LONDON: There is a powerful narrative today about how many young European Muslims are susceptible to terrorism, how Islam leads to radicalization, and how Muslims, because of their creed, choose to live in ghettos and therefore create swamps that breed terrorists. This narrative’s most extreme form is the idea of “Eurabia, an incendiary term that …
NEW YORK: New York City is divided by Central Park into an East and a West Side. We New Yorkers joke about the cultural differences between the two parts of town: how society ladies dress up to go grocery shopping on the East Side, while famous writers wear blue jeans to the theatre on the …
For the past few months, the eyes of TV viewers in Egypt and the Arab World have been glued to the dubbed-into-Arabic Turkish soap opera “Noor. The series, premised on the legendary love story between Noor and Mohannad (the drama’s central couple), has taken the Arab World by storm. “I sell more than 500 photos …
SOFIA: The post-Cold War order in Europe is finished, with Vladimir Putin its executioner. Russia’s invasion of Georgia only marked its passing. Russia has emerged out of the war as a born-again 19th-century power determined to challenge the intellectual, moral, and institutional foundations of the Post-Cold War European order. Today, Russia and the European Union …
LAHORE: With a revived Taliban and Al Qaeda operating out of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the region has assumed centre stage in the US-led “war on terror. To secure these areas, Pakistan’s civilian government seeks to negotiate with tribesmen to end combat, withdraw the army and only use it as a last resort, …
I am starting to detect a growing feminist movement in Egypt; one that was revived following three decades of political and cultural deadlock resulting from conflicts with extremists. It is well known that the most powerful feminist movements in the Arab world sprouted in Egypt at the hands of feminist foremothers Aisha El-Taimuriya, Hoda Shaarawi, …
WASHINGTON: The best news from Israel right now is that the cease-fire with Hamas is holding. This may be disquieting to the far right. It is an article of faith for the right that it is impossible to cut a deal with Hamas. But that is precisely what Israel did when, seeing no alternative, it …
NEW YORK: Seventy years ago this month in Munich, the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, signed a document that allowed Germany to grab a large chunk of Czechoslovakia. The so-called “Munich Agreement would come to be seen as an abject betrayal of what Chamberlain termed “a far away country of which we know little. But …
No one in America wants to say it out loud. History is against this man. The dirty truth is, so far most of the black men who have ever served in the White House were serving hor d’oeuvres. Now that the latest polling numbers put McCain and Obama neck and neck, did anyone really believe …
There are many differences between the fire that destroyed the Egyptian Shoura Council (Upper House of Parliament) building and the famous Cairo Fire on January 26, 1952. Besides the fact that the latter was not set by someone unlike the former, the period between the two events separates them in terms of the circumstances and …
LONDON: The war in Georgia has clearly exposed the security vacuum in the surrounding region, as well as a lot of raw nerves. Russia’s hasty decision to recognize the “independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was a shot across the bow for every former Soviet country, and has intensified speculation about who might be “next …
YEREVAN: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent invitation to Turkish President Abdullah Gul to visit Yerevan to watch a football match together was historic. Given the two countries’ long-strained relations, this visit would have been remarkable at any time. But coming as it does only one month after the alarming Russian-Georgian confrontation, it may offer real …
AFULA, Israel: I want to share a story with you. I do this to show you certain realities of our everyday lives in Israel that you would otherwise not be aware of. I also do this so that you will not lose hope – even in the face of atrocities, existential dangers and blatant evil …
BERLIN: Russia’s strategy to revise the post-Soviet order in what it calls its “near abroad will be pursued with even more perseverance following its victory over Georgia. Europe should have no illusions about this and should begin to prepare itself. But, as the European Union ponders what to do, cold realism, not hysterical overreaction, is …
NEW YORK: The Iraq war has been replaced by the declining economy as the most important issue in America’s presidential election campaign, in part because Americans have come to believe that the tide has turned in Iraq: the troop “surge has supposedly cowed the insurgents, bringing a decline in violence. The implications are clear: a …
NEW YORK: During her visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel to stop expanding settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. Hours before, a new report had come out from the organization Peace Now stating that Israel has nearly doubled settlement construction during the past year. Statements similar to …
The Russian invasion of Georgia has sent shock waves throughout the West and the former Soviet space – especially Ukraine. Indeed, Ukraine could be the next potential crisis. Georgia’s increasingly pro-Western course, including growing ties to NATO, has been a thorn in Moscow’s side. But it did not pose a serious threat to Russian security. …
The first week of Ramadan in Egypt has been eventful – but not only on the small screen where over 25 TV dramas vie for viewers’ attention around the clock. Construction magnate Hisham Talaat Moustafa’s shocking arrest has hammered home Mark Twain’s eternal nugget of wisdom: Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because …
Islam says that in Ramadan, Muslims must eat double and triple the amount they eat on normal days in order to completely obliterate the underlying philosophy of fasting and the real objective behind abstaining from worldly pleasure. That’s why as soon as the iftar cannon goes off, a good Muslim starts binging on food in …
NEWARk, Delaware: General Pervez Musharraf’s resignation on August 18 brings to an end an era of unprecedented Pakistani cooperation with the United States on foreign policy and security needs. It also marks the beginning of a new negotiation between the two allies as the United States seeks fresh reassurances of Pakistan’s cooperation in the “war …
CAMBRIDGE: China and Russia have just provided the world with sharp contrasts in the use of power. As the French analyst Dominique Moisi recently put it, “whereas China intends to seduce and impress the world by the number of its Olympic medals, Russia wants to impress the world by demonstrating its military superiority – China’s …
The recent signing in Tripoli of “a comprehensive claims settlement between the United States and Libya marks a new beginning not only in US-Libya relations, but between Libya and the rest of the world. The agreement provides a process for compensating the victims of attacks ranging from the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 …
Last week I had a debate with the editor-in-chief of a Christian daily newspaper in Denmark, which had refused to publish the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed in 2006, but republished some of them in 2008 following an alleged abortive plot against the cartoonist’s life. Apart from his courageous self-criticism, his remarks were intelligent, …
NEW YORK: This fall, thousands of college students will be taught a myth presented as fact. It is a myth that has helped fuel wars and may hinder finding solutions to the world’s biggest problems. Though the origin of this myth is cloudy, science has proven its falsity, and a globalized world has rendered it …
SHARJAH/AMSTERDAM: There was vigorous debate before and shortly after the screening of the controversial Dutch film “Fitna, which portrayed Islam as inherently violent. While the worldwide attention generated from the film has since died down, it is worth taking a look back to examine what role, if any, the media played on the impact of …
PARIS: Despite its commitment to the so-called “war on terrorism, or perhaps because of it, Morocco stands out as the best example of an open-air laboratory for fighting extremism. In addition to its strategic position at the crossroads between two continents, it is an Arab and Muslim country with a liberal economy that painfully struggles …
Liberals in Egypt never stop complaining. The reasons behind their complaints are different. Some complain about the political deadlock in the country and the lack of opportunity for the liberal trend to participate in political life. Others complain about the continuous crackdown on liberal figures either by imprisonment, as in the case of Ayman Nour, …
KAMPALA: On a balmy afternoon, I met Dr. Gilbert Bukenya at his home on the shores of Lake Victoria, where we talked about the future of farming in Uganda. “By farming smarter, he said, “Ugandans not only can grow more, they can earn more money. Working smarter is no empty slogan; it is the key …
AL BIREH, Ramallah: Here are my eyes wandering in a country with wonderful clean streets, where there are no signs of burned tires or broken stones. The sky is pure without the impact of smoke bombs or rocket shells. No barriers, separation walls, or checkpoints. Markets, roads, parks, schools, workplaces are filled up with people. …
TOLEDO, Spain: Does the war in the Caucasus herald the coming of Cold War II? Or is it a Russian invitation to the West to reshape the global status quo that has prevailed since the end of Cold War I? Russia’s military is certainly not fit for a global confrontation with the West. Not only …
