UPDATE: Elsewhere on the planet ...

The far-Right Little Green Footballs blog has decided that far-Right blogger Robert Spencer is a wacko. Yep, like they've discovered America. Or maybe what LGF is saying is that Spencer is not their kind of wacko. It's fun watching wackos fight other wackos. Read more here.

Christopher Hitchens argues in Slate that Obama must talk to the Iranians. But which Iranians? He suggests the Iranian people, not all of whom support Ahmedinejad. This sounds fabulous in theory. And in practice?

The idea of direct and transparent negotiations with the Iranians is not wrong in principle, but it depends on which Iranians are the actual or potential partners. The president can address the Iranian people directly if he chooses, from the podium of the United Nations ...

Perhaps not quite as good. I'm not sure if Iranians get to visit the UN all that often. Still, hopefully anything Obama says at the UN might make its way to popular media in Iran. And it's a good thing Washington has moved beyond just parrotting imbecilic phrases like "the Axis of Evil".

Hitchens also makes this observation:

For decades, we have wondered what might happen when or if an apocalyptic weapon came into the hands of a messianic group or irrational regime. We are surely now quite close to finding out.

Maybe Hitchens was asleep when Mordechai Vanunu spilled the beans.

Seeya.

UPDATE I: Neo-Nazi blogger Sheik Yer'Mami, whose racist comments (under the name of "Red Baron") frequently appear on Tim Blair's blog, is rather upset with my mentioning what LGF has to say about serial extremist Robert Spencer. SYM/RB is also upset with lots of other people. He's upset with US President Barack Obama (whom he refers to as "The Magic Negro" and "My Muslim President Obama") and David "Britain's dumbest Jew" Milibrand. Like I said - he's Tim Blair's buddy ...

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: Even more stuff published elsewhere ...

The delightful people at ABC Unleashed have run this piece on the campaign to discredit Barack Obama by focussing on his cultural and religious heritage. Apparently "Barry" (as he was known in Indonesia) Obama used to wear a sarong, and wearing a sarong is a sign that one is a Muslim. I guess that makes my mum a non-Muslim as she prefers to wear a sari.



The situation in Pakistan is becoming quite scary. I really hope the new civilian Pakistani government and the US can find a way to fight the scourge of terrorism together. However, the signs aren't terribly positive this far. Here are some of my thoughts in NewMatilda.

Less scary is the situation of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party. You can find my take on the change in leadership here.



In case you don't read far-Right blogs, The Canberra Times and I issued an apology to Mr Daniel Pipes. Yes, I have joined the ever-growing group of illustrous and sensible people to have been threatened by Mr Pipes with some kind of action. I now hope he will answer my prayers and declare me an "Islamist" in the same manner as he has declared such learned gentlemen as Hamza Yusuf Hanson and Professor Khaled Abou el-Fadl. The original article remains on this blog, albeit in edited format. The lesson I have learned from this incident is that the best way to expose Mr Pipes is to quote exactly what he says. His own words provide his numerous critics with sufficient ammunition.

Speaking of which, watch Mr Pipes oppose a Middle East peace plan proposed by President George W Bush, accusing the President of rewarding terrorism.



Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: More stuff published elsewhere ...

The kind folk at the New Zealand Herald have run this piece on recent events in Pakistan and on the broader issue of the responsibility of men in eliminating violence against women.


Those nasty Communist Marxist Maoist Leninist Socialist Anarchist Leftists at that left-wing trendy pinko PC institution called the ABC (you can tell they're communists by the people on their board and by the fact that their head-honcho once taught me English at St Andrews Cathedral School) have published two of my crappy articles on their Unleashed portal. One is about how nasty Australian Muslims just can't get enough of mooning at each other. The other is a reflection about what terrorism really is as opposed to what some of our more imbecilic politicians and pundits tell us it is.

And finally, for those of you travelling to an Australian blog for the first time, consider this ...



Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf

UPDATE: Stuff published elsewhere ...

Eureka! A piece of mine has just been run in that wonderful Jesuit publication called Eureka Street.

A similar piece was run in NewMatilda.

But if you think all that's cool, watch this awesome example of law enforcement in action ...

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: Stuff published elsewhere ...

Cricket fans will be completely couldn't-give-a-rat's-backside to learn that this piece about my namesakes was published in NewMatilda recently.



I've started writing for Eureka Street, a fantastic online magazine published by a group of exceptionally funky Jesuits in Melbourne. Apparently the magazine got its name because of profound historical reasons. Its first office was located in a street named Eureka Street. My first submission is here.

Apart from that, I really don't have much to announce. Except that I am getting hitched soon. Who is she? Who would submit herself to a life of such creativity, excitement and over-consumption of Turkish pide?

I can't say. But I do find the following music clip extremely amusing.



Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: Stuff published elsewhere …

The New Zealand Herald today published some observations on World Youth Day. NZ Herald columnist Garth George was, for some reason, mistakenly mentioned on the website as co-author of the piece. As if George would be caught dead writing such trash!



Following up on a piece about polygamy, the wonderful folk at New Matilda have run a piece on WYD.



Meanwhile, the folk at ABC Unleashed have published my latest observations about thick Sheiks. The highlight isn’t the piece but the vibrant mass debate that follows beneath it.

And now that Alexander Downer has announced his resignation, let’s check out what he was telling (well, sort of) comedian Aamer Rahman when Aamer interviewed (well, sort of) Downer some years back.




Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: Reading list ...

Aussie lawyer and freelancer Mustafa Qadri puts NewMatilda cyberspace to good use, providing some important background (and his own experiences on the ground) on what goes on inside one of the hottest conflict zones in the Middle East ...

Aid agencies have always had to coordinate their activities in Gaza with the Israeli army and that remains the case. The dirty little open secret is that Israeli army commanders routinely coordinate day-to-day affairs, such as the entry and exit of fuel convoys, with their Hamas counterparts.

The Gaza Strip is presently experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis due to an Israeli blockade that has been in force since the Hamas takeover. Around 80 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. Access to energy and water has been heavily reduced while food prices have soared.

"I am unable to meet my family's needs," a man in Gaza told me two weeks ago. "Whenever I go to the market, I cannot find what I want, and if I find it, I cannot offer the prices."

He then asks this interesting question ...

If Israel can work with Hamas, why can't Australian charities?

Meanwhile, President and Founder of the Islamic Friendship Association of Lakem ... woops ... Australia (or as one of my Aussie Muslim mates described it to me, the "Trad Family Singers") Keysar Trad braves abuse from NewMatilda readers as he argues the case for polygamy for blokes. He then has some interesting things to say about yours truly ...

Over the past week or so, all that I experienced from the opponents of my views are attempts at censorship through public derision and unrelated questions that offer nothing to the debate. In newmatilda.com, Irfan Yusuf commented on my "large belly and hips" and on my representative capacity, as if this somehow refutes or deals directly with any aspect of my argument.

Was I the author of these comments concerning Keysar's physique? Let's have a read at the relevant paragraphs ...

As this is a family-friendly website, I won't be typing what else the daughters will probably be saying. I'm sure they will be far less polite than Virginia Haussegger was in Saturday's Canberra Times who writes of Keysar's "large belly and hips thrust confidently forward".

And as I grab the White Pages and look up Jenny Craig's number ...

Seriously, it isn't nice to quote people out of context. It's preferable to allow people space and room to say what they really feel, in their own words. Here's Keysar again, this time in another part of cyberspace ...

In my younger days, I wrote a 20-page thesis on love, attraction and emotions that is so complex (or so they tell me) that many readers drop with emotional exhaustion after the first few pages. It was an expression of my thought processes at that time in my life which neither defines me or my faith, even if that experience compelled me to purchase Professor Milad Doueihi’s well presented and researched A perverse history of the human heart which, despite being a very good book, is still waiting for me finish reading.

Personally, I think in all these debates Keysar means well. He should just keep out of them. Or even better, he should just stop generating them.

Anna Rose issues her fatwa on Professor Garnaut's draft climate change report (I guess she'd probably refer to it as a daft climate change report). She refers to energy companies and other participants in what Dr Guy Pearse would describe as "the Greenhouse Mafia" as the "polluter lobby". Take this, you nasty polluters ...

For Kevin Rudd to delay - or decrease the effectiveness of - the ETS because of pressure from the polluting industries is a slap in the face for the millions of ordinary Australians who elected him on a promise of effective climate action. Australians know that reducing greenhouse pollution will change our economy; but they're ready for those changes and they want leadership, not short-term populism.

The polluter lobby must not set the terms of the debate around climate solutions. Climate change is too important and the costs of inaction will affect every aspect of our economy and our lives.

Rose is honest enough to acknowedge her criticisms have been made before she's read the 600-page draft report. Then again, who has?

And I couldn't be bothered explaining why I basically agree with Donald Brook's argument on art and child porn. Although I might change my mind once I've actually read all of it!!

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: Stuff published elsewhere ...

Apart from the op-ed published in the Canberra Times on 28 July 2008, there was some comment about the whole issue (or rather, non-issue) of polygamy in The Age here.



When it comes to racism, some conservatives just don't get it. You can about an incident in the United Kingdom related to this theme published in that wonderful website New Matilda here.



And what is it about human beings and pigeon holes? Check out the comments attached to the version of this article republished by the wonderful folk at Online Opinion here.

UPDATE I: Keysar Trad provides this response in a letter to The Age ...

IRFAN Yusuf's article "Just how many people are behind the polygamy push?" (Comment & Debate, 27/6) is plainly wrong on many counts. It would have
taken a simple phone call to prove that Islamic Friendship Association members
are not all "Trads".

Unfortunately, I have become used to the defeatist response that if you cannot counter the argument, you attack the person presenting it. This shooting of the messenger does nothing to address real social issues, which in this case are not just Muslim issues, but issues of perhaps a third of society engaging in plural relationships.

Who is behind the "the polygamy push"? There is no push. There is an opinion, which I expressed, that my faith can offer a solution to people who find themselves in plural relationships. I have repeatedly stated that we have no interest in making any representations to the Federal Government to decriminalise the actions of people who take the responsibility for such relations.

Keysar Trad, Islamic Friendship Association of
Australia

Who is this "we", Keysar? And where is the evidence that a third of Australian society engages in what you describe as "plural relationships"? And in what sense is it a personal attack to argue that your views are not representative of mainstream Muslim opinion in Australia? Or that your association has no right to present itself as speaking in any representative capacity?

And how long must we wait before we see the Islamic Friendship Association having a spokesperson other than Keysar Trad? I won't be holding my breath ...

UPDATE II: Someone from an internet forum posted this response ...

"Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association (whose members, I suspect, share the same surname and hold dinner meetings each night in the same home)"
well skewered

Words © 2007 Irfan Yusuf



Bookmark this on Delicious
 

UPDATE: More of my crap ...

In case you have nothing better to do with your life, read about Maharaja Shane Warne, who might well become Bollywood's next dancing and miming sensation.

Rupert Murdoch has ordered Piersed Akumen to run in a Sydney by-election. Yeah, right. And pigs will fly, you say. Well, they certainly are flying in a seat in the English House of Commons. Click here to read about Uncle Rupert's candidate who is running on the platform of having people wipe their feet with the Magna Carta before walking into gaol for upto 42 days.

What is it with some American citizens? I reckon these guys might be onto something. Or if you don't like the song, perhaps try reading the book ...

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: More stuff published elsewhere ...

The Kiwis have suddenly discovered Camden. Either that, or they've had far more important things to read and write about. This rather blasphemous piece has just made an appearance in the New Zealand Herald.


Meanwhile, the wonderful folks at NewMatilda have allowed yours truly to cut loose on iguanas and other political animals here.

And if you've got 15 minutes to spare, watch this special on Wazzi Acrim's career. Marvellous stuff.

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious

UPDATE: Stuff recently published ...

OK, in case anyone gives a stuff, here's what I think of 2 recently published books which provide some analysis on what people living in various Muslim communities think of life, the world, politics and just about everything else (well, apart from hoochies). You can read the slightly unedited version here.

The NSW Liberals always make fascinating writing, even if their antics can bore readers to death. Little wonder this piece in New Matilda managed to generate absolutely no comments.

It seems people are more interested in talking about the possibility of killing criminals. I hope this piece for ABC Unleashed reaches a double-century of comments.

And I give British author Imran Ahmad another plug here.

But why read when you can watch this superb display of bowling from Wazzi A-Crim?

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


Bookmark this on Delicious