Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/AP

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, shown Nov. 14 at the Capitol, helped negotiate a compromise that would mandate that same-sex marriages be recognized by all 50 states while including religious liberty protections.

Reflecting a marked GOP shift on same-sex marriage in recent years, Congress has secured enough bipartisan support to pass a marriage equality bill when it returns after Thanksgiving.

Democrats put forward the Respect for Marriage Act to shore up legal protections for same-sex and interracial couples, citing concerns that the Supreme Court could overturn key precedents that support such marriages, as it did with abortion this summer. The bill passed the House in July with 47 GOP lawmakers voting in favor. And it cleared a key hurdle this week in the Senate, thanks to a bipartisan amendment with religious liberties protections that won the support of a dozen Republicans. 

“When we reach beyond partisan talking points, we expand what’s possible,” said Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who is bisexual and helped to negotiate the amendment. “We were careful to ensure that in shoring up some rights, we did not infringe on others.” 

Indeed, a central principle – and challenge – of American democracy is how to protect the rights of one group without stepping on the rights of another. Proponents of the Senate compromise say it strikes the right balance, giving all couples certainty, dignity, and respect without compelling faith-based nonprofits to act contrary to sincerely held religious beliefs. Some proponents say the Senate compromise renders it less meaningful, while critics are concerned the amendment doesn’t go far enough in protecting religious liberty.

“The bill pays lip service to protecting religious liberty but does not even begin to address the most serious, egregious, and likely threats to religious liberty presented by this bill,” said GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah in a floor speech.

Rick Bowmer/AP

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, shown Nov. 8, 2022, in Salt Lake City, has said that provisions protecting religious liberty in the Respect for Marriage Act do not go far enough. Twelve other Republicans this week helped set the bipartisan legislation on a glide path to becoming law.

Dramatic shift in 25 years

Such criticism notwithstanding, the GOP support marks a significant shift on same-sex marriage since the Senate passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in 1996. More than 30 Democrats – including then-Sen. Joe Biden – joined all Republicans in recognizing marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman for the purposes of determining federal benefits. The Supreme Court deemed that provision unconstitutional in 2013, but the Respect for Marriage Act would formally repeal and replace it.

Reflecting changing American views, the new bill would also overturn DOMA’s provision that no state would be compelled to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state.

Today, there are 1 million households with same-sex couples, a little over half of whom are married, according to a 2019 Census Bureau survey. And a 2021 Gallup Poll found that the percentage of Americans saying they self-identify as LGBTQ doubled in a decade, from 3.5% to 7.1%.

Among congressional staffers, who play a significant role in shaping legislation, the percentage is much higher. Those who identify as LGBTQ now make up 16% of each Democratic senator’s staff on average, up from 11% three years ago, according to figures from Senate Democrats’ annual audit of staff diversity. Republicans do not conduct such an audit.

About 6 in 10 Americans say legalizing same-sex marriage is “very good” or “somewhat good” for society, with 37% considering it to be “somewhat bad” or “very bad,” according to a Pew survey last month.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who in 2012 became the first openly gay person elected to the Senate, told the Monitor a key reason for the GOP shift is how many colleagues know of relatives, neighbors, or fellow congregants in a same-sex marriage. For example, GOP Sen. Rob Portman, whose son is gay, cosponsored the religious liberty amendment.

“Knowing people and knowing of their interest in protecting their families with the legal safeguards that marriage provides – that changes a lot,” said Senator Baldwin, noting that without legal protections, same-sex spouses wouldn’t be allowed to visit each other in the hospital, receive military benefits, or be accorded the same support and security as heterosexual spouses if one serves as a diplomat in the Foreign Service. 

Roots of a compromise

This week, after months of negotiations, Sens. Baldwin, Portman, and Sinema, along with GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Thom Tillis, rolled out their amendment, which is essentially the Senate’s version of the House bill.

The House bill would “provide statutory authority” for both same-sex and interracial marriages, assuring couples of uninterrupted rights and benefits. It does not compel any state to legalize same-sex marriage, as did Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared marriage a constitutional right in 2015. However, it does mandate that all 50 states recognize such marriages performed in states where they are legal, and empowers the attorney general to bring civil action if that provision is violated. 

The Senate version recognizes that “reasonable and sincere” people can disagree on marriage and enumerates protections for religious nonprofits. Among other things, it made clear that nonprofits cannot lose their tax-exempt status or other benefits by refusing to solemnize or celebrate marriages. 

Republican critics say the bill is unnecessary, given the absence of any challenges to Obergefell. Democrats counter that Justice Clarence Thomas has basically invited a challenge. In his concurring opinion in Dobbs, the case that overturned 50 years of precedent on abortion, he said that nothing in the court’s opinion “should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion,” but went on to suggest that the court reconsider certain precedents, including Obergefell, because their legal underpinning was “demonstrably erroneous.” Though he left the door open for finding other constitutional provisions that would support such rights, that did little to assuage concerns.

“I think we have to believe what those on the far right are saying, including Clarence Thomas, that this is the next stop as they seek to undo precedent and attack the right to privacy in our country,” says Rep. Chris Pappas, co-chair of the House’s LGBTQ Equality Caucus.

Critics, however, see this bill as compounding a risk raised by dissenting justices in the Obergefell case.

The risk is whether religious Americans will be retaliated against under federal law “based solely on a religious or moral conscience based belief about the definition of marriage,” said Senator Lee, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He called the amendment’s religious liberty protections “severely anemic,” despite them garnering the support of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other religious entities. He urged the Senate to take up his more robust religious liberty amendment.

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who co-sponsored Senator Lee’s amendment, criticizes the bipartisan one for not protecting individuals or business owners. “You can drive a Mack truck through that,” he says. Senator Collins notes that current law does not provide such protection. The purpose of this measure, she explains, is to ensure that existing religious liberty provisions are upheld.

The Senate is expected to pass the bill when it reconvenes in late November and send the amended version back to the House. Representative Pappas says he expects it to become law by the end of the year. 

Some Democrats are disappointed because of the concessions made in the Senate to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold. “This is not a bill that is going to formally codify same-sex marriage rights because of those concessions,” says Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “So I think we take what protections we get, but I do not think that we tout this as more than what it is.”

Matías Villarruel, a soccer fan from Argentina, has one dream: to cheer his idol Lionel Messi in the star’s final men’s World Cup competition, which starts Sunday in Qatar.

“When I first heard the World Cup was going to take place in Qatar, I thought that’s so far away,” that the journey would be prohibitively expensive, Mr. Villarruel says. So, with three friends, he rode there from South Africa on a bicycle, pedaling 6,200 miles in six months.

Yanous Benbousta, a soccer fan from France, takes a very different view. Not only will he not be traveling to Doha, he won’t even be watching the competition on TV, he says, in a personal protest against the way in which it has been organized.

“It’s scandalous that so many workers died building the stadiums,” Mr. Benbousta says. And he finds the idea of air-conditioning the venues “completely absurd” on environmental grounds.

Rarely has a World Cup generated such controversy, or such uncertainty about how it will unfold, as the conservative Islamic emirate hosts hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors.

Courtesy of Matías Villarruel

Matías Villarruel stands with his bicycle en route to Qatar. He is part of a group that crossed 13 countries, cycling from South Africa to Qatar to watch the World Cup 2022. They still need to get match tickets but hope their efforts will pay off.

Qatar has no serious soccer history or culture, and rumors persist that the Qataris bribed FIFA officials to secure hosting rights. Migrant workers building stadiums and hotels have complained of pitiful living and working conditions; an unknown number of them died in work-related accidents. Speech is restricted. The country outlaws homosexuality, extramarital sexual relations, swearing, and “immodest attire,” prompting some fans to wonder how they will be allowed to behave. Though alcohol, which is tightly controlled in Qatar, is being served in assigned areas to visiting fans, authorities announced just two days before the first match that beer would not be allowed in stadiums, reversing a previous pledge to permit it.

“Qatar is a special case,” says Clemente Lisi, author of a book on the history of the World Cup. “What’s happening off the field is going to be of equal importance and curiosity as what’s happening on the field.”

The cocktail of concerns has posed many soccer fans around the world with a dilemma, pitting their love for the game against their conscience, and in some cases diluting their enthusiasm.

Salve your conscience, or watch TV?

Mr. Benbousta acknowledges that if France makes it to the finals, his commitment to keep the TV off will be tested. But he trusts his like-minded wife to keep him in check. “I really don’t want to watch,” he says. “With everything that has happened around this event, it is important to denounce it.”

A similar mood prevails in Germany, where club allegiances run so deep that it’s a shock when rival fans agree on anything. Last weekend, fans of the Hertha Berlin club unfurled an enormous “Boycott Qatar” banner during their game against Cologne. So did Mainz fans, and Freiburg fans, at their respective home matches. About 65% of Germans support a ban on public screenings of World Cup matches.

Germany’s sporting history is stained by the exclusion of Jews from soccer clubs which adopted Nazi policies, and “there has always been a connection between society and sport,” says Michael Barsuhn, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Sport and Management in Potsdam. “You always have to reflect on the system in which it’s placed. Sport should take more responsibility on this subject.”

Tom Weller/dpa/AP

Freiburg soccer club fans wave a flag reading "Boycott Qatar 2022" before a home game against FC Union Berlin, Nov. 13, 2022. Some fans are staying away from the Men's World Cup in Qatar, which opens Sunday, Nov. 20, in protest of the emirate's human rights record.

It remains to be seen whether fans will have the willpower to leave their screens dark come game time. “The boycott is a good idea but I don’t think [fans] will do it,” says Matthias Herzog, a trainer who works with German professional footballers. “Germans love football, and with the pandemic, we haven’t had many positive things in life. When we are playing well in the No. 1 sport in Germany, they will watch.”

In the United Kingdom, six out of 10 people believe that Qatar’s stance on gay rights alone should have barred it from playing host, according to a recent poll. Respondents were evenly split on the question of whether the England and Wales teams should have stayed away from Qatar, with 39% supporting a boycott and 43% opposing it.

Stuart Neaverson is a London-based fan who initially planned to go to Qatar, just as he went to Russia four years ago, when the competition was held there. He booked his plane tickets months ago. “It’s one of those trade-offs where you love football and yet FIFA brings you to these places,” he says.

But Mr. Neaverson has just canceled his booking. Costs were adding up, and so were news reports on migrant deaths and Qatar’s lack of LGBTQ rights. “I think my excitement is draining the more I keep hearing about Qatar,” he says. “It’s still a World Cup, but it doesn’t quite feel like the celebration of football that it might have been in the past.”

Massimo Pinca/Reuters

Brazilian soccer stars Casemiro and Neymar train ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at Juventus Training Center in Turin, Italy, Nov. 17, 2022.

In Latin America, no escape

Six Latin American countries have qualified for the World Cup. In soccer-crazy Brazil, a former World Cup host, many offices have announced early closures on game days and schools have sent out memos assuring parents their children will have a chance to watch the matches during school hours.

“If you have to go to the hospital during the World Cup, you don’t have to worry,” says Bruna Dealtry, a sports reporter for Brazil’s Record TV which expects Brazil to win this year’s tournament. “The game will be playing, even in the [emergency room].”

But she would rather have seen the matches played elsewhere. “I don’t think FIFA will choose a country like Qatar again,” Ms. Dealtry says, noting that Qatar’s conservative mores make it an uncomfortable destination for female fans and sports commentators like herself. “In the future, the choice must be somewhere where everyone can be safe,” she says.

Not that Latin American soccer has a great track record. Many teams are notorious for homophobic chants. Fans of “El Tri,” Mexico’s national team, have been chanting anti-gay slurs for decades; at one point Mexico’s participation in Qatar was at risk because fans refused to stop.

But in recent years, more teams in the region have started openly discussing homophobia, says Santiago Menna, a researcher in South America for Human Rights Watch. And he was impressed to hear Brazil’s national team coach speak out in September in support of a proposed fund to compensate workers in Qatar whose labor setting up the games went unpaid – or who died on the job.

Kamran Jebreili/AP/File

Laborers remove scaffolding at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, about 30 miles north of Doha. Migrant workers who built Qatar's World Cup stadiums often worked long hours under harsh conditions and were subjected to discrimination, wage theft, and other abuses, human rights groups say.

“There’s space to talk about human rights in relation to the World Cup. It’s not all just soccer,” Mr. Menna says.

Mixed feelings in Africa

In Africa, where lovers of the game religiously follow local and European leagues, the mood surrounding the World Cup is mixed. “I know some people who have already booked their tickets, and they’re even flying by Saturday,” says an excited Oluwadamilola Ojetunde, a data analyst based in Abuja, Nigeria. “I would have loved to go, just to catch the fun.”

But Vitalis Inganga, a barber in Kiambu, Kenya, is worried that the conservative Muslim emirate may not relax its laws and cultural customs for World Cup tourists. Qatar’s tourism website says people should “show respect for local culture by avoiding excessively revealing clothes in public” and urges people to keep knees and shoulders covered.

“The World Cup can be entertaining as long as they allow people to show their cultures, because people want to be entertained,” Mr. Inganga says. “If they let people show their own cultures ... the tournament would be better and attract more people.”

Qatar has also attracted African migrants looking for jobs. Many do domestic work, but huge numbers ended up at construction sites linked to the tournament. Both groups of workers have raised concern about poor working conditions and human rights and labor abuses. Some who protested violations have been detained and even expelled.

“It should be of concern how they treat us as a people,” says Robert Rajula, a customer relations officer based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. “Human rights should be a factor in terms of where the World Cup goes.”

Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Mexico fans show their enthusiasm ahead of the soccer World Cup on Nov. 17, 2022, in Doha, Qatar. Mexico is one of six Latin American nations playing in the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East.

Putting Qatar on the map

The lead-up to some other World Cups, and to some Olympic Games, have also seen heavy media coverage of human rights, socioeconomic, and climate issues. But once the tournaments begin, most fans narrow their focus to what’s happening on the pitch. FIFA and host countries know that, which is why there was never any question of stripping Qatar of its status as host.

Despite the controversy, Qatar is expecting 1.5 million soccer fans in November and December. Hotels are so scarce the country has brought in two cruise ships and created container cities. Some fans have had to look for lodging in neighboring countries. And the world will watch. An Ipsos poll across 34 nations found that 55% of respondents plan to tune in.

“Once the games start, it’s almost like the Romans and the gladiators,” says Mr. Lisi, the World Cup historian. “Everyone forgets about what’s happening around them, and is focused on the field.”

That will work in Qatar’s favor, he expects. “It’ll be a win no matter what, because this is their chance for the whole world to see them, when most people can’t even find Qatar on the map.”

Colette Davidson in Paris, Whitney Eulich in Mexico City, Lenora Chu in Berlin, Carlos Mureithi in Nairobi, Kenya, and Natasha Khullar Relph in Brighton and Hove, England, contributed reporting to this article.

Young people are poised to enter the usual rough-and-tumble of Malaysian politics this weekend as the country holds its first general election since lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. 

Seen as potential kingmakers, young voters are navigating a chaotic political landscape – years of corruption and party politicking have left many Malaysians frustrated with parliament. The successive collapse of two governments since 2020 led to widespread calls for an early return to the polls (the national election was not actually due until mid-2023), and there are now dozens of parties vying for power. Meanwhile, many families have yet to recover from the financial impact of COVID-19 mismanagement, and racial and religious issues remain contentious.

As 222 seats go up for grabs in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house and core of Malaysia’s political power, there is a strong sense that what Malaysia needs is stability.

That’s a hefty responsibility to thrust onto young people voting for the first time. In addition to the threat of monsoons, the pressures of day-to-day life, voting logistics, and even a disinterest in politics will likely keep some would-be voters away from the polls tomorrow. 

Still, many young Malaysians say they feel a duty to weigh in on their country’s biggest challenges, from cost of living to climate change. Available data also speaks to strong political engagement: Around 1.4 million of Malaysia’s 21 million registered voters are between ages 18 and 20, and half are under 40.

“Young people have that power,” says Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia and an expert in Southeast Asian democracy, “but it remains unclear if it will be fully actualized and they will turnout, or whether they will send a clear mandate.”

“They will make the difference in the close races, however,” which, she says, account for over half the seats. 

Mobilization challenges

Twenty-one-year-old Sarah Edna, a statistics student from Selangor, on Malaysia’s west coast, is an election intern with the youth group Undi18, which was a central lobbyist for the voting-age reforms. Malaysia was the second to last in the region to drop the voting age from 21 (Singapore remains the holdout), and the country also introduced automatic voter registration at the same time. 

Courtesy of Sarah Edna

First-time voter Sarah Edna is a statistics student and an election intern with the youth advocacy organization Undi18, which lobbied for the voting-age reforms. She says climate change is the most important issue to her.

Ms. Edna says she is feeling the weight of her civic responsibility as she prepares to cast her first ballot, and she hopes others do as well. 

“Young people have to understand the importance of voting and how it impacts our country,” she says, adding that intergenerational issues such as climate change make it critical for young Malaysians to exercise their right this weekend.

That will be hard for some. The shortened election cycle has caught Malaysians of all ages off guard, and many 18-to-20-year-olds, either for work or school, live far away from their home regions where they’re registered to vote.

Ms. Edna knows several people who won’t be able to cast their ballot Saturday for this very reason. But she hopes that most newly registered voters will overcome these challenges and make their voices heard.

Driving issues

In the tourist hub of George Town, evidence of an impending election has been scant. Only a few red campaign flags of Pakatan Harapan, the centrist political coalition, hang limply along the coastal boulevard.

The area has gross domestic product and growth rates among the highest in Malaysia, and looks secure for the incumbent Pakatan Harapan, led by national opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Races will be tightly contested, however, with a record 58 candidates, including six independents, vying for the 13 national seats in play here on Saturday.

George Town native and media production student Jenson Lim says Malaysia is facing many complex issues on a local, national, and global level. As a first-time voter, he is particularly motivated by the tangled lines between racial tensions – mainly the oft-stoked differences between Malays and ethnic Chinese – and poverty.

“I feel an obligation to vote,” he says. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to do so. It’s a default position.”

Mr. Lim, himself of Chinese background, worries that young people who lack political experience will be swayed by major parties’ simplistic messaging on nuanced issues. He knows the impact of young voters will be “significant,” but he’s uncertain how exactly it will play out. 

Courtesy of Jenson Lim

Media production student Jenson Lim says he is most concerned about racial tensions – mainly the oft-stoked differences between Malays and ethnic Chinese – and poverty. “I feel an obligation to vote,” he says.

“Some [young people] are very political, take part in political talks, and have those habits. They have been dreaming of voting all their lives. Others are totally politically illiterate,” he says.

Indeed, Malaysian youth demonstrate a wide range of political leanings and literacy, though experts say one area we may see their hand at play is on climate.

On the mind, but not the ballot

“Climate change issues do impact younger voters, and this has been an issue raised by MUDA [the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance, a youth-oriented party], but has not featured prominently in the overall campaign,” says Ms. Welsh.

While climate change has largely been absent from leading candidates’ campaign speeches, it’s high on the mind of young voters – in an Undi18 survey from this year, 75% of respondents said they were concerned about climate change, and the same number believed the government should increase punishments for illegal logging.

For Mr. Lim, climate change relates to local concerns about poverty and employment disparities. Ms. Edna says it’s the most important issue for her, and believes the youth vote will force major parties to rethink their climate policies, if not in this election, then in the future. 

“Young people [have been] sharing different manifestos on climate change from different political parties,” she says. “We have to be wise about who we are voting for. Climate change needs will force a party to change.”

Aftab Rizvi/AP

Supporters of Pakistan's main opposition party take part in a protest march in Wazirabad, Pakistan, Nov. 10, 2022. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was recovering from a leg wound after an attempt on his life, urged his followers to resume their protests demanding early elections.

Just how anti-American is Pakistan?

Judging by the outpouring of domestic political support that former Prime Minister Imran Khan received when he claimed the United States was in on the assassination attempt against him this month, quite a lot.

Go back to 2018, when the Trump-like populist Mr. Khan swept into power by shrewdly tapping into a deep vein of anti-American sentiments over the war on terror, and the antagonism seems confirmed.

Top it off with widespread support for Mr. Khan’s further claim that it was U.S.-engineered “regime change” that caused his ouster from power in April of this year.

It would all seem to add up to a deep well of anti-Americanism.

But hold on.

The hugely popular Mr. Khan appeared to switch gears this week when he told foreign journalists that he is ready to work with the U.S. – and even more surprisingly, that he no longer blames the U.S. for his removal from power in a vote of no confidence.

“As far as I’m concerned it is over, it’s behind me,” the Financial Times newspaper quoted Mr. Khan as saying in an interview Sunday on the U.S. role in the alleged political conspiracy.

“Our relationship with the U.S. has been as of a master-servant relationship, or a master-slave relationship, and we’ve been used like a hired gun. But for that,” he added, “I blame my own governments more than the U.S.”

K.M. Chaudhry/AP

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks to reporters at Shaukat Khanum hospital, where he was being treated for a gunshot wound, in Lahore, Pakistan, Nov. 4, 2022.

Mr. Khan, who many believe would easily win parliamentary elections that could take place next year, now says he envisions “dignified” relations between the countries.

The charismatic leader’s about-face, which caused a collective national double take, reflects a number of factors at work in the South Asian nuclear power, regional analysts say. The factors range from a realpolitik recognition that Pakistan needs stable relations with Washington to warming feelings toward the U.S. for how it has stepped up with assistance following devastating floods that inundated as much as a third of the country this summer.

“People-to-people diplomacy”

Not to be overlooked, some say, is the influence of the large and prosperous Pakistani community in the U.S. A plea to turn down the anti-Americanism likely came from some of Mr. Khan’s biggest backers in the U.S., these observers speculate.

Still, relations between the two countries are so broken right now that calls for “dignified” relations aren’t going to have much impact, says Rabia Akhtar, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy, and Policy Research at the University of Lahore.

What is needed now is reestablishing trust, she says. And that is going to come first from what she calls “people-to-people diplomacy” and “soft-power initiatives” that strengthen ties between the two countries.

“Imran Khan’s new statement reflects what he knows to be true, that Pakistan as a state cannot afford not to have relations with the U.S.,” says Dr. Akhtar.

“But public trust needs to be restored first, because right now that’s gone,” she adds. “The only way to rebuild that trust is to restart and build back the ties between Pakistanis and Americans – the people-to-people connections – that we’ve lost.”

Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Women walk past a mosque situated in a narrow alley leading to the residence of Mohammad Naveed, whom police suspect of shooting former Prime Minister Imran Khan, in Wazirabad, Pakistan, Nov. 4, 2022.

Exchange programs that brought American university students here have withered, she says.

Moreover, growing hostility toward U.S. and international nongovernmental organizations over the last decade culminated in new laws in 2018 that forced many groups to leave Pakistan – despite the lifesaving work they were credited with doing after 2010 floods and a 2005 earthquake. (The new government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claims it is taking steps to streamline the operation of international NGOs.)

Dr. Akhtar cites three areas of cooperation she says both countries should focus on to rekindle these ties: climate change, renewable energy technology, and agriculture technology.

Emergency assistance

Indeed, for some Pakistanis, this summer’s devastating floods have had the positive side effect of setting U.S.-Pakistan relations on an upward course.

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power visited Pakistan in September, announcing additional emergency assistance in Islamabad and the launch of a U.S. military airlift of essential supplies in Sindh, a province that is home to many of the 33 million Pakistanis uprooted by the floods.

Noting the airlift would bring in much-needed supplies, from food to tents and medications, Ms. Power said during a visit to Dadu, a city in Sindh, that she hoped the sight of the U.S. military providing humanitarian assistance would start to change Pakistani perspectives.

“I think during the war in Afghanistan, there was an impression among some Pakistanis that the U.S. saw Pakistan only through the prism of Afghanistan,” she said. “Hopefully, this is a chance through this cooperation to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.”

Overall, the U.S. has provided nearly $100 million, making it the largest donor of emergency and recovery assistance.

Of course, the U.S. has good reasons beyond philanthropy and even the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to want more than just stable relations with the country, some analysts say.

Asim Tanveer/AP/File

Army troops evacuate people from a flood-hit area in Rajanpur, a district of Punjab, Pakistan, Aug. 27, 2022. American assistance following the devastating flooding is credited with warming Pakistanis' feelings toward the U.S.

One of those reasons is China. Pakistan has been deepening its strategic and economic ties with Beijing for more than a decade now, joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative and jointly launching the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as a steppingstone to Pakistan’s vision of becoming a regional transit hub.

“The U.S. doesn’t want to see Pakistan too tightly embraced in the arms of the Chinese,” says Furrukh Khan, an associate professor of postcolonial studies at Lahore University of Management Sciences, known as LUMS.

New arms sale

Indeed, U.S. desires to maintain strong security ties with Pakistan are a big reason the Biden administration in September approved the sale of $450 million in military equipment that will allow the Pakistani military to enhance the capabilities of its fleet of F-16s.

The Trump administration had suspended most security assistance to Pakistan and denied the sale of the F-16 equipment after former President Donald Trump took to Twitter in 2018 to accuse Pakistan of “deceit” over its anti-terrorist efforts.

Relations with the U.S. have improved since then, if only marginally.

But on the LUMS campus, many students say they remain hopeful for better ties with the U.S., a country they say shares more values with Pakistan than the country’s other major partners.

“Right now I’d say Pakistan’s closest strategic partner is China, and I’m pretty sure most students you asked would say the same,” says Amar Lal, a fifth-year law student. “But culturally and politically I would say I look more to the U.S.,” he adds, “and that, too, would be true of most students here.”

It’s why so many students seek to go on to postgraduate programs of study in the U.S., he says.

For Dr. Akhtar, it’s that vein of goodwill underlying the surface hostilities that should be mined first to put the U.S.-Pakistan relationship back on course.

“There is no magic wand that is going to suddenly bring mutual trust back to our relations,” she says. “It’s going to take sustained and expanded engagement, especially people to people, for that trust to be reestablished.”

Memories crowd my kitchen cabinets. They linger over my cast-iron skillet, everyday plates, and the ancient cookie dough scooper with a wooden handle. As family members downsized their homes or died, my pantry shelves and drawers slowly filled with items first used by someone else. I became so well stocked that when I got married, I hardly needed anything new.

Family holiday recipes handed down through the generations are one way to honor traditions, but so is what culinary historians call the material culture around food – the rituals of setting a table just so, the kinds of plates that are used, the tools deployed to mash the potatoes. 

The practices around these items can offer a form of resilience and mooring against the shifting tides of family life.

For me, passed-along kitchen items became a kind of life raft in unfamiliar stepparenting waters. In the early days, I played more of a spectator role than a cook, as my husband made meals familiar to my two stepchildren: chicken broth soup with egg drop dumplings, breaded chicken cutlets, and smoked sausage with egg noodles. It was their comfort food, but not mine. 

So I drew my comfort from the memories that gathered when I used my grandmothers’ baking tools to make scones and cookies; served up our meals on my dad’s heavy blue dishes; and whirred, whisked, and blended with the many appliances my mom gifted me over the years. 

In my mind, suddenly there is Grandma serving up pineapple pound cake, Dad beaming over bowls of homemade tomato soup, and Mom ladling batter into the waffle iron. These silent cheerleaders reassuringly patted me on the shoulder, offering feelings of connection when I felt like an outsider. 

Things are better now. My stepdaughter, away at college, requested I bring a batch of my chocolate chip cookies on our last campus visit because “nobody makes them as good as you do.” Since I just follow the recipe printed on the back of the yellow bag of chips, there must be magic in my old cookie scooper. 

And my stepson, fueled by his growth and constant activity on the soccer field, is eager for my meatloaf and lasagna. 

So now memory and usefulness sit side by side in my kitchen as I cook, bake, and stay alert for emerging traditions that say “home” and “welcome.”  

As the holidays draw near, people may ask familiar questions: Who will be hosting? What are we having? 

The answers are never the same. No two holidays ever look alike, and finding peace with that is a true recipe for resilience.

Reuters

Children and local soccer players in Santiago, Chile, prepare to play a friendly match Nov. 18 ahead of World Children's Day and the World Cup.

Starting Sunday, much of humanity will be watching the World Cup, cheering for victories, eying the players, and comparing statistics over the next month of televised soccer matches in Qatar. One statistic already stands out: The number of teams in the next World Cup, to be held four years hence in North America, will jump from 32 to 48.

For decades, soccer has helped shrink the world, bringing people and nations closer. Since the first World Cup in 1930, when only 13 teams participated, the number of teams has grown – to 24 in 1982, then 32 in 1998 – as “the beautiful game” has achieved global popularity, surpassing the Olympics on many measures.

What this trend indicates is that globalization, or the integration of humanity at many levels, is hardly ebbing, as many experts now claim. Yes, the material aspects of globalization, such as trade in goods, may not be rising as fast because of various crises, such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Yet the flow of ideas, culture, and people continues apace.

A world survey last year by the Globalism Project at Cambridge University found surprising pushback against notions of trade protectionism or populist cries for putting one’s nation first. “There is no deep divide between the mindsets of ‘open versus closed’ societies,” the survey’s authors wrote in The Guardian. Most people “tend to favor varying degrees of continued integration with the wider world.”

Soccer, or football as it is more commonly known, illustrates the point. The sport has helped make the world a better place, wrote the world’s first black global sporting star, Pelé, in a 2014 autobiography. It brings communities together and gives disadvantaged children – like him – a sense of purpose, he stated.

At a deeper level, “the game can allow hope, inspiration and magic to triumph momentarily over material realities,” wrote one of soccer’s historians, David Goldblatt, in The Independent. It is why, he adds, more than half of the entire planet will be watching the World Cup in the coming weeks.

Such shared moments reshape the best meaning of globalization. “Looking back, we probably put too much emphasis on the power of material forces like economics and technology to drive human events and bring us all together,” wrote columnist David Brooks in The New York Times.

No wonder the game is called beautiful.