Muslim Issues

CAIRO, Oct 8, 2011 (IPS) – Egypt, routinely the cradle for new Arab and Islamic ideologies, is now witnessing the birth of yet another line of thought – Islamic Liberalism. The term is touted now as a panacea for the eight-month impasse that has locked Islamists and their secularist rivals in bitter bickering over how this Arab nation should be …

The renowned military strategist, Maj. Gen. J.F.C Fuller, defined war’s true objective as achieving desired political results, not killing enemies. But this is just what the US has been doing in Afghanistan. After ten years of war costing at least $450 billion, 1,600 dead and 15,000 seriously wounded soldiers, the US has achieved none of its strategic or political goals. …

It might have been an economic star by now, but the war on terror has left Pakistan a failing state We have seen 10 years of going nowhere on one side of the border – and 10 of going backwards on the other: back to bloodshed, back to civil chaos. It's simplistic to say that Afghanistan doesn't matter. You might …

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7, 2011 (IPS) – Despite a slim chance of diplomatic victory, the United States is leading a doomed, mostly Western attempt to block Palestinian membership in the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The 193-member General Conference, UNESCO's policy-making body, is expected to ratify Palestine's membership during its weeklong session beginning Oct. 25.  The application was …

On September 30, a US drone flying over Yemen launched a missile attack on a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Among the dead were Awlaki and another US citizen. Also killed along with them was the hallowed tradition of respecting the constitution, especially the constitutional right of a US citizen to be heard before a US court. In the aftermath of …

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 5, 2011 (IPS) – When Russia and China exercised a rare double veto against a Western resolution aimed at punishing Syria, the two big powers were repeating a similar feat derailing two earlier resolutions: one against Myanmar (Burma) in 2007 and the other against Zimbabwe in 2008. The Myanmar resolution was critical of that country's deplorable human …