König Abdullah warnt Teheran vor einem möglichen amerikanischen Angriff
WELTONLINE: Mit drastischen Worten warnt Saudi-Arabiens König Abdullah den Iran vor den Konsequenzen der Geiselnahme von 15 britischen Marinesoldaten. Das könnte Teheran weit mehr unter Druck setzen als die Erklärungen des UN-Sicherheitsrats und der EU.

Dass der saudische König das iranische Regime warnt, mit der Entführung der britischen Soldaten „spiele es mit dem Feuer“, müssen die Machthaber in Teheran sehr ernst nehmen. Und zwar nicht etwa, weil ein amerikanischer Angriff auf den Iran bevorstehen könnte, wie König Abdullah warnt. Mit seinem Abenteurertum riskiert Teheran vielmehr, seinen brüchigen Burgfrieden mit Saudi-Arabien, dem Erzrivalen des Iran beim Streben nach Vorherrschaft in der Region, zu verspielen, bevor er richtig begonnen hat. Saudis rasseln mit amerikanischem Säbel

Arabische Welt zeigt Olmert die kalte Schulter: Unwirsche Reaktion auf Nahost-Initiative

Mark Alexander

BAE shows the world what it’s about: to hell with the cost, to hell with the principles, make that deal!
A SECRET slush fund set up by BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence contractor, was used to pay tens of thousands of pounds to two British actresses while they befriended a senior Saudi prince and his entourage.

Confidential documents seen by The Sunday Times reveal that money from the £60m fund went on the mortgages and rent, credit card bills and council tax of Anouska Bolton-Lee and Karajan Mallinder. It even paid for language lessons. BAE hired actresses for Saudis (£60m slush fund to woo prince)

Mark Alexander

Irresponsible or free? That is the question!
They insisted that she conceal her fatigues with a white abaya, cover her hair with a hijab. It was with her soft voice and in her round, girlish handwriting that the apology for her country’s actions had to be made.

This war has a workaday military guise, but as the treatment of Leading Seaman Faye Turney shows, it is a collision between two irreconcilable civilisations. Its spoils are more than oil reserves, disputed waters or regional influence, but, at its very core, the right of dominion over women.

What a perplexing and alien creature Seaman Turney must appear to this Iranian regime. A young woman working close-knit with men, proud to perform her dangerous task of piloting speedboats as well as any one of them. A wife and mother, moreover, away from her small daughter, who has put military career before marital and maternal duties. What must Iran make of this free woman

Mark Alexander

We’re sorry, Sir Iran! We won’t do it again. Promise!
If you ever had a niggling, sneaking suspicion that ‘Great’ Britain had become a paper tiger, cast all your doubts aside. It has! If you ever thought, in your heart of hearts, that Tony Blair was a pansy, but weren’t quite sure, now you know it! This once great country has become a shadow of its former self. And all under Tony Blair's watch. He prances around on the world stage trying to bring democracy to Iraq (which is impossible), yet he cannot get his own troops home to safety without stooping and begging and fawning and losing face. If you ever wanted a reason to be ashamed of being British, now you've got it!

THE TELEGRAPH: Ministers are preparing a compromise deal to allow Iran to save face and release its 15 British military captives by promising that the Royal Navy will never knowingly enter Iranian waters without permission. Ministers seek deal with Iran for captives

A weak Britain becomes a target for tyrants

©Mark Alexander

Ahmadinejad is a joke! Or at least he would be if he weren't so dangerous
President George W Bush has condemned Iran's "inexcusable behaviour" after its capture of 15 Royal Navy personnel.

The US leader added that he would "strongly support" the British government over the crisis.

However, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attacked the UK as "arrogant and selfish".

He insisted that "British occupier forces" trespassed into Iranian waters and that his country's border guards had displayed "skill and bravery". Bush attacks Iran over captives

Mark Alexander

Step up to the plate, Tony!
YAHOO NEWS (UK): The 15 British sailors seized in the Gulf may face trial and legal moves have been launched, Iran's ambassador to Moscow has said.

"It is possible that the British soldiers who entered into Iranian waters will go on trial for taking this illegal action," Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari told a Russian television channel.

"The legal phase concerning these British soldiers has started and if charges against them are proven, they will be punished," said Ansari. British sailors may face trial

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Iran captives 'may face trial

“Entschuldigung von London verlangt” - NZZ: Iran bereitet ein Gerichtsverfahren gegen die 15 britischen Soldaten vor, die seit acht Tagen in iranischem Gewahrsam sind. Das gab der iranische Botschafter in Russland bekannt. London habe sich bisher nicht für den Vorfall entschuldigt. Die britische Regierung zeigte sich unbeeindruckt. Iran will britischen Soldaten den Prozess machen

Der saudische König warnt Teheran vor einem US-Angriff! - WELTONLINE: Der Konflikt um die verschleppten britischen Marinesoldaten spitzt sich zu. Die Bundeskanzlerin verteidigt die scharfe Erklärung der EU-Außenminister zur der Geiselkrise im Iran. Unterdessen warnt der saudische König Teheran vor einem US-Angriff. Kanzlerin Merkel begrüßt starkes Signal der EU

Mark Alexander

Friends in need are friends indeed!
Blair is left to make a statement of disgust after the airing of another video from captured British troops

THE TIMES: European foreign ministers failed last night to back Britain in a threat to freeze the €14 billion trade in exports to Iran, as the hostage crisis descended into a propaganda circus.

Tony Blair could only issue a new statement of disgust as Iran tormented him with another sailor’s video confession and a fresh letter from the young mother detainee. EU refuses to back Britain over call to threaten exports freeze

Mark Alexander

Have the British lost their gonads?
THE TELEGRAPH: It is one thing to be disliked; quite another to be despised. Iran would not have kidnapped our Servicemen without having considered our rules of engagement, our diplomatic isolation and our likely military response, and made a rough calculation of how likely they were to get away with their piracy.

There was a time when British citizenship afforded a degree of protection from foreign harassment. When the half-mad King of Abyssinia interned two of our diplomats in 1868, we sent an expeditionary force of 13,000 British and Indian troops on a nine-month rescue mission. When Gordon was besieged at Khartoum in 1884, public opinion demanded a relief expedition, whose failure to arrive in time contributed in no small part to the downfall of the government.

During the Don Pacifico Affair in 1850, when Britain blockaded Piraeus in order to secure compensation for a Portuguese moneylender who had been born in Gibraltar, Palmerston assured his countrymen that "a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him from injustice and wrong". If the Iranians hate us, let them also fear us

Mark Alexander

Azmi loses appeal

Photo courtesy of the BBC

BBC: A Muslim classroom assistant sacked for refusing to remove her veil in lessons has lost an appeal against a ruling that she was not discriminated against.

Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to remove the veil after Headfield Church of England School in Dewsbury, West Yorks, said pupils could not understand her.

Mrs Azmi refused and was sacked after an employment tribunal ruled she was not the victim of discrimination. Veil row assistant loses appeal

Mark Alexander

The Foreign Office describes the latest “confession” as “disgraceful exploitation”
BBC: A second member of the Royal Navy crew captured in the Gulf has apologised for trespassing in Iranian waters in a broadcast on Iranian television.

He was quoted as saying: "We entered Iranian waters without permission and were arrested by Iranian coastguards.

"I would like to apologise to the Iranian people for that." Navy crewman apologises says Iran

WATCH BBC VIDEO 1: UK ‘concern’ over UK sailors

WATCH BBC VIDEO 2: Navy crewman (Nathan Thomas Summers) apologises on Iranian TV

Mark Alexander

The Intelligence2 Debate
Speaking for the motion, "We'd be better off without religion", at a debate held in Westminster on March 27; Professor Richard Dawkins, Professor A.C. Grayling and Christopher Hitchens. Speaking against: Rabbi Julia Neuberger, Professor Roger Scruton and Nigel Spivey. The debate was chaired by Joan Bakewell

LISTEN HERE: Are we better off without religion? (Part 1)

LISTEN HERE: Are we better off without religion? (Part 2)

With gratitude to THE TIMES for offering this debate.

Mark Alexander

Blair pays the price of not being firm, decisive and tough with the Iran from the start
Letter is seen as attempt to dictate British foreign policy and heap humiliation on Prime Minister

THE TIMES: Iran twisted the knife in the hostage crisis last night, releasing a letter said to be from the captured servicewoman Faye Turney in which she called for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.

The letter, in which Tehran appeared to be using the hostages to try to dictate British foreign policy, was apparently designed to heap humiliation on Tony Blair.

Blair livid as hostage letter seeks withdrawal from Iraq by James Bone, Dominic Kennedy and Philip Webster

Israel stays firm and says no to Arab diktat

Mark Alexander

Melanie Phillips on the appeasement of Iran and the weak response of the British government to an “act of war”
”Yet in its response to these events, Britain seems to be in some kind of dreamworld. There is no sense of urgency or crisis, no outpouring of anger. There seems to be virtually no grasp of what is at stake. ...

... What on earth has happened to this country of ours, for so many centuries a byword for defending itself against attack, not least against piracy or acts of war on the high seas?

Twenty-five years ago, we re-took the Falklands after the Argentines invaded. Faced with an act of war against our dependency, Mrs Thatcher had no hesitation. Aggression had to be fought and our people defended. It was the right thing to do.

Can anyone imagine Mrs T wringing her hands in this way over Iran’s seizure of our Marines?” - Melanie Phillips

MELANIE PHILLIPS: Admiral Lord Nelson must be revolving in his grave. While on patrol in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway between Iran and Iraq, 15 Royal Marines and sailors were seized by Iran on a trumped up charge that they had entered Iranian waters.
Six days on and there is no sign of their release. On the contrary, Iran has stepped up its aggression, threatening to charge the kidnapped marines with espionage and even denying them British consular access. The Appeasement of Iran

Mark Alexander

Wegen des “politischen Tamtams” der britischen Regierung droht Iran mit harten Gegenmaßnahmen
Foto dank WELTONLINE

Kennen diese Leute eigentlich nichts Anderes als Kämpfen und Töten?

WELTONLINE: Das Mullah-Regime hat die angekündigte Freilassung der einzigen Frau unter den 15 Soldaten bis auf weiteres verschoben. Grund sei das „politische Tamtam", das London veranstalte. Teheran droht der britischen Regierung mit harten Gegenmaßnahmen. Nervenkrieg um britische Soldaten verschärft

Mark Alexander

Faye Turney is alleged to have called for the British government to withdraw from Iraq!
YAHOO NEWS (UK): Iran has published a new letter allegedly written by Leading Seaman Faye Turney in which she supposedly calls for British forces to withdraw from Iraq. The letter also asks the British Government why it allowed the British captives to stray into Iranian waters. New letter from captive in Iran

Mark Alexander

The lighter side of George W Bush
BBC: US President George W Bush joked about sliding ratings and his post-White House plans as he lampooned himself at an annual press dinner on Wednesday.

"A year ago my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice-president had shot someone.

"Ah, those were the good ol' days," he said, to applause from the audience.

Journalists were also treated to a Karl Rove rap at the meal where presidential self-deprecation is the tradition. Bush serves up the jokes at meal

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Bush jokes about his record

Mark Alexander

Iran plays ‘cat and mouse’ with Great Britain, with the intention of humiliating the British still further
BBC: Iran may delay its plan to release the only woman among 15 captured Royal Navy crew because of the UK's "incorrect attitude", an official has said. Seized sailor’s release in doubt

Iran says [it] may not release woman sailor

Iran lässt Britin vorerst nicht frei

Gereizte Stimmung zwischen Iran und Großbritannien

Téhéran menace de ne plus libérer la militaire britannique

Mark Alexander

Muslim women (Muslimatoon) hold conference in Haifa on their lives as lesbians

Photo courtesy of HAARETZ

HAARETZ: The first conference of Israeli Arab lesbians was held Wednesday in Haifa by the organization Asawat ("Voices").

The discussions dealt with homosexuality in the Arab public and the so-called "triple discrimination" of being women, lesbian and Arab in Israel.

News released in the past two weeks of plans to hold the conference aroused bitter opposition in the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, members of which demonstrated Wednesday outside of the Haifa auditorium where the conference was planned.

At the conference, participants discussed the difficulties faced by Arab lesbians in dealing with their identities and coming out of the closet. First Israeli-Arab conference of lesbians convened in Haifa

Mark Alexander

Should women be sent into harm’s way to defend our nation?
BBC: Women now make up almost one in 10 of Britain's military personnel.

While they had served in a number of important roles since World War II, it was only in the early 1990s that the traditional gender barriers began to come down.

The separate branches of the military for women - the Wrens for the navy and Wracs for the army - were scrapped.

Out went differences like separate ranks and even different coloured badges for women who had served alongside the navy.

In came the chance for women to take on new roles from serving on ships at sea to flying RAF fighter jets or army helicopters. Women on the military frontline

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Interview with Faye Turney before her capture, discussing her rôle as mother and her military career

Should a mother join the Navy?

What was Faye Turney doing in the Gulf?

Mark Alexander

John Hagee on World War III


Mark Alexander