Istanbul (/ˌɪstænˈbʊl/;[8][9] Turkish: İstanbul [isˈtɑnbul] ( listen)), historically known as Constantinople andByzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country's economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait (which separates Europe and Asia) between theSea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side.[10] The city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (coterminous with Istanbul Province), both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents.[4]Istanbul is one of the world's most populous cities and ranks as the world's 8th-largest city proper and the largest European city. Founded under the name of Byzantium on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city…

On October 10, 2015, over 100 Turkish activists were killed by twin explosions at a peace rally in Ankara, the country’s capital. Three months later, 10 were killed in a popular tourist area in Istanbul. Then 28 in a military convoy. Then 37 in a public square. Then 4 in Istanbul. Then 11 in Istanbul. Then 45 in Istanbul. Since I started writing this article three days ago, further terror attacks have claimed22 in Bangladesh, over 250 in Iraq, and 4 in three separate bombings across Saudi Arabia. I could fill a textbook dissecting Turkey’s tumultuous past year of terrorist attacks, its longstanding conflict with…

At a time when Arab governments across the region unveil grand economic reform ‘visions,’ Jordan has launched its own bold scheme to revive its faltering economy. Jordan is looking for a cure to what many Jordanians consider an economic burden: over 1.2 million Syrian migrants due to the war next door. Jordan is in the midst of trying to grapple with the influx of Syrian refugees, while staring blankly into the very real possibility of a major debt crisis. Jordan’s public debt has nearlydoubled from $18.9 billion when the Syrian crisis began in 2011 to $35.2 billion this year. The Hashemite…

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho,[1] better known as Chico Mendes (December 15, 1944 – December 22, 1988), was a Brazilianrubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples. He was assassinated by a rancher on December 22, 1988. The Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade), a body under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, is named in his honor. Early life[edit] Francisco "Chico" Alves Mendes Filho was born on December 15, 1944, in a rubber reserve called Seringal Bom Futuro,[2] outside of Xapuri, a small…

Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.   What we must eliminate are systems of representation that carry with them the authority which has become repressive because it doesn't permit or make room for interventions on the part of those represented. The sense of Islam as a threatening Other - with Muslims depicted as fanatical, violent, lustful, irrational - develops during the colonial period in what I called Orientalism. The study of the Other has a lot to…