Young Muslims in Britain feel demonized
A sweeping majority of young British Muslims feel demonized and under attack by the police and media, while they face a dilemma to cling to their Muslim identity in a growingly suspicious society, a London-based think tank said in a report on Tuesday, September 1. "They see one Asian person's mistakes and the rest of the community ... has to pay for it," one unnamed young Muslim said in the "Seen and Not Heard: Voices of Young British Muslims" report. The report, conducted by the Islamic think tank Policy Research Center, warns that since July 7, 2005 attacks on London, media outlets are portraying the Muslim community as a national threat. Britain is home nearly 2 million Muslims, most of them are of south Asian origins. A recent UK government-commissioned study has also found that a torrent of negative and imbalance stories in the British media demonize Muslims and their faith by portraying them as the enemy within. British Muslims have also taken full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 attacks. They have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by police for no apparent reason other than being Muslim. A Financial Times opinion poll also showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.
American institution to train Saudi leaders
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced it has been awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Military Training Mission (USMTM) to support the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (SAAF) by establishing a Saudi War College (SWC) that meets educational and administrative standards of US War Colleges. The contract has a one year base period of performance, three one-year options and a contract value of more than $11 million if all options are exercised. Work will be performed primarily in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.The USMTM to Saudi Arabia is a joint training mission and functional component command under the military command of the U.S. Central Command. The USMTM advises and assists the SAAF through security assistance efforts by developing, training and sustaining capable deterrent and self-defense forces for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to facilitate regional security. Under the contract, SAIC will help establish an SWC to assist in preparing and educating Saudi leaders to face domestic and global challenges. SAIC will help establish a state-of-the-art educational institution, and develop and implement a flexible curriculum that will enable the SWC to adapt to future Saudi mission requirements. SAIC will also recruit, hire, and retain fully qualified Saudi instructors, develop and implement a quality assurance plan, and establish a career and mentoring program for SWC instructors. "SAIC is honored to support the SAAF by helping establish a world-class SWC. We believe that SAAF, teamed with SAIC, has the prerequisites for creating a prestigious military institution for the education of strategic leaders," said Charles Zang, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager.
Kyrgystan's oppressive policies against Muslims is backfiring
Kyrgyzstan's clampdown on banned Muslim groups may increase the number of their followers, especially among the Central Asian state's women, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said on Thursday. Any instability in the impoverished former Soviet republic is a worry for the United States which runs a military air base there to support its operations in Afghanistan."Kyrgyzstan's increasingly authoritarian government is adopting a counter-productive approach to the country's growing radicalisation," ICG said in a report."Instead of tackling the root causes of a phenomenon that has seen increasing numbers, including many women, joining groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), it is resorting to heavy-handed police methods that risk pushing yet more Kyrgyz towards radicalism." ICG urged Kyrgyzstan and its Central Asian neighbours who face similar problems to focus on the root causes of radicalism by improving living standards and fighting corruption.ICG also said the government should not clamp down on some traditional attributes of Islam such as women's headscarves - which were been banned from Kyrgyz schools this year. It called on the West to prevent further repressive measures by the Kyrgyz government. "As Central Asia becomes a major supply route for NATO's expanded war in Afghanistan, Western powers with an increased interest in the region's stability should caution against repressive policies."
Another new strategy for fighting Islam in Afghanistan
General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, Monday called for a new military policy in the country, saying that "serious" change was needed to achieve victory. In a report sent to the Pentagon and Nato headquarters, McChrystal acknowledged that the last eight years had been disastrous, and said that the focus should be upon winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan population, not direct engagement with militants. McChrystal said: "The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort." The report is expected to pave the way for McChrystal to request more troops, in addition to the 108,000 international troops already there. The call for a new strategy comes after the failed strategies of Bush and the recently much coveted AfPak strategy of the Obama administration. It is becoming increasingly evident that US after having spent billions of dollars and suffering huge causalities is nowhere to ending this war; rather the prospect of a humiliating defeat grows ever closer. Allah (swt) says, "Verily those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (men) from the Path of Allah, and so will they continue to spend it, but in the end it will become a regret [hasrah] for them. Then they will be overcome [yughlaboon]." [TMQ: al Anfaal 8:36]
India worried about Pakistan's growing nuclear arsenal
Indian Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor said on Wednesday that Pakistan was going well beyond deterrence after reports Islamabad had increased its nuclear arsenal and was working to add cruise missiles. "There were certain degrees of deterrence and the figure of 70 to 90 nuclear warheads directed against a country certainly goes beyond the concept of deterrence," Kapoor said in the western Indian city of Pune. "It is a matter of concern for us," he added. Gen. Kapoor was commenting on an article published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist about the enhanced nuclear arsenal of neighboring Pakistan. "A new nuclear-capable ballistic missile is being readied for deployment, and two nuclear-capable cruise missiles are under development. Two new plutonium production reactors and a second chemical separation facility also are under construction," said the U.S. journal. What is the point of having a nuclear arsenal if the Pakistani leadership is not prepared to use it to defend itself from the current American-Indian onslaught. If North Korea and Iran can effectively use their nuclear arsenal and nuclear programmes to counter America then what is preventing Pakistan from doing something similar to protect its population and integrity.
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