Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Omar Ahmed
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Saudi cleric: ‘It is prohibited to protest in Islam’
A prominent Saudi cleric, Shaikh Assim Al-Hakeem, has come under fire on Twitter over his response to a question posed to him by a user regarding the permissibility of protesting in Islam, specifically in light of the on-going demonstrations in the US over the murder of an unarmed black...
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With unrest across the US, asks the Twittersphere, where is the ‘Free American Army’?
The scenario is all too familiar: the almost casual murder in Minneapolis of an unarmed African American citizen — say his name: George Floyd —by police officers has sparked a wave of social unrest and protests across the country. Since Floyd’s killing on 25 May, we have seen what...
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Saudi Arabia’s puppet Yemen government is hanging by a thread
Last Friday, 22 May, was Unity Day in Yemen, a national holiday marking the unification of the North and South which took place on that date in 1990. The 30th anniversary of this event was a milestone overlooked — understandably — by the international community and Yemen itself because...
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Pro-Sistani factions leave Shia forces, but Iraq’s PM signals they are here to stay
Much has been written about the growing rifts between the Shia seminary cities of Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran, centred on the role of politics and religion. While the Najaf school is known for its quietist stance, Qom advocates the theocratic ideology of Wilayat Al-Faqi. These tensions...
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Germany’s ban on Hezbollah bows to Zionist pressure but is of little real importance
Last week, Germany finally caved in to US and Israeli pressure to ban Hezbollah outright by outlawing the Lebanese movement’s political wing. Berlin declared the group to be a “Shiite terrorist organisation”, despite it being a legitimate part of the Lebanese government and having no official branch in Germany. The...
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Remembering Nizar Qabbani (21 March 1923 - 30 April 1998)
Nizar Qabbani is arguably the most popular and widely read poet in the Arab world, renowned particularly for his poems on themes such as religion, love and femininity, which challenged taboos about eroticism. As a former Syrian diplomat, he was also deeply political, spurred on by the failures suffered...
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Profile: Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut, the reformist head of Al-Azhar University
Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut was a renowned Muslim scholar, reformer and rector of the esteemed Al-Azhar University in Cairo who was notable for seeking to bridge the gap in the Sunni-Shia divide and modernising Al-Azhar’s establishment. From humble beginnings, he was born on 23 April 1893 in a farming village...
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Covid-19 and the oil market crash spell the end for US hegemony and the petrodollar
The combined impact of the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the fall in demand for crude oil during the coronavirus pandemic has led to the collapse of the oil market. Prices have plunged down to unchartered territory, from $18 a barrel to as little as minus...
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Israel’s main virus threat comes from its ultra-Orthodox community
Israel’s first confirmed case of the Covid-19 virus was on 21 February, after a citizen returned from Japan, since then the number has increased steadily, standing currently at 9,248 with 65 recorded deaths. These figures are modest when compared to the likes of Italy, Spain and the US, which...
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After 5 years, Saudi Arabia is finally on the verge of defeat in Yemen
Exactly five years ago, the US-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition carried out its first air strikes on Yemen in an effort to reinstate the disgraced, exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. He is a statesman in name only who I have argued previously has neither power, authority nor legitimacy. The strikes...
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Egypt has securitised Shi’ism, but Salafism arguably poses the greater threat
Last month, courts in Egypt ruled in favour of closing down local Shia TV channels and websites. Despite a previous decision to annul the verdict, it was overturned by the state council judiciary. Domestic internet service providers (ISPs) are now ordered to restrict websites affiliated with Shia Islam, including...
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Memes as weapons of deception: Is social media shaping modern warfare?
Social media continues to influence our perception of conflicts around the world, though rapid updates around the clock on developments on the battlefield often hours before mainstream news picks it up, disseminating propaganda or spreading misinformation and fake news to the sharing of graphic content and the ugly brutality...
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The fall of Hazm is the latest strategic blow for Saudi’s war in Yemen
As the fifth-year anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen approaches this month, the allied forces of the Yemeni army and Ansar Allah – known as the Houthis – yesterday achieved a significant victory having taken control of Al-Hazm city, the provincial capital of Al-Jawf province, causing the...
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The next Palestinian Intifada will involve more support from Iran
There are early signs that another uprising, or Intifada, will erupt in occupied Palestine. A couple of weeks ago, a spokesperson of the Gaza-based Al-Quds Brigades, an armed wing of the resistance faction Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), called on Palestinians to take up arms and attack military checkpoints and...
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Turkey is starting to pay the price for undermining Syria’s sovereignty
With the constant, basic framing of the nine-year conflict in Syria as being one between the “Assad regime” and “rebels” coupled with viewing it from an understandable humanitarian perspective, it is easy to forget that above all, under international law, Syria is a nation-state. One whose territorial integrity has...
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Syria film 'For Sama' wins BAFTA award
Syrian filmmaker and journalist Waad Al-Kateab accepted the award with her 4-year-old daughter Sama for whom the film was made...
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2020 so far: Iran and allies push forward despite losing Soleimani
The opening month of 2020 launched with a significant strategic blow to Iran and its regional allies, with the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) Quds Force, on 3 January. This act was primarily aimed at baiting Iran into war, based...
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The truth about US casualties in the Iran attack is slowly coming out
We may never know the full extent of US casualties from Iran’s retaliatory missile attack on 8 January against two Iraqi air bases hosting US troops but for now at least, more information is gradually starting to surface, contradicting statements by President Donald Trump that “No Americans were harmed...
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Iran, US conflict shrouded in the fog of war
The unlawful killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi deputy commander of the Hashd Al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces – PMF), Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis earlier this month, was based on allegations of “imminent threats.” US President Donald Trump stated that the elite Qud’s Force head, Soleimani, was planning...
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‘Radical’ in Ramallah, the Palestinian skateboard scene
'Kids in Palestine are fearless' and SkatePal is helping them find a way to harness this strength...
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Trump has no idea what he has done by killing Soleimani
As far as modern American military blunders go, the assassination of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, along with the deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, near Baghdad Airport last week is up there with the worst. This includes the fateful invasion of Iraq...
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Soleimani’s assassination: America’s declaration of war on Iran
The US carried out an air strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad...
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Saudi music concert slammed for being ‘mass sexual assault festival’
Lauded as the Middle East’s biggest music event, the so-called MDL Beast Festival ran from 19-21 December in the Saudi capital Riyadh promising to offer a “multi-sensory, multi-stage experience, showcasing both local and international talent, representing all spheres of the cultural landscape across multiple districts. A feast for the...
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Syria, where chemical weapons watchdogs become weaponised
When it comes to commercially-controlled media coverage of the conflict in Syria, there has always been scepticism expressed by those who refused to wholly buy into the propaganda against the government in Damascus, it has been all too common to dismiss those holding such views as being conspiracy theorists...
