Posted in Iran on Mar 10th, 2010 No Comments »
by Rasmus Christian Elling.
I know that by now it seems that my only contribution to this blog is every second month or so when I write something about Iranian filmmakers and their political views. Again, I apologize and assure the readers that I will return with more stuff when I’m finished with my PhD thesis [...]
Posted in Turkey on Feb 26th, 2010 1 Comment »
by Daniella Kuzmanovic
The current crisis will be solved within the framework of the constitutional order and the frameworks of the laws. This was the bottom line of the statement from the presidency after the crisis management meeting Thursday the 25th of February in Ankara between President Abdullah Gül, prime minister Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan and chief [...]
Posted in Iran on Jan 22nd, 2010 No Comments »
by Rasmus Christian Elling.
Remember the whole Bahman Ghobadi / Abbas Kiarostami thing? Ghobadi, representative of a new wave of Iranian cinema, severely lambasted one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Abbas Kiarostami, for not taking a political stand during the 2009 post-election violence. Well, now he might have.
At least, that is how the Iranian [...]
Posted in Tunesia on Dec 13th, 2009 1 Comment »
Presidential election in Tunisia: Repetitions, news and consumerism before political engagement
by Rikke Hostrup Haugbølle.
The number 7 is printed on Tunisia’s notes. 7 is also a logo for many public authorities. And 7 is the name for one of Tunisia’s two state-run television channels. 7 stands for the date of November 7, 1987 where Tunisia’s incumbent [...]
Posted in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen on Nov 6th, 2009 1 Comment »
by Rasmus Christian Elling.
Unfortunately, I do not have time for an in-depth analysis, but the following pieces of recent news points to an escalation of the conflict between Iran and Saudi-Arabia:
Iranian Arabic channel taken off air
“The operators of Nilesat and Arabsat cited a breach of contract according to Egypt’s MENA news agency, but al-Alam said [...]
Posted in Civil society, EU-Turkey relations, Turkey on Oct 16th, 2009 No Comments »
by Daniella Kuzmanovic.
Wednesday, October 14th, it was once again time for the yearly assessment of Turkish efforts to meet the political and economic criteria in relation to the EU membership negotiations (http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2009/tr_rapport_2009_en.pdf). With regard to the political criteria all the usual critical issues are, as could be expected, mentioned in the report: Minority issues, the [...]
Posted in Darfur, Libya, Sudan on Sep 30th, 2009 2 Comments »
An African view of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan “revolution”
by Anders Hastrup.
This past month have seen a lot of commentaries and analyses of the 40th anniversary of the Qaddafi regime in Libya, in the wake of the extravagant celebrations in Tripoli on September 1st. Various newspapers, magazines and online journals have focused on the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 22nd, 2009 No Comments »
by Rasmus Christian Elling.
I’m sorry, but this deserves its own post. As I’ve mentioned earlier, there were rumors of presidential candidate and 72-year old revolutionary cleric Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karubi’s meeting with a group of pop artists recently – among them the underground rapper Sâsi Mânkan (Sasy the Model). It is now more or less confirmed. [...]
Posted in Iran on Apr 19th, 2009 5 Comments »
by Rasmus Christian Elling.
After a turbulent start, the Iranian presidential election race has entered a new phase. Now, the presidential candidates are aiming their slogans and promises at Iran’s youth. But is it too little, too late to create a reformist momentum?
Over the last two weeks, Mir-Hossein Musavi – the candidate for which Khatami stepped [...]
Posted in Turkey on Apr 1st, 2009 1 Comment »
by Daniella Kuzmanovic.
Local elections in Turkey, which were held on Sunday the 29th of March, brought about some interesting results and indications, also concerning the future national political landscape of Turkey. Many of these have already been scrutinized in detail by Turkish press, and I have no intention of repeating their insights in this comment. [...]
