Un caffé corretto, per favore

I have been more and more busy lately, at the language center where I teach Italian. Apologies to my readers. More classes have opened up, providing a welcomed opportunity for more work but also for interesting human encounters and some reflections. Italian people may not know it, but Italian language learning is growing in popularity. [...]

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What do salmons and Israeli satellites have in common?

I was listening to a radio program about satellites, notably about Israeli satellites. Israel, despite its small size and young age, has already reached the status of “space superpower“, a title reserved to only seven countries in the world: Russia, US, England, Japan, India, France and China. What criteria make a country a space superpower? [...]

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Rewriting history: lies vs. omissions PART II

It seems that the safest opinion in this country is to have no opinion. Why? Because truth changes. It plays hide and seek. The nearest you can come to an informed judgment would require a serious investigation, digging in archives, interviewing eye-witnesses. What normal citizien has time for that? So we leave it up to [...]

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Rewriting history: lies vs. omissions PART I

A few weeks ago my attention was caught by an article in the Haaretz (yes- again) where it was announced that Israeli textbooks were finally to re-integrate a mention to the Palestinian version of the facts which accompanied the foundation of the Jewish state (what they call the Nakba, a “catastrophe”). I was strongly impressed [...]

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