From Transit, it is a mistake to think that religious and political radicalism among European Muslims is a mere import from the cultures and conflicts of the Middle East. It is above all a consequence of the globalization and Westernization of Islam, writes Olivier Roy. A military coup was avoided, but an early election looms. Turkey's problems are postponed, not solved. If Turks have to choose, democracy is more important than secularism.
From Open Democracy, the notion of jihad is one of the most contested in the modern Islamic and political lexicon. In a four-part essay, Patricia Crone makes it comprehensible. Mali and Mauritania are swathes of desert but oases of progress: Two dirt-poor Saharan states are doing better. and more on Mauritania, an unheralded experiment in Arab democracy. Malaysia Backpedals on Modernity: Growing assertiveness of Islamic court intrudes on the rights of non-Muslims threatening social harmony in the prosperous nation. Monks on the march in Thailand: A most un-Buddhist demand for worldly recognition.
From Japan Focus, an article on the unprecedented shift in Japan’s population: Numbers, age, and prospects. One Nation Under Cute: In Japan, the cuteness craze is more than just a national pastime, but why are millions of Japanese youths hiding from friends and family? A review of Breaking Open Japan: Commodore Perry, Lord Abe, and American Imperialism in 1853.
Authorities in China are desperate to make a positive impression on visitors, so cabbies with garlic breath are targeted in Beijing’s Olympic cleanup. China today holds a colossal $1 trillion in foreign currency. Now, China is taking part of this money from under the mattress—making enemies and friends around the world in the process. What’s on China’s shopping list? The Empire of Lies: The twenty-first century will not belong to China. From Time, a series of articles on The Best of Asia.
From Economic and Political Weekly, a series of articles on women in India; and is India too poor to be green? pdf. A caste of millions: India's 160m Dalits, or untouchables, have turned to the internet to combat their mistreatment at home. An excerpt from William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857. Form India's Frontline, a review of Amartya Sen's Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny; and a review of Paul Gilroy's After Empire.
Form Transitions, a look back on Boris Yeltsin by a writer who knew him in his political salad days. Time to back the Other Russia: Andre Glucksmann asks Europe to think less opportunistically and act more decisively towards Russia. The rites of mourning and burial on display during Boris Yeltsin’s funeral relied heavily on symbols — some more czarist than Soviet. In the trenches of the New Cold War: The US, Russia and the new great game in Eurasia. From Economic Principals, the Un-Marshall Plan: The death of Boris Yeltsin called to mind an important truth: Policy never gets made in a vacuum. And from The Moscow Times, on coming to power in 1991, Boris Yeltsin broke with Soviet tradition and ushered in a new attitude toward culture
