Hotel Babylon: The Marriot Hotel Explosion I found this essay written by churchill more than a 100 years ago. Interesting how little things have changed.

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM - IN 1899!

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many
countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet
rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.

The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased
to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and
proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it
had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Delhi Under Fright, Innocent Targeted It is interesting this talk about Sikhism. From my perspective Sikhism is lot closer to Hinduism than Islam. while it is true Sant Kabir was a big influence but was he a moslem ??? if he was then we would not have anything to worry about. Most of the arabic words that appear in the Granth sahib were his creation.

The language of sikhism is derived from sanskrit. Guru is a sanskrit word as is Sikh ( shishya). Sikhism was an attempt to borrow the best of both islam and hinduism and add some new concepts.

The concepts of one God and equality of men seem to be an islamic influence.

How about Equality of women. do women have equal rights in islam ??? . Guru's would not give audience to women covering their face. Gender Equality is a big issue for Sikhs. half the Sikhs are women in case U have not noticed. Sikh women can run prayers and do ANYTHING a male can do including any and every religious ceremony. Bibi Jagir Kaur was ELECTED president of SGPC twice.

Guru Nanak made concerted effort to avoid rituals. No fasting in Sikhism. no praying facing in the direction of Golden Temple. No mandatory visits to the temple at least once in a lifetime. infact he went to mecca and got caught lying with his feet pointing towards Kaaba to make a point that God was everywhere. It was well taken and he lived to tell the story. No Yagya and other Pujas at the drop of a hat. IMHO the clergy have the least role in sikhism of any major religion and the thrust is on a direct relationship with God while cutting out the middlemen. That is why Granth Sahib was written in the language spoken and read by the masses of that time instead of sanskrit or persian or arabic.

Also the concept of helping other people practise their faith ( kashmiri hindus) was something brand new, can You imagine a Jihad where Muslim armies fought to protect a non muslim communities right to practise their own religion.

Also most importantly no PROSELYTIZING in sikhism which was recognized by Guru Nanak as the root of all conflict. This was a major difference between Sikhism and Islam ( and Sikhism and Christianity) and a major similiarity between Hinduism and Sikhism. Basically all this hogwash about Light of Islam coming to the subcontinent and everybody running to embrace islam is just that. the subcontinent was under islamic rule for more than 500 years and yet Islam failed to convert the majority. I believe India is where islamic expansion was stopped. It was a failure for islam rather than a victory. islam has also divided brothers from brothers in ways that are seen even today.

I can see why Muslims make a big deal about casteism in Hindus. what about the 3 other major religions originating in India Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Those were always options for dalits in India. the people who converted to islam were mostly opportunists who sought to gain from adopting the same religion as the King. Forget Hinduism do my Islamic brothers really think Buddhism is an inferior religion ???

sikhs dont pray to idols but is praying in front of an Idol really that bad for your health to merit a death sentence ??

There can be no denying that Islam was a Foreign religion which did not originate in the subcontinent. If we Indians think followers of non Dharmic religions in the subcontinent to be bit of traitors then I think we are justified. The subcontinent gave birth to set of 4 great religions called Dharmic religions ( Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism) which have as many followers as the Abrahamic religions. For people who were unhappy & wanted to change religions there are enough "Indian" choices.

The problems between Sikhs and Hindus in the eighties were driven by ISI IMHO. I lived in Panjab during those days. many of the "sikh" terrorists shot by the cops were circumcised. If their was popular support for separate state among Sikhs of panjab KPS Gill would not have suddenly put a stop to terror by killing a half a dozen militants over a few weeks. Think about that. Some how Sikhs outside India seem to cling on to those grievances a lot more than Sikhs in the heartland of Punjab. I joke with them that they have developed long term memory problems and only remember recent events if they think Muslims were good to Sikhs and Hindus are evil. thankfully there number is diminishing as the years go by.

I hope this helps. It is hard to think about religion in an unemotional manner especially ones own religion.

It\'s A Deal After All! This is going to be a win win situation for India. I also have some concerns about US trying to drive India & Iran apart. Current political situation is such that Obama and McCain are in a close fight. If Obama comes to power he will focus all his energy on Pakistan and indirectly help India. If McCain comes to power he will likely focus on Iran in conjunction with Israel. In that situation Iran will need India a lot more than it presently does and would open up a host of opportunities for India to be benevolent towards Iran. Indian diplomacy did successfully get Iran to ignore the fact that Israel has become one of India's largest arms suppliers in last 10-15 years.

In either situation this deal will give a big boost to power production in India and encourage even more investment in India. I think the expectation is that India will not test any further. If China tests then India will have a good excuse. India already has enough nuclear deterrent to meet its regional security needs for the next decade. they can continue research work on supercomputers that are already in place to refine the technology like Americans. Once thorium cycle is perfected then India will not need to import Uranium and will have the ability to do testing and withstand consequences if the need arises.