In The News

Growth of Islam in Russia Brings Soviet Response

Steven Lee Myers November 22, 2005
Muslims have never enjoyed as much freedom in Russia as they do today. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there has been an Islamic revival of sorts in Russia. Muslims number 10 to 16 percent of the Russian population, and Islam is recognized as one of Russia’s four official religions. Yet that tolerance is tinged with suspicion, and some Muslims feel they are being persecuted. A perception...

Many Wary of Faith-Based TV

Reem Nafie November 18, 2005
Agaphy TV is funded by donations from Copts living around the world, with most of the money coming from the US. Station supervisor, Bishop Boutros hopes it will provide a link to the church for Copts living abroad or far from places of worship. Yet Agaphy TV must tread carefully; Christian satellite channels based outside the country have offended Egyptian Muslims by broadcasting programs...

France is Not Alone in Living Above a Volcano

Michel Rocard November 18, 2005
In the past weeks, the violent and contagious Paris riots drew the attention of the world to the presence of a large mass of unemployed minority teens in France’s urban center. Many commentators have focused their responses on the lack of social integration of the country’s predominantly North African minorities. Offering a different interpretation, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard...

Dutch Virtue of Tolerance Under Strain

Roger Cohen November 17, 2005
While immigration, especially of Muslims, has long been an issue for Europeans, it has recently taken on a greater urgency. The Netherlands is a prime example of a European society in which the failed integration of Muslims and their children has produced an untenable situation. No longer is the debate on Muslim immigration centered on the capacities of welfare systems. Now it is a matter of...

America’s Future is Stuck Overseas

Stuart Anderson November 16, 2005
The numbers are better, but not good. Since hitting a low in 2002, post September 11, the number of foreign graduate students enrolled in the United States has been improving, albeit slowly. The importance of these international students to American technological and economic superiority cannot be understated, as former US immigration official Stuart Anderson writes. Foreign graduates...

Tragedy and Paradox of French-Arab Relations

Matein Khalid November 11, 2005
France has a long relationship with the Arab and Muslim worlds—a relationship that has often been marked by hostility and bloodshed. It would be a mistake, however, to see the current French rioting as an outgrowth of conflict between France and Islam. Matein Khalid writes that France's French-Arab minorities care about their own economic opportunity and social equality, rather than any...

Students Shun Native Tongue

Liu Qing November 11, 2005
As China becomes a market economy and an increasingly influential world power, Chinese students are showing a great interest in acquiring proficiency in the global lingua franca, English. University graduates are honing their skill in English in order to make themselves more attractive to prospective employers. But as Shanghai writer Liu Qing points out, this emphasis on English has emerged at...