Canadians have a negative view of Islam

Toronto Sun - OTTAWA -- Canada is heading toward conflict with its Muslim population, says the head of a study on Canadian attitudes toward Islam.

The study found that the majority of Canadians held a negative view of Muslim countries. Dim view of Islam by Jorge Barrera

Mark Alexander

Anti-Western feelings on the rise in Turkey

Photo of Gul courtesy of the BBC

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has warned that moderate Turks are becoming anti-American and anti-EU.

Mr Gul said many Turks were embittered by the US' support for Israel's actions in Lebanon and by Turkey's problems in joining the EU. Turkish anti-West mood 'rising'

Mark Alexander

U is for Utter, N is for Nonsense!
I'm sure the Israelis are quaking in their boots, as are Hizbullah terrorists, Ms Arbour!

Photo of Ms Louise Arbour courtesy of the BBC

War crimes could have been committed in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza, a senior UN official has said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said international law stressed the need to protect civilians.

There is an obligation on all parties to respect the "principle of proportionality", she said. UN warning on Mid-East war crimes

Mark Alexander

Hal Lindsey's interesting religious viewpoint

With illegal attacks across Israel’s internationally recognized borders, hostage taking of soldiers and a relentlessly raining of rockets and missiles upon Israel’s major cities, the Israeli Defense Forces have finally sprung into action. This is after months of “restraint” that world leaders are now calling upon them to use. The time for “restraint” has long passed, as I will demonstrate.

It is because of Israel’s compromise, appeasement and restraint that Hamas, Hizbollah and their true masters, Iran and Syria, have come to believe that “now” is the time to attack and destroy Israel.

Every time Israel unilaterally gave “land for peace”, as in Southern Lebanon and Gaza, the terrorist claimed it as their victory. Hamas used this claim to get elected by popular vote in the West Bank and Gaza. Hezbollah has used the same claim to move in a massive force that is now more powerful than the Lebanon’s army.

Every compromise that Israel has made to make peace with the Palestinians and the surrounding Muslim nations has been rewarded with more terrorism. The Myth of ''Measured Response''

Mark Alexander

Israel won't think twice about conquering Lebanon

Israel is continuing its Lebanon military offensive, with war planes bombing more than 40 targets, mainly in southern parts of Beirut, on Friday.

Troops are also fighting Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon, and Israel has told people to leave the area, warning of a possible large-scale incursion. Israel tightens grip on Lebanon

Mark Alexander

East to Eurabia!
I'd like to share with you this excellent article written by Fjordman

In a true, totalitarian society such as the old Soviet Union, crime rates are usually low because of the crushing state control of all its citizens. Supposedly, street crime in Moscow in the USSR was rare, probably because the state itself was the biggest criminal. In contrast, in the European Union of today, which is not a totalitarian society, at least not yet, crime rates are booming in major cities. At the same time, authorities are stepping up censorship efforts, openly talking about media “speech codes” and aggressively slapping labels such as “racism” or “xenophobia” on anybody daring to criticize the immigration policies or pointing out the inadequate response to Muslim gang violence.

There is obviously a connection here: The less control the authorities have with Muslims, the more control they want to exercise over non-Muslims. As problems in Europe get worse, which they will, the EU will move in an increasingly repressive direction until it either becomes a true, totalitarian entity or falls apart. This strange mix of powerful censorship of public debate, yet little control over public law and order, has by some been labelled anarcho-tyranny. In Praise of the First and Second Amendments

Mark Alexander

UN talks of war crimes for Israel but not for Hizbullah!

More than 60 people, most of them Lebanese civilians, were killed yesterday on the bloodiest day of the Middle East conflict so far.

As the violence continued the United Nations raised the possibility that civilian deaths could lead to war crimes charges. Lebanon said 300 people had been killed in eight days of Israeli air strikes and artillery barrages. 500,000 Lebanese flee the carnage by Tim Butcher

Mark Alexander

Lebanon's dream of record economic growth for 2006 in tatters

REUTERS - BEIRUT, 19 July (IRIN) - Lebanon's dream of 2006 as a record year for economic growth has in the space of a week turned into a nightmare. Israeli air strikes have brought its fast-growing economy to an almost complete standstill. With thousands of nationals and foreign workers evacuating, and more than 500,000 internally displaced people, a bleak scenario confronts the country's workforce.

"The direct losses are estimated to be nearly half a billion US dollars," said Jihad Azoor, Lebanon's Finance Minister. "But we have to read this number carefully because we have no way of assessing the situation fully to get an accurate estimate. And more losses occur by the hour." LEBANON: Workforce morale at an all-time low

Mark Alexander

Has World War III begun?

NEWSMAX.COM - World War III has begun, and the nation’s leadership is failing to deal with this reality, former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich concludes. Gingrich Says World War III Has Begun

Mark Alexander

Israel fights West's war to rid world of Islamic extremism

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

It is an axiom of Israeli military operation that its armed forces must hurry to achieve victory before international pressure forces them to stop.

Yet after bombarding Lebanon for five days, and causing pain to ordinary civilians unseen since the civil war ended 15 years ago, the international outcry is surprisingly muted. If anything, as the conflict has intensified and the regional stakes have risen, Israel has found a degree of international sympathy, or at least understanding.

Lebanon has become the battleground between pro-western and radical Islamic forces. Few governments, even Arab states, want to see Hizbollah win the contest. Israel fights West's cause against radical Islam by Anton La Guardia

Iran plans to dominate the Middle East by Dore Gold

Mark Alexander

On the run with style, class and elegance

Photo courtesy of the BBC

It was perhaps the most elegant exodus in history. Thousands of wealthy, well-dressed Arabs snarled the mountain roads leading to Syria with their Range Rovers and Porsches as they fled Lebanon yesterday.

There were women with expensive coiffures, husbands wearing designer sunglasses and teenagers playing the latest hand-held video games as Lebanon morphed from Arab world summer playground to ghostland.

But behind the tinted windscreens, the faces of the fleeing were haggard with worry. Crawling Porsches and the prayerful join Lebanon's opulent exodus by Tim Butcher

Mark Alexander

When losing is not an option

If Hamas, Hizbullah win war they have declared, Zionist project is nearing end of its days

This is no competition of false machismo. This is a fateful decision: Even if these two radical Islamic movements gain symbolic propaganda victories – it could free other enemies around the Middle East. The need to win this war is absolute. There can be no debate about it. A war Israel must win Opinion by Sever Plocker

Mark Alexander

Interesting commentary from the BBC

As so often in the Middle East, text and sub-text are inextricably bound up.

Thus a crisis that at first sight pits Israel against Hamas and Hezbollah, inevitably reaches out to involve Syria and Iran, both strong supporters of the Lebanese-based Shia movement.

This is what makes this crisis so difficult to resolve. But it also underlines how dangerous its ramifications could be unless the fighting is halted.

Inevitably then, events in the Middle East have pushed themselves onto the G8 summit agenda here in St Petersburg. Hostility envelops wider region by Jonathan Marcus

Mark Alexander

How to defeat radical Islam in Europe

At a recent conference in Switzerland, student representatives asked: how could the Muslim population gain traction so quickly in Western Europe? It is a simple and direct question that could easily be addressed with reference to the disparity between Christian and Muslim birthrates and immigration patterns.

But numbers do not tell the whole story, nor do these numbers reveal very much about European attitudes. There are philosophical underpinnings that reveal more than any statistical analysis can provide.

The first of these is multiculturalism, an attitude which suggests each culture should be treated on its own terms without regard to universal considerations. For example, female deformation in the form of clitoridectomy is not wrong; it is simply the manifestation of a different culture.

The second, and arguably the view that represents the most significant shift in European attitudes, is secular humanism, a turning away from the spiritual to the temporal. European churches are now ostensibly museums, not places of worship. The moral teachings of Christianity have been largely interred and replaced by relativism or “new age” phenomenology, such as pantheistic environmentalism.

The third shift in attitude might be characterized as extreme liberalism. In this case, the virtues of liberalism such as tolerance have been perverted into an unwillingness to discriminate. Right and wrong are seen as archaic concepts belonging to the ash heap of history. What counts is openness, a strange form of egalitarianism in which all opinions have equal value if rendered earnestly.

The fourth attitudinal consideration is transnationalism. A project to reduce or eliminate the national heritage of European states through Continental harmonization has had the unintended effect of making citizens rudderless, of losing an identity and deracinating patriotism. Do the bureaucrats in Brussels represent the will of the European people? And can a Continental parliament rely on consent of the governed or even care about those governed? Answers beg the questions.

Last is the loss of confidence. The retreat of apostolic teaching has resulted in an absence of authority. Catholicism is in retreat, not only as a religion but as a voice of moral conviction. London: To defeat radical Islam Europe must re-Christianize by Herbert London

Mark Alexander

The price of liberal Christianity

Out-of-the-mainstream beliefs about gay marriage and supposedly sexist doctrines are gutting old-line faiths.

The accelerating fragmentation of the strife-torn Episcopal Church USA, in which several parishes and even a few dioceses are opting out of the church, isn't simply about gay bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions or the election of a woman as presiding bishop. It also is about the meltdown of liberal Christianity.

Embraced by the leadership of all the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as large segments of American Catholicism, liberal Christianity has been hailed by its boosters for 40 years as the future of the Christian church.

Instead, as all but a few die-hards now admit, all the mainline churches and movements within churches that have blurred doctrine and softened moral precepts are demographically declining and, in the case of the Episcopal Church, disintegrating. Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins by Charlotte Allen

Mark Alexander

Competing explanations for Islamic terrorism

Radical Islamism is more than a response to western actions: it is an ideology that provides a battle cry and a battle order.

The competing explanations for a resort to terrorism are many, but you can more or less group them round two poles.

One of these was vividly expressed in the Guardian last Saturday by Karen Armstrong. Tony Blair had been wrong, she said, to call for moderate Muslims to act and speak out more decisively against radical Islamists. He had missed the point: all Muslims, moderate or radical, were deeply stirred by the sufferings of their co-religionists in Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Iraq and Palestine, and the "strong emphasis placed by Islam on justice and community solidarity" made this a religious issue.

"It is disingenuous of Tony Blair," she wrote, "to separate the rising tide of 'Islamism' from his unpopular foreign policy, particularly when Palestinians are being subjected to new dangers in Gaza."

This pole is defined, roughly, by the belief that it is the west's, or America's, fault that radical Islamists are violent. While violence may be wrong - Armstrong certainly believes that - it takes its root and justifies itself in its own eyes in the empathy with the victims of, and anger with, the West's actions.

The other pole has been evoked, at least as vividly, by an ex-Muslim, now a non-believer: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian-born Dutch MP whose apostasy (as many of her former co-religionists saw it) and outspoken criticisms of Islam earned her death threats and police protection. Further, a campaign against her in the Netherlands mounted by some elements in the left saw her temporarily stripped of her citizenship, a move that was the main cause of the collapse of the country's centre-right coalition last month. To the death by John Lloyd

Mark Alexander

Pandemonium in Mumbai: At least 100 killed in a series of terrorist bombings

Photo courtesy of the BBC

At least 100 people have been killed by seven near-simultaneous bombs on the train network in the Indian financial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say.

The first explosion went off at about 1830 local time (1300 GMT), during the peak of the evening rush hour in the suburbs on the busy Western Railway.

Correspondents spoke of scenes of pandemonium, with people jumping from trains and bodies flung onto tracks. Scores dead in Mumbai train bombs

Mark Alexander

Australia bans two Islamic books

SYDNEY — The Australian government has banned two books that encourage young Muslims to become suicide bombers in Afghanistan.

The federal Classification Review Board ruled Monday that the books — “Defence of the Muslim Lands” and “Join the Caravan” — violate Australian laws by promoting, inciting or instructing in matters of violence or crime and can no longer be sold or imported to Australia. Australia bans two books encouraging suicide bombers

Mark Alexander

Islam's influence in the US just grows and grows

A Pompano Beach clergyman's comments about Islam has cost him a post on Broward's Judicial Nominating Commission.

Following some controversial remarks on radio about Muslims, the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, a Gov. Jeb Bush appointee, resigned from a panel responsible for nominating judges in Broward County.

Dozier said Monday he was asked to step down from the nine-member Judicial Nominating Commission after he characterized Islam as a ''cult'' on a radio show.

Dozier, pastor of the World Wide Christian Center Church in Pompano Beach, also called Islam ''a dangerous religion'' Friday on the The Steve Kane Radio Show. Islam remark costs pastor by Darran Simon

Mark Alexander

Amerikas sorgenvoller Sommer

Im Land der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten herrscht Pessimismus - aus unerwarteten Gründen

Politiker in den USA warnen vor unzähligen Gefahren für die Sicherheit der Nation. Doch die Amerikaner sorgen sich derzeit eher um gewöhnlichere Dinge wie Benzinpreise oder die illegale Einwanderung.

Pünktlich zum Nationalfeiertag am 4. Juli lanciert, haben Nordkoreas Raketen ihre Wirkung auf die politische Klasse der USA nicht verfehlt. Richard Haass, Chefstratege unter dem früheren Aussenminister Powell und Präsident des Think-Tanks Council on Foreign Relations, erklärte, nie zuvor in ihrer modernen Geschichte seien die USA mit einer derartigen Häufung von Problemen konfrontiert gewesen. Amerikas sorgenvoller Sommer

Mark Alexander

Islam influencing fashion

The forecast for the new fashion season is as somber as it is certain. It is going to be a long dark winter.

After a decade of free-fall hipster pants, bared midriffs, bras on show under sheer dresses and naked legs, fashion has started on its great coverup. Forget girlie frills and celebrities flashing flesh on the red carpet. The typical outfit in the current international fashion collections is in any color as long as it is black with a silhouette long, lean and layered.

The mood is now for a chaste sobriety, with sturdy fabrics, thick leggings and even ankle-length hemlines.

The world's leading designers have no doubts as to where fashion is headed as they talk about "restraint" and "sobriety."

"I think 'modesty' is a beautiful word today - and a beautiful attitude," says Lanvin's Alber Elbaz, who has built his career on designing dresses with a respectful attitude to women.

Marc Jacobs, founding father of the girl-woman aesthetic, shocked the audience at his New York show last month with hefty knits, leg warmers and thick layers of clothes shrouding the body. The new sobriety: Covering up the body

KABUL (Reuters) - Models strode down a catwalk in the Afghan capital Kabul for the first time in decades this weekend as two designers showed off their clothes behind the guarded walls of a luxury hotel.

An audience of expatriates and well-heeled Afghan watched the show in hotel garden, under a clear midsummer night's sky, to the strains of traditional Afghan music.

All of the models showing the conservatively cut clothes that included designer burqas were expatriate women, to the disappointment of some in the audience.

The organisers said they did not want to court controversy in what is a deeply conservative Muslim country by having Afghan models.

"We invited a lot of Afghan women to attend the show but not to be models," said Italian designer Gabriella Ghidoni, who organised the show with an Afghan partner.

The Taliban forced women to wear the all-enveloping burqa but nearly five years after the hard-line Islamists were ousted, many women still choose to wear burqas when they are out. Afghanistan gets first fashion show in decades

Photo courtesy of The Scotsman

Mark Alexander

"Islamic Terror"
With thanks to my friend, Always On Watch, for bringing this excellent article to my attention:

After the terrorist outrages of July 7, 2005, most Londoners have continued to travel by bus, train and Underground. They are more vigilant, but few seem to experience anxiety about a repeat attack during their journey. That is remarkable because objectively the chances of another massacre must be higher than a year ago.

Last year the bombs were the first shock. The second was to discover that the terrorists were suicide bombers and British. We could have coped with the outrage more easily had the murderers been foreigners, raised in squalor, brainwashed under a theocratic dictatorship and shipped here to massacre people for whom they had no kindred feelings.

It is more plausible that we could defend the country against an exterior threat than defeat one that comes from within. We can hope to monitor comings and goings at our airports and to keep tabs on people who stand out because they are visitors. But the task is almost hopeless if the perpetrators live among us. If four young men who had enjoyed the advantages of life in Britain decide to kill themselves and as many others as possible, then why should there not be 400 or 4,000 more? No offence, imam, but we must call it Islamic terror by Michael Portillo

Mark Alexander

The changing face of America

THE date is looming large in America’s debate about immigration: the population is predicted to reach 300m on October 17 and the newborn citizen is as likely as not to be a bouncing Hispanic baby.

The face of America is changing as immigration fuels population growth out of sync with the rest of the developed world. It is also complicating President George W Bush’s efforts to offer illegal entrants a path to citizenship.

William Frey, a social scientist at the Brookings Institution in Washington, pinpointed the date by examining the most popular months for births — August to October — and ethnic birth rates. “We know about half the growth in the United States is Hispanic,” he said. “Only about 10% is white.” Hispanics nudge US population to 300m by Sarah Baxter in Washington

Mark Alexander

Twaddle, Mr Taylor! Twaddle, twaddle, twaddle!
Do you remember that wonderful 'letter to the editor' I drew your attention to in the The Daily News (Galveston) on July 1? You know, the man who said what the problem we face is in just a few, succinct words. Well, below is the editor's response. His response shows the problems we have in dealing with Islam by having a mammoth task to try and enlighten our own people first about the danger to Western civilization that Islam is:

The Daily News recently angered some readers by printing a letter about Islam.

The letter contended that Islam is not a religion of peace but a religion that urges violence against those who don’t believe in it.

Some readers said publishing such a letter only encourages attacks against a religious minority.

Others applauded the letter, saying it reflects the feelings of most Americans.

I think it was important to print the letter, although I disagree with it strongly.

The discussion about what Islam is and isn’t already is going on in our society. Trying to hide from that debate is impossible. Letter about Islam sparked worthwhile debate by Hebor Taylor (Editor: The Daily News)

Mark Alexander

Terror suspects on the run in Saudi

Seven terror suspects have escaped from prison in Saudi Arabia, according to the country's Interior Ministry.

Saudi-owned television Al Arabiya said the fugitives - six Saudis and one Yemeni - were linked to al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia has been battling a campaign of violence by al-Qaeda aimed at toppling the pro-US monarchy. Terror suspects 'flee Saudi jail'

Mark Alexander

Der Papst in Spanien

Besuch in Valencia zum Abschluss des Welt-Familientreffens

Das Oberhaupt der römisch-katholischen Kirche, Papst Benedikt XVI., ist am Samstag in Valencia eingetroffen. In der spanischen Stadt tritt er zum Ende des Welt-Familientreffens auf. Auf dem Flughafen und bei einem Treffen mit Bischöfen betonte Benedikt XVI. den Wert der Familie für die Kirche und die Gesellschaft.

(sda/dpa/afp/Reuters) Papst Benedikt XVI. hat zum Auftakt seines Besuches in Valencia einen besseren Schutz von Familie und Ehe gefordert. Die auf der Ehe basierende Familie sei «eine einzigartige Einrichtung nach Gottes Plan». Die Familie sei eine unersetzliche Institution und für die Kirche mit fundamentalen Werten verbunden, sagte das Oberhaupt der römisch-katholischen Kirche am Samstag auf dem Flughafen von Valencia, wo er vom spanischen Königspaar, Ministerpräsident José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero sowie Tausenden von Gläubigen begrüsst wurde. Papst betont Wert der Familie

Mark Alexander

Clergyman stokes controversy and calls Islam a "cult" on radio

''[Blanket criticisms of Islam] do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans. Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful religion, a religion that respects others'' - President Bush

Remarks on a radio show about his views on Islam may cause conflict for a Pompano Beach minister who is well-known in Republican circles.

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, a Broward clergyman who has advised President Bush and is a political appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush, took to the air waves Friday to criticize Islam as a ''cult'' religion.

The radio appearance by Dozier, who serves on the governor's committee that screens Broward judicial nominees, startled a local Muslim leader, and prompted the governor to immediately distance himself from the statements.

Reached later in the day by The Miami Herald, a contrite Dozier said he was ''concerned'' his comments could jeopardize his position on Broward's Judicial Nominating Commission. But he did not disavow those comments.

''The Islamic religion in my view is a cult,'' Dozier said Friday, when asked to recap the controversial comments he made earlier on The Steve Kane Radio Show on WNN-AM 1470. ''On the show I said that Islam is a dangerous religion.'' Jeb Bush ally slams Islam

Mark Alexander

Lehrerin mit Kopftuch muß gleichbehandelt mit Ordensschwestern

Berlin - Eigentlich gilt in Baden-Württemberg für muslimische Lehrerinnen an öffentlichen Schulen ein striktes Kopftuchverbot. Doch nun hat ein Urteil des Stuttgarter Verwaltungsgerichts eine erste Ausnahme von dieser Regelung geschaffen. Die zum Islam konvertierte Deutsche Doris Graber darf weiterhin mit Kopftuch unterrichten, da sie den Schulfrieden allenfalls abstrakt gefährdet, wie es in der Begründung der Stuttgarter Richter hieß.

Mit dem Urteil wurde ein "Zeichen gegen die Diskriminierung des Islam gesetzt", erklärte der Parlamentarische Geschäftsführer der Grünen-Bundestagsfraktion, Volker Beck. Entweder man verbiete konsequent alle religiösen Bekundungen im staatlichen Bereich oder aber definiere einen Freiraum für religiöse Bekundungen, der für alle Religionen gleichermaßen gelte. Das baden-württembergische Schulgesetz vom April 2004 verbietet politische, weltanschauliche und religiöse "Bekundungen", die den Schulfrieden gefährden oder stören könnten, es nimmt die "Darstellung christlicher und abendländischer Bildungs- und Kulturwerte" davon jedoch aus. Wenn aber Nonnen in Ordenstracht an staatlichen Schulen in Baden-Württemberg unterrichten dürften, sei das Kopftuchverbot für Muslimische Lehrerinnen eine nicht hinzunehmende Benachteiligung, urteilten jetzt die Richter im Fall Graber. Lehrerin siegt im Kopftuchstreit von Claudia Ehrenstein

Mark Alexander

Choudary: Britain faces civil war!"

Photo courtesy of The Sun

With thanks to Always On Watch for drawing this short, but very informative, newspaper article to my attention:

A MUSLIM fanatic caused outrage yesterday by admitting he wouldn’t tip off cops about another 7/7 suicide attack.

Anjem Choudary also claimed “oppressed” Muslims had a right to defend themselves using “whatever means”. Fanatic's sick 7/7 rant by Anthony France

Mark Alexander

7/7 one year on: The UK remembers: 52 perished, hundreds injured

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The UK is preparing to mark the first anniversary of the London bombings that claimed 52 lives and injured hundreds.

At 0850 BST - when bombs on three Underground trains went off - flowers will be laid at King's Cross station, near the scene of one of the attacks.

At midday, a two-minute silence will be observed across the country, including Wimbledon and other events.

A public ceremony will be held later in Regent's Park, with readings and a recital of the names of the dead.

The commemoration comes as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair gives a firm warning that London must expect another attack. Nation prepares to remember 7/7

Mark Alexander

This is the calibre of man we need to lead us!

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The rows were explosive, the challenges enormous, but Churchill led Britain through World War Two with unique assurance - his cigar always in place. 'Winnie' changed his country's military approach from defensiveness to aggressive attack, and so altered the course of history. The historian Geoffrey Best describes how he did it.

A statesman transformed

At the beginning of the Second World War the reputation of Winston Churchill was that of a gifted politician who had twice changed parties, an impulsive man prone to impractical enthusiasms, and a Conservative backbencher who opposed the foreign policy of his leader - the prime minister, Neville Chamberlain.

Six years later, Churchill towered above all contemporaries as a statesman of international renown. He was known as the champion of freedom and civilisation, and the victorious leader of the British nation and empire at war. How did this transformation happen?

The change did not begin to happen until 1940, when the war was nine months old. Even his enemies had recognised that Churchill would have to be brought into the government in the event of war - his military expertise was universally acknowledged, and his criticisms of Chamberlain's policy of appeasement had after all proved justified - and he had been made First Lord of the Admiralty. In this capacity he was given charge only of the Royal Navy, a position that, after ten years in the political wilderness, he was content to accept. Winston Churchill: Defender of Democracy by Geoffrey Best

Mark Alexander

Dry ideas from dry people! Kill everyone's joy! After all, the Islamization of the EU will be that much easier thereafter!

Image courtesy of the EU Observer

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - One of the first concrete proposals the Finnish EU presidency will push in the bloc's agenda is an alcohol tax hike across Europe.

Helsinki has put the issue on the agenda of the very first meeting during its six-month period at the EU's helm - the gathering of finance ministers planned for 11 July.

"It is necessary to harmonize the tax rates to even out the price levels of alcohol," the presidency stated in a press release on the council agenda, adding that it aims to achieve an increase in the EU minimum excise duty rates on alcohol, particularly spirits. Finland to start EU presidency with alcohol tax hikes by Lucia Kubosova

Photo courtesy of Google Image
Life's no fun any more, according to the experts. You can't drink beer because it kills your brain cells. You can't eat cakes because they clog your arteries. You can't drive in the bus lane because the cameras get you. You can't have unprotected sex in case you catch some unspeakable disease. You can't hunt foxes because it's nasty. You can't have a coal fire in the city because of pollution and you can't use a cellphone because it fries your brain. What's left?

Smoking? You must be kidding. The whole world is a long way down the road of making smokers feel like serial killers, and wanting to have a cold pint and a nice fag in the environs of your local pub is supposed to make you an anti-social reprobate of the worst order. Some day, when the world is old, people will scoff at the fact that human beings once lived in a society - Britain - where the Government could confirm its commitment to Trident missiles, whose only single purpose is to wipe out the planet, while, in the same week, that identical Government floated the idea of making it illegal for people of 16 and 17 to smoke a cigarette. Under-18s will smoke whatever the law by Andrew O'Hagan

Mark Alexander

The rough side and the smooth; the tough side and the gentle

Images courtesy of Google Images

Mark Alexander

Vatican stands up to Islam

“Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It’s our duty to protect ourselves.” Thus spoke Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, secretary of the Vatican’s supreme court, referring to Muslims. Explaining his apparent rejection of Jesus’ admonition to his followers to “turn the other cheek,” De Paolis noted that “The West has had relations with the Arab countries for half a century…and has not been able to get the slightest concession on human rights.”

De Paolis is hardly alone in his thinking; indeed, the Catholic Church is undergoing a dramatic shift from a decades-old policy to protect Catholics living under Muslim rule. The old methods of quiet diplomacy and muted appeasement have clearly failed. The estimated 40 million Christians in Dar al-Islam, notes the Barnabas Fund’s Patrick Sookhdeo, increasingly find themselves an embattled minority facing economic decline, dwindling rights, and physical jeopardy. Most of them, he goes on, are despised and distrusted second-class citizens, facing discrimination in education, jobs, and the courts.

These harsh circumstances are causing Christians to flee their ancestral lands for the West’s more hospitable environment. Consequently, Christian populations of the Muslim world are in a free-fall. Two small but evocative instances of this pattern: for the first time in nearly two millennia, Nazareth and Bethlehem no longer have Christian majorities. The Vatican Confronts Islam by Daniel Pipes

Mark Alexander

Malaysia bans books on Islam by Armstrong and Esposito

The ban was ordered in accordance with the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, which prohibits the reproduction or distribution of materials that disrupt peace and harmony. The banned books - six of which are in Malay, with the rest in English - include works of noted Islam scholars Karen Armstrong and John Esposito. Government bans 18 books on Islam and religion

Mark Alexander

St George is 'offensive' to Muslims, say many in the Church of England

His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries.

But the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.

Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.

The scheme, to be considered by the Church's parliament, the General Synod, has met a cautious but sympathetic response from senior bishops. Will George be slayed as England's patron saint? by Steve Doughty

Mark Alexander

'Come to jihad, my dear children!'

Egyptian cleric tells children's TV show: Come on to the jihad, encourages child-soldiers to join holy war by Yaakov Lappin

An Egyptian Islamic cleric working for the state ministry of religious endowment has used a children's television program to encourage young children to strive for holy war.

During program, made available by the Arabic translation service MEMRI, the cleric told a story about Muslim children in history keen to "sacrifice" themselves and kill "infidels" for the cause of Islam.

"Let's listen to a very beautiful story to learn about the courage of a child, and how, when a child is brought up in a good home, and receives proper education in faith, he loves martyrdom, which becomes like an instinct for him. He can never give it up," Sheik Muhammad Nassar told children on the program, which aired on the Al-Nas television channel. Egypt primes children for jihad

Mark Alexander

Weakness is as weakness does
My thanks to my friend, Always On Watch, for alerting me to this article from Yahoo News:

LONDON - Britain cannot defeat terrorism unless moderate Muslims do more to confront militancy in their own communities, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday.

Blair said the vast majority of Muslims abhorred terrorism and wanted to defeat it, but said they had to do more to counter what he described as the extremists' misplaced anger and grievances.

Moderates, he said, must "stand up against the ideas of these people, not just their methods."

"If you want to defeat this extremism, you've got to defeat its ideas and you've got to defeat in part a completely false sense of grievance against the West," said Blair, testifying before a House of Commons committee. "The government has its role to play in this, but honestly, the government itself is not going to defeat this."Blair: Muslims must confront militancy

Mark Alexander

Alarming admission: Blair's government has no policy on population

The Government has no policy for controlling the size of Britain's population, Tony Blair admitted yesterday.

Questioned by MPs, he refused to estimate the number of illegal immigrants in Britain, although a recent study calculated there could be up to 570,000.

"By the very nature that they are illegals makes it very difficult to have a precise estimate," Mr Blair said.

Tony Wright, the Labour MP for Cannock Chase, told Mr Blair that Britain's population had topped 60 million for the first time last year and was expected to rise 12 per cent over the next generation. The rises were equivalent to having a new Oxford, a new Middlesbrough and a new Ipswich every year, and migration was the main driver of the rise. Blair admits he has no policy on population

Mark Alexander

More hot air from Blair!

The government cannot alone root out extremism in Muslim communities and defeat the terrorism it creates, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.

He hit back at claims ministers had done little to win Muslim "hearts and minds" since the 7 July London bombs.

He said he was "probably not the person to go into the Muslim community".

It was down to moderate Muslims to stand up to extremism and tell those with "grievances" against the West they were wrong, Mr Blair told MPs. Muslims 'must root out extremism'

Mark Alexander

Switzerland's neutrality: Sincere or hypocritical?
With thanks to European Kafir for drawing this very interesting article in the The Jerusalem Post to my attention:

Switzerland said Monday that Israel has been violating international law in its Gaza offensive by heavy destruction and endangering civilians in acts of collective punishment banned under the Geneva conventions on the conduct of warfare.

"A number of actions by the Israeli defense forces in their offensive against the Gaza Strip have violated the principle of proportionality and are to be seen as forms of collective punishment, which is forbidden," the Swiss Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"There is no doubt that Israel has not taken the precautions required of it in international law to protect the civilian population and infrastructure," it said. The statement did not name the Geneva Conventions, but it referred to provisions of the 1949 treaty, which is regarded as the cornerstone of international law on the obligations of warring and occupying powers.

Switzerland, as the depository of the conventions, has a responsibility to call meetings if it finds general problems with the implementation of the treaty, but it does not have any special powers to interpret the document. Switzerland: Israel violating int'l law

Mark Alexander

Saudi Arabia: Your first choice destination for 'fun in the sun'

Photo of the Empty Quarter (Rub al-Khali) courtesy of Google Images

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia seems an unlikely destination for fun in the sun.

Yet here was a Saudi prince at a tourism conference in neighboring Dubai, busily trying to sell his country as a vacation spot — provided visitors don't expect alcohol, women come robed, and everyone refrains from eating in public from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan.

And swinging singles need not apply. Women younger than 40 must be accompanied by their brothers or fathers.

Undaunted, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, until recently accessible to only a handful of non-Muslim tourists, is opening its doors, beckoning curious world travelers to its mysterious and hidden treasures.

The change springs from the new policies of King Abdullah, who ascended the throne last August after the death of his half-brother, King Fahd.

Abdullah, a reformer, wants to show that his country is more than just the former home of Osama bin Laden and a breeding ground for Islamic extremism.

"He wants to show the world a different face to the kingdom. It's all part of a greater plan to open up the country, to show that though it is Arab and Islamic, it is also modern and moderate," said Mishari al Thaybi, a Saudi writer and analyst for the London-based newspaper Al Sharq al Awsat.

"Tourists are the best ambassadors for any country," Mishari added. Visit Saudi Arabia, but dress and behave appropriately by Lara Sukhtian

Mark Alexander

Happy Independence Day!

Flag courtesy of Google Images

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our American visitors a very happy Independence Day.

Mark Alexander

Islam's "higher status"

PUTRAJAYA: Islam has a higher status than other faiths in Malaysia, said a lawyer holding a watching brief for the Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association. Islam has higher status in Malaysia

Mark Alexander

When the public must be kept in the dark

Anti-terrorist police are tackling an "accelerating" number of plots by violent Muslim Jihadi extremists, according to Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer.

Scotland Yard anti-terrorism branch is involved in an "unprecedented" 70 investigations, Peter Clarke the head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch and national co-ordinator for anti-terrorist investigations, warned yesterday. More than 60 people are facing trial on terrorist allegations. Two-thirds of those have been charged since last July.

In one of the most sombre and detailed statements yet on the threat to Britain from Islamic extremist terrorists, Mr Clarke, who is heading the inquiry into last year's July 7 bombings said the intelligence picture includes some "sinister" threats. "There are some 60 individuals awaiting trial in the UK for terrorist-related offences. This is unprecedented and the flow of new cases shows no sign of abating - if anything it is accelerating," he said. Terror plots accelerating, warns police chief by John Steele

Mark Alexander

TOSH from THE TIMES!

In the anguished weeks of debate and foreboding that followed the London bombings last July, dire predictions were made. British Muslims would become the targets of widespread intimidation and hate campaigns as the backlash against extremism took hold. Young British Muslims, it was said, would become further alienated from mainstream society, retreating into a paranoid world of conspiracy theories and religious fanaticism. The community would run into growing hostility and discrimination as perceptions of them as a Fifth Column closed opportunities and people’s minds. They would become isolated and embittered.

The predictions were wrong. British society, and London in particular, rose above crude revenge. Politicians, faith groups and ordinary citizens reached out to the Muslim mainstream in support, sharing their bewilderment and supporting them in the painful selfexamination of why their faith had bred such violence. There were some isolated hate crimes, but no general spiral into communal violence and entrenched hostility. Islam in Britain

Mark Alexander

Islamophobia: A Turkish viewpoint

The hostility towards Islam that is experienced in European countries started to emerge when the Soviet Union dissolved and the Warsaw Pact countries regained their independence. In those years the enemy concept of Communism and Marxism vanished and people who were in need to find a new enemy concept started looking at the 1.2 billion Muslims living in 57 countries. And certain Islamist organizations gave reasons for this approach. Islam phobia by Faruk Şen

Mark Alexander

Make Jihad on Israel, say British Muslim extremists

British Jihad group declares 'Israel is cancer, Islam is answer,' calls on followers to carry out holy war by Yaakov Lappin

Radical Muslims in Britain have blasted Hamas for failing to carry out a "real" Islamic holy war, and have called for a Jihad against Israel following the recent escalation of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip.

A number of British-based Muslim organizations have in recent days called on followers to wage war on Israel.

"What the Jews are doing in Palestine today will no doubt disturb any true Muslim," a statement authored by 'Abdul Aziz al-Dimashqi' said on the website of the Saved Sect group.

"However, what hurts us equally as much is to see the Muslims in Palestine calling for an independent Palestinian state, Palestinian constitutions, man-made law, democracy, freedom and so on. Hamas… have no intention of establishing the sharia (Islamic code), and are only concerned with having their own nationalistic state," the statement said. UK Islamists: Make Jihad on Israel

Mark Alexander

Soccer displeases Allah!

UK jihadists attack 'religion of soccer,' warn Muslims against taking part in 'colonial crusader scheme' by Yaakov Lappin

A British jihadist website has warned Muslims against being drawn in to what they described as "the new religion of soccer."

The Saved Sect website, which calls on Muslims to work to establish an Islamic state in Britain, has attacked "football fever," saying that soccer has "captivated the masses, dedicating their time and effort towards it."

Comparing the allegiance of soccer fans to Islam and jihad, the organization said: "Football is the deen (religion) by which people live their lives by and are willing to die for. Their jihad is to fight against those who are arch rivals against their team. Their da'wah (call, invitation) is to publicize, defend and justify their team, inviting others to support them in this." Jihadist site: Soccer is against Islam

Mark Alexander

Immigration no solution

'We recognise the positive contributions immigration makes to the country and the economy," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said last week. "If we don't have migration, we don't have the growth from the economy that we all benefit from."

He was responding to some concerns about the rate of immigration raised by Frank Field, the Labour MP for Birkenhead - but Downing Street's claim that "if we don't have immigration, we won't have economic growth" has been stated over and over again since Labour took office in 1997.

If you repeat something often enough, you can perhaps make people believe it. What you cannot do is turn it from being false into being true. And the Government's claim about the economic benefits of immigration is false. As an academic economist, I have examined many serious studies that have analysed the economic effects of immigration.

There is no evidence from any of them that large-scale immigration generates large-scale economic benefits for the existing population as a whole. On the contrary, all the research suggests that the benefits are either close to zero, or negative. Never have we seen immigration on this scale: we just can't cope by Robert Rowthorn

Mark Alexander

O leaders! Harken!
In a brief, interesting and to-the-point letter published in the Galveston Daily News today, all our leaders really need to know:

The events in Florida in which the FBI arrested several followers of the “religion of peace” for conspiring to do America harm caused many to ask: Why would our own citizens want to do harm to America? Islam, Not Terrorism, Is Our Real National Enemy

Mark Alexander

Osama spews his venom again

Photo courtesy of the BBC

A new recording from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been posted on an Islamist website.

He praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq killed three weeks ago, as a "lion of holy war".

The video, lasting 19 minutes, shows a still picture of Bin Laden, and moving pictures of al-Zarqawi.

Unnamed US officials said the recording was authentic. It is the fourth audio message Bin Laden has released since the start of this year.

However, no new video images of the al-Qaeda leader have appeared since October 2004.

Last week a video was broadcast purportedly showing the deputy leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, in which he paid tribute to Zarqawi and said his death would be avenged. New Bin Laden message is released

Mark Alexander