Author: Mohammed Abbasi

Leave a comment

Ukraine: The clash of partnerships

Mohammed Abbasi

John Feffer  The Cold War is history. For those growing up today, the Cold War is as distant in time as World War II was for those came of age in the 1970s. In both cases, empires collapsed and maps were redrawn. Repugnant ideologies were laid bare and then laid to rest, though patches of nostalgia persist.  Surely the Cold War has been consigned to the textbooks as irrevocably as the Battle of the Bulge. The Berlin Wall is in pieces. The US president speaks of the abolition of nuclear weapons. The “common European home” from the Atlantic to the … Continue reading Ukraine: The clash of partnerships

Leave a comment

Indonesian clerics issue fatwa to protect wildlife

Mohammed Abbasi

  AFP — Photo by AFP Updated 2014-03-05 17:17:58     JAKARTA: Indonesia’s top Islamic clerical body has issued a religious fatwa against the illegal hunting and trade of endangered animals in the country, which the WWF hailed on Wednesday as the world’s first. The fatwa by the Indonesian Ulema Council declares such activities “unethical, immoral and sinful”, council official Asrorun Ni’am Sholeh told AFP. “All activities resulting in wildlife extinction without justifiable religious grounds or legal provisions are haram (forbidden). These include illegal hunting and trading of endangered animals,” said Sholeh, secretary of the council’s commission on fatwas. “Whoever takes away a life, kills … Continue reading Indonesian clerics issue fatwa to protect wildlife

Leave a comment

Gold is the way forward NOT Bitcoin!

Mohammed Abbasi

The Bear’s Lair: Gold is libertarian, cyberspace isn’t  by Martin Hutchinson Assessing the sustainability of Bitcoin amid recent controversy. The disappearance of the Bitcoin trading website Mt. Gox caused consternation among younger libertarians, who had seen cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as a vital weapon in the struggle against Big Government. For those like myself with almost as much suspicion of the tech sector as I have of Washington, it caused a smile of grim satisfaction. In reality, Bitcoin represents the world of Mikhail Bakunin more than that of Adam Smith; for true libertarians, it fails on a number of criteria that sound … Continue reading Gold is the way forward NOT Bitcoin!

Leave a comment

Spring fails in Ukrainian plunderland

Mohammed Abbasi

By Pepe Escobar  Here’s the US’s exceptionalist promotion of “democracy” in action; Washington has recognized a coup d’etat in Ukraine that regime-changed a – for all its glaring faults – democratically elected government.  And here is Russian President Vladimir Putin, already last year,talking about how Russia and China decided to trade in roubles and yuan, and stressing how Russia needs to quit the “excessive monopoly” of the US dollar. He had to be aware the Empire would strike back.  Now there’s more; Russian presidential adviser Sergey Glazyev told RIA Novosti, “Russia will abandon the US dollar as a reserve currency if the … Continue reading Spring fails in Ukrainian plunderland

Leave a comment

The Rise of Al Qaeda 2.0

Mohammed Abbasi

First They Attacked A Mall, Then They Repelled SEAL Team Six: The Rise of Al Qaeda 2.0 DAVID FRANCIS    Reuters   In a series of exclusive interviews, Business Insider spoke with members of Al Shabaab — the newly emboldened Islamic militant group that attacked the Westgate mall and repelled a raid by SEAL Team Six — to ask how the mall assault was planned, how members are recruited and trained, and what their ultimate goals are.   Few Americans had ever heard of al Shabaab before the fall of 2013. That changed on Sept. 21, when gunmen armed with … Continue reading The Rise of Al Qaeda 2.0

Leave a comment

US hawks take flight over Ukraine

Mohammed Abbasi

By Jim Lobe  WASHINGTON – A familiar clutch of hawks have taken wing over the rapidly developing crisis in Ukraine, as neo-conservatives and other interventionists claim that President Barack Obama’s preference for diplomacy over military action invited Russian aggression. At stake in the current crisis, according to these right-wing critics, are not only Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also Washington’s “credibility” as a global superpower and the perpetuation by the US and its Western allies of the post-Cold War international order.  Some right-wing commentators, such as Michael Auslin of the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute, which played a major role in drumming … Continue reading US hawks take flight over Ukraine

Leave a comment

Karzai says 12-year Afghanistan war has left him angry at U.S. government

Mohammed Abbasi

  By Kevin Sieff, KABUL — Hamid Karzai was in the midst of negotiating a security agreement with the United States when he met a 4-year-old girl who had lost half her face in an American airstrike. Five months later, the Afghan president’s eyes welled with tears as he described visiting the disfigured little girl at a hospital. He took long pauses between words. Sitting behind his desk Saturday night, the man who has projected a defiant image toward the West suddenly looked frail. “That day, I wished she were dead, so she could be buried with her parents and brothers and … Continue reading Karzai says 12-year Afghanistan war has left him angry at U.S. government

Leave a comment

Levels of outrage

Mohammed Abbasi

    Owen Bennett-Jones                                    I was asked the other day why the people of Pakistan were not more outraged by the beheading of the 23 Frontier Constabulary men in Mohmand. Good question. The person asking had her own explanation. The people of Pakistan, she argued, despair of American imperialism and the violent conduct Pakistan’s own army. Through bitter experience they have come to see that the methods used by the US and the Pakistani military will never produce long-term solutions. The deaths of … Continue reading Levels of outrage

Leave a comment

Confronting Racism among American Muslims

Mohammed Abbasi

  By Imam Dawud Walid Intra-Muslim racism is an issue often swept under the rug in the American Muslim community. Some of its manifestations are overt while its varying expressions tend to be more subtle. In order for us to be the community, which Allah (swt) describes as “the best nation brought forth from humankind (Quran 3:110),” we must put forth the same, if not more, intellectual and socialenergy in confronting intra-Muslim racism as we do when confronting Islamophobia. A hurtful symptom of the disease of racism among us is seen in the derogatory terms that are used by many Muslims to describe … Continue reading Confronting Racism among American Muslims

Leave a comment

Islamist Radical Parents: London Mayor Boris Johnson indicts non-existent “Islamist radical” parents in Lee Rigby’s murder.

Mohammed Abbasi

London Mayor’s Awkward Moment: Remove children from “Islamist radicals” H/T: Mr.Tickles At last justice has been served. Michael Adebowale and Michael Abedbolago were convicted of the brutal murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich last May. Rigby’s family issued a statement saying: We would like to thank the judge and the courts for handing down what we believe to be the right prison terms. We would also like to thank everyone who has supported us in the last nine months. It has brought us a lot of comfort and we feel satisfied that justice has been served for Lee. We now ask … Continue reading Islamist Radical Parents: London Mayor Boris Johnson indicts non-existent “Islamist radical” parents in Lee Rigby’s murder.