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Islam

The military-industrial complex

MODERN TIMES CONVERSATIONS: From someone who should know the intricacies of foreign policy and geopolitics: Thorbjørn Jagland on military rearmament and enemy images – when it comes to the USA, Russia, China, Turkey, and Libya.
Truls Lie -

Religious notions

Laurence Louër Translated by Ethan Rundell: Sunnis and Shi'a: A Political History

SUNNI AND SJIA: The religious contradictions between the two main directions in Islam are not so great. But in conflicts between countries and groups, they are used for all they are worth.
Kjetil Korslund -

Why does Islam need a sexual revolution?

Seyran Ateş. Translated by Kari Bolstad: Islam needs a sexual revolution

ISLAM: At a time when the fear of Islam is spreading, Seyran Ates writes that Islam needs a sexual revolution to gain respect from the world community.
Pinar Ciftci -

The anatomy of democracy

Mathilde Fasting: After the end of the story. Meet with Francis Fukuyama

Fukuyama: Francis Fukuyama is one of the world's foremost democracy theorists, and this book provides an updated introduction to his overall authorship.
Kjetil Korslund -

Can Islam be modernized?

Sylo Taraku: The struggle for freedom in Islam

REFORM: A thorough presentation and discussion of the work that takes place to reform Islam, in Norway and internationally.
Kjetil Korslund -

A female imam is struggling to create a collective

Marie Skovgaard: reformist

MARIAM MOSQUE: In 2015, the Syrian-Finnish Dane Sherin Khankan decided to start a women-led mosque in Copenhagen. Instructor Marie Skovgaard has followed her struggle between personal vision and the challenges of creating community.
Nina Trige Andersen -

An explanation of European racism

Akbar Ahmed: Journey into Europe. Islam, Immigration, and Identity

: Islamic scholar tries to understand the background of Muslim conditions in Europe, but the explanation in his analysis is limited.
Nina Trige Andersen -

The scary sound of religion

: Fanaticism and extremism arise the moment religion is detached from its cultural and historical background.
Hans Henrik Fafner -

To understand Hezbollah

Sarah Marusek: Faith and Resistance: The Politics of Love and War in Lebanon

: Hezbollah has Islamized the class struggle. Faith gives strength to an ignored population, concludes author and researcher Sarah Marusek after two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Lebanon.
Hans Henrik Fafner -

Sparkling new talents in Edinburgh

Léa Luiz de Oliveira and Nisan Yetkin / Carina Haouchine: I Don't Want to Call It Home / Ululation

: The Edinburgh International Film Festival introduces fresh talent and new voices during this year's festival, while reflecting on Edinburgh's cultural diversity. 
Neil Young -

When the Syria warriors return home

David Thomson: The Returned. They Left to Wage Jihad, Now They Are Back

: Hundreds of European young people have traveled to take part in the war in Syria – some have since returned. In the book The Returned, the French journalist David Thomsons claims that many of these take jihad home again and try to explain to us how and why. 
Nina Trige Andersen -

Islam's forgotten culture and the meaning of Sufism

: What is the change that has taken place in a culture that has fascinated explorers and free thinkers for centuries?
Alexander Carnera -
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Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly in early March, June, September and December) with international book reviews (non-fiction) and comments / essays. According to the physical newspaper (and PDF), the articles are published regularly online (see the newsletters).

© MODERN TIMES & Orientering AS. PO Box 3113 Elisenberg, 0207 Oslo. Chief editor: Truls Lie

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