Thanks to Conservative Swede, Fjordman, Holger Danske, JD, JEH, Natalie, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Bankruptcy of US Banks: Can Islamic Banking Help?
By Syed Zahid Ahmad
The fall of giants in the world financial sector like Lehman Brothers in the aftermath of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis proves one thing certain: we need to be strict about credit rating system to restrain chances of any further bankruptcy.
Interestingly, since Islamic banking adheres to strict credit rating system and disallows indebted economic agents to avail more debt finance, it such a system could better save our financial and economic enterprises from bankruptcy.
Since interest is strictly prohibited in Islamic banking and principles of equity finance disallow financing the indebted enterprises, chances of bankruptcy are considerably low.
Under Islamic banking equity finance needs pre-rating analysis of projects after reviewing cost yield analysis. Islamic banking principles thus reduce the cut throat competition in financial sectors to get more credit shares and provides stability in the financial market.
Since the principles of Islamic equity finance allow banks to recover the assets by right of ownerships, it would be fairer on the part of financial institutions to recover assets in case of any bankruptcy or crisis, which may not be found in interest-based lending by SCBs and financial institutions because in later case the lender has no right over assets financed to debtors.
To strengthen the stability in financial sector and avoid chances of bankruptcy, the system of Islamic equity finance should be promoted through Islamic banking instead of raising scope for throat cut competition among banks and financial institutions by compromising lending rates to attract more credit shares.
It is high time for the financial sector to evaluate the credit rating system adopted by the conventional credit rating agencies and the practices adopted by Islamic bankers and financial institutions in the international financial market.
I feel this would certainly help improvise our rating system to prevent any bankruptcy in future.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnian Immigrants Build Des Moines Mosque
DES MOINES, Iowa — In a tan building across the street from the Merle Hay Mall Younkers parking lot, the American dream is happening.
It looks like any other construction site in Des Moines: A stack of bricks sits on a trailer outside the front gate. Pails of spackle and paste sit inside the 3,700-square-foot structure. Scaffolding is assembled in a few locations, and drywall dust covers the floor.
What it all adds up to is a new spin on an old story: New immigrants to Des Moines, and the nation, are taking something old and making it new again.
A group of Bosnian immigrants is turning a former used-car dealership at 6206 Douglas Ave. into a mosque, the worship center of the Islamic faith.
Except for the electricity and plumbing, they’re doing most of the labor themselves — after work, on weekends and whenever schedules allow.
They escaped religious persecution and the bloody Bosnian-Serbian war to arrive in Des Moines, some more than a decade ago. Their community has grown and changed as they taught themselves to speak English, found work and built lives in a new place.
Now they’re putting their own landmark in the community — a worship center that will also serve as a cultural center where the organizers hope both immigrants and the community as a whole can learn about each other.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Heritage a No-Show in New $600m Visitors Center
Chuck Norris asks Congress, ‘Can I help fix this problem?’
American taxpayers have spent more than $600 million on a new visitors’ center at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and it will have acres of marble floors and walls, photographs of Earth Day, information about an AIDS rally and details about the nation’s industrial sector. What it will not include is America’s Christian heritage, raising objections from members of Congress and drawing an inquiry from Chuck Norris about whether he can help fix it.
The new 580,000-square-foot center, mostly built underneath the grounds just east of the U.S. Capitol to protect the scenic views of the historic building, is about three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself, has exhibition galleries, theaters, a 550-seat cafeteria, gift shops and myriad other features.
The project, run by the office of the architect of the Capitol, has been delayed from its original opening date set several years ago and has cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than estimated, officials have confirmed.
But the finished product still, according to members of Congress, is seriously lacking. Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., said 108 members of Congress have signed a letter to the architect’s office expressing their concerns that the historical content simply is inaccurate
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dear Hank: Here’s How to End the Credit Crisis at No Cost to Taxpayers
By Shah Gilani
While it’s clear from the current credit crisis that our financial system is at a critical juncture, it’s just as clear that there’s no agreement over how we should fix the problems we face. The reality is that neither the plan put forth by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. “Hank” Paulson Jr. — nor any of the addendums offered up by Congress or the lobbyists — will resolve this crisis.
The key culprits are the structured financial products that reside on the balance sheets of banks, dead investment banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and all manner of other duped and unsuspecting investor entities worldwide, as well as the proliferation of the unregulated $62 trillion credit default swaps (CDS) market.
Because all these securities, and in the case of credit default swaps, bilateral contracts, are impossible to value and impossible to guarantee, no one trusts them. As a result, everyone is afraid of these securities and contracts.
Banks are currently not lending to one another because they are afraid that the next round of write-downs and losses may imperil some of their trading partner banks to which they formerly lent billions and billions of dollars to every night. If the answer were really as simple as adding liquidity, the Federal Reserve would have lowered the Fed Funds target. But that won’t work. It’s a vicious cycle that’s eroding banks’ faith in one another, and worse, our faith in our banks.
Unfortunately, I don’t see the Treasury Department’s much-needed rescue plan being effective without actually addressing the pricing of — indeed, the very existence of — credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations. As well intentioned as it is, the Treasury plan will create more problems than it solves and will eventually saddle taxpayers with so much debt that it will tank the dollar. It could even put the U.S. government’s AAA investment rating at risk. That would be calamitous.
I have a modest proposal that I’m calling the Money Morning Plan, because it potentially heralds a new dawn in the credit crisis, addressing the problems from the bottom up, and not from the top down.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Hunts American Citizens Trained Overseas for Terror
Feds launch dragnet to stop ‘October surprise’ attack
As Pakistani investigators hunt the terrorists behind the massive Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad, FBI agents in the U.S. have begun aggressively hunting for Americans who have recently returned from trips to Pakistan where they may have trained at al-Qaida camps, WND has learned.
A coast-to-coast dragnet has been launched partly in response to leads developed in the arrest of one of al-Qaida’s “fixers” in the U.S., say FBI officials. They report the bureau is in a race against time to identify Pakistan-trained sleeper cells and disrupt a possible pre-election “October surprise.”
For the first time since 9/11, counterterrorism field agents have been authorized to spy on young Muslim men and women — including American citizens — who have traveled to Pakistan without any specific evidence of wrongdoing.
Controversial new investigative guidelines approved by the Justice Department allow agents to monitor suspects and conduct undercover interviews even before opening formal investigations.
FBI headquarters has ordered its field offices to aggressively pursue anonymous tips and report back any suspicious activities in their Muslim communities. The intelligence will be immediately analyzed and shared in a threat matrix to avoid a repeat of the so-called “Phoenix memo” intelligence failure, officials say.
In the weeks prior to 9/11, an alert agent in the FBI’s Phoenix office noted that several radical Middle Eastern men were taking flying lessons. He drafted a memo and sent it to headquarters, which promptly buried it, missing an opportunity to act before the disastrous hijackings of 9/11.
The FBI’s new rules and current sense of urgency follow the recent interrogation of al-Qaida operative Aafia Siddiqui, an M.I.T.-educated scientist who fled to Pakistan after 9/11. She was arrested this summer in Afghanistan and brought back to the U.S. after sustaining injuries from a gun battle.
According to a federal indictment, Siddiqui was found with handwritten notes that referred to a “mass casualty attack” and listed various locations in the U.S. including Wall Street, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Plum Island and the Brooklyn Bridge. In addition, certain notes referred to the construction of “dirty bombs,” chemical and biological weapons and other explosives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Society Baffled by Incident at Worship Service
DAYTON — The Muslim community gathered Sunday, Sept. 28, 48 hours after an unknown irritant disrupted worship at the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton.
“We were in the midst of the Fifth Prayer when people started coughing,” said Ismail Gula, the society’s secretary.
Gula said the building was evacuated and the service to break the daily fast of Ramadan continued at a nearby facility.
He said he had no idea what might have caused the incident. “It might be anything,” he said.
Gula said he had received many calls of support from Christians and Jews over the weekend.
When Dayton fire and emergency personnel arrived at 26 Josie St. on Friday night, they noticed an odor. HAZMAT workers checked the structure for pepper spray and other irritants, but found nothing.
Police said they were continuing their investigation.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Meat Plant to Muslim Employees: Pray on Your Own Time
A Colorado congressman says it isn’t the responsibility of private companies to bend over backwards to accommodate Islamic workers who want to take special breaks to pray.
Recently the JBS Swift & Company plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, decided to end break-time accommodations for Muslim employees because the agreement was not working. The plant had originally worked out an agreement with the union to allow Muslims time to pray at sunset, especially during Ramadan. However, non-Muslims at the plant complained that they were left to do all the work and walked off the job in protest, just as the Muslims had previously done.
Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) explains they had a similar problem with Muslim prayer-time accommodation at a plant in Greeley, Colorado.
“The fact is that, if you take a job that requires your attendance on an assembly line from a point certain to a point certain, and if your religious views do not allow you to do that, then don’t take the job,” Tancredo suggests. “There is nothing forcing anybody to take the job. No one has put a gun to their head[s] and said, ‘You must be on this line.’“
Swift eventually fired 86 employees for repeatedly leaving work without authorization at the Grand Island plant, and a company spokeswoman says not all of those fired were Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Fire Labeled Hate Crime by FBI
A four-state fire at an Islamic Mosque is labeled as a religious hate crime by federal agents in what they call an attack on religious freedom.
The Carl Junction fire department responded to this sign on fire early Thursday morning in south Joplin.
The sign reads Islamic Society of Joplin in both English and Arabic and belongs to an Islamic mosque.
The FBI has now taken over the investigation due to evidence which leads authorities to believe this was in fact a hate crime
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Grateful for Northland’s Only Mosque
As dusk settled over Duluth on Friday, a stream of people made their way into the Islamic Center of the Twin Ports to break their daylong fast during Ramadan, pray and share a feast.
More than 100 Muslims crowded into the center’s fellowship hall. They munched on figs (a traditional fruit for breaking the fast) and greeted each other warmly.
“This is like our second home,” Ahmed Maamoun of Superior, who is originally from Egypt, said about the Islamic Center.
Sunday marked one year since the Islamic community bought the former Unitarian Universalist church in Duluth’s Woodland neighborhood. It’s the only mosque in the Northland. Before buying the church, local Muslims rented space for gatherings on special occasions.
The Islamic Center now bustles with activity, including Friday prayers and discussions, potluck dinners and religious education classes for children. Muslims pray five times a day, and some Muslims go to the center daily to do some of those prayers.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Northern Minn.’s Only Mosque Marks Anniversary
The Islamic community in northeastern Minnesota is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the opening of the only mosque in the area.
Sunday marked one year since the Islamic community bought the former Unitarian Universalist church in Duluth’s Woodland neighborhood.
Before buying the church, local Muslims rented space for gatherings on special occasions.
The Islamic Center now bustles with activity, including Friday prayers and discussions, potluck dinners and religious education classes for children.
Muslims pray five times a day, and some Muslims go to the center daily to do some of those prayers.
Shahla Rahman of Duluth, who originally is from India, says more Muslims are settling in the Duluth area because it now has a mosque.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Austria’s Right Hails Poll Result
The leaders of Austria’s two far-right parties have hailed the results of snap general elections, which saw their support doubling since the 2006 polls.
The Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria took nearly 29% of the vote, preliminary results show.
The Social Democrats won the polls with 30%. But they, and the conservative People’s Party, with 26%, suffered their worst results since 1945.
The shape of a possible coalition will now be hard to predict, experts say.
A total of 183 parliamentary seats were up for grabs in Sunday’s election.
The early polls were called after the grand coalition between the Social Democrats and the People’s Party collapsed this summer amid internal fights and personal feuds.
‘Difficult situation’
“Today, we are the winners of election night,” Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache said.
Mr Strache also suggested that he was interested in becoming the next chancellor, according to the Associated Press news agency
| — Hat tip: Natalie | [Return to headlines] |
Palin Biog Caught in Muslim Storm
Bad omens for the UK edition of Sarah Palin’s biography. Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, written by Alaskan journalist Kaylene Johnson, was due to be published next week by Gibson Square Books, the company behind Sherry Jones’s controversial novel, The Jewel of Medina — the cause of a firebomb attack on Gibson Square’s north London office on Friday.
Gibson’s owner, Martin Rynja, has now gone into hiding, which makes the scheduled publication of the book on October 7 highly problematic. It would have been a rushed affair even in less turbulent circumstances: the deal was completed on Tuesday last week, leaving just two weeks to bring the paperback out. The fact that it is a slim work — Johnson needed only 160 pages to chart Palin’s journey from high school basketball player to state governor — may help the publishing process along.
At the time, Rynja said the firm’s quick processing had clinched the deal. He said he had paid a “compelling amount” for the book, which had its original American title, Sarah: How a Small Town Girl Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment on its Ear, changed when Palin became John McCain’s Republican running-mate earlier this month. Gibson — and perhaps the Republicans — have another reason to be concerned about The Jewel of Medina furore. The publishers also have a book out by McCain himself, Hard Call, a selection of essays on great political leaders.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
European Tourists Abducted in Egypt Released
A European tour group taken hostage by gunmen in southern Egypt 10 days ago has been released. As Derek Kilner reports from VOA’s East Africa bureau in Nairobi, the 11 European tourists, along with eight Egyptian drivers and guides, are thought to be in good health, and are being taken back to Cairo.
Rescued foreign and Egyptian hostages wave to journalists after arriving at a military airport in Cairo, Egypt, 29 Sept. 2008
The tourists, five Germans, five Italians, and one Romanian,¨were abducted on September 19, while on a trip to the Gelf el-Kebir region of southwest Egypt, near the border with Sudan. The hostages were taken into Sudan and later to Libya, though it remains unclear where they were finally released.
Egyptian state-owned television reported the release of the hostages, which was confirmed by Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini. Frattini referred to an operation to secure the tourists’ release, with the cooperation of Sudan and Egypt, but declined to offer details.
The announcement came a day after Sudanese troops killed six of the hostage-takers in a shootout. Sudanese Foreign Ministry official Ali Youssef says, two gunmen were also arrested.
“These eight people were driving a vehicle with Egyptian plates and were moving in the area and they were intercepted by the army and there was a fight,” he said. “Six of them were killed, and two were captured, and are now being interrogated. The two said that the hostages are kept in a hideout inside Chad, near the border, in preparation for the exchange of the hostages for a ransom.”
The attackers had demanded a ransom of nearly $9 million from the German government.
Other Sudanese officials have suggested that the gunmen involved in Sunday’s clash were linked to a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, a rebel group in the country’s western Darfur region. Rebels with the Sudan Liberation Army, as well as other Darfur rebel groups, have denied any involvement.
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Olmert’s Bombshell
by Srdja Trifkovic
Israel’s outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel will have to give up almost the entire occupied West Bank, including most settlements and east Jerusalem, as the price for peace with the Palestinians. “What I am saying to you now has not been said by any Israeli leader before me,” he declared — and he was right. His comments have caused a major controversy: Israel officially considers the whole of Jerusalem its “eternal, undivided” capital, of which Olmert had been a hawkish mayor for a decade (1993-2003) before becoming Prime Minister.
Olmert told told the Yediot Aharonot Hebrew-language daily that any parts of the West Bank retained by Israel would need to be compensated, in an eventual peace deal, by equal territory of pre-1967 Israel: “We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the meaning of which is that in practice we will withdraw from almost all the territories, if not all the territories… We will leave a percentage of these territories in our hands, but will have to give the Palestinians a similar percentage, because without that there will be no peace.”
“Whoever wants to hold on to all of the city’s territory will have to bring 270,000 Arabs inside the fences of sovereign Israel. It won’t work,” the caretaker premier added with reference to Jerusalem. “A decision has to be made. This decision… contradicts our natural instincts, our innermost desires, our collective memories, the prayers of the Jewish people for 2,000 years.” Conceding that “for a large portion” of the past 35 years of political activity he was “unwilling to look at reality in all its depth,” Olmert now admits that he “erred in his foreign policy views and actions for decades.”
Olmert’s assessment goes well beyond any stated readiness for territorial concessions by a key national political figure, let alone a Prime Minister who is still holding office. Even if his words give a much needed boost to the Israeli Left, what would that do for the long-stalled “peace process”? It may well continue humming promisingly on the Syrian front, but what Bashir Assad does, says or thinks is of secondary importance. More worryingly, on the Palestinian side Mahmoud Abbas may be removed from power come January 9 — and his Islamist rivals do not accept the need for any major concessions to Israel, including the recognition of its legitimacy, its right to exist on any territory.
The suspicion that Arab promises are empty — unenforceable, or insincere, or both — is not confined to the Likud. The question is whether people on Israel’s left who agree with Olmert will be able to obtain prior meaningful commitments from the Palestinian side before contemplating a new episode in the never-ending “process” — the one that would not fizzle out like Bill Clinton’s push at Camp David eight years ago.
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Paul Newman: Big in Iran
It seems Paul Newman, who died on Friday aged 83, was more popular than even his most ardent fans might have imagined. The screen legend, who starred in films such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cool Hand Luke,and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, has been mourned all around the world — including the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Despite the fact that there is a nationwide ban on Hollywood films in Iran, the government’s own newspaper IRAN led the charge with a front-page obituary for Newman. Iran’s biggest-selling daily Hamshahri followed suite with a full front page devoted to the actor, as did smaller independent papers Etemaad and Kargozaran who used huge photographs of the star on their covers. “The end of the last classic star”, was Etemaad’s headline. Kargozaran went with “The end of the blue-eyed kid”.
The decision to celebrate Newman’s life in the Iranian media is doubly surprising considering that only six months ago the country’s Cultural Ministry shut down nine cinemas and a handful of lifestyle magazines for their coverage of “corrupt” American film stars.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Gorby to Form New Political Party
The former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev has announced that he’s planning to create a new political party in Russia. A prominent Russian banker and ex-deputy of the State Duma Alexander Lebedev is helping Gorbachev in this project.
Reportedly, the new organisation will be called “the Independent democratic party of Russia” Its founders want it to take part in 2011 parliamentary elections and challenge the ruling party United Russia.
Aleksandr Lebedev used to be on the Forbes list of the 500 world’s richest people, but the recent financial crisis has wiped out up to 60% of his fortune.
Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet leader when the Cold War between the Eastern bloc and U.S.-led NATO ended. Also during his presidency, the Soviet Union collapsed and broke up into 15 independent countries.
| — Hat tip: Conservative Swede | [Return to headlines] |
US Circles Hijacked Ship With Sudan-Bound Weapons
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — U.S. warships and helicopters on Monday surrounded a hijacked cargo ship loaded with Sudan-bound tanks and other arms to keep the weapons from falling “into the wrong hands,” an American Navy spokesman said.
Lt. Nathan Christensen, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the shipment of 33 Russian-designed tanks, rifles and ammunition on the Ukrainian-operated Faina was headed for Sudan — not Kenya as previously claimed by Kenyan officials.
The pirates who seized the ship are demanding a $20 million ransom.
The U.S. fears the armaments onboard the Ukrainian vessel may end up with al-Qaida-linked Islamic insurgents who have been fighting the shaky U.N.-backed Somali transitional government since late 2006.
“We maintain a vigilant watch over the ship and we will remain on station while negotiations between the pirates and the shipping company are going on,” Christensen told The Associated Press.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Chavez Says Venezuela Will Develop Nuclear Power
CARACAS (Reuters) — President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday Venezuela will develop a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes, in another challenge to Washington just days after Russia offered nuclear assistance to the socialist Latin American leader.
“In Venezuela we are interested in development of nuclear energy, of course for peaceful purposes, for medical purposes, for purposes of electricity generation,” Chavez said at a political rally.
“Brazil has various nuclear reactors, so does Argentina. We will have ours.”
Chavez noted that Venezuela, which is a member of the oil-producing cartel OPEC, developed a nuclear reactor decades ago but abandoned it under pressure from the United States.
He said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had offered help with a reactor, adding that “we already have a commission working on this issue.”
Chavez did not offer details or say when a reactor could be ready, but the news could further strain relations with Washington, which views Chavez as autocratic and erratic.
He has repeatedly challenged Washington, notably by defending Iran’s nuclear activities despite strong condemnation by the United States and Europe.
This month Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and repeated his frequent threats to halt oil sales that make up around 10 percent of U.S. oil imports.
Venezuela has boosted cooperation with Moscow since Russia came under strong U.S. condemnation for fighting a war against Georgia last month, strengthening ties between two of the United States’ strongest critics.
Russia and Venezuela have also signed 12 arms contracts worth a total of $4.4 billion in the last two years, according to a Kremlin source.
| — Hat tip: JEH | [Return to headlines] |
A “Review” of Iranian Ex-Muslim Ali Sina’s Book
Customer Review of Understanding Muhammad by Amna Saleem
i believe Ali Sina is not a single person… it is a network of people who have been working against islam. I Ali Sina […] is crying and shouting for attention and are doing any damn thing to get it.
Who in this world has so much time to waste on writing articles and blogs from their own imagination. Ali Sina (if there is any) has no knowledge of Muslim history or islam.I don’t think anyone has ever bought this book. This book should be banned
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cadbury Recalls Chinese-Made Candy in Chemical Scare
LONDON, England (CNN) — British confectioner Cadbury has recalled all of its Chinese-made candy products over fears they may be contaminated with the chemical melamine, a company statement said Monday.
A researcher in Wuhan, China, last week checks for melamine in milk samples collected from stores.
“The products that are affected by this withdrawal include a range of Cadbury chocolate products and Choclairs, all produced in our Beijing plant,” Cadbury said in a statement. Some or all of the products were exported to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, the Pacific island of Nauru and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, according to the company.
Cadbury said it is implementing new food safety and quality checks at its Beijing plant and fresh candies will be manufactured.
The candy maker is the latest company to get caught up in China’s tainted-milk scandal. Melamine was first found in powdered infant formula, but has since been traced to dozens of other products.
Nearly 53,000 children in China have been sickened by the formula or other products containing melamine. Four babies have died, and five Hong Kong children have suffered melamine-related illnesses. Dozens of countries have banned or recalled Chinese milk products.
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China Calls for End to ‘Force’ Against Iran
China has called for an end to the ‘use of force’ against Tehran in a move that will further complicate the push for new anti-Iran sanctions.
Days after the US failed to convince the United Nations Security Council permanent members plus Germany to impose further sanctions against Tehran, China has urged world powers not to resort to ‘force’ over Iran’s nuclear program.
“Major powers should pursue peaceful talks with Iran rather than resort to the willful use of force or the intimidation of force,” Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said Sunday in his first interview with US media in five years.
World powers on Friday held a surprise meeting on the issue of sanctions over Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, following fierce Russian opposition to the idea of adopting new sanctions.
Although China and Russia oppose further sanctions, a draft resolution was prepared and passed unanimously on Saturday by the UN Security Council.
The resolution, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described as “very simple” urges Iran to comply with existing resolutions but does not include new sacntions.
“Russia does not intend to punish anyone,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the Friday meeting. “Our intention is to confirm all previous decisions.”
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Perspective on Meltdown in American Markets
By Liaquat Ali Khan
Call it the consequences of irresponsible American invasions, call it the irrational exuberance of short sellers, call it the catastrophe of subprime lending, call it the mismanagement of leveraged products, blame it as you may, American markets are facing unprecedented meltdown and doomsayers see little promise in the federal bailout package. Ironically, the Wall Street has noticed that Shariah-compliant investments—which avoid speculative risk and debt-ridden greed—have fared much better in these troubled markets. In the past few years, Shariah-compliant investments in Western markets have grown to more than half a trillion dollars.
Islamic financing is attracting huge academic curiosity. Many experts participating in the 8th Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance held this past April wondered if Islamic financing could have prevented the meltdown that American markets are facing primarily due to mortgage debt and mortgage-backed securities-now known as “toxic investments.” This legal commentary highlights the two fundamental principles of Islamic financing that I presented at the Forum.
High Risk Investments
The Quran prohibits al-Maysir or speculative risk, warning the faithful to avoid games of chance in which the probability of loss in is much higher than the probability of gain (2:219). Shariah-compliant investments, therefore, avoid speculative risk, including interest rate options, naked equity options, futures, derivative and numerous leveraged products purportedly designed to hedge investments. Many of these financial products attract speculators in hopes of making quick money. When trusted fund managers, under institutional pressures to show profit, resort to speculative risk, hedge investments turn into suicidal strategies for financial destruction.
In pursuit of greed and thrill, straightforward investments in companies engaged in socially useful activity has become unattractive, even boring, because of their presumably lower rate of return-frequently a self-fulfilling prophecy. Billions of dollars are dumped into companies that promise huge profits but produce nothing. While Islam would allow risking investments in socially beneficial research projects, it prohibits investments in companies peddling alcohol, tobacco, pornography, debt, and weapons-products that undermine our health and safety…
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Mainstream US Islamic Websites — and Terror
By Patrick Poole
In counterterrorism circles there is significant buzz about “Al-Qaeda 2.0”, warning of highly decentralized jihadist networks operating independently and driven by a highly toxic internet-inspired Islamic ideology. The sad reality is, however, that an increasing number of jihadist websites, especially those in the English language, are finding safe haven in the US — and the US government seems powerless, or unwilling, to stop them.
Other commentators have explored at length the “Al-Qaeda 2.0” phenomenon, but what has thus far gone unreported is how mainstream Islamic websites associated with some of the most visible Islamic organizations in the US are openly promoting extremist ideology and terrorism.
This is nothing new, of course. Before and shortly after 9/11, the Ohio State chapter of the Muslim Student Association ran an email service called MSANews, where virtually every Islamic terrorist organization in the world directly posted their public statements, including Al-Qaeda, HAMAS, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Armed Islamic Group and the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front. MSANews also published all of Osama bin Laden’s pre-9/11 statements, calling him “sheikh” and identifying him as a “Saudi dissident”, not a terrorist. According to an Associated Press article published just weeks after 9/11, MSANews was the subject of a federal investigation for promoting the sales of jihadist videos praising the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The MSANews list, which operated on the taxpayer-supported servers of The Ohio State University, shut down soon afterwards.
More recently, the media has focused on the case of Charlotte, North Carolina resident, Samir Khan. Fox News recently reported that Khan’s website, inshallahshahid, features videos of terrorists bombing US military vehicles, provides links to the writings of Al-Qaeda chiefs Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and praises “martyrdom bombers” who sacrifice their lives “for the sake of Islam”. Last October, the New York Times reported on Khan’s online efforts, observing that he is just one of many new faces of what Al-Qaeda calls the “Islamic jihadi media”. While Samir Khan lost his job last month after a 3-part investigative report was aired by Charlotte CBS affiliate WBTV, Khan continues to operate his website with impunity.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
If anyone would like to counter the idea that 'Islamic banking' would be a cure for this (or any) crisis, just read Timur Kuran.
This slender volume will give you more knowledge than most people (like bank manager) have when they need to make decisions on the subject. A really good read.
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