Opinions - The Tripoli Post

Opinion: Khadamas for Sale: Child Exploitation Bonanza - by Ramzy Baroud

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT

One of these nights at the hotel lobby of an Arab Gulf country, a family walked in aiming for the westernised caf� that sells everything but Arabic coffee. The mother seemed distant as she pressed buttons on her smart phone.

Opinion: Iran: The New Broom? - by Gwynne Dyer

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:00:00 GMT

You certainly can�t say that Iranian elections are boring. In 2005, Iranians surprised everybody by electing the darkest of dark horses, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the presidency. They didn�t know much about him, but at least he seemed different from all the establishment candidates.

Opinion: Mandela�s Legacy - by Gwynne Dyer

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:00:00 GMT

As I write this Nelson Mandela is still with us. He may even still be living at the end of this year. But this is his fourth hospitalisation in six months, and the prognosis for 94-year-old men with persistent lung infections is not good. How will South Africa do without him?

Opinion: Sectarianism and the Irrational New Discourse: Why Arabs Must Worry - by Ramzy Baroud

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:00:00 GMT

My friend Hanna is Syrian and also happens to be Christian. The latter fact was rarely of consequence, except whenever he wished to boast about the contributions of Arab Christians to Middle Eastern cultures. Of course, he is right. The modern Arab identity has been formulated through a fascinating mix of religions, sects and races.

Opinion: Imperial Guilt � by Gwynne Dyer

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Sir Eric Griffith-Jones, the attorney-general in the British colony of Kenya at the time of the Mau Mau rebellion, was a sensitive soul who worried that the torture and murder of detainees in the prison camps where suspected Mau Mau supporters were being held was �distressingly reminiscent of conditions in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia.� So he wrote the governor in 1957, warning him that �If we are going to sin, we must sin quietly.�

Opinion: Paris 1968, Istanbul 2013 - by Gwynne Dyer

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:00:00 GMT

It�s certainly not another version of the �Arab Spring�; Turkey is a fully democratic country. It�s not just a Middle Eastern variant of the Occupy movement, either, although the demands of the huge crowds who have occupied the centre of Istanbul and other Turkish big cities are equally diffuse and contradictory.

Opinion: Violence in Myanmar:The Response of the International Community - by Mohammad Azeemullah

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:00:00 GMT

While violence orchestrated by Muslims receives quick condemnation and is widely labeled as �Islamic Terrorism�, the opposite fails to obtain the same response.

Opinion: Drums Along the Nile (Update) - by Gwynne Dyer

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Beware the open mike. On Tuesday Egypt�s President Mohammed Mursi summoned senior politicians of all parties to discuss Ethiopia�s plan to dam the main tributary of the Nile river. One proposed sending special forces to destroy the dam. Another thought buzzing the dam site with jet fighters might scare the Ethiopians off.

Opinion: Rohingya Population Control: The Onslaught in Burma Continues - by Ramzy Baroud

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:00:00 GMT

On April 21, the BBC obtained disturbing video footage shot in Burma. It confirmed extreme reports of what has been taking place in that country, even as it is being touted by the US and European governments as a success story pertaining to political reforms and democracy.

Opinion: The Changing face of Terrorism � by Prof. Fathi El-Shihibi

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Whenever most political analysts in the West attempt to identify Muslim fundamentalist or extremist movement it is mostly within the context of a reactionary collective consciousness whose ultimate goal is the restoration of a religious world order.