Turkey's subversive protesters

The protests in Turkey have once again exposed certain opportunistic elements - radical groups, bigoted opposition and those who make money by manufacturing trouble.

The ruling party is still carrying out reforms, which are absolutely needed to shake off the brutal legacy of decades-old authoritarianism represented by the likes of CHP (by the way, they are Assad lovers).

Also, there is an intellectual elite so bigoted that it will overlook the wider interests for its selfish aims.

We also have some so-called democracies in Europe that are visceral haters of Turkey, but they try to hide their malice in high-sounding political slogans.

Protesters in Turkey seem bent on holding an endless festival of hooliganism, and they have defiled places with their subversive presence.

These are not peaceful activists with grievances. Otherwise, is there an avenue that is closed for debate and discussion in Turkey? It's a real parliamentary democracy.

Turkish intellectual scene has been vibrant for centuries -- before Kemalism and before AK Party. You have to be an ahmak to compare the situation in Turkey with what happens in most Arab countries.

It's no secret that there are many radical groups in Turkey and they are not interested in democracy or political debates. Just look at the havoc they are causing by burning, looting, attacking women, drinking beer in mosques.

Imagine the response of authorities if a mob had burned police cars in an Arab country or the USA!

All said and done, a subversive league shouldn't be able to dictate national policies through acts of arson.

USA behaving like the nation of Neolandia

The reports of mass online and phone surveillance in the USA should not shock us. When you have unscrupulous people with Orwellian mindsets, this is what you get. Over the years, the US government and mainstream media have been successful in feeding misleading versions of world events to a gullible public. Defending the dangerous program, Barack Obama tried to reassure the public: "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls."

They say the program is not directed at Americans and people living in the USA (only a defunct computer mouse will believe it). Even if that is true, who gave these people the permission to target citizens of other countries?

This article talks about the scary nature of the project.

It's arrogant for the US to act like a world government.

The USA is increasingly behaving like Neolandia, an imaginary nation in my novel The Merchant King.

Here I quote a few lines from the novel to better illustrate my point: "Bally's work at Neolandia's Science Agency included developing fast Internet service and creating a database on people who used any form of satellite-supported communication throughout the world. Neolandia wanted all sorts of details on people – credit card numbers, shopping habits, travel data, sex relationships, bank transactions, medical records. Bally's great scientific brain helped them."

But what Neolandia was trying to do looks benign compared to what the USA is doing.