This time of year it is worth remembering  Mein Kampf, the turgid and unreadable Bible of the Nazi movement that was published back in July of 1925.  The last time I looked, you could still buy it at the international airport newstand in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur — along with other classics of […]

USA Today reported that the University of Iowa has replaced the second essay on its application with a tweet. Jodi Schafer, the director of admissions at University of Iowa, stated “We’re hoping that incorporating social media into the process will bring back some of the creativity.” For those students who are not interested in attending […]

The “Slut Walk” — apparently a gift to world culture from the vibrant city of Toronto — is a demonstration in which a group of women dress in scanty clothing to march through the streets as a protest against the harassment and worse of women dressed like, well, Sports Illustrated swimwear models.Thanks to our globalized […]

I like stories about seemingly trivial issues that open a window onto big geopolitical events.  This  Washington Post story on the international implications of Mongolia’s huge coal reserves is a case in point.  China is the natural market for Mongolia’s high quality coal, and the Mongolians are building a rail line to ship the coal […]

They told Glenn Reynolds that if he voted for John McCain the US would take harsh stands against the developing world, and they were right!A “senior administration official” has told the Washington Post that the Bush administration made such generous concessions to developing countries that the Obama administration can’t make progress on the Doha Round […]

New cuts proposed by Britain’s cash strapped government will reduce the British Army to its smallest size since the late nineteenth century — since the Second Boer War started in 1899, to be exact.At that time Britain ruled one fourth of the earth’s surface and one quarter of the world’s population. A few people are […]

We’ve been trying to solve the problems of the American inner cities for almost fifty years with the ideas, institutions and techniques of twentieth century progressive and liberal thought.  While individuals have been helped, the Black middle class has grown, and better policing has brought crime rates down out of the stratosphere, those left in […]

As if life wasn’t hard enough for a rising superpower, China now faces the prospect of a holy war — at least according to Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong.A storm is brewing over the Chinese government’s recent rush to consecrate bishops without Rome’s approval.  Excommunications have been hurled; so far, Hu Jintao has […]

From time to time in Pakistan, Christians have quietly found an opportunity to speak with me about the conditions of their lives.  Many live in constant fear of violence and suffer systematic discrimination and exploitation as a result of their faith.This story about the problems of poor Christians in Lahore matches up well with other […]

Holy Bombers and God mobs have been wreaking havoc across the most populous and second most oil-rich country in Africa.  Worse is to come;  hot religion is on the march.There’s nothing new about God mobs in Nigeria, but globalization enables local movements like Boko Haram to connect with regional and international counterparts like al-Shabab and […]