How real is British outrage over “killer” passports?, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

How real is British outrage over “killer” passports?

By Hasan Suroor

It was billed as the moment when, we were told, Britain would read out the riot act to Israel over Mossad's suspected link to the abuse of British passports by the killers of Hamas commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai last month.

But the first thing that the Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor did as he emerged from a meeting with the Foreign Office chief Sir Peter Ricketts last Thursday was to clarify to waiting journalists that he had come in response to an “invitation” and not summons — making a pointed distinction between being “summoned” (as in the “Iranian envoy summoned for a dressing down”) and being simply called for a coffee.

The message Mr. Prosor wanted to get out — a commentator noted — was that his meeting with Sir Peter was a routine diplomatic drill and there was no need to get too excited, or read too much into it. In other words, Britain was simply going “through the motions” to calm public opinion. A similar line was coming out of Israel where ministers were said to be “confident” that for all the tough talk Britain would “do nothing” to damage its “strategic” alliance with Israel.

“The U.K. is going through the motions of outrage, but our assessment is that they will do nothing,” The Daily Telegraph reported an Israeli government source as saying. The British government, clearly embarrassed first by the disclosure about the misuse of its passports and then by Israeli bid to play down its fallout, insists that it is taking the issue “very seriously” and has ordered an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the theft of identities of six Israel-based British citizens and their use in the cold-blooded murder of Mahmoud as an “outrage.”

http://newageislam.com/how-real-is-british-outrage-over-%E2%80%9Ckiller%E2%80%9D-passports?/current-affairs/d/2496

‘Honour killings’ and domestic violence are not exclusive to South Asia, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

‘Honour killings’ and domestic violence are not exclusive to South Asia

Blighted by domestic violence

By Hasan Suroor

The horrific murder, last week, of a young British Punjabi woman in the west London suburb of Greenford within months of her leaving her Indian-born husband because of family tensions has fuelled concerns over the rising curve of domestic violence among Britain’s south Asian community much of which remains hidden, according to women support groups.

Although hard statistics are not available activists say it is far more widespread than is assumed with at least one out of every four women suffering some degree of domestic violence whether in the form of physical abuse, forced marriage or simply the family pressure to get everything “right.”

While the close-knit Indian community of Southall and Greenford has been shocked by the unprovoked killing of 28-year-old Geeta Aulakh, a receptionist at the local Sunrise Radio and mother of two small children, those who know a thing or two about what goes on behind the laced curtains of suburban Britain say they are not surprised. If anything, it confirms their worst fears about the extent of domestic violence in British homes, including native white families.

Geeta was brutally attacked in what police believe was a “planned assault” by more than one person. They also suspect that the alleged assailants may have been known to her.

http://newageislam.com/%E2%80%98honour-killings%E2%80%99-and-domestic-violence-are-not-exclusive-to-south-asia/islamic-society/d/2160

New wave of Islamophobia in Europe?, Muslims and Islamophobia, NewAgeIslam.com

Muslims and Islamophobia

New wave of Islamophobia in Europe?

By Hasan Suroor

Aug 29, 2009

Are these simply isolated events? Or is Europe in the grip of a new wave of Islamophobia?

First, the books described by writer and critic Pankaj Mishra in a long polemical article in The Guardian as works of "Eurabia-mongers" who believe that Europe is about to be "over-run" by Muslims with at least one American writer claiming that they are already "conquering Europe's cities, street by street."

A common theme running through these books is that Europe's 53 million-strong Muslim population is a "demographic time-bomb" which needs to be defused immediately if the continent does not want to end up as "Eurabia." The solution is simple if stark: keep Muslims out of Europe and, if necessary, throw them out. Some of the suggestions on how to deal with the Muslim "problem" amount to ethnic cleansing.

For flavour, consider this chilling passage from Canadian commentator Mark Steyn's book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It: "In a democratic age, you can't buck demography — except through civil war. The Serbs figured that out — as other Continentals will in the years ahead; if you can't outbreed the enemy, cull 'em."

American writer Bruce Bawer's new book Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom, which has been hailed as "an essential wake-up call" for the West (New York Times Book Review called it "unquestionably correct"), is a vitriolic attack on European liberals, including sections of the liberal media, who — it argues — have been driven by a combination of fear and political correctness to appease radical Islam at the cost of their "most cherished values."

http://newageislam.com/new-wave-of-islamophobia-in-europe?/muslims-and-islamophobia/d/1698

Salman Rushdie's latest triumph: Midnight’s Children rides again but critics are baffled,

Islamic Personalities

Salman Rushdie's latest triumph: Midnight’s Children rides again but critics are baffled

By Hasan Suroor

If the poll is, indeed, accurate, though I hesitate to take phone-in and internet polls seriously, then we have clearly missed a trick. And the stories we have been told about people’s reading habits (that serious writing is in trouble, people read only pulp, and the younger generation takes fright at the sight of anything more serious than Da Vinci Code, etc.) are a lot of nonsense. In which case we owe readers an apology; and should salute the under-35s who voted for Midnight’s Children.

For a book that doesn’t tick any of the right boxes in terms of popular taste to have won such an overwhelming mandate from the public flies in the face of all our assumptions about what people like to read. Indeed, Rushdie himself was surprised to hear the news of his win. He said he was “astonished” that Midnight’s Children was still “interesting and relevant to people who were not even born when it was written.”

http://newageislam.com/salman-rushdie-s-latest-triumph--midnight%E2%80%99s-children-rides-again-but-critics-are-baffled/islamic-personalities/d/238

Is Islamism running out of steam?, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Is Islamism running out of steam?

By Hasan Suroor

Mr. Hayden’s remarks drew gasps of surprise on both sides of the Atlantic as they contradicted previous U.S. intelligence warnings (the most recent and famous being the National Intelligence Estimate based on inputs from various American intelligence sources) that the al-Qaeda remained a formidable threat. These warnings echoed the British assessment that the al-Qaeda was very much alive and capable of striking at will though it might have its off-days — more as part of a strategy to lull the “enemy” into complacency and give itself a breather, rather than as a sign of weakness.

Mr. Hayden was, of course, speaking in the specific context of the recent successes in Iraq where Americans have been able to turn around some of the worst terror-affected regions by following a twin strategy of deploying thousands of extra troops (part of the famous “surge” launched late last year) and winning over disillusioned Sunni supporters of the al-Qaeda. Many of them are now working with American troops to flush out their former comrades — not because they have suddenly fallen in love with Americans but because either they have fallen out with the al-Qaeda, or simply got fed up of the continuing violence.

http://newageislam.com/is-islamism-running-out-of-steam?-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/127