The Foreign Service Journal, January 2008

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 mark lawyers, journalists and spam- mers to determine Web site owner- ship, and has been particularly useful to law enforcement in combating fraud and theft. ICANN is presently reviewing sites like Whois and discussing how to protect privacy while ensuring that accurate information about Web site ownership is available to those who need it without charge. —Marc Nielsen, Editorial Intern Turkey: A Bridge in Danger During the last several months of 2007, the world was reminded of Turkey’s pivotal role in Middle East- ern and global strategic dynamics when several crises erupted to chal- lenge the U.S. relationship with this key NATO ally. In October, Turkey’s parliament gave a green light to the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to invade Iraq in pursuit of Kurdistan Workers Party militants based there — a move that promised to destabilize the wider region. At the same time, a U.S. congressional bid to charge Ankara with genocide in the massacre of 1.5 million Armen- ians in Ottoman-era Turkey threat- ened to irreparably damage U.S.- Turkish relations. Only Ankara’s recall of its ambas- sador to Washington and a fierce lobbying campaign by the administra- tion, that included all living former secretaries of State, succeeded in quashing the resolution. Elsewhere, a hastily convened “neighbors’ conference” hosted by Turkey on Nov. 1, followed by Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to Washing- ton on Nov. 3, began to address An- kara’s concerns on the Kurdish issue. In late November, plans for establishing a joint intelligence cen- ter, to be located in either Iraq or Turkey, were hammered out during a succession of meetings between senior American generals and the Turkish General Staff. There, satel- lite and other actionable intelligence on the rebels provided by both security forces will be evaluated. Ankara still has some 100,000 troops and supporting tanks, artillery and warplanes massed along Tur- key’s southeastern border. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization in much of the world, has about 3,000 fighters based in northern Iraq, from where they launch raids into Turkey. Begun in 1984, the insurgency’s campaign for self-rule in south- eastern Turkey gained new momen- M y message today is not about the defense budget or military power. My message is that if we are to meet the myriad challenges around the world in the coming decades, this country must strengthen other important elements of national power both institutionally and financially. … In short, I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use “soft” power and for better integrating it with “hard” power. — Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Manhattan, Kan., Nov. 26, http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1199 C Y B E R N O T E S