Dearborn, Michigan’s Woodworth Middle School is giving metro Detroiter’s a reason to Scream. Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Hayden Panettiere are only a few of the stars you might catch walking around town as they begin filming Scream 4 in various cities throughout Michigan.
Woodsboro High from the original Scream will be brought back but only in flashbacks. Woodworth has been selected for interior shots for a flashback sequence due to its resemblance to Woodsboro. The brickwork and design are very similar to that of the original Woodsboro which is why Scream opted to film at Woodworth.
“Woodworth looks identical to Woodsboro. All they had to do was change the name on the front and start filming,†said onset security guard Ben Scottsdale. Woodworth premises have been closed off while they are filming and security guards keep pedestrians away from the building while crew members are working.
Most of the filming will take place in Ann Arbor, while a couple of scenes will be filmed at a bistro in Northville. Director Wes Craven has also been spotted at local Middle Eastern restaurants during his downtime.
“It’s really exciting to see movie trailers and crews working on a big movie right here in Dearborn. My kids attended Woodworth and love the Scream series so they are more excited than I am about this whole Hollywood thing,†said Stephanie Berry, a Dearborn resident of 26 years.
FONTANA, CA–Despite the troubling economy local Muslims in Fontana have pulled together enough to open the Ar-Rahman Islamic Center’s brand new facility. The 8,000 square-foot mosque at the corner of Sierra and Miller avenues features an imported prayer carpet from Turkey valued at more than $12,000.
Apart from the mosque the center houses offices, a multi-purpose room and a classroom for Muslim education.
The mosque’s original community consisted of ten families in 2003. Since then it has increased to about 125 families.
Arson suspected in Georgia mosque fire
MARIETTA,GA–The Council on American Islamic Relations has asked the FBI to investigate a suspicious fire which destroyed a mosque in Marietta.
Fires set upstairs and downstairs at the Islamic Center of Marietta caused about $100,000 damage to the converted house. Along with the two fires, evidence of forced entry pointed to arson, fire officials said.
Prayer services had ended and the mosque had been locked less than an hour before the blaze started, mosque members told the newspaper. Firefighters, who got the call at about 11:30 p.m., arrived to find flames pouring from the front and back of the mosque, officials said.
Call for Muslim holiday in New York
NEW YORK, NY–More than 150 Muslim students, parents and their supporters went to the New York city authorities, to say they want citywide school holidays for two Muslim religious observances.
“I want the Mayor to know everyone has rights and we want our holiday off,†said student Anas Shuaib.
City Council Education Committee Chair, Robert Jackson, sponsored that resolution. “Over 12 percent of the city’s 1.1 million school children are Muslim, and our children deserve to have their holiday like everyone else,†he said.
Rally organizers say 95 percent of Muslim students attend public schools. The issue became controversial when the all-important state standardized tests were given on one of the Muslim holidays. Many children and their families stay out of school for the observances.
Supporters of the Muslim school holiday were not pleased about the mayor’s answer today. “This city will do everything it can to protect Muslim’s rights to get together and practice their religion, we just cannot have any more school holidays,†Bloomberg said.
Top 10 Muslims Flourishing in Hollywood
By Mariam, waleg.com
It is quite interesting to see how Muslim actors, singers, directors, screenwriters and more are gaining much needed success in Hollywood. The reason I say much needed success is because these famous Muslims can inspire many young, Muslim American’s to achieve their dreams without fearing rejections or lack of opportunities.
In a survey conducted by beliefnet.com, ten famous Muslims working in the showbiz were picked:
1. Kamran Pasha; he was born in Pakistan and moved to America at the age of three, Kamran made a name for himself by directing, producing and writing screenplays all of which are quite successful. Some of the famous work he was involved in includes; sleeper cell, bionic woman, kings and Miriam.
2. Shohreh Aghdashoo; Emmy winner Iranian born Muslim actresses is known for taking compelling and complex roles that showcase her talent in acting. Some of her most famous work includes; the Stoning of Soraya M, 24, the House of Sadam and many more.
3. Dave Chappelle; the hilarious actor and comedian is unbelievably talented. Every minor role he played made people like him more and more and when ‘the Dave Chappelle show’ debuted in 2003 he got even more prominent, Dave is said to have converted to Islam in 1998, in 2005 Dave retired for unknown reasons.
4. Mara Brock Akil; successful writer and producer, Mara is famous for her hit series which include, the Jamie Fox show, Girlfriends, Moesha etc. she and husband Salim Akil are Sufi Muslims who have pride in their faith.
5. Said Taghmouie; the Moroccan French actor is flourishing in Hollywood, with roles such as Breaker in G.I. Joe: the Rise of the Cobra, Caesar in Lost, the Kite Runner etc.
6. Axis of Evil comedy trio; Ahmad Ahmad , Maz Jobrani and Aaron Kader, they appeared in numerous movies and made thousands of people laugh at their comedy tour, their joked about the Arabs and about the Americans making their jokes well balanced.
7. Aasif Mandvi; the Mumbai-born Muslim actor/comedian is known mostly for being a correspondent at the Daily Show with John Stewart. Aasif also played minor roles in the proposal, Spiderman 2, freedom world etc.
8. Sayed Badreya: the Egyptian actor migrated to America because of the poverty he was living in and became known to be the first Arabic actor to play an Arabic role in Hollywood. Sayed is acknowledged for his role in Don’t Mess with the Zohan. He also formed ‘Zoom in Focus’ a Production Company that focuses on Arab-based and Muslim based short films.
9. Moss, Azher Usman and Mo Amer; the Allah made me Funny Comedy trio. They are open about their faith and proud to be Muslims. Moss has written sketches for Darrell Hammond on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ for George Lopez on ‘the George Lopez show,’ and for Damon Wayans.
10. Irfan Khan, Khalid Abdalla and A.R Rahman; Irfan Khan the Indian actor became well known in Hollywood for his roles in Slumdog millionaire and a mighty heart. Whilst Khalid Abdalla who has Egyptian heritage became well known for playing a leading heroic role in ‘the Kite Runner’. A.R Rahman the Bollywood musician became widely recognized after he won an Oscar for his music in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
Other famous Muslim celebs include rapper Mos Def, comedian Aziz Ansari, and writer Michael Wolfe.
“You Have Respect & Resources,†says Young Adeel Zeb
The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America, which was conceived during a meeting of 20 Pakistani Physicians’ at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn Michigan on October 30, 1976, is now one of the largest ethnic medical societies in North America representing more than 15,000 physicians and health care professionals of Pakistani descent serving across the United States and Canada. Popularly known as “APPNAâ€, it truly became North American in the Year 2009 with the establishment of the first Canadian Chapter. Every year during the summer APPNA organizes the Annual North American Convention at one of the most prestigious places of this continent; while during the winter, APPNA organizes the Pakistan Convention (this year, it will be in Lahore).
This past week June 30th till July 04th, 2010 saw the 33rd Annual Convention of APPNA at the prominent “Alice in the Wonderland Theme Park’s Gaylord Resort†in Grapevine Texas (near Dallas). Hundreds of APPNA Members, vendors (especially clothes and jewelry) and media persons attended the event. Other than several Alumni Luncheons and Dinners, most of the mornings were dedicated to Continuing Medical Education (CME), where doctors and others related to the healthcare industry receive new up-to-date knowledge in the field of their expertise plus get the credit hours required to maintain their licenses.
Although the Convention activities had started on June 30th, the Convention officially got inaugurated around 4:30pm. on July 01st, 2010 at the picturesque Mission Plaza / Hotel Atrium, with traditional American dancers performing acrobats and participants enjoying refreshments.
Large number of people gathered on Friday for Jumah Prayers, whose sermon was given by Young Adeel Zeb. He warned parents and Youth about going towards two extremes of either becoming religion-less and becoming too religious (almost to the state of radicalization). He said American way of life at colleges and universities is too liberal and because of that the important institute of family is in dire straits and it is Muslims, who can revive it for the betterment of the society. He stressed upon the doctors that since they interact with public very closely on daily basis, they have respect in the society, plus they have all the money & resources: As such they have more responsibility to lead the communities in which they live in and bring up a generation of Muslims, who will become role models of good in the society. He said APPNA has done very well over the years, although if one looks at APPNA’s potential, much more can be done, in terms of guiding and leading the community locally and internationally.
Under APPNA come several Alumni of various Medical Colleges and Universities of Pakistan. This year was significant for Sindh Medical College of Karachi, as the Alumni celebrated their 25th Anniversary. Each Alumnus also has its own activities during the convention. Some of the notable Alumni are: Aga Khan; Allama Iqbal Medical College Alumni Association of North America; Baqai Medical University Alumni; Dow Graduate Association of North America; Fatima Jinnah Medical College Alumni Association of North America; Khyber Medical College Alumni Association of North America; King Edward Medical College Alumni Association of North America; Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Alumni; Nishtar Medical College Alumni of North America; Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Alumni Association of North America; Rawalpindi Medical College Alumni Association of North America; and Sindh Medical College Alumni Association of North America.
The political committee of APPNA, called “the Pakistan American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC)†and this year they hosted a luncheon meeting to honor Congressman Pete Sessions (Republican – TX – 32nd District), who is the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and serves the House of Representatives on the Rules and the Budget Committees. This event was also attended by Former President of APPNA Dr. Nasim Ashraf (for more information please call 1-202-558-6404 or E-Mail ed@pakpac.net)
Various musical shows were held every evening after 10pm. till 2am. for the Youth (which some liked and other abhorred), while Friday Night was the famous APPNA Poetry Program (Mushaira). This year Khalid Irfan of New York with his humorous but poetry with many messages was the best.
One of the climax events of the Convention is the Banquet Dinner, which was attended by more than 2,500 members and guests. This was followed by the more than 3,500 attendees Entertainment Program by legendary humorous figure Bushra Ansari and contemporary icon of the Pakistani youth singer Atif Aslam, a person with a simple personality, who mixes new music with classical and produces own meaningful lyrics.
The prestigious APPNA President Award was given to Internal Medicine Expert, Philanthropist and a Visionary Dr. Meher Fatima TabaTabai at the Main Banquet. Mrs. TabaTabai recently gave a copy of the “Muslim World Almanac†to President Barack Hussein Obama in California. Awards were also given to Dr. Mehmood Khan of PepsiCO and Dr. Jalil Khan Chair of this convention.
Dr. Manzoor Tariq, MD, FACC, FSCAI, APPNA President Elect 2010, in his speech, said: “APPNA looks forward to holding the Annual Summer Meeting in St. Louis on June 29th – July 4th, 2011 in my city. Our community is renowned for their hospitality, excellent planning, and great organization. Together, we made APPNA history by hosting the most profitable quarterly meeting for APPNA in 2007. I hope everyone will help out and contribute to make the 2011 Summer Meeting memorable for all of APPNA! St. Louis is also the host for DOGANA’s 6th Annual Retreat, which is being hosted in St. Louis for the 3rd time. Together, we can make it very successful, as we do with all events in our city. The APPNA Community Health Clinic in St. Louis is under development, we are waiting on the completion of legal paperwork and an agreement with the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis. As soon as those tasks are completed, renovation of the site will begin and, Insh’Allah, the clinic will open and this vision will become a reality. A united APPNA, one which embraces all its members, and over 16,000 members is my vision.â€
Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian tennis partner, Rohan Bopanna, finally had their run at Wimbledon ended as they were defeated in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Doubles competition by Austrian Juergen Meltzer and German Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. However, in the process, Qureshi did become the first Pakistani ever to reach the quarterfinals of a grand slam tennis event. Two rounds prior to that, Qureshi and Bopanna came out on top of a marathon match with the German-Slovak pair of Philip Marx and Igor Zelenay 6-7(6-8), 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 13-11.
Interestingly, the two doubles partners have become symbols of peace between Pakistan and India, with plans for their own logo, and ambitious plans for an exhibition tennis match to be held directly on the border between the two countries. Qureshi is also a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 40 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Monaco-based international organization Peace and Sport.
Boston Celtics center Rasheed Wallace had originally planned to retire from professional basketball after his Celtics were defeated in Game 7 of the NBA Finals by the Los Angeles Lakers last month. But two occurrences seemed to put some doubt into the situation. First, Boston head coach Doc Rivers officially declared that he would be returning to coach the Celtics next season. Then, Boston reportedly reached a verbal agreement with star forward Paul Pierce on a four-year contract to return as well. As a result, by this past Saturday, NBA reporter David Aldridge indicated that there was a “possibility†that veteran forward Rasheed Wallace could re-think his decision to retire after 15 NBA seasons, after he had previously appeared to have made the decision final.
With that in mind, the Celtics have reportedly been exploring options for trading Wallace with two years and $13 million (including $6.32 million next season) remaining on his deal. By moving his contract to another team, the Celtics would get the savings from Wallace’s salary cap number, in exchange for assets. Supposedly one of the assets that they are pursuing is shooting guard J.J. Redick of the Orlando Magic. But obviously, if Wallace decides to play next season, the other team would not get the money off of its salary cap.
Celtics coach Doc Rivers has now even stated publicly that Wallace is assisting the team by the delaying of the filing of retirement papers. “He’s trying to help us out by waiting, which is good,’’ Rivers told Fanhouse, “He’s still our property so we can use that in a trade or something. He’s doing a great thing for us.†Rivers said the chances are “very little or none’’ the forward will play next season. Boston general manager Danny Ainge also backed that up by saying, “as far as I know Wallace will retire.†He also thanked Wallace for his assistance, saying, “We’re hoping that will happen. A piece (for the team to use in a possible deal).’’
So it would appear that Rasheed Abdul Wallace’s illustrious 15 year NBA career is over. He can now spend more time with his wife Fatima and their 4 children. He can also tend further to the Rasheed A. Wallace foundation, which holds annual coat and food drives in Philadelphia, Portland, and Detroit. Congratulations, brother Rasheed, on a fine career.
Pakistani-Canadian Adnan Virk joined the ESPN network of programming in April of this year as an on-air sports news anchor. He was previously an anchor for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s Raptors NBA TV, Leafs TV, and Gol TV. Until June of 2009 he hosted several programs on The Score in Canada, and was previously an associate producer for Sportscentre at TSN. He has also been the co-host of Omniculture and Bollywood Boulevard at Omni Television in Canada.
Adnan, age 32, is the younger of the two sons of Zakaria and Taherah Virk who relocated to Toronto from Lahore, Pakistan in 1972. Adnan was born in Toronto, but spent his formative years in Morven, Ontario, a small town just outside of Kingston, where his father owned and operated Zak’s Variety Store for 6 years. After graduating from high school, he took radio and television arts at Ryerson University.
In 2007 Virk hired an agent who soon secured for him an interview at the self-described “Worldwide Leader In Sports†ESPN (Entertainment & Sports Programming Network). So Virk drove the 10 hours to Bristol, Connecticut for his interview. Virk impressed his interviewers but was victimized by a hiring-freeze at the Disney-owned network. “The ESPN guy told my agent afterwards, ‘If I had an opening, I’d hire him tomorrow,’†he told the Ontario Whig Standard.
He subsequently returned to Toronto and to his duties at The Score Television Network, where he’d worked since 2003. He made a follow-up call to ESPN in June of 2009, but there were still no openings. He then left The Score and accepted a job with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, hosting ice hockey on Leafs TV and basketball on Raptors TV.
Finally, in February of this year, ESPN had two on-air positions open up. Virk estimated that there were 50 to 100 applicants. That list was whittled down to 6 candidates who were flown to Connecticut for one final audition and interview. Virk and a woman from Washington, D.C. were the only ones hired. Virk currently can be seen as an on-air sports anchor on ESPN News.
Adnan and his wife, Eamon, have a son, Yusuf, age 2. They currently live in Bristol, Connecticut, where ESPN headquarters is located. Virk acknowledges himself as a practising Muslim and would appear to be the network’s first Muslim anchor. “If I am the first,†he stated, “it’ll be neat being a trailblazer.â€
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Who is to be blamed for tension in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley? The people here are agitated over at least 11 civilians having been killed last month as police and security forces tried to control demonstrations and rallies. The state’s opposition parties and separatist leaders are trying to exploit the situation by blaming Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for having failed to control the situation. Describing J&K government as a “failure,†Mehbooba Mufti, President of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said: “The biggest failure of this state government is that there are angry people on the one side, security forces with guns and bullets on the other, and nothing in between.â€
Blaming the government for targeting people, Mehbooba said: “The response from the state government has become violent. In other parts of the country also, protesters burn trains and buses, but I don’t see bullets being fired there. Rubber bullets are used to frighten people. They are not aimed at the neck or head to kill people. In the last two weeks, we have lost a lot of young boys. If you investigate, you will find a majority of them were not involved in the agitations. This has added to the alienation of Kashmiris.†In her opinion, the central government is not playing the needed role to control situation. “The focus of the Centre should be to save Kashmir. Instead, they are focused on saving the Omar Abdullah government. This government needs an alibi and so they are talking about Lashkar-e-Toiba, anti-national sentiments, etc. But they are not talking about their own failures,†she said.
National Panthers Party (NPP) chief Bhim Singh has demanded dismissal of the state government, which is an alliance of National Conference and Congress Party. Singh called on J&K Governor N.N. Vohra to express his party’s stand against the state government. He also demanded release of his party members who were arrested in Jammu while protesting against the corrupt, inefficient and authoritarian state government (July 3).
Bhim Singh is also upset at having been denied permission to visit Sopore and Anantnag, where eight teenagers were killed in firing opened by security forces to disperse demonstrators. He wanted to express his condolences to the bereaved families. Singh has demanded judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into these killings.
Strongly condemning killing of innocent civilians and human rights violations, in a statement, Srinagar City Senior Citizens Forum said: “The Khaki clad armed forces are supposed to maintain law and order in the land and provide protection to civilians’ life and property. No law permits them to barge into the houses of civilians, smash doors and widows, beat inmates and ransack their household belongings while dealing with the demonstrators. It has been observed that the security forces operating in Valley while dealing with the demonstrators beat innocents, throw stones on the houses of people and barge into their rooms, invading their privacy and damaging everything they lay their hands on.†(July 2)
Ironically, media has not been spared the government’s rod. Offices of three papers: The Early Times, The Shadow and The Glimpses of Future were sealed last week for publishing “inflammatory reports designed to create communal tension and hurt religious sentiments.†The three newspapers’ editors have, however, described the government’s decision as politically-motivated. Manish Gupta, editor of The Early Times said: “I was writing against the government which did not go well with the people at helm, so they sealed my newspaper.â€
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of Hurriyat Conference (moderate section) said that New Delhi must “wake up†to solve the Kashmir-problem. “Kashmir is a political issue ripe for resolution and not a fight between Muslim Kashmir and Hindu India. Resolving Kashmir is in the national interest of India,†he said. Rejecting views of external elements being responsible for violence in Kashmir, he said: “These statements are false and far from the reality. India should stop looking at Kashmir from Pakistan prism. No Pakistani is getting killed in the protests. The young Kashmiris are being killed by police and troopers.â€
Meanwhile, the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International has called on Indian government to look into killing of civilians in Kashmir during the past month. In a statement, the Amnesty said that 11 persons, including eight teenagers were killed last month in shootings by Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force personnel during demonstrations in Srinagar, Sopore and other towns. “The organization is calling on Indian authorities to investigate all the killings,†Amnesty stated. Urging India to “avoid excessive use of force while dealing with demonstrators,†the organization said that “any security personnel, as well as any protesters†involved in wrongdoing should be brought to justice.
Alarmed at tension in Kashmir getting out of hand and providing political ammunition to his rivals demanding his government’s dismissal, Omar Abdullah held a meeting of prominent citizens (July 4). He called on them to make efforts to restore peace and normalcy in Kashmir. “Maintenance of law and order and tranquility is the responsibility of both the citizens and the government,†and “both should complement each other,†he said. “Peace is a must to enable us to move forward on all fronts whether political, social, economic or developmental,†he said.
Suggesting that demonstrations cannot solve the Kashmir-problem but can have a negative effect on career prospects of young Kashmiris, Omar laid stress on need to be wary of “rumor-monger†who take advantage of such situations and add “fuel to fire.†Describing Kashmir as a “political problem,†which needs a “political solution,†he said:
“Economic packages can have their role but these alone cannot address the aspirations of the people of the stateâ€, this he said is his firm belief.â€
Omar has made his point, so have other Kashmiris, including Mehbooba Mufti, Bhim Singh and Mirwaiz. The question, however, remains unanswered as to why have Kashmiri civilians fallen victim to firing from security personnel? It is hoped that some attention is paid to Amnesty International’s demand for a probe into these cases and the guilty are punished!
Los Angeles–Curiously, it is often when you meet your nearby colleagues, whom you rarely see at home; you only interact at gathering in other cities. So it was with Madhavi Basin who is a Fellow with the Global India Foundation, and resides in Northern California.
This piece fits in well with last weeks’ on the new Islamic media and my upcoming report on follow up the follow up Conference on that same subject in San Francisco. Although Ms. Basin is not a Muslim, what conversing on is of concern to Islamic people, for it is about how the Internet is lowering the barriers between an Islamic society and a non-Muslim populace — with a significant Islamic population — that happen to be at nuclear loggerheads.
10.6% of the Pakistani population one way or the other has access to the Internet. Although it is only an emerging phenomenon, it has made a difference in the confrontation between the two states, for the non-official – and young especially — can talk to their cultural (in backgrounds the two hostile land s diverge from a common source, What divides them is religion –not their commonalities in civilization.
The growth of IT (Information Technology) in India was 1,500% while the increase from Islamabad was 13,716% last year. To use the Greek term, the Internet has begun to work as an “Agora†inaugurating an Indo-Pakistani dialogue at the “grass-roots†plane.
Blogs have become quite popular. They are much like public diaries. One side will comment on the comments of the other. Blogs can become platforms for hate mongering, too, unfortunately. Too often Indian bloggers will make disparaging anti-Pakistani remarks, but for the most part the “genre†has helped the two peoples to come together closer in a positive manner.
The Indian-Pakistani Friendship group (I.P.P.C.) has employ Orkut and Facebook (two Social Networking sites) represents the Civil Societies within their two hostile realms closer to resolving their differences, (and, thereby, making peace more acceptable amongst their electorates).
There is a popular perception in India that all Pakistani citizens are terrorists. The Internet is breaking this misconception down by creating (virtual) one to one relationships between Pakistan and New Delhi. This is accomplished through t (the simple) new democratic means of (internet) communication.
String theory is a developing theory in particle physics which attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics andgeneral relativity. String theory posits that the electrons and quarks within an atom are not 0-dimensional objects, but rather 1-dimensional oscillating lines (“stringsâ€), possessing only the dimension of length, but not height or width. The theory poses that these strings can vibrate, thus giving the observed particles their flavor, charge, massand spin. The earliest string model, the bosonic string, incorporated only bosons, although this view evolved to thesuperstring theory, which posits that a connection (a “supersymmetryâ€) exists between bosons and fermions, two fundamentally different types of particles. String theories also require the existence of several extra, unobservable, dimensions to the universe, in addition to the usual three spatial dimensions (height, width, and length) and the fourth dimension of time. M theory, for example, requires that spacetime have eleven dimensions.
The theory has its origins in the dual resonance model — first proposed in 1969 by Gabriele Veneziano — which described the strongly interacting hadrons as strings. Since that time, the term string theory has evolved to incorporate any of a group of related superstring theories. Indeed, the “strings†are no longer considered fundamental to the theory, which can also be formulated in terms of points or surfaces. As such, five major string theories were developed, each with a different mathematical structure, and each best describing different physical circumstances. The main differences between each theory were principally the number of dimensions in which the strings developed, and their characteristics (some were open loops, some were closed loops, etc.), however all these theories appeared to be correct. In the mid 1990s, string theorist Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study considered that the five major versions of string theory might be describing the same phenomenon from different perspectives. Witten’s resulting M-theory, a proposed unification of all previous superstring theories, asserted that strings are really 1-dimensional slices of a 2-dimensional membrane vibrating in 11-dimensional space. As a result of the many properties and principles shared by these approaches (such as the holographic principle), their mutual logical consistency, and the fact that some easily include the standard model of particle physics, many of the world’s greatest living physicists (such as Edward Witten, Juan Maldacena and Leonard Susskind) believe that string theory is a step towards the correct fundamental description of nature.
In particular, string theory is the first candidate for the theory of everything (TOE), a manner of describing the known fundamental forces (gravitational, electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions) and matter (quarks and leptons) in a mathematically complete system. However, prominent physicists such asRichard Feynman and Sheldon Lee Glashow have criticized string theory for not providing any quantitative experimental predictions.[7][8] Like any other quantum theory of gravity, it is widely believed that testing the theory directly would require prohibitively expensive feats of engineering. Although direct experimental testing of String Theory involves grand explorations and development in engineering, there are several indirect experiments that may prove partial truth to String Theory. Supersymmetry (an idea developed in the early 1970s through String Theory research) is theoretically established through String Theory and it does appear to weave into current experimentally understood High Energy Physics (Particle Physics) (Supersymmetry could possibly be discovered at CERN where energies are being probed that could motivate the emergence of Supersymmetric Particles. Also the existence of Extra Compactified Dimensions (Calabi-Yau manifold) could possibly be discovered at CERN by the permeation of a Graviton into a higher dimensional space (Membrane (M-Theory)).
String theory posits that the electrons and quarks within an atom are not 0-dimensional objects, but 1-dimensional strings. These strings can move and vibrate, giving the observed particles their flavor, charge, mass and spin. String theories also include objects more general than strings, called branes. The word brane, derived from “membraneâ€, refers to a variety of interrelated objects, such as D-branes, black p-branes and Neveu-Schwarz 5-branes. These are extended objects that are charged sources for differential form generalizations of the vector potential electromagnetic field. These objects are related to one another by a variety of dualities. Black hole-like black p-branes are identified with D-branes, which are endpoints for strings, and this identification is called Gauge-gravity duality. Research on this equivalence has led to new insights on quantum chromodynamics, the fundamental theory of the strong nuclear force. The strings make closed loops unless they encounter D-branes, where they can open up into 1-dimensional lines. The endpoints of the string cannot break off the D-brane, but they can slide around on it.
This report is of the first of two seminars held in the San Francisco Bay Area during the very end of last winter. The purpose of the two meetings was to scrutinize the emerging pressures that the new technologies have had in altering the political discourse in these various societies.
The moderator, Wajahat Ali, the associate editor of www.altmuslim.comand a regular blogger independently on his own, began with the statement that “The revolution will be tweeted†– referring to Twitter accounts – “in the Twenty-first Century!â€
The first responder was Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Program Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He remarked that the print media in his region of the world is full of lies. He had been sued for slanderous criminal defamation, and was imprisoned. Even amongst the reformed regimes it is not much better, for, instead of incarceration, the government is more inclined to levy (high) fines.
The broadcasting sector is controlled by the authorities. Now, they are pressuring the satellite stations to tow the political line, too. Curiously, a nation like Iran has a higher literary rate than Norway, but the average Persian gets his uncensored information through the independent blogs or social networking. Although governmental manipulations are slipping, oppressive penal codes are being applied to the online media. One of the ways administrative power is being applied is through harassment of the individual and — even more frightening — towards his/her family. Some of the bloggers are so badly smeared by the State that they cannot even acquire a “day†job.
This creates a tense situation for the alternative journalist. Yet, the bloggers are successful media commentators!
Huma Yusuf is a freelance journalist based in Karachi. She is a regular contributor to such diverse publications as Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English-Language newspaper, and Boston’s Christian Science Monitor.
President (a.k.a. General) Pervez Musarraf after his 1999 coup lessened restrictions upon the press, but towards the end of his service as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer as he “Constitutionallyâ€) referred to himself to himself, his Administration became much more restrictive to the point of blocking cell phones in 2007 towards the end of his rule. After which the news-starved public went so far as to resort to texting as their major tool of mass communication.
Over ten million people have Internet access, but 8% of those are students. Therefore, blogs and SMS have become important emerging modes of transmission for public information that at one time were within the “perimeters†of newspapers and broadcasting.
Huma is optimistic for the future despite the imposition of “cyber terrorism†laws,†for their language for the most part is imprecise.
Muhamad Ali, an Indonesian professor, serving in a California University presently, stated that at first his native nation attempted to silence their indigenous Internet. The use of the Internet is fairly common amongst the urbane classes. The average user was not particularly efficient, but the Indonesians have employed the cell phone better although the Islamists have utilized the Internet better in and of itself.
The permission to tolerate terrorism lies within a mistaken narrative of religion. Curiously, the freedom of religion is the raison d’etre toleration for the terrorist. Then, “How is terror integrated into society?†The citizen tries to understand terror itself. “The perpetrators become the victims.†The police should endeavor not to violate the human rights of those commit organized violence, for the claim is made in Indonesia that “…they [the authorities] are trying to attack Islam.†The terrorist are not the traditional Jihadists. They have been incorrectly indoctrinated. In the Archipelago, terrorism has been intertwined with Nationalism. The Islamist of insular Southeast Asia is more ambiguous than their liberal rivals. They have developed an ideology that is a product of the local and the global. Their number one enemies are the Americans and the Jews (Zionists). The new media
has had a tremendous on producing this world view!
Haroon Moghul is the director of Public Relations for the Islamic Center of New York as well as a blogger on the affairs of South Asia, the Middle East, Islam and Muslim Americans besides a novelist.
Haroon began with his claim that the new media has changed Islamic discourse in and of itself. For the most part the great majority of Islamic States are weaker than the leading non-Islamic countries presently.
The forces of the new media have not led to liberalization in all cases. Al’ Jazeera is the first instance that an Islamic-dominated news-gathering organization has existed independent of the West and regional nations, for, as he pointed out, Muslims are colonizing each other.
On the other hand, Islamabad’s English-language Colonial past has allowed it to manage the Western mind processes the best within the Muslim world. Unfortunately, Muslims within the West are not fully integrated with the West’s ways – this is especially true in the new foundations of law encountered.
Where will this lead? In the normally liberal Nordic nations of Denmark and Sweden, there has been a great deal of hostility to Islamic settlers there. Many Muslims do not feel fealty to their adopted nation-states in Northern Europe. Will this undermine (or corrupt) the State? Only time will tell.
The final speaker that night was the Malaysian blogger and government official, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. Malaysia is a tremendous varied populace. Thus, it took to high tech and the Internet early. Malaysia is a diverse Muslim majority land that works! Amazingly, 55% of their population employs the Internet inside their daily lives. Blogging has become a force to contend within the Parliamentary (Constitutional) Monarchy. “Blogging has become a force which to come to terms,†but it can have a negative effect, too.
While the bloggers “…are reaching a new media with the new media,†traditional scholars are lagging behind in relaying their messages. The Blogging (religious) scholars are modernists (because of their methodology of communication). This new media is progressing Islam!
BRADETON, FL–Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine third-year medical student Faizul Hussain was awarded a $2,000 Welch Scholars Grant by American Osteopathic Foundation (AOF).
The purpose of the Welch Scholars Grant is to provide monetary support to help defer costs during a student’s osteopathic medical education. Recipients are chosen based on outstanding academic achievement, participation in extracurricular activities, strong commitment toward osteopathic medicine, and financial need.
(DOHA, QATAR) – A tour through this region has opened my eyes to what I had failed to see from North America: that a new Middle East is emerging.
The slow death of Arab nationalistic and authoritarian states, such as Egypt and Syria, created a power vacuum. So did the American misadventure in Iraq and its preoccupation with Afghanistan. The void is being filled by three new regional players – Turkey, Iran and the oil- and gas-rich states of the Persian Gulf.
Note that Turkey and Iran are not Arab. They weren’t even considered part of the Middle East but now are, given their impact on the region – Iran for its nuisance value and Turkey for its long-overdue geopolitical role, led by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who is in Toronto for the G-20 summit.
The Arab part of the new Middle East troika is led by Saudi Arabia. But it is the brash and assertive new Arab players, such as Qatar (home of Al Jazeera, the Doha round of trade talks, etc.) and the United Arab Emirates that are wielding considerable soft power through commerce, communications and culture.
Note also that Turkey, the most potent force in the new order, is a democracy; and that Qatar and UAE, though ruled by hereditary sheikhs, have become open societies, welcoming foreign investment, skills and tourists – with their attendant modernizing global influences. Note further that two of the three new forces – the Turks and the Gulf Arabs – are pro-Western, though no longer obediently so.
Erdogan (pronounced Er-doe-awn) has been acting independently of the U.S. and Israel, without abandoning either ally. Witness his role, using Turkey’s current membership in the U.N. Security Council, in joining Brazil to cobble a compromise over the Iranian nuclear dilemma, only to be rejected by Washington, which opted for a fourth round of economic sanctions on Iran.
Witness also Erdogan’s steady criticism of Israel, ever since the 2008-09 war on Gaza, and, especially, since Israeli commandos killed nine Turks May 31 aboard a Turkish ship taking humanitarian aid to Gazans. Erdogan said earlier this month: “Peace and stability will not come to the region as long as the blockade of Gaza persists,†a blockade that Israel has just agreed to ease under international pressure.
Critics of Turkey say that it is abandoning the West and turning East, either because Europe has spurned its bid to join the European Union – as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained recently – or because Turkey dreams of a New Ottomanism, which it clearly is not. (By the way, the Ottomans always interacted with the West).
For Turkey, the U.S. and Israel remain important. But it is also pursuing a new vision of a multi-polar world, in which the U.S. no longer dictates terms and Turkey plays a key regional role.
The nation of 80 million has the second largest army in NATO after the U.S. Its economy was booming at 6-7 per cent a year until the global financial crisis happened and is back on track with a 3.5 per cent growth this year. It is the world’s seventeenth largest economy, the seventh largest around Europe, and the largest in the Muslim world (with an annual GDP of nearly $700 billion, compared to Canada’s $1 trillion). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has identified Turkey as one of the rising powers the U.S. wants to do business with.
Erdogan’s policy of “zero problems†with neighbours, including Iran, has led to rapprochement with traditional enemies Greece, Armenia and Syria. He has also tried to play the mediator between Israel and Syria; Israel and Hamas; Georgia and Russia; Iraq and Syria; Americans and the Iraqi insurgents; Lebanon and Syria; the various factions within Lebanon; and the warring factions in Somalia, as well as Yemen.
He has not succeeded on every front. Indeed, he has stumbled badly on some, such as mollycoddling Sudanese president, Omar Al-Bashir, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.
But there’s no denying the progress Erdogan has made. Turkey and Armenia have agreed to recognize current borders, and settle historic issues – meaning, ways to recognize the First World War genocide of Armenians in Turkey, a subject over which Turkey has been in denial. Erdogan has acknowledged that Turkey, during its “fascist†past did “ethnically cleanse its minorities,†and that his own ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) got “trapped in this wrong approach.â€
Equally unthinkable would have been his normalization of relations with the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq. Turkey’s relations with the Iraqi Kurds had long been clouded by mistreatment of its own Kurdish minority of about 14 million. But, having begun the process of recognizing the linguistic and cultural rights of Turkish Kurds, Erdogan has embraced the Iraqi Kurds as well.
Turkey is also reaching out to Africa to grow its $10 billion a year trade with the continent. Significantly, all African countries but one voted for Turkish membership in the UN Security Council last year.
Earlier this month, Erdogan announced a free trade zone with Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, with visa-free access, while citizens of Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Libya and Pakistan already enter Turkey easily. On Iran, Turkey shares American, Israeli and Arab fears about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. But it feels that multilateral economic sanctions would not work, just as the unilateral American sanctions have not in the last 31 years. Indeed, isolating Iran runs the risks of galvanizing pro-American Iranians into rallying behind the regime they don’t like; increasing smuggling and thereby strengthening criminal elements, and pushing Iran into further misusing its influence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Gaza and the Caucasus.
The longstanding Turkish-Israeli relationship is severely strained but not broken. Nor has Turkey turned away from the U.S. or the EU, for its trade with the EU far outweighs what it does with its neighbours; in fact, there are 12,600 EU companies in Turkey. Domestically, Erdogan has broken the army’s stranglehold on key levers of government, such as the judiciary.
All of this constitutes a peaceful revolution, made possible by Erdogan’s democratic legitimacy. Elected in 2002 and 2007, he became the first prime minister since 1954 to increase the ruling party’s support.
His domestic detractors accuse him of being autocratic and he is also (falsely) accused of harbouring a secret Islamist agenda. In reality, he is doing what the European Union has long demanded and the U.S. has encouraged: democratization at home and peace with his neighbours. The battle in Turkey is not between secularists and Islamists, but between democrats and autocrats.
The birth of the new Turkey has been welcomed by Arabs. “Turkey has become an asset to the whole region and that constitutes a stabilizing factor in the Arab world,†commented Abdullah Khaliq Abdullah, professor of political science at the Emirates University, Dubai. “Turkey is welcome in all Arab capitals.â€
As Morton Abramowitz, former U.S. envoy to Turkey, and Henri Barkey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, write in Foreign Affairs magazine: “Turkey used to punch below its weight; now it seems to be punching above it.â€
Islam found me when I had no intention of being discovered.
I grew up in Southern California during the 1960s in a non-practicing Christian home. I don’t recall feeling particularly religiously inspired growing up, except maybe while singing “O’ Holy Night†with Johnny Mathis on my parents’ hi-fi. Some years we went to church on Easter Sunday, and some years we barbecued a steak instead.
Matters of faith were not discussed with any depth in my home; I remember my stepfather saying, “Kari, did you leave this milk out on the table? No? Well, Jesus knows if you’re lying…Jesus knows.†But, there was no further discussion about what Jesus would do about the spoiled milk. “Jesus knows†was just left hanging cryptically in the air.
My mother felt uncomfortable discussing anything, well, personal. Her way of instructing me on topics of any delicacy was to deliver the message via books and pamphlets. So, I learned about the facts of life through a pamphlet, and I learned about Christianity through the Golden Children’s Bible. I read that Bible in its entirety many times as a child, taking comfort from the stories of the Prophets. Abraham, Noah, Moses, Solomon and David, John and Jesus — I read all their stories, but what I lacked was the context and relevance of their lives to mine. Without a thread linking the words on the page to my life, they were only stories. I memorized the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer because I heard kids at school reciting them. I longed for the religious surety of my classmates: “Have you been Baptized? No? Well, you’re going to Hell.†This frightened me; I worried my entire family was floundering around without being baptized, and we were sure to burn in Hell.
As a young adult I took the attitude of “as long as I’m a good person, and live an ethical life, God will love me.†That was fine, except as my world became more complicated I realized I was living a life full of loose ends and selfish decisions. I was floating through the years, reacting to whatever came in my direction, without a definitive plan. I thought I was aiming to fill the void I felt inside of myself, but I didn’t have a sense of what was actually missing. I got married, made a home, had a successful career, and started a family with the birth of my precious son, but none of it brought real contentment. By the age of 30, I found myself a divorced, single mother of a little boy.
Against all advice, and despite the worried looks and words of consternation from my WASP-ish family, I met and married my second husband, Ahmed, the foreign, dark-skinned Muslim guy I met at work.
Ahmed is a soft-spoken artist from Bombay. When we married, I made it very clear that I had no intention of embracing his faith, and he made it very clear that it was fine with him. His only caveat was that if we had children they would be raised as Muslims. This sweet man was the opposite of the media’s portrayal of the crazy or sinister Arab or Muslim, and so I had a different window on Islam through him, and I agreed to marry him. It didn’t feel like a threat to our future children, or me; he fasted quietly, he prayed quietly, he lived and let live.
Being married to a spiritually confident person like my husband began to have a negative effect on my “God will love me if I’m a good person†philosophy. I knew I was missing out on something much more profound than the “it’s all good†theory. I realized that I had no connection to God. I wanted what Ahmed had — a solid relationship with the Divine — but I was afraid of Islam. It seemed kind of tricky, and you had to actually work at being a Muslim; that didn’t sound easy, or let’s face it, fun. I just didn’t want to consider it.
A couple of years later we had a baby girl. Ahmed whispered the Adhan, (the Muslim call to prayer) in her ear only moments after she was born. She would be a Muslim.
Reminiscent of the promise made by the miller’s daughter to Rumpelstiltskin, the time had come for me to keep my promise to raise my daughter as a Muslim. As I looked into her sweet, tiny face, I told her I’d figure out this Islam thing for her and give her what I didn’t have as a child — open discussion about God and faith, and a framework with which to structure her life. I would make sure that she would have confidence in her relationship with God and an identity that would hold her true. I told her I would read the Quran, and learn about Islam to make sure it would be good for her.
I kept my promise. As I began to read the Quran, a miraculous book of verse and wisdom, I found my beloved and blessed Prophets Abraham, Moses, Joseph and Jesus. I found common-sense instructions about commerce and trade; I read beautiful verses that described the magnificence of the earth, its creatures, and my responsibility towards their care.
I studied the life of Prophet Muhammad, God’s blessings be with him; and because every aspect of his life on earth was chronicled by his followers and carefully preserved, I was able to consider his story as a historical document.
Muhammad (s) laughed; he cried; he showed displeasure and frustration. He was gentle, but firm; and he was strong yet vulnerable. I was inspired and moved by the fact he took the counsel of his wife, Khadijah. I loved it that he needed her comfort and strength as he began to receive Divine revelations through the Angel Gabriel. The early female followers of Islam questioned the blessed Prophet (s) in the mosque on matters of law and social justice, and he gave them equal time and an equal voice. In his last sermon, Muhammad (s) admonished the future generations of Muslim men to respect and cherish their wives and daughters. After about a year of reading and thinking, my brain made a connection to my heart, which sparked my soul into life. I felt God speaking to me through the Quran and the life of this pure-hearted Messenger (s). I had set out to vet a religion for my daughter, but while doing this promised research for her I found God, and Islam found me.
Some 1,5000 members of Swedish Port Workers Union impose boycott in all country’s ports which handle 95% of foreign trade to protest Israel’s raid on Gaza-bound flotilla, which included several Swedish nationals
Associated Press
Swedish dockworkers launched a weeklong boycott of Israeli ships and cargo on Wednesday to protest Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists last month.
Some 1,500 members of the Swedish Port Workers Union began the boycott at all Sweden’s ports which handle more than 95% of the country’s foreign trade. The action is planned to end on June 29.
“Even if goods arrive in trucks, dockworkers often have some role in handling them when they arrive in port,†said Per Helgesson, the union’s chief negotiator.
The union supported the international aid convoy and demands that Israel lift its blockade on Gaza. Several Swedish activists were on the flotilla when Israeli commandos attacked it on May 31.
Israel recently eased the 3-year-old blockade under international pressure, but union spokesman Bjorn Borg said the measure was insufficient.
“We don’t think it is far-reaching enough,†Borg said. “We want them to lift the blockade.â€
Borg said stevedores in the southwestern port of Goteborg had already refused to handle about a dozen containers containing cargo from Israel or goods destined for it.
Officials said they expected the boycott to have a minimal impact on Swedish-Israeli trade, which accounts for 0.2% of the Nordic country’s total imports and exports.
Last year, Swedish exports to Israel were valued at 2.5 billion kronor ($320 million) and imports amounted to some 850 million kronor, according to the Swedish Trade Council.
By Sumayyah Meehan, MMNS Middle East Correspondent
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.â€
– Lance Armstrong
This has not exactly been the year for breaking endurance records that pit man against the forces of Mother Nature. The recent aborted around the world sailing bid by 16-year old American sailor Abby Sunderland, which ended with her boat being lost at sea and the young adventurer just barely escaping with her life, drives that message home quite effectively. However, since time eternal man has sought to push the limits and conquer feats that most humans would never dare try.
Call them adventure seekers, daredevils, or just plain crazy – there is something all too compelling about the risks some sports enthusiasts are willing to take simply to go down, hopefully not permanently, into the pages of history. And while some of the most daring adventurists have hailed from the United States and Europe, there are quite a few popping up from some of the most unlikely places.
One such thrill seeker is Lebanese cyclist Mohammad Al-Ali, who has resided in Kuwait for the past three years. Al-Ali plans to spend the summer cycling on his bicycle through countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Syria. Al-Ali has already received visas from all of the countries he plans to cycle though but is still waiting to hear from Libyan authorities. His aim in cycling through the Middle East and Europe is to show the world that there are not any real barriers to prevent peaceful coexistence between the neighboring countries of the world.
The entire journey is a daunting 11,000 kms. And Al-Ali will only have himself, his bike and a satellite camera to keep him company during the possibly precarious journey. He has already utilized the power of Google Earth to map out the course he will take from start to finish. His cycling endeavor will end in his homeland Lebanon, no doubt to a raucous homecoming from his countrymen.
In a recent interview, Al-Ali credited his isolated upbringing as helping him to adjust to being alone during the journey and only having himself to lean on. However, he will most likely have to rely partially upon the kindness of strangers in the countries that he is passing through to provide a home cooked meal or a decent night’s sleep. But, true to his loner nature, he will be taking along his tent just in case his only recourse is sleeping under the stars.
This is not the first time that Al-Ali has set off on a cycling adventure. In 2001, he cycled from Beirut to the Turkish capital of Istanbul. However, that trip only took a mere month while his latest undertaking wile last an expected five months.
Israel’s ambassador to Washington says situation has ‘moved beyond a crisis that eventually passes’
Relations between and its staunchest ally, the US, have suffered a “tectonic riftâ€, according to Israel’s ambassador to Washington.
Michael Oren briefed Israeli diplomats on the sharp deterioration between the countries ahead of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House early next month.
According to those present, Oren said the situation had moved beyond a crisis that eventually passes. “There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs,†he told the diplomats in Jerusalem. “Relations are in the state of a tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart.â€
His analysis will alarm Israel’s political establishment, which is feeling isolated internationally and under intense pressure to take concrete steps over the blockade of Gaza and settlement building in the West Bank.
Oren said President Barack Obama made judgments about Israel on the basis of cold calculation in contrast to predecessors George W Bush and Bill Clinton, who were motivated by historical and ideological factors. He suggested that Obama was less likely to be influenced by pro-Israel supporters inside or outside the White House. “This is a one-man show,†he was quoted as saying.
Netanyahu and Obama are due to meet in Washington on 6 July after earlier talks were postponed following Israel’s lethal assault on the flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza.
Netanyahu is keen for the meeting to be seen as a success after a string of difficult issues have ruptured relations. His last visit to Washington ended with what was widely interpreted as a snub when Obama declined to hold a photocall with the Israeli leader.
The agenda of next week’s meeting is unlikely to prove painless for Netanyahu. As well as discussing the flotilla debacle, Obama is expected to press for further action to allow imports, exports and people to move more freely to and from Gaza. In addition, Obama is expected to again raise the vexed issue of settlement construction. The 10-month partial freeze, wrung out of Netanyahu after months of pressure and negotiation, is due to end in late September.
Oren’s remarks, reported in the Israeli press and confirmed by officials, go further than comments he made in March after the crisis over an Israeli announcement of a big expansion to a Jerusalem settlement during a visit by US vice-president Joe Biden. Then Oren told colleagues US-Israeli relations were facing their worst crisis for 35 years.
Netanyahu delivered a robust speech to the Israeli parliament last week, warning that the Jewish state’s legitimacy was under attack and criticising the UN and other international bodies for condemning Israeli policies and actions. “They want to strip us of the natural right to defend ourselves. When we defend ourselves against rocket attack, we are accused of war crimes. We cannot board sea vessels when our soldiers are being attacked and fired upon, because that is a war crime.
“They are essentially saying that the Jewish nation does not have the right to defend itself against the most brutal attacks and it doesn’t have the right to prevent additional weapons from entering territories from which it is attacked,†he said.
Washington–China wants to sell two nuclear reactors to Pakistan. The Obama administration thinks that’s a bad idea – but how to oppose that plan while dodging charges of hypocrisy, given the administration only last year sealed a US deal to supply India with civilian nuclear equipment? And how to press to halt the intended sale while preserving relations with two crucial partners, China and Pakistan?
The China-Pakistan deal will come up next week when the 46-country Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meets in New Zealand.
The US will argue – somewhat uncomfortably, given the US-India deal – that the proposed sale to Pakistan violates the international body’s standards. China is expected to counter that what would be a lucrative deal for one of its state-owned companies should be “grandfathered†because the two reactors are part of a deal that actually predates China’s 2004 membership in the NSG, which monitors nuclear transactions.
Administration officials this week tried to put diplomatic dressing on US opposition to the sale.
“We have asked China to clarify the details of its sale of additional nuclear reactors to Pakistan,†said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, at a briefing Tuesday. The US does not buy the Chinese argument that this sale should be considered part of a preexisting deal with Pakistan, he added.
“This appears to extend beyond cooperation that was grandfathered when China was approved for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group,†he said.
A day earlier, State Department spokesman Gordon DuGuid said the US “expects Beijing to cooperate with Pakistan in ways consistent with Chinese nonproliferation obligations.†As a signatory to the NSG, China would appear to be violating international guidelines against selling nuclear materials to a non-signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Like India, Pakistan has never joined the NPT.
The US stance is thus that China would require an exemption from the NSG to complete the two-reactor sale – a hard-won nod the US achieved for the India deal, but one US officials doubt would be forthcoming from the group in the China-Pakistan case.
“We believe that such [China-Pakistan] cooperation would require a specific exemption approved by consensus of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, as was done for India,†Mr. Crowley said, adding that the US is seeking to apply the same test of international scrutiny as was required for the US-India deal. “We’re not looking at any difference between the two.â€
But some nuclear nonproliferation experts say the US opened the door to deals like China’s by pursuing a deal with India that will provide nuclear materials and technology to a country that is a non-signatory of the NPT and thus outside international inspection requirements.
“Two wrongs make a wrong, but it was to be expected once we made the case for an exemption [for the US-India deal],†says Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center in Washington.
China may very well see the controversy coming and move to put off any discussion of the sale at the NSG, Mr. Sokolski says. US officials have told him that China is now expected to say the deal is still in negotiations, making any NSG discussion premature.
But Sokolski says that sooner or later the US, which wants China’s cooperation on other issues like Iran, will still be faced with the repercussions of the US-India nuclear agreement.
“The Chinese will back off for the moment to prevent embarrassment,†he says. “But in the long run the problem will persist, and when it comes back around I fear we will roll.â€
On June 6, a pair of police officers entered an Alexandria Internet cafe and began asking for the identification documents of everyone present. When 28-year-old Khaled Said objected to being searched without a warrant, the officers began to attack him, beating his head against a table and kicking him in the chest. They tied his hands behind his back and dragged him to a nearby building where they continued to smash his head, first against an iron door and then against the building’s marble steps. Witnesses heard Khaled begging them to stop, screaming “I’m going to die,†to which the officers responded: “You’re going to die anyway.†The officers dragged Said into their police car and drove him away, only to return several minutes later to leave his lifeless corpse in the street.
The Ministry of Interior immediately attempted to blame the gruesome incident on “drugsâ€: The young man had died when he choked on a joint he was trying to hide as he was approached by the police. Any injuries sustained — his fractured skull, dislocated jaw, mangled face — were the result of his resisting arrest, they claimed. The bloodied pictures of the victim from the morgue, widely circulated on Facebook and through other networks, were likewise dismissed. Outrage has built across Egyptian political society, culminating in today’s massive demonstrations in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Protesters were assaulted and “kidnapped†by security officers in plainclothes from amongst the crowds in a well-orchestrated but unsuccessful attempt on the part of Ministry of Interior officials to make the incident go away.
The Khaled Said case has offered a graphic demonstration of the emptiness of the pledge by the government of Egypt when it renewed the country’s decades-long period of emergency law that it would limit its application to terrorism and drug-related crimes. Khaled Said’s brutal murder is a chilling reminder of what emergency law — and Interior Ministry impunity — means for Egyptians. Frustration with that impunity is what leads protesters to take to the streets.
In many ways, the case of Khaled Said is tragically symbolic of everything that is wrong with the state of emergency under which Egyptians have been living for almost three decades. In such an arbitrary and opaque system, torture and ill-treatment are a natural byproduct. And in fact, torture in police custody has been systematic and well documented since the 1990s. Khlaed Said’s case is unusual only because his murder was witnessed by so many, captured on film, and distributed to thousands via Facebook.
The renewal of the state of emergency in May 2010 represents a decision to extend the Interior Ministry’s state of impunity. What was meant to be an exceptional state of affairs has now become the norm. A parallel justice system has been created and is now well entrenched, with its own courts, its own prosecutors, its own security forces — and most importantly its own arbitrary set of norms (which the government claims are actually laws) that regulate the security apparatus’s conduct. Under this parallel system, security forces have the right to arrest any individual, search any home, detain people because of their beliefs or opinions they expressed, and are never under any obligation to charge or release. Indicted individuals receive harsh imprisonments — sometimes the death penalty — after a grossly unfair trial.
Few were fooled when, by presidential decree, the Egyptian government renewed the state of emergency while claiming that its provisions would be limited to Article 3 (1) and (5) of the emergency law and only for drug- and terrorism-related crimes. Article 3 (1) permits “restrictions on the freedom of persons to assembly, movement, residence and passage in certain places or times; the arrest and detention of suspects or those representing a danger to public security and order; and the search of persons and places without regard for provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.†In effect, this means that provisions in Article 3 (1) and (5) of the emergency law will be applied to anyone deemed by the Ministry of Interior to be a “suspect†under one of those crimes. Given the broad definition of terrorism in the Egyptian penal code, a point which has been sharply criticized by several U.N. entities, as well as national and international NGOs, this effectively means anyone and everyone can be a suspect. Included in that definition is “any threat or intimidation†aimed at “disturbing the peace or jeopardizing the safety and security of the society.â€
Ironically, as Said was being beaten to death in Alexandria, a high-level Egyptian delegation was in Geneva defending Egypt’s human rights record before the U.N. Human Rights Council. One could hardly ask for a better example of how the new presidential decree offers no guarantee for the respect of human rights, but also of how flagrantly the Ministry of Interior acts in violation of any law. Said did not have any political affiliations, nor was he an activist — and he was hardly a terrorist. That the ministry claimed in its defense that he was an ex-con, apart from being false, raises the harrowing possibility that it believes it justifiable for a man to be beaten to death by security forces, with no judicial recourse, for being a suspected criminal.
The ugly reality is that only one thing changed with the latest renewal of the state of emergency: Instead of the large array of false criminal charges it once could use, the Ministry of Interior is now restricted in its choices. Security forces can now only abuse their powers under false allegations of combating terrorism or narcotics.
Soha Abdelaty is the deputy director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
