‘Beyond the Coast’ Archives
Connecting Continents… Crossing Bridges…
BEYOND THE COAST Tarik Ayasun turk1949@comcast.net Everyone must know by now that I was born and lived the first 20 years of my life in Istanbul; a mysterious, photogenic and historic city on the shores of the Bosporus Straits, that divides the continents of Europe and Asia. As a young boy growing up in Istanbul, the only way we [...]
YEAR IN REVIEW…
BEYOND THE COAST Tarik Ayasun turk1949@comcast.net We are coming to the end of another year in our lives. In a few days, it is going to be a new year; it will take at least a month before we get used to writing 2012 on our documents; we will all be a year older and hopefully a little wiser. I am a believer in the importance of how our [...]
Who will dominate the middle east?
Tarik Ayasun turk1949@comcast.net A new and strange battle for domination of the Islamic world is being fought in the Middle East. On one side is Shiite Iran, on the other side is Sunni Turkey and the battlefield is Syria. Why is this an important battle and what will it mean for the geopolitics of the area? Iranian Supreme Leader [...]
AN “ELECTRICAL PROBLEM”
Tarik Ayasun Before I leave my house on the way to work every day, I go through the kitchen and walk into a pantry which then leads into my garage. There are no windows in the pantry; therefore I do have to turn on the pantry light to see the garage door. Last Monday morning when I switched on the pantry lights I could hardly see in front [...]
236 years old and still kicking… Semper Fidelis
Tarik Ayasun The United States Marine Corps turned 236 on November 10, 2011, and my wife and I had the honor and privilege of attending the Commandant’s Birthday Ball at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center on the historic Potomac River in Washington, DC. We were the invited guests of our daughter Major Suzan Thompson and [...]
America’s secret (!) weapons?
Tarik Ayasun I received anxious email messages and telephone calls from many of my friends, as well as a number of readers of this newspaper last week, wondering if any members of my family in Turkey were affected by the earthquake which devastated a city in Eastern Turkey. Some emails came from people I have never met. This was so very [...]
Israel, Palestinian Statehood and the USA …
Tarik Ayasun If you pick up a map of the Middle East and see how tiny the State of Israel is; try looking at a map of the world and try and find Israel on it. This is a truly daunting task because Israel is indeed a very small yet very significant little democracy in the Middle East. In effect, it is the ONLY democracy, surrounded by [...]
Pearl Harbor to September 11
BEYOND THE COAST Tarik Ayasun It has been ten years since America was attacked by a band of terrorists who on that day wanted to destroy America; kill as many Americans as possible and fire the first shot in the Holy Jihad which they declared against America. Despite recent efforts on the contrary by some who are trying to re-write [...]
The Ultimate Sacrifice…
By Tarik Ayasun Saturday morning we woke up to the grim news that we lost 22 of our “best of the best” Navy SEALS, members of the tough Seal Team Six in Afghanistan. While others debate whether the Taliban shot down their Chinook during a night raid or whether it was mechanical failure that brought down their helicopter, we as Americans [...]
Che Guevara, Angela Davis, Coastland Mall and beyond…
By Tarik Ayasun I am a shopaholic and a shameless people watcher. So what do I do when I have a free Saturday when my wife is out of town helping our daughter move into her new home in Washington, DC? I spend my afternoon shopping and people-watching at Coastland Mall in Naples, of course. That is exactly what I was doing on a recent Saturday [...]
