The Nomad and the Olive Branch

First, it was Evo Morales of Bolivia. Afterwards, it was Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. And now,it's Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista movement, out of all parties, of Nicaragua. The wave of electoral victories by leftist parties in the Western hemisphere has come to show that the rightwing certainly is wrong on most parts, and is losing support fast. Then again, "anti-Americanism" is rife in this part of the world. Of course, when it comes to bigger nations intervening in the affairs of "the little guys", you can expect a warm response to such meddling... right? But that aside, Latin America was a major Cold War front back in the 50's onwards. From it arose famous figures, such as Che Guevara (who, while glorified and immortalized on t-shirts, baseball caps, and posters, was a murderer at best), Fidel Castro, Augusto Pinochet, and - who would've guessed it? - Daniel Ortega. During the era of the Cold War, many democratically-elected leftist leaders of Lat

I admit: I do sound like a "culture-centric" person at times... well, probably most of the time? Most of the issues that I address here on this blog deal with the Middle East and Islam, particularly because I am a Middle Eastern Muslim. Thing is, I don't want my identity to affect my scope of things to the totality of ignoring all other views, news, and beliefs. The world does not revolve around a single point on itself. It spins on an axis, with each part of the world getting its share of the Sun and Moon. While some issues may technically be viewed "hotter" than others, there is no way one can ignore other worldly issues because these issues will, one day, affect us all, and that we can't assume how good or bad the world has become. For example, I tend to base my assertion that the world is a worser place than it was 6 years ago mainly because of what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the worsening situation for Palestinians living in the West B

Something told me that Saddam's guilty verdict was just another tactic to divert media attention. I mulled that over when I considered the relative calm in Iraq. However, when my eyes turned back to Palestine, I was shocked to see what had happened. Apparently, Palestinians are in an uproar, not because of Fatah or Hamas, but because of the Israeli army. And this uproar was caused by... a massacre. And this just came in after Saddam's verdict, did it not? Well, apparently, 18 civilians were killed in an indiscriminate shelling attack on the Gazan town of Beit Hanun ( Al Jazeera ). What's even more enraging is that the casualty count included seven children and four women who all died when Israeli tanks fired on their home as they were sleeping on Wednesday morning . Get that: more than HALF of the civilian casualties were innocent women and children. It is clear-cut, however, that the other casualties most likely involved dead men as well who were most likely innocent. A

Funny... the last time I tuned into Iraq , it was in a state of chaos and anarchy, with the Iraqi capital of Baghdad divided into many mini-states, with the bubble world known as the "Green Zone" fortified from the rest of the death and destruction. A month ago or so, the death toll was found to be shockingly higher than it was estimated to be. But looking at the present, something happened that wasn't too surprising for the common viewer: Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq... was sentenced to death. I honestly don't know what to make of it. On one side, he is finally getting punished for the crimes he committed against innocent Iraqis. On the other hand, there shouldn't have been such a big contemplation over this issue. What's worse was that the verdict was just another factor that could prove to be divisive, so says Al Jazeera.net . It should be noted that Saddam still had many (pro-Baath) supporters amongst the Iraqi populace, not that it's a go

The Crusades were one of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind, and was grossly misinterpreted as a war between "Muslims" and "Christians". The same thing could be said for the Lebanese Civil War, which involved a myriad of sectarian factions that allied with each other at parts and opposed each other later on, or vice-versa. However, the same can't be said entirely regarding the Crusades, although, like all wars, the Crusades were driven largely by political motivations more than anything else. And then you've got your extremists, from all sides. The most notable group of extremists are the Knights Templar, who were Crusader Knights that wanted to openly fight with the Muslim, Christian and Jewish "infidels" of Palestine and subjugate them either to death or conversion... their choice. However, from reading the New Testament, I admit that I actually find it less draconic than the Koran and the Old Testament, with the latter being the more d