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Surprised to see Turkey unveiling this. Everything I read about Turkey in the west is that it's a failing country run by a despot.
by johnnyApplePRNG 5y ago
Surprised to see Turkey unveiling this.
Everything I read about Turkey in the west is that it's a failing country run by a despot.
- kortilla 5y agoBoth of those things can be true by building a large bridge.
- bayindirh 5y agoWe might not be doing great on some fronts, but we can do engineering. It's not always at forefront, but we can create high quality or groundbreaking stuff too. However our location on this pale blue dot makes a lot of things complicated. The land is big, and connected to very different cultures and it makes everything much more harder to balance when you add the historical events into it.
- bigDinosaur 5y agoMy impression is that there's something of a brain drain as well - lots of excellent Turkish researchers ending up in the West (similar with Iran).
- bin_bash 5y agoDespots can actually be a lot better than us at building things. China can put a hospital up inside of a week!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Ozzie_osman 5y agoTurkey has some top-tier construction firms. Also, it's actually a lot easier to build mega-projects in autocratic societies, for both better and worse.
- moltar 5y agoDidn’t stop Soviet Union from going to space.
- jeffbee 5y agoAre you saying that space-age USSR was a true despotism, or are you equating "despotism of the proletariat" with actual despotism?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- oofabz 5y agoThe USSR was not a "despotism of the proletariat". Soviet propaganda portrayed their government as the will of the people, but in fact it was an autocracy. The actual despots during the space race were Krushchev and Brezhnev.
- jeffbee 5y agoThat's why I put it in quotes. I don't see many parallels between Erdogan and Khrushchev, though.
- FrenchAmerican 5y agoErdogan has turned into a despot, but that's a fact, not a prejudice. According to its Wikipedia page, this bridge has been designed by a Danish firm and was built by a consortium of Korean and Turkish firms. Let's all give up the whole notion of "national pride". It only leads to wars in the end. Many Russians are blinded by their national pride. "I know it's a lie when I hear that the Russian army is bombing civilians in Ukraine: because it's just impossible" said a nice old Russian lady when interviewed. :-( I'm both French and American, and majored in History. Nothing to be proud of, if you subtract all the massacres, imperial wars, torture, colonization, slavery, etc from the achievements. Humans Rights are under duress in both countries (Guantanamo, police violence) ; the democracy is under attack in both - even if their respective political situations are totally different. This bridge symbolizes in my opinion the great achievements made possible when humans choose to cooperate rather than compete in the zero-sum game of national prides. So, a great bridge, the longest of its kind! Well done, everybody, impressive!
- mrpopo 5y agoThe thing is, national pride is kinda mandatory in authoritarian countries. So, if there is one thing that the French and American can be proud of, it's the ability to openly criticize their government. Whether it leads to something or not is another discussion though.