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8. februar 2006
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Irshad Manji, in an article very much worth reading, writes:
At the World Economic Forum in January, I observed something revealing. In a session about the U.S. religious right, a cartoonist satirized one of America's most influential Christian ministers, Pat Robertson. In the audience, chuckling with the rest of us, was a prominent British Muslim. But his smile disappeared the moment we were shown a cartoon that made fun of Muslim clerics.
Via Document.no.
11:55:49 PM 
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Norway has been heavily involved in pro-Palestinian causes, including the observer force called the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH). The present TIPH chief, Arnstein Øverkil, is actually the former chief of Norway's security services (PST). Earlier today, he needed everything he knew about security as the 60 unarmed observers, 21 Norwegians among them, were forced to evacuate Hebron when more than 300 protesters scared away whatever excuse the Palestinian Authority had put up as police protection, and attacked the TIPH buildings.
The demonstrators, mostly youths, at first managed to disperse Palestinian police guarding the building. The protestors, chanting "Denmark out of Hebron" tried to set fire to one of the buildings. The 12 Danish TIPH members have been temporarily evacuated to Tel Aviv.
Palestinian police and eventual reinforcements of Israeli soldiers managed to keep the youth at bay, though by then nearly all of the windows in the three-story building and three TIPH vehicles had been destroyed.
"This alone was unique - I have never before experienced armed Palestinians and Israelis cooperating like this," said Norwegian TIPH press officer Gunhild Luise Forselv.
Now that is charming, isn't it? Somehow I think I can guess who provided the muscles of the operation.
Keep in mind that Israelis live in this neighbourhood all the time, and while these observers (really a pro-Palestinian propaganda tool) can run away to Tel Aviv when the going gets tough, there would be nowhere for the Israelis to run if they hadn't properly defended themselves.
11:48:05 PM
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Amir Taheri is among those who argue that there is far more to the cartoon wars than the angry young Muslims of the "Arab street."
"The Muslim Fury," one newspaper headline screamed. "The Rage of Islam Sweeps Europe," said another. "The clash of civilizations is coming," warned one commentator. All this refers to the row provoked by the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper four months ago. Since then a number of demonstrations have been held, mostly--though not exclusively--in the West, and Scandinavian embassies and consulates have been besieged.
But how representative of Islam are all those demonstrators? The "rage machine" was set in motion when the Muslim Brotherhood--a political, not a religious, organization--called on sympathizers in the Middle East and Europe to take the field. A fatwa was issued by Yussuf al-Qaradawi, a Brotherhood sheikh with his own program on al-Jazeera. Not to be left behind, the Brotherhood's rivals, Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party) and the Movement of the Exiles (Ghuraba), joined the fray. Believing that there might be something in it for themselves, the Syrian Baathist leaders abandoned their party's 60-year-old secular pretensions and organized attacks on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and Beirut.
Read the rest. A very interesting perspective of Islam and images, with historical examples showing there is no such absolute ban in Islam, as I noted earlier.
There are strong political forces behind the current unrest. and the majority of the world's Muslims are just confused spectators to it, like the rest of us.
PS: Read the take Bill in INDC Journal has on this article.
There are extremists who play this controversy for their advantage, and by turning the west against all Muslims, they win. We don't.
11:30:36 PM
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A study into the relationship between fat consumption and cancer and heart diseases is receiving a lot of attention today.
The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.
"These studies are revolutionary," said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. "They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy."
The study, published in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, was not just an ordinary study, said Dr. Michael Thun, who directs epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society. It was so large and so expensive, Dr. Thun said, that it was "the Rolls-Royce of studies." As such, he added, it is likely to be the final word.
"We usually have only one shot at a very large-scale trial on a particular issue," he said.
The results, the study investigators agreed, do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce their heart disease and cancer risk. Given the lack of benefit found in the study, many medical researchers said that the best dietary advice, for now, was to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating, with less saturated and trans fats, more grains, and more fruits and vegetables.
I wouldn't dismiss this out of hand, but I have to note that the study only follows the subjects for eight years. Cancers and most heart diseases typically take much longer to develop, as far as I know. It is certainly not the last word.
5:46:14 PM
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© Copyright 2006 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2006; 16:49:29.
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