Friday, September 26, 2008

Al-Qaeda's Opportunity to Hurt the US

ASIA TIMES: When Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States in al-Qaeda's name in the late summer of 1996, he outlined ambitious worldwide Islamist goals but noted that al-Qaeda could not accomplish them on its own.

He said that al-Qaeda could, at best, serve as the vanguard that would attack the United States, assist Muslim insurgencies around the world and generally try to incite Muslims to join the jihad against the United States, Israel and the police states that govern much of the Arab and Muslim world.

At the time, Bin Laden was very clear in saying that the ultimate fate of the ummah (Islamic community) was in the hands of all Muslims and not solely in al-Qaeda's. Those in the West who

have seen al-Qaeda at any stage of its existence as a hierarchical organization, bent on controlling the jihad it was trying to incite, have either not read Bin Laden's words or have sought to cram this national security threat into the kind of nation-state problem with which they are comfortable.

Good news abounds for al-Qaeda

Muslims should rejoice over the fact that they have the United States as their priority enemy, al-Qaeda strategy analyst Abu Ubayd al-Qurashi wrote in 2002: "The mujahideen enjoy an edge," he argued, "because the US leadership is facing enormous strategic, political and economic challenges in various directions, whereas the mujahideen are focusing their entire efforts on America and have nothing else to worry about."

What was true then is even truer now. By any reasonable standard of evaluation, al-Qaeda's self-appointed role as the inciter of jihad has contributed to a world that is much more afflicted with jihadism today than it was in 1996. Moreover, most locations experiencing rising jihadi activities are states that Washington views as important to US national-security interests. The current problem is so widespread - including locales where there was, at most, limited jihad-related activity in 1996 - that the failure of major US and Western leaders and media to see the reality, let alone the ardent belief of some that the threat is receding, is inexplicable. Al-Qaeda's Opportunity to Hurt the US >>> By Michael Scheuer | September 27, 2008

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Haider Is Back. Just Don't Mention the War

THE INDEPENDENT: Last time he was in power, his nation became a pariah state. These days, Jörg Haider is more likely to praise the EU than the Nazis, although he and his party still hold controversial views about immigrants. Tony Paterson meets Austria's comeback kid

Jörg Haider, the far-right politician who turned Austria into an international pariah less than a decade ago because of his sympathetic views about Nazi Germany, is aiming for a surprise comeback in elections this weekend.

When he was part of the Austrian government in 1999 the rabble-rousing populist described Nazi SS veterans as "men of honour" and praised Hitler's employment policies, triggering European Union sanctions against Austria as a result.

Mr Haider, 58, has been mostly out of national politics ever since, but in Sunday's parliamentary elections he is hoping to return with a result that will leave him holding the balance of power, and maybe even offer him the chance of becoming head of state.

In an interview at the headquarters of his Alliance for the Future of Austria party in Vienna, Mr Haider told The Independent: "I want to run for the post of Chancellor of Austria – I am convinced that I can offer an alternative to those voters who have had enough of the failures of the outgoing grand coalition government."

Austria's grand coalition, comprising the conservative People's Party and the centre-left Social Democrats, collapsed in July after months of infighting. Neither of the two parties wants to form another alliance. Opinion polls published this week suggest that each will secure only around 25 per cent of the vote. The forecasts suggest that a further 25 per cent of votes will go to Austria's populist far-right bloc comprising the Freedom Party and Mr Haider's Alliance.

Mr Haider is banking on such a constellation leaving the far-right bloc as potential kingmakers. He says he is open to the idea of forming a coalition with either of the two main parties. And as a well-known figure in Austrian politics and a seasoned governor of the state of Carinthia, he sees himself as the ideal candidate for chancellor. Haider Is Back. Just Don't Mention the War >>> Tony Paterson | September 26, 2008

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The Rise of the Right across Europe

THE INDEPENDENT: Galvanised by the issues of Third World immigration and Islam, right-wing parties are a force to be reckoned with across much of Europe today. Several of them have succeeded in rebranding themselves as traditional conservatives rather than quasi-Fascist.

In Norway the anti-immigrant Progress Party is now the largest in the land. Like other right-wing parties in Scandinavia, it has enjoyed surging support since the Islamic cartoon affair two years ago. In Switzerland, Christoph Blocher's Swiss People's Party won the general election last year after a campaign condemned as racist by UN monitors. In Poland the League of Polish Families, a member of the coalition government until a year ago, campaigns for the elimination of Jewish influence in business and the professions. The Vlaams Belang in Belgium is strongly anti-immigrant. Even in ultra-liberal Denmark, the nationalist and anti-immigrant Danish People's Party is now the third largest party. In Italy, Silvio Berlusconi's Party of Freedom is sandwiched in the ruling coalition by the anti-immigrant Northern League and the post-Fascist National Alliance. [Source: THE INDEPENDENT] Peter Popham | September 26, 2008

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Pat Condell: The Tyranny of Scripture


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Saudi Clerics’ Outbursts Hurt Image of Islam

THE NATIONAL - RIYADH: When the head of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court recently declared that media officials responsible for airing immoral television programmes could be killed, his remarks provoked what has become a familiar response around the world.



Ridicule and scorn for Saudi Arabia, and more “proof” for Islamophobes of the “backwardness” of Islam. 



Sheikh Lihedan’s remarks were not the only ones in recent months to trigger a spate of global eye-rolling. 



In March, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al Barrak declared that two Saudi writers, whom he accused of expressing heretical ideas, should be put to death unless they recanted.
Another elderly sheikh, Abdullah bin Jibreen, told an interviewer on Al Majd TV, a conservative Riyadh-based religious station, that journalists “who insult scholars to shame or discredit them or undermine their authority … should be punished”. 
Sheikh Jibreen’s suggested chastisements included “imprisonment for a long time”, being “removed from the positions they hold, or … flogging”.



There were other less frightening, but sometimes silly, pronouncements that caused non-Muslims to wonder why representatives of such a profound and spiritual religious tradition as Islam concern themselves with trivialities. 



The most famous was a declaration by a member of the Saudi religious police, officially known as the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, that dog-walking had become an unacceptable “phenomenon” in Riyadh. He demanded enforcement of 14-year-old ban on selling cats and dogs. 



Then came a Saudi cleric bemoaning the fact that young children have become enamoured of such cartoon figures as Mickey Mouse even though Islamic law stipulates that mice should be killed.



Sheikh Mohammed al Munajid told Al Majd TV last month that sharia regards a mouse as “one of Satan’s soldiers”. Saudi Clerics’ Outbursts Hurt Image of Islam >>> By Caryle Murphy | September 25, 2008

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Russia Forces West to Go It Alone against Iran Nuclear Programme

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Rice and Lavrov. Notice the body language! Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH: Western diplomats met in New York last night to thrash out a further set of bilateral sanctions against Iran after Russian [sic] and China launched a boycott of talks on a new UN resolution.

Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov used a series of meetings with his Western counterparts, including David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to signal that Moscow had gone cold on international efforts to reign in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

Mr Lavrov lashed out at America and its allies as he linked the Russian decision to steps taken to punish its invasion of Georgia by cutting Kremlin officials out of G8 talks. "You can't have it both ways, punishing Russia by canceling meetings we share and at the same time expecting Russian cooperation on issues important to you," he said. "It is not right to make important items on our agenda hostage."

Foreign Office officials struggled to play down the implications of Russia's fresh recalcitrance but one official said it had doomed attempts to impose new penalties on Iran, which has a clandestine nuclear programme, until the first half of 2009. "There's a recognition that the next step will be down to individual countries," said one official close to the discussions. "It will take some time, well beyond the US elections, to engage in discussions that will produce any more UN sanctions. Russia Forces West to Go It Alone against Iran Nuclear Programme >>> By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | September 25, 2008

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President of Pakistan Calls Sarah Palin 'Gorgeous'

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The President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, thinks Sarah Palin is gorgeous. And he’s told her so! Photo courtesy of The Telegraph. Click on the photo to play music.

THE TELEGRAPH BLOGS: The President of Pakistan has become the first world leader to indicate that Sarah Palin's physical charms could have significant diplomatic potential in office.

A pool report from CNN shows that during the "grip and grin" photo op between Sarah Palin and Asif Ali Zardari at the UN, the president of Pakistan could not conceal his admiration for the Republican VP nominee. Mr Zardari, who was widowed but nine months ago, called her "gorgeous" and made it clear he was happy to carry on gripping for some time.

What could she have got away with asking for? Unfettered US military access to Waziristan? Osama bin Laden's head on a plate before election day?

Mrs Palin has been taking her gorgeousness around New York all week, meeting dignitaries including Hamid Karzai, Henry Kissinger and Mikheil Saakashvili as the McCain campaign has attempted to demonstrate she is capable of acting on the world stage. President of Pakistan Calls Sarah Palin 'Gorgeous' >>> By Alex Spillius | September 25, 2008

NDTV.COM:
Islamabad: Fatwa against Zardari for 'Flirting' with Palin: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari seems to be heading towards fresh trouble as the prayer leader of the Lal Masjid in the heart of Islamabad has issued a fatwa against him.

Maulana Abdul Ghafar, the prayer leader, seems to be irked by Zardari's "you're gorgeous" compliment to US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin during a meeting.

When Zardari was asked to keep shaking hands with Palin for the cameras, he said, "If he's (the aide) insisting, I might hug you."

He said the act was un-Islamic and unbecoming of a head of state of a Muslim country.

Maulana also said that Zardari shamed the entire Pakistani by publicly making indecent gestures towards Palin in Washington last Thursday. >>>
NDTV Correspondent | September 29, 2008

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Sir Winston’s View of Islam


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Dhimmitude: Harvard Submits to Islam


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John Gibson: Minnesota Becomes First US Muslim State


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Bernard Lewis: Civilization Is at Stake!


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Eurabia Alert! EU Urged to Take In More Iraqi Refugees

YAHOO NEWS! (UK & IRELAND): BERLIN - Rights groups called Tuesday on the European Union to take in more refugees from Iraq, two days ahead of a meeting of EU justice and interior ministers in Brussels.

"Iraqi refugees are in urgent need of protection because in contrast to what Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says, the security situation is alarming," Amnesty International Germany's Julia Duchrow told a news conference together with fellow rights group Pro Asyl (For Asylum).

"Periods of reflection, interruptions and playing for time with more research on the ground like the EU plans to do is irresponsible in view of the suffering of refugees," Pro Asyl's Europe representative Karl Kopp said.

Millions of Iraqis have fled their homes since the US-led invasion in 2003, with many heading to neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Syria.

Justice and interior ministers from the 27-nation EU were due to discuss on Thursday and Friday the issue at a meeting in Brussels.

In April the EU's Slovenian presidency rejected German proposals to give priority to refugees from Iraq's Christian minority, saying that asylum should be provided without consideration of religion.

After a meeting with Maliki in July German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed support for Iraqi government plans to see refugees return home rather than have some of them stay in Europe. [Source: YAHOO! NEWS (UK & IRELAND) AFP | September 23, 2008

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Eurabia
Fitzgerald: There Is No Compulsion in Religion

DHIMMI WATCH: The continued emphasis by Muslim and non-Muslim apologists for Islam on a single verse -- "There is no compulsion in religion" -- is permitted not only because their Infidel audience has no idea either about what is said relevantly elsewhere, in hundreds of places, in the Qur'an and Hadith, and not only because they are unaware of the doctrine of abrogation or "naskh," but because they are also unaware of the precise meaning that is given to that phrase "there is no compulsion in religion" by Muslim jurisconsults. If they did look into it, they would find that the "obvious" meaning of the words -- that is, the meaning that we Infidels choose to endow that phrase with -- is not what Muslim scholars mean at all. They mean that in the end one cannot force deep belief on people, though one can force them to comply outwardly, even on pain of death. And that is what Islam is in the business of doing: forcing outward compliance, on pain of punishment that may well include, has often included, death.

But there is one more thing that should surely be offered as an objection when some fool comes along and utters credulously this "there is no compulsion in religion" and expects us to believe the Western understanding of it. That is the observable behavior of Muslims over 1350 years. What have Muslims done, when they have conquered, by force or otherwise, non-Muslim lands and peoples? They offer three possibilities: death, conversion, and, at least to those who can be classified as ahl al-kitab or "people of the book," permanent status as dhimmis, with a host of political, economic, and social disabilities which together added up to lives of humiliation, degradation, and physical insecurity, at times relieved -- but only at times -- by the occasional mollitude of a particular Muslim ruler. A slim reed on which to base one's happiness. And so, over time, many non-Muslims, in order to avoid this condition of degradation, humiliation, and physical insecurity, converted to Islam. Fitzgerald: There Is No Compulsion in Religion >>> By Hugh Fitzgerald | September 24, 2008

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Wie Ahmadinedschad US-Bürgern die Welt erklärt

WELT ONLINE: In New York hat der iranische Präsident Ahmadinedschad diese Woche eine seiner berüchtigten Hass-Reden gehalten. Nebenbei erklärte er in einer Talkshow den US-Bürgern, wie die Welt funktioniert. Demnach ist der Iran ein friedliches Land, seine Hetze gegen Juden ein Akt des Widerstands. Zu Homosexuellen hat er auch eine Idee. Ahmadinedschad im Interview mit Larry King >>> 25. September 2008

Welt TV Video anschauen: Blistering Words from Iran's President: The Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad apparently is refusing to take sides in the race to replace President Bush. Hours before his his appearance at the U-N, he spoke with C-N-N's Larry King about the U-S presidential race. >>> | September 24, 2008

Welt TV Video anschauen: Die unglaubliche Wutrede von Irans Präsident: Der iranische Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad hat sich in seiner Rede vor der UN-Vollversammlung einmal mehr aggressiver Rhetorik bedient: Diesmal beschimpfte er die Israelis als "zionistische Mörder" und attackierte das "amerikanische Imperium". >>> | September 24, 2008

DIE PRESSE:
Ahmadinejad trifft anti-zionistische Juden: Unterstützung von überraschender Seite bekommt der iranische Staatschef Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Eine Gruppe streng-orthodoxer Juden, die ebenfalls gegen den israelischen Staat kämpft, traf ihn in New York.

Einen Tag nach der umstritten Anti-Juden-Rede traf Irans Staatschef Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Vertreter der jüdisch ultra-orthodoxen Splittergruppe „Neturei Karta", die den israelischen Staat demontieren wollen. Amadinejad sagte, dass der „Zionismus sehr geschwächt" sei und, „wenn es Gott so will, bald zerstört sein wird. Dann werden alle Juden, Muslime und Christen friedlich nebeneinander leben".
>>>
(Ag./Red.) | 25, September 2008

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Marriott Attackers Fidayeen-e-Islam Threaten to Attack All US Facilitators in Pak

THAINDIAN NEWS: Lahore (ANI): The Fidayeen-e-Islam (FI), a terrorist outfit which claimed responsibility for the Marriott Hotel suicide blast in Islamabad last Saturday killing 60 people, has reportedly threatened to target every person facilitating the US Army in Pakistan.

In a message received by an Arab TV office in Islamabad , the FI rejected the Pentagons claim that only two US marines had been killed in the Marriott blast, reported the Daily Times.

A large number of US marines, FBI officials and European diplomats was staying at the upper three storeys of the hotel, the paper quoted the FI message as saying.

However, the message did not mention the number of US officials the militant organisation believed died in the bombing, added the report.

Immediately after the hotel attack, it was believed that the militants had targeted the Americans living in the hotel. But, later a US embassy statement declined the reports and said that there was no evidence to corroborate that the actual intention behind hitting the hotel to kill Americans alone. [Source: THAINDIAN NEWS] ANI | September 25, 2008

THE AUSTRALIAN:
Terror Group Fidayeen-al-Islam Vows More Pakistan Hits: A FULL-SCALE emergency was sounded at Islamabad's international airport last night as the al-Qa'ida-linked organisation responsible for bombing Pakistan's Marriott hotel vowed to launch even bigger attacks.

In a mobile phone message in English sent to reporters, theal-Qa'ida-linked Fidayeen-al-Islam - "Islamic commandos" - warned that "all those who facilitate Americans and NATO crusaders like (Marriott hotel owner) Sadruddin Hashwani, they will keep on receiving blows."

The group claimed it attacked the Marriott because 250 US marines and NATO troops were staying there - something denied by the US embassy.

Fifty-three people were killed in the attack, the worst terrorist strike in Pakistan.
>>>
Bruce Loudon, Islamabad | September 26, 2008

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Tariq Ramadan on the Defensive

GATESOFVIENNA: Tariq Ramadan has been featured frequently in this space. He is one of the most dangerous Muslims in the West, because he is so suave and sophisticated and reasonable and “moderate”. So civilized, so calm, such a breath of fresh air compared to the frothing-at-the-mouth “kill the infidel apes and pigs” imams featured on the YouTube videos and in Fitna!

Yet, despite his reasonable manner, he is an agent of the Great Jihad and one of the more skilled practitioners of taqiyya in the West. Tariq Ramadan on the Defensive >>> By Baron Bodissey | September 24, 2008

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Catalonians Get Taken In by the ‘Religion of Peace’ in Big Numbers

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Photo courtesy of IslamOnline

ISLAMONLINE.NET: MADRID — Thousands of Spaniards, especially intellectuals, academics and anti-globalization activists, are finding comfort and solace in Islam.

"Embracing Islam is on the rise despite ferocious Western media campaigns," Abdul-Nour Brado, the head of the Islamic Society of Catalonia, told IslamOnline.net.

Estimates suggest that between 3,000 to 4,000 Catalonians accepted Islam recently.

"The numbers could be much higher than that," Barado believes.

Local media reports have noted that intellectuals, academics and anti-globalization activists make up the bulk of the new Muslim reverts in Spain.

Catalonians first embraced Islam in the 1960s and their numbers were quite few.

Now thousands of Catalonians are believed to have joined the fold of Islam.

The Spanish autonomous province of Catalonia covers an area of 31,950 km² with an official population of 6.3 million, and its capital is Barcelona.

It is home to around 100,000 Moroccan immigrants, which is attributed to the geographical proximity with Morocco.

The southern European country has an estimated Muslim minority of about at 1.5 million out of a total population of 40 million.

Islam is the second religion after Christianity and has been recognized through the law of religious freedom, issued in July 1967. Islam Comforts Spanish Intellectuals >>> By Al-Amin Andalusi, IOL Correspondent | September 25, 2008

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Sexual Cleansing in Iraq

Some of the links in this article will take you to sites containing images of violence which you may find disturbing

THE GUARDIAN: Islamist deaths squads are hunting down gay Iraqis and summarily executing them

The "improved" security situation in Iraq is not benefiting all Iraqis, especially not those who are gay. Islamist death squads are engaged in a homophobic killing spree with the active encouragement of leading Muslim clerics, such as Moqtada al-Sadr, as Newsweek recently revealed.

One of these clerics, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a fatwa urging the killing of lesbians and gays in the "most severe way possible".

The short film, Queer Fear – Gay Life, Gay Death in Iraq, produced by David Grey for Village Film, documents the tragic fates of a several individual gay Iraqis. You can view it here. Watch and weep. It is a truly poignant and moving documentary about the terrorisation and murder of Iraqi lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Since this film was made, the killings have continued and, many say, got worse. For gay Iraqis there is little evidence of the transition to democracy. They don't experience any newfound respect for human rights. Life for them is even worse than under the tyrant Saddam Hussein.

It is a death sentence in today's "liberated" Iraq to love a person of the same sex, or for a woman to have sex outside of marriage, or for a Muslim to give up his or her faith or embrace another religion.

The reality on the ground is that theocracy is taking hold of the country, including in Basra, which was abandoned by the British military. In place of foreign occupation, the city's inhabitants now endure the terror of fundamentalist militias and death squads.
Those who are deemed insufficiently devout and pure are liable to be assassinated.

The death squads of the Badr organisation and the Mahdi army are targeting gays and lesbians, according to UN reports, in a systematic campaign of sexual cleansing. They proudly boast of their success, claiming that they have already exterminated all "perverts and sodomites" in many of the major cities.

You can view photos of a few of the LGBT victims of these summary executions 
here and here. Sexual Cleansing in Iraq >>> By Peter Tatchell | September 25, 2008

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Cinnamon Stillwell: Sharia Law: Coming to a Western Nation Near You?

FRONTPAGEMAG.COM: Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMSU) will be hosting a conference on October 23 that asks the loaded question: “Is There a Role for Shari'ah in Modern States?

The Saudi-funded ACMSU and its founding director, John Esposito, one of the foremost apologists for radical Islam in the academic field of Middle East studies, have certainly been doing their bit to make the idea more palatable.

The Saudi prince for whom ACMSU was named has been pumping millions of dollars into Middle East studies at Georgetown, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and beyond, and as the case of Esposito demonstrates, it magnifies the voices of scholars with a decidedly uncritical bent. As a result, ACMSU analysis regarding Sharia (or Islamic) law tends to focus not on its injustices (amputation, stoning, hanging, honor killing, punishment for blasphemy, execution of apostates, persecution of non-Muslims, sanctioned wife-beating, female genital mutilation, and so on), but rather on repackaging it in ways that will appeal to Western sensibilities. The concept of a more “moderate” version of Sharia law that is compatible with democracy is at the forefront of this effort.

While it’s difficult to predict exactly what will take place at the upcoming ACMSU conference, the fact that Esposito will present the opening remarks provides considerable insight into the politics of the event.

Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, a book co-authored by Esposito and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies Dalia Mogahed, has been widely criticized for its blatant inaccuracies and attempts to whitewash anti-Western and extremist sentiment in the Muslim world. Accordingly, Sharia law is framed in a non-threatening fashion. As Robert Satloff put it in the Weekly Standard:
…Amazing as it sounds, according to Esposito and Mogahed, the proper term for a Muslim who hates America, wants to impose Sharia law, supports suicide bombing, and opposes equal rights for women but does not “completely” justify 9/11 is . . . “moderate.”
Sharia Law: Coming to a Western Nation Near You? >>> By Cinnamon Stillwell | September 25, 2008

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Turkish Singer Defiant in Court

BBC: A popular Turkish singer has defended public statements that Turkey's long conflict with Kurdish rebels needs a solution - not more deaths.

Bulent Ersoy made her comments at a court hearing in Istanbul, after being charged with attempting to turn the public against military service.

The transsexual singer also suggested that if she had a son she would not send him to fight.

If found guilty, she faces up to four-and-a-half years in prison.
Ms Ersoy made her comments about Turkey's powerful military on television last February.

The Turkish army was conducting a major operation against the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq at the time.

Some 40,000 people have died since the conflict with the PKK began in 1984. Turkish Singer Defiant in Court >>> | September 24, 2008

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French Author in Dock over Rwanda

BBC: A prominent French writer, Pierre Pean, is on trial in Paris accused of inciting racial hatred in a book on the Rwandan genocide.

Mr Pean wrote that the Tutsis had a culture of lies and deceit, and this had somehow spread to the Hutus.

He said it made investigating Rwanda "an almost impossible task". Some 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 1994.

A French rights group, SOS Racisme, filed the lawsuit against Mr Pean.

The case against him is backed by the public prosecutor. It centres on four pages in Mr Pean's book Noires Fureurs, Blancs Menteurs (Black furies, white liars), published in 2005.

In remarks broadcast on French radio on Wednesday, Mr Pean said he "wrote a book on lies, misinformation, which were, I believe, conducted through extremely elaborate methods, whereby a dictatorial regime wanted people to believe in lies".

An investigative journalist, Mr Pean wrote a bestseller about former French President Francois Mitterrand, among other works. French Author in Dock over Rwanda >>> | September 24, 2008

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Peres Blasts Iran in UN Address

BBC: Israeli President Shimon Peres has told the UN that Iran is "at the centre of violence and fanaticism" in the world.

In an address to the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Peres said Iran divided the Middle East and held back the chance of peace.

He warned that the Tehran leadership continued to develop enriched uranium and long-range missiles.

Iran is in breach of three UN Security Council resolutions calling for an end to its uranium enrichment programme. Peres Blasts Iran in UN Address >>> | September 24, 2008

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Clerics’ Debate Underlines Sunni-Shiite Divide

ASSOCIATED PRESS: BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Two of the Arab world's most prominent Muslim theologians have waded into a bitter exchange of barbs, engaging in a debate that is a small-scale rendition of the worsening animosity between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam.

The fight began early this month when Youssef al-Qaradawi, a Sunni who is one of the best known Islamic television clerics, called Shiites "heretics" and accused them of seeking to infiltrate Sunni societies.

Lebanon's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, shot back that Qaradawi was trying to incite "fitna" — the word for internal civil strife among Muslims that is anathema to followers of Islam.

Centuries-old tensions between Islam's two main branches in the Middle East have flared into the open in recent years, following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the eruption of sectarian killings there.

Though sectarian violence has eased in Iraq this year, it has boiled over in other places, particularly Lebanon, which saw dozens killed in fighting in May between Sunni groups and the Shiite militants of Hezbollah.

Periodic reconciliation efforts, such as a Sunni-Shiite dialogue conference in June in the holy city of Mecca, have done little to ease the deep suspicions of the Mideast's Sunni majority toward Shiites, seen by some Sunnis as a tool for spreading the influence of Persian Iran.

Although many Sunnis in the Arab world had shown admiration for Hezbollah's confrontations with Israel, much of that good will evaporated after the Shiite group turned its guns on Lebanon's Sunnis. Clerics’ Debate Underlines Sunni-Shiite Divide >>> By Bassem Mroue | September 24, 2008

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Muslim Group Reports Jump in Workplace Bias Complaints

MARKET WATCH: WASHINGTON, DC: (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- A report released today by a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group shows an increase in American Muslim complaints of workplace bias in 2007.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) report, called "Without Fear of Discrimination," outlines 2,652 incidents and experiences of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in 2007. That is the highest number of civil rights cases ever recorded in the Washington-based group's report -- the only annual study of its kind. (Note: The higher number of cases is due in part to inclusion of a new category of cases related to mailed, faxed and e-mailed hate messages. Without the inclusion of those cases, the total number of cases dipped slightly over the previous year.) Muslim Group Reports Jump in Workplace Bias Complaints: CAIR: Reports of Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes and Violence Decrease in 2007 >>> | September 14, 2008

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Unadulterated Greed!

THE TELEGRAPH: The two most senior figures in the Church of England have launched outspoken attacks on the excesses of capitalism which they claim have led to the current global financial crisis.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, condemned the financial traders who made millions by driving down the share price of leading banks as "bank robbers and asset strippers".

In a powerful speech to City bankers on the effects of the credit crisis on Wednesday, he denounced the "Alice in Wonderland" world of global finance where short-sellers profited by laying bets that shares in HBOS would fall in price.

Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, warned in a magazine article that modern devotion to the free market is a form of idolatry and that Karl Marx was right in his analysis of the power of "unbridled capitalism".

The pair's attacks came following a tumultuous week in which four major financial institutions went bust or were taken over, triggering multi-billion pound government rescue plans to steady the markets, after traders targeted banks that had been weakened by exposure to unrecoverable mortgage debts and a reduced ability to borrow money.

The billionaire Wall Street hedge fund manager John Paulson was one of those who made money by betting that the share price of HBOS, Britain's largest mortgage lender, would fall. The activities of such short-sellers - now temporarily banned - led to a collapse in the bank's shares last week and it had to be bought out by Lloyds TSB.

Speaking to the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, Dr Sentamu said: "Those who made £190million deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of its very strong capital base, and drove it into the bosom of Lloyds TSB, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers.

"We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland, where the share value of a bank is no longer dependent on the strength of its performance but rather on the willingness of the Government to bail it out, or rather on whether the Government has announced its intentions so to do." Archbishops of Canterbury and York Blame Capitalism Excesses for Financial Crisis >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | September 24, 2008

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Stop the Islamization of Europe! Stop the Islamization of the West!

This essay is being re-published today. It was originally published on November 28, 2005. Despite the enormity of the problem, nothing has been done about the increasing Islamization either of Europe or America. It is high time for something to be done about it though; it is high time for one of our politicians to bite the bullet. The hour is late. - Mark

The West is being Islamized before our very eyes! It is happening in such subtle ways that it is sometimes imperceptible to those who are not looking out for it. But much of the time, what is happening is plain to see. Each and every concession we make to Muslims is a further nail in the coffin of liberal democracy. Each time we consider granting Muslims a public holiday, each time we consider curtailing our own freedom of speech to appease them, we are assisting Muslims to further Islamize our home countries. Be sure of that!

Western governments should not be powerless to deal with this, but evenso they seem to be: They lack the will and determination to stop the rot.

Political correctness, of course, has taken its toll on the West. So has the ridiculous concept of multiculturalism. Add to this a deep-seated guilt complex, a pervasive attitude of self-denigration, extreme tolerance, and an army of apologists for Islam, and we have a catastrophe in the making!

One of our greatest mistakes is to think of Islam as just another one of the world's great religions. We shouldn't. Islam is politics or it is nothing at all, but, of course, it is politics with a spiritual dimension, politics all wrapped up in a deity.

What is the nature of the politics of Islam? Well, that's an easy one to answer: It is little different from the politics of a totalitarian state, little different from the ideologies of Nazism or communism, different only in detail rather than style. Both Nazism and communism used the purge to try and 'cleanse' society of what it considered undesirable. Islam always does the same. Both of those tolerated only a single political party. Islam generally does the same, and certainly, where it doesn't, insists that all parties be Islamic ones. This, of course, gives the establishment the power to coerce the people. G. H. Sabine, in his book, A History of Political Theory, tells us this about Nazism and communism:
...the party was a self-constituted aristocracy which has [sic] the mission partly of leading, partly of instructing, and partly of coercing the bulk of mankind along the road that it must follow. Both were totalitarian in the sense that they obliterated the liberal distinction between areas of private judgment and of public control, and both turned the educational system into an agency of universal indoctrination. In their philosophy[,] both were utterly dogmatic, professing, the one in the name of the Aryan race and the other in the name of the proletariat, a higher insight capable of laying down rules for art, literature, science, and religion. Both induced a frame of mind akin to religious fanaticism. In strategy[,] both were reckless in their assertions, boundless in their claims, abusive toward their opponents, prone to regard any concession on their own part as a temporary expedient and on a rival's part as a sign of weakness. The social philosophies of both agreed in regarding society as in essence a system of forces, economic or racial, between which adjustment takes place by struggle and dominance rather than by mutual understanding and concession. Both therefore regarded politics as merely an expression of power.
So much in Islam resembles those two despicable ideologies. The ruling party in Islamic countries coerces the people along the road that it must follow. This is particularly easy to observe in Iran today. Islam, too, tries to obliterate the liberal distinction between areas of private judgment and of public control. We see this in all Islamic countries. Similar to Nazism and communism, Islam also turns the educational system into an apparatus of the state for the purpose of universal indoctrination. One would be justified in using the term 'brainwashing'.

In addition, Islam also lays down rules for art (no depiction of the human form is allowed, for example), for literature (all is censored), for science (nothing discovered may contradict the Qur'an or Ahadith, or the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), and certainly for religion (no religion is accepted of man except Islam). Where Jews and Christians live in Islamic countries, they are given protection in return for a high tax known as the jiziyah, but are given dhimmi status, which means, in effect, that they are subdued and given second class status.

Islam also induces a frame of mind akin to fanaticism. That this is so is self-explanatory. Islam is also reckless in its assertions, and boundless in its claims. Example: All the world belongs to Allah; therefore it is the duty of all Muslims to Islamize it. In Islam, too, adjustment takes place by struggle and dominance. Note the Jihad.

A remarkable similarity is this: Islam is also inclined to be abusive to its opponents (they are infidels and unclean), and is prone to regard any concession on its own part as a temporary expedient and on a rival's part as a sign of weakness. And Islam, too, regards politics as an expression of power. Oh, and we shouldn't forget that Islam is profoundly anti-Semitic!

Aren't the similarities just remarkable?

What is troubling is this: Islam is closing in on us. We have so many unassimilated Muslims living in Europe, and an ever growing number living in the States, too. In fact, millions and millions of Muslims live in the West today. But the West has no strategy for dealing with the fall-out. We saw this recenty in France when their cities burnt night after night. The mayhem Muslim immigrants caused there was enough to make anyone's hair stand on end! But what has France done about it? It has unveiled a series of measures to appease the Muslim immigrants, and has ignored the fact that this was an uprising caused in no small part by the Islamic community flexing its ever strengthening muscles.

If we in the West wish to ensure the survival of our own civilization, wish to ensure that our children will be able to live as freely as we have been able to do, wish to ensure that people are free to choose their religion in the West, but just as free not to choose one, then we have a lot of thinking to do!

I would suggest that we start by asking one simple question: Should we regard Islam as a mere religion, or should we start to see it for what it truly is: A political ideology with megalomaniacal aspirations? A political ideology with a spiritual dimension which will stop at nothing until the West is no more, until the West has been brought into Dar ul Islam, or the 'House of Islam', until the West has been well and truly Islamized. To ignore this fact is tantamount to playing fast and loose with our children's future freedoms and security. In fact, it is negligent of their future well-being!

©Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

US Ex-officials Want Good US Relations with Islam

THE JERUSALEM POST: The next US president should speak out for better relations with the Muslim world in his inaugural address and pursue an accord between Israel and the Palestinians within three months of taking office, a diverse coalition of 34 former US officials and civic leaders said in a report being issued Wednesday.

The proposals, which include diplomatic engagement with Iran, are designed to reverse Muslim extremism and enhance US international security. They are based on the conclusion that improving US relations with Muslim countries and communities is critical, the report said.

Also, it said, the new president should reaffirm immediately a US commitment to prohibit all forms of torture.

On promoting democracy among the Arabs, a hallmark of President George W. Bush's foreign policy, the report envisioned a cautious role for the United States: improving governance and civic participation without imposing a particular set of institutions, parties or leaders.

Bush's war on terror, the report said, has been inadequate and sometimes counterproductive. It recommends "partnership" with Muslims committed to nonviolent political and economic development to reverse extremism and promote reform within authoritarian governments. [Source: JP] AP | September 24, 2008

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CAIR Seeks Probe of 'Radical Islam' DVD

ASSOCIATED PRESS: A U.S. Muslim advocacy group Tuesday asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether a nonprofit group that distributed a controversial DVD about Islam in newspapers nationwide is a "front" for an Israel-based group with a stealth goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The promoters of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" denied trying to promote any presidential campaign. They said it's also incorrect to tie the DVD campaign to Jerusalem-based educational group Aish HaTorah International, although current and former employees are involved with the project.

The Council for American-Islamic Relations asked the FEC to investigate the DVD distribution, which targeted about 28 million households mostly in battleground election states.

The DVDs — which critics call anti-Muslim propaganda — were inserted this month into more than 70 newspapers and paid for by the Clarion Fund, a nonprofit founded in 2006. The group's focus is "the most urgent threat of radical Islam." It has declined to identify board members or its funding.

Never picked up for traditional distribution, "Obsession" features scenes of Muslim children being urged to become suicide bombers, 9/11 carnage and interviews with critics of Islam. Muslim Group Seeks Probe of 'Radical Islam' DVD >>> By Eric Gorsky | September 24, 2008

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Police Accused of Alleged Brutality at Cologne Anti-Islam Rally

DEUTSCHE WELLE: Allegations of police brutality and human rights abuses by law enforcement officers in the German city of Cologne have surfaced in a news report.

The alleged abuses, including putting children and adolescents in cages, are supposed to have taken place during a demonstration against a far-right "Stop Islam" conference in Cologne last weekend.

The police were confronted before, during and after the event -- eventually abandoned on public safety grounds -- by extreme leftists who attempted to reach the square during the planned rally by anti-immigrant group Pro Cologne.

Der Spiegel magazine alleged on its Web site that hundreds of protestors, including 72 teenagers and three children, were taken to a detention center in the nearby town of Bruehl, and some had to stay in open air cages despite the cold temperatures.

The protestors said about 30 of them were kept in a 36 square-meter (388-square-foott [sic]) cage, and some of the teenagers were not allowed to call their parents or use the toilets, Der Spiegel Online said, adding that a lot of them were not released until the early hours of Sunday morning. Police Accused of Alleged Brutality at Cologne Anti-Islam Rally >>> | September 24, 2008

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The Muslim French Justice Minister Rachida Dati at Yad Vashem

EUROPEAN JEWISH PRESS (EJP): JERUSALEM---As part of a 3-day official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, French Justice Minister Rachida Dati went to the Western Wall and toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem on Sunday.

At Yad Vashem, Dati laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance, visited the Hall of Names and the Children's Memorial before signing the guestbook. French Justice Minister Rachida Dati at Yad Vashem >>> By John Milner | September 21, 2008

EUROPEAN JEWISH PRESS (EJP):
Auschwitz Album in Farsi Uploaded to Yad Vashem Persian Website: JERUSALEM---A new online exhibit of the Auschwitz Album, the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkena [u], has been uploaded to Yad Vashem’s Persian website. >>> By John Milner | September 24, 2008

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You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone

Or, as the old saying goes, ‘You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry.’ - Mark

FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS: "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable." James Madison

My mother used to say that it’s better to go from being poor to being rich than from having been rich and become poor because you don’t yearn for what you’ve lost. However, my experience has been that if you’ve always been free from want, you might not ever gain an appreciation for what was taken for granted. In any event, it wasn’t until I reached middle age that I began to understand what for me truly constitutes being rich and it wasn’t until 9/11 that I really gave much thought to how quickly it could be taken away.

During World War II, when peace and stability were shattered by acts of physical aggression initiated by the axis powers, Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech on what he referred to as the four freedoms.

“In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression...The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own...The third is freedom from want, which...means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants...The fourth is freedom from fear, which...means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.” You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone >>> By Nancy Silvato | September 24, 2008

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Steven Spielberg Joins Campaign to Prevent Gay Marriage Ban

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Steven Spielberg considers that the ban will “legalize discrimination”. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH: Steven Spielberg and his wife have become the latest Hollywood celebrities to help bankroll a bid to defeat a referendum seeking to outlaw gay marriage in California.

The director and Kate Capshaw have donated $100,000 to a campaign to defeat a controversial ballot initiative that will be voted on during the November 4 election.

The measure, known as proposition 8, seeks a ban on same-sex marriage in the wake of the landmark California Supreme Court ruling in May that overturned a previous ban on gay weddings.

The effort to defeat the ban has already attracted the financial backing of actor Brad Pitt, who last week also donated $100,000 to opponents of the proposition.

"By writing discrimination into our state constitution, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of each and every citizen in our state to marry regardless of sexual orientation," Spielberg and Capshaw said in a statement.

"Such discrimination has no place in California's constitution, or any other."

Marvin Levy, Spielberg's spokesman, later added: "Obviously, he's hopeful that this proposition can be defeated, and that everyone has the same rights."

Same-sex marriage is legal in only two US states - California and Massachusetts, where gay weddings have been legal since 2004. Steven Spielberg Joins Campaign to Prevent Gay Marriage Ban >>> | September 24, 2008

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Online Petition on Downing Street Website: Stop Sharia Law Being Used in the UK

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Iran: Death Penalty for Man Accused of Homosexuality

AKI: Tehran - Nemat Safavi, arrested almost three years ago at the age of 16, has been condemned to death by a court in Ardebil, in the northwest Iranian Azerbaijan region.

Nemat has not killed anyone, stolen anything or even carried out any political activism.

Nemat has been accused of having homosexual relations.While that was not stated during the court case, he was accused of "sexual relations that were not admitted".

A year ago, on a visit to Colombia University in New York, Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "there were no homosexuals" in Iran in response to a question from a student. [Source: AKI] | September 23, 2008

Hat tip: Infidelesto @ Infidels Are Cool

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Malaysian Blogger Jailed for Insulting Islam

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Malaysia's leading blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been ordered to spend two years in detention under internal security laws after being accused of insulting Islam.

His wife, Lee Abdulah, said the founder of the controversial Malaysia Today website had been sent to the Kamunting detention centre in northern Perak state under a detention order signed by the Home Minister.

Abdulah said police had told her "he will remain there for two years with no trial". [Source: NZ HERALD] September 24, 2008

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Hunger Striking lllegal Immigrants in Belgium in Critical Condition

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Groups of illegal immigrants in Brussels have been staging hunger strikes for months following the rejection of their applications for residency permits. A doctor warns that their condition is now critical.

Rajendra Debkota, 50, an agricultural engineer from Nepal, can barely walk after 78 days of fasting. He's clearly in pain. When asked if he will continue his hunger strike, he responds: "I'm alone with my body. I can't think about what I'll do today or tomorrow."

Debkota and seven other people on hunger strikes are being cared for at the Latin America House in Brussels. They come from Nepal, the Ivory Coast, Congo, Guinea, Brazil and Iran. The hunger strikes are being conducted by illegal immigrants or asylum seekers whose applications for residency permits to stay in Belgium are pending or have been rejected. In recent years, hunger strikes and other protests have become a common way for illegal immigrants to try to stay in the country. Hunger Striking lllegal Immigrants in Belgium in Critical Condition >>> By Petra de Koning in Brussels | September 23, 2008

MAIL Online:
Spain Will Pay Jobless Migrants to return Home >>> | September 22, 2008

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How Syria's Assad Is Steering His Country out of Isolation

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Washington still counts him as part of its axis of evil, but Europe and Russia -- and, more recently, even archenemy Israel -- are courting him as a negotiating partner. The ruler of Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad, wants to lead his country back to the international community.

Bashar Assad will never be a charismatic politician like Barack Obama or a populist leader in the style of Fidel Castro. Forced into politics by his über-father, Hafez Assad, the "Lion" of the nation, the 43-year-old former ophthalmologist consistently comes across as stiff and awkward on the international stage.

He always gazes into the distance during public appearances, as if he wanted nothing to do with politics and would much rather be someplace else. Even today, after leading his country for eight years, Assad still gives the impression that he longs to return to treating patients in his former practice in London or attending an ophthalmologists' conference. At state receptions, the tall president stands stiff as a board, as if he had swallowed a giant pencil, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, a lost flamingo in the palace of power.

But anyone who sees Assad as a political lightweight, as someone easily manipulated by his advisors and a marginal figure ridiculed or at best ignored by the major players on the world stage is making a mistake. Syria is in the process of becoming a decisive force in the Middle East once again. How Syria's Assad Is Steering His Country out of Isolation >>> By Erich Follath | September 23, 2008

SPIEGELONLINE PHOTO GALLERY: Wooing the Pariah >>>

TIMESONLINE:
Fears Grow in Lebanon as 10,000 Syrian Troops Arrive on the Border: Syria has massed thousands of troops along its border with northern Lebanon in what officials in Beirut fear is a prelude to the first incursion since Syrian forces pulled out three years ago.
Although Damascus insists that its forces are conducting an antismuggling operation, the Lebanese Government is eyeing the moves with unease, believing that the unusual scale of the deployment has more to do with tensions between the two countries over recent sectarian clashes in northern Lebanon.
>>>
By Nicholas Blanford in Hekr Janin | September 24, 2008

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Creationism: Taking on Darwin in Turkey

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Fundamentalist Christians in America are not the only ones leading a crusade against Darwin. Creationism and "intelligent design" are becoming increasingly popular among Turkey's Muslims, too.

The man who wants to save the world goes by the name of Harun Yahya and resembles an actor from the age of silent films. He wears a white silk suit, gold cufflinks and has a finely trimmed beard on his chin. "In 20 years," he says in serious tone, "humanity will enter a golden age."

Yahya says that he discovered these joyful tidings in the Bible and the Koran. He maintains that it is a "scientific fact" that Jesus and Mahdi, the Muslim messiah, will return to mankind to solve all global conflicts. Beforehand, however, he says that these two heavenly emissaries will have to tackle another challenge: They must eradicate the heresy of British naturalist Charles Darwin, who postulated that all life arose from a process of natural selection.

As Yahya sees it, Darwinism is the root of all the world's evils. In order to help rid the world of this theory, he has had thousands of copies of The Atlas of Creation printed and shipped around the world. This large-format 800-page tome aims to prove that there never was a natural evolution of species. Instead, it contends that all forms of life on earth have remained unchanged for millions of years. Brightly colored illustrations of fossils have been included so as to document the lack of so-called transitional forms.

Yahya, 52, a onetime student of architecture, is without a doubt his country's most colorful adherent of creationism. He claims that he has already sold 8 million copies of his various books. Last year, thousands of copies of The Atlas of Creation were delivered -- on an unsolicited basis -- to schools around Europe. The identity of the person or institution footing the bill for this initiative remains unclear.

In addition to Yahya, who is currently being prosecuted "for illegal personal gain," there are other vehement opponents of evolution in Turkey. One of these is Kerim Balci, a journalist who works for the pro-government newspaper Zaman. His message: "God isn't the one who's dead; it's Darwinism." Taking on Darwin in Turkey >>> By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul | September 23, 2008

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Ahmadinedschad prophezeit Untergang der USA

WELT ONLINE: Der iranische Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad hat sich in seiner Rede vor der UN-Vollversammlung einmal mehr aggressiver Rhetorik bedient: Diesmal beschimpfte er die Israelis als "zionistische Mörder" und attackierte das "amerikanische Imperium". Die US-Delegation hatte schon zuvor den Saal verlassen.

Der iranische Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad hat das Atomprogramm seines Landes vor der UN-Vollversammlung mit scharfen Worten verteidigt. Einige „schikanöse Mächte“ versuchten mit politischem und wirtschaftlichem Druck, Teheran das Recht auf friedliche Nutzung der Kernenergie zu nehmen, kritisierte der Staatschef am Dienstag in New York. Dies seien genau die Mächte, die selbst ganze Generationen von tödlichen Atomwaffen herstellten und für die Tragödien in Hiroshima und Nagasaki verantwortlich seien, erklärte Ahmadinedschad, ohne die USA ausdrücklich zu nennen. Die amerikanische Delegation hatte Medienberichten zufolge für die Rede den Saal verlassen. Vor dem UN- Hauptquartier demonstrierten einige hundert Menschen gegen den Auftritt und riefen: „Ahmadinedschad raus aus der Uno!“ Ahmadinedschad prophezeit Untergang der USA >>> | 24. September 2008

YAHOO! NEWS:
Iran's Leader Says 'American Empire' Near Collapse >>> By Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press Writer | September 23, 2008

DIE PRESSE:
Proteste gegen Ahmadinejad in New York: Der iranische Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinejad traf in New York den UNO-Generalsekretär Ban Ki-moon. Jüdische Gruppen protestierten vor dem Hauptquartier der UNO. >>> 23. September 2008

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A Question of Trust in Pakistan, the Land of the Conspiracy Theory

THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, met President George W Bush yesterday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.

Mr Zardari is seeking to mend fences with his ally in the "war on terror" after his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf, was less than candid about the Muslim state's covert support for the Afghan Taliban.

But Mr Zardari faces an even greater challenge at home, where many Pakistanis see the rising tide of Islamist violence as part of a foreign conspiracy or, even, something to be supported if it harms America.

Western observers thought that Saturday's bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, which killed 53 people and wounded more than 260, would shock ambivalent Pakistanis into supporting their government's crackdown on home-grown terrorists. But it has merely highlighted just how confused and conspiracy-riddled is Pakistan's popular opinion.

Many I met on the streets of the capital believe the blast was caused by a "foreign hand", a reference that usually denotes anyone from India, Afghanistan, Israel and Russia to the United States. A Question of Trust in Pakistan, the Land of the Conspiracy Theory >>> By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad | September 24, 2008

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

In an Act of Unprecedented Dhimmitude, the BBC Comes Up with This Crap!

BBC: In London's historic "Inns of Court", barristers practise law in the shadow of the distinctive medieval Temple Church. But does English law really owe a debt to Muslim law?

For some scholars, a historical connection to Islam is a "missing link" that explains why English common law is so different from classical Roman legal systems that hold sway across much of the rest of Europe.

It's a controversial idea. Common law has inspired legal systems across the world. What's more, calls for the UK to accommodate Islamic Sharia law have caused public outcry.

The first port of call when looking for an eastern link in the common law is London's Inns of Court.

"You are now leaving London, and entering Jerusalem," says Robin Griffith-Jones, the Master of the Temple Church, as he walks around its spectacular rotunda.

The church stands in the heart of the legal district and was built by the Knights Templar, the fierce order of monks-turned-warriors who fought Muslim armies in the Crusades.

London's historic legal district, with its professional class of independent lawyers, has parallels with the way medieval Islamic law was organised.

In Sunni Islam there were four great schools of legal theory, which were often housed in "madrassas" around mosques. Scholars debated each other on obscure points of law, in much the same way as English barristers do.

There is a theory that the Templars modelled the Inns of Court on Muslim ideas. But Mr Griffith-Jones suggests it is pretty unlikely the Templars imported the madrassa system to England. They were suppressed after 1314 - yet lawyers only started congregating in the Inns of Court after the 1360s.

Perpetual endowment

This doesn't necessarily rule out the Templars' role altogether. Medieval Muslim centres of learning were governed under a special legal device called the "waqf" under which trustees guaranteed their independence.

In an oak-panelled room in Oxford, historian Dr Paul Brand explains the significance of the 1264 statute that Walter De Merton used to establish Merton College. He was a businessman with connections to the Knights Templar. Is English Law Related to Muslim Law? >>> By Mukul Devichand | September 23, 2008

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Radical Islam, a Religion of “Peace in Our Time”

BRUSSELS JOURNAL: “Peace” is apparently the word on the lips of British politicians whenever the omens point, in stiff armed salute, to catastrophe. In 1938, Neville Chamberlain gave his now infamous speech, ‘Peace in our Time,’ in which he announced that Germany would be allowed to annex Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. This, the so-called Munich agreement, was meant of course to placate the Third Reich, but instead it is now seen as the first step to the occupation of Poland and to the onset of the Second World War. With utter lack of foresight Chamberlain had announced, “They [the various governments in the dispute] rejoiced with us that peace was preserved, and with us they look forward to further efforts to consolidate what has been done.” The British people, “were at one with those of Germany, of France and of Italy […] their intense desire for peace.”
 


There was a certain unintended dimension to junior Labour minister David Cairns’ recent statement, that Gordon Brown is the most unpopular British prime minister, “since Neville Chamberlain after Hitler invaded Norway,” as the same sort of language and mentality of appeasement that facilitated the rise of Nazi Germany is routinely employed by Brown and his government in regard to radical Islam. Its most literal outpouring came in July, when Brown spoke to the Knesset, and urged that Israel should share Jerusalem with the Palestinians. Like Chamberlain, Brown spoke of his belief that, “[…] this historic, hard-won and lasting peace is within your [Israel’s] reach, I urge you to take it by the hand.”

Neither Brown, nor Blair, nor the Labour Party, has acted mindful of the lessons that history has furnished us with. Indeed, the Party as a whole – and even British politicians more broadly – seems intent on repeating the most egregious mistakes of some other regimes now disappeared. Though perhaps the best known, the signing of the Munich agreement was far from the last time that government appeasement facilitated the rise of tyrannical organizations and regimes. In Algeria, as Walter Laquer has observed, “[…] the Islamists turned against the authorities who had done so much to support their activities. (Fascism: Past, Present, Future, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 164), and there is every reason to believe that the same will occur in Britain. Radical Islam, a Religion of “Peace in Our Time” >>> From the desk of A. Millar | September 23, 2008

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At Least There’s Some Courage in Europe

GAYANDRIGHT: Of the parties dedicated to resisting Islamization that I examined in Europe last summer, the most promising range from the sizeable Vlaams Belang in Belgium to the tiny Sweden Democrats, and include the Lega Nord in Italy, the Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders in Holland, the Danish People's Party, the Swiss People's Party and the Austrian Freedom Party. Such parties are unknown here, or ignored. Worse, they are shunned. Why? I believe it's because their respective political opponents the leftist media and governing establishments that are increasingly dependent on Islamic support, by the way have successfully slandered these parties as "extremists," "racists," "fascists" and "Nazis." Is advocating freedom of speech "extreme" or "fascist"? Is opposing Islam's law, which knows no race, "racist"? Is supporting Israel (which these parties do far more than other European parties) "Nazi"? The outrageously empty epithets of the Islamo-socialist left seem calculated to stop thought cold and trigger a massive rejection reflex. In this way, resistance becomes anathema, and Islamic law, unchecked, spreads across Europe. At Least There's Some Courage in Europe.... >>> By GayandRight | September 23, 2008

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60 Prozent mehr illegale Einwanderer in Italien

NZZ Online: Die Zahl der illegalen Immigranten, die seit Beginn 2008 Italien erreicht haben, ist um 60 Prozent gegenüber des Vergleichszeitraums 2007 gewachsen.

(sda/apa) Seit Anfang 2008 haben 23600 Flüchtlinge illegal Italien erreicht, im Vergleichszeitraum 2007 waren es 14200, teilte der italienische Innenminister Roberto Maroni am Dienstag mit. 60 Prozent mehr illegale Einwanderer in Italien: Seit Anfang Jahr rund 24'000 Flüchtlinge ins Land geströmt >>> | 23. September 2008

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