Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat in India, is once again seeking a US visa to visit some of his supporters. As before, those who recall his complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots will endeavour to keep him out.

For six decades, the US has been the primary mover behind the emerging global order, as well as its main underwriter. But if the US turned its back to the global order and refused to sustain it, or lost the capacity to do so, would it collapse?

In one evening, we did not solve the great problems that plague US-Islamic or Jewish-Muslim relations. But Jews and Muslims who were there went home a bit more hopeful.

Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency both derails the latest effort to usher in democracy and brings Pakistan’s political stability to the tipping point, emboldening the Islamist opposition in the process.

The tangled relationship between Washington and Islamabad has its roots in shortsighted strategies on both sides. But it’s still better to be strong allies than adversaries.

American foreign policy may have perpetrated many injustices against Muslims, but its gifts of allowing Islamic thinking to re-emerge and thrive is indeed priceless.

With his speech last night, President Bush has all but declared war on Shias. One can only hope he knows what he is getting us all into.

American Muslims must work with our government to challenge anti-Islamic discourse and correct some of the misunderstandings that the government itself may be harboring.

Can we and should we demand freedom to practice Islam, and then turn around and use these same freedoms to impose anachronistic understandings of Islam on others?

While it is clear that voters have rejected Republican hubris, crony politics and power mania, it is not obvious what they have voted for, except change.