A recent headline in The New York Times announced a grim but inevitable marker: The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has now reached 400 parts per million. Climatologists believe this is the highest concentration seen in 3 million years, since before the existence of humans. There is no credible reason to doubt that [...]
About Robert Zaller
Robert Zaller is a professor of history at Drexel University. He can be reached at op-ed@thetriangle.org.Author Archive | Robert Zaller
Is capitalism a crime?
Recently I ran across an article in The New York Times on business ethics. Business and ethics? Isn’t that an oxymoron? The author, Jesse Eisinger, suggested that banks and investors will routinely “forgive rotten ethics for good returns.” Not the most elegantly turned phrase, but, excuse me, doesn’t “rotten ethics” mean no ethics at all? [...]
“Cutting the Grass”
The Israelis call it “cutting the grass.” Every so often, the level of rocket fire coming from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip into Israel rises from the level of nuisance to that of provocation, just as the weeds in your garden grow naturally to an unsightly height. At that point, it’s time to take out the [...]
Massive monuments to mammon
I don’t recall anyone ever taking a poll of the faculty and staff who work in the MacAlister-Creese complex or the students who use it daily about whether they wanted the building to be permanently embalmed behind an academic version of the Twin Towers. I’ve taken my own private one, though, and have yet to [...]
Eric Holder and the day the Constitution died
Robert Zaller A round of patriotic holidays punctuate our calendar: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day. Lately, Sept. 17 has been celebrated as Constitution Day. Make that Constitution Memorial Day, though, because at just short of 225 years, the Constitution was officially pronounced dead March 5, 2012. The occasion [...]
Gunter Grass’ next controversy
Robert Zaller When was the last time a poem raised such a ruckus? Well, not really a poem, but a 67-line piece of doggerel titled “What Must Be Said.” Its author is Gunter Grass, the 1999 Nobel laureate in literature, last heard from in 2006 when he confessed to having joined the Waffen SS [...]
The dogs of war are unleashed
Robert Zaller President Barack Obama has said that it is time to reduce speculation about war with Iran. But who’s been doing the talking? American warships have been controversially sailing around the Strait of Hormuz for months, leading our president to declare publicly that “all options are on the table” to prevent Iran from [...]
It has been a bad year for tyrants
Robert Zaller The year 2011 will no doubt be remembered for many things. Tyrants will be glad that it’s over, although 2012 is so far proving no better. The bad news began in February, when a trivial-seeming incident — the rousting of a peddler from his accustomed stand by a female police officer in [...]
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor, The Feb. 3 edition of The Triangle contained two articles, one lamenting the decline in term-paper assignments and the consequent deficit in student intellectual skills, and the other noting the rise in Internet-abetted plagiarism. May I submit that these two issues are not unrelated? I have come to look first in the [...]
Exiting Iraq: But is the war over?
Robert Zaller Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta addressed a small gathering of marines, standing in front of a wall that looked as though it had been removed from the South Bronx. A five-piece band played. The colors were taken down and folded up. Panetta told the troops they were leaving with honor, their mission [...]
Vital time for occupy movement
Robert Zaller The Occupy Wall Street movement is now almost four months old. It began with the spontaneous occupation of Zuccotti Park, a private enclave adjacent to New York’s Financial District, and has since mushroomed across the country. Few, if any, major cities have lacked an occupation. Most have camped in public parks or, [...]
The annual Liberty Medal honors another villain
Robert Zaller Like the Eagles in the playoffs, the Liberty Medal is one of Philadelphia’s annual rites of shame. The city could sure use a break after stealing a neighbor’s art collection, having its orchestra pushed into bankruptcy, buying out its school superintendent with a small fortune, caving in to casino interests and anointing [...]
The tragedy visited on ourselves
Robert Zaller. The 10th anniversary observances for 9/11 are now over, thankfully. The images of that day are as painful as ever. But the thought of what has happened to us as a nation, and what we have become, is even more so. It is customary to speak of those who died on 9/11 as [...]
Crunch time: The Libyan fiasco
Robert Zaller May 20 was a significant date, although it may have passed you by. That was the 60th day of Operation Fiasco, our war in Libya, which by the War Powers Resolution of 1973, called for a report by President Barack Obama to the Congress and a request for authorization to continue combat. The [...]
Honoris causa: no honor, all cause
Robert Zaller I have always been mildly puzzled by the institution of the honorary degree. Prizes in general I think are a dubious commodity, but at least one can understand them: they exist for the purpose of being conferred. Academic degrees, though, normally have to be worked for. They’re given in recognition of the successful [...]
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