The Red Velvet Lawyer

The Event Missing from our High-School History Books Pox American: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by Elizabeth A. Fern is a powerful analysis of a major public health event that played an important role in the future of the nation later known as the United States of America. It could have cost the Continental Army a win in the Revolutionary War with Britain.  It made conquering the interior of the country easier after smallpox killed 50 to 90 percent of the Native American population. By the time I read this book, I had already read books on  Ebola  in 20th century US, cholera  in 19th century England, the  Black Plague  in 14th century France, malaria  across the centuries and across the world, and the  Spanish flu  in 20th century US.  But this book carried more emotional weight.  Without ever saying as much, its pages spoke of great sadness and fear.  The viral illness was endemic to the Old World.  By the late 1700s, many men in the British army had

Timeless Lessons About Human Behavior When I first saw the pandemic spread West from Wuhan as I sat in my Qatar office, the New York Times published a list of seven books on pandemics .  Being an academic who likes to use "teachable moments" to increase my own knowledge and understanding, I ordered all of them.  They arrived in Doha just as officials ordered educators to start distance learning on March 10.  Safe at home and free of many campus-related responsibilities, I now had more time to read, and so I did. I started with the book on Ebola in 20th century US, then cholera in 19th century England, then the Black Plague in 14th century France, then malaria across the centuries and across the world, then the Spanish flu in 20th century US, and most recently smallpox in the US during the Revolutionary War period.  I am now reading a book that asks how we plan to handle future pandemics .  I still need to read the book on HIV/AIDS , a pandemic I rem

Eighty-Seven Years of Research  Unlocked Some of the Mysteries of the Virus  that Killed 50 Million People Worldwide I finished the book on the Spanish flu: "Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused it" by Gina Kolata.  Over the last two months, I have read books on Ebola, Cholera, the Black Plague, and malaria.  My reading list still includes books on HIV, smallpox, and the risk of coming pandemics.  Scientists have learned that the virus causing the Spanish flu was genetically similar to viruses found in birds.  It mutated in pigs, then infected humans. The Spanish flu virus was probably circulating (in a less virulent form) in the population for several years before the deadly 1918 outbreak that killed 50 million worldwide. The weird mortality curve , with younger people dying at higher rates, may reflect that older people had antibodies from the 1890 flu (developed when they were baby o

April 16, 2020 Journal Entry of Dr. Jason Hill , age 40, a Frontline Emergency Room Doctor at New York Presbyterian Hospital Borrowed from a Facebook post. "Covid at 40. The eyes stay with you. In peace time most of those we intubate are chronically ill, or profoundly confused, or unconscious and unaware of the world around them. Covid has changed the equation. Most of my patients now remain awake and alert until the end. These days the ER is permeated with frank conversations about death and dying and what a chance to live entails. It is a hard thing to tell a healthy and functional person who felt fine and well six days ago they may be dead in a day or two and humbly ask how aggressive they want us to be. A chance to live comes with the risk of dependence on life support and pain. The alternative is the guarantee of an imminent but peaceful death. I have never had more harrowing, more frequent, more brutally honest, more meaningful, more exhausting conversations i

Start Early, Vaccines, Social Distancing in Classrooms, & Testing Law professor and legal blogger, Brian Leiter , offers this advice: Having followed carefully the work of experts and science writers the last few weeks, this is my assessment of how a fall term will be possible in the U.S. (at least for some schools), assuming there is no significant medical breakthrough in the coming months (let us hope there is, then it will be easier); readers are invited to offer corrections, suggestions, links to other sources etc. First, universities would be well-advised to start the school year earlier than late August, on the assumption that by June and July we will see some decline in illness and infection (either because of the weather or because of the massive lockdowns). If schools start in early or even mid-August they could conceivably finish the fall term by Thanksgiving, that is, before the ordinary winter flu season gets going, which will just compound the proble

Respecting, But Managing Fear --- Wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert and Elaine Bailey-Anderson At a time when our already hectic and stressful lives breed chronic anxiety about work and home, we are now facing new fears tied to the global pandemic of COVID-19 . Recently, one of my former coaches from Christine Kain 's UpLevel coaching program offered her insight to managing fear.  It was so great, I asked for permission to share it here.  From Elaine Bailey-Anderson, CoachBrilliant : Whenever things get scary, or I get frightened I write a letter to my fear. Then I burn it to release my attachment to it. I learned this from Elizabeth Gilbert ❤️  She also suggests that if you are feeling extra fearful then give fear a chance to express itself first and be with it - Allow your fear to write a letter to YOU before you write one back.  Take a moment to surrender to your fear and ask it: “What are you actually terrified about, in this situation?"

Where is the Middle East Headed  After the Killing of Solemani Tonight I attended an event sponsored by the Al Jazeera Center for Studies focused on the topic: " Where is the Middle East Headed After the Killing of Solemani ." The program -- held on January 8, 2020 at the Al Jazeera Media Institute Auditorium -- featured four speakers: Mahommaed Cherkaoui, Senior Researcher at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. Liqaa Maki, Senior Researcher at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. Haoues Taquia, Researcher at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. Majoob Zweiri, Director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University.  The translation services were again disappointing because of a variety of technical issues.  Half the audience left after 30 minutes.  I stuck around for intermittent translation services and the chance to talk with people at the reception afterwards.  Accordingly, my notes are very incomplete.  So, any summary here is given with a very big caveat. The

Some Context After the News of the Killing of  Iranian Commander Suleimani As a US expat living in Qatar, I have attended a number of academic programs discussing tensions in the region between the US, its regional allies, and Iran. See here , here , here , here , and here . This past year, I wrote a review analyzing a new book on the security architecture and world-views of the regional actors. I recommended the book as a "fearless examination of the persistent tensions in the most volatile region in the world, along with the security architecture that makes it persistently unstable." See Book Review: Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf, Mehran Kamrava (Cornell U. Press 2018) , 9 J. of Arabian Studies 116 (2019), available here .

Strategic Impasse that is Unlikely to Change Absent Third-Party Intervention Pushing the Limits: US –  Iranian Brinkmanship in the Gulf Brookings Doha Center October 20, 2019 Intercontinental Hotel, Doha Qatar Three panelists expressed pessimism and pragmatism last week in assessing the current tensions between the US and Iran.  The moderator, Ali Fathollah-Nejad , Visiting Fellow, Brookings Doha Center, began the program by giving a brief summary of recent actions taken by both belligerents. He described President Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) . In 2018, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran , that among others things, affected Iran's ability to sell and export oil and natural gas. While European countries promised to mitigate the economic impact of these sanctions, their promises fell short.  As a consequence, Iran adopted a “maximum resistance str