What comes to mind when you hear the word “gypsy?” Do you picture the beautiful, kind-hearted Esmeralda from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame or women begging on the streets of Europe whom travelers are told to avoid? “Gypsy” is a racial slur used to describe the Romani people, an ethnic group dispersed throughout Central … Read more
Dangerously low inflation is only one of the Eurozone’s many ailments. Mario Draghi can try to “do whatever it takes” to bring economic revival, but more aggressive monetary policy will not change the underlying weaknesses of the Euro Area. The shortcomings of the European Union developed long before the string of recent crises. Once a … Read more
Veteran’s Day, Remembrance Day, Armistice Day. Every November, we gather to mourn and honor our military’s dead. This year’s ceremonies have been particularly poignant, marking two important anniversaries. It has been one hundred years since the shooting of Franz Ferdinand that sparked the start of World War I, and twenty-five since the fall of the … Read more
I walked up eight steps, I hugged a gold statue of St. James the Apostle, and I walked down eight steps. As simple as it sounds, it was the symbol of the end of an inspiring month-long pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. During this month, walking mostly alone, I thought, I … Read more
In a recent poll for the French presidential election in 2017, far-right politician Marine Le Pen is polling ahead of the president of France by a whopping eight percentage points. This is the continuation of a long trend that has skyrocketed her party to the top of French politics. Mrs. Le Pen’s numbers indicate that … Read more
On the street, in restaurants, theaters, pubs and households, one subject dominates the conversation in Scotland: the upcoming independence referendum. It has sparked more political engagement among the Scottish people than has ever been seen before. It’s an issue that is dividing families and coming between friends. On September 18, people who live in Scotland … Read more
A grinning Churchill and FDR sit together, cementing the cooperation necessary to save democracy and the Western world as we know it. The romance of these now fading photographs inspired a “special relationship”, as Churchill called it, between the United States and the United Kingdom. Because of the strong cultural, historical, and linguistic ties between … Read more
One hundred and fifty years ago, Britain laid the tracks of China’s first railroad. Last month, Britain agreed to allow Chinese firms both to build and operate rail lines and to design, own, andoperate a nuclear power station in Britain as part of a $23.8 billion set of trade deals betweenthe two countries. The deals … Read more
[BIL’IN, WEST BANK] Every Friday, locals of this run-down Palestinian village in the West Bank gather with international human rights activists and the rare Israeli to protest the wall built to separate Bil’in from the adjacent Jewish settlement of Modi’in Illit. A Swiss ambulance stands by to treat protesters hit with tear gas or rubber … Read more
As the world has reeled from the destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, and the continuing aftershocks it has had on the world, some commentary on the shoot-down of the flight has focused on the less than stellar record of the United States regarding the safety of foreign civilian airliners in combat zones. In 1988, … Read more