Why Obama’s Cairo speech didn’t change perceptions
At the gathering at the Bibliotheka Alexendrina, the dominant question is why has there been so little change visible since President Obama made the effort to address the Islamic world in Cairo just a year ago. His intent couldn’t have been better, and, combined with the carefully chosen phrasing, location and timing, it seemed all the criteria were in place when it came to making those words matter.
Why Obama's Cairo speech didn't change perceptions
At the gathering at the Bibliotheka Alexendrina, the dominant question is why has there been so little change visible since President Obama made the effort to address the Islamic world in Cairo just a year ago. His intent couldn’t have been better, and, combined with the carefully chosen phrasing, location and timing, it seemed all the criteria were in place when it came to making those words matter.
Halting unrest in Kyrgyzstan requires government to achieve legitimacy
The violence in Osh and surrounding areas has claimed many lives. One estimate is that as many as 180 have been killed and hundreds wounded in violent clashes. The situation appears to be calmer but analysts point out that crowds still gather in the town centres and with many unemployed there is potential for further violence. Indeed, there is a great deal of resentment within a fractured community.
What are the outcomes of the elections in the Netherlands and Belgium?
Global Expert Jean Yves Camus from the Paris-based research institute IRIS comments on the outcomes of the Dutch and Belgian elections.
Governments and entrepreneurs
President Obama’s recent summit on entrepreneurship in the Muslim world demonstrated that governments and entrepreneurs can and must work together to create opportunity. Governments are often perceived as obstacles to entrepreneurship, not necessary partners. This is understandable given the bureaucratic hurdles entrepreneurs must overcome while growing their enterprise.
Drawing the Prophet Muhammad is not the issue
The irritated reactions of mainstream Muslim Americans against the ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ are understandable and expected. Yet they are focusing on the wrong problems when they suggest the need to draw a line between problematic dichotomies such as ‘hate speech’ and ‘free speech.’ Muslim Americans, as any other minority group, should be at the forefront of defending the First Amendment. Embracing such a primordial constitutional right is not only important to counter assumptions about disloyalty to the country but more importantly because such a right protects the few and the isolated more than any other group.
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