How do you break an Iron Wall?
Amidst all the uprisings in the Middle East, and protests demanding a democratization of government, many commentators in the political arena (journalists, scholars and lay people) believe that the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict has been pushed to the back burner. However, with the Palestinian officials’ recently expressed desire of gaining statehood recognition from the United Nations General Assembly in September of this year, Washington and other administrations around the world are turning their attention back to this decade’s long conflict.
Read MoreNYSE-Deutsche Börse Merger: What’s in a name?
One of the big stories that has dominated headlines in the world of business in recent times is the proposed merger between NYSE Euronext and the Deutsche Börse. The merger, if completed, would result in the creation of the world’s largest stock exchange operator. The deal, however, has faced quite a few roadblocks since it was announced in February this year. All attention has been fixed on the name of the new combined exchange, an issue that seems to be rather politically sensitive.
Read MoreThe Rambler: A New Model of the Artist
The artist enjoys a peculiar place in human civilization. While his work depends on the material generosity and intellectual curiosity of others, we continue to view him as somehow “separate” from the world, both spatially and socially. In contrast to the lot of us, so the story goes, the artist is imbued with a spark of divinity, able to see the true nature of every ordinary object and idea we mere mortals take for granted. In his hands, the mundane becomes an expression of the noblest truths of the universe. Think, if you will, of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, or perhaps Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and you will understand what I mean.
Read MoreThe Rambler: Lessons in Virtue
Ben Franklin knew the importance of being earnest. A little over two hundred years ago, Franklin, the model autodidact, drew up his own personal course in virtue and practiced it from age twenty till the grave. He distinguished thirteen principles to guide his conduct, quite a few compared to the four that occupied the Greeks and Romans.[1] They were:
Read MoreCan We Actually Get this “War” Thing Right for Once? – How Libya is Different
The debacle that was the Iraq War has caused the idea of military intervention to go out of style. This was one of the reasons for the failure of the international community to intervene to stop the genocide in Darfur. Against the bleak recent track record for humanitarian intervention comes what appears so far to be a remarkably unified and assertive effort in Libya. For once, the war that needs to be fought and the war that America has chosen to fight have coincided.
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