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The New Integration Crusade
The Obama administration has signaled its intention to begin discussions on comprehensive immigration reform over the coming year; crucial to that debate will be the sister issue of integration. While most Americans agree that properly integrating immigrant groups is an important objective, few know exactly what “integration” means or how to achieve it. The old…
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Carpooling with Canadians
It’s easy to forget about Canada these days. Despite the fact that many Americans can actually see it from their windows, most of us get little news about our neighbor. With so much chaos in the world—a global financial meltdown, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terror attacks in Mumbai, riots in Greece—the lack of focus…
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The World in His Hands
Now that we’re in the home stretch of an unexpectedly competitive presidential race, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds of poll numbers and day-to-day horserace analysis. Who’s ahead today? Was that an exploitable gaffe? Was that advertisement a lie? These are the questions dominating news rooms, chat rooms and many living rooms across…
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Why Russia Can't Be Ignored
The international conflict between Russia and Georgia over the status of Georgia’s breakaway territory of South Ossetia rightly brought about hand-wringing from a war-weary international community. The crisis has already caused a humanitarian catastrophe in which thousands have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced in and around South Ossetia. The idea of…
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Diplomacy Isn't Appeasement
It’s always sad to see those who have blundered egregiously defending their mistakes to the bitter end – hoping that forceful repetition of erroneous arguments will somehow make up for what they lack in wisdom. We have seen this tactic throughout the failed presidency of George W. Bush, especially regarding his disastrous choice to invade…
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An Unlikely Threat to Democracy
When Turkey’s chief prosecutor brought a lawsuit this spring asking the country’s Constitutional Court to close down its governing political party, he set in motion a dangerous chain of events that could undo years of political and economic progress in Turkey. The prosecutor, along with many of Turkey’s top judicial and military officials, consider themselves…
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Just to Recap: Ridiculous War, Monumental Mistake
Five years ago, the United States invaded Iraq and set in motion a chain of events that most Americans wish had never been unleashed. While President Bush and Vice President Cheney have been making the rounds to convince a skeptical public that the war has been critical for America’s national security interests, their words ring…
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Kosovo — What's at Stake?
The early returns are discouraging for a harmonious transition to independence for Kosovo. The week following Kosovo’s dramatic declaration of independence saw sporadic violence in both Serbia and Kosovo, and the international community dividing itself into supporters and opponents of the declaration. While it’s unclear how the situation will unfold in the weeks and months…
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The Ban on Head Scarves Had to Go
Turkey’s parliament voted overwhelmingly this month to end a ban on women wearing head scarves at universities. While this move was decried by Turkey’s secular elite, it was the proper thing to do. The ban was originally intended to limit the role of Islam in the public sphere, but it wound up inflaming the passions…
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Depends on What You Mean by 'Black'
For many months, the media has saturated American audiences with analysis of the impact of race on the 2008 presidential campaign. There has also been much discussion about how closely the world is tracking the election. However, there has been remarkably little discussion about whether some of our basic assumptions about race and ethnicity actually…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
