Rape is becoming so widespread in India that many women are now afraid to come out. Women are targeted everywhere: in the cities as well as villages as the horrible case of two young girls gang-raped on May 27 shows. The assailants included two police officers. Where should the victims turn to for help if the police themselves are involved? India claims to be the world's largest democracy; it is the world's biggest rapist nation.
Elections are popular with dictators because they can get the results they want but they can also throw up surprises. This is what has just happened in Egyptian. General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi thought by going through the process he will confer legitimacy on his dictatorial rule but the Egyptian people have slapped him on the face by refusing to participate in the farce.
While Syrians outside the country in overwhelming numbers cast ballot in the advance poll on May 28, in Egypt by contrast the turnout was very low. Western governments reflecting cynicism and duplicity, rejected the Syrian poll while hailing those in Egypt and Ukraine. People around the world have begun to understand western hypocrisy better.
The people of Egypt have delivered the only verdict they could possibly do in the circumstances: treat the entire election process with utter contempt. Officially the voter turnout was put at 37 percent but observers on the scene said it was no more than 10 to 15 percent with many polling stations registering not even a single voter for many hours. Does the photo show overcrowding at a polling station?
The issue of Kashmir may be ignored by the UN and other organizations and countries but not by committed people--Muslims as well as non-Muslims--that want to ensure that the gross injustices perpetrated against the Kashmiri people for several decades should not be buried under the debris of history. On May 24, the Friends of Kashmir organized an international conference in Toronto addressed by an array of international speakers.
Violence, it is said is as American as apple pie. Violence is also glorified by Hollywood. It came home with yet another example when Elliot Rodger, son of a Hollywood director, shot and killed several people and injured dozens more before shooting himself in the head. He had posted his murderous plans on You Tube!
Russia and China have again frustrated Western imperialist plans to intervene directly in Syria. By vetoing the Security Council resolution that would have paved the way for referring Syrian officials to the International Criminal Court, the West thought it could disrupt the government of President Bashar al-Asad through the backdoor now that their mercenaries are on the verge of defeat.
China's security arrangement proposal with Russia and Iran has caused panic among warmongers in Washington DC. The US is definitely on its way out as other powers assert themselves.
Renewed military attacks in Pakistan's restive tribal region of North and South Waziristan have exposed the Pakistani government's insincerity about peace talks with the Taliban as well as lack of respect for human life. In the latest attacks early this morning, 70 people, among them women and children were killed in Mir Ali Tehsil in North Waziristan.
The fiery Imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London, Abu Hamza, has been found guilty by a New York jury of kidnapping and terrorism charges. He was extradited from Britain in October 2012. The charges date back to 1998. He will be sentenced on September 9 and will likely get life. Abu Hamza had fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan when America was an ally of these fighters.
Palestinians may have been forcibly expelled from their lands but they are not willing to forget, as the Nakba (Catastrophe) commemorations show. Such commemorations were held not only in Palestine but also other parts of the world including Pakistan where an entire week was dedicated to Nakba events organized by Palestine Liberation Pakistan (PLP).
Will the latest mining disaster in Turkey affect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political future adversely? Some observers feel he is losing touch with popular sentiment by the manner in which he has issued statements in the wake of this latest disaster.
The US and its Nato allies have destroyed Libya. It has descended into lawlessness with heavily armed militias staking claims to various pieces of real estate and assets. People, especially Muslims elsewhere looking for US/Western help ought to keep Libya in mind before deciding.
Narendra Modi, India's prime minister elect has been compared to Adolf Hitler. He comes with “impressive” Nazi credentials to earn the epithet. India's minorities, especially the 150 million Muslims, will find life even more difficult now under Modi who has won a clear majority to rule.
“The Boko Haram, like other jihadists, had become more dangerous in a post-Gaddafi Africa – thus justifying a larger military presence for the Americans,” writes Glen Ford, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report
Can the Saudi announcement that they want to improve relations with Islamic Iran be taken seriously? Face with multiple crises, internal as well external, the Saudis may be trying to secure their flanks but it would be wise to deal with them with caution. They are not trustworthy.
Egypt's pharaoh Abdel Fattah Sisi tries to present a soft image to the outside world but comes down brutally hard on people inside. His special wrath is reserved for the Muslim Brotherhood thousands of whose members have been murdered, thousands of others consigned to dungeons and sentenced to death through kangaroo trials.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have successfully cloned the US manufactured RQ-170 Sentinel drone that it had captured in December 2011. At the time of its successful safe landing, the Americans first claimed it had crashed and then said its systems were too sophisticated to be copied. Iran has proved them wrong on all counts showing that people led by muttaqi leadership can achieve great things.
Muslims around the world are once again faced by a criminal act perpetrated by a group of terrorists in the name of Islam. The kidnapping of hundreds of school girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria should be addressed by going to the source of the problem: the ideology being propagated by the Saudi regime and its court preachers.
Even while millions of African Americans languish in poverty, Barack Obama, himself an African American, cannot say no to the zionist regime's demands for more weapons and money. His National Security Advisor Susan Rice claims “shared values” and “shared history” with the zionist occupiers of Palestine!
