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Will 2013 be the year of the drone?
Will 2013 be the year of the drone? This is a question that may define the Af-Pak policy and perhaps how the rhetoric of “Global War on Terror” ( GWOT) is shaped in the months ahead. With over 3228 people dead in the drone strikes, of whom about 881 are estimated to be civilians, this…
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Ten books you must read in 2013
A friend recently asked me for a book recommendation, and I rattled off a few titles, and felt good about the recommendations I had just made. But on reflection, I realized that I hadn’t suggested the BEST books to read, given the paucity of time that we all have. So, if your interests are in the area…
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Zen and the art of dying ? De-constructing the cultural norms and aesthetics of death talk
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to live “ – Marcus Aurelius. I want you to reflect on this positive, life-enforcing thought before I get into discussing death. Close your eyes for a minute and take the…
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Join us in our fund-raising campaign…make a donation !
MENASA was incorporated in October 2011 and has successfully executed a number of events that have connected emerging leaders in the US with those in Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (ME, NA, SA). We are thrilled with our early successes, but are eager to expand programming and host even more events. To fuel this expansion,…
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Reflection on the nature of leadership : beyond presidential debates and rhetoric
The presidential debate in the U.S on Wednesday brought home some issues about leadership. I personally feel the debate was made out to be more about style than substance, but some analysts have rightly pointed out that despite calls by most media pundits that Romney “won” the debate, the last word is not out,…
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Book review: Before European Hegemony Summary
In what is certainly one of the most well-written books on Geo-politics of the 13th and 14th centuries that I have read, Janet Abu-Lughod makes a compelling argument that the world-system of that century gave rise to the European Hegemony of the 16th century and there were several factors responsible for it. Key among them…
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Guns, media and the semantics of covering violence
As I trolled down my Face Book updates today, I read about the shooting in Oakcreek, Wisconsin. Unfortunate as the news was, I tried to get more in-depth coverage of this and went onto Twitter and saw many news items from friends. There were some who were already analyzing the news, some commentators were writing…
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De-constructing Muslim charity
How do Muslims give ? This may be a simple question to ask, but a rather complicated one to de-construct. While Charity and giving are one of the five pillars of Islam, the notions of giving among Muslims ( in the USA) are rather complicated, as I am discovering. First off, the notion of who…
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Between a Church and a hard place
I am reading a LOT of stuff related to religion these days. This is partly a professional hazard, as I have started working for Muslim Public Service Network and also a personal quest to de-construct the manner in which religion is shaping public discourse in the US. Religion has always fascinated me, partly because I…
