Author: james chamberlin

  • Light and Quantum Physics

    https://aeon.co/videos/the-physics-revolution-that-started-with-the-flicker-of-a-lightbulb

  • Light

    Light

    https://aeon.co/videos/our-universe-has-light-not-by-chance-but-by-necessity?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=424142ef75-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_01_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-62b901ec41-838276243

  • Mark Carney’s Speech

    TRANSCRIPT: Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada Rebukes U.S. Primacy at Davos Jan. 20, 2026 The Canadian leader warned that middle powers need to stand together or they’ll find themselves “on the menu.” •

  • Civic Virtue

    Civic Virtue

    The following is from Wikipedia, which you can read there, but it seems so pertinent to the United States today that I am repeating some of it here. Civic virtue is a concept that refers to the set of habits, values, and attitudes that promote the general welfare and the effective functioning of a society. Closely linked…

  • The Importance of Values in International Affairs

    The Importance of Values in International Affairs

    An article in Foreign Affairs by Alexander Stubb, the President of Finland, stresses the importance of a country’s values to its role in international affairs. He says: Foreign policy is often based on three pillars: values, interests, and power. These three elements are key when the balance and dynamics of…

  • Ian Bremmer on Morality in International Affairs

    Ian Bremmer on Morality in International Affairs

    Ian Bremmer’s email regarding Trump’s new National Security Strategy echoes David Brooks’ article about the need for morality in America’s national life. Ian Bremmer writes: What’s most striking to me about this document isn’t any specific policies, but what it reveals about values. Increasingly, the United States and Europe don’t…

  • David Brooks on the Importance of Morality in National Life

    David Brooks on the Importance of Morality in National Life

    David Brooks wrote in the Atlantic: So how can neoconservative thinking help us today? The first big lesson of neoconservatism is that character is destiny. That lesson applies whether you’re talking about the character of a leader, an organization, or a nation. If you disregard truth—as many Republicans plainly do…

  • Amb. Bill Burns on the Foreign Service

    Amb. Bill Burns on the Foreign Service

    In an article in The Atlantic, Amb. Bill Burnes decries the damage done to the Foreign Service and other government institutions by the Trump administration. This is not about reform. It is about retribution. It is about breaking people and breaking institutions by sowing fear and mistrust throughout our government. It…

  • The US Foreign Service Is at the Breaking Point

    The US Foreign Service Is at the Breaking Point

    The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) has issued a report, “At the Breaking Point” documenting the destructive measures taken against the Foreign Service and Foreign Service officers. Here is the executive summary of the report. •

  • My Assignment to the  Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

    My Assignment to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

    Notes of an S&T officer ACDA In 1982 after my INR assignment, I took an assignment in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), which was not part of the State Department.  ACDA was an independent agency created by President Kennedy in 1961; it was abolished in 1999.  According to…