Akber Choudhry

Terrorism

Muddled Cameron Swerves Hard Right

Although the Prime Minister’s speech about British Muslims’ lack of values was couched in politically correct and not overtly Islamophobic language, the messages from the EDL in Luton and from Munich were the same and on the same day. While we welcome Mr. Cameron’s review of the ‘Prevent’

dialogue

Blasphemy Law: Debate to Assassination

We absolutely condemn the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and all the unwarranted furor that may have led to it.  If anything, the Salman Taseer murder shows the importance of having a public and respectful debate about the Pakistan blasphemy Laws.  Along with the murder of the governor, there

Islamophobia

Education or Propganda: Bus Ads

Buses are increasingly becoming a target of propaganda group ads.  Can we please fund our metropolitan buses a bit more so that they do not have to take ads from such groups? On one hand, if channels for relaying factual information to the masses were still open in the modern

dialogue

Blasphemy Law on Iqra TV

I was given the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of the Pakistan Blasphemy law in much more detail on Iqra on 19 December 2010.  Please view below:

Aafia

The Story of two Women: Aasia and Aafia

Invited by Iqra TV to express opinion about the Aasia Bibi case in Pakistan.  Watch: Part 1: Part 2:

cyber war

Cyber War: Big Brother Lashing Out

(published at Chowk [http://www.chowk.com/Views/Politics/Cyber-War-Big-Brother-Lashing-Out]) While secrecy is a necessity of operational statecraft, it should never be a weapon of duplicity in policy. Google News Search has thousands of stories on Wikileaks, but nothing making the front page.  The hashtag #imwikileaks is red-hot, but not

Bush's Memoirs ignite Torture Debate in UK

People in the UK are debating whether information received from the United States through torture of Al-Qaeda captives was necessary to ‘protect’ lives.  While protecting citizens’ lives should be a government’s first priority, this country has had the proud history of sacrificing the lives of its young men in

Bill Gates on what Matters - Simple Education

Moral Relativism post-WWII and post-USSR: Fareed Zakaria returns ADL Award

You just cannot get more secular and mainstream and politically savvy than Fareed Zakaria.? He has returned the award for journalism that he received a few years ago from the ADL (Anti-Defamation League).? He has given his reasons, among which are: > “You are choosing to use your immense prestige

Score one more for decency over Facebook

Not my favourite paper, but the first link I managed to find. The theme is the same as before: if you provide an audience and a platform for communications, you have a certain responsibility. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/07/15/david-cameron-complains-to-facebook-over-raoul-moat-tribute-groups-115875-22413996/ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/

Economics

Conspiracy Theory vs Academic Naiveté

I happened to be taking an economics course when oil speculators drove oil up and then down, and then the same wild money splashed its way to the food market, bringing millions close to starvation.? Our professors tried to explain it away with far-fetched ‘supply and demand’ scenarios and we

Human Experimentation during Torture - Far-reaching Consequences

It just keeps getting worse.? Torture by the United States, and now, human guinea-pigs.? This is irreparable harm to humanity as a whole.? No longer one-time thing with Hitler, it would need to be brought out of the bracket of ‘one-time evil’ into more mainstream academic thought and research.

Tyranny of Demographics

Ultimately, as Otto von Bismarck once implied, the biggest political changes are brought about by demographic changes, over which there is little control. Here is a look at four demographic trends that will dictate politics for the next 50 years: 1. Increasingly young population in the Middle East / Arab world

Good Bye Facebook, Hello Diaspora

Social networking is about community empowerment, and not so much about monolithic corporate control.? Myspace learnt it, Bebo learnt it, and sadly, Facebook is also learning it.? It is mighty hard for a faceless giant with no sense of privacy or sensitivity to be a great ‘social’ facilitator. So, I

Volcanic Ash Air Travel Ban Lessons

The sight of all these cheap-carrier short-haul planes stuck at airports was soothing — little hustler-hoppers that cheapened us by making us rush for seats, squeeze oversize bags into overhead bins, etc. You know the drill. I am sure someone in Ryair or ZYJet is a sadist observing human behaviour and

Tue, 2010-03-23 14:37

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Yes, Business CAN be Ethical

A few years ago, I quit a contract to design an interface for the MIB (Medical Insurance Bureau) for a health insurance company.? It just didn’t feel right that a health insurance company would ‘blacklist’ people because of some sickness.? This was in New Jersey.? It was also in

Dubai Playing its Hand Well, so Far

Something tells me that the story of the Mabhouh murder in Dubai has more legs than it has already run on, and it appears to be the apex of a trend of continuing stories coming out of Dubai and UK papers over the last year or so. Yesterday, a minor

Insightful Debate at Newsweek

With Joe Stack flying a plane into a building in Austin, Newsweek did some soul-searching over using the word ‘terrorist’, and provided insight into their internal e-mail debate. Admittedly, the language has changed since 9/11. > Michael Isikoff: . . .And as for your point— haven’t domestic groups declared war

Democracy and Big Business

Banking CEOs find the time to ‘coach’ kids out of college who are going to write the legislation to reign in the financial industry: > Kicking off a two-day event designed to “help” legislative aides who will be writing the rules designed to rein in and reform Wall Street, the

Reason over Emotion

A friend and I engaged in a debate about the Indian Famines during the British Raj. Here is the book under discussion and its review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/feb/11/historybooks.martinbright And here is my take on the issue: Colonialism was ugly and repressive and

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Three un-Connected Thoughts

Some thoughts cross the mind during the daily commute, and it seems that fellow passengers do get a bit uneasy by my blank stares, often at someone’s shoe, or at the door, or even at the ceiling. ?I have a hunch that these disjointed thought are somehow connected, but

8 years of war, isn't it time to move on?

There is a lot of response, some of it negative, on?my article about the Afghanistan war [http://chowk.com/articles/16464], most of the serious criticism was around my use of the word ‘fluke’. In summary:?We have over 8 years of hindsight on 9/11 to gain some

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