Mind your step at Penn station, NYC.
Monday, October 29, 2007
What happens now in...
...Argentina, where the wife of the current president, Nestor Kirchner, will succeed by his wife Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, will maybe happen...
...in 2008 when the former First Lady Hillary Clinton will become the first female president of the USA. For her fans, here here MySpace and blog...Erasmus - humanisme...and anti-semitisme
Most people know the name Erasmus of the European student network.This network is named after the Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus.
Erasmus was born at Rotterdam, October 28, 1466. He attended the school of the "Brothers of the Common Life" at Deventer. On his parents' death his guardians insisted on his entering a monastery and in the Augustinian college of Stein near Gouda he spent six years -- it was certainly this personal experience of the ways of the monks that made Erasmus their relentless enemy.
After taking priest's orders Erasmus went to Paris, where he studied at the Collège Montaigu. He resided in Paris until 1498, gaining a livelihood by teaching. Among his pupils was Lord Mountjoy, on whose invitation probably Erasmus made his first visit to England in 1498. He lived chiefly at Oxford.
In 1500 he was again in France, and for the next six years lived chiefly at Paris. To this period belong his Adagia and Enchiridion Militis Christiani. In 1506 he carried out a long-desired journey to Italy. His visit closed with a short stay in Rome, whence he carried away a far more friendly impression than did Luther when he made his visit.
The accession of Henry VIII, and the invitation of Lord Mountjoy, induced Erasmus once more to make England his home. In his satire, Encomium Moriae (1509), we have him in his happiest vein, as the man of letters and the critic of kings and churchmen.
Erasmus resided chiefly at Cambridge professor of Greek. After 1514 he lived alternatively in Basel and England, and from 1517 to 1521 at Louvain. In 1519 appeared the first edition of his Colloquia, usually regarded as his masterpiece. The audacity and incisiveness with which it handles the abuses of the Church prepared men's minds for the subsequent work of Martin Luther.
In 1516 was published his annotated New Testament, virtually the first Greek text, and in 1519 his edition on St. Jerome in nine folio volumes wherein he introduced a more rational conception of Christian doctrine. But when the Lutheran revolution came he found himself in the most embarrassing position. Those of the old order fell upon him as the author of all the new troubles. The Lutherans assailed him for his cowardice and inconsistency in refusing to follow up his opinions to their legitimate conclusions. In 1521 he left Louvain, and spent the rest of his life at Basel.
He edited a long succession of classical and patristic writers, and was engaged in continual controversies. With Luther himself Erasmus, after long hesitation, crossed swords in his De Libero Arbitrio (1523). Yet during his last years Erasmus enjoyed great fame and consideration. He died July 12, 1536.
More controversial was his anti-semitisme: He advocated setting synagogues on fire, destroying Jewish prayerbooks, forbidding rabbis from preaching, seizing Jews' property and money, smashing up their homes, and ensuring that these "poisonous envenomed worms" be forced into labor or expelled "for all time." He also seemed to sanction their murder, writing "We are at fault in not slaying them."
Erasmus stands as the supreme type of cultivated common sense applied to human affairs. He rescued theology from the pedantries of the Schoolmen, exposed the abuses of the Church, and did more than any other single person to advance the Revival of Learning.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A new approach
Gülen movement forms supranational new elite.
On the second day of a conference titled "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement," inaugurated at the British House of Lords on Thursday, academics from around the world focused on Gülen's ideas and the impact of the Gülen movement on the Islamic world.
The conference titled about the Gülen Movement, inaugurated in the British House of Lords on Thursday, attracted hundreds of academicians and scholars.
In the morning session held Friday, titled "The Gülen Movement in Redefining Turkey and Anatolian Muslimness," Marie-Elisabeth Maigre, a researcher at the London School of Economics who presented a paper titled "The Influence of the Gülen Movement in the Emergence of a Turkish Cultural Third Way," said the Gülen movement had built a bridge between opposite poles in Turkey through its activities.
Maigre indicated that Gülen has undertaken a significant role as a "man of compromise and synthesis" to mediate between "local and global concepts" and the "Kemalists and Islamists." Maigre also stressed that the Gülen movement attached great importance to the multicultural tissue of Turkey by backing freedom of faith and expression, democracy and Turkey's EU bid. Urging the audience to question themselves by asking them whether the Gülen movement had an impact on the moderation of political Islam in Turkey, Maigre underlined that the greatest achievement of the movement has been to drag the Islamist movements and their supporters in Turkey to a moderate "third path."
William Park, a lecturer in the Defense and War Studies Group at London University, who presented a paper titled “The Fethullah Gülen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon,” argued that the Gülen movement had created a new supranational elite through its education and dialogue activities. Park stated that this elite group assumed important responsibility to have a positive impact on relations between states. He also contended that the movement reflected “Turkish values” more successfully than any other groups, saying, “The Gülen movement presents different aspects of Turkey to the whole world successfully.”
Professor Marcia Hermansen from Chicago’s Loyola University presented her extensive ethnographic study that she conducted over the symbols of the Gülen movement in a presentation titled “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community.” She pointed out that words relating to space and water were selected as names for the companies and institutions that are linked to the Gülen movement, stressing that words connoting inactivity such as a name of a lake were not selected, which she showed as the dynamic character of the Gülen movement.
Journalist Mustafa Akyol, who stressed that Turkish history, experiences and sprit all differed from those of other Islamic countries, said it was possible to talk about a Turkish Islam, which he thought was represented by the Gülen movement. Akyol said the Gülen movement was one with roots that were established in a tradition dating back to Ottoman times and added that it showed how the Islamic world can be modernized in the real sense.
Meanwhile, Gülen sent a message to the participants of the conference thanking them for their contributions to an academic investigation of the problems of humanity and what Islam proposes as solutions. He also expressed his sadness at not being able to attend the conference due to health problems.
In his message Gülen said: “Through the endeavors of worthy people like yourselves, I hope that in the end we will be able to discover common values on which to establish a better world and to bring about peace and cooperation between peoples in the future. I hope that this altruistic movement, whatever it is called, will spread and will carry us to the desired horizon where cultures and civilizations can meet and reach a consensus. It is my perception that these activities, which have been put in action so far under the rubric of ‘understanding,’ ‘tolerance,’ and ‘dialogue,’ would be better if pursued from now on within the framework of emphasizing and gathering around universal human values and a framework of reciprocal respect for the position of those with different perceptions, beliefs and thoughts.”
On the second day of a conference titled "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement," inaugurated at the British House of Lords on Thursday, academics from around the world focused on Gülen's ideas and the impact of the Gülen movement on the Islamic world.
The conference titled about the Gülen Movement, inaugurated in the British House of Lords on Thursday, attracted hundreds of academicians and scholars.
In the morning session held Friday, titled "The Gülen Movement in Redefining Turkey and Anatolian Muslimness," Marie-Elisabeth Maigre, a researcher at the London School of Economics who presented a paper titled "The Influence of the Gülen Movement in the Emergence of a Turkish Cultural Third Way," said the Gülen movement had built a bridge between opposite poles in Turkey through its activities.
Maigre indicated that Gülen has undertaken a significant role as a "man of compromise and synthesis" to mediate between "local and global concepts" and the "Kemalists and Islamists." Maigre also stressed that the Gülen movement attached great importance to the multicultural tissue of Turkey by backing freedom of faith and expression, democracy and Turkey's EU bid. Urging the audience to question themselves by asking them whether the Gülen movement had an impact on the moderation of political Islam in Turkey, Maigre underlined that the greatest achievement of the movement has been to drag the Islamist movements and their supporters in Turkey to a moderate "third path."
William Park, a lecturer in the Defense and War Studies Group at London University, who presented a paper titled “The Fethullah Gülen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon,” argued that the Gülen movement had created a new supranational elite through its education and dialogue activities. Park stated that this elite group assumed important responsibility to have a positive impact on relations between states. He also contended that the movement reflected “Turkish values” more successfully than any other groups, saying, “The Gülen movement presents different aspects of Turkey to the whole world successfully.”
Professor Marcia Hermansen from Chicago’s Loyola University presented her extensive ethnographic study that she conducted over the symbols of the Gülen movement in a presentation titled “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community.” She pointed out that words relating to space and water were selected as names for the companies and institutions that are linked to the Gülen movement, stressing that words connoting inactivity such as a name of a lake were not selected, which she showed as the dynamic character of the Gülen movement.
Journalist Mustafa Akyol, who stressed that Turkish history, experiences and sprit all differed from those of other Islamic countries, said it was possible to talk about a Turkish Islam, which he thought was represented by the Gülen movement. Akyol said the Gülen movement was one with roots that were established in a tradition dating back to Ottoman times and added that it showed how the Islamic world can be modernized in the real sense.
Meanwhile, Gülen sent a message to the participants of the conference thanking them for their contributions to an academic investigation of the problems of humanity and what Islam proposes as solutions. He also expressed his sadness at not being able to attend the conference due to health problems.
In his message Gülen said: “Through the endeavors of worthy people like yourselves, I hope that in the end we will be able to discover common values on which to establish a better world and to bring about peace and cooperation between peoples in the future. I hope that this altruistic movement, whatever it is called, will spread and will carry us to the desired horizon where cultures and civilizations can meet and reach a consensus. It is my perception that these activities, which have been put in action so far under the rubric of ‘understanding,’ ‘tolerance,’ and ‘dialogue,’ would be better if pursued from now on within the framework of emphasizing and gathering around universal human values and a framework of reciprocal respect for the position of those with different perceptions, beliefs and thoughts.”
Friday, October 26, 2007
I Was Sure I Would Die
BBC journalist Alan Johnston has told of his fear of having his throat cut in a Jihadi-style video execution, in a revealing account of his nearly four months held by an extremist group in Gaza. I can't explain How happy I am that Alan Johnston is free finally. Journalist that trying to do his job and captured. Journalists who are working in Middle East and Africa really works under hard circumstances. Johnston, who was the only Western journalist still based permanently in Gaza, was taken captive by Palestinian extremists, the Army of Islam, on March 12 as he returned to his flat. He was released on July 4. The 45-year-old told how he was kept in a room with “a narrow, sagging bed and two plastic chairs” and said that he had been stripped of his watch, and could only tell the time by the sun’s movements and sound of calls to prayer.
Nevertheless, it set his mind racing. “I was sure that if I was to be put to death, the act would be video-taped in the style of Jihadi executions in Iraq ... I imagined being put into that red suit that they would make me wear for any video work. I imagined perhaps one of them in a hood, imagined one of them stepping up, imagined having a knee in my back or the back of my neck and then my throat being cut.”Johnston said that one of the few bright spots was the fact that his guards allowed him a radio, with which he became aware of the BBC’s campaign to win his freedom, which he described as “an enormous psychological boost.”
Eventually, the politics of Gaza worked in Johnston’s favour, as the hard line Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the territory and negotiated his release. Since returning to Britain, Johnston said he dreams “sometimes that I’m in captivity again, and I cannot tell you how good it is to wake, and gradually realise that, actually, I’m free.
“The kidnap’s legacy is not all bad ... it was a kind of dark education,” he said. “I lived through things which before I would have struggled to imagine ... I’ve gained too a deeper sense of the value of freedom ... it can still seem faintly magical to do the simplest things - like walk down a street in the sunshine or sit in a cafe with a newspaper.”
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Turks Riots in Brussels and Amsterdam; Attack Armenians & Kurds
Update from Brussels Journal: the list of "sensitive urban areas"--a polite term for entire sections of cities where even police dare not go because of Islamic violence--is growing.
In Amsterdam, an Islamic extremist linked to terrorists via both family ties and friends, walked into a police station and began stabbing a policewoman and a colleague.
Barely saving her life, the policewoman shot Bilal Bijacka. The result? Massive Islamic riots because not only an infidel, but an infidel woman, killed an Islamic male.
His attack came two years after his brother was arrested in a terrorist plot to blow up a passenger airliner. And, Bijacka's friends included Mohammed Bouyeri. Bouyeri, one of the Jihadists in the interlinked web of violence and hatred, ritually murdered a Dutch film maker, Theo van Gogh, in 2004.
As both Brussels and Amsterdam grapple with violent immigrants who literally have taken over portions of their cities and sack, loot and plunder them at will, the rest of the western world may want to reconsider immigration. When police simply dare not enforce laws in entire districts, there is no law except that of blood, violence, hatred, and mob rule.
Here's a classic case of how not to get sympathy for your cause. Turks in both Brussels and Amsterdam have been on a rampage as tensions mount on Turkey's borders.
The current riots follow September's Ramadan riots. Brussels was also engulfed in Ramadan riots in 2006.
Last night (Wednesday evening) heavy rioting erupted in Turkish quarters of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Buses and trams were attacked. Several cars were torched and shops destroyed. Police forces were unable to restore law and order in the boroughs of Sint-Joost-ten-Node and Schaarbeek where since last Sunday the animosity among Turks is running high. Turkish flags are omnipresent. In some streets the Turkish crescent and star adorns almost every house.
The Turks’ anger was provoked by rising tension with Kurds along the Iraqi-Turkish border and by the debate in the American Congress about the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915. On Sunday night Turkish youths in Sint-Joost destroyed the pub of Peter Petrossian, an ethnic Armenian who had to flee for his life.
Red
The streets in many Turkish cities turned red. Protesting the attacks of the PKK against the Turkish military and their presence in Northern Iraq. Fed by the Turkish media, the Turkish public became angrier than it already was. Yusuf Kanli wrote today about the censorship which is placed upon the Turkish media. Read it here.
Psychiatrist Professor Sunar Birsöz from Akdeniz University in Antalya clearly stated today that rallies could transform into individual and mass violence, and, added, “this pressure needs to be relieved”. He calls it anger management, a common term for decades not to steer up the the public. Especially teenagers, as you can see below. Read his comments here.
And what if notorious groups in Iraq are going to join the PKK? A warning has already been given. Also, many people in Iraq fled from the south to northern Iraq since it's relatively stable. Turkey, by its first real confrontation, lost 12 soldiers and 8 were captured.
Until now the Turkish government restrains from a mass cross border action, which would be a tactical blunder. Mustafa Akyol, an expert in Kurdish issues was clear here. Attacks of innocent Kurdish citizens already started in Bursa and Mersin.
Fortunately, the Turkish General of Staff Gen. Büyükanıt asked for caution: 'The reactions of citizens to terrorism must not spiral out of control'. Read it here.
If Turkey is not using its common sense, the streets in Turkey will not be filled by red flags but by blood. Communication seems to be a new word in Turkey. Both the government and media need to learn what 'crisis management' means.
A talk show about Turkey on Italian TV
Last night on one of the Italian TV channels, La7, in the program called L'infedele, conducted by Gad Lerner, they talked about Turkey, Iraq, PKK and the Armenian issue. During the whole day in our mailing lists for Turks living in Italy we received mails asking for Turkish people (around 5 people were asked for) living in Milan who would like to participate in the program as part of the audience to represent the Turkish side. The program was supposed to be on air at 21.30 and the audience was called for 20.30. The problem is, if they were really sincerely willing to have some people representing the Turkish side they would have made this call days before so that people would get ready/cancel appointments etc. to be able to attend the show. When you receive a call just hours before a live talk show it is not easy to say immediately 'OK, I am available'.
I wasn't willing to watch the show, in fact, since I get usually very angry seeing these one-sided discussions that go nowhere. But my husband while zapping had found the program and called me saying 'They are talking about Turkey again'. After finishing whatever it was I doing, I joined him. From the Turkish side there was only Yasemin Taskin, correspondent of the Turkish newspaper Sabah in Rome. Otherwise, there was someone from the Catholic University in Milan, some expert on Pakistan, a guy, whose name I don't remember, born in Turkey but of which origin he is I have no idea, an Armenian woman with the surname Arslan, an Italian economist (she seemed really well informed, and talked quite reasonably) and audience which was just watching... They had a live connection to Murat Belge of Bilgi University, Istanbul. Everything said in the program in Italian was translated to English for him, he gave his answers in Turkish and his words were translated back to Italian. The first sentence, the first translation to Italian and it was not correct, so I lost my interest and belief in the program immediately.
Once again, I am no politician or politics enthusiast, so all I can report is how everything looked to 'a Turkish man on the street'. The 'Turkish side' did not exist. Whoever was chosen to represent the Turkish side was, in fact, on 'the other side', thus it was quite a 'one-sided' discussion, again. Nothing seemed to be resolved, nothing seemed to be clearer, they tried to draw a parallel between the Turkish army and Pakistani army (!!!!), which was opposed by, if I am not mistaken, the guy from the Catholic University in Milan, Murat Belge was himself as usual, Yasemin Taskin was left alone there to give the Turkish view (the cameraman was fixing the camera on her most of the time; she is quite attractive, to tell the truth), and before I fell asleep on the sofa nobody from the audience said a word.. I don't think they said any words at all afterwards either.
Hence, another pointless discussion on TV that caused only a discussion between me and my husband. Yes, me and my husband always have some kind of fiery discussion when we watch these things because he being from the west, although quite ignorant on our issues, thinks to know everything and has the right solution to all the problems, and me being Turkish and quite a nationalist (in his eyes) have to defend myself, my people, my history. I am so fed up being on the defensive side! It is not easy being a Turk outside of Turkey. We are like fish out of the fish bowl....
I wasn't willing to watch the show, in fact, since I get usually very angry seeing these one-sided discussions that go nowhere. But my husband while zapping had found the program and called me saying 'They are talking about Turkey again'. After finishing whatever it was I doing, I joined him. From the Turkish side there was only Yasemin Taskin, correspondent of the Turkish newspaper Sabah in Rome. Otherwise, there was someone from the Catholic University in Milan, some expert on Pakistan, a guy, whose name I don't remember, born in Turkey but of which origin he is I have no idea, an Armenian woman with the surname Arslan, an Italian economist (she seemed really well informed, and talked quite reasonably) and audience which was just watching... They had a live connection to Murat Belge of Bilgi University, Istanbul. Everything said in the program in Italian was translated to English for him, he gave his answers in Turkish and his words were translated back to Italian. The first sentence, the first translation to Italian and it was not correct, so I lost my interest and belief in the program immediately.
Once again, I am no politician or politics enthusiast, so all I can report is how everything looked to 'a Turkish man on the street'. The 'Turkish side' did not exist. Whoever was chosen to represent the Turkish side was, in fact, on 'the other side', thus it was quite a 'one-sided' discussion, again. Nothing seemed to be resolved, nothing seemed to be clearer, they tried to draw a parallel between the Turkish army and Pakistani army (!!!!), which was opposed by, if I am not mistaken, the guy from the Catholic University in Milan, Murat Belge was himself as usual, Yasemin Taskin was left alone there to give the Turkish view (the cameraman was fixing the camera on her most of the time; she is quite attractive, to tell the truth), and before I fell asleep on the sofa nobody from the audience said a word.. I don't think they said any words at all afterwards either.
Hence, another pointless discussion on TV that caused only a discussion between me and my husband. Yes, me and my husband always have some kind of fiery discussion when we watch these things because he being from the west, although quite ignorant on our issues, thinks to know everything and has the right solution to all the problems, and me being Turkish and quite a nationalist (in his eyes) have to defend myself, my people, my history. I am so fed up being on the defensive side! It is not easy being a Turk outside of Turkey. We are like fish out of the fish bowl....
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Fun
Explored facebook today. It's fun, addictive, but it didn't challenge my intellect...)
Looks like everybody who is blogging is on facebook as well.
For people interested in the Netherlands the following is a nice group: If you ain't Dutch, you aren't much...fun!
Internet
Of the last 10 workdays, 6 days I had no connection to internet.
Since I am completely dependent on my internet connection it became irritating...
It's not a matter of addiction, everything is digital these days. I can simply not do without.
Let's see how long it takes before it goes down again.
Since I am completely dependent on my internet connection it became irritating...
It's not a matter of addiction, everything is digital these days. I can simply not do without.
Let's see how long it takes before it goes down again.
Turkey-Iraq Crisis
Turkish troops head towards the Iraqi border in Silopi, southeast Turkey, yesterday. The Turkish government said it would 'pay whatever price is needed' to crush Kurdish rebels.
Baghdad announced to shut offices of Kurdish terrorists: Is it going to be enough? I think it's late now, Turkish army has to do something about it and they have to do it with professional troops, not with soldiers that are trained only for 6 months. Otherwise we will lose more of our own young lives.
Just to mention: most of the newspapers and TV stations pronounce PKK as rebels or freedom fighters which isn't true, because anybody who kills innocent people over night in the villages and do human shield bombs in middle of the civilized cities are called terrorist groups.
Turkish government’s aim isn’t invading Kurdistan region and they have no eye within Iraq at all, for many centuries they always had great relations with Iraqi people, they want to put an end to PKK terrorists.
Sirnak, Turkey: Dozens of Turkish military vehicles loaded with soldiers and heavy weapons rumbled towards the Iraqi border yesterday after an ambush by rebel Kurds that left eight soldiers missing and 12 dead.
Turkey's foreign minister said his country will pursue diplomacy before it sends troops across the rugged frontier. The military said it had had no contact with the eight soldiers after Sunday's clash. A pro-Kurdish news agency said the eight were captured.
Day Opening - October 24
Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi,UAE.
One of the 7 Star hotels after Burj Arab where my husband used to work.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
California under fire
San Diego: Firefighters hoped for high winds to abate on Tuesday, enabling them to start containing the fast-moving fires that have engulfed a massive swath of Southern California, claimed some 700 homes and sent thousands fleeing.
At least 13 fires, whipped by hot, gale-force Santa Ana winds have swept unchecked over the lower half of the state over the past two days, overwhelming fire crews and state emergency services. Some 200,000 acres were torched, one person killed and more than three dozen injured. To continue.
Day Opening - October 23
The Koppies — an Afrikaans word for small hills — offer some of the best views of downtown Johannesburg. For more info.
Monday, October 22, 2007
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