Archive Image

The Afghanistan Evacuation  

The Biden administration announced that it will accelerate plans to relocate Afghans who worked with the U.S. military. Their situation demands the most urgent response possible.



Archive Image

A Friend to the Dissidents  

The late Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal said his style was a “defense against politics.” But by collecting and describing the debris of life, he made the everyday seem mythic and earned the affection of the dissident movement.



Archive Image

Borrowed Time  

In Wong Kar Wai’s movies, nostalgia is the characters’ constant state. In 2046, a sense of imminent loss gives the director’s vision an edge of defiance.



Archive Image

Pyramids Everywhere  

American media blamed the massive collapse of Albanian pyramid schemes in 1997 on greedy small-time investors unschooled in the free market. It could never happen here.

















Archive Image

The Pandemic Risk Shift  

In the face of COVID-19, the political response has been at best temporary relief and at worst indifference. What we need going forward is not just better public health measures, but a response to the economic insecurities and policy failures that it laid bare.



Lima