Iran ready to negotiate (on its own terms)

Phot courtesy of Yahoo

Jakarta — Iran's President said Thursday he was ready to negotiate with Western powers over Tehran's nuclear program, but warned that threats would make any talks more difficult.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his comments after key UN Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment.

Later on Thursday, Mr. Ahmadinejad called Israel's government a "regime based on evil," and told a cheering crowd of students in Jakarta that the Jewish state "cannot continue and one day will vanish."

Students in the crowd held up posters saying "Iran in our Hearts," and "Nuclear for Peace."

Mr. Ahmadinejad said his country was willing to negotiate, but that the United States first must drop its "bad attitude."

"We are not only defending our rights, we are defending the rights of many other countries," he said. "By maintaining our position, we are defending our independence."

Iran's President says country ready to negotiate by Chris Brummit, Associated Press Writer

An Islamic Declaration of War

Mark Alexander

The Illegal Immigrant Problem in the US

"The problem in our lack of border security and illegal immigration is becoming increasingly obvious: two political parties that are beholden to corporate America, the largest employers of illegal aliens, and the leadership of both parties that are selling out American citizens in search of cheap labor and political advantage. How dumb do you all think we are? Again, that's only a rhetorical question."

CNN does not spring to mind when one thinks either of political incorrectness or anti-multiculturalism. So when I came across this from Lou Dobbs today, I was rather suprised. I found it to be refreshing, and right on the button. See what you think...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Reports this week that the Border Patrol is notifying the Mexican government of the locations of Minutemen volunteers are being denied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. True or not, the Bush administration continues to follow absurd policies on both issues of border security and illegal immigration.

President Bush continues to push his guest worker program and amnesty for anywhere between 11 million and 20 million illegal aliens, and he insists still that nothing less than what he calls comprehensive immigration reform is acceptable.

And the lies keep coming from both political parties. This president is not enforcing the immigration laws enacted by Congress, and this Congress is failing in its duty of oversight to demand that those laws be followed. Dobbs to President: Do you take us for fools?

Mark Alexander

The Palestinians in financial difficulties

Photo courtesy of the BBC

An Israeli firm providing the only fuel source to the Palestinians has decided to cut off supplies because of mounting Palestinian Authority (PA) debts.

The Palestinian Petroleum Agency head said he expected petrol and cooking gas would run out within hours.
The PA has faced financial crisis since foreign aid was frozen after Hamas - regarded as a terrorist movement by the US and EU - won elections in January.

A plan to channel donor aid directly to the Palestinians was agreed on Tuesday.

Palestinian fuel crisis looming

Mark Alexander

Sarkozy tout simplement puissant et ambitieux

Photo grâce à Figaro

Selon un sondage BVA pour Le Figaro et LCI, Le projet de loi Sarkozy suscite l'adhésion à droite mais aussi à gauche.

LES FRANÇAIS soutiennent massivement le projet de loi sur l'immigration et l'intégration élaboré par Nicolas Sarkozy et actuellement discuté à l'Assemblée, selon un sondage BVA pour Le Figaro et LCI. Selon cette enquête d'opinion, 60% des Français ne sont pas satisfaits des règles fixées jusqu'à présent pour encadrer l'immigration, contre 28% seulement d'un avis contraire et 12% qui ne se prononcent pas. Les sympathisants de droite sont 75% à affirmer leur mécontentement à l'égard de la politique actuelle. Plus notable encore, les Français proches de la gauche sont 56% à se dire insatisfaits. Un chiffre qui devrait faire réfléchir les socialistes, qui bataillent à l'Assemblée nationale contre le texte du ministre de l'Intérieur. Les Français plébiscitent la loi immigration

And this from the BBC:

I was at a dinner party the other night where half the people around the table thought it would be a terrible shame for France if Nicolas Sarkozy became president - and the other half thought it would be a good thing.

He is a man who polarises opinion, but as France counts down the months to the presidential election next year, more and more people seem to be warming to the plain-speaking former lawyer.

He has not officially declared he is going to run for the Elysee Palace, but it is surely only a matter of time.

His speech in Nimes on Tuesday was given in a hall packed with members of his governing centre-right UMP party, but it was also carried live on television. This was a speech addressing the people of France.

No-one can deny he is a great orator, with a powerful presence belying a slim, short frame.

He has a commanding voice that echoed across the hall and into people's homes.

What he said perhaps entered people's hearts too.

Ambitious Sarkozy works the crowd

Mark Alexander

Muslims want no statues for Egypt

Photo courtesy of the BBC

A religious ruling condemning the display of statues has angered Egyptian liberals and intellectuals who fear it could encourage religious zealots to attack the country's pharaonic heritage.

The ruling was issued by the Mufti, the most senior religious scholar in Egypt.

Islam has always been wary of representations of the human figure.

Anything which could even remotely suggest idolatry is frowned upon.

But sculpture in Egypt is as old as the pharaohs. Egyptians look to Islam for answers

Mark

War not Criminality

On the afternoon of Sept. 11, as the Pentagon still burned, Donald Rumsfeld told the president, 'This is not a criminal action. This is war.'

That's still the distinction that matters. By contrast, after the 2005 London bombings, Boris Johnson, the Conservative member of Parliament, wrote a piece headlined 'Just Don't Call It War.' Johnson objected to the language of 'war, whether military or cultural . . . Last week's bombs were placed not by martyrs nor by soldiers, but by criminals.' War-war not law-law

Mark

Muslims portrayed badly

US Islamic leaders are complaining about the way that Muslims are being portrayed on TV and in the media. They say conveying a peaceful image of Islam is much more difficult since September 11, and they blame what they call a 'barrage' of negative news stories.

By 'negative' news stories, they mean stories like the Afghani convert threatened with execution, the daily terror attacks by Islamic jihadists, the mass demonstrations protesting cartoons of Mohammed and the Islamic car-burning protests in France.

USAToday quoted Irfan Rydhan, 31, a spokesperson and organizer for the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose, Calif.

“We say we're peaceful people, but it doesn't matter what we say,” he complained. “They see these violent images on TV, and those people look like us.”

Islam Cries "Foul"

Mark

Ahmadinejad's Letter to Bush

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Details have emerged of the surprise letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to US President George W Bush.

In it, Mr Ahmadinejad criticises the US invasion of Iraq and urges Mr Bush to return to religious principles.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dismissed the letter, saying it contained nothing new.

The letter was issued as foreign ministers met in New York for talks on the Iranian nuclear crisis. Ahmadinejad letter attacks Bush

Mark

An Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Photo courtesy of Google

This fascinating interview with the delightful, attractive, and very courageous Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Dutch MP) was brought to my attention by Robert Spencer's great website, Jihad Watch.

It can be viewed courtesy of another great website, Little Green Footballs, HERE.

The interview was brought to us by Norwegian television (NRK). She talks about her film Submission, Theo Van Gogh, her views on Islam, the Danish cartoons, and her need for constant protection from Islamic threats of death.Be patient! The film begins in Norwegian, but soon switches to English.

This is her latest book:

Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam

Buy this book in the UK

Remember! She is speaking at Harvard on May 9. Ayaan Hirsi Ali at Harvard, May 9, 2006

Mark

Rueful expression replaces Blair's permasmile

Photo courtesy of the Telegraph

It's over for Tony Blair; and, in his heart, he knows it. His end might be protracted, of course. He has plenty of disciples urging him to stand and fight. He will find allies, too, among those who fear for their careers under a Gordon Brown premiership.

He still has the machinery of the Labour Party at his disposal, to say nothing of that of the British state.

He can, in other words, keep going for a while, just as a fighting bull will sometimes charge for several minutes after the matador's steel has found its aorta. But the death wound has already been dealt.

What is the point of Blair? He should quit

Mark

Depressing news for the Church of England

THE Church of England has debunked the widely held view that young people are spiritual seekers on a journey to find transcendent truths to fill the “God-shaped hole” within them.

A report published by the Church today indicates that young people are quite happy with a life without God and prefer car boot sales to church.

If they think about church at all, the images young people come up with are “cardigans”, “sandals and socks”, “corrupt”, “traditionalist” and “stagnant”.

Church seeks spirituality of youth ... and doesn't like what it finds

Mark Alexander

It's high time for meddling Cheney to mind his own business

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has supported the attempts of three Balkan countries - Albania, Croatia and Macedonia - to join Nato and the EU.

He told the leaders of the three countries that their membership would help rejuvenate the two blocs. Cheney backs Balkan Nato-EU bids

Mark Alexander

NEW: This book will be a disturbing read, but a great one!


Londonistan (US Version)

The suicide bombings carried out in London in 2005 by British Muslims revealed an alarming network of Islamist terrorists and their sympathizers. Under the noses of British intelligence, London became the European hub for the promotion, recruitment and financing of Islamist terror and extremism - so much so that it has been mockingly dubbed 'Londonistan'. In this ground-breaking book, Melanie Phillips pieces together the story of how Londonistan developed as a result of the collapse of British self-confidence and national identity and its resulting paralysis by multiculturalism and appeasement. The result is an ugly climate in Britain of irrationality and defeatism, which now threatens to undermine the alliance with America and imperil the defence of the free world.

"Melanie Phillips’s Londonistan is a last-minute warning for Britain and for much of the free world ... This book is powerful and frightening, but also courageous. In dictatorships, you need courage to fight evil; in the free world, you need courage to see the evil." — Natan Sharansky

Buy Londonistan (UK Version)

Mark Alexander

Der Papst dankt der kleinsten Armee der Welt

Dieser Artikel von der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung:

Benedikt XVI. feiert Pontifikalamt zu Ehren der 500-jährigen Schweizergarde

Im voll besetzten Petersdom hat Papst Benedikt XVI. die Schweizergarde mit einer Messe geehrt. Er rief die kleinste Armee der Welt auf, mit «Mut und Treue» in die Zukunft zu blicken. Am Pontifikalamt nahm auch Bundespräsident Moritz Leuenberger teil. Dank im Namen aller Päpste

Mark Alexander

Tony no longer in awe of Straw

The key to the demotion of Jack Straw from foreign secretary is Iran. Mr Straw for more than a year, in his favourite outlet the BBC Today programme or at various press conferences, said repeatedly a military strike on Iran was inconceivable.

Politicians always try to avoid boxing themselves in, but Straw did on this issue: if a military strike had become a serious option, he would have been forced to resign. Iran is the key to Jack Straw's demotion

Mark Alexander

Reza Pahlavi Speaks

Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, told the editors of HUMAN EVENTS last week that in the next two to three months he hopes to finalize the organization of a movement aimed at overthrowing the Islamic regime in Tehran and replacing it with a democratic government.

He believes the cause is urgent because of the prospect that Iran may soon develop a nuclear weapon or the U.S. may use military force to preempt that. He hopes to offer a way out of this dilemma: a revolution sparked by massive civil disobedience in which the masses in the streets are backed by elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States, said he has been in contact with elements of the Revolutionary Guard that would be willing to play such a role, and activists who could help spark the civil disobedience.

He also said that the U.S. and other governments can help by imposing “smart sanctions” on the leaders of Iranian regime, but he categorically opposes U.S. military intervention. Shah of Iran's Heir Plans Overthrow of Regime

Mark

Saudi Cleric: Islamic victory over US

On April 19, 2006, Saudi Islamist cleric Sheikh Dr. Nasser Al-'Omar appeared on Al-Jazeera delivering a lecture on jihad. In it, he said, "The Islamic nation now faces a great phase of jihad," and added "There are places where jihad is proper - Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, Kashmir, and the Philippines." He also told his audience that the U.S. was "disappearing" - echoing his statement on Al-Majd TV on June 13, 2004 that "America is collapsing," and that Muslims "must be patient." America Disappearing from the Hearts

Mark

Islam and Democracy



This very interesting article, written by Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, was drawn to my attention by Warner, a trusted and faithful visitor to my website. I would like to share it with you...

September 11 was a wake-up call for me personally. I recognised that I had to know more about Islam.

In the aftermath of the attack one thing was perplexing. Many commentators and apparently the governments of the “Coalition of the Willing” were claiming that Islam was essentially peaceful, and that the terrorist attacks were an aberration. On the other hand one or two people I met, who had lived in Pakistan and suffered there, claimed to me that the Koran legitimised the killings of non-Muslims.

Although I had possessed a copy of the Koran for 30 years, I decided then to read this book for myself as a first step to adjudicating conflicting claims. And I recommend that you too read this sacred text of the Muslims, because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives – at least.

Can Islam and the Western democracies live together peacefully? What of Islamic minorities in Western countries? Views on this question range from näive optimism to bleakest pessimism. Those tending to the optimistic side of the scale seize upon the assurance of specialists that jihad is primarily a matter of spiritual striving, and that the extension of this concept to terrorism is a distortion of koranic teaching[1]. They emphasise Islam’s self-understanding as a “religion of peace”. They point to the roots Islam has in common with Judaism and Christianity and the worship the three great monotheistic religions offer to the one true God. There is also the common commitment that Muslims and Christians have to the family and to the defence of life, and the record of co-operation in recent decades between Muslim countries, the Holy See, and countries such as the United States in defending life and the family at the international level, particularly at the United Nations. Islam and Western Democracy

Mark Alexander

We need to toughen up to deal with Islam

A triumphant Zacarias Moussaoui shouted "America, You lost" and made a V for Victory sign after he escaped the death penalty last night for his role in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In a stunning defeat for the Bush administration, a federal jury ruled that the only man convicted in America for a role in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon should not be executed but should spend the rest of his life in prison. Life for Moussaoui

This from The Times:

THE only man convicted for the attacks of September 11, 2001, was spared execution as a jury decided yesterday that Zacarias Moussaoui will spend the rest of his life in prison.

After seven days of deliberation the 12 members of the jury at the court in Alexandria, Virginia, failed to reach unanimous agreement that he should die by lethal injection.

In their 42-page verdict form, they rejected arguments that Moussaoui was seeking martyrdom or was mentally ill. But three members decided that he had only limited knowledge of 9/11, and described his role in the attacks as minor. There was also support for mitigating factors such as his violent and dysfunctional backgound, as well as the racism that he had encountered as a youth. 'America, you lost,' he shouts as his life is spared

And again this from The Telegraph:

Zacarias Moussaoui's family in France blame the British for what happened to a once-carefree youth.

They trace the great change in Moussaoui's life to the moment the 23-year-old arrived in Britain in 1992, to attend a business studies course at South Bank University, after graduating in engineering in Perpignan in southern France.

Until then, his family and friends agree, the young man had been full of smiles. He had gone to bars and drunk beer and had a French girlfriend, with whom he ultimately shared a flat. The couple even won a dance contest.

He vowed to make his fortune in London and after a few months managed to get a place to study for an MA in international business studies. But in the ultra-tolerant atmosphere that existed in London before the September 11 attacks, such "wayward" young Muslims were exactly the material being sought by radical Islamists. Life in London made my boy a terrorist

Mark Alexander

Chanel comes to Tehran

Image courtesy of the BBC

Mark