It was interesting to see how CNN was presenting the news. Senator Mitt Romney was one of the first persons interviewed and he presented a garbled mix of "buzz words" whose meaning he obviously does not understand: "work of global jihadism", "we should not allow democracy to stop", "global islamic extremism" etc. No one asked how he knows this to be the work of global jihadism/islamic extremism when even the Pakistani government does not know who did it! Maybe Sen. Romney has specific information about the assassination, in which case he should be taken into custody for possible involvement in the plot. He also had some funny remakrs regarding "we civilised nations" and "we countries of the West". No comments!

Then, the CNN "ueber" commentator, that jack-of-all-trade, that teller or tales, spreader of nonesense, Mr. Wolf Blitzer was called in for "comments". He also uttered a few more words about Islamic extremism and democracy and "we must not allow it" (apparently no one notices that "we" are not Pakistan).

Then, Sen. Arlen Specter was called on the phone as he was supposed to meet with Ms. Bhutto tonight ("sorry for breaking the date Arlen, unforseen circumstances, really."). He also said something more about the same subject, and finished with saying "we cannot let suicide bombers take over our world." As if "suicide bombers" are a race of people, all related to each other. I propose all Kalashnikov holders are also brothers!

So, it seems like the suicide bomber who detonated his bombs AFTER Ms. Bhutto was shot to death actually got more attention. It is like a signature: if you blow yourself up, it means you are a Muslim extremist/Jihadist (whatever the latter means). So, it is like a signature, apparently. Convenient really, if you ask me. Anyone can just kill people and leave this "keepsake", and we don't even need to bother looking for who really did it.

Along with all other stupidities taking over our supposed humanistic world, the ability to ask basic questions seems to be another capability we are losing. Instead of asking the obvious question in a political assassination, the question of who benefits from it, we just decide that we know who did it because someone blew themselves up after the assassination. No one asks that concidering the fact that Nawaz Sharif is barred from standing for elections, the removal of Bhutto would mean that there will be no January 8, 2008 elections in Pakistan and Gen. Musharaf can now re-group for a possible, but god knows when, later election with no strong opposition. He can also bring back the state of emergency that he was forced to remove. I suppose Georgio Agamben has outlined this already. Now, how would this monster "Islamic Extremism" beneft from Bhutto's death?

In the short run, it means my imminent return to the world of normal human beings, yeah!

So, in the age of communication and information, does a power need to be in physical control of all territories to be considered a real hegemon?

I am back in LA, desperately looking for a place to live. It is not easy to find such place in Los Angeles, I tell you!

Even more interesting stories about meeting two Kurdish guys who are studying history and archaeology and are dying to go to Iran. But I will tell you about it along with the tale of my weird flight from Adana...

Antioch is officially called "Hatay" in Turkish, although Antakya is much more commonly used. One of my Turkish friends had told me that this has something to do with the Kamalists (followers of Ataturk) and their assertion that Turks have lived in the Antioch area since time immemorial. He said that this was to forge an identity for Antakya in the Turkish republic, as it was actually part of Syria until 1939. Apparently, the name "Hatay" was chosen to suggest that the Turkish people from "Khatay" (Cathay) have lived there from the ancient times.

I knew that in modern Turkish, the distinct sounds of "h" (as in hello), kh (as in German ch in doch) and gluttal H3 (exists in Semitic languages and often confused by the Europeans with the kh sound) have been simplified to "h", so, a "khan" like Chengiz Khan is Jengiz Han in Turkish, and Khane (Persian for "house") is han and H3ussain is hüsayin. But I still could not get it why the Khatay Turks (from the Chinese Turkishtan, the area of Kashghar) should have ended up in Antakya, even in an obvious political ploy.

Then I think I figured it out. The Antakya-Aleppo area was invaded by Hattusili II of the Hittites a long time ago. It was, as with the Hittite homeland itself, populated by the Hatti (written with the H3 in Assyrian and Hittite cuneiform). Remnants of the Hatti and Hittite presence can still be seen (a picture is included in the collection I put up). So, it seems that in haste to make a political claim, the leaders of the young Turkish republic connected two unrelated words (Khatay and H3atti) and since it sounded the same to them (Hatay and Hatti), decided that they indeed are the same. You see how misleading half-baked knowledge can be?

Well, in the end, it seems to have worked alright. Most Antiochians today know Arabic, but they all speak Turkish and the younger generation is obviously much more comfortable with it, as it is the only language used in schools. Signs are all in Turkish, as is all official business. Antioch is now more Turkish than Syrian, and no one is complaining!

Of course, like any other historical city, it is also a real place where people live and work. Based on what I had heard in Istanbul, I was expecting a dusty, run-down, third rate provincial town where you could barely find a bank to exchange your money. Instead, it is a rather large, very nice, quite modern, and very chic city, better provisioned and equipped than many larger cities I have seen, even in Europe (it certainly is easier to find things here than in say, Enschede!). The old town, on the eastern bank of the Orontes, is quite well preserved, with narrow streets and bazaars. The main street is built on top of the old Roman colonaded road and is thus straight and cuts the city in half. Quite many nice local specialties (three tried, all photographed): sweets, great pastry, amazing Kababs, and some unusual things like a very thin type of noodle sold by the bakeries which is then boiled and eaten with a sauce similar to the bolognese sauce. They also still work with silk and make beautiful shawls and scarves and other textile, as well as a range of other handicrafts. The modern city is also quite modern, with uppity people shopping their hearts out!

I cannot get over the history: first Christian church (Grotto of St. Peter), birth place of St. Luke the Evngelist, Barnabas and Paul strated their preaching here; Issus, where Alexander first faced Darius III, is close-by, as is the monestary of Simeon the Stylite the Younger. You can still see the remnants of the Justinianic fortification on top of the mountains. This is also where Libanius lived and St. John Chrysostom was born, plus a host of other early church fathers. To top it all off, my hotle is in Daphne, the site of the famed temple of Appollo which when burnt by the Christians in 362 AD, caused a violent reaction from Julian the Apostate (my absolute favourite Roman empror). In short, I am in a dorkish historical heaven... pictures shall follow...

Istanbul at 4:30 pm, immediatly proceeding to the Hagia Sophia (Justinian's church of the Holy Wisdom)...

People watching for three hours, enthusiasim preventing self from getting back to the hotel...

Splitting headache, but extreme delight...

Will write more later, "ja, so mir gott"! For the time being, enjoy this one!

However, watching this video and realising that (as the creator of the software says) "each photgraph can be linked and treated as part of the collective memory", made me change my mind. I will take lots of pictures and put them online from now on! This is wonderful!

Not to get too much into rhetoric of mutual smearing, I shall just make an analogy... if one believes all the nonesense that the media in Iran says about the US, one would never go to the United States. Now, the same is the case with what they write about Iran (at least as far as "safety" is concerned) in the American newspapers. The by now infamous picture of the young man being paraded and punished in public in Tehran because of his "western hairstyle" (published in the venerable NY Times recently) turned out to be a few months old picture of a criminal street rough.

So, my dearies, do not worry. Iran is safe to go to, and I am not doing anything but going to remote places and measuring up the archaeological sites in order to write the damned dissertation. Okay, I am concerned about the heat, agreed, but besides that, I am going to be safe and I shall update you all here.

Besides that, I am travelling a bit lately, having gone to various countries in Europe and taking a nice car-trip to very north of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and finally managing to visit one of my absolute favourite sites, Haithabu (Old Norse Hedeby), the site of the very important and very famous southern Danish emporium which dominated the Baltic Sea trade for most of the 7th-10th centuries.

I am off to Istanbul and hopefully Antakya (the famous Antioch-on-the-Orontes of the Bible fame and once the largest city in Late Antique Syria). I have no idea how easy/hard it is going to be to travel in Turkey, but I shall try...