Saudia Arabia: Cherishing Human Rights

Kingdom Holds Good Track Record of Human Rights

K.S. Ramkumar (Arab News)

“We cherish human rights and work toward preserving the dignity of mankind…”

If by cherishing human rights they mean persecution of religious minorities, different standards of justice for guest workers and Saudis, and treating women as second class citizens, then yes – the Kingdom holds an excellent track record.

Pakistan: New Fatwa Encouraging Polio Vaccinations

A recent fatwa in Pakistan is reassuring Muslims who had been reluctant to have their children vaccinated against polio due to fears that the vaccination was actually an American plot to sterilize the children.

Pakistani Fatwa Boosts Polio Vaccination

Aamir Latif (IslamOnline.net)

A religious decree (fatwa) by Pakistan’s powerful religious alliance is motivating residents of the country’s northern tribal areas to allow polio vaccination of their kids after initial reluctance.

“I got my sons vaccinated last week as I became satisfied after reading the fatwa,” Momin Khan, an inhabitant of Kohistan town which touches with southeastern Afghanistan, told IslamOnline.net.

Qazi Hussein Ahmed, the president of the Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), and its General Secretary Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman issued a fatwa in January urging residents of the northern tribal areas to allow health workers to administer polio drops to their children.

The move was taken after a local imam had warned residents that the vaccination aimed at sterilizing Muslim children to stop the growing Muslim population in the world…

Iran: US Intervention Helping Sunni Extremists

US meddling in Iran is having unintended result of helping Sunni extremists. The only people who will find this surprising are those associated with the Bush administration.

New US covert operations helping Sunni Muslim radicals

(Agence France Presse)

The United States is stepping up covert operations in Iran in a new strategy that risks sparking an “open confrontation” and benefits Sunni radicals, a US magazine reported Sunday.

In The New Yorker magazine, Seymour Hersh reports that US military and special-operations teams have increased their activities inside Iran, entering from Iraq to gather intelligence and to pursue Iranians who operate inside Iraq…

Film: Objections to “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”

Film’s View of Islam Stirs Anger on Campuses

Karen W. Arenson (NY Times)

When “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” a documentary that shows Muslims urging attacks on the United States and Europe, was screened recently at the University of California, Los Angeles, it drew an audience of more than 300 — and also dozens of protesters…

Not only does the film deliver a very one-sided view of Muslims and Islam, but in order to gain admittance to view the film, audience members must submit their names to a pro-Israeli advocacy group:

When a Middle East discussion group organized a showing at New York University recently, it found that the distributors of “Obsession” were requiring those in attendance to register at IsraelActivism.com, and that digital pictures of the events be sent to Hasbara Fellowships, a group set up to counter anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses…

USA: Anne Frank to Be Honored Posthumously with American Citizenship?

A Push for Citizenship to Honor Anne Frank, but It’s No Easy Sell

Paul Vitello (NY Times)

A congressman from Long Island wants the United States government to grant honorary citizenship to Anne Frank, at least in part to atone for having denied her family entry in the years before her arrest and deportation to a Nazi concentration camp.

Christopher Bodkin, a Long Island town councilman, has promoted citizenship for Anne Frank for three years. The effort resumed after Mr. Frank’s papers were rediscovered, showing his futile efforts to obtain visas.

The House of Representatives is likely to take up the question this year, yet the proposal is not quite as easy and unobjectionable as it sounds. Only six people in history have been granted the honor, and some of Anne Frank’s relatives are not supporting it…

And, why should Anne Frank’s relatives be elated over her being granted “the honor” of posthumous citizenship? Perhaps if she had been granted refugee status and allowed to enter the United States during WWII, she might have applied for citizenship while she was alive.

This is as meaningless as Virginia apologizing for slavery. Thanks for the apology, but it doesn’t change a thing.

Morocco: Sounds of the Neighborhood

Jillian has written a very amusing post at The Morocco Report entitled Aissawa Style. It is a vivid description of waking up in the morning amid the sounds of her neighborhood in Morocco. I wasn’t expecting the ending of this story. Definitely check it out!