Afghan farmers at war’s epicentre play both sides dawn.com Arghandab produces half the 100,000 tonnes of pomegranates grown in Afghanistan each year, but is better known for the harvest of IEDs, or improvised explosive devices. – AFP Photo Business US builds new partnerships with Pakistan PAK-US STRATEGIC TIES US builds new partnerships with Pakistan ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan: Lush pomegranate orchards provide perfect cover for the Taliban, who have turned what should be the fruit basket of Afghanistan into one of the hottest spots of the long insurgency. In the past year the crude bombs that are the Taliban’s battlefield talisman have … Continue reading

By Stephan Salisbury Alioune Niass, the Sengalese Muslim vendor who first spotted the now infamous smoking SUV in Times Square and alerted police, is no hero. If it were not for the Times of London, we would not even know of his pivotal role in the story. No mainstream American newspaper bothered to mention or profile Niass, who peddles framed photographs of celebs and the Manhattan skyline. None of the big television stations interviewed him. As far as the readers of the New York Times are concerned – not to mention the New York Post and the Daily News – … Continue reading Muslim-beating in the ‘righteous’ US

By Spengler More than the Koran’s sanction of wife-beating, the legal grounds on which the Koran sanctions it reveals an impassable gulf between Islamic and Western law. The sovereign grants inalienable rights to every individual in Western society, of which protection from violence is foremost. Every individual stands in direct relation to the state, which wields a monopoly of violence. Islam’s legal system is radically different: the father is a “governor” or “administrator” of the family, that is, a little sovereign within his domestic realm, with the right to employ violence to control his wife and children. That is the … Continue reading Wife-beating, sharia, and Western law

EU demands for austerity will stir uncomfortable memories of Greece’s former imperial glory Hywel Williams guardian.co.uk What shall we do about the Greeks? This is not the first time the question has been asked by European leaders keen on the continent’s integration and finding the Hellenes a bit of a problem in that regard. It’s all rather embarrassing – especially since the democratic innovations of fifth century BC Athens are meant to supply the European Union with a satisfyingly antique pedigree. Pride in that remote history sustained the Greeks during the long centuries of Turkish occupation after Constantinople fell in … Continue reading Not quite Byzantium

<!– –> // <![CDATA[// // <![CDATA[// VIEW: The real culprits –Yasser Latif Hamdani As the second most populous Muslim nation state after Indonesia, our dilemma is no different from the confessional states of Europe that over time became the staunchest defenders of civil liberties and secularism Rakesh Mani was kind enough to mention my article ‘Faisal Shahzad’s radicalisation’, (Daily Times, May 10, 2010) in his article ‘The University of God’ (Daily Times, May 20, 2010). While I agree with most of his observations about Islamic organisations on American university campuses, I must raise a note of dissent in so far … Continue reading The real culprits

COMMNT: Prophets and prohibitions –Reem Wasay This decision has painted the Muslim voice as a stereotypically redundant rant and has rendered it powerless to actually change what Facebook has allowed This just in: the PTA has blocked all links to the Merriam Webster online dictionary. Turns out English is also being restricted lest it enables us the godless ability to actually be able to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and … Continue reading Prophets and prohibitions

COMMENT: Getting real on terrorism –Shahzad Chaudhry Comparing the sophistication of the 9/11 operation with the crudity of the Faisal Shahzad episode leaves one to conclude that the TTP, yet green at this level, may just have gone a step too far both in its reach and competence All sane minds seem to have reached a singular conclusion: there is no end to the persisting insurgency in the border regions of Pakistan and in Afghanistan through military means alone. It will need a parallel negotiating strategy with groups that have, to date, been labelled barbaric and medieval. The military will … Continue reading Getting real on terrorism

Robert Spencer, a Catholic apologist, spouting his vitriolic propaganda on the Christian Broadcasting Network Robert Spencer, one of the leading anti-Islam ideologues of the Western world, published The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).  This is a rebuttal of chapter four of his book. Spencer’s claim: 1.  Historically, Jews fared better in Christian Europe than in the lands of Islam.  Says Spencer: “…The Muslim laws [imposing dhimmitude] were much harsher for Jews than those of Christendom…In Christian lands there was the idea, however imperfect, of the equality of dignity and rights for all people…” [1] Rebuttal: Spencer’s claim … Continue reading Do Muslims want to reimpose dhimmitude or live as equals?

By Ardeshir Cowasjee dawn.com “Failed them we have, miserably, in too many ways. How, in one way, has just been brought home to us, in bitter fashion, by the reaction of the misguided electorate to a man such as Jamshed Dasti, a self-confessed crook and cheat. They care not, he is back on the political muck-heap.” – File Photo. Rewarding it is to receive responses to columns — we who pen them at least know that somewhere we are being read. Not strangely, by far the larger majority of comments come from abroad. My last two columns on the backlash … Continue reading Needed: realisation of reality

A Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) Written by Miyamoto Musashi Translated by Victor Harris All translator notes included Translator’s Introduction Introduction The Ground Book The Water Book The Fire Book The Wind Book The Book of the Void http://samuraiconsulting.ca/5rings/ Continue reading Go Rin No Sho