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Category Archives: World Affairs
Turkish-German Actress Poses In Playboy As “Act of Liberation”
April 25, 2011 – 10:53 amSila Sahin’s appearance in the German version of Playboy has symbolic connotations: the 25-year-old Sahin, who plays Ayala in the RTL German soap opera Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times), managed to link her public exposure to the debate over a central sociopolitical issue: that young Muslim — in this case, Turkish — women [...]
Norway’s State Philosopher
March 20, 2011 – 11:48 amBelow is some of Michael Moore’s documentary footage which he cut from Sicko. He explores Norway’s exceedingly high standard of living and the values which produce it. Along the way he talks to Hynrik Syse, the philosopher who the government hired to manage the nation’s oil profits so that they would be used in the wisest [...]
Rachel Maddow Explains The Nuclear Threat In Japan
March 17, 2011 – 12:19 amThis account of how nuclear power works and what the current danger was remarkably clarifying for me: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Dr. Maddow would truly make a superb physics professor (you know, if she actually had as good a grasp of all physics as she has of [...]
On God And The Japanese Earthquake
March 16, 2011 – 11:45 pmEdward Tarte says everything that shouldn’t need to be said on the topic, but sadly does: The word poison is a bit unnecessarily strong, but the rest is spot on. Your Thoughts?
About Those Germans Trying To Get The Pope Charged With Crimes Against Humanity…
February 27, 2011 – 8:47 amSendai Anonymous has the scoop on how the enemy of our enemy may not be our friend. Your Thoughts?
Vatican Confirms Widespread Rape Of Nuns By Priests In 23 Countries
February 26, 2011 – 3:12 pmSickening: The Catholic Church in Rome made the extraordinary admission yesterday that it is aware priests from at least 23 countries have been sexually abusing nuns. The Catholic Church in Rome made the extraordinary admission yesterday that it is aware priests from at least 23 countries have been sexually abusing nuns. Most of the abuse [...]
The Religious Conservative’s False Choice: “Big Brother” Or “Heavenly Father”
February 23, 2011 – 10:00 amIn an e-mail to me, Caroline proposes thought provoking reasons for non-believers to encourage (or at least to not actively discourage) religious beliefs: It would also be nice if people would carry out actions in good conscience of just being decent human beings rather than in fear of reprisal in the afterlife, but as there [...]
Dispelling Misconceptions About China
February 22, 2011 – 7:35 amAn illuminating video: Your Thoughts?
How Would Apostates, Adulterers, And Thieves Fare In A Democratic Egypt?
February 18, 2011 – 10:04 pmRazib Kahn has a most disturbing chart: Kahn explains the above: On the x-axis you see the proportion who accept that adulterers should be stoned. On the y-axis you see the responses to amputation and apostasy. The red points are the proportion who agree with the death penalty for apostates, and the navy points those [...]
Fear Of Middle Eastern Democracy
February 13, 2011 – 4:00 pmWatching this video, I’m starting to fear those who have seemingly no belief in either the intrinsic value or potential effectiveness of democracy as much as I fear Islamism: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Your Thoughts?
“Today, There Is Joy.”
February 11, 2011 – 10:30 pmWill Wilkinson gives an eloquent defense of the joy in Egypt today: I admit that I am more than a little tempted to rain on the parade and note that Mr Mubarak’s departure guarantees nothing and that it is not unreasonable to fear a turn for the worse. There’s a tiny, stability-loving Burke on my [...]
Muslim Mob Burns Churches, Demands Death Penalty Over Christian Man’s Leaflets “Insulting” Islam
February 9, 2011 – 1:17 pmThe usual outrageous outrage: A Muslim mob burned churches and clashed with police in Indonesia on Tuesday as they demanded the death penalty for a Christian man convicted of blaspheming against Islam, police said. Two days after a Muslim lynch mob killed three members of a minority Islamic sect, crowds of furious Muslims set two [...]
Footage Of Attack On Anderson Cooper in Cairo
February 3, 2011 – 1:34 amThis really gives you the sense of the brutal, scary situation on the ground: Your Thoughts?
A Plain-Clothes Mubarak Crackdown?
February 2, 2011 – 1:39 pmAn upsetting and infuriating inference from Nicholas Kristof: Today President Mubarak seems to have decided to crack down on the democracy movement, using not police or army troops but rather mobs of hoodlums and thugs. I’ve been spending hours on Tahrir today, and it is absurd to think of this as simply “clashes” between two [...]
Real vs. Fake Democratic Revolutions: A Pictorial Representation
February 2, 2011 – 12:45 pmvia The Daily Dish (whose Egypt coverage all-day, everyday is must read) and whatstherumpus.) Your Thoughts?
Should We Fear An Influential Muslim Brotherhood Would Push Authoritarian Islamic Policies?
February 2, 2011 – 12:42 pmNathan Brown is a political science professor at George Washington University and director of the school’s Institute for Middle East Studies. He gives an overview of the Muslim Brotherhood’s evolution from their found through to today, explains how their renunciation of violent means came to pass decades ago, why al-Qaeda sees them as sell outs, [...]
How Not To Say Stupid Stuff About Egypt
February 2, 2011 – 12:40 pmA helpful guide, with special emphases on how not to be insufferably condescending. Your Thoughts?
Dissent of the Day
January 31, 2011 – 12:13 pmI received secondhand this reply to my post on Clinton’s response to the situation in Egypt: 1. I’d like his explicit definition or explication of “long term concerns for stability in the region.” 2. If we really want the United States not to be dictating to foreign countries what they should do then we should [...]
Is This What Secretary Clinton Really Means?
January 31, 2011 – 3:19 amI have already made my case that Secretary Clinton is saying the right things. In the interest of giving equal time to alternative viewpoints, here is a wholly uncharitable and scathing video which “translates” recent remarks to show that she allegedly “really means” the wrong things: Your Thoughts?
Thoughts On Secretary Clinton’s Response To Egypt
January 30, 2011 – 11:31 pmAs always when I venture out of my areas of specialization, let me preface all following remarks with the obvious reminder—I am by no means a foreign policy expert or a Middle East expert. So take the following on the merits of my arguments and bring forth any facts you think I may need to [...]
Projecting US Pathologies Onto Muslims
October 29, 2010 – 9:59 pmGlenn Greenwald offers a mirror for those of us who worry about the elements of theocratic expansionism which are enough a part of the Koran and early Islamic history to be considered potentially dangerous forms of the religion itself on its own terms (and not just of its appropriation by political agents): I’m always amazed [...]
France To Ban Burqa-Like Veils
July 13, 2010 – 1:42 pmEuroNews.net writes: A law banning the wearing of a full Islamic veil in public in France has been adopted by the lower house of parliament. The ruling UMP and the New Centre party voted for the ban on the burqa or niqab while the Socialists, Communists and Greens abstained. The law goes to the upper house in [...]
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