Tag Archives: became

Eight years ago this Monday, something significant happened in Odessa, a historically important city in the southwest of Ukraine. Although the West didn’t see it as such, for Russia and the newly formed Donbass republics, what transpired there became a symbolic episode.  Provincial revolution From late 2013 into early 2014, …

The so-called Independent State of Croatia was less than three weeks old when it carried out its first mass execution of Serbs, the group its founders designated for persecution and extermination long before their ally Nazi Germany formalized its “final solution” for European Jews. Villages in the Slavonian plain generally …

In March, it will be eight years since the day Crimea returned to the Russian Federation. This ended its 60-year history as part of Ukraine, which began, not on February 19, 1954, but a little earlier.  What does Ukraine have to do with it?  The Crimean Peninsula became part of …

Francis Fukuyama is best known for having mistakenly announced the coming of a global liberal quasi-utopia, billed as “the end of history,” a third of a century ago. Now, though, the American scholar has identified the linchpin of what he sees as a worldwide battle between secular good and evil. …

In America, rape culture is institutionalized, with layers of protection for the powerful. Sexual assault and sexual harassment aren’t just about physical touching or forced sex without consent. They are also about the loss of status and career opportunities, and the isolation of and damage to the victim caused by …

French philosopher Joseph de Maistre said it first, but Thomas Jefferson and more recently Barack Obama agreed with the aphorism enough to repeat that “in a democracy people get the politicians they deserve.” Lord help us. Think climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, or immigration are problems? Well, look at the calibre of leader …

President Vladimir Putin said this week that the West was taking Russia’s warnings not to cross its “red lines” too lightly.  “We constantly express our concerns about these matters and talk about red lines,” he told a high-profile meeting of Russian diplomats. “Our partners are peculiar in the sense that …

People are used to strange behaviour from the band of bonkers billionaires who run US tech giants, but the one most people have never heard of, Peter Thiel, is far and away the strangest of them all. The reason most of us aren’t as familiar with Thiel as we are …

The 2007 drawings of Muhammad placed Vilks at the center of a global debate regarding freedom of speech and respect for religious beliefs. Extremists tried to kill him for blasphemy, which is why he was under police protection. The cartoonist and his police escort were traveling in an unmarked police …

For the parents of newborns, it’s a key moment when they can finally dispense with the baby monitor that buzzes away next to their ear, as they struggle for some shut-eye while still listening for signs of unrest from their sleeping tot. Imagine what it must be like if that …