By Ben Gelman Why so many Muscovites thought that I might have directions for them, I do not know. It wasn’t just me either, many of my fellow participants of the Moscow Global Seminar this past summer were approached at one point or another on the street by a confused local asking incomprehensible questions about how to get to their destination. None of us spoke … Continue reading ON THE LIMITS OF STUDY ABROAD
By Regina Lankenau and Maya Eashwaran Tener duende podría ser una similitud a tener alma. Es el sentimiento del artista convertido en puro arte. Su talento roza la perfección, es algo mágico y auténtico. “To “have duende” could be likened to having soul. It is the emotions of the artist converted into pure art. Their talent brushes with perfection, it is something magical and authentic.” … Continue reading DUENDE
By Misha Tseitlin After the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi under dubious circumstances that mirror human rights abuses and the eventual death of Sergei Magnitsky in Russia, the lack of an international response has prompted calls for sanctions—often grounded in the justification of the Global Magnitsky Act. However, while many are ready to jump on this new crisis and leverage existing tools, they are quick … Continue reading End Capital Punishment: The Short-Sightedness of Magnitsky Act Sanctions on Kadyrov
By Maggie Baughman ‘21 In late September, the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) finalized an agreement that both allows for the Vatican to regain some degree of legitimate access to Chinese Catholics, and for the CCP to gain the Pope’s stamp of approval on state-nominated Catholic bishops. The deal can serve as a case study in Xi Jinping’s “Sinicization,” a process of altering ideologies, products, or … Continue reading A Moral Balancing Act: The Vatican’s Deal With the CCP
By Leora Eisenberg ‘20 It almost seems like a given that alphabets are a core part of a culture. What some may not understand is that language laws are a tense issue in post-Soviet space. Alphabets are integral to a language and its speakers, in spite of whatever historical revisionism an empire might seek to impose. They are inextricable from a country’s identity, history and culture. … Continue reading CH-Ч-Changes: The Geopolitics Behind Kazakh Alphabet Reform
