International Features

“LET the temple come up.” This was the remark by Atal Behari Vajpayee when I asked his reaction to the destruction of the Babri Masjid one day after. I was surprised by his comment because I considered him a liberal force in the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Yet I did not attach much importance to his remark. Now that the …

November 29 marks the international day of solidarity with the Palestinians. As this day nears, hope of an independent Palestinian state emerging during United States President Barack Obama’s first term in office is fast diminishing. Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has lost faith in the US-mediated peace process. To mark the international day of solidarity with the Palestinians, Abbas …

November 17, 2009 “Information Clearing House” — On Monday the British TV broadcaster, Channel 4 screened Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby, a devastating expose of the Jewish lobby in the UK*. ‘We couldn’t find a conspiracy’ affirmed Peter Oborne the Daily Mail’s political commentator behind the film. He was right. After running the show for so many years, the Jewish lobby’s …

In unconventional warfare, manipulated beliefs are used to displace inconvenient facts. When waging war by way of deception, false beliefs are an oft-deployed weapon. Recall Iraqi weapons of mass destruction? Iraqi ties to Al Qaeda? Iraqi mobile biological weapons laboratories? Iraqi meetings in Prague with Al Qaeda? Iraqi purchases of yellowcake uranium from Niger? All these claims were reported as …

BETHLEHEM – A Christian professor teaches about Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Holy Trinity at a Catholic university. It may seem normal to do so, except that 75 percent of the students are Muslim. This is a required course at Bethlehem University, and the course titled “religious cultural studies” is co-taught by a Christian professor and a Muslim one. …