Eurozone to Speak with One Voice?
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNAIONAL: The EU's monetary affairs commissioner has called for far-reaching new powers for the European Commission. He would like Brussels to have greater control over economic policy in euro zone countries -- and even wants its members to speak with one voice on the international stage.

Opponents of the European Union claim that Brussels already has too much influence over the internal affairs of the EU's 27 member states. They are unlikely to be thrilled by the news that a leading EU official is calling for far-reaching new powers for the EU's executive branch when it comes to member states' economic affairs -- and even foreign policy.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia (more...) wants the European Commission to have more clout in all areas of economic policy. In the future, the Commission should be able to supervise and coordinate reform efforts in the countries of the euro zone, in order to promote more competition in Europe's product and services markets, including the market for financial services. The proposals are contained in a report marking the 10-year anniversary of the euro which Almunia will present on Wednesday. EU Commissioner Wants Far-Reaching New Powers for Brussels >>> | May 5, 2008

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Germany: New Survey Undermines Official German Policy on Israel
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A new survey reveals that most Germans feel their country has no special responsibility for Israel, despite Germany's official foreign policy of support for Israel. And only 13 percent of Germans are in favor of providing military support to Israel if the country came under attack.

Israel is celebrating its 60th anniversary this Thursday, an event which will be marked with particular attention in Germany. Six decades after the Holocaust, Germany is very aware of its historical obligations to the Jewish state, and the country's right to exist is a cornerstone of German foreign policy.

However, a new survey reveals that ordinary Germans are far more ambivalent in their attitudes towards the country. According to the poll, which was published Saturday, 53 percent of people questioned responded in the negative when asked if Germany had a "special responsibility" towards Israel because of its history. Only 40 percent said the country did have a special responsibility.

Younger Germans in particular felt less responsibility toward Israel, with only 29 percent of those aged between 30 and 39 responding in the positive to the question. A massive 65 percent of respondents in that age group said Germany had no special responsibility to Israel. However, 48 percent of the over-60s said that Germany did have a special obligation.

When asked if Germany should support Israel politically in the event of the country being attacked, 58 percent responded yes, with 33 percent saying no. A total of 35 percent supported financial support for Israel in the event of an attack, while 57 percent were against it. Most Germans Feel no Responsibility for Israel >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch)
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The Spanish Civil War

Part 2
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The Beauty of Andalucia: الجمال الاندلس

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Nuclear Threat? A Cuppa Will Fix It!
Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: The threat of a nuclear attack on the UK in the 1950s caused concern over the supply of tea, top-secret documents which have now been released reveal.

Government officials planning food supplies said the tea situation would be "very serious" after a nuclear war.

"It would be wrong to consider that even 1oz per head per week could be ensured," they stated.

The papers were released under the Freedom of Information Act by the National Archives at Kew.

Heart and health

The documents said a nuclear conflict would result in the loss of three-quarters of tea stocks.

One paper from April 1955 said: "The advent of thermonuclear weapons... has presented us with a new and much more difficult set of food defence problems."

The aim was to be "completely ready to maintain supplies of food to the people of these islands, sufficient in volume to keep them in good heart and health from the onset of a thermonuclear attack on this country". Nuclear Threat Sparked Tea Worry >>>

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Indonesia: Islam Film by Dutch MP 'Mistaken Interpretation' Says Expert
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Jakarta - An Indonesian expert on the Koran has released a book attacking Fitna, the controversial film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders that challenges Islamic teaching.

Quraish Shibab released the book entitled "The verses of Fitna, a small part of Islamic culture in the middle of prejudice" on Sunday.

He said the Dutch film was based on a number of errors and a misinterpretation of Islamic teaching.

"The film of Geert Wilders, Fitna, is a collection of mistaken koranic interpretations."

In 90 pages, Quraish Shibab claims that Wilders has used quotes out of context to give weight to the film's argument that equates Islam and terrorism.

The book, distributed free of charge in several mosques in the capital and available on the Internet, adopts a calm tone and calls on Muslims "to respond to Fitna in a decisive way but avoiding any behaviour that is harmful to Islam or Muslims".

Indonesia, the country with the largest number of Muslims in the world, has recorded the greatest interest in the film Fitna, according to Google Trends, an online tool which monitors Internet traffic.

Fitna has received a moderate response in Indonesia where almost 90 percent of the country's 240 million people is Muslim.

There have been several protests in front of the Dutch embassy in Jakarta, and in one violent reaction to the film students damaged the Dutch consulate in Medan. [Source: Indonesia: Islam Film by Dutch MP 'Mistaken Interpretation' Says Expert] | May 5, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
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Standing Up to the ‘Human Rights’ Harassers
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN: In my five weeks of absence from this space, I was saddened to learn that the assault on free speech and press in Canada has been escalated. In addition to the very ugly cases that have been brought before various so-called "human rights commissions," to silence such "politically incorrect" Canadian writers as Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, frivolous lawsuits have now been brought against several prominent journalists and bloggers for their efforts in exposing how the human rights commissions work, and for their audacity in mocking ludicrous behaviour by members of the HRC's "Anti-Hate Teams."

Barbara Hall, the leftist former mayor of Toronto, who now presides over the Ontario Human Rights Commission, publicly pronounced Maclean's magazine guilty of spreading anti-Islamic hatred (by publishing Mr. Steyn), while declining to review the complaint which the radical Canadian Islamic Congress brought against the magazine. (The case had already been accepted by the federal and B.C. "human rights" commissions.) That CIC has meanwhile graduated to shakedown tactics, calling a press conference Wednesday to announce the settlement terms on which it might cease to harass Maclean's with "human rights" complaints.

Updates, and links to sources, for these and numerous other developing cases, may be had through the blogs. I especially recommend that of Ezra Levant, a lawyer by training, and a magnificent aggregator and explicator of the details and arguments involved in each case. I would also put him at the top of any current list of those who actually deserve the Order of Canada, for valiant action of permanent value to our country. Standing Up to the 'Human Rights' Harassers >>> By David Warren | May 3, 2008

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Time to Stop Prime Ministers From Ruling Like Kings
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN: Define roles of politicians, public service in Constitution: professor

Canada's Constitution should be opened to rein in the power of prime ministers who rule like monarchs surrounded by a tight circle of courtiers, a leading scholar on public administration says.

Donald Savoie, a political economist at the University of Moncton, said Canada's political institutions are so broken that the role of the prime minister, ministers and the public service should be defined in the Constitution, rather than by unwritten constitutional conventions that haven't been working for years.

"There are no effective checks and balances from cabinet, the civil service or Parliament to protect prime ministers from grabbing power and abusing it," he said. "We now need to go farther and define in law the role of prime minister, ministers and the civil service."

He said the convention of the loyal and anonymous public servant is long gone and the time has come to give public servants the "personality" and the independence they need to say no to their political masters when pulled into the political arena. Time to Stop Prime Ministers From Ruling Like Kings, Expert Says >>> By Kathryn May | May 5, 2008

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The “Unprincipled Opportunist” and the “Unpatriotic Wimp”
Barack Obama, struggling to contain a surging Hillary Clinton, has hit back against his dogged Democratic rival by branding her a President George W. Bush clone for threatening to "totally obliterate" Iran.

"It's not the language that we need right now, and I think it's language that's reflective of George Bush," he said on NBC television. "We have had a foreign policy of bluster and sabre-rattling and tough talk, and in the meantime we make a series of strategic decisions that actually strengthen Iran."

But Mrs Clinton, who narrowly leads in polls in Indiana and has crept up to within striking distance of Mr Obama in North Carolina, was unrepentant about her vow to respond in kind if Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel. North Carolina and Indiana go to the polls on Monday.

"Why would I have any regrets? I am asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for," Mrs Clinton told voters in a moderated session shown on ABC News. Obama Tars Clinton with the Bush Brush >>> By Toby Harnden in Washington | May 5, 2008

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In a World Full of Violence, Where Are We Without Love?

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The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Großbritannien: Die Roten auf dem Rückzug
Photo von Gordon Brown dank der Presse
DIE PRESSE: Analyse. Der britischen Labour-Party dämmert der Abschied von der Regierung. Nach dem Debakel bei den Lokalwahlen tendieren die Chancen Labours auf ein Comeback gegen null.

LONDON. Spötter dachten dabei an Simbabwe: Stunde um Stunde verzögerte sich am Wochenende die Bekanntgabe des Resultats der Bürgermeisterwahl in London, obwohl schon Freitag jeder über die Abwahl des autokratischen linken Amtsinhabers Ken Livingstone tuschelte. Als dann endlich der Tory Boris Johnson als Sieger feststand, überschütteten sich die beiden Gegner mit Lob; nur das Knacken in Livingstones Stimme verriet, dass da mehr als eines der wichtigsten Ämter Großbritanniens für die Linke verloren gegangen war.

Elf Jahre, nachdem New Labour an die Macht gekommen war, stehen die Zeichen auf Wechsel: Blairs glückloser Nachfolger Gordon Brown muss sich bis 2010 Neuwahlen stellen. Nach dem Debakel bei den Lokalwahlen (neben dem Verlust des Bürgermeisteramts in London erzielte Labour das mieseste Ergebnis seit Jahrzehnten) tendieren die Chancen Labours auf ein Comeback gegen null. Zwar gab sich Brown am Sonntag kämpferisch: „Ich verstehe die Schmerzen der Wähler“, meinte er, „wir können uns erholen“, und er wolle sich nicht von ein paar „tagelangen Schlagzeilen“ davon abhalten lassen, seinen Job zu tun. Labour-Party: Die Roten auf dem Rückzug >>> Von Axel Reiserer | 04. 05. 2008

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An Extract - Victor Davis Hanson: The West Has Warped Immigration Laws
…Like the U.S., Europe is currently subject to a strong immigration wave - although not Hispanic but Muslim in origin. Based on your research into what has been happening in the U.S., do you have any advice to offer to Europeans?

Curb the numbers. Jettison multicultural mish-mash, and instead insist on assimilation and integration. Show pride in your culture that newcomers, after all, have voted by their very presence to accept. Distinguish legal from illegal immigration and don't let tribalists and illiberals masquerade as progressives as they demonize the very sanctuary they flee to. Most immigrants who are unhappy and bite the hand that feeds them learn their venom from disaffected Western elites.

And leading on from this, why do you think European countries are allowing this to happen? What consequences will we have to expect?

At first it was economics, the desire for cheap labor; but then the multiculturalism encouraged the "other" to come without conditions and to recreate the landscape of their abandoned and mostly failed home countries. Now you have the worst of postindustrial West: too few jobs for a growing population of illegal immigrants, even as enabling elites assure them that their problems and pathologies are all the fault of the host. A bad combination by any means.

Do you see any appreciable differences between the way the U.S. is dealing with immigration issues, and Europe's response to similar problems?

We will stop the influx soon and through our powers of assimilation and popular culture absorb those here; you may well not and thus are already seeing a tiny elite on top mouthing utopian leftwing bromides while a radical rightwing movement on bottom will grow, demanding xenophobic solutions.

I am not confident in an easy solution for Europe, given its 20th-century past - whether confronting the specter of a Muslim Eurabia, or the counter-rightwing backlash that could get very ugly. You in Europe have little facility - socially, culturally, and politically - to absorb immigrants into full-fledged Europeans. We do (as Europe's historic critiques of America as a mongrel nation attest) - if the numbers of new arrivals are reasonable, of diverse backgrounds, and of legal status.

Officially Europe sounds more utopian, while in reality Europeans are clannish and reluctant to integrate and embrace; America sounds strident and angry, while Americans in their personal lives integrate, assimilate, and marry Mexican nationals who come here illegally - the tragedy being that if we just cut the numbers of new arrivals of illegals, the existing cohort would soon disappear through assimilation. Read It All - Africa: The West Has Warped Immigration Laws >>> By Atang Izang | April 28, 2008

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Television in the UK: BBC TV Begins

Part 2
BBC TV Radio Olympia 1936
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Nazi Germany in Colour (1939)

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
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Iraq’s First Lady Survives Bombing
BBC: Iraq's First Lady has escaped unhurt after a bomb attack on her motorcade in Baghdad, the office of President Jalal Talabani has said.

His wife, Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, was travelling to a cultural festival at the National Theatre at the time.

Four of her bodyguards were injured in the attack, the office said.

Earlier, the US military said that a roadside bomb in Iraq's mainly Sunni western province of Anbar had killed four US marines.

The attack on the First Lady's motorcade occurred in the capital's Karrada district but it is unclear whether she was specifically targeted.

The president's office said: "One of the vehicles of Ms Hiro Ibrahim's convoy hit an improvised explosive device in the road this morning. She was heading to the National Theatre." Iraq [sic] First Lady Survives Bombing >>>

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‘King Faisal Stood Firm on Oil Embargo’
Photo of Prince Turki Al-Faisal courtesy of Arab News
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH — The United States threatened to use force against Saudi Arabia in 1973 after King Faisal, along with other Arab leaders, imposed an oil embargo on countries that supported Israel during the October War, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday.

In the interview, that appeared ahead of a scientific seminar on King Faisal to be opened by Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman on Tuesday, Prince Turki shed light on important events that took place during his father’s rule.

Prince Turki, who was an adviser at the Royal Court in 1973 when King Faisal took the oil-embargo decision, said the king was not shaken by the US threat and stood firm.

He added that the oil embargo was instrumental in encouraging the US to find a quick and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. “King Faisal and other Arab leaders were forced to take the decision as a result of America’s unprecedented support for Israel during the war,” the prince said.

He added that American officials talked about the possibility of attacking Saudi oil fields, something that was leaked in US newspapers. Some of these statements came from the then US State Secretary Henry Kissinger.

Prince Turki said King Faisal, who was in Jeddah at the time, received a telegram from Kissinger warning that if the Kingdom did not lift the embargo, the US would take all measures to protect its interests.

“The message was not specific about the measures they were going to take, but it appeared that they would use force. A CIA representative gave me the unsigned message, telling me it was from Kissinger... I went to the king and conveyed its contents. He received the message, read it and said: ‘Kheir insha Allah (Good, God willing).’

“It was very clear that it had come from the American government... The king was very relaxed, cheerful, humorous and was in good spirits despite the threat... This reflected his high quality and determination. He was giving the message that the Kingdom would not bow down to a threat, as a result of a decision it had taken with other Arab countries. It was a great reply,” said Prince Turki. ‘King Faisal Stood Firm on Oil Embargo’ >>> By Badr Alkhorayef | May 4, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
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Aftab Ahmad Malik: Imams d'importation
eMARRAKECH: Bristol – S'il est bon et encourageant que le gouvernement britannique recherche une concertation avec les musulmans pour combattre le fléau de la radicalisation, la proposition qu'il vient de faire de recruter des imams modérés du Pakistan montre qu'il a encore beaucoup à apprendre.

Loin d'être des pépinières de radicalisation, ces mosquées ont déçu l'attente des musulmans britanniques précisément parce qu'elles ont employé des imams venus "du pays". Le résultat de cette démarche a été d'aliéner plus encore les jeunes musulmans, qui, de toute façon, sont de plus en plus étrangers à leur langue maternelle, celle qu'emploient pourtant une majorité d'imams.

Sans conteste, s'il existe des exceptions, il n'en reste pas moins que, malgré leur connaissance de l'islam, les imams "importés" n'ont généralement qu'une connaissance limitée des complexités de la vie séculière moderne et des difficultés auxquelles les jeunes musulmans doivent faire face. Il est très rare qu'ils s'efforcent de comprendre le climat politique ou de se donner les moyens de le faire, préférant se confiner dans les questions de piété et de foi.

Les jeunes extrémistes à qui je parle depuis plus de six ans, s'éloignant de plus en plus de cette démarche qui s'est désormais généralisée dans les mosquées, tournent leurs regards ailleurs pour acquérir les "valeurs" islamiques. Imams d'importation >>> Par Aftab Ahmad Malik

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché)
The Dawning of a new Dark Age (Relié)

Then and Now: The Demonization of the Jews in Nazi Germany and in the Arab Press Today

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Iranians Strongly Stand Against Enemies’ Propaganda
IRNA: Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iranians, the youth in particular, would strongly stand against enemies' anti-Islamic and anti-Iranian propaganda.

The ayatollah made the remarks addressing a large number of members of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC) as well as Basij (Volunteer) forces in the city of Shiraz, capital of Fars province, in southern Iran.

Supreme Leader arrived in Shiraz on April 30 to meet provincial residents, visit various provincial cities, hold separate meetings with families of martyrs, local officials, elites, university students and clerics.

"The world expansionist and hegemonic powers are strongly against justice-loving and independence-seeking aspirations of the Iranian people," the Supreme Leader noted.

He added that although foreigners continue their massive anti-Islamic and anti-Iranian propaganda under any pretext, the intelligent people of Iran, particularly young generation, strongly resist against enemies.

Ayatollah Khamenei recalled courageous acts of Iranian youth during the eight-year Iraqi imposed war against Iran (1980-1988) and said reliance on the Almighty God and the power of the Iranian nation were two major factors for development of the Islamic Iran.

Referring to the great scientific, cultural and social achievements of the Iranian youth in recent years, the Supreme Leader said the country always is in need of its faithful and talented young generation who has repeatedly proved its commitment to the sacred aspirations of the Islamic Revolution. [Source: Leader: Iranians Strongly Stand Against Enemies Propaganda] | May 4, 2008

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Iran Will Not Bow to Western Pressure
KHALEEJ TIMES: TEHERAN - Iran’s supreme leader said on Sunday Teheran would not give up its rights in the face of Western pressure, two days after major powers said they would make a new offer to convince Tehran to halt its nuclear plans.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not explicitly mention Iran’s nuclear activities, which Western powers suspect are aimed at making bombs, but Iranian officials have repeatedly ruled out halting the programme which they say is a national right.

“We will continue with our path with power and we will not allow the arrogant ones to step on the right of this nation,” Khamenei said in a speech, referring to Iran’s Western foes.

“Threatening the Iranian nation will not (make it) retreat,” he said during a visit to the southern province of Fars, state television reported. “No threat can persuade the Iranian nation to stop its path.”

World powers met in London on Friday and said they would offer new incentives to encourage Iran to halt nuclear work.
Iran, which says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive to generate electricity, refused the last such offer made in 2006.

Iranian officials have in recent weeks ruled out halting the atomic work in exchange for trade and other benefits. [Source: Khaleej Times: Iran Will Not Bow to Western pressure (Reuters)] | May 4, 2008

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