Toby on Tuesday

'Maximus Decimus Meridius'

Russell Crowe is a part of the great wave of new talent that has poured out of New Zealand and Australia over the past 30 years.   Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia and identifies himself as Australian.   He first won international acclaim for his role as the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic “Gladiator”.   A stream of heroic parts followed, including his role as Captain Jack Aubrey in “Master and Commander:  The Far Side of the World”.   And last year he directed and starred as Joshua Connor, an Australian farmer, in “The Water Diviner”, one of a host of commemorative films released in Australia to mark the centenary of the doomed Gallipoli campaign.

 

Of course the Allies’ great failure at Gallipoli was to underestimate the resilience and determination of the Turkish army.   The Turks are a people of ruthless courage, aware that their country is the meeting point between Europe and Asia and wholly justified in exploiting this geopolitical strength to the limit.   And at Gallipoli they had the added advantage of battle-hardened German officers and the finest artillery pieces and naval guns from the Krupp works at Essen.   The outcome could have been easily predicted, as could the resulting and enduring friendship between Germany and Turkey.   Indeed, there are now well over 3 million German citizens of Turkish origin, while the soaring population of Turkey, now over 80 million, has overtaken Germany’s own declining population.   And of course Turkey is the springboard for the relentless tide of migrants coming to Europe from its war-torn neighbours of Syria and Iraq.

 

Now as part of a long-term agreement with Turkey, the EU has recently agreed to “re-energise” Turkey’s application for EU membership, including visa-free travel from Turkey to the Schengen zone from October of this year and the payment of a further 3 billion Euros in return for Turkey doing more to “prevent irregular migration”.  This is in addition to Turkey’s 5 billion Euros of “pre-accession funding.”   Yet the other day the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, declared that still more EU funding would be needed as, “the 3 billion Euros is just to show political will to share the burden.”   And our own government continues to press for Turkey’s accession to the EU, despite its population being forecast to reach 100 million by the middle of the century and a GDP per capita of only a quarter of our own.   To think that in 1972 we turned our backs on Australia and New Zealand, and all those astonishing talents like Russell Crowe, to be part of this.   As Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius might almost have said, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, first they make mad”!

 

Until next Tuesday!

 

Toby