Israel delaying East Jerusalem demolitions to calm U.S. ire By Nir Hasson The Jerusalem municipality has refrained from demolishing homes in East Jerusalem for the past five months, in a move widely seen as an effort to ease tensions with the United States and assuage fears of an outbreak of violence among the Arab residents of the city. The official explanation is that the de facto demolition freeze – the longest recorded in recent years – is a temporary one caused by budgetary constraints. Indeed, there have been no demolitions in predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem since the hiatus began, and … Continue reading Israel delaying East Jerusalem demolitions to calm U.S. ire

Strategies for Engaging Political Islam <!–January 27th, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized by Stephen –> Project on Middle East Democracy, January 2010. by Shadi Hamid and Amanda Kadlec Introduction: Political Islam is the single most active political force in the Middle East today. Its future is intimately tied to that of the region. If the United States and the European Union are committed to supporting political reform in the region, they will need to devise concrete, coherent strategies for engaging Islamist groups. Yet, the U.S. has generally been unwilling to open a dialogue with these movements. Similarly, EU engagement with Islamists … Continue reading Engaging Political Islam with respect

Google tells Australia its `Net filters` go way too far This can`t be the way that Australia wanted it. One day after Google announced its decision to stop censoring its search results in China, the Australian government released the results of a public consultation on its own Internet censorship proposal. // <![CDATA[ // // <![CDATA[ // // // By Nate Anderson, Mar 23, (arstechnica.com) — Predictably, Google has some objections (PDF), including its oblique comment that Australia’s mandatory filtering scheme could “confer legitimacy upon filtering by other Governments.””Australia is rightly regarded as a liberal democracy that balances individual liberty with … Continue reading Forget China and Google – what about Australian censorship going unchecked?

Why Go Joe? by Ghassan Abdallah, Ph.D. March 16, 2010 The Israeli government’s announcement of plans to build 1600 housing units in east Jerusalem while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the country is being dubbed by the pundits as a “slap in the face,” an “insult,” and an “embarrassing diplomatic spat.”   Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to vent American frustration at the announcement to expand Jewish settlements, an announcement that rained on Joe Biden’s Middle East parade.  Secretary Clinton told CNN “the announcement of the settlements on the very day that the vice president … Continue reading Joe Biden is US Vice President and he sings to no-ones tune?

General election campaign begins on Facebook The social network has launched Democracy UK, which will try to engage its 23 million users with the election debate By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor telegraph.co.uk Facebook has launched a bid to encourage users to engage in the 2010 election campaign Photo: BLOOMBERG Social networking site Facebook has launched a new campaign to encourage its 23 million UK users to engage with the forthcoming election campaign. Democracy UK will ask questions and then aggregate opinion and debate. There will be regular polls and on election day itself, the site will also encourage users … Continue reading UK General election begins on Facebook

Joe Biden Congratulates Barack Obama with F-Word // “This is a big fucking deal,” the Vice President said before President Obama signed the health insurance reform bill into law. Another classic Joe Biden “gaffe,” which is when he says a truthful and often totally endearing thing in public. http://gawker.com/5500061/joe-biden-congratulates-barack-obama-with-f+word?skyline=true&s=i Continue reading Eight years of having Satan’s spawn as Vice President, Biden is such a breath fresh air!

Six Delusions of Google’s Arrogant Leaders Google’s CEO went to Abu Dhabi this week and preached. He sermonized about Google’s exceptional virtue — its indifference to profit and supreme trustworthiness. His speech should have been shocking. Except that delusional self-righteousness is now routine at Google. Eric Schmidt‘s comments at the Abu Dhabi “media summit” certainly sound especially cocky even considering the Google CEO’s past haughty pronouncements. Schmidt, Fortune reports, implied Google is more trustworthy than any government on the planet after he was was asked asked about the company’s worrisome stash of private data on its users, Schmidt : “All … Continue reading Google’s Arrogance – the Microsoft virus?

Strategic dialogue and the Pashtun —Zubair Torwali The Pashtun, who undoubtedly are the direct victims of terrorism and the war on terror, have never been asked to express their views in this regard. The Pashtuns are now so tired of the strategic depth policy that they compare it with a deep grave for them By the time this article appears in print, the strategic dialogue between the US and Pakistani governments scheduled for March 24, would have started in Washington. The more important of delegations, perhaps the most significant one, left for Washington on March 20. This delegation comprises our … Continue reading Pashtuns are the main victims of Mullahism