Recently, the wildly “Islamophobic” website Jihad Watch played host to an interesting (semi-) debate between ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheuer and author Raymond Ibrahim . The disagreement revolved around what motivates bin Laden and other like-minded mujahideen to wage “jihad” against the West. According to Scheuer, American foreign policy is the culprit — al-Qaeda is retaliating against what it sees as an attack on Islam. Ibrahim argues, however, that al-Qaeda’s animus towards the West is attributable to its interpretation of Islamic theology. [Ibrahim's post ; Scheuer's reply ; Ibrahim's reply .]

Originally posted here:
Why They Fight: A Debate on What Motivates al-Qaeda

Zahra Noorbakhsh was 25 years old when she suggested her white, Atheist boyfriend, Duncan, move in with her. Much to her surprise, he agreed to take the plunge on the spot, and thus began their saga of explaining their emotional and economical decision to Zahra’s Muslim, Iranian parents. Now, only a few years later, Zahra has shared the ensuing hilarity with audiences in San Francisco and, most recently, at New York’s Fringe Festival to rave reviews. Zahra performs All Atheists are Muslim as a one-woman, approximately 90-minute one-act, frequently imitating her mother, father, and of course Duncan himself. While the show may be the first time Zahra is making headlines for impersonating her friends and family, it is abundantly clear from watching her that it isn’t the first time she has taken a crack at capturing their most sensitive, irrational, and best selves.

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The Affectionate Hilarity of “All Atheists Are Muslim"

During the past decade, the US economy went from bust to boom to bust again. What happened?

More here:
VIDEO: The US economy: A lost decade?

Lyndsey Thornett was aggravated when she got word that the condominium she was renting was being put up for sale. She’d only been back in the area for a year and was just beginning to feel at home in Arlington. So, in July 2009, the Potomac native, who spent eight years in Texas for college and business school, started searching for a new spot. Though her parents didn’t love the idea of her living in the District, she settled on a place at 18th and S streets. The night she moved in, Thornett invited a friend to come by for a drink. As she bounded out the door to wait, she spotted a casually dressed man watering flowers on the property. Read full article > >

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On Love: ‘Love cannot be stopped — not even by Irene’

Says granting of refuge is an “act of aggression.”

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Rebels to Algeria: Return the Gaddafis

BEIRUT — Syrian security forces killed seven people on Tuesday as they opened fire to disperse thousands of protesters rallying against the regime on the first day of a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, activists said. The activists said security forces fired at protesters in the southern province of Daraa, in the central city of Homs and in Damascus and its suburbs following morning prayers on the start of Eid al-Fitr, a three -day holiday. “Eid is when the regime goes,” read a banner held up by protesters in the city of Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s autocratic regime erupted five months ago. Read full article > >

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Syrian troops shoot, kill 7 at rallies across country as Muslims mark holiday, activists say

Algeria defends its decision to give refuge to the wife of Colonel Gaddafi and three of his children, after Libyan rebels call it an “act of aggression”.

Link:
Algeria ‘right to help Gaddafis’

As the charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were about to be dropped in New York, a friend of mine who lives in the Tribeca neighborhood, next to where the Frenchman was under house arrest, casually mentioned that he often saw Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair through a skylight in the roof of the building.

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Can DSK make a comeback in France?

Edinburgh city councillors could be set to rethink their decision to halt the capital’s controversial trams project at Haymarket.

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‘Rethink’ over city tram decision

A court in southern India stays the execution of three men convicted of plotting the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Originally posted here:
Gandhi plotters’ execution stayed

A body is discovered in the rubble of a kebab shop in Leicester that was destroyed in an explosion.

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Body found in shop blast rubble

Rob Green withdraws from the England squad for their Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales because of injury and is replaced by Frankie Fielding.

Continued here:
Fielding replaces injured Green

Shares in UK banks, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, bounce in early trading as business lobbyists criticise new regulations.

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Banks up on regulation fightback

The Northern Ireland motorcylist who was killed in an accident on the Isle of Man on Monday has been described as an “up and coming superstar” by one of the sport’s legends.

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Crash rider was next ‘superstar’

A family of five are rescued from their tent in Cornwall after being overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a barbecue.

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Family saved from poison gas tent