International

Why Did the British Give Reparations to Slave Owners?6
- History, International, Politics
- September 9, 2022
The topic of slavery always evokes a flurry of emotions. Such was the case when the British government announced in 2015 that it had completed the payment of a loan borrowed to compensate slave owners for their loses due to the abolition of slavery. In an age when many are demanding that whites make reparations
READ MORE
Queen Elizabeth’s 21st Birthday Celebration Is a Model for Today’s Youth 3
- Culture, International, Western Civilization
- September 9, 2022
The most memorable speech that Queen Elizabeth II ever gave was five years before her coronation. It was delivered in 1947 on a radio broadcast from South Africa, where she was on a royal tour with her parents and her sister. The occasion was her 21st birthday. Nowadays a 21st birthday is a milestone marking
READ MORE
Waking Up in the Middle of the Night of Totalitarianism 7
- Culture, History, International, Politics, Uncategorized, Western Civilization
- September 2, 2022
Sometimes events converge in my life and explode into revelation. A few weeks ago, I edited an interview with Elizabeth Spalding, one of the founders and now the director of the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, D.C. About this same time, I read Under a Cruel Star, Heda Kovály’s account of life in Czechoslovakia
READ MORE

Hey COVID, I’ve Got Religion 4
- Religion, International, Science
- August 31, 2022
For better or worse, my brain is wired to doubt. Even when I’m feeling all gooey and spiritual and thinking that maybe there’s a prime mover in charge of things, my skeptical synapses swoop in and spoil the fun, insisting my thoughts are just a trick of human biology. But the pandemic—or rather, the pandemic response—has
READ MORE
Is ‘Autocracy’ America’s Mortal Enemy?1
- International, Politics, Uncategorized
- August 23, 2022
In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden declared to the nation and world: “We are engaged anew in a great battle for freedom. A battle between democracy and autocracy.” On her trip to Taiwan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi echoed Biden: “Today, the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy. America’s determination
READ MORE
Woke Silliness at Its Worst: A Non-binary Joan of Arc 1
- Culture, Entertainment, History, International, Literature
- August 17, 2022
A new play about Joan of Arc, I, Joan, opens in London next week. After all the plays, poetry, novels, and biographies published since she was burned at the stake in 1431, it’s difficult to imagine that anything fresh can be said about the Maid of Orleans, However, the Globe Theatre, a successor to Shakespeare’s theatre,
READ MORE