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What people are protesting—it’s not just NATO by a long shot; concerns about NATO and unilateralism; local vs. international coverage; and more

A new paper suggests that big-city subway systems around the world are all converging towards one mathematically modeled shape: a core-and-branch structure that will look familiar to Chicagoans. And it looks an awful lot like what some early Chicago sociologists thought, too.

NATO responds to its ongoing existential crisis by offering “Smart Defense”: inexpensive military services for the new austerity. Did they mention their lubrication and fuel nozzle services?

On the agenda at NATO: getting out of Afghanistan and turning it over to the Afghan security forces; getting Pakistan to let us get out through their country; making sure Russia doesn’t shoot missiles at the European missile shield, at least before it’s done; giving North Atlantic countries something to do besides world war.

The mayor scores his highest approval ratings from whites (61 percent) and the wealthy (62 percent), which is likely driven in part by perceptions of neighborhood crime. But “no opinion” still scores pretty high after the mayor’s first year.

Chicago comes in behind its Midwest peers Minneapolis and Madison, finishing just behind Tuscon to round out the top 10, but take it with a grain of salt: we’re at something of a disadvantage due to the city’s physical size.

A large, Catholic Workers-organized protest at Obama’s downtown headquarters ends with eight arrests—but behind the numbers, it went peacefully, and even politely.

Stephanie Kuehnert looks back on bullying and homophobia for Rookie, while the Washington Post looks into Mitt Romney’s past, and his high school during the 1960s.

A journalist goes after some Northwestern grad students, their black-studies program, and the entire field… and gets fired over it, setting off a debate about the limits of what you can and can’t say about race, and where you can and can’t say it.