Either Hamas is in control of Gaza, or it is not. It cannot have it both ways. What other country but Israel would be expected to tolerate the intolerable: an unstable, selectively sovereign neighbor with a stated intention of destroying its neighbor, and that can hide behind plausible deniability (or not) to lob rockets over […]
Report: Saudi police used water cannons to break up women’s sit-in at university
You see, they had “‘gathered on the campus and began shouting in a way that contradicts’ campus regulations.” May a woman shout within campus regulations? Probably not. Wherever people are marked off as second-class citizens, they wind up bearing a disproportionate burden to keep the peace by knowing their “place.” More on this story. “Saudi […]
Tunisia: “This emerging movement of believers known as Salafis has seemingly appeared out of thin air”
Only if one were proceeding on ill-informed assumptions. In Iraq, policymakers were surprised at how flimsy the veneer of tolerance and modernity turned out to be. In Afghanistan, they expected tolerance and modernity if we just peeled away a veneer of Talibanization. In both cases, they were wrong. In Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, little seems […]
Faux fatwa flummoxes faithful… film forthcoming
This “report” is a Purim prank, but it’s delightful, and casts a sharp contrast with the monumental wet blanket thrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini: “Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime […]
Egypt: Islamic parties move to get rid of National Council for Women
On display here is a tactic that turns up wherever politics are at work in a society: advancing one’s agenda under labels that employ pleasant generalities that sound like good things at face value. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (what, don’t you like the will of “the people“?). The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (what, […]
Al-Qaeda declares Islamic emirate in parts of Yemen
Something’s missing… Much better! The new emirate’s top 3 exports will be — let’s see — blood, blood, and… blood. Jihad causes poverty. “Al-Qaeda declares parts of Yemen theirs,” by Fatik al-Rodaini for Bikya Masr, March 9 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): SANA”A, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, (AQAP) declared on Wednesday that Yemen’s […]
Feds: Accused jihadist who misrepresented himself as a “human rights activist” too dangerous to release
An update on this story. “Feds say accused terrorist Muhtorov is too violent to release, had jihadi videos on his phone,” by Felisa Cardona for the Denver Post, March 8: Jihadi videos “” including one depicting the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks “” were discovered on the phone of Jamshid Muhtorov, the Uzbek refugee accused […]
Women’s rights in Iraq: “This is not freedom, this is darkness”
Wherever Sharia experiences a resurgence, the observable effect is that tolerance decreases, and harassment increases. “Women deplore restrictions in male-dominated Iraq,” by Salam Faraj for Agence France-Presse, March 8: BAGHDAD “” Iraqi women sharply criticised societal restrictions placed upon them in events marking International Women’s Day on Thursday, arguing they were second-class citizens in male-dominated […]
Report: Pakistani women from religious minorities “are the victims of constant attempts at forced conversion or false charges of blasphemy”
Pakistan is a major beneficiary of U.S. aid. We have leverage that we are not using to fight for basic human rights. “Life on the margins, discrimination against Christian and Hindu women in Pakistan,” from Asia News, March 8: Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Women from Pakistan’s minority communities have a lower level of education but a […]
Boko Haram: “We are going to put into action new efforts to strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women”
They want to “liquidate” Christians from the country. When they run out of unbelievers, or even before, they will turn on each other and implode, because their own ideology — the idea that those who are not implementing Sharia “correctly” must repent or die — can and will be used against them. If allowed to […]