Rafiq A. Tschannen is a Swiss national. He converted to Islam and joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the age of 16 after reading the German translation of the Holy Qur'an. He worked in 15 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, first as Finance Director in the private industry and later as Chief Executive Officer of NGOs and International Governmental Organizations. He is now devoting his time to The Muslim Times as Editor for Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Switzerland and as Associate Chief Editor.
Source: Stratfor: The June 15 edition of the Jordan Times reported that Amman had beefed up security along its border with Iraq amid fears that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is inching toward the kingdom. Quoting unnamed Islamist sources, the report added that the jihadist group had […]
Now we will have the bizarre spectacle of the US joining Iran in strengthening the Al Maliki regime against the ISIS threat, while trying to bring down Iran’s Syrian ally, President Bashar Al Assad, a goal Washington shares with ISIS Razi Azmi June 19, 2014 The pharaoh is having the […]
Source: Balkan Insight Croatia’s centre-left government is striving to end quarrels with the powerful Catholic Church over education in what is seen as a move to boost its tumbling ratings. Vedran Molnar, the new Minister of Education, is to meet the Catholic primates of both Croatia and Bosnia – and […]
Did the U.S. and Israel Want Open-Ended Chaos in the Mideast? They might have quite coldly and consciously fomented conflict in order to achieve their strategic objectives in the region. By Thomas Harrington, CounterPunch June 17, 2014 | During the last week we have seen Sunni militias take control of […]
June 19, 2014 12:11 AM By David Ignatius The Daily Star STORY SUMMARY Let’s look at the reality on the ground in the Middle East: Iraq and Syria are effectively partitioned along sectarian lines; Lebanon and Yemen are close to fracturing; Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia survive intact, but as […]
Source: CNN She wore a white dress; he wore a tuxedo and her family wore kilts in honor of her Scottish heritage. After they exchanged vows and rings and sealed the deal with a kiss, an officiant in a black robe pronounced them husband and wife. Then, they dined and […]
by Sami Ramadani, THE GUARDIAN Tony Blair has been widely derided for his attempted justification of the 2003 Iraq invasion, and his claim last weekend that he’s blameless over the current turmoil. Unfortunately, though, many of his critics have also bought into a central plank of his argument: that Iraqi […]
One of the facts exposed by recent events in Iraq is that the Gulf states have no strategy for addressing the troubles pulsing dangerously through that country beyond “wait and see”. These Arab countries are suddenly facing unprecedented challenges in Iraq: insurgents have eradicated the border with Syria, reached the […]
LONDON: British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday that “circumstances are right” to reopen Britain’s embassy in Iran, which was closed in 2011 after hard-liners overran the building and ransacked it. The announcement, which had been in the works for months as part of a slow rapprochement between the two […]
MOHAMMED FAHAD AL-HARTHI Published — Wednesday 18 June 2014 ARABNEWS.COM At the annual Global Editors Network Summit in Barcelona this week, I was one of many delegates taken by surprise by the head of the Catalonian government welcoming us to the future state of Catalonia. He then went on to […]
June 18, 2014 12:18 AM By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star STORY SUMMARY The open warfare and shaken statehood that characterize Syria, Iraq and Libya are the painful commemoration of the Arabs’ own 100 Years War for stable, legitimate statehood. Syria, Libya and Iraq are only the most dramatic […]
Maliki’s alienation of Sunni actors is at the heart of ISIS’s success in Iraq. The story of the ongoing events in Iraq is one of lost opportunities. By December 2013, […]
Geopolitical Weekly Tuesday, June 17, 2014 – 03:05 Text Size Stratfor By Reva Bhalla Events in Iraq over the past week were perhaps best crystallized in a series of photos produced by the jihadist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Sensationally called The Destruction […]
The Middle East is experiencing yet another one of its periodic convulsions. The region lives from crisis to crisis, but the events in Iraq last week may speak to something larger, a geopolitical watershed that leaves key players in disarray. After $1tn in total spending, US hopes for Iraq are […]
151. Lend to Allah a goodly loan [73:21] Surely, thy Lord knows that thou standest up praying for nearly two thirds of the night, and sometimes half or a third thereof, and also a party of those who are with thee. And Allah determines the measure of the night and […]
152. Render not vain your alms by taunt and injury [2:265] O ye who believe! render not vain your alms by taunt and injury, like him who spends his wealth to be seen of men, and he believes not in Allah and the Last Day. His case is like the […]
Source: Stratfor. Revisiting a Mysterious Meeting in Sochi Just days before the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-led offensive in Iraq, a quiet meeting took place at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vacation spot in Sochi on June 3. Putin invited Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to see him and […]
BY RAMZI BAROUD, ARABNEWS.COM Iraqi Shiite fighters chanted “Labeiki ya Zaynab,” as they swayed, dancing with their rifles before TV news cameras in Baghdad on June 13. They were apparently getting ready for a difficult fight ahead. That chant alone is enough to demonstrate the ugly sectarian nature of the […]
AMMAN — The Jordan Press Foundation will issue a supplement with Al Rai Arabic daily on Tuesday that focuses on sectarianism, extremism and the future of the region. The 12-page supplement, prepared by Al Rai Centre for Studies, deals with several current issues, including obstacles in dealing with extremism and […]
Rana Hussaini, Jordan Times AMMAN — Around 20 men and women protested in front of the Interior Ministry on Monday demanding full citizenship rights for children of Jordanians women married […]