Lands Far Away... Relaunch

People who have checked into this blog over the past several months have noted that it had become moribund.   I am now going to try again.  At the time I began the blog, I deliberately decided to focus rather narrowly on Central and Eastern Europe because it is something I know a great deal about, and as I mentioned in my original blog launch, it is a part of the world that Americans do not know know as much about, and which has a history that can like the history of any other place offer insights into our own world.  Unfortunately, it became apparent over the past several months that my model was flawed.   Requiring that every post relate to Central and Eastern Europe in some way was restricting.  While I have definite views on what is going on in the region, I don't always have something that has to be said.   

Based as I am in New York, more often than not, I do not have the on the ground perspective about events in that part of the world to keep blog posts coming regularly, and that cannot be made up for be keeping tabs on the press in the region.  For those who want more, my blog roll, small as it is, offers some links to other bloggers more clued in on the ground.  Besides, much as I love Central and Eastern Europe I have other things to say about things closer to home, and on a number of occasions I decided not to pursue ideas or did only preliminary writing on them because they fell out of the framework I had set for this blog.  As a result, I got out of the habit of checking in and making an entry even when there was something relevant to say about Central and Eastern Europe.   

So I am starting again with a larger brief of going where my mind takes me on a regular basis, which undoubtedly will still mean forays into Central and Eastern European affairs, but will go in other directions as well.