Split in Anglican Communion looks increasingly likely

Photo courtesy of Google Images

A woman was last night elected as the first female leader of the American branch of Anglicanism in a historic but divisive development that could hasten the break-up of the worldwide Church.

The Bishop of Nevada, the Rt Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, who is a leading liberal on homosexuality, is the first women primate in the history of Anglicanism.

Her role as Presiding Bishop is the equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Her surprise election was greeted with whoops of joy by pro-women campaigners at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, where she was chosen by her fellow bishops in four hours of voting.

But conservatives predicted that she would lead the Episcopal Church further along its liberal path on issues such as homosexuality, and her election will dismay traditionalists opposed to women priests. Anglican crisis as woman leads US Church by Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent, in Columbus, Ohio

Members of the Church of England take pride in portraying it as able to tolerate a wide diversity of opinion. By extension, they would like to apply this judgment to the Anglican communion as a whole. However, as the general convention of the Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio, reminds us, such optimism in regard to the wider Church is looking more and more like wishful thinking.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, speaks dramatically of "virtually two religions in a single Church". A guest at the convention of the American branch of Anglicanism, he was dismayed to see its House of Bishops pass a resolution last Friday, without theological debate, in support of civil marriages for gay couples.

He believes that the Episcopal Church has departed so far from what is generally held to be Anglican theology that a point of no return has been reached. And he implies that Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, should recognise this fact by expelling it from the Anglican communion. The spectre of schism

Mark Alexander

Self-delusion wins no wars!
I have been alerted to two very well-written, and extremely accurate, essays on the threat of Islam, and how to deal with it. These essays were written a little while ago by my good friend and colleague Jason Pappas, whose weblog, Liberty and Culture has much to contribute to the war we are engaged in.

Please take a look at these. The first is long, but well worth the time it takes to read it. It is full of insight and facts. The second one is somewhat shorter, but no less important for that.

Do conservatives recognize the threat?

Rarely, in the course of history, has a nation gone to war while praising the enemy’s ideology. We can, however, see this absurd spectacle today. While terrorists attack our greatest cities in the name of Islam, we are told that these ideas have nothing to do with their actions. As Muslims cheer with joy throughout the Islamic world, we are told that we mustn’t rush to judgment and stereotype another culture. With each report of repression, misogyny, self-imposed poverty, anti-Semitic hatred, and suicidal glorification, we are told that they are human beings just like us – don’t judge! There is a pathological fear of saying anything negative about the motivating force driving our enemy: Islam.

At first this may seem like an exaggeration. But is it? We do condemn radical Islam but notice how we unduly minimize our criticism. We add the qualifier “radical” or “militant” to imply that it is something added to Islam. The problem must be this additional element – not Islam itself. Or we borrow a word from Christianity and call them fundamentalists as if there were differing versions of Islam. We presume fundamentalist Islam is spurned by the average Muslim, who, we imagine, sees this 7th century practice as a relic relevant to Mohammad’s time. How enlightened we imagine the modern Muslim!

Or we may complain that Islam needs some missing element that will transform it and bring it into the 21st century. We make a moral equivalence between Christianity’s failures centuries ago and Islamic backwardness today. If Christianity can move forward and adapt to the modern world, why can’t Islam? It must be this missing element, modernity, which Islam needs. It took Christians two thousands years to grow up, we are told; you can’t expect Islam to do that in 1400 years. At no point must we question the Islam religion itself.

The taboo against subjecting a religion to critical analysis is even greater when that religion is part of a foreign culture. Conservatives are quick to attack the relativism inherent in contemporary multi-cultural analysis – particularly on the left. There is indeed a wide-spread relativism and vitriolic anti-Americanism on the left but it is by no means universal. I will address this at another time. The contention of this article is that conservatives’ response to the Islamic threat is inadequate and they need to change if we are to fight this enemy effectively. The Conservative Response to the Islamic Threat. by Jason Pappas © September 5, 2004

Saudi Arabia spearheads the worldwide Islamist movement by the establishment of educational institutions around the globe dedicated to reawakening the jihadist ideology. A vast recruiting and training network produces hate-filled warriors eager to kill anyone in their path for the glory of Islam. Saudi powerbrokers finance global terror groups from Hamas to Al Qaeda. (See our review.) The time has come to reconsider our repugnant association with these duplicitous international criminals. What should we do in the face of this threat? Let’s start by severing all ties with Saudi Arabia – military, trade, travel, and diplomatic.

Impossible, you say? Given that 15% of our oil imports originate in Saudi Arabia, the idea of ending our Saudi trade relationship is deemed unimaginable or only possible in the distant future after the development of alternative sources of energy. Neither political party dares suggest such a move in the current context. Unfortunately, the economics is poorly understood but far worse, moral leadership is next to non-existent. First the economics:

Oil is a commodity. Like any commodity its price is determined by the market and it can be sold and resold any number of times. Oil isn’t made-to-order for a particular buyer like a custom suit from one’s personal tailor. The production, purchase, resale, and consumption of oil in today’s modern global economy are determined by market forces – not personal relationships. The path from producer to consumer is spontaneously rearranging. The Saudi Problem by Jason Pappas©

Mark Alexander

Sarkozy gets tough on immigration

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The upper house of the French parliament has passed a tough new immigration bill, weeks after it was adopted by the lower chamber.

The bill makes it harder for unskilled migrants to settle in France and abolishes the rights of illegal immigrants to remain after 10 years.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who drafted the bill, says it will bring France into line with other countries.

Critics say it is racist and accuse Mr Sarkozy of pandering to the far-right.

Mr Sarkozy, who is seen as a potential contender in presidential elections next year, says France must be in control of immigration, rather than a passive recipient. French immigration bill approved

Mark Alexander

The West’s Problems with Islam Exacerbated by Bush’s Determination Not to Identify the Enemy!
9/11, a day that will go down in history as a ‘day of infamy’, should have marked a turning point in our dealing with the Islamic world. Alas, no such ‘turning point’ came about.

Instead, the President of the US, George W Bush, insisted that the US was not at war with the Islamic world. I dare say it was true – to a point. What he failed to say was its corollary: namely, that the Islamic world was at war with America, and by extension, the West!

That this was so should have been made clear to all Americans, and to all Westerners alike. It wasn’t. The result of this is that we now have fuzzy thinking on the war we are engaged in, fuzzy thinking on the problems we face, fuzzy thinking on the growth of Islam in the West, fuzzy thinking on how to tackle our enemy: Islam!

Make no mistake about it: Islam is our enemy. Islam represents all that is abhorrent to the West: coercion, lack of religious freedom, totalitarianism, and much else besides. But, as the West was built up on largely Christian principles, it is also the negation of the notion that Jesus Christ is man’s Saviour, man’s Redeemer. They say that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God; we say that He was! The West, as a civilization, has been built up on that notion.

No problem, you say. Let them believe what they will. Wrong! You are wrong, so wrong, to take this viewpoint.

Muslims have principles. Indeed, it may be said that they have very strong principles. And they fight for them. How many of YOU have principles that you will fight for? It would appear that Westerners have few principles they are willing to fight for; indeed, many Westerners are not sure what their principles are! And therein lies one of the major problems we face today: not knowing what the West stands for; and, by extension, not knowing what we must fight for.

Yes, all right, we have some vague notions of freedom and democracy. But let’s face it, they are just that: vague notions! How many people truly understand what freedom is, still less what democracy entails? Do we really understand both concepts? Freedom is not just being able to go on your favourite foreign holiday when you please; democracy isn’t just about voting for this handsome guy, or that one. No! It’s about more than that. Much more!

How is the West going to deal with the onslaught of Islam when Westerners don’t even know what they should believe in? In years gone by, Westerners knew exactly what they should believe in: in Judeo-Christian principles. But as churches have emptied, many people now know sweet little about Judeo-Christian principles, and care still less about them.

It may be said, in no uncertain terms I have to say, that we ignore our Judeo-Christian heritage at our own peril! Islam is knocking on our door; in fact, we have already let it in. And the religion is growing apace in the West; and make no mistake about it: it is DIAMETRICALLY-OPPOSED to EVERYTHING we stand for; and it is only biding its time to take us over. The sickness of out time is that ordinary folk have no understanding of what is going on!

It is my belief that George W Bush must shoulder a lot of the blame for this ignorance. For, in stubbornly refusing to apportion blame for the atrocities of 9/11 on Muslims, he has also brought confusion into the minds of many Westerners. Westerners, as a result, have little understanding of what motivates Muslims. To be fed the nonsense that Muslims are our friends is a lie. A damn lie! And Bush, unless he is stupid, knows that very well. Islam is our enemy. It has to be, for it seeks to destroy us.

Make no mistake about it: Islam is waiting in the wings; it is just ready to take us over. Do you think that Muslims don’t realize and understand that Westerners have little stomach for a fight? Have none of it! They perceive YOU as WEAK! Really weak! After all, look what we are allowing them to get away with!

Only this week, it has come to our attention that our bankers are allowing the ideas of Shari’ah banking to be put in place here in the West. Now, in the United Kingdom, Shari’ah banking is to be made available to Muslims and Muslimahs across the United Kingdom, on every high street. Imagine the uproar in the UK in the 1940s with headlines such as Nazi banking to be made available to Nazis by all high street banks across the United Kingdom! It would have been totally unacceptable to people then; and it should be totally unacceptable to people now, too.

In the States, shrines to Islam, our enemy, are to be built by the US Marines. Just how stupid and naïve is that? How many shrines to Christianity are there in Saudi Arabia? We are giving these people an importance above their station!

A war – and George W Bush tells us we are at war – has to be fought from a position of strength. Furthermore, for a war to be successful, it has to be fought in the right atmosphere. The enemy has to be - yes, wait for it – demonized! I make no apologies for the use of that word. We are either at war with an enemy, or we are not! It’s as simple and straightforward as that!

No war in history has been fought like this ridiculous war! We are trying to fight a war without demonizing the enemy. It cannot be done! Either we are at war, or we are not. To say that we are at war with some vague notion of terrorists is nothing less than absurd. Terrorism equates to the Jihad. Indeed, the Jihad is terrorism unadulterated. The Jihad is nothing more and nothing less than terrorism used for the furtherance of the cause of Islam. It is used to Islamize your country and mine. Make no mistake about that!

I am reading a very good book at the moment entitled Defying Hitler. In it, the author , Sebastian Haffner, talks about how the enemy was demonized during the Great War. He talks about France’s “lust for revenge”, England’s “commercial envy”, and Russia’s “barbarism”. That’s how to do it, folks! You cannot win a war when everything has been sanitized. Everything, today, must be sanitized! No war has ever been so won! No war will ever be so won! Either we are at war; or we are not. It’s as simple as that! If we are at war, then we have to demonize the enemy.

President Bush, the day after 9/11, came on TV, almost embracing the Qur’an, stating that the US was not at war with the Islamic world. What he should have stated was that the Islamic world was at war with America and the West. And it still is. Indeed, the war has been intensified. Had he done this, we wouldn’t today be seeing the growth of Islamic banking in the West, the building of shrines to Islam in the US Marines, and we wouldn’t be in such a mess with Islam in general. President Bush! You have failed! You have failed miserably! You’ve had your chance, and you’ve blown it. Move over, Sir! Let someone else try and clear up your mess!

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

"Not an abomination"

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The gay US bishop at the centre of controversy over his consecration has told a convention of US Anglicans he is "not an abomination".

Gene Robinson said the Episcopal Church should "stand up for right", adding that Anglicans should not be swayed by fear of deepening rifts over the issue.

The Ohio convention is to vote on how far to go in seeking to prevent the ordination of more openly gay bishops.

A senior conservative said it would be impossible to prevent a split.

"We've reached a moment where it is very difficult, indeed I think we've reached an impossible moment, in holding it together," Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh said, quoted by the Associated Press. Gay bishop 'not an abomination'

Mark Alexander

John Howard pointed in 'right' direction for Paradise!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

JEMAAH Islamiyah's spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir - freed from jail yesterday - has said Prime Minister John Howard should become a Muslim if he wants to avoid going to hell. Become Islamic or go to hell, Howard told

THE deaths of more than 220 people in terrorist attacks on Bali were "God's will" and the bombers were not killers as they were only acting as God's means, says the freed leader of Indonesia's radical Muslims, Abu Bakar Bashir.

He has also rebuffed demands by the Prime Minister, John Howard, that Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, monitor his activities and restrict his movements.

On the veranda of his home inside the inner sanctum of his Ngruki Islamic boarding school near the central Java city of Solo, Bashir made outspoken comments to a group of journalists yesterday afternoon, after his release from prison on Wednesday. Bali bombings were God's will: defiant Bashir

TERRORIST leader Abu Bakar Bashir taunted Australia yesterday, saying the Bali bombing victims had to die "because it was God's will".

As John Howard sent a terse letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over this week's release of the radical cleric, Bashir insisted the terrorists behind the Bali bombings "were not the killers, but only Allah's conduit" for the deaths. Bali bombing was God's will: Abu Bakar Bashir by Stephen Fitzpatrick and Patrick Walters

Mark Alexander

Islamic banking hits the high streets across the nation

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Lloyds TSB is to offer current accounts and mortgages which comply with Islamic law through its 2,000 strong branch network from Wednesday.

The bank has offered such accounts since 2005 but only in a few branches.

The bank will concentrate its main marketing push in about 100 branches in areas with a large Muslim population.

An Islamic scholar advising the bank told BBC News that access to such services would ultimately mean "less exclusion and less extremism."

Traditionally, many Muslims have shunned mainstream financial services and High Street banks because their products do not comply with Sharia law.

Under Sharia Islamic law, making money from money, such as charging interest, is usury and therefore not permitted.

Wealth should be generated only through legitimate trade and investment in assets.

Investment in companies involved with alcohol, gambling, tobacco and pornography is strictly off-limits. Islamic banaking goes nationwide by Julian Knight

Mark Alexander

Britain's highest court says Saudis cannot be sued for torture

Photo courtesy of The Globe and Mail

LONDON — Britain's highest court ruled Wednesday that four men who say they were tortured in Saudi Arabian jails cannot sue officials from that country over their imprisonment.

The Law Lords ruled that Britons Ron Jones, Sandy Mitchell and Les Walker and Canadian William Sampson do not have the right to sue individual alleged torturers, because foreign government officials are immune from prosecution in Britain.

"This isn't over for us," Mr. Sampson, who holds both Canadian and British citizenship, told reporters, saying the four men would take their case to the European Court of Justice. Britain's highest court rejects bid to sue Saudis by Jill Lawless

Mark Alexander

A viewpoint on the Jihad
I was alerted to this interesting viewpoint on the Jihad by a good friend in Australia. It has been written by Laurent Murawiec (Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Washington DC). I'd like to share it with you.

Deterrence works because one is able credibly to threaten the center of gravity of the enemy: the threat of inflicting unacceptable losses upon him, whether in a bar brawl or in nuclear escalation. The calculus deterrence relies upon is: is it worth it? Is the Price/Earning Ratio of the contemplated action so hugely negative that it would wipe out the capital? Deterrence works if the price to be paid by the party to be deterred hugely exceeds his expected earnings. But deterrence only works if the enemy is able and willing to enter the same calculus. If the enemy plays by other rules and calculates by other means, he will not be deterred. There was nothing the Philistines could have done to deter Samson. If the calculus is: I exchange my worthless earthly life against the triumph of Allah on earth, and an eternity of bliss for me, if the enemy wishes to be dead, if to him the Apocalypse is desirable, he will not be deterred.

When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the Mayor of Tehran, he insistently proposed that the main thoroughfares of Tehran should be widened so that, he explained, on the day of his reappearance, the Hidden Imam, Mohamed ibn Hassan, who went into the great occultation in 941 AD could tread spacious avenues. More recently, he told the Indian Foreign Minister that “in two years, everything will be settled,” which the visiting dignitary at first mistook to mean that Iran expected to possess nuclear weapons in two years; he was later bemused to learn what Ahmadinejad had meant, to wit, that the Mahdi would appear in two years, at which points all worldly problems would disappear.

This attitude, truly, is not new, nor should it surprise us: religious notions and their estranged cousins, ideological representations, determine not only their believers’ beliefs but also their believers’ actions. Reality, as it were, is invaded by belief, and belief in turn shapes the believer’s reality. The difference between the religious and the ideologically religious is this: the religious believer accepts that reality is a given, whereas the fanatic gambles everything on a pseudo-reality of what ought to be. The religious believer accepts reality and works at improving it, the fanatic rejects reality, refuses to pass any compromise with it and tries to destroy it and replace it with his fantasy. Deterring Those Who Are Already Dead

Mark Alexander

Australia "distressed" by Indonesia's release of Muslim cleric

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Prime Minister John Howard has said Australians would be "distressed" by Indonesia's release of a Muslim cleric convicted over the 2002 Bali bombings.

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, found guilty in March 2005 of conspiracy over the bomb plot, was released in Jakarta after serving 26 months in prison.

Security experts say the cleric is a founding member of regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah.

Families of people killed in the Bali blast also criticised the release.

Mr Howard told parliament he had a message for Indonesian politicians.

"I want them to understand from me on behalf of the government how extremely disappointed, even distressed, millions of Australians will be at the release of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," he said.

Eighty-eight of the 202 victims of the 2002 Bali bombings were Australian. Australia angry as cleric freed

Mark Alexander

Shrines to Islam and the US Marines

Image courtesy of Google Images

We are at war with militant Islam, but you wouldn't know it from the Pentagon, which is busy erecting a shrine to Islam just five short years after Islamic terrorists destroyed a good chunk of its own building and killed more than 100 of its occupants. Worse, it's consulting on the project with a Wahhabi-educated cleric posing as a moderate.

Last week, military brass -- along with representatives from the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations -- dedicated the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines as a symbol of the military's "religious tolerance" and "respect" for the faith the enemy uses to attack us. Already, plans are in the works to build by 2009 a bigger mosque at the Marine base in Quantico so Muslim service members can have a "proper place" to worship, and one that "honors their religious heritage," officials say, not realizing that the mosque can also be used by the enemy to build a Fifth Column inside the Marines.

The idea for the center came from Navy Lt. Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam, a young, smooth-talking Muslim chaplain, who wanted a permanent place of worship -- and "education" -- for the growing number of soldiers who are interested in -- and converting to -- Islam. US Marines Build Shrine To Islam by Paul Sperry

Mark Alexander

Episcopal Church in a fix over gay bishops

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The US Anglican Church is meeting over the next week to discuss a motion to appease Church leaders critical of its gay bishops stance.

The debate comes three years after the Church approved the openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, a move that angered conservatives.

Correspondents say the Anglican communion could split if the US body, the Episcopal Church, shuns the motion.

But US Anglicans are not anxious to exacerbate the crisis, they say.

The discussion comes within the framework of a week-long Church convention that ends on 21 June. US Church in gay bishops debate

Mark Alexander

Is Canada about to let Muslim terrorists off the hook?

Images courtesy of Google Images

OTTAWA — The federal government is considering changes to the Anti-Terrorism Act to make it clear police and security agents do not engage in racial or religious profiling.

Justice Minister Vic Toews said last night he is troubled by the ATA's definition of terrorism as an offence motivated in whole or in part for a "political, religious or ideological purpose."

As an opposition MP when Parliament adopted the ATA four years ago, Mr. Toews said he thought the motivation section of the definition would open the door to racial profiling.

As Justice Minister, he told a Senate committee, he has seen no evidence that in fact the RCMP, CSIS or any other federal law enforcement or security agency has engaged in profiling.

Nevertheless, he fears the motive section "may be at cross purposes to Canadian values" of respect for human rights and equality before the law.

Moreover, the definition might actually make it more difficult to prosecute a terrorism suspect if the authorities have to prove that beliefs motivated the crime, he added.

Mr. Toews said the Conservative government is open to dropping this portion of the definition and wants to hear the views of the Senate and House special committees that are reviewing the ATA.

Senator Mobina Jaffer, a Liberal, said members of minorities believe racial or religious profiling takes place, and the motive section feeds this distrust of the authorities. Change sought in definition of terrorism by Jeff Sallot for the The Globe and Mail

Mark Alexander

EU starts talks with Turkey

Photo courtesy of the BBC

EU foreign ministers have agreed on a common position to start membership talks with Turkey after Cyprus raised last-minute objections.

The agreement came after crisis talks between the Austrian EU presidency and Cyprus on Sunday night and Monday.

Cyprus wanted the EU to press Turkey to recognise Cyprus - divided since 1974 - and open its ports to Cypriot ships.

Turkey threatened to boycott the meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg unless Cyprus compromised. EU agrees to start Turkey talks

Turkey sets off on EU road after late hitch

Turkey's foreign minister asks the EU for blasphemy laws to protect Islam

"Europa wird islamisch"

NEW: Europe's leaders ponder EU future

Mark Alexander

Kanada in einer Phase der Verzweiflung

"Jetzt verlangen in Umfragen immerhin 41 Prozent eine Verminderung der Zahl von Einwanderern aus muslimischen Ländern, während anderseits die Forderung lauter wird, allgemein die Kriterien zu verschärfen."

Die Aushebung von Terroristen hat in Kanada einen Schock ausgelöst. Jetzt folgt eine Phase der Selbsthinterfragung.

Die Nachricht über die Verhaftung von islamistischen Terroristen in Kanada vor einer Woche hat zuerst einen Schock bewirkt, inzwischen aber eine Welle des Nachdenkens und der Gewissenserforschung ausgelöst.

Im ersten Rummel zeigte sich die Öffentlichkeit davon beeindruckt, dass 400 Polizisten nötig waren, um der 17 Verschwörer habhaft zu werden und drei Tonnen Ammoniumnitrat zu beschlagnahmen. Auch die zunächst ans Licht gebrachten Pläne der Verschwörer - die Rede war von Sprengstoffattentaten in Toronto, von der Erstürmung des Parlaments in Ottawa und sogar von der Enthauptung des Premierministers - wurden von der Bevölkerung mit Entsetzen aufgenommen. Kanada zweifelt an sich selbst von Christian Jaekl in Ottawa

Mark Alexander

Compensation for the enemy?

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Muslims have protested outside Scotland Yard against the tactics used by police in an anti-terror raid in east London.

The Muslim Association of Britain and the Islamic Human Rights Commission were among Muslim groups represented.

Brothers Abul Koyair, 20, and Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder, were released without charge a week after the raid in Forest Gate.

The police have defended the raid and the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the case.
Organisers said about 1,000 people had joined the protest - against "heavy-handed police tactics" - outside the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in central London. Police put the figure at closer to 100. Muslims protest over terror raid

Mark Alexander

Lord Carey says Church of England is "falling apart"!

Photo of Lord Carey courtesy of The Telegraph

Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has delivered a damning critique of the Anglican communion, claiming that it has fallen apart since he was succeeded by Rowan Williams.

His remarks are set to send the relationship to a new low and give encouragement to critics of the current archbishop who are ever more vocal in expressing their dismay at his leadership.

In a speech that will be seen as a direct attack on Dr Williams's ability to maintain unity in the Church, Lord Carey accused liberals of devastating the communion "that we once loved". Only weeks ago, an open letter was circulated calling on Lord Carey to refrain from interfering in sensitive issues.

"When I left office at the end of 2002 I felt the Anglican communion was in good heart," he said. "It is difficult to say in what way we are now a communion. Bitterness, hostility, misunderstanding and strife now separate provinces from one another and divide individual provinces."

He also challenged the Church of England's statement on civil partnerships by describing it as "a serious and extraordinary departure from the Church's practice". Church has fallen apart since I was in charge, says Carey

Church faces crisis over gay policies

Mark Alexander

Swiss bankers get into bed with Muslims!

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The dramatic growth of Islamic banking and finance appeared to have been confirmed during the recent World Economic Forum in Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt.

One of Germany's biggest banks, Deutsche Bank, announced a joint venture with Ithmaar Bank of Bahrain and Abraaj Capital of Dubai to launch a $2bn (£1bn) Sharia-compliant financial fund.

The banks say the fund is designed to boost education initiatives and investment in media and energy companies, and infrastructure in the Middle East.

More and more conventional international banks, such as Citibank, HSBC and UBS, are converting some of their services to interest-free Islamic finance models.

Estimates of the value of Islamic banking internationally range from $200bn to $500bn. Banks move into Islamic finance

Mark Alexander

O Canada!

Photos courtesy of Labor Law Talk

National Anthem

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.


O Canada! O glorious Canada! ‘Tis wonderful to see thee!

Canada is a country of contrasts and variety: gentle in nature; generous in spirit. Welcoming and hospitable, Canada has been built up by its immigrant population. Indeed, it is a nation made up largely of immigrants, just like its southern neighbour, the USA.

People have immigrated to Canada from all over the world, in search of a better way of life; and they have left many of their customs and traditions behind. And where they haven’t, till now they have integrated them into the Canadian way of life rather successfully.

I remember once being told by a Canadian Immigration Officer – yes, I was once destined to live in that beautiful country, but fate had other plans for me – that one of the greatest differences between Canada and the United States of America was in their approach to immigrants: “Canada”, he said, “promotes diversity; the US encourages its immigrants to blend together in the ‘melting pot’.”

That was so in the States once upon a time, but things in the USA have changed quite a lot, too. In recent decades, the US has encouraged diversity, encouraged people not to throw off their past, but to bring their past with them to their new homeland. Further, they no longer encourage immigrants from Europe, where people have much in common with them; rather they encourage immigrants from the Middle East, the Far East, and Asia.

But one thing should be considered: the promotion of diversity is wrong when it comes to immigration, especially when we consider the immigration of Muslims. When people immigrate from distant lands with exotic cultures, they should be encouraged to adopt the ways of their hosts. Only then can true integration take place.

Muslims, however, are a different case again, for they have a very different culture, one diametrically opposed to all the West stands for. In fact, Islamic culture couldn’t be more different from Western culture in any way. These two cultures are like chalk and cheese, day and night, flood and drought. They are so different as to be immiscible, just as oil and water are.

Canada has just experienced its first labour pains in the birth of that politically correct, multicultural country. If Canadians thought that they had a multicultural country before, having embraced all kinds of people from all over Europe, they had it wrong.

Most of those Europeans shared a common heritage – largely a Judeo-Christian heritage. The new Muslim immigrants do not share that heritage at all. Islam is different from Judeo-Christianity altogether.

Islam teaches Muslims that Islam is the perfection of religion for man for all time. Ad din al kamal, as they call it. Believing it is the perfect religion, of course, means that Christianity and Judaism are less than perfect, by definition. In this regard, Muslims are supremacist in their outlook. Further, they believe that Islam must supplant all other religions; for they consider people who follow other religions to be inferior. They call them infidels, or kuffar.

In Islam, there is no separation of religion and politics, no separation of the temporal from the sacred. Indeed, Muslims have no notion of the secular. Allah’s words must become binding on all people. They consider it their bounden duty to bring Allah’s will to all those who live in what they consider to be darkness, to all those who live in a state of moral chaos, to all those who live in a state of Jahilliyah.

Canada is in such a state. Canadians, just like their American and European cousins, are infidels, or kuffar, in the eyes of Muslims; so they must be brought to ultimate submission, total submission to the will of Allah.

The Muslim population of Canada has grown apace in recent decades. By allowing this to happen, Canadians have unwittingly fallen into a trap, and brought upon themselves many troubles they could well have avoided.

Canadians believe they live in a largely secular nation, in a nation which offers freedom of religion. In this respect, they think very much like the Europeans. Indeed, it may be said that Canadians, like their European and American cousins, cherish freedom of worship, cherish the freedom to choose one’s religion, or even not to choose one at all.

Freedom of religion is highly regarded by civilized people. No religion is to be given preference in such a system. The fact is, however, that Muslims do not believe in such a freedom of choice when it comes to religion, for they believe that theirs is the only religion worthy of anyone’s choosing.

Some people have said that politics has to be taken out of the mosque. Would that things could be so simple! The fact of the matter is that politics cannot be taken out of the mosque. To try and take politics out of the mosque would be like trying to take the ‘green’ out of grass, the steam out of boiling water, or the sweetness out off sugar! It just cannot be done! And even if it could be done, Islam would be de-natured. Islam, if it is anything at all, is politics – politics wrapped up in the clothes of a deity. In fact, Islam is nothing if it is not the politics of supremacy!

Nazism was also such a supremacist ideology: Nazis believed that they would inherit the earth. We stamped it out, because we considered the ideology to be abhorrent to civilized people. And it was! Anyone trying to form a Nazi party in the West today would be frowned upon in no uncertain terms, and the party would not be ‘in business’ for long. Westerners won’t tolerate such politics any longer.

The Ku Klux Klan was also supremacist. It has been trampled upon, and rightly, because it is seen - rightly in my opinion - as a dangerous ideology. Yet Islam is the supremacist ideology par excellence. (And its existence is not questioned.) I say par excellence, because it has been so successfully clothed in a deity that nobody, not even a Westerner, dare question its raison d’être.

Well, I’ll tell you what its raison d’être is. It’s quite simple. It’s to Islamize YOU, YOUR way of life, and YOUR country. And that goes for Canada every bit as much as it goes for anyone or anywhere else.

One can but wonder when Canadian politicians and the powers that be there in beautiful Canada will wake up to the harsh realities they face.

Their idea of creating a multicultural heaven on earth has some rather large question marks hanging over it at the moment. The recent wake-up call that has sent shockwaves through an otherwise rather tranquil and enchanting country is a warning that the liberal Canadians really cannot afford to ignore. The future of a free Canada lies in the balance.

Canadians really do need to ensure that God - and not Allah! - keeps their land glorious and free! O Canadians! You really do need to stand on guard for thee! O Canada! Stay free!

©Mark Alexander

Rejoice! Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is dead!

Photo courtesy of The Globe and Mail

BAGHDAD — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air strike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday, adding that his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and a look at his face.

It was a major victory in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the broader war on terror.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Mr. al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a remote area 50 kilometres northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba.

Loud applause broke out as Mr. al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters at a news conference that "al-Zarqawi was eliminated."

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Mr. al-Zarqawi's death "was very good news because a blow against al-Qaeda in Iraq was a blow against al-Qaeda everywhere." Al-Qaeda's Iraq chief al-Zarqawi killed

Mark Alexander

The Church of England in terminal decline

Church pews are empty. Church leaders are embroiled in endless internal battles about issues which are controversial at best, and unresolvable at worst. Furthermore, the Archbishop of Canterbury goes around the world apologizing for the hymns sung in church services, and now, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, comes out with advice about the future coronation of Prince Charles, stating that the coronation service should be multi-culti and inclusive of other faiths. The Church of England, the keystone of the British establishment, is under attack from within as well as from without.

Each organization has a raison d’être. The raison d’être of a commercial organization is profit. The raison d’être of a charitable organization is the amount of money it can collect for the needy cause it represents. The raison d’être of the Church is to fill the pews and evangelize – to bring the Gospel to all they possibly can, and to point out the errant ways of the fallen, and the benighted ways of the people who follow other faiths.

In this light, one must look upon the Church as a wholly unsuccessful organization, because it neither manages to fill the pews on a Sunday, nor does it bring the Gospel to save the fallen, and nor does it direct non-Christians to the ‘right path’.

Presumably, and I think it’s a reasonable presumption on my part, the Church believes that theirs is the true faith, and that only by following the Gospel of Jesus Christ can man find Salvation. After all, to be a Christian is to believe that there is only one way to God; and that is through His Son, the Christians’ Saviour and Redeemer.

So what has gone wrong in the Church of England? Why doesn’t its head see the need to fill the pews and preach the Gospel?

Simon Heffer has been quoted on June 7, 2006 in The Telegraph as saying the following: "We are not a multicultural society. We are a monocultural one tolerant of other cultures, and whose clear identity is understood by the people, if not by their leaders. We are an old country with a strong sense of continuity. And anyone who trifles with such manifestations of our antiquity and stability does so at his peril."

I would concur with this statement.

Don’t our Church leaders realize that our way of life is under attack? Don’t they realize that the free world is actually at war with radical Islam? Don’t they realize, further, that radical Islam is out to destroy our civilization? And don’t they realize that they are trying, through the jihad, or holy war, to drive Westerners into a state of Dhimmitude?

Is this balderdash the best that the Church leaders can come out with?

Ibn Khaldun, a famous fourteenth century historian, described Islam’s ideological drive to dhimmitude thus:

”In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the mission and convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or force. Therefore, caliphate and royal authority [religion and politics] are united , so that the person in charge can devote the available strength to both of them at the same time.” - (Source: Bat Ye’or’s The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude)

Moreover, Bat Ye’or, a great scholar on this subject, tells us that the Jihad is unique. She says:

”It is, in fact, the only war of an everlasting and universal offensive nature attached to a religious system.”

…“All those strategies which constitute the jihad represent the means to compel by force the targeted populations to enter into dhimmitude. Despite analogies with other political regimes, dhimmitude remains an irreducible and specific structure, linked to a particular ideological and political order. It can only be compared with other systems by a superficial amalgamation. In fact, dhimmitude emanates from the jihad and the shari’a.”

Our leaders are taking us down the primrose path to dhimmitude, which will mean second class status to YOU and ME. That our politicians are doing so is bad enough; that our Church leaders are also engaging in this, is deplorable.

In the light of this fact, one can but ask oneself some simple questions: What are our Church leaders hoping to achieve by giving away our Christian heritage? Who has given them the right to do so? Why are they selling out their Christian principles? Have they forgotten the message of the Gospel? Don’t they believe anymore that there is only one path that leads to God – the Christian path?

It seems to me that successive Archbishops of Canterbury have reneged on their responsibilities to revivify the Church in periods of steep decline. In this regard, these Church elders can hardly be considered leaders at all. What do organizations do with managing directors who fail to make a healthy profit for the company of which they are head? What does society do with prime ministers and presidents who fail to lead?

So what is different about our Church leaders? Do they really deserve to remain in lead positions if they fail to fill the pews, if they fail to preach the Gospel?

Islam happens to be knocking on the West’s door; indeed, millions of its adherents have already been let in to the West. They are just biding their time to increase their numbers to bring their population to critical mass before they make a bid for power. Time is on their side, not ours.

Have our Church leaders not noticed one thing: Mosques throughout the country are full to bursting. Can they not imagine why this is so? Have they not yet figured out that leaders in the Islamic faith are convinced of the righteousness of their own faith, convinced of their ultimate destiny to take over our country and its institutions, convinced of their destiny to become the establishment?

Why do people follow such a backward faith so readily? Well, although this is a complex question, and there are many reasons, one thing stands out, possibly above all other reasons: Muslim leaders preach one message, an unchangeable message, and do not cast doubt into the hearts of the faithful. This is actually the essence of true leadership. To lead, one has to be confident and sure of one’s mission, confident and sure of one’s purpose, confident and sure of one’s destiny.

In matters of leadership, it helps not one jot to be riven by self-doubt. No person can make an effective leader when plagued by self-doubt. Self-doubt, however, is what characterizes our Church leaders. It is this self-doubt that is leading the Church into terminal decline. Without a turn around in the Church’s fortunes, this terminal decline will impact greatly on the fabric of British society. The nature of British society will be changed forever.

To reverse this terminal decline, the leaders of the Church need to remember one thing: Nothing succeeds like success! At this late stage, the Church’s fortunes can only be reversed one step at a time. It is high time that this first step be taken.

The multicultural claptrap needs to stop; positive steps to reverse the decline of the Church still further need to be put in place. Dr Williams: Time is not on the Church’s side.

©Mark Alexander

Can 'reverts' be trusted?

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Yvonne Ridley (the woman on the left), the British woman who converted to Islam when she returned to the UK after being kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, attacks the police. Call to Muslims over police help

Mark Alexander

Kofi Annan talks nonsense about illegal immigration

Photo courtesy of the BBC

"International migration, supported by the right policies, can be highly beneficial for the development both of the countries they come from and of those where they arrive, [but these benefits] are contingent on the rights of the migrants themselves being respected and upheld".

Kofi Annan says that international migration can be highly beneficial for the development both of the countries they come from and of those where they arrive. Yes, Mr Annan! They can be a great burden on the host nations, too; and they can also be very destructive to the fabric of those host nations, especially when these migrants come determined not to integrate into the very societies which are kind enough to welcome them.

If you want to talk about rights, Mr Annan, one should first talk of the rights of the general population of the host countries being respected. Those are the ones who have rights above all others, for they are in the country legally, and have paid their taxes.

Illegal immigrants relinquish their rights as soon as they take the decision to try and enter a country illegally. Any rights they have conferred on them is by virtue of the kindness and generosity of their hosts. So don't give us that balderdash, Mr Annan! Do you think you are talking to children?

Nearly 200 million people now live outside their country of origin - up by about a quarter since 1990, a United Nations report on migration says.

The report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says most migrants have gone to rich countries - one in five of them to the US.

In some countries money sent home from abroad accounts for a large proportion of the national income.

Mr Annan said migration was a now a major feature of international life.

He described his report to the UN General Assembly as an "early road map for this new era of mobility". Global migrants reach 191 million

Mark Alexander

We tamper with the coronation at our peril!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

"We are not a multicultural society. We are a monocultural one tolerant of other cultures, and whose clear identity is understood by the people, if not by their leaders. We are an old country with a strong sense of continuity. And anyone who trifles with such manifestations of our antiquity and stability does so at his peril." - Simon Heffer, June 7, 2006

There are few things more enjoyable than when a Leftie admits, or pretends to admit, he was wrong. We saw it a year or so ago when Trevor Phillips, commissar-in-chief of the Commission for Racial Equality, said that multiculturalism had not been a huge success, and that those from other cultures who came here were better off learning to be British.

I think he was sincere. I am less sure about Gordon Brown, who bores on about Britishness almost daily. It is the sort of thing that allows a socialist such as Mr Brown to fake some point of contact with conservative-minded patriots. It is also his way of trying to hide the fact that his own party's policies have split up the United Kingdom and made his position, as a Scot sitting for a Scottish seat who wants to be Prime Minister mostly of England, somewhat precarious.

Not all of the Left has, however, twigged that multiculturalism is rather last century. Someone of whom I had hoped we had heard the last, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, made a predictable intervention in this debate from beyond the grave last weekend. He proclaimed that the coronation of our next monarch must be an "interfaith" event. The ceremony must, he added, have "very significant changes", so that it is "inclusive" of other religions in Britain. Britain is an old country, our ways deserve respect by Simon Heffer

Mark Alexander

Sarkozy relents on deportation order of children

Photo courtesy of the BBC

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has softened his stance on the expulsion of illegal immigrants' children from French schools.

Mr Sarkozy plans to spare about 1,200 children who faced expulsion and deportation with their families.

Since April, more than 40,000 people have signed a petition pledging to protect and house the children of immigrants to save them from expulsion.

An immigration bill adopted by the lower house envisaged such expulsions.

The bill is still being debated by the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

Anti-deportation campaign

A French pressure group called "Education Without Borders" has run an extremely successful grass-roots campaign against the deportation of illegal immigrants and their children - calling the government's plans a "childhunt", the BBC's Caroline Wyatt reports from Paris. French relent on migrant children

Mark Alexander

On Churchill

I came across these interesting links on Churchill today at the BBC website. I'd like to share them with you.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

The Gathering Storm

Defender of Democracy

Churchill and the Holocaust

The Allies at War

Secrets of Leadership: Hitler and Churchill

Mark Alexander

Turning London into Londonistan

With thanks to my friend, Anton, for drawing this excellent article in The Times to my attention:

ACCORDING TO REMARKS attributed in the past few days to security sources, no fewer than 1,200 Islamist terrorists are biding their time within British suburbs. Yet does Britain even now fully understand the nature of the threat it is facing, let alone have the will to deal with it?

The recent report by the Commons Intelligence Committee on last July’s London bombings barely scratched the surface of the failure by the security establishment. It failed to note, for example, Britain’s dirty little secret: that from the 1990s, Islamist radicals had been given free rein in Britain in a “gentlemen’s agreement” that if they were left alone, they would not turn on the country that was so generously nurturing them. The result was “Londonistan”, as Britain became the hub of al-Qaeda in Europe.

This intelligence debacle, however, was only the tip of the iceberg. Among Britain’s governing class — its intelligentsia, its media, its politicians, its judiciary, its Church and even its police — a broader and deeper cultural pathology persists to this day. Londonistan is more than the physical presence of Islamist extremists. It is also a state of mind. To a dismaying extent, the British have signed up to the false narrative of those who are laying siege to their society.

The problem lies in a refusal to acknowledge that Islamist extremism is rooted in religion. Instead, ministers and security officials prefer to think of it as a protest movement against grievances such as Iraq or Palestine, or “Islamophobia”. They simply ignore the statements and signs that show unequivocally that the aim is to Islamicise the West. Come to Londonistan, our refuge for poor misunderstood Islamist victims by Melanie Philips

Mark Alexander

Carey gets scary when it comes to Charles' coronation!

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

With thanks to Always On Watch for drawing the dhimmitude of Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and his ridiculous notions to my attention:

The coronation of the Prince of Wales must be an "interfaith" event, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has controversially claimed.

Lord Carey believes that the next coronation needs "very significant changes" so that it is "inclusive" of other religions that have spread across Britain.

His comments, which are likely to cause a rift within the Church of England, suggest that Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury for 11 years until 2002, has been won over by arguments from Prince Charles.

The prince, who will become Supreme Governor of the Church of England when he becomes king, has already said that he wants to be Defender of Faith - not Defender of the Faith - when he accedes to the throne.

Lord Carey's comments will set him and the prince against Dr Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and other senior figures in the Church of England. Dr Williams has emphasised the need for Prince Charles to defend the Church of England when he becomes king. Charles should have interfaith coronation, ex-archbishop insists by Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter for The Telegraph

Mark Alexander

Rita Verdonk to strip Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Dutch citizenship in classic case of 'shooting the messenger'

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The removal of an immigrant raising awkward political questions is a warning sign over the future of the tradition of free speech and tolerance in Holland.

There are times when a small event raises an issue of enormous importance. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born politician and women's rights activist, is leaving Holland for good.

You may never have heard of her, I'll tell you more about her in a moment. It's a strange irony that a country which has for centuries welcomed all those fleeing persecution should find it impossible to continue to provide Hirsi Ali with a refuge.

The Dutch have had a reputation for tolerance for almost five hundred years. By the 1500s the Dutch writer and educationalist Erasmus of Rotterdam was already disseminating broadmindedness and inclusion to the whole of the western world through his Latin treatises and textbooks.

In July 1572, the Protestant leader of the northern Netherlands, William I of Orange - still celebrated today as the father of the Dutch nation - publicly proclaimed the right of all individuals to freedom of thought and worship at a political assembly at Dordrecht. Liberalism under pressure A point of view by Lisa Jardine

Mark Alexander

The Ayatollah's scathing attack on the US

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that fuel shipments from the Gulf region could be disrupted if the US makes a "wrong move".

In a speech on state TV, Ayatollah Khamenei also said accusations that Iran intended to make a nuclear bomb amounted to a "sheer lie".

He insisted Iran would not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.

Tehran has agreed to study proposals drawn up by six world powers to defuse the row over Iran's nuclear programme.

The proposals are due to be delivered by the EU's foreign policy head, Javier Solana, within days.

The precise details of the proposals are not known, but they aim to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear work - a step which Iran has repeatedly said it will not take.

'No bomb'

In his speech on Sunday, marking the 17th anniversary of the death of his predecessor Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei said suggestions Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons programme were a lie.

"We do not need a nuclear bomb. We do not have any objectives or aspirations for which we will need to use a nuclear bomb. We consider using nuclear weapons to be against Islamic rules," he said. Tehran warns of fuel disruptions

Iran hints it may use oil weapon in nuclear row - REUTERS

Last diplomatic throw of dice?

Tehran airports to shut down today

TEHRAN — Tehran’s two international airports, Imam Khomeini International and Mehrabad, will be closed to all flights between 0430 GMT and 1030 GMT today, aviation officials said yesterday. Today is the anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual father of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“On the anniversary of Imam Khomeini’s death there will be no domestic or foreign flights between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm at Tehran airports,” Rajab Mehrjouee, director of Tehran airports, told the official Irna news agency. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will address pilgrims at Khomeini’s gold-domed mausoleum just south of Tehran today. It lies on the flightpath of both airports. Some 8,000 police will be on duty at the shrine. — Reuters (Sub-source: Oman Observer

Mark Alexander

The Iranian 'sport' of Baha'i-bashing

Photo courtesy of Google Images

While Iran has been in the news in recent months, there has been little coverage of its deteriorating human-rights situation, especially the resurgence in mistreatment of the country's Baha'i community.

That situation came to a head on May 19 with the arrest in the city of Shiraz of 54 Baha'is, mostly young people and, according to reports, all engaged in community service. They were said to have been teaching underprivileged children as part of a local NGO project.

This brings the total number of Baha'is detained since the beginning of 2005 to 125. These people have been held for a period of a few days to several months in what has been described as revolving-door detentions.

There are an estimated 300,000 Baha'is in Iran. Under the Iranian constitution, a number of religions are given a degree of status - but not the Baha'is.

The recent harassment of Baha'is also took the form of 30 mostly negative, and often defamatory, articles that appeared in one of the official Tehran dailies last fall. Asma Jahangir, the United Nations' special rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, published a statement in March reporting the existence of a confidential letter of Oct. 20, 2005, distributed within the government calling on officials - reportedly on the instructions of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - “to identify persons who adhere to the Baha'i faith and monitor their activities.” The plight of Iran's Baha'i community by Maurice Copithorne

Mark Alexander

On the plight of women in Iraq

Today, a sad tale in The Sunday Timas on the fate of women in 'democratized' Iraq.

... “Women cannot drive; women cannot go out after midday; women and men are not allowed to go out and walk together, they must walk separately.” The rules are enforced by Al-Qaeda thugs who drive around in cars in Amariya, Yarmouk and other Sunni areas that Zarqawi has declared are his. Noor said: “If they see someone breaking the rules, they shoot them.”

The “men in black” have turned women into virtual prisoners in their homes. “At first we were more afraid of bombs but now we are more afraid of being killed for what we are wearing,” Noor said.

“I used to wear jeans or short skirts. We didn’t have to worry,” she recalled, for a moment gushing like any of her fashion-conscious contemporaries in the West.

“My favourites were in the Qasar al Nisaa shop. Before, they sold all kinds of clothes, but now it’s so conservative. They’re not even allowed to display underwear in shops: you have to ask from under the counter and then only a woman can serve you.”

She dare not step outside without a hijab, or headscarf. Last month two teenage girls were dragged off the al-Amal al-Shahbi street in the Amariya district. When they emerged several hours later their heads had been shaved.

The militants issued a warning that in future women walking down the street without a hijab faced death. Men in black terrorise Iraq's women by Marie Colvin and Widiane Moussa

Mark Alexander

Zarqawi: Fanning the flames of civil strife

Photo courtesy of The Washington Times

CAIRO -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq railed against Shi'ite Muslims in a four-hour audiotape posted on the Internet yesterday, saying their militias are raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back.

The tape by Abu Musab Zarqawi appeared aimed at sabotaging the Iraqi government's efforts to name a unity government -- but was also intended to further enflame Shi'ite-Sunni tension across the Arab world.

"There's a civil war going on in Iraq, but it will not become truly fierce until it's exported outside Iraq. This tape is trying to do just that," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi political commentator. Zarqawi prods Sunnis to fight Shi'ite 'snakes'

Mark Alexander

24-hours a day news broadcasts planned for the US by the BBC

Photo courtesy of the BBC

The BBC's global news channel, BBC World, has launched in the US, aiming to capture audiences hungry for international news.

The channel, which already broadcasts to 270 million homes worldwide, can now be seen by cable viewers in New York.

The BBC says it hopes to strike deals with cable and satellite providers elsewhere in the US soon.

A new breakfast programme aimed at American audiences will be launched in July, presented by George Alagiah.

"What we're not setting out to do is carve a niche that reflects America back to the Americans," said Alagiah.

"What we're trying to do is reflect the world back to Americans."

Now, not even the Americans will be spared! America! Wait for the whitewash of Islam!

The only difference is YOU won't have to pay a licence fee for the privilege of having Islam WHITEWASHED! It will be WHITEWASHED for FREE!

Mark Alexander

Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

Video courtesy of You Tube & Eye On The World

Mark

Grünes Licht für den Bau einer Moschee in Athen

Foto dank der NZZ

Regierung und Orthodoxe Kirche geben Grünes Licht

Das seit Jahrzehnten andauernde Tauziehen um den Bau einer Moschee in Athen ist beendet. Die Regierung in Athen beschloss am Donnerstag die Genehmigung für den Bau des muslimischen Gotteshauses. Erste Moschee in Athen bewilligt

Mark Alexander

Reciprocity is key: Without reciprocity, there is no place for interfaith dialogue

Nearly four years ago, Saudi dissident Ali al-Ahmed and author Stephen Schwartz conducted a study for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. They examined textbooks and other publications distributed by the Saudi government and by Saudi-funded organizations. They found such messages as these: “Judaism and Christianity are deviant religions.”

“The unbelievers, idolaters and others like them must be hated and despised.”

“We say to every Christian and every Jew and all those outside Islam, ‘your children are born into Islam, but you and their mother take them away from Islam with your corrupt rearing.'” What Saudis Preach by Clifford D. May

Mark Alexander

With black gold king, how can we hope to deal with the growth of Islam in the free world?

Lee Raymond, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has bowed out from the oil giant with a $400m pay and retirement deal that has caused outrage among environmentalists. In his 12 years at the top of the company, Exxon has pumped an estimated six billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere and has led the opposition to action on climate change

Investors and environmental campaigners condemned a $400m (£214m) retirement package for the boss of Exxon Mobil, the man known as the "Darth Vader of global warming" for his denial that carbon emissions cause climate change.

Protesters descended on the annual shareholder meeting of the world's largest oil company's in Dallas, Texas, amid fury over the lavish lifestyle that it plans to fund for Lee Raymond, who retired after 12 years as chairman and chief executive.

Exxon has been condemned by green groups for fuelling the world's addiction to oil by opposing the Kyoto treaty on reducing emissions and refusing to invest a penny in alternative energy sources. The total amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by the production and use of Exxon's oil and gas output is calculated at 500 million tons a year, or six billion tons during Mr Raymond's tenure.

Since becoming chief executive in 1993, Mr Raymond had become infamous for his dismissive response to environmental lobbyists at previous annual meetings. He has funnelled $19m of Exxon's money to groups that question the science of global warming. His package of pension and perks includes a bodyguard, a car and driver, and use of a company jet, plus a $1m-a-year deal to stay on as a consultant. Anger at oil chief's $400m retirement package by Stephen Foley

Mark Alexander