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?

Athens, Greece - Both sides are to blame – but the responsibility of the film producers is greater. Because they believe that they represent a tradition of liberal democracy and tolerance, they should have taken care to protect the boy actors from the anger and bigotry that threatened them in Afghanistan. Those who threatened the boys were acting in character, while those who exposed them to danger were denying the values that they claim to represent through their careless folly.

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ATHENS - In the juggernaut that is a U.S. presidential election, it may be easy for the candidates to forget that the world is bigger than their constituency. Yet the winner will be called upon to take decisions that will determine the future not only of his or her country, but of the whole world. There is nothing new in this: for decades the United States has been the single country that makes the greatest difference in world affairs. What the new president will face, though, is the challenge of governing a country that stands on the brink of decline or revival – one that faces greater domestic and international challenges than ever before, at exactly the time that its powers are diminished and the confidence of its people shaken by economic crisis and military misadventure.

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