News and Analysis (1/18/12)

Gaming simulations demonstrate that an Iranian bomb would not mean war with Israel, but might “set off a global arms race” and “deter Israel from striking at Hamas and Hezbollah” …

• Could Israel Live with a Nuclear Iran? A Gaming Exercise Suggests Yes (Christian Science Monitor)

… and Iran has announced that rather than intimidate others from pursuing careers in nuclear science, the assassination of a young chemical engineer has backfired and “some 1,300 university students had changed majors to nuclear physics and engineering in support of the country’s nuclear program”:

• Iran Increases Security for Nuclear Scientists Following Assassination (abc News)

Even as the U.S. moves for talks with Iran, the talks with the Taliban are jeopardized by Guatanamo and by a horrifying charges of child abuse, called a “PR gift to the Taliban”:

• Israel, US Postpone Missile-defense Drill to Avoid Provoking Iran (Christian Science Monitor)
• Iranian Lawmaker Says Obama Proposed Talks (AP/ abc News)
• Taliban Peace Talks ‘at Risk’ as Obama Stalls on Guantánamo (Guardian)
• Military Police Investigate Claims of British Troops Abusing Afghan Children (Guardian)

The elected rulers of Hamas “said the victims were all civilians and said it held Israel responsible, raising the prospect of a new exchange of attacks across the volatile border”:

• Israeli Strike Kills 2 in Gaza (AP / abc News)

The Islamic tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) “‘Allah grants plenty or shortage. He is the sustainer and real price maker’” is “the kind of small-government, go-it-alone approach that” makes one young American frontier convert to Islam support a 76-year=old Baptist for President …

• Muslims Say Ron Paul Is Their Kind Of Republican (Huffington Post)

… but, “discussions of issues involving Muslims … have become more difficult with the intervention of Israel” — Prof. Emeritus Dr W. Scott Thompson, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University:

• U.S. Policy Towards Muslim Countries Hard to Change, Says American Academician (Bernama)

Among the challenges faced by Muslim women seeking mates in the West is that they “academically outperform the men. … Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are more likely to be employed as professionals than their male counterparts. This means that professional Muslim women have an even smaller pool of intellectual and economic equals to choose from”:

• Why British Muslim Women Struggle to Find a Marriage Partner (Guardian)

Libyan concerns about foreign forces on the ground were not just paranoia after all, and suspected supporters of the late dictator are now subject to savage and fatal brutality:

• Inside Story of the UK’s Secret Mission to Beat Gaddafi (BBC)
• Libya Militia Leader ‘Tortured and Killed in Detention’ (BBC)

A human rights activist accuses the Iranian regime of using “physical and psychological torture” to extract confessions from a man whose family members say “is a programmer who wrote photo-uploading software that was used by a porn website without his knowledge”:

• Iran Confirms Death Sentence for ‘Porn Site’ Web Programmer (Guardian)

With 46% of the seats in parliament in hand, the FJP turns its attention to practical problems in the unsettled Egyptian atmosphere:

• Muslim Brotherhood Is Big Winner in Egypt but Needs Partners (Deutsche Welle)
• Muslim Brotherhood Party Official Tapped for Egypt’s Parliament Speaker (LA Times)
• Rising to Power, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Mixes Pragmatism, Ideology on Israel Peace (Washington Post with Foreign Policy)

ImadadDean