Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Bits and Pieces - January 21, 2015

Why Vladimir Putin should be invited to the Auschwitz memorial ceremony. Russia needs to confront all parts of its past.

France is proposing a limitation on United Nations Security Council vetoes. It's unlikely to go far and narrowly defined, but a step toward thinking differently about the Security Council's inability to act.

Was the civil rights movement a revolution? If a revolution means a major shift in power, yes. But not completed yet.

The best critique of the response to the State of the Union address, both in general and this latest one.

First-person narrative of the separatist tendencies in the religious right. I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but parts are persuasive.

When Americans ate horse meat.

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Bits and Pieces - January 7, 2015

What is a European? The growing pains of the European Union. What they are trying to do is much more difficult than the United States' union of colonies in the 18th century. And that took a while to work out.

Afghans are being urged to take surnames. Which are a relatively recent innovation, even for Europe.

Nonviolent Conflicts in 2014 You May Have Missed Because They Were Not Violent. We don't see the conflicts that don't happen and the ones in which people aren't shooting at each other.

Likewise, do we really live in dangerous times or does it just feel that way? Some of both, more of the second. Which can lead to real danger. But feelings count for a lot.