Dr Maleeha Lodhi The writer is a former envoy to the US and the UK, and a former editor of The News. Have the military operations in South Waziristan, other tribal areas and Swat helped to create a strategic moment in the country’s struggle against militants? Will 2010 be decisive in reversing the tide of militancy after a deadly year that saw a record number of terrorist attacks and killings? Has military action scattered the local Taliban or irrevocably weakened the movement? There are no easy answers to these questions in a fluid and fraught situation gravely affected by border … Continue reading Turning the tide of militancy

Newspapers may profess to hate the far right, but their narratives about race continue to shore up support for the party Sunny Hundal guardian.co.uk There was a brilliant column by Johann Hari a few years ago about his experience of appearing on a Sky News programme hosted by newspaper columnist Richard Littlejohn. Having admitted he didn’t know how much an asylum seeker got in benefits, Littlejohn screeched at Hari: “It’s people like you who help the BNP!” Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that the election of two MEPs would bring the BNP under closer scrutiny since last year. … Continue reading How the media helps the BNP and other Extremists

With blatant disregard for the first amendment, Republicans’ intolerance of US secularism means things are turning ugly Dan Kennedy guardian.co.uk If you’re part of secular America – that is, if you’re an atheist, an agnostic, a religious liberal or even a mainstream believer who thinks religion should be kept out of politics and vice-versa – then you should be very afraid of what the Republican party has in store for you in 2012. No news there, you might say. The Republicans, as we all know, have been in thrall to the Christian right since the Reagan era. But there’s something … Continue reading Christian Mullahism v Secular America

Shocking film footage has emerged showing how riot police brutally suppressed protesting Tehran University students Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk Last night the BBC Persian service broadcast for the first time a very disturbing video of the attack by the Basij militia and riot police on Tehran University’s campus just two days after the stolen election last June. The attack was one of the seminal events of Iran’s post-election unrest in which the police broke locks and then bones as they rampaged through the dormitories, carted off more than 100 students and killed five. The following day I went to Tehran … Continue reading The truth about Iran’s campus attack

Muslim teachings have a lot to offer when it comes to bringing personal values into public life and how best to live together Tariq Ramadan guardian.co.uk Let us agree on this: we live in pluralistic societies and pluralism is an unavoidable fact. We are equal citizens, but with different cultural and religious backgrounds. So, how can we, instead of being obsessed with potential “conflicts of identity” within communities, change that viewpoint to define and promote a common ethical framework, nurtured by the richness of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds? After all, a pluralistic society needs a strong and effective ethics … Continue reading Islam’s role in an ethical society

Photos: AP Are these men both ‘terrorists’? Joseph Stack (L) and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (R). A running NEWSWEEK debate about why and when we decide to call attacks on our country by the loaded word “terrorism.” Newsweek Late last week, NEWSWEEK staffers debated over email about the “terrorist” label. The discourse went well over three days. Should Joseph Stack be labeled a terrorist? Who decides? Can we, as journalists, apply the label equally to the likes of Stack, the Unabomber, Al Qaeda, Timothy McVeigh or anyone who plans to kill, injure or plan some kind of destruction of government property … Continue reading Should Joseph Stack Be Called a Terrorist?

Over a week ago the Fiqh Council of North America, which is a council of Islamic scholars who give religious opinions said that Body Scanners (Nude-Scanners) violate the requirements of  modesty and respect for human dignity and were, against the teachings of Islam, natural law and all religions and cultures that stand for decency and modesty. This is a respectable position since the objectives of the body scanner can be achieved through a pat-down by an officer of the same sex. When the Council came out with the verdict it was big news with the usual culprits on Fox News … Continue reading Robert Spencer, is the Pope a Dhimmi?

Know Your Conspiracies NEWSWEEK’s guide to today’s trendiest, hippest, and least likely fringe beliefs. By David A. Graham | Newsweek // Like recurring nightmares, conspiracy theories aren’t necessarily gone for good just because they disappear for a while. They often come back, sometimes in slightly different forms. Their last golden age came during the middle of the Bush administration, which saw rumors from the political left about connections between the Bushes and the bin Ladens, insinuations about the military-industrial complex and the Patriot Act—actually, pretty much every plotline in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Nothing breeds paranoid theories like political exile, … Continue reading Forget Pakistani – Check out American Conspiracies! LOL

Prevent – back to the drawing board Pouring money into ‘problematic’ Muslim communities isn’t effective: investment shouldn’t be limited by race or religion Anwar Akhtar guardian.co.uk, Once upon a time, police officers getting out and about to build trust in their community would have been considered basic police work. On Monday night, it was heralded as proof of the effectiveness of the government’s anti-extremism strategy Prevent. Viewers of the final instalment of the BBC’s Generation Jihad witnessed the story of Andrew Ibrahim, a young British Muslim convert from the quiet village of Frenchay near Bristol. Avon and Somerset police foiled … Continue reading Pouring money into ‘problematic’ Muslim communities isn’t effective

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran has raised the temperature of the nuclear standoff with Tehran a couple of degrees by claiming there is credible data that “raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile”. This reflects the more assertive stance of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog under Yukiya Amano, who took over as secretary general last December. Amano admitted in his first press conference there was no evidence of nuclear weaponization on Iran’s … Continue reading Revolution fuels Iran’s ambitions