Muslim Responsibility in Countering Violent Extremism

Obama counters violent extremism

Have Muslim organizations in the U.S. issued any guidelines to Mosques and Islamic centers on how to deal with troubled youths and extremist elements who are trying to recruit in their midst? Have they created outreach programs to Muslim families dealing with radicalized youths in an attempt to help them come back to the mainstream? Have they set up special camps that can help in these matters? Are they providing specialized training to Imams on how to deal with these and other related issues? Have they created educational guidelines on how certain issues related to Islamic teachings, such as Jihad and Dhimmitude, among others, should be breached?

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Intervention & R2P

syria-violence-610x457

If noting the geopolitical nature of the motives involved behind a country’s external adventurism is to be treated as sufficient factor for legitimizing that country’s behavior, then, no country can be ever be faulted or condemned for its adventurism, be it an Iran, a Russia, a China, a France or a United States. As such, those who insist on justifying Iran, Russia or China’s adventurism while condemning France’s or America’s reveal their ideological slant and hypocrisy. If one is truly opposed to intervention in the “internal” affairs of other states one has to do it across the board, and not play favorites.

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Europe & Its Migration Dilemma

Migrants come to shore at Zefyros beach on the Greek island of Rhodes after their sailboat capsized on April 20. Most of the migrants managed to swim safely to the beach with the assistance of locals.

Europe should take the lead in trying to tackle the issue of illegal migration. The best approach that I can see is for her to embark alongside regional and international partners on launching a variety of peacekeeping missions in a number of conflict and disaster- stricken zones. Such approach, and while initially controversial and bound to raise accusations of neocolonialism in certain circles, will prove far more cost-effective on the long run in both material and humanitarian terms than the current policy of indifference and inaction, or a futile policy of trying to police the shores.

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Killers, Cowards and Charlatans

On March 15, 2011, the Syrian street was divided between those who wanted freedom and those who kept opting for security at all costs. This cartoon shows why liberty is a much better idea, for all the risks it brings.

At the beginning of the Syrian revolution there were many millions who wanted to oust Assad, and many who wanted him to stay. Each group motivated by their own concerns, most of which were pretty legitimate. The systematic violence unleashed by Assad and his supporters, and the lies they perpetrated to get support for this policy from their sympathizers paved the path to where we are today. Nonviolence could not continue to work in the face of such mass and systematic violence, coupled with international indifference and opposition ineptitude.

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