If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
As the Syrian conflict rages on the European Union took the significant decision in recent weeks to lift the arms embargo on the beleaguered country, paving the way for the Governments of major European countries to send weapons to rebel forces (a.k.a. the Free Syrian Army) fighting against the Assad regime.
We are caught in a spiral of fear, leading to more violence and not leaving enough room for love. So a big real part of the 'war on terror' is one which takes place within us. It is one where we let our fears lead us to hate. 'Fighting' our own fears then becomes the war worth fighting and the way we can stop this cycle of violence. And we need to start uplifting others along with us.
The saga of Kashmir and its people over the last 60 years has been a slowly unfolding tragedy with seemingly no end in sight. One of the modern world'...
For our own protection, we must discuss the security implications of our actions, not because the consequences are our fault, but because it would be irresponsible not too, perhaps dangerously so.
It is a sign of political degradation when a former national leader cannot write a piece in a Sunday newspaper, about an issue with which he is intimately involved, without attracting a huge amount of venom, by people who have either not even read the article in question, and just attack Blair for being Blair.
There is no shortage of innovative ways government and others can fight the battle of ideas online, but in order to win this battle government must take to the field in a serious way.
An Islamic Centre in Muswell Hill was attacked in the early hours of yesterday morning, and according to the police, the letters 'EDL' were found scrawled on the walls. Whatever emerges, this episode raises an important question - and one that Cameron's task force will need to grapple with: what does it mean to be part of the EDL?
Of course, the country must be eternally vigilant against crimes against minorities, especially acts of reprisal and retaliation. As I've argued elsewhere, there is a real threat of Islamists and far-right activists feeding a cycle of mutually reinforcing violence. But it would be terrible to allow extremists to portray the UK as an anti-Islamic country, feeding the 'us and them' narrative. It is simply not the case. It is equally true that groups like the EDL need to know the feeling is mutual: surveys have found British Muslims are the most patriotic group in the UK.
Passing the bill is unlikely to make the streets any safer. Instead, it is far more likely to limit freedom of expression and debate online, while simultaneously disregarding the ways that terrorist groups can continue concealing their activities.
It Is Liberal Racism to Argue That Muslims Are 'Driven' to Commit Murder By Britain's Foreign Policy
To claim that Western politicians bear true responsibility for what happened in Woolwich is to argue that the killers themselves do not bear responsibility, presumably because their ability to exercise moral judgement was overridden by... what, precisely? By a peculiarly Muslim fury?
The great majority of terrorists aren't found to have any form of mental illness. However, the situation is less clear with so-called 'lone actors', 'self-starters' or pairs who aren't part of any mainstream group.
When my second novel was named "book of the month" by a prestigious literary organisation three years ago, a title previously won by such luminaries a...
Unless our governments acknowledge the problems inherent in continued and violent western interventionism, unless they can accept that the war on terror results in radicalisation, 'blowback' and yet more innocent deaths, and until they admit that negotiation is the only viable long-term solution, we are all condemned to remain trapped in this ghastly cycle of violence.
There has been a lot of speculation following the Woolwich attack about how people are 'radicalised', that MI5 'knew' the suspects and therefore could have - should have - stopped this terrible event.
In a speech last week at Gray's Inn Sir Geoffrey Bindman Britain's foremost human rights lawyer, said that civil liberties are "undergoing a vicious a...
The media and government realized that using words like 'terrorism' would only serve Terry's objective of spreading fear. Why on Earth would they want to help a criminal? Why would the government want to spread fear when they were supposed to spread hope and unity?!
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