Asia

How to End the Stalemate With Iran

By SEYED HOSSEIN MOUSAVIAN and MOHAMMAD ALI SHABANI The New York Times THE stunning election of a pragmatic former Iranian nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, has offered the Obama administration a once-in-a-lifetime chance to end the atomic stalemate with Iran. In the West, Mr. Rowhani is widely seen as a turbaned […]

The Foreign Policy Impact of Iran’s Presidential Election

Source: Stratfor: By Michael Nayebi-Oskoui and Kamran Bokhari Iranians went to the polls Friday to elect outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s successor. Candidates reported few serious problems with the process, and the losers sent congratulations to the eventual winner, Hassan Rouhani. Compared to the political instability that followed Ahmadinejad’s 2009 re-election, […]

Analysis: In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa budget, PTI lays out a strong start

Source: ET Public safety gets the second-highest allocation, at nearly Rs38 billion, no surprise in a province that has faced the onslaught of a brutal militant insurgency. DESIGN-FAIZAN DAWOOD/FILE KARACHI: Finance Minister Sirajul Haq may have delivered the address, but the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa budget had Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf economic wizard Asad Umar’s fingerprints […]

Muslims at War with Themselves

Editor’s note: I have taken the liberty to change the title of this article. It is because we must make a distinction between Islam and Muslims. It is not Islam at war, it is Muslims at war with each other for political reasons using Islam for that purpose. Islam at […]

Touting Islam to Draw Votes in Indonesia

BOGOR, Indonesia — With its tree-lined streets, Dutch colonial buildings and soothing botanical gardens, the quaint West Java mountain town of Bogor hardly appears a hotbed of religious intolerance. Yet Bogor is on the front line of a national debate in Indonesia about religious freedom, amid an increase in discrimination and violent […]

Idea of a two-state solution has reached ‘dead end,’ Bennett says (Israeli minister)

Economy minister says Israel must stop trying to solve the problem and ‘live with it;’ likens Palestinian problem to shrapnel injury in the backside; Chief Palestinian negotiator Erekat: Israel officially declared death of two-state solution. By Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury HAARETZ ISRAEL SOURCE: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idea-of-a-two-state-solution-has-reached-dead-end-bennett-says.premium-1.530310

Rouhani vows transparency on nuclear issue

Source: BBC Iran is ready to show more transparency on its nuclear programme, says President-elect Hassan Rouhani. In his first news conference since Friday’s vote, Mr Rouhani also described as unfair sanctions imposed on the country over the issue. And he said Tehran would not suspend its uranium enrichment activities. […]