BOOK REVIEW: Jewish question and the Palestinian connection —by Iftikhar Ahmad Hitler’s Private Library: The Books that Shaped his Life By Timothy W Ryback The Bodley Head; Pp 278, £ 18.99 Books that we happen to own and read do impact our thoughts and actions. How we perceive, interpret and respond depends on forces in the general and specific environment and circumstances that impact us as readers. A writer may or may not have a special agenda or a motive. Similarly, a reader may or may not read for confirming his or her own ideas and to look for support, … Continue reading The Books that Made Hitler!

VIEW: The framework of hope —Anum Raza Hasan Motivations and initiatives should not be judged on how much or how little they can do. These remain the single most visible sign of a society that is alive To seek that desired muse of hope on the crossroads of an inferno, perhaps instigates tendencies bordering on delusion and denial. A cold-blooded massacre targeting scores from a faith-based community isolates victims from its own citizenry and yet draws hesitant condemnation buried under a blanket of cowardly escapism. Eyes remain shut to the backstage drama of a suffering nation, distracted by the seduction … Continue reading The framework of hope

WASHINGTON DIARY: What a change a day makes —Dr Manzur Ejaz From the Taliban of Pakistan and Afghanistan to the conservative Hindus of Haryana, all the extremists are obsessed with controlling the females in their respective societies My ridiculing of Father’s Day for many years has not deterred my children from giving me befitting gifts every year. As a matter of fact, I have rediscovered my father through my children: one rediscovers the importance of parents after one knows the pain of having and raising one’s own children. I feel indebted to my father more than to my children because … Continue reading What a change a day makes

The armed forces, winning the war against discrimination It is a remarkable sea change in policy that now sees our armed forces at the vanguard of delivering equal opportunities for all Peter Bracken guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 June 2010 13.30 BST Article history Twenty odd years ago, as a recently promoted army captain, I was made second in command of a unit established to identify and develop potential officers serving as soldiers in the ranks. The gifted among them could exchange their lance corporal’s stripe for lieutenant’s pips within a year. The unit’s egalitarian impulse was an example of the army … Continue reading British armed forces winning against discrimination?

Freedom of speech includes freedom to offend – but when a preacher’s words incite violence, there has to be some sanction Tehmina Kazi guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 June 2010 13.00 BST Article history What do Dr Zakir Naik, Russian skinhead Pavel Skachevsky, far-right US talk show host Michael Savage, former Kahane Chai leader Mike Guzovsky and Kansas Baptist pastor Fred Phelps have in common? They are all on the list of people who have been banned from entering the UK. Several commentators, like Inayat Bunglawala last week, have asked exactly what Naik has done to deserve such company. A quick internet … Continue reading Zakir Naik’s incendiary words

Pan-Arab narrative a myth in Lebanon An apparently racially motivated attack on Sudanese immigrants in Beirut exposes the subtleties of intra-Arab discrimination Nesrine Malik guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 June 2010 15.30 BST Article history Anger towards Lebanon is brewing in Sudan and in Sudanese online forums. According to reports in the Arab media, a fundraising party held by Sudanese immigrants and asylum seekers in Beirut in aid of a child with cancer, was raided by Lebanese security apparently on the hunt for illegal residents. Eyewitnesses report that although most of those attending produced valid residency cards, this did not spare them … Continue reading Racism in Lebanon?

Facebook and the Big Society? No thanks If the government thinks Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook can play a useful role in policymaking, it misunderstands digital culture Andrew Brown guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 June 2010 17.37 BST Article history Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently met the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/APThe culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, seems to think that Facebook will help to build David Cameron’s Big Society: he tweeted yesterday that he had met Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, who “had good ideas on improvement [sic] digital culture in policy making”. This makes the Big Society look an idea even … Continue reading Facebook and the Big Society?

Pakistan ranks 10th among ‘failed states’ dawn.com Pakistan has more than once been described as the world’s most dangerous country. — Photo by AFP WASHINGTON: Pakistan was ranked the 10th most failed state in the world, just three places below Afghanistan, in a US survey released on Monday. Somalia tops the 2010 Failed States Index followed by Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Chad. The index issued by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, a Washington-NGO, ranks India 87th in a list of 177 countries. Burma has been placed at 13. Sri Lanka is ranked 22 and Nepal 25. … Continue reading Failed States – Top Ten!

By Robert Tait It is the friendship Western policymakers wish they could have prevented: Turkey – secular, Western-leaning, and a key member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – drawing close to a resurgent theocratic Iran whose nuclear program and geopolitical ambitions present a full-frontal challenge to the established international order. Suspicions that Turkey is abandoning the Western orbit for a closer alignment with its Muslim Middle Eastern neighbors were reinforced last month when Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to Tehran to sign a nuclear fuel-swap deal – brokered along with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva … Continue reading Iran, Turkey: Friends today, rivals tomorrow?