We all have perceptions, especially when travelling. Our opinions of them are formed from experiences people have shared with us, articles we have read and the people from those countries who we have met. In London, Brussels, Rome and Paris, you cannot move far without meeting a Bangladeshi national in search of new horizons. Sadly… Read more »
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For governments right and left, a season of discontent
Democratic governments are rarely popular for extended periods, and often have to scrape by with low polls, noisy demonstrations and constant pressure from the media. And though authoritarian regimes can squash dissent and muzzle the news, they too face rising discontent. These patterns aren’t new, but now they happen as administrations of every kind are… Read more »
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No money. No English. But America welcomed a young foreigner.
One of the things I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving is the warm welcome that America extended to a man born 100 years ago in what is now Ukraine. Wladyslaw Krzysztofowicz was born into an Armenian family in a dangerous region; you might think of it as the Honduras of its day. During World War II,… Read more »
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The missing catalyst for Iranian democracy
Just before imposing new sanctions on Iran, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the country’s “cabinet is in disarray, and the Iranian people are raising their voices even louder against a corrupt and hypocritical regime.” While this is clearly true, it’s also true that sanctions alone are unlikely to topple the government or force… Read more »
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Fighting the spiritual void
Wherever I go I seem to meet people who are either dealing with trauma or helping others dealing with trauma. In some places I meet veterans trying to recover from the psychic wounds they suffered in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sometimes it is women struggling with the aftershocks of sexual assault. Sometimes it is teachers trying… Read more »
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Et tu Jim Mattis?
If almost any other member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet had sought to justify his deployment of thousands of troops to the border by talking about the threat of Mexican revolutionaries more than a century ago, it probably would have sailed right past me. Hyperbole, hysteria and convenient invocations of history are the native tongue… Read more »