Chris Hedges writes on truth-out.org, on Monday 30 January 2012: What happened to Canada? It used to be the country we would flee to if life in the United States became unpalatable. No nuclear weapons. No huge military-industrial complex. Universal health care. Funding for the arts. A good record on the environment.
But that was the old Canada.
I was in Montreal on Friday and Saturday and saw the familiar and disturbing tentacles of the security and surveillance state.
While the capital is home to an estimated 40 per cent of the UK's Muslim population, there are still many mysteries surrounding the faith that I follow. For I was born and raised a London Muslim.
I attended mosques and madrassas in Tooting and Balham, adding to the knowledge of Islam taught me by my family. From a young age we learned the importance of the five pillars of Islam; faith, prayer, charity, fasting - and Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, a journey every Muslim must try to make in their lifetime. So I was delighted to visit the British Museum's Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam.
The Express Tribune is a new English-language newspaper and it has been engaged in some strange journalism lately. We present some false stories from the paper. It has been accused of being an agent of anti-Pakistani forces and it has denied it. It has been accused of manufacturing stories embarrassing Pakistan, Muslims and Islam. We will present proof of such a story.
I have been meaning to write about this spat between two historians for a while but the holiday season took priority. First of all, let me make my position clear: scholars like Niall Ferguson are distinctly responsible for giving intellectual cover to all kinds of unsavoury ideologies that are creating problems for the rest of the world today. While their words may be walking a fine line, the images they conjure up in the minds of others lead to a two-tier world that is simply not acceptable to civilization as we know it.
In his book, 'Civilization: The Six Ways the West Beat the Rest' (I won't link to it), Ferguson describes the six 'killer apps' of the West that not only provided it deserved dominance, but seeks to justify an approach that may serve little more than a continued dominance at all costs.
We are pleased to announce our second annual award which goes to an organisation instead of an individual. This organisation is composed of selfless individuals who work as a collective.
The Qadiani Ahmadiyya spent the last decade flirting with Islamophobes, supporting middle eastern wars, and vilifying Pakistan, Indonesia and other Muslim countries. Recently, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the head of the Qadiani Ahmadiyya offshoot of Islam, appears to be attempting to gain some relevance as history passes him by. We decided to delve into this trend in some detail as his ham-handed attempts are creating security concerns for Muslims in Europe, U.K., Canada and the United States.
Paradoxically, the sympathy that the movement had managed to garner out of their ill-treatment and discrimination in Pakistan and elsewhere seems to be fast evaporating.
While these recent idiosyncratic statements appear to have been primarily targeted at the internal captive audience, eyebrows are being raised as the repercussions are affecting the Muslim community. Known more as a manager than a leader, Masroor has rarely taken a position on significant issues and has been content to work behind the scenes. When he has taken a position, it has invariably been a random page out of the U.S.-neocon anti-Islamic book.
The events about which these statements have been made may have been local but their impact is global. Thus, it needs a broader analysis.
Writing from the very region that produces more clichés per square foot than any other "story" – the Middle East – I should perhaps pause before I say I have never read so much garbage, so much utter drivel, as I have about the world financial crisis.
But I will not hold my fire. It seems to me that the reporting of the collapse of capitalism has reached a new low which even the Middle East cannot surpass for sheer unadulterated obedience to the very institutions and Harvard "experts" who have helped to bring about the whole criminal disaster.
Let's kick off with the "Arab Spring" – in itself a grotesque verbal distortion of the great Arab/Muslim awakening which is shaking the Middle East – and the trashy parallels with the social protests in Western capitals. We've been deluged with reports of how the poor or the disadvantaged in the West have "taken a leaf" out of the "Arab spring" book, how demonstrators in America, Canada, Britain, Spain and Greece have been "inspired" by the huge demonstrations that brought down the regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and – up to a point – Libya. But this is nonsense.
Diplomats don't make many mistakes. Certainly not mistakes like attending a reception for 20 minutes and posing for pictures and also giving positive comments.
Marine Le Pen had invited about 100 diplomats to a luncheon earlier this month during a visit to UN Headquarters in New York. But only four accepted: the envoys from Trinidad-Tobago, Armenia and Uruguay — who obviously are of no concern to her at all — and the fourth guest, Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor.
Pakistanis are a hardy and pragmatic people. Recently, exhibiting some signs of a true democracy, they have probably averted some of the worse outcomes being discussed only a few months ago. We'll discuss some of the recent events here:
These are the tree observations that lead us to believe that the U.S. will abandon its hostile attitude in order to exit Afghanistan in an orderly manner:
Drone attacks on Pakistan are becoming a political liability both in Pakistan and the West
Grudging respect for Pakistani military among Western defense thinkers
Internal political stability that can withstand major shocks
This is the United States of America -- where Christians are being asked by Rick Perry supporters to not vote for Romney and Huntsman:
"The view that Mormons are not Christians is the widely and strongly held view among Protestant pastors. That does not mean they do not respect Mormons as persons, share their values on family and have much in common. Yet, they simply view Mormonism as a distinct religion outside of basic teachings of Christianity. Many of these pastors may know Mormons who consider themselves Christians, but Protestant pastors overwhelmingly do not consider them such," said Stetzer. "I know this is an unpleasant question to many, and one that some will use as a hammer on evangelicals."
Mormons differ from most Protestants in how they view the Trinity. They also have scripture in addition to the Bible, such as the Book of Mormon, and believe in prophets such as Joseph Smith, Jr., who founded the Latter Day Saint movement. (Stetzer, Lifeway Research Study 2010)
The Express Tribune is a new English-language newspaper and it has been engaged in some strange journalism lately. We present some false stories from the paper. It has been accused of being an agent of anti-Pakistani forces and it has denied it. It has been accused of manufacturing stories embarrassing Pakistan, Muslims and Islam. We will present proof of such a story.
by Ahmed Qerni
Robert Fisk, Saturday, 10 December 2011
Diplomats don't make many mistakes. Certainly not mistakes like attending a reception for 20 minutes and posing for pictures and also giving positive comments.
Pakistanis are a hardy and pragmatic people. Recently, exhibiting some signs of a true democracy, they have probably averted some of the worse outcomes being discussed only a few months ago. We'll discuss some of the recent events here:
This is the United States of America -- where Christians are being asked by Rick Perry supporters to not vote for Romney and Huntsman:
@MuslimID
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