A few days ago, someone reminded me that I once had a chance to question Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the quasi-dictator of Turkey. (It’s getting less “quasi” all the time.) Yes. That was more than ten years ago, in 2006. Great hopes were invested in him — hopes that have turned to ash.
I begin today’s Impromptus with Erdogan, then and now, so to speak. I end with a billet doux to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) — she is retiring from Congress.
In between, I have myriad items, including one on Golda Meir. She remains good copy — eternally. By the way, if you have any taste for Israeli politics, you will find The Prime Ministers, by Yehuda Avner, like candy.
I talked with Avner once for a book I was doing (on the Nobel Peace Prize, which his boss, Menachem Begin, shared with Sadat). Avner himself was like candy.
The anecdote I share today comes not from Avner but from another distinguished gent who was born and raised in England: Bernard Lewis. Who’ll turn a buck-oh-one — 101 — later this month.
Make it a great day (as they say now, in advertising, PR, and related spheres).