First Televised Interview

The first televised interview that Barack Obama has had as president is with Al-Arabiya, an Arab news organization out of Dubai. It is cathartic to finally hear an engaging and fair minded approach to the Middle East coming from the leadership of the United States. It is an important step, it seems, in reconciling the "dissension and strife, contention, estrangement and apathy, among the loved ones of God."

A few different parts stuck out for me, this one in particular where he acknowledges the part of his Muslim Anscestory:

"I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries ... the largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith – and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers – regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams."

Burma

These are some pictures from James Whitlow, who was in Burma during the cyclone. His photos capture the pure devastation of it. The photos are Here.

I have been disappointed in the world's response to this. The military government has blocked most forms of aid offered by the world community. Only now they are allowing it to trickle in, partially due to the strong diplomatic efforts of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But it must happen faster, there is no time to waste; the potential for much more misery and disease is looming. The world community must intervene if another country is destroying the most basic human right of its people, that of life. It will continue to fail miserably if it does not act with a unified vision of the unity of humankind. Only through this unity can we avoid future Rwanda's, Sudan's, and Burma's.

NEW YORK — Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

Read the rest of the story here.

Please pray for the Bahá’ís in Iran!