Niels Iain Stet

International Affairs, Politics, Innovation, Technology, Music, Photography and Art

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Konstantin Petrov’s World Trade Center Photographs Taken in 2001

Nick Paumgarten on Konstantin Petrov, an electrician at Windows on the World whose photos taken in 2001 offer a portrait of the Twin Towers.

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An analysis of the Twitter conversation on the eve of the European Union elections suggest that those social media users are divided on the value of the EU and not particularly excited about the candidates for the European Commission presidency.

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More than a thousand refugees have died trying to reach Christmas Island. But faced with unbearable conditions at home, they keep coming. The New York Times has published the heartbreaking story of the (boat) journey of these refugees, accompanied by beautiful and stunning photos by the Dutch photojournalist Joel van Houdt. 

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Iconic photographers hit the pavement to capture NYC’s true nature in Everybody Street, a film by Alldayeveryday.

You can Watch Everybody Street on Vimeo On Demand.

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Yes, Political Campaigns Follow Your Browser History

Fast Company's Neal Ungerleider has published a very interesting and well written article on how political campaigns microtarget ads to your web history consumer purchasing habits age ethnicity and more.

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Broccoli'€™s Extreme Makeover

Broccoli is about to get a serious makeover€” and maybe, just maybe, be a model of how to persuade Americans to eat better.

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New York Times columnist Roger Cohen has published an interesting and read worthy piece on how inept the Obama administration is behaving towards its 'allies' in Europe. Cohen argues that a re-pivot to Europe is in order as German fury at U.S. surveillance and dismissive attitudes runs high. 

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8,336,615 (New York) by Paul Riccio

A beautiful visual monologue of what it’s like to live amongst New York City’s 8,336,615 people. Constantly surrounded by others, yet often, lonely

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Love in the Gardens by Zadie Smith | The New York Review of Books

When my father was old and I was still young, I came into some money. Though it was money “earned” for work done, it seemed, both to my father and me, no different than a win on the lottery. We looked at the contract more than once, checking and rechecking it, just like a lottery ticket, to ensure no mistake had been made. No mistake had been made. I was to be paid for writing a book.

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An Open Letter to David Cameron and the IOC

Stephen Fry published an excellent and very powerful open letter to David Cameron and the IOC on why we should not go to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

"An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillyhammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world. He is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews. He cannot be allowed to get away with it. I know whereof I speak. I have visited Russia, stood up to the political deputy who introduced the first of these laws, in his city of St Petersburg. I looked into the face of the man and, on camera, tried to reason with him, counter him, make him understand what he was doing." ~Stephen Fry

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Detroit in 1917, note the amazing vitality. Last month, almost a century later, the city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. It is now the largest city in the U.S. to do so. Last year, TIME Magazine published an amazing photo essay on the decay of Detroit called 'Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline'.

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We can't afford to be cynical about the Israel-Palestinian peace talks

"John Kerry has shown the will to get things moving, and even old hands aren't as pessimistic as usual. There's room for hope." The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland comes to a very correct conclusion in his op-ed on the revived peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians: "The smart money says this will fail; in the Middle East, failure is always the safer bet. But while cynicism is certainly the easiest posture, when it comes to this conflict, it's not the right one. Too many lives have been lost or broken to be cynical about an effort to make peace. The least we can offer is our hope."

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Listen to this beautiful cover of The National's Bloodbuzz Ohio by Julia Stone.

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Another Citizens United, but Worse, Goes to the Supreme Court

"A blessing on unlimited direct campaign contributions is the next logical step for the Justices to take—and they have five votes." New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin elaborates on an upcoming supreme court case and possible unlimited direct campaign contributions in the future. 

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'The Detroit Bus Company' is an amazing and very inspirational story about an enterprising Detroit entrepreneur bringing transit to the people in a city in decline.

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I stumbled upon this amazing picture of US and Soviet tanks facing each other at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, 1961.

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John Kerry's Years of Quiet Diplomacy Helped Forge Path to Peace Talks

An excellent article by Eli Lake and Josh Rogin on US Secretary of State John Kerry's long time efforts to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.