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The first says: "I'm the most powerful man in the room -- 33 million people follow me on Twitter."

And the third says: "No, I'm the most powerful man in the room -- I've got all the passwords."

The punch line, of course, is that no one can tell any of them that they are wrong.

The G20 summit in Hamburg comes at time of particular global disunity. Elder statesmen and women of diplomacy have declared that the post-WWII world order is over, potentially leaving decades of dependable stability in terminal decline.

As today's most powerful 20 leaders gather in Germany's northern port city, some among them may cast an eye across the city's skyline remembering when much here looked as Mosul does today: crumpled and broken by war.

In July 1943, allied bombers began an aerial bombing campaign, Operation Gomorrah. In just eight days, 42,000 civilians were killed and 37,000 were injured.

The awfulness of that war and the international desire to never again allow megalomaniacs to hold complete global sway is part of what makes the meeting of world leaders at the G20 today so important. It is, partly, why we should all care that some of the many grievances that these leaders will grudgingly discuss here do get resolved.

It doesn't help that some of those arriving in Hamburg toting the biggest bags of diplomatic gripes and animus are world leaders buried so far in their own beliefs that they've lost sight of the art of compromise.

He comes to the G20 a global outlier on climate change. Shortly after the G7 summit in May, he snubbed the other leaders by dumping Barack Obama's commitment to the Paris climate accord.

And like Putin, Trump's disruptions are not singular. He has recently ratcheted up tension with China, courting controversy over weapon sales to Taiwan and testing waters around disputed islands -- not to mention his tough talk on trade.

All of that baggage seems to sink any hope of a meeting of minds on North Korea, something other G20 leaders were hoping might walk the region back from the risk of nuclear-tipped confrontation.

Of course this is exactly the impact North Korea's Kim Jong Un will have hoped for.

They will both likely agree that the other outsized strongman attending -- Turkey's President Erdogan -- is an emerging problem child. Not only because he administered a referendum that delivered the powers of Parliament to his hands in the presidency, but also his penchant for riotous assembly.

Trump's problems with Erdogan are bigger than Merkel's. As fighting in the Syrian war appears to be reaching its conclusion -- ISIS is losing its grip of its previous stronghold and de facto capital in Raqqa -- Trump's arming of Kurdish fighters to kill ISIS fighters angers Erdogan, who considers both ISIS and the Kurdish forces to be terrorists.

For his part, Putin is happy to have Trump and Erdogan squabble over this -- it allows his ally Assad to reap the rewards.

But beyond the fight for Raqqa, the real strategic end game in Syria is the race for the ISIS-riddled eastern town of Deir Ezzor. It'll be the hidden subtext of any G20 talk over Syria.

If Assad gets there first, then he, Russia and Iran control the vital highways that turn the Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut axis into one smooth tarmac ride from the Persian mountains and Iran's mullahs to their seaside proxies Hezbollah, more than 1,000 miles away in Lebanon.

This outcome is unpalatable to G20 member Saudi Arabia. As King Salman has canceled his visit, the diplomatic stakes are already raised. His son, the young, ambitious and recently promoted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is likely to be far tougher to tame at the top table of global politics.

MBS, as he is known, arrives already exercised by tiny Gulf state Qatar's refusal to fall into line with his and the UAE's recent demands to cut its ties with terrorist groups, among other things. His peers at the summit will no doubt encourage the young prince to cool his jets and try to reach a deal.

This backdrop makes it unlikely that he will be in any sort of mood to compromise on Syria and see his nemesis Iran gain more traction in the region.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is up for making friends and getting deals done, but her clout is on the wane.

Yet it's not all doom and gloom. A rising international star, the fresh-faced French President Emmanuel Macron, can be expected to inject some optimism. He believes Trump can be brought in from the isolationism of "America First."

His first G20 could be his fellow europhile centrist Angela Merkel's last.

Germans go to the polls in the next few months. While she seems to enjoy something of a lead, not to mention the respect of many of the leaders, she could still use a positive summit to boost her popularity.

But even on this Trump is a disruptor.

He has talked Merkel down so much -- criticizing her refugee policy and slamming German car sales to the US -- that she has decided to let his German critics be heard by holding the G20 in a city center building that can and likely will be surrounded by protestors.

Suffice to say, rarely in the field of recent global diplomacy have so many relied on so few for so much.

Therefore it's a shame, in a way, about the strongmen.

A few less of those might just have tipped the balance towards a more favourable G20 outcome.

Talking of which, did you hear about the three world leaders who left the meeting room? They all agreed that they were the best leaders at the meeting and had won all their arguments.

Originally posted here:
Trump, Putin and Erdogan: the three men upending global diplomacy - CNN

Education Erdogans conservative AKP has doubled religion class hours, removed evolutionary theory from classrooms and shut down universities in his bid to raise a pious generation.

Turkeys Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party during a meeting at the Turkish parliament. Credit: Reuters/Umit Bektas

While the earliereducation reforms of Turkeys socially conservative AKP (Justice and Development Party) pointed towards inclusiveness, the current ones have a far more troubling direction.

Not content with removing around 45,000 education ministry staff from the government payroll following an abortive coup in July last year, Turkeys ruling party is now looking to take down Darwin.

Last month the government announced thatthe theory of evolutionwouldbe removed from the teaching curriculum at Turkish schools until students reach university.

The announcement adds to evidence cited by concerned secularists who suggestTurkeys education system is being remodelled in line with President Erdogans bid to raise pious generations and forge a New Turkey.

Efforts to rejigthe countrys teaching curriculum along more religious lines are not new, dating back at least asFebruary 2012.

What has changed since is President Erdogans seemingly unassailable position in post-coup attempt and post-referendum Turkey.

New Turkey

Despite its shrunken majority and the ever-increasing polarization of the Turkish electorate or perhaps because of these things AKP is pushing its policy agenda more aggressively than ever before.

Along with the ban on evolution in the classroom, the AKP educational reforms will seethe governments narrative on the 2016coup attemptembedded in school syllabi, while class time dedicated to modern Turkeys secular founder Kemal Attaturk will be reduced.

Forced enrolment of some school-age students intocontroversial religious imam-hatip stateschoolsis another feature of the new education agenda.

The AKP government won praise from both liberals and conservatives for managingtoreverse the countrysrepressive ban on headscarfs in universities back in 2010.The moveallowed womenfrom observant Muslim families to receive furthereducation.

But the imam-hatip schools have faced criticism for discouraging girls from doing that very thing.Secularists seetheschools growing rolein Turkeys education system as yet another sign thatAKP is trying to recast the country in its own traditionalist image.

An evolving threat

Accordingto the head of curriculum for the Turkish education ministry, teaching evolution in schoolsis controversial, but opponents of the ban were quick to side with science.

(They have removed evolution from the curriculum, biology class hours have been reduced by 33%, while religion class hours have been increased by 100%. God willing, we are going to get ahead of Iran soon.)

(They are removing evolution theory class. I am not wondering what they are going to teach our children.)

(There wont be any classes on evolution. But there are classes on Sharia criminal law and religion. This is the meaning of New Turkey.)

(Biology class, first class, first slide: evolution is real, and cannot be argued against. I have remembered this for 29 years. The teacher was right.)

The international response has also beencritical:

Currently the evolution ban only applies to schools, but many fear that universities are being targetedfor a serious government-led overhaul, too. Thousands of academics weredismissedfrom their jobs following the military coup, whileout of 180 universities currently operating in Turkey, 15 wereshut down.

This article originally appeared in Global Voices.

Categories: Education, External Affairs, Religion, Science, Society, World

Tagged as: AKP, Erdogan, evolutionary theory, new turkey, no-donate-link, pious generation, Sharia, Turkey coup

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In Turkey, Erdogan's Post-Revolutionary Agenda Invades Classrooms and Threatens Universities - The Wire

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A Thai worker paints on a large statue of the Goddess of Mercy, known as Guan Yin at a Chinese temple in Ratchaburi province, Thailand. Guan Yin is one of the most popular and well known Chinese Goddess in Asia and in the world. Guan Yin is the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism and also worshiped by Taoists

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan says 'Germany is committing suicide' by not allowing him to speak to German Turks - The Independent

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Turkey protesters stage long march against Erdogan BBC News At 08:00, the motorway tarmac was radiating heat. There was no shade from the 30C heat, just the exhaust fumes of passing cars. Not the most pleasant route for a walk. But spirits were high. "Adalet!" chanted the thousands gathered - "Justice!" Their ... March for 'justice' by Erdogan opponents in Turkey gains momentum and alarms governmentWashington Post On the Road With Protesters Marching Across Turkey to Condemn Erdogan's PurgeNew York Times Turkey: opposition leader appeals to ECHR over Erdogan referendumeuronews FRANCE 24 -Reuters all 150 news articles »

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Turkey protesters stage long march against Erdogan - BBC News

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday reaffirmed Turkeys support for Qatar in its dispute with four other Arab states, saying their demands against the Gulf nation were unacceptable. When it comes to this list of 13 items ... its not acceptable under any circumstances, Erdogan said in an interview with France 24 television. Some of the terms were tantamount to stripping Qatar of its statehood, he added. We remain loyal to our agreement with Qatar. If it requests us to leave, we will not stay where we are not wanted, he said. Erdogan was quoted as saying in an interview with German weekly Die Zeit published yesterday that "what is being done with Qatar runs counter to international law." He said the demand for the Turkish base to be closed shows "a lack of respect towards us and Qatar" and added that "the Americans are also there, with 9,000 soldiers, and so are the French." He asks: "Why are the Saudis disturbed by us and not by that? This is unacceptable." Erdogan also criticised a demand for the closure of broadcaster Al Jazeera, saying Ankara "will support Qatar in every way, because we share the same values, have good relations and we cannot be silent about the injustice."

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Turkey and Qatar share same values: Erdogan - The Peninsula Qatar