Foreign Policy: Is Turkey Still a Democracy?

The spat with Germany and the Netherlands is just one example. On a range of issues — from the state of Turkey’s democracy to the Turkish role in Syria to Turkey’s extradition request for the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it accuses of planning last summer’s coup attempt — Western countries have refused to adopt Ankara’s views.

Ankara is partially responsible for its own alienation. Consider last week’s trip to Turkey organized for more than a dozen American journalists from outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal by Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek. The event was billed as a chance to meet with the country’s top officials, including President Erdogan, to hear their narrative of the coup attempt and why the United States should extradite Gulen.

The meetings, however, failed to materialize, and reporters were treated to a four-hour meeting with Gokcek himself. The majority of reporters left the meeting in protest. During the talk, Gokcek failed to present a single piece of evidence implicating Gulen in the coup and instead laid out his own conspiratorial worldview. [...]

Government officials, however, contend that the package would actually enhance the separation of powers in Turkey by dividing parliament’s existing powers with the office of the presidency. Parliament would maintain the power to approve the president’s budget, ratify international treaties and declarations of war, and overrule a presidential decree through legislation.

The legal merits of the constitutional changes aside, government officials also portray a “yes” vote as a victory against their domestic opponents — most prominently, the supporters of Gulen and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the state.

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Politico: Le Pen’s Dutch bummer

The Dutch were in a tetchily Euroskeptic mood in the days after Britain’s Brexit vote, with nearly half saying they wanted out of the EU. But the anti-Brussels mood has since cooled. A poll by TNS Nipo for Deutsche bank in February showed a whopping 79 percent of Dutch voters did not agree the Netherlands would be better off outside the EU. [...]

Le Pen should take note. The Dutch vote marks the second time in a year that a Euroskeptic candidate came up short on polling day. Last December, far-right candidate Norbert Hofer lost Austria’s presidential run-off. His supporters blamed arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage for suggesting that Austria would hold a referendum on leaving the EU if Hofer won.

Given that polls in France show a rising majority in favor of EU membership, and an even higher share in favor of staying in the euro, Le Pen is trying to tone down her own Frexit proposal. Yet she, too, is branded with the Euroskeptic seal, and her efforts to change tack with a plan that would somehow combine a revived franc with a single European currency have left voters confused. [...]

While voters rate the National Front president very highly on metrics such as “sincerity,” “desire to change” or ability to “understand them,” nearly two thirds of voters said that she was “worrying,” according to an Elabe poll conducted in February. The scandal-tainted Fillon also rated highly on the worry-meter, while Macron registered lower at 41 percent, according to the poll.

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Politico: 3 takeaways from the Schulz coronation

On Sunday, at an extraordinary conference of the Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin, Schulz was formally made party chief and named the SPD candidate in the coming election, winning 100 percent of the vote. [...]

The goodwill among the party faithful follows a wave of good news that is known as the “Schulz effect” among Social Democrats in the German capital: Less than eight weeks after it was announced that Schulz rather than Gabriel would challenge Merkel, the SPD have gained more than 10 percent in polls, coming within striking distance of the chancellorship. [...]

Schulz offered a glimpse of how he wants to present himself as a candidate: Pro-EU, taking a clear stand against nationalism and populism, and showing respect for his political opponents. In short: to campaign as the anti-Trump. [...]

Schulz is a more emotive speaker than Merkel and often brings up his own back story to connect with voters. On Sunday, he spoke at length about his upbringing as “the fifth child of simple and very decent people.” He spoke about overcoming an alcohol problem — and how the party saved him. “I had lost my direction in life and my life was about to go off course. But then, I got a second chance … thanks to the [SPD youth organization] Jusos in my hometown.”

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The Conversation: Revenge isn’t always sweet, but it can be beautiful

About 20 years ago, we started conducting research on revenge after noticing that people often struggle with forgiveness – even forgiving the people they love. In most relationships, people usually want to feel like they’re getting a fair deal, and revenge is one recourse they have if they feel they’ve been slighted.

Some forms of revenge do make the perpetrator feel better, though it’s usually not as “sweet” as imagined. A number of other factors influence how people feel about committing revenge, from how it’s crafted to the target’s reaction. [...]

At least two factors determine whether a person feels good or bad about revenge.

One is how “beautiful” or aesthetically pleasing the act of revenge seems. In one study, researchers asked a group of MBA students to tell two stories they personally knew about a time that they (or someone they knew) had taken revenge on a coworker. [...]

The other factor that influences how people feel about revenge is the target’s reaction. [...]

So in order for revenge to be enjoyable, the way it is crafted, performed and responded to seem to matter. The best kinds make people feel like they are living in a better, more controllable and fair world. Others – especially those that make people feel regret, don’t change the offender or result in lopsided amounts of harm – are probably not as sweet as you’d imagine them to be.

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Political Critique: Public Demonstrations in Belarus: A Society Stirred

t has been almost a whole month of public demonstrations in Belarus. The mere materialisation of these protests, which have taken place in a dozen of participating regional towns with hundreds, even thousands, of protesters, is unusual for Belarus. Public protest is a rare phenomenon here, as Belarusians largely perceive themselves as tolerant and passive. But the wave of public upheavals that is currently rolling across the country dispels this stereotype and can have unexpected effects.

There are several lessons one can draw about it from the evolving situation. [...]

At the same time, demonstrations have been unheard of since summer 2011, when after devaluation of the national currency to 56 percent (and other dramas of the domestic economy) Belarusians took to the streets for several consecutive Wednesdays. As demonstrations have to be authorised, people gathered without any slogans and simply clapped their hands. These so-called “silent protests” came to a close as plain-clothed policemen violently arrested hundreds of the clapping participants. Subsequently, the economic situation improved. [...]

Whereas Belarusian state-controlled media blames Russia for interfering into the internal affairs of Belarus and messing with its stability, there have been no pro-Kremlin slogans, no activists promoting a Russian agenda. At the same time, Moscow, the closest political ally and economic partner, became its biggest threat economically, politically, and military. But it’s good news to see that Russia doesn’t (yet?) have a plan or the capacity for a Ukrainian scenario in Belarus.

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