Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
I have just received a great review of my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age, written by Michael Arch. Naturally, I am very grateful to Michael both for writing it and sending it to me, and it goes without saying that I want to share it with you.
I recently read ‘The Dawning of a New Dark Age’ by Mark Alexander…
There have been a number of books published on the rise of Islam and the threat it poses to the West, especially to Europe and the U.K. I have read a number of these books as this is a subject that interests me greatly. Mark’s book debunks a number of myths surrounding Islam, in particular the much-parroted concept that Islam is a ‘religion of peace’. Mark’s work is well thought-out and clearly laid-out. I found it a very informative read. It compared very well with the other books I have read; indeed, it was better than many of them. My favourite chapter was “Islam – Time to End the Myths”. In fact, in my opinion, pretty much all of the chapters were spot on. I highly recommend ‘The Dawning of a New Dark Age’ if you want to know about Islam and the threat it poses to the West. Read it! Islam is the elephant in the room. Mark is pointing at it with this book. Observe! – Michael Arch, August 2011
China will have a modern military capable of force-projection and sustained high-intensity combat as early as the end of this decade, an annual Pentagon report into the state of China's armed forces has claimed.
New aircraft carriers, a stealth fighter program, carrier-killing ballistic missiles, improved cyberwarfare techniques and a doctrine of "space dominance" would all contribute to China's ambitious plans to modernise its 2.3million-strong People's Liberation Army.
The annual report comes as the US, Japan and several of China's smaller neighbours in the South China Sea voice concerns both about China's investment in offensive weapons technologies and Beijing's belligerent and bullying attitude towards regional disputes.
China rebuffed the 94-page report, accusing the Pentagon of "overlooking the country's peaceful defence policy" and "interfering" over Taiwan, the island that split from China in 1949 but that Beijing yearns to see re-united with mainland.
China's embassy in Washington described the report as "a reflection of Cold War mentality" that would needlessly be used to depict China as a threat and urged the US to "to work with China" to create healthy military ties between the two powers. Read on and comment » | Peter Foster, Beijing | Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
NZZ ONLINE: Moskau schreibt Ghadhafi noch nicht ab: Medwedew hält den bisherigen libyschen Machthaber weiterhin für einflussreich » | dpa | Mittwoch 24. August 2011
Muammar Gaddafi, who seized power in Libya in a 1969 coup and whose Tripoli stronghold has been violently seized , was a leader with many guises. He was a Bedouin tribesman, a colonel and a self-styled revolutionary. He was an Arab and an African, a nationalist and a socialist, a Muslim, a poet and a would-be "philosopher king".
For the Libyan "masses", he was, in his own words, their Brother Leader, Supreme Guide, mentor, patriarch and uncle. But for his domestic opponents and for much of the western world, Gaddafi was something else entirely: a hubristic oil sheikh, a buffoon, a braggart, and a heartless killer.
With his overthrow as Libya's paramount chief, the international stage has lost one of its most colourful and disturbing personalities. Gaddafi had the ability to amaze and appal, to shock and amuse, simultaneously and in equal measure. This Janus-like quality, of looking both ways while maintaining contradictory views, made him both a foolish and a formidable adversary.
The Bedouin tent he insisted on pitching when visiting foreign capitals, his infamous entourage of heavily armed female bodyguards, grandiose projects (such as his $20bn Great Man-Made River through the Libyan desert) and his absurdist, finger-wagging homilies to world leaders often rendered him a figure of fun and derision.
But the darker side of his character and leadership also made him, at various times during his 42-year reign, an object of fear and hatred – a vicious, duplicitous and pitiless enemy who would seemingly stop at nothing to maintain his dominance at home and advance his eccentric, bizarrely warped view of the world.
Writing in the Times in 2009, author Amir Taheri recounted how he first met Gaddafi in 1970 during the funeral of the Egyptian president, Gamal Abel Nasser – and how, typically, all was not how it seemed. "In a room in the Qubbah palace in Cairo I found Gaddafi squatting on the floor with a number of other Libyan officers, beating their chests and weeping uncontrollably while the television cameras rolled. Once the cameras stopped, however, it became clear that there had been no tears. The colonel and his entourage rose to shake our hands, all smiles." » | Simon Tisdall | Tuesday, August 23, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Critics say the decree, proposed by Bogor mayor Diani Budiarto, is another example of growing religious intolerance in the world's most populous Muslim country.
The move is the latest attempt to block construction of a new church in Indonesia[.]
The Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church was supposed to open in Bogor in 2008, but residents protested, claiming its permit was illegal.
Though the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parishioners in December, Mayor Budiarto has so far refused to comply.
He argued he was pushing for a decree to make it illegal to open churches on streets with Islamic names.
Indonesia, a secular nation of 240 million, has a long history of religious tolerance, but an extremist fringe has become more vocal - and violent - in recent years. Continue reading and comment » | Tuesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Libya's opposition is facing serious questions after the startling appearance in Tripoli of one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, his chosen heir.
Only hours earlier, as rebel fighters celebrated their advances in Tripoli, the National Transitional Council in Benghazi reported that Saif al-Islam was in custody.
His defiant gesture shows that the conflict could still full of surprises.
Al Jazeera's Zein Basravi reports.
Related
A defiant Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who acted as de-facto prime minister to his father, appeared early this morning in a carpark at his father's Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli before taking reporters on a tour of the parts of the capital still controlled by the regime.
"Tripoli is under our control. Everyone should rest assured. All is well in Tripoli," he boasted as gunfire rattled around the port city.
Yesterday the rebels announced Saif was under arrest and negotiations were underway to hand him to the International Criminal Court.
His older brother, Mohammed Gaddafi, was also reported to have broken free of house arrest last night.
"You have seen how the Libyan people rose up," Saif al-Islam said, referring to the loyalists' fierce fighting with rebel forces. » | Matthew Holehouse | Tuesday, August 23, 2011
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