World Views

Let’s begin with some political theory.  Aristotle, in his great treatise, the Politics, concluded that there are, basically, only two different kinds of governments in terms of the outcomes for a society -- those that serve the common good, or the public interest, and those that have been co-opted to serve the self-interests of the people who hold political power.  

An average young man from an average Syrian town, White Helmets co-founder Mahmoud Al-Hattar never expected his path to lead to the stage of the 2018 Academy Awards. But that’s exactly where he was headed when the film, “Last Men in Aleppo”, about a group of volunteers who rescue civilians from the rubble of bombing targets, was nominated for Best Documentary.  Unfortunately, the Syrian government (no fan of the White Helmets), stood in the...