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The Death of Haiti’s President Summons Ghosts Old and New
Former Haiti president Moïse is gone, but the system that he was part of and ostensibly was fighting against, made of blood and bone, both predated him and will outlast him.
The Rich History of China’s Islam
Han Kitab authors drew vocabulary and concepts from key writings in Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. This conscious blending of Islamic and Chinese literary traditions is one of the quintessential features of the genre.
A New Syria in the South of Turkey
Before 2011, Reyhanli had about 90,000 inhabitants. Ten years later, the figure is almost 250,000. The new residents from the south are so numerous that a new neighborhood was built in the city. It’s called Yeni Sehir, which translates to the New City, and it is larger than the old one.
From Belfast to Beirut, A Tale of Elusive Peace
Power-sharing arrangements have attempted to bridge the divisions in the two societies. The Good Friday Agreement and the Lebanese Constitution both aim to provide a form of democracy that protects the minority community from the majority — or, in the case of Lebanon, any of the 18 religious groups from each other.
Eid in Idlib
Photojournalist Fared al Mahlool took these photos of Idlib over the eve and morning of Eid. They show that the battered province is a safe haven mainly for men, women, and children, who take the same joy in new clothes, good food, carnival-rides, and candy as we all do. Their smiles are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
The Key to Understanding Iran Is Poetry
Even a casual observer could notice the importance of poetry in Iranian society, if only because a disproportionate number of tourist sites in Iran are the graves of medieval poets. When classical poetry has become a distant memory in so many cultures, it is clear that it is an integral part of the Iranian consciousness.
‘Jesus Was Turkish’: the Bizarre Resurgence of Pseudo-Turkology
On the margins of capitalism or in the furnace of communism, Turkic peoples have borne the brunt of modernity’s failures and experienced few of its successes. Ancient history, invented or otherwise, offers a refuge.