At War with Radical Islam: It’s Time to Connect the Dots
AISH.COM: The past year has seen a serious and alarming increase of violent extremist activities throughout the United States. Contrary to what some in the media would have you think, this clear and present danger is not coming from the radical "right" or the liberal "left." It is coming from Muslim terrorists whose activities are frightening and well-documented.

Authoritative Islam is a radical theo-political ideology that openly aims to kill Jews, Christians and other non-believers who do not convert or submit to Islam. This threat should be the primary concern of leaders and citizens alike. Unfortunately, we are living in a country where political correctness has trumped all security threats. Therefore, how can we aggressively fight our enemy, when some of us refuse to even identify them as such?

So the question that begs to be answered is: Is America at war with radical Islam and those who seek to carry out its doctrine?

To help answer that question, take a closer look at some of the recent jihadi activities that have been glossed over and labeled as isolated occurrences. >>> Lori Averick | Sunday, January 10, 2010

Watch video clip: The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America >>>

Emirati Court Clears Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan of Torture
TIMES ONLINE: An Emirati court on Sunday today cleared the president’s brother of charges of torturing an Afghan despite video footage of the incident.

The court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acquitted Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan "after establishing he was not responsible" for the torture of the Afghan merchant in 2004, lawyer Habib al-Mulla said.

Five co-defendants, including two Americans, were found guilty, his lawyer said.

“The court accepted our defence that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs (medicine) that left him unaware of his actions,” he said.

Allegations against the sheikh emerged after US network ABC aired the video in April that appears to show him beating a man with whips, electric cattle prods and a wooden plank with protruding nails.

Assisted by others, Sheikh Issa is seen to pour salt in the man’s wounds and run over him with a sports utility vehicle.

The victim needed months of hospital care following the incident. He was reportedly an Afghan trader who lost a consignment of grain worth $5,000.

The lawyer told the court that one of the sheikh’s co-defendants was responsible for Sheikh Issa’s medications and had drugged him, then videotaped the incident and tried to blackmail him.

The court in the oasis city of Al-Ain ordered two co-defendants to pay a interim compensation of 10,000 dirhams ($2,724) to the victim, who can file a new lawsuit to claim full compensation.

The two US defendants of Lebanese origin, brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in jail each in absentia for having drugged the sheikh. >>> Times Online | Sunday, January 10, 2010

Calipers On The Genitals - Princely Style


Related:

UAE Detains ‘Torture Tape’ Sheikh >>> | Monday, May 18, 2009

Michael Jackson: Earth Song

Lionel Richie & Diana Ross: Endless Love

Britons Are Suspicious Towards Muslims, Study Finds
THE TELEGRAPH: The British public are concerned at the rise of Islam in the UK and fear that the country is deeply divided along religious lines, according to a major survey.

The Finsbury Park Mosque, London. Photo: The Telegraph
Is there any wonder? Who the hell wanted religious diversity anyway? Whoever thought up the idea must have been a naïve idiot! Muslims certainly don’t want diversity. In their eyes, everyone must submit to Allah, and call Muhammad the seal of prophets. What fools we have been to swallow this BS! There is but one possible result of this experiment: Bloodshed on the streets of the United Kingdom! – © Mark

More than half the population would be strongly opposed to a mosque being built in their neighbourhood, the study found.

A large proportion of the country believes that the multicultural experiment has failed, with 52 per cent considering that Britain is deeply divided along religious lines and 45 per cent saying that religious diversity has had a negative impact.

Only a quarter of Britons feel positive towards Muslims, while more than a third report feeling “cool” towards them.

The findings, to be published later this month in the respected British Social Attitudes Survey, show that far greater opposition to Islam than to any other faith and reveal that most people are willing to limit freedom of speech in an attempt to silence religious extremists.

David Voas, professor of population studies at Manchester University, who analysed the data, said that people were becoming intolerant towards all religions because of “the degree to which Islam is perceived as a threat to social cohesion”.

He said: “Muslims deserve to be the focus of policy on social cohesion, because no other group elicits so much disquiet.”

The “size and visibility” of Islamic communities has led to serious concerns about their impact on British society, Prof Voas concludes.

“This apparent threat to national identity (or even, some fear, to security) reduces the willingness to accommodate free expression.

“Opinion is divided, and many people remain tolerant of unpopular speech as well as distinctive dress and religious behaviour, but a large segment of the British population is unhappy about these subcultures.” >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, January 09, 2010

United Kingdom: Islam Ousting Christianity from School Assembly
THE TELEGRAPH: Almost 100,000 pupils are being taught in schools which have dropped Christian assemblies in favour of Islamic or multi-faith worship.

Children from Oaklands Preparatory school praying in assembly, Manchester, Britain – 1981. Photograph: The Telegraph
If we Brits put up with this, we’ve got to be stupid! – © Mark
More than 230 schools have applied to councils for exemption from the legal requirement to hold a daily act of collective worship of a "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character".

In some of these schools, Islamic assemblies are held instead, with readings from the Koran. Other schools run secular or multi-faith assemblies where Christianity is avoided or relegated to just one example of a faith among many.

Religious organisations said Christianity in schools was being marginalised and accused schools of failing children.

"The worst thing of all that schools can do, whether they have a determination or not, is a multi-faith mish mash," said Colin Hart, the director of the Christian Institute.

"The British Social Attitudes survey found that 69 per cent of parents backed daily prayers in schools. Yet Christianity in schools is being marginalised. Parents do not want assemblies to be either secular or a confusing amalgam of faiths. Look at the massive number of parents of other faiths who apply to Church schools. They don't like the secularism that is pervading community schools."

The scale of the opt-out can be revealed for the first time after 105 councils in England responded to a Freedom of Information request from The Sunday Telegraph. More than 230 schools have ditched Christian assemblies >>> Julie Henry, Education Correspondent | Saturday, January 09, 2010

The Winter of '47: I've Borrowed a Balaclava Helmet from Fred to Wear in Bed!
THE TELEGRAPH: This winter seems bad but the freeze of 1947, the worst in living memory, tested the resolve of war-weary Britons to the limit,

The big freeze: Derbyshire bus stuck in a snow drift. Photograph: The Telegraph
On the morning of Thursday, January 23, 1947, the front page of The Daily Telegraph made deeply depressing reading. "Bread Ration May Be Cut" read the main headline. "Less Bacon and Home Meat. Beer Supplies to be Halved Immediately". After years of shortages and austerity, this was the last thing Britain's weary people wanted to hear. But it was another small headline, hidden further down the page, that was to prove more significant. "Snow Falls in London" it said, and in those four short words, many readers had their first glimpse of Britain's worst winter of the 20th century.

The cruellest cold snap in modern history could not have come at a worse time. In January 1947 Britain was exhausted after the long, valiant but ruinously expensive struggle to defeat the Nazis. The shelves were bare, the Treasury coffers were empty and the coal stocks were perilously low. On New Year's Day the mines had come into public ownership, joining the railways, road haulage and utilities in the Labour government's nationalised empire. But with the country already beset by shortages and strikes, the economy was dangerously close to collapse. And when the snow came down, life in Clement Attlee's New Jerusalem ground to a halt.

In just a few days, so much snow fell on Britain that this week's freak weather looks like a mere dusting. By the end of January, hundreds of remote Northern farms and villages were cut off by 20-foot snowdrifts, while a bitter 12-hour blizzard off the south coast brought shipping to a complete standstill. In Essex, the drifts were 14 feet deep; in Surrey and Middlesex, millions of commuters stayed at home. The railway network collapsed completely, and by January 29 the temperature in London – minus 9C – was the lowest for half a century, made worse by protracted power cuts. "Freeze up continues," one Brixton woman wrote in her diary. "Thermometer has been at freezing point all day. Waste pipe in the bathroom and the geyser frozen … Even colder the forecast for tonight, so I've borrowed a balaclava helmet from Fred to wear in bed!" >>> Dominic Sandbrook | Saturday, January 09, 2010

Detroit Bomber 'Singing Like a Canary' Before Arrest
Obama must be a complete fool to insist on treating this disgusting character as an ordinary criminal; further, Americans have done themselves a complete disservice to elect this greenhorn President into office. – © Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama is under fire over claims that the Christmas Day underwear bomber was "singing like a canary" until he was treated as an ordinary criminal and advised of his right to silence.

The chance to secure crucial information about al-Qaeda operations in Yemen was lost because the Obama administration decided to charge and prosecute Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal, critics say. He is said to have reduced his co-operation with FBI interrogators on the advice of his government-appointed defence counsel.

The potential significance became chillingly clear this weekend when it was reported that shortly after his detention, he boasted that 20 more young Muslim men were being prepared for similar murderous missions in the Yemen.

The lawyer for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a formal not guilty plea on Friday to charges that he tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25 – even though he reportedly admitted earlier that he was trained and supplied with the explosives sewn into his underwear by al-Qaeda in the Arab state.

"He was singing like a canary, then we charged him in civilian proceedings, he got a lawyer and shut up," Slade Gorton, a member of the 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept 2001 terror attacks on the US, told The Sunday Telegraph.

"I find it incomprehensible that this administration is treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue. The president has finally said that we are at war with al-Qaeda. Well, if this is a war, then Abdulmutallab should be treated as a combatant not a criminal." >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, January 09, 2010

Jihadists Groom Children in the UK under 10
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Police have identified children as young as seven being groomed for terrorism, with some expressing a wish to become suicide bombers.

Up to 10 primary school pupils, aged between seven and 10, have been placed on a government outreach programme for individuals considered at risk of being radicalised and turning to violence.

Some have taken inspiration from jihadi websites or after viewing extremist material in Islamic bookshops.

One child was referred to the programme by his teacher after writing on a school book: “I want to be a suicide bomber.”

Other youngsters were identified by their parents after suddenly adopting traditional Muslim dress or espousing extremist views.

At least 228 people, mostly teenagers and young men aged 15-24, have been referred to the anti-terrorism Channel project after being singled out as “potentially vulnerable to violent extremism”. >>> Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor | Sunday, January 10, 2010

Don’t you just love that stupid-looking woolly cap? Photo: Mail Online
War March Fanatic Anjem Choudary Runs Secret Sharia ‘Weddings’
MAIL ONLINE: The Muslim extremist planning a march through Wootton Bassett runs a secret sharia court where he marries hundreds of couples – then tells them not to register their weddings.

Anjem Choudary tells them that registering their marriages is forbidden in Islam, as it would be recognition of British law.

But critics said he was leaving women open to abuse, as they could not go to a normal court to escape a violent husband or win their share in a divorce.

Mr Choudary’s Islam 4 UK group wants to carry 500 coffins through the Wiltshire town to remember Afghans killed by Britain and America.

He styles himself the judge of the UK Sharia Court and principal lecturer of the London School of Sharia and has claimed that he runs a network of Islamic courts in London, Luton, Birmingham, Derby and Leicester.

He claims that he has married more than 1,800 couples across Britain in less than ten years and conducted hundreds of divorces. >>> Abdul Taher | Saturday, January 09, 2010

Besuch im Nahen Osten: Guido Westerwelle treibt Handel im Morgenland
WELT ONLINE: Auf seiner bislang längsten Auslandsreise, die ihn von der Türkei über Saudi-Arabien und Katar auch in die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate führt, wirbt Guido Westerwelle vor allen für eine Vertiefung der Handelsbeziehungen. Sogar der saudische König Abdullah empfing den deutschen Außenminister.

Bundesaußenminister Guido Westerwelle und der saudische Finanzminister Ibrahim al-Assaf. (Der Finanzminister von Saudi Arabien fühlt sich sicher gebauchpinselt! – Mark)
Es war die wohl heikelste Mission, die der deutsche Außenminister in seiner noch jungen Amtszeit zu bestehen hatte. Nicht politisch, die Beziehungen zu Saudi-Arabien gelten als freundschaftlich. Dass Guido Westerwelle dennoch mit einem mulmigen Gefühl nach Riad gereist war, lag an seinem persönlichen Hintergrund: Der FDP-Politiker lebt daheim mit einem Mann zusammen. Und in dem islamischen Gottesstaat ist Homosexualität mit Sanktionen belegt, die von Peitschenhieben über Haft bis zur Todesstrafe reichen.

Doch die Königsfamilie Al-Saud, die dem Land ihren Namen gab, weiß zwischen dem Privatleben ihrer Gäste und den Staatsgeschäften zu unterscheiden. Westerwelle wurde von den Prinzen in den Ämtern des Außen- und Finanzministers mit ausgesuchter Höflichkeit begrüßt. Als besonders freundliche Geste durfte der deutsche Chefdiplomat die Ehre eines Empfangs durch König Abdullah werten, der ursprünglich nicht im Protokoll vorgesehen war. >>> Von Thorsten Jungholt | Samstag, 09. Januar 2010

Les minorités chrétiennes subissent la montée de l’islam radical
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: OPPRESSION | Après une attaque meurtrière contre la communauté copte en Egypte, trois églises ont été prises pour cible hier en Malaisie. Les violences à l’encontre des communautés chrétiennes s’intensifient.

Carte du Moyen-Orient, d'Asie et d’Afrique du Nord. Crédits carte : Tribune de Genève
Mercredi soir, une fusillade visant la communauté chrétienne en Haute-Egypte faisait sept morts, dont six parmi les fidèles venus assister à la messe de Noël copte. Plus tôt dans la journée, d’importantes forces de police investissaient la paroisse de Dông Chiêm, au Vietnam, blessant plusieurs croyants qui tentaient de protéger une croix de la destruction. Hier, trois églises étaient la cible de bombes incendiaires en Malaisie, où le débat autour de l’utilisation du mot «Allah» par les non-musulmans fait rage. En Asie, comme au Moyen-Orient et dans certains pays d’Afrique, les violences à l’encontre des communautés chrétiennes s’intensifient.
Aucune religion n’échappe aux discriminations, mais selon un rapport de l’organisation Aide à l’Eglise en détresse (AED), un organisme international reconnu par le Vatican, plus des trois quarts des exactions dans le monde concerneraient des chrétiens. Ce que confirme l’index des persécutions chrétiennes 2010 publié en début de semaine par l’ONG Portes Ouvertes, présente en Suisse. >>> Yannick Van Der Schueren | Samedi 09 Janvier 2010

UE : Allemagne et Espagne rassurent une Turquie sans illusions
LE TEMPS: Ankara déplore la lenteur du processus d’adhésion. Le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Guido Westerwelle, a réaffirmé cette semaine lors de sa première visite à Ankara que son pays n’était pas opposé à l’avenir européen de la Turquie

Non, l’Allemagne n’est pas opposée à l’avenir européen de la Turquie. Le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Guido Westerwelle, est venu le confirmer lors de sa première visite officielle en Turquie depuis son entrée en fonction en octobre. «Je vais être très clair, a-t-il déclaré jeudi au côté de son homologue Ahmet Davutoglu. Ce sur quoi l’Union européenne et la Turquie se sont mises d’accord tient toujours, et cela s’applique au gouvernement allemand. Je m’y engage.»

Pragmatisme

Il a ainsi confirmé la poursuite de la politique menée ces dernières années par Berlin, et cela malgré le changement de coalition intervenu en septembre. Le chef des libéraux allemands (FDP) Guido Wester­welle est en effet davantage ouvert à la candidature turque que ne le sont la chancelière Angela Merkel et sa formation chrétienne démocrate (CDU-CSU), ouvertement hostile à l’entrée d’un pays de 72 millions d’habitants à majorité musulmane. Le FDP, plus pragmatique, souhaite poursuivre la politique menée jusqu’à présent et respecter les engagements pris. Dans l’accord de coalition rédigé par les partenaires gouvernementaux, ces divergences ont abouti à une formulation prudente qui confirme l’objectif d’une «adhésion» mais non automatique. Ambiguë aux yeux des Turcs, cette position a toutefois le mérite de ne pas leur être trop hostile. >>> Delphine Nerbollier | Samedi 09 Janvier 2010

Weiterer Brandanschlag auf Kirche in Malaysia: Brandsätze verfehlen Fenster einer Kirche - Zeichen für wachsende Spannungen
NZZ ONLINE: In Kuala Lumpur hat es am Samstag offenbar einen weiteren Brandanschlag auf eine Kirche gegeben. Laut Angaben eines Bischofs haben zwei Brandsätze die Fenster des Gotteshauses aber verfehlt. Am Freitag sind in der Hauptstadt Malaysias Brandanschläge auf drei Kirchen verübt worden.

Inmitten wachsender Spannungen zwischen Christen und Muslimen in Malaysia ist am Samstag ein Brandanschlag auf eine vierte Kirche in der Hauptstadt Kuala Lumpur verübt worden. >>> ap | Samstag, 09. Januar 2010

Flugzeug-Attentat: Abdulmutallab war nur der Erste
ZEIT ONLINE: Der knapp vereitelte Anschlag von Detroit sollte nicht der einzige bleiben. Der Flugzeugbomber behauptet, 20 weitere Muslime seien in Jemen dafür geschult worden.

Der gescheiterte Flugzeugbomber von Detroit hat seinen Ermittlern von weiteren geplanten Anschlägen berichtet. Wie Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nach Berichten des Senders CBS News gestand, seien noch 20 weitere Muslime im Jemen für Anschläge nach demselben Muster trainiert worden. Der britische Geheimdienst habe diese Aussagen bestätigt.



Auch als Konsequenz daraus hätten die US-Flugsicherheitsbehörden am vergangenen Wochenende zusätzliche Kontrollmaßnahmen für Flugreisende in die USA erlassen. Seitdem werden sämtliche Passagiere aus 14 besonders terrorverdächtigen Ländern beim Einchecken abgetastet und ihr Handgepäck wird durchsucht. Auf dieser Roten Liste des US-Außenministeriums stehen unter anderem verschiedene arabische Länder sowie Nigeria, das Heimatland von Abdulmutallab. >>> Zeit Online, dap, Reuters | Samstag, 09. Januar 2010

Police Quell Immigrant Riots in Italy
THE TELEGRAPH: Police reinforcements were urgently sent to southern Italy after African migrant workers armed with rocks and metal poles fought pitch battles with locals in a protest over appalling living conditions and alleged racism.

A group of immigrants living in Rosarno, take part in a protest demonstration in Rosarno, Italy. Photo: The Telegraph
Nearly 70 people, including 30 immigrants, 19 policemen and 17 Italians were injured in the clashes, which started on Thursday after two Africans – from Togo and Nigeria – were shot at with air rifles by locals.

The shooting set off two nights of rioting in the town of Rosarno in the southern Calabria region, with immigrants saying they were sick of being treated like "animals", living in squalid conditions and being paid rock bottom wages for picking fruit and vegetables.

On Thursday, hundreds of immigrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, staged an angry demonstration against the shooting, setting fire to cars and rubbish bins, smashing shop windows and throwing rocks at police.

They carried placards which read "We are not animals" and "Italians are racist".

Locals retaliated on Friday, beating immigrants with iron bars and trying to run them over with cars and, in one case, a bulldozer. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Saturday, January 09, 2010

Italie : Révolte immigrée en Calabre
Crédits photo : Le Temps
LE TEMPS: Des centaines d’Africains ont protesté violemment contre l’exploitation dont ils font l’objet dans cette région gangrenée par la mafia. Jeudi soir, les affrontements ont fait 34 blessés, dont 18 policiers

Victimes d’exploitation, de vexations et de provocations, des centaines d’immigrés africains, le plus souvent clandestins, ont provoqué depuis jeudi une véritable émeute dans la petite ville calabraise de Rosarno, au sud de l’Italie. Vivant depuis des années des conditions d’habitat et d’hygiène terribles, travaillant dans les champs d’agrumes jusqu’à quatorze heures par jour pour une vingtaine d’euros, ils ont bloqué et saccagé une partie de la commune et se sont très violemment affrontés aux forces de l’ordre, après avoir été une nouvelle fois l’objet d’intimidations. Arme à air comprimé >>> Eric Jozsef | Samedi 09 Janvier 2010

Iran Opposition Leader Mehdi Karoubi Escapes Mob Bullets After Mourning Victims
TIMES ONLINE: Iran’s most outspoken opposition leader has had a narrow escape after his car was hit by bullets as he fled from a mob of government supporters.

Mehdi Karroubi’s armoured car was hit at least twice as it pulled away from the angry crowd, breaking the front and back windows. Mr Karroubi was unhurt.

The shooting was an ominous development in the seven months of internal strife that have engulfed Iran since the hotly disputed presidential election in June that handed victory to President Ahmadinejad.

Mr Karroubi, 72, has been attacked with bricks and teargas before but never with bullets, and in recent days the regime has sharply increased its efforts to crush a resurgent opposition. It has fired on demonstrators and staged rallies that have demanded the execution of Mr Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, the other leader of the so-called Green Movement. >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, January 08, 2010

Video Shows CIA Suicide Bomber Saying Act Was Revenge
THE TELEGRAPH: The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said in a video released on Saturday that the act was revenge for the killing of the Pakistani Taliban leader.



Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi appeared next to the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsoud, and explained how the "emigrants" – Muslim jihadists from abroad – were given shelter by the Pakistani Taliban and so should exact revenge for US attacks.

In August, Baitullah Mehsoud, the supreme commander of the Pakistani Taliban was killed by a CIA missile strike.

"We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsoud, We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside," he said, addressing the "enemies of God" and Jordanian intelligence. "It is an obligation of the emigrants who were welcomed by the emir."

Al-Balawi, wearing traditional Afghan dress, spoke in Arabic during the minute-and-a-half video.

The IntelCenter, a US-based group monitoring extremist sites, said the video was released by the Pakistani branch of the Taliban. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Saturday, January 09, 2010

Positive Thinking Making Us Miserable, Says Author
THE TELEGRAPH: The modern "tyranny" of positive thinking is to blame for society's ills and was the true cause of the financial crisis, according to a new book by author Barbara Ehrenreich.

Author Barbara Ehrenreich. Photo: The Telegraph
She said the belief that everything will turn out all right in the end if we remain optimistic and upbeat is "delusional".

What began as a 19th-century "quack theory" has become the dominant mode of thinking in the United States, she argues, influencing everything from global business decisions to the treatment of cancer patients.

Ehrenreich's book, Smile Or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World, sets out to demolish the "distinctive American ideology of positive thinking".

Speaking ahead of the book's publication in Britain next week, Ehrenreich said: "Delusion is always dangerous and the big example I would give of that is the 2008 financial meltdown. There are many things that fed into that.

"Many, many people got way over their heads in debt – ordinary people. And in what frame of mind do you assume large amounts of debt? Well, a positive frame of mind. You think that you're not going to get sick, your car's not going to break down, you're not going to lose your job and you're going to be able to pay it off.

"Mostly, though, I blame the top levels of corporate culture which, by the middle of this decade, were completely in a bubble of mandatory optimism and positive thinking."

Ehrenreich referred to the "cult-like atmosphere of high-fives" at Countrywide, the mortgage lender which became one of the biggest casualties of the subprime crisis, and claimed that executives who sounded warnings of impending financial disaster at Lehman Brothers were dismissed as "negative" thinkers.

"Corporate America had gone into this bubble of denial where bad things could never happen," she said. >>> Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor | Saturday, January 09, 2010

EU-Beitritt der Türkei: CSU will Westerwelle zügeln
ZEIT ONLINE: Nächster Konflikt zwischen CSU und FDP: Die CSU fordert, Westerwelle solle den Türken keine falschen Hoffnungen auf einen EU-Beitritt machen. Der verbittet sich das.

Bundesaußenminister Guido Westerwelle und der türkische Staatsminister für Europa, Egemen Bagis in Istanbul. Bild: Zeit Online
Der seit Tagen andauernde Zwist zwischen CSU und FDP hat nun auch die Außenpolitik erreicht. Bundesaußenminister Guido Westerwelle (FDP) hat die Kritik der CSU an seiner Türkeipolitik "kleinkariert" genannt. Es sei wichtig, dass die sich weiter in Richtung EU orientiere, sagte er zum Abschluss seines Türkeibesuchs in Istanbul. Dies läge nicht nur im politischen, sondern auch im wirtschaftlichen Interesse Deutschlands, weil die Perspektiven tausender deutscher Firmen davon abhingen. Das Thema eigne sich nicht für "kleinkarierte Scharmützel zwischen den Parteien". Westerwelle forderte, man solle "etwas mehr an Deutschland denken und etwas weniger an die parteipolitischen Interessen".

Der Außenminister hatte dem Land zugesichert, der Beitrittsprozess werde wie mit der EU vereinbart ergebnisoffen gestaltet. "Darauf gebe ich Ihnen mein Wort", sagte der FDP-Chef am Donnerstag.

Die CSU will die deutsche Haltung zu einem EU-Beitritt der Türkei nun zum Thema in der Koalition machen. CSU-Generalsekretär Alexander Dobrindt sagte der ARD, dass es bei dieser Frage in erster Linie um die Interessen Deutschlands und der Europäischen Union gehen müsse. Es sei ein Gebot der Fairness, der Türkei zu vermitteln, "dass wir die Überzeugung haben, dass eine Vollmitgliedschaft der Türkei zur Europäischen Union nicht möglich ist". Auch der Parlamentarische Geschäftsführer der CSU-Landesgruppe, Stefan Müller, bekräftigte die Ablehnung einer türkischen EU-Vollmitgliedschaft. "Darüber wird auch in der Koalition zu verhandeln sein", sagte er im WDR. Westerwelle müsse wissen, "dass er, wenn er in der Türkei ist, dort nicht Erwartungen wecken kann, die er am Ende vielleicht nicht einhalten kann". >>> Zeit Online, dpa, Reuters, AFP | Freitag, 08. Januar 2010