Thursday, April 26, 2007

SpiegelOnline Interview mit al-Dschasira

SPIEGELONLINE: Der internationale Ableger des arabischen Senders al-Dschasira ist erst seit fünf Monaten auf Sendung. Dennoch hat es seitdem geschafft, den weltweiten Nachrichtenmarkt zu beeinflussen, sagt der US-Medienexperte Mohammed el-Nawawy im Interview mit SPIEGEL ONLINE. Warum sollte al-Dschasira anti-amerikanisch sein? (mehr)

Mark Alexander
The Criminalisation of Holocaust Denial

FINANCIAL TIMES: Laws that make denying or trivialising the Holocaust a criminal offence punishable by jail sentences will be introduced across the European Union, according to a proposal expecting to win backing from ministers Thursday.
Offenders will face up to three years in jail under the proposed legislation, which will also apply to inciting violence against ethnic, religious or national groups.

Diplomats in Brussels voiced confidence on Tuesday that the controversial plan, which has been the subject of heated debate for six years, will be endorsed by member states. However, the Baltic countries and Poland are still holding out for an inclusion of “Stalinist crimes” alongside the Holocaust in the text – a move that is being resisted by the majority of other EU countries. EU aims to criminalise Holocaust denial (Read on) by Tobias Buck

Mark Alexander
The Welfare State Is Destroying Britain

DAILY MAIL: Earlier this week, the Tory leader David Cameron said a number of very sensible things about civility. Our culture was becoming progressively de-civilised, he declared.

Whether expressed through public rudeness or neglecting the elderly, there was an alarming general decline in social responsibility.

To combat this, he repeated his commitment to encourage marriage, and strong and stable families.

He also argued that governments alone could not be responsible for people's behaviour or the delivery of public services, and that Labour's addiction to 'state interventionism' was stopping people taking responsibility for themselves. Admirable sentiments indeed.

Yet as he spoke, a very large elephant was lumbering unremarked around the room. That elephant is called the welfare state.

It is the welfare state which, more than anything else, has created the culture of incivility, irresponsibility, family breakdown and disorder of which Mr Cameron spoke.

The direct link between welfarism and the 'me-society', between welfare rights and the erosion of the ties of duty that should bind us together, is unmistakable.

Yet no politician, even Conservative ones, will go near this subject. For all the windy rhetoric about irresponsibility and state interference, the root cause of these problems — the welfare state - remains a political untouchable. How welfarism is destroying Britain! (Read on) by Melanie Philips

Mark Alexander
Growing Threat of Cyber Terror

THE TELEGRAPH: Terrorists could attempt to cause economic chaos or plane crashes in an electronic attack on the UK's computer networks John Reid, the Home Secretary, said yesterday.

Mr Reid's warning of the "devastating consequences" of cyber terrorism came as he said the reshaping of the Home Office would enable him to "wake up and think about the security of the nation first and foremost every morning".

The Home Office is to be split on May 9, to concentrate on crime reduction, terrorism and mass migration, with Mr Reid directly accountable for assisting the Prime Minister in co-ordinating the Government's security strategy.

Mr Reid said priority was being given to protecting what he described as the country's critical national infrastructure from terrorist attack.

He said al-Qa'eda's aim was to "bleed us to bankruptcy", by attempting to "cripple" financial markets. Western energy supplies were among targets threatened by the terrorist group. Cyber terror threat is growing, says Reid (Cont’d) by George Jones

Mark Alexander
EU Pressure Grows for Wolfowitz to Resign

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Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: The European Parliament has added its voice to those calling on World Bank boss Paul Wolfowitz to resign over a promotion row involving his partner.

MEPs voted by 332 to 251 to ask Germany, which currently holds the EU Presidency, to call for his departure at next week's EU-US summit.

Their resolution states his resignation would be a "welcome step" in supporting the body's anti-corruption strategy.

Mr Wolfowitz is accused of intervening to secure a big salary for Shaha Riza. MEPs call on Wolfowitz to resign (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

When the rug is about to be pulled from under one’s feet

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Photo of Wolfowitz courtesy of SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The seats are getting hotter for World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Both still enjoy the support of the US president, but dismissals may be just around the corner.

It was hardly an evening for merrymaking, and US President George W. Bush decided he wouldn't even try. Traditionally, the US president pokes fun at himself at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, but with the Virginia Tech massacre still on everyone's minds, the timing at Sunday's dinner simply wasn't right.

There were other reasons for Bush to be somber as well. His press secretary Tony Snow has been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer. Over in Iraq, last week's deadly suicide bombs made a mockery of Bush's push for more security in Baghdad.
And then there were the two guests sitting at the very back of the hall.

Alberto Gonzales, still the US Attorney General, and Paul Wolfowitz, still the World Bank President, smiled bravely through the show -- but it certainly wasn't out of smugness for their futures. All of Washington is puzzling over whether and when Bush will drop one or both of them. Indeed, not even Bush confidantes deny that a presidential coup de grace for Gonzales and Wolfowitz is long overdue. Both have lost the one quality that is absolutely indispensable for their offices: moral authority. Fredo and Wolfie facing unemployment (Read on) by Georg Mascolo

Mark Alexander
McCain will Präsident werden

Kein Favorit im innerparteilichen Wettstreit der Republikaner

NZZ: Der amerikanische Senator John McCain hat am Mittwoch offiziell seine Bewerbung um die Präsidentschaftskandidatur der Republikanischen Partei bekannt gegeben. McCain kandidiert nun offiziell (mehr)

Mark Alexander
Gül nominated as candidate for president

Turkey's ruling party on Tuesday nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül as its candidate for president. The move set aside a possible controversy over Prime Minister Erdogan's potential candidacy. But is Gül any better? First lady in headscarf? (Read on) by Annette Grossbongardt

Mark Alexander
Blair's ”10 utterly ruinous” years

THE TELEGRAPH: “The past decade has seen a sustained assault on public probity, economic responsibility, constitutional efficiency, the rule of law, administrative competence, liberty of the subject, and our international reputation of a sort unknown in living memory. I defer to no one in my disdain for the Major government: but, with the notable exceptions of its economic buffoonery and its toadying to pro-Europeanism, it could not hold a candle to the present crew for sheer destructiveness of our values, our way of life and our money.

If you seek its monument, look around you. Our public services, which we were told were safe only in Labour's hands, are nearly non-serviceable. As a group of doctors protested on Monday, the NHS is now so hopeless that people, having already paid high taxes for the privilege of a free-at-point-of-use service, are making huge sacrifices to pay to go privately.

Children pass record numbers of GCSEs and A-levels, and record numbers go on to university, yet employers report a shortage of able graduates and, as Jeff Randall wrote here a fortnight ago, would rather have entrants straight from school.

Council taxes, like many other imposts, have risen far faster than inflation, yet local services (bins again) are being cut. Do not be deceived by a near-doubling of the prison population in the past decade into thinking Labour is "tough on crime". The police are now a weapon of social engineering, with promotion at the highest levels contingent usually on how well an officer buys the ruling ideology, and not how good he is at catching criminals.

Crime has risen because of Labour's refusal to address the causes of criminality, notably family breakdown, poor schools and the proliferation of drugs. The knife culture, and the present epidemic of youths going around stabbing each other to death, is redolent of what a happy country Labour has made."
Poor Britannia - 10 awful years under Blairism (Read it all) by Simon Heffer

Mark Alexander

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

No Room for Pacifism in the Fight Against Advancing Islam

“I am already against the next war,” read the bumper sticker on a car ahead of me. I long to tell the driver: the next war is already here; Islamists are waging it in every corner of the globe and the “moderate Muslims” are either actively supporting them, placing the blame on the West, or simply looking the other way. This war aims to wipe out everything that free people cherish, including the right to express their sentiments. Banishing war has been the perennial dream of mankind’s best, while its worst have been frustrating its realization. To renounce war unilaterally and unconditionally would mean surrender and death.

Humanity has suffered horrific wars in the past. Yet, the present multi-form and multi-front war waged by Islamists has the potential of inflicting more suffering and destroying more lives than any before it. Ruthless Islamist forces are advancing rapidly in their conquests while those of freedom are acquiescing and retreating. Before long, Islamism is poised to achieve its Allah-mandated goal of cleansing the earth of all non-Muslims. Any and all means and weapons are to be enlisted in the service of this final holy war that aims to establish the Islamic Ummeh.

But Islam is a religion of peace and the great majority of Muslims are not party to any plans and actions of the radicals, so claim academic pundits, leftist journalists, and hired Islamist apologists. The incantation of these “authorities” is the lullaby that puts the people into a sleep of complacency. For the average free human, busy with all manners of demands on his time and resources, would hardly want to worry about the threat of Islamism when those he believes are “in the know” emphatically claim that there is nothing to worry about. Some of these advocates of Islam go further by accusing those who sound the alarm as racist, bigoted, a hatemonger and much more. Pacifism against radical Islam invites Doomsday (Read on) by Amil Imani*

*”Contributing Editor Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He maintains a website at Amilimani

Mark Alexander
Turkey, a country that has regressed in issues of pluralism and tolerance, should have no place in the EU

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Turkish converts to Christianity fear for their lives after the brutal murder of three people at a Christian publisher. Angela Merkel has called for Ankara to promote religious tolerance, while secular intellectuals ask why the 99-percent Muslim country can't put up with a few Christians. Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey (Read on) by Annette Grossbongardt

Mark Alexander
Israelisches Gebiet wird von Hamas wieder beschossen

WELTONLINE: Der bewaffnete Arm der palästinensischen Organisation beschießt wieder israelisches Gebiet. Die Kämpfer sprechen von Rache für "Morde durch den Feind". Der Waffenstillstand war schon zuvor vom "Islamischen Dschihad" gebrochen worden - und von der israelischen Armee. Hamas feuert wieder in Richtung Israel (mehr)

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Hamas: Truce With Israel at End by Ibrahim Barzak

Mark Alexander
Time to Foster Some Transaltlantic Understanding

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The trans-Atlantic rift of the past few years has been accentuated, in part, by anti-Americanism and anti-Europeanism in the media when covering "the other side." But although there are real cultural differences, the time has come for both sides to ditch the easy clichés and stereotypes and foster some cultural understanding. The Role of the Media in the Trans-Atlantic Relationship (Read on) by Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gerhard Spörl

Mark Alexander
Prinz Harry ist in Irak Angriffsziel geworden

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Der britische Prinz Harry (22) ist im Irak schon Wochen vor seinem geplanten Militäreinsatz zum Angriffsziel geworden. Aufständische hätten konkrete Pläne, den königlichen Leutnant als Geisel zu entführen, berichtete die britische Sonntagszeitung „The Observer“. Dafür seien verschiedene Fotos des Enkelsohns der Queen aus dem Internet herunter geladen und an islamistische Milizen verteilt worden. Prinz Harry schon jetzt ein Angriffsziel im Irak

Mark Alexander
US Fatalities in Iraq Attack

BBC: Nine US soldiers have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a base north of Baghdad, military officials have said.

Some 20 troops and an Iraqi civilian were injured in the attack, which happened in the volatile province of Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad.

There has been fierce fighting in Diyala recently, pitting US and Iraqi forces against Sunni and Shia militias.

It is thought to be the worst single US loss on the ground since late 2005, when 10 marines died near Falluja. US troops die in new Iraq attack (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Royal Displays Determination to Keep Sarkozy Out of the Élysée Even At Cost of Fighting Dirty

FINANCIAL TIMES: The French presidential race took a surprise turn on Monday night when Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, said she had invited François Bayrou, her centrist rival, to discuss forming a centre-left alliance to block Nicolas Sarkozy, their centre-right opponent.

Ms Royal, who defied her critics by coming a comfortable second behind Mr Sarkozy in Sunday’s first round with almost 26 per cent support, said she had left a phone message for Mr Bayrou, who came a strong third, offering “a public debate”. Royal invites Bayrou to form alliance by Martin Arnold, John Thornhill and Adam Jones

Mark Alexander
Jihad to take over France

Al-Qaeda forum calls for jihadis to 'complete' medieval war and take over France

YNET NEWS: As the French people went to the polls to select a president, jihadi members of an al-Qaeda online forum exchanged messages discussing their aspiration to "reinvade France (and convert it into) an Islamic country."

The internet discussion appeared as Spanish security forces warned that both Spain and France were targets of al-Qaeda terror plots.

A post that appeared on the al-Firdaws jihadi forum, submitted by a user named Faisal al-Baghdadi, contained a lengthy historical account of "the second stop of the Islamic conquest of Europe, France, after Andalusia, Spain."

The post took a nostalgic look at the battle of Tours in 732, in which Muslim forces, commanded by Rahman al-Ghafiqi, who invaded a portion of France, were repelled by the Frankish general Charles Martel ("the hammer"), and forced to retreat. The battle stemmed the medieval Islamic conquest of Europe.

"The Islamic army was left with a large number of martyrs, especially the great shahid (martyr) Abdul Rahman a-Ghafiqi… this battle is mentioned in history, and is known at the battle of Tours," the post explained.

"We ask that Allah sends us a genuine Rahman al-Ghafiqi, to finish what he started in Europe, and conquer the Vatican as promised in our beautiful Islamic verses," the post concluded.

"Allah bless the writer and carrier of the message which recalls the days of glory and honor of Islam," another user responded. Jihadis aspire to 'conquer France' (Read on) by Yaakov Lappin

Mark Alexander
UK must brace itself for Hiroshima-style attacks

With thanks to George Mason for alerting me to this story:
THE TIMES: AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.

Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.

Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”. Al-Qaeda ‘planning big British attack’ by Dipesh Gadher
Mark Alexander
Irani Reprobates* to be Given “Islamic Guidance”

YAHOO NEWS: TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has issued more than a thousand warnings and arrested dozens in a new drive aimed at forcing women whose dress is deemed inappropriate to adhere to Islamic dress rules, officials said Sunday.

The nationwide drive -- an annual pre-summer crackdown given greater prominence this year -- is aimed primarily at women whose coats are seen as too tight, trousers excessively short or hejabs (headscarves) overly loose.

It foresees handing out warnings and guidance to women found to have infringed its dress code in public. Those who show resistance to change can be arrested and then be the subject of legal proceedings.

"Since the plan started at 10:00 am on Saturday, 1,347 women have been warned and given Islamic guidance," the head of information at Tehran city's police force, Mehdi Ahmadi, told AFP. Iran warns women over slack dressing by Farhad Pouladi

* 'Loose' women who dare to go against Iran’s strict Islamic dress code

Mark Alexander
40 Former Top Officials at World Bank Call for Wolfowitz's Resignation but Wolfowitz Digs In His Heels and Hires Top Lawyer in Fight to Carry On

WARNING: To read all of this article, you might have to sign in at the NYT:
NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON, April 23 — Paul D. Wolfowitz, signaling anew that he will fight for his job as World Bank president, has enlisted a prominent lawyer who defended President Bill Clinton against accusations of sexual misconduct to help convince the bank’s board that Mr. Wolfowitz has done nothing to justify being ousted.

Robert S. Bennett, the lawyer selected by Mr. Wolfowitz, said in an interview that before the bank’s board acted on charges of ethical lapses, he and Mr. Wolfowitz wanted more time to prepare a case showing that the bank president had acted properly on all matters that the board is investigating.

“I am very worried about the rush to judgment,” Mr. Bennett said. “We just had a wonderful example of that in the Duke lacrosse case. I have reviewed the essential documents, and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Mr. Wolfowitz exercised good faith and that everything he did was in the best interests of the bank.”

It was unclear whether Mr. Wolfowitz intended to pay his legal fees himself or whether he would seek reimbursement from the bank. His latest sign of apparent determination to keep his job came as the furor over his record continued to spread.
Bank officials said that after several days of canvassing hundreds of employees, about 25 vice presidents of the bank were preparing to document that the overwhelming majority of the employees favor Mr. Wolfowitz’s departure.

The vice presidents met with Mr. Wolfowitz in the afternoon and some bank officials said that they would present their conclusions about bank sentiment to the board of directors, the 24 representatives of various countries and groups of countries that run the bank’s day-to-day affairs in tandem with the president.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that the independent agency within the bank that assesses the effectiveness of bank programs concluded last week that “swift changes in management” were needed to restore its credibility.

In addition, a group of more than 40 former top officials at the bank, many of whom departed after clashing with Mr. Wolfowitz, issued a public call for him to resign. Wolfowitz Hires Prominent Lawyer in Fight to Stay at World Bank (Read on) By Steven R. Weisman

LE FIGARO: Banque mondiale : après Londres, Berlin lâche Wolfowitz
Mark Alexander

Monday, April 23, 2007

You’re in good company

Thank you ALL for your support. I think you might like to know that you’re in very good company. THIS PAST WEEK, we have had visitors from the following prestigious institutions (not necessarily in alphabetical order):

Alabama A&M University, Huntsville
Assumption College, MA
Bethel College, St Paul, Minnesota
Blackburn College, UK
Florida International University
Georgia Department of Education
Jim Ball (Australia's Most Popular Radio Chat-Show Host)
Kent State University
King Fahd University
Lebanon Valley College
Leeds University
MIT, Cambridge, MA
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington
North Carloina Research and Education Network
The Nottingham Trent University
The Pentagon
St Edward’s University, Texas
State University of New York, Buffalo
University of Alberta
University of Arizona, Tucson
Universitaet Bielefeld
University of California, Irvine
University of Kent, Canterbury
University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK
Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken
University of Toronto, Canada
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
University of Wales, Cardiff
University of Western Ontario
University of Glasgow
University of Michigan
University of Northampton
University of South Dakota
US Department of State
US Military Academy, West Point
Vanderbilt University
Washington State University
The World Bank

Many of these visitors were multiple visits. I am proud to be able to call them ALL part of my community, as I am proud to be able to call you ALL part of my community. Keep on coming. You are ALL most welcome.

Mark Alexander
It’s over, though Wolfowitz doesn’t yet realize it

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Photo courtesy of Google Images
FINANCIAL TIMES Editorial: If Paul Wolfowitz remains head of the World Bank, he will preside over a rudderless hulk. That is today’s inconvenient truth. The US has always had the prerogative of nominating the president of the bank. But this privilege carries with it a big responsibility. Exercising that responsibility now requires acceptance of an immediate change in the bank’s top leadership.

The revelations of Mr Wolfowitz’s role in deciding the terms on which his girlfriend was seconded to the US state department became public a little over a week ago. Since then two points have become clear, despite much obfuscation. First, responsibility for the astonishingly generous terms given his girlfriend rested solely with Mr Wolfowitz, who went beyond the board’s recommendations. Second, the board itself failed to respond appropriately when he went beyond its advice. Why Wolfowitz should depart now (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Tackle ”unacceptable intolerance”, Merkel urges Turkey

BBC: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Turkey to tackle "unacceptable intolerance" in the country, following the killings of three Christians.

In a newspaper interview, Mrs Merkel called on the Turkish authorities to combat the "climate in which such terrible murders are possible".

The Christians, one of whom was German, were found with their throats slit in south-eastern Turkey on 18 April. Germany urges Turkey over murders (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sarkozy gegen Royal

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Photos courtesy of TIMESONLINE

Erste Runde der Präsidentschaftswahl in Frankreich mit Sieg des Konservativen

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Entgegen ersten Prognosen am Wahlabend in Frankreich zieht der Konservative Nicolas Sarkozy mit klarem Vorsprung vor der Sozialistin Ségolène Royal je in die Stichwahl um das Präsidentenamt. Der Zentrist Bayrou erhielt laut offiziellen Hochrechnungen 18 Prozent. Klar abgeschlagen ist der Rechtsextreme Le Pen. Royal und Sarkozy in Stichwahl

TIMESONLINE: Run-off for President turns into classic Right-Left duel

Mark Alexander
Georgetown University President: "We are deeply honored by Prince Alwaleed's generosity”. What he doesn’t say: 'I am too naïve and stupid to see what’s behind the gift'

'This gift will deepen Georgetown's ability to advance education in the fields of Islamic civilization and Muslim-Christian understanding and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.' -- Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia

HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's Gift To Expand Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding

Georgetown University has received a $20 million dollar gift from HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, an internationally renowned businessman and global investor, to support and expand its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU). The Center, part of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, is an international leader in inter-religious scholarship and research, in particular Islamic studies and Muslim-Christian relations. The Center will be renamed The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. This endowed fund is the second largest single gift in Georgetown University history.

"We are deeply honored by Prince Alwaleed's generosity," said Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia. "This gift will deepen Georgetown's ability to advance education in the fields of Islamic civilization and Muslim-Christian understanding and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. At this time of world conflict, Georgetown is committed to build upon our role as a Catholic, Jesuit institution in fostering greater understanding among religions around the word."

"This generous gift reflects the commitment of Prince Alwaleed to inter-religious understanding in the Muslim world and the West. It will enable the Center in these critical times to significantly expand its programs, influence and impact both here and overseas," said Dr. John L. Esposito, Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Georgetown Receives $20 Million Gift (Read on)

Mark Alexander
The Billionaires of Russia, Their ‘Cottages’, and Their Extraordinary Lifestyles

BBC: Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire.

This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of hyper-rich Russians.

According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires.

Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires than any other city in the world.

It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no millionaires, let alone billionaires.

How exactly these people have got hold of such vast wealth in such a short time is a very good question, and one many ordinary Russians would like answered.

It is one reason why Russia's richest people like to keep their identities and their lifestyles secret. Moscow’s suburb for billionaires (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Saudi Arabia: Land of Prurience, Racism, Inequality, Prejudice, Ignorance, and Extremism

Ed Hussain, once a proponent of radical Islam in London, tells how his time as a teacher in Saudi Arabia led him to turn against extremism

Extracts from Ed Hussein’s book, The Islamist, from THE SUNDAY TIMES:

… All my talk of ummah seemed so juvenile now. It was only in the comfort of Britain that Islamists could come out with such radical utopian slogans as one government, one ever expanding country, for one Muslim nation. The racist reality of the Arab psyche would never accept black and white people as equal. …

… Racism was an integral part of Saudi society. My students often used the word “nigger” to describe black people. Even dark-skinned Arabs were considered inferior to their lighter-skinned cousins. I was living in the world’s most avowedly Muslim country, yet I found it anything but. I was appalled by the imposition of Wahhabism in the public realm, something I had implicitly sought as an Islamist. …

… Segregation of the sexes, made worse by the veil, had spawned a culture of pent-up sexual frustration that expressed itself in the unhealthiest ways. …

… The obsession with sex in Saudi Arabia had reached worrying levels: rape and abuse of both sexes occurred frequently, some cases even reaching the usually censored national press. …

… In my Islamist days we relished stating that Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases were the result of the moral degeneracy of the West. Large numbers of Islamists in Britain hounded prostitutes in Brick Lane and flippantly quoted divorce and abortion rates in Britain. The implication was that Muslim morality was superior. Now, more than ever, I was convinced that this too was Islamist propaganda, designed to undermine the West and inject false confidence in Muslim minds. …

… In contemporary Wahhabism there are two broad factions. One is publicly supportive of the House of Saud, and will endorse any policy decision reached by the Saudi government and provide scriptural justification for it. The second believes that the House of Saud should be forcibly removed and the Wahhabi clerics take charge. Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are from the second school. …
How a British jihadi saw the light

Mark Alexander

Friday, April 20, 2007

Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom

Until 9/11, the western world was largely ignorant of the religion of Islam, of its goals, of its aspirations. Indeed, even since 9/11, most people, and that includes our politicians, would not score very highly in a test of their knowledge on the subject. It should be obvious to all thinking people that our politicians are actually unaware, dare I say blind, to the dangers that Islam will increasingly cause us. It is truly a case of the blind leading the blind! That means to say, uninformed and unthinking politicians leading an ill-informed electorate. But this is what we have right now. The same can hardly be said of Muslims in the Islamic world, though; for their knowledge of Christianity far surpasses - even though much of their knowledge is quite distorted - any knowledge of Islam by the man in the street in the West.

As the old saying goes, knowledge is power. But what we often don't hear uttered is its converse: Ignorance is weakness.

The West is far weaker than it need be because of this ignorance of Islam, since Islam is our greatest enemy. The greatest enemy since Nazism and communism. I'll give you some good reasons why this is so. And none of them - absolutely none of them - are based on hatred.

Islam is the enemy of the West for a plethora of good, solid reasons, and if we wish to survive as a civilization, we are going to have to bite the bullet and deal, head on, with the issues these reasons raise. Let us begin...

First and foremost, we are dealing with a religion which does not recognize any separation of politics and religion, any separation of the political from the spiritual. For Muslims, life is one coherent whole: the political and spiritual both meld into one. This has always been so, and always will be. No re-classification of the religion into two separate parts is possible because of Islam's very nature.

In Islam, all power rests with Allah, the god of Muslims. The Qur'an, their holy book, is always taken literally. Those words are considered to be the actual words of Allah. Therefore, none of these words can be changed, for to change any of them would be tantamount to tampering with Allah's words. This would be a grave sin in their eyes.

For the same reason that the words contained in the Qur'an cannot be changed, they cannot, therefore, be re-interpreted either. So do not hold your breath for any kind of reformation in this religion, because it’s not going to happen.

In Islam, all power rests with Allah, and it filters down via his vice-gerents on earth to the people. Hence the great desire among Muslims to restore the caliphate. Contrast this with the Western model of government.

In the West, the ideal political system is democracy. In democracy, all power rests with the people, and they exercise that power at the polls. In a democracy, all power filters in the opposite direction from Islam. In democracy it filters up; in Islam, down! Herein lies the greatest barrier to the miscibility of the two worlds: the western world and the Islamic world.

Without digressing too much here, I should like to add that this is the main reason why George W Bush and Blair's venture into Iraq to bring democracy there was a grave error of judgment. We are now seeing the experiment failing before our very eyes. How can one bring democracy to a region of the world where the people who inhabit that region believe that all power rests with Allah, and where they believe that Allah has prescribed their way of life for them for then, for now, and for all time?

I would suggest that where such a dichotomy exists, the most sensible and prudent thing to do would be for us to lead our lives as we see fit, and for those people to be allowed to live their lives as they see fit. That way, there would be hope of some peace in this world.

But this is not what we have done. We have done the very opposite of this: We have entered the Middle East in the hope - the vain hope in my opinion - of bringing our way of doing things, our way of life, to them; furthermore, we have allowed millions and millions of Muslims into the West - and at the very time when Christianity, the religion which underpins the West, is greatly weakened anyway - which will only give us headaches for the years ahead. Why? Because Muslims who immigrate bring their hopes and dreams and aspirations with them, hopes and dreams of establishing Islam everywhere on earth. To Islamize the world is the main aspiration of the Muslim; and we have seen in France in the recent past the manifestation of aggression in its cause. For what happened in France was in no small part because of the Muslim's desire to establish Allah's caliphate here on earth. These were the first rumblings, the first roar of the lion! Expect more of this in the future, as Islam grows stronger and stronger.

Muslims, by and large, do not respect non-Muslims. How can they? Their religion does not allow them to do so. Their religion preaches that Muslims are superior to non-Muslims; indeed, they use the derogatory term infidel for us. This word to some Westerners might simply mean that they call us infidels because we are people who do not subscribe to their faith. This, after all, would be quite logical, since to us it simply means not fidèle, or not true to the faith. But this does not completely describe what Muslims mean by this term. To Muslims, to be called an infidel is an insult indeed. It has connotations of inferiority, backwardness, and even uncleanness.

You see, Muslims believe that Islam is the perfection of religion for man for all time. They call it ad deen al kamal, the perfect religion. In their eyes, people who have not yet submitted to the will of Allah are in a state of pre-Islamic chaos, a state known to them as jahiliyyah. To Muslims, all Muslims, the whole world is classified in two parts: that part of the world which has submitted and is therefore in the Islamic state known as Dar ul Islam, or 'the House of Islam'; and that part of the world which has yet to submit and is therefore in a pre-Islamic, chaotic, jahiliyyic state known as Dar ul Harb, or the 'House of War'.

The 'House of War' is the part of the world which has yet to be taken over, and must at some point be taken over in the future. We, I am sorry to inform you, are in the 'House of War'. So we can expect anything at anytime.

Some people would ask why we were able to go for quite a long time without problems with Muslims. The answer to that is a simple one indeed. First of all, there were relatively few Muslims living in the West, so the ones that did live here were not powerful. Secondly, Muslims living in the Islamic world were, for the most part and for many years, poor by anyone's standards. This all changed with the Oil Embargo of the 70s - a time when the price of oil on the world markets soared. As a result of this, the Islamic world became rich and empowered. Money is power; and it talks loudly. In recent years we have seen evidence aplenty of Islam being on the move. I tell you now: If we do not find a way of clipping its wings here in the West, we shall lose our democracy, and we shall be in deep, deep trouble.

So the trouble we will have with Muslims will not come only from without, but in the future we can expect trouble from the Muslims within. The millions of Muslims living here in the West will not integrate, because it is not in their worldview to do so. It is also forbidden them by their very own Prophet Himself, the Prophet Muhammad. He forbade Muslims even to befriend infidels. He also exhorted them to kill us. And he certainly told them that they should live separate lives, and dress and behave differently, so that they could easily tell themselves apart.

No Western politician is going to be able to change these facts, for facts they are indeed. Moreover, as Islam will grow here, their numbers will become greater and greater, and they will be able to use our democratic system to outvote us and introduce their form of government based as it is on their beloved Shari'ah, or Quranic laws. How do you propose we shall be able to stop them? We shall be outnumbered, and as the outcome of democratic elections depends on the number of votes cast, we shall be able to do nothing about it. This time will come quicker than we might think, because so few babies are being born to infidel families.

The only thing left for people to do, will be to fight. Inevitably, at some point, civil war will ensue. If the political process fails people, then this will be all that will be left for them: civil war, guerre civile, Bürgerkrieg, call it what you will.

But one thing I can assure you, no politicians' sweet talk, posturing, or manœvring, will get us out of this one without conflict at some point in the future.

One of the biggest problems for the West is its devotion to the concept of freedom of religion. This is a lofty concept indeed, an ideal; but this devotion blinds people to one important reality: To the reality that Islam is not just a religion, but a political system, too. Indeed, it is more of a political system than anything else, and it is, in addition, a political system diametrically opposed to our own. It abhors freedom of choice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of anything that we so cherish. The only thing one is free to do in Islam is become a Muslim, and submit to the will of Allah.

These two systems are totally immiscible, and unfortunately, we have imported this immiscibility right into the heart of the West; and to our own great disadvantage, and to the disadvantage of our long-term peace and security. What, I ask you, will the Americans do when the ever-growing Muslim population in America starts wanting to tinker with the Americans' beloved Constitution? When Muslims will see their way clear to supplant the Constitution with Shari'ah law?

Questions like these are the ones we should be grappling with NOW. To wait until the time comes would be foolish indeed.

Wake up to the harsh realities of life in the twenty-first century! We've got some collective thinking to do if we wish to save ourselves from darkness. Perhaps we shall, indeed, be forced to think about having to re-classify Islam as a political system first and foremost, a political system immiscible with our own, and one whose advance needs to be forestalled. This may be one of our only sensible alternatives. Since to give complete, unhampered freedom to Islam to grow here in the West is tantamount to digging our own graves.

©Mark Alexander
American Gun Laws: Viewpoints from Germany

In response to the horrific Virginia massacre in recent days, the following comments by SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL’s readers give an insight of how the Germans view US gun laws. Be sure to click on all the links. They are very interesting, and enlightening to a degree.
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The debate about gun control in the United States that began in Europe immediately after Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech angered many of our American readers. We published their letters, and now we're posting some of the responses we've received here in Germany.

"Everyone here in Europe feels sympathy for the victims of the shootings," writes Volker Lauterbach. "The press reports are not expressing any Schadenfreude, quite the opposite. But what constantly astonishes us is the vehemence with which the right to own a gun, even after such a crime, is defended. The arguments that are constantly produced (people, not guns, kill people) disguise the fact that it is people with guns who kill people. The statistics on murders with firearms repeatedly show that making it more difficult to gain access to guns significantly brings down the number of deaths due to gun violence, in both percentage and absolute terms. Cases like the one in Erfurt represent a truly terrible exception, but don’t change the facts. As friends of the US we have a duty to constantly point these kinds of things out. That is not meant to be anti-American or hostile. It is always in the hope that these kinds of incidents will not occur again, whether it be in Germany, the US or any other country, so that we don’t have to mourn more victims. There is great sympathy in Europe and all of us mourn with you."

"It's very interesting how conservative bloggers and pundits in the US have such a thin skin: they perceive lectures and humiliation at the slightest attempt of analysis when debating the issue of gun control, which has been successfully turned into a word with entirely negative connotations like "cancer" or "terrorist," writes Christian Habeck. "The gun control debate is driven by pure ideology and a severely skewed, context-free interpretation of the 2nd amendment. Why can't hand guns and assault weapons be banned, while issuing permits for rifles and shotguns for hunters? Why can't this even be debated?"

"It is unfortunate that the loudmouth arch conservatives have access to so much money to propagate their agenda of guns for 'law abiding' citizens," writes George Hunziker. "They are in absolute denial of the consequences of guns and crime. Evoking the 'Founding Fathers' as justification of such reactionary thinking shows the absurdity of their thinking process. That opinion, formed at a time when gunslingers and 'savage indigenous' people roamed much of this vast land, has no place in a modern society and the wise Founding Fathers they like to quote, would be the first one to declare, 'thank God, the society has evolved to a more civilized level.' In an age of of cell phones and high speed police responses in an emergency, these 'self defense' weapons are purchased mostly by criminals, not the average citizen. The gun lobby abuses words like 'freedom,' 'individualism,' 'manhood,' and 'independence' as slogans to market their 18th century ideas. Never mind that these ideals are in direct opposition of these killing machines: automatic handguns and submachine guns with armor penetrating bullets."

"I think that the way that Spiegel is portraying the gun control debate as left vs. right is too simplistic," writes Holly Nazar of Montreal, Canada. "I am a Canadian, and a social democrat, but I do believe that every regulation or restriction of a citizen's freedoms should be weighed very carefully against the danger of giving the government too much power. It seems that Europeans are not as sensitive to this danger as North Americans are. In this case there is very little evidence that gun control leads to less violence, and so the balance is not in favor of tight gun controls. That said, there is no reason for anyone to own some of the sophisticated assault weapons that American law still allows."

"Your article says that you are receiving many messages from the conservatives in the US denouncing European criticism of our worship of guns," writes Philip Hefner of Chicago. "Millions of us here are just as critical of the gun lobbies and the widespread glorification of guns as any Europeans. For us, Charlton Heston and his ilk are an embarrassment. It is a travesty to place the so-called 'right to bear arms' on a par with the other freedoms of the Bill of Rights. Some of the European criticism is off the mark and just as extreme as Heston's, but we need the reality checks that international voices give us."
[Source of ALL comments: SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL]

Post from Germany: “America Has Lost Touch with Reality”
Mark Alexander
First Muslim and first non-American to head up the World Bank?

TIMESONLINE: The future of Paul Wolfowitz, the embattled President of the World Bank, was in further jeopardy last night after it emerged that the White House was drawing up a list of candidates to succeed him.

Most prominent on th list is Ashraf Ghani, the man credited with overhauling the economy of Afghanistan after September 11, The Times has learnt. Such an appointment would mark the first time a nonAmerican has held the position in the 60-year history of the global lender. Bush draws up list of candidates to replace Wolfowitz by Gabriel Rozenberg

Mark Alexander

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The rise and rise of the BNP?

“The vast majority are entirely decent Muslims, but the better Muslims they are, the less good they are as British citizens. The Koran orders them to obey the word of God, he says, not infidel governments: 'Democracy and Islam are absolutely incompatible.'" - Nick Griffin

As a Government minister warns of the dangers of immigration, Martin Fletcher finds a swath of middle England ready to vote for BNP leader Nick Griffin — a convicted racist who favours birching delinquent teenagers and paying immigrants to leave

TIMESONLINE: It is, at first sight, a vision of rural bliss — a cream-coloured cottage high in the hills of Mid Wales and two miles from the nearest road. The daffodils are out. Lambs gambol in the fields. Chickens peck around the yard. In the side garden, beyond the rabbit hutch and fishpond, two blonde girls are playing in the sun. Look closer, however, and you spot the incongruities: the two rottweilers in their caged kennel, security cameras, the burglar alarm. You begin to suspect that the owner has chosen this house precisely for its inaccessibility. He has reason to.

Nick Griffin is leader of the whites-only British National Party and one of the most hated — and, to his many detractors, hateful — men in the country. He is a former National Front member, convicted of inciting racial hatred against Jews in 1998 and acquitted of similar charges against Muslims in two high-profile trials last year. He is a man who has called Britain a “multi-racial hellhole”, Islam a “wicked, vicious faith”, British Muslims “the most appalling, insufferable people to have to live with”, overt homosexuality “repulsive” and the Holocaust “the hoax of the 20th century”. He has declared that “nonwhites have no place here at all and [we] will not rest until every last one has left our land”.

I am about to spend two days with Griffin before next month’s local elections. Anti-fascist groups insist that the BNP should be denied the proverbial oxygen of publicity, but as the party gains strength with each successive election that stance becomes increasingly untenable. Nearly a quarter of a million people voted BNP in last May’s local elections and elected 49 councillors. The party is putting up 750 candidates on May 3, double last year’s tally, and may gain dozens more seats. The BNP is Britain’s fastest-growing party and it is absurd to hope that it will go away if ignored.

The self-styled champion of indigenous Britons greets me in a T-shirt and green wellies. He is a youthful-looking 48 with a plastic left eye (he lost the real one when a shotgun cartridge exploded in a fire) who has spent the morning working on his two acres. As he goes inside to change, I chat to his wife Jackie, a specialist nurse in Powys.

She and their four children — three daughters and a son, ages 14 to 21 — are BNP members, but she makes clear that she does not share all her husband’s views. “There’s some things you have common ground on and others you don’t agree on,” she says, refusing to elaborate. She clearly adores him, however. She frets about his safety. She calls him a “hopeless romantic” but merely giggles when I ask for examples. Griffin reappears in a purple shirt and suit — he disapproves of politicians dressing down, though he does wear a gold ear-stud. He poses for pictures in his tiny office. The wallpaper on his computer screen reads: “Haha, Dad you don’t know how to change this back!!” There are trophies from his days as a Cambridge boxing Blue. There is also a framed Kipling poem which starts: “It was not part of their blood/ It came to them very late/ With long arrears to make good/ When the English began to hate.”

Griffin kisses Jackie goodbye, reminds her to water his newly planted aubretia, and we head off in his Ford Mondeo estate for the fertile BNP territory of West Yorkshire, with its immigrant populations of 10, 20 or even 30 per cent. In the back is a book recording the Scottish National Party’s transformation from an extreme to a mainstream party.

Griffin’s inspiration, however, is Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front, who turned “a bunch of crazies into a serious political force”. White mischief (Read on)

BBC: Are BNP set for Sandwell gains? (”No to Asylum Seekers, No to the Council Tax, No to Anti-Social Behaviour, No to the Veil”) (Read on)

BBC VIDEO: BNP pushes for local gains

DAILY MAIL: Half a million migrants flock to UK in a single year by Steve Doughty

MIGRATION WATCH: Click here

Mark Alexander
Incitement to Racial Hatred to Become EU-Wide Crime, But Holocaust-Denial Is Spared

Photobucket
Photo courtesy of Google Images

BBC: European interior ministers have agreed to make incitement to racism an EU-wide crime, but have stopped short of a blanket ban on Holocaust denial.

The agreement makes it an offence to condone or grossly trivialise crimes of genocide - but only if the effect is incitement to violence or hatred.

The deal follows six years of talks, and will disappoint Germany, which pushed hard for a Holocaust-denial law.

Berlin has also had to drop a proposal for an EU-wide ban on Nazi symbols. EU Agrees New Racial Hatred Law >>>

French Muslim Graves Desecrated >>>

Mark Alexander

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Archbishop of Canterbury has stern words for conservative Christians

DAILY MAIL: The spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans has said conservative Christians who cite the Bible to condemn homosexuality are misreading a key passage written by Saint Paul almost 2,000 years ago.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, addressing theology students in Toronto, said an oft-quoted passage in Paul's Epistle to the Romans meant to warn Christians not to be self-righteous when they see others fall into sin.

His comments were an unusually open rebuff to conservative bishops, many of them from Africa, who have been citing the Bible to demand that pro-gay Anglican majorities in the United States and Canada be reined in or forced out of the Communion. Anti-gay Christians 'misread the Bible', says Archbishop of Canterbury

Mark Alexander
How much more proof do we need that Turkey does not belong in the EU? Now, throats have been slit at a Christian publisher’s office

BBC: Three people have been killed at a publishing house in Turkey that produced bibles, in an apparent attack on the country's Christian minority.

The victims were discovered at the Zirve publishing house in the eastern city of Malatya.

They were bound hand and foot and their throats had been slit, officials said. Three killed at Turkish publisher (Read on)
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Bei einem bewaffneten Überfall auf ein christliches Verlagshaus in der osttürkischen Stadt Malatya ist am Mittwoch auch ein Deutscher getötet worden. Das sagte der Gouverneur der Provinz, Halil Ibrahim Dasöz, dem türkischen Nachrichtensender NTV. Die Angreifer hätten den Opfern die Kehlen durchgeschnitten, nachdem sie an Händen und Füßen gefesselt worden seien. Im Haus seien drei Tote gefunden worden. Ein vierter Mann, der laut Berichten entweder aus dem Fenster gesprungen oder aber gestoßen worden sei, liege schwerverletzt im Krankenhaus. Die Polizei hat inzwischen sechs Personen festgenommen.

Ziel des Überfalls war der christliche Zirve-Verlag, der nach Angaben des Besitzers Hamza Özant in der Vergangenheit mehrmals von Nationalisten bedroht worden war. Demnach protestierten diese dagegen, dass der Verlag die Bibel verteile. Dies werde in der Türkei oft als Beweis für vermeintliche missionarische Tätigkeit und damit als Versuch zur Unterwanderung der Einheit der Türkei bewertet. Deutscher bei Überfall auf Bibel-Verlag getötet (mehr)

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Bizarre Furcht vor Missionaren
Mark Alexander
A belated recognition of how unsettled the British people feel about mass, uncontrolled immigration to this, our small island

DAILY MAIL: Mass immigration into Britain in recent years has left the country "deeply unsettled", Labour's immigration minister has admitted.

Writing in a think tank report Liam Byrne openly acknowledged that the pace of immigration was causing problems for some public services in the UK and said "laissez-faire immigration" risked damaging communities. Immigration has unsettled the country, says minister (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Virginia Massacre

The following is an excerpt from Matt Frei’s Washington Diary - Virginia shootings:

”Yes, this tragedy has sparked a debate about gun control but mostly outside America. Even Australian Prime Minister John Howard, that stalwart friend of George W Bush, was quick to blame "the US gun culture".

But on Capitol Hill, the Democrats, who have sunk their teeth into every other aspect of the administration, have remained largely silent on the issue. Gun control puts voters off in swing states, their research has discovered. Best to say little about it especially with an election approaching.

Remember Howard Dean, the country doctor turned governor, turned Presidential candidate, turned Chairman of the Democratic Party? He railed against George W Bush "shooting from the hip" but he never really spoke out for gun control.
Why? Because his liberal home state of Vermont hates fast-food as much as it likes hunting.

Despite this week's bloodbath there will be no overwhelming demand for gun control in this country. Like evangelical Christianity, baseball and a love of Pumpkin Pie it is just one of those things that separates Europeans from Americans.

Will the next shooting take place at another university, a high school, a nursery or a secretarial college?”
- Matt Frei

Mark Alexander

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

’Wird der Islam den Westen erobern’?

WELTONLINE: In den Augen fanatischer Muslime ist der Krieg gegen die Christenheit und Europa in eine neue Phase getreten. Die entscheidende Frage lautet: Wird der Islam den Westen erobern oder erliegt er am Ende der Verlockung der Freiheit?

In den Augen einer fanatischen und entschlossenen Minderheit von Muslimen hat die dritte Angriffswelle auf die Christenheit und Europa begonnen. Die erste Welle ist auf den Anfang des Islam zu datieren, als der neue Glaube von der Arabischen Halbinsel, wo er geboren wurde, auf den Nahen Osten und darüber hinaus überschwappte. Damals eroberten die Muslime Syrien, Palästina, Ägypten und Nordafrika – die damals alle noch zur christlichen Welt gehörten – und überschritten die Grenze nach Europa. Dort eroberten sie einen beachtlichen Teil Südeuropas, Spanien, Portugal und Süditalien inbegriffen, die alle Teil der islamischen Welt wurden, und sie überquerten sogar die Pyrenäen und besetzten eine Zeit lang Teile von Frankreich.

Die zweite Angriffswelle wurde nicht von Arabern und Mauren durchgeführt, sondern von Türken und Tataren. In der Mitte des 13.Jahrhunderts wurden die mongolischen Eroberer Russlands zum Islam konvertiert. Die Türken, die schon Anatolien erobert hatten, rückten nach Europa vor, und 1453 besiegten sie die alte christliche Zitadelle Konstantinopel. Sie eroberten einen Großteil des Balkans und regierten eine Weile halb Ungarn. Zweimal marschierten sie sogar bis nach Wien, das sie 1529 und dann wieder 1683 belagerten. Muslimische Korsaren aus Nordafrika erreichten Island – die äußerste Grenze – und verschiedene Orte in Westeuropa; das schloss einen bemerkenswerten Überfall auf Baltimore ein (das ursprüngliche, das in Irland liegt).

Terror und Einwanderung

Die dritte Angriffswelle nimmt eine andere Form an: Terror und Einwanderung. Das Thema „Terror“ ist oft und in vielen Details erläutert worden, ich möchte mich hier dem anderen Aspekt zuwenden, der für Europa heute größere Relevanz besitzt: der Einwanderung. Früher war es undenkbar, dass ein Muslim freiwillig in ein nicht muslimisches Land geht. Muslimische Juristen haben in den Lehr- und Vorschriftsbüchern der Scharia ausführlich darüber debattiert, ob es für einen Muslim gestattet sei, in einem nicht muslimischen Land zu leben oder es auch nur zu besuchen. Dies wurde unter verschiedenen Aspekten beleuchtet. Ein Verschleppter oder Kriegsgefangener hat offenkundig keine Wahl – aber er muss seinen Glauben bewahren und so bald wie möglich heimkehren. Der zweite Fall ist der eines Ungläubigen im Lande der Ungläubigen, der das Licht sieht und den wahren Glauben annimmt – der, anders gesagt, Muslim wird. Auch er muss das Land der Ungläubigen möglichst schnell verlassen und in ein muslimisches Land gehen. Der dritte Fall ist der eines Besuchers. Lange Zeit galt als einzig legitimer Grund für den Besuch eines nicht muslimischen Landes die Auslösung von Gefangenen. Später wurde dies um diplomatische Missionen und Geschäftsbesuche erweitert.

Wir haben es nicht nur mit einer anderen Religion zu tun, sondern auch mit einer anderen Vorstellung dessen, womit sich die Religion beschäftigt; gemeint ist damit speziell die Scharia, das heilige Gesetz des Islam. Die Scharia befasste sich mit einem weiten Feld von Angelegenheiten, die in der christlichen Welt sogar im Mittelalter als säkular galten, und das gilt heute umso mehr in der sogenannten postchristlichen Epoche der westlichen Welt. Die dritte Angriffswelle auf Europa rollt (mehr)

Mark Alexander
For God's sake, call it by its real name: ‘War on Jihad’

Democrats move to restrict the use of the term ‘War on Terror’, as the British government has done, hoping to sanitize the reality of the situation. The sanitization of the reality we are facing will do nothing to help us win the war we are engaged in; on the contrary, it will only hinder our eventual victory. War isn’t about making people feel good, it’s about victory, and victory alone.

Iraq might turn out to be a lost case; though one hopes, of course, it will not. But the ‘War on Jihad’ is something else. This is one war we have to win. It is a question of victory or dhimmitude. Western leaders must not, can not, shy away from this enormous task. Indeed, we must redouble our efforts; otherwise that New Dark Age will be upon us sooner than we might think.

Step up to the plate! We have a task of enormous proportions on our hands. It is a war that no sweet words will, or can, minimize. We are in it to the death. It’s our civilization or theirs. I know which one I would choose.

©Mark Alexander
BBC: As Britain's Secretary for International Development Hilary Benn says that the UK government no longer uses the phrase "war on terror", BBC News website world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds looks at the use and now the disuse of this phrase.

"War on terror" is both a defining and declining phrase.

Its simple, some argue its simplistic, directness has come to represent the post 9/11 age and the worldwide campaign against al-Qaeda. But it was never accepted without qualification by many outside the Bush administration, especially when its meaning was extended to the counter- insurgency campaign in Iraq as well.

Now Mr Benn has gone public with a ban quietly initiated last year by the British government, one of President Bush's closest allies in this "war".

And in the US Congress, the Democrats, who triumphed in the elections in November, are moving to restrict and even ban its use as well. Declining use of 'war on terror'
Mark Alexander
Gunman was a South Korean

BBC: Police have named a student who shot dead at least 30 people at a US university as Cho Seung-hui, a 23-year-old from South Korea. S Korean named as campus gunman

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Police name university killer

Mark Alexander
Weak Governance

DAILY MAIL: All around us are unmistakable signs of a Government imploding before our eyes - leaderless, utterly incompetent, morally bankrupt and adrift.

For the past two weeks, Britain has suffered abject humiliation at the hands of a fanatical Iranian regime, with consequences that will damage our national interests for years to come.

In the hostages crisis, no Prime Minister with any vestige of will or authority would have surrendered as meekly as Tony Blair to an act of war by a third-rank power.

Nor would any Foreign Secretary worthy of the title have allowed it - but then wasn't Margaret Beckett chosen for the job precisely because she was so pliant that she would stand up to nobody? For the nation's sake, the PM must go... (Read on)

Mark Alexander
Isn’t it high time the British got over their snobbishness and concentrated on the main event?

”If it is true that the royals were shocked by Kate Middleton’s mother’s use of the word ‘toilet’ rather than ‘loo’, then it's such a pity that members of the Royal Family haven't got more important things to think about. This is banality taken to its very extreme. If members of the Windsor family cannot think about more important matters in a world that is in turmoil, and in a world in which Islam is encroaching upon our freedoms, then maybe it's time they were sent out to work.” - Mark Alexander

THE TELEGRAPH: “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him."

So ventured Shaw in Pygmalion, and, if reports are to be believed - and perhaps we should not take them too seriously - Prince William's now ex-girlfriend, Kate Middleton, must have, on occasion, been made to feel rather like Shaw's Covent Garden flower seller ensnared on the thorns of polite society.

For just as Eliza was lampooned for her non-U utterances, so apparently was Miss Middleton - although not for any society gaffes of her own but for those apparently made by her mother, a former air stewardess, who not only, we are told, addressed the Queen with the phrase "Pleased to meet you" rather than the accepted "How do you do?", but was also known to have let slip a word toffs consider quite the ghastliest blasphemy: toilet. Was it 'Toiletgate' that done [it] for Kate?

What does 'Toiletgate' say about Britain's class divide?

Noblesse Oblige

Mark Alexander
The US’s “lethal commitment to its own freedoms”?

TIMESONLINE:

”Perhaps of all the elements of American exceptionalism – those factors, positive or negative, that make the US such a different country, politically, socially, culturally, from the rest of the civilised world – it is the gun culture that foreigners find so hard to understand.

The country’s religiosity, so at odds with the rest of the developed world these days; its economic system which seems to tolerate vast disparities of income; even all those strange sports Americans enjoy – all of these can at least be understood by the rest of us, even if not shared.

But why, we ask, do Americans continue to tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year, when presumably, tougher restrictions, such as those in force in European countries, could at least reduce the number?”
- Gerard Baker Only the names change. And the numbers (Read Gerard Baker's comment)

LE FIGARO: Abasourdis par le pire carnage qu'ont connu les États-Unis, les médias américains s'interrogent sur le manque de réactivité des responsables de l'université de Blacksburg et relancent le débat sur le contrôle des armes à feu. Virginia Tech : l'université critiquée

WELTONLINE: Immer wieder kommt es in den USA zu Bluttaten an Schulen und Hochschulen. Eines der bisher schlimmsten Massaker ereignete sich 1999 in der Columbine High School in Colorado, wo 15 Menschen ums Leben kamen. AMOKLAUF: Bluttaten an amerikanischen Schulen und Hochschulen

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Der schlimmste Amoklauf Amerikas

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Prävention: Wie lassen sich Amokläufe verhindern?

DIE PRESSE: Bush betont Recht auf Waffenbesitz

DIE PRESSE: Der Täter: Hinweise auf Motiv
“Amerika schützt seine Kinder nicht - so lautete zusammengefasst der Kommentar der französischen Tageszeitung "La Republique du Centre" am Dienstag nach dem blutigsten Amoklauf in der Geschichte der USA. "Man muss schon mit aller Bitterkeit unterstreichen, dass die USA zwar paradoxerweise dermaßen um die Weltordnung besorgt sind, andererseits sich aber nicht in der Lage sehen, ihre eigenen Kinder dort zu schützen, wo sie sicher sein sollten", heißt es in dem Blatt.” - [Quelle: Die Presse]
Mark Alexander