Laina Farhat-Holzman*: Mosques in Europe -- Where's the Reciprocity?
SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL: President Barack Obama mentioned reciprocity: mutual respect between the Muslim world and America. Not much reciprocity in Europe, where some governments are already putting up white flags as clever Islamists attack their basic institutions. Diana West townhall.com worries that French schools no longer teach authors deemed offensive to Muslims Voltaire, Diderot, Darwin, and, of course, history of the Holocaust.

She notes that the British government "cravenly elevated five Sharia courts to the level of tribunal hearings, making their rulings legally binding." The first verdicts upheld male supremacy -- inheritance that gives girls half of the inheritance of boys -- and they dismissed several domestic violence charges. Sharia permits wife beating.

The French city of Tours was the historic capital of the French king Charles Martel, who in the 7th century turned back the Muslim invasion that had overrun Spain. Because of this, Europe did not become Muslim.

Now Tours is the recipient of money from the French government -- as well as Algeria and Saudi Arabia -- to construct one of the largest mosques in France. While this is very generous, and politically correct, of France, Algeria is shutting down Christian churches because they might try to convert Algerians, and in Saudi Arabia Christianity is illegal. In almost all Muslim countries, Judaism may not be practiced either.

The French Ministry of the Interior lists 1,500 places of worship, including 400 mosques. Here "mosques" mean any places of worship. Prisons are another locus for active Islamist conversion. According to Walid Phares, who has been talking with French counterterrorism people, a terrorist cell from Central Asia was picked up in France, where they were getting military training.

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said 90 Islamic activists were arrested in France in 2007. She notes that French and American prisons are incubators for Islamist recruitment and conversions, as are French suburban ghettos. >>> Laina Farhat-Holzman | Saturday, January 31, 2009

*Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author. Contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.

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Türkei: Erdogans Wut belastet EU-Beitrittsverhandlungen
WELT ONLINE: Der Wutausbruch des türkischen Ministerpräsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdogan bei einem Gespräch in Davos mit dem israelischen Präsidenten Schimon Peres sorgt für Verstimmung bei deutschen Politikern. Der Bundestagsabgeordnete Philipp Mißfelder will den Abbruch der EU-Beitrittsverhandlungen prüfen.

Der CDU-Bundestagsabgeordnete Philipp Mißfelder sieht im Israel-kritischen Kurs des türkischen Ministerpräsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdogan eine Belastung für die EU-Beitrittverhandlungen mit der Türkei. „Solange Erdogan in der Türkei eine derart Israel-feindliche Linie verfolgt, müssen wir prüfen, ob die Verhandlungen über einen EU-Beitritt der Türkei ausgesetzt oder abgebrochen werden müssen“, sagte das CDU-Präsidiumsmitglied der „Bild“-Zeitung. >>> AFP/lk | Samstag, 31. Januar 2009

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USA: Republikaner wählen Schwarzen zum Parteichef
Foto von Michael Steele, der jetzt an der Spitze der Republikanischen Partei steht, dank der Welt
WELT ONLINE: Die Partei des ehemaligen US-Präsidenten George W. Bush setzt jetzt auch auf "Change": Zum ersten Mal steht ein Schwarzer an der Spitze der Republikanischen Partei. Der frühere stellvertretende Gouverneur von Maryland setzte sich in sechs Abstimmungsrunden durch. Dabei galt er eigentlich als Außenseiter.

Zum ersten Mal steht ein Schwarzer an der Spitze der Republikanischen Partei in den USA. Zehn Tage nach Amtsantritt des ersten schwarzen US-Präsidenten bestimmten die Mitglieder in Washington Michael Steele zu ihrem neuen Parteichef.

Er nehme die Wahl mit „Demut und Pflichtgefühl“ an, sagte Steele nach dem entscheidenden letzten Wahldurchgang. Der frühere stellvertretende Gouverneur von Maryland setzte sich in sechs Abstimmungsrunden gegen den bisherigen Amtsinhaber und drei weitere Konkurrenten durch. Steele galt dabei als Außenseiter, da er bislang nicht dem Parteikomitee angehörte. Eine der Hauptaufgaben des Parteivorsitzenden ist das Sammeln von Spenden für die Partei. >>> AFP/Reuters/AP/fas | Freitag, 30. Januar 2009

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Holocaust-Diskussion: Williamson ohne Reue – Bischöfe mit Papst-Kritik
WELT ONLINE: Der Papst erntet wegen der Aufhebung der Exkommunikation von vier Bischöfen weiter scharfe Kritik. Das Vorgehen schade dem Amt und erschwere die Ökumene. Die Entschuldigung Williamsons hat die Lage auch nicht entspannt. Denn der Holocaust-Leugner nahm inhaltlich nichts zurück.

Die umstrittene Aufhebung der Exkommunikation von vier Bischöfen der traditionalistischen Pius-Bruderschaft, darunter der Holocaust-Leugner Richard Williamson, droht die Ökumene zu belasten. „Schock und Befremden“ habe die römische Entscheidung ausgelöst, sagte der Bischof der evangelischen Landeskirche von Braunschweig, Friedrich Weber. Der „Wille zur Einheit“ sei offenbar so mächtig, dass Papst Benedikt XVI.bereit sei, „menschenverachtende und kriminelle Äußerungen“ eines Bischofs in Kauf zu nehmen. >>> Von Gernot Facius | Freitag, 30. Januar 2009

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Arlington's Islamic Center Is Building a Mosque, Making Sure It Adheres to Islamic Law and Tradition
STAR-TELEGRAM.COM: Mosque is being built in strict keeping with Islamic law and tradition

ARLINGTON — Mouffa Nahaas walked through a construction site he helps oversee and pledged that it would not be a typical construction project.

"From the outside it’s going to give you the impression it’s something different, it’s not just a building," Nahaas said. "It’s important for us to be not just a building. We want to add to the diversity of the city."

Nahaas is overseeing the construction of a mosque on Road to Six Flags near the intersection of Cooper Street in north Arlington.

Expected to be completed by June, this will be the new home of Dar El Salam. Muslims in north Arlington currently use rented space that was once a drugstore for their mosque.

"When you have rented property you think of getting your own," said Nahaas, vice president of Dar El Salam.

The new mosque will be an unmistakable break from the unassuming building they use now. Careful attention is being paid to building the house of worship in keeping with the laws and traditions of Islam. >>> By Patrick McGee | Saturday, January 31, 2009

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AIM* Congratulates First Muslim in Obama's Administration
INDIANMUSLIMS.INFO: New Delhi: Association of Indian Muslims in America (AIM) congratulated on January 29 Mr. Rashad Hussain whom the new US President Barrack Obama appointed on January 28 as Deputy Associate Counsel to President.

Washington DC based AIM represents a majority of Indian Muslims who live in US.

Kaleem Khwaja of AIM in his statement thanked Obama's brave step. AIM appreciated President Obama and said that he is trying to implement his campaign promise of bringing more diversity in the upper echelons of the US administration. It expressed its elite that the first high level Muslim appointed in Obama's administration is an Indian-Muslim.

Rashad Hussain, 30, is a lawyer born in US in 19789 [sic]. His parents migrated to US from India and live in Plano, Texas and now they are naturalized citizens. He earned his bachelor's degree in both philosophy and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Master's degree in Public Administration and in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Harward University. He holds a law degree from Yale University. He received highest honors for his philosophy thesis, "Assessing the Theistic Implications of Big Bang Cosmological Theory."

Rashad Hussain recently served as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to that, he was as a Law Clerk to Damon J. Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Rashad has worked extensively on Capitol Hill, the seat of the US Congress in Washington DC, both as an intern in the office of former US House of Representatives Democratic Party Leader Richard Gephardt in the summer of 2000, and as a legislative aide on the House Judiciary Committee, where he worked for a year and a half and reviewed legislation such as the USA Patriot Act. >>> Mudassir Rizwan | Friday, January 30, 2009

*Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) >>>

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FBI Cuts Ties With CAIR Following Terror Financing Trial
FOX NEWS: The FBI severed its ties with all local branches of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the country's largest Islamic advocacy group, an FBI official told FOX News.

The FBI is severing its once-close ties with the nation's largest Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, amid mounting evidence that it has links to a support network for Hamas.

All local chapters of CAIR have been shunned in the wake of a 15-year FBI investigation that culminated with the conviction in December of Hamas fundraisers at a trial where CAIR itself was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator.

The U.S. government has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.

An official at the FBI's headquarters in Washington confirmed to FOX News that his office directed FBI field offices across the country to cut ties with local branches of CAIR. >>> By Joseph Abrams | Friday, January 30, 2009

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Vicenda Gheddafi, mea culpa svizzero, Saif al-Islam Gheddafi
TICINONEWS.CH: Il figlio del leader libico Saif al-Islam Gheddafi spera che una soluzione sia vicina per ristabilire relazioni amichevoli tra la Svizzera e il Paese nordafricano. Il figlio del colonnello Gheddafi sottolinea tuttavia che sarà suo padre a prendere la decisione di risolvere la vertenza che avvelena le relazioni diplomatiche tra i due Paesi da mesi.

"Mio padre e il suo governo" analizzeranno "le nuove proposte svizzere", dichiara Saif al-Islam Gheddafi in un'intervista pubblicata oggi dal quotidiano romando "Le Matin". Il figlio del colonnello precisa che le discussioni avute con la consigliera federale Micheline Calmy-Rey a margine del Forum economico mondiale (WEF) di Davos (GR) si sono svolte in un'atmosfera "molto buona". >>> ATS | Sabato 31 gennaio 2009

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Deadly Heatwave Causes Havoc across South-eastern Australia
Firefighters try to douse the raging bushfires in south-eastern Australia, where soaring temperatures are wreaking havoc with daily life. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: An intense heatwave that is gripping south-eastern Australia has caused at least 19 deaths, destroyed 11 homes and cut power to thousands of properties.

The states of South Australia and Victoria recorded temperatures above 109F (43C) on Friday. As the mercury rose, bushfires raged across eastern Victoria, fuelled by bone dry conditions and sweeping winds.

The "brutal" weather broke records in the city of Melbourne, which for the first time experienced three consecutive days above 109F (43C). At the hottest part of the day, the city suffered 113F (45.1C). And the temperatures failed to fall art night, with residents attempting to sleep through 100F (38C) 107F heat.

Sweltering temperatures also hit the usually-temperate island of Tasmania, which had its hottest day on record, reaching 107F (42.2C). >>> By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Saturday, January 31, 2009

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Irak: La démocratie à l'épreuve
leJDD.fr: Pour la première fois depuis 2005, les Irakiens retournent aux urnes samedi. Ces élections, visant à renouveler leurs Conseils provinciaux, font figure de test pour la stabilité du pays, alors que les Etats-Unis de Barack Obama préparent leur retrait d'Irak. Ce scrutin marque aussi le retour des sunnites dans le jeu électoral et l'espoir d'un relatif apaisement communautaire. >>> Par Marianne ENAULT, leJDD.fr | Vendredi 30 Janvier 2009

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Eklat in Davos: Erdogans Wutausbruch verrät die neue Türkei
WELT ONLINE: Eigentlich präsentiert sich der türkische Regierungschef Erdogan der Welt gern als Brückenbauer zwischen Ost und West. Mit seinem Wutausbruch gegen Israel hat er dieses Bild jetzt nachhaltig zerstört. Sein Auftritt passt zur Stimmung in der Türkei: Die anti-westliche Grundhaltung hat sich unter Erdogan verstärkt.

Als Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan zu unwirtlich später Stunde in Ankara ankam, erwarteten ihn Tausende begeisterte Anhänger. Mit bengalischem Feuer und Fahnengeschwenke feierten sie "den Sieger von Davos".

Die Türkei hat einen neuen Helden. Sie bewundert ihn, weil er auf dem Weltwirtschaftsforum in Davos laut rief, dass Israel "barbarische Akte" im Gazastreifen begangen habe, dass Israels Führung lüge; er ist auch ein Held, weil er vor wenigen Wochen sagte, Allahs Strafe werde über den Judenstaat kommen, Israel werde sich selbst zerstören.

Wie bekannt die Szene anmutet. Gab es das nicht schon einmal? Gewiss, als "Eroberer Erdogan" kehrte der Regierungschef im Dezember 2004 genauso umjubelt nach Ankara zurück. Da hatte er allerdings den Beginn der offiziellen EU-Beitrittsverhandlungen in Brüssel ausgehandelt. Die Türkei, so schien es damals, wird westlich.

Nicht der Held ist also neu – sondern es ist eine neue Türkei, und es ist Erdogan, der sie schuf. Das Ergebnis nach vier Jahren Westintegration ist mehr Östlichkeit. Nicht unbedingt in den Gesetzen, die wurden teilweise an EU-Normen angepasst; aber in der Stimmung der Gesellschaft und den Äußerungen ihrer Führer, da ist wenig geblieben, was sich mit Europa identifiziert. >>> Von Boris Kalnoky | Freitag, 30. Januar 2009

TODAY’S ZAMAN: US Mideast Envoy Mitchell Postpones Visit to Turkey

The new US envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, has postponed a trip to Turkey that was scheduled to take place on Sunday as part of a regional tour aimed at shoring up the Gaza cease-fire and promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace, Turkish and US officials announced yesterday.

Mitchell, a former US senator and a mediator who helped to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict, was named by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week to lead US efforts to end the six-decade-long Arab-Israeli conflict.

Mitchell's tour, including visits to Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to run through Feb. 3 and is aimed at consolidating the cease-fire that ended Israel's 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip and to "reinvigorate the peace process."

Mitchell was expected to arrive in İstanbul on Sunday, where he was scheduled to have talks with both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan -- who were also originally supposed to return on Sunday from Davos, Switzerland, where they participated in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

US Embassy officials in Ankara cited technical reasons and scheduling conflicts as the reason behind the postponement of Mitchell's visit, with embassy spokesperson Kathryn Schalow being quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying, "The way the schedule was, [it was] very tight, we have tried very hard to make a trip to Turkey fit in, and it just could not for technical reasons." >>> Today’s Zaman with wires, Ankara | Saturday, January 31, 2009

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Tony Blair in Favour of Appeasing Hamas
Photo of Tony Blair courtesy of The Times
TIMES ONLINE: Hamas must somehow be brought into the Middle East peace process because the policy of isolating Gaza in the quest for a settlement will not work, Tony Blair has told The Times.

The former prime minister implicitly criticises the strategy followed by the Bush Administration and Israel of focusing all peace and reconstruction efforts on the West Bank. “It was half of what we needed,” he said.

In an interview with Ginny Dougary in the Saturday Magazine, Mr Blair says that the strategy of “pushing Gaza aside” and trying to create a Palestinian state on the West Bank “was never going to work and will never work”. He hints in references to how peace was eventually achieved in Northern Ireland that the time may be approaching to talk to Hamas ... “My basic predisposition is that in a situation like this you talk to everybody.”

He suggests that the policy was behind last month's ferocious reopening of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that were believed to have left more than 1,000 people dead.

Mr Blair, speaking after talks with the new US envoy George Mitchell, says that Gaza will not be pushed aside because there are 1.25 million people there who want a Palestinian state.

Mr Blair, the Middle East envoy for the Quartet group of the US, UN, Russia and the European Union, clearly believes that the Obama Administration is committed to a fresh effort to secure peace and appears to have been waiting for the change of government to make his strongest criticism so far of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Hamas Must Be Brought into Peace Process, Says Tony Blair >>> Philip Webster, Political Editor | Friday, January 30, 2009

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”Delligs Woche”: Gesprochen wird über den Islam in Deutschland

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David Attenborough on Charles Darwin's Legacy
THE GUARDIAN: "Evolution is not just a theory ... it is a historical fact," says Sir David in an interview filmed by the science journal Nature. He discusses how Darwin's work influenced his career

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life, presented by Sir David, will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday 1 February at 9pm GMT

Watch video: here
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Nicky Reilly, Muslim Convert, Jailed for 18 Years for Exeter Bomb Attack
TIMES ONLINE: A vulnerable Muslim convert who was persuaded online by shadowy Pakistan-based extremists into trying to carry out a suicide bomb attack on a busy restaurant was jailed for a minimum of 18-years today.

Nicky Reilly, 22, who has Asperger's syndrome and a mental age of 10, was described as the “least cunning” person ever to have been charged with terrorism.

He was directed how to build bombs filled with hundreds of nails, which he attempted to detonate at the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter in May.

But the devices went off prematurely and the only person injured was him. >>> Adam Fresco, Crime Correspondent | Friday, January 30, 2009

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Iceland: Maryam Namazie on Islam

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Islam Means Repression, Oppression and Misery

Maryam Namazie >>>

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United Kingdom: Maryam Namazie, Ex-Muslim

Council of Ex-Muslims (UK) >>>

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Priest in Italy Defends Holocaust-denier
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ROME — A priest in an ultraconservative society recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI has defended a bishop in his group and joined him in expressing doubts about the Holocaust.

While making more cautious remarks than Bishop Richard Williamson, the Rev. Floriano Abrahamowicz echoed, in an interview published Thursday by an Italian daily, the prelate's doubts that Jews were gassed during World War II.

"I know gas chambers existed at least to disinfect, I can't say if anybody was killed in them or not," Abrahamowicz told La Tribuna di Treviso, a newspaper in northern Italy.

Contacted by phone in Treviso, Abrahamowicz said the report of his interview was accurate, but declined to elaborate.

Benedict lifted Williamson's excommunication and those of three other members of the Society of St. Pius X last week as part of his efforts to bring the group, which opposes many of the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, back into the church.

Williamson's superiors at the society have distanced themselves from his comments.

Asked for comment about Abrahamowicz' remarks, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, noted that Benedict had warned Wednesday against any denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide and had expressed his unquestioned solidarity with Jews.

The spokesman also reiterated the Holy See's position that rehabilitating Williamson by no means implies that the Vatican shares his views. >>> By Ariel David | Thursday, January 29, 2009

ZEIT ONLINE: Holocaust-Leugnung: Antisemitismus unterm Kreuz

Die Wiederaufnahme des Holocaust-Leugners Bischof Williamson in die katholische Kirche steht in unseliger biblischer Tradition, schreibt die Theologin Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Seit Benedikt XVI. den Holocaustleugner und britischen Bischof Williamson ex-exkommunizierte und wie einen Heimkehrer herzlich umarmte, reißt die Debatte über diesen Schritt des Papstes nicht ab. Die Juden fühlen sich zutiefst verletzt, viele Deutschen schämen sich, dass es ein deutscher Papst war, der diesen schweren Fehltritt beging.

Alle Verteidigungen des Papstes, der für sich in Anspruch nimmt, unfehlbar in Glaubens- und Moralfragen zu sein, überzeugen nicht: Moralisch gesehen bedeutete seine Entscheidung eine unerträgliche Bagatellisierung unendlichen menschlichen Leides, das den Juden unter Hitler angetan wurde.

Die Wurzeln des Antisemitismus reichen im Christentum aber viel weiter zurück. Sie sind schon im Neuen Testament angelegt, und zwar in der Darstellung der Passion Christi. >>> © Zeit Online | Freitag, 30. Januar 2009

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Labour Does 'Do God', Says Stephen Timms
THE TELEGRAPH: Labour does "do God" after all, according to a Treasury minister who claims some of the Government's key achievements have been inspired by faith.

Stephen Timms said that religious ideals are important in shaping policy despite the impression, summed up in Alastair Campbell's famous phrase, that private beliefs are irrelevant to the party.

He cited the New Deal for the long-term unemployed and the Gleneagles agreement on international debt relief as two examples of Labour projects that had their origins in reports and campaigns from church groups.

Mr Timms, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury who is also Labour's vice-chair for faith groups, also claimed that religious groups continue to provide the basis of a "broad coalition of hope" for the Government as well as practical help in carrying out charitable work.

He said it is wrong to believe that religious belief is dying out, and credited Britain's growing Muslim population with raising the public profile of all faiths because secular commentators are afraid to criticise them. >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Thursday, January 29, 2009

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