In 1703, the English novelist Daniel Defoe anonymously published the pamphlet “The Shortest Way with Dissenters.” It almost ruined his career. In the text, Defoe pretends to be a right-wing religious fanatic who proposes that people opposing the Church of England ― puritans and other dissidents ― should be killed. The pamphlet produced a great furor ― the puritans were horrified that it might stir up an already considerable amount of hostility among adherents of the Church of England, whereas th

BERKELEY ― Four times in the past century, a large chunk of the industrial world has fallen into deep and long depressions characterized by persistent high unemployment: the United States in the 1930s, industrialized Western Europe in the 1930s, Western Europe again in the 1980s, and Japan in the 1990s. Two of these downturns ― Western Europe in the 1980s and Japan in the 1990s ― cast a long and dark shadow on future economic performance. In both cases, if either Europe or Japan returned ― or, i

STOCKHOLM ― Rabbi Shneur Kesselman estimates that he has been the victim of 100 or so anti-Semitic confrontations since he arrived in the southern Swedish city of Malm in 2004. The latest was just a few days ago, when some young immigrants in a car spotted him on his way home after the evening service at the synagogue. The driver accelerated up onto the sidewalk as if trying to run him over.Kesselman leads the Jewish congregation in Malmo, a town where many Jews are now afraid to wear a yarmulke