Aurel's laurels

1783

The Laki eruption in Iceland and colder climate of the Little Ice Age combined with France's failure to adopt the potato as a staple crop contributed to widespread famine and malnutrition.

the ball room

When the cupboard runs bare the state should open up  granaries, not put further emphasis on the collection of tithes and rents. Similarly the military industrial complex should reduce their spending and transfer that tax money to foreign aid and education.
As one commentator put it about Afghanistan, "hearts and minds" lags too far behind the military strategy in the field.
I like Michell Obama and admired her on Oprah last night, but American deployments are too many and not always in the right places. You cannot go on bringing equality and democracy only to the places that have immense commercial value, while virtually ignoring the places that don't.
 As someone else said, NATO involvement in many parts of the world has simply been a breeding ground for the very dedicated terrorists that we justifiably fear.
Major Islamic schools should be set up in America and post graduate studies in diplomacy strongly encouraged.
 The last truly just war was WW2, but it set up too many models about how to defeat a determined enemy.
 My father worked for NATO from the beginning until he retired. I think he would be dismayed at the military use of NATO within the last few years, even in Kosovo.
 Going back to the French revolution. The rich and powerful will always be admired and envied and they have to strike a balance between those two feelings. It is not the middle class, which will help them achieve that balance. They must do it themselves.