Chennai is one of those Indian cities that has confused the world by changing its name; for centuries it was known as Madras. It was the oldest center of British power in India; with a presence dating from the 1630s the British presence there was part of the same colonial expansion that settled the eastern […]

One more bloodbath, one more mass grave in Syria: it is becoming routine. The New York Times reports on the latest atrocity in a suburb of Damascus: The [local human rights] group said its activists found one mass body dump after another. They posted two videos showing what they said were different groups of victims; […]

As violent protests rolled across China earlier this week over a Japanese provocation at the disputed Senkaku islands, a casual observer might be tempted to conclude that the nationalism inside a rising China is some kind of implacable, rabid force which could tear the region apart. And while nationalism certainly exists—and shouldn’t be trifled with—a […]

Is something worse than Katrina headed toward New Orleans?A highly regarded hurricane model now projects that Isaac will make landfall on a worst-case trajectory for New Orleans as a borderline Category 3/Category 4 storm about 60 hours from now.The leading hurricane forecast models look increasingly ominous. Over the last 12 hours there has been a […]

One of the stranger experiences when you travel in another country on a speaking tour is that sometimes articles about your visit or your lectures appear in the local press. You’ll be sitting peacefully in the breakfast room of a hotel far, far away, reading incomprehensible stories about people whose names you can’t recognize, trying […]

Gallup reports that smoking is down to historic lows, down 2% from last year, and tied with 2009 at the lowest rate since 1944. The best part? The most profound change is among young people: Since the start of the 2000s, smoking has fallen nine percentage points among 18- to 29-year-olds — from 34% in […]

The world’s toughest regime is starting to look a little warm and fuzzy. First, a country where leaders are normally seen reviewing military parades featuring scary-looking if perhaps not quite finished missiles, showed its new leader at a Mickey Mouse musical review. Then, China’s leaders openly pressed Pyongyang to embrace market reforms amid a bit […]

A new piece in the New York Times shines a spotlight on the complexities of Asia’s industrial revolution, which is far more complicated than many understand. The piece focuses on Bangladesh, where a recent uprising at a garment factory and the subsequent response by police is only the latest in a string of labor conflicts, which are […]

A study just released by the Chronicle of Philanthropy tells us that people in religious states give a larger percentage of their discretionary income to charity than their less religious peers. The AP reports: The study found that in the Northeast region, including New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, people gave 4.1 percent of their discretionary […]

by Roger BerkowitzI am not usually hanging out on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website, but a former student and current Arendt Center Intern alerted me his Reverence’s recent review of Marilynne Robinson’s newest book, When I Was A Child I Read Books. It turns out the Archbishop and I share a fondness in brilliant contemporary […]