Afshin Molavi: All Publications, Events and Press

Holding Out For a Hero

Ron Tang — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:56:00 -0400

“Where are you from, my friend?” the merchant in Sharm Al-Sheikh asks me. I have been in enough bazaars in the Middle East to know the routine: I state my nationality (American), he makes a light joke about Rambo or Hollywood (avoiding politics), and then proceeds to hawk his goods to me at triple the going price.

But this time I took a different tack: “Iranian,” I said, citing my other nationality. “Iran?” the merchant responded, somewhat confused and pleasantly surprised. “Sit down,” he said, and sent his assistant scurrying to get me a cup of tea. “Ahmadi- negadee,” he said… more

The Persian Pragmatists

Ron Tang — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:05:00 -0400

Iran's recent parliamentary elections, conducted on Friday, stuck closely to a script familiar from the past four years: Conservatives predictably won the majority of seats from a ballot cleansed of reformists by the Guardians Council; turnout in cosmopolitan Tehran was lower than the provinces; and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted the U.S. for interfering in Iran's elections. The election's only clear winner -- as usual, in this script -- is Khamenei, whose virtual veto power over all matters of state, combined with a conservative ascendancy, grants him a political shield that will be difficult to penetrate.

But this year's script… more

Afshin Molavi in U.S. News | Global Public Opinion Turns Against the U.S. on Iran's Nuclear Program

Communications — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:40:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Global Public Opinion Turns Against the U.S. on Iran's Nuclear Program (U.S. News & World Report)

. . . Iranian policy figures, adds Afshin Molavi, an analyst with the New America Foundation in Washington, like to play off an expression favored by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She talks of U.S. support for an emerging "new Middle East" that includes political forces moving the region in the direction of moderation, democracy, and opposition to radical movements linked to Iran. "They say there will be a new Middle East," Molavi reports, "but it will be shaped more by Iran than by you."

Jobs, Justice and Democracy

adminn — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:24:00 -0500

"My issue is cooking oil," Dya Alawa, a 37-year-old Turkish woman said on the day of Turkey's historic July election, which saw the Justice and Development Party (AKP) emerge with a resounding victory. "That's why I'm voting AKP," she told the Washington Post. For her, the election was simple: the economy has improved under AKP stewardship since 2002, her husband has less fear of layoffs at his textile factory and she can buy cooking oil at reasonable prices.

Indeed, Alawa is not alone. While the Turkish elections grabbed headlines and raised questions about the country's "secular soul" -- as the AKP, a party with its roots… more

Afshin Molavi on CNN's The Situation Room on Ahmadinejad

Communications — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:05:00 -0400

New America in the News:

TODD: So did Ahmadinejad emerge from the U.N. with the upper hand?

AFSHIN MOLAVI, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: It may look like he snubbed his nose at the United Nations and got away with it. But it also just may be a short-term tactical victory, which may not contain the elements for a long-term victory for Iran...

Afshin Molavi is a Fellow with New America. For the complete transcript from "The Situation Room," please visit CNN's website.

The Advocate Quotes Afshin Molavi on the Global Economy

Communications — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:21:00 -0400

New America in the News:

In 1913, a young Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote in a private letter that a war among the major European powers would be so deadly and destructive that it could not be imagined. In 1914, he learned differently.

There are so many historic examples of war being so unlikely, so terrible in its prospect that it just "could not" happen. And yet it did.

That is why, in the large sweep of history, people who want to see peace should never underestimate the potential for war. Even those, like the mistaken Roosevelt, who feel rising prosperity is an antidote to conflict.

For centuries, the Silk Road of central Asia was a long and difficult, but valuable, pathway between the eastern and western worlds. Today, analyst [Afshin] Molavi says, a new Silk Road runs through the emerging economies of China, India and the Persian Gulf.

"The new Silk Road is largely the result of the confluence of China's and India's economic growth and high oil prices," said Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington.

"Key 'caravan posts' on the new Silk Road are regional economic 'winners' or rising stars: Dubai, Beijing, Mumbai, Chennai, Tokyo, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi," Molavi wrote in The Washington Post. "The old Silk Road civilization centers such as Persia (Iran), the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan) and Mesopotamia (Iraq) lag behind."

Vast real estate and industrial construction projects are under way along the new Silk Road, with Chinese, Korean, Indian and Japanese companies competing feverishly for business. While Molavi noted that American officials are busy with the crises in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States should not miss the significance of long-term development along the new Silk Road.

Is prosperity an antidote for conflict?

"Security in the Persian Gulf is now as important to Beijing and New Delhi as it is to Washington. China will no longer be content to perch under America's security umbrella, and the Indian navy now more assertively patrols the Arabian Sea," Molavi argued. "What's more, China and India have far more influence with Iran than we do - and less tolerance for a disruptive war. Many of the (Iranian) Islamic republic's political elites are also business elites, eager to find a way out of conflict."

Perhaps, as Molavi argued, a Western strategy of seeking to engage the volatile regimes of Iran and China into an emerging new Silk Road economy will have a moderating impact on their policies. But good behavior and economic prosperity don't always go hand in hand.

Look at China's aggressive military build-up in a region where it has no realistic security threats. Look at Iran's nuclear ambitions and deranged threats to eradicate Israel from the map.

Economic engagement is important in itself, and as a secondary security strategy. But we should not make the same prediction young Mr. Roosevelt made almost a century ago.

For more on this story, please visit The Advocate web site.

The CEO Sheik

Articles — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:34:00 -0400

He wears a long, flowing thobe and a white headscarf and smells faintly of oud, an ancient Arabian perfume. With his trim beard and loose sandals, he looks much as his ancestors might have nearly two centuries ago when they took over this tiny fishing village on the shores of the Persian Gulf. But Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktum, the ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, is a thoroughly modern prince. From his offices on the 44th floor of a sleek steel-and-glass skyscraper, he juggles nonstop cell-phone calls and dashes off salvos of quick-fingered… more

Rising Gulf

Articles — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:39:00 -0400

We all know the headlines by now: the Middle East is burning, right? So it seems, as Palestinians and Iraqis wage civil war, Lebanon seethes, Syria and Israel trade barbs and Iran spits defiance. Yet beyond the smoke a very different story is emerging nearby. In the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, times have never been better. Business is booming. And political conflict has become a foreign phenomenon, watched on flat-screen TVs in the air-conditioned living rooms of Doha, Dubai, Kuwait City, Muscat and Riyadh.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the oil-rich states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)… more

Economist Quotes Afshin Molavi on Iranian Economy

Communications — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:43:00 -0400

New America in the News:

“I PRAY to God that I will never know about economics,” President Ahmadinejad once said when questioned about apparent contradictions in his economic policy. The Lord appears to have answered his prayer. On his watch, the world oil price has soared from $62 a barrel when he was elected in June 2005 to $72 a barrel in recent weeks. Iran, which has a young, well-educated workforce, along with the world's second-largest reserves of both oil and gas, should be on a roll. Instead the economy is struggling. Is this a weakness the world can use to dissuade Iran from its nuclear ambitions?

Since almost all official economic statistics are suspect, measuring the performance of the economy is hard. But Afshin Molavi, an Iran-watcher at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, calls slow economic decline “the untold story of the Iranian revolution”. The economy is showing respectable growth of about 5%. But it is recording high and rising unemployment and inflation. The government puts unemployment at around 10% but private economists think it is twice as high—and that many of those with jobs have to take second ones to make ends meet. Mr Ahmadinejad's government claims to have reduced the rate of inflation. In fact it has almost certainly gone up: guesstimates by foreign embassies in Tehran put it as high as 25%. Meanwhile, foreign investment is puny—and falling...

For the complete article, please visit The Economist website.

Afshin Molavi Discusses Dubai on 'Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria'

Communications — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:00:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Fareed Zakaria: Welcome to Foreign Exchange; I’m Fareed Zakaria...

The rise of capitalism in the Arab world; believe it or not that is what we are going to discuss with Afshin Molavi, the Director of the Middle East global initiative of the New America Foundation. Afshin, you’ve been traveling around the Arab world for the last couple of years and do you feel that what you’re witnessing there is something quite different from the past that--that you are seeing new entrepreneurial fires in almost every part of the Arab world? Tell me what--what is the most exciting place in--in these terms in the Arab world today?

Afshin Molavi: Sure; I think that clearly the most exciting place in terms of the activity is the Gulf Region, the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. These six countries combined are the sixteenth largest economy in the world if you take them as a whole, and with the oil price rise we’re witnessing significant innovation in places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi and Qatar--they’re attracting educational institutions. There’s about one trillion dollars worth of projects taking place in the Gulf Region as a whole today.

Fareed Zakaria: Meaning construction projects, industrial projects--?

Afshin Molavi: Industrial, construction, real estate, and tourism projects--a small city state like Dubai attracts more tourists than India. It attracts almost as many tourists as Egypt so that’s where you see a lot of the headlines you know but--but I think a place like Egypt is very important to watch because Egypt has been you know--has dramatically underperformed its economic potential over the past five decades you know. If you go back to the early 1950s and you compare Egypt and South Korea they had roughly equivalent GDP per capita, roughly equivalent per capita income. Today South Korea is the 11th largest economy in the world and Egypt is stagnant and a regional laggard. But finally the--the giant on the Nile, the one eye is fluttering and it’s--it’s slumbering from--it’s--it’s awaking from its slumber and what we’re seeing is you know new efforts to streamline the bureaucracy, the famed Egyptian bureaucracy, we’re seeing things like a new mortgage finance law, and--you know people--sure.

Fareed Zakaria: Now why is all this happening?

Afshin Molavi: Yeah.

Fareed Zakaria: You know so you--you described it correctly; for decades these--the Arab world has been the laggard in the march of globalization and modernization. And then something has happened quite recently; do you think I mean is it the shock of 09/11 that--that has played some part in this?

Afshin Molavi: I think it has definitely; the shock of 09/11 and also bureaucratic things like take for example what happened after 09/11 made it more difficult for leading Arab merchants who had long trading ties with the United States to get visas to come to the United States. There was also that animosity that arose between the United States and the Arab world. So when we saw it in the 1970s in the last oil boom, a lot of the money was automatically being recycled into the west and to London and New York investment banks. After 09/11 when the oil price rose a lot of money stayed at home. It was looking for investments at home and not only in the Gulf Region but in Egypt and Morocco and other places as well...

For the complete transcript, please visit the Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria website.

PBS Wide Angle Interviews Afshin Molavi on Dubai

Communications — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 04:23:00 -0400

New America in the News:

DALJIT DHALIWAL: Afshin Molavi, welcome to Wide Angle.

AFSHIN MOLAVI: Thank you, Daljit. It's a pleasure to be with you.

DALJIT DHALIWAL: Have you been to Ras Al Khaimah, the tiny Emirate that we feature in our film? What were you impressions?

AFSHIN MOLAVI: Sure. You know, when I was living in Dubai in the late 1990s and throughout my many visits to Dubai since then, Ras Al Khaimah, for many people who live in Dubai, was a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was a place to see natural beauty and scenery.

Ras Al Khaimah has one of the most beautiful coastlines along the Persian Gulf and wonderful beaches, and it also has mountains and a desert. So, for us, Ras Al Khaimah was this natural oasis-- to get away from the city. And so, there were also moments when I stood back and I looked at this film and I said, "Oh, no. You know, what is happening to the pristine, you know, beauty of Ras Al Khaimah?"

DALJIT DHALIWAL: You were disappointed then, at the development?

AFSHIN MOLAVI: Well, you know, it gets to the heart of the issue of development. You know, on the other hand, you look at that pristine natural beauty and you say to yourself, you hope that that will be somehow preserved. But on the other hand, the people of Ras Al Khaimah, just like people anywhere in the world, deserve to develop their economy.

They deserve to develop the kind of growth that will benefit their citizens. And, you know, if the lesson of Dubai is learned by anyone in the United Arab Emirates, it is that hotels and shopping malls and big tourist mega complex do attract people. Dubai last year, Daljit, attracted more tourists than India. Think about that for a moment...

For the complete interview transcript, please visit the PBS website.

The Magic Kingdom’s Wild New Ride

Articles — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:57:00 -0400

Last week, a senior official in one of the world’s wealthiest states suggested that one third of all government jobs should go to women.

Switzerland? Denmark? France?

Wrong, the country is Saudi Arabia, and the senior official is Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the crown prince. In a state that has embraced the most misogynous readings of the Koran and a society that remains deeply patriarchal, Prince Sultan’s statement was truly revolutionary.

As Sultan’s older brother, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, visits Spain, Poland, and France this week, it may not be obvious that Saudi Arabia is undergoing a substantive transformation, but it… more

Afshin Molavi Interviewed on CNN on Middle East Peace Process

Communications — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:22:00 -0400

New America in the News:

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in the United States right now. He's going to be meeting with President Bush tomorrow. Both the United States and Israel are now lining up behind Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the new emergency government that he has swore in after Hamas took control of Gaza...

ROBERTS: So what does this mean for the peace process in the Middle East? What does it mean for war and peace? Does Israel plan an invasion in Gaza? What's going to happen next. Afshin Molavi is the director of the Middle East Global Initiative at the New America Foundation in Washington. He joins us now.

Afshin, you talk about this idea of there being two Middle Easts. And we've got some maps to illustrate it. First of all, this is the map of the overall Middle East area. What are the two Middle Easts that you're talking about?

AFSHIN MOLAVI, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Sure, John. As you can see, we have flash points all across the region right now. Almost as an arc of crisis and instability, or potential instability. So if you look from Egypt on into Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, where we see this violence between the Palestinian factions, in through Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, where former Secretary of State Colin Powell described it as an ongoing civil war, into Iran where we have the potential for U.S. military confrontation, we have this arc of crisis and instability.

ROBERTS: Now these used to be separate entities and now they're all kind of tied together, right?

MOLAVI: Absolutely. They are very much tied together. And Iran has a great deal of influence in what happens, for example, in Gaza, West Bank and particularly in southern Lebanon.

And then you move to the Persian Gulf region, particularly the Arab states of the Persian Gulf region, and it's almost as if we have a different Middle East. We have -- they're prosperous. There's a business boom going on.

One of the things that has happened in the past five years, John, one of the most under reported stories, is we've had this tremendous oil windfall. $1.5 trillion has moved into this region in the past five years. And as a veteran reporter, you know you got to follow the money, right?..

For the complete transcript, please visit the CNN website.

The Iranian Spectacle: An Istanbul Dispatch

Articles — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:04:00 -0400

The Iranian delegation entered the conference with a thud. Parviz Davudi, the first vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Iran -- flanked by several burly, bearded bodyguards and surrounded by a coterie of Iranian diplomats in Nehru collars, camera-wielding journalists from the Islamic Republic's state news media and a few assorted hangers-on -- plowed through the ornate Ciragan Palace Hotel lobby in Istanbul, brusquely pushing past the assembled political, business and media elite who gathered for the November 2006 World Economic Forum -- an annual event that showcases Turkey's economic achievements to the "Davos crowd."

Coffee-sipping delegates looked on with… more

Afshin Molavi on Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Iran, Iraq

Communications — Mon, 28 May 2007 09:50:00 -0400

New America in the News:

TONY JONES: The American military has displayed pictures of 42 prisoners it rescued from a desert hide-out in Iraq, believed to be an Al Qaeda base. Some of the prisoners have reported they'd been kidnapped and held at the camp for up to four months. Tom Iggulden reports.

TOM IGGULDEN: This modest hide-out held 42 prisoners until American troops raided it today, after a tip-off from locals...

TOM IGGULDEN: Further south, in Baghdad, there was more violence in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, where American forces are still trying to quell local militia groups. Several raids over the weekend were supported by an air strike, angering local residents. But the US military is doing some grieving of its own after 12 American soldiers were killed over the weekend, putting May on track to be the deadliest month for the US effort in Iraq this year..

TOM IGGULDEN: But the Bush Administration is still looking for the right strategy to get the outcome it wants. Tonight, as Lateline goes to air, a historic meeting between the US and Iran is taking place, to try to find common ground on stabilising Iraq. It's the first public diplomacy between the two for 25 years. And some have their doubts about how effective it can be.

AFSHIN MOLAVI, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Iran does not want to see a thriving, successful, prosperous, pro-American Iraq. There is almost an an unwritten policy in Tehran of promoting managed chaos within Iraq...

For the complete transcript, please visit the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website.

Washington Post Quotes Afshin Molavi on Haleh Esfandiari Detainment

Communications — Wed, 23 May 2007 09:29:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Fanny Esfandiari, a 93-year-old great-grandmother with heart disease and bad eyesight, made a desperate trip to Iran's notorious Evin Prison earlier this month.

"I have to find my daughter," she told relatives reluctant to drive her. None thought it would be productive -- or worth the risks. A nephew finally agreed. He stayed in the car as Esfandiari slowly shuffled on her cane up to the hulking white stone compound in Tehran where Iran's kings and theocrats have incarcerated their most famous political prisoners as well as their toughest criminals.

Esfandiari asked to see her daughter, Haleh Esfandiari of Potomac, a scholar once described as the "gold standard" of Middle East analysts, who was detained by Iranian intelligence on May 8...

After Iran's judiciary announced last week that Esfandiari was being investigated for "crimes against national security," 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi agreed to take her case...

Iran's leading hard-line newspaper, Kayhan, now a mouthpiece for Ahmadinejad's government, alleged last week that Esfandiari was fomenting a "velvet revolution" in Iran and spying for the United States and Israel...

In contrast to many foreign-policy analysts, Esfandiari avoided the talk show circuit and media interviews. "Haleh was always very careful. She never accepted Voice of America interviews and advised me to avoid VOA and Persian media as well," says Afshin Molavi, an Iranian-born fellow at the New America Foundation. "Even when the reform movement was in high gear, she was very cautious and rarely spoke out in public on Iran issues. To suggest that she was involved in some sort of velvet-revolution plot would be farcical were it not so outrageous..."

For the complete article, please visit The Washington Post website.

Afshin Molavi Interviewed on CNN on Haleh Esfandiari

Communications — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:44:00 -0400

New America in the News:

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM...

BLITZER: Other news we're following. She's a well-known academic here in Washington, an Iranian American who went back to Tehran for family reasons and is now in prison. She's not the only American in trouble there. CNN's Jill Doherty has the story. Jill?

JILL DOHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, she's being held in the notorious Evine (ph) prison in Iran where others have been tortured and died. Ironically her supporters say Haleh Esfandiari is a bridge- builder between Iran and the United States...

DOHERTY (voice-over): For four months Professor Shaul Bakash was sure he'd soon get a call saying his wife was finally free.

DOHERTY: Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian American scholar had flown to Iran to visit her 93-year-old mother. On the way back to Tehran airport three masked men brandishing knives stopped her car and stole her luggage and documents including her passport. Iranians officials wouldn't replace it. Instead, they subjected her to six weeks of interrogation. May 8, the 67-year-old Esfandiari was arrested and imprisoned, allowed only a few brief phone conversations with her mother...

DOHERTY: Iranian officials say Esfandiari is being arrested for crimes against national security. Her husband calls that a complete falsehood.

(on camera): Much of the questioning in prison centered on Esfandiari's work as the head of the Middle Eastern Program here at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars in Washington, DC.

(voice-over): Esfandiari's arrest is the latest in a series of detentions of intellectuals, journalists and Iranian American visitors orchestrated by the hard-line government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Experts on Iran say the Ahmadinejad government is paranoid about the United States' intentions towards Iran, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comments about a $75 million U.S. program to promote democracy in Iran.

AFSHIN MOLAVI, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: They feel that the United States wants to engage in regime change in Iran. They see this money that the United States has pledged for supporting dissidents and supporting dissidents and supporting democracy in Iran as interfering in their internal affairs...

For the complete transcript, please visit the CNN website.

CNN Interviews Afshin Molavi on U.S.-Iran Talks

Communications — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everybody. Glad to have you with us tonight.

Here are some of the stories we are bringing out in the open.

Tonight: talking with the enemy. What do the U.S. and Iran have to say one another? And will it help one war and avoid another?..

The first story we're brining out in the open, whether the U.S. should be engaging in direct talks with Iran. For the last five years, the White House has said Iran is part of an axis of evil, desperate to get nuclear weapons. And we don't negotiate with terrorists, they said.

And both sides have just announced they will indeed send ambassadors to Baghdad for face-to-face meetings about the disastrous security situation in Iraq.

So, what led to this drastic shift in U.S. foreign policy?

State Department correspondent Zain Verjee found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American diplomats agreed to meet with their Iranian counterparts in Baghdad -- at issue, how to stop the bloodshed in Iraq and move the political process forward, with Iran's help.

TOM CASEY, SPOKESMAN, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: They continue to say that they wish to be a positive force.

VERJEE: Direct talks on Iraq, a major turnaround for the Bush administration, which labeled Iran part of an axis of evil.

Washington accuses Iran of fueling sectarian warfare, supporting militias, and supplying insurgents with explosives that kill U.S. troops. The two sides have been flirting with the idea of a face-to- face sit-down. It was nailed down earlier this month in Egypt, where the two sides had a quick chat at Iraq's neighbors conference...

VERJEE: In spite of tensions, it's Iraqi leaders who are pushing both sides to the table, hoping it could ease sectarian tensions.

AFSHIN MOLAVI, FELLOW, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: This could potentially be an important channel of dialogue. I don't see it as a channel that leads to a breakthrough that may lead to widespread -- you know, wide-ranging Iran-U.S. rapprochement...

For the complete transcript, please visit the CNN website.

The Iran File

Articles — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:35:00 -0400

As Arab presidents, emirs, and kings lined up alongside the United Nations secretary general and the Pakistani, Malaysian, and Turkish heads of state in last month’s Arab League summit in Riyadh, one key player was missing at the highest level: Iran. Its nominal head of state, Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad, was not invited to the summit. Instead the relatively weak foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, attended on behalf of the Islamic Republic.

On the surface, this fits the caricature narrative that has emerged in policy and media circles on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean: Saudi Arabia, the bulwark of Sunni… more

Minnesota Public Radio Quotes Afshin Molavi on Islam, Media

Communications — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:

St. Paul, Minn. — In recent years, many people have been hearing more about Islam because of 9/11 and the war in Iraq. In recent days, it may be because of the controversy over Muslim taxi drivers in the Twin Cities who don't want to carry passengers with alcohol. Sometimes, those stories can reinforce negative and misleading stereotypes...

There are more than a billion Muslims in the world. It's estimated that only about four million of them live in the United States. But many Americans know little about the small minority of people who practice Islam in this country. Much of the discussion last night focused on American ignorance about Islam and how to change it.

Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation said that the media play a large role how Islam is perceived. He's says news organizations must become more responsible.

"I think there is an element of lazy journalism out there. It's just a lot easier to take one extreme side, pit it against the other extreme side and then that's on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand journalism. We lose that vast middle ground," he said...

To listen to the audio and for the full transcript, please visit the Minnesota Public Radio website.