Images of a possible Third World War are often invoked by people warning about confrontations between powers like Russia and the US. Usually, we are just being too dramatic by bringing up such images. Most of the time, people are exaggerating. But since the UK committed aircraft to combat in a location already swarming with other states’ armed…

Many political commentators complain about the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)’s inability to solve international crises. And although I am a Jacobin who rarely defends any political institution, I must defend the UN Security Council. The Security Council is a brute force institution, based on harsh realities rather than idealism. It consists of the five victorious countries of…

Les meilleures lois ne peuvent faire marcher une constitution en dépit des mœurs ; les mœurs tirent parti des pires lois. The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. Alexis de Tocqueville I am driven to write this post not to raise the alarm…

L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu. Hypocrisy is an homage that vice pays to virtue. François de La Rochefoucauld I have just finished reviewing Luke Harding’s somewhat disputable 2014 book The Snowden Files, and I hope to tweet a link to the review soon. Russian propagandists? Oh wait, so am I.…

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