Shahzia Sikander and Jim Shaw are two artists who keep accounts of the visual tropes that faith-based systems employ to disseminate, legislate and perpetuate the cultural codes prescribing and proscribing human behavior, yet react to these systems by breaking up the prescribed regiments that religious imagery imposes.

In the increasingly frigid environment of U.S.-Russia relations, much attention is given to what may be seen as Russia's strategic "interests." [...] Of at least equal significance for understanding Russian attitudes, however, is a grasp of the values, the moral framework for Russia's foreign policy.

The humid Tuesday evening wanes as Akeel Shaikh, 19, spews a blend of Hindi and Urdu commands into his cell phone, rounding up members of his Muslim political group from the narrow booth of a Mumbai bakery and milk bar.