In The News

The Sweetest Revenge

Stefan Theil July 14, 2003
The 2,000 year old Jewish community in Uzbekistan in Central Asia is all but a relic of the past. Due to the economic crisis in Uzbekistan, the majority of its Jewish population is choosing to immigrate to Germany, more even than to Israel. As a result, only 60 years after the Holocaust decimated Germany's Jewish population, the influx of Central Asian Jews is revitalizing the Jewish-...

A Muslim Missionary Group Draws New Scrutiny in US

Susan Sachs July 14, 2003
Tablighi Jamaat, a conservative Muslim congregation of traveling proselytizers, is facing increasing scrutiny of its members and activities by the FBI in the United States. Founded 75 years ago in colonial India, the Tablighi Jamaat is a nonpolitical congregation of Muslim preachers, who – much like Christian missionaries – travel throughout the world to proselytize. The Tablighi Jamaat has a...

Is Iraq Becoming a New Vietnam? - Part One

Orville Schell July 14, 2003
Is the American occupation of Iraq turning into a Vietnam-style quagmire? With American casualties mounting almost daily and the Bush Administration hinting at increasing troop levels, it is a question that will be asked. Historical comparisons are often misleading, because the actors and the context tend to be different. Yet, such comparisons with the past provide a valuable analytical framework...

A Helping Hand from Bush to Africans?

Abdallah Abu-Younis July 8, 2003
US President Bush’s agenda for his upcoming trip to Africa is packed with high stakes issues. AIDS, poverty, corruption, and state failure run rampant across the continent, threatening US interests by providing the shroud of chaos for terrorist groups. However, as this editorial in The Arab News points out, Bush must be careful not to generalize about Africa’s problems and solutions. African...

Indonesian Muslims Can Consume GMO Foods

July 7, 2003
Muslims in Indonesia are now free to consume genetically modified organism (GMO) foods. Though there has been no official statement, the highest Indonesian Muslim body authorized to approve and make religious rulings on processed foods distributed within the country, the Ulemas Council (MUI), has implicitly approved the products by not issuing a fatwa (legal advice). Without a fatwa, Muslims...

Problems, Problems

June 30, 2003
Breakdown of law and order, guerilla efforts, smashed infrastructure, multiple currencies, and deep factionalism are just a few of the problems currently plaguing the American-led coalition in Iraq. Many parts of the country, including Baghdad, are still anarchic, says this article from The Economist. The coalition was taken aback by the speed with which Iraqi forces melted away, and was thus...

Iran Is Trying to Curb Porn and Politics on Web

Neil MacFarquhar June 29, 2003
The Iranian government is attempting to control the internet, the last refuge of unadulterated information – and pornography – in the country. Newspapers, television, and other forms of media have long been censored by the government, prevented from printing sexually explicit pictures and from criticizing the regime. Thus far, the internet has remained immune to such controls, with student...