Parody Obama account tweets in Arabic

Parody accounts on Twitter have become a new genre of satire, with an Arabic-tweeting U.S. President Barack Obama recently joining the myriad comedy impersonators on the microblogging site, Al-Arabiya reported yesterday.

Obama's Arabic parody @ArabicObama claims the Lebanese ambassador in Washington is constantly flirting with him but his attempts at a romantic escapade is repeatedly hindered by the first lady. “My wife Michelle survived an assassination attempt, unfortunately,” read a recent tweet.

Twitter clearly states that it does not allow any kind of impersonation but allows parody accounts, even creating guidelines for them. The guideline said the parody accounts should be named clearly as such, and should distinguishable from the real person.

Numerous other Arabic parody accounts included politicians, clerics, celebrities and members of the royalty. Many parody accounts for the embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been created, Al-Arabiya said, ever since he began a bloody crackdown on a popular uprising in the country 18 months ago.

“[Media adviser] Bouthaina Shaaban says I'm the most beautiful president in the world. 20 million Syrians call me a giraffe. Who should I believe?” read a recent tweet on the account @bashar_alasad_.

Bashar al-Assad's late father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, has a parody account as well, despite being dead more than a decade now.

“A malfunctioning GPS steered our army from Golan to Daraa,” a tweet on the account @hafez_assad from April 2011 read. “We apologize for this inconvenience and hold the U.S. accountable for the GPS.”

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's parody account @notmobarak had more than 9,000 followers, while one of the longest running parodies belonged to a rather grim organization: al-Qaeda. Twitter account @alqaeda still bears the picture of its late leader Osama bin Laden as its profile picture, who was killed in May 2011.

A tweet posted in July 2012 on @alqaeda account read, "In the 5 years I've been on Twitter, I've posted 617 tweets, gained nearly 37,000 followers & been shot dead once."

* This story was originally published on the Al-Arabiya website on Sept. 10, 2012. You can follow this link to read the full story: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/09/10/237210.html
(Hurriyet Daily News)

G-20 summit to press Russia on Syrian crisis

Two Russian navy ships sail to the Tartus base to protect Russian citizens there. AFP photo

World powers are planning to overcome Russia’s opposition to calls for taking action to end violence in Syria during a G-20 meeting taking place in Mexico

World leaders, led by the United States were expected to press Russia to change its support for the Syrian regime as they gathered for the G-20 meeting in Mexico’s Los Cabos city yesterday.

The G-20 summit, hosted by Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, began yesterday and will last two days with several of the powers present also holding important bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event.

Among those was U.S. President Barack Obama’s keenly anticipated meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the pair’s first meeting as presidents. Obama sees his “reset” of relations with Russia as a key achievement, despite Putin’s often strident anti-Western rhetoric, but the two leaders remain far apart on many issues, in particular the conflict in Syria. Their meeting is expected to focus on escalating violence in Syria and the near-collapse of a United Nations-brokered peace plan.
Russia and China has previously twice vetoed the U.N. Security Council resolutions against the Syrian regime. World powers could not persuade Moscow and Beijing to agree on a resolution to take action over the Syria crisis.

Yesterday’s meeting comes at a time when Russia calls for an international conference to discuss Syria violence, with a condition — including Iran, another ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Turkish PM Erdoğan to meet Obama and Putin

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any broad international talks on Syria must include Iran and must only address ways to create conditions for a political dialogue in Syria, not the content of that dialogue or preconditions such as al-Assad’s exit.

Turkey will also be present at the G-20 summit and has voiced its concerns over the escalation of conflict seen in its neighbor as it hosts over 28,000 Syrians fleeing from the clashes in their country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was set to hold separate talks with Putin and Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 summit meeting in Los Cabos. The Erdoğan-Putin meeting was set to take place yesterday and the Turkish prime minister is scheduled to meet with Obama today. The meetings are expected to center around international developments including the Syria crisis.

Before the critical meeting between two world powers in Mexico, two Russian navy ships are completing preparations to sail to Syria with a unit of marines on a mission to protect Russian citizens and the nation’s base there, a news report said. The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified Russian navy official as saying that the two amphibious landing vessels, Nikolai Filchenkov and Caesar Kunikov, will be heading shortly to the Syrian port of Tartus.

The official said the ships will carry an unspecified number of marines to protect Russians in Syria and evacuate some equipment from Tartus if necessary. Interfax said each of the ships is capable of carrying 150 marines and a dozen tanks.

It also quoted a deputy Russian air force chief as saying that Russia will give the necessary protection to its citizens in Syria.

“We must protect our citizens,” Maj.-Gen. Vladimir Gradusov was quoted by Interfax as saying. “We won’t abandon the Russians and evacuate them from the conflict zone if necessary.” Asked whether the air force would provide air support for the navy squadron, Gradusov said they will act on orders. (LOS CABOS, Mexico)

Turkey concerned over post-NATO Afghanistan

NATO chief Rasmussen (L), Turkish President Gül (C) and his US counterpart pose during the NATO meeting in Chicago. REUTERS photo

President Gül expresses gloom about post-NATO Afghanistan, saying the alliance has not even won over Afghan troops, let alone the people

Ankara is greatly worried about Afghanistan’s future following the looming departure of NATO troops, Turkish President Abdullah Gül told alliance leaders May 20, suggesting that the organization is preparing little groundwork for the future.

“Let us not fool ourselves. We have spent so much effort and money on Afghanistan for an [entire] decade. If everything reverts back to the old order after [NATO’s] withdrawal, would not all this effort and money end up going to waste?” Gül reportedly told his counterparts at a dinner hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama after the NATO summit in Chicago.

Gül said Obama had requested their help in preparing the summit declaration, adding that his blunt and uncensored talk on Afghanistan during the dinner may have also paved the way for others to come out more easily.

“We did not even place our trust in the Afghan military, let alone the Afghan people. Take a look at Afghan troops on one hand, and the alliance troops on the other. They do not even have boots on their feet and helmets on their heads. We could not even win the [Afghan] troops yet. Trillions of dollars were spent, but no asphalt was laid on the roads of Kabul, despite the fact that it is a [low-cost] job,” he said.

The Turkish president said they had always pondered military issues that would accomplish nothing if the alliance fails to win the locals’ hearts. “[The Taliban] would just return back if you withdraw. Let us emphasize humanitarian matters at least starting from today until 2014.”

U.S. forces are set to pull out of Afghanistan in 2013, while NATO is schedule to stay until 2014.
Gül also said instability or the emergence of an undesirable situation in Pakistan would cost the world dearly and cautioned against ostracizing and cornering the South Asian country.

“It is not right to adopt an ostracizing or antagonistic attitude toward Pakistan. You nearly did not call them to the summit. I spoke to [Pakistani President Asif Ali] Zardari; he says they killed this many of our troops and our citizens and did not even issue a single apology,” Gül said. “Do not forget; they are also administrators who come to power through elections and account to their people in the end,” he added.

“Zardari will not come [here]; then we are going to brag on our own about what great victories we have won and conclude the meeting to end up fooling ourselves,” he said.

Pakistan’s own security concerns must also be understood, he said, adding that the trilateral meetings between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey were highly important. “We are trying to [prevent] mistrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Gül further said he had acquired the impression that most NATO countries were anxious to withdraw from Afghanistan as soon as possible.

The general at the helm of Pakistan’s intelligence said he would never have come to the meeting but attended nonetheless only because of Turkey’s call, he said.

The historical friendship and cooperation treaty of 1921 between Afghanistan and Turkey will also be renewed, Gül said, adding that an agreement for strategic cooperation would also come about. “Our interest in Afghanistan, our presence there and our assistance will continue after 2014 as well,” he said.

Gül meets new French president

Meanwhile, Gül also met with newly elected French President François Hollande on May 20. Gül reportedly inquired about the reasons behind France’s antagonistic attitude toward Turkey despite the lack of any conflict of interest between the two countries, as well as a host of mutually shared interests on every subject.

Gül further asked Hollande why no French president had come to pay a visit to Turkey for the past 20 years, according to reports.

In response, Hollande called for the reset and repair of Franco-Turco relations. Gül also met with German Chancellor Angel Merkel at midday on May 20, during which they focused on Europe’s economic problems and especially Merkel’s complaints about Greece, according to reports. (İsmet Berkan-CHICAGO / Hürriyet)

Twitter plays outsize role in 2012 US campaign

Captured photo from Twitter

U.S. President Barack Obama is on Twitter. So is his presumed Republican challenger in the November election, Mitt Romney. And so are all the voters following the contest, whether they know it or not.

Candidates, strategists, journalists and political junkies have all flocked to the social networking hub, where information from the mundane to the momentous is shared through 140-character microbursts known as tweets.

While relatively few voters are on Twitter, a study by the Pew Research Center found that about 13 percent of U.S. adults have joined the site, it's become an essential tool for campaigns to test-drive themes and make news with a group of politically wired "influencers" who share those messages with the broader world.

When a voter is exposed to any information on the presidential race, chances are it's been through the Twitter filter first.

Four years ago, Twitter was still in relative infancy, and just 1.8 million tweets were sent on Election Day 2008. Now, Twitter gets that many approximately every eight minutes.

"The subset of people on Twitter may be relatively small, but it's a politically engaged audience whose influence extends both online and off," said Heather LaMarre, a University of Minnesota communications professor who studies social media.

Radio, TV and the Internet all prompted campaigns to adapt in the past, but radio and television are top-down mediums at heart — from the broadcaster to the public. Never before has a grassroots technology like Twitter given voice and power to millions — and given candidates a real-time way to monitor the effects of their messages and change them on the fly.

Obama's 2012 State of the Union address drew 800,000 tweets, Twitter said. And tweets mentioning Rick Santorum jumped from 10-20 per minute to over 2,500 tweets per minute when news broke that he was suspending his bid for the Republican nomination.

Both the Obama and Romney campaigns are mindful of the hazards of Twitter, designating staffers to monitor the site for problems to address or mistakes from their rivals to exploit.

"Our team understands that the most important issues in this campaign are jobs and the economy, not the Twitter controversy of the day," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said. "But we need to be on top of everything and monitor every aspect of this race. Twitter helps us keep our finger on the pulse of the fast moving pace of new media." The Romney campaign sought to seize advantage after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen remarked that Romney's wife, Ann, a stay-at-home mother of five sons, had "never worked a day in her life." Polls show Romney lagging badly among women voters, and his advisers have sought ways to mitigate the gender gap.

After Rosen's comments on CNN quickly exploded, on Twitter, the Romney campaign launched a Twitter feed by the candidate's wife.

"I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work," Ann Romney said in her first tweet. "All moms are entitled to choose their path," she said in her second.

That helped cast Democrats as unsympathetic to women who stay home with children — a score for the Romney campaign that went far beyond the Twitter audience.

The Obama team deployed Michelle Obama to push back on the issue.

"Every mother works hard and every woman deserves to be respected," the first lady tweeted.

Twitter also helped lead to the resignation of a Romney foreign policy spokesman this week. Richard Grenell stepped down in part because of caustic tweets he had sent about a number of public figures including commentator Rachel Maddow and former Republican contender Newt Gingrich.

"You're more likely to be embarrassed by what's said on Twitter than to be praised," Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. He called that one of Twitter's biggest pitfalls.

But, he added, "Twitter has this quality of being an alert system that elevates it above the number of people using it." (BETH FOUHY-NEW YORK - The Associated Press)

Castro slams Obama as Bin Laden judge and executioner

In this photo released Friday April 13, 2012 by Cuba's state-run newspaper Granma, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, right, speaks with Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, left, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday April 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Granma, Estudios Revolucion)

Cuba's Fidel Castro criticized US President Barack Obama today for assuming the role of judge and executioner in the slaying of Osama Bin Laden, a year after the Al-Qaeda leader's demise.

Writing in the official Communist Party newspaper Granma, Castro said Obama was competing with Republican challenger Mitt Romney to justify the raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan, a US ally.

"But does the president of the United States have the right to judge and the right to kill; to become the court and at the same time the executioner and to carry out such crimes in a country and against a people on the other side of the planet?" he wrote.

He also criticized Obama for his brief trip to Afghanistan on the May 2 anniversary of Bin Laden's death.

He said the US president was acting "as if the world is not aware of the massive murders, the burning of books holy to Muslims and the outrages with the bodies of murdered people." Castro, 85, stepped down from the Cuban presidency in 2006 after being sidelined by illness, but he remains active with visits by foreign dignitaries and a weekly column in the state-controlled Cuban press.
(HAVANA - Agence France-Presse)

Turkey slams Obama and French leaders

Turkey expressed “deep regret” over United States President Barrack Obama’s April 24 statement on the Armenian massacres, saying that it was “extremely problematic and distorting historical facts.”

A foreign ministry statement said that Obama “once again demonstrated a baseless approach reflecting the Armenian views regarding the dispute between Turks and Armenians on the painful part of their common history.” It cautioned that such “one-sided statements are not only misguided, but also make the normalization of Turkey and Armenia relations difficult” and called on Washington “to encourage the Armenian side, which avoids mutual historical research, to be more realistic and conciliatory.”

Ankara made a similar statement last year after Obama, heeding previous U.S. presidents, avoided the “genocide” word in his statement, while calling the killings a “great disaster” (Meds Yeghern), The foreign ministry also denounced French President Nicolas Sarkozy and presidential candidate François Hollande for attending “genocide” commemoration ceremonies in Paris, stressing that the two had “displayed another example of politically exploiting disputed historical issues.” (Hürriyet Daily News)

US, France in Meds Yeghern remembrance

U.S. President Barack Obama avoided using the term “genocide” yesterday in his annual message marking the events of 1915, dubbing the mass killings a “great disaster” (Meds Yeghern), while French President Nicolas Sarkozy was set to attend commemorations in Paris.

April 24, the day Armenians mark the beginning of the mass killings of their kin during the Ottoman Empire, was marked around the world, including Turkey.

Thousands of Armenians staged a procession to a hilltop memorial in Yerevan yesterday to mark the anniversary.

“Today we, just as many, many others all over the world, bow to the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian genocide,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who led top officials laying wreaths at the monument, said in a statement.

Sarkozy’s challenger for the French presidency, François Hollande, was also expected to participate in ceremonies in Paris.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu played down the memorial day, saying, “There is no difference between April 23 and April 24.”

“Giving such importance to this day is not right,” Davutoğlu said. “Enjoy April 25.”

Commemoration in Istanbul
Turkish activists staged a series of commemoration events in Istanbul to mark the day and sent a letter to prominent Armenian religious authorities to express their sentiments.

“We are penning this letter to your Catholicos office, which represents the spiritual leadership of all the world’s Armenians, to express our shame and respect before the memory of Ottoman-Armenians who were massacred in the process of the genocide, whose properties and wealth were seized and even whose past traces [authorities] have expended considerable efforts in wiping out,” they said.

The activists sent the letter to Etchmiadzin, the religious center of all Armenians in Armenia, and the Catholicos of Cilicia in Lebanon, which was exiled from Anatolia.

“We are penning this letter to you to express our belief that the denial of a genocide, which represents a crime against humanity, amounts to a human rights violation that paves the way for other violations and which fosters enmity and hatred,” the letter said.

The Committee Against Racism and Discrimination of the Human Rights Association (İHD) staged yesterday’s first rally before the Turkish and Islamic Artifacts Museum in Sultanahmet Square. The museum was once used as a prison where around 250 Armenian intellectuals were briefly held in 1915 before being deported.

US Americans accuse Obama of betrayal for 1915
Ümit Enginsoy - ANKARA

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Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has said Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s visit to Baku is focused only on “bilateral relations and is not directed against” Iran or any other country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on its website. Lieberman’s visit on April 23-24 came amid reports that Israel and Azerbaijan have been strengthening their ties ahead of a possible Israeli military action against Azerbaijan’s neighbor Iran. Lieberman also denied on April 23 that Israel had gained access to air bases in Azerbaijan. “Such reports are from the sphere of science fiction and do not correspond with the truth,” Lieberman told reporters in the Azeri capital Baku.

(hurriyetdailynews)