Author Archives

Rafiq A. Tschannen

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.

"All hell will break loose"

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 […]

The sectarian myth of Iraq

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 […]

UK to reopen embassy in Tehran

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 […]

Middle East: Death by idendity

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 […]

Sectarian monster reawakened in Iraq

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 […]