Clash of Civilizations

What the coronavirus has revealed is not so much a new reality but the fault lines of an already existing clash that was bound to occur.

Real intolerance against Muslims exists, no question. But the term “Islamophobia” is too often deployed to inhibit rather than encourage dialogue about honest questions, concerns, or grievances.

While the work of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom is vital, the ambassador is most effective when he or she influences the department and US policy as a whole. The combination of ambassador-at-large and religion is thus a difficult one at State, so having someone as politically experienced as Brownback in the role is vital.

In the city of Mosul, gasping through its fifth month of urban warfare, two histories of the world are crossing.

There should be no confusion about the identity and motives of the Tunisian man who drove his truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on a promenade in Nice, France, killing at least 84 and injuring hundreds. This is the face of the modern holy warrior, the fanatical foot soldier in the Islamic jihad against the West.