Friday, May 08, 2009
REUTERS: AMMAN - Pope Benedict began a delicate trip to the Middle East on Friday by expressing "deep respect" for Islam and calling for a three-way dialogue of Christians, Muslims and Jews to help peace.
The 82-year-old pope appeared careful to avoid politically tinged statements at the start of his first visit to the region, which will also take him to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community," Benedict said in his arrival address, praising King Abdullah for his work in "promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam."
Benedict's Regensburg speech in 2006, in which he implied Islam was violent and irrational, still rankles in the Islamic world. Jordanian Islamist leaders have denounced the visit, saying he should apologise for the Regensburg speech first.
The pope tactfully avoided politics in responding to reporters' questions on the plane taking him to Jordan, stressing the potential of religion to help resolve conflicts.
"We are not a political power but a spiritual force and this spiritual force is a reality that can contribute to progress in the peace process," he told journalists aboard his airplane.
"As believers we are convinced that prayer is a real force, it opens the world to God. We are convinced that God listens and can affect history and I think that if millions of believers pray it really is a force that has influence and can make a contribution to moving ahead with peace," he said. >>> By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan. Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi, editing by Mark Trevelyan | Friday, May 8, 2009
Watch BBC video: Pope Benedict XVI says he has 'deep respect' for the Muslim community >>>
BBC:
Pope Begins Mid-East Pilgrimage >>> | Friday, May 8, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Worship is forced on 99 per cent of children without even asking what they think
Let us now put our hands together and pray. O God, we gather here today to ask you to free our schoolchildren from being forced to go through this charade every day. As you know, O Lord, because You see all, British law requires every schoolchild to participate in "an act of collective worship" every 24 hours. Irrespective of what the child thinks or believes, they are shepherded into a hall, silenced, and forced to pray – or pretend to.
If they refuse to bow their heads to You, they are punished. This happened to me, because I protested that there is no evidence whatsoever that You exist, and plenty of proof that shows the texts describing You are filled with falsehoods. When I pointed this out, I was told to stop being "blasphemous" and threatened with detention. "Shut up and pray," a teacher told me on one occasion. Are you proud, O Lord?
Forcing children to take part in religious worship every day is a law worthy of a theocracy, not a liberal democracy where 70 per cent of adults never attend a religious ceremony. That's why the Association of Teachers and Lecturers – one of the teachers' unions – has recently moved to ask the Government to stop forcing its members to take part in this practice.
Why does this anachronism persist in this blessedly irreligious country? For all their whining that they are "persecuted", the religious minority in Britain are in fact accorded remarkable privileges. They are given a bench-full of unelected positions in the legislature, protection from criticism in the law, and vast amounts of public money to indoctrinate children into their belief systems in every school in the land. >>> Johann Hari | Friday, May 8, 2009
MAIL Online: A Muslim dentist refused to treat patients unless they wore traditional Islamic dress, it was alleged today.
Omer Butt, 32, ordered women to put on head scarves or he would not register them or their families at his NHS-funded clinic, it was claimed.
At least two patients were left in pain after they declined to follow his self-imposed rules, the General Dental Council heard.
It is the second time that the dentist - who is the brother of a former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun - has appeared before the council's disciplinary panel on similar allegations.
Two years ago he was reprimanded for telling an Asian mother-of-two he would not register her unless she wore the Muslim hijab.
The GDC heard how Butt believed it was his duty to stop Muslim patients committing what he believed was a religious sin.
He even put a laminated sign on the wall of his waiting room telling patients they would have to adhere to his strict dress code or find another dentist.
John Snell, for the GDC, said: 'He sought to impose a dress code on patients attending his practice.
'He required that women cover their hair with a head scarf, or hijab, and that male patients remove any gold jewellery.
'If he had simply expressed a preference, without imposing any compulsion to adhere to this dress code, there may be no cause for complaint.
'However, he insisted - and those who did not comply were refused treatment.
'He made compliance with Islamic dress code a condition of treatment, which is entirely inappropriate under the auspices of the National Health Service.
'Patients should have access to NHS treatment regardless of their religious observance, or otherwise.' >>> By Tom Kelly | Friday, May 8, 2009
TIMESONLINE: Beauty may well be in the eye of the beholder but in a country where a woman’s eyes are the only feature on public display, judging a beauty pageant could prove awkward.
For that reason the future Miss Saudi Arabia will not win on the merits of her figure in a bikini or her perfect skin, but will instead secure the coveted crown by dint of her devotion to her parents and Islamic values.
As of tomorrow 200 veiled hopefuls will start a ten-week process to find the winner of “Miss Beautiful Morals”, including a workshop entitled “Mum, paradise is at your feet”, a reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s dictum that respect for one’s parents is a foundation of the faith. “The idea of the pageant is to measure the contestants’ commitment to Islamic morals . . . It’s an alternative to the calls for decadence in the other beauty contests that only take into account a woman’s body and looks,” Khadra al-Mubarak, the event’s founder, said.
Unlike other competitions abroad, there will be no men involved at any stage in Saudi Arabia’s only contest for young women and it will not be televised, allowing the competitors to take off the veils and black abayas that cover Saudi women from head to toe. “The winner won’t necessarily be pretty,” Ms al-Mubarak said. “We care about the beauty of the soul and the morals.” >>> James Hider, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 07, 2009
DAILY EXPRESS: A RACE hate preacher who praised the July 7 London suicide bombers has been freed from jail – after serving barely 12 months of a four-and-a-half year sentence.
Abu Izzadeen, 33, was back on the streets yesterday after being jailed for inciting UK Muslims to kill British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The firebrand cleric praised suicide bombers, tried to justify the beheading of British hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq, and told followers: “The Americans and British only understand one language. It’s the language of blood.”
Last night Tory MP Patrick Mercer condemned Britain’s soft-bellied justice and warned: “This man will be back on the streets shortly, preaching hate, subverting young minds and trying to inspire people to violence and suicide.”
Izzadeen – born Trevor Brooks in Jamaica – has nine children and will rake in around £800 a month in benefits.
He posed outside his east London home yesterday but declined to answer questions, saying only: “I am in a rush, I have got an appointment.”
His sentence was cut by the Court of Appeal. Judges took a year off at a hearing last week, as well as reducing the sentences of four other Islamic extremists. Fanatic Freed to Stir Up Hate >>> By John Twomey | Thursday, May 7, 2009
TIMESONLINE: The American “shock jock” radio host Michael Savage, who was included on a Home Office list of 16 people banned from entering the country, last night urged his listeners to boycott Britain.
He told his audience that Americans should not travel to Britain or buy British goods, and delivered a personal message to Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who made the decision to include him on the list of unwanted foreigners: “Unless you remove my name forthwith, unless you admit you made a mistake, I will bring a major libel suit against you personally and I will win.”
Mr Savage opened fire on the Home Secretary on the conservative news website WorldNetDaily , where he said that his message to her and the British people was: “Shame on you. Shame that you’ve fallen to such a low level.”
“It’s interesting to me that here I am, a talk show host who does not advocate violence, who advocates patriotic traditional values — borders, language, culture — who is now on a list banned in England.
“What does that say about the Government of England? It says more about them than it says about me.” Mr Savage, 67, said that he had no plans to travel to Britain, which he last visited more than 20 years ago, and joked to the San Francisco Chronicle:
“My first thought was, damn, there goes the summer trip where I planned to have my dental work done. My second thought was, darn, there goes my visit to the restaurants of England for their great cuisine.” >>> Mike Harvey in San Francisco, Richard Ford and Frances Gibb | Thursday, May 7, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has demanded that the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan intensify their campaigns against the Taliban amid fears the region could be overrun by extremism.
Both the US president and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, held frank discussions with Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari, the countries' respective leaders, at the White House before a declaration was due to be issued underlining their commitment to co-operate in the battle against terrorism.
Dozens of other meetings were also held at ministerial level in a "tripartite summit" in Washington, as the Obama administration sought to build collaboration between neighbours who have a history of suspicion and mistrust, and to convince them of Washington's sincere interest in their plights.
With the war in Afganistan no nearer to an end, and Pakistan's civilian government in danger of collapse, Mrs Clinton told the two leaders: "We have made this common cause because we face a common threat. We have a common task, and a common challenge.
"We know that each of your countries is struggling with the extremists who would destabilise and undermine democracy."
Mr Zardari, the husband of the late Benazir Bhutto who has governed Pakistan for eight turbulent months, promised to "stand shoulder to shoulder against this cancer, this threat" of terrorism with his "dear brother" Mr Karzai and Washington. >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
TIMESONLINE: A majority of the people who were named by the Home Office as being banned from entering the country have never sought to travel to Britain, it emerged today.
Two of the 16 people named by Jacqui Smith as excluded from Britain are in prison in Russia where they are serving 20-year sentences.
The disclosure came as a US talk-show host said that he would sue the Government for defamation after being placed on the list.
Michael Weiner, also known as Michael Savage, a shock-jock broadcaster in America, has described the Koran as “a book of hate” and questioned the validity of autism.
He told his radio audience in the US that he intended to sue Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who he described as the “lunatic... Home Secretary of England”.
He said: “To link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with Hamas murderers who kill people on buses is defamation.”
In an article posted on his website, he said that he did not advocate violence but traditional values.
He wrote: “What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me.”
A leading media lawyer said today that lawyers would be “falling over themselves” to offer their services. >>> Richard Ford and Frances Gibb | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
DIE PRESSE: Vor dem Hintergrund eines Nato-Manövers erhöhen sich die Spannungen. Tiflis meldet einen Putsch-Versuch. Russland, das eine Einladung zur Beobachtung ausgeschlagen hat, sieht die Militärübung als „offene Provokation“.
MOSKAU. Genau neun Monate nach dem Fünftagekrieg zwischen Russland und Georgien im August 2008 ist die Atmosphäre zwischen den beiden Nachbarn wieder zum Zerreißen gespannt. Laut des georgischen Präsidenten Michail Saakaschwili hat Russland an der Vorbereitung eines Militärputsches in seinem Land mitgewirkt. Das US-Verteidigungsministerium hingegen sprach von einem „ziemlich isolierten Zwischenfall“. >>> EDUARD STEINER, Korrespondent der Presse | Mittwoch, 5. Mai 2009
leJDD.fr: Barack Obama reçoit mercredi les présidents afghan, Hamid Karzaï, et pakistanais, Asif Ali Zardari. Les trois hommes participeront à un sommet tripartite sur la situation régionale. Objectif pour le président américain: préciser sa stratégie de lutte contre Al-Qaïda dans un contexte de renforcement des taliban. Pour leJDD.fr, Karim Pakzad*, spécialiste de la région à l'Iris, explique les enjeux.
Le Pakistan et l'Afghanistan en sommet... à Washington. Sur deux jours, mercredi et jeudi, Barack Obama recevra séparément - et pour la première fois depuis son arrivée à la Maison blanche - l'Afghan Hamid Karzaï et le Pakistanais Asif Ali Zardari, avant de les réunir pour un sommet tripartite sur la situation régionale, rendez-vous institué par George W. Bush il y a trois ans. Le contexte est particulier: côté américain, la nouvelle administration a fait de l'Afghanistan une priorité ; côté afghan, le pays se prépare à l'élection présidentielle du 20 août ; côté pakistanais, les taliban paraissent plus fort que jamais et les combats se rapprochent de la capitale. Lors de ces tête-à-tête, Barack Obama espère convaincre Kaboul et Islamabad, dont les relations ne sont pas toujours évidentes, de l'utilité d'une démarche régionale pour vaincre Al-Qaïda. >>> Propos recueillis par Marianne ENAULT, leJDD.fr | Mardi 05 Mai 2009
NZZ Online: Bei einem Besuch im Weissen Haus in Washington hat der israelische Staatspräsident Peres Unterstützung für Obamas neue Iran-Politik bekundet.
Israel unterstützt nach den Worten von Staatspräsident Shimon Peres die neue amerikanische Politik zur Annäherung an den Iran.
«Wir werden loyale Befürworter sein», sagte Peres nach einem Gespräch mit US-Präsident Barack Obama im Weissen Haus.
«Wenn sie gelingt, wird es das Beste sein», fügte Peres über die US-Politik hinzu. Er nannte keine Einzelheiten.
Obama verfolgt die Politik einer Öffnung gegenüber der Führung in Teheran und schliesst auch direkte Gespräche auf höchster Ebene nicht aus. >>> sda/dpa | Mittwoch, 6. Mai 2009
TIMESONLINE: An American “shock jock” said last night that he was planning legal action against the Government after discovering that he had been on a list of 16 people banned from entering Britain since October.
Michael Savage, who hosts the “Savage Nation” radio show, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had been defamed and endangered by the decision made by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.
“This lunatic . . . is linking me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia,” he said. “She’s putting me in a league with Hamas murderers who kill Jews on buses.
“I have never advocated violence. I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.” >>> Richard Ford, Home Correspondent | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
MAIL Online: U.S[.] Shock Jock to Sue Home Office for Defamation after Being Included on the List of 22 Banned from the UK
An American 'shock jock' DJ has vowed to sue the Government after being included on a list of Britain's 'least wanted'.
Talk-show presenter Mike Savage branded Jacqui Smith a 'lunatic' after being named alongside hate preachers and a member of Hamas.
He was yesterday named on a list of 22 hardliners banned from entering the UK because the Home Office claims they have fostered extremism or hatred.
Miss Smith said the move was aimed at naming and shaming extremists and demonstrate behaviour the Government will not tolerate.
But the publication appears to have backfired on the minister, whose job is already hanging by a thread due to a string of expense scandals.
Mr Savage said: 'For this lunatic Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary of England, to link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with mass murderers who kill Jews on buses, is defamation.
'I thought this was a joke or a mistake. How could they put Michael Savage in the same league with mass murderers when I have never avowed violence? As a result of this, I am going to sue.'
He added: ‘I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.’ >>> By James Slack | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
FINANCIAL TIMES: The ultimate arbiters of the Islamic finance industry are not regulators, bespoke-suited bankers or the authorities, but a small, select coterie of ascetically garbed scholars versed in Koranic verses and arcane areas of jurisprudence.
This was made abundantly clear last year, when Sheikh Taqi Usmani, a leading scholar of sharia-compliant finance, shocked the industry by declaring many Islamic bonds, or sukuk, had gone too far in mimicking conventional debt.
Bankers and lawyers debate whether it was Sheikh Taqi or the credit crunch that caused the sukuk market to clam up: most admit the denouncement did not help.
The sharia supervisory boards – that Islamic banks must have – approve or ban transactions, products and services but do not become involved in credit policy or portfolio choices.
This can bring them into conflict with bankers who have conjured up increasingly complicated products.
“I’ve seen banks where the relationships were close, and others where they were tense, but everyone knows you cannot do anything without the scholars’ blessing,” says an industry insider.
Bankers say – until the credit crunch – the scarcity of sharia scholars was the biggest drag on growth of the Islamic finance industry.
Islamic banks have multiplied in recent years, thanks to government support, a profusion of petrodollars and a favourably inclined customer base in much of the Muslim world.
However, the number of scholars qualified to pass judgment on banks has remained low at about 30-40.
In addition to exhaustive knowledge of sharia and Islamic jurisprudence, scholars have to be financially knowledgeable and comfortable with English – the language of most financial and legal documentation. >>> By Robin Wigglesworth | Tuesday, May 5, 2009
DAILY STAR: Fears of a race war grew yesterday after right-wing extremists were accused of firebombing a mosque.
The Call To Islam Education Centre was gutted in a blaze which local Muslims have called an act of terrorism.
And they claim the attack in Luton, Beds, was revenge for a protest by a Muslim hate mob against returning Brit soldiers in the town in March.
Farasat Latif, the centre’s secretary, said: “We strongly condemn this violent Islamaphobic attack on our mosque. We believe that this attack was carried out by far-right extremists, an attack that could have led to many deaths.
“Over 90 children attend our centre daily. Had this happened at a different time, the results would have been catastrophic.”
Detectives have examined CCTV footage of two hooded men running to a car seconds after the midnight explosion. >>> By Ross Kaniuk | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
CANADA FREE PRESS: Geert Wilders’ recent call at a Palm Beach synagogue to ban Islam has stirred up all sorts of controversy, with more “moderate” blogs speaking out in opposition to it. So let’s take a closer look at the issue of banning Islam.
Banning Islam is more difficult in the United States than in Europe, because of the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.On the surface of it this is a fairly straightforward formulation barring the legislative branch from taking any action to create a state religion or barring the practice of any religion.
The founders were English citizens and well aware of the way in which religion could stoke political violence. In the late 18th century, Cromwell was not ancient history, neither were the Covenanters or the Gunpowder Plot. While they did not anticipate like the rise of an Islamic insurgency in America, they understood quite well that religion and violence could and would intersect.
That of course was one of the reasons for barring a State Church, to avoid giving the government control over religion, a situation that had resulted in much of the religious violence in England. By giving religion independence, but not political power, the First Amendment sought to avoid a repeat of the same ugliness that had marked centuries of wars in Europe.
That of course is a key point. The separation of church and state was meant to protect the integrity of both, and avoid power struggles between religious groups. There was to be no state religion, the government could not leverage religious authority and religious factions could not begin civil wars in a struggle to gain power or autonomy. For the most part it worked.
Until now the only real acid test for this approach involved the Mormon Church, an ugly history on both sides that has mostly been buried under the weight of time. More recently Scientology flared up as a cult turned church that demanded its own autonomy and did its best to make war on the government and its critics.
And then there is Islam. The first problem with using the First Amendment in defense of Islam-- is that its goal is to violate the First Amendment. Islam’s widely stated goal is to become a State Religion, around the world and in America as well. >>> By Daniel Greenfield | Monday, May 4, 2009
Daniel can be reached at: sultanknish@yahoo.com
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: TALIBAN forces tightened their grip on Pakistan's Swat region and continued resisting the military's efforts to dislodge them from neighbouring Buner, bringing a fragile peace accord closer to collapse and the volatile north-west region nearer to full-fledged conflict.
Yet even as the Taliban continued their rampage and rejected the Government's latest concession to their demands - the appointment of Islamic-law judges in Swat - Pakistan's military leaders clung to hopes for a non-violent solution, saying that security forces were "still exercising restraint to honour the peace agreement".
Behind this strained hope for a peaceful solution lies an array of factors - competing military priorities, reluctance to fight fellow Muslims, lack of strong executive leadership and some internal sympathy for the insurgents - that analysts say has long prevented the Pakistani army from making a full-fledged assault on violent Islamist groups. >>> Declan Walsh in Islamabad | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: American companies may soon have to adapt to a fiscal regime without frontiers.
THE world is becoming a chillier place for multinationals, and for the owners of capital.
While President Barack Obama's plan to clamp down on the overseas earnings of US corporations has been billed as an attack on offshore havens, it heralds a deeper change in the way the US companies are taxed worldwide.
American citizens must pay US income tax on every dollar, peso, or yuan they earn, whether or not they set foot on US soil that year. Mr Obama is making the first efforts to extend this principle to companies as well.
At the moment, US multinationals can take tax deductions on overseas earnings, but delay tax on profits forever by reinvesting abroad. They can shuffle money from one subsidiary to another through the "check box" loophole. This is why US companies pay just $16bn (£11bn) a year on $700bn of foreign earnings, a tax rate of 2.3pc.
Mr Obama has a fight on his hands trying to stop it. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Tuesday, May 5, 2009
TIMESONLINE: The Obama Administration has signalled a tougher approach towards Israel ahead of fresh talks on the Middle East peace process by insisting it must endorse the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
“Israel has to work toward a two-state solution,” declared Vice-President Joe Biden today in a speech to the annual conference of a powerful pro-Israel lobby group in Washington.
“You’re not going to like my saying this,” he warned the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) before adding that the Jewish state should not build any more settlements on Palestinian territory, and should “dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement”.
President Obama later held a White House meeting with Shimon Peres, his Israeli counterpart, who holds a largely ceremonial position. But the US Administration’s message appeared to be addressed to the new right-wing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is due to visit the White House on May 18.
Mr Netanyahu has dismayed American, Arab and European officials by pointedly refusing to back Palestinian statehood since taking office on March 31. In his own speech to Aipac, sent via satellite link, he said: “We are prepared to resume peace negotiations without any delay and without any preconditions — the sooner the better.” Saeb Erekat, the senior Palestinian negotiator, however, criticised Mr Netanyahu’s speech for its “vagueness” on core issues such as the status of Jerusalem and refugees, as well as its failure to commit to a two-state solution. >>> Tom Baldwin, Washington | Tuesday, May 5, 2009
LE FIGARO: Le chef de l'État s'est à nouveau opposé à un «élargissement sans fin» de l'Union.
Dix ans après les élections européennes de 1999 - le pire souvenir électoral de sa carrière -, Nicolas Sarkozy a lancé mardi la campagne pour le scrutin du 7 juin. Ovationné par quatre mille sympathisants, il était mardi au moins autant le patron de la majorité que le président de la République. Installé au milieu de la foule selon une scénographie déjà testée lors de sa dernière «réunion républicaine», à Saint-Quentin, Nicolas Sarkozy n'était pas là, a-t-il répété, pour «défendre son bilan» après deux ans d'Élysée. Pourtant, il n'a pas hésité à le faire en rappelant à plusieurs reprises que «depuis deux ans la France a eu le courage de se réformer». Mais, il a aussi martelé que «cette France que nous essayons de changer, nous ne la changerons pas sans l'Europe».
Mardi, il a donc défendu l'idée européenne, «celle des pères fondateurs», qui croyaient en une «Europe qui protège». De Tbilissi au G20, en passant par Gaza, il a multiplié les exemples de son action pour illustrer sa conviction qu'il est possible de «refuser l'Europe de l'impuissance». Et a fixé plusieurs conditions à la réussite de son projet
Ratifier le traité de Lisbonne
La première condition est l'instauration de «limites» à l'Union. «Pour que l'Europe veuille, il faut qu'elle cesse de se diluer dans un élargissement sans fin», a-t-il expliqué, disant clairement non, sous les applaudissements, à l'entrée de la Turquie dans l'Union. Le président souhaite en revanche créer avec Ankara «un espace économique et de sécurité commun». Un espace qu'il veut d'ailleurs élargir à la Russie . >>> Charles Jaigu, envoyé spécial du Figaro à Nîmes | Mardi 05 Mai 2009
NZZ Online: Wegen Ehebruchs ist ein Mann im Norden des Irans zu Tode gesteinigt worden. Die Hinrichtung fand einem Gerichtssprecher zufolge bereits im März in der Stadt Rascht am Kaspischen Meer statt. Zur Identität des Mannes wurden keine Angaben gemacht. Der involvierten Frau sei die Steinigung erspart geblieben, weil sie Reue gezeigt habe. >>> ap | Dienstag, 5. Mai 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ISLAMABAD -- Thousands of panicked residents on foot and crammed in buses, vans and trucks fled Swat valley north of Pakistan's capital Tuesday following the breakdown of a fragile truce between government forces and the Taliban.
Authorities lifted a curfew for a few hours to allow residents to evacuate as the militants took control of Mingora, the main town of the valley, which lies about 100 miles from Islamabad. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for North West Frontier Province, which includes Swat, said he expects as many as 500,000 to flee in the near future.
Khushal Khan, head of the local administration, urged residents to leave their homes before evening as fighting between the army and militants broke out once again. Pakistan's military has been fighting the Taliban in Swat after each side accused the other of failing to honor the terms of a peace accord struck in February to end the conflict in Swat in return for the imposition of Sharia law.
Tuesday's exodus worsened a humanitarian problem stemming from the displacement of more than half a million people from Pakistan's lawless tribal region near the Afghan border and in parts of North West Frontier Province where security forces have been check the militants' efforts to expand their influence. >>> By Zahid Hussain | Tuesday, May 5, 2009
TIMESONLINE: A former member of the Ku Klux Klan, a neo-Nazi, a Hamas MP and a Jewish extremist are among 16 people named today as being banned from entering the UK.
Also on the list published by the Home Office is a US “shock jock” talkshow host whose views on Islam, rape and autism have stirred controversy in America.
The 16 are among 22 people excluded in the five months to March. The Home Office has not identified the other six on security grounds.
Today's move follows changes to the law in 2005 which widened the criteria for imposing a ban to include people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.
The list includes Erich Gliebe, the leader of an American neo-Nazi group, Michael Savage (real name Michael Weiner), a radio presenter in America, Mike Guzovsky, a Jewish extremist, and Stephen “Don” Black, a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan.
Also on the list is Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, an American Baptist pastor and his daughter, Shirley, who were barred last year for their homophobic views.
The two have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.
Also on the list of those banned between October and March is the Hamas MP Yunis al-Astal.
Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned. They are currently in jail. >>> Richard Ford, Home Correspondent | Tuesday, May 5, 2009
WELT ONLINE: Margaret Thatcher hat Großbritannien von Grund auf verändert. Sie modernisierte das damals marode Land. Als Eiserne Lady bekämpfte sie Gewerkschaften, privatisierte Staatsbetriebe und hielt Distanz zur EU. Heute vor 30 Jahren kam Margaret Thatcher an die Macht. In ihrem Land ist sie umstrittener denn je.
Sie gehört in jene Kategorie von historischen Figuren, mit denen man die Zeitrechnung einteilt in ein „Davor“ und „Danach“. So sprechen wir heute vom Vor-Thatcher Großbritannien und vom Nach-Thatcher Großbritannien.
Dazwischen vollzog sich die tiefgreifendste Metamorphose der jüngeren britischen Geschichte überhaupt. Sie veränderte das Vereinigte Königreich fast bis zum Nicht-mehr-Wiedererkennen.
Viele Wunden wurden aufgerissen im Verlauf dieser Revolution. Es ist daher nicht verwunderlich, dass sich bis heute Hass und Bewunderung zu gleichen Teilen um Margaret Thatcher ranken. Was dagegen nicht bestritten wird, auch nicht von ihren Verächtern, ist ihr heraus gehobener Platz in der Zeitgeschichte.
Vor 30 Jahren, in der Unterhauswahl vom 3. Mai 1979, kam sie an die Macht, mit einer eher bescheidenen Mehrheit von 43 Sitzen, die sie vier Jahre später freilich bereits auf 144 steigern konnte. Dazu verhalf ihr vor allem die argentinische Junta, die im April 1982 mit der Besetzung der Falkland-Inseln eine Verletzung des Völkerrechts beging und damit bei der „Eisernen Lady“ ein klassisches „We shall never surrender“ provozierte.
Im Zeichen der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise sucht der britische Zeitgenosse gerne nach Sündenböcken für die gegenwärtige Malaise. Als Erster bietet sich Gordon Brown an, der zunehmend glücklos agierende Premierminister.
Aber man bohrt weiter: Womit begann denn alles, wer ließ das wilde Tier ungezügelter Bereicherungssucht von der Leine, wer lenkte die Risikobereitschaft der Bürger in die Abgründe fröhlicher Verschuldung, wer predigte als Erster die Segnungen des Marktes, ohne auf die Fallstricke der Unachtsamkeit hinzuweisen? Die modische Antwort: Margaret Thatcher. >>> Von Thomas Kielinger | Sonntag, 3. Mai 2009
THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOHRI PUR, Pakistan — The elementary school in this poor village is easy to mistake for a barn. It has a dirt floor and no lights, and crows swoop through its glassless windows. Class size recently hit 140, spilling students into the courtyard.
But if the state has forgotten the children here, the mullahs have not. With public education in a shambles, Pakistan’s poorest families have turned to madrasas, or Islamic schools, that feed and house the children while pushing a more militant brand of Islam than was traditional here.
The concentration of madrasas here in southern Punjab has become an urgent concern in the face of Pakistan’s expanding insurgency. The schools offer almost no instruction beyond the memorizing of the Koran, creating a widening pool of young minds that are sympathetic to militancy.
In an analysis of the profiles of suicide bombers who have struck in Punjab, the Punjab police said more than two-thirds had attended madrasas.
“We are at the beginning of a great storm that is about to sweep the country,” said Ibn Abduh Rehman, who directs the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent organization. “It’s red alert for Pakistan.” >>> By Sabrina Tavernise | Sunday, May 3, 2009
Monday, May 04, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: In Muslim states, violence against women is validated. A dark age is upon us
I am a Muslim woman and, like my late mother, free, independent, sensuous, educated, liberal, contrary and confrontational when provoked, both feminine and feminist. I style and colour my hair, wear lovely things and perfumes, appear on public platforms with men who are not related to me, shake their hands, embrace some I know well, take care of my family.
I defend Muslims persecuted by their enemies and their own kith and kin. I pray, fast, give to charity and try to be a decent human being. I also drink wine and do not lie about that, unlike so many other "good" Muslims. I am the kind of Muslim woman who maddens reactionary Muslim men and their asinine female followers. What a badge of honour.
Female oppression in Islamic countries is manifestly getting worse. Islam, as practiced by millions today, has lost its compassion and integrity and is entering one of the darkest of dark ages. Here is this month's short list of unbearable stories (imagine how many more there are which will never be known):
Iranian painter Delara Darabi, only 22 and in prison since she was 17, accused of murdering an elderly relative, was hanged last week even though she had been given a temporary stay of execution by the chief justice of the country. She phoned her mother on the day of her hanging to beg for help and the phone was snatched by a prison official who told them: "We will easily execute your daughter and there's nothing you can do about it." Her paintings reveal the cruelty to which she was subjected.
Meanwhile Roxana Saberi, a 32- year-old broadcast journalist whose father is Iranian, is incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison, accused of spying for the US. She denies this and says she has been framed because she was seen buying a bottle of wine. This intelligent, beautiful and defiant woman is on hunger strike. Over in Saudi Arabia, an eight-year-old child has just divorced a 50-year-old man. Her father, no doubt a very devout man, sold his daughter for about £9,000.
I have been reading Disfigured, the story of Rania Al-Baz, a Saudi TV anchor, the first woman to have such a job, who was so badly beaten up by her abusive husband that she had to have 13 operations to re-make her once gorgeous face. Domestic violence destroys females in all countries, but in Muslim states, it is validated by laws and values. As Al-Baz writes, "It is appalling to realise that a woman cannot walk down the street without men staring at her openly. For them she is nothing but a body without a mind, something that moves and does not think. Women are banned from studying law, from civil engineering and from the sacrosanct area of oil." >>> Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Monday, May 4, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Thirty years after Margaret Thatcher arrived at No 10 and set out to change Britain, her greatness should not be in dispute
Margaret Thatcher was not a Whistler etching. She did not do shades of grey. Nor do most of those who write about about her. She is either the best of Prime Ministers or the worst of Prime Ministers: the woman who saved the country or the woman who destroyed it. No one could claim that she was an insignificant figure. No one doubts that historians yet unborn will be discussing her legacy; that she will continue to ride the storms of controversy, as she did in her prime.
Thirty years ago, that all seemed so unlikely. In those days, even in the Tory party, very few people realised that she was the raw material of political greatness. Shortly after she won the leadership, Rab Butler spoke to Chris Patten. "This, ah, Thatcher woman. We don't have to take her seriously, do we?" It now seems laughable, but back then, he had a point. Ted Heath put her in his Cabinet, as the statutory woman. In three and a half years, she did not outgrow that status. She abolished a lot of grammar schools and free school milk; there were no other achievements. As an Education Secretary, she ranks somewhere between undistinguished and mediocre.
Ted lost two elections: time to go. But who was to take his place? Willie Whitelaw would not run against him. Everyone agreed that Keith Joseph would not do, including Keith Joseph. There was hesitancy. She brought it to an end. Her courage won its reward. Four years later, however, she had still not transformed that courage into unquestioned authority. A much less successful Leader of the Opposition than Tony Blair or David Cameron, she was often patronised in the Commons by Jim Callaghan. Her Shadow Cabinet included several men – Carrington, Gilmour, Joseph, Prior, Pym, Whitelaw – who appeared to be at least her equal in substance.
It is one of the more fascinating "what ifs" in counter-factual history: what if Mr Callaghan had called an election in October 1978? Even if Mrs Thatcher had won, she would have had a tiny majority. Could her fledgling government have survived the Winter of Discontent, which would have happened regardless, as Labour's wages policy imploded? But Jim dithered. The Winter of Discontent not only destroyed his chances. It highlighted the failure of an entire, often bi-partisan, approach to economic management. Amid all the wreckage, she alone seemed undaunted. No one else knew what to do. She insisted that she did. >>> Bruce Anderson | Monday, May 4, 2009
THE SUNDAY TIMES: TALIBAN militants who have seized swathes of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan have inflicted a reign of terror on villagers, landowners and the police, using kidnapping, looting, pillaging and murder to impose their will.
Yesterday, as Pakistani forces stepped up their campaign to retake territory in the districts of Buner, Dir and Swat, it emerged that in one Taliban-controlled village, Pir Baba in Buner, the militants were holding 2,000 people as human shields in case the army attacked.
Elsewhere the Taliban appeared to be relying on kidnapping to extort funds and intimidate the population. Many of their victims have been members of rich families.
“Kidnapping has become routine in our village. Armed Taliban were picking up people and then demanding a huge ransom for their release,” said an elderly refugee now living with his family in a tent in Timergara, a town in Dir. >>> Daud Khattak, NorthWest Frontier | Sunday, May 3, 2009
Sunday, May 03, 2009
leJDD.fr: Avigdor Lieberman débarque en Europe. Le sulfureux ministre israélien des Affaires étrangères, leader de l'extrême droite dans son pays, visitera Rome, Paris, Prague et Berlin pour conjurer l'isolement d'Israël. A priori, il inspire surtout la méfiance. Dans la capitale française, s'il sera reçu à l'Elysée, ce ne sera pas par Nicolas Sarkozy, mais par son bras droit, Claude Guéant.
Le voir ou pas? Mardi prochain, Avigdor Lieberman, ministre israélien des Affaires étrangères, sera reçu à l'Elysée... mais a priori par Claude Guéant, le secrétaire général, quand il avait demandé à rencontrer Nicolas Sarkozy! Le président français "passera une tête" dans le bureau, peut-être, dit-on à Paris, mais prendra sa décision au dernier moment, en fonction du comportement et des déclarations de Lieberman... "On aura une idée de l'état d'esprit de Lieberman avant son arrivée, puisqu'il passera d'abord par l'Italie, dit-on à l'Elysée. On avisera à ce moment-là."
La prudence témoigne de la méfiance qu'inspire Lieberman, ce populiste devenu chef de la diplomatie israélienne dans la coalition de Benjamin Netanyahou. Chef d'un parti ultranationaliste, Lieberman prône des rectifications de frontières qui placeraient en dehors d'Israël des zones habitées par la minorité arabe. Mais ce sont aussi les premières positions de tout le gouvernement israélien qui inquiètent un pouvoir français pourtant très attaché à l'Etat hébreu: le refus de Benyamin Netanyahou de souscrire aux principes de deux Etats - Israël et la Palestine - comme objectif d'un processus de paix a profondément irrité en Europe. >>> Par Claude ASKOLOVITCH (avec Christian BRUNEL en Israël), Le Journal du Dimanche | Dimanche 03 Mai 2009
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
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
Saturday, May 02, 2009
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
Friday, May 01, 2009
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
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
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.
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
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
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".
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
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
THE INDEPENDENT: 'Gilded cage' lifestyle reveals the ugly truth about foreign aid in Afghanistan
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
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
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