Twilight Of The American Empire And The Pax Americana

MEMRI: Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hassan Calls upon Egyptians to Contribute Money to Replace US Aid, "with which the Americans Want to Humiliate Egypt"

2012-03-31T23:16:00.003-07:00

MEMRI: Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hassan Calls upon Egyptians to Contribute Money to Replace US Aid, "with which the Americans Want to Humiliate Egypt"

2012-03-31T23:16:00.001-07:00

MEMRI: Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hassan Calls upon Egyptians to Contribute Money to Replace US Aid, "with which the Americans Want to Humiliate Egypt"

Crisis between Egypt, U.S. Deepens over American Funding to Civil Society Organizations – Part IV: Release of American NGO Activists from Egypt – A Sign of Increasing Pragmatism in the Muslim Brotherhood's Policy

2012-03-31T23:15:00.001-07:00

Crisis between Egypt, U.S. Deepens over American Funding to Civil Society Organizations – Part IV: Release of American NGO Activists from Egypt – A Sign of Increasing Pragmatism in the Muslim Brotherhood's Policy

Opposition in Syria condemns slow efforts to end bloodshed

2012-03-31T21:56:00.002-07:00

From The Washington Post:

Opposition in Syria condemns slow efforts to end bloodshed

View Photo Gallery — Syrian crackdown continues: Protesters opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad face violent responses from security forces, and the United States has closed its embassy in the country as the violence grows.

By Alice Fordham, Published: March 30

BEIRUT — Demonstrations and violence continued across Syria on Friday, as opponents of the government condemned the Arab League and world powers for failing to help them, while opposition groups outside the country prepared to meet with diplomats for a “Friends of Syria” conference in Istanbul.

Members of revolutionary organizations inside Syria expressed anger at the slow pace of diplomatic attempts to halt violence that the United Nations estimates has killed 9,000 people , after nearly a week of calls by international leaders for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to implement a U.N.-forged plan for peace.

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The Free Syrian Army: Defected soldiers and civilians make up Syria’s main opposition army group.

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A look at the Syrian uprising one year later. Thousands of Syrians have died and President Bashar al-Assad remains in power, despite numerous calls by the international community for him to step down.

“We are under shelling every day, and we need food, medication and all the help in the world,” said an activist in the opposition-dominated city of Homs, who gave his name as Waleed Fares. “All the initiatives are coming late.”

The U.N. proposal, which calls for Syrian forces to halt hostilities in population centers , was endorsed this week by Assad. “The deadline is now,” said the spokesman for U.N. envoy Kofi Annan, Ahmad Fawzi, while speaking in Geneva. “We expect him to implement this plan immediately.”

But Fares said that there had been no letup in heavy artillery fire on his neighborhood of Khalidiyeh, and dozens of deaths were reported across the country by activist groups. Syrian news media reported that four explosive devices had been found and defused in the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday.

Opposition groups, which are largely based outside Syria and have struggled for unity, prepared to gather in Istanbul on Sunday to lobby nations sympathetic to their goals. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was in Saudi Arabia on Friday meeting with King Abdullah, is expected to be among those attending.

But rebels inside Syria criticized their representatives for being out of touch.

“The Syrian opposition is a big shame,” said Noureddine al-Abdo, a member of the opposition in Idlib province who said he was moving from village to village with the armed opposition known as the Free Syrian Army. “They didn’t do anything for the Syrian people — neither them nor anyone in the world.”

Other activists inside the country said they welcomed American and British moves this week to supply the opposition on the ground with non-lethal aid, but some said that what they really want is weapons.

“There is a big gulf between the activists on the ground and the ones outside Syria,” said Fawaz A. Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics. Both Assad and his opponents, he said, are “realizing this is going to be a prolonged, complex, bloody struggle.”

Despite Annan’s six-point plan, international pressure on Assad is minimal, Gerges added, because neither Annan nor an Arab League summit in Baghdad this week have explicitly called on the Syrian president to step down, and his allies remain supportive. In Lebanon on Friday, the influential leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, reiterated his support for the Syrian authorities in a televised speech.

“Neither Assad nor the opposition really believes that Annan’s plan will go anywhere,” Gerges said. The opposition has been increasingly using guerrilla tactics such as bombings and ambushes, he said, causing civilian casualties as well as striking security forces. Meanwhile, he said, Syrian soldiers have been moving further into urban areas.

“Annan’s plan is an absolute and pure waste of time,” said Ausama Monajed, a spokesman for the largest coalition of opposition groups, the Syrian National Council.

Some countries, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have indicated that they already support armed rebels, while other nations, especially Syria’s neighbors Iraq and Turkey, fear that further militarizing the chaotic uprising could create far-reaching regional conflict.

“The main task now is to organize the opposition, creating a chain of command and a structure that is going to be effective,” Monajed said. “Otherwise, you’re throwing millions at it without knowing where it is going.”

Suu Kyi is committed to win, says Burma vote unfair

2012-03-31T21:54:00.002-07:00

From The Washington Post:

Suu Kyi is committed to win, says Burma vote unfair

By Todd Pitman, Saturday, March 31, 1:23 AM

RANGOON, Burma — Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday that Burma’s landmark weekend elections will be neither free nor fair because of widespread irregularities, but she vowed to continue her candidacy for the sake of the long-repressed nation.

Suu Kyi said opposition candidates had been targeted in stone-throwing incidents, campaign posters vandalized and members of her party intimidated during the run-up to Sunday’s closely watched parliamentary by-elections.

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In a news conference on the lawn of her crumbling lakeside residence in Rangoon, the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate said government officials were involved in some of the irregularities, which she said go “beyond what is acceptable for democratic elections.”

“Still,” she said, “we are determined to go forward because we think this is what our people want.”

The vote to fill 45 vacant seats in the 664-member parliament comes after months of surprising reforms carried out by Burma’s nominally civilian post-junta government, including the release of political prisoners, truces with rebel groups and a dramatic easing of media censorship. The poll is seen as a crucial test of the country’s commitment to change, and Western nations have held out the possibility of lifting some sanctions if all goes smoothly.

In a televised speech Sunday, President Thein Sein admitted to “unnecessary errors” in ballot lists and asked voters and politicians to respect “the decision of the people.”

On Friday, presidential adviser Nay Zin Latt said: “There could be some flaws and some bumps in the process, but our leaders have publicly said that their policy is to hold a free, fair and impartial election.”

What’s important, he added, is that “the country is on its reform road and is in the process of building a democratic society.”

The vote is likely to mark a symbolic turning point by bringing Suu Kyi into parliament for the first time since she emerged to lead the country’s struggle for democracy nearly a quarter of a century ago. She spent most of that time under house arrest, and her candidacy has raised hopes for a more representative government after almost 50 years of military rule.

It could also set the stage for her to run for president in the next national poll in 2015.

Still, with parliament overwhelmingly dominated by the ruling party and with 25 percent of seats allotted to the army, Suu Kyi and her opposition colleagues will be hard-pressed to achieve much if they are elected.

U.S. expresses concern about treatment of envoy to Russia

2012-03-31T21:53:00.002-07:00

From The Washington Post:

U.S. expresses concern about treatment of envoy to Russia

By Peter Finn, Published: March 30

The Obama administration has told the Russian government that it is concerned about the harassment of U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, who suggested this week that his phone and e-mail account may have been hacked, allowing journalists from state-controlled television to track him.

McFaul, who took up his post in January, noted on his Twitter account that a crew from NTV seems to be aware of his every move, including meetings that have not been publicly announced.

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(VLADIMIR PIROGOV/REUTERS) - Ambassador Michael McFaul has suggested that Russian journalists from state-controlled television may have hacked his phone and e-mail account.

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The former and future president won by a huge margin, leading to accusations of fraud and protests.

“I respect press right to go anywhere & ask any question,” McFaul tweeted Thursday. “But do they have a right to read my email and listen to my phone?”

Russian news agencies said NTV dismissed McFaul’s complaint, and officials at the station, which is owned by Gazprom, the state-controlled monopoly, said they have a network of informants who provide them with information.

“There’s been a number of incidents since his arrival there that have caused us to have some concerns about his security and safety,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Friday. “So as we would in following normal protocol, we’ve raised that with the government of Russia.”

Some Russian commentators have charged that McFaul, who has met with democracy activists involved in the recent street demonstrations in Moscow, is an agent of revolution.

NTV showed footage of McFaul complaining to one of its reporters about his treatment.

“Your ambassador in our country goes around all the time without this sort of thing, not interfering in his work,” McFaul said. “You’re with me everywhere, at home — it’s interesting. Aren’t you ashamed to be doing this? It’s an insult to your country when you do this.”

McFaul, who served on the National Security Council before becoming ambassador and was an advocate of the “reset” in relations with the Kremlin, added that Russia seems like a “wild country.” He later attributed that remark to his “bad Russian” and said that he intended to say that the NTV journalists were acting wildly, not that Russia is wild.

McFaul is not the first ambassador to clash with allies of the Kremlin. Pro-Kremlin youth groups have in the past followed the British and Estonian ambassadors as they moved around Moscow.

Russia: Ex-Soviet KGB Chief Commits Suicide

2012-03-31T21:50:00.001-07:00

Russia: Ex-Soviet KGB Chief Commits Suicide

Lao Expert Blames Chinese Dams For Drop In Mekong River Levels

2012-03-31T21:49:00.001-07:00

Lao Expert Blames Chinese Dams For Drop In Mekong River Levels

UAE: Authorities Crack Down On Social Networks And Activist Bloggers

2012-03-31T21:48:00.001-07:00

UAE: Authorities Crack Down On Social Networks And Activist Bloggers

Syria: A ‘New Humanitarianism’ At Play In Crisis

2012-03-31T21:47:00.001-07:00

Syria: A ‘New Humanitarianism’ At Play In Crisis

Saudi Arabia, US Aim For Unified Strategy For Syria

2012-03-31T21:43:00.003-07:00

Saudi Arabia, US Aim For Unified Strategy For Syria

Iran And The Lebanization Of Syria – OpEd

2012-03-31T21:43:00.001-07:00

Iran And The Lebanization Of Syria – OpEd

Iran Viewpoint: US’ Double Logic On The Syrian Crisis – OpEd

2012-03-31T21:41:00.001-07:00

Iran Viewpoint: US’ Double Logic On The Syrian Crisis – OpEd

Is Libya Dissolving? – Analysis

2012-03-31T21:40:00.001-07:00

Is Libya Dissolving? – Analysis

BRICS Push For Greater Role In Global Financial Architecture

2012-03-31T21:38:00.001-07:00

BRICS Push For Greater Role In Global Financial Architecture

France: 19 Muslims Arrested In Crack Down On Radical Islamists

2012-03-31T21:37:00.001-07:00

France: 19 Muslims Arrested In Crack Down On Radical Islamists

Germany and Europe's Path to the 19th Century

2012-03-31T21:34:00.001-07:00

Germany and Europe's Path to the 19th Century

Report: Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Imam Facing Indictment

2012-03-31T21:29:00.001-07:00

Report: Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Imam Facing Indictment

Posted on March 31, 2012 by creeping

via Report Claims ICNA Imam Facing Indictment :: The Investigative Project on Terrorism.

A former leader and current member of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) may soon be charged with crimes stemming from activities during the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence.

The country’s International Crimes Tribunal reportedly will indict Ashrafuz Zaman Khan for the suspected murder of pro-independence intellectuals.

The war divided Pakistan and Bangladesh into two separate nations, but not before Islamist unionists and the Pakistani army launched systematic massacres of civilians and intelligentsia supporting independence.

Khan is alleged to have been an active participant and to have even functioned as an executioner.

Ironically, Khan gave a speech last April during an anti-war rally in New York, in which he decried the harm done by the war on terror.

“In Iraq, the U.S. had more than 150,000 troops plus 190,000 contractors. One million people were killed and the whole infrastructure of the country was destroyed,” Khan said. “On behalf of the Islamic Circle of North America, I [sic] ordering you and all other peace loving people to continue this struggle to end the wars and terrorism to make this world as a peaceful abode.”

Khan has been active in ICNA, a group that bills itself as “a leading grassroots organization in the American Muslim community.” He served as secretary general in 2000 and vice president in 2001, and was the president of the ICNA New York chapter when he made the speech.

But ICNA itself has had a checkered past. It was founded by activists from the extremist organization Jamaat-e-Islami, the South Asian equivalent to the Arab world’s Muslim Brotherhood, which has expressed support for violent jihad against American forces and other non-Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere. The Jamaat also salutes the jihad of groups like Hamas, Hizballah, and Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir.

ICNA’s constitution is largely copied from Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan’s founding documents, including the goal of promoting Islam as an alternative to Western society. Its education platforms teach books by Jamaat founder Syed Abul Ala Maududi, which are banned in Bangladesh for reasons of incitement. And the group is suspected of inciting young members to participate in foreign jihads, as was emphasized in a 1997 article in the group’s magazine.

Read it all.

Also read ICNA Leader in His Own Words:

Indeed Islam came to tear down the pillars of kufr and replace them with the pillars of Islam.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader To Run For President

2012-03-31T21:18:00.002-07:00

From The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report:

BREAKING NEWS: Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader To Run For President

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Khairat El-Shater

U.S. media is reporting that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has nominated it’s deputy leader as a candidate for President in contradiction of its earlier promise not to field a presidential candidate. According to a Washington Post report:

CAIRO — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, in control of almost half the seats in parliament, announced on Saturday it was fielding its own presidential candidate. It was a reversal of an earlier decision to stay out of the race and could put the group on a collision course with the nation’s ruling generals. The Brotherhood nominated chief strategist and deputy leader Khayrat el-Shater, a multimillionaire businessman considered one of the key leaders guiding the group through the tumultuous transition since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. If he wins, it would make the formerly outlawed group the dominant force shaping the post-Mubarak era. But going head-to-head with the military is a major gamble for a formerly outlawed movement whose strategy for decades seemed to be to patiently bide its time. The movement’s decision to nominate one of its own is likely to antagonize Egypt’s military rulers, who are accused of seeking to preserve the army’s privileges and are likely not to want too much power concentrated in the hands of a single group. It will also widen the gap with liberals and secularists, who fear that the movement — which has largely espoused moderate rhetoric in the past year — will implement a hardline Islamist agenda once it has solidified its political position. Already, Islamists enjoy a comfortable majority on a 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution for Egypt, which has raised serious alarm among the nation’s large Christian minority and liberals. The announcement at a Cairo news conference ended weeks of speculation and confusion within the group. The Saturday decision split the group’s governing Shura council, the group’s legislative body, into two camps: one in favor of fielding a candidate from within and one against it, fearing the repercussions, according to a Brotherhood official. He spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter. The decision to run a presidential candidate may have as much to do with the Brotherhood’s internal politics as its long-term plans. Two other Islamists — one a relative liberal and the other a hardliner— are also running for president, and Brotherhood leaders reportedly feared that these candidates might attract a following from younger members of the movement and break down its legendary discipline.

Read the rest here.

For a profile on Mr. El-Shater, go here.

ADF Alliance Alert » news from the frontlines of the culture war: Mexico’s Congress Approves Constitutional Changes On Public Display of Religion

2012-03-30T23:30:00.001-07:00

ADF Alliance Alert » news from the frontlines of the culture war

Islam's defining moment with democracy

2012-03-30T23:29:00.002-07:00

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Islam's defining moment with democracy

Islamist parties now dominate the constitution-writing process in post-revolution Egypt and Tunisia. If they can make Islam compatible with democracy, they will give hope to others in the Middle East still struggling in the unfinished Arab Spring.

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / March 27, 2012

Islamists pray during a demonstration in Tunis, Tunisia, March 25. Thousands of conservative Muslims marched through the capital calling for the application of Islamic law. Photo/)

Hassene Dridi/AP PHOTO

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9 and 29

Muslims living in democracies of the West and Asia already know their practice of Islam can best flourish where religious freedom is protected and women’s rights are honored. Now two Muslim countries liberated from dictators in last year’s Arab Spring are trying to define their own line between mosque and state.

Gallery: Monitor Political Cartoons

Spain's New Budget: 'As Austere As It Gets' | Common Dreams

2012-03-30T23:05:00.001-07:00

Spain's New Budget: 'As Austere As It Gets' | Common Dreams

Study: 'Arctic Cold War' Heats Up | Common Dreams

2012-03-30T23:04:00.001-07:00

Study: 'Arctic Cold War' Heats Up | Common Dreams

Chinese Economist and Freedom Advocate Wins Cato’s Friedman Prize

2012-03-30T22:21:00.002-07:00

From Insider Online:

InsiderOnline Blog: March 2012

Chinese Economist and Freedom Advocate Wins Cato’s Friedman Prize

Mao Yushi, an economist and advocate of individual liberty and free market reforms in China, has won the Cato Institute’s biennial Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. Cato’s announcement says:

Before economic reform began in China in 1978, he had been an engineer and during his lifetime has faced severe punishment, exile, and near starvation for remarks critical of a command-based economy and society. During the Cultural Revolution, he and his family were deprived of all of their property, and in 2011 he angered some in China with his article “Returning Mao Zedong to Human Form,” which boldly calculated the human cost of Mao’s brutal Communist policies from 1949 to 1976. The article led to calls for his prosecution and execution, with 50,000 left-faction members signing a petition that called for his imprisonment on charges of treason. Immediately following the article’s appearance he had to be surrounded by students to protect him from physical attack from zealots, while the government remained silent and neutral.

In 1993 he and five other economists founded the Unirule Institute of Economics, an independent Chinese think tank committed to the growth of a market economy and to reforming Chinese government policies.

In addition, Mao Yushi has been a pioneer in creating private charity and self-help programs in the People’s Republic of China and has helped countless people become independent members of society through the Fuping Development Institute and other initiatives. He believes that the more income an individual earns the more freedom an individual has, and has devoted himself to China’s transition from a planned economy to a free market economy.

The presentation of the $250,000 prize will be made on May 4 at the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty’s Biennial Dinner and award presentation at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.

Posted on 03/30/12 02:06 PM by Alex Adrianson | Blog Archive

U.S.-Egypt Relations: Greater Pressure Needed to Ensure Successful Egyptian Transition

2012-03-30T22:02:00.001-07:00

U.S.-Egypt Relations: Greater Pressure Needed to Ensure Successful Egyptian Transition

Twilight Of The American Empire And The Pax Americana

MEMRI: Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hassan Calls upon Egyptians to Contribute Money to Replace US Aid, "with which the Americans Want to Humiliate Egypt"

MEMRI: Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hassan Calls upon Egyptians to Contribute Money to Replace US Aid, "with which the Americans Want to Humiliate Egypt"

Crisis between Egypt, U.S. Deepens over American Funding to Civil Society Organizations – Part IV: Release of American NGO Activists from Egypt – A Sign of Increasing Pragmatism in the Muslim Brotherhood's Policy

Opposition in Syria condemns slow efforts to end bloodshed

Opposition in Syria condemns slow efforts to end bloodshed

By Alice Fordham, Published: March 30

Suu Kyi is committed to win, says Burma vote unfair

Suu Kyi is committed to win, says Burma vote unfair

By Todd Pitman, Saturday, March 31, 1:23 AM

U.S. expresses concern about treatment of envoy to Russia

U.S. expresses concern about treatment of envoy to Russia

By Peter Finn, Published: March 30

Russia: Ex-Soviet KGB Chief Commits Suicide

Lao Expert Blames Chinese Dams For Drop In Mekong River Levels

UAE: Authorities Crack Down On Social Networks And Activist Bloggers

Syria: A ‘New Humanitarianism’ At Play In Crisis

Saudi Arabia, US Aim For Unified Strategy For Syria

Iran And The Lebanization Of Syria – OpEd

Iran Viewpoint: US’ Double Logic On The Syrian Crisis – OpEd

Is Libya Dissolving? – Analysis

BRICS Push For Greater Role In Global Financial Architecture

France: 19 Muslims Arrested In Crack Down On Radical Islamists

Germany and Europe's Path to the 19th Century

Report: Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Imam Facing Indictment

Report: Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Imam Facing Indictment

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader To Run For President

BREAKING NEWS: Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Leader To Run For President

ADF Alliance Alert » news from the frontlines of the culture war: Mexico’s Congress Approves Constitutional Changes On Public Display of Religion

Islam's defining moment with democracy

Islam's defining moment with democracy

Islamist parties now dominate the constitution-writing process in post-revolution Egypt and Tunisia. If they can make Islam compatible with democracy, they will give hope to others in the Middle East still struggling in the unfinished Arab Spring.

Seven reasons why Syrian opposition hasn't toppled Assad

Spain's New Budget: 'As Austere As It Gets' | Common Dreams

Study: 'Arctic Cold War' Heats Up | Common Dreams

Chinese Economist and Freedom Advocate Wins Cato’s Friedman Prize

InsiderOnline Blog: March 2012

Chinese Economist and Freedom Advocate Wins Cato’s Friedman Prize

U.S.-Egypt Relations: Greater Pressure Needed to Ensure Successful Egyptian Transition