Bloomsday
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Today, 16 June, was Bloomsday. I listened to the beginning and the end of a radio dramatisation of Joyce’s Ulysses, performed to mark the day. Of course, the work stands on its own two feet but I confess I got particular interest out of listeni...
Euro crisis: use Greece as a springboard for change | Observer editorial
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Europe's leaders could find the resources to reform the eurozone and advance the European causeThe next few weeks promise to be the most fateful in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The result of a general election in one small country has th...
Keep the Flag Flying
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The second half of the 20th century defied expectations that it would not live up to the excitement of the first. True, there was no Third World War, but momentous political and social upheavals kept both journalists and diplomats busy, trying to mak...
Indignados march to the ‘Cave of Ali Baba’
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Thousands marched in Madrid Saturday evening to the ‘Cave of Ali Baba’ , otherwise known as the HQ of freshly ‘rescued’ bank, Bankia. Setting off 7pm local in time in Spain’s capital, crowds of indignados also express...
Greece: chronic insecurity and despair – welcome to life in a broken state | Nikos Konstandaras
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Greece's challenges are in part unique but they also distil problems inherent in the rest of the continentThe world may be watching Sunday's elections in Greece with fascination and awe, as one would approach the scene of an accident before the rescu...
Fresh anti-austerity protests hit Portugal
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Thousands marched in Lisbon Saturday against the austerity measures of the right wing prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho. The protest, organised by the CGTP trade union confederation, follows marches and rallies in the country’s second largest...
The Death Of Fiat Wealth Introduces New Governance Where Wealth Will Consist Of Diktat And The Possession Of Gold
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Financial Market report for Friday June 15, 2012; this is the eleventh week of entry into the Second Great Depression. The Connecticut Gold Coast is a bastion of wealth. Wikipedia relates the distinction of being called the wealthiest town in Conne...
Like passengers on a runaway train, we have hurtled to the edge of a precipice
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From Berlin to Washington, all eyes are on Greece in elections whose result will be felt around the worldIn the many years I have lived in Athens, I have often heard Greeks joke that theirs is a world inhabited only by them. What happens elsewhere is...
ComRes poll: most voters think George Osborne is “too posh”
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A new survey has revealed that 55% of voters think that George Osborne is “too posh to understand the financial pressures on ordinary people”. While that delivers a body blow to Gideon’s hopes of succeeding Cameron as Tory leader,...
Rescue Me
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I guess we will never know whether or not Mariano Rajoy uttered the two magic words so effectively immortalized in song by Fontella Bass that Saturday afternoon in late May as he cruised down the Chicago River in what Spanish … Continue reading...
The Greek Communist Party: chemically pure sectarians
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“Even if we are not fully victorious, we will prevent the worst and make some gains” - The KKE Friday’s Morning Star (Thursday’s online edition) carried a statement from the official Greek Communist Party, the KKE. In its sec...
Jeremy Deller at Wiels
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To Wiels this afternoon to see Jeremy Deller’s Joy in People. A relatively young (born 1966) British artist, Deller is deliberately ephemeral and avoids the commodification of his work, so this exhibition is as much a set of documentary and p...
Serbia: “Internet (R)evolution”
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Center for Internet Development in Serbia reports [sr] that Serbs use the Internet mostly for current news (63%) and educational purposes. The research was conducted in April 2012, with a sample of 1,239 respondents: 80% of them considered communicat...
Ayşe Özer: Ben böyle şeylere gülmüyorum
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TweetKendisini ziyarete gelen darbe komisyonu üyelerine Demirel’in kolonya yerine dezenfektan ikram etmesine THY grevinde işten çıkarılan 305 kişi ile ilgili ihalenin de sosyalistlere kalmasına (en düşük teklifi onlar mı vermiş?) Her ta...
In the lead up to the elections, Greek political parties have resorted to half-truths on Europe
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This Sunday, Greece faces a key election. Dionyssis Dimitrakopoulos and Argyris Passas argue that in the lead up to the election, populist ‘patriotic’ parties have pursued a rhetorical strategy aimed at misleading voters about the real relationsh...
Scrapbook’s Top Five: our most popular posts this week
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The most clicked stories of the week were: Newsnight exposed over spinning working mum as jobless Manager at Jubilee stewards firm and ‘illegal access to police files’ Osborne presented with GCSE maths book before Mansion House speech Jub...
Spain: 15M Presents Legal Complaint Against Bankia
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The 15M has presented a legal complaint before the National Audience against commercial fraud committed by Bankia executives. Social media have played a key role in the campaign.
Cengiz Aktar: Büyüme saplantısı: Bir durum tespiti (1)
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TweetBüyüme saplantısı: Bir durum tespiti (1) Bu köşenin demirbaş konularından biri de kalkınma/büyüme saplantısının insan, doğa ve medeniyet üzerindeki eşi benzeri görülmemiş saldırısı olacak. Dünyada sınırsız büy
Dare to dream again
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I think these last few days I’ve started to realise what’s been so wrong with me for the last few months. I’ve ceased to dream, to have hopes for the future. “Something has happened to you these last six months” a dear c...
The Programme of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU
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The Council of Ministers from Cyprus pledges political priorities of the Cyprus Presidency following inherited issues and dedicated program from the European Commission and specially prepared for when Cyprus takes over the Presidency of the Council o...
Energy Harvester Converts Walking Movement Into Electricity for Carried Gadgets
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Gadget of the year? Hat tip to Chris Sickham at IOIL SciTech in Device powers gadgets through walking A new wearable "energy harvester" that converts walking body movement into electricity for gadgets was unveiled in Smart Materials and S...
France and Germany
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Tensions are mounting between Paris and Berlin as Hollande and Ayrault meet with leaders of the German SPD in Paris. Meanwhile, linguistic boundaries are being crossed everywhere in Europe. The German edition of the Financial Times, concerned about t...
Foreign Investment in U.S. Increases Amid Financial Issues in Europe
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Where is all that European money going amid the Eurozone financial troubles? The big winner is the United States. Neil Shah has the story at the Wall Street Journal at: Foreigners Step Up Investment in U.S. A good share of Europe's investment is t...
Cyprus Fights Off Spoof Song
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Just before Cyprus takes over the EU presidency -- and ahead of a possible request for an international bailout -- Nicosia has had to fight off a entirely different kind of controversy: an unofficial presidency song.
Fear and Exhaustion in Brussels
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Exhausted senior officials in Brussels ponder a potentially momentous week for the European Union.
“Some Ottoman publications available online
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TweetShare via emailŞemseddin Sâmî, 1850-1904. Kamusü’l-a’lâm = Dictionnaire universel d’histoire et de géographie. قاموس الاعلام : تاريخ و جغرافيا لغاتنى و تعبير اصحله كافۀ اسم...
A good book worth reading: Alpha Dogs
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Another one for the political junkies, “Alpha Dogs” details the rise and fall of Sawyer-Miller, one of the first political consultancy firms, and a firm that played a major role in bringing down both Marcos and Pinochet. Full of little nu...
