Heretics' almanac

Happy May 17th

Today, May 17th, is Norway's Constitution Day. As the date of the signing of the Norwegian constitution in Eidsvoll in 1814 - it commemorates a critical milestone in Norwegian history. But it has also become a rite of spring, a festive, colorful day after a monochromatic winter. May 17th in 1945 followed just a few days after liberation, reinforcing its significance.

But Norwegian independence is a notion that is undergoing change. Whereas the framers of the original constitution wished to establish a state for people of a common ethnicity (going so far as to exclude Jews and monastic orders from Norway as a constitutional matter and making Lutheranism the official religion), Norway is rapidly evolving into something else. Economically, Norway is becoming increasingly dependent on trading partners. The population is growing more diverse, not just ethnically but in every other way.

Paul's travails at the World Bank

I am strangely ambivalent about Paul Wolfowitz. It's not that the whole neoconservative foreign policy outlook has - as it turns out - much going for it; but I thought there was at least something refreshing about the theory of viral democracy as a means to peace in the war. Starting a war to institute democracy is just one of those bizarre propositions that should get anyone interested. How can anything be so cynical (let's start a war) and idealistic (democracy will solve all problems) at the same time?

So I'm not sure he deserves all the crap he's getting about Shaha Riza. He was upfront about his relationship with her, immediately conceded that she needed to move out of his scope of management, and it wasn't entirely illogical to somehow compensate her for having been pushed out.