I went on a little hiking trip at FRIM yesterday when I saw this:
Heh.
It is disheartening to see the Sunni-Shiite divide is occurring at a place where diversity is so highly cherished:
Last year, a Sunni student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor sent a screed against Ashura to the Muslim Student Association’s e-mail message list. The document had been taken off SunniPath.com, one of many Web sites of Islamic teachings that Shiite students said regularly spread hate disguised as religious scholarship.
Azmat Khan, a 21-year-old senior and political science major, said that she, like other Shiites on campus, was sometimes asked whether she was a real Muslim.
“To some extent, the minute you identify yourself as a Shiite, it outs you,” Ms. Khan said. “You feel marginalized.”
I was never active in the association while I was an undergraduate at Michigan. I have always been disinterested in religious activities since I was a teenager and so, the active inactivity is easily comprehensible. In fact, I think I became a member through sheer accident.
The only time when I could be seen at the Muslim Students’ Association-organized event was during Ramadan, when the association organized fast-breaking event at the Wedge Room of West Quad. And from time to time, when classes or World of Warcraft started to demand the usual time slot for Friday prayer up north, or the cold and the wind was simply absolutely intolerable, I chose to do my Friday prayer together with MSA-organized congregation at Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union.
Through my limited experience with the MSA, I do not remember hearing the divide as pronounced as reported by the NYT.
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[1078] Of PSV 2 – 3 AZ
AMSTERDAM, Feb 3 (Reuters) – AZ Alkmaar opened up the Dutch title race as striker Danny Koevermans scored a late goal to seal a stunning 3-2 win at leaders PSV Eindhoven on Saturday.
PSV, who suffered their first home defeat since December 2004, remain top with 56 points from 23 matches but are now only six points ahead of second-placed Alkmaar.
Ajax meets Feyenoord later today and this is a great chance for Ajax to cut down the current 8-point gap between Ajax and PSV.
The problem of course is that AZ is too close to Ajax. Ajax will need to win at Amsterdam today if the team is to retain its 1-point lead over AZ.
The Eredivisie is not over yet.
With respect to the current negotiation on Malaysia-US FTA, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Democrat Tom Lantos made the most unhelpful comment:
The recently-announced oil and gas deal between Iran and Malaysia is equally abhorrent. That is why today I am sending a letter to our trade representative, Susan Schwab, requesting that all negotiations between the United States and Malaysia on a free trade agreement be suspended until Malaysia renounces this proposed deal.
According to Bernama, “abhorrent” deal refers to this:
Abdullah was reacting to a statement made by US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Lantos who demanded that US President George W. Bush suspend all FTA negotiations with Malaysia, in protest over the US$16 billion (RM57.6 billion) deal signed last month between Malaysia’s SKS Group and the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company.
All this is on top the fact that negotiation is tough:
A proposed Malaysia-U.S. free trade pact may falter if negotiators fail to make firm progress in bridging differences at a fifth round of talks next week, a U.S. official warned on Wednesday.
Negotiators will meet again for a week starting Monday in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo island, where they will seek a compromise over opening up of Malaysia’s services and government contracts – two key hurdles to a deal – said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia.
Labor and environmental issues are also holding up talks, he said.
Further at Forbes by Associated Press :
Malaysia has warned it will drop free trade talks with the United States if it is asked to scrap a multi-billion-dollar gas deal with Iran, a news report said Friday.
[…]
In an angry reaction, Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz told Washington to stay out of Malaysia’s affairs and warned the government will not bow to any threats, the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia reported
While I am very keen of the Malaysia-US FTA, I have to agree with Rafidah Aziz. No one shall dictate Malaysian relationship with Iran. Besides, that oil and gas cooperation is not a government-to-government dealing.
Malaysia must have the liberty to forge relationship with anybody. It is our liberty and in my priority list, liberty sits higher than an FTA.
Despite that, I urge both the Malaysian and the American negotiators to ignore Lantos and realize a closer relationship between the two countries. It is only through trade could we guarantee our prosperity. In Kant’s words, “the spirit of trade cannot coexist with war.”
Further, what better way for Malaysia to get back at Lantos other than having a successful fair FTA?
According to the NYT, in the First Assessment Report (AR1) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published in 1990:
The unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect from observations is not likely for a decade or more.
In the AR2 of 1995:
The balance of evidence suggests a discernable human influence on global climate.
AR3 of 2001:
There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.
AR4, 2007:
Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.