This morning Fareed Zakaria noted that Vladimir Putin is not only more isolated in his solo control of Russia, but also more emotionally volatile. This complicates a geo-strategic problem: he may have set in motion a series of political disasters from which he cannot gracefully exit. Despite very impressive Ukrainian resistance, it is very likely […]
How to De-Escalate Now? Read More »
Yesterday I speculated that Putin’s unilateral decision to invade Ukraine might backfire: it might provoke Finland to join NATO. Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU in 1995. All three countries had a longstanding preference for neutrality in the Cold War, but in 1995 joining the EU was not considered a threatening move against a
Consequences of Putin’s Aggression Read More »
Some background on the meaning of Socialism There is a lot of vitriol about “socialism” in the Unites States in 2022, mostly by people choosing a meaning for the term that is either most disagreeable or most agreeable to them. Historically the term was abused most especially by Soviet political leaders who claimed it as
American Socialism: Public Education Read More »
Today the Republican National Committee formally declared that the attack on the U. S. Congress on January 6, 2021 was “legitimate political discourse” and censured Republican representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating in the investigation of this attack. I have kept my silence for a year, because my concern is not about a
The treason of January 6, 2021 Read More »
Today it appears that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been elected as President and Vice President of the United States. They will have a difficult time governing in a country which has expressed such hostility towards inclusive government. In the long term, however, Biden and Harris need to govern for the future: an America
Grieving about the Emanuel A.M.E. Church murders My chest literally aches for the people of Charleston, S.C. and every African-American whose fear of racially motivated violence has been affirmed, once again. I live in an integrated neighborhood–an increasingly rare place in America–and I feel like I have to tread carefully around my neighbors. In response
Racism and Collective Memory Read More »
Honoring the irreverent dead The satirists who were murdered at the comic-journal Charlie Hebdo prided themselves in being iconoclastic. The purpose of this essay is to critique the Western group-think of both political leaders and journalists, in their unified reaction against the terrorist acts in Paris last week. Critique does not mean total disagreement. I
Charlie Hebdo: an Iconoclastic Perspective Read More »
A common conservative disparagement of liberals and leftists is that we are anti-business. I often use Adam Smith?s arguments to show precisely the opposite. Leftists dislike monopolies and oligopolies. Oil companies and phone companies are two examples of oligopolies: their products, services, and pricing are so similar that their collusion with each other is pretty
A Leftist pitch for competition and economic growth Read More »
Americans have been deeply divided along political lines in the past: the film Lincoln is all about the brutal factionalism preceding the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Why is the current Congress so divided and ineffective? I suggest that a major factor is the pattern of urbanization and voluntary self-segregation of households
Congressional deadlock of self-segregated American communities Read More »
In my courses I try to tell the story of urban modernity through a series of sub-stories. One of these is about how the Industrial Revolution happened. In 2012 I explained the Industrial Revolution thus: the key technology of the Industrial Revolution was the steam-engine; the key innovator of the steam-engine was Watt; and the
Watt, innovation, and the Industrial Revolution Read More »