God has already spoken

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 01.09.2010
As direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are launched this week, it will be critical that the talks address the religious dimension of the conflict. This has been given only scant attention thus far, despite the fact that it...

Trying to Be Hopeful About Peace

by James J. Zogby Added 30.08.2010
A few years back when Washington was preparing for the then highly touted Annapolis Peace Conference, I remember commenting that I was "hopeful, but not optimistic". As we approach the latest incarnation of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, I'm...

Panicking over Minority Government: Australia’s Hung Parliament

by Binoy Kampmark Added 30.08.2010
The use of the term 'hung parliament' says it all. States using the Westminster system regard it as a calamity and undeserved form of punishment. Suddenly, a major party with an insufficient number of votes to govern in their own right needs the...

For Shame! Fear Is Back, with a Vengeance

by James J. Zogby Added 23.08.2010
Something remarkable happened on November 4, 2008. Despite economic distress, uncertainty and insecurity, voters went to the polls and chose hope over fear electing Barack Obama President of the United States. I say remarkable because in all my...

Direct talks and their potential consequences

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 23.08.2010
The Obama administration's success in moving the Israeli-Palestinian talks from proximity to direct negotiations is an important achievement for making real progress. However, direct talks will not produce substantive results unless the United...

Resolution 194 - The Achilles Heel of the Arab Peace Initiative

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 21.08.2010
Israel's chief reservation regarding the Arab Peace Initiative is the way in which the text addresses the issue of Palestinian refugees. Specifically, the Initiative calls upon Israel to affirm: "achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian...

Irresponsible Republican Statements on New York Mosque Endanger American Security

by Robert Creamer Added 17.08.2010
It is obvious to many Americans who believe strongly in our Constitutional values that the Republican attempt to use the "New York Mosque" as an electoral issue is a direct assault on the constitutional protection for freedom of religion - one...

What's the Difference Between Mainstream Republican Leaders and Tea Party Extremists?

by Robert Creamer Added 17.08.2010
What's the difference between mainstream Republican leaders and the Tea Party extremists that have been winning Republican primaries across the country? The main difference is the willingness of the Tea Party gang to say what they believe out...

‘Arab and Peace’ is not an Oxymoron

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 16.08.2010
Earlier this summer I was in Jerusalem meeting with various officials and catching up with old friends. Minutes after meeting a friend, a former high-up official in Israel's Foreign Ministry, he ran back to see me. "Alon, come quick, you have to...

Jeffrey Goldberg Probes Israel's Iran Strike Option: Is Netanyahu a "Bomber Boy"?

by Steve Clemons Added 11.08.2010
In an important article to be published in The Atlantic tomorrow [=August 12], national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg recounts something many people didn't realize at the time and still have a hard time believing. President George W. Bush...

GOP Drift

by James J. Zogby Added 09.08.2010
Republicans have dug a deep hole for themselves on matters related to the Middle East and Islam reflecting the extent to which the Party has become captive of the neo-conservative "clash of civilization" crowd and their partners on the...

The Arab League's Amr Moussa Talks Peace Process, One-State Solution, Hezbollah, Iran and..."Foreign Fingers"

by Sharmine Narwani Added 07.08.2010
I met with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa at his elegant quarters in the heart of Cairo last week -- on the eve of the League's crucial meeting with Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas to dehttp://monet.factsandarts.com/#798cide...

An Opportunity for a Syrian-Israeli Peace

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 06.08.2010
While the world reacts to the recent flair-up of violence along the Lebanon-Israel border, other developments in the area could present an opportunity to advance regional peace if pursued. The recent visit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and...

Nine Keys to Democratic Success in the Mid-terms

by Robert Creamer Added 05.08.2010
To hear some pundits tell it, the out come of the Mid-terms is preordained disaster for Democrats. Not so fast. Much depends on how Democratic candidates frame their efforts - and how Progressives in general frame the political debate over the...

The Politics of In-authenticity: The Australian Federal Elections

by Binoy Kampmark Added 04.08.2010
Another Australian election looms, and the incumbent government is intent on ritually disembowelling itself. Having deposed its own prime minister, the first Labor government to defeat the conservative Coalition since it was bundled out of...

Dangerous Illusions

by James J. Zogby Added 04.08.2010
After a century in which tragedy has been heaped upon tragedy across the Middle East, it is distressing to see how many dangerous illusions still shape the behavior of so many of the region's principal players. This truth was brought home by a...

The Absurd in Action: Being Burnt by the Sun

by Binoy Kampmark Added 04.08.2010
In his second notebook, Albert Camus makes reference to the nature of love as a palliative to the absurd. In Burnt by The Sun 2: Exodus, Nikita Mikhalkov continues his epic story he began in Burnt by the Sun (1994) featuring the travails of...

Two Reasons the Obama Victory in Arizona Immigration Lawsuit is Good for Democrats

by Robert Creamer Added 03.08.2010
Ever since the Court handed President Obama's Justice Department a big victory by enjoining the enforcement of major provisions of the onerous Arizona "papers please" immigration law, there has been pundit commentary that the decision will be...

Why Congress Must End Bush Tax Breaks for the Rich

by Robert Creamer Added 28.07.2010
President Obama has proposed to eliminate the massive deficit-busting Bush tax breaks for the top 2% of Americans - while maintaining tax cuts for 95% of Americans. He is spot on. The Bush tax breaks are set to expire at year's end, so there is...

Chas Freeman Lets Rip on Israel as a Strategic Liability

by Sharmine Narwani Added 27.07.2010
In what was touted right here on the Huffington Post as "one of the few genuine debates on Israel-Middle East issues" in Washington, former US Ambassador Chas Freeman and WINEP Executive Director Rob Satloff tackled the subject of "Israel: Asset...

Stop Hyperventilating: Obama Will Not Choose War with Iran

by Steve Clemons Added 27.07.2010
At the time, the belief that George Bush and Dick Cheney would take military action against Iran was palpable. When I wrote my piece which was based on a great number of discussions with intelligence analysts, military brass, and others in the...

Miracles and Myths -- Opiate of the Afghanistan Hawks

by Michael Brenner Added 27.07.2010
Revelations of the incompetence and deceit that have marked our Afghan adventure appeared just as the foreign affairs cognoscenti were bandying about the latest big question: Can General David Petraeus repeat his Iraqi miracle? The formulation...

I Understand Shirley Sherrod

by James J. Zogby Added 26.07.2010
As an Arab American, I can empathize with Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia Department of Agriculture official who, last week, after being falsely accused of making anti-white racist comments, was forced to resign from her post. For those who don't...

Congratulations to Andrew Breitbart - He May Have Succeeded in Having a Word Named After Him

by Robert Creamer Added 26.07.2010
Breitbart, verb, to intentionally make something appear to be its opposite for political ends. As in, "to brietbart Shirley Sherrod." It's not everyday that someone gets a new word named after him. But that is exactly what is about to happen to...

Shrill Busy-bodies and David Cameron’s Big Society

by Binoy Kampmark Added 26.07.2010
The sink or swim society is upon us, and woe betide the poor, the frail, the old, the sick and the dependent. Mary Riddle, Daily Telegraph, July 19, 2010 Could it be right? A Tory Prime Minister unveiling visions of a 'Big Society' that would...

Israel Needs a Palestinian State

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 24.07.2010
Israel's national security and self-preservation as a democracy, if not its very existence, depend on its ability and willingness to come to terms with the reality of coexistence with the Palestinians on the basis of a two-state solution....

What Is the First Rule for Democratic Success In November?

by Robert Creamer Added 23.07.2010
The first rule for Democratic success this November is the immutable iron law of politics: if you're on the defense you're losing. Who ever is on the offensive almost always wins elections. That's why Democratic victory requires that this...

Beijing's Fragile Swagger

by Steve Clemons Added 23.07.2010
The US should be more ready to stand its ground with China. It won't get any respect in Beijing for trying to appease it. Confucius said 'The superior man is firm in the right way, and not merely firm.' From a Chinese perspective, the same can...

The Fayyad Difference

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 20.07.2010
The following article represents the first in a series of articles and position papers that I will be sending out following my recent travels in the Middle East. I welcome and appreciate all comments and thoughts on my work. When the Palestinian...

The Moat 'Execution': The Reason of Force

by Binoy Kampmark Added 20.07.2010
It all seems grim. Some called it an execution by police forces. But the debate on Raoul Moat continues to rage. Britain's most wanted man has become something of a poster boy of sickened violence, responsible for having shot his former...

An Early Look at November

by James J. Zogby Added 19.07.2010
White House spokesperson, Robert Gibbs, caused a bit of a stir last week when, in an appearance on Meet the Press, he suggested that Democrats might lose control of the House of Representatives in November. To be fair, Gibbs was merely saying...

Dirty Little Secrets the Republicans Don't Want You to Know

by Robert Creamer Added 14.07.2010
The Republicans have a set of dirty little (actually not so little) secrets they don't what you to know - and certainly don't want you to think about when you go to the polls in November. And the fact is that some of those secrets could provide...

Whiplash?

by James J. Zogby Added 13.07.2010
Two decades ago, I remember Jesse Jackson noting that when dealing with controversial issues that created deep divisions, one should be careful "not to excite one side, while only inciting the other". Although these cautionary words apply...

The Spy Who Bored Me

by Michael Brenner Added 12.07.2010
The "Comatose Sleeper Cell" mystery shows us that the ability of the country's security services to waste resources is matched only by the media's ability to dramatize trivial material. The only surprise is that the exchange did not take place...

One Big Thing Congress Can Do to Improve the Economy before Election Day

by Robert Creamer Added 12.07.2010
Members of Congress see it in their town meetings, their mail, their polls and focus groups: the voters are angry. Of course at any given time, some set of voters are always unhappy. But right now it's different. Right now most people are...

Octavia, Frances, and the Late, Great Ayatollah Fadlallah

by Sharmine Narwani Added 09.07.2010
"Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot." And so this is how an 86-letter Tweet ended the career of CNN's veteran Middle East editor Octavia Nasr. I grew up watching Octavia on...

The Fourth Estate Indeed!

by Michael Brenner Added 07.07.2010
War is the enemy of democracy. A protracted war is its nemesis. That means not only undermining civil liberties but an erosion of the honest discourse that is the essence of democracy. A truthful press is the first casualty. The press'...

The U.S. Military 'Mainstreams' Hezbollah and Hamas

by Sharmine Narwani Added 06.07.2010
Hezbollah and Hamas just went mainstream. According to Foreign Policy magazine's Mark Perry, in a recent US military report "senior CENTCOM intelligence officers question the current U.S. policy of isolating and marginalizing the two movements"...

Two Failed Efforts at Muslim-Bashing

by James J. Zogby Added 06.07.2010
Two separate incidents of Muslim-bashing occurred last week. Because they involved comments by prominent individuals and were so brazen, they caused some concern. But because neither resulted in any benefit to the offenders, only embarrassed...

Fat or Carbs: Which Is Worse?

by Andrew Weil Added 02.07.2010
In my home state of Arizona, a restaurant named "Heart Attack Grill" does brisk business in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb. Waitresses in nurse-themed uniforms with miniskirts deliver single, double, triple and quadruple "bypass burgers" (featuring...

Immigration: Is Obama the New Lincoln?

by Alan Kraut Added 01.07.2010
When President Barack Obama needs strength, he invokes a Republican, Abraham Lincoln. At his inauguration, Obama took the oath on the same Bible that Lincoln used and embraced the Lincoln legacy throughout the event. The sixteenth president's...

Abusing the Living and Dead

by James J. Zogby Added 30.06.2010
I am not easily shocked. I've been doing this work for too many years and I've seen too much to become outraged by bad behavior or acts of indecency or inhumanity. But two stories that recently came across my desk were so disgraceful, and in...

Evidence Arizona Immigration Law May Be Fatal Mistake for GOP

by Robert Creamer Added 24.06.2010
There is compelling new evidence that Republicans will rue the day that they allowed their virulent anti-immigrant wing to grab the controls of the Republican Party. In fact, contrary to much of the pundit chatter, a drama is playing out this...

Obama’s Two Crises

by James J. Zogby Added 21.06.2010
The success of a President is measured not only by how well he handles the agenda he sets for his term in office, but by how he responds to the unexpected. This week President Obama was tested by challenges of each type. There are new questions...

The Oil Spill and the Republicans - Part II

by Robert Creamer Added 21.06.2010
The way the Republicans reacted to Congressman Joe Barton's "apology" to BP at the hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee reminds you of what happens when a group of teenagers find out that a member of their "secret club" has...

Israel and Turkey: What went wrong

by Alon Ben-Meir Added 21.06.2010
The now infamous Flotilla incident which resulted in the death of nine Turks has sparked a whirlwind of accusations and provocations between Israel and Turkey that has put the relationship at an all time low. The timing could not have been...

Real Factor in Midterms: Too Few Jobs, Not Too Much Spending

by Robert Creamer Added 18.06.2010
"I know we should provide more money for state government to prevent hundreds of thousands of teachers, police, and public workers from being laid off, but I just can't vote for one more bill that increases the deficit." If I had a dollar for...

Now is the Time to Change U.S. Cuba Policy

by Robert Creamer Added 15.06.2010
For half a century, United States policy toward Cuba has been aimed at isolating and defeating the regime. That policy has demonstrably failed. Fidel Castro and his successor Raul Castro, have outlasted presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson,...

Changing Direction on Gaza: Challenges Confronting Obama

by James J. Zogby Added 15.06.2010
 In trying to change direction and find “a better approach” to dealing with the long running crisis facing Gaza, the Obama Administration is confronting several deeply entrenched obstacles.   The President outlined his new approach at a White...

Clueless in Gaza

by Michael Brenner Added 14.06.2010
Two weeks have passed since the Gaza flotilla was assaulted. The reflexive, near instant reaction of the Obama White House was to give strong, blanket support to the Israeli government. Some hoped that reflection would produce a more thoughtful...
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No significant global warming since 1995

by Jarl R. Ahlbeck 40351 downloads
The recovery of the earth's climate from the little ice age started about 200 years ago, but the concentration of the atmospheric carbon dioxide started to increase significantly as late as in the 1950s, probably due to rapidly increased burning...

Genetically modified plants benefit everybody

by Petter Portin 10546 downloads
We consume approximately one gram's worth of genes in every meal. This may not seem like very much, but each of our meals contains trillions of individual genes. The transfer-genes contained in genetically modified food-stuffs are identical to...

Fareed Zakaria: The Post-American World – A Book Review

by Olli Raade 8062 downloads
Above there is an interview with Fareed Zakaria by the New Perspectives Quarterly about his book "The Post-American World". Below there is a summary of the book as for a background for the interview. Zakaria argues that America's relative weight...

Brzezinski: Russia's Invasion of Georgia Is Reminiscent of Stalin's Attack on Finland

by Nathan Gardels 7713 downloads
On Sunday (Editor's note: August 10, 2008) I talked with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the elder statesman who was national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, about the Russian invasion of Georgia. He long tangled with Soviet power. Now he takes...

Wilson Is the Poster "Child" for the New Republican Party

by Robert Creamer 7446 downloads
When Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled out that President Obama was a "liar" in the middle of Obama's nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, he became the poster child for the new Republican Party. I definitely mean...

Putin's doctrine surfaces

by Stefan Forss 6704 downloads
A few Georgian battalions - trained to fight terrorists, not to manoeuvre against a powerful Russian army! - undertook a militarily deficient offensive against Tskhinvali in South Ossetia on August 8. The Russians replied promptly and...

Firewalls to Freedom

by Rebecca MacKinnon and Evgeny Morozov 6645 downloads
NEW YORK - Even the most cold-hearted realists would agree that the failure of Communist censorship played a role in the collapse of the Iron Curtain: Voice of America, the fax machine, rock 'n' roll, and the lure of Western capitalism helped to...

New cheap power source heading for independent tests

by Michael Johnson 6143 downloads
As Middle East oil climbs to record highs, research into alternative energy sources is attracting a wave of new science, much of it still experimental and untested. One of the most advanced concepts, scheduled to go live about a year from now,...

What does Ms. Palin’s tattoo tell us?

by Michael Johnson 6045 downloads
BORDEAUX - I have witnessed the gradual penetration of tattoo culture into the middle classes in Europe and the United States over the past two or three years but I always thought it would go away. So I was stunned to see that now we have...

Finland show the way to coffee binge-drinking

by Michael Johnson 5098 downloads
I was between jobs a few years ago when I stumbled into a bit of public relations work for the coffee industry. The coffee marketers seemed a decent lot, just men and women trying to make a living. They had only one characteristic that bothered...

Effects of banning smoking in restaurants

by Pentti Huovinen 5086 downloads
Latest research shows that the banning of smoking in restaurants has reduced heart attacks by as much as a fifth. Researchers in the University of California have analysed relevant studies undertaken after 2004. In all the studies it was...

How the French take their sex in stride

by Michael Johnson 4960 downloads
BORDEAUX -- Our glamorous, doe-eyed Minister of Justice, Rachida Dati, is the talk of France again - this time over her surprise pregnancy. Always controversial, she has now added spice to the gossip by politely declining to reveal who the...

Odd couple share Cliburn gold

by Michael Johnson 4958 downloads
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, ended Sunday on a somewhat sour note, with some critics and former winners wondering how the jury could award the top prize jointly to the two young winners - one a Chinese...

A Tribunal for Kenya: the Waki Commission Report

by Binoy Kampmark 4848 downloads
The Waki commission, charged with the task of investigating post-election violence in the aftermath of the Kenyan elections last December, has called for a special tribunal to try various perpetrators. The Commission of Inquiry into...

Behind the scenes at piano competitions

by Michael Johnson 4846 downloads
Has the time come to rethink the concept of piano competitions? Many participants and leading musicians believe so. The proliferation of international competitions - now numbering more than 750 - is producing hundreds of annual laureates who...

Fareed Zakaria: Facing a Post-American World - An Interview

by Nathan Gardels 4300 downloads
Fareed Zakaria is author of The Post-American World and editor-in-chief of Newsweek International. He spoke with NPQ editor Nathan Gardels in June. NPQ | Barack Obama has been reading your book The Post-American World. If he becomes president,...

Republicans Take Huge Political Risk Opposing Obama Jobs Bill

by Robert Creamer 4126 downloads
You'd think that the results of November's election -- coupled with the collapse of the economy -- would begin to make Republican lawmakers question the consequences of their blind commitment to right wing economic orthodoxy. Apparently most...

Nathan Gardels interviews Joseph Stiglitz about Wall Street meltdown

by Nathan Gardels 4022 downloads
Joseph Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. I spoke with him on Tuesday (Editor's note September 16, 2008) about the Wall Street meltdown. Nathan Gardels: Barack Obama has said the Wall Street meltdown is the greatest...

Time to Nationalize Insolvent Banks

by Nouriel Roubini 3747 downloads
NEW YORK - A year ago, I predicted that the losses of US financial institutions would reach at least $1 trillion and possibly go as high as $2 trillion. At that time, the consensus among economists and policymakers was that these estimates were...

Future low solar activity periods may cause extremely cold winters in North America, Europe and Russia

by Jarl R. Ahlbeck 3637 downloads
Summary. The observed winter temperatures for Turku, Finland (and also generally for North America, Europe and Russia) for the past 60 winters have been strongly dependent on the Arctic Oscillation index (AO). When the Arctic Oscillation index...

Global Warming – Man-made or Natural?

by Kenneth Rundt 3602 downloads
One of the most interesting global questions today is whether the climate is changing and, if it really is, whether the reasons are man-made (anthropogenic) or natural - or maybe even both. The United Nations appointed Intergovernmental Panel on...

The Coming Battle of the Atlantic: Euro vs. the Dollar

by Kenichi Ohmae 3601 downloads
Tokyo - Because Americans are more proactive than the Japanese, they are likely to avoid the same kind of deep slump as we had for almost a decade. Nonetheless, with the value of their key assets-their homes-diminished, they will become a land...

Renewable Energy: The Cold Facts

by David Eichler 3550 downloads
Renewable energy sources, such as wind, direct solar power, hydroelectric power, and biomass and the biofuels derived from it may be the basis for future civilization. The primary source of energy that generates each of these forms, however, is...

France banking on laser research

by Michael Johnson 3489 downloads
At the heart of the French advanced research program is a little-known project for a giant laser cannon -- not for shooting down satellites but for something potentially much more powerful. It will test theories for the next generation of...

The Secret World of Female Circumcision

by Juliet Torome 3195 downloads
NAIROBI - As a child in rural Kenya, I was a secret admirer of female genital mutilation. I was swayed by talk of friends and elders about how once a girl undergoes "the cut," she gains respect and grown men consider her suitable for marriage....

Starving the Archive: Dick Cheney and his Records

by Binoy Kampmark 3173 downloads
What are we going to do about old Dick's subterfuge and an office he did much to undermine during his time in power? All sorts of conjecturing has been taking place about how best to deprive the archival records of the US Vice President's papers...

French aren’t saying neigh to horsemeat

by Michael Johnson 3153 downloads
As Europe feels the effects of rising prices - mainly tied to energy costs - at least one sector is benefiting. The new big thing appears to be horsemeat, increasingly a viable alternative to expensive beef as desperate housewives look for...

"God's Continent" by Philip Jenkins - A Book Review

by Olli Raade 3112 downloads
Jenkins writes about Islam in Europe and Islam's impact on Europe, Christianity, and about Islam itself. He examines a number of undesirable trends generally attributed to Islam. Jenkins, however, argues that phenomena such as high criminality...

The crash course that educated Mrs. Palin

by Michael Johnson 3085 downloads
Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States, finally submitted to a television interview after intense coaching from top-level White House advisers. Never in U.S. history has a candidate for high office had to...

The Real Che Guevara

by Guy Sorman 3011 downloads
PARIS - Hollywood history is often nonsensical, but filmmakers usually have the good sense not to whitewash killers and sadists. Steven Soderbergh's new film about Che Guevara, however, does that, and more. Che the revolutionary romantic, as...

Is There Moral Progress?

by Peter Singer 2988 downloads
After a century that saw two world wars, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin's Gulag, the killing fields of Cambodia, and more recent atrocities in Rwanda and now Darfur, the belief that we are progressing morally has become difficult to defend. Yet...

Bush's legacy will be NGOs with a truly global vision

by Jean-Paul Marthoz 2941 downloads
A year from now, the Bush administration will be history. Opinion polls around the world assessing the unpopularity of the current US president suggest that the departure of one of the most controversial administrations in American history will...

The last financial crisis?

by Tom Berglund 2887 downloads
" The more actors there are who can read the signs of an approaching crisis, the less serious will be the consequences when the crisis breaks out." The world's financial markets are going through a crisis that is rapidly developing into what...

When a frog Is not a frog

by Michael Johnson 2838 downloads
The main French defense manufacturer called a group of experts and some economic journalists together a few years ago to unveil a new military helicopter. They wanted us to choose a name for it and I thought I had the perfect one: "The Frog". I...

Séraphine’ film wins 7 French Césars

by Michael Johnson 2762 downloads
Presenting a new and earthy face of French cinema, the outsider candidate "Séraphine" won seven awards at the Césars, the annual French film competition, including best film and best actress of 2008. The near-clean-sweep on Friday night...

How to kill a river: the Murray-Darling System

by Binoy Kampmark 2749 downloads
It's looking more than just grim. A vast river system in Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin, seems terminally affected by drought and decades of environmental abuse. Cosmetic measures have been suggested by the Australian authorities dealing...

After the war in Georgia…

by Göran Lindblad and Björn von Sydow 2734 downloads
Two European countries have waged war against each other - Georgia and Russia. Numerous civilians have been displaced and no one really knows how many have been killed or wounded. The current ceasefire agreement is fragile and the crisis has...

Britain trades free speech for security

by Michael Johnson 2678 downloads
Britain's decision to ban outspoken Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders from entering the United Kingdom last week dramatizes the religious tensions that once again loom over humankind. Specifically, it is a sign that intolerant Muslim faithful...

The triumph of Game Theory in various sciences

by Vesa Kanniainen 2653 downloads
A book review: A Beautiful Math: John Nash, Game Theory, and the Modern Quest for a Code of Nature Author: Tom Siegfried, Science editor of Dallas Morning News Publisher: The Joseph Henry Press of the National Academy of Sciences Many of us saw...

Take Action against the non-democratic developments in Russia

by Björn von Sydow. The article was translated into English from Swedish by Jeffrey Ganellan. 2652 downloads
Russia's government - with considerable support from domestic opinion - has recently taken a turn towards a new, authoritarian system of governance, with control over the establishment of political parties and the nomination of candidates, the...

Danger: piano can take over your life

by Michael Johnson 2465 downloads
The late Glenn Gould made some powerful enemies in the music world when he decided to record Bach's Goldberg Variations at a slow tempo. He also made music history. The Canadian virtuoso pianist was tired of hearing the same old Goldberg played...

Why Growing Income Inequality is Bad For America

by Robert Creamer 2447 downloads
The recent controversy over the huge bonuses at financial firms like AIG and J.P. Morgan Chase have served to highlight both the disproportionate growth of the financial sector, and the perverse incentives that led traders and executives to take...

The best medicine yet – a good laugh

by Michael Johnson 2411 downloads
My sister died a year ago after a 13-year bout with various cancers. She had been cut to pieces by surgeons - mastectomy, hysterectomy, the lot -- but somehow she always managed to return to her productive normal role as wife and mother. She...

Stendhal at his best : a “worthless” historian

by Micael Johnson 2393 downloads
When I was young and the world was different, I used to hide Stendhal's classic novel "The Red and the Black" in the dust jacket of a Bible and read it on Sunday mornings in church. Parishioners peered over my shoulder to try to see what was so...

Beijing’s Olympic Challenge

by Linda Jakobson 2357 downloads
BEIJING - The Beijing government appears to be facing a daunting Olympic challenge. On the one hand, China's leaders must ensure the safety of 80 visiting heads of states, some 16,000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of Olympic spectators. On...

Bob Woodward: The reason for the decrease in violence in Iraq is not the surge, but "highly classified techniques"

by Olli Raade 2345 downloads
The surge in Iraq is not the reason for the decrease in violence. Instead the reason is "highly classified techniques". This is what Bob Woodward claimed in an interview with Bill Maher. Woodward refused to specify what he meant with the term...

Do Human Rights Require a Strong State?

by Francis Fukuyama 2325 downloads
Washington - The fiasco of the Olympic torch relay has focused attention on the condition of human rights in China. What is the source of human rights abuses in that country today? Many people assume the problem is that China remains a Communist...

The case for climate change optimism

by Angus McCrone 2314 downloads
Finding grounds for optimism in the global warming debate isn't easy. But Angus McCrone points out that investment in clean renewable energy sources is rising much more quickly than human CO2 emissions. And game theory suggests that nations will...

How the family dogs can touch your heart

by Robert Johnson 2308 downloads
My wife and I have had a succession of lovable dogs in our 52 years together, and all of them left us with great memories. Our latest attachment to a loving half-labrador took a particularly tragic turn, however. Hildy was the first -- a german...

Why Barack Obama picked Joe Biden as VP candidate

by Michael Johnson 2298 downloads
U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama strengthened his hand in several important ways by choosing Senator Joseph Biden as his Democratic vice presidential running mate. Most of all, Biden will help move the Obama strategy away from the soft...
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Big Banks Make Desperate Last Ditch Effort to Weaken Wall Street Reform

by Robert Creamer
5 stars 1 reviews
Everyday Americans have made big progress advancing legislation to rein in the recklessness of the big Wall Street Banks that led to the economic collapse and cost eight million Americans their jobs.   Now we have to win one final battle to get...

Now is the Time to Change U.S. Cuba Policy

by Robert Creamer
5 stars 3 reviews
For half a century, United States policy toward Cuba has been aimed at isolating and defeating the regime. That policy has demonstrably failed. Fidel Castro and his successor Raul Castro, have outlasted presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson,...

An Intercourse with the Natives

by Dhiraj Singh
5 stars 62 reviews
WE STAND IN THE middle of New South Wales' Royal National Park holding hands and looking heavenwards to invoke Yullangur-'the dreaming' of the creation serpent-as our guide Les Bursill starts us on a tour of Australia's sacred sites. 'The...

Republicans Begin to Question the Competence of their Leadership

by Robert Creamer
5 stars 313 reviews
If there is anything that the Republicans hate, it's losing. And when it came to the health care bill Republicans lost big. They had bet all the marbles on stopping health care reform cold and then convincing voters next fall that Obama's...

What will life be in 2020: Leading Thinkers answer - Video

by Ericsson Multimedia Channel
5 stars 118 reviews
What will life be like in 2020? The telephone equipment company, Ericsson asked 20 thinkers--including professors, inventors, 'futurists,' and digital experts "What will life be like in 2020? Ericsson explains the project: In 2020 - Shaping...

Britain trades free speech for security

by Michael Johnson
4.5 stars 974 reviews
Britain's decision to ban outspoken Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders from entering the United Kingdom last week dramatizes the religious tensions that once again loom over humankind. Specifically, it is a sign that intolerant Muslim faithful...

Future low solar activity periods may cause extremely cold winters in North America, Europe and Russia

by Jarl R. Ahlbeck
4 stars 227 reviews
Summary. The observed winter temperatures for Turku, Finland (and also generally for North America, Europe and Russia) for the past 60 winters have been strongly dependent on the Arctic Oscillation index (AO). When the Arctic Oscillation index...

The Moat 'Execution': The Reason of Force

by Binoy Kampmark
4 stars 4 reviews
It all seems grim. Some called it an execution by police forces. But the debate on Raoul Moat continues to rage. Britain's most wanted man has become something of a poster boy of sickened violence, responsible for having shot his former...

Israel vs Turkey: Which Serves US Interests Better?

by Sharmine Narwani
3.5 stars 6 reviews
In light of Turkey's reaction to the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla last week, media pundits and policy wonks are already underlining the demise of the US-Turkish special relationship. The growing chorus of critics miss one vital...

Respecting the Uncertainty Principle in Financial Accounting

by David Eichler
3.5 stars 6 reviews
The debate goes on over how to do proper accounting for financial institutions. After each major debacle, there is a stampede to some other accounting method, as if the previous method were the problem. Perhaps the chronic problem is the ongoing...

Three Lessons from Tuesday's Primaries

by Robert Creamer
3.5 stars 3 reviews
Much of the "horse race" coverage of the yesterday's primaries has failed to focus on three key lessons that have important implications for the direction of American politics and the elections this fall: Lesson #1. Primary challenges are an...

The Oil Spill and the Republicans

by Robert Creamer
3.5 stars 18 reviews
The frustration and anxiety of Americans about the horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico grows by the day. Those whose livelihood is tied to the Gulf -- or who live in the wetlands of Louisiana, and communities along the coast -- are...

Behind the scenes at piano competitions

by Michael Johnson
3.5 stars 162 reviews
Has the time come to rethink the concept of piano competitions? Many participants and leading musicians believe so. The proliferation of international competitions - now numbering more than 750 - is producing hundreds of annual laureates who...

Clueless in Gaza

by Michael Brenner
3.5 stars 6 reviews
Two weeks have passed since the Gaza flotilla was assaulted. The reflexive, near instant reaction of the Obama White House was to give strong, blanket support to the Israeli government. Some hoped that reflection would produce a more thoughtful...

Two Reasons the Obama Victory in Arizona Immigration Lawsuit is Good for Democrats

by Robert Creamer
3.5 stars 3 reviews
Ever since the Court handed President Obama's Justice Department a big victory by enjoining the enforcement of major provisions of the onerous Arizona "papers please" immigration law, there has been pundit commentary that the decision will be...

Jimmy Carter, James Baker, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft on Israel-Palestine Conflict

by Steve Clemons
3.5 stars 110 reviews
Landrum Bolling, former President of the Lilly Endowment and Earlham College, has put together a collage of commentary from four outstanding American foreign policy giants. They are former President Jimmy Carter; former Secretary of State and...

The Fayyad Difference

by Alon Ben-Meir
3.5 stars 4 reviews
The following article represents the first in a series of articles and position papers that I will be sending out following my recent travels in the Middle East. I welcome and appreciate all comments and thoughts on my work. When the Palestinian...

When Reason is forsaken

by Alon Ben-Meir
3.5 stars 4 reviews
It is always easier to assess a situation like the Gaza flotilla fiasco in hindsight. The Israeli, Turkish and European governments and the aid organizations involved have all made a series of grave mistakes, and what we are left with are mores...

What the Iconic Labor Battle at Hugo Boss Means for Our Economic Future

by Robert Creamer
3 stars 67 reviews
It's the red carpet season in Hollywood. That means high-end apparel companies like Hugo Boss are promoting iconic celebrities to wear their clothing line at the Oscars and other award ceremonies.But for the workers who make these suits in...

New Poll on American Attitudes Toward the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

by James J. Zogby
3 stars 60 reviews
A new poll out this week shows that while Israelis retain strong US public support, Americans are deeply concerned that the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict puts US interests at risk across the Middle East and the public, therefore,...

Climate Change and the Cloud Mystery - A video from YouTube

by Lars Oxfeldt Mortensen
3 stars 53 reviews
In this film, called Cloud Mystery, the UN climate consensus is seriously challenged. Watch it, and judge for yourself and comment if you want. The duration of the documentary is 52 minutes. It is in six parts. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5...

Niall Ferguson: Is U.S.-China Economic Marriage on the Rocks?

by Nathan Gardels
3 stars 97 reviews
As the G-2 "strategic dialogue" between the US and China gets underway in Washington, I talked with economic historian Niall Ferguson for the Global Viewpoint Network. Ferguson is a professor of history at Harvard University and a professor of...

The Hypocrisy of David Letterman

by Jane Shure
3 stars 112 reviews
Here we are once again confronted with yet another public figure who postures one way and acts another. Thursday night, after becoming the target of an extortion plot, David Letterman confessed, "Sure enough, contained in the package was stuff...

Can Fresh Interpretations of Islamic Text Prevent a Possible "Clash of Civilizations?"

by Tawfik Hamid
3 stars 112 reviews
Since 9/11, the possibility of a clash of civilizations has become an unavoidable area of discussion among intellectuals as well as the general public. The inaction of Islamic scholars around the world to those who incorrectly interpret the...

America Needs a Jobs Bill, and the Federal Deficit Shouldn't Stand in the Way

by Robert Creamer
3 stars 99 reviews
Last month's drop in the unemployment rate and continued reduction of job losses is certainly good news. It indicates that the U.S. economy may have finally stopped shedding jobs. But without additional government action there is little...

The Rise and Fall of Artificial Wealth

by R. Kyle Martin & Michael D. Intriligator
3 stars 91 reviews
Overview: Christina Romer, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, said she is “incredibly confident” the U.S. economy will recover within a year.1 We disagree. The objectives of this paper are four-fold: 1) To discuss the...

Why Bipartisanship is Good Politics

by Chris Patten
3 stars 270 reviews
LONDON - Bipartisanship seems to have taken a drubbing in Washington since President Barack Obama got to the White House. Like most recent American presidents, Obama campaigned on a promise to work with his political opponents for the greater...

Islam Should Prove It is a Religion of Peace - Muslims can start with better Quranic scholarship.

by Tawfik Hamid
3 stars 244 reviews
The film "Fitna" by Dutch parliament member Geert Wilders has created an uproar around the world because it links violence committed by Islamists to Islam. Many commentators and politicians -- including the British government, which denied him...

Al-Qaeda on the Ropes?

by Michael Brenner
3 stars 10 reviews
Strikes against al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan's FATA and in Iraq are said to have damaged severely its leadership ranks. There is talk in Washington of this being a turning-point in the campaign to cripple the organization. Caution about reaching...

History, Used and Abused

by Chris Patten
3 stars 86 reviews
LONDON - In her brilliant book, "The Uses and Abuses of History" the historian Margaret Macmillan tells a story about two Americans discussing the atrocities of September 11, 2001. One draws an analogy with Pearl Harbor, Japan's attack on the US...

Emma Thompson, Helen Bamber: Finding the Silent Scream

by Evelyn Leopold
3 stars 130 reviews
Torture victims often lose their voice twice: first during the torture itself and then when no one listens to their ordeal, Actress Emma Thompson says. Thompson, an Academy Award winner, and Helen Bamber, who heads a foundation dedicated to...

The Cruelty of Sharia Law is Not a Western Perception but an Islamic Reality

by Tawfik Hamid
3 stars 101 reviews
President Barack Obama's adviser on Muslim affairs, Dalia Mogahed, has provoked controversy by appearing on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist group to talk about Sharia law, the Daily Telegraph reported on October 8,...

The Unemployment Paradox and Commodity Taxes

by David Eichler
3 stars 428 reviews
The recent slowdown, it is suggested here, was not caused so much by the collapse of a housing bubble or mortgage delinquency, as is frequently claimed, but rather by losses of capital due to high costs for energy and operation of the financial...

The Kremlin’s Failing Monopoly

by Alexander Etkind
3 stars 358 reviews
CAMBRIDGE - Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power a decade ago, the Kremlin regime has relied on two pillars: the security forces and energy exports. By suppressing internal rivals and absorbing their assets, the regime created a dual...

Iran Was an Easier Enemy Before We Saw Their Faces

by David Bromwich
3 stars 112 reviews
If you want to kill with a clean conscience, the faces of the enemy had better be blank. Start to see them as human beings and it becomes harder to blockade and bomb them, to mine, and pollute, and "destabilize." President Clinton had no...

An Hour's Drive From Pakistan

by Dhiraj Singh
3 stars 125 reviews
This local koan begins to make sense as you prepare to enter the ICT or the Islamabad Capital Territory. It is a bit like entering the First World from a Third World country by road. The check-posts, the armed guards, the four-lane highway that...

Global Macroeconomic Cooperation

by Jeffrey D. Sachs
3 stars 280 reviews
NEW YORK - The world has yet to achieve the macroeconomic policy coordination that will be needed to restore economic growth following the Great Crash of 2008. In much of the world, consumers are now cutting their spending in response to a fall...

Firewalls to Freedom

by Rebecca MacKinnon and Evgeny Morozov
3 stars 756 reviews
NEW YORK - Even the most cold-hearted realists would agree that the failure of Communist censorship played a role in the collapse of the Iron Curtain: Voice of America, the fax machine, rock 'n' roll, and the lure of Western capitalism helped to...

No significant global warming since 1995

by Jarl R. Ahlbeck
3 stars 1157 reviews
The recovery of the earth's climate from the little ice age started about 200 years ago, but the concentration of the atmospheric carbon dioxide started to increase significantly as late as in the 1950s, probably due to rapidly increased burning...

Generation Jones and the New Era in Global Leadership

by Jonathan Pontell
3 stars 201 reviews
U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Europe marked the culmination of a generational shift in leadership among Western democracies. The generation yielding power -- the Baby Boomers -- are so strongly connected to the 1960's that they are often...

The End of Palin

by Dylan Loewe
3 stars 109 reviews
Well, she didn't quit to run for president. Nobody would do that, could possibly do that, could at any point be told by any person that an idea that crazy might actually work out. It's not just that it's irrational; it's that it's insane. There...

Who's to Blame for Stalling Key Parts of the Obama Agenda?

by Robert Creamer
3 stars 66 reviews
Those who don't live in the nation's capital may so far have been spared the columnist-generated imbroglio over who is "to blame" for the fact that many of President Obama's flagship initiatives have yet to pass into law. Many candidates have...

What is the Deficit Endgame?

by Kenneth Rogoff
3 stars 283 reviews
REYKJAVIK - No one yet has any real idea about when the global financial crisis will end, but one thing is certain: government budget deficits are headed into the stratosphere. Investors in the coming years will need to be persuaded to hold...

The Palestinian Jews

by David Eichler
3 stars 110 reviews
Evenhandedness in the Mideast? It sounds fair if it means equal rules for Arabs and Jews. For example, forbidding natural growth of Jewish settlements inside the West Bank and the Gaza strip, on the assumption that it is future sovereign...

WAKE UP, ISRAEL!

by Alon Ben-Meir
3 stars 122 reviews
I am departing from my usual analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict as I profoundly feel that these are neither ordinary times, nor ordinary circumstances. The challenges and opportunities that Israel faces today will undoubtedly lay the ground...

A war against Hamas – not against the Palestinian people

by Alon Ben-Meir
3 stars 224 reviews
Now that Israel has unilaterally declared an end to the hostilities it appears that Hamas, which has been badly crippled, will eventually sign on to the ceasefire. Having achieved its war objectives, Israel must demonstrate that the war was...

Netanyahu: Then and Now

by James Zogby
3 stars 211 reviews
When Benjamin Netanyahu became Prime Minister in 1996, he ran on a platform dedicated to ending the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. That is what he said in Israel. For U.S. consumption, Netanyahu took a different approach, seeking instead to...

Owning Up to Israel’s Bomb

by Shlomo Ben-Ami
3 stars 125 reviews
TEL AVIV - President Barack Obama's vision of a world without nuclear weapons, and the recent agreement he signed with Russia aimed at cutting back the nuclear stockpiles of both countries, enhances his moral and political leadership. But how...

Fighting a War by Objective

by Alon Ben-Meir
3 stars 109 reviews
The ongoing deliberations among President Obama's national security team and congressional leaders are necessary to determine the best possible means of successfully conducting the war in Afghanistan. But what must guide these discussions and...

In Praise of Slow Thinking

by Carl Honoré
3 stars 96 reviews
Google seems like the last employer on earth that would promote slowness at work. After all, this is a company that went from a twinkle in its founders' eyes to global supremacy in a just a few years. It pumps out new products at a dizzying...
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