New York Times Review of Peace Be Upon You.
Read moreHousing Market and the Economy
The panelists discussed issues currently unfolding in the U.S. economy. Topics included the housing market and its credit bubbles, global economics, productivity rates, stocks and bonds, and bank crises. After their presentations the panelists responded to audience members' questions.
Read moreMade in China?
Right now, the markets are focused on two stories: the continuing unwinding of the sub-prime mess and the increasing number of recalls of products made in China. At this point, the roiling of the financial markets is the bigger of these two stories. However, the drum beat of negative press about China may have equally significant consequences going forward. With stories such as “More Ripples From Chinese Product Troubles,” (New York Times, August 15), and “Tainted Imports: Are You Next?” (BusinessWeek SmallBiz, Aug/Sept 2007), and even recent posts on the HuffingtonPost (gasp!), the chorus has been growing that China, in more ways than one, represents a threat to the United States. If it’s not currency “manipulation” then it’s unsafe products, from tires to pet food to toys. Already, there is legislation being prepared that would take a harder line against China and the twin effects of currency and the trade deficit. Whatever version of the bill actually gets passed is likely to be more muted than the rhetoric, but the very fact of it demonstrates the growing anti-Chinese sentiment that is almost certain to get worse before it gets better.
Read moreReligion & Culture Panel
The panelists, moderated by Thane Rosenbaum, debated the topic, “Religion and Culture: Do They Mix?” They also talked about their books on opposing sides of the religion and culture question. After their presentations the panelists responded to audience members' questions.
Read moreBeyond the Crusade and Jihad
The only good things to come of 9/11, some say, are a greater consciousness of and a keener sensitivity to Islamic history, religion and culture. If that is so, the education has been slow and painful in the past six years, made all the more difficult by the gruesome reality of the Iraq war.
Read moreBeyond the Crusade and Jihad
Washington Post Review of Peace Be Upon You.
Read moreReligion and Culture Panel
The panelists, moderated by Thane Rosenbaum, debated the topic, “Religion and Culture: Do They Mix?” They also talked about their books on opposing sides of the religion and culture question. After their presentations the panelists responded to audience members' questions.
Read moreThe View From Palestine: A Conversation with Sari Nusseibeh
Watch Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University, discuss his recent memoir, Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life.
Read moreEnough Already with “The Trouble with Islam”
In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial titled “The Trouble with Islam,” the author regurgitated all of the familiar canards about the inherent backwardness of Islam: that the religion at core promotes violence toward unbelievers and toward women, that the Quran calls for death to the Jews, that all attempts of interfaith dialogue in the West are based on a hopeless naivete and that the violence in Iraq proves that Muslims are prone to violence.
Read moreA messy present, a peaceful past
The Los Angeles Times review of Peace Be Upon You.
Read moreA decaying symbol of progress, pride
Los Angeles Times Review of Parting the Desert.
Read morePeace Be Upon You
Zachary Karabell talked about his book Peace Be upon You: The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence, published by Knopf. Mr. Karabell traces the historical instances of peaceful coexistence between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish people. The author contended that throughout the past fourteen centuries the different faiths have found common ground; from peaceful debate amongst scholars in the courts of the caliphs in Baghdad to medieval Spain where Jewish sages, Muslim philosophers, and Christian monks translated the meaning of God together. The author argued that the current state of religious tensions are solvable if one studies the past. Mr. Karabell responded to questions from the audience.
Read moreThe Greening of America?
When the zeitgeist shifts, it really shifts.
The beginning of 2007 saw one of the warmest Januaries on record, and instead of snow, we were treated to a flurry of articles, announcements, conferences, and high level public speeches that demanded action on the part of countries, individuals and companies to begin to address the issue of global warming.
Read moreThe Middle East: Lots of Violence, Not Much Economic Reform
Fifty years ago, the world was plunged into crisis when Egypt’s President Gemal Abd al-Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in an act of defiance against France and England and an assertion of Egyptian independence in the face of the economic and military strength of the West. The resulting Suez crisis saw the humbling of England and France, the isolation of Israel, and the firm determination of U.S President Dwight Eisenhower not to allow the old powers of Europe to retain their hold over their former colonies in the Middle East.
Read moreAnd on the Other Side of the World....
Dominating the headlines in Asia, this just in from Xinhua on-line, the Reuters of China : “Over 570,000 Evacuated as Saomai Approaches!” Huh? Didn’t they get the memo about Lebanon, Iraq, and the terror plot to destroy airplanes using liquid explosives? Apparently, an approaching hurricane-force storm and its devastating potential is more important than the wars of the western world and the intractable struggle between some Muslims, some Christians and some Jews.
Read moreAlive and Well Under a Mountain of Debt
Please use the sharing tools found via the email icon at the top of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here.
https://www.ft.com/content/c451c83c-ffb8-11da-93a0-0000779e2340
Remember the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where two men push a wheelbarrow through a plague-afflicted village shouting: “Bring out your dead”? A family heaves a body on to the pile, whereupon it lifts his head and says: “But I’m not dead yet!” One man whacks him with a cudgel and says: “Now you are.” That is the perfect metaphor for the American consumer on the one hand and strategists, commentators and economists on the other.
The Modern Middle East
Moderated by Mr. Karabell, the panelists discussed the topic, “The Changing Shape of the Middle East” and their books on the topic. They responded to questions from members of the audience.
Read morePorts Post-Mortem
The Dubai deal is dead, and few are sorry to see it end this way. In fact, there hasn’t been this much bipartisanship since the Era of Good Feelings nearly two hundred years ago. The Republicans in the Senate and the House, led by the likes of Rep. Peter King (R- New York), have asserted their independence from an increasingly unpopular president, and the Democrats have managed simultaneously to reconnect with their populist base and seem more stringent on national security. Polls show that upwards of 70% of the American public either strongly opposed or somewhat opposed the takeover, and with the capitulation of the company, there has been no dearth of back-patting, from Capitol Hill to the blogsphere.
Read moreOur Muslim Problem
Over the weekend, the following headline appeared: “Muslims Assault U.S. Embassy in Indonesia.” I read it in one place, but no doubt variants of it appeared in many places. And I doubt that many people gave it a second glance, so normal and ubiquitous was its phraseology. And yet, it is symtomatic of how Islam is routinely portrayed and percieved in the West.
Read moreBeyond the Riots
As hard as it is to divert attention from the Cheney train-wreck this week, compared to his misuse of buckshot, the worldwide riots over the now-infmamous Danish cartoons is surely the more important story. Forget for a moment that much like the uproar over “The Satanic Verses” more than fifteen years ago, many of those protesting did not actually see the cartoons. Their publication was astutely used by extremists and by the governments of Syria and Iran to fan anti-Western flames and distract attention from their own manifold failings.
Read more