January 27, 2006
This is a long and dense entry with lots of info for the Wise on and Curious of Human Affairs
Two bus drivers try to repair their cars in Tandogan Square in Ankara, January 24. Air, road and sea transport throughout Turkey are in a state of semi-paralysis after three days of bitter cold and heavy snows, with more freezing weather forecast.(AFP/Mustafa Ozer)
Galip Hoca woke me up by his call today and I spent all my day in his apartment in classifying and grading papers. Side streets are surprisingly snowy but I feel like we are recovering from heavy snow days. It seemed to be a bright day and I wish I could spend more time outside before ending up in a coffeehouse to do some novel reading. But we weren't done before late evening. Meanwhile, we still have no idea where 2/3 of the papers are. Students did not submit them because of snowy days? Maybe, but the idea of it is tiring. But failing so many students are also tiring. Anyway, I finished up the rest of his chocolate stock. We celebrated our work with drinking root beer this time. And we both discovered that snowmen we saw in the streets did not look like snowmen at all. They look like something I don't want say here as if i am so shy. Anyway, we thought this is just another sign of declining aesthetic values of society.
My apartment is crowded today, in addition to twins, Nurcan also stays with me tonight. Unsurprisingly two sisters clashed for the computer and msn stuff. We, boys, remained cool and watched Kurtlar Vadisi, which is shown again, and during commercials we solved math problems. I have to write something about this serial, which had record ratings in prime time. I am sure that tonight it was no. 1 again though people watched it a thousandth time. But i don't know much about it in the last analysis- in fact, i am lazy to write about it right now- but a first impression: Maybe in a nation, that hesitates to debate political happenings overtly, this is how society tackles with her recent past. With a serial strongly resembling real life political happenings on the fine edge of legitimate state actions...
A Backgrounder: Turkey accession and Cyprus
Spiegel on Bloggers and The Du Bist Deutschland Campaign.
Here is brief note on THE COMMISSION'S PROGRESS REPORT ON THE LISBON STRATEGY PUBLISHED THE 25TH OF JANUARY 2006 from Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry: "The Commission published its first Progress Report on the Lisbon Strategy and the national reform programmes on growth and employment the 25th of January 2006...."
Middle East Times says EU presses Turkey to implement customs deal with Cyprus
Turkish parliamentarians in the Council of Europe complained to the council about Belgium's refusal to return terrorist Fehriye Erdal, on trial at Brugges Penal Court, to Turkey.
Ferruh Demirmen, a Houston-based energy expert, authored An appeal to the Turkish government and Turks abroad on the Armenian issue.
Merkel moves to cut EU red tape...
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou (L) and Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag give a joint press conference, in Ankara. The deadly bird flu outbreak in Turkey appears to be under control, but Ankara should remain vigilant against the disease.(AFP/Mustafa Ozer)
Georgians blame 'GasPutin' for crisis
Chris Giles in A productivity prescription: how the US has pulled away from Europe and Japan compares Americans, Europeans and Japans in business life...
Finally,
Bernard Marx, economist at Confrontations Europe, argues that the EU’s current financial system is no longer appropriate and therefore needs to be reformed. Analysis: How can the EU’s financial resources system be reformed?
The Forum Malta fl-Ewropa (Malta in Europe) organised a national conference themed "Europe: What's Next?" which embraced a number of EU-related matters including competitiveness, employment, and the future of Europe.
Posted by erkan at January 27, 2006 12:34 AMPosted to Casual analyses | Commentaries | Habitus | Links | News