Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Group Recordings...



Group1
Group2
Group3
Group4
Group5
Mahin Khalid
Paras Saif
Faheem Yaseen
Sidra Qureshi
Muhammad Adeel
Sarrah Millwala
Falak Haneef
Rida Rasool
Nageen Pervez
Taha Qureshi
Khizra Javed
Nida Siddiqui
Raza Haidery
Onaiza Qureshi
Miqdad Sibtain
Asad Dalal
Sonal Arshad
Owais Hadi
Saleha Altaf
Asif Faruqi
Hussain Mazhar
Alizeh Gohar
Nimra Azmat
Anika Kamran
Ayesha Shaikh
Ayesha B Rashid
Aliza Zehra
-
Tehreem Rajani
Ushna Khan
Omer Sarwana
Shumaila Amirali
-
Anam Qadri
Nashmea Ayaz
Sani-e-Zehra
Rachel Viccaji
-
-
-


Group leaders:
Group1: Sarrah Millwala
Group2: Nida Siddiqui
Group3: Rida Rasool
Group4: Anam Qadri
Group5: Ayesha Shaikh


Group recording's time and date:
Group1: 24th February, Thursday, 3:30pm to 4:00pm
Group2: 28th February, Monday, 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Group3: 24th February, Thursday, 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Group4: 24th February, Thursday, 2:30pm to 3:00pm
Group5: 28th February, Monday, 2:30pm to 3:00pm

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

South Asian Society It’s strengths and weaknesses...


The discussed topic, we elaborate Individually on the pro's and con's of the south Asian society.
As strengths;
The south Asian society is well hardworking. There is good potential in talents, just the inner core distracts them from focussing that makes them derail. However, south asian, have made their name in well rebound places because of potential.
Tenacious.
Nuclear power. The positive aspect to this situation is that the countries with such power automatically have a say in  un, and other world affairs. Having nuclear power gives them the advantage to having their voice heard.
Resources. in terms of human resource, the south asian community have a great density of population, and thus makes outsourcing work to them a good advantage. Agriculture and resources makes them wanted by the west n developed countries...this brings prosperous future to them.
Geographical location. The geographical location is helpful as the seasons, and all environments for agricultural growth is available to nourish and promote growth. Politically, having trading neighbors and the relations also helps the south asian countries, also their close proximity with russia, a strong backing.
Diversity. The ethnic diversity, shows the fusion of vast cultures, making south asian culture stronger and more attractive. This interests tourism and history.
Food, culture hospitality.
while, looking at the back hand, the con's they face are;
 no unity. The fusion of ethnicity and culture along with western influence makes it difficult the citizens and tribes within.
 no vision. The main vision of creating independence was lost, thus the aim and interest of different state actors is different leading to utter chaos.
 Poverty, an issue every region from globally leading economies to the aid required problem childs have. The main idea behind each of these issues are the job delegation, and the strategies used to distrubute wealth and income. So far our nation has'nt done much of a good job of it. As the rich keep getting richer and the pr keep getting poorer.
 Blame game, the easiest way to shift eyes of media and authority when a decision is made wrong. Every stake and share holder would look for the culprit to skin alive at the mistakes and not focus on how the situation could be made better. Thus it's important to switch from the balme game strategy to solving the main issue.
 Literacy. The official UNICEF rates state an average of 70% of the population is literate. Average of 80 males and 60 females (each to a percent). However, the standard of literacy is reading and writting their name alone, thus reading the newspaper or anything else would have an issue as it's excluded. Being illiterate to the schooling education and basing knowlegde just on experiences, makes it difficult to give an accurate view of the political, economic situation. Thus, benifits are disregarded unless there is self inerest. This causes the consumers and producers attitude making it more difficult to unite the population into a class or two.
Economically challenged, as mentioned above, the lack of education and basis of experiences gives biased opinions. However, there are individuals that are well trained in the field of economics, but prefer to stay in a state where their gains are higher. Playing an economist here in Pakistan has to be a selflss nature, as to benifit would be well difficult.
Intolerant. The Nation over a period of suffering and pessimism have to some extent adopted an intolerant attitude. This has indeed caused a lack of risk takers in society and therefore brought about the difficulty of trust in the nations population.

Taha Qureshi

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Strength and Weakness of South Asian Society...


Mostly popularly known as third world countries are South Asian Society; Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Maldives. A number of religions superfluities in these regions; Islam, Christianity Hinduism, and Buddhism.
Indonesia signifies Southeast Asia’s largest potential market. Malaysia’s repute as an attractive endpoint for both occupation and investment endures to evolve, as worldwide interest in this energetic economy has located Malaysia as one of the region’s leading markets. With its principally English-speaking populace and energetic customer culture, Philippines offer many chances for successful market entrance to US corporations. The government of Singapore has advanced an outward-looking, export-oriented financial policy that inspires two-way currents of trade and asset. Even after the effects of the tsunami at the end of 2004, the Thai kingdom endures to advantage from political stability, mounting exports, and durable domestic consumption.
South Asian society is supplemented with multicultural civilizations and values. The region is traditionally diverse as, dissimilar communities live composed and each signifies the roots of its beginning. This cultural diversity has led to the development of new inclinations even in the fashion outlines. People in this region have great respect for their culture and drifts moreover; they give exciting admiration to their religion. The large populations of the South Asian bloc, people are apparently more hard working and determined. The employments from the Asian bloc are favored over any other man control from all over the realm.
It is a disappointment that the south Asian society has no harmony and strength among its neighboring nations. The region is highly disjointed and thus it also lacks an image of brotherhood, power and unity. All countries are determined to attain higher than the other. Each is humored in the blame game and demanding to pull other’s leg down.
This society is extremely populated with ever cumulative rate of inflation and poverty level. Illiteracy is a main downside of the society plus it is a disgrace that crime rate is also very high. Individuals are intolerant and it is a mutual sight to see the sad terrorist doings.

Falak Haneef

The Palestine/Israel and Arab-Israeli Conflicts...


Today the term ‘Palestine’ denotes to the Arabs - Christian, Muslim and Druze whose ancient origins can be drew to the land of Palestine as distinct by the British borders.
The prevalent Palestinian diaspora communal is in Jordan. Though many Palestinians still living in refugee sites and slums, others have develop carefully successful. Now Palestinians have the maximum per capita rate of academia graduates in the Arab realm. Their diaspora knowledge has underwritten to a high rate of lobbying of all segments of the Palestinian publics. They were allowed Israeli nationality and the right to elect. Nonetheless in many reverences they were second-class people, meanwhile Israel describes itself as the national of the Jewish folks and Palestinians remain non-Jews.
Arabs were not allowed to become full supporters of the Israeli trade union federation. Around 40 percent of their domains were removed by the government then used for expansion projects that promoted Jews chiefly or exclusively. Altogether Israel's governments have distinguished against the Arab populace by apportioning far fewer possessions for learning, health care, public mechanisms, municipal management and economic progress to the Arab subdivision.
Palestinian Arabs of Israel have had a problematic struggle to uphold their national and political individuality in a state that legitimately regards appearance of Palestinian or Arab national mawkishness as rebellious. From the time when 1967, several have become more alert of their identity by way of Palestinians. Many Palestinian Arabs obligate to comprehend that their political position as Israeli citizens as well as their prolonged contact with Israeli humanity has distinguished them from former Palestinians. Though most of them upkeep the establishing of a Palestinian state-owned in the West Bank also the Gaza Strip, limited would follow the option of repositioning there if such a state derives into existence.

Falak Haneef

Monday, February 14, 2011

The South Asian region...


The South Asian region is considered to be one of the most resourceful regions of the world. It is considered to be a region which has not lived up to its true potential or has not shown its true colors. The region is blessed with the best of minds as well as great manpower. The people here are really dedicated and hardworking as far as there work is concerned and have also attained international recognition for their work.
Thus one could say that the fields which they enter in, they surely leave their mark. One of the most common examples which can easily define the dedication and hardworking nature can be the services provided by doctors in a state owned hospital. With scarce resources and a great number of patients to look out for the doctors have to really be sure as far as their treatment is concerned.
However when these doctors go and practice in the countries which have developed they command respect from their colleagues due to their edge and wisdom over the local doctors.  
Moving on the South Asians are considered to be very emotional along with being people with big hearts. They not only are very hospitable but they feel honored when they have to entertain people who have different cultures and traditions. For example when Sikhs come for their pilgrimage to Lahore and Hassan Abdal they always receive a historic welcome and the locals want to make their trip historic.
One of the reasons for this sort of generosity as well as hospitality is the family structure and family bonding which we have. For example the family comprises of parents children as well as grand parents living under the same roof and the concept of nuclear family is not that common but is now gaining strength in the urban areas. 
But if we see the other side of the story we would find that a region which is full of resources does not have a true and visionary leadership, a leadership which could guide the nation form policies for the well being of the people as well as help people fight poverty illiteracy and injustice.
However one could say that the people ruling are also people who are amongst us and they do what the majority desires to do. They are undisciplined, unprofessional, intolerant and vindictive. All these attributes are also apart of us. One could see the legal system of all the countries of the region as a prime example of the ingredients’ mentioned above.
Similarly the other attribute we have is that we are dishonest and consider education to be a source which would brain wash us or create a disconnect between us and our roots. The population growth is the biggest example of this and we don’t realize the impact of this large population on our scarce resources.
Thus we should try to create and empower institutions so that we get a system and should also pressurize our rulers to invest more in education health infrastructure as well as human development so that we could see a real change in the way of thinking as well as the quest to reach our true potential could begin.

Asif Faruqi

Friday, February 11, 2011

Egypt and the Middle East Today...


The Egyptian regime got there first dent in 30 years when the American backed President Husni Mubarak is faced with the strongest of agitation in his rule(30years). It is believed by the analyst that the time for structural adjustment has triggered in the Middle Eastern region.
The fire that was ignited in Tunisia has taken Egypt into its grip to. It is believed that the dismissal of the dictator in Tunisia gave hope to the Egyptians that even they could have a new democratically elected leader.
If we analyze the causes of the unrest we could easily come to the conclusion that this was expected for a long time. Both the countries were more of police states and the extent to which exploitation corruption was rampant in the country it was expected that this was coming their way.
Some analysts believe that the thinking in the White House has changed and now the US doesn’t want American backed dictators in the region. This might be due to the economic situation in the US and they don’t want to get involved in the region to that extent. 
But the situation is not that simple and is believed to have a spillover effect in the region. One has witnessed the panic which it has caused in Jordan where the King has sacked the Prime Minister on the charges of corruption. It is believed that this would take other states into its grip and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cannot ignore this threat as it is basically peoples struggle in different countries as they have stood up for their rights and challenged the status quo forces.
However other analyst believe that this uprising might end up in the war between the haves and the have not’s and no country can try to create their dominance. The reason for this could be the people have took to streets and they still are leader less and are not entertaining main opposition leaders like Mohammad Al Baradi who is supposed to be a new American backed leader.

Asif Faruqi
0917141

South Asian society...


The South Asian society is blessed with a very hardworking population, even though it’s economically challenged and the inflation rate is on the rise, the people still make an earning enough to get themselves food and shelter. Although it seems that South Asia is weak but how can we not bring into the spotlight its nuclear power which has made it one of the very few countries in the world possessing nuclear power. South Asia is very rich in natural resources like oil, gas, etc, but it lacks the technology to extract all these resources and bring them into use. It consists of people belonging to various cultures, making the South Asian society a very multicultural one. There are many ethnic groups and the ones in majority are Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Punjabi and Kashmiri and each of these ethnic groups have their own culture which is quite different from the others. South Asia is blessed with a very strategic geopolitical location, because it has a port and makes import and export easier South Asian people are very hospitable ones, and very welcoming to the foreigners. But the people are not united, have no faith and no discipline. The people from various ethnicities have formed different groups and also quite often there are issues between the groups which mostly results in a fight over a disagreement. The most dominated religion in South Asia is Islam and according to its teachings Muslims should live in unity and peace and respect others’ religion, but this is not very prominent in this society and there are religious conflicts and ethnic differences causing many differences and difficulties within the society which also supports the point that the people there have no discipline. The people of South Asian have no vision because they live for the present and have nothing planned for their betterment. There is a lot of poverty in this society and its gradually increasing with time. Unemployment is on the rise and many people can’t even earn for their food and shelter. South Asian society is a victim of over population of 175 million. And its people are very much into blame game at almost every possible level. They just won’t accept their mistake and would try to put it on others, blaming others for one’s mistakes. Illiteracy in South Asia is at its peak. Although according to the statistics, literacy rate is quite high, but I don’t think being able to write one’s name and read a little bit makes a very good and criteria to measure literacy. This society lacks educated people, and every society requires a majority educated population to have a ‘vision’ and to excel and make a good respectable position in the international society.

Alizeh Gohar

Western influences on the political situations in Middle East


As we know through history that it is usually the holocaust to be blamed for the Israeli invading Middle Eastern countries. However, there is another perspective related to this invasion too; that is a religious perspective from Jews. They in their religious context had to return to the Holy land to reclaim that its their own. As mentioned in the scriptures, they were to emerge a ‘promised land’ and to bring the golden age back again which was there in Solomon’s and David’s kingdom.
After Israel invading Palestine, it further went to Egypt and Syria and Arab/Israeli war emerged. However, gaining victory, when Israeli forces came to Lebanon, a so called terrorist group ‘Hezbollah’ was able to drive these forces out of Lebanon. All throughout America supported Israel and Israel with the help of America was able to bring certain changes to some areas of Middle East.
On the other hand, British had a great control on Arabian Peninsula. In 1916, Abdul Aziz ibne Saud signed an agreement with Britain and gradually changed the political system of Arabia, making it Saudi Arabia, a monarchy of Saudi family. 
Likewise, British had a power/ influence on the Ottoman Empire after the world war. Hence, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, with the help of British, abolished the caliphate system in 1924 and made turkey a ‘Turkish republic’.
Over this 19th century western influences or super powers have influenced the political systems in Middle East and differently in different parts of Middle East.

Nageen Pervez

Strengths and weaknesses of South Asian society...



Like all other places in the world, South Asia has its own set of pros and cons; being a large combined continent has innumerable amounts of advantages and disadvantages both. We often focus on the cons and the bad parts of South Asia, especially if someone has a more westernized thought process, they think of South Asians as being backwards. However this is untrue, and one of the more pressing issues of South Asians is that they lack self-confidence and have a sense of inferiority because  they have been colonized and are still indirectly controlled by the West.
However, let’s take a look at the weaknesses of South Asia first. The main clichéd, yet extremely huge disadvantage is the overpopulation and poverty. This problem also relates to the problem of poverty in the sub continent, when there are so many people in a country so economically challenged, poverty streams from such a nation. The vicious cycle between overpopulation, poverty and a failed economy acts as an ever constant bane adding to the problems of this society. This is because when a whole subcontinent is deprived of the basic necessities of life, how can you expect it to survive in other aspects of the way a subcontinent is supposed to be.
Also, the South Asian sub-continent lacks unity, faith or discipline. The same traits our leaders hoped we would acquire and use in our daily lives. Unfortunately the leaders South Asia has seen over the years following its inception have left the area with no vision and have made us a corrupt nation starving for our own selfish interests.
Talking now about the good parts of the South Asian society, one such important trait that we posses is our rich culture and diversity. Though people can also consider multiculturalism as a negative trait for our nation, I believe that our multiculturalism can also be our strength, if we make it that way. If we become tolerant and start looking at unity within the diversity, we are actually a nation of many hidden talents. And our hardworking nature complements this very factor perfectly, only if we let ourselves shine.
South Asia also has tangible advantages; it is rich in resources and has strategic geographical locations with both land and water access that makes other countries clamoring for a place in its industries. Also, we are a growing nation of nuclear powers.
Lastly, South-Asians are extremely good hosts and the fact is, that they are an extremely strong society of people. They know how to make it when they have nothing or they will die trying. 
            To conclude, South Asia is a society full of hidden treasures, but we are not standing up to our true potentials because of unrest, intolerance and our lack of faith within ourselves. We have idolized the West for too long, and indirectly believe them to be our masters, who makes us forget our sense of independence and makes us dependent upon the others, and it restricts us from reaching the level that we could reach if we had the right mindsets.


Tehreem Fatima Rajani

Egypt revolution...


After 3 decades of continuous dictatorship by President Hosni Mubarak ,finally the Egyptians cannot bear him any longer. The death of democracy in their country and the failure of capitalistic system deriving the bulk of people in Egypt into stifling silence and poverty  which has now reached its climax.
The upcoming revolution in Egypt is one of the most significant events of the new year of 2011 which will surely impact other countries surrounding Egypt and stagger the snob demeanor of the USA which even though a democratic country has been supporting dictatorship to maintain a hegemonic stand in the middle east.
The Egyptian revolution got sparked because of the price hike , corruption and unfair maintenance of power by the president allowing the economy and social integrity to fall beyond terrible standards.
This  revolution has no bounds in religion caste creed or any political party it is solely for the purpose of reviving Egypt in its essence. Even men and women are standing up side by side without any discrimination in a country like Egypt which is infamous for its sexual harassment and this is by far the best part as it should have been a great sexual molestation opportunity for all the harassers but not a single woman reported to be harassed showing the purity of the movement. A movement that wants to synthesize the wrong and bring everything under a pure rule regardless of any single party and single religion and any single ethnicity it is a movement joined under a banner to rid Egypt of its deprivers.
Rida Rasool Hashmi

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Egypt Revolution, A historical moment...

It has been almost 30 years, one man is leading the fate of Egypt, but every thing is changing after a long dictorial regime of Mubarak,  every protest is making Mubarak to leave the power, but 30 years is long time, he is confident enough to survive despite all of the pro democratic protests. Thousands are protesting against him, they all want one thing, they all have one motto, one journey, that is “ No Mubarak”. Still there are predictions that Mubarak will survive, but power of people is power of god, every one of us knows Mubarak is in stress to leave the power.
            Protestors want democracy, alarming the situation for the middle east countries, where there is monarchic system or dictorial regime. Everything is going to be change because nothing is permanent except change. Pro democratic protestors Pro-democracy protesters blocked roads and railways, heavy crackdown is seen in reaction. Egypt opposition party name muslim brotherhood is part of the protest but leader of opposition is not well reputed personality. One of the opposition party leader said
            “There is no termination to this revolution and the people will not tolerate this regime”
The opposition leader referred to the widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo, Alexandria, Mansoura and Kharga over the past two days, and said the continued protests mean the “revolution is expanding and the regime is losing.” 

     Everybody is predicting this is last time for Mubarak, still he is there because he does not believe on people, he believe on inner hand, which will save him, I don’t think so personally. What I believe is that faces will change for the time being and everything will b normal after sometime, because Americans has larger interest in Egypt, and everything will change according to them.
            Three hundred people have been killed during protests, but ever protestor without any caste, creed, race, ethnicity, wants one thing removal of Mubarak. We hopefully pray that what the people of Egypt want may achieve (Ameen)

Faheem Yaseen

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Egypt and the Middle East Today...


Egyptian revolution is one of the most significant events to occur in 2011. The revolution started off on the 25th of January and is still prevailing in the Middle East. The revolution was sparked by the riots in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt
In my opinion the main cause of the revolution is the corruption which is prevailing. Hosni Mubarak is said to have eating the country’s national economy and is using it for his own expenses. The prices of the goods have also increased causing the people to come out on the streets and protest against the high level of price of the good and the corruption. According from a study, he is using 11 billion dollars for his personal expenses
Another main cause is the lack of democracy. The country is in the hand of the dictator for 30 long years and he is in no mood to step down from the power. The people can’t select their own leader and tell the current leader to step down or hold an election. He is using the army to stop the protests prevailing in the country.
As far as the west is concerned. It is still playing their games and politics to maintain its dom ination in the Arab countries. It is dreaming of creating a country with US like policies which is very less likely because during the protests, the protestors were chanting “Allah O Akbar” (God is Great).
America cannot bring their domination into Lebanon because Lebanon is backed by Iran and the Shiite extremist group, Hezbollah. Hezbollah has attacked American embassies and bombed their offices many times, so it will be a very heavy cost to dream western domination in an Islamic state.

Muhammad Raza Haidery

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Strengths and weaknesses of South Asian society...


People living in South Asia are very hardworking and dedicated. Chinese, Bengali and Pakistani labors are demanded all over the world because of their commitment and dedication.
Three countries namely Pakistan, India and Iran possess nuclear weapons. Foreign countries would think twice before waging a war against theses countries.
South Asia is rich in resources. There are several land mines, wide seas, trade links etc. there are excellent geographical locations too.
There is a lot of cultural diversity in this region. We get to experience so many different cultures and rituals. And all traditions are extremely lively and colorful in their respective manner.
South Asians are generally very hospitable and welcoming. There is a strong sense of bonding and hospitality seen in most regions of South Asia.
Nonetheless wee also observe that South Asian society lacks unity, discipline and order. If there is turmoil in one country we tend to blame the other neighboring countries for it. We also lack vision and farsightedness. The future planning is not ideal. Infrastructure and allocation of resources are not spread keeping the change in population structure. And here we see the overpopulation of South Asian countries that lead to further crisis for example illiteracy. Providing free and good education is not on top priority for some South Asian countries. When illiteracy is common, the illiterate masses become a burden on the society which leads to frustration and crime in societies. Intolerance towards each other in societies is seen, and eventually the intolerance is suffered on the macro level as well.


Sidra Qureshi

Religion and middle east...


Religion is a very important factor when it comes to ethnic conflicts in Muslim states but history shows that this is more dominant in Middle Eastern states. One of the reasons for this could be that the Middle East is a region that gave birth to three of the world’s most important religions. When a country or state’s religious population is very diverse, it is more likely to have violent domestic conflicts. And when religion is a dominant factor in these conflicts then ethnic , political, economic and culture discrimination and rebellion all then to increase. Also religious differences increase the likelihood of international wars.
It is religion that shapes discrimination against ethnic minorities. Religious and non-religious discrimination is more likely in states, such the states of the Middle East, where it is lawful to use religion in political discourse and in clashes where religious issues are important. Religious discrimination is likely against minorities which although might be culturally similar to the majority group but religion is the chief differentiating characteristic between the majority and the minority. Perhaps connected, religious minorities seeking autonomy are likely to suffer non-religious discrimination than ethnic minorities who are not distinguished by religion.
Also, autocratic regimes are more likely to discriminate against religious minorities, as compared to than non-autocratic regimes. One study finds that Muslim states are the most autocratic states in the world. And the Middle East is the most autocratic and least democratic region in the world. For this, history may provide an explanation. Democracy and the liberal ideologies upon which it is based were developed in the West. Accordingly, it is not surprising that the West is the most democratic region of the world. Thus, the link between the Middle East and autocracy may be due to historical and cultural forces than anything else. Also, the link between Islam and autocracy may be due to the fact that most Islamic states are in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, the regions that appear to have the highest levels of rejection of Western styles of government.


Sonal Arshad Siraj

The rise of Egyptians...


In Egypt a population has lost its fear of authority and taken to the streets in protests likely to bring about a huge change in their country and also the Arab world forever. Is this what we can call a democracy’s moment? Well according to many protestors that is what they want. Egyptians of all categories like old, poor, young, religious, comfortable and secular are talking the language of freedom and elections.
After 30 years of Mr. Mubarak, Egyptians don’t want to be ruled by another authoritarian ex-general in a suit. But the protestors in this case have outrun the politicians. The secular political opposition to Mr. Mubarak is weak because it has been oppressed for decades. There are few figures of stature for the protestors to rally around. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic opposition group remains an important force with unknown intentions. In open elections according to many estimates the Islamic parties might get around one-third of the Egyptians vote. Behind the scenes the military still controls the nation’s infrastructure of power through close ties with government officials and wide business interests.
This open voice of protestors in Egypt seems like an early stage of a process which might someday earn the title of ‘Egyptian Revolution’. Many analysts in the west were doubtful that Mr. Mubarak would last long when he became the president of Egypt since he had no popular following or international stature. Although many of those western analysts have now retired and Mubarak still is the president, and has been so for three decades now which is longer than any Egyptian leader since the 19th century founder of modern Egypt Mohammad Ali Pasha and this is so because he has ruled as a ‘quasi-military’ ruler.
For the entire period in presidency Mubarak has kept the nation under emergency law and gave his police sweeping powers of arrest and the right to ignore Egyptians’ basic freedoms. The authorities have used torture and indefinite detention to crush opposition.
Egypt poverty is not high according to the international standards. Incomes have seemed to be on the rise and progress on life expectancy, infant mortality, years of education and other indicators of Egypt have been quite impressive. But unemployment has not remained high especially among the educated urban youth. And inequality has been quite severe. Around 40% of Egypt citizens live on $2 or even less a day.
Mr. Mubarak has done little to prepare the way for any successor. He also had no vice president and he had given no public indication of who or what he wanted to come next. The citizens of Egypt thought for a long time that Mubarak wanted his son Gamal to succeed him in a type of pseudo monarchy but they weren’t quite sure about that since he never said anything about his succession. The entire nation was worried and concerned about the entire succession issue so the nation took the issue into its own hands and is now not ready to leave till the president decides he wants to leave.

Alizeh Gohar

In his sermon today...


In his sermon today, Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami said that in contrast to the U.S.’s dream of a new Middle East under its domination, a new Middle East based on Islamic principles is now taking shape.
The statement made above is the tip of the iceberg in what seems to be happening around the Middle Eastern states. Capitalism has failed, and failed drastically. The Egyptians in particular, want a change. They want a change in administration. Their President for the past thirty years, Hosni Mubarak has failed to deliver to the country according to them. Poverty, unemployment, corruption and human right violations are rampant. A change, they feel, is needed. In contrast, Hosni Mubarak still refuses to give up his presidency despite the large scale protests.  Although he has decided not to contest in the elections due this year, he still refuses to let go of his position.
Egypt is not the only one. The entire Middle East is rising. Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen and Syria are all on the warpath. They have a strong reason to believe that it the time is now to act and promote change. The way they have been led in the past has not worked for them, they have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of their respective governments or other governments surrounding them(Israeli pressure on Palestine).  This has put strong pressure on America and Israel, for whom an “Islamic Uprising” is dangerous. Israel’s right to exist is still strongly debated and its violence against the Muslims of Palestine has been seriously condemned in the past and a Muslim Uprising in neighboring countries would ensure increased pressure on Israel (even militarily) to discontinue its practices. This is in contrast to the current situation where the governments of most countries are US friendly and are as their citizens proclaim them “puppets” of the USA.  This is a seriously worrying situation for the US as the Middle East has control over the majority of Oil Production in the world and combined could be a grim threat to the balance of power in the world. Their loss of power over this area could be fundamental to them losing their status as the Most Powerful state in the world. Although American and Israeli lobbies are striving for(praying?) that the situation in the Middle East cools down and even if it doesn’t the revolution comes with American ideas and backing . This seems highly unlikely to me as it is the same American influence that most of the Arab population is against.


In  another statement made by  Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, he says Stating that the popular uprisings in the Arab world herald the creation of “an Islamic Middle East” based on the religion and religious democracy – in contrast to claims by former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that a new Middle East would be developed under the leadership of the U.S. and Israel – he underlined that this ongoing unrest is the aftershock of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
He added that the recent uprisings in the Arab world have Islamic support, as people poured into the streets with the slogan of “Allahu Akhbar (Allah is the Greatest).”


Hussain Vakharia 

Monday, February 7, 2011

Egypt rises...


The US government has supported dictatorships even under the banner of democracy. However, in the change that has sweeped the Middle East, two dictatorships have come under fire due to popular civilian revolts. Tunisia and Egypt, both supported by the USA, for their long term dictatorial regimes are now on the verge of collapse.  
After Tunisian revolts brought down the presidency of Ben Ali, the protests also spread to Egypt. The upper middle class as well as other strata’s of society joined revolts to oust Hosni Mubarak the Egyptian dictator ruling for the past 30 years. Mubarak paid no heed to protests initially but lately has begun to make concessions to appease protestors.
Initial protestors gathered in Tehrir Square and vowed to peacefully protests due to financial and food crisis. The protestors also added that Hosni Mubarak be brought down as a ruler and his reelection be banned. USA and Saudi Arabia pledged full support to Mubarak due to their interests in the state of Egypt. Saudi Arabia sees the spread of such a revolution to harm their interests and a threat to the Saudi monarchy. The protests also spread to Sana’a, Yemen, which further heightened world interest in Egyptian uprising. The Army in Egypt has refused to use any forceful means against protestors as long as the demonstrations remain peaceful.
However, on 3rd Feb, in a clash between Pro-Mubarak supporters and Anti-Mubarak protestors, journalists also got beaten up and harmed. Pro-Mubarak supporters amassed violence on the streets causing civil strife that ended with a number of injuries and deaths. Many journalists had to go into hiding and aired reports from hidden locations. Many were called back to their respective homelands after being released from the hospitals. US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, condemned the attack on journalists, calling it a attack on the freedom of speech and media. Twitter and facebook as well as other internet sites have been already banned in Egypt escalating the tension in the country.  
Though Hosni Mubarak has made concessions by stepping down from his leadership of the ruling party and cancelling his candidate for elections in September, protestors are still not evacuating Tehrir Square. Mubarak has been quoted as saying that he was tired of his rule and wished to step down, but he feared chaos in Egypt. People all over the world viewed the carnage that went down in Egypt on 3rd February and wonder how much more chaos Egypt would have to encounter due to Mubarak’s continued rule. Also, the world watches by as USA tries to edge Mubarak out of the picture while retaining a pro-US rule in Egypt. The world of politics is indeed a larger web than imagined.


Sarrah Millwala

Iran...


Iran’s nuclear program is one of the most heated topics in the most volatile regions of the world. While America and the European states tend to belief that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, Iran portrays that its goals are just to create nuclear energy in order to produce electricity so that it does not have to use up its oil fields which it would like to better reserve for export.
Top American officials have said that Iran has gathered enough nuclear energy to create an atom bomb within a year or so but might take it around three more to create a working bomb.  Iran has not only produced enough but has created reserves which have been an important point in making the western powers shake in their seats. This has been added by the push that the Israeli lobby asserts on the US. Israel is under the biggest threat if Iran tends to develop nuclear warheads. This is because of a long history of uncertainty between the states and also the existence of Hezbollah (being backed up financially by Iran).
Just discomfort led the western powers to take immediate steps; they imposed trade sanctions on Iran alienating them from main economic activity within and around the region. Now that Iran has allowed the IEA and the United nations to come and analyze their nuclear plants still the sanctions remain.
Even though the Western powers tend to believe Ahmed Dinejad’s stubborn and adamant nuclear policies to be the main reason in the anarchy in the Mid-eastern center, to me it has the only pivot that balances the blind American domination within the region. After Iraq been invaded by the united forces and the blind “trust” or puppetry by the Saudi royal family has made The US too dominant in the region. Iraq’s stand will balance out this power hold. Sanctions have not only made Iraq self reliant but also economically proven better for them because now they tend to grow from within than relying on the West.

Asad Dalal
0917140

Report on ‘The God That’s Failing’...


Alexander Cockburn’s article entitled ‘The God That’s Failing’ targets the Capitalist ideology that is so pervasive throughout the planet. It focalizes the United States, an utmost propagator of Capitalism that has made fruitless decisions in way of upholding it. Cockburn highlights the Western world’s failing relationship with not just the Third World but the Middle East. He projects a key reason behind this dilemma, ‘There is a God that’s failing – at least in its benign pretensions – and it’s called capitalism’.

Cockburn emphasizes on the recent Tunisian uprising and the subsequent and ongoing Egyptian revolution, both of which are partially resultants of the US’ Gestapo-like dominion in the region. In the midst of this muddle, it is almost impossible to develop a seeing-eye dog trust on the US and the ideology it so adamantly follows. The US’ carefully orchestrated missions with the aim of eliminating the ‘foe ideology – Communism’ are news to no one. The US’ combat and undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations against the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and Cuba, to name a few, were majorly driven by the urge to diminish the Communist perspective in its entirety.

The article makes one ponder over the legitimacy of Capitalism. The question that arises is that is the present day economy meeting basic human needs? The answer is No. Daniel De Leon says ‘Capitalism attacks and destroys all the finer sentiments of the human heart; it ruthlessly sweeps away old traditions and ideas opposed to its progress, and it exploits and corrupts those things once held sacred’.

In relation with Iran, the US is most certainly on the losing end. Iran’s power in the Middle Eastern region is rapidly burgeoning. The US, of course, is not in favor of a strong-willed Muslim country to curb its agenda of hegemonic maintenance. 

On a personal level, a few of Cockburn’s assertions are refutable. He provides poll-based statistics claiming that only a low percentage of Arabs agree with Washington that Iran is a threat. In addition, the poll shows that 57% of Arabs think that regional security would be enhanced if Iran had nuclear weapons. However, recent revelations of leaked US diplomatic cables, Wikileaks, show that Arab rulers secretly lobbied America to launch air strikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme. This goes to show the incremental trend within Arab countries to minimize the regional influence of Iran. This could be, perhaps, due to sectarian differences within the Middle East, and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s personal ideology of Apocalyptic hastening, among other things.

Going back to the crux of the article, Cockburn sheds light on a fact that the world seems to be in denial about – the dismantling Capitalist ideology. Just like the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, a global ideological revolution is in order!

Ayesha Shaikh
0917142

Middle East's battle against Capitalism...

It's been nearly a decade since the united states channelled the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center as the pretext to launch a war dubbed 'on terror' in the middle east when its true goal was to demonstrate theory military supremacy and to establish the unchallenged hegemony of American capitalism in the region.
The move has since served as the reason for enflaming peoples emotions against the United States and Washington both in the Middle East and internationally. 
The negative response and reaction is felt strongly and recognized by the United States as Graeme Bannerman, former Middle East analyst, stated that a policy by the middle eastern government that was anti-American and anti-capitalist was most well recieved and had the most public support with the people. 
This not only shows just how unpopular the American capitalist regime is in the middle east but the violent reaction and protest erupting in the region prior is evidence to that as well.
Will this lead to a global outright war against the US? Odds are that it will not. For the idea of a world war is the last on everyone's mind. However, it has erupted a sensation of revolution and rebellion in the area aiming to weaken the United States. An aim they themselves unwittingly performed by the war they waged which weakened their economy to the point of collapse in paying for the military expenditures (which goes in millions of US dollars) as well as the priceless cost of human life they took of both their own citizens and of the middle east.
Looking on as unwilling bystanders of the chaos brewing in the world, all that most of is can do is dwell in apathetic pity. But one must realize that the waves of change are triggered by a few, and all one needs to spark the world with positive change is a vision with a  conscience.



Onaiza Qureshi

Oil prices- middle east report...


U.S crude future above $89 on monday, recovering from a near 2 per cent drop in the previous session, supported by the political crisis in egypt and a drop in the U.S unemployment rate to a 21- month low.
The oil prices buoyed by comments made by the OPEC members at the weekend, kuwait said oil prices could exceed $110 a barrel if egypt unrest continues and venezuela said prices could more than double to $200 a barrel if the Suez canal closed. Iran on the other hand the rotating Opec president said there was no need for an emergency meeting even if prices hit $120.
Due to the reports of president Hosni Mubarak stepping down, oil prices went off speculation causing a 2% fall on friday.
Opposition including the muslim brotherhood had talks with the government to resolve egypt's political crisis but said the core demand of removal of president  demonstrators in central tahir square continue their protest to a 12 day battle to reinforce the removal ofthe president.
The matter really of concern of traders is the closing of  Suez canal causing a cut in supply of oil increasing prices. Even with the low unemployment levels sustaining, the $90 a barrel would hurt the economies recovery.
This is a large concern for major consumers, as the issue may spread to larger oil producers causing a sharp rise in prices.
Economies would have to resolve to alternatives to oil to sustain the uncertainity of oil prices.

Taha Qureshi