#and linda could speak both spanish and french

[explorenadore]

Morocco pt. I - Marrakech and the desert

We arrived at Marrakech airport late at night. After a quick discussion with the taxi  driver, we were off to our little Riad. He dropped us off in the heart of Marrakesh and although it’s a city that only really wakes up at night, we found ourselves in a district that was more about small and empty corners than souks and people. After a little confusion and hyper awareness on my behalf, we opened the door to the Riad. The young man working the night shifts showed us to our room and we practically fell right onto our beds. It was around six in the morning when we were standing on the rooftop and brushing our teeth. Even tough we definitely did not catch a good nights sleep - kudos to the nightly prayers being shouted from the roofs at 4:49 am - the morning view over the city was astonishing. It gave me a chance to smell the city, feel its energy. 

We grabbed our luggage and google mapped our way towards the big square, where our bus driver would pick us up for a two day desert tour.

The ride was bumpy and rather uncomfortable, since we stopped every half hour at some sightseeing spots that were not always worthy of their names. On the contrary, the people joining us for the tour were intriguing. We met two girls, Caro and Maddy, late twenties, coworkers, travelers. Seated right next to me, tanned and experienced looking: The mid forties couple Heidi and Michael. Both escaped marriages that they couldn’t take anymore after they’ve met each other and fell in love on the spot. Took them a few years to manage a real relationship but now they’ve built a beautiful patchwork family that has lasted for eight years so far.

We arrived in the desert and after some struggles with the headscarf-wrapping technique, we were helped onto the camels for a ride to the oasis. Unfortunately, that ride made us realize that the tour wasn’t quite what we expected. It felt forced, far from an organic experience. 

The camels dropped us off and we stumbled up the dunes to see the  sunset. That was when we talked about the need to change our travel plans. We felt bad for having to use the camels for transportation and realized that the desert tour was more commercial than educational. Of course, we’re already doing the tour so we might as well finish it. Still, we decided to try and have a more conscious travel experience.

The sun went down and we went into the oasis, surrounded by high-end tents, carpets spread out over the sand and little pavilions where we were served tea. Finally, we got to talk to the workers there. Nomads, who grew up in the desert and then moved to the closest city (Zagora). They’d worked in the oasis on and off for a while and actually enjoyed it. They said that the best thing about the job is meeting so many new people and we not only believed them, but agreed vice versa.

After dinner, we sat around a big campfire and danced to traditional Berber music. Heidi and Michael joined and told us the story on how they met. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t any tears forming in the corner of my eyes. I realized that I am a romantic at heart (don’t tell anyone). Next to me, just as captured by their love story, was Semia. A single mom in her mid thirties that finally got to travel a bit after fourteen years of raising her son. She looked much younger than she was. Her tan skin and the fact that she could speak some Arabic, was fluent in German, English, Spanish and Italian suggested that she wasn’t originally from Switzerland. Her father is Tunisian and her mother French. 

We could hear the people singing in the distance when Linda and I ran up the dunes at around midnight, laughing and then falling onto the sand to watch the shooting stars pass us  by for a while. 

We ended up sitting at the campfire up until 2am, talking to two of the workers. We taught each other cuss words in our native languages and sang along to Akon, Bob Marley and even Justin Bieber.

[cornhighlights]

Bilingual (or trilingual in Linda’s case) girlfriends with their confused but supportive boyfriends!

Translations:

Te amo: I love you

Tus manos: your hands

Non! Ils ne sont pas: No! They are not

J’ai besoin de parler avec Joey. El diablo. Necessita un puñetazo en au visage: I want to talk to Joey. The devil. He needs a punch to the face.

Où est los paquetes de hielo?: Where are the ice packs?

[choiceskatie]

Meet My MC: Dr Teddy Valentinos

Book: Open Heart

Full Name: Theodora Ava Valentinos

Nicknames: Bear (Sienna), Ted (Bryce), Rookie (Ethan), Darlin’ (her dad)

Technically it’s her real name and not a nickname, but the only two people to call her by Theodora as opposed to Teddy are Ethan and her Father, a lot of the time it’s when she’s in deep shit lol.

Face Claim: Emma Louise Connolly

Age; Birthday: 29; December 14th

Love Interest: Ethan Ramsey (main), Bryce Lahela (casual sex pre-Ramsey, few drunk kisses post-Amazon and pre-Ramsey reunion)

Hair: Long, wavy, golden blonde

Eyes: Green

Height: 5’2

Hometown: Providence, Rhode Island

Education:

BSc in Biology, University of St. Andrews

MPhil in Medical Science, University of Cambridge

M.D Harvard Medical School

Occupation: Leader of Diagnostics Team at Edenbrook Hospital

Family: Leonidas and Linda Valentinos (half-Scottish, half-Greek father and American mother), Athena Valentinos (older sister) and Alexander Valentinos (younger brother)

Background: Teddy’s parents met when her mom went to study abroad in Scotland for university before moving back to the states together to get married and start a family. When Teddy was 5, her Grandfather on her Father’s side passed away and her parents decided they’d move back to Scotland to be close to his mother.

Her parents still live in Scotland now even though Teddy moved back to the states for med school, where her mom is a high school Biology teacher. Her father is a key principle violinist in a world famous orchestra, often travelling globally which awards him the chance to make a detour to visit Teddy in Boston, meaning she gets to see him a lot more than her mom. She’s very close to both of her parents but is a true Daddy’s girl at heart.

Her younger brother is still at university in Scotland, and her sister lives in London with her husband.

Has a large Greek family on her dad’s side and spent every summer there growing up until med school, where she worked in one of the local restaurants to earn money and perfect her Greek.

Teases Ethan about the fact she spent the first five years of her life in Rhode Island but the only way they’d have met was if he got hired as her babysitter.

Personality traits: witty, passionate, energetic, zero filter, extremely argumentative, sarcastic, open-minded, quick-tempered, a little lazy, empathetic, friendly, genuine, crazy, wise yet extremely immature, stubborn, always has to have the last word lol. Enough traits?

Extremely shy until she gets to know you, then is embarrassingly open. As a classic Sag, she is painfully honest with her friends and family. If you don’t want the excruciating truth, do not go to Teddy for advice lmao.

Kind to a fault to strangers and those she loves until you cross her, when you’ll receive the worst roasting of your life lol. Holds a grudge.

Random facts: Classically trained singer. Plays piano, guitar and violin, the latter of which her father taught her from a young age. Both of her parents jobs always fascinated her, and she nearly went to school to study music, before fully deciding she wanted to become a doctor, incorporating her love of science.

Speaks fluent Greek and French, can also hold a conversation in German and Spanish.

Suffers with anxiety and PTSD after the attack on the senator. Has an especially dark sense of humour to cope with her trauma and has since turned into a major pessimist.

Book lover and movie geek. Has a secret Marvel tattoo that her scrubs cover and Ethan found when they were first properly acquainted lol.

Has multiple small and dainty tattoos, all with a deeper meaning behind them.

Musical fanatic - could perform the full Hamilton show by herself.

*****

Author’s Note: Meet Teddy! I never named my MC and gave her any real background bc I wrote my first Open Heart fic in less than an hour and just went with Casey Valentine bc it was the default and I think that name actually suits the oph MC hahaha. She’s just the exact same insane MC I’ve been writing with a new name. I wanted to give my girl a proper introduction since I have a new series coming and I’m not getting off the Ethan train anytime soon so here she is lol!

Shoutout to @jamespotterthefirst for the super helpful MC template and @lsvdw-blog for helping me with Teddy’s story!

Idk why I wrote so much for this 😂 it was fun creating a little word for her and I got carried away lol.

Tagging perma and OH just in case you’re interested but feel free to ignore this bc it’s pretty pointless lol.

@charlotteg234 @queenrileyrose @forallthatitsworth @ao719 @burnsoslow @mia143 @stateofgracious @mainstreetreader @emkay512 @jerzwriter @lsvdw-blog @chemist-ana @kat-tia801 @ohchoices @schnitzelbutterfingers @starrystarrytrouble

[dailytudors]

"She [Elizabeth of York] was tall and fair, slender in those days, before the frequent childbearing coarsened her figure and features. Like Henry, she spoke French but her Latin was limited - de Puebla, the Spanish ambassador to Henry’s court in the 1490s, would later say that neither the queen nor her mother-in-law could converse in Latin, a defect not uncommon in wellborn ladies of the time who had perhaps learned the rudiments of Latin grammar and could follow certain religious rituals and books in the language but were not confident enough to speak or write it. His future wife’s lack of proficiency the Latin tongue would probably not much have bothered Henry Tudor. Everything about Elizabeth showed that she had been raised as a royal consort. Well possessed of the courtly skills, she was a fine dancer and loved music and singing, playing the clavichord herself and keeping her own minstrels when she became queen. Other indoor interests, typical of high-born women of her time, were sewing, embroidery and gambling; playing at cards was a major pastime in the lives of both the English and Scottish aristocracy. In her outdoor pursuits, Elizabeth was also a typical noblewoman of the period, competent on horseback, enjoying archery, watching jousts and hunting. As a girl she and her sister Cecily had read historical romances for pleasure, their horizons no doubt widened by studying the testament of Sultan Nichemedy, Emperor of the Turks. so it was a well-rounded, gracous but far from naive young woman that Henry VII found at his mother’s pleasant riverside retreat in the autumn of 1485."

- Linda Porter, Tudors vs Stewarts: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary, Queen of Scots

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

Just curious... List your top 7 fav non WSL players.

as in the ones that I think are the best players or my personal favourites? Because they’ll be two separate lists and the second in particular will be very biased towards the spanish league. I’m guessing you did mean the second option though so here goes in no particular order: 

Mapi Leon, the one and only the legend herself both on and off the pitch. One of the most technically able and underrated centre backs around who loves a good slide tackle and looks absolutely ruthless with her shirt tucked in on the pitch but is actually an awkward little softie that loves tattoos, drawing and has officially taken on the role as a cat lady

Alexia Putellas, the actual queen of Barça and ruler of the midfield. She loves her dog about as much as she hates the camera, she’s so well spoken, always so focused in games and will settle for nothing but perfection

Pernille Harder, a goat if ever there was one. She commands respect on the pitch in the way that she fights for every ball, the way she behaves and the way she executes her passes and shots. An actual dork off the pitch though whose dancing skills are debatable but who has a heart of gold and never shies away from speaking her mind and standing up for what she believes in

ingrid engen, one of my favourite discoveries from the world cup, she’s an up and coming player that will soon be taking the world by storm- and wolfsburg were smart enough to see this. Her confused face is legendary and she’s got an underrated sense of humour. Plus her and Marie provide all the content the gays need and love

merel van dongen, a wall in defense whose broken into the dutch starting 11 and has been absolutely key in keeping betis out of relegation positions this year. She’s insanely smart and very witty, putting that combination to good use so that she always stands up for what she believes in and never shies away from being 100% her true self. The player, activist and comedian we want yet don’t deserve

linda sallstrom, the finnish footballing legend whose middle name should be pukki. A goal scoring machine holding the record for most international goals scored of all time, captain and woman with over a hundred national caps. Plus she’s funny from what can be seen on social media and her and Sini are a power couple if ever I saw one

lucy bronze, you know a player is outstanding when she’s a right-back winning award after award. And absolute defensive brick who can also set big ocasions alight by scoring absolute worldies. She’s down to earth, got the best english french accent around and has more muscle than about three normal people combined

I’ve missed out so many players wtf why is this so hard I could add a good 17 more in here, but there you go thats seven of my favourites

[baronvonn]

The Passing of the Second Imperial Age

In the half-millennium of modern European imperialism, from the Spanish and Portuguese in the 16th century to the withdrawing roar of the British and French empires in the 20th, there was one truth on which all of these powers, often at war with each other, could agree. That was, land which could be designated terra nullius (“no-one’s land”) could be taken—indeed, had to be taken—by one of the powers, or another power would get it. So empires conquered large swathes of territory in Africa, India, the Middle East, South-East Asia, North America, and Australasia, most of which was regarded as unoccupied. They did so in pursuit of precious metals and stones, for settlement and defence (of other lands already seized), for points of supply to their ships, in order to demonstrate their power, and—the most cited reason in polite society, even more polite if put into French—for the mission civilatrice or the mission religieuse.

That last of these—the obligation to deliver Christianity to uncivilised heathens—is sometimes dismissed as merely the hypocrisy of pious icing layered over a filthy cake. But it was sincere enough, and a tacit underpinning of the conception of a white man’s duty and decency. I’ve never seen it expressed more frankly than at the end of John Buchan’s 1910 novel Prester John, a book that drew upon Buchan’s own experience as a young administrator working for the High Commissioner of South Africa in the early years of the 20th century. Buchan’s hero declaims, “I knew then the meaning of the white man’s duty. He has to take all risks, recking [sic] nothing of his life or his fortunes, and well content to find his reward in the fulfilment of his task. That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being in a little way a king; and so long as we know this and practise it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies.” This passage combines both the late imperial authoritarian paternalism and the contempt for the “dark men” credited with only animal instincts—especially strong in a workaholic son of the manse.

Sincere or not, murderous campaigns of dispossession continued and the indigenous peoples (some of whom, such as the Zulus in South Africa, had themselves been imperialists) were conquered, pacified, and, to a degree, integrated. But in time, all Europe’s empires came to an end. Spain’s empire, in South and Central America and the Caribbean, declined from the 17th century on, finally ending in the late 19th. Portugal held on to a few colonies in Africa and India until the 1970s. The Ottoman and Austrian empires collapsed after the First World War. Belgium, having grossly exploited the Congo (personal property of King Leopold II from 1885 to 1908), got out in the 1960s. The Russian empire was replaced by the Soviet version in 1917, which fell to pieces in 1991. Britain lost its Indian jewel to independence in 1947, and got out of Africa in the 1960s, a process that was at times—as in Kenya—bloody. The end of French colonialism took longer and involved nasty wars in Indochina and Algeria into the 1960s. As the British and EU diplomat Sir Robert Cooper noted during a recent discussion panel organised by the Henry Jackson Society, “the big thing in the 20th century, at least in Europe, was that empire and the wish to acquire territory ended.”

As the European empires, especially the vast British empire, faded after the Second World War, America assumed leadership of the largely democratic world (the “West”) and then, after 1991, of the world itself. The historian Linda Colley wrote that:

The former US deputy secretary of defence, Paul Wolfowitz, urg(ed) as early as 1992 the importance of deterring any potential competitors, including America’s own allies, “from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.” For, as Robert Kagan reasoned, the “benevolent hegemony exercised by the US” operated not only to its own advantage, but was also ���good for a vast portion of the world’s population.” “If this be the workings of empire,” wrote another neoconservative commentator, Dinesh D’Souza, “let us have more of it.”

Still more clearly and more authoritatively, Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State in Bill Clinton’s first administration (1997–2001) said in a February 1998 interview that “if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future.”

We are now perhaps living through the passing of the second imperial age, often referred to as one of hegemony, a term better suited to the self-image of a state established in defiance of imperial Britain. But the United States’ commitment to its hegemonic position is waning, and as it retreats from global policing, Europe, lulled by the sense of security America hitherto provided, has neither the capacity nor the will to take its place. The new rising imperial power is China, and its malevolent ally, Russia. The vacuum is already being filled.

* * *

For perhaps two decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse, Albright’s hubristic remark arguably remained true. But even in the 2000s, and unmistakably in the 2010s, China’s rapid economic growth was increasing its global power, even as its Communist leaders modestly protested they had no global ambitions. In 2013, Xi Jinping assumed the presidency and quickly set about making it clear that China—whatever its public diffidence—was now a player in the biggest geopolitical game of all. It too would now stand tall, and its ability to see into the future—not least as a result of its advances in artificial intelligence—was fast approaching that of the US. China is now a would-be imperial hegemon, and denials of its intention to be one look increasingly threadbare.

The country’s well-educated, ambitious, and ruthless rulers ensure that China acts like an essentially benign but still hungry global capitalist, pushing for free trade and open borders. They sound its nationalist trumpets to rally Chinese behind a patriotic narrative of revenge for former humiliations at the hands of the West in the years before 1949. They snarl at Taiwan and herd hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in Xinjiang into re-education camps. And they charm the democratic world into using Chinese technology, receiving its investment, and acquiescing to its plans to bolster the Belt and Road Initiative aimed at putting a girdle of roads, seaways, and bases around much of the Earth. China has already acquired a majority stake in the Greek port of Piraeus, and has been negotiating with Italy to invest in the port of Genoa, on the country’s north-west coast, or Trieste in the north-east.

All these developments are causing the US grave concern. In a speech at the Hudson Institute in early July, the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, said that China’s leaders believe they are in a “generational fight” to make China the “world’s only superpower by any means necessary.” He accused China of attempting to compromise COVID-19 research in US research centres, pharmaceutical companies, and universities. “If you are an American adult,” he added, “it is more likely than not that China has stolen your personal data [in]… the largest transfer of human wealth in history… our data isn’t the only thing at stake here—so are our health, our livelihoods, and our security.” The FBI, he said, “is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case approximately every 10 hours… The greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information, intellectual property and to our economic vitality is the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China.” FBI chiefs are not frequent public speakers. The very fact of Wray’s appearance is itself evidence of how worried America has become—his speech was one of a series of increasingly stark warnings delivered by high administration officials, and more are sure to follow. Although nothing is certain with this American president, it looks as though the days when Trump boasted of his close friendship with Xi are now over.

Even so, a strong (though weakening) “don’t worry too much” case is still being made by those who know something about both China and the US. Speaking in February, Joseph Nye, Harvard political scientist and an assistant defence secretary in Clinton’s administration, said, “The US remains the only country with global capacity in hard power, and in soft power the US still does better than China.” He cited a survey conducted by British research firm Portland that puts America in the top five and China in 27th place. In short, the Middle Kingdom may have imperial ambitions, but the real global power can still check it for the foreseeable future. Others point out that America spends much more on defence than China—$610bn against $228bn, and that although China has slightly more tanks (7,760) than the US (6,393), the US has seven times more armoured fighting vehicles (41,760 to China’s 6,000). The US (12,304) has three times the number of fighter aircraft than China (4,182), including many more multi-purpose planes, attack aircraft, and helicopters. In big naval ships, there’s no contest: the US has 20 carriers against China’s two, and 85 destroyers to China’s 36. China’s strength lies in small ships—with 54 frigates and 42 corvettes while the US has none. China has 76 submarines to the US’s 71, but many more of the US subs are nuclear. Finally, the US has over 5,000 nuclear warheads while China has only 250.

It is certainly true that China’s dynamism disguises large problems. It is ageing faster than the US, and the University of Wisconsin economist Yi Fuxian predicts it will consequently still have a GDP lower than that of the US in 13 years’ time. And the more China shows its claws, the more it stirs up anxiety and hostility in its own neighbourhood, as it is presently doing, most dangerously, on the Indian-Chinese border. The US has taken the Indian side of this dispute, which as of this writing is the subject of talks. Secretary of State Pompeo recently said that “The Chinese took incredibly aggressive action. The Indians have done their best to respond to that.” He added that the number of maritime and boundary disputes in which the Chinese Communist Party has engaged is “unequalled anyplace else in the world.” And China’s behaviour has so alarmed and angered Australia that the country has increased its defence budget by 40 percent over the next decade. Britain, which had decided to use Huawei technology in the next generation of 5G phones, is now reconsidering. In response, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, has warned that Britain will have to “bear the consequences.”

The coronavirus crisis has also made China less trusted. However the pandemic started—in a random spillover event, a Wuhan wet market, or in the city’s Institute of Virology—China has so far turned its face against an international inquiry unless it is conducted by the World Health Organisation. Yet this is a body distrusted by other countries, especially Australia and the US, for what is seen as subservience to its largest member. China now increasingly acts as did empires in the 19th century’s high age of imperialism. As Francis Fukuyama has noted, China has “for the first time staked out expansionist territorial claims” and promulgated a new law sharply decreasing the agreed “one country two systems” arrangement reached when Hong Kong ceased to be a British colony. It now cracks down hard on demonstrations, arrests prominent leaders of democratic movements, removes pro-democracy books from libraries, deletes messages from social media accounts, and censors the press.

China claims—and has militarized—islands in the South China Sea in order to control one of the world’s biggest shipping lanes. It constantly threatens Taiwan, now a successful democratic state, with absorption in the next 10 years, if necessary by force. Last July, the Wall Street Journal reported that China and Cambodia had signed a secret agreement to build a large naval base near Sihanoukville, in Cambodia. This project was denied by both sides, and China pointed to Cambodia’s constitution which forbids hosting foreign military bases. Any bases, the Chinese regime argued, would be merely “strategic support points” incapable of supporting offensive operations. “We are dealing,” writes Fukuyama, “with an aspiring totalitarian country like the mid-20th century Soviet Union, and not with some kind of ‘generic authoritarian capitalist’ regime.”

Russia, meanwhile, is no longer what Churchill called “a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma,” at least not in its post-imperial-pre-imperial pretensions. It has staged a (bloodless) takeover of the Ukrainian region of Crimea, and continues to support a (very bloody) separatist war in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. In 2008, it invaded Georgia in retaliation for Georgia’s attempt to re-take control of its northern region of South Ossetia, which Russia had colonised (as it had Georgia’s western region of Abkhazia). It frequently rattles its sabres on the borders of the three small former Soviet Baltic states, which are now members of the European Union and NATO. It maintains huge intelligence operations in Central Europe, particularly in the Czech Republic. It provides assistance to the genocidal Syrian dictator-president Bashar al-Assad and has established permanent bases there. And it uses its RT network and covert operations to peddle an unrelenting campaign of falsehood, conspiracy, and propaganda in Western democracies designed to affect and infect elections. All of this is part of an attempt to rebuild, as far as possible, the former Soviet Union.

President Putin has, like Xi, insisted that the West is now “obsolete” and clinging to a liberalism which “has come into conflict with the overwhelming majority of the population.” Immigrants, he says, are permitted to “kill, rape, and plunder with impunity because their rights as migrants have to be protected.” The Russian leader now presents his country as the centre of Christianity, and an example of a conservative-moral approach to the world. Russia’s authoritarianism and China’s totalitarianism (the second a harder version of the first), now allied, present a formidable front of two states dedicated to increasing their global power, in a fashion increasingly similar to the imperial strategies of Europe.

* * *

And yet, the West, faced with these unambiguous advances, retreats. Robert Cooper has described the European Union as a “postmodern empire”—its membership is voluntary (though, as the UK is discovering, hard to slough off), its politics are liberal (though not, to date, especially democratic), and its member states are projected to be part of a devolved federal order (although they would be subordinate to the centre in matters of economic, foreign, and defence policies). It is also largely pacifist, with the partial exceptions of Britain and France, and therefore unable to defend itself without America. And Europe as a whole spends considerably less on defence than the two percent of GDP it had promised NATO it would.

It remains, in other words, a disorderly collection of economically competitive states, dependent on a US whose sitting president holds them in contempt. That president has made it plain that he wants all American troops and manufacturing to come home. In John Bolton’s recently published memoir, The Room Where It Happened, the former head of the National Security Council revealed Trump’s desire to “get out of everything.” And in this respect at least, Trump is not out of kilter with the drift in American politics and society. The policeman’s duty to punish criminals and maintain order is no longer seen by many Americans as their country’s calling or responsibility.

In this crucial area, Barrack Obama was not as decisive as Trump, but he was getting there. He was an anti-interventionist president and—like the European states who followed George W Bush into Saddam Hussein’s Iraq—he was not in a hurry to commit blood and treasure to further military adventures, and certainly nothing approaching the magnitude of that invasion. He did, unlike Trump, increase troop levels in Afghanistan (to no avail) and, with great reluctance, assisted France and the UK in toppling Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Otherwise, he threatened but did not deliver—most famously, when he warned that any use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime was a “red line” and then did nothing to punish Assad when that line was crossed. Should a Joe Biden presidency come about, it is unlikely to be any different in this respect. As vice president, Biden was among those counselling Obama not to participate in the Libyan attacks.

The imperial, or hegemonic, post-war West was America and its allies. It assumed, and largely produced, effective consensus on opposition to the Soviet Union and its allies, until victory in 1991. This was expected to usher in a new era in which disputes, and even wars, would continue to occur, but in which the progress of democratic, capitalist, socially liberal values would be nonetheless accelerated. The European Union still lives, if more and more fearfully, in that hopeful bubble: The US, in its Trumpian (and perhaps post-Trump) iteration, now opts for heavily armed withdrawal. Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank (2007–12) has noted that “traditionally in crises since World War II, the United States has acted as a leader in trying to focus the world’s attention on what to do…the United States is no longer playing that role…globalization with Chinese characteristics versus US autarky. How is that going to compete?”

The US’s hegemonic period, now shrinking, often looked like empire, especially the British version, which it mostly replaced. Imperial Britain decreed a “Pax Britannica,” which America then sought to duplicate as a benign “Pax Americana.” Like Britain, the United States established bases and supply stations across the globe and promoted free trade. But it had an “informal empire”—that is, it controlled countries without either occupying them or (usually) choosing their leaders, as Britain did for Egypt and Argentina, among others.

Faced with the gathering threats posed by China and Russia and the weakness of Europe, there are those who argue that America must face up more frankly to its imperial responsibilities. The historian Niall Ferguson has argued that the US must shoulder this burden and that it must begin by acknowledging it. President Trump is ensuring that Ferguson’s demand is out-dated. Nationalist not imperial power is what he wants. Global as well as nationalist power is what Presidents Xi and Putin want. Will these two states inevitably fill the vacuum? If the 19th was Britain’s century, and the 20th was America’s, will the 21st belong to China and Russia?

[speedreiding]

The One To Blame (Spencer Reid x Reader)

A/N: Hey guys! I really liked this idea (I feel like I always say that but you guys are uber good at prompts) but yeah. I made sure to have translations for those who can't read Spanish! Warnings: light smut Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader Prompt: the reader works in the bau and is its translator for spanish and she has to interrogate someone in spanish and reid turns on bc they are dating and they make out in the elevator until it opens in a floor where all the team is Request: ✅ Upcoming Imagine: part 2 of… - You have worked for the BAU for awhile now after your boyfriend, Spencer, brought it up to you. Although you weren't a profiler, you were a communications director along with the translator, which you rarely did. You spoke English, Spanish, and most French. But, this weeks case was in Santa Fe and you were needed for translation. You've only done this 3 times but every time, it sparks this excitement in you. You feel like the real deal; like a profiler. You and Derek walked into the interrogation room where a dark man with multiple tattoos smirked at you. You knew the rest of the team was on the other side of the window so you felt confident and courageous. "Hola linda chica (Hey there pretty girl)." He said as you sat in front of him as Derek stood next to you. "Hey mi nombre es Y/N L/N y este es el agente especial Derek Morgan. Estamos con el FBI y le queremos hacer algunas preguntas. (Hey my name is Y/N L/N and this is special agent Derek Morgan. We are with the FBI and would like to ask you a few questions)." You said crossing your fingers in front of you. "No es como si pudiera negarme (It's not like I can refuse)." He said. "Entonces, ¿tienes una chica bonita papá (So, do you have a daddy pretty girl)?" You felt your body tense as he asked the personal question. "¿Es él (Is it him?)?" He asked looking at Derek. "No, es un compañero de trabajo. ¿Has visto a alguno de estos hombres (No he's a coworker. Have you seen this man)?" You asked changing the subject. You knew Spencer was on the other side of that window, translating everything you and the man were exchanging. After the short interview, you had two new suspects. "George Sanchez and José Garcia." You told Penelope as she typed quickly against her keyboard. You felt a lingering gaze on you as you bent over Penelope's little desk. You turned around and saw Spencer biting his lips as he stared at you. You knew that it turned him on when you spoke Spanish, so you decided to push him. "Take a picture it lasts longer bebé (baby boy)." You said walking past him while you slid your finger across his jawline. You watched him follow you out to the elevator where you pushed the main floor button. "We have to deliver the profile in 10 minutes. I don't think it will hurt to be early." You said as the doors opened. You walked in and were taken by surprise when Spencer pushed you against the wall and hit the 'close door' button with a kick of his foot. You were actually taken by surprise at his blind accuracy. "I don't think it would hurt to be late either." He said dangerously close to your face. Once the doors closed he pressed his body against yours as he invaded your mouth with his tongue as he pinned your hands above your head. You moaned into his mouth at his aggressiveness that you rarely saw. "I knew what you were doing to me." He said catching his breathe. You couldn't even speak because of how taken aback you were. Instead you grabbed handfuls of his hair and pulled him down to your lips again. He pulled your hips against his and you felt his arousal press against you. His fingers grazed the back of your thighs, a signal to jump and wrap your legs around him. He held you in place as you kissed his hot mouth again. You both were so in the moment, you never heard the ding as the elevator doors opened. You opened your eyes and saw the team standing there ready to enter the elevator. You quickly jumped off of him and fixed your skirt that was hiked up your legs as Spencer fixes his perpetually crooked tie. The team looked hesitant before entering the elevator. "Pretty boys getting some lovin." Derek said nudging Spencer's shoulder. "Stop it." He said smacking his hand away. Emily nudged your arm and you felt your cheeks grow even redder than what they were. The elevator doors opened after what seemed like hours and you all left the elevator in silence. "It's your fault for being so hot." Spencer said shallowly. You turned around and hit his arm. "Shut up you could have contained yourself." You said whisper-yelling. But let's be honest, you were both the one to blame.

[ofherstory-blog]

will you do all those multimuse questions i reAliZe it"S a lot BUT

not even gonna bother linking this bc SOMEONE wants the WHOLE MEME. basing everything on their main verses, or else shit’ll get wild!!

Which muses have their driver’s license?

teddy probably has one because hermione urged them to teach him just in case! spencer, aria, and alison (though she got hers later, thanks to being on the run for years) also definitely have theirs! aida and sophia are nyc brats, so they probably didn’t get theirs until the summer before they had to leave for college – before that, it was public transportation all day every day. and last but not least, so do juliet, kimberly, and aurelia!

And how many can drive stick shift

spencer definitely learned “just in case.” so did aurelia. they’re the only ones.

Which muse would make the best parent?

i mean, narcissa is canonically, for all her other flaws, a fucking incredible mother. so.

Which muse cries the most?

juliet, probably. my werewolf baby is a big softie!! though she’s probably the type to cry when good things happen more than bad ones - like at emotional scenes in movies, hearing good news from someone she loves, etc. etc.

Which muse never cries?

narcissa. never in public, anyway. i imagine she did more often as a child, but now even in private she’s the foundation of her family, so she rarely – if ever – breaks down.

Which muse is the most ticklish?

to be honest, i just really want louise to secretly be suuuuper ticklish. it’d be a riot.

Which muse is the best singer?

i headcanon that sophia has a similar voice to one of her fcs’ (kim yongsun), so i guess it’d be her! she’s also the one with the most formal music training, so there’s that too haha.

Which muses live on their own? (Don’t live with their parents anymore.)

 making “parents” into “guardians” bc some of their parents ARE DEAD, but anyway!! all the liars as of their tv canon, narcissa, gabrielle (though when she is technically home she’s with her parents, but she’s mostly on the road with xena so it counts), aida, sophia, and aurelia!! i think kimberly lives with the other witchy babes?? though aurelia’s kinda sorta her guardian i guess so idk how much it counts.

Which muse is the bravest?

consistently brave? i’d say gabrielle. i mean, the series starts with her picking up and following after xena – and she never runs and hides after that. not even once that i can remember. she’s bleeding-heart, idiotically brave, and i love her for it.

Which muse is the biggest scaredycat?

probably juliet, which is ironic given that she’s my only muse literally born supernatural lol. but none of them are huge scaredycats so it’s not saying too much, she’s just the softest child.

Which muse is best at sports?

spencer is basically my only athletic one, and she’s damn good at every sport she does too.

Which muse is the smartest?

it’s a toss-up. i’d say spencer has the strongest book smarts, sophia is the most well rounded (book smarts + artistic prowess + social smarts), and louise just has these insane genius plots ALL THE TIME. imagine if she put that effort toward something else, damn.

Which muse is the dumbest?

she’s not actually dumb by any stretch of the imagination, but… bless her lil heart, riley sometimes reminds me of a puppy chasing its own tail.

Which muse has the biggest dick?

i mean, teddy is the ONLY one with a dick (even if only some of the time), so he kinda wins by default lmao

Which muse has the biggest breasts?

i guess alison?? which feels weird to say because sasha was actually like twelve when she started working on pll, but she’s not any more and it definitely shows lmao.

Which muse is the strongest?

physically? juliet, definitely. she never uses it, but being a werewolf gives her an immediate edge over everyone else. after her, probably gabrielle! and mentally, i’d say narcissa.

Which muse is the weakest?

physically louise, just because she’s a tiny child! but at (almost) adult size, probably riley. mentally… possibly dawn?? as a teen anyway, i think she fortifies a bit as an adult lmao. and louise can definitely dish it out but not take it, so there’s that too.

Which muses need glasses to some extent? (All the time/for reading, etc.)

i headcanon that louise ends up taking after the other belcher girls later on, and needs glasses for nearsightedness (though more mildly, like linda) as an adult. she probably fights the notion until she finds herself squinting to see basically EVERYTHING, and tina gives her a pep talk about it too lmao. spencer needs them for farsightedness, but ends up switching to contacts in high school. sophia has extremely mild nearsightedness, and only ever uses her glasses during lectures/meetings to read the board. dawn spends so much time squinting over ancient text in dark rooms that she ends up needing reading glasses before hitting thirty.

Which muses have sent nudes before?

alison sent a lot when she was younger, but hasn’t really since she had to flee. aria sends tasteful ones, like with flowers over the nipples and artsy farsty shit like that. aida sends the most of the bunch, including to jordan for opinions on them! kimberly and spencer both have, but to only a select few people. dawn’s probably “sent” one or two to be rebellious, but just to janice.

Which muses are left-handed?

in my ideal world THEY ALL ARE (can you tell i’m a lefty?). but in reality, only kimberly is.

Which muses prefer bathing over showering?

alison never could relax for anything longer than a quick shower while she was on the run, and spent more days grimy than she’d live to admit. she definitely doesn’t take bathing for granted any more. juliet particularly enjoys bubble baths. aurelia also enjoys baths, but she can’t always find the time between watching over three rebellious witches to draw them.

Which muses belong to a religion?

alison and spencer were both raised christian. alison still somewhat believes (though her faith has diminished quite a lot over the years), spencer doesn’t. riley’s family is loosely christian. sophia’s family is a mix of catholic and buddhist, and she finds them interesting from a philosophical standpoint, but doesn’t really believe either one. kimberly and aurelia are both pagan witches. gabrielle has literally met the greek gods, so… i guess that makes her kinda polytheistic?

Which muses bite their nails?

it’s a bad habit of spencer’s, for sure. it’s a stress reliever that she mostly curbed as she got older, but sometimes when she’s not paying attention it still slips out.

Which muses can’t ride a bike?

louise only rides a tricycle, so there’s that. i feel like she’d be in denial about ever having to switch to a bike too, so it’ll likely stay that way for a while! gabrielle also can’t, but i don’t think bikes were really a thing in ancient greece anyway lmao.

Which muses can change a tire?

aida. teddy also can (thanks again, hermione) both magically and manually.

Which muse is the clumsiest?

dawn, definitely. it gets better as she ages, but as a teenager that girl really is all limb.

And which is the most elegant?

100% narcissa. that girl was literally bred to be elegant.

Which muses are parents?

narcissa, and alison if you count her current pregnancy. gabrielle technically has her weird half-demon daughter (and kinda eve too), but i like to pretend that arc never happened.

Which muses speak another language than English? Which language(s)?

sophia was born in korea, so she actually learned korean before english! she also knows french, minimal spanish and asl, and some japanese. spencer is a crazy polyglot who knows french, italian, german, and some mandarin chinese. aida grew up both signing asl and speaking since her sister is deaf. she also knows a little korean and some spanish! juliet was born in canada, and knows decent conversational french from her mother. kimberly was raised speaking some japanese, so she can also hold a decent conversation. she knows some latin as well! aurelia’s more advanced than kimberly, so her latin is basically fluent. dawn also learns latin as a junior watcher, but in her main verse she only speaks english! in theory, gabrielle’s technically only speaking greek, but she’s still monolingual.

Which muses can cook?

spencer, alison, aria, sophia, aida, juliet, AURELIA, GABRIELLE, kimberly. i don’t know if dawn’s weird-ass concoctions count as cooking, per se, but they’re certainly something edible.

Which muses rely on frozen dinners and take-out?

teddy, probably. louise and riley on the rare occasions that their respective parents aren’t around. narcissa eats classier than that, but house elves have made her food for literally all her life, so she’d probably flounder a bit at first on her own.

Which muses can play an instrument?

sophia literally went to school for this, so let’s start with her! her major was for the piano, so that’s what she’s best at. but she’s also dabbled with some other instruments, including cello, flute, french horn, and guitar! spencer also plays the piano, as well as aria very occasionally. jessica made alison take piano lessons up until her disappearance, but she hated them and never plays any more. teddy’s tried multiple instruments, but none of them ever stick. louise can play a mean cup-and-straw solo alongside gene’s keyboard.