Islamism: why the west gets it wrong Roger Hardy guardian.co.uk “The west is ill at ease with Islam“, a BBC colleague remarked, long before 9/11. “Even communism was more familiar.” Communism, after all, came from within the western intellectual tradition. Islam, in contrast, is alien as well as threatening. Our mistake is to see Islam as monolithic. We think of the Saudi brand as the norm – as if cutting off hands, outlawing the building of churches and denying women the right to drive were the norm across the vast sweep of the Muslim world. After 30 years’ experience travelling … Continue reading Islamism is widely misunderstood in the west. It has its roots in a reaction to the global politics of the 20th century

Don’t be put off ‘bothering’ your GP Ann Robinson guardian.co.uk, The Times leads today with the not-very-exciting headline that people go to their GP too often with minor complaints. The “story” is based on a letter in the paper signed by a host of signatories who have set up the Self Care Campaign. The chief executive of Diabetes UK is among the leading lights of the group. The signatories, who include some very eminent and sensible doctors, are publishing a manifesto saying that people should be encouraged to manage their minor ailments on their own and not visit the GP … Continue reading British Doctors are not your superiors! Bother them NOW!

Alison Flood guardian.co.uk, Martin Amis Photograph: Suki Dhanda Martin Amis might have expressed negative views about Islam in the past, but the author told an Abu Dhabi newspaper this week that he believed that if his sister, Sally, an alcoholic who died in 2000, had converted to the religion she might still be alive. Interviewed by Abu Dhabi English-language newspaper The National, Amis said he wished his sister had converted to Islam. “To this day I have this wish – she was always religious and she converted to Catholicism. I wish she had converted to Islam. She might still be … Continue reading Islamophobe Martin Amis: ‘I wish my sister had converted to Islam’

Sahil Saeed kidnap: police reveal details of release British boy kidnapped in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago is found safe and well after release Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk Akila Naqqash holds a photo of her son, Sahil Saeed, at home in Oldham after learning of his release by kidnappers in Pakistan. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA The five-year-old British boy kidnapped while on holiday in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago was today found wandering in a field after being released alone at 9am, police said. Sahil Saeed, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, was snatched from a house in the … Continue reading British boy kidnapped in Pakistan is found safe and well – kidnappers may now be shot on sight?

The women and the myths Posted by Shagufta Naaz  We all know the stereotypes, don’t we? Thanks to centuries of literature, cinema, and now Star Plus, a woman’s identity depends on the size of the pigeon-hole she can be slotted into. Thus, she can be beautiful or she can be brainy; rarely both. She can either be the dutiful wife or the gold-digging tramp; the girl-next-door or the sexy siren. If she hails from our part of the world, a woman can be a wife, sister, daughter, or mother. A single woman with no siblings and deceased parents simply doesn’t … Continue reading Time to limit womens rights?

The crazy Right and rump Pakistan By Kamran Shafi Pakistan is at great risk and no one seems to have learnt any lessons at all, writes Kamran Shafi. — Photo by AFP I was to regale you with other stories to do with our security establishment’s tortured and seemingly futile hunt for the very elusive holy grail of strategic depth in Afghanistan (I ask you) this week, but the ever-increasing assault on our poor country and its innocent people by unlettered and brainwashed and murderous yahoos leads me elsewhere. Who saw clips of the unintentional video shot by a shocked bystander … Continue reading Are Pakistani politicians going to grow up about Mullahs?

Cross-border militants strike back By Syed Saleem Shahzad ISLAMABAD – As a lone suicide bomber approached a convoy of security personnel after walking through a crowded market he detonated the bomb strapped to his body. Eleven people were killed and more than 35 injured in the massive blast on Monday in the Nishat Chowk district of Mingora, the capital of Swat in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Gruesome scenes of bodies being recovered amid billowing black smoke, burning vehicles and shattered buildings are not new to Pakistan; similar – and much bigger – attacks occur regularly. What was significant about … Continue reading In Swat Takfiri Mullahs start to infest again

By Victor Kotsev Relations between the United States and Israeli administrations have been tense for the past year. When US Vice President Joe Biden landed in Israel on Monday, seeking to avert a probable Israeli strike on Iran and to formally restart the peace talks with the Palestinians, he was likely prepared for some difficult moments. His reception, however, caught him off-guard, as it did the entire international community. “A slap in the face” and “humiliation” for him are some of the phrases observers used to describe the plan for the construction of 1,600 new Jewish homes in East Jerusalem … Continue reading Israel puts US on notice – obey or we release the Christian Baptist Fanatics!

By Jing-dong Yuan MONTEREY, California – Beijing’s highly charged, unequivocally strong responses to United States foreign policy actions in recent months have gone beyond past practices of mere rhetoric, setting the scene for more trouble when disputes over trade, currency and the pending Iran sanctions issue are added to the mix. The first sign of a fracture after a smooth and upbeat first year in Sino-United States relations under the Barack Obama administration came at the climate summit in Copenhagen last December, followed by the Google controversy, the spat over cyber-space, the administration’s decision on arms sales to Taiwan, which … Continue reading US, China struggle with mid-life crisis