Andrew Sullivan may have hauled down the flag on the circumcision issue, acknowledging that respect for religious freedom requires allowing both Muslims and Jews to perform essential required rites of their respective faiths, but he’s taken up another unlikely cause: that people should support President Obama because he is really the ‘best’ kind of British […]

So far, foreign policy has been almost wholly absent from the presidential race. The Wall Street Journal thinks this is about to change. Following the convention in Tampa, the Romney camp is reportedly preparing a series of speeches and events to highlight its criticisms of the Obama administration’s foreign policies.This case will be difficult to […]

Pakistan was built on a rejection of secularism, democracy and pluralism: everything India stood for. It established itself as a Muslim country, and politicians eventually clarified exactly who is “Muslim” according to the Constitution.As the Army battles the Pakistani Taliban, that definition is under dispute. As Feisal Naqvi writes in an illuminating article in Pakistan’s Express […]

The Washington Post‘s ‘The Fix’ blog has some bad news for Democrats: their attempts to paint Paul Ryan as an extremist fringe candidate seem to have failed. A new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll asked Americans to say what one word comes to mind when they think about the GOP vice presidential nominee. And people […]

China launched its first aircraft carrier, an antique bought from Ukraine, about a year ago to much fanfare in China and hand wringing abroad. The international media saw this as a “potent” sign of China’s growing naval prowess.But the carrier is still a long way from being a battle-ready warship. Reuters reports: Despite public anticipation […]

The latest Pew survey of the state of America’s middle class doesn’t mince words: the subtitle of the report is “smaller, poorer, gloomier.” The lost decade for our middle-class is something to lament in itself, but its effect on the upcoming election may be equally significant.According to Pew’s data, President Obama is enjoying a slight […]

Reports have surfaced that India has deployed half a dozen refueling aircraft at Panagarh, an Indian Army and Air Force base in West Bengal, as a supplement to fighter planes deployed on the Chinese border. Rajeev Sharma in The Diplomat sees this as a sign that India is “upping the ante” with China: However, the latest […]

The Huffington Post website carries a blog with the title “Faith Shift” written by Jaweed Kaleem. Last year, the blog reported on a large conference in Garrison, New York, supported by major Buddhist centers and periodicals. The focus of the conference was the future of Buddhism in America. The religion is represented in this country […]

This week the Turkish Press noted the announcement by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu that number of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey has reached 70,000. Davutoğlu reiterated that, should the number rise to 100,000, Turkey will seriously consider unilateral armed action to establish “secure zones” for the refugees. (CNNTurk)Valerie Amos, the UN emergency relief coordinator dealing […]

The recent DUI arrests of a distinguished, high-profile U.S. diplomat and a senior clergyman should serve as sobering reminders that alcohol, for many people, is a dangerous drug. Each year thousands of lives are lost in alcohol-related driving accidents. There are plenty of alcohol fueled celebrity meltdowns as well as alcohol can make a bad […]