Anti-Dhimmitude! Fears of Muslim Anger over Religious Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES: 'Does God Hate Women' by Jeremy Stangroom and Ophelia Benson cites attitudes to women and criticises Mohammed's marriage

Muslimatoon at prayer. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
An academic book about religious attitudes to women is to be published this week despite concerns it could cause a backlash among Muslims because it criticises the prophet Muhammad for taking a nine-year-old girl as his third wife.

The book, entitled Does God Hate Women?, suggests that Muhammad's marriage to a child called Aisha is "not entirely compatible with the idea that he had the best interests of women at heart".

It also says that Cherie Blair, wife of the former prime minister, was "incorrect" when she defended Islam in a lecture by claiming "it is not laid down in the Koran that women can be beaten by their husbands and their evidence should be devalued as it is in some Islamic courts".

This weekend, the publisher, Continuum, said it had received "outside opinion" on the book's cultural and religious content following suggestions that it might cause offence. "We sought some advice and paused for thought before deciding to go ahead with publication," said Oliver Gadsby, the firm's chief executive. The book will be released on Thursday.

A recent novel that also dealt with Muhammad's relationship with Aisha provoked an outcry. The Jewel of Medina caused such anger that a Muslim extremist was convicted earlier this month of trying to firebomb the office of its publisher.

Continuum's book may cause a backlash because it sets out to be a factual examination of religious attitudes to women. British writer Jeremy Stangroom and his American co-author Ophelia Benson, whose previous books on philosophy and science have received favourable reviews, cite ancient Islamic scholars to support their case. They roundly attack previous attempts to "soft-soap" the controversial episode in Muhammad's life. In the aftermath of 9/11, the authors argue, a wave of political correctness aimed at building bridges with the Muslim world has meant accusations of "Islamophobia" have been used to silence debate about the morality of social conduct, past and present.

Through a gruesome catalogue of abuses carried out against women in the name of Islam as well as other major religions, including Hinduism and Catholicism, Stangroom and Benson conclude that most of the world's great faiths are essentially misogynistic.

Among the many tragedies they cite are the deaths of 14 young girls in a fire at a school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in March 2002. The girls died after being herded back into a blazing classroom by the country's religious police because they had neglected to don black head-to-toe robes in their rush to flee to safety.

However, the most contentious section of their book is likely to be their conclusions concerning the age at which Muhammad first slept with Aisha. >>> Christine Toomey | Sunday, May 31, 2009

Is There ONE Honest Politician to Be Found ANYWHERE?
MAIL Online: David Cameron has now been dragged personally into the expenses row as it was revealed that he paid off a loan on his London home shortly after taking out a £350,000 taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency house.

The disclosure followed a powerful call by the Tory leader for the 'full force of the law' to be deployed against MPs who have abused allowances.

Following a Mail on Sunday investigation Mr Cameron could now face searching questions about his own expense claims.

He took out the £350,000 mortgage - close to the maximum amount that can be claimed for - to buy a large house in Oxfordshire in August 2001, two months after winning his Witney seat in the General Election.

By nominating it as his second home, he was able to claim for the mortgage interest payments under the now-infamous Commons' Additional Costs Allowance (ACA). David Cameron Took Out Maximum Taxpayer-funded Mortgage - Then Paid Off Own £75k Loan Four Months Later >>> Glen Owen | Saturday, May 30, 2009

Come and Kill Us! We Love You All!
THE SUNDAY TIMES: PRESIDENT Barack Obama will offer his personal commitment to “change the conversation” with the Muslim world in a long-awaited speech in Cairo this week.

White House advisers vowed that Obama would “take on the tough issues”, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and offer to bridge differences with Muslims based on “mutual interests and mutual respect” - the same words used in his address to the Turkish parliament last month.

Administration officials say privately that Obama has given himself two years for a diplomatic breakthough on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, despite the opposition of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to America’s minimum demand for a freeze on all settlement building in disputed territory.

Expectations are high for Obama’s Middle East visit, which begins with a meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss the Arab peace initiative and relations with Iran before he arrives in Egypt the next day. Obama Offers Olive Branch of ‘Respect’ to Middle East >>> Sarah Baxter and Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv | Sunday, May 31, 2009

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Warns North Korea
THE TELEGRAPH: Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, delivered a stark warning to North Korea on Saturday, declaring that America would not "stand idly by" while the regime threatened to "wreak destruction" with nuclear weapons.

Instead, Mr Gates urged "tough sanctions" against North Korea and pledged that Washington would not accept its possession of a nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong-il's regime was, he said, starving its own people in order to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Gates's unequivocal message came during a conference of Asian defence ministers in Singapore. In his audience were representatives of the countries most threatened by Mr Kim – South Korea and Japan – and a delegation from China, North Korea's only ally.

"Dependent on the charity of the international community to alleviate the hunger and suffering of its people, North Korea's leadership has chosen to focus the North's limited energies and resources on a reckless and ultimately self-destructive quest for nuclear weapons," said Mr Gates.

"The policy of the United States has not changed: our goal is complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state." >>> By David Blair in Singapore | Saturday, May 300, 2009

David Cameron's European Policies Criticised by Tory Grandees
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron's policies on Europe have come under fire from a group of Tory grandees, less than a week before the European elections

David Cameron has come under fire from Tory grandees. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The Conservative leader, who is currently on a tour of the Czech Republic and Poland, is preparing to remove his MEPs from the European People's Party after Thursday's elections. He is also planning to reopen the Lisbon Treaty debate and stage a referendum on it in Britain if he wins power.

Several retired senior diplomats and two former Tory cabinet ministers have strongly criticised his policies however.

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, a former head of the Foreign Office who was Britain's ambassador to the EU at the time of the Maastricht treaty negotiations in 1991, told The Guardian: "I do not understand a rigid commitment to impotence.

"I do not understand why (the Czech and Polish parties who will form a new group with the Tories) are preferable to Angela Merkel or Nicolas Sarkozy, or why they think the route to influence lies that way."

Lord Tugendhat and Lord Patten, former Conservative European commissioners, called the move "unwise", while Lord Brittan, another former Commissioner and ex-Home Secretary said: "There is no doubt that the attempt to leave the EPP has annoyed a lot of the European leaders who are members of the EPP and are in government.

"It will make it more difficult to establish relations with them." >>> By Chris Irvine | Saturday, May 30, 2009

Poll Reveals Labour Heading for Election Humiliation
Under Gordon Brown's leadership, Labour's poll rating has slid to its lowest mark in history. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMES ONLINE: The expenses scandal has had a devastating impact on Labour and Gordon Brown, a Populus poll for The Times finds today.

Labour’s overall position has slid to 21 per cent, its lowest in polling history. When asked how they would vote in next week’s European election, those polled have put Labour in third place behind UKIP and the Tories, for the first time.

All the minority parties, including the Greens and the British National Party, have made striking advances in the past three weeks as the row over MPs’ allowances has engulfed all the main parties.

Surprisingly the Liberal Democrats have been hit almost as badly as Labour in both the general election and European voting standings. >>> Philip Webster, Political Editor | Saturday, May 30, 2009

Allah! Allah! Allah! Allah! O Beneficent Allah!
Investigation: Alison Phillips was sacked after parents claimed their children were made to pray to Allah during an RE lesson. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: A teacher has been sacked after parents claimed that their children were forced to pray to Allah during a religious education lesson.

Alison Phillips was accused of giving two pupils detention after they refused to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during the class. Teacher Sacked After 'Making Pupils Kneel and Pray to Allah' During RE Lesson >>> | Friday, May 29, 2009

Ilan Halimi: un pote


YNET NEWS: France: 'Gang of Barbarians' Leader Confesses to Killing Halimi

Youssouf Fofana tells Paris court 'you know very well it was me' during presentation of forensic evidence; says he set young Jew alight

Youssouf Fofana, the presumed leader of the "gang of barbarians", confessed on Friday to killing French Jew Ilan Halimi in 2006 after detaining and torturing him for three weeks, said a source familiar with the case.

The trial is being held behind closed doors at a juvenile court in Paris because two of the remaining 26 defendants were minors at the time of the murder.

According to the source, who was present at the hearing, Fofana said "Yes, I did it; you know very well that it was me" during the presentation of the findings of two forensic experts who had examined Halimi's body.

AFP further quoted the source as saying that Fofana admitted to pouring a flammable liquid on Halimi and then setting him alight.

The prosecution described 28-year-old Fofana, whose parents came to France from Ivory Coast, as a "perverted megalomaniac" who instructed accomplices to target Jews for ransom kidnappings "because they are loaded with dough (money)".

French authorities found 23-year-old Halimi naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006.

He died on the way to the hospital and was later buried in Israel. >>> AFP | Friday, May 29, 2009

THE FROZEN NORTH: Ilan Halimi – A Murder in France

In January 2006, a young man named Ilan Halimi arranged a date with a woman he’d met in the shop where he worked. She was a member of “The Barbarians,” a gang who lay in wait for Halimi that night and kidnapped him.

Over the next three weeks, Halimi was held in a basement and tortured to death. Beaten, stabbed and burned over four fifths of his body, Halimi was eventually found handcuffed and abandoned in a field. Halimi died on the way to hospital.

Now, over three years later, Youssouf Fofana, the leader of “The Barbarians,” is being tried in Paris for the role he played in those crimes. Fofana “swaggered into court” and shouted out the takbir (Allahu Akbar). He has also stated that he has “friends” in court who can take photographs and identify jurors. Fofana had previously tried to escape justice by fleeing to the Ivory Coast, but he was quickly tracked down and extradited back to France.

Twenty six other members of Fofana’s “Barbarians” are facing charges as well; one of the most disturbing aspects of this crime is the way so many people participated in it. Several of the accused have admitted that Halimi was targeted because he was Jewish, and they believed that their victim’s family would be able to meet their ransom demands.

In 2008, in the same Parisian suburb of Bagneux where Ilan Halimi was held captive, six youths abducted Mathieu Roumi. They handcuffed and beat him, wrote “dirty jew” on his forehead, and told him that he would die the same way Ilan Halimi did before finally releasing him. The American writer Nidra Poller has also compared Halimi’s murder with the killing of Sebastien Selam, a twenty three year old who worked as a DJ in a Parisian nightclub, by one of his Muslim neighbours. Selam’s murderer not only “smote his victim above the neck,” he mutilated his face and eyes. The murderer then returned to his family home, where he told his mother that he would go to paradise because he had killed a jew.

After Ilan Halimi was murdered, the Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a message to Nicolas Sarkozy, at that time the interior minister, saying, “These acts are a test for Europe. Jihadi violence, hatred and anti-Semitism must be prevented from taking root in French soil.” Sarkozy replied that antisemitic violence is “not inevitable” in France, and he considers combating it to be “a moral imperative.”

Ilan’s mother, Ruth Halimi, has said that she wants the public to know what happened to her son, so that this kind of story never has to be told in France again. [Source: The Frozen North] Written by niccolo65 | Monday, May 6, 2009

Zeitungsanzeige rief zur Ermordung Obamas auf
DIE PRESSE: Ein Blatt in Pennsylvania musste sich für eine Kleinanzeige entschuldigen, in der indirekt die Tötung des US-Präsidenten gefordert wurde. Der Secret Service ermittelt jetzt gegen den Auftraggeber der Anzeige.

Präsident Barack Obama. Bild dank der Presse
Eine Zeitung im US-Staat Pennsylvania hat sich für eine Kleinanzeige entschuldigt, in der indirekt zur Ermordung von Präsident Barack Obama aufgerufen wurde. In der Anzeige, die am Donnerstag im "Warren Times Observer" erschien, hieß es: "Möge Obama den Spuren von Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley und Kennedy folgen." Alle vier genannten US-Präsidenten fielen einem Attentat zum Opfer. >>> Ag. | Freitag, 29. Mai 2009

THE TIMES OBSERVER (WARREN): Classified Ad Draws Law Enforcement

An errant classified "personal" ad which appeared in Thursday's Times Observer has drawn the attention of law enforcement officials.

A person from Warren placed the ad, which apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end by linking him with four assassinated presidents. The ad representative didn't make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.

Upon realizing the mistake early Thursday morning, the ad was immediately discontinued and the identity of the person who placed the ad was turned over to Warren City Police as per newspaper policy. The local police department forwarded the information to federal authorities, as per department policy.

The Times Observer apologizes for the oversight. [Source: Warren Times Observer] Friday, May 29, 2009

Das Kreuz mit dem Kreuz in Österreich
Heinz-Christian Strache, der an einer Zigarette einen guten langen Zug genießt! Bild dank Google Images
WELT ONLINE: FPÖ-Chef Strache schwingt sich zum Retter des Christentums auf und bezeichnet rechtsradikale Jugendliche als Lausbuben

Wien - Bisher ist den Österreichern noch nicht ganz klar, bei wem sich Heinz-Christian Strache das mit dem hölzernen Kruzifix abgeschaut hat. Bei den Kreuzfahrern, vermuten die einen, bei den Mönchen der Gegenreformation, die anderen, bei Hollywoods Vampirjägern, die Dritten. Fest steht nur, dass der Chef der rechtsgerichteten Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) sich im EU-Wahlkampf gern als Christ gibt. Und das entsetzt viele Österreicher.

"Abendland in Christenhand" fordert die Partei derzeit auf Plakaten und in Zeitungsinseraten. Vertreter aller großen Glaubensgemeinschaften protestierten schon zum Wahlkampfauftakt gegen den Brachialreim, aber Strache legte nach. Bei einer Demonstration gegen den Ausbau eines islamischen Kulturzentrums in Wien reckte er in Exorzistenmanier ein Kreuz gen Publikum. Seine Anhänger johlten, der Rest des Landes ist sich seitdem ungewohnt einig in seiner Empörung über den Kulturkämpfer.

Bundespräsident Heinz Fischer sprach von einem "Verstoß gegen unseren Konsens, dass wir Religion und Politik im gegenseitigen Respekt, aber fein säuberlich getrennt halten". Der Erzbischof von Wien, Kardinal Christoph Schönborn, mahnte zu Christi Himmelfahrt im Stephansdom, das Kreuz als "Zeichen der Versöhnung, der Sühne, der Feindesliebe" dürfe nicht "als Kampfsymbol gegen andere" missbraucht werden. Strache hat Fischer und Schönborn nun um Aussprache gebeten - per Inserat in der boulevardesken "Kronen Zeitung". >>> Von Elisalex Henckel | Samstag, 30. Mai 2009

Austria’s Far-right Shows Its Strength
Youths make an illegal Nazi salute at a Freedom Party demonstration in Graz, Austria, May 2009. Photo courtesy of Global Post
GLOBAL POST: GRAZ, Austria — Flushed with recent electoral success, the Austrian far-right's bid for seats in the European Parliament has come with a level of xenophobic, pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim antics not seen for years — and in many cases against the law.

This is where "where the path of open doors takes you" said Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party (FP), the largest far-right party in Austria, surveying the hall in which rival Sikh sects clashed May 24. The incident left Sant Rama Anand, a 57-year-old preacher, shot dead, 16 others injured and triggered rioting in India. According to Ewald Stadler, the main candidate for the FP's smaller breakaway rival, Alliance for the Future (AF), it was time for a travel ban on "problem gurus."

The week before, the FP's Martin Graf, deputy president of parliament, had said Jewish community leader Ariel Muzicant was the "instigator of anti-fascist left-wing terrorism." His comments even went too far for the AF, which is now keen to be seen as the more sober face of the far-right. The governing coalition has called for Graf's resignation. >>> By Phil Cain | Saturday, May 30, 2009

Rushdie’s Knighthood: Christopher Hitchens on Rushdie and Tony Blair
Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

«Little Istanbul», symbole berlinois des ratés de l'intégration turque
Un marché situé dans le quartier de Kreuzbeurg, à Berlin-Ouest,où les Turcs luttent pour sauvegarder leurs mœurs et leur identité. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: REPORTAGE - Ils sont 200 000 dans la capitale et quelque 2,5 millions à vivre en Allemagne. Les diplômés sont de plus en plus tentés de retourner dans leur pays où les perspectives d'emploi sont meilleures.

Les marchands de kebabs ont remplacé les stands à saucisses et à bretzels. Tous les commerces portent des inscriptions bilingues, en allemand et en turc. Les chaînes de supermarchés allemandes Lidl et Aldi vendent des produits importés de Turquie. Les femmes voilées n'attirent plus les regards curieux. Sur un plan, ce microquartier de Kreuzberg situé à Berlin-Ouest, à quelques pas de l'ancien mur, s'appelle «Kottbusser Tor». Mais pour les Berlinois c'est «Little Istanbul». Ses habitants peuvent y mener une vie parallèle, sans parler un mot d'allemand.

Au-delà de ses attraits folkloriques et de sa légendaire tolérance «multiculturelle», «Little Istanbul» est aussi l'un des symboles des ratés de l'intégration des immigrés turcs en Allemagne. La chancelière allemande et Nicolas Sarkozy, qui se sont tous deux prononcés contre l'adhésion de la Turquie à l'UE, y atteignent des sommets d'impopularité. Angela Merkel a réitéré sa proposition d'un partenariat privilégié avec la Turquie, sans que ce pays devienne membre à part entière de l'Union. Une telle position accentue le malentendu avec les immigrés d'origine turque, qui la considèrent comme une marque de mépris et le signe que l'Allemagne ne souhaite pas vraiment les intégrer. >>> De correspondant du Figaro à Berlin, Patrick Saint-Paul | Vendredi 29 Mai 2009

BBC Offers £30,000 and an Apology for Question Time 'Slur' on Islamic Leaders over Anti-war Protest
Former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore 'slurred' the Muslim Council of Britain while appearing as a panellist on Question Time. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: The BBC has offered to pay £30,000 and apologise to the Muslim Council of Britain after airing claims that it encourages the killing of British troops.

The Corporation caved in after a panellist on the Question Time TV programme accused the country's most influential Muslim organisation of failing to condemn attacks on soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The broadcaster was threatened with legal action over comments by former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore during a debate about Islamic protests which marred a soldiers' homecoming parade in Luton.

Mr Moore blamed the MCB's leadership for its apparent reluctance to condemn the killing and kidnapping of British soldiers overseas. He went on to claim that it thought it was a 'good thing' to kill troops.

Faced with the threat of a writ, the BBC made an offer of 'amends' and an apology on the Question Time website. But this has been rejected and the MCB is demanding an apology on air.

The Corporation's decision to pay out will raise eyebrows in Whitehall, where ministers have refused to settle a similar defamation claim over a letter written by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.

A BBC insider said the move has also angered Mr Moore, who was not consulted over the legal response to the complaint or even informed that an offer to settle had been made.

Question Time is recorded an hour before broadcast specifically so that legal advisers can check its content for possible libels.
No legal worries were expressed over Mr Moore's remarks, which were seen as provocative but not defamatory. >>> By Paul Revoir and Abul Taher | Friday, May 29, 2009

Apology for one and not the other: Charles Moore's words compared to Hazel Blears's letter. Image courtesy of MailOnline
BBC: BBC Offers Apology to Muslim Council of Britain over Guest's Remarks

The BBC has offered £30,000 and an apology to the Muslim Council of Britain after airing accusations that it encouraged the killing of British troops.

The corporation offered the settlement after a Question Time panellist accused the council of failing to condemn attacks on British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, made the comments on the programme in March during a debate about Islamic protests at a soldiers’ homecoming parade in Luton. He claimed that the council thought it was a “good thing, even an Islamic thing” to kill troops.

The council, an umbrella organisation representing about 500 Islamic bodies in Britain, said that his claims were a “total lie” and threatened the BBC with legal action.

It pointed to a 2007 interview with its secretary-general, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, published in a national newspaper, in which he categorically condemned attacks on British soldiers.

Last night Dr Bari said: “These kinds of statements are very damaging, and we received many complaints from our Muslim supporters who said they were extremely offended by the comments. >>> Hannah Fletcher | Saturday, May 30, 2009

British Asians Are Role Models, Says Cameron
THE OBSERVER: British asians [sic] provide a model for the rest of the country, David Cameron declares today, as he argues that many Asians cannot be blamed for failing to integrate.

In a powerful article in today's Observer, Cameron says that Britain's drug ridden cities are understandably alarming many Asians. 'The picture is seriously bleak: family breakdown, drugs, crime and incivility are part of the normal experience of modern Britain,' Cameron writes.

'Many British Asians see a society that hardly inspires them to integrate. Indeed, they see aspects of modern Britain which are a threat to the values they hold dear. Not for the first time, I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around.'

Cameron wrote today's article after spending two days with a British Asian family in Birmingham. The Tory leader stayed in the spare bedroom of Abdullah and Shahida Rehman's house and enjoyed a curry with the family.

During his stay Cameron learned how Muslims feel marginalised in today's Britain with one upsetting issue being the use of language.

'We must be careful about the language we use,' he writes. 'Many Muslims ... are deeply offended by the use of the word "Islamic" or "Islamist" to describe the terrorist threat we face today.' [Source: Guardian/Observer] Nicholas Watt and Jamie Doward | Sunday, May 13, 2007

Why Muslims Hate Dogs

Das Ende der alten britischen Ordnung
DIE PRESSE: Die Wirtschaft ist ruiniert, die politische Kaste hat sich mit einem parteiübergreifenden Spesenskandal diskreditiert, und der Premier hängt in den Seilen. Das Land geht harten Zeiten entgegen.

LONDON. Als Gordon Brown vor knapp zwei Jahren Premier wurde, versprach er den Briten: „Lasst uns das Werk der Veränderung beginnen.“ In seiner nur 23 Sätze langen Antrittsrede verwendete er das Wort „Change“ nicht weniger als sieben Mal. Seine Ankündigung ist wahr geworden. Doch nicht so, wie Brown es wollte. Die alte Ordnung ist fast völlig zusammengebrochen.

Denn Großbritannien erlebt dieser Tage ein dramatisches „Fin de Regime“. Zum wirtschaftlichen Bankrott ist nun auch noch die Selbstzerstörung der politischen Klasse getreten. Seit mehr als zwei Wochen enthüllt der „Daily Telegraph“ täglich die seltsamen Spesengebarungen der Abgeordneten des Unterhauses. Kaum einer der 646 Parlamentarier steigt mit weißer Weste aus. Die Mehrheit ließ sich alles von der Entfernung von Pferdemist bis zur Errichtung von Entenhäuschen auf dem heimatlichen Gartenteich vom Steuerzahler begleichen. Zuletzt kündigte Labour-Abgeordnete Margaret Moran ihren Rücktritt an. Sie hatte 25.000 Euro für ihr Wochenendhaus beansprucht, um dort Holzfäule beseitigen zu lassen. >>> Axel Reiserer | Freitag, 29. Mai 2009

The Rise Of British Racism May Be Horribly Close
THE SPECTATOR: As the June elections draw close, Fraser Nelson goes on the stump with the BNP and is struck by a troubling paradox: the less racist Britain is, the more popular this racist party becomes. As Westminster implodes, far Right politicians are posturing as the tribunes of working people

Angela Wallace is one of a new breed of wavering voter. ‘I’m disgusted with all of the parties,’ she says, peering suspiciously at the men with clipboards on her doorstep. ‘MPs are not like they used to be. Now they’re all as bad as each other.’ The political activists I am accompanying have a ready response. ‘Well, why not make a protest vote?’ asks the candidate. ‘We’re the BNP.’ They have a leaflet ready: ‘Punish the Pigs’, it says. The BNP, it continues, is ‘the only party that makes them squeal. We’re NOT in it for the money.’ She promises to think about it.

In these deliberations, she will be very far from alone. In next week’s European and local elections, some 800,000 people are projected to vote BNP if the party continues its steady, menacing and (since 1987) unbroken advance. This time it is on the cusp of a breakthrough. All it needs is 8.5 per cent of the vote in the North West and Nick Griffin, its leader, will be on his way to Strasbourg as an MEP. If so, he will achieve what the National Front and the British Union of Fascists could only dream of: a legitimate seat in a legislature.

Just ten years ago, obituaries were being written for British racial nationalism. Oswald Mosley may have filled the Albert Hall in 1940, but he never won so much as a council ward at the ballot box. The National Front won two such contests, but was crushed by Thatcher in 1979 and never recovered. The British National Party had a brief victory in Isle of Dogs in 1993 but then seemed to perish. To hawk its racism in a country as tolerant as Britain seemed as futile as trying to start a coconut farm in Yorkshire. It just didn’t seem to take root.

In recent years, however, under the very noses of the apparently triumphant mainstream political class, the BNP has suddenly started to grow again — and its rise is exponential. Nine years ago it scored just 3,020 votes in England’s local elections. Last year its total was 235,000, giving the BNP 56 incumbent councillors. One such is Seamus Dunne, whom I meet outside the Dick Whittington pub in South Oxhey, a Hertfordshire housing estate built after the war. He has agreed to let me tag along with him and his fellow campaigners, to see what he calls the ‘real BNP’ — not what he regards as the caricature invented by the media.

Certainly, Mr Dunne could scarcely be more different from the stereotype of the tattooed thug. Besuited and softly spoken, he talks about taking his family to Kew Gardens and says that he wants to serve locals — ‘black or white’ — as best he can. It is a racially mixed estate, and there is no telling what the ethnicity of the voter opening the door will be. But the first, a young white man in his thirties, is a quick success. ‘You’re the guy who sorted out the rat infestation for us,’ he tells Mr Dunne. ‘You’ll get my vote. I’m BNP, and so is everyone I know.’

This is the first important point to note: there is no explicit talk of race, immigration or the death penalty (which the BNP supports). Just rats. This chap had a problem; his councillor fixed it and secured at least one vote. This is a significant and new aspect of the BNP’s strategy. Just as Lib Dems talk about holes in the road, not holes in the nation’s finances, the BNP (in spite of its nationalist identity) focuses relentlessly on the local. It targets councils with huge (normally Labour) majorities which have, for whatever reason, lost the will or capacity to campaign and govern well. The BNP then seeks to make itself useful: most recently, by sending squads to clear litter in strategic locations. It is a devious ploy: distracting public attention from the racist reality of the BNP by presenting itself as the ‘helpful party’. >>> Fraser Nelson | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Muslim Demographics

Iran: Holocaust Is West's Achilles' Heel
YNET NEWS: President Ahmadinejad also says Iran now has more than 7,000 centrifuges operating at Natanz

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that the Holocaust is "the Achilles' heel of the West and its main weakness", explaining that this was the reason for its continued mentioning of the subject.

Responding to comments made by his opponents in an upcoming nationwide election, Ahmadinejad told a radio station that "the West has created a situation of false pity for itself and is using it to oppress other nations".

He added, "We attacked the issue of the Holocaust and even they didn't believe such a thing occurred, because we attacked their main weak point." >>> Dudi Cohen | Thursday, May 28, 2009

From Soviet Secularism to Israeli Ultra-Orthodoxy
HAARETZ: On Lag Ba'omer, a group of merrymakers squeezed around a traditional holiday campfire in a patch of garden between two buildings in Rishon Letzion. They roasted potatoes, like everyone else, and burned an effigy of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, like everyone else. David Schechter, who served as an advisor to former minister Natan Sharansky, said he can't remember what else went up in smoke, because "the vodka flowed like water."

The guests at this campfire were all immigrants from the former Soviet Union who have become observant Jews and wear skullcaps. They are doctors and lawyers, journalists and businesspeople, and fathers and sons who meet regularly at the local synagogue, where about a quarter of the congregation is Russian-speaking. Every couple of months, they are joined by a new worshipper with the same background.

Schechter, who became religiously observant while still living in Moscow, before immigrating to Israel in 1987, is called the "rabbi of the brigade." This is a slight exaggeration, although Schechter occupies a significant role in encouraging the phenomenon of returning to religion among immigrants. And even if the trend is no tidal wave, it contradicts a stereotype. >>> By Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondent | Friday, May 29, 2009

Deutschland stellt Besuch von «Terrorcamps» unter Strafe: Bis zu zehn Jahre Haft für den Aufenthalt in Ausbildungslagern
NZZ Online: Der Deutsche Bundestag hat den Besuch sogenannter Terrorcamps unter Strafe gestellt und die 1999 ausgelaufene Kronzeugenregelung wieder in Kraft gesetzt. Die Opposition kritisiert beide Neuerungen. Liberale und Grüne malen eine Gesinnungsjustiz an die Wand.

Die Gefahr, die von militanten Islamisten ausgeht, schlägt sich immer deutlicher im deutschen Strafrecht nieder. Am Donnerstag beschloss der Bundestag zahlreiche Änderungen, darunter die Einführung eines neuen Paragrafen 89a, der die Vorbereitung einer schweren staatsgefährdenden Gewalttat mit Haftstrafen von bis zu zehn Jahren belegt. >>> U. Sd. | Freitag, 29. Mai 2009

In Search of Europe: Austria
BBC: Many Austrians are deeply suspicious of the EU, the BBC's Jonny Dymond reports, as he tours the continent ahead of next month's European elections.

Austria is a big central European paradox. Its language links it to Germany. Its culture links it to Italy. Its former empire links it to Hungary, the western Balkans, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is difficult to imagine a place more plugged into Europe.

And it is difficult to find anyone with a good word to say about the EU.

Down in the 10th district of Vienna the fast food joints rub shoulders with cheap jewellery stores and mobile phone shops. It's a working class area with a high immigrant population.

At an outside table in a cafe in a market, Horst Glasner and Hans Bubnik are settling into a fairly liquid lunch. As they drink white wine they bite into fat pickled cucumbers sold from a barrel at a stall a few metres away. Both men are retired.

Neither have anything but contempt for the EU.

"We have a bit of a problem with the whole thing," says Horst. "The problem is that the EU is not honest. They cheat on us a lot. This is the big problem."

"The problem is that everything has become more expensive," says Hans. "Since we joined the EU everything has been a third more expensive."

Horst finds another problem.

"Every country is in a different situation. The EU must look at the individual conditions. And this is the big problem." >>> Jonny Dymond | Friday, May 29, 2009

EU Vote Makes Officials Nervous
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: If Bulgarian Bilyana Raeva is re-elected to the European Parliament next weekend, she will get a more than eightfold raise. She could also find herself sitting beside a bumper crop of lawmakers from Europe's extreme right.

The European Union's Brussels-based legislature is little loved and less understood, but after polls on June 4-7, it is likely to look significantly different, with new members, new rules and potentially new powers.

The parliament is the Cinderella of EU institutions. With no right to initiate legislation, it is limited to negotiating amendments or blocking laws crafted by the more powerful EU council -- made up of the national governments -- and European Commission, the EU bureaucracy.

But the next legislature could get expanded powers -- and perhaps more public attention and gravitas -- if Ireland later this year ratifies an important treaty amending the way the EU works.

It could also get a laundered reputation. The parliament will have new rules governing legislators' salaries and expenses after an expense-abuse scandal that began three years ago, involving sums far greater than those in the current uproar over Britain's House of Commons.

But the coming election to the Brussels-based parliament is seizing attention in capitals across the 27-nation bloc for a different reason. In the midst of the worst recession since World War II, the vote could offer a guide to political fallout for national governments to come.

"People think that the local and European elections don't matter as much, so they can use those votes to punish politicians they are unhappy with," says Julia Clark, head of political research at pollster Ipsos MORI in the U.K. Germany holds national elections in the fall, while the U.K. must hold them by June 2010.

From a Romanian property tycoon on bail on kidnapping charges, to a Cambridge-educated ultranationalist in Britain, nationalist, anti-immigrant and xenophobic politicians are campaigning to tap into popular anger. Some are likely to make it to Brussels. >>> By Gaston Ceron in Brussels and Alistair MacDonald in London | Friday, May 29, 2009

Today in History for May 29th

Obama: «je crois fermement
à une solution à deux Etats»
Mahmoud Abbas avec Barack Obama. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le président américain, qui reçevait jeudi soir le leader palestinien Mahmoud Abbas, a répété qu'il exigeait l'arrêt de la colonisation israélienne en Cisjordanie.

Barack Obama maintient le cap de la fermeté dans la relation entre Etats-Unis et Israël. Le président américain reçevait jeudi soir le leader de l'Autorité palestinienne, Mahmoud Abbas, à la Maison-Blanche. Une visite qui prend un ton tout particulier, alors que la nouvelle administration israélienne fait la sourde oreille à l'injonction de Washington, mercredi, de geler les constructions de colonies en Cisjordanie et refuse d'envisager la solution à deux Etats séparés préconisée par les Etats-Unis.

Mahmoud Abbas, qui ne contrôle concrètement que la Cisjordanie, le Hamas tenant d'une main de fer la Bande de Gaza, est venu à Washington pour rappeler l'urgence de relancer le processus de paix israélo-palestinien. Pour lui, «le temps est un facteur essentiel» dans l'affaire.

Le dirigeant palestinien a d'ailleurs remis à Barack Obama un document contenant des propositions pour sortir de l'impasse. «Ce document ne sort pas du cadre de la Feuille de route et de l'Initiative de paix arabe. Il contient des idées pour la mise en place de mécanismes d'application de ces deux plans», précise-t-il, assurant qu'Obama a promis de l'étudier.

Rappelant une nouvelle fois que les Etats-Unis sont «un allié inconditionnel» d'Israël, le président américain a adopté un ton optimiste sur la perspective d'un apaisement des tensions au Proche-Orient. «Je pense qu'il est important de ne pas s'attendre au pire, mais d'espérer le meilleur», a-t-il lancé, demandant à nouveau l'arrêt de la colonisation israélienne. >>> Samuel Laurent (lefigaro.fr) avec agences | Vendredi 29 Mai 2009

LOS ANGELES TIMES: U.S.-Israel Rift Becomes an Unusually Public One

President Barack Obama meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and repeats his tough stance on Jewish settlements. Obama is to deliver a speech to the Muslim world next week from Cairo.

Reporting from Jerusalem and Washington Richard Boudreaux -- President Obama and top Israeli officials staked out sharply opposing positions over the explosive issue of Jewish settlements Thursday, propelling a rare dispute between the two close allies into full public view just days before the U.S. leader is due to deliver a long-awaited address in Egypt to the world's Muslims.

Speaking after a White House meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama reiterated that he had been "very clear about the need to stop building settlements, to stop building outposts" on Palestinian territory.

Only hours earlier, the Israeli government said it would continue to allow some growth in the settler communities in the West Bank.

The exchange underscored the unusually hard-line position Obama has taken publicly with Israel early in his administration. Most U.S. presidents, aware of the political sensitivity, have worked hard to keep disagreements out of sight, when they existed.

The back and forth also added a contentious note to the start of a grueling period of Middle East peace talks that the White House has pledged to aggressively pursue. And it comes as Obama prepares his speech scheduled for next week that is aimed at repairing U.S. ties with the Muslim world.

The verbal disagreement with Israel defied expectations of U.S. and Israeli officials, as well as many analysts, who had predicted that the new American president and the newer conservative Israeli prime minister would seek a pragmatic way to avoid public clashes.

But since Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House 11 days ago, the contrasts have steadily risen in public view.

Obama believes an Israeli settlement freeze would elicit concessions from moderate Arab states, reinvigorating peace negotiations.

In staff-level talks that continue almost daily, Israeli officials have balked. >>> By Paul Richter and Christi Parsons and Richard Boudreaux | Friday, May 29, 2009

Georgien: Großdemo gegen Präsident Saakaschwili
DIE PRESSE: Tausende Demonstranten blockierten am Dienstagabend den Bahnhof der Hauptstadt Tiflis. Die Saakaschwili-Gegner fordern den Rücktritt des Präsidenten. Sie wefen ihm einen autoritären Führungsstil vor.

Michail Saakaschwili. Bild dank der Presse
Nach einer Großdemonstration gegen den georgischen Präsidenten Michail Saakaschwili haben tausende Demonstranten am Dienstagabend den Bahnhof der Hauptstadt Tiflis blockiert. Nach mehreren Stunden beendeten sie die Aktion wieder friedlich. Sie kündigten für die Zukunft weitere Blockaden an, um Saakaschwilis Rücktritt zu erzwingen. >>> Ag. | Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

Débarquement : la reine Elizabeth ne viendra pas
La reine Elizabeth II. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Buckingham Palace assure toutefois que la reine n'est ni en colère, ni frustrée de ne pas avoir été officiellement invitée par la France, aux cérémonies du 6 juin.

«Ni la reine ni aucun membre de la famille royale ne participera aux commémorations du Jour-J le 6 juin, puisque nous n'avons reçu d'invitation officielle pour aucun des événements» prévus. La sobre déclaration a été diffusée jeudi par Buckingham Palace, comme pour clore la polémique naissante sur un éventuel délit de lèse-majesté de la France.

Mercredi, le tabloïd Daily Mail affirmait que la reine était «furieuse» et «frustrée» de ne pas avoir reçu de carton d'invitation aux cérémonies du 65e anniversaire du débarquement allié en Normandie le 6 juin.

Suite à cet article, le porte-parole du gouvernement, Luc Chatel, avait immédiatement affirmé que les Britanniques étaient «invités» et que «la reine d'Angleterre, le chef de l'Etat britannique, est naturellement la bienvenue», tout en précisant que cette célébration était «au départ franco-américaine».

Jeudi, le palais royal a assuré qu'Elizabeth II n'avait «jamais exprimé le moindre sentiment de colère ou de frustration».

La veille, l'ambassadeur de Grande-Bretagne à Paris, Peter Westmacott, avait déjà affirmé au micro de RTL qu'il n'était «pas question de colère du tout» de la part de la reine. Toutefois, «il n'appartient pas à la France de désigner la représentation britannique», avait-il précisé. >>> | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

David Cameron Attacks 'Fascist' BNP
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron launched a scathing attack on the British National Party while fielding questions at an agricultural show.

David Cameron speaks at the Royal Bath and West Show. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The Tory leader said many people would be angry at the main two parties over the MP expenses furore and would want to punish politicians by voting for the BNP or UKIP.

He was talking with the farming community at the Bath and West Show in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

“If you vote for the BNP you are voting for a bunch of fascists who want to divide this country over the issues of race and the colour of skin,” he said.

He became angry when a member of the audience said the BNP “have a point when it comes to immigration”.

Mr Cameron told him: “Do not be naive about what these people stand for.

“They dress up in a suit and knock on your door in a nice way but they are still Nazi thugs. There is a proper national debate that we should have about immigration.

“I want us to limit the number of people coming to Britain, but do not believe that the way to beat the BNP is to half agree with them.

“These people are not pleasant people.” >>> | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pat Condell*: Children of a Stupid God

*Please note that these are Pat Condell's ideas; they are not mine.

Extremist Preacher Abu Hamza's Three Sons Jailed for Luxury Car Scam
THE TELEGRAPH: Three sons of the extremist Muslim preacher Abu Hamza have been jailed for their part in a £1m luxury car scam.

Mohamed Mostafa . Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The gang targeted makes including Mercedes, BMW and Range Rover which had been left in long-stay car parks.

They wrote to the DVLA to change their address and re-register the vehicles and when new log books were sent out they obtained a new set of keys from dealerships.

The cars were then sold on to unwitting third parties or used as collateral for loans.

Abu Hamza's sons Hamza Kamel, 22, and Mohamed Mostafa, 27, helped run the two-year fraud with the hook handed cleric's stepson Mohssin Ghailam, 28.

Martyn Bowyer, prosecuting, called the operation a "sophisticated, well-planned and professionally executed enterprise" that involved 32 vehicles which together were valued at more than £1m.

The court heard that Kamel admitted five counts of handling stolen cars and of laundering more than £14,000 of criminal money in relation to the scam was sentenced to two and a half years..

Mostafa, who lives with his brother in Acton West London, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by using false French passport to secure a £12,000 loan and to obtain keys for a BMW and was sentenced to two years.

Ghailan, from Shepherd's Bush, West London, described as a "key player", admitted conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for four years. >>> By Duncan Gardham, Telegraph Security Correspondent | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pakistan Hit by Second Bombing in Two Days with Attack in Peshawar
THE TELEGRAPH: Suspected Taliban terrorists have bombed a second Pakistani city in as many days, with reports of blasts in Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing and shooting attack in Lahore on Wednesday that claimed as many as 30 lives.

Hours later two explosions were reported in a market in the northern city of Peshawar. Initial reports said that 15 people had been wounded in the blast.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to the Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, said that the Lahore attack, in which offices used by the police and the provicial headquarters of the ISI intelligence service were targeted, "was in response to the Swat operation where innocent people have been killed".

A little-known group calling itself the Taliban Movement in Punjab has also claimed responsibility for the attack. >>> Telegraph’s foreign staff and agencies, Lahore | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Israel Rebuffs Hillary Clinton's Call for Halt in West Bank Settlements
TIMES ONLINE: Israel’s new right-wing government was set for its first stand-off with the Obama Administration today, after it openly rebuffed a call from Washington to a total freeze on all Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, called last night for Israel halt all construction of settlements, considered illegal by the international community as they are civilian communities built on war-conquered land.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister, offered last week in Washington to dismantle new settlement outposts in return for being allowed to continue “natural growth” on the established West Bank communities.

But Mrs Clinton made a surprisingly curt rebuttal to the proposal, insisting that Mr Obama – who travels to Cairo next week to try and heal strained US ties with the Muslim world – wanted a blanket ban on settlement growth.

He wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions,” she said. “We think it is in the best interests (of the peace process) that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly. ... And we intend to press that point.” >>> James Hider in Jerusalem | Thursday, May 28, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Telegraph View

The White House must not show ambiguity in its relations with Israel.

President Barack Obama was, it seems, nonplussed by his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month. He was said to have been taken aback by the Israeli prime minister's intransigent tone over West Bank settlements and the two-state solution.

If these reports are accurate, there should be no surprise in the White House this morning at Israel's brusque response to Hillary Clinton's demand for a complete halt on all settlement activity.

The US Secretary of State had said there could be no exceptions from President Obama's call for a settlement freeze. "Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions. We think it is in the best interest of the effort that we are engaged in that settlement expansion cease", Mrs Clinton said. President Barack Obama Must Start to Act the Part >>> | Thursday, May 28, 2009

India's First and Only Gay Magazine Tests Taboos by Making a Comeback
Image courtesy of Bombay Dost
TIMES ONLINE: India’s first and only gay magazine is back on news stands for the first time in seven years amid hopes that taboos may finally be fading in a country where homosexuality remains illegal.

Bombay Dost (Bombay Friends) is being relaunched after going out of print in 2002 when the then underground publication ran out of money.

The English-language magazine’s publishers say that much has changed in India during the intervening years — even if a British colonial-era law banning sex “against the order of nature” remains firmly in place.

“India’s gay community is still illegal, but it is more confident and happier than ever before,” Nitin Karani, the editor-at-large, said. “We’re not constantly beating our breasts over discrimination and marginalisation. The new magazine reflects that.” >>> Rhys Blakely, Mumbai | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Please Uncover Your Face. It's Our Custom
TIMES ONLINE: Why are women's faces concealed in East London but not in Damascus?

Funny to return from Lebanon, Syria and Turkey - where women go unveiled - and return to Britain, the land of the full hijab. I see more women with their faces covered in Tower Hamlets than I did in Damascus.

I used to think that covering the whole face except for the eyes was the normal Islamic custom (in a week in Afghanistan I hardly saw a woman's face) and so was surprised to find that even in Syria, the most culturally conservative of the Middle Eastern countries I've just visited, not a tenth of the women seem to cover their faces. Most (by no means all) cover their heads, but you don't get that closed, turning-away feeling you sense along the Whitechapel Road in the East End of London. In the Damascus streets, women in all-women groups, and women with men, chat and laugh; and I saw to be true (what some Muslims have already told me) that the full hijab cannot be considered a religious duty, but is simply a cultural feature of some societies that are Muslim, but not others.

If so, how far should we tolerate it? Spitting is a cultural feature in China but we discourage it here. In Syria I took my shoes off to enter mosques, though that is not in my culture; and wouldn't have worn clothing like skimpy shorts or vests, or drunk alcohol in the streets: practices offensive not to me but to the mainstream culture where I was. >>> Matthew Parris | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Procès de Aung San Suu Kyi: la Birmanie rejette «les pressions de l'étranger»
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: DISSIDENCE | La Birmanie a rejeté jeudi "les pressions et les ingérences de l'étranger" en liaison avec le procès de l'opposante Aung San Suu Kyi, lors d'une réunion entre ministres européens et du Sud-Est asiatique.

Le chef de la junte birmane, Than Shwe, le 27 mars 2009 à Naypyidaw. Crédits photo: Tribune de Genève
Maung Myint, vice-ministre birman des Affaires étrangères, a déclaré que les accusations contre Mme Suu Kyi étaient une "affaire judiciaire interne". >>> AFP | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

Bernadette Chirac et Carla Bruni-Sarkozy : leur rencontre à l'Elysée
LE FIGARO: Dans son édition de vendredi 29 mai, Le Figaro Magazine a organisé une rencontre exceptionnelle. Pour la première fois, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy et Bernadette Chirac ont accepté de dialoguer.

Bernadette Chirac et Carla Bruni Sarkozy. Photo grâce au Figaro
Dans son édition de vendredi 29 mai, Le Figaro Magazine a organisé une rencontre exceptionnelle. Pour la première fois, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy et Bernadette Chirac ont accepté de dialoguer. Elles se sont livrées au jeu de la Vérité. Bernadette confie que son plus mauvais souvenir à l’Elysée est la dissolution manqué de 1997, et que malgré la crise, la collecte 2009 des pièces jaunes sera supérieure à celle de l’année dernière. De son côté, Carla Bruni Sarkozy se défend de donner des conseils politiques à son mari mais «plutôt des conseils humains sur ce que je ressens.» «La politique n’est pas théorique, c’est de l’expérience, un métier de terrain, et ce terrain n’est pas le mien». «Les seules choses pénibles -dans sa fonction de Première Dame- sont les critiques adressés à mon mari.» Elle revient également sur les circonstances qui l’ont amené à écrire une lettre pour prendre la défense de l’opposante birmane Aung San Suu Kyi. >>> | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

Dutch Want to Limit Influx of EU Workers, Survey Shows
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Dutch people want to reverse some of the power transferred to Brussels, a new survey shows. The results confirm the negative sentiments the Dutch voiced when they voted against the European constitution in 2005.

A majority of Dutch people does not want the powers of the European Union to be expanded, an extensive survey shows. The results will be presented to deputy foreign minister Frans Timmermans, responsible for European affairs, on Wednesday.

Most Dutch people oppose the transfer of more political power to Brussels, according to the poll by 21minuten.nl. Half of the 60,000 people who took part in the survey say they would like to see European integration partly reversed: 54 percent says there should be limits to the migration of workers from other EU member states, even if that leads to a rise in prices for products and services.

A majority is still opposed to a European constitution, the survey shows. The Dutch voted against the constitution in a referendum in 2005, but no popular vote was held about the Lisbon Treaty, which the Dutch parliament approved in 2008.

The conclusions of the '21 minutes' survey are harsh, but not surprising in the light of the 2005 referendum. Although the polls show no overwhelming support for eurosceptic parties such as Geert Wilders' anti-immigration Party for Freedom and the Socialist Party in next week's elections, a record low turnout is expected. >>> By Wilmer Heck and Annemarie Kas | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

'This Is Like Being in a Filthy Labour Camp,' Says Adultery Mother Locked in Dubai Jail Hell
British mother Sally Antia, who is being held in a Dubai jail, claims she is given food riddled with maggots. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: A British mother being held in a Dubai prison for adultery has revealed the appalling conditions she is enduring while awaiting her fate.

Sally Antia claims she is being fed food riddled with maggots and shares a toilet and poorly functioning shower with 100 other women.

Conditions are so crowded that she - like every other woman in the underground jail - sleeps toe-to-head with another woman in her single bunk bed.

She regularly washes in water from a bucket.

Mrs Antia and her boyfriend Mark Hawkins, 43, were both arrested in the early hours of May 2 as they walked out of one of Dubai's five-star hotels.

Their arrest followed a complaint by Mrs Antia's estranged husband Vincent made to police that his wife was committing adultery - a crime in the ultra-strict United Arab Emirates. >>> By Dan Newling | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Wahlkampf: Österreichs Rechte machen Politik mit dem Kruzifix
WELT ONLINE: Bekannt wurde Heinz-Christian Strache als Ziehsohn des verstorbenen Rechtspopulisten Jörg Haiders. Als Christ ist der Chef der rechtsgerichteten Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) in der Vergangenheit hingegen nicht aufgefallen. Doch jetzt zieht Strache mit gezücktem Kruzifix für ein "Abendland in Christenhand" in den Europawahlkampf.

Mit einem hölzernen Kreuz demonstriert der Chef der rechtsgericheten FPÖ gegen den Ausbau eines muslimischen Kulturzentrums in Wien. Die FPÖ versucht im Europwahlkampf Stimmung gegen Nicht-Christen zu machen. Bild dank der Welt
Bisher ist den Österreichern noch nicht ganz klar, bei wem sich Heinz-Christian Strache das mit dem hölzernen Kruzifix abgeschaut hat. Bei den Kreuzfahrern vermuten die Einen, bei den Mönchen der Gegenreformation die Anderen, bei den Vampirjägern in alten Hollywoodfilmen die Dritten. Fest steht bloß,dass der Chef der rechtsgerichteten Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) auf der politischen Bühne noch nicht als Christ aufgefallen ist, diese Rolle hat er erst für den aktuellen EU-Wahlkampf entdeckt.

["]Abendland in Christenhand“ fordern Strache und sein Spitzenkandidat, der freiheitliche Chefideologe Andreas Mölzer, derzeit auf Plakaten und in Zeitungsinseraten. Vertreter aller großen Glaubensgemeinschaften protestierten schon zum Wahlkampfauftakt gegen den Brachialreim, Strache legte nach. Bei einer Demonstration gegen den Ausbau eines islamischen Kulturzentrums in der Wiener Innenstadt reckte er in klassischer Exorzistenmanier ein Kreuz gen Publikum. Seine Anhänger johlten, der Rest des Landes ist sich seitdem ungewohnt einig in seiner Empörung über den blauen Kulturkämpfer. >>> Von Elisalex Henckel | Donnerstag, 28. Mai 2009

MIt diesem Plakat wirbt die FPÖ in Österreich um Stimmen. Bild dank der Welt

L'ami «infidèle»
de Ben Laden
Nasser al-Bahri, plus connu sous son nom de guerre Abou Jandal, dans son appartement de la capitale yéménite, Sanaa, en février dernier. Photo grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Nasser al-Bahri, alias Abou Jandal, va ouvrir un centre pour la réhabilitation d'anciens djihadistes au Yémen. Cet homme a été pendant trois ans, de 1997 à 2000, le garde du corps d'Oussama Ben Laden, l'homme le plus recherché du monde. Aujourd'hui, Abou Jandal, qui prône « la guerre sainte par les idées pour construire son pays », vit sous la menace d'al-Qaida.

Par la fenêtre, Nasser al-Bahri nous fait signe discrètement de monter. Abou Jandal - son nom de guerre - vit dans un modeste appartement, non loin de l'ambassade américaine, à Sanaa. Pas de photo d'Oussama Ben Laden aux murs. À 37 ans, l'ancien centurion de l'homme le plus recherché au monde a tourné la page de la «guerre sainte» contre l'Occident. Mieux, il s'apprête à ouvrir un centre - «Générations» -, destiné à remettre sur le droit chemin tous les égarés, prêts à aller se battre aux quatre coins du monde au nom du djihad. Mais l'homme a-t-il vraiment changé ?

Assis en tailleur dans son salon meublé en tout et pour tout d'un simple ordinateur, Abou Jandal égrène ses souvenirs : le chef d'al-Qaida «capable d'écouter ses adversaires», mais aussi les profondes divergences entre leaders d'une nébuleuse cosmopolite, condamnée à la clandestinité. Sous son collier de barbe, le visage restera impassible pendant les quatre-vingt-dix minutes de l'entretien.

Chaque jour, pendant plus de trois ans, entre 1997 et 2000, Abou Jandal a surveillé la plupart des faits et gestes de Ben Laden. Sa journée commençait à 5 heures, au réveil de «Cheikh Oussama». «Ben Laden passait ensuite une heure à lire le Coran, avant la prière du lever du jour», se souvient-il.

Le vendredi, le leader d'al-Qaida avait l'habitude de jouer au football. Lui et ses amis originaires de la péninsule arabique affrontaient les autres djihadistes du Moyen-Orient ou du Maghreb, emmenés par l'Égyptien Abou Hafs al-Masri, tué fin 2001, dans un bombardement américain. Ben Laden rentrait ensuite à la maison prendre le petit-déjeuner avec ses enfants. Souvent, c'est lui qui prononçait le prêche de la mi-journée. Avant un déjeuner collectif sous un hangar. Puis un moment d'isolement, juste avant la dernière prière, celle du coucher de soleil. Une journée type d'Oussama Ben Laden dans son sanctuaire afghan de Kandahar, que les Américains détruiront après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. >>> D’envoyé spécial du Figaro à Sanaa, Georges Malbrunot | Jeudi 28 Mai 2009

Ohne Kenntnis einer Landessprache kein Schweizerpass: Voraussetzungen für Einbürgerungen sollen konkretisiert werden
NZZ Online: Wer das Schweizer Bürgerrecht erwerben will, muss künftig über gute Kenntnisse einer Landessprache verfügen. Der Nationalrat hat am Donnerstag stillschweigend eine Motion angenommen, die den Bundesrat beauftragt, das Gesetz in diesem Sinn zu ändern.

Die Motion verlangt gute Kenntnisse einer Landessprache als Voraussetzung für die Einbürgerung. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
Gute Sprachkenntnisse seien für die Integration wichtig, erklärte Roberto Schmidt (cvp., Wallis). Deshalb sei es richtig, das Bürgerrechtsgesetz zu verschärfen.

Weitergehende Forderung der SVP

Dabei dürfe man aber nicht zu weit gehen, sagte er mit Blick auf eine parlamentarische Initiative der SVP ähnlichen Inhalts. Die SVP forderte darin, dass nur eingebürgert wird, wer die Amtssprache des Einbürgerungsorts in Wort und Schrift beherrscht. >>> sda | Donnerstag, 28. Mai 2009

EVERYCULTURE.COM:
Romansch >>>

Labour Reaffirms Support for Turkey's EU Membership, Day after BNP Opposition
Labour party underlines support for Turkish membership to EU, despite consistent opposition by rest of the European Union. Flags courtesy of The London Daily News
THE LONDON DAILY NEWS: The Labour Government's position on Turkeys membership to join the European Union was underlined yesterday with David Milliband the Foreign Secretary saying in Ankara:

"The U.K. remains strongly committed to this vision of Turkey becoming an equal member of the EU. We sent a loud message that it is an important time for imagination and confidence, not for hesitation and blame," Miliband said. "We know there is a long road to accession. Britain can talk about its own rocky road but it is important to drive forward in the face of challenges."

The British National Party which is consistently achieving over 20 per cent in polls on the London Daily News has campaigned consistently against the entrance of Turkey to the European Union with the party's leader on Sky News saying:

"If we could get three or four members of the European Parliament, the next few years will be crucial as to whether Turkey would join the European Union.

"Eighty million Muslims having the right to come here, it would be a disaster. We would like to be able to oppose that as well." >>> International News Desk | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pakistan Suicide Bombing Kills 23 in 'Taliban Revenge Attack'
THE TELEGRAPH: Terrorists struck against Pakistan's security forces with devastating effect, killing at least 23 people in a suicide car bombing in Lahore.

Pakistan bomb blast
Almost 300 more people were injured in an attack that the government said was revenge for its offensive against the Taliban.

The assault began when a car was driven up to the gates of a provincial headquarters of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. Several men inside the car jumped out and opened up with a volley of gunfire. Guards outside the building returned fire.

A few seconds later the explosives in the car were detonated, causing a huge explosion which flattened a police building next to the ISI offices, and shattered surrounding buildings, including a hospital.

A wide crater was left where the car had blown up. At least nine policemen and several intelligence agents, including a senior officer, were among the dead. The remainder of the dead and the bulk of the wounded were civilians caught in the midmorning blast on Wednesday in the centre of the city.

Muhammad Ali, a bystander, said: "The moment the blast happened, everything went dark in front of my eyes. The way the blast happened, then gunfire, it looked as if there was a battle going on." >>> By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Margaret Thatcher Meets Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican
THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher, whose first Papal visit was more than 30 years ago, has been introduced to Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

Lady Thatcher encouraged the Pope to accept the invitation from Gordon Brown to visit Britain. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The meeting took place after the Pope's weekly audience in St Peter's Square. Lady Thatcher, was dressed in black as she had been on her first visit in 1977, with a dark handbag and star shaped brooch.

They talked for several minutes and Lady Thatcher encouraged the Pope to accept the invitation from Gordon Brown to visit Britain. The first Pope to visit Britain was John Paul II who came in 1982 at the time of the Falklands War.

Before she met the Pope Lady Thatcher laid a wreath of white roses on the tomb in the Vatican of John Paul II with a card which said: " To a man of faith and courage." Lady Thatcher's relationship with the former Polish cardinal was politically close. >>> By Andrew Pierce | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher to Meet Pope Benedict XVI at Vatican

Baroness Thatcher is to have a private audience with the Pope at the Vatican next week.

Their meeting will come more than 30 years after Lady Thatcher first travelled to the Vatican. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The former Prime Minister is flying to Italy on Frdiay to stay with Carla Powell whose husband Charles was her foreign policy adviser at Downing Street.

Lady Powell, who lives in a villa on the outskirts of Rome, arranged the meeting with Pope Benedict XVI which will take place in the Vatican on Wednesday. >>> By Andrew Pierce | Friday, May 22, 2009

Welcome to North Korea!

Les pro et anti-adhésion turque à l'UE sur Internet
Drapeaux européen et turc flottent au-dessus du bazar couvert d'Istanbul, devant la mosquée Nuruosmaniye. Crédits photo: L’Express
L’EXPRESS.fr: Sur Internet, partisans et opposants à une adhésion turque à l'Union européenne affûtent leurs arguments. LEXPRESS.fr passe en revue les sites où les retrouver, s'informer et débattre.

Les sites partisans d'une Turquie européenne jouent la carte de l'information, face aux "préjugés". Turquieeuropenne.eu, par exemple, estime que les anti "affirment abusivement que les citoyens européens ne veulent pas de la Turquie dans l'Union Européenne".

Selon le site de cette association "excédée", "la méconnaissance de la Turquie en Europe est telle que ces sondages sont, dans l'état actuel des choses, sans aucune signification". La Turquie n'est, selon ses membres, que le "nouveau bouc émissaire" trouvé par les eurosceptiques "qu'ils soient souverainistes, nationalistes ou tout simplement xénophobes ". Turquie Européenne est aussi présente sur Facebook.

Tetedeturc.com est, comme son URL l'indique, sur la même longueur d'ondes... Ce site animé par un collectif d'internautes bénévoles de France, Belgique et Turquie, a pour objectif d'apporter "des informations complètes, détaillées et d'offrir un autre éclairage". L'"agence d'information européenne sur la Turquie" Info-turc.org a pour devise "j'informe donc je suis".

Moins partisan, le site Turquie News est, d'après sa charte éditoriale, un "site d'informations et de débat public" qui ne se veut le porte-parole d'aucun parti. Les opinions y sont diverses. Mais dans la rubrique "Europe", les titres des contributions mises en ligne sont cependant plus pro qu'anti-adhésion turque... Voir aussi leur groupe Facebook. >>> Par Marie Simon | Mardi 26 Mai 2009