Compensation for the enemy?

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Muslims have protested outside Scotland Yard against the tactics used by police in an anti-terror raid in east London.

The Muslim Association of Britain and the Islamic Human Rights Commission were among Muslim groups represented.

Brothers Abul Koyair, 20, and Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder, were released without charge a week after the raid in Forest Gate.

The police have defended the raid and the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the case.
Organisers said about 1,000 people had joined the protest - against "heavy-handed police tactics" - outside the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in central London. Police put the figure at closer to 100. Muslims protest over terror raid

Mark Alexander

Lord Carey says Church of England is "falling apart"!

Photo of Lord Carey courtesy of The Telegraph

Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has delivered a damning critique of the Anglican communion, claiming that it has fallen apart since he was succeeded by Rowan Williams.

His remarks are set to send the relationship to a new low and give encouragement to critics of the current archbishop who are ever more vocal in expressing their dismay at his leadership.

In a speech that will be seen as a direct attack on Dr Williams's ability to maintain unity in the Church, Lord Carey accused liberals of devastating the communion "that we once loved". Only weeks ago, an open letter was circulated calling on Lord Carey to refrain from interfering in sensitive issues.

"When I left office at the end of 2002 I felt the Anglican communion was in good heart," he said. "It is difficult to say in what way we are now a communion. Bitterness, hostility, misunderstanding and strife now separate provinces from one another and divide individual provinces."

He also challenged the Church of England's statement on civil partnerships by describing it as "a serious and extraordinary departure from the Church's practice". Church has fallen apart since I was in charge, says Carey

Church faces crisis over gay policies

Mark Alexander

Swiss bankers get into bed with Muslims!

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The dramatic growth of Islamic banking and finance appeared to have been confirmed during the recent World Economic Forum in Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt.

One of Germany's biggest banks, Deutsche Bank, announced a joint venture with Ithmaar Bank of Bahrain and Abraaj Capital of Dubai to launch a $2bn (£1bn) Sharia-compliant financial fund.

The banks say the fund is designed to boost education initiatives and investment in media and energy companies, and infrastructure in the Middle East.

More and more conventional international banks, such as Citibank, HSBC and UBS, are converting some of their services to interest-free Islamic finance models.

Estimates of the value of Islamic banking internationally range from $200bn to $500bn. Banks move into Islamic finance

Mark Alexander

O Canada!

Photos courtesy of Labor Law Talk

National Anthem

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.


O Canada! O glorious Canada! ‘Tis wonderful to see thee!

Canada is a country of contrasts and variety: gentle in nature; generous in spirit. Welcoming and hospitable, Canada has been built up by its immigrant population. Indeed, it is a nation made up largely of immigrants, just like its southern neighbour, the USA.

People have immigrated to Canada from all over the world, in search of a better way of life; and they have left many of their customs and traditions behind. And where they haven’t, till now they have integrated them into the Canadian way of life rather successfully.

I remember once being told by a Canadian Immigration Officer – yes, I was once destined to live in that beautiful country, but fate had other plans for me – that one of the greatest differences between Canada and the United States of America was in their approach to immigrants: “Canada”, he said, “promotes diversity; the US encourages its immigrants to blend together in the ‘melting pot’.”

That was so in the States once upon a time, but things in the USA have changed quite a lot, too. In recent decades, the US has encouraged diversity, encouraged people not to throw off their past, but to bring their past with them to their new homeland. Further, they no longer encourage immigrants from Europe, where people have much in common with them; rather they encourage immigrants from the Middle East, the Far East, and Asia.

But one thing should be considered: the promotion of diversity is wrong when it comes to immigration, especially when we consider the immigration of Muslims. When people immigrate from distant lands with exotic cultures, they should be encouraged to adopt the ways of their hosts. Only then can true integration take place.

Muslims, however, are a different case again, for they have a very different culture, one diametrically opposed to all the West stands for. In fact, Islamic culture couldn’t be more different from Western culture in any way. These two cultures are like chalk and cheese, day and night, flood and drought. They are so different as to be immiscible, just as oil and water are.

Canada has just experienced its first labour pains in the birth of that politically correct, multicultural country. If Canadians thought that they had a multicultural country before, having embraced all kinds of people from all over Europe, they had it wrong.

Most of those Europeans shared a common heritage – largely a Judeo-Christian heritage. The new Muslim immigrants do not share that heritage at all. Islam is different from Judeo-Christianity altogether.

Islam teaches Muslims that Islam is the perfection of religion for man for all time. Ad din al kamal, as they call it. Believing it is the perfect religion, of course, means that Christianity and Judaism are less than perfect, by definition. In this regard, Muslims are supremacist in their outlook. Further, they believe that Islam must supplant all other religions; for they consider people who follow other religions to be inferior. They call them infidels, or kuffar.

In Islam, there is no separation of religion and politics, no separation of the temporal from the sacred. Indeed, Muslims have no notion of the secular. Allah’s words must become binding on all people. They consider it their bounden duty to bring Allah’s will to all those who live in what they consider to be darkness, to all those who live in a state of moral chaos, to all those who live in a state of Jahilliyah.

Canada is in such a state. Canadians, just like their American and European cousins, are infidels, or kuffar, in the eyes of Muslims; so they must be brought to ultimate submission, total submission to the will of Allah.

The Muslim population of Canada has grown apace in recent decades. By allowing this to happen, Canadians have unwittingly fallen into a trap, and brought upon themselves many troubles they could well have avoided.

Canadians believe they live in a largely secular nation, in a nation which offers freedom of religion. In this respect, they think very much like the Europeans. Indeed, it may be said that Canadians, like their European and American cousins, cherish freedom of worship, cherish the freedom to choose one’s religion, or even not to choose one at all.

Freedom of religion is highly regarded by civilized people. No religion is to be given preference in such a system. The fact is, however, that Muslims do not believe in such a freedom of choice when it comes to religion, for they believe that theirs is the only religion worthy of anyone’s choosing.

Some people have said that politics has to be taken out of the mosque. Would that things could be so simple! The fact of the matter is that politics cannot be taken out of the mosque. To try and take politics out of the mosque would be like trying to take the ‘green’ out of grass, the steam out of boiling water, or the sweetness out off sugar! It just cannot be done! And even if it could be done, Islam would be de-natured. Islam, if it is anything at all, is politics – politics wrapped up in the clothes of a deity. In fact, Islam is nothing if it is not the politics of supremacy!

Nazism was also such a supremacist ideology: Nazis believed that they would inherit the earth. We stamped it out, because we considered the ideology to be abhorrent to civilized people. And it was! Anyone trying to form a Nazi party in the West today would be frowned upon in no uncertain terms, and the party would not be ‘in business’ for long. Westerners won’t tolerate such politics any longer.

The Ku Klux Klan was also supremacist. It has been trampled upon, and rightly, because it is seen - rightly in my opinion - as a dangerous ideology. Yet Islam is the supremacist ideology par excellence. (And its existence is not questioned.) I say par excellence, because it has been so successfully clothed in a deity that nobody, not even a Westerner, dare question its raison d’être.

Well, I’ll tell you what its raison d’être is. It’s quite simple. It’s to Islamize YOU, YOUR way of life, and YOUR country. And that goes for Canada every bit as much as it goes for anyone or anywhere else.

One can but wonder when Canadian politicians and the powers that be there in beautiful Canada will wake up to the harsh realities they face.

Their idea of creating a multicultural heaven on earth has some rather large question marks hanging over it at the moment. The recent wake-up call that has sent shockwaves through an otherwise rather tranquil and enchanting country is a warning that the liberal Canadians really cannot afford to ignore. The future of a free Canada lies in the balance.

Canadians really do need to ensure that God - and not Allah! - keeps their land glorious and free! O Canadians! You really do need to stand on guard for thee! O Canada! Stay free!

©Mark Alexander

Rejoice! Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is dead!

Photo courtesy of The Globe and Mail

BAGHDAD — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air strike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday, adding that his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and a look at his face.

It was a major victory in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the broader war on terror.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Mr. al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a remote area 50 kilometres northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba.

Loud applause broke out as Mr. al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters at a news conference that "al-Zarqawi was eliminated."

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Mr. al-Zarqawi's death "was very good news because a blow against al-Qaeda in Iraq was a blow against al-Qaeda everywhere." Al-Qaeda's Iraq chief al-Zarqawi killed

Mark Alexander

The Church of England in terminal decline

Church pews are empty. Church leaders are embroiled in endless internal battles about issues which are controversial at best, and unresolvable at worst. Furthermore, the Archbishop of Canterbury goes around the world apologizing for the hymns sung in church services, and now, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, comes out with advice about the future coronation of Prince Charles, stating that the coronation service should be multi-culti and inclusive of other faiths. The Church of England, the keystone of the British establishment, is under attack from within as well as from without.

Each organization has a raison d’être. The raison d’être of a commercial organization is profit. The raison d’être of a charitable organization is the amount of money it can collect for the needy cause it represents. The raison d’être of the Church is to fill the pews and evangelize – to bring the Gospel to all they possibly can, and to point out the errant ways of the fallen, and the benighted ways of the people who follow other faiths.

In this light, one must look upon the Church as a wholly unsuccessful organization, because it neither manages to fill the pews on a Sunday, nor does it bring the Gospel to save the fallen, and nor does it direct non-Christians to the ‘right path’.

Presumably, and I think it’s a reasonable presumption on my part, the Church believes that theirs is the true faith, and that only by following the Gospel of Jesus Christ can man find Salvation. After all, to be a Christian is to believe that there is only one way to God; and that is through His Son, the Christians’ Saviour and Redeemer.

So what has gone wrong in the Church of England? Why doesn’t its head see the need to fill the pews and preach the Gospel?

Simon Heffer has been quoted on June 7, 2006 in The Telegraph as saying the following: "We are not a multicultural society. We are a monocultural one tolerant of other cultures, and whose clear identity is understood by the people, if not by their leaders. We are an old country with a strong sense of continuity. And anyone who trifles with such manifestations of our antiquity and stability does so at his peril."

I would concur with this statement.

Don’t our Church leaders realize that our way of life is under attack? Don’t they realize that the free world is actually at war with radical Islam? Don’t they realize, further, that radical Islam is out to destroy our civilization? And don’t they realize that they are trying, through the jihad, or holy war, to drive Westerners into a state of Dhimmitude?

Is this balderdash the best that the Church leaders can come out with?

Ibn Khaldun, a famous fourteenth century historian, described Islam’s ideological drive to dhimmitude thus:

”In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the mission and convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or force. Therefore, caliphate and royal authority [religion and politics] are united , so that the person in charge can devote the available strength to both of them at the same time.” - (Source: Bat Ye’or’s The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude)

Moreover, Bat Ye’or, a great scholar on this subject, tells us that the Jihad is unique. She says:

”It is, in fact, the only war of an everlasting and universal offensive nature attached to a religious system.”

…“All those strategies which constitute the jihad represent the means to compel by force the targeted populations to enter into dhimmitude. Despite analogies with other political regimes, dhimmitude remains an irreducible and specific structure, linked to a particular ideological and political order. It can only be compared with other systems by a superficial amalgamation. In fact, dhimmitude emanates from the jihad and the shari’a.”

Our leaders are taking us down the primrose path to dhimmitude, which will mean second class status to YOU and ME. That our politicians are doing so is bad enough; that our Church leaders are also engaging in this, is deplorable.

In the light of this fact, one can but ask oneself some simple questions: What are our Church leaders hoping to achieve by giving away our Christian heritage? Who has given them the right to do so? Why are they selling out their Christian principles? Have they forgotten the message of the Gospel? Don’t they believe anymore that there is only one path that leads to God – the Christian path?

It seems to me that successive Archbishops of Canterbury have reneged on their responsibilities to revivify the Church in periods of steep decline. In this regard, these Church elders can hardly be considered leaders at all. What do organizations do with managing directors who fail to make a healthy profit for the company of which they are head? What does society do with prime ministers and presidents who fail to lead?

So what is different about our Church leaders? Do they really deserve to remain in lead positions if they fail to fill the pews, if they fail to preach the Gospel?

Islam happens to be knocking on the West’s door; indeed, millions of its adherents have already been let in to the West. They are just biding their time to increase their numbers to bring their population to critical mass before they make a bid for power. Time is on their side, not ours.

Have our Church leaders not noticed one thing: Mosques throughout the country are full to bursting. Can they not imagine why this is so? Have they not yet figured out that leaders in the Islamic faith are convinced of the righteousness of their own faith, convinced of their ultimate destiny to take over our country and its institutions, convinced of their destiny to become the establishment?

Why do people follow such a backward faith so readily? Well, although this is a complex question, and there are many reasons, one thing stands out, possibly above all other reasons: Muslim leaders preach one message, an unchangeable message, and do not cast doubt into the hearts of the faithful. This is actually the essence of true leadership. To lead, one has to be confident and sure of one’s mission, confident and sure of one’s purpose, confident and sure of one’s destiny.

In matters of leadership, it helps not one jot to be riven by self-doubt. No person can make an effective leader when plagued by self-doubt. Self-doubt, however, is what characterizes our Church leaders. It is this self-doubt that is leading the Church into terminal decline. Without a turn around in the Church’s fortunes, this terminal decline will impact greatly on the fabric of British society. The nature of British society will be changed forever.

To reverse this terminal decline, the leaders of the Church need to remember one thing: Nothing succeeds like success! At this late stage, the Church’s fortunes can only be reversed one step at a time. It is high time that this first step be taken.

The multicultural claptrap needs to stop; positive steps to reverse the decline of the Church still further need to be put in place. Dr Williams: Time is not on the Church’s side.

©Mark Alexander

Can 'reverts' be trusted?

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Yvonne Ridley (the woman on the left), the British woman who converted to Islam when she returned to the UK after being kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, attacks the police. Call to Muslims over police help

Mark Alexander

Kofi Annan talks nonsense about illegal immigration

Photo courtesy of the BBC

"International migration, supported by the right policies, can be highly beneficial for the development both of the countries they come from and of those where they arrive, [but these benefits] are contingent on the rights of the migrants themselves being respected and upheld".

Kofi Annan says that international migration can be highly beneficial for the development both of the countries they come from and of those where they arrive. Yes, Mr Annan! They can be a great burden on the host nations, too; and they can also be very destructive to the fabric of those host nations, especially when these migrants come determined not to integrate into the very societies which are kind enough to welcome them.

If you want to talk about rights, Mr Annan, one should first talk of the rights of the general population of the host countries being respected. Those are the ones who have rights above all others, for they are in the country legally, and have paid their taxes.

Illegal immigrants relinquish their rights as soon as they take the decision to try and enter a country illegally. Any rights they have conferred on them is by virtue of the kindness and generosity of their hosts. So don't give us that balderdash, Mr Annan! Do you think you are talking to children?

Nearly 200 million people now live outside their country of origin - up by about a quarter since 1990, a United Nations report on migration says.

The report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says most migrants have gone to rich countries - one in five of them to the US.

In some countries money sent home from abroad accounts for a large proportion of the national income.

Mr Annan said migration was a now a major feature of international life.

He described his report to the UN General Assembly as an "early road map for this new era of mobility". Global migrants reach 191 million

Mark Alexander

We tamper with the coronation at our peril!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

"We are not a multicultural society. We are a monocultural one tolerant of other cultures, and whose clear identity is understood by the people, if not by their leaders. We are an old country with a strong sense of continuity. And anyone who trifles with such manifestations of our antiquity and stability does so at his peril." - Simon Heffer, June 7, 2006

There are few things more enjoyable than when a Leftie admits, or pretends to admit, he was wrong. We saw it a year or so ago when Trevor Phillips, commissar-in-chief of the Commission for Racial Equality, said that multiculturalism had not been a huge success, and that those from other cultures who came here were better off learning to be British.

I think he was sincere. I am less sure about Gordon Brown, who bores on about Britishness almost daily. It is the sort of thing that allows a socialist such as Mr Brown to fake some point of contact with conservative-minded patriots. It is also his way of trying to hide the fact that his own party's policies have split up the United Kingdom and made his position, as a Scot sitting for a Scottish seat who wants to be Prime Minister mostly of England, somewhat precarious.

Not all of the Left has, however, twigged that multiculturalism is rather last century. Someone of whom I had hoped we had heard the last, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, made a predictable intervention in this debate from beyond the grave last weekend. He proclaimed that the coronation of our next monarch must be an "interfaith" event. The ceremony must, he added, have "very significant changes", so that it is "inclusive" of other religions in Britain. Britain is an old country, our ways deserve respect by Simon Heffer

Mark Alexander

Sarkozy relents on deportation order of children

Photo courtesy of the BBC

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has softened his stance on the expulsion of illegal immigrants' children from French schools.

Mr Sarkozy plans to spare about 1,200 children who faced expulsion and deportation with their families.

Since April, more than 40,000 people have signed a petition pledging to protect and house the children of immigrants to save them from expulsion.

An immigration bill adopted by the lower house envisaged such expulsions.

The bill is still being debated by the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

Anti-deportation campaign

A French pressure group called "Education Without Borders" has run an extremely successful grass-roots campaign against the deportation of illegal immigrants and their children - calling the government's plans a "childhunt", the BBC's Caroline Wyatt reports from Paris. French relent on migrant children

Mark Alexander

On Churchill

I came across these interesting links on Churchill today at the BBC website. I'd like to share them with you.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

The Gathering Storm

Defender of Democracy

Churchill and the Holocaust

The Allies at War

Secrets of Leadership: Hitler and Churchill

Mark Alexander

Turning London into Londonistan

With thanks to my friend, Anton, for drawing this excellent article in The Times to my attention:

ACCORDING TO REMARKS attributed in the past few days to security sources, no fewer than 1,200 Islamist terrorists are biding their time within British suburbs. Yet does Britain even now fully understand the nature of the threat it is facing, let alone have the will to deal with it?

The recent report by the Commons Intelligence Committee on last July’s London bombings barely scratched the surface of the failure by the security establishment. It failed to note, for example, Britain’s dirty little secret: that from the 1990s, Islamist radicals had been given free rein in Britain in a “gentlemen’s agreement” that if they were left alone, they would not turn on the country that was so generously nurturing them. The result was “Londonistan”, as Britain became the hub of al-Qaeda in Europe.

This intelligence debacle, however, was only the tip of the iceberg. Among Britain’s governing class — its intelligentsia, its media, its politicians, its judiciary, its Church and even its police — a broader and deeper cultural pathology persists to this day. Londonistan is more than the physical presence of Islamist extremists. It is also a state of mind. To a dismaying extent, the British have signed up to the false narrative of those who are laying siege to their society.

The problem lies in a refusal to acknowledge that Islamist extremism is rooted in religion. Instead, ministers and security officials prefer to think of it as a protest movement against grievances such as Iraq or Palestine, or “Islamophobia”. They simply ignore the statements and signs that show unequivocally that the aim is to Islamicise the West. Come to Londonistan, our refuge for poor misunderstood Islamist victims by Melanie Philips

Mark Alexander

Carey gets scary when it comes to Charles' coronation!

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

With thanks to Always On Watch for drawing the dhimmitude of Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and his ridiculous notions to my attention:

The coronation of the Prince of Wales must be an "interfaith" event, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has controversially claimed.

Lord Carey believes that the next coronation needs "very significant changes" so that it is "inclusive" of other religions that have spread across Britain.

His comments, which are likely to cause a rift within the Church of England, suggest that Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury for 11 years until 2002, has been won over by arguments from Prince Charles.

The prince, who will become Supreme Governor of the Church of England when he becomes king, has already said that he wants to be Defender of Faith - not Defender of the Faith - when he accedes to the throne.

Lord Carey's comments will set him and the prince against Dr Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and other senior figures in the Church of England. Dr Williams has emphasised the need for Prince Charles to defend the Church of England when he becomes king. Charles should have interfaith coronation, ex-archbishop insists by Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter for The Telegraph

Mark Alexander

Rita Verdonk to strip Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Dutch citizenship in classic case of 'shooting the messenger'

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The removal of an immigrant raising awkward political questions is a warning sign over the future of the tradition of free speech and tolerance in Holland.

There are times when a small event raises an issue of enormous importance. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born politician and women's rights activist, is leaving Holland for good.

You may never have heard of her, I'll tell you more about her in a moment. It's a strange irony that a country which has for centuries welcomed all those fleeing persecution should find it impossible to continue to provide Hirsi Ali with a refuge.

The Dutch have had a reputation for tolerance for almost five hundred years. By the 1500s the Dutch writer and educationalist Erasmus of Rotterdam was already disseminating broadmindedness and inclusion to the whole of the western world through his Latin treatises and textbooks.

In July 1572, the Protestant leader of the northern Netherlands, William I of Orange - still celebrated today as the father of the Dutch nation - publicly proclaimed the right of all individuals to freedom of thought and worship at a political assembly at Dordrecht. Liberalism under pressure A point of view by Lisa Jardine

Mark Alexander

The Ayatollah's scathing attack on the US

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that fuel shipments from the Gulf region could be disrupted if the US makes a "wrong move".

In a speech on state TV, Ayatollah Khamenei also said accusations that Iran intended to make a nuclear bomb amounted to a "sheer lie".

He insisted Iran would not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.

Tehran has agreed to study proposals drawn up by six world powers to defuse the row over Iran's nuclear programme.

The proposals are due to be delivered by the EU's foreign policy head, Javier Solana, within days.

The precise details of the proposals are not known, but they aim to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear work - a step which Iran has repeatedly said it will not take.

'No bomb'

In his speech on Sunday, marking the 17th anniversary of the death of his predecessor Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei said suggestions Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons programme were a lie.

"We do not need a nuclear bomb. We do not have any objectives or aspirations for which we will need to use a nuclear bomb. We consider using nuclear weapons to be against Islamic rules," he said. Tehran warns of fuel disruptions

Iran hints it may use oil weapon in nuclear row - REUTERS

Last diplomatic throw of dice?

Tehran airports to shut down today

TEHRAN — Tehran’s two international airports, Imam Khomeini International and Mehrabad, will be closed to all flights between 0430 GMT and 1030 GMT today, aviation officials said yesterday. Today is the anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual father of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“On the anniversary of Imam Khomeini’s death there will be no domestic or foreign flights between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm at Tehran airports,” Rajab Mehrjouee, director of Tehran airports, told the official Irna news agency. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will address pilgrims at Khomeini’s gold-domed mausoleum just south of Tehran today. It lies on the flightpath of both airports. Some 8,000 police will be on duty at the shrine. — Reuters (Sub-source: Oman Observer

Mark Alexander

The Iranian 'sport' of Baha'i-bashing

Photo courtesy of Google Images

While Iran has been in the news in recent months, there has been little coverage of its deteriorating human-rights situation, especially the resurgence in mistreatment of the country's Baha'i community.

That situation came to a head on May 19 with the arrest in the city of Shiraz of 54 Baha'is, mostly young people and, according to reports, all engaged in community service. They were said to have been teaching underprivileged children as part of a local NGO project.

This brings the total number of Baha'is detained since the beginning of 2005 to 125. These people have been held for a period of a few days to several months in what has been described as revolving-door detentions.

There are an estimated 300,000 Baha'is in Iran. Under the Iranian constitution, a number of religions are given a degree of status - but not the Baha'is.

The recent harassment of Baha'is also took the form of 30 mostly negative, and often defamatory, articles that appeared in one of the official Tehran dailies last fall. Asma Jahangir, the United Nations' special rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, published a statement in March reporting the existence of a confidential letter of Oct. 20, 2005, distributed within the government calling on officials - reportedly on the instructions of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - “to identify persons who adhere to the Baha'i faith and monitor their activities.” The plight of Iran's Baha'i community by Maurice Copithorne

Mark Alexander

On the plight of women in Iraq

Today, a sad tale in The Sunday Timas on the fate of women in 'democratized' Iraq.

... “Women cannot drive; women cannot go out after midday; women and men are not allowed to go out and walk together, they must walk separately.” The rules are enforced by Al-Qaeda thugs who drive around in cars in Amariya, Yarmouk and other Sunni areas that Zarqawi has declared are his. Noor said: “If they see someone breaking the rules, they shoot them.”

The “men in black” have turned women into virtual prisoners in their homes. “At first we were more afraid of bombs but now we are more afraid of being killed for what we are wearing,” Noor said.

“I used to wear jeans or short skirts. We didn’t have to worry,” she recalled, for a moment gushing like any of her fashion-conscious contemporaries in the West.

“My favourites were in the Qasar al Nisaa shop. Before, they sold all kinds of clothes, but now it’s so conservative. They’re not even allowed to display underwear in shops: you have to ask from under the counter and then only a woman can serve you.”

She dare not step outside without a hijab, or headscarf. Last month two teenage girls were dragged off the al-Amal al-Shahbi street in the Amariya district. When they emerged several hours later their heads had been shaved.

The militants issued a warning that in future women walking down the street without a hijab faced death. Men in black terrorise Iraq's women by Marie Colvin and Widiane Moussa

Mark Alexander

Zarqawi: Fanning the flames of civil strife

Photo courtesy of The Washington Times

CAIRO -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq railed against Shi'ite Muslims in a four-hour audiotape posted on the Internet yesterday, saying their militias are raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back.

The tape by Abu Musab Zarqawi appeared aimed at sabotaging the Iraqi government's efforts to name a unity government -- but was also intended to further enflame Shi'ite-Sunni tension across the Arab world.

"There's a civil war going on in Iraq, but it will not become truly fierce until it's exported outside Iraq. This tape is trying to do just that," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi political commentator. Zarqawi prods Sunnis to fight Shi'ite 'snakes'

Mark Alexander

24-hours a day news broadcasts planned for the US by the BBC

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The BBC's global news channel, BBC World, has launched in the US, aiming to capture audiences hungry for international news.

The channel, which already broadcasts to 270 million homes worldwide, can now be seen by cable viewers in New York.

The BBC says it hopes to strike deals with cable and satellite providers elsewhere in the US soon.

A new breakfast programme aimed at American audiences will be launched in July, presented by George Alagiah.

"What we're not setting out to do is carve a niche that reflects America back to the Americans," said Alagiah.

"What we're trying to do is reflect the world back to Americans."

Now, not even the Americans will be spared! America! Wait for the whitewash of Islam!

The only difference is YOU won't have to pay a licence fee for the privilege of having Islam WHITEWASHED! It will be WHITEWASHED for FREE!

Mark Alexander

Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

Video courtesy of You Tube & Eye On The World

Mark

Grünes Licht für den Bau einer Moschee in Athen

Foto dank der NZZ

Regierung und Orthodoxe Kirche geben Grünes Licht

Das seit Jahrzehnten andauernde Tauziehen um den Bau einer Moschee in Athen ist beendet. Die Regierung in Athen beschloss am Donnerstag die Genehmigung für den Bau des muslimischen Gotteshauses. Erste Moschee in Athen bewilligt

Mark Alexander

Reciprocity is key: Without reciprocity, there is no place for interfaith dialogue

Nearly four years ago, Saudi dissident Ali al-Ahmed and author Stephen Schwartz conducted a study for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. They examined textbooks and other publications distributed by the Saudi government and by Saudi-funded organizations. They found such messages as these: “Judaism and Christianity are deviant religions.”

“The unbelievers, idolaters and others like them must be hated and despised.”

“We say to every Christian and every Jew and all those outside Islam, ‘your children are born into Islam, but you and their mother take them away from Islam with your corrupt rearing.'” What Saudis Preach by Clifford D. May

Mark Alexander

With black gold king, how can we hope to deal with the growth of Islam in the free world?

Lee Raymond, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has bowed out from the oil giant with a $400m pay and retirement deal that has caused outrage among environmentalists. In his 12 years at the top of the company, Exxon has pumped an estimated six billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere and has led the opposition to action on climate change

Investors and environmental campaigners condemned a $400m (£214m) retirement package for the boss of Exxon Mobil, the man known as the "Darth Vader of global warming" for his denial that carbon emissions cause climate change.

Protesters descended on the annual shareholder meeting of the world's largest oil company's in Dallas, Texas, amid fury over the lavish lifestyle that it plans to fund for Lee Raymond, who retired after 12 years as chairman and chief executive.

Exxon has been condemned by green groups for fuelling the world's addiction to oil by opposing the Kyoto treaty on reducing emissions and refusing to invest a penny in alternative energy sources. The total amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by the production and use of Exxon's oil and gas output is calculated at 500 million tons a year, or six billion tons during Mr Raymond's tenure.

Since becoming chief executive in 1993, Mr Raymond had become infamous for his dismissive response to environmental lobbyists at previous annual meetings. He has funnelled $19m of Exxon's money to groups that question the science of global warming. His package of pension and perks includes a bodyguard, a car and driver, and use of a company jet, plus a $1m-a-year deal to stay on as a consultant. Anger at oil chief's $400m retirement package by Stephen Foley

Mark Alexander

Are Allah and God One and the Same?

Photo of church in Holte courtesy of Wikipedia

I'd like to share this important essay from a very good colleague of mine, Pastorius. It is a most informative essay; and it shows that there are some changes ahead in Europe, coming from the Danes. One cannot help but be impressed with the courage the Danes are showing in the face of the pressure of Islam on Denmark. Many other Western European countries could take a few lessons from the Danes!

In yet another sign that Europe is waking up to its problem with Islamofascism, the official church of the state of Denmark has announced that Muslim Imams are not welcome in their churches, and that Muslims and Christians do not direct their worship at the same entity (report from Dymphna at Gates of Vienna):

The state church, Folkekirken, which is Denmark’s official evangelical Lutheran denomination. No one has to join, and you can opt out of paying any tax for its upkeep, though if you’re a lazy or indifferent type and don’t phone the local municipality, you will be billed for church maintenance. What’s interesting is that while eighty four per cent of Danes pay the tax and are official members, only about five per cent of these citizens are actually church-goers.

" ... Imams are not welcome in Danish state churches," says a new network of Islam-critical priests and theological experts.

The purpose is to state that Christians and Muslims do not believe in the same God, and that the church and the mosque are not religious equals says the new network of 60 priests and theological experts.

Well-known priests and opinion-makers such as Niels Højlund, Sørine Godtfredsen, Edith Thingstrup, Morten Kvist and Katrine Winkel Holm are among the prominent members.

According to the Newfounded Network admitting imams into Danish churches is problematic.
The Danish People’s Church cannot agree with the imams without betraying the Lord Christ — who according to Islam is nothing but an inferior “prophet”, subordinated to Mohammad.

When priests and imams are praying together, they are in essence ridiculing the Gospel, the network states. At the same time it distances itself from recent events such as religious councils with imams.

Bishops and imams are not religious colleagues separated only by different merchandise. It is of paramount importance that priests in the Danish Church make that fact very clear — as well as studying and criticizing Islam, says the network — which at the same time underscores that the intention is to criticize Islam, not the individual Muslim. Danish People's Church: "Muslims And Christians Do Not Believe In The Same God"

Mark Alexander

Is Poland becoming intolerant?

IN THE shadow of a giant, shimmering steel cross in central Warsaw, 17-year-old Alexander Pawlowski has a blunt message for Pope Benedict XVI: “He should tell the Government to stop ramming the Roman Catholic faith down our throats.”

The Pope, who embarks today [May 25, 2006] on his first pilgrimage to Poland, is unlikely to heed the schoolboy protester, who is drumming up support against a fervently Catholic Government led by a right-wing nationalist Prime Minister.

The teenager is, however, one of a growing army of critics who say that Poland is fast becoming the least tolerant member of the European Union. The Pope is treading in the footsteps of John Paul II and will use his trip to echo the words of his Polish mentor: stay true to the Catholic faith at a time of Islamic resurgence and shifting global values. Behind the scenes, though — and explicitly during a planned visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp on Sunday — he will be urging the Polish Church to stay out of politics and do more to encourage social tolerance and civic rights. Pilgrimage will let Pope pray for a country that is turning to intolerance by Roger Boyes

Mark

A Warning to Osama bin Laden: Heed the Lesson of History!
Wann Arbeit nicht so frei macht!
Europe has been established on Judeo-Christian principles. Islam has played almost no part in it. This is an undeniable fact. Further, today, Islam is the antithesis of all Europe stands for: Europe is synonymous with liberal democracy; Islam, by contrast, is synonymous with backwardness and totalitarianism.

In the Twenties and Thirties in Germany, the Jews became the scapegoats of the Germans. Hitler rose to power in the Thirties and demonized them. He managed to convince his fellow Germans that they, the Jews, were the root of all evil in Germany. When in power, he set about his plan to exterminate them. The so-called ‘Final Solution’, die Endlösung, was put in place.

Concentration camps (Konzentrationslager) were set up in Germany, and in occupied countries such as Poland. Such concentration camps as Chelmno (Kulmhof), Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzek, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek, Stutthof and Dachau were set up with one sole purpose: to exterminate the Jews.

This was racism in the raw!

Many today find it unbelievable that the Holocaust happened. Many Muslims, in particular, deny that these atrocities happened at all! But they did! That they did is well documented. This is historical fact. No sane person need spare a moment to deny any of it. If you are in any doubt, ask one of the survivors of those death camps! His testimony will be heart-rending indeed! It will show the depths to which man can sink.

This all happened in Europe little more than sixty years ago. Do you think this could not happen again? You would be mistaken if you do! History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. Human nature doesn’t change, as much as we would like to believe that it does. Circumstances change; human nature does not.

If it were to happen again, would the Jews be the ones to be persecuted? Probably not!

In those days, Jews were perceived as the bogeymen of Europe. These days, if any group of people is perceived as the bogeymen, if any group is perceived to threaten Europeans and their way of life, it is Muslims, not Jews. At the moment, there are far too few Jews in Europe to worry about their existence there. Muslims, on the other hand, live in Europe in millions; further, their numbers are growing apace. Today, these are the people Europeans worry about, not Jews.

Islam calls its adherents to live a very different way of life – a way of life quite alien to the way of life of Europeans. Many Europeans therefore feel quite naturally threatened by their growing existence in their midst, especially so because their politicians are too timid to stem Islam’s growth on European soil.

There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden has pushed the cause of Islam in the West. In fact, he has been hell-bent on making Europeans cower to the wishes of Muslims worldwide. European politicians, so far, have shown little will to resist his calls. Indeed, many would say that European politicians have been spineless and have shown little resolve to tackle the very urgent issues that face Europe today vis-à-vis Islam.

This spinelessness is very troubling. This lack of resolve is very troubling, too. Our politicians are appeasing Muslims. They are showing their weakness in the face of Muslims’ apparent strength. This weakness will not lead to any good place! When governments are perceived to be weak, politics is headed for a turn to extremism. We saw this recently in the United Kingdom, when the far right made substantial gains at the polls because of the perceived weakness of the Blair government.

With the present political climate, one might be forgiven for concluding that Europeans are weak, and are therefore ripe for take-over. This would be a wrong conclusion to make, even though it appears that way. What has happened in Europe once, can happen again. Might it, perhaps, merely be a matter of time?

No sane person, no kind person, no sensible person would wish to see a repeat of the Holocaust in Europe. Those were extremely sad times indeed; they should never be repeated. But, to avoid them, we need to learn the lessons of history. Learn why they happened in the first place. Learn why they happened at all. Osama bin Laden and his cronies need to learn these lessons, too.

The root of harmony is tolerance. Today it is believed – erroneously in my opinion - that tolerance can be legislated for. It cannot be. When a people perceives that its way of life is under threat, these people become capable of any act of evil. Our politicians would be wise to realize that people have not become more tolerant, have not become more understanding, and nor have they grown weaker. Deep down, people are the same today as they have always been. They can be pushed so far; but they will be pushed no further!

As abhorrent as the names Treblinka, Dachau and Auschwitz-Birkenau sound to the modern ear, the atrocities committed in those camps could happen again. Make no mistake about it! Circumstances might have changed; but man has not changed his nature. Nor has he lost his appetite for evil deeds!

If something isn’t done about the Muslim problem in Europe in the near future, the names Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Dachau will not be far from the minds of many Europeans. What happened once can happen again. Osama bin Laden would be wise to take heed!

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Auschwitz-Birkenau: Lest we forget!

Photos courtesy of Google Images

German-born Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Nazi German death camp at Auschwitz on Sunday to honour victims of the Holocaust, most of whom were Jews.

Auschwitz survivor Roman Halter went back to the camp and told the BBC's Krzysztof Dzieciolowski about his painful memories.

Sixty-one years after the war ended, Roman Halter has returned to his home town Chodecz, in central Poland.

The memories are fresh and the history is still painful for a man who was born here in 1927 - the same year that Pope Benedict XVI was borin in Marktl in Germany. Survivor braves Auschwitz return

Mark

Bis Ende Jahr zieht Italien alle Kampftruppen aus dem Irak ab

Italien zieht bis Juni 1100 Soldaten aus dem Irak ab. Dies sagte Aussenminister Massimo D'Alema am Freitagabend im italienischen Fernsehen. Zurzeit sind im Irak 2700 Soldaten aus Italien stationiert. Italien zieht bis Juni 1100 Soldaten aus dem Irak ab

Mark Alexander

Le Pape dénoncé hier l'evangile selon Dan Brown!

Photo grâce à Figaro

En pleine polémique sur le « Da Vinci Code », le Pape a profité de sa visite en Pologne pour rappeler aux fidèles de qu’il leur faut résister « aux tentations du relativisme ».

Au second jour de son voyage en Pologne, le Souverain Pontife a célébré vendredi matin sa première messe sur les terres de son prédécesseur. Une foule de 300.000 fidèle s’est massée, malgré la pluie, sur la place Pilsudski, au centre de Varsovie. Certains attendaient la venue du Saint Père depuis la veille. Benoît XVI fustige ceux qui «falsifient la parole du Christ»

Mark Alexander

Transatlantic Love Affair

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

It may not have been the swansong of the Bush-Blair show, but it certainly felt like it.

There were moments in their White House double act early yesterday morning when they assumed their familiar roles.

They marched down the red carpet to the podium in the East Room as confident as ever. They filled in each other's lines and swapped jokes and smiles.

George W Bush gazed admiringly at the Prime Minister as he launched into an impassioned defence of the Iraq war.

"I'm going to say that was a great answer," said Mr Bush. The audience laughed. How many times over the past few years has his "good friend" Tony been the perfect foil to his rougher-hewn Texan style? It's beginning to feel like the end of a beautiful relationship by Alec Russell, in Washington

Mark

Weddings by the galore!

Photo courtesy of the New York Times

RAS AL KHAYMAH, United Arab Emirates — The wedding lights sparkled, a brass band played the national anthem and the banquet was fit for a king. But as Rashid al-Kabali and his friends put on their ceremonial wedding cloaks for the event this month, the grooms were stoically aware of the battle they were waging for Emirati identity.

Mr. Kabali was among 47 grooms marrying that evening in an all-male mass wedding ceremony in the parking lot of a convention center. (The brides would celebrate in separate ceremonies a few days later.)

It was a curious scene, but one with deep social implications. In this nation of five million, of whom only about 10 percent are native citizens, the battle for cultural survival begins with "I do."

"This is about preserving our ways and our culture," Mr. Kabali said, as he scanned the grooms seated in a row. "We must marry within our society as our ancestors did, or we will lose our way." Here Comes the Bride (but Not From Afar, Emirates Hope) by Hassan M. Fattah

Mark Alexander

Defeating Islam

Ali Sina of Faith Freedom fame has written this excellent piece on Defeating Islam. Please read it. It makes excellent reading, and eminent good sense.

Mark Alexander

Mahmoud Abbas: Terrorists "Our Heroes"

Just two days after PM Olmert called him a "very decent human being" who is "opposed to terror," PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas call Palestinian terrorists "our heroes."

While Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, takes on the position of "moderate" and attempts to convince Hamas to accept Judea and Samaria for now, his words to audiences at home present a different picture. Abbas Calls Terrorists "Our Heroes" by Hillel Fendel

Mark Alexander

Radical Islam in Europe

I have found this rather shocking video on You Tube on radical Islam in Europe. I'd like to share it with you. To view it, please click HERE.

Mark Alexander

Turkey: Honour & Suicide

A United Nations envoy has arrived in Turkey to investigate a reported surge in the number of young women committing suicide.

Yakin Erturk, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women, travelled yesterday to the eastern Turkish city of Batman to follow up on reports in local media that up to 36 women had killed themselves since the start of the year. This figure is already much higher than the number for the whole of last year.

Many of the women who have died were allegedly the victims of "forced suicides", where husbands or relatives pushed them into killing themselves to cleanse a perceived offence against family honour. UN investigates 'forced suicides' in Turkey by Daniel Howden

Mark Alexander

At Last! Somebody Speaks Some Sense!
The former US Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger has re-floated the idea of containment. This is exactly what I proposed in my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age. I suggested that an 'Iron Veil' be dropped between our two worlds. This is another way of stating that Islam should be contained.

Naturally, I am very pleased that Henry Kissinger should have come to the same conclusion as I.

Photo courtesy of the BBC

When Tony Blair and George Bush meet at the White House for dinner on Thursday, they will be contemplating the beginning of the end of a relationship that has seen their policies dominate the world scene but which have left them weakened at home for their final years in office.

In one of its perhaps less elegant wordplays, the Economist magazine declared that the two now constituted as "an axis of feeble."

Their common cause in Iraq has not delivered the success they believed was assured.

On this visit, they will seek to justify that cause but they know that some are withholding judgment until events deliver their own verdict.

Others have made their judgment anyway.

And as the curtain prepares to come down, there are already voices being heard offstage calling for an end to the policies of intervention that have characterised the approach of both men.

A return to the past?

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger recently seemed to be re-floating the old Cold War policy of containment. Final curtain for Bush and Blair by Paul Reynolds

©Mark Alexander