The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar Lift Ban on Dialogue with Jews
THE JERUSALEM POST: Statement drafted by Sheikh Fawzi al-Zifzaf, chairman of permanent committee for dialogue, read during gathering of senior faith and political leaders at Parliament in London, 'Post' learns.
Scholars at the oldest Islamic university in the world issued a proclamation on Tuesday that lifted an ancient ban on dialogue with Jews, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The statement drafted by Sheikh Fawzi al-Zifzaf, chairman of the permanent committee for dialogue at Al- Azhar University in Cairo, was read during a gathering of senior faith and political leaders at Parliament in London.
“And the point of origin of this invitation is Islam itself [calling for] brotherhood and mutual understanding and the strengthening of bonds between Muslims and followers of the other religions, and the establishment of bridges of dialogue with scholarly institutions in Europe and America,” Zifzaf wrote. Read on and comment >>> Gil Shefler | Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving 2010
Wishing all Americans a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key says his country is mourning after a second mine explosion ruled out any hopes of finding the 29 trapped miners alive. Video courtesy of Reuters.
British Foreign Policy to Change Reflecting Arab Concerns on Middle East
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: British foreign policy will change to reflect Arab concerns over the Middle East peace process as part of the Coalition's efforts to seal a strategic agreement with the Gulf during the Queen's visit to the region.
That may mean yet further withdrawal of traditional British support for Israel, with criticism of its government already more marked under Mr Hague than it was under New Labour government. – The Daily Telegraph
Whitehall officials said Foreign Secretary William Hague's decision to reach out to Gulf states in an effort to secure better diplomatic and trade ties meant Britain had to "take on board" Arab foreign policy goals.
Requesting better ties would be a two-way street, not just plea for more defence contracts and exports, they said.
"It will be a six lane highway with movement in both directions," said one diplomat. "We have to respond to what Gulf States want. If we want a long-term partnership on foreign policy, then changes in our stance have to be part of it."
The Queen arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, at the start of a five-day visit that will also take in Oman.
Both countries are long-standing allies, where the royal family also has strong personal ties with local leaders. The United Arab Emirates end of the visit was rearranged after a planned tour last year was cancelled at the last minute.
The visit to Oman is to join the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of Sultan Qaboos's ascension to the throne.
But the visit has taken on a more significant, and unusually political context both with the change of government in Britain and increasing tensions with Iran a short distance away on the other side of the Gulf.
Mr Hague set improving relations with the Gulf and India as his first policy goals, and both David Cameron, the prime minister, and Liam Fox, the defence secretary, visited Abu Dhabi within a month of taking office. >>> Richard Spencer in Abu Dhabi and Damien McElroy | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
So this is the new coalition government in action is it?
Our relations with the Gulf states has always been close and friendly HOWEVER it seems that the UK must now cringe and crawl and change our foreign policies and strategic partnerships to suit islam? What price does the UK have to pay for this new arrangement?
Are we really that desperate for Arab cash that they can now summon our Queen to go barefoot and covered into their mosque and make our fake foreign secretary crawl and creep to beg for money?
The UK is being islamised at an alarming pace now and the coalition are at the centre of it, not for them the dignity and pride of HM governments of old, these Quislings just have to abase themselves and us.
Isnt it funny how WE have to note and address THEIR concerns and adapt OUR policies and alliances and interests to suit THEIRS? Look on this visit with shame and humiliation as our government crawls and creeps and cringes and gives in to demand after demand. The truth is that these states need us more than we need them, they need our support in the face of their own regional threats and we do not need to creep and crawl to them at all.
A friendship that requires one side to change its other alliances or friendships or strategic goals is no friendship at all, a friend that bullies and threatens and demands obedience from the other is not a friend at all. We are either an equal partner where we stand up for our own interests or we are a stooge lackey lickspittle unfit to have a seat at the UN top table. Trade? They either wish to trade with us or they do not, they have NO right to dictate to us about our foreign policies and alliances and how we must change to suit their prejudices and hatreds. If that is the price of a trade deal then they should really go buy their stuff from North Korea or Russia. What would they say to us if we demanded that they change their policies and goals to suit us? Yeah! they would rightly tell us to piss right off and no mistake!
MAIL ONLINE: Shoeless and wearing a beekeeper-style shawl and hat, the Queen walked across the world’s largest carpet last night as she met Islamic students in Abu Dhabi at the start of her five-day state visit to the Gulf.
No sooner had the Queen and Prince Philip stepped off their chartered British Airways flight from London than they were taken straight to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the country’s largest.
The Queen in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Photograph: Mail Online
The floor of its main prayer hall is covered in a 35-ton carpet which took 1,200 Iranian women two years to stitch by hand.
In keeping with tradition, the Queen removed her shoes before entering and padded in in stockinged feet.
While other female members of the party wore a traditional 'abaya' or full-length cloak over their clothes and a 'sheela' or scarf, the Queen wore a gold brocade coat embroidered with Swarovski crystals over her matching dress, both designed by her dresser, Angela Kelly.
Irland benötigt voraussichtlich 85 Milliarden Euro
Regierung stellt Sparprogramm vor – Analysten rechnen mit höherem Bedarf
NZZ ONLINE: Der irische Ministerpräsident Brian Cowen hat die Höhe des internationalen Rettungspakets für sein Land auf voraussichtlich etwa 85 Milliarden Euro beziffert.
Über diese Summe werde verhandelt, die Zustimmung von Europäischer Union und Internationalem Währungsfonds (IWF) stehe aber noch aus, sagte Cowen am Mittwoch vor Abgeordneten in Dublin. Er bezog sich damit auf irische Medienberichte, in denen von diesem Umfang des Rettungsschirms die Rede war.
Europäischer Rekord
Wenige Stunden nach Cowens Äusserung stellte die irische Regierung ein Sparpaket mit einem Gesamtumfang von 15 Milliarden Euro vor, das Voraussetzung ist für die Hilfen von EU und IWF. Es ist die drastischste Haushaltskürzung in der Geschichte des Landes. Die Regierung will damit das Staatsdefizit bis 2014 auf die in der Eurozone geforderten drei Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts senken. Die diesjährige Verschuldung Irlands beläuft sich auf einen europäischen Rekord von 32 Prozent. (+ Videos) >>> ddp | Mittwoch, 24. November 2010
VS Naipaul Withdraws From Turkish Event After Row Over Islam Comments
THE GUARDIAN: Turkish writers expressed outrage at Nobel laureate's invitation to European Writers' Parliament, after comments he made about Islam in 2001
The Nobel laureate VS Naipaul has pulled out of a literary event opening in Istanbul tomorrow, after Turkish writers threatened a boycott because of deeply critical comments he has made on Islam.
The row erupted after Naipaul was invited to give the opening speech at the European Writers' Parliament (EWP), the brainchild of novelists Orhan Pamuk and José Saramago, which aims to bring together authors from across Europe to debate key issues of the contemporary literary scene and opens today. But several Turkish writers expressed outrage at the invitation, citing hostile comments Naipaul made about Islam nearly a decade ago.
Naipaul, who was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2001, caused controversy that same year by his remarks about Islam at a London reading from his book, Half a Life. The writer compared the religion to colonialism, saying Islam "has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn't matter'." >>> Benedicte Page | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
More Violence Erupts At Student Protests
SKY NEWS: Students have smashed up a police van in London and there have been sporadic skirmishes during another violent demonstration against student fees.
Police moved to contain the demo by using the controversial "kettling" tactic - meaning large numbers of people could be held in one place for several hours.
But the Metropolitan Police has now said the policy has shifted to one of "controlled dispersal". >>> Rob Cole and Andy Winter, Sky News Online | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Islamic Schools Should Be Banned
Islamic schools should be banned. They inculcate a sense of superiority, encourage their pupils to hate, teach that the West must be conquered, that the West is in a state of Jahilliyyah, or pre-Islamic chaos. To them, the world is split into two: the House of Islam (Dar ul Islam) and the House of War (Dar ul Harb). Jihad will be waged until the latter is turned into the former. Is this what we want British children to believe, regardless of their ethnic background?
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: PUBLICITÉ | L'acteur américain Bruce Willis est depuis mercredi le visage de la campagne publicitaire de la banque russe Trust, a annoncé la compagnie dans un communiqué.
Dans cette publicité pour l'instant limitée à l'internet, le visage de l'acteur spécialiste des films d'action est accompagné d'une phrase: "Trust est comme moi, sauf que c'est une banque".
"L'image de Bruce Willis est celle d'un homme respectable, sur lequel on peut compter", relève la banque dans un communiqué, précisant s'être payé les services de l'acteur pour un an. >>> AFP | Mercredi 24 Novembre 2010
Image: Google Images
EU-Eklat – "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer"
WELT ONLINE: Bei der EU liegen offenbar die Nerven blank. Nun beschimpfte der britische Euroskeptiker Godfrey Bloom den Sozialdemokraten Schulz als "Faschisten".
„Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer“ – wegen dieses Nazi-Spruches ist der britische Euroskeptiker Godfrey Bloom aus dem Straßburger Plenarsaal geworfen worden. Bloom war bei einer Debatte über die Zukunft Europas am Mittwoch dem Sozialdemokraten Martin Schulz ins Wort gefallen.
Im Saal gab es sofort empörte Reaktionen und Rufe „Raus! Raus!“. „Das geht zu weit“, sagte der französische Christdemokrat Joseph Daul. Eine förmliche Entschuldigung lehnte Bloom ab und setzte stattdessen noch eins drauf. Schulz sei ein „undemokratischer Faschist“. Weiter lesen und einen Beitrag abgeben >>> dpa/pku | Mittwoch, 24. November 2010
Anglican Church Faces 'Piece by Piece Dissolution', Warns Archbishop
THE GUARDIAN: Rowan Williams tells warring factions to pull together for crucial General Synod vote on church's future
Rowan Williams speaking at the General Synod. Photograph: The Guardian
Dr Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, warned of the risk of "piece-by-piece dissolution" of worldwide Anglicanism in a heartfelt personal plea today to warring factions in the Church of England.
At the opening of the church's general synod in London, he called for all parties to put aside their disputes and agree on a fresh framework for settling differences across the 70 million-strong international communion.
The synod votes tomorrow on the Anglican covenant, which has been seven years in the making, and sets the Church of England at a crucial crossroads. The church is already facing probable defections to Roman Catholicism by some priests opposed to the ordination of women bishops.
The covenant was devised in response to divisions caused by the US Episcopal Church's decision to endorse the election of the openly-gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, and it has to be endorsed by all 38 previously autonomous provinces of the communion across the world. The vote will be crucial as not only is the Church of England the mother church of the communion, but Williams is its spiritual head. A senior church official told the Guardian: "There is no Plan B. If this falls, the communion is in ruins."
In advance of the vote – which is technically to refer the covenant to dioceses for consultation – supporters and opponents have indulged in heated rhetoric; liberal Anglicans claimed it would spell the end of individual churches' autonomy and subject decisions of the Church of England to the prior approval of reactionary churches such as the homophobic conservatives of equatorial Africa. Gregory Cameron, the Bishop of St Asaph in Wales, the canon lawyer mainly responsible for drawing up the covenant, likened opponents to the BNP. Read on and comment >>> Stephen Bates and Riazat Butt | Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Donating Blood Is Un-Islamic: Deoband
THE TIMES OF INDIA: MUZAFFAR-NAGAR/NEW DELHI – In a potentially controversial decree, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said that donation of blood and body parts was against the tenets of Islam, but observed that giving blood to save the life of a near and dear one was acceptable.
However, the opinion of the prominent Islamic seminary has not gone down well with several Muslim intellectuals who have asserted that religious bodies have already stated that there was no (no) problem with blood donation.
In a 'fatwa' issued in response to a question, the seminary said donating blood or body parts was not permitted in Islam as human beings are not the "owners" of their bodies.
The decree is posted on the website of Darul Uloom's fatwa section dealing with 'haram and halal' issues, where a questioner asked the seminary its opinion on whether taking part in blood donation camps is right or wrong. Terming the fatwa as 'incorrect,' noted scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan said it should not deter the Muslim community from donating blood. >>> TNN | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Danish Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Images: Google Images
Fitna the Movie
Bruce Bawer: Multiculturalism, Freedom of Speech and Appeasing Islam
Nick Clegg Warned to Stop Cycling Over Security Threat from Angry Students
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, has been advised to stop cycling to Downing Street because of a threat from students angry at his broken tuition fees pledge.
The security warning came ahead of a planned mass protest today which is expected to see thousands of young people around the country targeting Liberal Democrat MPs, including Mr Clegg.
Lib Dems have become the focus of student anger because in the run up to the general election they promised to scrap tuition fees altogether, only to support a substantial increase in rates after entering into a Coalition Government with the Conservatives.
Mr Clegg’s security personnel are understood to have told him that it was no longer safe for him to bicycle from his home in Putney, south west London, to his office in the Cabinet Office, beside 10 Downing Street.
There were fears that the Deputy Prime Minister could be knocked from his bicycle or pelted with objects. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Foreign languages will be made virtually compulsory up to the age of 16 under an overhaul of the education system being announced today.
A shake-up of league tables used to rate schools will force growing numbers of teenagers to take GCSEs in subjects such as French, German and Spanish.
The Coalition said the move would counter the "catastrophic decline" of languages witnessed under Labour following the decision to make them optional at 14.
Ministers say the reforms will also promote the study of other traditional subjects such as history, geography and science, which have fallen in popularity over the past 13 years. >>> Andrew Porter, Robert Winnett and Graeme Paton | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
