Muslims Are Their Own Worst Enemy, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Muslims Are Their Own Worst Enemy

By Paul Craig Roberts, CounterPunch.org

March 2, 2010

Muslims are numerous but powerless. Divisions among Muslims, especially between Sunni and Shiites, have consigned the Muslim Middle East to almost a century of Western control. Muslim disunity has made it possible for Israel to dispossess the Palestinians, and for the US to invade Iraq, threaten Iran and rule much of the region, notes Paul Craig Roberts.

Muslims are numerous but powerless. Divisions among Muslims, especially between Sunni and Shiites, have consigned the Muslim Middle East to almost a century of Western control. Muslims cannot even play together. The Islamic Solidarity Games, a regional version of the Olympics, which were to be held in April in Iran, have been cancelled, because the Iranians and the Arabs cannot agree on whether to call the body of water that separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf.

Muslim disunity has made it possible for Israel to dispossess the Palestinians, for the US to invade Iraq, and for the US to rule much of the region through puppets. For example, in exchange for faithful service, Egypt receives $1.5 billion a year from Washington, which enables President Mubarak to buy off opposition. The opposition had rather have the money than support the Palestinians. Therefore, Egypt cooperates with Israel and the US in the blockade of Gaza.

Another factor is the willingness of some Muslims to betray their own kind for US dollars. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to neoconservative Kenneth Timmerman, head of the Foundation for Democracy, which describes itself as “a private, non-profit organization established in 1995 with grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to promote democracy and internationally-recognized standards of human rights in Iran.”

http://newageislam.com/muslims-are-their-own-worst-enemy/current-affairs/d/2535

Angry Young Muslims: Perspectives on Radical Islamism, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Angry Young Muslims: Perspectives on Radical Islamism

Dealing with extremism on an Islamic basis is primarily a battle for the future of the Arab and Muslim world. Particularly the first dimension of anger described above can only be tackled by far-reaching political reforms in these countries. The autocratic regimes selected as partners in alliances with the West, however, are rarely prepared to take such steps. European governments can call for and support reforms. Yet Europe's policy-makers must start thinking about how their own decisions contribute to increasing or decreasing the potential for anger in the Muslim world. Five brief proposals:

Europe should support actors in the Arab and Muslim world who take peaceful action for change in their countries. This also means accepting that civil society includes not only those involved in secular discourses, but also conservative Islamic forces. One thing is certain: without the national moderate forces of political Islam, there will be no sustainable political reforms in the Arab world.

Political change is never linear; it is always full of contradictions, detours and setbacks. It is therefore advisable to break down the concept of democracy into its constitutive elements for operational purposes. That means in particular the rule of law, human rights, independent justice, transparency, freedom of opinion and free elections, whereby these are the decisive but certainly not the first and only necessary element of sustainable political reform. Democracy – and this is essential – cannot come before a much more all-encompassing process of state building; statehood is instead a precondition for consolidated democracy.

http://newageislam.com/angry-young-muslims--perspectives-on-radical-islamism--/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/829

Is it time for India to join US war in Afghanistan?, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Is it time for India to join US war in Afghanistan?

This policy in practice was disastrous and led to a global upsurge in terrorist violence. For India, the Taliban victory resulted in a precipitous and ignominious flight from Kabul. In 1996, Indian diplomats packed their bags hastily and departed abandoning a once proud embassy. For many years, Indian foreign policymakers impotently wrung their hands in South Block while the Taliban and their Pakistani masters freely roamed the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan, putting to sword anyone who had the potential to disagree with them. India’s helplessness was further highlighted in 1999 when a hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft was taken to Kandahar and released only after New Delhi agreed to free three top Islamist terrorists.

The Indians could return only after the US military had chased the Taliban and the Pakistani Army out of Afghanistan. Once the embassy in Kabul was re-opened, the Indians gradually operationalised its consulates in the cities of Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazaar-e-Sharif. The Indian government also pledged to help in the Afghan reconstruction and has, till date, allocated a whopping $ 750 million for various projects — roads, mobile communication networks, electricity transmission lines etc. India, like most other countries, hoped that economic reconstruction, the beginnings of democracy and continued pressure on the Taliban would bring Afghanistan back from the brink.

http://newageislam.com/is-it-time-for-india-to-join-us-war-in-afghanistan?/war-on-terror/d/876

Pakistan: Illusions and delusions of democracy, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Pakistan: Illusions and delusions of democracy

Dr Rubina Saigol

Friday, September 19, 2008

So what is the common thread that ties these disparate events together? Briefly ruminating on these happenings one is led to the inevitable understanding that the common underlying problem is the absence of Rule of Law, which in turn signifies the absence of democracy and both democracy and Rule of Law are necessary conditions for the exercise of human rights. One might ask, why do we not have democracy given that national elections were held on February 18th and the people of Pakistan gave a verdict in favor of democracy and against dictatorship. Why is the unfolding script revealing the grand plan that was apparently put together prior to the elections through political wheeling and dealing? Musharraf had predicted that the MQM and the PML (Q), along with the PPP would form the new government. Some analysts have also pointed out that the victory of the ANP and defeat of the MMA were also a part of this grand design.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan---illusions-and-delusions-of-democracy-/islam-and-politics/d/751

The real choice before Pakistan, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

The real choice before Pakistan

By Beena Sarwar

On the other hand, there lurks the danger of a 1977-like situation when all those opposed to Z.A. Bhutto and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) — right, left and centre — came together in the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA). Many of their complaints were entirely justifiable. There were good reasons to suspect that Bhutto was taking the country towards autocracy (Nawaz Sharif made similar moves in his second term). Many PNA activists, although they were clearly for democracy, allowed their dislike of the PPP and Bhutto to cloud their judgment, creating conditions for a military takeover. Their argument that Bhutto was equally or even more responsible for the situation bears weight, but after General Zia overthrew and hanged him, many of the same PNA activists had to join hands with the PPP in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) to oppose Zia. But by then the damage had been done.

http://newageislam.com/the-real-choice-before-pakistan/islam-and-politics/d/754

Can Islam accommodate democracy?, Islamic Ideology ,

Islamic Ideology

Can Islam accommodate democracy?

By Benjamin R. Barber

These arguments may in their polemical zealotry beyond rational rebuttal, but Professor Habermas would I think prefer that they be rationally confronted and refuted. That is certainly my view if we wish to get on with the difficult work of crafting democracy in societies that take religion seriously - nearly all societies. I want to offer six straightforward arguments, some historical, some sociological, and some philosophical - all reasonable and commonsensical in the broader sense of rational - that suggest why it is absurd to think that Islam cannot accommodate democracy or that democracy cannot accommodate Islam. A: It is not Islam per se, but religion tout court that stands in some tension with secularism and with democracy - a tension that is healthy rather than unhealthy in a free society. Augustine's Two Cities and Pope Gelasius's two swords speak to a world of the body and a world of the spirit, of the temporal and the eternal, the worldly and the ecclesiastic. These dualisms do not arise out of theology but inform theology with the deep logic of duality that defines our being. The opposition of morality and politics, and of divine or natural and positive law, is transferred to the opposition of church and state that produces troublesome but healthy tensions for societies everywhere.

http://newageislam.com/can-islam-accommodate-democracy?/islamic-ideology/d/228

WRITE BACK: Defending Democracy, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

WRITE BACK: Defending Democracy

The management aspect of terrorism in India simply addresses the issues at a very superficial level. Management of terrorism may be more successful at one point of time-space and a failure at the other -- but effective, or otherwise, management cannot transform structures in the society that make poor Muslims in India easy cannon fodder for international terrorist groups. What we need to tackle, instead, is the problem at its roots.

How different is India from a typical failed state? Political leaders, who carry out chariot processions spreading hate, leaving behind a trail of riots, leading, engineering and inciting mobs to demolish mosques, roam free in our society. Political leaders who lead and facilitate genocide/massacre continue to remain in power.

To be a successful state, the rule of law should prevail and criminals, whether they engineer riots or kill innocent people by carrying out bomb blasts, should be treated as criminals. Even as Serbian leaders/criminals are being tried in the international courts and put behind bars, for similar crimes they committed in the past, criminals in India remain above the law. Are we living in a civilized society?

http://newageislam.com/write-back--defending-democracy/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/353

Indian Independence Day: Freedom and Democracy, a precious gift, Urdu Section, NewAgeIslam.com

Urdu Section

17 Aug 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Indian Independence Day: Freedom and Democracy, a precious gift

By Zafar Agha Thanks to almighty God, that we Muslims have also right to vote as Hindus and it is this right that had made us independent. We are free, to elect our sarpanch, also we are free to change our prime minister. There is no doubt that there are loopholes in democratic system but we breathe in free environment and have the right to change our government. This right is not available to Muslims of other parts of the world. URL: http://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/آزادی-ایک-بیش-قیمت-تحفہ/d/5268