The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Türkei-Experte im Interview: "Erdogan kehrt zurück zu muslimischen Instinkten"
WELT ONLINE: In den 90er-Jahren galt der gegenwärtige türkische Ministerpräsident Erdogan als islamischer Fundamentalist. Danach erfand er sich neu als pro-europäischer Modernisierer. Im WELT-ONLINE-Interview erklärt Türkei-Experte Gareth Jenkins, warum Erdogan inzwischen wieder in Richtung Islam tendiert.
WELT ONLINE: Der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan galt in den 80er- und frühen 90er-Jahren als islamischer Fundamentalist. Später gab er sich moderat, pro-westlich, und stritt ab, dass der Islam zu seiner politischen Identität gehöre. Wo steht er heute? Hat er sich schon wieder geändert?
Gareth Jenkins: Er hat sich damals geändert, aber nicht so sehr, wie ein naiver Westen das glauben wollte. Ich denke, er hat nie wirklich die Idee verinnerlicht, dass es eine Gleichberechtigung geben sollte zwischen den Kulturen und Religionen. Fundamentalismus war in der Türkei immer etwas Anderes als beispielsweise in arabischen Ländern, es hatte mehr mit kultureller Identität zu tun als mit Scharia. Seit 2007 kehrt Erdogan zunehmend zu dieser Suche nach einer muslimischen Identität zurück. Es ist eine instinktive Rückkehr zu seinen ursprünglichen Werten.
WELT ONLINE: Warum?
Jenkins: Erdogan und die AKP waren naiv in ihrem Bestreben, der EU beitreten zu wollen. Sie verstanden nicht, was die EU ist, sie wollten eigentlich der EU ihrer Fantasie beitreten. Die Realität hat sie enttäuscht, auch die Erfahrung mit anti-islamischen Gefühlen im Westen. So kehren sie zurück zu dem, was sie ursprünglich wollten, es ist auch eine Hinwendung zu den muslimischen Ländern, die einst zum osmanischen Reich gehörten. >>> Von Boris Kalnoky | Montag, 25. Januar 2010
Brad Pitt’s Ever-lengthening Beard
With Brad’s beard getting longer and longer, one must ask oneself a couple of questions: 1.) Is Brad following Prophet Muhammad’s injunction on the length of the beard? 2.) Is he dabbling with the idea of conversion to Islam? - Mark
Hitler Was Enabled by Western Bankers and the JFK Assassination Story is a National Fairytale, Says Oliver Stone
MAIL ONLINE: Adolf Hitler was a product of his era and Americans are in denial about who really shot JFK, according to Oliver Stone.
The Hollywood filmmaker, who is working on a 10-part documentary called The Secret History Of The United States, said the German dictator was ‘enabled by Western bankers’.
Giving a lecture to high school students on the role of film in peace-building, Stone told how ‘psychopath’ Hitler rose to power thanks to big business leaders and other supporters who appreciated his vow to destroy communism.
Stone, who is in Bangkok for a visit organised by the Vienna-based International Peace Foundation, also told the 300 pupils his movie JFK was his most controversial to date as explores other theories into who killed U.S. president John F Kennedy.
Hitler was and managed to ‘seduce’ Germany's military industrial complex.
He said: ‘Hitler is a monster. There is no question. I have no empathy for Hitler at all.
‘He was a crazy psychopath. But like Frankenstein was a monster, there was a Doctor Frankenstein. He is product of his era.’
Stone said the aim of his documentary, which two historians are helping him with, was to offer a fuller understanding of the 20th century and how some of those lessons may be relevant to President Barack Obama.
‘What has America become? How can we in America not learn from Germany in the 1930s?’ the Oscar-winning director asked. >>> Mail Foreign Service | Monday, January 25, 2010
'Oral Sex' Definition Prompts Dictionary Ban in US Schools
THE GUARDIAN: A parent's complaint over a 'sexually graphic' definition has seen dictionaries removed from southern Californian schools
Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for "oral sex".
Merriam Webster's 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the "sexually graphic" entry is "just not age appropriate", according to the area's local paper. >>> Alison Flood | Monday, January 25, 2010
Téhéran : Mehdi Karoubi reconnaît la légitimité du président iranien
LE POINT: L'un des principaux opposants au président Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, le réformateur Mehdi Karoubi, a reconnu, pour la première fois lundi, le résultat de l'élection du 12 juin. Ses déclarations semblent ouvrir la voie à un apaisement de la crise politique qui secoue l'Iran depuis sept mois. "Je continue à croire que l'élection (présidentielle) a été marquée de fraudes massives, mais puisque le Guide (de la République islamique Ali Khamenei) l'a validée, je crois que M. Ahmadinejad est le chef du gouvernement, c'est-à-dire le président" de l'Iran, a déclaré Mehdi Karoubi, dans une réponse transmise par son fils Hossein Karoubi à une question de l'Agence France-Presse. >>> AFP | Lundi 25 Janvier 2010
Débat : La burqa vue par nos voisins européens
LE POINT: La mission parlementaire rend mardi son rapport préconisant l'interdiction du voile intégral dans les lieux publics. La France n'est pas le seul pays à s'interroger, voire à polémiquer sur l'interdiction de la burqa. Les positions de nos partenaires européens : >>> Par Ségolène Gros de Larquier | Lundi 25 Janvier 2010
Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin in glücklicheren Zeiten. Bild: Google Images
Birma: Suu Kyi soll offenbar freigelassen werden
ZEIT ONLINE: Neue Hoffnung für Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Suu Kyi: Die Militärjunta will sie angeblich freilassen. Für eine Kandidatur bei der Parlamentswahl wäre es indes zu spät.
14 Jahre Hausarrest könnten in diesem Jahr enden: Wie in Rangun bekannt wurde, soll Innenminister Maung Oo schon in der vergangenen Woche bei einem Treffen mit Lokalpolitikern angekündigt haben, die 64-jährige Aung San Suu Kyi im November freizulassen. Zum ersten Mal seit Langem nennt damit ein Offizieller ein konkretes Datum für die Freilassung der Oppositionspolitikerin und Friedensnobelpreisträgerin.
Ein Sprecher von Suu Kyis Partei NLD wollte die Ankündigung nicht bestätigen. "Ich kann nicht definitiv sagen, dass sie freigelassen wird", sagte U Nyan Win, "aber ich hoffe es."
Suu Kyi war seit September 2003 nicht mehr in Freiheit – sie hat mehr als 14 der vergangenen 20 Jahre unter Hausarrest verbracht. Zuletzt war Suu Kyi von der Militärjunta im August zu 18 Monaten Hausarrest verurteilt worden, nachdem ein Amerikaner unter mysteriösen Umständen heimlich zu ihrem Haus an einem See geschwommen war. >>> Zeit Online, Reuters | Montag, 25. Januar 2010
Einwanderungspolitik: Das Problem der Niederlande mit dem "Multikulti"
WELT ONLINE: Obwohl die Morde an Pim Fortuyn und Theo van Gogh mehr als ein halbes Jahrzehnt zurückliegen, sucht die Niederlande bei der Einwanderungspolitik noch immer ihren inneren Kompass. Das zeigt auch der Volksverhetzungsprozess gegen Geert Wilders. Der Politiker profitiert von der tiefen Krise seines Landes.
Kurz vor Weihnachten wollte die Haagse Hogeschool ihren Studenten etwas Gutes tun. Die Hochschule in der niederländischen Regierungsstadt Den Haag beschloss, anders als bisher in diesem Jahr keinen Weihnachtsbaum aufzustellen. Die 19.000 Studenten nicht-westlicher Herkunft, so lautete die Begründung, könnten sich an der christlichen Symbolwirkung eines geschmückten Baumes stören – was sich wiederum negativ auf künftige Immatrikulationszahlen auswirken könnte. Kommunikationsdirektorin Annelies van Rosmalen bringt es auf den Punkt: "Der Baum passt nicht zum internationalen Charakter der Hochschule.“
Fortuyn 2002, Van Gogh 2004
So mancher fragt sich seit dem „Weihnachtskrieg von Den Haag“, ob die Holländer nur nett zu den Immigranten sein wollen oder ob sie – aus Angst oder falsch verstandener Toleranz – freiwillig ihre eigene Kultur über Bord werfen.
Der Fall mit dem Weihnachtsbaum ist nämlich keinesfalls eine Ausnahme. Der in Ägypten geborene Ezzat Aziz hat seine eigenen Erfahrungen gemacht. Seit 1998 arbeitet er als Fahrkartenkontrolleur beim öffentlichen Transportunternehmen von Amsterdam. Der 56-Jährige trägt bei seiner Arbeit immer ein Kreuz auf der Brust, denn er ist Christ, Mitglied der ägyptischen Minderheit der Kopten. Dann aber verbot das Unternehmen seinen Mitarbeitern, christliche Symbole zu tragen. Aus „Gründen der Professionalität“ dürfe Schmuck nicht über der Kleidung getragen werden, erläuterte Unternehmenssprecherin Petra Faber.
Aziz war 1984 nach Holland emigriert und versteht nun die Welt nicht mehr: "Ich lebe doch in einem demokratischen Land, in dem man das Recht hat, sich zu seinem Glauben zu bekennen.“ Es half nichts, Aziz wurde vom Dienst suspendiert. Er klagte, doch der Richter bestätigte die Sichtweise des Arbeitgebers. Jacqueline Koops, die Anwältin von Aziz, sieht Grundrechte verletzt. ,,Amsterdam ist eine multikulturelle Stadt. Mein Mandant wird diskriminiert. Es ist Tram-Schaffnerinnen oder Busfahrerinnen ja auch erlaubt, im Dienst ein Kopftuch zu tragen.“ Aziz wird auf Weisung seiner Vorgesetzten inzwischen psychologisch betreut – und hat Redeverbot. >>> Von Rob Savelberg | Montag, 25. Januar 2010
Fitna the Movie
To Obama's Pile of Woes, Add a Failing Iran Policy
TIME: As if President Barack Obama didn't have his hands full at home with his party's loss of Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, the collapse of health care reform and a disorganized war against the banks, he now faces a major foreign policy setback too. Since the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama has promised to curtail Iran's nuclear program by simultaneously offering talks and threatening sanctions. After a year of trying, both approaches appear on the verge of failure.
The President has given Iran two deadlines to demonstrate good faith. Last spring, his Administration told reporters that if Iran didn't show willingness to engage in talks by September, sanctions would follow. Then, in September, when Iran hinted it might possibly talk, Obama delivered another deadline, this time the end of 2009. >>> Massimo Calabresi | Monday, January 25, 2010
Is There Life After Death?
TIME: Is there life after death? Theologians can debate all they want, but radiation oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Long argues that if you look at the scientific evidence, the answer is unequivocally yes. Drawing on a decade's worth of research on near-death experiences — work that includes cataloguing the stories of some 1,600 people who have gone through them — he makes the case for that controversial conclusion in a new book, Evidence of the Afterlife. Medicine, Long says, cannot account for the consistencies in the accounts reported by people all over the world. He talked to TIME about the nature of near-death experience, the intersection between religion and science and the Oprah effect. >>> Laura Fitzpatrick | Friday, January 22, 2010
USA TODAY: BAGHDAD — Iraq's government spokesman says Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin "Chemical Ali" was executed Monday about a week after being sentenced to death for the poison gas attacks that killed more than 5,000 Kurds in 1988. >>> AP | Monday, January 25, 2010
Venezuela schaltet weitere TV-Sender ab: Opposition spricht von Einschränkung der Meinungsfreiheit
NZZ ONLINE: In Venezuela sind der oppositionelle Fernsehsender RCTV und fünf weitere Kabelsender nicht mehr zu empfangen. Die Kabelnetzbetreiber hätten die Sender am Sonntag ohne Vorwarnung aus dem Programm genommen, sagte eine RCTV-Sprecherin.
Die TV-Sender gehen davon aus, dass sie abgeschaltet wurden, weil sie sich einer Anordnung der Regierung widersetzten. RCTV hatte sich am Samstag zum zweiten Mal geweigert, eine Ansprache von Präsident Hugo Chávez zu übertragen. Ob die Weigerung in einem direkten Zusammenhang mit der Stilllegung stand, ist aber unklar.
Die Regierung in Venezuela hatte in der Vergangenheit bereits mehrfach Sender geschlossen. Menschenrechtsorganisationen befürchten deshalb eine ernsthafte Einschränkung der Meinungsfreiheit in Venezuela. >>> sda/afp | Sonntag, 24. Januar 2010
Tony Blair looking haggard in the build-up to the Chilcot Inquiry. Photograph: Mail Online
’Judgment Day’ for Tony Bliar
MAIL ONLINE: Taxpayers face a £250,000 security bill to protect Tony Blair from attack at the Iraq Inquiry.
Intelligence officers have picked up 'domestic chatter' suggesting his appearance warrants a high state of alert.
Thousands of anti-war protesters are expected to form a gauntlet of hate for the former Prime Minister on Friday as he attempts to justify Britain's involvement in the controversial conflict.
He is also a target for Muslim extremists raging at his decision to invade Iraq.
Mr Blair's six-hour appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry is being described as his 'Judgment Day' for sending British forces to topple Saddam Hussein, which cost the lives of 179 troops.
Demonstrators will be met by police road blocks, exclusion zones, armed officers and rooftop surveillance teams. The operation will cost at least £150,000 and could reach £250,000 depending on the number of protesters.
Mr Blair's long-awaited testimony comes days after security chiefs advised the Government to raise the level of terrorist threat from 'substantial' to 'severe' following the Christmas Day attempted plane bombing.
Allemagne : L’extrême gauche multiplie les actes violents
LE TEMPS: Voitures de luxe carbonisées, cocktails Molotov contre des commissariats, quartiers branchés ciblés: les autonomes ont radicalisé leur mouvement l’année dernière
Thomas n’en est toujours pas revenu: par un dimanche matin de novembre, il trouve un petit tas carbonisé à l’endroit même où se trouvait la veille au soir l’Audi A8 dernier cri qu’il avait garée devant sa porte, à Prenzlauer Berg, un quartier «bobo» de Berlin. Les policiers enregistrent sa déposition avec routine… L’année dernière, près de 300 véhicules, la plupart de luxe, ont brûlé dans les rues de Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg et Prenzlauer Berg, trois quartiers branchés de la capitale.
Thomas et son Audi, une voiture prêtée par le fabricant à des fins professionnelles (Thomas teste les nouveaux modèles pour la presse allemande), ne semble nullement impressionner les forces de l’ordre. La destruction de la voiture d’une valeur de 170 000 euros (255 000 francs) vient s’ajouter à la liste déjà longue des délits imputés à l’extrême gauche berlinoise depuis le début de l’année. Les autonomes chercheraient ainsi à freiner le mouvement d’embourgeoisement de quartiers ouvriers devenus branchés, et peu à peu vidés de leur population d’origine.
Voitures en flammes; affrontements de rue; cocktails Molotov lancés contre un commissariat ou un local utilisé par l’extrême droite; attaques contre des représentants des forces de l’ordre: les violences des activistes d’extrême gauche se sont multipliées l’année dernière en Allemagne. Berlin est en premier lieu concerné. Mais le mouvement touche aussi Hambourg, Francfort, Leipzig et Potsdam. >>> Nathalie Versieux | Samedi 23 Janvier 2010
Yémen : une génération de djihadistes irréductibles
LE FIGARO: Très jeunes, peu éduqués, ils constituentune cible de choix dans le recrutement d'al-Qaida dans la péninsule arabique.
Les vétérans du djihad les appellent «les gamins de l'Internet». Des jeunes d'à peine 20 ans, endoctrinés sur la Toile, sans avoir jamais croisés Oussama Ben Laden et les autres leaders historiques d'al-Qaida. «Nous assistons à l'émergence d'une nouvelle génération de militants, souvent au chômage, très peu éduqués, qui sont la cible du recrutement d'al-Qaida au Yémen», explique l'analyste yéménite Mourad Zafir. Tel Abdel Rahman al-Ujairih, ce kamikaze de 18 ans, inconnu des services de sécurité, qui tua quatre touristes sud-coréens et leur guide local en mars dernier, en se projetant contre eux avec des explosifs. Depuis «nous avons capturé des dizaines d'autres jeunes, certains avaient planifié des attentats suicides», reconnaît le vice-ministre des Affaires étrangères, Mohy Dhabi. Jeudi, les autorités ont annoncé avoir suspendu, dans les aéroports l'octroi de visa d'entrée aux étrangers, un certain nombre d'entre eux étant soupçonnés de venir grossir les rangs d'al-Qaida.
L'Irak fut le terrain d'entraînement de cette nouvelle génération de djihadistes. À partir de 2003, de nombreux Yéménites allèrent y affronter les troupes américaines. «N'oubliez pas que Zarqaoui (le chef d'al-Qaida en Irak, jusqu'à sa mort en 2006, NDLR) était entouré de plusieurs Yéménites» , relève le journaliste Abdullilah Shaya. Mais contrairement à leurs aînés «afghans», ces djihadistes ne se contentèrent pas de s'entraîner, ils combattirent deux, voire trois ans, face à la plus puissante armée du monde. À leur retour au Yémen, cette «expertise» ne tarda pas à produire ses effets : les premières attaques au mortier contre des ambassades eurent lieu en 2007. >>> Georges Malbrunot, Envoyé spécial du Figaro à Sanaa | Jeudi 21 Janvier 2010
The Economic System of Islam
Part 1:
Part 2:
Al-Jazeera Reporter Asks about Shariah-finance
Islam & the Beard
Part 1:
Part 2:
Joseph Stiglitz: Why We Have to Change Capitalism
THE TELEGRAPH: In an exclusive extract from his new book, Freefall, the former World Bank chief economist, reveals why banks should be split up and why the West must cut consumption.
Joseph Stiglitz Photo: The Telegraph
In the Great Recession that began in 2008, millions of people in America and all over the world lost their homes and jobs. Many more suffered the anxiety and fear of doing so, and almost anyone who put away money for retirement or a child's education saw those investments dwindle to a fraction of their value.
A crisis that began in America soon turned global, as tens of millions lost their jobs worldwide – 20m in China alone – and tens of millions fell into poverty.
This is not the way things were supposed to be. Modern economics, with its faith in free markets and globalisation, had promised prosperity for all. The much-touted New Economy – the amazing innovations that marked the latter half of the 20th century, including deregulation and financial engineering – was supposed to enable better risk management, bringing with it the end of the business cycle. If the combination of the New Economy and modern economics had not eliminated economic fluctuations, at least it was taming them. Or so we were told.
The Great Recession – clearly the worst downturn since the Great Depression 75 years earlier – has shattered these illusions. It is forcing us to rethink long-cherished views.
For a quarter century, certain free-market doctrines have prevailed: free and unfettered markets are efficient; if they make mistakes, they quickly correct them. The best government is a small government, and regulation only impedes innovation. Central banks should be independent and only focus on keeping inflation low.
Today, even the high priest of that ideology, Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board during the period in which these views prevailed, has admitted that there was a flaw in this reasoning – but his confession came too late for the many who have suffered as a consequence.
In time, every crisis ends. But no crisis, especially one of this severity, passes without leaving a legacy. The legacy of 2008 will include new perspectives on the long-standing conflict over the kind of economic system most likely to deliver the greatest benefit.
I believe that markets lie at the heart of every successful economy but that markets do not work well on their own. In this sense, I'm in the tradition of the celebrated British economist John Maynard Keynes, whose influence towers over the study of modern economics.
Government needs to play a role, and not just in rescuing the economy when markets fail and in regulating markets to prevent the kinds of failures we have just experienced. Economies need a balance between the role of markets and the role of government – with important contributions by non-market and non-governmental institutions. In the last 25 years, America lost that balance, and it pushed its unbalanced perspective on countries around the world.
The current crisis has uncovered fundamental flaws in the capitalist system, or at least the peculiar version of capitalism that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century in the US (sometimes called American-style capitalism). It is not just a matter of flawed individuals or specific mistakes, nor is it a matter of fixing a few minor problems or tweaking a few policies.
It has been hard to see these flaws because we Americans wanted so much to believe in our economic system. "Our team" had done so much better than our arch enemy, the Soviet bloc. >>> | Saturday, January 23, 2010
'Bin Laden' claims Christmas Day bomb plot
TIMES ONLINE: A new audio tape said to be from Osama Bin Laden that claims responsibility for the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt in Detroit has warned of further attacks against America.
The short recording purporting to be from the al-Qaeda leader, which was aired on Al Jazeera television, said: “The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the September 11.”
On Christmas Day, Mr Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national, allegedly attempted to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight he was sitting on as it approached Detroit Metro Airport. But the bomb he was said to have been hiding in his underwear failed to explode.
He told police shortly afterwards that he had been trained and instructed in the plot by al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
More than 60 messages have been broadcast by bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s number two, and their allies since the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The tape was aired after MI5 raised the terrorist threat level in Britain from "substantial" to "severe" — meaning that counter-terrorism agencies believe that an attack is "highly likely".
It is believed that intelligence whispers from America that an al-Qaeda affiliated group is close to finalising another atrocity coupled with a conference on Yemen and Afghanistan in London this week led to the decision. >>> Adam Fresco | Sunday, January 24, 2010
Osama bin Laden Tape: Al-Qaeda Leader Claims Re[s]ponsibility for Detroit Terror Attack
THE TELEGRAPH: Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has released a new voice recording claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.
The latest recording emerges after British spy chiefs raised the UK threat state to "severe" amid fears that al-Qaeda was planning a fresh wave of attacks on western targets, including and a plot to hijack an Indian passenger jet and crash it into a British city and attacks using female suicide bombers.
In the audio recording, released by Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, a voice purported to be bin Laden, says: "The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of September 11.
"If it was possible to carry our messages to you by words we wouldn't have carried them to you by planes," bin Laden added in a message he said was directed "from Osama to Obama".
David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said the fact that bin Laden had apparently claimed responsibility for the Yemen-back Detroit plot demonstrates "the links that can exist between different terrorist groups". >>> Phil Sherwell, in New York and Sean Rayment, Security Correspondent | Sunday, January 24, 2010
Bin Laden Claims Plane Bombing Bid (باللغة العربية)
Neue Audiobotschaft: Bin Laden bekennt sich zu Detroit-Anschlag
WELT ONLINE: Al-Qaida-Chef Osama bin Laden übernimmt die Verantwortung für den vereitelten Anschlag auf ein US-Passagierflugzeug an Weihnachten. Das geht aus einer Tonbandaufnahme hervor, deren Stimme dem Chef des Terrornetzwerkes zugeordnet wird. In der Botschaft kündigt bin Laden neue Anschläge auf die USA an.
„Wenn es möglich wäre, unsere Botschaft an Euch in Worten zu überbringen, hätten wir sie nicht mit Flugzeugen überbracht.“ Derart lakonisch rechtfertigt Al-Qaida-Chef Osma Bin Laden in einer neuen Audiobotschaft sowohl erneut die Angriffe vom 11. September 2001 als auch den versuchten Sprengstoffanschlag auf eine US-Linienmaschine auf dem Flug nach Detroit am 25. Dezember.
Die Aufnahme sendete wie schon diverse andere Verlautbarungen des Terror-Paten der in Qatar ansässige arabische Nachrichtensender al-Dschasira. Das Zeichen, das der "nigerianische Held“ Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab übermittelt habe, bekräftige die Mission „der Attentäter vom 11. September“ und nachfolgender Terroristen, sagte der Anführer des Terrornetzwerks in der gut eine Minute dauernden Tonbandaufnahme an die Adresse der USA. Es war die erste Video-Nachricht Bin Ladens seit dem 29. September. >>> Von Dietrich Alexander | Sonntag, 24. Januar 2010
LE FIGARO: «Nos attaques contre vous continueront tant que votre soutien aux Israéliens se poursuivra et que la sécurité ne sera pas établie en Palestine», promet le chef d'al-Qaida, qui revendique l'attentat manqué contre le vol Amsterdam-Détroit.
Oussama Ben Laden se rappelle au souvenir des autorités américaines. Dans un message audio, diffusé dimanche matin par la chaîne al-Jazira (écoutez la bande), le chef d'al-Qaida a revendiqué l'attentat manqué contre le vol Amsterdam-Détroit. Cette déclaration confirme le rôle joué par son organisation dans cette tentative. Fin décembre, la branche du groupe terroriste dans la péninsule arabique avait déjà clamé la responsabilité de l'attaque.
«De la part d'Oussama à Obama: le message délivré par le héros Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab confirme les messages précédents délivrés par les héros du 11 septembre et ceux qui les ont suivis», lance Oussama Ben Laden. Et l'islamiste promet de ne pas s'arrêter là. «Nos attaques contre vous se poursuivront tant que votre soutien aux Israéliens se poursuivra», met-il en garde. «Les Etats-Unis ne connaîtront pas la sécurité avant qu'elle ne soit établie en Palestine». «Il est injuste que vous ayez une vie tranquille alors que nos frères à Gaza vivent dans les pires conditions». Ben Laden veut montrer qu'il tient toujours les rênes >>> C.J. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP et AP | Dimanche 24 Janvier 2010
We Expect Better from Government Advisers Than Poppycock; But Poppycock Is What We’re Getting!
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain will remain a target for home-grown suicide bombers for years to come because Muslims have not fully integrated into society, a senior Government adviser has warned.
Iqbal Wahhab Photo: The Telegraph
Iqbal Wahhab, a prominent Muslim businessman, claimed that divisions between Islamic communities and the wider population will remain for another 100 years.
He blamed Labour for failing to tackle the problems of unemployment and deprivation among the communities, which he argues are key factors in leading young Muslims to turn to extremism.
Mr Wahhab, who chairs a Whitehall panel which advises ministers on race issues, expressed deep concern that Britain will suffer more attacks in the future as the terrorists become more sophisticated and more Muslims become radicalised.
His comments follow a recent report that said the UK is now believed to have the greatest number of Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda of any Western nation.
It has been claimed that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate a bomb on an airliner over Detroit last month, was radicalised as a student in London.
Appointed last week to head the advisory board of Quilliam, a leading counter-extremist think tank, Mr Wahhab said that the Government had failed to make young Muslims included in mainstream society and so left them exposed to being groomed by radical Islamic groups.
"It will take around 100 years for the employment gap between ethnic minorities and white people in this country to be eradicated," he said.
Ban That Bloody Burqah! Ban on Burqas Receives Strong Public Support in France
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A report drawn up by French MPs will this week call for a ban on Afghan-style burqas and other garments that cover a woman’s face.
The proposal has strong public support. According to an opinion poll by Ipsos for the magazine Le Point, 57% of voters favour a ban while 37% are opposed.
The recommendations of a parliamentary commission, to be published on Tuesday, are expected to include a bar on wearing full veils on public transport and in schools, hospitals and public-sector offices including post offices. The commission is thought likely to call for a total ban after further consultation.
President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a debate on veils last June, telling a special sitting of both houses of parliament that they were “not welcome” in France. He said last week the full veil was “contrary to our values and to the ideals we have of women’s dignity”. >>> John Follain in Paris | Sunday, January 24, 2010
Widerstand gegen Fed-Chef Bernanke wächst: Bis zu zehn Demokraten wollen keine nochmalige Nominierung
NZZ ONLINE: Im amerikanischen Senat wächst der Widerstand gegen eine zweite Amtszeit von Notenbankchef Ben Bernanke. Mehrere Senatoren von Barack Obamas demokratischer Partei kündigten an, gegen den Kandidaten des Präsidenten zu stimmen.
Eine Woche vor dem Ablauf der Amtszeit des amerikanischen Notenbankchefs Ben Bernanke wächst im Senat der Widerstand gegen eine nochmalige Nominierung. Auch in den Reihen der Demokraten kündigten am Freitag zwei weitere Senatoren an, Bernanke ihre Zustimmung zu verweigern.
Russell Feingold aus dem Bundesstaat Wisconsin warf Bernanke vor, die Finanzaktivitäten genehmigt zu haben, die zur schwersten Finanzkrise seit der grossen Depression geführt hätten. Bernanke habe die Politik von Ex-Präsident Bush mitgetragen, die für die aktuelle Wirtschaftskrise mitverantwortlich sei. Einer der schärfsten Kritiker Bernankes, der unabhängige Senator Bernie Sanders, sagte, mit einer Neubesetzung des Postens könnten auch die Regeln für das Finanzsystem neu geschrieben werden. >>> sda/apa/afp | Samstag, 23. Januar 2010
New Dark Age Alert! Warning from America: Female Suicide Bombers to Attack Western Targets
THE TELEGRAPH: Al-Qaeda terror cells have trained a group of female suicide bombers to attack Western targets, US officials have warned.
The women, who may have a "non Arab" appearance and be travelling on Western passports, have been prepared for their missions by the Yemeni group responsible for the operation to blow up an airliner over the United States on Christmas Day.
Details of the bombers emerged just hours after British spy chiefs raised the UK threat state to "severe" amid fears that al-Qaeda was planning a wave of attacks against western targets.
Terror experts within the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, a unit of MI5, now believe that an attack against the UK is "highly likely".
US law enforcement agents have been told to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers who may attempt to enter the country.
At least two are believed to be connected to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which dispatched underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who tried unsuccessfully to bring down a transatlantic airliner over Detroit.
Why Isn't The BBC Reporting on the Geert Wilders Trial?
RICHMARK SENTINEL: Interesting to note that there seems to be no mention whatsoever of the Geert Wilders trial on The BBC website.
It is, of course, one of the most important political trials to have ever taken place in Europe, and yet there is silence from The BBC. Read On & Comment >>> | Saturday, January 23, 2010
Pope Tells Priests to Get Blogging
THE TELEGRAPH: Pope Benedict XVI urged priests to use the internet "astutely" and make the most of opportunities offered by modern technology.
The Pope had told priests that they should write blogs and use the internet more, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel message.
In his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communications on Saturday, the Pope, who is 82 and known not to love computers or the internet, acknowledged priests must make the most of the "rich menu of options" offered by new technology.
"Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audio-visual resources – images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites – which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelisation and catechesis," he said.
Priests, he said, had to respond to the challenge of "today's cultural shifts" if they wanted to reach young people.
But Benedict warned priests not to strive to become stars of new media. "Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart," he said.
After decades of being wary of new media, the Vatican has decided to dive in head first. >>> |Saturday, January 23, 2010
Department of Communities Appoints Muslim Activist as Faith Adviser
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim activist advising the Government on religion is the former president of an Islamic student society, which has been linked to extremists.
Wakkas Khan was praised by John Denham, the Communities Secretary, for his “outstanding track record of achievement” when he was appointed as a faith adviser.
But the Cheshire-based dentist has a history of criticising the Government for its anti-terror policies, defending extremist groups and meeting radical Islamists.
As president of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis) from 2004 to 2006, Mr Khan invited Azzam Tamimi, a Palestinian activist and supporter of the terrorist group Hamas, to address a national meeting of students.
The group also invited Anwar al-Awlaki, a cleric thought to have inspired the 9/11 hijackers, to attend its annual conference in 2003, when Mr Khan was an ordinary member.
Al-Awlaki, is also accused by US officials of inspiring Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up an airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day. >>> Heidi Blake, Martin Beckford and Duncan Gardham | Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Boris Johnson’s Ex-wife’s Marriage to Muslim Shocked Her Family
New love: Allegra Mostyn-Owen with husband Abdul Majid. Photograph: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: They may not immediately strike observers as man and wife.
But as the former wife of Boris Johnson is pictured publicly for the first time with her 'secret' toyboy husband, friends say she is 'as happy as Larry'.
Socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen, 45, stunned her family at Christmas with news of her second marriage, to Abdul Majid, 23.
Apparently they did not react with joy to the fact that she was tying the knot with a Muslim.
Controversially, she has suggested she would be content to be just one of his wives since she realises she may be too old to have his children.
Miss Mostyn- Owen - who was married to London Mayor Mr Johnson from 1987 to 1993 after they met at Oxford University - has revealed her dismay at her father suggesting she had been 'recruited' by Muslim fundamentalists.
She is the only daughter of Italian writer Gaia Servadio and multimillionaire landowner and art historian William Mostyn-Owen.
She said: 'My best friend rang my Dad to say, "Allegra is fine, happy as Larry, just a bit stressed". Do you know what my Dad said?
'Dad goes: "So when was she recruited?" He was talking about terrorism and Islam in one breath!' >>> Sam Greenhill | Saturday, January 23, 2010
Paris Imam Backs France's Burqa Ban
THE TELEGRAPH: Hassen Chalghoumi, whose mosque stands in a northern Paris suburb where many Muslims live, said women who wanted to cover their faces should move to Saudi Arabia or other Muslim countries where that was a tradition.
A French imam active in Muslim dialogue with Jews has backed a law against full face veils, parting ways with most Muslim leaders in France urging parliamentarians not to vote for a planned "burqa ban."
France's National Assembly is likely to pass a resolution soon denouncing full veils and to try in coming months to hammer out a law forbidding them, deputies say.
President Nicolas Sarkozy calls the veils an affront to women's dignity unwelcome in France, home to about five million Muslims. Fewer than 2,000 women wear the veils, known here as burqas although most are Middle Eastern niqabs showing the eyes.
"Yes, I am for a legal ban of the burqa, which has no place in France, a country where women have been voting since 1945," Hassen Chalghoumi, 36, told the daily Le Parisien.
Chalghoumi, who has received death threats for his promotion of dialogue with Jews, said that full face veils had no basis in Islam and "belong to a tiny minority tradition reflecting an ideology that scuttles the Muslim religion."
"The burqa is a prison for women, a tool of sexist domination and Islamist indoctrination," said Chalghoumi, whose mosque stands in Drancy, site of a wartime camp where Jews were detained before transport to Nazi concentration camps.
Chalghoumi criticised some of the tougher measures proposed by conservative politicians, such as imposing fines or cutting off child support payments for veiled women. >>> Sophie Taylor, for Reuters in Paris | Friday, January 22, 2010
Polanski muss für Prozess in die USA: Amerikanisches Gericht gegen Verfahren in Abwesenheit
NZZ ONLINE: Der bekannte Filmregisseur Roman Polanski muss am Prozess in den USA teilnehmen. Ein Gericht in Los Angeles lehnte am Freitag das Begehren Polanskis ab, den Prozess wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs einer 13-Jährigen in Abwesenheit durchzuführen.
Der polnisch-französische Regisseur Roman Polanski muss, sofern er von der Schweiz an die USA ausgeliefert wird, persönlich am Prozess gegen ihn teilnehmen. Richter Peter Espinoza lehnte am Freitag in Los Angeles einen Antrag von Polanskis Anwälten auf Verurteilung in Abwesenheit ab. >>> ddp/sda | Freitag, 22. Januar 2010
Abdur Raheem Green: Growing the Beard
The Eternal Struggle Against the Jews: “The Most Intense of the People in Animosity Toward the Believers” by Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Yaqub
There's Little or No Hope for Britain: This Question Time Video Shows Us Just How Ignorant and Uninformed Many British People Are – On the Geert Wilders UK Ban
TIMES ONLINE: Britain's terrorist threat level was raised tonight from “substantial” to “severe” - meaning that counter-terrorism agencies believe an attack is “highly likely”.
The measure was approved at a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee and announced by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary.
The Times understands that the decision to raise the threat level is connected to the conference on Afghanistan taking place at Lancaster Gate, London, next Thursday.
Sources said there had been intensive discussions throughout the day relating to intelligence suggesting a possible attempted “spectacular” by an al-Qaeda affiliated group. >>> Sean O’Neill, Crime and Security Editor | Friday, January 22, 2010
Barack Obama Will Be a One-term President If He Doesn't Ditch His Statism
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama's only chance of a legacy is to stop thinking like Gordon Brown and start emulating Bill Clinton, argues Alex Singleton.
To make comparisons between Barack Obama and Gordon Brown might seem unfair. After all, Obama actually won his leadership position. He's also eloquent, a snappy dresser and comes across as rounded. But he has one fatal flaw - and it's the same as Gordon Brown's.
Mr Obama believes that society is a chessboard, and that the keys to the Oval Office give him the power to move the pawns on the board. But both in Britain and America, the characters on the board object to being treated like pawns in politicians' games. They will only tolerate so much meddling from above.
Brown's endless meddling destroyed Labour's electoral popularity, which Tony Blair had worked so hard to generate. Likewise, in America, Obama's statist interference is putting his chances of a second term in serious jeopardy. He confused a desire for change among the electorate with a desire for big government. Even his proposed land grab of the healthcare sector is unpopular, and Scott Brown's victory in Massachussetts has put it in peril.
It is too early to have expected Barack Obama to have brought change to America or the world, but the president is risking becoming a curious footnote in history - the first black president, but a president who failed to achieve his domestic reforms, who carried on George W. Bush's programme in Iraq, and who was thrown out after his first term. >>> Alex Singleton | Thursday, January 21, 2010
When Political Correctness Trumps Commitment to Judeo-Christian Culture! US Firm to Remove Biblical References on Gunsights
BBC: A US military contractor has said it will stop engraving Biblical references on rifles used by the US army.
The markings, in the form of coded references, have been appearing on products made by the US firm Trijicon, based in Michigan, for decades.
But on Thursday, US military chief Gen David Petraeus, said the practice of scripture references was "disturbing" and "a serious concern".
The firm also sells the gunsights to Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
The inscriptions - which include "2COR4:6" and "JN8:12", relating to verses in the books of II Corinthians and John - appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number.
The company pledged to remove the inscription reference on all products destined for the US military yet to be shipped and ensure all future procurements from the department of defence are produced without scripture references. Religious sensitivities >>> | Friday, January 22, 2010
Bruce Bawer: A Dark Day for the Enlightenment
CITY JOURNAL: The Geert Wilders trial is an affront to Western liberty.
Since 9/11, there has been a series of red-letter dates that should figure in any future history of the Islamization of Europe. One thinks, for example, of the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004, and of the general election three days later, in which Spanish citizens, apparently bowing to the terrorists’ wishes, voted in the Socialists, who had promised to pull the nation’s troops out of Iraq. One thinks, too, of the London bombings on July 7, 2005; of the international violence that followed the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten’s publication of cartoons of Mohammed on September 30, 2005; and of the shameful episode in which editor Vebjørn Selbekk, under intense pressure from craven Norwegian government leaders, apologized to a gathering of imams on February 10, 2006, for having bravely reprinted the cartoons.
Many of these red-letter dates have been concentrated in the Netherlands, a small country that once upon a time—not so long ago, in fact—was perceived around the world as a beacon of freedom and tolerance. The murder of professor, author, and Islam critic Pim Fortuyn in Hilversum on May 6, 2002, was followed by that of filmmaker, raconteur, and Islam critic Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on November 2, 2004, and by the resignation of politician and Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali from the Dutch parliament on May 16, 2006. Ali’s resignation came as the result of a cowardly effort by her legislative colleagues to remove from their ranks the voice of a heroine of liberty, whom they plainly perceived as nothing more than a troublemaker in a country whose political and cultural elite has, in modern times, been less driven by principle than by consensus and compromise.
Today, alas, is also a red-letter date in the terrible history of this period, and once again the setting is the Netherlands. The figure at the center of today’s infamy is Islam critic Geert Wilders, member of the Dutch Parliament, head of the Freedom Party, and currently the most popular politician in the country—a man who, like Fortuyn eight years ago, looks like a strong prospect to be his nation’s next prime minister. Yet if Wilders enjoys strong backing from the Dutch electorate, he is also—again like Fortuyn, and for that matter like van Gogh and Hirsi Ali—despised by the Dutch political, cultural, educational, media, and business establishment, which has plainly decided not to fight the Netherlands’ Islamization but rather to help the process go as smoothly as possible.
Members of this establishment have made many efforts to silence Wilders. When he announced in November 2007 that he was making a film about the Koran, members of the Dutch cabinet expressed regret that they had no authority to stop him. During the same month, a leading member of the Dutch establishment, Doekle Terpstra, organized a coalition of influential Dutchmen whose goal was to exclude Wilders’s views from the public square. “Wilders is the evil,” said Terpstra, “and that evil must be stopped.” In January 2008, a long list of celebrated Dutchmen signed a statement that appeared on the front page of the newspaper Trouw condemning Wilders’s “intolerance” and calling for “a new balance between the values of then and now.” Bernard Welten, Amsterdam’s police chief, held talks with imams about Wilders’s film; the country’s national counterterrorism coordinator proposed that Wilders leave the country after its release. Commenting on Wilders, a long line of top Dutch politicians declared, in effect, that freedom of speech didn’t include the freedom to offend. In April 2007, intelligence and security officials had called Wilders on the carpet and demanded that he tone down his rhetoric about Islam; in February 2008, the Dutch ministers of justice and foreign affairs summoned him to a similar dressing-down. Wilders’s film, Fitna, appeared online on March 27, 2008. … >>> Bruce Bawer | Wednesday, January 20, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Shares in Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) tumbled this morning after sharp falls on Asian markets in the wake of President Barack Obama’s pledge last night to wage war on American banks in the biggest regulatory crackdown on financial institutions since the 1930s.
Barclays’ shares fell a further 6 per cent to 266p this morning and are trading 14.4 per cent lower than at the start of the week. RBS, the state-owned lender, lost a further 4.45 per cent today to 33.75p.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares tumbled by 52.40 points to 5,282.81 in mid-afternoon trade, adding to yesterday's 85.70 point decline after the US President made his announcement.
There are fears that Mr Obama's proposals could force a radical restructure of American banks - a move welcomed by George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, who hailed Mr Obama’s intervention.
He said: “I have said consistently that we should look at separating retail banking from activities like large-scale proprietary trading — and that this was best done internationally. Coming on top of growing agreement on a bank levy, it shows that Conservatives are part of an emerging international consensus on these issues.”
The Treasury said that it would study Mr Obama's moves carefully.
The radical proposals would limit the size of institutions and bar them from the most cavalier trading practices. >>> Emily Ford | Friday, January 22, 2010
Burqas in Public Could Be Banned in France
BBC: Women in France could soon be banned from wearing a muslim veil that covers their face in public places.
The BBC understands that a parliamentary commission, which has been taking evidence for six months, will decide that wearing the burqa or niqab should be restricted.
BBC: French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and former London Mayor Ken Livingston join Jeremy Paxman to discuss differences between how France and the UK publicly debate religion and the wearing of religious apparel after French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the burqa to be banned. Watch BBC Newsnight video >>> | Thursday, June 25, 2010
Yet Another Failure! Change We Couldn’t Believe In! Obama Shows Us His Greenhorn Credentials! He Really Should Have Known How Intractable the Israeli-Palestinian Problem Truly Is.
THE GUARDIAN: US president tells Time magazine his efforts to secure a Middle East peace deal have failed
Barack Obama has admitted that his attempts to break the political deadlock in the Middle East by pressuring Israel to end the construction of Jewish settlements have failed.
He said he raised expectations of a breakthrough too high because he underestimated the political obstacles involved – an acknowledgement that he was unable to force the hand of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.
"The Middle East peace process has not moved forward and I think it's fair to say, for all our efforts at early engagement, [it] is not where I want it to be," he told Time magazine. "This is just really hard … This is as intractable a problem as you get. If we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high."
Obama made a push to break the political logjam in his first months in office. Unusually for an American administration, he focused his pressure on the Israelis by demanding that Netanyahu halt all Jewish settlement construction in the occupied territories. The growing settlements are widely considered to be one of the major obstacles to peace and a test of the sincerity of Israeli claims to accept an independent Palestinian state.
Obama put pressure on Netanyahu at a testy meeting in Washington in May, leading to a strain in relations rarely seen between the two governments. But the White House disappointed the Palestinian leadership by weakening its demand in the face of Israeli resistance.
This opened the way for Netanyahu to announce that he would scale back, but not halt, settlement construction in the West Bank, and continue unfettered building in East Jerusalem, which is the focus of a strategy to seal off the city and ensure all of it remains under Israeli control.
Obama said that the Israelis "after a lot of time showed a willingness to make some modifications in their policies" but "still found it very hard to move with any bold gestures". Obama admits US underestimated Israeli-Palestinian deadlock >>> Chris McGreal in Washington |Friday, January 22, 2010
"Geert Akbar!": “The Price of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance”
The Stupid, Dissimulating, Disingenuous Muslim Police of Great Britain
THE TELEGRAPH: My colleague Nile Gardiner is absolutely right to criticise the counter-evidence given to the Parliamentary committee investigating extremism by the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP). How can NAMP claim that Islamist extremism is not the main security threat to this country? Gardiner says NAMP is “in denial”. I’d put it a lot more strongly than that.
On its website NAMP recommends that British Muslims reporting crimes should also “report any such actions to the Islamic Human Rights Commission”. Why on earth should a police organisation in the UK suggest that British Muslims report crimes to such a group? Why on earth would anyone go to them as an authority?
And NAMP has been here before. In November 2007, only a few months after the organisation was launched, NAMP gave evidence to a House of Commons committee. There it argued for a loosening of the vetting procedures for people from Pakistan who want to join the UK police. According to NAMP, unless security vetting procedures were made less strict then terrorism would rise:
The NAMP believes the current vetting system is putting obstacles in the way of recruiting and promotion of BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] officers. This may result in low morale and feelings of structural obstacles to promotion, which will have an adverse effect on retention. Furthermore, it is likely to impact on the operational ability of the police service and its capabilities within counter-terrorism operations.
NAMP is clearly more interested in pressurising the Government than it is in helping it. In a way you can’t blame it for offering advice to ministers so eager to take it. But you do have to wonder about the long-term future of a country that works like this. Being so sectarian as to have different police associations for different “communities” is one thing. To take advice from them that jeopardises our security strikes me as suicidal.
États-Unis : Obama perd sa «super majorité» au Sénat
lePARISIEN.fr: Un an jour pour jour après son élection à la Maison Blanche, Barack Obama avait sans doute rêvé meilleur anniversaire. Pour la première fois depuis des décennies, dans l'Etat traditionnellement démocrate du Massachusetts (nord-est), un candidat républicain, Scott Brown, a en effet remporté un siège de sénateur.
Conséquence, les démocrates ont perdu la majorité qualifiée de 60 voix qu'ils détenaient au Sénat grâce à l'apport de deux indépendants.
Cette forme de « super majorité » (60 voix sur 100) permettait aux démocrates et à Barack Obama de passer outre une obstruction républicaine à la chambre haute du Congrès américain. Cette défaite dans le Massachusetts hypothèque ainsi l'avenir des réformes. >>> Leparisien.fr avec l‘AFP | Mercredi 20 Janvier 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Saudi Arabia: The Heartland of Sharia
Part 1:
PART 2:
PART 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
The Inevitable Collapse Of The Dollar
Milton Friedman: More Liberty, Less Government
Milton Friedman: Socialized Medicine
Muslim Clerics Seek Ban on 'Funky Hairstyles' in Indonesia
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim clerics in Indonesia have demanded a ban on women having perms or straightening their hair, which they described as 'inviting moral danger'.
An Islamic body which has issued fatwas on inappropriate behaviour from practising yoga to failing to vote in elections said it is now considering a request to tackle the craze among pupils in religious boarding schools.
Clerics from East Java have also requested a fatwa banning dreadlocks, punk haircuts and "funky hairstyles". >>> | Thursday, January 21, 2010
President Obama Declares War on Wall Street
THE TELEGRAPH: Wall Street was rocked today as President Barack Obama declared war on the US financial sector with plans to break up banks.
Mr Obama said he would rein in excessive risk taking by banning banks from running proprietary trading desks, hedge funds or private equity units.
In a raising of the US Government’s rhetoric against Wall Street, Mr Obama said of the financial sector: “If these folks want to fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have.”
The news sent US shares sharply lower with the Dow Jones index falling 198 to 10404.54, led by the banking sector.
Goldman Sachs was off 8.42 at $159.37, JP Morgan fell 2.51 to $40.89 and Citigroup was 14 cents lower at $3.32.
Mr Obama said the state funded rescue of the banking sector in the credit crisis was “deeply offensive” but “necessary” as he set out reforms he claimed would ensure the taxpayer never again had to pick up the bill for failures on Wall Street.
The reforms follow proposals made by Paul Volcker, the White House adviser and former Federal Reserve chairman, who has been calling for regulation in “the spirit of Glass-Steagall”, the US act which saw investment banks broken up from retail banks. Barack Obama calls for limits to size and trading activities of banks >>> Jonathan Sibun, Assistant City Editor | Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Wilders Trial: Voices From Europe
BRUSSELS JOURNAL: In the summer of 2008, as many readers know, I traveled to six European countries to interview politicians dedicated to breaking, halting and/or reversing the Islamization of their countries (here is a collection of some of the writings inspired by the trip).
One of those politicians was Geert Wilders, then the little-known (outside of the Netherlands) leader of a very small party, PVV, the Party for Freedom. Only a year and a half later, Wilders is the most famous Dutchman in the world, and his party rivals the current ruling party in popularity. Wilders is also now on trial for his political life and liberty – hardly a coincidence.
But Wilders is not the only politician in Europe fighting Islamization. In my travels, I learned there were other countries where extremely courageous men and some notable women had entered the democratic arena to defend Western liberties against the onslaught of sharia (Islamic law), and with electoral success. In interviewing such politicians, I was much impressed with their political and, in these times of jihad violence, physical courage. Sadly, it remains the case that no US politicians speak with either the candor or understanding of the Islamic threat besetting the West that at least some of their European counterparts do.
With Wilders' trial begining today, I contacted three of the politicians I interviewed on my trip and asked them for their thoughts today. They have obliged – and in English, which is worth noting. In alphabetical order, they are Filip Dewinter, leader of the Vlaams Belang party in Belgium, Oskar Freysinger, a member of Swiss parliament for the Swiss People's Party (lately in the news for the recent victorious Swiss referendum banning minaret construction in Switzerland), and Morten Messershmidt, a member of European Parliament for the Danish People's Party. >>> Diana West | Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Bat Ye’or: Politics and Freedom
ATLAS SHRUGS: Muslims might feel insulted by Geert Wilders’ opinions on Islam. However, Geert Wilders and non-Muslims feel insulted – threatened — by the hostile and negative opinions on them enshrined in Muslim holy books, laws and customs. These are not hidden or dismissed as outdated, but continuously and proudly published, taught and publicly expounded throughout the world — without being opposed by Muslim leaders. Westerners have been conditioned by their governments, their media, the Palestinisation of their culture and societies, to be the culprit and to accept without a murmur the continuous harassment of the permanent terrorist threat. Such terrorism has taken already many innocent lives and wounded countless others since it started, in the 1960s, in Europe with the collaboration of Palestinians and Nazi groups murdering Jews and Israelis.
In view of an aggressive indigenous and foreign terrorism within the Netherlands itself, it is clear that Geert Wilders is answering a provocation against him that obliges him to live under permanent security controls. How is it possible that in the XXIe century, in a democratic and peaceful Europe, some people, politicians, intellectuals, cartoonists or others, need 24-hour security when they have done nothing but lawfully express themselves ? Will self-censorship define our culture? >>> Bat Ye’or | Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Dutch Cowardice
NEW YORK POST: How do you say "free speech" in Dutch? Apparently, you don't.
Dutch MP Geert Wilders appeared yesterday in an Amsterdam court to face criminal charges for, essentially, criticizing Islam.
The hate-speech charges stem largely from Wilders' film warning of the Islamization of Europe, which connected verses from the Koran with scenes of Islamist terror.
If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail.
Actually, he might consider such a sentence a lucky break: In 2004, Islamist assassin Mohammed Bouyeri gunned down Theo Van Gogh, one of the last Dutchmen to make a movie critical of radical Islam.
After the shooting, Bouyeri used a knife to affix a five-page note threatening Jews -- and the West in general -- to Van Gogh's dead body.
Add to that, say, the attempts on the life of Danish "Muhammad cartoonist" Kurt Westergaard and the creeping reach of Sharia law in Britain, and you have ample grounds for a hard look at the impact on Europe's political and cultural fabric of a growing and assertive Muslim population. >>> | Thursday, January 21, 2010
Democrats Fear Every Seat Up for Grabs After Massachusetts Defeat
TIMES ONLINE: Fear and recrimination ricocheted through the Democratic Party today after the loss of a safe Senate seat left Congressmen feeling none of them was secure in the upcoming midterm elections.
Barbara Boxer, a Democratic senator for California, confirmed the sense of alarm spreading through the party. “Every state is now in play,” she told Politico.
Tuesday night’s Massachusetts by-election defeat, in one of the most liberal states in America, stripped President Obama of his 60th, filibuster-proof vote in the US Senate.
Claire McCaskill, senator from Missouri, said: “If there’s anybody in this building that doesn’t tell you they’re more worried about elections today, you absolutely should slap them.”
Mr Obama was scrambling yesterday to save his entire domestic agenda after losing the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat, a defeat that dealt a devastating blow to hopes of reforming the US health system.
The loss of an almost sacred Democratic seat, which Mr Kennedy had held for 47 years, was a humiliating upset that showed Mr Obama how the popular mood has turned against his policies and his party, a year to the day after he took office. >>> Tim Reid in Washington and Times Online | Thursday, January 21, 2010
Prozess: Wilders bestreitet Vorwurf der Islam-Hetze
DIE PRESSE: Der niederländische Rechtspopulist Wilders muss sich ab heute wegen Volksverhetzung vor Gericht verantworten. Ihm drohen 16 Monate Gefängnis. Seine Anhänger demonstrieren gegen das Verfahren.
In Amsterdam hat am Mittwoch der Prozess gegen den niederländischen Islam-Gegner Geert Wilders begonnen. Der populäre Politiker ist wegen Volksverhetzung angeklagt. Die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft ihm die Beleidigung von Muslimen und ihrer Religion sowie Aufstachelung zum Hass gegen Anhänger des Islam vor. Es drohen 16 Monate Gefängnis sowie eine Geldstrafe von bis zu 10.000 Euro.
Wilders wies vor Gericht alle Vorwürfe zurück. Seine kritischen Äußerungen über Anhänger des Islam und über den Koran als "faschistische" Anleitung zum Terrorismus seien "ein substanzieller Beitrag zur öffentlichen Debatte" und keineswegs strafbar. >>> Ag. | Mittwoch, 20. Januar 2010
