Action must follow Obama's words

You —

By Tariq Ramadan

Obama's speech to Muslims will mean little if its symbolism is not followed up by concrete measures to restore trust

The relationship between the United States and Muslims has been so damaged after eight years of the Bush administration that the whole world is now wondering: what is Barack Obama going to say to Muslims? What should he say to restore confidence and trust?

First it's necessary to analyse the main causes of the deep mistrust we find today, not only in Muslim majority countries, but among African, Asian and western Muslims as well. For decades, and especially since the 11 September 2001, Muslims around the world have been getting messages from the US that are disturbing in both their substance and their form...

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Ya'qub — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 - 00:01

I saw clips from the speech. I have to say I was impressed. He did show real empathy for the Palestinians ,and was clear about the goal of an independent state. Also, even when he was talkinga about violence by Palestinians, he didn't ONCE say the word 'terrorist' or 'terrorism', clearly stating that the people fighting ARE legitimate freedom fighters (although he made it clear that armed struggle would NOT help their cause).

However, what kept running through my mind was the phrase 'Fine words butter no parsnips', which I feel is very appropriate.

Still early days on this. I hope for the future, although if he doesn't manage to get much done I'm not sure if any of us will live to see the end of it.

You — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 - 00:05

Not watched any of it, and had not planned to, but now I am curious.

HOWEVER, if he does fix the Palestinian mess, I wonder what those that consider America to be the great Dajjal will make of it...

You — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 - 00:05

Not watched any of it, and had not planned to, but now I am curious.

HOWEVER, if he does fix the Palestinian mess, I wonder what those that consider America to be the great Dajjal will make of it...

You — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 - 16:23

Doubt it - things do not have to be sequential. They can happen in parallel and some of the mess will take time to clean up even if he has both the will and the support of others to do so.

Ya'qub — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 - 18:49

[quote=wednesday]I don't really understand his motives at the moment, if you want to be understanding ofMuslim, I think he should start from his State first, no?

Is he trying to take away attention from the country that he's suppose to be running?[/quote]

This is nothing to do with 'understanding Muslims' or anything to do with religion/faith.

It's foreign policy. It's PART of running the country he's supposed to be running.

RI_RS — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 - 13:14

[quote=You]Probably not suitable for everyone, but here it is. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart talking about the visit.

[/quote]

Haha. John Stewart Mill! How fxcking ironic ¬_¬

I do NOT like that man ( Not Mill, the dad from Family Guy above)

Watched the first minute and a half or something, but couldn't stomach anymore. Canned laughter? Probably. I hope so. Disrespectful can sometimes be forgiven if it's actually funny. That wasn't even close to being vaguely amusing.

You — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 - 14:22

How can you not like Jon Stewart? That guy is good. Ofcourse he has an audience that he panders to and another one that he mocks, but he is class.

Main thing is a lot of his comedy is not comedy. He states the obvious a lot, but people seem to ignore it a lot too.

Even though that is a comedy show, that may be the msot honest news program in the US!