Editorial

Repute of journalism worldwide has been torpedoed. The Paparazzi chased Princess of the People Lady Diana to death about a decade and half ago in Paris, France. Nothing came in the way of their fearsome power. A decade later, their cousins hacked the voicemail of a 13-year-old murder victim and also the kins of fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Deleting old messages from her cell phone memory generated false hope about the victim’s life, an inhumane thing to do with the distressed family.

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Over a year after the bloody attack on humanitarian aid ship, Mavi Marmara in the high seas near Gaza, Israel had adopted more cunning ways to thwart the second flotilla. The blood of 9 peace activists at the hands of Israeli commandoes inspired hundreds other worldwide to buy airline tickets and land at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport. While some vessels in the second flotilla have developed mysterious malfunctions others have been detained by the Greece port authorities, Welcome to Palestine or ‘flytilla campaign’ has left the Israeli authorities battered.

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The proponents of clash of civilizations never run out of excuses. What earlier used to be Islamophobia now seems transformed into religio-phobia. The Netherlands, once known for its religious tolerance, leads the way to scaring followers of Judaism and Islam with a recent legislation. Owing to a bill motivated by animal rights groups, religious slaughter is to be banned except that the process is proven less painful for animal than modern technique of stunning.

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Social media’s catalytic role, particularly highlighted since January, had made the oppressive regimes dread the digital technology. Such dictators have always relied on handy tools like blocking certain websites or blacking out Internet in their respective countries. Neither did it serve Egyptian tyrant Mobarak nor his Libyan counterpart Gaddafi. Pro-democracy citizens in Syria, Iran, Yemen and Bahrain are braving all odds to snatch their rights to dignified and prosperous life.

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Saudi Arabia has a history of providing refuge to homeless dictators and ousted elected leaders, alike. The number of such guests may soon run into dozens from two or three in a decade, courtesy the Arab Spring. Tunisian dictator Ben Ali has recently gotten some company when half burnt Yemeni ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh was brought in for medical treatment after sustaining injuries in an explosion. He may never go back to Sana’a. Anywhere from Bahrain to Morocco, winds of Arab Spring are uprooting the deadwood, albeit parasitic elements proving too entangled in Libya and Syria.

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Driving a car may not be a sin but a crime it is in Saudi Arabia. Rich women may own the best and the most expensive vehicles but driving pleasure is forbidden. The ‘daredevil’ female folk may not drive back to their homes but surely get an acclimatization tour of prison.

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The Srebrenica massacre is unforgettable. Over 8,000 Muslims went missing, later some were founded dumped in pits. Discoveries of numerous mass graves and horrific human stories have no parallel in the recent history but the World War II. The ethnic cleaning of Muslims sent chilling message of intolerance to the followers of Mohammad (Peace be upon Him) elsewhere in Europe where they also live as economic migrants.

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US President Barack Obama has been clearing mess of the past from the very day he assumed the office. Now he has turned to the Middle East and North Africa to do some tough talking while shunning legacy of the past. The Blackberry addicted leader tweeted back the protesting Arab youth in his watershed speech. Mr Obama, in his measured speech, tried to address decade-old glaring contradiction of US Middle East policy.

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The fourth UN conference of less developed countries (LDC) concluded with adoption of the İstanbul Action Plan, outlining ambitious expectations from developed and developing countries. The plan calls upon the world to, “achieve sustained, equitable and inclusive economic growth in LDCs, to at least at the level of 7 per cent per annum, by strengthening their productive capacity in all sectors through structural transformation and overcoming their marginalization through their effective integration into the global economy, including through regional integration.”

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Osama bin Laden’s killing and eventual burial in the Arabian Sea has brought a string of questions to the fore. The foremost being Washington’s neglect towards international law. While United Nations Security Council resolutions authorize military action in Afghanistan and hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives worldwide, questions of invading another country and carrying out assassination have become subjects of debate widely.

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