Did you ever wonder how all that hysteria got going in August and September about mosque-building in the United States, in which Americans demonstrated themselves mostly ignoramuses about Islam and behaved often in an un-Christian manner toward their fellow Americans? The Pew Charitable Trust has done a poll, the results of which demonstrate that most […]
Archives for September 2010
Redd: What About Jerusalem?
Adrienne Redd writes in a guest column for Informed Comment After remaining silent for the first month of the semester, a student in my seminar entitled “Understanding Global News” spoke up after I presented historical context pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He first acknowledged to the rest of the class that he is of Palestinian […]
Update on German Terrorist Plot
Update: The plot is alleged to have been hatched by young Muslim-German men who had been attending the same mosque in Hamburg where the 9/11 hijackers attended. Some of them went to northwest Pakistan for training, and one of them was captured in Afghanistan in July. A Mumbai-style attack is inexpensive and logistically unchallenging. If […]
Major al-Qaeda Attacks on European Cities Said Foiled
The FT reports that the intensification of US drone bombardment of suspected al-Qaeda positions in Pakistan’s tribal northwest in recent days appears to have been related to intelligence that the cells were planning to hit a number of Western European capitals with “Mumbai-style” random machine gun and bombing attacks. One of the drone strikes is […]
Deputy Gov. Ghazni Killed;
Karzai Weeps, announces Peace Outreach Council
Anti-government guerrillas attacked the convoy of the deputy governor of Ghazni province on Tuesday. According to Pajhwok, “Deputy governor of Ghazni province Mohammad Kazem Allahyar, his son, two of his nephews and a guard were killed in the attack in the provincial capital Ghazni, said Zamarai Bashary, spokesman for the interior ministry.” In an address […]
Netanyahu Blows off US; Mahmoud Abbas pleads for Settlement Freeze
President Barack Obama has just gotten the Netanyahu treatment. Obama came into office saying that a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the Israeli one is key to American security. He had his special envoy cajole Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of the far right Likud Party for […]
Engaging the Muslim World Out in Paperback
Today is the official publication date for the paperback edition of my most recent book, Engaging the Muslim World. Click here to purchase It is somewhat revised, taking some of the stories into 2010. Here is a link to David Sanger’s generous review of the book in the New York Times.
Afghan Villagers Protest US Air Strike, as Ballot Fraud Evidence Surfaces
According to the Afghanistan government, about 186 civilians have died in each of the last 6 months in the war. (Other studies suggest the bulk of them are killed in Taliban attacks). While it is true that some 300 civilians were killed in Iraq in August, or nearly twice the Afghan toll, earlier in 2010 […]
New Polls: Dems Very Likely to Keep Senate
Jason Easley’s essay looking at recent opinion polls in Kentucky, Nevada, and California argues that Democrats are substantially improving their position in senate races in each. I’ve been noticing the same thing. Even if the new LA Times poll showing the Democratic candidates, Boxer for Senate and Brown for governor, pulling way out ahead is […]