Turkey and India Lurch Towards Illiberal Democracies

Nov 17

Published on Huffington Post, November 13, 2015. Turkey and India are both democracies and significant American allies. Both India and Turkey are secular countries ruled by strong-willed leaders rooted in religion-based politics, Islam for Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hinduism for India’s Narendra Modi. Both leaders have shown an uncanny ability to...

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Maher-Affleck Debate

Oct 16

Maher-Affleck Debate

Prof. David Schwam-Baird and I appeared recently on WJCT’s First Coast Connect to discuss Maher-Affleck spat. To listen to the interview, CLICK HERE. Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times provided an an excellent response to Bill Maher in his column The Diversity of Islam. “Let’s not feed Islamophobic bigotry by highlighting only the horrors while...

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Islamists Have Failed to Deliver

Dec 29

The military coup against the duly elected government of Egypt was without doubt a blow to democracy. However, the latest poll from Zogby Research shows an almost evenly divided Egyptian public. Fifty-one percent of Egyptians believe it was wrong to depose Mohammed Morsi, their legitimately elected president. While 46 percent believe that the military intervention...

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Egypt: Clueless and Rudderless

Aug 06

This article first appeared in Today’s Zaman. In 2011, along with millions of people around the world, I was mesmerized by the peaceful popular uprisings in Tahrir Square that eventually led to the end of three decades of dictatorial rule in Egypt. As the youth cheered, I felt solidarity in declaring “we are all Egyptians now.” I cannot say the...

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