Habib Siddiqui

Here is the link to an interesting article on president Trump's first 100 days in office.

Sami Awad and Yoav Litvin are two men whose lives have been deeply impacted by the events of 1948 and 1967 when Palestinians were collectively driven from their homes and villages in order to make room for Jewish settlement. The Israeli Occupation of Palestine is ongoing; Israeli policies that resulted from the events of 1948 and 1967 continue to create daily suffering in the lives of Palestinians. They are interviewed by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. To read more, click here .

"Right wing bigots full of hate convince witless College Republicans to pay fascist speakers to speak at the college of their choice.  Of course, the right wing bigots know that any speaking engagement featuring their hate-filled tirades will provoke a backlash against that engagement.  Faculty and students will call for the cancellation of the speech and, when the speech is cancelled, the wannabe fascist will whine about the loss of their right to speak. This moment is when the liberals weigh in.  The sanctity of the right to free speech will be pulled from the trashbin where it was thrown decades ago by the Justice Department; liberals and right-wingers alike will wave their limp and meaningless flag of freedom in the face of those who oppose Hitler’s acolytes speaking on their campus. The liberals base their opposition to the protesters on a pretense that civil discourse is possible with people who champion the denial of human rights to most of humanity (if not their ...

On April 28, the Israeli Housing Ministry announced plans to build 25,000 homes across metro Jerusalem, and within this announcement were 15,000 new settlement homes within occupied East Jerusalem areas, a massive expansion of settlement in the area. Israeli officials don’t present expansions in the East Jerusalem settlements as “settlement” expansion, however, as they insist the area, occupied since 1967, is part of the “eternal” capital of Israel, and will never be given back to the Palestinians at any rate. The latest move sparked a lot of international criticism , with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat declaring the move an attempt at “deliberate sabotage” of the peace process, and noting that all settlement construction in the occupied territories is illegal under international law. The US had been pressuring Israel to “hold back” on settlement expansions, but no formal deal was ever reached. The US had proposed a deal where Israel would halt expansion of remote outposts, wit...

Recently, the Forbes has published the list of world’s billionaires. In it for the fourth year in a row, Bill Gates was named the richest man in the world. The number of billionaires increased 13% to 2,043 from 1,810 in 2016; this is the biggest change in over 30 years of tracking billionaires globally. This is the first time after 12 years that Carlos Slim was not within the top five. The U.S. continues to have the most billionaires in the world, with a record of 565. China has 319 (this does not include Hong Kong with 67 and Macau with 1), Germany has 114 and India has the fourth most with 101; India has reached over 100 billionaires for its first time. Here below is the list of 10 wealthiest people in our planet: No. Name Net worth ( USD ) Age Nationality Source(s) of wealth 7000100000000000000♠ 1 Bill Gates $86.0 billion  61   United States Microsoft 7000200000000000000♠ 2 Warren Buffett $75.6 billion  86   United States...

Nana Firman is the Muslim outreach director for GreenFaith, an interfaith environmental coalition, and is a climate reality leader and mentor. She is also the co-founder of the Global Muslim Climate Network. Her article appeared in the CNN . (CNN) From the cropless farmer to the beleaguered first responder to the person forced to evacuate their flooded home, we all have our reasons for caring about climate change. As an Indonesian-born Muslim living in California, it is my faith that compels me to protect our earth. For many people like me who cherish tolerance and clean air, the first 100 days of the Trump presidency have not been easy. As a Muslim immigrant to America, it has been painfully frustrating to witness the Trump administration reinforce xenophobia against both immigrants and Muslims. As someone whose faith is bound up with combating climate change, it hurt to see Trump impose an executive order that effectively denies the impacts of climate change I have seen with m...

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and their supporters have forced the closing of two Muslim schools in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, in a reminder that religious strife remains a threat to the country's stability. About a dozen monks and scores of supporters gathered Friday afternoon near the two Muslim madrassas while police stood by as protesters demanded that local officials close the buildings. The raucous three-hour gathering ended when officials agreed to allow them to chain the entrances of the two buildings, which the protesters claim were built illegally. Tensions between Myanmar's overwhelmingly Buddhist population and the Muslim minority spread after violent conflict broke out between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in 2012 in western Rakhine state, where the Rohingya are accused of entering the country illegally from Bangladesh. It appeared that the madrassas were chained shut largely to appease the protesters and...

Rehabilitate Displaced Rohingyas in their original places and properties in Arakan   Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) strongly condemns the Myanmar government plan to resettle Rohingya Muslims displaced by recent atrocity crimes in “camp-like” villages. During recent military crackdown in Maungdaw district, about 1,000 Rohingyas were killed, hundreds of women raped, at least 1,500 houses burned across several villages, thousands more hid in forests and fields while about 75,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh to escape genocide. In addition, about 140,000 Rohingya have been forced to live in semi-concentration camps in Sittwe since 2012 state sponsored genocidal massacre. Some of the displaced Rohingyas, who have returned from Bangladesh, are now facing acute problem in their temporary shelters as the Myanmar authorities have disallowed them rebuilding their homes permanently under the pretext of ‘security restriction’. The authorities should regard ...

Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has announced that he will return the award conferred on his late father by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2013, saying she failed to honour her promise to improve bilateral ties. Hamid received the award in 2013 conferred on his father Waris Mir for opposing military operation by Pakistan Army in 1971 which led to separation of then East Pakistan to emerge as independent state of Bangladesh. Hamid, who host a popular talk show Capital Talk on Geo TV, on Thursday said that he will return the award given to his father in protest of Hasina’s failure to improve ties with Pakistan. “Instead of improving relations, as promised to us, she has deteriorated them further. With these awards she has deceived us,” he said. “I am left with no choice but to say that I think, along with kind regards, we should all return these symbols of deceit (the awards) back to (PM) Hasina. I, for one, will definitely be doing so,” he said. Mir’s annou...

As it has always happened in the past too much power brings too much arrogance, which ultimately leads to corruption. The BJP of India seems unbeatable. It is winning in most of the Indian states and its leaders are talking like fascists, not that they were any less fascist before. After all, their party philosophy is Hindutva in which Indians of other faiths don't count and are targets of persecution. Here is a link to the latest episode in Indian state of UP.

In much the same way Checkpoint Charlie was an infamous symbol of division between East and West Berlin in the Cold War, Qalandiya Checkpoint has become notorious for Palestinians who need to cross between the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, whether for work, to get to school, visit a hospital, or see relatives. Around 26,000 Palestinians pass through Qalandiya daily, on foot, by car or by bus, Israeli authorities say. While checks are often quick, in other cases there is lengthy questioning or delays as permits and backgrounds are verified. Queues form at the checkpoint from before dawn. To read the article by Miriam Berger  click here .

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World . In his latest article, he writes, " Has President Donald Trump outsourced foreign policy to the generals? So it would seem. Candidate Trump held out his hand to Vladimir Putin." Here is the link to his article.

German police have announced the arrest of a 28-year-old lieutenant in the German military, along with a 24-year-old co-conspirator, who planned to carry out an attack while disguised as refugees , assuming that it would be blamed on the refugees . The exact details of what sort of attack was planned aren’t totally clear, but the men were detained with explosives, and were both described as being hostile to foreigners and interested in bolstering public resentment against the refugees who have sought asylum within Germany. The lieutenant was not only planning to disguise himself as a refugee but had also falsely registered himself as a refugee to bolster the story that the attacker was a refugee. The same soldier had been detained in Austria earlier this year for having an illegal gun. Officials did not identify either of the men, but said they were still trying to figure out how the soldier managed to register as a Syrian refugee, since he spoke no Arabic and was not from an ethni...

The Conspiracy behind Babri Demolition   Ram Puniyani   After the long wait, the Supreme Court Chief Justice J.S. Khehar opined that long pending dispute of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid should be settled out of court . (March 2017) He even offered to mediate himself in the matter. Uniformly most of the spokesperson from RSS Combine welcomed the move, while large number of Muslims and other elements have been surprised as the Court was approached for justice and not or compromise formula. This is in the backdrop of the judgment of Lukhnow branch of Allahabad Court (2010). As per this, the three judge bench had said that the land should be divided into three parts . As such the judgment was an exercise of sorts trying to do a balancing act between all the parties involved, Ram Lalla Virajman, Nirmohi Akhada and Sunni wakf board. The title of the land has been divided into three; each sharing one part. Also court had declared since Hindus believe that the ‘birth place’...

Fifteen years ago, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Front National, gained 17 percent of the vote in the first round of the French election and unexpectedly advanced to a runoff against Jacques Chirac. The world was aghast. Millions of people came out to the streets to protest Le Pen. All major candidates urged their supporters to vote against him. In the end, Chirac, a deeply unpopular president, won re-election with a margin of more than 60 percent. This time around, according to Yascha Mounk, a lecturer on government at Harvard, the margin would be  much smaller and there won't be any protest march. The political  mood has changed drastically. The  illiberal forces are emerging as major contenders in our time. Even after Sunday’s results, liberal democracy remains under threat throughout Western Europe and North America. This is not the time for premature triumphalism. To read Mounk's article, click here .

Long gone are the days when India cared about human rights. At least 15 MoUs were signed between Indian and Israeli educational institutions in November last during Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s eight-day trip to India. Now the PM Narendra Modi will visit Israel. Modi’s visit which will be the first by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel, coincides with 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. “The area of education which does not include much of high school education but colleges and universities is on top of our joint agenda,” Carmon added.  To read more on the subject, click here .

The BJP (prime minister Narendra Modi's party) could be headed for a landslide victory in the Delhi municipal polls with two exit polls predicting the party finishing way ahead of the AAP and the Congress with over 200 of the 270 wards where polling was held today. Going by the projected figures, the AAP could well be staring at a rout on its home turf, barely two years into its rise to power bagging a staggering 67 of the 70 Assembly seats, while the Congress' attempt to regain ground may come a cropper. According to the India Today-Axis exit poll, the BJP may bag anything between 202 and 220 seats, while the AAP and the Congress will score something around 23-35 and 19-31 respectively. The CVoter-ABP exit poll claimed the BJP was likely to sweep Delhi with 218 seats, limiting the AAP and the Congress to 24 and 22 seats respectively. Polling was held in 270 wards of the three municipal corporations. The election to two wards has been postponed due to the death of candidate...

Marine Le Pen is expected to make it through to the second round run-off of the French presidential election, first results suggest. With 40 million votes counted from France's 47 million strong electorate, the figures put the leader of the far-right Front National (FN) on 22.33 per cent, where she is expected to face centrist  Emmanuel Macron   who is on 23.54 per cent. The figures do not include results from France's major cities, where Ms Le Pen's level of support tends to be low relative to smaller towns and villages where counts were complete. Early projections from opinion pollsters on the results had shown Mr Macron ahead of Le Pen - with the independent candidate expected to scoop between 23 and 24 per cent of the total vote, with Ms Le Pen getting between 21 and 23 per cent of the vote. The vote is expected to mark the end of a political era since the two major  parties - the Socialist party and the centre-right Les Republicains - which have tradi...

To many Americans all those talk about climate change is like making mole out of a mountain; it is unreal, just a hoax. But the reality is quite different for many people, esp. those living in low-lying delta places in South and Southeast Asia. Vietnam is in danger. Rising sea levels pose a huge threat to this coastal country. In less than 100 years much of southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta – the heart of the nation’s rice production – could go the way of Atlantis. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment  predicts that the ocean will swallow more than a third of the region by the year 2100, taking a swath of Ho Chi Minh City with it. Halfway up the coast from the Mekong Delta, Hoi An’s prognosis is better, but it’s not immune. The city sits where the Thu Bon River meets the South China Sea. Its inhabitants are already used to hauling furniture upstairs during seasonal floods. To read the story, click here .

Over Passover, settlers attacked three grandmothers. I was one of them We, three women in our 60s and 70s, wanted to see the settlement reality for ourselves. We got a smaller but bitter taste of the violence and hatred Palestinians in the area experience as routine. By Carol Cook | Apr. 21, 2017 | 8:58 AM   During Passover, I traveled to the West Bank with two other women, all of us members of Machsom Watch, an Israeli human rights group. Our goal was to visit two Palestinian villages: in one, Kafr a-Dik, settlers had recently cut down some olive trees; in the other, Urif, residents had tried to work in their olive groves, but, even though they had arranged this with the army, settlers stopped them from doing so. We wanted to see with out own eyes, rather than reading about, the places where all this had happened...

In a move that both violates Israeli law and likely amounts to Israel abrogating its commitment to limit the rate of settlement expansion , a group of settlers has built a new outpost in the occupied West Bank over the past two weeks , according to anti-settlement NGO Peace Now. The new outpost was built near the existing Geva Binyamin settlement, on state-owned land, but outside of the settlement’s security fence. No permits were issued to authorize the construction, though likewise Israeli forces do not appear to have tried to prevent the construction. Though most settlement expansion is based on ideology, either religious or nationalist, or both, Peace Now believes that in this case, the outpost is an economics issue, with the people who constructed it apparently drawn to the idea of getting free land to build housing on. Though legally speaking such outposts are supposed to be demolished, the current far-right government is so deeply beholden to the settler movement that it is n...

The article below appeared in MEI :    An Evolution of Rohingya Persecution in Myanmar: From Strategic Embrace to Genocide By Alice Cowley and Maung Zarni | Apr 20, 2017 "Send us as many birth control pills as you can. They (Myanmar troops) are gang-raping our women. They are arresting and killing all our men. There is nothing else you can do. Just pray to Allah and to wish us speedy deaths! This is just simply unbearable,” said a Rohingya woman talking from her mobile phone from Myanmar’s predominantly Rohingya region of Northern Rakhine State bordering Bangladesh. [1]  [See Figure below right.] She was talking to her brother, an unregistered refugee living and working in a poor and rough neighborhood called Salayang on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Among the handful of Burmese eager for updates, listening to the phone conversation on speaker phone was U Maung Maung, a respected Muslim leader and activist...