U.S. Government Expresses "Concern" Over Turkish Government's Suppression of Gezi Park Protests, But Let Us Not Forget the Suppression of Occupy Oakland

This is in no way an attempt to excuse the contemptible actions of Erdogan's government towards the protesters in Gezi Park. Erdogan appears to have decided to tarnish his political legacy and, if he had any shred of decency left, would resign from office in disgrace. That said, we must also acknowledge that he has been following a variety of precedents established by governments throughout the world for the suppression of democratic action--not least of which is the example set by government officials in the United States.

Nor is the action of government officials in the United States with regard to the Occupy Movement new. Let us not forget that, in 1932, "after an Army detachment under the command of Douglas MacArthur violently broke up a peaceable encampment of the Bonus Army — a movement of World War I veterans agitating for early payment of a promised government bonus to help overcome destitution caused by unemployment — President Herbert Hoover endorsed the bloody confrontation with the words 'Thank God we still have a government in Washington that knows how to deal with a mob.'"

Note that the source of the above video is Russian. If you depend upon domestic news sources in the U.S. to find out what is actually happening in the U.S., you will end up tragically uninformed. So much for the Fourth Estate.