Hattie Aldous
Zvërnec is forty minutes south of Vlorë, the sound is prettier than the news
The Flamingo Revolution has given the world a pleasing place name and an argument about language, land, and who decides what gets built where.
Beirut, Washington, Tehran: the geography of a negotiation
Lebanon insists only Beirut handles the peace talks with Israel — but the insistence itself tells you where the room is.
The Room Where It Happens
Pentagon teleconferences, preparatory calls, direct negotiations—peace talks are mostly rooms with very few people in them.
The particular sound of a consulate that is not there
Amid arrests and statements, the Istanbul incident reminds us that diplomatic architecture talks loudest when emptied.
The Skagerrak contains mackerel
A minor observation on the sound of place names in a week when they have carried rather a lot of weight.
Peru, or the difficulty of counting to thirty-five
In which thirty-five presidential candidates, a word in Quechua, and the phrase 'bicameral legislature' all turn out to mean the same thing.
The Empty Chair
Cape Verde's election produced a winner, but the real victor stayed home.