For the past few weeks I was in Cairo, I actually left on Friday and could see the plumes of smoke from the cab on my way to the airport. Since I've been back in Istanbul I've been catching up on the news in Turkey, though today's frontpage news was (...)
ISTANBUL: While of course the tragedy of the Earthquake in Van and the ongoing operations against the PKK in Eastern Turkey are the biggest news leading up to the holidays in Turkey, I'd like to talk again about the elections in Tunisia and Egypt (...)
ISTANBUL: As I type there are massive Turkish flags being sold outside on my street and anti-PKK protests (read: pro-war) going on all around the city. Yesterday “24 martyrs [şehit] were killed,” as every single newspaper's headline read this (...)
So this is my preseason preview 2010. I'm sending it out after the first preseason games, but really most of it was written before that. As a result, there are plenty of inaccuracies or things that I didn't mention in my preview (injuries for (...)
In this series I’ve attempted to present a critique of the theory and practice of human rights work, even against the common minimalist defense presented by Michael Ignatieff. I’ve argued that even a worker who defends their work on the grounds (...)
All this leads to the final section of this series: the role of governments in universal human rights. In point of fact both international organizations and the communities they serve have to accept the relationships they have with the states (...)
Linked to foisting what I’m referring to as “culture†upon local populations in the name of human rights is the breaking of “tradition.†What I mean by tradition are the standard practices of the people aid workers come to help. Talal Asad (...)
My first argument is that a set of cultural values is sold under the auspices of human rights aid. Language, food, and broader features (such as television, sports, etc.) all are presented as part of the package that leads to “getting human (...)
I believe that many of the problems of “universal human rights†are sufficiently evident to approach the issue from a somewhat different angle. Talal Asad’s argument that the supposedly “universal†notion of human rights comes out of (...)
Istanbul: a city of dilemmas
Baher Ibrahim
21 February 2010 in Travel
ISTANBUL: Misconceptions of Turkey make it seem like a backward society where women cannot walk around uncovered, mixing between sexes is forbidden and alcohol is (...)
So… the crushing Bears defeat is meaning that these picks may become more and more … ummm… lazily done, especially if the Bulls turn out to be the best team of all time (I’m writing this on the heels of their demolition of the Spurs at home (...)
The NFL season is in full gear and here we go again with some picks. Bring on the comments folks, as we are ready to do some battle in the next day before the games kickoff. Good times.
STEELERS (-5) over Viqueens: honestly I think this spread is (...)
So I went 6-8 last week, my first week losing money on the year (just barely, and really it’s not losing money because betting the house on the colts made up any potential losses, I still will never get over how ridiculous that spread was) which (...)
So, on the season I believe I’m 36-26. Last week I couldn’t believe many of the spreads and that was because Vegas’ spreads were ridiculous. Tampa, for instance, was basically a lock to cover even if they couldn’t win the game. This week’s (...)
So for the season I’m 26-22, which could be worse though surprisingly IS worse than the Sportsguy, who is 34-14. Regardless, we’ll see how things wear on…
Bengals (-5.5) over BROWNS: So the browns have yet to lose a game by less than 14 (...)
Titans (+2.5) over JETS: So the first thing that stands out is that the Titans are 0-2 with two very defensible losses. HOWEVER, did you know they’re dead last in the NFL in pass defense despite having played the Steelers and Texans. I mean, I (...)
Dallas (-5.5) over TBAY: What a fun week this is, I don’t think there’re too many games that are obvious though the first game was easy to know who to gamble on. Last season the cowboys won this matchup 13-9, largely because TBay’s offense was (...)
Tennessee (+6) over STEELERS
Ok, let’s begin with the fact that REGARDLESS of who wins the game, this spread is fucking ridiculous. Tennessee was the best team in football last season, and they proved that by beating the Steelers like a drum in (...)
New England Patriots: Did you know FO projects the Bills to go 5-11, and the Dolphins and Jets to go 6-10? Ugh… Surprisingly they love the
Patriots would love to line-up again with the Giants in the Super Bowl.
Patriots! Wow! A lot of people (...)
Buffalo Bills: People forget this but actually the Bills were a preseason favorite to go like 9-7 or 10-6 last year. I predicted them to go 7-9
Bills hope for some swift moves this year.
despite having a really talented team, but I predicted (...)
Baltimore Ravens: So the ravens were a bit of a surprise last season going 11-5, though of course footballoutsiders touts them as proving how
Ravens D hopes to dominate this year.
amazing they are. Personally I think there was quite a lot of (...)
Cleveland Browns: So this is a team I picked to go 11-5 last year. I know everyone likes to say that 2 years ago was a “fluke,†but they were
Browns need a lot more of this if they want to be successful.
actively good, they didn’t win (...)
Jacksonville Jaguars: Holy Crap the Jags went 5-11 last season? Wow. They did not have a stellar year. I guess when you lose both starting safeties and a starting CB for a different bad CB (Drayton Florence), lose players on the defensive line and (...)
Tennessee Titans: So last year I picked the Titans to be the best team in the NFL, and as much as people forget this, I was actually correct
The Titans ran away from opponents last year. More of the same?
(13-3). They have a really good and (...)
Oakland Raiders: Wow, this is a fun team to write about. Last year I wrote my raiders’ preview about how they were a great pass defense,
Will Oakland have much to celebrate this year?
horrible run defense, and a decent rushing football team (...)