The 600-member congregation of the Batak Protestant Church near Jakarta, Indonesia, was getting too big to fit in Pastor Adven Leonard Nababan’s house every Sunday. Naturally, they decided to build a church.Indonesian law required the congregation to get consent from 60 non-Christian neighbors before beginning construction. Having done this, Pastor Nababan, mindful of Indonesia’s web of […]

Anti-Semitism is continuing its comeback tour of Europe. First it was in France, then in Hungary. Now the Times of Israel reports on anti-Semitism’s appeal in Greek political life: “Golden Dawn,” a party that that bolsters its grassroots support by demonizing Jewish ghosts: Its high-flying leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos declares: “There were no ovens. This is a lie. I […]

How many buses and Jewish community centers do you have to bomb for France to call you a terrorist group?Spiegel reports that Germany is finally putting pressure on the EU to label Hezbollah a terrorist group. The move comes after authorities began to suspect Hezbollah of involvement in a the bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists […]

The milkman is back, but this time he’s driving a Google truck. Google is pioneering a new same-day delivery service that brings groceries and other items purchased online straight to your door. Here’s how it works: A mix of national, regional and neighborhood merchants are enlisting in Google Shopping Express. The best-known names on the list include […]

When the Presidents and other important officials from four African countries visited Washington this week, their trip was ostensibly to celebrate democracy and “good governance.” But the real story behind the visit by these representatives of Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Cape Verde is the increased attention Washington’s defense establishment is giving to Africa.“The leaders discussed […]

Here’s a sign that China’s assertive policy in the South China Sea is not paying any dividends: even countries otherwise predisposed to not rock the boat are speaking up. As of November of last year, newly issued Chinese passports feature a provocative watermark map that clearly depicts various disputed territories as China’s. Vietnam and the Philippines […]

Three of the world’s most dangerous rogue regimes have found themselves in a rare moment of accord with the US Senate. Iran, North Korea, and Syria blocked the much-ballyhooed UN arms treaty yesterday, a legally binding pact backed by the Obama administration to let the UN regulate the world’s conventional weapons market: “The achievement of […]

by John DonneLet man’s soul be a sphere, and then, in this, Th’ intelligence that moves, devotion is; And as the other spheres, by being grown Subject to foreign motion, lose their own, And being by others hurried every day, Scarce in a year their natural form obey; Pleasure or business, so, our souls admit For […]

The Economist is finally ditching climate change hysteria. As a new piece in the British newsweekly notes, the world just hasn’t gotten much warmer over the past 15 years. We’ve been pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere at ever-increasing rates, yet temperatures haven’t risen anywhere near as much as scientists predicted. Climate modeling, the editors note, is still […]

Editors’ note: What follows is the third part of an exchange on Russian-Western relations that began with David Kramer and Lilia Shevtsova’s February 21 essay, “Here We Go Again: Falling for the Russia Trap.” On March 12, Thomas Graham responded with his essay, “In Defense of a Strategic Approach to Russia.” Further contributions to this […]