Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Gathering Storm Radio Show

Yours truly will be the guest on WC and Always On Watch’s excellent radio show tomorrow, Friday, January 29th at 3pm Eastern Time. (That’s 8pm UK time, and 9pm Central European Time.)

I hope you can join us.

The number to call with your questions is 1 646 915 9870. If you are calling from the UK or Europe, the number is 00 1 646 915 9870. Callers are welcome.
Nicolas Sarkozy Humiliated as de Villepin Cleared of Smear Charges

THE TELEGRAPH: Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, was cleared on Thursday of charges that he plotted to smear his arch-rival Nicolas Sarkozy and scupper his campaign for the presidency in 2007.

Dominique de Villepin*. Photograph: The Telegraph

The verdict in the Clearstream case is a hammer blow to Mr Sarkozy, a civil plaintiff in the case whose enmity towards Mr de Villepin - an eloquent former diplomat - is legendary. The president reportedly told aides during the investigation: "When I shoot, it's to kill, not to wound." However, the acquittal has revived Mr de Villepin's political ambitions, turning him into a potentially dangerous fellow Right-wing contender for the presidency in 2012.

The Clearstream case centred on a bogus list of account holders at a financial clearing house in Luxembourg who allegedly took bribes from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.

The president, one of 39 plaintiffs, had reportedly promised to "hang on a butcher's hook" whoever had tried to discredit him by adding his name to the list and sending it to an investigating magistrate in 2004. At the time, he and Mr de Villepin were locked in a vicious battle to succeed the then president Jacques Chirac, under whom both had served as ministers. Mr Sarkozy went on to win the presidency while Mr de Villepin's political career remained in limbo following his order to stand trial.

One of five defendants, Mr de Villepin had faced a five-year prison term and 45,000-euro (£41,000) fine for complicity to slander, complicity to use forgeries, dealing in stolen property and breach of trust.

But in a 326-page ruling read out to a packed Paris courtroom, the judge on Thursday said while Mr Villepin had handled the bogus list, there was no firm proof that he knew it was falsified nor that he had sought to discredit Mr Sarkozy by having it sent to a judge. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, January 28, 2010

*Gel bronzant par Clinique, peut-être, M. de Villepin?
Photograph: Google Images

How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power

THE GUARDIAN: Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today's president

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

The debate over Prescott Bush's behaviour has been bubbling under the surface for some time. There has been a steady internet chatter about the "Bush/Nazi" connection, much of it inaccurate and unfair. But the new documents, many of which were only declassified last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis' plans and policies, he worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler's rise to power. It has also been suggested that the money he made from these dealings helped to establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty. >>> Ben Aris in Berlin and Duncan Campbell in Washington | Saturday, September 25, 2010
Painting: Google Images

Academics Fight Rise of Creationism at Universities

THE GUARDIAN: More students believe Darwin got it wrong / Royal Society challenges 'insidious problem'

A growing number of science students on British campuses and in sixth form colleges are challenging the theory of evolution and arguing that Darwin was wrong. Some are being failed in university exams because they quote sayings from the Bible or Qur'an as scientific fact and at one sixth form college in London most biology students are now thought to be creationists.

Earlier this month Muslim medical students in London distributed leaflets that dismissed Darwin's theories as false. Evangelical Christian students are also increasingly vocal in challenging the notion of evolution.

In the United States there is growing pressure to teach creationism or "intelligent design" in science classes, despite legal rulings against it. Now similar trends in this country have prompted the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific academy, to confront the issue head on with a talk entitled Why Creationism is Wrong. The award-winning geneticist and author Steve Jones will deliver the lecture and challenge creationists, Christian and Islamic, to argue their case rationally at the society's event in April.

"There is an insidious and growing problem," said Professor Jones, of University College London. "It's a step back from rationality. They (the creationists) don't have a problem with science, they have a problem with argument. And irrationality is a very infectious disease as we see from the United States." >>> Duncan Campbell | Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The World's Most Surreal Landscapes

Salt flat near the crest of the Andes – Salar de Uyuni. Photograph: The Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH: Blindingly white and dizzyingly high, this vast salt flat near the crest of the Andes could easily be mistaken for a Salvador Dali painting. Eerie and otherworldly, Salar de Uyuni holds intensely blue skies, red and green lagoons, pink flamingos, smoking volcanoes, giant cacti, hot springs and spitting geysers. Salar de Uyuni >>> | Thursday, January 28, 2010
Iranian Activists Hanged at Dawn

The protesters clashed with police and Islamist militiamen. Photograph: Times Online

This is just another manifestation of Islam’s credentials to be called the ‘religion of peace’! Geert Wilders in the Netherlands is on trial for highlighting its excesses and weaknesses of this self-same religion. And it is this self-same religion whose book, the Koran, in all its surahs (chapters) bar one, begin with the injunction, 'In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful'!

If Allah is so merciful and compassionate, I wish that Muslims would remember this when they pass sentence on hapless individuals who feel cheated by the repressive Islamic régimes they live under. If Muslims want Allah to show compassion and mercy on them, then maybe it’s time for them to show compassion and mercy on their brothers in Islam!

As for the Netherlands… What can one say about a country, any country, that puts one of its citizens, still less one of its leading politicians, on trial for telling the truth, as Douglas Murray has pointed out. Surely if things go on like this here in the West, a revolution cannot be far off the horizon.
– © Mark


TIMES ONLINE: Two Iranians convicted of being "enemies of God" and trying to topple the Islamic regime were hanged at dawn today.

It was the first known execution of opposition activists since June's disputed presidential election prompted massive street protests - although the lawyer of one of the two men insisted that her client was arrested at least two months before the election and was not involved in any demonstrations.

The ISNA news agency said that Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmani Pour were "hanged on Thursday morning" after their sentences were confirmed by a Tehran appeals court, were hanged on Thursday morning”.

Both were convicted of being "Mohareb" - enemies of God - and of trying to overthrow the "Islamic establishment". They were also convicted of belonging to armed opposition groups.

Iran has tried more than 100 political activists and protesters since August. According to official media reports, five have been sentenced to death and more than 80 to prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.

Reports today suggested that nine more had been sentenced to death in those trials and an appeals court is reviewing their cases.

Some of the latest nine death sentences were reportedly related to deadly clashes on December 27, when at least eight people were killed in the most violent day of protests since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed a resounding re-election win. >>> Philippe Naughton | Thursday, January 18, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Iran executes two dissidents and sentences to death nine more: Iran delivered a chilling message of intent to the country's reform movement yesterday when it hanged two men accused of participating in protests following last year's disputed presidential election and sentenced to death nine more. >>> Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, January 28, 2010
Julio Iglesias & Stevie Wonder: My Love

Douglas Murray – Geert Wilders: On Trial for Telling the Truth

THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: There is nothing hyperbolic in stating that a trial which has just started in Holland will have unparalleled significance for the future of Europe. It is not just about whether our culture will survive, but whether we are even allowed to state the fact that it is being threatened.

The trial of Geert Wilders has garnered hardly any attention in the mainstream press here. Fortunately the blogosphere can correct some of this.

Wilders is a Dutch MP and leader of Holland’s fastest-growing party, the Party for Freedom. Just a few years ago he was the sole MP for his party. The latest polls show that his party could win the biggest number of seats of any party in Holland when the voters next go to the polls.

His stances have clearly chimed with the Dutch people. They include an end to the era of mass immigration, an end to cultural relativism, and an end to the perceived suborning of European values to Islamic ones. For saying this, and more, he has for many years had to live under round-the-clock security protection. Which you would have thought proves the point to some extent.

Now the latest attempt of the Dutch ruling class to keep Wilders from office has begun. Last week, apparently because of the number of complaints they have received (trial by vote anyone?) the trial of Wilders began.

The Dutch courts charge that Wilders ‘on multiple occasions, at least once, (each time) in public, orally, in writing or through images, intentionally offended a group of people, i.e. Muslims, based on their religion’.

I’m sorry? Whoa there, just a minute. The man’s on trial because he ‘offended a group of people’? I get offended by all sorts of people. I get offended by very fat people. I get offended by very thick people. I get offended by very sensitive people. I get offended by the crazy car-crash of vowels in Dutch verbs. But I don’t try to press charges.

Yet, crazily, this is exactly what is going on now in a Dutch courtroom. If found guilty of this Alice-in-Wonderland accusation of ‘offending a group of people’, Wilders faces up to two years in prison.

If anyone doubts the surreal nature of the proceedings now going on they should simply look through the summons which is available in an English translation here. It shows that Wilders is on trial for his film Fitna. And for various things he has said in articles and interviews in the Dutch press.

Now some people liked Fitna and some people didn’t. That’s a matter of choice. But by any previous interpretation it is not the job of courts in democratic countries to become film-critics. In fact it would create a very bad precedent. I thought the latest Alec Baldwin film stank. But I don’t think (though the temptation lingers) Baldwin should go to prison for it. Read on & comment here >>> Douglas Murray | Thursday, January 28, 2010

Kristallnacht (The Night Of Broken Glass): A Documentary

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:



Part 5:

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Taleban Fighters to Be 'Bought Off' with $500m

How ridiculous! How naïve! This is not, and never has been, about money. This is about the destruction of the West. What part of ‘destruction of Judeo-Christian civilization’ don’t these so-called experts understand? How much more taxpayers’ money are they going to squander before they eventually get it? Indeed, will they ever get it? – © Mark

TIMES ONLINE: Britain is ready to contribute millions of pounds to a fund to buy off Taleban gunmen who are fighting British troops in southern Afghanistan.

More than 60 delegations, from Colombia to Australia, will gather in Lancaster House this morning to draw up an exit strategy from Afghanistan. Much of it is based on reintegrating the Taleban rank and file, wooing the Taleban leadership and gradually handing security to the Afghan Army and police.

The conference is expected to agree a $500 million (£310 million), five-year fund for President Karzai to “buy off” insurgents who are not ideologically committed to destroying the West.

Downing Street confirmed that Britain will make a contribution of a “few million”. Germany has agreed to $70 million over five years and the bulk of the money will come from the Japanese aid budget to Afghanistan, diplomats suggested.

In return, the Afghan leader will have to agree to international monitors to strengthen an anti-corruption campaign in his Government.

President Karzai, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, flew in yesterday for the talks, which will be chaired by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. >>> Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent, and James Bone in New York | Thursday, January 28, 2010
Malaysian Fury Over Pig Head Insult at Mosques

THE TELEGRAPH: Severed pig head[s] have been left at two Malaysian mosques in a development that threatens to inflame communal tensions amidst a row over the use of the word "Allah" by Christians.

It was the most serious incident to hit Islamic places of worship following vandalism and other assaults at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, a mosque and two Muslim prayer halls across the Muslim-majority country in the past three weeks. Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims.

The attacks followed outrage among Muslims over a court verdict that allowed non-Muslims to use "Allah" as a translation for "God" in the Malay language. Many Malaysian Muslims believe the word should be exclusive to their religion, and that its use by others could confuse some Muslims and even lure them to convert.

Several men who went to a suburban mosque to perform morning prayers Wednesday were shocked to discover two bloodied wild boar heads wrapped in plastic bags in the mosque compound, said Zulkifli Mohamad, the top official at the Sri Sentosa Mosque on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city.

Two similarly severed heads were also found at the Taman Dato Harun Mosque in a nearby district. Wild boar are common in Malaysia's forests.

Government leaders denounced the incidents and pledged to track down the culprits.

"We are dead serious about this," Hishammuddin told a news conference. "We will bring them to justice." >>> The Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Hermann Goering’s Great-niece: ‘I Had Myself Sterilised So I Could Not Pass on the Blood of a Monster’

MAIL ONLINE: Descendants of the leaders of the Nazi regime have spoken on camera for the first time about the feelings of pain and revulsion they have for their ancestors.

They include Bettina Goering, great niece of Adolf Hitler's second in command Hermann Goering, who says she has had herself sterilised so she would 'not pass on the blood of a monster'.

Adolf Eichmann's son Ricardo says he simply cannot find a way to explain why his father became the chief architect of the Holocaust.

While Hitler himself had no offspring, many others at the heart of the Reich had families and some of the children can remember being patted on the head by the Fuhrer.

One is Hitler's godson Niklas Frank, whose father Hans was Nazi governor of occupied Poland responsible for the death camps in which six million Jewish people were killed.

He says in the documentary Hitler's Children, by Israeli director Chanoch Zeevi, that he 'despises' his father's past and describes him as 'a slime-hole of a Hitler fanatic'.

The film also shows Monika Hertwig, daughter of Amon Goeth - the death camp commandant played in the movie Schindler's List by Ralph Fiennes --meeting a man who tells her how her father shot women and babies 'for sport'.

Zeevi said he found 'fascinating similarities' between the emotions of those related to Holocaust perpetrators and those of survivors, some of whom meet the children of their tormentors in the programme.

Frank lectures about his infamous father to young people in the former East Germany in a bid to prevent them from straying into the far-right scene that preys on the young unemployed and desperate.

'I have never managed in my life to get rid of the memory of him,' he said. 'I live with this deep shame about what he did.'

Bettina Goering lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she practices herbal medicine.
'Either side of me live Jewish neighbours,' she says, 'and they are always quarrelling. It's left to me to sort them out!'

Bettina told the programme both she and her brother were voluntarily sterilised. >>> Allan Hall | Thursday, January 21, 2010
Muslimischer Antisemitismus in Deutschland

Journal Interview: Charlotte Knobloch, Präsidentin Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland

Charlotte Knobloch: Antisemitismus an deutscher Schule

Mussolini Audio Is Italy’s No. 2 iPhone Application

BLOOMBERG.COM: A collection of speeches by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy’s second-most downloaded iPhone application on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The application, called iMussolini, is available on Apple’s online store for 79 euro cents ($1.11). It has been downloaded more than a video game based on the blockbuster film Avatar, according to Apple Inc.’s Italian iTunes store. A wallpaper application is the most downloaded item.

The Mussolini application makes 100 of the so-called Duce’s speeches available on the iPhone. Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 until his death in 1945 at the end of World War II. His granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a politician and ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government. >>> Flavia Krause-Jackson | Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Holocaust in Color: Nazi Rising Terror and Concentration Camps

Dachau Concentration Camp – Liberation

Netanyahu at Auschwitz: World Must Unite to Confront New Threats

HAARETZ: Holocaust teaches that murderers must be stopped before they act, says PM in apparent reference to Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told dignitaries gathered at the Auschwitz extermination camp on Wednesday that the world must learn from the Holocaust to unite against new threats.

In what was apparently a thinly veiled reference to Iran, Netanyahu called on the international community to come together to confront "impending dangers".

Israel believes Iran to be building a nuclear bomb and views the Islamic Republic as an existential threat. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.

"We must warn of the impending danger to the rest of the world and at the same time to be ready to defend ourselves," Netanyahu said. "The most important lesson from the Shoah is that murderous evil must be stopped as soon as possible, before it can realize its schemes."

"We the Jewish people learned the lesson [of the Holocaust] well after we lost one-third of our people," Netanyahu said, adding that a strong state of Israel with a powerful army was the only guarantee of preventing a second Holocaust.

"I pledge as prime minister that we will never let the hand of evil harm our people and our state, never again," he said.

Netanyahu added: "All enlightened nations must absorb this lesson," pledging that as the head of the state of he would not to allow a "new Amalek" to threaten again to destroy the Jewish nation - a reference to a biblical king who waged war against the Jews.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, and event which revealed "the unprecedented cruelty," of the Nazi Holocaust.

The 82-year-old pontiff made the remarks in his native German during his weekly general audience.

"On 27 January 1945, the gates of the Nazi concentration camp near the Polish city of Oswiecim, better known by its German name of Auschwitz, were opened and the few survivors freed," Benedict said.

"That event, and the testimony of those who survived, revealed to the world the horror of the crimes of unprecedented cruelty committed in the extermination camps created by Nazi Germany," added the pope, who as a teenager - like most others at the time - had been a member of the Hitler Youth in the waning days of the war.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day which is being marked in several European nations, serves, according to Benedict, to recall "the planned annihilation of the Jews, and to honor those who, at the risk of their own lives, protected the persecuted and sought to oppose the murderous insanity." >>> Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and News Agencies | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Warnung vor Gleichgültigkeit: Mahnende Worte zum Holocaust-Gedenktag in Deutschland

«Der Mangel an Empathie, die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber dem Schicksal des Anderen und die fehlende Bereitschaft, für die Werte einer demokratischen und toleranten Gesellschaft einzutreten, waren es, die dem verbrecherischen Hitler-Regime den Weg geebnet haben.» – Charlotte Knoblauch, die Präsidentin des Zentralrats der deutschen Juden

NZZ ONLINE: In Deutschland ist am Mittwoch der Holocaust-Gedenktag begangen worden. Während die Präsidentin des Zentralrats der deutschen Juden vor der Gleichgültigkeit warnte, sprach der israelische Präsident Peres von der Gefahr, die von Iran ausgehe.

Zum Holocaust-Gedenktag hat der Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland vor «Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber dem Schicksal des Anderen» gewarnt. «Es ist nicht hinnehmbar, dass Rechtsextremisten 65 Jahre nach dem Ende der nationalsozialistischen Schreckensherrschaft braunes Gedankengut verbreiten», monierte Präsidentin Charlotte Knobloch am Mittwoch. Sie versuchten, mit perfiden Strategien die Demokratie zu unterwandern. >>> ddp | Mittwoch, 27. Januar 2010
Avertissement de l'antisémitisme! Avertissement du fascisme! Cimetière juif profané à Strasbourg

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: TRISTE ANNIVERSAIRE | Dix-huit tombes du cimetière juif du quartier Cronenbourg de Strasbourg ont été marquées de croix gammées, vraisemblablement la nuit dernière, annoncent le Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (Crif) et la police.

"Le cimetière juif de Cronenbourg a été profané, 18 stèles ont été taguées avec une croix gammée inscrite en couleur brune et 13 ont été renversées", a déclaré Patrick Roussel, commissaire principal de la Sûreté départementale du Bas-Rhin (est).

Laurent Schmoll, président de la communauté israélite de Strasbourg, a ajouté que l’inscription "Juden Raus" (Les Juifs dehors) avait également été relevée sur une tombe. >>> AFP | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010
'We Are Not Really Germans': New Study Looks at Challenges Faced by Germany's Muslims

Many women in Germany who wear the headscarf say they experience barriers to employment, according to a new survey published by the Open Society Institute. Photograph: Spiegel Online International

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: It's no secret that many immigrants have a hard time in Germany. A new study has found that women wearing headscarves have a particularly hard time on the job market and a quarter of those with Turkish backgrounds face discrimination when looking for work.

It is early afternoon at Internet Treffpunkt, a convenience store in Kreuzberg, a neighborhood in Berlin that is home to many Turks and other minorities. Hedi Dashti, the store's proprietor, is busy. One customer hands over her parcel to send through his DHL counter. Another customer buys cigarettes. The door swings open, ushering in the blustery winter wind, and a third customer waves hello.

Dashti -- an immigrant from Iraq who fled to Germany 20 years ago with his family -- speaks to customers in English, German and his mother tongue, Kurdish. He has adjusted to life in Germany and made German friends, while also maintaining his religious identity: Dashti is a practicing Muslim, abstains from eating pork and observes Friday prayers.

And despite occasionally feeling like an outsider, he really wishes he had German citizenship. ''We are not really Germans, but Germany is our country,'' Dashti said.

It is a dilemma shared by many of Germany's approximately four million Muslims. And a new survey supports the widespread feeling of dislocation that many of them feel. >>> Sheila Lalwani in Berlin | Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Requiem for the Pain: 65 Years After Auschwitz Horror

L'hommage du monde aux victimes d'Auschwitz

L'entrée du camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau, seul camp d'extermination à avoir conservé des traces tangibles de la Shoah, est aujourd'hui très abîmé par le temps. Crédits photo : Le Figaro

LE FIGARO: Des dirigeants d'une vingtaine de pays commémorent la libération du camp, il y a 65 ans.

Une centaine d'anciens prisonniers - contre deux mille il y a cinq ans - participent ce mercredi au 65e anniversaire de la libération d'Auschwitz-Birkenau. Dans quelques années, les derniers témoins de l'Holocauste auront disparu. Sans eux, quelle mémoire en garderons-nous ? À quoi sert le Musée d'Auschwitz, puisque d'autres génocides ont montré qu'il avait échoué dans sa mission de prévention ? Comment donc enseigner Auschwitz à des générations qui n'ont ou n'auront plus de lien direct avec cette tragédie ? C'est sur ces questions que les ministres de l'Éducation des pays membres de l'Union européenne, réunis exceptionnellement à Auschwitz, sont invités à plancher ce mercredi matin, en marge des cérémonies officielles auxquelles assisteront le président et le premier ministre polonais, Lech Kaczynski et Donald Tusk, le chef du gouvernement israélien Benyamin Nétanyahou et les délégués d'une vingtaine de pays. En l'absence du ministre de l'Éducation Luc Chatel, la France est représentée par le secrétaire d'État à la Défense Hubert Falco, accompagné de Simone Weil, de l'historien Serge Klarsfeld, de parlementaires et d'une trentaine de lycéens. >>> D’envoyée spéciale du Figaro à Auschwitz, Arielle Thedrel | Mardi 26 Janvier 2010
Julian Kossoff – Holocaust Memorial Day: Pieces of a Puzzle

Photograph: The Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: I have spent the last week wondering how to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on my blog and have failed to come up with a coherent idea. It’s a subject that plays tricks with the psyche.

So please excuse me if I just spill some ideas out on the page, pieces of my unfinished Shoah jigsaw.

- Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated internationally on 27th January each year. This date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the day in 1945 on which the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp.

HMD aims to raise awareness and understanding of the events of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides as a continuing issue for all humanity, based on a recognition that it could happen again anywhere and at any time, unless we ensure that our society opposes discrimination, persecution and racism.

- If you have the opportunity, go to Auschwitz. It’s the great anti-wonder of the world. Part pilgrimage, part journey to the heart of darkness: apocalypse then. Wander its tombs, its mansions of horror.

There is the ‘room of hair’, great rotting mounds of the stuff, shaved from the 1.1m heads.

Another door opens on a pile of human spare parts. A grotesque, twisted sculpture of wooden legs, prosethic arms, trusses, metal hands, neck braces, rusting callipers, clunking fists – all hinges and brackets – that the crematoria could not devour.

There is the ‘playroom’, no nursery rhymes just ghost stories, no sweet dreams just nightmares. It stores the toys of all the ‘lost boys and girls.’

There among the broken animals and forgotten battalions tin soldiers sit forlorn teddy bears, last cuddled by tiny arms in a stinking cattle truck heading east one freezing night, while glassy eyed dollies stare into the abyss waiting for ‘mummy’ who will never return. >>> Julian Kossoff | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Auch Italien will Gesichtsschleier verbieten

DIE PRESSE: "Burka ist kein religiöses Symbol", sagt Italiens Frauenministerin Mara Carfagna. Muslimen solle die Staatsbürgerschaft verweigert werden, wenn sie ihre Frauen zwingen, einen Schleier zu tragen.

Nach französischem Beispiel wird jetzt auch in Italien über ein Verbot des Ganzkörperschleiers für muslimische Frauen diskutiert. Die italienische Frauenministerin Mara Carfagna sprach sich für eine Revision des in Italien geltenden Vermummungsverbots aus, wonach man sich in Italien in der Öffentlichkeit nicht so stark verschleiern darf, dass das Gesicht nicht mehr zu erkennen ist.



"Man muss in das Gesetz auch ein ausdrückliches Verbot einführen, den Gesichtsschleier zu tragen, der nur Sehschlitze für die Augen offen lässt (Niqab; Anmerkung) oder diese sogar noch mit einem Gitter verdeckt (Burka; Anmerkung). Das Justizsystem hat sie in den Jahren legitimiert, weil sie mit der Religion zusammenhängen", sagte die Ministerin im Interview mit der Turiner Tageszeitung "La Stampa" am Mittwoch.

"Nur so kann es Integration geben"

Laut der Ministerin sollte man Muslimen die italienische Staatsbürgerschaft verweigern, wenn sie ihre Frauen zwingen, den Gesichtsschleier zu tragen. "Nur so kann es wahre Integration geben", meinte Carfagna. Die Burka sei kein religiöses Symbol, wie auch die geistlichen Führer des Islam anerkannt hätten, sondern "ein Akt der Unterdrückung der Männer gegenüber der Frau". "Auf diese Weise will man Frauen lebenslang unmündig halten. Den Gesichtsschleier zu verbieten, heißt die jungen Migrantinnen von den Ghettos zu befreien, in denen man sie halten will", erklärte Carfagna. >>> APA/Red. | Mittwoch, 27. Januar 2010
Steven Spielberg's Message for Yad Vashem's Visual Center



Spiegel Video anschauen: Auschwitz: 65. Jahrestag der Befreiung

Die Presse Bildergalerie: Hitlers Mordfabrik: Vor 65 Jahren wurde Auschwitz befreit >>>
Prime Minister Netanyahu at Yad Vashem: International Holocaust Remembrance Day


Peres at Bundestag: Never Again

YNET NEWS: In historic speech to German parliament on International Holocaust Day, Israeli president addresses dangers of past and future, focusing on Iranian nuclear program. ' No more ignoring blood-thirsty dictators hiding behind masks of demagogy and voicing slogans of murder,' he says, stressing that 'peace is needed to prevent another Holocaust'

President Shimon Peres delivered a historic speech to members of the German parliament in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon on the occasion of International Holocaust Day, 65 years after the end of World War II.

"No more ignoring blood-thirsty dictators hiding behind masks of demagogy and voicing slogans of murder. They are a threat to the entire world," Peres stressed.

The German parliament heard a translation of the speech, which was carried out in Hebrew. Peres said the Kadish prayer in honor of the Holocaust victims, which include his grandparents, who were burned alive in their town's synagogue.

"In the State of Israel and across the world, Holocaust survivors are slowly retiring from the world of the living. Their number is reduced every day. At the same time, those who were involved in the most despicable work on earth – genocide – are still living on German soil. Please do all you can to bring them to justice," Peres said.

The president referred to his memories from his hometown of Belarus when it was conquered by the Nazis, as well as to his grandfather's image, which has left a great mark on him to this very day. He went on to speak about the establishment of the State of Israel, saying that if the "delay in its establishment" had been prevented, the Holocaust could have been prevented as well.

"As an Israeli, I lament the tragic delay in the establishment of the Jewish state, which left my people without a haven of rest. I cannot accept the loss of a million and a half children – the biggest human and creative potential which could have changed Israel's fate. I am proud about Israel's revival, which is the moral and historic response to the attempt to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth," the president said.

Peres went on to direct his words at Iran. "We are now left with the crucial lesson: Never again. No more racist doctrine, no more feelings of superiority, no more so-called divine authority to incite, murder, break the law, deny God and the Shoah." >>> Roni Sofer | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Spiegel Video anschauen: Gedenken an Holocaust-Opfer: Israels Präsident Peres im Bundestag
Grande-Bretagne : L’islam inquiète les Britanniques

LE TEMPS: Une étude révèle l’hostilité de la population à l’égard des musulmans. Le modèle multiculturel chancelle

Longtemps admiré pour ses capacités d’intégration de différentes communautés ethniques, culturelles et religieuses, le modèle multiculturel britannique est en train de chanceler. Selon l’enquête annuelle British Social Attitudes Survey, publiée mardi par le National Centre for Social Research, un centre de recherche indépendant, près de la moitié des Britanniques estiment qu’il a échoué. En effet, pour 45% d’entre eux, le pluralisme religieux a causé du tort au pays; 52% pensent que la religion est un facteur de division majeur dans le pays. L’islam est la religion qui suscite le plus de préoccupations. Seuls 23% des Britanniques ont des sentiments positifs à l’égard des musulmans, alors que 34% expriment une opinion hostile; 55% s’opposeraient à la construction d’une grande mosquée dans leur voisinage.

Selon David Voas, professeur spécialisé dans l’étude des populations à l’Université de Manchester, et coauteur du chapitre de l’enquête consacré à la religion, l’islam est perçu comme une «menace pour la cohésion sociale» et «l’identité nationale». Dans l’analyse des résultats de l’enquête qu’il a livrée pour le DailyTelegraph, il cite la «taille et la visibilité» des communautés islamiques comme des facteurs de préoccupation pour la société britannique. En conséquent, une majorité de la population se dit favorable à une limitation de la liberté d’expression. L’enquête constate une grande suspicion à l’égard des personnes qui expriment des points de vue très religieux et une large réticence envers l’intrusion des questions de religion dans la sphère publique.

Ces inquiétudes commencent à être prises au sérieux par les autorités britanniques. A la mi-janvier, le gouvernement a interdit un groupe islamiste radical, Islam4UK. Celui-ci projetait d’organiser une manifestation à Wootton Bassett, une ville située non loin de Londres, où sont rendus les hommages aux soldats tués en Afghanistan. >>> Patricia Briel | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010
How Will Obama Handle Political Pressure?



THE GUARDIAN: Barack Obama admits mistakes have contributed to dive in approval rating: President says he is more interested in delivering on promises than re-election in interview before state of the union address >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

LE TEMPS: États-Unis: Vent de panique sur Washington : Changement de stratégie pour le président Barack Obama. Les thèmes liés à la santé et à l’environnement sont relégués. Retour à la discipline budgétaire,aux petits pas et aux accommodements >>> Luis Lema | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010
Kommentar: Ein Gesetz kann das Burka-Paradox nicht lösen

WELT ONLINE: Kann man im Namen der Freiheit ein Gesetz erlassen, das die Freiheit beschneidet? Dieses Paradox schafft Frankreich mit dem geplanten Verbot von Burka oder Nikab in öffentlichen Einrichtungen. Ob es die Trägerinnen von Ganzkörperschleiern in Frankreich befreien oder noch stärker in die Isolation treiben wird, bleibt offen.

Bild: Welt Online

Die Kommission zum Ganzkörperschleier hat dem französischen Parlament empfohlen, eine „feierliche Resolution“ zu verabschieden, in der „das ganze Frankreich Nein sagt zum Ganzkörperschleier“. Ein Gesetz soll folgen, das die Verhüllung des Gesichts in öffentlichen Einrichtungen verbietet. Burka- oder Nikab-Trägerinnen werden dann künftig auf der Post nicht mehr bedient.

Damit bleibt die parteiübergreifend besetzte Kommission hinter den Forderungen einiger Vertreter der Regierungspartei UMP zurück, die sich für ein Verbot von Ganzkörperschleiern im gesamten öffentlichen Raum aussprechen.

Die Debatte wird munter weitergehen, denn wie ein Gesetz aussehen könnte, das anwendbar wäre, weiß niemand. Noch weniger, wie es sich auswirkt. Bringt es den betroffenen Frauen mehr Freiheit oder zwingt es sie in die völlige Isolation? >>> Von Sascha Lehnartz | Dienstag, 26. Januar 2010

Inquiry Condemns Burka as 'Un-French'

THE INDEPENDENT: Sarkozy calls for wearing of full-body veils to be banned in 'official' public places

The Islamic full-body veil should be banned from French public offices, hospitals, trains and buses, according to a parliamentary investigation which reported yesterday. In a bad-tempered final session, the committee of inquiry angered many members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling centre-right party by rejecting their demands for an outright ban on the burka or niqab. After a muddled and heated six-month investigation, the committee decided that such a ban might be declared unconstitutional under French and European law.

Instead, a narrow majority of the 32 members accepted a compromise suggested by Mr Sarkozy and the Prime Minister, François Fillon. They called for a solemn, but unenforceable, parliamentary motion declaring the full-length veil – a marginal but growing phenomenon in France – to be "un-French". They said that this should be followed soon by a law forbidding people to cover their faces in "official" public spaces, from hospitals to post offices. >>> John Lichfield in Paris | Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Gay Couples Should Be Allowed to ‘Marry’ in Church, Government Minister Says

THE TELEGRAPH: Homosexual couples should be allowed to “marry” in churches, a Government minister has said.

Baroness Thornton, a spokesman for the Government in the House of Lords, said she was “not unsympathetic” to plans to permit civil partnerships on religious premises.

She admitted there were many “complexities” to be addressed since the ceremonies are currently secular, and because the change will be opposed by some major faiths who believe only a man and a woman can be married.

But Lady Thornton went on: “We want this dialogue to move forward and we want all those with an interest in this issue to have their say. We believe that this careful consideration will pay off in how we proceed together to the next stage of resolving this issue.”

Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, same-sex couples are allowed to form legal unions that entitle them to the same property and tax rights as men and women who marry in register offices. It is estimated that 35,000 homosexual couples have done so.

However these ceremonies must be entirely secular, as civil marriages must be, and they cannot take place in churches, mosques, synagogues or temples.

During a Lords debate on the Equality Bill on Monday night, Lord Alli tabled an amendment that would “allow civil partnerships to take place on religious premises”.

He withdrew it after Lady Thornton pointed out it would create an “anomalous” situation whereby homosexual couples could have prayers said at their event whereas heterosexual ones could not.

It would also require registrars to carry out religious services, and for priests to conduct ceremonies outside of their places of worship, she said.
The peer added: “We fully accept the fundamental importance of this issue to many same-sex couples, and we recognise the strength of feeling that some people have about the need for change.

“We also recognise, though, that any change would bring into play some fundamental issues and would risk undermining the parity that has been carefully established between civil partnership and civil marriage. >>> Martin Beckford | Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Obsession: A Documentary about Radical Islam

Change We Cannot Believe In!

THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama will attempt to transform his presidency in a State of the Union address focusing on jobs, the economy and controlling mounting national debt.

Barack Hussein Obama. Photo: The Telegraph

The president will take the podium in the House of Representatives with grim forecasts in his wake. This year's deficit is set to be $1.35 trillion, only marginally lower than last year's. Unemployment is predicted to stay at 10 per cent throughout 2010 while the housing market remains stagnant.

"We're going to talk about how we can first of all, focus on job creation and growth," the president said in an interview with ABC.

"There are going to be a set of proposals that we put forward that help to stabilise the situation and deal with the growing insecurity and anxiety of people who, even if they haven't lost their job, are still feeling squeezed by their incomes shrinking and their costs going up."

Though he said there were no "magic solutions" to reducing the deficit, the president will outline a three-year freeze on domestic spending, excluding the military and homeland security, in his 2011 budget that would save $250 billion by 2020. State of the Union: Barack Obama to announce spending freeze >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ban That Bloody Burqah!

THE TELEGRAPH: The head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's Right-wing UMP party on Tuesday said he would continue to push for a total ban of face-covering Islamic veils in France.

Jean-François Copé's proposal for a full ban was backed by 190 MPs but rejected by a cross-party commission, which handed a list of proposals to parliament recommending a ban of the burka or niqab in state facilities but not in the street.

The ban would apply to public places, including all schools, hospitals, public transport and government offices. It described the face-covering veil as an unacceptable "challenge to our republic".

However, after six months of hearings, the commission stopped short of outlawing the veil in the streets, in shopping centres and other public venues, due to doubts about the constitutionality of such a move.

Mr Copé, however, dismissed the idea a full ban was unconstitutional.
"It is incomprehensible to say you can't wear (the full veil) in hospitals but can in bakeries," he told the Daily Telegraph.

His stance is backed by the majority of French: a poll last week showed 57 per cent are in favour of a total ban.

The cross-party report recommends passing a parliamentary resolution, paving the way to a law making it illegal for anyone to appear with their face covered at state-run institutions and on public transport, for security reasons.

Niqab-clad women could be denied services at the post office, or other government buildings, as well as access to a work visa, residency papers or French citizenship, the report said.

Parliament is expected to pass a resolution after regional elections in March, with a law possible "by the end of the year", according to one commission member. France moves closer to Muslim face veil ban >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

LE TEMPS: France : Alerte contre les «barbares» en burqa : Un rapport parlementaire préconise des mesures pour compliquer la vie des femmes portant le voile intégral. Dans l’espoir, à terme, d’éliminer le phénomène >>> Sylvain Besson | Mercredi 27 Janvier 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! The Dollar Bubble

A Must Watch! Radical Islam In America


The Third Jihad >>>
Al Qaradawi Praising Hitler's Anti-Semitism

Dennis McShane on the New Anti-Semitism



Dennis McShane: “Islam is a religion of peace”? Come on, Dennis! Get real!
France MPs' Report Backs Muslim Face Veil Ban

BBC: A French parliamentary committee has recommended a partial ban on women wearing Islamic face veils.

The committee's near 200-page report has proposed a ban in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport.

It also recommends that anyone showing visible signs of "radical religious practice" should be refused residence cards and citizenship.

The interior ministry says just 1,900 women in France wear the full veils.

In its report, the committee said requiring women to cover their faces was against the French republican principles of secularism and equality.

"The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess," the report said.

The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the face veil was "contrary to the values of the republic" and proclaiming that "all of France is saying 'no' to the full veil".

Presenting the report to the French National Assembly, speaker Bernard Accoyer said the face veil had too many negative connotations.

"It is the symbol of the repression of women, and... of extremist fundamentalism.

"This divisive approach is a denial of the equality between men and women and a rejection of co-existence side-by-side, without which our republic is nothing."

The report is expected to be followed by the drafting of a bill and a parliamentary debate on the issue. >>> | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

BBC: Countries across the continent have wrestled with the issue of the Muslim veil - in various forms such as the body-covering burka and the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes. The debate takes in religious freedom, female equality, secular traditions and even fears of terrorism. The Islamic veil across Europe >>> | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Interdiction du voile intégral : l'avis des juristes

Crédits photo : Le Figaro

LE FIGARO: Dans son rapport rendu mardi, la mission parlementaire préconise l'interdiction de la burqa par la loi dans les services publics. Les spécialistes du droit estiment en effet qu'une loi est mieux adaptée que des arrêtés municipaux ou des décisions de justice. Mais la justification de l'interdiction s'annonce délicate.

Le parlement peut adopter une loi restreignant le port de la burqa mais la voie est étroite : tel est l'avis des universitaires entendus par la mission d'information de l'Assemblée sur le port du voile intégral. En tout état de cause, une limitation du port de la burqa ne peut être édictée que par une loi, et non par des arrêtés municipaux ou par des décisions de justice, jugent ces juristes.

Ainsi Anne Levade, professeur de droit public à Paris XII, «le législateur bénéficie d'une plus grande liberté que l'autorité réglementaire pour poser des interdictions générales». «Les réglementations éparses qui peuvent exister ont des fondements juridiques très fragiles, observe Bertrand Mathieu, professeur de droit public. Le législateur est seul compétent pour réglementer l'exercice d'une liberté publique», en l'occurrence le droit de se vêtir librement. Et plus encore si le port du voile intégral est considéré comme la manifestation de convictions religieuses. Si les parlementaires décident d'élaborer une loi, quelle base juridique peuvent-ils invoquer?

Selon le professeur Guy Carcassonne, une réglementation du port de la burqa dans les lieux publics ne peut être motivée par le principe de laïcité. Dans son sens actuel, la laïcité signifie que l'État est tenu d'être neutre à l'égard des religions et de respecter la liberté de conscience. Le gouvernement a certes le droit d'interdire à ses agents et aux élèves des collèges et lycées publics de manifester ostensiblement leur confession. >>> Guillaume Perrault | Mardi 26 Janvier 2010

Ganzkörperschleier: Paris will Burka aus der Öffentlichkeit verbannen

WELT ONLINE: Muslimische Frauen in Ganzkörperschleiern sollen in Frankreich nicht mehr Bus und Bahn fahren dürfen. Eine parteiübergreifende Parlamentskommission empfahl ein vollständiges Verbot der Burka in öffentlichen Einrichtungen. Auch Schulen, Krankenhäuser und Behörden dürften verschleierte Frauen nicht mehr betreten.

Frauen im Burka in der südfranzösischen Metropole Marseille. Der Ganzkörperschleier soll in Frankreich aus dem öffentlichen Leben verbannt werden. Bild: Welt Online

In Frankreich zeichnet sich ein Verbot der Ganzkörperverschleierung muslimischer Frauen in Behörden und öffentlichen Einrichtungen ab. Eine parteiübergreifende Enquetekommission der Nationalversammlung forderte einstimmig eine Parlamentsresolution, die ein Verbot der Burka „auf dem Gebiet der Republik“ verlangen soll. Eine große Mehrheit der Kommissionsmitglieder sprach sich zudem für ein Gesetz aus, das die Vollverschleierung in allen staatlichen Einrichtungen untersagt.

Das würde unter anderem bedeuten, dass Frauen, die eine Burka tragen, keine öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel wie Busse oder U-Bahnen benutzen dürften. Auch der Zutritt zu Schulen, Krankenhäusern und Behörden wäre Burka- und Nikab-Trägerinnen damit untersagt. Weiter erlaubt wäre die Burka damit auf offener Straße und in der Privatwirtschaft.

„Ganz Frankreich sagt Nein zum Ganzkörperschleier und verlangt, dass diese Praxis auf dem Gebiet der Republik verboten wird“, heißt es im Vorschlag des Parlamentsausschusses für die Entschließung. Eine Burka zu tragen widerspreche „den Werten der Republik“. >>> AFP/dpa/ks | Dienstag, 26. Januar 2010

Für Burka-Verbot in Frankreichs Service Public: Parlamentskommission will Einschränkung von Verschleierung

NZZ ONLINE: Frankreich setzt ein offizielles Zeichen gegen die volle Verschleierung: Die Burka soll zwar nicht ganz aus der Öffentlichkeit verschwinden, aber das Tragen soll eingeschränkt werden. Die parlamentarische Kommission spricht von einer Herausforderung für die Demokratie.

Die vor sechs Monaten ins Leben gerufene parlamentarische Mission hat in ihrem «Burka-Bericht» klare Worte gefunden. Das voll verschleiernde Gewand sei Ausdruck einer gesellschaftliche Einkerkerung, die von einer islamische Minderheit propagiert werde. Der damit verbundene absolute Rückzug einer Person aus der Öffentlichkeit spiele sich oft auf dem Hintergrund einer sozialen und materiellen Not ab. Die Bewegung und die damit verbundene Ghettoisierung verkörpere eine Herausforderung für Demokratien.

Die Gruppe der Parlamentarier, die mit ihrem Bericht ein erstes offizielles Zeichen gegen die volle Verschleierung in Frankreich setzt, hat ihren Bericht am Dienstag dem Präsidenten der Nationalversammlung überreicht. Die Analyse, die unter dem Vorsitz des kommunistischen Abgeordneten André Gerin entstanden ist, gilt als Baustein eines Gesetzesentwurfs, der demnächst in Angriff genommen werden dürfte. Hoche Wellen wirft das Thema bereits jetzt. Denn, so eine der brennenden Fragen, lassen sich in der Republik individuelle Rechte (hier das Recht zur «freien» Kleidung) mit dem anderen staatsprägenden Gebot der gesellschaftlichen Integration vereinbaren?

Starke Symbolkraft

Der Bericht und die Schlussfolgerungen sind klar: Die Kommission schlägt nämlich vor, dass dort, wo öffentliche Dienstleistungen erbracht werden, die Verschleierung nicht toleriert werden soll. Von einem generellen Verbot, was einem Totalverbot des umstrittenen Gewands in der Öffentlichkeit gleichkäme, rät die Gruppe ab. Nun wird sich das Parlament mit dem Bericht befassen; anschliessend soll ein Gesetzesentwurf ausgearbeitet werden. Die Stossrichtung der Kommission … >>> Manfred Rist, Paris | Dienstag, 26. Januar 2010
More Troops for Afghanistan? Non, Mr President!

MAIL ONLINE: France is to stop sending soldiers to Afghanistan, Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

It comes as leaders in Germany revealed plans to send more troops - but only to train local security forces and help with elections.

The decisions defy U.S. President Barack Obama's call for more troops from Europe. He had piled pressure on Nato allies after vowing to send up to 30,000 more troops to the country last year.

Mr Obama believed more troops were needed to fight a growing Taliban insurgency.

The French President yesterday said he would consider sending more trainers and civilian helpers in the hope of improving the efficiency of the Afghan Army.

But he ruled out extra soldiers to carry out these duties.

Mr Sarkozy said in a live interview on TF1 television on Monday night: 'If there is a need for more people to train, to help the police to undertake civil engineering, to help the population, to help Afghanisation, why not?

‘But combat troops? No.’ France and Germany risk diplomatic row after snubbing Obama's call to send more troops to Afghanistan >>> Peter Allen and Mail Foreign Service | Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Single British Asian Mums Losing Their 'Honour Babies'

BBC: Some single British Asian women are being forced by their families to give up their children as so-called "honour babies", according to a charity which wants action to uncover the scale of the problem.

Saima was just 17 when she fell pregnant. But, instead of feeling happy about becoming a mum, she knew her world was about to fall apart.

Although she longed to keep her baby, she was aware her strict Pakistani parents would never allow it because she was not married.

She declined her GP's option of an abortion and hid her pregnancy from her parents until a few weeks before she was due to give birth.

"As soon as my parents found out I was pregnant they kept me hidden in the house," she said.

"I wasn't allowed out until I gave birth to my son. They immediately adopted him as their own and a few days later I was sent to Pakistan where my dad had arranged my marriage.

"I wasn't allowed to return to the UK until I fell pregnant with my husband's child.

"My husband and I lived quite close to my parents so I had to watch them bring up my son and pretend he was my brother. My marriage didn't really work out and I was very unhappy."

Saima's name has been changed to protect her identity but the situation is all too real for her and many more young Asian women.

A charity has told BBC Asian Network it fears a growing problem of single women being forced to give up their babies because of "honour".

"It is a deeply hidden issue but a very relevant one that is kept underground," says Jasvinder Sanghera, who founded the charity Karma Nirvana to help victims of forced marriages and honour-based crimes.

She said: "The term 'honour baby' is used because the baby is said to have brought dishonour on that family.

"The cases could be in their hundreds, because we have no idea how many there are." >>> Ushma Mistry, BBC Asian Network | Lundi 25 Janvier 2010
The Disgusting, “Shameless” Tony Bliar!

THE INDEPENDENT: (from a firm that bet on British banks going bust)

Tony Blair is to be paid at least £200,000 by a City firm accused of profiteering from the financial crisis that brought Britain's banks to their knees.

The former prime minister has been hired by the hedge fund Lansdowne Partners to deliver four presentations to staff about the world political situation. Mr Blair, one of the world's most highly paid speakers, reportedly commands between £50,000 and £170,000 for a single speech.

Details of his latest money-spinning appearance emerged days before he is due to appear before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.

He was accused last night of a "shameless" willingness to accept money from any source. Blair's £200,000 hedge fund pay-day >>> Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor, and Nick Clark | Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Death Threats for French Imam Who Preaches Peace with Jewish Neighbours

THE TELEGRAPH: Preacher under police protection after Gaza conflict raises tensions in poor Paris suburb

Women walk past a synagogue in Lille, northern France, tagged with the inscription Zog (Zionist Occupation Government) and a swastika. Photograph: The Telegraph

Hassen Chalghoumi has devoted his life to bringing people together. For years he has preached the values of inter-faith harmony from his mosque in Paris's poor and fractious north-eastern suburbs, working with Jewish leaders, inviting them to his home and urging young people of all religions to embrace harmony in place of hatred.

But today the imam, whose work has been hailed by religious and political leaders, was in fear of his life and under police protection in Drancy after the tensions lying dormant in his community were reawoken by the conflict over 2,000 miles away in Gaza.

Enraged by his determination to show solidarity with the Jewish community at a time when they feel the battle lines are clear, unknown French Muslims have left death threats on his mobile phone. Some have stopped him in the street to warn him he is going "too far". His car has been vandalised and drenched in fuel.

"It is very hard to work for rapprochement in such a climate," he said. "But it has to be done."

In a fortnight which has seen the Palestinian death toll from Israel's assault exceed 1,000, the European country with the largest Muslim and Jewish populations has been served an uncomfortable reminder of the tensions that continue to divide it.

Synagogues in several towns across France have been daubed with antisemitic graffiti. One in Lille was decorated with a swastika. Others have been attacked with petrol bombs and set alight. Dozens of people have been arrested after pro-Palestinian protests turned violent and Israeli flags were burned in the street. According to the French Jewish students' union, there have been 55 antisemitic incidents since 27 December. The police have not published an official list. >>> Lizzy Davies, Paris | Friday, January 16, 2010

Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>
Gladiator Soundtrack – Enya: Now We Are Free

Monday, January 25, 2010

Bravo for Nico! Nicolas Sarkozy Backs a Ban on the Full Muslim Veil

TIMES ONLINE: Curbs on wearing the full Muslim veil come a step closer in France today with a report that will call for a ban on the dress in post offices, universities, hospitals and state-owned premises, as well as public transport.

Last night President Sarkozy was due to endorse the proposals, to be made by an all-party commission. Last week he called the niqab, the form of veil worn in France, “contrary to our values and to the ideals we have of women’s dignity”. Parliament is expected to act on the proposals in the spring.

If they become law women with covered faces would be refused public services such as transport, university classes and benefits. >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Remember Gays in the Holocaust

Yad Vashem (יד ושם): Remembering the Past, Shaping the Future



Yad Vashem : יד ושם >>>

Heartsrings: Music of the Holocaust >>>
Children of the Holocaust

The Auschwitz Album: Visual Evidence of Mass Murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau


We Are Still In the Shadow of the Holocaust

THE TELEGRAPH: Anti-Semitism is on the rise, which makes memorial day all the more vital, says Michael Gove.

This Wednesday we remember the greatest crime ever inflicted by man against his fellow man. Holocaust Memorial Day allows us to reflect on the bleakest chapter in the history of the 20th century. And there is a special urgency in the call to remember this year, of all years - because the shadow of the Holocaust continues to fall over the world today.

Mass murder is still deployed as a political tool by tyrants, from Burma to Zimbabwe. Racism is returning to the streets of Europe, from St Petersburg to Antwerp. And, hard though it is to credit after the horrors of the last century, anti-Semitism is creeping back into the corridors of power.

We know that Nazi ideology still has the power to motivate evil men. From the Swedish fascist who tried to acquire the "Arbeit macht frei" sign which hung over the gates of Auschwitz, to the British fascists of the BNP, there is an ominous resurgence of extremist activity visible across our Continent.

It is because we face a new fascist threat, and because the extremism of the BNP is mirrored in the equally toxic ideology of anti-Semitic groups such as Islam4Uk and Hizb-ut Tahrir, that we need, all of us, to make an additional effort to remember how the Holocaust started. And where it ended.

The history of the Holocaust is the history of a society which blamed the Jews for its miseries, sought to push them to the margins and then sought, literally, to make them vanish from sight. In our time we can see the same trends returning. The calls for boycotts of Jewish thinkers at Israeli universities, the rise in anti-Semitic incidents on our streets, the inflamed rhetoric of vilification which culminates in the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call to wipe Israel off the map, are all connected. >>> Michael Gove | Monday, January 25, 2010

Buchenwald

Warning! Attention! Achtung! The images here are very graphic and disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.



Kristallnacht (Crystal Night / The Night of Broken Glass): The German Pogrom 1938



Shoah Memorial-Museum >>>

Mémorial de la Shoah: Musée, Centre de documentation juive contemporaine >>>

Yad Vashem / יד ושם >>>
«La Shoah en tant que telle est une invention juive»

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: POLÉMIQUE | Quelques jours après la visite de Benoît XVI en la synagogue de Rome, un évêque polonais à la retraite provoque un tollé avec ses déclarations négationnistes sur un site italien.

"La Shoah en tant que telle est une invention juive", a affirmé lundi un évêque polonais à la retraite sur un site catholique traditionaliste italien, à deux jours du 65e anniversaire de la libération du camp d’extermination d’Auschwitz, journée mondiale de l’Holocauste.

"S’il est indéniable que la majorité des morts dans les camps de concentration étaient des juifs, dans la liste il y a aussi des tziganes, des Polonais, des Italiens et des catholiques", a déclaré Mgr Tadeusz Pieronek, sur le site Pontifex.roma.it.

"Il n’est donc pas permis de s’approprier cette tragédie pour faire de la propagande", a ajouté le prélat de 75 ans, qui fut ami du pape Jean Paul II, en affirmant qu’il "n’est pas historiquement vrai que dans les camps de concentration ce sont seulement des Juifs qui sont morts". "Il y a eu beaucoup de Polonais, mais cette vérité aujourd’hui est souvent ignorée", a poursuivi Mgr Pieronek.

Pour Mgr Pieronek, ancien secrétaire et ex-porte-parole de l’épiscopat polonais, "alors on pourrait parler avec la même force et fixer une journée de la mémoire aussi pour les nombreuses victimes du communisme, les catholiques et chrétiens persécutés et ainsi de suite". >>> AFP | Lundi 25 Janvier 2010

La Grèce appelle la Turquie à une relance des efforts de rapprochement

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: AVANCÉE | Le Premier ministre grec, Georges Papandréou, a appelé son homologue turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, à une relance des efforts de rapprochement , dans sa réponse à une lettre que lui avait envoyée en novembre le dirigeant turc.

Artisan en 1999 de la normalisation entre les deux pays, à l’époque en tant que chef de la diplomatie, M. Papandréou s’affirme dans ce courrier "encouragé par la volonté commune" des deux dirigeants "d’améliorer les relations bilatérales" qui marquent le pas ces dernières années, a indiqué l’agence de presse grecque Ana.

L’Ana a obtenu copie du courrier, qui a été remis dans la journée par l’ambassadeur grec à Ankara, a-t-on appris auprès des services de M. Papandréou.

M. Papandréou, qui adresse dans ce courrier une invitation à une visite officielle de M. Erdogan, exprime le souhait d’une relance des efforts pour "la mise en place entre les deux pays d’une relation plus viable et productive, et d’une paix durable", selon l’Ana. >>> AFP | Lundi 25 Janvier 2010