Monday, May 07, 2007

Lauter Negatives in der türkischen Presse über den Sieg Sarkozys

SPIEGELONLINE: Überwiegend negatives Echo über den Sieg Sarkozys in der türkischen Presse: Sie wertet das Wahlergebnis in Frankreich als weiteren Rückschlag für die EU-Ambitionen des Landes. Türkische Presse wertet Sarkozy-Sieg als Rückschlag (mehr)

Mark Alexander
Sarkozy wird Präsident Frankreichs

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: 07. Mai 2007 Es war der Traum der bunten Blätter: in Deutschland eine Kanzlerin, in Frankreich eine Präsidentin und, wer weiß, im kommenden Jahr auch eine Herrin im Weißen Haus! Aber dieses Triumvirat der Phantasie gibt es nicht.

Die französischen Wähler haben so gewählt, wie es in den Umfragen der vergangenen Tage vorausgesagt worden ist: Nicolas Sarkozy wird neuer Staatspräsident Frankreichs und der Nachfolger Chiracs. Der Neogaullist vollzieht den Generationswechsel an der Spitze des Staates und nicht die Sozialistin Royal, die am Ende eines Wahlkampfes, das Scheitern vor Augen, die Nerven verlor und sich zu düsteren Drohungen hinreißen ließ. Ihr half auch die Mobilisierung neuer Wähler nicht. Sprunghaft, opportunistisch und ruppig(mehr) Von Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger

FRANFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG VIDEO (REUTERS): Sarkozy wird Präsident Frankreichs

Mark Alexander
Nicolas Sarkozy

SPIEGELONLINE: Hohe Abgaben, hohe Kriminalitätsrate, Skepsis gegenüber Europa, Probleme mit der Integration - Frankreich braucht Reformen. Von Staatschef Nicolas Sarkozy erwarten sich die Franzosen einen neuen Schub. Was Sarkozy alles ändern will (mehr)

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: France lurches to the right

Mark Alexander

Sunday, May 06, 2007

A Stunning Victory for Nicolas Sarkozy

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Photo of Nicolas Sarkozy courtesy of TIMESONLINE
Congratulations to Nicolas Sarkozy on becoming the next President of France. He has worked hard and tirelessly for this victory; and he deserves it. This win will take France in a new direction; and it will take Europe in a new direction, too. French voters have done their country a service; they have done Europe a service, too. This is cause for celebration. Vive Nicolas Sarkozy! Vive la belle France!

THE TIMES: French give Sarkozy mandate for reform

NZZ: Sarkozy will Präsident aller Franzosen sein

LE MONDE: Nicolas Sarkozy élu à la présidence de la République à une large majorité

LE FIGARO: Sarkozy : "Je serai le président de tous les Français"

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Sarkozy’s Victory Speech: “J’aime la France”

SARKOZY'S WEBSITE: Sarkozy

©Mark Alexander
Nicolas Sarkozy: “Ein kategorisches Nein zu einem EU-Beitritt der Türkei”

NZZ: Weniger Staat, tiefere Steuern, mehr Härte bei der Einwanderung und ein kategorisches Nein zu einem EU-Beitritt der Türkei - das Programm des Rechtsbürgerlichen Nicolas Sarkozy. - Von Axel Veiel

Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy (mehr)

Sieg Sarkozys zeichnet sich ab

Polizei rüstet für Sarkozy-Sieg

Eine Republik, zwei Visionen

Mark Alexander

Friday, May 04, 2007

The Queen in the States

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Photo of the Queen courtesy of the BBC
BBC: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are visiting the site of the US's first permanent English settlement on its 400th anniversary.

The royal couple will see a museum and archaeological dig at Jamestown, Virginia, accompanied by Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne.

The engagement comes during the monarch's first US tour in 16 years. Queen sees historic US settlement (Read on)

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Red carpet delays royal visit

Mark Alexander
Al hamdu lillah, Sarkozy poised to win presidential election. Vive la belle France!

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Photos of Royal and Sarkozy courtesy of the BBC
BBC: France's presidential candidates are staging their final day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's vote.

The latest opinion polls suggest that conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has a firm lead over Socialist Segolene Royal after Wednesday's TV debate. French poll rivals in final push (Read on)

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Final push for French rivals

WATCH BBC VIDEO: French rivals take final shots

Mark Alexander
Frisky at 90!

The Arabic language daily Al-Madina reported on Thursday that a 90-year-old Saudi man was blessed with a baby boy from his 30-year-old second wife in Al-Khurmah! [Source: Saudi Gazette]

Beat that!

Mark Alexander
No Music to Bush or Blair’s Ears

THE GUARDIAN: A retired British army general says Iraq's insurgents are justified in opposing the occupation, arguing that the US and its allies should "admit defeat" and leave Iraq before more soldiers are killed.

General Sir Michael Rose told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the frontline that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved." UK and US must admit defeat and leave Iraq, says British general (Read on)

Mark Alexander
That violinist is revealing too much!

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Photo of Iran’s foreign minister courtesy of Google Images
YNET NEWS: Islamic republic's foreign minister walks out of dinner of diplomats where he was seated directly across from US secretary of state, saying female violinist entertaining gathering is dressed too revealingly. Rice, Mottaki eventually meet at lunch Friday but exchange only pleasantries

Iran's foreign minister walked out of a dinner of diplomats where he was seated directly across from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ostensibly because a female violinist entertaining the gathering was dressed too revealingly. Iran: US occupation to blame for bloodshed in Iraq (Read on)

BBC: Iran FM attacks US policy in Iraq

Mark Alexander
Virgin not so virginal as far as Kuwaiti authorities are concerned

KUWAIT TIMES: KUWAIT: The Virgin Megastore at Marina Mall reopened yesterday evening after being shut down last Thursday night by inspectors from the Ministry of Information. One of the inspectors involved in the closure had said the store was found breaching regulations of the Ministry of Information and was not cooperating with them. "They keep selling restricted items like indecent magazines and CDs, and were issued several warnings and reminders in the past, but they repeatedly ignored them," he had said. Virgin reopens after weeklong shutdown (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Thursday, May 03, 2007

What a Wonderless World It Will Be

In the past years, especially in the last ten years, Islam has been furiously putting down roots here in the West. Unfortunately, our leaders and politicians have been too ignorant and craven to stem the tide. As a result, we now learn that Islam has grown so strong here in the United Kingdom so that Shari’ah law is being established in the country in centres of dense Muslim population.

Our leaders’ ignorance of Islam, their greed to attract petrodollars, and the prevailing Zeitgeist, caused namely by the indoctrination of the population at large by the politically-correct and multicultural fanatics, have all made for an inured and rudderless electorate. The people are powerless to do anything about the trend, and the powerful lack the will and determination to do anything about it anyway.

For many, in an increasingly globalized world, the ‘mighty buck’ trumps all principles. In an increasingly secular, Western world, it is greed that trumps all. It’s a case of live for today, become as rich as possible, and damn the consequences.

If this trend continues, and as things stand it is difficult to see any reason why it won’t, then we have a lot of changes to look forward to, and our children and grandchildren are not going to thank us for not reclaiming our own heritage: Our Judeo-Christian heritage.

In view of all this, it is worthwhile taking a peek into the future, in order to see what kind of world we are going to inhabit if Islam really is going to supplant Judeo-Christianity in the West.

One thing is certain: It’s going to be a joyless world. It’s also going to be a benighted world, too. It is for this main reason that I entitled my first book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age.

Most of us are, by now, familiar with many features of Islamic societies. We are all familiar with the barbarous beheadings that take place, officially, in such countries as Saudi Arabia. We are all familiar with the cutting off of limbs for theft, and the stoning of women to death for adultery (though interestingly, rarely, if ever, men).

But there is far more to a life under Islamic, or Shari’ah law, much more to life under Islam. There is no doubt at all that the growth of Islam here in the West will impact on us all, and in many unsuspecting ways.

For a start, Islam breeds benighted thinking; Muslims, in general, are a pretty unenlightened lot: superstitious, and believing of all manner of conspiracies and rumour, and very accepting of the unscientific and unproven.

It is not without reason that Muslims today are in a state of backwardness. They have embraced technology, it’s true; but what contributions have Muslims made to the advancement of the modern world? Where Muslims have indeed made significant contributions, then they have generally made those contributions in a Western environment, having enjoyed a Western education. Many of those that have contributed have left Islam anyway.

It is no co-incidence, either, that few contributions have been made. Scientific advancement requires an open, enquiring mind, not a mind flooded with superstition and flooded in beliefs that are outdated and downright wrong.

So what kind of life will it be? Many things will change. Women will become the objects of men. They will probably be driven back into the home, too. Society will become patriarchal. It will be very much a man’s world.

Women, of course, will be forced to cover up their “charms”. The hijab will be de rigueur for all women after the age of puberty since it will be mandatory. This will lead to prurience in society. Moreover, it will be frowned upon for men to wear bright colours, or solid gold rings and jewellery, or pure silk. There will be pressure on men to keep their hair short, and the wearing of the Islamic beard in the style of the Prophet Muhammad will be encouraged, if not forced upon men. In any case, because the thinking of the day will change significantly, facial hair will become almost a must for men. (Remember: In the Muslim world, a clean-shaven man is considered to be effeminate.)

The drinking of alcoholic beverages will, of course, be outlawed. By drinking it, one will incur the wrath of the morality police or, as they are called in Saudi Arabia, The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. You will almost certainly be subjected to a good lashing for partaking of the Devil's brew. And if you think that such things will never come to pass in a Western country such as the UK or Germany, then think again. How many Christians in pre-Islamic Egypt thought that Islam would oust the then prevailing Christian culture in that country, I wonder? It is worth remembering that each and every country in which Islam has been allowed to gain a foothold, it has eventually supplanted that country’s culture with Islamic culture! There is only one exception to this rule and that was in Moorish Spain. But for the Spaniards to reclaim their country, it took centuries of hostility.

Criminals will suffer the fate of a beheading in the public square. Muslims always like to show the man being decapitated for they feel that this in itself will act as a deterrent for other would be criminals.

Churches in this new world order will be either destroyed or left to go to wrack and ruin. Even to this day in Turkey, the small, minority Christian population there are not allowed to renew and refurbish their churches and nor are they allowed to offer seminary education for their priests. All men wishing to go into the priesthood must be educated abroad. In any case, a Christian in an Islamic country is very much a second-class citizen, and if Islam should ever take over the West, the Christian will be forced to live in dhimmitude.

The eating of pork, of course will be a thing of the past, as will cooking with wines or spirits. So many of our favourite gourmet recipes will simply disappear.

Architecture will change too. The influence of Islam will certainly make its influence felt in this area. But there is something else: The styles of our houses will change greatly. Open plan buildings and houses without high garden walls will not be desired. High walls allow Muslim men to hide their women from public view. They also allow Muslims to do all the things they are disallowed from doing in public, things such as drinking alcohol.

Homophobia will be the order of the day. All Muslims have to be homophobic, because Islam frowns upon homosexuality, and as Islam is so pervasive, it is difficult, if not well-nigh impossible, to express one’s opinions in favour of equality for homosexuals openly. But in reality, there is much homosexual activity in the Islamic world. Certainly no less than there is in the Western world. This double standard is brought about because Islam fosters such a closed, closetted society. Furthermore, it should be noted that because of the strict separation of the sexes, people living in such a world tend become very prurient. Only today in the Saudi Gazette, it has been reported that Saudi men are addicted to pornography on the Web. This is hardly surprising when co-mingling with members of the opposite sex is so difficult in the real world. Western society will also become so inclined when Islam grows ever stronger here.

As I have stated so many times before, Islam and the West are diametrically-opposed to each other in all kinds of ways; indeed, they are two distinct, immiscible, cultures. There is no half way house to be: either Islam wins through, or the free West does. Like any lover of freedom and democracy, I’m hoping for the victory of the latter, but I’m not holding my breath. Given current demographic trends, and given the lack of will and determination to preserve the way of life of the free, anything can happen. We haven’t seen the worst yet. One thing is certain: There will be little joy for the ordinary citizen living under Islam and Shari’ah law; indeed, it will be a ‘wonderless’ world for us all.

©Mark Alexander

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Naughty Ahmadinejad accused of acting “contrary to Sharia law”

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Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Iran's president has come under fire from a conservative newspaper after he publicly kissed the hand of a woman who used to be his school teacher. Ahmadinejad accused of indecency (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Sarkozy: The Man for Our Times

Sarkozy is not only a very likeable fellow, but he is one politician in Europe who speaks sense about the question of whether to allow Turkey to accede to the EU. M. Sarkozy is against Turkey’s accession, and he is not afraid of saying so, either. Not only does France need this politician to be elected into the office of the presidency, but the rest of Europe does, too.

Whether or not to allow Turkey into Europe is one of the burning issues of our time. Very few politicians have the insight or the courage tospeak up about it. Nicolas Sarkozy does have that courage, and he is a man of insight, too. Sarkozy has all the right instincts; furthermore, Sarkozy has the right ideas on how to re-invogorate la belle France.

It is to be hoped that this very likeable man will become France’s next president. The French electorate will be doing all Europeans a big favour to vote for Sarkozy.

You might like to watch the following videos, presented to us by Le Figaro. They are snippets of the lengthy televised dual:

VIDEOS: Délinquance, Turquie... Tout les oppose

VIDEOS: A 22 h 55, l'incident sur les handicaps

VIDEOS: L'économie au coeur des passes d'armes

NZZ: Sarkozy geht als Favorit in die Stichwahl in die Stichwahl

©Mark Alexander
Muslime sind “nur zu Gast in einem christlichen und zutiefst demokratischen Land”

"Der Islam sei keine Religion, sondern eine Kriegserklärung an die christliche und andersgläubige Welt" - EDU-Nationalrat Waber

NZZ: SVP und EDU wollen den Bau mittels einer Volksinitiative verhindern

Ein Komitee aus SVP- und EDU-Politikern will in der Schweiz keine Minarette sehen. Deren Bau soll mittels einer Volksinitiative verhindert werden. Die rechtsbürgerlichen Politiker nutzten die Lancierung der Initiative zu einem Rundumschlag gegen den Islam.

Der Bau von Minaretten in der Schweiz soll verboten werden. Mit einer Volksinitiative wollen SVP- und EDU-Politiker den «religiös-politischen Machtanspruch» des Islams zurückweisen. Sie haben am Donnerstag in Bern die Kampagne lanciert. Moscheen ohne Minarette (mehr)

ARAB NEWS: Swiss Challenge Minarets as ‘Islamist’ Threat

Mark Alexander

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Royal greift Sarkozy in TV-Duell an

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Foto dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
NZZ: Präsidentschaftskandidaten in Frankreich streiten vor Millionenpublikum

Beim Fernseh-Duell zur französischen Präsidentschaftswahl hat Ségolène Royal den Konservativen Nicolas Sarkozy wegen dessen Bilanz als langjähriges Mitglied der bürgerlichen Regierung angegriffen.

Royal selbst wolle als Staatschefin ein Frankreich schaffen, «in dem die Aggressivität und die Gewalttaten zurückgehen», sagte die Sozialistin zum Auftakt der mit Spannung erwarteten Live-Diskussion im französischen Fernsehen. Royal greift Sarkozy in TV-Duell an (mehr)

©Mark Alexander
Saudi men are addicted to pornography on the Web; Saudi women, to chatting

SAUDI GAZETTE: Internet addiction has come to the Kingdom, affecting both Saudi men and women, specialists say. Saudi women are primarily addicted to chatting while Saudi men tend to be addicted to pornography sites.

The growing popularity of the internet among Saudis coupled with the decreasing price of Internet connections, more and more psychologists are seeing patients who complain of internet addictions.

"Internet addiction is becoming a big problem," said Ibtihal Abo Baker, a psychotherapist practicing in Riyadh. "People are escaping reality and running away from their pain to an online retreat. They are basically using the internet as a survival mechanism."

While men seem to be finding sexual revelations online, Saudi women are finding an unsheltered world platform where they can enter men's majleses, argue, discuss, vent their inner feeling and chat with anyone from any part of the world and of any sex. Many Saudis find Internet Overly Enticing (Read on) by Suzan Zawawi

Mark Alexander
Muslim radicals establishing Shari’ah law in UK

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Photo courtesy of The Daily Express
DAILY EXPRESS: MUSLIM radicals have established their own draconian court systems in Britain.

Controversial Sharia courts have been set up in major towns and cities to impose Islamic law and enable Muslims to shun the legitimate British legal system.

Last night religious leaders and politicians expressed outrage that Sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in our society.

Critics insisted that the Govern­ment is allowing a two-tier legal system to flourish in the name of political correctness and that the authority of UK justice is being undermined. Now Muslims get their own laws in Britain (Read on) by Paul Jeeves

Mark Alexander
The Muslims’ fascination with rumours and conspiracy theories

GULF NEWS: The Muslim world seems to be in the grip of all kinds of rumours. The willingness of large numbers of Muslims to believe some outrageous assertions reflects pervasive insecurity coupled with widespread ignorance.

The contemporary Muslim fascination for conspiracy theories limits the capacity for rational discussion of international affairs. For example, a recent poll indicates that only 3 per cent of Pakistanis believe that Al Qaida was responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the US, notwithstanding Osama Bin Laden and his deputies have taken credit for the attacks on more than one occasion.

The acceptance of rumours and the readiness to embrace the notion of a conspiracy does not apply exclusively to the realm of politics. Villagers in rural Nigeria are refusing to administer the polio vaccine to their infant children out of fear that the vaccine will make their offspring sterile.

Some religious leaders in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal areas bordering Afghanis-tan have also voiced concerns about a "Western-Zionist conspiracy" to sterilise the next generation of Muslims as part of what they allege is an "ongoing war against Islam". Reasons for decline of the Muslim world (Read on)

Mark Alexander
A sad end to an illustrious career: Lord John Browne could face charges of perjury

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Photo of Jeff Chevalier courtesy of The Sun
BBC: Former BP chief Lord John Browne may now face charges of perjury amid allegations that he lied to a court about a gay partner, reports say.

Lord Browne quit on Tuesday after the Mail on Sunday won a court battle to print details of his private life.

He also apologised that legal statements he made about a relationship with Jeff Chevalier were "untruthful".

The newspaper said it would be handing its "evidence" against him to the Attorney General for investigation.

The newspaper said it would be handing its "evidence" against him to the Attorney General for investigation.

However, the judge in the High Court case said that he would not be referring the matter as he believed that disclosure in the judgement of Lord Browne's behaviour was "probably sufficient punishment". ’Perjury’ threat for ex-BP boss (Read on)

WATCH BBC VIDEO: BP chief executive resigns

BUSINESS TELEGRAPH (Comment): How Browne's white lie overshadowed a golden career by Tom Stevenson

THE SUN: BP millionaire quits over fibs by Andrew Porter

BBC: Being gay in the world of big business

BBC: Does the UK have a ‘pink plateau’? by Anthony Reuben

Mark Alexander