I was struck this week by several stories in the media about the growing crush of refugees/immigrants at the borders of the developed world, that is, the US and Western Europe. I recall that in 2006 I was teaching a senior level law class about international law. We studied an article written by Robert Kaplan titled “The Coming Anarchy”. In it he posited that scarcity, crime, overpopulation and tribalism will produce failed nation-states throughout the developing world, which will result in massive population movements, political upheaval and human misery. One of the articles I read this week referred to a new world of order and disorder. Hardly. Perhaps Mr. Kaplan was more prescient than anyone knew.
The book I am reading this week is ‘When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944’. It is a fascinating read about a nation forced to face personal humiliation and collective defeat under the velvet jackboot (Initially, it got worse.) of German occupation. It is a vivid description of a national nightmare that got me thinking of how a society like ours would react to an experience like that. And what it would do to our collective identity. Thinking about the unthinkable really. And then I got to thanking our lucky stars that we have the neighbour that we do, warts and all.
Alcarelle is a synthetic version of alcohol which hits the right parts of the brain for the feelings of satisfaction and well being and not the parts to produce depression, disorientation and sickness. Its been around for a while but the inventor is just getting to the commercialization process. Perhaps the trend towards legalization of marijuana had something to do with it. Interesting.
I got my first review of Slaughter by Strange Means on Amazon.ca. I did encourage it I admit but it was great. I think that the writing was better than what was in the book. They say all reviews are good reviews, but this was above and beyond.
Major league baseball season has begun, and the Blue Jays have been so completely overhauled that I don’t feel a connection to the team at all. It's like the old Seinfeld joke, I’m just cheering for the hats and the jerseys. Weird feeling, but I guess they had to do something.
Have a great week!