Monthly Archives: February 2006

Islam, internal discussion; pt 1

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a reference I read a while ago and found very interesting with respect to Islamic reform movements.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17054

Also, just two weeks ago, there was a highly praised symposium in Bonn with, among other speakers, Tariq Ramadan, about this very topic (some add. info, for those who read German) –

http://www.qantara.de/uploads/463/Schimmel_Symp.pdf

http://islam.de/4661.php

http://www.faz.net/s/Rub5C2BFD49230B472BA96E0B2CF9FAB88C/Doc~E51FA69281734495BB6E9C87271C8049C~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

Interestingly I just found out that, Christoph Luxenberg (psd) has written a new book that is about to be published. If it is anything like his “syro-aramaean interpretation of Qran”, a book (which is my translation, I don’t think the book has been translated yet) in which he linguistically deconstructs the classical readings of the Qran, eg arguing that using the syro-aramaean reading the famous huris for whose attention martyrs/terrorists blow themselves up are not virgins but “crystal clear grapes,” this will be fuel to the flames these days.

Googling his name I found an interesting article in German in which he argues that alleged referenced to the hijab are, according to his reading of Arabic, referring to a “belt intended to cover the loins” rather than the head – http://www.phil.uni-sb.de/projekte/imprimatur/2004/imp040204.html (in German)

And Der Spiegel international called up Ayan Hirsi Ali and talked about caricatures and “Submission II”.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,399263,00.html (in English)

The Cat Is Out Of The Bag It Seems

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The Guardian is running a story which seems to cast Jyllands-Posten Jens Kaiser editor in a very sorry light indeed. If this story is confirmed I think the expression would be ‘rank hypocrisy’ rather than ‘free speech outpost’.(Many thanks to commenter Hans for drawing this to our attention).

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.

The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.

In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten.

Zieler received an email back from the paper’s Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: “I don’t think Jyllands-Posten’s readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them.”

Oil At $96 A Barrel?

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Japan’s second-largest trading company Mitsui & Co. have just published a forecast: oil may rise to a record $96 a barrel in August, when hurricanes typically cut U.S. output. Like all such forecasts, this is subject to a large margin of possible error. But the arguments are coherent and certainly plausible. At least there is food for thought.

“Oil reached a record $70.85 on Aug. 30 the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast, wrecking oil platforms, pipelines and refineries, and cutting production in the world’s largest energy market. Global oil demand may rise 2.2 percent this year, almost twice as fast as in 2005, the Paris-based International Agency said last month“.

“Global growth, led by China and the U.S., will quicken to about 4.5 percent in 2006, the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato said on Jan. 30“.

“Oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange has risen 6.2 percent this year after Iran, the world’s fourth-largest producer, pressed ahead with its nuclear research program, defying the U.S. and European Union. Rebel attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria cut shipments from Africa’s top exporter“.

“Not all analysts agree prices will increase. Rising supply may cause oil to fall this year, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the U.K.’s second-largest lender, said last month. Oil in New York may average $52.50 this year as global output increases, it said“.

Obligatory Hamlet Reference

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Since I don’t know much about Danish law, I’m guessing that the country — like many EU counterparts — has laws against fomenting religious or racial hatred. Do they only cover acts that take place in Denmark, or do they apply to Danish citizens wherever they may travel?

If it’s the latter, would the imams who took their dossier to the Middle East be prosecutable? Would it be smart of the authorities to bring such a case to trial? And what does the answer to that question say about the rule of law versus mob rule?

Premature Evaluation, pt 1 (On the Brink: The Trouble with France)

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What to do when you haven’t finished a book but find yourself with something to say about it?

Convention dictates that one should finish a book before reviewing it (although I have my doubts about any number of published reviews), but on the other hand, the market for reviews of revised editions of books on France originally published in 1998 is bound to be small. So out with the convention, in with the thoughts.
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The Dutch are going to Afghanistan

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Most of you will have read the news by now, but I need to mention this to complete my earlier post The battle of Wobbly Knee: Dutch troops in Afghanistan. Dutch Parliament voted yesterday, with a substantial majority, to send some 1,200 more troops to Afghanistan. More precisely to the dangerous province of Uruzgan. Only D66, the SP (Socialist Party) and GroenLinks (Green leftist party) voted against, but D66 has already declared it will back the troops regardless. Good on them.

Some 7,500 soldiers will be prepared for reconstruction and stabilisation activities under the umbrella of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force). The first extra troops will be sent in August and the whole operation is slated to be in effect for two years. In the foreign press, on the BBC News site for instance, the extra number of Dutch soldiers to be stationed in Afghanistan is often estimated at 1,400 troops. So far the Dutch press have only mentioned 1,200. To recapitulate: the Dutch ISAF contingent in Afghanistan will be enlarged by 1,200 soldiers coming from a rotating pool of 7,500 (source: the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf). To be continued, for sure.

UPDATE: Salient detail: fraction leader for Democrats 66, Boris Dittrich, just resigned over the Afghanistan debate. Lousewies van der Laan will replace him. Dittrich took responsibility for, and I quote, “political-tactical mistakes”. One of those mistakes was a, later recanted, threat by D66 to let the Dutch Cabinet “fall” if troops were sent to Afghanistan. The reason behind all this manoeuvring? To persuade coalition partner PvdA (Dutch labour party) to vote against. As we know now, that tactic did not work.

Expansiveness

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I’ve been editing reports on Central and Eastern Europe for a bank that’s well regarded for its links to the region. (Since the reports aren’t in circulation yet, I won’t name it.) Its authors believe that Bulgaria and Romania will join the EU on schedule in 2007. They think that the delivery of Ante Gotovina to The Hague has helped Croatia’s chances, but they see the schedule nontheless slipping from 2009 to 2010, at the earliest.

In the summer of 2004, I laid down my bets here. I had all three joining in time to vote in the European Parliament elections in 2009. I think I’ll stick with that estimate.

Kosovo, Kosovo, Kosovo…

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Just ran across this article at Radio Free Europe. Short version: Russia has decided that independence for Kosovo is probably inevitable, and has decided to milk it for maximum benefit to Russia. Putin’s saying, fine, independence for Kosovo — but then apply “universal principles”, and give independence to the Russian-supported breakaway republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and TransDnistria.

Once you get past the initial reaction (“Wow, what a jerk”), this bears a little thinking about.
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