Monday, October 15, 2007

Speculation Mounts About Sarkozy’s Marriage

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia are rumored to be on the verge of divorce. If confirmed, it would mark the end of the president's attempts to create an image of domestic harmony for political gain.

Cecilia Sarkozy is the only topic that evokes both loving adoration and admissions of vulnerability from France's habitually gruff president. "She's my strength and my Achilles heel at the same time," admitted Nicolas Sarkozy in the fall of 2003, long before he moved into the presidential Elysee Palace.

As late as this spring, he was convinced that voters would be charmed by his wife: "If you loved Jacqueline Kennedy, you are going to adore Cecilia Sarkozy." But then his confidence waned by summer: "At the end of the day, my only real worry is Cecilia."

For weeks, the signs have been mounting that the presidential couple may be headed toward an imminent break up. There is no other plausible explanation for her constant absence from public life. Compared to Cecilia Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's notoriously publicity-shy spouse Joachim Sauer looks like her constant companion. Is the Sarkozy Marriage On the Rocks? (more)
Mark Alexander
Glenn Beck: Ahmadinejad on Women and Homosexuals



Mark Alexander
Bush and the King



Mark Alexander
Saudi Professor: America Will Be Destroyed!



Some other viewpoints from Saudis:

Science Saudi Style: Neil Armstrong Proved Mecca Is the Centre of the Earth!

Saudi Cleric Praises Limb Amputation

Saudi Law and Punishment for Crimes

Saudi Cleric: Educating Jihad & World Conquest - Not Enough

Saudi Author Expresses His Opinion About Westerners

Saudi Author Zaynab Hifni Talks about Women, Sex, and Taboos

Mark Alexander
Suicide Bombers Said to Be Plotting to Assassinate Putin on Visit to Iran

BBC: It is "unclear" whether Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned visit to Iran on Monday will go ahead, his spokesman has said.

"I can't confirm or deny that this visit will happen," Dmitry Peskov told the BBC, without elaborating.

Earlier, the Interfax news agency cited unnamed Russian security service sources as saying suicide bombers were plotting to kill Mr Putin in Tehran.

Iran's foreign ministry dismissed the reports as "completely baseless".

Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Mr Putin was due to arrive in Tehran on Monday evening, before attending a summit of Caspian Sea heads of state on Tuesday.

Mr Putin would be the first Russian leader to visit Iran since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin went there in 1943. Putin's visit to Iran 'unclear' (more)

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Putin “assassination bid”

Putin's visit to Iran to go ahead

Mark Alexander
The Dangerous Network of Jihad 'Relay Stations’ Across North America

NEW YORK TIMES: When Osama bin Laden issued his videotaped message to the American people last month, a young jihad enthusiast went online to help spread the word.

“America needs to listen to Shaykh Usaamah very carefully and take his message with great seriousness,” he wrote on his blog. “America is known to be a people of arrogance.”

Unlike Mr. bin Laden, the blogger was not operating from a remote location. It turns out he is a 21-year-old American named Samir Khan who produces his blog from his parents’ home in North Carolina, where he serves as a kind of Western relay station for the multimedia productions of violent Islamic groups.

In recent days, he has featured “glad tidings” from a North African militant leader whose group killed 31 Algerian troops. He posted a scholarly treatise arguing for violent jihad, translated into English. He listed hundreds of links to secret sites from which his readers could obtain the latest blood-drenched insurgent videos from Iraq.

His neatly organized site also includes a file called “United States of Losers,” which showcased a recent news broadcast about a firefight in Afghanistan with this added commentary from Mr. Khan: “You can even see an American soldier hiding during the ambush like a baby!! AllahuAkbar! AllahuAkbar!”

Mr. Khan, who was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Queens, is an unlikely foot soldier in what Al Qaeda calls the “Islamic jihadi media.” He has grown up in middle-class America and wrestles with his worried parents about his religious fervor. Yet he is stubborn. “I will do my best to speak the truth, and even if it annoys the disbelievers, the truth must be preached,” Mr. Khan said in an interview.

While there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Khan is operating in concert with militant leaders, or breaking any laws, he is part of a growing constellation of apparently independent media operators who are broadcasting the message of Al Qaeda and other groups, a message that is increasingly devised, translated and aimed for a Western audience. An Internet Jihad Sells Extremism to Viewers in the U.S. (more)

Mark Alexander
How Much Does Frattini Really Understand about the Threat Too Much Immigration Poses?

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. Migrants are good, says Brussels (more)

Sweden top for welcoming migrants

Mark Alexander

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Archbishop Takes On Critics of Religion

BBC: The Archbishop of Canterbury has used a university lecture to hit back at people who criticise religion.

Dr Rowan Williams said many worshippers would not recognise their religion as described by some authors.

Dr Williams said: "When believers pick up Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, we may feel as we turn the pages 'this is not it'."

The archbishop gave his lecture to more than 1,000 people at the Taliesin Arts Centre, in Swansea. Archbishop answers faith critics (more)

Mark Alexander
Chaos in Berne



Mark Alexander
The Unsettled Crown Prince and the Delectable Princess

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Photo of Princess Mary of Denmark courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: CROWN Prince Frederik should not have married Mary Donaldson but stayed with his former flame, a sensational new book on the Danish royal family says.

Trine Villemann, a veteran royal reporter turned author, says the fairytale marriage between Prince Frederik and Princess Mary has come under strain as both try to cope with the increasing pressures of royalty and parenthood.

Ms Villemann believes the prince is not confident in his role as crown prince, does not want to be king and would have been better off if he had married "the true love of his life", former model Katja Storkholm, to whom he was secretly engaged in 1995. Why Fred should not have wed Mary: author (more) By Belinda Tasker

Mark Alexander
Arnie gegen Homo-Ehe

SONNTAGS BLICK (CH): SACRAMENTO – Damit liegt er ganz auf der Parteilinie: Der kalifornische Gouverneur Arnold Schwarzenegger hat sein Veto gegen die gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe eingelegt.

Der Republikaner begründete seinen Einspruch damit, dass die Frage von den Wählern oder den Gerichten geklärt werden müsse. Doch er betonte, in Kalifornien dürfe es keine Diskriminierung aufgrund der sexuellen Orientierung geben. Arnie gegen Homo-Ehe (mehr)

Mark Alexander
Politics Gets Hot in Switzerland Ahead of Next Week’s Election as Demographic Changes Cause Angst

THE GUARDIAN: Christoph Blocher's party is the largest in Switzerland but its noisy broadsides against immigrants and crime have caused deep divisions ahead of next week's elections. Peter Beaumont reports from Bern

'It's not like we're England,' said the old woman sharing a flask of coffee with her middle-aged daughter on the train from Geneva to Zurich. 'They had the colonies, and we didn't,' she adds, to explain the nature of Britain's racial mix and why Switzerland does not need one. Her daughter considers this for a moment. 'I worry,' she says, 'there will be a putsch against him.'

The him in question is Christoph Blocher, the populist and right-wing leader of the Swiss People's party (the UDC): lawyer, industrialist, admirer of Winston Churchill, collector of mawkish Swiss art and, if his opponents and critics are to be believed, a man with leanings towards the fascist fringe of the right.

And a week today, if Swiss pollster GfS has done its work correctly, the Swiss electorate will return his party again as the largest, with 27 per cent of the vote.

Blocher is the man that one newspaper columnist for 24 Heures - with some irony - dubbed last week the 'Lider Maximo' after Fidel Castro, and whom a cabinet colleague once labelled Il Duce. Everywhere Blocher goes, he polarises Swiss society. His posters appear to have been the only ones vandalised during the campaign. In Bern, where anti-Blocher marchers caused a riot last weekend by stopping the UDC marching through the city, his face has been scrawled out or covered with a drawing showing a black sheep urinating into his grinning mouth. Hard right's hero shakes up cosy world of Swiss politics (more)

Audio: Mathias Muller, an official from the Swiss People's Party (the UDC) talks to Peter Beaumont about accusations of a swing to the right

Mark Alexander

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Shock! Horror! The BBC Shows the Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad

With many thanks to Always On Watch and Little Green Footballs for this excellent video:

The BBC Shows Mohammed Cartoons

Mark Alexander
Britische Regierung ist für einen EU-Beitritt der Türkei

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITNG: Die Labour-Politikerin Margaret Beckett war bis zum Sommer britische Aussenministerin im letzten Kabinett von Tony Blair. Für das Churchill-Symposium ist sie in dieser Woche nach Zürich gekommen. Im Gespräch mit dem NZZ-Redaktor Reinhard Meier nimmt sie zu aktuellen Fragen der britischen Innen- und EU-Politik Stellung.

Frau Beckett, Premierminister Gordon Brown lehnt ein Referendum zum neuen EU-Vertrag ab. Darüber soll im Parlament entschieden werden. Die Opposition verlangt ein Referendum – unter anderem deshalb, weil die Labour-Regierung eine Volksabstimmung zum alten EU-Verfassungsvertrag versprochen habe. Weshalb ist Brown jetzt gegen ein Referendum?

Margaret Beckett: Zuerst muss betont werden, dass ein Referendum für Grossbritannien etwas sehr Ungewöhnliches ist. Für ein Referendum braucht es zuerst spezifische gesetzliche Massnahmen. Allein schon dies wäre ziemlich zeitaufwendig. Es gäbe keine Garantie, dass eine solche Gesetzgebung im Parlament überhaupt angenommen würde. Es gab in unserem Land auch kein Referendum über den Maastricht-Vertrag, und dieser Vertrag hatte erheblich substanziellere Veränderungen für die EU-Mitglieder zur Folge als der neue Vertrag. «Die britische Regierung ist für einen EU-Beitritt der Türkei»: Interview mit der früheren britischen Aussenministerin Margaret Beckett

Mark Alexander
”A Nightmare with No End in Sight”

BBC: A former US military chief in Iraq has condemned the current strategy in the conflict, which he warned was "a nightmare with no end in sight".

Retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez also labelled US political leaders as "incompetent" and "corrupted".

He said they would have faced courts martial for dereliction of duty had they been in the military.

The best the US could manage under the current approach in Iraq was to "stave off defeat", Gen Sanchez warned.

"There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," he said, addressing journalists at Arlington, near Washington. US general damns Iraq 'nightmare' (more)

THE TELEGRAPH:
Sanchez condemns Iraq strategy By Tim Shipman in Washington

Mark Alexander
Summit Boycott Urged by Iranian Leader

BBC: Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged Muslim countries to boycott a planned US-sponsored Middle East peace conference next month.

He said the aim of the meeting was to bolster Israel's position at the expense of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, hopes it will kick-start substantive talks with Israel on the creation of a Palestinian state.

But the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, opposes the conference.

Because Hamas will not recognise Israel, renounce violence, or accept previous Palestinian agreements with Israel, it has not been invited. Iran leader urges summit boycott (more)

Mark Alexander

Friday, October 12, 2007

Pope Pledges Help for Jewish Leaders in Fight Against Anti-Semitism

TIMESONLINE: The Pope hit out at Iran as he pledged to help world Jewish leaders in their fight against anti-Semitism.

Pope Benedict XVI told leaders of the World Jewish Congress that Iran was “an issue of big concern” to him.

At a meeting at the Vatican, the Pope spoke of his concern about rising anti-Semitism and described how he wanted to use educational tools to counter the hatred of the Iranian leadership towards the Jewish people and Israel.

Maram Stern, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, said after the audience: “We thanked the Holy Father for everything he did for the Jewish people, and more importantly what he will do.”

Speaking to journalists in Rome, he said the Pope had “recognised the question of Iran as an issue of big concern for him.”

Members of the congress discussed the critical problem of “resurgent anti-Semitism” in Europe. Britain itself has seen a marked rise in anti-Semitism, linked to increasing anti-Zionism and to events in the Middle East. Pope attacks Iran at Jewish Congress (more)

Hat tip: JihadWatch

Mark Alexander

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Reduce Drinking Age, But Ban Smoking Everywhere! Makes Perfect Sense, Doesn’t It Professor Ashton?

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Photo of Professor Ashton courtesy of the BBC

BBC: A leading medical expert says lowering the legal drinking age to 16 could help tackle the UK's binge culture.

Prof John Ashton claims the best way to encourage teenagers to drink responsibly is to treat them as adults.

Prof Ashton, Director of Public Health at Cumbria NHS Primary Care Trust, said most youngsters are already consuming alcohol by the age of 16.

Illicit drinking encouraged risky activities like unprotected sex and anti-social behaviour, he said.

On Thursday, the Home Office announced that fewer under-18s were able to buy alcohol after a crackdown on traders selling to youngsters.

A spokesman called the figures "particularly encouraging".

But Prof Ashton believes that over-16s should be welcomed into pubs for their own safety. Reduce drinking age, says expert (more)

Mark Alexander
Ankara rappelle son ambassadeur à Washington pour des “consultations”

LE MONDE: Après l'adoption par une commission du Congrès américain d'un texte reconnaissant le génocide arménien, la Turquie a rappelé son ambassadeur en poste à Washington, Nabi Sensoy, pour des consultations, selon l'agence de presse Anatolie. Ankara rappelle son ambassadeur à Washington pour des "consultations" (suivant)

LE FIGARO:
Génocide arménien : les relations se tendent entre Washington et Ankara

BBC:
Ankara recalls ambassador to US

Mark Alexander
Storm Over Eva Herman Grows

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Eva Herman now a very controversial figure in Germany

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Author and former German TV presenter Eva Herman got kicked off a major talk show this week for refusing to apologize for statements she made that allegedly glorified Nazi-era family policies. Herman is now at the center of a growing culture war.

In Germany, portraying any aspect of the Nazi era in a positive light is a great way to quickly destroy a career. Just ask Eva Herman, the controversial TV presenter and author sacked by the public television station that employed her for 19 years last month.

The commotion began in September when, at a press conference to promote her new book, Herman said that life under Hitler wasn't all that bad -- at least not every aspect. "It was a gruesome time with a totally crazy and highly dangerous leader who led the Germans into ruin as we all know," Herman said. "But there was at the time also something good, and that is the values, that is the children, that is the families, that is a togetherness -- it was all abolished, there was nothing left."

The statement led to Herman's termination (more...). Rather than apologize or distance herself from her comments, though, she has fought back with missionary zeal in the past month, granting interviews and appearing on talk shows -- the latest being Johannes B. Kerner's show on German public broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday night.

When Kerner pressed her on whether she would repeat her statements today, Herman evaded the question. Instead, she said: "If one isn't allowed to discuss Nazi family values, then neither can one talk about the German autobahns, which were built during the Third Reich." She also said it had become impossible to discuss German history without endangering one's reputation.

Herman has spent the past month accusing journalists of taking her original quote out of context, saying they pulled the half that was favorable to the Nazis and eliminated the parts where she clearly distanced herself from Hitler's terror regime. Tuesday was no different. On Kerner's show, she said: "I didn't make a mistake, "I'm just sorry that people have been misinformed by the press."

Of course, Kerner's show on Tuesday wasn't completely without its agenda, either. After conducting 50 minutes of what seemed more like a show trial than an interview and only a few minutes left to go on his show, Kerner kicked Herman out, saying she had become unpalatable to him and his guests. One had to note, however, that Kerner's show was taped hours before it airs and his producers were quick to spread the news of Herman getting kicked off -- as well as photos -- so that there could be plenty of time to promote the scandal and ensure record ratings of 2.65 million viewers.

Not that that made Herman look any better -- as she continued to defend her comments and refuse in anyway to assuage her tsunami of critics. Her appearance led German mass-circulation daily Bild to ask its readers: "Is Eva Herman a brownshirt or just dumb?"

Herman is a divisive figure in Germany, ridiculed by the left as the leader of a new wave of anti-feminism that would like to see women give up their careers to become cookie-baking, stay-at-home moms. Religious conservatives, on the other hand, have embraced her family friendly message. With an average of 1.3 children per women, Germany has the lowest birth rate in Europe at a time when the country faces a looming demographic crisis. Concerns about Germany's future have assured Herman of a broad audience among conservatices. In her book the "Eva Principle," Herman argues that if German feminists don't change their ways against against the backdrop of a graying population, the country will die out. Firestorm over German TV Presenter's Remarks Grows (more)

Mark Alexander
More Evidence that Turkey Does Not Belong in Europe

BBC: The son of murdered Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink has been found guilty of insulting "Turkishness", along with another newspaper editor.

Arat Dink and Serkis Seropyan were convicted after printing Dink's claims that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks from 1915 was genocide.

The verdict came a day after a US congressional committee backed a bill labelling the killings as genocide. Pair guilty of ‘insulting Turkey’ (more)

Mark Alexander
Austria in the Grip of a Deportation Row

BBC: The plight of a 15-year-old Kosovan girl separated from family members has plunged the Austrian parliament into an acrimonious debate about asylum policy.

The opposition Green Party said the country's asylum laws must be changed, demanding a general "right to stay" for well-integrated foreigners.

The conservative interior minister said he would not succumb to "blackmail". Deportation row grips Austrians (more)

Mark Alexander
Empire State Building to Be Lit Green to Celebrate the End of Ramadan!

BREITBART.COM: New York's iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.

"This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah," according to a statement.

Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month, is expected to be celebrated in New York from Friday, depending on when the new moon is sighted, and the city's tallest skyscraper will remain green until Sunday.

Built in the early 1930s, the 443-meter-tall (1,454-feet-tall) Empire State Building was first lit up with colored lighting in 1976, when red, white and blue lights were used to mark the American Bicentennial.

An estimated seven million Muslims live in the United States. [Source: Empire State Building to go green for Muslim holiday]

Mark Alexander
Turkey Furious With US Over Congressional Committee’s Approval of the Use of the ‘G’ Word

THE GUARDIAN: Turkey today condemned a US congressional committee for approving a resolution that recognises the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Calling the move "irresponsible", and with reference to tensions on its border with Iraq, the Turkish government warned it could damage a strategic partnership at a sensitive time.

"Our government regrets and condemns this decision. It is unacceptable that the Turkish nation has been accused of something that never happened in history," it said in a statement. Turkey condemns US over Armenian genocide resolution (more) By Mark Tran and agencies

WATCH VIDEO:
Congress ignores Bush over Armenian killings: Committee votes in favour of using the word genocide to describe mass killings despite George Bush and Condoleezza Rice warning of the strategic repercussions

BBC:
Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote

WATCH BBC VIDEO:

US vote sparks Turkish anger

READ:
THE RESOLUTION

Mark Alexander
East London: Plans to Dig Up 350,000 Christian Bodies in Historic Cemetery to Make Room for Muslim Burial Ground

DAILY MAIL: A row has erupted over a plan to dig up a third of a million bodies from an historic east London cemetery to make way for a new Muslim burial site.

Tower Hamlets council in London is considering reopening the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in Mile End to answer a long-running campaign for a Muslim graveyard in the area.

The park, off Bow Common Lane, was deconsecrated as a Church of England cemetery by Parliament in 1966, after being deemed full with about 350,000 bodies buried there.

Opposing the plan, environmentalist and broadcaster David Bellamy is leading calls for the park to be kept as a wildlife haven.

The botanist, who is patron of a charity that acts as the guardian of the graveyard, said he will 'pray that the wisdom of all faiths' prevails in the decision over the cemetery's future.

The other options are to find land outside Tower Hamlets or redevelop the Bow Common gas works.

The Labour-controlled council had asked officers to find ways of opening a Muslim-only cemetery - but lawyers warned them that would be illegal.

The authority then examined the possibility of a multi-faith site, clearing existing graves to create a new cemetery with an area set aside for Muslim burials.

But now outraged East Enders have declared "there is no way we'll allow them to dig up our ancestors". Anger over plan to dig up 350,000 bodies in historic London cemetery for Muslim burial site (more)

Mark Alexander
The Cost of Living Extremely Well

"…the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches, which in their eye is never so complete as when they appear to possess those decisive marks of opulence which nobody can possess but themselves." – Adam Smith

TOWNHALL.COM: WASHINGTON -- Enough, already, with compassion for society's middle and lower orders. There currently is a sympathy deficit regarding the very rich. Or so the rich might argue because they bear the heavy burden of spending enough to keep today's plutonomy humming.

Furthermore, they are getting diminishing psychological returns on their spending now that luxury brands are becoming democratized. When there are 379 Louis Vuitton and 227 Gucci stores, who cares?

Citigroup's Ajay Kapur applies the term "plutonomy" to, primarily, the United States, although Britain, Canada and Australia also qualify. He notes that America's richest 1 percent of households own more than half the nation's stocks and control more wealth ($16 trillion) than the bottom 90 percent. When the richest 20 percent account for almost 60 percent of consumption, you see why rising oil prices have had so little effect on consumption.

Kapur's theory is that "wealth waves" develop in epochs characterized by, among other things, disruptive technology-driven productivity gains and creative financial innovations that "involve great complexity exploited best by the rich and educated of the time." For the canny, daring and inventive, these are the best of times -- and vast rewards to such people might serve the rapid propulsion of society to greater wealth.

But it is increasingly expensive to be rich. The Forbes CLEW index (the Cost of Living Extremely Well) -- yes, there is such a thing -- has been rising much faster than the banal CPI (consumer price index). At the end of 2006, there were 9.5 million millionaires worldwide, which helps to explain the boom in the "bling indexes" -- stocks such as Christian Dior and Richemont (Cartier and Chloe, among other brands), which are up 247 percent and 337 percent respectively since 2002, according to Fortune magazine. Citicorp's "plutonomy basket" of stocks (Sotheby's, Bulgari, Hermes, etc.) has generated an annualized return of 17.8 percent since 1985.

This is the outer symptom of a fascinating psychological phenomenon: Envy increases while -- and perhaps even faster than -- wealth does. When affluence in the material economy guarantees that a large majority can take for granted things that a few generations ago were luxuries for a small minority (a nice home, nice vacations, a second home, college education, comfortable retirement), the "positional economy" becomes more important. The Cost of Living Extremely Well (more) By George Will

Mark Alexander
”Survival of the World,” at Stake, Say Muslims to Pope

TIMESONLINE: The "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other, leaders of the Muslim world will warn the Pope and other Christian leaders today.

In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" and spell out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.

The scholars state: "As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes."

The phrasing has echoes of the New Testament passage: "He that is not with me is against me" - a passage used by President George Bush when addressing a joint session of Congress nine days after 9/11.

The Muslims call instead for the emphasis to be on the shared characteristics of world's two largest faiths.

The letter, addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, to the Orthodox Church's Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew 1 and all the other Orthodox Patriarchs and to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and the leaders of all other Protestant churches worldwide, will be rolled out around the world this morning in a series of press conferences beginning in Jordan. It is supported by the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres.

It is expected to be followed by a joint conference between Muslim and Christian world leaders at on "neutral" ground, such as at a university in America.

"Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders," the Muslim scholars say, noting that Christians and Muslims make up over a third and a fifth of humanity respectively.

"Together they make up more than 55 per cent of the population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace."

The Muslims even quote passages verbatim from the Bible, extremely rare in a publication of this kind and at this level and an indication of their resolve to bring the two faiths together and end the present tensions between them.

The letter continues: "With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake." Pope told 'survival of world' at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace (more) By Ruth Gledhill

Ruth Gledhill’s blog on this article

BBC:
Open Letter to Pope Benedcit XVI

Mark Alexander
Zapatero Brings Division and Confrontation to Spanish Politics with a Law to Right Wrongs of the Franco Era

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Photo of General Franco courtesy of The Telegraph


THE TELEGRAPH: A controversial law that will officially condemn the Franco dictatorship has been presented to parliament in the hope of healing the deep wounds that have divided Spain since the start of the civil war 70 years ago.

The Law of Historic Memory will, for the first time, acknowledge the victims of the fascist dictator, breaking a tacit agreement among most Spaniards not to dwell on the past, a move which paved the way for a smooth transition to democracy on the death of Franco in 1975.

The process to break that pacto de olvido [collective pact of forgetting] began with the arrival in 2004 of a socialist government under the prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose grandfather was shot by Franco's Nationalist troops in the war.

Last year, on the 70th anniversary of the start of the conflict, the government announced plans to introduce the Bill with the intention of addressing past wrongs.

Some 15 months later, amid fierce opposition from the Right-wing opposition, who have said it is "derisive" and "opens old wounds", the government has finally thrashed out a Bill that should win enough support from Congress to become law before the end of the year.

"We have reached an important moment," said Diego Lopez Garrido, the Socialist parliamentary spokesman. "The law will provide definitive reparation and recognition for those who suffered in the civil war." Spain's law 'to right wrongs' of Franco era (more) By Fiona Govan in Madrid

Mark Alexander

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Want a Laugh? Want a Cry? Watch Ken Livingstone at Eid in the Square, London 2006!


Mark Alexander
Another Cracking Video from Pat Condell

With may thanks to Baron Bodissey for this great video. I first saw it on the Baron and Dymphna’s great website Gates of Vienna:



Mark Alexander
Hedonists, Muslims, Masters and Slaves

It should be obvious to all thinking men and women that the West is in a battle for survival. Unfortunately, there are far too few people around who understand the problem. There are even fewer people around willing to do anything about it. This is the sadness of our time.

There is so much glib talk about the West being democratic. As the years go by, there is increasing evidence that the West is losing its democracy, since important decisions are being made, without the least consultation with the people, without the least consultation with the voters who have put the politicians in power. In fact, it seems to me that most politicians are abusing the powers that they have been given. And let’s not forget this: They have been given power to safeguard our freedoms. Yet each and every day we can read of this being banned and that being outlawed.

To heap coals on the fire, many Westerners have become hedonists. So many people today care far more about the pleasures of life, the second home, the second or third car, the multiple foreign holidays per annum, but pay scant regard for what is going on politically in their countries. The representative who gets their vote is often the representative who is the most handsome, or the one who will give them the best tax break. They want more of everything; yet they are willing to give up nothing.

But it is a fact of life that there are times when, in the interests of survival, people have to sacrifice. The Second World War was a case in point. Without sacrifice, that war would never have been won, and the ideology of National Socialism would never have been beaten.

At present, we have another ideology trying to destroy our civilization. Its name is Islam. Yet the best that our leaders can do is kow-tow to Muslims, the best thing they can do is give in to their every wish and demand. It’s easier that way. It involves far less courage, and in the short-term, it involves far less sacrifice. But don’t be fooled, ladies and gentleman. The sacrifice will come, as sure as night follows day. We will have to sacrifice our culture, for in the long-term, our civilization will be subsumed by an Islamic ‘civilization.’

One of the problems is this: Westerners have become far too hedonistic, whereas Muslims are willing and able and ready to fight for their cause. And what is that cause? To turn Dar ul harb’, the ‘House of War’, into Dar ul Islam, or the ‘House of Islam.’ They are determined to achieve their goals; we should be equally as determined to thwart their efforts. But we seem not to be. We are busy giving in to their demands, for it must be said that our leaders show every sign of being jelly-bellied in the face of Islam. They lack courage, lack insight and lack any basic understanding of the nature of the problem, and they certainly lack the determination to stop the rot.

In many ways, Muslims are cleverer than we are. They will not give in. They are also far, far more committed to their religion than Westerners are to Christianity. Theirs is a supremacist ideology; our current ideology if we can grace it with such a name is self-deprecating. We make excuses for ourselves at each and every turn.

No war was ever won that way!

President Bush has a lot to answer for, as does the erstwhile prime minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair. Both have shown themselves to be pussies rather than lions, both have shown themselves to be inept.

How, for example, could a war in Iraq be justified when most of the 9/11 attackers came from Saudi Arabia? Did it make any sense to invade Iraq rather than Saudi Arabia? Did it make any sense to make the Iraqis suffer for the wrongdoing of the Saudis?

But the invasion of Saudi Arabia was never a realistic option for President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, since the US and the UK have a master-slave relationship with the desert kingdom. We are the slaves, and they are the masters!

The latest comments by the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia show just how weak President Bush and his administration truly are. It is disgraceful that Bush can fawn over the Saudis and Muslims as he does, when it was they who have wreaked havoc with freedom ever since 9/11, it is they who have brought a pall over life in the West ever since that fateful, egregious day, and it is they who fund the spread of Wahhabism in the West.

President Bush ought to feel ashamed of himself. He tried to bring democracy to Iraq, to a part of the world where it was not wanted, in the naïve belief that all people want the same thing, yet all the while our freedoms and liberties have been eroded here at home, both in the US and in the rest of the West by our leaders' craven behaviour.

History will not be kind either to Bush or Blair or any other politicians who fail to recognize the dangers we face, and who fail to take the necessary measures to safeguard our liberties and our civilization. For it has been under their watch that Islam has grown so strong in the midst of our Judeo-Christian civilization, not under anybody else’s.

Soft thinkers are inclined to think that all will be well, and that nothing can happen to our beloved democracies. They would do well to remember just how easily the Soviet Union was toppled. What happened there can also happen here.

When President Bush retires in 2008, he will have plenty of time to ruminate on his mistakes. If he has any conscience at all, the best he can hope for is loss of sleep. I feel sure that Blair already is losing his!

Hedonists, slavish acceptance and adherence to mythical concepts such as Islam being a religion of peace, something which Bush is apt to state over and over, will do nothing to safeguard our civilization. Merely stating something over and over, ad nauseam, does not make it true.

President Bush is well on the way to making slaves of us all! Dear readers, wake up from those reveries! Hedonism and weakness never won any war. This is a war to the death. It behoves us not to forget the story of the fall of Rome.

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©Mark Alexander

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US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Recognizes Ramadan and Says Americans Have the Deepest Respect for Muslims

Question: Is this like the deep respect Muslims have for Americans and other infidels?

ARAB NEWS: RIYADH, 10 October 2007 — US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ford M. Fraker termed the US House of Representatives resolution recognizing Ramadan and expressing the deepest respect to Muslims in the United States as “historic”.

The resolution was adopted in the House by a vote of 376-0 last week for the first time.

“We welcome the resolution from the US House of Representatives recognizing the holy month of Ramadan and expressing respect to Muslims,” said Fraker. “This message of friendship is particularly appropriate here, the home of Islam’s two holiest mosques.”

The American envoy noted that “this resolution confirms that Congress and the American people are fully supportive of these efforts.”

The resolution, which acknowledges the importance of Muslims in America, is the first of its kind, introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and co-sponsored by 30 legislators.

The resolution was strongly backed by Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim to be elected to US Congress.

Fraker underscored the US Embassy’s community outreach efforts, including hosting iftar meals during Ramadan.

“Moreover, we hosted Imam Muhammad Bashar Arafat, who spoke to Saudi audiences about Muslim life in America and shared his peaceful messages of cooperation and dialogue between cultures,” he said.

“We would like to take this opportunity to wish your readers Ramadan Kareem and Eid Mubarak,” he added.

A statement posted at the US Embassy website said that US President George W. Bush has expressed happiness on the adoption of this resolution.

Bush said that the Islamic religion “is a great religion that preaches peace,” and that Americans are free “to worship any way they see fit.” US Envoy Emphasizes Bid to Bridge Social Gap (more) By M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News

Mark Alexander
Hitler’s Adoring, Fawning Fans

YNET NEWS: Amount of fan mail sent to Nazi leader between 1925 and 1945 rivalled that of The Beatles, The Independent reports

LONDON - The amount of fan mail sent to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler between the years 1925 and 1945 rivalled that of The Beatles, British newspaper The Independent reported Tuesday.

According to the report, the up to 1,000 letters a month written to Hitler during the course of his political career included not only fawning pledges of allegiance and declarations of love but bizarre requests from ordinary Germans for permission to bake cakes named after the Nazi leader.

The contents of the letters have been published in a new book by German historian Henrik Eberle, who unearthed a rich source of hitherto unseen Nazi fan mail in historical archives in Moscow.

According to The Independent, excerpts from Dr Eberle's book, Letters to Hitler – a People Writes to its Leader, were published Monday in Germany's Bild newspaper.

Some of the letters praise Hitler's leadership, while others were written by people seeking to reveal the fuehrer's personal tastes and habits.

A telegram written by a Walter Zickler, dated June 1925, pledges "unalterable allegiance and unshakeable faith in our leader, Adolf Hitler", on behalf of the "College of German Farmers".

"How does HE stand regarding the question of alcohol?" asks Alfred Barg, in a letter written to Hitler in May 1925. According to the report, Dr Eberle notes in his book that Hitler rarely set eyes on any of the letters himself but relied primarily on Rudolf Hess, his deputy, to read and reply to them.

To Barg's letter, Hess replies nine days later: "Herr Hitler does not drink any alcohol, except for a few drops on very special occasions. He does not smoke at all." Love letters sent to Hitler revealed (more) By Hagit Klaiman

Mark Alexander
American Health Nazis Move Closer to Home

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TOWNHALL.COM: During Prohibition, making and selling liquor was illegal, but drinking it was not. With tobacco, we are moving toward the opposite situation, where it will be legal to make and sell cigarettes but not to smoke them.

A smoking ban recently approved by the city council of Belmont, Calif., a town halfway between San Jose and San Francisco, is so sweeping that saying where it does not apply is easier than saying where it does. Smoking will still be allowed in tobacco shops, in automobiles, in some hotel rooms, in private residences that do not share a floor or ceiling with other private residences, and on streets and sidewalks, assuming you can find a spot that is not within 20 feet of a smoke-free location.

That may be hard, since Belmont's smoke-free areas include not only buildings open to the public but outdoor locations where people wait, such as ATM lines and bus stops, or work, such as construction sites and restaurant patios. But a smoker who despairs of finding an outdoor area where smoking is allowed can still light up even if he does not own a car and is unlucky enough to live in an apartment or condominium. He just has to land a role in a theatrical production "where smoking is an integral part of the story." Anti-Tobacco Crusaders Boldly Go into Smokers' Homes (more) By Jacob Sullum

Mark Alexander
Relations Between the US and Turkey Begin to Sour Over Armenian ‘Genocide’

THE GUARDIAN: Turkey and the US were heading for a diplomatic showdown today over a Congressional vote on whether it should recognise as genocide the 1915 killings of Christian Armenians by Muslim Turks

Turkish politicians have warned of grave consequences if the House of Representatives endorses the bill, which is opposed by the Bush administration.

Yesterday the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, warned of "serious troubles in the two countries' relations" if the measure is approved.

The threats come as the Turkish government seeks parliamentary approval for a cross-border military operation to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. The move, which is opposed by the US, could open a new front in the most stable part of Iraq.

Turkish MPs in Washington yesterday put their case to members of the House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee.

"I have been trying to warn the lawmakers not to make a historic mistake," said Egemen Bagis, a Turkish MP and close foreign policy adviser to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Let us not forget that 75% of all supplies to your troops in Iraq go through Turkey."

Many in the US fear for the crucial supply routes through Turkey to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air base in Turkey used by the US air force.

A measure of the potential fallout from the vote came in a warning to American citizens in Ankara issued by the US embassy in Ankara.

The statement said: "If, despite the administration's concerted efforts against this resolution, it passes committee and makes its way to the floor of the House for debate and a possible vote, there could be a reaction in the form of demonstrations and other manifestations of anti-Americanism throughout Turkey." Turkey and US head for showdown over vote on Armenian ‘genocide’ (more)

Mark Alexander
Professor Eagleton Is “a Little Squirt,” says Sir Kingsley Amis’ Brother-in-Law

THE TELEGRAPH: The family of the late Sir Kingsley Amis has rallied to his defence after he was accused of being "a racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals", by Marxist intellectual Terry Eagleton.

Colin Howard, the homosexual brother-in-law of Sir Kingsley, has called Prof Eagleton "a little squirt" and said that the novelist, far from being homophobic, had extended an affectionate friendship to him and helped him come to terms with his sexuality.

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph published today, Mr Howard says: "I can assure Professor Eagleton that he is at the least, careless in his description of Kingsley as homophobic. Calling him anti-semitic should be actionable if it was not so absurd."

His sister, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, Sir Kingsley's second wife, writes in another letter: "Kingsley was never a racist, nor an anti-Semitic boor. Our four great friends who witnessed our wedding were three Jews and one homosexual. Family defends 'racist' Sir Kingsley Amis (more) By Lucy Cockcroft

Terry Eagleton: Why I rebuked Amis for his obnoxious views

Mark Alexander
Die Türkei von den USA gewarnt worden

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die USA haben die Türkei davor gewarnt, im Kampf gegen kurdische Rebellen auf irakisches Staatsgebiet vorzudringen. Er reagierte damit auf eine Ankündigung Ankaras, kurdische Rebellen notfalls auch bis in den Irak hinein zu verfolgen.

(sda/afp) Die USA haben die Türkei davor gewarnt, im Kampf gegen kurdische Rebellen auf irakisches Staatsgebiet vorzudringen. Dies sei keinesfalls der richtige Weg, um das Problem zu lösen, sagte ein Sprecher des Aussenministeriums am Dienstag in Washington. Die Türkei und der Irak müssten das Problem gemeinsam lösen, sagte er weiter. Er reagierte damit auf eine Ankündigung Ankaras, kurdische Rebellen notfalls auch bis in den Irak hinein zu verfolgen. USA warnen Türkei vor Eindringen in den Nordirak: Zusammenarbeit zwischen der Türkei und dem Irak gefordert

Mark Alexander

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

The Succession of the Saudi King

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Photo courtesy of the BBC

BBC: Saudi Arabia's king has issued a decree detailing the implementation of a succession law announced a year ago.

The decree outlines the workings of a committee to choose future Saudi kings and the crown princes.

It stipulates committee members must be male heirs of the kingdom's founder, Abdul Aziz bin Saud.

Correspondents say the measures are designed to smooth the transition of power and prevent leadership disputes which have erupted in the past.

Under the new regulations, the so-called Allegiance Commission is to meet immediately after the death of a monarch to name the crown prince as king. Saudi king details succession law (more)

Mark Alexander
«Frankreich will ein Freund Russlands sein»

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Foto von Sarkozy und Putin dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Frankreichs Präsident Sarkozy ist zu seinem ersten Staatsbesuch in Russland eingetroffen. Die zentralen Themen der Treffen mit dem russischen Präsidenten Putin sollen der Iran-Konflikt und der Energiestreit sein. Sarkozy schlägt gegenüber Russland kritischere Töne an, als es sein Vorgänger Chirac getan hatte.

(ap) Der französische Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy ist zum Auftakt seines ersten Staatsbesuchs in Moskau mit dem russischen Staatschef Wladimir Putin zusammengetroffen. «Für den Weltfrieden müssen wir zusammenarbeiten», sagte Sarkozy am Abend nach einem Empfang auf Putins Datscha in Nowo-Ogariewo nahe der Hauptstadt. «Frankreich will ein Freund Russlands sein und das Land verstehen.» Für die Begegnungen der beiden Präsidenten am Dienstag und Mittwoch standen der Iran-Konflikt und der Energiestreit auf der Tagesordnung. «Frankreich will ein Freund Russlands sein»: Sarkozy zu erstem Staatsbesuch in Moskau eingetroffen

Mark Alexander
Geert Wilders Wants the Koran Forbidden



Mark Alexander
Respect All Faiths, Vatican Urges Muslims

With many thanks to Robert Spencer for drawing my attention to this important story on his website, Dhimmi Watch:

THE GUARDIAN: Muslims must respect people of all faiths and not exclude them on the grounds of religion, race or any other personal characteristic, a senior Vatican official said this week. In a message to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Pope's interfaith expert has called for a "culture of peace and solidarity" between different religious communities and to spread a teaching "which honours all human creatures".

Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, the newly-appointed president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the Vatican's main liaison agency with the Muslim world, has previously expressed concern about the treatment of Christians in Muslim-majority countries.

In one interview he highlighted the "extreme" case of Saudi Arabia where freedom of religion was "violated absolutely" with "no Christian churches and a ban on celebrating Mass, even in a private home".

The cardinal's Eid greeting does not single out Muslims for criticism - his appeals are aimed at "religious believers" - nor does he make a direct link between Islam and violence.

Instead, he described it as the duty of believers to "reject, denounce and refuse every recourse to violence, which can never be motivated by religion, since it wounds the very image of God in man.

"Violence, especially terrorism which strikes blindly and claims countless innocent victims, is incapable of resolving conflicts and leads only to a deadly chain of destructive hatred," he said. Vatican urges Muslim respect for all faiths (more)

Mark Alexander
Newt Gingrich: We Can Surrender or We Can Defeat Them!

Hat tip to Pastorius for this great video. I saw it first on Infidel Bloggers Alliance:



Mark Alexander
To Whom Do Muslims Pray?

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Among the greatest means of obtaining ease in times of hardship is invocating blessings and peace upon the Prophet of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace), which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) himself clarified for us how in a tradition narrated by Ubai bin Ka’ab (may Allah be pleased with him), who said; ‘I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I supplicate often, so how much of my supplication should I devote to you?’ He replied, ‘as you desire’. I said, ‘a quarter of it?’ He said ‘as you desire, but if you were to increase upon this, it would be better for you.’ I said, ‘half of it?’ He said, ‘as you desire, but if you were to increase upon this, it would be better for you.’ I said, ‘two-thirds of it?’ He said again, ‘as you desire, but if you were to increase upon this, it would be better for you.’ Finally I said, ‘and if I dedicate my supplication in its entirety to you?’ He said, ‘then your needs will be satisfied, and your sins forgiven.’[1]

It is clear that he whom Allah satisfies his worldly needs has been truly blessed with Allah’s kindness and mercy. He also has been given security from all that he fears, and has attained the utmost protection from all harm and evils; indeed he is carried aboard the ship of salvation. This means he is secure from all things which create worries and needs, secure from poverty, debt, subjugation, weakness, disease, fear, and all other calamities and disasters; he has guaranteed that his worldly affairs will be upright and good. . And should he obtain, alongside this, forgiveness from the sins and salvation from the perils of the Day of Resurrection, so that he may enter Paradise in peace, he has most certainly guaranteed that his affairs in the Hereafter will be good and upright, too.

What more could the worshipper require besides this? And all of this is obtained through invoking blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace); with it lies the key to guaranteeing goodness in the affairs of this life, and in the Hereafter.

We will now give mention to some of the benefits of invocating blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad (may Allah bless him and give him peace), by way of drawing from the works of the scholars of Islam, namely Sheikh ibn al-Qayyim, and Sheikh ibn Hajar al-Haytami. Deifying Muhammad (more)

Mark Alexander