Israel has its flaws and some of its policies can, in Via Meadia’s view, be counterproductive and poorly conceived. Its system of proportional representation empowers the nutcases and tiny fringe parties. Nevertheless, facing one of its biggest threats since independence (Iran), with relations chilly with its closest ally (the U.S.), the region in flames, and […]

I feel that I should say something about the Middle East. After all, this blog is supposed to be mostly about religion. Here an entire region is exploding with rage in the name of religion, and what have I been writing about? About eco-ideologues flirting with an ancient goddess, and about homosexuals wanting to be […]

Sincerity, a quality we typically think of as a constant and unchanging human virtue, is anything but.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Americans lost a "sensibility about time and space," says Robert D. Kaplan. His new book seeks to restore it.

American music—not just playing and listening to it, but making and selling it—is a portal to cultural awareness.

The rising prospect of Kurdish independence, with Iraqi Kurdistan as its epicenter, portends major disruptions in Southwest Asia and beyond.

Our modern cornucopia of consumer goods is supposed to make us happier, but it doesn't. Here's why.

Speculation has touched off the biggest gold rush in history, and that gold rush is straining Peru's society and environment.

Iraq will become the world’s second-largest oil exporter within two decades and will account for 45 percent of the growth in global supplies this decade, according to an International Energy Agency report examined by the Financial Times.All this will come to pass, of course, if Iraq remains stable enough to continue growing its oil production. […]

It all started with the Myitsone Dam in northern Burma. The dam’s Chinese builders, confident that they had the support of the decision-makers who mattered (Burmese politicians), ignored or were unaware of local resistance to the dam. But the Chinese soon found out just how important local resistance can be. The locals protested, and Thein […]