American or Kingdom Citizen
The German magazine Der Spiegel reports evidence that the National Security Agency has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone since 2002. God help us all. Angela Merkel has long proven herself to be among the world’s finest national leaders. And she’s one of my heroes. The revelation that my country has been tapping her cell phone–along with earlier revelations in France, and now Spain, and who knows how many more national leaders and citizens whose victimization haven’t yet been revealed–is a shock, and I am left ashamed of my own country’s betrayal of our closest allies. It…
Nature: A Window onto God’s Glory
After an earthquake in Pakistan, people on the coast near Gwadar watched in disbelief as an island rose out of the sea. Seismic activity seems to have pushed this shallow area in the Arabian Sea above water. The new island was made of mud, coarse sand, and rock. Whether it will remain is unknown, since similar phenomena have happened before, sometimes slipping back beneath the waves. Geologists say it is part of the continuing process of continental drift. Those who went out to explore the island found dead fish and fissures of escaping gas. They put a match to the…
When Shopping Mall Turns War Zone
We’ve seen it in the USA, but not to the horrific extent of the upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Al-Shabab militants, the Islamists trying to control Somalia, attacked innocent people at this commercial symbol of Kenya’s prosperity. They let Muslims go free and killed innocent men, women, and children. Sorry to talk about this kind of stuff so often these days. It just keeps coming, and I grieve every time. My mother lived in neighboring Tanzania for eight years (I was just a little kid at the time), and she said the Muslims and Christians all got along then….
The Prevailing Plan in the Middle East
As the USA and other countries debate bombing Syria, or getting them to give up their chemical weapons (do they really think so?), they may think they will change the course of things. Not likely. I’ll go so far as to suggest that whether the USA strikes Syria or not, it won’t change much in the big picture. Two reasons: First, the big picture is too big and too complicated and too intractable for any outsider to change without massive commitment and carnage. Americans have come to realize that from Afghanistan and Iraq. Second, neither our nation nor any other…
Complain and Cause a Riot
A Hindu girl in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, goes home and tells her family a Muslim boy verbally harassed her. So the girl’s brother and cousin go and shoot the boy to death. Then the boy’s family and others go and beat the brother and cousin to death. Then the anger spreads and the number of dead has reached 31 and counting. 13,000 security officers have been deployed, and more than 100 have been arrested for inciting violence. Schools and shops are closed. Homes evacuated. Streets shuttered and empty. All because of deep-seated hatred, because people won’t forgive. They’re human…
