Monday, April 27, 2009

Naked Swiss Hikers Must Cover Up

BBC: The tiny Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden has voted to prohibit the phenomenon of naked hiking.

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No more freezing hikes in Appenzell Innerrhoden. Photo courtesy of Time

Anyone found wandering the Alps wearing nothing but a sturdy pair of hiking boots will now be fined.

Appenzell is considered one of the most conservative regions of Switzerland; it gave women the vote only in 1990.

Locals have been outraged by an apparent upsurge in hikers who think the best way to appreciate the mountains is with their clothes off.

The vote was taken with a show of hands at Appenzell's annual Landsgemeinde, an open-air meeting of all registered voters held in the town square.

Appenzell is one of only two Swiss cantons that still decide local government policy in this way.

There was a big majority in favour of prohibiting naked hiking, and introducing fines of Sfr 200 ($175). >>> By Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva | Monday, April 27, 2009

RELATED:
Another Reason to Visit Switzerland: Hiking in the Nude >>> | Monday, March 30, 2009
Daniel Hannan speaking at Conservative Spring Forum 2009

Part 1:


Part 2:

US Journalist Held in Iran 'Very Weak'

THE TELEGRAPH: The father of an Iranian-American journalist jailed by Iran on charges of spying for the United States said yesterday that she was in a bad condition a week after going on hunger strike.

Reza Saberi said he and his wife, Akiko, visited their daughter Roxana in Tehran's Evin jail on Sunday, taking flowers for her 32nd birthday.

"She is very, very weak and frail ... she is in a bad condition. She can hardly stand up," he said. "I'm worried about her health. I'm worried about her life."

The 68-year-old said he had asked his daughter to stop her action, but she did not want to discuss it during the 20-minute visit. She started refusing food last Tuesday, he said.

The US-born freelance reporter was sentenced to eight years in jail on April 18, in a verdict that could complicate Washington's efforts towards reconciliation with Iran after three decades of mutual mistrust.

Her defence lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, who has appealed the sentence, said he expected the case to be sent to a higher court this week and suggested it may be examined soon.

He has expressed hope she would be acquitted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the prosecutor to ensure Saberi enjoys full legal rights to defend herself. The judiciary chief has said the appeal must be dealt with in a "quick and fair way". >>> | Monday, April 27, 2009
Geert Wilders in Beverly Hills

Prince Issa of the UAE Tortures a Citizen: الشيخ عيسى يعذب مواطنا


NAME: Folter-Video: Arabischer Prinz quält Opfer vor der Kamera

Es ist ein grausames Video aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten. Zu sehen ist Scheich Issa, Mitglied des arabischen Königshauses, wie er einen wehrlosen Mann misshandelt. Eigentlich sollten diese Bilder geheim bleiben. Doch ein ehemaliger Vertrauter des Prinzen konnte das Video außer Landes schmuggeln.

Die Bilder schockieren: Ein Mann kauert mit gefesselten Beinen im Sand, wimmert vor sich hin. Seine Peiniger knien sich auf ihn, stopfen ihm den Sand in den Mund, schlagen mit der Peitsche auf ihn ein. Einer der Folterer heißt Scheich Issa bin Zayed al-Nayran: Er ist der 22. königliche Prinz aus dem Königshaus der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate.

Mit immer brutaleren Methoden quälen er und ein Polizist den wehrlosen Mann; am Schluss überfahren sie ihn mit einem Geländewagen. Ihr Opfer, angeblich ein afghanischer Getreidehändler, der den Prinzen betrogen haben soll, überlebt schwer verletzt. >>> Von Céline Lauer | Montag, 27. April 2009
British Dhimmitude! Stewardess Sacked after Refusing to Wear Islamic Robe

THE TELEGRAPH: An air stewardess has been sacked after refusing her airline's demand to wear traditional Islamic dress and walk behind male colleagues in Saudi Arabia.

Lisa Ashton, who worked for BMI, was told that she was expected to wear the abaya, a long black robe that leaves only the face uncovered, when she was out in public in the Gulf state.

She was also told that she should walk behind male colleagues irrespective of their rank, in order to conform with the social codes of the conservative country.

Miss Ashton was instructed to consider the abaya as part of her uniform when flying to Saudi Arabia.

But she told her managers that she considered the requirement discriminatory, and was worried that Saudi Arabia was not safe to travel to because of the danger of terrorist attacks.

"It's not the law that you have to walk behind men in Saudi Arabia, or that you have to wear an abaya, and I'm not going to be treated as a second-class citizen," she said.

"It's outrageous. I'm a proud Englishwoman and I don't want these restrictions placed on myself." >>> By Duncan Gardham | Sunday, April 26, 2009
Rwanda Suspends BBC Broadcasts

THE TELEGRAPH: Rwanda demanded "guarantees of responsible journalism" from the BBC on Sunday, a day after it suspended its local broadcasts in the national Kinyarwanda language.

"We have suspended all BBC programmes in Kinyarwanda because they had become a real poison with regards to the reconciliation of the Rwandan people," the information minister, Louise Mushikiwabo said.

"We could no longer tolerate that," she said. "The Rwandan government shall protest strongly, until the BBC can give us guarantees of responsible journalism."

The dispute centres on interviews aired on a weekly programme, "Imvo n'Imvano," (The Heart of the Problem), which Mushikiwabo, on state radio, said were "liable" to undermine efforts at national unity and reconciliation. >>> | Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sarkozy et Zapatero
affichent leur «affection»

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Nicolas Sarkozy et José Luis Zapatero à Paris en juillet dernier. La lutte contre le terrorisme sera au menu de la rencontre entre les deux dirigeants, demain à Madrid. Photo grâce au Figaro

LEFIGARO: Le président français est à Madrid pour le XXIe sommet bilatéral. L'occasion de réaffirmer la nature cordiale de ses relations avec son homologue espagnol, après la polémique de la semaine passée.

Fin de la polémique, place à la fiesta ! Après avoir tiré à boulets rouges sur Nicolas Sarkozy, Madrid va dérouler le tapis rouge au président français et à son épouse, qui entament lundi une visite d'État de deux jours. Diplomatie, lutte contre le terrorisme, contrats et glamour sont au programme de ce déplacement qui suscite un intérêt sans précédent dans la capitale ibérique, où l'ambassade de France a enregistré un nombre record de demandes d'accréditation de journalistes.

Avant l'arrivée du couple Sarkozy, José Luis Zapatero et le président français ont fait ce week-end assaut d'amabilités par médias interposés pour mettre un terme à la polémique. La brouille avait été déclenchée après un déjeuner à l'Élysée et des propos désobligeants, attribués à Nicolas Sarkozy, sur le manque d'intelligence supposé du chef du gouvernement espagnol. Dans un entretien au quotidien El Pais, Nicolas Sarkozy rejette des «rumeurs absurdes qui ont été de surcroît démenties par les participants à cette réunion». Il tacle au passage, sans la nommer, Ségolène Royal, dont il raille l'idée qu'elle se fait de la «responsabilité politique». Selon un sondage publié dimanche par Le Parisien, 68 % des Français pensent que l'ancienne candidate PS à la présidentielle a eu tort d'adresser des excuses à José Luis Zapatero.

Nicolas Sarkozy en profite surtout pour affirmer sa «grande estime» et une «réelle affection» pour celui que le président appelle par son prénom, «José Luis». À ses yeux, le chef du gouvernement espagnol est un «homme de talent, un homme de conviction, un grand d'Europe». Bref, un festival de compliments qui finit presque par être gênant, surtout après un incident diplomatique sans fondement ! José Luis Zapatero a tourné la page en déclarant au Monde que «Nicolas Sarkozy a toujours été très diplomatique avec moi». Quant à la lettre d'excuses envoyée par Ségolène Royal, il reconnaît l'avoir reçue, sans autre commentaire. Le «duel du glamour» >>> Bruno Jeudy,envoyé spécial à Madrid | Lundi 27 Avril 2009
Margaret Thatcher's Revolution 30 Years On

THE TELEGRAPH: Her successors ruined the prosperous Britain she created. Now we must strive to re-build it, says Edwina Currie.

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We should value Margaret Thatcher for what she did, not what she was. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

She was a small, pretty woman with chintzy blouses and a nervous habit of clearing her throat. A stiff leather handbag hung like a weapon over her arm; if a wisp of hair escaped from the helmet of her coiffure, she fiddled with it anxiously. In mid-campaign, she was given a grubby calf to hold and didn't know what to do with it. Our first views of Margaret Thatcher weren't reassuring.

Yet it was la difference that underwrote her astonishing success. The unthinkable – a woman prime minister – had been made flesh. Suddenly anything seemed possible. I was a city councillor in Birmingham with two small children. I knew, with total certainty, that if she could do it, then so could I.

Mrs Thatcher learnt very quickly to turn her outsider status to advantage. Declaring that she didn't know much about economics but did understand a household budget was an election strategy of genius. It allied her with the victims of strikes and disruption, those who had to make ends meet, the "hard-working families" of modern parlance who had to put aside doubts if they were to vote for her. However bizarre it may seem to have a woman in charge, they reasoned, she talked sense and should be given a chance: she couldn't be worse than the men.

Within her first term the doubts vanished. The Iron Lady had seen off Galtieri and was preparing the same treatment for Scargill, so all one had to do was sound rather like her. I sailed into Parliament at my first attempt in 1983, one of 397 Tory MPs (some 200 more than now). It was not really a surprise to find myself the first maiden speaker of the new intake, treated as a representative of a new breed, and soon a minister.

It was a fantastic and terrifying experience. Come to a meeting not properly briefed and you'd be mincemeat, and rightly so. Get something right and she would praise you embarrassingly in public. With a blue-eyed stare that could turn men to stone, she would snap out orders and expect them delivered. Once, in a cold spell in January 1987, she insisted that no vagrant was to be found frozen to the pavements and I was given the job. We managed it, with the help of the charities and an open purse, a now-forgotten episode entirely to her credit; the Rough Sleepers initiative was the outcome. No inquiries, no reviews, no soundbites, no pointless legislation: just get on and do it. >>> Edwina Currie | Sunday, April 26, 2009
Obama: Erklärung zu Massaker an Armeniern erzürnt die Türkei

TAGESANZEIGER: Der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama hat mit einer Erklärung zum Massaker an Armeniern zur Zeit des Osmanischen Reichs den Ärger der Türkei auf sich gezogen.

Einige Passagen von Obamas Statement zum Jahrestag des Beginns der Gräueltaten seien «inakzeptabel», erklärte das Aussenministerium am Samstag in Ankara. Die Beurteilung der Vorkommnisse solle einzig und allein Historikern überlassen werden. »Die gemeinsame Geschichte des türkischen und des armenischen Volkes darf nur durch unabhängige und wissenschaftliche Daten bewertet werden», hiess es in der Mitteilung aus Ankara weiter.

Präsident Abdullah Gül kritisierte am Rande eines Energie-Gipfels in Sofia, dass Obama die türkischen Opfer nicht erwähnt habe. «Jedermanns Schmerz muss geteilt werden», forderte er. Erklärung aus dem Weissen Haus >>> raa/sda | Samstag, 25. April 2009
Pakistan – Taliban: "The Scenario Is Totally Bleak"

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Iran's President 'Would Support Two-state Solution' for Israel

THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has recognised Israel's right to exist for the first time, saying it would be "fine with us" if the Palestinians reached a two-state solution.

Asked if he would support an agreement between the Palestinians and Tehran's arch enemy, he said: "Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that.

"We think that is the right of the Palestinian people, however we fully expect other states to do so as well."

Given his frequently stated hostility to Israel's existence - calling more than once for its "annihilation" - and his habit of capriciously offering threat and promises of friendship within the space of a few days, Mr Ahmadinejad's words will not treated by Western diplomats as a permanent shift in policy.

He has previously declared that Israel should be "wiped off the map" and a week ago accused the Israelis of running the "the most cruel and repressive racist regime".

But his comments are now in the open and cannot be taken back. They will provide the Obama administration and its European partners significant encouragement that he is prepared to move beyond the mutual hostility of the Bush era and negotiate on Iran's nuclear programme, which the West is convinced is designed to produced nuclear weapons as soon as possible. >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | Sunday, April 26, 2009
Taliban Shave Men for Listening to Music in Buner

DAWN: PESHAWAR: Taliban militants in Buner district shaved the heads and moustaches of four Pakistani men as punishment for listening to music, one of the men said Sunday.

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The Taliban have also warned people against shaving their beards. Here a barber stands by a ‘do not shave’ warning written by militants in the front window of his shop in Buner—AFP. Photo courtesy of Dawn

Although Taliban and local officials said the fighters retreated from Buner by Saturday, local members of the movement remain. Residents said many fighters were still present in the hilly outskirts of the district.

In one incident late Saturday, Taliban hardliners shaved the heads and moustaches of four men for listening to music, a young man from Buner told AFP by telephone, requesting not to be identified.

‘I was with three other friends in my car, listening to music when armed Taliban stopped us and, after smashing cassettes and the cassette player, they shaved half our heads and moustaches,’ he said.

‘The Taliban also beat us and asked us not to listen to music ever again,’ said the terrified man. >>> | Sunday, April 26, 2009
Pakistan Begins Military Offensive against Taliban

DAWN: ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces began an offensive on Sunday to stop the Taliban’s creeping advances in Lower Dir, Reuters reported a military spokesman as saying.

The operation in Pakistan’s troubled north came amid growing worries in the United States about the stability of its nuclear-armed ally after militants began extending their clout.

‘Intense exchange of fire is going on in Lower Dir,’ a military spokesman told Reuters. >>> By Zeeshan Haider | Sunday, April 26, 2009
Isländer wählen erstmals eine linke Regierung

WELT ONLINE: Erstmals in der Geschichte des Landes hat eine linke Koalition die Mehrheit im isländischen Parlament errungen. Ministerpräsidentin Johanna Sigurdardottir begrüßte den Sieg ihres Bündnisses aus Sozialdemokraten und Linksgrünen. Ihre höchste Priorität ist es, Island schnellstens in die EU zu bringen.

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Die Siegerin: Johanna Sigurdardottir bleibt Ministerpräsidentin von Island. Bild dank der Welt

Die isländischen Wähler haben in der ersten Parlamentswahl nach der Bankenkrise im vergangenen Herbst die damals gebildete Linkskoalition bestätigt. Das geht aus ersten Teilergebnissen hervor.

Nach Auszählung von 82 Prozent der Stimmen erreichte die sozialdemokratische Partei von Ministerpräsidentin Johanna Sigurdardottir zusammen mit den Linksgrünen 52,7 Prozent und damit 34 von 63 Sitzen im Althing, dem Parlament in Reykjavik. Beide Parteien hatten Anfang des Jahres eine Minderheitsregierung gebildet.

Der jetzige Wahlsieg bringt erstmals seit der Staatsgründung vor 65 Jahren eine linke Koalition an die Macht. Die traditionell dominierenden Konservativen sind die klaren Wahlverlierer: Sie erhielten dem derzeitigen Auszählungsstand zufolge 23,9 Prozent der Stimmen – bei der letzten Wahl waren es noch 36,1 Prozent gewesen.

Als Hintergrund gelten vor allem die katastrophalen Auswirkungen der Finanzkrise. Die Selbstständigkeitspartei hatte bis zum Rücktritt ihres Ex-Parteichefs Geir Haarde als Ministerpräsident im Januar 18 Jahre ununterbrochen regiert. >>> dpa/AP/Reuters/cn | Sonntag, 26. April 2009
This Stupid, Stupid Government!

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Cannabis: Not banning the drug is contributing to a growing mental health threat for the British population. Photo courtesy of MailOnline

MAIL Online: The great puzzle of our time is why some pleasures are official sins, while others are smirkingly condoned by authority.

Understand why and you will know what is wrong with our degenerate ruling class.

In theory, the idea is that we all have a stern national duty to take lots of care of ourselves so that we do not become a burden on the holy, wonderful NHS.

We guard ourselves from self-inflicted illness or injury for the sake of others.

Since my childhood I have been ceaselessly lectured about how to stay safe and healthy, with varying degrees of success.

The simple slogans of the TV campaigns still echo in my memory, and no doubt in millions of others.

'Don't ask a man to drink and drive', 'One for the road? None for the road!', 'Clunk Click every trip'.
Propaganda isn't enough on its own. Law and fear are needed too.

Listen to an Englishman whinge when his driving licence is taken away, and you will see that there is still such a thing as punishment in our society, and it works.

I can remember the measurable change in the national atmosphere when the police began serious breathalysing.

Similar determination made us all wear seat belts. If only they'd do the same about the arrogant, murderous cretins who use mobile phones while driving.

The authorities also quite clearly know that advertising and the behaviour of actors and presenters on TV and in films affect behaviour.

That is why they have banned tobacco commercials and why it now seems astonishing that Joan Bakewell used to smoke while presenting the BBC's Late Night Line-Up in the Sixties. They Rave about the Peril of Sunbeds... Then Let Us Fry Our Brains on Cannabis >>> Peter Hitchens | Saturday, April 25, 2009
Madeleine Albright Is Not So Bright After All!

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Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the president already has taken action to improve relations with Muslim countries. Photo courtesy of Voice of America

VOICE OF AMERICA: President Barack Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world in April with a visit to Turkey. There was generally favorable response across the political spectrum in Muslim countries to the president's public statements - such as a pledge made before Turkey's Parliament in Ankara.



"We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said. "We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree."



The president's approach seems to enjoy popular support back home, as well. The latest Washington Post/ABC opinion survey shows that 81 percent of Americans believe it is important for the U.S. to engage the Muslim world.

That is also the conclusion of the report by the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright - one of its authors - said the president already is adopting several of its recommendations.



"In terms of diplomacy and conflict resolution, he did say that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian issue was a major input, and he immediately named Senator George Mitchell as his envoy in order to work on that particular issue," she says. "On Iraq, he made a commitment to a relatively fast drawn down. On Afghanistan and Pakistan, he also felt very strongly that it was very important to deal with as a regional diplomatic issue and has named Ambassador [Richard] Holbrook as his representative in order to deal with issues there."



At the meeting with ambassadors from member states of the Organization of The Islamic Conference, or OIC., Albright laid out the project's strategies for combating Islamic extremism: First, elevate diplomacy as the primary tool for resolving key conflicts involving Muslim countries. Then promote broad-based economic development in those nations, foster mutual respect and understanding between Americans and Muslims, and support efforts to improve governance and promote civic participation in predominantly Muslim societies. Albright Praises Obama's Efforts to Engage Muslim World >>> By Mohamed Elshinnawi, Washington, D.C. | Saturday, April 24, 2009

Read my essay on the subject, Madeleine, BEFORE you utter such nonsense! Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom >>> By ©Mark Alexander | Friday, April 20, 2007
US Reporter 'Fragile' after Start of Hunger Strike in Tehran Jail

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Father of journalist sentenced for spying says she must be 'very weak' after five days without food

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Roxana Saberi has been refusing food since Tuesday, say her parents, who visited her in a Tehran prison on Monday. Photo courtesy of The Independent on Sunday

Roxana Saberi, the US-Iranian reporter jailed a week ago in Tehran on charges of spying that are untested in open court, has gone on hunger strike and is in a fragile state, according to her family and associates. Her father, Reza Saberi, said yesterday: "She went on a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest her imprisonment." He said she will continue "until she is freed", but added: "I am pretty certain that she must be very weak now."

The journalist, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, a city where yellow ribbons on trees now mark her incarceration, is 32 today, a birthday she will spend in Evin prison. She was arrested in January and initially accused – reports differ – of working without press credentials, or buying alcohol. But an Iranian judge later charged her with passing intelligence to the US. She was convicted after a one-day trial behind closed doors, and sentenced to eight years in prison. >>> By David Randall | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Taliban Gunmen Shooting Couple Dead for Adultery Caught on Camera

Are these the tribal savages Obama wants to do business with?

By now, it should be becoming increasingly obvious to all that Islam is a ‘religion’ neither of peace nor love. Do not let your cowardly politicians fool you!

Further, be sure of this: Wherever Islam spreads, and whenever it becomes stronger in numbers, its adherents become ever more emboldened. If you think that this sort of brutality and savagery couldn’t happen in the West, you are GREATLY mistaken.
– ©Mark


THE TELEGRAPH: Taliban gunmen have been filmed executing a surprised couple whom they repeatedly shot for the alleged crime of adultery.


Their deaths were squalid, riddled with bullets in a field near their home by Taliban gunmen as the execution was captured on a mobile telephone.

In footage which is being watched with horror by Pakistanis, the couple try to flee when they realise what is about to happen. But a gunman casually shoots the man and then the woman in the back with a burst of gunfire, leaving them bleeding in the dirt.

Moments later, when others in the execution party shout out that they are still alive, he returns to coldly finish them with a few more rounds.

Their "crime" was an alleged affair in their remote mountain village controlled by militants in an area that was only recently under the government's sway. It was the kind of barbarity that has become increasingly familiar across Pakistan as the Taliban tide has spread.

But this time, with black-turbaned gunmen almost at the gates of Islamabad, the rare footage has shown urban Pakistanis what could now await them.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that Islamic extremists could take over the nation. >>> By Saeed Shah in Islamabad | Saturday, April 25, 2009
This Shitty Government!

THE TELEGRAPH: The 50 per cent tax increase has reneged on New Labour's central promise - not to punish the rich. A key architect of Blair's victories says the party's over now.

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Is the party over for New Labour? Image courtesy of The Telegraph

RIP New Labour. Born July 21 1994; died April 22 2009. Cause of death: drowning in a sea of debt. New Labour passed away surrounded by its family and loved ones. It was survived by a shattered party. Memorial service scheduled for May 2010. No flowers.

The obituary writers have been hard at work since this week's Budget statement. The facts seemed clear enough. New Labour, which was born the day Tony Blair was elected leader of the party 15 years ago, had been laid to rest by Alistair Darling with a minimum of ceremony.

The Chancellor sometimes has the look and manner of an undertaker, although on Wednesday he was wearing a natty, colourful new shirt and tie that were highly inappropriate for a funeral. This was a death in suspicious circumstances if ever there was one.

Tony Blair was absent from the scene, but New Labour's godparents, Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson, were present and looking suitably solemn. Denial and disbelief are not uncommon at times of great emotional suffering, so perhaps they could both be forgiven for their refusal to accept the passing of something that had once seemed so vigorous, so full of promise. Will the Last Person to Leave Gordon Brown's Britain Turn Out the Lights? >>> By Lance Price | Friday, April 24, 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009

Ankara Shows Its Hand

SLATE: Turkey's scheming at the Strasbourg summit proves it doesn't belong in the European Union.

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French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner. Photo courtesy of Slate

The most underreported story of the month must surely be the announcement by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that he no longer supports the accession of Turkey as a full member of the European Union. His reasoning was very simple and intelligible, and it has huge implications for the Barack Obama "make nice" school of diplomacy.

At a NATO summit in Strasbourg in the first week of April, it had been considered a formality that the alliance would vote to confirm Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the prime minister of Denmark, as its new secretary-general. But very suddenly, the Turkish delegation threatened to veto the appointment. The grounds of Turkey's opposition were highly significant. Most important, they had to do with the publication of some cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2005 lampooning the Prophet Mohammed. In spite of an organized campaign of violence and boycott against his country, and in spite of a demand by a delegation of ambassadors from supposedly "Islamic" states, Rasmussen consistently maintained that Danish law did not allow him to interfere with the Danish press. Years later, resentment at this position led Turkey—which is under its own constitution not an "Islamic" country—to use the occasion of a NATO meeting to try again to interfere with the internal affairs of a member state.

The second ground of Turkey's objection is also worth noting. From Danish soil a TV station broadcasts in the Kurdish language to Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere. The government in Ankara, which evidently believes that all European governments are as untrammeled as itself, brusquely insists that Denmark do what it would do and simply shut the transmitter down. Once again unclear on the concepts of the open society and the rule of law—if the station is sympathetic to terrorism, as Ankara alleges, there are procedures to be followed—the Turkish authorities attempt a fiat that simply demands that others do as they say. >>> By Christopher Hitchens | Monday, April 20, 2009
France Calls on Britain to Accept More Migrants

DAILY EXPRESS: FRANCE wants Britain to sign a deal allowing thousands of migrants to flood into the UK.

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Immigrants: Calais border control is stretched. Photo courtesy of Daily Express

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart’s controversial plan to scrap passport controls was announced as migrants in the port staged an angry demo yesterday, waving placards written in flawless English.



The banners expose how Britain’s open-door asylum system and benefits culture are a magnet for Afghans, Kurds and Eritreans. 



Exasperated by the sight of migrants sleeping rough as they try to board England-bound trains and lorries illegally, Mrs Bouchart outlined her scheme to rid Calais of the blight to French Immigration Minister Eric Besson.



“It’s necessary to speed up negotiations with the British because at the moment we’re ready to charter a boat to dump them over there,” she said. She said all Britain had to do was sign up to the Schengen Agreement, which allows anybody to travel between EU states without passports or visas. 



Mr Besson challenged Britain to share responsibility for France’s problem by asking why migrants from places such as Iran, Somalia and Sudan travel across the world to reach the UK. “Britain should step up its controls and take on more of this burden,” he said. “Britain should also question why migrants and the traffickers in migrants believe that the British illegal job market is a golden opportunity.” >>> By Paul Allen and Anil Dawar | Friday, April 24, 2009
Frères Musulmans – Le pape n'est pas le bienvenu en Jordanie

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Le pape réçoit un keffieh des mains de jeunes Palestiniens. Depuis 2006, il peine à se faire pardonner par les musulmans ses propos durs sur l'islam © MAXPPP / OSSERVATORE ROMANO. Photo grace au Point

LE POINT: Les Frères musulmans jordaniens ne veulent pas voir Benoît XVI dans leur pays, à moins qu'il ne s'excuse de ses propos sur l'islam tenus en 2006. La principale force d'opposition de Jordanie l'a fait savoir alors que le pape a prévu de se rendre dans le pays en mai. "Le gouvernement devrait faire pression pour obtenir des excuses du pape, qui devrait s'excuser pour avoir mis en colère un milliard et demi de musulmans dans le monde", déclare le secrétaire général du Front de l'action islamique (branche politique de la confrérie), Zaki Bani Rcheid, dans une lettre adressée au Premier ministre Nader Dahabi. Avant d'ajouter : "Sinon, il n'est pas le bienvenu en Jordanie et sa visite est rejetée." >>> AFP | Jeudi 23 Avril 2009
Rape, Beatings and Bribery: Iraqi Police Out of Control

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Photo courtesy of TimesOnline

TIMESONLINE: The brief film is deeply disturbing, even in a country famed for its al-Qaeda beheading videos and sniper snuff movies. The young woman, evidently drugged, vomiting and occasionally calling for her mother, tries weakly to stop the grinning man in a white T-shirt and boxer shorts from pulling off her underwear.

She fails. The man, instructing the cameraman to shoot the scene with his mobile phone from various angles, rapes her.

That is not the only shocking aspect of the film, according to Jassim al-Bidawi, former Mayor of Fallujah and now a human rights activist. He has identified the rapist as an Iraqi police officer, and says that the cameraman is one, too. They are thought to have drugged the woman as she visited her husband in a detention centre in Ramadi. Since the rapist's uncle is a senior policeman in the city the attacker is all but untouchable, Mr al-Bidawi says.

In the desperate rush to drag Iraq back from civil war, sweeping powers were granted to its new security forces. Human rights workers, MPs and American officials now believe that they are all too often a law unto themselves: admired when they defeat terrorists but also feared for their widespread abuse of power.

In this vast and largely unaccountable security apparatus, with almost a million people in uniform, corruption is rife. One of the most common ploys is to arrest innocent people and then charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for them to be released. >>> James Hider in Fallujah | Friday, April 24, 2009
Budget 2009: Now We Are All Up to Our Ears in It

THE TELEGRAPH: Alistair Darling's calamitous Budget not only consigned the nation to decades of debt, but also planted a poisonous legacy that will blight generations to come, says Jeff Randall.

"To preserve [the people's] independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude." – Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America,1801-1809.

This week, Alistair Darling made a selection for us. His Budget for Bankruptcy banished economy and liberty. In their place, he delivered a profusion of unaffordable spending and a contract of servitude, not just for this generation, but for the next and the one after that. This is how independence is murdered. A ball-and-chain of spirit-sapping debt has been clamped to the nation's future. We are all serfs now.

In a speech of stunning torpidity (how does he manage it?), the Chancellor claimed: "You can grow your way out of recession, you can't cut your way out of it." Growth sounds attractive, an aspiration for solid citizens. Except the growth that Mr Darling had in mind was government borrowing, which is shooting up like bindweed on steroids, choking the economy.

His red numbers are so immense that most pocket calculators cannot accommodate them. Over the next five years – if all goes according to plan – Mr Darling will borrow £703,000,000,000. As the late Roy Castle used to say: "It's a record breaker!"

The United Kingdom is mired in debt, and the Chancellor's fiendishly clever escape route is, er, to borrow his way out of it. He's in a hole and digging furiously. Yet Gordon Brown, whose face is beginning to resemble a smacked bottom, was delighted by his cipher's performance. This style of presentation – straight from the Ceausescu handbook of statistics management – appeals to the Prime Minister's control-freakery.

It sounds complicated, but is surprisingly simple. You start with a politically desirable conclusion – in this case, the triumph of a suffocating state over personal responsibility, self-sufficiency and wealth-creating enterprise – and work backwards: cheating, lying, fiddling the numbers, until both sides of the balance sheet appear to be in harmony. This is how Labour operated its fraudulent boom. The same trick is being tried in a catastrophic bust. >>> By Jeff Randall | Thursday, April 23, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: This Budget Will Make Us Pay for Britain's Excesses for Decades

Now we must all pay for the wild excesses of an irresponsible minority, says Adrian Michaels.

I wish I had known I was having such a good time. I will, according to the Budget, be paying for the country's excesses for decades. It is time to pull in the horns and tighten the belt. But wait. My belt doesn't have any more notches. I've been presented by Alistair Darling with the bill for a party I didn't attend.

For months now we have been hearing that it is bankers that brought the global economy to its knees through their irresponsible business practices, made possible by compliant and inattentive politicians and regulators. Meanwhile, people in financial services were paid far too much for their destructive corporate behaviour.

How much, exactly? In December 2007, 15 bankers – all men, of course – sat down for lunch at the Cap Horn, a mountain restaurant in the French ski resort of Courchevel. It was just turning dark when they paid the 28,000 euro bill. There were no prostitutes or drugs, I am informed, and the near-2,000 euros-a-head tab did not afford access to the President of the United States. No. The bankers were playing "Par One Hundred" – a drinking game in which the object would appear to be to vomit on your neighbour as fast as possible – with magnums of Krug champagne. The Cap Horn currently charges 850 euros for a magnum of 1997 Krug.

So what? "They're on a different planet," one friend said. That is the problem, however: bankers are not on a different planet, they are on exactly the same one as the rest of us. If they really were otherworldly, we could just forget about them and their lunches. But we all pay the price for their behaviour. The cheapest item on the Cap Horn's menu is cream cheese with salt and pepper at 13 euros. "Spaghetti à la Bolognaise" is 25 euros.

So not only weren't we at the party that has just ended, the quality of our own lives was made worse by the fiesta's participants. Bankers made sure that we could not eat in the same restaurants as in the past, we could not take holidays in a growing range of destinations, and we could not live where we wanted. Ask the residents of Salcombe in Devon – "Chelsea-on-Sea" as it has become known – about the empty homes in winter and the fancy delis selling porcini mushrooms instead of corner shops selling pints of milk and packets of Quavers. >>> By Adrian Michaels | Thursday, April 23, 2009
Nick Griffin Defends BNP Leaflet that Says Black and Asian Britons 'Do Not Exist'

MAIL Online: British National Party chairman Nick Griffin spoke today of a 'bloodless genocide' as he defended a party leaflet which says that black Britons and Asian Britons 'do not exist'.

The BNP leader was referring to the party's Language And Concepts Discipline Manual, which says the term used should be 'racial foreigners'.

Mr Griffin said to call such people British was a sort of 'bloodless genocide' because it denied indigenous people their own identity.

The leaflet was leaked to an anti-fascist group.

Commenting on the leaflet's content, Mr Griffin told The Report on Radio 4 that although 'in civic terms they are British, British also has a meaning as an ethnic description'.

'These people are 'black residents' of the UK etc, and are no more British than an Englishman living in Hong Kong is Chinese,' he said.

'Collectively, foreign residents of other races should be referred to as 'racial foreigners', a non-pejorative term... The key in such matters is above all to maintain necessary distinctions while avoiding provocation and insult.'

The manual describes the BNP's 'ultimate aim' as the 'lawful, humane and voluntary repatriation of the resident foreigners of the UK'. >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sauerei: Hakenkreuz an Schweizer Autos

BLICK: BERN/TEL AVIV – Alles nur wegen Ahmadinedschad: Vor der Schweizer Botschaft in Tel Aviv haben Unbekannte Autos von Schweizer Diplomaten mit Hakenkreuz- Abziehbildern beklebt.

Das Eidg. Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten (Eda) bestätigte einen entsprechenden Bericht der «Tagesschau» des Schweizer Fernsehens SF.



Nähere Angaben dazu machte das Eda nicht. Seit dem Treffen von Bundespräsident Hans-Rudolf Merz mit dem erklärten Antisemiten und iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinedschad am vergangenen Sonntag in Genf steht die Schweiz in Israel unter Beschuss. Vor der Botschaft demonstrieren täglich mehrere Menschen gegen die Schweiz. >>> SDA | Donnerstag, 23. April 2009

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Alarm Grows Over Pakistan’s Failure to Halt Militant Gains

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Taliban militants on Thursday outside a mosque where tribal elders and members of the Taliban met in Daggar, the main town in the Buner district of Pakistan. Photo courtesy of The New York Times

THE NEW YORK TIMES: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — With 400 to 500 Taliban fighters newly in control of a strategically important district just 70 miles from here, Pakistani authorities have deployed only a poorly paid and equipped constabulary force — numbering just several hundred — to the area.

The Taliban appeared to be consolidating control in the district, Buner, on Thursday after moving in and establishing checkpoints on Wednesday. Residents said Taliban militants held a meeting, or jirga, with local elders and the local administration on Thursday. The residents said the meeting yielded a truce similar to the one reached with local leaders in the Swat Valley, which resulted in the agreement by the government of President Asif Ali Zardari to allow the imposition of Islamic law there 10 days ago.

“This concession represents a serious development and reflects both the growing strength of the Pakistani Taliban and the inability of the Pakistani army to conduct successful counterinsurgency operations,” said Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Armed Services Committee who just returned from his fifth visit to Pakistan.

The fall of Buner has raised new international alarm about the ability of the Pakistani government to fend off an unrelenting Taliban advance from the Swat Valley, where as part of the truce agreement, the Pakistani Army remains in its barracks. The Taliban have moved to within a few hours’ drive of Islamabad, the capital of this country, and the neighboring garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The Pakistani military does not have a presence in Buner, Pakistani and Western officials said. From the hills of the district, the Taliban have access to the flatlands of the district of Swabi, which lead directly to the four-lane highway that connects Islamabad and Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, where much of the Pakistani Taliban operate. >>> By Jane Perlez and Zubair Shah | Thursday, April 23, 2009
Pakistan – NWFP: Swat Taliban Consolidate Grip over Buner

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Istiqbal Khan, a parliamentarian from Buner, told the AP that the militants had entered the district in ‘large numbers’ and started setting up checkpoints at main roads and strategic positions.—AP. Photo courtesy of Dawn

DAWN.COM: ISLAMABAD: Taliban militants are setting up checkpoints in a district next to Swat Valley, officials and witnesses said Wednesday, spurring fears that a government-backed peace deal imposing Islamic law in the area has emboldened the insurgents to expand their reign.

Reports that the top government official in another adjacent district was kidnapped by militants added to the growing concern.

Pakistan’s president signed off on the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years worth of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the one-time tourist haven’s 1.5 million residents.

The agreement covers the Malakand region, which comprises roughly one-third of NWFP, a strategic stretch that runs along the Afghan border and bumps into the tribal areas where al Qaeda and the Taliban reportedly have strongholds.

Supporters say the deal was the best way to bring peace, and that it also addresses long-time local grievances over the inefficient regular judicial system. Critics, including the White House, have slammed the deal as an affront to democracy and human rights, saying it gives militants a state-sanctioned sanctuary.

Some critics go as far as to say that Swat could be the first domino to fall — that Islamabad, which is less than a hundred miles away, could follow along with other segments of the country that neighbours Afghanistan. >>> | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
North Korea Is Fully Fledged Nuclear Power, Experts Agree

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This image, made available for the first time on Tuesday April 7, shows the launch of a missile in Musudan-ri, North Korea. Experts say the country is a nuclear power. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline

TIMESONLINE: North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power, with the capacity to wipe out cities in Japan and South Korea.

The uncomfortable truth has been confirmed by a number of experts, from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the US Defence Secretary. According to intelligence briefings shown to academic experts, North Korea has successfully miniaturised nuclear warheads that could be launched on medium-range missiles.

This puts it ahead of Iran in the race for nuclear attack capability, and significantly alters the balance of power between North Korea’s large but poorly equipped military and the South Korean and US forces ranged against it.

“North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact,” the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said this week. “I don't like to accept any country as a nuclear weapon state. We have to face reality.” >>> Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo | Thursday, April 23, 2009
What to Do about the Growth of Islam in the West

There is no doubt about it that many people are uneasy about the explosive expansion of Islam in the West. Unfortunately, however, too many people are still unaware of this expansion, and even where they are, they are so lacking in knowledge about what Islam really is about that they do not see the dangers it poses. We are sleepwalking into our own demise!

Our leaders do not help this situation since they usually prattle on about how 'true' Islam has nothing to do with the distorted and 'evil' ideology as proposed by Al Qaeda and their ilk. The fact of the matter is, though, that what Al Qaeda preaches is actually the real thing: Islam, not Islam-lite. There is only one Islam anyway; and that, if it continues to grow in the West, will be the death knell of our civilization.

Our politicians, by and large, are frightened of what they see happening, and are generally clueless as to what to do about it. Truth is, however, that we have to decide what is more important to us: Our liberty, or their feelings! If we decide that our liberty is more important to us - which I would hope - then we have to be prepared to take the necessary tough decisions to ensure our own survival, for we will not be able to ensure our own survival without taking them. As Mrs Thatcher used to say: The tough decisions are usually the best ones.

I don't see this happening in the present climate, because there are too many 'bleeding hearts' around for the politicians to have the backing of the electorate to carry out the necessary Draconian measures. But this could all change if there were another major catastrophe. People's memories of the tragedy of 9/11 are already fading, it is sad to say. If another tragedy such as this, or even worse, happened, then we need strong leadership in place to act there and then.

It's rather like punishing a child for wrong-doing: to be effective, it has to be carried out there and then. Waiting a few days and then punishing the child has little or no effect, since the child doesn't know what it is being punished for! The same goes for Muslims. Life has to be made uncomfortable for them when these tragedies occur, and they have to be placed on the defensive. They should not be let off the hook by our liberal and pathetically weak politicians.

To be more concrete in my answer to your question, I should like to say the following:

The heads of state and heads of government need to meet periodically to recognize the problem, and to devise a strategy, and work together, as one. As we all know, there is strength in unity.

Illegal immigrants should be returned to their homelands. There are hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the West. They have no right to be here. Getting rid of them would go a long way to shrink the Muslim population of the West, and it would help demographics. Over the years, waves of illegal immigrants have been allowed to put down roots here in Europe (in my book, I call this phenomenon 'the Crescades'). They are allowed to stay, and then, some years later, when they have found their feet, they start dictating to us what they want, and how they want it! This must stop!

We need to define, precisely, what we mean by the word religion. This may sound strange, but we so often hear that we have, and must maintain, freedom of religion in the West. But the fact of the matter is that we have yet to define what we mean by religion. Are Rastafarians and Wiccans distinct religious groups? Is Islam truly a religion as we understand a religion to be, or is it - as I would maintain - more of a political ideology?

To Westerners, religion usually means something spiritual, a belief system which encourages peace, tolerance, mutual respect, and mutual understanding. Islam scores badly on all these counts.

How much of Islam is spiritual, and how much political? If, upon investigation, it is found, as I believe, that Islam is 90% political ideology, then are we obliged to give it the freedom to grow in the West as we do to, say, Buddhism? After all, we close down many other political ideologies which we find a threat to our liberty. Why not Islam, too? Just clothing the political ideology in a deity does not make it less of a threat to our way of life. Islam gives a 'divine' imprimatur to the killing of their enemies, and killing those who do not subscribe to their viewpoint.

These are awkward, uncomfortable questions to answer, I know. But they do need to be answered if we are to save ourselves. Perhaps, when all is said and done, we shall be able to allow only the spiritual part of Islam, but make the political aspect illegal. That would make life uncomfortable for Muslims. Many, perhaps, would then move on to where they would be freer to do their thing.

Returning these people to their land of origin in a humane fashion may be an option to consider, too. So much taxpayers' money is now being spent on policing these people that maybe that money would be better spent paying them a lump sum to leave. To continue to spend all that taxpayers' money to police them is ludicrous; indeed, when the numbers of Muslims in the West swell even more, it will become impossible for us to afford to do it.

Muslims need to be told, firmly, how the land lies here in the West. They should be told that they must blend in and live according to our rules, or they must leave. They should be told that they must abandon all designs on Islamizing the system; and if they cannot, then they are not welcome here any longer. We are not obliged to allow them to talk in a subversive manner about the overthrow of the system. Why should we allow this?

All monies coming in from the Middle East to build mosques and schools and centres of Islamic propagation should cease forthwith. It is senseless to allow that money into our countries. After all, it's a one-way system. They don't allow our money into their countries to propagate Christianity, or from anywhere else to propagate other religions, either.

Our governments need to encourage families to have more babies. Tax and fiscal policy should change to encourage bigger families. No civilization can survive without an adequate supply of babies. Indeed, that is one of the main reasons why civilizations decline!

All mosques where it is found that hatred or anti-Semitism is preached should be closed down with immediate effect, and never to be allowed to re-open.

All Islamic schools should be closed. In any case, they are madrasahs in all but name. It is absurd to allow them to open in the West; it is even more absurd to encourage them, à la Blair!

All immigration from Muslim countries should cease forthwith, for to continue to allow such immigration is tantamount to shoring up even more problems for ourselves for the future.

This list is by far not exhaustive. But it's a start.

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

Pakistan Taleban Take Over Towns as They Move Closer to Islamabad

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The Swat Valley has been transformed into a Taleban stronghold from which the movement is extending its influence. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline

TIMESONLINE: The Taleban seized towns less than 65 miles from Pakistan’s capital yesterday, renewing fears that Islamabad’s recent peace deal with the radicals would only accelerate their advance across the country.

The peace accord had already drawn harsh criticism from Pakistan’s Western allies. “I think that the Pakistani Government is basically abdicating to the Taleban and to the extremists,” Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of States, said yesterday. She added that the situation in Pakistan “poses a mortal threat to the security of our country and the world”.

Mrs Clinton gave her gloomy assessment to the US Congress shortly after hundreds of Taleban fighters occupied government buildings in the district of Buner, ransacking the offices of international aid agencies and taking away vehicles, computers and other equipment. Some employees were also taken hostage briefly.

The militants, carrying rocket launchers and machineguns, also set up checkpoints to search vehicles as many residents fled the area. Local security forces remained confined to police stations and camps.

The fundamentalist movement struck a peace deal with Islamabad recently after a terror campaign in the neighbouring Swat Valley. Under the agreement the militants were allowed to establish an Islamist administration and Sharia courts. In return it was supposed to disarm but has failed to do so. >>> Zahid Hussain in Mingora | Thursday, April 23, 2009
Fidel's Words Cool US-Cuba Hopes

BBC: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro says President Barack Obama misinterpreted recent comments by his brother Raul about a possible thaw in US-Cuba ties.

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Fidel Castro makes frequent comments about current affairs. Photo courtesy of the BBC

President Raul Castro said last week Cuba was ready to discuss "everything".

Mr Obama responded by saying the US sought new ties with Cuba but linked progress to advances in human rights and the freeing of political prisoners.

In an essay on a government website, Fidel Castro suggested it was up to the US not Cuba to change to improve ties.

"Without doubt, President [Obama] misinterpreted Raul's declaration," Fidel Castro wrote in an article on the CubaDebate website.

Raul Castro's offer "to broach any subject", the article said, was meant to show "courage and confidence in the principles of the revolution".

Correspondents say Fidel Castro appears to be trying to dampen expectations of a possible improvement in ties, by suggesting that too much has been read into Raul's offer to discuss everything. >>> | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Budget 2009: Gordon Brown Declares Class War with Tax on High Earners

THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown has been accused of launching a "class war" against Middle Britain as he introduced a new 50 per cent top rate of tax to make the wealthy pay for the catastrophic state of public finances.

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Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

Casting aside more than a decade of New Labour ideology, the government broke a key election manifesto promise by announcing an increase in income tax for those earning more than £150,000.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, also announced that the highest earners will lose valuable tax breaks on pension savings, as part of a package of measures that will see the tax grab from high earners raising up to £5.5 billion a year - an average of £18,333 annually per person.

The surprise new measures - which mean Britain will have the highest top rate of any major economy in the developed world - came as Mr Darling was forced to lay bare the true extent of Britain's levels of borrowing in his Budget.

In the worst economic forecast since the Second World War, he said he planned to borrow another £700 billion over the next five years, taking the national debt to £1.4 trillion.

Mr Brown and Mr Darling were accused of indulging in party politics at a time of national crisis by seeking to exploit the divide the Tories' on tax policy.

It was also suggested that the Prime Minister was returning to Old Labour policies designed to shore up Labour's core vote ahead of an election next year that he is on course to lose.

Labour MPs in the party's heartlands will welcome the move and ministers will argue that taxing those on very high salaries is popular among many voters.

But in raising the top rate of tax the government risk alienating the middle class voters that swept Tony Blair to power in 1997. >>> By Andrew Porter, Political Editor | Thursday, April 23, 2009
Une poétesse libanaise
 brise un tabou

LEFIGARO.fr: Joumana Haddad a créé un nouveau magazine qui parle très librement de sexualité. Une première dans le monde arabo-musulman.

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Joumana Haddad a financé elle-même Jasad, qui connaît un vif succès au Liban, mais aussi dans les pays voisins. Photo grâce au Figaro

Elle ne conduit plus sa voiture. Non par snobisme, mais par souci de sécurité. À 38 ans, Joumana Haddad sait qu'elle risque gros. Cette poétesse libanaise vient de tenter l'impossible en lançant, il y a trois mois, le premier magazine à tendance érotique du Moyen-Orient. Un pari audacieux, dans une région du monde voilée de conservatisme religieux, qui lui vaut des dizaines de lettres d'insultes par jour. Les pirates d'Internet se sont déjà attaqués quinze fois à son site Web, en ne laissant comme unique trace qu'une phrase coranique : «Il n'y a de Dieu que Dieu.»

L'objet du « péché » s'appelle Jasad, «corps » en arabe. Sur sa couverture en papier glacé, la première lettre, le «jim» - l'équivalent de notre «j» -, a été calligraphiée sous forme de menottes ouvertes. «Pour montrer qu'avec ce magazine, je cherche à briser le tabou sexuel», dit-elle. Vendu sous cellophane dans les librairies libanaises, «pour éviter d'attirer le regard des trop jeunes», et par souscription dans les pays voisins, il réserve bien des surprises. Au sommaire du premier numéro : des reproductions d'aquarelles détaillant différentes pauses du Kama-sutra, un dossier sur l'homosexualité et une rubrique «Ma première fois», où une personnalité raconte ses ébats sexuels… Le succès est immédiat : 4 000 exemplaires vendus en onze jours ! Le deuxième numéro, qui vient de paraître, rend hommage au… pénis. Reproduction de sculptures, analyse étymologique du mot, conseils, tout y passe. À en décoiffer un cheikh enturbanné. >>> Delphine Minoui, à Beyrouth | Mercredi 22 Avril 2009
Tiefe Rezession schürt die Angst vor Konflikten

WELT ONLINE: Bankchefs, Politiker und Gewerkschafter sind sich einig: Die Wirtschaftskrise kann schwere soziale Unruhen auslösen. Gesine Schwan, Bewerberin für das Bundespräsidentenamt, fürchtet, dass die Wut der Menschen in den kommenden Monaten deutlich anschwillt. Der prognostizierte Wirtschaftsabsturz von sechs Prozent sorgt für eine explosive Stimmung.

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Bild dank der Welt

Angesichts der tiefsten Wirtschaftskrise seit den 30er Jahren wächst die Sorge vor sozialen Konflikten in Deutschland. „Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass in zwei bis drei Monaten die Wut der Menschen deutlich wachsen könnte“, sagte die SPD-Kandidatin für das Bundespräsidentenamt, Gesine Schwan, dem „Münchener Merkur“. Wenn es bis dahin keine Hoffnung gebe, dass sich die Lage verbessere, könne die Stimmung explosiv werde. Zuvor hatte schon DGB-Chef Michael Sommer vor sozialen Unruhen gewarnt.



Bei der Vorlage des Frühjahrsgutschtens damit gerechnet, dass ein Wirtschaftseinbruch von 6,0 Prozent vorausgesagt wird – so stark wie noch nie seit der Weltwirtschaftskrise vor fast 80 Jahren. >>> dpa/PHJ | Donnerstag, 23. April 2009
Bundesregierung warnt: Deutsche Flughäfen sind die nächsten Terrorziele

WELT ONLINE: Der Prozess um die Sauerland-Gruppe zeigt abermals, wie hoch das Anschlagspotential in Deutschland sein kann. Für das Innenministerium sind vor allem Flughäfen und der Nahverkehr mögliche Ziele islamistischer Terroristen. Staatssekretär August Hanning warnt, die Bedrohung sei "besorgniserregend hoch".

Flughäfen und der Nahverkehr sind nach Ansicht des Staatssekretärs im Bundesinnenministerium, August Hanning, mögliche terroristische Anschlagsziele. „Islamistische Terroristen streben hohe Opferzahlen an, um eine hohe Aufmerksamkeit zu erzielen“, sagte Hanning. Deshalb seien Flughäfen und der öffentliche Nahverkehr besonders gefährdet. >>> ddp/dcs | Donnerstag 23. April 2009
Un keffieh offert au pape par des jeunes Palestiniens

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: SYMBOLE | Un groupe de jeunes Palestiniens a offert le grand foulard noir et blanc à Benoît XVI.

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Benoît XVI avec un keffieh. Photo grace à la Tribune de Genève

Un groupe de jeunes Palestiniens, originaires de Bethléem, a offert un keffieh noir et blanc au pape Benoît XVI, qui a brièvement mis sur ses épaules ce symbole du peuple palestinien, mercredi à l’issue de l’audience générale place Saint-Pierre au Vatican. >>> AFP | Mercredi 22 Avril 2009
Stop Sharia Law in Britain

Islam's War on Freedom

Eklat beim Prozess um die Sauerland-Terroristen: «Ich stehe nur für Allah auf»

TAGESANZEIGER: In einem der grössten Islamistenprozesse in Deutschland müssen sich seit heute die vier Terroristen der Sauerland-Gruppe vor Gericht verantworten. Zum Auftakt kam es zum Eklat.

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Sie planten ein zweites 9/11: Der angeklagte Daniel Schneider begrüsst seinen Anwalt am ersten Tag des Prozesses. Bild dank dem Tages Anzeiger

Laut Anklage wollten die zum Islam konvertierten Deutschen Fritz Gelowicz und Daniel Schneider, der Deutsch-Türke Atilla Selek und der Türke Adem Yilmaz mit Sprengstoffanschlägen möglichst viele amerikanische Bürger in Deutschland töten.

Die vier Männer «waren getrieben von dem Willen, auch in Deutschland die Feinde des Islam - vornehmlich US-Bürger - zu vernichten», sagte Bundesanwalt Volker Brinkmann bei der Verlesung der 40seitigen Anklageschrift. Die dazu geplanten mindestens drei Autobomben-Anschläge hätten das Ausmass der Terroranschläge vom 11. September 2001 in den USA erreichen sollen.

Als Mitglieder und Gründer einer deutschen Zelle der Islamischen Dschihad Union (IJU) seien sie erfüllt gewesen von einem «abgrundtiefen Hass auf die USA als grösstem Feind des Islam. Doch auch deutsche Opfer seien ihnen willkommen» gewesen», ergänzte Bundesanwalt Ralf Setton. Die Angeklagten hätten ein «medienwirksames Zeichen des Terrors setzen wollen». >>> Tagesanzeiger.ch/Newsnetz | Mittwoch 22. April 2009

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Talibanisation of Pakistan a Reality, Warns Pakistani Media

SINDH TODAY: Islamabad – (IANS) The Talibanisation of Pakistan is not just a threat but a reality in the wake of Sharia laws being imposed in Swat and other parts of the country’s northwest, an editorial in a leading English daily said Wednesday.

Another editorial termed the Nizam-e Adil Regulation parliament passed to impose the Sharia an anathema on the constitution.

“Talibanisation is not just a threat, it is the reality today. Face it,” Dawn said in an editorial.

“There is considerable harm in it because such a regulation is anathema to the Constitution and shouldn’t have been acceded to and drawn up in the first place by the government,” The News maintained.

Dawn said it was “now clear” that the Taliban will not stop until they have their way.

“And this is their prescription for Pakistan: a nation, armed with nuclear weapons, jerked back to a mediaeval age. A country where men without beards are flogged, and women killed if they choose to express themselves.

“That is where we are headed. And one is wrong if one thinks this can’t happen in Pakistan. It can and it will unless we strike a decisive blow for the silent majority,” the editorial maintained.

“We must resist this onslaught,” it added. >>> By Sindh Today | Wednesday, April 22, 2009

DAWN: Pakistan Giving Up to Militants: Hillary

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she believed the Pakistani government was abdicating to the Taliban and other militants.

In a testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mrs Clinton warned that nuclear-armed Pakistan was becoming a ‘mortal threat’ to the world.

‘I think that the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists,’ Mrs Clinton said.

She was referring to a deal Pakistan concluded with the Taliban militants in Swat, which gives them complete control over the valley. On Tuesday, the militants also took over Buner, just 60 miles from Islamabad.

Mrs Clinton also urged Pakistanis, living both in and outside the country, to realise how terrorism threatened the very existence of their state.

‘Pakistan poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world,’ Mrs Clinton said.

‘And I want to take this occasion ... to state unequivocally that not only do the Pakistani government officials, but the Pakistani people and the Pakistani diaspora ... need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding more and more territory to the insurgents.’

Mrs Clinton said the Pakistani government had to deliver basic services to its people or it would find itself losing ground to the Taliban, whose influence had spread in northern Pakistan and had raised concerns about the stability of the country.

‘The government of Pakistan ... must begin to deliver government services, otherwise they are going to lose out to those who show up and claim that they can solve people’s problems and then they will impose this harsh form of oppression on women and others,’ she said. >>> By Dawn’s Correspondent | Thursday, April 23, 2009
Neo-Nazi Crimes Soar in Germany

THE TELEGRAPH: Neo-Nazi crimes in Germany soared last year by 16 per cent, according to new government figures.

The number of far-Right attacks rose to 20,422, with violent crimes up 5.6 per cent at 1,113 cases, including two killings.

Far-Right [sic] crimes accounted for two thirds of all "politically motivated" crimes last year, which reached 31,801 -- an increase of 11.4 percent and the highest level since 2001.

Wolfgang Schauble [sic], the German interior minister, said the rise in politically motivated crime was disturbing. He swore that the Berlin government would counter it with a variety of "measures against extremism, racism and intolerance". >>> By Allan Hall in Berlin | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Yemeni Woman Faces Execution Following Political Interference in Her Case

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Fatima Hussein-Badi. Photo courtesy of Amnesty International

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: A Yemeni woman is facing imminent execution accused of killing her husband. Fatima Hussein-Badi was convicted of murder in 2001 and faces the death penalty despite a court ruling in 2003 that she did not take part in the killing.

There is mounting fear for her life following the execution of another woman for similar charges on Sunday. 'Aisha Ghalib al-Hamzi was sentenced to death for the murder of her husband in October 2003 and her sentence was confirmed on appeal in 2007.

In December 2008, the Supreme Court in Sana’a upheld the death sentence and it was ratified by the President. 'Aisha Ghalib al-Hamzi was executed after relatives of her husband, including her seven children, refused to pardon her.

Under the Shari’a rule of Qisas (retribution in kind), relatives of the victims of certain categories of murder have the power to pardon the offender in exchange for compensation (blood money), grant a pardon freely or request his or her execution.

Amnesty International condemned the execution of 'Aisha Ghalib al-Hamzi and has called on the Yemeni authorities not to execute Fatima Hussein-Badi and to halt all other executions immediately. The organization opposes the death penalty unconditionally in all situations as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. >>> © Amnesty International | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Gary Bauer: What Are US Students Learning about Islam?

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Politically correct textbooks are distorting key concepts and historical facts.

WASHINGTON - "History is not history unless it is the truth." – Abraham Lincoln

Most Americans understand history as an objective accounting of past events. In recent years, however, textbook publishers have come under increasing criticism for rewriting history. Claims are presented as facts while controversial material is whitewashed or omitted.

Today these trends are quite apparent in the way public school history books address Islam. In his 2008 study "Islam in the Classroom: what the textbooks tell us," Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council (ATC), reviewed 10 of the nation's most widely used junior and senior high school history textbooks. The results should disturb anyone interested in conveying to our children a truthful history of the religion whose extreme adherents drive so many of today's tragic headlines.

At a time when America is locked in a battle of ideas with Islamic extremists and other enemies of freedom, accurate knowledge is indispensable. Yet, Sewall's findings underscore how political correctness is distorting the next generation's understanding of this battle.

Let's be clear. Religion is by nature a sensitive topic to teach in the classroom. And in a world where stereotypes wrongly tar all Muslims as being prone to violence, it's understandable that schools would err on the side of caution. Indeed, they should affirm the piety and charity practiced by hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world, an acknowledgement that should be extended to Christians as well. At the same time, textbooks shouldn't cower from covering the violent periods of Muslim conquest or the Islamic beliefs that fundamentalists exploit for violent ends.

Sewall found that many textbooks gloss over or delete important facts. For example, in the 1990s, "jihad" – which has many meanings, among them "sacred" or "holy" struggle but also "holy war" – was defined in the Houghton Mifflin junior high school book only as a struggle "to do one's best to resist temptation and overcome evil."

The many acts of violence committed on behalf of Islam in the past decade have made that definition incomplete, to say the least. Yet, as ATC notes, "by 2005, Houghton Mifflin apparently had removed jihad from its entire series of social studies textbooks." >>> Gary Bauer* | Wednesday, April 22, 2009

* Gary Bauer is a former undersecretary of the Department of Education under President Reagan. He is president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families.
New Dark Age Alert! Muslim Converts Accused of Holy War Bomb Plots

TIMESONLINE: Two Muslim converts and two Turks go on trial in a bomb-proof courtroom in Düsseldorf today accused of plotting to blow up German civilians and US soldiers.

“The world will burn!” boasted an intercepted e-mail sent between the accused, who are alleged to have wanted to wage an Islamic holy war in the heart of Europe.

Three of the men — Fritz Gelowicz, 29, Daniel Schneider, 23 and the Turkish national Adem Yilmaz, 30 — are accused of attending a training camp on the Afghan-Pakistani frontier run by an Uzbek-based terror organisation known as the Islamic Jihad Union.

Intelligence services say that it has links with al-Qaeda. Using detonators — supplied, the state prosecutor claims, by Attila Selek, 24, a German citizen of Turkish origin — the gang prepared bombs with the explosive force of 410kg (904lb) of TNT, to be set off in and around the US Ramstein air base and other targets. The bombers in London on July 7, 2005, had 4kg of explosive.

It is alleged that the gang wanted the attacks to influence a parliamentary debate extending the mandate of the German Army in Afghanistan in the autumn of 2007. >>> Roger Boyes in Berlin | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Hillary Clinton: US Will Organise 'Crippling' Iran Sanctions If Diplomacy Fails

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Hillary Clinton: the Secretary of State said the US was determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline

TIMESONLINE: Hillary Clinton today vigorously defended President Obama’s recent overtures to Iran, insisting that the US would be in a better position to organise “crippling” international sanctions should diplomacy fail.

Giving her first congressional testimony on US foreign policy since becoming Secretary of State, Mrs Clinton said stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was one of the Obama administration’s highest priorities.

“We actually believe that by following the diplomatic path we are on, we gain credibility and influence with a number of nations who would have to participate in order to make the sanctions regime as tight and as crippling as we would want it to be,” Mrs Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“We know the imperative of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” she added. “After years during which the United States basically sat on the sidelines, we are now a full partner” in international talks with Iran.

Iran said today that it welcomed “constructive” talks with world powers and the US, but added that it would press ahead with its programme to develop atomic energy. >>> Tim Reid in Washington | Wednesday, April 22, 2009