I was once approached by a producer for making a movie.The prevailing notion was that we need to make something that sells well in India. The producers were willing to go to any lengths to ensure that outcome; from hiring Indian actors to outsourcing key production tasks. This got me thinking:Bollywood already makes their own blockbusters, so why would they patronise what would, at best, be our tribute to them? We already have such talented individuals in our own country; why outsource?Waar is t

GAZA CITY ― This summer’s 51-day war on Gaza left more than 2,100 Palestinians dead, over 11,000 injured, and vast areas of devastation that will take years to rebuild. After the third Israeli war on Gaza in less than six years, many Palestinians are questioning the purpose of continuing to fight ― and hoping for a solution that does not increase their suffering. Can Hamas, with its newly acquired position at the forefront of Palestinian politics, provide such a solution?Before the latest war er

By the time U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to the nation Wednesday night, the morning of Thursday, Sept. 11, had dawned in more than half of the world. Listening to this president say, “We cannot erase every trace of evil from the world, and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm,” reminded us of one enduring lesson from 2001: No American president ever will treat casually the anniversary of global terrorism’s greatest coup.Obama’s speech ― explaining why he will press a m

Quietly, even stealthily, Apple last week brought about that moment that many of its most loyal followers dreaded would happen: It killed off the iPod.Oh, the name lives on for now, attached to a suite of weird late-generation devices ― the Shuffle, the Nano, the Touch ― but when the Apple Store came back online after going dark for the company’s much-hyped new-product launch, the last vestige of its original hard-drive click-wheel iPod was no longer for sale.Few people even noticed the absence

NEW YORK ― The completion by Japan’s Imperial Household Agency of the 61-volume record of the life of Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) has generated much interest and attention in Japan. The entire formidable work was recently opened to limited public viewing, with a plan to publish it over the next five years. But it is already clear that the new record inadvertently reflects Japan’s continuing inability to address some fundamental questions about its past.Having taken a quarter-century to compile,

In the late 1960s, U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart said it was “time to close the book on infectious diseases” and “declare the war against pestilence won.”So much has happened in recent decades ― with the eradication of small pox, the development of vaccines against polio and other diseases, and the emergence of new antibiotics ― that the war against infectious diseases seemed won. The AIDS epidemic would prove how tragically wrong that declaration was, and now in West Africa an epidemi

The gravest immediate threat to the West’s long-term security does not emanate from Vladimir Putin or from the militants of the Islamic State. Rather, surprisingly, it comes from peace-loving Scots.With polls now showing a majority of Scots supporting independence in the referendum set for Sept. 18, it’s suddenly clear that Scotland might actually break away from Britain. In the words of Lord West of Spithead, former First Sea Lord, “A ‘yes’ vote for Scottish independence would make it more diff

As Russian forces continue to make their presence felt in Ukraine, I think of the Czech student Jan Palach, who burned himself to death in a Prague square 45 years ago, a few months after Russian troops ended the 1968 “Prague Spring.”The Czechs had no easy time in the 20th century. They entered it as part of the empire of Austria-Hungary and lost thousands during World War I. Woodrow Wilson and the victorious Allies cobbled together the new nation of Czechoslovakia, which managed two decades of

The rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East is, to be certain, shocking to Western sensibilities and seems so sudden that it requires an equally swift and shocking response. In Washington, Congress has clamored for and President Barack Obama seems to be promising just that.On the face of it, an American political and military response to the Islamic State would entail air strikes, the likely involvement of special operations units and ― depending upon who is doing the talking ― an effort to

What three gifts you were given at birth? I’m not asking about your accomplishments or achievements. I’m certainly not asking what you made of yourself, but I am asking you to decide from what you were made.What can you speed through faster than anybody else? What are your get-out-of-jail free cards?Most of us wouldn’t be able to claim the way old-time Disney princesses could, that our fairy godmothers awarded us grace, sweet natures and good looks.Off-screen, our gifts are ― shall we say? ― mor