Struggling Sarkozy to Remind French: ‘I’m a Man of Action’
Photo of Nicolas Sarkozy courtesy of The Independent
THE INDEPENDENT: A year after his victory in the first round of French presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy will attempt tonight to refloat an administration which threatens to sink into a morass of internal bickering and popular discontent.

President Sarkozy will use a prime-time television interview to try to recapture the lost image of a reforming man of action, close to the people, which took him to the ElyséePalace in the two-round election last April and May.

After a slight recovery in his poll ratings, M. Sarkozy has floundered in three surveys this week. His approval ratings, varying between 28 and 35 per cent, are the lowest for any year-old presidency since the launch of the Fifth Republic half a century ago.

In other words, M. Sarkozy, who had sold himself to voters as "anti-Chirac" – a man of action and a man of his word – is even less popular than President Jacques Chirac after a first, calamitous, shilly-shallying year in office in 1995-96.

President Sarkozy can point to economic difficulties outside his control, which have made it impossible to deliver his promise to be the "president of purchasing power". He can point to a series of social and economic reforms, some completed, some half-abandoned, some hardly begun. He is expected to promise to push ahead with his reform agenda, despite growing dissent within his own centre-right political camp and reports of repeated quarrels with his prime minister, François Fillon.

Most of all, however, President Sarkozy will try to erase the image of the "bling-bling" president: the man whose film-star lifestyle, divorce and rapid marriage to the pop singer Carla Bruni seemed to absorb most of his attention and energy in three disastrous winter months. Polling officials say that M. Sarkozy's popularity – still in the mid-60s in September – was exploded by a chemical reaction between the falling living standards of ordinary people and his glamorous "personalisation" of the presidency.

President Sarkozy has adopted a quieter tone in recent weeks. That, and the decorous behaviour of Mme Bruni-Sarkozy as first lady, had begun to restore his popularity in the polls. In the past fortnight, however, his government has drifted into a series of public rows between ministers and embarrassing U-turns. Struggling Sarkozy to Remind French: 'I'm a Man of Action' >>> By John Lichfield in Paris | April 24, 2008

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Libya’s ’Concentration Camp’ Jibe Causes Walkout at the UN
THE TELEGRAPH: France's ambassador has led a walkout of some Western envoys from a United Nations Security Council debate on the Middle East after Libya compared the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip to Nazi "concentration camps".

According to one diplomat, Jean-Maurice Ripert took off his earpiece and walked out after his Libyan counterpart Giadalla Ettalhi made the remarks.

The incident occurred as the 15-member council was trying to agree on a compromise statement that would have highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza while also contribute to efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

Speaking to reporters after the debate, Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told reporters: "Unfortunately those who complain of being victims of genocide (during World War II) are repeating the same kind of genocide against the Palestinians." "The issue for us is to see the Security Council properly involved in finding solutions" to the crisis, in particular "the Israeli persecution of the Palestinians," he added. UN Diplomats Walkout after Libya Compares Gaza to 'Concentration Camps' >>> By Julian Kossoff and agencies | April 24, 2008

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Kiri te Kanawa - Giacomo Puccini: ‘O mio babbino caro’
Challenge! Can the Islamic world come up with anything like this?


Angela Gheorghiu: ‘O mio babbino caro’
Or this?

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Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto Number 2

Rachmaninov No.2/2
Rachmaninov No. 2/3
Rachmaninov No. 2/4

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Razzien gegen Islamisten in Deutschland
NZZ Online: (ap) In mehreren Bundesländern sind am Mittwoch Wohnungen, Vereins- und Verlagsräume durchsucht worden. Die Münchner Staatsanwaltschaft teilte mit, sie verdächtige neun Islamisten der Bildung einer kriminellen Vereinigung. Nach Angaben der Oberstaatsanwaltschaft gab es jedoch keine Festnahmen. Bei den Beschuldigten handle es sich um Deutsche im Alter zwischen 25 und 47 Jahren, die überwiegend ausländischer Herkunft seien. Die Gruppe stehe im Verdacht, terroristische Aktivitäten im In- und Ausland zu fördern. [Quelle: Neue Zürcher Zeitung]

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Descent Into Darkness: Rabbi Calls for ‘Rehabilitation of Gays’
YNET NEWS: Rabbi Arussi responds to letter from gay community calling for acceptance by Orthodox rabbis; those with homosexual tendencies should receive treatment, he says

Homosexuality is a disease that should be treated, the chief rabbi of KIryat Ono, near Tel Aviv, wrote in response to a letter from the gay community published in Ynet weeks ago.

"It is doubtlessly a disease, seeing as anything in nature that deviates from the norm is a disease," wrote Rabbi Ratzon Arussi, referring to homosexual tendencies. He was responding to a letter sent to dozens of rabbis throughout Israel by operators of a website catering to the homosexual community, HOD.

"We must make an effort to act in an intelligent way so that those who have homosexual tendencies are treated and rehabilitated ," the rabbi wrote. He called for all rabbis to assist homosexuals in their communities that "can find no cure."

Arussi also admitted that in many cases Orthodox Jews respond with violence in the face of open displays of homosexuality because they are "shocked, hurt, and offended."

"I have read your letter with much consideration because it is touching and insightful," Arussi wrote in his response to Rabbi R., who wrote the letter on behalf of homosexuals. "The religious community requires the correct tools in order to deal with homosexuality, and especially one exhibited openly."

"Those who can live normally with a female should not develop these unnatural instincts in themselves," he wrote. ’The sin of our time’ >>> By Kobi Nachshoni | April 23, 2008

YNET NEWS:
New Website Launched for Religious Gay Community >>>

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Hitler Dolls Go on Sale in the Ukraine
Watch BBC Video
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Guy Nantel: La charia

Guy Nantel - La charia
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Guy Nantel

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Europeans See Higher Terror Threat
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: A new tape by Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri calls for reprisals in Europe, where officials see increasing terrorist activity and anger over provocative depictions of Islam.

Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said reprisals were possible in Denmark, Japan, Norway, and Sweden, in an audiotape released Tuesday. Coming in the wake of messages from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in March, the comments have raised concerns about the potential for new attacks in the West.

In some European countries, terror-threat levels have been elevated, with both Britain and Dutch leaders announcing in recent weeks that the potential for terror activity appeared to be increasing. That was attributed to more terrorists operating in Europe and to controversial depictions of Islam in cartoons and in film.

On Tuesday, a tape release by Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant called for strikes against the US-coalition in Iraq. The tape, for which a full translated transcript is not available, criticized the Palestinian group Hamas over "reported readiness to consider a peace deal with Israel" and Iran's "complicity" in the US assault on Afghanistan in 2001, reports the Agence France-Presse. Mr. Zawahiri also asserted that the "greed" at the root of global warming would make the world more sympathetic to Muslim "jihad" against the West. The voice on the tape could not be confirmed, but the two-hour message was the second of two installments in which Zawahiri responded to questions taken from extremist websites, the Associated Press reports. Europeans See Higher Terror Threat >>> By Peter Smith | April 23, 2008

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L’Islam en France: Les jeunes

Sarkozy et le Califat

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Is Sarkozy Showing Us a Side that Cannot Be Trusted?
Brussels Journal – ‘Sarkozy and Religion: For the Sake of Islam’ by Tiberge
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Mighty Miliband, the Dhimmi, Speaks on Freedom of Speech
Photo courtesy of Weasel Zippers
UK Foreign Secretary (the Overgrown Schoolboy Still Looking for His Master) "Strongly Condemns" Freedom of Speech When Talking About Islam >>>

Or read the full story UK Strongly Condemns Anti-Islam Propaganda in Europe: Miliband

Hat tip: Eleanor
& Weasel Zippers

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Tony Blankley: Rising Euro-Muslim Tensions
TOWNHALL.COM: Perhaps the greatest secular gift to the world by Judeo-Christian civilization is its seminal concept of the individual, which it raises above the tribe or the collective. In Genesis, we are told that man is made in the image of God. Deuteronomy tells us that "each human by his own sin is to be judged" and "do not punish children for the sins of their fathers." And of course, the biblical life and teachings of Jesus reflect the deep importance of the individual. Thus was planted in the soil of the West our uniquely heightened respect for the individual.

It is impossible to imagine Western civilization -- and particularly America -- without the existence in our culture of the instinctive respect for the individual to offset the more general human instinct to be subordinated in the tribe or the group.

Conversely, there is no more dangerous incubus inserted into a Western nation than hostility or indifference to the inherent value and rights of the individual.

But radicalized Islam places little value on the individual, while holding up for supreme value the interests of the group, particularly their view of the group called Islam. And it is this aggressive, assertive insistence by radicalized Muslims in the West to subordinate our inherent rights to their collective demands that slowly and more or less quietly is forcing Westerners to take sides in the radicals' demands. The resolution of this developing conflict -- if not managed by the elites in Western countries on behalf of indigenous Western rights -- inevitably will result in unnecessary violence.

A recent example of such intimidation was reported in The Washington Times Monday: Muneer Fareed, head of the Islamic Society of North America, is "demanding" that Sen. John McCain stop using the word "Islamic" to describe terrorists who are radical Islamists. He insists that McCain (and all others) just call Islamic terrorists "criminals." "That is more acceptable to the Muslim community," Fareed said. McCain, being as tough as nails, has said he has no intention of submitting to Fareed's demand and will continue to use "Islamic" to describe Islamic terrorists. But it will be interesting to see what the two Democratic candidates for president choose to do about this demand.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Mark Steyn awaits trial before the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for the crime of committing hate speech by writing a book and a magazine article that warned against the dangers of Islam overwhelming Europe (No. 1 best-seller in Canada; New York Times best-seller in the United States). Rising Euro-Muslim Tensions >>> By Tony Blankley

*Tony Blankley served as press secretary to then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. He is the author of The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?

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Hillary Clinton Wins Pennsylvania Primary: Victory Speech

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Theologians: Stop Wasting Your Time and Go Home! Europe Is Turning Into Eurabia Without You. You Don’t Need to Help the Process Along!
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Leading Muslim scholars are laying the theological foundations for a "Euro-Islam" which would reconcile their religion with the challenges of modernity. But just how compatible is Islam with secular Western values?

The air in the conference room is stale, and the dour mood among those present is not much better. The room smells of sweat, cigarette smoke, cold coffee -- and plenty of problems. That comes with the territory at a meeting of some 100 social workers who work in flashpoints like the London boroughs of Hounslow, Eastleigh and Ealing.

In their districts they often have to deal with angry youth gangs, unemployment and failed integration policies. Today, on this particular Thursday, they have gathered here in the large hall of the Holborn Bars conference center to learn that multiculturalism also has positive aspects and, most importantly, that no one needs to be afraid of Muslims.

Up on the stage, Lucy de Groot, the organizer of the one-day seminar "Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion," presents “with great pleasure” a speaker whose appearance alone is enough to add a touch of brilliance to this gloomy conference room. Smiling here and nodding there, the “esteemed guest” strides up to the podium with the confidence of an entertainer who has grown accustomed to success. Tariq Ramadan knows how to win people over.

Many of the veteran social workers have an almost enraptured expression on their faces as they look up at the tall, thin man. With his striking features and dark well-trimmed beard, his sand-colored suit with its elegant casualness, the unbuttoned collar of his bright yellow shirt and his slightly dark complexion, Ramadan resembles a Latino singer. “It’s wonderful to be in London,” he says warmly into the microphone. “Thank you very much for inviting me.” Ramadan places the fingertips of his well-manicured hands together and gazes confidently at the audience. His fan club is guaranteed to be even bigger after this afternoon.

Officially, Ramadan, 45, is a professor of Islamic studies in Geneva. But now he has just come from Oxford, where he teaches at St. Antony’s College as a visiting fellow. In effect, Ramadan is something of a modern-day itinerant preacher. His mission is to boost the self-confidence of Europe’s Muslims and to explain his vision of a “European Islam” to Europe’s Christian elite.

The new brand of faith which, according to Ramadan, “is currently taking shape among European Muslims with Islamic-European culture” aims to reconcile Western values with the teachings of Islam. This “Euro-Islam” has allowed Ramadan to win friends among immigrant children and proponents of interreligious dialogue -- and make enemies among right-wing nationalists and hardline Islamists.

Ramadan has given thousands of presentations over the past few years, speaking to a wide range of audiences, including Muslims and Christians, atheists and Jews, church representatives and politicians, industrialists, students and anti-globalization activists. Over the weekend, he made four appearances in France where he spoke to over 2,500 people, mostly young Muslims. Tonight he will speak in Birmingham at a police convention, tomorrow morning his schedule takes him to Blackpool; he can't remember off the top of his head who he's talking to there.

The highly popular speaker can devote little more than half an hour to Lucy de Groot’s seminar. But that’s enough time for a brilliant presenter like Ramadan to talk about his religion, Muslim minorities, integration and exclusion -- and to alleviate the fears of his audience of an impending “clash of civilizations,” as prophesized by Harvard University political scientist Samuel Huntington.

“We start to run into problems when we construct new dividing lines, when we cease to see society as a whole,” says Ramadan to the worn-out-looking men and women sitting at large round tables. “Instead of perceiving Muslims as ‘the other’ or foreigners, try to see them as fellow Englishmen and women.”

All the listeners can do is nod in approval. After all, this man is one of the most prominent Muslims in Europe -- even if he is also one of the most controversial. The Theologians Working Towards a Euro-Islam >>> By Dieter Bednarz and Daniel Steinvorth | April 22, 2008

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Elton John: Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

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Elton John: Something About the Way You Look Tonight

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Iran Will Be Obliterated if It Dares to Launch a Nuclear Attack on Israel – Hillary Clinton
BBC: Hillary Clinton has issued a stark warning to Iran, as Democrats in Pennsylvania vote to choose between her and Barack Obama to run for president.

She said the US would attack, and could "obliterate" Iran, if it launched a nuclear strike on Israel.

Mrs Clinton has been playing up foreign affairs and leadership as she tries to make up ground in the Democratic race.

She leads polls in Pennsylvania, the largest remaining state, but analysts say her hopes depend on a big victory. Clinton's Poll Day Threat to Iran >>>

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BAE in New Corruption Probe
DAILY MAIL: A minister in Tanzania accused of taking bribes from Britain's largest arms manufacturer has resigned.

Andrew Chenge quit after being accused of pocketing a backhander when his country bought a £20million military radar system from BAE Systems.

More than £500,000 was found in an offshore account belonging to the infrastructure minister, which is believed to be linked to the 2002 deal.

The company is already under scrutiny over claims it paid illegal "commissions" to win lucrative defence contracts.

The Serious Fraud Office is investigating the Tanzanian deal, which went ahead even though the east African state is one of the world's poorest countries.

Mr Chenge, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was attorney general at the time.

An earlier SFO inquiry into a record £43billion BAE arms deal with Saudi Arabia was stopped by the UK Government. Two weeks ago, the High Court ruled that this had been unlawful. BAE in New Corruption Probe as Tanzanian Minister Resigns over £500,000 Bribery Claim >>> By Daniel Martin | April 21, 2008

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When Muslims Become Christians
Image courtesy of Google Images
BBC: There's a widespread belief that the penalty for leaving Islam is death - hence, perhaps, the killing of a British teacher last week. But Shiraz Maher believes attitudes may be softening.

Ziya Meral's parents disowned him when he converted from Islam to Christianity.

"They said 'go away, you're not our son.' They told people I died in an accident rather than having the shame of their son leaving Islam."

Born and raised in Turkey, he decided to convert to Christianity after moving to university. He knew telling his parents would be a difficult moment even though they're not particularly observant Muslims, and he planned to break the news to them gently.

In the end, events overtook him. Before heading back to Turkey for the holidays, Ziya briefly visited a Christian summer camp where he was filmed eating a bowl of spaghetti.

The first his parents heard of his conversion was when they saw Ziya on the national news being described as "an evil missionary" intent on "brainwashing" Turkish children.

His parents decided they would rather tell people that he was dead than acknowledge he was a Christian. And Ziya, who now lives in the UK, is not alone in this experience.

Sophia, which is not her real name, faced similar pressures when she decided to become a Christian.

Coming from a Pakistani background but living in east London, 28-year-old Sophia spoke about the extreme cultural pressures her family put her under.

"They kept saying: 'The punishment is death, do you know the punishment is death?'"

In the end, Sophia ran away from home. Her mother tracked her down and turned up at her baptism.

"I got up to get baptised, that's when my mother got up, ran to the front and tried to pull me out of the water.

"My brother was really angry. He reacted and phoned me on my mobile and just said: 'I'm coming down to burn that church.'"

For Sophia and Ziya, a lot of the prejudice they faced seemed to be borne out of cultural ideas, which are particularly ingrained in the South Asian community relating to notions of family honour.

But it's too easy to say this is just a cultural problem. Dig a little deeper and you find that there is a theological argument which advocates the death penalty for apostates, which has serious implications for British society. When Muslims Become Christians >>>

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