News and Analysis (10/12/19)

Despite U.S. pressure …

• Turkey Syria Offensive: US Builds Pressure to Halt Incursion Against Kurds (BBC)

“Turkey has vowed to push forward with its offensive targeting Kurdish forces in Syria despite continued international criticism” …

• 100,000 Flee as Turkish Offensive Pushes into Syria (Deutsche Welle)

… even though some ISIS detainees escaped from prison and “women affiliated with Isis attacked security offices with sticks and stones during unrest at a camp in the region where Turkey has launched attacks”:

• ISIS Militants Break Out of Prison in Syria After Bombing by Turkey (Independent)

After two months, “around 4 million post-paid cellphone connections will be restored in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, … [but] internet services will remain suspended for now” …

• India to Restore Post-Paid Cellphone Connections in Kashmir (AP / Washington Post)

… and opposition leaders ask how local elections taken seriously or India trusted amid a communication shutdown when “most of the state’s political leaders in detention” …

• Kashmir Conflict: Are Local Elections amid Lockdown a ‘Sham’? (BBC)

… while India’s home minister says Modi has warned America’s president against speaking up on India’s occupation of Kashmir because it is an “internal matter” [!]:

• PM Narendra Modi told Donald Trump not to interfere in Kashmir: Amit Shah (India Today)

Many of the estimated 1.5 million Uighur Muslims and other minorities detained in China are sentenced in a closed court trial and charged for religious practices called serious disturbance of the normal religious order:

• Illegal Superstition’: China Jails Muslims For Practicing Islam, Relatives Say (NPR)

Those who insist that antipathy for what Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek have called “the Jewish State in the Levant” is any more anti-Semitic than antipathy for ISIL is anti-Muslim don’t recognize their own bigotry:

• Merkel’s Gov’t Says Iran’s Call to ‘Wipe Israel off the Map’ Not Antisemitic (The Jerusalem Post)

Iranian women in attendance enjoyed a 14-0 home team win, but “Tehran has yet to announce that they will be granted unrestricted access to all matches”:

• ‘An Extraordinary Feeling’: Iran Women Attend Football Match (Al-Jazeera)

Rejecting Zamiruddin Shah’s “fervent wish that Muslims … hand over the disputed land to Hindus for construction of Ram temple as a goodwill gesture [to] ensure communal harmony and peace in the country”:

• India Muslim Body Refuses to Surrender Claim on Disputed Land in Ayodhya (Gulf News)

“We refuse to engage with a party that has made hate and division a central element of its platform — but more importantly, that 98 to 99 per cent of Canadians are rejecting as per the most recent polling”:

• People’s Party Won’t Take Action Against N.S. Candidate Who Called Islam ‘Pure Evil’ (CBC)