The civil war in Syria began in March 2011 and has long been misunderstood by its citizens as a fight for freedom, liberty and rights. A similar occurrence happened in England between 1642 and 1651. At that time, the situation...
I have recently read Traitor King, a book by Andrew Lownie. It covers the activities of King Edward VIII after his abdication in 1936. Ostensibly, Edward abdicated because he insisted on marrying Wallis Simpson, a divorced American woman. However, it is less well known that there were worries in government circles about his political views and his temperament. As Prince of Wales, and briefly as King, Edward had led a...
There have been more than six months of nationwide protests in Iran. Nationwide unity has emerged among seemingly disparate groups: the young and the old, women and men, and even very different ethnic groups. Terrified by this unprecedented wave of activity, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), known in Iran as the Sepah, invaded the streets of many cities, towns, and even some villages in an attempt to clamp down...
Sufiana music arrived in the Kashmir valley with Islam. Originally, musicians from Iran and Central Asia were patronized by Sultan Zain ul Abdin, a liberal and tolerant ruler of Kashmir. These musicians brought new musical instruments to Kashmir, then modified existing ones to make them compatible with the new Sufiana Music in the Kashmir valley. At its core, Sufiana music is a Central Asian musical tradition influenced by Indian classical...
Indulge me for a moment. This is how “The Prophecy” in my 1962 high school yearbook began. It was written by some of my classmates in the year we graduated from Friends Seminary in New York City. “Being an historian, I am jotting down these notes out of habit, but what I saw and experienced two days ago I am sure no one else as civilized as I am will...
The world is grappling once again with the problem of what happens when faltering big banks become too big to fail. This encourages the habit in all corporate sectors of striving to make sure your enterprise is too big not to be bailed out in bad times, or at least protected by indulgent authorities. Wondering what Chad might have to say about the logic of monopolistic thinking, I opened today’s...
It so happens that some in the media have been remembering and reflecting about the 20th anniversary of US President George W Bush’s invasion of Iraq under false pretences. After watching the historical case Medhi Hasan made on MSNBC establishing Bush’s guilt and assessing the damage done to the Middle East and the world, I wanted to get Chad’s take on one of the most significant events in recent history....
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