I was taking my mother to Ash Wednesday services when Father Gargantutus stuck his massive thumb the holy ash-pot and put the sign of the cross on my forehead. That was when I saw a falling black snow of soot drifting onto my hands, shirt and pants. I resisted to…

Sitting on the black leather couch in the salon doré in his gilt office in the Elysée Palace, France’s president Emmanuel Marcon isn’t happy. He’s furious and — quit smirking — is a very French kind of fury: Rooted on the unshakable belief that France is special among nations, fated…

In 1939, Winston Churchill said, “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in mystery inside of an enigma.” It was more bewilderment than sneer, although he was as famously as anti-Bolshevik as pro-American. President Roosevelt liked Churchill, but not enough to keep him…

It’s a name you need to know, if for no other reason that it works so well. A Cold War innovation from behind the Iron Curtain that has found new life. Unlike that other enduring socialist innovation of mass famine (which really is only possible with lots of central planning)…

On 24 February 1902 at least one of Cuba’s revolution actually achieved its goals and got stamped as Cuban Independence Day. It didn’t last and by any practical definition of the word, they lost it 50 years later. Like salsa dancing, Cuban history isn’t exactly straightforward to the gringo. They…

Brandy — the liquor, not the short-lived singing sensation — has two seeming incompatible image problems. Most people think of it as either the favorite of either a) the stodgy British upper class or b) a decidedly more urban hip hop sorts or their hangers on. …

Even in Iraq’s Shi’a south, the local Arabs mock the Persians across the Shatt al-Arab waterway for worshipping fire. It’s a little pre-Muslim dig at Zoroastrianism’s central symbol. To the frustration of Iran’s mullahs, old habits die hard — Zoroastrian style wedding ceremonies involving prayers around a fire are so…

Every night for the last week — the nights have been clear — they come out at precisely 8:00 o’clock to bang the pots and pans, the traditional method for driving out evil spirits. Less traditionally, young women are parading in the streets of Yangon in Disney princess dresses. There…

The Arab Spring Ten Years On — The Hotel Juliana in Benghazi is a modern, clean place with western toilets (always check this before-hand) and enough hot water if you don’t linger. The Wi-Fi is good, which explains the nightly crowd in the lobby smoking, drinking fruit juice, checking smart phones and speaking in the time-honored Arab…