Politics

Unfit for Democracy? – NYTimes.com

Unfit for Democracy? – NYTimes.com. We Americans spout bromides about freedom. Democracy campaigners in the Middle East have been enduring unimaginable tortures as the price of their struggle — at the hands of dictators who are our allies — yet they persist. In Bahrain, former political prisoners have said that their wives were taken into the jail in front of them. And then the men were told that unless they confessed, their wives would promptly be raped. That, or more conventional tortures, usually elicited temporary confessions, yet for years or decades those activists persisted in struggling for democracy. And we…

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Inter-faith

Dave Zirin: Kazemi and Abdul-Qaadir: Recognizing the Courage of Muslim Athletes

Dave Zirin: Kazemi and Abdul-Qaadir: Recognizing the Courage of Muslim Athletes. Kazemi then took to hiding the fact that he was born and raised in Iran, just telling people he was from the Middle East. Then an incident at a gas station taught him that hiding wasn’t an option. Kazemi told the New York Daily News, “[This guy walked up to me and] said, ‘I am going to kill you.’ Then he said he was joking. At first, I was scared. If you are me, wouldn’t you be, too?”

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Politics

Islam and the Lagging Economies of the Arab World : The New Yorker

Islam and the Lagging Economies of the Arab World : The New Yorker. But, before consigning a fifth of humanity to the dustbin of economic history, one might consider, more broadly, whether it makes sense to place such an emphasis on religion in explaining the underdevelopment of so many Muslim countries. To start with, it’s worth noting—and Kuran and Lewis, to their credit, do note it—that Islam, at least in its original formulation, was far from hostile to business. As the centuries passed, many Muslim regions fell badly behind the West, but the most immediate explanation involves not Islam but…

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Inter-faith

If Heaven Exists, Peter Gomes Is There | Hubbub | Blogs | WBUR

God rest his soul. He walked the talk and was an influential and inspiring figure, even if I never was his student. If Heaven Exists, Peter Gomes Is There | Hubbub | Blogs | WBUR. He was a black, Republican, openly gay man of God. He assumed a bow tie and that wonderfully pedantic Harvard accent. Rev. Peter Gomes, the Harvard Divinity School professor, died Monday night after suffering a heart attack and brain aneurysm. He was 68.

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Current Affairs

Pamela Geller’s Anti-Islam Org Labelled A ‘Hate Group’

Pamela Geller’s Anti-Islam Org Labelled A ‘Hate Group’. Manhattan blogger Pamela Geller, the fiery and offensive Atlas Shrugs blogger who organizes vehemently anti-Islamic protests, is not just a far right-winger, but is actually now part of a ‘hate group’.  That’s coming from the Southern Poverty Law Center, who classified Geller’s organization, Stop the Islamization of America, in the same class as the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists.

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Current Affairs

Arab and American revolutions in history « The Immanent Frame

Arab and American revolutions in history « The Immanent Frame. Let me try to explain further, in the hope of minimizing the risk of miscommunication, which is particularly serious when we deal with profound transformations that challenge our deeply held assumptions and prejudices. I personally am opposed to the Muslim Brothers and have struggled to challenge their views of Islam and politics since the 1960s. Their ideological confusion and devious politics have caused horrendous loss and pain in my home country, Sudan. I therefore have no illusions about the serious costs of their coming to power anywhere, especially in a…

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Current Affairs

Periodic Table of Terrorist Organizations | Navanti Group

Periodic Table of Terrorist Organizations | Navanti Group. Periodic Table of Terrorist Organizations [infographic] using groups designated by the United States Department of State. Drawing on other data we have added several associated characteristics, including geographic location, approximate level of attacks (total), approximate size of organization by members, status of activity, and the age of the group.

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