Gamma Senmin, Soga Shōhaku (1730-1783). Freer Collection, Washington.
PATRICKLAWRENCE.US serves several purposes. It is an archive of the columns, commentary, and essays published under the bylines “Patrick L. Smith” or simply “Patrick Smith.” This work is now available in one place for the first time. The site also introduces my books and provides readers or those with professional queries several ways to connect. This is also home to an occasional journal, Cú Chulainn.
Recent pieces.
The Mideast Mess Obama Will Leave Behind - April 25, 2016 1:27 PM - What a dismal week in the Middle East for the Obama administration. In the course of a couple of days, the partial ceasefire in Syria began to fray, the peace talks in Geneva turned stony, and the Saudis pointedly cold-shouldered...
The Biggest Cause of the Next Recession? Wary Consumers - April 18, 2016 5:51 PM - The big question at the International Monetary Fund’s annual gabfest last week was why global economic growth is chronically slow and what can be done to shift into a higher gear. I.M.F. and World Bank economists have many ways to...
She’ll make Iran, Syria worse: What the media won’t tell you about our foreign policy — and how hawkish Hillary will pour the kerosene - April 17, 2016 5:48 PM - The truth about our foreign policy is on display, if we choose to look. If only we ever learned the right lessons What an unusual season—or seasons, I should say. The inner workings of American foreign policy are rarely as...Cú Chulainn.
Ah! now he is running down to the sea…
holding up his sword…
O! he is fighting the waves.
——Yeats, On Baile’s Strand
Journal Entry - October 15, 2015 1:26 PM - NORFOLK, CONN.—When I began the two columns I now produce weekly—four years and some, two years and some ago—they weren’t my first outings in the foreign affairs scene. I had written one for three years at Bloomberg—a (politically) difficult engagement...
Journal Entry - August 26, 2015 12:42 PM - NEW PRESTON, CONN.—I wrote about markets this week—the appalling crack-up in global exchanges, wholly irrational—and I wrote about journalism. I’m invested in both. What pennies I have are in some kind of mutual fund, but never mind that. I have...