It’s Absurd to Deny Jihadis Act in the Name of Islam

THE AUSTRALIAN – OPINION: WITH jihadist violence continuing to escalate, the acid test of today’s national security statement will be the actions it proposes.

But no policy can be effective without an honest diagnosis of the problem it is intended to address.

That is why Barack Obama’s statement to last week’s global summit on extremism was so disappointing. Coming from a man who ridicules the proposition that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, Obama’s claim that “No religion is responsible for terrorism, people are responsible for terrorism”, combined mendacity with hypocrisy.

The jihadis may indeed be “madmen”, as Obama said; but to deny they act in the name of Islam is as absurd as denying the crusades were fought under the banner of Christianity.

Nor was Obama on more solid ground in blaming Islamic extremism on poverty and disadvantage. Few claims have been as decisively rejected by social scientific research; and so has the claim that the radicalisation of Muslim youth in western countries is caused by social exclusion. (+ video) » | Henry Ergas | Columnist | Sydney | Monday, February 23, 2015

Oman: Heikler Thronwechsel

ZEIT ONLINE: Oman galt lange als Hort der Stabilität und geschätzter Vermittler. Doch nun ist der Sultan schwer krank. Der Thronwechsel könnte der Region weitere Konflikte bescheren.

Jahrzehntelang galt Oman als ein von allen Seiten geschätzter Vermittler. Unterhändler aus Teheran und Washington bahnten 2003 in Maskat die jetzigen Atomverhandlungen an. Bei heiklen Geiselbefreiungen laufen oft die Fäden in der omanischen Hauptstadt zusammen. Überdies müht sich Oman als Mitglied des Golfkooperationsrates stets um politischen Ausgleich zwischen Iran und den übrigen Monarchien am Golf.

Vielleicht war es ein Segen für das Land im Osten der Arabischen Halbinsel, dass seine Ölvorkommen nicht so üppig sind wie bei den ganz Großen nebenan. Und so nutzte Sultan Qaboos, der sich 1970 an die Macht putschte, seine absolute Autorität und die 5,5 Milliarden Barrel Bodenschätze, um aus seiner ramponierten Heimat mit damals zehn Kilometern geteerter Straße und einem tobenden Bürgerkrieg einen modernen Staat zu formen, dessen Einwohner noch nie zuvor so lange in Frieden gelebt haben. » | Quelle: ZeitOnline | Freitag, 20. Februar 2015

PETER MORICI: Obama and Moderate Muslims Both Fail to Fight Islamic Extremism

Fighting racism, prejudice and the violence those can beget is everyone's job. Muslims would do well to respond to President Obama's invitation to combat extremist ideas in their communities, but too often Washington's broader policies toward minorities encourage just the opposite. Ideologies of love and hate have a lot in common. Those appeal to youth seeking…

What a Load of BS! Fox News Sunday Grills DHS Secretary Over Obama Refusal To Say ‘Islamic Extremism’

Read the Blaze article here | Dave Urbanski | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Is Allah the Worst Communicator Ever? (David Wood)

HT: Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »

US Security Chief Warns Shoppers After Terror Threat

BBC AMERICA: US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has urged people to be vigilant following a terror threat to Western shopping centres, including one of America's largest malls.

He said he took the threat by the Somali-based group al-Shabab seriously.

In a video, the group urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centres in the US, Canada and the UK.

Al-Shabab was responsible for the 2013 attack on Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.

Mr Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of "a new phase" of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from "independent actors in their homelands".

"Anytime a terrorist organisation calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," he said.

In the video, a man with a British-sounding accent and full face covering calls on supporters of al-Shabab to attack "American or Jewish-owned" Western shopping centres. (+ BBC video) » | Sunday, February 22, 2015

No Justice for Women or Foreign Workers in Saudi Arabia

Saudia Arabia Is the Biggest Women's Prison in the World

David Starkey Educates Mehdi Hasan on Free Speech & "Backward Islam"

Al Shabaab Calls for Attack on Mall of America in New Video

FOX NEWS: A new video from Al Shabaab purportedly shows the terror group calling for an attack on Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minn.

According to Fox 9, the mall is one of three similar targets the terror group specifically names, including West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Oxford Street shopping area in London.

The video purportedly shows 6 minutes of graphic images and the terrorists celebrating the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed more than 60 people.

The narrator, his face wrapped in a black-and-white kaffiyeh-type scarf and wearing a camouflage jacket, spoke with a British accent and appeared to be of Somali origin. He accused Kenyan troops in Somalia of committing abuses against Somali Muslims.

He ended the video by calling on Muslim men to attack other shopping malls in Western countries. (+ FoxNews video) » | FoxNews.com | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Al-Shabaab Calls for Attacks on Oxford Street and Westfield Centres in New Terror Threat

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Somalia-based terror group releases video threatening some of the world's busiest shopping areas

Islamist terrorists have called for attacks on London’s Oxford Street and the Westfield shopping centres in the latest jihadist threat to the UK.

A video released by the Somalia-based fanatics al-Shabaab called on its followers to “hasten to heaven” by attacking some of the country’s busiest shopping areas.

It also threatened venues in America and Canada as well as “Jewish-owned” centres.

Counter-terrorism police in the UK were assessing the video while the head of US homeland security warned shoppers to be “particularly careful”.

The video, which lasts more than an hour and was released over the weekend, centred o[n] the fall out from al-Shabaab’s attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Kenya in 2013 that left 62 people dead and more than 100 injured.

A terrorist dressed in army fatigues and his face covered then warned: “Can you imagine what a dedicated mujahideen (soldier) in the West could do to the American and Jewish-owned shopping centres across the world.” » | Tom Whitehead, and Peter Foster | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Angela Merkel zu Gast bei Papst Franziskus

Kleines Mädchen wird für Boko Haram zur Selbstmordattentäterin

TAGES ANZEIGER: Ein siebenjähriges Mädchen hat sich im Nordosten Nigerias in die Luft gesprengt. Es bleibt offen, ob sie wirklich wusste, was sie tat.

Sieben Jahre jung war das Mädchen, das bei einem Anschlag fünf Menschen getötet hat. 19 weitere Menschen seien verletzt worden, als der am Körper des Mädchens befestigte Sprengsatz am Sonntag auf einem Markt der Stadt Potiskum explodierte, sagte ein Mitglied einer Bürgerwehr. Weiter lesen und einen Beitrag hinzufügen » | Sonntag, 22. Februar 2015

Bill Maher: Obama Uses 'Orwellian' Speech to Sound Like NRA on Islamic Terror

HBO talk show host Bill Maher blasted President Obama on Friday for saying religion isn't responsible for terrorism, comparing the president's statement to a National Rifle Association slogan. Mr. Maher said Friday that when Mr. Obama said "No religion is responsible for terrorism. People are responsible for violence and terrorism," that statement bore a striking resemblance…

Islamic 'Radicals' at the Heart of Whitehall

Lady Warsi arrives in Downing Street on July 6, 2010

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Baroness Warsi gave official roles to people with links to Islamist groups

Entryism, the favourite tactic of the 1980s’ Militant Tendency, is when a political party or institution is infiltrated by groups with a radically different agenda. Since Militant’s Trotskyites were expelled from the Labour Party, the word has rather fallen out of fashion.

But now, according to one Muslim leader, Islamic radicals are practising entryism of their own — into the heart of Whitehall – courtesy of a woman who was until recently a government minister.

Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim woman to sit in Cabinet, handed official posts to people linked to Islamist groups, including a man involved in an “unpleasant and bullying” campaign to win planning permission for the controversial London “megamosque” proposed by a fundamentalist Islamic sect.

He sits – alongside other radicals or former radicals and their allies – on a “cross-Government working group on anti-Muslim hatred” set up by Lady Warsi and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister.

Some members of the group are using their seats at the table to urge that Whitehall work with Islamist and extremist-linked bodies, including one described by the Prime Minister as a “political front for the Muslim Brotherhood”. Some are also pressing to lift bans on foreign hate preachers from entering Britain, including Zakir Naik, who has stated that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”. » | Andrew Gilligan | Sunday, February 22, 2015

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anti-terrorism chief quits over failure to expel suspects: Senior official quits over fears scheme to deport terrorists isn’t working » | Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik | Saturday, February 21, 2015

Austrian Islam Bill Stirs Feelings of Alienation

HAARETZ: Officials say the bill fosters the development of an 'Austrian-style Islam'; but critics say the legislation is discriminatory.

DPA - Amid Europe-wide debates on extremism and integration, Austria is changing its law governing Islam. However, the changes risk deepening the rift between Muslims and the majority population.

"Muslims feel they are misunderstood and under suspicion," the Austrian Islamic Community, an umbrella organization, has said about the planned Islam law and the restrictions it contains.

On Wednesday, the bill is expected to pass in the Austrian parliament with the majority of social democrats and conservatives. Despite the current frictions, the Islamic community was a main driver behind the project to update the rudimentary law that had governed relations between the state and Islam since 1912.

The bill contains several provisions that will make life easier for the nearly 600,000 Muslims among Austria's 8.6 million inhabitants, the second-largest religious group behind Catholics.

For example, Muslim clerics gain the right to visit hospital patients, soldiers and prisoners. In addition, schools and other public institutions will have to offer food in line with Muslim rules.

On the other hand, the bill stresses that national law stands above Muslim sharia law, a provision that is absent in Austrian laws governing other religions. » | Albert Otti and Alkimos Sartoros | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Muslim Dutch Mayor to Muslims: Accept Western Values or Leave

ARUTZ SHEVA: Muslim mayor of Rotterdam says Europe has no place for extremists who are not willing to live within the bounds of its norms.

The Muslim mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said this week that Europe has no place for extremists who are not willing to live within the bounds of its norms.

Speaking to CNN's Michael Holmes on Wednesday, the mayor, Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb suggested that those Muslims who don’t embrace values should leave Europe.

"You are not forced to be with us, it's a choice," he said. "Work with us together to construct a 'we society.'"

"But if you want to stand out of the 'we community,' you threaten us, you go to Yemen to learn how to use a Kalashnikov and to come back to threaten the society, well you are not part of my 'we society,' you better leave," added Aboutaleb.

Aboutaleb drew headlines around the world in the wake of last month's attack on the editorial staff of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, when he said, "if you don't like it here because you don't like that humorists who make a newspaper -- yeah, if I can say it like this, get lost!" » | Elad Benari, Canada | Friday, February 20, 2015

Silence! Political Correctness Hampering ‘Free Speech’ in UK Universities

Free speech in British university campuses is in danger of being silenced. A survey shows UK educational institutions are pulling the plug on debates and societies they deem controversial, often going far beyond any legal requirement. RT's Polly Boiko has more.

Tolerance Test: Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe

According to the latest report by the Council of Europe, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and homophobic attacks in the country are on the rise. The report is based on data received before the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last month.

«Mein Kampf» sera bientôt dans les kiosques

La nouvelle édition sera composée du texte original et de
5000 commentaires d'historiens.

24 HEURES: Allemagne Septante ans après la mort de Hitler, les droits de son livre tomberont dans le domaine public le 31 décembre prochain.

Interdit depuis 1945, Mein Kampf sera disponible dans les librairies allemandes dans moins d’un an. L’Institut d’histoire contemporaine (IfZ) a annoncé hier la réédition commentée du livre d’Adolf Hitler en janvier 2016. Les droits tomberont dans le domaine public à la fin de l’année.

La nouvelle édition comptera 2000 pages au total (avec près de 800 pages consacrées au texte original) agrémentées de 5000 commentaires d’historiens. On ne connaît pas encore son prix. » | De Christophe Bourdoiseau Berlin | samedi 21 février 2015