International Tension Grows over Wilders’ Film
DUTCH NEWS: International pressure on the Netherlands over the controversial anti-Koran film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders is growing, despite the Dutch prime minister’s reassurances in parliament on Wednesday that Europe and Islamic countries are appreciative of the active stance taken by the Dutch government on the issue.

On Wednesday Reuters news service reported that Iran's deputy foreign minister said the Netherlands has the power to stop Wilders from screening the film about the Koran which has already sparked protests in the Muslim world.

‘The Netherlands is responsible ...they can stop it,’ Mahdi Safari told Reuters, urging the Dutch government to invoke the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom of speech should not stretch to allowing Wilders to offend the rights of others, he added.

‘If such a man will insist on this it is irresponsible for the world and society," Safari told journalists at a briefing after meeting Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, reports Reuters.

Both Safari and Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands Bozorgmehr Ziaran said they could not predict the reaction of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims to the film, or prevent possible violence. ‘Why would you expect us to control 1.2 billion Muslims when you cannot control one person,’ Ziaran is quoted as saying. He added Wilders sought to violate Muslim's rights by demonising them, and was a war-monger and troublemaker. International tension grows over Wilders' film >>> | Wednesday 12 March 2008

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Protesters to Peres: Eliminate Israel
THE JERUSALEM POST: While the French state welcomed President Shimon Peres in official ceremonies of unprecedented pomp, some Frenchmen were less enthusiastic: Dozens of people in Lyon protested against Peres's tour of the city on Wednesday, holding signs with the slogans "Eliminate Israel" and "Israel is unlawful."

French security forces arrived on the scene and forcibly dispersed the crowd, the report said.

The protest led by Palestinian demonstrators, outside Le musée de la resistance was a dissonant note in a lengthy visit during which Peres was mostly warmly welcomed. Protesters to Peres: Eliminate Israel >>>

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French Court Backs Magazine, Charlie Hebdo, over Prophet Cartoons
REUTERS: PARIS - A French court on Wednesday upheld a ruling in favor of a magazine that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, rejecting an appeal by a Muslim group which said they incited hatred of Islam.

The cartoons, published in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in February 2006, originally appeared in a Danish newspaper five months earlier.

They provoked violent protests in Asia, Africa and the Middle East in which 50 people were killed. Several European publications reprinted them as an affirmation of free speech.

"These caricatures, which clearly target a fraction and not the whole of the Muslim community, do not constitute an insult or direct personal attack against a group of people because of their religion and do not breach the limits of freedom of expression," the court in Paris ruled.

The decision was the culmination of a long legal battle over the cartoons.

A lower court ruled last year that the cartoons fell into the category of freedom of speech and did not constitute an attack on Islam in general. [Source: French court backs magazine over Prophet cartoons] (Reporting by Thierry Leveque; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Dobbie) | Wed Mar 12, 2008

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Iran Warns Dutch Lawmaker’s Anti-Koran Film Will ‘Breed Violence’
FOX NEWS: THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Iran warned on Tuesday that an anti-Quran film by a maverick* right-wing Dutch lawmaker would "breed violence" and said the Dutch government could ban it based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, has said he plans to air the film this month, though no date has been set. The government says it is powerless to ban the film before seeing its contents and is wary of breaching Wilders' right to freedom of expression.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari cited the 1948 Human Rights declaration's 29th article that individual rights may be limited in the interest of respecting other people's freedoms and "meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society."

Wilders, known for his anti-Islam rhetoric, says the film will depict the Quran as a "fascist book" that can be used by extremists to incite violence and which preaches the oppression of women and homosexuals.

"Freedom of speech is not unlimited," Tehran's ambassador to the Netherlands, Bozorgmehr Ziaran told a small group of reporters at the Iranian Embassy. The film, he added, "would just breed violence."

Wilders, Ziaran said, "is not a peacemaker, Mr. Wilders is a warmonger." Iran Warns Dutch Lawmaker's Anti-Koran Film Will 'Breed Violence' >>>

* Have you noticed that whenever the MSM refer to Geert Wilders they always refer to him as “maverick”? And if they don't use the term "maverick", they use some other disparaging term instead.

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Islam in Europe
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Saudi Women Make Video Protest
BBC: Saudi women's rights activists have posted on the web a video of a woman at the wheel of her car, in protest at the ban on female drivers in the kingdom.

Wajeha Huwaider talks of the injustice of the ban and calls for its abolition as she drives calmly along a highway.

She says the film was posted to mark International Women's Day. Thousands have viewed it on the YouTube website.

The last such public show of dissent was in 1990 when dozens of women were arrested for circling Riyadh in cars.

Last year, Ms Huwaider and other activists circulated a petition which was sent to King Abdullah urging him to lift the ban.

In the three-minute clip, she at first drives around a residential compound where she notes that women are allowed to drive because it is not a public road.

But about halfway through, without comment, she executes a left turn onto the main highway and proceeds to drive along it in defiance of Saudi law.

"Many women in this society are able to drive cars, and many of our male relatives don't mind us driving," she says in Arabic.

"I hope that by next year's International Woman's Day, this ban on us will be lifted," she concludes. Saudi Women Make Video Protest >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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For God’s Sake, Save This Poor Man and Put Him Out of His Misery!
To send Mehdi Kazemi back to the barbarism of Iran, back into the hands of the cruel Ahmadinejad would be nothing short of a crime.

We allow all sorts of unsavoury characters into the European Union, so many of whom are illegal immigrants, and so many of whom turn against the state by becoming terrorists and working to undermine the system. This man is harmless. He just happens to be attracted to people of his own sex. Whatever one’s feelings about homosexuality, only an extremely cruel system would send him back to Iran to face his death. And a horrendous one at that! This poor man needs protection, and he needs it NOW.

This man will not turn into a terrorist. He is merely trying to pursue his own happiness. All people, regardless, should have the right to do that. - ©Mark

Photo of Mehdi Kazemi courtesy of The Times
”“I cannot stop my attraction towards men. This is something that I will have to live with the rest of my life. I was born with the feeling and cannot change this fact but it is unfortunate that I cannot express my feeling in Iran. If I return to Iran I will be arrested and executed like my former boyfriend.” - Mehdi Kazemi

TIMESONLINE: A gay teenager who faces being hanged if sent back to Iran is a step closer to being forced to return today, after the Netherlands followed Britain in refusing his appeal for asylum.

Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2005 but says he later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged.

He claimed asylum in Britain, saying that he feared for his life if he returned. However, his case was refused late last year, so he fled to the Netherlands.

A Dutch court today, however, ordered him to return to Britain, leaving the teenager once again facing deportation.

According to Iranian human rights campaigners, more than 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979. Gay student 'faces death' after Iran return >>> By David Byers and agencies | March 11, 2008

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Baroness Warsi Calls for Forced Marriages to Be Criminalized
Photo of Baroness Warsi courtesy of Google Images
DAILY EXPRESS: Forced marriages are not a culturally sensitive issue but an abhorrent act, a Tory Muslim peer has said.

Baroness Warsi, shadow minister for community cohesion and social action, has called for such marriages to be treated as crimes to send a clear signal that they are intolerable. 



She said the same arguments had been previously used to tackle domestic violence.



Speaking on GMTV programme, she said that society had realised that domestic violence was not a taboo subject and that what was needed now was for the state to step in to give protection against forced marriages. "As a society we draw a line in the sand," she said. Action on Forced Marriages Urged >>>

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Swedish Cartoon Controversy

Video 2: Muslim outrage in Sweden over Lars Vilks' Cartoons
Video 3: Counter-Bounty for Swedish Cartoons

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Paxman Gets Stroppy with John Bolton

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Iran Summons Slovenian Diplomat
MEHR NEWS: TEHRAN, Mar. 10 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Slovenian Charge d’affaires Matjaž Puc whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council to protest against insulting religious sanctities in Europe.

The Foreign Ministry expressed deep concerns about the recent increases in religious desecration, especially insulting the holy prophet of Islam, Muhammad bin Abdullah (PBUH), in some European countries.

“The Islamic Republic believes that the freedom of insulting religions should not be promoted under the pretext of supporting the freedom of speech.”

The European Union is expected to abide by its commitments to the Article 20 of United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which prohibits any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, the Ministry announced.

The Foreign Ministry expressed regret over the reprinting of one of the 12 sacrilegious cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in newspapers in Denmark last month that had enraged Muslims in 2006.

It also protested over a blasphemous movie about the holy Quran produced in the Netherlands and disrespectful cartoons of Prophet Muhammad appeared in a Swedish newspaper.

The ministry criticized the EU countries for misusing the freedom of speech, saying such actions are blatant insults to all Muslims around the world.

The Slovenian charge d’affaires said all countries are duty-bound to respect divine religions, adding that he will convey Iran’s protest to the European Union. [Source: Iran summons Slovenian diplomat >>>]

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Fewer Confessions and New Sins
BBC: The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation".

Those newly risking eternal punishment include drug pushers, the obscenely wealthy, and scientists who manipulate human genes. So "thou shalt not carry out morally dubious scientific experiments" or "thou shalt not pollute the earth" might one day be added to the Ten Commandments.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell".

The new mortal sins were listed by Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti at the end of a week-long training seminar in Rome for priests, aimed at encouraging a revival of the practice of confession - or the Sacrament of Penance in Church jargon.

According to a survey carried out here 10 years ago by the Catholic University, 60% of Italians have stopped going to confession altogether. The situation has certainly not improved during the past decade.

Catholics are supposed to confess their sins to a priest at least once a year. The priest absolves them in God's name.

Talking to course members at the end of the seminar organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican department in charge of fixing the punishments and indulgences handed down to sinners, Pope Benedict added his own personal voice of disquiet.

"We are losing the notion of sin," he said. "If people do not confess regularly, they risk slowing their spiritual rhythm," he added. The Pope confesses his sins regularly once a week. Greatest sins of our times >>> By David Willey

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confessions, sins,

Pat Condell: Muslims in England

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Cartoonist Says Dutch Must Show Anti-Koran Film
REUTERS: AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Danish cartoonist behind controversial images of the Prophet Mohammad has urged a Dutch right-wing politician to broadcast a film expected to be critical of the Koran despite fears it might spark violence.

Kurt Westergaard is the author of a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed including one showing him with a bomb as a turban which triggered riots in the Muslim world and a boycott of Danish products when they were published in 2006.

Fearing a similar backlash against the Netherlands, the Dutch government has urged politician Geert Wilders not to broadcast a film he has made about the Koran, distancing itself from his views and considering a possible ban.

Westergaard told the Dutch Volkskrant daily on Monday no Danish politician would dare to suggest blocking the film.
"That would mean political suicide. A Danish politician knows that you should not limit freedom of expression. Wilders must just show his film," he said in an interview. Cartoonist says Dutch must show anti-Koran film >>> | Mon 10 Mar 2008

DUTCH NEWS:
Dutch want EU support for stand on Wilders

HERALD SUN (AU):
Summit to debate Islamophobia in West By Lydia Georgi in Dubai | March 10, 2008

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Enoch Powell: “Rivers of Blood”
Watch video HERE
Produced by CommonSenseAnon

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Barack Hussein Obama ‘Won’t Be Vice-President’
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama yesterday rejected Hillary Clinton's suggestion that he stand as her vice-president on a Democratic "dream ticket".

After bouncing back from defeats last week to claim an easy victory in Wyoming at the weekend, Mr Obama said: "You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate. I'm running for president. We have won twice as many states as Senator Clinton, and have a higher popular vote, and I think we can maintain our delegate count."

In an interview with KTVQ television he added: "What I'm really focused on right now, because all that stuff is premature, is winning this nomination and changing the country," he said.

Mrs Clinton has repeatedly hinted that Mr Obama could join her on her ticket as a way of ending the current impasse over the nomination. Barack Obama 'won't be Hillary Clinton's vice president on dream ticket' >>> By Toby Harnden in Washington

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Der Anschluß
Swastika courtesy of Google Images
BBC: As she listened to the cheering crowds and roars of enthusiasm as Hitler and his army entered Austria in March 1938, teenager Ilse Roemer was fascinated at first.

But then her father told her that the cries of "Sieg Heil" were a signal for the Nazis "to start hunting the Jews".

She had barely been aware of her Jewishness before. "Nobody ever asked if I was Jewish," she recalls.

Now everything changed.

She went to a cafe with her best friend, whose father was an ardent Nazi. Suddenly Hitler's voice came on the radio as he spoke euphorically of his Austrian homeland's absorption into the Third Reich.

The waiter insisted that everyone stand and raise their right arms in the Hitler salute.
Her friend told her to do likewise.

"It was the last time I went to a cafe because it was unbearable that I had to greet the Fuehrer," she says.

The 70th anniversary of the Anschluss this month will be sombre and low key.

It is still a deeply troubling episode for Austrians, who grew up in post-war decades with the idea that they were victims of Nazism, not its supporters. Homes taken over >>>

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Pat Condell at His Very Best: Appeasing Islam!

Hat tip to Always On Watch

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Hamas Wages Iran’s Proxy War on Israel
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A Hamas leader admits hundreds of his fighters have travelled to Tehran

The Hamas commander was in a hurry. Hunched forward in a navy-blue parka, with the wind-chapped skin and drawn eyes of someone who had been outdoors all night, he had just returned from the front line with Israel. The whine of drones overhead signalled that his enemy was hunting for blood.

For someone who had survived the fiercest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians since 2000 and the deaths of scores of his fellow fighters, the commander, already a senior figure in his late twenties, appeared remarkably composed.

He is in the vanguard of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas which is growing into a disciplined army, trained to fight for victory rather than be consigned to the “martyr’s death” of the suicide bomber.

Israel has long insisted that Iran is behind this training. Last week Yuval Diskin, the head of the Israeli internal security service Shin Bet, said as much when he claimed that Hamas had “started to dispatch people to Iran, tens and a promise of hundreds”. He provided no evidence.

The Hamas commander, however, confirmed for the first time that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been training its men in Tehran for more than two years and is currently honing the skills of 150 fighters.

The details he gave suggested that, if anything, Shin Bet has underestimated the extent of Iran’s influence on Hamas’s increasingly sophisticated tactics and weaponry. Hamas wages Iran’s proxy war on Israel >>> By Marie Colvin in Gaza City

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Alan Duncan, the First Conservative MP to Enter Into a Gay Civil Partnership
Photo of Alan Duncan and his soon-to-be partner courtesy of The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Alan Duncan is the first Conservative MP to enter a civil partnership. He tells how his nuptials are going down with the blue-rinse brigade

In the dying days of her leadership, Margaret Thatcher was fleetingly celebrated as a gay icon after being admired by the camp artists Gilbert and George. But her private views on homosexuality were assumed to be anything but liberal, particularly after she helped to power through a law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

Now, however, the Iron Lady could have the opportunity to set the record straight – by accepting an invitation to attend the gay “wedding” of her old friend Alan Duncan.

In a few months the dapper shadow enterprise secretary will become the first Tory MP to enter into a civil partnership when he ties the knot with his boyfriend, James Dunseath. (MPs who have already taken the plunge include Ben Bradshaw and David Borrow, both Labour.)

Apparently, at least 300 guests will be attending the ceremony, due to take place before the end of July. Duncan won’t say if Lady Thatcher’s invitation will be dropping through her letterbox soon, but it would be odd if she were left out. He and Thatcher have been close for years and often dine together.

There is no doubt, though, that section 28, the legislation that her government introduced to stop “loony lefties” teaching schoolchildren about gays, gave the Conservative party a long-standing and damaging reputation for homophobia. It is only now, under the leadership of David Cameron, that the party has finally shaken off that image, promoting instead an inclusive, nondiscriminatory attitude towards gays.

Duncan, for his part, claims that he hasn’t detected the slightest whiff of disapproval about his forthcoming civil partnership from even the most traditional figures in the party. “You should see my mailbag. I’ve had so much support,” he says. “People are saying, ‘Thank God for that – at last we can see off the last vestiges of sniping, sneering and disapproval.’ They are just writing to say, ‘Thank you, now the world can grow up and get real’ – and it’s great.” My big fat gay Tory wedding >>>

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Oman to Boycott Paris Book Fair
PRESS TV (IRAN): Oman has boycotted this year's Paris International Book Fair in protest at the invitation of the Zionist regime as the fair's guest of honor.

“Oman has taken part in the fair twice before but is declining to do so this year after the Arab League urged its members to shun the event because of Israel's special designated status”, culture ministry official Khaled al-Ghasani told AFP.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have already announced their decisions to boycott the fair.

On February 27, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) called upon all its 50 member states to boycott the fair.

Thirty-nine Israeli writers have been invited to participate in the fair to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Zionist regime.

The Paris Book Fair will run from March 14 to 19. [Source: Oman boycotts Paris Book Fair >>>]

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Fitna
NEW YORK TIMES: Dutch TV Shuns Anti-Islam Film >>>
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Hague “on Hot Bricks” over Fitna
PRESS TV (IRAN): The Hague holds talks with envoys from 30 Muslim states to discuss the imminent release of an anti-Islam film made by a Dutch politician.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen met with the ambassadors at the request of the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) over the Web and possible television broadcast of the anti-Islam clip made by the maverick politician Geert Wilders.

The talks were held amidst vehement protests from Muslim nations, including Egypt, Iran and Pakistan which have threatened an economic boycott of the Netherlands if the short film is shown.

The latest of Wilders' provocative actions against Islam has escalated another worldwide outrage similar to the one following the publication of the Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The Dutch government, which tries to maintain its 'freedom of expression', has tried but failed to persuade Wilders not to broadcast the film. [Source: Hague on hot bricks over Wilders' clip >>>]

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