Violence
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The Massacre of Sabra and Shatila
On this day in 1982, a Christian Lebanese militia known as the Phalange carried out a massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut, killing between 460 to 3,500 civilians. The killings went on for three days, under the watch of various forces, including the Israeli and Lebanese armies, which did… Continue reading
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The Cop Who Threw Himself at a Suicide Bomber
Afghanistan’s reputation as a lawless, war-torn place is perhaps surpassed only by its reputation for rampant corruption (which doubtless accounts for the intractability of many of its other problems). Yet millions of Afghans risk their lives everyday in the hopes of creating a better society for themselves and their children, and tens of thousands more… Continue reading
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World War Three?
I think people are too quick to invoke World War Three after every diplomatic scuffle, arms race, or rising tensions. Over the last two centuries, since the advent of the international system, there have been literally hundreds, if not thousands, of potential flash points for global war. Only twice did it result in global conflict,… Continue reading
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Violence Worldwide
While citizens across the Western World lament a growing sense of fear and vulnerability to violent crime and terrorism, the World Economic Forum has issued a report showing that most of the world’s lethal violence, be it homicide, war, or terrorism, is concentrated in only a handful of countries and regions. Indeed, as the above visual data show,… Continue reading
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The Disparity in Terrorism Between the West and the Rest
It goes without saying that North America, Europe, and the wider developed world are much safer in all sorts of ways than anywhere else on Earth. Terrorism in particular is especially rare nowadays, to the point that it captures a disproportionate amount of our attention despite being one of the least common forms of death or… Continue reading
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The World Has Never Been More Peaceful
Over at Slate, Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack, two leading proponents of humanity’s moral progress, make their provocative case as to why the world is far safer and less violent than ever before. First, they explain why the vast majority of people think the world is in an historically worst state than it really was. A lot… Continue reading
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Violence and the American Dream
It is often argued that the United States is an inherently violent country, more so than most other wealthy, stable democracies. From its birth following a revolutionary war, to the enduring mythos of the Wild West and the uniquely enshrined (though much contested) right to individual gun ownership, the U.S. does seem to have bravado intricately… Continue reading
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The Murder Capitals of the World
According to a report by the Mexican NGO Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCSP-JP by its Spanish acronym), the majority of the world’s most murderous cities — 42 out of the top 50 — are found in Latin America. A chart by The Economist breaks down these grim results in stark visual terms.… Continue reading
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The Centennial of the Armenian Genocide
Today marks the 100th anniversary of one of the modern world’s first genocides, in which 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children were systematically slaughtered by the Ottoman government. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia: The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day Ottoman authorities rounded up and arrested,… Continue reading
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The 20th Century’s First Genocide
If you ask most people what the first modern genocide was, they would point to either the Holocaust carried out over the course of the 1940s, or the increasingly better-known Armenian Genocide of that began in 1915. But the first systematic mass murder of an entire people to kick off an unfortunate slew of others… Continue reading
About Me
Humanist | Bibliophile | Writer | Wiki Editor | World Citizen | Esquire (J.D. / LL.M.)
Sarvodaya 