Take the Iran Quiz at Countercurrents. (The quiz is based in part on a chapter in my Engaging the Muslim World, which will be revised and in paperback in August.
Archives for April 2010
India Urges Kabul not to Deal with Taliban; Logar Protesters Torch NATO Fuel Trucks
About 1000 protesters massed in the streets of Pul-i Alam in the central Logar Province on Sunday, angry about a NATO attack that they alleged killed innocents. The demonstrators then set fire to 16 NATO convoy trucks carrying fuel for Western troops. The US military insists that its raid only killed bad guys. Local Afghan […]
Taliban Resemble Successful Insurgencies
CSM reports on a RAND study by Ben Conable and Martin Libicki of 89 major insurgencies in the 20th century and early 21st, and what they might tell us about the likelihood of Obama succeeding in Afghanistan. Connable found that weak governments prevail militarily against insurgencies only 10 percent of the time. RAND’s own news […]
Bombings in Baghdad target Shiites
AP reports that guerrillas set off at least 4 car bombs in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 69 persons and wounding hundreds. The target of four of the attacks was Shiite Muslim mosques or religious centers. Sunni Arab insurgents have lost the war in Iraq, but they have turned to occasional campaigns of massive […]
Netanyahu Commits to Colonizing East Jerusalem; First Palestinian Expelled under new Policy
The new Israeli policy of deporting Palestinians from the West Bank on arbitrary grounds has kicked in with Ahmad Sabah, who has just been deported to Gaza and separated from his family in the West Bank. The measure contravenes the Geneva Convention of 1949 on the treatment of occupied populations, and it also goes contrary […]
In honor of Earth Day: Green Guide for Muslims
Amr Khalid, the wildly popular Egyptian Muslim preacher, may not be very progressive on women’s issues, but he is promoting a ‘Green Guide for Muslims’ to enable them to play a role in combatting climate change:
South Park Controversy and Fallacies of Muslim Extremists
This CNN report on the veiled threat made by an obscure, fringe American Muslim website against the creators of the South Park cartoon shows an extremist saying something completely untrue: “Yunus Muhammad” says in the interview that the Qur’an instructs Muslims to ‘terrorize the disbelievers.’ It does no such thing. The Qur’an instructs Muslims to […]
Dear Europe from Gazans
“Dear Europe, sorry about the ash cloud over your heads and that you can’t travel anywhere. We feel just the same.” Gaza
Secret Prison Revelations may Hurt al-Maliki’s bid for Reelection
The announcement of the discovery of a secret prison in Baghdad where Sunni Arabs suspected of involvement in guerrilla activities were held and sometimes tortured may have an effect on the shape of the next Iraqi government. Over 400 Sunnis were held at the facility. The revelation starts one thinking about the true character of […]
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