Islam

The wires are ablaze with the news that Syria’s deputy oil minister, Abdo Hussameldin, has switched sides to the country’s opposition. His is, after all, the most high-ranking defection so far, and he doesn’t have any kind words for his former employers. As he puts it in a video that has been posted on YouTube, the current regime are ‘not friends of the Syrian people but partners in the killing of the Syrian people’. We shouldn’t, however, get too excited just yet. This could be a significant moment, not least because it suggests that Assad’s hold over his own government is beginning to weaken. But it’s also worth remembering that

How go those talks with the Taliban in Doha? Quietly, that’s how — although there’s a report in yesterday’s The Hindu that could reveal some of what’s being said, and is worth the time reading because of it. According to the paper’s diplomatic sources, the Taliban want Mullah Mohammed Omar installed as ‘supreme religious and political leader’ of Afghanistan. And, yes, that is the Mullah Omar who sheltered Al Qaeda when he actually was in charge of Afghanistan, and whose policy agenda included the death penalty for those converting to another religion, as well as the general subjugation of women, gay people, individuality, etc. He’s currently wanted to the tune

The Prime Minister, we are told, has been trying to reach the King of Jordan to see if some kind of arrangement can be made so that Abu Qatada can be deported legally and that no forms of torture-gained evidence will used against him in a Jordanian court. This seems like a sensible thing to do. But it is important that the government balances its counter-terrorism policy with its foreign policy.   Here is what I mean. Jordan is a friend of Britain, but the King is under tremendous pressure to reform. There are daily demonstrations against his rule and the protests are gathering pace. His reforms, meanwhile, have been

The future of Egypt has been hanging in the balance since Hosni Mubarak was toppled. Now there is real cause for concern, as scores of protesters clash with state security forces. The problem, above all, is military overreach. Stuck in a 1960s view of itself, and keen to preserve their money, status and power, the military has been thwarting the process of change. Since Mubarak’s fall they have continued behaving how they always have and worse — arresting protesters, muttering about US-led conspiracies, demanding extra-constitutional rights and clamping down on dissent. Worst of all, the West has been all to willing to take them at their word. Especially the Obama

On Tuesday night the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was firebombed, presumably by Islamic terrorists, for naming the Prophet Mohammed its editor-in-chief. Nobody was hurt in the attack but the newspaper’s offices have been destroyed. They still managed to see the light side, running a commentary saying “After Greece, save Charlie”. The left-wing paper has never been as popular as its main rival Le Canard Enchaine but its outrageous cartoons and caricatures are a staple of French kiosk fronts. Naming Mohammed editor may be one of the more tame things the newspaper has done. But whether it is tasteless or not, the magazine’s right to publish, insult and ridicule is

Gaddafi was buried this morning, but Libya’s problems remain firmly above ground. The news emerging from the country is mostly grim: a possible massacre by anti-Gaddafi fighters; the hint of complicity on the part of Libya’s new leadership; Saif Gaddafi’s continuing elusiveness, and so on. Revolution and civil war are never done cleanly, sure. But just because the current situation is unsurprising doesn’t make it any less shocking. Unsurprising yet shocking. Much the same could be said of Mustafa Abdul-Jalil’s declaration that Islamic Sharia law would be the “main source” of all legislation in Libya from now on. Unsurprising, because Libya is, on the whole, a conservative Muslim country. Shocking,

A flurry of news yesterday evening, among it Slovakia’s rejection of the euro bailout and even more ado about our Defence Secretary. But nothing nearly as striking as the alleged Iranian plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Drugs, money, geopolitics, potential mass slaughter — this is a web of the most tangled and terrifying kind. And, according to US officials, it all leads back to Tehran. Assuming that that’s the case, there can few more alarming reminders of the threat posed by Iran. Here is a regime that is bent on terror and destabilisation — and bent, also, on acquiring a nuclear weapon. Little wonder why politicians from