Archbishop Speaks of Iraq Damage
BBC: The Iraq conflict has wreaked "terrible damage" on the region - far more than has been acknowledged, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Dr Rowan Williams said "urgent attention" was needed to stabilise the country. His comments followed a visit to Syria to meet Iraqi refugees.

He said talking to the refugees had been "heartbreaking and harrowing".

A survey published in September 2007 suggested that up to 1.2m people might have died because of the Iraq conflict.
'Liberty and dignity'

Speaking following his visit, Dr Williams said: "The events of the last few years have done terrible damage in the whole of this region and many people, I know, do not see the cost in human terms of the war which was unleashed.

"Security that will enable these people to return to Iraq depends on a settlement for the whole of that country guaranteeing the liberty and dignity of every minority."

About half a million refugees have fled Iraq for Syria since the conflict began in 2003.

Dr Williams said many of the people he had met told him they left the war-torn country because their families had been kidnapped, executed or told they would be killed unless they paid ransoms.

The archbishop added that the refugees had told him their circumstances were desperate and unsustainable, with no hope either of a safe return to Iraq or of citizenship in Syria or elsewhere. [Source BBC: Archbishop speaks of Iraq damage]

Mark Alexander

Changes Afoot in the Judicial System of Saudi Arabia
BBC: Saudi Arabia has announced an overhaul of its judicial system, including the allocation of $2bn (£981m) for training judges and building new courts.

The reforms, by royal decree, will lead to the creation of a supreme court, an appeals court and new general courts to replace the Supreme Judicial Council.

Reformers have welcomed the measures, which they say will improve human rights and help modernise the country.

They complain that the current judicial system is often opaque and arbitrary.

Until now, Saudi judges have had wide discretion to issue rulings according to their own interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

The judiciary has also long resisted the codification of laws or the reliance on precedent when making a ruling.

Defendants also do not have recourse to appeal and often have no right to proper legal representation.

Unchecked powers

The new reforms announced by King Abdullah are aimed at addressing some of these perceived failings and at introducing safeguards such as appeal courts that can overturn decisions by lower courts, the BBC's Heba Saleh says. Saudis to overhaul legal system (more)

Mark Alexander

Prof Eagleton, the Marxist Who Just Doesn’t Get It, Engages in an Ad Hominem Attack on Martin Amis to Try and Prove His Point
Martin Amis under attack by the Marxist Professor Eagleton
THE TELEGRAPH: A battle has broken out between two of the country's literary titans with one, the prominent Marxist intellectual Terry Eagleton, accusing the other, the novelist Martin Amis, of being Islamophobic.

Prof Eagleton says that Amis has abandoned traditional Western values of liberalism following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre. 

In an introduction to the 2007 edition of his classic book, Ideology: An Introduction, Prof Eagleton attacks the views of "Amis and his ilk" for taking up cudgels against Islam instead of propounding tolerance and understanding.

The attack also extends to Amis's novelist father, the late Kingsley Amis.

Prof Eagleton calls Kingsley Amis "a racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, selfhating reviler of women, gays and liberals".

He adds: "Amis fils has clearly learnt more from him than how to turn a shapely phrase".

Prof Eagleton, a Marxist literary critic for 30 years, has increasingly turned his pen against Left-leaning writers for selling out to the Establishment, but his new introduction reserves special scorn for Amis Jnr, the author of novels such as London Fields and Money.

The spark is a controversial essay written by Amis last year, the day before the fifth anniversary of the bombing of New York's Twin Towers, in which he said that "the Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order".

In The Age of Horrorism, Amis argued that fundamentalists had won the battle between Islam and Islamism.

The novelist suggested "strip-searching people who look like they're from the Middle East or from Pakistan", preventing Muslims from travelling, and further down the road, deportation. Martin Amis essay 'like work of BNP thug' (more) By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent

Mark Alexander

The Non-Doms of London
TIMESONLINE: Wednesday night. Cipriani, off Berkeley Square. A quiet family party at the back are speaking heaven-knows-what and eating Italian comfort food at £65 a head. A posse of hungry-looking money men in suits swallow champagne before being shown to their table. They are distracted (as am I) by two beautiful women sinking bellinis at the bar. And through the revolving door comes a man with a name like Davos. He has a furry torso busting out of his blazer, and a Blancpain watch the size of a beer mat.

Federico, the maître d’, goes through an elaborate pretence of not knowing who Davos is, then yells at the white-jacketed staff to fix him his usual apéritif and seat him at table 28.

Are these the creatures I have been looking for? The favoured ones, whom fate has blessed with money and the taxman with the mother of all loopholes? Are these the people who have made London the most cosmopolitan and expensive city in the world; the steel-smelting, penthouse-collecting Brahmins of 21st-century Eurasia? The people who, though they pay little UK tax, may contribute as much as £5 billion to the economy in other ways? Are these the wildly rich, non-domiciled UK residents known to their accountants as non-doms?

One of Federico’s colleagues has rashly confirmed as much over the phone. Another close observer of the scene has identified this place, along with Annabel’s and the George nightclub, as prime non-dom party locales. But they are safe here. Federico will only shrug. “This is London,” he says. “They come from everywhere.”

Of course they do. But London should not kid itself. It’s not Gordon Ramsay who secures for W1 the continued patronage of Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky. It’s not the Royal Ballet (as far as we know) that induced one Qatari to pay £100 million for an as-yet unbuilt flat on Hyde Park. And it’s certainly not the weather that attracts the foreigners who comprise roughly half the hedge-fund managers in London, the hedge-fund capital of the world.

Above all, it’s the tax system, which takes 40 per cent of the average middle-class family’s earnings but only token amounts off non-doms, and then only if they are honest. This is the system that, in April, led the IMF to bracket London with Bermuda as an “offshore financial centre” (translation: tax haven).

Yet it is also a system that, for all its apparent iniquities, has put the international ultra-rich in the service of UK plc to the extent that we may no longer be able to manage without them. As one sage has put it, for Britain to tinker with its non-dom laws would be like Saudi Arabia giving up its oil.

Even so, tinkering is what both main political parties plan to do, with incalculable consequences.

On Monday, George Osborne thrilled the Conservatives with his promise of an end to inheritance tax as we know it, and he promised to fund this promise with a £25,000-a-year levy for the privilege of non-dom status. He claimed that this could raise up to £3.5 billion.

Osborne’s pledge has triggered a furious political row over non-dom numbers. Broadly defined, non-doms include all foreigners in Britain. No one knows how many there are, let alone how many would find it worthwhile to pay the levy rather than pay UK tax on all their worldwide income. The Shadow Chancellor put the figure at 150,000. Labour hit back with 15,000 – but the Treasury has since disowned the smaller figure, and so has much of the high-end accountancy profession. Brass tax: the truth about non-doms: Will the super-rich flee if Britain dares to tax them? By Giles Whittell

Mark Alexander

Audacity! Saudi Arabia Plans to Lecture the West on Human Rights!
BNP: The “Human Rights Commission” of Saudi Arabia, a country where slavery was formally abolished as late as the 1960s and is still practiced more or less openly (it is permitted under sharia law), now plans to lecture Europeans on Islamophobia as part of the jihad to bring Europe under the sword of this medieval desert faith. In an address to be made at a Arab-European conference in Denmark later this month the Saudi delegation will demand an end to the way terrorism is linked with Islam and ways of combatting “Islamophobia”.

In 2005, Saudi Arabia was designated by the United States Department of State as a Tier 3 country with respect to trafficking in human beings. Tier 3 countries are "Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so."

In Saudi Arabia:

• Employers rape and beat their migrant workers.
• Women’s rights are non-existent and account for just 5% of the workforce.
• Women are not allowed to vote.
• Homosexuals are liable to be flogged or executed.
• There is no freedom of privacy.

In addition Saudi Arabia is the biggest sponsor of Wahhabism – the fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam which preaches that the Salafis (Wahhabis) are the chosen ones destined for heaven and everyone else, Shi’a Muslims, Jews, Christians and others are all non-believers.

The Euro-Arab Dialogue, which this is a part of, was established in the 1970s and is rapidly progressing towards the goal of merging Europe with the Arab world. The European Union is thus formally negotiating the surrender of an entire continent, without asking their peoples about it and without even mentioning this in the major media. It is one of the greatest betrayals ever recorded in the history of Western civilisation. Saudi Arabia plans to lecture the West on human rights (more)

BNP:
Saudi money suppresses free speech in the UK

ARAB NEWS:
Human Rights Commission to Address Muslim Rights Issues in Europe

Mark Alexander

US Cannot Fight, Says Mottaki of Iran
Photo of Mottaki courtesy of the BBC
Washington's military commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan would hamstring an attempt to wage war on Iran, the Iranian foreign minister has said.

"Our analysis is clear: [the] US is not in a position to impose another war in our region, against their taxpayers," Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

He warned Washington against making such a "mad decision". Iran says US too tied up to fight (more)

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Iran Warns US Over War

Mark Alexander

The Real Islam Revealed
With many thanks to Always On Watch for alerting me to this very important and powerful video, and also to Lionheart:


Jewish Task Force

Mark Alexander

Ayaan Hirsi Ali ‘Forced’ to Return to the Netherlands because of the Cost of Protection from Islamists

Fear of fanatical Islamists prompted Ayaan Hirsi Ali to leave the Netherlands, her adopted home, and now she has been forced to return. Paying for her bodyguards in the United States is too expensive for the Dutch government -- what a disgrace.

There are exactly five people that the Dutch government has to protect against death threats from radical Islamists.

This sort of protection is expensive. Society bears the costs because freedom of opinion, a cornerstone of our culture, is on the line. The extremists, for their part, are prepared to risk their own lives to kill those under government protection.

The costs of protection are completely disproportionate to the outcome: the continued existence of our values and norms.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the sixth person granted protection by the Dutch government. She began receiving threats when, as a Dutch citizen and member of the parliament, she spoke out critically against political Islam. After the so-called "passport scandal," when the Dutch minister of immigration and integration threatened to confiscate her passport after Ayaan had been accused of lying about her name and birth date when she first arrived in the Netherlands, she moved to the United States, which precipitated a sharp upswing in her career within only a few months. She wrote a bestseller and landed a job at the American Enterprise Institute. But as a Dutch citizen, Ayaan does not qualify for protection in the United States under US laws and regulations.

Contrary to what many in the Netherlands believe about the success of her autobiography, she is not wealthy. She could not pay for the kind of protection she needs out of her own pocket -- no matter how much she would like to do so. Besides, the Dutch government apparently failed to find the right US officials with whom they could have reached an agreement. Under a decision by Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Balin, the protection paid for by the Dutch government expired on Oct. 1. Ayaan returned to the Netherlands, because without protection she doesn't have a day left to live. 'We Are Making Fools of Ourselves in the Eyes of the World' (more) By Leon de Winter in Amsterdam

Mark Alexander

Ahmadinejad and the Coming of the 12th Imam
THE TELEGRAPH: Not since the prime minister of the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada presented an address claiming that UFOs posed a mortal threat to the future of mankind has the United Nations been treated to such a bizarre spectacle.

Many people believe the greatest threat to world peace concerns Iran's nuclear programme, so there was understandably great interest at this week's general assembly in New York when the country's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, took the platform.

But instead of seeking to reassure delegates that Iran's nuclear intentions were purely benign, Mr Ahmadinejad took advantage of his official visit to a country deemed – in the lexicon of the Iranian Revolution – "the Great Satan" to embark on a discourse about the wonders of the 12th Imam.

For those unacquainted with the more obscure tenets of Islamic theology, the 12th Imam is held by devout Shi'ite Muslims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed who went into "occlusion" in the ninth century at the age of five and hasn't been seen since.

The Hidden Imam, as he is also known by his followers, will only return after a period of cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed – what Christians call the Apocalypse – and then lead the world into an era of universal peace.

Rumours abound of Mr Ahmadinejad's devotion to the 12th Imam, and last year it was reported that he had persuaded his cabinet to sign a "contract" pledging themselves to work for his return.

Another example of his messianic tendencies surfaced after 108 people were killed in an aircraft crash in Teheran. Mr Ahmadinejad praised the victims, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

For many of the hundreds of delegates who attended Mr Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN this week, his discourse on the merits of the 12th Imam finally brought home the reality of the danger his regime poses to world peace.

Rather than allaying concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions, Mr Ahmadinejad spoke at length about how a Muslim saviour would relieve the world's suffering.

The era of Western predominance was drawing to a close, he said, and would soon be replaced by a "bright future" ushered in by the 12th Imam's return. "Without any doubt, the Promised One, who is the ultimate Saviour, will come. The pleasing aroma of justice will permeate the whole world."

The really alarming aspect is that – if the world's leading intelligence agencies are to be believed – he is seriously attempting to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Only yesterday, the opposition group that first revealed the existence of Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz claimed that Iran was building a new bomb-proof underground site for developing nuclear weapons.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said the regime was near to completing a vast underground chamber that was linked by two tunnels to the existing complex at Natanz, and was protected against aerial attack.

As with so many of the allegations relating to Iran's nuclear activities, the NCRI's claims are impossible to verify, not least because Iran continues to impede UN nuclear inspectors.

And even if, as Mr Ahmadinejad claimed in New York, Iran has no interest in developing nuclear weapons, there is every indication that Teheran is preparing itself for war, not least because the clash with Western civilisation that the Iranian president so obviously desires will hasten, or so he believes, the arrival of the 12th Imam. Will the 12th Imam cause war with Iran? (more) By Con Coughlin

Mark Alexander

According to Ahmadinejad, There Are No Homosexuals in Iran and the Holocaust Needs Further Research!
THE TELEGRAPH: The president of Iran was booed yesterday when he told an audience at one of America's leading universities that the Holocaust required "further research", amid noisy protests against the decision to grant him a platform.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attracted mirth when claiming that Iran had no homosexuals. In response to a question about why gay men had been hanged for the sexuality, he said: "We don’t have homosexuals in our country like you have in the West. In Iran we do not have those people."

Addressing Columbia University in New York, which has a high proportion of Jewish students, he said of the Holocaust: "Why is there not sufficient research that can approach the topic from different perspectives? There are researchers who want to do that but they are put in prison." 

The president has on several occasions called for Israel's obliteration, while steering his country on course to build a nuclear weapon. President Ahmadinejad booed at US university (more) By Alex Spillius in New York

WATCH VIDEO: Ahmadinejad at Columbia University

YOUTUBE: There are no gays in Iran!

YOUTUBE: Gays don’t exist in Iran!

Take a look at these, Mr hmadinejad. They should disabuse you of your silly notions:

Gays underground in Iran: Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Don’t Kid Yourself, Mr Ahmadinejad! The Holocaust:

Mark Alexander

Burma on the Boil
BBC: Burma's ruling military junta has warned it is ready to "take action" against Buddhist monks leading mounting protests, state media have reported.

Brig Gen Thura Myint Maung, minister for religion, warned them not to break Buddhist "rules and regulations" as Rangoon saw the largest march yet.

He blamed the protests on "destructive elements" opposed to peace in Burma.

Monks are highly revered in Burma and any move by the junta to crush their demonstrations would spark an outcry. Burmese military threatens monks (more)

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Burma’s junta threatens action

Mark Alexander

Metrosexuals in Islamabad? Allah Will Not Be Best Pleased! How Will He Punish These Reprobates?
TIMESONLINE: Midway through a society dinner party in the Pakistani capital, conversation turned to the recent deportation of Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister, to Saudi Arabia.

“I couldn’t believe it, yah,” a young Pakistani woman said in an exaggerated English accent, as a servant refilled her glass of wine. “I mean, did you see those hair implants? They were so obvious.”

Ever since Mr Sharif reemerged into the political spotlight, Pakistanis have been gossiping about the appearance of a thin covering of black hair on his previously bald scalp. Most were amused. Some were appalled. But hardly anyone was surprised.

Hair implants have become commonplace here in the past few years as wealthier urban males embrace cosmetic treatments that were once regarded as effeminate and even unIslamic. From facials to manicures, back waxes to eyebrow threading, a host of services are now on offer at a growing number of spas, salons and clinics catering to the male market.

“I never bothered with this before,” Humayun, 28, said after a facial at the Islamabad branch of Depilex Men, part of the biggest chain of beauty parlours in Pakistan. “I guess there’s just more pressure on men to look good these days.”

The trend may be confined to the upper and middle classes, estimated at 20-30 million people, but it illustrates how Western-style media, marketing and celebrity culture are changing Pakistani society. Five years ago most Pakistani men wore only the traditional salwar kameez - a loose-fitting cotton pyjama suit. The standard hairstyle was a short back and sides. Deodorant was considered unmanly. Moisturiser? Forget it.

The same is still largely the case in rural Pakistan. The country’s population of 165 million is 97 per cent Muslim and tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan have become even more conservative as the Taleban force men to grow beards and reject Western fashions.

However, in the big cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, where dozens of television channels are now available, men are becoming ever more conscious about their clothes, coiffures and complexions – so much so that a recent talk show on Dawn News, a new English-language television channel, asked whether Pakistan was going through a “metro-sexual” revolution. Men lead rush to the beauty salon despite Islamist threats (more)

Mark Alexander

Race and Religious Hatred Law in the UK Comes into Effect on Monday Next
THE TELEGRAPH: Do you remember the controversy over whether it would any longer be possible to tell religious jokes because of a new law being introduced by the Government? It is funny how these rows flare up, then abate and we are all left wondering what ever happened to the legislation.

Well, it is only now about to be implemented, some 18 months after it was passed by Parliament – a delay that suggests it could hardly have been of crucial importance.

From next Monday, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act will, for the first time, make it a specific offence to use threatening words or behaviour towards a religious group.

The Government fought tooth and nail in favour of a far more illiberal measure, that would have outlawed remarks deemed likely to stir up hatred. But this was repulsed by a coalition of critics, including comedians like Rowan Atkinson, opposed to curbs on freedom of expression.

As a result, the wording was significantly softened in the Lords to exclude statements and actions that were merely abusive or insulting.

Peers also introduced a requirement for prosecutors to show that a person intended his words or actions to be threatening, and inserted a provision specifically safeguarding the right to free expression.

But free speech in the UK has always had its limits. You are not allowed to say anything you like and hang the consequences. Libel laws offer a civil remedy for defamation, and the criminal law has long made it an offence to use language to foment disorder or riot. In recent years, however, we have become confused about where the boundaries lie. Prosecute the racists, not the reporters (more) By Philip Johnston

Mark Alexander

Muslim Converts to Christianity in the UK under Threat of Death for Apostasy
With thanks to AlwaysOnWatch for drawing my attention to this documentary. This video is a ‘must watch’:

Watch the video ‘Unholy War’
Mark Alexander

Challenge to the Saudi Driving Ban on Women
BBC: A group of women in Saudi Arabia is for the first time to lobby the kingdom's government for the right to drive cars.

Members of the Committee of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars plan to deliver a petition to King Abdullah by Sunday, Saudi Arabia's National Day.

Correspondents say the demand is likely to be rejected, as conservatives argue if women are allowed to drive, they will be able to mix freely with men. Saudi women challenge driving ban »

Mark Alexander

Iran Threatens America
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran threatened to fire long-range missiles at American targets in the Middle East yesterday as the war of words between Teheran and the West continued to escalate.

A senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard, the largest component of the Islamic republic's armed forces, chose this moment to outline the capability of his country's ballistic missiles.

The Shahab-3 rocket has a range of 1,250 miles, allowing it to strike an array of Western targets across the Middle East.

"Today the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," said Gen Mohammed Hassan Koussechi.

"If the United States is saying that they have identified 2,000 targets in Iran, then what is certain is that it is the Americans who are all around Iran and are equally our targets," he told the official IRNA news agency. Iran threatens missile attacks on US targets (more) » By David Blair

Banks enlisted to wage financial war on Teheran

Why Iran’s economy is struggling

LISTEN:
Iran’s War of Words

Mark Alexander

A Typical Weak UN Response: “Force Should Be a Last Resort”
BBC: A warning by France's foreign minister that the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme has drawn an angry response from Iran.

Iran's foreign ministry said the remark had damaged the credibility of France, while the official Iranian news agency accused Paris of aping Washington.

On Sunday France's Bernard Kouchner said: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war." Iran scorns French warning of war (more) »

BBC VIDEO:
France Warns of War with Iran

Mark Alexander

How Much Longer is the Weak West Going to Tolerate this Nonsense?
BBC: The Swedish cartoonist at the centre of a row over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad says police have taken him to a secret location for his own safety.

Lars Vilks said he was only able to pick up a few things when he returned from Germany at the weekend before police escorted him from his home.

The purported head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has offered $100,000 (£49,310) to anyone killing Mr Vilks. Swedish cartoon drawer in hiding (more) »

Mark Alexander

France Warns of War with Iran
BBC: A warning by France's foreign minister that the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme has drawn an angry response from Iran.

Iran's foreign ministry said the remark had damaged the credibility of France, while the official Iranian news agency accused Paris of aping Washington.

On Sunday France's Bernard Kouchner said: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war." Iran scorns French warning of war (more) »

FAZ:
Eine Drohung – nichts anderes Von Günther Nonnenmacher

Mark Alexander

Britain to Sell ‘Friends’ 72 Eurofighters
BBC: Saudi Arabia is to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets BAE Systems, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

The deal is worth about £4.4bn - excluding charges for maintainance of the aircraft and training.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped a probe last year into a sale of jets to the Saudis in the 1980s.

The UK government said this was on national security grounds, but reports said the Saudis had threatened to pull out if the probe went ahead.

Blackmail claim

The official Saudi news agency SPA says that the price paid per aircraft is the same that Britain's Royal Air Force pays for the aircraft.

UK-based BAE Systems said it welcomed "this important milestone in its strategy to continue to develop Saudi Arabia as a key home market with substantial employment and investment in future in-Kingdom industrial capability".

Critics attacked the decision to drop the SFO investigation, saying the government had put commercial interest before ethics and had given in to Saudi blackmail.

In addition to the price paid for the planes, there is also expected to be a lucrative deal for the munitions that go with them. Saudis buy Eurofighters from UK (more) »

Mark Alexander

US Prepares for War with Iran
THE TELEGRAPH: Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.

Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action.

In a chilling scenario of how war might come, a senior intelligence officer warned that public denunciation of Iranian meddling in Iraq - arming and training militants - would lead to cross border raids on Iranian training camps and bomb factories.

A prime target would be the Fajr base run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force in southern Iran, where Western intelligence agencies say armour-piercing projectiles used against British and US troops are manufactured.

Under the theory - which is gaining credence in Washington security circles - US action would provoke a major Iranian response, perhaps in the form of moves to cut off Gulf oil supplies, providing a trigger for air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and even its armed forces. Bush setting America up for war with Iran (more) »

Mark Alexander

Al-Qa’eda’s Reward for Swedish Cartoonist
BBC: The purported head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has offered a reward for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist over his drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The $100,000 (£49,310) reward would be raised by 50% if Lars Vilks was "slaughtered like a lamb" said the audio message aired on the internet.

The speaker, said to be Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, threatened a new offensive during the holy month of Ramadan.

Last month's cartoon showed Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body. Bounty set over Prophet cartoon (more) »

Mark Alexander

Ahmadinejad! It’s War If You Don’t Stop Uranium Enrichment
BBC: French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Mr Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio.

Mr Kouchner said negotiations with Iran should continue "right to the end", but an Iranian nuclear weapon would pose "a real danger for the whole world". France warning of war with Iran (more) »

Mark Alexander

And Shariah for All?
TOWNHALL.COM: The story of the week wasn't Gen. David Petraeus' testimony on Iraq, although it dominated the headlines. The story of the week wasn't the sixth return of Sept. 11 since the jihad atrocity of 2001, although it inspired many public statements and ceremonies. The week's biggest story garnered little press and few comments. But, in a significant way, this overlooked story -- an outrageous display of police force in Brussels on Sept. 11, 2007 -- symbolizes the missing link in our flawed comprehension of both Iraq and Sept. 11.

There, in the so-called capital of Europe, 200 people marked the day with a protest against the Islamization of Europe -- a civilizational shift which, as Europe increasingly accommodates Shariah (Islamic law), is shockingly advanced. Indeed, Middle East expert Bernard Lewis has already predicted Europe will become Islamic by century's end. Absent a reversal of Islamization (which remains possible) I'm guessing sooner than that.

The assembly, sponsored by Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE), was wholly peaceful -- at least until Belgian police showed up. With a chopper above, water cannon nearby, they didn't break heads, exactly -- nothing so kind as that. In a photo that should be titled The New Face of Fascism (see it at www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2441), we see black-clad Belgian policemen brutalizing a man in a light-colored suit and tie. His hands are cuffed behind his back, his right elbow is clasped in what is known as an arm-bar hold, and he is also being subjected to a genital hold -- a vicious grip that, a retired cop friend of mine tells me, would get any American policeman thrown off the force.

The man under arrest was Frank Vanhecke, president of the Flemish secessionist party Vlaams Belang and a member of European Parliament. Also arrested and beaten was Filip Dewinter, who, as the leading politician of Vlaams Belang, Belgium's largest opposition party, has personally garnered 25 percent of the electorate. (You can find a picture of Belgian police forcing Dewinter to the ground online at kleinverzet.blogspot.com.)

These men are invariably described as "far-right" politicians, as though "far-right"-ness alone (whatever that means when totalitarian police tactics are considered tolerant left) is rationale enough for harsh treatment. I've met both men and know them as free-market, small-government conservatives who deeply believe Western civilization is worth defending against the Islamization that occurs with the entrenchment of Shariah. Indeed, they are bravely trying to prevent Europe's Islamization, practically by themselves. I say "bravely" because in Europe these days, as we know from the Islam-motivated murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, such beliefs can get you killed. And Shariah for All? (more) » By Diana West

Mark Alexander

Harsh, Uncomfortable Words for the White House from the Ol’ High Priest of Finance
TIMESONLINE: AMERICA’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.

In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W Bush’s economic policies.

However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says.

Greenspan, 81, is understood to believe that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the security of oil supplies in the Middle East.

Britain and America have always insisted the war had nothing to do with oil. Bush said the aim was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and end Saddam’s support for terrorism. [Source: Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil (more) » By Graham Paterson]

Fed veteran Alan Greenspan lambasts George W Bush on economy By Graham Paterson

Power, not oil, Mr Greenspan

Mark Alexander

Iranische Bombe ist inakzeptabel, so Sarkozy
NZZ: Frankreich schlägt unter Präsident Sarkozy eine härtere Gangart gegenüber Iran an. Wegen russischer Blockademanöver sucht es einen möglichst breiten Konsens vor allem der Europäer über eine Verhängung zusätzlicher Sanktionen auch ohne Uno-Beschluss.

Ch. M. Paris, 14. September
Präsident Sarkozy schlägt eine wesentlich härtere Gangart als sein Amtsvorgänger Chirac bei Frankreichs Kurs gegenüber den Nuklearambitionen des Regimes in Teheran an. In bilateralen Gesprächen mit den EU-Staaten und vor allem Deutschland sucht Paris gegenwärtig ein Einverständnis über baldige verschärfte Sanktionen gegen Iran auch ausserhalb von Beschlüssen des Uno-Sicherheitsrates herbeizuführen. Eine längst fällige dritte Sicherheitsratsresolution wird durch Einwände Russlands blockiert und könnte laut französischen Befürchtungen nicht vor nächstem Jahr verabschiedet werden. Verschärfte Gangart Sarkozys gegenüber Iran: Befürwortung zusätzlicher Sanktionen ohne Uno-Plazet (mehr) »

Mark Alexander

Charles Should Become Defender of the Faith upon Ascending the Throne, not Faith, says Archbishop
BBC: Prince Charles should not become defender of all faiths rather than just Christianity when he becomes King, the Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted.

Dr Rowan Williams also said his coronation should be a Christian rather than a multi-faith service.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph he described Britain as a "broken society" and said urgent action was needed by the government.

He also called for the abortion law to be tightened in the UK.
The archbishop forthrightly rejected any change for Prince Charles in the function adopted by his ancestor Henry VIII as defender of the Christian faith when he becomes titular head of the Church of England. Monarch faith role ‘should stay’ (more) »

Mark Alexander

Time to Get Out of the EU?
THE TELEGRAPH: A huge increase in economic migration into the EU is being proposed by the European Commission.

It wants to relax controls and open the borders to an extra 20 million workers from Asia and Africa over the next two decades.

That would more than double the present non-EU resident population now living in the 27 member states. It now stands at about 18 million out of a total of around 490 million.

The Commission is drawing up a new ''blue card'' scheme - modelled on the American ''green card'' work permit - allowing qualified migrants the right to live, work and travel in the EU.

The plan marks a renewed push to convince member states to adopt a single fast-track immigration policy. EU told to open door to 20m migrant workers (more) » By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor

Mark Alexander

Bushy Beards in the Forces are ‘In’!

Photo courtesy of the TimesOnline

TIMESONLINE: Their grizzly and unkempt facial hair could not be further removed from the regulation short back and sides that of the modern British Servicemen.

But in a historic exception to regulations, RAF soldiers have been given permission to grow bushy beards for tours of duty in Afghanistan. Permission to shave, sir? No! (more) » By Fiona Hamilton

Mark Alexander

'Immigrants are Good.' Good for What, Mr Frattini?
Have you got evidence that immigrants are good for anything, Mr Frattini? Or is this just one of your gut feelings?

It seems to me that uncontrolled immigration is good for just one thing: To overthrow the system - it’s good to lead us to tryranny. To Islamic tyranny! In other words, it’s a good way to Islamize Europe. It’s a good way to turn Europe into Eurabia! – ©Mark

BBC: European governments should regard immigration as an "enrichment" not a threat, EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini told a conference in Lisbon.

Mr Frattini said he would outline proposals next month for a "blue card" system for skilled immigrants, modelled on the US green card.

He said the US was getting 55% of all skilled migrants, and Europe only 5%.

"Skills shortages are already noticeable in a number of sectors and they will tend to increase," he said.

Mr Frattini has long argued that Europe needs policies to encourage legal migration, and to prevent illegal migration.

However, the European Commission's plans could be resisted by a number of European governments, which want to maintain national control over migration flows.

'New vision'
Opinion polls suggest that as few as four out of 10 EU citizens believe immigrants make a big contribution to society. Migrants are good, says Brussels (more) »

Mark Alexander

Vlaams Belang: “Europe Can Still Be Saved!” “Fighting for the Survival of the West!”


Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Mark Alexander

Heiliger Krieg übers Internet
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: 13. September 2007
Das Internet gewinnt nach den Worten von Bundesinnenminister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) für islamistische Terroristen immer mehr an Bedeutung. Das internationale Datennetz sei inzwischen „so etwas wie die Plattform des 'Heiligen Kriegs' gegen die westliche Welt“ geworden, sagte Schäuble am Donnerstag in Berlin. Genutzt werde es von Terroristen auch, um ihre Ressourcen weitgehend ungehindert und unkontrolliert zu bündeln.

Schäuble setzt sich aus diesem Grunde auch für die heimliche Online-Durchsuchung von Computern ein. „Um ihre fundamentalistische rückwärtsgewandte Mission zu verwirklichen, instrumentalisieren die Islamisten fortschrittlichste Technologien“, sagte der Innenminister in einer Grundsatzrede vor der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Islamisten im Netz: „Ein heiliger Krieg über das Intenet“ (mehr) »

Islamisten im Internet: Dschihad aus den Weiten des Netzes

Mark Alexander

When Native People Lose Control
BNP* NEWS TEAM: Brussels might be 200 miles from London but the two capital cities have a lot in common. Both have extreme left-wing mayors, both are home to a growing migrant population from the Third World, both are home to a growing number of Muslims who are displaying all the signs of successful colonists cowering the indigenous population into submission.

Just two days ago we reported the brutal actions of Brussels police who smashed up a birthday party by Filip deWinter Leader of the Flemish nationalists, Vlaams Belang, to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks by Islamic extremists on America.

The brutality of the Brussels police against just 300 friends and supporters of Mr. deWinter was unprecedented, with three leading VB members clubbed and arrested. Eye witnesses reported a fleet of water cannons, a mounted cavalry unit and a further riot squad were held just yards away in reserve, just in case the real defenders of European democracy including Frank Vanhecke, an elected MEP, were minded to carry out acts of extreme violence.

Minority decision-makers

While the overwhelming majority of the uniformed police officers from the Brussels force are native Belgians the people that made the decision to ban an earlier protest to stop the Islamification of Europe were colonisers.

Every year the authorities in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and of the European Union (EU), receive between 500 and 600 applications for permission to demonstrate or hold protest marches. With very few exceptions permission is always granted. In the past five years only six applications were turned down – an average of one a year. Among these was one for a demonstration by the DHKP/C, a Kurdish terrorist organization. However in August Freddy Thielemans, the Mayor of Brussels, announced that he was banning a demonstration against the Islamization of Europe, planned to be held on September 11 in front of the European Parliament buildings.

Mayor Thielemans was worried that the demonstration will upset the large immigrant population of Brussels. Over half the inhabitants of the Brussels region are of foreign origin, many of them from Morocco. According to the mayor there is a real danger of violence between demonstrators and Muslims living in the neighbourhood. The latter might not tolerate native Europeans protesting against their continent becoming Eurabia.

Thielemans is a member of the Parti Socialiste (PS), a Belgian party which caters for the Muslim population. The PS is the largest party in Brussels, holding 17 of the 47 seats in the city council. 10 of the 17 PS-councillors are Muslims. The PS governs Brussels in a coalition with the Christian-Democrats, who have 11 councillors, of whom 2 are Muslims and 3 are immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. Only 13 of the 28 councillors in the governing coalition of the city are native Belgians. Thielemans is the most conspicuous of these. He is an atheist who is fond of Muslims, not because he respects religious people, but because he hates Christians.

Christianaphobe

On 2 April 2005 the Brussels mayor was attending an official cocktail party with the mayor of Angoulême (France), when the news of the death of Pope John Paul II reached him. On hearing the news he ordered “Champagne for everyone!” His French colleague walked out in disgust. Upsetting Catholics has never particularly worried the Socialist mayor of Brussels, for instance when he refused to ban a play (by a Moroccan-born author) which was advertised around the country on posters portraying the Virgin Mary with bare breasts.

In Mr. Thielemans’s absence his deputy, Algerian-born Faouzia Hariche, is Brussels’ acting mayor – which is an improvement. Hariche, too, obviously, is Muslim-friendly, but she has never publicly toasted the death of the Pope.

Last Spring, the Danish group Stop Islamiseringen af Danmark (SIAD), the British group Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) and the German group Pax Europa, decided to organize a protest march against the introduction of Sharia laws in Europe. The organizers want the march to take place on 9/11 in the streets of Brussels and to end in front of the EU Parliament.

The Brussels ban is a clear example of what happens when the native people lose control, political control of their own towns and cities. What can happen in Brussels today can happen in London, Cardiff or Glasgow tomorrow when the native people become a minority and the decisions are made by a minority with their own vested interests totally at odds with the wishes and aspirations and established traditions of the native people. [Source: When Native People Lose Control]

* Placing any article from a political party on this blogspot should in NO WAY be construed as an endorsement of that party. Mark Alexander strives to stay out of all party politics.

Mark Alexander

OBL has Gone Metrosexual!


Mark Alexander

Another New Low for the Dollar Against the Euro
BBC: The US dollar has fallen to new record lows against the euro as investors fret about a world credit crunch.

In European trading, the greenback dropped as low as $1.3927 against the euro, deepening Wednesday's losses.

The dollar has fallen in the past week, amid hopes that Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in a bid to reassure markets over current credit fears.

Analysts expect rates to fall by between a quarter and half a percentage point when the Fed meets next week.

However, as the dollar has weakened, the euro has gained momentum after recent comments from the European Central Bank (ECB) hinting at the possibility of future interest rate rises. Dollar hits new low versus euro (more)

Mark Alexander

Key US Ally Killed in Iraq
BBC: A key Sunni ally of the US and Iraqi governments has been killed in a bomb attack in the city of Ramadi, Iraqi police and media say.

Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was the leader of an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that rejected al-Qaeda because of its methods and worked with the US.

He was killed in a bomb attack near his home in Iraq's western Anbar province.

Abu Risha was among a group of tribal leaders who met President George W Bush during his visit to Iraq last week.

"The sheikh's car was totally destroyed by the explosion. Abu Risha was killed and two of his bodyguards were seriously wounded," Ramadi police officer Ahmed Mahmoud al-Alwani told Reuters.

Later it was reported that both bodyguards had died. Iraqi insurgents kill key US ally (more)

Mark Alexander

German TV Scandal
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany's ZDF public television network has sunk to an all-time low on its Web site. It has asked the public who was behind 9/11: Was it really Osama bin Laden or was it actually the US government? The Scandal of German TV's 9/11 Poll (more) By Henryk Broder

Mark Alexander

Why Don’t Liberal, PC, Do-Gooders Mind Their Own Damn Business? The Swiss Are Entitled to Run Their Wonderful Country as They Wish. Basta!
BBC: An official report into the process of naturalisation in Switzerland says the current system is discriminatory and in many respects racist.

The report, from Switzerland's Federal Commission on Racial Discrimination, recommends far-reaching changes.
It criticises the practice of allowing members of a community to vote on an individual's citizenship application.

Muslims and people from the Balkans and Africa are the most likely to be rejected, the report points out.

Switzerland has Europe's toughest naturalisation laws. Foreigners must live for 12 years in a Swiss community before they can apply, and being born in Switzerland brings no right to citizenship.

Under the current system, foreigners apply through their local town or village.

They appear before a citizenship committee and answer questions about their desire to be Swiss. After that, they must often be approved by the entire voting community, in a secret ballot, or a show of hands. This practice, the report says, is particularly likely to be distorted by racial discrimination.

It cites the case of a disabled man originally from Kosovo. Although fulfilling all the legal criteria, his application for citizenship was rejected by his community on the grounds that his disability made him a burden on taxpayers, and that he was Muslim.

The report recommends that decisions on citizenship should be decided by an elected executive and not by the community as a whole. But such a move is likely to encounter stiff opposition.

Foreigners are a key issue in the run-up to Switzerland's general election next month.

The right-wing Swiss People's Party, currently leading in the opinion polls, claims Swiss communities have a democratic right to decide who can or cannot be Swiss. [Source: Swiss citizenship system 'racist' (more) By Imogen Foulkes]

LA STAMPA:
Svizzera isolazionista Pecora nera d'Europa

Mark Alexander

We Are Not Winning the War on Islamic Terrorism!
The reason we are failing in our attempts to deal with the threat of Al-Qa’eda and Islamic terrorism is simple: We are trying to eliminate the threat by treating the symptoms, not the disease. A cancer cannot be treated in this way. A cancer has to be excised if a doctor is to effect a satisfactory cure. If the cancer is not excised, then that cancer will simply metastasize. This is precisely what is happening with Islamic terrorism: It is metastasizing! And go on metastasizing it will until our leaders have the courage and insight to identify the problem. In order to win a war, you have to know your enemy. It is imperative; otherwise the war will be lost.

In this particular instance, there is much at stake. In short, our civilization is at stake!

It is high time for the US and its allies to change tactics. Time is not on our side.

THE TELEGRAPH: The al-Qa'eda terror organisation of Osama bin Laden is as strong today as it was six years ago during the September 11 attacks and retains the capability to carry out similar atrocities, according to a report by one of Britain's leading think tanks.

"Core" al-Qa'eda is proving adaptable and resilient and has retained the ability to plan and co-ordinate large-scale attacks in the Western world, says the Strategic Survey published yesterday by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Nigel Inkster, a former director for operations and intelligence for MI6, who contributed to the al-Qa'eda section of the report, said it showed that the tactics being used in the war on terrorism were proving ineffective.

"The bottom line is that for six years the United States and its allies have been struggling to eliminate this threat and it is becoming increasingly clear that they have not succeeded in doing so," said Mr Inkster. Al-Qa'eda 'as strong today as it was on 9/11' (more) By Con Coughlin

Mark Alexander

Beauty and the Beast
It is quite unbelievable that Muslims have the temerity to come here to the West, to the very people that have been kind enough to offer them a way out of their Third World misery, and then try and tell us how we should lead our lives. They even have the chutzpah to suggest that we are in a state of pre-Islamic chaos, or Jahiliyya!

Now please, ladies and gentlemen, take a good look at the following images, and please ask yourself an earnest question: Who are the people living in a backward state?

I think the answer is plain to see. Frankly, I believe that Muslims can teach us very little. They can certainly teach us nothing about either fashion or style! - ©Mark

Création de Michael Kors

Création de ?

Mark Alexander

Londra, libera la lesbica iraniana Pegah
Rischiava il rimpatrio e la lapidazione
LA REPUBBLICA: LONDRA - Pegah, la donna lesbica iraniana che dalla Gran Bretagna rischiava l'estradizione nel suo paese e la morte, "è libera". A dare l'annuncio è il gruppo EveryOne, che ha promosso la mobilitazione per la sua vita, e che fa sapere che la donna "si trova a casa di amici a Sheffield".

La notizia della liberazione di Pegah Emambakhsh dal centro di detenzione di Yarl's Wood di Clapham - fa sapere il gruppo EveryOne - è arrivata nella tarda serata di ieri. La sua liberazione, dicono con soddisfazione dall'organizzazione, è frutto della mobilitazione internazionale ha cui hanno aderito migliaia di cittadini e centinaia di associazioni e organizzazioni per i diritti umani.

La donna si era rifugiata in Inghilterra per sfuggire una condanna a morte per omosessualità. Ora il governo britannico ha cambiato posizione ed il suo status non è più quello di persona accusata di immigrazione clandestina ma di rifugiata in attesa di permesso di soggiorno. Non sarà quindi costretta a tornare in Iran. Londra, libera la lesbica iraniana Pegah
Rischiava il rimpatrio e la lapidazione (contunuare a leggere)

Mark Alexander

Die Islamisten im Versuch den Westen zu spalten
VIDEO auf Arabisch*: Eine Bedrohung (al-Qaidas?) für Deutschland und Österreich: ein klarer Versuch den Westen zu spalten
*Wenn Sie Schwierigkeiten bekommen, bitte klicken Sie auf den folgenden Hyperlink, und klicken Sie weiter auf "Das Video zum Download".

DIE PRESSE:
Islamistisches Video: Drei Festnahmen in Österreich - Al-Qaida-Hintergrund vermutet (mehr)

Mark Alexander

Was 9/11 the Death-Knell of Our Civilization?
CREATORS.COM: How long does it take a nation to forget a wound to its heart?

Six years ago, Islamic terrorists murdered 3000 Americans. The country watched in horror as men and women flung themselves from the top stories of the World Trade Center, desperately attempting to escape the flames rising beneath them; as firefighters were crushed beneath the falling towers; as Americans were consumed by a ball of fire springing from Flight 77 at the Pentagon; as Flight 93 plummeted to consecrated earth in Pennsylvania.

If we took one day to mourn each of the lives taken on September 11, our mourning period would last more than eight years. It has been just six years, and America is already in grave danger of wiping clean the slate of memory.

Did our acute need for closure overcome our more honorable instinct for justice? Were we so horrified by the images of September 11 that we deliberately blinded ourselves to the continuing presence of evil in our world, preferring to retreat to the pre-September 11 rut?

Or has a far more insidious tendency taken root in our politics?

September 11, common parlance has it, changed everything. "Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom," President Bush told Americans on September 20, 2001. "Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. … Freedom and fear are at war."

And for the first few years, Americans agreed with President Bush: Islamism was a global problem, not a simple law enforcement issue. Islamic tyranny, combined with a willingness to harbor and finance international terrorist groups, could not be tolerated. We would not wait for another 9/11 — we would act firmly, decisively and pre-emptively. The Battle Over The 9/11 Legacy Is The Battle Of Our Time (more) By Ben Shapiro

Mark Alexander

As Jihad Activity Metastasizes like Cancer, the Islamic Jihad Union Plans to Attack Countries other than Germany
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A known militant Islamist group has announced that it was behind the terror plot foiled in Germany last week. The Islamic Jihad Union claimed Tuesday it had intended to hit US and Uzbek targets in Germany by the end of the year and that it plans to attack other countries.

The German government is taking seriously claims by a militant Islamic group that it was behind a foiled terror plot. The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that an Internet announcement by the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) that it had plotted to bomb US and Uzbek targets in Germany was being treated as genuine. Three men were arrested on Sept. 4 in Germany (more...) on suspicion of planning to attack US and other facilities. Islamic Jihad Union Threatens Attacks Outside Germany (more)

Mark Alexander