In The News

Southeast Asia Globe: Faith in Flux

Paul Millar March 3, 2017
Religious minorities in undeveloped nations are susceptible to funds and influence from outside sources. Fundamentalists in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia target poor Muslims around the globe, including the Cham community in Cambodia. “Tracing their descent from the ancient kingdom of Champa in modern-day Vietnam, the more than 400,000 Chams who live in Cambodia have...

The Atlantic: Mosques Want to Offer Sanctuary, But Will Anyone Accept?

Sigal Samuel February 24, 2017
As the Trump administration implements hardline immigration policies, which were a driving force of his campaign, hundreds of places of worship across the United States have declared themselves “sanctuary congregations,” meaning they will offer protection to undocumented immigrants facing deportation. In January, a Cincinnati mosque declared itself a sanctuary congregation, but rescinded the...

Project Syndicate: ASEAN and the Rohingya Crisis

Syed Munir Khasru February 10, 2017
Muslim Rohingya communities lack citizen rights in Myanmar and are under military attack as well. “The United Nations considers the stateless Rohingya to be among the world’s most persecuted minorities,” writes Syed Munir Khasru for Project Syndicate. “Now, other countries in an otherwise stable region are becoming embroiled in the crisis; indeed, countries such as Bangladesh, Thailand, and...

Confusion of the Trump Travel Ban: CNN

Evan Perez, Pamela Brown and Kevin Liptak January 30, 2017
The Trump administration, eager to demonstrate he will follow through on his most extreme campaign promises, issued an executive order abruptly banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and also blocking admission of refugees. Authorities in the seven countries and US agencies were caught off guard, with the order released before processes were put in place. “The result was widespread...

South Korea’s Park Faces Existential Question of Survival

Donald Kirk November 18, 2016
Protesters in Seoul are calling for the resignation of South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Koreans are disturbed by “what they perceive as a long-term pattern of embarrassing if not disgraceful conduct,” writes Donald Kirk for Asia Sentinel. “At the heart of the scandal is Park’s relationship, going back four decades, with the woman who won her deepest confidence in shamanistic rituals...

Battle for Mosul: Why Troops Reaching ISIS Stronghold Is a Delicate Balance

Matt Bradley October 21, 2016
The Islamic State took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in summer of 2014. Coalition forces have surrounded the city and include Kurds, Iraqis, Turks, advisers from the United States and elsewhere, as well as many militias of varying ethnicities. Multiple challenges are in store: “The Kurdish Peshmerga are only one piece of a complex patchwork of religious and ethnic identities that...

Yemen Isn’t Just a Proxy War Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Laura Kasinof October 18, 2016
The United Nations announced a 72-hour ceasefire for the war in Yemen. The pause, just after the US Navy fired missiles into Yemen in response to attacks on US ships in the Red Sea, may prevent expansion of the war that has killed more than 10,000 and displaced more than 3 million Yemenis. Yemen’s war and politics are complex, explains Laura Kasinof for Slate. Communist South Yemen and North...