Obama has become hope personified. He may have successfully rebranded the United States. But do not expect radical change: this hope is religious in its overtones.
Muslim protests over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed marked the arrival of a force challenging liberal democracy not from the past, but from the future: Islam in the global community. First published 12 April, 2006.
Pope John Paul II's successor will be chosen by a secretive, top-down process. Austen Ivereigh, press secretary to one of the cardinals involved, calls for reform in the way the church is governed.
