May 16, 2012

News and Analysis (5/16/12)

Having badly hurt its chances to defeat Amr Moussa by splitting votes with expelled candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, the FJP desperately tries to widen its base with a swing to the right to collect votes that would have gobe to the disqualified Nour party candidate:

Using the power of the market to reject Westernization, ” Islamists engage in consumer activism as a way to “moralize the market” and embrace products (like gender-segregated resorts and alcohol-free perfumes) that reflect their values”:

“Correspondents say the move is a blow to reconciliation efforts with Hamas, the Islamist group which governs Gaza”:

Majid Nawaz, who abandoned Hizb ut-Tahrir to found an anti-extremist group, denounced the notion of “implementation of the Sharia” as”politically naive,” because “when imposing Sharia, a society chooses a particular interpretation of Islam and closes the door on ijtehad. ‘Islam must be kept free of political interference,’ he said”:

“We are conscious that we have not allowed our womenfolk to get their due, as mandated by Islam in India, allowing a lot of backward traditions to corrupt what is rightly the due of our sisters, daughters, mothers and wives” — Mahmood Madani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind — “which runs the largest number of madrasas in the country”:

The struggle over this shrine in Zlitan … is the story of Libya as it struggles to re-shape itself after Gaddafi’s rule. It is the story of the battle for the right to define what it means to be a Muslim in Libya, of theological arguments being settled by weapons, and of an interim government that is so weak that it cannot impose its authority over opposing factions”:

“At one point, Mladic responded to a defiant gesture from a spectator by drawing a finger across his throat in a slitting gesture, prompting censure from Presiding Judge Alphons Orie for “inappropriate interactions” with those watching the proceedings”:

“Now that Socialist Francois Hollande has replaced the conservative Sarkozy as France’s president, Turkey hopes he will be more sympathetic to the candidacy of a country that has one of the world’s fastest growing economies and is becoming a regional diplomatic player”:

Iran and the U.S. begin in a race to arm Syria:

May 15, 2012

News and Analysis (5/15/12)

“This is Abu Ghraib by power point and lectern…. What they are talking about is essentially genocide,” of Muslims — Mikey Weinstein, president of the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation:

“[W]hen it halted the arms deal last year, State Department officials promised to monitor Bahrain’s response to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), which investigated the crackdown, when deciding whether to resume the deal. The BICI found evidence of systematic abuse … including torture of protesters”:

“Israel will end solitary confinement for all prisoners and allow around 400 prisoners from Gaza to receive family visits.” Those imprisoned “without charge or trial, the key issue behind the hunger strike[, ]will not have their terms renewed without fresh information or evidence being brought before a military judge”:

“Lehava, the extremist Jewish organization for the prevention of assimilation in the Holy Land, has come up with a new gimmick that is creating a stormy debate on the issue of mixed marriages between Jews and Arabs,” distributing “an imaginary wedding invitation between Michal and her chosen groom, Mohammad”:

“Najafi denied his song focused on the revered Shia imam or was meant to criticise Islam. The song takes the form of a prayer to the ninth century Naqi and expresses ironic reverence for many contemporary Iranian figures [w]ith references ranging from Iranians’ love of nose jobs to economic sanctions and the contested 2009 presidential election”:

After being “nearly wiped out during Syria’s last revolution, during which government forces killed as many as 25,000 people in Hama in 1982″:

“Twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi was hanged at Tehran’s Evin Prison after being sentenced to death in August last year for the murder of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, Iran’s state news agency quoted the central prosecutor’s office as saying. It said he had confessed to the crime”:

“General Shah knows that he owes his selection to his military background. The community expects him to use baton and toughness to restore discipline, end nepotism and ensure uniform application of laws in the campus. He, however, promised to give priority to students by raising their living standards and ensuring quality education”:

“MI5, which carried out routine security vetting in 2006 for Scotland Yard, warned that he could have visited a training camp—which Mr Rahman vehemently denies. Pc Rahman was never charged, but had his security clearance removed—which effectively made him unemployable as a cop”:

May 12, 2012

News and Analysis (5/12/12)

The course had “been teaching that America’s enemy is Islam in general, not just terrorists, and suggesting that the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths, following [WW-II] precedents of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima or the allied firebombing of Dresden”:

“Ghannouchi … had promised that Salafi parties would be licensed as long as they embrace democracy, offering them a stake in the new system rather than locking them out as Ben Ali had done.” Opening the doors for Salafi participation in the political process is consistent with democracy and appreciative of the radicalizing consequences of suppression:

An 18-month-old girl ordered off a plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after her parents say officials told them her name was on a no-fly list …

… underscores the merits of other Muslim-Americans suit to get off the no-fly list:

“I believe this bill is unconstitutional (and) intolerant…. I think this bill will set Kansas out as a place not to go if you believe any other way than particularly a very small religious-right perspective … This country is based on freedom. And it isn’t ‘You can only be free if you think like me’” – Sen. Tim Owens, R:

Among the Salafi reasons for support of Aboul Fotouh are his relative strength among “Islamists in the running; … that Egypt is ready only for baby steps toward their puritanical goals; … [fear of] Brotherhood … control of both the presidency and the Parliament; and … [of] the Brotherhood’s demands for obedience from its members, even in politics”:

“The defeat of the Islamist coalition is likely to exacerbate the already-widespread view that power in Algeria remains in the hands of a predatory elite detached from the needs of the vast majority of the population”:

“[T]he jockeying to succeed him has quietly begun, and Iran is positioning its own candidate for the post, a hard-line cleric who would give Tehran a direct line of influence over the Iraqi people, heightening fears that Iran’s long-term goal is to transplant its Islamic Revolution to Iraq”:

“The former adviser, 81, sparked an uproar in 2010 when he said that a woman could be alone or even appear without her veil in front of an unrelated adult male if he drinks her breast milk because it establishes a mother-son bond…. That reasoning is rejected by most Islamic scholars”:

 

May 10, 2012

News and Analysis (5/10/12)

“[A]s the next round of talks looms on May 23 in Baghdad, questions are being raised about whether the US can – or even intends to – ease sanctions no matter what steps Iran agrees to take”:

In Egypt, pragmatism increases Fotouh’s popularity, particularly among the Salafists in Egypt. The Salafi’s support for Fotouh can be regarded as a sign that they are now endorsing moderation and that their ideology has become politicized upon immersion into a democratic system of elections …

… but conflict proceeds between the Parliament and the generals in Egypt as an administrative court on Wednesday attempts to suspend Egypt’s presidential election scheduled to start for May 23:

“Despite the rapid growth of the media in Afghanistan, many still get their news and commentary during the traditional Friday prayers at the mosque. The Friday sermon usually has one religious lesson — but another section is reserved for current events. The message on one recent Friday at a central Kabul mosque was about corruption”:

“Al-Kidd said he was imprisoned for 16 days, repeatedly strip searched and at times left naked in a jail cell” and that the government falsified an affidavit “to get a judge to sign his arrest warrant, and that the United States falsely imprisoned him and abused his right to due process,” but the perps plead immunity as they were just following orders:

“I believe we are part of a growing global chorus … [of] moderates [that] exist everywhere, in every tradition and in every political environment. There are moderates in Israel. There are moderates in Iran, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party. And what we need to do is … to marginalize the voice of the extremists” — ” Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf:

After three years of silence, captured soldiers family says they are “worried that the government isn’t concerned enough to put him on the [negotiating] table”:

In Germany, clashes have emerged between a a right-wing political party and an Islamic group. In response there are calls for the government to ”deny entry to Salafists who are known to be violent, as well as prevent Pro NRW from showing any more anti-Islamic cartoons”:

“Cultural barriers to participation were recently highlighted … when [Saudi Arabia] refused to allow Saudi women to compete in the Olympics. The institutional barrier, by contrast, can be seen in Fifa’s ban on women wearing hijab on the pitch” preventing Iran’s women’s team from completing “their 2012 Olympic second-round qualifying match”:
“It’s my duty and my passion to show another facet of Arab women…. We are very strong, we’re human beings and we have our own personality on our own. We want to be seen like that. We don’t want this projection of the Western world or Islamic culture on us from both sides. We just want to be seen as human beings”:

May 8, 2012

News and Anlysis (5/8/12)

“Reacting to these provocations with violence is not the way of peace-loving Muslims because it is un-Islamic and moreover plays into the hands of the right wing” — the Central Council of Muslims:

Faithful to Islam’s pro-market and anti-monopoly teachings, Indian Muslim leaders welcome the phase-out of tax subsidies to pilgrims and call for ending Air India’s monopoly on flights so airlines may compete to attract more travelers at lower fares:

“Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla have been placed in ‘administrative detention’, a controversial practice whereby people can be held without charge or trial”:

“All of the defense counsel, all of the guards and everybody who works in Guantanamo Bay camp has seen me dressed like this. … I never thought in my wildest dreams that this would become an issue” –

“The latest video further identifies Al Qaeda with the kidnapping of the elderly Mr. Weinstein, a dubious public relations strategy, notes the Monitor’s Dan Murphy”:

Former MB deputy supreme guide Mohammed Habib contrasts the current leadership to the organization’s founder “who he said was deeper and more far-sighted” and “more open to making alliances” unlike the current group’s attempts at monopolizing power whether in the parliament, the constitution, or the presidency” …

… while the “religious establishment in Egypt … regards religious interpretation as being the domain of academic specialists, or ‘the learned’ (‘ulama), rather than put into the hands of political activists who would corrupt God’s religion for petty political gain” …

The U.S. called him “the worst of the worst,” but the regime we installed in Iraq says there is insufficient evidence to hold him:

“Military officials receive promises from local village elders that violence will decrease in their towns if certain prisoners are released, and warn the prisoners that if they are caught attacking U.S. troops again they will immediately be detained”:

Public criticism of the king “is unprecedented, and the only way out for the king is to move toward real reform” — Zaki Saad, “a leading figure with the Islamic Action Front, the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan’s most organized opposition movement”:

May 6, 2012

News and Analysis (5/6/12)

“Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Bangladesh will press the U.S. to eliminate its 15.3 percent tariff on Bangladesh’s vital garment industry. Bangladesh exported $5.1 billion worth of goods — mainly garments — to the U.S. last year and imported $676 million worth in return”:

“Al-Nour party, along with others, has thrown its weight … behind Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, … who split with the [Muslim Brotherhood] while still backing its broad aims…. ‘The new president must be strong … and not beholden to any particular party or faction” — Ashraf Thabet, deputy speaker of the Egyptian parliament (Al-Nour)

“Lawyer Ragia Omran said that the roundup is one of the largest mass arrests to follow violent protests during the country’s troubled transition. The detainees, who include 18 women, are being interrogated by military prosecutors and could face military trials, she said”:

Organizers of the bake-sale-funded dance’s organizers  ignored “naysayers who could not imagine anyone coming to a prom without boys,” and found enthusiasm not only among those unable “to attend the coed prom because of cultural and religious beliefs” but among “non-Muslim students [who]wanted to go, too”:

Susann Bashir “said she had already endured years of harassment by co-workers and had started pursuing a religious discrimination case against her employer when the supervisor, during a routine meeting in his office, snatched her scarf and exposed her hair”:

“The plight of 15-year-old Sahar Gul captivated the nation and set off a storm of international condemnation when it came to light in late December”:

Her mottos are “from Frederick Douglass (‘Power concedes nothing without a demand’), Howard Zinn (‘Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world’) and a hadith attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (‘Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart’):

“Supporters of the populist president were relegated to a small fraction of the parliament, hugely outnumbered by the conservatives closely linked with the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”:

Juan Cole reveals “the top ten reasons Israel’s Likud Party would have wanted to censor American television news on this occasion”:


May 2, 2012

News and Analysis (5/2/12)

“The deal pledges Afghanistan to fight corruption, improve efficiency and protect human rights, including women’s rights…. The United States promises to seek annual funding to train and equip the Afghan armed forces but gives no dollar figure.”:

“In the backchannel talks, Hamas is seeking assurances that European countries will recognize the outcome of future Palestinian elections…. ‘They have to accept the Palestinian democracy,’ [Hamas official Osama] Hamdan said of the international community”:

In “clashes outside the Ministry of Defense as thugs armed with guns and knives sparked a melee that left at least 11 people dead and dozens injured. A small group of Islamist protesters demanding the reinstatement of salafi sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail into the presidential race were attacked by a group of armed young men in civilian dress”:

Backing off from uits attack on freedom of religion, the NTC takes aim at freedom of speech instead, announcing that public “praise of Gaddafi or his regime will now be an offence”:

“Following the Arab uprisings, there has been significant improvement in the traditionally repressive Middle East region, and some sharp deterioration in the Americas”:

The magazine’s young editor “had to give up a university education” because she chose to cover her hair, but says, “Now there is normalization, an improvement. Now our veiled comrades can enter university and have more professional opportunities”:

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mahdi Akhondzade dares to say that Israel’s nuclear stockpile is a greater threat to peace that Iran’s nuclear power program:

Egypt’s Muslim “Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia share Sunni Muslim values,” but the former’s embrace of democracy is perceived as a threat by the latter:

Concerned that “reneging on oaths, and perfidy” (not civilian deaths) was giving al-Qaeda a bad name, Bin Ladin complained that the would-be Times Square bomber attempted his terrorist “act after swearing a loyalty oath to the United States as a newly naturalized citizen,” and he wrote “that it is not permissible to tell such a lie to the enemy”:

April 30, 2012

News and Analysis (4/30/12)

“The announcement from Gamaa Islamiya provides a boost to Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh’s chances in the May 23-24 vote. He received a similar endorsement from an influential ultraconservative Salafi group last week”:

“[T]he Brotherhood has been respected for its Islamic and social programs, such as schools and clinics. The fear among many members is that the Brotherhood’s taste for politics is jeopardizing its soul”:

Muslim students object to using their name as he excuse for banning alcohol on campus:

“Change is coming, you can no longer have a closed regime with an open society … this is not sustainable,this cannot continue. We have advised these leaders to lead this change, or you will be pushed by change”:

“[I]t was the result of the courageous testimony of Bosnia’s sexually abused women that rape was recognized as a war crime under international law”:

And yet, “a majority of those responsible for these crimes have not been prosecuted; they are still at large,” says Elena Wasylew, one of the authors of “Old Crimes, Same Suffering,” an Amnesty International report.

Peaceful resistance techniques making an impact against oppressive regimes:

“[C]omments by Sarkozy suggest he was aware of the [the] refutation of the … claim [that Mosques are endorsing his Socialist opponent], yet he aired the view of a grand Muslim conspiracy again anyway”:

“Muslims, civil rights groups and other religious leaders say the conference is merely another event put on by well-known bigots to attack the minority religion” and “Mokdad’s family maintains that the killing was a tragedy that has nothing to do with their Islamic beliefs”:

“[O]ur challenge … is to show we are not what they think. We do not want to oppress women or make them stay at home or let people have four wives”:

April 28, 2012

News and Analysis (4/28/12)

Malaysian Spring? “Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who many hope will win the upcoming election, rallied the enthusiastic crowds as one of Bersih’s leaders, Ambiga Sreenevasan, said: ‘We all want change today’”:

“Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet, kids. At least until there’s like, you know, some proof”:

“[W]hile Egypt’s Islamists – generally not fans of free speech when it comes to matters of faith and social mores – are on the rise politically, it’s worth keeping in mind that [persecution of critics under color of blasphemy laws] were frequent under the presumably secular Mubarak regime”:

“On Friday around 1,000 protesters demonstrated outside the mission, demanding the release of” a prominent Egyptian lawyer “and other Egyptians held in Saudi jails,” chanting “‘Oh Saudi ambassador, we will respond to every lash with a hundred!” and “showing their anger by removing their shoes and waving them at the building”:

“Changing fundamental words of Scripture such as ‘father’ and ‘son’ will also fuel the Muslim claim that the Bible is corrupted, full of errors and has been abrogated by the Quran and example of Muhammad” — Most Rev. John Harrower, Anglican bishop of Tasmania, for whom, “the changes aren’t simply a matter of word choice, but theological choice”:

The ancient “pilgrimage route was abruptly halted after Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war” when potential pilgrims feared “visiting the mosque would amount to recognition of Israel’s claim to the area and be inappropriate when Israel prevents many Palestinians from entering”:

With the Nour Party candidate disqualified from running, ultraconservative clerics seek a role as kingmaker, questioning remaining candidates without connections to the Mubarak regime on implementation of Islamic law, foreign policy, and how they “would deal with the clerics if elected”:

Do we have this straight? The ISI told the CIA that bin Ladin’s cell phone was in Abbottabad, they just didn’t realize it was bin Ladin’s cell phone, but the CIA did?

Days after “Israel’s serving military chief, Benny Gantz, … said he did not believe the Iranian leadership was prepared … to acquire nuclear weapons,” former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin said Netanyahu and Barak are “misleading the public” because “many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the Iranian nuclear race” rather than end it:

 

April 26, 2012

News and Analysis (4/26/12)

“Breivik has said that he wants to be judged sane so that his anti-Islamic ideology is taken seriously.” He denied that he has a Messiah complex, that the Knights Templar are not a paranoid fantasy and that what psychiatrists called his “‘emotional flatness’ was actually part of his military dehumanization training” to become a cold-blooded killer:

“Simon’s segment made clear that Israel isn’t targeting Palestinian Christians as Christians, rather they are targeted by Israeli policies because they are Palestinians” but he erred grievously when he asserts that the Israeli wall in the West Bank “completely separates Israel from the occupied West Bank” rather than divides the West Bank from itself:

In the wake of demands from Bedouins in the Sinai that the current terms of the Camp David Accords “do not guarantee national security and do not provide for the Bedouin population’s participation in security plans for the Peninsula”:

“’People are scared of things they don’t know or understand,’ Sikorski said, ‘and right now it’s Islam.’ By portraying these women as she sees them—happy, non-threatening surfer girls—her art forces a reevaluation of the connotation of ‘otherness’ that the head scarf often prompts in this country. ‘These are southern California girls,” Sikorski said’:

“Imam Asim Abdul Rashid, of the group that is sponsoring the reward, said Tuesday the the crimes are endangering members of the Muslim community.  ‘It puts our women in danger and it puts a black mark on our community in general’:

Arab Spring in reverse? Issuing a Mubarak-style decree to quash any effective opposition, the NTC bans “the formation of political parties based on religious principles ahead of elections scheduled to take place in June”:

The reinstatement of Mubarak’s PM Ahmed Shafiq will probably split votes with popular secular candidate Amr Moussa …

… to the benefit of the FJP whose candidate has dumped the nearly meaningless old MB slogan “Islam is the solution” for a new completely meaningless slogan, “Renaissance is the will of the nation”:

Iran “is going step-by-step to the place where it will be able to decide whether to manufacture a nuclear bomb. It hasn’t yet decided whether to go the extra mile” – Lt. Gen. Benny Grantz, IDF chief:

“There was no mention of the bus shooting or bombardment in Syria’s rigidly controlled media or comment from the authorities in Damascus, which has barred most foreign journalists since the revolt started. Annan” says Syria “failed to withdraw weapons from population centers in violation of the terms of the April 12 truce he engineered”:

Next Page »