... Sibel Edmonds: ... The US media also suffers from a pack mentality. I was told by one executive that they weren't doing the story because it was 'old news' because 60 Minutes did a single segment in October 2002, even though they only covered a tiny part of the case. This executive literally told me that he'd only cover the story if it was 'hot and sexy.' I often think that I'd need to be able to hire Britney Spears to be a spokesperson - and this is not just for my case, but for any of the many other solid, important cases at the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. Apparently this is what it would take to get any coverage.
Of course, given the pack mentality, if any of these stories does become 'hot and sexy' then all the journalists focus on the same issues and there's no differentiation in their reporting....
...Turkey's army of lobbyists in DC are very effective. The US press tends to stay away from any stories critical of Turkey, I would say even more than Israel.
There's also the possible problem of 'eating crow' but I hope this isn't an issue, this story is way too important for any of that. The information that has been published in the Times recently could have easily come out four years ago in the US press. We now need everyone to focus on the important issues....
... Luke Ryland: Two weeks after the first article in the Times about the involvement of high-level US officials being involved with Turkish and Israeli interests in supplying the nuclear black market, President Bush quietly announced that the US will start supplying nuclear technology to Turkey. Do you think that is a coincidence?
Sibel Edmonds: The timing is certainly very, very suspicious. The proposals that are being floated are very suspicious too. There are reports that Turkey will build an enrichment facility, and that Turkey will become the key supplier of nuclear fuel to other Muslim countries who want nuclear power plants. None of this makes any sense.
And again, the US media is nowhere to be seen on this issue. Where are the journalists? Do you remember the noise made a couple of years ago when the US announced that it would supply India with nuclear technology? So far, nearly a week after the announcement and not a single major US media outlet has even reported on the deal! Think of the hypocrisy, with all the saber-rattling at Iran over enrichment.
If it's such a good idea to sell nuclear technology to Turkey, why isn't the White House out there selling the idea? Where are the arguments in the press saying that this will be good for regional stability, or that it will help reduce demand for oil, or even that it is simply good business because US firms will be able to sell their hardware and knowledge? There's nothing! Silence. What does that tell you?....
From Reuters/UK (Jan 28, 2008, Turkish Enka, KEPCO to cooperate on nuclear energy):
Turkish energy-to-construction firm Enka Insaat ENKAI.IS has agreed with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) ... to work together on nuclear energy in Turkey, the Turkish firm said on Monday.
Enka said in a statement to the stock market that the preliminary agreement was signed on Friday, but gave no more details.
Energy-importer Turkey has said it expects to hold tenders for its first nuclear power plants by May at the latest and aims for construction to start this year....
Note that Fikret Güler is a member of the Board of Enka (see Enka's website), and Hilmi Güler is the Turkish Energy Minister.
From Transnationale.org, KEPCO belongs to:
shareholder ... country ... %
Barclays Plc ... UK ... 0.2
Brandes Investment Partners, L.P ... US ... 3.2
Franklin Resources, Inc ... US ... 0.5
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ... US ... 0.3
ING Groep ... Netherlands ... 0.3INVESCO International Ltd. ... Jersey ... 0.7
Mellon Financial Corp. ... US ... 0.2
Morgan Stanley ... US ... 0.2
Putnam LLC ... US ... 0.1
KEPCO is also working in Romania, see the 2002 article on PlanetArk.
Thomas Grove and Ercan Ersoy report for Reuters/UK (Jan 28, 2008, INTERVIEW-Turkey Sabanci to pick nuclear partner by mid-March):
Turkey's Sabanci Holding SAHOL.IS will choose by mid-March from up to six European and Asian companies to partner its bid in a Turkish nuclear power plant tender, the head of Sabanci's energy group said on Monday.
"We are looking for a utility company and are in talks with five or six companies ... (We can decide on one) at the end of February or the beginning of March," Selahattin Hakman, the president of the conglomerate's energy group, told Reuters.
Turkey will hold a tender for the construction and operation of three seperate nuclear power station tenders by May at the latest, and construction is targeted to begin this year, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month.....
Interestingly, Mustafa Oguz reports for the Turkish Daily News (Jan 21, 2008, Turkey to face serious brainpower deficit in nuclear power):
.... About 20 years ago, Istanbul Technical University's (İTÜ) Nuclear Energy Institute annually received over 100 graduate studies applications, but now the Institute is merely a branch of the University's Energy Institute, preferred by only five graduate studies candidates. “The department has eight professors and five people apply. We must train our own workforce if we speak of independence,” said Bilge....
...“Me and my colleagues spent two years on the safety of a nuclear plant in 1986. I do not see that such precautions can be taken within the framework of the existing law,” he said....
... The nuclear issue, with its economic, scientific and political dimensions is one of the most important matters on Turkey's agenda, yet the country's opposition parties remain aloof to vital developments related to the subject. Representatives of Turkey's three main political parties, namely the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were supposed to state their parties' views during the problems and solutions part of the Nuclear Energy Arena meet and hear criticism and remarks from experts in the field. Moreover, the platform was opened by the President of United Kingdom Atomic Energy Agency Barbara Thomas Judge, who emphasized nuclear power's new age and spoke about the experiences of her country that is contemplating erecting fourth generation nuclear plants. However, other than the AKP delegate, Taner Yıldız, who gave evasive responses to questions posed by academics on the nuclear law and the lack of trained nuclear brainpower, opposition parties did not make a serious contribution to discussions. The MHP delegate, Professor Alim Işık, tailored his party's energy dossier minutes before his turn, to recite innumerable data on nuclear energy in the world and energy consumption in Turkey, a theme already covered several times during the day. As for the CHP, the party was simply absent. Although the name of Özlem Çerçioğlu was included in the list of speakers, she did not show up and the party did not care to send another representative to the platform.
The event was organized by the Strategic, Technical, Economic Research Center (STEAM).
Joshua Frank on DissidentVoice (Jan 25, 2008, Why Bush Wants to Legalize the Nuke Trade with Turkey) has these insights:
According to FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds there is a vast black market for nukes, and certain U.S. officials have been supplying sensitive nuclear technology information to Turkish and Israeli interests through its conduits....
...In likely reaction to the London Times report, the Bush Administration quietly announced on January 22 that the president would like Congress to approve the sale of nuclear secrets to Turkey. As with most stories of this magnitude, the U.S. media has put on blinders, opting to not report either Edmonds’ story or Bush’s recent announcement....
...The Bushites seem to be covering their own exposed backsides, for the timing of Bush’s call to sell nuke secrets to Turkey is certainly suspicious, if not overtly conspicuous. It appears the White House has been spooked by Edmonds and hopes to absolve the U.S. officials allegedly involved in the illegal sale of nuclear technology to private Turkish “entities”....
...If Congress does not block or amend Bush’s legislation to sell nukes to Turkey within 90 days, it will become law automatically, likely acting retroactively to clear the alleged crimes of Marc Grossman and his neocon, nuke-trading friends.
Lale Sariibrahimoglu comments in Today's Zaman (Jan 22, 2008, Turkey to acquire missile technology):
...US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy Ed McGinnis, in charge of developing the US's Global Energy Partnership (GNEP), had talks in Ankara on Jan. 17, reportedly supporting Turkey's nuclear energy development plans. But the US has also been urging Turkey to join the 19-nation GNEP platform that envisages, among other things, safe development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while seeking to control nuclear arms proliferation.
By the way, it is worth recalling that earlier Turkish press reports stating that the US had been warm to the idea of turning Turkey into a nuclear uranium enrichment center through which Iran can also obtain uranium for peaceful purposes did not seem correct.
As far as I understand, the US is not of the opinion that it should encourage Turkey, which has not even started building nuclear energy plants, to enrich uranium. In the eyes of the US, supporting Turkey becoming a center for uranium enrichment is a premature idea....
...Once Turkey begins to acquire the capability to develop nuclear technology to meet its energy needs, its next or parallel step is expected to be to build its missile technology, not nuclear arms, says a Western military source.
Since 2004, Turkey has maintained a policy of boosting its poorly based defense industry toward its development from the status of a medium-level technology base to a higher-level and strategic country, mainly in areas such as missile-building, which requires high technological capability.
To reach that target and become a major player in the defense industry, Turkey has already taken steps to force major military-owned companies to intensify the building of high-tech defense equipment while ending joint production policies that have failed to enable the creation of a meaningful defense industry base in the country.
Ankara has thus increasingly been forging cooperation with countries, including South Korea, that are ready to share their technology with Turkey. China has also been cooperating with Turkey in the development of rockets with a range of 150 kilometers.
No comments:
Post a Comment