Raoul Moat never really had a future Had he lived, the media would have made Raoul Moat a ‘celebrity con’, and made life after his release all but unlivable Erwin James guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 15.35 BST Article history A well-wisher lays flowers at the spot where Raoul Moat took his own life after a six-hour stand off with armed police on Friday evening. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA”You have a future,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson of the Northumbria police in direct pleas to gunman Raoul Moat during several press conferences last week. The idea must have been to … Continue reading Raoul Moat?

Cameron must make the case for talks with the Taliban Obama’s mantra is that there is a political fix for Afghanistan. The PM’s job in the US next week is to help him realise it Jonathan Steele guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 19.59 BST Article history Smiles will be few when David Cameron meets Barack Obama in the Oval Office next week for their first formal discussion of Afghanistan. After more than 1,000 US and 300 British troop deaths, both know their electorates’ scepticism over the war is mounting. Claims of progress on Afghanistan’s battlefields sound hollow; platitudes about “not staying … Continue reading UK Talks with the Taliban?

COMMENT: Ask the right questions! —Fahd Ali The Sharifs’ continuous tango with extremists, both militant and non-militant, has made many question the Sharifs’ willingness to take any sort of anti-criminal action against such elements Recently, a leading private TV channel interviewed Mian Nawaz Sharif. The interview has left many important questions unanswered. I was expecting the interviewers to pitch some hard hitting questions to Mian sahib. However, it turned out to be merely a feel good exercise. There might be some other suitable moment in history where the public might like to know about Mian sahib’s childhood, his relationship with … Continue reading The tango with extremists

VIEW: Will the Pakistani state prevail? —S P Seth The most insidious result for Pakistan has been the growth of its own Taliban movement that seeks to subvert the Pakistani state and replace it with a Pakistani version of the Taliban government in Afghanistan Things are happening thick and fast in Pakistan, though not for the good of its people. The recent bombing in Lahore at a religious shrine was heart-rending. The sufi stream is the most heartening feature of Islam with a consensual subcontinental culture. To see this being attacked with such ferocity leaves one with a sense of … Continue reading Will Pakistan or Mullahs prevail?

COMMENT: Our own muddle —Shahzad Chaudhry After the usual round of condemnation following the blasts, what has emerged as a national political response is even more tragic. The PPP found it most opportune to zero in on the PML-N’s reluctance to accept Punjab as a hotbed of domestic terrorism Mian Nawaz Sharif, the twice elected former prime minister and leader of the party in power in Punjab, the PML-N, could only make it to Data Darbar, the unfortunate site of the July 1st blasts that killed 44 devotees and injured over 150, on the fifth day after the blasts. This, … Continue reading Pakistans muddle

VIEW: Legal minds of Pakistan —Yasser Latif Hamdani The gap between Pakistan and India in terms of intellectual, economic and social development is roughly equal to the gap between Ram Mohan Roy and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in terms of time Any legal scholar picking up jurisprudence in Pakistan would be under the impression that Pakistan and India never separated. The reliance Pakistani jurists, judges and lawyers place on Indian judgements and case law is phenomenal. Indian precedents are not just persuasive – as in the case of English judgements and some American ones – but are given the status … Continue reading Legal minds of Pakistan

Barefoot Bandit on the run in the Bahamas: Teenage Facebook ‘hero’ flies to Caribbean after stealing plane Has stolen cars and FOUR planes to get from West Coast in U.S. to Bahamas His mother says: ‘I’m glad he’s able to enjoy beautiful islands’ Learnt how to fly by playing computer games and reading instruction manuals Police after him since 2007 when he broke out of a juvenile detention centre A teenage Facebook cult hero, known as the Barefoot Bandit, is believed to have crash-landed a plane in the Bahamas to continue his crime spree. Colton Harris-Moore, 19, has more than … Continue reading Free Colton Harris-Moore

Chinese airport closed after fiery UFO is spotted flying over city A Chinese airport was closed after this mysterious object was spotted in the sky. Arcing over Zhejiang’s provincial capital Hangzhou, the UFO appeared to glow with an eerie white light and left a bright trail in its wake. Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected at around 9 pm and dozens of flights had to be diverted. The strange light appeared to glow as it swept through the night sky, to the alarm of local residents Another photo from a different angle which shows a wide trail … Continue reading UFO is spotted near airport

In Defense of Wicca Note: The following are my opinions. Yours will probably differ. If you have objections, feel free to write to me at shydavid@ airspeed.com You may also search this site. The Problem Americans generally believe that their Constitution guarantees their freedom to worship as they please. That is a false belief. The USA Constitution recognizes that right: it is the citizen’s duty (and obligation) to defend it. If this were Pangloss’s “best of all possible worlds” (Candide, by Voltaire), the United States government would defend that right against people who would deny other people that right. It … Continue reading Defend our Wiccan brothers and sisters!

Attack on Iran’s Baha’i is a human rights outrage The destruction of 50 Baha’i homes demonstrates the Iranian government’s disregard for its international obligations Barney Leith guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 July 2010 09.30 BST Article history The homes of 50 Baha’i farming families were razed in Ivel, Iran on 26 June. Photograph: Baha’i World News Service”The governor general is like a physician … if he feels that there is a malignant tumour in the body of the society, he tries to remove it.” Such was the official explanation given to Natoly Derakhshan, a Baha’i from the village of Ivel in Mazandaran … Continue reading Time to stand up for the Baha’i religious group