I know I seem like a shill for The Telegraph but their Ambrose Evans-Pritchard lays out a case for economic eclipse in Russia as a result of Western sanctions that I don’t read in my U.S. papers. Worth a look if you’ve only been monitoring the Ukranian crisis through a political lens.Read More →

A friend who spent time evangelizing in China during the last decade recalls a meeting with a 90+ year-old survivor of the Cultural Revolution, a devout Catholic. Asked about religion today, the old man, in excellent English would only say “they control….they control.”Read More →

My teaching assistant in the first class I took when I returned to graduate school in the mid-90s, a Chinese woman still grieving her late dad, told me at the time she hoped religion in America would help her. In the end, it didn’t.Read More →

If I were Mr. Party head in the province who provoked this mess I’d clear out my desk and make up two envelopes for my successor. One which is numbered 1 and inside has a piece of paper that says “blame me” and the other numbered 2 with a piece of paper inside that says “make up two envelopes.”Read More →

THE TIMES-UNION, FEB 18, 2014 – In the fight over a proposal to keep Quebec’s civil servants from wearing outsized yarmulkes, crucifixes, hajibs and turbans, public hearings are shining a light on the true fears of the French up North: zombies.Read More →