Western biases are not only transparently self-serving and flat-out wrong, they can also be so annoying.  As an example, a few weeks back, the Washington Post featured a long lament by a British intellectual pointedly suggesting that because Europe was in decline, the world

US President Barack Obama’s upcoming meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah comes at a time when transformative developments are convulsing the regional and world order, and relations between the US and the Kingdom have become strained. It is a situation that the

While reviewing polling data on Israeli and Palestinian attitudes towards the current US-led peace effort, what comes through quite clearly is not just the obvious disconnect between the views of the two groups, but the extent to which this disconnect is driven by the Israeli-cen

This past week, Washington hosted two of my least favourite annual events.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never tires of inventing new hoops through which he insists Palestinians must jump. As he acknowledged a few weeks ago, it is all part of a cynical game that he plays in an effort to kill the chances for peace. First, he insisted on the

The Ukrainian struggle for independence speaks to me on so many levels. Because I know the history of the Ukraine, I understand its people’s resentment and fear of its often domineering Russian neighbour.

This past week I travelled to New York City to speak at an event honouring the 30th anniversary of the 1984 “Jesse Jackson for president” campaign.

This is Black History Month in the United States — a time to reflect on the contributions African Americans have made to our nation’s history and to take note of the progress that has been made in advancing racial equality and the challenges that remain. A special

Two decades after Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed an interim peace agreement in Washington, DC, the task of achieving a final resolution to the conflict has become significantly more difficult. Not only have the physical impediments to peace grown — for example, the