Hamas never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity

Given that Canadians are currently involved in military operations against one group of extremists aspiring to a state in Afghanistan, it is instructive to see how a group with a similar ideological framework can simply ignore international condemnation, tear up peace agreements, blame the victim and go on the attack whenever they feel like it. NDP Leader Jack Layton and his adherents calling for negotiations with the Taliban really ought to be paying attention.

Just weeks after concluding a unity government deal with Fatah to induce the international community to end sanctions, Hamas has once again declared war.

For those who are keeping score, the international community imposed sanctions in the first place because of Hamas' ongoing terrorist links, after Palestinians fed up with Fatah corruption voted for Hamas as the only other political party available (since all moderate Palestinian politicians have already been co-opted by the extremist movements or executed as collaborators).

The international community didn't actually ask for a unity government. They asked for Hamas to renounce violence and recognize existing peace agreements. That didn't happen.

And now that Hamas has declared the ceasefire between itself and Israel nullified (which only makes sense, given constant rocket attacks on Israeli civilian centers since Hamas was elected), the sanctions have no hope of ending. It's a tragedy for the Palestinians, Israel and everyone in the world who would rather that the world wasn't such a violent place.

That's the weather. Next up, terrorist attacks.

You know our civilization is in trouble when the news category of Terrorist Attacks comes right after World news and before Election news (That's odd. Did I miss something, or has there not yet been an election called in Canada?).

The Metro is one of those freely-distributed tabloid newspapers widely read in Canada's major cities, including Vancouver. It's a good read for those who like their news digesible over the course of a single cup of coffee.

But their editorial management has got to be questioned here. Are there really enough terrorist attacks going on in the world today to justify an entire news section? According to their own website, nope.

The stories in the section today are as follows:

• Wounded Afghans say U.S. forces fired on civilians after suicide bomb
• Ministry of Defense says two British soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan
• 3 killed, 33 wounded in Afghanistan violence
• U.S. prosecutors want new hearing on 'millennium bomber' sentence
• Former Taliban minister arrested in Pakistan, intelligence official says
• U.S. forces routinely fire on, pursue Taliban from Afghanistan into Pakistan

Notice that of the stories here, only two of the six ("3 killed, 33 wounded in Afghanistan violence" and the millennium bomber story) are actually about terrorist attacks.

Perhaps the Metro could do with a Sports roundup instead.

Islamophobia, or rational response?

Another righteous rant against Islamophobia blots the pages of Vancouver's Georgia Straight.

“Islamophobia is the way in which the Muslim community is constructed as an enemy, a civilizational other,” Itrath Syed, an SFU women's studies sessional instructor is quoted in the piece. “[It's] the idea that Muslims as a whole are completely homogenous unto themselves, there is no differentiation between Muslims. As a whole, Muslims occupy the opposite of everything that is good in the West.”

The article goes on to condemn Canadian legislation and policy targeting terrorism, which is seen as a weapon to persecute Muslims. Columnist Carlito Pablo and his source's concern about racist fearmongering is undoubtedly as sincere as it is misplaced.

Canada's terror legislation didn't appear out of a vacuum. Muslims as a group are indeed more feared and suspect than other Western minority groups - but this is not owing to some anti-Muslim conspiracy.

Of the countless terror attacks on Western cities, aircraft and favored tourist destinations in the past four decades, it is almost invariably Muslim extremists such as Al Queda responsible.

That this puts a harsh burden of suspicion on perfectly innocent Muslims in our multicultural nation is awful. But to pretend that this fear and suspicion has no legitimate basis, and that the resulting public policy lacks any sense of scale or justice, is perverse.