THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: State of the Union 2011: US risks losing its global supremacy, Barack Obama warns: The US risks losing its global supremacy and must "win the future by out-innovating, out-educating and outbuilding the rest of the world," President Barack Obama told Americans on Tuesday night. >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: State of the Union 2011: US risks losing its global supremacy, Barack Obama warns: The US risks losing its global supremacy and must "win the future by out-innovating, out-educating and outbuilding the rest of the world," President Barack Obama told Americans on Tuesday night. >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
LOS ANGELES TIMES: President Obama, perceived by critics as free-spending in his first two years in office, is expected to call for a temporary halt to non-security discretionary spending in his State of the Union speech. Job creation also will be a main focus.
WASHINGTON — President Obama will call for a five year freeze on non-security discretionary spending in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, White House officials said, in a bid to help reduce the deficit and counter public perceptions that he spent too freely in his first two years in power.
Obama will also discuss plans to find budget cuts wherever he can, the White House said. The military, for example, isn't covered by the proposed freeze, yet Obama will advance a separate five-year plan, drawn up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to achieve $78 billion in savings, the White House said. >>> Peter Nicholas, Washington Bureau | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama’s efforts to reach out to the Arab world have been tarnished after it emerged that he reneged on an important Bush administration pledge to the Palestinian leadership.Confidential Palestinian documents leaked to Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based television network, suggest that Mr Obama retreated from a promise that territory occupied by Israel after the Six Day War of 1967 should become the basis for a future Palestinian state.
The documents, part of a second tranche of the “Palestine Papers” released by Al Jazeera on Monday evening, indicate that Mr Obama’s change of heart was the result of Israeli pressure.
That fact alone is likely to damage Mr Obama’s carefully-cultivated image as a friend of the Arab world.
According to the papers, Condoleezza Rice, President George W Bush’s secretary of state, explicitly endorsed the use of 1967 borders as a basis for future negotiations on dividing territory in the months after the Annapolis peace conference in 2007.
The gesture was a hugely significant one for the Palestinians as it acknowledged the broad outlines of the state they craved. >>> Adrian Blomfield, Ramallah | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Deep frustrations with Obama: Obama pressured PA negotiators to restart talks and refused to honour one of the Bush administration's key promises. >>> Gregg Carlstrom Monday, January 24, 2011
THE SUN: RECORD numbers of British women are converting to Islam.
There are up to 100,000 converts in the UK - up from around 60,000 in 2001 - with white women leading the trend, according to research for the Faith Matters organisation. A study by Swansea University, on behalf of Faith Matters, found 5,200 people converted to Islam in the UK last year.
And a survey of 122 converts last year showed 56 per cent were white British, with women making up 62 per cent of respondents.
Here, SAMANTHA WOSTEAR and DULCIE PEARCE speak to three women who have all embraced the faith.
EMMA TAYLOR, 30, from Reading, Berks, loved partying but converted to Islam. She says:
"I was raised a Catholic but after-school partying and living a wannabe WAG lifestyle became my religion. I loved buying sexy clothes and hanging out with mates.
As a filing clerk in an office I only earn £16,000 but until last year I managed to make it stretch by living in a shared house so I could spend my cash on looking and feeling good.
However in January last year, with my 30th birthday looming, I began to think that waking up with a hangover most mornings, having no long-term bloke in my life and no real ambition meant something was missing. I tell my friends my love of bacon butties has been replaced by new religion >>> | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's economy shrank unexpectedly in the final three months of last year as heavy snow compounded a slowdown in growth.Gross domestic product fell 0.5pc in the fourth quarter, the most in more than a year, the Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday. The decline compared with growth of 0.7pc in the third quarter.
George Osborne insisted that the Government will press ahead with planned cuts to public spending, despite warnings from forecasters that the economy may be too weak to withstand the package.
Blaming the growth figures on the cold weather, Mr Osborne maintained that a weakening in efforts to tackle the deficit would pose a greater bigger threat to the nation's future prosperity.
"There is no question of changing a fiscal plan that has established international credibility on the back of one very cold month. That would plunge Britain back into a financial crisis," the Chancellor said.
"We will not be blown off course by bad weather." Read on and comment >>> | Tuesday, January 25, 2011
LE FIGARO: L'attaque qui a fait 35 morts lundi dans le principal aéroport russe pourrait être l'oeuvre d'une femme kamikaze. Dmitri Medvedev s'en prend à la direction de l'aéroport.
«L'Emirat du Caucase» en ligne de mire. Au lendemain de l'attaque à l'aéroport de Moscou-Domodedovo (35 morts selon le dernier bilan), les enquêteurs russes estiment que l'attentat a probablement été commis par une femme kamikaze accompagnée d'un complice. Un mode opératoire «habituel» pour les rebelles du Caucase du Nord. >>> Par lefigaro.fr | Mardi 25 Janvier 2011
WELT ONLINE: Terroranschlag – Es soll eine Frau gewesen sein: Die Explosion am Flughafen Domodedowo geschah in dem Moment, in dem eine Frau ihre Tasche öffnete. Unter den 35 Toten ist ein Deutscher. >>> afp/dapd/dpa/rtr/sam | Dienstag, 25. Januar 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Moscow airport bombing victim Gordon Cousland was due to marry in April: A Briton who was among at least 35 people killed as by suicide bomber at Russia’s busiest airport has been named as Gordon Campbell Cousland. >>> Martin Beckford, and Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Monday, January 24, 2011
WELT ONLINE: Nach der Flucht des tunesischen Präsidenten hat die französische Justiz Ermittlungen zu Ben Alis Vermögen eingeleitet.Die Pariser Staatsanwaltschaft hat Vorermittlungen zur Erfassung der in Frankreich befindlichen Güter des tunesischen Ex-Präsidenten Zine El Abidine Ben Ali eingeleitet. Mit den Ermittlungen reagierte die französische Justiz auf die Klagen dreier Nichtregierungsorganisationen gegen Ben Ali und seinen Clan wegen Korruption, Veruntreuung von Staatsgeldern und Geldwäsche. Frankreichs Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy versicherte, sein Land werde sich um eine systematische Suche der gestohlenen Reichtümer bemühen. Diese müssten dem tunesischen Volk zurückgegeben werden. >>> AFP/tts | Dienstag, 25. Januar 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Youth activists, Islamists, workers and football fans to hold rallies and marches against Mubarak government
Egypt's authoritarian government is bracing itself for one of the biggest opposition demonstrations in recent years tomorrow, as thousands of protesters prepare to take to the streets demanding political reform.
An unlikely alliance of youth activists, political Islamists, industrial workers and hardcore football fans have pledged to join a nationwide "day of revolution" on a national holiday to celebrate the achievements of the police force.
With public sentiment against state security forces at an unprecedented level following a series of high-profile police brutality cases and the torture of anti-government activists, protest organisers are hoping that a large number of Egyptians will be emboldened to attend rallies, marches and flash mobs across the country in a sustained effort to force concessions from an increasingly unpopular ruling elite.
In a move that suggests the uprising in Tunisia may be spreading to other parts of the Arab world, Tunisian activists announced they would be holding their own protests in solidarity with their Egyptian counterparts, while many Egyptians plan to wave Tunisian flags. Parallel protests are also scheduled to take place outside the Egyptian embassies in London and Washington.
Demonstrators are calling for the sacking of the country's interior minister, the cancelling of Egypt's perpetual emergency law, which suspends basic civil liberties, and a new term limit on the presidency that would bring to an end the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, one of the Middle East's most entrenched dictators. Read on and comment >>> Jack Shenker in Cairo | Monday, January 24, 2011
LE FIGARO: Les jeunes Égyptiens veulent leur révolution : Lancé sur Facebook, un mot d'ordre de soulèvement à l'occasion de la Fête de la police va passer ce mardi l'épreuve de la rue. 80 000 internautes ont promis de venir manifester. >>> Par Tangi Sala | Mardi 25 Janvier 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, has been prevented from running for election as mayor of Chicago because he didn’t live in the city in the year before the election.
An Illinois Appeals Court has ruled that Mr Emanuel’s name cannot appear on the Feb 22 ballot.
Those challenging Mr Emanuel’s candidacy have argued that the Democrat doesn’t meet the one-year residency requirement because he rented out his Chicago home and moved his family to Washington to work for President Barack Obama for nearly two years.
Mr Emanuel has said he always intended to return to Chicago and was only living in Washington at the request of the president. >>> | Monday, January 24, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Catholic Church has launched a scathing critique of Silvio Berlusconi, warning that his scandalous private life threatened to turn Italy into a moral vacuum.
The country’s most senior bishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, said the prime minister’s conduct was sowing the seeds of an “anthropological disaster”, where young Italians would eschew abiding by the law and working hard in favour of easy money by “selling” themselves.
Cardinal Bagnasco, said the example set by Italy’s leaders suggested that “cunning, social climbing, showing off and selling oneself” was the way to get ahead in life.
Italians were “horrified” by the conduct of politicians, some of whom needed a refresher course in “the ABCs of ethics”, he said. >>> Nick Squires, Rome | Monday, January 24, 2011
WELT ONLINE: Erst wollte der christliche Fundamentalist den Koran öffentlich verbrennen, sagte die Aktion jedoch ab. Nun plant er eine Hinrichtung per Internet-Abstimmung.
Vor wenigen Monaten wirkte es noch so, als hätte Pastor Dr. Terry Jones die Sinnlosigkeit seiner geplanten "Burn-The-Koran"-Aktion erkannt. Der im US-Bundesstaat Florida ansässige Führer der christlichen Fundamentalisten-Gemeinde "Dove World Outreach Center" hatte geplant, am neunten Jahrestag der Terroranschläge vom 11. September 2001 den Koran - den er als ein "Teufelswerk" bezeichnete - öffentlich zu verbrennen.
Nach weltweiten Protesten, Medienrummel und dem Einwirken amerikanischer Politiker, blies der Prediger die geplante Protestaktion gegen die "Islamisierung" jedoch ab. Nun kündigt Pastor Jones eine neue provokative Aktion an - er will den Koran vor Gericht stellen. >>> Autor: Florian Flade | Montag 24. Januar 2011
FACEBOOK: International Judge the Koran Day is on Facebook >>>
International Judge the Koran Day >>>
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Oprah Winfrey reunited with 'secret half-sister': Oprah Winfrey, the US chat show queen, has been reunited with a secret half-sister she never knew existed. >>> Nick Allen, Los Angeles | Monday, January 24, 2011
BBC: As 22-year-old Aisha Uddin recites Surah Al-Fatiha - the first chapter of the Koran - at home with close friend Sameeah Karim, she may stumble over one word but otherwise the text is perfectly recounted.
But unlike Sameeah, 35, who has Pakistani heritage and grew up reading the holy book, Aisha is newer to it: she used to be called Laura and only converted to Islam two years ago.
She is pale and has bright blue eyes; originally from Birmingham, until recently she dressed like many other young white British women.
"Before it was the jeans, the hoodies, loads of make-up," she says.
Now Aisha wears a long black jilbab (a long flowing over-garment) and a cream-coloured hijab (headscarf).
"For me now, obviously it's a dramatic change, but it's a change I'm happy I've made, because now I don't have to prove myself to anybody out there." Read on (+video) >>> Catrin Nye. BBC Asian Network | Tuesday, January 04, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: A study by the University of Manchester has predicted that more than half of children in Birmingham will be from black and Asian communities - making white families a minority group.
The report puts the number of children from white families at 47 per cent, ahead of a census due at the end of March.
In 2006, 53 per cent of children under 16 were from white families and this figure is expected to drop substantially.
Children from white families will still make up the largest group, but as other ethnic groups make up more than half the population in the city, the white children will be classed as a 'minority'. White children in Birmingham 'a minority' this year because of immigration >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, January 24, 2011
Our politicians since the Second World War have done the indigenous population down. They stand accused of short-termism. They have served the needs of business, and their own needs, but ignored the will of the people, and ignored the long-term future of our Judeo-Christian civilisation. Traitors and wimps all! And even to this very day, it is not possible to find a Churchillian character amongst them. They are continuing to allow this country to go down the tubes. They should be punished severely. – © Mark
This comment should appear here. But the sh••• won’t publish it.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: 31 people were killed and over 130 injured in a suicide bomb blast at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.
A spokeswoman for the investigative committee of the federal prosecutor’s office put the number of casualties at 31, citing preliminary information, and described it as an "act of terror". >>> | Monday, January 24, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: 35 dead in suicide bomb attack on Moscow airport: At least 35 people were killed and over 130 injured in a suicide bomb blast at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on Monday. >>> | Monday, January 24, 2011
The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East >>> *
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Chinese schoolchildren are to sit mandatory manners classes in an attempt to smooth some of the rougher edges off modern Chinese society, the country's ministry of education has announced.From primary school onwards, Chinese children will now receive lessons in the art of queuing, good table manners, how to respect their elders and betters and the correct way to write letters, emails and even send SMS messages.
Older children will be tutored in the arts of introducing oneself to strangers, dealing politely with members of the opposite sex, making public speeches and the rudiments of dealing with foreigners and (to Chinese eyes, at least) their strange ways.
"The goal is to let students know that China is a country with a long history of civilisation, rituals and cultures," said the guidelines which were published on the ministry's website. >>> Peter Foster, Beijing | Monday, January 24, 2011
China is leading the way. I believe that we would do well to follow suit. Good manners are also sadly lacking in Western society today. It’s all part of the downfall of our civilisation. We, too, need to do something to stop the rot. – © Mark
Mr. Moore: There is no dialogue to be with this religion! How can one enter into dialogue with adherents of a 'religion' that believe they are the superior ones, God's (sorry Allah's) chosen people? How can one enter into a dialogue with Muslims when they have an unshakeable belief that their religion was revealed to them (to a prophet we are not even supposed to recognise) as the perfection of religion for man for all time? How can one enter into a dialogue with Muslims when they fail to understand the triune nature of God? (The Trinity, to a Muslim, is proof positive that we are all polytheists.) How can one enter into a dialogue with adherents of a faith that believe the world is divided into two: Dar ul Islam, the 'House of Islam', and Dar ul Harb, the 'House of War', and who further believe that there will be no peace until the latter has been absorbed into the former? How can one enter into a dialogue with people who are convinced that the Holy Bible has been falsified and changed over the centuries? How does one enter into a dialogue with the adherents of a faith which denies the most important aspect of our faith, namely that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save us, when they don't believe that he even died on the cross?
Need I go on?
The fact of the matter is this: We are in a hole with Islam. We have got ourselves into a fix we know not how to get out of. The first thing we need to do is recognise this fact. For truly, it will be the starting point to finding a solution. At present, the West is in denial of the huge problem it has brought upon itself. Denial will provide NO SOLUTIONS. – © Mark [My comment appears here] | Monday, January 24, 2011
The comment was a response to Mr. Charles Moore's article in The Daily Telegraph
Sunday, January 23, 2011
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Europe's banks are facing an exodus of staff to US rivals as regulatory and political pressure drives a growing pay divide between financial institutions headquartered on either side of the Atlantic.
Warnings over the divide follow a roller coaster weekend in which Sir John Vickers, the banking commission chief, said Britain's lenders could be broken up and talks between finance chiefs and the Treasury over bonuses and lending targets stalled.
Headhunters have warned that City staff at some of Europe's biggest banks are "fed up" and that they expect a wave of applications after this year's bonus round. City-based US banks and small boutique firms are expected to be the main beneficiaries.
Leading US banks from Goldman Sachs to JP Morgan last week handed bonuses to London based staff, with significant cash elements, while bankers at European rivals face smaller bonuses paid largely in deferred shares.
"A number of European banks have issues," said Stéphane Rambosson, managing partner of search firm Veni Partners. "They have been operating on the goodwill of their staff for the last couple of years, but people are getting fed up."
Credit Suisse has already said it intends to defer bonuses for more bankers this year, with much of the payouts in shares rather than cash, and other European and UK players are expected to follow.
"European banks are increasingly concerned that regulation is moving against them, allowing US banks to be more competitive in both hiring and paying staff," said Piers Benbow, managing partner of Eden Search. Banks set for staff exodus to US rivals over pay rules >>> Jonathan Sibun and Harry Wilson | Sunday, January 23, 2011
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Tunisian-style protests erupted in Yemen over the weekend with thousands demanding the downfall of its autocratic president who has joined leaders from Algeria to Jordan in the crosshairs of a regional revolt.Pressure for regime change in the stagnant Arab dictatorships has shifted across the Middle East and North Africa since Tunisia's Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled in the face of demonstrations in Tunis on January 14.
Yemen police on Sunday arrested Tawakel Karman, a female Islamic activist, who had organised the 2,500-strong demonstration in the grounds of the University of Sanaa. A heavy police presence and an active role by the secret police thwarted attempts to move the demonstration to the streets of the capital.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of Yemen, has been in power, like Mr Ben Ali, for more than two decades. Like his Tunisian counterpart, his government has allowed grievances over lack of jobs and freedom to fester while presiding over corrupt systems. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Sunday, January 23, 2011
GATES OF VIENNA: Are You a Sarrazinista? >>> Baron Bodissey | Sunday, January 23, 2011
HT: Gates of Vienna >>>
leJDD.fr: Après 224 jours de crise politique, les citoyens belges se mobilisent. Sur Internet et dans les rues de Bruxelles. Ils étaient des milliers, dimanche, à manifester dans les rues de Bruxelles pour demander la constitution d'un nouveau gouvernement."Ceci n'est pas une crise politique." Voilà ce que pourraient clamer les Belges, façon Magritte. Car, pour protester contre l’absence prolongée de gouvernement, la patrie du surréalisme a choisi de se mobiliser à sa façon: avec humour. Mais aussi une bonne dose de détermination. Il est vrai qu’il y a de quoi s’impatienter. Voilà sept mois que les Belges sont allés aux urnes pour élire leurs représentants au Parlement fédéral, et sept mois qu’ils n’ont pas de gouvernement issu de leur vote. >>> Pierre-Laurent Mazars (avec Benjamin Adler à Bruxelles), Le Journal du Dimanche | Dimanche 23 Janvier 2011
leJDD.fr: Samedi, à Alger, une manifestation "pour la démocratie" a dégénéré en affrontements. L’exemple tunisien fait remonter la tension.Au lieu d’une démonstration de force du Rassemblement pour la culture et la démocratie (RCD, opposition), c’est le pouvoir algérien qui a montré ses muscles samedi. La formation de Saïd Sadi avait appelé à une marche "pour la démocratie". Une manifestation interdite par les autorités, alors que l’Algérie a connu début janvier de violentes émeutes contre la vie chère (5 morts, plus de 800 blessés). Le face-à-face a débouché sur des affrontements. Bilan: 42 blessés selon le RCD, 19 selon la police, qui en annonçait huit dans ses rangs, dont deux grièvement. >>> Ali Idir, à Alger, Le Journal du Dimanche | Dimanche 23 Janvier 2011
leJDD.fr: Tarek Mekki, un blogueur en exil émigré au Canada est revenu dimanche en Tunisie. Plusieurs centaines de personnes l'ont accueilli en héros à l'aéroport de Tunis. L'homme est connu pour ses diatribes sur la toile contre le régime du président déchu Zine ben Ali.
"Je me sens fier de rentrer en Tunisie après la chute du dictateur. Internet a joué un grand rôle et a été l'élément clé pour se débarrasser du tyran", a déclaré Tarek Mekki. "C'est sensationnel d'avoir participé via internet à sa chute, en téléchargeant des vidéos. Ce que nous avons fait sur internet avait de la crédibilité, et c'est pourquoi cela a marché", a-t-il ajouté. [Source: leJDD.fr] | Dimanche 23 Janvier 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Baroness Warsi's speech on Islamophobia was packed with sanctimonious generalities, laments Jenny McCartney.
As Baroness Warsi, the Conservative Party chairman, discovered rather brutally last week, it's a tricky job being both an establishment politician and a member of a minority community. If you start lecturing your community too stridently, you will gradually drive away anyone you might hope to influence; if you defend it too robustly, you run the risk of infuriating the majority.
I appreciate the delicacy of the task, because I spent my youth watching politicians negotiate the explosive nuances of the overheated politics of Northern Ireland. But the chief problem with Baroness Warsi's speech on faith in Leicester last week was different: amid some thoughtful points, there were large patches that were hopelessly confusing.
Some of it struck home. She remarked that "Islamophobia has now passed the dinner-party test" in becoming socially acceptable. "Islamophobia" is a word I would rather avoid, because it is both incendiary and vague. None the less, I think she is broadly right: many people are undoubtedly less inhibited about verbally attacking Islam than they would have been 10 years ago, in part because Islamist militancy is on the rise. They are also more vocal, as it happens, in criticising Christianity.
Since religions are belief systems, I see no problem in people questioning the principles upon which they are based. What is objectionable is when critics extend their attack to the believers, and lazily assume that "Muslims" are a solid mass who all think and behave in exactly the same way. I have, over the years, had sharp run-ins with many supposedly educated non-Muslims who bandy the label with a sweeping, arrogant mixture of fear and contempt. Such sloppiness makes no distinction between Salmaan Taseer, the late governor of the Punjab whose moral courage few in the West could hope to match, and his murderer. >>> Jenny McCartney | Saturday, January 22, 2011
I wrote the following comment on this article:
…I see no problem in people questioning the principles upon which they are based. What is objectionable is when critics extend their attack to the believers, and lazily assume that "Muslims" are a solid mass who all think and behave in exactly the same way. I have, over the years, had sharp run-ins with many supposedly educated non-Muslims who bandy the label with a sweeping, arrogant mixture of fear and contempt.
This is politically correct gobbledygook! Furthermore, you cannot compare the Islamic problem with the Irish question. Islam is in so many ways unique. And uniquely problematic to boot!
People in the establishment who don’t understand keep prattling on about moderate Muslims and keep prefacing everything they utter with “the vast majority of Muslims are law-abiding citizens who want nothing to do with extremism”, or some such unproven banality. I, for one, am sick to the back teeth of all the twaddle.
The fact is that there is no such thing as Islamism, and therefore no such distinction can be made between Islam and Islamism, no more than a distinction can be truly made between moderate and radical Muslims.
Fact is, there is ONE religion: Islam. It may be broken down by sect, but not by nature. (With the possible exception of Sufis and the Ahmaddiya movement.) Truth is, Islam is an extreme religion by nature, which leaves little room for interpretation and/or evolution. The reason for this is clear: The Koran is to be taken literally, since the words contained therein are believed to be the literal words of Allah. Therefore, by definition, anyone who says anything against the Koran risks being branded a heretic. For, after all is said and done, who can question Allah’s words or judgement?
Fundamentalists, radical Muslims, Islamists, call them what you will, are simply people who wish to abide by Allah’s words. They are true to their faith. They have not gone astray, as they keep on telling us. And they have not bastardized their faith either, as so many wimps in the political class keep on telling us. They are the TRUE believers. They are doing Allah’s work! Now that sounds uncomfortable; but it is a fact. You won’t get Muslims making the distinction between Islam and Islamism. This is the distinction made by the infidel for the infidel. It serves the needs of the political class.
By extension, there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim who lives by the Koran. The “moderate Muslim” that our politicians keep going on about are the Muslims who are lukewarm about their faith. They are like the Christians who are nominal, the ones who call themselves Christian, but don’t live by Christian tenets. (All religions have such ‘adherents’.)
I have worked and lived with very many Muslims. Most of them have truly been very nice, kind people, who would go to the ends of the earth to help one. But the fact remains that there is no telling when a perfectly moderate member of that faith group will start to morph into something rather more fundamentalist. I have observed that it often happens when they already have sown their wild oats. Then they’ve had enough, and start reading the Koran. The more they read the Koran, the more fundamentalist they become. And as God is my witness, one starts to observe the transformation before one’s very eyes!
One of the probems we have in this country with all the Muslims amongst us is that there is no telling when this transformation is going to happen. It cannot easily be foretold; and when it does happen, what are we able to do about it?
Our politicians have brought upon us a very difficult problem to solve. A problem that can only truly be solved by draconian measures, which no politician has the stomach for, and probably most of the electorate couldn’t stomach the necessary measures anyway. Fact is, politicians since the Second World War have done the indigenous population of these islands down. They stand accused of short-termism. They have served the needs of big business, and they have served their own needs, and into the bargain, they have paid scant regard for the wishes of the electorate or the future of our Judeo-Christian civilisation. Fie on them all!
Regarding Baroness Warsi’s speech on Islamophobia, I have the following to say…
She has no right lecturing us on what we should talk about at dinner parties, or elsewhere. Why is she a baroness anyway? I think we all know the answer to that question. But really, what is a phobia anyway? A phobia is an irrational fear of something. Whatever can be irrational about fearing Islam? The socio-political system, clothed as it is in a deity, preaches hatred of the other, the infidel. It preaches hatred of homosexuals, and calls for them to be killed. Apostates are killed too. Women are treated as second-class citizens. They are often little more than procreation machines! Islam is supremacist at its core. Its adherents practise female genital mutilation. There are so many cases of enforced marriages that should make any young Muslimah fearful. And then there are the honour killings. Oh, dear, one could go on and on. Muslims, by the way, also take over wherever they are allowed to put down roots. They snuff out the indigenous culture – always. The process has only once ever been reversed. That was in Moorish Spain. It took 500 bloody years to reverse the process of Islamisation! Do we want this future for ourselves?
Islamophobic? By God, one would have to be Islamofoolish not to be Islamophobic! – © Mark
This comment also appears here
THE OBSERVER: In Cairo, as in places all over the country, all eyes are fixed on the drama that is unfolding in Tunisia. Jack Shenker travelled across Egypt and heard people increasingly asking: could it happen here, and if so, when?
News of the latest act of self-immolation in Egypt reached Waleed Shamad while he was sitting in the bourse, a dense warren of outdoor shisha cafes tucked away in the back alleys surrounding Cairo's old stock exchange.
An unemployed man had set himself alight in the middle of a busy street – the 12th such incident last week. According to a TV newsreader, the man, 35, had moved to the capital in the hope of finding work and saving enough to buy a home and get married, but lack of job opportunities had driven him to despair. "That could be a description of any of us," said Waleed, pulling his scarf tighter against the cold. "These human blazes are coming so fast, it's hard to keep track."
Cairo is a city built for sunny days and balmy nights; come winter the wind can lash with a ferocious bite. But that has not stopped Shamad and his friends gathering for their late-evening tea on the pavement to talk through the day's gossip: the Friday sermons devoted to Islam's disapproval of suicide, new government restrictions on buying bottled petrol, and, of course, all the latest from Tunis – where developments have kept the group glued to al-Jazeera TV for days.
"We couldn't believe our eyes," grinned Shamad, recalling the sight of Tunisia's ousted despot, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, fleeing a land he had ruled for 23 years. "I'm so proud of the Tunisian people. When you see a friend or brother succeeding in some great struggle, it gives you hope, hope for yourself and hope for your country." >>> Jack Shenker | Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: The dinner party bigot's attack on Islam as a creed can all too easily become an excuse for an attack upon an ethnic group
No one actually comes out and directly says "I hate Muslims" – at least, not on the liberal dinner party circuit that was the target of Lady Warsi's speech. Conversations generally begin with the sort of anxieties that many of us might reasonably share: it cannot be right for women to be denied access to education in some Islamic regimes; the use of the death penalty for apostasy is totally unacceptable; what about the treatment of homosexuals? The conversation then moves on to sharia law or jihad or the burqa, not all of it entirely well informed. Someone places their hands across their face and peers out between their fingers. Another guest giggles slightly. Someone inevitably mentions 9/11. Later, guests travel home on the tube and look nervously at the man in the beard sitting opposite.
The problem Warsi identifies is the problem of slippage. What can begin as a perfectly legitimate conversation about, say, religious belief and human rights, can drift into a licence for observations that in any other circumstance would be regarded as tantamount to racism. Like the 19th-century link between anti-Catholicism and racism towards the Irish, one can easily bleed into the other.
"I treat the Islamic religion with the same respect as the bubble-gum I scrape off my shoe," suggested one contributor to the website of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, in response to Warsi's speech. Another offered the following charming observation: "I don't care what the good or bad Baroness has to say about anything at all. I give her no credence nor voice. She is a person of faith so in my book a skinwaste." I cannot think of a single other group in our society about whom such vile remarks would be in any way socially acceptable. And OK, these are comments whose surface grammar is about Islam and religion. Nonetheless, the level of invective is very obviously personal. Read on and comment >>> Giles Fraser | Saturday, January 22, 2011
Baroness Warsi spoke twaddle in Leicester; Giles Fraser has written twaddle here!
This article confuses the issue. Islam is a socio-political ideology clothed in a deity; and a very dangerous ideology at that! Wherever it has been allowed to take root, it has eventually snuffed out the host culture. And only in Moorish Spain has the process ever been reversed, and that reversal took 500 years of bloody conflict. Now the Spaniards, under the misguided leadership of Zapatero, is busy Islamising the country again. People seem to be incapable of learning from history!
As for the phenomenon of "Islamophobia", I can say only this: a phobia is an irrational fear or aversion to something. What on earth can be irrational about fearing Islam? It preaches hatred of the other. It kills apostates. It kills homosexuals. It treats women as second-class citizens. It is supremacist. Its adherents practise female genital mutilation. They also engage in honour killings. Must I go on?
Get with the story, Mr. Fraser. You must be living on another planet to hold such a viewpoint so reminiscent of Pollyanna's! – © Mark
This comment also appears here
THE DAILY EXPRESS: THE hotel owners who this week were ordered to pay compensation to a gay couple for refusing them a room reveal the toll it has taken on their health and livelihood.With its chintz and plentiful knick-knacks, the Chymorvah hotel isn’t to everyone’s taste. Some might even call the place faded or old-fashioned, yet for the best part of 25 years it has ticked along quite nicely, thank you.
There’s no questioning the lovely setting and wonderful views over St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, while a stream of repeat bookings are testament to the hospitality on offer behind the lace curtains. The Chymorvah’s amiable owners, Hazelmary and Peter Bull, would like to be renowned for the warmth of their welcome and her treacle suet puddings.
Instead, at a time of life when they have one eye on retirement, the couple have become unlikely standard bearers for traditional Christian values.
For years the Bulls have openly operated a policy of allowing only married couples to share a bed in the seven-bedroom hotel in Marazion, near Penzance, that is also their home.
However, this week Peter, 70, and Hazelmary, 66, were ordered to pay £3,600 compensation for “hurt and embarrassment” caused to a gay couple who were refused a double room. >>> Adrian Lee | Saturday, January 22, 2011
NZZ ONLINE: Angesichts der zunehmend schwierigeren wirtschaftlichen Lage im Land haben Tausende Jordanier am Freitag den Rücktritt ihrer Regierung gefordert. Bei Demonstrationen in mehreren Städten beklagten sie zudem einen Mangel an demokratischen Reformen in der konstitutionellen Monarchie.Angespornt von den jüngsten Ereignissen in Tunesien verzeichnete auch Jordanien in der vergangenen Woche ein Anwachsen der Proteste. Dabei kündigten die Demonstranten am Freitag weitere Aktionen an, sollte Ministerpräsident Samir Rifai mitsamt seiner Regierung nicht zurücktreten. >>> ddp | Freitag, 21. Januar 2011
LOS ANGELES TIMES: On a widely viewed talk show, Veena Malik lashes out at a Muslim scholar after he accuses her of insulting Islam.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani actress castigated for appearing to cuddle with an Indian actor on a reality show lashed out at a Muslim cleric who had criticized her during a widely watched television exchange this week.
The unusual outburst, punctuated by tears, came at a sensitive time in a country where Islamic fundamentalism is spreading and liberals are increasingly afraid to express their views.
"What is your problem with me? You tell me your problem!" an angry Veena Malik asked the Muslim scholar, who accused her of insulting Islam. >>> Associated Press | Saturday, January 22, 2011
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