To the politicians of the Balkans - almost without exception corrupt and despised by their own constituencies - the myth of Great Albania comes handy. It keeps the phobic Macedonians, the disdainful Serbs and the poor and crime ridden Albanians united and submissive - each group for differing reasons.

The Ottoman occupation was an unmitigated misfortune.

The tragedy in Sudan, how it affects women, and what some women are doing about it.

While jewelry is primarily used for aesthetics, jewelry can also serve a religious purpose. This article is a brief history of how different cultures have used religious jewelry.

The peoples of eastern Europe have little left except their character set. Their industry dilapidated, their politics venal and acrimonious, their standard of living dismal, their society disintegrating, and their national identities often fragile - they cling fiercely to their "historical" myths and calligraphic lettering, the last vestiges of long-gone grandeur.