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Ed Webb

Swiss ban on minarets was a vote for tolerance and inclusion | csmonitor.com - 0 views

www.csmonitor.com/...p09s01-coop.html

Switzerland minarets Islamophobia hirsiali opinion

shared by Ed Webb about 7 hours ago - No snapshot
  • By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
  • There are two ways
    to interpret the vote.
    • Ed Webb
      Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
       
      Actually, I can think of many more than two ways to interpret it. This is a very limited way of framing the issue.
  • Imams can then preach a message of self-segregation and a bold rejection of the ways of the non-Muslims.
    • Ed Webb
      Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
       
      Sure. But they can also preach about, you know, pretty much anything. They can preach a message of tolerance and inclusion, too, and having a minaret doesn't actually change things either way.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • None of those Western academics,
    diplomats, and politicians who condemn the Swiss vote to ban the minaret address, let alone dispute, these facts.
    • Ed Webb
      Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
       
      I'm a Western academic, and former diplomat, and I'm disputing these 'facts'.
  • And this is what the Swiss vote shows us. This is a confrontation between local, working-class voters (and
    some middle-class feminists) and Muslim immigrant newcomers who feel that they are entitled, not only to practice their religion,
    but also to replace the local political order with that of their own.
    • Ed Webb
      Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
       
      This may be what the vote shows you. But you have shown no scrap of evidence that the small minority of Swiss who are Muslims have any such agenda. All there is so far is a tendentious Islamophobic narrative backed by the coarsest of generalizations. Where's the substance?
  • It is
    remarkable that the Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said in public that the Swiss vote is a poor act of diplomacy
    • Ed Webb
      Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
       
      I'm with you there. Very odd and poor choice of words there. The UN condemnation of the vote as intolerance was more to the point.
  • There is indeed a wider international confrontation between Islam and the West. The Iraq and Afghan wars are part of that,
    not to mention the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians and the nuclear ambitions of Iran. That confrontation
    should never be confused with the local problem of absorbing those Muslims who have been permitted to become permanent residents
    and citizens into European societies.
    • Ed Webb
      Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
       
      The problem here is that if you're going to accept the Huntington master-narrative of clash of civilizations, then you cannot really separate these things. If you want to see a confrontation between "Islam" and the "West" then you have to accept that it is within as well as across borders. It is much easier to separate out the domestic and foreign policy issues if you abandon the narrative of the 'clash' - I recommend it.
  • Ed Webb
    Ed Webb about 7 hours ago
     
    Hirsi Ali's opinion.
  • Jim Franklin
    Jim Franklin about 5 hours ago
     
    WOW you ripped that to shreds lol....is this what professors do when they are bored?
Sarah Romano

How Obama Came to Plan for 'Surge' in Afghanistan - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...06reconstruct.html

Afghanistan USA Obama decision

shared by Sarah Romano about 6 hours ago - No snapshot
  • Sarah Romano
    Sarah Romano about 6 hours ago
     
    This article seems to be defending Obama's recent decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Veronica McGroarty

BBC News - Neda Agha Soltan's family accuse Iran of her killing - 2 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8396052.stm

protest death Iran government blame

shared by Veronica McGroarty about 20 hours ago - No snapshot
  • The family's accusation follows the spread of an Iranian government-proposed theory blaming a conspiracy of western governments for the killing.
  • "They've been avoiding responsibility from the very beginning. They want to put the responsibility on other people... This is how the Islamic Republic behaves," he said
  • Veronica McGroarty
    Veronica McGroarty about 20 hours ago
     
    It talks about the family blaming Iran for the killing of her daughter. The government wants to blame a med school student that tried to help her for her death.
Veronica McGroarty

BBC News - Saudi flood death inquiry opens - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8396446.stm

Saudi Arabia flood investigation

shared by Veronica McGroarty about 22 hours ago - No snapshot
  • Most of the Saudi media - which is owned or controlled by members of the Saudi royal family - praised the king for launching an investigation.
  • But the endemic corruption that Saudis privately hold responsible for the disaster, and for the fact that no adequate drainage was in place in Jeddah, is unlikely to be tackled in any systematic way.

  • Some in Saudi Arabia have described what is happening with the public mood as a turning point - with Saudis for once forcing the authorities to take responsibility for their mistakes.

    But any criticism will only go so far. What is certain is that no blame will be attached to King Abdullah and the Saudi royal family - that remains a taboo.

  • Veronica McGroarty
    Veronica McGroarty about 22 hours ago
     
    I hadn't heard about this flood before so I found this interesting.
Veronica McGroarty

Oil Companies Look to the Future in Iraq - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...01iraqoil.html

Iraq oil reserves

shared by Veronica McGroarty about 23 hours ago - No snapshot
  • the major oil companies are finally gaining access to Iraq’s petroleum reserves. But they are doing so at far less advantageous terms than they once envisioned.
  • Analysts say the deals on three of the country’s top fields show that Iraq, after an embarrassing start, may be on a path to joining the world’s major oil-producing nations, which could in turn upset the equilibrium in OPEC and increase tensions with the neighboring oil giants Iran and Saudi Arabia. Adding to those strains, development rights to 10 other Iraqi oil fields will be offered to foreign companies at a public auction in Baghdad on Dec. 11.
  • However, while the companies have pledged to invest billions in Iraq, few here believe much of that will actually be spent until the country successfully concludes national elections and attains a period of relative peace.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • aqi officials say there is no justification for imposing a quota on their production, saying they have been underproducing for years, allowing others to enjoy higher quotas.
  • Veronica McGroarty
    Veronica McGroarty about 23 hours ago
     
    This article describes the future of Iraq's oil. Companies are finally getting an opportunity to get oil six years after America's invasion.
Veronica McGroarty

For G.I.'s, Learning to Stand Down as Iraqi Forces Take Charge - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...05kirkuk.html

Iraq soldiers

shared by Veronica McGroarty about 23 hours ago - No snapshot
  • since July 1, after United States forces pulled out of urban areas and changed their role from conducting combat missions to aiding the local police and the military. Soldiers here recited the new mantra: they were here just to support and train; the fight belonged to the Iraqis now — the essential condition, after nearly seven years, for American troops to go home.
  • The Bush administration had hoped to hand over security to the Iraqis almost immediately after the invasion in 2003, only to find that Iraqi troops were ill equipped and often either targets or instruments of sectarian violence.
  • “We get to see the progress of what we’re doing,” he said. “There’s times we’ll go on missions and they’ll say, ‘We don’t need you. We’ll take care of this and give you a report.’ There’s no better measure of success than that.”
  • Veronica McGroarty
    Veronica McGroarty about 23 hours ago
     
    This article discusses the American soldiers' opinions of the Iraqi groups they are training in Iraq to take over.
Carl Kjellman

Letter From Kabul - 0 views

www.thenation.com/...shank2

Afghanistan USA politics obama

shared by Carl Kjellman on 05 Dec 09 - No snapshot
  • Carl Kjellman
    Carl Kjellman on 05 Dec 09
     
    Interesting piece by someone recently returned from Afghanistan.
Ed Webb

Why they hate us (II): How many Muslims has the U.S. killed in the past 30 years? | Stephen... - 3 views

walt.foreignpolicy.com/...us_killed_in_the_past_30_years

opinion walt friedman Arabs Muslims USA

shared by Ed Webb on 02 Dec 09 - Snapshot
  • Ed Webb
    Ed Webb on 02 Dec 09
     
    Walt skewers Friedman. Comment section makes fascinating reading, in places. Your thoughts?
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Sarah Henry
    Sarah Henry on 03 Dec 09
     
    I haven't read the comment section, but I think the article alone raises a lot of discussion. Friedman's article has some truth to it, but I do think that Walt makes a good argument as well when he says that Friedman is missing something when he doesn't account for all the Muslims the US has killed. He's right in saying we need to take responsibility for our country's conduct as much as there needs to be some responsibility taken in the Middle East when we talk about why they hate us. However, I don't think us killing Muslims is the only problem, and I don't think trying to figure out which problem is more correct is going to solve anything-when it comes down to it, we're still Americans and we don't know how it feels to be in their situation. I also think that REGARDLESS of what our perceptions are, it's not our perceptions that matter when it comes to their opinion.

    I also appreciated his little jab at the end about September 11th, although I'm not sure if it was entirely necessary.
  • Rebecca Ben-Amou
    Rebecca Ben-Amou on 04 Dec 09
     
    I think that there can be a parallel made here between the more broad US relations with the Muslim world and Israel's relations with the palestinians. There is the same case of one side having many more civilian casualties than the other side. Although I do think that hatred can be rooted in such a circumstance, I think that the Muslim world's hatred of America is far more deep rooted than just because of civilian causality numbers. The US is a representation of a forward-moving society, and a wealthy nation (or at least one point remained wealthy.) I think its just easy to hate the U.S. There is no denying the amount of casualties that the U.S. have caused in the region, but there are plenty of cases where the U.S. helped aid the Middle East. I think that there is some validity in Friedmans discussion of "the Narrative."
  • Carl Kjellman
    Carl Kjellman on 05 Dec 09
     
    I think it's interesting that Walt comes down so strongly on the notion of "the narrative." While I do agree that the deaths of Muslims because of American foreign policy is an important contributing factor, it also seems silly to assume that they are mutually exclusive. I think it's more likely that there is a narrative about the United States that is fed by the people that have died at the hands of American policies.
Ian Mandell

BBC News - Taliban detainee 'met Bin Laden this year' - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8394470.stm

shared by Ian Mandell on 04 Dec 09 - No snapshot
  • Taliban detainee in Pakistan claims to have information about Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts in January or February of this year.
  • His claims cannot be verified but a leading American expert says his account should be investigated.
  • The sheikh doesn't stay in any one place. That guy came from Ghazni, so I think that's where the sheikh was."
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • he province of Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan has an increasingly strong Taliban presence. Large parts of the province are no-go areas for coalition and Afghan forces.
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Jim Franklin

Israel Arrests Settlers Fighting Freeze - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...03mideast.html

Israel diplomacy settlements politics peace process Netanyahu

shared by Jim Franklin on 03 Dec 09 - No snapshot
  • The Israeli police made their first arrests on Wednesday as part of the state’s effort to enforce a temporary construction freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, briefly detaining the mayor of a settler council and at least two Jewish protesters.
  • The settlers, however, view the pause as a grave threat. Scuffles have broken out in the past two days at numerous settlements as residents have tried to block inspectors sent by the Israeli Defense Ministry from reaching construction sites and handing out stop-work orders.
Jim Franklin

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Iran says IAEA resolution 'illegal' - 0 views

english.aljazeera.net/...200912212431849517.html

Iran Israel diplomacy USA IAEA Ahmadinejad

shared by Jim Franklin on 03 Dec 09 - No snapshot
  • "Under pressure of a few superficially powerful countries ... the International Atomic Energy Agency passed an illegal resolution against the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday
  • Ahmadinejad said Iran would enrich its own uranium up to 20 per cent purity to be used as nuclear fuel.
  • The resolution was the first against Iran in almost four years.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Ahmadinejad said in his speech that Israel could not do a "damn thing" to stop his country's nuclear programme, which the West suspects is a front to build bombs.
  • "The Zionist regime [Israel] and its [western] backers cannot do a damn thing to stop Iran's nuclear work," he said.
Michael Fisher

Syria Says Iran Bus Blast An Accident, 3 Dead - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ternational-uk-syria-bomb.html

Middle East Syria

shared by Michael Fisher on 03 Dec 09 - No snapshot
  • Michael Fisher
    Michael Fisher on 03 Dec 09
     
    Terrorist attackc or accident?
  • Jim Franklin
    Jim Franklin on 03 Dec 09
     
    Possibly an accident? The reports keep changing. What is interesting is my guess is that the train explosion in Russia recently was also an accident but has been called a terrorist attack for political reasons (So they don't have to admit things aren't maintained well...and Chechens are always a convenient group to blame).
Ed Webb

Afghan LORD: 'Finish the job' but not so hastily - 0 views

www.afghanlord.org/...sh-job-but-not-so-hastily.html

Afghanistan Nasim_Fikret opinion blog blogger obama military

shared by Ed Webb on 03 Dec 09 - No snapshot
  • the locals are 100 percent sure that foreign forces will leave the area sooner or later but the Taliban will be back
  • by increasing the ANA capabilities, the United States and its allies will be able to finish the job, but not so hastily.
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