“Democracy is not what governments do, it is what people do,” and man, oh man, are the peeps dropping the democracy bomb in Brazil right now! Check out this Brazilian Boyer rant which highlights the reasons behind the current protests in Brazil, and also compares and contrasts the other people protests happening around the planet. Power to the people, and go democracy!
Keywords: Brazil, protests, bus fare, government, democracy, World Cup, Olympics, corruption, crime, infrastructure, Turkey, Arab Spring, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Howard Zinn, USA
What the heck is happening in Turkey with all these protests? A revolution? An Arab Spring style uprising? A call for democracy? Nah, it is not really any of those things at all. What we have here is an actual demonstration of democracy at work, not a call for it. It seems that the sizable minority of liberal-left folks in Turkey are expressing a reaction against center-right conservative Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s prime ministerial high-handedness and decade-long rule, which has seen a slight eroding of the divisions between religion and state politics. He will likely survive this bout of political expression against him, but at what costs to his role, and to Turkey itself? Dig this informal rant and let’s start a conversation.
Keywords: Turkey, protests, political expression, journalists, conservation, liberal, AK Party, Justice and Development Party, parliamentary democracy, democracy
The Prime Minister of Israel just apologized to the Prime Minister of Turkey? What’s that all about? The apology issued by PM Benjamin Netanyahu if Israel to PM Recep Erdoğan of Turkey was over the death of 9 Turkish citizens in the 2010 Gaza Flotilla Raid. But this apology has wider repercussions than just political niceties….the re-established ties between Israel and Turkey may pave the way for these two old allies to move against Syria, in conjunction with the USA. Watch the Professor rage about all this, and more!
Big news unfolding on the Arabian Peninsula concerning what is shaping up to be a major power player in Middle Eastern action for the 21st century: the GCC! That’s right, the little known Gulf Cooperation Council just had an official joint meeting with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to discuss how this small band of 6 Arab states will likely become a major arm of power in the region, as the US is selling them butt-loads of arms and even promised a missile defense shield to the group! A much more potent player than the larger and unruly Arab League, this GCC group is the one to watch for possible moves against Iran, or even one of their own in Syria! Find out more about it here!
Turkey had a titanic earthquake this week in the mostly-Kurdish, southeastern part of their country! But before that even happened, the ground was shaking under Kurdish feet in nothern Iraq—because Turkey invaded it and has been bombing it! Why? To route out the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist group. In this rant, the Professor explains why this is happening, and more importantly, why is the US suddenly throwing support behind this endeavor…and who may be behind the resurgence of PKK activities!
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