Palin’s Teenage Daugter Pregnant
BBC: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, newly picked as Republican John McCain's running mate, has revealed that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

Mrs Palin, a social conservative who is opposed to abortion, said in a statement her daughter Bristol would keep the child and marry its father.

The Alaska governor, a mother-of-five, was presented three days ago as her party's vice-presidential candidate.

The McCain campaign and Palins asked for respect for the family's privacy.

Mrs Palin and her husband Todd said in a statement: "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realise very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Advisers to the McCain campaign said they had known about the pregnancy before offering Mrs Palin the vice-presidential nomination. [Source: BBC] | September 1, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
US elections: Daughter of John McCain's Running Mate Sarah Palin Is Pregnant: Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain's surprise choice as vice-presidential running mate, rocked the race for the White House by announcing that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant >>> By Toby Harnden in St Paul | September 1, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Corruption Probe Into 'Africans for Obama' Fundraiser in Nigeria: Anti-corruption authorities have seized more than $630,000 (£315,000) raised during an "Africans for Obama" gala dinner held in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos >>> By Mike Pflanz, West Africa Correspondent | September 1, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Sarah Palin: Conservatives Find the Girl of Their Dreams: The Alaskan governor’s family life and political views press the right’s buttons >>> By Sarah Baxter | August 31, 2008

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Undercover Mosque: The Return
CHANNEL 4: A year-and-a-half after the critically-acclaimed film Undercover Mosque was first screened, Dispatches goes undercover again to see whether extremist beliefs continue to be promoted in certain key British Muslim institutions.

A year-and-a-half after the critically-acclaimed film Undercover Mosque was first screened, Dispatches goes undercover again to see whether extremist beliefs continue to be promoted in certain key British Muslim institutions. The film also investigates the role of the Saudi Arabian religious establishment in spreading a hard-line, fundamentalist Islamic ideology in the UK - the very ideology the Government claims to be tackling.



A female reporter attends prayer meetings at an important British mosque which claims to be dedicated to moderation and dialogue with other faiths. She secretly films shocking sermons given to the women-only congregation in which female preachers recite extremist and intolerant beliefs. As hundreds of women and some children come to pray, a preacher calls for adulterers, homosexuals, women who act like men and Muslim converts to other faiths to be killed, saying: "Kill him, kill him. You have to kill him, you understand. This is Islam."



Worshippers are repeatedly told they must lead separate lives from non-believers and not tolerate other religions. Christian teachings are described as "vile and disgusting, an abomination." And at private, invite-only prayer meetings linked to the mosque, the reporter films the leading preacher from the women's prayer circle issuing strict dictats on women's personal freedoms - decreeing they must not travel far without a male member of the family to escort them, and instructing them not to integrate with British society or work in a non-Islamic environment.



In the same mosque, the reporter visits the bookshop and discovers books and DVDs still on sale, promoting extremist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and intolerant messages. Unbelievers ('kuffaars') are described in one DVD as: "Evil, wicked, mischievous people - you can see the evil in their face". Whilst Jews, "have abominated, filthy, disgusting gross belief - their time will come like every other evil person's time will come." Moderate Muslims and Islamic academics tell Dispatches they reject and condemn these teachings.

Dispatches traces the links between the teachings and materials at the mosque and the Saudi Arabian religious establishment, and examines the extent to which Saudi Arabia exports such teachings around the world through the funding of literature, schools, mosques and other organisations.

Dispatches also interviews a former teacher at a Saudi-run faith school who describes how the official Saudi educational curriculum was taught in the school. He shows Dispatches official Saudi textbooks from the school which featured anti-Semitic and anti-Christian teachings.



As part of the investigation, the undercover reporter also films inside a key Saudi-funded Muslim organisation which claims to promote tolerance and integration yet distributes literature which promotes intolerance for non-Muslims, an extreme version of Sharia law and teachings which support discrimination against women.



The Government claims Saudi Arabia is its partner in tackling extremism, but a former Foreign Office Minister tells Dispatches he believes the Government should take a stronger line. The film also features interviews with Islamic academics who condemn these messages of intolerance and segregation and warn of the impact this version of Islam is having on British society. One imam at a leading university accuses the Saudi religious establishment of the: "distortion of Islam itself, the abuse and misuse of this great faith of mine and not only mine but of my children as well." [Source: Channel 4]

Broadcast: Monday 01 September 2008 08:00 PM

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Over 170 Preachers to Lecture Moroccan Expats During Ramadan
MAGHREB ARABE PRESS: Rabat, Sep. 1st - Morocco will dispatch over 170 preachers to Europe to provide training and give lectures during the holy month of Ramadan (fasting month) to the Moroccan expatriates, according to a press release of the ministry of Habous (Endowments) and Islamic Affairs.

Quoted by the French daily "La Croix", the document said the decision to send 176 preachers, including 100 to France alone, reflects Morocco's will to "meet the needs of the Moroccan community abroad for spiritual guidance","protect them from all kinds of extremism and deviance", and "foster the values of citizenship in them."
 


President of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Mohammed Moussaoui told the French daily that the initiative represents a "precious help", particularly to Muslims in France, adding that the tradition of exchange with Europe dates back to almost 20 years.

The Ulema will have to focus on the relational aspect of the life of Muslims in host countries, while highlighting the values of love, tolerance, and the openness of Islam.

According to official figures, Europe counts over 2.5 million Moroccans with the above countries hosting the greatest numbers of expatriates. France (1,113,176), Spain (423,933), Holland (300,332), Italy (298,944), Belgium (293,097), Germany (102,000), Sweden (12,000), Denmark (6,300) and Norway (6,300). [Source: Maghreb Arabe Press] | September 1, 2008

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

Russia: The New Order Cometh
INTERNATIONAL ANALYST NETWORK: There are two critical lessons to be learned from the recent Russian-Georgian war. First, Western security commitments should not to be made unless they can be enforced; and second, autonomous ethnic regions within tiny nations that border powerful states carry the potential for future conflicts.

The Russian-Georgian war was the by-product of a poorly thought out American foreign policy in the Caucasus because it attempted to gain American influence against Russia without providing sufficient American power to sustain that policy when challenged by Russia. This does not excuse the brutal application of Russian power against a tiny neighboring state, but it goes a long way in explaining why America responded as it did, and why American foreign policy in the Caucasus has proven to be without substance.

During the war, President Bush proclaimed America’s "unwavering support" for the former Soviet republic of Georgia. For the U.S. however, it was just another hollow gesture that reinforced an unfortunate pattern of American hubris. Bush lauded the Rose Revolution that swept Mikheil Saakashvili to power, backed Georgia's bid to enter NATO, and traveled to Tbilisi in 2005 to give his "pledge to the Georgian people that you've got a solid friend in America". In response, the Georgians aligned themselves with the U.S., sent 2,000 troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan beside American forces, and even named a main road in Tbilisi after Bush. At the White House last March, Saakashvili expressed his gratitude to the president for having "really put Georgia firmly on the world's freedom map."

Nevertheless, when push came to shove, the American response to the Russian invasion of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was all rhetoric in large measure because the U.S. was already over-extended in Iraq and Afghanistan and had neither the power, the strategic necessity nor the political capital to take on the Russians over Georgia – and the Russians knew it. The weak U.S. response to the Russian invasion has not only diminished U.S. standing in the region, but arguably as a world power as well. As a friend and ally, Georgia was abandoned to the mercies of the Russian war machine and the other former Soviet republics have no doubt taken note of this.

In many ways, the war was inevitable. Post-World War II Western strategy toward the Soviet Union and its satellites was shaped by George Kennan’s 1947 Cold War doctrine of “containment”. For decades, the U.S. alliances that encircled the Soviet bloc sent a clear message to Stalin and his successors: “Not one more inch!” With the fall of the Soviet Union, that policy was extended under the Clinton and Bush administrations to the former Soviet republics but was propelled by the idea of promoting democratic change and stability in the newly-freed countries that border Russia. While the Russians continually questioned Western motives for this expansion, there was little they could do about it. Over the last few years, however, a newly empowered and resurgent oligarchy under Russian nationalist Prime Minister Vladimir Putin began to see these American overtures as an existential threat. Russia: The New Order Cometh >>> By Mark Silverberg | August 29, 2008

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Moscow Warns EU on Georgia Ties: Mikheil Saakashvili Clearly a Thorn in Russians' Side
BBC: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said further Western support for Georgia's present leadership would be a mistake of historic magnitude.

Mr Lavrov called for an embargo on arms supplies to Georgia until a different government was in place there.

He was speaking ahead of an emergency EU summit on the Georgian crisis.

The UK has called on the European Union to suspend talks over a new partnership pact with Russia, to punish the country for its actions in Georgia.

"In light of Russia's actions we should suspend negotiations on a successor to the partnership and co-operation agreement," a spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters in London.

The EU summit is expected to condemn Moscow's recognition of independence for Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said his decision is irrevocable. Moscow Warns EU on Georgia Ties >>> | September 1, 2008

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL:
The Cold Peace: The European Union is struggling to find a common position on Russia -- as is the rest of the West. But so far, diplomatic bluster has been the name of the game. What should the world do about Russia's new-found bravado? >>> By Ralf Beste, Uwe Klussmann and Gabor Steingart | September 1, 2008

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Cambridge Academic and Novelist at Centre of Race Row
George Steiner, Cambridge academic and novelist, says racial tolerance is only “skin deep”. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: A Cambridge academic and novelist was at the centre of a race row after saying that he would not be able to tolerate living next door to Jamaican neighbours "playing reggae all day".

George Steiner, 79, said he believed racism was inherent in everyone and that racial tolerance was merely skin deep.

The playwright and critic Bonnie Greer labelled him a "cranky old man", while Muslim groups accused him of an "offensive and lazy" racist generalisation.

But other academics defended his honesty and right to express such views, saying they were a valuable addition to an important debate.

"It's very easy to sit here, in this room, and say 'racism is horrible'," he said from his house in Cambridge, where he has been Extraordinary Fellow at Churchill College since 1969.

"But ask me the same thing if a Jamaican family moved next door with six children and they play reggae and rock music all day. Or if an estate agent comes to my house and tells me that because a Jamaican family has moved next door the value of my property has fallen through the floor. Ask me then!"

Mr Steiner, whose Jewish family fled to America from Paris before the Nazi invasion of 1940, adds: "In all of us, in our children, and to maintain our comfort, our survival, if you scratch beneath the surface, many dark areas appear. Don't forget it." Cambridge Academic Says He Would Not Tolerate Jamaican Neighbours >>> By Aislinn Simpson and Jessica Salter | September 1, 2008

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McCain Needs to Get Serious - and Warn about a Global Tempest
THE TELEGRAPH: Hurricane Gustav roars toward the Gulf coast of America and brings with it an extraordinarily appropriate metaphor for the Republican National Convention.

If the message of the Obama Democrats last week was "change", then the prevailing theme of the Republican gathering this week should be "danger".

John McCain, when asked whether the arrival of the hurricane would affect his convention, said that it might well be inappropriate to hold a "festive event" at such a time. I hope that his people extrapolate from that and decide that festivity should not be the order of the day anyway. The tempest that is now threatening New Orleans with yet more devastation is an uncanny analogue of the perfect Russian storm that is confronting America and the rest of what we must once again call the "free world".

By some terrifying logic, Vladimir Putin has clearly decided that his country's destiny will be fulfilled by becoming a rogue superpower. That is the new reality in which the United States presidential campaign will be conducted. So the outcome of this election is likely to be determined by the contest between those who claim that internal "change" is the biggest challenge facing America, as opposed to those who see external threat and the collapse of world order as the first priority. McCain Needs to Get Serious - and Warn about a Global Tempest >>> By Janet Daley | September 1, 2008

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85,000 Illegal Immigrants Flood In from France
DAILY EXPRESS: MORE than 1,000 illegal migrants a month are pouring into Britain from northern France.

In the six years since the closure of the notorious Sangatte refugee camp near Calais, 85,000 have passed through French Channel ports to the UK.



The figures come from Father Jean-Pierre Boutoille, head of a refugee charity in Calais who says Britain’s hard line against illegal immigration has proved fruitless.


The Catholic priest reports that more and more migrants are arriving in northern France every day, intent on getting to the UK.



Father Boutoille points out that Britain’s black economy and generous welfare system continue to draw immigrants from the world’s troublespots. 85,000 Illegal Immigrants Flood In from France >>> By Nick Fagge in Calais | September 1, 2008

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

Briton 'Admitted Sex on Dubai Beach - Then Denied It'
THE INDEPENDENT: A British man facing jail for having sex on a Dubai beach admitted the offence before later changing his account, prosecutors said today.

Tourist Vince Acors, 34, from Bromley, south east London, initially told police he had full intercourse with fellow Briton Michelle Palmer, 36.

But he later deviated from his first statement and denied the crime, senior prosecutor Faisal Abdelmalek Ahli said.

Publishing executive Miss Palmer, from Oakham, Leicestershire, and Mr Acors were seen on a beach near the luxury Burj Al Arab hotel in the early hours of 5 July.

Mr Ahli, of the Dubai Public Prosecution, said he was confident of proving the pair had sex.

"We have a very strong case," he said today.

"We have DNA, medical reports and eyewitnesses. We also have his (Mr Acors) first statement, in which he admitted having sex with Michelle Palmer. He later denied this."

Miss Palmer and Mr Acors, who are both on bail in Dubai, deny charges of public indecency and having unmarried sex but admit consuming alcohol.

They are due to appear before Dubai's Court of First Instance tomorrow. Briton 'Admitted Sex on Dubai Beach - Then Denied It' >>> PA | September 1, 2008

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This Confrontation Is a Calamity for the Capital, Says Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
THE INDEPENDENT: We could call it the "Bonfire of the Vanities", but that literary cliché feels glib for what is happening in the Metropolitan Police today. Two responsible, mature men, holding the most critical jobs in the capital, upon whose judgements and actions millions depend, bust up in public. We are witnessing scenes more poisonous than the McCartney/Mills divorce as the men get sucked up in a vortex of fury.

This confrontation is calamitous for Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur (a fellow Ugandan Asian) and for the Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, who both endeavoured to transform and modernise the Met. Ghaffur is now receiving death threats, some from insiders he fears. The Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson orders him to "shut up" as if he is some coolie punkhawallah.

The fallout shatters the hopes of many of us who want to believe that inspirational leaders can make workplaces and institutions truly equal for all. However, the most catastrophic consequence is still to come. The collapse of trust between the two will cause fresh and wider fractures. This Confrontation Is a Calamity for the Capital >>> By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

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Rome’s Battle of the Bells
BBC: In Rome, the capital of Christendom, which has some 600 churches with over 1,500 bells in their bell towers, the ancient art of bell-ringing has almost died out.

For centuries the church bells of Rome, apart from marking the hours, have tolled to mark the death of a pope, to celebrate the great festivals of Christmas and Easter, and to remind the faithful to come to Mass on Sunday.

But bell-ringers are a dying breed. Their place has been taken by automated equipment which has - in all but a handful of churches - replaced the traditional bell-ropes.

Every church used to have a sacristan whose job it was to ring the bells.

Nowadays the bells are almost all mechanised, driven by a chain system attached to gears and an electric motor.

Fabio Angelici has been installing automated press-button bell systems in Roman churches for the past 30 years.

"Romans," he says, "have lost the fine habit of enjoying church bells on a Sunday morning and waking up to the sound of bells.

"On the contrary, bell-ringing has become a nuisance for many people. The law now limits the ringing of church bells in exactly the same way as if they were part of an alarm system." Rome’s Battle of the Bells >>> By David Willey, Rome | August 25, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Italy)

"Hadith of Hate" Banned at USC
RIGHT SIDE NEWS: As Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapters have become increasingly influential at universities and colleges around the country, critics have charged that it is a hate group that sympathizes with the international jihad and promulgates an anti-American and anti-Semitic ideology in its campus actions. In response, the MSA has claimed that it is merely another religious and cultural group similar to Hillel, a club for Jewish students, or the Newman Club for Catholics. That deception has been now unmasked at the University of Southern California, where the school’s Provost, Chrysostomos L. Max Nikias, reacting to a call from the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, has ordered the campus MSA to remove a “despicable” hadith calling for Muslims to murder Jews as a condition for redemption from its website.

David Horowitz, President of the Freedom Center, hails this as a breakthrough moment when the double standards that control the political and intellectual culture of most universities have finally been challenged. “Up to now, the slightest criticism of radical Islam on campus has been slammed as ‘Islamophobia,’ while Muslim groups and their radical fellow travelers have been allowed to say the most hateful things imaginable about Christians and Jews without any reaction from university administrators whatsoever,” Horowitz says. “Provost Nikias has called the hadith on the MSA website for what it is: despicable. Given the atmosphere that prevails on most campuses today, it was an act of integrity on his part to make this call and to demand that the MSA live up to basic standards of civility that should govern the university.” "Hadith of Hate" Banned at USC >>> By Reut R. Cohen FrontPageMagazine.com | August 29, 2008

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Convention Democrats Warned about Radical Islam
'It is a serious threat. This war is against our way of life'
WORLD NET DAILY: DENVER - A statement of issues and positions provided by the Democratic National Convention includes not a single reference to "radical Islam," and its only references to "Islam" are to an imam scheduled to speak and to identify Afghanistan as where the U.S. should be battling al-Qaida, since "the vast majority of Muslims believe in a future of peace, tolerance."

However, an organization has been flooding DNC delegates and Denver with copies of the video "Obsession" because members believe the threat to the U.S. is being dismissed or minimized, and the results – like those of Sept. 11, 2001 – could be catastrophic.

"The reaction has been everything from people who are upset with us and call us Islamophobes to a gay, Jewish delegate who's seen 'Obsession' and told us the Democrats aren't taking radical Islamic fundamentalists seriously," said Karen England, a spokeswoman for the group promoting the Watch Obsession website. Convention Democrats Warned about Radical Islam >>> By Bob Unruh | August 26, 2008

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This Truly Evil Man,’ the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
NEW JERSEY JEWISH STANDARD: It is hard to see how anyone can understand contemporary extremist Islam or the Arab-Israeli conflict without some awareness of the central role played by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the mid-20th-century grand mufti of Jerusalem, in the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s — and, indeed, historians have written a fair amount about his notorious exploits. Yet, in an America where one in four 17-year-olds cannot identify Adolf Hitler on a multiple choice test, it is fair to say that the particulars of al-Husseini’s life remain largely unknown to most people, even those who proffer strong opinions on "why they hate us." By calling attention to this truly evil man who commanded the loyalty of millions of Arabs and Muslims years before there was an Israel or Palestinian refugees, the authors of "Icon of Evil" have done an important service. The more people who read this book the better.

David Dalin and John Rothmann rightly describe al-Husseini as the link "between the old fascism and the new," between the old European anti-Semitism and "the new radical Islamic anti-Semitism that has spread and metastasized throughout the Arab world in the decades since World War II." The mufti directed the Arab struggle against Zionism and Israel in the decades preceding and following the independence of the Jewish state. Though he failed to achieve any of his own declared goals, he became a poignant, honored, even legendary symbol for leaders of movements as diverse as the PLO, Hamas, Al Qaeda, the Iraqi Ba’ath regime, the Holocaust denial campaign, and the Muslim Brotherhood. This Truly Evil Man,’ the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem >>> By Neil J Kressel | August 29, 2008

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Plan to Give Europe to Nazis Revealed in Secret Files
THE AUSTRALIAN: A BRITISH amateur diplomat tried to stop World War II by offering Nazi Germany rule over Europe if the British Empire could rule the rest of the world, according to secret files declassified today.

James Lonsdale-Bryans, a well-educated fascist sympathiser, flew to Rome in the early days of the war to try to negotiate the deal with Ulrich von Hassell, the German ambassador to Italy.

The Security Service files reveal that the Foreign Office was aware of what Lonsdale-Bryans was up to and their unease about his actions.

"It would appear that Bryans may be taking part in unofficial discussions for the benefit of troops under the auspices of education officer,'' the file read.

"Bryans' idea is that the world ought to be divided into two parts.

"That Germany should be given a free hand in Europe and that the British Empire should run the rest of the world. Plan to Give Europe to Nazis Revealed in Secret Files >>> | August 31, 2008

Watch BBC video: Details have emerged of a solo effort by a British amateur diplomat to broker a WWII peace deal >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia)

Kremlin Critic Found Dead
COURIERMAIL.COM.AU: THE founder of a website that has criticised the Kremlin's policies in the Caucasus was found dead today in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, according to prosecutors quoted by Interfax.

Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into the death of Magomed Yevloyev, who ran the website ingushetia.ru, said the news agency.

The website reported that Yevloyev was killed while in police custody.

"Magomed Yevloyev was arrested today in Ingushetia and was killed,'' said a report posted on his website www.ingushetia.ru. Kremlin Critic Found Dead >>> | August 31, 2008

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

Terror Warning for US Flights
THE AUSTRALIAN: AUSTRALIA today warned of a "high risk" of terror attacks on domestic and international flights in and to the United States, urging citizens to be vigilant while in the country.

"We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in the United States because of the risk of terrorism,'' the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a travel advisory.

The department urged travellers to monitor the media for information about possible new security threats. Terror Warning for US Flights >>> | August 31, 2008

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

Revealed: The Real Islam?
"To think, as I believe our government thinks, that it makes ideological sense to play patsy with the Saudi government is folly of the first order of magnitude. We will be paying for it for years to come." - Professor Anthony Glees, Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies at Brunel University [Source: The Sunday Times]
MAIL Online: The Saudi Arabian preachers were secretly filmed ordering women to murder gays and ex-Muslims.
Undercover reporters from Channel 4’s Dispatches recorded the lectures in the women’s section of Regent’s Park Mosque in London.

An unnamed Saudi woman is seen mocking other religions – labelling Christianity ‘vile’ and an ‘abomination’. Another, known as ‘Angelique’, claims Britain is a ‘land of evil’.

The investigators attended lectures for two months at the mosque, which had promised a clean-up after another Dispatches probe just 18 months ago exposed it for spreading extreme Islamic views.

During one sermon, a woman called Um Amira says: ‘He is Muslim, and he gets out of Islam...what are we going to do? We kill him, kill, kill.’

In the programme, to be screened tomorrow, she adds that women adulterers should be stoned to death and people who have sex before marriage should get ‘100 lashes’. Revealed: Saudi Women Preaching Hate in the British Mosque that Promised to Clean Up Its Act 18 Months Ago >>> By Tom Harper | August 30. 2008

THE SUNDAY TIMES: Britain's leading Muslim bodies say they are fighting extremism. In one of our most respected mosques, Sara Hassan came face to face with hardline female preachers of separatism. Here, she reports on the shocking results of her investigation

In a large balcony above the beautiful main hall at Regent's Park Mosque in London - widely considered the most important mosque in Britain - I am filming undercover as the woman preacher gives her talk.

What should be done to a Muslim who converts to another faith? "We kill him," she says, "kill him, kill, kill…You have to kill him, you understand?"

Adulterers, she says, are to be stoned to death - and as for homosexuals, and women who "make themselves like a man, a woman like a man ... the punishment is kill, kill them, throw them from the highest place".

These punishments, the preacher says, are to be implemented in a future Islamic state. "This is not to tell you to start killing people," she continues. "There must be a Muslim leader, when the Muslim army becomes stronger, when Islam has grown enough."

A young female student from the group interrupts her: the punishment should also be to stone the homosexuals to death, once they have been thrown from a high place.

These are teachings I never expected to hear inside Regent's Park Mosque, which is supposedly committed to interfaith dialogue and moderation, and was set up more than 60 years ago, to represent British Muslims to the Government. And many of those listening were teenage British girls or, even more disturbingly, young children.

My investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches came after last year's Undercover Mosque, which investigated claims that teachings of intolerance and fundamentalism were spreading through Britain's mosques from the Saudi Arabian religious establishment - which is closely linked to the Saudi Arabian government. In response, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia denied it was spreading intolerance, while Regent's Park Mosque, which featured in the film, urged all mosques to be "vigilant" and monitor what was taught on their premises.

So earlier this year, dressed in a full Islamic jilbaab, I went back to Regent's Park Mosque to see what was being taught there. As a woman, I had to go to the main female section, where I found this circle preaching every Saturday and Sunday, eight hours at a time, to any woman who has come to pray.

The mosque is meant to promote moderation and integration. But although the circle does preach against terrorism and does not incite Muslims to break British laws, it teaches Muslims to "keep away" and segregate themselves from disbelievers: "Islam is keeping away from disbelief and from the disbelievers, the people who disbelieve."

Friendship with non-Muslims is discouraged because "loyalty is only to the Muslim, not to the kaffir [disbeliever]". 
A woman who was friendly with a non-Muslim woman was heavily criticised: "It's part of Islam, of the correct belief, that you love those who love Allah and that you hate those who hate Allah." Preachers of Separatism at Work Inside Britain's Mosques >>> | August 31, 2008

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European Muslims Debate: Should Gays Be Executed?
Norway’s Islamic Council still can’t decide.
PAJAMAS MEDIA: One of the pillars of the future totalitarian state in 1984 is the practice of doublethink, which Orwell defined as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. … To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary.”

As it happens, this is a precise description of exactly what’s been going on in many parts of Europe in recent years, as multicultural ideology has been confronted by realities about Islam that, in a doublethink-free world, would send that ideology crashing to the ground in flames.

For a case in point, I will refer the reader to an episode I’ve mentioned previously in this space — an Oslo debate last November at which the deputy chairman of Norway’s Islamic Council, Asghar Ali, refused to reject the death penalty for gays. When Senaid Kobilica, the head of the Islamic Council (which represents 60,000 Muslims), was asked where he stood on the question, he replied that he couldn’t give a definitive answer until he got a ruling from the European Fatwa Council. This week it was reported that he’s still waiting.

But not to worry! Kobilica added that he’s “100 percent certain that the fatwa council will not come out in favor of something which conflicts with European law.” Meaning that while the death penalty for homosexuals is, indeed, an orthodox Islamic position — one about which the Fatwa Council’s head, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has himself written sympathetically — Western Muslim leaders, in accordance with the Koran (and with good strategy), prefer in such controversial cases not to challenge infidel law. (There will, after all, be time enough to execute gays in the coming decades, as the Muslim population attains critical balance in one country after another — first, most likely, in France and Sweden and the Netherlands, and in Norway some time after that.) European Muslims Debate: Should Gays Be Executed? >>>By Bruce Bawer

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Russia Threatens to Supply Iran with Top New Missile System as 'Cold War' Escalates
Dmitri Medvedev and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a bilateral meeting in Dushanbe on August 28, 2008. Photo courtesy of The Sunday Telegraph
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Russia is deploying the threat to sell a "game changing" air defence system to Iran as a high stakes bargaining chip in its new "cold war" with America, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

US intelligence fears the Kremlin will supply the sophisticated S-300 system to Tehran if Washington pushes through Nato membership for its pro-Western neighbours Georgia and Ukraine.

The proposed deal is causing huge alarm in the US and Israel as the S-300 can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes up to 75 miles away.

That would make it a "game-changer", greatly improving Iranian defences against any air strike on its nuclear sites, according to Pentagon adviser Dan Goure. "This is a system that scares every Western air force," he said.

Senior US intelligence operatives believe that Russia is planning to use a stand-off over the S-300 to create a foreign policy showdown that would test the mettle of a new US president.

Republican candidate John McCain has taken a strongly anti-Kremlin line on a series of international issues and backed Georgia's desire to join Nato. His Democratic rival Barack Obama has also indicated he supports Nato membership for Georgia.

"The message from Moscow is very clear," said George Friedman, director of Stratfor, a leading US private intelligence agency. "They are saying if you don't stop meddling in our sphere of influence, this is what we are going to do.

"Back Georgia and Ukraine for Nato membership and you'll see the S-300 to Iran. It is a very powerful bargaining chip and a major deterrent to US actions in the region. Moscow is playing very strategically on America's obsession with Iran." Russia Threatens to Supply Iran with Top New Missile System as 'Cold War' Escalates >>> By Philip Sherwell in New York and William Lowther in Washington | August 31, 2008

BBC:
UK Warns over ‘Russia Aggression’: Prime minister Gordon Brown has said Nato and the EU must reassess their relations with the Kremlin to prevent further "Russian aggression".

His comments came amid fears Russia could cut oil and gas flows in the row over Georgia.

Mr Brown, in the Observer, urged the EU to conduct a "root and branch" review of relations with the Kremlin. >>>> | August 31, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH:
Vladimir Putin Threatens Europe over Energy Supply: Vladimir Putin has warned Europe that Russia's energy reserves will flow to the Far East if the continent's leaders seek to punish his country for invading Georgia >>> By Damien McElroy in Tbilisi and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | August 31, 2008

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World War III Will Break Out in Case of Aggression on Iran
IRNA: World War III will break out in case of aggression on Iran, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on Saturday.

The extremist and expansionist policies of Washington and Tel Aviv which have been manifested in Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and recently in the Caucasus, have endangered the entire world.

He reiterated that the so-called leading countries are falling and the world will soon witness great developments.

He said that Islam and the Islamic Republic call for international peace and co-existence.

"Teachings of Islam and the aspirations of the Islamic Revolution uphold peace and tranquility throughout the globe and are totally against war and escalation of tension being stirred by the US and international Zionism, he said.

Jazayeri underlined the need for promotion of peace and stability in the world. [Source: IRNA] | August 30, 2008

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Topless Bathing on French Beaches? Forget It! It’s Out of Fashion!
Photo courtesy of Google Images (France)
THE TELEGRAPH: The beaches where Brigitte Bardot first introduced the world to topless sunbathing are undergoing a mass cover up as French women ditch their penchant for a little harmless nudity.

According to reports coming from France, sunbathers on the Cote d'Azur, who once adopted a "laissez faire" attitude to nakedness, have turned against displaying too much bare flesh.

Even regulars at La Voile Rouge beach club on Pampelonne's Beach, in St. Tropez, where it all started shortly after the actress' film And God Created Woman, prefer to keep their top on.

The development has sparked a minor debate in the country which has always prided itself on being less prudish than its Anglo-Saxon neighbours.

For some it is simply a change in fashion, for others it marks a new conservatism sweeping France. Yet others say it is to do with increased health concerns about skin cancer and sensitivities to the growing Muslim community. Topless Sunbathing Goes Out of Fashion on French Beaches >>> By Richard Alleyne

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Gay Festival During Ramadan Angers Bosnia Muslims
REUTERS: SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Plans to hold Bosnia's first gay festival during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan were denounced by the Muslim community on Thursday as an affront to religious feelings.

As in most of the Balkans, there is little tolerance for homosexuality in Bosnia, where for many it remains a taboo.

"Such an event dangerously threatens our religious feelings. It is not appropriate to hold it during the Ramadan," said Ezher Beganovic, a journalist with the Islamic magazine Saff.

Beganovic has spearheaded a debate about next month's four-day festival. He said in an article this week that the "festival of homosexuality", which is regarded as a sin and disease in Islam, could cloud the holy month of Ramadan and promt angry reactions from believers.

Organisers said the festival was planned a year ago without aiming to provoke.

"This is the festival of arts and culture and there are many believers in our population as well," said Svetlana Djurkovic, who heads the "Q Association" promoting the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual population.

"It coincided with Ramadan unintentionally."

Sarajevo, a symbol of multi-ethnic co-existence and tolerance before the 1992-95 Bosnian war, is now predominantly Muslim. Gay Festival During Ramadan Angers Bosnia Muslims >>> | August 29, 2008

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On John McCain’s Selection of Sarah Palin as His Running Mate
Watch Guardian video: Republican presidential candidate John McCain makes his first appearance on stage with his running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin >>>
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Charia les Britanniques Mécontents

CHARIA les Britaniques Mecontents [08/02/2008]
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For the Third Year Running, Angela Merkel Tops the Forbes List of the Most Powerful Women in the World
Photo of Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, courtesy of Google Images
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women for the third year running, while U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice slipped to seventh from fourth last year.

Ms. Merkel, who became Chancellor in November, 2005, was cited by the magazine in its latest edition for her efforts to streamline Europe's biggest economy, increasing the national retirement age and putting more women in senior government posts.

The magazine was impressed with her because she “bulldozes through controversy,” referring to her meeting with the Dalai Lama last year, her chastising of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and her push “to make the euro a bigger player in global financial markets as the dollar wanes.” Merkel Tops Forbes List of Powerful Women >>> Associated Press | August 28, 2008

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End the Silence over Islam
THE SCOTSMAN – A Letter: Am I alone in my disquiet about our government's courtship of the Scottish Islamic Foundation?
In the 1970s, young women like me embraced multiculturalism; we were engaging with our oppressed sisters everywhere around the world. Or so it seemed at the time.

Where are we now? And why are we so effectively silenced?

Why do we have nothing to say about a sharia credit card? Have we really forgotten what sharia law means for women? While English clerics debate the pros and cons of introducing an element of sharia law into their legal system, where are our voices in this debate? Do we seriously think it won't happen in Scotland? Look at their website. It's happening already.

What do we think about the headline "Muslim sprinter wins Olympic sprint dressed head to toe in hijab" (from the Scottish Islamic Foundation website)? Or of Al Jazeera talking to Nicola Sturgeon, the deputy first minister, about a " Scottish division" of their TV station. Why on earth would they want a Scottish division? I need to know.

I am not opposed, in principle, to any of these, but I am opposed to the suffocating, politically correct silence that now surrounds any criticism of organisations such as the Scottish Islamic Foundation.

We need to bring this debate into the open. I don't fear the debate; I fear the silence. [Source: The Scotsman] By Anne Marie Keenan

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Libya's Qadhafi on Barack Obama

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John McCain on the Ellen Degeneres Show (Ellen) Discussing Gay Marriage

Clinton on the Ellen Degeneres Show (Ellen) Discussing Gay Marriage >>>

Barack Obama on Gay Marriage >>>

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McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate
McCain has chosen the attractive Sarah Palin as his running mate. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: DAYTON, Ohio — In a surprise move, Senator John McCain chose Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate on Friday, McCain officials confirmed, shaking up the political world at a time when his campaign has been trying to attract women, especially disaffected supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In choosing Ms. Palin — a 44-year-old conservative and self-described “hockey mom” who has been governor for less than two years — the McCain campaign reached far outside the Washington Beltway in an election in which the Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama, is running on a platform of change.

Ms. Palin, a former mayor of the small town of Wasilla, an Anchorage suburb, and one-time beauty pageant queen, first rose to prominence as a whistle-blower uncovering ethical misconduct in state government.

The selection amounted to a gamble that an infusion of new leadership — and the novelty of the Republican Party’s first female candidate for vice president — would more than compensate for the risk that Ms. Palin could undercut one of the McCain campaign’s central arguments, its claim that Mr. Obama is too inexperienced to be president.

The choice of Ms. Palin stands in sharp contrast to the selection of the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a veteran lawmaker and chairman of Foreign Relations Committee. McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate >>> By Michael Cooper and Elisabeth Bumiller | August 29, 2008

BBC:
McCain Picks Female Running Mate: US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has picked Sarah Palin, the female governor of Alaska, as his surprise running mate >>> | August 29, 2008

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UK: Muslim Jailed for Killing BNP Neighbour
ITN: A Muslim man who killed his BNP activist neighbour has been jailed for eight years.

Habib Khan, 50, stabbed 52-year-old Keith Brown with a kitchen knife during a violent row outside his home in Stoke-on-Trent in July last year.

Stafford Crown Court was told that Khan and his family had been subjected to "racial hostility" by his neighbour prior to the attack on July 6.

Khan, of Normacot, was cleared by a jury of murdering Mr Brown and instead convicted of manslaughter following a trial in May. [Source: ITN] | August 29, 2008

BBC:
Prison for BNP Activist’s Killer >>> | August 29, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Habib Khan Jailed for Stabbing BNP Neighbour Keith Brown: A Muslim man was jailed for eight years today for killing his BNP activist neighbour after suffering a long-running campaign of racial abuse.
Habib Khan, 50, stabbed 52-year-old Keith Brown with a kitchen knife during a violent row outside his home in Stoke-on-Trent in July last year >>> By Phillipe Naughton | August 29, 2008

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European Dhimmi Alert! Go-Ahead for Germany’s Biggest Mosque
A computer-generated image of the soon-to-be biggest mosque in Germany at Ehrenfeld, Cologne
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: After much controversy, Cologne City Council finally voted in favor of building Germany's largest mosque in the city. The opposition of a local far-right group wasn't enough to stop plans that will change the city's historic skyline forever.

Cologne's skyline is not just any skyline. Silhouetted against the sky is the cathedral, the most famous gothic church in Germany. After a decision by Cologne's City Council, it will be joined by the country's largest mosque.

Thursday at Cologne's City Hall, a crowd of demonstrators faced off. To the right of the entrance stood some 30 odd anti-mosque protesters carrying signs depicting stylized mosques with big red lines struck through them. To the left about 100 people voiced their support for the mosque's construction. Neither need really have bothered: the outcome was almost certain.

All parties except the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the extreme right anti-mosque initiative Pro Cologne voted in favor of building the mosque, which will be Germany's largest. Cologne Mayor Schramma, who has gone back and forth on the issue, in the end voted against his own CDU party in favor of the mosque's construction Thursday.

The new mosque will now be built on a site in Ehrenfeld, an industrial section of Cologne where there is currently a working mosque operating out of an old factory. "They can start tearing down the old factory building tomorrow," Josef Wirges, the local council member for Ehrenfeld and member of the Social Democrats (SPD) told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

The structure will cost between €15 billion and €20 billion, financed by private donations from more than 800 groups in Germany. Construction will be completed in 2010 by the locally based Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), which has close ties to Ankara. Go-Ahead for Germany's Biggest Mosque >>> rbn -- with wire reports and reporting by Carolin Jenkner in Cologne | August 29, 2008

WELTONLINE:
Köln und die große Moschee im Schatten des Doms: Der Stadtrat hat dem umstrittenen Bau der ersten Zentralmoschee in Köln zugestimmt. Die Fehden um die "islamische Gefahr" werden dennoch weitergehen. Die Diskussion um den Bau gab der radikalen Protestpartei "Pro Köln/Pro NRW" solchen Auftrieb, dass sie ins Stadtparlament einzog. Nächstes Ziel: der Landtag >>> Von Till-R. Stoldt | 30. August 2008

WELTONLINE BILDERGALERIE:
Moscheen in Deutschland: Wo Muslime in Deutschland beten >>>

WELTONLINE BILDERGALERIE:
Kirchen und Moscheen: Gotteshäuser unterschieden sich >>>

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Jackboot Jacqui’s a Nazi Piece of Work
Swastika courtesy of Google Images
MAIL Online: George Orwell's 1984 was supposed to be a warning about the dangers of totalitarianism, not a blueprint for government.

No one seems to have told New Labour. Barely a day goes by without another assault on our civil liberties, another extension of state snooping, another exciting ruse for meting out punishment for the most trivial offence.

This week’s outrage is the news that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is creating a whole new vigilante class of quasi-policemen, drawn from the ranks of Town Hall jobsworths, security guards and car park attendants.

They’ll be allowed to wear uniforms, patrol the streets with dogs, confiscate property and hand out fixed-penalty notices for everything from littering to under-age drinking.

It’s emerged that there are 1,400 of these Accredited Persons out there already, and their numbers will soon swell into the thousands.

They have the power to stop cars, take photos of people, demand names and addresses and issue fines.
For now, they wear badges sewn onto their tunics by their employers.

But the Home Office wants to see a uniform standardised across the country. How about peaked caps, jodhpurs, jackboots and black shirts with swastikas on the sleeves? Jackboot Jacqui’s a Nazi Piece of Work >>> By Richard Littlejohn | August 29, 2008

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Islam in the UK: Ramadan Strictures Imposed on All Tower Hamlet Councillors!
THISISLONDON: Councillors have been ordered not to eat during town hall meetings while Muslim colleagues fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

All elected members at Left-wing Tower Hamlets Council in East London have been sent an email asking them to follow strict Islamic fasting during September no matter what their faith.

As well as restricting food and drink until after sunset, the authority's leaders have decided to reduce the number of meetings throughout the month so they do not clash with the requirements of Ramadan. Muslim Council Chiefs Ban ‘Tea and Sandwiches’ in Meetings for Ramadan >>> | August 29, 2008

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Viewpoint: The Next Barbarian Invasion
CELESTIAL JUNK: Barbarian hordes, in wave upon wave, eventually consumed The Roman Empire, and even the Christianized Roman Empire was plunged into cultural decay that lasted centuries. But, Rome didn’t collapse in a day, she fell apart at the seams, like a human body corrupted by cancer. Rome could’ve been a pox to hundreds of cultures, but she was sheer heaven compared to what the barbarians brought. Some argue that not until the Renaissance, did Europe emerge from the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Are we facing another Barbarian invasion? Is the soft genial socialist utopia of Western Europe in particular, once again in danger of being swallowed by a more coarse, crude, and blunt culture? Are many South Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures, which have not already succumbed on the verge being consumed?

When I was a child, I recall visiting missionaries from Kenya who showed us slide photos of quaint little missions where children by the thousands received medical care and schooling. From Catholics to Mennonites, dedicated individuals brought hope and democratic values to many developing countries. Many countries were up and coming; except those under Soviet or despotic domination. Since those days much has changed, and many places where once law, order, and decency prevailed, are now under brutal, degrading, dehumanizing Islam. Countries where stoning to death and honor killing were not even heard of, suffer under these and many other heinous dehumanizing practices. And, the pathogen that has corrupted and slid these cultures backwards into some ancient dark age has arrived in force in Europe.

Fundamentalist Islam is a disease. It is the new Barbarianism, and we are on the cusp of it’s first intrusions into modern society. Africa, being pre-modern, has no chance and like a tide, Islam is sweeping the savannahs, jungles, and desserts of that great continent, and is destroying any gains made by humanists, missionaries, the United Nations, and any other well-meaning entity. Quaint missions have been replaced by Sharia, the missionaries driven off or killed, and the efforts of humanitarian agencies countered by an ever increasing fundamentalism. Elsewhere in the world underdeveloped regions are under siege, or threat, by Islamic fundamentalism. From the Philippines to Indonesia to Iran, it the fundamentalists who are bombing, beheading, and effectively usurping governance. In many cases only dictators, themselves marginally more benign, stand against Islamo-fascist takeovers. The Next Barbarian Invasion >>> By Junker | August 28, 2008

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The Big Chill: Islamists Inted [sic] to Muzzle Americans' Free Speech
TOWNHALL.COM: Freedom of speech is under attack. Let us count the ways.

The first and most obvious: Those who criticize militant Islamists – from novelist Salman Rushdie to Danish cartoonists to memoirist Ayaan Hirsi Ali – are routinely threatened with deadly violence. It would be black humor to say this is having a chilling effect.

The second is “political correctness.” On campuses and within Western governments it is increasingly taboo to label terrorists who slaughter in the name of Islam “Islamist terrorists.” In Canada, “human rights commissions” attempt to enforce this taboo by putting such writers as Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant on trial for the “crime” of expressing opinions that offend Islamic grievance groups — and also for quoting Islamists accurately and thereby casting them in an unfavorable light. If that’s not Orwellian, what is?

But it is the third approach that could be most consequential for Americans. It’s known as “libel tourism” and here’s how it works: A book published in the United States names an individual abroad who supports terrorist groups. That individual – for the sake of discussion, let’s say he’s a Saudi petro-billionaire with a home in London -- goes online and orders a few copies which arrive in the mail. He takes those books to a British attorney who files a lawsuit complaining that his client has been libeled.

The billionaire knows it will be much easier to prevail in the U.K. than it would be in an American court where the First Amendment and decades of case law provide free speech protections. (Under English law, by contrast, the burden in a libel case is on the defendant to prove his innocence – which can be impossible if he’s been using confidential sources or even just sources who don’t want to cross an ocean and take part in a courtroom battle.)

The legal costs are chump change for the billionaire, while few non-fiction writers command similar resources. If the writer chooses not to spend months living in a hotel and fighting it out in court, the case will be forfeit and he will be hit with a “default judgment.” If he doesn’t pay, he’ll never again be able to set foot in the U.K. and other countries that enforce British court judgments. The Big Chill: Islamists Inted [sic] to Muzzle Americans' Free Speech >>> By Cliff May | August 28, 2008

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Schmalz to the Left of Me, Tough Talk to the Right; I’m Stuck in the Middle with You
…by the mid-summer of 1914 more than a decade of belligerent erraticism by German leaders, who lacked the diplomatic skill and self-restraint of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, contributed to the feeling among Germany’s neighbours that there were bounds which she should not be permitted to cross. Hence, a regional Balkan conflict involving Germany’s ally Austria-Hungary and a Serbia supported by her Russian patron rapidly escalated first into a continental and then a general world war. - Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History

Does this sound familiar? Change some names of countries, and it should. The conflict between Georgia and Russia, now a regional conflict, could easily escalate into a European, and then a world conflict. We’ve been here before. At no other time since the end of World War II has the world been so close to another world war. We should not kid ourselves that we are not living through dangerous times. With the Russian invasion of Georgia, the world became a far more dangerous place. Alas, there is war in the air!

Dmitry Medvedev, the president of Russia, has already stated, loud and clear, that he is not frightened by the thought of another cold war. I think we can assume, also, that he would not be frightened by the thought of a little more than that: World conflict, perhaps? Make no mistake about it: Russia is very rich in natural resources, especially oil and gas; and it wants to re-establish its pre-eminent place in the world of geopolitics. The downfall of the Soviet Union was a humiliation for Russia. It weakened the country, the proud people of Russia beyond anything we could have inagined. There is no doubt about the fact that Russia has felt marginalized ever since; and Medvedev and Putin are out to correct that. Their intention is clear to see: They want to make Russia a force to be reckoned with – again.

It is therefore very important that Western politicians find the right and appropriate response to their actions. A reaction that is too weak, and we lose; a reaction that is too strong, and the world could yet again become a very ugly place.

It is hard for us all to imagine a world war. Things have been very comfortable for Westerners ever since the 50s. Most people living today are far too young to know anything of the privations of a world conflict. It is quite unimaginable to most people. But this does not mean to say that another world war will not happen.

We have all heard it said, ‘never again shall we be dragged into a world war’. ‘Not in our lifetime.’ But that phrase is only meaningful if each side feels the same about a world conflict. It is so obviously not the case. The Russians are clearly not as timid as Westerners when it comes to military action. Their position in the world seems to be far more important to them than the pursuit of world peace.

It seems that not enough has been done since the fall of communism to bring Russia on side. America and Russia should be partners in world politics, not adversaries. Were these two great countries to be partners, we would not be where we are now.

Alas, the conflict in Georgia has happened at a time when the West is very weak. The US, after many years of conflict in the Middle East, can hardly afford another war. It’s on its uppers as things stand. Imagine what another costly war would do for the economy. Especially a world war.

Moreover, it’s election year; and there is more than a chance that the Americans will elect a president to the White House who has little experience of foreign affairs. Obama therefore hardly inspires confidence at a time when Russia is sabre-rattling. Would Obama really be strong enough to cope with a major conflict with Russia?

From what I can see of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, it has been pure, unadulterated schmalz. Touchy-feely to the limit! Check out the schmalz here and here. What the Russian leaders must be thinking when they see such naïve displays of devotion to an untested politician, one can only imagine!

These are tough times; and tough times call for strong leadership, especially from the United States – the leader of the free world. How would Obama react if the world went to war? What experience could he bring to the table?

One has to ask oneself one simple question: Does the American electorate have any idea of the dangers that lie ahead of us? Are all these people ready to elect Obama because he has charisma, because they may perceive him to be good-looking? Don’t they want more from their leader than that? Doesn’t the free world need more than that?

The problems we face from Islam, too, are formidable. And they haven’t gone away. Indeed, the problems we now face with Russia have compounded the problems we face with Islam, since Russia has strong connexions with both Syria and Iran, and those connexions are getting stronger.

There has been much talk for a very long time of the possibility of bombing Iran if it doesn’t abandon its nuclear programme, which they say is peaceful, but which the West insists is not. Bombing Iran and destroying its nuclear installations just got a whole lot more difficult for the Americans to do. Indeed, it could be said that that ship has already left the harbour, for Russia is almost bound to come to the aid of Iran if it is attacked, if only covertly through Syria,

And if Israel were to attack Iran? What would be the outcome? Your guess is as good as mine, but such an action would almost certainly be a huge danger to world peace, stability and security.

We can see the fault lines being drawn with each passing day. We really cannot afford to sleepwalk into a world conflict. Only today, Miliband has urged tough action against Russia in response to its aggression against Georgia. But where is the capability going to come from? Europe is weak militarily. There has been gross undespending on the Europeans’ militaries for decades now. If Europe is to talk tough with the Russians, then it has to have the military might to back up its tough talk. It clearly doesn’t have strong militaries. The UK doesn’t either; the armed forces in the UK have been underfunded for years. Indeed, it is high time that European governments started spending far more of its money on its militaries. And while they are at it, it might not be a bad thing if they were to re-introduce national conscription. (I can’t believe I wrote that!) It would do a whole lot of good to the rudderless youth we see about the streets. It would also do a great deal to teach our young people some self-respect and discipline. It would also help give them a purpose in life.

With Russia on the move, and determined to reassert its authority, European governments might have little choice but to re-introduce conscription. The soft times, it seems, might well be over. Ahead of us, we have some tough choices to make. Let’s hope that the Americans make a good start in the upcoming election; and show the rest of the West the way forward by making some tough choices, too.

©Mark Alexander

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Dulden wir die Islamisierung Europas?
WELT ONLINE: Vor wenigen Tagen wurde in Ingelheim eine neue Moschee eingeweiht. Bundestagsabgeordnete und Kirchen applaudierten bei der offiziellen Festveranstaltung. Daran merkt man, wie gering die Kenntnisse über den islamischen Kulturkreis auch nach Jahrzehnten der Zuwanderung inmitten Europas noch sind.

Die in Ingelheim frisch eingeweihte und von Politikern und Kirchenvertretern euphorisch gefeierte Moschee heißt „Fatih-Sultan-Moschee“. Der Name ist wohl nicht „zufällig“ gewählt. Der türkische Sultan Mehmet II. trug den Beinamen „Fatih“ („der Eroberer“). Im Jahre 1453 hat dieser Christenhasser das bis dahin christliche Konstantinopel überrannt, alle Christen zusammentreiben, pfählen und köpfen lassen. Er zerstörte das christliche Byzantinische Reich. Das von ihm angeordnete Blutbad war grauenvoll.

Überall in Europa nennen muslimische Mitbürger heute ihre neu entstehenden Moscheen nach den großen Christenhassern ihrer Geschichte. Viele klatschen, wenn etwa mit immer neuen „Fatih“-Moscheen die Gefühle europäischer Christen mit Füßen getreten werden. Bloß nicht den Islam „beleidigen“. Kämen Christen auf die Idee, eine Basilika etwa nach dem Kreuzfahrer Gottfried von Bouillon zu benennen? Dulden wir die Islamisierung Europas? >>> Von Udo Ulfkotte

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Medwedjews neue Freunde: China und Zentralasien
DIE PRESSE: Der russische Präsident beschwört auf dem "Shanghaier Gipfel" die Freundschaft zu Staaten wie China, Tadschikistan und Kirgistan. Die umstritten Anerkennung von Südossetien und Abchasien kam allerdings nicht zur Sprache.

In seinem Konflikt mit Georgien sieht Russland China und die Ex-Sowjetrepubliken Zentralasiens auf seiner Seite. Beim Gipfeltreffen der "Shanghaier Organisation für Zusammenarbeit" (SCO) in Tadschikistan dankte Präsident Dmitrij Medwedjew am Donnerstag den Partnerstaaten für "ihr Verständnis und die objektive Bewertung des von Russland unternommenen Friedenseinsatzes" im Südkaukasus. Von der am Dienstag erfolgten Anerkennung der Unabhängigkeit Abchasiens und Südossetiens durch Moskau war in der gemeinsamen Erklärung der Gipfelteilnehmer allerdings nicht die Rede. Medwedjews neue Freunde: China und Zentralasien >>>

DIE PRESSE:
Europas größtes Pulverfass: die Ukraine: Ist Europas größter Flächenstaat das nächste Opfer des wiedererwachten imperialen Appetits Moskaus? Von Burkhard Bischof | 28.08.2008

LE FIGARO:
Moscou et Kiev font monter 
la tension en mer Noire: L'avenir de la flotte russe basée en Crimée pourrait être une nouvelle source de conflit.

Y aura-t-il une seconde guerre de Crimée ? Le nationalisme russe de Vladimir Poutine va-t-il entrer en conflit avec les pays de l'Otan, comme l'expansionnisme du tsar Nicolas Ier se heurta militairement, en 1854, à une coalition comprenant la France, l'Empire ottoman et le Royaume-Uni ? C'est en tout cas ce que craignent certains responsables européens. Le commissaire à l'Élargissement, Olli Rehn, a déclaré mercredi que «l'Ukraine pourrait être la prochaine cible des pressions politiques de la Russie».

Et le ministre français des Affaires étrangères, Bernard Kouchner, a dit redouter que la Russie, après l'Ossétie du Sud et l'Abkhazie, ait «d'autres objectifs» en vue, parmi lesquels «la Crimée, l'Ukraine, la Moldavie». >>> D’Isabelle Lasserre | 27.08.2008

THE GUARDIAN:
Putin Claims Georgian Crisis Is US Ploy as Russia's Isolation Grows >>> By Ian Traynor | Europe Editor | August 28, 2008

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European Dhimmi Alert: Swiss Government Opposes minaret Ban ahead of Vote
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: BERN, Switzerland: The Swiss government is opposing an initiative to ban the construction of minarets at Islamic prayer houses in the country.

The Federal Council recommended on Wednesday rejecting the ban when it goes to popular referendum in two months.

The coalition government includes all major political factions except the right-wing Swiss People's Party. It is the strongest in the country and most supportive of the ban.

The government says the proposal violates human rights and the Swiss constitution and would not help combat Islamic fundamentalism.

Supporters of the ban say the minaret is a symbol of Muslim conquest that challenges traditional order in Switzerland.

Many Swiss laws result from referendums. [Source: International Herald Tribune] The Associated press | August 27, 2008

TAGES ANZEIGER:
Minarett-Initiative: Grüne bezweifeln Gültigkeit: Während die Parteien das schnelle bundesrätliche Nein zur Anti-Minarett-Initiative loben, stellen die Grünen deren Gültigkeit in Frage. Sie verstosse klar gegen die Religionsfreiheit, ein Verfassungsrecht >>> | 27. August 2008

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