Sabri Assassination; India's NSG Bid; Brexit & Trump; Hamza Yousuf vs ISIS

[Riaz Haq]

Who killed Pakistan's world famous sufi singer Amjad Sabri Qawwal last week? Why was he targeted close to home in MQM-dominated Liaquatabad neighborhood? Is the Sabri killing a failure of Sindh Rangers' Karachi operation? Who wants to see the Army-led Karachi Operation fail? India? RAW? TTP? PPP? MQM? Why?

Why is India seeking full membership of NSG? Why has its effort failed so far? How did India succeed in getting the NSG waiver to allow nuclear trade in 2008? Did Pakistan's then ambassador Husain Haqqani recommend to then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari to not ask China to oppose the India NSG waiver? Is the NSG waiver not enough to accomplish India's goal of growing both its civil and military nuclear programs?

Why did the British voters vote 52% to 48% to leave the European Union? Do these British voters supporting Brexit have anything in common with Donald Trump supporters in the United States? Is this vote part of anti-establishment backlash against globalization, immigration and trade sweeping Europe and America? Is this result motivated by racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia? Or does it reflect a genuine economic anxiety of those who have been left behind?

Source: Harvard Business Review

Why is ISIS naming San Francisco Bay Area based American Muslim scholar Hamza Yousuf as its enemy? What did Yousuf's viral video "Crisis of ISIS" say that so angered ISIS leaders that they named him as an assassination target in their online publication tracked by the US FBI? Is it because Hamza Yousuf has effectively challenged ISIS based on Islamic theology? Or is it because Hamza Yousuf has taken on ISIS on its favorite battleground in social media and cyberspace?

Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam discusses these questions with panelists Ali Hasan Cemendtaur and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)


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Sabri Assassination; India's NSG Bid; Brexit & Trump; Hamaz You... from Ikolachi on Vimeo.

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Silicon Valley Opposes Islamophobia

[Riaz Haq]

#BernieSanders on #Brexit, #uselection2016, #trade , #economy , #elite, declining incomes #American of middle class

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/opinion/campaign-stops/bernie-...

Surprise, surprise. Workers in Britain, many of whom have seen a decline in their standard of living while the very rich in their country have become much richer, have turned their backs on the European Union and a globalized economy that is failing them and their children.

And it’s not just the British who are suffering. That increasingly globalized economy, established and maintained by the world’s economic elite, is failing people everywhere. Incredibly, the wealthiest 62 people on this planet own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population — around 3.6 billion people. The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the whole of the bottom 99 percent. The very, very rich enjoy unimaginable luxury while billions of people endure abject poverty, unemployment, and inadequate health care, education, housing and drinking water.

Could this rejection of the current form of the global economy happen in the United States? You bet it could.

During my campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, I’ve visited 46 states. What I saw and heard on too many occasions were painful realities that the political and media establishment fail even to recognize.

In the last 15 years, nearly 60,000 factories in this country have closed, and more than 4.8 million well-paid manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Much of this is related to disastrous trade agreements that encourage corporations to move to low-wage countries.

Despite major increases in productivity, the median male worker in America today is making $726 dollars less than he did in 1973, while the median female worker is making $1,154 less than she did in 2007, after adjusting for inflation.

Nearly 47 million Americans live in poverty. An estimated 28 million have no health insurance, while many others are underinsured. Millions of people are struggling with outrageous levels of student debt. For perhaps the first time in modern history, our younger generation will probably have a lower standard of living than their parents. Frighteningly, millions of poorly educated Americans will have a shorter life span than the previous generation as they succumb to despair, drugs and alcohol.

Meanwhile, in our country the top one-tenth of 1 percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Fifty-eight percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. Wall Street and billionaires, through their “super PACs,” are able to buy elections.

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Let’s be clear. The global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world. This is an economic model developed by the economic elite to benefit the economic elite. We need real change.

But we do not need change based on the demagogy, bigotry and anti-immigrant sentiment that punctuated so much of the Leave campaign’s rhetoric — and is central to Donald J. Trump’s message.

We need a president who will vigorously support international cooperation that brings the people of the world closer together, reduces hypernationalism and decreases the possibility of war. We also need a president who respects the democratic rights of the people, and who will fight for an economy that protects the interests of working people, not just Wall Street, the drug companies and other powerful special interests.

We need to fundamentally reject our “free trade” policies and move to fair trade. Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop sustainable economic models.

[Riaz Haq]

Diversity in #America: Only 55.8% of Millennials (born 1980-2000) r White http://brook.gs/29a1Bis @BrookingsInst #Trump2016 #HillaryClinton

Racial diversity will be the most defining and impactful characteristic of the millennial generation. Newly released 2015 Census data points to millennials’ role in transitioning America to the “majority minority” nation it is becoming.

Millennials between ages 18 and 34 are now synonymous with America’s young adults, fully occupying labor force and voting ages. They comprise 23 percent of the total population, 30 percent of the voting age population, and 38 percent of the primary working age population. Among racial minorities their numbers are even more imposing. Millennials make up 27 percent of the total minority population, 38 percent of voting age minorities, and a whopping 43 percent of primary working age minorities. 

Millennial diversity stands out

More important for the future is the clear disparity between the racial makeup of the millennial generation and of preceding generations. Millennials were born during a period of heightened immigration and more modest white growth (See Figure 1).

As of 2015, the population 55-years-old and older, which includes most Baby Boomers, is “whiter” than the country as a whole (75 percent vs.  61.6 percent) and, among them, blacks are the largest racial minority. Those in the 35- to 54-year-old age group, including Gen Xers and the tail-end of the Baby Boom generation (at 61.5 percent white, 17.6 percent Hispanic and 12.5 percent black), roughly represent the national racial composition.

Plainly, the millennial generation is ushering in the nation’s broader racial diversity. Overall, millennials are 55.8 percent white and nearly 30 percent “new minorities” (Hispanics, Asians and those identifying as two or more races). Back in 2000, when millennials were just beginning to impact demographics, this young adult age group was 63 percent white, whereas  in 1990 it was 73 percent white.    

Quite a few states exhibit more diversity in their millennial populations than the national numbers show (see Map 1). In California, less than one third of millennials are white, and more than 60 percent are new minorities (see Table 1).

Minorities comprise more than half of the millennial populations in 10 states, including Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and New Jersey. In 10 additional states, including New York, Illinois, Virginia, North and South Carolina, minorities comprise more than 40 percent of millennial residents. Other states have whiter millennial populations, but only nine states are home to largely (over 80 percent) white millennial populations (e.g. Wyoming, Iowa, West Virginia, and Maine).

A bridge to the post-millennial generation

The idea that millennials are a bridge to a much more diverse America is evident from looking at the post-millennial generation—persons now under age 18. Whites comprise just over half (51.5 percent) of this generation. Of this subset, people between ages one through five are minority white (see Figure 1). Nearly 34 percent of this group consists of new minorities, and almost a quarter is made up of Hispanics.

A noteworthy demographic dynamic is making the young post-millennial generation more racially diverse - the absolute decline in the number of white children (persons under age 18). This began to occur between 2000 and 2010, and continued between 2010 and 2015.  More white children are aging past 18 than are being born or immigrating. Although white fertility is low, it is the aging of the white population, with proportionately fewer women in their childbearing years, that is leading to a projected long term continuation of this trend. It is broad based, occurring in 46 states (see Table 2). This means that the route for youth population gain in most states is through minority gains, via fertility or in-migration; thus making the child population more racially diverse.

Now, 14 states house “majority minority” child populations (see Map 2). In California, minorities comprise nearly three quarters of post-millennials; and in Texas it’s two thirds. Overall, 25 states house post-millennial populations that are more than 40 percent minority and in only four (New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, and Vermont) is this generation largely white.

The racial generation gap

The rapid growth of minorities from the “bottom up” of the age structure is creating a racial generation gap between the old and young that reflects the nation’s changing demography. This gap is spilling over into national politics with older white Americans resonating differently than younger minorities on issues like government spending, affirmative action, and immigration.

The demographic fault line for the gap appears to lie between the population over age 55 and those under age 35 (including millennials and post-millennials). A short-hand measure is the difference between the percent white among these two populations (75 percent vs. 54 percent for a “gap” of 21 percent, nationally). Moreover, the gap is especially high in states that that have received recent waves of new minority residents to counter more established old whiter populations: Arizona leads all states with a gap of 33 percent. (Not surprisingly the four states with highest gaps could be competitive in this November’s presidential election.)

The emerging political division associated with the racial generation gap represents just one area where members of the diverse millennial generation are on the front lines of change. While racial inequality exists within this generation (white millennials are better educated and less susceptible to the forces of poverty than Hispanics and blacks), its members have embraced positive attitudes toward diversity more openly than their elders, and are responsible for much of the recent rise in interracial marriages.

As they move from young adulthood to middle age, millennials will serve as a demographic bridge between older, whiter generations and subsequent, more diverse generations. Their ability to assimilate, advocate, and become accepted will be key to the successful transition to a more racially diverse nation. Yes, millennials are worthy of attention. They are smart. They are creative. They are passionate about many issues. But the most defining characteristic of the members of this unique generation, as the country evolves demographically, is their racial diversity.

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