by Daniel Pipes*

In a recent analysis, “Was Barack Obama a Muslim?” I surveyed available evidence and found it suggests “Obama was born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian step-father.” In response, David Brock’s organization, Media Matters for America (MMfA), which calls itself a “progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media,” has criticized one of my sources of information.

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By Barry Rubin

Much will be said about Benazir Bhutto’s assassination; little will be understood about what it truly means. I’m not speaking here about Pakistan, of course, as important as is that country. But rather the lesson–as if we need any more–for that broad Middle East which begins in Pakistan and ends on the Atlantic Ocean coast.

This is a true story. Back in 1946, an American diplomat asked an Iranian editor why his newspaper angrily criticized the United States but never the Soviet Union. The Iranian said that it was obvious. “The Russians,” he said, “they kill people.”

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By Phyllis Chesler

Today, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has taken a high-minded, utterly rational, and insanely expensive full-page ad in the New York Times and in the International Herald Tribune in which it denounces “Suicide Terror.” It calls upon the “world to act” against the “plague” of such attacks which have “murdered thousands of innocents,” and it displays the photo of the late Benazir Bhutto, whose claim to innocence has been widely disputed but whose assassination, in my opinion, was utterly tragic.

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By Barry Rubin

Ring, ring, goes the telephone. And of course I answer it.

The voice on the other end says that he is “Joseph” of Reuters. I get many calls from journalists and wire services but never has someone I don’t know introduced himself by first name only. Since he has an obvious Arabic accent it is quite clear that he thinks I am either so biased as to care what his family name is or so stupid not to guess why he isn’t giving it.

So the effect is to achieve the exact opposite of what he wants. It puts me on my guard.

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by P. R. Kumaraswamy*

As the U.S.-Iranian dispute escalates, both Washington and Tehran seek friends and allies. New Delhi is caught in the middle. While the U.S.-Indian partnership has grown closer in recent years, New Delhi’s approach toward Iran’s suspected nuclear program causes concern in Washington. Overshadowing the debate is India’s own nuclear program. With the July 2005 U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear deal yet to win U.S. Senate ratification, is India seeking to strengthen its energy security through Iran? Or is New Delhi pursuing the civilian nuclear deal without being sensitive to Washington’s concerns vis-à-vis Iran?

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By Phyllis Chesler

They have dishonored our shores for quite some time and more keep coming our way.

I am talking about honor killings in North America. In The Death of Feminism, I write about honor murders in Missouri, Ohio, and in parts of New Jersey, New York, and Canada which took place during the last quarter-century.

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By Phyllis Chesler

It was snowing in Teheran when they hung the twenty seven year-old mother of two children earlier today in the notorious Evin Prison. From the moment she was arrested, she had not been allowed to ever see her children again. Her name was Raheleh Zamani and she had been married off when she was only 15 years old. The political campaign to halt or commute her execution failed.

This tragic story could easily be one of the tales in Marjane Satrapi’s film, Persepolis.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

John Edwards has been trying to con Americans into believing he is for the common man, even though he is by no means a common man. Well, today his “populist” message has turned even more sociopathic than it has ever been before. Yeah, his rush to completely abandon Iraq may attract the votes of a few extremists, but not those of mainstream Americans. From the NYT:

John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months. …

That’ll show our enemies who’s (not) in charge! Retreat when we’re starting to win?

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To: njdc “at” njdc.org, nynjdc “at” njdc.org
From: Bill Levinson
Posted to IsraPundit and other blogs

The National Jewish Democratic Council has rightly challenged Ron Paul’s acceptance of $500 from former Ku Klux Klansman Don Black, the proprietor of “White Pride World Wide” Stormfront.org. While the Paul campaign states that this merely takes $500 from Black’s pocket without buying him anything from the Paul campaign, it does buy him some something: publicity. It is a matter of record, as shown by our screenshot of our message to Ron Paul, that this has been pointed out to him. Furthermore, it is a matter of record that we have asked the Paul campaign to disown and repudiate the Ron Paul for President banner ads that are running at Stormfront.org.

It is also a matter of record that we asked the National Jewish Democratic Council to state a position on Hillary Clinton’s, Barack Obama’s, and John Edwards’ promotion and empowerment of the prominent racist and anti-Semite Al Sharpton. So far, this request has gone unacknowledged and unanswered.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

The numbers — facts on the ground — continue to disprove the naysayers who would have us flush Iraq down the toilet, just to satisfy a political score/sore:

… Earlier on Tuesday, a number of Iraqi ministries released data suggesting that the number of civilian[s] killed in Iraq was continuing to fall.

The December death toll was 480, down from almost 900 two months previously and about 2,000 in December 2006. …

American military deaths also fell in December, dropping to 21 compared to more than 100 in December 2006.

Other likely factors behind the fall in deaths are the emergence of Sunni tribal groups opposed to al-Qaeda and the truce called by Shia militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. …

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by Daniel Pipes*

Palestinians have a hidden history of appreciating Israel that contrasts with their better-known narrative of vilification and irredentism.

The former has been particularly evident of late, especially since Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, floated a trial balloon in October about transferring some Arab-dominated areas of eastern Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. As he rhetorically asked about Israeli actions in 1967, “Was it necessary to annex the Shuafat refugee camp, al-Sawahra, Walajeh, and other villages, and then to state that these are part of Jerusalem? One can ask, I admit, some legitimate questions about this.”

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