Turkey chooses Obama
Semih Idiz
Embedded in its own high-tension agenda, Turkey did not concern itself too much with the details of the U.S. presidential elections until recently. Likely winner Barack Obama was highlighted for the promises he made to anti-Turkish Greek and Armenian lobbies in America.
His choice of candidate for vice president, Joseph Biden, on the other hand, raised Turkish eyebrows. Biden was not known, after all, to be a great friend of Turkey’s, especially due to his closeness with the anti-Turkish lobbies mentioned. Conditions, however, have the habit of forcing reality on people vying for positions of power, especially as they get close to their ultimate aim. This is what appears to be happening with Obama and Biden as far as the issue of relations with Turkey is concerned….
Will there be a US revolution?
In five days’ time the United States will elect itself a president. Will it be just that? Indeed, when the Americans vote, they will not only be deciding who should be the new tenant of the White House, but they will also be electing a world leader. At the very least, the person elected to the White House is not important just to the people of the United States, but is equally important to the entire population of the world. Whereas one may argue that since this election will have an impact on the lives of Mehmet in an Anatolian city, to George in Cyprus, Chen in a Chinese city, Iqbal in Pakistan, Masoud in Iraq, Nelson in South Africa and Udo in Nigeria, the international community of natio
America Votes, but Europe Decides on the Future of Transatlantic Relations
Jan Techau, head of the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) wrote an insightful op-ed in July, which is still very relevant. Techau described the European attitude towards the US election campaign:
Voting Blue
By Patricia H. Kushlis
New Mexico is one of the most politicized states in the country: Elections are especially fun here where tales of past electoral fraud and cliff-hanger results regale uninitiated and veterans alike and where even University of New Mexico political scientists who specialize in that sort of thing suddenly assume almost media celebrity status at home and abroad.
Besides, this state is one of the thirty five with early as well as absentee voting so I thought I’d explore where things stood from the banks of the middle Rio Grande in the Land of Enchantment just two days before the polls open November 4, 2008.
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Rejoice! Rejoice! Obama is Coming!
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News] WASHINGTON – It has been a little more than an hour since I turned on the TV in my hotel room, but I have come across Barack Obama almost a dozen times. American channels are full of ads that are in favor of, or against, the Democratic presidential candidate. The ones that his party put out talk about his vision for America and how great it will be. The ads given by his rival, John McCain, counter by saying he is inexperienced and will get confused in the first crisis he faces. In other words, the whole focus is on Obama. Indeed, the election that Americans will hold next week will be basically a vote on Obama. Everybody has seen what the Republicans have done in the past eight years and ultimately few have liked it. Sen. McCain, despite all his effort to the contrary, cannot compel most people to think that he does not share the main premises of the Bush Administration. But Sen. Obama is obviously offering something new and raising new hopes. The only question is whether he is capable of turning them into reality.
Twitter Vote Report monitors the US election via micro-blogging
Description: Discriminating officials, fraudulent voting machines or simply long wait times are some of the problems voters may be facing on November 4th. Twitter Vote Report gives American voters an opportunity to report incidents on Election Day using their mobile phones and share them with others.
Digital Tools Being Used: Mobile phones, Twitter, Google Maps mashup, Plodt, iPhone app.
Palin Brutally Punk’d by Fake French President Sarkozy
The popular Montreal comedy duo Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, aka "The Masked Avengers" ( Les Justiciers Masqués ) are notorious for prank-calling heads of state and celebrities who take themselves a little too seriously. Surely none take themselves so seriously as Sarah Palin. She was pranked by the pair today when they social-hacked their way past security and convinced her she was speaking to Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France.
White Supremacists for Obama, Black Separatists for McCain, Janis Ian For The End of The World
Obama wins Turkey, clinches Middle East Electoral College
[A fascinating analysis of what Turks think about Obama and McCain…] After eight years of being caught in the backdraft of U.S. President George W. Bush’s policies, the people of Turkey are angry. Religious Turks are angry about the Iraq war, which Turkey opposed from the start, and about the ever-expanding "war on terrorism," which many here view as a war on Islam. Despite those
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