Sir Richard Branson, the founder and president of Virgin Galactic, says that his commercial spacecraft will be carrying its first paying customers within a year. Virgin’s initial flights will be sub-orbital, but Sir Richard acknowledges that his long-term goal is orbital flight — he just won’t say when that will happen.

In other news, the European debt crisis may be spreading to Italy. Although Italy’s economy is strong, it has an enormous amount of public debt, and may become vulnerable if Portugal or Spain gets bailed out. France holds a lot of Italian debt, so it may be next.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to 4symbols, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, DF, Diana West, DonVito, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, KGS, LN, Mary Abdelmassih, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Muamar Ghadafi, the wacky, blonde-loving, tent-dwelling, playboy Libyan dictator and man of many spellings, is at it again: he is demanding payments from the European Union to keep black Africans from crossing his country to reach the Mediterranean. These desperate migrants never pause in Libya — which is not a congenial place for non-Arabs — but strive as soon as possible to cross over to Spain, France, and Italy, where they can live in luxury at state expense. They thereby also gain access to the entire European Union, and can head further north to Sweden and Norway, where the pickings are even fatter.

Col. Qadaffi has pulled this shakedown before, but was evidently dissatisfied with the results, and wants the EU to cough up again — this time to the tune of €5 billion. He seems to assume the EUniks are so desperate to keep equatorial Africans out of Europe that they will pay whatever he asks.

Below are two articles about the latest antics from the Colonel of the Sand Dunes. First, from ANSAmed:

TRIPOLI, NOVEMBER 29 — The European Union should give 5 billion euros to Libya to “stop” illegal immigrants, otherwise “an entire continent will pour into Europe”. This is according to the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who has again made demands from Europe during the EU-Africa summit.

“In order to stop illegal immigration, something significant must be done, otherwise an entire continent will pour into Europe. If Europe gives us 5 billion euros, Libya will be able to stem the flow,” said the Libyan leader, repeating a request made in Rome in August.

“The only country that collaborates with us is Italy,” said Gaddafi with regards to tackling illegal immigration, adding that “Italy is a civilised country that has made up for its past” as a colonising country.

During his speech at the opening of the summit, Gaddafi said that “Libya is the filter of immigration” coming from all over Africa.

“Africa and Europe are the spine of the world and must cooperate,” Gaddafi said. On immigration, he reasserted that “the only country that collaborates with us is Italy. Thanks to our cooperation with them, we have been able to exert control over immigration”.

Regarding the request for 5 billion euros per year from Europe, the Libyan leader said: “We do not need to beg for help, but we want investments”. (ANSAmed).

“Investments”, eh?

In other words: “That’s a nice little continent you’ve got there. Wouldn’t like to see anything happen to it…”

And, as the The Telegraph reports, Col. Qadafi employed a turn of phrase that would have earned him a charge of “hate speech” if he weren’t a person of color himself:

Gaddafi Demands £4 Billion From EU or Europe Will Turn ‘Black’

Muammar Gaddafi has demanded that the European Union give him more than £4 billion to fight illegal immigration or else Europe will turn “black” and be swamped by Muslims.

During an EU-Africa summit, that ended on Tuesday in Tripoli, the Libyan leader described European’s economic relationship with the African continent as a “failure”.

Unless “Christian, white” countries gave him extra funding, Colonel Gaddafi predicted that Europe would be flooded with illegal immigrants leaving impoverished Africa.

“We should stop this illegal immigration. If we don’t, Europe will become black, it will be overcome by people with different religions, it will change,” he said.

Col Gaddafi has so far received only £42 million in EU funding to improve treatment of refugees heading for Europe amid human rights fears and a recent refusal by Sweden to sell Libya surveillance planes.

The Libyan leader is critical of the EU for linking trade and aid to free markets and progress on human rights. He told EU officials at the summit that African leaders say they are ready to abandon ten years of trade talks because of European demands.

“Africa has other choices,” he said “Let every country and every group govern itself. Every country is free to serve its own interests. Africa can look to any other international bloc such as Latin America, China, India or Russia.”

A leaked US diplomatic cable giving an assessment of Kenya as a “swamp” of corruption prompted calls for an apology from Nairobi. “It is totally malicious and a total misrepresentation of our country and our leaders. We are surprised and shocked,” said a Kenyan government spokesman.

Hat tips: Insubria and Gaia.

An EDL protester was recently fined £200 for “making offensive comments about Allah” during a demonstration in Leicester. Even though police officers and the EDL were the only ones able to hear what he said, the prosecution said people were “likely to be offended” and the police were “likely to have been alarmed”. His words were considered “threatening, abusive or insulting” and likely to cause “harassment, alarm or distress”.

The convicted man said he did not think he would offend anyone.

But suppose he had intended offense? Why is that a legal issue?

Why is offending someone the sole basis for prosecution in countries that supposedly uphold civil liberties for their citizens?

Vlad Tepes and I discussed the issue for a while and devised the following response:

(Click to enlarge)

This became a Vlad-Baron joint venture, with Vlad doing the video and the talking, and me doing the image and the spelling — a win-win for everyone.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

“Allah is Mohammed’s Imaginary Friend”

We are launching a new protest campaign that aims to drive a wedge into the thin crack between leftists and the Muslims.

We’re going to do this with this image [point at it], and the slogan: “Allah is Mohammed’s Imaginary Friend”.

We aim for protesters to get arrested for having a picture that shows Mohammed talking to a giant bunny.

In fact, participants must insist on being arrested, and on being tried.

By doing this we proclaim our fundamental rights, which were not granted to us, but were always ours, and are only now being taken away by the tyranny of state power.

These rights include the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the freedom of religion — including the right to have no religion at all.

We will go to jail for saying that Allah is imaginary.

We will say nothing about Muslims being violent.

We will say nothing insulting at all, only that their god is imaginary. If someone chooses to be insulted by this, that is his decision.

Any atheist has the right to say what we say. It is one of our fundamental freedoms.

Vlad suggests that people download the image from his site and make T-shirts for themselves and friends, for placards, signs, posters, etc.

At demonstrations, participants should chant the slogan while waving a card or sign.

And everyone should stick to the slogan, and not be sidetracked into calling Muslims “thugs” and so on, because that just supports the idea that we are evil insulting people.

Stick to message, and go to jail for saying that Allah is imaginary.

Simple, yet effective.

Even the most diehard leftists will choke hard when they are forced to condemn us as “racists”.

Muslims will be offended, of course, and that will serve as grounds for our arrest.

This will only serve to emphasize that all speech that does not agree with the Koran and the hadith and the sunna of the prophet is offensive to Muslims, and must be prohibited.

And the fact that our governments prohibit it means that they are enforcing full sharia upon everyone, not just on Muslims.

Which is a violation of our rights, the same rights that our government claims to protect when they arrest us for saying that Allah is Mohammed’s imaginary friend.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Vlad’s video about Allah the Imaginary is below the jump, to foil the Blogger Bug:

Below is the latest video from the French Defence League. Many thanks to Bear for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

The Western Australian health authorities have decided to make an exception for burqa-like swimwear in public swimming pools, on the basis of religious beliefs. Past complaints have cost them dearly in civil lawsuit payouts, so an adjustment to the official policy became necessary.

If non-Muslims were to wear similar clothing, it would be considered unhygienic, and they would not be allowed in the pool. But the magic of Islam can perform many wonders, and one of them seems to be to reverse bad hygiene. Say the shahada, and presto! The bacteria flee from the scene.

According to the local news in WA:

Health Policy Overhaul on Back of Burqa

CONTROVERSY surrounding the swim attire worn by some Islamic women has prompted the development of a new policy on dress standards for the WA aquatic industry.

The WA Health Department and Office of Multicultural Affairs have approved the Leisure Institute of WA’s new policy for public swimming pools and its rollout is imminent.

Work began on the policy after a Muslim woman and her friends were stopped from using the pool and water slides at Adventure World in February 2009 because of their religious dress.

The Equal Opportunities Commission took up the case and the woman was awarded $16,000 compensation and an apology in May this year.

The EOC confirmed it has dealt with several similar cases since.

The need for a universal policy on the issue was further highlighted recently when swimmers at a City of Swan aquatic facility complained because a woman was allowed to swim in her religious clothes.

LIWA vice-president Chris Blankley said the new policy encompassed all dress standards, including religious clothing.

“Our position is safety first and to make sure we are setting across-the-board standards for all our (aquatic) centres, but also taking into account religious and cultural differences,” he said.

Mr Blankley said the policy would allow managers to make decisions based on safety.

“If someone has full Muslim wear on we would prefer to see them in a shallow pool; we don’t want to see them doing full laps, it’s not safe or appropriate,” he said.

Islamic Council of WA president Sajit Smajic said he was not aware of the City of Swan incident.

However, he believed more public tolerance was needed.

“I don’t know more than 10 women in Perth wearing the burqa. Wearing the burqa (or a burkini) is an individual choice,” he said.

EOC Commissioner Yvonne Henderson said it was unlawful to stop a Muslim woman from swimming in a public pool in religious dress.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Hat tip: Anne-Kit.

Two nuclear scientists in Iran were attacked today by bombers who rode motorcycles. The motorcyclists approached the vehicles and attached small bombs to their windows. One of the two scientists was killed, and the other was seriously injured.

In other news, the fallout continues from the massive new Wikileaks document release. Various politicians — including Silvio Berlusconi, Angela Merkel, and Hillary Clinton — have been forced to react to the revelations, some of them not at all flattering.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, DF, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, JP, Kitman, Lexington, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

In recent weeks, members of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands have been subjected to a series of smear attacks in the media.

Here’s a minor example of just one tiny little smear, an ‘infographics’ for a TV recent show. Many thanks to our Flemish correspondent VH for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling.

I’ve placed the video (and the transcript) below the jump, to avoid the “Blogger bug”:

Transcript:

0:00		Every year three million passports are issued in the Netherlands. [PM Mark Rutte, VVD]
0:05		Previously each had only one photograph. If you shaved your beard, [Wilders, PVV]
0:09		put on a new pair of glasses or had visited a fashionable hairdresser [Wilders, PVV]
0:12		you were not recognized by Customs. That caused a lot of hassle.
0:16		And it led to a flourishing trade in stolen passports.
0:20		Since 1995 some 340,000 were stolen in Europe [Smit Kroes, VVD]
0:24		In the Netherlands more than 15,000 blank passports were snatched [Lucassen, PVV]
0:30		The new passport with two fingerprints will make that impossible [De Vries, crime hunter]
0:34		If the photo is incorrect, Customs may still scan your fingerprints.
0:39		Identity ascertained. Whether that will succeed… you can count on it… [Wilders, PVV]
0:45		Can’t you?

Below is a fascinating essay by Olavo de Carvalho about René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon. The article was originally published in Jornal do Brasil, and was translated from the Portuguese by Alessandro Cota and Bruno Mori for the author’s website.

I admit to an unfamiliarity with Guénon and Schuon, but from browsing the online information about the two men, it seems that they would probably have been labeled Theosophists if they had lived in the Anglosphere.

Discreet influences
by Olavo de Carvalho
Jornal do Brasil, May 8, 2008

Translated by Alessandro Cota and Bruno Mori

When the Swiss painter and poet Frithjof Schuon (1907—1998) returned from the East in the forties, transfigured into the supreme master of one of the most influential Muslim esoteric organizations and announcing that he would Islamize Europe, he gave the clear impression of being completely mad. Today it behooves us to examine with humility his words and the course of his actions, whose overwhelming efficiency contrasts with the total discretion with which they were undertaken.

To begin with, the creation of Schuon’s tariqah (Islamic initiation lodge) in Lausanne was hailed by the esoteric writer René Guénon (1886—1951) as the only promising result of his own efforts of four decades. This clearly shows the meaning of those efforts and, the later rupture between Guénon and Schuon notwithstanding, evinces the perfect continuity of the work of these two esoterists, whose respective disciples nowadays prefer hating one another to celebrating the common victory over a spiritually weakened Europe.

Guénon, the author of masterly analyses of the decay of the European West, had concluded in the 1920s that only three roads offered themselves to this civilization: the fall into barbarism, the restoration of the Catholic Church, or Islamization. On uttering those words about Frithjof Schuon, he had already given up the second alternative. The fiasco of the Second Vatican Council, whose appearances the popes have in vain been trying to save, proved in the end that his diagnosis was, in outline, correct.

The radically de-Christianized Europe is today the stage of an open strife between barbarism and Islamism. There is no third way, apparently (“secular civilization” is a joke). The possibility of rescuing the Christian option depends entirely on the American influence or on the admirable dedication of Eastern and African priests and pastors, who, in a paradoxical turn of history, have come to try to recatechize the people by whom they were Christianized.

The action of such characters as Guénon and Schuon goes unnoticed by the media, political analysts, and “intellectuals” in general, whose eyes are hypnotically fixed upon the garish surface of events. But without it the “occupation from within” by means of immigration would have remained innocuous for lack of the cultural conditions that disarmed the European intellectual and political elite. Guénon and Schuon contributed much to create them, subjugating the uppermost and most circumspect strata of this elite to the intellectual superiority of the East in every decisive area except the natural sciences and technology.

Guénon wrote his first articles under the pseudonym Sphynx, denoting that his readers had no choice but to profit from his lessons intelligently or to let themselves be dominated without ever understanding them. In a single European country those lessons have been meditated with serious intent by independent thinkers: Romania. When I lived in Bucharest, I found there not a single eminent intellectual who did not have a profound and critical understanding of Guénon’s work.

What has been seen in the rest of Europe is the oscillation between obtuse rejection and devout submission, including a significant number of secret conversions to Islam and the regimentation of many intellectuals and leaders—among them the prospective king of England—into the scheme of state protection of Islamic expansionism. It is no coincidence that Romania is one of the rare European countries where the Muslim penetration is negligible.

To give an idea of how powerful the subtle influence of Guénon and Schuon has been, it suffices to inform that the latter interfered directly in producing the crisis between Monsignor Lefèvre and the Vatican in 1976, and until now the Catholic historians—whether progressive or conservative—have not taken the slightest notice of that.

I know that this article of mine is addressed to few readers and that, among these, some of those who can more or less understand it will definitely hate it. But there are things that one must say just in order not to be accused, in the future, of bearing witness only too late.

Hat tip: LSA.

Geert Wilders will go on trial again on February 7th. Many thanks to our Flemish correspondent VH for translating this brief item from de Rechtspraak:

Amsterdam, Wednesday, November 24, 2010 — The criminal case against Mr. Wilders will be continued on Monday, February 7, 2011 at 10:00 in the Amsterdam court. The session begins with a public directional hearing where the parties may reveal what their wishes are concerning the continuation of the case. The court initially had proposed to continue in mid-December 2010, but it turned out that too many parties involved were unable to attend during that time period.

Earlier today, in a post at Jihad Watch about the current assault on free speech, Robert Spencer had this to say about Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff’s case (and kindly included a link to Elisabeth’s Save Free Speech website):

Meanwhile, in Austria the kangaroo trial of freedom fighter Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff for telling the truth about Islam has begun. Latest updates here. I offered to testify on Elisabeth’s behalf in that case, and the offer still stands; I’ll be keeping you updated on that case as well.

This was not in fact a full account of what happened.

I left a comment on the post (it was comment #7 at the time) to clarify the train of events. Shortly after I posted my comment at Jihad Watch, a reader pointed out that it had been inexplicably deleted.

Below is a screen cap of the full text of my comment as it appeared at the time of posting:

I’ll reproduce the entire text below the jump.

Elisabeth obviously did respond to Mr. Spencer’s offer, although as of post time he has not yet acknowledged that fact publicly.

In the four-day gap between Mr. Spencer’s withdrawal of his original offer and his apparent change of mind, Elisabeth became quite concerned about whether or not she had enough experts on Islam to call as potential witnesses during the next phase of her trial. She quickly contacted other knowledgeable people, and was fortunate to find additional experts — people who were closer by, in Europe — to assist her at the trial. For that reason, she declined any further help from Robert Spencer.

So that’s what happened. Elisabeth is not ungrateful for Mr. Spencer’s offers of help. Under stress in the face of what lay ahead, she simply needed a firm commitment, and was able to secure that promptly from others.

In case the above image is hard to read, here’s the full text of my comment before it was deleted from Jihad Watch:

To all concerned –

Just to set the record straight:

Mr. Spencer wrote to Elisabeth on the day of her trial (November 23), canceling his earlier offer of support.

There were no further emails until late Friday night (November 26), when he wrote to say that he was reversing his position, and renewed his earlier offer of help.

In the four days between those two emails, Elisabeth was fortunate enough to enlist the help of additional expert witnesses in Europe.

At that point Mr. Spencer’s help became superfluous, and Elisabeth wrote him earlier today to explain the change of circumstances.

This is where the matter stands as of now (1:30pm EST on Nov 29). I hope this clarifies the situation.

Elisabeth is indeed fortunate to have so many thoughtful and knowledgeable people available to help her with her case.

Next phase: January 18, 2011.

Our German translator JLH sends this interesting little news story from Austria about the crackdown on an annoying yodeler. He says:

Here is a little item from Austria outside of Vienna that may be humorously horrifying. Politically Incorrect has a link to SOS-Oesterreich, where we find that ironically this Bosnian Muslim community that complained about the yodeling is the very one that is being allowed to build the first mosque with minaret in Graz. Just imagine Roy Rogers being handcuffed and led away from the microphone because he had offended some institution down the street that was blaring the call to prayer loud enough to rattle the dishes for a mile around.

And his translation from Politically Incorrect:

Styria: Yodeler Fined 800 Euros
November 27, 2010

Why is a blameless 63-year old retiree who yodeled while cutting his grass fined 800 Euros, you ask? Right: Muslims perceived the yodeling of Helmut G. to be an insult to their religious feelings. They complained to the court — and received justice.

The Austria KRONE online reports on an incredible judicial scandal. Helmut G. was busy on Friday afternoon, mowing his grass. “And because I was just in such a good mood, I yodeled along with it and sang a few songs,” says the retiree, speaking to the Styrian Crown. That was not all right with his neighbors — believing Muslims. They had gathered in their house at prayer hour, which was also broadcast into their yard by loudspeaker.

“Wasn’t Trying to Sound Like the Muezzin”

Consequently, several of them felt disturbed in their religious exercises by the grass-mowing 63-year old — and promptly reported him to the police. “In the statement it said that my yodeling sounded like the call of the muezzin,” Helmut G. shook his head, bewildered. “It was definitely not my intention to imitate him,” the Graz native assures us.

The court did not believe him and sentenced him to a fat fine. On Friday, the correlating confirmation trickled in. Helmut G.: “The Muslims pay no attention to any rules. We neighbors constantly have problems…”

Yeah, that’s how it is in Europe in the 21st century. Even yodeling retirees will gradually have to get used to it.

The big news story of the day concerns the latest document dump of classified material from Wikileaks. This time the incriminating documents are diplomatic cables sent to and from American embassies and consulates overseas. Included in the embarrassing information that was exposed:

• President Obama has a low opinion of British Prime Minister David Cameron.
• Washington is worried about Islamic fundamentalists in the Turkish government.
• Saudi Arabia urged a military attack to stop Iran from getting the bomb.
• Hillary Clinton ordered that foreign diplomats at the UN be spied upon.

…and much, much more.

In other news, despite the dire state of finances in the European Union, the European Court of Justice ruled that the 3.7% pay increase for EU officials in Brussels must not be cut.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, DF, DL, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, Klein Verzet, McR, Nick, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.