May 19, 2021
In the turbulent 1990s, corruption involving an intricate network of top government officials and underworld figures labeled the “deep state” became synonymous with Turkey’s name and image globally. But after the turn of the century, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, promising to curtail corruption, rose to power first as prime minister, later as president.
In the last couple of years, mafia figures many with ultranationalist backgrounds have made a gradual return to public view on various platforms. One is Alaattin Cakici, who was released from prison last year as part of a parole eligibility bill that aimed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in penitentiaries. Shortly after his release, Cakici issued a public letter threatening Turkey’s main opposition leader.
At a moment when Israeli agents and their allied operatives appear to regularly penetrate Iran and freely target its nuclear program, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. (IRGC) appears fixated instead on domestic activists and dual citizens it accuses of espionage.
That disconnect is raising questions – even among staunch Iran loyalists – about how an authoritarian regime obsessed with “infiltrators” has become so vulnerable to external threats. One root issue appears to be the cost of an ideological military force that sees itself as much more: The often hubristic self-image of the IRGC, created to “protect” the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has outstripped its capabilities.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
Cultural Marxism in all of its ugliness is going through Academia and public education in general like a hot knife through butter these days. The latest travesty is a proposed new rule from the Department of Education that was posted for public review on 19 April in the Federal Register entitled, “
Proposed Priorities-American History and Civics Education.” It includes this “priority”:
Proposed Priority 1 Projects That Incorporate Racially, Ethnically, Culturally, and Linguistically Diverse Perspectives into Teaching and Learning.
Proposed Priority:
Under this priority, the applicants propose projects that incorporate teaching and learning practices that reflect the diversity, identities, histories, contributions, and experiences of all students create inclusive, supportive, and identity-safe learning environments.
Temi Akinola
Akinola of Charlottesville, a 2020 global security and justice and French language and literature graduate, is an English teaching assistant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
“I am particularly interested in education and its formation on peace-building and human rights,” she said. “I will be teaching English at an all-girls high school, completing tutoring college prep programs through the U.S Embassy and working with the National Council for Human Rights in [Ivory Coast].”
She was supposed to start in October 2020, but that was moved to the beginning of February.
“My stay has been condensed,” she said. “Some of the programs that would usually take place in person, such as student workshops, question-and-answer sessions and panels, have had to take place online or via Zoom.”
Temi Akinola
Akinola of Charlottesville, a 2020 global security and justice and French language and literature graduate, is an English teaching assistant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
“I am particularly interested in education and its formation on peace-building and human rights,” she said. “I will be teaching English at an all-girls high school, completing tutoring college prep programs through the U.S Embassy and working with the National Council for Human Rights in [Ivory Coast].”
She was supposed to start in October 2020, but that was moved to the beginning of February.
“My stay has been condensed,” she said. “Some of the programs that would usually take place in person, such as student workshops, question-and-answer sessions and panels, have had to take place online or via Zoom.”