Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom » | Mark Alexander | Friday, April 20, 2007
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom » | Mark Alexander | Friday, April 20, 2007
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Plans for Greece to default, potentially leaving the euro, have been drafted in Germany as the European Union begins to face up to the fact that Greek debt is spiralling out of control - with or without a second bailout.
The German finance ministry is actively pushing for Greece to declare itself bankrupt and to agree a "haircut" on the bulk of its debts held by banks, a move that would be classed as a default by financial markets.
Eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday to approve the next tranche of loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund, designed to stave off national bankruptcy while the new Greek government puts the country's finances in order.
But the severe austerity measures being demanded have caused such fury in Greece, and the cuts required are so deep, that Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, does not believe that any government would be able to implement them.
His pessimism has been tipped into despair with a secret European Commission, Central and IMF report that even if Greece made good on its promises, it would not be enough to reach the target of bringing total debt to 120 per cent of GDP by 2020.
"He just thinks the Greeks cannot do what needs to be done. And even if by some miracle they did what has been promised, he - and a growing group - are convinced it will not pull Greece out the hole," said a eurozone official. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Saturday, February 18, 2012
In his first campaign rally in the Alpine town of Annecy, Mr Sarkozytransfixed a crowd of 4,000 sympathisers with a highly combative speech in which he admitted committing "errors", convincingly defended his reforms, promised more and ended by laying into his adversary.
"When you tell the English press that you are pro-market (economically liberal) and when you come to explain to the French that finance is the enemy, you are lying, you are lying from morning to night!," he said.
Mr Sarkozy was referring to comments Mr Hollande made in a lunch with British and American journalists in which he sought to reassure the City of London that he would not go "overboard" in regulating the financial world, and said there were few Communists left in France.
Last month, Mr Hollande blasted the world of finance as his main "adversary" in his first campaign rally.
Polls place Mr Hollande clearly in the lead with less than 10 weeks to go before the first round of voting on April 22.
But after formerly announcing his decision to run for a second five-year mandate on Wednesday night, Mr Sarkozy last night showed doubters in his own camp he still has the formidable oratory skills that helped propel him to power in 2007. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Friday, February 17, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France is warming to Francois [sic] Hollande as 'Mr Normal' after years of Nicolas Sarkozy as president: France's presidential election may come down to a battle between bling and bland as Francoise [sic] Hollande challenges Nicolas Sarkozy. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, February 18, 2012
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Julia Gillard is poised to face a leadership challenge from the man she ousted as Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, as a feud erupted over the leak of a video recording of him swearing profusely.
Leadership tensions in the ruling Labor party appeared to be nearing their inevitable conclusion on the weekend, with reports that a challenge is likely within two weeks.
The ongoing tussle was exacerbated by the appearance of a leaked video on Youtube showing Mr Rudd swearing profusely in his office while filming a public message as prime minister.
The two-minute video was posted by a user called "HappyVegemiteKR" - a reference to Mr Rudd's repeated claim if asked whether he intends to challenge Ms Gillard, that he is a "happy little vegemite".
But the video triggered a new round of internal ructions, with Mr Rudd accusing Ms Gillard's office of leaking the video – a claim she strenuously denied.
Mr Rudd, now the foreign minister, was ousted in 2010 by Ms Gillard who was forced to form a minority government at the subsequent election.
At the time, Mr Rudd was widely loathed in the party but he is now believed to have support of about a third of MPs who believe Ms Gillard has little chance of winning the next election, due in 2013. » | Jonathan Pearlman, in Sydney | Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Ein Mitglied der niederländischen Königsfamilie ist am Arlberg von einer Lawine verschüttet worden. Offizielle Stellen bestätigen gegenüber der "Presse", dass es sich um Johan Friso handelt, den zweiten Sohn der niederländischen Königin Beatrix. Der 43-Jährige befindet sich in kritischem Zustand, die Ärzte der Innsbrucker Universitätsklinik kämpfen um sein Leben. Die niederländische Königsfamilie befindet sich derzeit auf zweiwöchigen Winterferien in Lech am Arlberg. » | red. | Freitag, 17. Februar 2012
KRONE.AT: Arlberg: Prinz Johan Friso von Lawine verschüttet – Drama um den holländischen Prinzen Johan Friso: Der zweitälteste Sohn von Königin Beatrix ist Freitagmittag am Arlberg von einer Lawine 40 Meter mitgerissen und verschüttet worden. Der Prinz wurde nach 20 Minuten ausgegraben und im Rettungshubschrauber wiederbelebt. In der Universitätsklinik Innsbruck ringt der prominente Patient nun mit dem Tod. » | C. Budin, T. Schrems, G. Krauthackl/red/AG | Freitag, 17. Februar 2012
NZZ ONLINE: Niederländischer Prinz von einer Lawine verschüttet: Sohn von Königin Beatrix gerettet und in stabilem Zustand » | NZZ Online | Freitag, 17. Februar 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Son of Queen Beatrix of Netherlands injured in avalanche: Prince Friso seriously hurt and in intensive care after helicopter rescue from Lech ski resort in Austria » | Associated Press in Vienna | Friday, February 17, 2012
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le prince Johan Friso des Pays-Bas blessé dans une avalanche: Le deuxième fils de la reine Beatrix est dans un état critique après avoir été pris sous une coulée de neige, vendredi dans la station autrichienne de Lech. » | afp/Newsnet | vendredi 17 fébruar 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Christian Wulff was picked by Angela Merkel for head of state role but couldn't shake off row over improper business ties
Angela Merkel's handpicked choice for German head of state was forced on Friday into a humiliating resignation, after being caught up in an alleged corruption scandal and misguided attempt to muzzle the press.
German criticism of other European powers for less than perfect statesmanship came back to haunt Merkel's leadership as Christian Wulff finally stepped down as president after a months-long row about a dubious loan, a string of undeclared freebies and his attempt to silence a German tabloid that was investigating the matters.
The 52-year-old has now lost his immunity from prosecution and could potentially face jail if he is found guilty of criminal wrongdoing. Prosecutors indicated shortly before Wulff fell on his sword, that they had "factual indications" of Wulff's long-suspected improper ties to rich businessmen.
Wulff's departure is an unwelcome distraction for the chancellor, who is trying to stop the eurozone from unravelling while maintaining the moral high ground in the European Union. She had to cancel a trip to Rome on Friday morning in order to deal with the fall-out, standing up the Italian premier Mario Monti, with whom she had planned to sit down and discuss the euro crisis. Instead she found herself giving a press conference at her chancellery in Berlin expressing her "personal deep regret" that Wulff, her personal choice for president in 2010, had quit.
Wulff's legacy, said Merkel, would be reminding the nation that its "strengths lie in his diversity" – a reference to the president's remarks in 2010 that "Islam belongs in Germany" which proved controversial at the time. Keen to put a positive spin on the embarrassing situation, she said Wulff's decision to step down ahead of a possible criminal investigation showed the "strengths" of the German legal system – "everyone is treated equally regardless of their position" » | Helen Pidd in Berlin | Friday, February 17, 2012
Related »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A mob burned alive a 40-year-old woman on Friday after accusing her of casting black magic spells in a remote village in southern Nepal, police said.
Dengani Mahato died after she was severely beaten, doused in kerosene and set alight for allegedly practising witchcraft, Gopal Bhandari, a superintendent of police in Chitwan district, said.
"Nine people started to beat her after a local shaman pointed the finger at her over the death of a boy a year ago," the officer said.
"They accused her of having hands in the death of the boy, who had drowned in a river." » | AFP | Friday, February 17, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: German president and Merkel ally resigns in corruption scandal: Ally of Angela Merkel had been under increasing pressure over home loan and apparent attempt to block report in tabloid » | Helen Pidd in Berlin | Friday, February 17, 2012
Related »
FRANFURTER ALLGEMEINE: „Habe mich rechtlich korrekt verhalten“: Bundespräsident Christian Wulff hat seinen Rücktritt erklärt. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel nahm Wulffs Erklärung mit „tiefem Bedauern“ zur Kenntnis. Die Koalition traf sich zu Beratungen über die Nachfolge Wulffs. » | Freitag, 17. Februar 2012
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Kommentar zu Wulff – Jenseits des Rubikon: Wulffs Präsidentschaft begann mit großen Worten - und verlor sich im Winkeladvokatischen. » | Von Bertold Kohler | Freitag, 17. Februar 2012
The prosecutors in Lower Saxony, where Mr Wulff, 52, was previously premier, said there was an "initial suspicion" that he improperly accepted benefits.
He has also been accused of trying to bully a paper not to run the story.
The president - whose primary role is to serve as a moral authority for the nation - denies any wrongdoing.
The widening row is seen by analysts as a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who helped Mr Wulff to secure the largely ceremonial office in 2010.
Angry message
On Thursday, prosecutors in Hannover, capital of Lower Saxony, said in a statement there were "enough actual indications" that the president had acted improperly.
"Therefore they have asked asked the president of the German Bundestag (the lower house) to lift the president's immunity."
The move is formally required to start proceedings against Mr Wulff, although this does not mean necessarily that he president will be charged. » | Thursday, February 16, 2012
Religious rules should end “at the door of the temple” and give way to the “public law” laid down by Parliament, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said.
He argued that Roman Catholic adoption agencies and other faith groups providing public services must choose between their religion and obeying the law when their beliefs conflict with the will of the state.
Mr Phillips singled out the adoption agencies that fought a long legal battle to avoid being forced to accept homosexual couples under equality laws.
Last year, following a High Court case, the Charity Commission ruled against an exemption for Catholic Care, an adoption agency operating in Leeds.
Speaking at a debate in London on diverse societies, Mr Phillips backed the new laws, which led to the closure of all Catholic adoption agencies in England. “You can’t say because we decide we’re different then we need a different set of laws,” he said, in comments reported by The Tablet, the Catholic newspaper.
“To me there’s nothing different in principle with a Catholic adoption agency, or indeed Methodist adoption agency, saying the rules in our community are different and therefore the law shouldn’t apply to us. Why not then say sharia can be applied to different parts of the country? It doesn’t work.” » | John Bingham, and Tim Ross | Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Holger Apfel meets with SPIEGEL in his office in the eastern German city of Dresden, with a view of the Semper Opera House. For this meeting to discuss his right-wing extremist views, he is wearing a gray, midrange suit by Mishumo and socks by Tommy Hilfiger. He appears to have a comfortable body mass index in the region of 30, and his stomach is pressing against the buttons of his blue business shirt. He is soft-spoken and has a slight lisp.
Apfel, who has been the new chairman of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) since November, says that his party finally wants to appeal to ordinary citizens and to address their concerns, fears and hardships. The NPD, he says, is a party that comes from the center of the population and is for the center of the population.
But, in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a very different face of the party is on display -- one that reveals Apfel's rhetoric for the charade it is.
The NPD's office there is on an arterial road in the town of Grevesmühlen. The local branch of the party has its headquarters on a commercial strip occupied by the likes of the local construction yard, a carpet store and a Mercedes dealership. The black, white and red flag of the German Reich flying above the property identifies the NPD office, which is surrounded by a 2-meter (6.5-foot) fence topped with barbed wire. Behind the fence is a watchtower, complete with floodlights, next to a building with bars on the windows.
The Germanic Elhaz rune, the symbol of the Third Reich's "Lebensborn" program, which supported the production of racially pure Aryan children, hangs above the entrance.
Welcome to a building called the "Thinghaus" in Grevesmühlen, the local headquarters of the NPD. (The name is inspired by the old Germanic word for a governing assembly, "thing.") Instead of being located in the midst of the populace, the building is in fact where the National Democrats are still to be found today: on the periphery -- on the periphery of the town, the periphery of society and the periphery of public beliefs.
Most of all, the NPD is also on the periphery of legality. » | Spiegel Staff | Thursday, February 16, 2012
Outside a Christian store in the middle of a maze of suburban strip malls, Grace Rozelle has no doubt about what matters to her in the Republican primary battle for Michigan.
"Abortion is the really big thing for me. It has always been extremely important because of my faith," explained the 69-year-old retired schoolteacher. "I love Jesus and he created all of us."
Rozelle was standing on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, just a few streets away from the Mars Hill Bible Church, an evangelical mega-church built out of a converted shopping mall. Such displays of religious conviction are usually not seen as vital to Michigan's political landscape, which is more typically dominated by heavy industry and struggling city economies like Detroit and Flint.
But Rick Santorum is changing all that.
The former Pennsylvania senator has surged into contention in the 2012 race on the back of a stunning hat-trick of victories in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. He has banded together religious social conservatives and Tea Party supporters, creating a powerful challenge to frontrunner Mitt Romney in national polls. It has also seen him catapult into the lead in Michigan, a state that only weeks ago Detroit-born Romney assumed was virtually guaranteed. One Michigan poll had Santorum ahead by 15 points, and the last four surveys all show him maintaining a lead.
Now if Santorum can beat Romney in Michigan on February 28, he would deal a hugely damaging blow to the former Massachusetts governor's campaign, and achieve something few experts ever believed possible: become a real contender for the Republican nomination. "It is absolutely going to be a competitive race in Michigan now," said Stu Sandler, a top Republican strategist in the state. » | Paul Harris in Grand Rapids, Michigan | Thursday, February 16, 2012
MAIL ONLINE: Interracial marriage in the U.S. hits all-time high with one in 12 marrying outside their race
Interracial marriages in the U.S. have climbed to 4.8 million - a record one in 12 - as a steady flow of new Asian and Hispanic immigrants expands the pool of prospective spouses.
Blacks are now substantially more likely than before to marry whites.
A Pew Research Center study, released today, details a diversifying America where interracial unions and the mixed-race children they produce are challenging typical notions of race.
'The rise in interracial marriage indicates that race relations have improved over the past quarter century,' said Daniel Lichter, a sociology professor at Cornell University. 'Mixed-race children have blurred America's color line. Read on and comment » | Associated Press | Thursday, February 16, 2012
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain should play its part to end this Greek tragedy by standing up for the underdog.
For all of my adult life, support for the European Union has been seen as the mark of a civilised, reasonable and above all compassionate politician. It has guaranteed him or her access to leader columns, TV studios, lavish expense accounts and overseas trips.
The reason for this special treatment is that the British establishment has tended to view the EU as perhaps a little incompetent and corrupt, but certainly benign and generally a force for good in a troubled world. This attitude is becoming harder and harder to sustain, as this partnership of nations is suddenly starting to look very nasty indeed: a brutal oppressor that is scornful of democracy, national identity and the livelihoods of ordinary people.
The turning point may have come this week with the latest intervention by Brussels: bureaucrats are threatening to bankrupt an entire country unless opposition parties promise to support the EU-backed austerity plan.
Let’s put the Greek problem in its proper perspective. Britain’s Great Depression in the Thirties has become part of our national myth. It was the era of soup kitchens, mass unemployment and the Jarrow March, immortalised in George Orwell’s wonderful novels and still remembered in Labour Party rhetoric.
Yet the fall in national output during the Depression – from peak to trough – was never more than 10 per cent. In Greece, gross domestic product is already down about 13 per cent since 2008, and according to experts is likely to fall a further 7 per cent by the end of this year. In other words, by this Christmas, Greece’s depression will have been twice as deep as the infamous economic catastrophe that struck Britain 80 years ago.
Yet all the evidence suggests that the European elite could not give a damn. Earlier this week Olli Rehn, the EU’s top economist, warned of “devastating consequences” if Greece defaults. The context of his comments suggests, however, that he was thinking just as much of the devastating consequences that would flow for the rest of Europe, rather than for the Greeks themselves.
Another official was quoted in the Financial Times as saying that Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are “losing patience” with Greece, with apparently not even a passing thought for the real victims of this increasingly horrific saga. Though the euro-elite seems not to care, life in Greece, the home of European civilisation, has become unbearable. Read on and comment » | Peter Oborne | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France's far right Front National, has been convicted of contesting crimes against humanity for saying the Nazi occupation was not "particularly inhumane".
A Paris appeals court upheld the three-month suspended prison sentence and €10,000 (£8,283) fine handed to Le Pen in 2009.
Le Pen had told the far-right magazine Rivarol in 2005: "in France at least the German occupation was not particularly inhumane, even if there were a number of excesses – inevitable in a country of 550,000 sq km." » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Thursday, February 16, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Security forces on Thursday arrested blogger Razan Ghazzawi, icon of the 11-month uprising in Syria, along with rights activist Mazen Darwish and 12 others, opposition figures said.
Human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni said Ghazzawi was arrested in an early afternoon raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, which is located in central Damascus and is headed by Darwish.
"We at the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies condemn these arrests and call on Syrian authorities to immediately release them," Bunni said in a statement.
Opposition figure Louai Hussein earlier told AFP that Darwish's wife was also among those arrested. » | Thursday, February 16, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi launched a public attack on Thursday on the country's judges, accusing them of being out to "destroy" him after prosecutors called for the tycoon to be jailed for bribery.
"It's judicial persecution, an endless attempt to smear me, which has turned the court into a special court which aims to take Berlusconi out of politics and destroy him as a person," the media magnate told Italy's Channel 5 television.
Berlusconi's legal woes returned to haunt him on Wednesday when prosecutors asked he be sentenced to five years in prison for paying his former tax lawyer David Mills 450,000 euros to provide false testimony in the 1990s.
He has denied the charges and accuses prosecutors of a plot against him. » | AFP | Thursday, February 16, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Suspected Islamist gunmen bombed their way into a prison in central Nigeria before opening fire on the wardens and emptying the jail of its 200 inmates, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
The attack in the central Kogi state left one warden dead and while there was no official confirmation of the raiders' identity, local residents suspected the Boko Haram Islamist sect which has been wreaking havoc in Nigeria.
"There was a jail break last night. From reports available to us, a large number of gunmen attacked the Koton Karfe prison around 7:00pm and threw explosives at the gate and opened fire on our wardens," said prison spokeswoman Hadiza Aminu.
She said a shoot-out then erupted.
"One of our men was killed and the gunmen overpowered the wardens and broke into the cells, freeing inmates – 199 inmates all awaiting trial escaped, leaving only one inmate," Aminu told AFP.
She refused to speculate on the identity of the attackers.
"We still don't know who was behind this attack. Investigations have commenced to determine that."
But a resident Isiaka Yakub said: "From all indications, the attackers were members of Boko Haram," adding that there were around 20 of them. Continue reading and comment » | AFP | Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Cabinet Office minister and chairman of the Conservative Party gave Benedict XVI a personal gift during a 20-minute private audience – a gold-plated cube that opens up to reveal 99 tiny cubes, each inscribed with a reference to Allah.
In keeping with the theme of interfaith dialogue, she also gave him a copy of the Koran which was translated by an East European Jew who converted to Islam and helped write Pakistan's constitution.
"They were personal gifts from me," Baroness Warsi, the first female Muslim cabinet minister, told The Daily Telegraph at the Vatican on Wednesday.
She also presented the pontiff with a letter from David Cameron, the Prime Minister, a message from the Queen and a copy of the King James Bible.
"He thanked me for the comments I've made. He said he was glad I was making the case for faith. He was intrigued by the cube and I thought as I showed it to him 'Oh my God I'm going to break it'," the minister said.
Baroness Warsi expanded on a speech she gave in Rome on Tuesday, and an article she wrote for The Daily Telegraph, that British society was under threat from a rising tide of "militant secularisation" and that Europe needs to be "more confident in its Christianity".
Speaking after her meeting with the Pope, she said: "Secular fundamentalists are saying that people of faith shouldn't have a voice in the public sphere. I'm saying faith should be one of many voices, it should be part of the debate."
She criticised the arguments of Richard Dawkins, the outspoken atheist, as "false". » | Nick Squires, the Vatican | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Swept to power on a tide of hope for a enacting a “rupture” with his predecessors in 2007, Mr Sarkozy faces an epic struggle to convince France he is still the man for the country’s top job.
“Yes, I am candidate for the presidential election,” he told millions of viewers who tuned in to scrutinise his short appearance on TF1’s 8 o’clock news programme – the country’s most watched evening broadcast.
“I took this decision because France, Europe and the world have for the last three years seen a series of unprecedented crises, which means that not seeking a new mandate from the French people would be abandoning my duties.”
“Can you imagine the captain of a ship in the heart of a storm saying: I’m tired, I’m giving up, I’m stopping?’,” he asked, adding: “I have things to say to the French people, I have proposals to make to them.”
Mr Sarkozy’s shipping analogy came weeks after his main rival,François Hollande, the Socialist candidate and frontrunner, was likened to the “captain of a pedalo heading into a storm” by a leftist critic. Mr Hollande has never held a cabinet post. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Greece rounded bitterly on its EU paymasters when the finance minister and socialist leader, Evangelos Venizelos, accused the eurozone of deliberately changing the terms of a proposed €130bn (£110bn) bailout because key players wanted to kick the country out of the single currency.
The charge that some eurozone countries were seeking to engineer a Greek sovereign default and exit from the euro deepened the rancour between debtor and creditors in the dangerous standoff. "There are many in the eurozone who don't want us any more," Venizelos declared at a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias. "We are constantly being given new terms and conditions."
Papoulias went even further, denouncing Germany and Greece's north European creditors after Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said that Greece must not turn into a "bottomless pit" for eurozone bailout funds and that Europe was better prepared than when the crisis erupted two years ago to cope with a Greek sovereign default.
"Who is Mr Schäuble to ridicule Greece? Who are the Dutch? Who are the Finns?" declared the Greek head of state. "I don't accept insults to my country by Mr Schäuble." » | Ian Traynor and Larry Elliott | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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Es ist ein digitaler Lynchmob, der sich im Internet zusammengerottet hat: Mehr als 25.000 Menschen sind bislang der Facebook-Gruppe "Das saudische Volk will die Bestrafung von Hamsa Kaschgari" beigetreten. Die meisten User, die sich auf der Pinnwand der Gruppe äußern, lassen keinen Zweifel daran, wie diese Strafe aussehen muss: Sie fordern den Tod des 23-jährigen Journalisten, weil er ihrer Meinung nach den Propheten Mohammed beleidigt und sich damit der Blasphemie schuldig gemacht haben soll.
Hamsa Kaschgari hatte vor zehn Tagen auf Twitter ein fiktives Gespräch mit dem Propheten geführt. Darin hatte er unter anderem erklärt, dass er nicht für Mohammed beten werde und bestimmte Dinge an ihm hasse. Außerdem schrieb er: "An Deinem Geburtstag werde ich mich nicht vor Dir verbeugen und nicht Deine Hand küssen."
In der Folge brach im arabischsprachigen Internet ein Sturm der Wut und Entrüstung über die Tweets des jungen Mannes aus. Als Kaschgari erkannt hatte, welche Gefahr vom Zorn seiner Glaubensbrüder und Glaubenschwestern ausging, floh er nach Malaysia. Offenbar wollte er von dort aus nach Neuseeland weiterfliegen. Die Behörden in Kuala Lumpur nahmen ihn jedoch bald nach der Ankunft fest und lieferten ihn an Saudi-Arabien aus, wo er in der Zwischenzeit mit Haftbefehl gesucht wurde.
In seiner Heimat droht ihm wegen seiner drei verhängnisvollen Tweets nun die Todesstrafe. » | Von Christoph Sydow | Mittwoch, 15. Februar 2012
Related articles and videos here
THE ATLANTIC: What separates issues that are in the proper purview of politics from matters best left to individuals? I'd hate to draw that line for everyone, but watching Rick Santorum in the much-discussed interview above, I'm confident in declaring that he's put himself on the wrong side of it. » | Conor Friedersdorf | Staff Writer, The Atlantic | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
CAFFEINATED THOUGHTS: Santorum’s Surge Challenges Romney’s Electability Argument and Gingrich’s Candidacy » | Shane Vander Hart | Monday, February 13, 2012
GUARDIAN – BLOGS – ANDREW BROWN: Hamza Kashgari's tweets about Muhammad have led to a chilling online reaction from many in Saudi Arabia
In this country, and in the US, the judicial authorities make fools of themselves about Twitter. In Saudi and Malaysia, they may make themselves murderers. The case of Hamza Kashgari, a young Saudi journalist who has just been deported from Malaysia to face trial on charges of blasphemy, is one that should frighten and disgust anyone who cares about freedom of speech or religion.
His supposed offence was to have tweeted part of an imaginary conversation with the prophet Muhammad. "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you," he wrote; and: "I will not pray for you."
After six hours, he apologised for this, and then fled to Malaysia, en route to New Zealand, where he would have been safe. But after three days in Malaysia, he was arrested and shipped back to Saudi, where he faces the death penalty.
It is likely that he will not be executed, if he makes a sufficiently grovelling apology, though he will certainly be punished cruelly for something that is not a crime in any civilised society. This doesn't do much to excuse either the Saudis or the Malaysian authorities, who were under no compulsion to arrest him, and even less to deport him before his lawyers could lodge an appeal, despite the protests of both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Continue reading and comment » | Andrew Brown | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Related articles and videos here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Hamza Kashgari "has affirmed to his family that he stands by his repentance, that he has made a mistake and regrets it," said the family member on condition of anonymity.
The 23-year-old fled to Malaysia after his comments sparked a wave of condemnations and threats against his life, but was deported back to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Upon his return from Malaysia, Kashgari "informed his family he is in very good condition," the source said. "His family is still waiting for authorities to allow them to visit him and appoint a defence lawyer."
A Saudi lawyer told AFP on Tuesday that Kashgari "has not yet been interrogated and we hope this issue ends before it reaches the attorney general."
Saudi English-language daily Arab News reported earlier this week that Kashgari would face blasphemy charges.
On the occasion of the Muslim prophet's birthday, Kashgari tweeted: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you."
"I will not pray for you." » | AFP | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
So much for the Prophet's saying that "there is no compulsion in religion"! Vacuous words in today's Saudi Arabia! – © Mark
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran to stop oil exports to six EU countries causing prices to rise: Iran will stop exporting oil to six European Union countries including Greece, the state media has claimed. » | David Blair | Wednesday, February 15,
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Muslim teenager Shamima Akhtar was kidnapped, imprisoned and had her hair cut off after her family saw her kiss a white man on her 18th birthday, a court has heard.
Shamima was bundled into a car by sisters Nadiya, 25, Nazira, 29, and brother Kayum Mohammed-Abdul, 24, outside a Basingstoke restaurant when they saw her kissing work colleague Gary Pain on April 1 last year.
The jury heard how an "extremely aggressive and threatening" Mohammed-Abdul grabbed Mr Pain by the neck as Miss Akhtar was "firmly escorted" to the car and thrown in.
The car was driven back to the family home in Basingstoke, Hants, where it's alleged she was dragged onto the sofa, called a whore and a prostitute and then had her waist-length hair cut to her neck by her two older sisters.
The jury heard how Shamima was punched by her sister Nadiya and overheard her brother on the phone, saying "Get the gun, I need the boys tonight."
He is then alleged to have presented his sister with two knives and a hammer and asked her to "pick one to be used" on her and "one to be used on her lover boy", Winchester Crown Court heard. » | Tuesday, January 31, 2012
And the authorities believe they have a hope of integrating such dangerous throwbacks! People with such dark age thinking will never integrate into Western society. This case is yet another example of the immiscibility of Islam and Western culture. In a word, Islam is displaced. – © Mark
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Sean Penn has continued his attack on Britain over the Falkland Islands, calling the Duke of Cambridge's deployment "unthinkable".
The Hollywood actor accused Britain of insensitivity for sending Prince William to the disputed islands claimed by Argentina.
Speaking in Uruguay having met President Jose Mujica, Penn repeated his assertion made in Argentina on Monday that Britain's stance over the Falklands was "colonialist, ludicrous and archaic".
"My oh my, aren't people sensitive to the word colonialism, particularly those who implement colonialism," said the double Oscar winner.
"It's unthinkable that the United Kingdom can make a conscious decision to deploy a prince within the military to the Malvinas, knowing the great emotional sensitivity both of mothers and fathers in the United Kingdom and in Argentina who lost sons and daughters in a war of islands with a population of so few.
"There are many places to deploy the prince. It's not necessary, when the deployment of a prince is generally accompanied by warships, to send them into the seas of such shared blood."
Prince William is spending six weeks on the islands as part of another "routine deployment" in his role as Flight Lieutenant Wales, an RAF search-and-rescue helicopter pilot.
Penn, a champion of left wing causes, said he was proud of the alliance between America and Britain, but insisted on "the need for Argentina and Britain to negotiate the sharing of the islands' natural resources". Read on and comment » | Barney Henderson | Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of secularism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: the pope, politicians from both the Conservative and Labour parties, Melanie Phillips ...
It seems odd to borrow the opening words of Marx and Engel's the Communist Manifesto to describe secularism and to find them so apt. For someone such as myself who has always seen the secularist ideal as the most benign legacy of the Enlightenment, it's a bit like discovering that your cuddly teddy bear is being portrayed as a rampaging grizzly.
But there is no doubt that secularism is increasingly seen as a threat to liberty rather than its stoutest defender. Conservative party chairman Lady Warsi is the latest to raise the alarm, speaking of her "fear" that "a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies". She pulls no punches in claiming that "at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant" and that it "demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes".
Pretty much the same message came from Labour's David Lammy on Friday's Any Questions? on Radio 4, when he attacked "an aggressive secularism that is drowning out the ability of people of faith to live with that faith".
Warsi is taking this message to the pope, which is a bit like taking pizza to Napoli. In the pontiff's 2010 visit to the UK, he also railed against "aggressive forms of secularism", likening it to the evils of Nazism and claiming that "the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society".
Other clerics have followed suit. The leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, used his last Easter sermon to decry the "aggressive secularism" that tries to "destroy our Christian heritage and culture and take God from the public square".
And the list of those who have said similar things is endless. But just what is that people are so terrified of? Is secularism really a threat, or has it simply been distorted, by its critics, its defenders, or both? Read on and comment » | Julian Baggini | Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
My comment:
There is something surreal about a Muslimah going to the Vatican on behalf of Christian Great Britain to preach about the need for Christians to rediscover their Judaeo-Christian roots.
If there is a war on British society, it is from her co-religionists, not "militant secularists". Indeed, across the world, it isn't "militant secularists" who are waging war at all; rather it is Muslims hell-bent on making all before them submit to the will of Allah (whoever the hell he is)! And furthermore: Who is doing the persecuting? None other than her brothers and sisters in Islam!
Methinks this woman needs a reality check. – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
The "hotline" site has been set up by the anti-immigrant Freedom Party to gather allegations of "nuisance and pollution" caused by an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 East European migrant workers from EU countries in Holland.
The website invites respondents to tick "yes" or "no" when asked whether they have experienced loud noise, parking, drunkenness, squalor or "degeneracy" at the hands of migrants.
"Do you have trouble? Or have you lost your job to a Pole, Bulgarian, Romanian or other Central or Eastern European? We would like to hear," the site asks.
Viviane Reding, the EU's human rights commissioner has attacked the website and, hinting at possible legal action, warned "intolerance has no place on our continent".
"Citizens of the 27 EU Member States should feel at home no matter where they decide to move. The website runs totally counter to these principles. It is openly calling for people to be intolerant," she said.
"Europe is facing difficult times. We will only solve our problems by increasing solidarity, not by denouncing fellow citizens."
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party, the third largest in the Dutch parliament, dismissed the EU criticism.
"Europe can get stuffed. We've had more than 32,000 complaints. This website has really hit the mark. We're looking for facts, so talk about discrimination is fantasy and nonsense," he said. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Tuesday, February 14, 2012
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