text:
MGM post facile win over DHL to lift first NAS Cricket title
MGM players celebrate after winning the final of the NAS cricket tournament.
With all their big guns firing on the night, MGM cruised to a comfortable eight wicket win over DHL in the final of the NAS Cricket T10 Championship.
Salim Qudoos was MGM's big star of the night, taking two crucial wickets first to help restrict DHL to 127 for 4, and then coming back to blast a 13-ball 32 (3x4s, 2x6s) to take MGM across the line with 1.2 overs to spare.
The fine all-round performance earned him the man of the match award. Qudoos was also adjudged the best bowler of the tournament for his nine wickets and his teammate, Mohammed Hassan picked up the best batsman award for his 157 runs in the tournament.
This was cricket's first appearance in the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, which is organised under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, every year since 2013 in the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Hosted by DP World at Wombats Cricket Ground in Jebel Ali, the NAS Cricket Tournament was a success with 24 teams taking part and colourful crowds attending all matches.
"First of all, I would like to thank His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum for this wonderful community sports initiative, which is in its seventh year," said Nabil Qayed, Director of HR at DP World, who presented the winners and runners-up with their medals and trophies at the presentation alongside Adil Yousif Albannay, Chairman of the NAS Sports Tournament's Technical Committee.
"I would also like to thank all the officials responsible for organising this event and offer them my sincere appreciation for their efforts," Qayed added.
"Cricket is very popular among the South Asian expatriates in the UAE and, as we celebrate the Year of Tolerance, we were delighted to see this sport become a part of the NAS Sports Tournament.
"The NAS Cricket tournament was a definite success. We have seen lively crowds all through the tournament, especially tonight for the final.
"The quality of the matches, I am told, has been really good and the feedback from all the players and officials has been very positive.
"They have been really happy to see cricket become a part of the NAS Sports Tournament and they are thankful to Sheikh Hamdan and our generous leadership, who are always striving to bring joy and happiness to the hearts of all the people in this country, people of all cultures and ethnicity."
Haroon Ghaus, Director Wombats, also thanked Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and the organising team of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament for "their generous support and for including cricket in the NAS Sports Tournament in this Year of Tolerance".
"NAS Cricket is a salute to the culture of tolerance and inclusivity in the country, and we are proud to be a part of the NAS Sports Tournament, a simply amazing event being held every year in the Holy Month of Ramadan," Ghaus added.
"This [NAS Cricket] has been an excellent tournament in terms of the excitement it has generated. This tournament is not just about the amazing cricket that has been played, but also the excitement and the engagement of the crowds that have come to watch. It's amazing… the engagement around the cricket has really surprised us and we thank the NAS Sports Tournament organising committee for their support and the amazing job they have done.
"We love how the tournament has worked out. It is worth all the sleepless nights we have had. Hopefully, cricket will now become an annual fixture of the NAS Sports Tournament."
Fohood, Saudi Driving in final Defending champions Saudi Driving School, who won the title as Emirates Driving Institute 12 months ago, will defend their crown against Fohood Zabeel in the NAS Futsal Championship final on Friday at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.
In the semi-finals on Wednesday night, Fohood Zabeel defeated Dubai Police 8-6 in a thriller, while Saudi Driving School defeated Al Taher 5-3.
Cricket Dubai Championship
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Hamdan attends NAS Night Challenge Championship
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City's Sterling sinks W.Ham as Pogba shines in Utd win
England international Sterling scored a brace in the second half as West Ham's defence went AWOL in Nanjing.
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World Cup hero Roy gets first Test call-up as Wood sidelined
London: Opening batsman Jason Roy -- not even a regular top-order batsman for Surrey in red-ball cricket -- has been named in England's Test squad for the first time for the one-off match against Ireland starting at Lord's next Wednesday. While Roy, who accumulated 443 runs in England's triumphant 50-overs World Cup campaign, has been
Rahm would love to become second Spaniard after Ballesteros to clinch Open
Hoping to emulate the legendary Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros, Jon Rahm said on Wednesday that he would "love" to become the second Spaniard to win the British Open this week, 40 years on from Ballesteros' first major win at Royal Lytham and St Annes. The late Ballesteros won the Claret Jug three times, but Spain is yet to have a second


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Geo Map — Asia — Indonesia
Maps of Asia — Republic of Indonesia
Indonesia is also known under its official name — the Republic of Indonesia. This transcontinental country is a unitary sovereign state, most of which territory is located in Southeast Asia, having some more territories in Oceania. Indonesia is situated between the Pacific and Indian oceans and it is the world's largest island country, having over 17000 islands altogether. Being 1904569 square kilometres in its size, Indonesia is one the 14th place in the world due to its land area. It also takes the 7th place in the world in terms of being a large country having combined sea and land area.
There are over 260 million people living in Indonesia. This country is on the 4th place in the world for being that much populous and it is simply the most populous Austronesian nation. Indonesia is also the most populous Muslim-majority country and the world's most populous of all island as its Java contains over half of the country's population. The form of government there is republican, which includes an elected president as well as the legislature. This country has all together 34 provinces, five of which have so-called "Special Administrative status".
The capital of Indonesia as well as this country's most populous city is Jakarta. Jakarta is the most populous city in Southeast Asia. This country shares land borders with East Timor, Papua New Guinea and some of Malaysia, which is its eastern part. There are, obviously, other neighbouring countries, which include the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, the part of India which is Nicobar and Andaman Islands and Palau. Nevertheless, this country is so populous, it has vast areas of wilderness, supporting the 2nd highest level of biodiversity on the world. This country has abundant natural resources, such as tin, natural gas, oil, gold and copper.
There are a few main products being produced by this country, which are palm oil, rice, coffee, tea, cacao, spices, rubber and medicinal plants. Indonesia trades with the United States of America, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and China. The well-known Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since the 7th century. This country's history has been influenced by the foreign powers, leaving their trace in this country's natural resources. For three and a half centuries Indonesia was colonized by Dutch, who started their colonization from Batavia and Amboina. Later, all archipelago got colonized.
There are very many linguistic and ethnic groups in Indonesia, main ethnic one of which is the "Javanese". The population of Indonesia is spread throughout the islands. There is a megalopolis of Jakarta as well as the tribes in the east of this country, making it very unique and unusual.
The economy of Indonesia is on the 16th place in the world taking into consideration its nominal GDP. It is also on the 7th place for being one of the largest countries, taking into consideration its GDP at PPP. This country is a member of a few multilateral organizations, such as the WTO, the UN, the IMF and the G20, as well as it is also a member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Non-Aligned Movement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The name of the country derives from the Greek name of the "Indos", which means "Indian islands". Its name dates to the 18th century and in 1850 one English ethnologist named George Windsor Earl proposed the term "Indunesians" as well as "Malayunesians". After the term "Indonesia" was used as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. Dutch academics, though, preferred "Malay Archipelago" instead, but after 1900 the term "Indonesia" became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands.
This country is the largest archipelagic country in the world, as it was already mentioned before. It extends 5120 kilometres from its eastern to its western part as well as 1760 kilometres from its northern to its southern border. There are about 13466 islands included in the term of "Indonesia", 6000 of which are nowadays inhabited. The largest islands are Sumatra, Java, Borneo, New Guinea and Sulawesi. Indonesia shares its land borders on Borneo with Malaysia, on the island of New Guinea with Papua New Guinea and on the island of Timor with East Timor. It also shares the maritime borders across the narrow straits with Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Palau and Vietnam to the north. It also borders with another huge island country — Australia.
The capital of Indonesia is situated on the island called Java. The largest cities, apart from the largest Java, are Medan, Semarang, Surabaya and Bandung. The country's average population density is 134 people per square kilometre, making this country take the 79th place in the world as there are 940 people per square kilometre living on Java island. Indonesia itself is the most volcanoes country in the whole world. Its mountains Mount Bromo and Mount Semeru, situated on Java, are the most popular. There is also Puncak Jaya, which is the highest peak of the country, which can be found at 4884 metres above the sea level. The largest lake there is "Lake Toba" in Sumatra, having its area spreading on the 1145 square kilometres. The largest rivers in Indonesia are in Kalimantan: they include the Barito and the Mahakan. Apart from the numerous volcanoes (at least 150 active volcanoes, such as Tambora and Krakatoa), there are also frequent earthquakes in Indonesia.
If you still want to visit this country, which is obviously very green and beautiful, or if you plan to have business with its local people making business plans all over its territory, then it can always be very useful to have its map, created by yourself, so you can mention all of the strategic places for your business to develop. Making your own geo map of Asia or Indonesia in particular can be a challenge, especially once you have not very much experience in drawing such things. In this case we recommend you to use ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software, as well as the "Continent Maps solution", which can be found and downloaded from "Maps area" of ConceptDraw Solution Park from this site or from ConceptDraw STORE to simplify your work as the vector stencils library "Asia" included in this solution contains 57 map contours, included the Indonesia's one.
Pic. 1. Geo Map solution
Use the Indonesia library to draw thematic maps, geospatial infographics and vector illustrations for your business documents, presentations and websites.
Geo Map — Asia — Republic of Indonesia
Indonesia has a population of over 255.4 million and an area 1,904,569 km2(735,358 sq mi).
Pic. 2. Indonesia
Geo Map — Asia — Indonesia Contour
Capital - Jakarta.
Pic. 3. Indonesia Contour
Geo Map — Asia
Asia contains 48 countries(UN members) and 6 other states.
Area 44,579,000 km2 (17,212,000 sq mi). Population 4,164,252,000.
Pic. 4. Asia Map
Geo Map — Asia Contour
A contour map is a map illustrated with contour lines.
Pic. 5. Asia Contour
Geo Map — contours of Asia countries
Use the map contours library "Asia" to design thematic maps using the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and vector drawing software.
The vector stencils library "Asia" contains 57 map contours: Asia political map, map contours of countries.
Pic. 6. Contours of Asia countries
All ConceptDraw DIAGRAM documents are vector graphic files and are available for reviewing, modifying, and converting to a variety of formats: image, HTML, PDF file, MS PowerPoint Presentation, Adobe Flash, MS Visio (.VDX, .VSDX).
See also Geo Maps of Asia Countries :
TEN RELATED HOW TO's:
Geo Map - Asia - North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The vector stencils library North Korea contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - North Korea
Geo Map - Asia - Malaysia
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. The vector stencils library Malaysia contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - Malaysia
Geo Map - Asia - Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially named the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua) and numerous offshore islands. The vector stencils library Papua New Guinea contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - Papua New Guinea
Geo Map - Asia - Myanmar
Burma, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, commonly shortened to Myanmar, is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. The vector stencils library Myanmar contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - Myanmar
Geo Map - Asia - United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country located in the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar, Iran and Pakistan. The vector stencils library United Arab Emirates contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - United Arab Emirates
Geo Map - Europe - Sweden
The vector stencils library Sweden contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Europe - Sweden
Geo Map - Asia - China
China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a sovereign state located in East Asia. The vector stencils library China contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - China
Continents Map
Designing of Continents Map is a quite complex and labour-intensive process. But now we have a way to make it easier - ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software extended with useful drawing tools of Continent Maps Solution from the Maps Area.
Picture: Continents Map
Geo Map - Asia - Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in Central Asia. The vector stencils library Mongolia contains contours for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM v12 diagramming and vector drawing software. This library is contained in the Continent Maps solution from Maps area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
Picture: Geo Map - Asia - Mongolia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Nuclear deal seen boosting Iran's economy, not regional aggression
By FORMER STAFF July 14, 2015 080
An Iranian cleric walks past a mural on the wall of the former US embassy in Tehran in this February 21, 2007 file photo. Iran and six major world powers have reached a nuclear deal after more than a decade of on-off negotiation, granting Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, Iranian diplomats said on Tuesday
By Babak Dehghanpisheh
An expected influx of cash from an easing of sanctions after a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers looks likely to be directed mainly at reviving a moribund economy rather than increasing Iranian assertiveness.
The critics of the deal, including most Gulf Arab governments and Israel, contend that Iran has made no secret of its determination to expand its influence across the region.
Yet it is the economy where Iran is feeling most pain, and growth and jobs are the things that President Hassan Rouhani promised to deliver when he was elected in 2013 on a ticket of ending Iran's isolation.
"The priorities of Iran are definitely on the economic side," said Walter Posch, an Iran expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "There is so much to do in Iran, to repair and to fix."
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said recently that Iran's GDP had shrunk by up to 20 percent because of sanctions. He also said the Islamic Republic had lost more than $160 billion in oil revenue since 2012.
Despite being Iran's most lucrative industry, the oil and gas sector is so run-down that it cannot even refine enough gasoline to cover Iran's own needs.
Potential investors are queuing at the gates, waiting for sanctions to be lifted so that they can team up with local partners to build up Iran's infrastructure.
"There are going to be a lot of foreign companies," said William O. Beeman, an Iran expert at the University of Minnesota who recently returned from a three-week trip to Iran. "You couldn't go anywhere in the country and not run into a gaggle of potential foreign investors. They're everywhere."
All this economic activity, if it generates jobs and stabilises prices, will help Rouhani to justify his drive to end Iran's international isolation.
Royal Dutch Shell, whose debt to Iran accounts for about $2 billion of the $150 billion or more estimated to be frozen or blocked overseas under sanctions, said last month that it had held meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran.
INFLUENCE OF THE GUARDS
Car and aerospace firms have also approached Iranian companies about potential deals, with French and German firms leading the way.
But the president is not the sole power in Iran. The Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the country, also play a big economic role, and will undoubtedly benefit hugely from the influx of investment.
It is principally the Guards who, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, have sought to project Shi'ite Iran's influence across the Middle East, putting it at odds with a rival bloc of Sunni powers allied with Saudi Arabia.
In the past four years, Iran has sent military advisers, fighters, cash and weapons to support the beleaguered government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. And Hezbollah, Iran's oldest proxy group in the region, has received more funds and weapons from the Islamic Republic as it has taken a leading role supporting Assad's forces in Syria.
In neighbouring Iraq, Iranian military advisers have played a key role in helping the Shi'ite-led government and Shi'ite militias to push back the broad territorial advances of the Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State.
Iran also gives political support to the Shi'ite Houthis who have seized much of Yemen, and to the restive Shi'ite majority in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, although it denies arming the Houthis or encouraging rebellion in Bahrain.
In a letter to Rouhani two weeks ago laying out policy goals for the government's development plan, Khamenei said at least 5 percent of the national budget should be allocated to defence to "increase defence capabilities at the regional power level for achieving interests and national security". Most NATO countries spend less than 3 per cent of GDP on defence.
Yet analysts say it is hard to imagine Iran expanding these activities even further, even if the prospect of more money to pay for expensive operations in Iraq and Syria will be welcome.
"I know the American rhetoric that says, 'Oh, if we make a deal with Iran, Iran is going to exert its hegemonic forces throughout the region'," said Beeman.
"I just don't see it. Iran is already a presence everywhere in the region and I don't see how this is going to change."
Analysts point to Hezbollah as an example of how Iran keeps tight control over its allies and exerts influence pragmatically.
Since the end of a 34-day war in 2006, Hezbollah and Israel have not had a serious confrontation.
Even after an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general was killed, along with the son of a revered Hezbollah commander, in an Israeli strike inside Syria in January, Hezbollah held back from firing rockets at Israeli cities and risking a new flare-up, perhaps wary of fighting two wars at once.
"The Iranians are shrewd politicians and they are rational political actors. And so is Hezbollah," said Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut who has studied Hezbollah extensively.
"Hezbollah does not fight losing battles. It fights when it is assigned by the Iranians, based on rational Iranian decisions."
For their part, the Iranians see themselves as a stabilising force. Last month, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif set out in the Harvard International Review how he thought countries should confront Islamic State – a battle where Tehran and Washington awkwardly find themselves fighting a common enemy.
Mansour Haqiqatpour, deputy head of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in an interview that a nuclear deal would not change Iran's contribution to stability in the region, and that better economic ties would help this.
"We already have good cooperation in economic matters and other fields with other countries," Haqiqatpour said. "If the obstacles (sanctions) are removed, then these ties can grow."
Khashan said Iran's power brokers had come round to a rational view that constant tension with the West, including the United States, was not in Iran's wider interests.
"They want to build the infrastructure of modernity and they want to play a leading role in regional politics," he said. "These are extremely important to Iran. They want to put an end to the tensions."
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarifnuclear dealsanctions
Seek a voice and thee shall find it
Plastic money payments rise 2% in June to €189.2m, JCC says
Pristine coral reef unblemished by warming oceans found off Tahiti


REPAIR NOTE: This is the only repair tape that should be used on the sail of a kiteboarding kite. If the sail color is black, black sail tape will match the best. Any other color will look best with clear tape. It is nearly imposible to match a color to sail tape because of the wide variety of colors and the fact that sail colors fade from sun exposure. Large cuts should always be professionally repaired, but this repair tape can save your session and is a must have item when travelling.


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Global Turbulence: Challenges for Canada and Modern Diplomacy
« Informal International Relations (IIR): A Research Agenda
Transforming Urban Food Systems in Africa (TUFSA) Workshop »
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42 available	 Global Turbulence: Challenges for Canada and Modern Diplomacy	 Friday, March 6, 2020, 12:00 - 1:30 PM at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, room 1-42. Enter the number of required of tickets start the registration process. Questions about this event can be sent to [email protected]
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Senator Peter M. Boehm holds a PhD in History from the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Wilfrid Laurier University.
He was Deputy Minister for the G-7 Summit and Personal Representative of the Prime Minister (Sherpa) from July 2017, until his retirement from the Public Service in September 2018. Peter Boehm had previously been Deputy Minister of International Development, Associate, and, subsequently, Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 2013 to 2017, he concurrently served as Sherpa for the G-8 and subsequent G-7 Summits, as well as the Nuclear Security Summit.
A former career foreign service officer, he served as Ambassador to Germany from 2008 to 2012 and previously as Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas, North America and Consular Affairs. Abroad, he was Minister (political and public affairs) at the Embassy of Canada to the United States in Washington and Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States. He has held a variety of diplomatic positions including assignments in Cuba and Costa Rica.
He was National Summit Coordinator for the Santiago and Quebec Summits of the Americas, Special Envoy for the Organization of American States Democratization Mission in Peru and Personal Representative (Sherpa) of the Prime Minister for the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata in 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he was the senior official responsible for the annual North American Leaders' Summit.
He was appointed to the Senate of Canada, representing the province of Ontario in October 2018.
Multilateral Institutions Research Cluster
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In Conversation with Ambassador Rispal: Canada-France Relations in a Challenging World
Informal International Relations (IIR): A Research Agenda
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text:
Q: Count the number of \item in multiple enumerate environments I'm trying to automatically generate the total number of items in multiple enumerate environments, but somehow this approach does not work for me:
\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
There are \ref{lst:num1} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \label{lst:num1}
\end{enumerate}

\begin{document}
There are \ref{lst:num2} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \label{lst:num2}
\end{enumerate}

A simple addition of the two numbers does not work in latex: \ref{lst:num1} + \ref{lst:num2}

\end{document}

Is there any way that I could generate the sum of \ref{lst:num1} and \ref{lst:num2} in latex? Any suggestion would be apppreciated.

A: You can use the command  \getrefnumber{...} provided by the refcount package to get expandable numbers, then add the two numbers together using a counter (newcnt here). Finally display the result using the command \thenewcont.
UPDATE after follow-up question.
\setcounter sets the counter to a value: a single number or the sum of any combination of numbers.
You can also add another number to it using \addtocounter.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{refcount}% \getrefnumber{...} <<<<<
\newcounter{newcnt} % added <<<<<

\begin{document}
There are \ref{lst:num1} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \label{lst:num1}
\end{enumerate}

There are \ref{lst:num2} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \item None of above.
    \label{lst:num2}
\end{enumerate}

\setcounter{newcnt}{\numexpr\getrefnumber{lst:num1}+ \getrefnumber{lst:num2}\relax} % added <<<<<

A "simple" addition of the two numbers  in latex: \thenewcnt \medskip

There are \ref{lst:num3} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \item None of above.
    \item All of above.
    \label{lst:num3}
\end{enumerate}

\addtocounter{newcnt}{\getrefnumber{lst:num3}} % added <<<<<<<<<<<<<<You can add

Cumulative addition using \verb|\addtocounter|: \thenewcnt \medskip

 \setcounter{newcnt}{\numexpr\getrefnumber{lst:num1}+ \getrefnumber{lst:num2}+ \getrefnumber{lst:num3}\relax}

Or  adding the three numbers: \thenewcnt \medskip

\setcounter{newcnt}{\numexpr \getrefnumber{lst:num2}+ \getrefnumber{lst:num3}\relax}

While the last two add up: \thenewcnt

\end{document}

If you have many environments enumerate in the document, a simpler template for keeping the subtotal would be
\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{refcount}% \getrefnumber{...} <<<<<
\newcounter{newcnt} % added <<<<<
\setcounter{newcnt}{0} % initial value of the acumulator <<<<<

\begin{document}
There are \ref{lst:num1} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \label{lst:num1}
\end{enumerate}

\addtocounter{newcnt}{\getrefnumber{lst:num1}}

Total number of items so far: \thenewcnt \medskip

There are \ref{lst:num2} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \item None of above.
    \label{lst:num2}
\end{enumerate}

\addtocounter{newcnt}{\getrefnumber{lst:num2}}% <<<<<

A "simple" addition of the two numbers  in latex: \thenewcnt \medskip

There are \ref{lst:num3} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \item None of above.
    \item All of above.
    \label{lst:num3}
\end{enumerate}

\addtocounter{newcnt}{\getrefnumber{lst:num3}} % added <<<<<<<<<<<<<<You can add

Cumulative addition using \verb|\addtocounter|: \thenewcnt

\end{document}

A: This is the simplest approach.  enumi is the first level counter, enumii is the second level counter, and so on.
You can use \getrefnumber (refcount of hyperref) to add labels together, but it takes two runs.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{refcount}

\newcounter{enumtotal}

\begin{document}
There are \ref{lst:num1} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \label{lst:num1}
    \addtocounter{enumtotal}{\value{enumi}}
\end{enumerate}

There are \ref{lst:num2} ways how a parameter can be given:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item By a constant expression.
    \item By user interaction.
    \item From another database.
    \label{lst:num2}
    \addtocounter{enumtotal}{\value{enumi}}
\end{enumerate}

\theenumtotal{} total items.

\setcounter{enumtotal}{\getrefnumber{lst:num1}}%
\addtocounter{enumtotal}{\getrefnumber{lst:num2}}%
\theenumtotal{} computed using labels.

\end{document}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Artesian takes Underwriting Acumen to the Next Level with the Launch of Artesian Connect™
Zylpha Launches Latest Pay As You Bundle Version In Recognition of Its First 250 LEAP Customers
Over-C Hails Successful Year of Development, Customer Wins and Key Hires
QBE Insurance & Artesian Deal Sets a New Standard For Modern Underwriting
FYAMI Extends Its 'Marketing For a Tenner' Covid Support Scheme,' until November 1st, 2020
Pass-tillas
Agreement for the future
Envelop Risk Brings Advanced Machine Learning to Cyber Risk With Dataiku
EDONS December 3, 2020
Following on from its $6 million Q2 Series A investment, top global insurtech firm delivers AI-driven quantification to cyber risk
London, UK – 28th October 2020 – Today, Dataiku, one of the world's leading Enterprise AI and machine learning platforms, has announced its partnership with global specialty cyber underwriting specialist Envelop Risk. Envelop Risk is working with Dataiku to model and mitigate cyber and other forms of complex, unprotected risk for insurers.
Envelop Risk specialises in applying machine learning to complex corporate risks. In May, the firm announced a Series A investment of $6 million, led by AI-specialist investor Alpha Intelligence Capital. Since launch, Envelop Risk has underwritten well over $100 million in premium, placing it among the top insurtech firms globally by this metric. The firm operates as a lead market in cyber reinsurance, in partnership with MS Amlin.
Envelop Risk's founding team and directors combine decades of leadership experience in both insurance and deep tech enterprises such as aerospace and defense. The firm reconceived how machine learning, human expertise, and underwriting can be integrated, using Dataiku's end-to-end data science platform to build a system that enables more effective risk management by the underwriters of the future.
The firm began working with Dataiku in 2017 primarily to help with rapid prototyping of business solutions, implementing its collaborative data science platform for teams of data scientists, data analysts, and engineers to explore, prototype, build, and deliver their own data products more efficiently. The platform was engaged to help identify emerging cyber threats and quantify the associated risk for insured companies. Through the partnership, Envelop Risk has now been able to integrate advanced machine learning into its underwriting process to demonstrably reduce risk and streamline workflows in its day-to-day operations.
"The Dataiku platform has always stood out to me because of its ability to provide access to nearly everyone without placing constraints on our most experienced code-based data scientists," said John Kelly, Chief Technology Officer at Envelop Risk. "We were looking for a tool that could help us better collaborate on data science across the corporation with people who have vastly different backgrounds and experience levels. Data scientists can't operate in silos. They need to be working with domain experts and end users. It's critical to have a system that can effectively act as an interface between those people, allowing the exchange of ideas, feedback, and results."
Paul Guthrie, EVP and co-founder of Envelop, says that the platform has driven transparency, which is essential both for interpretability and for the incorporation of expert feedback that can fill any gaps or time lags in Envelop Risk's data. Using the system built on Dataiku's centralised data science platform, Envelop Risk's underwriting team has been able to quantitatively model complex risk and get results on demand, while having access to the 'why' and the 'how' of those results.
"In the past few years, the pace and scale of data science, machine learning, and ultimately AI adoption has accelerated to enhance or reinvent the processes core to the insurance business, particularly in cyber," commented Florian Douetteau, Dataiku CEO. "Envelop Risk is at the forefront of helping its customers to mitigate unprotected risk, and it's a privilege to work with the firm as it develops new products. With the partnership and Dataiku's rapidly increasing presence within the insurance market, we see this sector increasingly executing on its strategic goals by fully embracing and leveraging the power of Enterprise AI."
About Envelop Risk
Envelop Risk is a global specialty cyber and emerging risk insurance analytics and underwriting firm, headquartered in Bristol, UK, with offices in London, New York, and Bermuda. Envelop Risk was founded on the belief that the security of information systems is critical for ensuring economic progress. Leveraging the collective knowledge and experience of its founders, Envelop Risk's proprietary model addresses the complexity of cyber and other emerging risk by combining artificial intelligence, security analytics, intelligence gathering, economic, financial, and behavioural analysis; and modelling and simulation. Envelop Risk applies an augmented intelligence approach, combining quantitative methods with human expertise in underwriting and information security.
About Dataiku
Dataiku is one of the world's leading AI and machine learning platforms, supporting agility in organizations' data efforts via collaborative, elastic, and responsible AI, all at enterprise scale. Hundreds of companies use Dataiku to underpin their essential business operations and ensure they stay relevant in a changing world, including models driving fraud detection, customer churn prevention, predictive maintenance, supply chain optimization, and much more. Dataiku is built for companies looking to democratize AI across their organization, bringing agility and preparedness to the business through the use of data by everyone from analysts to data scientists.
Jonathan Spry, Envelop Risk, [email protected]
Leah Jones, CommsCo, [email protected], +44 (0) 7876 117760
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Fintech professionals predict payments will grow more than any other industry sub-sector in 2021
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BJ's Wholesale Club has a discount on iTunes gift cards. You can buy a $100 iTunes gift card for $84.99. There's a limit of 3 per account.
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text:
teodor mitew II flaneur musings
Comparative hierophany at three object scales
This is an extended chapter abstract I wrote for an edited collection titled Atmospheres of Scale and Wonder: Creative Practice and Material Ecologies in the Anthropocene, due by the end of this year. I am first laying the groundwork in actor network theory, then developing the concept of hierophany borrowed from Eliade, and finally [where the fun begins], discussing the Amazon Echo, the icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, and the asteroid 2010 TK7 residing in Earth Lagrangian point 4. An object from the internet of things, a holy icon, and an asteroid. To my best knowledge none of these objects have been discussed in this way before, either individually or together, and I am very excited to write this chapter.
What if we imagined atmosphere as a framing device for stabilizing material settings and sensibilities? What you call a fetishized idol, is in my atmosphere a holy icon. What your atmosphere sees as an untapped oil field, I see as the land where my ancestral spirits freely roam. Your timber resource is someone else's sacred forest. This grotesque, and tragic, misalignment of agencies is born out of an erasure, a silencing, which then proceeds to repeat this act of forced purification across all possible atmospheres. This chapter unfolds within the conceptual space defined by this erasure of humility towards the material world. Mirroring its objects of discussion, the chapter is constructed as a hybrid.
First, it is grounded in three fundamental concepts from actor network theory known as the irreduction, relationality, and resistance-relation axioms. They construct an atmosphere where things respectively: can never be completely translated and therefore substituted by a stand-in; don't need human speakers to act in their stead, but settings in which their speech can be recognized; resist relations while also being available for them. When combined, these axioms allow humans to develop a sensibility for the resistant availability of objects. Here, objects speak incessantly, relentlessly if allowed to, if their past is flaunted rather than concealed.
Building on that frame, the chapter adopts, with modifications, the notion of a hierophany, as developed by Mircea Eliade, as a conceptual frame for encountering the resistant availability of material artefacts. In its original meaning a hierophany stands for the material manifestation of a wholly other, sacred, order of being. Hierophanies are discontinuities, self-enclosed spheres of meaning. Arguably though, hierophanies emerging from the appearance of a sacred order in an otherwise profane material setting can be viewed as stabilizing techniques. They stabilise an atmospheric time, where for example sacred time is cyclical, while profane time is linear; and they stabilise an atmospheric space, where sacred space is imbued with presence by ritual and a plenist sensibility, while profane space is Euclidean, oriented around Cartesian coordinates and purified from sacred ritual.
Finally, building on these arguments, the chapter explores the variations of intensity of encounters with hierophanic presences at three scales, anchored by three objects. Three objects, three scales, three intensities of encounter. The first encounter is with the Amazon Echo, a mundane technical object gendered by its makers as Alexa. An artefact of the internet of things, Alexa is a speaker for a transcendental plane of big data and artificial intelligence algorithms, and therefore her knowledge and skills are ever expanding. The second encounter is with the icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in Poland, a holy relic and a religious object. The icon is a speaker for a transcendental plane of a whole different order than Alexa, but crucially, I argue the difference to be not ontological but that of hierophanic intensities. The third encounter is with TK7, an asteroid resident in Earth Lagrangian Point 4, and discovered only in 2010. TK7 speaks for a transcendental plane of a wholly non-human order, because it is quite literally not of this world. All three objects have resistant availability at various intensities, all three have a hierophanic pull on their surroundings, also at various intensities. Alexa listens, and relentlessly answers with a lag less than 1 second. The Black Madonna icon listens, and may answer to the prayers of pilgrims. TK7 is literally not of this world, a migratory alien object residing, for now, as a stable neighbor of ours.
Categories:academic
2010 TK7
actor-network theory
ambient socio-digital systems
hierophany
object oriented ontology
sociable objects
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Tasty and filling. This week's easy fried rice recipe is a great addition to any meal.
Steam the rice according to directions.
Heat the oil in a wok and sauté garlic briefly until fragrant.
Add the green onions, peas and raisins. Stir fry on medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients, toss well on medium high for another 2 minutes.
Optional: If adding baked tofu, preheat the oven to 180 C. Rinse the tofu and press it dry with paper towels. Cut the tofu into 2-3 cm cubes and place them in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden, tossing every 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and add to the fried rice. Toss to combine.


text:
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Exclusive Loonwatch Interview with Reza Aslan
By Garibaldi on November 21, 2011 in Anti-Loons, Feature
Recently we sat down with Muslim scholar and best selling author Reza Aslan for an in-depth interview on a wide range of issues. This is the first in what will hopefully be a longstanding series of interviews that are planned with high profile scholars and movers and shakers in pop culture.
We covered Reza's days as a break dancer, conversion to Christianity and return to Islam, his thoughts on Islamophobia, Robert Spencer, the Arab Spring, reformation of Islam and the current saber-rattling with Iran.
It was a fascinating and hilarious interview and I think you will find we covered new ground, such as the breaking news that Reza is willing to finally reciprocate Robert Spencer's man crush!
Loonwatch (LW): I heard you used to break dance?
Reza Aslan (RA): Yes, (laughter) I used to be a break dancer. My name used to be El Penguin, because I was so bow legged.
LW: Did you ever graduate to doing head spins and flares?
RA: I could do a really poor head spin but it was definitely not my forte with my footwork. I was in a (laugh) break dance troupe called Etron, which was Norte spelled backwards because we were on the north side of Fresno.
LW: Do you still break once in a while?
RA: Hell no. If I tried to break dance today I would definitely break something. Oh, I could still pop-lock with the best of them but break dancing, no.
LW: We heard in the course of one of your interviews that you converted to Evangelical Christianity at one point in your life?
RA: Yes, when I was 15 years old…
LW: Were you practicing taqiyyah?
RA: Yes. (laughter) My entire life is just one big practice of taqiyyah. Like everything I do as a human being.
Actually, it was part of this group called Young Life, pretty famous nation-wide group. They go into High Schools and Junior High Schools and they evangelize. I went to this summer camp where you hear the Gospel message, and yeah when I was 15 years old, a sophomore, and so it was before my sophomore year of HS. Yeah, I found Jesus, he was awesome.
LW: How was that, what was that experience like when you were an Evangelical?
RA: It's magical! The thing about Evangelical Christianity and why I think it is so appealing, particularly to young people is that I mean it is just such a brilliant and profoundly moving story. There is a reason why it is called the greatest story ever told, right? That God had this physical son, like His little baby boy you know that came down to earth and because you yourself are such an awful human being, because of all the terrible things you do, God decided to have His son tortured and murdered in order to save you from yourself and that if you don't accept that story, not only are you spitting in God's face but oh yeah you are also going to burn in hell for all eternity.
It's an amazing story, that's why it is so appealing. Now the important thing to understand is that is what it precisely is, a story. I am not by any means discounting it or criticizing it. All religion is story, all mythology is story but that is a particularly good one, and it's a story, I think particularly for young people looking for easy answers to complicated questions, that they can flock to, and the last 2000 years are testimony to that.
LW: That is quite profound. I was wondering, going from that to becoming an Islamic scholar and someone who regularly speaks on Islam, how did you return to Islam? Was it a going back to your roots?
RA: Well, after High School, like most people who are introduced to Evangelical Christianity when they're kids then go to college, you realize, "oh wow, a lot of the stuff that I was told by my youth leaders and my pastors was kind of nonsense actually" and so you begin to question those issues, question those ideas.
I went to a Catholic College, a Jesuit Catholic College and began studying the Bible and particularly the New Testament from a scholarly perspective and the more I kept studying the more I realized almost everything I was told about the Bible and about the New Testament and frankly about the Gospel story was false. More importantly the truth behind the Gospel story, the truth behind who Jesus was and what Jesus really said was far more interesting, far more profound and frankly far more appealing than the false notions of it that I was fed as a kid. So throughout my early years in college I decided to get a degree in Biblical Studies. I became fluent in Greek and became a young scholar about the origins of Christianity and the historical Jesus and then when I graduated I was heading off to Harvard to get a Masters degree in that topic when one of my undergraduate professors, one of my mentors, Katherine Bell sat me down and basically said, "Why aren't you studying Islam?" and I said "what do you mean?"
She basically said something at the time that really changed my life, which was by the time I get my PhD in Bibilical Studies no one is going to care about Biblical Studies anymore, everyone is going to want to have scholars and experts on Islam. You know, this was in 1995 when she said this, she obviously was quite prescient in what she was talking about. She gave me a couple of books and obviously my family was nominally Muslim, well not really, culturally Muslim, just as most Christians are culturally Christian and I had grown up surrounded by Muslim culture, so I was somewhat familiar with it, but of course like most people of a particular religion I really knew nothing about the religion that I "called my own."
I spent the summer before I went off to Harvard just reading some books about Islam, reading the Quran really for the first time as an adult and the more I started reading about it, the history, the theology, the Quranic studies, the more I was just kind of excited about it. I always talk about how I had an emotional conversion to Christianity but a rational conversion to Islam. Reading about the way Islam talks about the divine and the relationship between human beings and God and conceptions of the universe and ideas of the transcendent, these made a hell of a lot more sense to me cosmologically speaking than some old man in the sky impregnated a virgin and His son came out and died for us.
It's just that the symbols of Islam suddenly broke through and made sense to me in a way that traditional Protestant Christianity never really did, and then when I entered Harvard the first day of class I had to get all new classes and change my advisers and tell everyone, "by the way I am not here to do what I told everyone I was going to do, instead I am going to study Islam."
LW: Wow, fascinating, you don't hear today, discussion about Islam and rationality often…
RA: There is no more rational religion than Islam. Islam is founded upon reason and rationality, very much like Judaism. You have to understand that Islam and Judaism are legalistic religions, Christianity is a creedal religion. Christianity is all about belief, right? In fact, if you are a Catholic that creedal formulation is a complex formula, "I believe in God the Father maker of heaven and earth, I believe in Jesus His only begotten son, I believe in the Holy Spirit, I believe in the Holy Apostolic Church, etc. etc."
In Judaism and Islam there is no creedal statement as such. In Islam the creedal statement is as simplistic as it possibly can get. "There is no god but God, Muhammad is God's messenger," that's the sum in total of creed when it comes to Islam, as a result both Islam and Judaism developed as highly legalistic religions. In legalistic religions the people who usually control the interpretation are scholars. In a creedal religion the people who control interpretation are preachers, priests and pastors, you see what I mean?
The Pope used an age old Papal arg. going back to the Crusades, whilst setting up Islam as the "irrational" other
In other words, and by no means am I saying priests aren't intelligent, of course they are, and often times they go through enormous amounts of religious training, but their job is to shepherd a flock, not to deal with the very high rational concepts of legal theory that is born from a religion founded on orthopraxy, correct practice instead of orthodoxy, correct belief.
It's just another wide spread misperception in the United States about Islam, that Islam is a religion that cannot reconcile reason and faith.
The only real global religion which has dealt with that problem really is Christianity. I mean if you are talking about Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and all the way to Paul Tillick and Reinhold Niebuhr, these are the great Christian theologians that for thousands of years have been struggling to reconcile faith and reason. That hasn't really been that strong of an argument in Judaism and Islam, the argument has been about the different "rational answers" that are possible to the various questions, theological questions that Islam and Judaism bring up, but the question is not should reason even play a role.
LW: It seemed the Pope didn't help that case with the Regensburg Address. What was he after with that? When Pope Benedict made that speech, he used Islam as a counter example to Christian rationality.
RA: Yeah, that's the thing. Of course the Pope was advancing an old Papal argument against Islam that goes back to the Crusades, but again what the Pope is talking about is it took Christianity 1600-1700 years to reconcile reason and faith and so therefore Islam needs to do the same, without recognizing that during those 1700 years in which reason and faith were divorced in Christianity, they were married very well in both Islam and Judaism.
LW: This might be a good time to segway to the Anti-Muslim Catholic polemicist Robert Spencer, one of the premiere Islamophobes today. He is funded by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which in turn is funded by right-wing foundations, you've probably read about this in the Fear Inc. report already. We've been tracking him and what he says about you…
RA: Oh yeah he is in love with me.
LW: (laugh)He calls you all sorts of names, calling you a "metrosexual," "boy Reza Aslan," "Bright Young Muslim Thing," "little boy Reza," "pathetic little Islamic Supremacist Reza," "pseudo-Moderate," etc. What is behind all this name calling, he seems to have a crush on you?
RA: I do think he has a crush on me. As a lot of people know, this guy is someone who poses as some sort of pseudo-scholar because he has a one year Masters degree from a school in North Carolina and because of that a lot of people let him get away with the asinine things that he says. I think I was probably the first person to utterly embarrass and shame him on national television and since that time he has taken all the internal feelings of inadequacies that I am sure he has, poured it all out on me and I am perfectly happy with that. The fact of the matter is that if Robert Spencer thinks you are wrong then you got to be right.
I am pleased as punch, every word that Robert Spencer writes about me puts a gigantic smile on my face. You know he used to actually email me his columns as though I actually care, you know, to read the drivel that he writes. We reply to him just making fun of him.
In fact, I'm going to say right now, and you can publish this, I'm kind of in love with Robert Spencer.
(laughs)
There's something about that giant beer gut and the furry face, there's this kind of walrus quality to him, that, I don't know how to say this, that just turns me on, and I think I am pretty sure, that he feels the same about me.
LW: He definitely has a man crush on you.
RA: He definitely has a man crush on me and I guess what I am trying to say is that for the first time I am ready to publicly admit those feelings are reciprocated.
LW: (laughs)This is breaking news.
RA: And I know Robert Spencer reads Loonwatch and I just want him to know: "Robert, I think we may have something here. Robert I think there is a possibility for the two of us to have a future together, this could really be a beautiful love story." And, if he is willing to finally admit to his true feelings for me, I am in the position now where I can reciprocate those feelings.
LW: Amazing, maybe he will finally admit what he has been feeling all this time.
RA: I think he is ready to admit it. But only if his mom lets him…and by his mom I mean Pamela Geller…
Robert Spencer next to Pamela Geller, "where's the leash?"
LW: Who in this relationship, between him and Geller, who holds more sway?
RA: Are you kidding me! I'm surprised that in pictures of the two of them that she is not holding a leash.
LW: He is enthralled by her, always defending her loony comments, such as her advocating the nuking of Tehran, Mekka and Medina.
RA: Of course Pamela Geller is known most for her rationality.
It's not a surprise to hear those comments. No look…
LW: How does she get away with it?
RA: What do you mean!? This is how the world works, the more insane you are the more attention you get, exhibit A: Herman Cain…this is how it works, but in all honesty I do just want to say I make fun of Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer because they are clowns and you are supposed to laugh at clowns.
This idea that these are people who deserve engagement (laughs)…Spencer's fans email me all the time and say "you're afraid to debate Robert Spencer." No, I don't debate Robert Spencer for the same reason I don't debate a four year old child because this is not about a conversation. You cannot have a rational conversation with a clown and the fact of the matter is that the reason Robert Spencer is constantly begging people like myself to debate him is because he knows that appearing on the same platform legitimizes his view.
You are not going to have a debate about the African American experience in the United States with the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (laughs), that person does not belong in that debate. To have him there by definition legitimates his position.
So Spencer, Geller, Emerson, these guys belong in the gutter where they are. That's where they are, that's where they belong. They get a lot of attention because Fox News keeps inviting them and good for them. Fox News has become the go to Islamophobic network for these kinds of guys, and that's great, and they are going to keep preaching to the same choir that watches Fox. Good for them but the notion that these guys somehow belong in the mainstream, that they belong on a dais debating socio-religious matters with an actual scholar is absurd.
LW: As you know we have been trying to debate Spencer, and as you say he tries to get you guys so he can legitimate his views. However, he has been avoiding our entreaties to debate, why do you think that is.
RA: I'll tell you why because you'll make fun of him. You know, I call this the Colbert Principle. People always ask me how do I respond to these anti-Muslim clowns like Geller and Spencer and my answer is I don't respond to them, I make fun of them. It's the Colbert Principle, if you respond to the inanities that come out of Robert Spencer's mouth by definition you are saying that it's worth a response and it's not, what it is, is worth making fun of, and in this case I would really like to thank Geller and Spencer for being so easy to make fun of. It's really effortless.
Robert Spencer and Julius Streicher's eerily similar rhetoric
LW: Recently we posted a piece comparing quotes Spencer has made about Islam and Muslims to those by a precursor to the Nazi era, Julius Streicher's quotes about Jews and Judaism. It's interesting because if you just change "Jew" to "Muslim" or "Judaism" to "Islam" they are identical. Yet Spencer in one of his posting calls you the modern day "Fritz Kuhn," the leader of the American Nazi party. Would you consider this unintended projection on his part?
RA: One thing we shouldn't forget about these guys is that they have been accused by organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish organizations of being anti-Semitic. It's not only that they hate Muslims, they like to pretend that they are supporters of Israel, etc. but the statements they have made about Jewish politicians, look at what they have said about Elena Kagan.
Alyssa Rosenberg, the Atlantic writer who just wrote a piece on All American Muslim was called a dhimmi Jew by Pamela Geller, I mean these guys are anti-Semites. Again that's not me, that's the Southern Poverty Law Center calling them anti-Semites, that's the anti-Defamation League calling them anti-Semites. I think their words speak for themselves.
LW: I don't want to spend too much time on Spencer but one thing I did want to bring up is Spencer's frequent attempts to link you to the "Mullahs" of Iran. He casts aspersions on really what seems to be a great organization that you are a board member of named, NIAC, National Iranian American Council.
RA: It's a council actually that is trying to keep Iran and the United States from engaging in a global war, so of course they are obviously agents of the Iranian Republic. You know, come on, don't we all know this.
Yes, I am also ready to admit that my parents brought me here at 7 years old as a sleeper agent and I am going to be activated any moment now, my code word is Chelo Kebob, if I hear Chelo Kebob then I am immediately activated and then my training as an agent for the Islamic Republic kicks in, so be careful.
LW: (laughs) He links to this group called the Pro-democracy Movement of Iran, I don't know if you have ever heard of this group, PDMI, we went to their website and it's a ridiculous website. It has articles on there supporting the Mujahideen-e Khalq.
RA: Exactly, which is all you need to know. These "pro democracy sites" are run by neo-conservatives, by people with a very clear agenda, the same agenda that they had for Iraq, so the very fact that they support a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of a number of American citizens as well as Iranian citizens, Iranian non-combatants. An organization that has repeatedly been cited for torturing its own members, for brainwashing its own members, for taking children and turning them into armed militants, but the idea that these pro-democracy movements in the United States are supporting the MEK is really the only thing you need to know about these organizations.
LW: All of this exposes a deep hypocrisy when they are badgering Muslim organizations on the flimsiest of guilt by association smears. Regularly calling Muslim Advocates, CAIR, ISNA "Hamas-linked," this is their favorite trope.
RA: But again this is what I've been trying to say, this is just an indication of why these groups do not deserve a response because when they say NIAC is a Hezbollah supporting group, you can't respond to idiocy, you can't respond to those kinds of moronic statements, because again that sort of bigotry does not reside in the mind, that bigotry resides somewhere more visceral. It's much more, it's something that exists in the gut, in the chest and that kind of feeling can not be deflected by logic, by reason. It's immune to reason.
This car dealer supposedly is a revolutionary guard sleeper terrorist
LW: Staying on the topic of Iran, there has been a lot of discussion about Iran in the media. Of course not too long ago we had the case of the alleged car dealer mastermind terrorist. One day it was news and the next day it wasn't, you said about it, "It's sloppy. It's uncharacteristic," … "It really does not serve Iran's interest in any legitimate way."
Do you think all this activity regarding Iran is just a preliminary way to pave the way for war with Iran, much in the same way as was done with Iraq?
RA: No. We are not going to war with Iran. Nobody is going to war with Iran, neither the United States or Israel. I can tell you for a fact that Israel is not going to war with Iran because Israel keeps talking about it. If anybody who has studied Israeli politics at all can tell you anything is if Israel talks about bombing Iran then that means it has no intentions of doing it. When the Israelis want you dead you just die, OK.
No one sends an invitation first, no one issues a press release and this is exactly what is going on and I love it, it's like the media is a monkey that sees something shiny in the corner. There was this great piece that I circulated not too long ago in which it was just a collection of headlines from major newspapers and magazines: the Atlantic, Harpers, New York Times, Los Angeles Times.
A collection of headlines describing imminent war, the imminent bombing of Iranian nuclear sites by Israel and or the United States, the collection was from the last fifteen years, so again, all we have to remember is the cover of Atlantic last year, Jeffrey Goldberg's article that Israel is six months from bombing Iran. This is every few months, people start to raise this specter that Israel is going to bomb Iran. Israel, America these aren't stupid countries. They know better than you and I the repercussions of such a conflict. I can show you half a dozen quotes from Ehud Barak himself, the defense minister of Israel stating in no uncertain terms the idiocy of such a campaign. So the idea that he has all of a sudden changed his mind and is planning to bomb Iran is ridiculous, I think this is just what Israel does every few months to ratchet up the pressure on the United States to be more aggressive and robust in trying to counter Iran's nuclear program.
LW: Well that really puts it in perspective. So you think it is only saber rattling and positioning within the region.
RA: That's all it is and that's all it's ever been for the last 20 years.
LW: Interesting. OK, to pick your theological brain for a second, Joel Rosenberg wrote this article for Fox News about why Iran's leaders believe the end of days has come, and this is a regular idea thrown out there by Islamophobes; that we have to fear a dangerous off shoot of Shia' Eschatology. Is there any truth to this idea?
RA: No. It's as true as George Bush thinking that Jesus made him president so to bring about the Messiah's return, people were saying that as well. It doesn't mean that George Bush didn't believe that Jesus made him president, it's not that George Bush didn't believe the Messiah would return some day, but the notion that, that belief predicated his foreign policy is nuts and the same thing with Iran.
The Shi'a Mahdi, or Messiah
It's just part of this fear-mongering that has been going on for a very long time and again predicated on this idea that Iran is this irrational actor, that if they manage to get a nuclear weapon, the first thing they would do is commit suicide with it. Of course, don't you know it! That's all they want, so that all 75 million Iranians could be nuked off the face of the earth as soon as possible.
Again, the stupidity of that statement speaks for itself. Iran is an oppressive, autocratic, blood-thirsty government that tortures and murders its own citizens, that supports terror organizations around the world because it feels as though it benefits from doing so, but it is not stupid. What your readers should understand more than anything else about the Iranian government is that they care more about their own survival than they care about anything else. So again, these kinds of statements are not the kind made by foreign policy experts, these are not statements by experts in the region, these are statements by the amateurs who read an article one day about the fact that the Shia believe in a Messiah and then continued to regurgitate the same nonsense over and over again and in any case it doesn't matter because these people have no effect whatsoever on what our government does.
It's not as though the state department is sitting around wondering what Frank Gaffney thinks about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
LW: One of the topics that you hit upon in your work in No God but God and in speeches and lectures is that Islam is in a reformation period. Seeing the events in the Arab Spring, and the changes sweeping the region how do you see that idea of reform playing a part in these protests, if any?
RA: The reformation of Islam is not something that is new or unique, it has been going on for over one hundred years, and again you have to remember reformation is an actual, technical term. It doesn't mean reform, what it means is the inevitable conflict that arises in all religious institutions over who has the right to define faith, is it the individuals, or is it the institution itself.
That conflict is ever present, it exists in all religious traditions, but in times of societal stress, in times of social ruptures that conflict jumps to the surface as it did with Temple Judaism in first century Palestine that ultimately resulted in the destruction of the Temple and the construction of Rabbinic Judaism. As it did in the fifteenth and sixteenth century in Europe, in which the conflicts over the Pope's authority to define Christianity ultimately fractured Christianity into competing sects and schisms based on sola scriptura; that individuals should define what scripture means for themselves, not have the Pope tell them what it means, and it's been going on in Islam since really the end of the 19th century as a result of the colonial experience in the Middle East and the rapid rise of literacy and education.
So this idea that the Islamic reformation being something new or unique is really borne out of a misunderstanding of what that even means, and so the relationship to what is happening with the so called Arab Spring and the phenomenon that I am talking about and writing about is very clear.
These are kids, these are young people who because of their education, because of their literacy, because of their access to new ideas, new sources of information are no longer interested in the answers given to them about religion and society, whether its by religious institutions, the clerics, the Mullahs or even political organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood or the National Islamic Front.
Protesters getting hosed by Egyptian Police
Nor are they interested in their governmental institutions at all. What you saw on the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria is not an Islamic Awakening by any means, these people are not calling for Islam, on the contrary the traditional Islamic authorities have been totally left behind by these protests, they didn't have anything to do in starting them, they didn't have anything do in perpetuating them and they have nothing to do with defining them so this generation of young people is the inevitable result of a century long process whereby individuals in the Muslim world have begun to decide for themselves without the mediation of any institutional authority, whether religious or governmental, what it means to be Muslim in the modern world, what the answers to Islam are as a result of the rapid changes that are taking place in their society. I've been saying it's going to happen for over a decade and so those people who were saying the Arab Spring came as a surprise or it wasn't going to happen weren't paying attention.
LW: You wrote in Tablet and Pen "The United States has displaced the old colonial powers to become, for better or worse, a dominant and unavoidable presence in the lives of the people of the Middle East. The consequences of American involvement in the region will be felt for many years to come." How do you think America and our government in particular has reacted to this, do they know what they are doing over there?
RA: No, of course not. The American public? Of course not. I think the American public recognizes that we have had a fairly destructive presence and influence in the Middle East and in the pursuit of our national security and economic interests we've made a lot of enemies in that region. So i think most young people know that now, it's kind of part of the national narrative, whether those young people know how embroiled we still are in the region, and how we still are making disastrous choices not just for the peace and stability of the Middle East, but when it comes to our own safety and security I think for the most part young people are more interested in Snookie's panties than they are in what is going on in Yemen or Syria.
LW: You debated one of the New Atheists, Sam Harris. Is Sam Harris a smart guy? What were your thoughts about him?
RA: There is no doubt Sam Harris is a smart guy, he has a PhD in neuro-science. You can be a smart guy and be ignorant about particular topics and issues. The problem with Sam Harris is that he tends to write about the things he is ignorant about, (laughs) I think Sam Harris should stick to writing about neuro-science, I think his last book was great. When Sam Harris writes about neuro-science, in other words his expertise, I think it's great, I love reading his work. When he talks about religion, a topic he knows nothing about, that he's never studied as an academic discipline, that he's done no field research in whatsoever, and in which he frankly is unqualified to opine about, that's the problem. I don't write about nero-Science because I'm not a neuro-scientist.
LW: On a random note you compared Osama Bin Laden to Freddie Mercury, (laughs) can you expand on that?
RA: Yes, I did, the point I was making was that what made Bin Laden attractive to young people was his personal charisma not his intellectualism or writings on Islam. Again Bin Laden was an engineer. He cannot talk intelligently about Islamic Law, or Philosophy and for the most part he doesn't do that, what he has, and everyone knows this, even his biggest enemies know this about him, he had this intense magnetic appeal, this charisma that drew people to him.
People like Peter Bergen and Fawaz Gerges, who have met Bin Laden, who have spoken to his followers, who have spoken to people who were on their way to commit suicide on his behalf but were caught, what they find is the same thing, that Sheikh Bin Laden is this mystical being. People talk about dreams in which Sheikh Bin Laden comes to them and tells them to pick up a gun and join the fight, it's that intense mystical quality that has transformed Bin Laden even after his death into a pop culture phenomenon like Freddie Mercury or the other person I compared him to was Che Guevara. Like Freddi Mercury or Che Guevara who have entered the pop culture zeitgeist in a way that goes beyond their particular talents or their particular ideas.
LW: There is a quote In your book No God but God, you wrote that in 2005…
RA: That's when it was published…
LW: I found this quote in which you write:
"Simply put, Islam in the United States has become otherized. It has become a receptacle into which can be tossed all the angst and apprehension people feel about the faltering economy, about the new and unfamiliar political order, about the shifting cultural, racial, and religious landscapes that have fundamentally altered the world. Across Europe and North America, whatever is fearful, whatever is foreign, whatever is alien and unsafe is being tagged with the label 'Islam.'"
RA: That is from the new introduction from the updated version that just was released in 2011…
LW: This is of course still the case today. Are you encouraged that Muslims are breaking through this concept of being "otherized" or their religion being "otherized"?
RA: This is not the first time in America's history that a religious minority has been otherized and told they are the internal enemy, that they are not American. Every single word that is being said about Muslims today by these radical anti-Muslim zealots was said by anti-Semites in the 1920's and 30's about Judaism, by anti-Catholic activists in the 19th century by the Know Nothings and preachers like Lyman Beecher. This is not a new thing, this is what we do in this country, we so often define ourselves, what it means to be American which is of course a malleable and slippery identity by defining ourselves in opposition to somebody else whether: Catholics, Jews, Japanese or Germans and now it is just Muslims.
There should be no question in anyone's mind, anyone who has bothered to study for even a few minutes should know that in a generation from now we are going to look on the anti-Muslim zealots of today, these clowns like Pamlea Geller, Robert Spencer, Frank Gaffney and Steven Emerson with the same exact shame, disdain, mockery and derision that we look back at the anti-Jewish and anti-Catholicism of our past. That's guaranteed.
These guys have always been there, they have always been around, they have always been on the fringes and on the margins and you know in a generation from now when Muslims become as much a part of the American religious fabric, as much as Jews and Catholics have become, I am sure these guys will show up again and start picking on some other religious or cultural minority. This is an issue that they have themselves. They have a psychic problem, bigotry is a psychic problem and it's part of the human condition, and you know lets not kid ourselves, it's always going to be around, it's just that it's target is going to change.
LW: I think this is good place to wrap up, we have a lot to unpack here. Thank you for your time!
RA: Awesome. Thank you, it's been my pleasure.
About Garibaldi
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Shaykh al-Hajj Dawud Ahmad, M.S.J.D.
The uninformed Skeptic writes: If they are serious about kicking Israel out, why don't they get themselves financially stable and educated first?
Prior to 1948, Palestine's agricultural economy was not merely stable, but prosperous. Citrus, flowers, dates, olives and olive oil, and other renewable natural resources provided a steady and reliable stream of export income that has since been blocked and destroyed by Israel.
Prior to 1948, Palestine had the highest percentage of people with Ph.D. and other advanced degrees in the world. Education remains today the highest priority of the Palestinian people, whether Christian or muslim, and despite the physical destruction of schools nation-wide, blockades, school closures, curfews, and other institutionalized Israeli oppressions intended to prevent them from educating their children.
And they are not "serious about kicking Israel out" and no such thing is on their list of priorities. What is on their list of priorities is stopping the genocidal agendas of the Israeli governments, historically of all party compositions, and the "Settler" movement, aimed at "purifying the land" of anything not Jewish.
Readers at LoonWatch place a high priority on identifying and refuting demonizing propaganda, including the propaganda mythologies of "beleaguered Israel" and "terroristic Palestine." The hogwash you're apparently swimming in is not unrecognized here.
@Isa and Shaykh,
I'm not some christian zionist or fanatical islamic hater of some sort.
I'm just wondering how come the arabs haven't change their strategy in warfare after so many years when they've lost even with outnumbering Israel.
And they really think their new strategy of overwhelming Israel Stealthily with arab babies will help?
Do they really think the Israeli government are so dumb that they can't see past this trick?
Even their leftists can see past your shenanigans.
Why can't they learn from Germany or Japan?
If they are serious about kicking Israel out, why don't they get themselves financially stable and educated first?
Géji
< "QFT. If the arabs studied them more rather than just viewing them as apes and pigs, they probably would stand a better chance in warfare."
@Skeptic
What makes you think in the first place that "Arabs" or anyone else for that manner will lower themselfs to be interested in a "warfare" with a rogue, notoriously delusional, international laws breaker, human right violator during it's multiple sickly aggressions, vindictive bloodthirsty, apartheid, ethnic cleanser and genocide committer masquerating as a "democratic state"??? The "Jewish state" don't have a clue of what the word "warfare" means. In a "warfare" one have to be bravely engaged in a battle, fight, or combat. Who is the "Jewish state" bravely battling, fighting and combating?? Is it the impoverished, ethnically cleansed, forbidden from international help, scattered by force in random direction into refuge camps, starved on daily bases in front of international eyes, deprived from military aid(not even ONE plane), while the terrorist aggressor is offered on a golden plate all the weapons of the world FREE of charge??? Is that what you call "warfare"?? Nay, that NOT a "warfare", that a cowardly murderous act only a morally bankrupt, vicious terrorist would do. The only things the "Jewish state" is capable, is how to ethnically cleanse, still other people's lands, murder the rightful indigenous owners, starved them to death, and launch purely terroristic aggressions. Had the Palestinian Arabs were not forbidden by the imperial so called "west" let by the US empire, to get the military aid necessary to defend themselfs against the occupier invaders, or had they had necessary means to build their own weapons, then we could have talked about of who's having "better chance" than who. In the mean time the "Jewish state" is NOT involved in anything remotely close to a "warfare", but in a utterly coward terroristic aggressions. Sorry but it had to be said. I hate when rabid zionists think they're engaged in something praiseworthy and morally acceptable, when in fact they're nothing but a bunch of laughingstock cowards.
Right, Skeptic. Because it's not like some Jews have the same type of derision for Gentiles. (sarcasm.) Extremism exists in all communities and groups. Get over it.
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