The Great Gamble
With a new king and a young, untested defense minister, Riyadh has plunged headlong into war in Yemen. At stake is nothing less than the kingdom’s position of leadership in the Arab world. Read Here – Foreign Policy
Tag: religion
The Middle East Confusion
Confused about what’s happening in the Middle East? The Institute of Internet Diagrams has come up with the ultimate explainer in the shape of an interactive diagram that sums up the geopolitical alliances traversing this ancient region, which dates back to the Mesozoic Era. Read Here – The Atlantic
Meeting Of Minds
The insistence on Iran being a threat is based on the delusion that Iran has remained unchanged since its inception as the Islamic Republic. Yet, three major indicators highlight a deep development in Iranian politics in the region. These signposts include Iran’s constructive regional military presence; its peaceful and balancing role in resolving politico-cultural issues […]
India’s Buddhist Card
Moving to deepen its engagement with Colombo and counter Beijing’s influence in the region, New Delhi is hosting a dialogue on vinaya (code of conduct) between high-ranking Theravada monks from Sri Lanka and counterparts of the Nalanda tradition — the first dialogue at this level between the two Buddhist traditions. Read Here – The Indian […]
Why Does Suleyman Shah Matter?
Turkish troops swept into Syria this weekend to recover remains from the first Ottoman sultan’s ancestor, who can’t rest in peace 800 years after his death. Read Here – The Atlantic
Believe It Or Not
One need not go to the doors of the prime minister’s most prominent critics to conclude that (Narendra) Modi’s long-delayed reassurance to India on the subject of religious freedom is driven more by expediency than commitment. Read Here – Bloomberg
Filling The Gaps In History Books
Politics in the name of religion is already being played with textbook purges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while in countries such as the United States and India, religion-inspired changes to the states’ science curricula are beginning. India retains federal control through the Central Board examinations transferring credits nationally. Read Here – Dawn
Morality And Smartness
Evolution endowed us with a natural tendency to be kind to our genetic relations but to be xenophobic, suspicious, and aggressive toward people in other tribes. As our brains become better equipped to reason abstractly in such tasks as lumping dogs and rabbits together into the category “mammal,” so too have we improved in our […]
Is Japan’s Pacifism Worrying?
The murder of two Japanese citizens by Islamic State terrorists shouldn’t be used as an excuse to eliminate the Constitution’s restraints on the use of military force. Read Here – Japan Time
Figuring ISIS
The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it. Read Here – The Atlantic
looking beyond borders 