The Return of History and the End of Dreams by Robert Kagan

A great purchase from the sale bin at the south London Chapters a while back, The Return of History discusses the hopes nations had for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War and the reality that it didn't happen. Great powers around the globe are again competing for honour and influence internationally. Nation-states are as strong as ever and have a policy of ambitious nationalism. The United States remains as the only true super power. But international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran are creating new regional conflicts and reigniting old conflicts. Although Communism is dying, competition between western liberalism/democracy and the eastern autocracies of Russia and China has become the new international conflict. Add to this conflict the violent struggle against modern secular cultures being waged by radical Islamist fundamentalists. The expectation of a peaceful international order after the Cold War has been proven wrong.

Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for the International Peace, offers a well-written and thoughtful essay on what went wrong. I will be on the look out for more of his books.

Comments

A Taste of Canada ~ Fiddleheads

I do enjoy fiddleheads. They have a green bean-y, asparagus-like, pea-ish taste and they are just fun to look at. From Chateline Magazine: HOW-TO It’s Almost Fiddlehead Season! Here’s How To Cook This Springtime Veggie Properly Fiddleheads are a Canadian delicacy, but undercooking them can lead to food poisoning by Amy Grief Updated Apr 9, 2019 Fiddlehead season is short, so when you see the adorable green curlicues at your grocery store or farmers’ market, buy them while you can. Before chowing down on these little springtime delicacies, there’s a few things you should know first since fiddleheads can cause food poisoning if they’re not cooked properly. What are fiddleheads? These tightly curled coils are ostrich fern fronds. They start appearing in late April and early May in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and are usually found in forests, marshes and by rivers and streams. Taste-wise, fiddleheads, which are popular amongst food foragers, are...

Week #2 Challenge: Paper . . . and I mean ALL of your paper.

Annual Organization Challenge Week #2 How did you make out with last week's challenge? Did you find your work table? Here's this week's challenge: Your challenge this week is to S.P.A.C.E. your paper - - and I mean ALL of your paper: cardstock, patterned paper, specialty papers, and all those SCRAPS! SORT: Bring all of your paper to one area. Sort it all into piles: KEEP, SELL, DONATE, TRASH PURGE: bag up, and assign a price to paper bundles that you want to SELL at a garage sale or online, and put the bags in the garage sale box. Throw out the TRASH pile. Bag up the DONATE pile and immediately make arrangements for drop-off/pick-up or put in your vehicle. ASSIGN: separate your paper into categories that make sense to you. For example, you may want to divide it simply into cardstock and patterned paper. If you have a huge stash of paper, you may want to divide it by colour, theme, or manufacturer. **Another way to...

Journal Prompt ~ One Thing You Do Really Well

Name one thing you do really well . . . One thing I do really well is solve crossword puzzles.

In My World

Search This Blog