Somalilia/United Arab Emirates - Americans are not the only ones obsessed with sex and politics. Sex has forever been the bane and blessing of humankind. It is the cause of man's fall. Kingdoms have been turned to dust because of sex. There have been epic conflicts and thousands of ship launched for the sake of a woman. Both female and male sexual organs have been worshipped at times. Holy places often bear the structure of female reproductive organs or are decorated with representations of them. Great works of literature such as Shehrazade's Thousand Nights and the Kama Sutra have been woven around sexual escapades.

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Somalia/U.A.E. - Homosexuality is prohibited in Islam and the institution of marriage is sanctified. The Koran says that women and men are garments to each other. Prophet Mohammed recommended that any youth who could afford should marry or fast. He also recommended Muslim men to marry fertile women so that he could compete with other prophets with the number of his followers. Therefore, procreation seems to be the main objective of marriage in Islam and it is obvious that homosexuality will not increase the number of the faithful.

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Just like everything else, perceptions of sexiness have globalized. Hollywood movies, the fashion industry, MTV and Miss World beauty contests have set universal standards for female sexual appeal. It is in this context that Arab and African men have come to measure the beauty of their women. But the pressure on women to meet men’s expectations of beauty isn’t a recent invention, and standards have changed over the years.

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I am not a fan of hereditary rule. I would rather live in a place where every child can dream of being able to reach the highest position of power. A place where even immigrants and children of immigrant parents such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy can find an open field to compete and achieve their goals through ambition, merit and hard work and not through the mere chance of being born into it.

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We live in a world where celebrities are placed on a high pedestal; where glamour replaces saintliness; a world where the mass media projects Hollywood stars as the icons of perfection; where children around the world dream of becoming tomorrow’s Oprahs and Barrymores more than Nobel prize winners advancing human knowledge, even more than becoming humble, compassionate human beings like Mother Teresa.

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Britain knighted Salman Rushdie like many British citizens before him, honored for their service to Britain. To honor Rushdie as a writer for his contribution to literature is a commendable initiative. This is purely a British affair and has nothing to do with any other people or creed.

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The Question: The producers of the movie "The Kite Runner" had to evacuate three boy actors from Afghanistan because they were involved in a scene portraying homosexual rape. Who's at fault here: the movie producers who exposed the boys to danger, or the Afghan culture that threatens them?

It was an unwise decision by the movie producers to take the boy actors back to Afghanistan. At the very least, it shows that they misread Afghan culture, tribal hostility and the country’s political situation.

This is a country where children engaging in a kite competition can easily ignite tribal feuds. If one believes the situation of the Hazaras as demonstrated in The Kite Runner, it is dangerous for a Hazara and a Pashtun to share the same space – let alone become friends. The Taliban’s mass killings of the Hazaras in 2001 were just a hint of the Sunni Taliban’s resentment toward the minority Shiite Hazaras.

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The Current Discussion: Australians are voting online for a "Word of the Year" from a list of new words to be included in the dictionary: among the frontrunners, "Chindia", "globesity," and "password fatigue." Create your favorite new word of the year that tells us something about trends in your country.

Somalilandracy: A self-declared independent country that establishes peace and security within its borders without much international help; abides by all rules of democracy and international law but not recognized by the international community. The name is derived from the case of , known by academics as Africa’s best kept secret.

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