarian allies to end crackdowns on political
opponents or the suppression of civil liberties, following the failed coup.
Trump continued move
against Muslims. In this regard, toughening immigration checks for the French
and Germans in the US and hinting at an exit from the World Trade Organization,
Donald Trump said on July 24, this year, “We have problems in Germany and we
have problems in France…they have totally been compromised by deadly Islamist
attacks in Nice and last year in Paris…you know why? It’s their own
fault…because they allowed people to come into their countries.”
On June 24, 2016 when
Britain voted to leave the EU, Donald Trump stated, British voters just
shattered political convention in a stunning repudiation of the ruling
establishment in a referendum…in November, the American people will have the
chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote
for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first…people
want to see borders. They don’t necessarily want people pouring into their
country that they don’t know who they are and where they come from.”
On the other side,
taking note of Turkey’s pro-Israeli policies and against the Syrian refugees,
Muslim analysts and a number of human rights groups, particularly Amnesty
International in its press release on April 1, 2016 criticized, the
controversial Turkish-EU refugee deal by indicating, “Large-scale forced
returns of refugees from Turkey to war-ravaged Syria expose the fatal flaws in
a refugee deal signed between Turkey and the European Union…all forced returns
to Syria are illegal under Turkish, EU and international law.”
Confused owing to his
own double game and that of the US-led West, on May 8, 2016, Turkish President
Erdogan has kept up his rebuke of European nations, accusing them of
dictatorship and cruelty for keeping their frontiers closed to migrants and
refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict. He clarified that “Turkey would not meet
a EU demand for his country to reform its anti-terrorism legislation.” As
Erdogan has become target of his dual strategy, hence, a rift has been created
between the West and Turkey, the close ally of NATO. On February 10, 2016,
President Erdogan lashed out at the US over its support for Syria’s main
Kurdish group, saying, “The failure to recognize the Democratic Union Party
(PYD) as a terrorist group is creating a “sea of blood”. He explained, “The
PYD, on which the US relies to battle so-called Islamic State in Syria, is an
offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party.”
Following ambivalent policy,
in the pretext of fighting ISIL and Kurds, the Turkish military has continued
shelling and interference in Syria.
As regards the
propaganda techniques, one can easily witness resemblance between Trump and
Erdogan who follow Hitler’s tactics. They misguide the general peoples of their
countries, who did not have much time to go into depth-analysis to know the
double game and have been impressed by emotional speeches,
stereotype-statements and false hopes of Donald Trump and Tayyip Erdogan who
keep on exploiting the threat of Islamic militants, ISIS and Syrian refugees.
During their emotional
speeches, the body language and way of speaking of Trump and Erdogan are not
less than those of Hitler. Like Erdogan, Trump managed to consolidate popular
support among Republican voters, despite the resistance from his own party. He
won over his fellow candidates in the nomination race.
One can note many
self-contradictions in the statements of Trump and Erdogan. And Turkish
President Erdogan has also been implementing contradictory policies and
ambivalent strategy. When on June 28, 2016, more than 42 persons were killed in
the simultaneous terror attacks at the Atatürk International Airport in
Istanbul, by neglecting American pressure; President Erdogan improved relations
with Russia, and stated that the attack at the Istanbul airport should serve as
a turning point in the global battle against terrorism.
Report suggests that
Moscow had already informed Erdogan about the failed coup of July 15, 2016.
Turkey’s President Erdogan and top officials of his government held the US and
CIA responsible for the failed coup to topple his regime by replacing Erdogan
with the CIA’s “designated figurehead”, cleric Fethullah Gülen, currently
living in Pennsylvania in the US.
Criticizing
non-cooperation of NATO and Western allies with Turkey in connection with the
failed coup, Ankara is also considering a military agreement with Moscow and
Russian-Turkish joint operation against ISIS in Syria. Russian President
Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on August
9, 2016 in St. Petersburg to bolster their governments’ ties.
Turkish
media reported that the Erdogan told journalists on September 7, this year,
that he had agreed with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20
meeting in China—Ankara to work together to push Daesh terrorists out of their
de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. President Erdogan explained that
Turkey would join any future operation proposed by the US to liberate the
Syrian city of Raqqa.
Nonetheless,
Erdogan decided to join Russia to fight ISIS militants, while he also ensured
Washington to eliminate ISIS terrorists jointly. It clearly displays political
follies of the President Tayyip Erdogan.
We can also note
self-contradictions in the statements of Donald Trump. In an interview with the
Fox News, Republican presidential nominee Trump signaled a reversal on one of
his key policy issues on August 23, 2016 by suggesting that he would be open to
a “softening” of his positions on illegal immigration. He said, “I had a great
meeting with great people, great Hispanic leaders, and there could certainly be
a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people. We want people—we have
some great people in this country. We’re going to follow the laws of this
country and what people don’t realize.”
Earlier, Trump stated
tough immigration stance which includes deporting all of the estimated 11
million undocumented immigrants in the US and building a wall along the
US-Mexico border, while calling the Mexican immigrants “criminals” and
“rapists”. Trump is fueling racism between the Muslims and Christians—the black
people and the white people. And like Erdogan, if he becomes American
president, he is likely to move America towards autocracy, while American
public is already protesting against the curtailment of liberty.
When President Obama
hosted the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on March 31, 2016 to
check the spread of nuclear weapons, showing concerns about the ambitions of terrorist
groups such as the ISIS in acquiring a nuclear weapon or radioactive material,
Donald Trump had taken a different stand in his interview with the CNN by
saying, “More nuclear weapons could make the world safer…US can no longer
afford to bankroll the defense of its allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle
East…Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia may need arsenals to confront threats
in their region on their own.”
At the same time, by
pursuing the US double standards, Trump also intends to favour India, while
opposing the nuclear weapons of Pakistan. He has brushed aside the ground
realities that Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi led by the ruling
fundamentalist party BJP has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan
agenda, while encouraging Hindutva (Hindu nationalism). He is also silence over
the fact that Indian rulers have created a war-like situation against Pakistan
in the aftermath of the Uri base terror attack in the Indian Occupied Kashmir,
which was, in fact, arranged by the Indian secret agencies to deflect the
attention of the recent uprising in the Indian held Kashmir. Therefore, if
elected, as the US president, Trump’s flawed strategy could result into atomic
war between India and Pakistan in wake of the unresolved dispute of Kashmir.
There are several other
statements which display Trump’s cognitive dissonance. For instance, on
September 14, 1987, he stated, “I have no intention of running for president,”
while on June 16, 2015, he said, “I am officially running for president.’
In the recent months,
political character of Donald Trump has become more controversial and dangerous
for America, especially, after Trump’s statement against Khizr Khan, the father
of a Muslim soldier-US Army Capt. Humayun Khan who was killed in 2004 by a car
bomb in Iraq, President Obama stated on August 3, 2016, “Republican nominee
Donald Trump is unfit to be president, and questioned why his party still
supports the New York billionaire’s candidacy… he is woefully unprepared to do
this job.”
Noting Donald Trump’s
discriminatory speeches and statements, several prominent Republicans and
Democrats, including some congressman have decided that they will not vote for
Trump by arguing that “he is unfit to serve as president of the United States.”
Taking cognizance of
Trump’s political follies—terror-hysteria, religious bigotry and racialism
which are well-penetrated in his personality, some writers and researches,
including American politicians call him a “crazy person” and some call him, a
“mad man.”
So, if succeeded in the
forthcoming presidential election, the fundamentalist and impulsive politician
Trump will not bother for dangerous implications of the US flawed
strategy—America and its Western allies have already been entangled in a
prolonged war in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries as part of the phony
global war on terror. While, double game of American military and CIA has badly
failed in Syria, and Russia is in best position, as Russian President Vladimir
Putin has proved his leadership qualities in relation to domestic policies and
international strategy, especially by thwarting the sinister designs of the
US-led entities in Syria.
In case, Trump is
elected as American president, his impulsive and racist approach could cause a
civil war in the US.
On May 21, 2016, Kevin
Barret, while giving a wake-up call to the Americans, wrote on the Veterans
Today, “Donald Trump’s terror hysteria, combined with the ever-growing
terrorist attacks around the world means that a dark future awaits America in
case the presumptive GOP nominee becomes president.”
Likewise, in the recent
years, if we note several acts of terrorism in Turkey, being committed by the
militants of ISIS, PYD and the banned Kurdistan
Workers’ Party-PKK, we can see that Turkish President has become target
of the US-Israeli double game and his own duplicity.
In this connection, The
World Beast Com wrote, “If we take cognizance of
the perennial wave of terror attacks in Turkey and failure of country’s
security agencies in thwarting these subversive acts…Turkey will surrender to
the terrorists.”
Both Donald Trump and
the President Tayyip Erdogan lack leadership qualities such as decision-making
power in accordance with the situation, cool-mindedness, tolerance etc., as
they are guided by emotionalism, ungoverned temper, irrationalism, rashness,
self-egoism and unrealistic idealism. Having religious prejudice, they are
staunch conservatives, who lack pragmatism, as they have ignored ground
realities. They are creating obnoxious chauvinism in their peoples like the
Indian Prime Minister Modi. They are power-hunger and wants fame by keeping
them in the limelight through media.
Famous thinker of
international relations, Hans Morgenthau points out that external policy of a
country should be moulded in accordance “with the exigencies and circumstances
of time and place” otherwise, there will be “failure of the foreign policy.” It
is quite true in case of Erdogan who has already destabilized Turkey owing to
his failed external policy, while Trump will further thwart the American
foreign policy goals, because, he does not have political wisdom.
Political characters of
Donald Trump and Tayyip Erdogan are amalgamation of the traits of Rasputin,
Russian spiritualist, Germany’s rulers William II (Kaiser) and Adolf Hitler who
brought about unrest in their own countries and also devastated Europe through
World War I and World War II.
We can conclude that
Trump and Erdogan who shares a number of negative similarities may bring about
a nuclear war between Russia and America in wake of the unresolved issue of
Syria. Both can further divide the world on religious lines, culminating into
major war between the Western Christians and the Muslims, involving other
religious communities. They will take the world to the ‘state of nature’ when
there was a war of “all against all” in the sense of Thomas Hobbes.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on
international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic_pak@hotmail.com
Courtesy Veterans Today
No comments:
Post a Comment