From the privileged city of Prospera Zede to the poem 'If'

Do you remember? A while ago, Trump made remarks along the lines of, 'Perhaps we can stop the Gaza massacre and turn it into the French Riviera.' In fact, videos—products of artificial intelligence, or perhaps stupidity, if you prefer—began circulating, featuring his excellency, along with another excellency, Netanyahu, strolling through such a paradise, naturally accompanied by women in bikinis.

Such is ignorance; I interpreted what was happening as just another piece of nonsense. I have only just learned, to my utter astonishment, that what I dismissed as 'nonsense' was, in fact, not nonsense at all. As Hamlet says to his friend: 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'     

It turns out that last week, a very famous contractor named N. Asfura became the president of Honduras. You are right; as I once used for the title of my book ('Sana Ne Lan' [What's It To You], 'Short Memoirs of a Cerrahpaşa Professor', H. Yazıcı, Nobel Medical Bookstores, 2022), I may well deserve to be told off.

Please, have a little patience. This brother Asfura is not only a very capable contractor, but he is also one of Mr. Trump's favorite friends, with a background and current title that align perfectly.

In this context, rumor has it that Trump pressured the Honduran electorate to ensure Asfura's election, warning that if they did not, their country's economic conditions would deteriorate significantly (J. Guerrero, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/opinion-/prospera-honduras-trump-pardon.html).

According to the same source, during these elections, a notorious gang in that country pressured voters under the guise of election observers, threatening to kill anyone who did not vote for Asfura. Before your patience runs out and you 'Professor Hasan, you are so naive; is this the first time you've heard of election rigging!' please delay scolding me for a moment and allow me to share the peak of my ignorance with you.                                       

Ladies and gentlemen, it turns out the country of Honduras has a privileged city called Prospera ZEDE. The suffix ZEDE in the city's name is the Spanish abbreviation for 'Zone for Employment and Economic Development'. Established in 2017 by a U.S. company on the island of Roatan in Honduras, the purpose of this offshore city (you know, like offshore banking) was, in short, to save the poor Honduran people from poverty with the help of foreign companies. During its establishment, it received significant financial support, particularly from the wealthy of the U.S. Silicon Valley, and continues to do so.                                                                                                   

It turns out that this concept of 'chartered' zones, which I am hearing about for the first time, has also received great support from serious economic circles in some instances. For example, the famous economist P. Romer (2018 Nobel laureate) was a fervent advocate of chartered zones. 

How things have changed! Surprise, surprise, drug trials can also be conducted much more freely in such regions. Indeed, P. Friedman, the grandson of M. Friedman—the prophet of the order called neoliberalism, which is the primary culprit for the current pathetic state of global income distribution and, in my opinion, essentially nothing more than a smash-and-grab—has both established a fund to support such privileged cities and participated in such experiments himself in Prospera ZEDE.

These experiments included brushing teeth with genetically modified microbes to prevent tooth decay or protein injections to make oneself stronger and more impulsive. Furthermore, this same impulsive grandson reportedly carries a chip under the skin of his palm that functions as a key for his Tesla car. (R. Corbett, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/magazine/prospera-honduras-crypto.html).               

I read this with great astonishment. There are currently various levels of similar free trade zones worldwide, ranging from duty-free zones to Prospera ZEDE. Shenzhen, the pearl of Communist China, is one such zone, and there are similar regions and cities in underdeveloped areas suitable for this purpose, such as in the Philippines and Zambia, with their number currently exceeding 5,000.   

As for the Honduran presidential elections I mentioned at the beginning of my article... It turns out the poor people of Honduras had finally realized how harmful the Prospera ZEDE farce—staged a relatively short time ago with the fairy tale of saving them from poverty—actually was to them, and they wanted to get rid of this privileged city as soon as possible. Naturally, in the meantime, the Nobel-aspiring Mr. Trump was also fully in favor of the continuation of Prospera ZEDE.

Let me finally spill the beans.

I believe there is a grave similarity between the French Riviera project in Gaza, which I mentioned in the introduction, and Prospera ZEDE, and I am not the first to say this (J. Guerrero, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/opinion/prospera-honduras-trump-pardon.html).   

I wonder if you ever watch CNN International? There is a presenter there, I believe of British origin, named Quest. He mainly reports on economic news. He has a style that tries to whet the appetite, so to speak. However, for some reason, I find him as repulsive as can be. Especially his adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem 'If,' which he recites against the backdrop of Wall Street, the world's business hub—don't even ask. You can also watch this monstrosity of creativity on YouTube.   

The poem 'If' is, in short, a series of pieces of advice for children and young people on the path to 'becoming a man.' My dear mother, with her magnificent memory, used to recite it to me often as well.

It was also translated into our language by our late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit and ends exactly like this:

If you can walk with crowds and keep your virtue,

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies

Or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son! (roughly from me) 

The unfortunate 'If' analogy on CNN, after making various attempts at entertaining comparisons from the world of business and trade, ends as follows: 'Moreover... it means you have made a profit.'

I find it unnecessary to say anything else, and besides, I have no enthusiasm left.