[xerxes]

It's a good article, but it seems it didn't attract the attention of the Muslim haters here for some reason.

[Sonic_Monkey]

Thanks for posting the article. Very interesting and insightful, seeing as I've been wondering to myself whether or not Islamic society is at a cross-roads in progress - whether to stick to the views of old or adapt to today's realities.

Muslims sure have a hard PR battle to fight, other than terrorists...

[Wullu]

We were supposed to come a running the second Avro makes a post? No one tells me anything.

I read this "woe is me" crap yesterday when it came out. Did something change between yesterday and today? It is the West's fault! They oppressed the muslims!! Bullshit!!! Every other culture with a major religion as its centre has progressed over the last 100 years because those religions, by and large, have progressed and changed.

[Wullu]

Avro Avro:

Wullu Wullu:

We were supposed to come a running the second Avro makes a post? No one tells me anything.

I read this "woe is me" crap yesterday when it came out. Did something change between yesterday and today? It is the West's fault! They oppressed the muslims!! Bullshit!!! Every other culture with a major religion as its centre has progressed over the last 100 years because those religions, by and large, have progressed and changed.

What a shock to find you didn't read it.

Thanks for being typical and closed minded.

What part of this part of the drivel has you confused?

$1:

Most Muslims live in the developing world, much of it colonized by Western powers as recently as 50 years ago. Not all Muslim shortcomings emanate from colonialism and neo-imperialism, but several do.

As part of the spoils of the First World War, Britain and France helped themselves to much of the Ottoman Empire, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and what is now Israel, Jordan and the Palestine Authority. In later years, they and other European colonial powers created artificial states such as Kuwait and Nigeria. Or they divided peoples and nations along sectarian lines, such as bifurcating India in 1947 into Muslim Pakistan and largely Hindu India. In more recent years, the United States has maintained repressive proxy regimes in the Middle East to stifle public anti-Israeli sentiments, keep control of oil and maintain a captive market for armaments.

While the past casts a long shadow over Muslims, it is the present that haunts them. Hundreds of millions live in zones of conflict, precisely in the areas of European and American meddling, past and present — U.S.-occupied Iraq, U.S.-controlled Afghanistan, the Israeli Occupied Territories, and Kashmir, the disputed Muslim state on the border of India and Pakistan in the foothills of the Himalayas. Only the Russian war on Muslim Chechnya is not related to the history of Western machinations, but even that has had the tacit support of the Bush administration. These conflicts, along with the economic sanctions on Iraq, have killed an estimated 1.3 million Muslims in the last 15 years alone. Why are we surprised that Muslims are up in arms?

In addition, nearly 400 million Muslims live under authoritarian despots, many of them Western puppets

In four paragraphs, the west or a reference to the west as being the root of muslim problems 12 times. Nice to see you did not read your own post.

[SireJoe]

Its interesting though. (And I dont fully agree with those paragraphs) Can one say that the "influences" of the west have not altered the preception and ideologies of these regions? Can you seriously claim that the west has had NO effect on the region?

Now, I would not state that ALL the muslim problems stem from western influence, but it is certainly not out of the realm of possibility to think that the west has indeed negatively affected an area that has had plenty of turmoil. To say that it isnt "our fault" is a bit blind. But at the same time, it is certainly not a point to say it is ALL our fault.

I dunno, I think the left and the right are both wrong. The middle is usually the right way to go. A good old fashioned compromise would be nice right aboot now.

[grainfedprairieboy]

Avro Avro:

I liked the article because of it's balance while you didn't like it because of it's balance.

Balance? Balance? Balance? Only an islamofascist like yourself would find anything Siddiqui writes as balance. Isn't he still the editorial page editor emeritus of The Toronto Star? Canada's largest daily is nothing more than Al Jazeera lite and it explains why they vote lieberal.

According to Honest Reporting Canada watch:

it was Haroon Siddiqui's columns that tipped the balance of opinion at the Star heavily against Israel. In three successive columns on August 21, August 25 and August 28, Siddiqui relentlessly hammered home the idea that Israel alone was to blame for the Arab-Israeli conflict. He even turned over an entire column to three Arab Canadians who poured forth a litany of anti-Israel charges.

Siddiqui's columns introduced claims such as, "Keeping the land and getting rid of the people has always been the Israeli way," and "Today, human life and suffering does not matter if you are Arab, Muslim or from a Third World country." He criticized Israel for not allowing Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to have "the guns, the ammunition and the armoured vehicles he needs to do the job," while failing to mention that weapons provided to the Palestinians under previous agreements were turned against Israel, costing a thousand lives. He even seemed to fondly recall the Saddam Hussein regime, arguing that before the U.S. invasion, "Iraq was secular, with women enjoying rights. Now it is controlled by clerics who want to control women."

(Reader response was so strong that Siddiqui was compelled to publish a special fourth column containing readers' complaints.)

But Siddiqui's relentless one-sided criticism of Israel goes beyond his most recent columns. Over the past year, Siddiqui referenced Israel -- almost always negatively -- in a third of his columns. Of 69 columns Siddiqui authored from Sept 6, 2004 to Sept 5, 2005, 9 columns (13%) were focused primarily on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and another 13 columns (19%), while about other issues, nevertheless referenced Israel.

There is an important line separating legitimate opinion that enhances the public discourse, from ideological rhetoric that interferes with constructive dialogue. It is time for the Star to insist that Siddiqui stick to constructive opinion that contributes positively to the marketplace of ideas. And it is time for the Star to balance Siddiqui's one-sided content by hiring additional columnists who do not espouse the simplistic idea that Israel is always wrong.

[EyeBrock]

IceOwl IceOwl:

So what you're saying is that because it was written by a man with an Arabic name, who could only be an "Islamofascist" because of his origins, you won't consider that there may be a single grain of truth in anything he says.

Its not Arabic it's a Pakistani name.

[Scape]

Is Islamofascist to religion as nigger is to racism? Hate to be blunt but I am seeing this term slinged around quite a bit now.

[Wullu]

Avro Avro:

Jesus are you this stupid?

I liked the article because of it's balance while you didn't like it because of it's balance.

........Or and what I believe to be true, you didn't make past that pargraph because it dare lay blame at the feet of us and our allies and you drew your conclusions at that point.

Be brave, read it all.

Read it all? Did. How many times am I required, in the world of Avro, to do so? It will keep coming out the same way. 90 percent "woe is us" and "the west...." and 10 percent "...and of course Islam has some problems as well."

You think maybe he choose that ratio because folks that actually speak out against radical Islam get themselves killed, like Theo Van Gogh or death threats like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Tarek Fatah?

This guy was just more of the same so far as the apologists go. The little tid bit on how Islam needs to do some work of its own is so that folks like yourself can fawn all over it and proclaim it balanced.

PS what does your Christian prophet have to do with this anyway?