February 15, 2019
Asylum and Immigration Policy
There is a current disconnect between the poem on the Statue of Liberty (Give me your tired, your po more...
February 08, 2019
Women and "Pollution"
Women in modern, reason-based societies know that menstruation (monthly bleeding) is a norma more...
February 01, 2019
Women and Piety
I am a tireless advocate for women to have choices and rights in their lives. What makes thi more...
Women and Piety
I am a tireless advocate for women to have choices and rights in their lives. What makes thi more...
January 25, 2019
The Limits to Growth
The economic system that has done so well by us is Capitalism, a system that encourages comp more...
January 18, 2019
Coincidence or Collusion?
My head reels to learn the FBI is exploring if our president is a willing agent of a foreign country more...
January 11, 2019
Our Most Corrupt President
Last week, we explored the meaning and history of political corruption in our country. I emp more...
January 04, 2019
What is Political Corruption?
As George Marshall said in his toast to President Harry Truman, 'The full stature of this ma more...
December 28, 2018
Women with No Choices
I wrote about Pakistan?s hideous culture last week, about a woman accused of "blasphemy" who more...
December 21, 2018
Pakistan?s Poisonous Underbelly
December 14, 2018
Scuttling All the US Government Departments
December 07, 2018
The Final Gift of President Bush
We have all become so numbed by the constant flood of nastiness in our current politics that Preside more...
November 30, 2018
Historic Roots of Anti-Semitism
The perennial hostility and conspiracy theories about Jews seemed, at least in the US, a non more...
November 23, 2018
Attacks on the Press are now global.
November 16, 2018
What?s Happening to the Global Islam Project?
Islam as a global religion is having a crisis. Despite years of propaganda that began with the Irani more...
November 09, 2018
When Should "Norms" Become Law?
We are hearing much about "norms" today, an issue we usually do not have to think about beca more...
November 02, 2018
What to Do About Saudi Arabia
Sometimes, one only misses something when it is gone. This is the case with America?s long-s more...
October 26, 2018
The Element of Time in Changing Society
One of the most important insights of our Founding Fathers, men who created an exceedingly r more...
October 19, 2018
The History of the US Justice System
One of the key benefits of a representative governing system is that it provides justice---f more...
October 12, 2018
The History of the American Presidency
The brand new United State of America in 1779 invented the first presidency in the world. Ev more...
October 05, 2018
The Liberal World Order.
Since the end of World War II, something never before seen was happening to the world: a spr more...
September 28, 2018
The Me Too Movement in Perspective
As our political world is once more roiled by allegations of abuse of women, this time a woman who h more...
September 22, 2018
Indonesia?s Endangered Democracy.
At the end of the 20th century, it appeared that Democracy was on a roll. The UN published t more...
September 15, 2018
Saudi men resist women driving.
Ordinarily, the status of women around the world is of more interest to western educated wom more...
September 08, 2018
Too Much Democracy?
Populism around the world is in the process of destroying liberal democracy, replacing it wi more...
September 01, 2018
Could Iran Collapse?
Iran has proven a complex and difficult country for the US to have a coherent foreign policy more...
August 25, 2018
Why is Foreign Policy So Complex?
Diplomacy is a very old tradition in the world. The world?s first kings 7,000 years ago (Sum more...
August 18, 2018
Climate Change Consequences
August 11, 2018
The Ongoing War on Science
In the 19th century, as science was beginning to replace religious explanations for phenomen more...
August 04, 2018
The Assault on Truth
Human beings sometimes lie. How much they deliberately tell an untruth varies according to the natur more...
July 28, 2018
Alien Children in History
While watching with horror the recent deliberate separation of children from their parents a more...
July 21, 2018
The "Deep State" Conspiracy
A popular notion among conspiracy lovers is that there is a secret government that really ru more...
July 14, 2018
Putin?s Game
July 07, 2018
Clash of Civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
June 30, 2018
Core Values In Immigration Policy
June 23, 2018
Why Populism is On The March Everywhere
Recently, I heard a TV discussion between Fareed Zakaria and Tony Blair, the former Prime Mi more...
June 16, 2018
Following Russian Money
Russia attempted to clandestinely manipulate our 2016 presidential election, a fact shared w more...
June 09, 2018
Why Conspiracy Theories Flourish
People "believe" many things, some that they see themselves, some learned from parents and t more...
June 02, 2018
Three Countries Turn 70: Comparisons
Seventy years ago, the United Nations recognized the birth of three new nations: Israel, Ind more...
May 26, 2018
The American Presidency in History
A packed auditorium listened to the April 30 presentation of the Leon Panetta Lecture Series: "The A more...
May 19, 2018
Public Education and Democracy
The recent widespread teachers? strike was the first time in years that we had to think of public ed more...
May 12, 2018
Getting Poison Gas Policies Wrong.
Most weapons of war are frightening enough; they are designed to kill an enemy or protect on more...
May 05, 2018
Census taking outside of the US
April 28, 2018
The Census: Counting On It.
In antiquity, our numbers grew enough to give rise to towns and cities, kingdoms, and empires. Ruler more...
April 21, 2018
Words Matter.
Definitions are very useful when words have power over our minds. Terrorism is one of those words. F more...
April 14, 2018
Doing the Right Thing has Costs!
John F. Kennedy?s Profiles in Courage provided us with the biographies of men who defied pol more...
April 07, 2018
Pakistan?s blasphemy Law
People in the modern world roll their eyes when they hear the word "blasphemy." This is such more...
March 31, 2018
Russia?s Disinformation Campaign
Last week, we reviewed Russia?s long-term foreign policy, a policy that is a reflection of i more...
March 24, 2018
Russia?s Foreign Policy
"Russia," as Winston Churchill once noted, "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." They more...
March 17, 2018
Two Books Explore "What Ifs" in History
The extraordinary closeness of our 2016 presidential election is getting plenty of attention more...
March 10, 2018
Let Us Take a Tour of Slavery Through History
Although slavery did not begin with America, its effects still poison the dreams of the America Blac more...
March 03, 2018
It Is Just a Little Headscarf
In 1978, Pakistan?s newly elected president, Zia ul Huq, transformed his country from an aspiring se more...
February 24, 2018
Thirteen Russians Indicted for Election Meddling
February 17, 2018
Valentine's Day Has Religious Enemies
It is difficult to believe that a holiday as seemingly benign as St. Valentine's Day could a more...
February 10, 2018
In a Democracy, Character Matters.
February 03, 2018
Our Better Angels
January 27, 2018
The Kurds Are Transforming Islam
The Syrian city of Raqqa, recently cleared of its ISIS fanatics, is being rebuilt after near more...
January 20, 2018
Iranian Revolution Coming Apart?
January 13, 2018
Fake News and Conspiracy Theories
January 06, 2018
Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel?s Capital
I try to be a political centrist, and have done so for both Democratic and Republican presid more...
December 30, 2017
What are Laws and Norms?
Laws are rules of behavior observed and enforced by a society. These rules are mandated by w more...
December 23, 2017
Is Fear of Strangers a Human Instinct?
Is fear of strangers (xenophobia) built in to the human genetic code? If genetic, it would be instin more...
December 16, 2017
Good Manners Need a Renaissance
Our country is having an epidemic of bad manners, causing all sorts of discord. In Western C more...
December 09, 2017
Is Fundamentalism in Meltdown?
Every mainstream religion has positive elements that provide comfort and direction to its pa more...
December 02, 2017
Can There Be a Centrist Party?
The political pendulum in this country has now swung to two extremes, making it very difficult for a more...
Can There Be a Centrist Party?
The political pendulum in this country has now swung to two extremes, making it very difficult for a more...
November 25, 2017
Is Saudi Arabia Heading for Disaster?
November 18, 2017
One World or Back to Tribalism?
The past few centuries have seen the rise of the nation-state, countries defined by a common more...
November 11, 2017
Gender Wars in Perspective
An obnoxious Hollywood mogul, a man who for decades sexually harassed seemingly every female more...
November 04, 2017
Democracy Cannot Have One Hand Clapping!
When our country was being created, our first president, George Washington, tried to avoid h more...
October 28, 2017
Leaving the Union: Pros and Cons
If American foreign policy were based on our own historic experience, we must oppose secession movem more...
October 21, 2017
Vietnam Revisited
The latest Ken Burns documentary, Vietnam, should have been as widely watched as his Civil W more...
October 14, 2017
Understanding Dangerous Weak Countries
Survival is a universal instinct among all living creatures. Nature seems to give even mice a fighti more...
October 07, 2017
The Eternal Russia
Russia is a victim of geography; everything unpleasant, violent, paranoid, and dark can be t more...
September 30, 2017
Identity Politics?
We have heard the term "identity politics" a great deal during the last presidential electio more...
September 23, 2017
Nation Building in Afghanistan?
Afghanistan has been a problem since Alexander the Great tramped through on his way to India. It bec more...
September 16, 2017
Freedom Is a Tricky Concept.
"Freedom" is an interesting idea, one that is much used in ways that are often contradictory. Freedo more...
September 09, 2017
Destroying Sacred Icons Is Not New.
A political cartoon in the Santa Cruz Sentinel showed two Islamist Muslims cheering on the d more...
September 02, 2017
"Why Can?t a Woman Be More Like a Man?"
One of the funniest songs in My Fair Lady is when two men, a professor and his best friend d more...
August 26, 2017
Resentment and Torchlight Parades
It was unsettling, to say the least, to see a resurrection of America?s perennial underbelly more...
August 19, 2017
Iran's Simmering Rebellion
Misaugh Parsa, a Dartmouth professor, has published a fascinating book, Democracy In Iran: Why it Fa more...
August 12, 2017
Is There Democracy in Iran's Future?
I was in and out of Iran the year (1978) just before the country fell to an Islamic Revoluti more...
August 05, 2017
"Palace Intrigues" in Art and History.
Governing well is not easy, and governing well under a democracy is not the most efficient s more...
July 29, 2017
The Past and Future of Work
There are people in the lesser-developed parts of the world who do work that our modern societies ha more...
July 22, 2017
Humor Can Bring Down a State
One characteristic of nasty governments?theocracies, dictatorships, and authoritarian monarchies is more...
July 15, 2017
What do you know about Montenegro?
Montenegro was in the news in late May and early June, but it is doubtful that the vast majority of more...
July 08, 2017
Liberal or Illiberal Democracies, What Are They?
July 01, 2017
Constitutional Crises In Our History
June 24, 2017
True Believers, The World?s Nightmares
"True Believers," by their very process, discard any effort at critical thinking. Whatever t more...
June 17, 2017
Populism Across the Globe
June 10, 2017
How Islamists Select Targets
Every time Islamists select a target, such as the recent attack in Manchester, handwringers come ou more...
June 03, 2017
Where are the University Grownups?
May 27, 2017
Where Religious Tolerance is Scorned (Part 3 of 3)
On May 13, my column provided the global history of religious tolerance. On May 20, I charted the hi more...
May 20, 2017
Limits to Tolerance (Part 2 of 3)
On May 13, my column provided the global history of religious tolerance. This column feature more...
May 13, 2017
Religious Tolerance in World History
Among primitive humans, the world was frightening and animated by benign or hostile spirits. more...
Religious Tolerance in World History
Among primitive humans, the world was frightening and animated by benign or hostile spirits. Our anc more...
May 06, 2017
America?s Long Religious Heritage
Unlike the rest of the developed world, which is either tepid on religion or is fiercely sec more...
April 29, 2017
Russia?s New Global Aims
The Cold War is back, but it is a different Cold War because it is a different Russia. It is more...
April 22, 2017
America Has 250 Years of Consistent Foreign Policy
April 15, 2017
Closing the American Great Divide
Americans were the closest to being united by a common culture between 1941 and 1965. The po more...
April 08, 2017
World Happiness Report
Every year, the UN issues a report on a survey of how countries rank in terms of development more...
March 25, 2017
The Trouble With Today?s "Cassandras."
Cassandra dates back to ancient Greek mythology. Cassandra was a princess of Troy who was cu more...
March 18, 2017
Sweden Does Have an Immigrant Problem.
President Trump's recent comment about "Sweden, Sweden is a disaster" met with pushback when more...
March 11, 2017
The Role of Language in Politics
A fascinating issue arose during our recent Presidential election campaign, and continues to more...
March 04, 2017
Two-State Solution Faces Reality
It has been US and UN policy since the founding of Israel and Palestine in 1947 that two sta more...
February 25, 2017
Crisis for the Muslim World
February 18, 2017
Vetting Immigrants and Refugees
February 11, 2017
Ideas That Make People Kill.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Europeans engaged in mutual slaughter over religion: th more...
February 04, 2017
Islam: One Size Does Not Fit All!
Both extreme ends of the political spectrum have a problem with their assessment of Islam, t more...
January 28, 2017
The Arc of History
As a historian, I share with former President Obama the idea that there is such a thing as " more...
January 21, 2017
World Law and Reciprocity
After 75 years with a system of global norms that America created, many around the world are more...
January 07, 2017
Israel and Its Changing Neighborhood
Nothing is more divisive than discussions of the Israeli/Palestinian century old conflict. T more...
December 31, 2016
Who Are Americans? Multiethnic or Multicultural?
The populist resurgence around the world, including our own country, is about identity crisis. Belon more...
December 24, 2016
Tradition!
In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevya, the milkman, a poor Jewish villager trying to survive in Tzarist Russ more...
December 17, 2016
Populism?s Unanticipated Consequences: Dictatorship
I learned in my college days that when somebody on campus yelled "Power to the People!" that more...
December 10, 2016
How Our "Nation of Immigrants" Works.
December 03, 2016
America?s History of Isolationism or Engagement.
November 11, 1918, was Armistice Day. On that date a century ago, World War I ended with a cease fi more...
November 26, 2016
Celebrating Native American Food
November 19, 2016
Culture Matters Part 2
Last week, I wrote about the cultural chasm in the United States that gave rise to election results more...
November 05, 2016
E Pluribus Unum?
This Latin slogan describes the intentions of our founding father: that out of many colonies more...
November 01, 2016
Laina with October Movies
October 22, 2016
It Can?t Happen Here?
e are just two weeks from the US Presidential election, far too late to change minds. However, many more...
October 15, 2016
Israel?s Changing Neighborhood
When Israel first became a nation, a unified Muslim world (in particular, Arab world) invade more...
October 08, 2016
Populism Is No Way to Rule.
It is good advice to hide your wallet when you hear "Power to the People." Our founding fathers knew more...
October 01, 2016
Immigrants vs Self-Radicalizing Jihadis
September 22, 2016
Is There Global Rule of Law?
During President Obama?s recent visit to Asia, he spoke about Global Norms to students in La more...
September 17, 2016
Why Is Georgetown University Rewriting History?
Cherry-picking is no way to benefit from historic insight. Suddenly, it has become chic to revisit h more...
September 10, 2016
The Fuss over Headscarves
When President Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin wall and said: "Mr. Gorbachev, Take Down This Wall. more...
August 27, 2016
Libya as an American Foreign Policy Problem
Libya is a perfect example of why it is so difficult for the US to design a good foreign policy wher more...
August 20, 2016
Culture Matters: International (Part 2 of 2)
In the 1990s, Samuel Huntington first wrote an essay, then a book, called The Clash of Civilizations more...
August 13, 2016
Culture Matters! Part 1 of 2.
When the Black Lives Matter organization adds the word "also," this removes the idea that only Black more...
August 06, 2016
Russia's Long Romance with Lying and Deception
A spotlight has been turned on Putin's Russia lately: the probability that his government had hacked more...
July 23, 2016
Iraq War Revisited with Critical Thinking
A British report released a few weeks ago roundly castigated former Prime Minister Tony Blair for hi more...
July 16, 2016
Beliefs that Kill
What people believe matters. There are some beliefs around the world that result in murder. So many more...
July 09, 2016
Profiling the Muslim Community
What is so dangerous about Donald Trump is that he sometimes, quite by accident, takes a pos more...
June 18, 2016
Religion, Sexuality, and Homosexuality
Many well-meaning people believe that the murderous aspects of today?s Muslim true-believers more...
June 04, 2016
The Mystery of Defunding Israel
When one surveys nasty governance, horrible cultures, and rampant injustice in the world, Is more...
June 02, 2016
Letters to Editors: Primary Elections and Slavery Statistics
May 24, 2016
Book Review on Communism's Founding Tyrants
James DeMeo: "The Hidden History of Communism's Founding Tyrants, in their Own Words: Marx, Engels, more...
May 21, 2016
Saudi Arabia: Our Troubled and Troublesome Ally (Part 2 of 2)
A country as insignificant as Saudi Arabia before oil would have mattered little to the worl more...
May 14, 2016
Saudi Arabia: Our Troubled and Troublesome Ally (Part 1 of 2)
May 07, 2016
What Use Are Good Manners?
Being "polite" is not just a matter of saying please and thank you. Courtesy has always been the lub more...
April 30, 2016
1400 Years of Inbreeding
Worldwide Muslim marriage practices are now under fire for a spate of genetic problems now in the Western spotlight. The birth defects and anomalies are real and their incidence within Islam is undeniable. The problem is determining if these incidences are all caused by the Muslim preference for first-cousin marriages, a practice forbidden in Judaism and Christianity.
We do not know enough about genetics to determine if this consanguinity is totally to blame, or if there are other factors. Do all first-cousin marriages produce defective children or might some of them also produce a doubling of intellectual capacity and genius? We really do not know for sure.
Since the ability of modern statistic gathering to track some of these problems, we have observed the following: Pakistani Muslims, 70% of whom have practiced first-cousin marriages for centuries (and 55% still prefer them in England) have devastating consequences. British medical authorities report that a British Pakistani family is more than 13 times as likely to have children with recessive genetic disorders. Although Pakistanis comprise 3% of the births in the UK, they account for 33% of children with genetic birth defects. IQ numbers lower than 70 increase by an astonishing 400 percent in first-cousin marriages.
In looking at other inbred groups in history, we also can see some anomalies. Throughout history, from ancient Egypt on, royal families have inbred either through close cousins, or in the case of Egypt, siblings. Outcomes were eventually terrible and could account for the fall of some dynasties. The recessive genes in the cousin marriages of Queen Victoria?s children, certainly in the case of Russia, was responsible for passing on hemophilia, a potentially fatal disease in the heir to the Russian throne.
The very small gene pool of Jews living in the European diaspora became genetically noticeable too. In this case, there was enhanced intelligence but also certain genetic diseases, such as Tay-Sachs disease. First cousin marriages were never permitted, but small gene pool had consequences.
What other issues could possibly account for the terrible genetic inbreeding in the Muslim world besides the religious encouragement of this practice? It is markedly worse in rural areas and villages, and in migratory tribes. The breeding pool is naturally inadequate in such places, something the people cannot help. But religion and cultural practice drive the practice of first-cousin marriages in the urban Middle East, in Saudi Arabia (67%), Jordan (64%), Kuwait (63%), Sudan (63%), and Iraq (60%). The worst numbers are found in Nubia, southern Egypt.
The only mitigating factor within the Muslim world is the upper-class practice of polygamy: bearing children to women who are not relatives, along with the offspring of the senior first-cousin wife. Aristocratic Muslim families have a better chance of having some normal children with such wives, and their wealth can provide a better diet and an education, factors that can enhance health and intelligence.
Saudi Arabia is a fascinating test case of the consequences of rigorously practiced first-cousin marriages. Lockheed employees training Saudi pilots on their latest aircraft noticed most had limited night vision and training retention was abysmal. Two British teachers in an upper-class Saudi boys? school told me their students were "rocks and sand," for their lack of retention and inability to learn. The question here would be: is this genetic or cultural?
Pilot trainers years ago training the Taiwanese reported that they were constantly blacking out at altitude. Was this genetic or dietary? When red meat was added to their diet, they stopped blacking out. But pilot trainers of Iraqis and Afghans have the same reports as those training Saudis?lack of retention.
How much of the problem roiling the Muslim world today is because of autocratic family practices, in addition to inbreeding? How much is due to the even lower attainments of poor Muslim women, who suffer from genetic deficiency, diet deficiency, and lack of intellectual stimulation in a secluded world?
One issue alone cannot be blamed for the entire range of problems in that culture. Over time, increasing urbanization and exposure to the world can make a needed change.
682 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.
April 23, 2016
Four Middle East Water Systems Shape History
Controlling water was one of the first technological efforts at the beginning of what we call "civil more...
April 09, 2016
Genocide extends back 7,000 years.
Archaeologists have just found a 7,000-year-old Stone Age mass gravesite outside of Frankfurt, Germa more...
April 02, 2016
What is a Patriot?
The first mention of love of country occurred in Rome, under the Republic. The slogan was: D more...
March 19, 2016
Political Parties Are Not Permanent.
That the Republican Party is heading toward a demolition is no surprise by now. This is not the firs more...
March 12, 2016
Anger is No Substitute for Thinking.
One of the most difficult things about popular democracy is that it requires thought. Not al more...
March 05, 2016
With Women Like These?..
For all the vaunted "sisterhood" among women, we need to be aware that some are not always our frien more...
February 27, 2016
Was the Past Really Better?
When we revere the past to the point of worship, we are saying that those who came centuries more...
February 20, 2016
Do You Really Want a Revolution?
Being angry is not the best reason for voting for a "revolution." One might not like aspects of the more...
February 13, 2016
How Our Presidents Promote Tolerance
The United States was founded just as the European Enlightenment swept through. The Enlightenment oc more...
January 30, 2016
The Long Decline of Christians in the Muslim World.
Secular Americans and Europeans are often reluctant to rush to the defense of Christians around the more...
January 23, 2016
Europe's Good Intentions Hit the Wall of Reality.
Casandras (me included) have been writing for 20 years about Europe's failure to integrate a Muslim more...
January 16, 2016
Poll Finds Christian-Muslim Divide on Religious Freedom.
January 09, 2016
"Round Up the Usual Suspects!"
The Vichy French police chief in the delightful movie, Casablanca, hid his scorn for his Naz more...
January 02, 2016
Darwin Awards for 2015
I issue mock Darwin Awards each year for those so stupid they should be barred from adding to the ge more...
December 31, 2015
Laina at the Movies
December 26, 2015
The History of How Religions Change.
People on both ends of the political spectrum are stumbling around in their concern about Is more...
December 19, 2015
Neither Bigot Not Apologist.
Our country is tied in knots on how to regard Militant Islam. Donald Trump, a bumptious Republican p more...
December 12, 2015
Militant Islam has a Woman Problem.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack on America, there was a knee-jerk assumption that more...
December 06, 2015
Letter to the Editor: Ignoring the Obvious!
December 05, 2015
Are We At War? And With Whom?
Leaders both here and in Europe are reluctant to identify those with whom we are at war. The more...
November 28, 2015
Do Refugees Have Responsibilities?
Nobody seems to be asking if refugees themselves have responsibilities to their host country more...
November 21, 2015
Is the Paris Massacre a Game Changer?
November 14, 2015
How Can Immigrants Be Absorbed?
Immigration is not new for Europe. The first migrants who arrived from the Middle East (Homo more...
November 07, 2015
Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia: a Primer
A reader once called me a racist in response to an article I wrote criticizing Islamism. I w more...
October 31, 2015
Say Goodbye to Clock Boy!
From the moment the news swept the nation that a 14-year-old Texas Muslim boy, Ahmed Mohamed more...
October 24, 2015
Afghan Problems
October 17, 2015
The Saudis Are Not Alone in Religious Stampedes.
When I was a child, my father said: "never chase an ambulance!" He warned that mobs of peopl more...
October 10, 2015
The World Has A Strange Fixation on Sex.
Human sexuality has two areas of concern for people who govern: population numbers (Reproduce and Mu more...
October 03, 2015
Whose Fault is the Immigrant Crisis?
September 26, 2015
Whose Fault is the Immigrant Crisis?
Wouldn't you know that the moment any crisis occurs in the world that the usual commentators more...
Press Coverage Sometimes Skews Needed Information.
Two stories that, thanks to the press and social media, went viral, immediately raised red f more...
September 21, 2015
Another View of Pope Francis
September 19, 2015
Refugee Hordes Threaten Europe?s Future.
Europe has a long history of taking in refugees---and of creating them. During the French Re more...
September 12, 2015
Religious fanaticism still defies the Secular State.
September 05, 2015
The United States of Europe Is Obviously Premature.
Europe is a geographic designation: the westernmost peninsula of the Eurasian continental landmass. more...
Tradition!
Tevye, the father living in revolutionary times of rapid change, struggled with what to do a more...
August 29, 2015
Are Arabs Losing Interest in the Palestinians?
Amir Taheri, an Iranian journalist whom I once knew as editor of the English language Tehran more...
August 22, 2015
Tradition!
Tevye, the father living in revolutionary times of rapid change, struggled with what to do a more...
August 01, 2015
What if the 30-Year Religious Wars Prediction Is Wrong?
Yemen, once a backwater that nobody much cared about, is now a failed state that has inflamed an ent more...
July 25, 2015
Let's Take a Long View of the Iran Deal.
The exhausted negotiators had been at it for 20 months, the last many hours of which were ne more...
July 18, 2015
Putin Has His Own Private Assassins
I don?t know how many of you remember the story of the "Sorcerer?s Apprentice," charmingly done in t more...
July 04, 2015
Human Rights Widen In the West, Vanish Elsewhere.
On June 26, the United States extended its freedoms to one more group of fellow citizens, homosexual more...
June 27, 2015
History Reveals Presidential Close Calls!
As a historian, I can be pretty dispassionate about reading things that are past and gone. K more...
June 20, 2015
Defunding Israel but Blind to Islamophobia Ripoffs?
Only in the free Western world can such asymmetrical nonsense take place. Israel, the one western co more...
June 13, 2015
Asking the Wrong Question Can Lead to War.
The United States has gone to war twice by asking the wrong questions. Fortunately for us, even thou more...
May 09, 2015
Europe?s Newest Invasion needs Tough Love.
As Europeans wring their hands over the arrival of desperate boat people swarming from an Af more...
May 02, 2015
The Nation-State Idea is Not Cast in Stone.
I remember trying to explain to my small children what a "country" is. They understood neigh more...
April 25, 2015
When is "Economic Information" Espionage?
April 18, 2015
"Clash of Traditions" Offer Glimmers of Hope
April 04, 2015
What's New: Destroying One's Own Religious Treasures
The Pagan world had no problem with incorporating other people's gods. They managed to see c more...
March 14, 2015
Poor Jihadi John: People Picked on Him!
"Jihadi John" has been identified as Mohammad Emwazi, a young immigrant from Kuwait, welcome more...
March 07, 2015
What to do with Returning Jihadis?
Parents know that teenagers must make some mistakes in order to learn, and we always hope th more...
February 21, 2015
Annual Darwin Awards
Every year, I gather up notes on people so stupid that they should not add to the human gene more...
February 10, 2015
Victimization Has Become Chic---Diluting the Message.
Our country is wallowing in the blame game with endless demonstrations protesting injustice. It is s more...
January 17, 2015
Whose Fault Are the French Jihadi Murders?
January 10, 2015
Terrorists: "Insult us and we kill you."
We in the Western World think our sacred cows are strong enough to withstand mockery and hum more...
It is Not Smart to Take Rule of Law for Granted.
We take "rule of law" as much for granted as we assume that our supermarkets will not run ou more...
January 03, 2015
Youth who seek "meaning" find it in bad places.
Intrepid TV journalists have managed to conduct interviews with some of the most puzzling Ji more...
December 20, 2014
Belief and Writing: It Must Be True If It Is Written Down.
Fanatics are not called "true believers" for nothing. Whether the belief is religious or pol more...
December 13, 2014
Europe Rethinks Multiculturalism
Americans, unlike Europeans, have always made room for new citizens from other countries. Since the more...
December 06, 2014
Some Thoughts on Ferguson
From the beginning of this terrible incident, I saw a few other things not really mentioned in the j more...
Is Iran?s Islamic Revolution Melting?
The Economist had a feature article (Nov. 1) that the steam has gone out of the Ayatollah Khomeini?s more...
November 29, 2014
The Women?s Revolution Threatens The Old Guard
November 15, 2014
We Must Put the "Crises of the Moment" in Context.
Critics of President Obama have an easy job. They do not have to make the decisions that wil more...
November 08, 2014
Debates About "Intrinsic Islam"
Some noisy public debates are going on about the sensitive issue of the "intrinsic" nature of Islam. more...
October 25, 2014
Does This War Have an End Game?
We are bad at long-term planning. It is not natural for Americans to think much beyond the next busi more...
October 18, 2014
Who?s Counting?
One issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, August 23, 2014, was representative of what is going on gl more...
October 11, 2014
What Makes a British Muslim An Executioner?
Are radicalized Muslim youth more dangerous to Europe than to the United States? It is far easier fo more...
October 04, 2014
Corruption Has Ancient Roots.
Political corruption is as old as civilization (the birth of city-states). It is a big issue in the more...
September 27, 2014
Will Islam Address Its Internal Crisis?
Muslims have lived so long with governments they cannot trust that the rumor mill serves as their so more...
September 20, 2014
This Is No Longer Your Grandfathers' Army.
If we are talking softly but carrying a big stick, as President Teddy Roosevelt advised, we need a b more...
September 13, 2014
Conflicting Views of the President's Foreign Policy
September 06, 2014
Ebola Is Just The Tip of an Iceberg.
The news is full of the latest version of an old demon facing humanity: plagues and epidemics. Ebola more...
August 30, 2014
Al Qaeda Spawned A Monster Child, The Islamic Caliphate.
Middle East analysts are trying to assess this new beast that has emerged out of Islamist dy more...
August 23, 2014
Caliphates and Tooth Fairies Are Cousins.
August 16, 2014
Proxy Wars Have Unanticipated Consequences
Getting somebody else to fight while you watch is an old idea. ?Let me hold your coat,? says more...
August 02, 2014
Can Wars Be Proportional?
If columnist Amy Goodman had covered the carpet-bombing of Germany in World War II, she would have i more...
July 26, 2014
Prejudice: Is it Culture or Race?
I have been watching the splendid Cosmos, the successor to the original television series by more...
July 19, 2014
Are ISIS and ISIL Based on Religion or Ideology?
When we hear the word ISIS, we usually think of the great Egyptian goddess of antiquity. Tod more...
July 12, 2014
Alliances Have No Longevity in the Middle East.
Not only are borders shifting wildly in today's Middle East reshuffle, but alliances are too more...
July 05, 2014
The Borders in the Middle East are Changing.
June 28, 2014
Does Iraq Have a Future?
The blame game is going on about Iraq?s descent into regional warfare. This is a futile exer more...
June 21, 2014
US Foreign Policy: Does History Repeat Itself? (Part 2 of 2)
June 14, 2014
An Iranian in Exile Takes On a British MP.
Ever since the Iranian monarchy fell to a radical Islamic revolution, I have chafed over the more...
June 07, 2014
US Foreign Policy: What Are Our Goals and Priorities? (Part 1 of 2)
May 17, 2014
What is Boko Haram and Why Should We Care?
An army of dirt-ignorant terrorists has been running rampant in Africa for the past few year more...
May 03, 2014
What the Map Can Tell You.
April 26, 2014
Why Are We the World’s Policemen?
Cutting the defense budget in the foolish notion that we should not be the world’s policemen is bi more...
April 15, 2014
Disinvited
Would Brandeis University have disinvited a Holocaust survivor from receiving an honorary degree bec more...
Why We Can’t Make the World Safe for Democracy
When we believe that human beings are motivated most by economic self-interest, we are unfailingly w more...
April 05, 2014
“When They Love Their Children….”
Many years ago, Golda Meir, then Prime Minister of Israel, was asked when there would be peace with more...
March 22, 2014
Putin’s Ideological Fantasy of Russian “Spirituality.”
David Brooks had a brilliant column recently on Putin’s historic mission to restore Russia to the more...
March 08, 2014
The Russian Bear Still Has Teeth Laina Farhat-Holzman
Many of us miss the Cold War, not because it was without violence (there was, but nothing li more...
March 01, 2014
The Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost in Pakistan.
February 22, 2014
Let's Give them a Big Hand: Current Darwin Awards
Periodically, I round up all the most stupid human behaviors that manage to reach the press worldwid more...
February 08, 2014
Movies are America’s Soft Power
Movies are an extremely important element of American foreign policy around the world. These more...
February 01, 2014
Al Qaeda In Africa Increases Its Violence
January 25, 2014
Turkey: How to Lose a Democracy
Once more, supporters of “democracy” in the Muslim world do not understand the issue. Majority more...
December 28, 2013
India and China Are Not in the Same League.
Much of our foreign policy, as well as that of Europe, has to do with the rising powers of I more...
December 21, 2013
Countries Can Be Judged By Their Internments
During the 20th century, a number of nations engaged in expelling populations or interning those dee more...
December 14, 2013
Alarms Bells Are Going Off As Al Qaeda Networks Spread.
As a historian with a long view, I avoid alarming predictions of doom and gloom. Although Militant I more...
December 07, 2013
Can We Legislate Against Sin?
From the beginning of human society, control of behavior was essential to cohesion. You cannot have more...
November 30, 2013
The Politically Correct Only Recognize “Selective Slavery.”
Many years ago, I submitted a paper for a conference on Slavery (World History Association), more...
November 26, 2013
Why Some Women Love Violence.
There is an old joke (a John Wayne movie?) that tells of why women put up with violent husbands. “ more...
November 23, 2013
Iran Has Reasons for a Deal.
That the sanctions against Iran have brought the economy close to collapse is well known. I heard fr more...
November 02, 2013
The “World Community” Has Double Standards.
October 26, 2013
We Have Always Had Turncoats.
Why would a citizen of a country that serves them well opt for betrayal? Why would a US army more...
October 19, 2013
Insane, or just “Intellectually Challenged?”
When criminal perpetrators go to court, lawyers and judges still have problems with the “insanity more...
Democracy Has Strings Attached.
October 05, 2013
Whistle Blowing: One Size Doesn’t Fit All.
Snooping and its variations (government, industrial, commercial) is now a major issue fractu more...
September 28, 2013
The Great Utopias Have a Nightmarish History.
From the time that human beings had the leisure to think, there have always been those who did not l more...
September 21, 2013
Is the US the World's Policeman?
The question comes up in public discussions all the time: Why should we be the world's policemen? O more...
September 14, 2013
Moral Foreign Policy May Not Be Prudent Foreign Policy.
We Americans love our democracy. For all of our faults, most of us live in a society governe more...
September 07, 2013
Syria: International Norms Have No Teeth without the US
August 31, 2013
Darwin Awards: People Who Should Not Be Part of the Gene Pool
Periodically, I assemble items from around the world in which people make decisions that warrant rem more...
August 24, 2013
Genetics: Do Persistent Close-Cousin Marriages Have Consequences?
The great scientist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) was the first to systematically explore how he more...
August 19, 2013
Egypt's Democracy is Mission Impossible
August 17, 2013
How Do We Know that Domestic Violence is an “Epidemic?”
August 10, 2013
Europe Has an Ostrich Problem: Denial of Immigrant Violence
Despite the howls of some reactionaries against American immigration reform, it is clear tha more...
August 06, 2013
The Muslim World Is Facing an Internal Crisis.
Since the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the moribund Muslim World has begun the process that t more...
July 30, 2013
Making Excuses for Jihadis.
With the decline of religious influence on our values, the word “evil” has been largely dropped more...
July 20, 2013
Egypt’s Problems Go Beyond Morsi.
July 16, 2013
Snowden No Hero
For anybody still naive enough to think that Edward Snowden is a classic whistle-blower, please note more...
July 13, 2013
Iran Had An Earlier Brush With Democracy--- in 1906.
July 06, 2013
Russia is an Enigma Wrapped in a Mystery
Russia never fails to fascinate us. The very scary Cold War has been over for several decades, after more...
June 29, 2013
How Do Religions Modernize?
Religions can modernize. When we explore the history of how human beings coped with fear, di more...
In Defense of Dead White Men
The youth and women’s revolutions of mid 1980s, attacked western civilization, particularly the tr more...
June 22, 2013
Are We in an Everlasting War?
President Obama recently declared that it was time to end our war on terror. Some consider t more...
June 15, 2013
The Chechens Are a Model of Dysfunction.
Some of us who are geographically impaired have been confusing the Chechens with the Czechs. All the more...
May 25, 2013
“I'll Eat His Liver---But Not With Chianti.”
Who doesn't remember the movie in which Hannibal Lector, the criminally insane psychiatrist, tells h more...
April 20, 2013
Time for the “Democracy Project” to go!
It is very painful to retire a foreign policy initiative that has been with us since Woodrow more...
April 06, 2013
An Important Iranian Visitor is Coming: The Cyrus Cylinder
March 30, 2013
The Latest Global Population Numbers Produce Surprises.
Some modern historians have added geography and demography to their historic research, and not a mom more...
March 23, 2013
Both American Political Parties Have Serious Blindspots.
“Liberals” or “Progressives” care for the weak, persecuted, and downtrodden. Liberals see th more...
March 16, 2013
Foreign Policy: When Is Humanitarian Intervention in our Interest?
Most American voters don’t care about American foreign policy until something comes to bite them. more...
February 16, 2013
Here Are the Annual Darwin Awards
My annual Darwin Awards are granted to people so stupid that they should not contribute to t more...
February 09, 2013
We Are Providing the Wrong Cure to Dysfunctional Nations
What groups of human beings believe and how they behave is called their culture. Ant colonies and el more...
February 02, 2013
Algeria’s Bloody Siege Shows Al Qaeda Gone Global
In the 1990s, well before the 9/11 attack on America, historian Samuel D. Huntington, in a g more...
January 26, 2013
Europe’s Multicultural Model Is Changing.
Europeans do not have a record of religious tolerance, as can be clearly seen in their history of re more...
January 19, 2013
Sex Crimes Are Part of the War Against Women and Modernity.
Violating women and girls is as old as human existence. Incest taboos in so many cultures is testimo more...
January 12, 2013
The Dilemma of Changing IQ outcomes
January 05, 2013
The Urban-Rural Conflict is Central to Today's Global Dysfunction.
Civilization began with the rise of cities (civilization means city building), some 5,000 ye more...
December 29, 2012
E Pluribus Unum Is a Rare Commodity Today.
December 22, 2012
Peace On Earth Is a Real Challenge.
American foreign policy has almost always been bipartisan. Responsible Democrats and Republicans fac more...
Peace On Earth Is a Real Challenge.
American foreign policy has almost always been bipartisan. Responsible Democrats and Republicans fac more...
December 15, 2012
What Can a Husband Do About a Disobedient Wife?
A month ago, an Iraqi woman was found on a roadside, beaten to death. A sign was pinned on h more...
December 08, 2012
Should National Defense be "Proportional?"
November 24, 2012
The Russians Are Looking Like Their Old Selves Again.
Russia before the Communist Revolution in 1917 had conflicting cultural characteristics: a r more...
November 17, 2012
Morphing to Murder
November 10, 2012
The Real Benghazi Problem Is Not Being Addressed.
What happened or did not happen when our consulate in Benghazi was attacked has become a contentious more...
November 03, 2012
Why the Taliban Shot a Teenage Girl
The Pakistani Taliban roused the ire around the world with their latest horror, an attempted more...
October 27, 2012
The President and Challenger Tangle on Foreign Policy
We have just had a debate between President Obama and Governor Romney on Foreign Policy. Sin more...
October 20, 2012
The Sad Tale of Three Misled Young People Unfolds
Most of us who are conscientious about rearing our children try to let them learn from small more...
October 06, 2012
The Saudis Have A “Modest Proposal” for Women
In 1951, Philip Wylie, an American social critic, wrote a novel called The Disappearance. In this more...
September 29, 2012
Are Israel and the US Really Locking Horns Over Iran?
Foreign policy issues should not be a factor in election campaigns; we need to tell the worl more...
September 22, 2012
The Fog of War is Nothing to the Fog of the Muslim World.
The Arab Spring came and quickly left, followed by what we call “young democracies,” the results more...
September 15, 2012
When is Cultural Criticism “Racism?”
Mitt Romney is a diplomatic disaster, but I do want to defend one comment he made on his sum more...
August 25, 2012
Who is attacking Science?
The world we now live in is largely the product of science. Thanks to science we have doubled our li more...
August 18, 2012
Egypt Has Post-Election Blues.
August 11, 2012
Can There Be A World Without History? Militant Islamists Think So.
Since the end of World War II, we have not seen deliberate assaults on historic landmarks th more...
August 04, 2012
Why Do We Give a Pass to Evil?
I recently wrote an editorial about Genocide, with its long trek through history—but one of my col more...
July 28, 2012
Religion Has Two Faces: Benevolent and Malevolent.
Militant atheists believe that religion is entirely negative, stupid, and harmful to human beings. R more...
July 21, 2012
Facts Have Nothing to Do With Righteous Belief!
Our society is in the throes of irrational movements on both ends of the political spectrum. more...
July 14, 2012
How Do We Stop a Genocide?
In Syria, armed thugs (with tanks) went house-to-house in a village and murdered all inhabit more...
July 07, 2012
Does Equality Mean “The Same?”
June 16, 2012
Can We Rescue Our Democracy?
June 09, 2012
Now the Pentagon is Being Muzzled for Being “Critical of Islam.”
The Pentagon is where military preparedness is fostered. In our system of government, the mi more...
June 02, 2012
Sometimes Inaction Against Bad Guys Has Dangerous Consequences.
The most difficult political-military situation a nation must face is when to take action ag more...
May 26, 2012
What Is Making Population Numbers Crash?
May 19, 2012
Is There a Legal Problem with “Hate Crimes?”
The definition of “hate crime” is one of those overkill legislative initiatives with unforeseen more...
May 12, 2012
Should the New York Security Police Be Called Off?
Several reporters have received the Pulitzer Prize for journalism for their investigation of the New more...
May 05, 2012
The European Uprisings of 1848 Reverberate in Today’s Arab Spring
Americans are accustomed to thinking that our 1776 revolution was the model for all others. This may more...
April 28, 2012
Fear and Loathing or Analysis and Perspective?
There are two ways to analyze the violent eruption of global terrorist attacks that have marked the more...
April 18, 2012
Why Do Shiite and Sunni Muslims Hate Each Other?
Whenever I do a public lecture, questions come up about the Shiites and Sunnis. People read about th more...
April 14, 2012
What Has Become of Academic Critical Thinking?
When I was in college, I could not tell you how my professors might vote. They were, as were my elem more...
April 07, 2012
The Clash of Civilizations Has New Venues
When historian Samuel Huntington wrote Clash of Civilizations in 1997, our already political more...
March 31, 2012
France Dropped the Ball with their Murderous Jihadi.
In a violent French shootout on March 22, Mohamed Merah, killer of four men and three children in To more...
March 29, 2012
There Are No Easy Answers for US Policy in Syria
It is distressing to see Syrian people-ordinary civilians-hunkering down in bunkers without sufficie more...
March 20, 2012
More Electoral Fraud in Egypt? What a Surprise.
In our enthusiasm for the Arab Spring and its promise of democracy, we now watch elections a more...
March 17, 2012
Denial is not a river in Egypt.
Although this headline is a joke, the facts on the ground are not. Fareed Zakaria, usually a more...
March 07, 2012
The UN Finally Identifies “Harmful Customs.”
Anthropologists have taught us not to judge other cultures, but to recognize that no matter how stra more...
March 03, 2012
Koran Burning Spurs Obnoxious Protests.
February 21, 2012
How Is Citizenship Determined Around the World?
There are many ways of acquiring citizenship in the modern world. This concept, being a citizen of a more...
February 18, 2012
Time to Revisit the Abused “L” Word, “L” for “Liberal.”
February 08, 2012
What Is America’s “Worldview?”
How we vote, behave, and think is based on our view of the world. Whether consciously or not more...
February 04, 2012
Religious Intolerance is the World's Normal. Can it Be Fixed?
January 26, 2012
Democracy Can Have a Dark Underbelly
As much as I love democracy, Western Liberal Democracy, this institution has a dark side. Th more...
January 21, 2012
Attacking the British Embassy is an Iranian Rite of Passage.
January 11, 2012
What Happens When People Suddenly Have Choices?
The very notion that people have choices in their lives is so new that much of world is stil more...
January 07, 2012
Arab Spring Is a Conflict between Religion and Nationalism.
The enthusiasm for the Arab Spring and its birth of democracy in the Middle East gives me he more...
December 24, 2011
Immigrants and refugees: Is There Room at the Inn?
December 17, 2011
US Law is Wrestling with Complexities of Antiterrorism
n Boston, a trial is underway. Prosecutors say that Tarek Mahanna, a 29-year-old US-born Egyptian, more...
December 08, 2011
TV Humor and Soaps Are Potent Tools For Democracy.
One of the most devastating tools against tyranny is humor. Dictators cannot stand being lau more...
November 26, 2011
Was the Israeli and Hamas Prisoner Exchange a Good Deal?
A young Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was snatched by Hamas raiders across the Israeli bord more...
November 19, 2011
Do We Have an Epidemic of Sexual Abuse?
The modern world appears awash in sexual abuse and misbehavior. Over the past decade, we see grownup more...
November 12, 2011
Power to the People! Round Up the Usual Suspects!
November 03, 2011
Global Violence Declines---Except in the Middle East--Part 2.
As mentioned in Part 1 of our two-part look at the decline of violence in the world, daily violence more...
October 22, 2011
Is Human Violence Really on the Wane? Part 1 of 2
Despite rampant pessimism at the moment, history can show us that life has never been better. The ma more...
October 18, 2011
Community: Is Letting the Penniless Sick Die an Option?
Humans do not do well without community. Even religious hermits could not have survived without food more...
October 15, 2011
What are the Best and Worst Countries for Women? (Part 2)
October 08, 2011
How Goes It With Marriage Around the World?(Part 1)
This is a two-part series on how women are faring worldwide. Marriage is part I, and four ot more...
September 24, 2011
U.N. “Anti-Racism” Conference Attacks “Islamophobia”
September 17, 2011
How Did the Media Cover 9/11?
Ten years after the most horrific foreign attack on America (the British in I812 and the Jap more...
September 10, 2011
Let Us Put the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 In Context.
Ten years ago, Al Qaeda attacked New York and Washington (and more if they could have pulled more...
August 27, 2011
Does Free Speech Include Hacking and Mayhem?
We do not say often enough that freedom without responsibility is anarchy. This is exactly w more...
August 23, 2011
All the News That’s Fit To Print?
We treasure our freedom of speech, which is the very first amendment in our constitution. We conside more...
August 20, 2011
Do We Know What Makes People Evil?
What could make a nice Middle Class Norwegian murder 74 people because he hated his governme more...
August 06, 2011
We Need Perspective On Norway’s Terror Attack
Watching the terror attack on Norway on TV on July 22, I immediately thought---as did most j more...
July 30, 2011
Some People Choose Bad Bedfellows for Their Summer Vacation
It may become a Rite of Summer: dedicated dissidents trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza with more...
July 26, 2011
More Humans Can Read, But What Are They Reading?
The “Sky Is Falling” crowd says that too many Americans no longer read. I am not convinced—nor more...
July 16, 2011
Heavy Lies the Saudi Head That Wears the Crown.
Although the King of Saudi Arabia does not wear a crown, his head is heavy. His country has problems more...
July 07, 2011
How Do We (and Afghanistan) Negotiate with the Taliban?
It is a matter of doctrine that if the conflicts in Afghanistan (and Pakistan?) are to be re more...
July 02, 2011
Some Democracies Are Not Wonderful.
I recently heard an idealist complaining that President Obama was not enthusiastically suppo more...
June 25, 2011
Is Turkey Still A Secular Muslim Model?
Until now, Turkey has modeled how an Islamic state can modernize and democratize. When the Ottoman E more...
June 18, 2011
For Girls, Idealism Can Be Deadly.
President Kennedy urged American youth to consider a stint in the Peace Corps where they cou more...
June 11, 2011
Sometimes Marriage and Childbirth Customs Have Serious Consequences.
Anthropologists have been telling us for the past century that traditions and cultures have survival more...
June 04, 2011
There Are Consequences For Lying
Brain scientists tell us that when brains are scanned to see which areas light up, brains sc more...
May 28, 2011
Iran, Like Some Here, Also Believes In Apocalyptic Myths.
We live in a time of strange beliefs. The latest comes from Iran. Although a country with sk more...
May 21, 2011
Europe Has Immigration Problems on Steroids!
May 14, 2011
After Arab Spring, Then What?
I was in College (UCLA) during Prague Spring, the peaceful demonstrations by the Czechs agai more...
May 10, 2011
What is the future of religion around the world?
The United States is, and has long been, a religious country, sometimes to the point of obse more...
May 07, 2011
Does the Bin Laden Decapitated Snake Still Have Life?
April 30, 2011
Beware of Robot Hummingbirds and Other Spying Creatures
April 23, 2011
American Foreign Policies Cannot Always Be Consistent.
All dictators are not alike. Former US Ambassador to the UN, Jean Kirkpatrick, noted that be more...
April 16, 2011
How Do We Deal With “Sticks and Stones?”
In our present day culture, we have been taught (usually at mother’s knee) that “sticks and ston more...
April 08, 2011
In a Democracy, Some Decisions Are Agonizing.
For most of human existence, leaders and priests made decisions and ordinary people either o more...
April 02, 2011
Is Peace Breaking Out in the Middle East?
We keep hearing that peace in the Middle East only requires a peace treaty between Israel an more...
March 19, 2011
Why Is There Hysteria Over Radical Islam Hearings?
March 12, 2011
Tyrants have a long history.
March 05, 2011
How Goes It With Women Around the World?
February 24, 2011
Iran Is Closer To Imploding
Although Iran is an Islamic dictatorship that controls its news, certain things are leaking out. The more...
February 19, 2011
Why Egypt and Not Iran?
We have just witnessed a modern popular change of government---a revolution of sorts. Most Egyptian more...
February 12, 2011
How Goes Democracy Around the World?
Democracy Project. The United States has long had a “democracy project.” After World War I, Pres more...
February 05, 2011
Can “Power to the People” Get Egyptians Democracy?
Reporters standing amidst the throngs in Independence Square in Cairo seem to be carried awa more...
January 29, 2011
Tunisia Is Not the Model For Other Arab World “Revolutions”
Tunisia, one of the more stable dictatorships in the Arab world, has erupted into what looks like a more...
January 22, 2011
Can National Cultures Really Change?
One of the best geo-political analysts and forecasters around is George Friedman, head of ST more...
January 15, 2011
Why Do We Hate Government?
Democrats and Republicans have different ideas (in theory) of what government should do. Both believ more...
January 09, 2011
A Few Surprises Are Happening in Afghanistan!
January 08, 2011
What Is “American Exceptionalism?”
Most Americans believe in “American Exceptionalism,” even when they have never heard the term. T more...
December 31, 2010
What Is “American Exceptionalism?”
Most Americans believe in “American Exceptionalism,” even when they have never heard the term. T more...
December 25, 2010
Being Nice Hasn’t Protected Sweden.
December 11, 2010
How Fragile is Civilization and How Thoughtless is Anarchy!
We in the developed world live in a civilization that would make our ancestors giddy. We hav more...
December 10, 2010
What is National Security?
December 03, 2010
What Can We Do About Fear of Flying?
Whenever I fly, I get patted down because my titanium hip replacement sets off the alarm. I am used more...
November 24, 2010
Time for a National Dialogue on Crime?
November 19, 2010
Sometimes Important News Hides in the Back Pages.
November 13, 2010
Let’s Round Up The Usual Suspects
November 06, 2010
Is the West Really Islamophobic—Or Under Attack?
An AP article on October 5/6 ran with a headline: “5 Germans killed in Pakistan with Europe on Ale more...
October 29, 2010
Some People Have to Lie to Survive.
From the beginning of time, human beings have learned that telling the truth is not always t more...
October 23, 2010
Why Are We No Longer On The Same Page?
I remember when more Americans shared core values than had contentious differences. We have always more...
October 15, 2010
Iran’s Islamic Justice Is a Message to the World
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, convicted in 2006 for having an “illicit relationship” with two men more...
October 09, 2010
“The Sky Is Falling” Is Alive and Well—Again.
We are already past the millennium year 2000 (or was it actually 2001 that began the century more...
October 02, 2010
Take Another Look at Tony Blair—Who Maybe Got It Right.
History does not necessarily validate contemporary assessments of famous politicians. Tony Blair, on more...
September 24, 2010
What “World Opinion” Are We Talking About?
September 20, 2010
Laina At the Movies, September, 2010
September 18, 2010
Did We Have Guns of August Again?
September 11, 2010
Sticks and Stones Go Big Time.
An idiot preacher with a congregation of maybe 50 people threatens to burn 200 Korans on 9/1 more...
September 10, 2010
A Venetian Tradition Bites the Dust—a Woman Gondolier!
On 9/11, our country was attacked by a sect particularly offended by the equality of men and more...
Is There Any Hope for Afghanistan?
September 04, 2010
Germany Has Had a Curious Century of Islamic Relations.
Germans have been living in northern Europe for several thousand years. The Romans knew them more...
August 27, 2010
Religious Toleration Has Never Been Absolute.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution requires: Congress shall make no law respecting a more...
August 21, 2010
How About a Mosque at Ground Zero?
The proposal to build a large Islamic Cultural Center that includes a mosque two blocks from more...
August 13, 2010
When is Freedom of Speech Incitement to Kill?
We all know that freedom of speech has one commonly accepted exception: when someone falsely yells more...
August 07, 2010
When is IQ a Major Security Issue?
July 29, 2010
Is Guatemala A Toxic Place for Women?
About 15 years ago, when I was running the UN Association in San Francisco, I was asked by w more...
July 24, 2010
Why Do Dead Ideas Continue to Haunt Us?
July 17, 2010
Are We Going to Need More Immigrants?
Immigration history in the US has always followed predictable trajectories. People around the world more...
July 10, 2010
Does Enlightened Self-Interest Rule the World?
Our founding fathers were influenced by the European Enlightenment, a movement reacting to t more...
July 03, 2010
What Are The Good Old Days?
In final exams given to my World History classes, the last question was: “If you had a time machi more...
June 19, 2010
Europe has an Identity Crisis.
There is an old Persian tale about a man who went up to a palace gate, banging on it and demanding e more...
June 12, 2010
Let’s Have Another Look at the “Humanitarian” Flotilla
A supposedly humanitarian flotilla that set out in June to break the Israeli blockade of Hamas in Ga more...
June 05, 2010
Some Bedfellows are Incomprehensible
There is an Arab adage: “The Enemy of my Enemy is My Friend.” Unfortunately, this is not always more...
May 29, 2010
What is a Circassian and Why Should We Care?
May 22, 2010
Why is Sex Such a Global Problem?
For a biological system programmed for species survival, humans have manage to turn sex into more...
May 15, 2010
Can We Ever Force Peace on Combatants?
May 08, 2010
Good Old “May Day” Comes Back From the Dead
May 01, 2010
Annual Darwin Awards?
Darwin Awards usually refer to those whose decisions are so stupid that they remove themselv more...
April 20, 2010
What Can These Women Be Thinking?
April 17, 2010
What Makes President Karzai Tick?
April 10, 2010
How Was the “Christmas Bomber” Radicalized?
April 03, 2010
Tea Party Buffs and the Far Left are Buddies.
March 27, 2010
Was There an Original Human Religion?
March 20, 2010
Whose Ally is Turkey Today?
March 13, 2010
Greece is in the Grip of Denial.
Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy and the rest of the European Union is much alarmed. The more...
February 27, 2010
Who Is “An Enemy of God?”
There is some very strange language coming out of Iran today. Unarmed Demonstrators) are bei more...
February 20, 2010
Europe is Having an Important Burqa Debate.
February 13, 2010
Why Do Small Businesses Get So Little Respect?
A reader responding to my recent column on poisonous ideologies (Fascism, Communism, and Mil more...
February 06, 2010
Does Bad Childrearing Produce Terrorists?
October 17, 2009
Can Too Much Freedom Destroy Democracy?
October 05, 2009
Is There Any Hope for Afghanistan?
July 18, 2009
The Iranian Revolution May Be In Phase Two
It is not easy to track the progress of the current Iranian Revolution, considering the bloc more...
January 10, 2009