The general perception of Buddhism in the West is one of peace, tranquility and modesty. Buddhist monks, and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, have been a source of inspiration for celebrities and children’s cartoons alike. So it might come as a surprise to know that in the past two weeks, the Buddhist majority in Myanmar … Read more
Dr. Tahirul Qadri, a Sufi cleric who had spent the past seven years in Canada after resigning from the Pakistani National Assembly, suddenly reappeared on the national scene in December at a rally of hundreds of thousands of his supporters in Lahore. After marching to Islamabad and speaking to a crowd of more than 50,000, … Read more
Sino-U.S. strategic interactions have played a critical role throughout the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. In particular, China’s continued economic engagement with Iran, despite increasingly stringent U.S. sanctions, has led to tension. Yet the Obama administration’s characterization of its relationship with China on this issue remains predominantly positive. Speaking at Harvard last November, U.S. National … Read more
Chinua Achebe, the renowned Nigerian novelist, passed away at the age of 82 last Thursday. Author of the seminal novel, “Things Fall Apart,” Achebe was a vocal supporter of anti-colonialist sentiment, using literature as a tool to scrutinize and largely condemn Western colonial practices. And though the sun seems to have set on the British … Read more
The beaches of the island of Phuket off the northwestern coast of Thailand are often flooded with Western tourists eager for exotic experiences. And yet, the same tropical sunshine that gives these beachgoers their characteristically golden tans also shines upon the tumultuous Thai provinces of Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani. These southernmost provinces, all approximately 400 … Read more
Tension is running high in Kenya in the wake of an historic general election that took place March 4. On Saturday, March 16, presidential candidate and outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga filed a petition with the Kenyan Supreme Court, disputing the election results announced March 9, which state that he was defeated by a 50 … Read more
“If this was apartheid police we’d riot.” So tweeted social activist Zackie Achmat on February 28 in reference to recent episodes of police brutality in South Africa that have focused public scrutiny and ire on the much-maligned establishment. The latest outcry results from a recently-released video showing taxi driver Mido Macia being tied to the … Read more
On October 22, 2012, Italian judge Marco Billi sentenced six Italian scientists and a government official to six years in prison. The crime? Manslaughter, for statements they made prior to a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the region of Abruzzo, which resulted in 309 deaths. On March 6, almost five months after the sentencing and just … Read more
Just over a week ago, two U.S. Navy sailors were found guilty of raping a woman on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The incident, which came to light in October of last year, incited a string of passionate anti-U.S. demonstrations within Japan. The anger resulted in the implementation of an unprecedented curfew, restricting the soldiers … Read more
One-state, two-state, three-state, or however else amateur final status negotiators envision the future political geography of Israel-Palestine, one pivotal element that few think to mention is that any arrangement will, by necessity, be extraordinarily high-density. On the eve of World War I, the Massachusetts-sized territory housed a modest population of 700,000 souls; by partition, that … Read more