West trying to ‘flirt’ with Islamic front in Syrian crisis – Lavrov to RT Published time: December 24, 2013 19:31 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is worried that Western politicians are still trying to “flirt” with the Islamic front in Syria, although they are beginning to realize that overthrowing Assad’s regime would play into the hands of terrorists. RT: Hello Mr. Lavrov, and welcome to RT. Thanks for joining us. Today in the studio we have journalists from … Read entire article »

Map of ‘Security Arc’ by S. Narwani, E. Adaime, A. Amacha By Sharmine Narwani – Sat, 2013-12-21 18:11- Sandbox Many observers are correct in noting that the Middle East is undergoing yet another seismic shift – that the Russian-brokered destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, a US-Iranian rapprochement, the diminished strategic value of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and a US withdrawal from Afghanistan will all contribute to changing regional dynamics considerably. But what is this new direction? Where … Read entire article »

World of Witchcraft by Oliver Williams December 19, 2013 Taki’s Magazine Human-rights groups and assorted do-gooders have been filling up my Twitter timeline with news of a phenomenon many think no longer exists: literal witch hunts. In 2009 the leader of The Gambia, the self-titled Sheikh Professor Dr. Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh—perhaps best known for being the inventor of an herbal HIV “cure”—launched a witch-hunting campaign. Police, army, and national intelligence agents kidnapped up to 1,000 people at gunpoint. … Read entire article »

Harris in the NYT: Reinforced Prejudices 16 October 2013 Francois Gautier Foreign correspondents often reinforce prejudices when covering India. I have had the privilege to live for more than 40 years in India. It has long been my opinion that India is a very difficult country to grasp for a foreign correspondent, as it is so different from the West — full of contradictions, paradoxes, and baffling parameters. Thus, for Westerners, who share more or less the same religion (Christianity), … Read entire article »

Since General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Mohamed Morsi on July 3, the military-led government has been engaged in a ferocious crackdown of the Muslim Brotherhood and more broadly of Islamists (though some, like the Salafis of the Nour party, playing their hand carefully, have generally avoided trouble so far). Not only has this assault been violent, with over a thousand deaths, and legalistic, with the Brotherhood banned and its top leadership jailed, but it has also … Read entire article »

by Jim Goad November 04, 2013 Getting a Grip on Extremism (and Massaging it to Completion) photo credit: Shutterstock After leftist radicals shot and killed a pair of Golden Dawn members in Athens on Friday, news outlets referred to the killers as members of an “extremist” group. This was odd, as I’ve become conditioned to see that particular scare term used only for people and things deemed to the right of center. I hardly ever hear the word “extremist” … Read entire article »

by Dr. Koenraad Elst Saturday, October 26, 2013 Was the Buddha a Hindu? Are Buddhists Hindus? In a past article, we had argued that the Buddha lived and died as a Hindu and that Bauddha Dharma is nothing but one of the sects within Hinduism. Ambedkarite neo-Buddhists and Ambedkar-touting secularists are understandably furious when their ambitions for a separate identity or their schemes for pitting Hindus against Hindus are thwarted. So we received a number of … Read entire article »