Category: Opinions
May 13, 2008 - 3:27:55 AM
Pakistan has started talks with the Taliban in the northwestern province of the country bordering on Afghanistan. Kabul authorities fear that Islamabad will stop military operations, thus giving the Taliban a chance to become more active in Afghanistan.
May 13, 2008 - 3:13:42 AM
On the assumption that President Barack Obama survives for a full four-year term -- for it is generally assumed that, as the first African-American president, he will face a higher than average risk of assassination -- what changes will he bring to the United States and the world?
May 11, 2008 - 11:49:51 PM
It is one thing to be on the ground in Yemen and is another to be in Washington DC creating theories and spreading lies from behind the desk. Such a practice is rewarding and profitable for some people. Such as Muneeer al-Mawri the so-called political analysts.
May 10, 2008 - 7:01:18 AM
My story with art started when I met Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. That was in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. I was at a school-turned-shelter, and there was a chalkboard.
May 10, 2008 - 6:52:58 AM
As the delay in announcing the results of Zimbabwe’s presidential election stretched out endlessly, the political jokes proliferated across southern Africa. The best ones were based on the old “Why did the chicken cross the road?” joke.
May 10, 2008 - 1:03:56 AM
It is not Iran that should return to the negotiating table and impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment, as the U.N. Security Council resolutions require. It is the five permanent members of the U.N.
May 7, 2008 - 4:24:31 AM
Georges Corm is convinced that as long as the West pursues double moral standards and applies international law unequally, its attempts to establish dialogue with the Muslim world cannot be taken seriously. Mona Sarkis, a freelance journalist, spoke to the social scientist and former Lebanese finance minister:
May 7, 2008 - 4:16:51 AM
“Terrorism,” like “fascism,” is one of those words that people routinely apply to almost any behaviour they disapprove of. We had a particularly impressive spread of meanings on display last week.
May 3, 2008 - 7:22:59 AM
Last week Hamish McRae, one of the world’s best economic journalists, declared in “The Independent” that “Hardly anyone a year ago successfully predicted the rise in the oil price to $120 a barrel --in fact I have not found a single forecast of that.”
Apr 26, 2008 - 2:55:02 AM
We should not wait for Turkey to lead us in understanding the diversity of Islamic thought on different matters. It is essential for Muslims to be aware of the many opinions that are out there and not assume that what they have been told by imams, scholars or their elders is the only option.
Apr 26, 2008 - 2:47:28 AM
TUNIS -- In Tunisia, synagogues and churches stand side by side with mosques. Jewish and Christian minorities freely practice their religious rituals. This tolerant climate is ensured by the constitution which provides for habeas corpus, guarantees freedom of conscience and protects freedom of religious practice.
Apr 19, 2008 - 1:50:21 AM
MOSCOW -- U.S. President George W. Bush said that “significant progress” has been achieved in stabilization in Iraq in the past year.
Apr 19, 2008 - 1:41:23 AM
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait -- The recent resignation of members of the Kuwaiti government and subsequent dissolution of the parliament reflects severe structural imbalances and an ongoing conflict between a government lacking in strategy and a parliament lacking in vision.
Apr 19, 2008 - 1:27:22 AM
“This is a wise country, a country that knows when a person is tired and has turned vicious, when it is time to turn over a new leaf.” That was the upbeat assessment of Walter Veltroni, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, just before Italy’s national election last weekend.
Apr 15, 2008 - 8:17:10 AM
JERUSALEM -- “I and the majority of the Palestinian people are ready for a historic agreement based on international decisions that will allow a Palestinian and Israeli state to coexist, side by side, in peace and stability.”
Apr 15, 2008 - 8:11:30 AM
If I were the Chinese bureaucrat responsible for guarding the sacred Olympic Flame, the place I’d worry about most is Australia. It was there, just before the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, that a student pretending to be an Olympic athlete ran up to the mayor of Sydney and presented him with an “Olympic torch”...
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:18:42 AM
If I were the Chinese bureaucrat responsible for guarding the sacred Olympic Flame, the place I’d worry about most is Australia. It was there, just before the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, that a student pretending to be an Olympic athlete ran up to the mayor of Sydney and presented him with an “Olympic torch”...
Apr 8, 2008 - 8:39:17 AM
It has been a vivid demonstration of how power really works. A week ago, Robert Mugabe was still the undisputed ruler of Zimbabwe. He was 84, and he had reduced the country to ruin: four out of five adults are unemployed, inflation is running (officially) at over 100,000 percent, and one-third of the population has fled abroad in search of work
Apr 5, 2008 - 12:46:56 AM
A new government coalition has been set up in Pakistan, but it does not eliminate old collisions – both in domestic or foreign policy.
Apr 5, 2008 - 12:38:38 AM
The recent parliamentary election in Iran, and, for that matter, all previous elections, have been a travesty, a sad farce, with the ruling government again making promises it cannot fulfill. During 28 years of involvement as a secular democrat...