Check out these recent articles from around the web:

Ferguson and the paradox of American diversity by Michael Gerson: “During civil strife, it is necessary to establish public order — against both criminal elements and abusive police power (which undermines order as well). But our most admirable, influential leaders have attempted to do something more: to build a single nation of justice and opportunity. And surrendering this objective for any group of Americans would leave a nation both diverse and divided.”

The Polish Lesson: From Communism to Solidarity to Capitalism by Artur Rosman: “The austerity measures were so severe that they were called ‘shock therapy.’ They left a whole generation of Poles abandoned to a wild capitalism and with almost no social net. If you can imagine the opposite of Solidarity, this would be it.”

In pictures: Darfur refugees then and now by BBC News: “More than a decade since conflict erupted in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, the more than two million people who fled their homes have little prospect of returning to their villages. Photographers for the Catholic aid charity Cafod pictured people at three camps in central Darfur in 2007 and again in 2014 to find out how their lives have changed.”

In South Korea, pope visits boom market for the Catholic Church by Inés San Martín: “In many parts of the West, including much of the United States, the usual Catholic story is one of decline – closing or consolidating parishes and schools, watching dwindling congregations show up for Sunday Mass, and struggling to make do with a shrinking corps of priests and nuns. This week, however, takes Pope Francis to a through-the-looking glass venue, where the biggest Catholic problem is often keeping up with staggering growth.”

China dissident lawyer Gao Zhisheng ‘destroyed by jail’ by BBC News: “Leading Chinese dissident, Gao Zhisheng, has been ‘utterly destroyed’ after three years in jail, says his international lawyer, Jared Gensher.”

Egypt’s Tiananmen by Kenneth Roth: “In one day — indeed, in some 12 hours — security forces killed at least 817 people, each of whom has been individually identified by Human Rights Watch, and quite likely more than 1,000. The slaughter was so systematic that it probably amounts to a crime against humanity under international law.”

Why the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Isn’t Really Happening by David Frum: “Libertarianism is not pushing Republicans forward to a more electable future. It’s pushing them sideways to the extremist margins.”

Where goes the neighborhood? by EJ Dionne: “Individual choice certainly has big advantages over a rigid collectivism. But solidarity sure beats impulsiveness, self-involvement and fragmentation. Right now, we’re much better at choice than we are at solidarity. We could use a neighborly national discussion about how to restore the balance.”

Why Robin Williams Was a Millennial Hero by Megan Gibson: “To the generation of kids who grew up on his movies, Williams was a revelation, a teacher and a lifeline.”

This Is Not a Horror Movie. This Is a Public Hospital in Syria by Zaher Sahloul: “These bombs are made of 200 to 500 kilograms of explosives mixed with metal shrapnel, gasoline or sometimes chemical agents like chlorine gas. Barrel bombs are dumb and cheap bombs. Their poor accuracy and indiscriminate use in populated civilian areas can cause destruction of whole blocks of buildings and many deaths, amputations, and disabilities from flying shrapnel and crushing injuries.”

Old Muni Buses Are Reborn as Mobile Showers for the Homeless by Lisa Aliferis: “Doniece Sandoval, a marketing and communications professional and South Texas native, had seen plenty of shower-less homeless in her two decades in San Francisco. But when she passed a young homeless woman on the street who was crying that she’d never be clean, Sandoval decided to do something about it.”

Toxins and Human Life by William Patenaude: “Any culture that seeks to protect the unborn from deliberate death should accept the responsibility to protect innocent human life from all other harms—even the unintended kind, and even if this leads us to difficult conversations about our lifestyles, which Benedict XVI suggests elsewhere.”

Iraq crisis: Yazidi villagers ‘massacred’ by IS by BBC News: “Militants in northern Iraq have massacred at least 80 men from the Yazidi faith in a village and abducted women and children, reports say.”

Iraq’s City of Orphans by Michael Knights: “For U.S. protection of the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar to be more than a stunt, Washington must extend its support to other minorities, especially if only a minimal amount of military support would be decisive, as is the case with Amerli.”