The Fifth Column: September 2013
Now it Can be Told Margaret Thatcher is safely in another place now, but only a sour-puss would deny the late British prime minister made an impression on everyone she met, one way or another. Austria’s then Chancellor Franz Vranitzky found himself in Moscow in 1988 to broach the delicate issue of whether or not Austria […]
Riding for Erasmus
A dozen sturdy bikes whirr past on the sun-scorched path that weaves through the floodplains forest of the Lobau, just east of Vienna. The group say they are a “moving megaphone” for a more integrated Europe. Sprouting from the luggage-carriers above their rear wheels, the bikes sport small flags that wag in the wind, giving […]
Promising Gas Fields In Cyprus
Since the discovery of gas fields some 180 km offshore south of Cyprus in late 2011, the country has been keen to talk up its potential as a future eastern Mediterranean energy hub. For Europe, this and later finds add weight to the theory that the eastern Mediterranean could hold the key to European energy […]
Turkey’s European Affair
“No other country has been kept waiting, knocking on the door of the EU, for such a long time,” complained Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a joint press conference in Berlin on 31 October. The subsequent meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealed just how much the relationship between Turkey and the EU […]
Turks expect ’no’ from European Union
The number of Turks who believe the country will ultimately acquire European Union membership has dropped significantly in comparison to last year, a recent poll by German-Turkish Foundation for Education and Scientific Research (TAVAK) has revealed. The belief of the Turkish population in EU membership has dropped to an all-time low of 17%, down from […]
Nabucco pipeline downsizes
The consortium overseeing the planning of the Nabucco pipeline announced modified plans for the natural gas conduit that will serve Europe. The new Nabucco West line will extend from the Bulgarian/Turkish border to the Central European Gas Hub in Baumgarten, Lower Austria, according to a press release published on its website. The new proposal deviates […]
Which New Middle East?
Regardless of whether democratisation in the “new Middle East” succeeds or authoritarian forms of government prevail once again, one fundamental change has already become clear: no one will be able to govern without taking into account domestic public opinion. This change will shift the foreign-policy parameters of the Middle East conflict (understood as both an […]
Book Review: Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul
Istanbul: Between West and East In his foreword to Ara Güler’s Istanbul, the 2009 retrospective of the great Turkish photographer, author and Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk pays a distinct tribute to Güler’s richly textured black-and-white images by acknowledging how “through these photographs, I learned to look at Istanbul and recognize its essence.” Pamuk encountered the […]
Europe’s Troubled Cousin
For Europeans, Turkey is a conundrum. Why can’t Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan just be reasonable about the protests about Gezi Park? The question seems to be on everybody’s mind, yet European leaders continue to speak softly, as if not to awaken the beast. There have been a few critical remarks here and there, as […]
CommentaryJuly 5, 2013Comments Off on Europe’s Troubled CousinRead More