Following months of bickering, Poland’s populist-conservative coalition government finally collapsed in September after two years in power. Early elections are scheduled for this Sunday, Oct. 21. Some suggest that they may turn into a referendum on de-Communization. To grasp the players and issues at stake, a whistle stop tour of Poland’s political history and geography is in order. The Grand Transformation Poland’s current political order took shape at the end of the 1980s. Far from being an outcome of the democratic process, it is the ultimate progeny of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and backstage deals. It was not the general electorate but [...]
“Daddy, I thought you were coming home after Bayram,” read somber headlines in newspapers across Turkey Oct. 10, capturing the sentiments of the daughters of a soldier killed by a PKK ambush in southeastern Turkey. Bayram is the three-day celebration that started Oct. 12 to mark the end of the month of Ramadan. It is custom for fathers, sons, brothers and husbands fulfilling their military duties to return home on Bayram to briefly visit their loved ones, and bring presents and candies to children. The last two weeks have seen the assassination of 30 soldiers in the perilous southeastern border [...]
HONG KONG — Australians will go to the polls on Nov. 24 after Prime Minister John Howard staked what’s left of his enormous political career and called an election that most analysts believe he will lose, heralding an overhaul of Canberra’s political landscape that would shape key policy at home and abroad. The announcement came after Howard made the ritual visit to Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Australia, the Governor General Michael Jeffery, on Sunday, where he requested parliament be dissolved and an election called. Howard is U.S. President George W. Bush’s staunchest remaining war ally, and the U.S. leader [...]
