News for today's 2018

30 days of Web Tools: #4: Curating with Paper.li

3:13 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br />Have you discovered, like me, that Twitter is a very beneficial way of learning from a  PLN (Personal Learning Community)? I find most of my ideas stem from my educational Twitter community. Every day I come across an educational newspaper that has been created by a PLN member using Paper.Li and their Twitter feeds so I decided it was time to try it out for myself.</span><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><h3>      <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />What is Paper.li?</b></span></h3></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWnfFD1vmlgFBCTS-rncsG2cmxH_GZoMrFc8O4Lsgt-i9RZ3YmbY-YtzAtH7W61YTaJDupJ3MeLDpt0d1QTedtx0C99ybbPULHFmRfNwq_BwE9X-ay4NEUfASlOVPxUcY85HUC-ztKN0/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgq_Julq0MNrB4I-1qPvDRoYrRVgHNBBvuSKqHjzbC4rw3HXN5bndwL69uiUJYqMH0IQ4eweog-7QOBdnuszgPb15TYnDBtFGbwBeRtYP6I7Ka-jc08hQCjFNGEWB6bsCwY53gTbuDFk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a> <br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Curation, as you probably know, is the new buzz word. Paper.li is a free curation tool that takes Twitter links from people you follow or specify and automatically publishes a digital newspaper on a daily or weekly basis. What happens, in more detail, is you tell it which sources to use. Paper.Li then pulls from those sources and arranges the material in different categories. Very clever!  After you have signed in you will be asked to <i>Start your paper</i>. <a href="http://paper.li/"><b>Paper.li</b></a> is a free service that takes links from the people you follow on Twitter and organizes those links into a virtual paper for easy reading. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><h3>      <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Finding sources to add</b></span></h3></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTZhhoWnFNz5r5VMYvXrbniaBuJDRZMZR9tD6MJU5uZJngiY28XNGHBSIUbqT1JggXYgu2ks5JP7chUgOT6boIUPDbDh1D-2I2yPNc9CdC8hiTLMxlQCnZiFXE3CUcURTEYR6Hu8G3wpU/s1600-h/image%25255B6%25255D.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8DIE8hpBcuRjTzVPhw29-WN6g5LUHErjb6rcVdsgmPsdL8jLKxVCir272q_AwLNhUl-xv0Ealmj0fOt3-SBUbJIPpudoWqBvW80zec-_LLWNHPVkZFm0PalW1fvOEn7pdpUu2sQuYPo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Once you click on 'Start your paper' as shown on the right you will be required to choose your sources. One has to be choosy in who you add as your sources if you have a desired outcome for the final version. Paper.li allows you to add around 25 sources from traditional news sources, Twitter hashtags, or Twitter list feeds. I experimented about four times with this not realising that each time my Paper.Li might have been circulating among my Twitter followers! Oh dear! If that happens to you, then delete the newspaper each time when you start again because it saves automatically. </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzV_XXERsvQjbQLSdrXIMsEFyXDhlxxhPMaXcauNb3CKGuxqFygvCuwNqKl9ior0Z8PoGxjNKLsUd2rITM9HdeKJiKSxAALY0RUMxeG-fGNa-8jnP_9wRG-8MTsnAiHR6jSSTEsKG7xEU/s1600-h/image%25255B10%25255D.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEN85bgtqnfiIE4DF8rdl32Da7DBM9qiPEPIcKdHs0QJpVFwmWBri0Ve0JxJeZc8VyQbdUvQbD0LXeWfs5U0XSoOmhK3YqgsBUaDD7x1-Qmet71XDazr36jrk8uI2BimL5195ZGOuJtcE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The diagram on the left shows how the page looks when you are adding your various sources.At this point you have to be very selective and only choose the sources you really want to draw from. Make your selections from the left grey bar, or add your own hashtags to the window at the tip of the middle column, and drag them accross. </span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br /> </b><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">    <b style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;">How to make your own Paper.li</b></h3></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So let’s get started. Give Paper.Li a try. Here is a short basic list of steps: </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Ask Google for<a href="http://paper.li/"> http://paper.li/</a><br />2. Select “Start your paper Paper”.<br />3. You will be prompted to sign in using Twitter.<br />4. Select “Create a newspaper”<br />5. Provide the sources for your paper – lists, hashtags, or twitter accounts from which you want the paper created </span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />I came across a very good screencast from an educator saying how she went about making her first Paper.li so I am going to embed it here. </span><iframe frameborder="0" height="396" src="http://www.screenr.com/embed/92Ss" width="420"></iframe> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.screenr.com/92Ss" title="http://www.screenr.com/92Ss">http://www.screenr.com/92Ss</a><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><h3>      <span style="font-size: large;"><b>The structure of a Paper.li (click on the thumbnail)</b></span></h3></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://paper.li/fibeal/1341787139#" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnBx4O0m8-DIx-GKihdKxTiap5h6cffWEN7MnFfPHbcFiCmptmlDZotXphWpy1r0OkGSGhXbnbSTavILzStIfHONl_wan05piwBfcEcyh32ryMiSG5xMpdO_Hi-s_DJt1_FduOniKS8Y/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">This picture shows how a Paper.Li turns out. Basically you don’t much say over what appears – the tweets are sourced by Paper.Li from the sources you provided. I found that I deleted a number of the tweets as they weren’t relevant to what I wanted, and then Paper.li just added another.  If you click on this thumbnail you’ll be taken to the actual paper I created which gives a good idea of the structure. If you are unsuccessful here is the URL: </span><a href="http://paper.li/fibeal/1341787139#" style="background-color: white;">http://paper.li/fibeal/1341787139#</a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><h3>      <span style="font-size: large;"><b>How to use Paper.Li as an educator</b></span></h3></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Set up a class hashtag if your school allows it.  Recognize that tweets with links to articles, videos, and images, make the best content for Paper.li. You could even create a relevant  paper a week for your students. </span></span><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />2. Student’s could use paper.li to create newspapers that are aligned to a particular topic. They would then have to source people who write or tweet on their topic, or a hashtag that is used for that particular topic. Here are three examples of subject specific Paper.Li’s from Lucy Grey. One is devoted to <a href="http://paper.li/elemenous/global-education">global education</a>, another to <a href="http://paper.li/elemenous/1339386897">mobile learning</a> and a third focuses on her <a href="http://paper.li/elemenous">favourite general education resources and thought leaders</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />3. You could set up a hashtag based on a Unit of work you want to cover,  and then tweet a series of web pages, videos, articles, etc. on that topic. Your students could then read your Tweet Paper for the day to get information.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Undoubtedly as you read this blogpost your mind will be jumping to ideas that are relevant and specific to you for trying out Paper.Li. Would love to hear about them!</span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><h3>      <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Further reading</b></span></h3></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1) A newspaper of tweets:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://mullinshe.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/a-newspaper-of-tweets/">http://mullinshe.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/a-newspaper-of-tweets/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2) Revisiting paper.li as a curation tool:<br /><a href="http://www.lucygray.org/weblog/2012/06/revisiting-paperli-as-a-curation-tool.html">http://www.lucygray.org/weblog/2012/06/revisiting-paperli-as-a-curation-tool.html</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3) Provide students with a personalised newspaper every day<br /><a href="http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/10/provide-students-with-personalized.html">http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/10/provide-students-with-personalized.html</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">4) Kate Morgan: Curating the classroom<br /><a href="http://community.paper.li/2011/10/12/kate-morgan-curating-the-classroom/">http://community.paper.li/2011/10/12/kate-morgan-curating-the-classroom/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5)How to use Paper.li</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.stayonsearch.com/how-to-use-paper-li-the-daily-twitter-newspaper">http://www.stayonsearch.com/how-to-use-paper-li-the-daily-twitter-newspaper</a></span></div></div>

30 days of web tools PaperLi Web tools 30 days of Web Tools: #4: Curating with Paper.li

Submitted by Fiona Beal Have you discovered, like me, that Twitter is a very beneficial way of learning from a PLN (Personal Learning Commu...

Live From Indianapolis IV

7:14 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Sunday began with a massive Eucharist and the UTO Ingathering. Major fal-da-rol. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Then it was on to the Structure Committee. The already good resolution on structural reform came back to us improved. We processed it some more, this time making formal revisions. I proposed an amendment which was adopted and I am very pleased about it. It calls for the whole Church to pray for the task force, the special gathering, and process of discernment created by the resolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">On the surface, this may seem like religious window dressing. It is certainly less spiritually ambitious than the separate “Act 8 resolution” calling for a process that is more ascetical and less structural in approach. But I believe the word “pray” is nuclear loaded. Whether we detonate it depends entirely on the Church in each of its local incarnations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Here’s why I believe this is crucial. Russ Crabtree (a church leadership heavyweight) says that a strategic plan is like the cerebral cortex of an organization. The organizational culture is like the reflexes. It’s what we do automatically. To the extent the strategic plan and organizational culture are in conflict, Crabtree says, the culture, the habits, the unconscious reflexes win “every time, every time.” (Yes, he repeats for emphasis.) I have seen plenty of official changes of structure crumble in the sand of an inconsistent culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">If a strategic plan is like the cerebral cortex, the governance structures are even more so. They are how things get done officially. But what happens officially depends entirely on what gets said in the parking lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Governance structures are on the surface. They are supported, or not, but something deeper – the spiritual culture. The spirituality of the church is our culture. Our present cumbersome dysfunctional structure is not something someone else did to us. It is the outward and visible sign of our inner and spiritual state. If we do not, as the whole Church, engage the process of transformation deeply and widely, if this process is just<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>carried out on a superficial-structural level but a few hundred people, then it will all be a waste of time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">So the question is: how do we all engage in a prayerful process of discerning what the Church is called to be. We can start with the 5 Marks of Mission (if you don’t know about them, just Google the term) but that is way broad and vague. What<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>would that kind of mission look like on the ground -- on our ground -- in our community? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Can we prayerfully imagine alternative scenarios for the future of our congregations? Maybe we imagine dying off and closing. That is an option. Maybe we imagine bringing in a few younger people who are pretty much like us, training them to be completely like us, then handing the building on to them so that nothing changes inside the church walls – even though the world outside is different in ways we cannot begin to imagine. Or maybe we imagine something quite different. What might that be? What might God have in mind for our community? These are questions to pray into and there are ways of praying into it. Maybe we can bring in spiritual directors to help us pray with our religious imagination (a term commonly used in Jesuit circles) fully engaged.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">I am excited about this resolution coming out of the structure committee, but the most exciting word in it for me is “pray.” We may pray for a vision, pray for the faith to walk into the darkness toward the light, pray for the resources we need to become the people we are called to be. I am convinced the fate of our discernment process depends on the prayers of all of our people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">After working the Resolution over a second time today, we sent it back to the drafting committee for more work. We will take it up again tomorrow and hopefully hammer this resolution, which our chair Gay Jennings calls “The Big Kahuna”, into shape so it can go to the House of Deputies on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the House of Bishops we spent a long time again today in a closed session dealing with relationship matters. I cannot describe what goes on in the private sessions, but I believe I can say that it was an emotionally intense time of authentic personal sharing, that it was a graced time in which the faith of the bishops was manifest and Christ’s reconciling love-power was palpable. Once again, I was surprised and moved by the spirituality of the bishops of our Church and stunned by the Spirit’s deftness in brining light into the darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">In open session, we transacted a lot of business. There were two high points for Nevada given our particular mission focus these days. First, there was a resolution on human trafficking commending those who are fighting this evil and calling several resources to our attention, including resources from Anglican Women’s Empowerment (AWE), a program considered at the recent Women’s Ministries Gathering in Tonopah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">Second, there was a broader resolution on engagement with the culture outside our church walls. It particularly encouraged churches to participate in community organizing effort with programs such as IAF and PICO by name. It was satisfying to see Nevada ahead of the curve on this one. Two of our congregations (Trinity, Reno and St. Paul’s, Sparks) have already joined ACTIONN, a PICO-sponsored community organizing group. In Las Vegas, Episcopal Latino Ministries have already joined Nevadans For The Common Good, an IAF-sponsored community organizing group – and 6 of our 8 congregations in the area are seriously considering signing on in the coming year. It is good to know our efforts are endorsed by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church and that we are helping to lead the way – and no, I had nothing to do with this resolution other than voting for it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">I keep encountering people I have known in different parts of the Church at different stages of my vocational life. I only wish I had time to actually talk with each of them in depth. But tonight, we had a great dinner out with the Nevada Deputies, other Nevadans here in various roles, and with Nevada alum, the Rev. Canon Britt Olson, now of Northern California. A good time was had by all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>

Live From Indianapolis IV

Sunday began with a massive Eucharist and the UTO Ingathering. Major fal-da-rol. Then it was on to the Structure Committee. The alread...

30 days of Web Tools: #3: Vocaroo.com and other great free online audio recorders

7:45 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Internet has a wonderful array of free online recorders that can be very  useful in a classroom. In this post I will mention seven of them and in the Slideshare that follows I have added instructions on how to use them. Most of these are really easy to use, especially as they don't require one to download any software. Audio recordings are very useful for reading - I have used them in a project where a class shared the books we were reading with another class.  Apart from that they can be used for quick audio messages on a blog or wiki. </div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">1.Vocaroo.com</span></b></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJYk0WIMMdnqkcn41b0sLdAFXi5eHUUbv3mF06azzeksgdmGM3nO2N6RER3kSGuj2uTmzlP0xG3b-Q8-fN6deGhp9d4C0-wicdSll7UbLMi4_9ZBU8uMtVd5AhZ8Wj-rw32u-5S2pGHw/s1600-h/vocaroo13.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="vocaroo1" border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_A-y-zQ25vq2wdI1yaRPOWRLFEDsKlOxv98bwDcn9-XIt0c9tqbd9TA9VkiJrbrM0RPpA33PczQJKSvp1lzt8U3QCbiygDsVOSWjbLXMCcU-mDNi_eQilKcrS3eye92jTJ9fayT0hP1s/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="vocaroo1" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vocaroo.com has long been a favourite of mine when it comes to creating a quick sound file to either display on a blog or wiki, or even send by email to a friend or colleague. It is also useful to use for projects. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">2.Lal.io.com</span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5lTjX1tCw-0A-scfp9tsek-oMRFWTGEALLl7bKgjqYYzZHjhdiiQjHtueLixhHfPXmzxaOsLfTyOqNItNP7EtBD_Aw1Eo-BIalkGzqxUCKbDMuCVPY5qf-AiOqb7wzYi7mLYBDdX6ck/s1600-h/image4.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg61d378YtWu8LDL6klLJFfqgr61c043eWG69caSmBAgwTfp_vipw0tfbVb5v4pMMKr6qcWp9qn1OId2tsnFb9SwKXC0Tf9aS0NEIDjV71LHYSlUKvTdaFajyYU4BQpBHg9DGEoWS-otAc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A useful site where you can type a message and it is read out using a voice synthesiser. There doesn't seem to be a limit to the length of the message. You can share the link to share the message. You can change the pitch, speed and more. It's a great way of giving instructions or homework over the net.</div><br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">3.Yakitome</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV5DX_R9ABAubExavKeiSMaUvkGYVOO1CGj14F06sL9dskXSW7x7XfzY-E_wF7DbK8_H-SCcZpqSx0Z2rCtLkpJ5iJijpNiejY83RnScHkSw9lVEvDZkrmMCASeLLCfIROpe2gCaG8j6E/s1600-h/image8.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmUCFp4McCvJYBegM9msMIMYDe99kwsElZogst5ZOQK9-y0WO65oE6yuZdF63EPi8c9ZTLPUPNklMKHLWMZ5bZK7vb0Xe24_7mNJ_COXY3RctJRzkw8a6JfHyHolfVC7h77dt5llegrzk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Free text to speech. Uses the world's best text to speech (TTS) software. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Upload documents, cut and paste text or link to feeds. Text reader converts text to speech automatically. Download audio and podcasts. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's fast and easy to use. Get started right away! No software to download or install. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Unlike all other TTS websites, YAKiToMe! is 100% free!</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">4.Audioboo</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhObl1XTTNVHAeBVYkkztqLmiLIVnosiOwrOKtyfnZEJBXeWFD8KfsNoLj65Y2ZYA5CDgj67NZAe7chdS3F8rx1QeRem29XndXEJX539kI3btWJsWLcyX-4a_s7V-uqMmkTIuGsxPTf39c/s1600-h/audioboo1%25255B2%25255D.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="audioboo1" border="0" height="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDAma_NK4h0KsMm7kATyshvt0-8Du33orDl4VhluJKVbWTh7SY44P4ZQfJ1vBeaIPGYnwZKhC_fK6-CjgZkw2px9FUcz_4HRetasjevLKgvnPexDOkg-yhedaDzJYkg29B_DnYf0CBA8s/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="audioboo1" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Audioboo is a mobile & web platform that effortlessly allows you to record and share audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear.  You can use it for reporting, for story-telling, educational use or quick tips.</span></div><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">5.Croak.it</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcM6zSk7HAopWlPjCxSLL-UZlXYLEnvbko_a3t0Gu7zBzICalYNUzYAzHea8KuY8vRT620Bypl9wyTZhZE8N6To_9KoN97eBESXl9Qd0Q_axwLG0cOctthm59neXq0zCdhmDJ5J3agtPA/s1600-h/croak.it1%25255B2%25255D.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="croak.it1" border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwJxzeKOYF603m6z0UhT1F6-1yt3GH0cy7tX8RwzgqagH5e6LGy0FEtkQLgw4flw0flFcwx6DKSvGMhttfhXGXWrG6Ws8CVFxSFx5w0CG8GwtssgkiFwhjbiNMEzT5vBo0Cl8_NT4MKE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="croak.it1" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Croak.it is an online recorder where you use your voice everywhere. Push! Speak! Share! There is a video with instructions on Facebook </span><a href="http://bit.ly/NdQvaq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://bit.ly/NdQvaq</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Your crak.it can be shared via Facbook, twitter ora mediukm of your choice. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">6.Talktyper</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4O_hvy1oQI_mCdgDVFtTm1azX65rYSh9yNWA7QAVVnnAluofK19Mr9BlYdp82xpGrsNBt7VC6eemvYNhUhD86JSHXWIBJrHN7sup_lCl2vU9n6J1ii8dUmHF4qhsJVHmXUJ0a6_4c2A/s1600-h/Talktyper%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Talktyper" border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWsaxOx8h1XeaTVTQZRAUV41ajO4HKf90jsygMXRNggQrMQKzqKIOU15iMEEYQenCz74tu9yuCg1SQZ11YhQYK0RJjhpXK64OKLZa5ubg93j3vk1NBb7elOueZSLuKW7cDtzpfwMhC7E/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Talktyper" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Talktyper is free speech to text dictation software in a browser. To work Talktyper you click the microphone and speak. The dictated words appear in the upper box. Dictate about one sentence at a time. When the speech is recognized, it will appear in red. Note that you can also dictate basic punctuation by saying things like "period", "question mark", "new paragraph", etc. You then edit and click the arrow to move the text into the main body of the application.</span> <br /><br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">7.Vozme</span></b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp4uQerUnbPlF6ZYNe4ITB6vJL34p-eEXDemnIFnTuZspHeEDSDVv7kqKMV0Uaj63_PeEeNbt0bAMbOP3Om65fEO3M0nVzfuxb0X5AQp_WTqhtydhEJrNwylDhFTsALW2HxCBjgjIE4OY/s1600-h/vozMe1%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="vozMe1" border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk83u77S6Txe8VrJWSc6s-XM39GgrKSNanLLU75AniQVzacDj3KstfhxOPt8YAw7VqY5buyLi79bGwz-N_fZi3IA1eJTJ6YvQw61Z70vVkiuxZIcscLupToGx4evL0K1h3v8WlrNZi8KA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="vozMe1" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">From text to speech (speech synthesis). online tool that offers applications and services to convert text into speech. vozMe uses speech synthesis</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to use these online audio recorders </span></b><br /><div id="__ss_13575876" style="width: 425px;"><b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/online-audio-recorders" title="Online audio recorders">Online audio recorders</a></b><object height="355" id="__sse13575876" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=onlineaudiorecorders-120708092054-phpapp02&stripped_title=online-audio-recorders&userName=fionabeal" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><embed name="__sse13575876" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=onlineaudiorecorders-120708092054-phpapp02&stripped_title=online-audio-recorders&userName=fionabeal" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal">Fiona Beal</a>.</div></div><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Further reading</span></b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/25-free-digital-audio-editors/">http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/25-free-digital-audio-editors/</a></div>

30 days of web tools Vocaroo Web tools 30 days of Web Tools: #3: Vocaroo.com and other great free online audio recorders

The Internet has a wonderful array of free online recorders that can be very useful in a classroom. In this post I will mention seven of th...

Live From Indianapolis III

7:47 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">It was a jam-packed day to be exceeded only by tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">There were long legislative sessions in the House of Bishops in which we dealt with the necessary business of the church plus a lot of issues where we were just voicing our moral sentiments. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">But the more interesting things happened in the Structure Committee and at the Asian lunch. Last night there seemed to have been a shift in the sentiments of the Committee. Afterward a subcommittee met late into the night to work on a resolution to substitute for the 40 or 50 or so resolutions all calling for major structural reform. When they came back this morning, they had settled in on an independent task force to create a restructuring proposal. Between meetings today, that group worked tirelessly on a draft resolution creating the task force. They presented their product tonight. It is already a thing of beauty, but we worked it over in the Committee, having a very positive reaction but also offering a number of creative suggestions. The drafting committee is at it again even now and will be working on it tomorrow. We will resume over the noon hour to and spend a couple of hours perfecting the most important resolution for the overall mission of the church in quite some time. The spirit of the committee has shifted from basic anxiety to basic excitement – with some anxiety still fluttering around. That is good. No anxiety would mean no real danger of change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">The most pleasant part of today was having lunch with Episcopal Asian Ministries – a huge gathering at P. F. Chang’s. I sat next to Bp. David Lai of Taiwan. We used to share a table in the House of Bishops. I saw Bishop Malecdon, Primate of the Philippines, and his Secretary General and Chancellor, Floyd – both of whom I knew from my visit to Manila. I saw Mimi Wu and Fred Vergara of EAM, and our own Filipino & Pacific Islander Missioner, Fr. Arsolin Almondiel, was there to introduce me to Bishop Maximo, Primate of the P.I.C, our communion partner (as in we are in full communion) in the Philippines. I met a priest named Irene from Guam, Peter Ng, and many Asians involved in ministry here. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt;">When the Episcopal Church comes to Indiana, you notice we are here! We look like the world. We look like the family of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>

Live From Indianapolis III

It was a jam-packed day to be exceeded only by tomorrow. There were long legislative sessions in the House of Bishops in which we deal...

TURKEY AND RUSSIA

9:57 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1vWfFjU-w_QQcuV8djyWz7WkZDPNHTWa8UgEW_YP8jra3wKff4t0DQh2BVrxCtQfFW9-40EYZE_yk8poTHZvTJItIRWMRHRADSG7XjCCA9tMq96Q6o5Lpec6hiny287qJRzs2sMmrMH3/s1600/120510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1vWfFjU-w_QQcuV8djyWz7WkZDPNHTWa8UgEW_YP8jra3wKff4t0DQh2BVrxCtQfFW9-40EYZE_yk8poTHZvTJItIRWMRHRADSG7XjCCA9tMq96Q6o5Lpec6hiny287qJRzs2sMmrMH3/s1600/120510.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY FALLS OUT WITH RUSSIA: ANOTHER SIGN OF A FOREIGN POLICY IN CRISIS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">followup article to: </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEYS SUNNI CRESCENT - TURKEY AND SYRIA: AN UNDECLARED STATE OF WAR  </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/turkeys-sunni-crescent.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/turkeys-sunni-crescent.html</a></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">W</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">herever one looks, TURKEY’S “zero problems with neighbors” policy is fading. Althoug<span style="background-color: white;">h</span><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span>TURKISH -RUSSIAN relations have not received the publicity of TURKEY’S quarrels with ISRAEL, those relations represent the latest example of this policy’s difficulties. The clashes of TURKISH-RUSSIAN interests are part of a larger theme. They underline that the core idea of TURKISH foreign policy during the last years, the notion that TURKEY can truly manage to have no problems with all of its neighbors and serenely navigate along the complex shoals of MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE, the MIDDLE EAST, and the CAUCASUS and gain leverage throughout these zones, has proven to be unsustainable.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See:<a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html"> http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEYS ENERGY GAMBLE  </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY announced that it would not renew the purchase of RUSSIAN gas delivered through the Western pipeline route through the Balkans after 2012. The official reason was the high price of RUSSIAN gas. RUSSIAN papers immediately claimed this was part of a concerted anti-RUSSIAN attack by EUROPE and TURKEY on RUSSIAN gas policy. But the truth is rather different and casts a critical light on both states’ policies.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/turkey-and-central-asia.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/turkey-and-central-asia.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jVGCrfuwZSnEsVQX953tkndGeWh1g4RWp2hXQ3TBs_W6pjcMb_1vzymEOboNs8QalXYbGk1nWWmBfB0Ay17L6BrHD8cHuoP_kC8CU0FV_1V-2Ms009c1B4r2dZ2iBXZCF7GOQZNU08Mf/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jVGCrfuwZSnEsVQX953tkndGeWh1g4RWp2hXQ3TBs_W6pjcMb_1vzymEOboNs8QalXYbGk1nWWmBfB0Ay17L6BrHD8cHuoP_kC8CU0FV_1V-2Ms009c1B4r2dZ2iBXZCF7GOQZNU08Mf/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY already imports about 60 percent of its gas from RUSSIA and worries about strategic over-dependence as a result. Second, Gazprom has rebuffed TURKEY’S requests for easing the onerous take or pay clauses in their contract that raises TURKISH payments even as imports contract. RUSSIA has also generally refused to accede to other customers’ requests for price cuts. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So TURKEY sent a clear signal that it would no longer depend exclusively on RUSSIAN gas and that it had other options. Furthermore, Ankara is replying to domestic critics who complain about the primacy of the state company BOTAS, by allowing private importers to take over the contracts with Gazprom in search of better prices. TURKEY also hopes for contracts with EGYPT, IRAQ, the ITGI interconnector from AZERBAIJAN, and TURKMENISTAN (through the projected Nabucco pipeline) and possibly hopes to force its way into the newly discovered EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN gas fields. TURKEY may also be hoping to gain more U.S. support, as it already has moved to accept to participate in NATO’s missile defense shield against IRAN.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/geo-strategic-dynamics-in-eastern.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQRtygrlzy5zTn2tDPRiOtyOTCNFeJ2aA28Fm0uwEW6WXkG9GN5ZzMhf_GTJMs2voZ3FovNVwP9OfJHQMokuPCntexDaiefH9Gw2obViaPlr-BIn8WUxyeQ7Zn1LCJof8ykWU-AV_VAB1/s1600/nabucco-gas-pipeline.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQRtygrlzy5zTn2tDPRiOtyOTCNFeJ2aA28Fm0uwEW6WXkG9GN5ZzMhf_GTJMs2voZ3FovNVwP9OfJHQMokuPCntexDaiefH9Gw2obViaPlr-BIn8WUxyeQ7Zn1LCJof8ykWU-AV_VAB1/s320/nabucco-gas-pipeline.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Even though both TURKISH and RUSSIAN media habitually view international politics as a conspiracy directed against or revolving around their countries, and although this situation is no different, TURKEY’S moves against Gazprom and Moscow have apparently been in the works for some time. RUSSIAN sources see RUSSIA’S recent deals with the EU over the projected South Stream pipeline and TURKEY’S desire to join the EU as motivating forces while TURKISH media see TURKEY aligning with the U.S. and the EU aligning with RUSSIA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">What is clear is that as RUSSIAN pressure on UKRAINE to hand over its gas pipeline network to Moscow grows, TURKEY’S dependence on RUSSIAN gas becomes more of a liability especially as Moscow thinks it can disregard TURKISH economic interests, as suggested above. Indeed, an article in <i>Moskovskiy Komsomolets</i> observed that because Gazprom refuses to lower its prices, an anti-Gazprom “movement” of sorts is developing among EUROPEAN customers who are relying on the appearance of QATARI and ALGERIAN LNG. Therefore Moscow must hope to restore the cuts in deliveries by making deals with private TURKISH importers who are ready to negotiate terms. But it is unlikely they will accept the onerous take or pay clauses and high prices that feature so prominently in Gazprom’s contracts.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">COMPLEX STRATEGIC ENERGY GAMES IN A GEOSTRATEGIC “MINEFIELD” </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UUFZ56qDL-Qm1Bo8UV5d_Ulm8znQ_yCqxfmYrXcNtfL8YNXhOheC8JmviDkEKdKI1eVtY4CUfkKi9q0BQmbncUJal1wZSerZpIUm5aXkVC4mBLPoF0rIYy1GeQDyQlKbRPuRPYeDgTV-/s1600/www.cyprusnewsreport.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UUFZ56qDL-Qm1Bo8UV5d_Ulm8znQ_yCqxfmYrXcNtfL8YNXhOheC8JmviDkEKdKI1eVtY4CUfkKi9q0BQmbncUJal1wZSerZpIUm5aXkVC4mBLPoF0rIYy1GeQDyQlKbRPuRPYeDgTV-/s320/www.cyprusnewsreport.com.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">These are not the only problems in RUSSO-TURKISH relations. A RUSSIAN strike team of eight agents killed three CHECHENS in Istanbul execution-style in broad daylight, an event that obviously irritated TURKISH officials, not just because there are many sympathizers with the CHECHENS and other NORTH CAUCASUS insurgents in TURKEY, but because of the blatant disregard for TURKISH sovereignty. Similarly, Moscow cannot be happy with TURKEY’S decision to accept the components of the NATO missile defense system against which it has been campaigning for over five years. TURKEY has also clearly lost any hope that the Assad regime in SYRIA can or should be preserved, whereas Moscow stands fully behind it. And finally, TURKEY’S opposition to CYPRUS’ drilling for gas in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN and threats directed against it — and for that matter against ISRAEL which has already found a huge amount of gas there — have caused concern in RUSSIA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/middle-east-energy-wars.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/middle-east-energy-wars.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/seismic-shift-in-middle-east.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/seismic-shift-in-middle-east.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RUSSIA AND CYPRUS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_w0S3-000AdRW3XOW0dmpOeOsyB04pSr0YmL0Jpl7K11x13x_z01y4J6UijxSfTl0YhwVNfGyEFGlL_mMH8TEzOB6ajBsFp4RMTbAGz8R0-YDvO5w3HZ-p3YgREHAekuFIEevmC0fxOvg/s1600/2NOV_7277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_w0S3-000AdRW3XOW0dmpOeOsyB04pSr0YmL0Jpl7K11x13x_z01y4J6UijxSfTl0YhwVNfGyEFGlL_mMH8TEzOB6ajBsFp4RMTbAGz8R0-YDvO5w3HZ-p3YgREHAekuFIEevmC0fxOvg/s320/2NOV_7277.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The RUSSIAN government recently organized a large loan to CYPRUS to sustain it against a crisis should GREECE default. Moscow did so because so many RUSSIAN accounts are held in CYPRIOT banks and then reinvested in RUSSIA or used to launder the elite’s money by cycling it out of RUSSIA into the global banking system. Clearly, Moscow cannot allow CYPRUS to go under. TURKISH threats are therefore deeply disturbing to both the CYPRIOT and the RUSSIAN governments.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See:  </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/cyprus-emerging-geo-strategic-key.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/russia-and-cyprus.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/russia-and-cyprus.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/cyprus-and-turkey-never-ending-story.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/cyprus-and-turkey-never-ending-story.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Indeed, after TURKEY issued what amounted to a threat against CYPRUS, after the CYPRIOT government signed an agreement with the Texas based firm Noble Energy, which is also a partner with ISRAEL in developing ISRAEL’S maritime gas fields, the RUSSIAN Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly backed CYPRUS’ right to develop its MEDITERRANEAN gas. CYPRUS in turn labeled Moscow “a shield against any threats by TURKEY.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See:  </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/complexity-of-eastern-med-energy-games.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/complexity-of-eastern-med-energy-games.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEYS GROWING INFLUENCE IN BOSNIA AND SOUTH EASTERN BALKANS  </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISLAMISATION AT THE DOORSTEPS OF EUROPE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hf90hkdtCh9jPDSUzpouyoPnrKQ7QFf-hf8Jg0dC93yZ5pPNQbsAEmr2xfzLH0TxLX97WyxPD3rjhdYId68sjp3ReEXAJ3dXmGKEPgIgcgvC6XS51YVrdgDHS1j4RW3YRkVRK5mqtT1v/s1600/403278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hf90hkdtCh9jPDSUzpouyoPnrKQ7QFf-hf8Jg0dC93yZ5pPNQbsAEmr2xfzLH0TxLX97WyxPD3rjhdYId68sjp3ReEXAJ3dXmGKEPgIgcgvC6XS51YVrdgDHS1j4RW3YRkVRK5mqtT1v/s320/403278.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As a result, some Russian media, <b>like <i>Pravda</i>, now accuse Ankara of a neo-Ottoman policy to revive the Ottoman Empire. Others have also noticed that RUSSIA attacked TURKEY’S quest for influence among the BOSNIANS, a point that inflames RUSSIA due to its traditional support for the SERBS. According to ISRAEL’S former UN Ambassador Dore Gold, when RUSSIA looks at TURKEY it sees signs of a PAN-ISLAMIC policy which seeks to mobilize support from the ARABS and from the MUSLIM communities in the BALKANS, and this naturally is antipathetic to Moscow’s courtship of the ORTHODOX SERBS.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SYRIA, RUSSIA, AND IRAN REFUSE TO HEED TO TURKISH GEOSTRATEGIC AND POLITICAL INTERESTS </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In fact, the clash of TURKISH-RUSSIAN interests is part of a larger theme. They underline that the core idea of TURKISH foreign policy during the last years, the notion that TURKEY can truly manage to have no problems with all of its neighbors and serenely navigate along the complex shoals of MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE, the MIDDLE EAST, and the CAUCASUS and gain leverage throughout these zones, has proven to be unsustainable. There are too many issues, some new and some very old, that make it impossible to uphold this posture while everyone else is pursuing their own national interests that TURKEY lacks the power to control.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At the same time, the refusal of neighboring states like SYRIA, RUSSIA, and IRAN to heed TURKISH interests clearly betokens the failure of the TURKISH government’s policy to increase TURKEY’S standing and leverage among its neighbors especially when the issues involved are central to the government’s economic and political objectives.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY’S recent foreign policy moves have estranged ISRAEL, CYPRUS, GREECE, RUSSIA, SYRIA and IRAN; Ankara’s anti-ISRAELI stance has certainly been a headache for U.S. policymakers. Although RUSSIAN threats in the CAUCASUS and bullying tactics regarding energy in SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE have added fuel to the fire, it is clear that the fundamental concept of TURKISH foreign policy of the last several years has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. So it is not surprising that TURKEY is now lashing out and thrashing around, trying to assert itself in forceful rhetoric which, however, may not be possible to sustain by equally forceful deeds.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY POSSESSES CONSIDERABLE ECONOMIC ASSETS AND STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It remains to be seen how Ankara will be able to extricate itself from its current foreign policy troubles, and how the consequences of going from seeking “zero problems” with all neighbors to having “many problems” with most of them will be managed. TURKEY possesses considerable economic assets and strategic importance. Nonetheless, it seems to have overreached and based its foreign policy on unwarranted and unsustainable presuppositions. But since greater powers than TURKEY have failed to secure lasting influence and navigate the rapids of SOUTHEASTERN EUROPEAN and MIDDLE EASTERN policies, Ankara’s inability to supplant them should come as less of a surprise.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: </span><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE CUMULATIVE FOREIGN POLICY FAILURES OF TURKEY</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Certainly, TURKEY alone cannot resist RUSSIAN encroachments in the CAUCASUS and EUROPE, impose a solution to the ARAB-ISRAELI conflict, ensure good governance in SYRIA and uphold its security against IRAN all by itself. Upon sober reflection, Ankara may come to better appreciate its need for Western friends and partners.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The fact that TURKEY decided to join the NATO’s missile defense is a telltale sign of such a sobering. This might even augur a return to the historic Kemalist, Westward orientation of TURKEY that has been so antithetical to the ruling AKP’s ideology, though not necessarily to all of its practice.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">To be sure, that quest for partnership with EUROPE has presently run aground, as TURKEY’S bid for EU membership is met with the strong resistance of key EU countries, and as the AKP government’s enthusiasm for pursuing the bid has cooled significantly since 2005. But a carefully prepared and a more limited objective may be within reach, especially concerning TURKISH-EUROPEAN cooperation on energy policy as well as defense policy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See:  </span><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/food-for-thought_19.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/food-for-thought_19.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The cumulative foreign policy failures of TURKEY in all directions — the troubles with RUSSIA, the clash with CYPRUS, the denouement of the partnership with SYRIA — ultimately speak of the persistence of national interests and political differences that cannot always be reconciled. TURKEY’S recent strategic rapprochement with the U.S. — exemplified by the crucial decision to join the NATO’s missile defense shield against IRAN — on the other hand, suggests that Ankara has indeed awakened to this sobering reality. As its disappointing experiences in its neighborhood have revealed the limits of what can accomplished with a “Neo-Ottoman” approach, TURKEY may in fact be rediscovering the virtues of classical republican foreign policy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See:  </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_14.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_14.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This article was first published in the Turkey Analyst (www.turkeyanalyst.org), a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program Joint Center. © Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program Joint Center, 2011.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

TURKEY AND RUSSIA

TURKEY FALLS OUT WITH RUSSIA: ANOTHER SIGN OF A FOREIGN POLICY IN CRISIS followup article to: TURKEYS SUNNI CRESCENT - TURKEY AND SYRIA: A...

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TURKEY AND RUSSIA

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