Headlines:

• Changing Faiths: Hispanic Americans Leaving Catholicism for Islam
• Israel: Support Sisi or Risk Anarchy
• US 'will not intervene in Syria as rebels don't support interests', says Top General
• Pakistani Court Indicts Musharraf in Bhutto Assassination

Details:

Changing Faiths: Hispanic Americans Leaving Catholicism for Islam

With more than 50 million Hispanics living in the US, the Latino community is now the country's biggest minority.  While most are brought up within the Catholic Church, a number of them are turning to Islam. Precise figures are difficult to pin down as the US Census does not collect religious data, but estimates for the number of Latino Muslims vary between 100,000 and 200,000. [Source: BBC]

 

Israel: Support Sisi or Risk Anarchy

Israel is mounting a diplomatic effort to assist the military-backed government in Egypt to retain U.S. and international backing, according to the New York Times. The newspaper also claimed that Israel has been reassuring the Egyptian military not to worry about American threats to cut off aid. Israel plans this week to intensify its diplomatic campaign urging Europe and the United States to support the government in Egypt, the Times wrote Monday, quoting "a senior Israeli official involved in the effort" who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he supposedly fears the wrath of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who instructed ministers and other officials not to discuss the Egyptian crisis. Israeli ambassadors in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and other capitals will be lobbying foreign ministers, the official said, as leaders in Israel will press the case with diplomats from abroad, "that the military is the only hope to prevent further chaos in Cairo." "We're trying to talk to key actors, key countries, and share our view that you may not like what you see, but what's the alternative?" the official explained. "If you insist on big principles, then you will miss the essential - the essential being putting Egypt back on track at whatever cost. First, save what you can, and then deal with democracy and freedom and so on. "At this point," the official added, "it's army or anarchy." Israeli leaders have made no public statements and have refused interviews since Wednesday's bloodshed in Cairo, according to the report, but Netanyahu has "discussed the situation with Secretary of State John Kerry; Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was in Israel last week; and a visiting delegation of more than two dozen Republicans from Congress, led by the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia." Israel's Defense Minister, Moshe Yaalon, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz have been discussing the matter with their U.S. counterparts, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and General Dempsey, respectively. Michael B. Oren, Israel's outgoing ambassador to the United States, has been "forcefully arguing for sustaining Washington's $1.5 billion annual aid to Egypt since the July 3 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi," adds The Times. The prime motive for Israel's diplomatic offensive, according to the report, is its concern that if the U.S. stops sending Egypt aid, it will be removing the underpinning of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The knowledge that it would lose U.S. aid if it breaks the peace treaty with Israel is believed to be a prime consideration motivating Egypt not to tear up the treaty. "This is a very big mistake to interfere in what happens in Egypt," Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and director of its new Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islam, told The Times. [Source: New York Times, Israel National News]

US 'will not intervene in Syria as rebels don't support interests', says Top General

The US will not intervene in the Syria conflict because it does not believe anti-Assad rebels would support American interests, its highest ranking military officer wrote in a letter to a congressman. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Barack Obama's chief military adviser, said that the US military was capable of taking out the Syrian government's air force and tipping the deepening struggle back in the favour of the country's opposition. But, in an extraordinarily frank assessment, Gen. Dempsey said that approach was not favoured by Washington as it would leave the US mired in another Middle Eastern war and offer little chance of peace in a country wracked by ethnic divisions. In an August 19 letter to Representative Eliot Engel, obtained by the Associated Press, Gen. Dempsey effectively ruled out even limited intervention, including US cruise missile attacks and other options that wouldn't require US troops on the ground. "Syria today is not about choosing between two sides but rather about choosing one among many sides," he said. "It is my belief that the side we choose must be ready to promote their interests and ours when the balance shifts in their favour. Today, they are not." The military chief's analysis will hardly please members of the fractured Syrian opposition leadership and some members of the Obama administration who have wanted greater support to help the rebellion end Bashar Assad's four-decade family dynasty. Despite internal disputes, some opposition groups have worked with the United States and European and Arab supporters to try to form a cohesive, inclusive movement dedicated to a democratic and multi-ethnic state. But those fighting the Assad government range wildly in political and ethnic beliefs, and not all are interested in Western support. [Source: The Telegraph]

Pakistani Court Indicts Musharraf in Bhutto Assassination

Pakistan's former strongman Pervez Musharraf was formally indicted along with seven other people on Tuesday of conspiring to assassinate former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. Musharraf, who has been under house arrest since April, appeared Tuesday before the Anti-terrorist Court in Rawalpindi and denied the charges of conspiracy and terrorism. Among the other seven people accused of arranging Bhutto's death are two former top police officials who are currently imprisoned for their alleged involvement in the slaying.Bhutto died in an as yet unclarified December 2007 attack shortly after returning to the country from exile, and Musharraf has been linked to the assassination from the very start, although his leaving the country in 2009 temporarily stymied judicial proceedings. The former general, who first came to power in a 1999 coup, stepped down in 2008 under threat of impeachment and amid burgeoning domestic opposition. He subsequently went into self-imposed exile to escape his myriad legal troubles. Musharraf returned to Pakistan in the spring with plans to run for parliament, but the electoral commission barred his candidacy and the courts revived the cases against him that had been put aside during his absence. No previous Pakistani military ruler has been indicted. [Source: Latin American Herald Tribune]

 

Abu Hashim