India Outrage over Mock 'Muslim' Terror Drills

BBC: There has been outrage in India after police in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat conducted mock security drills using fake "militants" dressed as Muslims.

A video of a drill in Surat district showed police restraining men wearing long tunics and white skullcaps.

Another video shot in the Narmada district had the "militants" shouting "Islam Zindabad (Long live Islam)".

Muslim leaders have called the videos "atrocious and highly condemnable".

Critics say the videos stereotype Muslims, who make up nearly 14% of the country's 1.2 billion population. » | Friday, January 02, 2015

Florida Man Decapitates Mother on New Year's Eve

BBC: US police say they have charged a man with first-degree murder after he decapitated his mother on New Year's Eve.

Florida officials said that 23-year-old Christian Gomez killed his mother with an axe on Wednesday.

Officers found the body of Maria Suarez-Cassagne outside the family home in Oldsmar, Pinellas County. » | Friday, January 02, 2015

Exodus from France Leads Aliyah to 10-Year High

THE JEWISH PRESS: Aliyah was up by 32 percent compared with 2013.

Immigration to Israel hit a 10-year high in 2014 with the arrival of approximately 26,500 new immigrants, 32 percent higher than last year’s 20,000 new “olim.”

France for the first time topped the list of countries of origin for immigrants, with nearly 7,000 Jews moving to Israel in 2014, double the 3,400 who came last year.

The other unusual rate of aliyah was from the Ukraine, from where 5,820 Jews moved to Israel, nearly three times the 2,020 who made aliyah in the previous year. » | Jewish Press Staff | Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Vœux du président François Hollande aux Français pour l'année 2015

Retrouvez les vœux du président François Hollande aux Français pour l'année 2015.

Österreichs Monarchisten hoffen auf Wende

In anderthalb Jahren zieht in Wien ein Neuer in die Hofburg. Es wird ein Präsident sein, nicht ein Kaiser. Doch wenn es nach den Monarchisten geht, wird zum letzten Mal ein Bürgerlicher Staatsoberhaupt werden. Denn nach ihren Plänen wird die Republik bald wieder altem Glanz Platz machen.

Den SRF Artikel hier lessen

Happy New Year! Bonne année ! Gutes Neues Jahr! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Felice Anno Nuovo! Felix sit annus novus! Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! ! سنة سعيدة L'Shannah Tovah!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my visitors, followers, and Twitter followers a wonderful, healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. May 2015 be your year! Thanking you all for your continued and loyal support. – © Mark

Neujahrsansprache der Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel aus dem Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin

Claptrap? Sir Winston Churchill’s Family Begged Him Not to Convert to Islam, Letter Reveals

THE INDEPENDENT: He might have been a staunch protector of the British Empire, but the British Prime Minister had a love of the Orient and Islam

The family of Sir Winston Churchill urged him to “fight against” the desire to convert to Islam, a newly discovered letter has revealed.

The Prime Minister who led Britain to victory in World War Two was apparently so taken with Islam and the culture of the Orient that his family wrote to try and persuade him not to become a Muslim.

In a letter dated August 1907 Churchill’s soon to be sister-in-law wrote to him: “Please don’t become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise, Pasha-like tendencies, I really have.

“If you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed, call of the blood, don’t you know what I mean, do fight against it.”

The letter, discovered by a history research fellow at Cambridge University, Warren Dockter, was written by Lady Gwendoline Bertie who married Churchill’s brother Jack.

"Churchill never seriously considered converting," Dr Dockter told The Independent. "He was more or less an atheist by this time anyway. He did however have a fascination with Islamic culture which was common among Victorians." » | Matilda Battersby | Sunday, December 28, 2014

This article seems to be ludicrous, given the fact that Churchill wrote the following about Islam:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die: but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.

Source: Wiki »

Islam's Dysfunctional State: In Isis-controlled Syria and Iraq Everyday Life Is Falling Apart

THE INDEPENDENT: Basic services such as water and rubbish collection are failing and residents are struggling to find food

Isis’s vaunted exercise in state-building appears to be crumbling, as living conditions deteriorate across the territories under its control, exposing the shortcomings of a group that devotes most of its energies to fighting battles and enforcing strict rules.

Residents say services are collapsing, prices are soaring and medicines are scarce in towns and cities across the “caliphate” that Isis proclaimed in Iraq and Syria, belying the group’s boasts that it is delivering a model form of governance for Muslims.

Slick videos depicting functioning governing offices and the distribution of aid fail to match the reality of growing deprivation and disorganised, erratic leadership, the residents say. A trumpeted Isis currency has not materialised, nor have the passports the group promised. Schools barely function, doctors are few and disease is on the rise.

In the Iraqi city of Mosul, the water has become undrinkable because supplies of chlorine have dried up, according to a journalist living there, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Hepatitis was spreading and flour for bread was becoming increasingly scarce, he said. “Life in the city is nearly dead, and it is as though we are living in a giant prison,” he said. » | Liz Sly | Friday, December 26, 2014

Die Freiheit Statement zum IS

Western Leftists Stand Up for Their Comrades in Islam

THE AUSTRALIAN – OPINION: THIS year was for Australia, as for much of the world, an annus horribilis. The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by Russian-backed rebels and the Sydney siege by Islamist jihadist Man Haron Monis announced to our nation the return of an old foe: totalitarianism.

The Lindt cafe nestles in Martin Place, a cosmopolitan promenade steeped in the story of Australia’s rise as a liberal-democratic nation. At one end sits the General Post Office, rendered sublime by the imagination of immigrant Scottish architect James Barnet in a neoclassical revival of the Italian Renaissance. At the other there’s the Australian Provincial Assurance building, a towering art deco tribute to technology and modernity erected at the dawn of totalitarianism in 1937; it is this that houses the Lindt cafe.

Martin Place is a standing celebration of the Australian story, our civilisation’s love of aesthetic beauty, our embrace of modernity, our legacy of civic freedom. It is guarded by the Cenotaph, whose inscription “Lest we forget” is a melancholic reminder of that old adage: the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

Islamic State’s totalitarian ideology is clarified in Dabiq magazine and Flames of War, a documentary that justifies its genocidal barbarity using propaganda concocted by the 1960s communist Left. In socialist and Islamist propaganda, the West is portrayed as an imperialist colonial leviathan that stands between eternally oppressed minorities and the second coming of international socialism. The utopian socialists and Islamists both promise world peace — after their bloody revolutions, of course. » | Jennifer Oriel | The Australian | Saturday, December 27, 2014

Morocco Says Exodus Film 'Represents God' and Is Forbidden in Islam

THE GUARDIAN: Film’s distributor receives written notice to ban Hollywood import because scene depicts God in the form of a ‘child who gives a revelation to the prophet Moses’

Morocco banned the Hollywood biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings because it “represents God” which is forbidden under Islam, its distributor said on Saturday.

The distributor said it had received written notice that Ridley Scott’s blockbuster contained a scene that represents God in the form of a “child who gives a revelation to the prophet Moses”. Initially, cinema owners were informed verbally that the film had been banned, media reports had said.

“I deplore this censorship,” distributor Mounia Layadi Benkirane said in a statement.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, has also banned the movie, citing “historical inaccuracies”. » | Agence France-Presse in Rabat | Saturday, December 27, 2014

Syrie : Damas prêt à rencontrer l'opposition à Moscou

LE POINT: La Russie, principale alliée du régime de Bachar el-Assad, pourrait accueillir "une conférence de dialogue entre Syriens sans ingérence étrangère".

Le régime syrien est prêt à rencontrer l'opposition à Moscou pour tenter de trouver une issue à la guerre qui ravage le pays depuis près de quatre ans, a annoncé samedi le ministère des Affaires étrangères.

"La Syrie est prête à participer à une rencontre préliminaire et consultative à Moscou pour répondre aux aspirations des Syriens qui sont celles de trouver une issue à la crise", indique une source non identifiée au sein du ministère dans ce communiqué, cité par l'agence officielle syrienne Sana. » | Source AFP | samedi 27 décembre 2014

Boycott Halal Movement in Australia Set to Escalate

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: The virulent Boycott Halal movement in Australia is set to escalate with a petition to federal parliament in the New Year demanding the Corporations Act 2001 be changed to mean only Muslims bear the cost of halal certification on everyday products.

Halal products are those deemed permissible for Muslims to eat or use under religious law. Many mainstream products in Australian stores are halal certified including food from SPC, Nestle, Kelloggs and Kraft. Supermarket chains pay for certification for some products, as do dairy factories and meat processors. » | Chris Johnston | Saturday, December 27, 2014

Worse Than the Dictators: Egypt’s Leaders Bring Pillars of Freedom Crashing Down

THE GUARDIAN: Adly Mansour and now Abdel Fatah al-Sisi are ruling by decrees, banning protest and severely curbing freedom of speech

Egypt is enacting authoritarian laws at a rate unmatched by any regime for 60 years, legal specialists from four institutions have told the Guardian.

Since the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Morsi’s successors in the presidency, Adly Mansour and Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, have used the absence of an elected parliament to almost unilaterally issue a series of draconian decrees that severely restrict freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The speed at which the decrees have been issued outpaces legislative frenzies under the dictators Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, and is matched only by the period that followed the toppling of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952, according to Amr Shalakany, associate law professor at the American University in Cairo; Amr Abdulrahman, director of civil liberties at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights; Mohamed Elhelw, head of legal research at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms; and Ahmed Ezzat, a human rights lawyer, and previously a legal researcher at another prominent rights group. » | Patrick Kingsley in Cairo | Friday, December 26, 2014

Erdogan's 'New Turkey' Drifts towards Isolation

BBC: There is an old saying in Turkish: "The Turk has no friend but the Turk." As this country drifts towards isolation under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the proverb is ringing uncomfortably true.

During his 11 years as prime minister, Turkey rose in prominence. It began negotiations for European Union membership. It hugely increased its diplomatic presence, particularly in Africa. Its biggest city, Istanbul, now hosts one of the world's largest airport hubs with an airline that flies to more countries than any other.

But in the past months, perhaps two years or so, something has soured. The world's statesmen still stop by - the US Vice President, Joe Biden, arriving this week - but Turkey today is distinctly lacking friends.

When the UN General Assembly voted last month for new non-permanent members of the Security Council, Turkey confidently assumed it would secure a seat. But, humiliatingly, it lost out to Spain and New Zealand: A slap in the face for Mr Erdogan, elected president in August. » | Mark Lowen | BBC News | Istanbul | Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Erdogan Tells Europe to Stop Criticizing Turkey

REUTERS: (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan slammed European countries on Friday for criticizing deteriorating press freedom in Turkey and said they should instead try to find a solution for what he said was increasing Islamophobia in the continent.

Turkish police earlier this month raided media outlets close to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan accuses of forming a 'parallel state' to undermine his rule and orchestrating a graft scandal targeting his inner circle.

The European Union, which Turkey has been seeking to join for decades, said the media raids ran counter to European values, a criticism already dismissed by Erdogan. On Friday, the President repeated his discontent, with a visibly harsher tone.

"We are not Europe's scapegoat," Erdogan told a symposium of civil servants. "We are definitely not a country that Europe can point its finger at and scold. Instead of criticizing us, Europe should find a solution to increasing racism and Islamophobia." » | Reuters | Istanbul | Friday, December 26, 2014

The Queen's 2014 Christmas Speech

Islamic State: German Author Given Unprecedented Access

BBC: A German author given unprecedented access to territory controlled by Islamic State (IS), has told the BBC that IS is stronger, more brutal and harder to confront than he had expected.

Juergen Todenhoefer spent 10 days in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria where he filmed daily life and spoke to fighters.

He told Caroline Hawley what he found. (+ BBC video) » | Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël ! Frohe Weihnachten! Buon Natale! Felix Nativitas!

'We Three Kings', an original painting by James C. Christensen.
Collage : Google Images