Turkey ’s Election Scenarios: The Good, the Bad, and the Scary
Mustafa AkyolToday, I have new a piece in National Review: “Turkey ’s Election Scenarios: The Good, the Bad, and the Scary. ”It is about the fateful elections that Turkey will have this Sunday. (Which we will also discuss tomorrow at a Cato Institute Policy Forum: “Turkey ’s Centennial Election: What Is at Stake? ”)Despite the dramatic deterioration in Turkey ’s freedoms and rule of law, I explain, the elections are still real and competitive:Turkey is not a Russia, China, or Turkmenistan, where free elections have never been held; Turks have lived under a decently competitive, free electoral system ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 11, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Mustafa Akyol Source Type: blogs
Three Scenarios for Turkey ’s Election: The Good, the Bad, and the Scary
Mustafa AkyolOn Sunday, May 14, more than sixty million voters throughout Turkey will cast their votes in what may be the most fateful election for the nation since its founding a century ago. According to the results, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been ruling the country since 2002 in a growingly authoritarian and erratic fashion, will either further consolidate his grip on power, or finally lose it.For many people in the West, the latter option may sound unrealistic, if not naive. They see that under Erdogan, Turkey has become an authoritarian regime where freedom of speech and rule of law have largely vani...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Mustafa Akyol Source Type: blogs
… But There Are No Cases in Turkmenistan
written by Dr. Stephen A. Berger
If you search the Internet for countries which have reported COVID-19, an endless variety of sources will describe the status of this disease in 207 countries and their dependencies. Few if any of these sites mention countries where this disease does not exist!
As of April 19, GIDEON lists twenty-four countries (10.4% of the global total) that had not yet encountered a single case. Ironically, at this point, these countries enjoy a form of “medical isolation” – thanks to the disease itself! The chance that a traveler – let alone an infected traveler – can arrive in a new coun...
Source: GIDEON blog - April 19, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Kristina Symes Tags: Epidemiology Outbreaks Source Type: blogs
A Promising Hub For Digital Health: Kazakhstan
Sharing borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, you find the world’s largest landlocked country, the Republic of Kazakhstan. Conversely, with its population of over 18 million spanning across an area of 2,724,900 km², the country also has one of the lowest population densities worldwide, at less than 6 people per square kilometre.
Being a relatively new republic and with its widespread inhabitants, Kazakhstan poses as an adequate hub for digital health to expand. Such a young republic’s ministry of health can develop around newer technologies and strategies brought forth with the adven...
Source: The Medical Futurist - March 12, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: Future of Medicine Healthcare Policy digital health digital health strategy health policy Source Type: blogs
Adding Uzbeks to the Travel Ban Will Further Expose its Phony Criteria
Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek national,killed at least eight people with a truck in New York yesterday. Uzbekistan is a central Asian country north of Afghanistan ofalmost 30 million people—88 percent of whom are Muslim. President Trump did not include Uzbeks inhis travel ban released last month, but he is already sounding bellicose,writing that he will not allow ISIS to “enter our country” andthat he “ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program,” a phrase which hesometimes uses as shorthand for the travel ban.But adding Uzbekistan to the travel ban would be unwise for a president whose...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 1, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
Brexit, the EU, and the WTO
The Economist is one of my favorite news sources. The writing is always clear and interesting, and I often agree with them on substance. Nevertheless, while I hate to give them a public reprimand, arecent piece by their Free Exchange columnist on Brexit contains a misleading point that needs to be addressed. The author appears to equate the EU and the WTO, and says, in effect, why would UK voters accept being part of the WTO when they could not accept being part of the EU? Here’s the passage in question: It is puzzling that Brexiteers, whose campaign was summed up as “Vote Leave, take back control”, seem happy wi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 10, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Simon Lester Source Type: blogs
Where Do K-1 Visa Holders Come From?
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed last week in a gun battle with police after they committed a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Malik entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, known as the fiancé visa, accompanied by Farook. Their attack is the first perpetrated by somebody on the K-1 visa - igniting a debate over increasing visa security.
The government issued approximately 262,162 K-1 visas from 2005 to 2013 – 3177 or 1.21 percent of the total to Pakistani citizens.
Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) SECURE Act identifies 34 countries as particularly terror-prone. There were 32,363 K-1 visa, 12.34 pe...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 7, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Rising Religious Persecution: Islam Threatens Minorities
All religious faiths are victims of persecution somewhere. Over the last year “a horrified world has watched the results of what some have aptly called violence masquerading as religious devotion” in several nations, observed the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its latest annual report.
The Commission highlighted 27 countries for particularly vicious treatment of religious minorities. Nine states make the first tier, “Countries of Particular Concern,” in State Department parlance.
Burma. Despite recent reforms, noted the Commission, “these steps have not yet improved conditions for religious...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 15, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Can Eurasian Energy Compete?
Cheaper oil, government interference and market dynamics jeopardize the future of Russian and Caspian energy. To be globally competitive, the big four Eurasian producers, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, should let the private sector play a greater role and make more decisions on commercial, rather than political grounds. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - January 16, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs
