Barack Obama continues to insist that surveillance of telephone and internet communications is necessary. Speaking in Berlin, where the outcry over PRISM has been the loudest amongst US allies, Obama claimed that the surveillance had thwarted “at least 50 threats of terror attacks in the United States and other countries,” according to the Voice of America. (More…)
Don’t let his pro-Palestinian rhetoric fool you. Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains a close ally of the United States. The head of a socially conservative Islamic political party, the Turkish Premier nonetheless believes Turkey to be an integral part of the west, no less deserving of EU membership, for example, than decidedly secular, northern European states such as Germany. (More…)
Teaching English abroad is a billion dollar business. With English being the language of commerce, it’s an imperative skill. For persons from less developed countries, learning it can be a way to facilitate a move to a more economically viable place, or at least the chance to study in western schools. In wealthy countries, English is necessary for many of the same reasons. It’s the lingua franca of the upper class. (More…)
Sifting through the rhetoric of old-school Communists in the twenty-first century, it’s hard not feel sorry for them. The world has caught up with their talking points to such a degree that they struggle to communicate their radicalism. Take the word “international.” (More…)
There is a reason that Hajj is such an important part of Islamic teachings. The pilgrimage is one of abandoning earthly distinctions. It is a process of collective worship by massive crowds that are subject to the same conditions, down to a dress code of white sheets. Hajj emphasizes radical egalitarianism, and the individual abandoning the self for a collective submission under God. (More…)
Washington is now ‘involved’. Following a string of high-profile victories by Syrian government forces, the Obama Administration has announced that it will begin distributing ‘non-lethal aid’ to rebel factions. Although its justifications include four uses of chemical weapons by Syria, it is clear that Assad’s renewed momentum, with Russian and Iranian support, has changed Obama’s outlook. (More…)
It was great revolutionary branding. A beautiful young woman, wearing a Turkish star and crescent teeshirt, was holding up a matching flag, blowing in the evening wind. Her eyes were focused on something afar, as though preoccupied with higher thoughts – of the good of the nation, perhaps. Three women stood to her right. One sported a similarly coordinated Turkey-branded teeshirt and headband (More…)
One of the peculiarities of the early punk scene was the way that certain sounds became associated with certain towns. In mid-1980s, New York became famous for bands with a crunchy, metallic sound, such as Judge, Youth of Today, and the Cro-Mags. Although Chicago has produced a wide range of groups, it’s hard to dissociate the city from dark and angular sounding 1980s bands such as Naked Raygun, The Effigies, and Articles of Faith. (More…)
Don’t believe the hype. Just because the left isn’t in power doesn’t mean its ideologies are dead. Anti-capitalism, for example, is everywhere, including on the right, or what Europeans call “populist” parties, which deliberately mix a little bit of red with their brown.”National Socialism,” as it was called, is a perfectly-named example, despite the Nazis’ former ties to big business. (More…)
A month after Boston’s Patriot Day bombings, the world’s eyes were drawn to Woolwich, a previously unheard of district in south London. Two Muslim converts of Nigerian descent had run over British Army Private Lee Rigby, following which they used knives and a cleaver to hack him to death. (More…)
PRISM just became the hottest word in America. With the disclosure Thursday by the Washington Post of an explosive PowerPoint presentation from a “career intelligence officer” documenting the breadth of government surveillance on the Internet, user privacy has turned into a full-blown civil rights crisis, the likes of which we have not seen since the 1950s. (More…)
The sound of hand drums echoed in the distance. For a second, I thought I was in Berkeley. A daily feature of my graduate school years, I can’t remember a seminar I sat in where I could not hear a jam session in progress. Located somewhere in Sproul Plaza, drum circles would normally get going in the mid-afternoon, rising in volume – and membership – by the early evening. (More…)