In Riga with a tiny eclair and a green cuppa

Slikti meklēju jeb Latvijas ziņās par šo nu ASV sankcionēto krāpnieku nekas tā arī nav parādijies? "Money launderer for Russian spies won deal to help defend Ukraine power plant" on.ft.com/49oF1iI

EU countries are expected to raise their combined defense spending to €326 billion — equivalent to a record 1.9 percent of gross domestic product — in 2024, capping a 10th year of growth in military investment, the European Defence Agency said today.

Belarus Days are upcoming in Brussels. Lots of free cultural activities including movie screenings and art exhibitions to showcase the ongoing struggles Belarussian people face in fighting and promoting free and democratic Belarus. www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/belarus...

Chisinau is so underrated

Had a very interesting fellow Passanger on a Turkush airlines flight yesterday - a healthy, lively cockroach. Gave me near heart attack

Excellent reading from the FT. Europe is waking up but it needs to wake up much faster and with more political gravitas. on.ft.com/3YYxHWg

“Seviyye Talip”, the complicated and twisted tale of Ottoman modernization, is now available in English, translated by Iclal Vanwesenbeeck! Seviyye could arguably be one of the most fascinating and rebellious women in late Ottoman literature. Can’t wait to teach this one!

Paskat kas man vārda svētkos no Latvijas atbrauca. :) Apsveicu @elinakursite.bsky.social un Sarmīte Kolāte ar publikāciju!

Bluesky’s gonna make it

Happy Independence day, my beautiful Latvia 🇱🇻 Today I think of your prosperous and secure future but also all those who came before us, those starved, tortured, those who kept the idea of Latvia in their hearts as yet a dream or already a memory.

So much for Scholz's call to Putin www.ft.com/content/22d2...

I really don’t understand this whole ‘stay on Twitter and fight’ thing. You’re jousting with bots and reply guys and wading through ads it’s not Waterloo.

Favorite reads of 2023 out of the 34 I have read so far with hopes to still reach my humble goal of 36 by the end of this year. Favorite Turkish translation was that of Soysal’s Dawn by magnificant Mayreen Freely

I am looking to read about Eastern Slavonia and the Erdut Agreement. Any advice on books/articles where it has been examined in depth? Many thanks!

20 Days in Mariupol is now available on Youtube. It is a first-hand account of the horrors Russia inflicted upon Mariupol in the early days of the escalation against Ukraine. It details some of the earliest known atrocities Russia committed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvAy...

Did you ever wonder why they call Erdoğan "reis"? I wrote something about it: kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/erdogans-u...

The European Commission will be publishing its Enlargement Package next week, to mark the historical event for Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, DG Koopman will speak together with DPM/MFA Nicu Popescu at CEPS here in Brussels. Do register! www.ceps.eu/ceps-events/...

The Wonder (2022), what a marvelous movie set in 1862 Ireland. An Irish masterpiece really. An eerie story of religious dogmatism, the subjugation of women, their bodies and even their appetite. (filmsky)

Thank god for coffee and a book during lunch break to keep us sane in Brussels. A fantastic book too!

In the latest WJP Rule of Law Index, Turkey ranks 117 out of 142 countries, behind countries like Russia and Belarus. This however is a small increase by 1 place in comparison to the last Index. (Menasky) worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-...

On the discoveries that came to light when restorating the Zeyrek Cinili Hammam in Istanbul's Zeyrek area. However, I doubt that an exhibition is what will restore hammams for non-tourists when entrance costs 60+ EUR, a price most Turks cannot afford. [menasky] www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...

Sad

Very timely publication by SWP on Turkey's reactions to Russia's war against Ukraine against the background of regional dynamics in the Black Sea. "US policy in the Middle East has a major impact on how Ankara positions itself in the Black Sea region." [menasky] www.swp-berlin.org/publikation/...

Rainy and cold Brussels, says, it will rain for the next week to come. Now no excuses to not get through that half-read book pile on my nightstand.

Just received a copy of the recently published - A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey, edited by Alp Yenen and Erik-Jan Zürcher. This book, to which I contributed with two chapters, is the collective work of numerous great scholars. Happy to be among them. Many thanks, Alp

Is the point about Commission’s President being “unelected” a left-over from toxic Brexit strategies or do people remember it from even before that? Where is this nonsense disinfo point from?

“Today, the members of the European Council have adopted a statement that sets the EU’s common position on the unfolding situation in the Middle East” www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

Went to see Avant-Garde in Georgia (1900-36) exhibition with my mom at Bozar here in Brussels. Levan Chegoshvili, Niko Pirosmani and fantastic short film “Deda Ena” by Meggy Rustamova. Part of eiropalia 2023, so go go go!

The Tbilisi hotel I'm staying in, Stamba, was formerly a publishing house and books are everywhere here! You're destined to visit...

We are going to get - and rightly so - a discussion about over-reliance on technology. www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/w...

Belgium became the first EU state today to announce this move too, by using tax in compliance with Belgian tax code. Glad to see some move on this, as the Commission announced in July it would present a proposal on legal pathways to do this.

Tried Habesha village yesterday, a new Ethiopian restaurant in Brussels. I feel that non-European cuisine is usually somewhat of a miss in Brussels, but this place was both very tasty and atmospheric

My observations and thoughts on what the Israel-Palestine war and its implications for Turkey: kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/what-will-...

47. LATVIA The Secret Box by Daina Tabūna, translated by Jayde Will, illustrated by Mark Andrew Webber (The Emma Press) Three short stories about young women finding their way. Take a peek here: theemmapress.com/shop/prose/s... #ReadTheWorld #WomenInTranslation

The European Commission is putting its Palestinian funding — totaling €691 million — under review, with all payments immediately suspended, announced EU Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/eu-f...

"Mērnieku laiki" (TheTime of the Land Surveyors) by the brothers Reiņs and Matīs Kaudzis, published in 1879, was the first novel written in Latvian to portray the life of ordinary people in Latvia in a realistic way. #Latvia #Baltics

"Analysts also caution that while policy is moving in a more orthodox direction, Erdoğan’s longtime focus on growth presents a serious challenge to policymakers’ attempt to rein in inflation." on.ft.com/3ROZG8K

Mali, Sudan, Syria, CAR, Armenia, Afghanistan - many conflicts have seen rising levels of violence recently. But narratives attributing this simply to Russia are a) serving Russia’s narratives and b) reductionist because they ignore the complexity and specificities of each of these conflicts.

The old place becoming increasingly unbearable requires finding a new home to feed the inkling to not just quit it all together.