Religion Is THE Problem in the Balkans

By Christopher Hitchens


"Reporting on the capture of the mass-murdering General Ratko Mladic by the Serbian government on Memorial Day, the New York Times summarized the newly created political situation like this: “Critical questions remain about precisely who protected Mr. Mladic. The pro-Western government of President Boris Tadic says it will investigate, a politically delicate examination that could lead to former government officials and perhaps even to religious authorities, since Mr. Mladic said after his arrest that he had been visited over the years by many priests.”

Read More (Free Inquiry)

The End of the Kemalist Affair

When was the last time a conservative NATO army pushed out its highest-ranking officers?
By Christopher Hitchens


"To read of the stunning news, of the almost-overnight liquidation of the Ataturkist or secularist military caste, and to try to do so from the standpoint of a seriously secular Turk, is to have a small share in the sense of acute national vertigo that must have accompanied the proclamation of a new system in the second two decades of the 20th century."
Read More (Slate)

Think Inc. September 18, 2011

The Think Inc 2011 event has now a new website with less graphics and more info. This year's line-up includes Neil deGrasse Tyson, Christopher Hitchens (via video link), Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Michael Shermer..

Visit http://thinkinc.org.au/ for latest news, list of speakers, location, schedule, to register and more.

http://www.facebook.com/ThinkIncConference

http://twitter.com/#!/thinkinc2011

Dear Angry Lunatic: A Response to Chris Hedges

via samharris.org

"Over at Truthdig, the celebrated journalist Chris Hedges has discovered that Christopher Hitchens and I are actually racists with a fondness for genocide. He has broken this story before—many times, in fact—but in his most recent essay he blames “secular fundamentalists” like me and Hitch for the recent terrorist atrocities in Norway."

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/response-to-chris-hedges/

A Ridiculous Rapid Response

Why did so many "experts" declare the Oslo attacks to be the work of Islamic terrorists?
By Christopher Hitchens


"Having had 16 years to reflect since Oklahoma City, we should really have become a little more refined in our rapid-response diagnoses of anti-civilian mass murder. Rather than make it more difficult, the number of contrasting features in the most recent case of Norway actually makes this task fractionally easier. The fruit bat and troll population of the recent scenery of catastrophe, enriched with Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell characters, permits a wider view of the various fields of fire and a greater variety of arguable motives for analysis."

Read More (Slate)

What Will Rupert Think?

The British political class may stop asking the one question that has obsessed it for decades.
By Christopher Hitchens

"It was about two decades ago, but I can still remember how long it took and how much atmosphere it sucked out of the room. In a sort of dress rehearsal for more recent events, a pair of Guardian reporters had produced a book about the inner workings of the lurid Murdoch tabloid style, and of its targets and beneficiaries."

Read More (Slate)

Scandal Sheets

In Britain, the Guardian takes on Rupert Murdoch's cynical view of what newspaper readers want to read.
By Christopher Hitchens

"On a beautiful Sunday morning at Brideshead Castle, Sebastian Flyte breaks off a desultory conversation about religion and morality because he wants to immerse himself in the scandal sheets: "He turned back to the pages of the News of the World and said, 'Another naughty scout-master … oh, don't be a bore, Charles, I want to read about a woman in Hull who's been using an instrument … thirty-eight other cases were taken into consideration in sentencing her to six months—golly!"

Read More (Slate)

Photos by Brooks Kraft

Set of pictures taken earlier this year by photographer Brooks Kraft.

http://brookskraft.photoshelter.com/gallery/Christopher-Hitchens/G0000066he0LB6TQ

Boat People

Some questions for the "activists" aboard the Gaza flotilla.
By Christopher Hitchens

"The tale of the Gaza "flotilla" seems set to become a regular summer feature, bobbing along happily on the inside pages with an occasional update. A nice sidebar for reporters covering the Greek debt crisis: a built-in mild tension of "will they, won't they?"; a cast of not very colorful characters but one we almost begin to feel we know personally. Such cheery and breezy slogans—"The Audacity of Hope" and "Free Gaza"—and such an easy storyline that it practically writes itself."

Read More (Slate)

1968 was an ending and not a beginning.

Hay Festival 2008, Sunday 25 May.
John Walsh chairs. Speakers include Rosie Boycott, Christopher Hitchens and Matthew Engel.
In 4 parts
 

The Rights of Man

Hay Festival 2006.
"The contrarian traces the history of The Rights of Man from the publication of Part One in 1791 in London and its rapturous reception across the Atlantic. He analyses the meaning it has acquired since its creation, and its significance as the cornerstone of contemporary debates about our basic human rights."
In 4 parts.
   

Christopher Hitchens talks to Phil Maynard about his biography of Thomas Paine, Iraq, and US politics: books.guardian.co.uk

Has Bachmann Met Her Waterloo?

The old parochialism meets the not-so-new isolationism in Michele Bachmann.
By Christopher Hitchens

"That was actually three dripping custard pies, rather than just the one, with which Rep. Michele Bachmann assailed her own face by bragging to Fox News about her small-town Iowa roots. Having hymned the incomparable Dairy Queen and Wonder Bread facilities boasted by the sturdy small town of her girlhood, she went on to claim that "John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa," adding, "That's the kind of spirit that I have, too."

Read More (Slate)

Christopher Hitchens Hay Festival 2008

Part 1


Part 2-4


Hitchens talks religion at Hay in 2008, with Q and A.

Christopher Hitchens talks to Ian McEwan 2007