Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Blair's ”10 utterly ruinous” years

THE TELEGRAPH: “The past decade has seen a sustained assault on public probity, economic responsibility, constitutional efficiency, the rule of law, administrative competence, liberty of the subject, and our international reputation of a sort unknown in living memory. I defer to no one in my disdain for the Major government: but, with the notable exceptions of its economic buffoonery and its toadying to pro-Europeanism, it could not hold a candle to the present crew for sheer destructiveness of our values, our way of life and our money.

If you seek its monument, look around you. Our public services, which we were told were safe only in Labour's hands, are nearly non-serviceable. As a group of doctors protested on Monday, the NHS is now so hopeless that people, having already paid high taxes for the privilege of a free-at-point-of-use service, are making huge sacrifices to pay to go privately.

Children pass record numbers of GCSEs and A-levels, and record numbers go on to university, yet employers report a shortage of able graduates and, as Jeff Randall wrote here a fortnight ago, would rather have entrants straight from school.

Council taxes, like many other imposts, have risen far faster than inflation, yet local services (bins again) are being cut. Do not be deceived by a near-doubling of the prison population in the past decade into thinking Labour is "tough on crime". The police are now a weapon of social engineering, with promotion at the highest levels contingent usually on how well an officer buys the ruling ideology, and not how good he is at catching criminals.

Crime has risen because of Labour's refusal to address the causes of criminality, notably family breakdown, poor schools and the proliferation of drugs. The knife culture, and the present epidemic of youths going around stabbing each other to death, is redolent of what a happy country Labour has made."
Poor Britannia - 10 awful years under Blairism (Read it all) by Simon Heffer

Mark Alexander

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

No Room for Pacifism in the Fight Against Advancing Islam

“I am already against the next war,” read the bumper sticker on a car ahead of me. I long to tell the driver: the next war is already here; Islamists are waging it in every corner of the globe and the “moderate Muslims” are either actively supporting them, placing the blame on the West, or simply looking the other way. This war aims to wipe out everything that free people cherish, including the right to express their sentiments. Banishing war has been the perennial dream of mankind’s best, while its worst have been frustrating its realization. To renounce war unilaterally and unconditionally would mean surrender and death.

Humanity has suffered horrific wars in the past. Yet, the present multi-form and multi-front war waged by Islamists has the potential of inflicting more suffering and destroying more lives than any before it. Ruthless Islamist forces are advancing rapidly in their conquests while those of freedom are acquiescing and retreating. Before long, Islamism is poised to achieve its Allah-mandated goal of cleansing the earth of all non-Muslims. Any and all means and weapons are to be enlisted in the service of this final holy war that aims to establish the Islamic Ummeh.

But Islam is a religion of peace and the great majority of Muslims are not party to any plans and actions of the radicals, so claim academic pundits, leftist journalists, and hired Islamist apologists. The incantation of these “authorities” is the lullaby that puts the people into a sleep of complacency. For the average free human, busy with all manners of demands on his time and resources, would hardly want to worry about the threat of Islamism when those he believes are “in the know” emphatically claim that there is nothing to worry about. Some of these advocates of Islam go further by accusing those who sound the alarm as racist, bigoted, a hatemonger and much more. Pacifism against radical Islam invites Doomsday (Read on) by Amil Imani*

*”Contributing Editor Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He maintains a website at Amilimani

Mark Alexander
Turkey, a country that has regressed in issues of pluralism and tolerance, should have no place in the EU

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Turkish converts to Christianity fear for their lives after the brutal murder of three people at a Christian publisher. Angela Merkel has called for Ankara to promote religious tolerance, while secular intellectuals ask why the 99-percent Muslim country can't put up with a few Christians. Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey (Read on) by Annette Grossbongardt

Mark Alexander
Israelisches Gebiet wird von Hamas wieder beschossen

WELTONLINE: Der bewaffnete Arm der palästinensischen Organisation beschießt wieder israelisches Gebiet. Die Kämpfer sprechen von Rache für "Morde durch den Feind". Der Waffenstillstand war schon zuvor vom "Islamischen Dschihad" gebrochen worden - und von der israelischen Armee. Hamas feuert wieder in Richtung Israel (mehr)

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Hamas: Truce With Israel at End by Ibrahim Barzak

Mark Alexander
Time to Foster Some Transaltlantic Understanding

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The trans-Atlantic rift of the past few years has been accentuated, in part, by anti-Americanism and anti-Europeanism in the media when covering "the other side." But although there are real cultural differences, the time has come for both sides to ditch the easy clichés and stereotypes and foster some cultural understanding. The Role of the Media in the Trans-Atlantic Relationship (Read on) by Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gerhard Spörl

Mark Alexander
Prinz Harry ist in Irak Angriffsziel geworden

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Der britische Prinz Harry (22) ist im Irak schon Wochen vor seinem geplanten Militäreinsatz zum Angriffsziel geworden. Aufständische hätten konkrete Pläne, den königlichen Leutnant als Geisel zu entführen, berichtete die britische Sonntagszeitung „The Observer“. Dafür seien verschiedene Fotos des Enkelsohns der Queen aus dem Internet herunter geladen und an islamistische Milizen verteilt worden. Prinz Harry schon jetzt ein Angriffsziel im Irak

Mark Alexander
US Fatalities in Iraq Attack

BBC: Nine US soldiers have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a base north of Baghdad, military officials have said.

Some 20 troops and an Iraqi civilian were injured in the attack, which happened in the volatile province of Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad.

There has been fierce fighting in Diyala recently, pitting US and Iraqi forces against Sunni and Shia militias.

It is thought to be the worst single US loss on the ground since late 2005, when 10 marines died near Falluja. US troops die in new Iraq attack (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Royal Displays Determination to Keep Sarkozy Out of the Élysée Even At Cost of Fighting Dirty

FINANCIAL TIMES: The French presidential race took a surprise turn on Monday night when Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, said she had invited François Bayrou, her centrist rival, to discuss forming a centre-left alliance to block Nicolas Sarkozy, their centre-right opponent.

Ms Royal, who defied her critics by coming a comfortable second behind Mr Sarkozy in Sunday’s first round with almost 26 per cent support, said she had left a phone message for Mr Bayrou, who came a strong third, offering “a public debate”. Royal invites Bayrou to form alliance by Martin Arnold, John Thornhill and Adam Jones

Mark Alexander
Jihad to take over France

Al-Qaeda forum calls for jihadis to 'complete' medieval war and take over France

YNET NEWS: As the French people went to the polls to select a president, jihadi members of an al-Qaeda online forum exchanged messages discussing their aspiration to "reinvade France (and convert it into) an Islamic country."

The internet discussion appeared as Spanish security forces warned that both Spain and France were targets of al-Qaeda terror plots.

A post that appeared on the al-Firdaws jihadi forum, submitted by a user named Faisal al-Baghdadi, contained a lengthy historical account of "the second stop of the Islamic conquest of Europe, France, after Andalusia, Spain."

The post took a nostalgic look at the battle of Tours in 732, in which Muslim forces, commanded by Rahman al-Ghafiqi, who invaded a portion of France, were repelled by the Frankish general Charles Martel ("the hammer"), and forced to retreat. The battle stemmed the medieval Islamic conquest of Europe.

"The Islamic army was left with a large number of martyrs, especially the great shahid (martyr) Abdul Rahman a-Ghafiqi… this battle is mentioned in history, and is known at the battle of Tours," the post explained.

"We ask that Allah sends us a genuine Rahman al-Ghafiqi, to finish what he started in Europe, and conquer the Vatican as promised in our beautiful Islamic verses," the post concluded.

"Allah bless the writer and carrier of the message which recalls the days of glory and honor of Islam," another user responded. Jihadis aspire to 'conquer France' (Read on) by Yaakov Lappin

Mark Alexander
UK must brace itself for Hiroshima-style attacks

With thanks to George Mason for alerting me to this story:
THE TIMES: AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.

Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.

Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”. Al-Qaeda ‘planning big British attack’ by Dipesh Gadher
Mark Alexander
Irani Reprobates* to be Given “Islamic Guidance”

YAHOO NEWS: TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has issued more than a thousand warnings and arrested dozens in a new drive aimed at forcing women whose dress is deemed inappropriate to adhere to Islamic dress rules, officials said Sunday.

The nationwide drive -- an annual pre-summer crackdown given greater prominence this year -- is aimed primarily at women whose coats are seen as too tight, trousers excessively short or hejabs (headscarves) overly loose.

It foresees handing out warnings and guidance to women found to have infringed its dress code in public. Those who show resistance to change can be arrested and then be the subject of legal proceedings.

"Since the plan started at 10:00 am on Saturday, 1,347 women have been warned and given Islamic guidance," the head of information at Tehran city's police force, Mehdi Ahmadi, told AFP. Iran warns women over slack dressing by Farhad Pouladi

* 'Loose' women who dare to go against Iran’s strict Islamic dress code

Mark Alexander
40 Former Top Officials at World Bank Call for Wolfowitz's Resignation but Wolfowitz Digs In His Heels and Hires Top Lawyer in Fight to Carry On

WARNING: To read all of this article, you might have to sign in at the NYT:
NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON, April 23 — Paul D. Wolfowitz, signaling anew that he will fight for his job as World Bank president, has enlisted a prominent lawyer who defended President Bill Clinton against accusations of sexual misconduct to help convince the bank’s board that Mr. Wolfowitz has done nothing to justify being ousted.

Robert S. Bennett, the lawyer selected by Mr. Wolfowitz, said in an interview that before the bank’s board acted on charges of ethical lapses, he and Mr. Wolfowitz wanted more time to prepare a case showing that the bank president had acted properly on all matters that the board is investigating.

“I am very worried about the rush to judgment,” Mr. Bennett said. “We just had a wonderful example of that in the Duke lacrosse case. I have reviewed the essential documents, and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Mr. Wolfowitz exercised good faith and that everything he did was in the best interests of the bank.”

It was unclear whether Mr. Wolfowitz intended to pay his legal fees himself or whether he would seek reimbursement from the bank. His latest sign of apparent determination to keep his job came as the furor over his record continued to spread.
Bank officials said that after several days of canvassing hundreds of employees, about 25 vice presidents of the bank were preparing to document that the overwhelming majority of the employees favor Mr. Wolfowitz’s departure.

The vice presidents met with Mr. Wolfowitz in the afternoon and some bank officials said that they would present their conclusions about bank sentiment to the board of directors, the 24 representatives of various countries and groups of countries that run the bank’s day-to-day affairs in tandem with the president.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that the independent agency within the bank that assesses the effectiveness of bank programs concluded last week that “swift changes in management” were needed to restore its credibility.

In addition, a group of more than 40 former top officials at the bank, many of whom departed after clashing with Mr. Wolfowitz, issued a public call for him to resign. Wolfowitz Hires Prominent Lawyer in Fight to Stay at World Bank (Read on) By Steven R. Weisman

LE FIGARO: Banque mondiale : après Londres, Berlin lâche Wolfowitz
Mark Alexander

Monday, April 23, 2007

You’re in good company

Thank you ALL for your support. I think you might like to know that you’re in very good company. THIS PAST WEEK, we have had visitors from the following prestigious institutions (not necessarily in alphabetical order):

Alabama A&M University, Huntsville
Assumption College, MA
Bethel College, St Paul, Minnesota
Blackburn College, UK
Florida International University
Georgia Department of Education
Jim Ball (Australia's Most Popular Radio Chat-Show Host)
Kent State University
King Fahd University
Lebanon Valley College
Leeds University
MIT, Cambridge, MA
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington
North Carloina Research and Education Network
The Nottingham Trent University
The Pentagon
St Edward’s University, Texas
State University of New York, Buffalo
University of Alberta
University of Arizona, Tucson
Universitaet Bielefeld
University of California, Irvine
University of Kent, Canterbury
University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK
Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken
University of Toronto, Canada
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
University of Wales, Cardiff
University of Western Ontario
University of Glasgow
University of Michigan
University of Northampton
University of South Dakota
US Department of State
US Military Academy, West Point
Vanderbilt University
Washington State University
The World Bank

Many of these visitors were multiple visits. I am proud to be able to call them ALL part of my community, as I am proud to be able to call you ALL part of my community. Keep on coming. You are ALL most welcome.

Mark Alexander
It’s over, though Wolfowitz doesn’t yet realize it

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Photo courtesy of Google Images
FINANCIAL TIMES Editorial: If Paul Wolfowitz remains head of the World Bank, he will preside over a rudderless hulk. That is today’s inconvenient truth. The US has always had the prerogative of nominating the president of the bank. But this privilege carries with it a big responsibility. Exercising that responsibility now requires acceptance of an immediate change in the bank’s top leadership.

The revelations of Mr Wolfowitz’s role in deciding the terms on which his girlfriend was seconded to the US state department became public a little over a week ago. Since then two points have become clear, despite much obfuscation. First, responsibility for the astonishingly generous terms given his girlfriend rested solely with Mr Wolfowitz, who went beyond the board’s recommendations. Second, the board itself failed to respond appropriately when he went beyond its advice. Why Wolfowitz should depart now (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Tackle ”unacceptable intolerance”, Merkel urges Turkey

BBC: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Turkey to tackle "unacceptable intolerance" in the country, following the killings of three Christians.

In a newspaper interview, Mrs Merkel called on the Turkish authorities to combat the "climate in which such terrible murders are possible".

The Christians, one of whom was German, were found with their throats slit in south-eastern Turkey on 18 April. Germany urges Turkey over murders (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sarkozy gegen Royal

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Photos courtesy of TIMESONLINE

Erste Runde der Präsidentschaftswahl in Frankreich mit Sieg des Konservativen

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Entgegen ersten Prognosen am Wahlabend in Frankreich zieht der Konservative Nicolas Sarkozy mit klarem Vorsprung vor der Sozialistin Ségolène Royal je in die Stichwahl um das Präsidentenamt. Der Zentrist Bayrou erhielt laut offiziellen Hochrechnungen 18 Prozent. Klar abgeschlagen ist der Rechtsextreme Le Pen. Royal und Sarkozy in Stichwahl

TIMESONLINE: Run-off for President turns into classic Right-Left duel

Mark Alexander
Georgetown University President: "We are deeply honored by Prince Alwaleed's generosity”. What he doesn’t say: 'I am too naïve and stupid to see what’s behind the gift'

'This gift will deepen Georgetown's ability to advance education in the fields of Islamic civilization and Muslim-Christian understanding and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.' -- Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia

HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's Gift To Expand Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding

Georgetown University has received a $20 million dollar gift from HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, an internationally renowned businessman and global investor, to support and expand its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU). The Center, part of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, is an international leader in inter-religious scholarship and research, in particular Islamic studies and Muslim-Christian relations. The Center will be renamed The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. This endowed fund is the second largest single gift in Georgetown University history.

"We are deeply honored by Prince Alwaleed's generosity," said Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia. "This gift will deepen Georgetown's ability to advance education in the fields of Islamic civilization and Muslim-Christian understanding and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. At this time of world conflict, Georgetown is committed to build upon our role as a Catholic, Jesuit institution in fostering greater understanding among religions around the word."

"This generous gift reflects the commitment of Prince Alwaleed to inter-religious understanding in the Muslim world and the West. It will enable the Center in these critical times to significantly expand its programs, influence and impact both here and overseas," said Dr. John L. Esposito, Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Georgetown Receives $20 Million Gift (Read on)

Mark Alexander
The Billionaires of Russia, Their ‘Cottages’, and Their Extraordinary Lifestyles

BBC: Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire.

This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of hyper-rich Russians.

According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires.

Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires than any other city in the world.

It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no millionaires, let alone billionaires.

How exactly these people have got hold of such vast wealth in such a short time is a very good question, and one many ordinary Russians would like answered.

It is one reason why Russia's richest people like to keep their identities and their lifestyles secret. Moscow’s suburb for billionaires (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Saudi Arabia: Land of Prurience, Racism, Inequality, Prejudice, Ignorance, and Extremism

Ed Hussain, once a proponent of radical Islam in London, tells how his time as a teacher in Saudi Arabia led him to turn against extremism

Extracts from Ed Hussein’s book, The Islamist, from THE SUNDAY TIMES:

… All my talk of ummah seemed so juvenile now. It was only in the comfort of Britain that Islamists could come out with such radical utopian slogans as one government, one ever expanding country, for one Muslim nation. The racist reality of the Arab psyche would never accept black and white people as equal. …

… Racism was an integral part of Saudi society. My students often used the word “nigger” to describe black people. Even dark-skinned Arabs were considered inferior to their lighter-skinned cousins. I was living in the world’s most avowedly Muslim country, yet I found it anything but. I was appalled by the imposition of Wahhabism in the public realm, something I had implicitly sought as an Islamist. …

… Segregation of the sexes, made worse by the veil, had spawned a culture of pent-up sexual frustration that expressed itself in the unhealthiest ways. …

… The obsession with sex in Saudi Arabia had reached worrying levels: rape and abuse of both sexes occurred frequently, some cases even reaching the usually censored national press. …

… In my Islamist days we relished stating that Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases were the result of the moral degeneracy of the West. Large numbers of Islamists in Britain hounded prostitutes in Brick Lane and flippantly quoted divorce and abortion rates in Britain. The implication was that Muslim morality was superior. Now, more than ever, I was convinced that this too was Islamist propaganda, designed to undermine the West and inject false confidence in Muslim minds. …

… In contemporary Wahhabism there are two broad factions. One is publicly supportive of the House of Saud, and will endorse any policy decision reached by the Saudi government and provide scriptural justification for it. The second believes that the House of Saud should be forcibly removed and the Wahhabi clerics take charge. Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are from the second school. …
How a British jihadi saw the light

Mark Alexander

Friday, April 20, 2007

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’s not going to 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, hopes and dreams of establishing Islam everywhere on earth. To Islamize the world is the main aspiration of the Muslim; and we have seen in France in the recent past the manifestation of aggression in its cause. 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 fidèle, 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. In their eyes, people 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.

One of the biggest problems for the West is its devotion to the concept of freedom of religion. This is a lofty concept indeed, an ideal; but this devotion blinds people to one important reality: To the reality that Islam is not just a religion, but a political system, too. 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; and 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