My lifelong confusion surrounding language and culture often surfaces without warning. In moments like these, I confront one of the most private shames I carried into adulthood: despite having a...
In Spies: The Rise and Fall of The KGB in America, historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr teamed up with former KGB member and journalist Alexander Vassiliev to illustrate the phenomenon of...
For the past ten years the Irish government has spent public money with the financial acumen of a five year old in a sweet shop. Salaries soared. Public servants scaled the career ladder with...
This may seem like an odd question to ask in the aftermath of the murder of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, but please bear with me. The mainstream of Russian society is, I would...
France, like most Western countries, prides itself on individual freedoms. It has a long history of dissent and uprising when these norms are threatened or minimized in anyway. Immigrants change...
Already, much of the outside coverage of the upcoming Ukrainian presidential election, scheduled for January 17 2010, has boiled down to the absurd notion that "pro-Western" and "pro-Russia" forces...
Waiting for a mystery movie to begin is rather like being on a blind date. You are left alone in the dark as endless possibilities flicker through your mind. Are they your type? Are you their type?...
I think it’s quite safe to say that the European and local government elections last week did not go well for the government. It comes as little surprise given the popularity of the current...
Ireland held its European and local elections on Friday. It is now Tuesday and the results are not completely finalised but the winners have been determined. The coverage of the election by the...
From reading this week’s headlines, you might assume that Susan Boyle is at the center of a terrible scandal. U.K. and U.S. reporters alike seem to fear that the enormously popular Britain’s Got...
