Blog

Democracy, Iranian Style

Thomas Frank opened his What’s the Matter with Kansas, 2004, with a piercing sentence: “America is always in a state of quasi-civil war: on the

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She let loose

  My mother’s wedding dress was made out of curtains. One day as she sat sipping tea at a cousin’s house, she looked out toward

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Growing pains

Reza Aslan's No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam is an engaging survey of Islam from its origin in 7th century

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About

Of all religious minorities in the Middle East, Bahais are typically the least able to practice their religion freely. With several notable exceptions, the current

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Deserving victory

I don't understand why the results of the recent election is surprising or upsetting the Iranian intellectuals. Let me first explain why the result should

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Exact opposite of paranoia

As the velvet revolution of 1989 unrolled in Prague, Czech activists recalled the dark skies of the Spring of 1968. They had jubilantly arrived at

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The ugly truth

All the way to school Saturday — the day after the electiuon — I was trying to come up with ugly world leaders. Presidents, prime

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