International soccer can lead to respect and admiration for all different members of one’s nation and national team. But there are two teams in every match. The other team and the individuals that comprise it are “them,” one’s team is “us.” When a member of the opposition does not match the vision of what “us” looks like, especially when “us” is nearly homogeneous, it is easy to consider him an enemy.

This week marked the beginning of the trial of Anders Breivik, charged with the killing of 77 people in a bombing and shooting spree last July in Norway.

Bollinger, Foner, Jackson, and Shaw Share Their Expertise

This April marks the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Bosnia, which carried on for three and a half years from 1992 until the Dayton Peace Agreement in late 1995.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon opened the 2012 Global Colloquium of University Presidents on Wednesday, speaking under the Rotunda of Low Library.

As predicted, Vladimir Putin won the March 4 Russian presidential elections with over 60 percent of the vote. What followed were the expected accusations of illegitimacy from members of the opposition.

On Wednesday, March 21, a panel discussed the formation of the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements and their predicted effect on the upcoming 2012 presidential election.

On Sunday, Russians from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok will vote to decide who will be president for the next six years.

Thursday evening, as part of the World Leaders Forum, United States Attorney General Eric Holder came home to Columbia to speak under Low's rotunda.

Wednesday night, The Veritas Forum chapter at Columbia University hosted an interview and discussion with Ruby Bridges who famously integrated William Frantz Elementary School in 1960, when she was just six years old.

This past week the now hydra-like Greek debt crisis reared yet another one of its re-growing heads. Anti-austerity protests returned to Athens as Greek ministers attempted to acquiesce to the demands of European Union leaders who thought that the problem had already been dealt with. The continuation of the Greek recession, now entering historic periods of length and severity at five years and a 16 percent decrease from pre-recession GDP, should not be seen as a surprise.

This month, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev sent a bill to the Duma calling for the reinstatement of direct gubernatorial elections by the people of Russia’s provinces.