In the prospect of a new President in 2017, Ian Bremmer calls for a new approach to US Foreign Policy, preferably a less interventionist one – the Independent America approach …
- 3 American Foreign Policy Options That 2016 Presidential Candidates Need to Choose Between (Huffington Post)
… but the Obama administration sends 450 additional troops to Iraq to fight ISIL, stressing that it is not combat, but training troops in the hope of engaging the Sunni Iraqi population in the fight against IS:
In fear of upsetting voters who blame the previous labor government in UK for “its failure to control mass immigration”, former labor leader Miliband refrained from doing a photo shoot at the Brighton Pavilion because it looked “too much like a mosque”:
- Ed Miliband Pulled Out of a Photoshoot in Front of Because It Looked Too Much Like a Mosque, Aide Reveals (Independent)
After the introduction of the new Counter-terrorism and Security Act, UK schools consider software that will flag terms connected to radicalization and introduces anti-radicalization workshops for parents (of students as young as four-year-old) …
… Anything from not celebrating Christmas to shunning art and drama is now grounds for suspicion, and reason enough to invade the “private space†of British Muslims”
- The Absurd Hunt for “Muslim Toddler Terrorists†Exposes the Extent of Anti-Muslim Prejudice (New Statesman)
Indonesia is working towards making Islamic banks hold 15 % of the banking assets of the country, as opposed to today’s mere 5 %; they will promote the industry while increasing regulation:
Akbar Ahmed highlights Islam’s influence on Western culture in literature, philosophy, and politics, and explains why we “need to appreciate the cultural and intellectual sophistication of Muslim civilization when it was widely acknowledged as the most advanced in Europe”:
- Some Right-Wing Europeans Say Islam Hasn’t Contributed to Western Culture. Here’s Why They’re Wrong. (Huffington Post)
While Israel and the Gulf States”sparred in public — Israel’s ‘Cast Lead’ military operation had just claimed more than 1,400 lives in the Gaza Strip and was condemned by Saudi Arabia, in a letter to the United Nations, as “fierce aggression†— they enjoyed ‘good personal relations’ behind closed doors” …
… “Israel’s strategic position has never been so good … thanks to the diversions and divisions of the wars in Syria and Iraq, the jihadis of the Islamic State, collapse in Libya and conflict in Yemen. It has benefited too from the Egyptian military’s crushing of the Muslim Brotherhood and the squeeze on Hamas”:
Since the Peshawar Taliban attack by in 2014, the number of executions through death penalty in Pakistan has risen considerably:
While the violence in the Syrian Civil War continues, women dressed in white were seen peacefully protesting the violence:
- Brides of Syria Were Joined in Opposition to Violence (New York Times)
