 The world needs a global capital
and it should be the capital of Islamic Turkey, Istanbul,
| Nah, try Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania... |
according to a UN special representative. Richard Falk,
| ... the former Princeton academic recently condemned by the British government for his unacceptable antisemitic remarks... |
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, wrote a Nov. 1, 2012, opinion piece for the controversial al Jazeera English site calling for a "global capital" because of integration "by markets, by globally constituted battlefields,
| What on earth does that mean, when it's at home? |
by changing geopolitical patterns."
| In none of which is Istanbul anything more than a regional player. Perhaps that is why the honourable rapporteur suggested it, the modern version of building Washington, DC in a swamp... or perhaps the price of real estate is falling, trailing below-replacement birthrates, which means quaint old Ottoman palaces will be gotten cheaply by the new capitol bureaucrats. |
| Maybe it's to give a sense of continuity to the UN. Remember, Istanbul used to be the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which in its later years was approximately as effectual as the UN. In its early years it claimed world dominion, just like the UN. Perhaps they're thinking of changing the city's name again, maybe to Kofiannannople or Bankimoonabad or even Daghammarskjoldberg. |
| With our luck it would be named 'Obamabull'... |
While Turkey is a longstanding U.S. ally and a member of NATO, its nearly 80 million population is 99.8 percent Muslim, according to the CIA Factbook. Its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had several run-ins with Israel over access to Gaza. In March, he urged Israel to "stop the brutal attack against Palestinians and stop the massacre and bloodshed."
| The man does like to hear himself talk... |
The U.S. Embassy in Turkey sent out an "emergency message" for U.S. citizens in September warning of "a planned anti-American march/protest" in Istanbul. The march was tied to protests against the YouTube video claimed by critics to be anti-Islamic. "The Department of State strongly recommends avoiding the march/protest location as well as any other large crowds that may gather in Istanbul to protest against the controversial video that has created other demonstrations throughout the world," explained the warning.
Falk recommended what al Jazeera called a "modest proposal" that should move the world past "the persisting tendency is to view the hierarchy of global cities from a West-centric perspective: London, New York, Paris, Los Angeles placed in the first rank."
| Whatever happened to New York City? Or Tokyo which, granted, is only in the West if one keeps going, but those of us in the West are aware that it is one of the world's leading cities. |
Along with his UN duties, he is the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
| Distinguished. Yes, of course. What a reflection on the institutions which employ him. |
|