The Middle East

There have been two recent news events that have received very little coverage but I'm curious about.

One, Iran's role in the settling of the fighting in Basra a little while ago. I've heard two brief mentions of their involvement but no details. I know the current administration is no friend to the current Iranian leadership. And especially to their involvement in Iraq, which has been proven to be adversarial at times. But I also think it is blind to not see that Iran will have a strong role in the region and that the more it can be a peaceful one and the more interaction we can have with the country the better. If they're going to be a power in the region wouldn't we like to have influence with them.

The second thing was a brief report on BBC Global News that 15 Muslim groups have signed a petition presented at a meeting of the Arab League pressing for a concerted effort to end the situation in Darfur. The head of the Muslim community in Nigeria said it was unacceptable for anyone to stand by and do nothing while watching such suffering. That's the last I heard of it. But again, I think strong regional action to help solve this problem is crucial to finally ending it. While he's right that no one should stand by, regional powers can often have a great influence.

And both these situations are real demonstrations of Islam reaching out to Islam to solve problems and to bring peace. Moves that can only help the view of the west towards a more compassionate and understanding approach.