I can remember at about the age of eleven being at one of the many Arabic parties I would attend growing up.  The women were all laughing and dancing, their head scarves off, no men in the room.  They wore ...

  At present there is no independent Kurdish state but the ‘land of the Kurds’ crisscrosses Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. However, the Iraqi Kurds have been able to gain autonomy from Baghdad. Kurdish aspirations for an independent state stem ...

Western leaders have suddenly woken up and realised that ISIS is a regional global security threat. This realisation has also forced policy makers and security experts to abandon their orientalist monocles. The desire to act ‘now’ by launching airstrikes on ISIS targets ...

This photo of my parents reveals much about their personalities (hers vivacious and outgoing, his withdrawn and closed off), their relationship (little real contact), and also the times. The typicality of their lives reveals much about the USA. My mother ...

Everything that exists on this Earth is made out of the same Common Core, the same molecules, and the same atoms. 75 % of the earth is covered in water. Up to 60 % of a human body is made ...

Varieties of Violence Terrorists, serial killers, domestic murderers — their ghoulish deeds fill our news and popular entertainment, interspersed with wars, riots, and brutal repressions. Violence surrounds us. Where does it come from?The answer propagated by the mass media is ...

Today’s political landscape is deeply polarized. From liberals to conservatives, there are serious divides that are pervasive throughout politics. One group that has used the Internet and email in particular to contribute to and sustain an environment of polarization is ...

The film, Inside Job, won the 2011 Academy Award for best documentary. Charles Ferguson the director of Inside Job kicked off his Oscar acceptance speech with the following statement, “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years ...

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them”—Albert Einstein The Defense Advanced Research Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced an extraordinary new project, the 100 Year Starship ...

Hey, Donald, “Yuh fired!” Make no mistake about it, Donald Trump loves the limelight. He’s a rich guy who loves to plaster his name on any object that isn’t agile enough to jump out of his way. It’s an ego ...