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Formerly "Hudson Institute, New York" Latest ArticlesMuslims Plan "Parallel Parliament" In Switzerland by Soeren Kern • February 22, 2012 at 5:00 am
Leading Islamic groups in Switzerland are seeking to establish a single national representative body that will enable all of the country's Muslims to "speak with one voice." The organizers say their new "parliament" will be called "Umma Schweiz" and be based on the principles of Islamic Sharia law. The headquarters of the organization will be located in Basel with "representatives" in all 26 cantons (or "states") of Switzerland. The first "test vote" of Umma Schweiz will be held in the fall of 2012; the group will be fully functional in 2013. Ummah, an Arabic word that means "nation," refers to the entire Muslim community throughout the world. In recent years, Muslims have stepped up efforts to unify the globally fragmented ummah in an effort to revive an Islamic Caliphate or empire. Many Muslim scholars view the political unification of the ummah as a prerequisite to the consolidation of global Muslim power and the subsequent establishment of an Islamic world order.
For Middle East Peace, Postpone the Peace Talks -- at Least for Now by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 22, 2012 at 4:30 am
There are several reasons why the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks need to be postponed until further notice. The first reason is the plan to hold new presidential and parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories sometime in the near future. What would happen if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a peace treaty with Israel today and, a few months from now, Hamas is elected to lead the Palestinians? The first thing that a new Hamas government or parliament would do is cancel all the "treacherous" agreements that were signed by Abbas and the PLO. Hamas's chances of scoring another electoral victory have increased significantly thanks to the "Arab Spring" that has seen the rise of Islamists to power in a number of Arab countries. Then it would be too late to prevent Hamas from extending its control to large parts of the West Bank and possibly certain areas in Jerusalem that are handed over to the Palestinian Authority. Hence any peace agreement that is signed today between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will become meaningless once Hamas takes control after the planned elections.
Europe: A Tale of Three Presidents by Peter Martino • February 22, 2012 at 4:00 am
Europe's presidents usually do not figure much in the press. Last week, however, was exceptional. Two presidents whom most people outside their own countries had never heard of made the international headlines: President Karolos Papoulias of Greece, and President Christian Wulff of Germany. Last week was also the week in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy of France officially announced that he will stand for reelection. Unlike in the U.S., in most European countries the head of state is not the head of the government. The kings and queens of the various European monarchies have only limited political powers, and the functions they fulfill are mostly ceremonial. With the exception of France, Europe's presidents have also mainly ceremonial functions, while the political leaders of their countries are the prime ministers or, in Germany's case, the chancellor.
Turkish Intel Crisis Devised to Manipulate Politics, Research Company Head Says by AK Group • February 22, 2012 at 3:00 am
A prosecutor's office's recent call for Turkey's top intelligence staff to testify in an ongoing probe is connected to efforts to reshape the country's political landscape in 2014, according to Dr. İbrahim Uslu, the head of a prominent research company. "The president, the prime minister, the leader of the AKP [Justice and Development Party], its top-level administrators, the situation in Parliament and the municipalities will all change in 2014. Politics, in other words, will be entirely redefined," said Uslu, the head of the Ankara Social Research Center, or ANAR. "I personally think some people may have [devised] these attacks to have a say over that process, to be able to manipulate it and gain influence over the allotment of new roles."
"Caliphate Conference" Seeks to Islamize Europe, U.S. by Soeren Kern • February 21, 2012 at 5:00 am
A Muslim fundamentalist group is organizing a conference focused on turning Austria and other European countries into Islamic states. The "Caliphate Conference 2012" will be held on March 10 in the Austrian town of Vösendorf, situated just south of Vienna. The main theme of the event will be "The Caliphate: The State Model of the Future." The conference is being organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir [Party of Liberation], a pan-Islamic extremist group that seeks to establish a global Islamic state, or caliphate, ruled by Islamic Sharia law. Hizb ut-Tahrir -- which is banned in many countries, including Germany, but is free to operate in Austria -- is virulently opposed to Western capitalism and democracy and seeks to extend the future caliphate to Europe and the United States. According to a promotional video (in German) for the conference, "the Islamic Caliphate is the only social and political system that has the right solutions to the political, social and economic problems of humanity."
How Come No One Wants to Help Gaza? by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 21, 2012 at 4:45 am
Who is stopping the Palestinians from turning the Gaza Strip into the Middle East's Hong Kong? Is it Israel, the Palestinians themselves or the Arab countries? In the past few weeks, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has visited a number of Arab and Islamic countries in a bid to secure financial aid for "rebuilding" the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh returned to the Gaza Strip this week with a suitcase full of promises from Iran, Qatar, Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to help the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. Some of the Arab countries promised to provide cement and construction material, whiles others pledged to fund various economic and housing projects there. But the Palestinians have become used to empty promises from the Arab and Islamic countries. In the past, the Arab League promised $4 billion in aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip. However, Palestinians say that so far they have seen almost nothing from the Arab and Islamic countries.
No One Should Pray for a Crisis, Erdogan Says by AK Group • February 21, 2012 at 3:00 am
Turkey's top institutions are not in a crisis but are instead working together in harmony, the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sunday in his first comments on the fight over an attempt to probe top spy officials, and his first remarks since emerging from follow-up digestive surgery. "No one should harbor hopes of growing divisive and sinister seeds. No one should pray for a crisis. No one should dream of chaos and conflict. All institutions are working with harmony and motivation that has never before been seen in the history of the country," Erdoğan said in an address to the youth branches of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, via a videoconference.
China Lacking "Mandate of Heaven" by Taylor Dinerman • February 20, 2012 at 4:15 am
A large and multifaceted crisis is unfolding in China. The world's most important rapidly-developing economy is running out of clean fresh water. As things get worse, this crisis will lead to an increase in global food prices, to a slowdown in China's rate of GDP growth and possibly to a new set of tensions with its neighbors, especially Russia, which, in Siberia, controls the only large supply of fresh water near enough to meet China's needs. China is home to about 20% of the world's population and about 7% of the world's water, Traditionally, the correct management of water for transportation, irrigation and flood control was one of the ways the Chinese people could determine if the Emperor and his dynasty had the "Mandate of Heaven" or not. With the "Mandate of Heaven," the leadership had the legitimacy and the authority to rule; without it, the people assumed that political trouble and a change of rulers was on its way.
Turkey Passes Bill to Shield Agents from Prosecution by AK Group • February 20, 2012 at 3:00 am
Turkey's parliament on Friday passed a controversial bill to shield intelligence agents from prosecution after several refused a prosecutor's summons over their contacts with Kurdish rebels. Parliament hastily passed the bill, backed by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, in the early hours of Friday. The new law requires the prime minister to authorize any court cases against intelligence agents for their work on missions controlled directly by the prime minister. The bill was passed in the wake of a case involving several members of Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation, or MIT, having contacts with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Prosecutors had summoned several MIT members, including its current chief Hakan Fidan and former head Emre Taner, for questioning over the contacts.
A New Year of "Dhimmitude" for Egypt's Copts by Raymond Ibrahim • February 17, 2012 at 4:30 am
For Egypt's Christian Copts, the New Year began with threats that their churches would be attacked during Christmas mass (celebrated on January 7). Because many people were watching what might happen—several Coptic churches were previously attacked, including last Christmas (8 dead) and New Year's day (23 dead), not to mention ominous episodes around the world, such as the Nigerian Christmas day church bombings (40 dead) —the Muslim Brotherhood proclaimed it would "protect" the Copts during their church services. Happily, Coptic Christmas came and went without incident.
The Rapper Who Defied the King of Morocco by Amel Chraibi • February 17, 2012 at 4:15 am
His stage name is L7a9ed (read L'haqed) meaning the outraged. But his real name is Mouad Belghouat, a 24 year old rap singer from one of the poorest slums of Casablanca, who recently became known for having criticized the Kingdom of Morocco. His lyrics were so powerful and strong that L7a9ed became one of the most wanted dissidents in Morocco. One of his songs says, "These people are suffering in silence, crawling in the streets, tired of going round in circles… and what does HE [the King of Morocco] do? […] I am the one who is supposed to choose whom I want to consider holy! And if you want to understand us, come and live with us. Allah, the Country, Freedom!"
Obama Blames the Banks by Richard Butrick • February 17, 2012 at 4:00 am
Speaking from the White House on Feb. 9th, Obama, assuming the air of a headmaster of boarding school, wagged his finger and proceeded to upbraid the "abusive" banks for their "irresponsible" and "reckless" policy of duping hapless blacks and other minorities into buying homes they couldn't afford. Serious analysts of the mortgage/banking/financial meltdown of 2008 have come up with a Byzantium of alternative theories regarding the essential factors involved in the meltdown. One straight-faced theory even has it that the core problem was a faulty mathematical model to evaluate risk. It is not as far-fetched as it may at first seem. Top banks from Goldman Sacks to JP Morgan to Morgan Stanley had quant departments using the model of a Chinese mathematician by the name of David X. Li. His model was called "The Formula from Hell" by Forbes magazine and here is how an excellent an article in Wired magazine put it:
First Islamic Version of Facebook Aims to Create 'Halal' Field for Muslims by AK Group • February 17, 2012 at 3:00 am
"Salamworld," a pioneering global Islamic social network that aims to create a "halal" environment for Muslims on the Internet, recently held its first global summit in Istanbul with the participation of 250 people from 40 countries. "The content that is being used on other social networks is not very secure and full of haram. We don't want our young people to absorb all these ideas that are not familiar to them," one of the owners of Salamworld, Abdulvahed Niyazov, a Muslim businessman from Siberia, told the Hürriyet Daily News in a recent interview. A group of Russian and Turkish investors have put tens of millions of dollars into the development of the site, which aims to become an Islamic version of Facebook.
Freedom of Expression, UN Human Rights Council by Gerald M. Steinberg • February 16, 2012 at 5:00 am
Part 1: Overview and Background: 1) By any objective standard, Israeli democracy is as robust and pluralistic as any in the world. There are no restrictions on any form of protest or advocacy, including very fierce and unpopular criticism of the government and military. No other democracy can claim to have greater freedom of expression, despite more than six decades of war and terrorism; threats of annihilation; and in parallel, the challenges of developing a cohesive society based on numerous divergent communities scattered for generations as Diasporas, many of which do not have traditions of pluralism and democracy. 2) Like other Israelis, I am aware that we are not a perfect society. As in others nations, we have flaws, and it is our responsibility to correct them. But aggressive campaigns to greatly exaggerate these imperfections, as part of the ongoing effort to delegitimize Israel facilitated by the soft-power of groups not subject to any democratic accountability, should not be assisted by a United Nations framework focusing on freedom of expression and freedom.
UK: Islamist Intimidation Shuts Down Free Speech by Shiraz Maher • February 16, 2012 at 4:45 am
These have not been good times for free speech in the UK. Islamist students and cowardly student bodies – which, ironically, would identify themselves as liberal and progressive – have clamped down on the right of secular and atheist societies to voice their opposition to Islam (as they do to other religions too). An event organized by the "One Law for All" campaign group at Queen Mary University in London was cancelled at the last minute after an Islamist made death threats against everyone attending. Anne Marie Waters, a spokeswoman for the National Secular Society had been due to address the room on Shariah law [Muslim religious law] and human rights. The room filled with students, but shortly before Waters was due to begin, a man entered the lecture theatre and filmed everyone in the audience. He then told them he could identify them all and knew where they lived – and that if anything insulting about the Prophet Mohammed was said, he would "track down" the audience members. Other students were also told that they, along with their families, would be murdered if any insult was perceived.
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