COMMENT: Respect —Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain Popular respect for the army as an institution plummeted with the 1971 debacle in East Pakistan and was further undermined when General Ziaul Haq took over and eventually hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Of all things that afflict Pakistan, the most serious one in my opinion is a total breakdown of what we might call ‘mutual respect’. No one, individually or as a part of an institution has any real respect for anybody else, with minor exceptions like some respect within the family hierarchy, though the age of the internet has put even that under … Continue reading Respect – keeping the Paki out of Pakistan?

By Anwar Iqbal dawn.com Gen Petraeus is the first senior US official to have publicly rejected the LSE report as incorrect. –Photo by AFP Front Page Afghanistan hands over 14 missing personnel Afghanistan hands over 14 missing personnel WASHINGTON: A four-star US general, while refusing to endorse a London School of Economics report which blames Pakistan for maintaining links with the Afghan Taliban, says that “you have to have contact with bad guys to get intelligence on bad guys”. When at a congressional hearing on Thursday a lawmaker quoted from the report to support his claim that Pakistan had links … Continue reading Ties with bad guys help get bad guys: Gen Petraeus

VIEW: Who is David Headley? —Naeem Tahir In 2006, Daood Gilani changed his name to David Coleman Headley, borrowing the family’s American name. The change was made to help Headley escape detection and travel easily between the US, India and Pakistan with his American identity Indian investigators have now been allowed by authorities in the US to interrogate David Coleman Headley. This permission has been given after noticeable reluctance from the US. The investigation under reference relates to the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. Headley earned the grim distinction of being the American jihadist with the highest body count. He … Continue reading David Headley?

US anti-China rhetoric at danger level By Benjamin A Shobert WASHINGTON – The US-China Congressional Committee (USCC) this month held its most recent hearing on US-China relations, specifically on “China’s Past and Future Role in the World Trade Organization” (WTO). As Commissioner Patrick Mulloy stated at the opening, “The purpose of today’s hearing is not to second guess what Congress did 10 years ago. Its purpose is to look at the arguments made in favor of China’s WTO entry by proponents and to consider the results.” Considering the political environment in Washington, where recent days have been marked by the … Continue reading US anti-China rhetoric increasing

US, Philippines rethink anti-terror tactics By Fabio Scarpello ZAMBOANGA CITY – A decade after United States troops landed to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines‘ (AFP) fight against the small, but tenacious, terrorist-cum-criminal Abu Sayyaf group in the south of the country, limited achievements have prompted a rethink to the AFP’s approach. Washington worried that the island of Mindanao, and particularly the adjacent and remote Sulu Archipelago where the Abu Sayyaf maintains jungle bases, could become a safe haven for jihadi cadre who fled Afghanistan after the 2002 US-led invasion. The US declared Southeast Asia as the ”second front” … Continue reading Abu Sayyaf group – US, Philippines rethink ?

By Chris Zambelis Brazil’s decision, along with fellow non-permanent United Nations Security Council member Turkey, to vote against the latest United States-led efforts to impose harsher sanctions against Iran on June 9 aimed at stymieing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, reflects a sea-change in global geopolitics characterized by a decline in US power and the return of multi-polarity. Brazil’s refusal to support UN Security Council Resolution 1929 came on the heels of a successful joint Brazilian-Turkish attempt to win Iranian agreement on May 17 to enter into a uranium exchange pact designed to allay concerns about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and … Continue reading Iran’s new revolutionary politics

What if they were Muslim?: Killed for trying to Watch the World Cup Instead of Gospel Show Loonwatch.com Islamophobes such as Robert Spencer frequently like to say, “there is no fun in Islam.” They gleefully then make posts about how Somali extremists killed men for watching the World Cup. Now, after a man was killed by his family for watching the World Cup instead of a Gospel program will they say that there is no fun in Christianity? This just highlights that extremism and violence are not the sole property of Muslims. Police: Family killed dad for watching World Cup … Continue reading Christian Extremist Family kill Dad for watching World Cup!

South African Muslims Set Up “Welcome Centers” for Visiting World Cup Tourists IslamToday / Agencies 16 June 2010 South Africa’s Muslim community says as many as 130,000 Muslim fans could visit for the World Cup, and it has set up welcome centres and a website to inform visitors where to eat and pray close to stadiums. In Cape Town, local Muslims are expecting to welcome Muslim supporters from Algeria, who will play England in Cape Town on Friday, as well as fans of Muslim faith from competing nations such as Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon. “We thought to ourselves … Continue reading British Muslims should prepare for the 2012 Olympics like this!

Exiled on the no-fly list An American Muslim stranded in Egypt can’t board a plane home until he commits the logical impossibility of proving a negative Jennifer Abel guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 June 2010 13.30 BST Article history The oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico has brutally driven home the message “We Americans must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.” Yet without gasoline, how can we operate the cars and trucks that make modern American life possible? Easy: just require that all internal combustion engines be replaced by clean-running, environmentally friendly perpetual motion machines. What’s that? Perpetual motion is impossible, … Continue reading How to Hate America in a few easy steps – courtesy of the FBI!

America’s new cowboy diplomacy A US citizen went on a solo mission to catch Osama bin Laden – and he’s not the first to take a DIY approach to foreign policy Lionel Beehner guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 June 2010 17.30 BST Article history Gary Brooks Faulkner who went on a solo mission to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden. Photograph: Scott Faulkner/APAmericans are nothing if not individualistic. That explains our go-it-alone can-do optimism that other countries find frustrating but which is the backbone of the American experiment, as it were. That is why the helplessness many of us feel as … Continue reading American DIY Cowboy