I come as much that Apple's AI thinks this hotel is my 'home'...
2/n
3/n
This is Ibrahim’s office (the manager of my hotel).
Upon seeing the number of suitcases, I congratulated him: ‘so many customers!’. Then he corrected me: ‘no, these belong to a Russian family staying here as refugees until they get a visa for the Netherlands’.
This is new.
4/n
What seems unprecedented is that citizens of an invading country (not the invaded one) become refugees, but I feel sympathy for both of them.
Let us check the news: @vtchakarova calls this ‘Cold War 2.0’, another option would be ‘The New Great Game’. If I were the lion, I would be very careful not to bully Turkey into taking my side too badly unless it were extremely necessary.
Considering that Turkey isn't quite welcome in the EU (and it would be odd the EU largest, most populated country was Turkey), that shall grant the Turks more latitude to defend their national interest independently...
can ricochet in the form of "anti-American Imperialism" easily as I said.
8/n
Samuel Huntington described Turkey as a "torn country".
Trying to suppress religion probably creates some issues to on the psyche, or rather, makes it come back in a different forms, same as Freud maintained for sex (and quoting John Gray here)...
Try to overcome religion and it will come back as a boomerang (and hopefully just as religion).
16/n
Possibly my last one this year…
17/n
This hammam claims 700 years of history, and it is mixed; men/women.
I found that surprising, and asked them if that was always the case, even 500 years ago, and they said me yes (even more surprising, if true).
It felt like going to a car was, being the car.
Light meal.
18/n
I misread ‘Lindy’ on the candy you get with the tea, which would have been very appropriate.
Some hammam require an appointment, but this one did not.
19/n
Lydia leather store.
Lydia kilim store.
Judging by the anecdotal evidence, one would say these people feel closer to the kingdom of Lydia than to the Lycian confederation, even if the Lydians (later integrated as a province in the Roman Empire) are further away in time…
20/n
According to Strabo, Lydian was almost no longer spoken in our era, and not a lot is known about the language, that was though of Indo-European origin and used an alphabet closer to the Greek one.
21/n
Cacık (tzatziki obviously!)
22/m
Summer didn’t end here (yet).
23/n
24/n
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Russia in the Shadows by H.G. Wells. In 1920 Wells visited Petersburg and Moscow with his son. The harsh reality was apparent to him, as “it is hardly possible to dress up two large cities for the benefit of two stray visitors, wandering observantly in different directions”.
As Wells had been in Petersburg before the war in 1914 he had a comparison baseline: “Never in all history has there been so great a débâcle before”.
2/n
The disaster was most apparent in Petersburg, where the shrinking population was starving and “all the shops had ceased” except for a few flower shops, which would greatly surprise Wells.
Pla, a conservative, states his intention of making his account as descriptive as possible because he said he knew basically nothing about Russia (besides having read some of their classics) and he didn't want his account be propaganda.
1/n
In any sense (positive or negative) as it was apparently the case a century ago, even today. He paid 10 USD for a Riga to Moscow ticket, and 1 USD for a 3 course decent meal on the same train, that he considered a decent service at a decent price (1 USD 1925 ~ 16 USD today).
2/n
A bottle of wine would cost ~0.6 USD. Food and drinks were cheaper than in Germany or Spain, trains were of a good standard, but roads subpar.
There were some (not many) beggars, some people in rags, but 85% were decently clothed. But no one would sport rich man’s clothing.
Same as it happens for people, it is a typical thing for countries with what I once called “low self-esteem” to be bothered by the perception other countries have on them, and wanting it changed.
For instance, the beautiful documentary series that Louis Malle filmed in India, which he considered his best work, was hated in India, to the point India withdrew to the BBC for years permission to film new documentaries.
Crossed the Anti-Atlas (the last section of the Atlas range, spanning a little less of 500 km from Central Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean) and reached Agadir, a ~3h drive from Marrakech. Had a liver ‘Mqila’ (~casserole if I am not wrong) at this place, that inspired my trust.
The last talk of the day at @kilkenomics with @nntaleb, still in the Watergate Theatre, bears a promising name: “The Economics of Russia’s War”.
I don’t know who the other speakers will be. We shall see soon. I will put ‘NNT’ when quoting @nntaleb…
1/n
Introduction by moderator (A), speaker B is a professor in Boston College, then next speaker is @JavierBlas that I will quote as JB. He explains he writes for Bloomberg on energy and he needs explain his parents he can’t get the Saudi to cheapen oil prices, then comes NNT…
2/n
NNT thanks the moderator A because normally he does not get invited back to places!
A asks about NNT meeting Zelenski. NNT explains he attended the Ukrainian parliament last year to give a talk, he gave this, topic was opposing centralized empires…
3/n