Free Republic

The passing of Bernard Lewis last week at the age of 101 recalls to mind perhaps his most famous book title about the Muslim world, What Went Wrong? But maybe a successor of sorts has been found in Duke University economist Timur Kuran, who has a long article forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Literature that paints a pretty bleak picture of the economic and social structure of Islamic nations. Just check out the abstract of the article, which is bland in language but harsh in its conclusions:

..... Pakistan: Sharoon, a Christian boy who achieved academic excellence despite years of entrenched discrimination and bullying—and whose poverty-stricken parents had worked hard to put him in MC Model Boys Government High School—was beaten to death by Muslim pupils. On his first day at the school, the teacher slapped him across the face while blurting an anti-Christian slur. Having set a precedent, the rest of the classroom of Muslim boys continued harassing him throughout the same first day: they hurled out derogatory terms against Christians, denied him access to drinking water, and told him, "You're a Christian don't dare sit...

While the world fixates on the conflict between Israel and Hamas—and while most mainstream media demonize Israel for trying to survive amid a sea of Arab-Islamic hostility—similar or worse tragedies continue to go virtually ignored.

Here are excerpts of President Obama's speech in Cairo. A speech which was one-sided in favor of Muslims and full of deception. His lies are clearly exposed. Text of President Barack Obama's speech at Cairo University, as provided by CQ Transcriptions. "Good afternoon. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has had stood as a beacon of Islamic learning. And for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress."...

Muslim Demographics

Obama wins praise from many Muslims But some remain skeptical, say they're awaiting concrete action CAIRO - The Middle East is finding, to its amazement, that it may actually like America's new leader. Barack Obama has impressed many Arabs and Muslims with promises to open a new page after years of distrust during his first presidential venture to the Islamic world this week. It's a startling change for a region where they chucked shoes at his predecessor George W. Bush and still want to burn Bush in effigy even after he's out of office. But Obama's charm has hiked expectations...

Tuesday, 3 June 2008 Book review: Slavery within the Islamic world - the forbidden truth (L’ esclavage en Terre d’Islam: un tabou bien gardé) Now this looks interesting. A review by Elie Smith, an African journalist living and working in Paris, of the latest  book by Malek Chebal  - L’ esclavage en Terre d’Islam: un tabou bien gardé which he translates as Slavery within the Islamic world -- the forbidden truth. I have taken the review from the website African Path but it is also features on his own blog. The book itself is in French but this particular review is...

One of the natural and negative consequences of political assassinations is that they personalize the general and simplify the complex. Policies formed in the aftermath of assassinations are rarely wise and tend to focus on secondary - personal - issues while ignoring larger strategic ones. It is fairly clear that this is what is happening in the international reaction to last Thursday's assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zadawi and her teenage son have now taken charge of her political party in the interest of maintaining her "legacy." Backed by the Bush administration, they...

Call to take Christian refugees March 12, 2007 11:00pm http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,,21369331-953,00.html THE Reverend Fred Nile says Australia should give priority to Christians fleeing persecution in Muslim countries and stop Muslim immigration for a decade. Mr Nile, leader of the Christian Democratic Party and member of the NSW Upper House, has called for a 10-year moratorium on Muslim immigration to Australia. There had been no serious study of the potential effects on Australia of the more than 300,000 Muslims who were already here, he said.

A RADICAL Islamic group yesterday called on all Muslims in Australia to work towards forming a pan-global Islamic state, while NSW and federal politicians traded blows on whether the group should be banned under the anti-terror laws. More than 450 men and women packed into a reception hall at Lakemba in Sydney's southwest to hear speakers from Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) outline their hopes for a single Islamic state that would overthrow all dictators, invaders and governments in every Muslim country across the globe. The Khilafah conference was told that "humankind" could only escape destruction under "the divine order...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The Islamic world is fed up with violence and extremism in the name of religion and is ready for an era of progressive, democratic Muslim governments, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Friday. Khatami said current conflicts between the West and Islam have created a situation that "can only see ever-escalating violence, whether in the form of war and occupation and repression, or in the form of terror and destruction." "After about two centuries of dispute between tradition and modernity in the world of Islam (there is) a high level of mental preparation for the acceptance...

Terror War: The Peril of Ignorance By Christopher G. Adamo | September 9, 2004 Against the horrific backdrop of 9-11, relatively little discussion occurred in regards to the jubilant celebrations occurring among Palestinians on the streets of Gaza... Russia's past efforts to undermine the United States in its war on terror, .. to have spared it. Despite the disingenuous platitudes of "political correctness".. of Islamists as anything other than a religious war, that reality remains unchanged. Now Russia knows it is no exception. But those celebrations took place nonetheless. In this country as well, every effort has been made ever...

George W. Bush: Man of the year Posted: December 31, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. As Person of the Year, 2003, Time has chosen the American Soldier, a decision with which no patriot will quarrel. Whatever one believed about the necessity, wisdom or justice of the Iraq war, the American soldier did his duty and did it admirably well. But if the old standards had prevailed at Time – What man had the greatest impact on world affairs, for good or ill, in 2003? – the Man of the Year would have to have been George...

<p>"The current al Qaeda leaders are all known now, but the war [in Iraq] is going to create new faces unknown to the rest of the world, and they will become tomorrow's leaders of the groups that will never stop battling America," Cairo-based journalist Mohammed Salah tells the Associated Press.</p>

Liberals fail to recognize is that regime change in Iraq is not some distraction from the war on al-Qaida. That is a bogus argument. And simply because oil is also at stake in Iraq doesn't make it illegitimate either. Some things are right to do, even if Big Oil benefits. Although President Bush has cast the war in Iraq as being about disarmament — and that is legitimate — disarmament is not the most important prize there. Regime change is the prize. Regime transformation in Iraq could make a valuable contribution to the war on terrorism, whether Saddam is ousted...

American response to Khan column Let me give an American perspective on Roland Khan's opinion (MET 36 online). He is quite correct that there have been acts against individuals of Arab descent or believers in Islam (and in acts that show ignorance equal to bigotry – Sikhs) after the mass murder of Americans. Khan is also correct, though he doesn't quite phrase it this way, that the reaction of every American government official and religious leader and the overwhelming majority of all Americans is that such acts are reprehensible - full stop. No American says: "Oh, you must understand the...