The Rise Of British Racism May Be Horribly Close
THE SPECTATOR: As the June elections draw close, Fraser Nelson goes on the stump with the BNP and is struck by a troubling paradox: the less racist Britain is, the more popular this racist party becomes. As Westminster implodes, far Right politicians are posturing as the tribunes of working people

Angela Wallace is one of a new breed of wavering voter. ‘I’m disgusted with all of the parties,’ she says, peering suspiciously at the men with clipboards on her doorstep. ‘MPs are not like they used to be. Now they’re all as bad as each other.’ The political activists I am accompanying have a ready response. ‘Well, why not make a protest vote?’ asks the candidate. ‘We’re the BNP.’ They have a leaflet ready: ‘Punish the Pigs’, it says. The BNP, it continues, is ‘the only party that makes them squeal. We’re NOT in it for the money.’ She promises to think about it.

In these deliberations, she will be very far from alone. In next week’s European and local elections, some 800,000 people are projected to vote BNP if the party continues its steady, menacing and (since 1987) unbroken advance. This time it is on the cusp of a breakthrough. All it needs is 8.5 per cent of the vote in the North West and Nick Griffin, its leader, will be on his way to Strasbourg as an MEP. If so, he will achieve what the National Front and the British Union of Fascists could only dream of: a legitimate seat in a legislature.

Just ten years ago, obituaries were being written for British racial nationalism. Oswald Mosley may have filled the Albert Hall in 1940, but he never won so much as a council ward at the ballot box. The National Front won two such contests, but was crushed by Thatcher in 1979 and never recovered. The British National Party had a brief victory in Isle of Dogs in 1993 but then seemed to perish. To hawk its racism in a country as tolerant as Britain seemed as futile as trying to start a coconut farm in Yorkshire. It just didn’t seem to take root.

In recent years, however, under the very noses of the apparently triumphant mainstream political class, the BNP has suddenly started to grow again — and its rise is exponential. Nine years ago it scored just 3,020 votes in England’s local elections. Last year its total was 235,000, giving the BNP 56 incumbent councillors. One such is Seamus Dunne, whom I meet outside the Dick Whittington pub in South Oxhey, a Hertfordshire housing estate built after the war. He has agreed to let me tag along with him and his fellow campaigners, to see what he calls the ‘real BNP’ — not what he regards as the caricature invented by the media.

Certainly, Mr Dunne could scarcely be more different from the stereotype of the tattooed thug. Besuited and softly spoken, he talks about taking his family to Kew Gardens and says that he wants to serve locals — ‘black or white’ — as best he can. It is a racially mixed estate, and there is no telling what the ethnicity of the voter opening the door will be. But the first, a young white man in his thirties, is a quick success. ‘You’re the guy who sorted out the rat infestation for us,’ he tells Mr Dunne. ‘You’ll get my vote. I’m BNP, and so is everyone I know.’

This is the first important point to note: there is no explicit talk of race, immigration or the death penalty (which the BNP supports). Just rats. This chap had a problem; his councillor fixed it and secured at least one vote. This is a significant and new aspect of the BNP’s strategy. Just as Lib Dems talk about holes in the road, not holes in the nation’s finances, the BNP (in spite of its nationalist identity) focuses relentlessly on the local. It targets councils with huge (normally Labour) majorities which have, for whatever reason, lost the will or capacity to campaign and govern well. The BNP then seeks to make itself useful: most recently, by sending squads to clear litter in strategic locations. It is a devious ploy: distracting public attention from the racist reality of the BNP by presenting itself as the ‘helpful party’. >>> Fraser Nelson | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Muslim Demographics

Iran: Holocaust Is West's Achilles' Heel
YNET NEWS: President Ahmadinejad also says Iran now has more than 7,000 centrifuges operating at Natanz

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that the Holocaust is "the Achilles' heel of the West and its main weakness", explaining that this was the reason for its continued mentioning of the subject.

Responding to comments made by his opponents in an upcoming nationwide election, Ahmadinejad told a radio station that "the West has created a situation of false pity for itself and is using it to oppress other nations".

He added, "We attacked the issue of the Holocaust and even they didn't believe such a thing occurred, because we attacked their main weak point." >>> Dudi Cohen | Thursday, May 28, 2009

From Soviet Secularism to Israeli Ultra-Orthodoxy
HAARETZ: On Lag Ba'omer, a group of merrymakers squeezed around a traditional holiday campfire in a patch of garden between two buildings in Rishon Letzion. They roasted potatoes, like everyone else, and burned an effigy of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, like everyone else. David Schechter, who served as an advisor to former minister Natan Sharansky, said he can't remember what else went up in smoke, because "the vodka flowed like water."

The guests at this campfire were all immigrants from the former Soviet Union who have become observant Jews and wear skullcaps. They are doctors and lawyers, journalists and businesspeople, and fathers and sons who meet regularly at the local synagogue, where about a quarter of the congregation is Russian-speaking. Every couple of months, they are joined by a new worshipper with the same background.

Schechter, who became religiously observant while still living in Moscow, before immigrating to Israel in 1987, is called the "rabbi of the brigade." This is a slight exaggeration, although Schechter occupies a significant role in encouraging the phenomenon of returning to religion among immigrants. And even if the trend is no tidal wave, it contradicts a stereotype. >>> By Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondent | Friday, May 29, 2009

Deutschland stellt Besuch von «Terrorcamps» unter Strafe: Bis zu zehn Jahre Haft für den Aufenthalt in Ausbildungslagern
NZZ Online: Der Deutsche Bundestag hat den Besuch sogenannter Terrorcamps unter Strafe gestellt und die 1999 ausgelaufene Kronzeugenregelung wieder in Kraft gesetzt. Die Opposition kritisiert beide Neuerungen. Liberale und Grüne malen eine Gesinnungsjustiz an die Wand.

Die Gefahr, die von militanten Islamisten ausgeht, schlägt sich immer deutlicher im deutschen Strafrecht nieder. Am Donnerstag beschloss der Bundestag zahlreiche Änderungen, darunter die Einführung eines neuen Paragrafen 89a, der die Vorbereitung einer schweren staatsgefährdenden Gewalttat mit Haftstrafen von bis zu zehn Jahren belegt. >>> U. Sd. | Freitag, 29. Mai 2009

In Search of Europe: Austria
BBC: Many Austrians are deeply suspicious of the EU, the BBC's Jonny Dymond reports, as he tours the continent ahead of next month's European elections.

Austria is a big central European paradox. Its language links it to Germany. Its culture links it to Italy. Its former empire links it to Hungary, the western Balkans, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is difficult to imagine a place more plugged into Europe.

And it is difficult to find anyone with a good word to say about the EU.

Down in the 10th district of Vienna the fast food joints rub shoulders with cheap jewellery stores and mobile phone shops. It's a working class area with a high immigrant population.

At an outside table in a cafe in a market, Horst Glasner and Hans Bubnik are settling into a fairly liquid lunch. As they drink white wine they bite into fat pickled cucumbers sold from a barrel at a stall a few metres away. Both men are retired.

Neither have anything but contempt for the EU.

"We have a bit of a problem with the whole thing," says Horst. "The problem is that the EU is not honest. They cheat on us a lot. This is the big problem."

"The problem is that everything has become more expensive," says Hans. "Since we joined the EU everything has been a third more expensive."

Horst finds another problem.

"Every country is in a different situation. The EU must look at the individual conditions. And this is the big problem." >>> Jonny Dymond | Friday, May 29, 2009

EU Vote Makes Officials Nervous
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: If Bulgarian Bilyana Raeva is re-elected to the European Parliament next weekend, she will get a more than eightfold raise. She could also find herself sitting beside a bumper crop of lawmakers from Europe's extreme right.

The European Union's Brussels-based legislature is little loved and less understood, but after polls on June 4-7, it is likely to look significantly different, with new members, new rules and potentially new powers.

The parliament is the Cinderella of EU institutions. With no right to initiate legislation, it is limited to negotiating amendments or blocking laws crafted by the more powerful EU council -- made up of the national governments -- and European Commission, the EU bureaucracy.

But the next legislature could get expanded powers -- and perhaps more public attention and gravitas -- if Ireland later this year ratifies an important treaty amending the way the EU works.

It could also get a laundered reputation. The parliament will have new rules governing legislators' salaries and expenses after an expense-abuse scandal that began three years ago, involving sums far greater than those in the current uproar over Britain's House of Commons.

But the coming election to the Brussels-based parliament is seizing attention in capitals across the 27-nation bloc for a different reason. In the midst of the worst recession since World War II, the vote could offer a guide to political fallout for national governments to come.

"People think that the local and European elections don't matter as much, so they can use those votes to punish politicians they are unhappy with," says Julia Clark, head of political research at pollster Ipsos MORI in the U.K. Germany holds national elections in the fall, while the U.K. must hold them by June 2010.

From a Romanian property tycoon on bail on kidnapping charges, to a Cambridge-educated ultranationalist in Britain, nationalist, anti-immigrant and xenophobic politicians are campaigning to tap into popular anger. Some are likely to make it to Brussels. >>> By Gaston Ceron in Brussels and Alistair MacDonald in London | Friday, May 29, 2009

Today in History for May 29th

Obama: «je crois fermement
à une solution à deux Etats»
Mahmoud Abbas avec Barack Obama. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le président américain, qui reçevait jeudi soir le leader palestinien Mahmoud Abbas, a répété qu'il exigeait l'arrêt de la colonisation israélienne en Cisjordanie.

Barack Obama maintient le cap de la fermeté dans la relation entre Etats-Unis et Israël. Le président américain reçevait jeudi soir le leader de l'Autorité palestinienne, Mahmoud Abbas, à la Maison-Blanche. Une visite qui prend un ton tout particulier, alors que la nouvelle administration israélienne fait la sourde oreille à l'injonction de Washington, mercredi, de geler les constructions de colonies en Cisjordanie et refuse d'envisager la solution à deux Etats séparés préconisée par les Etats-Unis.

Mahmoud Abbas, qui ne contrôle concrètement que la Cisjordanie, le Hamas tenant d'une main de fer la Bande de Gaza, est venu à Washington pour rappeler l'urgence de relancer le processus de paix israélo-palestinien. Pour lui, «le temps est un facteur essentiel» dans l'affaire.

Le dirigeant palestinien a d'ailleurs remis à Barack Obama un document contenant des propositions pour sortir de l'impasse. «Ce document ne sort pas du cadre de la Feuille de route et de l'Initiative de paix arabe. Il contient des idées pour la mise en place de mécanismes d'application de ces deux plans», précise-t-il, assurant qu'Obama a promis de l'étudier.

Rappelant une nouvelle fois que les Etats-Unis sont «un allié inconditionnel» d'Israël, le président américain a adopté un ton optimiste sur la perspective d'un apaisement des tensions au Proche-Orient. «Je pense qu'il est important de ne pas s'attendre au pire, mais d'espérer le meilleur», a-t-il lancé, demandant à nouveau l'arrêt de la colonisation israélienne. >>> Samuel Laurent (lefigaro.fr) avec agences | Vendredi 29 Mai 2009

LOS ANGELES TIMES: U.S.-Israel Rift Becomes an Unusually Public One

President Barack Obama meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and repeats his tough stance on Jewish settlements. Obama is to deliver a speech to the Muslim world next week from Cairo.

Reporting from Jerusalem and Washington Richard Boudreaux -- President Obama and top Israeli officials staked out sharply opposing positions over the explosive issue of Jewish settlements Thursday, propelling a rare dispute between the two close allies into full public view just days before the U.S. leader is due to deliver a long-awaited address in Egypt to the world's Muslims.

Speaking after a White House meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama reiterated that he had been "very clear about the need to stop building settlements, to stop building outposts" on Palestinian territory.

Only hours earlier, the Israeli government said it would continue to allow some growth in the settler communities in the West Bank.

The exchange underscored the unusually hard-line position Obama has taken publicly with Israel early in his administration. Most U.S. presidents, aware of the political sensitivity, have worked hard to keep disagreements out of sight, when they existed.

The back and forth also added a contentious note to the start of a grueling period of Middle East peace talks that the White House has pledged to aggressively pursue. And it comes as Obama prepares his speech scheduled for next week that is aimed at repairing U.S. ties with the Muslim world.

The verbal disagreement with Israel defied expectations of U.S. and Israeli officials, as well as many analysts, who had predicted that the new American president and the newer conservative Israeli prime minister would seek a pragmatic way to avoid public clashes.

But since Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House 11 days ago, the contrasts have steadily risen in public view.

Obama believes an Israeli settlement freeze would elicit concessions from moderate Arab states, reinvigorating peace negotiations.

In staff-level talks that continue almost daily, Israeli officials have balked. >>> By Paul Richter and Christi Parsons and Richard Boudreaux | Friday, May 29, 2009

Georgien: Großdemo gegen Präsident Saakaschwili
DIE PRESSE: Tausende Demonstranten blockierten am Dienstagabend den Bahnhof der Hauptstadt Tiflis. Die Saakaschwili-Gegner fordern den Rücktritt des Präsidenten. Sie wefen ihm einen autoritären Führungsstil vor.

Michail Saakaschwili. Bild dank der Presse
Nach einer Großdemonstration gegen den georgischen Präsidenten Michail Saakaschwili haben tausende Demonstranten am Dienstagabend den Bahnhof der Hauptstadt Tiflis blockiert. Nach mehreren Stunden beendeten sie die Aktion wieder friedlich. Sie kündigten für die Zukunft weitere Blockaden an, um Saakaschwilis Rücktritt zu erzwingen. >>> Ag. | Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

Débarquement : la reine Elizabeth ne viendra pas
La reine Elizabeth II. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Buckingham Palace assure toutefois que la reine n'est ni en colère, ni frustrée de ne pas avoir été officiellement invitée par la France, aux cérémonies du 6 juin.

«Ni la reine ni aucun membre de la famille royale ne participera aux commémorations du Jour-J le 6 juin, puisque nous n'avons reçu d'invitation officielle pour aucun des événements» prévus. La sobre déclaration a été diffusée jeudi par Buckingham Palace, comme pour clore la polémique naissante sur un éventuel délit de lèse-majesté de la France.

Mercredi, le tabloïd Daily Mail affirmait que la reine était «furieuse» et «frustrée» de ne pas avoir reçu de carton d'invitation aux cérémonies du 65e anniversaire du débarquement allié en Normandie le 6 juin.

Suite à cet article, le porte-parole du gouvernement, Luc Chatel, avait immédiatement affirmé que les Britanniques étaient «invités» et que «la reine d'Angleterre, le chef de l'Etat britannique, est naturellement la bienvenue», tout en précisant que cette célébration était «au départ franco-américaine».

Jeudi, le palais royal a assuré qu'Elizabeth II n'avait «jamais exprimé le moindre sentiment de colère ou de frustration».

La veille, l'ambassadeur de Grande-Bretagne à Paris, Peter Westmacott, avait déjà affirmé au micro de RTL qu'il n'était «pas question de colère du tout» de la part de la reine. Toutefois, «il n'appartient pas à la France de désigner la représentation britannique», avait-il précisé. >>> | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

David Cameron Attacks 'Fascist' BNP
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron launched a scathing attack on the British National Party while fielding questions at an agricultural show.

David Cameron speaks at the Royal Bath and West Show. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The Tory leader said many people would be angry at the main two parties over the MP expenses furore and would want to punish politicians by voting for the BNP or UKIP.

He was talking with the farming community at the Bath and West Show in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

“If you vote for the BNP you are voting for a bunch of fascists who want to divide this country over the issues of race and the colour of skin,” he said.

He became angry when a member of the audience said the BNP “have a point when it comes to immigration”.

Mr Cameron told him: “Do not be naive about what these people stand for.

“They dress up in a suit and knock on your door in a nice way but they are still Nazi thugs. There is a proper national debate that we should have about immigration.

“I want us to limit the number of people coming to Britain, but do not believe that the way to beat the BNP is to half agree with them.

“These people are not pleasant people.” >>> | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pat Condell*: Children of a Stupid God

*Please note that these are Pat Condell's ideas; they are not mine.

Extremist Preacher Abu Hamza's Three Sons Jailed for Luxury Car Scam
THE TELEGRAPH: Three sons of the extremist Muslim preacher Abu Hamza have been jailed for their part in a £1m luxury car scam.

Mohamed Mostafa . Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The gang targeted makes including Mercedes, BMW and Range Rover which had been left in long-stay car parks.

They wrote to the DVLA to change their address and re-register the vehicles and when new log books were sent out they obtained a new set of keys from dealerships.

The cars were then sold on to unwitting third parties or used as collateral for loans.

Abu Hamza's sons Hamza Kamel, 22, and Mohamed Mostafa, 27, helped run the two-year fraud with the hook handed cleric's stepson Mohssin Ghailam, 28.

Martyn Bowyer, prosecuting, called the operation a "sophisticated, well-planned and professionally executed enterprise" that involved 32 vehicles which together were valued at more than £1m.

The court heard that Kamel admitted five counts of handling stolen cars and of laundering more than £14,000 of criminal money in relation to the scam was sentenced to two and a half years..

Mostafa, who lives with his brother in Acton West London, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by using false French passport to secure a £12,000 loan and to obtain keys for a BMW and was sentenced to two years.

Ghailan, from Shepherd's Bush, West London, described as a "key player", admitted conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for four years. >>> By Duncan Gardham, Telegraph Security Correspondent | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pakistan Hit by Second Bombing in Two Days with Attack in Peshawar
THE TELEGRAPH: Suspected Taliban terrorists have bombed a second Pakistani city in as many days, with reports of blasts in Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing and shooting attack in Lahore on Wednesday that claimed as many as 30 lives.

Hours later two explosions were reported in a market in the northern city of Peshawar. Initial reports said that 15 people had been wounded in the blast.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to the Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, said that the Lahore attack, in which offices used by the police and the provicial headquarters of the ISI intelligence service were targeted, "was in response to the Swat operation where innocent people have been killed".

A little-known group calling itself the Taliban Movement in Punjab has also claimed responsibility for the attack. >>> Telegraph’s foreign staff and agencies, Lahore | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Israel Rebuffs Hillary Clinton's Call for Halt in West Bank Settlements
TIMES ONLINE: Israel’s new right-wing government was set for its first stand-off with the Obama Administration today, after it openly rebuffed a call from Washington to a total freeze on all Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, called last night for Israel halt all construction of settlements, considered illegal by the international community as they are civilian communities built on war-conquered land.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister, offered last week in Washington to dismantle new settlement outposts in return for being allowed to continue “natural growth” on the established West Bank communities.

But Mrs Clinton made a surprisingly curt rebuttal to the proposal, insisting that Mr Obama – who travels to Cairo next week to try and heal strained US ties with the Muslim world – wanted a blanket ban on settlement growth.

He wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions,” she said. “We think it is in the best interests (of the peace process) that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly. ... And we intend to press that point.” >>> James Hider in Jerusalem | Thursday, May 28, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Telegraph View

The White House must not show ambiguity in its relations with Israel.

President Barack Obama was, it seems, nonplussed by his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month. He was said to have been taken aback by the Israeli prime minister's intransigent tone over West Bank settlements and the two-state solution.

If these reports are accurate, there should be no surprise in the White House this morning at Israel's brusque response to Hillary Clinton's demand for a complete halt on all settlement activity.

The US Secretary of State had said there could be no exceptions from President Obama's call for a settlement freeze. "Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions. We think it is in the best interest of the effort that we are engaged in that settlement expansion cease", Mrs Clinton said. President Barack Obama Must Start to Act the Part >>> | Thursday, May 28, 2009

India's First and Only Gay Magazine Tests Taboos by Making a Comeback
Image courtesy of Bombay Dost
TIMES ONLINE: India’s first and only gay magazine is back on news stands for the first time in seven years amid hopes that taboos may finally be fading in a country where homosexuality remains illegal.

Bombay Dost (Bombay Friends) is being relaunched after going out of print in 2002 when the then underground publication ran out of money.

The English-language magazine’s publishers say that much has changed in India during the intervening years — even if a British colonial-era law banning sex “against the order of nature” remains firmly in place.

“India’s gay community is still illegal, but it is more confident and happier than ever before,” Nitin Karani, the editor-at-large, said. “We’re not constantly beating our breasts over discrimination and marginalisation. The new magazine reflects that.” >>> Rhys Blakely, Mumbai | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Please Uncover Your Face. It's Our Custom
TIMES ONLINE: Why are women's faces concealed in East London but not in Damascus?

Funny to return from Lebanon, Syria and Turkey - where women go unveiled - and return to Britain, the land of the full hijab. I see more women with their faces covered in Tower Hamlets than I did in Damascus.

I used to think that covering the whole face except for the eyes was the normal Islamic custom (in a week in Afghanistan I hardly saw a woman's face) and so was surprised to find that even in Syria, the most culturally conservative of the Middle Eastern countries I've just visited, not a tenth of the women seem to cover their faces. Most (by no means all) cover their heads, but you don't get that closed, turning-away feeling you sense along the Whitechapel Road in the East End of London. In the Damascus streets, women in all-women groups, and women with men, chat and laugh; and I saw to be true (what some Muslims have already told me) that the full hijab cannot be considered a religious duty, but is simply a cultural feature of some societies that are Muslim, but not others.

If so, how far should we tolerate it? Spitting is a cultural feature in China but we discourage it here. In Syria I took my shoes off to enter mosques, though that is not in my culture; and wouldn't have worn clothing like skimpy shorts or vests, or drunk alcohol in the streets: practices offensive not to me but to the mainstream culture where I was. >>> Matthew Parris | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Procès de Aung San Suu Kyi: la Birmanie rejette «les pressions de l'étranger»
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: DISSIDENCE | La Birmanie a rejeté jeudi "les pressions et les ingérences de l'étranger" en liaison avec le procès de l'opposante Aung San Suu Kyi, lors d'une réunion entre ministres européens et du Sud-Est asiatique.

Le chef de la junte birmane, Than Shwe, le 27 mars 2009 à Naypyidaw. Crédits photo: Tribune de Genève
Maung Myint, vice-ministre birman des Affaires étrangères, a déclaré que les accusations contre Mme Suu Kyi étaient une "affaire judiciaire interne". >>> AFP | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

Bernadette Chirac et Carla Bruni-Sarkozy : leur rencontre à l'Elysée
LE FIGARO: Dans son édition de vendredi 29 mai, Le Figaro Magazine a organisé une rencontre exceptionnelle. Pour la première fois, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy et Bernadette Chirac ont accepté de dialoguer.

Bernadette Chirac et Carla Bruni Sarkozy. Photo grâce au Figaro
Dans son édition de vendredi 29 mai, Le Figaro Magazine a organisé une rencontre exceptionnelle. Pour la première fois, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy et Bernadette Chirac ont accepté de dialoguer. Elles se sont livrées au jeu de la Vérité. Bernadette confie que son plus mauvais souvenir à l’Elysée est la dissolution manqué de 1997, et que malgré la crise, la collecte 2009 des pièces jaunes sera supérieure à celle de l’année dernière. De son côté, Carla Bruni Sarkozy se défend de donner des conseils politiques à son mari mais «plutôt des conseils humains sur ce que je ressens.» «La politique n’est pas théorique, c’est de l’expérience, un métier de terrain, et ce terrain n’est pas le mien». «Les seules choses pénibles -dans sa fonction de Première Dame- sont les critiques adressés à mon mari.» Elle revient également sur les circonstances qui l’ont amené à écrire une lettre pour prendre la défense de l’opposante birmane Aung San Suu Kyi. >>> | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

Dutch Want to Limit Influx of EU Workers, Survey Shows
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Dutch people want to reverse some of the power transferred to Brussels, a new survey shows. The results confirm the negative sentiments the Dutch voiced when they voted against the European constitution in 2005.

A majority of Dutch people does not want the powers of the European Union to be expanded, an extensive survey shows. The results will be presented to deputy foreign minister Frans Timmermans, responsible for European affairs, on Wednesday.

Most Dutch people oppose the transfer of more political power to Brussels, according to the poll by 21minuten.nl. Half of the 60,000 people who took part in the survey say they would like to see European integration partly reversed: 54 percent says there should be limits to the migration of workers from other EU member states, even if that leads to a rise in prices for products and services.

A majority is still opposed to a European constitution, the survey shows. The Dutch voted against the constitution in a referendum in 2005, but no popular vote was held about the Lisbon Treaty, which the Dutch parliament approved in 2008.

The conclusions of the '21 minutes' survey are harsh, but not surprising in the light of the 2005 referendum. Although the polls show no overwhelming support for eurosceptic parties such as Geert Wilders' anti-immigration Party for Freedom and the Socialist Party in next week's elections, a record low turnout is expected. >>> By Wilmer Heck and Annemarie Kas | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

'This Is Like Being in a Filthy Labour Camp,' Says Adultery Mother Locked in Dubai Jail Hell
British mother Sally Antia, who is being held in a Dubai jail, claims she is given food riddled with maggots. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: A British mother being held in a Dubai prison for adultery has revealed the appalling conditions she is enduring while awaiting her fate.

Sally Antia claims she is being fed food riddled with maggots and shares a toilet and poorly functioning shower with 100 other women.

Conditions are so crowded that she - like every other woman in the underground jail - sleeps toe-to-head with another woman in her single bunk bed.

She regularly washes in water from a bucket.

Mrs Antia and her boyfriend Mark Hawkins, 43, were both arrested in the early hours of May 2 as they walked out of one of Dubai's five-star hotels.

Their arrest followed a complaint by Mrs Antia's estranged husband Vincent made to police that his wife was committing adultery - a crime in the ultra-strict United Arab Emirates. >>> By Dan Newling | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Wahlkampf: Österreichs Rechte machen Politik mit dem Kruzifix
WELT ONLINE: Bekannt wurde Heinz-Christian Strache als Ziehsohn des verstorbenen Rechtspopulisten Jörg Haiders. Als Christ ist der Chef der rechtsgerichteten Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) in der Vergangenheit hingegen nicht aufgefallen. Doch jetzt zieht Strache mit gezücktem Kruzifix für ein "Abendland in Christenhand" in den Europawahlkampf.

Mit einem hölzernen Kreuz demonstriert der Chef der rechtsgericheten FPÖ gegen den Ausbau eines muslimischen Kulturzentrums in Wien. Die FPÖ versucht im Europwahlkampf Stimmung gegen Nicht-Christen zu machen. Bild dank der Welt
Bisher ist den Österreichern noch nicht ganz klar, bei wem sich Heinz-Christian Strache das mit dem hölzernen Kruzifix abgeschaut hat. Bei den Kreuzfahrern vermuten die Einen, bei den Mönchen der Gegenreformation die Anderen, bei den Vampirjägern in alten Hollywoodfilmen die Dritten. Fest steht bloß,dass der Chef der rechtsgerichteten Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) auf der politischen Bühne noch nicht als Christ aufgefallen ist, diese Rolle hat er erst für den aktuellen EU-Wahlkampf entdeckt.

["]Abendland in Christenhand“ fordern Strache und sein Spitzenkandidat, der freiheitliche Chefideologe Andreas Mölzer, derzeit auf Plakaten und in Zeitungsinseraten. Vertreter aller großen Glaubensgemeinschaften protestierten schon zum Wahlkampfauftakt gegen den Brachialreim, Strache legte nach. Bei einer Demonstration gegen den Ausbau eines islamischen Kulturzentrums in der Wiener Innenstadt reckte er in klassischer Exorzistenmanier ein Kreuz gen Publikum. Seine Anhänger johlten, der Rest des Landes ist sich seitdem ungewohnt einig in seiner Empörung über den blauen Kulturkämpfer. >>> Von Elisalex Henckel | Donnerstag, 28. Mai 2009

MIt diesem Plakat wirbt die FPÖ in Österreich um Stimmen. Bild dank der Welt

L'ami «infidèle»
de Ben Laden
Nasser al-Bahri, plus connu sous son nom de guerre Abou Jandal, dans son appartement de la capitale yéménite, Sanaa, en février dernier. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Nasser al-Bahri, alias Abou Jandal, va ouvrir un centre pour la réhabilitation d'anciens djihadistes au Yémen. Cet homme a été pendant trois ans, de 1997 à 2000, le garde du corps d'Oussama Ben Laden, l'homme le plus recherché du monde. Aujourd'hui, Abou Jandal, qui prône « la guerre sainte par les idées pour construire son pays », vit sous la menace d'al-Qaida.

Par la fenêtre, Nasser al-Bahri nous fait signe discrètement de monter. Abou Jandal - son nom de guerre - vit dans un modeste appartement, non loin de l'ambassade américaine, à Sanaa. Pas de photo d'Oussama Ben Laden aux murs. À 37 ans, l'ancien centurion de l'homme le plus recherché au monde a tourné la page de la «guerre sainte» contre l'Occident. Mieux, il s'apprête à ouvrir un centre - «Générations» -, destiné à remettre sur le droit chemin tous les égarés, prêts à aller se battre aux quatre coins du monde au nom du djihad. Mais l'homme a-t-il vraiment changé ?

Assis en tailleur dans son salon meublé en tout et pour tout d'un simple ordinateur, Abou Jandal égrène ses souvenirs : le chef d'al-Qaida «capable d'écouter ses adversaires», mais aussi les profondes divergences entre leaders d'une nébuleuse cosmopolite, condamnée à la clandestinité. Sous son collier de barbe, le visage restera impassible pendant les quatre-vingt-dix minutes de l'entretien.

Chaque jour, pendant plus de trois ans, entre 1997 et 2000, Abou Jandal a surveillé la plupart des faits et gestes de Ben Laden. Sa journée commençait à 5 heures, au réveil de «Cheikh Oussama». «Ben Laden passait ensuite une heure à lire le Coran, avant la prière du lever du jour», se souvient-il.

Le vendredi, le leader d'al-Qaida avait l'habitude de jouer au football. Lui et ses amis originaires de la péninsule arabique affrontaient les autres djihadistes du Moyen-Orient ou du Maghreb, emmenés par l'Égyptien Abou Hafs al-Masri, tué fin 2001, dans un bombardement américain. Ben Laden rentrait ensuite à la maison prendre le petit-déjeuner avec ses enfants. Souvent, c'est lui qui prononçait le prêche de la mi-journée. Avant un déjeuner collectif sous un hangar. Puis un moment d'isolement, juste avant la dernière prière, celle du coucher de soleil. Une journée type d'Oussama Ben Laden dans son sanctuaire afghan de Kandahar, que les Américains détruiront après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. >>> D’envoyé spécial du Figaro à Sanaa, Georges Malbrunot | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

Ohne Kenntnis einer Landessprache kein Schweizerpass: Voraussetzungen für Einbürgerungen sollen konkretisiert werden
NZZ Online: Wer das Schweizer Bürgerrecht erwerben will, muss künftig über gute Kenntnisse einer Landessprache verfügen. Der Nationalrat hat am Donnerstag stillschweigend eine Motion angenommen, die den Bundesrat beauftragt, das Gesetz in diesem Sinn zu ändern.

Die Motion verlangt gute Kenntnisse einer Landessprache als Voraussetzung für die Einbürgerung. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
Gute Sprachkenntnisse seien für die Integration wichtig, erklärte Roberto Schmidt (cvp., Wallis). Deshalb sei es richtig, das Bürgerrechtsgesetz zu verschärfen.

Weitergehende Forderung der SVP

Dabei dürfe man aber nicht zu weit gehen, sagte er mit Blick auf eine parlamentarische Initiative der SVP ähnlichen Inhalts. Die SVP forderte darin, dass nur eingebürgert wird, wer die Amtssprache des Einbürgerungsorts in Wort und Schrift beherrscht. >>> sda | Donnerstag, 28. Mai 2009

EVERYCULTURE.COM:
Romansch >>>

Labour Reaffirms Support for Turkey's EU Membership, Day after BNP Opposition
Labour party underlines support for Turkish membership to EU, despite consistent opposition by rest of the European Union. Flags courtesy of The London Daily News
THE LONDON DAILY NEWS: The Labour Government's position on Turkeys membership to join the European Union was underlined yesterday with David Milliband the Foreign Secretary saying in Ankara:

"The U.K. remains strongly committed to this vision of Turkey becoming an equal member of the EU. We sent a loud message that it is an important time for imagination and confidence, not for hesitation and blame," Miliband said. "We know there is a long road to accession. Britain can talk about its own rocky road but it is important to drive forward in the face of challenges."

The British National Party which is consistently achieving over 20 per cent in polls on the London Daily News has campaigned consistently against the entrance of Turkey to the European Union with the party's leader on Sky News saying:

"If we could get three or four members of the European Parliament, the next few years will be crucial as to whether Turkey would join the European Union.

"Eighty million Muslims having the right to come here, it would be a disaster. We would like to be able to oppose that as well." >>> International News Desk | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pakistan Suicide Bombing Kills 23 in 'Taliban Revenge Attack'
THE TELEGRAPH: Terrorists struck against Pakistan's security forces with devastating effect, killing at least 23 people in a suicide car bombing in Lahore.

Pakistan bomb blast
Almost 300 more people were injured in an attack that the government said was revenge for its offensive against the Taliban.

The assault began when a car was driven up to the gates of a provincial headquarters of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. Several men inside the car jumped out and opened up with a volley of gunfire. Guards outside the building returned fire.

A few seconds later the explosives in the car were detonated, causing a huge explosion which flattened a police building next to the ISI offices, and shattered surrounding buildings, including a hospital.

A wide crater was left where the car had blown up. At least nine policemen and several intelligence agents, including a senior officer, were among the dead. The remainder of the dead and the bulk of the wounded were civilians caught in the midmorning blast on Wednesday in the centre of the city.

Muhammad Ali, a bystander, said: "The moment the blast happened, everything went dark in front of my eyes. The way the blast happened, then gunfire, it looked as if there was a battle going on." >>> By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Margaret Thatcher Meets Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican
THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher, whose first Papal visit was more than 30 years ago, has been introduced to Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

Lady Thatcher encouraged the Pope to accept the invitation from Gordon Brown to visit Britain. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The meeting took place after the Pope's weekly audience in St Peter's Square. Lady Thatcher, was dressed in black as she had been on her first visit in 1977, with a dark handbag and star shaped brooch.

They talked for several minutes and Lady Thatcher encouraged the Pope to accept the invitation from Gordon Brown to visit Britain. The first Pope to visit Britain was John Paul II who came in 1982 at the time of the Falklands War.

Before she met the Pope Lady Thatcher laid a wreath of white roses on the tomb in the Vatican of John Paul II with a card which said: " To a man of faith and courage." Lady Thatcher's relationship with the former Polish cardinal was politically close. >>> By Andrew Pierce | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher to Meet Pope Benedict XVI at Vatican

Baroness Thatcher is to have a private audience with the Pope at the Vatican next week.

Their meeting will come more than 30 years after Lady Thatcher first travelled to the Vatican. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The former Prime Minister is flying to Italy on Frdiay to stay with Carla Powell whose husband Charles was her foreign policy adviser at Downing Street.

Lady Powell, who lives in a villa on the outskirts of Rome, arranged the meeting with Pope Benedict XVI which will take place in the Vatican on Wednesday. >>> By Andrew Pierce | Friday, May 22, 2009

Welcome to North Korea!

Les pro et anti-adhésion turque à l'UE sur Internet
Drapeaux européen et turc flottent au-dessus du bazar couvert d'Istanbul, devant la mosquée Nuruosmaniye. Crédits photo: L’Express
L’EXPRESS.fr: Sur Internet, partisans et opposants à une adhésion turque à l'Union européenne affûtent leurs arguments. LEXPRESS.fr passe en revue les sites où les retrouver, s'informer et débattre.

Les sites partisans d'une Turquie européenne jouent la carte de l'information, face aux "préjugés". Turquieeuropenne.eu, par exemple, estime que les anti "affirment abusivement que les citoyens européens ne veulent pas de la Turquie dans l'Union Européenne".

Selon le site de cette association "excédée", "la méconnaissance de la Turquie en Europe est telle que ces sondages sont, dans l'état actuel des choses, sans aucune signification". La Turquie n'est, selon ses membres, que le "nouveau bouc émissaire" trouvé par les eurosceptiques "qu'ils soient souverainistes, nationalistes ou tout simplement xénophobes ". Turquie Européenne est aussi présente sur Facebook.

Tetedeturc.com est, comme son URL l'indique, sur la même longueur d'ondes... Ce site animé par un collectif d'internautes bénévoles de France, Belgique et Turquie, a pour objectif d'apporter "des informations complètes, détaillées et d'offrir un autre éclairage". L'"agence d'information européenne sur la Turquie" Info-turc.org a pour devise "j'informe donc je suis".

Moins partisan, le site Turquie News est, d'après sa charte éditoriale, un "site d'informations et de débat public" qui ne se veut le porte-parole d'aucun parti. Les opinions y sont diverses. Mais dans la rubrique "Europe", les titres des contributions mises en ligne sont cependant plus pro qu'anti-adhésion turque... Voir aussi leur groupe Facebook. >>> Par Marie Simon | Mardi 26 Mai 2009

Au Yémen, la communauté juive lutte pour sa survie
Des Juifs yéménites en route pour célébrer un mariage à Raïda, dans le sud-ouest du pays, en juin 2008. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: REPORTAGE - Ils ne sont plus que 350 à vivre en marge d'une société où les extrémistes musulmans dénoncent leur «alignement» sur Israël.

Un keffieh beige sur la tête pour masquer la kippa, Yéhia Moussa arrive en famille au rendez-vous fixé dans le parc Asser, qui surplombe Sanaa. Il est le rabbin de la minuscule communauté juive de la capitale yéménite : douze familles obligées de vivre recluses dans un «complexe touristique» gardé par la sécurité publique, depuis qu'elles ont été attaquées dans leur village d'al-Salem, au nord du Yémen. C'était en décembre 2004. «On ne voulait plus de nous là-bas», se souvient, amer, Yéhia, 30 ans, père de quatre enfants. Les rebelles de la minorité zaïdite (chiite) leur reprochaient d'être soutenus par l'armée du président, Ali Abdallah Saleh, qu'ils affrontaient alors.

Après des décennies de coexistence relativement harmonieuse avec leurs voisins musulmans, tout a basculé lorsque des hommes masqués adressèrent une lettre de menace au rabbin : «Après surveillance précise des Juifs d'al- Salem, il est clair qu'ils agissent pour servir le sionisme mondial.» Et d'assortir l'avertissement d'un ultimatum de dix jours pour plier bagages. Finalement, les Juifs d'al-Salem furent d'abord évacués vers la ville voisine de Saada et, un mois plus tard, en hélicoptères militaires jusqu'à leur minighetto de Sanaa, face à l'ambassade américaine.

«Ici, au moins, on se sent en sécurité», se félicite Souleiman, le vieux père de Yéhia. Mais depuis, la plupart ont perdu leur travail. Et cinq ans après, leurs biens n'ont toujours pas été restitués. Les 57 Juifs de Sanaa, religieux en majorité, vivent littéralement sous perfusion : tous les mois, la présidence de la République verse l'équivalent de 18 euros à chacun d'eux, et offre un peu de nourriture aux familles. >>> D’envoyé spécial du Fugaro à Sanaa, Georges Malbrunot | Mercredi 27 Mai 2009

Vom Volkskrieg zum Jihad im Nordkaukasus: Das islamistische Gesicht des Widerstands im Süden Russlands
NZZ Online: Die russischen Nordkaukasus-Republiken werden seit Jahren von Gewalt erschüttert. Die Zeit der breit abgestützten Volkserhebung ist vorbei. Der Untergrund besteht heute aus Islamisten, deren Ziel ein «Emirat» ist. Die Politik Moskaus spielt ihnen in die Hände.

Moskau, im Mai

An Karamachi und Tschabanmachi, zwei Dörfer an der dagestanisch-tschetschenischen Grenze, erinnert sich heute kaum jemand mehr. Fundamentalistische islamische Gelehrte hatten hier vor zehn Jahren – sogar mit zeitweiliger Billigung der Moskauer Zentralregierung – ein nach den Regeln des islamischen Rechts (Scharia) organisiertes Gemeinwesen aufgebaut. Zu ihnen stiessen auch die militanten islamistischen Feldkommandanten Schamil Bassajew und Chattab aus dem ersten Tschetschenien-Krieg. Im August 1999 griffen sie im Namen der islamischen Befreiung des Nordkaukasus in benachbarte Regionen Dagestans aus. Doch die Unterstützung der Bevölkerung fanden sie nicht, und der Angriff auf die Ortschaft Botlich geriet zum Fiasko. Er bot der Regierung in Moskau Gelegenheit zur Intervention. Die «antiterroristische Operation» – wie der zweite Tschetschenien-Krieg offiziell genannt wurde – ging erst vor kurzem formell zu Ende. >>> Vom Russland-Korrespondenten der NZZ Markus Ackeret | Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

Nordkorea droht Seoul mit Militärschlag: Rückkehr Pjongjangs zur Herstellung von Plutonium?
NZZ Online: Das Regime in Nordkorea hat seine bereits sehr aggressive Rhetorik noch einmal um einen Ton höher geschraubt. Es bezeichnete den Waffenstillstand vom Juli 1953 als nicht mehr bindend.

Am Montag hatte Nordkorea die Welt mit einem unterirdischen Atomtest schockiert und zwei Kurzstreckenraketen getestet. Am Dienstag reagierte Pjongjang mit drei weiteren Raketentests auf die einhellige Verurteilung durch den Uno-Sicherheitsrat. Am Mittwoch hat nun das nordkoreanische Regime verlauten lassen, dass es sich nicht mehr an das Waffenstillstandsabkommen gebunden fühle, mit dem am 27. Juli 1953 der blutige Koreakrieg beendet worden war. Pjongjang drohte Seoul mit Krieg, sollten die Südkoreaner Schiffe auf dem Weg von oder nach nordkoreanischen Häfen aufhalten und durchsuchen. >>> us. Tokio | Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

WELT ONLINE: Nach Raketentests: Russland bereitet sich auf Atomkrieg in Korea vor

Bild dank der Welt
Nach dem nordkoreanischen Atomtest hat Russland erste Sicherheitsmaßnahmen ergriffen. Dazu gehören präventive Schritte "für den Fall einer unkontrollierbaren Entwicklung". Ziel ist es, auf den Ausbruch eines Atomkriegs auf der koreanischen Halbinsel vorbereitet zu sein. Gleichzeitig zeigt Russland Verständnis für Diktator Kim Jong-il.

Russland bereitet sich sicherheitshalber schon mal auf einen eventuellen militärischen Konflikt auf der koreanischen Halbinsel vor.

Wie die russische Nachrichtenagentur Interfax unter Berufung auf militärische Kreise mitteilte, werde ein "Komplex präventiver Maßnahmen für den Fall einer unkontrollierbaren Entwicklung" vorbereitet.

Moskaus Militärs reagieren damit auf den jüngsten Atombombenversuch und die Raketentests des nordkoreanischen Regimes, die weltweite Empörung über die eklatante Verletzung internationaler Abkommen hervorgerufen hatten.

Der anonyme Gesprächspartner der russischen Nachrichtenagentur sieht dabei durchaus die Nordkoreaner als Ursache der verschärften Spannungen, sie hätten mit ihren jüngsten Entscheidungen die Lage angeheizt.

Das könne sich auch auf die Sicherheit der Bevölkerung in den fernöstlichen Regionen Russlands auswirken. "Im Zusammenhang damit entstand die Notwendigkeit für entsprechende präventive Maßnahmen", zitierte die Agentur ihren Gesprächspartner.



Dessen Worten zufolge würden die Präventivmaßnahmen von militärischen Institutionen, die für eine verstärkte Kontrolle der Radioaktivität und die Zivilverteidigung zuständig seien. >>> Von Manfred Quiring | Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

North Korea Will Pay the Price for Nuclear Tests, Says US
ANGER: American ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said North Korea would be “further debilitated". Photo courtesy of the Daily Express
DAILY EXPRESS: NORTH Korea will “pay a price” for its nuclear missiles tests, the American ambassador to the UN warned last night.

Susan Rice said international pressure on the country would ­increase until it realised the tests had left it “further isolated and further debilitated”.

She told a US television news channel that Pyongyang’s actions were “clearly provocative and destabilising actions which threaten international peace and security”.

She said the international ­community would not “throw up our hands and let them pursue this path”, adding: “North Korea needs to understand that its ­actions have consequences.” >>> By Mark Reynolds | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Deranged Dictator
Kim Jong Il – the deranged dictator. Photo courtesy of the Daily Express
DAILY EXPRESS: He is the ultimate renaissance man, superlatively gifted at everything he attempts. He has composed six operas and his genius at staging musicals makes an Andrew Lloyd Webber production look like amateur dramatics in your village hall.

When playing golf, he regularly shoots a hole-in-one three or four times in a single round and he personally designed his country’s most symbolic monument, the Juche Tower. No wonder his countrymen worship him.

Or he is an irredeemably flawed individual who cannot distinguish between fact and fiction, a tyrant who rules by fear and punishes ruthlessly any hint of dissent. No wonder his countrymen worship him.

If you thought Britain suffered under the manipulative skills of Alastair Campbell, then spare a thought for the poor benighted souls of North Korea living under the rule of the man they are obliged to call their “Dear Leader”: Kim Jong Il.

This is a man who, even when his people were reduced to eating grass because there was nothing else, still managed to convince them there wasn’t a famine raging through the country and that it was an ugly rumour cooked up by pro-Western agitators – or, as we know them, the Red Cross and the United Nations World Programme, the relief agencies who saved more than a fifth of the North Korean population from dying of starvation and disease in the Nineties. Meanwhile, he had his favourite dish, lobster, flown in every day, eating it with silver chopsticks.

For the past five years, Kim Jong Il has even succeeded in keeping the outside world guessing as to whether he is still alive or not; rumours persist that he died in 2003 and that since then foreign leaders have been ­dealing with one of four lookalikes.

It has been all too easy for the West to scorn Kim Jong Il as something of a figure of fun, a vain playboy in built‑up shoes presiding over all those eerily robotic mass rallies before retiring to watch the American action films he adores.

But North Korea’s nuclear tests this week are a sharp reminder of Kim Jong Il’s other side as arguably the most dangerous man in the world at the moment.

“Know thine enemy” is sage advice but when it comes to Kim Jong Il, the West is hamstrung by the paucity of fact and the abundance of fable. >>> By Anna Pukas | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

THE GUARDIAN: Photo Gallery: Kim Jong-il: a life in pictures >>>

The Beat Goes On: California Continues to Bellyache Over Gay Marriage
Activists shouted "shame on you" as the ruling was published. Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: California's Supreme Court has upheld a ban on same-sex marriage - the latest twist in a long-running saga.

The judges rejected a challenge from gay-rights activists to overturn the result of a 2008 referendum which restricted marriage to heterosexuals.

Prior to the vote, same-sex marriages were legal for six months, during which 18,000 couples were married.

The judges said their ruling was not retroactive - meaning those couples will remain legally married. California Backs Gay Marriage Ban >>> | Tuesday, May 26, 2009

LOS ANGELES TIMES:
Interactive: Gay marriage chronology >>>

YOUTUBE: California Supreme Court Upholds Gay Marriage Ban



YOUTUBE: Protest Across California After Supreme Court Supports Gay Marriage Ban



YOUTUBE: New York City Rally in Protest of California Marriage Ruling


LE FIGARO: La Californie maintient l'interdiction du mariage gay

Cette décision de la Cour suprême de l'Etat a provoqué mardi un face à face tendu entre police, et défenseurs des unions homosexuelles, et la consternation du tout-Hollywood.

L'annonce a été accueillie par les cris de déception des manifestants rassemblés devant le tribunal de San Francisco. Mardi, la cour suprême de Californie a validé le résultat d'un référendum interdisant le mariage homosexuel. Comme on pouvait s'y attendre, six des sept juges ont estimé que cette consultation était légale et ne devait pas être annulée. (Voir la vidéo ci-dessous)


«Bien que je pense qu'un jour le peuple ou les tribunaux reconnaîtront le mariage gay, en tant que gouverneur de Californie, je respecterai la décision de la Cour suprême», a réagi Arnold Schwarzenegger dans un communiqué.

La plus haute instance juridique californienne a toutefois validé les unions conclues avant l'entrée en vigueur de cette mesure. Quelque 18.000 couples gays restent donc mariés. >>> J.C. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP et AP | Mercredi 27 Mai 2009

NZZ Online: Homo-Ehen in Kalifornien bleiben verboten: Deutliches Urteil des Obersten Gerichts – bereits geschlossene Ehen bleiben gültig

Das Oberste Gericht in Kalifornien hat das Resultat einer Volksabstimmung vom November für gültig erklärt, in der eine Mehrheit für das Verbot von Homo-Ehen gewesen war. Das Richtergremium fällte einen deutlichen Entscheid.

Die Anhänger der Homo-Ehe in den USA haben vor dem Obersten Gericht Kaliforniens eine Niederlage erlitten. Die Richter erklärten das Ergebnis der Volksabstimmung vom November für gültig, bei der eine Mehrheit für ein Verbot der Ehe zwischen gleichgeschlechtlichen Partnern gestimmt hatte. Die rund 18'000 Homo-Ehen, die vor dem Verbot geschlossen worden waren, sollen aber weiterhin gültig bleiben, hielt das Gericht in dem am Dienstag veröffentlichten Urteil fest.

Eine Verfassungsänderung?

Mehrere hundert Anhänger der Homo-Ehe, die sich vor dem Gericht in San Francisco versammelt hatten, reagierten mit Empörung auf den Richterspruch. Sie skandierten «Schande, Schande!» Schwulen- und Lesbenverbände hatten das Verfahren gemeinsam mit anderen Bürgerrechtsgruppen angestrengt, um das Ergebnis der Volksabstimmung annullieren zu lassen.

Sie hatten argumentiert, dass ein derart schwerer Eingriff in die Rechte von Minderheiten einer Verfassungsänderung gleichkomme und deshalb nur mit einer Zwei-Drittel-Mehrheit im Landesparlament verabschiedet werden dürfte. Die Richter wollten dieser Auffassung aber nicht folgen; sie bestätigten das Verbot im Verhältnis sechs zu eins. >>> sda/afp | Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

Sarkozy Plays a Round of Gulf
The United Arab Emirates' President, Sheikh Kalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, accompanies THE French President Nicolas Sarkozy after their meeting in Abu Dhabi. Photo courtesy of The Independent
THE INDEPENDENT: France took an ambitious step into the cauldron of Gulf politics yesterday, opening a military base, or "peace camp", in Abu Dhabi.

The naval and air station - the first French military base to be built abroad in half a century - is intended to make France a serious player in the previously "Anglo-Saxon" game of Gulf security and the military containment of Iran.

The base, formally opened by President Nicolas Sarkozy, may also improve France's chances of selling military hardware to the United Arab Emirates, starting with 63 Rafale jet fighters. During his visit, President Sarkozy dug the first spade of sand for the foundations of an Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre museum, part of a drive to promote French culture, and cultural exports, in the Middle East.

Although the military base has been declared to be part of France's contribution to the fight against Indian Ocean pirates, its real importance is diplomatic and strategic. "France is showing that it is ready to assume its responsibilities in guaranteeing the stability of a region vital to the entire world," M. Sarkozy told the Emirates news agency, Wam. >>> By John Lichfield in Paris | Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Kristallnacht: Still an Unforgettable Nightmare 70 Years On
THE TELEGRAPH: For historians, the night of Nov 9-10, 1938, represents a turning point for Hitler’s Germany, the moment when the persecution of the Jewish population moved from the psychological to the physical, a milestone on the road that led to the murder of six million people. But for me, it is something more: it is the night they took away my father, and destroyed the synagogue that was my second home.

A wrecked Jewish shop in Berlin, the day after the "Kristallnacht" rampage. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The campaign against the Jews that began when Hitler took power gathered momentum in 1935 with the promulgation of the Nuremberg Race Laws, which for all intents and purposes made Jews into second-class citizens. But anti-Jewish agitation was still mostly verbal: a hate campaign orchestrated by a propaganda machine that poured poison into young and old, rich and poor, into the university campuses and professions. “Die Juden sind unser Unglück” was the catchphrase – “The Jews are our misfortune.” Hitler screamed it from the rostrum, journalists splashed it across newspapers, party workers scribbled it on public hoardings. Teachers taught it in the classroom, and the children in turn frightened their parents into believing and repeating it.

Even now, 70 years later, it is hard to forget what it was like growing up in such an environment. In 1936, when I was eight, my parents wanted me to have swimming lessons at the municipal pool in Hanover. When I arrived for my third lesson there was a large notice at the entrance: “Juden sind hier unerwünscht” – “Jews are not welcome here”. We turned back, and out of the corner of my eye I saw my mother wiping the tears from her face.

This was not confined to the cities. I remember accompanying my father, a textile merchant, on a business trip to a small village where he had several regular customers. At the entrance, workmen were busy erecting a huge hoarding, reading: “Juden betreten dieses Dorf auf ihre eigene Gefahr.” (“Jews enter this village at their own risk.”) My father turned back, and I read from his pale face that something was seriously wrong. The same happened in another village. First one, then another, then another of his customers refused to do business: “We have known each other for many years,” said one. “But I beg you, leave right away. I like you, and enjoy dealing with you. But I am afraid of my staff, and of my neighbours – and of my children.”

By 1938, things were getting even worse. In the summer, a law required all Jewish men to adopt the name “Israel” and women the name “Sarah”. The new names were to be inserted in all official documents, such as passports and birth certificates. I remember the debate: was this merely an additional stigma, or a way to identify us for whatever was planned later? Soon after, on the night of Yom Kippur, the Rabbi addressed a crowded congregation, for what would prove to be the last time before the synagogue’s destruction. He exhorted us to take pride in bearing the names of our forebears – but the severe thunderstorm that raged as he was speaking reflected our feelings more accurately than his uplifting words.

And then, on a Friday morning in the middle of October, the word spread like wildfire: all Polish Jews, of whom there were many in our town, had been rounded up – men, women and children, without a moment’s notice. They had been in the middle of preparing food for the coming Sabbath, but instead mothers carrying their babies and men carrying the barest necessities they could gather were bundled into a reception centre. By the evening, it became clear that all over Germany, the Jews of Polish origin had been rounded up with trademark efficiency. They were quickly and unceremoniously deported across the border, never to return and never to be heard of again. >>> By Joe Lobenstein | Monday, November 10, 2008

Die Wahrheit über den Islam

Islamisierung durch Multikulti-Wahn und Zuwanderung (Bischof Mixa)

Obama Introduces Sotomayor as Court Pick
President Barack Obama with Judge Sonia Sotomayor, right, his nominee for the Supreme Court. Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama Tuesday introduced Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his first nominee for the Supreme Court, hailing "an extraordinary woman" who would bring to the nation's highest court "the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey."

A beaming Judge Sotomayor, 54 years old, called herself "an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunity and experience."

The emotional introduction in the White House's East Room set the stage for a Supreme Court confirmation process that the White House hopes will go smoothly and quickly. As the first Hispanic nominee for the Supreme Court, Ms. Sotomayor's candidacy is historic.

But conservatives are itching for a fight. Wendy E. Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, denounced the president's nominee as "a liberal judicial activist of the first order, who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written."

The White House introduction was designed to head off that fight, with a moving recitation of Ms. Sotomayor's rise from the housing projects of the Bronx and an assurance from the president that his choice was based on "rigorous intellect" and a "recognition of the limits of the judicial role."

A judge's job, Mr. Obama said, is "to interpret, not make, law."

But Mr. Obama didn't shy from challenging the right on what he called a final ingredient necessary to make a great justice: life experiences overcoming obstacles that would grant his nominee "a common touch and a sense of compassion."

Conservatives have said Mr. Obama's emphasis on a justice with "empathy" would ensure that his nominee would be an activist, seeking judgments that favor underdogs without deference to the facts and law. >>> By Jonathan Weisman | Tuesday, May 26, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Barack Obama Names Hispanic Sonia Sotomayor as New Supreme Court Judge

President Obama has named Sonia Sotomayor, the federal appeals judge, as America’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, a woman with a remarkable personal story that began on a housing project in the south Bronx.

If confirmed by the Senate Judge Sotomayor, 54, whose parents came from Puerto Rico, will also become only the third woman to serve on America’s highest court. Within minutes of the announcement conservatives said that they were preparing to do battle over a judge they accuse of being a liberal activist.

Judge Sotomayor, who was inspired to become a judge after watching the Perry Mason courtroom dramas as a child, had diabetes diagnosed at 8 and lost her father, a factory worker, the following year. She and her brother were raised by their mother, a nurse in a methadone clinic, in the Bronxdale housing project. She graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude in 1976, and from Yale Law School in 1979. She is divorced with no children.

In making the first Supreme Court nomination by a Democratic president in 15 years, Mr Obama has said that the most important quality he was looking for was someone with empathy for ordinary citizens. Announcing his choice in the White House he said: “Even as she has accomplished so much in her life she has never forgotten where she began, never lost touch with the community that supported her. What Sonia will bring to the court is not only the experience acquired over the course of a brilliant legal career but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life’s journey.” >>> Tim Reid in Washington | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Richard Overy – Opinion: We Should Be Afraid of a British Berlusconi
TIMES ONLINE: The lesson of the 1930s is clear: the public must understand the dangers facing democracy and get ready to protest

Is there always a political fallout from the effects of severe economic crises such as Britain is now experiencing? The answer must surely be yes.

In the 1930s the Depression broke the Macdonald Labour Party, divided the Liberals, ushered in an emergency National Government and led to the emergence of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. Normal party politics was restored only 15 years later, in the campaign of 1945 when Labour rose triumphantly to power to build a New Jerusalem.

Not only did the recession reshape British politics in the 1930s, but the crisis also provoked a growing disillusionment with conventional party politics and the role of Parliament. The political elite that dominated the National Government was seen as self-interested and out of touch. There was little sleaze about in the 1930s - a great many MPs had private means - but there was a strong feeling among the more progressive forces in British society that MPs were a barrier to social change, economic reform and, above all, to a foreign policy that would really reflect the wide enthusiasm for the League of Nations and popular anti-war sentiment.

In 1935 there were two countrywide votes. One was the general election which the National Government won in the absence of a serious opposition. The second was the peace ballot organised by a number of voluntary associations under the direction of the peace campaigner, Lord Robert Cecil. Half a million volunteers tramped the streets knocking on doors to get voters to fill out a voting slip in favour of the league, disarmament, international control of aviation and so on. In the end 11.6 million people voted, almost all in favour. This was a remarkable expression of independent public opinion; the Government took no notice.

Voluntary effort to try to get across alternative, and more progressive, political solutions mushroomed in the 1930s. Above all the view took hold that Parliament no longer really represented what most people thought. Between 1936 and 1939 widespread efforts were made to create a people's front or popular front that would unite progressive opinion, independently of party allegiance. Sir Stafford Cripps, later Chancellor in the 1945 Government, was temporarily kicked out of the Labour Party in 1939 for making one last effort to create a united popular front to challenge Parliament. The National Government survived the people's front pressure but only at the cost of growing rejection of old-fashioned parliamentary politics, most marked among the chattering classes.

What did not happen was a shift to the political extremes, as in Germany when Hitler exploited economic disaster to make his the country's largest party. British fascism and communism remained fringe movements because much progressive opinion wanted liberal values and social progress, not an authoritarian new order. This is familiar ground today. The sense of disillusionment with conventional party politics, where the main parties seem the same and the new political class lines its own nest, opens the way to political extremism. The British National Party is waiting its turn; radical protest at the G20 summit filled the City with campaigners. Real politics, which will engage people's enthusiasm and mobilise their anxiety, may be about to move from Westminster and out on to the street, but it is unlikely to become a mass movement unless conditions deteriorate even more. >>> Richard Overy | Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Britain: The Second World War
THE TELEGRAPH: The Build Up to War


THE TELEGRAPH: The Phoney War


THE TELEGRAPH: The Battle of Britain


THE TELEGRAPH: Britain at War

China’s Yuan: The Next Reserve Currency?
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Skeptics have dismissed Beijing's talk of de-emphasizing the US dollar, but China is making moves that could soon lead to a convertible yuan.

Are the Chinese finally getting serious about loosening their ties to the dollar -- and even replacing the greenback with the yuan as the global economy's reserve currency? The evidence is mounting that they are.

For the last two months, China's leadership has been complaining about the country's dangerous dependence on the dollar.. Beijing holds $2 trillion (€1.43 trillion) in dollar assets, accumulated through years of exports to America and massive purchases of Treasuries by the Chinese government. If Washington can't rein in its mounting budget deficit, both Treasuries and the greenback could weaken considerably -- and the Chinese could be big losers as a result.

The Chinese began generating attention on the issue in March, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was worried that the country's dollar assets could slide. Ten days later Chinese central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan suggested replacing the dollar as the international reserve currency. One idea, Zhou said, was to replace the dollar with a basket of currencies supervised by the International Monetary Fund. >>> © SPIEGEL ONLINE 2009 | Tuesday, May 26, 2009

LeVine is a correspondent in BusinessWeek's Washington bureau.

French President Sarkozy Opens UAE Base
BBC: President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally opened a French military base in the United Arab Emirates, France's first permanent base in the Gulf.

The flags of France and the UAE were raised at a ceremony at the so-called "Peace Camp" in the Abu Dhabi emirate.

France is a leading military supplier to the Gulf state, and signed a nuclear co-operation agreement last year.

Its new base will host up to 500 French troops and include a navy base, air base, and training camp.

Mr Sarkozy flew to Abu Dhabi on Monday with four ministers and a delegation of businessmen.

In a recent interview with Diplomatie magazine, he said that the military presence underscored France's desire "to participate fully in the stability of this region that is essential for the world's equilibrium".

Analysts say the move positions France - along with the US and UK, which already have bases in the Gulf - in the forefront for lucrative defence contracts and nuclear energy deals. >>> | Tuesday, May 26, 2009

LE FIGARO: Abu Dhabi, base avancée 
de la France en face de l'Iran

Des Rafale de l'armée de l'air française stationnés sur la base aérienne d'al-Dhafra, lundi à Abu Dhabi. Dans l'Émirat, Paris s'est aussi doté d'une base navale et d'une base terrestre spécialisée dans le combat urbain. Photo grâce au Figaro

L'inauguration, mardi par Nicolas Sarkozy, d'une installation militaire dans le Golfe illustre un changement de position stratégique.

Face à l'Iran, sur les rives du détroit d'Ormuz, au bord de l'immense océan Indien, la base navale de la nouvelle implantation militaire française aux Émirats arabes unis est sortie de terre en à peine un an. Sous une chaleur écrasante, 40 degrés à l'ombre, des ouvriers s'attellent aux travaux de finition. Les bâtiments, blanc cassé, sentent encore la peinture. Dans le port, majestueuse malgré ses 7 000 tonnes, la frégate antiaérienne Forbin, dernière-née de la marine nationale, se confond avec le gris des eaux. L'Aconit, une frégate furtive spécialisée dans la lutte contre les pirates, a aussi accosté. Seul le Dupuy de Lôme, un bâtiment de la DRM, la Direction des renseignements militaires, officiellement destiné à «l'expérimentation et à la mesure», a été soustrait à l'œil des journalistes. Il ne sera mis à quai que pour la visite inaugurale de Nicolas Sarkozy, ce matin.

C'est la première fois depuis cinquante ans, depuis les indépendances africaines exactement, que la France ouvre une base militaire permanente hors de son territoire national. C'est aussi la première fois que les Français s'implantent ainsi de manière permanente dans une région d'influence anglo-saxonne. Pour s'imposer dans cette ancienne colonie britannique, les militaires français ont mis le paquet. Une base aérienne destinée à accueillir les Mirage et les Rafale de l'armée de l'air française à al-Dhafra ; une base navale appuyée par 300 mètres de quai, dans le port de Mina Zayed, «pour soutenir les forces déployées dans l'océan Indien et compléter, en lui donnant plus d'autonomie, le dispositif de la marine nationale dans la région», selon les mots du colonel Hervé Cherel, qui commande l'implantation française aux Émirats ; enfin une base terrestre, installée dans le camp émirati de Zayed, en plein désert, spécialisée dans l'entraînement au combat urbain. À terme, environ 500 militaires français stationneront là en permanence. Une présence assez modeste, mais un symbole et des possibilités immenses. >>> Par Isabelle Lasserre | Lundi 25 Mai 2009

Pakistans Taliban blasen zum Rückzug: Rebellen verlassen Mingora – Kampf «bis zum letzten Blutstropfen»
Frauen mit Kindern auf der Flucht im Swattal. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
NZZ Online: Der Anführer der Taliban im pakistanischen Swattal, Maulana Fazlullah, hat seinen Kämpfern befohlen, sich aus der strategisch wichtigen Stadt Mingora zurückzuziehen. Der «Heilige Krieg» zur Einführung des islamischen Rechts im Swattal werde gleichwohl «bis zum letzten Blutstropfen» fortgesetzt. >>> sda/dpa/afp/Reuters | Montag, 25. Mai 2009