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Geopolitical

Muslim Prayer Call Not a Part of Swedish Culture

If permitted, Sweden would be well on its way to joining the House of Islam In an editorial in Aftonbladet, Anders Lindberg claims that Muslims are not allowed to call to worship in the same way as Christians are. It’s actually a lie. Muslims and Christians do not call to worship in the same way […]

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Geopolitical

Iran Becomes A Nuclear Threshold State

The Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, bans member states from enriching uranium to a level above the 3.5%-5% level required for producing energy and above the 19.7% level required for medical research; even this enrichment is permitted only with the approval and oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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Geopolitical

Salafism and Arab Democratization

The outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011 brought significant attention to groups — known as Islamists — seeking to establish Islamic states in countries once ruled by secular autocrats. The bulk of this attention went to already established political groups such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which caused consternation in the West when its Freedom […]

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Geopolitical

Understanding the China-Japan Island Conflict

Sept. 29 will mark 40 years of normalized diplomatic relations between China and Japan, two countries that spent much of the 20th century in mutual enmity if not at outright war. The anniversary comes at a low point in Sino-Japanese relations amid a dispute over an island chain in the East China Sea known as the […]

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Geopolitical

From Gadhafi to Benghazi

Last week, four American diplomats were killed when armed men attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attackers’ apparent motivation was that someone, apparently American but with an uncertain identity, posted a video on YouTube several months ago that deliberately defamed the Prophet Mohammed. The attack in Benghazi was portrayed as retribution for the defamation, with the […]

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Geopolitical

Middle East Spirals Out of Control

The bankrupt instincts of an Obama administration determined to find moral equivalence between America’s enemies and friends have been thoroughly illuminated. Within a 48-hour period — beginning on the commemoration of the worst domestic attack in our nation’s history — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was snubbed, and President Obama, besotted by the notion that […]

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Geopolitical

Islam’s Black Flag Flies Over U.S. Embassy in Egypt

The United States embassy of Egypt is under siege. According to Fox News: “Mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt’s capital Tuesday and brought down the flag, replacing it with a black flag with an Islamic inscription to protest a video attacking Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.  Hundreds of protesters marched […]

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Geopolitical

War and Bluff: Iran, Israel and the United States

For the past several months, the Israelis have been threatening to attack Iranian nuclear sites as the United States has pursued a complex policy of avoiding complete opposition to such strikes while making clear it doesn’t feel such strikes are necessary. At the same time, the United States has carried out maneuvers meant to demonstrate […]

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Geopolitical

Muslims in Germany Increasingly Segregated

As their numbers grow, Muslims are becoming more religious and only 15 percent of German Turks feel at home in Germany  BERLIN. Since the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, there has been a massively growing interest in Muslims living in the West. The German book market in particular is overflowing with more or less […]

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Geopolitical

US Security Interests in Egypt

How much recent events have eroded U.S. security interests in Egypt depends on how deeply rooted those interests were in the first place. Although the Mubarak government did some things we wanted it to do, it did other things that were anathema. Mubarak, with U.S. complicity and Israeli acquiescence, fed the growth of a military […]

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Geopolitical

Syrian Opposition Targets Iranians In Syria, Threatens To Harm Iranian Regime

Having long accused Iran of extending assistance, including military assistance, to the Assad regime, the Syrian rebels have begun to act against Iranians in Syria and to regard them and the Iranian regime as legitimate targets. The largest incident occurred on August 4, 2012, when militants from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the largest organ […]

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Geopolitical

Poland’s Strategy

Polish national strategy pivots around a single, existential issue: how to preserve its national identity and independence. Located on the oft-invaded North European Plain, Poland’s existence is heavily susceptible to the moves of major Eurasian powers. Therefore, Polish history has been erratic, with Poland moving from independence — even regional dominance — to simply disappearing […]