Turkey

As the world's consumers get richer, older, more urban and more demanding, small companies will see more and more rewards for exporting their goods. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/5978367807/in/photostream/">USDA (Flickr)</a>

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How 'itty-bitty multinantionals' can serve the world's rising middle class

The global consumer market is changing, and big companies are taking notice.

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Who makes up the global middle class? Economists aren’t sure

We know that economists don’t always agree on the best path to prosperity.

View of Istanbul from Bogazici Universitesi. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cemnaz/306595868/in/photostream/">Cemnaz (flickr)</a>

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From Oregon to Turkey

I'll be waking up at 3:30 tomorrow morning to begin my journey from Portland, Oregon, to Istanbul, Turkey, where I'll be based for the next several months while I embark on a trip of a lifetime.

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In the early 1990s Saddam Hussein drained what biblical scholars believe to be the Garden of Eden. With the water went the people, known as the Ma’dan, and their way of life. Now, Iraqi-American hydraulic engineer Dr.

Iraq's Marsh Arabs have coexisted with the wetlands' unique ecosystem for 6,000 years. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpblogsinacomcnhomeofbeijingpeople/3610424640/">Dr. Michael Izady, Ph.D. (flickr)</a>

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Drought, Dams Threaten Iraq's Marsh Arabs

Southern Iraq is home to one of the largest wetlands in the world, where the tributaries of the Tigris and Euphrates meet.

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Guide to the Global Summit

The G-20 is meeting this week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Men smoking from a water pipe at an Instanbul cafe. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/picken/2451770506/">John Picken (flickr)</a>

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A Turkish Tradition Up in Smoke?

Turkey is about to put the kibosh on smoking, joining the ranks of Ireland, Belgium and Spain with a countrywide ban on lighting up in enclosed public spaces.

Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/vshioshvili/422898142/">shioshvilli</a>

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Watered-Down Diplomacy

Officials attending the World Water Forum in Turkey this week issued a statement that essentially said there's not enough water to waste.

Buffer zone in Nicosia. Photo: Bree Freeman

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Economics as a Catalyst for Peace

The last divided capital city in the world is Nicosia, Cyprus. Armed soldiers line each side of a buffer zone, with Greeks living on one side and Turks on the other.

A $5 bill. Photo: <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/meltingmama/84128101/">bethography - melting mama (flickr)</a>

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Turkish Tea Tale

It happened at a waterfront restaurant at a hotel in the seaside resort of Cesme, Turkey. I sat dumbstruck. My hosts, Zafer Erdogmus and his wife, Nurhan, looked at me as one might look at a two-headed beetle.