As usual, Friday was a big day for the popular Arab reform movements that are challenging dictatorial governments. 1. Syrian security forces are alleged to have killed about 20 protesters on Friday, as the demonstrations and rallies continue to be vigorous in places like Hama and Deir al-Zor. The one-party state, ruled by the Baath […]
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religion
When Extremism Learns to Blow things Up
The revelation by CNN that Norwegian right wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik kept a diary in which he obsessed about the dangers of cultural Marxism, multiculturalism, and the “Islamification” of Europe will remind many Americans of the tactics of our own right wing (only these themes have been taken up by people much more mainstream […]
Ala. Governor Apologizes to Muslims, Hindus, Jews
Gov. Robert Bentley, the new governor of Alabama, created a firestorm of controversy on Monday when he said that if you are not a Christian he does not consider you his brother or his sister. He added, “… so anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour, I’m telling you, you’re […]
Death Penalty for Blasphemy Rare in Muslim World
Pakistani campaigners against the country’s blasphemy laws are pointing out that out of 54 Muslim-majority countries in the world, at most 5 permit capital punishment for blasphemy. They are Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and possibly Afghanistan (the new Afghan constitution incorporates human rights norms that could affect statutes treating blasphemy as […]
Abu Dhabi Hotel Does not Regret $11 Mn. Christmas Tree
Christmas means never having to say you are sorry. The Seven Emirates Hotel in Abu Dhabi says it does not either regret its display of an $11 million Christmas tree loaded down with gold and jewelry from a shop in the hotel lobby. An earlier statement had seemed to admit that the hotel had ‘overloaded […]
Cardinal Ratzinger Moderated Opposition to Turkey Joining Europe on Becoming Pope: Wikileaks
The Guardian reports on wikileaks cables regarding the position of the Catholic Church on Europe’s Christian character and its unease with Turkey joining the EU. (the cable is here.) The problem is that, while the article on this matter is clear and largely accurate, the headline: “Pope wanted Muslim Turkey kept out of EU” is […]
On Reading the Qur’an: Hazleton
Leslie Hazleton on reading the Qur’an: Hazleton is author of After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
Engaging the Muslim World Out in Paperback
Today is the official publication date for the paperback edition of my most recent book, Engaging the Muslim World. Click here to purchase It is somewhat revised, taking some of the stories into 2010. Here is a link to David Sanger’s generous review of the book in the New York Times.
Makdisi: The Tragedy of Obama’s Middle East Policy
Ussama Makdisi writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: In the tragic story of U.S-Arab relations, no era has been as violent as our own. And yet when President Obama began his presidency, he initiated a series of highly-anticipated gestures to the Muslim world. His interview with the Arabic satellite channel Al-Arabiyya was followed […]