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Israel 100 years after Balfour
A case of moral degradation
2 November 2017 marked the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. This document promised to deliver a homeland for the Jews, yet also that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". Has this promise been kept? Political analyst Peter Oborne reports
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Islam in Europe
An appeal to Muslims: Call out the terrorists!
Muslims in the West need to shoulder some of the burden when it comes to combatting extremism, otherwise they themselves may well fall under the wheels of the proverbial bus. Commentary by Mousa Barhouma
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Donald Trump′s America
U.S. immigration policy: Damn those cosmopolitans
Cosmopolitanism is clearly a dirty word to the Trump administration, which is increasingly aligning itself with nativist movements hostile to ethnic or religious minorities. In the process Trump and his advisors are walking on thin political ice, argues Ian Buruma in his essay
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America′s dangerous anti-Iran posturing
For a farewell to arms
The Middle East is fraught with bitter national and sectarian conflicts that realistically can only be solved by compromise. Rather than another round of demonisation, what the region needs, argues Jeffrey Sachs, is an era of diplomacy that focuses on normalising relations
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Interview with British Pakistani novelist Tariq Mehmood
Fighting warplanes with words
Tariq Mehmood′s latest novel ″Song of Gulzarina″ is an arresting tale of love, loss and longing set against the backdrop of a never-ending war. In interview with Changiz M. Varzi, the award-winning author addresses issues of identity and how racism and Islamophobia can leave an indelible mark
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Theresa May, UK Muslims and the fight against terrorism
Hoist with her own petard
A few days before the UK general election, Prime Minister Theresa May announced a plan to curtail human rights in an attempt to catch Islamist terrorists. It was all too clear that she was targeting the Muslim minority per se as a tactic to win. She failed. Yet her outrageous claims are not likely to go away soon. Commentary by Alexander Goerlach
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Waguih Ghali′s diaries
The writer′s torment
Following his suicide in 1969, the private diaries of Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali, known for his one best-selling novel, ″Beer in the Snooker Club″, were preserved. Surviving only as copies, they were made available through Cornell University in 2014. May Hawas has now deciphered Ghali′s sometimes drunken scrawl and compiled his journals into two eminently readable volumes. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the first
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Bahrain′s slide towards military rule
Tightening the noose
The outright militarisation of the security apparatus has infected more and more sectors of Bahraini society. In fact, it's now even been written into the country′s constitution. Report by Husain Abdulla
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Book review: Mohsin Hamid′s ″Exit West″
Through the black door
In his epic fourth novel, award-winning Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid presents a love story couched within the modern phenomenon of mass migration. Moving from bleak dystopia at the outset to cautious optimism, it is a welcome foil to the gloom and doom prophecies of modern times. Susannah Tarbush read the book
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Arab Spring and Western Winter
Look before you leap!
Economist Ishac Diwan compares the failure of the Arab Spring with the rise in right-wing populism across the western world, both of them phenomena marked by massive social tensions. Moreover, he argues, the efforts of progressive movements to provide a viable alternative have all but run aground
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Terrorist attack in London
Keep calm and carry on
Once again a European city has become the target of terrorism. The vicious attack in Westminster this week highlights our vulnerability in the face of extremist hatred. As Dutch news correspondent Joris Luyendijk argues, the only way we can beat the terrorists is by living life to the full
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UK capital shaken by terror attack