Interview with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Kyrill
Photo of Metropolitan Kyrill, possible successor of Patriarch Alexy II, courtesy of SpiegelOnline International
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Metropolitan Kyrill, foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox Church, discusses Christian values in the post-communist era, his relationship with the pope in Rome, Vladimir Putin the churchgoer -- and wrangles with SPIEGEL about homosexuality.

SPIEGEL: Your Eminence, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church seemed to have prevailed over the godless communists. But has it been able to fill the spiritual vacuum that followed?

Kyrill: I wouldn't call it a vacuum. In communism, the church had no direct way of influencing society, but it did influence Russian culture and people's awareness. I remember a tour guide in a monastery in Vologda in the early 1970s. She talked about architecture and painting as if she were giving a sermon. There was no talk of Christianity, but her speech depended on a Christian system of values. This woman was not alone. Writers and artists spoke the same way. Or, someone would see a destroyed church and discover another world beyond the gloomy prefabricated high-rises where people lived. Christian values were always kept alive among the people. They ultimately brought about the fall of communism.

SPIEGEL: Crime and corruption were rampant after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Murder, robbery and fraud became mass phenomena. Wasn't this a defeat for the church?

Kyrill: Reviving morality is a long process. We also see high crime rates in other countries. Besides, Russia faced massive social changes. Our economy was in ruins, foreign influence was growing and so was the consumption mentality, the focus on performance, all of these postmodern ideas which treat everything as relative and no longer require us to distinguish between truth and lies.

SPIEGEL: It sounds as if the present is no better than the past, in your opinion.

Kyrill: The church should have taken time to regenerate. We were weakened by atheism, and then we were faced with a double burden. We were like a boxer who walks around for months with his arm in a cast and is then abruptly shoved into the ring, accompanied by shouts of encouragement. But there we encountered a well-trained opponent, in the form of a wide variety of missionaries from America and South Korea who tried to convert the Russian people to other faiths. Religion was also marginalized by a secular way of thinking.

SPIEGEL: Is capitalism ultimately worse than communism?

Kyrill: The free market economy has certainly proved to be more effective than the planned economy. Unlike corporate executives, however, the church also believes in justice. As far as that's concerned, we have no fewer problems today, perhaps even more, than in the Soviet era. The gap between rich and poor in Russia is scandalous. That's an issue we are addressing.

SPIEGEL: You must find it obscene, the way the Russian oligarchs, with their palaces and yachts, show off their wealth.

Kyrill: It isn't the church's place to point to someone and say: He owns yachts and airplanes, so let's take away his riches and redistribute them. That happened in the 1917 revolution. At the time, they were saying that paradise was the next step after expropriation. But what we got instead was hell. May God protect Russia from repeating the same mistake. However, the government must ensure that the gap doesn't become too wide. Russia's future depends on it. ’The Bible Calls it a Sin’ >>>

Part 2:
’Men Can Control Their Drives’

This superb interview will be cross-posted at The Shrewd Economist because of several references to economic affairs in post-communist Russia.

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Money Talks. Middle Eastern Money Talks the Loudest!
Look for that Middle Eastern Money! (Our Politicians Forget ONE Important Thing: He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune!)
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Tony Blair to Become Advisor to JP Morgan with a Significant Income Boost
The Latest on Tony Blair
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Dr Wafa Sultan @ UCLA

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Weitere Anschläge auf christliche Kirchen im Irak
BASLER ZEITUNG: Kirkuk. sda/reuters/baz. Die Serie von Anschlägen auf christliche Kirchen im Irak reisst nicht ab. In der unruhigen Stadt Kirkuk explodierten am Mittwoch Autobomben vor zwei Gotteshäusern. Drei Menschen seien verletzt worden, teilte die Polizei mit.

Die Gebäude wurden leicht beschädigt. Die beiden Kirchen lagen im Zentrum und im Norden der Stadt, in der mehrere Volks- und Religionsgruppen um die Kontrolle der Ölvorkommen rivalisieren. In den vergangenen Tagen waren bereits Anschläge auf Kirchen in Bagdad und Mossul verübt worden. Drei Prozent der 27 Millionen Iraker sind Christen unterschiedlicher Konfessionen. Weitere Anschläge auf christliche Kirchen im Irak >>>

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Sarkozy verschwieg Aufenthalt im Spital
TAGES ANZEIGER: Nicolas Sarkozy hat eine Behandlung im Krankenhaus bislang geheim gehaltenen, obwohl er versprochen hatte, stets über seinen Gesundheitszustand zu informieren.

Wie Sarkozys Sprecher David Martinon bestätigte, litt der französische Präsident letzten Oktober an einem Abszess im Hals, der von seinen Ärzten im Elysée-Palast nicht kuriert werden konnte. Er liess sich deshalb im Krankenhaus behandeln. Diese Nachricht, die zwei Autoren eines Buches über Sarkozy und seine Ex-Frau Cécilia heute im Radio enthüllt hatten, könnte für den Präsidenten unbequem werden. Im Wahlkampf hatte Sarkozy versprochen, er werde anders als seine Vorgänger die Öffentlichkeit stets über seinen Gesundheitszustand informieren. Sarkozy verschwieg Aufenthalt im Spital >>>

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Ist Gott mehr als ein Mythos?
TAGES ANZEIGER: In diesen Tagen macht es Sinn, über Gott nachzudenken. Gibt es einen Gott oder eine göttliche Kraft? Wenn ja: Wie ist sie beschaffen? Was bewirkt sie? Verhält sie sich neutral oder greift sie ins Leben und den Kosmos ein?

Der Volksglaube klammert die Frage nach Gott aus: Gott ist, weil unsere Väter schon an ihn geglaubt haben, weil seine Anbetung einer 2000-jährigen Tradition entspricht, weil wir in die Kirche gehen, weil er uns in der Bibel offenbart wird. Das ist Legitimation genug, deshalb müssen wir nicht weiter darüber nachdenken. Erziehung, Mythenbildung und Macht der Gewohnheit prägen den Gottesbeweis in unserer abendländischen Kultur.

Die beruflichen Denker, die Philosophen, tun sich schwerer mit dem Gottesbegriff. Nur ganz wenige ihrer Zunft wagen es heute noch, einen Gottesbeweis zu postulieren. Es ist zu schwierig, nach den modernen Erkenntnissen der Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften ein in sich stimmiges Weltbild zu konstruieren, in dem Gott widerspruchsfrei Platz findet. „Es gibt keine Instanz über der Vernunft“, sagte Sigmund Freud. „Der Glaube kann uns niemals von etwas überzeugen, was unserer Erkenntnis zuwiderläuft“, erklärt der Philosoph John Locke. Ist Gott mehr als ein Mythos? >>> Von Hugo Stamm

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Allah Would Neither Be Amused Nor Best Pleased...!


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The Truth about the Status of Women in Saudi Arabia


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This Deserves a Minute or Two of Your Time
A man whose family was of German aristocracy prior to World War Two owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.


"Very few people were true Nazis" he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."


We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.


It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill.


It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority", the "silent majority" is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population, it was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peaceful & loving"?


History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.


Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life. Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, can contribute to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.


So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this - think about it - and send it on. Islam Exposed

Link to this HERE or HERE

Hat tip: Islam Exposed

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Saudi Government Encourages Saudi Students Not to Join the University of East Anglia after Spate of Racist Attacks
THE MUSLIM NEWS: The Saudi Government is encouraging Saudi students not to join the University of East Anglia after a spate of racist attacks. 


The University of East Anglia’s Saudi society is trying to respond to the alleged attacks in a positive manner. They intend to write to the Saudi education minister because they feel unsafe and have lost faith in Norfolk police. 


The claim was made by President of the UEA’s Islamic Society, Kaleem Ullah, who allegedly witnessed a racially motivated assault at the Norwich campus involving 12 young students. 


Ullah witnessed an assault on two of his Muslim friends at approximately 10.20pm on November 30, as they walked from the Sports park to Bluebell Road. 


“They were ambushed... and the sole reason for the ambush was to beat them violently, and the attack was definitely racially-motivated. One student managed to escape and call for help (he banged on my door - I live 40m from the university) and as I ran out I was racially abused, called ‘Paki’, ‘nigger’, ‘terrorist’ and was told that ‘all my lot’ would get killed. Attacks on Saudis at UK university increase >>> By Rukshana Choudhury

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We Must Listen to Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali
DAILY EXPRESS: AT LAST a trumpet blast has been sounded against the creeping Islamification of Britain.

For too long our ruling elite has been in denial about the consequences of this insidious process, pretending the assertiveness of Muslim culture is just another element in the rich diversity of British society.

Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and a leading figure in the Church of England, has had the courage to attack the fashionable ortho­doxy. In a brave and eloquent article yesterday, he warned that the rise of Islamic extremism is not only destroying Christianity but is also creating “no go” areas in parts of Britain, where non-Muslims are made to feel deeply uncomfortable.

Bishop Nazir-Ali’s words are all the more powerful because he was born in Pakistan into 
a Muslim family and later converted to Christianity.

So he has a far better understanding of the brutal realities of hardline Muslim ideology than all the dripping wet Anglican clerics and politicians who prattle about the joys of multi-culturalism.

But there is nothing the politically correct brigade loathes more than an intelligent challenge to their dogma.


Instead of engaging with the argument, they attack their opponent for daring to speak out. The Bishop of Rochester has therefore been condemned for “scaremongering”, producing “a gross caricature” of urban society, and making “extraordinary inflammatory” remarks.

Yet Bishop Nazir-Ali is absolutely right. His critics are living in a fantasy world conjured up by their own deceitful clappy-happy rhetoric if they think Britain does not have a problem with the growing strength of Islam in our midst.

The fact is that, in all too many of our cities, Mus­lim radicalism has led to segregation, oppression of women, criminality and terrorism.

Enthusiasts for multi-culturalism continually demand that the indigenous British people show tolerance towards those of other faiths but when it comes to fundamentalist Islam, there is no pressure for this mood of tolerance to be reciprocated.

Islam in Britain could be portrayed as a combination of the outstretched palm of victimhood, begging for official support, and the clenched fist of grievance, threatening violence if demands are not met.

All too often the political establishment has surrendered, dressing up its feebleness as multi-cultural sensiti­vity. But, as the Bishop of Rochester asserts, the outcome of this defeatism has been catastrophic. Civic institutions might blather about “unity in diversity” but, in reality, urban Britain is scarred by divisions. Integration has given way to separatism. We Must Listen to the Bishop’s Warnings on the Dangers of Islam >>> By Leo McKinstry

Hat tip: Ray Boyd

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We Must Stop Militant Islam Eroding Britain
THE DAILY EXPRESS: I WROTE before Christmas that I did not know what Nick Clegg had done to deserve his "golden boy" status for the Lib Dems and I'm more sure than ever now that he does not merit it.

Mr Clegg's support for Mosques being allowed to broadcast the Arabic call to prayer several times a day over loudspeakers shows how out of touch he is with ordinary Britons.

His claim that the wail of the Mosque is no different from the sound of church bells shows how ignorant he is of British culture and history.

Mr Clegg is one of an international set of young politicians who have relatively little connection to this country. He is the son of a wealthy half-Russian father and a Dutch mother. He was a Euro-MP before heading to Westminster. He is married to a Spanish woman. He attended the ultra-cosmopolitan and very expensive Westminster school.

What does he know of life in Middle Britain? Almost nothing. It is possible that Clegg's support for the latest expansionist demands of Muslims arises from electoral calculation. Maybe he hopes the Lib Dems can win seats with substantial Muslim populations from Labour at the next election.

But a more likely explanation is simply that the man is a well-meaning fool. He obviously has little knowledge of the essential character of this nation. We Must Stop Militant Islam Eroding Britain >>> By Patrick O’Flynn

Hat tip: Ray Boyd

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Al-Qaida veut accueillir Bush avec des bombes
LE FIGARO: A quelques jours de la venue de George Bush au Proche-Orient, un militant américain d'al-Qaida a appelé les islamistes à l'accueillir «avec des bombes et des voitures piégées».

Pour sa première vidéo de 2008, al-Qaida a adressé un message très personnel à George W. Bush qui entame mercredi sa première tournée au Proche-Orient. Adam Yahiye Gadahn, un militant américain considéré comme le porte-parole anglophone du réseau d'Oussama Ben Laden, appelle les islamistes à recevoir le président américain «non pas avec des fleurs et des applaudissements, mais avec des bombes et des voitures piégées».

Dans son enregistrement diffusé sur un site radical qu'il emaille de versets coraniques et de psalmodies du Coran , celui que l'on surnomme «Azzam l'Américain » dresse également un bilan des «victoires» sur les Etats-Unis des moudjahidines en Afghanistan, en Irak et au Maghreb. Lors de cette allocution de 50 minutes enregistrée en décembre, il s'en prend particulièrement aux alliés traditionnels de Washington, les présidents pakistanais Pervez Musharraf, égyptien Hosni Moubarak et au roi Abdallah d'Arabie saoudite qui recevront George Bush. Al-Qaida veut accueillir Bush avec des bombes >>>

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Barack Hussein Obama: Closet Muslim?

Hat tip: Ray Boyd

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Sarko on Marriage and the Right to Happiness
TIMESONLINE: rance broke with an age of presidential decorum yesterday when Nicolas Sarkozy used the majesty of the Élysée Palace to discuss his love life and announce his likely marriage to Carla Bruni, the model-turned-folk singer.

Mr Sarkozy said that he wanted to “break with a deplorable tradition in our country of hypocrisy and lies” by airing his liaison with the Italian former supermodel at his first formal news conference since his election last May. The public has been both fascinated and appalled by “Speedy Sarko’s” whirlwind romance since his divorce from Cécilia, his second wife.

François Fillon, the Prime Minister, and all Cabinet and presidential staff were arrayed before Mr Sarkozy in the gilded ballroom to hear him preview the coming year with 600 journalists in a ritual that was devised by Charles de Gaulle in the early 1960s.

After an hour-long speech on the “new civilisation” he plans for France, Mr Sarkozy was asked about reports that he would marry Ms Bruni on February 9. “It is serious,” he said. “But it is not the [Sunday newspaper] which will set the date. There are strong chances that you will hear about it when it has already happened.”

In October Mr Sarkozy, 52, announced his divorce two days after the event. In late November he met Ms Bruni, 39, a former companion of Sir Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. He appeared before photographers with her at Disneyland Paris three weeks later and has since taken her on trips to Egypt and Jordan.

Mr Sarkozy’s relaxed discussion of his “right to happiness” marked a further breach with the stuffy ways of the monarchical republic. Until “Super-Sarko”, French presidents up to Jacques Chirac enjoyed liaisons free of media scrutiny. In the 1970s Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was known to spend nights away from his wife, and from 1981 to 1995 François Mitterrand kept a mistress and their daughter as well as his official family at state expense.

Mr Sarkozy said: “You wouldn’t have asked that question of any of my predecessors. I reflected a lot on this,” he said. Alluding to Mitterrand, he said: “Everyone knew. No one talked about it. With Carla, we decided not to lie . . . I didn’t want them to take a sordid photo of me early in the morning,” he said. He recalled that Mitterrand flew both his households in state aircraft to holiday on the Nile, where Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni spent Christmas, travelling on the private jet of a friend.

“I don’t allow myself to judge my predecessors. Everyone must live as they see fit. Life is so difficult and painful,” he said. 'Speedy Sarko' speaks out on Carla Bruni, marriage and the right to happiness >>> By Charles Bremner in Paris

TIMESONLINE:
Sarko Jr – rap star

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Sarkozy's Love on the Nile
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Bush wirbt für EU-Beitritt der Türkei
NZZ: Der amerikanische Präsident Bush hat nach einem Treffen mit dem türkischen Präsidenten Gül für eine Aufnahme der Türkei in die Europäische Union geworben. Die Türkei bilde eine «konstruktive Brücke» zwischen dem Westen und der islamischen Welt, sagte Bush am Dienstag in Washington.

(ap) Die Türkei demonstriere, dass eine Demokratie mit einer «grossartigen Religion wie dem Islam» möglich sei. Auf dem Rasen vor dem Weissen Haus erklärte Präsident Bush, er unterstütze den Kampf der Türkei gegen die Rebellen der kurdischen Arbeiterpartei PKK. Die PKK sei ein Feind der Türkei, des Iraks und der Menschen, die in Frieden leben wollten. Gül erklärte, sein Land werde sich an der Seite der USA weiter für Frieden, Stabilität und Wohlstand einsetzen. «Wir teilen eine gemeinsame Vision», sagte der Staatspräsident. Bush wirbt für EU-Beitritt der Türkei: Treffen mit Staatspräsident Gül in Washington >>>

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Geert Wilders: The Koran Will Destroy Everything We in the Western World Stand For
SONS OF APES AND PIGS.ORG: Threats of murder. Fears of riots and religious violence. Demands for censorship. Politicians in hiding, fearing for their lives. A government preparing for the worst.

It's happening right now in a most unlikely place ... the Netherlands, once regarded as Europe's quietest and most stable nation.

And it's all happening because of a 10-minute movie that hasn't even been made yet.

It's the work of Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who calls his movie "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamicization."

Wilders plans to present it to his country on television sometime next month.

"People who watch the movie will see that the Koran is very much alive today, leading to the destruction of everything we in the Western world stand for, which is respect and tolerance," Wilders, the 41-year-old leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom, said in a telephone interview.

"The tsunami of Islamicization is coming to Europe. We should come to be far stronger."

Four months ago, he called for the Koran to be outlawed in the Netherlands.

"I believe our culture is much better than the retarded Islamic cultures," he told FOXNews.com in a telephone interview. "Ninety-nine percent of the intolerance in the world comes back to the Islamic religion and the Koran." Geert Wilders: the koran will destroy everything we in the Western world stand for >>> By Ibn Misr

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Electing a President: The US at a Fork in the Road
EDITORIAL: Never in recent history has it been so critical for American voters to make a wise choice at the polls. Never in recent history has so much rested on one ballot. Americans are going to be faced with a decision of momentous importance in November 2008: Whom to elect to the White House.

It is always important to vote wisely, of course; but it is to be hoped that American voters will pay particular attention when voting the next time. Why? Because so much depends on electing the very best president the US can kick up.

Elections in the West have become an opportunity for media-hype on a grand scale. The MSM love to choose a candidate and run with their choice, all the while paying far too much attention to looks and glitz, and paying far too little attention to what each candidate has to offer, paying far too little attention to the candidates’ experience.

Barack Obama seems to be the darling of the media. He has been likened even unto Jesus Christ Himself! This, of course, is totally absurd. Barack Obama, whatever else he is, is a political greenhorn, an “empty suit”. Can this man really, truly offer the Americans public any form of salvation? Aren’t people just taken in by his so-called charisma?

This is no time to elect a man on charisma alone, nice though charisma is to have. This is a time for Americans to take stock – BIG time. We are witnessing the declining influence of the USA worldwide. The country has become very unpopular since the election of George W Bush. His obsession with trying to bring democracy to a part of the world which is impossible to democratize, his obsession with characterising Islam as a "religion of love and peace”, when it so clearly isn’t, his obsession with all things Christian, when in actual fact he couldn’t have done more to weaken Christendom, his obsession with pandering to the Muslim electorate - all have weakened America beyond anyone’s wildest dreams only ten or so years ago.

The American electorate is given to obsessing about abortion issues, gay rights issues, and all manner of issues which are only marginally important to the continued supremacy of a truly wonderful nation.

9/11 has weakened America. There is no doubt about this fact. Osama bin Laden could not have wished for a better outcome! But there was no need for this to have happened. The war on Islamic terrorism has been handled so badly that one couldn’t have written a believable book of fiction depicting this outcome. Look at what has happened to the States since 9/11! Its standing in the world has gone down and down; the dollar, especially in recent times, has declined in value to a staggering extent; thousands have been killed in a war that should never have been started (democracy and Islam are totally immiscible); thousands of American jobs are going overseas to countries where labour costs are much lower than at home; illegal immigration has soared to breaking point; and the US National Debt is totally out of control. Yet the US continues to give away billions of dollars in aid to countries which it can ill afford to give aid to in the hope of buying influence. Influence, however, is not being bought; rather, the money is being squandered. It’s like throwing it into the four winds!

When the Americans go to the polls in November 2008, they need to think about what is important for their country: they shouldn’t be taken in by personalities.

One of the first things that needs to happen is that the national debt, now standing at the staggering figure of trillions of dollars, be reduced severely. The US needs a good dose of Thatcherism at this time. Remember what she said about government spending. She said that governments don’t have any money to spend; governments, she said, spend only other people’s money, collected in the form of taxes!

So what is going to be important for the American voters is to choose a president who is going to restore US supremacy, restore confidence in the US, reduce its colossal national debt (which has grown exponentially under George W Bush), and the country needs to start working with the rest of the West, not against it. The rest of the West needs a strong America as much as a strong America needs the rest of the West.

Only today, it has been reported that Kuwait has unpegged its dinar to the dollar. This is not a good thing for the US. On the contrary, since the Kuwaiti dinar has been pegged to the US dollar for so long, it shows a complete lack of confidence in the dollar! Don’t be surprised if Saudi Arabia follows suit!

Are we witnessing a United States of America in terminal decline? Don’t forget these facts: Europe is gaining in strength. France may well be about to surprise us all with its ability to renew itself. Yes, it has problems, but at least it has a president, in Sarkozy, with a will and determination to overcome those difficulties and problems (if he can overcome his own). Then we have China and India on the up and up. All these countries pose a long-term threat to the continued hegemony of the USA.

And all this says nothing about the growth of Islam in the US, and the danger that religious group poses for the continued existence of the States as we know it – as a land which is whole and peaceful and free. When the USA is no longer counted as ‘the land of the free’, then all of the free world will be in trouble. The forces at work within the USA to turn the country Islamic should not be underestimated. We have already seen the first Muslim elected to Congress in Keith Ellison. This is no harbinger of good fortune for the United States; on the contrary, it shows that there are great problems ahead for the country.

It is my belief, as much as it hurts me to say it, that America has come to a fork in the road. The one turning will return the US to its former glory, whilst the other will take it down the road to oblivion: it will make the country an irrelevance to the world. It is up to you, the American voter, to choose a president who will lead you and your great country to a place of unparalleled supremacy.

Remember this: The free world needs YOU! And it needs a STRONG AMERICA, too!

©Mark Alexander

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View from Berlin: “The Nice Guy Doesn’t Always Make the Better President”
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The fight for the Democratic presidential nomination has turned into a clash between style and substance, write German media commentators. An editorialist at one top paper expresses serious doubts about Barack Obama's readiness for the top job.

The nice guy doesn't always make the better president, say German political commentators ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary which could sound the death knell for Hillary Clinton's campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Barack Obama's vague pledges of "change" may be enthralling voters in America but they are raising eyebrows among German leader writers. After eight years of George W. Bush, the last thing the US needs is another era of ideology, they say -- cool-headed, pragmatic, boring policymaking is required, which makes Clinton more suitable for the job than Obama. Obama Is 'Intangible, Elastic, Hollow' >>>

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NuLabour’s ’Battie Hattie’ Puts Her Foot in Her Mouth Again!
Photo of Harriet Harman, the feminist Minister for Women, courtesy of the Daily Mail
DAILY MAIL: Men staying at home to bring up their children should become the cultural norm, Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women declared.

Fathers should demand flexible working hours after their children are born, she continued.

Miss Harman - dubbed "Harriet Harperson" by some for her feminist views - added that mothers and fathers should both expect to spend equal amounts of time working and raising children.

Her call for fathers to work less comes amid growing pressure from ministers on mothers of young children to take jobs.
The Government says the only way for couples to ensure their family stays out of poverty is for both parents to work.

Ministers have long pressed mothers of babies to return to their jobs or find work - to the point where at one stage mothers who decline to do so were described as "a problem".

Miss Harman said: "It must be the cultural norm for both mothers and fathers to work flexibly, so they can balance earning a living while bringing up their children. Men staying at home to look after children should be cultural norm, claims minister >>> By Steve Doughty

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Former Archbishop of Canterbury Backs Attempt to Abolish Blasphemy Laws
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is backing a new cross-party attempt by MPs to abolish Britain's blasphemy laws, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Lord Carey argues that the existing legal protections for Anglican Christianity are outdated and should be abolished. The move, supported by a former bishop as well as writers, academics, campaigners and comedians, comes in the wake of the diplomatic row over Sudan's jailing of a British teacher who blasphemed against Islam.

Gillian Gibbons was jailed after allowing schoolchildren to name a teddybear after the prophet Mohammed. She was later pardoned after diplomatic protests from Britain.

In the Commons tomorrow, MPs will debate an amendment to the current Criminal Justice Bill that would effectively abolish existing legal protections for Anglican Christianity. Lord Carey backs MPs over blasphemy laws >>> By James Kirkup

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Präsident Sarkozy geht mit schlechtem Beispiele voran
Nicolas Sarkozy benimmt sich ordinär, und anscheinend glaubt er eher Filmstar zu sein als Staatspräsident Frankreichs. Er sollte daran denken, daß das Amt eines Staatschefs mit Würde ausgeübt werden sollte.

Es sind kaum drei Monate seitdem er sich scheiden ließ. Wäre es wirklich zu viel zu erwarten, daß er eine kleine Weile als lediger Mann auf der Weltbühne auftauchen könnte bevor er wieder sich heiraten läßt?

Manchmal schaut er "bonked out" in die Welt! Man muß sich nicht mehr wundern, warum Cécilia ihn verlassen hat!

Ich finde es nicht richtig, daß ein Staatschef sich so benimmt. Er will mit lauter Pop-Stars, den Überreichen, und den Mächtigen zu tun haben. Hat er überhaupt Interesse in der Politik, jetzt daß er Präsident gewält worden ist? Oder will er nur als Playboy da stehen? Wann findet er eigentlich Zeit seine Arbeit zu tun?

Noch mehr: Ist es wirklich passend für einen Präsident von Frankreich in der ganzen Welt herum zu reisen, und mit seiner Geliebte in der Öffentlichkeit zu schlafen, bevor sie geheiratet sind? Was für ein Vorbild ist das für die Jugendlichen? Ein Staatspräsident sollte nicht einfach die Dekadenz des Westens wiederspiegeln sondern den Leuten einen besseren Weg zeigen. Schließlich gehört das dem Amt! Darum ist er so viel bezahlt. Wenn er sich so aufnehmen will, dann wäre es besser gewesen, wenn er sich eine andere Karriere gewält hätte, und wenn er nicht im Rampenlicht wäre.

Ich finde es erstaunlich, daß er die Frechheit – ja die Frechheit – gehabt hat, nach Ägypten und Jordanien, islamischen Ländern, mit Carla Bruni zu reisen, und mit ihr Hand in Hand herumzuspazieren, ‘was andere Leute des strengen Islams wegen nicht tun dürften.

Ich sage dies nicht so sehr wegen Islam, sondern wegen der Ehre seines Amts und wegen unserer Zivilisation. Wenn wir so weiter gehen, werden wir den Untergang des Westens viel schneller erleben als man glaubt.

©Mark Alexander

Near Confrontation between the US and Iran
THE TELEGRAPH: US Navy commanders were moments away from firing on Iranian attack ships during a skirmish in the Straits of Hormuz, it has emerged.

A Pentagon spokesman revealed that five Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy boats harrassed and provoked three US ships in the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf at the weekend.

The Iranian craft came within 200 yards of the US vessels, which were sailing in international waters. 

The Iranian provocations included disregarding warnings to pull back, dropping mysterious objects in the path of the US ships and a hostile radio transmission.

The Pentagon said a radio message warned: "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes."

The Iranian boats pulled away as a US Navy captain gave his crew orders to open fire. Iranians threaten to blow up US Navy ships >>> By Damien McElroy

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

60 Minutes: Sarkozy l’Americain

WATCH: Nicolas et Carla: Une parodie

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)