Wholesale accusation of West's Islamophobia is incorrect!

While there exists, at various levels, Islamophobia amongst a section of Westerners, Muslims need to be cautious against making blanket accusations...

Give up the ‘conspiracy’ theory

Mishal Al-Sudairi
Okaz


 
SOME of us erroneously think that Europe and America are fighting Islam and Muslims. These are totally incorrect beliefs.

In fact these countries have guaranteed the right of belief for all religions, sects and groups on one condition that they would not harm others or compel them to embrace their religions.

Muslims in these countries are enjoying much freedom and care which their counterparts in the Islamic countries do not have.

Today there are about 7,000 mosques in America and double this number in Europe. Every year, tens of mosques are opened in these countries. These are all undeniable facts. Muslim extremists in our countries, however, deliberately ignore them.

Like parrots, the extremists always repeat the false allegation of the “conspiracy” theory that the West is against Islam and Muslims. This is a big misconception. These people forget that the strong does not need to conspire against the weak.

They also seem to forget that a large Muslim country like Turkey has not had a single church built since 1923. It is only this year when the Turks allowed the construction of a new church.

The European countries, the US, South Korea, Japan and others have opened their doors wide for religious freedom. They concentrated their efforts on development, inventions and scientific research without being withheld or bothering to scrutinize the religious beliefs of their citizens.

Maybe, perhaps unknowingly, these countries are applying God’s orders that religion is optional. It is up to you to be a believer or a disbeliever. Religion for these countries is optional. There is no thick stick to harness anyone or decide his/her relationship with God.

Religion, for these countries, has rather become a cultural subject. They are not sensitive toward or being held down by criticism.

During my wide travels, I have come across a number of churches only to find worshipers absent from them. People are not compelled to go to a church to worship their Creator or to pretend that they are religious.

Renowned American newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, recently published a report about the closure of hundreds of churches in Europe. It said these churches were offered for sale.

The newspaper said the old Roman Catholic Church in Holland has stopped functioning as a house of God and turned into a supermarket with a place for ice skating.

Another church has become a commercial place with a flower shop, a bar, a cafe, a bookstore and a garment shop.

In Britain, the former St. Paul’s Church has been converted into a hub for circus training. The church’s high ceiling is a suitable place for the high equipment. A Lutheran Church has been turned into a bar.

According to the newspaper, the closing down of churches in Europe reflects the rapidly weakening of religion.

It said the Church of England annually closes down an average of 20 churches and added that the Catholic Church in Germany during the past few years closed down about 515 churches in various parts of the country.

The Roman Catholics in Holland believe that about a third of their 1,600 churches may become redundant in a decade.

About 700 of Protestant churches in Holland are expected to close down in four years. This is just for everybody’s information. So please forget about the theory of conspiracy against Islam and Muslims.

Putin speaks cold hard truth in his UN speech

Courageous speech from a sensible statesman...

Violence instead of democracy: Putin slams ‘policies of exceptionalism and impunity’ in UN speech

28 Sep, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 28, 2015. © Mike Segar / Reuters

• ‘Stop playing games with terrorists, join under UN against ISIS’...
• ‘Final solution to refugee crisis is recovery of Middle East’...
• ‘Ukraine’s territorial integrity cannot be ensured by arms’...

The export of so-called ‘democratic’ revolutions has continued, but has unleashed poverty and violence instead of the triumph of democracy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said addressing the UN General Assembly.
Attempts to push for changes in other countries based on ideological preferences have led to “tragic consequences and degradation rather than progress,” said Putin in his speech to world leaders and policy makers gathered at the UN General Assembly’s anniversary 70th session in New York on Monday.
“We should all remember what our past has taught us,” Putin said. “We, for instance, remember examples from the history of the Soviet Union.”
It seems however that some are not learning from others’ mistakes, but keep repeating them, he said, adding that “the export of so-called ‘democratic’ revolutions continues.” 
“I cannot help asking those who have caused this situation: Do you realize now what you have done?” he asked. “But I am afraid the question will hang in the air, because policies based on self-confidence and belief in one’s exceptionality and impunity have never been abandoned.”
He cited the example of revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa, where people have wished for change. However, instead of reforms and the triumph of democracy and progress “we’ve got violence, poverty and social disaster, and human rights, including the right to life, to which no weight is given.”
“Rather than bringing about reforms, aggressive foreign interference has resulted in the brazen destruction of national institutions and the lifestyle itself,” he said.
A single center of domination emerged in the world after the Cold War era ended, Putin stated. Those who were at the “top of this pyramid” were tempted to think that “if they were so strong and exceptional, they knew what to do better than others."
“Therefore they do not have to reckon with the UN, which instead of automatically authorizing, legitimizing the necessary decisions often creates obstacles or in other words ‘stands in the way’.”
Russia believes that attempts to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the United Nations are “extremely dangerous” and could lead to the collapse of the entire system of international relations, the Russian President said. Speaking to the world leaders and policymakers gathered before him, he urged for unity in the further development of the UN.

‘Stop playing games with terrorists, join under UN against ISIS’

Power vacuums in the Middle East or regions of North Africa have led to the emergence of lawless areas which immediately started to be filled with extremists and terrorists, Putin said.
Islamic State militants (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), who gained a foothold in Iraq and Syria, are now seeking to dominate the whole of the Islamic world, he said.
“[Islamic State] ranks include former Iraqi servicemen who were thrown onto the street after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Many recruits also come from Libya – a country whose statehood has been destroyed as a result of gross violations of UNSC resolution 1973.”
Some of the extremists have defected from the ‘moderate’ opposition in Syria, which has been supported by some Western states, he stressed.
“First, they are armed and trained and then they defect to the so-called Islamic State. Besides, the Islamic State did not just come from nowhere. It was also initially forged as a tool against undesirable secular regimes,” he explained.
He described it as “hypocritical and irresponsible” to turn a blind eye to the channels through which terrorists are financed while making declarations about their threat to the whole world.
“We believe that any attempts to play games with terrorists, let alone arm them, is not only short-sighted, but ‘fire hazardous.’ This may result in a global terrorist threat increasing dramatically and engulfing new regions of the world,” he said.
IS trains militants from many nations, including Europe, and Russia is not an exception, he said. Putin urged for cooperation with Syrian government forces fighting terrorists on the ground.
“We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face,” he said.
“We should finally acknowledge that no one but President Assad's armed forces and Kurdish militia are truly fighting Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria,” he added.
Russia has been providing military-technical assistance to Iraq, Syria and other states who lead the fight against terrorism in the region, he noted.
Putin proposed the joining of efforts and the creation of a broad international coalition against terrorism. He proposed discussions at the UNSC about a resolution aimed at coordinating forces to confront IS and other terrorist organizations, based on the principles of the UN Charter.

‘Final solution to refugee crisis is recovery of Middle East’

If a comprehensive strategy of political and economic stabilization of crisis-struck countries is developed, then there will be a hope of tackling the problem of the refugee crisis, Putin stated.
“The flow of people who were forced to leave their homeland has literally flooded the neighboring countries and then Europe,” he said calling it a “new painful migration of peoples.”
He stressed that the fundamental solution to the refugee crisis is rooted in restoring statehood where it has been destroyed, strengthening government institutions where they are weak and providing comprehensive assistance to the peoples’ countries of origin.

‘Ukraine’s territorial integrity cannot be ensured by arms’

Cold War thinking and the desire to explore new geopolitical areas are still present among some in the international community, said Putin.
“First they continued their policy of expanding NATO,” he said. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, “they offered post-Soviet countries a false choice – either to be with the West or with the East. Sooner or later the logic of confrontation was bound to spark off a grave geopolitical crisis. This is exactly what happened in Ukraine where the discontent of the population with the current authorities was used and a military coup was orchestrated from the outside that triggered civil war as a result.”
Putin once again called for the full implementation of the Minsk accords brokered by the Normandy Four in February. He said that the accords will guarantee Ukraine’s development “as a civilized state.”
“Ukraine’s territorial integrity cannot be ensured by threats and the force of arms. What is needed is the genuine consideration of the interests and rights of people in the Donbass region, [and] respect for their choice.”

Indian PM Narendra Modi turns social media savvy...

Even old-timers like Modi are fast realising the importance of social media outlets...

Indian PM makes rock star appearance at Facebook

AFP/Menlo Park

September 28, 2015

Standing side-by-side with Mark Zuckerberg, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a rock star appearance at Facebook on Sunday, advocating for the political power of social media.
An invitation-only audience jumped to its feet, cheering and snapping photos as Modi strode into a sun-splashed courtyard with Zuckerberg - sporting a jacket and tie for the occasion, in a sartorial about-face for the typically casual campus.

"To leaders all over the world; you are not going to gain by running away from social media," said the tech-savvy premier during a town hall-style question and answer session.
"The strength of social media today is that it can tell governments where they are going wrong and give them an opportunity to do a course correction."
"You will gain from joining it. You need real time information," said the 65-year-old Modi, who has 30 million fans on Facebook and tweets multiple times a day.
Modi used the hour-long session to promote his Digital India drive and promote the country as a place worthy of tourists, investments, and entrepreneurs with visions of disruptive technology start-ups.
But he also shared some candid moments with Zuckerberg, who told of finding inspiration to persevere with Facebook during a journey to India while Modi himself choked up while speaking of his mother.
Zuckerberg pointed out his parents in the audience before asking Modi about his own mother. Modi's mother is more than 90 years old, and his father is no longer living.
The prime minister recounted coming from a poor family, selling tea at a rail station as a boy.
"It is hard to imagine that a tea seller has actually become the leader of the world's biggest democracy," Modi said.
"When we were small, what we used to do to get by," he continued, pausing at times to recompose himself.
"We used to go to neighbors houses, clean dishes, fill water, do hard chores. You can imagine what a mother had to do to raise her children."
Zuckerberg, meanwhile, opened the chat by telling of a time, about a decade ago, when Facebook was going through a "rough patch" and there were thoughts of selling the startup.
He said he visited one of his mentors, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who told him to travel to a certain temple in India.
"I went, and travelled for almost a month," Zuckerberg recounted. "Seeing the people and how people connected, reinforced what we were doing and is something I've always remembered."
Points touched on by Modi during the exchange included the hope of connecting all of India's villages to the Internet with fiber optic cable, and the mighty challenge of attaining equality for women in India.
"If we want to achieve our economic goals, we cannot do that if we imprison 50 percent of our population inside their houses," he said in answer to a question.
"We have to achieve one thing; to bring women into decision making," said Modi, who playfully noted that while most religions portray deities as male, India has no shortage of goddesses.
Modi's stop at Facebook was part of a tour of Silicon Valley, ahead of the UN General Assembly where he will meet US President Barack Obama on Monday.
Late Sunday, he was later to star at an event attended by some 18,000 people in a convention center in the city of San Jose in Silicon Valley.
It is the first time since 1982 that a prime minister of India has visited the West Coast of the United States.

Modi also visited Google's main campus in nearby Mountain View, where he and Google announced a collaboration to provide wireless Internet at railway stations in India, with a goal of connecting 500 by the end of next year.
"Just like I did years ago, thousands of young Indians walk through Chennai Central every day, eager to learn, to explore and to seek opportunity," India-born Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.
"It's my hope that this Wi-Fi project will make all these things a little easier."
Nearly one billion people in India don't have access to the Internet, according to Pichai.

==

Modi sells Digital India to Silicon Valley giants

Web Report compiled by Anu Warrier

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoted his Digital India Initiative during his Silicon Valley visit to world's technology giants and tried to convince them to bring in more investment, connectivity and jobs to India.
Addressing a 18,500-strong crowd at the final event of his Silicon Valley tour at sports arena in San Jose, California, Modi claimed that "the world has started to believe that the twenty-first century belongs to India."
India has moved from scriptures to satellites, said Modi, attributing the change to the commitment, strength and pledge of the 125 crore people of the country.
Technology executives, eager to expand into India with its 1.3-billion population, embraced Modi's initiative, with CEOs from Facebook Inc, Google Inc and Tesla Motors all hosting him at their headquarters. Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook met with Modi at his hotel. Indian-born CEOs Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai of Microsoft Corp and Google were among those who moderated a panel before Modi addressed a 350-member business leaders' dinner.
"We must bridge the digital divide and promote digital literacy in the same way that we seek to ensure general literacy," Modi said.

Google announced plans to make Internet accessible to one crore passengers at 100 busiest railway stations in India by the end of next year and will later expand it to 300 other stations, making it one of the largest public Wi-Fi projects in the world.
"I'm very proud to announce that it's the train stations of India that are going to help get millions of people online. In the past year, 100 million people in India started using the Internet for the first time," Google's India-born CEO Sunder Pichai said in a blog post on Sunday after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"That's why, today, on the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to our US headquarters, and in line with his Digital India initiative, we announced a new project to provide high-speed public Wi-Fi in 400 train stations across India," he said.
"This will rank it as the largest public Wi-Fi project in India, and among the largest in the world, by number of potential users," he said.
Google also released a map of India with public Wi-Fi railway stations.

At Facebook headquarters, standing side-by-side with Mark Zuckerberg, Modi made a rock star appearance, advocating for the political power of social media.
"To leaders all over the world; you are not going to gain by running away from social media," said the tech-savvy premier during a town hall-style question and answer session.
"The strength of social media today is that it can tell governments where they are going wrong and give them an opportunity to do a course correction."

"You will gain from joining it. You need real time information," said the 65-year-old Modi, who has 30 million fans on Facebook and tweets multiple times a day.
Facebook has already launched an effort to connect with lower-income Indians through Zuckerberg's Internet.org project, which promotes Internet use in developing countries by offering free access to a package of web apps on mobile phones.

At a meeting with the startup community, Modi said the mega corporations of today were startups of yesterday, and compared his new government in New Delhi as a startup that had its own share on bumps on the road.
Modi said he understands their challenges, but also the wonderful feeling of creating something new.

"The course of human history and progress has been shaped by imagination, inspiration, invention and innovation. I often say, if there's a strong wind blowing, some might want to shut the window. Others will want to put up a windmill or launch their sails on the seas.
Modi said he sees Startups, technology and innovation as exciting and effective instruments for India's transformation, and for creating jobs for our youth.
The Indian Prime Minsiter started his Silicon Valley tour on Saturday with a visit to "green" car maker Tesla Motors Inc.

Election Campaign using social media

An example of how social media is changing even the election landscape...

For FNC candidates, PR comes at steep price

September 28, 2015

Ahmed Shaaban

Many PR companies are offering FNC candidates an array of services for their election campaigns against certain charges.

While early voting for the Federal National Council (FNC) elections starts today, candidates have left no stone unturned in promoting themselves. Social media tops the list of the most popular techniques used by FNC hopefuls to better publicise themselves and stay connected with the voters.
Taking advantage of the event, many PR companies are offering FNC candidates an array of services for their election campaigns against certain charges.
These include promoting tweets on as many as 100 accounts in the UAE, as well as on the official accounts of popular media website UAE Barq too.
An FNC hopeful may also have a hashtag (#) in his or her name that shall be followed by six promotional tweets for free.
Audio tweets with the voice and photo of the candidate is also an option, so that followers can hear and better communicate with their favourite candidates instantly and constantly.
While a single post on Instagram costs Dh8,000, Dh7,000 is the set charge for each audio tweet. As for promotional tweets, the rate spikes to Dh10,000 per tweet and a one full day hashtag in the name of the candidate costs Dh30,000.
Mustafa Al Zarooni, FNC candidate of Dubai No 274, told Khaleej Times that some social media experts, who have some 800,000 followers, offered to promote him and other FNC candidates for the aforementioned charges.
"Many FNC hopefuls resorted to such expensive social media publicity by PR companies...that offer to post a candidate's programme for one hour for Dh30,000, or offer to post four ads urging voters to support a certain candidate for a charge of Dh50,000," Al Zarooni said.
Social media people are making more money than newspapers, he stated. "I know some Emiratis who quit their jobs to just post Instagram messages or snapchats against Dh30,000 and even Dh50,000."
A PR company contacted Al Zarooni and offered to post a 15-second video at a charge of Dh2,000 after much negotiation. "Local Arab media were not up to expectation, and were mainly interested in making business rather than developing voters' awareness."
A 30-minute programme on four TV channels, a radio station and a newspaper costs up to Dh100,000, he added. "Despite the government effort to boost political engagement, these exorbitant charges have had a bad impact not only on voters but even on the number of candidates that dropped from 130 in last FNC elections to only 60 in Dubai this time."
It is not acceptable to see national media be more concerned about business rather than playing an effective role in political empowerment, Al Zarooni underlined. "Many nationals are not aware how to cast their votes despite the growing electoral colleges, mainly due to below-level media coverage by national mass media that is financially supported by the government."
Another FNC hopeful of Dubai, Hammad Abdullah, told Khaleej Times, he was one of the first candidates to go for this new tactic of campaigning. "Social media is so accessible to all voters at any time and any place, and this is a big advantage to be in direct and regular contact with them."
So many PR companies contacted Abdullah to promote him, but he declined all the offers. "I have even got calls from famous anchors running their own PR companies, but I did the job with the help of some volunteers."
Abdullah and his small team carried out the campaign, made posters, and posted a video on YouTube, and the electoral programme on social media. "My relatives and connections were a big asset in this regard as well."

Self service by a few candidates
Some FNC candidates, who are well-versed with this online way of electoral campaigning, posted several clips on their agenda on YouTube, and social media. Some have done this on their own while others have sought help from specialised PR, media and production companies based in all emirates of the country.
FNC candidate of Ajman Eman Al Soom, told Khaleej Times she has posted some videos about her programme on YouTube, developed her own website, and distributed some promotional brochures. "But this costs me nothing, as I have a good experience in this."
Some 80 per cent of Al Soom's campaign is online in which, she said, some volunteers and friends helped her. "I have run some sort of a small PR company of my own with the help of some photographers, designers, journalists, and social media administrators."
Al Soom believed that campaigning here is mainly based on relationships, and how socially effective a candidate is. "I have contacted some PR company to instal some street boards for me."
Nonetheless, producing and posting two clips on YouTube cost Ras Al Khaimah FNC hopeful Abdurrahman Al Tunaiji Dh20,000. "I could not help asking a specialised PR company to do the job for me in a professional way."
Graphic designer with a PR company Omar Ayed told Khaleej Times that his company has produced over 40 short promotional clips for FNC candidates not only in RAK but in other emirates as well.
"The two to four minute clips each have attracted many candidates, some of whom were not initially aware about this new technique of campaigning, but became interested when they saw the clips of their competitors."
IT expert Akram Ibrahim told Khaleej Times that the videos posted on YouTube and other social media websites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been a big success. "These have locally gone viral and are being viewed by several people."
But this is not for free, he pointed out. "Producing and posting a single 4-minute video on YouTube costs up to Dh10,000 while the charges for voiced and text posts range from Dh 7,000 to Dh 30,000."
Such high charges are being compared with free selfi-videos which are personally produced by the candidate himself, in which he or she promotes his electoral programme and has a good chance to talk about himself in detail and as long as he wishes for free.

Media manipulation by British propaganda machines

On the one hand, just five individual Billionaires in Britain get to control 80% what you read in printed media and on the other hand, just five Internet Service Providers get to control what 87% of people get to see on their devices. Both are heavily influenced by government. It is no wonder what the public think is a misinterpretation of the truth. In fact, so far from the truth, it is more a departure from reality. Propaganda works!

How Britain’s Propaganda Machine Controls What You Think

By Graham Vanbergen

Global Research, September 23, 2015

TruePublica 22 September 2015

Owen Jones’s book, “The Establishment and how they get away with it” focuses on how British democracy is threatened from within explained best by it’s own description;

Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today – and it is time they were challenged.

Jones makes a good point in highlighting “how the media controls Britain” and how it reveals the schism between popular British sentiment about key social issues courtesy of media influences and reality, indicating that the “establishment” is more than happy to sow discord within the working/middle classes using its traditional “objective” distribution channels, while it remains aloof, collecting the rent its record capital provides.

For instance, the book says, 24% of the population think that British society is Muslim, the figure is actually 5%. 31% believe the British population are immigrants when it’s 14%, 27% believe social security money has been fraudulently gained when the figure is 0.7%. It continues with statistics that distort the truth such as 41% of the public believe all social security money goes to the unemployed when it’s actually 3% and 29% of Britons think more taxpayers money goes on jobseekers allowance than on pensions – when 15 times more money is spent on pensioners.
This clearly demonstrates just how much that the media controls the minds of the general public. It is how propaganda is peddled so effectively by the very rich and very powerful to reach their goal of attaining even more wealth and power and to stay there.
In terms of Britain’s media, the reality is that there are 5 billionaires who run our media, and they have huge power in our democracy forcing our political parties to prioritize their wishes over the wishes of the British public. These 5 people not only own 80% of the newspapers we read every day, they also own TV stations, press agencies, book companies, cinemas, so everything we think or speak about in Britain is nearly controlled entirely by these 5 men.
These are the men in control : Rupert Murdoch, Jonathon Harmsworth, Richard Desmond and the Barclay’s Twins. None of these people live in Britain.
They dominate and monopolise our culture and that is a disaster for democracy, because it means the wishes of the super wealthy 0.1% dominates our governments actions. The recent revelations in Lord Ashcroft’s book finely tunes the thought that the wealthy buy power and when they don’t get what they want, well, ask David Cameron!
The leaders of our political parties are not the leaders of our country, they are basically rent boys for the 5 billionaires who decide everything.
However, behind the principle that the media in Britain has been highjacked by the vested interests of corporations such as Murdoch’a News Corporation, a company that now ranks as the worlds fourth largest media company, there is a much more sinister side to how media and their messages are disseminated in Britain.
Essentially, to be a news or current affairs publisher you must be registered as such with a government regulatory body. That this is a despicable idea goes without saying: it’s a reversal of the past three hundred years of liberty where we’ve been allowed to say or print whatever we want to subject only to the laws of libel, incitement to violence and pressing concerns of national security.
If a news or current affairs publisher is taken to court, by anyone, including the state, and not registered then no matter the outcome, in all circumstances, win or lose, the publisher loses and can’t claim costs.
Worse, it doesn’t matter where your servers are. For that’s not what defines publication. It also doesn’t matter who the material is aimed at: nor even what language it is in. Publication happens if someone in the UK downloads whatever it is. That, in itself, is the act of publication. This effectively censors the entire world’s press and media in the United Kingdom.
The three politicians who dreamt up this suppression strategem are the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Prime Minister of the time in 2013. In itself that’s an interesting commentary on the quality of those individuals and what they think of democracy and freedom more generally.
Of course, over recent years restricting press freedom in the name of national security has been a focal point for government. The UK’s lack of constitutional guarantees for freedom of expression were only some of the things criticised in a new report by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). The organisation represents over 18,000 publications and 15,000 websites in over 120 countries.
Referring to the UK’s influence internationally WAN-IFRA says: “How changes to the system of press regulation are managed in the UK will have an unparalleled impact beyond its shores.” They fear that a regulator with government involvement risks being “an open invitation for abuse” of press freedom. The report in many ways echoes Index on Censorship’s position on press regulation and threats to press freedom in the UK.
The report comes after concerns were expressed by UK media and press freedom organisations over the state of press freedom following the Leveson debate, and the threats and pressure faced by the Guardian over their reporting on Snowden and mass surveillance, culminating in the destruction of hard drives in the Guardian’s basement overseen by GCHQ representatives.
The speed of implementation of new rules, the lack of legislative scrutiny, parliamentary vote or public consultation was criticised, with the report arguing the whole process should have been more transparent.
PM David Cameron’s claims at the time of The Guardian incident that the reporting harmed national security, with no evidence to back this up suggested an unprecedented level of political interference in the freedom of the press.
Around the same time, a court judgement finding the detention of David Miranda (partner of Glen Greenwald, reporter at The Guardian) legal under the UK’s Terrorism Act suggests that the government is unconcerned with press freedom and arbitrary detention and more concerned with its own agenda – damage control.
Laws have now extended into curbing social media by criminalising it and censoring the internet by way of introducing online filters. It was always going to be an easy win, harping on about the need to protect children and threatening internet service providers with legislation if they didn’t comply with prime ministerial demands over filtering.
Using the supposed threat of paedophiles as a pretext to attack basic democratic rights and bring in broader censorship, PM David Cameron declared , “The actions we’re taking today come back to that basic idea: protecting the most vulnerable in our society, protecting innocence, protecting childhood itself. That is what is at stake, and I will do whatever it takes to keep our children safe.”
According to the civil liberties organisation Open Rights Group, the filters don’t just block pornography but “also restrict access to sites deemed unsuitable for under 18’s including information on alcohol and other drugs, forums, YouTube and controversial political views.”
The government then introduced a “whitelist of websites” to counter indiscriminate ISP’s site blocking. At the ISP level, on public wi-fi and via mobile operators, the UK will be subject to a substantial amount of network-level filtering.  The new network-level filtering from both ISP’s on the one hand and government on the other increases the level of over-blocking.
The government’s filter blocks far more than just dirty pictures though. That was always the intention, and it has become clear that the mission creep of internet censorship is even creepier than campaigners had feared.
One ISP now uses these restrictions to cover “sites with information about illegal manipulation of electronic devices [and] distribution of software” – in other words, file-sharing. As The Guardian says “It looks like a convenient way to block a lot of content the British government doesn’t want its citizens to see, with no public consultation whatsoever”.
With minimal argument, a Conservative-led government has given private firms permission to decide what websites we may and may not access. This sets a precedent for state censorship on an enormous scale – all outsourced to the private sector, of course, so that the government does not have to hold up its hands to direct responsibility for shutting down freedom of speech.
Just 5 billionaires and 5 ISP’s and about as many government officials are controlling what you read and see and manipulate what you believe to be factual and real. Propaganda works!
It appears that it isn’t enough that government officials and their agencies do things such as listen in on phone calls, take illicit images of you and your family, read your emails and troll through the web browsing histories of everyone. They want to control not only what you read and see, they want you to believe a manufactured story to keep them where they are and keep you where you are.

They hide behind a facade of laissez-faire capitalism, which has a Darwinian survivalist theme. They obfusticate the element of military force, proxies and invasions that devastate nations. It is called 'disaster capitalism,' profit from chaos.
Europeans (and Americans) have no idea, and they don't want to know, what a "refugee crisis" is, because the media carefully veils the reality of the overpopulated refugee camps all over the world. And the few reports which percolate on the screens avoid to point out the guilt of Western imperialism and greed, the blame falls usually on the victims, because they are unable to do better! Now the victims come over to the centre, they are shown as too many to receive. Probably, but what about the camps in Asia, Africa, and so on? The hypocrisy of the West is revolting: US/NATO destroy their homes, their schools, hospitals, ..., everything, in the name of democracy and human rights, and then it is unwilling to host them, and ready of course to trample all those cherished values which were used to their imperial design. Disgusting!

Refugee crisis: Brought to you by Western imperialism 

20 Sep, 2015

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”. Discussion with N. Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East.

Somali refugees in Dadaab © Andre Vltchek

While Europe is erecting fences, deploying armies and expressing its “concern” about how to deal with the annual influx of some 300,000 asylum seekers, vast areas of the world – namely the Middle East and Africa - are essentially ceasing to exist.

For years, I have been witnessing the desperate movements of millions of refugees and migrants all over the world.
The West has been redrawing the borders everywhere, performing direct invasions, or using proxy wars, in order to destabilize or directly destroy all “hostile” governments (read: those that have been determined to feed, educate, house and cure their own people).

Syrian refugees Lebanon © Andre Vltchek

Wherever a socially oriented government gets into power, the West immediately begins to manufacture and sponsor so-called “opposition movements.” Civil wars are triggered, sometimes followed by direct invasions. 

The result is easy to predict: when progressive governments are forced to leave and the extreme, pro-business and pro-Western regimes are installed, the social fabric quickly collapses, brutality begins to reign and millions of desperate people are forced to flee. The same goes for when some horrific civil war is triggered from outside and divides the country.
Internally displaced, people begin to move all around their countries, aimlessly and in deep confusion. In the past it happened in such places as Cambodia, during and after the savage US carpet-bombing of the countryside, and it is now happening in Syria.
Those whose cities, village and livelihood were destroyed have to search for basic safety, food and shelter. After all, parents must feed their children. Natural survival instincts kick in. Borders become irrelevant. The Empire knows all that; it employs thousands of psychologists to analyze and manipulate the world. To claim that the “refugee crisis” comes as a surprise to the West’s governments is absolute hypocrisy.

Kibati Camp, Goma, East Congo © Andre Vltchek

In just a few years, I have seen masses of Syrian refugees, 2 million of them, scattered all over tiny Lebanon. I have also witnessed Syrians and Iraqis escaping to Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, Syrians fleeing to Turkey, South Asians escaping to Turkey via Iran, North Africans and Central Africans escaping directly to Europe. Sometimes it feels that all of humanity is on the move.
I made a documentary film about the Somali refugees and incorporated stories of Congolese refugees into my film about Rwanda.
The great majority of Westerners has no idea how many human lives of what George Orwell used to call “un-people” have been sacrificed in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, in order for them to be able to maintain their routine and unrealistically high standards of living. 
A long time ago, Congo had one of the greatest leaders on earth – Patrice Lumumba. He was a true patriot, and an anti-imperialist fighter. A joint British, US and Belgian operation murdered him (the same thing occurred in Iran in 1953, in Indonesia in 1965 and in Chile in 1973, to name just three places). Much later, in 1995, two of the West’s client states, Rwanda and Uganda, were designated to exploit the DRC, potentially one of the richest countries on earth. They overthrew governments and murdered millions.
The plight of the refugees pouring from the Congo is too far from Europe. The faces of these people will never be seen. Their suffering will not be witnessed on television screens in Paris, London or Berlin. For Europe, these are “perfect refugees” and “perfect victims.” They are dying, getting raped, getting robbed, “silently,” without any scandal, without bothering or annoying citizens of Western countries, without demanding anything, without receiving any compensation for the horrors they are being put through.

Palestinian camp in Lebanon © Andre Vltchek

Nobody knows exactly how many Congolese lives have been lost or shattered (estimated number is 6 to 10 million deaths, between 1995 and now), so cheap coltan can be inserted into the smart phones and tablets sold like hot cakes in the rich world, or for uranium to be supplied to the West military industrial complex... or how many Somali fishermen had to flee their own coast, so the European Union could continue dumping its toxic waste in the sea (all that is said is that “Somalis suddenly became pirates”).
I saw places that most Westerners know nothing about, cannot even imagine: horrendous refugee camps based in Uganda and Rwanda, housing absolutely ruined families or what is left of them, pouring from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I also saw the refugee camps inside the DRC itself, in East Kivu, camps where, as I was told, all women are victims of rape and torture. And, some time ago, I filmed the biggest camp on earth, Dadaab, built in Kenya and designated for refugees fleeing completely decimated Somalia.
All this is not happening “because those countries cannot govern themselves.” On the contrary!
Western companies and governments are benefiting.
And in the West, there will never be any acknowledgement of the suffering of the Congolese or Somali people.
Somali peace agreements were torpedoed. Kenyan forces on behalf of the West invaded it and millions fled.
When filming in Dabaab camp, I heard stories about women entering Kenya from Somalia, being strip-searched, raped in front of their children, robbed by Kenyan border guards, and then forced to walk dozens of miles to the camp through the desert. Many were eaten alive by wild animals. Others died from dehydration. In Dadaab and other Kenyan camps for Somali refugees, people lived in a dry desert for one entire generation, without ever seeing the sea, the mountains, rivers and greenery. Children were born in those repulsive camps; they grew up there, reaching adulthood basically locked in a prison.
The victims of Western geopolitical games in the DRC, Somalia, Papua, and so many other places on earth… Who will ever at least acknowledge those shattered lives?

Somali refugees in Djibuti © Andre Vltchek

Some of the people escaping from Libya, Syria, Mali, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, are now at least able to make it in front of the cameras, to tell their stories, to force their way (at least a few of them are succeeding) into those countries that have destroyed theirs. Not that too many people in the West are really willing to listen and to understand, but still, at least there is some chance.
However, in so many other places that are destroyed by the commercial and political interests of the Empire, people are trapped by dire circumstances; they are killed, or starve to death, silently conveniently far from the West’s cold gaze.
“What are we going to do with them?” I listened to the repeated laments in a the French city of Calais, where hundreds of refugees are staying in a horrific makeshift camp nicknamed the Jungle, jumping on international lorries and running into the Eurotunnel, trying to make it by any desperate means to the UK. I heard the same questions in Greece and Germany. As if the refugees were coming from thin air, not from horrific wars and conflicts triggered by the West.    
In its recent editorial, a major Argentinian daily newspaper El Clarin argued that many refugees and migrants are not actually fleeing misery, but Western geopolitical ambitions in the Middle East.
It is correct. Refugees are not always poor, but they are, almost without exception, forced to act through desperation.
Many refugees come from formerly rich countries that were attacked, destabilized and in some cases destroyed by the West: Iraq, Libya and Syria.

The Jungle, Calais © Andre Vltchek

Others come from destitute or relatively poor countries that were also destabilized or just destroyed by North American and European geopolitical and economic interests: Afghanistan, Pakistan, several states in central Africa, Yemen and Somalia, to name just a few.
There are also countries that are “exporting refugees” because of the collapse of their economic and social fabric, mainly due to inhuman sanctions imposed on them by the West, such as Eritrea and Iran.
Recently I wrote: “When one looted country after another begins to sink, when there is nothing left there, when children begin dying from hunger and when men commence fighting each other over tiny boulders and dirty pieces of turf, pathetic boats, or dinghies, begin crossing the waterways, bringing half starved, half-mad refugees to the European sea-fronts decorated with marble. What a horrifying sight! As if a woman, her hair waving in disarray, her lips broken, comes begging a man who raped her after killing her husband – begging for shelter and at least some work and a piece of bread. She decided to abandon all her pride, because her children are sick and starving, because it is either this, or death. That is what you reduced the world to, Europe – you, and your huge, insatiable offspring – North America!”
I saw the camps on the Turkish-Syrian border, near the city of Hatai, being used by NATO as training and recruitment facilities for Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL/DAESH). But I also saw real refugee camps on Turkish turf. They were well managed and clean. “We want to act as a mini-empire in the Middle East,” I was told by a Turkish intellectual in Istanbul, “Well... then we have to pay for it.”
But Europe does not want to pay. As in the colonial days, it wants booty, in exchange for... nothing.
I talked to several refugees from South Asia, at the bus terminal in the city of Bodrum. Most of them admitted that Turkey has been treating them much better than Greece or the rest of the EU. But their mind was set on Germany and the UK: they were conditioned. It was all totally irrational, but that’s how it was.

Syrian refugee in Bekaa Valley © Andre Vltchek

In Kos, a horrific provisory camp was not helping the refugees and migrants at all – just a couple of volunteers and one part-time doctor to take care of hundreds. Local activists told me about extreme right-wing groups like Golden Dawn, and about the pogroms against the refugees, periodically. To make things worse, the island now has a right-wing mayor. The Greek economy and the social system have almost collapsed, but European holidaymakers kept coming. While the refugees from several desperate nations were sleeping all over the streets and in the parks, German and Scandinavian tourists were stuffing themselves on fresh seafood, downing liters of wine, just a few steps away.
The Greek coast guard was periodically beating up refugees, sometimes extorting money. Many died, trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Others died crossing from Africa to Italy or Malta. Those who made it were humiliated, mistreated, and even cheated.
However, refugees keep coming. It is because for many, there is no home, anymore. In their own countries, they are left with nothing. What they used to have was grabbed and transferred to Europe.
In Prague, a Czech philosopher and renowned political performer and a friend of mine, Milan Kohout, has organized several actions in support of asylum seekers: “It is immoral. Europe took everything from so many countries, and now it wants to wash its hands of any responsibility!”
As a result of such statements, Mr Kohout is facing constant death treats, and physical attacks, in an increasingly xenophobic Europe.
In Latin America, before the revolutions, people used to say: “We are poor because they are rich!” Some refugees and migrants coming to Europe are beginning to see it this way, too.
In Calais, a 25-years-old Syrian man, Hassan, half jokingly, half seriously shouted at me: “Many of us are not really emigrating. We are just chasing a thief! We want to go where they took our possessions!”

The art of mathematics or mathematical art...

go figure...

Next da Vinci? Math genius using formulas to create fantastical works of art

By Stephy Chung, CNN

September 18, 2015

If (cos(6πk/2000)-i cos(12πk/2000))e^(3πi/4) means nothing to you, then you're probably like the rest of us. Normal.

The last time "cos" resonated with you, was during high school math-- when it meant "cosine," a trigonometric function...of some sort.

But to 25-year-old Iranian student Hamid Naderi Yeganeh, using cosines are a part of daily life -- what you would expect of a mathematics major and award-winning mathlete.

This image is a bird in flight. It shows 500 line segments. For each i=1,2,3,...,500 the endpoints of the i-th line segment are: ((3/2)(sin((2πi/500)+(π/3)))^7, (1/4)(cos(6πi/500))^2) and ((1/5)sin((6πi/500)+(π/5)), (-2/3)(sin((2πi/500)-(π/3)))^2).

What might be surprising however, is that Yagneh's formula, (cos(6πk/2000)-i cos(12πk/2000))e^(3πi/4), acts like his pen and ink. He uses formulas like these, combined with computer software programs to create fantastical and intricate mathematical artworks.

When different numerical values are assigned to the equation above, the end results can pictorially represent at bird in flight.

"The images (I make) are defined by basic mathematical concepts. At first, I use multiple formulas to create many different images. Then, I choose the best results," Yeganeh explains.

Yeganeh began studying mathematics at the University of Qom in Iran in 2012. At the same time, he developed a love for art

 "At first I was interested in beautiful, symmetrical shapes. So, I started to create mathematical figures using trigonometric functions to define the endpoints of line segments. After a while, I understood I could find interesting shapes that looked like real life things, such as animals." 

Historical links between math and art

Math and art have long been linked. Artists in Ancient Greece used concepts such as ratio and symmetry, to sculpt the human form.

This is an example of one of Yeganeh's tessellations, repeating two polygons. One is the shape of South America. Can you guess the other continent?

Leonardo Da Vinci's work was also greatly influenced by mathematics. His Vitruvian Man, is an illustration based on the writings of Roman architect Vitruvius, sought to capture the exact proportions of the human body.

In his native Iran, Yeganeh points to Iranian tiling as a good example of the use of tessellations, or repeating patterns of polygons. He applies the same concept, in his own work.

Explorations have led to new animations

Yeganeh's work with circles and line segments is expanding to include animations. Beyond that, he's beginning to think in 3-D, creating sculptures made of fractals.

"The power of mathematics is unlimited. There's an infinite number of great artworks that we can create," he says.

 

 

Impact of digital technology on our brains

Very few of us can claim to be able to disconnect from the attraction of digital world...

Here's Why It's so Important to Unplug

It’s 2015, and there’s no denying it: We live in an era of hyper-connectivity. We are constantly being bombarded with information—text, image, and video sweep into our consciousness night and day, flowing at us from our many screens. We’re pinged for urgent emails and random miscellany alike. Every buzz has the potential to be the day’s most important message. Usually, though, it’s nothing. 
No matter. Our devices are like technological extensions of ourselves, and as such, we have a really hard time putting them down.

Flickr/Susanne Nilsson - flic.kr

Fifty-four thousand words: that’s how much textual information—in the form of digital content—is dumped on the average social media user per day.
When that measure is expanded to include emails, digital imagery, web browsing, and the like, it increases dramatically. According to a 2011 study reported by the Telegraph, we receive about 200 newspapers-worth of information everyday.
And how much information does the average person produce? About six newspapers-worth. Whether you’re sending messages via text or Tinder, it all adds up.
That same study also found that there were 295 exabytes of data floating around the world—that's 29,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 pieces of information. Three-hundred and fifteen times the number of grains of sand on Earth. That was in 2011; we’ve no doubt surpassed that count by now. Talk about information overload.

What does that do to our brains?

Macrovector - bigstockphoto.com

“Our brains were never designed to be always on and permanently connected with the amount of stimuli that we get [today],” Max Blumberg, a research psychologist from Goldsmiths, University of London, said in a recent interview.
“Our brains haven't evolved to handle that level of high activity yet,” he continued. “And that's a problem.”
The science of how always-on technology impacts human behavior hasn’t been extensively explored—maybe because we’re still in the dawning of the information age. But some studies have been done, and the results are distressing. Researchers have found that social media might promote narcissism, smartphones could be causing insomnia, and screens seem to be making our kids less empathetic.
“Our brains will always be seduced by the high stimuli [of constant connectivity] because of the dopamine that it provides," Blumberg explained in another interview. "It's really similar to having ADHD.”
“People with ADHD, their big problem is that their cortex—the outer part of your brain that does the executive function like making decisions—doesn't function in the way that it is supposed to," he continued. "Unlike animals, who are distracted by every stimulus they encounter, human beings have the cortex, which is supposed to help them weigh up whether what they are currently doing is more important than whatever the new stimulus is—whether it's a Facebook notification, phone call, or email.”
Essentially, we’re over-stimulating ourselves. Constant connectivity makes it hard to sustain attention on one task at a time. It can make us get all willy-nilly with our focus, giving our attention to whatever is right in front of us, without thinking about whether or not what is in front of us is truly worth our time. As a result, it’s harder to engage in deep thought, critical thought, and creativity.
Blumberg thinks this is going to have a serious impact on society:

"In fact, what I think we're going to see is a society that is even more divided into the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. And we're already starting to see that the kids from richer backgrounds are really restricted in the amount of TV and internet that they are allowed to use because their parents who built these big companies know that that is what is required to be able to achieve such things, so those kids are going to end up building the big companies of the future.
"And the kids from poorer backgrounds, who are online all the time and have a very reactive brain, will end up being the consumers and customers of the other kids' companies. There will be a huge market where people will buy anything because the brand is flashed up without having any critical thinking about it because their brains are not used to deep thinking."

But there is a solution.

Sounds pretty bleak, but there is a solution: Turn off. Unplug. Go on a digital detox.
Daniel J. Levitin,* Ph.D., is the director of the Laboratory for Music, Cognition and Expertise at McGill University and author of the book “The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload.” According to him, unplugging is a practice, not just a one time special event. And it’s not as hard as you may think. He explained how to hit the reset button for your brain in an article for the New York Times last year:

"Every status update you read on Facebook, every tweet or text message you get from a friend, is competing for resources in your brain with important things like whether to put your savings in stocks or bonds, where you left your passport or how best to reconcile with a close friend you just had an argument with.
"If you want to be more productive and creative, and to have more energy, the science dictates that you should partition your day into project periods."

Levitin suggests doing your daily activities (even digital ones, like social networking and emailing) at designated times. Your brain—and output—will be better for it.
“Increasing creativity will happen naturally as we tame the multitasking and immerse ourselves in a single task for sustained periods of, say, 30 to 50 minutes,” he wrote in the Times. And when you’re not plugged in? “Several studies have shown that a walk in nature or listening to music can trigger the mind-wandering mode. This acts as a neural reset button, and provides much needed perspective on what you’re doing."
That’s helpful when the goal is being able to disregard a stimulus that isn’t that important. Even what might feel like doing nothing gives our brains the much needed break from technology required for problem solving and making an impact on the world. Levitin explains, "daydreaming leads to creativity, and creative activities teach us agency, the ability to change the world, to mold it to our liking, to have a positive effect on our environment."

Using unplugged time to pursue your hobbies or passions can have enormous benefits, too. Levitin says that "music, for example, turns out to be an effective method for improving attention, building up self-confidence, social skills and a sense of engagement." You might want to reconsider those guitar lessons you’ve always wanted to take.
Music isn’t the only way. The ultimate goal is to increase our human potential, and to do that all we have to do is pause. Put down the iPhone, stop staring at the screen, and ignore the timeline for a bit.
"Taking breaks is biologically restorative. Naps are even better," Levitin concludes. "In several studies, a nap of even 10 minutes improved cognitive function and vigor, and decreased sleepiness and fatigue. If we can train ourselves to take regular vacations—true vacations without work—and to set aside time for naps and contemplation, we will be in a more powerful position to start solving some of the world’s big problems. And to be happier and well rested while we’re doing it." So go ahead. Give yourself a vacation. You deserve it.