Headlines 06/05/2016

Headlines

• Hate Crimes Rise Along With Donald Trump’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

• 'There is No Place for Islam in Our Politics' Shock Poll Highlights Germany's Discontent

• Pakistan Threatens to Buy Russian or Chinese Jets in Spat with US

Details

Hate Crimes Rise Along With Donald Trump’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

A new report published by Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding has documented an upsurge in violence against Muslims in the United States coinciding with the 2016 election campaign. The major uptick in hate crimes dates back toward the end of 2015, which corresponds with Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States — but also with other possibly inciting factors such as the San Bernardino shooting and intensified political debate over the Syrian refugee crisis. “Our data suggests that acts and threats of anti-Muslim violence increased in 2015, and that it has escalated further during the presidential election season,” said Engy Abdelkader, a member of the U.S. State Department Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group and the lead author of the report. The FBI has not released its own figures for anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2015. But in recent months a number of government officials and civil society leaders have raised the possibility that the incendiary tone of the election could lead to violence. In President Barack Obama’s first visit to a mosque earlier this year, he too cited the potential dangers posed by statements and proposals being made by many GOP presidential candidates. Referring to the “inexcusable political rhetoric” that has characterized the campaign, Obama said that it was no surprise that “threats and harassment of Muslim Americans have surged.” The report cites 180 reported incidents of anti-Muslim violence during the period of March 2015 to March 2016. Among these were 12 murders; 34 physical assaults; 56 acts of vandalisms or destruction of property; 9 arsons; and 8 shootings and bombings. Among the incidents noted were the murders of three university students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the murder of an Iranian-American in California student by a white supremacist, and a road-rage incident in Houston in which a Palestinian-American man was killed by a man who told him to “go back to Islam.” “Many thought that last year’s execution-style murders of three American Muslim youth in North Carolina was exceptional in nature, but there have been a spate of similar murders this past year, many of which have escaped the public’s attention,” Abdelkader said. “They speak directly to the increasingly violent nature of Islamophobia – it’s not just employment discrimination, it’s not just bullying in schools.

Islamophobia now has lethal effects. Trump has only grown more comfortable engaging in anti-Muslim rhetoric as his popular support has risen. In a speech last week, he repeated a mythical anecdote about American soldiers executing Muslim prisoners using bullets dipped in pig’s blood during the Philippine-American War. The fictional war crime, which Trump cited as an example of effective counterterrorism policy, has become one of the presidential hopeful’s favorite talking points. While Trump’s rhetoric has appalled many, his supporters have responded to it with enthusiasm. Polls have shown that large majorities of Republican primary voters endorse his plan to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. His success also emboldened former rivals like Ted Cruz to put forth their own anti-Muslim policies. “This report throws into sharper relief the relationship between anti-Muslim rhetoric and acts or threats of violence targeting the American Muslim community,” said Nathan Lean, a co-author of the report and author of the book The Islamophobia Industry. “It’s important to note, of course, that correlation does not necessarily equal causation. But in an election climate such as this, we must acknowledge the potential wide-ranging consequences of stigmatizing and politicizing an already-vulnerable minority group.”

Critics say Trump’s proposals to ban Muslims, deport undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the border with Mexico are also laying the groundwork for eroding American democracy more broadly. “This kind of rhetoric makes us all less safe and less free, because it feeds us fear,” said Dalia Mogahed, Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a think tank. “Fear of imagined enemies within makes us more accepting of authoritarianism, conformity and prejudice, and poses a real threat to our democracy in the long-term.” [Source: The Intercept]

The problem is not Trump, but the millions of American who support Trump’s Republican nomination and also want him to become President. Trump is America’s leading contender to fulfill Huntington’s clash of civilization thesis both at home and with the Islamic world.

'There is No Place for Islam in Our Politics' Shock Poll Highlights Germany's Discontent

More than half of Germans surveyed in a shock poll say there is “no place for Islam” in their nation’s political system. The results hint at a dramatic changing attitude of the nation's population towards the religion over the past year, which has seen the arrival of more than one million migrants. In January, 37 per cent of people said Islam did have a place in Germany, but this has dropped to just 22 per cent, according to figures released by tabloid Bild. Meanwhile 60 per cent of voters said "there is no place for Islam" in German politics. Attitudes toward the religion appear to reflect fear of so-called Islamisation - with 46 per cent of Germans saying they were concerned their country would be taken over by proponents of political Islam. It comes after Alternative for Germany (AfD) launched its election manifesto calling to ban the burka and claiming Islam is “not part of Germany”. The manifesto, entitled "Islam is not part of Germany", was agreed in a vote of around 2,400 party members. The results come amid an increasingly fractious debate over radical Islamism in Germany, sparked by Angela Merkel's ill-fated open door asylum policy. This has pushed voters into the embrace of right-wingers like the anti-immigrant AfD party which scored big in regional elections in March and which now threatens Merkel's CDU conservatives at the general election in the autumn of next year. Shocking opinion polls delivered a crushing blow to the German Chancellor as it was revealed Merkel's conservatives lost in two out of three state elections. Germans appear to be punishing her accommodative refugee policy. More than 1.1 million migrants entered Germany last year, with most coming from Middle Eastern and North African countries. But Merkel's grip on power is growing ever weaker, with rebellion across the country against her controversial immigration policies. She has consistently berated other EU states for introducing border controls to bring the migrant flow under control, ever since she made a pledge last summer to welcome all Syrians with open arms. [Source: Daily Express]

Islamaphobia continues unabated across Europe, and the attitude of Germans towards Islam is mild compared to other European states. However, no leader of the Muslim world is working to roll back the tide of hatred against Islam. Instead, the rulers of Islamic countries (from Egypt to Pakistan) are engaged in violent suppression of their Muslim populace to appease the West. Today the Muslim Ummah has to deal with two sets of enemies.

Pakistan Threatens to Buy Russian or Chinese Jets in Spat with US

Pakistan has threatened to buy advanced Russian or Chinese combat jets after Washington withdrew financing for a US arms purchase amid a weakening of its strategic relationship with Islamabad. “If funding is arranged, Pakistan will get the F16,” said Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister. “Otherwise, we will opt for jets from some other place.” The Pakistan Air Force is looking at other options including the Russian SU35, the Chinese J10 and the Chinese J20 stealth fighter, according to a senior foreign ministry official. The US and Pakistan have long had close ties and jointly supported the Taliban rebels who drove Soviet invaders out of Afghanistan in 1989. But the 9/11 terror attacks, masterminded by al-Qaeda from Afghan soil, ushered in a more complex period in which US forces helped overthrow the Taliban regime. The US continues to fight the group’s militants while Pakistan gives them haven. Washington is also upset by Pakistan’s support for other Islamist terror organisations, while President Barack Obama has said Islamabad is moving “in the wrong direction” by adopting battlefield atomic weapons that increase the risk of a nuclear conflict with India.

Although the US has not cancelled the sale of the eight additional F16s for $700m, it has withdrawn the offer of US credit for the contract because members of Congress from both main parties are demanding what one called “behavioural changes” from Pakistan so that it stops supporting terrorism. “Given congressional objections, we have told the Pakistanis that they should put forward national funds for that purpose,” the US State Department said. India, Pakistan’s neighbour and regional rival, is delighted with the turn of events because it has been the victim of terror attacks and cross-border incursions by Pakistan-based Islamist militant groups. Western diplomats say US-Pakistan relations have come under strain in the past year mainly for two reasons. First, advances made by the Taliban in Afghanistan have prompted US officials to demand more action by Pakistan to rein in Afghan Taliban and other extremist leaders based on its territory. Lt Gen John Nicholson, US and NATO Commander in Afghanistan, told a Senate committee that Pakistan was not putting “adequate pressure” on the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network. Second, the US is concerned by reports that Pakistan is inducting tactical nuclear weapons into its armoury, a development that lowers the threshold of their use and raises the spectre of an exchange with India. Islamabad responded that India’s superiority in conventional forces has raised the threat for Pakistan. “We have no option but to raise our defences,” says one Pakistani government official.

Additionally, public demands by US politicians and officials for the release of Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who led a fake vaccination programme that may have helped the US track and kill Osama bin Laden in 2011, have prompted a backlash in Pakistan. [Source: FT]

The purchase of alternative aircraft from China and Russia is a knee jerk reaction and it will not return dignity to Pakistan. The Bin Laden fiasco celebrated by America this month just adds to the incompetence of the Pakistani army brass. For Pakistan to recover its lost pride, its army leadership must change its current policy of appeasing America and terminate all type of relations with Washington. This is the very least Pakistan can do.