Less than 10 percent of the way into the book (to be fair, my edition weighs in at just under 900 pages), I’m liking In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century by Geert Mak a great deal, and looking forward to the rest.

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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has officially dissolved the parliament, and new elections are set for December 7. He made no secret of why he thought the coalition broke up:

The democratic coalition - I am convinced, deeply convinced - was destroyed with only one thing – personal ambition. The personal ambition of one individual which [...]

Five years, one month and one day ago, A Fistful of Euros went live with its first posts.
Thanks to David, for getting the ball rolling and keeping it rolling; thanks to Tobias for keeping the back end running and the front end looking good; thanks to all of the writers; thanks to the commenters, [...]

Okay, someweird stuff has come out of Russia. Weird stuff comes out of everywhere, no biggy.
But this is… really weird.
If any Russian readers can give some context to this, I’d be fascinated.

Sadly, No reads Anne Applebaum so you don’t have to. Hijinks ensue.

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Quoth Clif:
What people on the street in Poland (or elsewhere) think of Obama because he’s black isn’t [...]

Switzerland’s roster for their opening game (loss to the Czech Republic) contained a reminder of one of the wonderful ways I misspent my youth.

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Number 14.

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Haven’t we seen this movie before? Will it be any better this time? Can Italy afford another round of Silvi B?
I know what could make this a great term of office! Start a new campaign: Tyrolia is only Italian! Because it’s worked so well for Greece…
Update: I see that David is as enthusiastic as I [...]

Not too long ago, Doug Muir wrote about why Nagorno-Karabakh may be coming soon to a front page near you. Back in the mid-1990s, I wrote something much longer on the conflict there. (PDF, ca. 500K) Money quote:
Two of the least useful questions for consideration of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are “Who’s right?” and “When [...]

Via the invaluable B92 website comes a nasty little story from Albania.
In her book, “The Hunt”, to be published in Italy on April 3, the former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte states that, during investigations into war crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, against Serbs and other non-Albanians, the prosecutor’s office [...]

Gary Gygax died in Wisconsin, age 69.