Column

The Iraq War casts a shadow over future U.S. intervention in the Middle East After 9/11, the U.S. was more unpopular in the Middle East than in any other part of the world. While this is largely no longer true today, it doesn’t necessarily imply that U.S.-Middle Eastern relations have developed smoothly, as with Iran […]

Private data harvesting unlikely to stop after Cambridge Analytica scandal In the wake of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony, many people have come to the conclusion that political campaigns will never be quite the same. The scandal of Cambridge Analytica and the ensuing revelations about privacy breaches among unsuspecting social media users has raised […]

A case study in society’s worsening ability to make distinctions Some might insist that I shouldn’t discuss toxic masculinity because I’m a cisgender white male. However, a recent article in The New Yorker titled “Why ‘Phantom Thread’ is Propaganda for Toxic Masculinity,” was also written by a cisgender white male, and as a proud movie […]

Leaving the deal could result in yet another war in the Middle East Iran-U.S. relations have been characterized by overt hostility for decades, with both countries affirming rather antagonistic positions with one another. In Iran’s eyes, the U.S. is a powerful and aggressive force in the Middle East. In 1955, the U.S. assisted the U.K. […]

Boycotting is a perfectly valid form of speech, but the left must consider its implications Recently, on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the political-comedy program’s outspoken host angered his fellow liberal panelists by defending Laura Ingraham. Ingraham is in the midst of an advertiser boycott following her controversial mocking of Parkland shooting survivor (excuse me, […]

…but must expect far more from its audience to be an effective one After seeing “The Social Network” in 2010, its phenomenal acting, writing and directing convinced me that it indeed deserved to be a major awards contender. It wasn’t the overly hyped portrait of college life, Silicon Valley and a stupid website that I […]

The oldest unsettled refugee population didn’t come to be solely at the hands of Israel If you think Israel is the only nation guilty of violating the human rights of Palestinians, then you are sorely mistaken. For all the condemning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Arab states, these countries are far from blameless when it […]

Social media isn’t simply about connecting with others Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg testified in the United States Senate from April 11 to 12 on his company’s actions during the Cambridge Analytica data breach that took place more than a year ago. Most controversially, both Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, his chief financial officer, were aware that […]

Riding the Trans-Siberian Railway On a dark Sunday night, with hints of moisture floating down on indifferent passersby, I stood in front of a trio of train stations in Moscow, mentally preparing to ride the Trans-Siberian railway. The streets were gloomy — it’s a noticeable attribute that doesn’t steal from the city’s splendor and prestigious […]

Headlines about “record-breaking” temperatures dissuade readers from addressing the issue properly Once, my father and I took a walk around the edge of Lake Tahoe. It was early April — the start of spring — but the weather was fair for that time of the year. Even the surrounding peaks were stark, devoid of the […]

Long-standing religious divisions could keep Syria and Iraq from democratizing As easy as it may be to reduce the conflicts in the Middle East to “red team versus blue team,” it’s not that simple. The Middle East is a region tangled within its own cold war: the Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy conflict. There are many players […]

What do Cambridge Analytica’s actions imply for today’s Facebook users? Facebook users have become increasingly startled this month as revelations regarding Cambridge Analytica’s involvement in social media privacy breaches have been made public. Cambridge Analytica is a firm that develops voter profiles based on data harvested from social media. In tandem with an app company, […]