Is Egypt’s revolution falling apart? Clashes between anti-government protestors and Muslim Brotherhood supporters turned deadly yesterday, leaving at least three—including an American college student—dead. These clashes come ahead of massive country-wide demonstrations against President Morsi scheduled for Sunday. The NYT reports that on-the-ground forces are even speaking of a civil war: The use of firearms […]

[This essay is part of a series that examines the five critical challenges America faces in our time. The first group of essays in the series looked at the problem of jobs as the economy transitions from an industrial to an information economy; the next group, which starts today, takes on the challenge of managing […]

“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly,” says Macbeth before murdering King Duncan. Like many such gambits, and not only in Shakespeare, the one played out in Australian politics ended badly for the assassin.Three years ago almost to the day, Julia Gillard back stabbed her Prime Minister Kevin […]

Dear readers,I am away on travel this week. Posting will resume again next week as usual.— Peter Berger

Reports that Ottawa and Washington have resumed their delicate missile-defense discussions suggest that Canada may be ready to join the global missile-defense coalition. If so, it would be a welcome development.The operative word here is “global.” The missile shield now taking shape is a truly international missile defense (IMD) enfolding some of Canada’s closest allies […]

Could the Obama administration in its second term be making a series of Middle East policy mistakes even more expensive and destructive than those the Bush administration made in its first? That is admittedly a high bar, but the trends are unsettling to say the least. The region is unraveling and American policy is in […]

The Washington Post, on June 14, 2013, reported on a case in Philadelphia. A couple, Herbert and Catherine Schaible, were arrested and held without bail on a charge of third-degree murder. They are members of a small Pentecostal church in North Philadelphia, which teaches that Christians should not use modern medicine but rely on divine […]

Above: Egyptian riot police try to disperse clashes between supporters the ruling Muslim Brotherhood and protestors calling for the resignation of Culture Minister Alaa Abdel Aziz in Cairo on June 11, 2013. Photo courtesy of Getty Images. The revolutions that swept the Arab world in early 2011 took on a distinctive character in the nations they touched, […]

For the past few days, thousands of angry Brazilians have been flowing out into the streets of major cities in protest, paralyzing city centers, burning vehicles, looting and vandalizing stores, even attempting to storm government buildings in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasilia.It’s quite frightening to watch so many people here in Brazil protesting […]

Thinking back to the late 1990s, I should start with a compliment. Recall the mainstream thinking of those years, when the evolution of a post-Soviet system was expected to deliver the final proof for the magic working of instant democracy and shock therapy; now here comes Thomas Graham, breaking from the established code of interpretation […]