Iran has rejected Turkey as the location for its talks with the West on its nuclear program. The rejection has much to do with the competition between Iran and Turkey for regional hegemony. Both countries style themselves as the dominant Middle Eastern power–a traditional self-perception on the part of Iran, a new identity for Turkey. The emergence of Turkish aspirations is interesting: it reflect Turkey’s decision to turn away from EU membership and instead focus on Central Asia and the Middle East. It is a symbolic turn that parallels the difficulties of Europe and the United States, and the emergence of new powers to the east. The tectonic plates of world politics are certainly shifting. We’ll see if the West can come up with a more palatable venue for the nuclear negotiations.
Samir Amin, a very prominent Marxist IR theorist, has published a long essay in AllAfrica entitled “Africa: The South Challenges Globalization.” It is a very long essay so I won’t ask any questions on the American foreign policy quiz about it. But for those of you who are interested in thinking about alternatives to the Western world order, Amin offers a very cogent possibility.
The funeral for Dimitris Christoulas, the 77-year old pensioner who shot himself in Athens, turned violent as demonstrators assaulted a police officer. The suicide note read as follows:
“The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance. I believe that young people with no future, will one day take up arms and hang the traitors of this country at Syntagma square, just like the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945″
The note undoubtedly inflamed many people. As the Greek elections near, it is hard to see how further violence can be avoided.
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