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Tag Archives: politics
Don’t worry, Emily Bazelon, you’re wrong
It’s hard to explain why Emily Bazelon’s New York Times Magazine article, sarcastically titled “Free Speech Will Save Our Democracy,” bothers me, so let me start here: Hannah Arendt was not a political philosopher. Hannah Arendt was a political theorist. … Continue reading
Belief from the inside out
Carla Power’s Pulitizer Prize-shortlisted If the Oceans Were Ink, an outsider’s meditation on The Holy Qur’an with the help of a learned Islamic scholar, signals a subtle but seismic shift in our intellectual world. It joins other unmistakable indications that mostly secular Western … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Politics and Political Theory, Public Diplomacy, Uncategorized
Tagged Books, Carla Power, faith, interfaith, Islam, Muslims, politics, Qur'an, religion, Umma
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What matters most
A recent opinion article by Roger Cohen about a book and polling data demonstrating a gulf in transatlantic public opinion struck me as a windy but representative example of the unnecessary polarization in our political debate. We find more visceral examples of this bifurcated outrage … Continue reading
A Divisive Concept
With Iraq on the edge of calamity, a hoary, dangerously stupid idea has again been floated by people smart enough to know better. With primarily Sunni extremists breathing down the Tigris and Euphrates river valley toward Baghdad and the mainly … Continue reading
Thinking Through Ukraine
I was at NATO when Russia invaded its neighbor, Georgia, in August 2008. The action caught anyone not paying attention by surprise. The experts knew it was long in coming. I’m sure the same is for the unfurling crisis in Ukraine, … Continue reading
Some Dreamers of the Impossible Dream
With nods to George Kennan, Joan Didion, and Cervantes, enjoy this excerpt from my book, The United States and the Challenge of Public Diplomacy about an extraordinary visit I made to Macedonia in 2006 published in The Foreign Service Journal. Although I wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Books, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Politics and Political Theory, Public Diplomacy, The Former Yugoslavia
Tagged Albania, Books, Bosnia, Bulgaria, current-events, EU, European Union, Foreign Service Journal, George Kennan, international relations, Joan Didion, Macedonia, NATO, nature of politics, Ohrid, politics, Public Diplomacy, Rebecca West, Serbia
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Plenums and Power (Power v. Force III)
The past two weeks have been astounding to witness in Ukraine and Bosnia- Herzegovina. While I haven’t been able to follow quite as intimately what has happened in Ukraine, media reporting from that country has been very good. In Bosnia … Continue reading
Posted in North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Politics and Political Theory, The Former Yugoslavia
Tagged Arab Spring, Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Communism, current-events, EU, European Union, force, hannah arendt, NATO, nature of politics, politics, repressive regimes, transitional justice, Ukraine, western political philosophy, Yugoslavia
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Punk Is Not Dead
Today my review essay of Masha Gessen’s latest book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, appears in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The book is a testament to the courage of the members of the group who … Continue reading
