Como vencer o conflito de civilizações

What do the controversies around the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, the eviction of American missionaries from Morocco earlier this year, the minaret ban in Switzerland last year, and the recent burka ban in France have in common? All four are framed in the Western media as issues of religious tolerance. But that is not their essence. Fundamentally, they are all symptoms of what the late Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington called the "Clash of Civilizations," particularly the clash between Islam and the West.

Huntington's argument is worth summarizing briefly for those who now only remember his striking title. The essential building block of the post-Cold War world, he wrote, are seven or eight historical civilizations of which the Western, the Muslim and the Confucian are the most important.

The balance of power among these civilizations, he argued, is shifting. The West is declining in relative power, Islam is exploding demographically, and Asian civilizations—especially China—are economically ascendant. Huntington also said that a civilization-based world order is emerging in which states that share cultural affinities will cooperate with each other and group themselves around the leading states of their civilization. [...]

Ver artigo de Ayaan Hirsi Ali no Wall Street Journal

Polícia alemã fecha mesquita em Hamburgo ligada a célula do 11/S

Hamburg authorities on Monday closed the Taiba mosque, which had been the place of worship for the terrorist cell responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The city said the mosque had been closed in response to a ban that had been applied to the Arab cultural association which ran it, called the Arab-German Cultural Association.

The city said it would provide further details at a press conference to take place later in the day, but news agency Agence France Presse is reporting that the organization had been accused of recruiting jihadists in Germany. [...]

Ver notícia no Der Spiegel

Kosovo apela ao reconhecimento pelos países muçulmanos

Kosovo has appealed to Islamic nations to formally recognize its independence, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.Kosovo Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni made the appeal in a meeting with representatives from member states of the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in the United Nations, according to the statement.The former province of Serbia, which has a majority Albanian and Muslim population, declared independence in 2008, but Serbia along with its superpower ally Russia have vowed never to recognise its sovereignty.So far 69 of the 193 United Nations member states recognize Kosovo, among them however the United States and leading European Union nations - Germany, Great Britain and France. [...]

Ver notícia no Earth Times