Category: America

At the point of death

Trial of the Will By Christopher Hitchens, January 2012 … Death has this much to be said for it: You don’t have to get out of bed for it. Wherever you happen to be They bring it to you—free. —Kingsley Amis Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool’s gold …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/17/at-the-point-of-death/

To slip betimes away

Postscript: Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 By Christopher Buckley, December 16, 2011 … We were friends for more than thirty years, which is a long time but, now  that he is gone, seems not nearly long enough. I was rather nervous when I first  met him, one night in London in 1977, along with his great friend …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/17/to-slip-betimes-away/

Grow your own

The parable of the allotments By Julian Baggini, Thursday 15 December 2011 12.53 EST … Last week I challenged the idea that religiosity is more about practice than belief with evidence that most religious people appear to have a large number of traditional beliefs which they take to be important. However, I suggested that there …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/16/grow-your-own/

Militarised mendacity

Last Post in Iraq: this is the death knell of the American empire By George Galloway, Thursday 15 December 2011 09.30 EST … So the Yanks are going home. Apart from the thousands of their servicemen and women whose lifeblood they are leaving in the sands of Iraq, and the tens of thousands too maimed …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/16/militarised-mendacity/

Wise to fear

Was Democracy Just a Moment? By Robert D. Kaplan, Friday, December 16, 2011 … IN the fourth century A.D. Christianity’s conquest of Europe and the Mediterranean world gave rise to the belief that a peaceful era in world politics was at hand, now that a consensus had formed around an ideology that stressed the sanctity …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/16/wise-to-fear/

Dona nobis pacem

Peace on earth? The end of the Iraq war By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, 11:01 AM ET, 12/15/2011 … “Peace on earth!” (Luke 2:14) heralded the angels, announcing the birth of Jesus. It is appropriate, in this Advent season, when Christians wait for the announcement of the birth of Jesus, that we also receive the formal announcement …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/15/dona-nobis-pacem/

Outposts forever and Palestine Never

Newt Gingrich may be able to occupy Palestine, but Israel can’t By Bradley Burston, 15:17 13.12.11 … Speaker Gingrich, if you’re serious about becoming president, it’s time that you got to know us a bit better. Let’s start with the Occupation, our 44-year-long experiment in re-inventing the Palestinian people. This is what you need to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/12/14/outposts-forever-and-palestine-never/