by Heather Hastie | Jan 2, 2017 | Economics, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Russia
2016 has been Putin’s year. He has succeeded in much of what he wants. He tells himself it’s about Making Russia Great Again. In reality, it’s about Putin himself. The Russian people are suffering and because of Putin, so are millions of others. And...
by Heather Hastie | Nov 5, 2016 | Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Religion
On 25 October the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a ‘Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists’. The guide includes a list of fifteen people, two of whom have caused a great deal of controversy – Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A Change.org...
by Heather Hastie | Nov 1, 2016 | Freedom of Speech, Human Rights
Most of you will have heard about the outrageous action of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently. On 25 October they produced a Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists. Just producing a list of people to hate is bad enough, especially in a climate when anyone...
by Heather Hastie | Aug 11, 2016 | Human Rights, US Politics
The two main candidates for the United States presidency both have a problem appealing to voters in terms of favourability and trustworthiness. Personally I consider the claims of Hillary Clinton’s dishonesty to be overblown, which I wrote about here. In fact,...
by Heather Hastie | Jun 16, 2016 | Human Rights, Religion, Terrorism
Heather asked me recently: I am curious about your reluctance to criticize Islam. It’s like you’re saying that there is one idea, amongst all the ideas in the world, that is immune from being questioned or challenged. With another horrific Islamist murder spree having...
by Heather Hastie | Dec 13, 2015 | Human Rights, Middle East
As most of you will already know, Raif Badawi is a Saudi Arabian blogger who was sentenced to ten years prison and 1,000 lashes for criticizing his country’s form of government. As the country’s law is Sharia, that amounts to criticizing Islam and is thus...
