Category: Uncategorized
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The Rutgers protest and the decline of activism
*This article was originally published on The News Hub, February 18, 2016 A little over two years ago, I attended an orientation for new graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas. Near the end of the last seminar, our instructor decided to answer a few questions. Instantly animated by…
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Trump: realist or opportunist?
*Originally published on The News Hub, February 11, 2016 Over the past few weeks, there has been a spate of articles about Donald Trump’s “doctrine.” Is he the ultra-cynical public opinion hound that he appears to be, content to say anything about foreign policy as long as it gives him…
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The petition to ban Donald Trump from the UK takes a bad precedent to a new extreme
*Originally published on Tremr, February 4, 2016 Disclaimer: I’m no fan of Donald Trump. I don’t like his xenophobia. I don’t like his raging egotism. And I certainly don’t like his inability – or is it unwillingness? – to formulate a coherent set of policies and principles. He’s a sneering…
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Paris, Beirut, and Islam
*Originally published on The News Hub, November 19, 2015 You don’t need to be a counterterrorism expert to know there will be another Paris or Beirut – another pious killing spree in the heart of a major international city. Nor do you have to be an anthropologist or a religious scholar…
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The Shrinking Circle
*Originally published on The News Hub, November 12, 2015 In my last article, I attacked Glenn Greenwald’s disingenuous screed about “Sam Harris, the New Atheists, and anti-Muslim animus.” I explained how his myopia about Islam prevents him from identifying – much less confronting – flagrant threats to free speech, women’s rights,…
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Glenn Greenwald, Sam Harris, and Islam
*Originally published on The News Hub, November 3, 2015 For the past two and a half years, Sam Harris and Glenn Greenwald have been embroiled in a bitter debate about the nature of contemporary Islam. The exchange has become so acrimonious – and seemingly intractable – that fans of both writers…
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Donald Trump isn’t funny anymore
*Originally published on The News Hub, September 21, 2015 A few months ago, the Trump-splotched American political landscape was funny. Take his announcement speech, for instance – remember when he barked about the United States “becoming a third world country” before launching into a weird five-minute diatribe about his net worth and…
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Why it’s easier to be a dove than a hawk
*Originally published on The News Hub, September 1, 2015 Here’s why foreign policy will be more important in the 2016 U.S. presidential election than it was in 2008 or 2012: The war against the Islamic State – the theocratic army of ethnic cleansers, rapists, and culture-eradicators that has overrun much…
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Iraqi history didn’t begin in 2003
*Originally published in The Kansas City Star, June 19, 2014 To understand the dismal situation in today’s Iraq — the Islamic State’s unimpeded rampage, a government incapable of addressing bitter factionalism, and unbridled religious and ethnic hatred — it’s necessary to take a look at history. And not the narrow, decade-old…
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Why has the total number of terrorists exploded during the Obama era?
*Originally published in The Kansas City Star, July 11, 2014 Remember President Barack Obama’s speech at Cairo University in June 2009? It was called “A New Beginning,” and it was supposed to ingratiate the United States with the Muslim world and alleviate hostilities engendered by the Bush administration. In some…
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