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Turkey: Erdoğan’s Credibility Shaken

“The electoral infrastructure and the mobilisation of the security apparatus — the police and Islamo-nationalist militias rather than the army — may get Erdoğan re-elected. But the three pillars of his political project — the credibility of the state, his assertive foreign policy and economic success — have been shaken by the earthquake .”

How Much of our Behaviour is Pre-determined by our Underlying Biology?

“As Stefánsson found with crosswords, it seems our genes influence our natural inclinations towards doing certain activities. What truly dictates whether we have any aptitude for them are factors such as whether we receive tutoring and other opportunities at an early age, and our own willingness to practice, improve and persist. The environment we find ourselves in plays a huge role in determining whether we act on our genetic inclinations or not. Stefánsson says that people who have genetic variants in their brain which make them struggle with inhibition are going to be more likely to overeat if they work next to fast food outlets, and struggle to quit if they begin smoking. But at the same time, there is evidence that having a  stable family life ,  stable romantic relationships and friendships , or even  exercising regularly  can help them live a productive life.” Genetics and life choices

What Approach for the Middle East

“Through an analysis of domestic factors, elements that are often presented as separate, or timeless, features of Middle Eastern politics, be they nationalism or religious fundamentalism, may turn out to be much more closely formed and transformed by their association with the state. Just as a more flexible and specific view of history has made historical analysis more effective, a more specific view of the state may, thereby, lead to a recognition of its greater influence.” The starting point is “the approach that is broadly derivative of historical sociology, and of the stronger insights of Marxism, and, by extension, of the international dimensions, at once of history as of contemporary politics and society, that historical sociology addresses. This perspective looks at the core components of a political and social order, the state, ideology and society, and focuses specifically on how institutions, be they of political or social/religious power, are established and maintained. It s...

Smile, General

“ Smile, General  has done the unthinkable: shattering the sanctity of an incumbent ruling family for the first time in Arab film and TV history. A grand revolution in Arab TV is not expected anytime soon, but the show has certainly succeeded in stirring the politically still water of the region’s TV industry.”

Two Anti-Semitic Activists?

Afghanistan, Hollywood and Representation

“It took just a few years after the US withdrew from Vietnam for some great films to arrive, including Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Deer Hunter (1978). The Covenant and other tentative responses suggest that while filmmakers are now setting their stories in Afghanistan, coming to grips with that conflict on screen may take a lot longer. The Hollywood landscape is more cautious than ever today, and the US too politically divided for movies to risk alienating half the audience.” State terrorism is represented as a victim or a hero.  Kandahar (released in the US on 26 May) is a Gerard Butler action movie about a CIA operative trapped in a dangerous part of Afghanistan with his interpreter. The trailer shows Butler saying "Nobody's coming to save us", a cue for the two of them to battle the enemies and save each other.” “Most films about battles in Iraq and Afghanistan are determinedly apolitical, praising the heroism of the soldiers as a way of sidestepping deeper issues ab...

The Egyptian Revolution’s Fatal Mistake

I wouldn’t use the word ‘mistake’ in the title; as the writer elaborates in the article , it was rather a weakness that stems of the absence of a well-organised revolutionary organisation. In fact, insurrection stopped short of taking the levers of powers. There was not an open general strike to pose the question of power.  “Despite the revolutionaries’ battlefield triumph, little was achieved at the structural level in the centuries-long popular fight against the police state. Unlike what happened with the Stasi in East Germany after the 1989 revolution, Egyptians still know very little about the SSI [the State Security Investigation Service]. The problem for those rebelling against Egypt’s police state was primarily their limited capacity—as well as lack of a strategy and the necessary political imagination. The liberal human rights discourse also reduced the police state to a problem of its repression and illegality, preventing a deeper understanding of its constructive role, it...

Women and Revolution in the Arab Gulf

South Yemen (when Yemen was divided in two) in 1970: “To quote Tuful Saïd, a woman refugee from the eastern sector whom I met in the western sector in February 1970: 'Here we are fighting on two fronts. The first front, that of revolutionary violence and armed struggle, is the easiest. The second and most difficult one i s where we fight against illiteracy, ignorance and backwardness.' A number of measures resulted from the Second Congress. Slavery was abolished. Education classes in politics and literacy were set up throughout the liberated area. For the first time young children received primary education; and in 1970 a Lenin School was set up just inside the PDRY – People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. In addition to learning history, mathematics, politics and languages, the children shared the tasks of the camp - cooking, cleaning and guard-duty - and had group discussions on the tasks they had to perform. —Fred Halliday in Arabia Without Sultans. “If we name a human being...

صناعة التفاهة وأهدافها

 

Ukraine-Russia vs. Palestine-Israel

Exposing the Hypocrisy of the West Related