human-rights
Journalist Still in Crosshairs: Asks Supporters to Make Noise About His Plight
June 11, 2009
Today Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury e-mailed me that unknown men continue to stake out his family’s home and to chase his car, on motorcycles, when he leaves the house.
Such a pattern is extremely worrisome, he...
Moderates Stand Firm in Lebanon
June 9, 2009
Congratulations to the people of Lebanon who this week cast their votes against extremism and brutality.
The dynamic of extremists and elites who refuse compromise, and are inclined to seize power, imposing their will on a pliant, intimidated...
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Let’s Find Out What it Means To Us
June 4, 2009
In his speech last Thursday in Cairo, President Obama emphasized his respect for the Muslim world. While the notion that, with superior diplomatic skills, Obama can sweet talk fanatics like Iran’s Ahmadinejad into becoming statesmen...
Dissident Watch: Mithal al-Alusi
May 30, 2009
Spring 2009
Amid growing conservatism and ethnic and sectarian populism in Iraq, parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi, a Sunni Arab, has become the country’s chief advocate for liberal values including a free market, free press, religious...
Interview With C. Holland Taylor, Co-founder of LibForAll Foundation, an NGO That Argues for Rejecting Extremists’ Definition of Islam
May 29, 2009
It has been less than five years since the founding of the LibforAll Foundation, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to supporting moderate Muslims and promoting a nonviolent, pluralistic interpretation of Islam....
U.S. Attorneys, Activists, and Journalists Convene to Defend Free Speech in Washington D.C. Today
May 19, 2009
United in their commitment to defense of free speech against the threat of harassment by radical Islamists, speakers at today’s “Islamist Lawfare” conference, hosted in Washington D.C. by Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum, debated...
It’s Gone from High Noon to Kumbayah at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington D.C.
May 5, 2009
The mood at this year’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference – the yearly gathering that drew thousands of Israel-supporters from Sunday till today to be briefed on issues related to the U.S.-Israel...
Durban II Would Have Been Good Comedy, Were Abuses by the Self-appointed Arbiters Not So Appalling
April 23, 2009
Serious defense of Israel shone alongside clever and zany protest at the United Nations Conference Against Racism in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this week.
For representatives of countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Cuba to sit on...
The Founding Fathers Would Have Been Proud of Tea Party Demonstrators
April 21, 2009
This opinion piece, which ran in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review today, discusses the significance of the tax day tea parties as a healthy expression of the right to petition government for redress of grievances. As the piece...
Good Call on Durban II, Mr. President
April 20, 2009
In boycotting the second United Nations Conference Against Racism (dubbed “Durban II”), being held today in Geneva, Switzerland, President Barack Obama has shown leadership in opposing anti-Semitism.
Over the weekend,...