Dear Terrorists

Dear Terrorists I have to say I am not happy. Admittedly I am not normally jumping up and down like some demented puppy at your usual work but this time its got personal. Twice in one week you’ve launched attacks just around the corner from where my friends live, first in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and now in Istanbul. Of course there are a lot more people who are entitled to be far more annoyed with you than I am, after…

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The four faces of Buddha

Just as you would imagine, your typical Myanmar Buddhist temple is a haven of serenity. Even the occasional clang of a sacred bell that adherents make only adds to the atmosphere of calm reverence as the chime’s reverberations pulse gradually into silence. The waft of incense is a gentle call to respect the site’s tranquility under the watchful eye of a golden Buddha. This is the kind of face of Buddha that most of us would think of in imagining…

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