Russia Goes for Gold in Hooliganism

The Future World Cup Host’s Latest International Sporting Event Antics Only Deepen the Kremlin’s Sense of Isolation

In authoritarian political systems, sports take on outsized importance. After all, national greatness is part of the bargain. A measure of democratic freedom is traded for strength and victory, whether on the battlefield or in the stadium. That logic holds for Vladimir Putin’s Russia, too—which is why you could say Putin has had very bad month.

In France, at the Euro Cup, the violence of Russian hooligans almost got the national team banned before a humiliating loss to Wales took care of that, sending the Russians home doubly embarrassed. Days …

Why Early 20th-Century Muckraker Lincoln Steffens Is a Man For Our Times

The New York Political Reporter Understood Political Corruption Was About a Warped System, Not Just Immoral Politicians

Voters are in a bad mood. Again. We are routinely (and justifiably) frustrated with our politicians, but “throwing the bums out” doesn’t seem to change much. And we are all …

Did Mexico’s Decency Die With Chespirito?

The Loss of a TV Legend Whose Characters Were Defined by Their Kindness Coincides with a National Crisis of Morality

Latin America’s “little Shakespeare,” or “Chespirito,” the most famous TV personality ever in the Spanish language world, died late last month. The only dispute surrounding his towering legacy is over …

This Is What Outrage Looks Like in Mexico City

Images of the Protestors Who Took to the Streets to Ask Their Government for Accountability—and an End to Violence

Mexicans have taken to social media, and to the streets, to express their outrage at the disappearance in late September of 43 students from a rural teachers’ college in the …

Mexico’s Outrage over Los 43

After the Mass Disappearance of Students in Guerrero, Mexicans Are Refusing to Accept Violence as Usual

Forty three students from a small rural teachers’ college in Mexico’s mountainous southern backwater have jolted this nation out of its decade-long immunity to a proper outrage to mass violence, …