Articles

The constitutional referendum in Egypt is not meant to give the people their rights. It merely entrenches the military's grip on the political scene. It opens the way for General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the coup-maker, who overthrew a democratically elected last July, to assume direct power. The Egyptian military is back in power with all guns blazing.

Rape has become a common feature of life in India. Women are humiliated and suppressed and their rape is considered a normal part of life. The latest assault and rape of a 51-year-old Danish tourist right in the heart of Delhi once again shines light on this very serious problem.

The Lebanese army shown in photo, arrest Jamal Daftar-Dar, a Saudi-backed terrorist in Lebanon. He is believed to be involved in the car bombings of Iran's Embassy in Beirut on November 19 that killed at least 25 people. Another Saudi intelligence operative, Majed al-Majed died in mysterious circumstances in a Beirut hospital only a few days after his arrest. He could not be interrogated about his Saudi-backed terrorist operations.

Terrorist bomb attacks have escalated alarmingly in Iraq in recent weeks. Facing almost certain defeat in Syria, the Saudi-backed terrorists have intensified their murderous campaign in Iraq. The Saudi regime is arming, financing and training these terrorists to destabilize the region. The Saudi aim is to divert attention from their own illegitimate rule.

With mercenaries fighting and killing each other in Syria, government forces have a relatively free hand to deal with the terrorists. The Syrian army has been making steady progress in the strategic northern province of Aleppo and if it retakes the area, this will staunch the flow of weapons to the mercenaries from the north.

The sight of heavily armed troops backed by tanks and helicopters is not very conducive to a democratic vote. That, however, is not the point. The military wants to go through the exercise of holding a “vote” on the referendum to create the impression of people's participation so that it can continue to rule with an iron fist.

Aitizaz Hassan, a 15-year-old boy who sacrificed his own life to save 2,000 fellow students has been hailed a hero in Pakistan. He tackled a suicide bomber on January 6 outside his school and prevented him from detonating his bomb inside that would almost certainly have killed most of the students present there. He has been awarded Sitara-e Shujjat, Pakistan's highest civilian award, posthumously.

One of the most evil persons ever to walk on the face of earth, Ariel Sharon, has died, at last. He was 85 and had been in a coma since January 2006 after suffering multiple strokes. He was a mass murderer and went to his grave with the blood of tens of thousands innocent Palestinians, Lebanese and Egyptians on his hands. May he receive punishment commensurate with his vile deeds.

Robert Gates, the former US Defence Secretary has confirmed in writing what Afghan President Hamid Karzai had said all along: that the US wants to manipulate the 2014 presidential election in Afghanistan the way it tried in 2009. In his about to be published memoirs, Gates says the late US diplomat for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke was actively involved in undermining Karzai.

For frequent flyers, going through airport security checkpoints has become a nightmare. The so-called screeners are more like sexual predators. They are rude, ill-trained and have an attitude of do not give a damn. Are such intrusive searches really necessary or they are part of an elaborate scheme to create paranoia to take even the few rights people have in the West?