Turkey Has Reportedly Banned Google 531
oxide7 and a number of other readers sent word (from mostly non-authoritative sources as yet) that Turkey had imposed an indefinite ban on some Google properties. "Turkey's Telecommunications Presidency said it has banned access to many of Google IP addresses without assigning clear reasons. The statement did not confirm if the ban is temporary or permanent. Google's translation and document sharing sites have also been banned indefinitely along with YouTube and Facebook in the country. Other services such as AppEngine, FeedBurner, Analytics, etc., have also been reportedly banned." Some real-time commentary (much of it in Turkish) can be found at Twitter hashtag #TurkeyCensoringGoogle. We have noted in past years the censorious ways of Turkish courts.
Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
Commissioner Pravin Lal
"U.N. Declaration of Rights"
source [generationterrorists.com]
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Funny)
That would have been a lot more impressive if it was a real quote, and not just a quote from a video game.
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
Where do you get off talking about "conventional" literacy? The form has been living and evolving for more than five thousand years, and certainly wasn't destined to peak "when you were younger". The quote you're bitching about contains a specific point of view that was communicated effectively enough that at least one reader(whatever) was able to apply it in a manner that conveyed his thinking on a similar but unrelated topic.
How many authors have failed to hit that mark?
Re:Flow of Information (Score:4, Informative)
No, but you're missing the point. If you're quoting Shakespeare, you would do the following
"To be or not to be..." --Hamlet, Hamlet by William Shakespeare
and not
"To be or not to be..." --Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The first identifies it as a line said by a fictional character, and includes the actual author. The second places the fictional character of Hamlet in a non-fictional context.
Think. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You lack the imagination to apply structure to our world? That entire page is taken from a carefully constructed and coherent extrapolation of human activity and knowledge.
When you quote a character from a video game as if they were a real person, you make yourself look like a total toolbag who needs the fiber to his mom's basement cut to protect the world from having to roll their eyes every time he shares something. There's no other way. I love that game, not a week goes by I don't play it, but I still think that's just amazingly socially retarded. Further, there must be some great quote just like it upon which it is based, and a little looking around could probably turn up
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That would have been a lot more impressive if it was a real quote, and not just a quote from a video game.
Ultimately, they're both sets of words composed by a person. What's the difference? Is it just that you expect someone famous to be attached to a quote? What if someone famous composed the words quoted in the video game? Would that still not be a real quote?
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, the attribution for the quote was to Commissioner Pravin Lal of the UN. That position indicates someone who has earned respect of world leaders, and in that is himself a world leader.
Myself, I don't know all the members of the UN, nor all the titles within the UN. I strongly suspect most of us wouldn't. It would be easy to confuse a well written game quote, for a well written quote of a world leader. Likewise, there should be no expectation that we would all recognize every character from every video game.
Or as NATO Intelligence Chief Henry Schmit once said, "There's only a fine line between information and disinformation. We must remain diligent to the factuality of any information presented."
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The definition of fiction is 'Not all documented truth', not 'contains no documented truth'. A subtle but important distinction.
To clarify further: Because a quote is from a game or movie it can have no truth in it?
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I think William Shatner said it best [myvideo.de].
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Re:Flow of Information (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As it is frequently commented on here, people fail to read the whole summary, and more often the article itself. It would be irrational to assume anyone would follow a link in a comment. Even if they did, they may not have recognized the name at the top of the page as a game page, and it would simply look like a list of famous quotes. I know I didn't game a lot through that period (busy working and having a life), and therefore didn't recognize the game name, but I did recognize Sid Meier'
Critical Thought. (Score:5, Informative)
As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century...
Anyone who is thinking as they read instead of blindly ploughing through the words would have realized that Earth has not reached it's final century yet?
And it was fully sourced too..
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On the first reading, I thought that was odd, but I took it to mean the 100 years which have just passed. I've read plenty of good quotes from non-native English speakers that read a bit odd. Since I don't know the game, I'll have to assume Earth ended in imaginary timeline.
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The conclusion of that statement I believe is what provides the relevance:
Beware those who would deny you access to information for in their heart they dream themselves your master.
What do you think about this statement as it relates to human nature? If you agree that seeking to control information is seeking to control thought is seeking to control action then shutting down Google says something about the nature of Turkey as an enti
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The clock is ticking to December 21, 2012. Tighten your tinfoil hats and stock up on your rations. :)
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I didn't need any attribution to recognize that as one of your originals. The commas are, as usual, fucking wrong.
Re:Flow of Information (Score:4, Funny)
— A very intelligent and, may I say, handsome fellow. Humble too.
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War.
War never changes.
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Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet, Turkey is/was a charter nation in the creation of the United Nations; they've also been a member in NATO since the Cold War.
Somehow, something has changed. It's interesting that this so closely coincides with the "blockade" incident with Israel, on account of many of the participants having been Turkish citizens.
I wonder if either of these events have anything to do with the recent (2002) elections in Turkey, where the AKP party (a 'religiously conservative' party with strong Islamic 'influence') won the seats of government in overwhelming numbers. It would certainly explain socio-political events since that time, if indeed they're moving closer towards the Islamic "center" (as Iran claims having done themselves).
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Interesting)
This situation is quite interesting as the majority has repeatedly elected, what is basically, an Islamist party into power. The west has made it clear they dont want the army to intervene this time, but that is the only thing that can save Turkey from the Islamists. What the hell are you supposed to do if you believe in democracy but democracy spawns people who bring it down?
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
It is indeed to do with the AKP party - but that is nothing new for turkey - what is new that this time the army has not responded with a coup as it normally does when religious folk get out of control in turkey. I think it has happened at least 3 or 4 times so far.
This is true, and entirely the fault of the EU. The -people- of Turkey want a religious, sharia law based, dictatorship. It's a foreign thought to western minds, but as you point out they've pressured for such a gov't several times. At which point the, highly secular, military comes out in a minor coup and re-establishes what was the second freest nation in the area.
The EU didn't like that, so as such a gov't is being implemented now the military is holding back and not correcting the situation, and we get headlines like this one.
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
The -people- of Turkey want a religious, sharia law based, dictatorship. It's a foreign thought to western minds, but as you point out they've pressured for such a gov't several times. At which point the, highly secular, military comes out in a minor coup and re-establishes what was the second freest nation in the area.
No, some people in Turkey want a religious government, some would like sharia law, and a few would like a dictatorship. The number of people that actually want all those things together is probably rather small.
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
The -people- of Turkey want a religious, sharia law based, dictatorship.
I take it you have never met any of the Turkish people, or ever travelling to Turkey? I have, and found that most people do not want anything to do with the kind of ultra-conservative views you attribute to them.
Basically, your position is the same as saying "The -people- of the United States want a religious, Ten Commandments law based, dictatorship", based on the government of George Bush being overtly Fundamentalist Christian, and being elected by the people of the U.S.
In fact, what the people of Turkey mostly want is good government and an end to corruption, security and prosperity, and for much of the youth, to be E.U. citizens so that they can freely study and travel in the rest of Europe. The election of AKP was more to do with rejecting the policies of the previous administration than endorsing Islamism.
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A sizable number clearly do support the conservative/islamicists, or they wouldn't have been elected.
I suggest your sample is somewhat skewed, the reasons for which ought to be obvious even to you.
Re:Flow of Information (Score:4, Interesting)
OK, let's play!
57.4 + 46.6 = 104%. Well, what's 4% here or there? Only Allah is perfect.
Their platform is that everyone will get rich. That's not politics, that's marketing.
Wait - the largest party has the most female representatives? It's a miracle! Say... can you name any of these female representatives? What "power" do they actually wield?
Economic, yes: it's part of the "everybody gets rich" scheme. Cultural? I have no idea where you're getting that from. They tried to lift the ban on the hijab, remember? Is that the act of a party who wants the populace (not the legal system, the culture) to become less or more Islamic?
Uh... they supported the US action to depose the famously secular Saddam. Just because Bush was crazy enough to believe that a secular democracy would fill the vacuum doesn't mean anyone else was that deluded.
Uh... it's proselytising [wikipedia.org]. Thanks for asking!
You get that the AKP has to deny being a religious party so that it doesn't get banned, right? That the Constitutional Court voted 6 to 5 (1 short of the 7 needed) to disband them on that basis?
And lastly, are you familiar with the concept of taqiyya [wikipedia.org]? If not, I'd read up on it. And pay less attention to what the supporters of AKP tell you (especially in pubs) and more on what the AKP actually do.
Like, for example, what they've just done.
AKP is highly Euro skeptic. (Score:3, Insightful)
AKP is highly Euro skeptic. In fact, they're election was partially distrust of Europe.
Europe will not favor enlarging again for quite some time given the recent economic problems. In fact, Turkey would unquestionably join the ranks of the PIGS [wikipedia.org]. I'm doubtful that Germany, France, etc. will ever feel like they've fixed the PIGS situation, so Turkey is effectively out permanently.
You know, Turkey never had very good odds for entering anyways. Greece would oppose them for military reasons. France would op
Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
As an aside, to all the people who bring the US into unrelated conversations - take a look at its history - the US is by a wide margin the historically the best (in terms of how they treat others) superpower of all time. They make mistakes a-plenty (some on purpose too) - but bringing them into comparisons of islamists or the like as if you would not care if a country like Iran replaced the US as the main superpower in the world is just plain and simple stupid. Please take a step back and consider what you are saying.
Re:Flow of Information (Score:4, Insightful)
Apparently "democracy" in America means the tyranny of the rich minority runs unchecked. In the absence of something to provide a moral compass, money has filled the vacuum and now anything is OK as long as it makes money.
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Kurds in turkey suffer no matter what the government. The islamists are not fans, neither were the supporters of ataturk. Since gaining power they have continued their attacks on the kurdish part of Iraq, as well as the kurds within turkey. If you think your lot is going to improve with them, you are sorely mistaken. The best hope of the Kurds is a separate country (kurdist
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The west has made it clear they dont want the army to intervene this time, but that is the only thing that can save Turkey from the Islamists.
That is because the West has become weak and thinks that the more meek it gets, the more everyone will suddenly love it.
In truth, our enemies still hates us and we are losing what allies we once had.
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Re:Flow of Information (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet, Turkey is/was a charter nation in the creation of the United Nations; they've also been a member in NATO since the Cold War.
The UN is populated more by dictatorships than anything approaching "free countries", and NATO broke down into a "sign this paper against communism and the US will give you money" almost instantly.
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The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality
Yeah so how come most of your creativity comes from your immigrants from Europe? Back to your government sanctioned free speech zone you. In other news, turkey by name, turkey by nature.
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Do you not think with human nature in mind this has a degree of truth to it?
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Who's surprised? (Score:5, Informative)
The Turks don't want anyone to talk, write or even think about Armenians or Kurds. And they don't care for Jews all that much either.
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Not only is Ataturk dead, the Turks are turning Jihadist, so now we'll have Taliban with a taste for dead Kurd (erm, "Mountain Turks").
The veneer of modern civilization is peeling off (granted, the glue never dried) and they are revealing their true Muslim character.
Add it to the list of countries Israel should nuke when götterdämmerung comes.
Or, put another way... (Score:3, Insightful)
I dunno, but it seems to me that dogmatic, xenophobic, recidivist behaviour is on the rise worldwide -- Islam certainly has no corner on the market for running amok, not now, and not historically, and the term "Chri
Re:Or, put another way... (Score:5, Insightful)
> I dunno, but it seems to me that dogmatic, xenophobic, recidivist behaviour is on the rise
> worldwide -- Islam certainly has no corner on the market for running amok, not now, and not
> historically, and the term "Christian" probably carries as much negative baggage through
> the years as "Muslim" does.
This quote is a good example of an all too common species of politically correct fool. So much wrong with it. It assumes time is immaterial. That events in the dark past are indisinguishable from current events and carry the exact same moral weight. That persons, events and movements must be judged with the exact same modern politically correct intolerant eye.
We are still crawling up from the muck, people and events must be viewed from the perspective of the time they occured in. For example the US Founders lived in a time when slavery was accepted as normal and had been since recorded history began. Individual liberty of any sort was a REVOLUTIONARY idea. After exhausting peaceful means they became violent revolutionaries. And most of them understood the inherent conflict between slavery and "All Men are created equal..." but also realized the new nation wasn't ready to follow where that line of thought lead. But notice that less than a century later the only places still practicing slavery were parts of Africa and the Middle East outside the range of the British Navy. Christianity did some nasty things but went through the Enlightenment, pretending that didn't happen and judging it as if that didn't happen and that the religion of the Inquisition still exists unchanged is daft.
Islam didn't experience the Enlightenment and rejects it today. The past is just that, past; we have a problem in the here and now as a result. Islam's rejection of the foundational principles of modern civilization is a problem NOW. Coexistance isn't even possible because of their expansionist and supremisist ideas. We in the West either abandon our civilization and accept Sharia or sooner or later (and with Nukes spreading it better be sooner) we are going to be forced to end Islam as it is currently known and practiced. That means Ann Coulter's solution of "Invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." It will be the worst human rights atrocity in recorded history but I'm damned if I see a better solution. We just don't have the time left to embark on a psyops action to slowly pervert their religion so as to remove the nastier bits.
So if it comes down to them or me I'm picking me and mine. Politically incorrect selfish bastard that I am. Future generations can flagelate themselves like the modern campus set do now about the American Indians, the Monroe Doctrine, ending WWII with the Bomb, the Cold War or any of that other stuff. So long as it IS civilization having that discussion in the future and not some starving primitives worshiping an insane child molester in a radioactive wasteland. And they will be sort of 'right' in that by the more advanced civilization our hard choices will allow them to build what we will do in our day will BE wrong... but still making the same mistake modern scholars keep making of judging us by their standards. So be it.
Problem NOW is the West's, too (Score:4, Insightful)
Historical allegory aside, my intent was actually more to point out the fallacy of couchslug's professing to have a handle on the "true Muslim character". What is the "true Muslim character"? What is the "true Christian character"? My friend is a devout Muslim, and one of the kindest, gentlest, most sincere people you could hope to meet. I'd much rather spend time in his company than with some of the self-identified Christians I've had the misfortune to know, who claim some personal connection with Jesus at one moment, and happily spout bigoted hateful venom the next.
Islam has its own foundational principles of modern civilization. That these foundational principles don't happen to match your own is an issue of cultural discourse, not absolutist violence. For that matter, some of the vaunted Enlightenment is actually predicated on learning imported from the Muslim world.
Swap "their" here for "our" -- for can we not say exactly the same thing about the US? The United States, for all its fanfare and mythologizing, has been one of the biggest thugs on the planet for the better part of a century.
Given that the core tenet Christianity is essentially "love thy neighbor", it sounds like you've hit the nail on the head here -- I'd hazard that neither Ann Coulter nor yourself are all that familiar with the underlying ideals you both seem to be espousing. Never mind the general ignorance of what Islam is. Yes, there are wacko bad apples, and yes, some of these elements happen to run countries. These do not define Islam, any more than Pat Robertson speaks for all Christianity, though they do appear to define the face of Islam as perceived by many here in the US.
Moreover, any look at the cultural friction between the many countries and political groups identifying themselves as Islamic must look as well at how the various governments of the West are fully implicated in helping to polarize and poison the dynamics at work. For instance, the situation with Iran and militant Shiism owes much to the hamfisted bungling of MI5, the CIA, and our friend in the Gulf, BP. Being ignorant of the West's role in defining the anger and resentment expressed by many of the more vocal elements of the Muslim world is fixable and excusable; ignoring it is hypocritical. The West helped create this problem, and the West must also help solve it, constructively. Sadly, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Gaza, among other present issues, aren't helping.
Cheers,
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"And I have this terrible dread the real number who would prefer to see Islam exported by the sword is a lot closer to 50% than 1%."
That's because you're an ignorant paranoid kook, whose probably never even ventured more than a short distance away from his home town judging by the level of ignorance of the world shown.
Try travelling the world a bit, try going to some of these muslim countries, you'll soon find that there's hundreds of millions of them who are even more reasonable than you are.
You really bel
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Then U.S. ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman actually felt the need to organize a conference call to explain to the Turkish media that secret U.S. nuclear testing did not cause the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. One of the craziest theories circulating in Ankara was that the U.S. was colonizing the Middle East because its scientists were aware of an impending asteroid strike on North America.
I mean, I've heard a lot of conspiracies about why the US attacked Israel, but that is a new one. It is too bad, Turkey is one place that could use Google (and free, true information).
Jive Turkeys! (Score:2)
Those Turks are real jive turkeys! And to think I was going to blame the Israelis for the flotilla disaster! Now I've got my eyes squarely perched on the Turks! Especially that Bald Bull fella, I don't trust that guy at all!
Damage (Score:2)
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Isn't the 'net supposed to route around that sort of crap?
Yes, the Internet seems to be routing right around Turkey... Ah well, if they want to live in the Stone age...
Seriously (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Seriously (Score:5, Insightful)
All NATO stands for is opposing Russia and its allies, if you think it stands for human rights or anything you should look at the conflicts in the cold war and which side the US supported.
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...just as long as they aren't communist...
I wouldn't be that certain even of this part, either. For just one example - true, when my country entered NATO it was formally a "democracy" for almost a decade, but does anybody really think those were some sudden major shifts? "Communists" were since a long time ago predominantly locals, too; and the best part - the accession happened in the middle of 2-term, decade long presidency of somebody originating from them. And just before parliamentary elections won decisively by...former communists (who also
Re:Seriously (Score:4, Interesting)
One thing was clear though, even at that point, and that was Soviet communism was bad. You speak of Russia's allies, but many of Russia's allies didn't have a choice, they were only puppet governments for Russia. As far as dictators who kill their people go, only Hitler came close to the numbers that Stalin reached. Stalinism/Leninism was worth opposing, it was far worse than your average dictatorship. It is also understandable that NATO's main policy was to oppose the Soviets.
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"It's about time that Turkey was expelled from NATO. It's turning into a fascist religiously controlled state at an alarming rate."
Leave it in NATO, since Jihadists still hate Commies (Russia still dreams Soviet dreams), but never let it into the European Union.
No Muslim country belongs there (unless Europeans decide they hate their own culture).
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No Muslim country belongs there
You walked the streets of London or Paris recently? Just saying.
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(unless Europeans decide they hate their own culture)
Already done.
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"Muslim" is probably too big of an umbrella - Bosnia and Herzegovina is Muslim in half (and it seems that part of population was one of less warmongering during Balkan wars), is on the way towards EU membership with which it shouldn't have major issues; and generally with integrating. Germany has also large Muslim population, which despite any problems is quite succesfully integrated; Turks, accidentally. Spain should be do well in the future, too; with already over one million Muslims, and more (mostly Mor
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last I looked the government there was secular and some were trying hard to keep it that way. Perhaps you are upset because it seems a theocracy just committed an act of war against Turkey and the turks were pissy abut it.
lots of definitions of fascism. the one I favor is murderous austerity during a depression.
What does this hope to accomplish? (Score:2)
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Along with the meltdown of the southern European states, I'd say this guarantees that Turkey won't be let into the EU. It also suggests that it is moving full force towards an Islamist state, betraying the desires of its founder, Ataturk, that it would be a modern secular state.
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Someone at their NSA did the math for long term interception quality vs cryptography on open networks and made a few calls?
or its just a 'we can make our own internet' effort.
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Oh yes they did. (Score:5, Informative)
despite the cause on the surface is shown deragotary videos of kemal ataturk on youtube, nothing could justify banning analytics ips. so, in the end one of the ministers slipped the real reason - google doesnt pay tax to turkey.
there is no reason why it should either. google is a corp that is centered in america, and according to treaty to prevent double taxation, it should not pay tax here, since it pays tax in usa. so there is no legal justification for trying to tax them.
but then again, you cant expect reasoning, or, abiding by laws, from an islamist government.
im wondering which is the idiot that modded me dow (Score:3, Interesting)
im in turkey. we have an islamist government which clearly stated they are islamist, on top of us. they are engaging in innumerable ways of censorship, of this google thing, is only one of them.
their main censorship tool is attacking the media outlets which do not publish in the manner they like, with the finance ministry, which is the ministry that governs taxes. if you are such a media company, suddenly finance ministry starts to rev
Technical explanation? (Score:2)
Is this a DNS thing, where Turks could get around it by using a different DNS server than their ISP's?
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Probably not, but "DNS" has been a rising keyword in Turkey over the last 6 days.
What's Turkish for "proxy"?
Do Not Insult Turkishness (Score:2)
It's the law: Learn it, know it, live it.
Jeff Spicoli: He's the full hot orator.
Crossroads (Score:4, Interesting)
This is very worrisome given that it is coming from what is supposed to be the crossroads country between the west and the middle east. If a country like Turkey is engaging in acts like this, what hope does the rest of the Middle East have?
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Turkey is a very considerable country. Their geographic location is very strategic, they have a large and industrious population, they are rich and they are (wer
This is not a court order by the way (Score:5, Interesting)
now, this board, which is under islamist govt's control, decided to try to tax youtube. therefore, they are trying to blackmail google by banning the ips too. the court orders are just an excuse.
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Real Time commentary? (Score:2)
As Someone from Turkey there is more to it (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately this kind of thing happens all the time, and the government cannot do anything about it. Even the president has criticized the ban last week, but it's all up to the courts.
According to Turkish law, *any* PA can ask for a preliminary injunction to ban *any* web site. The web site has to comply within a month, otherwise TK (which is the telecomunnication authority) will have to block the web site in question. Nobody (including prime minister, or the president) cannot stop the ban (unless the website complies).
So if a person from a small town complains about a web site (for example Youtube, or Blogger), and the PA for that town finds the case worthy, he/she request a court order for the ban. This has actually happened (Blogger was banned since some bloggers published world cup matches, and the local TV stations which bought WC rights have complained).
The Google ban comes from Youtube ban. Previously they only removed youtube.com from DNS servers, but people have installed alternate DNS servers, and all was fine. Now they decided to block based on server IP, which is probably shared with other Google services as well.
Anyways they are trying to amend the law, so that this kinds of bans will be restricted (not just any random PA in any random town), but the best would be abolishing the law altogether.
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Turkey (Score:3, Insightful)
retaliation (Score:4, Funny)
Google retaliates by banning turkeys.
Did anyone else misread this as (Score:4, Funny)
Turkey the police state. (Score:4, Interesting)
I thought I'd share an account of what hapened to me a couple of years ago, in Istanbul, arguably the most westernized of all of Turkey: my friend and I decided to stay at this hotel outside the center of the city, and had to take separate rooms, since we were not married. In the evening, I went to her room for a chat. After about half an hour she gets a phonecall: some guy tells her that she is not to have male visitors in her room! That's right. They have cameras in each room. Even more sadly, my turkish friend told me this as a matter of fact, "nothing to see here".
I'm not saying every hotel in Turkey is like that, but I will say this: Turkey is bad news, very fucking bad news.
I don't think this is true (Score:3, Funny)
The full exchange (Score:3, Funny)
Google: "Booh, that's fowl play!"
A communications interuption? (Score:3, Funny)
This happened before (Score:4, Informative)
Turkey was a world leading country by 15th century in mathematics, medicine, architecture, etc.
But while Europe experienced the movable type printing revolution in 15th - 16th centuries, in Muslim countries the movable type print was banned for 200 years for "moral" reason.
Certainly, as any human invention, printing was also used for producing "adult" materials. But it was also used to produce maps, textbooks, literature, etc.
So as a result the Europe moved into a modernity, but the countries, where printing was banned, stayed behind. The "moral" reasons were rather an attempt of the patriarchal leaders of society to guard their power.
In the long run this ban did not benefit the society. Nowadays many Turks have to move to Germany, Austria, etc. to find a job. This is a result of the error, which was made by the Islamic countries' society five hundred years ago.
Many medieval churches in Europe were build by architects, who learned architecture from Islam mosques' builders. We still use Arabic numerals for mathematics. But now the Islam world is well behind in technology and science, including human science.
Unfortunately they step on the same rake again, because it is not possible for culture to develop without free discussions, without free access to information.
It happens again today (Score:4, Interesting)
Quite true. But since the invention of Copyright, Europe and most of the West have started banning the free copying and sharing of information as well.. And with the successive extensions of Copyright terms (how long until we have Perpetual Copyright?), we're caught in the same downward spiral than those countries.
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[quote]Your description of that part of the world in the 15th century is generally correct, but it would also be valid for the centuries before when it was the center of Christendom.[/quote]
Norman Davies writes in "Europe: a History" (ISBN 0-19-820171-0) about leadership of Islamic countries in all spheres of science and technology just up to 1450, when Johannes Guttenberg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg [wikipedia.org] invented the movable type printing.
Before this some peasants in Europe sometimes could n
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They do not firmly condone nor accept the Armenian genocid.
I'm really, really hoping you don't want them to condone the Armenian genocide.
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Clearly you're baiting the question of "why?".
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To half of the Turkish citizens who are progressive and trying to westernize Turkey and to enter Europe: I feel really bad and sorry for you, keep fighting until you overpower the other half.
The problem is that the progressive Turkish citizens aren't breeding as much as Islamists do. Without numbers on their side, how can they win, except by becoming a dictatorship?
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified by Turkey in 1948.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Declaration_of_Universal_Human_Rights#Adoption [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
I was going to reply that they have Eagles, but it seems they don't. They do have a fleet of Falcons [wikipedia.org] though.
Re: (Score:2)
lrn 2 paragraph plox
Re: (Score:3)
Your overuse of caps-lock precludes anyone from taking you seriously. I just thought I'd let you know for any future crazy rants...
Re:GOOGLE MANIPULATES SEARCH RESULTS IN THEIR FAVO (Score:2)
tl;dr
I would have thought that a "HighTechGenius" would know about the paragraph tag.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure that's what the word means...
M-W to the rescue [merriam-webster.com]... seems to be a perfectly cromulent word :-)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I can Karma-Whore and google for you, but you'll need to do the actual reading:
GP's Point 1 - http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/iran-inks-deal-to-send-enriched-uranium-to-turkey-20100517-v8uc.html [smh.com.au]
GP's Point 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaiMjAULWn0&feature=player_embedded# [youtube.com]!
http://libertypundits.net/article/paid-mercenaries-on-turkish-flotilla-ship-and-more-censored-footage-of-violence/ [libertypundits.net]
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkish-paper-releases-censored-photos-of-beaten-israeli-comm [haaretz.com]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I didnt know there was a band called youtube, what sort of music do they play?
Re:Greeks still hate Turks, for a reason (Score:4, Funny)
Mistermeaner than you?
Is it Slashdot bad spelling day today?