I tend to agree with Roger's sober assessment of the value of blogging — if we can till a small patch of otherwise unplowed soil, that's something accomplished, but we shouldn't assume much more value than that. One sign that the blogging phenomenon may have peaked is the number of abandoned blogs one comes across these days — blogs...
Whatever one may think about the presidency of Gerald Ford, he lived up to his self-description as a committed internationalist. And if one were to name his most significant international achievement, the Helsinki Accords would be high on the list. Indeed, Daniel Thomas in his book The Helsinki Effect argues that the Helsinki Accords contributed directly to the...
If you are interested in the history of the Middle East, I highly recommend this flash video, which compresses 5,000 years of imperial ambitions in the area into a mere 90 seconds. Who knew the Mongols had such a gigantic empire? UPDATE: The Maps of War site, which created the Empires video, is a treasure-trove of interesting information. Check...
Bloomberg has an interesting article today on how the US's increasingly onerous visa restrictions are causing significant harm to American businesses.Companies say U.S. rules have become so onerous in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that it's often simpler to meet customers, business partners and employees elsewhere. Exxon Mobil Corp. has resorted to customer meetings in a London...
The print edition of yesterday's NY Times had an above-the-fold story about the possibilities for immigration reform in the new Congress under the headline, "Bipartisan Group Drafting Bill for a New Path to Citizenship". I still don't quite get the framing of this latest round of immigration politics in citizenship terms. The question is who will get permanent...
On the heels of this stunt, see this op-ed co-authored by Harvard lawprof Robert Mnookin in the IHT as well as this from Crooked Timber's Belgian contributor Ingrid Robeyns. Perhaps Belgium will pave the way to the deconstruction of some non-East Bloc states. And why not, especially under the umbrella of the EU? How sentimental can one...
If you have any interest in Second Life, you should check out the transcript of Richard Posner's presentation in the virtual world earlier this month. It includes substantive discussion on topics such as terrorism, torture, intellectual property, and the virtual economy. He also suggests that we are not too far from an "international law of virtual worlds." But...
A number of years ago, I visited the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. The museum was strangely deserted; the only other visitors my friend and I saw were a young African-American family. Social animals that humans are, the four of us wandered the museum near to each other, although we never spoke. After about an hour,...
In news worthy of the Onion, here are a few stories circulating around the world about the global perils of Christmas: 1. According to a recent survey of Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, just under one-third of all Santas have been urinated on by children, 60 percent have been coughed and sneezed on, and close to 90 percent have...
See the story here. The French city of St Denis has named a street after Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose 1982 conviction on murder charges continues to generate controversy. The street naming was condemned in a recent congressional resolution, putting Philadelphia representative and now-mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah in something of a hot seat (he did vote in favor of the...
I must say I was a bit taken aback by Time's selection of "You" for Person of the Year Award. Here is how they put it in their cover story. "...
I just saw this report from last week released by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs laying out the legal case for seeking the prosecution of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide against Jews and Israel. The report has some impressive names attached to it, most notably to me anyway, is Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel (hat tip Jeff...
