Unca Darrell

JULY 9 / Stratfor on the U.S.-Russia summit

THE IMPORTANT NEWS from the summit was as follows: first, no one screwed up, and second, U.S.-Russian relations did not get worse -- and might actually have improved.

JULY 1 / Uncreative destruction in Cambodia

WHILE the Obama administration was working out details of how to bulldoze urban neighborhoods to save them, Unca D helpfully listed a couple of other leaders who fundamentally transformed their counties with similar programs -- Nicholae Ceaucescu in Romania and and Julius Nyerere in Tanzania. 

"Good entry," wrote one reader, "but . . . .

JUNE 29 / Signs of a failing revolution

STRATFOR's unconventional wisdom on Iran:

JUNE 29 / Sounds right to me

CRITIC BENJAMIN IVRY has blistered the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

JUNE 9 / Supply and demand at work in China's marriage market

IF DEMOGRAPHY is destiny, it is the destiny of young men in China to be very, very lonely. The one-child policy plus gender-specific abortion -- a curiously neutral label for scraping little girls out of wombs -- equals China with a reported surplus of 32 million men under the age of 30. 

JUNE 6 / D-Day plus 65 years

MY FATHER was a sergeant in the service company, so he did not go to Omaha Beach with the rest of the 62nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion on D-Day, sixty-five years ago this day. Several accounts have been written about the unit's bravery. My favorite, however . . .

MAY 23 / A good work for Memorial Day weekend

THIS MEMORIAL DAY weekend, let's remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion. But let's also honor those serving now by reaching out to someone in the military with a card, a letter, or an email. If you don't know someone, let me suggest . . .

MAY 20 / But does it ever screen "The Commitments?"

HOUSTON has a great Irish studies center, one of the best in the nation. Go here for details.

MAY 14 / Go see "Rock 'n' Roll"

TOM STOPPARD's "Rock 'n' Roll," like most Stoppard plays, is worth your time. It's running at the Alley through May 24.

MAY 7 / George Friedman on continuity and change in foreign affairs

While many of his followers may be dismayed, and while many of his critics might be unwilling to notice, the fact is that a single concept dominated Obama's first hundred days: continuity.