If anyone guilty, it should be not Obama but..

… Nobel Peace Prize committee…

This morning, President Obama spoke at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
President Obama at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

Nobel-winner Obama defends war

from BBC News | Europe | World Edition

US President Barack Obama defends the waging of “morally justified” war as he collects the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

Obama’s Nobel balancing act

from Mark Mardell | The Reporters by Mark Mardell (the Reporters)

The president of war and peace appears to have pulled off a difficult balancing act, by refusing to bask in the glow of merely being the “anti-Bush”. In Oslo, Obama told his European audience what many Americans will see as some hard truths.

Erdoğan comes back to Turkey earlier than expected…

He has to be here as the conspiratorial provocations emerge.

Hürriyet comments on the body language of two leaders. Here are 19 photos to comment.

Turkish Ambassador to US Resigns:

Nabi Sensoy, Turkish Ambassador to the US since 1966, reportedly resigned on Tuesday and asked to be reassigned, three months short of his retirement. No official reason has been given, but Turkish newspapers report that Ambassador Sensoy had been asked by Ankara to forward a request to the White House that the Turkish ambassador also attend the meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and President Obama, but that Sensoy did not do so. (click here, in Turkish). OR that Sensoy had been asked by Ankara to set up the meeting to also include Ahmet Davutoglu and Hillary Clinton, that the US administration refused this format, and that Davutoglu had blamed Sensoy. (This is all unconfirmed gossip.)

Obama and Erdoğan meeting soon…

As I was not too excited with his election, I am not too disappointed with Obama’s moves on Afghanistan. In fact, I remember he was repeatingly on Afghanistan instead of Iraq. Now PM Erdoğan will be meeting with President Obama. It is reported that Obama wants soldiers from Turkey. The latter does not intend to give any. I hope TR-US relations will go through another bitter period…

“What Obama Should Say to Erdogan”

from Istanbul Calling by Yigal Schleifer

Hugh Pope, the International Crisis Group’s Turkey analyst — who just returned from a two-month fellowship at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington — has a new paper out ahead of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Monday visit to the White House. The paper, published by the Transatlantic Academy, takes a close look at two areas in which Washington has an interest in pushing Ankara along, its normalization process with Armenia and its European Union membership process, and also helpfully unpackages the debate over Turkey’s perceived eastward “drift.”

If Sarkozy and Merkel are against Blair, maybe we should support him:)

Merkel and Sarkozy unite to end Blair’s European dream

from EU-DIGEST by Turkish Digest

Europe, World – The Independent

“Merkel and Sarkozy unite to end Blair’s European dream

Former prime minister’s bid for EU presidency founders as continent’s most powerful leaders announce they would prefer candidate from smaller country

Turkey seems to have officially recognized Iraqi Kurdistan…

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu releases a white pigeon during the opening of the new Turkish Consulate in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad October 31, 2009. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousuly

Turkey: Time to Rebuild Middle East

by USAK

Source: Turkish Daily Mail
Date: Saturday, 31 October 2009 0:24
Tags: Turkey and Middle East, Middle East, Kurd, Kurdish, Iraq
——————————————————————————–

ARBIL – Turkey extended a regional peace drive to Iraqi Kurds when Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with top Kurdish officials in a landmark visit to Arbil.

“It is time for Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to rebuild the Middle East. Therefore, it is time for everyone to take brave steps,” Davutoglu told a joint press conference with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani late on Friday. Barzani praised Davutoğlu’s visit, saying it is even more significant now as the Middle East is passing through such a sensitive time.
Davutoğlu’s visit to Arbil, the first by a Turkish foreign minister, is a sign that a taboo maintained in Turkish foreign policy until recently is no longer in place.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani (R) holds a joint conference with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Arbil, 310 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, October 30, 2009. Picture taken October 30, 2009. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

Division of labour at Nobel prizes

last update 10 Oct 2009- 11:00

Peace prize favors trendy, literature prize favors less trendy.

Mr. Obama gets the Nobel peace prize. I have no problem with Mr. Obama but i feel like there must be more deeds before getting that prize…

a roundup:

Americana scenes

The American way

Irony & contrasts.

@ haha.nu

The boundaries of Brand Obama

by Mark Mardell (the Reporters)

The president’s home city has been knocked out in the first round of the vote to choose the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games, even though he and the First Lady travelled to Copenhagen to push the bid.

A humiliation, a moment of moment or a fact devoid of political meaning? I have no doubt some hostile commentators will argue the former.

The argument had already been doing the rounds that he should concentrate on the big stuff, and not on such trivia.

The REAL American Beauty

@ haha.nu

Chatting about Kurdish initiative?

Obama and Erdogan chat at G20 meeting. This photo hit the first pages of many Turkish dailies today...

The rumor is that they talk about the Kurdish initiative…

Nimet Çubukçu (Minister of Education)

Mrs. Çubukçu, the new minister, started new school year with a course on “discrimination”. A great symbolic move.

In the mean time,

Hard times for Obama

Obama, who has won the rhetorical propaganda war, is now losing it. Accusations to him are incohere but who cares? Looks like Republicans are striking back:)

@ haha.nu

Some Obama Foes Are Indeed Racists

by Eugene Robinson