Syrie, les Frères musulmans aspirent à un État "démocratique"
LE POINT: La confrérie des Frères musulmans est favorable à l'instauration d'un État démocratique et moderne.

L'ancien chef des Frères musulmans de Syrie, Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, a assuré dimanche soir que la confrérie aspirait à l'instauration d'un État "démocratique", et non pas islamique, en Syrie en cas de chute du régime du président Bachar el-Assad. Lors d'une conférence organisée par le centre Brookings de Doha, Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni a affirmé que le "Conseil national syrien", dont la formation a été annoncée dimanche à Istanbul, représentait "80 % de l'opposition syrienne" et qu'il était "ouvert à ceux qui voudraient s'y joindre". Il a affirmé que les Frères musulmans, qui font partie de cette instance, "ne veulent pas imposer leurs vues à l'opposition ni au peuple syrien". » | Source AFP | Lundi 03 Octobre 2011

Warnung vor Salafismus: Wenn das eigene Kind nur noch für Allah lebt

WELT ONLINE: Der radikale Islam ist in Deutschland längst Jugendkultur. Eine Broschüre warnt Eltern und Pädagogen vor der Anziehungskraft fundamentalistischer Prediger.

Die "Gesellschaft Demokratische Kultur", ein vom Bundesministerium für Familie gefördertes Projekt, hat eine Info-Broschüre vorgestellt, die über eine fundamentalistische Islam-Variante aufklären soll, die sich in Deutschland zunehmend zu einer Jugendkultur entwickelt – den Salafismus.

Laut Verfassungsschutz hat der Salafismus landesweit inzwischen mehrere tausend Anhänger – Tendenz steigend. Die Zahl der oft jugendlichen Konvertiten wächst stetig und so mehren sich auch die Fälle, in denen Familien zerbrechen, wenn der Sohn oder die Tochter zum ultraorthodoxen Islam konvertiert. Gipfel des Radikalisierungsprozesses kann die Ausreise in ein terroristisches Ausbildungslager in Pakistan sein.

Primäres Ziel der knapp 80-seitigen Broschüre "Ich lebe nur für Allah - Argumente und Anziehungskraft des Salafismus" soll sein, über den salafistischen Islam in Deutschland, Prediger und Gruppierungen aufzuklären, auch um mögliche Gefahren einer Radikalisierung erkennen zu können und präventiv dagegen arbeiten zu können. Wann wird aus Fundamentalismus gefährlicher Dschihadismus? » | Autor: Florian Flade | Montag 03. Oktober 2011
Weitere Informationen zu der Broschüre finden Sie auf der Website der Gesellschaft für Demokratische Kultur: Zentrum Demokratische Kultur »

Chrystia Freeland: Russia’s “Sultan” Putin
REUTERS.COM: The next Russian Revolution started this month. It will be another two or three or even four decades before the Russian people take to the streets to overthrow their dictator — and the timing will depend more on the price of oil than on anything else — but as of Sept. 24, revolution rather than evolution became Russia’s most likely path in the medium term.

That’s because President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s announcement last weekend that he would step aside next March to allow Vladimir V. Putin to return to the Kremlin was also an announcement that the ruling clique failed to institutionalize its grip over the country.

We have known since 1996 that Russia wasn’t a democracy. We now know that Russia isn’t a dictatorship controlled by one party, one priesthood, or one dynasty. It is a regime ruled by one man.

“The party doesn’t exist,” said one of Russia’s leading independent economists. “The politics is all about one person.”

“There is no such thing as Putinism without Putin,” Nikolas Gvosdev, a professor of national-security studies at the US Naval War College, wrote this week in The National Interest. “Putin must still remain personally involved and at the helm for his system to function.”

That new reality might seem to be a victory for Putin. But it is a flawed triumph. His resumption of absolute power is also an admission that he and his cronies have failed in the project they set themselves in 2008. And that failure leaves the future President Putin with an Achilles’ heel. » | Chrystia Freeland | Friday, September 30, 2011

With Gadhafi Gone, Jewish Residents Reclaim Long-shut Synagogue

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: David Gerbi is a 56-year-old psychoanalyst from Italy, but to Libyan rebels he was the “revolutionary Jew.” He returned to his homeland after 44 years in exile to help oust Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, and to take on what may be an even more challenging mission.

That job began Sunday, when he took a sledgehammer to a concrete wall. Behind it, the door to Tripoli’s crumbling main synagogue, unused since Col. Gadhafi expelled Libya’s small Jewish community early in his decades-long rule.

Mr. Gerbi knocked down the wall, said a prayer and cried.

“What Gadhafi tried to do is to eliminate the memory of us,” said Mr. Gerbi, whose family fled to Italy when he was 12. “I want to give a chance to the Jewish of Libya to come back.”

The Star of David is still visible inside and outside the peach-coloured Dar al-Bishi synagogue in Tripoli’s walled Old City. An empty ark remains where Torah scrolls were once kept. But graffiti is painted on the walls, and the floor and upper chambers are covered in plastic water bottles, clothes, mattresses, drug paraphernalia and pigeon carcasses.

He and a team of helpers carted in brooms, rakes and buckets to prepare to clean it out. » | Kim Gamel | Sunday, October 02, 2011

Cameron Strong on EU, Wobbly on Women

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: LONDON: The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has defended his country's membership of the European Union and his government's austerity drive, against critics in his own party.

Speaking to the BBC before the Conservative Party conference was due to start in Manchester yesterday, Mr Cameron also apologised for perceived sexist comments about women.

The Conservatives are concerned that female voters are deserting them in droves over what women see as family-unfriendly policies.

Mr Cameron rejected calls from his party's right wing for an immediate return of powers from the EU to Britain: ''I think our interest is to be in the Europe Union because we need [the] single market. We're a trading nation. It's vital for our economic future.''

He said he would not support a referendum on Britain leaving the EU. MPs will vote on whether to hold a referendum on the issue after a petition calling for a parliamentary debate garnered 100,000 signatures.

But Mr Cameron said: ''I don't want Britain to leave the European Union. What most people want in this country, I believe, is not actually to leave the European Union but to reform [it] and make sure the balance of powers between a country like Britain and Europe is better.'' » | Karen Kissane | Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Jewish Settlers Suspected of Mosque Blaze
THE INDEPENDENT: Jewish settlers or their supporters were suspected of setting a mosque in an Arab village in northern Israel on fire.

Graffiti on the walls pointed to settler involvement, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

He said a carpet was burned and interior walls damaged at the mosque in Tuba-Zangria in the Galilee region. Israel Radio also reported that Korans were burned. » | AP | Monday, October 03, 2011

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Israel: Mosque Set Ablaze in Upper Galilee » | Edmund Sanders | Monday, October 03, 2011

Women Bishops Would Humanise Priesthood, Says Archbishop of Canterbury

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Women should be allowed to become bishops in the Church of England to “humanise” the priesthood, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Dr Rowan Williams warned the Church hierarchy to prepare for the “culture change” that would come with the “full inclusion” of women.

Removing the bar to women’s ordination as bishops would help reverse the “creeping bureaucratisation” and “box ticking” that too often undermines the work of the Church, Dr Williams suggested.

His comments came as reforms allowing women to become bishops came a step closer to passing into Church law.

The 44 individual dioceses have until mid-November to hold ballots among members of their local synods, or assemblies, on whether to support plan.

The reforms have already proven highly divisive, contributing to hundreds of worshippers and clerics, including five bishops, leaving the Church of England to become Roman Catholics this year. » | Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Monday, October 03, 2011

The Anglican Church is already an irrelevance; the Archbishop of Canterbury is in the process of making it more irrelevant still.

The Church has been feminized over the years; and the more feminized the Church has become, the more the pews have emptied.

If Jesus had wanted there to be female priests and bishops, he'd have ensured that at least one of his disciples was a woman. He didn't do this; so it is pretty clear to me that this was not his intention.

Some people will say at this juncture that there were no women disciples because society back then was different. That's true. But Jesus was a revolutionary; so if he had wanted women to go out and preach the Gospel, he'd have made sure that his message was clear that they should. There is no doubt in my mind that this will bring no benefit to the Church. In fact, it will weaken an already weak Church even more.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is a man with his own liberal agenda. It appears that his agenda is more important to him than the survival of the Church.

Christianity is already dying on its feet in this country. Rowan Williams is only helping it along to its final resting place.

The Anglican Church – my own Church – has held little attraction for me for a very long time. This measure to introduce female bishops will make the Church still less attractive to me.

A feminized Church will be a weak Church. And as for his wanting to "humanise" the Church... Hasn't the Church been 'human' enough throughout the centuries? What a load of tosh, bunkum, and poppycock! – © Mark

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Schäubles Forderung nach mehr Europa spaltet Union
BERLINER ZEITUNG: Berlin - Bundesfinanzminister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) hat mit seinen Vorstellungen für eine stärkere europäische Integration den Widerspruch des Koalitionspartners CSU provoziert. CSU-Chef Horst Seehofer wandte sich strikt gegen weitere Kompetenzverlagerungen nach Brüssel.

Und Innenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) warnte: «Wer aus der Schuldenkrise den Schluss zieht, dass der europäische Zentralismus jetzt noch verstärkt werden muss, macht sich auf den völlig falschen Weg.»

SPD und Grüne sprachen sich unterdessen für eine Art europäische Treuhand aus, die den Verkauf griechischen Staatsvermögens zu einem angemessenen Preis garantieren soll.

Schäuble hatte in einem Beitrag für die «Welt am Sonntag» geschrieben: «Die Antwort auf die Krise kann nur ein Mehr an Europa bedeuten. ... Ohne begrenzte, aber zielgerichtete weitere Schritte im Sinne einer Vertiefung der europäischen Institutionen werden wir auf Dauer unsere europäische Handlungsfähigkeit verlieren.» Am Ende dieses Prozesses werde die politische Union stehen. » | dpa | Sonntag 02 Oktober 2011

Demonstranten verlangen Camerons Rücktritt

TAGES ANZEIGER: Zehntausende Briten protestierten in Manchester gegen die britische Sparpolitik. Und Premierminister Cameron musste sich bei zwei Parlamentarierinnen für abschätzige Bemerkungen entschuldigen.

Die britischen Konservativen müssen eineinhalb Jahre nach der Regierungsübernahme ihre Sparpolitik gegen massive Kritik verteidigen. Zum Auftakt des Parteitags am Sonntag in Manchester protestierten 30'000 Menschen gegen das milliardenschwere Sparpaket der Regierungskoalition aus Konservativen und Liberaldemokraten.

Unter den Demonstranten waren zahlreiche Beschäftigte des öffentlichen Dienstes, etwa Beamte, Lehrer und Feuerwehrleute, aber auch Angestellte aus dem Privatsektor. Zu dem Protestmarsch hatte der Dachverband der Gewerkschaften (Trades Union Congress, TUC) aufgerufen.

«Cameron muss weg»

«Konservative, raus!» skandierten die Demonstranten, während sie am Veranstaltungsort des Parteitags vorbeizogen. Auf Transparenten standen Sprüche wie «Manchester, eine Stadt vereint gegen Einschnitte» und «Er muss weg», womit Cameron gemeint war.

Aussenminister William Hague schwor die Delegierten zum Auftakt der viertägigen Konferenz erneut auf Haushaltsdisziplin ein. «Die Konsequenz aus Kreditaufnahme und Schulden und kann nicht sein, dass man neue Kredite aufnimmt und neue Schulden macht», sagte Hague. «Das wäre nicht fair für die nächste Generation». » | miw/sda | Sonntag 02. Oktober 2011

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Thousands protest against Cameron's cuts: About 35,000 people have turned out in Manchester to demonstrate against government budget cuts as Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives opened their annual conference. » | AFP | Monday, October 03, 2011

Grande Bretagne: 35 000 personnes dénoncent les coupes budgétaires

CYBERPRESSE.CA: Environ 35 000 personnes ont défilé à Manchester dimanche, au premier jour du congrès du Parti conservateur britannique au pouvoir, organisé dans cette ville du nord-ouest de l'Angleterre, pour dénoncer les restrictions budgétaires, selon la police.

«Conservateurs pourris, dehors», ont crié les manifestants en passant devant le centre qui accueille la conférence nationale des Tories.

De nombreux fonctionnaires, dont des enseignants et des sapeurs-pompiers, mais aussi des employés du privé ont répondu à l'appel de la confédération des syndicats britanniques, le Trades Union Congress (TUC), qui a intitulé le défilé «L'alternative - emplois, croissance, justice».

«Je suis contre la politique du gouvernement de réduction du montant des retraites. Il y des milliers de personnes ici, mais connaissant les conservateurs, je doute qu'ils écoutent, a estimé Gerry Collier, 64 ans, employé dans une entreprise de vérification des alarmes incendie.

Les pancartes dans la foule affirmaient «Les coupes ne sont pas le remède», «Manchester, une ville unie contre les coupes» ou encore «Il doit partir», un message adressé au premier ministre conservateur David Cameron. » | Agence France-Presse | MANCHESTER | Dimanche 02 Octobre 2011

Une majorité de Français voient Nicolas Sarkozy perdre en 2012
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS (Reuters) - Plus des deux tiers des Français prédisent que Nicolas Sarkozy perdra lors de l'élection présidentielle de 2012 en France s'il est candidat, selon un sondage Viavoice que publiera lundi Libération. » | Patrick Vignal, édité par Jean-Stéphane Brosse | Dimanche 02 Octobre 2011

Polizei nimmt mutmaßliche Islamisten fest
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Berlin - Die Polizei hat in Hessen und Nordrhein-Westfalen vier Männer festgenommen, die dem islamistischen Spektrum zugerechnet werden.

Nach Angaben der Kölner Polizei wurden drei Männer im Raum Bonn aufgegriffen worden, einer in Offenbach. Es habe Hinweise gegeben, dass sich die in Deutschland geborenen Männer im Alter zwischen 22 und 27 Jahren Schusswaffen beschafft hätten. … » | Reuters | Sonntag 02. Oktober 2011

Alberta's Conservative Party Chooses Redford as Leader

REUTERS CANADA: Alberta's ruling Conservative party has named Alison Redford, a former human rights lawyer, as the next premier of the province that is seeking to expand markets for its oil sands while fending off criticism from international environmental groups.

Redford won by a narrow margin in the early morning hours on Sunday. She beat out Gary Mar, a former health minister, and Doug Horner, who had been deputy premier.

Once sworn in, the 46-year-old former provincial justice minister will become the fifth Conservative premier in the party's four-decade dynasty in Alberta. She is due to call an election in the western province of 3.5 million people some time next year. » | Jeffrey Hodgson | Sunday, October 02, 2011

Familiar Sounds in Mideast Peace Calls
Oct. 2 - Israel welcomes efforts by international mediators to resume peace talks; with Palestinians calling for settlement halt before talks. Deborah Lutterbeck reports

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U.S. Economy Protests Spread
Oct.2 - Protests against mortgage foreclosures, unemployment and corporate bailouts spread beyond New York City. Paul Chapman reports.

Israël veut relancer les discussions
20 MINUTES ONLINE: Israël a accueilli «favorablement» la déclaration du Quartette pour relancer les négociations de paix. Il a appelé les Palestiniens à reprendre les discussions.

«Israël accueille favorablement l'appel du Quartette pour des négociations directes entre les parties sans pré-conditions, comme l'ont demandé à la fois le président Obama et le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu», indique un communiqué du bureau de M. Netanyahu.

Cette réaction officielle d'Israël est la première à la proposition du Quartette sur le Proche-Orient (Etats-Unis, Union européenne, ONU et Russie) de reprendre les négociations de paix avec l'objectif d'aboutir à un accord final fin 2012.
«Bien qu'Israël ait des réserves qui seront soulevées au moment approprié, il appelle l'Autorité palestinienne à suivre son exemple et engager des négociations directes sans tarder», souligne le communiqué. » | ats | Dimanche 02 Octobre 2011

Chris Christie: Bully, Punk, or Populist Genius? Meet the GOP's Latest Hope

THE GUARDIAN: Chris McGreal in Trenton reports on the controversial record of the man many believe could challenge Barack Obama

Some of Chris Christie's political allies have a telling way of describing the man who has become the most talked-about candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, even though he's adamant he's not running.

They have in recent times called the New Jersey governor "a bully and a punk", "vindictive", "deranged" and "a rotten prick".

Then there are Christie's political enemies – and that's how many regard themselves, not merely as opponents. They describe the governor, who claims to be the leader who can reach across the ideological divide and break the partisan deadlock in Washington, as conducting a "rule of anger", of having "a remarkable inability to have a civil dialogue" and of using his powers as an "instrument of revenge and rebuke". He has also been derided as "the king of liars".

Christie burst into the race for the presidential nomination, even without declaring his intention to run, with a speech at the Reagan Library in California last week that electrified many conservatives who fear their party's existing crop of candidates – led by Rick Perry and Mitt Romney – are not cutting it. » | Chris McGreal in Trenton, New Jersey | Saturday, October 01, 2011

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Danish 'Red Bloc' Alliance Formed to Take Leftwing Coalition into Power
THE GUARDIAN: Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who will become Denmark's first female PM, will announce her new ministers on Monday

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's prime minister-elect, has announced a deal to form a three-party centre-left coalition following her election victory two weeks ago. Thorning-Schmidt, the leader of the Social Democrats, and daughter-in-law of Neil and Glenys Kinnock, said the Socialist People's party and the Social Liberals would join her "red bloc" alliance. » | Agencies | Sunday, October 3, 2011

The Clamor for Chris Christie
October 01, 2011: What does the New Jersey governor have that the current GOP field doesn't?

Angela Merkel Bets All On Greek Myths

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The euro crisis vote has turned Germany's European dream into a nightmare, writes Clemens Wergin of Die Welt.

When George Papandreou addressed an audience of businessmen in Berlin on the painful subject of the euro crisis last week, he must have been surprised by the warmth of his welcome: far friendlier than anything the increasingly isolated Greek prime minister is used to back home.

Even more remarkable, given that Greece and its ever-expanding need for a bail-out is the cause of so much angst in Germany, the applause he received was louder than that for the Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

But the reason goes directly to the heart of the problem Germany faces. None of the industrialists – representatives of great German manufacturing companies like Siemens, BMW and Volkswagen – who gathered a 1960s conference centre in the former communist east of Berlin to hear him speak, want the euro to fail. Most would rather gamble just a little bit more of Germany's hard-earned cash to help Greece get out of its mess. And all wanted to believe his message, that the tough reforms promised by Greece would not only be delivered, but would work.

"We're not asking for applause, but we are simply asking for respect of the facts," he said. "Is there any hope? Will we ultimately succeed? My answer is yes, we can!"

As it turned out, last week was a decisive one for Mrs Merkel. On Thursday, she saw off a rebellion in her own ruling coalition and got the plan for an expanded bail-out fund through the German parliament, the Bundestag, with enough votes not to have needed the strong support that also came from the opposition.

But the question for Germany is still unanswered. Are Germans right to continue, grudgingly, to help their southern European cousins out of the mess that their bad habits have got them into? Or are we simply pouring good money after bad? Continue reading and comment » | Clemens Wergin*, in Berlin | Sunday, October 02, 2011

*Clemens Wergin is Foreign Editor of Die Welt