From both the left and the right, three common misperceptions have emerged about US foreign policy: First, that the Global War on Terror has become a perpetual state of affairs; second, that no strategy is available to end this conflict in the near future; and third, that “the Obama approach to that conflict is just like the Bush approach.” I disagree with all three propositions....

This world is fluidly juxtaposed with the energy of New York, the ruthlessness of corporate America and, through our hero Changez’s love for the elegant, artistic Erica, reveals a portrait of Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by Changez’s own family back in Lahore.....

For more than two decades, under the cover of this fiction, Palestinians have engaged in internationally-sponsored "peace talks" and other forms of dialogue, only to watch as Israel has continued to occupy, steal and settle their land, and to kill and maim thousands of people with impunity......

"Anti-Americanism is far less prevalent in Yemen than in Pakistan. But rather than winning the hearts and minds of Yemeni civilians, America is alienating them by killing their relatives and friends. . . . Certainly, there may be short-term military gains from killing militant leaders in these strikes, but they are minuscule compared with the long-term damage the drone program is causing....

There is nothing wrong with discussing the disparities between Western and Muslim values, but to lend to the discussion unchangeable qualities on both sides is to miss the adaptable nature of culture and the ability of humans to modify cultural reactions in changing environments.....

The truth is that her voice is not part of the conversation. We don't really know anything about her choices, but we use her faith to tell a story about who we think she is. What I find most deeply problematic -- and what should concern us all -- is that by saying that she went from being "all-American" to being Muslim, the media is telling us who an American is, or can be....

Sure, it existed prior to this date, but its “experts” and their then few think-tanks were largely placed within a decidedly pro-Israel, Zionist and right-wing political orthodoxy. In the last decade or so, the relatively specialized business multiplied and became mainstream wisdom. Its numerous “experts” — who are more like intellectual purveyors — became well known faces in American news networks. Their once “politically incorrect” depiction of Arabs, Muslims and the non-Western world at large,…

Standing proudly in front of her home, an American flag waving behind her, Hamdani is reminded about the love her son had for his country, a love so intense he laid down his life to save complete strangers’. “Nobody in this world would want to become an American!” she exclaims. “In spite of what’s happening in the political world, I’m proud to be an American, too.”…

Approximately 30,000 Americans die of gun violence every year compared to the 17 who died last year in terrorist attacks. On the very same day of the Boston Marathon bombing, 11 Americans were murdered by guns. In the last four months alone 3,531 Americans were killed by guns — even more than the number killed on 9/11.

Bizarrely, recent mass killings — including the Sikh Temple of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado, and the school shootings at Newtown, Connecticut — by mostly white, gun-toting young men, did nothing to prevent conservatives in the U.S. Congress from defeating a bill proposing rudimentary checks on gun buyers’ backgrounds before arming them.

In none of these cases did Second Amendment-warriors attach the “terrorist” label to the perpetrators. Why are James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Wade Page, and numerous others merely alluded to as “disturbed individuals?” The Tsarnaevs may be no different from these mass killers, some such as Glen Greenwald have argued, and all of these men are likely to have been driven by a combination of mental illness, societal alienation and mostly apolitical rage.....

The West has a terrible view of Arabs and Muslims, but I think it is mostly our fault. We have such different notions about communications, and even when we try to overcome those notions, instead of evolving our own home-grown media communications industry, we turn over our needs to Western consultants, Western journalism schools, and Western “media experts.”....

As soon as Obama’s victory was announced, a wave of jubilation ran across Arab and Islamic countries over the victory of the son of an African born Muslim father in the American elections and slogans of Takbeer (Allahu Akbar) were raised. But all the Arab-Islamic euphoria died down when just two days after assuming office, Obama appointed Rahm Emanuel who was associated with Democratic Party and was a former Israeli citizen as White House Chief of Staff. His father was an active member of an extremist Jewish organisation....

The undercover investigation proves what has long been suspected: namely, that Sharia courts, which operate in mosques and houses across Britain, routinely issue rulings on domestic and marital issues according to Islamic Sharia law that are at odds with British law. Although Sharia rulings are not legally binding, those subject to the rulings often feel obliged to obey them as a matter of religious belief....

Rightwing pundits are exploiting Boston to revive their pet policies on immigration control, and fuelling hatred of Islam. Ann Coulter demanded Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife to be jailed for merely wearing a Hijab and Sean Hannity wanted to water board the suspect. Both wanted to kill, not arrest, try, and convict. No, do not dismiss them as "marginal"...

Given Turkey's prosecution of Fazil Say, can Turkey be trusted to respect the rights of those outside Islam? Absolutely! Non-Muslims in Turkey have the same right to their unbelief as Muslims have to their prayers: The Qur'an itself establishes this right, by implication of the principle that "truth stands out clear from error" and therefore there is no compulsion in religion (Al-Baqura 25)....

It all comes back to that most infantile cliché of all: that the US and Israel fear Assad's chemical weapons "falling into the wrong hands". They are frightened, in other words, that these chemicals might end up in the armoury of the very same rebels, especially the Islamists that Washington, London, Paris, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are supporting. And if these are the "wrong hands", then presumably the weapons in Assad's armoury are in the "right hands"....

But you're allowed to be a radical Muslim in America. You're allowed to believe that the Qu'ran proscribes the most elegant set of laws. You're allowed to believe that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. And you can say, in America, pretty much anything you want. Not everything, and after 9/11, a little less, but you can still make very unpopular arguments....

As a Pakistani Muslim coming to the States for the first time, this was my worst nightmare: being recognised as an enemy just because I was born in a certain place, or I prayed in a different way. Family and friends asked me not to take my national flag along, to leave behind my copy of the Holy Quran. I was terrified to disclose my identity when I first stepped off the plane into the liberal land of USA....

Faced with this situation, the Obama administration in his second term has decided to put the Palestinian question in the hard to tackle basket, thus removing an important obstacle to relations with Israel and its US lobby. It will still try, as is evident from Kerry’s diplomatic initiative, but by accommodating Israeli sensitivities. And that was on display during the highly choreographed Obama visit to Israel.....

When asked if he was already scapegoating Muslims, he replied, ““Yes, they’re evil. Let’s kill them all.” Challenged on that, he replied, “Sarcasm, idiot!” What would happen, I wonder, if someone sarcastically asked on Twitter why, whenever there is a bombing in the US, one of the suspects everyone has to consider is white people? I did, mischievously and with Mr. Rush in mind, and was told repeatedly that it wasn’t right to tar all members of a group with the brush of a few. They were so unselfconscious that they didn’t seem to realise that this was what was being done to Muslims!...

The poised, pious, powerful Zia regime distributed the military aid among the Pakistan armed forces, the Afghan Mujahideen, enterprising gunrunners, drug barons, university students and wedding planners; whereas, the economic aid was used to develop Pakistan’s economic infrastructure by building madrasas, madrasas, madrasas and mosques. Pakistan with US, Saudi and/or divine assistance armed and supplied anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan...

In history, Afghanistan is known as the ‘graveyard of Generals’ and with the exception of Aurangzeb, no army has truly succeeded in subduing this ferociously independent people. The British learnt it at their cost and the Soviets lost the Union itself. So, as far as the US withdrawal in 2014 is concerned, the question to ask is about how much has been achieved during this past decade....

Women are required to produce two male witnesses, and it costs a woman at least £400 to get an Islamic divorce while a man can pay nothing. Under Sharia law, a woman must hand over all of her dowry before a divorce can be granted. Sharia marriage is not recognised under UK law, so women are not automatically entitled to half the house or financial assets when it comes to a divorce...

Diplomats can string together hollow phrases to conjure up the illusion of progress. That is one of their main talents. But after a historic conflict lasting some 130 years, no progress toward peace between the two peoples can be real, if there is no equal respect for their national history, rights, feelings and aspirations....

What occasions interest is this: while pursuing its own goals in relation to the Afghan theatre, the US subtly relied on India to do nothing that would alarm Pakistan’s military and make Islamabad divert its forces away from its Afghan border (where it is meant to assist the US effort) to the theatre to its east against India....

Will raising the minimum wage put more money in the pockets of America’s working poor? Or will it have the opposite effect, throwing more poor people out of work? That’s the question we ask whenever anyone proposes a hike in the minimum wage, as President Obama did in his State of the Union Address. But it’s also the wrong question, diverting us from the biggest one of all: what are the rights that we share as human beings?...