'Cultures of Resistance'

'Cultures of Resustance' is a documentary that shows how creativity and innovation can be used in the struggle for peace and justice. Below is the official trailer of the documentary, but you can read more about the documentary itself, screening times, and the director here. 

Cultures of Resistance:  The Official Trailer from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo.

An incredible escape story

[...] Up into the mountains they rode in deep snow and bitter cold, through a maze of smugglers’ trails. “Around and around we went,” Vahedi says, apparently in an attempt to avoid the border guards. “There were wolves walking around us just 10 yards away. One [smuggler] had a stick, and he said, ‘Don’t be scared.’ ” Along the path, Vahedi spotted a dead horse, seemingly recently killed by a bullet in its side. He learned that horses know the route by rote, so smugglers will sometimes load contraband on their backs and send them down the mountainside on their own [...]

This is just one part of a great article i was reading earlier today in LA Times Magazine. But its not really an article but more of a story of one man- Dr. Hossein G. Vahedi- and his escape that reminds the reader of something out of a movie or adventure novel. Anything but surely not a real story. What makes this story even more interesting is its connection to recent bomb- WikiLeaks. This is how the article in fact starts:

Buried within WikiLeak's exposed secretes is one L.A. dentist's great horseback escape.

Since, I don't want to spoil the story, I would simply suggest to visit this link and read the story yourselves as it is truly incredible and very real.

Is Azerbaijan Becoming a Hub of Radical Islam?

This was the topic of my first published article in an Istanbul based journal, focusing on Turkish politics, foreign policy and economy- Turkish Policy Quarterly. Each issue is dedicated to a certain topic and this was the issue on the Caucasus. The article itself, focused mostly on trying to explain the leading factors behind grow in Islamic influence in Azerbaijan. 

On the outside, Azerbaijan, an ex- Soviet Republic appears to be a rather remarkable example of progressive and secular Islamic state. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early '90s, the newly formed Azerbaijani government immediately proclaimed itself a secular nation. The main inspiration was the secular ideology adopted from Turkey as a result of accession to power of the Azerbaijani Popular Front led by Abulfaz Elchibey. It was during Elchibey's short lived presidency between 1992 and 1993 in which he pursued a Turkey- leading stance that the notion of secularism began to gain a stronghold. During this period Turkey moved swiftly to fill the religious and ideological vacuum left by Russia. Elchibey's positive attitude towards Turkey not only strengthened economic and political ties with the country but also played an important role in adopting the Turkish model of strong nationalism and secularism [...]