A cool, comforting indigo blue sea laps gently against several kilometers of lonely shoreline. Fig trees and olive groves dot the landscape above a stark white sandy beach where no one treads. In the distance can be heard the faint murmur of a lone car rolling down a craggy, mountainous road. There are still pieces of Turkey’s shoreline that remain undiscovered, but droves of foreigners are fast gobbling it up. The Turkish coastline has witnessed a construction bonanza fueled by moneyed Europeans seeking a relatively affordable place in the sun. Much of Turkey’s once pristine coastline has metamorphosed into a [...]
Marc Lynch at Abu Aardvark and Dr. iRak at Abu Muqawama (the latter just back from a visit to Iraq) both take a look at the Iraqi parliament’s failure to pass the provincial elections law. The upshot? We’re not out of the woods yet. So once again the good news out of Iraq is balanced out by the threat of potential pitfalls ahead, which oddly enough is used by advocates for both continued military engagement and withdrawal to justify their arguments. One thing, too, is painfully obvious. President Bush really wanted these elections to take place on his watch, and [...]
I’ve been developing the case for listening to what the Iranians are saying recently, and I think the aftermath of the recent Geneva talks are a perfect example. The P5+1 expected an up or down response to their proposal, a proposal that offered significant incentives — including a very serious American gesture of goodwill — in return for Iran freezing its nuclear enrichment program. In that context, the actual Iranian response, which Hurriyet got a copy of, is of course disappointing. So off we go for another round of sanctions, neither guaranteed to be passed nor likely to be very [...]
