“I and the public know/ What all schoolchildren learn/ Those to whom evil is done/ do evil in return.” — W. H. Auden | Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – There were elements in Ireland whose anger against Britain overwhelmed any other sentiment. Three hundred years of settler colonialism, dispossession and denigration of […]
In Celtic Culture, August 1 is a Harvest Feast for the Sun-God, Lugh, and its Traces are All Around Us
Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – We are approaching August 1 which, in Scottish and Irish tradition, is the Feast of Lughnasadh (La Lunasa), also known as Lammas Day. It is one of the four most important festival days in Celtic countries and was originally meant to celebrate Lugh’s birth. Lugh (pronounced Lu or […]
What Can Be Said After So Much Grief, so Many Guns?
Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – What more can be said with so much grief, after the spate of recent gun violence around the country? Can anything be added that has not already been said. The same questions have been haunting the country over the past two decades. Why do mass shootings appear to […]
The Ukraine Invasion and the Weight of the Crimean War: “We hate most those we harm the most”
Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – There are some fascinating similarities between the Crimean War of the 1850s and the Ukraine War of 2022. According to Norman Rich, author of “The Crimean War” its main purpose was the containment of an expanding Russia as European powers had become fearful of Russia’s extension of power […]
The Welshman who Founded Donetsk, Ukraine, and Why a War is a Disaster for Russia
Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – In the 18th century a migration took to the Donbas region of Ukraine which Tsarist Russia named “New Russia” after rich coal resources were discovered. The man who was chosen to facilitate mining and to develop steel mills was John Hughes who was born in Wales. He had […]
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