Feb. 27, 2014 The surging crisis in Ukraine is a dramatic example of how wars begin. Take arrogance, toxic nationalism, tribalism, moral outrage and profound miscalculation, mix thoroughly, and, voilà !, another great leap forward in the march of human folly. Russia just mobilized its western regions armed forces, an […]

February 22, 2014 American diplomacy in the Ukraine crisis was summed up earlier this month by State Department senior official Victoria Neuland, a leading neocon: “F….k Europe.” On Friday, Europe responded by brokering a sensible compromise to Ukraine’s increasingly dangerous crisis just as the army was about to intervene. If […]

February 15, 2014 Democracy can be so inconvenient. Take Switzerland, the closest thing the world has to a perfect democracy. Switzerland’s eight million citizens vote by referendum on all major issues. The Swiss cantons have made key decisions this way for over eight hundred years. Last week, Swiss voters decided […]