Abigail Lavin is a writer who contributed to The Weekly Standard from 2006 to 2017, covering international affairs, media criticism, and cultural topics. Her work for the magazine frequently focused on democracy and politics in the Middle East and the broader Muslim world, including Egypt, Yemen, and Indonesia.
Spend a few days in China, and you are bound to witness a stranger exposing his bare bottom on the subway or defecating on the sidewalk. While dismayed, you will find it easy to forgive these lewd acts: The perpetrators are generally under the age of 4. Following Chinese custom, their parents have…
When I sat for my SAT exams as a high school senior, I thought to myself, “This is the last standardized test you will ever have to take!” I had never considered myself an intellectual and was vaguely distrustful of anyone who chose the cocoon of the academy over the rough-and-tumble of the “real…
Shanghai
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven
Chinglish
Now and Not Yet
WHEN THE New York Times broke the story in September, 2004, it seemed like an open-and-shut case: Ever since Newmont Mining Corp., the world's largest gold producer, had opened a mine in the Indonesian fishing village of Buyat Bay, villagers had complained of rashes, dizziness, and other mysterious…
Infidel
WHILE IT'S COMMON for the glitterati to take up political causes, the reverse--a politician taking on glitterati status--is rare, at least at the level that Al Gore has achieved. The formerly stiff, un-sexy Gore has become a bona fide "Rock Star," according to a recent Washington Post headline. The…
A FEW YEARS AGO, statues of Sun Yat Sen began disappearing from Taiwan's public parks. In 2004, the Taiwanese government announced it would remove questions about Mainland Chinese geography from its general knowledge exam for civil servants. And last fall, the government renamed the country's…
THE LARGEST PRISON in Delhi, Tihar Jail, has a "mother-in-law" cell block, currently home to roughly 120 women, some of whom are serving 20-year sentences for murdering their daughters-in-law. The majority of these crimes stem from disputes over dowry: A bride whose dowry payments are viewed as…
SEPTEMBER 2006 brought an unprecedented development in the Middle East: The government of Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh held open, contested presidential elections. Candidates were able to rally and campaign freely, each of the five candidates was given equal airtime on state-run television,…
SINCE IT FIRST BEGAN BROADCASTING 10 years ago, Qatari satellite network Al Jazeera has become the Arab world's media juggernaut, claiming 50 million viewers across 137 countries. A 2005 survey by Brandchannel.com ranked Al Jazeera as the world's fifth most influential brand, just behind Starbucks,…
ON FEBRUARY 23, 2004, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak phoned Galal Aref, head of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate, with some very good news: The country's practice of imprisoning journalists for their writings was going to be eliminated. Mubarak's promise of reform was in line with other…
Absurdistan
A HANDFUL OF PROTESTORS gathered outside the White House over the weekend to advocate for the release of jailed Egyptian politician Ayman Nour. The small group of protestors hold signs and chanted, "Stop supporting Mubarak! Stop funding dictators! Free Ayman Nour!"
BOOKS IN BRIEF
BOOKS IN BRIEF