Like most Catholics, there are few things I love more than the pope and one of them is gambling. Though betting on the pope seems like a sure ticket to hell, St. Louis priests were found betting on the 2005 papal conclave and the Catholic League said they had no problem with it. So, in … Read more
The political campaign that will culminate in the election of a new Italian legislative and executive on February 24-25 has not been about programs and reforms. As tax fraud and mafia are crippling the country’s capacity to rebound, political candidates have entertained the electorate in a farce centered on squabbles and spites. Even though the … Read more
On Tuesday, January 28th, members of the French Parliament began their deliberations on a bill regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage. Outside, in the streets of Paris, thousands rallied in support of the legislation, waving rainbow flags and playing upbeat pop music from decades past. The future of the measure could dictate the future of … Read more
In an article for the HPR published in the late fall of 2012, I postulated a possible resolution to the conflict in northern Mali, namely, that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would shoulder the brunt of the burden and send troops to the region known as Azawad, thereby ameliorating the situation in … Read more
Latvia is usually quite unremarkable: in the words of The Economist, “Even Latvians’ fans rarely call them exciting.” Yet the obscure Baltic nation has recently drawn attention, along with its neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, for its quick recovery from the financial crisis through strict austerity and internal devaluation. Indeed, Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, has … Read more
The Eurozone’s tumultuous struggle to extricate itself from its sovereign debt crisis has dominated international headlines since 2009. However, only recently has any substantive progress been made by policymakers. The combination of the European Central Bank becoming the effective lender of last resort for Eurozone members through its new bond-buying program, and the German Constitutional … Read more
On July 22, 2011, a car bomb detonated in central Oslo, killing eight people and injuring an additional 209. That same day, the island Utøya was hosting a youth summer camp for the Norwegian Labor Party. A few hours after the bombing, a man posing as a police officer opened fire on the camp’s participants, … Read more
At first glance, the prospective new Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, seems to be a nightmarish version of Mitt Romney. With a net worth of $6.4 billion, he is the richest man in the entire country, and ranks 153rd on Forbes’ billionaires list. His estates house his exotic animal collections, which include zebras, kangaroos, … Read more
Foreign Policy is out with a superb online special feature titled “Who Won the Great Recession?”, featuring a diverse cast of eleven pieces with such esteemed bylines as Slavoj Zizek, Joseph Nye, and Tyler Cowen. And while there’s no shortage of soft-power indulgence in the lineup (McDonald’s; Hollywood; Cheapskates, Pessimists & Food Trucks), where the … Read more
The Future Prospects of E.U. Enlargement As the Eurozone crisis drags on, many are questioning whether the very essence of the European project has been jeopardized. The European Union’s capacity to absorb new member states seems particularly imperiled, as E.U. enlargement has slowed recently, even grinding to a halt. Though the economic crisis has certainly … Read more