The United States and Russia have reached an agreement to end the bloodshed in Syria, but it could easily fizzle and die. The accord, signed in Munich on February 12 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, is ambitious in scope but precarious and fragile. It calls for the delivery of […]
John Birch, an American missionary and U.S. army intelligence officer killed in China by communist troops in August 1945, earned acclaim and adulation only after his untimely death at the age of 27. Hailed by his rabidly anti-communist admirers as the first casualty of the Cold War, Birch would become associated with right-wing extremism in […]
If you’re a Baby Boomer, like me, you may have been hooked by the mesmerizing rhythms of Carole King’s iconic pop songs. King’s songs, at once exuberant and plaintive, were appealing due to their simplicity, honesty, empathy and compassion. They struck a chord with an entire generation, of which I was part. A living legend, […]
As expected, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has redefined Canada’s role in the U.S.-led military campaign to degrade and defeat Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. On February 8, at a press conference in Ottawa, he announced that Canadian advisors will no longer be involved in a combat mission in the Middle East. Instead, Canada […]
Jihadists love the Internet, as they should. It’s their portal to free publicity, a potentially vast audience and enhanced membership rolls. Islamic State, the jihadist organization that has wreaked havoc in the Middle East, has learned to its satisfaction that social media is a potent weapon to brainwash and radicalize Muslims and recruit them as […]
Amsterdam’s old Jewish quarter, the Jodenhoek, is but a hollow shell of its former self, having been swept away by the tides of time. The epicenter of the Jewish community from the 17th century until World War II, it was once a congested and atmospheric labyrinth of tenements, factories, open-air stalls, narrow streets and back […]
The impasse in the protracted civil war in Syria is so profound that even the prospect of successful peace talks to end the nearly five-year-old conflict seems outlandish and unrealistic. On February 3, after two days of preliminary discussions in Geneva, United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura threw up his hands in utter despair and […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has tabled a bill that may well stifle, if not delegitimize, a precious gift — political dissent in Israel. The bill, known as the NGO Law, should be permanently shelved for the sake of Israeli democracy. Sponsored by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, it would require non-governmental organizations in Israel to […]
Germany’s love affair with the seemingly endless numbers of refugees from Syria and other nations entering the country seems to have reached its limits, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under mounting criticism for her asylum policies. Opponents of Merkel’s decision last year to allow more than one million asylum seekers into the country have been […]
Grimur Hakonarson’s austere film, Rams, which opens in Canada on February 12, unfolds under a leaden sky in a treeless valley. The bleak Icelandic landscape lends itself to the theme: the discord that keeps two feuding brothers, Gummi (Sigurdur Sigurjonsson) and Kiddi (Theodor Julisson), at loggerheads. Although they live in close proximity to each other, they have […]