Monday, June 21, 2010
This is just a quick link to follow -- an "aside." These are links to interesting things that, for one reason or another, I didn't place into a full posting. Click the link to visit the full article. Go to the blog index for a regular listing of posts.
Tom Friedman: Letter From Istanbul, Part 2 - '...I've never visited a democracy where more people whom I interviewed asked me not to quote them by name for fear of retribution by Erdogan's circle -- in the form of lawsuits, tax investigations or being shut out of government contracts. The media here is rampantly self-censored. Moreover, Erdogan has evolved from just railing against Israel's attacks on Hamas in Gaza to spouting conspiracy theories -- like the insane notion that Israel is backing the P.K.K. terrorists -- as a way of consolidating his political base among conservative Muslims in Turkey and abroad...'
