Muslims send "Open Letter" to Pope Benedict XVI

ISLAMICA MAGAZINE: In an unprecedented move, an Open Letter signed by 38 leading Muslim religious scholars and leaders around the world will be sent to Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 15, 2006. The letter, which is the first of its kind in several centuries, was a collaborative effort signed by such prominent figures as the Grand Muftis of Egypt, Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Istanbul, Uzbekistan and Oman, as well as leading figures from the Shia community such as Ayatollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri of Iran. The letter was also signed by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the Personal Envoy and Special Advisor to King Abdullah II of Jordan. Western scholars have signed the document, including California scholar, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Professor Tim Winter of the University of Cambridge.

The letter is being sent, in the spirit of goodwill, to address some of the controversial remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI during his lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany on Sept. 12, 2006. The letter tackles the main issues raised by the Pope in his discussion of a debate between the medieval Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an 'educated Persian' such as compulsion in religion, reason and faith, forced conversion, the understanding of 'Jihad' or 'Holy War,' and the relationship between Christianity and Islam.

The Muslim signatories accept the Pope's personal expression of sorrow and assurance that the controversial quote did not reflect his personal opinion. At the same time, the letter represents an attempt to engage with the Papacy on theological grounds in order to tackle wide ranging misconceptions about Islam in the Western world. Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

Mark Alexander

Where have all the gonads gone?
Indeed they are a long time passing!

Gonads, balls, spunk, or simply courage - call it what you will, there is simply little of it/them to be found amongst our leaders today. One is bound to ask: Do they have a gonad between them? Do they have a ball to call their own?

The fact of the matter is clear: We Europeans, we Westerners, are being sold down the river, we are being cheated out of our rightful heritage. Our civilization is being given away for the want of courage to stand up to the enemies within and the enemies without.

If things go on like this, then our culture and civilization will be swamped by an alien, pseudo-religious, geopolitical system, clothed as it is in a deity, determined to take over the West in its entirety. It should be clear to all by now that Islam is on a mission to Islamize the West. Muslims make no bones about the fact that they want to do this, and they make no secret of the fact that they wish to introduce Shari’ah law. The question now is simple: Are we going to let them do this to our wonderful civilization, the best civilization known to man till now, are we going to let them snuff out the candle of creative life only for the people of Europe and the West to become stultified? Are we going to let them take us back in time to the Dark Ages ?

The political establishment in the West, through lack of will, determination, and courage, is behaving very badly. Nary a politician amongst them is brave enough to call a halt to the nonsense that you and I see on a day-to-day basis. It is surely time for a new order. If the enormity of the task ahead of them is too much for them, then maybe it is time for a new breed of politicians to be elected into office, a breed that will have the courage and determination to put this process into reverse.

The way things are going in France, for example, we might yet see another ‘Flight to Varennes’ by the ruling élite. La fuite à Varennes (21 juin 1791) proved a turning point in French history. It was the time when the then King of France, King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, the queen, and their children were forced to flee, forced to do a runner in the middle of the night to try and save their skins! Is history going to repeat itself? It often does. The same goes for the rest of the European countries, too. For far too long, European politics has been dominated by the left and centre-left coalitions. We can see here in the UK what damage left-wing politicians can do to the nation. Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour’ government has done enormous, perhaps irreparable, damage to the fabric of our nation. He has destroyed much that we, the British, have always held so dear.

Is the problem, perhaps, caused by the fact that so many of today’s politicians, dreamers to a man, are children of the 60s and 70s, children of the age of “flower power”, children of the hippy generation? Is this why they lack the courage and determination to solve these intractable problems we now face? If this is so, then it is truly time for a change at the top. We need a new breed of politicians, willing and able to take the difficult decisions sorely necessary to get a grip on this problem facing us, a problem which is not going to go away simply by ignoring its existence. And remember this: The longer this problem is allowed to go on unsolved, the harder it will become to solve, and the tougher will be the decisions necessary to solve it.

The political élite, however, had better grasp one fact, and quickly: We, the people, are growing weary of the excesses of the Muslim community. We are becoming satiated by their over-the-top ideas, their backwardness, their obstreperousness, their chutzpah, their demands, and their, well, shall we say, boldness! Muslims lose sight of one main fact: The majority merely tolerates them. They are not truly wanted. They would do well to note that tolerance has its limits.

All opprobrium cannot be directed solely at the political establishment. The Church, too, must shoulder much of the blame for the disintegration of Western civilization, for it truly is undermining all that is best in our superior civilization. Only this morning, it has come to light that the Church backs legal rights for parents who live in sin! How dare the Church play around with the teachings of the Gospel in this disgraceful manner? I speak not as a born-again Christian, for a born-again Christian I am surely not. I speak as one who can see the folly of the Church leaders. The liberals in the Church, of whom the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is one, are doing their utmost to destroy the institution of marriage – the cornerstone of any civilized society.

In a very interesting article recently published in the L A Times, it was mooted that Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins. No truer words were spoken! Now, it has come to our attention that the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts is proposing to dump the concept of marriage altogether! Episcopal Diocese may quit marriages (Same-sex debate drives Mass plan).

If the Church leaders really think that they are going to be able to fill the emptying pews this way, then they are sadly delusional. The more liberal the Church becomes, the emptier the church pews will be! If you need proof of this, witness the strength of Islam. That 'religion' hasn’t changed in 1400-plus years. Yet, despite this, its strength is growing apace.

I would be the last person on earth to punish homosexuals and people “living in sin”. But to say that a modern, secular, Western society is to tolerate these things, does not mean that the Church should be imprudent enough to sanction what is totally against the teachings of Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus Christ, the Christian’s Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, are, after all, the raison d’être of the Church itself. They are the keystone of its existence. Take away that keystone, and the Church will surely come a-tumbling down! Just give it a little more time. That’s all!

The weaker the politicians show themselves to be, and the weaker the Church becomes, the stronger Islam will become in the West by contrast. Just like Iran has been strengthened by the weakening of Iraq, so Islam will be strengthened by the weakening of the Church, and by the weakening of Western traditions. We are doing nothing other than playing into Muslims’ hands. Ladies and gentlemen, we are destroying ourselves from within! Western civilization is under attack from two fronts: From Islam and from the establishment figures who purport to lead us!

We need to put a stop to all this guff! We need to start acting like responsible people. Aren’t these leaders, after all is said and done, paid to be responsible? Aren’t they there to give ordinary folks a lead? Aren’t they there to show us all the way? Isn’t this why they are paid the fancy, fat salaries they receive?

Leadership is never an easy task. At a time when all our institutions are under attack, the rôle of leadership becomes particularly onerous. Leadership at such a time calls for gonads! Dear leaders! Go find them! And quickly! Time is not on your side. Never forget this: The people, once they start getting angry, anger ever more quickly. Once they see all they hold dear being taken away, they have a nasty habit of turning on the so-called leaders that allowed it all to happen. History is replete with examples of revolution. Take heed! We may be living in the year 2006, not the year 1789, but people haven’t changed that much. They still have a propensity to take revenge when all they have held so dear is lost. The leaders might have become namby-pamby; the people have not.

©Mark Alexander*

* All rights reserved

Islam: The Catalyst Europe Needs to Become United?
The unity of Europe has been, and is, the dream of many a European politician. The EU spends its time devising new ways to break down the barriers hindering integration; though often times to the annoyance of the citizens of Europe.

Now, however, we have Muslims baying for blood, and this phenomenon, if used wisely, could truly act as the catalyst that unites Europeans!

There is no doubt about it that European, and all Western, values are being undermined by the Muslims within our borders, and are under constant attack from the Muslims without, too. Again, only in the past few days, it has come to light that another furore is building because a group of young right-wingers in Denmark took part in a competition to draw more cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Their remit: to draw him in the most degrading manner they could think of! Muhammad was drawn as a urinating camel and another drew him as an intoxicated, beer-drinking camel. Yet another cartoon shows Muhammad as a drunken terrorist attacking Copenhagen.

How shocking! How truly shocking! Or is it? Just about all other gods and religious symbols have been attacked over the years in the West; it is part of our cultural freedom, however distasteful it might be to many, especially to those outside our borders. Most people found Piss Christ by the artist Andres Serrano in 1989 to be highly offensive; but the world didn’t go up in flames over it, though, all the same.

Unfortunately, it’s a price we have to pay if we want freedom of expression, democracy, and liberty. Freedom of expression is totally and utterly indivisible. Either you have it, or you don’t. There is no such thing as partial freedom of expression. If some freedoms of expression are taken away from us, then we shall end up with no freedom of expression at all!

I dare say that the sensibilities of many Muslims have been offended. But that is no reason for our politicians to apologize for any offence caused. On the contrary, our politicians need to stick to our own values. Muslims, if allowed to do so, will take such freedoms away from us. We must not, under any circumstances, allow them to achieve their goal.

How many times could Westerners have felt offended by Muslims in recent years? They call us filthy infidels, burn our churches, behead people, kill Westerners in terrorist attacks, and much else besides. But we take these things on the chin, we take them in a mature manner. We turn the other cheek in the time-honoured tradition of the Christian. This contrast in behaviour shows the Western world’s maturity and the converse behaviour of the Islamic world.

As much as we don’t wish to offend others and their religious sensibilities, that we sometimes do so is the price that has to be paid for freedom of expression. This right is one which tens of thousands, nay millions, have died for in previous generations. This right must be defended to the hilt. As Mrs Thatcher once said to George Bush Sr: “This is no time to go all wobbly!”

We need to be firm and strong and resolute and determined, because we have our way of life, our values, and our freedoms to defend. It is also no time to apologize to all and sundry in the Islamic world. If they don’t like it, then let them lump it. If you politicians want to tell them anything, then tell them to grow up! Welcome to the real world!

There is no doubt about it that the West is under siege by Muslims worldwide. They are ‘trying it on' here, there, and everywhere. They are trying to get us to cower into submission. They want us to kow tow to them. They are also buying up our businesses and corporations, buying up our properties and land, building mosques all around the globe, building madrassahs where their religious values can be instilled into the young who are eager to be brainwashed, and they build propagation centres by the dozen to practise their da’wah, or proselytize.

They are able to afford all this, of course, because we are financing the operations through our insatiable desire for oil. Had we found and implemented a sensible replacement for this substance, their activities would have been severely curtailed through lack of funds. Alas, Western politicians have not been far-seeing enough to solve this problem.

The phase we are in here in the West at the moment is redolent of the phase I went through when I first went to work in the Arab world. When I first went to work in Saudi Arabia it was like an assault on the senses! My whole value system was turned upside down, and put out of equilibrium. Why? Because I was put into a situation in which all the values I had been raised to hold dear, all the values I had based my life on, were drawn into question. It took me several years to re-gain my equilibrium, several years to find myself again.

You see, a Muslim’s values are diametrically-opposed to our own. They do everything differently, and see everything differently. They dress differently, they write differently, they pray differently, they eat differently, they live their lives differently. In fact, their lives are totally different from ours, because their values are totally different.

When two peoples come together like this, peoples with a totally different Weltanschauung, then there are bound to be problems and clashes of values. This is what we are experiencing here in the West today. We saw it with the original cartoon furore earlier this year, we saw it with the Pope’s lecture at Regensburg, and we have seen it recently in the States when a company used the term jihad in a car sales campaign. In the past few days, we are seeing it again with a replay of the cartoon fiasco in Denmark.

Fellow Europeans! It is time to unite! It is time to come together and defend our values. We have a golden opportunity to finally show that we are truly one people! We must not tolerate the excesses of these backward people. We must be firm, we must stand united, we must be resolute, and we must take this opportunity for all European countries to work together in unison. We must put aside our petty differences, for petty they truly are. Instead of seeing our small differences, we must all work together to defeat the common enemy, to defeat this assault on our superior way of life, a way of life which guarantees rights to all people, regardless of colour, creed, sex, sexual orientation, and so on and so forth. Islam offers none of these things. It is truly a backward political system (clothed in a deity) for the mediæval mindset. There should be no place for this backward thinking in Europe. We are already far too advanced to be taken back to a bygone age.

Hold firm! Be confident! Be determined! Be resolute! Be sure of your own superiority! Europe is based on a Judeo-Christian culture. We must be proud of that heritage, for that heritage allows all of us, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, and even Muslims rights which so many in many backward countries can only dream of.

We must not allow Muslims to succeed in their quest to take our freedoms away from us; and we must not allow Muslims to drive a wedge between us and the United States of America, our greatest and most dependable ally. We need America; and America needs us. We must remember this at all times; and we must endeavour to co-operate with each other. For united we stand, but divided we shall surely fall!

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

Une vidéo danoise dénigrant le prophète Mahomet

LE FIGARO: La colère gronde de nouveau dans le monde musulman. Une chaîne de télévision danoise, TV2, vient de diffuser une vidéo présentant le prophète Mahomet comme un chameau buveur de bière et un terroriste ivre attaquant Copenhague.

Cette fois encore, l'indignation du monde musulman est grande. L'Iran a convoqué hier l'ambassadeur du Danemark pour « condamner fermement cette grave insulte ». Le président Mahmoud Ahmadinejad en a profité pour dénoncer « l'ampleur de la faiblesse et la bassesse des leaders du libéralisme » occidental. Pourtant, le premier ministre danois, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a pris le soin de condamner immédiatement cette vidéo. Une vidéo dénigrant le prophète Mahomet jette de l'huile sur le feu

Mark Alexander

Mohammed schon wieder verhöhnt worden von Dänemark

In Dänemark ist ein neuer Streit um eine bewusste Verhöhnung des Propheten Mohammed entbrannt. Ausgelöst wurde er in den Reihen der regierungsnahen rechtspopulistischen Partei DVP. Die Jugendorganisation der Dänischen Volkspartei (DVP) hat einen Wettbewerb dazu veranstaltet, wer den Propheten Mohammed in der «erniedrigendsten Weise» zeichnen könne. Neue Kontroverse um Mohammed in Dänemark

Mark Alexander

Pro-dhimmitude Alert! Pope's halo slips!

BBC: The Vatican has released a final version of an address by Pope Benedict XVI in Germany last month, which angered Muslims around the world.

In the original speech, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Mohammed had brought only "evil and inhuman" things.

The passage has been amended and a footnote added asserting the Pope's respect for a "great religion". Vatican 'clarifies' Pope speech

Mark Alexander

Anti-dimmitude from Frattini and the EU

EU OBSERVER: The vice-president of the European Commission Franco Frattini has said Europe can only respect Muslim traditions if they do not contradict the bloc's own basic values, such as freedom of speech or equality between men and women.

"We are not governed by sharia, after all," he said in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica published on Monday (9 October)

Mr Frattini, in charge of the justice and security portfolio, has among commissioners been the most outspoken critic of the recent reaction in the Muslim world to a speech by Pope Benedict XVI suggesting links between Islam and violence.

Referring to the controversy, Mr Frattini told La Repubblica that both European political and cultural leaders and moderate Muslim authorities should have condemned threats to the pope after his speech.

"If we ourselves do not maintain our strong identity, if we are not sure about our principles - how can we manage integrating with others?" he asked.

"We can guarantee respect of traditions of the Muslim community only if these are not in contrast with our core rules, even if they are unwritten." EU has limits in respecting Muslim traditions, says Frattini by Lucia Kubosova

Mark Alexander

’R’ is for Repatriation
The West is on a dangerous course. It has embarked on a dichotomous journey. It is on the road to self-destruction.

There are two mutually exclusive forces at play here: On the one hand, there are the liberals who are trying to be more open to other cultures, and who are trying to destroy the very institutions upon which the West has thrived for so long; and on the other, we have a frightfully conservative force at work in the form of Islam, whose adherents are trying to take us back to mediæval times, take us back to a bygone age.

The one side, the liberal side, for example, is trying to give gays rights, and destroy the institution of marriage; the other, the conservative, Islamic side, a growing force in our society, will try and undo all the liberal policies ever passed. Normal conservatives in the Western sense of the world will look like the screaming liberals of today in years to come, for their brand of conservatism is as nothing in comparison with the ultra conservative, ‘orthodox’ Islamic values that will be foisted upon our unsuspecting people when Islam grows ever more in strength here in the West.

We are on a road that leads to no good place. This journey is one which will end in tears.

It should be increasingly obvious to all thinking people that we have allowed a people to immigrate to the West who, by and large, have no intention of integrating into Western societies, and who wish to change the nature of Western societies into their own, pre-conceived notion of how a society should be – a society which conforms to the extremely strict codes of behaviour as set out in the Shari’ah.

Ask yourself how these two forces can be reconciled! Of course, they cannot be. The one is modern and forward-thinking; the other is 1400 years old, and belongs to the Dark Ages. Nobody, however intelligent, however resourceful, is going to be able to bring about such a reconciliation of such competing forces. And the longer this problem is allowed to fester, the more difficult it will become to solve.

Already we have seen demonstrators out in the streets in their droves demanding that anyone who insults Islam be beheaded! Already we have seen calls for the introduction of Shari’ah law here in the UK and in Europe. Already we know that the ultimate goal of Muslims in the United States is to introduce it there, too; and to replace the Constitution with an Islamic one. Omar M Ahmad, the then Chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), stated the following as far back as 1988:

”Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur’an … should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.”

That says it all!

The French author, Michelle Houellebecq, in an interview given to the French literary magazine Lire, said the following: ”The dumbest religion, after all, is Islam. When you read the Koran, you’re shattered. The Bible at least is beautifully written because the Jews have a heck of a literary talent.”

Michelle Houellebecq might well have had it right about Islam; but aren’t we Westerners the dumbest people of all to allow these Muslim immigrants to come here to the West and live off the fat of the land and tell us that they are going to take us over, tell us that their religion is going to become dominant, tell us that Shari’ah law is going to be introduced at the earliest convenience?

I mean: How stupid and tolerant can we be?

Look, it’s really quite simple. Islam brooks no compromise: It is their way or no way. This is quite, quite clear now to all sensible, aware people. Clearly, these people have no appetite for assimilation, and they are not going to change.

What they want to do is to bring Islam to every corner of the world, and they are on a mission to achieve this. We have to decide whether we want to live their backward way, or whether we want to fight for our liberty and democracy, concepts anathema to Muslims all over the globe. We cannot have it all ways, we cannot, as they say, have our cake and eat it too.

Tough decisions are never easy to take. It takes a person of determination and resolve to take them. But when faced with this dilemma, it is only tough decisions that will do. Or are we going to slip and slide, through inaction, down the road to dhimmitude, or ultimate surrender to Islam. Are we going to submit to Allah, are we going to pay the jizyah, or the tax on infidels, or are we going to allow our fellow citizens to be killed. For those are so clearly the only three options once Islam takes hold.

Moreover, imagine what sort of society we shall be forced to live in. Adulteresses will be stoned to death, beheadings will take place in the public square, thieves will have their hands and feet cut off alternately, and homosexuals will be hanged in the street, or thrown off the local minaret! If you don’t believe me, take a trip to Saudi Arabia or Iran. In those countries, you will see just what happens to such people.

We have gone badly wrong. We have allowed into our societies people quite unwilling to assimilate. Interestingly, these backward people are convinced of their own superiority! Isn’t that an interesting phenomenon?

If we value our Judeo-Christian culture, if we value our freedoms, if we value our democracies, if we value our civilized way of life, if indeed we value our civilization, then we have but one option, for there truly is only one way to solve this intractable problem. We have to start thinking about the repatriation of these difficult people.

We start by repatriating the illegal, Muslim immigrants, and those who preach hatred and the destruction of our civilization. That will be a good start. We really do not have to put up with this nonsense any longer. Enough is enough!

The repatriation can take place in a humane manner; we don’t need to be cruel. We can even give these people money to resettle somewhere else. But believe me, repatriation is the only sensible option at this stage. We cannot afford to play fast and loose with our children’s future. We have a duty to our children to leave them our Western civilization as free and whole as we inherited it. To do anything else would be a dereliction of our duty.

Repatriation is not an option of the far right only. This is not a question of left and right politics anyway. This is a fight for the survival of the West. We must step up to the plate. We must behave with strength, resolve, and determination. Only when we do so will we silence these people. For make no mistake about it, Muslims understand one thing, and one thing only: Strength!

©Mark Alexander*

*All rights reserved

Jews in Belgium called to join fight against radical Islam

THE INDEPENDENT: One of Europe's most successful far-right leaders has appealed to Jewish voters to join forces against radical Islam and back a party denounced as xenophobic.

Filip Dewinter, leader of Belgium's Vlaams Belang, described Antwerp's large Jewish community as natural partners "against the main enemy of the moment, the radical Islam, fundamentalism". Far-right party calls for Jews to join war on Islam by Stephen Castle

Mark Alexander

Does Cameron have what it takes? Does he display the Churchillian characteristics we need at this dangerous time?

Photo courtesy of Google Images

" ... Islam is one of the great religions of the world; and Muslims make a fantastic contribution to our country." - David Cameron
Watch Cameron Address the Conservative Party Conference
Mark Alexander

Bush the Universalist?
Confused thinking by the leader of the free world. We need wonder no longer why Islam is gaining so much ground here in the West. This president just doesn't understand what the West is up against! He simply will not grasp the nature of the jihad being waged against the West. It is surely time for him to read some history books! - ©Mark

Video brought to you courtesy of YOU TUBE
Mark Alexander

This is No Way to Win a War! Weakness, Cowardice, and Damn Lies from the Leader of the Free World!

"I send greetings to the many Muslims observing Ramadan in America and around the world.

Ramadan is the holiest time of the Muslim year and an important holiday when Muslims take time for prayer, fasting, and personal sacrifice. According to Islamic teachings, this month represents when God delivered His word to the prophet Muhammad in the form of the Qur'an. Ramadan is also an opportunity to gather with friends and family and show thanks for God's blessings through works of charity.

Ramadan and the upcoming holiday seasons are a good time to remember the common values that bind us together. Our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens whose commitment to faith reminds us of the gift of religious freedom in our country.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak." - GEORGE W. BUSH

Surely, I cannot be the only one sickened by these goodwill wishes to the Muslim Ummah in the US and throughout the world? Not only do I find this message sickening, but also I find it weak and cowardly! It is also offensive, because such goodwill messages are never reciprocated. Has the West already become the slave of the Islamic world?

With each passing day, President George W Bush shows himself to be weak and growing ever weaker; indeed, in my opinion, he is too weak to be the leader of the free world at this critical time. After 9/11, he gave the impression that he was going to be the political ‘saviour’ of the free and democratic West, for he talked tough. But as the years have passed, we have seen that he has grown weaker rather than stronger.

Can you imagine Churchill issuing such a statement of goodwill to the Nazis during the Second World War? Imagine it! It would have been unthinkable! Winston Churchill was strong, and he had principle. He was no pussycat. He fought the Second World War with one thing in mind: Victory!

“I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realized … (To listen to the speech in all its glory, click HERE)

This, Mr Bush, is the way to win wars! Not by sending wishes of goodwill to our enemy!

Doesn’t the President of the United States of America realize that the West is engaged in a war to the death? Doesn’t he realize that such messages of goodwill, especially when they are never reciprocated, will do nothing but appease and embolden the enemy? Doesn’t he realize the nature of the enemy he is dealing with? Doesn’t he realize that Muslims, and Arabs in particular, view such gestures of goodwill as a sign of great weakness? Doesn’t he realize that the war cannot be won this way?

Click here to listen to how Churchill might have reacted:

This was their finest hour

To start with, let him tell us how “our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens whose commitment to faith reminds us of the gift of religious freedom in our country”. What the hell is he talking about? How do these people enrich our society? As far as I can see, all they do is impoverish it! Only in the past days, it has come to light that an opera, Mozart’s Idomeneo, has been cancelled in Berlin because it might offend Muslims. Two weeks ago, Pope Benedict XVI came under fire for his quotation of the emperor Palaeologos. Earlier in the year, we saw the furore caused by Muslims throughout the world when a few measly cartoons were published in Denmark. And you, Mr President, have got the unmitigated gall to say that Muslims enrich life here in the West. This is a lie. A damn lie, too! They do nothing but impoverish it! And the longer they stay in the West, and the stronger they become, the more impoverished life will be for us all. Moreover, how the hell do you think that Muslims living in the West can possibly remind us of the gift of religious freedom in the US? Of all people, Muslims do not understand the concept of religious freedom. In Muslim countries, people are put to death for converting out of the faith of Islam. Where’s the commitment to religious freedom in that? Don’t you realize that in each and every country that Islam has ever entered, and where it has been allowed to put down roots, that it has eventually taken over, and snuffed out all vestiges of freedom. Look at the evidence: Egypt, Libya, the Lebanon, Syria - these were all once Christian countries! The ultimate aim of all Muslims, Mr President, is not democracy and freedom, but theocracy and totalitarianism.

From what I can see, these goodwill wishes are an exercise in A-licking! Brown-nosing! Call it what you will! With such utterances, you show the Muslim world, and the rest of us, just how weak you are! Weak and craven and cowardly!

You seem to believe with your sophistry that you will somehow be able to change the nature of Muslims and Islam. You seem to believe that you will tame the lion by calling the lion 'a good boy'. You won’t. Be sure of that! The roaring lion that is Islam has never been tamed, and nor will it ever be. This lion can only be slain!

You, Mr President, made a fatal error of judgment the day after 9/11. Probably out of cowardice, you failed to identify the enemy to the citizens of the USA and the world. You had your chance, and you blew it. You should have stated that while, hitherto, America had not been at war with Islam, it is clear now that Islam is at war with your country. That, Mr President, was your first grave error. You should then have asked the citizens of your fine nation for their co-operation and unity. You should have stated that in order to win this war being waged against your country, you would need everyone to pull all the stops out, and to be prepared to sacrifice for the cause of eventual victory.

Further, you should have drawn together all sides in Congress, the right, the centre, and the left, in order to build a government of national unity. In time war, there is no room for divisions between left and right. War is the time when the people need to put aside their political differences in the cause of the war effort.

Furthermore, the people should have been asked to tighten their belts, and war bonds should have been issued to help finance the war ahead. No war was ever won without the sacrifice of the people. This sacrifice also includes the sacrifice of rights such as the right to sue others because of criticism. All those things, manifestations of life in a free and peaceful world, should have been suspended for the duration of the war.

During World War II, Japanese people living in the US at that time were interned. Likewise, Muslim people living in the US post-9/11 should also have been interned. You cannot wage a war with a fifth column spread across the nation. It is just not possible. You, Mr President, might say that it is not just to punish the majority for the sins of the extreme minority. I would say to you, Mr President, that it is always the case in this life that the majority has to pay for the sins of the minority. This is the nature of life, as unfair as it may be.

Because of the way you have tried to wage this war, because you have tried to wage this war on the defensive, Islam in the West has actually gained in strength since the attack on 9/11. Now the average person in the street doesn’t know what to believe. Their leaders are stating that Islam is really a “religion of peace” which has been “distorted” by the likes of the members of Al-Qaeda which, of course, is balderdash; and yet the news, despite the concealing distemper painted on it by the MSM, shows them that Islam is belligerent and malign, and that it is growing apace here in the West. Naturally, this disturbs many, many people.

All this has come about because you, Mr President, and your incompetent administration, have refused to look truth in the face. This is no way to wage a war, Mr President. This is no way to win this war, Mr President. This is no way to victory, Mr President! You are engaged in mendacity, prevarication, and sophistry. Historians will not be kind to you for enabling the enemy to take away our freedom and democracy. Shame on you!

©Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

More evidence 'New Dark Age' is 'Dawning': Freedom of expression ebbing away in Germany
This also goes to prove my point, namely that Islam is the enemy of democracy and freedom!

“It is an act of pure cowardice. We are opening ourselves up to cultural blackmail.” - Peter Ramsauer, the head of the conservative Christian Social Union parliamentary faction

“This self-censorship shouldn’t be happening anywhere, but least of all in Germany. This is where the Nazis burnt books. If you cancel performances because you’re scared, then you’re burning your own books on behalf of the fanatics. You don’t get crazier than that.” - Tenenbom

German politicians and writers have damned ruling as blow to freedom of expression

THE bloodstained King of Crete stumbles onstage and holds aloft the decapitated heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and the Prophet Muhammad. “The gods are dead!” he calls out to the audience.

German operagoers will not be seeing that scene or, indeed, any scene from one of Mozart’s most powerful works. For fear of Muslim anger, the bosses of the world-renowned Deutsche Oper in Berlin have cancelled performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo. The decision has unleashed a storm of disapproval from politicians and writers, who claim that Germany has fatally compromised the freedom of expression.

Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Interior Minister who is due to open a conference today on Islam and German society, said that the decision to cancel the opera was insane, laughable and unacceptable. Other politicians said it was irresponsible. Opera boss censors Mozart over stage beheading of Muhammad by Roger Boyes

Mark Alexander

Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom!
Until 9/11, the western world was largely ignorant of the religion of Islam, of its goals, of its aspirations. Indeed, even since 9/11, most people, and that includes our politicians, would not score very highly in a test of their knowledge on the subject. It should be obvious to all thinking people that our politicians are actually unaware, dare I say blind, to the dangers that Islam will increasingly cause us. It is truly a case of the blind leading the blind! That means to say, uninformed and unthinking politicians leading an ill-informed electorate. But this is what we have right now. The same can hardly be said of Muslims in the Islamic world, though; for their knowledge of Christianity far surpasses - even though much of their knowledge is quite distorted - any knowledge of Islam by the man in the street in the West.

As the old saying goes, knowledge is power. But what we often don't hear uttered is its converse: Ignorance is weakness!

The West is far weaker than it need be because of this ignorance of Islam, since Islam is our greatest enemy. The greatest enemy since Nazism and communism. I'll give you some good reasons why this is so. And none of them - absolutely none of them - are based on hatred!

Islam is the enemy of the West for a plethora of good, solid reasons, and if we wish to survive as a civilization, we are going to have to bite the bullet and deal, head on, with the issues these reasons raise. Let us begin...

First and foremost, we are dealing with a religion which does not recognize any separation of politics and religion, any separation of the political from the spiritual. For Muslims, life is one coherent whole: the political and spiritual both meld into one. This has always been so, and always will be. No re-classification of the religion into two separate parts is possible because of Islam's very nature.

In Islam, all power rests with Allah, the god of Muslims. The Qur'an, their holy book, is always taken literally. Those words are considered to be the actual words of Allah. Therefore, none of these words can be changed, for to change any of them would be tantamount to tampering with Allah's words. This would be a grave sin in their eyes.

For the same reason that the words contained in the Qur'an cannot be changed, they cannot, therefore, be re-interpreted either. So do not hold your breath for any kind of reformation in this religion, because it ain't gonna happen!

In Islam, all power rests with Allah, and it filters down via his vice-gerents on earth to the people. Hence the great desire among Muslims to restore the caliphate. Contrast this with the Western model of government!

In the West, the ideal political system is democracy. In democracy, all power rests with the people, and they exercise that power at the polls. In a democracy, all power filters in the opposite direction from Islam. In democracy it filters up; in Islam, down! Herein lies the greatest barrier to the miscibility of the two worlds: the western world and the Islamic world!

Without digressing too much here, I should like to add that this is the main reason why George W Bush and Blair's venture into Iraq to bring democracy there was a grave error of judgment. We are now seeing the experiment failing before our very eyes. How can one bring democracy to a region of the world where the people who inhabit that region believe that all power rests with Allah, and where they believe that Allah has prescribed their way of life for them for then, for now, and for all time?

I would suggest that where such a dichotomy exists, the most sensible and prudent thing to do would be for us to lead our lives as we see fit, and for those people to be allowed to live their lives as they see fit. That way, there would be hope of some peace in this world.

But this is not what we have done. We have done the very opposite of this: We have entered the Middle East in the hope - the vain hope in my opinion - of bringing our way of doing things, our way of life, to them; furthermore, we have allowed millions and millions of Muslims into the West - and at the very time when Christianity, the religion which underpins the West, is greatly weakened anyway - which will only give us headaches for the years ahead. Why? Because Muslims who immigrate bring their hopes and dreams and aspirations with them of establishing Islam everywhere on earth. To Islamize the world is the main aspiration of the Muslim; and we have seen the recent past, the manifestation of aggression in its cause in France. For what happened in France was in no small part because of the Muslim's desire to establish Allah's caliphate here on earth. These were the first rumblings, the first roar of the lion! Expect more of this in the future, as Islam grows stronger and stronger.

Muslims, by and large, do not respect non-Muslims. How can they? Their religion does not allow them to do so. Their religion preaches that Muslims are superior to non-Muslims; indeed, they use the derogatory term infidel for us. This word to some Westerners might simply mean that they call us infidels because we are people who do not subscribe to their faith. This, after all, would be quite logical, since to us it simply means not fidele, or not true to the faith. But this does not completely describe what Muslims mean by this term. To Muslims, to be called an infidel is an insult indeed! It has connotations of inferiority, backwardness, and even uncleanness!

You see, Muslims believe that Islam is the perfection of religion for man for all time. They call it ad deen al kamal, the perfect religion. People, in their eyes, who have not yet submitted to the will of Allah, are in a state of pre-Islamic chaos, a state known to them as jahiliyyah! To Muslims, all Muslims, the whole world is classified in two parts: that part of the world which has submitted, and is therefore in the Islamic state, known as Dar ul Islam, or 'the House of Islam', and that part of the world which has yet to submit, and is therefore in a pre-Islamic, chaotic, jahiliyyic state, known as Dar ul Harb, or the 'House of War'!

The 'House of War' is the part of the world which has yet to be taken over, and must at some point be taken over in the future. We, I am sorry to inform you, are in the 'House of War'. So we can expect anything at anytime.

Some people would ask why we were able to go for quite a long time without problems with Muslims. The answer to that is a simple one indeed. First of all, there were relatively few Muslims living in the West, so the ones that did live here were not powerful. Secondly, Muslims living in the Islamic world were, for the most part and for many years, poor by anyone's standards. This all changed with the Oil Embargo of the 70s - a time when the price of oil on the world markets soared. As a result of this, the Islamic world became rich and empowered. Money is power; and it talks loudly! In recent years we have seen evidence aplenty of Islam being on the move. I tell you now: If we do not find a way of clipping its wings here in the West, we shall lose our democracy, and we shall be in deep, deep trouble.

So the trouble we will have with Muslims will not come only from without, but in the future we can expect trouble from the Muslims within. The millions of Muslims living here in the West will not integrate, because it is not in their worldview to do so. It is also forbidden them by their very own Prophet Himself, the Prophet Muhammad. He forbade Muslims even to befriend infidels. He also exhorted them to kill us. And he certainly told them that they should live separate lives, and dress and behave differently, so that they could easily tell themselves apart.

No Western politician is going to be able to change these facts. For facts they are indeed. Moreover, as Islam will grow here, their numbers will become greater and greater, and they will be able to use our democratic system to outvote us and introduce their form of government based as it is on their beloved Shari'ah, or Quranic laws! How do you propose we shall be able to stop them? We shall be outnumbered, and as the outcome of democratic elections depends on the number of votes cast, we shall be able to do nothing about it! This time will come quicker than we might think, because so few babies are being born to infidel families.

The only thing left for people to do, will be to fight. Inevitably, at some point, civil war will ensue. If the political process fails people, then this will be all that will be left for them: civil war, guerre civile, Bürgerkrieg, call it what you will.

But one thing I can assure you, no politicians' sweet talk, posturing, or manœvring, will get us out of this one without conflict at some point in the future.

You see, one of the biggest problems for the West is its devotion to the concept of freedom of religion. This is a lofty concept and ideal indeed; but this devotion blinds people to one important reality: Islam is not just a religion, but a political system also. Indeed, it is more of a political system than anything else, and it is, in addition, a political system diametrically opposed to our own. It abhors freedom of choice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of anything that we so cherish! The only thing one is free to do in Islam is become a Muslim, and submit to the will of Allah!

These two systems are totally immiscible, and unfortunately, we have imported this immiscibility right into the heart of the West! To our own great disadvantage, and to the disadvantage of our long term peace and security. What, I ask you, will the Americans do when the ever growing Muslim population in America starts wanting to tinker with the Americans' beloved Constitution? When Muslims will see their way clear to supplant the Constitution with Shari'ah law?

Questions like these are the ones we should be grappling with NOW. To wait until the time comes would be foolish indeed.

Wake up to the harsh realities of life in the twenty-first century! We've got some collective thinking to do if we wish to save ourselves from darkness! Perhaps we shall, indeed, be forced to think about having to re-classify Islam as a political system first and foremost, a political system immiscible with our own, and one whose advance needs to be forestalled. This may be one of our only sensible alternatives. Since to give complete, unhampered freedom to Islam to grow here in the West is tantamount to digging our own graves!

©Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

Benoît XVI et le dialogue avec le monde islamique

À des ambassadeurs musulmans, Benoît XVI a dit hier chercher «les voies de la réconciliation».

POUR CLORE la polémique suscitée par ses propos sur l'islam, Benoît XVI a proposé hier aux vingt-deux diplomates des pays à majorité musulmane accrédités au Vatican et à une quinzaine de représentants du monde islamique en Italie une feuille de route pour que les «leçons du passé» aident à «trouver les voies de la réconciliation». Le temps des regrets est passé, celui des explications aussi, et pour Benoît XVI le moment est venu d'adresser un discours diplomatique, et non théologique, à ce panel d'ambassadeurs. Son texte a été immédiatement traduit en arabe. Le Pape définit le dialogue avec l'islam par Hervé Yannou

Mark Alexander

Egypt jumps on the bandwagon

BBC: Plans announced recently by Egypt and Turkey that they hope to build nuclear power plants are raising a ripple of concern about the long-term prospect of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

"It is easy to exaggerate and it is true that these countries have a right to seek all sources of energy but it is indisputable that there is also a strategic element to this," said Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow in non-proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

"Having a nuclear infrastructure is the step which a country needs to accomplish if it decides to embark on the path of nuclear weapons. Pakistan took that route," he said.

According to this theory, Egypt and Turkey are worried at the failure of the United Nations to stop Iran from enriching uranium. They consider they might be left behind if Iran, despite its denials, does one day develop as a nuclear armed power. Concern over Middle East nuclear plans by Paul Reynolds

Mark Alexander

"This dwarf pope was wrong", says Sheikh Abu Saqer

YNET NEWS: Sheikh Abu Saqer rejects pope's apologies, calls for holy war against 'this little racist'

A prominent Gaza Strip preacher told WorldNetDaily that Pope Benedict XVI's apologies for worldwide reaction to his remarks about Islam and his invitation today for Muslim leaders to meet with him next week are "mere diplomatic acts" and prove the pontiff does not really regret his words.

Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called for holy war against the Pope.

He said Christian leaders such as Benedict XVI are "afraid" because they realize Islam is Allah's favorite religion and that they are going to hell unless they convert. The Gaza preacher declared the "green flag of Muhammad" would soon be raised over the Vatican. Gaza preacher: Flag of Allah to be raised above Vatican by Aaron Klein

Mark Alexander

Castel Gandolfo
Recently, we've been hearing a lot about Castel Gandolfo, the summer palace of the Pope; so I thought it was time to take a look at it. I must say, it looks splendid.

Photos courtesy of Google Images

CORRIERE DELLA SERA: Il Papa ai 22 rappresentanti diplomatici del mondo islamico: «Dialogo musulmano-cristiano esigenza vitale. Serve reciprocità»

CASTEL GANDOLFO (Roma) «Assicuro stima e rispetto per il mondo musulmano. Il dialogo musulmano-cristiano è esigenza vitale» Con qualche minuto di ritardo rispetto alla prevista tabella di marcia, Benedetto XVI ha dato il via, con queste parole, all'incontro con gli ambasciatori musulmani e gli esponenti delle comunità islamiche italiane che fanno parte della Consulta. Nella sala degli Svizzeri, nel cuore del palazzo di Castel Gandolfo, sono presenti 22 rappresentanti diplomatici. L'unico paese tra quelli che hanno rapporti diplomatici con la Santa Sede che non è rappresentato è il Sudan. Un applauso ha accolto l'ingresso in sala del Pontefice. Rispetto a quanto precedentemente annunciato i rappresentanti diplomatici delle principali nazioni islamiche sono 22 e non 20. Sono infatti presenti anche Siria e Tunisia. «Stima e rispetto per mondo islamico»

Le Pape exprime son plus grand respect aux musulmans

Versöhnungsgeste des Papstes kommt offenbar an

El Papa insiste en la necesidad de un diálogo interreligioso ante los embajadores musulmanes

Mark Alexander

For God's sake, quit the apologies! It was only the truth!
For God's sake, isn't it about time the Pope quit issuing apologies for quoting that emperor, Palaeologos? Enough is enough! I thought this pope was once known as 'God's Rottweiler'. What's happened?

Islam is what it always was: a political ideology clothed in a deity, intent on taking over the world. The free, largely Christian world is never going to be able to stop this process of Islamization by being so defensive.

The Pope said what he said, and he had every right to say it. Western leaders, as Barroso said over the weekend, should have jumped to the Pope's defence instead of leaving him high and dry. Further, as Aznar asked so shrewdly over the weekend, when did Islam apologize for conquering Spain?

It really is time for the West to grow a backbone. We are living in tough times. The times ahead will be even tougher. Brace yourselves for a rough ride!

©Mark Alexander

BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has met envoys from Muslim nations in an attempt to defuse a crisis in relations between the Catholic Church and Islam.

The pontiff expressed "total and profound respect" for the Muslim faith and said inter-faith dialogue was vital for the future.

The meeting aimed at reconciliation after recent remarks made by the Pope caused outrage in the Islamic world.
Muslim leaders have been demanding an unequivocal apology from the Pope. Pope meets Islamic world envoys

WATCH: "Pope meets Muslim diplomats"

Mark Alexander

First Muslim in Congress?

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: MINNEAPOLIS – When Keith Ellison arrives at the Karmel Square, one of Minneapolis's Somali malls, a rock star might as well be walking by the bustling stalls of bright fabrics, jewelry, phone cards, and videos.

People laugh and cheer as they hug Mr. Ellison and pat him on the back. Some speak quickly in Somali as an interpreter translates, and others offer congratulations in fluent English.

"Asalamu aleikum, brothers," Ellison says with a smile. "Thanks for voting."

He is not Somali, or even an immigrant, but for these voters, Ellison is one of their own. After his victory in this month's Democratic primary in the Fifth District, he's likely to become the first Muslim elected to Congress. He would also be the first black congressman to come from Minnesota. Contender may become first Muslim in US Congress

Mark Alexander