The Maritime Silk Road
China’s Sri Lanka Play

China is making nice with Sri Lanka in order to have a place to set up naval bases and resupply ports for its future in the Indian Ocean region. But India and Japan won’t be happy about that.

Seasonal Markers
Tolerance, Forgiveness, and Gratitude

A Thanksgiving meditation.

A Green Dream
The Internet Could Put Supermarkets Out of Business

A major British investor recently warned that online shopping could unseat “brick and motor” supermarket chains. The sooner, the better.

MIA for DoD
Hunt for Hagel’s Successor Proves Difficult

Two potential candidates to succeed Chuck Hagel have publicly withdrawn themselves from consideration. It’s not surprising given how dysfunctional the President’s National Security Team appears.

A Response to Peter Berger
Cross-Cultural Atheism and Social Capital

If pluralization depletes social capital, then might cross-cultural non-believers find some way to join together to create new forms of social capital, both in situ and virtually via the internet for example?

Ukraine's Future
Abkhazia Today, Donbass Tomorrow

With Monday’s deal between Russia and the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, Putin has managed to take over a Russian-speaking piece of a neighboring country’s sovereign territory. Sound familiar?

De Facto Coalition?
Assad Regime Bombs ISIS’s Power Center

The surprise aerial attack will be seen as a sign of a tacit alignment between the U.S. and the Butcher President of Syria.

Comparative Theodicy
Is Atheism a Specifically Western Phenomenon?

We know atheism in its Jewish or Christian context, as a rejection of the Biblical God. What would atheism mean in a Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist context?

Omnis Divisa in Partes Tres
Libya: Going or Gone?

As competing governments square off, Libya increasingly looks like it may have broken into pieces that won’t be reassembled.

ACA Revisionism
High-Ranking Dem Now Opposes Obamacare

The Senate’s third-ranking Democrat now thinks Democrats made a mistake in pushing Obamacare through when and how they did. But his reason is odd: that rising health care costs didn’t affect Americans.

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