Islamicist

Brian Whitaker writes about the "Islamicist" and a new literary genre for repenting militants/extremists, it brilliant. An excerpt:

Happily, the latest newcomer to this burgeoning literary genre of political/religious recantations is posting his story, chapter by chapter, on the internet - which allows anyone to read it (or, indeed, to give up reading it after only a few pages) at no cost to themselves.

In Chapter One we learn that The Islamicist (his real name has not been disclosed) was born in London, "city of a Thousand Extremists", and that his father was a man and his mother a woman - both from Pakistan.

"Ordinarily," he writes, "a Pakistani man and a Pakistani woman having a baby is not a momentous event. Children are very common in that country. What was special about my parents [was] that they gave birth to me."

Needless to say, The Islamicist felt marked out "to be different" and had an unhappy childhood, misunderstood by his parents. This was largely a result of his faith (he liked singing Christmas carols all year round), his dress sense and his "predeliction for playing with girls".

Brilliant.

Housekeeping - switching the new blogger template

I've switched to the new blogger few months back, it required me to change my template and registered me as a new user (i was on blogger since 2004). Today I got round to changing the template and it's annoying. I would like to keep to old look and feel but if you've ideas or suggestions let me know.

Khatami's blunder

Khatami is having tough time ahead of the parliamentary elections due next year because of a Youtube video showing him shaking hands with a woman. He denies it and says the video is fake. See it for yourself:

The last castle falls

Today marks a historic moment for Turkey: Abdullah Gül of the AK Party is projected to become the 11th president of Turkey, despite fierce opposition from the army and other secularists. The military, which views itself as the guardian of Kemal Atatürk’s secular legacy, accuses Gül of pursuing an Islamist agenda.

The presidency, the last bastion of secularist control and the old bourgeoisie, is understandably difficult for them to relinquish to a former Islamist from Anatolia. Adding to their concerns, women wearing headscarves have been banned from official buildings, including the presidential palace—until now. With Gül’s wife becoming the first lady, this precedent will be broken.

Abdullah Gül is exceptionally qualified for the presidency. As foreign minister, he achieved remarkable success in reshaping Turkey’s relations with its neighbors—Syria, Iran, and Iraq—and strengthening ties with Turkic-speaking Central Asian countries. As president, Gül will wield significant authority, including appointing judges, university chancellors, and signing legislation—roles historically dominated by secularists.

He will also, at least in theory, command the military, further underscoring the significance of this transition.

Links for 26-08-2007

• Stadium designer blasts China Olympics (Youtube)
  The man behind the design of 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium - which will host the opening and closing ceremonies - says he will boycott the games because of the insincerity of the government; the city is being beautified only for the Olympics, not for the Chinese people.
  

• Economist: Somalia is still a failed state
  The article makes the obvious point that there's a good chance for Somalia to stay stateless, despite the TFG's futile efforts. A great article except for the map which is grossly in accurate.

• BBC: Iraq violence: monitoring the surge
  Statistics and graphs on the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq. Interesting.

• BBC: 'Blasphemous' balls anger Afghans
  When will they learn? Coalition forces distributed balls with the name of Allah - Saudi Flag - on it, before they know there were demonstrations on the streets of Kabul. Before they do something like that why didn't they at least ask someone, anyone. Dimwits.
  

• Mugabe's ally speaks out (Youtube)
  Former Zambian president, Kaunda says Mugabe must be given a chance. He counts on Mugabe's genuine wish to bring his country back up, Kaunda also blames the West for Zimbabwe's current economic problems. Mugabe should be blamed for making his country so weak and dependent on foreign aid, so when the West cuts off the supplies the country is marching for collapse.
  

A stupid interivew you would agree

I would agree with angry Arab, this is the stupidest interview i've seen in a while (with Dalia Sofer). Asked about Ahmadinejad:

Didn’t President Ahmadinejad begin his career as one of the guards? In photographs, I always think he looks more like a homely professor than a tyrant. Yes. He’s so dangerous, but he looks like a little mouse.

That's low, and how about this; when asked "what was it like growing up in a Muslim country (Iran)?"

Every morning before classes the entire school would line up in the schoolyard and sing revolutionary songs. Afterward we would chant: “Marg bar America! Marg bar Israel! — Death to America! Death to Israel!” Did school officials know you were Jewish? Yes, but they view Judaism and Zionism as different entities. They may have some tolerance for the religion, but Israel is Zionism, and that’s the evil. As they say, the big Satan is America, and the little Satan is Israel.

I'm sure growing up in a Muslim country as a Jew - lets say Iran - wouldn't be worse than growing up a Muslim in Jewish country like ISREAL.

The Heart of Darfur

Aljazeera correspondent, Mohamed Vall has been to Darfur recently, his excellent reports and interviews from the region are now available on Youtube. In the reports, titled the heart of Darfur, he visits villages and refugees camps never been seen on TV screens before. He also interviews rebels and their commanders, ethnic Darfurians and Arab nomads.

This type in depth reporting is much needed in the face of sensationalist reporting in the Western media, that often neglects to delve into the intricacies of this complex crisis, of course there are exceptions (this is an example). Here are the reports available online so far:

Exclusive Darfur rebel leader interview: Vall interviews the commander of the Liberation of Sudan Movement. This rebel group boycotted the recent meeting of Darfur factions in Arusha. They insist the Sudanese government implements some conditions before they can sit and negotiate with them.

Rebels' story: Vall meets the rebels fighting the government. It's interesting how determined the young fighters are to gain their autonomy, a step further from what the rebel commanders a are demanding, social equality.

Fleeing the fighting: A remote refugee camp in the mountains completely controlled by rebels. There are no aid agencies in this camp but they receive medical supplies from Red Cross and the doctors are the rebels themselves.

Fur Tribe: Vall visits the Fur tribe, living in a rich land controlled by the rebels, but remain poor. They are thankful that they are at least better off than most other people in Darfur.

On the trail of Darfur's Nomads: Arab nomads, on of the most marginalized groups in this entire conflict, demonized and without a rebel group of their own. Because these nomads are roaming, they don't have villages of their own so they're often portrait as comers from elsewhere when in reality they've been in the region for centuries.

Exclusive interview with Musa Hilal: interview with the man United States is accusing of war crimes.

Reading

LRB: The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam
I've made a conscious decision, sometime back, not to discuss the Middle East peace process in this blog because I've always believed that Israel has never been sincerely interested in giving up land for peace, that's as long as it remains the superior power in the region. In this groundbreaking article, the author articulates with impressive accuracy why peace isn’t possible but how Israel’s vision of peace is completely different of what is discussed publicly.

According to to the article, Israel wants a defeated Palestinian people living in different pockets of land - example, Gaza and West Bank - nothing more. The articles quotes top Israeli policy makers as well as American officials talking about their commitment to the settlers cause, which basically centers around the mission of never allowing a Palestinian state to emerge. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

In fact, all previous peace initiatives have got nowhere for a reason that neither Bush nor the EU has had the political courage to acknowledge. That reason is the consensus reached long ago by Israel’s decision-making elites that Israel will never allow the emergence of a Palestinian state which denies it effective military and economic control of the West Bank. To be sure, Israel would allow – indeed, it would insist on – the creation of a number of isolated enclaves that Palestinians could call a state, but only in order to prevent the creation of a binational state in which Palestinians would be the majority.

The Middle East peace process may well be the most spectacular deception in modern diplomatic history. Since the failed Camp David summit of 2000, and actually well before it, Israel’s interest in a peace process – other than for the purpose of obtaining Palestinian and international acceptance of the status quo – has been a fiction that has served primarily to provide cover for its systematic confiscation of Palestinian land and an occupation whose goal, according to the former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, is ‘to sear deep into the consciousness of Palestinians that they are a defeated people’.

BBC: Perils of a new Pacific arms race
China has been significantly increasing its military budget in the last few years with particular focus on its navy. Some American lawmakers perceive this as a challenge to US naval dominance in the region, sparking an arms race in the region. This is excellent article capturing the debate on both sides.

BBC: Why do Indian Muslims lag behind
For the 60th anniversary of India's independence, the BBC looks at the state of Muslim Indians, the largest religious minority numbering at about 130 million. Apart from ceremonial positions in the government such as the presidency - and entertainment - Bollywood actors and cricketers, the Muslims of India are no where to be seen. A large portion of the Muslims live under the poverty line and the percentage of Muslims in the government jobs is less than 5%. It's an interesting analysis of the root causes behind this and apparently the Muslim leadership, the establishment and the last hardline hindu government all have something to do with it.

SystemAddict: Taxed to Death
US is moving towards taxing virtual good, sold in Second Life and the like. Economists estimate the trade at about $880 million world wide, and will surely increase. In China, Korea and Japan, it’s not uncommon to find young men making a career out acquiring and selling these goods. But taxation could mean the end of this trade in US. This is a compelling reading.

On BBC Editors blog

I've to admit, I'm truly impressed with BBC's slow but steady adoption of blogging and their editors blog is a great example. Editors from across BBC have been posting on this blog for about a year now about various editorial issues, mostly on transparency and coverage, to give more depth to stories. But what impressed me most was their increasing interaction with the blogsphere responding to blogposts and even comments on other blogs. For example, many bloggers have criticized BBC's report on CIA and Vatican edits on Wikipedia, using an online tool, omitting edits originating from BBC. The Head of Interactive News responded with this post acknowledging this oversight and that he himself has edited his own wikipedia entry.

Regardless of your opinion on BBC, you've to admit that they're on the right track in adopting the latest the web has to offer and don't seem to be afraid of it.

Links for 19-08-2007

BBC: Iraq bomb death toll reaches 344
The worst bombing in Iraq since the American invasion four years ago targeted the Yazidi minority. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.

Aljazeera: Migrant workers dreams turn to nightmares in the Gulf (Youtube)
Aljazeera reports on the unbearable conditions of the mainly South Asian migrant workers in the Gulf, where there are hundreds of thousands of them. These workers are abused by their employers, both local and international firms, as well as the agents who shipped them to the Gulf. Another issue, not addressed in this report, is the dismal safety record, hundreds of workers die each as a result of lack or complete absence of safety and lack of proper training. This is one of the pressing human rights issue in Gulf and finally the governments are getting embarrassed by the negative publicity.

BBC: Fighting fakes in a virtual world
An exellent report on how selling fake good has moved into virtual world as well, Second Life. That's why a UK law firm has setup shop in Second Life, for intellectual property rights.

How could American politicians can get away with such ignorance

I know it's a bit overdue but I was buffled by the report that some nut-case running for president in US has threatened to bomb Macca and Medina if terrorists used nuclear against the US. Well, it's humorous in a way because the senator personifies the perception that Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world. He probably thinks that terrorist with nuclear weapons will freeze, put their hands up in the air and start crying mercy if the Americans threaten to bomb Mecca and Madina.

What I find interesting is how America's top politicians can always get away with such ignorance, he certainly isn't the first. Silvestre Reyes, the democrat's House Intelligence committee chairman thought that Al-Qaeda is Shia and Obama wants to invade Pakistan, one of the largest Muslim countries and a close ally to America.

Quotable

"So capitalism is for poor people and socialism is for capitalists. This view is not just offensive. It is catastrophic" - Martin Wolf

Dimwits and downright crooks

Couple weeks back FT reported the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has granted oil exploration rights to Chinese state firm CNOOC in Puntland. Few days later the TFG prime minister Gedi said he didn't know anything about such a deal, and no oil deals can be made until the proposed oil law is approved in parliament. that's right, he doesn't know anything about it.

The problem is that the president and prime minister - and the rest of the cabinet - are a bunch of crooks, each wants to sell the unproved oil/gas reserves of Somalia before the other. Abdullah Yusuf prefers the Chinese so he give them exploration rights in Mudug region where he's from, and the deals was signed in Nairobi and worse he didn't tell the prime minister about the deal. The Prime minister on his part is pushing through an oil law which basically says to create a state-owned oil firm but the twist is that wants a Kuwaiti and an Indonesian company to own 49%. He's in a hurry to get the law through the parliament because he already hammered out the details of deal.

I frankly expected this sort of thing from these two idiots, but I thought at this stage when everything is at stake and TFG officials are being assassinated and over 600,000 Somalis don't have enough to eat, they would wait a little bit or at least make sure they disguised what they're doing.

How is it possible for Somalia to get out of it's misery if it's led by these half-wit crooks? Frankly, I doubt it can.

US strategy in the Horn can only further destablize the region

Ethan has a great post (though couple weeks back) about US involvement in Somalia and the much talked about African Command. Ethan calls it "the third" front for United State's war on terror, and it's. Actually Somalia was about become the "second front" after Afghanistan, the US army was seriously contemplating bombing Somalia but at the time there was nothing to bomb.

One thing I would like to suggest is that Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia wasn't because it was afraid of the Islamic Courts invading them, they were too weak to threaten Ethiopia. But it was Ethiopia's arch-rival Eritrea's support for the Islamic Courts, arming and funding them, that compelled Ethiopia to do something. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bitter war in 1998-2000, and there's now a real concern that the two countries are getting ready to resume the war. And It wasn't the first time the two countries took their war to Somalia either, as early as 1999 each was supporting a group of warlords.

So imagine Ethiopia's position, Eritrea is getting ready for a second round of war and they've an ally in Southern Somalia, it was really a dangerous situation for Ethiopia. But even then Ethiopia wouldn't have entered Somalia without the full support of the United States.

The United Sates, on the other hand, had a narrow objective, to capture some people in Somalia whom they'd intelligence were dangerous; mainly Somalis who fought in places like Afghanistan. US tried to capture these men by paying warlords in Mogadishu - literally coming into Mogadishu with suitcases full of money - the plan was naive and went horribly wrong, it led to the birth of the Islamic Courts.

This is where Ethiopian and American interests met; Ethiopia wants Eritrea out of Somalia and US wants to capture some people. We now know that US wasn't after Islamic Courts leaders - except Sheikh Aways of course - according to Jenday Frazer the Americans give passage to Shiekh Sharif to flee the country.

The United States's narrow focus on capturing few men here and there and bombing sites is pointless, short-sighted and really disappointing. US wasn't interested in the Somali peace conference which resulted in the TFG, but bombing "terrorist" and killing civilians as a result, yes that's a priority. And United States isn't interested in defusing the tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia either, instead it's taking the side of Ethiopia which still refuses to abide by the International Court's ruling. As a resulted it has alienated Eritrea and promoted a proxy war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, now Eritrea is the hub of rebels, terrorists and insurgent from across the horn.

Community corruption: not only governments!

Pyjama Samsara, one of my favorite blogs by a development worker, has an excellent post on community corruption in Indonesia. She describes how village leaders stole money helped by those working with the development agency. Here's the story of why one village chief stole the money:

I have had to caution kepala desa (village chief) after kepala desa for taking money they are not entitled to. One kepala desa said that we forced him to be fraudulent by giving such small grants. So his wife had to take seven grants (six of them illicitly) so that she could buy a fridge! How else could she afford to get a fridge! It never once occured to him that our purpose was not to buy her a fridge. No one else in her village has a fridge. Why should we help her get one?

It might be incomprehensible that people would steal the money allocated to improve their lives, like building schools and health clinics but this is what happens. And it happens elsewhere in the world, for example, at elections in Pakistan and Philippines - and elsewhere - community leaders would sell their votes of the community to the highest bidder without any regard for which candidate is more likely to develop their village and build schools and roads.

I don't think it's a problem of ignorance or lack of education as some might argue, people generally figure out what's good for them. So why?

Links for 12-08-2007

• BBC: Doubts over US Mideast strategy
  US is planning a regional meeting for the peace process but it's trying to exclude Hamas and Syria, it simply won't work. You can not have peace process without Hamas.
  

• Bihari people: Pakistanis in Bangladesh (Youtube)
  The Bihari people in Begladesh are stateless, they don't have citizenship in any country. They've been in UN refugee camps in Dhaka since the Pakistani-Bangladesh partition but Bangladesh government says they're Pakistanis and the Pakistani government refuses to accept them as citizens. Now the third generation of the Bihari people continues to suffer.

• BBC - In pictures: Beijing prepares for Olympics
  A photojournal about the Chinese people's thoughts about the Olympics next year. interesting.
  

Turmoil in Puntland

Puntland has been one of the most stable regions in Somalia. While the south was rampaged by warlords and militias this region continued to grow. In 1998 the state of Puntland was formed but unlike Somaliland the region does not claim independence. Puntland region is now the wealthiest in Somalia.

But recently there has been political turmoil in the Puntland and the Somali shilling, one of the worlds worst currencies and still used in Puntland, has devalued even further. PINR has an excellent report about the situation in Puntland and the possibility that it might destablize the region even further.

Puntland is made up of Harti, a sub-clan of Darood which includes Majeerteen, Dhulbahante and Warsengeli. Majeerteen is the largest clan and has the presidency while the vice president is Dhulbahante. The two tribes act as balance to one another, and often compete. While Dhulbahante is part of Puntland they've kept their own autonomy - and distance - from Puntland (for example they don't pay taxes). The Puntland soldiers in Nugaal and Sool are mostly Dhulbahante as well.

The currency problem is mostly the result of the businessmen printing counterfeit money. Because there isn't a central bank in Somalia, anyone with enough money can print his own bank notes, and many do. As a result, the Somali shilling was devalued and the price of goods increased dramatically. As a result the TFG prime minister Gedi announced that the government will be printing new bank notes.

There might be some political instability but the tribal elders in the region yield much power and they've always made sure - even before Puntland was created - that peace is kept in the region.

Egyptian police torture a 12 year old boy to death

This is beyond belief. The Egyptian police has tortured a 12 year old boy to death. The police took the boy after his father was arrested, he was beaten, electrocuted and stabbed by the police. His mother was told that he was taken to Al-Sadr hospital in Mansoura, a city north of Cairo. When his mother went to the hospital to see him the doctors told her they performed a heart surgery on him so she can't see him.

On Thursday, the police dumbed the body of the boy in another part of the city, people then informed his family. The family took the body to Mansoura Univeristy hospital where the boys mother told the doctor that they had performed a heart surgery on him. After examination, the doctor informed the family that no surgery was performed on the boy, instead there's a stabbing wound in his heart.

Police torture is common in Egypt and bloggers have been doing a great job in exposing some cases. Now we know that even children aren't save.

This was also reported by Aljazeera and BBC websites.

Qaddafi's son admits nurses were innocent and were tortured in prison

Aljazeera interviews Qaddafi's son, Saif Al-Qaddafi, talking about a range of issues. The main issues was, naturally, the case of the Bulgarian nurses. The presenter, Leila Al-Sheikhly, corners him so well that he admits that the nurses and the Palestinian doctor were innocent and they were tortured in prison. He acknowledges that what Libya was doing was extortion but he reasons that others - US and EU - where doing the same to them as well. It's an interesting interview, you can watch the full interview below.

Quotable

"I spent a week in Iraq recently, and here's what impressed me most: the Americans." - Bill Kristol. (via Abu Aardvark)

Two Top Somali Journalists Killed

Two prominent Somali journalist have been killed in Mogadishu within hours of each other. Ali Iman Sharmarke was one of the owners of HornAfrik, he died instantly after his car exploded after running over a remotely-controlled landmine. He was coming back from the funeral of a fellow journalist Mahad Ahmad Elmi, of Capital Voice, who was shot in the morning. The two men were daring journalists who were not afraid to offend the warlords and now the insurgents and the TFG. The TFG closed HornAfrik several times and they've also received threats from other armed groups.

What Horn Afrik has done was amazing, when they started Mogadishu was controlled by warlords, they had to employ militias or armed guards to protect their reporters and photographers. Their radio shows was also very popular allowing residents to complain about the warlords and militias in the city. Hopefully what Ali Sharmaarke had started will continue.CBC Canada has a long report on the Horn Afrik, few years back.

Iraqis document humiliation

An Iraqi dentist writes about how he ended up jailed and humiliated, together with other Iraqis, when he went to Jordan for a vacation. Another Iraqi recorded the conditions of Iraqis(youtube) in the Jordanian airport. Watch Below:

It's sad to see that Iraqis are dealt this way in Arab countries, of all places.

Quotable

Terrorism is being discussed in the Somali reconciliation conference, this is what one of the elders had to say about it:

We only heard the words "extremists and terrorists" from the American president, George W. Bush, and I believe that we, as Muslims, do not have to repeatedly say what an infidel said.

Brilliant.

Iraq Update

5 ministers and the Sunni deputy prime minister resigned from Maliki's governemnt. Tawafuq, the main Sunni bloc, has a list of demands including disbanding Shia militias and giving Sunnis more say in security matters. Both Al-Maliki and president Talibani say they agree with some of the demands and are calling for wider talks. Sunnis were marginalized for a long time so this step comes late.

Al-Maliki's government and his predecessor Jafari have both pushed a sectarian agenda that led to virtual takeover of Shia militias over security services. That meant the killing of thousands of Sunni civilians by Shia death squads and forcing many more to flee their homes.

US administration has been pressuring the Iraqi government to rain in Shia militias, among other things. Iyad Allawi has emerged as an interesting alternative to Maliki. He's presenting himself as the secular alternative to Iran-backed Shia, he also appeals to the Sunni bloc. Aljazeera had an interesting interview with him, check out below:

Polygamy controversy in Indonesia

Zainal Ma'arif, deputy speaker of the house of representatives in Indonesia, was sacked after he took a second wife. In turn, Ma'arif accused the president of having a second wife and the president filed defamation case against Ma'arif and deputy speaker filed a counter suit ... etc.

Polygamy is legal in Indonesia but under certain circumstances. The raw is interesting because polygamy is a common talking point in most countries. Check out Aljazeera's report on the issue:

Roundup

It's revealed that Islamic Courts leader has holding talks with Ethiopia but Sheikh Sharif denied talking to the Ethiopians. Eritrea won't be happy with this news, they last thing they want is for the Islamic Courts to be friendly with Ethiopia.

Darfur factions meeting in Tanzania to have a common ground before meeting the Sudanese government. These talks are hosted by the African Union and the United Nations. One of the factions absent from these talks is the "Sudan Liberation Movement". Many of these rebel leaders care little for the people of Darfur, they're eying government jobs in Khartoum instead.

New Turkish parliament is sworn in, and for the first time in more than two decades Kurdish representatives sit next to Turkish nationalists.

In an interesting revelation, the US army lost 190,000 weapons in Iraq, and still blaming Iran for arming Shia militias.

That's not freedom of speech, it's simply hate

FP blog commenting on the story of a man who was arrested flushing Koran down a toilet:

Free speech is essential for democracy. It doesn't require us to agree with what everyone says, but it does require us to tolerate—and even defend—the right of others to express themselves in offensive ways.

That's pathetic. When someone's "free speech" the line to someone else's freedom space, it's no longer an exercise of freedom but simply hate therefore, supporting such an act is simply supporting hate. what you think?

BREAKING NEWS: Afghanistan - Military operation to free Korean hostages begins

Aljazeera reports that a military operation has been launched to free the Korean hostages from Taliban. So far Taliban has executed two Koreans after the deadline they sat expired couple of times. The Taliban demand 23 of their prisoners to be released and Korean troops to leave Afghanistan. The Korean hostages were Christian missionaries, an activity that most Afghan object to.

This is a report form Aljazeera Arabic, yesterday, about the execution of the second hostage.