Britain Halts Some Arms Exports to Israel in Response to Gaza Conflict
TIMES ONLINE: Britain became the first country to halt arms exports to Israel in response to its Gaza offensive, rescinding five export licences for parts used on warships which were deployed in the conflict.

An Israeli official said that Britain had reviewed 182 licenses before deciding to revoke the five in connection with the Saar 4.5 class corvette. The British Embassy in Tel Aviv confirmed the move but said that it did not constitute an embargo on Israel.

"There are no security agreements between the UK and Israel," an embassy spokesman said. "UK policy remains to assess all export licences to Israel against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria.”

After the 23-day offensive six months ago, a number of MPs called on Gordon Brown to impose a complete arms embargo on Israel. A petition of more than 38,000 signatures calling for a ban was also posted on the Prime Minister’s website. >>> Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem | Monday, July 13, 2009

Mord in Dresden: Ahmadinedschad nennt Deutsche "Sklaventreiber"
WELT ONLINE: Der iranische Präsident Ahmadinedschad hat den Mord an der Ägypterin Marwa in einem Dresdner Gericht als „vorprogrammiert" bezeichnet. Er beschuldigte die westlichen Länder, elementare Rechte der Menschen zu ignorieren und forderte den UN-Sicherheitsrat auf, Sanktionen gegen Berlin zu verhängen.

Der iranische Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad hat den Mord an der Ägypterin Marwa El-Sherbini in einem Gerichtssaal in Dresden als „vorprogrammiert“ bezeichnet. „Der Westen prahlt mit seinem stets funktionierenden Sicherheitsapparat, aber dann kommt einer in den Gerichtssaal und sticht nicht einmal, sondern achtzehn Mal auf eine unschuldige Frau ein, und das vor den Augen des Richters, der Geschworenen und der Polizei“, sagte Ahmadinedschad in einer Kabinettssitzung in Teheran, wie die Agentur Irna berichtete. „So eine Tat ist definitiv vorprogrammiert gewesen“, so der Präsident.

Der UN-Sicherheitsrat sollte Deutschland nicht nur verurteilen, sondern gegen Berlin auch Sanktionen verhängen, forderte Ahmadinedschad. „Wieso werden sofort Resolutionen verabschiedet, wenn in einem anderen Land ein Tausendstel solch einer Tat begangen wird, aber in ihren (westlichen) eigenen Ländern werden die elementaren Rechte der Menschen ignoriert“, sagte der iranische Präsident, dessen umstrittene Wiederwahl vor kurzem wegen angeblicher Wahlfälschung zu schweren Protesten und Unruhen geführt hatte. >>> dpa | Sonntag, 12. Juli 2009

Malaise autour de l'affaire Halimi
leJDD.fr: La famille d'Ilan Halimi, ainsi que de nombreuses associations juives, ont fait part de leur colère au lendemain du verdict du procès des 26 membres du "gang des barbares". La mère de la victime, Ruth Halimi, réclame un nouveau procès, public cette fois. Michèle Alliot-Marie, garde des Sceaux, a demandé au parquet de faire appel du verdict. Le dossier prend une tournure politique.

Une manifestation est prévue lundi soir à Paris sur la place Vendôme, devant le ministère de la Justice. Une manifestation de colère à l'initiative de plusieurs associations juives qui contestent, tout comme la famille d'Ilan Halimi, un verdict trop clément à l'égard des complices de Youssouf Fofana, condamné à la réclusion à perpétuité assortie d'une peine de sureté de 22 ans. En réponse à l'avocat général Philippe Bilger, qui a déclaré qu'à ses yeux la peine était exemplaire, Ruth Halimi, la mère d'Ilan, a souhaité que l'on remette les pendules à l'heure et réclame un nouveau procès, cette fois public afin qu'il soit "plus percutant". Appel en partie entendu puisque la garde des Sceaux, Michèle Alliot-Marie, a demandé au parquet de faire appel du verdict. >>> Par Stéphane RIO, leJDD.fr | Lundi 13 Juillet 2009

Death in the Dorms: Iranian Students Recall Horror of Police Invasion
THE GUARDIAN: Victims tell of arrests, threats and beatings / Two women among five killed by officers

They came in the small hours, just as the dormitories were settling down for the night. Outside, Tehran was still in ferment, a city gripped by fury two days after a "stolen election". Inside the dorms on Amirabad Street, students were trying to sleep, though nerves were jangling; just hours earlier several had been beaten in front of the main gate to the university.

What happened next developed into one of the seminal events of Iran's post-election unrest: police broke locks and then bones as they rampaged through the dormitories, attacked dozens of students, carted off more than 100 and killed five. The authorities still deny the incursion took place. But the account pieced together from interviews with five of those present tells a different story.

"We were getting ready to go to sleep when we suddenly heard them breaking the locks to enter our rooms," said one of the 133 students arrested that night. "I'd seen them earlier beating students but I didn't imagine that they would come inside. It's even against Iranian law."

Forty-six students from one dorm were arrested and taken to the basement of the interior ministry on nearby Fatemi Street. It was there, on the building's upper floors, that the vote-counting and – claim opposition supporters – the rigging, was going on. Another 87 were taken to a security police building on Hafez Street. Students spoke of torture and mistreatment.

Five died: they were Fatemeh Barati, Kasra Sharafi, Mobina Ehterami, Kambiz Shoaee and Mohsen Imani – buried the following day in Tehran's famous Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, reportedly without their families being informed. Their names were confirmed by Tahkim Vahdat, a student organisation.

Witnesses said the two women and three men were repeatedly beaten on the head with electric batons. Their families were warned not to talk about their children or hold funerals – like the parents of Neda Soltan, whose face became synonymous with the protest movement after she was filmed being shot dead in the street. >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Muslim Americans Encouraged, Hopeful after Obama
REUTERS: WASHINGTON - Iraqi Americans Wasan Alqaisi and Sumer Majid made a Fourth of July family picnic of kebab -- served on hamburger buns with slices of American cheese.

Celebrating Independence Day in the U.S. capital, the two Muslim women were doing what generations of Americans have done before them: blending their faith and lifestyle with a U.S. national identity.

Eight years after Middle East militants carried out the September 11 attacks, Muslim Americans are raising their profile, encouraged by the election of Barack Obama, a U.S. president proud of his Kenyan father's Muslim heritage.

The president, who is a Christian, used his middle name, Hussein, at his inauguration. He called for new dialogue with Islamic nations and named a special envoy for the Middle East on his second full day in office.

"We are more optimistic about the future for us here," said Alqaisi, an accountant. "They changed the way they communicate with the Muslim countries. We feel like we have more value here now. We hope that will continue in the future."

Like other immigrant groups in a country of immigrants, Muslims were drawn to the United States seeking opportunity and relief from poverty in their home countries. Arabs went to industrial centers, south Asian Muslims to the West Coast. Some arrived to study in universities; some arrived as slaves.

A 2007 Pew Research Center study says 21 percent of Muslim Americans arrived from abroad during the 1990s.

The September 11 attacks put a magnifying glass on what until then had been a largely invisible Muslim American community, prompting many to organize. The Patriot Act limited civil liberties. Many felt they were being profiled. The Council of American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, said more than 60,000 people were subject to new government actions such as interrogations, detentions, raids and the closure of charities.

CAIR reported a 64 percent increase in the number of civil rights complaints in the year after September 11, 2001. >>> Wendell Marsh | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Wearing the Burqa Is Neither Islamic Nor Socially Acceptable
THE INDEPENDENT: To deny face-to-face interaction is to deny our shared humanity

I am a Shia Muslim and I abhor the burqa. I am offended by the unchallenged presumption that women covering their heads and bodies and now faces are more pious and true than am I.

Islam in all its diverse forms entitles believers to a personal relationship with Allah – it cuts out middlemen, one reason its appeal extended to so many across the world. You can seek advice from learned scholars and imams, but they cannot come between your faith and the light of God. Today control freaks who claim they have a special line to the Almighty have turned our world dark. Neo-conservative Islamic codes spread like swine flu, an infection few seem able to resist.

The disease is progressive. It started 20 years ago with the hijab, donned then as a defiant symbol of identity, now a conscript's uniform. Then came the jilbab, the cloak, fought over in courts when schoolgirls were manipulated into claiming it as an essential Islamic garment. If so, hell awaits the female leaders of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Soon, children as young as four were kitted up in cloaks and headscarves ("so they get used to it, and then later wear the full thing," said a teacher to me who works at a Muslim girls' school) and now for the graduation gown, a full burqa, preferably with dark glasses.

White liberals frame this sinister development in terms of free choice and tolerance. Some write letters to this paper: What is the problem? It is all part of the rich diversity of our nation. They can rise to this challenge, show they are superhuman when it comes to liberty and forbearance.

They might not be quite so sanguine if their own daughters decided to be fully veiled or their sons became fanatic Islamicists and imposed purdah in the family. Such converts are springing up in Muslim families all over the land. Veils predate Islam and were never an injunction (modesty of attire for men and women is). Cultural protectionism has long been extended to those who came from old colonies, in part to atone for imperial hauteur. Redress was necessary then, not now. >>> Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Monday, July 13, 2009

Doyle McManus: The End of Obamamania
LOS ANGELES TIMES: On his overseas trip, the president was met with a lot less cheering and a lot more tough talk.

Barack Obama has fallen back to Earth.

When he ran for president, Obama said his election would be "the moment the rise of the oceans began to slow." And when he made his first big foreign trip in April, he was hailed by adoring crowds -- and almost-as-adoring politicians -- in Britain, Germany, France and the Czech Republic.

But last week, in Russia and Italy, Obamania was little more than a pleasant memory. Yes, his international polling numbers are still high, but the president encountered hardly any adulation in the streets of Moscow or anywhere else. Instead, Russian strongman Vladimir Putin reportedly gave him a tongue-lashing over a two-hour breakfast, and the tent-bound refugees from Italy's April earthquake mostly wanted to know whether he could rebuild their homes. ("Yes, we camp," their banner said, pointedly.)

And the oceans are still rising too. At the Group of 8 summit, the developing countries said no to a timetable to stop global warming, the reason for the waters' rise.

That's not to say the trip was a bust; it wasn't. But it was far from a triumph, and that's a new experience for Obama's foreign policy team.

The hard reality of international affairs is that, just as the United States has interests, so do other countries. And when those interests conflict, all the charm and charisma in the world can't resolve the differences.

At the G-8 summit, the United States, Britain and France had hoped for a tough statement on Iran's nuclear ambitions. The closest they got to a warning was this: "We sincerely hope that Iran will seize this opportunity to give diplomacy a chance."

The summit's other accomplishments were mostly worthy half-measures. The developing countries wouldn't sign on, but the eight big economies agreed to try to for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, 41 years from now. After a personal appeal from Obama, member nations promised $20 billion to help poor countries grow more food, but much of the money turned out to be old pledges under a new name.

Obama went to Moscow to "reset" U.S.-Russian relations, which under George W. Bush had veered from unrealistic enthusiasm to bitter recriminations. He succeeded in changing the tone, but the concrete results were modest. The two nuclear powers agreed on a framework for reducing their atomic arsenals, but since both sides went into the talks wanting to cut, the nuclear issue was the easy part.

More difficult were the issues each country sees as its top priority: for the United States, the problem of Iran; for Russia, the desire of its onetime possessions Ukraine and Georgia to escape from Moscow's orbit. >>> Doyle McManus | Sunday, July 12, 2009

BNP 'Does Not Want All-white UK'
BBC: British National Party leader Nick Griffin has said he no longer wants to see an all-white United Kingdom.

Watch BBC video: Nick Griffin tells Andrew Marr he no longer wants to see an all-white United Kingdom >>>

Mr Griffin, who is due to take up his seat as an MEP for the North West, said the idea of a UK without ethnic minorities was "simply not do-able".

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Griffin said: "Nobody out there wants it or would pay for it."

He said claims that he was a fascist were "smears" but said the European Union was "very close to fascism".

Mr Griffin told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that the BNP would put more money into voluntary repatriation programmes for members of ethnic minorities "who want to go back to their lands of ethnic origin".

He added that Britain was overcrowded and "terribly unstable" as a result of its "multicultural experiment".

The BNP leader also defended his view that the EU should sink boats carrying illegal immigrants.

Mr Griffin said: "What needs to be done as an example is to sink a couple of boats near the shores of Libya - throw them lifebelts so they can paddle back, so they understand they will never get to Europe.

"Because the alternative is accepting that Britain eventually is going to end up like Africa." [Source: BBC] | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Watch BBC video: BNP chief rejects 'racist' tag >>>

Watch BBC video: BNP's first MEP attacks EU >>>

Panorama: Muslim First, British Second
Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

Channel Four Interview: Nick Griffin

Die Diktatur der Mehrheit: In China werden Minderheiten systematisch schikaniert
NZZ am Sonntag: Die Aufstände der Uiguren stören Pekings Wunschbild der harmonischen Gesellschaft. Für viele Han-Chinesen sind Minderheiten minderwertig.

Die Woche in Urumqi endete schlimmer, als sie begonnen hatte. Viele Moscheen, in denen die Uiguren gewöhnlich zum Freitagsgebet zusammenkommen, blieben diesmal geschlossen. Damit wollten die Behörden neue Proteste verhindern, nachdem am vergangenen Sonntag bei ethnischen Unruhen nach Regierungsangaben mehr als 180 Personen getötet und 1080 verletzt worden waren. Die Botschaft war klar: Chinas Regierung weist den Uiguren die Alleinschuld für den Gewaltausbruch zu und sucht die Ursachen in deren muslimischer Religion.

Für die Uiguren kommt die Schliessung der Moscheen einer kollektiven Brandmarkung als Terroristen gleich, woran auch die Tatsache nichts ändert, dass im letzten Moment einige Gotteshäuser geöffnet wurden. Wer vor einer Woche noch skeptisch war, als beim Freitagsgebet Gerüchte über die Misshandlung uigurischer Wanderarbeiter in Südchina die Runde machten, kann nun kaum anders, als zu glauben, dass die Uiguren von Chinas Han-Mehrheit nichts Gutes zu erwarten haben. >>> Bernhard Bartsch, Peking | Sonntag, 12. Juli 2009

Obama's ‘Painful’ Ghana Visit
THE SUNDAY TIMES: AMERICA’S first lady, Michelle Obama, fought back tears yesterday as she toured a former Dutch slaving fort similar to the one in which it is believed her ancestors were held before being shipped to work on plantations in the deep south of the United States.

On the second day of President Barack Obama’s historic trip to sub-Saharan Africa, the first family flew from the capital, Accra, for a tour of the restored 17th-century Cape Castle, previously one of the biggest slave outposts on the West African coast.

“As painful as it is, I think that it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that sadly still exist in our world, not just on this continent but in every corner of the globe,” said the president.

Before the visit, Michelle Obama, whose great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, her oldest known relative, was born into slavery on a rice plantation in South Carolina, was made “Queen of the Cape Coast” by traditional chiefs of the region.

The couple and their children, Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, then descended the narrow staircase into the dark dungeons of the ocean-side fort where thousands of slaves were kept for up to 12 weeks waiting for a ship to dock.

Thousands of shackled African slaves huddled in squalor before being herded onto ships bound for America through the “gate of no return”. Obamas tour slavers’ fort in ‘painful’ Ghana visit >>> Jonathan Clayton in Cape Coast, Ghana | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Church Accuses Government of Favouring Muslims
THE TELEGRAPH: Church leaders have accused the Government of giving preferential treatment to the Muslim community because of "political correctness".

Parishes are being starved of state funds to help the poor as a result of money being diverted to other faiths, senior clergy told the General Synod, which is meeting in York.

A report endorsed by Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, claimed that the Government had become "unbalanced" in its approach to faith groups.

It argued that the determination of ministers to tackle Islamic extremism in the wake of the London bombings on July 7, 2005, had led to a preoccupation with Muslim communities at the expense of Christian groups.

Subsequently, the report said, churches are facing a challenge to maintain their presence in poor parts of the country. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, July 11, 2009

NHS: "An Orgasm a Day Keeps the Doctor Away"
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: NHS guidance is advising school pupils that they have a "right" to an enjoyable sex life and that regular sex can be good for their cardiovascular health.

The advice appears in leaflets circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers and is meant to update sex education by telling students about the benefits of enjoyable sex.

The authors of the guidance say that for too long, experts have concentrated on the need for "safe sex" and committed relationships while ignoring the principle reason that many people have sex.

Entitled Pleasure, the leaflet has been drawn up by NHS Sheffield, but it also being circulated outside the city.

The leaflet carries the slogan "an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away". It also says: "Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes' physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?" NHS tells school children of their "right" to "an orgasm a day" >>> Roya Nikkhah | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bremen im Fokus des europäischen Islamismus
WELT ONLINE: Mit einer Großrazzia ging die Polizei gegen ein Treffen europäischer Islamisten im Bremer Stadtteil Gröpelingen vor. Seit langem vermuten Verfassungsschutz und Landeskriminalamt dort ein Zentrum des Dschihad. Zentrale Figur der Bremer Islamisten ist der 28 Jahre alte René S., der sich selbst „Emir von Gröpelingen" nennt.

Karte: WeltOnline
Wenn René Marc S. (28) durch die Straßen des Bremer Stadtteils Gröpelingen streift, folgen ihm gleich mehrere Schatten. Seit mehr als einem halben Jahr wird der Deutsch-Türke permanent vom Verfassungsschutz beobachtet. Rund um die Uhr begleiten Beamte des Landeskriminalamtes (LKA) jeden Schritt des gebürtigen Bremers. Zweimal bereits wurde seine Wohnung durchsucht.

„Manchmal sind es fünf Autos“, sagt er, wenn man ihn auf seine Beschattung anspricht. Letztes Jahr erst zerstachen Freunde von ihm die Reifen eines Observationswagens. René S. gilt als potenzielle Bedrohung, als islamistischer Gefährder und Kontaktmann der europäischen Dschihad-Szene. Jetzt soll er in Bremen gar ein Treffen europäischer Islamisten organisiert haben.

Vor wenigen Jahren trat der ehemalige Katholik zum Islam über. Seither folgt er der fundamentalistischen Ideologie der Taqfiri. Taqfiris akzeptieren keine von der Sharia abweichende Rechtsordnung, ordnen sich demnach auch nicht der „Freiheitlich Demokratischen Grundordnung“ unter und ziehen sich in eine Parallelgesellschaft zurück, in der eigene Gesetze und Rechtsfindungsverfahren herrschen. Männer tragen nach Prophetentradition lange Bärte, kleiden sich in traditioneller Weise, und Frauen verpflichten sich zur Verschleierung.

Jede Erneuerung der Glaubenspraxis wird von den Taqfiris strikt abgelehnt. Die Anhänger stellen sich über die übliche Autorität der Rechtsgelehrten und entscheiden nach ihrer islamischen Überzeugung selbst wer ungläubig und ein Gegner des Islam ist. Zu letzteren zählen sie übrigens auch einen Großteil der Muslime. Den Dschihad gegen die „Feinde des Islam“ betrachten sie als gottgewollte Pflicht. >>> Von Florian Flade | Sonntag, 12. Juli 2009

Takfiri (Taqfiri) / تكفيري >>>

Fofana: Vers un nouveau procès?
leJDD.fr: Un verdict controversé. Le procès du "gang des barbares" achevé, les avocats de la famille du jeune Ilan Halimi ainsi que plusieurs organisations juives, demandent un nouveau procès. S'ils ne contestent pas la peine infligée à Youssouf Fofana, condamné à la réclusion à perpétuité, ce sont les peines des 25 autres co-accusés qui font débat. Une manifestation est prévue lundi.

Le verdict rendu dans l'affaire de l'assassinat du jeune juif Ilan Halimi en 2006 est critiqué par des organisations juives, dont le Crif, qui jugent certaines peines trop clémentes et veulent un nouveau procès. Le Bureau national de vigilance contre l'antisémitisme (BNVCA) a ainsi appelé dimanche à manifester lundi soir place Vendôme à Paris, non loin du ministère de la Justice, pour réclamer un appel du parquet général. L'Union des étudiants juifs (UEJF) se dit également choquée par le verdict, soulignant que tout a été mis en oeuvre pour "éviter de tirer les leçons" d'un meurtre antisémite.

Ce dossier devenu emblématique de l'antisémitisme et de la violence dans les banlieues pourrait désormais glisser sur le terrain politique. La voix du Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (Crif) est venue se joindre à celle de l'avocat de la mère de la victime, Francis Szpiner. Proche de la majorité présidentielle - il a été candidat UMP aux législatives en 2002 - il a exhorté la ministre de la Justice Michèle Alliot-Marie à susciter un appel du parquet général. >>> Par S.R (avec Reuters), leJDD.fr | Dimanche 12 Juillet 2009

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: La famille Halimi dénonce «l'indulgence» envers les complices de Fofana

ANTISÉMITISME | Pour l'ensemble de la communauté juive de France, les peines infligées aux membres du «gang des barbares» sont jugées trop faibles.

Une salle surchauffée. Après onze semaines de débats à huis clos, les 27 membres du "gang des barbares" font face à une salle pleine à craquer. Proches, journalistes et curieux sont venus vendredi en nombre entendre le verdict de la cour d'assises des mineurs de Paris. Dans le box des accusés règne une curieuse empathie, voire de l'indifférence. Le couperet tombe à 22h20 en l'absence de la famille d'Ilan Halimi, ce jeune homme de confession juive torturé et laissé à l'agonie le long d'une voie ferrée.

Impassible, le chef de gang franco-ivoirien écoute le verdict. Sans surprise, Youssouf Fofana âgé de 28 ans est condamné à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité assortie d'une peine de sûreté de 22 ans pour meurtre avec préméditation d'Ilan Halimi commis à raison de l'appartenance vraie ou supposée de la victime à une religion déterminée. La peine maximale. Au cours du procès, il a reconnu – et s'en est vanté – avoir porté seul les coups fatals à Ilan Halimi. "Oui, c'est moi qui l'ai fait, vous savez bien que c'est moi qui l'ai fait... Et j'en suis fier", lançait-il le 28 mai dernier. Ce vendredi soir, aucune provocation de sa part. Crâne rasé, longue barbe, vêtu d'une chemise colorée africaine, il se contente de tapoter dans ses mains, mimant des applaudissements, assis au bout du box, seul, isolé. Les 26 autres prévenus font bloc; sur le banc des prévenus, ils ont laissé un vide entre eux et Youssouf Fofana. Comme pour souligner le rôle central de celui qui se surnomme "le cerveau du gang". >>> Jean-Noël Cuénod, Paris | Dimanche 12 Juillet 2009

Tony Blair Faces Disappointment in Bid to Become European Union's President
THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair faces disappointment in his bid to become the European Union's powerful new president after losing support among continental leaders.

The former prime minister's key backer, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, is said to have "changed his mind" about Mr Blair's suitability for the post.

Without Mr Sarkozy's support, Mr Blair's candidacy – which is unofficially backed by Gordon Brown and the British government – is effectively doomed.

Sources in Brussels now say the favourite for the job is Felipe Gonzales, Spain's charismatic socialist former prime minister, whose government collapsed in a sleaze scandal in 1996.

Europe's leaders are just beginning the complex horse-trading that will end in the appointment of an EU president and "high representative" – effectively the union's foreign minister – once the Lisbon Treaty has been finally fully ratified.

That could come in October when Ireland stages its second referendum on the treaty following a "No" vote last year.

Pundits expect a "Yes" vote this time round which would allow the treaty to pass into law in the EU's 27 member states.

Mr Blair, currently a Middle East peace envoy, remains the choice of 10 Downing Street and the Foreign Office.

A Foreign Office source told The Sunday Telegraph: "The new job is perfectly suited to a big personality like Tony Blair."

However, Mr Sarkozy, who enthusiastically promoted the former prime minister's bid, is thought to have altered his stance – partly because of Mr Blair's perceived "failure" to achieve any change in the Middle East.

He has now switched support to Mr Gonzales, 67, who has claimed that Europe has been "adrift for 20 years" and has become a mere follower of the United States.

Mr Gonzales also heads an EU "wise men's" group appointed by Mr Sarkozy – the perfect platform from which to launch a presidential bid.
Mr Gonzales's spokesman, Joaquin Tajar. said: "Sarkozy is in favour of Gonzales's candidacy once the Lisbon Treaty has passed."

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and another key figure whose support Mr Blair would need, is now said by senior figures in Brussels "never to have been that keen on Tony getting the job in the first place." >>> Patrick Hennessy, Polticial Editor | Saturday, July 11, 2009

White House ‘Dirty Tricks’ Torpedo Palin
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential candidate, has accused members of President Barack Obama’s administration of a dirty tricks campaign to derail her political career.

Palin’s bizarre announcement that she would quit her post as governor of Alaska on July 26 stunned political friends and foes and has been greeted with derision by a growing number of prominent Republicans. Some conservative insiders have accused the charismatic mother-of-five of succumbing to “paranoia”.

Among the many explanations for her abrupt departure – from an alleged desire to be free to pursue the presidency in 2012 to money worries and ethics problems – the theory put forward by her spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, is that members of Obama’s White House are to blame.

Palin, 45, complained in her resignation speech on July 3 that she was being hounded constantly by “frivolous” ethics complaints. “This [is] political absurdity, the politics of personal destruction,” she said. “Todd [her husband] and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills to set the record straight.”

Stapleton told Time magazine last week: “A lot of this comes from Washington DC. The trail is pretty direct and obvious to us.”

Palin and her advisers believe the most damaging ethics accusation concerned “Trooper-gate”, when Palin was accused of pursuing a vendetta to get her former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, sacked as an Alaska state trooper. A month before the 2008 presidential election, in which she was Senator John McCain’s running mate, the Alaska legislative council found Palin guilty of abusing her power after an investigator concluded that “impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda”.

Palin dismissed the finding as a partisan smear, but it furthered the impression that she was not presidential material after running Alaska, the least populous state in the union, as her own personal fiefdom. >>> Sarah Baxter in Washington | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Nudity Does Us All Good

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Photo: Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: Channel 4's Life Class delivers an important lesson on the human form, whatever the moral guardians of daytime TV say, writes Jemima Lewis.

"Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed," said William Blake. But the moral guardians of daytime TV take a different view. The Channel 4 programme Life Class caused conniptions last week by showing a woman sitting very still with no clothes on.

The point of the programme is to replicate a real life class, with the viewers at home encouraged to pick up a pencil. The camera stays fixed on the model from one angle, only occasionally cutting away to take a peek at what the "tutor" – one of a series of distinguished artists – has drawn.

It is filmed in a determinedly untitillating way, more Open University than Nuts magazine, and in fact the first three episodes went out last week without any kerfuffle. It was only on Thursday – when Kirsten Varley, a fashion model of uncommon loveliness, dropped her silky dressing gown and stepped on to the dais – that the forces of puritanism pricked up their ears.

Channel 4 was said to have had dozens of complaints: one viewer, who watched the programme while ill in bed, croaked: "It nearly gave me a relapse. It was adult viewing, not for screening in the middle of the day."

John Beyer, of the TV pressure group Mediawatch UK, said he had referred the matter to Ofcom after being contacted by scandalised parents. "Obviously, people feel this is not suitable for daytime TV when they have children at home," he opined. "It's a pity Channel 4 cannot revive its Watercolour Challenge show."

We all miss Watercolour Challenge, John, but there comes a time when you have to let go. As for the effect of Life Class on young minds: who are these children who have never seen a naked body before? And more importantly, why not?

Going naked in front of your offspring is one of the duties of parenthood. Studies show – and common sense suggests – that children from households where nudity is commonplace grow up to feel more comfortable in their own skin. We need the background scenery of other people's bodies – dumpy, scrawny, dimpled or lean – in order to be reassured that our own peculiarities are normal. >>> Jemima Lewis | Saturday, July 11, 2009

Dhimmitude Alert! More Sh** from the British Government!
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS: POLICE will be ordered not to charge Muslim extremists in many hate crime cases – to stop them becoming more militant.

Guidelines will tell forces to press for conviction only in cases of clear-cut criminal acts.

Officers will be advised not to proceed when evidence of lawbreaking is “borderline”.

Examples of crimes to which a blind eye may be turned include incitement to religious hatred or viewing extremist material on the internet.

Last night critics warned that the move could mean Islamic radicals being give the freedom to encourage violence.

Some saw the move as a politically correct attempt to appease extremists who hate Britain.

It could even mean officers tolerating many activities of Muslim preachers of hate like the hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza.

Tory MP David Davies said: “This sounds like abject surrender. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of the law.

“It doesn’t matter whether someone is suspected of incitement to hatred or shoplifting – they should all face the same risk of prosecution.

“There should be no special favours or treatment for any section of the community.” Take It Easy on Muslim Extremists, Police Told >>>

Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>