R.I.P. “Minnie”
… a.k.a. Cinnamon Sprinkle, a.k.a. Cinnamon Sparkle: Cornell’s beloved miniature horse, who arrived on campus the year I moved away. (See, also, this earlier piece.)
Now that’s the kind of alumni reporting I’d like more of.
Had I known Minnie was at Cornell, I would have taken Karin to see her when we traveled to campus for my PhD defense.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Happy New Year. Today, the USA attacked Venezuela and captured its head of state.
All day long, I worried about geopolitics, not least about soccer.
What will FIFA do about the World Cup? It would be consistent to ban the USA, since Russia is banned for attacking Ukraine.
If only.
What will CONMEBOL do about the Copa América? The USA is a hosting candidate but has just attacked a CONMEBOL member.
I went on Facebook to see what my “friends” are saying about the attack.
The Ecuadorian church leaders are silent. I don’t object to that. Not everything needs to be discussed.
Other Ecuadorians are making jokes about Venezuelans. Many Venezuelan refugees live in Ecuador. The jokes hint that now is the time for Venezuelans to return en masse.
(A Venezuelan says goodbye to her Ecuadorian sugar daddy.)
My U.S. “friends” who used to live in Ecuador are debating whether the coup is a canny U.S. foreign policy move; whether it’s good for Venezuela; whether Venezuelans, in preponderant numbers, support it; whether Maduro was entitled to rule; and whether “individualism” is better than “collectivism.”
I’ve seen none of these “friends,” none of them, say anything like this:
The geopolitical order is an order of sovereign states. An order of sovereign states forbids particular states from unilaterally attacking other states and deposing their leaders, even bad leaders.
It’s amazing how this simple norm, so dear to Latin Americans – including Venezuelans (even, I daresay, opponents of Maduro) – appears not to figure in ex-missionaries’ thinking.
What were they doing in Ecuador, all those years?
Not reading the room, it would seem.
Now that’s the kind of alumni reporting I’d like more of.
Had I known Minnie was at Cornell, I would have taken Karin to see her when we traveled to campus for my PhD defense.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Happy New Year. Today, the USA attacked Venezuela and captured its head of state.
All day long, I worried about geopolitics, not least about soccer.
What will FIFA do about the World Cup? It would be consistent to ban the USA, since Russia is banned for attacking Ukraine.
If only.
What will CONMEBOL do about the Copa América? The USA is a hosting candidate but has just attacked a CONMEBOL member.
I went on Facebook to see what my “friends” are saying about the attack.
The Ecuadorian church leaders are silent. I don’t object to that. Not everything needs to be discussed.
Other Ecuadorians are making jokes about Venezuelans. Many Venezuelan refugees live in Ecuador. The jokes hint that now is the time for Venezuelans to return en masse.
(A Venezuelan says goodbye to her Ecuadorian sugar daddy.)
My U.S. “friends” who used to live in Ecuador are debating whether the coup is a canny U.S. foreign policy move; whether it’s good for Venezuela; whether Venezuelans, in preponderant numbers, support it; whether Maduro was entitled to rule; and whether “individualism” is better than “collectivism.”
I’ve seen none of these “friends,” none of them, say anything like this:
The geopolitical order is an order of sovereign states. An order of sovereign states forbids particular states from unilaterally attacking other states and deposing their leaders, even bad leaders.
It’s amazing how this simple norm, so dear to Latin Americans – including Venezuelans (even, I daresay, opponents of Maduro) – appears not to figure in ex-missionaries’ thinking.
What were they doing in Ecuador, all those years?
Not reading the room, it would seem.