What the world is reading

Referring to the anti-Islam video that triggered riots across the Middle East,William Saletan says,Dear Muslims,Christians,Hindus,and Jews. Youre living in the age of the Internet. Your religion will be mocked. Get over it. If you dont,it will happen again and again. Saletan further writes,When the protests broke out,the guy who made the movie claimed to be an Israeli Jew. Now,he says hes a Coptic Christian,even though Coptic Christian leaders in Egypt and US despise the movie. The spread of digital technology makes it possible to reach every corner of the globe instantly. But if you dont cooperate,the bomb doesnt explode.

New Statesman

Kate Middletons topless photos

The most recent celebrity to be caught in a topless photo scandal is the Duchess of Cambridge. Calling it the grossest invasion of privacy,Steven Baxter writes,With every fresh photo set,theres a testing of boundaries going on. The photographs of Kate were taken while she and William were on holiday. Drawing a contrast between Prince Harrys pictures and Middletons,Baxter says,He was mucking about in a Las Vegas suite. He wasnt acting in a way that didnt attract attention. Kate,on the other hand,is not being drunk,but just standing there. What justification can there be for that?

The Globe and Mail

Grunting in tennis? Stop that racket

Apart from giving us some great tennis,the US Open also gave us some terrible mouth music, says Jon Peirce. Mocking at the grunting levels in tennis,he writes,Seasoned practitioners of the high-decibel aerobic grunt,like Maria Sharapova,managed to sound like sopranos. Sharapova has officially been measured at 101 decibels,just nine below a lions roar. The grunts,though,have been with tennis for long. In 1988,Ivan Lendl accused Andre Agassi of throwing off his timing with grunting at the US Open. Tennis bodies have come up with a draft policy that would allow existing grunters to continue but would ban the practice among new players.

Foreign Policy

Dont give up on Arab Spring

The killing of Christopher Stevens,the US Ambassador to Libya,should be enough for Americans to feel betrayed. After all,Stevens was a friend of the anti-Gaddafi rebels and they hadnt the US liberated Libya from the tyrants clutches? Shadi Hamid writes,Anti-American anger,even in Libya,most pro-American country in the Arab world,remains palpable,lingering underneath the surface of apparent gratitude. But,that aside,even if the United States did everything on Arabs wish lists,there would remain a small,influential fringe that would find another reason to hateor at least dislike and distrustthe United States. Much of this anger has to do with the USs past actionswhen a Western-backed military coup aborted a democratic transition in Algeria in 1991 and when a CIA-sponsored coup toppled Irans democratically elected prime minister in 1953. These dates,far from a remote,forgotten history,are very much alive for those who still suffer the consequences of those tragedies. Anti-Americanism can diminish,and probably will,but to expect an overnight transformation is fantasy, Hamid says. But if the US gives up on the Middle East,it would be a grave mistake8230;Disengaging from the Arab world is what Salafi extremistsnot to mention Arab dictatorswant.