Archive for December 7th, 2009
BRIDGING ISLAM AND THE WEST: An Indonesian View
Title: BRIDGING ISLAM AND THE WEST: An Indonesian View
Author: Dr. Muhamad Ali
Language: English
Publisher: Penerbit Ushul Press, Fakultas Ushuluddin, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta
Genre: Anthology
Specification: xiv, 192 hlm: 14×21 cm; soft cover
INTRODUCTION
This book, which is a collection of articles and essays written and published in the Jakarta Post daily and other newspapers and journals over the last six years from 2002, is a product of a continued interest in the relationship between Muslims and the West. The 9/11/2001 terrorist attack in New York has marked a new phase of global history particularly as regards to the West and Muslim societies not only in the center of Islam, the Middle East, but also in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States. The relationship between East and West which since the World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR) was especially dominated by the Cold War between the two world powers – the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union (USSR) – has now shifted into new and different players, involving the state, international organizations, and civil associations as well as individuals. Read the rest of this entry »
Climate change is also defense and security problem
Image source: beritajakarta.com
by Evan A. Laksmana
We are now only less than a month away from the UN summit on climate Change in Copenhagen to hammer out a new post-Kyoto deal to save the planet.
Meanwhile, recent reports show that in Southeast Asia, one of the most susceptible regions to climate change, more than 750,000 people have died between 1998 and 2009 from natural disasters.
Indonesia too will soon see firsthand the increases in the severity of drought, flooding, forest fires, rising sea level and extreme weather conditions.
Yet, with this impending disaster, the then defense minister Juwono Sudarsono said recently his department had no specific national security agenda for climate change.
This statement is shocking – not least for its lack of concern about how climate change could radically change our national defense. Read the rest of this entry »
