Writer
John Carlin
John Carlin is a journalist, author and columnist for both English and Spanish language newspapers.
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Lions lying down with the lambs
Rwanda is now a peaceful country which remembers each year, the awful genocide of 1994. People can blindly become killers if their leaders are successful in instilling enough fear into them. Learning from history is an antidote. Continue reading »
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Did Argentina and Liberia give the world a lesson in democracy?
Argentina and Liberia recently held elections in which the losers graciously conceded defeat. In the United States, Trump is still preaching the big lie that he did not lose against Biden, and in Spain, the Spanish Right incites insurrection against the government of President Sanchez when he formed a majority government with an unlikely set Continue reading »
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Electile dysfunction and the end of the world
The good news this week was the result of the Spanish elections, the bad was the news of global boiling, the takeover of artificial intelligence and Putin’s continuous threats of nuclear war. Continue reading »
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Franco’s death rattle
The upcoming Spanish elections indicate the unthinkable – the resurrection of Franco’s influence within a new government. But perhaps it could be the last of his death throes. Continue reading »
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Eternal hate in Ukraine
Carlin gives his impressions of the war in Ukraine during a visit to the country. There may be peace one day, but there will never be love from the Ukrainian side. Continue reading »
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Will China bring peace to Ukraine?
China will bring peace to Ukraine when it decides that a war that carries the danger of international escalation goes against its commercial interests. Continue reading »
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The fascist who inspires the Russian messiah
Ivan Ilyin was a Christian Fascist, exiled by the Communists after the 1917 Revolution, and whose influence on Vladimir Putin has been profound. Continue reading »
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Call of Duty: Capitol insurgents playing the role of heroic avengers who kill without consequence
Donald Trump and the Republican Party alone have the capacity to restore stability to the United States. They have to acknowledge that the game is over, and their claim that the election was “stolen” was a big lie. Continue reading »
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For the Love of Donald
Since losing the election, Donald Trump has raised $207 million, in a campaign ostensibly to pay for his hopeless lawsuits alleging electoral fraud. It recalls a phrase made famous a century ago, “No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Continue reading »
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The New English Puritans
The United Kingdom has been taken over by Puritans. A Uruguayan footballer was forced to apologise for writing a tweet to a friend who had congratulated him on his goal scoring, “Gracias, Negrito.” Negrito is a term of affection in South America. Continue reading »
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Reasons to be happy despite the media.
Journalists write about disasters because they sell more copy. A recent book tells us to look on the bright side. Continue reading »
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Donald Trump’s Political Program, an Epic Deceit
Donald Trump has managed to bring together all the nastier aspects of many citizens of the United States: nativism, misogyny and racism, and to corral their incipient resentments for a program that is all about himself. He is a genius – an evil genius. Continue reading »
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Get Well, Mr. President?
There are many who were being a touch hypocritical when they sent get well messages to Donald Trump. Like St. Augustine, who prayed “Oh Lord, make me chaste, but not yet,” they would prefer that he recovered but only after losing the election. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Discrimination and Inequality
The Covid-19 virus discriminates against the old. The young are hardly affected. The lockdowns around the world required everyone to live in a cage, young and old. Now that the restrictions are being relaxed, it is inevitable that governments are going to have to discriminate in the same way the virus does – against the Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Living with Death – the Coronavirus Paradox
The coronavirus presents us with a paradox: none of us want to catch it, but all of us wish we had recovered from it. It is only a matter of time before those who have had it will be given more freedoms than the rest. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN.-Groundhog Days
Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year, about London’s “Great Plague” of 1665, makes us resign to the fact that we learn nothing from history. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. The Corona Virus and Camus’ “The Plague”.
Camus concludes that “in the midst of so many afflictions” what one learns is that “in man there are more things worthy of admiration than of contempt.” Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN.- Time of Opportunity
The Corona virus could be a time of opportunity for the human race. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. The Mad Viruses
As in the case of Mad Cow’s Disease, if people believe there is a crisis, there is one. Continue reading »
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John Carlin. Caroline Flack and Freedom of Opinion
Suicide as a result of trolling on the internet is a modern trend. The problem with legislating away the trolls is that it comes up against freedom of expression. The internet is certainly a new phenomenon that has made the problem of bullying worse, but the solution is to get out of social media. Continue reading »
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John Carlin. A Cold Civil War
There is a cold war going on in the world between those who believe that truth is important and those who don’t care if their leaders lie. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Brexit Has Happened: Good Night and Good Luck
The divorce has gone through, and now begin the negotiations as to who gets the house, the car and the kids. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. And Now, Spexit!
If you have to appear in court, England is a better place to live. The Spanish are outraged that the European Court of Justice, like their German and Belgian counterparts, have refused to extradite the Catalan independence leaders to Spain. On the other hand, Spain has a better way of life and a future, but Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. England is a Country in Decline
H.L. Mencken said that democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. The English are going to get it good and hard by electing Boris Johnson. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. The New Normal
Recently, President Trump was convicted and fined $2m for stealing $2.8m from a charity meant for war veterans. No one batted an eyelid. Boris Johnson continues to lie and the same thing happens. Now, in Spain, Vox, the Francoist Party won 50 seats in parliament on a platform of jailing its political opponents who support Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Aliens Out There
We humans have never been so determined as now to make contact with life somewhere else in the Universe. Most people surveyed support such contact. It may not be such a good idea. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. The Bolivarian Dream
John Carlin was invited to a conference in Venezuela. However, when he arrived at immigration in Caracas, his visa was refused because of a critical article he wrote about the country in 2007. He was put on a flight back to Spain, but found that Iberia airways had no record of his flight either to Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. The Catalan Argentinians
The treatment of the Catalans by the Spanish government over the last decade has meant that support for an independent Catalonia has tripled. If Madrid had agreed to a referendum years ago it is almost certain that the vote for independence would have been lost. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. The Universal Sin
The rich countries of the world sometimes go over the top about racism, and in doing so, cheapen examples of real racism. The latest example involves the Portuguese football player with Manchester City, Bernardo Silva. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Wrestling with Pigs
Trump deserves to be dismissed, but the impeachment process will only play into his hands. It will give him the opportunity to wage a populist war in which anything goes. Boris Johnson has ditched the admirable English tradition of fair play and has opted to copy Trump. The two old Anglo-Saxon democracies are now involved Continue reading »
