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From Newry to Helmand, the lessons are the same

Had Monday's car bomb exploded in London it would have been inflated into a terrorist atrocity, fuel for the Afghan war. An explosion, then silence. Next come the shouts and the sirens. It is another bomb. Oh God, people cry, is anyone dead? On this occasion, no. But Northern Ireland sees a terrorist incident, a bombing or a shooting, twice week, double the rate of a year ago. Someone is charged with terrorism every six days. Each time, local leaders are summoned to plead for calm. Each outrage is dismissed as the work of criminal dissidents and described as "a matter for the police". Nothing must disrupt the narrative of normalcy.

Terrorism in Northern Ireland is nowadays hardly reported because it has rightly been redefined as a crime. The terrorist must be denied the oxygen of publicity. And it works. If Monday's court-house bombing in Newry had been perpetrated on a public building in London there would have been pandemonium. Security chiefs would have been summoned. Doors would have been kicked down in immigrant suburbs and "suspects" arrested.

Muslims Have No Monopoly over 'Allah'

Malaysia has once again resurfaced in international headlines for the wrong reasons. Over the last two weeks, arsonists and vandals attacked 10 places of worship, including Christian churches and Sikh temples. Though there were no injuries and the material damage is reparable, the same cannot be said about the emotional and psychological scars left behind. After numerous conflicting statements from government officials, the underlying causes of the violence are still unaddressed. Malaysia's reputation as a nation at peace with its ethnic and religious diversity is at stake.

Malaysia's poor handling of religious and sectarian issues is not unique. The ill treatment of minority groups in Muslim countries is often worse than the actions Muslims decry in the West. I have called attention to the broader need in the Muslim world for leadership that demonstrates consistency and credibility in our call for justice, fairness and pluralism. These values are embedded in the Islamic tradition as the higher objectives of Shariah expounded by the 12th-century jurist al-Shatibi.

Zionist Logic -- Malcolm X on Zionism

The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the "last days of this world" their own God would raise them up a "messiah" who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own "divine" government in this newly-gained land, this "divine" government would enable them to "rule all other nations with a rod of iron."

If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its "divine" mission to rule all other nations with a rod of irons, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even, than that of the former European Colonial Powers.

Christian Zionism… Apocalypse Ever After

That ideology and religion can be twisted into a different course than the initial philosophy, and sometimes a criminal one, is nothing new. Marxism became Stalinism, capitalism became colonialism, free market became third world exploitation, nationalism became Nazism and fascism, xenophobia became racism, religious liberty became secular fundamentalism, and Judaism became Zionism.

But as for the case of Christian Zionism, it is not only the variation from mainstream Protestantism into extremism - based on the overtly literary interpretation of Evangelism, eschatology (the study of end of times) - and prophetical fulfillment of redemption that make it represent such a deviation; it is its hands and geography.

Attack on the Kaaba

Are terrorists planning a massive assault against the holiest Muslim shrine, the Kaaba? An apocalyptic, mind-blowing prospect. A spiritual and material enormity. The Kaaba is the sacred building in the centre of the Great Mosque at Mecca. The Islamic Holy of Holies, in the direction of which the faithful at prayer must face. For Muslims it the navel of the earth. Any outrage on the shrine would be infinitely sacrilegious. Further, it would set off a worldwide explosion of violence and unrest on a scale as yet undreamt of.

In early 2002, the prelude to the war on Iraq, the pro-Chechen Kavkaz Agency carried an alarming news item about a presumed conspiracy to blow up the Kaaba. It hinted at certain not so ‘occult’ infidel forces aiming at destabilising key Middle East countries. Now, as NATO’s offensive on the Taleban escalates, similar rumours have resurfaced elsewhere. Whether well-founded or fantastic, I know not. Conspiracy-mongers are tiresome. Besides, merely political explanations are often pedestrian and predictable. The priest confesses to a bias – he favours metaphysical explanations. They go deeper.

Homosexuality and Zionism

If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.

- The Bible (Leviticus 20:13)

For those who will rant and rave, waving the usual politically correct card of homophobia, to stifle any discussion on this issue, need not bother reading past this sentence. They are part of the neo-liberal cabal, who are not interested in genuine free speech, and gag the opposing view by categorising it as incitement to hate. The tactics employed are identical to the Zionist dominated media that prevents any criticism of Israel, by labelling it as anti-Semitic.

Zionist-Israel is an exception. It is the only ‘democracy’ (for Jews only) in the Middle East, and the only country that has managed to portray itself as a victim of terrorism, after slaughtering 1500 civilians in Gaza in response to a few home made devices landing in their back garden. The only country that does not have to abide by UN resolutions unlike its neighbours; it has nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and many other privileges. Like Zionist-Israel, homosexuality is also the exception from the norm! So, are there any other common traits between Zionism and the phenomenon of homosexuality?

Which of These Two Men Got Life?

What a difference a name makes! Two young men, university students in their twenties, have been sentenced by a Federal District Court. One received a five year sentence; the other received life without possibility of parole. Both were born and raised within a short distance of each other. One is Bethesda, Maryland; the other in Falls Church, Virginia. But, one is Muslim. Can you guess which one?