Jan

9

A Disappointing Method: Cronenberg's psychoanalysis film is a missed opportunity

January 9, 2012 - 3:34pm

David Cronenberg's latest film, A Dangerous Method, is a huge missed opportunity. He's probably the ideal director to make a film about the relationship between Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung, and the crisis in the early psychoanalytic movement caused by their split. In such a movie, enormously important and widely misunderstood concepts should have found a perfect vehicle to be dramatized and interrogated. Unfortunately A Dangerous Method fails to deliver on most fronts. But, what might have been...

 

»

Jan

4

Islamists are not taking over the Arab world

January 4, 2012 - 6:55pm

The always interesting Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic has taken issue with my last column in which I argued that it is far too early to make any sweeping conclusions about the outcome of the Arab uprisings, and points to a

»

Dec

21

Ibishblog interview: Mona Kareem, Part 2 - Kuwaiti politics, foreign policy, sectarianism, and tweeting

December 21, 2011 - 3:32pm

Below is the second part of the Ibishblog interview with Mona Kareem, the online activist, blogger, tweep and journalist who is a leading advocate for the stateless community of Kuwait. Part one of the interview focused mainly on the issue of the stateless.
»

Dec

19

Ibishblog interview: Mona Kareem, Part 1 - The stateless issue and the bidoun of Kuwait

December 19, 2011 - 3:59pm

Social media is still mainly dominated by two vehicles: Facebook and Twitter. And they couldn't be more different. Facebook is heavy, cumbersome to use, intrusive, and an extremely poor way of exchanging information. It feels burdensome and almost as if it were designed to allow people to check up on each other in an often unhealthy manner. That said, it's probably indispensable for people involved in trying to disseminate their views; more's the pity. Twitter, on the other hand, is light, flexible, easy to use, easy to follow.
»

Dec

14

No, Newt and JPost, there is no Santa Claus: how national identities are really formed

December 14, 2011 - 9:40pm

What's most interesting about the brouhaha regarding Newt Gingrich's outrageous comments about Palestinians being “an invented people” -- which he then augmented by describing them in general as “terrorists" -- isn't the rebuttals or defen
»

Nov

4

Cirque du Shakespeare: the Folger's new Othello and the problem of performing Iago

November 4, 2011 - 4:33pm

The new production of Othello at the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC is in many ways good fun, but it's deeply flawed and some of those problems illustrate much deeper issues inherent in the play itself.
»

Oct

1

Gilad Atzmon and John Mearsheimer: self-criticism, self-hate and hate

October 1, 2011 - 2:51pm

I've long been an advocate that self-criticism, both as an individual and as a group, is an essential element of healthy political engagement. Group-think, political orthodoxy and correctness, and chauvinistic received wisdom are the worst kinds of political poison. Triumphalism and/or paranoia are the inevitable consequences, and they lead to grotesque distortions of perception and judgment. Self-criticism, especially of a group one identifies with and participates in, is not only healthy, it is indispensable.
»

Sep

7

Why I will no longer appear on Iran's Press TV

September 7, 2011 - 8:26pm

Several times in recent months various people asked me why I agree to be interviewed from time to time on the Iranian English-language station Press TV. They suggested it was improper to cooperate in any way with an official organ of a repressive regime of which I have openly and vehemently disapproved for many years. My response was always that it is my general policy to speak to any news outlet whatsoever as long as the interview is live, unedited and I am completely free to speak my mind. Until now, that has largely been the case with Press TV. No longer.

»

Aug

17

Mr. Mileikowsky and the "seal of Netanyahu": the perilous encounter between modern nationalism and ancient history

August 17, 2011 - 5:21pm

I may be trying people's patience a little with my recent riff on nationalism in general, and particularly the Israeli and Palestinian versions, but further exchanges with some of my interlocutors, particularly Jewish ones, prompt me to make one final point.
»

Aug

6

Encountering evil: my “conversation” with Robert Spencer

August 6, 2011 - 6:32am

After the dreadful massacre in Norway by crazed right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, you'd think those whose messages of hate, chauvinism and paranoia had plainly inspired the rampage, and the ideology torturously expressed in his 1,500 word manifesto, would feel some impulse to either critical self-reflection about what their ravings had produced, or at least have the decency to keep a low profile for a few weeks.
»