While Hollywood honored the best films of 2021 during its annual Oscar ceremony, a small group of cinema buffs huddled around laptops to watch a movie that cannot be seen in theaters or streamed on major cable outlets in the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and several other democracies. We were not in Russia or China, secretly accessing samizdat—literature and art banned by the state. We were all in the U.S., watching a film by one of the world's finest filmmakers.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

As a ceasefire took hold after 11 days of rocket and bombing attacks, Israel and Hamas both lost little time in claiming victory. It is difficult to point to winners and losers amid such death, suffering and — particularly in Gaza — utter destruction, but some politicians and players clearly seem to have benefited.

While the longer-term implications may play out differently, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and militant Islamist Hamas clearly seem to have emerged stronger from the conflict than before.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

When Middle Eastern summer heat coincided earlier this week with Muslim holy days and a long-simmering property dispute in Jerusalem, the result was predictably explosive.

So far, dozens of Palestinians and six Israelis have died in the exchange of the rockets fired at Israeli civilians by Hamas from Gaza and Israel's retaliatory air strikes on Gazan military targets. But there are unprecedented aspects to the latest round of violence, the worst in seven years, that deeply trouble Israelis.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

Could Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei be near death? American and Israeli Intelligence analysts have been debating the state of the Iranian political and spiritual leader's health since Khamenei posted a tweet Wednesday asking supporters to pray for him.

The tweet – "I ask all of you dear ones to pray for me" – appeared on @khamenei_ir, a Twitter site in English closely followed by Iran watchers and viewed as more or less official.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

New York City's problems make for depressing front-page news. More than 11 percent of its jobs have vanished. Small shops are shuttered. Residents are fleeing. The city's tax base has shrunk, just as its needs and crime rates soar. The celebrated melting pot is no longer melting. Over 30 percent of city residents receive public assistance. The mayor tries hiding New York's dire fiscal straits, including its dwindling economic base and rising taxes, through accounting shenanigans, as the city's deficit and long-term debt spiral.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles