I'm going on vacation for two weeks. I won't be traveling the entire time, but will be off the clock as it were. As I've done in previous years, I've prepared/am preparing blog posts ahead of time on historical and cultural topics that won't be overtaken by events. These will include, but will not be limited to, the second and third parts of the Goeben/Breslau saga and the rest of the unfinished Lady Hester Stanhope story, as well as two other subjects already nearing completion. I had intended to put up part two of the Goeben and Breslau tale tonight when I remembered belatedly (forehead-slapping moment) that the Ottoman Minister of Marine/Head of the Admiralty/Member of the CUP Triumvirate Jemal (Djemal/Cemal) Pasha's memoirs exist in English translation! (I have no Turkish at all.) They contain a lot of great first-person anecdotal material. As a result I'm deferring Part II to Monday to mine Jemal for anecdotes.
Since the Middle East never takes a vacation (during my 2011 vacation Tripoli fell to the anti-Qadhafi forces; 2012 Morsi reshuffled the Army and named Sisi commander [oops!]; 2013 Sisi crushed the Morsi backers at Raba‘a Square),and given the fact that everything is so much in flux right now, I'm sure I'll be checking in with commentary as well. But there will be a minimum of at least one post a day on weekdays in my absence.
Friday, August 8, 2014
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