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Monday, September 29, 2008
NATIONAL POST: There's a witch hunt going on in Quebec, and as all too often in this country's linguistically fractured country, what is happening in Quebec seems to be staying in Quebec. This is annoying, because it's a free-speech issue that concerns us all.
Here is the story, with details provided from Richard Martineau's post in Canoe, the Journal de Montreal's comment blog. On September 10, outspoken 98.5 FM radio host Benoît Dutrizac interviewed NDP candidate for Bourassa riding, Samira Laouni. Ms Laouni is an observant Muslim (she wears the hijab) and has worked as project manager for the Canadian Islamic Congress, a militant lobby for Islamic interests, including, most troublingly, the introduction of Sharia law. Dutrizac has a reputation for impertinence - in fact, many Quebec radio show hosts permit themselves the kind of shock-jock licence you would never find in the rest of Canada - so nobody is suggesting the interview wasn't meant to provoke discomfort in Ms Laouni.
Dutrizac pressed hard on such issues as the CIC's reputation for extremist views, where Ms Laouni stands on Sharia, whether she is prepared to defend the rights of homosexuals, and does she find it unacceptable that ten-year old girls have to wear the hijab. He also asked her if she had to ask her husband's permission to launch her political campaign (she said no). Ms Laouni stood up well to the challenge, the mood was playful, relaxed and warm, and both laughed frequently. Listen for yourself. Even if you don't speak French, you can sense that both are very much at ease, that Dutrizac holds no personal animosity, and that Ms Lauoni is totally on top of the situation. At the end of the interview, Dutrizac asked NDP big wig Thomas Mulcair, who had accompanied Ms Laouni to the station, if he was happy with how it had gone. Mulcair flashed him a smile and a two-thumbs-up.
Against the backdrop of Dutrizac's career-long history of aggressive and even what many would call at times offensive tactics, this was completely normal. But reaction from the hard left was swift and heated. The left wing "The Dominion" wrote that "Madame Laouni has been viciously attacked by a racist, misogynist and Islamophobic host." The Ontario branch of CUPE said "Dutrizac must resign and the CRTC should lead an inquiry into the hate-filled and sexist words directed to a Muslim candidate." The Canada-Arab Federation demanded that "The Corus network should review its policies in the area of hate speech and enforce harassment training on all its personnel." Barbara Kay, Quebec Shock Jock Is Accused by the Usual Suspects of a Hit Job on a Hijab >>> By Jonathan Kay | September 29, 2008
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ASHARQ AL-AWSAT: Mecca - A few yards from the Grant [sic] Mosque in Mecca, Asharq Al-Awsat sat down for an exclusive interview with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi in which he attacked the Shiite expansion and Iranian ambitions and dreams. He stressed that "Iran is a country of dreams and ambition, a country of the old Persian Empire and emperors, and the issue is a mixture of Persian, sectarian Shiite tendencies and fanaticism." Sheikh al-Qaradawi insisted that his views regarding Shiite expansion remain unchanged and that many states that were purely Sunni now have some Shia. He stated that "Egypt, that I know very well and I know that 20 years ago did not have one single Shiite since the days of Salah al-Din, has now been infiltrated. They now have in Egypt, people who write in the press and write books and people listen to them. It is the same also in Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and other non-Arab countries such Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Senegal."
The following is the full text of the interview: Al-Qaradawi Speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat >>> By Majid al Kinani | September 29, 2008
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WELT ONLINE: Bei seinen Anschlägen beruft sich das Terror-Netzwerk al-Qaida auf die Lehren des Islam – und gewinnt so Anhänger. Der ranghöchste sunnitische Geistliche Saudi-Arabiens hat jetzt in einem Interview zum Gegenangriff ausgeholt. Er ruft die Muslime dazu auf, die von al-Qaida verbreitete Ideologie zu bekämpfen.
Wenn Abdulaziz Scheich al-Scheich seine Stimme erhebt, hören jene 90 Prozent der 1,3 Milliarden Muslime genau hin, die der sunnitischen Glaubensrichtung angehören. Denn der 1961 erblindete Scheich ist Großmufti und oberste Rechtsinstanz in Saudi-Arabien, dem sunnitischen Kern- und Gastland der heiligen Stätten Mekka und Medina. Seine religiösen Rechtsgutachten (Fatwas) sind nicht bindend, aber wichtig.
Nun hat der Großmufti in der respektierten arabischen Zeitung Schark al-Ausat alle Muslime zum Kampf gegen die „Ideologie des Bösen“ aufgerufen. Er meinte damit nicht die USA, wie es bei islamischen Hasspredigern zum guten Ton gehört, sondern das Terrornetzwerk al-Qaida.
Der wahre Kampf gegen Terror richte sich gegen diese Ideologie, die "Chaos und Korruption“ in die islamische Welt getragen habe. Die Muslime selbst – „die Medien, die Universitäten, die Prediger in den Moscheen, die Väter und Mütter“ – seien dafür verantwortlich, dass dieser Kampf siegreich ende. Erst dann „werden wir mit Gottes Unterstützung in der Lage sein, die Tore zum Reich des Bösen zu schließen.“ Islamismus: Saudischer Mufti ruft zur Bekämpfung al-Qaidas auf >>> Von Dietrich Alexander | 29. September 2008
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RIGHT SIDE NEWS: "See those Islamophobes, Barack? It's time to call out the Thought Police!"
By now a gazillion sites have posted this from the State of Missouri's site, "Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign's Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement." What interests me most about it is the eerie parallel between the Obama camp's activity here and the Organization of the Islamic Conference's efforts to stifle all criticism of Islam and destroy the freedom of speech -- also by means of legal intimidation, at the UN and elsewhere
No, I am not saying that Obama is a closet Muslim Manchurian candidate. I am saying that if he values free speech so lightly, as this episodes suggests, it is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that once he becomes President he will acquiesce to the OIC attempts to criminalize criticism of Islam, and pressure the Supreme Court (to which he will probably appoint several key members) to declare a "hate speech" exemption to First Amendment protections. Then it will effectively become illegal to discuss the motives and goals of the jihadists, and to strategize about ways to resist them -- because the OIC and American Islamic groups assail all attempts to do that as "hate speech." "Hate speech" is in the eye of the beholder, and "hate speech" laws are tools by which the powerful can silence criticism from the powerless. In this case, the Islamic groups have already made themselves abundantly clear that any examination of the jihadists' use of Islamic texts and teachings to justify their actions is what they consider "hate speech." Thus if what is labeled "hate speech" about Islam becomes a criminal offense, so will resistance to Islamic supremacism.
But if this were to become an actual live possibility, Americans would rise up and fight for their freedoms, right? I hope so. Yet all too many Americans don't seem to understand or care about the importance of free speech nowadays, and of course no one supports "hate speech" in the first place -- so once the OIC frames the analysis of the jihad threat in terms of "hate," as American Muslim groups do endlessly, the ability to discuss, analyze, understand, and defend ourselves against the jihadist threat will be severely damaged if not utterly destroyed. Obama Goes to War against Freedom of Speech >>> By Robert Spencer | September 29, 2008
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: NEW YORK -- The banquet hall of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in mid-town Manhattan had the feel of an extravagant Persian wedding on Wednesday night. A crowd of over one thousand guests, dressed in formal attire, sat around tightly packed tables munching on Iranian delicacies and chit-chatting casually in Farsi.
But the occasion was a dinner hosted by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The guest list, all Iranian-Americans living in the tri-state area, had been drawn up from the database of Iran's mission to the United Nations and consulate in Washington D.C.
Mr. Ahmadinejad was in town this week to attend the United Nations General Assembly and was making the rounds, giving back-to-back interviews to American media and hosting two dinners, one for a select group of Iran experts and scholars and the other for his fellow Iranians.
My invitation to dine with the president had arrived in the mail, with a reminder in small Persian letters that female guests were obliged to cover their hair in accordance with the laws of the Islamic Republic. At the dinner, I noticed the only women not wearing a headscarf were the female wait staff and one middle-aged Iranian woman wearing a long striped red coat. Her curly brown bob was bouncy as she glided between the tables.
"No one told you to cover your hair?" I asked her.
"Not a single person and they all saw me," she replied not giving me her name.
In Iran, a woman could risk getting arrested if she disobeys the Hijab law. I threw on a green shawl over my head right before I walked through the metal detector and handed my purse to an American policeman for a thorough search.
Extreme security measures had to be taken so Mr. Ahmadinejad could host his dinner party at the Grand Hyatt that night.
Dozens of burly American secret service members, dressed in plain suits with an ear-piece plugged into one ear, swarmed the hotel lobby and the banquet hall standing shoulder to shoulder with Iranian bodyguards. Elevators to the event's floor were shut down.
Uniformed New York City police officers were also present in abundance. Police dogs sniffed around the area and at least 20 police cars lined up outside the hotel, in addition to an ambulance and a fire truck. This was in case of an attack against Mr. Ahmadinejad; one police officer said they had taken shifts securing the hotel all day long.
Last week, while Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke at the U.N., a crowd of protestors, both American and Iranian, had gathered outside chanting slogans against his nuclear energy policies, his record of human rights and his animosity toward Israel.
Inside Iran, sentiments are divided over him. The ultra conservatives praise his populist demeanor while others criticize him for his government's economic policies that have contributed to the rise of unemployment and a 25% inflation rate, despite a country swimming in cash from soaring oil prices.
At the dinner party in New York, criticism of Mr. Ahmadinejad appeared to have been brushed aside and replaced with fervent nationalistic pride. Both the host and the attendees appeared to cling to the one strong, if only, tie: being Iranian.
The banquet hall was decorated as if it were national Iran day. My Dinner with Ahmadinejad >>> By Farnaz Fassihi | September 27, 2008
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BAGHDAD -- Iraq's prime minister sought safeguards Sunday for small religious communities in this mainly Muslim country as Christians protested parliament's decision to stop setting aside seats for minorities on provincial councils.
In Baghdad, a series of explosions struck mostly Shiite areas, killing at least 32 people and wounding nearly 100, police said. The attacks appeared aimed at reviving sectarian tensions that once threatened to plunge the nation into civil war.
Parliament last week approved a new law mandating elections in most of Iraq's 18 provinces. But the law removed a system that reserved a few legislative seats for Christians and other religious minorities.
Lawmakers cited a lack of census data to determine what the quotas should be. But many Christians saw the move as an effort to marginalize their community.
"I think that some political groups are pushing the remaining Christians to leave Iraq," worshipper Afram Razzaq-Allah said after services at a Catholic church in Baghdad. "They want us to feel that we are no longer Iraqis." Iraqi Christians Protest End to Legislative Quotas: Parliament Stops Reserving Minority Seats; 32 Die in Series of Baghdad Explosions >>> AP | September 29, 2008
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SAUDI GAZETTE: NEW YORK - In his address to the 63rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs said the nations of the world need to work together to combat extremists who seek to “propogate notions of intolerance, exclusion, racism and hatred,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Prince Saud said with modernization the world has become more interconnected than ever and therefore needs to work more cohesively in order to stop the spread of extremist thought across the world.
He used the World Conference on Dialogue held in Madrid last July as a launching pad for continued talks amongst religions and political leaders about how to improve the current social condition of the world. Prince Saud said King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, started the dialogue conference because “mankind is passing through a critical phase which in spite of scientific progress (there has been) a proliferation of crime, an increase in terrorism, disintegration of the family, subversion of the minds of the young by drug abuse, exploitation of the poor by (the wealthy) and odious racist tendencies.”
Therefore nations working with the UN must work together to build a global society “more conducive to the promotion of values of dialogue, tolerance and moderation.”
He urged that the ideals discussed at the Spain dialogue conference be built upon so the international community can benefit. “I call upon the General Assembly of the United Nations to convene a high-level meeting to endorse and support a continued process of dialogue among religions and peoples in conformity with the Madrid Declaration,” Prince Saud said.
The Foreign Minister also touched on other issues such as an issue he addressed a day earlier about Israel’s continued violation of international law and warned that any temporary solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be rejected by Arab nations, because of a fear that temporary solutions would become permanent.
He also called for an Isreali withdrawal from occupied territories and pushed for making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Prince Saud Urges Stronger Culture of Dialogue Worldwide >>> Saudi Gazette staff | September 29, 2008
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YNET NEWS: As extreme right-wing parties celebrate massive gains in general elections, one of questions raised is how will world respond
The world's gaze was set on Austria on Sunday, as it became clear in that country's general election, the big winners were two parties, which are considered to be extreme right-wing.
Professor Moshe Zimmerman, the head of the German Studies department at the Hebrew University, was not at all surprised. "The main reason was due to the lack of success of the national unity government. All the parties fought with each other, and the Austrian public voted for the alternative," he said.
Even though the Austrian public went with the alternative, they ignored the moderate option and decided to go to the Right.
"The voters ignored the green party, and went to the Right, and the explanation for this is no surprise. We know the power of the Austrian right wing parties: the Austrians themselves tend to swallow the successes of the right-wing parties than the green party.
"The Right expresses suspicion towards the European Union and is suspicious of both globalization and foreigners. These are things that they can sell to the voting public, and that's why they are successful," explains Zimmerman.
While the Western world may view these parties as extreme right wing, the Austrians themselves don't necessarily view them as radicals.
"In Austria, in the conditions after the collapse of the Berlin wall, the public is inclined more towards the right than the left, and they don't necessarily view it as extreme right-wing. There are more extreme elements than others, but they think that they are voting for a legitimate political party who understands the dangers of globalization and will fight the criminal elements that originate from Eastern Europe, those are the platforms they use," adds Zimmerman.
The burning question is how the international community will respond to Right wing elements gaining strength in Austria; Zimmerman adds that "this is a slap in the face for the EU. This means another country that will not happily approve the EU treaty. Jewish and anti fascist groups will protest, but a boycott like after the last elections will not happen, Heinz-Christian Strache is not Jorg Haider, he learned how to talk."
Israel might express its opinion on the matter but Zimmerman hopes that this time the reaction will be less extreme than last time, when Israel recalled it's ambassador from Vienna. Austria Election Results Raise Concern >>> Amit Levy | September 29, 2008
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MAIL Online: British children as young as nine are being forced to marry against their will by their families, campaigners have warned.
Charities supporting victims of forced marriages report growing numbers of young teenagers and children seeking help.
They are urging schools to take tougher action where they suspect pupils are at risk, and to monitor their rolls carefully and raise the alarm when children disappear.
Thousands of Britons - mainly young women from the Asian communities - are thought to be victims of forced marriage each year, but concerns are increasingly focused on the plight of underage girls who are being offered for marriage to foreign men when they have barely left primary school.
No accurate figures exist for the scale of the problem, although the Government's Forced Marriage Unit has helped rescue around 60 children aged 15 or under in the past four years - including 11 so far in 2008 - and experts fear that may represent only the tip of the iceberg.
Typically victims are taken overseas by their families on a false pretext and forced to marry. Extreme cases where women rebel against their family's plans and try to run away have led to so-called 'honour killings' or suicides.
Ministers angered campaigners two years ago by dropping plans to make it a criminal offence to force someone to marry, after Muslim groups objected strongly to the plans. British Children as Young as Nine ‘Forced to Marry against Their Will in Muslim Weddings’ >>> By Matthew Hickley | September 29, 2008
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THE TELEGRAPH:
Austria Election Delivers Gains for Far Right: Mr Strache has campaigned for a ban on Islamic dress which, he said, made women look like "female ninjas". He also seeks to overturn strict Austrian laws banning the display of Nazi symbols, such as the swastika.
Senior Freedom Party officials used the elections to mourn the days when immigration turned Austria's sausage stands into kebab shops and to lament the good old days when Austrians ate schnitzel instead of "falafel, couscous or whatever that stuff is called". >>> By Andreas Sam in Vienna and Bruno Waterfield | September 28, 2008
THE GUARDIAN:
Extreme Right Emerges as Strong Force in Austria: Austria was shaken by a political earthquake yesterday when the neo-fascist right emerged from a general election as a contender to be the strongest political force in the country for the first time.
The combined forces of the extreme right took 29% of the vote, with Jörg Haider almost tripling the share of his breakaway Movement for Austria's Future to 11%, while his successor as Freedom party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, saw his party soar to 18%.
The far right's vote doubled compared with the last election in 2006, putting it within less than a point of overtaking the poll victor, the social democrats. >>> By Ian Traynor, Europe Editor | September 29, 2008
MAIL Online:
Austria Races to the Right as Nearly a Third of the Voters Back the Extremists >>> By Allan Hall | September 29, 2008
THE INDEPENDENT:
Anti-Foreigner Campaign Boosts Austrian Far-Right: Populist far-right parties made sweeping gains in Austria's closely fought general election yesterday, making their strongest showing since 2000 when the country suffered EU sanctions after a far-right party won power for the first time since the Second World War.
The Freedom Party, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, gained more than 18 per cent of the vote – nearly doubling its share of support – after running a vitriolic campaign against "foreign criminals" and "asylum cheats" and pledging to take Austria out of the EU. >>> By Tony Paterson in Berlin | September 29, 2008
GLOBE AND MAIL:
Far Right Surges in Austrian Vote: The far right surged to almost a third of the vote in Austria's parliamentary election on Sunday, complicating prospects for the biggest mainstream party, the Social Democrats, to forge a stable coalition government.
The right's record showing heralded political instability in the affluent Alpine republic since the two main centrist parties will be hard put to re-establish a broad coalition even if they resolve the feuds that killed off their last alliance.
"Terrible," political analyst Anton Pelinka said of prospects for stable government in the near future.
"The strength of the far-right parties will make formation of a coalition incredibly difficult if you don't bring either into government," he told Reuters. Social Democrats have ruled out an alliance with the right over its anti-foreigner stances. >>> Reuters | September 28, 2008
WELT ONLINE:
Rechtsruck macht Regierungsbildung kompliziert: Mit zusammen fast 30 Prozent der Stimmen haben die rechtspopulistischen Parteien FPÖ und Jörg Haiders BZÖ in Österreich enorme Gewinne verzeichnen können. Eine Regierungsbildung wird jetzt schwierig. Denn Wahlsieger SPÖ will auf keinen Fall mit den Rechten koalieren.
Nach der Wahlschlappe bei der österreichischen Parlamentswahl berät die konservative Volkspartei (ÖVP) über die Zukunft von Parteichef Wilhelm Molterer und die Koalitionsoptionen. Die Sozialdemokraten (SPÖ), die sich als stärkste Partei halten konnten, schlossen eine Minderheitsregierung nicht aus. >>> | 29. September 2008
DIE PRESSE:
Ausländische Pressestimmen: ''Haider wiederauferstanden'' >>> | 29. September 2008
THE JERUSALEM POST:
The End of Austrian-Israeli Relations?: Sunday's Austrian election could mean a break in diplomatic relations between Israel and Austria if extreme right-wing parties enter a coalition government. Heinz-Christian Strache, who leads the Freedom Party, took part in paramilitary activities with neo-Nazis in the late 1980s and has been known to use the Nazi salute.
According to polls, the Freedom Party could garner close to 20 percent of the vote. In 2000, the inclusion of the Freedom Party in the Austrian government prompted Israel to recall its ambassador to Vienna.
Then-prime minister Ehud Barak said the party's presence in the government "should outrage every inhabitant of the world."
"The Jewish people, wherever it may be, led by the State of Israel, will never allow the world to conduct business as usual in light of the events in Austria and their possible implications," Barak said at the time.
In a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post last week, Dan Ashbel, Israel's ambassador in Vienna, said, "We are very concerned about the situation and parties who are xenophobic and base their policies on xenophobia. It is a danger and it is a very sad fact that this repeats itself." >>> By Benjamin Weinthal. Berlin | September 28, 2008
LE MONDE:
Forte progression de l'extrême droite en Autriche: Selon les premiers résultats, les deux partis d'extrême droite auraient réalisé, dimanche 28 septembre, un score historique aux élections législatives autrichiennes. Les sociaux-démocrates, bien qu'en recul, arriveraient en tête, devant les conservateurs.
Deux estimations estiment que le SPÖ (sociaux-démocrates) obtiendrait autour de 29 % des voix, en recul de près de 6 points par rapport à 2006. Les conservateurs de l'ÖVP ne récolteraient que 26 % des suffrages, en chute de 8 points. Le parti social-démocrate, l'un des plus vieux partis politiques européens, fondé en 1885, et les démocrates-chrétiens du Parti du peuple (ÖVP) enregistrent leur plus mauvais score depuis le début de la République autrichienne, en 1918. Les Verts, autour de 10% des voix, sont en léger recul par rapport aux 11,5 % récoltés il y a deux ans. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP et Reuters | 28.09.2008
LE FIGARO:
Forte poussée de l'extrême droite en Autriche: La gauche arrive en tête des législatives tandis que les conservateurs accusent une chute de près de neuf points.
Les Autrichiens sauront-ils se façonner une coalition stable après les législatives anticipées de dimanche ? Rien n'est moins sûr. Les sociaux-démocrates (SPÖ), bien qu'en net recul, sont arrivés en tête, mais le vrai gagnant est l'extrême droite, en très forte hausse, selon les résultats officiels provisoires, annoncés dimanche soir par le ministère de l'Intérieur. >>> Stéphane Kovacs (avec AFP, Reuters) | 29.09.2008
CORRIERA DELLA SERA:
Austria, trionfo dell'estrema destra: La coalizione al governo per la prima volta sotto il 60%, mentre la Fpoe e la Bzoe di Haider totalizzano il 30% >>> | 28 settembre 2008
LA REPUBBLICA:
Parla Heinz Christian Strache, trionfatore a Vienna: "Pronto alla cancelleria vecchi partiti, addio": VIENNA - In Austria è finita l'epoca di un sistema politico dominato da due partiti. Socialdemocratici e cristiano-popolari, grandi fino a ieri, sono stati ridimensionati e adesso devono fare i conti con noi, la vera nuova destra. Così parla alla tv Orf Heinz Christian Strache, il giovanissimo (39 anni) vincitore delle elezioni politiche di ieri in Austria, ex delfino e rivale di Joerg Haider. … >>> di Hans Buerger | 29 settembre 2008
NEW ZEALAND HERALD:
Poll Boost for Hardliners as Voters Punish Feuding Govt: PARIS - A spectacular advance by anti-immigrant, far-right groups in elections in Austria yesterday will raise questions about the country's stability and fuel concerns about the lure of the xenophobic siren song in Europe.
Two extreme right groups together picked up 29 per cent of the vote for Parliament, while two centrist parties, locked in a feud-riddled governing alliance over the past 18 months, polled their lowest scores since the end of World War II.
The Freedom Party under Heinz-Christian Strache gained 18 per cent, an increase of 7 percentage points over the last ballot in October 2006, and Joerg Haider's Alliance for the Future of Austria nearly tripled its score, to 11 per cent, according to preliminary official figures.
Both targeted working class voters alienated with the establishment parties. >>> By Catherine Field | September 30, 2008
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
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THE TELEGRAPH: Austria's far-Right has become the country's most powerful political force in an election that gave mainstream parities their lowest level of support since the Second World War.
According to early poll results, leaders of the country's two far-Right parties who had campaigned on anti-immigrant and anti-European Union platforms, took almost 30 per cent of the vote to deliver a stunning blow to Austria's political establishment.
The Freedom Party, headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, who was accused of xenophobia during the election campaign, took 18.4 per cent of the vote.
A new far-Right party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, founded by Jorg Haider, Mr Strache's former mentor before a 2005 split from the Freedom Party, won 9.7 per cent of the vote.
The election has been a catastrophe for Austria's moderate parties, with the centrist Social Democrats capturing only 29.5 percent and the conservative People's Party taking only 26 per cent of the vote.
Both parties, which have ruled Austria either alone or in coalition since the end of the Second World War, faced the worst election results in their history as their votes dropped under 30 per cent each for the first time.
Austrians went to the polls after a "grand coalition" between the Social Democrats and the People's Party collapsed after 18 months of a government that was paralysed by constant disputes and rifts.
Most Austrian commentators expect that the Social Democrats will try tod form a new government by either attempting to revive the grand coalition or by entering into a deal with the far-Right, a move that could provoke international condemnation. Austria Election Delivers Gains for Far-Right >>> By Andreas Sam in Vienna and Bruno Waterfield | September 28, 2008
FORBES:
Austria Far Right Surges to Historic High: VIENNA - The far right surged to almost a third of the vote in Austria's parliamentary election on Sunday, complicating prospects for the biggest mainstream party, the Social Democrats, to forge a stable governing coalition. >>> Reuters | September 28, 2008
EURO NEWS:
Haider Blames EU Interference for Austria’s Isolation in 2000 >>> | September 17, 2008
NEWS 24:
Austria Swings to the Right: Vienna - Austria veered sharply to the right in snap Parliamentary elections on Sunday, with its two ruling parties each losing significant ground to the far-right, preliminary estimates showed. >>> SA | September 28, 2008
STUFF.CO.NZ:
Rightists Surge, Main Parties Sag in Austria Vote >>> Reuters | September 29, 2008
AFP:
Austria Swings to the Right in Snap Elections: VIENNA — Austria's two ruling parties, the Social Democrats and conservatives, received a severe drubbing in a snap general election here Sunday, which was marked by a resurgence of the far-right. >>> | September 28. 2008
TIMESONLINE:
Heinz Christian Strache: … people were scared to see women in burkas running around “like female Ninjas”. “Many decent people have come here and they integrated: Poles, Hungarians, Croats and also Serbs. We are all European brothers because we do not want to become Islamised.”
His disdain for Islam and Muslim customs even extends to culinary matters, demanding that “one should not roast mutton in council flats. I would also not grill a wild pig in Istanbul.” >>> Bojan Pancevski in Vienna | September 29, 2008
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MAIL Online: A muslim is suing Tesco for religious discrimination after having to carry crates of alcohol as part of his job.
Forklift truck driver Mohammed Ahmed, 32, worked in one of the supermarket giant's warehouses for eight months before quitting 'in protest', an employment tribunal heard.
He claims he was forced to leave because handling beer, spirits and wine is against his strict Islamic beliefs and that he was victimised when he asked the company to give him another role.
Mr Ahmed, who was raised in Saudi Arabia, told the tribunal he had no idea his job entailed handling alcohol when he started work at the distribution depot in Lichfield, Staffordshire, last September.
When he realised it did, he asked to be found different work but alleges that one of his supervisors told him: 'You do the job or go home.' Devout Muslim Sues Tesco for Religious Discrimination after He Was Made to Carry Crates of Alcohol >>> By David Wilkes | September 28, 2008
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THE OBSERVER: Europe's anti-terror chief has launched a stinging attack on the political correctness that he says is hampering the campaign against militant Islam.
Gilles de Kerchove, the EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator, said last week that concern about stigmatising Muslim populations was hampering policy-making and thus prevention. 'One of the problems ... is that some member states are extremely reluctant to be explicit about the link with religion,' said de Kerchove. 'Religion has been hijacked and distorted for political ends.'
De Kerchove's statement comes against a background of infighting within the EU over counter-terrorism policy. The European Commission has been working for several years on a paper analysing militancy in Europe and outlining policy to combat radicalisation. The Council of Ministers is still waiting for the now long-overdue paper, on which future policy will be based.
EU officials claimed last week the delay was because Jacques Barrot, the French Commissioner for justice, freedom and security, had grave reservations about the definition of terrorism in the commission's policy paper and had delayed signing the policy document as it 'went too far in blaming Muslim communities'. Don't Be Soft on Islam, Says EU Terror Chief >>> Jason Burke in Brussels | September 28, 2008
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EUROPE NEWS: Petitions handed in as licence hearing looms
More than 150 people have signed petitions imploring Luton Borough Council to deny the new Tesco Express in Bury Park an alcohol licence.
The bid from the supermarket giant has upset Muslims living in the area, some of whom say they find the idea of alcohol being sold offensive.
Next Tuesday councillors will make a decision on the application, which, if successful, would see the store permitted to sell alcohol from 6am until 11pm every day (...) [Source: Europe News] By Sally-Anne Johnson | September 25, 2008
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I do hope that David Cameron knows that it is part of the ‘religion’ of Islam NOT to integrate with the infidel. So how is he going to bring integration about when the prophet of Islam himself told his adherents even to dress differently from the infidels, and thereby set themselves apart?
If Cameron is going to ban sharia courts, this is to be applauded. The current government doesn’t have the courage to take on the Muslims for several reasons. But one of these reasons is this: The majority of Muslim voters, I believe, vote Labour. - ©Mark
SUNDAY EXPRESS: A TOUGH package is being drawn up by David Cameron to tackle Islamic extremism. One of the key proposals is to ban sharia law courts from operating in this country.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, Mr Cameron’s security adviser, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, said the Tories were determined to “integrate” British Muslims into mainstream society.
Lady Neville-Jones, a former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee which advises the Prime Minister on terrorism, said: “We are not going to have any status for sharia courts. Absolutely not.”
Outlining the Tories’ wider plans for tackling Islamic extremism, she added: “We will be tough. We will be really tough on the men of violence and those who lead them to violence. That’s the real gap between us and the Government at the moment.”
She said the party would abandon the “blind alley of multiculturalism, which has deliberately gone down the road of separation for its own sake. We want unity and opportunity, despite difference, through integration.”
She was backed by Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve, who said that multiculturalism had left a “terrible” legacy and created a vacuum exploited by extremists. The Tory plans also include:
Banning a string of groups blamed for encouraging Islamic extremism.
Working with other EU countries to change the Convention on Human Rights which has blocked the deportation of hate preacher Abu Qatada and others believed to be a threat to Britain.
Changing the school curriculum to encourage teaching of British values and make youngsters “proud of their country.”
In recent years, sharia courts have been established in a number of cities. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, caused controversy by claiming the adoption of some aspects of sharia law was “unavoidable”.
Supporters claim the verdicts of sharia courts are already legally binding in a string of areas, including divorce, financial disputes and even cases of domestic violence and assault.
Critics insist the courts discriminate against women and undermine the rule of law. They also warn the use of Islamic law encourages a separatist agenda. Cameron: I’ll Curb Muslim Fanatics >>> By Jason Groves | September 28, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH:
Conservatives Would Ban Sharia Courts, Says Shadow Minister: A Conservative government would ban sharia courts and impose a tough crackdown on Islamic extremism, the shadow security minister has said. >>> By Jon Swaine | September 28, 2008
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE:
British Bishop: Questions Remain on Sharia >>> By Toby Cohen | September 28, 2008
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MIDDLE EAST AND TERRORISM (BLOG): In a brazen attempt to stifle free speech in the West, a Jordanian court recently summoned twelve European citizens to answer criminal charges of blasphemy and inciting hatred.
Among those sought by the court is Geert Wilders, the Dutch liberal politician who made the anti-Islamist film, Fitna. Released last March, the Dutch MP's production caused an uproar in Islamic countries, since it equated Islam with violence. Now a Middle Eastern court would like to prosecute Wilders for the "crime." (Ironically, a Dutch court dropped charges against him for inciting hatred against Muslims with his film the day before the Jordanian court issued its subpoena.)
The Jordanian court's move is only the most ambitious attempt to silence debate about Islam. Until now, the preferred strategy has been to file civil lawsuits in western courts to intimidate critics. The latest version of what may be called the legal jihad Jordan’[sic] is even more disturbing.
In one subpoena, issued in early June, the Jordanian court ordered ten Danish newspaper editors to travel to Jordan for the "crime" of having republished the "Mohammad cartoons" last February. The cartoons, first published in 2005, were also greeted with disturbances in Muslim lands. Seventeen Danish newspapers republished the controversial cartoons as a response to the discovery of an Islamist plot to murder Kurt Westergaard. Westergaard, a caricaturist, drew the most famous of those cartoons in the form of Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban, for which he is also included in the summons. Jordan’s Legal Jihad >>> By Stephen Brown | September 28, 2008
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THE SUNDAY TIMES: AL-QAEDA terrorists have targeted 800 Muslim criminals they want to recruit for their “holy war” against Britain, say prison probation officers.
The officers believe that attempts have been made to convert one in 10 of the estimated 8,000 Muslims in the eight high-security prisons in England and Wales to the Al-Qaeda cause in the past two years.
The Ministry of Justice has begun a programme to persuade convicted terrorists to give up their cause. It is also trying to protect vulnerable Muslim inmates from violent extremists.
The ministry said this weekend that it had established a unit to tackle “the risks of extremism and radicalism in prison”.
The radicalisation is being led by some of the estimated 150 terrorist prisoners in England and Wales. The number of Muslim inmates has grown over the past decade to more than 10% of the jail population.
Most are young men, typically petty criminals serving two or three-year sentences for crimes such as burglary, theft, drug dealing or fraud.
Many are impressionable and feel aggrieved by what they see as mistreatment by the authorities. They are considered to be ripe for recruitment by Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda Bid to Recruit Inmates >>> David Leppard | September 28, 2008
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THE WASHINGTON POST: VIENNA, Austria -- Austrians began voting in parliamentary elections Sunday that analysts said could bolster the standing of the country's two right-wing parties.
But with possibly more than half a million citizens mailing in their ballots or dropping them off in election wards other than their own, the day may end without a clear winner. Undecided voters could also sway predictions.
The governing coalition between the conservative People's Party and the center-left Social Democrats crumbled in July after months of bickering. What followed was a summerlong election campaign involving 10 parties on a national level. Four less-known groups are on the ballot in several districts.
On the eve of Sunday's election, the two power-sharing blocs were running neck and neck for the top spot. But neither looked likely to secure an absolute majority.
Instead, experts said disgruntled voters may reach out _ largely in protest _ to the rightist Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria: groups known for their populist, anti-immigration rhetoric.
"Definitely the parties in government _ the Social Democrats and the Christian conservatives _ will lose" votes, said Peter Filzmaier, a respected Austrian political commentator, adding that both could see their worst results since 1945.
"The so-called Freedom Party, as well as the Alliance for the Future of Austria, will be a big winner," Filzmaier predicted. Gains for Far Right Predicted in Austria >>> By Veronika Oleksyn, The Associated Press | September 28, 2008
JERUSALEM POST:
High Stakes for Israel in Austrian Election: The outcome of Sunday's Austrian national elections will present a litmus test of the new government's ability to resist implementing the largest European gas deal with Iran. In 2007, the partially state-owned Austrian oil company OMV cut a preliminary €22 billion deal with the Islamic Republic to gain access to its South Par gas field. >>> By Benjamin Weinthal, Berlin | September 25, 2008
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THE OBSERVER: Saudis are sponsoring a peace dialogue involving a former senior member of the hardline group
The Taliban have been engaged in secret talks about ending the conflict in Afghanistan in a wide-ranging 'peace process' sponsored by Saudi Arabia and supported by Britain, The Observer can reveal.
The unprecedented negotiations involve a senior former member of the hardline Islamist movement travelling between Kabul, the bases of the Taliban senior leadership in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and European capitals. Britain has provided logistic and diplomatic support for the talks - despite official statements that negotiations can be held only with Taliban who are ready to renounce, or have renounced, violence.
Sources in Afghanistan confirmed the controversial talks, though they said that in recent weeks they had 'lost momentum'. According to Afghan government officials in Kabul, the intensity of the fighting this summer has been one factor. Another is the inconsistency of the Taliban's demands.
'They keep changing what they are asking for. One day it is one thing, the next another,' one Afghan government adviser with knowledge of the negotiations said. One aim of the initiative is to drive a wedge between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Last week the French Prime Minister, François Fillon, referred indirectly to the talks during a parliamentary debate on Afghanistan. 'We must explore ways of separating the international jihadists from those who are acting more for nationalist or tribal motives. Efforts in this direction are being led by Sunni [Muslim] countries such as Saudi Arabia,' he said. Revealed: Secret Taliban Peace Bid >>> Jason Burke in Kabul | September 28, 2008
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THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Four people have been arrested in London over an alleged terror attack on the publisher of a controversial book on the prophet Muhammad.
The arrests are connected to a fire at a property in Islington, north London, which is used as the home and office of Martin Rynja, a publisher.
His company, Gibson Square, recently bought the rights to a novel which is considered by some to be more controversial than Salman Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses. The new book, about the prophet Muhammad and his child bride, is entitled The Jewel of Medina.
The blaze yesterday, which led to people being evacuated from the house, may have been started by a petrol bomb pushed through the letter box.
Initially, three men, aged 22, 30 and 40, were detained at around 2.25am yesterday after a fire broke out at a property in Lonsdale Square, Islington. Two were stopped by armed officers in Lonsdale Square, and the third was seized when a car was stopped by armed police near Angel underground station.
Random House US, the major publishing group, announced in May this year that it was dropping its plans to publish Sherry Jones's debut novel following warnings that it could incite acts of violence from radical Muslims. The Jewel of the [sic] Medina was also pulled from bookshops in Serbia last month after pressure from an Islamic group.
Gibson Square, which has previously published other controversial books, bought the rights to Jones's book after Random House pulled out. It paid what it described as a "compelling" advance to acquire The Jewel of Medina. The book will be published by Gibson Square next month [October] in Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, the book will be published by Beaufort Books.
Speaking before yesterday's attack, Mr Rynja said: "In an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear. As an independent publishing company, we feel strongly that we should not be afraid of the consequences of debate.
"If a novel of quality and skill that casts light on a beautiful subject we know too little of in the West, but have a genuine interest in, cannot be published here, it would truly mean that the clock has been turned back to the dark ages. The Jewel of Medina has become an important barometer of our time." North London Terror Arrests Linked to Controversial Muslim Book >>> By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | September 28, 2008
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TT.COM: Das britische Massenblatt "The Sun" hat herausgefunden, dass die Tochter eines radikal-islamischen Hasspredigers "an der Stange" und "oben ohne" als Stripperin in Londoner Nachtlokalen arbeitet. Ihr Vater ist "schockiert" über die brisanten Enthüllungen.
London - Wie die türkische Zeitung "Sabah" berichtet, hat das britische Massenblatt "The Sun" die Tochter eines radikal-islamischen Hasspredigers als Stripperin entlarvt. Demnach habe man Yasmin F. in Londoner Nachtclubs "an der Stange" und "oben ohne" beim Tanzen beobachtet. Ihre Ehe - eine arrangierte mit einem Türken - sei bereits in die Brüche gegangen.
Geheimes Leben
Laut "Sun" habe sich die 27-jährige Mutter eines drei-jährigen Kindes mit ihrem syrisch-stämmigen Vater, der auch als "Ayatollah von Tottenham" bekannt ist, überworfen und führe nun ein "geheimes Leben", in dem sie unter falschem Namen "halb nackt" in einschlägigen Etablissements in London tanze.
"Wenn das Lokal passend ist, habe ich kein Problem damit, oben ohne zu tanzen", wird Yasmin F. in der "Sun" zitiert. Sie habe sich mit ihrem Vater nicht mehr verstanden und sei vor vier Jahren weggezogen. Tochter von islamischem Hassprediger ist eine Stripperin >>> | September 27, 2008
MAIL Online:
Revealed: Radical Cleric Bakri’s Pole-dancer Daughter >>> By Michael Seamark and Emily Andrews | September 27, 2008
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THE GUARDIAN / THE OBSERVER: The man who has inherited Jorg Haider's mantle as the figurehead of Austria's far right is expected to scoop up a fifth of the popular vote in national elections today in the latest advance for a European party campaigning on anti-immigration policies.
The dramatic rise of Heinz-Christian Strache and the once ailing Freedom Party, formerly led by Haider, has accompanied growing Austrian sentiment against foreigners, economic woes and a widespread disillusionment with the two main centrist parties.
Today's expected results will be seen as a triumph for Strache, a politician who has made a virtue of being even tougher on immigrants than his party's former leader. Polls have suggested that substantial numbers of the young and elderly, blue-collar workers and middle classes will turn out to vote for the man who strengthened his popularity through slogans such as: 'If you want an apartment, all you need is a headscarf.' Austria Braced for Right-wing Surge >>> Peter Beaumont and Michael Leidig in Vienna | Sunday September 28 2008
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
YEMEN NEWS AGENCY: MAHWEET, Sep. 27 (Saba)- The French couple Lidris, aged 25, and Fabine, aged 24, who traveled to Yemen, Mahweet, for tourism have converted to Islam after being hosted by a local in the city.
The local, Ahmed Mutahar, invited the French couple to his house in Ramadan and introduced them to teachings and tolerance of Islam which they admired and expressed their intention to embrace Islam.
The couple said the testimony at the Cultural Center for Foreigners Call in Sana'a and got a new marriage contract according to the Islamic Sharia. [Source: French Couple Converts to Islam in Mahweet >>> AM/AM | September 27, 2008
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THE TELEGRAPH: As Austrians head to the polls on Sunday, an economic downturn coupled with rising anti-immigrant feeling makes a swing to the right look all but inevitable.
Surveys on the eve of the Sept 28 general elections show the far-right Freedom Party and the Alliance for Austria's Future capturing between 25 and 27 per cent of the vote–something unmatched since Jörg Haider led extreme rightists to a 27 per cent victory in 1999.
Now, with inflation at a 15-year-high of 3.9 per cent and a resurgent xenophobia helping stir voter passions, the country is teetering in political uncertainty.
"Xenophobic feelings are a lot stronger in Austria than in other EU countries," said Helmut Weixler, European parliamentary spokesperson for the Greens.
"A large part of the population has problems [accepting] immigration, and guys like Haider and [Heinz-Christian] Strache exploit those populist feelings. They're very good at that."
Mr Strache, who is 39 and the new face of Austria's virulently anti-foreigner right wing–his Freedom Party promotes slogans like "Vienna must not become Istanbul!" and "Home instead of Islam"–made great strides in elections in 2006 calling for Austria to expel all illegal immigrants and close the doors to new arrivals.
Particularly effective in whipping up the public's fear of foreigners is Kronen Zeitung, an arch-right tabloid run by Hans Dichand that reaches some 40 per cent of the population and wields enormous political influence. Far-right to Do Well in Austrian Elections >>> By Michael Levitin in Berlin | September 27, 2008
TIME:
Austria’s Far-Right on the Rise >>> By Andrew Purvis | September 19, 2008
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TVNZ: Austria's far-right Freedom Party is ready to re-enter government after three and a half years in opposition and the two main parties must decide if they will do business with it after this month's election, its leader Heinz-Christian Strache says.
When Freedom first joined a national government in 2000 under then party boss Joerg Haider, its anti-immigrant stance so alarmed Austria's European Union partners that they briefly ceased co-operation with the Alpine member state.
Haider has since left to form a splinter party.
But Freedom, which rails against the EU and has demanded a halt to immigration and a ministry for repatriating foreigners, is polling around 18% and could play an important role after the September 28 election.
At 28% and 26% respectively in the latest poll, the Social Democrats and conservative People's Party - partners in an unhappy coalition which has survived less than two years - are set to win less than 60% combined for the first time since World War Two.
"Which partner is ready to enter into government with us while letting us keep our true values?" Strache said in the interview next to a rain-sodden campaign stand, encircled by young and middle-aged men.
"When there is a partner like this then it makes sense to be in government. When there is no partner it makes no sense," he said, as supporters took pictures of him on their mobile phones.
Next interior minister?
The coalition between the centre-left Social Democrats and centre-right Austrian People's Party collapsed in July following disagreements about everything from privatisation to health reform to European Union policy.
"Both have said they can't bear to enter into a coalition with Freedom," Strache said, adding that he wants his party to become the third-largest in Austria in the election, ahead of the environmentalist Greens.
Strache, a 39-year-old former dental technician, has put Freedom back on a hard-right path after Haider left to form the rival Alliance for Austria's Future in 2005. Austrian Far-Right in Comeback >>> | September 17, 2008
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L’OCCIDENTALE: L’Islam ha le idee chiare e programmi precisi sull’Occidente, ma l’Occidente li ha sull’Islam? Lo sceicco Omar Bakri, originario della Siria, ha istituito e dirige l’Islamic Religious Court a Londra ed è a capo dell’organizzazione islamica Al-Muhajiroun. Tiene lezioni e conferenze in Inghilterra e nel mondo. Queste sono alcune sue tipiche interviste rilasciate recentemente a quotidiani e televisioni. Le sue dichiarazioni e i suoi insegnamenti sono emblematici dei piani islamisti contro le democrazie europee.
Il quotidiano arabo-londinese Al-Hayat, per esempio, in una serie di articoli sulla comunità musulmana in Gran Bretagna, ha raccolto queste sue affermazioni trascritte dal Middle East Media Research Institute. Europa terra di conquista: "L'Islam trasformerà l'Occidente". Parola di sceicco >>> di Andrea B. Nardi | 27 Settembre 2008
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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA - New Delhi: Gay sex is immmoral [sic] and a reflection of a perverse (rpt perverse) mind and its decriminalisation would lead to moral degradation of society, the Centre today told the Delhi High Court.
"Homosexuality is a social vice and the state has the power to contain it," the government contended.
"It (decriminalising homosexuality) may create breach of peace. If it is allowed then evils of AIDS and HIV would further spread and harm the people. It would lead to big health hazard. It would degrade moral values of society," Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra contended.
The Centre's stand assumes significance in view of the contradictory stand taken by two of its ministries, with the Home Ministry opposing decriminalisation of such acts while the Health Ministry favouring the scrapping of penal provisions which provide a punishment of upto [sic] life sentence for homosexual acts. Gay Sex Is Immoral and Cannot Be Decriminalized, Government Tells High Court >>> PTI | September 26, 2008-09-27
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ASSOCIATED PRESS: TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A former Iranian president warned the West on Friday that its support for Israel would backfire, as hundreds of thousands of people staged rallies in support of Muslim claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is still considered influential in Iranian politics, said the U.S., Britain and France back Israel — and this is dangerous.
"They will put themselves in trouble, eventually," Rafsanjani said during a Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran marking "Al-Quds Day." Al-Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem.
Israel could "take tougher and more offensive action" than the United States against Iran and the Arab world, warned Rafsanjani.
State-run television also aired clips on Friday featuring hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York. The president, who is in the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly meeting, said Israel does not have support among ordinary people in America.
He also chided hundreds of demonstrators who protested against him during his trip, calling it a "big failure for them."
The latest anti-Israel remarks by Iranian leaders come as hundreds of thousands rallied in cities across the Persian country to protest Israel's continued hold on Jerusalem, the city where Muslims believe Islam's Prophet Muhammad began his journey to heaven.
In the capital, Tehran, demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" to commemorate "Al-Quds Day." Some protesters also burned American and Israeli flags. Iran Denounces Western Support for Israel >>> | September 26, 2008
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ASSOCIATED PRESS: RABAT, Morocco — Moroccan authorities have ordered the closure of dozens of schools and a Web site run by a Muslim religious leader who argued that girls as young as 9 could marry, local media reported Friday.
Sheik Mohammed Ben Abderahman al-Maghraoui had issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, on his Web site saying it was lawful for a Muslim man to marry a 9-year-old girl because Islam's Prophet Mohammed had done so.
Moroccan law, however, sets 18 as the minimum age for women to marry, and the Council of the Oulemas — the country's highest religious authority — denounced al-Maghraoui as an "agitator."
"What the Prophet can do is not open to ordinary Muslims," said lawyer Mourad El Bekkouri, who filed a legal complaint this month asking "the king's prosecutor to sue al-Maghraoui for promoting pedophilia and rape."
Government officials said at least three dozen Quranic schools would be shut, according to local media on Friday. Moroccan Sheik Hushed for Letting 9-Year-olds Wed >>> | September 26, 2008
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TIMES ONLINE: Hostility to immigration is bolstering the far Right across much of Europe
In Austria, they raise their arms in stiff salutes and roar approval of calls to kick out the foreigners. In Italy, they don black shirts, crop their hair and chant the name of their former dictator at football matches. In Germany, they rally outside mosques or foreigners' hostels to protest against what they describe as the “immigrant invasion” of Europe. More than 60 years after their grisly deaths, the names and symbols of Hitler and Mussolini are still being paraded on the streets. Is fascism making a return?
The test will come tomorrow when Austria goes to the polls. Heinz-Christian Strache, a protégé of Jörg Haider who overthrew him as leader of the far-right Freedom Party with even more hardline policies against foreigners and the European Union, is poised to win at least 20 per cent of the vote. Playing to the extremist sentiment still pervading a large proportion of the population, Mr Strache has replaced the demonisation of Jews last heard in Austria two generations ago with denunciations of a new threat: Muslims. “Homeland instead of Islam”, the slogans say. “Vienna must not become Istanbul”.
Islam and its symbols have also become the focus for the far Right in Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds gathered in Cologne on Saturday in a rally to halt construction of one of Europe's biggest mosques. Far-right leaders from Belgium, Italy and Austria arrived to join calls to protect Western values and Christian traditions - calls that are being echoed by more and more mainstream politicians to curry popular support.
It is in Italy, however, that nostalgia for fascism has been most overt and where the echoes of the past have been most ominous. Mussolini's tomb has become a shrine for neo-Fascists, who chant his name at rallies and campaign to rehabilitate his ideology and architectural legacy. The Duce's granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a politician on the Right who makes much of her name and her determination to halt attempts by Alleanza Nationale, the post-fascist party now forming part of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition, to distance itself from its undemocratic past. Right Turn >>> | September 27, 2008
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Friday, September 26, 2008
Watch: Fitna the Movie >>>
DIANA WEST:
Diana West on the Glenn Beck Show >>> Diana West | September 26, 2008
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ISN: ETH: ZÜRICH: In recent weeks, the European Commission and the UK have made apparent concessions to Islamic law, and with confrontations in Cologne over a proposed mosque, the role of Muslims in a future Europe is again in the spotlight, writes Simon Roughneen for ISN Security Watch.
Princeton University historian Bernard Lewis made his famous prediction in 2004: "Current trends show that Europe will have a Muslim majority by the end of the 21st century at the latest […]. Europe will be part of the Arab West-the Maghreb."
Similar claims have been made by other authors, with European countries featuring below-replacement birth rates, while Muslim immigrants and their descendants predicted, in some quarters, to reach over 20 percent of the population of Europe by 2020.
A low fertility rate of 1.47 babies per woman, according to the 2005 estimates for the EU as a whole, is far below the 2.1 needed to keep a population constant, and with newspapers reporting "Muhammed" as the most popular baby's name in London, the swing toward Mecca has some popular culture branding to match the statistics. Europe's Muslim population has tripled in the past 30 years, fuelled by immigration from North Africa, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
No one knows whether or not he reads Lewis, but not to be outdone, Libya's Colonel Muammar Gadhaffi speculated in February 2006 that "we have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are other signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe, without swords, without guns, without military conquests. The 50 million Muslims in Europe, will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades." Europe’s Sharia Question >>> By Simon Roughneen for ISN Security Watch | September 26, 2008
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HUFFINGTON POST: COLOGNE, Germany — German police raided a plane in Cologne just before it was taking off Friday and arrested two ethnic Somalis, saying they found a suicide note that claimed the men wanted to fight a holy war and die in a terror attack.
A 23-year-old Somali man and a 24-year-old German man born in Somalia were removed from the plane without incident after the surprise raid at Cologne-Bonn Airport, a spokeswoman for North Rhine-Westphalia state police told The Associated Press.
Quoting unidentified security forces, German media said the two men were heading to Pakistan. Bild, Germany's top-selling newspaper, reported the men had been under observation for months. KLM Arrest: Two Suspected Terrorists Taken Off Flight >>> Nicole Lange | September 26, 2008
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EUROPE NEWS: The controversial Danish People's Party member of the European Parliament Mogens Camre spoke at the DPP's annual meeting Sunday, calling to expel Islam from Europe.
"Islam cannot be integrated. Islam will dominate Europe. And Islam is incompatible with our values. Therefore Islam will be thrown out of Europe. This little land is ours, we forged it ourselves. And we will govern it ourselves and decide ourselves who will live in it and how they will behave. And we will fight until Denmark is again free," said Camre, to loud applause. Denmark: Expel Islam from Europe >>> Sources: Berlingske, TV2 (Danish) | September 26, 2008
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DEUTSCHE WELLE: Fed up with government bickering and growing economic uncertainty, Austrian voters could hand the far right big gains in general elections on Sunday.
If opinion polls prove correct, the Austrian far-right may notch large gains in general elections on Sunday, Sept 28.
Austria's voters appear to be fed up with rising inflation (at 3.9 percent, a 15-year high), poor integration of the country's large immigrant population, and the inability of the current government to do much about either.
The combined poll numbers of Austria's two far right-parties, the Freedom Party and the Alliance for Austria's Future are hovering around 25 percent. That would represent the best draw for the Austrian far-right since 1999, when then-Freedom Party (and now Alliance) leader Jörg Haider stunned Europe by garnering 27 percent.
Such a tally might well leave Austria's neighbors aghast, but one pollster, Andreas Kirchhofer of IMAS, told news agency Reuters that Austrians may be casting their votes against their current leaders more than for the rightists.
"They are fed up with the left-right coalition," he said. "They want another kind of government, but they don't really know exactly what that should look like." Disenchanted Austrian Voters Could Turn to Far Right >>> |September 26, 2008
TIMESONLINE:
Strong Support for Strache and Haider in Austria: Heinz Christian Strache: “We must not allow our own sons to be insulted as ‘pigeaters' in our schools and our daughters to be exposed to the greedy stares and gropings of whole hordes of immigrants.” / “Homeland instead of Islam.” / “Vienna must not become Istanbul.” >>> | September 26, 2008
THE INDEPENDENT:
Austria Opens the Polls to 16-Year-Olds: Austria becomes the first country in the European Union to grant its 16-year-olds the right to vote in a general election this weekend but the move has provoked widespread controversy and criticism, even from the teenagers heading for the ballot box for the first time. >>> By Tony Paterson in Berlin | September 26, 2008
EURO NEWS:
Östereichs zwei rechte Parteien rechnen mit reichlich Zulauf: Vor der österreichischen Parlamentswahl am Sonntag dürfte bei den vielen Unbekannten nur eines sicher sein: Die beiden Parteien am rechten Rand können mit reichlich Zulauf rechnen. Schließlich wird dieser Urnengang zwei Jahre vorfristig nötig, weil die große Koalition aus ÖVP und SPÖ kläglich gescheitert ist. Gelegentliche Anmerkungen von Volkes Hand wie hier “ Nazis raus” auf ein FPÖ-Plakat geschrieben, kann man eher als Ausdruck von Hilflosigkeit werten. >>> 25. September 2008
Heinz Christian Strache: Website und Bio
Dr. Jörg Haider: Website und Lebenslauf
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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