Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Sacrificing of Myself Rather Than Animal This Eid al-Adha?
Observing the Muslim Eid by giving of myself especially at a time when too many innocent humans have been sacrificed by the vanity of political agendas. From Muslim inhabitants in Myanmar, Ogaden, and the Central African Republic, to the broader populations of Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine, this has been a particularly bloody year. Journalists and...
Is Turkey Drifting Between ISIS & Putin?
Today, liberty is threatened by a pernicious Islamic extremism and by a resurgent Russian nationalism. NATO member Turkey is at the front lines of both of these conflicts. While Turkey’s allies expect it to stand sentinel over these threats they are ever more concerned that it is moving away from the West. Yet, Turkey is where it has always...
East Asia: A Farewell to Arms
(written with Emanuel Pastreich) East Asia faces an enormous number of challenges. The countries of the region clash over territory, argue over history, compete for diminishing natural resources, and dispute the balance of power along the Pacific Rim. In response to all these challenges, the United States has offered a one-size-fits-all approach:...
Eastern Ukraine Shelling Kills At Least 12
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Eastern Ukraine has suffered the worst violence in more than a week as fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government troops in the region killed at least 12 people and wounded 32, officials said Monday. Col. Andriy Lysenko told journalists in a briefing in Kiev on Monday that at least nine troops had been killed in a day...
Watch Protesters Tear Down A Massive Lenin Statue In Ukraine
Demonstrators in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv toppled one of the country’s largest statues of Vladimir Lenin on Sunday. Captured in a bevy of tweets and videos posted to social media, crowds of pro-Ukrainian protesters surrounded the Soviet idol as ropes wrenched the Lenin statue from its moorings and sent it hurtling to the...
The Flawed Logic of Russian Sanctions (and Why They Might Be Useful Anyway)
Western sanctions are harming the Russian economy, but that doesn’t mean they will achieve anything the West wants in Ukraine. The Minsk ceasefire agreement benefits Russia much more than Ukraine, forcing Kiev to make political concessions while giving Moscow free rein on Ukraine’s eastern borders and in Crimea. Russia has no...
Weekend Roundup: ISIS Has Unified the World; Climate Change Has Divided It
This week, the U.N. Security Council stood united in a unanimous resolution to fight what President Obama called the ISIS “network of death.” Yet, despite pleas for the world to act together on global warming, the leaders of India and China failed to even show up at the U.N. Climate Summit. India’s environment minister actually...
Olympic Plan to Bar Discrimination in Host Cities Is Just Lipstick on a Pig
The International Olympic Committee has announced that it will “force” future Olympic host cities to sign an anti-discrimination agreement before they are able to host the games. On its face, this is a step in the right direction. Some LGBT activists are claiming credit, celebrating this as some big success for the community. Forgive...
A Fulbright is Not a Political Football
Every now and then Congress shows wisdom as in the recent decision by the House and Senate to reject a request from the Obama administration to cut funding for the famous Fulbright program from $237 to $204 million. What’s a Fulbright and why should you care? The Fulbright is the most competitive and highly sought academic fellowship in the...
Abolish the Nukes Before they Abolish Us
The heat of World War II and hubris gave rise to nuclear bombs and their siblings, nuclear power plants. Not much thought went to what these weapons might be or become. Indeed, the Americans rushed and incinerated the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with their atomic bombs in August 1945. Since 1945, the nuclear bombs are a secret-guarded...
