Posts:
By Geoff Shullenberger Just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine consumed the media, New York Times columnist Jay Caspian Kang and Substacker Matthew Yglesias published near-simultaneous critiques of the notions of “disinformation” and “misinformation”. This...
By Horacio Sierra Envious of Spain’s conquests in the Americas, British propagandists circulated “la leyenda negra,” the black legend, a series of writings that denigrated Spaniards and the Spanish Empire as cruel, haughty and intolerant, starting in the 1500s....
By Francis Fukuyama I’m writing this from Skopje, North Macedonia, where I’ve been for the last week teaching one of our Leadership Academy for Development courses. Following the Ukraine war is no different here in terms of available information, except that I’m in an...
By German Lopez Europe’s assertive response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has presented a possibility that was hard to imagine a month ago: the European Union as a superpower that can alter the global order, promoting liberal democratic values worldwide. Before the...
By Vasko Kohlmayer It is hard not to be deeply shaken by the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine. Terrible though it may be, it was not, however, unexpected. By taking matters into his own hands, Vladimir Putin did what he had warned he would do in the years leading up to...
By Jim Gala Jazz is the big brother of Revolution. Revolution follows it around. —Miles Davis Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking. —Nina Simone. Art has a great mission. Through great art lower feelings, cruelty, and...
By Jake Johnson If a single word can encapsulate why — two years into the global Covid-19 pandemic — the virus continues to spread widely and kill thousands of people each day despite the availability of lifesaving vaccines, the humanitarian group Oxfam International...
By Isaac Chotiner The political scientist John Mearsheimer has been one of the most famous critics of American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Perhaps best known for the book he wrote with Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,”...
By Aaron Kheriaty, MD The theologian Doug Farrow has written, in the form of a Medieval disputatio, a cogent and persuasive defense of civil disobedience in response to vaccine mandates and other unjustifiable Covid measures. It is entitled Whether There is a Moral...
By Joshua Goodman Sanctions on Russia are starting to wreak havoc on global trade, with potentially devastating consequences for energy and grain importers while also generating ripple effects across a world still struggling with pandemic-induced supply chain...
By David Leonhardt Nearly 60 million American adults — or about one of out every four — remain unvaccinated against Covid-19. They have made an irrational choice that exposes them to severe illness. But they have also made a choice with a long historical tradition. In...
By Steve Rosenberg Let me begin with an admission. So many times, I've thought: "Putin would never do this." Then he goes and does it. "He'd never annex Crimea, surely?" He did. "He'd never start a war in the Donbas." He did. "He'd never launch a full-scale invasion...
By Melissa Kirsch When the present moment is stressful or uncomfortable, when the future seems especially fuzzy or uncertain, nostalgia offers a balm. It’s why many of us turned to “Friends” reunions, “Sopranos” re-binges and childhood video games earlier in the...
By Thomas Fazi and Toby Green Over the past two years, as the pandemic claimed the lives of millions of people and upturned the lives of everyone else, a silent revolution was taking place. Western capitalism suddenly found itself usurped; replaced by an even more...
By Malcom Kyeyune They call it “The Honkening”. Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, is currently being besieged by a novel kind of protest. Honkening is a fairly appropriate name for what’s going on. Thousands of truckers have driven to the capital, and barraged the city...
By Robert Milders If Agnes Edwards worked in the comedy trade, where timing is everything, she wouldn’t be quite ready for the downtown comedy club, much less prime time. In her February 10 commentary on this website, Agnes encourages expats to report those who use or...
By David Leonhardt The C.D.C. describes medium-rare hamburgers as “undercooked” and dangerous. The agency also directs Americans to avoid raw cookie dough and not to eat more than a teaspoon or so of salt every day. And the C.D.C. tells sexually active women of...
By Agnes Edwards A number of expats have asked me if I have knowledge of someone producing fake vaccination certificates, using them, or selling them to other expats, and how can they report this to the authorities. The law is clear: fabricating a false vaccination...
By Erin Brockovich Most people have probably heard of Chernobyl, or the BP oil spill. You may also know about my legal battle over contaminated water in California, dramatized in the namesake movie Erin Brockovich. Yet far fewer people have heard about what transpired...
By John Naughton Facebook was much in the news last week, although you may not realize that because it has been renamed Meta in the hope the bad vibes associated with its maiden name would gradually fade from public memory. (Google tried the same stunt with Alphabet...
Week of September 06
U.S. sinkings of Ecuadorian fishing vessels trigger court scrutiny after 28 crew members are released.
Cuenca targets a November launch for its first new international link to Chiclayo.
Exports hit a quarterly record, but Ecuador’s import bill is rising even faster.
