Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! The Battle of Puebla occurred on this date, and the Mexican army defeated a French force twice as large. It was the last battle between European and Latin American armies.
The current front-runner in the Egyptian presidential election, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the former military leader, declared today that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt “will not exist.” The Brotherhood has a substantial following in Egypt and in other parts of the world so it is difficult to understand what al-Sisi might mean. Unfortunately, his likely election means that Egypt will once again be ruled by a military leader, and the idea of eliminating a large part of the electorate does not sound encouraging.
When I was a child, several of my friends contracted polio; fortunately none of them developed serious cases of paralysis. It was a feared disease, and caused incredible hardship. The world made significant progress in eradicating the disease through intensive vaccination programs since that time, and the victory over polio seemed assured. Unfortunately, those efforts have faltered recently and the disease seems to be making a comeback in several countries, all of whom are engaged in serious conflict: Pakistan, Syria, Cameroon, Somalia, and Iraq are countries in which the disease seems to be spreading. The case of Pakistan is especially tragic, since the vaccinations have been hampered by many who suspect that the healthcare personnel are agents of the US. The suspicion is rooted in the sad reality that the US used a doctor who claimed to be vaccinating children as one of their spies in the capture of Osama bin Laden. A tragic case where a noble cause was undermined by short-term political interest.
How bad does this generation (the cohort lamentably labeled the “Millenials”) have it? The data do not lie.
World Politics News 
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