The Plight of Christians in Laos

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/laos.christians.exiled.and.beaten.for.their.faith/103309.htm

This is a heartbreaking story but one that we need to hear and follow. There is perhaps another story here... a growing nationalist/Sacralist tendency within Theravada Buddhism. We've already seen it in Sri Lanka but it's definitely on the rise in places like Burma, Thailand and indeed Laos.

Americans Cashing In: Uganda's For Profit Schools

http://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2016/1216/As-Uganda-s-education-system-struggles-for-profit-schools-become-flashpoint

I've heard quite a few Christians advocate this model for the United States. They believe that if parents had some investment in their children's schooling they would be more pro-active in managing their conduct and making sure they take time to study etc.

Bulgaria: Parliamentary Coalitions and Potential Dangers

http://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/bulgarian-ultra-nationalists-set-to-enter-government/

This is the means by which some of the Far-Right and fringe parties are able to enter government. Under the parliamentary system (which I still think is better than the US model) a party who wins the election without a clear majority must form a coalition government.

Wicked Experiments in Guatemala

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2017/02/guatemala_syphilis_experiments_worse_than_tuskegee.html

This is a well known story to those who look into such things but the bulk of the public knows nothing about it.

Violence in Context

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/26270/violence_theirs-and-ours

Prashad is always interesting. I was first introduced to him on Democracy Now! I find his writings scattered here and there and he's always worth a read.

While certainly not a Christian, he is nevertheless insightful. This piece exposes the dual logic and ethics at work in how violence is perceived in the West.

Theresa May's Gamble

I must say Theresa May has left everyone a bit shocked and there's a scramble on the part of pundits and commentators in attempting to interpret her actions.

Obviously frustrated, May wants to strengthen her hand which at the moment is hindered by divisions within the UK political Establishment. The Brexit negotiations are proving very complicated and difficult. The attempt to form an even closer alliance with Washington has proven dubious and has not strengthened London's hand when it comes to dealings with the Continent.

Spanish Evangelicals and Reformation Reflections

http://evangelicalfocus.com/lifetech/2347/What_95_theses_would_have_Luther_written_in_2017

I'm afraid this article coming out of Spain is just more rubbish from some of the Lausanne-affiliated groups.

They misrepresent Luther and his focus on the Gospel. It's a stunt but one that will get them some media attention in this anniversary year.

Charismatics and Calvinist Transformation

https://theconversation.com/how-a-christian-movement-is-growing-rapidly-in-the-midst-of-religious-decline-73507

Thank you Abraham Kuyper and in particular Francis Schaeffer. The latter laid this foundation and planted this seed... which has now produced the rottenest of fruits.

Osborne: Openly Doing What is Supposed to Remain Secret

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/17/george-osborne-named-new-evening-standard-editor-newspaper

Osborne has been called out on this and yet one must laugh at offended politicians, those that express moral outrage over his deeds. Mainstream media protestations are almost as comical.

Bucer's Magisterial Reformation: The Social Gospel of Sacralism

https://calvinistinternational.com/2016/11/28/bucer-civil-education/

When one hears about educators, educational reform and the push for compulsory universal public education one might be tempted to think about the Progressive Era or in Christian circles the advocates of Social Gospel.

And yet this impulse while tempered, to some degree secularised and certainly affected by the age of industry was no novelty. The idea of compulsion and a push toward an engineered uniform society is as old as Babel. The Reformation is often touted and celebrated as the foundation of modern Western Civilisation, the genesis of human rights and modern representative democracy, its reality and legacy are in fact more complicated.

The Watchtower Society versus Orthodox Sacralism

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-religion-jehovah-s-idUSKBN16O1HN

I've said it before and it saddens me, but the Watchtower Society has more of the type of testimony the Church should have. Pressure is growing on them in Russia but for the right reasons. They're feeling the beginnings of persecution for their doctrinal witness and life... not because they're connected to Western values and the agendas of Washington and Wall Street.

They are hated because they reject nationalism, they refuse to be involved in civics and the military and they raise their children to be 'other' than that which the increasingly Sacralist Russian state would want them to be.

Vault 7 and the Deep State

The Nozomi Hayase piece on Wikileaks Vault 7 is the article I've been looking for. Since the leak, the story has of course permeated the media but it has often been shrouded in confusion and politicisation. The Hayase article does a good job summarizing the leaks and providing analysis of the issues.

Musings on the Nobel Prize and Selling Out

It was a big news story and something of a shocker. Bob Dylan receives the Nobel Prize for Literature? While at first the Nobel committee was surprised and insulted by Bob Dylan's silence he came around... sort of.

Russian Aid to CIA-connected Libyan General

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/14/russian-special-forces-deployed-in-egypt-near-libyan-border-report

These reports are still largely unsubstantiated. Yet if true it would hardly come as a surprise.