The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views
The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views |
| Kerry to chide Turkish PM over Zionism comments Posted: 01 Mar 2013 07:51 AM PST
Kerry, on his first trip to a Muslim nation since taking office, is meeting Turkish leaders for talks meant to focus on Syria's civil war and bilateral interests from energy security to counter-terrorism. But comment by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan at a UN meeting in Vienna this week, condemned by his Israeli counterpart, the White House and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has clouded his trip. "This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity ... It does have a corrosive effect (on relations)," a senior US official told reporters as Kerry flew to Ankara. "I am sure the secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to hear it," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. "To state the obvious, it complicates our ability to do all of the things that we want to do together when we have such a profound disagreement about such an important thing." Washington needs all the allies it can get as it navigates the political currents of the Middle East, and sees Turkey as the key player in supporting Syria's opposition and planning for the era after President Bashar al-Assad. But the collapse of Ankara's ties with Israel have undermined US hopes that Turkey could play a role as a broker in the broader region. "The Turkey-Israel relationship is frozen," the US official said. "We want to see a normalisation ... not just for the sake of the two countries but for the sake of the region and, frankly, for the symbolism," he said. "Not that long ago (you) had these two countries demonstrating that a majority Muslim country could have very positive and strong relations with the Jewish state and that was a sign for the region (of what was) possible." Erdogan told the UN Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Vienna on Wednesday: "Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime against humanity." Erdogan's caustic rhetoric on Israel has won applause from conservative supporters at home but raised increasing concern among Western allies. "Erdogan's comments about Israel have become progressively more worrying," said Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress. "This type of rhetoric is pushing Turkey further away from the West and Europe and closer to Iran." Ties between Israel and mostly Muslim Turkey have been frosty since 2010, when Israeli marines killed nine Turks in fighting aboard a Palestinian aid ship that tried to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. In recent weeks, there has been a run of reports in the Turkish and Israeli media about efforts to repair relations, including a senior diplomatic meeting last month in Rome and military equipment transfers. The reports have not been confirmed by either government. SUPPORT FOR SYRIAN OPPOSITION Turkey's relations with the United States have always been prickly, driven more by a mutual need for intelligence than any deep cultural affinity. And Erdogan's populist rhetoric, sometimes at apparent odds with US interests, is aimed partly at a domestic audience wary of Washington's influence. But the two have strong common interests. Officials said Syria would top the agenda in Kerry's meetings with Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, building on the discussions in Rome between 11 mostly European and Arab nations within the "Friends of Syria" group. After the Rome meeting, Kerry said yesterday the United States would for the first time give non-lethal aid to the rebels and more than double support to the civilian opposition, although Western powers stopped short of pledging arms. "We need to continue the discussion which took place in Rome ... in terms of the main goals there is no daylight between us and the Americans," a senior Turkish official said. "A broad agreement was reached on supporting the opposition. Now our sides need to sit down and really flesh out what we can do to support them in order to change the balance on the ground," he said. Turkey has been one of Assad's fiercest critics, hosting a NATO Patriot missile defence system, including two US batteries, to protect against a spillover of violence and leading calls for international intervention. It has spent more than US$600 million (RM1.8 billion) sheltering refugees from the conflict that began almost two years ago, housing some 180,000 in camps near the border and tens of thousands more who are staying with relatives or in private accommodation. Washington has given US$385 million in humanitarian aid for Syria but US President Barack Obama has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could use them on Western targets. Turkey, too, has been reluctant to provide weapons, fearing direct intervention could cause the conflict to spill across its borders. — Reuters |
| Wall St dips on data, S&P set for worst week in 2013 Posted: 01 Mar 2013 07:49 AM PST NEW YORK, March 1 — US stocks fell today, beginning March on a weak footing, as lacklustre data in the US and abroad pointed to a world economic recovery that struggles to gain traction.
January personal income fell 3.6 per cent in the US, its biggest drop in 20 years. China's factory growth cooled to multi-month lows in February as domestic demand dipped, and euro zone manufacturing activity appeared no closer to recovery last month, as a dire performance in France offset a return to growth in Germany. "The weakness overseas really spooked things, and that's what's directing the ball right now," said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia. There were some bright spots, too, as new orders drove the pace of US manufacturing growth to its quickest in more than a year and a half in February, according to the Institute for Supply Management. In addition, US consumer sentiment rose more than expected in February, the final Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan sentiment index showed. Investors were also looking ahead to US government budget cuts that were widely expected to take effect at the end of the day, barring an unlikely last-minute deal. The International Monetary Fund has said that if the cuts take effect, it would re-evaluate growth forecasts for the US The Dow Jones industrial average was down 44.93 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 14,009.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 6.20 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 1,508.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 17.89 points, or 0.57 per cent, at 3,142.30. For the week, the Dow is up less than 0.1 per cent while the Nasdaq is off 0.6 per cent and the S&P is off 0.4 per cent in its worst weekly performance this year. Equities have been on a tear lately, rising for four straight months to approach five-year highs, while the Dow is now about 1 per cent away from its all-time intraday high of 14,198.10. Declines have been shallow or short-lived, with investors jumping in to seek value on any dips. In addition to concerns about economic growth, "there are also jitters with the Dow at the doorstep of all-time highs," said PNC's Stone, who helps oversee US$115 billion (RM356 billion) in assets. "Given the speed of the advance we've seen, there's plenty of room for a pullback." The equity market gains have come on the back of strong corporate earnings and an accommodative Federal Reserve. In that environment, many investors have shrugged off the potential impact of the sequester, US$85 billion in spending cuts across federal government agencies that economists expect will shave half a per centage point off US economic growth. Cyclical companies such as banks and materials stocks, which are closely tied to the pace of economic growth, are likely to be among the hardest hit in the short term. Morgan Stanley fell 0.8 per cent to US$22.37. Chevron Corp slid 0.7 per cent to US$116.32. Groupon Inc surged 4 per cent to US$4.71, a day after the online coupon company fired its chief executive officer in the wake of weak quarterly results. Gap Inc rose 3.1 per cent to US$33.97 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations and boosting its dividend by 20 per cent, while Salesforce.com Inc posted sales that beat forecasts, sending shares up 5.9 per cent to US$179. — Reuters |
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