Iraq, Turkey up anti-PKK cooperation

Iraq and Turkey agree to continue a joint effort against Kurdish Workers Party militants operating along their shared mountainous border.

“Iraq is in a serious fight with terrorism, as we are as well. Terrorism is a common issue for us,” said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after meeting with his visiting Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday.

Erdogan an al-Maliki also agreed to hold regular meetings to discuss the latest developments in fighting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Insurgents.

The Middle East’s Water Crisis

The River Jordan has flowed freely for thousands of years, its name immortalized in the Hebrew Bible and its lush upper reaches once known as the gates to the Garden of Eden. This summer, however, large sections of this storied river were reduced to a trickle, the water so low that grass fires spread freely across the Jordan Valley between Palestine and Jordan. Steadily drained over the past half century to quench the thirst and grow the crops of the people of Israel, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian territories, the Jordan River has been dealt a deathblow recently by a severe drought and by yet another tributary dam, this one on the Jordanian-Syrian border

Iraqi females suffer in US custody

Iraqi women in the US custody

Hundreds of Iraqi women are being held under humiliating conditions in the US custody in Iraq, without being charged, a report indicates.
According to released Iraqi prisoners, female detainees are being raped by US troops and forced into undressing in front of the guards, Wisam Al-Bayati, Press TV correspondent in Baghdad reported Sunday. “What I have suffered inside American prisons is so terrible that I can’t express in words” a former prisoner told Press TV. She explained that she was detained during a US raid on her house in Diyala.”They took me to get information about my husband and they kept me for one year and a half without being charged,” she added

Human rights & peace in the middle east – Arabism & radical Islam discrimination on the “other”

Human rights & peace in the middle east – Arabism & Islam discrimination on the “other”
[Analysis] Peace will prevail when economic, social and cultural rights are granted to all … The Middle East… conflicts…  For example:

* the Israel and [so called] “Occupied Territories” (Palestine) issue

* the conflict between Hamas and the Fatah; the Iraq conflict

* the conflict in Afghanistan

* conflicts within Saudi Arabia

* the security concerns, especially the nuclear threat, that Ahmadinajad’s Iran poses

NO Arab university among the top 400 in the world

The failure of Arab universities to make it to the Best 400 list is indeed a source of frustration for a region that pins big hopes on the potential contributions of higher education to national development. A glimmer of hope amid the university gloom

The publication of the THES-QS World University Rankings for 2008 brings unhappy news for aspiring institutions of higher education in many regions, including the Arab world. According to the rankings, not one Arab university is among the top 400 in the world. The THES-QS report comes on the heels of the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute of Higher Education, which offers an equally dismal assessment of Arab universities against global benchmarks.

UN wants world nuclear disarmament

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged nuclear powers to dismantle their atomic arsenals in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“Nuclear weapons produce horrific, indiscriminate effects. Even when not used, they pose great risks,” said Ban in a Friday conference at the East-West Institute. “Accidents could happen any time. The manufacture of nuclear weapons can harm public health and the environment,” he added. Nuclear-armed states, which include the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China, have yet to fulfill their NPT obligations and abolish their warhead arsenals.

rReport: Maliki won’t sign divisive SOFA

Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki ‘will not sign’ the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) over fears that it might create division in the country.

A lawmaker from the United Iraqi Alliance, Iraq’s most powerful parliamentary bloc, made the announcement, adding that a “national consensus” is required before any move, the McClatchy Newspaper reported on Saturday. MP Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer, who is also the deputy head of Iraq’s Supreme Islamic Council, added that the country’s political leaders are thinking about alternative options, including an extension of the UN mandate for the presence of US troops inside the country.

Islamic banking

Islamic banking refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with Islamic law (Sharia) principles and guided by Islamic economics. Shariah is the Islamic legal framework covering all aspects of lives of Muslims – private and public – including trade, commerce and business. In particular, Islamic law prohibits usury (charging exorbitant rates of interest when lending money), the collection and payment of interest, also commonly called riba in Islamic discourse. In addition, Islamic law prohibits investing in businesses that are considered unlawful, or haraam (such as businesses that sell alcohol or pork, or businesses that produce media such as gossip columns or pornography, which are contrary to Islamic values)

Barzani travel to Iran heading a delegation of Kurdish parties

Iraqi Kurdish politician revealed that the President of Iraq’s Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani on Wednesday to travel to Tehran to meet with senior Iranian officials, to discuss topics of common interest, in addition to developing existing relations between the Territory and the Islamic Republic of Iran.The President of the Kurdistan Toilers Party capable Aziz in an interview with “Uzmatik”, late on Tuesday that “Barzani will head a delegation comprising a number of leaders of political parties,” noting that “the visit is an official invitation from the Iranian side.”

Democracy meets moderate Islamists wishes

A quick look at the Islamic countries reveals the fact that moderate Islam coordinates democratic values. In fact if democracy establishes in these countries, moderate Islamists will gain more than anybody else. They will receive the freedom of activities and get ride of cruel dictators which limits their freedom. here is more concrete examples:
In Egypt if a free and just election happens, moderate Islamists will surely achieve at least their minimum rights. Maybe they can win majority of seats of parliament.
In Turkey the situation of Islamists is better. Any time that a free election is performed the winner is an Islamic party like Adalat, Fazilat and Refah. And whenever the military forces prevent free election, the Islamists stand in weaker position.
In Pakistan if general Mosharaf issue the permission of a really free election Islamists will gain more benefits and the freedom of activity.
In Europe Moslems gain a lot of the democratic atmosphere and whenever an undemocratic decision”n like the laws against Hijab” is taken, Islamist will lose more than any body else.
Who is against democracy in Islamic countries?
1- The dictator rulers who feel unsafe about free democracy. They know that in a free democratic election they won’t win.
2- The United States of America! It is surprising if one says that the U.S.A is always at the side of dictators and stands against democracy in Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and any other Islamic country.