# The National Debate: Why the World is Suddenly Talking About Borders, Belonging, and Belly Dances In a world that’s more connected than ever, you’d think we’d be past the whole “us vs. them” thing. But nope, here we are, with the concept of “national” trending globally, sparking debates, memes, and even a few belly…
Birthright Citizenship: The World’s Original Frequent-Flyer Program By Our Man in the Departures Lounge In the fluorescent-lit purgatory of international airports, babies still arrive with the same loophole their grandparents exploited: cry loud enough and the border officer stamps your passport with the ink of citizenship, no credit check required. Birthright citizenship—jus soli, “right of…
ATHLETIC CLUB VS ARSENAL: A TALE OF TWO NATIONALISM-PILLED CATHEDRALS IN A WORLD THAT CAN’T PAY ITS GAS BILL Bilbao, Spain – Somewhere between the rust-red Nervión River and the hulking iron ribs of San Mamés, two tribes gathered last night to remind the planet that, even as glaciers calibrate their exit strategy and supply…
**The Curious Case of Gabby Williams: When Basketball Becomes a Global Passport** In the grand theater of international sports, where athletes routinely transcend their original purpose of throwing balls through hoops or hitting them over nets, Gabby Williams has become an unlikely metaphor for our increasingly borderless world. The 27-year-old basketball phenom—who can best be…
Tricolor: The Flag That Conquered the World, One Stripe at a Time By Dave’s International Desk Somewhere between the fall of the Bastille and the rise of Instagram filters, humanity discovered a delightful shortcut to nation-branding: three horizontal stripes. The tricolor—those gloriously symmetrical bands of red, white, and occasionally regrettable green—has become the IKEA flat-pack…
