- Only in America (part II), Anthony Barnett
- Only in America (part I), KA Dilday
- The wrong turn (5): the swerve, Rosemary Bechler
- The spectre of the "second Holocaust", Michael Rothberg
- After the global, Tom Nairn
- Ergenekon: Turkey's military-political contest, Bill Park
- Siberia's lost El Dorado, Olga Myasnikova
In the second part of an exchange with KA Dilday, Anthony Barnett argues that the novelty of Obama's candidacy places the Democratic nominee in the company of leaders across the Americas. Kay's first letter can be read here.
Dear Kay,
I well remember our conversation. I also recall how I first started to listen to and read Obama in January and thought, "Damn, he really means to win and can." It was because of his deliberate appeal to conservatism. It meant he... more »
Only in America (part I), KA Dilday
In the first segment of a multi-part exchange, KA Dilday reminds Anthony Barnett of how Barack Obama's rise is very un-European.
Dear Anthony:
It's been several months since I told you that Barack Obama's nomination as the presidential candidate for a major political party, could only happen in America . But even as I said that, I also insisted that he would never be elected president because of his race, particularly since he was running against a patrician white man.... more »
The wrong turn (5): the swerve, Rosemary Bechler
Thanks to my summer reading, I think I can put my finger on the place where this wrong turn was taken. Of course, these things don't happen at one discreet moment in time, and they gather their effect from frequent, daily repetition. No doubt there were wider and all sorts of contingent reasons for the closing down of certain options, but I want to concentrate on the choices that women activists made back then, the ones I think should be reversed.
Read more on similar themes from... more »
The spectre of the "second Holocaust", Michael Rothberg
A few months ago, the Washington Post published a story recounting the attempts of the African American political theorist Danielle Allen to get to the bottom of the false claim that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Allen's Internet archaeology turned out to be as interesting as the actual answer - the origin of the claim seems to be a rather odd and anti-Semitic character named Andy Martin, who has recently reappeared in the Fox News "documentary" "Obama & Friends: The... more »
After the global, Tom Nairn
Global Imaginary... is a title that conjures up the totalising and overweening, even more so in the present moment of financial and other crisis. Over-exposure to "globalisation" has become a feature of our age: it comes with the cornflakes, follows through until the bedtime headlines, and haunts the dreams that come later. But don't worry. Manfred B Steger's The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (Oxford... more »
Ergenekon: Turkey's military-political contest, Bill Park
Turkey's year of extraordinary political controversy continues to absorb and divide the country's citizens. The latest high-level dispute surrounds the opening on 20 October 2008 in Istanbul of the long-awaited trial of eighty-six suspects involved in the elusive "Ergenekon" conspiracy. The scenes of chaos and overcrowding in the specially-constructed courtroom were such that the judges decided to adjourn the case until three days later. The delayed launch is an early signal... more »
Siberia's lost El Dorado, Olga Myasnikova
"You sit there on your oil wells, you don't do anything but make money. You don't want to share anything with the rest of Russia and you don't." This tirade often comes from "the man in the street", but when I heard it from a university lecturer in political studies, I have to admit I was puzzled.
I won't, of course, take issue with the obvious fact that the northern regions are richer than the subsidised regions, and State Statistical Committee figures... more »
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