☺Just about the whole world tuned in to witness Barack Hussein Obama being sworn in as president of the United States; even Turkish TV news channels managed to pry themselves away from their obsession with the Ergenekon prosecutions for a few hours to broadcast the inauguration. Except for inveterate cynics most will agree that the new American president brought a measure of hope to the arena of world affairs, a sentiment echoed in the press and in TV interviews with world leaders and the man-on-the-street. In counterpoint, just days before the inauguration a Turkish pundit’s prognosis given in a lecture to the Bodrum Chamber of Trade is that the United States may well dissolve into separate republics. Few people will lose sleep over these predictions of the speaker, Mr. Yiğit Bulut, writer on economics in the Ekonomist newspaper, but he does reflect a sentiment (a secret wish?) shared by some others in this part of the world.

☻Santa mocked? Well, what does one say to the ruling of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MOCT) that St. Nicholas be dressed appropriately to reflect the climate and culture of Myra, the place where he is said to have lived. The minister of tourism ordered the statue of Santa donated by the Russians (showing Santa in traditionally accepted attire) to be replaced by one wearing sandals and pants and holding a child while another stands by his leg. If we recall that once before a government minister decreed that Santa’s hat and robe should be green not red, to show concern with the environment (a ‘decree’ that did not hold), it is clear that there is not just a cultural divide but an abyss between the mentality of the authorities here and that of people in the West to whom Santa is a part of cultural tradition, not to be confused with historical veracity or the fine points of local climate.

▼The usually sunny dispositions of Bodrum denizens are gradually becoming gloomy with each new announcement of jobs lost, companies gone bankrupt, firms downsizing. The latest figures showing a 40% decrease in hotel reservations for 2009 add to the gloom, and the horrible damage done by the fury of the gales that hit the coast last weekend rubs salt on the wounds. So what about the boom? The boom is in the number of candidates announcing their candidatures for the mayoral and local council elections to be held in March. There are at least 7 candidates for the office of mayor of Bodrum from just one party (CHP), all waiting for the nod of the party chief Deniz Baykal.