The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
En Allemagne, les jours fériés islamiques font débat
LE FIGARO: La communauté turque veut favoriser l'intégration des immigrés.
Les représentants de la communauté turque en Allemagne pensent avoir trouvé une solution pour favoriser l'intégration des musulmans outre-Rhin : l'adoption de jours fériés islamiques pour tous les écoliers allemands, quelle que soit leur religion. Cette proposition a déclenché une vive polémique en Allemagne, où les autorités cherchent à favoriser l'intégration des immigrés espérant ainsi compenser en partie un taux de natalité en forte baisse.
Pour le président de la communauté turque en Allemagne, Kenan Kolat, s'il n'est pas possible d'offrir à tous les écoliers un jour férié pour chaque fête du calendrier musulman, il faudrait au moins en choisir un seul. «Je trouverais bien que l'on puisse accorder une journée de congé à tous les enfants allemands pour la fête musulmane qui marque la fin du Ramadan, l'Aïd-el-Fitr, a lancé Kolat dans un appel dans «Berliner Zeitung». Ce serait un signe de tolérance.» Kolat, qui représente les quelque 2,1 millions de musulmans turcs vivant en Allemagne, a souligné que la société allemande doit «tendre la main » aux immigrés, afin de favoriser leur intégration. Et d'ajouter que de nombreux Turcs pratiquant l'Islam acceptent de dresser chez eux des sapins de Noël, bien qu'ils y soient opposés a priori, «par amour pour leurs enfants ». >>> Patrick Saint-Paul, correspondant du Figaro à Berlin | Jeudi 15 Octobre 2009
Anti-Dhimmitude! ‘Islam Is Violent’ Says President Obama’s New Pastor Carey Cash
TIMES ONLINE: More than a year after he was forced to disown his Chicago pastor, President Obama has begun to attend services led by a Christian chaplain who views Islam as a violent faith.
Mr Obama has been an irregular church attender since becoming President, but has expressed a fondness for Carey Cash, the navy chaplain at the Camp David presidential retreat who has been criticised for proselytising in the military and his mistrust of Islam.
The White House insists that the Rev Cash, the great-nephew of the singer Johnny Cash, has not become Mr Obama’s new pastor, but it appears that the President has heard more sermons by him than any other minister since taking office.
The emergence of Mr Cash, 39, who was profiled on the front page of The Washington Post yesterday, will pose some tough questions for the White House — and for President Obama, whose father was Muslim. In a 2004 book describing his deployment to Iraq the year before, Mr Cash calls Islam violent, a faith that “from its very birth has used the edge of the sword as a means to convert or conquer those with different religious convictions”. >>> Tim Reid in Washington | Thursday, October 15, 2009
A Year After the Crunch, It's Boom Time Again for Bankers
A year after the global economy was brought close to collapse by reckless lending, investment banks are preparing to announce huge profits. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Investment bankers are about to enjoy a record bonus season as confidence surges in the financial markets.
Just 12 months after the global economy was brought close to collapse by reckless lending — forcing banks to turn to taxpayers for help — stock markets in London and New York are enjoying one of the strongest bull runs in decades and investment banks are preparing to announce huge profits.
In Britain, job losses slowed in the three months to August. Unemployment rose by 88,000 to 2.47 million, the lowest rise since July last year, and youth unemployment fell slightly. China reported strong trade figures and oil hit a high for the year.
Goldman Sachs, which employs 5,500 people in London, is expected to report a sharp rise in third-quarter profits today. Analysts estimate that, barring a major setback, the average London worker at Goldman will receive about $748,000 (£467,000) in salary and bonuses — 13 per cent higher than 2007 and more than double the 2008 average. >>> Patrick Hosking and Christine Seib | Thursday, October 15, 2009
Barack Obama Is Out of Step on Gays in the Military
TIMES ONLINE: It takes two kinds of bravery to come out in the Armed Forces. Those who show courage deserve more than political cowardice
Among all the promises of change that swept Barack Obama to power, none seemed more simple, symbolic or easier to implement than his pledge to permit openly gay men and women to serve in America’s Armed Forces.
That promise has been repeated often over the nine months since his election — “don’t doubt the direction we are heading, or the destination we will reach”, he declared last weekend — yet America’s homosexual and lesbian soldiers remain firmly barricaded inside the closet.
The present policy, requiring gays to conceal their sexual orientation or face being discharged, could be overturned by executive order or legislation, yet Mr Obama apparently has little appetite for doing so. No timetable for a change in the 16-year-old policy has been set, and the White House is said to want to delay action into the distant future. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has become, under the Obama presidency, Don’t Rock the Boat, Don’t Act.
The law as it stands is a monument to hypocrisy, requiring homosexual soldiers to live a lie and allowing the military brass to ignore reality. With America fighting two wars and recruitment dwindling, it is also astonishingly short-sighted. More than 12,000 members of the US Armed Forces have been discharged since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell came into force.
The law passed by Congress in 1993 states: “The presence in the Armed Forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”
As Britain’s experience shows, this is demonstrably untrue. A decade ago, when Britain was forced to accept gay troops by the European Court of Human Rights, some predicted heterosexual mutiny. “If the doors were opened to homosexuals, there would be a polarisation, people would be ostracised,” Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage (retired), the former head of military intelligence, insisted. “Men don’t like taking showers with men who like taking showers with men.”
As it turned out, the vast majority of serving soldiers accepted openly gay comrades without protest or, even more healthily, with benign lack of concern. At least two dozen armies across the world have admitted homosexuals and lesbians without any impact on operational effectiveness or recruitment levels. >>> Ben Macintyre | Thursday, October 15, 2009
Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Saudi Arabia is trying to enlist other oil-producing countries to support a provocative idea: if wealthy countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, they should pay compensation to oil producers.
The oil-rich kingdom has pushed this position for years in earlier climate-treaty negotiations. While it has not succeeded, its efforts have sometimes delayed or disrupted discussions. The kingdom is once again gearing up to take a hard line on the issue at international negotiations scheduled for Copenhagen in December.
The chief Saudi negotiator, Mohammad al-Sabban, described the position as a “make or break” provision for the Saudis, as nations stake out their stance before the global climate summit scheduled for the end of the year.
“Assisting us as oil-exporting countries in achieving economic diversification is very crucial for us through foreign direct investments, technology transfer, insurance and funding,” Mr. Sabban said in an e-mail message.
This Saudi position has emerged periodically as a source of dispute since the earliest global climate talks, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It is surfacing again as Saudi Arabia tries to build a coalition of producers to extract concessions in Copenhagen.
Petroleum exporters have long used delaying tactics during climate talks. They view any attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by developed countries as a menace to their economies. >>> Jad Mouawad and Andrew C. Revkin | Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Handsome Muslim Men Accused of Waging 'Love Jihad' in India
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim fundamentalists in India have been accused of waging a "love jihad", using charming young men to lure girls into converting to Islam with promises of marriage.
Christian and Hindu groups, which have themselves clashed over the sensitive issue of religious conversions, have joined forces to combat the alleged campaign.
A Hindu helpline in southern India claims it has received more than 1,500 calls from parents who fear their daughters are being lured by the group into converting to Islam.
The high court in Kerala directed India's interior ministry and police to investigate the phenomenon.
So far, little is known about the group behind the "love jihad", but it is alleged to be linked to a fundamentalist Muslim group called the Popular Front of India and its student wing Campus Front - which they deny.
It emerged after two young Muslim men were arrested for luring two post-graduate students into marriage by "feigning love" to convert them to Islam. >>> Dean Nelson in New Delhi | Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Allemagne : polémique après les propos xénophobes d'un dirigeant de la Bundesbank
Thilo Sarrazin, administrateur de la Bundesbank et ancien sénateur des finances à Berlin. Crédits photo: Le Monde
LE MONDE: Ses propos ont d'abord suscité une vague d'indignation en Allemagne. Interviewé par la revue culturelle berlinoise Lettre International sur la problématique de l'intégration, Thilo Sarrazin, administrateur de la Bundesbank et ancien sénateur des finances de Berlin, n'y était effectivement pas allé avec le dos de la cuiller : "Les Turcs conquièrent l'Allemagne exactement comme les Kosovars ont conquis le Kosovo : avec un taux de natalité élevé", avait déclaré le social-démocrate, disant ne pas accepter "ceux qui vivent aux crochets de l'Etat, rejettent ce pays (...) et fabriquent sans arrêt des petites filles avec des foulards". En guise de conclusion, M. Sarrazin avait décrété qu'un "grand nombre d'Arabes et de Turcs (à Berlin) n'ont aucune fonction productive à l'exception de la vente des fruits et des légumes".
Depuis dix jours, la polémique enfle. Aux critiques ont succédé les appels à la démission. La direction de la Bundesbank et le SPD disent réfléchir à des sanctions. Vendredi, le Conseil central des juifs d'Allemagne a comparé le fauteur de troubles à "Goering, Goebbels et Hitler". Pourtant, une autre discussion émerge, encouragée par certains journaux qui estiment que les réflexions de M. Sarrazin, même controversées, ciblent des problèmes bien réels. >>> Le Monde | Lundi 12 Octobre 2009
États-Unis : Obama face à la colère des homosexuels
LE TEMPS: La nébuleuse qui milite en faveur des droits des gays est aujourd’hui déçue par le président démocrate. Une manifestation a réuni dimanche des milliers de personnes à Washington
Ambiance festive, musique et drapeaux multicolores. A première vue, la manifestation qui réunissait dimanche à Washington des dizaines de milliers de défenseurs des droits des homosexuels avait la partie facile. La veille, invité par le plus grand lobby homosexuel du pays, Human Rights Campaign, Barack Obama avait répété qu’il entendait mettre fin à la discrimination dont sont victimes les gays et les lesbiennes enrôlés dans l’armée américaine. Pourtant, la colère gronde. Plus que nulle autre, la nébuleuse qui milite en faveur des droits des homosexuels est aujourd’hui déçue par le président. De mauvais augure, alors que ses membres, par leur profil politique, leur âge et leurs méthodes d’action, ont été à la pointe de la «révolution» qui a amené Obama au pouvoir.
Don’t ask, don’t tell: c’est la politique grâce à laquelle les homosexuels sont en droit de combattre sous le drapeau américain depuis 1993. Personne, à l’armée, ne leur demandera leur orientation sexuelle. Mais ils n’ont pas le droit de l’afficher publiquement ou de la revendiquer. Une présence en catimini jugée humiliante et injuste par les militants. Lors de la campagne présidentielle, Barack Obama avait déjà promis qu’il combattrait cette politique. Un sondage vient de montrer que la longue campagne entreprise notamment par Human Rights Campaign a porté ses fruits. …>>> Luis Lema | Mardi 13 Octobre 2009
«Schuhwerfer von Bagdad» in der Schweiz: Irakischer Journalist mit Touristenvisum eingereist
NZZ ONLINE: Der «Schuhwerfer von Bagdad» ist mit einem Touristenvisum in die Schweiz eingereist. Er ist am Dienstag in Begleitung seines Bruders in Genf angekommen. Muntadher az-Zaidi hat einen Asylantrag wieder zurückgezogen, mit seinem Visum muss er die Schweiz nach 30 Tagen wieder verlassen.
Az-Zaidi hält sich gegenwärtig in der Schweiz auf – mit einem Touristenvisum. Bild: NZZ Online
Der als Schuhwerfer von Bagdad bekannte irakische Journalist Muntadher az-Zaidi ist mit einem Touristenvisum in die Schweiz eingereist. Er kam am Dienstag in Begleitung seines Bruders am Flughafen Genf an, wie Bilder der Fernsehsender SF und TSR zeigten. >>> sda | Dienstag, 13. Oktober 2009
Hip, Hip, Hoorah! Geert Can Enter the United Kingdom!
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: It’s being reported that Dutch MP Geert Wilders has won his appeal against being banned from the UK. According to Radio Netherlands:
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in London has ruled that the British government was wrong to deny populist Dutch politician Geert Wilders entry to the United Kingdom. Mr Wilders planned to show his film Fitna to the British parliament. The government refused to allow him to enter the UK on the grounds that he represented a threat to public order. It is not clear whether the tribunal’s decision means that Mr Wilders is now free to travel to the UK. The British government has not yet reacted to the ruling.
Whether or not one agrees with Wilders’ views on Islam, which make me look like “Koran” Armstrong in comparison, the ban was outrageous. Britain allows all sorts of shady and colourful foreigners to use our premises for their nefarious activities – in contrast here was an elected representative of a democratic European party who was invited by two British parliamentarians to privately broadcast a film about religious fundamentalism.
Wilders had every right to come here, and as far as I can see the only reason he was banned was cowardly British fear of French-style riots. Lord Ahmed, a self-proclaimed Muslim “leader” who, unlike Wilders, has never been elected by anyone, said that Wilders’s criticism of his religion was “an incitement of religious and racial hatred”. He denies saying he would bring down 10,000 protesters to the Lords, but there was a definite air of surrender in the air.
Meanwhile the Government’s great friends, the Muslim Council of Britain, called Wilders “an open and relentless preacher of hate”. (This is the same MCB that has been reluctant to attend Holocaust Memorial Day and objects to mention of the “alleged Armenian genocide” and the “so-called gay Holocaust”.)
Wilders for his part has never preached hatred against any people, only a religion, and has flatly said “I don’t hate Muslims, I hate Islam”. (Plenty of my friends absolutely hate Christianity and wish it driven off the face of the earth, but I don’t take it as a personal affront. That’s because I’m a grown-up). Wilders has also compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and its founder to a terrorist, and has talked about a growing Islamic population with dread. He said: “Take a walk down the street and see where this is going. You no longer feel like you are living in your own country. There is a battle going on and we have to defend ourselves. Before you know it there will be more mosques than churches.” Geert Wilders is free to enter Britain >>> Ed West | Tuesday, October 13, 2009
TIMES ONLINE – BLOG: The term banana republic has been used by a couple of French friends in reaction to the news from Paris this week. They were referring to the high-handed way that France's ruler and his caste have been behaving in two or three current matters.The latest involves an astonishing act of nepotism by Nicolas Sarkozy. His barons are about to elevate Jean Sarkozy, the President's 23-year-old, undergraduate son, to a powerful and prized executive post. Sarkozy rules, okay >>> Charles Bremner | Sunday, October 11, 2009
Nicolas Sarkozy: My Son Jean Was 'Thrown to the Wolves'
TIMES ONLINE: President Sarkozy complained today that his son Jean was being hounded unjustly as controversy continued to rage over the appointment of the 23-year-old student as head of France's premium business district.
Mr Sarkozy blamed the media and opponents for persecuting Jean over his imminent appointment as chairman of Epad, the development agency that administers La Défense, the business quarter on the western edge of Paris.
"It is never right for someone to be thrown to the wolves without reason," he said. His first comment on "the Prince Jean affair" came after he made a speech in praise of France's egalitarian tradition.
Napoleon Bonaparte had rendered France a great service in "ending the privilege of birth", the President told a group of sixth-formers. "That means that what counts in success in France is not being well-born, it is to have worked hard and proved by one's studies and worth."
The pupils and dignitaries struggled to stay solemn. France has been riveted for days by the sudden ascent of the President's second son, who is repeating his second year of undergraduate law studies. >>> Charles Bremner | Tuesday, October 13, 2009
LE TEMPS: Jean Sarkozy à la tête du plus grand quartier d’affaires d’Europe? L’annonce d’une probable accession, à 23 ans, du fils du président français à la direction d’un organisme au chiffre d’affaire d’un milliard d’euros, provoque un tollé qui ne cesse de s’amplifier. Le président s’est indigné mardi que son fils soit jeté «en pâture».
L’arrivée possible de Jean Sarkozy à la tête de la Défense, le grand quartier d’affaires à l’ouest de Paris, n’en finit pas de susciter remous et sarcasmes. Dans les médias étrangers, c’est le terme de népotisme qui revient le plus souvent. Un journaliste du Times n’hésite pas à parler de «république bananière». Et déjà la télévision chinoise CCTV ironise sur ce «petit Sarkozy» et se demande dans un reportage repéré par Rue89 «comment un homme aussi jeune qui n’a même pas fini ses études peut diriger un organisme aussi important?» >>> Simon Pittet | Mardi 13 Octobre 2009
I Will Not Sign Lisbon Treaty, Says Czech President
Vaclav Klaus: the last man holding out. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The President of the Czech Republic has no intention of signing the Lisbon treaty, a move that might allow David Cameron time to hold a British referendum on Europe.
President Klaus, the fiercely Eurosceptic Czech leader, is the last obstacle for the agreement after its ratification in the other 26 EU states but he has told supporters that he will never sign, The Times has learnt.
Asked during a walkabout on Sunday not to put his name to the treaty, Mr Klaus replied: “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
After a crisis Cabinet meeting yesterday, Jan Fischer, the Czech Prime Minister, avoided a direct confrontation with Mr Klaus, bowing to his demand to reopen negotiations with the EU on an eleventh-hour opt-out.
However, he called on the unpredictable President to guarantee his signature if EU leaders agreed to his conditions and if the Czech Constitutional Court raised no new objections.
Mr Klaus is demanding an opt-out for the Czech Republic that would prevent German families expelled after the Second World War from lodging property claims at the European Court of Justice.
He raised the stakes on Friday, putting a dampener on EU celebrations over the Irish referendum decision to back the treaty. The President argued that the charter could whip up an avalanche of property claims from German families expelled from Czech territory after the war. >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent, in Prague | Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Erotische Revolution: Wie Muslime den Teufel im Bett loswerden
WELT ONLINE: Das Geschlechtsleben des Mannes ist im Islam fast ebenso fremdbestimmt wie das der Frau. Ständig müssen sich die Männer anhören, wie wenig sie ihre Triebe kontrollieren können. Im Bett ist der Teufel immer dabei. Seyran Ates ist überzeugt, dass der Islam dringend eine sexuelle Revolution braucht.
1001 Nacht: Die Jungfrau Scheherazade erzählt dem König Schahriyâr Geschichten, um ihr Leben zu retten. Der hatte seine Frau töten lassen, weil diese Untreu war. Bild: Welt Online
Hadayatullah Hübsch beschreibt im Zusammenhang mit der Frage, ob sich eine Frau ihrem Mann sexuell verweigern dürfe, das islamische Verständnis vom Wesen der männlichen Sexualität: „Im Gegensatz zur Frau unterliegt der Mann seiner Sexualität in einem Maße, das eine körperliche Befreiung zwingend vorschreibt. Der Mann produziert Samen, deren er sich naturgemäß entledigen muss. Natürlich kann und sollte ein Mann lernen, sich zu beherrschen, seine Körperfunktionen lassen sich aber nicht unbegrenzt unterdrücken. Das könnte seiner Physis schaden.“
Es ist schon eine Bürde, die den muslimischen Männern da auferlegt wird, und das meine ich ganz ernst. Nicht nur den Frauen, sondern auch den Männern wird durch religiöse Vorgaben und Vorschriften letztlich die Erotik, das Intime und Persönliche am Sex geraubt. Das Geschlechtsleben des Mannes ist im Islam fast ebenso fremdbestimmt wie das der Frau. Von allen Seiten wird ihm erklärt, wie er zu sein habe, was er können müsse. Die ständige Berieselung mit dem Thema Sex, die ständige Betonung, wie potent er sei, wie wenig er seine Triebe kontrollieren könne, setzen den Mann unter Druck. Oktay erzählte mir von seiner traditionellen Heirat mit einer Türkin. In der Hochzeitsnacht habe der Sex zwischen den beiden „nicht geklappt“. Als es am nächsten Morgen an der Tür klingelte und eine Verwandte das Laken verlangte, habe er sich in den Finger geschnitten und das eigene Blut verwendet. Er sagt, er habe sich sehr geärgert, dass seine Intimsphäre nicht respektiert wurde und dass er sich selbst verletzen musste, um in Ruhe gelassen zu werden. >>> | Samstag, 10. Oktober 2009
Seyran Ates: „Der Islam braucht eine sexuelle Revolution. Eine Streitschrift“. Ullstein Verlag, 218 Seiten, 19,90 Euro
This Stupid, Incompetent Prime Minister!
DAILY EXPRESS: GORDON BROWN has resorted to selling off billions of pounds worth of public assets in a desperate bid to raise cash.
The Prime Minister today unveiled a £16 billion programme of asset sales as part of a deficit reduction plan to bring down the massive state debt built up during the recession.
Some £3 billion of assets will be sold off over the next two years - including the Tote, the Dartford crossing, the Channel Tunnel rail link and the Student Loan book - in a move that smacks of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation programme branded by Harold Macmillan as "selling the family silver".
Most of the funds will be gathered by encouraging local authorities to exchange assets for cash.
Mr Brown said Britain was “only halfway there” in overcoming the recession, and warned that cutting back spending too soon risked repeating the mistakes of the 1930s and thrusting the country into depression. Now Brown Sells Off the Family Silver to Raise Cash >>> Emily Garnham | Monday, October 12, 2009
Barack Obama's Top 10 Unfulfilled Pledges
THE TELEGRAPH: Less than nine months into his four-year term of office, President Barack Obama's record is already one of abandoned promises, sidelined issues and lack of action.
PolitiFact, a political accountability project run by Florida's St Petersburg Times, has formulated an "Obamameter" gauge that registers seven broken promises, a dozen stalled initiatives and 117 pet projects still "in the works".
Here is the top 10 list of most glaring examples of Mr Obama falling short in key areas he trumpeted during his campaign.
1.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said he would "not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days". But the "sunlight before signing" promise has already fallen by the wayside with Mr Obama signing three major bills without public scrutiny.
2.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama repeatedly said he would negotiate health care reform in televised sessions broadcast on C-SPAN, the public service network. Instead, he his approach has been no different from his predecessors, holding talks behind closed doors at the White House and Congress.
3.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama solemnly pledged that "no political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years". In practice, Mr Obama has granted several waivers to this rule, allowing lobbyists to serve in the top reaches of his administration. >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Monday, October 12, 2009
New Rights, and Challenges, for Saudi Women
TIME: Like those of its competitors in New York or London, the sleek glass and steel offices of media company Rotana are filled with preening attitude and fashion-conscious staffers: assistants teeter in shoes that might have absorbed much of their monthly paycheck; executives parade the halls in power suits and pencil skirts. But Rotana isn't in New York or London; it's in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, a country in which women normally adhere to a strict dress code in public — a black cloak called an abaya, a headscarf and a veil, the niqab, which covers everything but their eyes.
There's another reason many Saudis would find Rotana shocking: men and women working side by side. The sight unnerves enough men who come looking for a job that human-resources manager Sultana al-Rowaili has developed a trick to see if a male applicant can handle working in a mixed-gender office. She arranges for a female colleague to interrupt the initial interview, and watches to see if the man loses concentration or stares too much. Sometimes even that isn't necessary. Many men are undone by the very idea of being interviewed by a woman. "They are in a state of shock to see a woman in a position of authority and to have to ask her for a job," al-Rowaili says.
Saudi men may have to start getting used to such situations. True, Rotana remains an anomaly protected by the position and progressive ideals of its owner — global investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. And Saudi women still can't drive and legally can't even leave the house to shop, let alone get a job, without a male family member's permission. Yet under the guidance of a few members of the Saudi royal family — in particular the current King, Abdullah — the kingdom is slowly changing. Mixed-gender workplaces are becoming more common, especially in banks and good hospitals, where female doctors are not unusual. "People used to say, 'Why is she working? Why does she need the money?' Now they say, 'It takes a woman to solve a problem,'" says Norah al-Malhooq, an administrator at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh.
The government is expanding educational opportunities for women by building women's universities (as opposed to segregated campuses at male-dominated universities); last month it even launched the kingdom's first coeducational university. The state is trying to encourage women's entry into the workforce, and is sponsoring initiatives to protect women and children from domestic abuse. And it is pushing Saudis to discuss the notion of empowerment, formerly such a taboo subject that even the word was off-limits in newspapers. "The message is that women are coming," says Dr. Maha Almuneef, one of six women named earlier this year to the Shura council, a 156-person advisory body appointed by the King. "It's a good first step. The King and the political system are saying that the time has come. There are small steps now. There are giant steps coming. But most Saudis have been taught the traditional ways. You can't just change the social order all at once." >>> Andrew Lee Butters, Riyadh | Monday, October 19, 2009
Ghadhafi placiert seinen Sohn: Hoher Posten offenbar Vorbereitung für Machtübernahme nach Tod
NZZ ONLINE: Nicht Hannibal, der den Ärger mit der Schweiz verursachte, sondern al-Islam Ghadhafi soll offenbar das politische Erbe seines Vaters antreten. Der 37-jährige Sohn des Revolutionsführers wird laut Medienberichten in Libyen demnächst einen wichtigen Posten in der Regierung erhalten.
Seif al-Islam al-Ghadhafi, der politisch ambitionierte Sohn des libyschen Staatschefs Muammar al-Ghadhafi, soll in der staatlichen Hierarchie demnächst zur Nummer zwei aufsteigen. Dies haben Vertreter der kommunalen Führungsgruppen in der Hauptstadt Tripolis vorgeschlagen. Regierung sollte Job finden >>> sda/dpa | Montag, 12. Oktober 2009
Etats-Unis : Manifestation pour les droits des homosexuels
LE TEMPS: Des dizaines de milliers de manifestants ont défilé dimanche dans le centre de Washington pour défendre les droits des homosexuels. Ils ont notamment souhaité la levée de l’interdiction de travailler dans l’armée, ce à quoi s’est engagé Barack Obama samedi.
Rassemblés à l’appel de la Campagne pour les droits de l’homme (HRC), principale association américaine de défense des homosexuels, les manifestants sont partis à 12h00 (heure locale) derrière une banderole affirmant: «Egalité des droits dans tous les Etats-Unis».
Le cortège, joyeux et aux slogans énergiques, s’est ensuite rassemblé dans le Mall, l’esplanade du centre de Washington, près de la Maison Blanche et du Capitole, siège du Congrès américain, pour des prises de parole.
Les organisateurs ont estimé à 150 000 le nombre de participants à cette marche. La police a elle refusé de donner une estimation. «Ne rien demander, ne rien dire» >>> ATS | Lundi 12 Octobre 2009
Lisbon Treaty Delayed Again as Klaus Wins Czech Tussle
Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The crisis over the final signature on the Lisbon Treaty deepened today when the Czech Government backed away from a confrontation with the country's President, Vaclav Klaus. and instead pledged to negotiate for an 11th hour amendment on his behalf.
After an emergency Cabinet meting this morning, Jan Fischer, the Czech Prime Minister, said that he would put President Klaus's call for a human rights opt-out to the next European summit on October 29.
The climbdown represented a victory for Mr Klaus, the last man holding out on signing the treaty after its ratification in the 26 other EU states, and shows clearly that the Czech Government has no stomach for a fight with the eurosceptic economist.
It also leaves open the possibility that the Czech ratification could drag on into next year, allowing time for David Cameron to win a general election in the UK and call a referendum on the document.
The decision will throw the problem back at EU leaders at a meeting they had hoped would finally celebrate the completion of the treaty. >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent, in Prague | Monday, October 12, 2009
Netanyahu at Knesset: Our Right to Self Defense Is Under Assault
THE JERUSALEM POST: "The right for a Jewish state and the right to self defense are two of the basic principles of our people. These two elements are interwoven: Without a state of our own we cannot defend ourselves and without the right to self defense, we cannot run our own country," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the Knesset's winter session on Monday.
The prime minister was referring to the recently published Goldstone Commission report on Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter.
"These basic rights are under continuous assault, gaining momentum since the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. We must repel this onslaught," Netanyahu said. >>> JPost.com Staff | Monday, October 12, 2009
The Obama Nobel Mystery
YNET NEWS: Obama’s Nobel Prize win a blatant attempt to Europeanize US policy
According to Alfred Nobel's will – and in contrast with other Nobel Prize committees – the members of the Nobel Prize for Peace committee are not experts, but politicians, members of the Norwegian Parliament.
The chairman of the committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Norway, is the Vice President and the Chairman of the Middle East Committee of the "Socialist International," known for its opposition to US and Israeli policies. He is, also, the Chairman of the "Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights," which advocates a Dovish-Leftist worldview, in cooperation with former President Jimmy Carter, who is close to President Obama and considered a role-model for the new Nobel laureate.
Along with other members of the Committee, Jagland represents a Parliament that has called to recognize Hamas, to dialogue with Iran, to tolerate rogue regimes, to enhance ties with Muslim regimes, to condemn (what he terms) Islamophobia and to condemn systematically the policies of Washington (until Obama's victory) and Jerusalem.
Awarding Obama the Nobel Peace Prize – in spite of the fact that the deadline for nominations was February 1, 10 days into Obama's Administration – constitutes a transparent attempt by European politicians to bolster Obama's determination in the global arena and improve his standing in the domestic arena. While Obama's stock has risen internationally, it has deteriorated internally, in light of his lack of success in the areas of unemployment, taxes, budget deficit, health insurance reform, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia and al-Qaeda. >>> Yoram Ettinger | Saturday, October 10, 2009
Barack Obama Win Mocks Nobel Peace Prize: Alexander Downer
THE AUSTRALIAN: THE Nobel Peace Prize was discredited if Barack Obama could be nominated for the award after just 11 days in office and win it nine months later, former foreign minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.
Mr Downer called the US President's surprise win a farce, saying it was a pity Mr Obama had not refused the award.
He singled out Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a worthy alternative who had been ignored after years of struggling for human rights.
"The peace prize has to be for actual achievement - not potential - and it has to be achievement in promoting world peace, not raising the prestige of the American state, which is largely what Barack Obama has done so far," Mr Downer told the ABC.
Mr Obama had been in office for just 11 days when nominations for this year's Nobel Peace Prize closed on February 1. He spent most of those first days settling into the White House.
Although humbly questioning whether he was deserving, he described the prize as a "call to action".
The award's founder, Alfred Nobel, decreed the annual prize was to be bestowed for achievements "during the preceding year". According to his will, the winner "shall have done the most, or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".
The Norwegian judges took an alternative approach, handing the prize to Mr Obama for future works. Thorbjorn Jagland, the committee's chairman, defended the award in the face of public outcry, saying: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve."
It took two other former US presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, a combined total of 12 years before they were given the award. >>> Brad Norington, Washington correspondent | Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Could You Really Stomach Blair Being EU President?
If Tony Blair is voted in as EU president he will add £247,000 a year to his earnings. But Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, is said to be less enthusiastic than she was about his candidacy. Photo: The INdependent
THE INDEPENDENT: As Cherie admits to doubts about the decision to go to war with Iraq, Tony Blair's European support is beginning to falter
Many hold him responsible for "war crimes" in Iraq, while others think he is only interested in piling up a vast fortune from speaking engagements and property. But there are still some in Europe who believe Tony Blair should be anointed as the first President of the EU this month. Last week, Mr Blair was in Canada posing for pictures at £180 a time. On Friday, he attended the commemoration at St Paul's for the soldiers who died in the Iraq war. This Tuesday, he will face more raw anger from families of soldiers when the first independent and public inquiry into the war begins in London.
The former prime minister will come under the scrutiny of the Chilcot Inquiry into the six-year campaign as he lobbies for votes in Europe to be the EU's first president. To make matters worse, his wife Cherie yesterday said the Iraq war was a "51-49" decision, adding that Mr Blair had been very good at "convincing everybody else that it was a 70-30 decision".
As emotions continued to run high at home, doubts surfaced in mainland Europe that enough of the 27 member states would have the stomach to choose Mr Blair as their president – with a salary of £247,000. >>> Jane Merrick | Sunday, October 11, 2009
Immigration Made America Strong - But It Threatens to Ruin Europe
MAIL ONLINE: Are Britain and Europe being swamped, overrun, defeated by a wave of mostly Muslim immigrants and their descendants? Or are Europe's ethnic problems the figment of a febrile political imagination - something created by racism, dishonesty and manipulation by extremist parties such as the BNP? Those are not the only two possibilities, of course, although a lot of people behave as if they are.
Both sides will take lots of fodder for their arguments from a study released last week by the highly reliable Pew Forum On Religion And Public Life. According to the report, there are now 1.6billion Muslims, a quarter of the world's population.
And they are distributed in surprising ways - there are more Muslims in Germany than in Lebanon, for example. Recent projections by the British Government show the population rising to 71 million within 20 years, due mainly to migration.
But Europe's (and Britain's) problems with Muslim migration are not mostly demographic. The Pew study shows the world's Christian population is growing too, to 2.25 billion.
It is possible, though, to have grave problems with immigration that do not involve either the wipe-out of a culture or the disappearance of a population.
Europe opened the door to mass immigration in the Fifties and discovered - as the United States did before it - that it is impossible to open that door just a fraction. Immigration, though intended as a solution to a short-term labour crisis, has become, without anyone particularly wanting it to be, a permanent feature of the landscape.
One of the most amazing statistics in the history of European immigration is that the number of foreign residents in Germany rose steadily between 1971 and 2000 - from three million to about 7.5million - but the number of employed foreigners did not budge. It stayed rock-steady at around two million.
Multi-ethnic societies can be good societies. But the transition puts a strain on institutions, on trust in government, and on a sense of identity.
Not every society makes that transition successfully. In my book, Reflections On The Revolution In Europe, I tried to describe how this process is working - or, more often, not working.
Revolution is not too strong a word. It well describes what occurred in America between 1840 and 1925, when millions of Catholic immigrants arrived, transforming a largely Protestant society.
The need to accommodate them made the United States replace one kind of society with another. We may like the result, but it would have been absurd to expect those born into pre-immigrant 19th Century America to rejoice at the disruption.
However, the transition has given America an edge in the present era of mass migrations. That is not America's only advantage, of course. The 'tone' of current US immigration is set by various Latin American cultures; that of European immigration is set by various Muslim cultures.
The cultural peculiarities of Latin-American immigrants generally appear to Americans as antiquated versions of their own. >>> Christopher Caldwell, Author of Reflection on the Revolution in Europe | Sunday, October 11, 2009
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Saves Sex Tourist Minister Frédéric Mitterrand
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The influence of France’s first lady has halted the sacking of a minister – but for how long
The reluctance of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to sack a gay minister with a past as a “sex tourist” in Thailand will certainly please Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, his wife.
She had suggested appointing Frédéric Mitterrand, a friend, as culture minister and the government’s support for him, despite his confession to having paid boys for sex, is partly a sign of Sarkozy’s eagerness not to offend his first lady.
“She has great power and influence,” said Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam, a senator in Sarkozy’s centre-right party, referring to the Italian-born singer and former model. “It’s obvious she is defending Mitterrand. But it puts the president in a difficult situation. He is offending many of his supporters.”
L’affaire Mitterrand began when the nephew of the last Socialist president flew to the defence of Roman Polanski, the Polish film director, over child sex charges, only to face such accusations himself in connection with a memoir published in 2005.
Yesterday it emerged that he had also offered to help rehabilitate two teenage brothers convicted earlier this year of raping a 16-year-old girl on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion. One was the son of his make-up artist when he worked as a television presenter. He may bitterly regret having written “I got into the habit of paying for boys” in his book, The Bad Life. >>> Matthew Campbell in Paris | Sunday, October 11, 2009
La Californie devrait rejeter l'appel de Polanski
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: LOS ANGELES | Le procureur général de Los Angeles a déclaré vendredi que l’appel déposé en Californie par le réalisateur Roman Polanski, arrêté en Suisse le 26 septembre, devrait être rejeté et qu’aucun «exposé des moyens devant le tribunal» ne devrait se tenir.
Roman Polanski est incarcéré en Suisse en attendant l’examen de son dossier, une décision n’étant pas attendue avant «plusieurs semaines», selon la justice Suisse. Crédits photo : Tribune de Genève
La requête avait été faite en réponse à une lettre des avocats du cinéaste, adressée à la cour d’appel en début de semaine et demandant un «exposé accéléré des moyens devant le tribunal». Ses avocats soutenaient que la justice californienne ne devrait pas chercher à extrader Roman Polanski de Suisse, parce qu’il avait déjà purgé sa peine pour avoir eu des relations sexuelles avec une mineure en 1977.
Les procureurs ont expliqué que la seule question en suspens, avant qu’il comparaisse devant le tribunal, était de savoir s’il y aurait une audience, sans que Roman Polanski soit présent, pour examiner sa demande d’annuler les accusations retenues contre lui. Mais maintenant qu’il a été arrêté et fait l’objet d’un mandat d’extradition, cette question est sans importance, ont-ils ajouté. >>> AP | Samedi 10 Octobre 2009
Prix Nobel de la Paix : Un cadeau empoisonné?
J'ai levé les yeux vers le ciel. I looked heavenward. Ich schaute zum Himmel empor.
LE TEMPS: Lauréat du Nobel de la paix après seulement neuf mois de présidence, Barack Obama se déclare «étonné» et «touché». Il voit dans ce prix un appel à relever des défis
La caméra s’attardait sur son visage. A travers la vitre du Bureau ovale, on voyait le président concentré sur les feuilles de son discours, l’air un peu interdit, visiblement mal à l’aise à l’heure d’interpréter un rôle si mal préparé. L’attribution du Prix Nobel de la paix à Barack Obama est plus qu’une surprise. C’est un choix risqué, un défi, une gageure. En le cueillant à son réveil (l’annonce a été faite à Oslo tandis que l’Amérique dormait), le Comité du Nobel a désarçonné le président des Etats-Unis en exercice. Et, derrière lui, une bonne partie de la planète.
Le Prix Nobel de la paix? Ce n’est pas de paix que l’on parle ces jours à la Maison-Blanche. L’agenda du président incluait vendredi une réunion avec son Conseil de sécurité consacrée à la meilleure manière de poursuivre la guerre en Afghanistan. A Washington, l’atmosphère est ces jours à une autre guerre, de tranchées, entre les démocrates et les républicains à propos de la réforme du système de santé américain. Au Proche-Orient, dans le même temps, l’émissaire de la Maison-Blanche n’a pu que constater à quel point le climat est lourd aujourd’hui à Jérusalem, après que le monde s’est mis à rêver à l’avènement d’une paix prochaine. >>> Luis Lema | Samedi 10 Octobre 2009
Dieter Ruloff: Jetzt braucht er Erfolge
NZZ ONLINE: Mit dem Nobelpreis hat der weltweite Beifall für US-Präsident Obama einen neuen Höhepunkt erreicht. Doch innenpolitisch steckt Obama im Popularitätstief. Wenn es ihm nicht bald gelingt, sichtbare Erfolge zu erzielen, könnte die Präsidentschaftswahl 2012 für ihn zum Drama werden.
Man kann auch in die Höhe fallen, so wie in die Tiefe», sagte der Dichter Friedrich Hölderlin. Mitunter passiert beides, und zwar nacheinander, wie jetzt bei Obama, dem jungen, charismatischen Politiker, dem Mann mit Visionen, dem brillanten Rhetoriker mit messianischer Aura, der den Wandel predigte und schliesslich, die politische Schwerkraft überwindend, in eineinhalb Jahren vom Jungsenator zum mächtigsten Mann der Welt und Nobelpreisträger in die Höhe fiel.
Die neueste Ehrung potenziert nochmals die Erwartungen an ihn. Er habe seinem Volk «Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft» gegeben, lautet die Begründung in Oslo. Faktisch läuft es für Obama an allen Fronten jedoch zunehmend schlecht, Erwartungen und Erreichtes klaffen je länger je weiter auseinander. Der Fall in die Tiefe, zumindest jene der Umfragen, kam postwendend: Die Zustimmung von anfangs fast 70 Prozent im Februar schrumpfte auf jetzt nur noch gut 50 Prozent. Das ist noch immer massiv besser als die zuletzt nur 22 Prozent Zustimmung für George W. Bush. Aber es schmerzt doch, gerade weil Bush ja die Hauptschuld trifft – hat er seinem Nachfolger doch ein schier unvorstellbares Desaster hinterlassen. Zwei glücklose Kriege, die Wirtschaft im freien Fall, das Ansehen weltweit ruiniert, die Geheimdienste demoralisiert und last, but not least Schulden über Schulden.
Nach hundert Tagen schien die Bilanz Obamas noch glänzend, die Hoffnungen auf ihn mehr als berechtigt: Bankenrettung und Konjunkturprogramm; Politikwechsel um 180 Grad bei Guantánamo, in der Umwelt- und der Sicherheitspolitik; die Subventionsschlucker Chrysler und GM auf Trab gebracht; Charmeoffensive in Europa und im Nahen Osten mit durchschlagendem Erfolg.
Man hat Obama noch im Frühjahr Hyperaktivismus vorgeworfen, er packe zu viel zu rasch an, werde das Tempo nicht durchstehen können. Dies ist wohl nicht das Problem, denn Obama dominiert so gut wie täglich die Medien in den USA und der Welt. Aber die Meldungen werden kritischer, der Präsident muss immer öfter mit Appellen an die Öffentlichkeit, erklären, reparieren, gegensteuern. Die Absage an Chicago bei der Vergabe der Olympischen Spiele – trotz grossem Engagement des Präsidentenehepaars – war nur die letzte in einer Reihe von Niederlagen. Der Nobelpreis lenkt im besten Falle etwas ab; den politischen Alltag mit all seinen Widrigkeiten verändert der Preis nicht. >>> Von Dieter Ruloff | Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2009
UE : Lisbonne: Et Varsovie qui fait 26
leJDD.fr: La République tchèque est le dernier pays européen à ne pas avoir encore ratifié le traité de Lisbonne. Après le "oui" irlandais la semaine dernière, le président polonais, Lech Kaczynski, a, à son tour, ratifié samedi matin le texte censé améliorer le fonctionnement des institutions de l'UE.
Lech Kaczynski a tenu parole. Le président polonais, qui avait conditionné la ratification du traité de Lisbonne à son adoption par le peuple irlandais - exigence remplie le 2 octobre dernier - s'est exécuté samedi matin. Solennellement, dans une cérémonie retransmise par la télévision nationale, le chef de l'Etat polonais, eurosceptique déclaré, a apposé sa signature au bas du texte censé relancer la machine européenne par la modernisation de ses institutions. Avant cela, Lech Kaczynski en avait profité pour rappeler à ses partenaires ses exigences en matière de construction européenne: "Une union stricte d'Etat-nations" appelée à s'étendre davantage. "L'UE, une expérience couronnée de succès sans précédent dans l'histoire humaine, ne peut être fermée à ceux qui souhaitent la rejoindre (...) non seulement dans les Balkans mais aussi des pays comme la Géorgie", a-t-il précisé.
A méditer du côté des 27 même si, pour l'heure, l'urgence est ailleurs. En accordant son blanc seing au traité de Lisbonne, Varsovie est en effet devenue la 26e capitale à adopter le texte, laissant ainsi à Prague le redoutable privilège de clore un processus engagé en 2007, à l'initiative de Nicolas Sarkozy. Or, après le couac du "non" irlandais au référendum du printemps 2008, le paraphe du président Vaclav Klaus, lui aussi eurosceptique notoire, est espéré dans une certaine anxiété. "L'Europe attend impatiemment cette signature, l'Europe n'a pas besoin de retards supplémentaires", a ainsi déclaré le Premier ministre suédois, Fredrik Reinfeldt, présent à Varsovie samedi matin, et dont le pays assure actuellement la présidence tournante de l'UE. Prague veut gagner du temps >>> N.M. (avec Reuters) - leJDD.fr, Samedi 10 Octobre 2009
Fighting for Women's Rights in Iran
THE GUARDIAN: How the One Million Signatures campaign, winner of this year's Raw in War Anna Politkovskaya award, aims to change Iranian society
Watch Guardian video here | Mustafa Khalili and Emily Butselaar | Thursday, October 08, 2009
As Pressure Grows, Obama Addresses Gay Rights Group: He Promises to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
THE WASHINGTON POST: President Obama, struggling to keep promises he made during last year's campaign, renewed his pledge to end the military's ban on openly gay service members as he appeared at a fundraising dinner for the nation's largest gay advocacy group on Saturday night.
"I will end 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Obama said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. Recounting the ongoing effort to bring full civil rights to gays and lesbians, the president said: "I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight."
Obama did not offer specifics on how he would advance the cause of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, or of same-sex marriage, two areas where his inaction as president have disappointed many gay supporters.
But on the eve of a major gay rights rally in Washington, an event aimed in part at pressuring Obama and Congress, the president was met with a standing ovation and resounding cheers. Obama acknowledged the frustration of some activists, portraying himself as a forceful ally in a lengthy fight. And while he said that gay rights are only one part of his agenda, which is loaded down with domestic and international challenges, he said that would not deter him.
"My commitment to you is unwavering, even as we wrestle with these enormous problems," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach."
Just days after winning the presidency, Obama vowed that he would be "a fierce advocate for gay and lesbian Americans." >>> Michael D. Shear, Anne E. Kornblut and Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post Staff Writers | Sunday, October 11, 2009
USA : Obama face aux homosexuels
leJDD.fr: Barack Obama s'adresse ce samedi soir à la communauté homosexuelle, qui attend de lui des actes concrets.
"Ce n’est pas parce que nous entraînons nos enfants au foot ou au base-ball chaque week-end dans les Etats démocrates que nous n’avons pas de copains gays dans les Etats républicains! Nous formons un seul et même peuple!" Dans son discours à la Convention démocrate de Boston en 2004, l’étoile montante du parti, Barack Obama, avait eu cette phrase interprétée au sein de la communauté homosexuelle comme un engagement à donner aux "straights" et aux gays, aux hétéros et aux homos, les mêmes droits lorsqu’un jour il en aurait le pouvoir. Puis, George Bush, réélu, avait tout tenté pour faire échouer les revendications des gays et des lesbiennes, à commencer par le mariage homosexuel.
En devenant le candidat des démocrates en 2008, Barack Obama sait qu’il lui faut agir finement. Dépeint par ses adversaires comme un "libéral", quasiment un gauchiste, le sénateur de l’Illinois n’a de cesse de ramener le débat au centre, surtout sur les valeurs – peine de mort, avortement ou mariage homosexuel. Mais il prend malgré tout l’engagement d’abroger ou amender deux lois fédérales adoptées sous Bill Clinton. La première s’appelle le Defense of Marriage Act. Votée en 1996 par un Congrès à majorité républicaine, cette loi précise qu’au niveau fédéral, le mariage ne peut se comprendre qu’entre un homme et une femme et qu’aucun Etat fédéré n’est obligé de reconnaître la légalité d’un mariage homosexuel célébré dans un autre Etat. Trente-sept semaines après son arrivée, toujours rien >>> François Clemenceau, correspondant à Washington du Journal du Dimanche Samedi 10 Octobre 2009
Obama verspricht Homosexuellen mehr Rechte: Aufhebung von Einschränkungen in den Streitkräften versprochen
Obama bei seiner Rede vor der Homosexuellen-Organisation Human Rights Campaign. Bild: NZZ Online
NZZ ONLINE: Präsident Barack Obama hat sein Wahlkampfversprechen bekräftigt, die Diskriminierung von Homosexuellen in den Streitkräften zu beenden. Auf einer Veranstaltung in Washington sagte Obama am Samstag vor 3000 Zuhörern: «Wir sollten patriotische Amerikaner nicht bestrafen, die hervortreten, um dem Land zu dienen.» >>> ap | Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2009
Obama to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Military Policy
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama on Saturday pledged to end a 16-year-old policy banning gay people from serving openly in the nation's military, in a gesture to a group that provided a major source of support during his campaign.
But the president didn't set out a timetable for reversing the policy. As a result, his pledge might not be enough to appease some in the gay community who feel that Mr. Obama hasn't moved quickly enough to address their issues -- even as his message could spark criticism from some conservatives and members of the military.
Speaking at a human-rights dinner in the capital, Mr. Obama vowed to end the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows homosexuals to serve in the military, as long as they don't disclose their sexual orientation or act on it.
The law has long been criticized by gay-rights advocates as a half-measure that doesn't fully recognize the rights and contributions of gay service-men and women. Mr. Obama has in the past said he would work to overturn the policy.
"We cannot afford to discharge people from our ranks with critical skills," he told a cheering crowd of about 3,000 at the black-tie event sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil-rights group.
Mr. Obama also appealed to Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state and federal bodies can recognize domestic partnerships in providing government benefits. He also vowed to press for legislation that would extend health and other employment benefits to domestic partners of workers. But he again didn't provide a timetable.
Mr. Obama's statements are likely to be welcomed by many liberal Democrats, although some activists criticized his failure to provide more concrete details. >>> Elizabeth Williamson | Sunday, October 11, 2009
Pres. Obama Addressed "Human Rights Campaign" Dinner
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
What Do Gay People Think About Obama's Speech To Human Rights Dinner?
God Is Not the Creator, Claims Academic
THE TELEGRAPH: The notion of God as the Creator is wrong, claims a top academic, who believes the Bible has been wrongly translated for thousands of years.
The Earth was already there when God created humans and animals, says academic. Photo: The Telegraph
Professor Ellen van Wolde, a respected Old Testament scholar and author, claims the first sentence of Genesis "in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth" is not a true translation of the Hebrew.
She claims she has carried out fresh textual analysis that suggests the writers of the great book never intended to suggest that God created the world -- and in fact the Earth was already there when he created humans and animals.
Prof Van Wolde, 54, who will present a thesis on the subject at Radboud University in The Netherlands where she studies, said she had re-analysed the original Hebrew text and placed it in the context of the Bible as a whole, and in the context of other creation stories from ancient Mesopotamia.
She said she eventually concluded the Hebrew verb "bara", which is used in the first sentence of the book of Genesis, does not mean "to create" but to "spatially separate".
The first sentence should now read "in the beginning God separated the Heaven and the Earth[.]"
According to Judeo-Christian tradition, God created the Earth out of nothing. >>> Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent | Thursday, October 08, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Arrests as Rival Race Demonstrations Clash
TIMES ONLINE: Police have arrested 34 people amid tense scenes at an anti-Islamic demonstration in central Manchester.
The English Defence League (EDL), which opposes "radical Muslims" and Sharia Law, staged the protest, but the anti-far right group Unite Against Fascism (UAF) arranged a counter demonstration bringing both sides together in the city centre . >>> Simon Alford | Saturday, October 10, 2009
Cuba's Fidel Castro Hails Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize
THE TELEGRAPH: Cuba's Fidel Castro is the latest world leader to opine on the controversial award of the Nobel peace prize to President Barack Obama.
But the endorsement of the veteran communist revolutionary may be the last thing Mr Obama wanted, as his words will only strengthen conservative complaints that the prize was an anti-American gesture.
The former dictator, who handed power to his brother Raul last year after falling seriously ill, made clear that he believed the award was primarily a repudiation of Mr Obama's predecessors.
"Many believe that he still has not earned the right to receive such a distinction," he wrote in a column published in state media. "But we would like to see, more than a prize for the US president, a criticism of the genocidal policies that have been followed by more than a few presidents of that country."
Mr Castro, 83, who has spent half a century railing at international bodies, said he had often disagreed with the choice of Norway's Nobel judges.
But this time, he noted modestly, "I must admit that in this case, in my opinion, it was a positive step". >>> Philip Sherwell in New York and Leonard Doyle in Washington | Saturday, October 10, 2009
President of Poland Signs Lisbon Treaty
THE TELEGRAPH: Lech Kaczynski, Poland’s president, has signed the Lisbon treaty, leaving the Czech Republic the only country yet to ratify the controversial European Union reform plan.
Flanked by José Manuel Barroso, the head of the European commission, and the Polish president of the European parliament, Jerzy Buzek, Mr Kaczynski put his signature to the treaty in Warsaw.
“The fact that the Irish people changed their minds meant the revival of the treaty, and there are no longer any obstacles to its ratification,” said Mr Kaczynski in a short speech, adding that it was a “historic” day for both Poland and the European Union.
The ceremony leaves the Czech Republic as the last outpost of opposition to the treaty among the governments of the 27 member states, with Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president and an ardent opponent of further European integration making an eleventh-hour bid to gain opt-out clauses from the European Charter of Human Rights, which forms part of the Lisbon text. >>> Matthew Day in Warsaw | Saturday, October 10, 2009
Prize Fools
TIMES ONLINE: The Nobel committee’s award to President Obama demeans the peace prize, appears politically partisan and should embarrass the White House
When Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the satirist Tom Lehrer remarked that he saw no further need to perform as the award had made satire obsolete. By offering the world’s most prestigious political accolade to Barack Obama, a man who has held office for barely nine months, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is in danger of putting the entire comedy industry out of business.
The committee has put hope above results, promise above achievement. The prize undermines the selfless triumphs of earlier winners. Indeed, the award’s obvious political intent looks partisan, a signal of European relief at the end of the Bush presidency.
The pretext for the prize was Mr Obama’s action in “strengthening international co-operation between peoples”. That is a worthy aim and America’s re-engagement in multilateral diplomacy has been warmly welcomed by its allies. But it is hard to point to any substantive results yet. Much was promised to the Muslim world in the President’s speech in Cairo; on the ground, the failure still to achieve any tangible progress towards a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians has left all sides disillusioned. In Moscow, the talk of pressing the reset button in relations was welcome, as was Mr Obama’s abandonment of the US missile shield in Europe. But so far none of this has led to the scrapping of any more nuclear warheads.
The nomination of Mr Obama, among more than 200 other contenders, had to be made within weeks of his inauguration. Was this a message of support for the election of America’s first black president? Or was it a self-defeating way of trying to align the peace committee with the excitement that marked his first few weeks in office? Mr Obama yesterday responded with characteristic eloquence and modesty in announcing his acceptance. He would, however, have done better to have let it be known to those sounding out the White House beforehand that he saw the prize as premature, ill judged and embarrassing at a time when he is preoccupied with fighting a war in Afghanistan. >>> | Saturday, October 10, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: At 5.45am yesterday Robert Gibbs was woken by a network television producer calling him at home. “This’d better be good,” the White House press secretary grumbled. It was, the producer assured him. President Obama had just won the Nobel Peace Prize. “Oh, that is good,” Mr Gibbs replied.
At the end of an extraordinary whirlwind day that began for Mr Obama with a call to the Lincoln Bedroom moments later, he may justly be questioning his aide’s initial judgment. At home, admirers met the news with astonishment, bafflement and, in some cases, laughter. Across the globe, reaction ranged from polite congratulation and wild effusion to outrage and scepticism.
Conservative critics greeted the news with glee, an affirmation of their belief that Mr Obama is beloved in Europe just for being a celebrity, adored for what he says, not what he does — or, as his Texan predecessor would say, all hat and no cattle.
Without question, the choice is political. The Nobel Peace Prize is a notoriously difficult award to predict but one thread of consistency since 2000 has been the award committee’s implacable hatred of the Bush Administration.
Three of the past six peace awards have gone to Bush adversaries. In 2002 the prize went to Jimmy Carter as an explicit rejection of the Bush presidency in the build-up to the Iraq war. In 2005 Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN atomic agency chief who had clashed with Washington over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, was honoured. In 2007 Al Gore received the prize for his warnings on climate change, denounced by President Bush as a liberal myth.
Mr Obama’s is a fourth and perfect example of what Nobel scholars call the growing aspirational trend of Nobel committees over the past three decades, by which awards are given not for what has been achieved but in support of the cause being fought for. Obama ‘celebrity reward’ Nobel Prize is greeted with glee by critics >>> Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent, and Tim Reid in Washington | Saturday, October 10, 2009
Rush Limbaugh: The Nobel Prize Is Part of an Effort to ‘Neuter’ America
Italy's Gay Rights Pledge as Hate Crimes Rise
THE GUARDIAN: As tens of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Italians prepared to demonstrate tomorrowagainst a string of homophobic attacks, Silvio Berlusconi's government announced a ground-breaking €2m media campaign against discrimination.
After meeting representatives of more than 20 gay rights associations, the equal opportunities minister, Mara Carfagna, said Italy's rightwing government would make "an unprecedented commitment to get across our message". The money would pay for TV commercials, newspaper advertisements and posters to be put up on hoardings and in buses and trains.
Her announcement was welcomed by homosexual rights groups. Imma Battaglia, the president of Gay Project, said: "I believe we are at a turning point in the struggle against homophobia." >>> John Hooper in Rome | Friday, October 09, 2009
Sarkozy's Son Sparks Nepotism Row after Being Tipped for Top Public Job
THE GUARDIAN: French president's son Jean tipped to head France's powerful La Défense development agency but critics say he lacks legitimacy
The Sarkozy dynasty was embroiled in another nepotism row today , after the French president's 23-year-old son Jean was tipped to head the public agency running Paris's La Défense , one of Europe's biggest business districts.
The young Sarkozy, who has not yet finished his university degree, is currently a local councillor in the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where his father rose to power 30 years ago. Dubbed "Prince Jean" by his critics, he has had a meteoric rise to power in his father's old fiefdom and currently leads the rightwing council majority in the Hauts-de-Seine, the richest department in France. >>> Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Friday, October 09, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Mitchell kommt in Nahost nicht voran
NZZ ONLINE: Friedensbemühungen sollen auf niedrigerer Ebene fortgesetzt werden
Der amerikanische Nahostbeauftragte George Mitchell kommt mit seinen Bemühungen um eine Wiederaufnahme der Friedensgespräche zwischen Israeli und Palästinensern nicht voran. Treffen mit dem israelischen Präsidenten Netanyahu und dem palästinensischen Präsidenten Abbas brachten offenbar keinen Fortschritt. >>> ap | Freitag, 09. Oktober 2009
Talk and Win
Barack Hussein Obama could hardly believe his luck this morning. In fact, he almost choked on his corn flakes when he heard the news! Less than a year ago, he duped the American public into believing that he could bring the American electorate change; though the voters forgot to ask him what kind of change he was talking about. Silly them!
Ever since, he has spent his time as sitting president moving around. There are so many places in America where he can use the gift he has been given: the gift of the gab. In fact, since taking office, he has done little else other than talk. He talks so much that there is little time to do anything else. And of course, without doing anything, he cannot achieve. Why does he talk so much? Because it is doubtful that he is capable of achieving anything, and anyway he loves the sound of his own voice. It sounds so sonorous to him. To him, that is!
Now this! He has learnt his lesson fast, though. We must grant him that. He has learnt that one doesn’t have to achieve anything real to get the Nobel Peace Prize. All one has to do is talk – talk, talk, talk, and loftily. Talk, talk, talk, and win, win, win, win. Win prizes here and win prizes there.
Oh yes, and Obama will sleep better tonight, since with this medal comes about a million euros. Plenty of sleeveless dresses there, Michelle! – Mark
Blair Listens as Archbishop Condemns Iraq War Decisions
THE INDEPENDENT: The Archbishop of Canterbury today criticised "policy makers" for failing to consider the cost of the Iraq war at a memorial service for the 179 British personnel who died in the conflict.
Dr Rowan Williams, who has previously described the decisions which led to the war as "flawed", praised the "patient and consistent" efforts of troops on the ground.
But he used his address at the national service of remembrance in St Paul's Cathedral to remind his audience that the conflict remained highly controversial.
Among those in the congregation listening to his words was former prime minister Tony Blair, who led the country into war.
Dr Williams said: "Many people of my generation and younger grew up doubting whether we should ever see another straightforward international conflict, fought by a standing army with conventional weapons.
"We had begun to forget the realities of cost. And when such conflict appeared on the horizon, there were those among both policy makers and commentators who were able to talk about it without really measuring the price, the cost of justice."
The Archbishop alluded to the controversial nature of the campaign, known as Operation Telic, which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets in protest in the run up to the war.
He said: "The conflict in Iraq will, for a long time yet, exercise the historians, the moralists, the international experts.
"In a world as complicated as ours has become, it would be a very rash person who would feel able to say without hesitation, this was absolutely the right or the wrong thing to do, the right or the wrong place to be."
Iraq veterans and bereaved families joined the Queen, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and senior military leaders for the poignant service. >>> Tony Jones and Sam Marsden, Press Association | Friday, October 09, 2009
You Have Blood on Your Hands, Blair Told
THE INDEPENDENT: The former Prime Minister Tony Blair was told today he had "blood on his hands" by a bereaved father at a reception following a memorial service for those killed in Iraq.
Peter Brierley, whose son Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, 28, was killed in March 2003, refused to shake Mr Blair's proffered hand and said: "I'm not shaking your hand, you've got blood on it."
The former prime minister was ushered away and afterwards Mr Brierley, from Batley, West Yorkshire, said: "I understand soldiers go to war and die but they have to go to war for a good reason and be properly equipped to fight."
He added: "I believe Tony Blair is a war criminal. I can't bear to be in the same room as him. I can't believe he's been allowed to come to this reception.
"I believe he's got the blood of my son and all of the other men and women who died out there on his hands.
"It comes back to me every day, every time I see a coffin come off a plane; it reminds me of what happened to Shaun." >>> Laura Harding, Press Association | Friday, October 09, 2009
Allowed by Allah. Acceptable to Allah. Not forbidden: حلال
Halal Is Big Business: Germany Waking up to Growing Market for Muslim Food
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany has four million Muslim inhabitants but the market for halal food -- produced according to Islamic law -- is still in its infancy, partly because firms fear the wrath of animal rights groups. But companies are slowly waking up to this fast-growing market.
Gehlenberg is a sleepy village in northern Germany. It has a population of 1,600 and boasts a church, community hall, war memorial and a pub, along with a few wooden crosses by the roadside and a tiny chapel. It's a staunchly Catholic village, but on three days of the week, the Prophet Muhammad makes the rules -- in a white factory building on the outskirts of the village, that is. That is where the Meemken family business produces a broad range of sausage that follows Islamic food standards. The company supplies almost 100 tons of salami and various other types of sausage each week to food retailers in Germany and abroad.
International food companies such as Nestle and Unilever have for years offered a range of products that meet so-called halal food standards. Halal is an Arabic term that means pure, or permissible. The term refers to a way of life that follows Islamic law. German companies are gradually realizing that catering to faith-oriented consumption is a good way to make money. In these times of economic crisis, finding new markets is more tempting than ever.
The potential market for halal food in Germany is huge. An estimated four million Muslims live in Germany, and the community is pre-programmed to grow because Muslims have a higher birth rate than non-Muslims. Halal already accounts for 17 percent of the global food market, according to the World Halal Forum based in Malaysia.
Food Companies Worried About Animal Rights Groups
Market experts say the halal segment is growing faster than any other part of the food market. Sales of food that meets Islamic standards are expected to reach $641 billion in 2010, up from $587 billion in 2004. The European halal food market is expected to reach sales of $67 billion in 2010.
Food companies in other European countries with many Muslim residents have already adapted to their needs. In France, the Casino chain of supermarkets supplies halal meat products. In Britain, halal food is easily found in the top chains like Tesco and Sainsbury's. French delicatessen stores sell halal goose liver pate and British pharmacy retailer Boots sells halal baby food. It's a different story in Germany, where supermarkets offer only a meagre range of halal food. … >>> Daniela Schröder | Wednesday, June 10, 2009
For All My Good Intentions
I would like all my visitors to know that I want all people in this troubled world to live in peace and harmony, and I want them to love one another. Poverty must be eliminated. Moreover, all weapons of any kind must be destroyed. There will be no more wars. I intend to continue working towards these goals.
Please be so kind as to nominate me for the Nobel Peace Prize of 2010. I surely deserve it. After all, the road to Oslo is paved with good intentions. – Mark
