2008.06.15
Just a Couple Things
Several random links. I’m going to watch the Czech Republic take on Turkey in the Euro Cup in just a few minutes. Speaking of Turkey, I was just telling a friend a couple days ago about how Turkey is such a mystery to me. I know a lot about its history but not much about modern Turkey, especially its politics and how it fits (or doesn’t fit) into Europe (it is trying to join the European Union) or entirely in the Muslim world, either. This article, which I think was written to clarify, actually just confuses me more. I will have to look into this unique country’s situation more.
In the more nerdy world, I was alerted to a new independent film being produced about constructed languages. It’s not a topic you’d think would be made into a comedy but as you can see if you mix in awkward high school crushes anything can be pretty funny. More information on this film here.
Meanwhile, I want to build these goggles. Pretty freaking cool, and surprisingly simple.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad!
UPDATE: Czech Republic lost in a very dramatic second half. *sigh*
Categorized: games geek prague worldbuilding
You can follow any responses to this entry with a RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “Just a Couple Things”
- CT says (June 16th, 2008 at 07:16:00 )
Some of the things that IHT article left out or didn’t make clear about Turkey:
- It maintains strong ties to Israel, which makes relations with its fellow Muslim countries that much more strained (although that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as that goes). The Israeli relationship was recently highlighted when Turkey mediated between Israel and Syria for peace talks regarding the Golan Heights.
- Cyprus is not only an issue between Greece and Turkey, but also between Turkey and the rest of the EU, especially since the Greek Cypriot state entered the EU this year.
- Turkish Kurdistan has been a potential hot button for more than 30 years, and has been even more touchy with the emergence of Iraqi Kurdistan. This is another reason why the EU is wary of admitting Turkey into its ranks.
- Parrying with the EU over acceptance as a European country is touchy. From the Turkish side, there’s frustration over how much more they have to do to prove their worthiness, considering they’ve been secularizing/Westernizing for nearly a century; there’s broad suspicion that the EU wants to maintain a “Christian club” of membership, especially with the assimilation issues Muslim minorities have had in France, Germany, etc. From the EU side, Turkey’s secularism is seen as relying heavily on the military as an active agent in the political process, putting the country on a political-culture level of a banana republic. My opinion: Europe is paying lip service, and Turkey has a better chance of becoming the 51st United State than it has of joining the EU.
Take all this with the knowledge that it’s coming from a first-generation Greek-American, even though I’ve got no personal interest in the final outcome. And for what it’s worth, I believe Greece was the only EU country whose population recently favored Turkey’s entry (albeit by a narrow referendum margin, something like 52% pro).
