Author: Alejandro

A “TV journalist, filmmaker and Muslim, set[s] out to capture a different story:” Filmmakers Focused on Faith: Movie Festival Challenges Muslim Stereotypes and Puts Spotlight on Diversity (Washington Post) House members raise privacy concerns after unclassified details of classified cyber-security program go public: House Lawmakers Question Privacy in Cyber-Security Plan (Washington Post) Iraq’s Presidency Council…

As former intelligence officials and civil liberties experts debunk Bush’s fearmongering in pursuit of continuation of warrantless wiretapping, names on the Terror Watch List are expected to surpass one million in July: Bush, Congress Wrangle Over Domestic Spying (Inter Press Service) U.S. Terror Watch List Surpasses 900,000 Names, ACLU Estimates (Wired.com) Bush names his envoy…

Lebanon Daily Star columnist Rami Khouri gives his analysis of the latest polling data on Muslims by Gallup and contrasts with the ignorant rhetoric of the current American presidential candidates: A Poll That Disproves Western Myths About Muslims (Lebanon Daily Star) Waterboarded Gitmo detainee Abu Zubaydah finally gets a lawyer after being held for 6…

Turkey’s relationship with Islam continues to evolve by relaxing the headscarf ban while supporting an effort to use new methodologies to interpret the Qur’an and Hadith: In Turkey, Students Test a New Policy on Head Scarves (Washington Post) Turkey in Radical Revision of Islamic Texts (Washington Post) Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is accused of…

White House supporters retreat earlier fear-mongering claims of “lost intelligence” after the unchecked powers under the Protect America Act expired: White House Backtracks on Claims of Lost Intelligence (Los Angeles Times) Thousands in Gaza line up along main road to peacefully protest Israel’s siege of Gaza: Gaza Protesters Form Human Chain (BBC News) Fueling perceptions…

Verdict against wikileaks the free speech concerns it raises shows the difficulties of enforcing national laws in transnational cyberspace: Close of Wikileaks Website Raises Free Speech Concerns (Christian Science Monitor) Canadian politicians reach a bi-partisan consensus and likely to pass a bill in parliament for withdrawal of troops in 2011: Canada Eyes Afghan Exit By…

Islamic-oriented AKP leads parliamentary charges to undo a secular law violating religious minorities’ property rights: Turkey’s Parliament Approves Return of Confiscated Property to Minorities (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune) Semi-independent Saudi press and UN agency slam latest abuse of the religious police for arresting a woman due to “‘sitting with a man who is not a…

Refusing to hear the ACLU’s case, the Supreme Court lets a catch-22 stand: You can’t protect yourself against illegal spying unless you can prove you were illegally spied upon (huh?): Top Court Won’t Review Bush Domestic Spying Case (Reuters/New York Times) Report from the East-West Institute finds that the free market place of ideas and…

After the expiration of the Protect America Act, White House supporters and intelligence officials continue the politics of fear to argue for more unchecked power, but MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann questions why Bush would veto an a bill he finds necessary to stopping terrorism: Risks From Lapsed Wiretap Law Are Disputed (Christian Science Monitor) Keith…

Former CIA veteran Mike Scheuer, writing as if he were Osama Bin Laden, argues that poor US foreign policy is the terrorists’ number one ally: The State of the Jihad, As He Might See It (Washington Post) As controversy over the First Amendment issues and anti-Palestinian media bias in Alison Weir’s speech comes to a…