Religion

In the Hills of Alawistan

In Syria’s beautiful northwest, all is peaceful. But death is never far away.

BY ALIA MALEK | MAY 17, 2013

Yes, Iraq Is Unraveling

And it's about to become Obama's problem all over again.

BY MICHAEL KNIGHTS | MAY 15, 2013

Is This the Most Disgusting Atrocity Filmed in the Syrian Civil War?

What we know about the Syrian rebel commander captured on video ripping out and eating the heart of a pro-Assad fighter.

BY PETER BOUCKAERT | MAY 13, 2013

How Do You Say 'Quagmire' in Farsi?

Why Syria could turn out to be Iran's Vietnam -- not America's.

BY THANASSIS CAMBANIS | MAY 13, 2013

Pakistan’s Rollercoaster Election

Is this a generationally significant change of power, or more of the same dysfunction?

BY MICHAEL KUGELMAN | MAY 10, 2013

Oh, You Silly Man

How John Kerry got rolled by Vladimir Putin on a plan to save Syria.

BY MICHAEL WEISS | MAY 9, 2013

A Turbulent Valley in a Turbulent Decade

A Review of Restless Valley: Revolution, Murder, and Intrigue in the Heart of Central Asia by Philip Shishkin. 

BY JOSHUA FOUST | MAY 9, 2013

Morsy and the Muslims

Is Egypt’s government getting more Islamist?

BY SHADI HAMID | MAY 8, 2013

Four Arab Democrats and a Constitutional Scholar Walk Into a Bar

Some free advice for my MENA friends.

BY DANIEL LANSBERG-RODRIGUEZ | MAY 6, 2013

Weren't Buddhists Supposed to Be Pacifists?

Their religion may stress peace, but some Buddhists are showing that they’re entirely capable of violence in the name of faith.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | APRIL 23, 2013

The Monks Who Hate Muslims

Buddhist monks have been major instigators of the recent violence against Muslims in Burma.

BY FRANCIS WADE | APRIL 22, 2013

From Bishkek to Boston

A brief history of the Chechen diaspora, Islamic radicalism, and the possible link to the Boston bombing suspects.

BY EUGENE HUSKEY | APRIL 19, 2013

The Invisible War

Russians weren't paying much attention to their own war on terror. But that was before the attacks in Boston.

BY ANNA NEMTSOVA | APRIL 19, 2013

Our Friends in Manama

Why the United States should walk carefully and move slowly when it comes to reform in Bahrain.

BY RONALD E. NEUMANN | APRIL 19, 2013

The Jew in a Box

What does it say about Germany today that in order to see some Jews you’ve got to go to a museum?

BY BENJAMIN WEINTHAL | APRIL 4, 2013

Can Francis Bring the Church Back From the Dead?

The pope's foot baths were not just a masterstroke of public relations -- they were the opening salvo of a serious campaign to revive the Catholic Church.

BY ANDREW CHESNUT | MARCH 29, 2013

Fringe Following

What does Big Data tell us about white supremacists?

BY J.M. BERGER | MARCH 28, 2013

Walking the Talk

How Pope Francis can really help the poor -- and why he'll help the Catholic Church, too, in the process.

BY CHRIS BAIN | MARCH 27, 2013

Springtime for Salafists

Rampaging Islamist vigilantes are cracking down on free expression -- and ruining Tunisia's Arab Spring.

BY DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS | MARCH 26, 2013

The Jihadist from Phoenix

Eric Harroun claims to have joined up with an al Qaeda-linked group fighting in Syria’s brutal civil war. We tracked him down, but getting the truth was more difficult.

BY GREG TEPPER, ILAN BEN ZION | MARCH 22, 2013

How the Catholic Church Lost Argentina

Was it the dirty war, the social conservatism, or both?

BY EMILY SCHMALL | MARCH 22, 2013

Crowdsourcing Peace

By going over the heads of Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Obama is demanding that their people step up.

BY HUSSEIN IBISH | MARCH 21, 2013

In Power, But Not in Control

The Muslim Brotherhood may have the votes -- for now -- but Egypt is a ship without a rudder.

BY ERIC TRAGER | MARCH 21, 2013

A Government in Search of a Country

Can the newly appointed opposition prime minister form an interim government that Syrians can get behind?

BY JUSTIN VELA | MARCH 20, 2013

The Jihadi from the Block

In the war for the heart of northern Mali, the real fear isn’t al Qaeda, it’s the criminals and fundamentalists lurking just around the corner.

BY PETER TINTI | MARCH 19, 2013

The Secret Surge Debate

Behind closed doors, a newly revealed transcript shows, the Bush administration was much more deeply divided about the way forward in Iraq than it let on in public.

BY MICHAEL R. GORDON | MARCH 18, 2013

The Beatified Game

How the new pope has blessed the long suffering soccer fans of Argentina’s Club Atlético San Lorenzo.

BY HALEY COHEN | MARCH 15, 2013

Social Warfare

Budget hawks' plans to cut funding for political and social science aren't just short-sighted and simple-minded -- they'll actually hurt national security.

BY SCOTT ATRAN | MARCH 15, 2013

The Execution of the Saudi Seven

Saudi Arabia's farcical justice system condemned seven young men to death this week, and the world remained silent.

BY ALI ALAHMED | MARCH 15, 2013

How the Muslim Brotherhood Hijacked Syria's Revolution

The shadowy Islamist group that was all but destroyed in the 1980s is ruining the uprising against Bashar al-Assad.

BY HASSAN HASSAN | MARCH 13, 2013