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1. ARTICLE OF THE MONTH: AT THE MARGINS OF EUROPE
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November 2005 saw the opening of the monumental Blue Stream pipeline, laid to pump natural gas from Russia across the Black Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast at a volume of 3.7 billion cubic metres per year. If Vladimir Putin's plans for a second pipeline are realized, that will become 14 billion, turning Turkey into one of the most important transit countries for Russian mineral resources. "Is a new Eurasian coalition shaping at Europe's gates, one that could have political implications rather than just economic ones?" asks Mischa Gabowitsch, political scientist and editor of the Moscow-based journal "Neprikosnovennij Zapas".

Marked historical and geographical similarities between Russia and Turkey might suggest so. Both the Ottoman and the Romanov empires underwent similar trajectories of modernization; both empires had a push-pull relationship to western Europe; and most obviously, the majority of both countries' territory is located in Asia -- it is often forgotten in the West that Russia has Europe's second-largest Muslim population after Turkey. Nevertheless, hostility between the countries has been unremitting: in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, over territorial claims to the Black Sea; in the twentieth century, in the context of Cold War hostilities.

Despite the pipedreams of some Russian Nationalists to enlist Turkey as a partner in the construction of a new anti-American super-empire, there are few indications of a Eurasian political coalition today, Gabowitsch says. The anti-Westernism that appears to bind the two nations is irreconcilable: in the one case, it is the phantom pains of the superpower; in the other, a moderate Islamism and frustration with EU accession talks. Any potential coalition between Turkey and Russia meets the stumbling block of geo-strategic rivalry in Central Asia and the Caucasus: "Many people in Moscow are convinced that Turkey would be only too happy to move in to the region alongside the US".

Hopes that Russian-Turkish ties will develop beyond gas and engineering, without turning into a menacing alliance, lie in grass-roots movements, Gabowitsch writes. Russian suitcase traders have created a new breed of Russophone Turks throughout the marketplaces of Istanbul, while every summer Turkey's beaches attract record numbers of Russian tourists. Meanwhile, as Turkey's EU accession process brings corresponding pressure to improve human rights and democracy, prospects in Russia remain dim.

This article, which also appeared in slightly altered form in the German edition of "Le Monde diplomatique", is one of a series developed from papers delivered at the 18th European Meeting of Cultural Journals, entitled "Neighbourhoods", held in Istanbul in November 2005. Eurozine has so far published political scientist Claus Leggewie on the European neighbourhood and citizenship; literary theorist Tomislav Longinovic on the Post-oriental condition in Turkey and the Balkans; and architect Esra Akcan on the intertwined history of the modern neighbourhood in Europe and Turkey.

Mischa Gabowitsch
AT THE MARGINS OF EUROPE: RUSSIA AND TURKEY

This article is available in English, German, and Turkish at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2006-01-02-gabowitsch-de.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-21-gabowitsch-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-21-gabowitsch-tr.html

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2. NEW ARTICLES
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Peter Loizos
LONDON IS NOT PARIS. THE BRITISH MODEL: PRACTICAL, DURABLE, BUT BY FAR NOT IDEAL
Contrary to the opinion voiced in many British papers, the riots in France cannot be compared to the bombings in London. A look at the difference between French "republican equality" and British "celebration of diversity".

This article is available in German at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2006-01-04-loizos-de.html

Bernd Greiner
NOT BEING ABLE TO STOP: RICHARD NIXON'S VIETNAM POLICY AS A PARADIGM FOR THE COLD WAR
Why do heads of state insist on deciding conflicts through force, against the counsel of their advisors? What lies behind their unwillingness to use exit options? An analysis of the Nixon administration's conduct in Vietnam yields insights.

This article is available in German at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2006-01-03-greiner-de.html

Tomislav Longinovic
THE POST-ORIENTAL CONDITION: SERBS AND TURKS REVISITED
The Balkans and Turkey are a space on the borders of Europe marking a cultural encounter with the Oriental. Constituted as an undeclared enemy, this object of anxiety acts as a catalyst for collective cohesion, eliciting mythic narratives that call for exclusion from the symbolic realm of the European community.

This article is available English at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-30-longinovic-en.html

Claus Leggewie
FROM NEIGHBOURHOOD TO CITIZENSHIP: EU AND TURKEY
The debate on Turkey's EU membership is between those who want to "deepen" and those who want to "widen" Europe; between those who want to strengthen cooperation between existing members and those who want to create a looser, broader union based on free-trade.

This article is available in English and Turkish at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-21-leggewie-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-21-leggewie-tr.html

Esra Akcan
THE "SIEDLUNG" AND THE "MAHALLE": THE INTERTWINED HISTORY OF THE MODERN RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBOURHOOD IN EUROPE AND TURKEY
The two-way development of the modern residential neighbourhood in Turkey and Germany demonstrates the shortcomings of a polarized discussion of Turkey and Europe, and shows how histories restricted to single nation-states do not help understand processes that occur at a transnational level.

This article is available in English and Turkish at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-21-akcan-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-21-akcan-tr.html

Mohammed Harbi
AFTERMATH OF THE ALGERIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: WINNERS' AND LOSERS' ASYNCHRONOUS MEMORIES
On perceptions of the war in France and Algeria: "What we need today is a better understanding of our past -- but the power of old myths and new interests must not be underestimated."

This article is available in German at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-19-harbi-de.html

Tom Amadou Seck
SUBSIDIES AGAINST AFRICA
Although Africa has the qualitative ability to compete in the world cotton market, subsidies in America and Europe make it impossible for Africans to keep their prices low while still making a profit.

This article is available in German at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-16-amadouseck-de.html

György Spiró
COMMISION FOR EUROPEAN STANDARDS: LITERARY (DRAFT 1)
The novel is set to become the latest target of European bureaucracy, a leaked document reveals.

This article is now available in German, Hungarian, and English at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-15-spiro-de.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-15-spiro-hu.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-03-spiro-en.html

Bülent Somay
WELCOME TO THE DESERT OF THE REAL, PART II
As natural and human disasters continue to jeopardize the cohesion of societies around the world, arguments challenging assumptions about "civilization" are as important as they are uncomfortable.

This article is now available in German and English at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-15-somay-de.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-12-somay-en.html

Nerijus Prekevicius
"SOVETSKAYA BELORUSSIYA" AND PROPAGANDA DISCOURSE
A discourse analysis shows that the Belarusian state newspaper "Sovetskaya Belorussiya" plays fast and loose with the facts.

This article is available in English and Belarusian at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-14-prekevicius-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-14-prekevicius-be.html

Martin Lücke
VILIFIED, VENERATED, FORBIDDEN. JAZZ DURING STALINISM: BETWEEN REPRESSION AND FREEDOM
The attitude of the Stalinist regime to jazz ranged from censorship to subsidization. Nevertheless, jazz remained a popular feature of cultural life throughout Stalinism.

This article is available in German at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-13-lucke-de.html

Andrew Wilson
WILL THE ORANGE SPARK IGNITE IN BELARUS? THE SINGLE CANDIDATE'S CHANCES AT THE 2006 ELECTION
What tactics can the Belarusian opposition expect to face from the Lukashenko government in the run-up to the elections in 2006?

This article is available in English and Belarusian at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-12-wilson-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/article/2005-12-12-wilson-be.html

Zeynep Devrim Gürsel
BITING MY TONGUE
Now Turkey's EU accession process is officially underway, has the job of Turks become to win the hearts and minds of the Europeans?

This article is now available in Lithuanian, Latvian, and English at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-09-gursel-lt.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-09-gursel-lv.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-24-gursel-en.html

Matteo Pasquinelli
RADICAL MACHINES AGAINST THE TECHNO-EMPIRE: FROM UTOPIA TO NETWORK
In order to fight the "techno-imperialists" on their own turf, the radical potential of knowledge-sharing must go beyond the Free Software.

This article is available in Norwegian as well as in English, French, and Italian at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-07-pasquinelli-no.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-07-19-pasquinelli-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-07-19-pasquinelli-fr.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-07-19-pasquinelli-it.html

Imants Lancmanis
THE HERITAGE OF MADAME SEVIGNY: EPISTOLARY STYLE AND CONVERSATION IN FRANCE
The letters of Madame Sevigny epitomized the seventeenth-century "salon" style, deplored by Stendhal as affected and pretentious, and inaugurated a literary genre.

This article is available in French and Latvian at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-05-lancmanis-fr.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-05-lancmanis-lv.html

Jan Philipp Reemtsma
MUST WE RESPECT RELIGIOSITY? ON QUESTIONS OF FAITH AND THE PRIDE OF THE SECULAR SOCIETY
Secular society's "supermarket of faiths" principle appears from religion's standpoint to be indifferent and mistaken. Jan Philipp Reemtsma searches for the basis for the respect between believer and non-believer that can prevent this tension from becoming intolerance.

This article is now available in English, Slovenian, and German at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-02-reemtsma-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-02-reemtsma-sl.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-08-22-reemtsma-de.html

Razvan Paraianu
THE HISTORY TEXTBOOKS CONTROVERSY IN ROMANIA: FIVE YEARS ON
The Romanian history textbooks that came out in 1999 reflecting EU values of cultural diversity earned fierce criticism from establishment historians. Why was it not possible at the time to discuss the issue with professional objectivity?

This article is now available in Romanian as well as in English and Hungarian at:
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-12-01-paraianu-ro.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-11-11-paraianu-en.html
>>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-11-11-paraianu-hu.html