Tag: United States
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A zombie doctrine and a crisis in Venezuela
There’s been much talk, since Donald Trump kidnapped the President of Venezuela and declared that he would ‘run’ the country, of a reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine. This set me thinking about what exactly is or was the ‘Monro Doctrine’, and how it’s related to Trump’s actions. To begin with, there’s something odd about linking…
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The war on fonts
The Trump administration has just opened a new front in its intensifying war on the rest of the world. It’s a typographical war, and it concerns a common font called Calibri. Personally, I’m quite fond of Calibri, and use it pretty much every day of the week. But, from the perspective of the Trumpists, it…
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Who is the happiest of us all?
The answer, of course, is Finland. Cris Dafis, in this week’s Golwg, reminded us about the World Economic Forum’s recent report on the ‘happiness’ of people living in individual countries. In this country we still judge national success in traditional, narrowly economistic ways – typically in terms of GDP or economic growth or productivity. From…
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A waxwork opens an embassy
Like many people – or at least like many non-Londoners – I was only dimly aware that the American government was building a new UK embassy in London, when Mr Donald J Trump kindly drew our attention to its imminent opening. According to a recent tweet it seems Mr Trump was planning to come and…