Separatist States and Turkey: Nagorno-Karabakh and North Cyprus

An article in a Greek online journal calls out Turkey for being incosistent in its support for sovereignty: it helped end the separatist state of Nagorno-Karabakh, yet it continues to support Northern Cyprus. This discussion does not concern the Peace of Westphalia directly; it is, at most, about sovereignty, which Westphalia was not about. On …

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Good News in Ukraine

There hasn’t been much news about the Ukraine war for the last 6-9 months, as it appears to have fallen into a stalemate and the summer offensives have achieved little. The good news is that this has finally inspired Ukraine’s supporters to begin urging the country to consider negotiations. The best outcome for this war …

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An Adventist Take on Spinoza

I was surprised to find an article in a Seventh-Day Adventist journal praising Baruch Spinoza. Adventists tend toward literal interpretations of scripture — their very name concerns the literal interpretation of the Sabbath — and Spinoza’s view of religion is high metaphorical. In some ways, it is hardly compatible with a traditional understanding of God, …

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Sabbatai Zevi

We generally associate 1492 with Columbus’s voyage to the Americas, but it was a remarkably eventful year in other respect. Even without leaving the confines of Spain, it was the year that the Reconquista was completed and the year that Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews. Similarly, 1648 is known to the West primarily as …

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Osnabrück Linen

Today I learned that Osnabrück, one of the two cities where the Peace of Westphalia was negotiated, is noted for its linen cloth. It is not a fine cloth but a very course weave, known generically in the English-speaking world as “Osnaburg” (and elsewhere under similar names). It is noted for having been commonly used …

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Osnabrück Peace Prize

I learned something new this week. Osnabrück, one of the two cities where the Peace of Westphalia was negotiated, was the birthplace of German author Erich Maria Remarque. Remarque, as it happens, is most famous for his novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Im Westen Nichts Neues), which has a pacifist theme that runs …

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