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Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

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Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#61
post #47
post #6

And the EU says we should welcome them in to Europe...

There was a very tight window of opportunity where that was realistic. At the time the only things standing in Turkey's way were the denial of the Armenian genocide and the death penalty. That window however closed a long time ago. Turkey was very reluctant to change either of these two things and EU member states weren't exactly crazy about the idea of Turkey becoming a member either. The EU's relations with Turkey…

Turkey has ten times Austria's population.

Wasn't going to happen as long as each state gets a veto.

The fears thrown around were: >10% of Austria's population is already foreign born, it would only take 1/100 Turkish citizens to double that.

I like the idea of free movement of goods, money, and labor, but I think we're finding in elections around the world that once you hit that 10% foreign-born number, people tend to freak out.

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#62
post #6

And the EU says we should welcome them in to Europe...

This comment isn't civil and substantive enough to do anything but start a political flamewar. The bar is higher, not lower, when discussion controversial issues because the threads are more sensitive. Please take care when commenting on threads like these.

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#63
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good question: if there's a majority of Turks who support the regime, what's the problem? Can't we like, leave them in peace? Do we have to impose western politics everywhere in the world??

The real question should be: Why does the US want to apply "democracy" and "human rights" using all means including interventions and civil wars like in Iraq, Syria and Libya but it acts as if there nothing happens for more criminal regimes like in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar?

With Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the answer is obvious: because those countries invest boatloads of money in the American economy, and losing that money would be bad.

Turkey is a NATO ally and has a very powerful and experienced military as well as a strong sense of national identity. The USA could not openly intervene like it did with Iraq, Syria and Libya.

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is fair to say it is technical enough to be here

It surely is, but since this site lately has taken a stance against politics here, I wanted to understand where the line is drawn.

That stance was withdrawn a few days after it was instantiated.

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#65

The arrest and torture of an exorbitant number of 'enemies of the state', including judges, police officers, and teachers, indicates more important problems in Turkey. For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan. The West doesn't really care what he does, as long as Turkey takes care of most of the refugees. A disgusting European policy.

Please resist the temptation to scoot right back up to generic politics in a thread like this. We've had that discussion before on Hacker News, let's try to have a new one.

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#66
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good question: if there's a majority of Turks who support the regime, what's the problem? Can't we like, leave them in peace? Do we have to impose western politics everywhere in the world??

The real question should be: Why does the US want to apply "democracy" and "human rights" using all means including interventions and civil wars like in Iraq, Syria and Libya but it acts as if there nothing happens for more criminal regimes like in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar?

Actually most of the Turkish people think that US has tried to coup in Turkey with the help of CIA and very religious and anti-secular (who hates Ataturk) Gulen group. That group is so dangerous that they even faked themselves as secular on coup text which was read on tv forcedly.

That religious group has been ruling the country with their own politicians, lawyers, soldiers for the last 40 years however they want. Erdogan helped them gain power against real secular people and even jailed secular soldiers and journalists with this partnership. Many good people died in jail because of getting cancer.

Currently he is in a war against his old friend Gulen and clearing Turkey up from them. Both secular people and his fans support this action as that group ruined the country.

However Erdogan is upset at EU and US because they left him alone with his war so that's why he tries to provocate EU. Don't give a meaning to his sayings/actions.

Btw Kurds and PKK (terrorists) are very different. Don't get fooled by western media.

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China definitely has the capabilities they need. They might get help from Cisco, but they don't need to. I worked in an F50 that sold services, and we were constantly having to 'help' countries like Tunisia, Kazakstan etc. do some things we didn't want them to do, we tried to steer clear of being involved but we could not in some circumstances. But it wasn't that bad, it was mostly porn filtering and such.

What's an F50?

Fortune 50 company

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#68
post #23

The arrest and torture of an exorbitant number of 'enemies of the state', including judges, police officers, and teachers, indicates more important problems in Turkey. For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan. The West doesn't really care what he does, as long as Turkey takes care of most of the refugees. A disgusting European policy.

>For some reason, a lot of Turks still seem to support Erdogan You hear 3 reasons, typically... - Viewed as a champion for lower class citizens, who weren't well represented in past administrations - Supportive of religious conservatives, also not represented well in the past - The economy has improved under his tenure. Inflation slowed, infrastructure improved, etc. Not disputing your view of him, but he is popular…

Internal economy seems like it has improved by the numbers, but the greatest problem is the longevity of these improvements. If Turkey is not able to keep its economy together, whereas it will likely not be able to due to the aforementioned improvements being a result of the construction industry supplying for no demand, it is going to crash very badly.

Additionally, with its foreign policies and own political and socioeconomic problems, foreign investment has gone down significantly, leading to a great exchange rate declines (1.2 USD/TRY prior to the 2008 crisis, to 3.5 USD/TRY close today).

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#69
post #35

Tor was funded by the US State Department specifically so that anti-government elements in foreign countries could plot against their equivalent of "the establishment". Given the recent furore about "hackers" stealing the election, how is it surprising that foreign governments don't want US interference in their internal politics?

Wonder why parent was downvoted..

Re: Tor blocked in Turkey as government cracks down on VPN use

#70
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they usually hire (often Western) outside firms to do this. Yep, such as Cisco which helps China, to quote Cisco's pitch slides, "combat ‘Falun Gong’ evil religion and other hostiles" ( https://www.wired.com/2008/05/leaked-cisco-do ; https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/files/cisco_p... (PDF)).

China definitely has the capabilities they need. They might get help from Cisco, but they don't need to. I worked in an F50 that sold services, and we were constantly having to 'help' countries like Tunisia, Kazakstan etc. do some things we didn't want them to do, we tried to steer clear of being involved but we could not in some circumstances. But it wasn't that bad, it was mostly porn filtering and such.

Which company was this?
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