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Miscellaneous
Jul. 31st, 2008 09:20 amYesterday I was in a Lord-of-the-RIngs mood and watched the first 2 parts. Will I ever not swoon when dying Boromir says "I would have followed you, my brother, my captain, my king!"? Not going to happen, I suppose. Boromir-dishiness gets me every time.
And I really ought to re-read the books, because the movies have completely replaced them in my head. I remember Tom Bombadil, of course, and Merry and Pippin's stay with Treebeard being much longer, but I'd like the books to be as present in my mind as the movies. (Although Shadowfax could never have been as beautiful in my imagination as he is in the film. What a gorgeous horse!)
The Turkish Constitutional Court decided not to abolish the reigning AKP party. Only 6 of the 11 judges voted for abolition, and 7 would have been the necessary quorum. In a way, this decision is probably better for the country than its opposite, because it provides political stability. Then again, the military establishment (in, as they say in The Weakest Link, a dramatic reversal of fortune now the conservatives, because they adhere to Atatürk's doctrine of laicism) has been disappointed more than once in recent times, and one can't help asking oneself how long they're going to take it without responding. With Turkey having the 4-th largest standing army in the NATO (700.000 men which, considering that the population is 70 million, is enormous), the reaction might not be too pleasant.
I suppose the decision is also a great disappointment to intellectuals and liberals, since the AKP does flirt outrageously with islamism.
Anyway, one has to watch and hope for the best. Considering that Turkey has borders with both Iran and Iraq, stability isn't the worst thing that could happen.
I'm trying to persuade my mother to accompany my brother when he comes to visit me this autumn. He won't be able to stay very long anyway (probably a Thursday to Sunday extended long weekend), and I argued that she's been to hospital such a lot, and for much longer, that a weekend without her won't make that much difference to my father. She might come round, and I really hope she will, because it would be nice to show her where I live. Plus, I can't remember the last time my mother and her brood of two were able to spend some quality time together.
That's all for now. I'm going back to drooling over![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sshg_exchange prompts, which is exactly what the Foreign Ministry is paying me for.
And I really ought to re-read the books, because the movies have completely replaced them in my head. I remember Tom Bombadil, of course, and Merry and Pippin's stay with Treebeard being much longer, but I'd like the books to be as present in my mind as the movies. (Although Shadowfax could never have been as beautiful in my imagination as he is in the film. What a gorgeous horse!)
The Turkish Constitutional Court decided not to abolish the reigning AKP party. Only 6 of the 11 judges voted for abolition, and 7 would have been the necessary quorum. In a way, this decision is probably better for the country than its opposite, because it provides political stability. Then again, the military establishment (in, as they say in The Weakest Link, a dramatic reversal of fortune now the conservatives, because they adhere to Atatürk's doctrine of laicism) has been disappointed more than once in recent times, and one can't help asking oneself how long they're going to take it without responding. With Turkey having the 4-th largest standing army in the NATO (700.000 men which, considering that the population is 70 million, is enormous), the reaction might not be too pleasant.
I suppose the decision is also a great disappointment to intellectuals and liberals, since the AKP does flirt outrageously with islamism.
Anyway, one has to watch and hope for the best. Considering that Turkey has borders with both Iran and Iraq, stability isn't the worst thing that could happen.
I'm trying to persuade my mother to accompany my brother when he comes to visit me this autumn. He won't be able to stay very long anyway (probably a Thursday to Sunday extended long weekend), and I argued that she's been to hospital such a lot, and for much longer, that a weekend without her won't make that much difference to my father. She might come round, and I really hope she will, because it would be nice to show her where I live. Plus, I can't remember the last time my mother and her brood of two were able to spend some quality time together.
That's all for now. I'm going back to drooling over
sshg_exchange prompts, which is exactly what the Foreign Ministry is paying me for.
