News and Analysis (2/24/21)

MP Asaduddin Owaisi calls attention to how development, such as schools, under BJP rule has skipped Muslim-dominated areas:

• Development in Gujarat Does Not Touch Muslim Areas, Says Owaisi (Indian Express)

A police raid on Muslim children results in no public outcry:

• Police Brutality Against Muslim Children Under the Pretext of Counter-Terrorism in Austria (Cage)

The first-time Iowa State Senator is an ordained Evangelical Lutheran Minister who has “received derogatory messages on social media after she recited a Muslim prayer written by a Drake University student at the statehouse”

• State Senator Facing Backlash After Reciting Muslim Prayer (KGAN)

Canada passes a motion in parliament recognizing “that a genocide is currently being carried out by the People’s Republic of China against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims” …

• Canada’s Parliament Says China Committed Genocide Against Muslim Minorities (CNN)

… as Human Rights Watch reports that “China has increased its prosecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, handing out longer jail terms”:

• China Targets Uighurs with More Prosecutions, Prison Terms: HRW (Aljazeera)

“[A]fter a near total absence of official contact during former President Donald Trump’s four years in office[,] … American officials plan steps to restore direct ties with the Palestinian leadership”:

• Biden to Reengage with Palestinians After Pro-Israel US Policies (Daily Sabah)

“Activist and scholar says he is being denied tenure at Harvard University because of his views on Israeli occupation”:

• Cornel West: Palestine Is a ‘Taboo Issue Among Certain Circles in High Places’ (Middle East Eye)

Tension and political instability between Myanmar citizens and military due to “brutal repression of the Rohingya minority in recent years” parallel a lot of what occurred in the Middle East and Arab Spring:

• Myanmar: Exploiting Lessons Learnt in the Middle East (Middle East Soccer)

The U.S. and Pakistan once worked together with the Saudis to radicalize the youths who became the Taliban, but now a former top US military is upset that Pakistan is hosting the Taliban so they can work with countries such as Russia, China, and Iran …

• Afghan Taliban Have Had Sanctuary in Pakistan: Ex-Top US General (Financial Express)

… NATO backs Biden in keeping troops in Afghanistan even though original plans had called for troops returning as soon as possible:

• Afghanistan: To Leave or Not to Leave, that Remains the Question (Middle East Institute)

Not a single frame is different in the Iranian release from the American release of “the first U.S.-produced film to achieve a wide theatrical release in Iran since the country’s 1979 revolution”:

• Kourosh Ahari’s Debut Feature Will Open in the Country’s Theaters on Feb. 24 Through Mammoth Pictures and Ayat Film Company (Hollywood Reporter)

Johaer Jilani