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  Israel and Hamas have been fighting since shortly after Hamas was founded in 1987, and since then they have fought several times.  The current war began on the West Bank on June 10th with the kidnapping of three Israeli students, who were subsequently found dead. Israel blamed Hamas and arrested several Hamas members. Israel then hit the Gaza with airstrikes, and Palestinian militant groups fired back rockets into Israel.

Hamas, an Islamist political faction, took control of Gaza in 2007, splitting the Palestinian leadership Fatah, a more moderate political party that controlled the West Bank. Recently, a Palestinian boy in Jerusalem was killed, allegedly by Israel extremists for taking revenge for the murder of the students; consequently, Israel put many Palestinians in jail where they were purportedly beaten and tortured. Continue reading →

The month of Ramadan for Muslims is supposed to have very positive effects on their souls. The month of Ramadan for Muslims it supposed to be about self evaluation and self discipline; it is supposed to be about praying more, acting better, behaving more morally, thinking deeper, and making the devotees ponder more spiritual matters than they did before. During the month of Ramadan they are supposed to feel closer to Allah; they are not supposed to lie, cheat, curse, kill, or steal; Muslims are supposed to avoid anything that is against Allah’s approval. That is why for Muslims the month of Ramadan is better than a thousand months, because they believe that during the night of Qadr the Quran was sent down to guide all Muslims. Therefore, the month of Ramadan should be about blessings; it is supposed to be a sacred month for all Muslims; the Muslims around the world are supposed to unite, reconciling and putting aside their differences and resentments from the past; it is supposed to be about peace, happiness, and the welfare of all Muslims. Continue reading →

  What would the world look like without America? Most of us would speak Russian, German, Chinese or Arabic. Either our world would be under Communist, Nazi, or Islamic Khalifa rule. Denish D’Souza wrote a very interesting book called America: Imagine a World Without Her. Now he has made a movie based upon the theme of the book. It started showing in US theaters on July 2.  D’ Souza offers a passionate defense of America. I have not seen the movie yet, but the title of the book is intriguing and makes us all ponder what our world might look like in America’s absence especially now because America is already there in some ways. In a sense, the rest of world does not view America as credible any longer. For example, what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Egypt, Africa, Libya, Afghanistan, Asia, and China with the bullying of weak neighbors, the moving of our world in the direction of chaos, and the searching for  “a new world order.” Continue reading →

As the Middle East is boiling, flames continue to spread to neighboring countries. The rapid march of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) from Syria to Iraq has rattled Ankara. The body of the Israel teenager who was kidnapped in the West Bank was found; now the Palestinian–Israeli conflict is also heating up along with Iran’s nuclear problem, civil war in Syria and in Egypt. At one point during the Arab Spring many in the West and global commentators rushed in suggesting Turkey could be a model for the Islamic world, to show that democracy and Islam could be compatible. However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leader of the Islamic fundamentalist mission movement Fethullah Gulen are fighting over control of the Turkish state. Now the Turkish government is fighting with the Deep State or the state within the Turkish state founded by Imam Gulen. Continue reading →

 Those who still think that Fethullah Gulen has nothing to do with politics or does not have any agenda must be naïve or live in total ignorance. Gulen always has an agenda, He has always been involved in politics, but he managed to convince the people that he was not. Nevertheless, at all times Gulen had his political agenda. At first, he wanted to control all state institutions in Turkey, such as offering Islamic banking, Islamic insurance, Islamic education, hospitals, social and political institutions, as well as accommodating and appeasing the pronouncements and formulation of policies and programs based on his version of Islam. Continue reading →

In 1916, Great Britain and France secretly reached an agreement, known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, by which France and Britain divided up the Arabs’ territories of the Ottoman Turks into spheres of influence. Both countries agreed that each country should be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or control of the Arab states as they desired or saw fit. The British would have direct control over the Baghdad and Basra provinces of Iraq while the rest of the territory such as the Mosul area, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan would have local Arab chiefs under French supervision. For decades, the Middle East was impacted by the Cold War and petro politics. Continue reading →

Ukraine went through a regime change due to a military coup on February 22nd after months of clashes between the pro-Russians and the supporters of Ukraine’s affiliation with the West. The country’s parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych; former Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula rejoined Russia as a result of a referendum; anti government protests have been spreading across the mainly ethnic, Russian-speaking cities like Donetsk; and the Luhanks region wanted to have autonomy, later changed the Ukraine Constitution, and elected a new president on May 25^th. If the West keeps refusing to engage in dialogue with Russia or castigating Russia, it will not help Ukraine nor its strategy is not going to be successful; rather, it is going to be counterproductive. Western media are trying to draw the picture that Russia will expand its reach and take over the neighboring countries as well. Continue reading →

The Philippines recently has been in the spotlight not for a typhoon or for Manny Pacquiao’s victory against Martinez, but for its recent stellar economic performance. The country’s economic growth of 7.2% in 2013 shows one of the fastest growing Asian economies. Some have predicted the Philippines would even become the world’s sixteenth largest economy by 2050. Besides the Philippines emerging as one of the economic bright spots of Asia, Manila hosted the 2014 World Economic Forum on East Asia, bringing together many businessmen, leaders, policymakers and journalists from around the world. Continue reading →

Our world is in a ethical crisis from a global economic predicament to terrorism and to ethnic wars; from the Boko Haram terrorist organization kidnapping more than 300 girls from their school to new social movements protesting in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia; from Russia fomenting unrest in Ukraine to the Chinese government harassing its weak neighboring states; from human trafficking, to poverty, inequality, trade boycotts, and violations of justice and human rights–all have advanced a range of ethical, social, and political issues. In a world where there is a huge disparity between the haves and the have not’s we have, on the one hand, someone who has so much that he does not know how to spend it, and, on the other hand, someone who strives to find a cup of rice to fill the stomach. Continue reading →