The Rise and Rise of Russian Nationalism
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Long tolerated by the authorities, right-wing groups are now being seen as a serious threat to national security. Shaun Walker reports from Moscow

Russian nationalists make Nazi-style salutes during a May Day rally in Moscow. Photo courtesy of The Independent on Sunday
There have been a number of threats to Russia's security in recent years, from Chechen terrorism to the country's worrying demographic decline. But according to sources close to the Russian security services, what the authorities fear most in these times of economic crisis is the very thing that many Russians see as the country's saviour – nationalism.

Amid a dizzying array of May Day marches, featuring various groups from across the political spectrum, all eyes were on the nationalists. They gathered around a metro station in north Moscow, as well as in other cities across the country, calling for all immigrants to be deported and a "Russia for the Russians". In the event, the Moscow meeting passed off peacefully; police arrested a few demonstrators for the possession of knives, and the rest dispersed without incident. But with a huge migrant population, poverty and unemployment among locals, and with the high oil prices that fuelled the economic boom of the past few years a fast-receding memory, many feel the time for Russia's nationalists to take the political initiative is coming soon.

Then there's Alexander Belov, Moscow's answer to the BNP's Nick Griffin. Dressed in a sharp black suit, the light of a Bluetooth receptor constantly winking over his left ear, he fingers a set of Orthodox Christian prayer beads and sips a freshly squeezed orange juice, looking like one of the thousands of well-to-do businessmen who have made decent money as Russia boomed over the past decade. But as well as being successful in the construction industry, Mr Belov is also Russia's most famous racist. He believes that the time for the nationalists to take the limelight is coming soon.

"What I want is very simple," he says, in a quiet and measured voice. "I don't want parts of Moscow to be ghettos. This city is already full of places where Russians aren't welcome, and it's unacceptable. This is a Russian city and should remain that way."

An erudite and self-assured man who heads a group of skinheads with a reputation for violence, he leads the Movement Against Illegal Immigration – the DPNI, as it's known by its Russian initials – one of Russia's largest far-right groups. One of its main policies is that Russia should introduce a visa regime for migrants from the former Soviet republics, sending most of the millions of Gastarbeiters (Russians use the German term to refer to guest-workers) back home. >>> Shaun Walker | Sunday, May 3, 2009

Iran Executes Woman for Alleged Murder Committed as a Juvenile
THE TELEGRAPH: Delara Darabi knew the end was close when she made a panic-filled call to her mother from prison to say that she could see the hangman's noose from her window.

Delara Darabi made a tearful call early on Friday to her parents. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The Iranian artist was executed on Friday for a murder allegedly committed when she was a juvenile and for which she retracted her brief confession, claiming she was covering up for her boyfriend.

The prison authorities hung Miss Darabi, 23, even though the head of Iran's judiciary granted her a two-month stay of execution on April 19 amid international outrage over her case. They also did not give her lawyer the required 48 hours notice.

Horrific new details emerged yesterday of her last desperate plea for help from Rasht prison as jail guards came to lead her away.

Miss Darabi made a tearful call early on Friday to her parents to say she could see the gallows and noose, according to media reports from Tehran.

"Mother they are going to execute me, please save me," she pleaded. But a prison official then grabbed the phone and told her distraught mother: "We are going to execute your daughter and there's nothing you can do about it."

The execution of a young woman whose case has become an international cause célèbre is a further damaging blow to President Barack Obama's attempts to thaw US relations with the Islamic regime. Roxana Saberi, an American-Iranian journalist, is on hunger strike in a Tehran prison after being convicted of espionage in a show trial last month. >>> By Philip Sherwell | Saturday, May 2, 2009

Riot Police Working Overtime as Unions and Anarchists Link Arms for May Day
Police use tear gas against protesters during an outlawed May Day rally in central Istanbul. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Protesters turned traditional May Day demonstrations into a rallying call against global capitalism as unrest spread through city streets across Europe yesterday.

Politicians in Germany and France had been warning that the financial crisis was about to spark social unrest. In some towns the words became reality, even if the skirmishes and petrol bombings felt choreographed.

“We want social disturbances, upheaval, and we will do everything towards that end,” said Markus Bernhardt, a spokesman for Class Struggle Bloc, which helped to steer the riots. “The system is violent and now violence is being met by violence.”

Unions estimated that 484,000 people took part in 400 protests across Germany. Riots in Berlin began on Thursday night when cars and rubbish containers were set alight. On May Day morning 700 anarchists blocked a railway station in an attempt to sabotage a neo-Nazi march.

A force of 5,000 German police officers found it difficult to contain the rioting. Officials said 48 officers were hurt and 57 people detained. “One can only advise drivers not to park their cars on the street,” Dieter Glietsch, the head of the Berlin police, said. >>> Roger Boyes in Berlin and Charles Bremner in Paris | Saturday, May 2, 2009

Prince Charles Rebuffed by Qatar Royal Family over Modern Flats
THE TELEGRAPH: The Prince of Wales has been rebuffed by the Qatar Royal Family in his battle to stop a £1 billion modern flats development in a historic part of London.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber Jasim al-Thani has been urged by the Prince to reconsider the Chelsea scheme . Photo of Prince Charles courtesy of The Telegraph
The Qataris, who had been reported to be on the verge of backing down in the face of the onslaught from the Prince, have instead reaffirmed their commitment to the luxury apartments development on the site of Chelsea Barracks.

The Prince had written to the Prime Minister of Qatar appealing to him to scrap the modern steel and glass development. He also asked to be involved in the discussions over the future of the site.

But the Prince's hopes that the scheme would be withdrawn are at an end after the Qatari Diar, the development arm of the country's royal family, issued a statement confirming it's commitment to the scheme.

The statement said: "The owner and developer of the Chelsea Barracks site is concerned that several recent reports in the media have either stated or implied that it is actively considering abandoning the scheme which it submitted for planning to Westminster City Council February 27, 2009. As a direct consequence of these reports, we have written to Westminster City Council confirming wholehearted commitment to the scheme." >>> By Andrew Pierce | Friday, May 1, 2009

Guest Voice Mansoor Ijaz: Pakistan's Zardari Goes to Washington
WASHINGTON POST: Pakistan has a split personality problem. Its citizens can rise up en masse on one day to depose a military dictator and reinstate honest judges, but the next day seem helpless to stop politicians from ceding strategic territory to enemies who publicly flog a 17-year old woman as a show of justice. Most American taxpayers, who are being asked to finance aid even as the country disintegrates, don't have the faintest idea how to decode what's really wrong there or where to begin to help. President Zardari could change that during his upcoming visit to Washington - but it would require his bold domestic leadership and a new direction for Pakistan and its relationship with the U.S.

Pakistan's central problem today is the systemic failure of its federal, provincial and local governments to provide for its citizens' basic needs, whether public safety, healthcare, education or employment. The Taliban is stepping in to fill that void. Hamas did the same in Palestinian enclaves throughout Israel when PLO leadership failed to offer disenfranchised Palestinians a structured way of life. You've heard it before: security is assured, albeit through intimidation and brutality. Basic daily staples like food and clothing come from Arab-financed hawala cash transfers. Education comes from Saudi-funded madrassa schools. Legal disputes are settled through harsh Islamic laws. Only geography makes the Pakistani case different from that of the Palestinians.

To make matters worse, America's visible role in Pakistan's internal affairs only helps the Taliban's cause. Pakistan's woefully inadequate leader, President Asif Ali Zardari, has been privately lectured and publicly admonished by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. Those lectures have made him look like an American stooge playing to the often conflicting ways in which Washington wants Islamabad to act.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials order more drone attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts, knowing their exhortations are falling on deaf (or worse, impotent) ears. Unannounced U.S. military actions make Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, army chief of staff, appear weak in his anti-terror campaign when in fact he is simply waiting for the civilian government to order him to take action. Unannounced drone attacks also raise serious questions about Pakistan's sovereignty. Innocent civilian life lost in each strike creates more Pakistani anger and frustration, almost all of which is galvanized by Pakistan's political opposition and unleashed on the cowering Zardari. He then runs to Washington for more aid to shore up defenses designed to attack his people even more savagely and indiscriminately.

This is not what American taxpayers signed up for. We need a different approach. >>> By Mansoor Ijaz | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pakistan Facing ‘Existential Question’: French Envoy
DAWN: NEW DELHI: The power grab by Taliban insurgents in Pakistan puts the nation’s future at a ‘crossroads,’ according to France’s new special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Foreign Minister Makhdoon Shah Mahmood Quershi exchanging views with the French special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Poerre [sic] Lellouche during a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo courtesy of Dawn
With the Taliban having advanced to districts just 100 kilometres from the capital, Pakistan ‘has a fire inside its own house’ that it must extinguish, said lawmaker, lawyer and foreign policy expert Pierre Lellouche.

‘There is not a lot of time’ in light of ‘the gravity of the situation,’ he told reporters in New Delhi late Thursday after visiting Islamabad on a fact-finding mission.

Pakistan is at a ‘crossroads,’ he said, saying the country faced an ‘existential question’ about its future existence.

His remarks came as Pakistan’s army launched this week an offensive to reassert control in the northwest of the country.

They were the latest expression of international concern about the situation in Pakistan, led by the United States which last week accused Pakistan’s government of ‘abdicating’ to the Taliban by agreeing to the Sharia law in parts of the country. >>> | Friday, May 1, 2009

US Sends Confusing Signals to Pakistan
DAWN: WASHINGTON: A day after President Barack Obama dismissed the Pakistani government as incompetent, his administration informed Islamabad that they would give $1.5 billion of economic assistance to Pakistan in the next few days.

Diplomatic observers believes that President Obama has given ‘an F minus to the Pakistani leader’. Photo courtesy of Dawn
The money, to be deposited in the State Bank of Pakistan early this month, will include $500 million of emergency assistance and $1 billion of held-up reimbursements from the coalition support fund.

US officials also told the Pakistani government that a bill to triple US assistance will be moved in the US Senate on Monday. It will bring annual assistance of $1.5 billion for a period of five years.

But while the Pakistani diplomats were learning this good news from US officials, President Obama shared a candid and frank assessment of the current Pakistani rulers during a news conference on Wednesday night.

‘The civilian government there right now is very fragile and don’t seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services: schools, healthcare, rule of law, a judicial system that works for the majority of the people,’ he said.

‘As a consequence, it is very difficult for them to gain the support and the loyalty of their people,’ he said, summarily dismissing the government’s claim to a popular mandate.

But what President Obama’s top general for Pakistan and Afghanistan told an American television channel was even more damning.

Fox News reported on Thursday that Commander US Central Command Gen David Petraeus has told US officials the next two weeks were ‘critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive.’

Fox News also reported that Gen. Petraeus and senior administration officials believed the Pakistan Army was ‘superior’ to the civilian government.

The two statements and private assurances of support to the Pakistani government have contributed to the confusion and uncertainty that already overshadow US-Pakistan relations. >>> By Anwar Iqbal | Saturday, April 2, 2009

Pakistan, Libya Agree to Strengthen Bilateral Ties
DAWN: TRIPOLI – President Asif Ali Zardari and Libyan Leader Moammar Al Qaddafi resolved to further strengthen their multifaceted ties and agreed on adopting practical measures to boost economic cooperation.

The two leaders agreed on continuing mutual cooperation in diverse fields besides exploring avenues for increased two-way trade, collaboration to explore energy resources and exchange of skilled manpower. Photo courtesy of Dawn
President Zardari, who is on his first official visit to Libya, held detailed discussions with Moammar Qadaffi, hours after his arrival to the north-African country.

The talks late in the night covered a broad spectrum of issues including ways to boost trade, initiate joint ventures and investment besides covering regional and issues of mutual interest.

The two leaders agreed on continuing mutual cooperation in diverse fields besides exploring avenues for increased two-way trade, collaboration to explore energy resources and exchange of skilled manpower.

President Zardari in his talks with Moammar Qaddafi said there was vast scope for investment between the two countries in several areas including infrastructure development, railways, housing, oil and gas besides export of skilled and unskilled manpower in information technology, engineering, telecom and medicine.

The Libyan leader said the two countries can launch an ambitious and gigantic programme of economic cooperation, to bring the two countries further close. He also sought assistance from Pakistan on sharing expertise for improvement of banking sector and training facilities for students, teachers and experts in different areas.

President Zardari also briefed the Libyan leader about Pakistan’s efforts to curb terrorism and extremism and the role it was playing in maintaining peace and harmony in the region.

The two leaders also talked about the security situation in the region, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestine issue. >>> | Friday, May 1, 2009

India Is In Peril. Obama Is Making It Worse
THE SPECTATOR: Brahma Chellaney says that India is indeed ‘the sponge that protects us all’ from terrorism emanating from Pakistan. The new President’s strategy is compounding the Af-Pak problem

New Delhi

One of the most striking things about the larger Asian strategic landscape is that India is wedged in an arc of failing or troubled states. This harsh reality is India’s most glaring weakness; its neighbourhood is so combustible as to impose a tyranny of geography. Today, Pakistan’s rapid Talebanisation tops India’s concerns. After all, the brunt of escalating terrorism from Pakistan will be borne by India, which already has become, in the words of ex-US official Ashley Tellis, ‘the sponge that protects us all’.

As Pakistan has begun to sink, top US intelligence and security officials have made a beeline to India for discussions, including the new CIA director Leon Panetta (who came to New Delhi on his first overseas visit), the FBI director Robert Mueller, the joint US chiefs of staff chairman Mike Mullen and the administration’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke. The fact that President Obama, in his first 100 days, has helped put together $15.7 billion in international aid for Islamabad shows that the United States will not allow Pakistan to become a failed state.

The real threat is of an Islamist takeover of Pakistan. Yet Obama’s strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan (or ‘Af-Pak’ in Washingtonese) inspires little confidence. Throwing more money at Pakistan and keeping up the pretence that the badly splintered and weakened al-Qa’eda poses the main terrorist threat risks failure.

The Af-Pak problem won’t go away without a fundamental break from the American policies that helped create this terrifying muddle. The US military can never win in Afghanistan, or even secure a ticket out of that country as Obama wants, without first dismantling the Pakistani military’s sanctuaries and sustenance infrastructure for the Taleban and other state-reared terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (the group who carried out the Mumbai atrocities) and Jaish-e-Muhammad. As Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley pointed out just before leaving office in January, ‘You can’t really solve Afghanistan without solving Pakistan.’ >>> Brahma Chellaney | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

One Huge Bloody Mess!
THE TELEGRAPH: Bankers have been accused of making an "astonishing mess" of the financial system, in a report by Treasury Select Committee.

There had been a "comprehensive failure of the banking system at all levels", said chairman John McFall In the committee's second report on the banking crisis published on Friday.

He added that senior executives in banks, non-executive directors, governments and regulators were all partly to blame.

The MPs said it was "deplorable" that banks, which have been propped up with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, are not extending new loans to customers. MPs Blame Bankers for 'Astonishing Mess' >>> By Katherine Griffiths, Financial Services Editor | Friday, May 1, 2009

L'armée pakistanaise reprend une ville clé aux talibans
L'armée pakistanaise aux alentours de Rustam, près du district de Buner. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Islamabad a repris l'initiative militaire en traquant les insurgés islamistes installés dans la vallée de Buner, à une centaine de kilomètres de la capitale.

La reprise des hostilités était inéluctable. Pressé par la ­communauté internationale, les Américains en tête, de déloger les talibans du district de Buner où ils étaient entrés la semaine ­dernière, le gouvernement d'Islamabad a fait donner l'assaut mardi soir.

Dans une semaine, le président pakistanais, Asif Ali Zardari, rencontrera à Washington Barack Obama et son homologue afghan, Hamid Karzaï. Il ne ­pouvait pas arriver les mains vides à ce mini-sommet «Af-Pak», qui doit durer deux jours. Zardari sait qu'il lui sera notamment demandé des comptes sur la manière dont le Pakistan entend utiliser l'aide promise par les États-Unis, actuellement en débat au Congrès américain. Outre les 7,5 milliards de dollars sur cinq ans prévus, le Congrès délibère sur une aide d'urgence comprise entre 200 et 400 millions de dollars.

Mercredi, le porte-parole de l'armée pakistanaise, le général Athar Abbas, a annoncé une première victoire. «Des troupes héliportées sont parvenues à sécuriser Daggar, le chef-lieu du district de Buner, et ses environs», a-t-il déclaré. Cinquante rebelles auraient été tués. «Nous avons vu un hélicoptère larguer des soldats sur les collines, tôt le matin. Il a effectué six ou sept rotations», a confirmé un commerçant du marché central à Daggar. Depuis mardi, des avions de chasse et des hélicoptères de combat ­couvrent l'avancée des troupes au sol. Mais, a expliqué le général Abbas, «nous sommes ralentis par le fait que les insurgés ­retiennent une partie de la population en otage. Nous faisons de notre mieux pour qu'il y ait le moins de pertes humaines possible et le minimum de civils forcés de fuir». >>> Marie-France Calle, correspondanteà New Delhi | Jeudi 30 Avril 2009

Olli Rehn Talks through His Pine End!
DAILY TELEGRAPH: The European Union's enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn has accused Britain of having an irrational and backward looking view on the EU's eastwards expansion and foreign workers.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn . Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
He launched the extraordinary attack as the EU marked the fifth anniversary of the 2004 enlargement, when 10 mainly Central and East European countries joined.

He likened "scepticism" about expansion, especially in "established" countries such Britain, Germany and France, to sentimentality for the 1960s.

The 47-year old Finn insisted the negative reaction was a product of "popular psychology" and backward looking sentiment for a bygone age.

"I cannot see any rational reasons," he told The Daily Telegraph. "In the established member states there has been the feeling that it is a cosy club, by the fireside, where we can take decisions that concern all of us, who are very similar.

"There is plenty of sweet nostalgia. It is like Beatle records or George Best's performances at Man United. That belongs to a different era." EU Commissioner Accuses Britain of Having Irrational View of Europe >>> By Bruno Waterfield in Prague | Friday, May 1, 2009

Video: UAE Torture Recording Threatens to Derail Nuclear Deal with United States
UAE Sheikh Issa tortures an Afghan businessman in Abu Dhabi
TIMESONLINE: A videotape showing a member of the United Arab Emirates Royal Family torturing a man is threatening a multibillion-dollar nuclear power deal between the US and the Gulf kingdom.

The 45-minute tape shows a man that the Government of Abu Dhabi has acknowledged is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan — one of 22 royal brothers of the UAE President and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince — mercilessly and repeatedly beating a man with a cattle prod and a nailed board, burning his genitals and driving his Mercedes over him several times. He is assisted by a uniformed policeman.

The fallout from the film — which was smuggled out of the UAE by a former business associate of the sheikh — has reached all the way to the Oval Office, where the civilian nuclear deal, awaiting the signature of President Obama, remains unsigned. A senior US official has said that the Administration is holding off certifying the treaty as a direct result of the film.

The deal was sealed on January 15 during President Bush’s last week in office, but needs to be recertified by the new Administration. Under its terms, the US agrees to provide technology and equipment to help the UAE to develop civilian nuclear power plants. In return, the UAE pledges to abide by the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and not to reprocess its spent nuclear fuel.

Jim McGovern, the Democratic co-chairman of the congressional Human Rights Commission, viewed the tape last week and told The Times that it was “one of the most horrific things I have ever seen in my life”. In the tape the sheikh is seen torturing an Afghan grain salesman he claims has cheated him.

Mr McGovern has written to Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, expressing his “outrage, horror and revulsion” about the tape and demanding that all sales and transfers of technology to the UAE, “including nuclear”, be suspended. He calls on Mrs Clinton to take a lead role in the investigation. He also told The Times that he would hold congressional hearings into the issue. “If the UAE think this is going to blow over, they are wrong,” he said. The case will be a further test of the Obama Administration’s commitment to human rights. >>> Tim Reid in Washington | Friday, May 1, 2009

Margaret Thatcher's Distress at BBC Treatment of Carol over 'Golliwog' Comment
THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher is distressed by the BBC's treatment of her daughter Carol who was sacked from her reporter's job after likening a black tennis player to a "golliwog".

Baroness Thatcher and her daughter Carol in the Royal Box at The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, London. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the former Prime Minister believes the furore over her daughter's remarks in a BBC Green Room is a form of political correctness gone mad.

The BBC, which has received 2,250 messages of support for Thatcher and only 60 against, refused yesterday to reinstate her in her roving reporter's role on the One Show after she referred to a tennis player as a "golliwog" during a backstage discussion about the Australian Open.

With many critics accusing the BBC of a vendetta against Thatcher, 55, because of her mother, a close friend of the former Prime Minister said: "Lady Thatcher feels sad for Carole who has been hurt by all the accusations against her. But she thinks the whole row is a load of nonsense." >>> By Andrew Pierce | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Iran 'Leading Terrorism Sponsor'
BBC: Iran remains the "most active state sponsor of terrorism" in the world, a report by the US state department says.

It says Iran's role in the planning and financing of terror-related activities in the Middle East and Afghanistan threatens efforts to promote peace.

Al-Qaeda, however, remains the biggest danger to the US and the West, the annual report states.

It says that while the number of terror attack around the world is dropping, they are on the increase in Pakistan.

'Existential threat'

The new US administration may be trying to engage Tehran, but, just like last year, Iran is still described as the most active state sponsor of terrorism. >>> By Kim Ghattas | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Kabul's New Elite Live High on West's Largesse
THE INDEPENDENT: 'Gilded cage' lifestyle reveals the ugly truth about foreign aid in Afghanistan

Kabul City shopping centre, which opened in 2005. Photo courtesy of The Independent
Vast sums of money are being lavished by Western aid agencies on their own officials in Afghanistan at a time when extreme poverty is driving young Afghans to fight for the Taliban. The going rate paid by the Taliban for an attack on a police checkpoint in the west of the country is $4, but foreign consultants in Kabul, who are paid out of overseas aids budgets, can command salaries of $250,000 to $500,000 a year.

The high expenditure on paying, protecting and accommodating Western aid officials in palatial style helps to explain why Afghanistan ranks 174th out of 178th on a UN ranking of countries' wealth. This is despite a vigorous international aid effort with the US alone spending $31bn since 2002 up to the end of last year.

The high degree of wastage of aid money in Afghanistan has long been an open secret. In 2006, Jean Mazurelle, the then country director of the World Bank, calculated that between 35 per cent and 40 per cent of aid was "badly spent". "The wastage of aid is sky-high," he said. "There is real looting going on, mainly by private enterprises. It is a scandal." >>> By Patrick Cockburn in Kabul | Friday, May 1, 2009

O'Reilly Supports Charges in Quran Vandalism Case (July 2007)

GOP Women's Group Tells It Like It Is about Islam

CAIR Challenges Anti-Islam Radio Station in Florida

President Obama's Aide Catches Swine Flu
TIMESONLINE: The White House disclosed today that an official who helped to arrange President Obama's recent trip to Mexico had become sick and that three members of his family had later contracted probable swine flu.

The unnamed employee is an aide to Steven Chu, the Energy Secretary, and helped plan the Mexico trip. "This individual never flew on Air Force One," said Robert Gibbs, the press secretary. "He was asked specifically if he ever came within 6 feet of the president and the answer to that was no."

Although he attended a working dinner with Mr Obama on April 16, Mr Gibbs said the aide was never was close enough to put the President at risk.

Mr Obama himself has had no symptoms of the virus and doctors see no need to conduct any tests on his health, Mr Gibbs added. >>> Tom Baldwin | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Sara Miller – Opinion: Independence Day: I Am a Zionist and I Am Proud
HAARETZ: "I'll give you six months," said a close relative the day before I packed my life into two rucksacks and schlepped them 2,000 miles from Britain. A decade on, I'm still here, and proud to be an olah vatika (veteran immigrant).

Even within Israel the concept of Aliyah for Zionism's sake is often an alien one. Young Israelis in particular cannot understand why someone from an evidently prosperous country, with a culture-rich and progressive society and which is relatively terrorism free, would choose to throw it all over, leave their family and friends and move to a country so riddled with internal problems and violence.

My motivation can be summed up in one word. Zionism. In recent decades Zionism has become a dirty word in the world. It has been used as an insulting and disrespectful collective noun for the Jewish people, shorthand for the State of Israel within the context of its conflict with the Palestinians and even a synonym for the settlement movement.

It is time to reclaim the word as an expression of pride. Zionism is what has driven and will drive past, present and future Jews around the world to move to a miniscule spot of land in a war-torn region. >>> By Sara Miller | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Israel to EU: Criticism of Netanyahu Government Unacceptable
HAARETZ: A Foreign Ministry official has been warning European countries that unless they curtail criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Israel will block the European Union from participating in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

The main target of the offensive is EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who recently called for a freeze in upgrading ties with Israel over its peace process policies.

Several days ago, the deputy director for Europe at the Foreign Ministry, Rafi Barak, began calling European ambassadors in Israel regarding the attitude toward the new government. The first conversations were with France's Jean-Michel Casa, Britain's Tom Phillips and the Charge d'Affaires of the German embassy.

Barak sharply protested the criticism by European ministers and senior EU officials about Israel's government.

Barak singled out Ferrero-Waldner in his rebuke and said her statements were troubling in their form, style and timing. >>> By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent | Thursday, April 30, 2009

50-Year-old Divorces Child Bride?
REUTERS INDIA: JEDDAH - A 50-year old Saudi man has agreed to divorce his 9-year-old bride, media reported on Thursday, after the marriage drew international criticism.

The decision, reported by newspapers Alwatan and Al-Riyadh, came after months of court hearings, criticism from the United Nations and an international media frenzy about Saudi Arabia's human rights practices.

"This is a good step and I think the man did it because he was in a lot of pressure from everyone," Wajeha Al-Huaider, founder of the Group for Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, told Reuters by telephone.

Al-Huaider, who campaigned for the child, said she hoped the pressure generated by the case would eventually lead to a law banning child marriages. >>> | Friday, May 1, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Denmark: 18% of Muslims Want to See Sharia Law Implemented
EUROPE NEWS: Close to a fifth of Muslims in Denmark want to see Sharia law implemented in Denmark. A study conducted by analysis institute Capacent for DR news shows that 18% of Muslims in Denmark declare they 'agree' or 'completely agree' with the statement: "Sharia law should be integrated into Danish law". >>> | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Geert Wilders Applauded at Florida Synagogue

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (ADL): ADL Condemns Anti-Islam Remarks Made by Dutch Parliamentarian During Appearances in S. Florida

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly condemns remarks made over the last few days at various appearances throughout South Florida by Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders. In his speeches, he claimed that "Islam is not a religion" and "the right to religious freedom should not apply to this totalitarian ideology called Islam." Mr. Wilders also stated that the Koran is a book of hatred, and that Mohammed was both "a pedophile and a warlord."

Andrew Rosenkranz, ADL Florida Regional Director, issued the following statement:

The ADL strongly condemns Geert Wilders' message of hate against Islam as inflammatory, divisive and antithetical to American democratic ideals.

This rhetoric is dangerous and incendiary, and wrongly focuses on Islam as a religion, as opposed to the very real threat of extremist, radical Islamists.

[Source: ADL] | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Grippe mexicaine: Les porcs, victimes politiques en Egypte
L'EXPRESS.fr: L'abattage de quelque 250 000 porcs, décidé par les autorités égyptiennes en réaction à l'épidémie de grippe mexicaine, est une mesure bien plus politique qu'utile: elle reflète les tensions communautaires qui montent en Egypte. Décryptage de notre correspondant.

Des porcs marchent au milieu des habitations au Caire, le 28 avril. Photo grâce au Express
La décision prise mercredi 29 avril par le président Hosni Moubarak de faire abattre tous les porcs en Egypte n'a pas grand chose à voir avec la lutte contre la grippe porcine (depuis rebaptisée "grippe mexicaine"), même si elle en est une conséquence directe.

Les autorités égyptiennes ne s'en cachent d'ailleurs pas: "Nous profitons de cette occasion pour régler la question de l'élevage sauvage", a déclaré un porte-parole du ministère de la Santé. Les porcs sont pour la plupart élevés dans des conditions d'insalubrité extrême par la minorité chrétienne (environ 8% de la population) et notamment par les éboueurs du Caire, les fameux zabbalines dont Soeur Emmanuelle avait partagé la vie.

Leur abattage est "une mesure d'hygiène générale, pour transférer ce genre d'élevage dans de vraies fermes, pas dans des décharges", a précisé Saber Abdelaziz Galal, directeur du département des maladies infectieuses au ministère de l'Agriculture.

Ce que les autorités ne disent pas, c'est que cette mesure extrême et totalement inutile pour endiguer l'épidémie (elle est d'ailleurs critiquée par l'OMS et la FAO) est aussi -et sans doute surtout- politique. Depuis le début de la semaine, la pression n'avait cessé de monter en Egypte, où la majorité musulmane est très hostile à l'élevage des porcs, un animal considéré comme "impur" par l'Islam. >>> Par Tangi Salaün | Jeudi 30 Avril 2009

I. A. Rehman – Viewpoint: Pakistan’s Neo-Taliban
DAWN: THE militants’ tactical retreat from Buner, an armed operation against them in Dir and some formal assurances by the army top brass have given most Pakistanis a sense of respite. It should now be possible to comprehend the neo-Taliban phenomenon without which they cannot be overcome.

The neo-Taliban have lost all claim to leniency. They must be made to face the full might of the state, except for those who can be trusted with mending their ways. Photo courtesy of Dawn
The armed bands engaged in terrorist activities in the northern parts of Pakistan are called neo-Taliban because it is necessary to distinguish them from the Taliban that overran Afghanistan in the 1990s and about whom conservative Pakistanis entertain some wholesome notions. They condone the Afghan Taliban’s excesses against women and their animalistic hostility to arts and culture, because they want to see the same done in Pakistan. At the same time these elements still praise the Afghan Taliban for unifying their country, for checking violent disorder and for disarming non-state militias. And, latterly, they are hailed for resisting foreign intrusion.

While the neo-Taliban operating against Pakistan can outdo the Afghan Taliban in their animus towards women and democratic institutions, they display none of the characteristics attributed to the latter by their Pakistani supporters. Unlike the Afghan Taliban they are dividing Pakistan and not consolidating its unity; they are increasing violent disorder and not suppressing it; and they are raising non-state militias, not disarming the existing ones.

Finally, the Afghan Taliban could claim to be fighting for their motherland and resisting ‘imperialism’; the neo-Taliban have invaded their patrons’ motherland and are fighting for a brand of imperialism Allama Iqbal had denounced in his 1930 address. Thus, the neo-Taliban cannot be favourably compared with their Afghan predecessors.

A large number of Pakistanis have been confused by the neo-Taliban’s rhetoric that they want to enforce the Islamic Sharia. Nothing can be further from the truth. The neo-Taliban’s precursors in Afghanistan too were not driven by their love of the Sharia. For all one knows, Hikmatyar, Rabbani and Masud, targets of the Taliban offensive, also swore by the Sharia. The Afghan Taliban had a definite political objective — to capture Afghanistan for themselves. The neo-Taliban too have a purely political objective — to establish their rule in a part of Pakistan and if possible over the whole of it. >>> By I.A. Rehman | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Obama "sehr besorgt" über Lage in Pakistan
DIE PRESSE: Die Regierung in Islamabad könne die Sicherheit und Rechtstaatlichkeit im Land derzeit nicht garantieren, so der US-Präsident. Die US-Bürger bittet Obama um Geduld. Er werde alle Anstrengungen unternehmen, "Wohlstand und Sicherheit zu stärken".

Bild dank der Presse
US-Präsident Barack Obama hat sich "sehr besorgt" über die Lage in Pakistan geäußert. Die Regierung in Islamabad sei "sehr zerbrechlich" und könne die Sicherheit und Rechtstaatlichkeit im Land derzeit nicht garantieren, sagte Obama auf einer Pressekonferenz zu seinen ersten 100 Tagen im Amt am Mittwochabend (Ortszeit) in Washington.

Die USA sorgten sich derzeit aber nicht um die Sicherheit der Nuklearwaffen in Pakistan, sagte Obama. Allerdings brauche das Land in vieler Hinsicht amerikanische Unterstützung. Derzeit könnten die grundlegenden Bedürfnisse der Bürger Pakistans nicht befriedigt werden. Vor allem sei es wichtig, dass die Regierung in Islamabad erkenne, dass nicht Indien die große Gefahr für Pakistan darstelle, sondern vor allem die Extremisten im eigenen Land. >>> Ag | Donnerstag, 30. April 2009

Dutch Queen Escapes as Driver Crashes into Crowd, Killing Four
THE TELEGRAPH: A car travelling at high speed ploughed into a crowd waiting for Queen Beatrix of Holland, reportedly killing up to four people.


Witnesses said that the black Suzuki Swift appeared to deliberately target an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family in the town of Apeldoorn during festivities to mark Queen's Day, a national holiday.

The car swerved across police railings, where crowds of people were waiting to see the queen pass, and slammed into the foot of a stone monument, where it came to a halt, its bonnet crumpled and scraped.

The royal bus was not hit, and no one in the queen's entourage was injured, officials said.

But television footage showed members of the royal family, riding in the open top bus, clutch their hands to their mouths in shock as the car sped through a barricade right before their eyes. >>> By Nick Squires | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Is 2009 the New 1929? Current Crisis Shows Uncanny Parallels to Great Depression
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Is history repeating itself? The current global downturn has many parallels to the Great Depression. And if the current massive bailout packages fail, the effect on the world's economies could be similarly drastic.

The Germans have always had a penchant for looking to America to gain a glimpse into the future.

They marveled at the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. They admired the gray but affordable Commodore personal computer. And they succumbed to the spell of an Internet company with the odd name of Google.

Will the current crisis be as bad as the Great Depression? Photo courtesy of SpiegelOnline International
Now the Germans are looking across the Atlantic once again, but this time they see images that remind them of their own past, images of sad-looking people standing in long lines, hoping for work.

One of them is Michael Sheehan, who worked as an engineer with a large company until February. Not too long ago, Sheehan was the one doing the hiring. Today he is only one of 900 other job-seekers attending a job fair in a depressing hotel ballroom in Philadelphia.

One of the flyers arranged on the tables exhorts the attendees to "Stay Positive." But Sheehan feels more outraged than positive. Someone at the fair asks him for his resume. "I don't have a resume," he says. "I worked at one company for more than 30 years."

Natalie Ingelido, 21, is standing nearby, trying to calm down her bawling two-year-old son, who clearly doesn't like it here. "I'm looking for a job, any job, in a restaurant, a bar, cleaning, whatever," she says.

In the past, says Ingelido, "Help Wanted" signs were plastered on the doors of shops and bars. The past she refers to is last summer, when Natalie and her husband still lived in their own apartment. Now they live with his parents.

Across America, people like Sheehan and Ingelido are standing in lines, waiting and hoping. At one job fair in New York, the line stretched for several city blocks. Many would turn away, embarrassed to be seen there, whenever TV reporters attempted to document their fates.

More than 5 million people in the United States have lost their jobs since the crisis began. As if the country were undergoing fever convulsions, more than 650,000 were catapulted into the streets in the last month alone. >>> By Spiegel Staff | Thursday, April 29, 2009

Obama Outsources His Presidency: He may come to regret letting Congress write his major legislation
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: While officials in the Obama White House dismissed yesterday's "100 Days" anniversary as a "Hallmark Holiday," they understood it was what sociologist Daniel J. Boorstin called a "pseudo-event." By that, Boorstin meant an occasion that is not spontaneous but planned for the purpose of being reported -- an event that is important because someone says so, not because it is.

What happens in a president's first 100 days rarely characterizes the arc of the 1,361 that follow. Jimmy Carter had a very good first 100 days. Bill Clinton did not.

Still, a president would rather start well than poorly -- and Mr. Obama has a job approval of 63%. That leaves him tied with Mr. Carter, one point ahead of George W. Bush, and behind only Ronald Reagan's 67%. Four of the past six presidents had approval ratings that ranged between 62% and 67%, a statistically insignificant spread.

Mr. Obama is popular because he is a historic figure, has an attractive personality, has passed key legislation, and receives adoring press coverage.

However, there are cautionary signs. Mr. Obama's policies are less popular than his personality, the pace of polarization with Republicans has proceeded faster than ever in history, and independents are thinking more like Republicans on the issues and less like Democrats.

The first 100 days can reveal a pattern of behavior that comes to characterize a presidency. In this respect, there are two emerging habits of Team Obama worth watching.

One is the gap between what Mr. Obama said he would do and what he is doing. His administration is emphasizing in its official 100 days talking points steps he has taken to "deliver on the change he promised." During the campaign, Mr. Obama denounced the $2.3 trillion added to the national debt on Mr. Bush's watch as "deficits as far as the eye can see." But Mr. Obama's budget adds $9.3 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. What happened to Obama the deficit hawk?

From Mr. Obama's Denver acceptance speech through the campaign, Mr. Obama did not publicly utter the phrase "universal health care." Instead, his campaign ran ads attacking "government-run health care" as "extreme." Now Mr. Obama is asking, as he did at a townhall meeting last month, "Why not do a universal health care system like the European countries?" Maybe because he was elected by intimating that would be "extreme"? >>> By Karl Rove* | Thursday, April 30, 2009

*Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.

Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" Speech
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Ronald Reagan's Address to the British Parliament
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Barack Obama Can't Trust to Luck to Fix the Economy
THE TELEGRAPH: The President has dithered over the banks and the economy in his first 100 days in power, says Edmund Conway.

President Barack Hussein Obama needs to relax a little less and work a little harder to sort out the economic mess facing America right now. The US economy shrank by 6.1% in the first three months of this year. Largely under HIS watch! –©Mark. Photo: Google Images
Barack Obama is a pretty superstitious guy. During the marathon presidential campaign, he made a routine of playing basketball on each of the various polling days, and carried with him a pocketful of lucky trinkets, including a poker chip and a small golden statue of the Monkey King. So one rather fears for his reaction to the inauspicious omens yesterday, on his 100th day in office.

As if the first US death from swine flu weren’t bad enough, the President had to contend with news that the economy slumped by an annual rate of 6.1 per cent in the first three months of the year – far more than most experts were expecting. Jeff Frankel, a leading institutional economist, declared that this is now the longest and sharpest slump since the Great Depression.

The banking system is still in crisis, house prices are in freefall and unemployment is climbing rapidly; those seeking out green shoots are likely to be disappointed, since the economy is hardly through the danger zone. The only consolation comes from the stock market, which is more or less flat since Obama took over, and the fact that most other economies are in a worse state. More worryingly, the new president has yet to convince us that he is more Franklin D Roosevelt than Herbert Hoover. Those of us who hoped that the new president would infuse genuine urgency into the rescue plan, for either the economy or the financial system, have been sorely disappointed. The language may be more sincere, the speeches more glamorous, but the response is still nowhere near bold enough. All the criticisms of the initial Bush “rescue” – that it nationalised the financial system’s losses while allowing the bankers to make off with the profits; that it failed to draw a line under the institutions’ previous failures – remain applicable to Obama’s scheme. >>> By Edmund Conway | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

100-Tage-Bilanz: Obama verurteilt die Foltermethoden der Bush-Ära
WELT ONLINE: In Washington hat US-Präsident Barack Obama seinen Bruch mit der Bush-Ära und Foltermethoden wie dem "Waterboarding" verteidigt. "Die juristischen Rechtfertigungen" unter seinem Vorgänger für diese Verhörmethoden seien falsch gewesen. Zudem versprach Obama einen unermüdlichen Kampf für Wohlstand und Sicherheit.

US-Präsident Barack Obama hat das berüchtigte "Waterboarding", mit dem mutmaßliche al-Qaida-Häftlinge zu Geständnissen gezwungen werden sollten, als "Folter" verurteilt.

In einer Zwischenbilanz seiner ersten hundert Tage verteidigte Obama seine Entscheidung, mit vielen Entscheidungen seines Vorgängers George W. Bush zu brechen. >>> AFP/fsl | Donnerstag, 30. April 2009

Gordon Brown Suffers Humiliating Defeat in Gurkha Vote as Labour MPs Rebel
THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown suffered a humiliating Commons defeat over his refusal to allow Gurkha veterans to live in Britain as a number of Labour MPs rebelled.

Joanna Lumley thanks Telegraph readers for Gurkha support.
In a significant blow to the Prime Minister's already fragile authority, MPs voted for a motion calling for the scrapping of new immigration rules that would prevent many Gurkhas coming to live in the country they served.

With the backing of Labour rebels and the Conservative Party, a Liberal Democrat motion demanding the admission of all Gurkha veterans and their families was passed by 267 to 241.

In all, 27 Labour MPs voted with the Opposition, and dozens more abstained, defying orders to support the Government. One ministerial aide, Stephen Pound, resigned from the Government to vote with the rebels.

Deepening the Government's embarrassment, the Commons defeat came despite last-minute concessions to Labour rebels from Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

Only hours before the vote, Mr Brown had told MPs that the Government could not afford to admit all the Gurkhas, claiming that doing so would cost £1.4 billion.

Campaigners and opposition leaders said that the Government must now drop its curbs on admitting Gurkhas and their families and allow all Nepalese veterans of the British Army to live in the UK. >>> By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Muslim Cleric Who Blames British Mosques for the 7/7 Bombings, Says Multiculturalism Is a Disaster and Would Throw Islamic Fanatics Out
The MailOnline is yet another newspaper – there are so many these days – which has fallen for the guff that the Islam of al-Qaeda is a warped and twisted version of the ‘religion’. Dr Taj Hargey comes along and says exactly what these soft-thinking, ill-advised journalists want to hear! They fall for the crap. It keeps these people in their comfort zone.

Truth is, though, that OBL’s version of Islam is the real thing, regardless of what Dr Taj Hargey says. Indeed it is, as I have stated before, every bit as much the real thing as Coke is to cola! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

It raises the very important question: Where did Dr Taj Hargey learn his version of Islam? Certainly not from the Koran! – ©Mark

Violence: Dr Taj Hargey deplores fanatics such as the suicide bombers who targeted London. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: You can usually find at least one in any saloon bar, ready to give you the benefit of their peppery views on the parlous state of Britain today.

This particular example is a clean shaven, middle-aged man with the de rigueur attire of carefully knotted mustard tie and blue, golf club-style blazer.

Brass cuff buttons flash as he pounds an angry fist on to his knee.

'I will give £5 to anyone in Britain who wants to live under Sharia law,' he declares. 'It will help pay for their ticket to Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, or wherever it is customary to live under Sharia law.

'Please, please go and leave us alone. This is Britain, not 10th century Arabia!'

We are indeed sitting in a bar, on a busy main road in Oxford.

But the man before me is no stereotypical Islamophobe.

For one, he is sipping a glass of water rather than something more inflammatory.

More importantly, though by no means obviously, Dr Taj Hargey is himself an Islamic cleric; perhaps the most controversial imam in Britain today.

In an age when the highest-profile Muslim preachers are bearded, anti-Western firebrands such as Abu Hamza or Omar Bakri Dr Hargey seems an anomaly.

He does not care much for male facial hair. He believes that women can be both seen and heard, even in a mosque at Friday prayers.

And don't even get him started on the sort of fanatics who blow up London buses, or the poisonous teachings that inspired them.

After three men were cleared this week on charges of assisting the July 7 bombers, there have been calls for an inquiry into blunders made by the security services.

But Dr Hargey has little doubt who, and what, is truly to blame for unleashing such terrorism on our streets.

'It is the extremist ideology present in many UK mosques which is the cement behind nihilistic plots such as this,' he says.

'They are twisting Islam.' >>> By Richard Pendlebury | Thursday, April 30, 2009

Muslim Demographics: The Islamic Tidal Wave

Hat tip: Vlad Tepes >>>

The Muslim Viewpoint: Finally, Hijab in the Danish Politics?
Yes, "a historical day” indeed! The day Europe started moving in retrograde motion - officially! And when will we “finally” have a church in Mecca (Makkah) to mark our “historical day”? When will Westerners “finally” even be allowed to enter Mecca? And when will Westerners be able to walk down the streets in Saudi Arabia wearing mini-skirts or tight trousers? Now those truly would be “historical days”.

This is not a sign of integration at all; on the contrary, it is a sign that Muslims in Europe are NOT integrating, still less assimilating.

The Muslims of Europe are hell-bent on taking the advanced, Western world back to the Dark Ages, to a New Dark Age, as I wrote in my book.

This image of Asma is redolent of a woman in the pre-Victorian Age – the Middle Ages, in fact! If Muslims call this progress, and I'm sure that very, very many of them do, there is something seriously wrong with their judgement! – ©Mark

Asmaa Abd El-Hamid. Photo courtesy of Islam Online
ISLAM ONLINE: “A historical day,” that’s how the Danish media described the day when Asmaa Abd El-Hamid, a 27 Danish Muslim veiled politician of a Palestinian origin, attended a council meeting as a substitute for a member of the Unity List. It was the first time in Odense, the third biggest Danish city where she attended the meeting, and in the whole Danish history that witnesses a veiled woman taking part in a Local Council meeting.

Ms. Abd El-Hamid told IslamOnline.net (IOL)’s European Muslims Page that she is intending to put forward the social, economical, and international issues in the coming meetings as they are placed at the top of her agenda. By holding this position she is planning to discuss her main issues, such as the social equality between Muslims and Non-Muslims in both education and recruitment, the recognition of the independent Palestinian state, and the rejection of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Asmaa has a lot of creative social and political ideas which she aspires to work on. Although Ms. Abd El-Hamid regards this step as "unprecedented," she is not only aiming at the veil’s existence in the parliament or in the political field. She also insists that she has been elected for this position "by both Muslims and non Muslims votes." >>> By Salma El-Gazzar | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Gov't Drops 'Swine Flu' Name over Pork Protests
Photo courtesy of USA Today
USATODAY: President Obama didn't have a single word to say about "swine flu" today. But he had a lot to say about the outbreak of the "H1N1" virus. That should make the hog industry happier.

U.S. officials, particularly the agricultural department, were under pressure from the pork lobby that fears the term "swine flu" is confusing people into thinking they can catch the virus from pork, which they can't, the AP says.

Or as Pork News explains, the government believes that the term swine flu "might be catchy, but it's not accurate."

Israeli officials have also weighed in. This week, deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, who belongs to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, suggested renaming swine flu as "Mexican flu," saying that the reference to pigs is offensive to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, The Guardian reports. >>> USA Today | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Your Online Source for Credible Health Information Swine Influenza (Flu) >>>

Egypt Orders Slaughter of All Pigs over Swine Flu
ASSOCIATED PRESS: CAIRO — Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who blocked streets and stoned vehicles of Health Ministry workers who came to carry out the government's order.

The measure was a stark expression of the panic the deadly outbreak is spreading around the world, especially in poor countries with weak public health systems. Egypt responded similarly a few years ago to an outbreak of bird flu, which is endemic to the country and has killed two dozen people.

At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, scores of angry farmers blocked the street to prevent Health Ministry workers in trucks and bulldozers from coming in to slaughter the animals. Some pelted the vehicles with rocks and shattered their windshields and the workers left without killing any pigs.

"We remind Hosni Mubarak that we are all Egyptians. Where does he want us to go?" said Gergis Faris, a 46-year-old pig farmer in another part of Cairo who collects garbage to feed his animals. "We are uneducated people, just living day by day and trying to make a living, and now if our pigs are taken from us without compensation, how are we supposed to live?" >>> By Maamoun Youssef | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Taliban Harasses Christians in Pakistan
BAPTIST PRESS: WASHINGTON--Amid escalating violence perpetrated by the Taliban in Pakistan, two reports on the status of Christians in the country contain varying details.



The Washington-based International Christian Concern reported that two Christians were executed and others were physically abused by Taliban militants in Karachi April 21 after the Christians protested orders from the Taliban to convert to Islam or die.



A subsequent report by Compass Direct News, though, said the execution-style killings could not be verified. Baptist Press asked ICC to confirm the initial report, and the group was attempting to do so at press time. In their news releases, both Compass Direct and ICC relied on comments from individuals who were not on the scene. 



ICC reported April 24 that pro-Taliban graffiti messages were written on two churches in Karachi, including the phrases "Long Live the Taliban" and "Embrace Islam or Prepare to Die." Christians complained to the government and then staged a peaceful protest, the watchdog group said.



Following the protest, more than 100 masked Taliban militants invaded the community with automatic rifles, causing Christian residents to hide in their homes. >>> By Staff | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Yemen: Desecrator Faces Apostasy Charges
YEMEN POST: A Yemeni charged with ripping up and treading on the Quran will face court on apostasy charges after he was found guilty of desecration.

Judicial source said Wednesday investigations with Abdullah Al-Baidhani have been completed and he is expected to appear in court soon.

However, the source said that prosecutors are investigating the mob who destroyed the three-storey house of the desecrator and burned his two cars after Al-Baidhani tore up the Quran and insulted it before the people in Al-Hasaba area, Sana'a. >>> Yemen Post Staff | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Zwischen USA und Israel droht Eiszeit
DIE PRESSE: Die USA beharren auf einer Zwei-Staaten-Lösung im Nahen Osten, Israels neue Rechtsregierung ist dagegen. Ein Konflikt zwischen den Verbündeten ist programmiert.

Bild: Google Images
JERUSALEM. Den bisher engen Beziehungen zwischen Washington und Jerusalem droht eine Abkühlung. Diese Woche erst weilte US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton zu einem Blitzbesuch in der Hauptstadt des Libanon, ohne jedoch, was ungewöhnlich ist, einen Abstecher nach Jerusalem zu machen. Offenbar scheut sie ein Treffen mit dem neuen Regierungschef Benjamin Netanjahu und ihrem weit rechts stehenden israelischen Amtskollegen Avigdor Lieberman. Kernpunkt des Zwistes zwischen Israel und den USA ist die Zwei-Staaten-Lösung, die die Regierung Netanjahu ablehnt, das Weiße Haus hingegen unverändert als einzige Möglichkeit für Frieden im Nahen Osten betrachtet.

Netanjahus Versuch, die Palästinenser mit dem Angebot zu ködern, er würde über zwei Staaten verhandeln – vorausgesetzt, die Führung in Ramallah erkennt Israel als jüdischen Staat an –, scheiterte wenig überraschend. „Nennt euch doch, wie ihr wollt, das geht mich nichts an“, konterte Palästinenserpräsident Mahmoud Abbas diese Woche flapsig. „Es gibt einen Staat Israel in den Grenzen von 1967, keinen Zentimeter mehr, und keinen weniger. Etwas anderes akzeptiere ich nicht.“ >>> Von Susanne Knaul (Die Presse) | Mittwoch, 29. April 2009

«Afrikanischer Barbar» in Paris vor Gericht: Junger Jude zu Tode gefoltert – der Hauptangeklagte grinst
NZZ Online: Vor dem Pariser Geschworenengericht hat der Prozess gegen die sogenannte Bande der Barbaren begonnen. 27 Personen stehen vor Gericht. Sie hatten 2006 einen jungen jüdischen Mann entführt und über drei Wochen hinweg langsam zu Tode gefoltert.

Youssouf Fofana wird abgeführt, 2006 in Côte d'Ivoire. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
Das Opfer Ilan Halimi starb auf dem Weg ins Krankenhaus, nachdem ihn seine Peiniger nackt, geschunden und entkräftet an Bahngleisen nördlich von Paris abgelegt hatten. Der mutmassliche Anführer der Gruppe, Youssouf Fofana, wollte mit der Entführung bis zu 450 000 Euro Lösegeld erpressen. Ihm droht lebenslange Haft.

Zum Auftakt des auf zehn Wochen angelegten Prozesses sorgte am Mittwoch Fofana für einen Eklat. Mit breitem Grinsen und nach oben gerecktem Daumen erschien er vor Gericht und rief «Allah wird siegen». Auf die Frage nach seinem Familiennamen antwortete er: «Afrikanischer Barbar, bewaffnet, aufrührerisch, salafistisch.» Als sein Geburtsdatum gab er den 13. Februar 2006 an, den Todestag seines Opfers Halimi. >>> ap | Mittwoch, 29. April 2009

YOUTUBE: Ilan Halimi (zal) – Never Forget

Pour l'OMS, la pandémie de grippe porcine est imminente
LE FIGARO: L'OMS a décidé mercredi soir de déclencher la phase 5 d'alerte, considérant la pandémie comme «imminente». En France, 25 cas sont en cours d'investigation, dont deux sont très fortemement susceptibles d'être contaminés.

Photo grâce au Figaro
L'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) redoute plus que jamais l'explosion d'une pandémie de grippe porcine. L'agence sanitaire, qui recense pour l'instant 105 cas confirmés dans le monde, a décidé mercredi soir de déclencher la phase 5 d'alerte pandémique, sur une échelle de six niveaux. La phase 5 indique que la maladie se transmet à rythme soutenu d'homme à homme, dans au moins deux pays. L'OMS appelle les pays à activer leur plan de préparation à la pandémie.

Dans la journée, les pays avaient déjà multiplié les mesures préventives : interdiction d'importation des porcs mexicains en Chine, Thaïlande ou Equateur et incitation à ne pas se rendre au Mexique émise par le Canada, le Royaume-Uni, la France, l'Italie ou les Pays-Bas. Barack Obama a demandé mardi soir au Congrès d'accorder une aide de 1,5 milliard de dollars pour à renforcer les capacités de réaction américaines face à cette crise sanitaire.

Au Mexique, foyer d'origine du virus mutant H1N1, le gouvernement de Felipe Calderon, accusé de n'avoir pas su réagir à temps face à l'épidémie , a décidé la fermeture des sites archéologiques. Les autorités mexicaines, qui avaient jusqu'ici compté 20 cas de décès dûs à la grippe porcine, ont ramené ce chiffre à sept et 159 cas de décès «suspects» qui pourraient être dûs à la maladie. Pas moins de 1.300 personnes sont hospitalisées pour des symptômes ressemblant à ceux de la grippe porcine. Dans la ville de Mexico, restaurants, cafés et discothèques ont été fermés. Le pays a mis en place un système de dépistage rapide qui doit permettre de détecter et d'isoler plus rapidement les citoyens soupçonnés d'être contaminés. >>> S.L. et B.H. (lefigaro.fr) avec agencies | Mercredi 29 Avril 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Geert Wilders: "The Take-over of Europe Is Part of the Global Fight of Islam for World Domination"
Geert Wilders. Photo: Google Images
EUROPE NEWS: - Freedom of Speech -
Here is Geert Wilders's acceptance speech for the Freedom Award he was given by the Florida Security Council in Miami on April 27:

Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me and thank you US border police for allowing me to enter this country. These are dramatic times. Europe might be very well on its way to destruction. We are now witnessing the largest influx in human history. This is endangering our heritage, our freedom, our prosperity and our culture. I wish I had come to a place they call the sunshine state with better news, but it would be unwise to deny the situation is gloomy.

It might take a while to have you understand the situation we are in now. Maybe you as Americans still think of Europe as a place with great culture, and a profound way of looking at things. Maybe you see immigration as something that is inherently good for a country, as it contributed so much to the United States.

The Europe you know from a tourist visit or from the story of your grandparents is on the verge of collapsing. We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe’s destiny and might send the continent in what Ronald Reagan once called ‘a thousand years of darkness’. >>> Jihad Watch | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

In Egypt, a Blogger Tries to Spread 'Culture of Disobedience' among Youths
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Mohamed Abdel Aziz's Facebook group that opposes Mubarak's rule has drawn 76,000 followers. Though its calls for nationwide strikes have flopped, he remains determined.

Reporting from Cairo -- An activist in a police state should know when to sprint.

Mohamed Abdel Aziz has bolted from trouble a number of times, including dashing from security forces closing in on a demonstration in the port city of Alexandria. His less mercurial moments have three times landed him in police stations, but upon each release he has returned to his computer, opened his blog and conspired in cyberspace to end President Hosni Mubarak's 27-year rule of Egypt.

That's an unlikely prospect. But Aziz, a thin man in black clothes with a wristwatch shimmying up and down his arm, is a founder of the 6th of April, a protest movement that draws from a Facebook group of nearly 76,000 people, mostly high school and university students. The movement opines, plots and Twitters, though it has yet to generate feet in the street: Three of its calls for nationwide strikes drew more police than protesters.

"No one knows when the trigger of revolution will be pulled. The state is oppressive, but ordinary Egyptians from all over sympathize with us," said Aziz, who likes to recall the passions that roused his countrymen's 1919 revolution against the British.

"When we started using Facebook it was a novelty," he said. "Calling for a national strike was a novelty. It was like lighting a candle in a dark room. But this is still an oppressive state, and people are scared." >>> By Jeffrey Fleishman | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Obamissism

Yes, yes, yes, Obama! The world still loves you – for NOW! So you can keep on looking into that pool of water! – Mark

MAIL Online: He is the most photographed man on the planet.

And, just in case we had forgotten that, the White House has issued a new series of photographs to commemorate Barack Obama's 100 days in office today.

One hundred photographs for 100 days would have been enough for anyone - but, just to drive the point home, the White House has decided to include three times that number in the set. >>> By Mail Foreign Service | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Cambridge Ideas: How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take to Change a Man?
THE TELEGRAPH: We have an addiction to energy that is not sustainable with oil, coal and gas. David MacKay, a physics professor at Cambridge University, investigates what it will take to get Britain off fossil fuels.

How many lightbulbs does it take to change a man?
Government advice about reducing number of plastic bags or switching of your phone charger when you are not using it is distracting Britons from the real energy issue, argues Prof MacKay: how will Britain power itself in a non-fossil fuelled world? >>> | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sustainable Energy – without the hot air >>>

Germany Contracts 6pc as Eurozone Bank Deposits Fall at Fastest Rate Since Depression
THE TELEGRAPH: Germany has slashed its growth forecast, admitting in an embarrassing volte-face that the economy will contract by 6pc this year in the worst recession of any major country in the Western world.

Economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said the slump was almost entirely due to the collapse of exports, insisting that a "global revival" will restore growth next year.

Even this may be too optimistic. The International Monetary Fund expects a further 1pc contraction in 2010. Left Party leader Oskar Lafontaine said Berlin seemed to be hoping and praying that other countries would "pull the German economy out of the mud", sitting on its hands as unemployment reaches 4.6m next year.

Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said company bank deposits in the eurozone have begun to contract at rates not seen since the early 1930s, threatening severe damage in coming months unless the European Central Bank shifts gears fast.

"It's a catastrophe. Company bank deposits have been falling at 1pc a month since December. It is what happened in the US during the Great Depression, and it is why we are seeing such a horrific recession in Europe now," he said. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Jihadists from Leeds Sentenced to Seven Years in Jail for Planned Terror Trips
TIMESONLINE: Two men who planned to attend a terrorist training camp were both sentenced to seven years in jail today.

Waheed Ali, 25, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, were cleared of helping the 7/7 bombers to select their targets but convicted of conspiracy to attend a training camp for terrorists after they were arrested before boarding a flight for Pakistan in 2007.

Mr Justice Gross sentenced the pair to seven years each at Kingston Crown Court.

Both men have already spent more than two years in custody, which will be deducted from the time they will serve. They admitted attending terrorist training camps in the past, before it had been made an offence.

Ali and Shakil stood trial with Sadeer Saleem, 28, for assisting the 7/7 attacks on London. Yesterday all three were found not guilty. The three men, from Beeston in Leeds, were re-tried after an earlier jury failed to reach verdicts. >>> Times Online | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Express Editor: British Media ‘Shackled’ by Laws
DAILY EXPRESS: THE media is “shackled” to such an extent that the UK does not really have a free press, the editor of the Daily Express said yesterday.

Peter Hill told a committee of MPs examining standards in journalism that they should be looking for ways of removing constraints on the media, not imposing new ones.

Mr Hill also apologised again for printing inaccurate stories suggesting Kate and Gerry McCann were responsible for the death of their daughter Madeleine, but said they had come from what he believed were credible sources in the Portuguese police.

The idea that newspapers could print whatever they liked about ­people with impunity was mistaken, he said.

“We have got the laws of libel which are the most severe in the world,” he told the House of Commons select committee on culture, media and sport.

“We have got the law of confidence, which is now being used extensively by celebrities; we have got the law of privacy which is coming in; we have got European law; we are pretty much up to our ears in laws.”

Legal firms who went round offering so-called “no win no fee” deals – technically known as conditional fee arrangements (CFA) – on libel actions had created a “ridiculous” situation and people came from all over the world to sue in British courts.

The constitutional right to freedom of expression in the US ensured a genuinely free press across the ­Atlantic, he said.

“We do not have a free press in this country by any means – we have a very, very shackled press,” he said.

“You should be looking at means of removing those shackles, not imposing more.” A genuinely free press is essential to the proper functioning of a democratic society, he said. >>> By Damon Wake | Wednesday, April 29, 2009