News and Analysis (1/6/14)

Could it be that Kerry doesn’t want to repeat the Bush disaster in Iraq, but doesn’t see the danger in Palestine/Israel?

“We should never allow Islam to be desecrated by people who want to give Islam a bad name…. [I]t is high time [for] rightful thinking members of society gather together and prevent these people who are using the mask of ‘Islam’ to create dissention and intolerance” — from message on Facebook page by Siti Kasim: …

… and extremists blame the Muslims who defend the rights of Christians under Islam for encouarging the Christians to be so uppity …

… the explanation for this tragic farce of identity politics lies in the fact that Islam has been “[i]nternalised in the Malay-Muslim psyche as a factor of Malay ethnocentric politics … in Malaysia [and] has been reduced to a political tool to ensure Malay-Muslim (read: Umno) hegemony”:

Imams of Bihar’s Nalanda district have decided to take a hard line against the unIslamic practice of paying a dowry to the bride’s family, as if she were a piece of property for sale. They note the distinction fro the Islamic “mahr” which is a gift from the groom to bride herself, in which her family has no share or claim:

An Egyptian Ph.D. student suggests an explanation as to why the regime fails to realize that patently absurd charges against the Muslim Brotherhood (such as blaming it for a bombing openly claimed by an opposing group) only strengthen the Brotherhood’s credibility in the long run …

… and “Qatar said on Saturday that the decision to name the Brotherhood a terrorist organization was ‘a prelude to a shoot-to-kill policy’ against demonstrators who have been staging frequent protests to call for Mursi’s reinstatement”:

“Look, they come to us and say, ‘Please come back, it’s our responsibility to make sure you’re safe.’ We don’t believe them. Where was their responsibility when we were being attacked? We were trying to call people for help, but the police had their phone switched off” – Mohammed Akhtar, displaced construction worker:

Criticism is seen as “a sign that Turks, whose real incomes have risen almost 50 percent under 11 years of AK Party government, may be starting to lose faith in the way it runs the economy. The lira’s slide to record lows is saddling companies with higher payments on foreign loans that they took out during the good years”:

“[T]he head of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, told reporters after a meeting with Erdogan that the two discussed a set of legal proposals that could lead to the re-trial of the military officers and other people accused of plotting against the government. Erdogan responded in a ‘warm and positive’ manner to the proposals:

“‘The ruling was political,’ Mona Seif told Reuters TV after the verdict was announced. She said there was no evidence or witnesses to back up the ruling against the dozen defendants”:

“Poor turnout was a natural reflection of an election boycott by” 27 opposition parties  that “had demanded that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina … allow for a neutral caretaker government to administer the elections. Her refusal and the ensuing boycott have undermined” any chance for “broad public legitimacy”:

 


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