Myanmar- Two Child Policy For Muslim Minority Rohingya

This is interesting: Myanmar (fka Burma) has instituted a two-child policy for their Muslim Rohingya minority population. They're the ones who have recently been targeted by Buddhists. Apparently, it's to ease tensions between the two.

A local official said Saturday that the new measure would be applied to two townships that border Bangladesh and have the highest Muslim population in Rakhine.

State spokesman Win Myaing said the measure was enacted a week ago after a government-appointed commission recommended family planning programs to help ease tensions in the volatile region.

Sectarian violence in Myanmar first flared nearly a year ago in Rakhine between the region's Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. Mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving hundreds dead and forcing 125,000 people to flee, mostly Muslims.

I don't condone violence of any nature, but it's almost karmic.

Muslim Violence After Egyptian Muslim Girl Runs Off With Coptic Christian Man

No problem if a Christian or other non-Muslim woman converts to Islam for a man, even if it's forced as often happens in countries like Pakistan. But woe betide both the Muslim woman who converts to Christianity and the Christians in the community that facilitated the conversion.

An Egyptian security official and a priest say police fired tear gas and clashed with a stone-throwing mob of Muslims who had surrounded a Coptic Church in anger over an inter-faith romance.

The Muslim protesters accuse the church of helping to secret away 21-year-old Rana el-Shazli, believed to have converted to Christianity before fleeing her small town with a Coptic Christian man to Turkey.

The alleged romance ignited sectarian tension in Wasta, a rural town in Beni Suef province, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Cairo. Clashes flared anew on Friday after weekly Muslim prayers.

For more than a month, Muslims have attacked churches over the incident and forced Christians to close their shops in the town.

Source: Al Arabiya

Sectarian Violence Over Ashura Kills 1 at Kabul University

It's Ashura (aka Ashoura) time, when Shiite Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, through self-flagellation by using big sharp knives, and literally making a bloody mess of themselves. I'm sure you've seen those photos of men holding their young kids with blood dripping down both their heads. Not a pretty sight.

Apparently, this is one of the many things that turn off their Muslim Sunni brothers, and understandably so; and this antipathy between them, and their obvious inability to respect each other in spite of their differing beliefs, is the root of the escalating sectarian violence.  They're not satisfied with telling each other "we think you suck, but you have a right to your own beliefs, as bizarre as they might be", no they have to instigate fights, and better yet blow each other up.  The Taliban were foiled in this plot, but Afghan police were not so lucky last year when around 60 were killed.

However, one university student at Kabul University was killed this year, and eight wounded, after fighting broke out Saturday, on campus.

The clash began Saturday evening as Sunni Muslim students tried to prevent their Shiite counterparts from observing Ashura inside a dormitory mosque. The holiday commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a revered figure in Shiite Islam. The confrontation escalated during the night, with students throwing stones at one another. University officials eventually sent in the police to break up the melee.

Some police officers said that as many as three people might have been killed, but only one death was confirmed as of Saturday night. University officials evacuated the school and canceled classes for the next 10 days.

I suppose I might not want my mosque bloodied up either, but couldn't they just have said, clean it up, or else? And these are educated university students, not ignorant poppy farmers out in the boonies.

I've said this before, but if Muslims can't even get along with each other, how on earth do we expect them to get along with people of other faiths.

It's Ramadan and The Killing Goes On- Roundup of Violence

It's still Ramadan, the holiest of Muslim holidays, and you'd think they'd take a little break from all the violence and bloodshed that has become synonymous with Islam. But no, the carnage continues.

Afghanistan was the center of a series of suicide bombings and attacks on Tuesday that killed more than 41 people and wounded more than 138. Touted as one of the bloodiest days this year, three bombings in different regions of Afghanistan claimed the lives of innocent men, women and children. Several bazaars and a government gas station were just some of the targets, and to show just how evil these people are, another bomb targeted the wounded who had been transported to a hospital, causing even more casualties.

Gen. John R. Allen, NATO commander, asked Taliban leader Mullah Omar to:

"..rein in his murderers." "What we saw today were further acts of intentional mass murder. By targeting innocent civilians in populated areas, the insurgents have again shown they will kill non-combatants without hesitation to advance their backward looking plans for Afghanistan."

And they really think peace with the Taliban is possible.

Then there was all that action in Iraq. 14 were killed  during the past week. In fact, July (Ramadan started July 20) was the deadliest month since August 2010.

Al-Qaeda affiliated militants singled out eight 16 to 20-year-old Shia Muslim men, executing them after allowing the rest of the group of 25 to leave unharmed. The others happened to be Sunnis. As they are apt to do, they too left a roadside bomb under one of the dead bodies as a present for the first responders, for maximum body count, you know- 4 policemen were wounded.

Then there's the six young Arabs who were swimming in Amerli, Iraq when they were shot dead by men on motorcycles. And the Sunni police that were attacked and killed, and the two Sunni government employees who were murdered (just so you know it's not just Shi'ites who are targets.) And all the others the past 30 days. 325 killed in July alone, and there have been attacks every day in August in Iraq.

And lets' not forget the bloodbath that's taking place in Syria during Ramadan. 

Lebanese and Syrian Officials Indicted For Terror Plots In Lebanon

Here's a bizarre story out of the Middle East.
The cast of characters: a former Lebanese Maronite Christian politician best buddies with Syria's Bashar al-Assad and in cahoots with the regime, a Lebanese man, a spy pen, and a Syrian general. The plot: kill Christians and Muslims in the northern part of Lebanon (Akkar). The objective: create sectarian violence between Sunni Muslims and Christians, and Sunnis and the bizarre Muslim Alawite sect (they celebrate Christmas!) to which Assad belongs.
Apparently, Michel Samaha (the former Lebanese minister) solicited a man (known only as 'Kfouri') to arrange for bomb attacks on Sunnis during their Ramadan Iftar fast-breaking banquets, at the same time that Christian Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi was due to visit the area. The targets were Syrian opposition and Sunni dignitaries.
Kfouri apparently went to the authorities with his story, convinced them that Samaha had asked him to "secure a group of trusted young men to transport explosive devices to the north and set them off there in exchange for a sum of money," the police handed him a handy dandy spy pen camera, and he was able to tape incriminating conversations with Samaha. With that evidence, including the exchange last Tuesday of $170,000 cash plus 24 explosive devices (four of which weighed 15 kilograms) Samaha was arrested, and subsequently indicted.

In one of the taped conversations Samaha was heard saying “this is what Bashar wants,” and also shared that the explosives had been given to him by Syrian Security Chief Major General Ali Mamlouk. Mamlouk and a Syrian colonel have also been charged. They all could get the death penalty for the failed plot.

Pro-Assad Hezbollah criticized the arrest, but what do you expect from a terrorist organization.

I guess Syria wants to pull Lebanon into its private hell.

Sources: Al Arabiya, CS Monitor, Naharnet

Egyptian Bishop Claims Attacks On Christians Escalating

Attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt have escalated, according to Bishop Morcos. He made that statement after an attack on a Church and homes of Christians in a village near Cairo this past Wednesday. 16 people were injured as a result of clashes between Muslims and Christians after a fight between a Muslim man and a Christian resulted in the death of the Muslim from his wounds.

He also complained about Mursi's failed promise to include more Christians in his cabinet. Only one was sworn in- the scientific research minister.

“The general climate is turning against Christians,” said Bishop Morcos. “Assaults on Christians have increased. It’s not just a matter of having one ministry,” he told AFP.

“There is a difference between promises and implementation,” said Morcos. “Perhaps there were obstacles in implementing the pledge, or the promise is one thing, and the actual implementation is another.”

There had always been sectarian strife between Muslims and the minority Coptic Christian population, even during Hosni Mubarak's leadership, but it seems to have increased since the Muslim Brotherhood took over. 

Bishop Morcos isn't the only one worried.

The United States warned on Monday that despite gestures by Egypt’s interim military leaders towards greater inclusiveness, sectarian tensions and violence had increased.

Washington’s 2011 International Religious Freedom Report expressed concern over “both the Egyptian government’s failure to curb rising violence against Coptic Christians and its involvement in violent attacks.”

Did Morcos really expect that under an Islamist majority government things would get any easier for the 10 percent of Christians that still live in Egypt?