![Air strikes in Syria [Image 4 of 6] by DVIDSHUB, on Flickr](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2950/15421035765_5ff02cdb7f.jpg "Air strikes in Syria [Image 4 of 6] by DVIDSHUB, on Flickr")
Anyone such as myself who follows developments from the Middle East is rarely, if ever, bored. But the recent months have been both gripping and horrifying at the same time, thanks to a new calamity. No, I’m not talking about the Ebola outbreak that seems poised to spread beyond Africa, but rather an unnatural pestilence that now plagues Iraq and Syria, and seems hell-bent on spreading further. I’m speaking of course of the pseudo-religious savages of the so-called Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS or ISIL. IS has been at the forefront of many peoples’ minds, particularly in recent weeks as a result of the heavy fighting in the largely Kurdish Syrian border town of Kobanê (also known as Ayn al-Arab). Continue reading
Category Archives: Canadian Politics
My Europe? Your Europe? Or OUR Europe?
As a Canadian born of Turkish parents who has studied and lived in Europe, I’ve started thinking of myself as a truly global citizen. But I’ve also never forgotten that I am who I am because of those who raised me and where I was raised. As I built a new life for myself at the heart of Europe in Brussels (though I have since returned to Canada), I often think about the experiences my parents must have lived through as immigrants to Canada from Turkey in the 1970s. And, of course, I can’t help comparing their experiences in Canada, my own Canadian experience as the son of immigrants, and my new experiences in Belgium as someone who strove to become a new European of a Turkish-Canadian background.
Unfocused Wisdom 