By Kaveh L Afrasiabi In the aftermath of Israel’s admission that Iran may be several years away from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, the chances have declined that Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in the foreseeable future. That doesn’t stop Tel Aviv from frantically trying – to no avail – to rekindle the military option as it sees the undesirable ramifications of the latest intelligence estimate that sanctions on Iran mean it won’t be able to build an atomic weapon for at least a few years yet. With the genie of a reduced Iran proliferation risk already out of the bottle, it will … Continue reading Israel drums up heat on Iran

Why Tunisia can but Iran can’t By Ali Reza Eshraghi The surprising rapidity with which Tunisians unseated President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali has been watched keenly in Iran, not least by the political opposition known as the Green Movement. As Iranian blogs and Facebook messages abound with the punning phrase, “Tounes tounes, Iran na-tounes” – meaning “Tunisia could, Iran couldn’t” – there has also been sober reflection on why this was the case; why the massive protests that followed the disputed presidential election of June 2009 came to nothing in the end. At the same time, as economic hardship sparked riots in … Continue reading Tunisia can but Iran can’t

By Francesco Sisci BEIJING – In a ritual equal only to that of the church, last week China placed a statue of Confucius in its political heart, Tiananmen Square, before Mao Zedong’s portrait and near the modern obelisk to the People’s Heroes, two symbols that materially defined China’s national identity for 60 years. This is a political statement, not a celebration of art, and it reshapes the country’s ideological mission. The removal of images of saints from churches was the pronouncement of the Protestant Reformation and unleashed a wave of radical development in European and world history with the rapid … Continue reading Confucius takes a stand

By Syed Saleem Shahzad Events of the past two years suggest that the plans of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to scale down its troop numbers in Afghanistan this year is not the beginning of the end of combat operations. Rather, it’s a switch to a new plan that aims to facilitate the broader participation of regoinal allies such as Russia, India and the Central Asian Republics for the defeat of the Islamic militancy. Already, there has been collaboration in Afghanistan between NATO and Russia’s anti-drug operatives, while Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s 2008 proposal that Western capitals set up … Continue reading A shadowy new battlefield

By Jens Kastner TAIPEI – The maiden flight of China’s new stealth jet fighter humbled those officials and observers who initially dismissed the possibility that the country could come up with such a sophisticated weapon any time soon. It was strikingly demonstrated that neither the intelligence apparatus of the United States nor that of Taiwan had a clue about the speed of Chinese advances. Unnoticed by Beijing’s adversaries, the J-20’s engineers have mastered advanced stealth-shaping techniques, and even if mass production still lies a few years ahead, it is understood that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in the foreseeable … Continue reading Stealth fighter sneaks up on Taiwan

By Syed Saleem Shahzad and Tahir Ali ISLAMABAD – With the Afghan war entering its 10th year, completely undeterred by the American drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal region, al-Qaeda is putting the final touches to plans to recruit, train and launch Western Caucasians in their countries; the aim is to spread the flames of the South Asian war theater to the West. Al-Qaeda began planning the operation in 2002, after the fall in late 2001 of the Taliban in Afghanistan, where the group had been given sanctuary. Al-Qaeda had regrouped in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal area on the border … Continue reading Al-Qaeda to unleash Western jihadis?

for more articles please go to the source of this at –  http://www.NewslineMagazine.com/ Interview: Dr Khalid Zaheer, Religious Scholar By Farieha Aziz “Capital punishment for blasphemy is simply not Islamic” – Dr Khalid Zaheer, Religious Scholar and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Central Punjab Q: Is the death penalty prescribed under the Blasphemy Law Islamic? Has it been derived from the Quran? A: A law that punishes people who are involved in the act of blasphemy, to me, is not directly derived from the Quran – there is no clear mention in the Quran about … Continue reading Capital punishment for blasphemy is simply not Islam

More from: http://viewsacrossthepond.wordpress.com Rep Peter King, IRA supporter, wants to hold hearings on radical islam From: http://viewsacrossthepond.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/rep-peter-king-ira-supporter-wants-to-hold-hearings-on-radical-islam/ Many of us have had this feeling over the past couple of years that McCarthyism has reared its ugly head into American politics once again. Since President Obama came to office and people such as Glenn Beck et al have risen to stardom in the Tea Party wave that has swept since 2008, there has been a palatable change – a rise in divisions and us versus them. McCarthyism for those not in the know, is named after Joe McCarthy who during the “red scare” era of the … Continue reading Peter King ‘SUPPORTED THE KILLING OF BRITISH PEOPLE’ now he wants to KILL OTHERS!

Pakistani teens: Partying with Chuck Bass to spite the Taliban Everyone has their own reasons, ranging from looking at hot boys to taking fashion tips. Boy meets girl. Boy is either geeky and the girl is glamorous and beautiful either/or both are from “different worlds.” Boy and girl have a series of meetings in which they are gradually attracted to each other. Some kind of misunderstanding, fight, tragedy, shocking revelations, etcetera occurs that throws a wrench in the relationship. Boy and girl either break up, or decide to take some time off. Boy and girl proceed to have a series … Continue reading Pakistani teens rocking despite Mullahs raving!

The real blasphemers How are we, as Muslims, meant to deal with blasphemy? The issue of Aasiya Bibi’s alleged blasphemy became one of the hottest topics for debate in 2010. At a very basic level, the question that everyone sought to answer is this: How are we, as Muslims, meant to deal with blasphemy? This question has a simple answer: we should ignore people who are accused of blasphemy and tell them that the great man whom they are supposedly targeting in their acts of blasphemy was the one who taught us to ignore their actions and focus on more positive things … Continue reading Is Mullahism, blasphemy against Islam?