OPINION: As Israeli group expands, Palestinian houses face demolition

Sun 05 May 2019: JERUSALEM (AP) — For 20 years, Hala Kashour has lived with her husband in what she called “paradise,” a bucolic meadow that rolls through a Palestinian neighborhood of east Jerusalem. The coveted pasture, which Israel calls the “Peace Forest,” lies in the crosshairs of a long-simmering conflict between the city government and […]

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OPINION: Don’t blame Muslims for the crimes of white supremacists

Sat 04 May 2019: The American right is systematically trying to cover up far-right crimes by focusing attention on the Muslim community. On April 27, the last day of Passover, John Earnest, a 19-year-old white male, walked into a synagogue in Poway, California and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing one person and wounding three. Shortly […]

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OPINION: Iran’s economic crisis and ideological woes

Having vowed to protect the ‘downtrodden’, the Islamic Republic is unable to undertake any major structural reforms. Six months after the US sanctions came into effect, Iran’s economy appears to be struggling. Efforts by the international community to salvage the nuclear deal and provide an economic lifeline to Iran to dampen the fallout of the sanctions have […]

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OPINION: In the Middle East, a new military crescent is in the making

Tue 30 Apr 2019: Counter-revolutionary forces are seeking to resurrect the military dictatorship model the Arab Spring dismantled. With the breakout of the Arab Spring more than eight years ago, pro-democracy activists in the Arab world and elsewhere were hopeful that the tide of democratic change might have finally reached its shores. Many who had criticised the […]

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OPINION: Can Hezbollah rely on supporters for funding as US sanctions take their toll?

Mon 29 Apr 2019: Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, is resorting to crowd funding to fill its shrinking coffers. The militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke of its growing dependency on donors during a recent speech commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Resistance Support Association, a benefactor organization. The speech shined a rare light on Hezbollah’s […]

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OPINION: Sri Lankan Authorities May Have Fallen Into a Trap Set by a Foreign Power

Sat 27 Apr 2019: The entire world remains confronted with the horrors that unfolded yesterday throughout Sri Lanka. Whilst the country remains under curfew, the authorities have pinned the blame for the attack on an obscure group called National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ). NTJ is reportedly an Islamist terror group that as noted by Sri Lankan […]

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OPINION: Egypt is now a Russian doll regime with a new coup hidden under every layer

Fri 26 Apr 2019: The recent referendum in Egypt extends President Abdel Fattah el Sisi’s tenure – but more importantly, it is a complete capture of Egypt’s institutions. “The rich don’t need to even pretend there’s democracy in Egypt.”  My friend, another Egyptian reduced to anonymity out of fear, says this with almost humorous resignation. […]

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OPINION: In India’s democracy, Muslims feel increasingly marginalised

Thu 25 Apr 2019: Anxiety among Muslims, who form 14 percent of India’s population but barely constitute four percent of its parliament. As India conducts the biggest democratic exercise in the world, its Muslim minority has little to cheer amid their increasing electoral marginalisation. In the lower house of the outgoing parliament known as Lok […]

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OPINION: Did social media fuel radicalism in Sri Lanka?

Wed 24 Apr 2019: Global terror groups are relying on the power of online networks to drive discussions and shape opinions – often without any inkling of their real motives. Last year, Facebook’s failure to combat violence-filled content came into sharp focus in Sri Lanka, when extremist Buddhist monks used many Sinhalese-language Facebook groups to […]

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