***

The trip to Istanbul and Ankara was very inspiring for me. I had the chance to meet many leaders of the classical liberal movement in Turkey and to learn what they’re doing to promote freedom in their country and in the region.

Then it was up at 2:45 am to get my flight from Ankara to Istanbul, to connect with a flight to Sofia. I had an interview yesterday with Kapital, a leading business magazine, and then had dinner with old friends from the Access to Information Programme and the Institute for Market Economics. I just finished a quite useful meeting with the staff of the Institute for Market Economics here in Sofia; what an impressive organization, which produces both high quality original studies and programs, such as EasiBulgaria, that educate thoughtful Bulgarians about the principles of liberty. They’re launching a new library (watch this space) and have a number of exciting projects underway. The IME Student Club is sponsoring my lecture this afternoon on the financial crisis at Sofia University. Tomorrow I’ll take part in a preliminar opening of the new library and present my book Realizing Freedom, which I also presented in Ankara at the Association for Liberal Thinking library.

IME recently translated my essay on “Myths of Individualism” into Bulgarian: “Митове за индивидуализма“.

***In case you would like to play the Bulgarian national anthem in the background as you read….

Just a few pics from Istanbul: A seminar, based on my presentation on “Peace and Freedom in the Age of Obama,” with students and recent graduates from the 3H Movement in Turkey; Istiklal (Independence) Street in central Istanbul; the Galata Tower, which was built in 1348 by Genoese who settled here.

I had some very good meetings here with local classical liberals, including my much admired friend Atilla Yayla, and will fly today to Ankara to meet with the leaders of the Association for Liberal Thinking. Then on to Sofia, Bulgaria.

(P.S. We may work together to organize a “Freedom on the Road” tour through Turkey this year, like those in Brazil and North Africa.)

I managed to catch up on some sleep, but my body says I need more. (And the fact that it’s also telling me it’s kinda 12:45 am isn’t helping.)

I’ll give a talk this afternoon on “Peace and Freedom in the Age of Obama” at the Fatih University today, sponsored by the 3H (Freedom, Tolerance, Rule of Law) Movement. And I’ll continue to struggle with the spotty internet reception at the hotel.

My response to the lead essay by David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan on “Liberty: Positive and Negative” at Cato Unbound should be up some time today. Feedback invited!

From my presentation on Saturday at McGill University in Montréal on the history of liberty. (Sponsored by the outstanding Institute for Liberal Studies.)

I finished and submitted my review of James C. Scott’s The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia and now I’m working on my response to an essay by David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan on “Conceptions of Freedom,” which is drawn from their quite provocative new book A Brief History of Liberty and will be run this week in Cato Unbound. Then I will return to reviewing the copy-editing for my article on “Poverty and Morality” for the volume Poverty and Morality: Religious and Secular Perspectives, ed. by William A. Galston and Peter Hoffenberg (set for release September 30, 2010, by Cambridge University Press). Assuming I am not laid low by a cold (horrible sore throat now), I’m off to Istanbul, Ankara, and Sofia on Wednesday.

After a great visit and a really wonderful seminar at McGill University organized by the Institute for Liberal Studies (and visits with some of our good friends at L’Institut économique de Montréal and with some dear friends I’d not seen in a while), I’m heading back to D.C.

I’m off in a few hours to Montreal for the Institute for Liberal Studies conference on “Politics & Society,” then back for a bit, after which I’ll fly to Istanbul and then on to Ankara for university lectures and meetings with the 3H Movement (3 H’s: Freedom, Toleration, Rule of Law), and the Association for Liberal Thinking, then to Sofia for more talks and meetings with the Institute for Market Economics.

I’ll be in Montreal, PQ this weekend to speak at a seminar on Politics & Society at McGill University. It’s being organized by the Institute for Liberal Studies, which is a really first rate group. I spoke in 2008 (quite by accident!) at one of their conferences in Toronto. I was in town for another conference and blogged about it, only to be informed that ILS was holding a conference across town. I raced over during an afternoon break to see the conference and was invited to give a quick talk. It was a hoot.

Are you going? You should think about Cato University July 25-30 and FreedomFest July 8-10. (I’ll be speaking at both.)

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Bastiat Scholarships are available to qualified students. Get in your applications now!

I’m looking forward to visiting Penn State on Monday and meeting the fine folks there. I’ll speak on the D.C. “Right to Bear Arms” Second Amendment case and on how the horrifying loss of life in Haiti could have been avoided.

“Mit Ochsen — Wassers und Windes Kraft
So Ihr Geschickt — Euch Wohlstand Schafft”
“With the Power of Oxen, Water, and Wind,
Just So You Smartly Create Welfare for Yourselves”

From my visit to the Deutsches Museum.

And one of the many exhibits of German technological creativity for good…and one for bad.

After a really fun talk at the European University of St. Petersburg, with some really (really) sharp students, followed by dinner with local libertarians, I am off to Germany. Much as I love Germany (Bavaria, to be specific), I will miss Russia and the wonderful people here!

Note the “Ice Bar” at the bottom….. a nice way to get a sip of ice cold vodka outside. Brrrr…..

A nice video from the New York Times about the road I drove twice in December of 2009. It was far more beautiful than this little video indicates: “The Highway From Kabul to Jalalabad“

I was scheduled to fly to Moscow tomorrow (Saturday) for a series of lectures, seminars, and meetings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but just a few feet of snow seem to be closing Washington down. (It’s snowing fairly heavily outside now, but I’m reminded of seeing Russian teenagers in Moscow eating icecream outside in snow like this.) So my flight’s postponed for Sunday, when I hope the airport will be working. (That gives me a little more time to get more work done, in any case!)

All a part of the U.S. government’s plans to make travel impossible and life unbearable.

I’m just throwing up some pics, in no particular order (except that indicated by the list below):

+Meeting with the Board of the 3H (Rule of Law, Toleration, Liberty) Movement in Istanbul
+Shi’a Gateway in Kabul (where you can get tea and hear religious sermons on the loudspeaker about the martyrdom of the Imam Hossein)
+Another Shi’a Gateway (snapped from a car)
+A Common Means of Transporting Goods in a Poor Country
+A Kabul Spice Stall (snapped when I was shopping for luggage — to carry the carpets I bought — and for Afghan clothes)
+Negotiating for Carpet Prices (the tall gentleman is an Afghan classical liberal merchant who was immensely helpful to me in my trip, including helping me negotiate during my short tripping trip; it helped that, in addition to fighting the Soviet during the occupation, he was a carpet merchant in Pakistan)
+Selecting Carpets
+Displaying the Quality of a Carpet (they change color, depending on in which direction you lay them)
+After the Deal (my friend, the carpet merchant, and the merchant’s son)
+Some of the Visible Damage from Decades of War (notably when the Mujaheddin factions fought over Kabul)
+Not All Neighborboods Look Like This (and some are showing signs of new life and reconstruction), but Many Do
+A Quick Snap While Walking Briskly in the Bazaar
+Closing Time in the Market (5 pm)

The trip to Afghanistan was very fruitful and we should see more libertarian activity there soon. I also found the trip to Jalalabad quite interesting; people forget that Afghanistan is a big country full of millions of people who are all pursuing their own projects, going to work, buying and selling in the market, falling in love, having children, going to school, planning their futures, trying to get through life like people everywhere. There is, to be sure, awful conflict in various parts of the country (and you certainly see in Kabul and elsewhere what 30 years of war will do to a country — the poverty, the ruined buildings, the warnings about landmines, the limbless people on the streets, the street boys darting through traffic to rub filthy rags across car windows in hopes of a coin), but there is much more to Afghanistan than conflict. People live there, and we need to be reminded of that. I look forward to my next visit. Moreover, I look forward to a lot more promotion of respect for individual liberty, toleration, and the rule of law, and the prosperity that follow in their wake.

I had a most interesting trip with three law professors and their sons from Kabul to Jalalabad. Jalalabad is a remarkably busy and vibrant city. Before I rush to some meetings in Kabul this morning, I thought I’d post a few pics.

A Mountain Pass
Meeting with Deputy Governor of Nangarhar Province
Mountain Pass and Random Police Patrol
Lunch in Jalalabad riverside fish restaurant with hosts
Jalalabad streets
Streets of Jalalabad
Mountains between Kabul and Jalalabad
Mountain View
Afghan Village (from car)
(Gotta run!)

I’ll post more, after I’m out of the country, but I had quite an a productive day today. Just two pics for today:

Afghan Shi’a commemorating the start of Moharram and the martyrdom of the Imam Hossein.

A magazine on libertarianism and individual rights in Dari.

I had the pleasure of speaking Thursday night at Wabash College in Indiana and had made a condition of accepting that I would get to visit the Goodrich Room in the Library. I’m standing with two of my hosts under the names of Gilgamesh (one of my favorite epics) and the Mahabharata (another of my favorite epics). You can take your own virtual tour of the room here and you can find out about Pierre (pronounced “Peer”) Goodrich here. He was a remarkable visionary and a great benefactor of the cause of liberty.

It was bitter cold, but the reception was warm, the students posed quite interesting and intelligent questions, and I found the discussion very agreeable. Moreover, going to dinner with my hosts and autographing copies of Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice after the lecture were enjoyable.

It’s getting pretty cold in Afghanistan, so my wardrobe will have to change. I got some nice Afghan togs (kurtas and vests) in the summer (which are very comfortable and really suited to the heat), but they’ll be much too thin and inadequate for the December weather. So I hope I can visit the clothing shops in Kabul again for warmer clothes. I’m looking forward to the visit and meeting again some remarkable scholars, thinkers, and activists for human rights, peace, and freedom.