Columns
Regular Columns
Putin’s Brezhnev Doctrine
Wed 20 Aug 2008 • Responses: 1 • by David Aikman
Forty years ago this August, all of Europe and the U.S. watched with horror as the Soviet army, in conjunction with units from four of its Warsaw Pact allies, rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring.” The “Spring” had been a dramatic movement for reform and liberalization of Czechoslovakia’s Communist system that had been introduced by Czech Communist leader Alexander Dubcek and some others.
The 200,000 invading troops met only token resistance, because Dubcek had ordered Czech citizens not to oppose the invasion. But in a singular act of brutal humiliation, Dubcek and his associates were transported to Moscow in chains in the belly of a Soviet cargo plane, then made to face the bullying shouts of the assembled Soviet Politburo. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s rationale for the invasion became known as the “Brezhnev doctrine,” a principle that Communist Party control of the countries of Eastern Europe should never have to submit to reforms that might bring capitalism and democracy to them.
Evangelicals, AIDS, and the Presidential Race
Wed 06 Aug 2008 by Joseph Loconte
Megachurch pastor Rick Warren will deliver questions about faith, values, and human rights at a forum this month with presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain. Given the vapid media treatment of the presidential campaign so far, Mr. Warren’s event could raise the political profile of issues such as Sudan and global AIDS, issues that he and his evangelical congregation care about deeply. Yet it runs the risk of inviting political pandering and blurring the real ideological divisions between the candidates.
Remembering the Soviet Union
Fri 25 Jul 2008 by David Aikman
A museum in Tallin, Estonia, offers an eye-opening glimpse into a terrifying past.
Tallin, Estonia.
The first odd thing you notice in the museum is the collection of ancient suitcases neatly lined up near the main entrance. What are they doing there? Then it hits you. This is not a museum of the history of the travel business, but a history of occupation; Soviet occupation. The suitcases were brought to the museum by hundreds of Estonians who were fortunate enough to have survived deportation to Siberia in the 1940s and who wanted to testify to what happened in their lives when Estonia belonged to the Soviet Union. Tourists on cruise-ships that stop at Baltic ports all the way to St. Petersburg can visit the museum on excursions often called, “Life in Soviet Estonia.” Participation in such a tour is an eerie and eye-opening glimpse into a terrifying past.
Israel-Lebanon: A Clash of Cultures
Fri 18 Jul 2008 by David Aikman
The biggest loser in the “transaction” between Israel and Hezbollah is Lebanon.
In the Middle East last week, no two scenes could have highlighted more vividly the clash of cultures in the Arab-Israeli dispute than the contrasting events in Lebanon and in Israel. In Beirut, there were shouts of acclamation, brass bands, and kisses on the cheek for the returning heroes—along with crowing signs in Arabic that read “humiliation” across a photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. In Israel, the return of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, was followed by the mournful sounds of funerals conducted with quiet dignity in Nahariya and Haifa for the two men. The exchange of two dead soldiers for five living prisoners and 199 dead Lebanese and Palestinian fighters was the fruit of some eighteen months of painful negotiation between Israel and Hezbollah that followed the 33-day “July War” in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
China’s Olympics: The Earthquake Dividend
Mon 30 Jun 2008 by David Aikman
The long run-up to the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August has been more volatile than for any Olympics since the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. First were the serious questions about the degree of pollution in China’s capital city and pollution’s potential effect on athletes and their performance. Then came the controversy surrounding the much-publicized journey to Beijing of the Olympic Torch. Protesters in several countries tried to snatch or douse the torch because of sympathy for Tibetans who rioted against the Chinese in March this year. Counter-protests brought hundreds of Chinese into the streets of Western cities and inspired often vicious Chinese Internet blog posts against the West in general.
The Renaissance and Religious Toleration
Thu 26 Jun 2008 by Joe Loconte
Erasmus of Rotterdam’s recognition that “Compulsion is incompatible with sincerity, and nothing is pleasing to Christ unless it is voluntary” is one of the foundations of Christian humanism.
Historians debate the most significant achievements of the Renaissance, the cultural revival that began in Italy and swept through Europe from roughly the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. There were scientific advances, a return to the study of the classics, and political theorizing a la Machiavelli. A visit to Florence provides an almost overwhelming sense of the artistic accomplishments of the era. Yet a crucial aspect of Renaissance history is often overlooked: its contribution to religious liberty, an ideal whose origins have implications for our own age of religious violence.
Zimbabwe, the Scandal of Africa
Tue 24 Jun 2008 by David Aikman
It certainly looks as if the Almighty’s help will be needed in removing Mugabe from power.
The average American—or average Irishman or Frenchman, for that matter—could be forgiven for not knowing the answer to the following question: which country in the world has inflation of more than 15,000 percent, unemployment of 80 percent, and the lowest life-expectancy rate in the world (age 37 for men)? The answer—Zimbabwe—is not only the scandal of Africa today, but also the current scandal of world politics.
The immediate crisis in Zimbabwe is that the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, seems quite determined not to permit opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to assume political power in the country. In an initial election March 29, Tsvangirai, leader of the political party Movement for Democratic Change, won 47.9 percent of the vote, to Mugabe’s 43.2 percent. The election results, however, were not released until May 2, however, leading the opposition to charge that Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African People’s Union—Patriotic Front), had suppressed the results.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Supernatural
Thu 19 Jun 2008 by David Aikman
Despite Lucas’s New Age leanings, he firmly sides with traditionalists in the view that ancient religious artifacts of traditional religions contain real powers that should not be tampered with by human beings.
Warning: This commentary contains spoilers for the latest film.
After nineteen years of absence from movie screens around the world, the re-appearance of Indiana Jones in a new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was accompanied by security precautions worthy of a new Pentagon weapons project. Movie extras were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the content of the movie, and one actor was allowed just a few hours to read the script in London prior to contract-signing before a courier flew it back to Los Angeles to re-deposit it in a safe. In Los Angeles, in a police sting operation, a man was arrested for trying to sell production photographs that he had allegedly stolen from the offices of producer George Lucas.
Two Kinds of Tolerance
Tue 10 Jun 2008 by Joe Loconte
Modern democracies like the Netherlands have turned the principle of religious pluralism into a pretext for moral agnosticism.
A visitor to Amsterdam, whatever his itinerary, will be greeted by a somewhat macabre mix of European Christianity and postmodern paganism. In the historic city center it is not majestic cathedrals that catch the eye. Rather, it is the ubiquitous storefront sex shops. They come in several varieties, offering merchandise, voyeurism, and intimate encounters. There are church buildings as well, to be sure, but they seem out of place. Despite the streams of tourists, they struggle to compete for attention. Some houses of worship have been converted into bars or other secular establishments. The “Old Church Coffee Shop,” for example, sits adjacent the “Sexyland Erotic Supermarket.” It is a city that seems thoroughly obsessed with sex.
Australia’s ‘National Sorry Day’
Fri 30 May 2008 by David Aikman
It’s always risky for nations to apologize, but Kevin Rudd’s act of contrition for Australia was based in Christian conviction.
On May 26, while Americans were barbecuing hot dogs and collectively grumbling over their beers and Cokes about the outrageous price of gasoline, Australians, fourteen hours ahead of America’s East Coast, were reflecting on their tenth annual commemoration of National Sorry Day.
To most Americans, that phrase might sound like a cynical skit from TV’s Saturday Night Live. But for Australians it is deadly serious. For ten years Australians have been annually reflecting upon the suffering that the country’s white settlers imposed on the indigenous Australians, also called Aborigines.
