ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION CHALLENGES On the 20th anniversary of America’s illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003 on the false pretext that Hussein was still harbouring weapons of mass destruction, Hans Blix recalls in a short video a very key point: multilateral verification can — and did — work spectacularly well: [By Visit the Rideau Institute for the complete article
Fear and the Feeble Foundations of Ideology
I recently read the monumental essay “The Power of the Powerless” (1978) by Soviet dissident Václav Havel and immediately began to draw parallels between how he describes socialist oppression and what I understand of diabolical oppression. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Creating Christ: Challenging Christian Origins
As Creating Christ will have it, Christianity as we know it was more or less invented, or at least redirected, by two members of the Flavian dynasty, Emperor Vespasian and his son (and eventual emperor) Titus, as a way of enforcing docility on zealous Jewish sects who wanted pagan Rome out of Jerusalem and out of their lives. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The Adam Smith We Need
There are two reasons to read Glory M. Liu’s new comprehensive book, Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism. The first is that if you are a student of economics or history, there is a remarkable amount of well-documented information packaged into a logically sequential analysis that is well worth your time. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Ad-Copy Gospel and the Christian Marketing Dilemma
With perhaps the exception of the recent Asbury revival, it’s rare to see Christianity referenced in popular culture in a positive way. Be it debates over Christian nationalism or the tragically unending list of church abuse scandals, Christianity’s portrayal within modern media often swings on a doom-and-gloom pendulum, between the cheery endpoints of authoritarianism and abuse. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
What Greek tragedy can teach us about ending the war in Ukraine
UKRAINE UPDATE: WHAT GREEK TRAGEDY CAN TEACH US Dr. Nicolai Petro is a leading expert on Ukraine and in particular what has been called its “rival identities”. Dr. Petro’s latest book is unique in amplifying the voices of the ‘other Ukraine’. On Tuesday, 28 February 2022, Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Program Visit the Rideau Institute for the complete article
The Asbury Revival in the Long Run
Sometimes God works and speaks to people in mysterious ways. At other times, He is as blunt and obvious as a slap in the face. The recent Asbury revival in Wilmore, Kentucky, qualifies as an example of the latter. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Getting Justice Right Is Harder than We Think
The question of justice is fundamental to human nature and all human cultures. Little children have an immediate sense of fair and unfair, just and unjust. The theme of justice permeates myth and philosophy. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Tár Falls Just Short of Greatness
One of this year’s Oscar darlings, Tár, also turns out to be the only major movie since #metoo to mount an attack on cancel culture. This is paradoxical, of course, as we see from the three nominations—Best Picture, Best Direction, and Best Original Screenplay—received by the artist behind the movie, Todd Field. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The Conservative and Christian Resistance to Hitler
When the Gestapo was uncovering a left-wing conspiracy to overthrow Hitler, they called it “the Red Orchestra.” But they began to realize that there was another resistance movement of far greater scope, reach, and effectiveness. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Pursuing peace in Ukraine, new nuke risks and more
UKRAINE, WAR AND PEACE On this horrific one-year anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, most Western analysts foresee a continued “war of attrition” with no end in sight. See, for example, Domestic Politics Encourage Continued War of Attrition in Ukraine in 2023 (Thomas Graham, russiamatters.org, 22 February 2023). Thomas Graham, former Visit the Rideau Institute for the complete article
Storytelling Is Freedom
When I was four years old—and for many years later—my favorite pastime was frog hunting. There was no swamp pond or quagmire I was unwilling to traverse in the name of a robust, amphibious catch. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
