Graeme Wood is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. His personal site is gcaw.net. The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it. What…
By NICHOLAS CARLSON At the World Economic Forum in Davos, we interviewed an Arab billionaire investor about the state of geopolitics. We asked him about ISIS, Syria, Mubarak, Obama, Israel, China, Oil, Africa, and the Arab Spring. The investor agreed to answer our questions, but only if we redacted his name and only refer to him…
By VALERIE TARICO, ALTERNET Le sacrifice d’Abraham (Matthias Stom) Some of humanity’s technological innovations are things we would have been better off without: the medieval rack, the atomic bomb and powdered lead potions come to mind. Religions tend to invent ideas or concepts rather than technologies, but like every other creative human enterprise, they produce some…
By Max Fisher , VOX Map of modern Saudi Arabia (Nations Online) Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud became king of Saudi Arabia this week on the death of his older brother King Abdullah. When Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was born in 1935, his country was only three years old. The Saudi Arabia of Salman’s birth had not yet discovered…
By ALEX DE WAAL, NYTimes Credit Anthony Russo On one of the last occasions an Egyptian president visited Addis Ababa, he got no further than the road from the airport: In 1995 the motorcade of President Hosni Mubarak came under fire from Egyptian jihadists. Mr. Mubarak was saved by his bulletproof car, his driver’s skill and…
BY CHRISTIANE GRUBER, Newsweek The Charlie Hebdo killers were operating under a misapprehension. TOPKAPI PALACE LIBRARY In the wake of the massacre that took place in the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, I have been called upon as a scholar specializing in Islamic paintings of the Prophet to explain whether images of Muhammad are banned in…
By ARMIN ROSEN Last week, the US announced additional sanctions on North Korean government officials and state-owned entities in response to the cyber-attack on Sony, which both the FBI and President Barack Obama have attributed to Pyongyang. The Kim regime should be well-versed with US and international sanctions by now. UN Security Council resolution 1874,…
By: Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN Silicon Africa When tourists visit sub-Saharan Africa, they often wonder “Why there are no historical buildings or monuments?” The reason is simple. Europeans have destroyed most of them. We have only left drawings and descriptions by travelers who have visited the places before the destructions. In some places, ruins are still visible.…
By Andrea Berger , 38 North Introduction Since the 1970s, Ethiopia has been in the company of North Korea’s most loyal military customers. Amongst other things, Pyongyang has been a source of munitions, armored personnel carriers, tanks and tank parts, artillery and rocket fuel. In addition to these forms of assistance, North Korea has helped Ethiopia…
The Swastika and the Suavastika Crosses Alternative names: Bent Cross Buddhist Cross Crooked Cross Cross Gurgity Crux Gammata Fylfot Gamma Cross Gammadion Cross German Cross Hakaristi Hakenkreuz Hakenkruis Hooked Cross Khas Manji Nazi Cross Pērkonkrusts Rotating Cross Spinning Cross Suavastika Swastika Tetraskelion Wheel of the Dharma. Swastika Swastika The Suavastika Suavastika This is a religious…