One of the comforting myths of our times is that we have seen a massive expansion of freedom of expression. Perhaps a price has been paid in the explosion of inequalities between and within nations and in religious wars harking back to the 17th century.

NEW YORK – The eccentric Bengali intellectual Nirad C. Chaudhuri once explain

The Palestinians are not only, it seems, an "invented people" – courtesy of Newt Gingrich – but the only Arabs on the Mediterranean not to enjoy a Spring or an Awakening or even a Winter. And Benjamin Netanyahu has been boasting that he was right about E

Mourners cry during the funeral procession for late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011. Sometimes it certainly seems so. Images of Nor

Why did tens of thousands of North Koreans apparently sob uncontrollably at the death of brutal dictator Kim Jong-il? Ian Buruma has a theory: We often suppress real pain, such as that caused by the loss of a family member. Numbness, rather than hyster

An essay tribute by Michael Shermer, written upon hearing of Hitchens’ cancer diagnosis in 2010. This post first appeared at Skepticblog.org (July 20, 2010) and is syndicated here today, on the occasion of Hitchens’ death. The conjunction of reading Chr

The outpouring of grief, goodwill, and teary encomia that have attended news of Christopher Hitchens' passing would—if he was anything like the persona he presented in print—have turned his stomach. He loathed sentiment, welcomed combat, and delighted in

In his public appearances, Murakami himself similarly likes to offset his otherworldly material with jokes and displays of commonsensicality. Japanese writers are expected to act as sages and to go on television; Murakami prefers to commune with his read

By Chana R. Schoenberger Bloomberg The euro zone’s crisis needs not only a fiscal solution, but also a political one, argues Ian Buruma , a professor at Bard College. The problem is that Europe lacks the internal political cohesion found in a democracy l