Far-right extremists take to terror videos!

THE SUNDAY TIMES: FAR-RIGHT extremists have adopted the tactics of Islamic jihadists by posting videos on the internet in which they threaten to behead British Muslims.

The films show balaclava-clad white British men brandishing guns, knives and clubs, calling on all Muslims to leave the United Kingdom or be killed. One appears to be a soldier who has served in the Gulf.

In one film a man tells Muslims to “go home” or risk being burnt alive. He threatens: “I’ll cut your head off,” and claims to have “comrades” across Britain who have “had enough”. White extremists use terror videos to threaten Muslims

Mark Alexander

War: The Islamic Way

THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE: In Iraq, the world’s only superpower finds itself mired in a conflict that it cannot win. History’s mightiest military has been unable to defeat an enemy force of perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 insurgents equipped with post-World War II vintage assault rifles and anti-tank weapons. The Islamic Way of War: Muslims have stopped fighting on Western terms - and have started winning by Andrew J. Bacevich

Mark Alexander

Israel prepares for possible war with Iran and Syria

THE SUNDAY TIMES: THREATENED by a potentially nuclear-armed Tehran, Israel is preparing for a possible war with both Iran and Syria, according to Israeli political and military sources.

The conflict with Hezbollah has led to a strategic rethink in Israel. A key conclusion is that too much attention has been paid to Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank instead of the two biggest state sponsors of terrorism in the region, who pose a far greater danger to Israel’s existence, defence insiders say.

“The challenge from Iran and Syria is now top of the Israeli defence agenda, higher than the Palestinian one,” said an Israeli defence source. Shortly before the war in Lebanon Major-General Eliezer Shkedi, the commander of the air force, was placed in charge of the “Iranian front”, a new position in the Israeli Defence Forces. His job will be to command any future strikes on Iran and Syria. Israel plans for war with Iran and Syria by Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter

Mark Alexander

Patience is the answer, says Kofi Annan
Highly-paid fools all! Patience indeed, Mr Annan! Appeasement is what I call it! Appeasement reminiscent of the 1930's!

Photo couretesy of NZZ

Im Atomstreit mit dem Iran glaubt Uno-Generalsekretär Kofi Annan nicht an die Wirksamkeit von Sanktionen. Nach Gesprächen mit dem iranischen Aussenminister Manuchehr Mottaki und Chefunterhändler Ali Larijani will sich Annan am Sonntag mit dem Staatspräsidenten Mahmud Ahmedinejad treffen. Sanktionen sind laut Annan nicht das richtige Mittel

Mark Alexander

Convert to Islam, you ignorant, filthy (naji) fools!

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Al-Qaeda has urged non-Muslims - especially in the US - to convert to Islam, according to a new videotape.

The call is made by a man identified on the film as "Azzam the American", a convert also known as Adam Gadahn who is wanted for questioning by the FBI.

He says ignorance of Islam leads Westerners to accept wars waged by their governments and Israel against Muslim countries. Al-Qaeda calls on US to convert

Mark Alexander

Convert to Islam, or you're dead!

Palestinian terrorists who held two Fox News journalists hostage for almost two weeks threatened in an online message to abduct non-Muslims visiting the Palestinian territories and kill them unless their demands were met. Fox News kidnappers vow to target 'infidels'

Mark Alexander

A "terror watchlist" in the thousands!

THE TIMES: MI5 and the police are monitoring thousands of Muslims suspected of being terrorists or their supporters, Britain’s most senior terrorist investigator disclosed yesterday.

Counter-terrorism experts are also concerned that the threat is no longer only being imported from abroad, as Britain becomes a breeding and training ground for the extremists. Thousands of Muslim suspects on the terror watchlist by Stewart Tendler

Mark Alexander

Police-raid in London

Watch BBC video of the arrests in London last night

BBC: Armed police have arrested 14 men following anti-terror raids in London, including 12 arrests at a restaurant in the Borough area. 14 held in terror police swoop

Mark Alexander

It's the Religion, Stupid!
Watch President Bush speaking to military veterans in Salt Lake City in Utah
”The war we fight today is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century. Despite their [the various “terrorist” groups'] differences, these groups form the outline of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology. And the unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.” - President Bush

President Bush’s foreign policy with regard to “Islamic terrorists” has no foundation. It is like the house built on sand! If President Bush really thinks that this war against “Islamic terrorists” is going to be won by ignoring the cause of the problem we face, then he is deluding himself.

No war was ever won without identifying the enemy. A doctor cannot effect a cure for a sick man if he doesn’t identify the disease. He cannot beat the disease simply by treating the symptoms. In order for the doctor to beat the disease, he must first identify the disease itself. Similarly, if we are to win this war, we have to identify the root cause of the problems we face. We must ask ourselves where is all this hatred stemming from? What is at the root of the problem?

One has to be either ignorant, stupid, foolish, or just plain obstinate not to see that the root cause of our problems with “terrorists” is Islam itself. These are “Islamic terrorists”, and they are fired by their religion, Islam, to take over the rest of the world, and Islamize it. These “Islamic terrorists” are actually jihadis, and they are out to turn the “House of War”, or Dar ul Harb, into the “House of Islam”, or Dar ul Islam.

These jihadis don't have any “twisted view of Islam” at all! In fact, they have a very good understanding of their religion, and they intend to live by its tenets. YOU, Mr President, have a “twisted” view of Islam, not the jihadis! They know what they are doing, but do you know what you are doing? That is the question YOU need to ask YOURSELF!

What is happening in the world today is nothing much different from what has been happening in the world for the past 1400 years. Muslims have been busy Islamizing the world for about that long. But, of course, there have been quiet spells, because they haven’t always had the money to finance the jihad as they have today. When people are forced, through poverty, to dwell in tents as Bedouins, they have their next meal to think about; so they fight, if at all, amongst themselves. These days, however, they are awash with petrodollars; so they have plenty of money, billions in fact, to finance their jihadi activities. And, Mr President, you need look no further than your big chums in Saudi Arabia for evidence of the petrodollars being used around the world to finance and propagate their particularly pernicious brand of Islam – Wahhabism. Yet you continue to insist on cozying up to the Saudis, insisting that they are your friends and allies.

Then, on the other side of the Persian Gulf, we have the Iranians. They, too, are awash with cash to finance their Shiite version of Islam throughout the world. We have them financing such jihadi organizations as Hizbullah. And the Syrians help the Iranians along.

So we have a fight on a grand scale for supremacy in the world – Sunni and Shiite Islam. We in the West are allowing both forms of Islam to be propagated here at home, in the form of mosques (where hatred of the infidel and anti-Semitism are propagated), in the form of propagation centres proper, in the form of madrassahs, in the form of university chairs in what were once respectable Western universities, thus shutting up professors and getting them on side. The list goes on. Yet YOU, Mr President, insist that the version of Islam the jihadis are working hard to propagate throughout the world is a “twisted” one.

When you speak like this, you make yourself sound foolish, very foolish indeed. It also makes one think that people at the very top in government are being paid off by their Saudi masters for speaking highly of a faith that is out to destroy the West, destroy democracy, and destroy freedom.

When did you last read a history book, Mr President? Have you ever read anything about the crusades? Have you ever read anything about al-Andalus, and how it took the Spanish centuries to rid Spain of Islamic influence? Do you have any idea of what is really going on? Or are you just being shut up by your Saudi masters because you and your henchmen such as Cheney are in their pay?

Something sinister is going on here in the West! Something rotten!

You have talked so much about bringing democracy to the Middle East. Forget it! Middle Easterners, by and large, don’t want Western democracy. This is obvious to all but the blind. What they want is to follow the Islamic path, they want Islamic theocracy. So what you need to do is not spend your energy and the resources of the West on a vain attempt to bring democracy to them; rather you should be diverting your energy and the West’s resources to ensuring that Muslims don’t manage to bring their anti-democratic, pro-Islamic theocratic ideas here to the West! That is our real danger, Mr President. Keep Islam out of the West as far as is humanly possible! Stunt its growth here! Reverse any trends you can!

Islam has entered the West and has put down roots here. Sadly! They did the same in Egypt and Syria and Libya centuries ago. And look what happened to those countries! They are now Islamic. The same will happen to the West, because leaders like you steadfastly refuse either to see or to understand what is happening under our very noses.

Your speech to the military veterans in Salt Lake City was a tame one. It lacks conviction; so it is certainly not convincing. Further, until and unless you change your tired, worn-out tune, until you stop making lame excuses for the very belligerent religion of Islam, you will never win this war, and you will never carry the people, either in the US, Europe, Australasia, or any other part of the free world, with you. You are wasting your time. You have hyped up Iraq, probably to save your own face; but Iraq was never the real problem, Islam was, is, and ever will be.

No, Mr President, the jihadis do not have a “twisted” version of their faith, YOU do! When will you ever learn? Simply put, Mr President, and as the Democratic Party's one-time strategist, James Carville, might have said: It’s the religion, Stupid!

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Condi ousted from 1st position on Forbes list

BBC: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has overtaken US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the world's most powerful woman, says Forbes magazine. Merkel trumps Rice on power list

Mark Alexander

Aid well up on UN's target of $330m

BBC: International donors have pledged $500m (£262m) of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territories, well above the UN's target figure of $330m.

The pledge came at a conference in Sweden after UN aid chief Jan Egeland called Gaza a "ticking time bomb".

Palestinians have been living on restricted aid since Hamas's election victory, and until now the UN had struggled to reach its target. Donors pledge Palestinians $500m

Mark Alexander

New York Finance Company in Sharia'h-Compliant Financing Activities

New York - A Sharia’h Advisory Board has been formed by Anchor Finance Group, LLC, New York (Anchor Finance Group), which will provide guidance to Anchor Finance Group in its North American and overseas Sharia’h-compliant financing activities. AFG, with an established base in North American Muslim communities, is poised to position itself as the leading financial services provider in the region. Sharia'h Advisory Board formed by Anchor Finance Group, LLC, New York

Mark Alexander

Victor David Hanson on "the threat we face"

NRO: Hezbollah’s black-clad legions goose-step and stiff-arm salute in parade, apparently eager to convey both the zeal and militarism of their religious fascism. Meanwhile, consider Hezbollah’s “spiritual” head, Hassan Nasrallah — the current celebrity of an unhinged Western media that tried to reinvent the man’s own self-confessed defeat as a victory. Long before he hid in the Iranian embassy Nasrallah was on record boasting: “The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win because they love life and we love death.”

Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trumps that Hitlerian nihilism by reassuring the poor, maltreated Germans that there was no real Holocaust. Perhaps he is concerned that greater credit might still go to Hitler for Round One than to the mullahs for their hoped-for Round Two, in which the promise is to “wipe” Israel off the map.

The only surprise about the edition of Hitler’s Mein Kampf that has become a best seller in Middle Eastern bookstores is its emboldened title translated as “Jihadi” — as in “My Jihad” — confirming in ironic fashion the “moderate” Islamic claim that Jihad just means “struggle,” as in an “inner struggle” — as in a Kampf perhaps. The Waiting Game: Do we really need further convincing of the threat we face? by Victor Davis Hanson

Mark Alexander

The world needs to understand the "genuine" Islam, says Ahmadinejad
The world does indeed need to understand the genuine Islam, Mr Ahmadinejad: It needs to understand what Islam has always meant: conquering the world by the sword!

IRNA: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Thursday night that the world is thirsty for understanding core of genuine Islam. World thirsty for genuine Islam: President

Mark Alexander

Hassan el-Khattab & Yusef Khattab
Is it me, or does someone else see the similarities between the photograph of a one Khattab as provided by Le Figaro, and the Jewish convert, Khattab, in the video underneath, as provided by YOU TUBE. To me, they seem remarkably alike. I would be interested to receive your comments.

LE FIGARO: LE DÉMANTÈLEMENT d'un réseau terroriste met depuis plusieurs semaines l'appareil sécuritaire marocain en émoi. Selon Rabat, les membres du groupe baptisé Ansar el-Mahdi avaient prévu de lancer une vague d'attentats de grande ampleur avec à la clé des attaques contre des ministères et des diplomates étrangers. Entendu la semaine dernière par une commission parlementaire, le ministre de l'Intérieur, Chakib Benmoussa, a affirmé que les djihadistes mis hors état de nuire préparaient des opérations contre des cibles sensibles, des intérêts étrangers et des personnalités marocaines. Intervenant aux côtés de son ministre délégué Fouad Ali el-Himma, l'homme de confiance du roi, le ministre a précisé que les membres de l'organisation islamiste disposaient de «quantités de matières servant à fabriquer des explosifs beaucoup plus importantes que celles saisies lors des attentats terroristes du 16 mai 2003 à Casablanca». Et avant-hier, la police a précisé que les membres du réseau avaient prévu de capturer des responsables politiques de l'Union socialiste des forces populaires (USFP) dont le ministre des Finances, Fathallah Oualalou, et le ministre de l'Aménagement du territoire, Mohammed el-Yazghi. Vaste complot terroriste déjoué au Maroc

Mark Alexander

It turns out even Pinocchio has now 'reverted'!

YNET NEWS: The wooden puppet in Carlo Collodi's classic book that wanted to become a real boy was blessed with many interesting features and never ceased to amaze his father, but it now turns out he was also Muslim

In a new version of the book, that was released in Turkey, Pinocchio turns to his father and emotionally announces: "In the name of Allah, give me some bread." Along with dozens of other books that were included in a list recommended by the Turkish Ministry of Education, "Pinocchio" was forced to become Muslim. Pinocchio converts to Islam? by Natasha Mozgovia

Mark Alexander

Ken Livingstone puts his foot in his mouth yet again

THE TIMES: KEN LIVINGSTONE has accused Trevor Phillips, Britain’s race equality chief, of becoming so right wing that he could “join the BNP”.

The bitter attack, made during a live radio interview, was immediately denounced by the Tories as disgraceful, and led to calls for an apology. It follows the furore caused by Mr Livingstone, the Mayor of London, when he compared a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

Mr Livingstone made the BNP gibe after Mr Phillips, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality, made a speech in which he said that mass immigration was changing the face of Britain, and that the costs of it could no longer be ignored. In a series of controversial statements, Mr Phillips has also criticised multiculturalism, said that Muslims who want Sharia (Muslim law) should leave Britain and that Britain is “sleepwalking to segregation” between its ethnic communities. Race chief could be in the BNP, says Livingstone by Anthony Browne

Mark Alexander

More than $940m raised for the Lebanon

The Lebanon donor conference in Stockholm has raised more than $940m in pledges of new money, Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson has said.

The organisers of the aid conference had set a target of $500m.

The new pledges bring the total amount of money raised to help with the rebuilding of Lebanon to $1.2bn.

PM Fouad Siniora told the meeting his country had sustained billions of dollars of damages during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Mr Siniora said Lebanon's recovery from its civil war had been "wiped out in days". Donors make huge Lebanon pledge

Mark Alexander

'Pleasure marriages' in Islam on the increase

For over a decade, the phenomenon of marriage without commitment, called misyar marriage, has been spreading throughout the Sunni Muslim world, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries. In such marriages, the woman relinquishes some of the rights that Islam grants her, such as the right to a home and to financial support from her husband, and, if he has other wives, the right to an equal part of his time and attention. In most cases, these marriages are secret, without the knowledge of the man's other wives - even though a marriage contract is drawn up in the presence of witnesses, and although consent is commonly obtained from the woman's guardian, and the marriage is registered and documented at the courthouse. Demand is high for misyar marriages on online matchmaking sites, as well as through services using text messages and email. Pleasure Marriages in Sunni and Shi'ite Islam by Aluma Dankowitz

Mark Alexander

Galloway spouts folderol

Photo courtesy of The Scotsman

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Maverick politician George Galloway urged Western governments on Thursday to reduce tensions with the Muslim world by pressuring Israel to withdraw from Arab land in the wake of its invasion of southern Lebanon.

Galloway said Israel's 39-year occupation of swathes of Arab territory had spurred militants to attack the West.

"The poison which circulates as a result of this unresolved conflict is poisoning our own lives in the West and making our people more endangered," Galloway told a news conference at the end of a visit to Lebanon and Syria. Galloway says Israel poisoning West by Khaled Yacoub Oweis

Mark Alexander