On regional tensions

Heightened tensions in the region these days — Norway: via IMDi: 18,000 flyktninger må bosettes i 2016 26.11.15: temporary border controls resume in Norway 80.000 migranter og asylsøkere har ankommet Sverige de siste to månedene. Det svenske mottakssystemet er i ferd med å bryte sammen, og onsdag varslet Sverige derfor tiltak for å redusere tilstrømmingen av […]

On public lectures: Navigating Nakivale @ RCC

Morten Bøås gave a lecture at the Oxford Refugee Studies Centre on “Navigating Nakivale: the borderland economy of a refugee camp” on 13 November 2015. The talk focused on how the combination of conflict + different types of interventions produces outcomes: “what matters is not only the cards you were dealt, but your ability to play them”. […]

On Skype

Slight alterations have been made in the asylum interview process in Norway: UDI is staring to use Skype to conduct interviews with individuals around the country (else, everyone has to travel to Oslo). Via Bjorn Atle Gildestad and NRK, Asylsøkjarane står i kø for å koma seg gjennom papirmølla som kan sikre dei opphald i Norge. […]

On international resettlement conferences

From Reuters: U.N. to hold March summit to resettle, place millions of Syrians — He [Ban Ki-moon] said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees would convene a conference in March to win pledges from countries to resettle or help place those who have been displaced due to the Syria conflict. [..] He said he would […]

On …Jenny

Maybe because it’s Saturday, or maybe because there’s been a ton of unpleasant news lately — here’s something wonderful: (see also: puppies.)

On Memphis and REP

What is going on in the US right now is utterly frustrating to watch from abroad. Major love to Ruth, Cam, and the rest of the REP family in Memphis. Via Kelli Cook at Local Memphis, TN lawmaker calls for round up of Syrian refugees — Ruth Lomo fled the South Sudan and was brought […]

On what the news covers

Max Fisher over at Vox addresses the swirling accusations that the media (at large) ignores certain conflicts for others — It would be easy to blame the media for this, to say that if only media outlets covered Beirut rather than ignoring it, the world might pay attention. I have bad news: The media does […]

On refugees after Paris, et al.

General: The science behind why people fear refugees related: what current debates are really about, “what we’re debating right now is really more about American feelings (our sense of security versus our sense of righteousness) than it is about macro-level solutions to their crisis.” from: Europe’s refugee problems, and ours Our reaction to terrorism is […]

On Appomattox

Given that I can’t be in DC for the revision of Appomattox, I’m hoping hard for a recording. From NPR — The original version of Glass’ opera focused on the end of the war and the attempts to address the underlying issue of slavery. But nearly 10 years later, the revised version splits the opera’s two […]

On Paris

Hoping for cool heads and warm hearts in the coming days. From German Lopez at Vox — Although the perpetrators of the Paris attacks remain unknown, Jeff Duncan, a Republican congressman from South Carolina, took to Twitter to say that the tragedy shows Europe and America shouldn’t let in Syrian refugees because it might lead to more […]