The world is changing, as will international relations. The West was never so powerful nor so influential as it was in the years immediately after the Cold War. Over time, the western community had been woven together by institutions; given a central nervous system where technologies, trade and security were shared among states in a […]
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A Sad Metaphor
Ambassador Samantha Powers’s outburst against Russia at the UN is aptly symbolizes the decay of the American-led order “That, gentlemen is not just a sleeping man, it’s a sad metaphor. The second-most powerful man in what was once the most powerful country on earth.” President Eisenhower’s comment upon arriving for a meeting with British Foreign […]
Death of a sex worker
NEW DELHI – The yellow fog hangs close to the ground. It clings to the palate with a taste of exhaust gas and latrine. Lonely bike rickshaws emerge from the mist and are swallowed. It is one o’clock at night on GB Road, New Delhi’s infamous Red Light District. The street is teeming with activity. […]
The American Race
ASLE TOJE Daytona 500 is the highlight of the Nascar racing season. A glorification of bravery, speed and engine noise. Outside the stadium aspiring preachers stand ready with megaphones. The people waiting In line are warned against the dangers of liquor and sex. There is much talk of cheeses – which strikes me as odd, […]
A Game of Brexit
What the loss of a Chief of Staff means for the Brexit negotiations. The Brexit negotiation, whatever else it is, is a political drama of the score-settling type. So let’s imagine it, focusing on a crucial subset of the dramatis personae, as if it were a play about a game whose congealing theme is: What […]
A Ruinous Obsession
How a nation that loved ruins was itself reduced to rubble—and in its own ashes discovered new, impossible ideals. A life in a discarded shoe box. A while back, as I was struggling with a text at the Public Library in the hamlet of Bengtsfors, Sweden, I came across the donated remains from a childless […]