Archives for November 2008

Queen Rania of Jordan has for some time had her own channel on youtube and has done a number of broadcasts attempting to clarify the reality of Islam, to present a modernist vision of the place of women in Islam, and to combat extremist interpretations of her religion. The queen, who (like me) is a […]

Coordinated attacks have been launched in Mumbai (Bombay) on tourist hotels and sites, leaving over a dozen dead. Some of the attacks were with machine guns, others with bombs. Two of the terrorists are said still to be holed up in a tourist hotel and under siege by Indian police. No word yet of the […]

A US soldier and a Marine were shot to death and two Marines were wounded in the northern Iraqi province of Ninevah on Tuesday, and the same attack killed 3 civilians. At least one of the attackers wore an Iraqi army uniform. 16 US troops have been killed in action in Iraq in November, up […]

Aljazeera English reports on Afghan fears that foreign aid won’t reach them: Pervasive corruption is also deeply angering the AFghan public. Meanwhile, the Pakistan chief of staff, Ashfaq Kiyani, has abolished the political wing of the Inter-Services Intelligence, which had been accused of shaping Pakistni politics by rigging elections or destabilizing government it did not […]

Three bombings in Baghdad on Monday left some 20 persons dead and many others injured. One bomb targeted a mini-bus with female Iraqi government employees on it. A woman suicide bomber detonated her payload in a crowd just outside the Green Zone. Although the Western press tried to tie these bombings to the vote on […]

President-Elect Barack Obama talked to Afghan President Hamid Karzai by telephone on Saturday. Late that day, Karzai’s office issued a statement about the conversation: ‘ “Obama said America will increase its commitment to bring security and stability to the government and people of Afghanistan . . . “Obama also emphasized that combatting terrorism and bringing […]

Anne-Ruth Wertheim writes in a guest op-ed for IC: After I wrote my article “There is Racism and There is Racism’’, I received quite a few often very emotional reactions. At the Trouw website, in personal emails and at any number of blogs. Some of the readers who responded are just as concerned as I […]

Piracy by Somali pirates in the Red Sea region threatens to reduce world trade through the Suez Canal by about a third, and could raise petroleum prices again if the smaller oil tankers have to go around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe. Wouldn’t it be in part the duty of President Bush and […]

The Iraqi parliament has postponed its vote on the proposed US-Iraq security pact from Monday to Wednesday. MPs had complained that there were not given enough time to study its provisions. It is still not clear how the Sunni Arab MPs will vote; without their support, the agreement would likely be seen as a joint […]