Closed

This blog is closed.

New blog is http://www.internationmusing.blogspot.com/

Meet the new co bloggers.

The new blog

Last week I announced that Typepad will be the new host of this blog, but I changed my mind. It will be still blogspot: http://internationmusing.blogspot.com/ is the new blog name.

Busy with preparing a nice outlook, but next week, Seda from Turkey, living in Thessaloniki, will post her first post. Also Sandra, as I mentioned in my entry of last week.
Vassilio will come back after a retrait, and Myrthe will write as usual.
Happy reading.

Changes on this blog

Seda

Above Sandra.

I posted earlier that this blog will go through several changes. Not only the host will be a different one, but some co bloggers will be added as well. Unfortunately, Derya will not be able to be a regular blogger anymore, due to her job which requires a lot of time. She also told me that she cannot gain access to typepad. We will figure out how we can solve this since we like here comments and opinion. Its annoying that wordpress is banned in Turkey, so is blogspot in Syria.
New co bloggers will be Seda, a Turkish friend living in Greece, and a dear friend of mine, for years, Sandra. Born in Suriname and raised up in the Netherlands.
And last but not least: Bea, who will move back to the USA will contribute as well.
Together with a Dutch in Armenia, and an Greek/Australian in Greece, we will have a nice team here.

And there might be a chance that another 'yabanchi' will join this team.

Will keep you updated.

New blog

By January the 17th, this blog will continue on http://internationsmusings.typepad.com/
Since this blog has no administrator anymore its hard to handle.
The co bloggers: Vassilio, Myrthe, Derya, Seda and Bea will get direct access to the new blog.
I hope to succeed in transferring all the posts of this blog to the Typepad account.

It will take me some time to create a nice outfit for the new Internations Musing blog.

In the meanwhile, this blog will be still the blog to post and comment on.

Thanks

Some facts about me....and you

Super hero, here some facts about me, as you tagged me. I will ask for disclosure of some other bloggers' as well.)):

1) Born anarchist. Turned to be a social-liberal-democrat. Anti-nationalist. But still in love with Bakunin and George Moustaki.

2) Tall, thin, but you can feel my thoughts.

3) Studied for nothing. Law, philosophy, and drama/movies (UCI) made me escape in the world of Peter Stuyvesant and Martini: advertisement.

4) Making ads was not what I wanted and changed to PR; ended up as a communication manager but still can not talk Turkish.

5) Married at the age of 45 at Ciragan Palace. After 9 failed relations. Now happy with a non-typical Turkish spouse.

6) Born in the Netherlands, but made in Italy. Best friends in Holland: male from Iran, female from Suriname. Best friends in Turkey: male from France, female from Turkey but lives in Greece. Best friend in the USA: male from Holland, a female of Jewish Italian heritage.

7) I love to discover cultures and languages, but allergic to dogmatism. Traveller, open mind, but for some people still narrow minded.

And her I go to tag some others, only them with a blog:

Esra
Myrthe
Dinc
Bea
Metin
Derya
Kathryn

New co blogger

Soon, Seda Han Doukas, a dear friend of mine, will join us here as co blogger.
She is born and raised in Turkey but moved last year to Thessaloniki, Greece, where she married Thomas Doukas, a great friend! Picture of Seda is made couple of months ago.

A milestone

Today the we got a visitor of Guatemala. Exactly a visitor from a country where I've been on my first trip to Mexico some 20 years ago. The trip from Mexico DF, to Guatemala was an interesting one; by bus, through the wilderness. A country which by that time was torned by a civil war. The USA didn't play a nice game there, in contrary, it was a nasty game. This person from Guatemala made this blog more international: we have now visitors from 100 different countries in a very short period of time, starting mid July 2007.
With almost 25.000 hits since July 17, 2007, we are growing, up to an average of 300-400 hits a day. Hope by the end of this year we will grow to 500 a day and next year up to 1.000 a day. Most of the content here is original. No dump junk links.
Thanks to the co bloggers, and especially to my I-net guru Priyank.
The information on the bar on the right part of this blog is not updated since mid October, due to the fact that none of the bloggers here have 'administrators features'. Thought beginning of this week that it was solved, but no. Still not.
Yasemin is not a co blogger anymore. Bea, an American living in Turkey for a long time is the new co blogger here. And there will be more space for guest writers.
Thanks to all the readers. We love your comments and suggestions

resting

I don't feel well since end of last week. Now resting.
Will write when fully recover. Maybe in a day, maybe in a couple.
Hope that the co-bloggers of this blog have more energy.

The Levi-Prodi law and the end of the Internet in Italy

It looks like that soon we will miss our friend Yasemin.
Ricardo Franco Levi, Prodi’s right hand man, undersecretary to the President of the Council (Prodi is Italian PM), has written the text to put a stopper on the mouth of the Internet. The draft law was approved by the Council of Ministers on 12th of October. No minister dissociated themselves from it. On gagging information, very quietly, these are all in agreement. The Levi-Prodi law lays out that anyone with a blog or a website has to a) register it with the ROC, b) a register of the Communications Authority, c) produce certificates, d) pay a tax, even if they provide information without any intention to make money. Read more here.

This insane plan is of Ricardo Levi: "Ricardo Franco Levi, sottosegretario alla Presidenza del Consiglio e padre della riforma, sdrammatizza: "Lo spirito del nostro progetto non è certo questo. Non abbiamo interesse a toccare i siti amatoriali o i blog personali, non sarebbe praticabile".

Holy smokes

Yes, I admit that I am addicted, and that the last 6 days I am tortured...
But Yasimen, or is it Yasmin, or Jasmin - a nice shop for candies in the Netherlands, a Valhalla for good smoking men.)) - I told you what to write, not to make a fool out of me..))
But anyway, thanks dear, you will get a surprise visit this year.))

News from Hans

I was on the phone with Hans just a few minutes ago. He has no internet connection at home and he is going crazy, literally :-) He said that he has read some books about Turkey and Istanbul these last days (good for him) and has learned a lot. He also said that he decided to learn Turkish (very good for him). He is very worried because he cannot answer any e-mails, nor can write on his blog. When I suggested him to go to an internet cafe he refused it, showing his age (?) as an excuse. And he asked me to write a few lines. Since I have been at home with a sick baby on and off these last three weeks I told him that all I could write right now was a recipe, and guess what: he doesn't want to see any recipes on his blog...

Well friends, I think we should all pray that he gets his internet connection back fast enough.. Otherwise both you and I will suffer.. You, because there won't be anything interesting here to read about, and I, because he will be calling me everyday and begging me to write something, anything!

Award and nomination

Hatzidakis came today with a nice nomination: read it here...
If you think the same, vote..)) I think we need some more attention, we do what we can.

Al Gore got the Nobel Prize for Peace! Which is really great news. We neglect our environment terribly. We talk a lot about it, but he tries to do at least something!

Hacking, spam etc.

We always appreciate the comments of people, but discovering this morning that an anonymous person left more than 25, all the same, comments here is annoying. What's the fun about that?
Allowing bloggers only to leave comments is not an option. Many people don't have a blog, but that doesn't mean that they don't have anything worth reading to see.

More blogs, more people to meet

Added several blogs to our blog roll:
First of all, Jake in Adana, whose former blog by Wordpress is not accessible anymore, but here is the new one.
Also another expat, Bea, a professional writer in Istanbul. Remarkable style of writing. Highly recommended.
Sincerae, another American in Istanbul, but going back to the USA. But will stay in touch.
And a blog, One world media, by the British journalist and photographer Onnik Krikorian, based in Yerevan. A very professional blog.
Mohammed from Baghdad is our guest writer. We agreed that I publish his postings under the name 'Last of the Iraqis'.

Met this week Esra, from Switzerland. Was a nice encounter. Only, she writes in Turkish, and is the only non-English blog on our blog roll.
Enjoy!

This Blog & Ethics

Some people still don't get it. This is a collective blog. Okay, I initiated it, but all bloggers on this blog, Turks, Dutch and a Greek, living in Armenia, Dubai, Turkey, Italy and Greece have the same rights and features as me here. Before you leave a comment, read on the main page 'about Internations'. We will not delete a comment quickly since we are all grown ups here, and not that quickly insulted. It's all about people's intention. And 'The pen is mightier than the sword'.

Ethics: Erkan put an interesting memo on his blog about blogging and ethics. In general I agree with this opinion. But in a discussion some time ago with friends of the European Association of Communication Directors, we came up with three 'sins' in blogging: Inciting hate against others (other sexes, other nationals, other religions etc.), falsifying facts and/or misinterpreting the truth on purpose and using a blog as a propaganda tool by defaming other minded people.

Let me say first that this was an informal meeting and these 'sins' are our own opinion. And for sure these are no rules.

About Guest writers

This blog is a collective blog with Vassilli, an Australian born with Greek roots now living in Athens, Yasemin, a Turkish born but educated in Norway and now happily ever after living in Florence since 7 years, Myrthe a Dutch social women rights worker and lawyer in Yerevan Armenia, Derya, a Turkish woman, running with her British/German husband from one place to the other for 13 years, and me, Hans.
But sometimes we will allow other bloggers to post their point of view. Thank you Michael for your post of today.
Mohammed from Baghdad had a request. But we don't pay, since this blog is still made by volunteers, and we don't get paid either.
Anyway, I hope that the diversity of opinions will ground for a genuine discussion, since it's all about Turkey...and its neighbors.

New co-author: Derya

Today Derya Lount, a Turkish woman, currently residing in Dubai, will join this blog as co-author. She has her bilingual own blog as well.
So we're now with 5 persons: Myrthe, Yasemin, Vassilli, Derya and me, Hans. I expect another co-author from Cyprus to join us soon.
Derya will introduce herself. Her surname doesn't sound Arabic or Turkish at all...the screen is for her to explain..)

The languages we speak

The four of us, Myrthe, Yasemin, Vassilli and I are all raised up in a country other than the one where we are residing. We all speak several languages. To give you an idea about which languages we speak fluently (one or some of us) here is the list:

Fluent:

1. English
2. Russian
3. Greek
4. Italian
5. Turkish
6. Dutch
7. Norwegian
8. Armenian
9. French
10. German

and Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Abase, moderated.

If I am wrong, the co-authors themselves can correct it...

New co-author

Next to Vassili, an Australian Greek living in Athens, and Yasemin a Turkish woman in Italy, Myrthe a Dutch living in Yerevan, Armenia will be the next co-author on this blog.
More opinions and more direct insights from various countries will make this blog more colorful. In my opinion. The next and probably last co-author will be a friend who is living in the USA. His father is a Turkish Cypriot and his mother a Greek Cypriot...

Enjoy!

More blogs on this blog

Again, linked more blogs here: one is of Kathryn Merteuil, a Bosnian student in Göteborg, Sweden. Not that many postings, but when something is written by her, it makes sense.
Loveable Goes Indifferent/Anywhere but Here, is a nice blog.

One of my favorite blogs in Turkey is 'Me and Others' by Super Hero. Excellent style, timing and honesty. I put him earlier on my blog roll, but it looks like we can not connect; his comments are lost in space, and my links to him left people in limbo e.g. a blank screen.
Hopefully it works this time. Enjoy.