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On my mind: the determined efforts of the Colombian government and FARC rebels to reach a peace accord. The first one was rejected in a referendum. The rejection was not a call to scrap the process. Instead, the two sides have reached a new agreement. At time of writing it is too early to know if this will be the key to peace. Two FARC rebels were killed yesterday by security forces over alleged extortion of local farmers and business. I don’t know the intricacies of Colombia and its politics. Sitting on the outside, seeing a scarred nation try and try again to find peace is inspiring.
Events:
- FT Mondey Interview: Battling for influence — Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief, Global Times. This nationalist, sometimes scurrilous paper is more fun to get a read on the Chinese government than the official state organs like People’s Daily and China Daily.
- Moldovans elect pro-Moscow Igor Dodon as president. That really is a divided country. Look up Transnistria for background on this overlooked European frontier.
Ideas:
- Onward from establishment conservative Bill Kristol on the duty and responsibility of governance.
- Is Angela Merkel the leader of the free world now? Not quite.
- A Columnist’s Responsibility. WSJ conservative columnist Brett Stephens’ reflection on the election and the attacks on him for opposing Trump’s candidacy:
What a columnist owes his readers isn’t a bid for their constant agreement. It’s independent judgment. Opinion journalism is still journalism, not agitprop. The elision of that distinction and the rise of malevolent propaganda outfits such as Breitbart News is one of the most baleful trends of modern life. Serious columnists must resist it.
…
Many things explain Mr. Trump’s unexpected victory, but not the least of them was the ability of his core supporters to shut out the inconvenient Trump facts: the precarious foundations of his wealth, the plasticity of his convictions, the astonishing frequency of his lying. Mr. Trump attracted millions of voters thirsty to believe. That thirst may hold its own truth, but it doesn’t lessen a columnist’s responsibility to note that it won’t be slaked by another hollow slogan of redemption. “Make America Great Again” will go the way of “Hope and Change.” Whether or not this disappointment gives way to wisdom is another question.
Travels:
- How to combat the curse of ‘flight face’.
- How to hang your dress pants (so they don’t fall off the hanger).
- The places I go – to Djibouti and back.
Hacks:
- Understanding Hotel Hustle award alerts.
- Free Experian Credit Monitoring with AAA membership (for many).
- How to: circumvent online censorship.
Related posts:
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Is there any reason you need to use Disqus? It is notorious for privacy protection. Other bloggers on boarding area doesn’t seem to do the same. It is also blocked automatically by several anti malware software so will cause less traffic I guess
Testing it. Some that use it such as Travel Codex and Travel Update love it. I am not good at the security issues, seems everything out there has flaws. Dealing with SPAM on the back-end, user convenience, blog load times, a lot of factors and pros and cons for these and I am not an expert though trying to learn.