Daniel Aaron Lazar

ABUJA, Nigeria — More than 100 people have been killed in a series of attacks in northern Nigeria’s largest city in what appears to be the deadliest strike yet by a radical Islamist group.

The attackers in Kano on Friday evening struck eight government security buildings, the national police said, including the regional police headquarters, two local police stations, the local headquarters of the State Security Service, the home of a police official and the state police command headquarters.

The radical sect Boko Haram, which has carried out an escalating campaign of violence in its battle to impose its version of Islamic law across Nigeria, claimed responsibility. A letter distributed to reporters on Saturday said the attacks in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, were retribution for the arrests and killings of members of the sect.

Residents in Kano described bloody scenes of chaos and confusion as bombs exploded and gunmen started shooting in the street.

At least 143 people had been killed.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been criticized for failing to act against Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds of Nigerians in the past year, said in a statement that he was “greatly saddened” by the attacks and that he promised that “all those involved in that dastardly act would be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

In Kano, where state authorities declared a 24-hour curfew, shellshocked residents stayed in their homes.

Kano, a city of more than nine million people, is a major political and religious center in the predominantly Muslim north. About half of Nigeria’s 160 million people are Muslim.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden” in the local Hausa language, has focused its attacks mainly on government and police sites in the north, and has also threatened to kill any Christians living there. The group carried out a series of attacks on churches last Christmas. Last summer, the sect appeared to broaden its focus when it attacked the national police headquarters in the capital, Abuja, and the United Nations building there, killing at least 23 people.

“Unless somebody goes in to negotiate,” he said, “we are in for a long siege.”

Mike Daisey was a self-described “worshipper in the cult of Mac.” Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.

It seems that our fetishization of new technology has blinded us to blatant abuse of the workers of the world. This is a much needed reminder and a critical view of Foxconn.

For all its stolid reputation, Germany has become surprisingly flexible. But it needs to keep working at it.

Check out The Economists’ take on modern German economics and political culture.

Twisted tale of Stalin’s daughter offers insight into Stalin and his system.

After three hundred years of union, Scots are to be given the chance to vote for independence. The offer of a legally-binding referendum, probably in 2014, comes from David Cameron, who is not just prime minister of the United Kingdom but also leader of an outfit formally known as the Conservative and Unionist Party. It is more than a remarkable concession. Since the Scots may indeed plump for independence, it is also quite a risk…

Mr Cameron wants a straight in-or-out question. Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which dominates the legislature in Edinburgh, is not so sure. He has said he favours a simple question. But he also points out there is a powerful view in Scotland that the country ought to be given more powers, taking it just to the brink of independence—“devolution max”, as it is known. Perhaps the referendum should reflect this view by offering three choices. Or perhaps two questions should be asked at the same time: whether Scotland should become independent, and whether it should acquire more powers…

Secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing have shown there was no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square when China put down student pro-democracy demonstrations 22 years ago.

“James Miles, who was the BBC correspondent in Beijing at the time, admitted that he had “conveyed the wrong impression” and that “there was no massacre on Tiananmen Square. Protesters who were still in the square when the army reached it were allowed to leave after negotiations with martial law troops [ ...] There was no Tiananmen Square massacre, but there was a Beijing massacre”.

What!?

Why did he “convey the wrong impression”?

Well at least there was still a Beijing Massacre. I guess.

Most polls reveal that Abraham Lincoln is the best president in U.S. history. In Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, he discusses the “mystic chords of memory.” Americans have a curious way of remembering Lincoln.

The discerning history student ought to be curious about the ways in which Lincoln has and has not earned his exalted place in American history.

In order to assess the extent to Lincoln was “the greatest” president, “a military genius”, “a master of the English language”, “a true American hero”, etc. we are going to:

1. Define great leadership
2. Read documents and answer questions about Lincoln’s presidency with a focus on the following themes:
   • Lincoln & His Cabinet
   • Lincoln & Slavery
   • Lincoln as Orator
   • Lincoln as Commander in Chief
   • Lincoln & Congress
3. Analyze these articles in small groups, then present findings to the class
4. Based on our reading, assess the extent to which Lincoln earned his exalted place as a great leader in American history.

Lincoln and his Cabinet: Listen to this short interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin and read this Times book review of Goodwin’s Team of Rivals by James MacPherson

Lincoln & Slavery: Listen to this interview with Eric Foner

Lincoln’s Oratory: Read Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Words by Ted Sorensen and listen to this interview with Ronald White about Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Lincoln as Commander in Chief: Read this book review of James MacPherson’s Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief and Lincoln’s letter to McClellan

Lincoln and Congress: Read this review of Earnest Men: Republicans of the Civil War Senate

There are reading questions for all five themes. Get them here and respond thoughtfully.

If this discussion of Lincoln is of interest, you are cordially invited to:

• Check out this video panel discussion of “Looking for Lincoln: In His Time and In Ours“
• Watch this video of Foner on Lincoln and His World
• Watch this video of Richard Cawardine dissecting Lincoln 
• Deal with this tough question, Was Lincoln a Racist?
• Read Time Magazine’s Presidents’ Day Tribute to Lincoln

Here is a PDF copy of the whole book Will Durant: Caesar and Christ

Two short articles. One on China and Tibetan Buddhism, the other on China vs. the Vatican.

A Briton in America notices something about comparative politics. Britain’s House of Commons reeks of conflict. The rival parties glare at one another from opposite benches. Debates are barbed and sometimes vicious—especially during the gladiatorial spectacle of prime minister’s questions. America’s Congress is different. Members of the House of Representatives sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the shape of a horseshoe. Debates, such as they are, are marked by an exaggerated decorum. The casual observer might easily conclude that America has the more consensual form of politics and Britain the more adversarial.