Notebooks

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Syria’s sectarian trap

Syria’s social fabric is in shreds, and forces embodying some of the country's most extreme sectarian tendencies are ascendant on all sides.

Kyle Orton March 17, 2025

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The pen that became a symbol of France

Since it was first released in 1970, the revolutionary Bic 4-Colour ballpoint pen has come to embody a powerful ‘myth’ of French modernity.

Muriel Zagha March 14, 2025

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What Zelensky can learn from Syngman Rhee

The parallels between the current conflict in Ukraine and the Korean War won’t validate President Trump's approach or please his supporters. They suggest that Kyiv still has one cr..

David P. Fields March 13, 2025

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Bringing back the stately quadrille

President Trump has upended relations with America's European allies. It's a dramatic change of course reminiscent of the dizzying dance of 18th-century diplomacy.

William Erich Ellison March 12, 2025

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Nicaea: the council that shaped the West

The fourth-century Council of Nicaea shaped the direction of Christian theology, kickstarted the contest between Church and State, and established the political model that lies at ..

Fergus Butler-Gallie March 12, 2025

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The tragic decline of Christian rituals

Christian rituals associated with Lent are neither foolish games nor futile gestures. Rather, such traditions show how a fractured society can heal, connecting its mortal existence..

Bijan Omrani March 10, 2025

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The perils of partition

Those who seek to carve up Syria should know that partitions never work. The divisions they create are at best arbitrary and must be enforced with violence, as the history of the M..

James Snell March 10, 2025

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The Genocide Convention and its discontents

In 1948, the UN General Assembly ratified the Genocide Convention to punish and prevent one of humanity's worst crimes. Today, questions arise about whether this legal framework is..

Christopher Hale March 7, 2025

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How to revive our reading culture

Technology has become a convenient scapegoat for the decline of literacy. The real problem lies in our society’s approach to reading as a shallow mode of self-expression rather tha..

Tiffany Jenkins March 6, 2025