Letter in the Times today:
Sir, Before, during and after the Iraq war, the Muslim Association of Britain was involved in organising well- attended demonstrations against the conflict. Perhaps it could use its formidable resources to organise demonstrations against terrorism.
I even have a slogan it could use: “Not in my name.”
en on the daughter’s side to inherit from their grandfather, just like grandchildren on the son’s side. As for polygamy, it has been all but abolished. Men can take second wives only with the full consent of the first wife and only if they can prove, in a court of law, that they can treat them both with absolute justice – an impossible condition.
Every change in the law is justified – chapter and verse – from the Koran, and from the examples and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. And every change acquired the consent of the religious scholars. Even the Islamist political organisations have welcomed the change. The Party of Justice and Development described the law as “a pioneering reform” which is “in line with the prescriptions of Islam and with the aims of our religion”.
for crimes against humanity.”
A Tate spokesman admitted the blanket was a clear attack on the former prime minister but said: “It does appear to be about Mrs Thatcher but may be more than that. It also seems to be about women that Tracey Emin feels are guilty of aggressive acts you’d normally associate with men.”
Gregor Muir, the Tate curator who negotiated the gallery’s purchase, said: “I wonder if it’s not long overdue that artists like Emin should want to consider Thatcher.”
The Tate had no qualms about displaying either the neon signs or the blanket. A sign outside the gallery warns visitors about offensive language and Mr Muir said: “I think that there are very many works of art in the Tate collections which could be said to criticise the powers that be.”
Well yes, I suppose she is following a great tradition of artistic protests. Who can forget Picasso’s heartfelt masterpiece Guernica, “you fucking wankers, killing all those Spanish kiddies”, which, painted just 20 years after the actual bombing, galvanised a whole generation.
,” the CIA said in a report to Congress made public that month. U.S. intelligence agencies later came under fire over questions about prewar estimates of Iraq’s stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. But intelligence on Iraq’s hidden procurement networks was confirmed.
An initial accounting by the Pentagon in the months after the fall of Baghdad revealed that Saddam covertly acquired between 650,000 and 1 million tons of conventional weapons from foreign sources. The main suppliers were Russia, China and France. By contrast, the U.S. arsenal is between 1.6 million and 1.8 million tons. As of last year, Iraq owed France an estimated $4 billion for arms and infrastructure projects, according to French government estimates. U.S. officials thought this massive debt was one reason France opposed a military operation to oust Saddam. The fact that illegal deals continued even as war loomed indicated France viewed Saddam’s regime as a future source of income.
p>Columnist Ghassan Makhal wrote in the Qatari daily Al-Sharq: “Who stands behind the hostage-taking operation? The Russian government blamed the Chechens but to this day it has not divulged a single name of anyone involved in the operation – this despite the fact that it holds, by its own admission, the bodies of over thirty people. Chechen President and rebel Aslan Maskhadov also said that the Chechens have nothing to do with the operation…
“It is likely that the downing of the planes in Moscow [sic] and the operation against the school in Beslan were part of the struggle that the Putin government is waging against the [Russian] mafia, which has ties to Israel. Therefore it is possible that the Russian Foreign Minister is in Israel in order to negotiate and reach an agreement, or at least to obtain a promise from Sharon that he will mediate [between the government] and this mafia.”
he truth is, she never escaped The Staple Singers and Pops Staples and their old-timey down-home appeal. Pops always looks a real sweetie standing there with his guitar. He played with some of the greats (Robert Johnson, Charley Patton – it doesn’t get better than that) so there was no reason for him to keep up with the times. It’s a shame though that his children never did either. The names he saddled them with can’t have helped: as well as Mavis, there were daughters Cleotha and Yvonne, and son Pervis. Cleotha and Pervis! With such small details is the course of history decided.
p>A base on the Lebanese coast under the protection of Beirut’s Syrian overlords would enable Teheran to project power southwards towards Israel, northwards towards Turkey and westwards towards Europe. Teheran hopes this would significantly increase its standing and prestige in the predominantly Sunni Arab world by succeeding in pressuring Israel into accepting a humiliating and unfavorable settlement, something the Arab world has singularly failed to achieve.
Such a base would also enable Iran to initiate terror attacks against France and other European countries, to intimidate them into not joining the US in targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, either via sanctions or military action. It could also serve a base to mount attacks on the vital Turkish oil port of Ceyhan, the planned major terminus of future pipelines designed to lessen the West’s dependence on Middle East oil by piping oil from the newly discovered Caspian Sea oilfield.
With such a strategy in mind, Iran has, according to intelligence sources, increased its cooperation with al Qaeda. As previously mentioned, its Hezbullah proxy has already allowed a small force of al Qaeda operatives to set up base in Gaza, and perhaps in the West bank as well.
It was these developments that have prompted the renewed demands on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. Once the Syrian military leaves Lebanon, Beirut can begin reasserting its sovereignty, bringing Hezbullah to heel. Without Hezbullah, Iran loses its Lebanese base, hence by challenging Syria the US is issuing a new challenge to Iran, after having called its bluff by going after al Sadr’s ragtag Mehdi army.
e for their criminal conspiracy to develop the Islamic Bomb, then the price is Iran. If the Arabs isolate the Persians in punishment for their attack on Iraq, then the Europeans may execute a volte face rather than risk an Arab boycott. Some oil is better than none. Let the deal making begin. We have 36 months before Iran can manufacture an indigenous nuclear stockpile. After that point, they could defeat America.
And here’s Reza Bayegan, “a commentator on Iranian politics who was born in Iran and currently works for the British Council in Paris”:
I reiterate here that the non-violent political solution and the call for a national referendum are the ONLY acceptable means of a regime change for the majority of Iranians. That is why Americans like Mr. Babbin do well to cultivate the capacity of listening to the Iranian people and spending time to study their true sentiments and aspirations.
For instance, does Mr. Babbin have any idea that his argument that “we have to act militarily and soon” cannot be received with anything except utter repugnance by Iranians and credible leaders of the Iranian opposition? No Iranian opposition leader worth his salt is suggesting (as Ahmed Chalabi did) that the invading armies will be greeted with flowers in the streets of Tehran. An Iraqi style invasion of Iran is what the mullahs need to rally Iranians behind them and further delay the collapse of their hated theocracy.
I agree with Mr. Loftus that Iranians do not need any funding to liberate their country. He also points out an important factor against the survival of the clerical regime when he remarks that “75 percent of the Iranian population is under 25, and they hate the Mullahs with a passion”.
This passion is a noble human resistance to oppression and tyranny. It is a laudable, moral fervor that deserves the support and solidarity of every member of international community.
What is toted by the Kerry camp as the ‘grand bargain’ to dissuade the Islamic Republic from moving towards its WMD objectives is a prime example of a betrayal of the hope and aspirations of Iranian people.
As a matter of fact, the regime in Tehran which felt extremely vulnerable after the ouster of Saddam Hussein has been using the nuclear card to win concessions from the West and continue its reign of terror with impunity. John Edwards’ recent overture to Iran that amounts to showering the mullahs with presents and offering them a list of incentives shows that the Democrats have not learned anything from their past mistakes. The war on terror cannot be won as long as the clerical regime continues to rule Iran. The Democrats paid the price of their vacillating policies towards the Mullahs during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. A future President John Kerry cannot expect to fare any better.
From Lebanon’s Daily Star:
Iran’s dominant conservatives have been rolling back the tentative liberalization of reformist President Mohammad Khatami since winning control of Parliament in disputed polls earlier this year, but it remains unclear how far right they will take the Islamic Republic. Since the February elections, won by hard-liners after most moderates were barred from standing, Iran’s right-wing has implemented a tough crackdown on social vices, pressed on with silencing dissident voices and stalled key foreign investors lured by Khatami’s brand of Islamic glasnost. “They are trying to wipe away everything done by the previous Parliament, whether political, social, cultural or economic,” said Elaheh Koulaie, a former reformist MP. Koulaie, a women’s rights activist, was part of the reformist majority that held the Iranian Parliament from 2000-04. The assembly managed to change the political tone of the country, even if most legislation was blocked by the Council of Guardians Council, a hard-line-run vetting body. The council eventually barred most reformists from contesting the February polls, handing an easy win to right-wingers. Khatami and a handful of his Cabinet are isolated as the few moderates still in office. “The new Parliament rejected the bill on equality for inheritance that we voted through the first time around. They also removed an article from the fourth five-year plan on gender equality,” Koulaie said. The shift to the right has also been visible on the streets. In recent months, police have been spearheading a crackdown on “badly veiled women” – in other words, females showing off too much of their shape or hair, and one of the most tangible results of Khatami’s seven-year-old presidency. “We ask for the respect of Islamic values cherished by people, and not for the following of Western models,” said Javad Arianmanesh, a new conservative MP who is deputy head of the Majlis Cultural Commission. “We distinguish between a cultural invasion and cultural exchange. In a cultural exchange we select what is appropriate, but we utterly reject cultural invasion since it targets our indigenous culture and wants to alienate our people, especially the youth.” Concerning satellite TV, which is banned, and the Internet, he said such “mediums of communication are not fully pure and are run by media giants controlled by Zionist capital.”
campaign against Uighur separatists, whom it has branded terrorists.
In August, China held joint anti-terrorism exercises with Pakistan in Xinjiang which borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Beijing has blamed pro-independence activists for a string of bombings and riots in Xinjiang since the 1990s, although officials say none has occurred in the last few years.
The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a report last month China had detained thousands of Muslims, closed mosques and banned some religious schools in the past three years in the name of the war on terror.
The United States has put the East Turkestan Islamic Movement on its list of terrorist organisations.