from Tales from the Trail:
Washington Extra: Sayonara Santorum
Former presidential candidate and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is featured on a button by a supporter who also wore the politician's trademark vest in this January 14, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/Jason Reed
It began and ended at a kitchen table in Pennsylvania. Rick Santorum's improbable and surprisingly long run for the White House is over. But the Republican Party will feel the effects of this game-changing gambit cooked up in a kitchen for some time to come.
Santorum offered disgruntled voters true conservative credentials. He brought social issues and religious freedom to the forefront of the national debate. He made Mitt Romney work much harder for the nomination than expected, and lurch to the right in the process. His supporters may not go away quietly or fall behind Romney in lockstep.
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, already put his demands out there: "If the Republican establishment hopes to generate this same voter intensity in the fall elections, Santorum voters must see it demonstrate a genuine and solid commitment to the core values issues."
Santo said he was suspending his campaign - which could be interpreted as suspending it until 2015. Surely, he'll be back. And meanwhile, he needs help covering his campaign debt. He asked today for "one more contribution of $25, $50, or $73.10."
Mormon faith may hurt Romney in U.S. primaries – poll
Mitt Romney’s Mormonism could hurt the Republican candidate with evangelical voters in his fight for the party’s presidential nomination, but those voters would favor him over President Barack Obama in the general election, according to a newly released poll.
Some 15 percent of evangelical Christians, a key constituency in the Republican presidential nomination battle, say they are wary of Mormonism and will not vote for Mitt Romney, the Pew Research Center poll found.
But those same voters were more likely to favor the former Massachusetts governor, a Mormon, in the November 2012 general election over President Barack Obama, whom they dislike more, the telephone poll conducted Nov. 9-14 found.
“You do see the potential for Romney’s Mormonism to have an impact on the primary campaign,” said Pew research Greg Smith.
“Those who think Mormonism is not a Christian religion are more reticent about Romney and his candidacy. At the same time those people are the people who are the strongest critics of Barack Obama. Fully 92 percent of them say they have an unfavorable view of Obama,” he said.
Nearly two out of three white evangelical Christian voters in the poll did not believe Mormonism is a Christian religion and 15 percent of evangelicals would not support Romney.
Evangelical Christians may account for 60 percent of the votes cast in two of the first four Republican nomination contests, the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary.
Top Kremlin aide says Putin is God’s gift to Russia
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was sent to Russia by God to help his country during one of its most turbulent times, the Kremlin’s chief political strategist said on Friday in rare public remarks. “I honestly believe that Putin is a person who was sent to Russia by fate and by the Lord at a difficult time for Russia,” Vladislav Surkov, a staunch Putin supporter and one of Russia’s most powerful men, was quoted by Interfax news agency as telling state-run Chechen TV.
“(Putin was) preordained by fate to preserve our peoples,” said Surkov, who is also the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff.
Putin, 58, was president between 2000-2008 before becoming prime minister and is widely viewed as Russia’s key decision-maker. The former KGB spy, picked by an ailing President Boris Yeltsin as his prime minister and heir apparent, restored national pride by sending troops back into Chechnya to quell a burgeoning insurgency and presided over a long economic boom following the chaos of the Soviet Union’s collapse.
.
Egypt’s Brotherhood faces sterner critics, internal rifts
In the weeks after Hosni Mubarak was ousted, Egyptian television channels revelled in their new freedoms by giving airtime to the formerly banned Muslim Brotherhood, offering them an open platform to speak. Members of the Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organised political group, are still regular guests. But the tone has changed. Soft-ball questioning has given way to rigorous interrogation about their plans and criticism of their public statements.
“You are not the guardians of the faith alone. No one gave you such a power,” writer Khaled Montasser told one Brotherhood member and former member of parliament, Sobhi Saleh.
The rebuke on a popular talk show in June followed a statement by Saleh, who was on the drafting committee of constitutional amendements, that it would do well in a September parliamentary election as its members were “God’s guardians.”
In spite of such criticism, the well-organised Brotherhood is still expected to do better than rivals in the vote. Although banned under Mubarak, it was left enough space to build up a grassroots networks through its medical and charity work.
But just how well it will do is less clear. It may have a head start on others in post-Mubarak Egypt but it now faces much deeper scrutiny about its plans and is struggling to control an internal debate about how to compete in upcoming polls.
“They have organisational and financial abilities. But there is a growing sentiment among a wide strata of Egypt’s society fearing the rise of the Brotherhood to power,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah of Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
The Brotherhood, long used to policy-making behind closed doors, has not always shown a united front since Mubarak was toppled on Feb. 11. It has sometimes been clumsy in explaining decisions and has alienated alliance partners, analysts say.
Egypt’s Sufis see post-Mubarak Islamist threat, consider launching own movement
Down the narrow alleyways of Cairo’s Sayidda Zeinab neighbourhood, 100 men sway their heads and clap in rhythm as they invoke God’s name. “O how you have spread benevolence,” chant the men, some dressed in ankle-length galabeya robes, to celebrate the birth of Fatima al-Zahraa, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
The men are followers of the centuries-old Azaimiya Sufi order who seek to come closer to God through mystical rites. Some of the country’s estimated 15 million Sufis say their traditions are now threatened by various groups of Islamists elbowing for influence after the overthrow of Egypt’s veteran leader Hosni Mubarak. Some Islamists, such as the ultra-conservative Salafists, see Sufi practices such as the veneration of shrines as heresy.
So as Sufis seek to defend traditions dating back centuries, what began as a loose religious identity could be gelling, gradually, into a political movement.
Alaa Abul Azaim, sheikh of the Azaimiya Sufi order, says moves by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups to enter formal politics endanger religious tolerance and oblige Sufis to do the same. “If the Salafists or Muslim Brotherhood rise to power, they could well cancel the Sufi sheikhdom, so there has to be a party for Sufis,” he said.
“If the Sufis stood side by side, they could be an important voting bloc … but their political and organisational power is less than their numerical power,” said political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah.
Read the full story by Shaimaa Fayed and Abdel Rahman Youssef here.
.
Pity the pandering U.S. candidate
Politicians pandering for votes on conservative family values issues may want to think again.
A survey of 3,000 Americans by the Public Religion Research Institute found 42 percent said the terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” both described them well, illustrating the complexity of the abortion issue in the minds of many.
“The terms ‘pro-choice’ and ‘pro-life’ does not reflect the complexity of Americans’ views on abortion,” said Robert Jones, head of the institute.
Seven in 10 Americans say the term pro-choice describes them somewhat or very well, and nearly two-thirds say the term pro-life correctly describes them.
The survey also noted a “de-coupling” of views on the legality of abortion and of same-sex relationships among those born after 1980.
“Millennials (people aged 18 to 29 who came of age at the turn of the millennium) look about like their parents do on the legal right to an abortion. But on the issue of same-sex marriage they look significantly more supportive,” Jones said.
Overall, 56 percent of Americans support the legality of abortion – roughly the same level of support as in the past decade.
from India Insight:
M.F. Husain, Swami Ramdev and the world’s largest democracy
M.F. Husain, India's most famous modern artist, died at the age of 95 this morning, not in Maharashtra, his home state, nor New Delhi, where many of his ground-breaking works were exhibited, but in London, where he lived in exile with Qatari citizenship. The 'Picasso of India' has for five years felt unable to live and work in his country of birth.
Husain fled India in 2006, leaving behind court cases and death threats against him, and continued vandalism of his works from right-wing Hindu groups that accused him of insulting their religion by painting deities in the nude.
Husain, a Muslim, felt unsafe and unable to practice his particular art form in the world's largest democracy. And he's not the only one. Salman Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai but lives in the UK, saw New Delhi ban his Satanic Verses for its perceived depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
And Husain's death presents a timely reminder to India of the multi-faceted obligations of an open, secular democracy, as anti-graft movements swell against the government.
On Thursday morning, India's news channels cut to the breaking news of Husain's death from pictures of Swami Ramdev, the yoga guru turned social activist being treated by doctors monitoring his health during a hunger fast that entered its sixth day on Thursday.
The country's Home Minister P. Chidambaram, in an effort to undermine Ramdev's stand against corruption, sought on Wednesday to paint the guru as an agent of the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation, and raise his worries of an upsurge in far-right extremism against the government - currently headed by his secular Congress party - to discredit the wider anti-graft movement.
BABA RAMDEV IS AN IKON….HE HAS GIVEN INDIA A BRAND YOG AND YOGA THAT WAS THEER FOR CENTURIES BUT NEER TAPPED…THE UNEDUCATED SANYASI HAS DONE IT WHAT NOT EVEN RELIANCE OR TATAS OR BIRLAS COULD GIE TO INDIA THAT IS A TRULY GLOBAL BRAND…INDIA IS KNOWN BY YOG TODAY …TODAY EVERY GRADUATE …IIM OR IITIAN HAS ONE AGENDA TO PASS OUT FIND A JOB,GOOD HOUSE WIFE,BRANDED CARS AND LUXURY HOW MUCH PERCENTAGE OF US CONTRIBUTE TO OUR COUNTRY’S BRANDING AND ECONOMY..? NONE…OF US…HE IS ACTUALLY TRUE IKON IN CONTEXT OF THE AUSTERITY AMERICANS HAVE HIJACKED…LIKE BUFFET AND BILL GATES…THEY COME TO INDIA AND MEDIA GOES GAGA OVER IT …BUT INDIAN MEDIA IS BUNCH OF FOOLS WHO CANT LOOK INTO THERE OWN COUNTRY AND FND A BABA RAMDEV WHO HAS ACTUALLY DONE MUCH MUCH GREATER CAUSE TO HIS COUNTRY THEN ANY BUFFET OR GATES TO AMERICA…WHT HARM HAS HE DONE …BY TEACHING A NON MEDICAL AND ANCIENT INDIAN LEGACY TO THE WORLD,…WHT HARM HAS HE DONE BY OPENING ASHRAMS AND DHARAMSHALAS ALL OVER HOLI PLACES WHERE PPL WHO CANT AFFORD TO STAY IN THE TAJ CAN STAY IN HYGEINE AND EAT HYGENIC FOOD…AND WHT HARM IN FMCG PROUCTS AND SCHOOLS WHOSE FOODS IS TOTALLY FREE OF CHEMICALS AND SCHOOLS NOT FOR THE WEALTHY …AND ALL EARNINGS OUT OF THESE INVESTED AGAIN IN THESE ACTIVITIES…AND WHT HARM IN RAISING VOICE AGAINST A COBRA OF CORRUPTION …ACTUALLY THIS IS JUST A BEGINNING INDIA IS GETTING READY FOR AN EGYPT IF THE GOERNMENT KEEPS ON PUTTIN THE LID ON THE STEAMED HOPES OF PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY …IT COULD GET WORSE
Muslim Brotherhood says it won’t force Islamic law on Egypt
The Muslim Brotherhood wants a diverse parliament after elections in September and is not seeking to impose Islamic law on Egypt, the head of the group’s newly formed political party said in an interview. The Brotherhood, which has emerged as a powerful force after years of repression under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, has said it does not want a parliamentary majority, although rivals see it as well placed for a dominant position.
“We only use Islam as the basis of our party … which means that our general framework is Islamic sharia … We don’t issue religious rules in individual cases,” said Mohamed Mursi, head of the Brotherhood’s newly formed Justice and Freedom Party, which will contest the vote.
Liberal Egyptians in particular worry that the group could use for its own ends the second article of Egypt’s constitution, which makes sharia, Islamic law, a main source of legislation. Egypt’s military rulers suspended the old constitution and introduced an interim one, but that article was unchanged.
Mursi, speaking in the group’s new five-storey headquarters in Mokattem on the outskirts of Cairo, dismissed such worries. “We want to engage in a dialogue not a monologue,” he said. “The Brotherhood does not seek to control the parliament … We want a strong parliament … with different political forces.”
.
Muslims rush to restore torched Egyptian church
Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, removing soot from its surface inside a church gutted in an attack by Islamist militants this month. “It takes a lot of careful work to do that,” Fathi said. “We have to do a lot of tests with chemicals to try to restore the icon to its original condition.”
The 26-year-old is one of a vast group of mostly Muslim craftsmen tasked with restoring St Mary’s Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba after militants set it on fire on May 7. Egypt’s military rulers have ordered its restoration at a time when tensions between Christians, who account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, and Muslims are on the rise. The ground floor of the four-storey church was gutted in the fire, destroying 10 out of 27 old icons beyond repair.
On Wednesday, a team of mostly Muslim restorers — working for one of Egypt’s biggest construction firms known as The Arab Contractors — huddled in one corner, using special chemicals, paint and brushes to rescue the remaining paintings.
“My job is to restore historic art pieces, be they Muslim, Coptic or Jewish,” Fathi said.
.
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood member says he will seek presidency
A senior member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said he would run for president as an independent, a move that could draw votes from backers of the Islamist group that has said it will not field a candidate. Secular groups and the West are concerned by how much power the Brotherhood may gain after the first elections since the toppling of president Hosni Mubarak. Decades of authoritarian rule has curbed the development of potential rivals.
Egypt’s biggest Islamist movement had sought to assuage fears by saying it would not seek the presidency in polls due by early next year; nor would it pursue a majority in September parliamentary polls, contesting only 50 percent of seats.
But Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh, a reformist leading member of the group, told Reuters: “I will run as an independent candidate in the coming presidential elections. I am not a member of any party now.”
Abul Futuh said his move did not mean the Brotherhood had changed tack. “The Brotherhood as a group is not competing for the presidency and is now separating its mandates, a move I had called for four years ago,” he said, a reference to a new political party the Brotherhood has set up.
Under Mubarak, the group fielded candidates as independents in elections, skirting a ban on its political activities and maintaining a nationwide organisation others lacked. The military council, in charge until a new president is elected, has said Egypt will not become an Iran-style theocracy.
Read the full story by Marwa Awad and Abdelrahman Youssef here.
.
Stop all funding, investments and tourism to countries that are hostile to Israel, USA and Europe! It’s the only way to reduce terrorism/crime!
-
Resident FaithWorld Expert
-
