President Vladimir Putin is on a mission to expand Russian ideology and is employing social media trolls to effect political change. The director of NATO’s strategic communications command in Riga, Latvia, says that the Russians are using modern propaganda methods to effect change in their favor and that Britain is not immune from the results. Jānis Sārts says that the Russians are in a digital information offensive against non-Russians.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is taking over independent media outlets in Turkey, in an effort to suppress growing dissent in Turkey among journalists who are attempting to report on Turkey’s support of ISIS. On Friday this week, the leading opposition newspaper Zaman was hijacked by Turkish authorities, followed by the disabling of another newspaper, Cihan News Agency, the very next day. Erdogan is desperate to hide the fact that the Turkish government have allowed a transit route for the U.S. to supply weapons to ISIS in order to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey and Israel are holding diplomatic talks in an effort to ‘normalise’ the relationship between the two countries, after relations deteriorated six years ago following the murder of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists near the Gaza strip in 2010. Turkish newspaper Hürriyet says that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has confirmed that “Israel and Turkey will publish a statement about this in the coming days.” Ejpress.org reports: Turkey has repeatedly insisted on three conditions for normalisation: the lifting of the Gaza blockade, compensation for the Mavi Marmara victims and an apol
Submitted by Andrew Bacevich via TomDispatch.com,
Police in riot gear have taken over Turkey’s opposition newspaper Zaman in a midnight raid using tear gas and water cannons. Turkey’s highest-circulating newspaper is now under state control in another blow to press freedom in President Recep Erdogan’s Turkey. Business Insider UK reports: The government takeover of Today’s Zaman was evidently in response to Erdogan’s perception of the paper as a front for the Gülen movement — a social movement led by the Turkish scholar and preacher Fethullah Gülen that is openly critical of Erdogan’s government.