In The News

Excess Baggage

Claudia Rosett September 1, 2006
Iran stubbornly refuses to give up its nuclear-weapons research. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has calculated that the United Nations and its members are so polarized that they cannot muster the will to enforce sanctions or take military steps against a nation so intent on nuclear development, writes journalist Claudia Rosett. Rich with oil and gas reserves, Iran has plenty of cash to convince...

Will Oil Impose US-Iranian Reconciliation?

Hani Asfour September 1, 2006
After the US invasion of Iraq and then the invasion of Lebanon, speculation abounded about possible war between the West and Iran. Diplomacy experts in Europe and the US urge the Bush administration to open negotiations with Iran about ending the latter’s nuclear research and disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon – as well as ensure world energy supplies. Author Hani Asfour argues that the US has ample...

Civil War Returns to Sri Lanka

Rüdiger Falksohn August 31, 2006
For more than 20 years, the Tamil Tigers have fought to establish their own state in Sri Lanka. Representing about 18 percent of the small island’s population, the largely Hindu group suffered persecution for years before signing a treaty with the Sri Lankan government in 2002. Not long after the December 2004 tsunami, brutal ethnic violence broke out with assassinations and bombings of schools...

A Muslim Militancy Born in Modernity Not Mosques

Faisal Devji August 29, 2006
After the surprise attacks of 9/11, the world has made great strides in the technical aspects of security, but stalled when it comes to the complex politics that lead to radical thinking. British police were successful in foiling a plot to attack planes traveling from the UK to the US. But more frightening is the fact that instigators were citizens of the UK, educated in a democratic society that...

Muslim Myopia

Irshad Manji August 25, 2006
Islamic scholar Irshad Manji does not dispute the claims laid out by mainstream British Muslims last week that the blunders in Iraq and Lebanon provide fuel for extremism. However, she also calls upon Muslim representatives in the West to be accountable for any of their own contributions to violence. Muslim-on-Muslim violence is endemic throughout the world, with Muslims responsible for as many...

Somalia for the Somalis: An Idea in Peril

Harun Hassan August 22, 2006
The hope for stability that came with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) defeat of warlord militias in the Somali capital of Mogadishu has since dissolved into a division between two centers of power, both claiming to speak for the Somali people. Both are backed by separate outside forces. The interim coalition government, largely confined to the town of Baidoa, has received pledges of support...

Belief in a Worldwide Islamist Conspiracy Foolish

Max Hastings August 18, 2006
“He who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.” The proverb attributed to a 7th century Islamic caliph serves as a germane warning for the US. The Bush administration has amalgamated all Muslim opponents of US foreign policy into one group of “terrorist enemies,” and a more discriminating policy is necessary, argues author Max Hastings. He urges a policy that can differentiate between the just...