Make Sense of the world
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Recently, the proclaimed “death” of the Iran nuclear deal has been presented as the reason behind the rapidly escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the basis for pessimistic speculations regarding an imminent war between Iran and the United States. Interestingly enough, hard-line...
The shutting down of the British Parliament for approximately five weeks at a time when MPs would ordinarily wish to scrutinize the workings of government — especially given the particular vicissitudes of Brexit and all that it creates in terms of division, polarization and anger across society...
In the midst of what has become the excruciatingly hyperreal drama of Brexit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, hoping to call for a snap election that he may be prevented from having, quite logically finds himself scrambling for votes, especially from the opposition Labour Party....
Doesn’t idiocy ever take a vacation? As August wound down, the populist troika of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsonaro proved once again that the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil would be better off with no leaders rather than the dubious characters that currently pretend...
The United Kingdom has begun deploying what it calls reception baseline assessment for children entering primary school. It promises to “provide the basis for a new way of measuring the progress primary schools make with their pupils.” It sounds very rational, but according to a survey...
The New York Times has its own version of The Daily Devil’s Dictionary, glossing words or expressions that appear in the news cycle. They call it “The Interpreter.” Consistent with the newspaper of reference’s heavily marketed image of “gray” seriousness, it is more angel than...
The disputed existence of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has come into focus again in the context of the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Russia and Georgia and the August anniversary of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Abkhazia remains at the heart of discussions because...
It should be recognized that there is a significant difference between European and post-Soviet right-wing radicalism. The difference between these two strands of radicalism is that the post-Soviet radicals are a large systemic element in the political structure in many countries of the former...
The institution that creates and maintains domestic security — and that can ultimately guarantee it during emergencies — is the police. However, a comparative look at the historical development of various political systems shows that, in the modern world, no such system has existed, or even...
People around the world, including Americans, have argued that the world can get along without US leadership. Today, they may want to scan the global landscape. While acute crises and violent conflict may not seem imminent at the moment, the view isn’t a hopeful one. For Americans, naively...
When it was ratified in 1987, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) eliminated a category of weapons that was a major threat to Europe. One must remember how much of a step forward this event was during the Cold War. In the early 1980s, Europe was vulnerable to military...
