Albus Dumbledore

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on the atlas — 9

highlights — 29

Students feel it is more important to get an A or to build their resume to get a particular job than it is to be exposed to new, different, or challenging content material.
Has Higher Education in the United States Lost Its Way? | The MIT Press Reader
Higher education capital (HEDCAP) is the term we use to describe a student’s ability to attend, analyze, reflect, connect, and communicate on issues of importance.
Has Higher Education in the United States Lost Its Way? | The MIT Press Reader
Another surprising finding was the egocentrism of students — our students use the world “I” and “me” 11 times as much as “we,” “us,” or “our.”
Has Higher Education in the United States Lost Its Way? | The MIT Press Reader
Rather it was issues of mental health, and a sense of belonging or alienation. The exceptions to the point about free speech occurred right before or after a controversial speaker came to campus. We have continued to interview students after our study was completed — and it is true that at select schools, students sometimes feel silenced, afraid to say what they think. They are afraid that they will be misinterpreted, judged, and cancelled. We find that on the whole, students are uncomfortable discussing ethical issues.
Has Higher Education in the United States Lost Its Way? | The MIT Press Reader
So society started talking about it because there are so many deaths. But, unfortunately, I don’t see any sympathy for Ukraine, which is a very hard thing to say.
The Purges in Putin’s Shrinking Inner Circle | The New Yorker
And, unfortunately, social media is basically the only place we actually can do that in the country. Given how strong Russian censorship is, where you cannot call the war a war and all that, social media is the only means to get access to this information.
The Purges in Putin’s Shrinking Inner Circle | The New Yorker
So it was a multitude of people, but now it looks like, starting in 2016, 2017, this circle has been getting smaller and smaller. And what I’m getting from my sources is that, these days, Putin listens to only three or four people.
The Purges in Putin’s Shrinking Inner Circle | The New Yorker
So Putin doesn’t think the over-all invasion plan, or the military dimensions of it, were necessarily wrong. But he’s upset with both how much intelligence America had and the political response within Ukraine to the invasion?
The Purges in Putin’s Shrinking Inner Circle | The New Yorker
Sanctions rarely change a regime’s ideology or behavior. Russia will, no doubt, face severe economic pain for its invasion of Ukraine.
Why Sanctions Too Often Fail | The New Yorker
The Biden Administration said that the new sanctions on Russia were based on the “Iran model.” But four decades of embargoes and sanctions on Tehran have repeatedly failed to change the regime’s calculus. The U.S. first imposed sanctions after fifty-two American diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran, in 1979; it took fourteen months to free them. More sanctions were imposed in the mid-nineteen-eighties for state sponsorship of terrorism. Sanctions were intensified in the nineteen-nineties and again in 2005, amid suspicions about Iran’s ambition to make a nuclear bomb. In 2013, Tehran, under a…
Why Sanctions Too Often Fail | The New Yorker
The toll was horrific. By 1997, a third of Iraqi children were malnourished, according to UNICEF. In 1999, the Red Cross reported that the economy of Iraq—which once had one of the highest standards of living in the oil-rich Middle East—was “in tatters.” The suffering had little impact on Saddam
Why Sanctions Too Often Fail | The New Yorker
Russia benefits from a similar carve-out—for now. Western sanctions allow it to keep selling energy, the largest source of Moscow’s revenues. Last year, Russia earned a hundred and nineteen billion dollars from oil-and-gas sales—when the price averaged only sixty-nine dollars a barrel. This month, prices soared to a hundred and fifteen dollars a barrel. Even if the West, under mounting pressure, does opt to sanction Russian energy resources, it could backfire—creating an oil crisis in the West and driving up prices globally, while Russia simply switches to other buyers. (Many countries, notabl…
Why Sanctions Too Often Fail | The New Yorker
A poll by Savanta ComRes published on 18 March found that 59 per cent of Scots believed discussions about the timing of a second referendum should be put on hold due to the Russian war on Ukraine, including 43 per cent of SNP voters. Fifty-two per cent felt that the cost-of-living crisis also justifies a halt. Overall, 49 per cent said they would vote No were another independence referendum to be held now, up three points since the last Sevanta ComRes poll in January. Support for Yes had dropped by two points to 44 per cent. Independence is slipping down the list of voter priorities.
The SNP has missed its chance for Scottish independence - New Statesman
Sturgeon, curiously, continues to insist that a referendum will be held by the end of 2023, even though the most fervent nationalist must accept by now that this is next to impossible under current timescales and conditions. The moment is slipping away, not just from Sturgeon, but also perhaps for a generation – certainly for more than five years.
The SNP has missed its chance for Scottish independence - New Statesman
New Delhi’s Russia policy will change, gradually, but not because of American or Western pressure. Instead, it will change as a result of the growing strategic dissonance between the two, as Russia finds itself more and more beholden to China and uncomfortable questions are raised about India’s enormous dependence on Russian arms and how vulnerable it is to Russian behavior.
The Democracy Turning Its Back on Ukraine - The Atlantic
Nevertheless, India does not want to entirely give up on Russia. In addition to its historical ties and its arms dependence, a core tenet of Indian foreign policy has long been the desire to maintain good, stable relations with all major powers, including Russia, and not be beholden to just one. New Delhi also would not like to be perceived as changing its Russia policy under pressure from the West, especially the United States.
The Democracy Turning Its Back on Ukraine - The Atlantic
India’s stance is about more than historical bonds, though, and hinges on a more material condition: India is deeply dependent on Russian weapons. Despite New Delhi’s efforts in the past decade to diversify its defense supplies, analysts estimate that up to 85 percent of the country’s military equipment is of Russian or Soviet origin. Even now, India is buying three more Kilo-class submarines from Russia—it already has nine such vessels in its navy—as well as 400 Russian T-90 main battle tanks, adding to the Indian army’s existing fleet of more than 1,000 T-90s. In fact, the Indian tank invent…
The Democracy Turning Its Back on Ukraine - The Atlantic
The reality was, of course, a lot more complicated. Soviet support to India was neither consistent nor unconditional. For instance, in 1962, during the Sino-Indian border war, Moscow abandoned India because it needed China’s support during the Cuban missile crisis. Similarly, in the late ’60s, it adopted a neutral position as it sought to play the honest broker between India and Pakistan.
The Democracy Turning Its Back on Ukraine - The Atlantic
The deep Indian strategic empathy toward Russia is rooted in India’s post-colonial heritage, a strong and understandable anti-Western sentiment that is largely the consequence of British colonial rule. During the Cold War, this transmuted into anti-Americanism, and India, though officially a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, was closer with Moscow than with Washington.
The Democracy Turning Its Back on Ukraine - The Atlantic
After understanding the access needs of dyslexic people, my personal preference is for something in between serif and sans serif that balances a clean look with the need for distinguishing letter forms. (Wow, I guess I’m nonbinary in every way).
The controversy of accessible type | by Alex Chen | Queer Design Club | Medium
The overarching message in accessibility is: listen to disabled people. Many people in the disability community prefer fonts like Comic Sans. Despite it being the bane of practically every designer’s existence, it’s very accessible. Why? According to Critical Axis, Comic Sans is more legible because it has bulbous curves and disproportionate lines. All these characteristics help people differentiate letters more when they read.
The controversy of accessible type | by Alex Chen | Queer Design Club | Medium
Such involvement, however, remains below a threshold for escalation that has been tacitly established by past experience. For example, the Soviets supplied the North Koreans and the Chinese in their war against Americans in Korea in the 1950s, and again supplied the Vietnamese communists against Americans in the 1960s.
The No-Fly Zone Delusion | Foreign Affairs
But that is hardly probable: after all, Moscow has already gambled on a war that it claims was motivated in the first place by a threat from NATO, the war’s earliest phase has produced embarrassing results for the Russian military, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to do anything that might look like a retreat in the face of a NATO ultimatum.
The No-Fly Zone Delusion | Foreign Affairs
The idea of a limited no-fly zone aims primarily to protect corridors through which civilians can escape, safe from Russian air strikes. But in the first couple of weeks of war, at least, Russian air operations have not been the main problem. Artillery and missiles fired from the ground have done far more damage than Russian bombers, and a no-fly zone would have little effect on such attacks.
The No-Fly Zone Delusion | Foreign Affairs
He could argue that one of the reasons why it is important and necessary for him to have a third term is so that he can deliver common prosperity and solve the problem of inequality. Therefore I expected the messaging around common prosperity to ramp up this year, and get more specific and ambitious over time. Instead, it has turned more low-key.
What happened to common prosperity? | Andrew Batson's Blog
These contradictions make it hard to propose specific policies that would actually achieve the objectives of common prosperity, and even to articulate concrete objectives in the first place. That’s why I think common prosperity is more of a political campaign of gestures and symbolism than a technocratic economic agenda.
What happened to common prosperity? | Andrew Batson's Blog
Ironically, Putin’s launch of a traditional invasion of Ukraine today is a more strategically reckless act than those Stalin committed. The Georgian was a prolific killer but in diplomacy and war, he was cautious: his 1939 invasion of Finland was agreed with Hitler as part of a carve-up of eastern Europe, his 1945 takeover of eastern Europe was agreed with the US and UK. He never acted on a solo whim like Putin has in Ukraine. But like Putin in Ukraine, Stalin grossly underestimated the brave patriotic ingenuity of his enemy: the Finns killed more than 100,000 Russians. And similar to Putin, S…
Why Putin is beholden to Stalin's legacy - New Statesman
Stalin regarded Lenin’s structure as a façade to control Ukraine but to Putin it was “separating, severing what’s historically Russian land”. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin came to power. He paid lip service to the union and, as Putin put it, “ruled in his own way” – a totalitarian dictatorship – but Stalin was determined that Ukraine must stay Soviet at any cost. Any national aspirations must be smashed.
Why Putin is beholden to Stalin's legacy - New Statesman
Stalin lived for 20 years as a secret revolutionary, in and out of prisons and Siberia in senescent tsardom; Putin rose as a minor KGB operative in the monumental stagnance of Soviet bureaucracy. Stalin believed that socialism could only be delivered “through a social system of bloodletting” – in other words, murder and terror. Stalin killed as many as 20 million innocent people; 18 million entered his gulag camps; many never returned.
Why Putin is beholden to Stalin's legacy - New Statesman