Category: Uncategorized
Snowden Called in to Putin’s Telethon. Does That Really Make Him a Kremlin Pawn? One of the pleasures in writing about Edward Snowden is his predilection for the absurd. The NSA whistleblower abandons his dancer girlfriend for a life in exile, hides in airports, studies Dostoyevsky, appears by teleconference at a technology conference in Texas, and even attempts to learn Russian to acclimate to his new home in Moscow. It’s a delicious story, and on Thursday, Snowden delivered his latest morsel: He called in to Vladimir Putin’s televised Q&A session with the Russian public. Too bad Snowden’s English is not…
Ukraine Asks U.N. for Peacekeeping Troops as Militants Defy Deadline Ukraine’s acting president asked the United Nations for peacekeepers in the east, where he said pro-Russia militias have acted with seeming impunity.
Happy Sunday, everybody! Another weekend has already passed, that I did not spend how I meant to: with rest. Perhaps next week. A lot of exciting things going on in the world these days that worth paying attention to, though. Here’s what I’ve read about them up until Friday, since I have yet to catch up with the latest myself. What can I say, it happens. 🙂 Kerry Accuses Moscow of ‘Unmistakable’ Covert Ops in Eastern Ukraine And Russia’s pursuit of domination in Ukraine goes forward already. One would think Putin at least could wait a little to divert attention….
united-nations: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently visited war-torn Central African Republic, where the security situation is deteriorating and human rights abuses continue. “My first message is to the people of the country: You are not alone. The United Nations is honoured to be by your side,” he said. On Thursday the UN Security Council established a peacekeeping mission in the country which, as of September, will comprise of up to 10,000 military personnel. Find out more in this video. Share these images to help draw the world’s attention to the crisis.
I used to know a professor at law school, who was very proud that he has never been to vote at any elections. Ever. Not once. He talked about politics a lot, teaching administration law, he had stuck quite a few political comments to each and every topic. He kept repeating his conviction that not voting entitles him to criticize all political sides as he wishes. I always thought just the opposite! If you don’t care to share your opinion on the one single occasion it actually counts, then shut the f#@$ up all other times. As a sociologist, I…
Parliamentary elections are held in Hungary on Sunday, April 6. The governing Fidesz party, the likely winner of this election have previously made numerous changes on the election law with its 2/3 majority in parliament. The size of parliament has been reduced from 386 to 199 MPs. 106 of those seats are filled by individual candidates and the rest from party lists. This is the first time in 24 years, since the fall of communism that there won’t be a second round held according to the new law. The final results will be decided today by the above pictured rules….
shortformblog: Anja Niedringhaus faced down some of the world’s greatest dangers and had one of the world’s loudest laughs. She photographed dying and death, and embraced humanity and life. She gave herself to the subjects of her lens, and gave her talents to the world, with images of wars’ unwitting victims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and beyond. Shot to death by an Afghan policeman Friday, Niedringhaus leaves behind a body of work that won awards and broke hearts. She trained her camera on children caught between the front lines, yet who still find a place to play. She singled out…
NATO turns 65 today! Watch this great video timeline: statedept: On April 4, 1949, #SecState Dean Acheson signed the most successful military-political treaty in the world. This treaty has been protecting citizens and keeping peace around the world ever since. Happy Birthday, #NATO! #throwbackthursday #NATOat65
thepoliticalnotebook: Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa and photojournalist Ricardo Garcia Vilanova returned home today after six months held captive by an Al Qaeda-linked group in Syria. Above, Espinosa greets his son Yerai on the Torrejon military airport in Madrid. Photo: AFP/Getty
Welcome to the 50th Sunday Smack! That’s right, the 50th! 🙂 How great that this one is the first Sunday Smack I get to write on my new laptop! Yes, that of course means I have no excuse anymore not to act on all my great ideas regarding this blog (and everything else). Minus two weeks, I have been doing this for a whole year. It is unbelievable, really, and I have to say I’ve really enjoyed every bit of it, it helps me keep my professional reading in order. I can only hope it’s also useful to at least…
