[BRIEF NOTE] Ergenekon

From Wikipedia:

The "Ergenekon network" or "Ergenekon" (Turkish: Ergenekon or Ergenekon terör örgütü) is an alleged clandestine Gladio-type ultra-nationalist terrorist organization within Turkey, plotting to foment unrest in Turkey, inter alia by assassinating intellectuals, including Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, with the ultimate goal of toppling the present government.

From Today's Zaman:

Revelations emanating from the investigation thus far have shown that many of the attacks attributed to separatist or Islamist groups or seen as hate crimes against minorities were actually "inside jobs."

The investigation into the gang, 33 of whose members were taken into police custody earlier this week as part of an investigation into an arms depot found in İstanbul in June of last year, has exposed solid links between an attack on the Council of State in 2006, threats and attacks against people accused of being unpatriotic and a 1996 car crash known as the Susurluk incident, which revealed links between a police chief, a convicted ultranationalist fugitive and a member of Parliament as well as links to plans of some groups in Turkey's powerful military to overthrow the government.

Meanwhile, 15 of the suspects detained on Tuesday on charges of membership in the Ergenekon terrorist organization were taken to a courthouse in İstanbul's Beşiktaş district under tight security on Friday, while one of them, retired Maj. Zekeriya Öztürk, was arrested. Three of the suspects were released on Thursday by the prosecutor after their interrogation was complete, while the court released one of the suspects.

The gang is a part of a structure named Ergenekon, declared a terrorist organization by the İstanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office, an aggregation of many groups of varying sizes, many of which have in their names adjectives such as "patriotic," "national," "nationalist," "Kemalist" or "Atatürkist." Ergenekon is the name of a legend that describes how Turks came into existence.

A number of those detained in the recent raids, including Veli Küçük, Sami Hoştan, Drej Ali and Muzaffer Tekin -- who was already in jail prior to Tuesday's detentions-- have repeatedly been named in many similar investigations.

The investigation has found that the Ergenekon phenomenon, also referred to as Turkey's "deep state," stages attacks using "behind-the-scenes" paramilitary organizations to manipulate public opinion according its own political agenda.

A Swiss historian suggests that Ergenekom is the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, by which the United States and other countries organized "stay-behind" militias charged with waging partisan warfare against Soviet occupiers in the case of a Third World War, all lacking any public accountability. Many of these organizations later transferred their loyalties to far-right terrorist networks, most famously in Italy becoming involved in a series of terrorist bombings, banking scandals and the Propaganda Due scandal in which hundreds of prominent Italians--including Berlusconi--were alleged to be members of a pseudo-Masonic organization intent on remaking Italy as an authoritarian right-wing state. In other European countries, the Gladio-reated organizations were allegedly destroyed, but in Turkey, where an undemocratic and approximately right-wing network constituted the deep state, it arguably survived intact.

Um. Did I get everything down correctly? And is it possible that this exceptionally convoluted theory might actually be partially accurate? People?

[URBAN NOTE] Here comes the rain again, and again, and again; and, This used to be my playground

And the rain comes down.

The rainiest June and July in city records has made Toronto the country's soggiest city this summer, and has put 2008 on the fast track to be the city's wettest year ever.

Morning showers and flash afternoon storms yesterday brought Toronto's two-month rain tally up to 272.8 millimetres (10.7 inches) as of 2 p.m. yesterday, eclipsing the previous record for the same period with eight days left to go.

The two months of regular downpour made Toronto the only city shattering summer rain records. It also makes us the rainiest area in the country over that time, said Dave Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist.

"Toronto is the wettest location in the country," he said. "Nowhere even comes close."

Add the saturated summer to the snow-laden winter, and we're easily on pace to beat a 30-year-old record for the city's wettest year ever, Phillips noted.

Routinely waterlogged cities like St. John's, Halifax, Thunder Bay and Prince Rupert, "can't hold a candle to Toronto" over the last two months, the weather guru said.

Will Bloorcourt escape inevitable gentrification with its soul entirely intact? Ha, ha, ha.

The action on the western edge of Bloorcourt Village is all about Dufferin station. The doors leading to the subway spit and swallow noisy teenagers, busy-busy commuters, over-it moms with Dora the Explorer headaches and posturing XXL toughs. Watching it happen with a Nova Era takeout coffee, a kicky oldster from the retirement home across the street offers bites of his Drumstick before asking if I’m married or "looking."

This corner is classic Bloorcourt. To the east and the west, though, the neighbourhood paradigm is changing. A short walk west along Bloor towards Lansdowne, into Bloordale Village, reveals the Toronto Free Gallery’s "Toronto Free Library" exhibit, a broad and radical take on libraries, art and community. Walk along Bloor in the other direction, from Dufferin toward Montrose Avenue, and you can pick up hardcore 7-inches at Hits and Misses, or play DJ at Disgraceland.

For the purposes of Toronto’s indiegentsia, it used to be that Bloorcourt, in particular, was a useful neighbourhood for occasional terror-drinking at the 12:30 (where pints were a quarter or five bucks, depending on the bartender’s mood), more reasonable and respectable fun at Hurricanes and Ethiopian food at tiny, delicious Nazareth. Mysterious bars and men’s clubs fell between cheque cashing-joints and appliance stores. (Jankie’s Place, at Bloor and Dovercourt, was a constant source of fascination when I lived on nearby Shanly Street.) On top of these and on pretty side streets north and south of Bloor, rent was cheap and the Ossington subway stop was handily in the middle.

[. . .]

As happens every year in a different ’hood, the “artsies/student types” have invaded Bloorcourt and Bloordale, beginning a sticky process of reshaping a diversely populated neighbourhood in their own image, and towards their own needs and interests. (Leslieville, Little Italy, Trinity-Bellwoods, Beaconsfield Village, The Junction and, notably, Parkdale are all past subjects.)

Though the establishment of a handful of indie-ish businesses isn’t heavy enough to constitute straight-up gentrification, it happens to be an inevitable step (between Step One: Skid Row Neighbourhood is Bad Yet Cheap and Appealing and Step Three: Young, Cool Careerists Buy Homes, Demand Bespoke Coffee Grinds and Baby Toys). Whether it’s possible to manage the gentrification process so that artsy revitalization might raise living standards for established residents and business owners without squeezing them out remains to be seen, but Bloorcourt’s transition is slow enough, for now, that the community might have an opportunity to decide for itself what goes down.

[BRIEF NOTE] The Franco-Floridians

Past generations of Canadian Francophone migrants settled in areas bordering Québec, particularly in Ontario and the New England states. The modern generation of Francophones (and, it should be noted, the rest of the Canadian population) seems to be in quiet agreement with John Ralston Saul's suggestion in The Doubter's Companion that Florida is, among other things, a warm place where Canadians go to die. This trend dates back decades, as noted by Jon Nordheimer's 8 April 1987 article "Canadians Who Find a Winter Haven in Florida Bring Separatism Along" about the community of Hollywood.

Only now, at the end of the winter season, the English-and French-speaking Canadian residents of Florida are finally getting together. Their numbers are small, and language still separates them, but they gather in places like the Penalty Box Lounge in Fort Lauderdale or in the larger motels along the Sunny Isles oceanfront strip north of Miami to watch hockey games on television from Canada.

''Except for hockey at playoff time there is little contact made,'' said John Harmon, who writes under the name Jean Laurac in the French-Canadian newspaper Le Soleil de la Floride. ''Like in Canada, we live apart.''

It is a separatism of little rancor and less controversy at beaches and mobile home parks. Canadians have streamed into Florida for three decades, seeking relief from long winters and a higher cost of living back home.

A million or more Canadians can be found in Florida in the peak winter season, leaving 24 million or so compatriots behind to deal with the ice and snow. If you ask Canadians here, they will tell you without embarrassment that these figures would be reversed if those staying at home could afford to get down here every year.

[. . .]

Elderly men and women who speak few words of English play petanque, a lawn bowling game played with steel balls instead of wooden ones, at mobile home communities like Dale Village. Later, they may eat out in low-priced restaurants like Kerry's Fine Food where they can eat Quebec dishes like a mixture of ham, eggs, beans and sugar. In the evening, if they have access to satellite television from Montreal, they may watch weekly French language soap operas like ''Poivre et Sel,'' or ''Pepper and Salt,'' a comedy about elderly Quebecers like themselves.

Up the highway in Lake Worth, Evelyn Barron, an English-speaking retiree from Ontario, is indistinguishable from her American contemporaries in her winter activities, except for her twice-monthly luncheons at the Canadian Club of the Palm Beaches, where she joins others in singing ''O Canada.'' Later, at tea time, she savors butter tarts and a hot cup of brewed tea, which she says is unobtainable at most Florida restaurants.

[. . .]

''For people who don't speak English, there is cultural isolation in Florida,'' said Louise Rioux. From November to May, with her husband, Gerald Edwards, she broadcasts a daily 60-minute radio show in French of Canadian news, sports, interviews and entertainment from their south Florida home. This year they added 10 extra minutes of news in English.

''The French hang onto the program,'' said Mr. Edwards. ''It is their only means of getting news in Florida unless they receive a Quebec newspaper in the mail or have a television satellite dish.''