Media Review Network – Page 1231 – Providing Context and Substance

Obama steers toward endless war with islam

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Obama Steers Toward Endless War With Islam
by Michael Scheuer

[Michael Scheuer is a twenty-plus-year CIA veteran. From 1996 to 1999, he served as the Chief of the bin Laden unit at the Counterterrorism Center.]

In just over 100 days, President Obama is on the verge of ensuring that militant Islams war on America will be waged for decades to come and its forces will never suffer manpower or money shortages. How did he accomplish so much in some little time? He simply behaved as all U.S. political leaders behave; that is, as an ignorant and arrogant interventionist.

Let us take the ignorant part first. Since Jan. 20, Obama and his band of Israel-Firsters have shown the Muslim world moderate, conservative, radical, and fanatic that George W. Bush was no one-off fluke, that Democrats intend to wage war on Islam just like the Republicans. How so? Well, look at Obamas decisions and actions. They can only be explained by accepting that the new president is ignorant of our Islamist foes, either by choice or because the ability to read is not required to graduate at Harvard.

Hopes and dreams on the Gaza coast

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Hopes and dreams on the Gaza coast

By Ayman Mohyeldin in Gaza

‘At a time when Gazans are under a siege… the coast has become an important psychological tool’

Every day, as the sun sets on the coast of Gaza, people make their way to the coffee shop-lined beaches and the pot-holed streets that run parallel to its coastline.

On the terrace of the famed Al Deira Hotel, patrons jostle for position, sipping sweet Arabic coffee as the sounds of legendary Arab musicians delicately waft through the air, mingling with the aroma of flavoured tobacco.

They all share one aim – to gaze out into the Mediterranean Sea as its turquoise waters transform into blue, then purple and then disappear into the moonlit night.

Did sri lanka secure peace?

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Did Sri Lanka Secure Peace?

Whilst the Sri Lankan government celebrates a military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers), the prospects for permanent peace seem remote given that the underlying causes for the rebellion have not been addressed.

The Sinhalese, comprising of over 70% of the population, have been accused of oppressing and impoverishing the minority Tamils, who populate the North-Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. After independence from the British, the Sri Lankan government made Sinhalese the official language, effectively excluding the Tamils from government posts.

Numerous pogroms against the Tamils have been reported, forcing them to flee to the north. Demands by the LTTE for independence or autonomy have been met with brutal military force, causing deep resentment and spawning a guerrilla movement.

The Mahavali Scheme diverting the largest river for irrigation and power-generation were given to 80,000 Sinhalese in the east, where Tamils were some 40% of the population (they are 86% of the population in the north), was viewed as colonizing Tamil lands, sparking horrific communal riots.

Tens of thousands of innocent lives were lost in atrocities and massacres perpetrated by both sides, but the Sri Lankan government succeeded in persuading the USA to classify the LTTE as a “terrorist organization”. As a result, the Tamil Tigers sources of finance and military supplies dwindled, the resistance weakened and they were defeated.

The reaction of the Tamil Tigers to their oppression have, at times, been barbaric, the causes of their immense suffering still remain. The ruthlessness and savagery of the Sri Lankan government could further radicalise the Tamils, initiating prolonged civil strife. Until and unless their justified grievances are resolved, another guerilla uprising is likely to emerge.

Yours faithfully

Firoz Osman

MEDIA REVIEW NETWORK

Another war on others

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Another war on others
US policy in Pakistan under Obama is but more of the same of past crimes: terrorising foreign civilian populations for political ends, writes Ramzy Baroud*

——————————————————————————–

US President Barack Obama took the podium in a White House press conference and stood with an all-embellished confidence that often accompanies new presidents. He was flanked by two leaders whose apparent grandeur barely reflected their embattled situations on the ground: Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

The meeting at the White House on 6 May was fashioned to give the impression that the new US administration is both "serious" and "committed" about resolving the crises plaguing Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are imprudently reduced to that of a Taliban resurgence in the former, and a Taliban- inspired militant encroachment in the latter. Obama declared the meeting "extraordinarily productive" as the three nations, he said, are joined by the common goal to "defeat Al-Qaeda and its extremist allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan".