Category Archives: Global

Is Paddy Ashdown right? Is it time for an end to Sykes-Picot?

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

Paddy Ashdown had an unusually courageous article in the Guardian on Thursday calling for the West to accept that the 1920s-era boundaries of Middle Eastern countries should be redrawn. Courageous doesn’t mean sensible. How does his argument stack up? “This … Continue reading →

Posted in Global, Middle East | Comments Off on Is Paddy Ashdown right? Is it time for an end to Sykes-Picot?

Nobody loves themselves a conspiracy theory anywhere in the world like they love themselves one in the Middle East

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

The latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds in the Middle East: ISIS is a front established by the USA to legitimise a reinvasion of Iraq, and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is actually a Jewish actor called Shimon Eliot. (Of … Continue reading →

Posted in Global, Middle East | Comments Off on Nobody loves themselves a conspiracy theory anywhere in the world like they love themselves one in the Middle East

Feast of the Transfiguration: Thousands Face Death on the Mountain

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

#Yezidi refugees from #Shingal. Children, women and old people without water, food and safety! #TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/RhqhbmmWLg — êzîdîPress (@EzidiPress) August 3, 2014 Mountains are somewhere apart from the mainstream of the world. They are often gorgeous, above the general fray … Continue reading →

Posted in Global, Human Rights, Middle East | Comments Off on Feast of the Transfiguration: Thousands Face Death on the Mountain

Iraqi Christians in Parliament Square

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

I attended the national demonstration on the persecution of Iraqi Christians in Parliament Square, London on Saturday 26 July. There was a large turnout of Iraqi and other Middle Eastern Christians, a healthy and welcome presence of Iraqi Muslims, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Global, Human Rights, Middle East | Comments Off on Iraqi Christians in Parliament Square

Prisoners of Conscience on St John the Baptist’s Day

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gxMq7s0ELE I always had a good appetite as a child, getting stuck into seconds and more whenever I had the chance. My mother, observing this, would often remark, “Son, you’d eat the head of John the Baptist.” John the Baptist’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglicanism, Christianity, Global | Comments Off on Prisoners of Conscience on St John the Baptist’s Day

The Good Samaritan Visits North Belfast

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

And, behold, a certain pastor stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Global, Middle East, Northern Ireland | Comments Off on The Good Samaritan Visits North Belfast

Russia, China, Crimea, Xinjiang and Putin’s Risky Gambit

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

Crossposted at Slugger O’Toole with a few amendments of no particular significance to improve the readability… A friend on Facebook led me to this Ambrose Evans-Pritchard article in the Telegraph on the possible impact of Putin’s Crimea gambit on Sino-Russian … Continue reading →

Posted in Global | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Russia, China, Crimea, Xinjiang and Putin’s Risky Gambit

Italy’s Five Star Movement – is this what The End of History looks like?

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Gerry Lynch

Cross-posted at Slugger O’Toole and Lucid Talk… In 1992, Francis Fukayama predicted in The End of History that the end of the Cold War would impend not only an era of triumphant liberal-democratic capitalism, but one where political evolution had … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, Europe, Global | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Italy’s Five Star Movement – is this what The End of History looks like?

Wealth and Poverty In Brazil

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Gerry Lynch

Income inequality in Brazil – a favela nestles against a luxury high rise development. Thanks to @fascinatingpics on Twitter. Favelas of Brazil. The boundary between wealth and poverty. Perspective. twitter.com/Fascinatingpic… — Fascinating Pictures (@Fascinatingpics) February 20, 2013

Posted in Economic Inequality, Global | Comments Off on Wealth and Poverty In Brazil

Southern Poverty Pimps?

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Gerry Lynch

Buried in this Salon article provocatively entitled ‘Southern Poverty Pimps’ is an interesting indirect observation that promoting tax credits as opposed to a higher minimum wage amounts to an effective subsidy of employers who pay their staff badly by employers … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Inequality, Global, USA | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Southern Poverty Pimps?