Published under ‘world’

Paul Tudor Jones II on “Justness”

Published under Global May 01, 2015

An important TED Talk by Paul Tudor Jones II that highlights the need to address problems with income inequality and health deficiencies in our societies.

Excellent article from Fareed Zakaria

Published under Asia Apr 20, 2015

I truly wonder whether the US will ever be able to extricate itself from its role as the Mideast police and get others to share the burden of fostering stability there, at least to free up sufficient bandwidth for the Asia pivot. Remember, the basic argument behind the pivot was that the United States was [...]

In interviews with BuzzFeed News this week, four senior figures in Israel’s security establishment, ranging from military intelligence to the air force, expressed concern over damage being done to what have previously been close-knit ties in intelligence sharing and military strategy. High-ranking security officials have clashed with Netanyahu publicly and often, including over their assessments of the [...]

On Friday, Meir Dagan, the former head of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, told one of the leading Israeli newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth: “The person who has caused the greatest strategic damage to Israel on the Iranian issue is the prime minister.” Dagan, who was the director of Mossad from 2002 to 2010, continued, “I’ve seen leaders [...]

Just hours after Netanyahu boarded a plane bound for Washington, the group of former generals and intelligence heads held a press conference in Tel Aviv where they stated that Netanyahu’s policies and upcoming speech to Congress were doing irreparable harm to U.S.-Israel relations and would do nothing to stop Iran’s nuclear program. “When the Israeli [...]

On Toleration in Theology

Published under Religion Feb 18, 2015

  A 2013 poll by the Pew Research Center showed that while not all of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims approve of this notion, a significant proportion of them do. Majorities in Egypt and Pakistan, for example, support the death penalty for Muslims who dare to abandon their religion. Looking at this, some Westerners conclude [...]

        Health & Science Research casts alarming light on decline of West Antarctic glaciers By Chris Mooney and Joby Warrick December 4   For two decades, scientists have kept a close watch on a vast, icebound corner of West Antarctica that is undergoing a historic thaw. Climate experts have predicted that, centuries from now, the region’s [...]

I’ve always thought Gideon Levy to be way out there and too extremist and biased against Israel. Now, in reading the article pasted below, I find myself thinking he will be precisely right if we don’t take all possible legal measures and do everything in our power to help Israeli moderates seize back the agenda [...]

                      The sign hanging outside the Silwan home of Abdelrahman al-Shaludi, the terrorist who carried out Wednesday’s attack in Jerusalem, placed there after his first release from an Israeli prison in 2013, says a lot about the reality in the eastern part of the city. [...]

Islam has a problem right now

Published under Middle East, Religion Oct 09, 2014

                  When television host Bill Maher declares on his weekly show that “the Muslim world . . . has too much in common with ISIS ” and guest Sam Harris says that Islam is “the mother lode of bad ideas,” I understand why people are upset. Maher and Harris, [...]