Word: westernness
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...that sense, The House Without a Christmas Tree is also a pleasant reminder of when Christmas was a less neurotic observance, not yet caught in today's tiresome crossfire between the Jesus-is-the-only-reason-for-the-season zealots and the your-Nativity-creche-is-a-symbol-of-Western-oppression cranks. The holiday still belonged to kids: we didn't approach it like Christian fundamentalists and we didn't consider it politically incorrect, either. We were like Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas: we could embrace the message and have a blast celebrating...
CONTEXT Much like an oil spill, rat spills can wreak havoc on delicate ecosystems and are a major problem for many far-flung islands. One of Alaska's western Aleutians was even named Rat Island after it was overrun by the critters following a shipwreck in the 1780s...
...turns out that the majority of Serbs do not share the government's views. Although recent opinion polls do show a slight increase in anti-Western sentiments, more than half of the electorate strongly supports Serbia's prospective membership in the E.U., even if the price of that means losing Kosovo...
Despite his return to the international fold following his 2003 repudiation of state terrorism and of efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi hasn't been the kind of statesman Western leaders have wanted to honor in their capitals - until now. Despite his continued disdain for democracy and notoriously poor record on human rights, Gaddafi is being hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a lavish five-day stay featuring not one but two meetings with Sarkozy. Supporters of the trip argue it offers Gaddafi evidence of the diplomatic respect awaiting him should he match...
...Paris visit marks the first time a Western head of state has hosted Gaddafi as an honored guest of his nation - a particularly big p.r. coup for the Libyan, given Sarkozy's repeated vows to make human rights central in defining French foreign policy. Opposition politicians and human rights groups like Amnesty International want to hold Sarkozy to that promise by insisting Gaddafi's better diplomatic behavior be accompanied by improved treatment of his own people before he's shown such deferential treatment. Critics also contend Gaddafi isn't the only suspect foreign leader Sarkozy has offered such friendly approbation...