The Rise of Neo-Fascism in Europe No Light Matter
TURKISH DAILY NEWS: There is a lot of talk in Europe about how “Turkey should reckon with its past and draw the necessary lessons.”

There is also a lot of focus in Europe presently on where Turkey is headed politically. Both questions are valid. But looking at the rise of neo-fascism, in a continent where such things should have long been buried in the past, one cannot help but ask the same questions about Europe as well.

Have Europeans really reckoned with their past and drawn the necessary lessons? Evidence is mounting to suggest that they have not. Just look at Gianni Alemanno, the newly elected mayor of Rome, who is also a “darling” of Italy's new Prime Minister, the reelected and theatrical – not to mention “testosterone-driven” – Silvio Berlusconi.

Alemanno the neo-fascist

Alemanno is a firebrand neo-fascist and he is proud of it. Not surprisingly his election was celebrated by hundreds of supporters raising their arms in the fascist salute and chanting "Duce! Duce!” As for Prime Minister Berlusconi – who appears to be consciously mimicking Mussolini at times – he declared after Alemanno's election that they were “the new Falange," in a reference to the Spanish fascist party founded in the 1930s.

Then there is Umberto Bossi, the leader of the anti-immigration Northern League, who is himself a fascist and with whom Berlusconi is due to form a government. To understand what Bossi is made of it is enough to note his remarks earlier this week.

Indicating that immigrants had to be hunted out, he said, according to press reports, "We have no fear of taking things to the piazzas. We have 300,000 martyrs ready to come down from the mountains. Our rifles are always smoking." The Rise of Neo-Fascism in Europe No Light Matter >>> By Semih İDİZ | May 2, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Court Challenge to EU Referendum
BBC: Millionaire Stuart Wheeler has won his battle to force a High Court review into whether the government should hold a referendum on the EU's Lisbon treaty.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ruled out a public vote on the treaty, saying it does not alter the UK constitution.

But Mr Wheeler said a vote was promised on the EU constitution and says the Lisbon treaty is virtually identical.

The hearing will be on 9 and 10 June. The Foreign Office said they were "confident" of their case.

In March MPs voted by 346 votes to 206 to approve the EU (Amendment) Bill, after topic-by-topic debates over six weeks.

The Bill - which is now in the Lords - will ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which was drawn up to replace the EU constitution after that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Court Challenge to EU Referendum >>> | May 2, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Today’s News from The Guardian
Guardian Daily: Local elections 2008: In a special edition of our daily audio show, Jon Dennis and guests discuss Labour's trouncing in the local elections >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

PD James on Political Correctness: "A Pernicious If Risible Authoritarian Attempt at Linguistic and Social Control"
Photo of PD James courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Modern life is bedevilled by political correctness, PD James, the crime author, said last night.

There was a growing risk that Britons would live in "ghettos" and experience little contact with other people, she said in a speech on policing in the 21st century.

Baroness James of Holland Park, who is best known for creating the detective Adam Dalgliesh, told an audience in the Palace of Westminster: "Our society is now more fractured than I, in my long life, have ever known it.

"Increasingly there is a risk that we live in ghettos with our own kind, with a strong commitment to our local community but little contact with those outside it. PD James: Political correctness ruining society >>> | May 2, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Falling Out of Love with Europe
THE ECONOMIST: REMEMBER the shock of May 29th 2005, when the French rejected the draft European Union constitution by 55% to 45%? Yet this was largely a vote against an unpopular president, Jacques Chirac, and against the forces of globalisation. Far more worrying for Brussels was the even bigger majority, 61% to 39%, by which voters in the Netherlands rejected the EU constitution three days later. A resentful bolshiness from the French seems unsurprising, almost routine. But the Dutch are placid, stolid—and, surely, reliably pro-European, whatever the issue.

Clearly not then. And it is not hard to detect tensions in Dutch society now. Just stop a few passers-by of an April morning on Dam square in Amsterdam. Within ten minutes one finds somebody like Pieter, a graphic designer who confirms that he voted no, and adds that his big fear was the loss of Dutch identity. A banner hangs helpfully from the nearby Nieuwe Kerk, which is staging an exhibition on Afghanistan, proclaiming (in English) that “A nation stays alive when its culture stays alive”.

Over the past 60 years the Netherlands has been one of Europe's biggest success stories. The Dutch are among the richest (and tallest) people on earth. Their social tolerance is widely admired. Yet immigration and the rise of Islam have triggered a backlash. Rotterdam may soon become the EU's first big Muslim-majority city. The meteoric political career of Pim Fortuyn, a populist who was assassinated in 2002, followed two years later by the murder of Theo van Gogh, a film-maker, by a (Dutch-born) Islamist radical has left scars on a society that once took pride in its embrace of multiculturalism. The Netherlands is a place that is now palpably fretful about its future. Going Dutch >>> | May 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

May Day Violence: Hamburg
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: May 1 is a traditional day of workers' unity rallies in Europe, but in Germany the day often brings clashes, particularly between anti-fascist leftists and neo-Nazis. On Thursday there were some isolated incidents in Berlin but it was Hamburg that saw the worst rioting.

Major May 1 riots rocked the northern German port city of Hamburg and isolated attacks occurred on Thursday in Berlin, where the head of the city's police department was forced to flee an angry crowd of left-wing demonstrators.

In Hamburg, an estimated 1,100 right-wing extremists and 7,000 left-wing radicals clashed, escalating to an unusual level of violence for the city. "These were the biggest riots the city has seen in a long time," Ralf Meyer, a spokesman for the Hamburg police, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

In the city, rioters burned trash cans, cars, lit firecrackers, set off smoke bombs and volleyed a hail of stones. In one incident, a pile of tires was burned just 20 meters (65.6 feet) away from a gas station. Around 2,500 police were deployed in the city, and officers attempted to disperse the crowds by firing water cannons.

Neo-Nazi groups in Germany often hold rallies during the May 1 holiday that frequently end in massive clashes between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist, left-wing groups. The day is traditionally one for workers' unity rallies across Europe, but in Germany it often boils down to confrontations between extreme-right and far-left protesters. Hamburg Sees Worst Rioting in Years >>> | May 2, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe)

Modern Britain: No Laughing Matter
BRUSSELS JOURNAL: Earlier generations of Britons believed that certain things simply could not happen in Britain. Even in the country’s darkest moments of war or depression, this conviction differentiated the then proud nation from the U.S.S.R., third world countries, and unstable regimes that might fall to dictatorship any moment. News blackouts, and the banning of a book or film of course occurred here or there, but these never seemed very serious events.

When the Thatcher government banned the sale of the novel, Spycatcher, in Britain, it was smuggled into the country from abroad, and reported in the press despite legal challenges. Humor was the public’s usual way of dealing with such things, and the banning of a book that most people could get a hold of, turned politics into a laughing stock. And not for the first or last time either. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, when Oswald Moseley’s “black shirt” fascists were parading through London, Lady Astor commented that if they should ever gain power the British people would die laughing. How prophetic this was. A few years later Charlie Chaplin denounced and mocked the Nazis in his film, The Great Dictator, even as prime minister Neville Chamberlain sort [sic] to win “peace for our time” by appeasing Hitler. Modern Britain: No Laughing Matter >>> By A Millar | May 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Putting a Positive Spin on Islam
REUTERS: BEIRUT, May 1 (Reuters Life!) - Islamic dogma is narrowing the space for debate in the Arab world, argues an Egyptian professor whose own life was overturned by persecution for free thinking.

Thirteen years after an Egyptian sharia court declared him an apostate from Islam, annulled his marriage and effectively forced him into exile, Nasr Abu Zayd looks back without rancour.

"I define myself as an ordinary Muslim who is able to think," he told Reuters during a recent visit to Beirut.

"Now when some people say 'you are an apostate' or something, I really laugh rather than try to defend myself."

Abu Zayd, a short, portly man whose eyes often gleam with humour beneath bushy eyebrows, said in early Islamic tradition different modes of thinking about the divine were acceptable.

Today, constant claims to a monopoly of Islamic truth by Arab rulers and opposition groups scrabbling for legitimacy have stifled discussion, in contrast to debate flourishing elsewhere in the Muslim world, notably in Iran and Turkey, he added.

"Religion has been used, politicised, not only by groups but also the official institutions in every Arab country," the 64-year-old professor of humanism and Islam at the University for Humanistics in Utrecht, The Netherlands, asserted.

"Nearly everything is theologised -- every issue society faces has to be solved by asking if Islam allows it. There is no distinction between the domain of religion and secular space."

He said ulema (Muslim scholars) were all too keen to deliver rulings on economic, social or even medical issues like organ transplants: "You'll hardly find any scholar who says, 'I'm very sorry, but this is not my business, go consult a doctor'." Dogma Cloys Debate in Arab World [Says] Islamic Scholar >>> By Alistair Lyon

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

French Births Soar
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL: WASHINGTON, April 30 -- The news that France has overtaken Ireland to boast the highest birthrate in Europe is intriguing for three different reasons.

The first is that for a Europe that is worried about too few children being born to support the fast-growing numbers of elderly retirees, it suggests that public policy can make a difference. France now pays any mother with a third child about $1,200 in child support, along with massive discounts on train and public transport and subsidized day care. These incentives seem to work.

The second development to note is that INED, France's National Institute of Demographic Studies, has done some detailed research and concluded that France's immigrant population is responsible for only 5 percent of the rise in the birthrate and that France's population would be rising anyway even without the immigrant population.

That is important in a country where the number of immigrants from traditionally Muslim countries and their French-born children and grandchildren is now reckoned to be more than 6 million from a total population of 60.7 million. The anti-immigration Front National Party has claimed the rise in births came from Muslims, who were thus on track to become an eventual majority, and this appears not to be the case.

In fact in France, like everywhere else in Europe, the birthrate among immigrant mothers drops quickly toward the local norm in less than two generations. The measure most commonly used in international statistics is the Total Fertility Rate, which seeks to measure the number of children born to the average woman in her fertile years. (The formal definition of TFR is the average number of children a woman would have during her reproductive lifetime if current age-specific fertility rates remained constant over her reproductive life.)

In France, the TFR has risen from 1.66 in 1993 to 2.0 in 2003 and 2.1 last year. If maintained, that means the population of France will rise from 60.7 million today to 70 million sometime before 2050. Walker's World: French Births Soar >>> By Martin Walker, UPI Editor Emeritus

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Wanted: The Last Nazis
Swanstika courtesy of Google Images
THE INDEPENDENT: At first glance, the mugshots appear to be a gallery of roguish grandfathers, but the octo- and nonagenarians are the 10 most-wanted fugitives of one of the most heinous regimes the world has ever seen. They are the last remaining Nazis, and the codename of the hunt to find them – Operation Last Chance – says it all

More than 60 years after the Nuremberg trials put the first of Hitler's henchmen in the dock, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre yesterday released its most wanted list of the remaining Nazi war criminals. The battle to bring them to justice is complicated by a mix of political apathy, legal wrangling, legendary powers of evasion and what Nazi-hunters term "misplaced sympathy" for the craggy-faced men in their twilight years.

"They are old, and the natural tendency is to be sympathetic toward people when they reach a certain age, but the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators," said Efraim Zuroff, the Jerusalem-based director of the Wiesenthal Centre. "If we were to put a chronological limit on prosecution, we would basically be saying you can get away with genocide." Wanted: The Last Nazis: They are accused of some of the worst war crimes of the 20th century. Now a final bid has been launched to bring them to justice before they die >>> By Claire Soares | May 1, 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
We Must Never Forget the Evil Inspired by Hitler's Regime >>> By Rupert Cornwell | May 1, 2008

BBC:
Schindler List Survivor Recalls Saviour: As Israel marks its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, one of those whose lives were saved by German businessman Oskar Schindler has spoken of his lasting gratitude >>> | May 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Victory Not in the Bag for Obama
TIMESONLINE: It is scarcely a fortnight since Nancy Larson announced that after much agonising — and despite a “heartbreaking” last-minute plea from Chelsea Clinton — her super-delegate vote would go to Barack Obama. Now she is not so sure.

“Our role is to keep gauging and re-gauging what the public wants. Although I’m comfortable with the decision I made, there is nothing to stop me changing my mind,” said this Minnesotan yesterday.

She cited how the controversy of Mr Obama’s pastor, the Rev Jeremiah Wright, “keeps cropping up” and said that his comments over bitter small-town Americans “may bother some voters”, saying: “We have to ask ourselves who will be able to go the distance when it counts in November. We have a big responsibility.”

Ms Larson is one of the 795 members of the Democratic Party elite — the super-delegates — who could yet wrest the nomination away from Mr Obama, who is so close to winning this prize that he can almost touch it.

No one doubts that he will claim the larger slice of elected delegates. Mr Obama has also had the overwhelming bulk of super-delegate pledges over the past couple of months. Even in this traumatic week for him, he has had six endorsements, compared with four for Hillary Clinton.

Yet almost 300 super-delegates stubbornly sit on the fence. Some are said to fear retribution from the Clintons, who are not shy of reminding them of favours done. The Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, has already been denounced as a “Judas” for pledging himself to Mr Obama.

Others, particularly those sitting on thin majorities in Congress, hesitate because they do not want to alienate any section of the Democratic electorate. And, even though dozens of Congressmen have privately made up their minds to back Mr Obama, many appear to be waiting for proof that he really is the candidate who will deliver them the White House.

Successive missed opportunities to finish off Mrs Clinton — in New Hampshire, in California on Super Tuesday, in Ohio last month and then in Pennsylvania last week — have reinforced doubts about whether he can transcend divisions of race, class and age that scar American society.

The extraordinary spectacle Mr Wright made of himself this week has opened up further questions about the judgment and, perhaps, honesty of a candidate who says that in 20 years of sitting in the pastor’s pews he never heard him deliver such “rants”. Undecided Democratic Elite Remind Barack Obama that Victory is Not in the Bag >>> By Tom Baldwin in Washington | May 1, 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
On the Road with Bubba Bill as Clintons Court Blue-Collar Votes >>> By Leonard Doyle in Elkin, North Carolina | May 1, 2008

THE GUARDIAN:
Controversy Causes Obama to Lose Ground >>> By Ewen MacAskill in Indianapolis | May 1, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Barack Obama Turns to Wife to Win Back Voters: Barack Obama has turned to his wife, Michelle, in an effort to woo working class voters after being cast as an elitist in the race for the White House >>> By Alex Spillius in Indianapolis | May 2, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Lesbians of Lesvos Fed Up of Being Called ‘Lesbians’
Photo of the idyllic Lesvos courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Dimitris Lambrou is tired of being called a lesbian.

As a magazine publisher on the Greek island of Lesvos — Lesbos according to the classical spelling — he is suing Greece’s biggest gay and lesbian association to get the term (with a small l) expunged from public usage.

He claims it is insulting to what he calls the proper Lesbians — the people of Lesvos. “We are suffering psychological and moral rape,” said Mr Lambrou.

Mr Lambrou’s magazine, called Davlos (Torch), has been campaigning against the lesbian identification with the island for years, even since gay women around the world made it a place of pilgrimage. The town of Eressos has become known as a world lesbian conference centre.

He and two local women, Maria Rodou and Kokkoni Kouvalaki, are the plaintiffs in the case scheduled to be heard in an Athens court on June 10.

“This is ludicrous,” countered Evangelia Vlami, a member of the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union, which is being sued. “The term has been in use for thousands of years to denote gay women.” The Union is now fighting for the right to same-sex marriage in this otherwise devout Orthodox country. Lesvos was the birthplace of Sappho >>> | April 30, 2008

THE GUARDIAN:
Sun, sea and Sappho >>> By Julie Bindel | May 8, 2008

BRISBANE TIMES:
'We're not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)' >>> | By Helena Smith in Athens | June 11, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Dr William Lane Craig on Islam
Listen to Part 1 HERE
Listen to Part 2 HERE
Listen to Part 3 HERE
ReasonableFaith.org >>>

With thanks to Judah of Judah’s Journal >>>

Judah’s Journal: Different Deities >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Omar bin Laden in UK Visa Appeal
Photo of Jane Felix-Browne (Zaina Alsabah-bin Laden) and her husband, Omar bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son, courtesy of the BBC
BBC: One of Osama Bin Laden's sons is to mount a legal challenge after being refused entry to live in the UK with his 52-year-old British wife.

Omar Osama Bin Laden, 27, was told his visa application had been rejected because of newspaper suggestions he could still be loyal to his father.

He currently lives in Cairo, Egypt with wife Zaina Alsabah-Bin Laden, formerly named Jane Felix-Browne, from Cheshire. Mr Bin Laden, one of 19 siblings, has publicly condemned terrorism.

The couple hoped to move to Mrs Bin Laden's home in the village of Moulton, near Northwich in Cheshire, where she was a member of the parish council until recently.

Mrs Bin Laden, who is severely visually impaired, said she needed access to medical treatment in the UK but refused to be apart from her husband. Bin Laden's Son in UK Visa Appeal >>>

TIMESONLINE:
Omar bin Laden Banned from Britain >>> By David Brown | April 30, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Obama “Outraged” & Calls Rev Wright's Comments Destructive

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Controversy US Style: National Press Club - Jeremiah Wright

Part 2
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Nicolas Sarkozy vante à Tunis l'Union pour la Méditerranée
LE FIGARO: Le chef de l'État a plaidé mardi pour une plus étroite coopération économique entre les deux rives de la Méditerranée.

La Méditerranée encore et toujours ! Au deuxième jour de sa visite d'État en Tunisie, Nicolas Sarkozy est revenu sur un sujet qu'il affectionne entre tous. «Ensemble, le nord de la Méditerranée et le sud de la Méditerranée, on peut créer un pôle gagnant-gagnant qui concurrencera l'Asie», s'est enthousiasmé le chef de l'État devant un parterre de 500 chefs d'entreprise français et tunisiens.

«Il n'y a pas un bon d'avenir pour l'Europe si l'Afrique en général, et l'Afrique du Nord en particulier, ne connaît pas le développement. (…) Nous pouvons créer un modèle qui triomphera dans le monde entier», a poursuivi sur sa lancée le président français.

Encore largement virtuel, le grand chantier méditerranéen suscite un écho favorable chez les décideurs tunisiens qui l'envisagent comme un «accélérateur de projets», espérant aussi bénéficier du statut privilégié de leur pays dans les relations franco-maghrébine. Nicolas Sarkozy vante à Tunis l'Union pour la Méditerranée >>> D’Alain Barluet | 29. 04. 2008

LE FIGARO:
Sarkozy persiste sur les Droits de l'homme en Tunisie >>> | 30. 04. 2008

LE FIGARO:
Carla, la première dame
 en visite de bienfaisance >>> De Charles Jaigu | 30. 04. 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché)
The Dawning of a new Dark Age (Relié)

Ban Barbie, Say Iran’s Top Prosecutor
Photo of Barbie doll courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Iran's top prosecutor has called for restrictions in the import of Western toys, saying they have a destructive effect on the country's youth.

The Prosecutor General, Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi, said that toys such as Barbie, Batman, and Harry Potter would have negative social consequences.

Mr Najafabadi wants measures taken to protect what he called Iran's Islamic culture and revolutionary values.

Correspondents say Western culture is becoming increasingly popular in Iran.

Mr Najafabadi's comments were made in a letter addressed to Iranian Vice President Parviz Davoudi, and quoted in several Iranian newspapers.

"The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter... as well as the irregular importation of unsanctioned computer games and movies are all warning bells to officials in the cultural arena," he wrote, according to a copy of the letter seen by Associated Press.

"The irregular importation of such toys, which unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive culturally and a social danger," he said.

The BBC's Pam O'Toole in Tehran says the increasing popularity of Western culture has been causing concern in Iran's clerical establishment for years. Iran Calls for Ban on Barbie Doll >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

A Nod to Europe: Ankara Amends Controversial ‘Turkishness’ Law
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Turkey's parliament has accepted the government's reform of a law used in recent years to persecute writers and political dissidents. The law against "insulting Turkishness" is now a law against "insulting the Turkish nation." Whether it will help Turkey join the EU is an open question.

A long-awaited change to a law against "insulting Turkishness" was passed early Wednesday morning by Turkey's parliament, though writers and activists say the revision isn't strong enough. Critics of the law have long considered it a curtailment of free speech in Turkey and a major obstacle to Ankara's ambition to join the European Union.

Legislators voted 250-65 in favor of amending Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, which has been used to convict 745 people since 2003, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and murdered journalist Hrant Dink (more...), according to the Associated Press.

The revision redefines the crime as insulting the "Turkish nation" -- instead of "Turkishness," which was vague enough to allow the government to harass political opponents. The new law also cuts the maximum jail sentence from three years to two, and requires the justice minister to approve any investigation into possible violations.

Critics are calling the reform superficial. "What needs to be done is to abolish 301 altogether," said Fatma Kurtulan, a pro-Kurdish legislator, according to AP. Kurtulan said the reform was designed to appease EU demands without actually bringing about any real change. A Nod to Europe: Ankara Amends Controversial 'Turkishness' Law >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Obama Breaks with Jeremiah Wright
NEW YORK TIMES: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Senator Barack Obama broke forcefully on Tuesday with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in an effort to curtail a drama of race, values, patriotism and betrayal that has enveloped his presidential candidacy at a critical juncture.

At a news conference here, Mr. Obama denounced remarks Mr. Wright made in a series of televised appearances over the last several days. In the appearances, Mr. Wright has suggested that the United States was attacked because it engaged in terrorism on other people and that the government was capable of having used the AIDS virus to commit genocide against minorities. His remarks also cast Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, in a positive light.

In tones sharply different from those Mr. Obama used on Monday, when he blamed the news media and his rivals for focusing on Mr. Wright, and far harsher than those he used in his speech on race in Philadelphia last month, Mr. Obama tried to cut all his ties to — and to discredit — Mr. Wright, the man who presided at Mr. Obama’s wedding and baptized his two daughters.

“His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church,” Mr. Obama said, his voice welling with anger. “They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs.” Obama’s Break With Ex-Pastor Sets Sharp Shift in Tone >>> By Jeff Zeleny and Adam Nagourney | April 30, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Barack Obama Denounces Rev Jeremiah Wright: Barack Obama has made an impassioned denunciation of his controversial former pastor, calling remarks the Rev Jeremiah Wright made earlier this week “outrageous” and contradictory to “everything I have done in my life”. >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | April 30, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Pastor Goes on Attack to Give Barack Obama Fresh Headache >>> By Tom Baldwin and Tim Reid in Washington | April 29, 2008

THE GUARDIAN:
This Time with Anger >>> By Michael Tomasky | April 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Saudi Arabia: Punishment for Flirting? A Haircut!
YAHOO NEWS: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A governor in northern Saudi Arabia has ordered authorities to punish men who flirt with women in public places by cutting their hair, local media said Tuesday.

Prince Fahd bin Badr, governor of the northern al-Jof region, ordered police to carry out the punishment after seeing a group of men with long hair pestering female students as they left school in the northern al-Qurayat province, Al-Hayat newspaper said.

It said the prince told a gathering at his palace in the northern town of Skaka on Sunday he has instructed police to apply the punishment to all youths guilty of flirting, including "the sons of senior military and civil officials."

"The decision doesn't include men who spend their free time in public places without hurting anyone," the paper quoted the prince as saying. Saudi Governor Orders Haircuts for Men Who Hit On Women >>> Associated Press | April 29, 2008

Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Islamophobia Accusations Spark Debate on Canada Press Freedom
AFP: OTTAWA — A complaint by Canadian Muslims against a leading local news magazine has sparked a national debate on the limits of press freedoms in this country often cited as a beacon of multiculturalism.

"Protest while you still can," shouted this week's edition of Maclean's, a publication similar to US magazines Time or Newsweek, saying in an editorial that human rights boards are undermining free speech in Canada.

The controversy dates back to October 2006, when Maclean's ran an article excerpted from noted author and journalist Mark Steyn's book "America Alone," entitled "Why the Future Belongs to Islam."

A self-described agitator, Steyn argued that demographics and Muslims' global ambitions ensured Islam's eventual world domination and that Europe was "too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia."

For four Toronto law students, Maclean's had crossed the line by proposing that "Muslims are part of a global conspiracy to take over Western society and impose an oppressive form of Islamic law," Khurrum Awan, one of the students, told AFP.

"We did some research and realized that Maclean's had published 19 articles with such a tone," he said, adding that his group asked for but was denied the opportunity to publish a response when they met with the magazine's editors.

Maclean's, which is defending itself against accusations at a human rights tribunal that its articles incited hate, said the students' demands for a 5,000-word rebuttal and to direct the magazine cover art were unacceptable.

"This is a complete fabrication," said Awan, insisting the editor-in-chief told them he would rather see the magazine go out of business than publish a response, or, according to the magazine, hand over editorial reigns.

The students, backed by the Canadian Islamic Congress, lodged a complaint with the federal human rights commission and two of its provincial counterparts in Ontario and British Columbia.

The federal and British Columbia tribunals are still mulling over the case. Islamophobia Accusations Spark Debate on Canada Press Freedom >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Canada)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Canada)

Stumbling Toward Eurabia
FOCUS NEWS AGENCY: In the summer of 2004, in an interview little noticed outside the country, the prominent academic scholar of Islam Bassam Tibi predicted a future for Germany that many decried as provocative nonsense at the time.1[sic] In ten years, Tibi said, Germany will be the scene of large running battles between police and gangs of marginalized Muslim youth, bringing cities like Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt to the brink of chaos. This will be the inevitable result, according to him, of a trend that is already visible. Muslims are not interested in integration. They are, in fact, obligated not to integrate by the radical Islamic ideology dominant in their communities, and live increasingly segregated in parallel societies. The main difference between 2004 and 2014, Tibi believed, would be that the highly marginalized Muslim population would have more than doubled to 10 million, sharia would have been gradually introduced in Germany and the Islam preached there would be even more radical and resemble Nazi totalitarianism.

Today, more than three and a half years later, a new study of attitudes among young Muslims by the German interior ministry would seem to confirm Tibi’s fears. According to the survey, 44 percent of respondents have fundamentalist Islamic beliefs, 50 percent believe that “Muslims who die in the armed struggle for the faith (Jihad) go to paradise,” and one in four is ready to engage in violence against non-Muslims.2 [sic] Stumbling Toward Eurabia >>> By Alex Alexiev

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Multiculturalism May Erode Strength Of Western Values
THE TECH (MIT): Amal Dorai G mischaracterizes my letter from last week. Far from saying that we should accommodate the intolerance of other cultures, I was posing a question — how do we reconcile our liberal society (here I use “liberal” in its classical sense) with respect for multicultural diversity, when some of our own values, such as respect for the rights of homosexuals, conflict with those of other cultures? Do we dare to assert the superiority of civilized Western liberalism over the medieval puritanism which still persists in some parts of the world today? Dorai seems to think so, and his letter suggests that it is ridiculous to think otherwise — he believes it is “ludicrous” to accommodate another culture’s bigotry.

However, appropriate limits to multiculturalism are not as obvious to our friends in Europe and Canada. According to the BBC, the Canadian government, flouting free speech rights, brought writer Mark Steyn before a human rights tribunal for writings which were critical of Islam (as if boorishness is on par with, say, genocide). In the UK, Islamic Sharia law courts, where the laws of evidence are more lenient, now operate as an alternative to the legitimate courts of the British government, according to The Telegraph, undoubtedly encouraged by the climate fostered by idealists such as the ruling Labour Party, which had insisted for many years that their country is “multicultural.” In Germany, the judge of a German court cited the Koran in rejecting a Moroccan woman’s petition for an accelerated divorce due to domestic violence and death threats from her husband, according to the International Herald Tribune. While mainstream Muslim leaders, to their credit, swiftly condemned the ruling, the apparent alacrity with which the judge subordinated German legal principles to the Koran illustrates the paralysis of justice which could result from permitting cultural accommodation to become too ingrained. In France, philosopher Jean-Francois Revel has commented that the institutional reluctance to teach French to immigrant children in French schools has stunted the upward mobility of these immigrants, causing resentment which sometimes boils over into the youth riots we have witnessed in recent years. Homosexuals, in particular, comprise one group which has much to fear from the growing Islamization of Europe. In the Netherlands, attacks on gays have increased in recent years, mostly perpetrated by Moroccan youths, according to Radio Netherlands. In Iran, Sharia law calls for the execution of homosexuals. It may be ridiculous now to think that something like that could happen in western Europe, but such changes do not occur suddenly, and we only notice too late when things have gone too far, just as a frog submerged in a pot of cold water does not jump out of the pot if the water is brought gradually to a boil. Multiculturalism May Erode Strength Of Western Values >>> By Justin Wong | April 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Boris Johnson,
le «bouffon» de Londres
Photo de Boris Johnson grâce aux Google Images
LE FIGARO: Cet ancien journaliste de 43 ans, qui ne sait pas résister à une blague, pourrait, jeudi, ravir la capitale britannique au travailliste Ken Livingstone. Avec ce drôle d'oiseau, le camp conservateur n'a pas fini d'en voir de toutes les couleurs.

Avec son épaisse tignasse blonde en désordre, ses costumes froissés et son éternel sourire en coin, Boris Johnson n'a pas l'air d'un homme à qui on confierait le contrôle de la plus grande capitale européenne et la responsabilité d'un budget de 10 milliards de livres. Et pourtant, à la surprise générale, le candidat conservateur devance dans les sondages le redoutable Ken Livingstone, maire travailliste depuis la création du poste en 2000.

Il y a encore quelques mois, lors de sa sélection, facile, au sein du parti conservateur pour devenir candidat à la mairie de Londres, de nombreux observateurs étaient dubitatifs sur les chances de celui qu'ils qualifiaient de «bouffon», de «clown». L'homme est plus célèbre pour ses gaffes et ses bons mots que par la clarté de ses programmes politiques. Sur YouTube, plus d'un million d'internautes ont déjà regardé la courte vidéo qui le montre en train de faire un plaquage de rugby sur un autre joueur, lors d'un match de football organisé par une œuvre caritative. Après le match, il s'excuse, en précisant tout de même : «J'ai tenté de jouer la balle avec la tête, ce qui est une action légitime au foot, je crois.»

Son étonnante popularité doit aussi beaucoup au succès de ses interventions lors de shows télévisés. Sa chevelure blonde très reconnaissable et son sens de la repartie le rendent rapidement célèbre. À plusieurs reprises, il réussit à répondre avec humour et ce sens si britannique de l'autodérision aux piques que lui lancent les présentateurs en rappelant les nombreux scandales qu'il traîne derrière lui. Boris Johnson,
le «bouffon» de Londres >>> De Cyrille Vanlerberghe | 28. 04. 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché)
The Dawning of a new Dark Age (Relié)

Obama 'Angry' at Pastor Comments
BBC: Democratic US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has expressed "outrage" at comments made by Rev Jeremiah Wright.

He said that any relationship he had with his former pastor "has now changed" as a result of the comments.

Clips of Rev Wright's fiery sermons triggered a storm of criticism when they were aired last month.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama's rival Hillary Clinton was endorsed by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, and Republican John McCain unveiled a healthcare plan.

'Saddened'

Mr Obama was responding to a series of recent public appearances by Rev Wright, in which the pastor refused to back down from the controversial statements made in his sermons.

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Mr Obama told reporters.

The Illinois senator described Rev Wright's comments as "divisive and destructive" and said they "end up giving comfort to those that prey on hate". Obama ‘Angry’ at Pastor Comments >>> | April 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Konfrontation am Golf
Foto dank der Zeit
DIE ZEIT: Am Persischen Golf boomt die Wirtschaft. Aber es ziehen dunkle Wolken auf. Im Irak tobt bereits jenes politische Unwetter, das sich in den kommenden Jahren über der ganzen Region zu entladen droht.

Vorletztes Wochenende fand in Riad, der Hauptstadt Saudi-Arabiens, auf Einladung zweier saudischer Think Tanks eine Konferenz mit Saudis, Amerikanern und Europäern zur Zukunft des Iraks statt. Dabei geht es schon längst nicht mehr um die Frage, ob die USA den Krieg im Irak gewinnen können oder nicht. Die Antwort darauf fällt eindeutig aus: Diese Chance wurde seit Langem vertan, wenn sie denn je bestanden hat.

Die eigentliche Frage aus Sicht Saudi-Arabiens und der anderen arabischen Golfanrainer lautet vielmehr, ob die islamische Republik Iran der große Gewinner des neokonservativen Abenteuers an Euphrat und Tigris sein wird oder nicht. An der Antwort auf diese Frage droht sich aus Sicht Riads auch die Zukunft des eigenen Landes zu entscheiden.

Vieles spricht dafür, dass die Ängste der Saudis berechtigt sind. Eine iranische Hegemonie am Golf allerdings würde das regionale Gleichgewicht der Mächte fundamental verändern und birgt deshalb die Gefahr einer umfassenden Konfrontation in sich. Konfrontation am Golf >>> Von Joshka Fischer

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe)