Do you have an opinion on the value of orphanages versus that of foster homes as places to put a motherless child?

Which of the two do you think is better for children? Whatever your conclusion, how did you come to hold your opinion as the correct one?

These aren’t rhetorical questions, but they are (in a sense) loaded. Unless you’ve made a study of the subject, or been a resident of an orphanage or foster home, you’d have to base your answer on what you ‘feel’ rather than any hard information. No surprises there: we all do that on any number of issues. We work from our own experience, from observations, maybe from reading or from conversations with other people. In these ways we arrive at answers crafted to satisfy our intellect and our practical experience.

Of course the question about which environment is best for children, assumes you care one way or another. Those who don’t care should read something else.

In putting forth my own ideas there is the unspoken assumption that at least some of our readers have an opinion on this, if for no other reason than the inescapable fact we’ve all experienced being a child (some still are – e.g., our homeschoolers). Every child has wondered at one time or another, “who will take care of me if something happens to my parents?” Kids know they’re dependent on adults to survive. For them the question is not yet academic.

Recently The Scientific American published a study addressed to this very question: which is better for the motherless (okay, “parentless”) child, an orphanage or a foster home? Before looking at their findings, I’ll present my own experience with foster homes and orphanages, both as a child and later as an adult social worker. If the personal part isn’t of interest, just skip to the section about the study’s findings.

I’ve given lots of thought to foster homes and orphanages. They loomed large in my childhood from the age of two until I reached ten. I didn’t know that I was to encounter these places again in my adult work life.
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From age two or so until age five, I was in any number of unsatisfactory daycare, foster care and foster group home arrangements. There was even a brief surreal interlude where a homeless mother with her own child lived in our house to take care of me while Mother was at work. In exchange for room and board and a spot of money, Mrs. X was to mind me during the day. In addition she was to cook supper for all of us. That set-up lasted only as long as it took the neighbor ladies – two widows with a parrot – to report to my mother the screams and beatings taking place while she was absent. Half-deaf, the both of them, but they could hear my travail loud and clear. Their frightened report to my mother brought that experiment to an abrupt end. On paper it had been a great idea. In reality, envy and rage at my mother’s good fortune to have a home and a job created an unbearable turmoil for Mrs. X and she was compelled to pass the mess on to me.

Stacked up in my memories there are other more mundane tales of neglect, of punitive harshness decked out in “you must learn to be obedient”, and a myriad of other sadisms all children know so well, even the lucky ones with parents.

By the time I was five and no stable arrangement had been found by my determined, fiercely devoted Mother, the damage was starting to show. Mostly it took the form of anxiety and a run-down immune system. At the family doctor’s behest, Mother placed me in Saint Mary’s Orphanage so that I could have a stable routine and some continuity. I got both, and much more than that during the years until I turned ten.

Yes, of course I’ve wondered why my mother didn’t apply for welfare back then. She’s gone now, so I can’t ask her but I have some ideas about her hesitation. Recently her oldest passport, the one that got her from Liverpool into New York City, floated up to the top level of my chaotic papers. Looking at that worn dark green booklet made me recall having seen her immigrant card a few times. The light went on: my foreign mother was not a citizen so she didn’t qualify for welfare.

My guess is she’d have applied if she weren’t so afraid of calling the attention of “the authorities” to her existence, thus starting a Kafka-esque process ending in her being sent back to Ireland. If you’re familiar with the fundamentally shame-based reality of the Irish middle class, you already know why she’d have died rather than face such a fate.

Logical thinking? Hardly. More like basic animal fear. My mother’s Logical Thinking chip never did function very well. Her quite Victorian father seems to have removed that potential from all his daughters. So whatever thinking went on where her children and her own survival were concerned was paralyzed with fear but fueled with fierce mamma-bear determination. In other words, an engine stuck in neutral but revved up all the time…

..oh, well. You go with what you got. What she had was an instinctual determination to keep us safe. That tenacity led to lots of attempts to keep us together. Many of the stories about her endeavors would be dark comedy if I had a better wit.

I don’t remember all of the places I was put, though there are vague recollections of the “housekeeper positions” she tried, only to run from the bedbugs or the lecherous old men. After one of those, we walked for a long time down a dark country road to get back to where the light was. Too young to appreciate the irony of sticking my hands into my mother’s fur coat. Too inexperienced to wonder why a woman in a black shearling lamb fur coat was hurrying down that dark road.

There are a whole slew of still images, though. When I was an adult, I would describe some of the neutral ones to Mother and she’d say, “Go on. You couldn’t remember that. Why, you were only three then.” Ever the editor, I’d shoot back, “No, actually; I was two and a half because it was when…” and I’d give her the context. At that juncture, Mother would wave me off and we’d resume a more surface conversation. The numerous DON’T GO THERE memories are still here. They survived her death. In some shadowed form they will survive my death in the generations to come. Both scarcity and plenty leave indelible marks.

Some foster homes she found were quite near our own house which stood empty during the day while Mother worked (I got to go home on weekends when she wasn’t working). Against all stern warnings, I’d sneak down the sidewalks from wherever I was ‘living” to our house, 4415 Dale Steet. Half out of breath, I’d stand behind a telephone pole across the street and look at our empty home. It was a daily reverie, lasting as long as it took for my breathing to return to normal before I ran back, afraid my keepers had noticed my absence. Many years later, neighbors (including the widows-with-parrots) told me they’d watch for me every day and worried if I didn’t show up. They knew I was “being bad” but they never told on me to anyone, including Mother.

The times of foster homes and lousy daycare wandered into the past tense when I was sent to the orphanage on the recommendation of our family doctor. I was anxious, he said, and it was obvious that I needed structure and continuity. A wise man, as it turned out.

I flourished in St. Mary’s. Gained weight, grew out of various illnesses brought on by a poorly functioning immune system. I got the chance to make friends and to have an unvarying routine. For my characterological make-up that was an excellent combination.

My stay at Saint Mary’s began when I was five years old and ended the summer after I turned ten. Mother had promised me that as soon as I was able to manage on my own between school and her return from work, I could come home for good. I can remember saying, at six years old, “only four more years”. No, of course, I didn’t know what that meant. It was simply a way to define the end of my exile.

There are many happy memories associated with Saint Mary’s, especially around the holidays. But as any displaced child can tell you, underneath those moments was a deep yearning for my mother and my home. The ache would recede but it never went away. Sometimes I’d be engrossed in a game in the play yard when suddenly, out of nowhere an inner voice would say quite clearly, “This is just a bad dream. In a minute I’ll wake up and I’ll be at home in my own bed.” The minute would pass, but the bad dream wouldn’t. Someone would impatiently tug me back into the reality of our hopscotch marathon.

True to her word my mother took me home for good the summer I turned ten. But describing the “happily ever-after” would lead us astray from the question at hand so let’s end the recollection there, in the kitchen, washing dishes and filled with contentment.

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After I grew up one of the many jobs I held was a social services position which required the supervision of foster care homes and the approval of such new homes as I could manage to recruit. I was also responsible for the placement of children who’d been put into foster care by the courts. This job allowed me to see a lot of group homes (“orphanage” was not in the lexicon anymore) and many more individual foster care homes, all of varying quality.

The experience left me frustrated. Not enough resources for “my” children, not enough good care to be had anywhere… or at least anywhere that the county could afford to place their charges. Here’s the usual equation for that job, whoever has it: too many needs + too few resources = burnout. The head of foster care for the state told me that the average foster care worker lasted about two years. I made it a bit longer than that, but not much.

Have you ever played the “what if I won the lottery” game? It’s fun, even if you never buy a lottery ticket. Our fantasies tell us a lot about who we are, who we want to be. Invariably, after buying a house with a library in it, my dream always turns to creating group homes for children. Actually, two group homes: one for boys, one for girls. They’d go to school together, but they’d live separately.

The “Homes” were my fantasy because in my experience foster parents (except in the rarest of cases) can’t adequately care for a child who is dealing with the sorrow and stress of a broken attachment to her parents. In the cases where foster parenting does work, it usually turns out that the arrangement is much closer to a group home than to a foster family arrangement. The ones that work are run by high energy, focused adults who have the gifts of patience, intuition, and hope. Lots of room and lots of fostered kids and lots of reasonable expectations those kids will strive to meet.

It’s obvious to any armchair Freud that the “Homes” fantasies were a way of repairing my small self – you know, the four-year-old lurking behind the curtain for all of us. Probably most of our fantasies are like that, i.e., they address what was missing in our early experience. Believe me, everyone has a missing piece (or two) of the childhood puzzle. Fortunate are the people who get to realize their (healthy) fantasies and bring them to fruition.

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So that’s my experience as a foster child and, later, an “orphan” and even later as the grown-up in charge of a gaggle of newly homeless children.

You can imagine my interest to learn that someone had actually studied how real, live orphans are faring right now. First, The Scientific American presents the myth:

Orphanages linger in the popular imagination as unnatural relics, places from which neglected children need to be quickly rescued. And many international organizations and policymakers have made it a priority to reduce the role of these institutions, trying to place kids into family settings as quickly as possible.

Ah, yes, let’s “reduce the role of these institutions”, shall we? Yet how many of these policymakers have also made it a priority to send their own children to a good boarding school? And do we look askance at these decisions of upper-class parents to shuffle their six year-olds off to St. Elsworthy, or Havenshaw, or wherever it is the little ones must go to meet and mingle among their elite peers?

Is there an essential difference between Saint Mary’s Home and Havenshaw? I mean besides the money their parents have? Is the headmaster at Havenshaw any kinder than, say, Sister Boniface? How would a six year-old be able to tell?

Here’s the article again:

…children in orphanages in less wealthy countries appear to be doing just as well as their orphaned or abandoned counterparts who live in private homes-even those living with family members-according to a new study that examined the well-being of some 3,000 children in five countries. “Health, emotional and cognitive function, and physical growth were no worse for institution-living [children],” the study authors report in a new paper published online Thursday in the journal PLoS ONE. They found, in fact, that “the institution-based children scored higher on intellectual functioning and memory and had fewer social and emotional difficulties.” [my emphasis – D]

Neither the magazine article nor the study said why they chose “less wealthy countries” as the focus of the study. One that looked exclusively at first-world countries would probably not be much different.

It also doesn’t go into enough detail about a cultural phenomenon widespread in some countries: people do not take in strangers’ children. They have enough trouble caring for their own without adding to their burdens. In our own cultural history, orphaned children without extended family in, say, colonial America weren’t fostered out. Instead, they were indentured to someone in order to learn a trade or function as a house slavey until they were old enough to set out on their own.

When blacks won their freedom after the Civil War, they often had to sell the services of their older children in order for the younger to survive. Ten year old boys were ‘sold’ to white farmers in the next county and the pittance their hard labor earned was given to their parents. Sometimes they didn’t get to see their families until they were grown and able to get away from the miserable conditions imposed by their ‘bosses’.

Such stories are still common wherever poverty is the rule. We have been so sheltered that we forget it was ever any other way, but the essay reminds us of the current numbers of orphans world-wide. Actually, their figure – 143,000,000 – seems low. Surely there are more children without parents on our globe than that? And how can they possibly perform an accurate count? The report doesn’t say, though it does mention that more motherless children will be identified in Africa as parents continue to die off from AIDS.

The report doesn’t wander, as my mind did, to the frequent fates of these excess children: soldiering for the boys, prostitution for the girls. Or rather, soldiering and prostitution for many of the boys. UN peacekeepers serving in Africa can put those boys to good use, in more ways than one.

An intriguing aspect of the study was the admitted bias of those who participated. They fully expected to find that institutionalized children would not score well on their tests. An academic economist and observer of this study, Richard McKenzie, says:

What makes the results even more poignant…is that by design “the study is biased against institutional care.” Children with just one dead parent are technically considered orphans (those who have lost both parents are considered “double-orphans”). So, a child whose father has died but still lives with his or her mother and extended family is still classified as an orphan and should, theoretically, have a better outcome. “You would think kids in the care of strangers to be worse off than those in the care of kin,” he says. But McKenzie, who has studied the alumni of orphanages in the U.S.-and was an orphan himself, growing up in the Barium Springs Home for Children, an orphanage in North Carolina-says that the conclusion of the paper “doesn’t surprise me as much as it might others.”

Me either, Dr. McKenzie. I guess you have to live through it to know that the Victorian Dickensian myths are simply that: myth.

The report continues:

Before embarking on the study (which was conducted in Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Tanzania), the researchers themselves expected children in institutional settings to measure up poorly to their adopted counterparts. But even before all the data were in, the researchers began to suspect that their assumptions were wrong, says lead study author Kathryn Whetten, director of the Center for Public Health Policy at the Duke Global Health Institute in Durham, N.C.

Ah. The eureka moment when you realize that everything you thought you knew is wrong. That experience can make you either wise or defensive.

But you can’t stop there; it’s crucial to figure out why these places work. The lead study author, Kathryn Whitten, from Duke University has some idea:

“The stereotype that many of us in the U.S. and Europe have of an institution is not what is being set up in less wealthy nations,” Whetten says. “It’s not like what we’ve seen in Romania or Annie or anything like that.” Many of the orphanages the researchers visited were grassroots projects, “being set up by local pastors or local couples that really loved kids,” Whetten explains. “What people do not realize is that this [institution] is our community response,” a medical student from Uganda who had been orphaned told the researchers.

On average, these facilities had 25 to 30 children and were largely staffed by people who stayed on the premises and received little outside pay-people who treated their caregiver roles as more than a workaday job.

These more organic orphanages were largely outside the purview of government record-keeping. Simply finding the 83 institutions that the researchers eventually studied took half a year in each community. An initial inquiry to the government in Moshi, Tanzania, for example, turned up only three orphanages, but researchers later found 23.

We had sixty or so girls in our orphanage. But we were divided by age: the Little Girls were those from five to ten; the Big Girls were eleven to eighteen. We lived separate lives with the Big Girls having their own rooms and the Little Girls all together in one large dormitory of beds lined up in three rows (fine by us! Safety in numbers when the wind rattled the casements on stormy nights).

St. Mary’s met the other criteria, too: it was community-based, funded by the town’s Catholic Charities. All of us came from this town except for one, a little girl from Cuba whose father arrived at the door one evening and took her away (thus rending asunder my deep friendship with Sylvia. Sometimes on warm summer afternoons I still miss her and wonder idly, with a bit of a shiver, if she and her father went back to Cuba).

St. Mary’s was “staffed” by the Sisters of Saint Joseph. We loved most of them and tolerated the cranky ones… except for Sister Helen. She could be heard before she hove into sight; all our little trinkets she’d taken away during the course of the day rattled in her pockets as she supervised our sleep. But now I know that every group of any kind has its own Sister Helens to endure.

It’s a long winding road from here back to St. Mary’s Home on Ocean Street. In fact, the building doesn’t exist any more except in the minds of those who lived there. The times changed and brought with them new ideas. St. Mary’s followed the new, better idea and built group cottages out in the country. I have no idea if it worked out or not, but the nuns are gone too so I doubt it.

One of those new ideas is the current mission of American foster care programs: the “re-unification of the family”. Even if the parents are homicidal and never should’ve had children anyway. Even if the children will leave a place where they’re taken care of and be returned to a horror “home” where they’ll have to begin fending for themselves again.

Individual moral agency is less and less in evidence in parents, even good ones. I’ve seen concerned dedicated parents permit their beloved children to be exposed to erotic filth disguised as entertainment. They never question the effect this experience might have on their children’s neurohormonal systems. Somehow it’s all about family togetherness if they sit and watch these films with their children.

And those are the functional families. Let’s not even visit the single-parent with too many children that our welfare state insisted on creating. Anything, even soul murder, for the sake of a few votes.

Hillary Clinton famously claimed that it takes a village to raise a child. No, it doesn’t. That’s just more ideological dogma from the Left. It has no bearing on reality.

So what does it take to raise a child? Obviously, the current template is was two functional adults committed to one another and to their project into the future – i.e., their child. Thus far the newer, more experimental arrangements (e.g., a series of step-families) don’t seem to produce a new generation ready and eager to establish their own families.

Raising a child also takes knowledge of developmental levels (including the moral stages), and an understanding of the exquisitely damaging and universal experience of shame. It takes energy, laughter, optimism, total commitment to the unknown. Gobs of courage. Great lashings of humility. Money helps but it’s not essential beyond the basics. An extended family is wonderful if one is handy. In fact, that extended family group close by can serve to buffer the inevitable storms facing the couple and their child(ren).

Another thing. Obviously you can raise a child successfully without any reference to a higher reality. However those for whom religion is a blessing rather than a burden or a delusion seem to find it easier to answer the Big Questions if they’ve resolved some of those queries themselves. My experience is limited to simply my experience. Generally I’ve found believers more entertaining and fun to be around.

Not that there aren’t plenty of dour and prune-faced people practicing a rule-bound religiosity that makes us all want to run in the other direction. And not that there aren’t happy people who live just fine sans any religious or spiritual belief. I know lots of people in both those categories and I’ll take the latter any time.

But let’s make a distinction between happiness and joy. The former is a fleeting thing which comes and goes as it will. As far as I’ve been able to tell it’s partly based on good genes and partly on good fortune. The Baron, for instance, has it abundantly. A basically happy man.

Joy is something else. The kind I’m trying to explain usually has its foundation in some transcendent realization that is beyond words, a point which makes it difficult to discuss in any meaningful sense unless you’ve seen it yourself.

I don’t possess joy nor has it grabbed me by the lapels either. Anything I have to say about it is second hand, limited to seeing it in others and being drawn to them as a result. Some of the women who raised me in Saint Mary’s had this quality. They couldn’t pass it on to us, but they certainly could demonstrate that it existed. The presence of joy in another is both exciting and soothing. “Ah, here it is”, says the self to itself…

I’ve wandered far from my original question. But it’s almost Christmas and that’s what most of us do at some point during the holidays. We look back at our own Christmas Past; eventually we wander into the thickets of our childhood, at least some of us do. Each year Christmas Past becomes a bit heavier; it’s an accumulative process, isn’t it?

As you can tell, orphanages have my vote as the best place for superfluous children. It’s gratifying that the five-country study validates my intuition and experience. In some of those orphanages exist one or two Joyfuls. Simply their presence can heal a bit of the pain of loss all those children are holding in both hands all the time. Sometimes it suffices for those fortunate enough just to meet up with Joy along the way.

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If I win the lottery…

A Communist terrorist from the Philippines who is residing illegally in the Netherlands will be allowed to remain there, because he might be subject to torture or other inhumane treatment if he is returned to his native country. The Dutch government says it would love to deport the fellow, but unfortunately its hands are tied by the European Human Rights Treaty.

In other news, a Christian TV channel which broadcasts into Egypt from outside the country reports that the Egyptian government supports the actions of the “Islamization Mafia”, which abducts and forcibly converts Coptic Christians to Islam.

Thanks to 4symbols, C. Cantoni, Esther, Gaia, Insubria, JD, Lurker from Tulsa, RRW, Sean O’Brian, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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	Financial Crisis
	Workforce Oklahoma Plans Rapid Response for Arrow Trucking Employees
	USA
	3-Step Plan to Stop Nationalized Health Care
	Congress — Are They Stupid or Conspiring to Enslave Us All
	Experts: Lawsuit Could End ‘Cancerous Pro-Jihad Group’
	Ft. Morgan, Colorado Somali Murder Update: Gruesome Rumors Spreading
	Man Holds 5 Hostage in Virginia Post Office
	Obama’s Christmas Tree Graced by Chairman Mao, Transvestite
	Political Activist Pleads Guilty in Window-Smashing
	Senate Changes ‘Rules’ To Protect ‘Death Panels’
	The Myth of the Anti-Muslim Backlash
	Traitors, Every One
	‘True Islam Cannot be Practiced in This Country’
	Europe and the EU
	Bad Weather: Still Freezing Cold in North, Hot in South
	Denmark: Women Can’t Park
	Denmark: Uproar in Free Press Society
	EU Blames China, US for Failed Climate Summit
	Germany Issues Gas Pipeline Permit as Europe Freezes
	How Do I Know China Wrecked the Copenhagen Deal? I Was in the Room
	Italy: 50,000 Tonnes of Dangerous Waste Found in Illegal Southern Dump
	Norway: Women Better Drivers
	Philippine Communist Leader Allowed to Remain Illegally in Netherlands
	Scotland: Second Heroin User Anthrax Death
	Sweden: Journalist From Kyrgyzstan Might Have Been Murdered
	Sweden: Court Endorses ‘Kidnapping’ Of 7-Year-Old
	Sweden: Parents Refused Right to Name Son Allah
	Sweden: Gävle Goat Succumbs to Flames
	UK: Bribed to Quit Britain: Foreign Criminals Offered Up to £5000 if They Agree to Go Home
	UK: Coroner Furious After a Grandmother Dies in ‘Burning Agony’ Following NHS Injection Blunder
	UK: Emergency Patient Has to Wait 32 Days as NHS Target Time is Exposed as a Sham
	Balkans
	Grim Reality of Serbia’s EU ‘Dream’
	North Africa
	Curb on Veil in Egypt Backed by Islamic Clerics
	Forced Islamization of Christian Girls Supported by Egyptian State
	Gaza: Egypt Forbids ‘Cast Lead’ Anniversary March
	Morocco: Berber Language Television by Year’s End
	Israel and the Palestinians
	200,000 From Italy to Bethlehem University
	ANP: Survey Shows Strong Support for Barghuti
	EU Commission Allocates 7 Mln for Territories
	Gaza: Hundreds Protest Against Egyptian Wall
	Media Falsely Reporting Bethlehem Christmas
	Meloni in Holy Land, Help Palestinian Students
	Shalit: Israel Conditions Agreement to New Requests
	Vatican Explains Pius XII Move
	Middle East
	Exhibits: Damascus, Italian Embassy Promotes Iraqi Artists
	Iraqi General Assassinated
	Iraqi Kurd Poison Gas Victims Sue for Damages
	Osama Bin Laden’s Missing Family Found in Secret Compound in Iran
	Saad Hariri Marks New Relations Between Beirut and Damascus
	Saudi Arabia: Flood Threat to Prophet’s Mosque?
	Turkey: Ecumenical Patriarch “Crucified”
	Turkey’s ‘Caferis’ Add Voice to Rights Chorus
	Turkish, Syrian News Agencies Sign Cooperation Protocol
	South Asia
	Escalation Desired
	India: BJP Leader Sponsors Christmas Concert Attended by Christians, Muslims and Hindus
	Pakistani Eunuchs to Have Distinct Gender
	Why Does Pakistan Hate the United States?
	Australia — Pacific
	Australia: Pope’s Recognition of Nun’s Miracle Welcomed
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	Eritrea Hit With UN Sanctions for ‘Aiding Insurgents’
	Mali Albino Given Spanish Asylum ‘Fled Discrimination’
	Latin America
	Chavez Announces New Discount ‘Socialist’ Stores
	Immigration
	Crime Has Gone Unchecked Too Long for Somali Community in Britain
	Sweden: Immigrants a Risk Factor on Housing Group Form
	UK: Failed Asylum Seeker Who Killed 12-Year-Old Girl Wins Court Bid to Stay in Britain
	UK: Illegal Immigrants ‘Used Loophole to Create Sham Marriages’ For the Right to Live in Britain
	Culture Wars
	In US, 80 Pct Believe in God, One Third Say He’s in Control
	Rep. Stupak: White House Pressuring Me to Keep Quiet on Abortion Language in Senate Health Bill
	UK: Now the PC Brigade Wants to Re-Write Our Christmas Carols

Workforce Oklahoma Plans Rapid Response for Arrow Trucking Employees

SAPULPA, OK — Workforce Oklahoma will offer Rapid Response services to all impacted Arrow Trucking employees on Tuesday, December 29 at Central Technology Center in Sapulpa.

The Rapid Response session will provide information regarding Unemployment Insurance, Workforce Oklahoma services, and community resources. Session are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

“Yesterday, Arrow Trucking suspended operations indefinitely, impacting more than 300 Sapulpa area employees. Company officials are in negotiations with their principal and have not stated whether the suspension will lead to a permanent termination of employment for those impacted,” said Jacklyn Noden of Workforce Oklahoma.

Upon notification of the challenges faced by Arrow, nearly a dozen transportation employers have expressed a willingness to make room for the impacted employees on their payroll.

“There are approximately 300 truck drivers involved in this shutdown,” said State Rapid Response Administrator Lynda Baird.

“This is a very sad situation at this time of year, but we will do everything we can to assist these people in this very stressful time.”

There is currently no scheduled job fair or hiring event for the impacted Arrow employees; however, such events may be scheduled at a later date as additional details regarding the nature and duration of the suspension become available, Noden said.

The Oklahoma Rapid Response, composed by staffs of the Workforce Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, works to minimize the disruptions after a layoff.

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

[Return to headlines]

3-Step Plan to Stop Nationalized Health Care

Congressional Democrats, after all their faux wrangling, open bribery and bully tactics, are poised to reach agreement on a massive makeover of the American health system. This makeover will bankrupt the insurance companies, raise premiums and eventually lead to the full nationalization of health care.

That’s what it is intended to do. By forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, the Democrats destroy all profit margin for the insurers, expecting that the healthy insured will pay for the unhealthy insured. To prevent the healthy insured from opting out of the system, the Democrats levy the threat of fines and jail time. And when the insurers go under, as they surely will, the Democrats will be waiting.

As Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, explained the morning after the Senate bill passed, “What we’re building here is not a mansion, it’s a starter home … it has room for expansion and additions in the future. If we don’t start the starter home, we’ll never get there. So this is not the end of health-care reform, this is the beginning of health-care reform.”

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Congress — Are They Stupid or Conspiring to Enslave Us All

There have been many commentaries on the constitutional oaths taken by our political leaders. There have even been organizations created around constitutional oaths of which I am a proud member (Oath Keepers). To me, and to every other person sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, it is and should be a solemn duty to ensure that our actions live up to that oath. But is that what is actually happening or has the oath and by extension the Constitution been relegated to mere politics.

I would say that for the vast majority of the rank and file in the military it is a solemn vow. I have come to the conclusion that for the vast majority of politicians, regardless of party, it has become a mere ceremony of attaining office and nothing more. I have drawn this conclusion from the actions of those in political positions and not from their words.

So where in the Constitution does Congress derive its power to interject itself into every facet of our lives? For those that have read the Constitution it cannot be found in the words of the Constitution but only based on inference and conjecture and then only if you have not studied the writings of those who penned the document.

[Comments from JD: Excellent explanation of the “welfare” limits of the Constitution.]

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Experts: Lawsuit Could End ‘Cancerous Pro-Jihad Group’

Defendants’ ‘filing shows unambiguously the legal fraud that CAIR has engaged in’

A lawsuit by the Council on American-Islamic Relations against a father and son who conducted an undercover counter-terrorism investigation of the controversial Muslim group could backfire badly, according to several counter-terrorism experts observing the case.

[…]

Steven Emerson, whose counter-terrorism expertise is relied on by many members of Congress, told WND that based on Horowitz’s work, “it certainly appears that CAIR changed its name due its being named as an unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing case in Texas.

“The Horowitz filing is brilliant in establishing that CAIR does not exist legally and therefore cannot sue,” said Emerson, director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

“The filing shows unambiguously the legal fraud that CAIR has engaged in.”

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Ft. Morgan, Colorado Somali Murder Update: Gruesome Rumors Spreading

Do you remember this story from back in the first week of November. From time to time, I’ve returned to the Ft. Morgan Times to see whatever happened with the case of the Somali woman stabbed to death by a Somali man with the same last name (honor killing?). Initially a gag order was placed on the case, but to the generally politically correct Ft. Morgan Times credit they appealed to have the gag order lifted and it was.

However, effectively there must be a gag order because I haven’t found another word printed about it since, until I saw this innocuously titled article from a few days ago: ‘Coffee with a Cop draws Ft. Morgan locals.’ The article begins with a boring paragraph about the mundane issues affecting the everyday lives of Ft. Morgan residents. But, then launches into what appears to be on many peoples’ minds—the Somali murder.

Gruesome details spreading on blogs? Gosh I would love to know which blogs! And, by the way, Ft. Morgan Times, if straight factual news reporting on the case would be occuring there would be no rumors spreading! I have seen no further reporting on the murder since early November (if there has been, someone send me a link!)…

— Hat tip: RRW

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Man Holds 5 Hostage in Virginia Post Office

(CNN) — An armed disabled man took five people hostage in a Virginia post office Wednesday, the town’s mayor said.

The man entered the Wytheville, Virginia, post office about 2:30 p.m. and fired a shot, Mayor Trent Crewe said. No one has been hurt, but three postal workers and two customers are being held hostage, he said.

There also are reports that the man has a “device” and it appears the man’s car, parked outside the office, is equipped with some type of device, Crewe said. He did not elaborate on what the device could be.

The surrounding area of downtown Wytheville has been evacuated, Crewe said.

Wytheville is a small town in southeastern Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has a population of just over 8,000.

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Obama’s Christmas Tree Graced by Chairman Mao, Transvestite

White House décor also includes president on Mount Rushmore

The face of China’s Mao Zedong, blamed for the deaths of 50 to 80 million of his countrymen, graces an ornament on the White House Christmas tree for President Obama’s first holiday season in residence.

According to BigGovernment.com, the tree also features an ornament adding Obama to Mount Rushmore.

The images are attributed to the work of Simon Doonan, creative director of Barney’s New York, whose previous projects have included Margaret Thatcher as a dominatrix and Dan Quayle as a ventriloquist’s dummy, according to the New York Times.

— Hat tip: JD

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Political Activist Pleads Guilty in Window-Smashing

Activist Maurice Joseph Schwenkler, 24, pleaded guilty Monday to a second-degree misdemeanor for smashing windows at the Colorado Democratic Party headquarters last summer.

He received one year of probation and was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution for the Aug. 25 incident at the party headquarters at West Eighth Avenue and Santa Fe Drive, according to the Denver district attorney’s office.

Schwenkler and an accomplice, who was never identified, took a hammer to 11 plate-glass windows. Police caught them in the act, and Schwenkler was arrested.

Anarchist websites across the country raised money for Schwenkler’s $5,000 bail, and identified him as “a transgendered anarchist” using the name Ariel Attack. Authorities have consistently identified him as male.

The gay, lesbian and transgender protest group Denver Bash Back characterized Schwenkler as one of its “friends and comrades.”

Initially, Democratic Party officials blamed conservative opponents of health care reform for stoking animosity directed at Democrats.

Then it became known that Schwenkler had previously worked for a Democratic candidate. Conservatives characterized the attack as an attempt to frame Republicans with the blame.

— Hat tip: JD

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Senate Changes ‘Rules’ To Protect ‘Death Panels’

Fine print would require 67 votes to consider amendments

Majority Democrats in the U.S. Senate pushing for President Obama’s vision of a government takeover of health care have inserted in the fine print of the 2,000-plus page legislation a provision that it would take a supermajority of 67 votes in the Senate for future legislative bodies to even consider amendments to its provisions for “death panels.”

The revelation comes from the RedState.com blog, which analyzed the provisions and cited a challenge to the plan from Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

[…]

“In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule,” RedState’s analysis by Erick Erickson said.

DeMint jumped into action, questioning whether the current vote should require a two-thirds supermajority because it changes rules.

“I know that there have been amendments to bills that we required two-thirds because they include rule changes,” he said.

Democrats, however, said the rule change wasn’t really a “rule change.”

DeMint argued his point.

— Hat tip: JD

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The Myth of the Anti-Muslim Backlash

Hysteria hasn’t swept the country since the Ft. Hood terrorist attack.

It has been more than a month since U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly murdered 14 people and wounded 30 others at Fort Hood military base in Texas. And while we were led to believe that the rampage by Hasan, who is Muslim, would provoke a strong and violent reaction against Arab and Muslim Americans, a backlash has been conspicuous only by its absence.

In fact, in the immediate aftermath of each of the dozen attacks by Muslim Americans since 9-11, the conversation has been dominated by predictions of inevitable violence toward Muslims by bigoted Americans unable to control their rage. And each time a backlash has been virtually nonexistent. Our journalistic and political elites have become terrorism’s unwitting domestic enablers, perceiving religion-based violence where there is none, while ignoring it where it is widespread and intensifying.

— Hat tip: JD

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Traitors, Every One

At 1 a.m. on December 21, 2009, in the dark of night, the first cloture vote was taken on H.R. 3590, Senator Harry Reid’s Obama Deathcare Bill.

The bill and all actions taken thus far can be found by clicking here and, in the search slot, entering “H.R. 3590”, clicking on “Bill Number” then clicking “SEARCH”. (This procedure will work for any bill you wish to look at.)

How your Senator voted on cloture December 21, 2009, in the middle of the night, can be found here and also accessible under “All Congressional Actions with Amendments” when H.R. 3590 is put in the search slot on the main page of thomas.loc.gov. The vote was all Democrats (60) voting “yes” and all Republicans (40) voting “no”.

You will note that this bill, voted on by the Senate, is not a Senate bill; it is a House bill. How can it be that a House bill was used to introduce language written by the Senate?

A House bill was used, its language stricken and substituted by Senator Reid and his co-conspirators, because the Senate cannot, constitutionally, introduce a bill that appropriates money.

As such, the Senate’s way of circumventing this is to take a House bill, sent to the Senate after House passage, and strike the language and introduce language written by Senators.

Is this constitutional? Let’s put it this way, that was not what was intended when the Constitution was written. But then, the Constitution, in the words of John Adams, was written for a moral and religious people; being wholly inadequate for people who have no morals, no conscience and certainly no principles or standards; who believe right and wrong are situational, pliant to whatever their agenda is.

— Hat tip: JD

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‘True Islam Cannot be Practiced in This Country’

Evangelical Christian leader Franklin Graham challenged President Obama’s statement in Norway that Islam is a “great religion” and said Islam is “violent” and cannot be practiced in the United States.

Graham said on CNN Dec. 10 that “we have many Muslims that live in this country, but true Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can’t beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries.”

— Hat tip: Esther

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Bad Weather: Still Freezing Cold in North, Hot in South

(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 23 — Italy is divided in two from a meteorological point of view, in the days leading up to Christmas. In the north, though the extremely negative weather conditions have subsided somewhat, many problems remain especially as concerns the

transport sector.In Lombardy many trains have been delayed and others have been suspended. Adverse atmospheric conditions have also limited the number of flights taking off from the Milan Linate airport. Last night in Venice saw high waters, reaching as much as 144 centimetres above the “average sea level’: its 8th highest level ever. This has all occurred while in San Giovanni Li Cuti, near Catania, many have spent a bit of extra time at the beach sunning themselves: in eastern Sicily the sun is shining and the regional capital saw a high of 24 degrees this morning. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Denmark: Women Can’t Park

From Danish: According to a German study, women need an average 20 more seconds to park then a man, and they still do it will less precision than men.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Denmark: Uproar in Free Press Society

Free Press Society president Lars Hedegaard describes Muslims as morally depraved and rapists

Three members of the Free Press Society’s advisory committee have resigned in the wake of comments made by the society’s president.

Lars Hedegaard has gone on a veritable tirade against Muslims in an interview with website Snappen, accusing them of raping their own children, lying without conscience and basically having no morals whatsoever.

‘When a Muslim man rapes a woman, it is his right to do it,’ he said in the interview, referring to his interpretation of the tenets of Islam.

‘Whenever it is prudent for a Muslim to hide his true intentions by lying or making a false oath in his own or in Islam’s service, then it is ok to do it,’ Hedegaard said.

Kathrine Lilleør, a Christian minister, author and member of the society’s advisory committee, said she would quit the committee if Hedegaard was not dismissed from his post.

The committee instead kicked Lilleør out. Subsequent to that action, MPs Søren Pind of the Liberal party and Naser Khader of the Conservatives both handed in their resignations from the advisory committee.

The Free Press Society’s board supports Hedegaard’s comments, although not necessarily agreeing with them 100 percent.

Board member Jette Plesner Dali said Hedegaard’s comments were valuable in that they broke the taboo of not criticising problems with Islam.

‘It’s a very off-limits and delicate issue that one has to address with a certain sensitivity — something that isn’t especially characteristic of Lars,’ she told Politiken newspaper. ‘It’s my feeling that an organisation such as the Free Press Society actually needs a president who can bulldoze his way through things a bit.’

Several leading media personalities are now challenging the society’s leadership and other members to take a stand on the issue, saying either they should come out in support of Hedegaard’s statements or quit the organisation.

Hedegaard sent out a press release yesterday as a follow-up to his interview. In it, he stood by his comments, although he attempted to soften the bluntness somewhat by saying he was referring more to the tenets of Islam than to individual Muslims.

‘I’ve always said that I’m not talking about all Muslims but about Islam and its fundamental view on women,’ the statement said. ‘It can be read in the holy scriptures about the Prophet’s actions and teachings.’

‘I don’t think all Muslims are aggressive, just that the ideology behind Islam is.’

Hedegaard has been reported to the police for racism over his comments by Yilmaz Evcil of the City of Århus’ integration council.

— Hat tip: TB

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EU Blames China, US for Failed Climate Summit

The European Union says that the US and China should be blamed for the failed UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“It was obvious that the United States and China didn’t want more than we achieved at Copenhagen,” Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said at a news conference in Brussels.

Carlgren said the world expects more from the US after the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.

“It is now up to Washington to meet the world’s expectations,” he added.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Germany Issues Gas Pipeline Permit as Europe Freezes

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — German authorities have given permission for Russia to build a major new gas pipeline to the country, as the EU waits to see if the winter will bring another Russia-Ukraine gas crisis.

The Stralsund Mining Authority in the region of Mecklenburg-West-Pomerania issued its environmental permit on Monday (21 December), concerning a 50-km-long stretch of the so-called Nord Stream pipeline.

The project is still awaiting permission from Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographical Agency and from Finnish environmental courts before construction can begin.

If it is built on schedule, the Russian pipeline will in 2012 pump 55 billion cubic metres a year of gas — about 10 percent of EU consumption — directly to Germany, the Benelux countries, the UK, Denmark and France.

It could also redraw the energy politics map in Europe.

Currently, Russia delivers 80 percent of its gas exports to the EU via the Ukraine transit system and most of the rest via the Yamal pipeline running through Belarus and Poland.

The set up makes it harder for Moscow to use gas as a political weapon, for example by cutting off unfriendly governments in Minsk or Kiev, without impacting its biggest customers in the rich West.

Poland has long depicted Nord Stream as a strategic threat. But it is trying to make the most of a bad situation as the project comes closer to reality, with the Polish and German foreign ministers last week discussing how to ensure the pipeline dose not obstruct Polish shipping in the Baltic Sea.

Meanwhile, uncertainty remains over how Ukraine’s 17 January presidential elections will impact political and commercial relations with Russia, amid calls in Ukraine to scrap an existing long-term contract for gas and concerns that Kiev does not have enough cash to pay for Russian gas deliveries in the New Year.

A bilateral dispute over gas bills last winter saw several EU states cut off during a cold snap in January, causing electricity cuts in Bucharest and Bratislava and shutting down factories for days.

With the Ukrainian elections looming, the freezing weather which has struck Europe in recent days will be an unwelcome reminder of last year’s hardships for many in the former Communist bloc.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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How Do I Know China Wrecked the Copenhagen Deal? I Was in the Room

As recriminations fly post-Copenhagen, one writer offers a fly-on-the-wall account of how talks failed

Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful “deal” so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.

China’s strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world’s poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was “the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility”, said Christian Aid. “Rich countries have bullied developing nations,” fumed Friends of the Earth International.

All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth. Even George Monbiot, writing in yesterday’s Guardian, made the mistake of singly blaming Obama. But I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying “no”, over and over again. Monbiot even approvingly quoted the Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping, who denounced the Copenhagen accord as “a suicide pact, an incineration pact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries”.

Sudan behaves at the talks as a puppet of China; one of a number of countries that relieves the Chinese delegation of having to fight its battles in open sessions. It was a perfect stitch-up. China gutted the deal behind the scenes, and then left its proxies to savage it in public.

Here’s what actually went on late last Friday night, as heads of state from two dozen countries met behind closed doors. Obama was at the table for several hours, sitting between Gordon Brown and the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi. The Danish prime minister chaired, and on his right sat Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the UN. Probably only about 50 or 60 people, including the heads of state, were in the room. I was attached to one of the delegations, whose head of state was also present for most of the time.

What I saw was profoundly shocking. The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country’s foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself. The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world’s most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his “superiors”.

Shifting the blame

To those who would blame Obama and rich countries in general, know this: it was China’s representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. “Why can’t we even mention our own targets?” demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil’s representative too pointed out the illogicality of China’s position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why — because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord’s lack of ambition.

China, backed at times by India, then proceeded to take out all the numbers that mattered. A 2020 peaking year in global emissions, essential to restrain temperatures to 2C, was removed and replaced by woolly language suggesting that emissions should peak “as soon as possible”. The long-term target, of global 50% cuts by 2050, was also excised. No one else, perhaps with the exceptions of India and Saudi Arabia, wanted this to happen. I am certain that had the Chinese not been in the room, we would have left Copenhagen with a deal that had environmentalists popping champagne corks popping in every corner of the world.

Strong position

So how did China manage to pull off this coup? First, it was in an extremely strong negotiating position. China didn’t need a deal. As one developing country foreign minister said to me: “The Athenians had nothing to offer to the Spartans.” On the other hand, western leaders in particular — but also presidents Lula of Brazil, Zuma of South Africa, Calderón of Mexico and many others — were desperate for a positive outcome. Obama needed a strong deal perhaps more than anyone. The US had confirmed the offer of $100bn to developing countries for adaptation, put serious cuts on the table for the first time (17% below 2005 levels by 2020), and was obviously prepared to up its offer.

Above all, Obama needed to be able to demonstrate to the Senate that he could deliver China in any global climate regulation framework, so conservative senators could not argue that US carbon cuts would further advantage Chinese industry. With midterm elections looming, Obama and his staff also knew that Copenhagen would be probably their only opportunity to go to climate change talks with a strong mandate. This further strengthened China’s negotiating hand, as did the complete lack of civil society political pressure on either China or India. Campaign groups never blame developing countries for failure; this is an iron rule that is never broken. The Indians, in particular, have become past masters at co-opting the language of equity (“equal rights to the atmosphere”) in the service of planetary suicide — and leftish campaigners and commentators are hoist with their own petard.

With the deal gutted, the heads of state session concluded with a final battle as the Chinese delegate insisted on removing the 1.5C target so beloved of the small island states and low-lying nations who have most to lose from rising seas. President Nasheed of the Maldives, supported by Brown, fought valiantly to save this crucial number. “How can you ask my country to go extinct?” demanded Nasheed. The Chinese delegate feigned great offence — and the number stayed, but surrounded by language which makes it all but meaningless. The deed was done.

China’s game

All this raises the question: what is China’s game? Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, “not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?” The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now “in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years’ time”.

This does not mean China is not serious about global warming. It is strong in both the wind and solar industries. But China’s growth, and growing global political and economic dominance, is based largely on cheap coal. China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower; indeed its newfound muscular confidence was on striking display in Copenhagen. Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to.

Copenhagen was much worse than just another bad deal, because it illustrated a profound shift in global geopolitics. This is fast becoming China’s century, yet its leadership has displayed that multilateral environmental governance is not only not a priority, but is viewed as a hindrance to the new superpower’s freedom of action. I left Copenhagen more despondent than I have felt in a long time. After all the hope and all the hype, the mobilisation of thousands, a wave of optimism crashed against the rock of global power politics, fell back, and drained away.

— Hat tip: TB

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Italy: 50,000 Tonnes of Dangerous Waste Found in Illegal Southern Dump

Taranto, 22 Dec. (AKI) — Italian police on Tuesday uncovered 50,000 tonnes of dangerous waste including cancer-causing asbestos in a sprawling illegal landfill in the southern Puglia region. A formal complaint was filed against an unnamed individual in connection with the 10,000 square metre dump in Torricella in the Province of Taranto.

Formal complaints have been made against 92 people this year over 43 illegal landfills discovered in the province.

Shady waste disposal firms were planning to conceal 622,000 tonnes of dangerous waste in the illegal dumps.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Norway: Women Better Drivers

From Norwegian: Men are responsible for 90% of serious traffic offences, and only about 20% of drivers killed were women.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Philippine Communist Leader Allowed to Remain Illegally in Netherlands

THE HAGUE, 23/12/09 — The Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison is allowed to continue to live illegally in the Netherlands. Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak will not deport him to his country of origin, she told the Lower House in a written answer to questions by the Party for Freedom (PVV).

Albayrak agrees with the PVV that the Netherlands must not be a haven for terrorists and criminals. She also considers that Sison should answer in the Philippines for the suffering he is said to have caused people there. But the state secretary says she has to respect the European Human Rights Treaty.

On grounds of Article 3 of the treaty, it is not possible to deport Sison, because this article specifies that nobody must be allowed to become subject to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishments, according to Albayrak. She believes that this fate could await Sison in case of deportation. The fact that the death penalty has recently been abolished in the Philippines is irrelevant, in her view.

Sison is suspected of having ordered the murder of former fellow partisans in the Philippines from the Netherlands in 2003 and 2004. The Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) however dropped a case against Sison earlier this year because insufficient evidence was found against him.

The founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed branch the New People’s Army (NPA) was arrested in his home in Utrecht in August 2007. Because he is living in the Netherlands illegally, he is officially required to leave the country, but his residence has already been tolerated for years.

— Hat tip: TB

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Scotland: Second Heroin User Anthrax Death

Health officials have confirmed that a second heroin user, who tested positive for anthrax, has died.

The man was being treated at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Last week, a man with the infection died in the city’s Victoria Infirmary.

A woman who tested positive for anthrax is also being treated there. A further drug user has died but tests have yet to confirm the presence of anthrax.

Meanwhile, a fourth case of anthrax has been confirmed in Lanarkshire.

The patient, who is a drug-injecting heroin user, is being treated at Monklands District General Hospital.

Dr Syed Ahmed, consultant in public health medicine, said: “There have been no new drug injecting heroin users with infections admitted to hospitals in the west of Scotland since the weekend.

“I urge all drug injecting heroin users to be extremely alert and to seek urgent medical advice if they experience an infection.

Contaminated batch

“Drug injecting is extremely risky and dangerous. The possible presence of a batch of heroin contaminated with anthrax makes drug injecting even riskier and even more dangerous.”

Anthrax is an acute bacterial infection most commonly found in hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats.

It normally infects humans when they inhale or ingest anthrax spores, but cannot be passed from person to person.

The last previous death from anthrax in Scotland was in 2006 when Christopher Norris died after inhaling the spores.

The 50-year-old craftsman, from Stobs, near Hawick, made drums with materials such as untreated animal hides.

— Hat tip: 4symbols

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Sweden: Journalist From Kyrgyzstan Might Have Been Murdered

From Swedish: Gennadij Pavljuk, a critic of the Kyrgyzstan regime and one of the country’s most famous journalists, died after a week in a coma, following a fall from the 5th-6th story.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Sweden: Court Endorses ‘Kidnapping’ Of 7-Year-Old

Social services allowed to keep custody of homeschooled child

An appeals-level court in Sweden has affirmed the “kidnapping” of a 7-year-old boy who was snatched by police from a jetliner as it prepared to take his family to their new home in India.

The days-old decision from the Administrative Court of Stockholm affirms the state custody of Dominic Johansson, who was taken by uniformed police officers on the orders of social workers even though there was no allegation of any crime on the part of the family, nor was there any warrant, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.

The group, the premiere homeschool advocacy association in the world today, has been alarmed by the case that developed apparently because school and social services officials in Sweden objected to the homeschool program for the child.

“This court decision is deeply disturbing,” said Michael Donnelly, director of international affairs for HSLDA. “The hostility against homeschooling and for parent’s rights is contrary to everything expected from a Western nation.”

He continued. “This decision echoes the German courts who have ruled homeschooling illegal, and that it is OK to take children from parents who do homeschool. We had hoped that the appeals court would return Dominic to his family. Since they are not, we believe it is critical all freedom-loving people respond to this outrageous decision.”

“HSLDA is gravely concerned about this case as it represents what can happen to other families who might wish to homeschool their children,” Donnelly said. “Furthermore, in response to inquiries from HSLDA, Swedish authorities have cited the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to explain and defend their actions.

“If the U.S. were to ever ratify this treaty, then state-sponsored kidnapping could occur here. Every homeschooler would be at risk. Such treatment of families and children is inhumane and inconsistent with a reasonable understanding of basic human rights. Therefore, we are asking our members to contact Swedish officials asking them to return Dominic Johansson to his family,” he said.

[…]

“Since our hearing … they have told us that we can no longer see our son,” he said. “They have said that the visits are traumatic for him. Is it any wonder? The poor boy has been kidnapped from his parents and is being forced to live with other people. … He wants to come home but is being held against his will.“

“What you have here is a socialist country trying to create a cookie cutter kid,” said Roger Kiska, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney based in Europe. “This kind of thing happens too often where social workers take a child and then just keep him.”

— Hat tip: JD

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Sweden: Parents Refused Right to Name Son Allah

In the latest battle over what people may legally call their children, the Swedish Tax Authority (Skatteverket) has ruled that the parents of a two-month-old boy in Skåne in southern Sweden may not call their child Allah.

According to the decision, Skatteverket does not approve “names that can give offence or be seen to cause discomfort for the bearer”. In this case, Skatteverket was “of the opinion that the name can be seen as objectionable for religious reasons.”

Skatteverket legal expert Lars Tegenfeldt told The Local that devout members of the public might take offense to certain names with highly religious connotations.

“God or Allah or the Devil is offensive to the public. Not me personally, but there are religious people who think so,” he said.

“Some religious names though, like Jesus, are normal,” he added.

There have been several high profile cases in Sweden over the authority’s seemingly arbitrary decisions regarding first names it deems acceptable.

In 2007, for example, a couple was initially banned from calling their daughter Metallica (a decision later overturned), while authorities in another part of Sweden allowed a baby boy to be called Google. Other controversial names rejected by the agency have included Q, Token and Michael Jackson.

The parents told The Local they do not plan to appeal the Skatteverket’s decision rejecting the name Allah.

— Hat tip: TB

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Sweden: Gävle Goat Succumbs to Flames

Yuletide arsonists have once again successfully set the Gävle goat ablaze. Police received a call around 3am on Wednesday that the Christmas goat in the eastern Swedish town was on fire.

While last year’s goat managed to survive until December 27th, this year the 13-metre-tall straw billy succumbed to flames just three days before Christmas.

This was the 43rd traditional straw goat that Gävle has erected in the main city square a few weeks prior to Christmas. It has become a local sport to attempt to burn the goat to the ground.

“It was more or less just a skeleton by the time we got there,” Göran Lyrberg, commander on duty at the Gävle police, told TT news agency.

No one has been arrested for the incident, which is classified as serious vandalism. Most Gävle goats have been burned down or vandalised in some other way.

In the last couple of years, the goat has not been treated with flame retardant because it previously discoloured the straw creature and detracted from its grand stature.

— Hat tip: TB

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UK: Bribed to Quit Britain: Foreign Criminals Offered Up to £5000 if They Agree to Go Home

Thousands of foreign criminals are being offered credit cards pre-loaded with more than £450 of taxpayers’ cash if they agree to return home.

Rapists, muggers and burglars are being offered the astonishing perk as part of a package worth up to £5,000 designed to ‘bribe’ them to leave the UK.

The credit cards are loaded with money which the convicts can spend as soon as they leave British soil.

The remainder of the windfall is payable ‘in kind’ when they return home, and can include cash to set up a business.

Shadow Justice Secretary, Dominic Grieve said: ‘This is simply outrageous. It is bad enough that Gordon Brown lost control of our borders and has let thousands of foreign criminals into the country.

‘Now we learn that foreign prisoners are being given cash cards loaded with hundreds of pounds of taxpayers’ money. The lesson is clear: under Labour, crime pays and the taxpayer foots the bill.’

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Coroner Furious After a Grandmother Dies in ‘Burning Agony’ Following NHS Injection Blunder

A grandmother died after ‘gross failures’ by NHS doctors who injected her lungs with a chemical that was ten times the recommended strength, a coroner ruled today.

Rosemary McFarlane, 64, spent ten days in ‘burning agony’ after receiving the lethal dose during what should have been a routine procedure.

The caustic chemical, phosphate buffered saline, burned the inside of her lungs.

The hospital’s usual supplier had run out of the PBS fluid and a pharmacy was asked to provide the solution.

It was bought over the internet by a junior pharmacist, who mistook ‘10x’ on the label to mean ten bottles of the liquid rather than its super-strength concentration, an inquest heard.

At that strength it is used for preserving tissue samples in laboratories and is unlicensed for use on the living.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Emergency Patient Has to Wait 32 Days as NHS Target Time is Exposed as a Sham

Labour’s A&E waiting-time target was exposed as a sham last night after it was revealed hospitals were fiddling the figures.

No one is supposed to wait more than four hours in hospital casualty departments before being treated — but patients are waiting far longer and one was not treated for 32 days.

Evidence collected by the Tories shows that hospitals often put patients in curtained-off ‘emergency assessment units’ — where they are still waiting but do not count towards the A&E target because they are technically no longer on the ward.

People are waiting an average of 17 hours in these units. Emergency units are mixed-sex and often do not contain proper beds: just trolleys. Critics say they are being used as dumping grounds so hospitals can ‘stop the clock’ and hit the admissions target.

The Tories have pledged to scrap Whitehall targets, but fear that this will lead to a return to long waiting times. While no one in the NHS waits for more than 18 weeks for treatment; under the Conservatives waits of 18 months were not uncommon.

— Hat tip: JD

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Grim Reality of Serbia’s EU ‘Dream’

Federalists bleat buzzwords about Serbia’s European ambitions but the EU, like Nato, only wants to force it into neoliberal line

A blizzard of platitudes has been unleashed by Europe’s leaders this week as Serbia formally applies for EU membership. No opportunity to declare the occasion “historic” or to assert that Serbia has a European “vocation” is being passed up.

[…]

This body should be tasked with finally unearthing the truth about why Nato bombed Serbia in 1999.

None of the alliance’s personnel has yet been charged by an international tribunal with crimes relating to that war, even though it was conducted with the use of cluster bombs, weapons that literally slice the limbs of their victims. Nor should it be forgotten that the war lacked UN approval and helped usher in the dubious concept of “humanitarian intervention”, under which military action can be taken on the flimsiest of pretexts.

I’m sure that I will soon hear or read some federalist (or should I say fantasist?) trying to wax lyrical about the significance of Serbia embracing countries that were attacking it little over a decade ago. What the fantasists won’t acknowledge, though, is that Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia’s then president, didn’t earn his status as a favourite bogeyman of the west purely because he did dreadful things to the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo, as the official narrative would have us believe.

The west could probably have tolerated his autocratic streak if he was more favourable to its pervading ideology. But Milosevic’s refusal to accept the neoliberal precepts on which the global economy is being run seem to offer a more plausible explanation as to why Bill Clinton and his then cronies in Europe insisted he must go.

Such a conclusion seems to me inescapable when you examine the fine print of what the EU and America have been pressing Serbia to do over the past 10 years. Privatising state-owned industry is now a standard condition of EU accession, as many countries in central and eastern Europe have discovered, often at enormous social cost.

But what makes Serbia unique is that many of the facilities it has been required to sell off were first damaged by Nato bombs, with the result that western firms could snatch some of them up at bargain basement prices. More than 1,800 privatisations have occurred since Milosevic was ousted; much of the country’s metal industry is now in the hands of US Steel, which has been busy shedding jobs, while the national car company Zastava has been bought by Fiat.

The European commission’s latest “progress report” for Serbia states that finalising privatisation is a priority for the country’s “partnership” with the EU. Moreover, it indicates that the welfare state that has provided a lifeline to the country’s citizens must be radically altered. It is no exaggeration, then, to say that the austerity budget rubber-stamped in Belgrade, also this week, was to a large extent written in Brussels and Washington, home to the IMF, which has so generously come to Serbia’s “rescue”.

No doubt, the pensioners whose income has been reduced at the behest of foreign institutions aren’t weighed down by the hand of history on their country’s shoulder at the moment. Instead, they will face 2010 with the dreaded sensation of a hair shirt on their backs.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Curb on Veil in Egypt Backed by Islamic Clerics

Prominent religious leaders say social habit of wearing niqabs has no roots in Islamic law. ‘Any girl is free to wear the niqab as long as she understands that when asked to reveal her face she should do so accordingly,’ sheikh says

Egypt’s three most prominent religious leaders have backed a government ban on the niqab, or full face veil, in dormitories and examinations, saying it had no basis in Islam.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Forced Islamization of Christian Girls Supported by Egyptian State

by Mary Abdelmassih

Cairo (AINA) — The phenomenon of abduction, rape and forced Islamization of Christian girls in Egypt was shown for the first time on the Christian TV channel “Life TV”, which broadcasts from outside Egypt and has nearly 60 million Arab-speaking viewers in Egypt and around the world.

The testimonies of the victims and their families came as a shock to many, including Egyptian Christians, since this issue is taboo for the Egyptian media, “Our role is to expose those behind those crimes,” said Rasheed El Maghreby, the program’s moderator.

The program was aired in mid-November 2009, and interviewed Mr. Magdi Khalil, an authority on Coptic affairs who has made a complete field study on forced Islamization of Christian minors in Egypt. Mr Khalil explained that this phenomenon in its present form is nearly 40 years old, and most of these conversion crimes, with a few isolated exceptions, are carried out by organized Islamization gangs or “Islamization Mafia”, a termed coined by him, which are fully funded by the state and supported by State Security.

“Those highly organized gangs carry out systematic planning,” says Khalil. “Besides violent forced abductions, other devious means include allurement, deception, psychological pressure, financial temptation, emotional relationships ending in rape and photographs taken to blackmail the victims into conversion, and spreading fear in the hearts of their families. They turn the minor into a broken, humble, and submissive person who drifts along a road which would have been impossible for her to take under normal circumstances or in an atmosphere of family or legal protection, and of her own free will.”

The TV program aired three cases of victims throwing light on the complete disadvantage of the affected families in front of the “Islamization mafia”, in view of the complete lack of support, if not collusion, of the authorities.

Ingy Adel, now 16, was abducted at the age of 12 on her way to school by being anaesthetized and bundled into a car. “I was taken into a room by a man called Sultan, who tied my hands behind my back and raped me,” said Ingy. Four men followed Sultan in raping her, “I felt as each one of them raped me, that I was their enemy. They have beaten me ferociously.” She said that for a whole month she was given drugs and raped, “more than 50 men raped me.” After two months and only through the efforts of her father she was found and brought back home. When they reported the crime to the State Security she was beaten by the officer to change her testimony and say that she ran away from her family with her own free will. “Until today they have done nothing about it and will not do anything, because I am a Christian,” sobs Ingy (see testimony).

Another victim was Amal Zaki from Mahalla el-Kubra. “I received a phone call at work, informing me that my father was taken ill and lies in hospital and wishes to see me urgently. A work colleague with a Burka offered to accompany me. Outside was a car full of sheikhs, and when I refused to get in, I was pushed inside the car, and woke up in a dark room in Dar el Eftah [Al-Azhar affiliated Islamic Legislation Authority]. I knew that I was married to a certain Ahmed Ramadan, the cousin of my Burqa colleague. He tied me to the bed, after three hours I was taken to hospital suffering with haemorrhage.” Amal’s father continued the story: “I went to State Security and they assured me that they will get her back, but they were just fooling me; they knew all along were my daughter was. When I reported Ahmad Ramadan to the police, he said in the police report that State Security told him to marry Amal, take her to Cairo ! for conversion to Islam, and after 9 days, they told him to divorce her. He presented documents to support his claims” Amal was returned 9 months later after her father paid a ransom to her abductors. Although she never went to Al-Azhar to convert to Islam, she still got a conversion certificate.

Another incident was described by a villager who said that his daughter, who was less than 16-years-old, was abducted as she went to the nearby grocery store. When he reported the matter to the police, he was told he was causing ‘sectarian strife.’ He said: “I asked to see my daughter just for 10 minutes, but they refused. I was detained at the police station until the officer received a phone call that my daughter was taken away.” He said that the police forced him to leave the village. “My daughter returned to the village 3 days after I left. They have taken my home by force and now my daughter lives in it with her Muslim husband (see testimony).

“This is thuggery. As long as it is for the benefit of Islam, all authorities join together as if it is an ‘armed invasion.’ Sharia over the law and Islam over the nation,” said Khalil.

The latest fraud mentioned on the TV program is that Muslim gangs who dress as Coptic priests, offer a car lift to Christian girls and then abduct them. “The Coptic Church has warned its congregation against letting any unknown person dressed as a priest into their homes or accepting a lift,” said Khalil.

Several international organizations have criticized Egypt regarding forced Islamization of minors, among which is the International Religious Freedom report from 2005 to 2009, the Helsinki Commission Report of November 9th, 2006, Human Rights Watch Report of November 12th, 2007, and on November 10th, 2009, Christian Solidarity International issued a report quoting 25 cases of forced Islamization of minors.

H.H. Pope Shenouda protested as far back as December 17th, 1976, during a conference held in Alexandria, saying: “There is a practice to convert Coptic girls to embrace Islam and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands.” He demanded that the abducted girls be returned to their families.

Sheikh Fawzy al-Zafzaf, former head of the Azhar committee for inter-religious dialogue told Al-Destoor Newspaper on November 17th, 2009, that he did not deny the existence of cases of abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic girls in Egypt. He called on the government to intervene to stop such acts by imposing just penalties on people who commit them.

Pope Shenouda warned during a lecture on March 17, 2004 that he received thousands of letters of abduction of Christian girls through certain Islamic store chains which lure them away by being told they won a prize and have to go to an upper floor in the building to collect it.

“Christian activists who work in cases of abductions and forced Islamization have a good idea about who the organizations, State Security officers and businessmen supporting the Islamization gangs,” he explained.

According to Ms. Rasha Nour, chief of Egypt4Christ, which specializes in abductions of minors, funding for Islamization comes from a financial network of dozens of companies, charities, and banks such as Bank of Islamic Solidarity, Faisal Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Islamic Relief Organization, as well as numerous companies created through money-laundering operations, and which are supervised by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Explaining the difficulty in tackling this issue by human rights organizations, Khalil said “Unfortunately no one can discuss this issue, not the Egyptian Family Minister Mosheera Khattab or any research institute, as they would be told ‘this issue belongs to the State Security which manages the Coptic Portfolio the way they like.” He sees no prospects of any improvement on the Coptic portfolio before it is taken away from State Security and handled as a political issue.

Khalil accused the Egyptian State, with its executive, legislative and judicial authorities of being an accomplice.

The role of the State Security is evident and vital in all abduction cases “They know where the girls are, and withhold information from their families.”

Despite the existence of laws in Egypt setting the minimum age of conversion to Islam at 21, as well as legally forbidding marriage of a girl younger than 18 without the consent of her parent or guardian, “we still find fatwas (religious edicts) being issued to justify those criminal acts,” says Khalil.

The Chairman of the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, Sheikh Abdulah Mogawer, talking to Al-Arabya-net justified the marriage of two underage Christian girls (15 and 17 when abducted) by saying that they accept Islamization at the age of 16 . “According to Sharia, the main criteria for marriage to be valid is for the girl to reach puberty and is not tied to a specific age. Aisha married [consummated] the Prophet at the age of 9. Some girls might reach puberty at 14 or 15 years old, depending on her physical growth,” said Mogawer.

“In spite of international and local condemnation, still nothing is being done about this by the State. It is a big shame on the Egyptian government to be an accomplice to these crimes against humanity,” commented Khalil .

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Gaza: Egypt Forbids ‘Cast Lead’ Anniversary March

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 21 — Egyptian authorities prohibited a solidarity march towards Gaza scheduled to take place in the next days that was set up by some international organisations on occasion of the first anniversary of Israels Cast Lead military operation into the Gaza strip. A statement by the Foreign ministry reads that “Any attempt to break the law or public order on Egyptian territory by any local and international group will be dealt with according to the letter of the law”. Aside from highlighting problems relative to requests filed by such organisations, the ministry also pointed out a difficulty in cooperating with the march initiative because of the delicacy of the situation in Gaza, insofar as an area subject to Israeli occupation. In any case, the ministry added that anybody breaching Egyptian security laws will assume full responsibility for it”. AFP specified that some 1,000 activists coming from some 40 Countries had planned to join the march to remember the Cast Lead operation which took place from December 17 to January 17 and which caused, according to Palestinian sources, approximately 1,400 casualties. In the meantime Hamas announced another demonstration this afternoon to protest against the new underground barrier which Egypt is apparently building along the border with Gaza. Informal sources and eyewitness reports from the Rafah pass stated that work on the barrier came to a standstill and that the machinery has been taken away, while approximately 500 policemen were deployed along the border and on rooftops. In recent days various shots were reported being fired from Gaza towards work in progress along the border.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Morocco: Berber Language Television by Year’s End

(ANSAmed) — RABAT, DECEMBER 23 — By the end of the year Morocco will have a public television network in the Amazigh language. It will be broadcast for 6 hours during normal days, and for ten during weekends. It as a project which has been expected for some time by the Berber community, which sees it as a way to preserve a culture and language that has been marginalised for some time. According to the last census in 2004, about 8.5 million Moroccans (28% of a total population of 31.5 million) speak one of the three Berber dialects on a daily basis: Tarifit, in Rif (the north); Tamazigh, in the Middle and High Atlas (central); Tashelhiyt, in Souss, the most important Berber speaking region with the important city of Agadir (south). (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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200,000 From Italy to Bethlehem University

(ANSAmed) — BETHLEHEM, DECEMBER 21 — Italy’s Minister for Youth Politics has donated 200,000 euros to the University of Bethlehem for microfinance projects aiming to help young Palestinians find jobs, and in particular to start up entrepreneurial activities after their studies. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed today in Bethlehem by the minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the rector of the university, Father Peter Bray. “Studying is the first way to be free and to defeat war,” commented the minister in addressing also the students present. “The Italian government,” added Meloni, “has always been strongly committed to helping Palestinians, and recently provided 2.5 million euros in aid. We are frequently frightened of this conflict which seems unending, but I see here many who are trying to live with dignity while facing many difficulties.” “We try to give hope to these young people,” said Father Bray, “ there is war here, there are checkpoints, and it is difficult to have any teaching staff from abroad since they can only stay for three months on a visa. Those living here feel abandoned and isolated. We do not know when and if peace will ever come, but when it does, Palestine will need young people prepared for it.” The minister had first paid a visit to the Deisha refugee camp, where she visited a primary school run by the UN organisation for Palestinian refugees, a nursery school and a centre for Palestinian women which until not long ago had been run by the UNWRA and which now, even though with must difficulty, are run by the local community. Minister Meloni is involved in verifying the possibility of raising additional funding and of taking on the role of EU spokesperson for the cause. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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ANP: Survey Shows Strong Support for Barghuti

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 22 — Support for Marwan Barghuti strengthens in the Palestinian territories. Barghuti is the leader of al-Fatah currently serving life-sentence in Israel for having inspired the attacks led by the al-Aqsa Brigade of Martirs. According to an opinion survey carried out in the Left Bank and Gaza by the ‘Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey’, if Barghuti were to run for President of the Anp, he would gather 67 pct of votes, whilst the expected candidate of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh would have to make do with 28 pct. The same survey last year in August had come up with 62 pct for Barghuti and 31 pct for Haniyeh. Presidential and legislative elections were set for January 2010 in the Territories, but have been postponed due to the permament disagreement between Anp leaders in Ramallah and those of Hamas in Gaza. The survey was published but Barghuti’s fate remains uncertain. His name was included in a list by Hamas of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in exchange for the freedom of corporal Ghilad Shalit. But it remains to be seen whether Benyamin Netanyahu’s government will accept freeing Barghuti, or if it may accept to do so only on the condition of his being expulsed abroad.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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EU Commission Allocates 7 Mln for Territories

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 22 — The EU Commission has allocated another seven million euros in aid for the Palestinian territories in addition to the 74.4 million already given in 2009 for the Gaza Strip as well. The funds will be used to create emergency jobs and for the distribution of food aid through the UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme for the people in the West Bank. The communities in the Palestinian territories are vulnerable and fighting for survival, observed EU Development Commissioner Karel De Gucht due to “the serious restrictions to access caused by the fragmentation of their territory”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Gaza: Hundreds Protest Against Egyptian Wall

(ANSAmed) — GAZA, DECEMBER 21 — Today in Rafah (south of Gaza) some 700 people joined a demonstration staged in this portion of Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas Islamic radicals to protest against the underground steel barrier planned by Egypt along the only section of the Gaza Strip border that is foreign to Israel. The protesters gathered in front of the so-called Saladins Door, near the Egyptian border, but not in front of the main Rafah pass. The crowd included local residents, local Hamas activists and even one of the movements spokespersons who arrived from Gaza City, Sami Abu Zahri, who requested a halt to work in progress and the dismantling of the section of the barrier that has already been built. During the gathering people chanted slogans inviting Egypt not to choke the people of Gaza and to help the Palestinian people, while others carried signs saying Stop the siege or Enough walls and invoked Arab solidarity. Hamas security, present in force, however avoided any excessive approach to the border and incidents of any kind. The barrier, which was created with the help of American technicians, represents Cairo’s reply to the problem of underground tunnels which allow the passage of vital goods to the Gaza Strip (which has been under an almost total Israeli blockade since Hamas rose to power in 2007) in addition to weapons, militiamen and illegal aliens. According to reports referred in recent days by the BBC and by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the project estimates a total final length of 10 kilometres for 30 metres of depth. Initially denied, the start of work was later confirmed by Cairo sources, which claimed Egypt’s right to control its borders. And they blamed Hamas intransigence for the failed agreement (where Egypt acted as middleman) over inter-Palestinian reconciliation, which is considered as one of the reasons behind the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Media Falsely Reporting Bethlehem Christmas

Aaron Klein exposes international coverage of ancient Christian city

TEL AVIV — Like clockwork, every year at this time reporters file misleading and, in some cases, outright false reports about the state of Christmas in Bethlehem.

They claim Israeli policies have wreaked havoc on the city’s economy and that Israel is responsible for the massive flight of Christians from Bethlehem. Yet the news media completely ignore Muslim intimidation and get their facts wrong on documented history and the true state of affairs in this ancient town.

[…]

Bethlehem was more than 80 percent Christian when Israel was founded in 1948. But after Arafat took control, the city’s Christian population plummeted to its current 23 percent. And that statistic is considered generous since it includes the satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem’s actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating each year.

[…]

Suddenly, after the Palestinians gained the territory, reports of Christian intimidation by Muslims began to surface.

Christian leaders and residents told this reporter they face an atmosphere of regular hostility. They said Palestinian armed groups stir tension by holding militant demonstrations and marches in the streets. They spokes of instances in which Christian shopkeepers’ stores were ransacked and Christian homes attacked.

They said in the past, Palestinian gunmen fired at Israelis from Christian hilltop communities, drawing Israeli anti-terror raids to their towns.

[…]

Some Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs.

— Hat tip: JD

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Meloni in Holy Land, Help Palestinian Students

(ANSAmed) — BETHLEHEM — The first day of a visit by Italian Youth Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Holy Land was a marathon of solidarity for the Palestinians. The mission which will include, for equal treatment, visits and meeting by the youngest member of the Italian government with Israeli representative in Jerusalem. Young people were the focus of the most concrete event today in Bethlehem. With the chancellor of the University of Bethlehem, Peter Bray, Giorgia Meloni signed an agreement of understanding whereby the ministry allocated 200,000 euros to finance micro-credit projects for graduates looking to start businesses. “To study is the first way to be free and conquer war”, commented the minister to the students. “The Italian government has always been strongly committed to helping the Palestinians, even recently 2.5 million euros in aid has been given. Often we hear this conflict which seems without an end”, said Meloni, “but here I see many people that try to live with dignity in the middle of difficulty”. “We try to give these young people hope”, said Bray, “here there is war, there are check points, it is complicated even to have professors from abroad because they can only stay three months due to the visa. The people here feel abandoned and isolated. We don’t know when and if peace will come, but when it does, Palestine will need prepared young people”. Prior to the signing the minister visited the Deisha refugee camp and the school run by the United National Work and Refugee Assistance (UNWRA) and then a nursery school and a center of Palestinian women until recently run by UNWRA but now, although with great difficulty, run by the local community. Giorgia Meloni promised to investigate the possibility of finding other resources. Then the minister went to the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce where she was given a mother-of-pearl creche made by local artisans to be given to the young people in Italy who were victims of the Abruzzo earthquake. Immediately afterwards the minister visited a fashion institute near the Beit Sahur area where she discussed the possibility of students having internships with Italian textile and fashion businesses. In the afternoon, after a visit to the site of the Nativity, the minister took part in a conference on cooperation organized by the Life and Peace association where the mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh asked her to put pressure, together with European partners, on the United States and Israel for the Jewish state to accept the UN resolution to tear down the wall. Meloni underlined that there are many obstacles to peace in the Middle East, admitting that peace could take “a very long time” and “what is needed for peace is not a wall”, referring to the words of Pope John Paul II, “in the Holy Land there is greater need for bridges than walls, we must work to build bridges”. The mayor of Bethlehem then replied to the minister, “if peace does not come soon, there will not be a square metre where Palestine can be built”.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Shalit: Israel Conditions Agreement to New Requests

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 22 — Two days of closed negotiations for Premier Benyamin Netanyahu and his closest ministers on the possible prisoner exchange with Hamas ended last night with no official communication. According to the press Israeli leaders proposed to accept the release of the detainees requested by Hamas in exchange for Corporal Ghilad Shalit (prisoner in Gaza since 2006), but with a condition: that a large number of them are expelled to other countries or confined to Gaza. That is to impede Hamas from reorganising in the West Bank the infrastructure that would allow it to launch a new series of terrorist attacks in Israel like those of the first years of the intifada. In comments it was affirmed that the Israeli negotiator Haggai Hadas received instructions from Netanyahu to continue contact with the German negotiator that runs between Jerusalem and Gaza. “Now it will have to be Hamas to decide”, different analysts maintain. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Vatican Explains Pius XII Move

‘Won’t be beatified with John Paul’

(ANSA) — Vatican City, December 23 — The Vatican on Wednesday tried to mend fences with Jews irked by Saturday’s move towards sainthood of a wartime pope accused by some of not speaking out against the Holocaust.

WWII pope Pius XII would not be beatified along with John Paul II, the other pope whose ‘heroic virtues’ were recognised Saturday, putting them two steps away from sainthood, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

“There is no reason to forecast a dual beatification,” said Lombardi in an implicit reply to critics surprised at the still-controversial Pius apparently being yoked together with the widely popular John Paul.

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to sign Saturday’s decree was not to be seen as a hostile act towards Jews, the statement said.

The statement voiced the hope that Pius’s progress towards sainthood “will not be considered an obstacle on the path of dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church”. The Vatican explained the concept of the “heroic virtues” for which Pius was declared ‘venerable’, putting him two steps from sainthood.

The virtues, it stressed, concerned “his relationship with God and his Faith”.

The recognition of these qualities did not therefore constitute “an assessment of the political scope of all his operational choices”.

Detractors claim Pius XII didn’t do enough to save Jews, particularly via a public anathema, but his supporters say he did not speak out loudly so he could help Jews behind the scenes, which he did.

Saturday’s move caused friction with Jews in Italy and abroad and cast some doubt on Benedict’s planned visit to the Rome Synagogue on January 17, the second since John Paul made the first-ever papal visit in 1986.

On Wednesday the Grand Rabbinate of Israel said it would be sending a delegation if the visit goes ahead.

However, it reiterated criticism of the “timing” of the Pius move, repeating a longstanding Jewish demand that his cause should advance once the Vatican opens its wartime archives to shed full light on his pontificate.

The Vatican has repeatedly stated that there is so much material on that period that it cannot be expected to open the secret files before 2015 at the earliest.

Wednesday’s statement was seen as a response to a call from the The World Jewish Council for “greater sensitivity” on the issue, which the Grand Rabbinate reaffirmed was “a very painful and burning question for so many Jews”.

A meeting of Rome’s Jewish community on Wednesday evening will discuss the Synagogue visit.

In light of the pains the Vatican has taken to explain its move, it is now expected to greenlight the visit.

‘DEFAMATORY LEGEND’.

Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has said moves to make Pius a saint were the Vatican’s business.

“The representation of Pius XII as indifferent towards the victims of the Nazis…or even as ‘Hitler’s Pope’ (the title of a bestselling book) is outrageous and historically unsustainable,” Bertone told a conference marking the 50th anniversary of Pius’s death last year.

Bertone said the polemics — revived last October when a Jewish minister called the plans to beatify Pius “unacceptable” — were “biased and ever less comprehensible”.

Pius was the victim of “a defamatory legend,” Bertone said, reiterating a view expressed by Pius’s supporters.

Benedict praised Pius at an anniversary Mass in October 2008.

He reiterated that Pius saved the “largest possible number of Jews” by acting in silence to “avert the worst”.

He told the mass that Pius’s action had been recognised after the war by Jewish leaders including Golda Meir.

In order to be beatified, the two popes now need the certification of a miracle that happened to someone who prayed to them.

To be canonised and join the ranks of the saints, a second one would then be required.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Exhibits: Damascus, Italian Embassy Promotes Iraqi Artists

(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, DECEMBER 21 — The Iraqi Cultural Forum in Damascus is hosting 33 works by Iraqi artists until December 30. The exhibition, says the Italian Embassy in Damascus, is part of the project Arts. Support for art, womens crafts and access to basic services for Iraqi refugees in Syria, which is an initiative of the Office for Cooperation at the Italian Embassy, and is part of the Emergency programme IRIS. The exhibition opened on December 15. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Iraqi General Assassinated

A senior Iraqi army officer has been shot dead in front of his home west of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said on Wednesay.

Brigadier General Riad Abdel Majid, an inspector for the defence ministry, “was killed in Ghazaliya by unknown persons who opened fire on him while he was in front of his house,” the official said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Iraqi Kurd Poison Gas Victims Sue for Damages

A court in the Netherlands is hearing a case by Kurdish victims of poison gas attacks in northern Iraq in the 1980s.

They want compensation from a Dutch businessman, who sold chemicals — which were used against the Kurds — to Saddam Hussein’s government.

Frans van Anraat, 67, was convicted in the Netherlands in 2005 of war crimes and sentenced to 16-and-a-half years in jail.

Other courts have refused to award damages to the 16 victims.

The courts have said that it would be too difficult to get the money from Van Anraat, who says he spent all his cash fleeing from country to country after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

More than 5,000 people were killed in March 1988 when Saddam Hussein ordered an attack on the Kurdish Iraqi town of Halabja, as part of a campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion.

Some of the survivors were left permanently disabled, suffering lung damage, blindness and skin diseases.

Van Anraat was convicted of complicity in war crimes, but cleared of genocide at his trial four years ago.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Osama Bin Laden’s Missing Family Found in Secret Compound in Iran

Osama bin Laden’s closest relatives are living in a secret compound in Iran, members of the family said last night. They include a wife and children who disappeared from his Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

There has been uncertainty about the family’s whereabouts for the past eight years, with reports that some of the children had been killed in bombings, while others had joined their father in planning terrorist attacks. However, relatives said that they found out last month that the group, including one of Osama’s wives, six of his children and 11 of his grandchildren, had been kept in a high-security compound outside Tehran.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Saad Hariri Marks New Relations Between Beirut and Damascus

Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri makes his first official visit to Syria, meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The 2005 attack is not mentioned. Saudi Arabia brokered the summit. Some in Lebanon fear a return of Syrian influence. Lebanese analyst believes Damascus has rebuilt its privileged position in Lebanon.

Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) — For Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, his visit to Damascus constitutes a “landmark” during which he held “friendly, open and positive” talks to ease tensions between his country and Syria. In the course of his two-day stay in the Syrian capital, the Lebanese leader met Syrian President three times. They discussed the demarcation of the border between the two countries and future cooperation. The assassination of Rafik Hariri, which some blame on the Syrian government, was not discussed.

“We want privileged, sincere and honest relations . . . in the interest of both countries and both peoples,” the prime minister said at a press conference at the Lebanese Embassy, which opened less than a year ago. He also announced some agreements with President Assad on a number of issues, including borders.

Saudi Arabia played an important role in paving the way for Syrian-Lebanese rapprochement. Moreover, the United States and the West have abandoned their policy of isolating Syria and have instead renewed relations with Damascus.

However, in Lebanon public opinion is still wary about the relationship with Syria, fearful that the visit might signal a return of Syrian influence on Lebanese affairs, which Damascus controlled for 30 years.

For instance, Elias Muhanna, a political analyst who writes on the Lebanese blog Qifa Nabki, “the image of Hariri coming over the mountains means they’ve come full circle. It demonstrates to all the power centres in Damascus” and that “Bashar has restored Syria’s position of strength vis-à-vis Lebanon.”

In 2005, Syria was forced to pull its troops out of Lebanon because of widespread popular unrest following to the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the current prime minister’s father.

At present, an UN-sponsored international tribunal has been investigating the possible involvement of fringe elements in Syria in the assassination.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Saudi Arabia: Flood Threat to Prophet’s Mosque?

MADINA — Concern has been raised about the possible flood threat to the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina because it lies on low ground, through which Wadi Bathan passes.

The issue of the mosque’s safety, and other buildings on Madina’s valley routes, was raised in a recent meeting of the city’s Municipal Council. The council questioned the mayoralty’s ability to protect the mosque.. It was stated that only an 11 meter-high sand dam currently redirects the course of Wadi Bathan to the Al-Aqiq area.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Turkey: Ecumenical Patriarch “Crucified”

A statement by Bartholomew about the difficulties Turkish authorities create for the Christian Orthodox community provokes an irate response from Turkey’s foreign minister. Turkey continues to subordinate the reopening of the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Halki to the opening of a mosque in Athens, Greece.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) — When a journalist from CBS asked whether he is still felt “crucified” by the difficulties he has to face every day, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said yes, thus venting the frustrations that come from running the Ecumenical See of Orthodox Christianity.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu responded immediately. He said, “I hope this is just a slip of the tongue. It is a very unfortunate statement. We do not deserve it. Crucifixion has never been a part of our history. I cannot see such a comparison coming from such a levelheaded person. I hope they were said by mistake.”

In reality, history shows that 19 Orthodox patriarchs were hanged, imprisoned or sent into exile by Turkish authorities. Yet, for Davutoglu, the Turkish nation was built on religious intolerance, and the Turkish Republic is a secular state; a democracy based on the rule of law that does not judge its citizens based on their religious affiliation, a place where every citizen is equal.

“If Patriarch Bartholomew has complaints about this issue, he can convey them to the relevant authorities who will do whatever is necessary,” the foreign minister said. “We cannot accept comparisons that we do not deserve.”

Bartholomew reacted to the minister’s comments in an interview with the Turkish-language news agency Haberturk in which he said that as a citizen of “this country [i.e. Turkey, where he did two years of military service) he wants to be treated as an equal and not as a second class citizen.

The Patriarch said he raised several times in writing the issue of the Theological Seminary in Halki and other matters with Prime Minister Erdogan. The answer he got was the same: reciprocity. For Halki to reopened, the Greeks have to allow a mosque in Athens. In reality, the Greek capital already has an Islamic Centre with an adjacent place of worship.

“We are not against a mosque in Athens,” Bartholomew said. “But they are making us pay for something which we are not responsible for.”

The Theological Seminary in Halki was run in accordance with the regulations of the Education Ministry until it was shut down in 1971, Bartholomew said. It had a high school and a college.

“We have asked for permission to close the school because we have not had any students for years and still have a deputy school principal who gets paid for a place that stands empty. Instead, we applied to reopen the college, which the authorities closed.”

“Schools that belong to other minorities are in the same situation. Even the Education Ministry says that there is no legal obstacle to our request, but falls back on the notion of reciprocity with regard to the Muslim minority in Greek Thrace,” the Patriarch said.

However, the two situations are very different. There are only 3,000 Greek Orthodox are left in Istanbul compared to 150,000 Muslims in Greek Thrace (who have 400 mosques and three Qur’anic schools).

That was not the case in the recent past when Istanbul was home to 130,000 Orthodox Christians.

Some claim they left of their own accord, but no one leaves if they have a business or a job. Instead, those who left fled because of the “incidents” of September 1955 (when Greek property was destroyed), real estate taxes (targeting minorities), forced exile in Askale, the Cyprus issue, and more. For this reason, we feel let down, the Patriarch said, and we shall take all legal steps at our disposal.

Even in Istanbul’s diplomatic circles, such remarks have raised eyebrows because several times in the past Bartholomew said that he believed in Erdogan’s goodwill. Still diplomatic sources acknowldge that Turkey’s situation is very complex and it is hard to understand whether what officials say expresses a desire for real change or not.

For his part, Istanbul-born historian E. Milas notes that whilst the authorities do not recognise the Ecumenical Patriarchate, they do recognise the so-called Turkish Orthodox Church, which was set up by the Turkish state, whose membership is so small it could not fill up a minibus even if it tried, but whose offices (confiscated from the Greek Orthodox Church) served as the headquarters for the ultra-nationalist Kemalist group Ergenekon.

Even well-known writer A. Aslan said that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, or the priest Bartholomew as Turkish authorities continue to call him, is greeted by everyone with his historical title of patriarch, “whilst we continue to stick our heads in the sand, thinking that we can solve our problems with the Kurds and the Alevi and forget everything about we have done to the Armenians.”

As an apostolic nuncio with a long experience in the Middle East said, things in Turkey hardly change. Even when there is some movement, change is too often nipped in the bud.

Perhaps there is some hope in younger Turks, who have travelled abroad and seen the world, and who might make a difference in a society that is in transition.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Turkey’s ‘Caferis’ Add Voice to Rights Chorus

Turkey’s Shiite minority community is following in the footsteps of the Circassians as it prepares to tell the government that it also wants equal rights. This Saturday, the Caferis will celebrate Aþura Day, which might serve for the first time as an opportunity for community leaders to draw attention to the demands they say have been long overlooked

Turkey’s ‘Caferi’ community will soon try to make its voice heard to a government already dealing with demands from Alevis, attempting to reconcile with the country’s Kurds and trying to solve problems with non-Muslim minorities.

Following the recent demand for rights by the Circassians, the Caferis, Turkey’s Shiite minority, believe that they also deserve equal rights.

As the Caferi community prepares to commemorate Aþura Day, which marks the killing of Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Hüseyin and his family, on Saturday, the event could for the first time turn into an occasion that draws attention to their requests.

“The Kurdish initiative, the Armenian and Roma people’s initiative… when will our turn come? Are we so unlikable?” said Selahattin Özgündüz, leader of the Caferis and head of CaferiDer, an association that conducts research and education on the Caferi faith.

Özgündüz said he believes the Turkish government has neglected the Caferi community.

“If cultural diversity makes a [society] rich and is something that deserves rights, why are we treated as ‘others’ and alienated? When will they ask us what we want?” said Özgündüz, who addressed the issues faced by the Caferi community in his speech for Aþura Day.

When the government asks the community to list its problems, he said, the Caferi will bring together the right people and establish a team to address the issue.

Problems in Shiite community

“Our problems are great enough to destroy our souls,” Özgündüz said.

These problems primarily have to do with how Caferis are defined in elementary school religion textbooks, training and paying the salaries of both Caferi imams and Sunni Muslim preachers, building mosques and obstacles members of the community face on pilgrimages to Mecca.

“The Caferi faith entered the textbooks last year, but only on one page,” said Özgündüz. “There are three different dates for the birth of the Caferi faith. What should these children believe in: the things that their parents teach them or their teachers?”

The main problems derive from the fact that the Religious Affairs Directorate and other public institutions, such as schools, address only Sunni Muslims, said Özgündüz. “But the Shiite community also pays taxes,” he added. “We indirectly pay the salary of a Sunni imam and the community also trains and pays the salary of a Caferi imam.”

Although the Religious Affairs Directorate does not seem to be a sufficient institution for Shiites in Turkey, Özgündüz said, it should not be removed because the consequences of such an act are unknown.

If the directorate is removed, sheiks from different religious cults might emerge and lead people to radicalism, Özgündüz said, adding, “The country might descend into chaos as a result.”

Changes in the law could bring equality among different sects of Islam and different religions, according to Özgündüz. He said the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, or TRT, should also establish programs that introduce the Caferi faith.

Özgündüz underscored that the community does not feel like, nor does it attempt to be, a minority in Turkey. He also said national unity would be in the Caferis’ best interests.

Another group that is demanding rights from the government is the Arab-Alevi community in southern Turkey. It agrees about the struggles over the years regarding the attempts to have their own imam or mescid, also known as a prayer house.

“After the Alevi workshop, we were able to have our own imams, which was very difficult in the past,” said Ahmet Topacýk, a member of the Arab-Alevi community living in the Adana province. He also works for the Mediterranean Social Solidarity, Education, Health and Culture Foundation, or ASDA.

“We want to live our faith freely,” Topacýk said. “Our community is not a rebellious one and it wants peace and unity in Turkey. These rights will increase that peace.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Turkish, Syrian News Agencies Sign Cooperation Protocol

(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, DECEMBER 23 — Turkish and Syrian national news agencies signed today a cooperation protocol. Hilmi Bengi, the director general of Turkey’s Anadolu Agency (AA), and Adnan Mahmoud, the director general of Syria’s news agency (SANA), signed the protocol in Damascus on the sidelines of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Syria. Under the protocol, the two news agencies will exchange stories and photographs and cooperate in various areas. The Syrian news agency launched news broadcasting in Turkish some time ago. The two news agencies will give technical and training support to each other. Also, state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and its Syrian counterpart signed a cooperation protocol. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Escalation Desired

Germany Intensifies Mission in Afghanistan

The German-ordered air strike that led to civilian casualties in Afghanistan in early September was more than an aberration by a Bundeswehr officer. The German government and the military leadership have long supported taking a tougher approach against the Taliban.

He said nothing about the crux of the matter. German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was standing in the German parliament, the Bundestag, giving a speech that was filled, as usual, with well-made sentences, and yet it resolved nothing.

His appearance in the Bundestag last Wednesday had been preceeded by reports that morning that Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the former inspector general of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, had accused the defense minister of “not telling the truth.”

It was a declaration of war, an outrageous move for a senior military commander to be making against his defense minister. In his speech to the Bundestag, Guttenberg could have dismissed the accusation, but he didn’t. Instead, he attacked the opposition while saying nothing about Schneiderhan’s central charge.

Officials with the Defense Ministry are now claiming that Schneiderhan and Peter Wichert, a state secretary in the defense ministry, concealed the fact that there were other reports on the Kunduz bombing (in addition to the NATO report Guttenberg already had) when the defense minister specifically asked the two men about the existence of such reports in a meeting on Nov. 25. In an interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Schneiderhan rejected this claim, saying: “With regard to the afternoon of the 25th, he is not telling the truth.”

Both Schneiderhan and Wichert have since been dismissed. But Guttenberg will not be able to remain in office for long if it turns out that he lied about his conversation with the highest-ranking soldier in the Bundeswehr. For the time being, however, it remains a matter of one man’s word against another’s.

It is now up to the Bundestag Defense Committee, which announced last Wednesday that it would also serve as investigative committee in the Kunduz scandal, to determine who is telling the truth. The committee plans to hear testimony from Guttenberg and Chancellor Angela Merkel soon, and a civil trial could ensue. Meanwhile, Schneiderhan has stated that he had not authorized the publication of the remarks he was quoted as saying.

The committee will also have to determine what really happened in the early morning hours of Sept. 4, when German Colonel Georg Klein ordered an air strike against Taliban fighters gathered around two kidnapped tanker trucks that resulted in numerous civilian casualties.

A Whitewashing Campaign

The incident also marked the beginning of a massive campaign to cover up and whitewash what actually happened in Kunduz. Not a single politician or senior military official told the public the full truth. The subject was to be kept off the radar during Germany’s fall parliamentary election campaign, so as not to ruffle the feathers of an already skeptical electorate. Now the incident has been magnified to a far greater extent than would have been the case if those involved had decided to come clean with the public in the first place.

This was precisely what the chancellor had promised voters: that nothing would be withheld or sugarcoated. Precisely the opposite occurred, resulting in a disaster for German democracy.

There are three phases to the Klein case, and new details are emerging almost daily. Each phase is explosive in its own right, and each illustrates the extent of Germany’s misgivings over going to war, any war.

The main phase consists of the hours between the kidnapping of the tanker trucks and the air strike. New information suggests that there was even disagreement between the assessments of Colonel Klein and his forward air controller during this phase.

Retooling from a Reconstruction Team to a Combat Force

The preliminary phase began roughly in the fall of 2008. The events leading up to Sept. 4, 2009 show that the Bundeswehr in Kunduz, responding to political pressure, had gradually transformed itself from a reconstruction team to a combat force. For this reason, Klein’s fatal order cannot be treated as an isolated aberration.

The follow-up phase began immediately after the air strike. According to the latest information, the Bundeswehr immediately began its efforts to cover up the incident.

In the NATO investigative report, which deals with the main phase, the forward air controller, whose code name was “Red Baron 20,” said on the record that he and Colonel Klein had had differing assessments of the situation. According to his statement, on the night of Sept. 4 he and Klein were sitting in the German operations center in Kunduz, where Red Baron was responsible for contact with the American “Trinity” air operations center. The third officer in the room was Captain N., who was in charge of intelligence operations in Kunduz.

At 12:48 a.m., an American B-1 bomber that was circling above the tanker trucks sent a radio message consisting of the word “Bingo.” This meant that it was time for the aircraft to refuel. Red Baron requested other aircraft, but the American air command center replied that it could not provide air support unless there were “troops in contact,” that is, German soldiers in contact with the enemy.

It was in that moment that the subsequent course of the night would be decided. If Klein had told the Americans the truth, there would not have been air strike.

Red Baron later told the NATO investigative team that Klein had repeatedly kept him out of the loop on that evening, either disappearing into another room or whispering something to Captain N. That was what happened after the B-1 bomber had left the scene, according to Red Baron, who told the NATO investigators that Klein and Captain N. had discussed the situation privately for a few minutes and then reached a decision: Colonel Klein would have the forward air controller report that there were indeed “troops in contact” and request air support. He did so, and soon two F-15 fighter jets were dispatched to the scene.

According to the NATO investigative report, Red Baron testified, on Sept. 26, that he had not believed that the situation posed an immediate threat, nor did he believe that it was “necessary to report troops in contact.” The investigators asked Red Baron why he had not raised an objection to stop Klein. The forward air controller replied: “I am a soldier, and he is my commander.”

‘Questionable’ Information

Red Baron was apparently also unsure whether the people crowded around the tanker trucks were only Taliban. The NATO report states that the Bundeswehr’s Afghan informant had reported that the only people at the scene were insurgents, but that Red Baron had considered the information “questionable.”

At 1:18 a.m., the American pilots wanted to know what had happened to the drivers of the kidnapped trucks. At that point, the Afghan informant had already reported that one of the drivers had been shot and killed, but that the other one was still alive and had merely been beaten by the Taliban. Nevertheless, Red Baron’s response to the Americans’ question was that he had no information about the fate of the drivers. The US pilots, concluding that no innocent civilians would be killed on the ground, released their bombs.

Why did Klein lie? He has not commented on the incident yet. Until Sept. 4, he was not seen as a reckless man, but as a model officer. Could it be that he felt a need to act in accordance with political wishes? There is a history leading up to his order to bomb the tanker trucks that suggests that this could be the case.

Two hundred well-trained and well-equipped soldiers, members of the Bundeswehr’s Quick Reaction Force, or QRF, left Germany for Afghanistan in June 2008. They were being sent to replace a group of Norwegian troops, and their mission was to wage offensive war against insurgents. “We are not talking about patrols and evacuations, but about offensive operations,” said Birgit Homburger, the defense policy spokesperson of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) parliamentary group at the time.

“QRF is not PRT,” said then Bundeswehr Inspector General Schneiderhan, putting it in a nutshell. The PRT, or Provincial Reconstruction Team, is the name used to describe the bulk of Bundeswehr troops in Kunduz. Its mission is to provide the Afghans with reconstruction assistance. This does not apply to the QRF, whose purpose is to attack members of the Taliban. Despite the QRF’s obvious combat orientation, the German government and representatives of all parliamentary groups, with the exception of the Left Party, approved the mission.

In the coming months, the combat unit — which was in fact stationed in the relatively quiet Mazar-e-Sharif — was needed more and more frequently in the Kunduz area, where “incidents affecting security” were becoming more common.

On Oct. 20, 2008, two German soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing.

On Oct. 21, two state secretaries, August Hanning of the Interior Ministry and Peter Wichert of the Defense Ministry, traveled to Afghanistan, where they remained until Oct. 25.

‘It Cannot Go On Like This’

When the two Germans met with Afghan National Security Advisor Zalmay Rassul, they wanted to know “why known backers of the attacks on German police officers and soldiers were not being called to account.” Their words carried an unspoken threat: We will take matters into our own hands, if necessary.

Back in Berlin, Wichert scheduled an unusual meeting. He asked representatives of the Chancellery, the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, to attend a confidential meeting at the Defense Ministry. The attendees were contacted by telephone. There was no written invitation. The meeting revolved around two concrete questions: Who was behind the attacks in Kunduz? What could the German government do against the backers of those attacks?

“It cannot go on like this. I’m very concerned,” said Hanning, who, together with Wichert, had convened the meeting and was reporting from Afghanistan. “The situation in and around Kunduz is far more dramatic than the public believes,” he told the group. Hanning, intent on hunting down the Taliban backers, favored a tougher approach. From his perspective, for German troops the conflict boiled down to either hunting or being hunted.

Armin Hasenpusch, the BND’s vice president for military affairs, summarized the situation as his organization saw it. On a colorful chart prepared by the BND to depict the region surrounding Kunduz, an oval area shaded in green identified the sphere of influence of an important commander in northern Afghanistan, whose name is on the NATO troops’ wanted lists: Mullah Shamsuddin. He’s an experienced Pashtun commander who controlled the surrounding villages and had ordered girls’ schools there closed a few months earlier. The mullah is a member of the so-called Northern Afghanistan Shura Council, a shadow government appointed by the Taliban leadership in Pakistan.

From Bridge Builders to Combat Soldiers

The group of senior German government officials would convene several times after that initial meeting, always at the Defense Ministry, and it introduced an unspoken paradigm shift: Bit by bit, the bridge builders of the PRT were to become combat soldiers.

The German position shifted a little further in early May. The BND had located a local Taliban leader named Abdul Razeq, and its agents knew where he was and what he was planning. Razeq, who apparently headed one of the local terrorist cells, was believed to be responsible for various attacks on the Germans. The Bundeswehr knew that it could catch him, but it had to be interested in catching him. Until then, it had had no interest in Razeq.

Then things changed. This time the Bundeswehr sent out its KSK special forces unit. Sixty kilometers (37 miles) southeast of Faizabad, in northeastern Afghanistan, the elite unit stormed a farmhouse and then chased Razeq as he fled into the mountains, where he was caught. The Germans then flew Razeq to Kabul on board a Transall military transport aircraft and turned him over to a special prosecutor.

By now it was clear that the Germans had changed their position. Now they were hunting the Taliban.

Meanwhile, back in Berlin, the defense ministry and senior military officials were hard at work to ensure that German soldiers would be capable of engaging in combat.

Part 2: The Bundeswehr Gets Teeth

On April 8, 2009, the following sentence was deleted from the NATO operations plan: “The use of deadly force is prohibited, unless an attack is underway or imminent.”

The Germans had originally included these “national clarifying remarks” in the wording of the NATO plan to ensure that Bundeswehr soldiers would only be permitted to shoot in self-defense. In statements relating to the NATO rules of engagement numbered 421 to 424 and 429A and 429B, the Germans clarified that they did not wish to characterize their attacks as “attacks,” but as the “use of appropriate force.” But now none of this applied anymore.

At this time, the defense policy experts at the Bundestag were addressing concerns about military equipment. Rainer Arnold, the defense policy spokesman of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group, said that it was irresponsible to “send soldiers on their dangerous missions without giving them the protection that would be possible as a result of superior Western technology.” Arnold wanted the Bundeswehr to have combat helicopters in Afghanistan.

His counterpart with the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Bernd Siebert, campaigned for the Panzerhaubitze 2000 (“Armored howitzer 2000”), a serious weapon, the use of which quickly came to be associated with dead civilians.

The soldiers, for their part, were not just concerned about the lack of equipment, but also the question of what exactly they were permitted to do on this mission. The German government has been consistently reluctant to refer to the conflict as a war, even though the men and women stationed in northern Afghanistan had long felt that they were involved in one, except that they were not being truly permitted to fight.

He had felt like bait in a trap, a soldier wrote to his comrades in June. Despite being in a dangerous situation, the soldier wrote, regulations required that he wait until the Taliban attacked before returning fire. Others reported having to attract attention by slamming doors or flashing their headlights before they could begin fighting with insurgents waiting to ambush them. This raises the question of whether the legal qualms of the mission leadership turned the soldiers into targets.

Despite the deleted clauses in the NATO operations plans, the Germans still face limited options. Under the rules of engagement, which every Bundeswehr soldier stationed abroad carries with him in the form of a so-called pocket card, the German troops are only permitted to defend themselves against attack, ward off attacks or provide emergency assistance.

Sounding the Attack

At the behest of members of parliament, the legal department at the Defense Ministry amended the soldiers’ pocket cards. The cards now read: “Attacks can be prevented, for example, by taking action against individuals who are planning, preparing or supporting attacks, or who exhibit other forms of hostile behavior.” The Bundeswehr was sounding the attack, as the Germans began a major military offensive in an attempt to regain control over the region surrounding Kunduz.

“The time had come to commence the escalation,” then Inspector General Schneiderhan told the Berlin press on July 22.

The defense experts in the Bundestag were enthusiastic about the new military approach. “The ministry has finally recognized that the German interpretation of the rules of engagement are not consistent with the realities in Afghanistan,” said FDP politician Rainer Stinner.

And SPD politician Rainer Arnold said: “It’s good that the pocket card is now being amended to reflect the realities of the mission, thereby preventing uncertainty among the soldiers from arising in the first place.” German soldiers, he added, couldn’t simply run away from terrorists once they had recognized them.

The situation in Kunduz came to a head in August, when the BND warned that the Taliban was preparing to overrun the German base there. According to the BND, a suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with explosives would break through the first barrier into the base, making way for a second truck, also filled with explosives, to blow up the main gate. This would allow 50 to 100 Taliban fighters to enter the camp and attack the PRT directly.

There had also been indications in the preceding weeks that several suicide attacks against Germans were planned. Mullah Shamsuddin and his men were presumed to be behind all the plans.

At this point, there was also a so-called Task Force 47 unit in the camp. With a few dozen KSK soldiers and Bundeswehr scouts, the unit’s mission was to project the Kunduz camp. The soldiers monitored the surrounding area, searched for rocket positions, evaluated drone images, recruited local informants and, together with interpreters, listened in on the radio communications of possible enemies.

The KSK soldiers call it “tracking,” when they detect and follow insurgents. At the beginning of September, the KSK unit was apparently tracking four local Taliban leaders, Mullah Abdul Rahman, Maulawi Naim, Mullah Siah and Mullah Nasruddin. Each of them commanded about 15 fighters and controlled small areas around Kunduz.

In the night between Sept. 3 and Sept. 4, these local Taliban leaders appeared at the hijacked tanker trucks when they were stuck on a sandbar.

The trucks had been kidnapped in Shamsuddin’s territory on the evening of Sept. 3 by one of his local commanders, Mullah Abdul Rahman. The Afghan intelligence service had had its eye on Rahman for some time and was listening in on his mobile phone conversations. The BND also had him under surveillance.

Shamsuddin and Abdul Rahman were the enemy, the people who had launched repeated attacks on Colonel Klein’s soldiers. It is quite possible that the incident on the Kunduz River boiled down to a power struggle between Mullah Abdul Rahman and Colonel Klein. Klein himself used the word “destroy” to convey the intention of his order.

He had good reason to believe that his superiors and the German government would approve of his robust actions, particularly after having looked on as they had paved the way for a stronger German military response in the preceding months. However, Klein bears sole responsibility for probably having lied to convince the Americans to drop the bombs.

Part 3: ‘At Least 100 Were Apparently Killed’

The third phase was also characterized by lies. It began directly after the air strike.

Only a few hours later, still on Sept. 4, a confidential, three-page report, of which SPIEGEL has a copy, was written in Kunduz. The author is a sergeant who manages Afghan informants. His report proves how early the Bundeswehr knew about the devastating effects of the strike within the civilian population. According to the Bundeswehr, the informant was an Afghan “with direct access to information on the activities of the insurgents in the Chahar Dara district.” The informant’s information had been “relatively credible” in the past.

According to the informant, the casualties included “Taliban as well as civilians.” The Taliban had apparently intended to distribute the fuel from the tankers, the source reported. “This was the reason for the large number of civilians in the area.” At least 100 people were apparently killed.

The sergeant felt that the informant’s report was credible, because it confirmed the mission “at its core.” According to the sergeant, it seemed “likely that civilians were also killed in the air strike,” and it was even “conceivable” that, at the time of the bombing, “a large number of civilians was present” to collect free gasoline from the tankers.

The sergeant, concerned about the fallout, wrote in his report: “Should the information prove to be true, particularly the information about the large number of civilian casualties, negative consequences are quite possible.”

The report remained classified. Publicly, the Bundeswehr, ranging all the way up to then Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, initially claimed that there were no civilian casualties, and that all those killed were Taliban. The investigative committee will now have to determine who knew about the document when, and who decided, against his better judgment, to claim the opposite was true.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe in southwestern Germany is now looking into whether it should launch an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Klein. Until now, the investigators have assumed that purpose of the air strike was to defend against impending attack. In that sort of a situation, international criminal law permits the killing of enemies, even if this could lead to civilian casualties.

There is no clear mathematical formula in international criminal law defining a military strike as a violation of international law once a certain number of casualties has been reached. Until now, the Karlsruhe investigators have been eager to give Klein the benefit of the doubt. From their offices in a provincial southern German city, they have been loath to decide how a commander in Afghanistan should view the world.

But the picture becomes more complicated if it turns out that Klein knew, at the time of the bombing, that there were still civilians and an innocent truck driver in the target area. The federal judges will now have to determine whether Klein was prepared to accept the possibility of collateral damage during the attack.

The clearer it becomes that there was no acute threat and that the air strike was ordered out of a purely destructive desire, the narrower the investigators’ latitude, and the more thoroughly federal prosecutors have to examine the case. And the more serious the outcome of the Karlsruhe investigation is, the greater the collateral damage for the Bundeswehr will be. Soldiers pay very close attention to the consequences a commander must anticipate when he makes a decision with fatal consequences.

And so the soldiers remain stuck somewhere between the Taliban and the law. The Taliban attack the Germans where they can, and the prosecutors pay close attention to whether the Germans strike back on a regular basis.

This is what happens when a democracy wages war. It cannot be any different. But when a military mission is accompanied by lies and cover-ups, democracy squanders its moral advantage.

Reported by ULRIKE DEMMER, MATTHIAS GEBAUER, JOHN GOETZ, DIRK KURBJUWEIT, HOLGER STARK

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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India: BJP Leader Sponsors Christmas Concert Attended by Christians, Muslims and Hindus

Some 4,000 people attend the Festival of Christmas held in Bandra, Mumbai. Titled ‘Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus together”, it was sponsored by Ashish Shelar, the new face of the local BJP.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — The Supari Talao Ground in Bandra, Mumbai, hosted a Christmas concert attended by Christians, Hindus and Muslims. The event was organised to aid Atmavishwas, a NGO, and was sponsored by Ashish Shelar, the rising star of the local wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The 36-year-old attorney heads the Hindu nationalist party at the State level. The theme of the event was “Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus together”.

Nearly 4,000 people came to the Christmas festival to hear carols like ‘Holy Night’ and some original compositions like ‘It’s Christmas Day today’ written and performed by Bashir Sheikh, a Muslim singer.

The event ended in a sour note when police moved to stop the concert because of the noise.

For organisers, the police was unfair, but they complied with the injunction to avoid politicising the event.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Ashish Shelar said that the Christmas festival was an initiative designed to focus on ‘expression through culture”.

For him, India’s secular values are enshrined in the constitution. “As a lawyer, I have defended the rights of the Christian community and it is admirable that it has never demanded anything illegal, and is known for dialogue, tolerance and peace.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Pakistani Eunuchs to Have Distinct Gender

Pakistan’s Supreme Court says eunuchs must be allowed to identify themselves as a distinct gender in order to ensure their rights.

The eunuchs, known as “hijras” in Pakistan, are men castrated at an early age for medical or social reasons.

The court said they should be issued with national identity cards showing their distinct gender.

The government has also been ordered to take steps to ensure they are entitled to inherit property.

‘Respect and identity’

There are estimated to be about 300,000 hijras in Pakistan and they are generally shunned by the largely Muslim conservative society.

They tend to live together in slum communities, surviving through begging and by dancing at weddings and carnivals.

A hijra association has welcomed the order, saying it is “a major step giving respect and identity in society”.

Indian authorities last month agreed to list eunuchs and transgender people by using the term “others”, distinct from males and females, on electoral rolls and voter identity cards, after a long-running campaign by the members of the community.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Why Does Pakistan Hate the United States?

Because it is dependent on us.

Give credit to the vice president: He really does enjoy politics and “can’t see a room without working it,” as a colleague of mine half-admiringly remarked last Wednesday morning. We were waiting to enter the studio and comment after Biden had finished his interview with the Scarborough/Brzezinski team, in which the main topic was Afghanistan. Exiting, he chose to stop and talk to each of us. Not wanting to waste a chance to be a bore on the subject, I asked him why he had mentioned India only once in the course of his remarks. Right away Biden managed the trick—several good politicians have mastered this—of reacting as if the question had been his own idea. Of course, he said, it was vexing that Pakistan preferred to keep its best troops on the border with India (our friend) rather than redeploying them to FATA—the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas—where they could be fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida (our enemy). My flesh was pressed, and it was on to the next. The newspapers that morning revealed that Pakistani authorities showed no interest in apprehending a Taliban leader in Afghanistan whom they considered an important asset. The newspapers the following morning reported that Pakistan was refusing to extend the visas to U.S. Embassy and other American personnel, resulting in a gradual paralysis of everything from intelligence-gathering to the maintenance of helicopters.

Several questions arise from this. The first: Who is in charge of policy in the area? When some hard words had to be spoken to President Hamid Karzai about the dire and ramshackle nature of his regime, it was the vice president who drew the job of delivering them. For the rest of the time, the Af-Pak dimension is supposedly overseen by Richard Holbrooke, who seems lately to show some outward signs of discontent. Yet on one day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may appear on the tarmac at Kabul or Islamabad. On another it will be Secretary of Defense Robert Gates or the CIA or any number of a series of generals. If this is really a “team of rivals,” it doesn’t seem to have had the effect of clarifying policy differences by debate. It looks more like one damn thing after another.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Australia: Pope’s Recognition of Nun’s Miracle Welcomed

Sydney, 21 Dec. (AKI) — A woman cured of inoperable lung cancer has welcomed a decision by Pope Benedict XVI to recognise her recovery as a miracle. The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, prayed to Mary MacKillop, the Sisters of St Joseph nun now set to become Australia’s first saint.

Benedict confirmed Mary’s second miracle on Saturday, paving the way for her to become Australia’s first saint.

The approved miracle, which involved the healing of a woman with cancer during the mid-1990s, had to be assessed by a number of medical experts as well as theologians before it was decreed by the Vatican.

Speaking in the Australian city of Sydney on Sunday, Anne Derwan said the woman at the centre of Mother Mary’s second miracle did not yet wish to be identified, but would tell her story when the time was right.

Meanwhile, the woman has released a statement which was read by Sister Derwan.

“This is wonderful news,” the statement said.

“I feel personally humbled and grateful to Mary MacKillop, and the influence she has had on my life.

The woman added Mary had always provided her with hope and inspiration.

“I hope this news today provides others, especially younger Australians, with inspiration and encouragement to live as generously and as compassionately as Mary did.”

The Vatican confirmed Mary MacKillop’s first miracle in 1971.

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995 and she is expected to be canonised in 2010.

She died at Alma Cottage, adjacent to Mary MacKillop Chapel, North Sydney, in 1909.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Eritrea Hit With UN Sanctions for ‘Aiding Insurgents’

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Eritrea because of aid it says it has been giving to Islamic insurgents in Somalia.

The resolution places an arms embargo on Eritrea, and also imposes travel bans and asset freezes on businesses and individuals.

Members of the Eritrean leadership are expected to be affected. The resolution was backed by 13 votes to 15.

China abstained while Libya, the only Arab council member, voted against.

Eritrean officials have repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them a “fabrication” of US intelligence.

‘Ludicrous’

The country suspended its membership of the African Union in protest at the call for sanctions in April.

A draft of the resolution obtained by Reuters news agency demands that Eritrea “cease arming, training and equipping armed groups and their members including al-Shabab”.

As a result of the Security Council vote, Eritrea becomes the first new country to be subjected to UN sanctions since they were imposed on Iran in 2006.

In a letter to the council last week, Eritrea’s ambassador to the UN, Araya Desta, called the sanctions “ludicrous punitive measures”.

He warned that their imposition risked “engulfing the region in to another cycle of conflict as it may encourage Ethiopia to contemplate reckless military adventures”.

The UN has frequently expressed concern about the flow of arms in to Somalia, where hardline Islamists of al-Shabab and Hizbul-Islam are battling with government forces for control of the capital Mogadishu.

Somalia has been subject to a UN arms embargo for many years, but weapons are still freely available in the Mogadishu weapons market.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Mali Albino Given Spanish Asylum ‘Fled Discrimination’

Lawyers for a Malian albino man granted asylum in Spain have told the BBC he faced constant discrimination at home.

Abdoulaye Coulibaly, 22, who arrived illegally by boat in the Spanish Canary Islands in April, says he also survived two kidnap attempts in 2007.

Cases of violence aimed at albinos are unusual in Mali, but there have been numerous cases of murder, kidnap and torture of albinos in East Africa.

Lawyers say Mr Coulibaly’s case shows the problems are more widespread.

In Tanzania, witchdoctors sell good-luck potions made from the body parts of albino people for thousands of dollars.

‘Bad luck’

Mr Coulibaly is the first albino man from Africa to be granted asylum by Spain.

His case was taken up by the Spanish refugee aid agency, CEAR.

“He found it difficult to get work in Mali and whenever anything went wrong in his town, people would blame him,” Kimi Aoki, a lawyer from CEAR in Las Palmas, told the BBC.

“They said he brought bad luck,” she said.

Mr Coulibaly was even blamed when the boat that carried the migrants to Spain from Africa got into difficulty.

Ms Aoki said he escaped two kidnap attempts with the help of people on the street.

“They tried to kidnap me twice to use my body,” Mr Coulibaly told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

“I know they cut off the fingers and hands of other albinos to use them in rituals.”

[…]

“We’ve been telling people that albinos are human like anyone else, that their hair doesn’t bring happiness or wealth, that their heart is the same as anyone’s,” the foundation’s Mamoutou Keita says.

“More and more people are starting to understand that an albino is like anyone else. All that’s different is the lack of melanin in their skin.”

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Chavez Announces New Discount ‘Socialist’ Stores

President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday announced a new chain of government-run, cut-rate retail stores that will sell everything from food to cars to clothing from places such as China, Argentina and Bolivia.

“We’re creating Comerso, meaning Socialist Corporation of Markets,” Chavez said at the opening of a “socialist” fast-food location for traditional Venezuelan arepas (cornbread).

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Crime Has Gone Unchecked Too Long for Somali Community in Britain

Somalia’s reputation as a failed state is unsurpassed. War has raged for decades, a seemingly never-ending civil and religious conflict that has spawned brutality, oppression, poverty, hunger and a tide of refugees.

At one extreme there is the Islamist Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahidin, a violent faction driven by religious fervour. At the other is the pirates who prey on international shipping lanes and are motivated solely by Mammon.

It is tempting to look at the large Somali community in Britain and find those extremes at play. There have been reports that the pirate captains are directed from London by contacts who have access to information about what ships might be worth attacking, and reports that al-Shabaab is fuelled by recruits from these shores.

The reality, however, is that the piracy connection to London is not established and, although the jihadi link is real, the numbers travelling to train, fight and die in Somalia are believed to be small compared with the thousands in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The only terrorist plot here with a firm link to Somalia was the failed bombings of July 21, 2005. One Somali youth volunteered to be a bomber but the investigation proved that the entire cell had been radicalised in Britain before its leader went to Pakistan to complete his indoctrination.

The most destabilising by-product of the large-scale Somali migration to Britain has been the propensity of a significant number of young Somali men to become involved in crime and to use violence. It is not the done thing for senior police officers to discuss such trends bluntly — the racial overtones are too sensitive — but on the front line the reality has been inescapable.

The murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, by a Somali gunman in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is the best-known example of violence from criminal elements within the Somali community. In Sheffield, police tackling a gang problem were struck by the lack of inhibition among the Somali members when it came to using violence — describing it as verging on torture.

In Birmingham in 2005, police obtained an injunction to keep a Somali man out of the Edgbaston red light district after identifying him as a suspect in a series of knife-point rapes. He was later convicted of the attacks.

London’s Somali gangs are many in number, contemptuous of the police and prolific in crime and violence. There are encouraging signs however that a community characterised by its tribal structure, distrust of authority and sense of alienation is beginning to tire of its reputation and realise that it can empower itself to improve its situation.

Youth forums are working with the police and women’s groups are emerging from a male-dominated culture to make their voices heard. A Somali woman recently joined the Metropolitan Police and witnesses from within the community played a part in solving a murder in South London.

These fragile shoots are being nurtured by the police and other agencies who recognise that the problems of crime and violence from within a difficult-to-reach community have gone unchecked for too long.

— Hat tip: Gaia

[Return to headlines]

Sweden: Immigrants a Risk Factor on Housing Group Form

“Immigrants” were listed along with “asbestos” and “noise” on a list of 39 risk factors on a form to be filled out by cooperative housing associations belonging to HSB Skåne in southern Sweden, reports Sydsvenskan newspaper. The list was intended to assess the health and safety environment of various HSB properties.

Christina Gyland, chairman of a housing association in Lund, adding that it bordered on being racist.

Katarina Burle, head of communication at HSB Skåne, told Sydsvenskan that the immigrant criteria was poorly formulated and was in the process of being removed from the form.

Burle said that it was initially used in housing areas with significant immigrant populations and was primarily intended to flag properties that would need information posted in multiple languages.

The risk assessment form originally came from Fastigo, the employer organisation of the real estate industry.

Fastigo head lawyer Jonas Stålnacke told the newspaper that while he understood how the immigrant criteria could be misunderstood, “it is not the case that we consider immigrants to be a risk factor in the working environment.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

UK: Failed Asylum Seeker Who Killed 12-Year-Old Girl Wins Court Bid to Stay in Britain

A failed asylum seeker who fled after knocking down and killing a 12-year-old girl has won his appeal to stay in Britain.

The family of Amy Houston, who was left dying under the wheels of Aso Mohammed Ibrahim’s Rover car as she walked to the shops, have spoken of their disgust at the decision.

The Kurdish Iraqi was on bail and already disqualified from driving when he hit the schoolgirl.

Ibrahim, 32, who has never held a driving licence, was jailed for four months for driving while disqualified and failing to stop after an accident.

Now the father-of-two has won a court appeal against him being deported.

Amy’s father Paul said: ‘They may as well give passports out in lucky bags because that is all they are worth.

‘I cannot believe the judge’s decision and that he thinks it is right for him to stay here. Is he on another planet?’

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has pleaded to take the case to Home Secretary Alan Johnson in an attempt to force an appeal.

Mr Houston, 39, from Darwen in Lancashire, said: ‘It was very difficult for me to go to the hearing and stand 10 feet away from the man who killed my daughter.

‘If I thought he was genuinely sorry, I would have stood up in court and said I didn’t want him to be taken away from his children.

‘I know what it feels like to have your family broken up, but the fact that he has got to stay is an absolute travesty.

‘It’s the best Christmas present he could wish for and a terrible one for my family. Where is the justice in that?’

He added: ‘I will fight this decision for the rest of my life — or until he leaves the country. I owe Amy that much.’

Weeks before killing Amy in November 2003, Ibrahim had been banned for nine months for driving while disqualified, without insurance and without a licence.

Amy Houston was outside her home when she was knocked down.

Ibrahim was approaching traffic calming measures when a boy ran across the road, and Amy followed running into the path of Ibrahim’s car.

The youngster, who lived with her mother Joanne Cocker, had to be freed from underneath the vehicle by firefighters.

She was still trapped under the car when Ibrahim jumped out of the vehicle and ran off.

A police officer drove the ambulance to hospital so both paramedics could treat Amy but despite their efforts she died in hospital later that day.

After the accident Ibrahim confessed to a friend, who took him to a police station where he owned up.

Ibrahim, of Blackburn, had exhausted all his appeals to stay in Britain but was allowed to stay because Iraq was unsafe.

He has since married a British woman called Christina and now has two children.

In 2006, he was again convicted of driving while being disqualified.

Fourteen months ago he was taken to a deportation centre and UK Border Agency officials vowed they would try to deport him ‘at the earliest opportunity’.

But he was later released on bail and an appeal against the deportation began on the grounds he had married a British woman and they had two children.

Mr Houston added: ‘Why should he be allowed to walk free after what he has done?

‘I need to carry on fighting because I don’t want anyone else to find themselves in this position and I don’t want anybody else’s kid to get killed.

‘He’s just laughing at the British justice system. It is so wrong. Where is the justice for my Amy?’

Mr Straw said the judge’s decision, who was sitting at a court in Manchester, was very disappointing.

‘I will be speaking to the Home Secretary to see if there’s any way we can appeal against this decision, and I will also be talking to the family.

‘They have been through an awful time.’

Jo Liddy, regional director of the UK Border Agency in the North West said: ‘We are extremely disappointed.

‘We have made it clear that we will prioritise the removal of those foreign nationals who present the most risk of harm to the public.’

Speaking at the time of one appeal hearing, Ibrahim said: ‘This incident when Amy died was an accident and should not stop me living in this country with my family.

‘I did not expect to meet Christina or have any children when I came here seven years ago but it has happened and I cannot leave them.

‘I cannot go back to Iraq. Do you not watch the news? It is far too dangerous.’

In 2007, the Government introduced longer prison sentences for people causing a death while driving a car while disqualified or without valid insurance.

— Hat tip: Gaia

[Return to headlines]

UK: Illegal Immigrants ‘Used Loophole to Create Sham Marriages’ For the Right to Live in Britain

Illegal immigrants used a ‘loophole’ to bypass a government crackdown on sham marriages and pay cash to wed European women with the right to live in Britain, a court heard today.

They fooled Anglican Church officials into believing they were genuine couples in love and agreeing to allow the ‘bogus’ marriages to take place.

But a registrar suspicious about the number of Nigerian men marrying women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic tipped off police who uncovered a major conspiracy.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

In US, 80 Pct Believe in God, One Third Say He’s in Control

WASHINGTON — More than eight in 10 American adults believe in God but only three in 10 believe He controls what happens on Earth, and a mere one percent believe He is a She, a poll showed Tuesday.

Not all of the 82 percent of Americans who told the Harris polling agency that they believe in God were unshakable in their belief: only 59 percent were “absolutely certain” there is a God, while 15 percent were somewhat certain, the survey showed.

Born again Christians were the most likely to believe — 87 percent, followed by Protestants taken as a whole (76 percent), Republicans (72 percent), southerners (69 percent) and around two-thirds of blacks and women.

The least likely to believe in God were young and university-educated.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Rep. Stupak: White House Pressuring Me to Keep Quiet on Abortion Language in Senate Health Bill

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said the White House and the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives have been pressuring him not to speak out on the “compromise” abortion language in the Senate version of the health care bill.

“They think I shouldn’t be expressing my views on this bill until they get a chance to try to sell me the language,” Stupak told CNSNews.com in an interview on Tuesday. “Well, I don’t need anyone to sell me the language. I can read it. I’ve seen it. I’ve worked with it. I know what it says. I don’t need to have a conference with the White House. I have the legislation in front of me here.”

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

UK: Now the PC Brigade Wants to Re-Write Our Christmas Carols

Christmas carols are being rewritten to make them politically correct, a music teacher claimed yesterday.

Nic Robinson was surprised to find the words to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing had been changed to be ‘gender-inclusive’ by removing the words ‘man’, ‘men’ and ‘sons’.

Attending a carol service at his 13-year-old daughter Hannah’s school, he noticed that in verse two, the line ‘Pleased as man with man to dwell’ was changed to ‘Pleased with us in flesh to dwell’ on the printed sheet.

In the next verse, the lines ‘Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of Earth, Born to give them second birth’ were changed to ‘Born that we no more may die, Born to raise us from the earth, Born to give us second birth’.

Mr Robinson, 45, of Littleover, Derby, said: ‘It’s completely unnecessary. I don’t know any women who feel belittled by the use of the word ‘man’ or ‘son’.

‘Nowadays, there is a section of society that says everything has to conform to this bizarre gender-inclusive business.

‘It’s such a shame that things which are so well established are being changed for no reason at all. It makes me angry because I love the traditions around Christmas and the Church.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, one of the money-raising techniques used by Jamaat ul-Fuqra and its front group, the Muslims of America, has involved various forms of social welfare fraud — food stamps, ADC, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Some accounts allege that the Red House compound took in hundreds of thousands dollars through such schemes.

A similar operation was recently busted in Maine. Based on their names, the perpetrators of the scam described below are Muslim immigrants. According to a commenter on yesterday’s brief article, Mr. Guled and Ms. Osman are Somalis, although neither media report confirms this assertion.

Today’s article in The Sun Journal has a more detailed account:

Two Charged in Alleged Medicaid Scam

LEWISTON — An Auburn man and a Portland woman were indicted on 23 combined federal counts in an alleged attempt to defraud the government of thousands of dollars from state and federal programs in a case that likely is linked to a federal raid of a Lewiston office building in June.

According to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Yusuf Guled, 74, of Auburn arranged to have Dahabo Abdulle Osman, 58, of Portland serve as his personal care assistant to provide services for him at his home.

The indictment says Osman was paid based on false and fictitious time sheets that totaled more than $61,000.

Guled allegedly made false statements to nurse assessors to qualify for the services Osman was to provide, but which weren’t necessary.

Both defendants were charged with making false statements on their applications or for their continued eligibility to receive federal benefits, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Chapman said Tuesday.

Those benefits included:

– – – – – – – – –

• Supplemental Social Security income payments.
• Public housing or Section 8 subsidized housing.
• MaineCare.
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
• Food stamps.

Guled failed to disclose or falsely reported the number of bank accounts he held and the amounts they contained, the indictment says.

In August 2007, Guled had three bank accounts with combined balances of more than $25,000 while he was receiving benefits from at least three public programs, Chapman said.

Osman failed to disclose that she had gotten income as a personal care assistant. Over a three-year period ending June 2009, Osman was paid in that capacity from three agencies that provide such services to qualified MaineCare members. Those members are eligible to be admitted to a nursing home because they are unable to care for themselves and may choose to receive the services of a personal care assistant in their homes, according to the indictment.

One of the three agencies was in Portland, two were in Lewiston, the indictment says.

In early June, federal agents swarmed two floors of a downtown Lewiston office building, apparently seizing documents from two health care related organizations that provide personal home care assistants. The agents worked for the FBI as well as inspector general’s offices at Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Health and Human Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agents spent hours packing up boxes of documents, then loaded them into government vehicles and drove off without answering reporters’ questions.

The two agencies that were raided were Global Home Health Care and Decent Home Care Inc. The two Lewiston agencies to which the indictment refers are not named but are identified generically as Agencies 2 and 3.

A similar raid was carried out that day on Allen Avenue in Portland.

In July 2006, Guled arranged for Osman to be hired as his personal care assistant, according to the indictment. From that date until November 2008, Osman was paid by the two Lewiston agencies and the unnamed Portland agency to provide Guled with services. At various times in 2006 and up to around March 2007, Osman lived with Guled in his public housing, the indictment says.

Three of the 16 counts with which Guled is charged carry maximum penalties of 10 years each in prison. The remaining 13 counts each carries a maximum term of five years of imprisonment.

Three of the counts against Osman carry maximum terms of imprisonment of 10 years; the remaining nine, five years apiece.

The maximum fine for each count is $250,000.

Guled has no phone listing in Auburn and could not be contacted for comment. Osman also could not be reached.

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

Hat tip: Refugee Resettlement Watch.

Everyone knows Yousuf al-Qaradawi, the renowned Salafist spiritual leader and protégé of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qaradawi is notorious for his tirades against the Zionists and their infidel ways, and for his exhortations to fellow Muslims to return to the roots of their faith.

Now, in an amazing Christmas surprise, Yousuf al-Qaradawi has revealed his conversion to Christianity! Vlad Tepes presents his own translation of Sheikh Qaradawi’s message for Christmas 2009:

For a comparative translation, see the original MEMRI video.

[Post ends here]

For some reason Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has failed to get all wee-wee’d up about the Obama administration’s pseudo-ultimatum. He dismissed the end-of-the-year deadline for Iran to accept the UN’s nuke deal, and says that Iran is ten times stronger than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, the severe climate change cold snap continues in Europe, with France, Spain, and Italy being particularly hard hit. There was a major power outage in France, and two feet (60 cm) of snow fell on parts of north central Italy.

Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Esther, Insubria, JD, KGS, Lurker from Tulsa, MH, Paul Green, Sean O’Brian, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	Employees: Tulsa’s Arrow Trucking is Suspending Operations
	Italy: Fiat Agrees to Up Output
	Turkey: Unemployment Rate Remains at 13.4% in September ‘09
	USA
	Chicago-Area Imam First Muslim to Head Global Interfaith Group
	FBI Data Says Murders Fell 10 Per Cent in First Half of 2009 in US; Violent Crime Down
	House Dem Blames Leaders for Party Switch
	Lawyer: Fort Hood Suspect Prevented From Praying
	Republicans Lodge Constitutional Challenge to Health Bill
	Canada
	Beating Left Rink Volunteer Brain Damaged
	Europe and the EU
	Archaeology: Find in Southern France Puts Humans in Europe 200,000 Years Earlier
	British Army Accused of ‘Waterboarding’ In 1970s
	British Newspapers Misquote German Hitler Researcher
	EU-Turkey: Bildt, I Expect Visa Elimination on Agenda
	Fierce Cold Snap Hits Italy
	France: Two Million People Lose Power in Southeast
	Irish Commissioner Critical of Sarkozy
	Italy: Straits Bridge: First Site Starts Tomorrow Without Ceremony
	Italy: Government Decree for Nuclear Site Identification
	Italy: Perugia Killer Gets Jail Term Halved
	Klaus: Global Warming No Science But “New Religion”
	Obama, Queen Compete in Cheeky Spanish Tradition
	Police: Foreigner Behind Auschwitz Sign Theft
	Switzerland: Government Engages Muslims in Dialogue
	UK: Conservatives to Push Senate Over US Climate Bill
	UK: Police Probe Fugitive Suffolk Inmate’s Facebook Page
	Weather: More Inconvenience in Italy, Transport at Risk
	WJC Chides Vatican on Pius XII
	Balkans
	Bosnia: Strasbourg Court, Constitution Discriminatory
	Court Slams Bosnia for Barring Jews, Roma From Office
	EU-Croatia: Negotiations Move on, Slovenia Still a Mystery
	EU-Serbia: Belgrade to Present Membership Request Tomorrow
	North Africa
	Archaeology: Egypt Makes Official Request for Nefertiti
	Egypt: Cairo: Thousands Gather at Night to See Virgin Mary
	Egypt: Another Victory in Legal Battle Over Niqab
	Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Picks New Executive Body
	Spy Thriller From Bat Yam Takes Egypt by Storm
	Terrorism: Jihadists Mourn Mother of Top Al-Qaeda Leader
	Tunisian Fishermen Saved by Italian Patrol Boat
	Israel and the Palestinians
	First Jesus-Era House Found in Nazareth
	Hamas Protests Egypt’s Tunnel Wall on Gaza Border
	West Bank: Miss Palestine Pageant Cancelled
	Middle East
	Ahmadinejad on Nuke Deadline: ‘We Don’t Care’
	Al-Qaeda Vows Revenge for Yemeni Strike: TV
	Crowd of Opponents at the Funeral of Montazeri, “The Ayatollah of the Revolts”
	Iran: Pro-Govt Militias ‘Attack Late Cleric’s Home’
	Iran: France Refuses to Swap Iranian Prisoner for Clotilde Reiss
	Iranian Cyber Army Hijacked Twitter
	Iraqi Oil in the Diplomatic War Between Tehran and Washington
	Israel Can Withstand Iranian Missile Strike — Experts
	Syria-Lebanon: Hariri in Damascus, We Want Fraternal Relations
	The Obamas Watch But Don’t See the Tragic Fate F Middle East Women: A Four-Picture Allegory
	Turkey: Auto Insurance Sector a Battleground Between Genders
	Turkey: Crucifixion Remarks Lead to Tension Between Gov’t and Bartholomew
	Two Shiite Worshippers Gunned Down in Iraq
	South Asia
	Afghanistan: Taliban Fight Rules ‘Tying American Soldiers’ Hands’
	Indonesia: Aceh Sharia Forbids Chinese Dance of the Lions
	Malaysia Muslims Sour Over Revamped Pork Soup
	Pakistan Court Orders Brothers’ Noses, Ears Cut Off
	Pakistan: Girl Sold in Open Auction
	Far East
	Atmosphere of Fear at Christmas in North China
	Cambodian Government Expels 20 Chinese Uyghur Refugees
	Cambodian Deportation of Muslim Uighurs Criticised by UN
	China Pressuring U.S. On Weapons Deals
	Economy and Energy at the Centre of Meeting Between Beijing and the Burmese Junta
	Australia — Pacific
	Polluting Pets: The Devastating Impact of Man’s Best Friend
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	Foreign Fighters Lead Somali Fight
	Latin America
	Castro Accuses US of Plotting Against Cuba
	Immigration
	Ireland: Deportation of Mother Without Boy Condemned
	General
	History of Climate Gets ‘Erased’ Online

Employees: Tulsa’s Arrow Trucking is Suspending Operations

TULSA, OK — Employees are dealing with a Christmas crisis at one Tulsa business.

Employees at Arrow Trucking tell The News On 6 they are now out of a job because the company has run out of money and is suspending operations.

Employees say the announcement came Tuesday morning, but they’ve seen the signs for a while now.

Several employees told The News On 6 they haven’t been paid in months and others say there’s been problems with buying fuel for the truckers.

“Unfortunately my son, my first child, will be born in about four days and its three days before Christmas. I have no insurance now and I haven’t been paid for over a month. Mortgage is due, bills are due,” said J.P. Price, Arrow Trucking employee.

The News On 6 first heard about the possible suspending of operations late Monday night. The News On 6 contacted the company, but managers have refused to comment so far.

The News On 6 has received calls from truck drivers who say they are stranded and can’t get home. Some say they’re locked up at one of the company’s terminals, but that Arrow Trucking won’t let them leave in a company truck.

Other drivers say they’re stranded along their routes after the company shut off their fuel cards.

But according to the company’s voicemail, Arrow Trucking is providing bus tickets for them to go home.

A truck driver in Texas called The News On 6 and said his family bought him a plane ticket so that he can get home to Pennsylvania.

Arrow Trucking is headquartered in Tulsa, but has hundreds of employees around the country.

We’re told there are about 300 people who work in the office and about 1,000 truckers.

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Fiat Agrees to Up Output

But Sicily plant must go, Marchionne says

(ANSA) — Rome, December 22 — Fiat on Tuesday agreed to raise car production in Italy to up to one million by 2012 to ease the effect of the recession on its Italian workers.

But it confirmed that a cost-deficient Sicilian plant would have to be shut down.

At talks in Rome with Industry Minister Claudio Scajola and unions, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said Fiat was prepared to “raise production up to a range going from 800,000 to one million”, from the current 650,000. Going into the meeting, Scajola had asked the carmaker to raise output to 900,000 from 800,000 before the global crisis hit.

But Marchionne was adamant about shutting down car production at the expensive Termini Imerese plant in Sicily, whose workers protested outside the government offices.

He said Fiat was willing to talk to the regional government of Sicily about converting the plant to other uses.

“We are ready to put their plant at their disposal,” he said.

The factory on the northern Sicilian coast 30km (20 miles) east of Palermo would stop making cars in December 2011, he said.

Citing “structural difficulties,” he noted that Termini Imerese had been running at a loss for years.

Unions vowed a “strong” response to news of the closure. Marchionne said a restructuring of another inefficient plant, at Pomigliano d’Arco near Naples, was also “urgently” needed.

“Pomigliano simply can’t go on the way it is now,” Marchionne said, noting that Fiat had already put an extra one million euros ($1.4 million) into it “but this did not succeed in cutting the over-capacity (problem)”.

Marchionne stressed: “If we just think about social costs then this company would disappear”.

“We must tackle the problem (of high Italian labour costs) head-on: our future depends on it”.

“If we didn’t do that it would be our ruin”.

However, the CEO said Fiat had “ambitious” plans for Italy and was prepared to pour some 8 billion euros ($11.4 billion) into Italian plants over the next two years.

Marchionne said 11 new models would be introduced in the two-year period, he said, including new versions of the Fiat Panda, Lancia Ypsilon and Alfa Giulietta.

The new Panda would be made at Pomigliano, he said, confirming levels of production at Fiat’s two other key plants in Turin (Mirafiori) and Melfi in southern Italy.

There had been doubts going into the meeting whether Marchionne would meet the government’s demands. “We have six sites in Italy which produced the equivalent of one factory in Brazil. What kind of industrial logic is that?” Marchionne said recently.

At Tuesday’s talks, Marchionne said that the whole of Europe continues to suffer from over-capacity.

“European over-capacity must be tackled as US over-capacity has,” he said, adding that Chrysler was “fundamental” to Fiat’s future.

However, he warned, the overall outlook for Fiat/Chrysler in the global car market “continues to be unfavourable”. Amid the bargaining, Fiat has already secured a government commitment to extend a ‘cash-for-clunkers’ scheme that has helped keep it competitive in Europe and dominant in Italy, where it holds some 33% of the market share.

It also benefits from new tax breaks.

But Marchionne denied suggestions that Fiat was getting too much from the government.

“It’s not true that we’re getting government aid. We have tax credits of about 800 million euros ($114 million)”.

“The incentives were funded by Fiat (too),” he said.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turkey: Unemployment Rate Remains at 13.4% in September ‘09

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 21 — Turkish unemployment rate for Sep’09 (Aug-Sep-Oct period) as 13.4%, unchanged vis-à-vis Aug’09. Non-farm unemployment rate receded slightly to 16.9% in Sep’09 from 17% in Aug’09. The headline reading and the underlying figures are in line with seasonal norms, while providing no additional encouraging signs regarding the labour market. Similar to the previous month, non-farm employment rose by 12K (0.1% mom) to 16,266K in Sep’09, implying that the gradual improvement that started by Jul’09 is sustained as of September, yet its pace remains subdued. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Chicago-Area Imam First Muslim to Head Global Interfaith Group

A Chicago-area imam on January 1st will become chair of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. He’s the first Muslim to hold the seat.

Abdul Malik Mujahid is a writer and activist, as well as religious leader, or imam. He’s about to take on a global role as chairman of the Council, an international interfaith group based in Chicago. Executive director Reverend Dirk Ficca hopes this sends a positive message.

— Hat tip: Esther

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FBI Data Says Murders Fell 10 Per Cent in First Half of 2009 in US; Violent Crime Down

WASHINGTON — The FBI says murders fell 10 per cent across the U.S. in the first half of 2009.

Overall violent crimes fell by 4.4 per cent, and property crimes also dropped, by 6.1 per cent.

— Hat tip: Esther

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House Dem Blames Leaders for Party Switch

Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith announced Tuesday that he’s switching parties — saying he can no longer align himself “with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy and drives us further and further into debt.”

“Unfortunately there are those in the Democratic Leadership that continue to push an agenda focused on massive new spending, tax increases, bailouts and a health care bill that is bad for our healthcare system,” Griffith said in a statement. “I have always considered myself to be an independent voice and I have tried to be that voice in Congress — but after watching this agenda firsthand I now believe that the differences in the two parties could not be more clear and that for me to be true to my core beliefs and values I must align myself with the Republican party and speak out clearly on these issues.

— Hat tip: JD

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Lawyer: Fort Hood Suspect Prevented From Praying

Attorney John P. Galligan said police stopped a phone conversation between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and his brother on Friday because it was not in English. Galligan told the San Antonio Express-News that police at Brooke Army Medical Center refused to let Hasan pray in Arabic.

Galligan says he thinks that’s illegal and violation of Hasan’s religious rights.

— Hat tip: JD

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Republicans Lodge Constitutional Challenge to Health Bill

Senate Republicans, defeated at every turn thus far in their bid to prevent Senate passage of a health care bill before Christmas, are digging into their parliamentary tool chest.

John Ensign , R-Nev., lodged a constitutional point of order against the legislation on Tuesday, claiming its mandate that individuals purchase health insurance or pay a penalty falls outside the scope of congressional powers enumerated in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution. It also violates the Fifth Amendment’s ban on the taking of private property for public purposes “without just compensation,” Ensign asserted.

While the Senate is unlikely to uphold his challenge, Ensign raised points that could very well resurface in litigation if the legislation becomes law.

— Hat tip: JD

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Beating Left Rink Volunteer Brain Damaged

Men savagely attacked, Crown tells court at trial of youths

OTTAWA — A volunteer rink attendant suffered serious brain damage when six assailants savagely beat him at an outdoor rink in the Walkley Road area in February after he told them not to drink beer in the dressing room, an Ottawa court was told Monday.

Assistant Crown attorney Caroline Thibault said Douglas Beardshaw, 43, had to have part of his skull removed and Stephen Lee, 22, a skater who tried to help him, lost several front teeth and suffered cuts to his face.

The two men were beaten and one was stabbed in the leg in the parking lot at Pauline Vanier Park at 1015 Harkness Ave. near Walkley road at about 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 10.

The trial of three youths charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon began Monday and is expected to last nine days.

One youth pleaded guilty Monday to the lesser charged of assault causing bodily harm.

Two adults — Ali Ismail Ali, 19, and Said Mohammed Muddei, 18 — are to stand trial in June on charges stemming from the incident. Ali is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of assault with a weapon, while Muddei is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of uttering threats.

“The Crown submits that there should be no issue

that the complainants were swarmed and beaten up and that it was aggravated assault,” Thibault said. “Mr. Beardshaw required emergency surgery.”

“The DNA testing matched the complainants’ blood. A trail of blood helped locate the adults. Both complainants’ blood was on several of the accused,” Thibault said.

Const. Bart Gilligan, of the Ottawa police forensic identification section, showed the court photos of a trail of blood leading from the rink parking lot to the corner of Walkley and McCarthy roads.

“The maintenance person was assaulted after he encountered a number of persons drinking in the parking lot,” Gilligan said. “There were blood stains in the parking lot and hockey sticks, skates and gloves on the ground.”

Gilligan testified that he found broken beer bottles and two cases of empty bottles in the rink dressing room. Empty beer cans and bottles were tossed in the snow outside.

Gilligan showed the court photographs of three hockey sticks found at the scene, one with what appeared to be bloodstains on the shaft, and a shovel with a metal blade. Photos of the victims showed Beardshaw with a long vertical scar on the back of his head and Lee with a closed left eye and missing teeth.

The trial resumes Wednesday.

— Hat tip: MH

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Archaeology: Find in Southern France Puts Humans in Europe 200,000 Years Earlier

Experts on prehistoric man are rethinking their dates after a find in a southern French valley. The remains found show people were in France 1.57 million years ago, 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.

— Hat tip: Esther

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British Army Accused of ‘Waterboarding’ In 1970s

Evidence is emerging that the British army used waterboarding during interrogations on prisoners in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, according to a report Tuesday.

The technique was allegedly used during at least one interrogation of a prisoner who was found guilty in 1973 of murdering a British soldier, a conviction largely based on an unsigned confession, the Guardian said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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British Newspapers Misquote German Hitler Researcher

German historian Joachim Riecker recently published a book about Hitler’s hatred of Jews. British newspapers soon printed articles containing inaccurate information about the book. Now the researcher is battling to save his reputation. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Riecker expresses his frustration and demands a correction.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Riecker, you wrote a book about Hitler and the Holocaust. Your central thesis in “Hitler’s November 9,” is that Germany’s defeat in World War I is one of the main reasons for Hitler’s anti-Semitic delusion. Now the tabloid Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph newspapers claim that you wrote in your book that one of the causes of that hatred of Jews was the “harmful treatment” Hitler’s mother received from a Jewish general practictioner. You were even quoted directly. Did the Daily Mail ever talk to you?

Joachim Riecker: No. The author appears to have taken the information from an obscure Austrian Web site with English-language articles that included incorrect information about my book in a review. That was the first place I read the quotations that had been attributed to me.

— Hat tip: Esther

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EU-Turkey: Bildt, I Expect Visa Elimination on Agenda

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 21 — A formal liberalisation of visas for the Schengen area, analogous to that for citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, on the agenda of relations between the EU and Turkey still doesn’t exist, even if the issue has been addressed , explained Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister for the rotating presidency of the EU today in Brussels. But considering the symbolic value of this type of decision as “a sign of the future”, the Swedish minister expects “the question to become more important on the agenda between the EU and Turkey”. “I support the liberalisation of visas for the Balkans”, stated Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, “but there is no excuse to give the same rights to Turkish citizens”. Therefore, “we want to know exactly”, he added, “the technical requirements asked for by the EU as we are ready to satisfy them. After there will be no excuse to not implement the same policy for Turkey, and if it does not come to pass we will see the decision as two weights and two measures”. Olli Rehn, the outgoing commissioner for enlargement, therefore explained that the key issues for the elimination of visas are the wide issuing of biometric passports, completely integrated border control, as well as the fight against corruption and organised crime.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Fierce Cold Snap Hits Italy

Roads closed, trains slowed and flights delayed for snow and ice

(ANSA) — Rome, December 21 — A fierce cold snap hit Italy on Monday paralyzing roads and railways in much of the country and piling up delays in the nation’s airports.

Temperatures plunged to freezing over the weekend dumping over 60 cm of snow on north-central regions and considerably more in the Alps.

So far, three deaths are being blamed on the early winter storm, an Ivory Coast Native in the southern region of Puglia who reportedly froze to death Sunday night in his tent and an elderly couple in the Piedmont region who were killed when their gas pipes froze and exploded. After a brief respite on Monday morning, heavy snowfall resumed particularly in Milan where local residents were asked to leave their cars at home and take local transportation to keep the roads clear.

However, mounting snow banks and rush-hour traffic combined to fill the city’s streets with stalled cars.

Train services in and out of the northern metropolis continues to be slow after a number of trains were cancelled over the weekend leaving hundreds of holiday travellers stranded at the city’s central train station.

Over 350 trains have been cancelled around the country due to piling snow and frozen rail lines, with hour-long delays for many more.

Milan’s airport has remained open despite the bad weather, though a number of flights were cancelled over the weekend.

Flights were also cancelled and delayed out of airports in Florence, Genoa, Ancona, Pisa and Trieste where temperatures on Sunday night sank to 17 degrees below freezing.

National transport agency ENAC said Monday afternoon that “while all the country’s airports are open, heavy precipitation expected this evening at high altitudes and in the north could cause further flight delays and cancellations” Heavy snowfall continued causing pileups on Italian highways in northern regions of the country as well as mountainous areas of the southwestern Calabria regions. Mountain roads were closed around the country, isolating a number of Alpine communities.

Road crews in Sicily worked throughout the night salting local motorways after a hard freeze followed rains around the island.

Temperatures around Italy are expected to rise starting from Tuesday reaching seasonal norms by Christmas.

But Italians are in for a wet holiday according to meteorologists who expect rain on Thursday to last throughout the weekend.

Civil Protection Chief Guido Bertolaso described the weather situation as “critical”, but said emergency measures had “kept the country from falling into chaos”.

“Fifteen years ago, Italy would have come to a standstill in weather like this,” he said.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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France: Two Million People Lose Power in Southeast

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, DECEMBER 21 — Two million people have been left in the dark today in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur (PACA) region of south east France following interruption of electricity distribution network decided by the manager of the national RTE network due to a technical accident in Tavel, near Avignon. The stop, said an RTE spokesperson, was decided to avoid “a complete blackout” in the area where bad weather led to a heavy increase in electricity use. Some areas of Marseille, including the centre, and of Nice, were left without electricity. “We are still sheltering from a total stop”, said Catherine Greiveltruger, RTE managing director in the PACA region to LCI satellite TV, renewing the appeal to limit use “especially between 17 and 20”.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Irish Commissioner Critical of Sarkozy

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — Outgoing EU commissioner for internal market affairs — Charlie McCreevy — has said the French hold disproportionate power in Brussels, and are also masters at securing senior EU positions for their own.

In a speech to the Association of European Journalists in Dublin on Friday (18 December), the Irishman directed special criticism towards French President Nicolas Sarkozy, pointing to recent statements by the French leader as a “coming out” on EU matters.

After intensive lobbying, France last month successfully bagged the internal market portfolio nomination — including control over EU financial services — for former French minister Michel Barnier. Mr Sarkozy promptly announced the decision as “a defeat for Anglo Saxon capitalism.”

“President Sarkozy has laid to rest once and for all the myth that EU commissioners, certainly French ones, when they go to Brussels, are expected to leave aside their home member state national interests and political priorities and act exclusively in the community interest,” Mr McCreevy told the room of journalists, reports the Irish Times.

“What President Sarkozy’s statement tells us is that like many of his fellow countrymen, he does not see the European Commission as a commission for the advancement of European interests,” he added. “He sees it as a commission for the advancement of French interests.”

Fears that French helmsmanship of the powerful internal market portfolio would usher in an era of excessive regulation had prompted UK attempts to see financial services hived off into a separate portfolio. However commission president Jose Manuel Barroso ultimately rejected the idea.

Mr Barnier himself has sought to smooth the waters between London and Paris following Mr Sarkozy’s controversial comments, while Mr McCreevy said he felt his new replacement would be able to stand up to bullying from Paris.

Suggesting the French commissioner would be expected to follow orders from the Elysee Palace, Mr McCreevy said: “I think Mr Barnier is strong enough to resist such pressures.”

Despite the critical comments however, the Irish politician expressed a certain admiration for the French way of doing business in Brussels.

“The influence of France in Brussels is impressive, though. People forget that the Brussels bureaucracy was designed by the French almost as a copy of how the administration in Paris works,” he said.

“This has over the years given the French a huge advantage in knowing how to pull the levers of power. And if you look around the commission you will see that the French have been masters in getting their key people into some of the most powerful posts,” he added.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Italy: Straits Bridge: First Site Starts Tomorrow Without Ceremony

(ANSAmed) — ROME — After waiting for some 130 years, work will begin tomorrow without a ceremony for the bridge over the Strait of Messina. After years of bitter controversy between the majority and opposition, on the bridge’s necessity or lack there of, the first construction site will be opened. In the meantime yesterday, according to what was revealed in recent days by the CEO of the company Strait of Messina, Pietro Ciucci (who is also president of the motorway company ANAS), an assembly of the project’s partners was held for a foreseen capital increase of 900 million euros. For the cutting of the ribbon of the bridge’s first construction site, the public project that is to symbolise the Berlusconi government, there was to be a ceremony with the Premier, the Minister of Infrastructure, Altero Matteoli, and Pietro Ciucci. The aggression that Berlusconi was victim to and the period of recovery that followed, caused the affair to be cancelled. There will be a ceremony but not until January or February. In the meantime the project is moving forward and the first, historic site for a project studied during 130 years (a bridge between Calabria and Sicily was first talked about in 1870 when the then Minister of Public Works, Jacini, charged engineer Alfredo Cottrau, a world famous technician, to study the project), will begin tomorrow. The first intervention will involve propaedeutic work, the Cannitello Route, worth 26 million euros. In fact, it will move the Tyrrhenian rail lines some kilometres to the north towards the town to make room for the future construction site of the bridge tower on the Calabrian side. The issue of resources has always been one of the most controversial and discussed. The overall cost of the project has been calculated at 6.3 billion euros, 60% of which has come through the capital market with project financing, while 40% of the requirements is from public financing, including yesterday’s 900 million capital increase. The previous capital increase was injected in December 2003 for an amount of 306 million, 214 million of which came from Finteca, 46 from ANAS, 46 from RFI (railway group). Another 1,300 million came from a CIPE allocation (the Inter-ministerial Committee for Economic Planning) in March 2009, converted by the law passed in August. For the 900 capital increase for the Strait of Messina company, 470 million were injected by ANAS as a part of the maxi-amendment included in the Financial Bill; another 117 from RFI from a CIPE allocation on December 17, another 213 million from ANAS during the same CIPE meeting. Another 100 million should arrive from the region of Sicily. During 2010, construction should begin in Sicily as well and Strait of Messina plans to open the bridge’s primary construction site at the beginning of 2011, with the objective of opening the bridge to traffic in January 2017.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Government Decree for Nuclear Site Identification

(ANSAmed) — ROME — Italy’s Cabinet today issued a legislative decree specifying the criteria for the identification of sites where nuclear power plants will be built. This is a legislative scheme proposed by minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola for the “localization and operation of facilities for the production of nuclear and electric power, the fabrication of nuclear fuel, and stocking systems, as well as compensation measures and awareness campaigns”. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Perugia Killer Gets Jail Term Halved

Perugia, 22 Dec. (AKI) — An appeals court in the central Italian city of Perugia on Tuesday cut the prison sentence handed to Rudy Guede, one of three people convicted for the brutal murder and sexual assault of British student Meredith Kercher. The court cut Guede’s sentence to 16 years from 30 years.

But it refused to quash the conviction of Guede who was found guilty of helping American student Amanda Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito murder Kercher in Perugia in November, 2007.

The court has not yet released the reasons for almost halving the jail term given to Guede, who is originally from the Ivory Coast.

Reacting to the result of his appeal, Guede said: “I am not happy because I am innocent.” His lawyers had asked for his acquittal.

Guede, a drifter and small-time drugs dealer, admitted being at the scene of the crime on the night of Kercher’s murder, but said he did not kill Kercher and was not present when she was murdered.

Kercher was found in a pool of blood with her throat cut, and had been sexually assaulted, allegedly during an “extreme” sex game in which prosecutors said she had been forced to take part.

Guede’s case was heard last year after he elected for a separate, fast track trial.

Knox and Sollecito are both appealing against their convictions earlier this month. Knox was given 26 years in prison and Sollecito, 25, for their roles in Kercher’s murder.

They have denied any wrongdoing and claim they were convicted in a flawed trial based on unreliable DNA evidence.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Klaus: Global Warming No Science But “New Religion”

New York, Dec 19 (CTK) — Global warming is a “new religion,” not science, Czech President Vaclav Klaus has said in an interview with the news server FoxNews.com.

Simultaneously with the end of the Copenhagen U.N. climate conference Klaus said mankind should not be dictated how to live on the basis on “irrational ideology” that is a product of political correctness, the server writes.

After years of enquiry into the phenomenon Klaus said he is convinced that global warming in fact does not concern temperature.

It is a new ideology or a new religion. A religion of climate changes or a global warming religion. This is a religion saying that the humans are responsible for the current very slight increase in temperature. And that they should be punished, said Klaus, an economist by training.

The server recalls that Klaus, the Czech Republic’s second post-communist president, is often dubbed Margaret Thatcher of Central Europe. In the interview, however, he sounded more like Winston Churchill and vowed to defend freedom and liberty against those who would try to prevent the global economic growth, the server adds.

Klaus said he is absolutely convinced that the small global warming the planet is experiencing now is a consequence of natural causes.

It is a periodic phenomenon in the history of the Earth. The man’s role is very small, almost negligible, he said.

He said he believes that natural human inventiveness can manage to create new technologies to soften any impact the mankind may have on the environment.

Klaus also said he does not believe that the radical measures, as formulated in Copenhagen, are necessary.

Politicians and their companions, the media and the businessmen’s community, simply understand that this is a very good topic for them to take up. It is a brilliant idea of escaping from the current reality. Not to solve the crisis but to speak about the world in 2050, 2080, 2200. This is a perfect job for them. Voters will not punish them for making a completely bad decision, a bad prognosis, Klaus pointed out.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Obama, Queen Compete in Cheeky Spanish Tradition

Barack Obama is up against Queen Elizabeth this year in a centuries-old Christmas tradition in Catalonia, according to the makers of the Spanish region’s ‘caganer’ figurines.

The ceramic caganer statuettes show affectionate disrespect for famous personalities from home and abroad.

They have been sold in Catalonia around Christmas since the 18th century, when they were placed in nativity scenes in the hope of bringing good luck and a rich harvest.

But they show the personalities with their trousers down in the act of defecating.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Police: Foreigner Behind Auschwitz Sign Theft

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A foreigner outside of Poland commissioned the brazen theft of the infamous Auschwitz sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Sets You Free”) and detectives must expand their investigation beyond the country’s borders, officials said.

In a bid to learn more about the escapade, the investigators held an re-enactment of the theft by the three men who confessed to taking the sign from the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

Based on the evidence gathered since the theft Friday, the crime was commissioned by a “person living outside Poland” and police were seeking help from Interpol and others as they investigate, said Artur Wrona, the chief prosecutor in Krakow.

Polish media have reported, without citing any sources, that someone in Sweden could be under suspicion, but Wrona refused to confirm or deny the claims.

In Stockholm, a Swedish police official said they’ve not been contacted about any links.

“There has been no requests made by the Polish police to the Swedish police yet,” Superintendent Bertil Olofsson of the Swedish National Criminal Police said. “And so we can’t confirm this speculation.”

Despite the specter of an international link to the crime, Wrona said the investigation so far had exposed “glaring negligence” in the security system at the Auschwitz museum that let the burglars act “undisturbed.”

He said they drove to the then-closed museum in a sports car after dark Thursday but found they needed tools to get the sign down. They went to a shop and bought tools including a spanner, he said.

When they returned, it was just after midnight and there were no guards about as they unbolted one side and ripped the other off the opposite gate post, officials said.

Police said the sign was cut into three pieces with a saw so it could fit in the getaway car.

Only one camera overlooks the gate and it remained unclear if it recorded the theft.

Museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt said that for more than 60 years of its existence, the museum’s security system had seemed to be sufficient, but was now undergoing scrutiny.

“Any upgrades that might be made must mean that no one will ever think of another theft,” he said.

Working from tips, police found the sign Sunday—hidden under snow in the woods—and arrested five suspects in northern Poland. Prosecutors said three of the five men have confessed to Friday’s pre-dawn theft of the sign, which is a symbol of Nazi Germany atrocities during World War II.

All five suspects face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of stealing and dismantling the sign, which is a symbol of World War II and the Holocaust and has historic value for Poland.

Prosecutor Piotr Kosmaty said the re-enactment of the crime gave investigators “valuable material” but refused to elaborate. The three suspects who had confessed were taken back to Auschwitz to show investigators how they unscrewed and tore the sign, which weighs 66 pounds (30 kilograms), and is 16 feet (five meters) long, from the gateposts.

Kosmaty said the two other suspects had denied any involvement and, further, denied being at Auschwitz.

In Krakow, which is 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Auschwitz museum, police displayed the broken sign for journalists. Each of the three parts bore one of the words. Some of the steel that formed its outline was bent and the letter “i” was missing from the word “Frei” because it had been left behind during the theft. It was recovered at the scene.

Police forensics expert Lidia Puchacz said that cutting and sawing tools used in the theft were found at the home of one of the suspects.

She said the sign will be checked “millimeter by millimeter” for clues as to how it was cut up and by whom.

Krakow police spokesman Dariusz Nowak said the 115,000 zlotys ($40,000) reward for helping find the sign may be paid out to a number of people.

Prosecutors will decide when to return the sign to the museum where it will be further examined for authenticity. On Jan. 27 the museum is to hold ceremonies to mark its liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.

For now, an exact replica of the sign hangs in its place.

After occupying Poland in 1939, the Nazis established the Auschwitz I camp, which initially housed German political prisoners and Polish prisoners. The sign was made in 1940 and placed above the main gate there.

Two years later, hundreds of thousands of Jews began arriving by cattle trains to the wooden barracks of nearby Birkenau, also called Auschwitz II, where they were systematically killed in gas chambers.

— Hat tip: KGS

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Switzerland: Government Engages Muslims in Dialogue

The government is keen to continue and expand its dialogue with the Muslim community, the justice minister has assured representatives of Swiss Islamic organisations.

At a meeting with them on Monday, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said that the popular vote last month to ban the construction of minarets made no difference to the freedom to practise the Islamic religion.

A communiqué issued by the Justice Ministry quoted her as saying that the vote was “the expression of problems, but at the same time provided an opportunity to conduct a broader debate on the issue”.

The communiqué pointed out that the central authorities are responsible for preserving religious peace and coexistence. It added that the dialogue with Switzerland’s Muslims should be expanded to include further participants. The next meeting will analyse the current state of affairs, and discuss specific measures that need to be taken.

Monday’s meeting was attended by representatives of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, the Coordination of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland and the Fondation de l’Entre-Connaissance.

Farhad Afshar, president of the Coordination of Islamic Organisations, told swissinfo.ch after the meeting that they had outlined a number of issues, unconnected with the minaret ban, which hamper Muslims in the practice of their religion, and welcomed the continuation of the dialogue in order to find solutions to these problems.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UK: Conservatives to Push Senate Over US Climate Bill

Senior Conservatives are to lobby Republicans in the US Senate to persuade them to back a climate emissions Bill. As the Tory leadership struggled to prevent party sceptics from dominating the environmental argument after the Copenhagen summit, David Cameron pledged to continue the work started in Denmark in trying to find a legally binding climate change agreement.

He said: “We should be thankful for the small things that have been achieved like the 2C limit on temperature rises and the good work on rainforests.

“But it’s disappointing overall because there are no carbon reduction targets, the details on help for poorer countries to tackle global warming is vague and it’s not a legally binding treaty. We need now to step up the work to get that done.”

If his party gains power in May, he could face a critical climate change summit in Bonn four weeks after the election.

Tory environment ministers believe that they can play a role nudging moderate Republicans to support the Bill.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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UK: Police Probe Fugitive Suffolk Inmate’s Facebook Page

An on-the-run prisoner has been updating his friends about life on the run via his Facebook page.

Police are trying to use clues left by burglar Craig Lynch, 28, on the social networking site to track him down.

Lynch, who has links to Edgware in London, has updated his 248 Facebook friends about nearly crashing his car in icy weather and meals he has had.

He absconded from Hollesley Bay open prison, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, in September.

Lynch was given a seven-year jail term after being convicted of aggravated burglary and was serving time towards the end of the sentence at the open prison where he was allowed day release.

Defiant gesture

Police have appealed to his friends on Facebook to tell them where he is.

A police spokeswoman said officers dealing with the case were making detailed checks to make sure the man on the page they had identified is the wanted prisoner.

“We are also using the information we have and anything that appears on his site to try and locate him.

“I would appeal to anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact Suffolk Police,” she said.

A photograph on the page shows Lynch looking at the camera and holding up a finger in an apparent defiant gesture.

A spokesperson for Facebook said it was aware of Lynch’s page on its website and was working with Suffolk police officers to try and track him down.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Weather: More Inconvenience in Italy, Transport at Risk

(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 22 — Even if temperatures are rising, inconveniences caused by the wave of bad weather in Italy continue. Problems have been reported on the motorways, like the icy rain affecting much of northern Italy, which cannot be eliminated by using salt to cover the asphalt. To avoid further problems, the Autostrade d’Italia group has decided to use a safety car, that is a police vehicle to impose a safe speed on the columns of vehicles. There have also been problems for train transport. FS reported that of the 430 medium and long distance trains scheduled for today, about 5% have been cancelled. It is a number that increases to 6% for the 7,700 regional trains. There have also been serious repercussions on air traffic. Milan, in spite of the fact that it is operative, the Linate airport is practically blocked due to the cancellation of Alitalia flights until 12:00; Malpensa will remain closed until 13:00. The airports of Genoa, Malpensa and Verona are closed at the moment and there are severe limitations in Turin and Bologna. This is the situation in the airports of Northern Italy, according to Alitalia. Due to the bad weather it has emerged, the company explains, “that it is impossible to regularly operate numerous flights, in particular on the North-South routes in the country”. In any case, the company, “in line with the evolution of the situation and in particular with the take-offs and landings authorised by airport management, special flights are being operated to allow for the transport within the day of passengers involved in the irregularity of flights”. Moreover, Alitalia “foresees regular departures from the Linate airport in Milan, on the basis of what the airport management has communicated, by 11:00”, where the limitation of one arrival per hour continues, causing the delays at the airports of departure for Linate. While the company confirms that all intercontinental flights to and from the Fiumicino airport in Rome.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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WJC Chides Vatican on Pius XII

‘More sensitivity’ amid synagogue visit doubt

(ANSA) — Brussels, December 21 — The World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Monday criticised Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to pave the way for the beatification of his controversial WWII predecessor Pius XII.

WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said beatifying Pius XII — one step from sainthood — would be “inopportune and premature”.

The WJC disagrees with his beatification as long as the Vatican’s 1939-45 archives remain closed “and until a consensus on his actions — or inaction — concerning the persecution of millions of Jews in the Holocaust is established”.

The Vatican should show greater sensitivity to Jewish concerns about Pius’s wartime role, Lauder said.

“There are strong concerns about Pope Pius XII’s political role during World War II which should not be ignored,” Lauder said.

The WJC chief urged the Vatican to immediately open all existing archives about the Pius era to international researchers.

“Given the importance of good relations between Catholics and Jews, and following the difficult events of the past year, it would be appreciated if the Vatican showed more sensitivity on this matter,” he said.

Pius has been criticised by some Jewish and progressive Catholic groups for not speaking out clearly against the Holocaust. The Vatican and some scholars, both Catholic and Jewish, have claimed that by remaining silent Pius was better able to help save as many Jews as possible, working behind the scenes.

Many priests, nuns and Catholic institutions risked their lives to save Jews but it is unclear whether Pius ordered this as a matter of policy.

Another argument used in Pius’s favour is that he did not make explicit denunciations for fear of provoking the Nazis into even greater savagery. The fresh controversy, following last year’s polemics over the reinstatement of a Holocaust-denying bishop, has cast doubt on Benedict’s January 17 visit to the Rome Synagogue.

The Vatican’s pointman on Christian unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, told ANSA on Monday the visit was important for Catholic and Jews and it is “up to the Jews” whether it goes ahead. Stressing there had been no move on either side to cancel the visit, Kasper said he “hoped” it would take place but it was “a decision for the Jews to make”.

“The visit is important and it would be difficult to move everything at this stage,” he added.

‘NOTHING TO HIDE’.

He reiterated that the archives would be opened in “5-6 years” but in any case “they won’t say anything different from what is already known”.

“We have nothing to hide”.

Kasper said Pius’s critics should read the archives up to 1939, when Pius XII took “very clear” stances on Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass pogroms) and anti-Jewish laws.

The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy, told ANSA that the pope’s visit would be “historic” and he hoped it would take place.

Lewy stressed that he was speaking in a personal capacity since the invitation had been made by Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni.

But he played down the reactions to the decision on Pius.

“The Jewish reactions were rather moderate,” he said, stressing that the beatification issue was an internal Church question.

As for Pius’s alleged silence, Lewy said: “It’s a controversial issue which will be discussed for a long time, perhaps until eternity”.

Lewy said he was optimistic about the visit and Catholic-Jewish relations.

“We have to be,” he said. On Saturday Benedict authorised the term ‘venerable’ to be used to describe Pius XII, one step away from beatification.

To become beatified or blessed, and therefore someone the faithful can pray to, a miracle attributed to the would-be saint is required.

A second miracle is needed for the beatified to become a saint.

On Saturday the pope signed a decree recognising Pius XII’s “heroic virtue”, the prerequisite for becoming venerable.

He did the same for pope John Paul II, the pontiff remembered for landmark visits to the Rome Synagogue in 1986 and the Western Wall in Jerusalem 2000.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Bosnia: Strasbourg Court, Constitution Discriminatory

(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG, DECEMBER 22 — The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights condemned today, with a definitive sentence, Bosnia Herzegovina for not permitting two citizens of Rom and Jewish origin, Dervo Sejdic and Jacob Finci, to run in parliamentary and presidential elections in the country. On the basis of the Bosnian constitution, for these offices only citizens belonging to the three ethnic groups — Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian — those officially recognised can do so. Judges in Strasbourg established that the continued ineligibility of the two runners to hold public office does not have an objective foundation and a reasonable justification and therefore constitutes a violation of the rights of the two men not to be discriminated against. In its sentence, the court asserted, in line with the Bosnian government, that the time to abandon the partition of power among the three constituent ethnic groups is not yet ripe. But in spite of this fact, the judges in Strasbourg held that the system, a result of the Dayton Accord, must not exclude those who do not belong to the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian ethnic groups. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Court Slams Bosnia for Barring Jews, Roma From Office

STRASBOURG — The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday slammed Bosnia for barring Jews and Roma from running for high elected office in a ruling handed down Tuesday.

The two plaintiffs in the case, Dervo Sejdic who is of Roma origin and Jakob Finci who is Jewish, both prominent Romanian public figures, filed suit in 2006 claiming discrimination and a breach of their human rights.

According to the ruling, Finci inquired about running for parliament or the three-part presidency and was informed by Bosnia’s central electoral commission in 2007 that he was ineligible because he was a Jew.

— Hat tip: Esther

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EU-Croatia: Negotiations Move on, Slovenia Still a Mystery

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 21 — Croatia is still acting to join the European Union. Following today’s enlargement conference in Brussels, Zagreb, on a total of 35 provided negotiation chapters, has only opened 28 of them to date, of which 17 have already been closed. What is left outstanding is Slovenia’s block of the three negotiation chapters on fishing, environment and foreign policy, and defence and security. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt stated for the EU presidency in office that “Wére entering the final stage of negotiations, also in consideration of the go-ahead to the workgroup for the drafting of the enlargement treaty with Croatia decided by the latest EU Council. As regards Slovenia’s blocking, Bildt explained to the press that “I take it for granted that the matter will be settled soon’. He added that “I trust in the will of the Spanish presidency to vary forward the process and in the Croatian government’s will and ability”. Croatian foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic explained that “Croatia meets all the requirements for the opening of these three chapters of negotiation, and I still have to receive a specific reply from Slovenia on the exact identity of the problem”. However, Zagreb still has some other issues to deal with on its path to the EU, such as the independence of the justice system, the fight against corruption and organised crime, and cooperation with the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia (Tpi).(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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EU-Serbia: Belgrade to Present Membership Request Tomorrow

(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE — Serbian president Boris Tadic will be presenting Serbia’s request for EU membership tomorrow in Stockholm, according to the Beta agency in quoting a statement from the president’s office. The news has been confirmed by the Swedish capital. Sweden’s Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, was quoted by the agency as saying that “Serbia has been a historic decision by deciding to present its candidature. “It is with pleasure that I will be receiving Serbian president Boris Tadic in Stockholm on December 22, when the request will be officially deposited.” Serbia’s 2009 is coming to an end with a good outlook on the European front. A free trade pact between the EU and Serbia which had long been blocked finally came into force at the beginning of December, and since this past weekend Serbian citizens no longer need a visa to visit the EU. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Archaeology: Egypt Makes Official Request for Nefertiti

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO — Egypt has firmly continued to reiterate that the bust of Nefertiti was taken out of the country illegally, and has officially requested that it be returned, according to the head of the High Council for Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, after a meeting in Cairo with Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum within the Berlin’s New Museum. The bust, which dates back to about 3,400 years ago, was discovered in 1912 in southern Egypt by the German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, and Egypt has been asking for its restitution since the 1930s. According Hawass, the German archaeologist managed to bring the statue to Germany by claiming that it was a plaster bust and not the one in limestone of the queen. He said that “this confirms that the statue left Egypt in a non-ethical manner, and that Germany used deception and fraud in that period.” Berlin instead claims that the purchase was legal, and the museum’s director has presented a document which allegedly provides proof. The bust has been exhibited since October 17 in Berlin’s New Museum. In addition to the one of Nefertiti, Egypt is also demanding the restitution of other works, such as the Rosetta stone from the British Museum, while over the past few days it has obtained the repatriation of five fragments of frescoes from the Pharaohs period which had been kept in the Louvre. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt: Cairo: Thousands Gather at Night to See Virgin Mary

(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 21 — It is one of Cairo’s poorest neighbourhoods, where the inner roads have never seen asphalt. But all the shops are open these nights to joint the wait of people who are hoping to witness a new apparition of the Virgin Mary on the roof of the church. Wére talking about the Warraq neighbourhood, located in the Giza area, on the right bank of the Nile. The first apparition occurred on December 11, slightly after one, and the first to take notice was a group of Muslims seated at a nearby café. Within a few hours the word had spread throughout all of Cairo, and since then masses of people have been coming in the hope of witnessing the event. Police forces are regulating traffic in order to avoid too much pushing on the main road, and the faithful are gathering in an orderly manner in a facing lot and in the churchs courtyard. An official statement issued by the Copt bishop published by daily paper Watani states that on the first day the Virgin Mary appeared in all her height and in glowing robes, on top of the church’s middle cupola, dressed in white and wearing a blue sash around her waist. She was wearing a crown on her head, above which you could see the cross which rises above the cupola”. The report states that the event can be proven by images taken with cameras and cell phones. But Beshay Lotfy, the priest of the Copt church, said that since then the Virgin Mary has not been seen again. She has been replaced by lights in the sky and especially by flocks of white birds (pigeons or doves). A person who works with the priest stated that last night they appeared again, first two and then eight in total, and they flew above the bell towers in front of some thirty to forty thousand people. People come in every night carrying chairs and other comforts from home. They include many Muslims, as shown by the presence of veiled women, who wear the same expression of expectancy, because in Islam the Virgin Mary is also worshipped as the mother of the prophet Jesus. Crowds also spill into the inner halls of the church, on the stairs and in the corridors which lead to the place of worship proper. Here the people sit down or wait standing up, facing a large screen placed in front of the iconostasis which in Copt churches also separates the faithful from the altar; and the screen is showing the same images of the apparitions broadcast on facebook and youtube. Father Lofty, a young and welcoming priest with a black beard, is surrounded by the faithful. He told ANSAmed that these apparitions are a sign of God who is telling us to have more faith and to live better. Here many work too much, even up to midnight, while they should be dedicating more time to their families”. Of course, he admits, “working a lot is not a sin, but we also need to think about the other life”. But in the meantime his church has filled up with new faithful, many also come from outside of Cairo, and even the offers to the church are increasing. Copt Pope Schenouda, who returned home today after a trip to the USA for medical care, will help to decide what to do with these offers, but they will certainly also be used to help the people. And, he emphasised, in the meantime the doctors have certified the recovery of a 45-year-old woman who had lost her sight because of a disease. Father Beshay emphasises that relations with Muslims in the neighbourhood are good: they all come from the countryside, it is simple people, most of them are poor”. Even though, he added, the Imam of the nearby mosque chose to narrate, during his latest sermon, the theme of the real nature of Jesus, which according to Islam is human, and not divine.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt: Another Victory in Legal Battle Over Niqab

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 21 — The supports of the freedom to wear a niqab (veil which covers the face) on the Egyptian university campus have won another legal battle. A group of women students had been denied access to the exams of the Ain Shams university, where courses for the higher administrative court are taught. The court — the independent newspaper Al Masri El Yom writes today — has passed a decree that annuls the decision of the minister for higher education, Hani Hilal, and of the rector of the university. In the verdict, the court has published some previous decrees in which is stated that wearing a niqab is a personal freedom, which cannot be limited by law or by other restrictions, unless this freedom poses a threat to security and general order. The use of the niqab poses no such threat on a university campus, as long as the student who wears carries her identity card. A similar decision was reached on December 14 by the same court, and the minister responded that he would appeal against the decision with all legal means available to him. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Picks New Executive Body

CAIRO — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood on Monday elected a new executive bureau, but the vote revealed serious internal divisions that threaten to weaken the country’s largest opposition group.

The group’s number two Mohammed Habib and reformist Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh were not among the new 16-member executive bureau known as Guidance Bureau, according to results published in a statement and obtained by AFP.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Spy Thriller From Bat Yam Takes Egypt by Storm

‘Cousins’ stars ugly, racist Israeli as Jewish state is depicted as arch enemy No. 1. Despite box office craze, some think script is bad and Tel Aviv is as glamorous as ever

The movie “Cousins” (“Welad Ela’am”) has won huge popularity in Egypt. Even three weeks after its debut, it’s nearly impossible to get tickets to the movie in Cairo and its surroundings. The spy thriller, which takes place in Tel Aviv and compares Israelis to Nazis, is a hot topic on talk shows and has its stars putting in many long hours of interviews with the Arab media.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Terrorism: Jihadists Mourn Mother of Top Al-Qaeda Leader

Cairo, 21 Dec. (AKI) — Jihadist websites were flooded with messages of condolences to Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri over his mother’s death. Umayma Azzam, died from a heart complaint in the Egyptian capital, Cairo on Sunday, at the age of 75.

She died at Cairo’s al-Salam hospital, where she was admitted earlier last week.

In a message posted to the Arabic news website Moheet, Azzam’s brother Mahfouz al-Azzam said he was proud of his nephew al-Zawahiri who he said “defends the principles of Islam”.

Al-Azzam announced his sister’s death and said she was buried on Sunday in a high-security ceremony at a local mosque in the Cairo suburb of Halwan. Almost everyone in the town attended the funeral, according to witnesses.

The Azzam family is one of the most prominent in Cairo. Mahfouz al-Azzam, a retired judge, was recently appointed the leader of the local Socialist party.

Al-Zawahiri’s maternal grandfather, Abdel Wahab Azzam, was rector of the University of Cairo and Egypt’s ambassador to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The current whereabouts of 58-year-old al-Zawahiri are unknown.

A qualified surgeon, he and Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the top leadership of the terror network are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Tunisian Fishermen Saved by Italian Patrol Boat

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 21 — Four Tunisian fishermen, who left from a village on a small fishing vessel which sunk, were saved by a patrol boat from the Italian Coast Guard. It happened Tuesday December 15, but the news was reported today. The vessel, which left from the port of Teboulba (on Tunisia’s central coast), was discovered in great difficulty due to rough seas. The request for help launched by the crew with a satellite phone allowed the patrol to locate the vessel and pull it to safety as it sank. The four victims, after they disembarked in the port of Trapani, returned to Tunisia. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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First Jesus-Era House Found in Nazareth

NAZARETH, Israel — Days before Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what they said were the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus — a find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy.

The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres (1.6 hectares). It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority,

— Hat tip: Esther

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Hamas Protests Egypt’s Tunnel Wall on Gaza Border

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — A few hundred Hamas supporters gathered along the Gaza-Egypt border on Monday to protest Egypt’s construction of an underground wall to stem smuggling to the besieged territory.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the wall an “unjustifiable situation” and demanded that its construction be immediately halted.

“This will only lead to the strangulation of our residents and will bring about a real catastrophe in the Gaza Strip,” he told the crowds that assembled in the border town of Rafah near where the wall is being built.

— Hat tip: Esther

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West Bank: Miss Palestine Pageant Cancelled

(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH, DECEMBER 21 — The 2009 Miss Palestine pageant, scheduled to take place on December 26 under the aegis of the local administration of Ramallah, on the West Bank, has been postponed indefinitely, the MAAN press agency reports today. Muslim groups had called the competition an “offence to traditional values” and to women’s decency. The decision was announced by the governor of the city upon orders of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which opted for an indefinite delay — in practice a cancellation — to avoid disputes and protests. The Ramallah governorate, in a statement quoted by MAAN, announced that “according to the requirements of the public interest, we decided to freeze and delay indefinitely the coronation of Miss Palestine 2009 that was scheduled to be held on December 26 in Ramallah”. The statement said the decision was made out of respect for the anniversary of the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza — Operation ‘Cast Lead’ — which will be marked on Sunday, December 27. The operation ended on January 18 with a death toll of around 1,400 Palestinians. This anniversary was apparently no problem when scheduling the event, and it is probably not the real cause for its cancellation. MAAN underlined the heavy criticism that has rained down on the PNA — and its officials of the ministry of culture who were to help judge the contest — from the side of the Muslim clergy and Muslim politicians. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Ahmadinejad on Nuke Deadline: ‘We Don’t Care’

Iran’s president on Tuesday dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, and claimed his government is now “10 times stronger” than a year ago.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks underscored Tehran’s defiance amid the nuclear standoff — and also sought to send a message that his government had not been weakened by the protest movement sparked by June’s disputed presidential election. His comments came a day after the latest opposition protest by tens of thousands mourning a dissident cleric who died over the weekend.

— Hat tip: JD

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Al-Qaeda Vows Revenge for Yemeni Strike: TV

Men claiming to be Al-Qaeda members have vowed to avenge those killed in a Yemeni air strike on one of the group’s training camps in southern Yemen, Al-Jazeera television reported on Tuesday.

In a short video aired by the pan-Arab satellite channel, a bearded man holding a microphone and flanked by two armed men addressed a crowd gathered in the Abyan province to mourn those killed in Thursday’s air raid.

“We carry prayer beads and with them we carry a bomb for the enemies of God,” the man said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Crowd of Opponents at the Funeral of Montazeri, “The Ayatollah of the Revolts”

According to some websites there are hundreds of thousands of people heading to Qom to attend the funeral. But the police has hampered their arrival. Foreign press prohibited, limits to the local press. Montazeri, once one of the authors of the Islamic Republic and destined successor to Khomeini, became one of its harshest critics. He accused the leadership of Ahmadinejad of being dictatorial and slapped June’s elections with a fatwa as a “fraud”.

Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The “green” opposition has been mobilizing supporters to attend the funeral of Hoseyin Grand Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, one of the most critical voices of the establishment.

According to some Internet sites hundreds of thousands of people are travelling to Qom to take part in the funeral of the great Ayatollah, once the chosen heir to Khomeini.

The funeral comes just as opposition to Ahmadinejad and his election surfaces again. The government fears that gatherings for the funeral will turn into open demonstrations against the leadership of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.

Again according to Internet sites, in Qom, the holy city where the funeral will takes place; there is a large deployment of police who are trying to curb participation in possible every way. There are also reports of arrests. It is not possible to independently verify all of this information because the government has set new limits to foreign and local media.

The Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has expressed his condolences for the death of Montazeri, but he also stressed that he hopes that “God forgive him”.

The state news agency IRNA has defined Montazeri, the “religious of the revolts”.

Hoseyin Ali Montazeri died on 19 December at the age of 87. Although elderly and ill, in recent years has been a fierce opponent of the Iranian regime, even issuing a fatwa against the re-election of Ahmadinejad as fraud. In the past he was one of the architects of the Islamic Republic and paved way for the return of Ayatollah Khomeini in ‘79.

In the ‘80s, according to letters he parted from the leadership over the violence and mass executions against the enemies of the regime that he himself had helped to build. It is said that Montazeri was the one chosen by Khomeini to succeed him, but eventually Ali Khamenei was chosen. Since then he has become increasingly critical of the Iranian leadership, accusing it of having gradually betrayed its orgininal ideals.

In some recent interviews Montazeri has proposed a constitutional reform, is seeking a separation between the religious and the political and strengthening the power of the president against the interference of the ayatollahs. Yet he himself is one of the authors of the Iranian Constitution, and he himself had placed the rules under which the life of society — including politics — should be guided by religious experts (velayat-e faqih).

In one of his recent speeches, condemning the current regime as a dictatorship, he also said that the rioting after a rigged election “may lead to the fall of the regime.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Iran: Pro-Govt Militias ‘Attack Late Cleric’s Home’

Tehran, 21 Dec. (AKI) — Basiji militias loyal to Iran’s hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday reportedly attacked the home of late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom. During the attack, Basiji members defaced Montazeri’s photo and attacked his supporters, who had earlier attended his funeral, the Iranian reformist website Rahesabz reported.

Iranian security forces had to intervene after Montazeri’s supporters retaliated by attacking Basiji members and alleged militia men from militant Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.

They also chanted anti-government slogans, according to Rahesabz.

The Iranian culture ministry issued an order limiting media coverage of the funeral of Montazeri, who died on Saturday aged 87.

He was one of Shia Islam’s most respected figures, who became a major government critic.

The ministry order reportedly told Iranian media to play down the rift between Montazeri and Iran’s clerical leadership.

Qom was put on heightened security for Montazeri’s funeral, which hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have attended.

Some Iranian users of the popular microblogging website Twitter claimed millions had attended the funeral.

Opposition websites reported heightened tension on the streets of Qom and the Iranian capital, Tehran on Monday, where anti-government protests were planned.

Opposition supporters were reported to have clashed with members of the opposition during Montazeri’s funeral who chanted “Death to the dictator!” and “Montazeri isn’t dead, the government is!”

At least four political activists have been arrested since Montazeri’s death was announced, according to unconfirmed reports on a number of opposition websites.

Rahesabz said on Monday several student protesters have been given jail terms for their role in anti-government protests in recent weeks.

A Revolutionary court sentenced Hamed Kavusi, a student from Shiraz University, to three years in prison for endangering national security and publicly offending Khamenei.

A second student from Shiraz University, Mohammad Tabeh Mohammadi, was sentenced to four years in jail, while 45 other students received lighter sentences including fines and shorter jail terms for taking part in demonstrations in support of reformist leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

The atmosphere on university campuses has been extremely tense for several months and student organisations have accused the Iranian authorities of trying to repress anti-government protests.

On 7 December, dozens of students were arrested during such protests.

Montazeri was viewed as the spiritual patron of Iran’s opposition movement, which flourished after the disputed presidential election in June.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Iran: France Refuses to Swap Iranian Prisoner for Clotilde Reiss

France has refused to exchange Clotilde Reiss, a French academic charged in Tehran with taking part in opposition protests, for an Iranian agent jailed in France for murder, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Iranian Cyber Army Hijacked Twitter

Twitter.com was hacked on Thursday evening around 10 pm and was inaccessible for about an hour.

The microblogging site was defaced with a message from the “Iranian Cyber Army” stating that not the USA, but their “army”, controls the Internet.

The Twitter Team posted a message at around 11:30 p.m. announcing Twitter was working to recover from an unplanned downtime. The message also indicated that the incident appeared to be a hijack of Twitter’s DNS records.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Iraqi Oil in the Diplomatic War Between Tehran and Washington

The occupation of an oil well by Iranian soldiers in southeastern Iraq lasts two days. The border crossing is a move by Iran’s clerical regime to increase tensions with the international community and a response to Baghdad’s failure to shut down a camp that hosts members of the Iranian resistance.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) — In a tug-of-war with the international community, Iran is upping the ante as its policy sways between blackmail and provocation. Last week’s takeover of an Iraqi oil well, which Iranian soldiers occupied for 48 hours of high tensions, is part of that strategy.

Incident

The incident began on Thursday (17 December) when about ten Iranian technicians and soldiers entered Iraqi territory, took over an oil well in the al-Fakkah oil field (in the southeastern Iraqi province of Maysan) and raised the Iranian flag.

Soon after, Iraqi border guards and soldiers stationed about a kilometre away went on alert.

For about 24 hours, a succession of claims and denials followed until the Iraqi government and US military confirmed that the border had been breached.

Tehran also admitted that its forces had indeed taken over the well, but claimed that it did not violate Iraqi sovereignty since it is located within Iranian territory based on a 1975 border agreement.

Precedents

Baghdad reacted by sending reinforcements to the area, and calling on Iran to pull back its soldiers. At the same time, it said that it hoped that a diplomatic solution could be found.

The United States remained on the sidelines throughout the incident but did praise Baghdad for its “measured” response.

Iraq’s vice president said the incident was not the first one that week. Iran’s pilfering of Iraqi oil has in fact been going on undisturbed for some time. In the past, Iraq’s parliament and government had collected evidence of other actions by Iran but shelved it for reasons of state.

After the bloody war between the two countries in the eighties, relations have improved since the fall of Saddam Hussein and the establishment in Iraq of a government dominated by Shia parties. Today Tehran can exert substantial influence on Baghdad.

Causes

The occupation of the Fakkah oil well is Tehran’s reaction to Iraq’s failure to shut down Camp Ashraf, a place that houses 3,400 members of the Iranian resistance. The Maliki government had promised Tehran it would close it by 15 December but it did not do so because of international protests and mobilisation.

For some Iranian analysts, Iran reacted to this diplomatic defeat by flexing its muscles to remind the Iraqi government that Tehran still has the military means to act if its orders are not followed.

The Fakkah incident is also a high mark in an escalation of tensions started by the clerical regime, which is increasingly nervous about daily domestic protests and threats of sanctions by the international community,

Bent on not giving in, the regime has opted in fact to provoque and challenge its adversaries. This includes testing long-range rockets, anti-Twitter attacks by the Iranian Cyber Army, the introduction of the latest generation of centrifuges to enrich uranium and a statement by Ahmadinejad (on Friday) blaming US military presence in the Middle East for the region’s crisis.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Israel Can Withstand Iranian Missile Strike — Experts

A leading Israeli missile expert said this week that the damage Iranian missiles are capable of causing Israel is limited, whereas Israel is capable of setting back Iran’s nuclear program by several years.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Syria-Lebanon: Hariri in Damascus, We Want Fraternal Relations

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — “We want privileged, sincere and fraternal relations in the interests of the two States and the two populations”. So said newly-elected President of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, at the end of his historic visit to Damascus, consigning to history, for one day at least, the ancient slogan ‘Two States for a single people’, which was in vogue during the decades in which Beiruts affairs were under the protection of Damascus. Hariri, who in the past repeatedly accused Assad of being a dictator and a criminal, the head of a bloody regime involved in the murder of his father Rafik, the former Prime Minister who was killed in Beirut in 2005, believes that Syria today is a State with which we want to build a relation on positive things. Rather than mentioning the deep tensions between the two countries following the murder of Hariri, and the Cedar Revolution which appeared to trigger off a new path after the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon at the end of 29 years of military presence, Hariri preferred to speak about the opening, just one year ago, of the two embassies in the two capitals. This was a symbolic gesture, which was highly appreciated by the European and North American chancelleries. The young Hariri then promised that Assad plans to face the remaining issues without provocation, in a calm and open way. “We have agreed a series of issues, including the demarcation of borders”. The delicate dossier relating to the release of hundreds of Lebanese political prisoners who have been in Syrian prisons for years does not appear to have been mentioned, nor the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which has been charged since 2007 with judging over the people presumed guilty for the murder of Hariri and other attacks. Syria has been accused by various sides of being responsible, but Damascus has always rejected these accusations. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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The Obamas Watch But Don’t See the Tragic Fate F Middle East Women: A Four-Picture Allegory

by Barry Rubin

Turkey used to be a secular state striving for modernization and a place in the Western world. That dream is turning into a nightmare. The AKP regime, despite its pretense of being a center-right, family values, good government party, is moving Turkey toward Islamism. Washington and the West in general doesn’t seem to notice though horrified Turkish secularists and liberals are yelling for help.

Look at the photos below of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his wife arriving in Washington to meet the Obamas. It’s not so much that his wife, Ermine, is wearing a hijab (in Turkey called a turban) but look at her slumped over and self-effacing like a slave. I’m of no importance, is what her posture seems to say. Compare her abject stance to the three others in the picture standing tall and proud. In the first photo her sleeves are so long to conceal her hands that she can’t even control them. Her head is slumped in a pose conveying submissiveness and shame at being a woman. And then in the fourth photo, she slinks off, like a servant who has been dismissed.

The sequence seems to symbollize the fate stalking Turkish woman, subverting the equality envisioned under the Ataturk republic to a status of servility and second-class citizenship. This holds true in much of the Muslim-majority countries and it is getting worse—Egypt and Iraq come to mind—not better.

Yet the Obamas don’t even notice what’s going on before their eyes. To them, Turkey is the very model of a moderate Muslim democracy, a good model to be encouraged rather than a NATO ally slipping steadily into the Iranian-Syrian alliance.

Take a look at those photos below and shiver…

— Hat tip: Barry Rubin

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Turkey: Auto Insurance Sector a Battleground Between Genders

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 21 — Claims that women are worse drivers than men abound in Turkish society and in the world at large, but statistics show that men’s recklessness and insurance companies unwillingness to discriminate based on gender is creating unjustly high insurance premiums for women. As Today’s Zaman reports, a survey titled Traffic Accident Statistics, released in 2007 by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), has the most recent data on traffic accidents separated by gender in Turkey. According to the report, out of a total of 133,778 accidents that occurred in 2007, 127,868 involved male drivers, and 5,910 female. Although these numbers may be a reason to cheer for those wishing to close the books on this debate, they can be misleading, as only 16.3% of the more than 18 million drivers in 2007 were female. The report continues to pile on statistics that should make men blush, as they show that the number of accidents per driver in 2007 for males was four times more than women. Looking into the morbid side of this debate, out of the 1,356 accidents involving the death of the driver, 98.2%, or 1,332 accidents, occurred when a man was behind the wheel, even though they make up 83.7% of all drivers. The remaining 24 involved women. Precisely 1.04% of all accidents with a male driver ended in the death of the driver, where as this figure was 0.41% for women.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turkey: Crucifixion Remarks Lead to Tension Between Gov’t and Bartholomew

Remarks by Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, in which he likened his treatment by the government in Turkey to crucifixion, have led to disappointment and anger in Ankara, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu saying that he wished those remarks had been a “slip of the tongue.”

Speaking in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” for a story that was broadcast yesterday, Patriarch Bartholomew said Turkey’s Greek Orthodox community does not feel they enjoy full freedoms as Turkish citizens and feel they are treated as “second-class citizens.”

— Hat tip: Esther

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Two Shiite Worshippers Gunned Down in Iraq

Two Shiite worshippers were gunned down on Tuesday close to the town of Baquba while leaving a mosque after carrying out rituals as part of the Shiite religious commemoration of Ashura, police said.

“Men in a car opened fire on worshippers who were leaving the mosque, where they were participating in flagellation as part of preparations for Ashura, killing two of them,” said a police officer.

The shooting occurred in the village of Berginiyah, east of Baquba and northeast of Baghdad.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Afghanistan: Taliban Fight Rules ‘Tying American Soldiers’ Hands’

‘Reflect priorities that have more to do with PC than military mission’

The president of the Center for Military Readiness today warned that apparent military rules of engagement for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan are like tying one hand behind their backs before sending them into combat.

Elaine Donnelly, whose organization is an independent, non-partisan educational group to promote sound military personnel policies, cited reports from Joseph’s Farah’s exclusive G2 Bulletin that while actual rules of engagement are classified, the restrictions based on individual accounts limit night and surprise searchers, demand warnings before searches, impose a ban on shooting at insurgents unless they are preparing to fire first, and ban engaging insurgents if civilians are present.

“It’s the equivalent of going off to war with one hand tied behind your back,” Donnelly said of the restrictions, which have been defended by a military spokesman.

She said there are potential arguments for individual restrictions, but, “Taken as a whole, they clearly reflect a set of priorities that have more to do with political correctness than the military mission.“

— Hat tip: JD

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Indonesia: Aceh Sharia Forbids Chinese Dance of the Lions

The provincial authorities say it is alien to local culture and violates religious harmony. The descendants of Chinese respond that is only “a cultural show” to remember the victims of the tsunami. For decades the community — mostly Christian — is victim of discrimination and violence for religious or economic reasons.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Indonesians of Chinese descent are in revolt against the decision of the Religious Affairs Office of Aceh, which has banned the popular barongsay (the dance of the lions, ed) during the commemorations of the fifth anniversary of the tsunami. The authorities explain that it is clearly extraneous to local culture and they want to “maintain religious harmony.” The descendants of the Chinese replicate by describing the decision as “ridiculous”.

Kim, an Indonesian of Chinese descent in North Jakarta, speaks of a “ridiculous and shameful” decision, in open violation of the five basic principles (the Pancasila) that “ensure full respect for cultural diversity.” They are the five pillars of secular nationalism, on which the country has built its history since independence in 1945. “The decision to ban the barongsay — he adds — humiliates the various ethnic groups in Indonesia, including the Chinese people of Aceh.”

The dance of the lions (pictured) was in program for 26 December next, the fifth anniversary of the tsunami tragedy, which caused hundreds of casualties among the Chinese community in Aceh. Groups coming from the province of North Sumatra were also to have attended the ceremony.

A. Rahman TB, an official of the Religious Affairs Office of Aceh — the most fundamentalist province of the country, where Islamic law is in force — justifies the decision stressing that the dance “has never been represented before” and the desire to maintain” religious harmony among the Muslims of Aceh and other ethnic groups in the province”.

“It’s stupid” replies Martini, a woman of Chinese origin who lives in Jakarta, based on “completely unfounded reasons”. The Chinese community states that the barongsay has”no religious character”, but is only a” cultural show “. Finally they add that they received all necessary permits from local authorities, including a police permit.

The Chinese community in Indonesia suffered harsh repression during the dictatorship of General Suharto (1967 — 1998). He had imposed a ban on all traditional cultural expressions, including the characters, language and dance of the lions. According to the dictator, the leaders of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were responsible for the massacre of a group of army generals in 1965. The ban ordered by Suharto was removed in 2000 by his successor, Abdurrahman Wahid, “Gus Dur”, who granted greater autonomy and freedom.

The hostility toward the Chinese ethnic community is also caused by economic reasons. Merchants, bankers, industrialists, they have long controlled the national economy. Moreover, the Chinese — once majority Buddhist — are now increasingly converted to Christianity and have become an ideal target for Islamic fundamentalist fringes in the country.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Malaysia Muslims Sour Over Revamped Pork Soup

KUALA LUMPUR (AP) — A Malaysian government-backed campaign to popularize a well-known ethnic Chinese soup by making a version that avoids pork and fulfills Islamic dietary rules sparked criticism Tuesday by activists who fear it will confuse Muslims.

A halal version of “bak kut teh,” a herbal broth traditionally made with pork ribs, was introduced at a Tourism Ministry food fair last weekend to promote local cuisine. The new version contains chicken, seafood or vegetables instead of pork, which Islam prohibits.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Pakistan Court Orders Brothers’ Noses, Ears Cut Off

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) — A Pakistani court has ordered that two brothers should have their noses and ears cut off after they were found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them, a government prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The judge at an anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore handed down the sentences on Monday in line with the Islamic law of Qisas.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Pakistan: Girl Sold in Open Auction

via NRP www.nieuwreligieuspeil.net/node/3237

JACOBABAD — A 20-year-old girl was auctioned at village Badani Bhutto of Taluka Kashmore in consideration of Rs2,70,000 on Saturday.

Azizan, daughter of late Allah Bux Bhutto, was divorced on the allegation of Karo-kari some time back. She is stated to be mother of two children and was residing with her brother who held the open auction for her ‘sale’ at village Badani Bhutto.

A large number of villagers showed interest in the auction that started with Rs50,000 and ended at Rs270,000. Bilawal Bhutto, 50, of the same village purchased her for the said amount. Initially he paid Rs210,000 for the girl.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Atmosphere of Fear at Christmas in North China

Christians in north China are facing a Christmas of fear after 10 local religious leaders were jailed in recent weeks and their new church shut down amid a crackdown on unauthorised worship.

Five of the church leaders were given prison terms of up to seven-years by a Linfen court, while the others were sentenced without trial to labour camps for two years, their lawyer said.

Their crimes? “Illegally occupying farm land” and “disturbing transportation through a mass gathering”.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Cambodian Government Expels 20 Chinese Uyghur Refugees

Phnom Penh considers them illegal immigrants and orders their return to China. The group, which escaped in July from Xinjiang, sought political asylum in the UN’s Office in the capital. Human rights activists warn that if they return to China they will be tortured and killed.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Cambodian government has ordered the deportation of 20 ethnic Uyghur Chinese, who fled Xinjiang in July during the crackdown against the Muslim minority. They are charged with “illegally” crossing the border and will be sent back. The decision bows to pressure from China, which had branded the refugees “criminals.”

In recent weeks the group had illegally entered Cambodia, asking for political asylum at the office of the United Nations in Phnom Penh. The government, under the immigration laws, has ordered their expulsion. “They have no passports or permits — said Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry — which is why we consider them illegal.” He adds that he does not know “where they will be sent”, but their “final destination will be China, the place where they come from”.

Human rights activists fear for the lives of 20 refugees, if returned to China. Amy Reger, a researcher at the Uyghur American Association in Washington, explains that they will face”a terrible fate, possible execution and likely torture”. The activist recalls the case of Shaheer Ali, who fled to Nepal in 2000 and was considered a political refugee by the UN. Repatriated to China in 2002, he was executed a year later.

Ethnic tensions exploded on 5 July when a peaceful Uyghur demonstration caused by the forced closure of a Muslim bazaar degenerated into ethnic clashes between indigenous Muslim Uyghurs and ethnic Han Chinese. During the unrest, about 200 people were killed and 1,600 were injured before police and the army were able to clamp down and arrest thousands of people.

Beijing has already imposed 12 death sentences against the alleged perpetrators of the rebellion. Uyghurs accuse Han Chinese of colonising their country, monopolising commerce and the public administration. They prevent locals from exercising their civil liberties and enjoying religious freedom, often done in the name of the fight against Islamic terrorism.

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— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Cambodian Deportation of Muslim Uighurs Criticised by UN

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia has deported back to China 20 Muslim Uighurs who fled the country after deadly ethnic violence this year, according to a government official, despite concerns they will face persecution by Beijing.

The Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group — members of which were involved in rioting in western China that killed nearly 200 people in July — were smuggled into Cambodia in recent weeks.

They applied for asylum at the United Nations refugee agency office in Phnom Penh. Human rights groups have said they fear for the lives of the Uighurs if they are deported to China.

However, they were deported late on Saturday, foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday. “We were implementing the immigration laws of the country. They came to Cambodia illegally. We had to apply our immigration law,” he said.

The deportation coincided with a visit to Cambodia yesterday by Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping, who was expected to sign 14 pacts related to infrastructure construction, grants and loans.

The Washington-based Uighur American Association said the 20 would likely face torture and possible execution, citing the case of Shaheer Ali, an Uighur political activist who fled to Nepal in 2000 and was granted refugee status by the United Nations. He was forcibly returned to China from Nepal in 2002 and executed a year later, according to state media.

The United States said the decision would affect international relations with Cambodia and urged China to “uphold international norms” in treatment of the group. “The United States is deeply concerned about the welfare of these individuals, who had sought protection under international law,” the State Department said in a statement.

“The United States strongly opposed Cambodia’s involuntary return of these asylum seekers before their claims have been heard,” it said. “This incident will affect Cambodia’s relationship with the US, and its international standing.”

The UN refugee agency condemned the deportation.

“The forced return of asylum-seekers without a full examination of their asylum claims is a serious breach of international refugee law,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement.

Agency spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said her agency had sent staff to Phnom Penh’s main airport on Saturday to try to physically stop the deportation, but authorities circumvented this by using a military airport.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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China Pressuring U.S. On Weapons Deals

Wants military sales to Taiwan shut down

The Obama administration has signaled that it may lift its hold on sales of essential military equipment to Taiwan, and Taiwan sources report they expect a formal decision any time, but China is responding with implied threats of retaliation if a deal is announced, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The issue arose just three weeks after President Obama was in China in an effort to get U.S.-Chinese relations back on course.

— Hat tip: JD

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Economy and Energy at the Centre of Meeting Between Beijing and the Burmese Junta

Face to face between Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping and the chief Than Shwe, head of the Burmese military junta. Among the points in question the pipeline linking China and Myanmar and a mega hydroelectric power plant worth 600 million dollars. Beijing is the fourth largest investor, with a turnover of 2.6 billion.

Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will meet with the head of the Burmese junta, Than Shwe, during his official visit to Myanmar, scheduled for today and tomorrow in the capital Naypyidaw. The visit concludes the tour of the 4 Asian countries — Japan, South Korea, Cambodia and Myanmar — which Xi has been conducting since last December 14. The official Xinhua news agency anticipates that during the meeting the two leaders will discuss “the development of friendly and fruitful Sino-Burmese relations”.

Economy and Energy

Xi Ping’s visit to former Burma is the first high level visit since, in October last year, work started on the new oil / gas pipeline linking the Burmese port of Madaya Island, on the Indian Ocean, with Ruili, a town in Yunnan — southwestern province of China — via Mandalay. The pipeline of over 770 kilometers, costs about $ 2.5 billion and has a capacity of 84 million barrels per year, once completed in 2013 it will channel about 85% of its energy imports from Africa and the Middle East to China.

Beijing’s race to secure Burmese resources includes the mega Yeywa hydroelectric power project on the River Myitnge in Mandalay Division. The station, of 790 megawatts and a cost of 600 million dollars, is the third largest project of its kind in the world.

According to data from the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, commercial relations between the two countries in 2008 were worth 2.6 billion dollars. With 1.331 billion dollars, China is the fourth largest investor in Myanmar. According to data of the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, 6.9% of total exports from the former Burma are destined for China, from whence arrives 35.9% of Burmese imports.

Politics and Security

But beyond economic affairs, the leaders of two allied countries will also discuss politics. In particular, according to analysts, the weekend talks will address the issue of security along the border, where ethnic guerrillas generate a substantial flow of migrants into China. Last August, about 37 thousand Chinese ethnic kokang in north-eastern Myanmar fled to China after the junta launched an offensive against their community, who refused to become “ border militia.”

Since 2008, in fact, the Burmese regime are trying to convert all the autonomous ethnic militias into a kind of border police under the control of the government. Beijing has warned Naypyidaw to protect the interests Chinese ethnicity in its territory and secure the border.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Polluting Pets: The Devastating Impact of Man’s Best Friend

PARIS (AFP) — Man’s best friend could be one of the environment’s worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.

But the revelation in the book “Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living” by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale has angered pet owners who feel they are being singled out as troublemakers.

The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year.

Combine the land required to generate its food and a “medium” sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) — around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.

To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to calculate eco-pawprints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same.

“Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat,” Barrett said.

Other animals aren’t much better for the environment, the Vales say.

Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.

But Reha Huttin, president of France’s 30 Million Friends animal rights foundation says the human impact of eliminating pets would be equally devastating.

“Pets are anti-depressants, they help us cope with stress, they are good for the elderly,” Huttin told AFP.

“Everyone should work out their own environmental impact. I should be allowed to say that I walk instead of using my car and that I don’t eat meat, so why shouldn’t I be allowed to have a little cat to alleviate my loneliness?”

Sylvie Comont, proud owner of seven cats and two dogs — the environmental equivalent of a small fleet of cars — says defiantly, “Our animals give us so much that I don’t feel like a polluter at all.

“I think the love we have for our animals and what they contribute to our lives outweighs the environmental considerations.

“I don’t want a life without animals,” she told AFP.

And pets’ environmental impact is not limited to their carbon footprint, as cats and dogs devastate wildlife, spread disease and pollute waterways, the Vales say.

With a total 7.7 million cats in Britain, more than 188 million wild animals are hunted, killed and eaten by feline predators per year, or an average 25 birds, mammals and frogs per cat, according to figures in the New Scientist.

Likewise, dogs decrease biodiversity in areas they are walked, while their faeces cause high bacterial levels in rivers and streams, making the water unsafe to drink, starving waterways of oxygen and killing aquatic life.

And cat poo can be even more toxic than doggy doo — owners who flush their litter down the toilet ultimately infect sea otters and other animals with toxoplasma gondii, which causes a killer brain disease.

But despite the apocalyptic visions of domesticated animals’ environmental impact, solutions exist, including reducing pets’ protein-rich meat intake.

“If pussy is scoffing ‘Fancy Feast’ — or some other food made from choice cuts of meat — then the relative impact is likely to be high,” said Robert Vale.

“If, on the other hand, the cat is fed on fish heads and other leftovers from the fishmonger, the impact will be lower.”

Other potential positive steps include avoiding walking your dog in wildlife-rich areas and keeping your cat indoors at night when it has a particular thirst for other, smaller animals’ blood.

As with buying a car, humans are also encouraged to take the environmental impact of their future possession/companion into account.

But the best way of compensating for that paw or clawprint is to make sure your animal is dual purpose, the Vales urge. Get a hen, which offsets its impact by laying edible eggs, or a rabbit, prepared to make the ultimate environmental sacrifice by ending up on the dinner table.

“Rabbits are good, provided you eat them,” said Robert Vale.

— Hat tip: Paul Green

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Foreign Fighters Lead Somali Fight

CAIRO — Hundreds of foreign fighters who reportedly flocked to Somalia last year to join al-Shabaab in fighting the interim government and UN peacekeepers are said to be assuming leadership roles in the militant group.CAIRO — Hundreds of foreign fighters who reportedly flocked to Somalia last year to join al-Shabaab in fighting the interim government and UN peacekeepers are said to be assuming leadership roles in the militant group.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Castro Accuses US of Plotting Against Cuba

Cuban President Raul Castro has accused the US of continuing hostile policies against his government through distribution of illegal satellite equipment.

“The enemy is as active as ever, as demonstrated by the detention in recent days of a US citizen,” Castro told country’s National Assembly.

“In recent weeks, we have witnessed an increasing number of efforts by the new (US) administration with that objective,” the 77-year-old successor of Fidel Castro added.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Ireland: Deportation of Mother Without Boy Condemned

THE GOVERNMENT has been accused of “State-sponsored child abuse” for deporting a mother to Nigeria without her four-year-old son, who has been placed in State care.

The mother, who came to Ireland in 2005 to claim asylum, and her son, were both arrested at Dublin airport on August 16th for evading deportation orders. She was sent to prison and her son was placed in the care of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

A few days later, an application by the HSE to lift the care order to enable the child to accompany his mother on a deportation flight was refused by the District Court, which ruled it was not in the best interests of the child.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau subsequently deported the mother on September 1st, leaving the child in State care.

The court hearings in the case have been held in camera to protect the child’s identity, although some details have been revealed through answers to Dáil questions.

Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter said yesterday the decision by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to separate mother and child amounted to “State-sponsored child abuse 21st-century style”. He said it made a mockery of Mr Ahern’s recent comments at a press conference to publish the Murphy report into clerical child sex abuse when he apologised for the State agency’s failings in dealing with child protection in the past.

“While he was making his Murphy speech, a four-year-old child had been taken from his mother at Dublin airport and placed into the care system.

“I understand he has had three different foster parents . . . This will almost certainly harm the child,” said Mr Shatter, who added keeping a child in care also costs the State thousands of euros.

In answers to Dáil questions, Mr Ahern said representatives of the immigration bureau had made sustained efforts to communicate with the mother in Nigeria to facilitate the return of her son.

“It is in the best interests of the child that he be repatriated with his mother in their country of origin,” said Mr Ahern, who noted the mother had evaded a deportation order for almost four years.

Because the son was born after the coming into force of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004, he does not have the right to Irish citizenship. However, the District Court’s decision not to release him from HSE care means he cannot be deported to Nigeria to be reunited with his mother, at least for the time being.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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History of Climate Gets ‘Erased’ Online

More than 5,000 entries tailored to hype global-warming agenda

A new report reveals a British scientist and Wikipedia administrator rewrote climate history, editing more than 5,000 unique articles in the online encyclopedia to cover traces of a medieval warming period — something Climategate scientists saw as a major roadblock in the effort to spread the global warming message.

— Hat tip: JD

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If I had made this story up — a sordid tale involving cousin marriage, pedophilia, and rape all rolled into one — it would have been too much for our readers. “Baron,” you all would have said, “cut it out with these ridiculous caricatures of Muslims! Can’t you make your point without resorting to grotesque exaggeration?”

Alas, the reality of culturally-enriched Britain is too horrendous to be caricatured.

By the way — notice that the father of the “bride” is all of 29 years old.

According to the Beeb:

Man urged son to rape cousin, 12

A man who encouraged his teenage son to marry and rape his 12-year-old cousin has been jailed.

The 54-year-old organised a sham Muslim ceremony between his son, then 16, and the girl at his home in Woolwich, south-east London, in March last year.

At Wood Green Crown Court the boy got an 18-month supervision order for rape.

The fathers of the boy and girl were both jailed for three years for inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following an illegal marriage.

The boy’s mother, 54, was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, for the same offence.

She was also ordered to do 200 hours of community service.

The case came to light when the mother of the girl, who objected to the arranged “marriage”, told police about it.

– – – – – – – – –

Scotland Yard child abuse detectives then discovered several relatives of the boy had urged him to rape his cousin.

In a statement, the girl’s mother said: “What happened to my daughter was a nightmare. These convictions will help us move on.”

Speaking after the case, Det Insp Noel McHugh, who led the investigation, called it a “really awful crime”.

He said: “This has been an exceptionally challenging investigation and we are grateful to all those who assisted with the case and ensured the convictions.

“The offences are incomprehensible and the victim is a truly brave girl who suffered at the hands of those who should have offered her protection.”

The girl’s father, 29, and the boy, now 17, were ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

Neither the victim nor any of the guilty parties can be named for legal reasons.

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

Hat tip: Vlad Tepes.

I mentioned earlier this evening that former President Jimmy Carter has suddenly repented of his past antipathy towards Israel and apologized for it. Ever the cynic, I was certain there had to be more to the affair than an abrupt attack of conscience.

And so there was: it seems that Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, is running for statewide office in Georgia. Heroyalwhyness, always alert to the latest political news, pointed out in the comments the following article from JTA:

Carter: Grandson’s race not reason enough to apologize

Jimmy Carter is asking the Jewish community for forgiveness — and insists it’s not simply because his grandson has decided to launch a political career with a run for the Georgia state Senate.

Jason Carter, 34, an Atlanta-area lawyer, is considering a run to fill a seat covering suburban DeKalb County should the incumbent, David Adelman, win confirmation as President Obama’s designated ambassador to Singapore.

The seat, which is university heavy — Emory, among others, is situated there — also has a substantial Jewish community.

Aha! So Jason has encountered a little family-related Jewish problem, and Jimmuh from the Ummah is lending him a helping hand. Now it makes sense.

Needless to say, Jimmuh poo-poos any connection between his new-found contrition and his grandson’s need for the “Zionist” vote:
– – – – – – – – –

But in an interview with JTA, Carter insisted that ethnic electoral considerations were not reason enough to reach out to the Jewish community, although he did not outright deny that it was a factor.

“Jason has a district, the number of Jewish voters in it is only 2 percent,” he said, chuckling.

Notice that although Grandpa disclaims any linkage between his behavior and Jason’s future political career, he just happens to know the exact percentage of Jewish voters that Carter the Younger will have to court.

And Jason is singing from the same hymnal as Paw-Paw:

In a statement issued through his campaign manager, the younger Carter said the statement was not connected to his campaign.

“While I was very happy to see my grandfather’s letter, it was completely unrelated to my campaign. The letter is a product of discussions with some of his friends in the Jewish community that have been going on for a long time. I, like many others, see this as a great step towards reconciliation,” Jason Carter said in the statement. “As for my campaign, I intend to reach out to all people in District 42 and work hard to earn their trust and their votes. Ultimately, this campaign will focus on the people of this district and the issues that a good advocate in the Georgia State Senate can affect, including fixing a broken transportation system, getting the economy moving again, and providing a first-class education to our kids.”

It’s nice to find out that the apple don’t fall far from the tree, even unto the third generation.

What the heck is Jimmy Carter up to? After decades of vilifying Israel, why has he suddenly decided to repent of his wicked ways and beg forgiveness?

Perhaps his erstwhile paymasters in the Ummah were so heavily invested in Dubai World that they have been forced by their straitened financial circumstances to downsize Jimmuh’s position.

Or did someone outbid them?

In any case, here’s the story from YNet News:

Carter Apologizes for ‘Stigmatizing Israel’

WASHINGTON — Former US President Jimmy Carter on Monday asked for the Jewish community’s forgiveness for any negative stigma he may have caused Israel over the years.

Carter, who is not a popular character in Israel, enraged the American Jewish community’s in the past with various statements made in his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.”

In the book, Carter blamed Israel for impeding the Middle East peace process via settlement construction, further claiming such a policy will lead to apartheid.

The former president also accused Israel of interfering with US efforts to broker peace in the region.

“We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel.

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“As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so,” he said.

“Al Het” refers to the Yom Kippur prayer asking God forgiveness for sins committed.

Head of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman welcomed Carter’s apology, saying it marked the beginning of reconciliation.

I’d like to think that Mr. Carter — in the twilight of his long and varied career, and facing an imminent journey to the Great Peanut Farm in the Sky — has had a genuine change of heart.

Not bloody likely though, after all those years of pettiness and self-righteous bile. The cynic in me can’t help but wonder what the angle is.

Hat tip: Sean O’Brian.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated a thought-provoking article from earlier this month on Joost Niemoller’s blog, which tackles some difficult questions about Islam. What criteria would justify the banning of a dangerous “religious” ideology? If those criteria were met, should Islam be banned? If so, how could such a horrendous task be accomplished?

Islam as a threat

The results of the Swiss referendum still echo. Not only there is great international pressure to reverse the minaret-ban, but the Swiss government also wants to do something about referendums. But ho, ho, ho, Martien Pennings says, what were the objections against Islam again?

by Martien Pennings

In the debate about Islam, it strikes me that people whom I regard as very sensible are still unable to absorb certain deep truths. That truth is that

1.		For 1400 years Islam has been a global system the developed Western man might best understand when I say that on essential points it is deeply genetically related (four counts: hatred of Jews, uebermenschen-thought, glorifying war, female-animalization) to Nazism and Hitlerism, and that therefore:
2		It should be considered whether we should — unthinkingly explicit and solemn, or in seemingly natural contextual sentences — regard this system as covered by freedom of religion and expression.

When referring to Popper’s paradox I have often said that there may come a time when the tolerant liberals should switch to banning certain intolerant people because otherwise liberal tolerance as such will not survive. That danger is not imaginary when you see that intolerant people and totalitarian-lovers are working towards the contrary, namely a ban on criticism of the inherently intolerant and inhumane Islam. Recently the Dutch Minister of Internal Affairs Ter Horst (Socialist) stated openly that she is “extremely distressed” because of the ban on minarets, and is pleased that we do not have referendums in the Netherlands, and is pleased that the Swiss government thinks differently from the Swiss people. She is really not the only one, because the totalitarian and Islamophilic left now sees that the people will not allow themselves to be silenced with collaborationist crap about “racism”, and begin to take ever wilder swings about themselves. The trial of Wilders is just the tip of a very large iceberg of submerged left-wing totalitarian potential in the Netherlands, Europe, and America.

In Europe, thoughts blossom that are creating the exact opposite of a ban on Islamofascism, namely Eurabia, where you keep your mouth shut tight and Islam is a wonderful religion-of-peace. I just received a mailing from a seminar that will be held December 19 at the University of Antwerp, address: Grote Kauwenberg 18.

The message contains the names Maurice Adams, Johan Meeusen and A.M. Den Bossche of the University of Antwerp. We find Dr. Henri de Waele of the Radboud University Nijmegen, and Paul de Hert of the University of Brussels.

Dr. Quoc Loc Hong will give an opening speech. And now see how the introductory speech is billed:

– – – – – – – – –

Dr. Hong will present two papers in which he has drawn on Hans Kelsen’s theory of democracy to argue that contrary to conventional wisdom, there is virtually nothing wrong with the democratic legitimacy of either the European Union or its Court of Justice (ECJ). The legitimacy problems from which the EU in general and the ECJ in particular are alleged to suffer seem to result mainly from our rigid adherence to the outdated conception of democracy as popular self-legislation. Because, so his argument roughly runs, we tend to approach the Union’s political and judicial practice from the perspective of this conception of democracy, we are not able to observe what is blindingly obvious, that is, the viability and persistence of this mega-leviathan and its highest Court. It is therefore imperative that we modernize and adjust our conception of democracy in order to comprehend the new reality to which these bodies have given rise, rather than to introduce “reforms” in a futile attempt to bring this reality into accordance with our ancient preconceptions about what democratic governance should be. Kelsen’s theory of democracy, according to our colleague, is precisely what has enabled us to grasp this insight — an insight that makes possible the construction of a more solid jurisprudential foundation for both the Union and its Court of Justice. [emphasis added]

I know the First Amendment to the American Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It would take a thesis to discuss the question of what the Founding Fathers of this amendment would think in hindsight of the Jacobin phase of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Bolshevism, Leninism, Stalinism, Hitler, Mussolini and the “development” of Islam. What the son of Founding Father John Adams, namely John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the U.S., thought of Islam, we also know well, and in 1830 he expressed it in words the Dutch Minister Ter Horst would like to ban today.

In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar (Mohammed), the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent god; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. The essence of this doctrine was violence and lust: to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature… Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant…While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon the earth, and good will towards men.

I must advocate that we not pretend too indiscriminately, continuously, in formal statements and casual contextual phrases, that it is very common that Islam is religious freedom and freedom of expression. The “anything goes” habit is a relic of a an excessive “revolutionary mentality” from the sixties, and is actually related to its opposite, totalitarian social engineering, which is also from the sixties. Western society is not an empty shell, but a values community, where there is something substantial is at stake, namely the result of a millennia-old tradition of Judeo-Christian origin, out of which the Enlightenment through its brighter side has won the battle for its nuclei — Reason, Humanity, Conscience — over a terrible history. Our Western science is nothing but the secularized form of the Judeo-Christian sense of guilt; that we are fallible, make mistakes, learn from our failures and want to do better. In Islam, this is unthinkable. There the reasoning self is the first great sin against the omnipotence of Allah.

In addition to what-the-Founding-Fathers-were-thinking-of- Islam, there is the following:

In a lecture by Geert Wilders at Columbia University in New York on October 21, 2009, we learn some more about the feelings of at least one Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. Wilders says:

President Obama celebrates the fact that, when the first Muslim American was elected in Congress, he swore the oath on the same Quran that one of the founders —Thomas Jefferson — had kept in his personal library. It is interesting to know that it was Thomas Jefferson in 1801, who waged a war against the Islamic “Barbary” states in North Africa to stop the plundering of ships and the enslavement of millions of Christians. To the Ambassador of the Islamic nations Thomas Jefferson and John Adams said that the Muslims in the search for justification for the massacre and enslavement of infidels, would have found it in the Koran. Now I ask you, dear friends, mustn’t the reason that Thomas Jefferson kept a copy of the Koran have been not because he admired Islam, but because he wanted to understand the ruthless nature of his enemies?

In the forthcoming book by Frans Groenendijk, Islamophobia, one will find this footnote:

In The Works of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 9 (New York and London: GP Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5), p.358, is an account of a conversation Jefferson had with the ambassador from Tripoli, Abdrahaman. The latter had explained that all Christians are sinners according to the Koran and that it was the right and a duty for Muslims to wage war against them and enslave as many of them as possible.

Furthermore, “Sultan Knish” on its website has philosophizes extensively on legal matters about the question:

Can We Ban Islam? — Legal Guidelines for the Criminalization of Islam in the United States.

VH adds this note:

See also on this legal subject the Quran Petition, and in Dutch: “De Koran getoetst aan de Westerse beschaving en Rechtsorde” by Frankenvrij on the ICLA site.

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Britain to allow its prisoners in jail to vote. If the UK doesn’t comply with the ECHR directive for the next general election, the vote may be nullified as illegal.

In other news, Mexico City has become the first political entity in Latin America to legalize gay marriage.

Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, CSP, Esther, Fjordman, Henrik, Insubria, JD, Lurker from Tulsa, Sean O’Brian, Steen, TV, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	Report: Oklahoma’s Revenue Shortfalls Worst in Nation
	Spain: 47% Fewer Homes Build in Third Quarter
	UK: Priest Outrages Police by Telling Congregation: ‘My Advice to Poor is to Shoplift’
	USA
	Frank Gaffney: START Over
	General Defends Court Martial for Pregnant Soldiers
	Record-Breaking Storm Closes US Federal Government
	US Transfers 12 Gitmo Detainees to Home Countries
	Yellowstone’s Plumbing Exposed
	Europe and the EU
	Bad Weather: Spain, Heavy Snowfall Alert
	Bad Weather: Italy Still Suffering From Cold Snap
	EU: Who’d Ha Thunk it? Italian Constitutional Court Tells ECHR to Take a Hike, Asserts National Sovereignty
	France: Carbon Tax Raises Prices by 0.3% in Q1 of 2010
	German Catholic Leader Criticizes Islamic Treatment of Christians
	Italy: Palermo Drug Bust Nets 67
	Italy: Major Asbestos Trial Opens
	Italy: Millions Watch Berlusconi Discuss Marriage on TV Chat Show
	Italy: Berlusconi Photos Vanish From Google
	Italy: Facebook Asks for Govt Meeting to Discuss Internet Row
	Klaus: Global Warming No Science But “New Religion”
	Sarkozy Demands Eurostar Restart Tuesday
	Spain: Telecinco and Cuatro Merger Forms Biggest TV Group
	Spain: Corridas on the Decline, Catalonia Votes Tomorrow
	Spain: Mosques: State Aid to Stop Radicalism
	Spain: Christmas More Lay, Only 10% of Youths at Church
	Sweden Boasts Record High Population Growth
	Sweden’s Population Grows With Full Speed
	Swiss Minaret Vote Was a “Lesson in Civic Spirit”
	UK: Brussels Rules Cost UK £18bn a Year
	UK: EU ‘Threat’ To Election
	UK: Thug Walid Salem Boasts He is Untouchable as the Householder He Tormented is Jailed
	Balkans
	Defence: Croatia Has Problems Controlling Air Space
	EU: Serb Citizens in Brussels After Schengen Opening Tomorrow
	Serbia to Submit Bid to Join EU
	Serbs Walk on Eggshells in Meeting With Dutch FM
	North Africa
	Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood, Conservatives Win Party Vote
	Egypt Bans a Protest March Into Gaza
	Tunisia: First Day of Hegira, Also With Traditional Food
	Israel and the Palestinians
	How the Auschwitz Sign Claiming That “Work Makes Free” Embodies Current Western Thinking and Policy
	Israeli Military Admits to Organ Harvesting
	Israel Harvested Organs in ‘90s Without Permission
	Palestinians “Disgusted” And “Disappointed” By Bickering Between Hamas and Fatah
	Shalit: Netanyahu Resumes ‘Marathon’ Talks
	Trial Begins: Olmert Pleads Not Guilty
	Middle East
	140 Million Arabs Live in Poverty: UN
	Defence: Turkey to Buy US Military Heavy Lift Copters
	Lebanon: Bus With Syrian Workers Under Fire
	Turkey-Syrian Military Manoeuvres Worry Barak
	Turkey: Ergenekon Party to be Founded
	South Asia
	Karzai: Better if Dutch Troops Remain in Afghanistan
	Far East
	Beijing Prepares New Law on Expropriation
	North Korean Jeans Label Opens Pop-Up Shop in Stockholm
	Latin America
	Mexico City Backs Gay Marriage in Latin American First
	Immigration
	Egypt: Promised Visas for Italy Not Obtained, Protests
	France: Immigration, 20,000 Registrations This Year
	Governments vs the People: Replacing the Population by Another One
	Philippines: International Migrants Day: For Filipino Church, Emigration Destroys Families
	General
	There’ll be Nowhere to Run From the New World Government

Report: Oklahoma’s Revenue Shortfalls Worst in Nation

OKLAHOMA CITY — State Treasurer Scott Meacham will give an economic outlook for the rest of the fiscal year and preliminary projections for 2011 Monday, but already revenue shortfalls are forcing agencies to trim costs month after month.

A new report is even saying the state’s shortfalls are the worst in the nation. Oklahoma ranks No. 1 with Arizona falling close behind.

The National Conference of State Legislators said Oklahoma’s shortfall, so far, is 18.5 percent which amounts to a shortfall of $577.5 million.

State Lawmakers say this report is just further proof of Oklahoma’s finances and simply put, Oklahoma is in a lot of trouble.

“But the problem is they should’ve been cutting more from 17 to 18 percent if they wanted to sustain through the rest of the year and instead they choose the easy way out. I guess they thought something magic was going to happen to the economy, I’m not quite sure,” Rep. Mike Reynolds said.

With the continuing climb of the revenue shortfall and recent announcement of more agency funding cuts, some lawmakers said because the gas market is flat and there’s currently an over production of gas, the report is no surprise.

“This is the worst crisis since the Depression and 1982, back when we had that oil and gas problem. In that era it was just oil and gas. Now the entire economy has gone flat and we’re not going to be able to come out of this quickly. It’s going to be painful. That’s why I feel we all need to work together and solve these problems,” said Rep. Richard Morrissette.

Both state representatives do not expect state finances to recover any time soon, and they believe it will get much worse before they’ll be any sign of improvement.

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

[Return to headlines]

Spain: 47% Fewer Homes Build in Third Quarter

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 21 — The severe downsizing of the construction sector in Spain continues; the number construction projects for housing started in the third quarter of the year is 33,140, a drop of 47.2% compared to the same time period in 2008. The number of home built in the last 12 months is 444,544 or 35.1% less than last year, according to statistics published today by the housing ministry. About 50% of new properties are for social housing, which shows that the public housing sector drives the construction business currently in crisis. The number of uninhabited homes built in the third quarter was down 60.8% compared to the same period in 2008 and 19.3% compared to the second quarter. Public housing was down 20% from July to September and 18.3% compared to the same period last year. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

UK: Priest Outrages Police by Telling Congregation: ‘My Advice to Poor is to Shoplift’

Father Tim Jones, 41, broke off from his traditional annual sermon yesterday to tell his flock that stealing from large chains is sometimes the best option for vulnerable people.

It is far better for people desperate during the recession to shoplift than turn to ‘prostitution, mugging or burglary’, he said.

The married father-of-two insisted his unusual advice did not break the Bible commandment ‘Thou shalt not steal’ — because God’s love for the poor outweighs his love for the rich.

But the minister’s controversial sermon at St Lawrence Church in York has been slammed by police, the British Retail Consortium and a local MP, who all say that no matter what the circumstances, shoplifting is an offence.

Delivering his festive lesson, Father Jones told the congregation: ‘My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

‘I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

‘I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay has created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.’

He added that he felt society had failed the needy, and said it was far better they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.

He continued: ‘My advice does not contradict the Bible’s eighth commandment because God’s love for the poor and despised outweighs the property rights of the rich.

‘Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are.

‘Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt. Providing inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly.’

[…]

This isn’t the first time Father Jones has courted controversy.

He hit the headlines in May 2008 when he protested against a shop stocking Playboy stationery aimed at youngsters. He tossed the items onto the floor complaining they were ‘cynical and wicked’. The shop bowed to his one-man protest and agreed to stop stocking Playboy-branded merchandise.

[Return to headlines]

Frank Gaffney: START Over

Amidst the late night machinations and parliamentary skullduggery that now passes for legislative process in what was once rightly known as “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body,” a potentially decisive blow for freedom has been struck by forty-one Senators.

No, sadly I am not talking about a setback to the defective health care “reform” bill now trundling towards enactment. Rather, I am referring to an effort that suggests a critical block of Senators are determined to exercise quality control with respect to another of President Obama’s alarming agenda items: denuclearization of this country as a lubricant to his oft-stated goal of “ridding the world of nuclear weapons.”

As first reported by Bill Gertz, the Washington Times’ ace national security correspondent, every member of the Senate’s Republican caucus and Independent Joe Lieberman signed a strongly worded letter to Mr. Obama last week regarding the so-called “Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) follow-on agreement.” The latter is an agreement the administration has been frantically trying to negotiate with the Kremlin, not simply to extend the now-expired, original START accord, but to replace it with a treaty making further, dramatic and controversial cuts in U.S. and Russian strategic forces…

— Hat tip: CSP

[Return to headlines]

General Defends Court Martial for Pregnant Soldiers

A US Army general in northern Iraq has defended his decision to add pregnancy to the list of reasons a soldier under his command could face court martial.

It is current army policy to send pregnant soldiers home, but Maj Gen Anthony Cucolo told the BBC he was losing people with critical skills.

That was why the added deterrent of a possible court martial was needed, he said.

The new policy applies both to female and male soldiers, even if married.

The male sexual partners of female soldiers who get pregnant would also “face the consequences”, he said.

It is the first time the US Army has made pregnancy a punishable offence.

Gen Cucolo told the BBC it was a “black and white” issue for him.

He said married soldiers in combat zones should either put their love lives on hold — or take precautions.

“I’ve got a mission to do, I’m given a finite number of soldiers with which to do it and I need every one of them.”

“So I’m going to take every measure I can to keep them all strong, fit and with me for the twelve months we are in the combat zone,” he said.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Record-Breaking Storm Closes US Federal Government

The federal government was closed Monday after a record-breaking snowstorm swept across the northeastern United States and put a damper on one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year.

Just days before Christmas, the eastern seaboard from North Carolina to New England was digging out from the worst blizzard in years, which closed train and bus service, paralyzed air traffic, crippled motorists and left hundreds of thousands of residents without power in some areas.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

US Transfers 12 Gitmo Detainees to Home Countries

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has transferred a dozen Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region as the Obama administration continues to move captives out of the facility in Cuba in preparation for its closure.

The Justice Department said Sunday that a government task force had reviewed each case. Officials considered the potential threat and the government’s likelihood of success in court challenges to the detentions.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Yellowstone’s Plumbing Exposed

Newswise — The most detailed seismic images yet published of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano shows a plume of hot and molten rock rising at an angle from the northwest at a depth of at least 410 miles, contradicting claims that there is no deep plume, only shallow hot rock moving like slowly boiling soup.

A related University of Utah study used gravity measurements to indicate the banana-shaped magma chamber of hot and molten rock a few miles beneath Yellowstone is 20 percent larger than previously believed, so a future cataclysmic eruption could be even larger than thought.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Bad Weather: Spain, Heavy Snowfall Alert

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 21 — The first official day of winter has heralded in a state of alert across Spain due to heavy snowfall and freezing cold temperatures, under which the peninsula is suffering. Traffic gridlock is seen especially in the capital, where snow resulted in the closing early this morning of two of the four landing strips of the Madrid airport Barajas, giving rise to lengthy delays for at least 50 flights leaving from Terminal 4, according to airport sources. Inconveniences have also been seen in railway transport due to the interruption early this morning of the high-speed connection between Madrid, Seville, Malaga and Barcelona, which resumed at 9.45am. Alternative tickets or a reimbursement have been offered to the about 2,500 train passengers whose trains were called off. As concerns roads, in many zones chains are compulsory and numerous mountain passes have been closed due to snow and ice, as well as several arteries of the national road network, especially in the provinces of Teruel (A-23), La Rioja (N-126) and Burgos (N-629). The most copious snowfall is expected in the Madrid Sierra, where it could reached 15 centimetres and the thermometer may drop to as low as -13 degrees Celsius. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Bad Weather: Italy Still Suffering From Cold Snap

(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 21 — The northern and central areas of Italy are still suffering from freezing temperatures, which over the night fell to well below zero. Udine dipped as low as -18, while Bologna, Turin, Treviso and L’Aquila all saw -13. Intense cold was also felt in Bolzano (-12), Forlì and Arezzo (-10). The forecast leaves much to be desired since early this afternoon more snowfall is expected for — progressively — the Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, upper Tuscany and Abruzzi regions. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

EU: Who’d Ha Thunk it? Italian Constitutional Court Tells ECHR to Take a Hike, Asserts National Sovereignty

The first blow has been struck against the encroaching tyranny of the European Union and it is a significant one. In fact, one member state has defiantly drawn a line in the sand and signalled that it will not tolerate erosion of its sovereignty. Although it attracted little attention when it was published last month, now that commentators have had an opportunity to analyse Sentenza N. 311 by the Italian Constitutional Court, its monumental significance in rolling back the Lisbon Treaty is now being appreciated. (Hat tip, as they say, to Dr Piero Tozzi.)

The Constitutional Court ruled baldly that, where rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) conflict with provisions of the Italian Constitution, such decrees “lack legitimacy”. In other words, they will not be enforced in Italy. Although this judgement related to issues concerning the civil service, the universal interpretation is that the ECHR’s aggressive ruling in Lautsi v Italy, seeking to ban crucifixes from Italian classrooms, shortly before, was what concentrated the minds of the judges in the Italian Supreme Court.

In fact, sources close to the Italian judiciary have informally briefed that the decision was a warning that activist rulings by the ECHR “will not be given deference”. The juridical principle at issue here is nothing less than national sovereignty. Where an alien court has the right to overrule a national constitution, sovereignty has de facto ceased to exist. Citizens may go to the polls at a general election to elect an administration, but the “government” they choose will be no more than a municipal council. This, of course, was always the intention of the Lisbon Treaty and its supporters.

Europhile politicians and commentators in Britain, after the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the ratting by the Vichy Tories on their promise of a referendum, were masochistically resigned to the United Kingdom becoming a province of Brussels. Now the Italians have overthrown the fatalistic notion of the irresistible march of Eurofederalism. They have simply said: if it encroaches upon our national sovereignty, it won’t fly here. This is excellent.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

France: Carbon Tax Raises Prices by 0.3% in Q1 of 2010

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, DECEMBER 21 — The ‘carbon tax’, the green tax on the consumption of polluting energy that will become enforceable in France on January 1, will raise inflation by 0.3% during the first quarter of 2010. The announcement was made today by the central statistics office, which expects for the first quarter of 2010 an increase in consumer prices equal to 0.7% before going back down to 0.3% during the second quarter.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

German Catholic Leader Criticizes Islamic Treatment of Christians

Cologne, Germany — One of Germany’s most senior Catholic leaders, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, criticized on Sunday what he described as restrictions on Christians in Islamic nations. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Meisner, who is archbishop of Cologne, charged that this led to “an aversion against Muslims” among Germans.

The often outspoken cleric said he had been campaigning for the past two years for the Church of St Paul in Tarsus, Turkey to be permanently opened for worship by any Christian.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Palermo Drug Bust Nets 67

Mafia, Camorra and Spanish traffickers in joint venture

(ANSA) — Palermo, December 16 — Around 67 people were arrested in Palermo on Wednesday in a drug sweep targeting a consortium of Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Neapolitan Camorra and Spanish drug traffickers.

Hundreds of police were involved in the operation together with sniffer dogs, helicopters and army soldiers.

Investigators said the operation was made possible by the cooperation of a turncoat arrested last year in the nearby town of Bagheria with half a kilogram of pure cocaine.

The information he furnished helped police trace the cartel’s shipping lines from Spain to Naples, and from there to a network of processing and distribution centers in the Sicilian capital.

With an estimated turnover of 60,000 euros per day, the drug ring had deep roots in Palermo slums, where it recruited bagmen and pushers from neighborhood teens, police said. “This brilliant operation has exposed three powerful crime syndicates working together on a single joint venture,” said opposition Democratic Party Senator, Giuseppe Lumia, a member of the parliamentary anti-mafia commission.

The chairman of the Senate constitutional affairs committee, Carlo Vizzini, also lauded the operation as a “major blow” to the Sicilian drug trade.

He underlined that “the next step in fighting international organized crime is with more effective laws against money laundering,” a few of which are currently before parliament.

Palermo prosecutor Teresa Principato called attention to the city’s slums, which she said “were beginning to resemble Brazilian favelas”.

“Drug use is endemic in many parts of the city, particularly among children,” she said, adding that some of the drug peddlers and addicts singled out by police were as young as 13 years old.

Police captain Teo Luzi, a Palermo native, said “these are kids with little or no education and difficult families, who’ve spent most of their lives on the streets”.

“For them, drugs provide a temporary escape from an ugly reality”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Major Asbestos Trial Opens

Thousands arrive in Turin for trial of former Eternit heads

(ANSA) — Turin, December 10 — One of the world’s largest trials into asbestos-related crimes opened in Turin on Thursday, drawing thousands to the northern Italian city. Two former heads of Swiss cement giant Eternit have been charged with creating an environmental hazard and wilfully disregarding safety regulations at four asbestos-cement plants in Italy during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prosecutors say around 2,000 workers and local residents died as a consequence. Nearly 3,000 people have applied to join the criminal proceedings as plaintiffs in a linked civil suit, making this one of the largest ever asbestos trials in the world. The defendants, Eternit’s Swiss owner, Stephan Schmidheiny, 62, and former managing director, the Belgian baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, 88, both deny any wrongdoing and did not attend court.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the opening, Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello, said the trial would “ensure justice, both for the victims and the defendants”. Guariniello claims asbestos dust in the air caused tumours among Eternit staff, their families and people living near the factories, and has left around 800 more seriously ill.

The prosecutor, who has been investigating the deaths since 2002, says Eternit’s products were also used to pave streets and courtyards, and used as roof insulation in the nearby towns without warnings about the dangers, resulting in decades-long exposure for the local population.

Over a thousand workers and relatives were outside the courthouse on Thursday morning, shuttled in by coaches from across Italy, as well as from France.

Associations representing French asbestos victims say they hope the Italian trial will set an example to France, where they have struggled to get civil suits off the ground. Hundreds more crowded into a nearby auditorium, on temporary loan from the provincial government, to follow the proceedings via a live video link. Three courtrooms have been turned over to the opening of the trial.

TV cameras and defence lawyers squeezed into the central courtroom, where the criminal proceedings got under way. Another hall housed the lawyers and representatives of the 700-odd plaintiffs already joined to the civil suit, while applications by others seeking to join the proceedings were processed in a third courtroom. Eternit ran asbestos-producing plants in Casale Monferrato in Alessandria, Cavagnolo near Turin, Rubiera in Reggio Emilia and Bagnoli near Naples.

Employees and their families say that Eternit did little or nothing to protect its workers and residents living around its factories from the dangers of asbestos.

Many contend that the Swiss company, which pulled out of the asbestos business more than a decade ago, failed to warn its employees of any of the dangers of working with asbestos.

Inail, a state institute which handles compulsory insurance coverage for workers, is among those seeking damages from Eternit after paying out some 246 million euros to former workers.

The Piedmont regional government, the Turin provincial government, environmental organization Legambiente and consumer rights group Codacons are also suing for damages.

Lawyers for Italy’s largest labour union CGIL are seeking damages on behalf of 1,610 workers and local residents. Only 315 of these are still alive. Legal experts say the trial is likely to take several years. If convicted, the defendants could face between three and 12 years in prison.

In 1993, four of Eternit’s former Casale managers were convicted of wilfully neglecting safety regulations and given sentences of up to three and a half years on suits filed by 137 workers.

In 2006, Eternit set up a fund of 1.25 million Swiss francs to help former employees in Switzerland suffering from asbestos-related illnesses.

Last year, the multinational agreed to pay out almost nine million euros in compensation to workers at another asbestos-cement plant in the Sicilian town of Siracusa.

Schmidheiny has also said he is ready to make tens of millions of euros available in compensation for victims at the multinational’s asbestos-producing plants in Casale Monferrato, Cavagnolo, Rubiera and Bagnoli.

Italy outlawed the use of asbestos in 1992.

Prior to the ban, it was one of its largest producers and importers of asbestos in the world, using over 20 million tonnes annually. Today, Italy is one of the western countries worst hit by asbestos-related illnesses, with around 1,350 cases of mesothelioma — a tumour associated with exposure to asbestos dust — reported each year.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Millions Watch Berlusconi Discuss Marriage on TV Chat Show

Rome, 6 May (AKI) — Record numbers of viewers watched Italy’s prime minister talk about his beleaguered marriage on the country’s most popular television chat-show and repeat a demand that his estranged wife Veronica Lario apologise in public for accusing him of frequenting “under-age girls”.

A total 2,693,000 people — 34 percent of TV viewers — watched Berlusconi deny allegations of a relationship with 18-year-old underwear model and would-be showgirl Noemi Letizia whose birthday party he recently attended.

“It’s a lie,” 72-year-old Berlusconi told the Porta a Porta chat-show on RAI, the public television network late on Tuesday.

“Would the prime minister be so crazy as to get into a situation like that?” he asked.

Lario had expressed anger that Berlusconi attended Letizia’s birthday party, saying he had never attended the 18th birthday parties of any of their three children, despite having been invited.

She also implied that Letizia had a relationship with Berlusconi, and said: “I cannot stay with a man who consorts with minors.”

Berlusconi repeated on Porta Porta his assertion that he had been invited to Letizia’s birthday party by her father, Benedetto Letizia, who he said was an old friend.

The premier said he had nothing to hide and had voluntarily been photographed at the party with Letizia’s parents and friends. The photos feature in the latest issue of the popular Chi magazine owned by Berluconi.

Berlusconi also reiterated his claim that Lario had “fallen into a trap” set by “the newspapers of the left” especially left-leaning daily La Repubblica.

“It displeases me that a matter that is finished or about to finish is made so public by the newspapers when it should remain a private affair,” Berlusconi said.

“Frankly, I was not expecting this storm. This would never have happened if the media had reported things correctly,” he lamented.

At one point during the programme, 4,492,000 people tuned into the show — 44 percent of viewers.

The very public marital problems of Berlusconi — Italy’s richest man — has gripped the nation and has made international news.

Lario and Berlusconi have retained lawyers for the impending court battle over his 4.5 billion euros fortune. Their marriage is reported to have been in trouble for some years.

Besides his three children by Lario, he has two from a previous marriage.

In an interview with daily La Stampa on Wednesday, a top Vatican cleric echoed an earlier editorial in the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire, urging Berlusconi to be more “sober” in handling the collapse of his marriage.

“A divorce cannot be a spectacle to be thrust under the spotlight,” Cardinal Walter Kasper told La Stampa.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy: Berlusconi Photos Vanish From Google

Rome, 16 Dec. (AKI) — The shocking photos of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi that flashed around the world immediately after he was attacked on Sunday have mysteriously vanished from the top Internet search engine Google. Photos of Berlusconi’s bloodied face now only appear in the ‘news’ section of the website which links web users directly to news articles published by the media.

Searches for images of the attack in English and Italian language containing key words such as ‘Berlusconi attack’, or ‘Berlusconi Duomo’ and other combinations, showed only pictures of a smiling Berlusconi or the photos of the premier meeting world leaders on Wednesday.

However, pictures of the injured prime minister taken immediately after the attack in front of Milan’s cathedral on Sunday can still be found on other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo.

Google searches also fail to show the replica of Milan’s cathedral, the object which allegedly struck Berlusconi in the face.

The 73-year-old prime minister was expected to leave hospital on Wednesday with a broken nose, two broken teeth and other facial injuries but there was speculation he may spend another night in hospital.

Berlusconi lost more than half a litre of blood when he was struck in the face at a political rally with an alabaster replica of Milan’s Cathedral allegedly by Massimo Tartaglia, a man with a history of mental illness.

Meanwhile, Italy’s interior minister Roberto Maroni said on Wednesday that the government would introduce legislation to block or censor certain websites that according to the government induced the “climate of violence” that caused Sunday’s attack on Berlusconi.

The bill would also introduce new measures regarding street protests, he said.

The attack on Berlusconi occurred only a week after several hundred thousand people took to the streets of Rome for a protest entitled “No Berlusconi Day”, which was largely organised online via Internet social networks.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy: Facebook Asks for Govt Meeting to Discuss Internet Row

Rome, 18 Dec. (AKI) — The popular Internet social networking site, Facebook, is seeking a meeting with Italian senate speaker Renato Schifani to discuss the controversy over the site that arose after the attack on the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Director of European public policy for Facebook, Richard Allan, has sent a letter to Schifani requesting a meeting after he accused Facebook of an “instigation to violence” after the attack.

“I would be glad to further discuss the measures we have taken, with you, or anyone else from your staff, and to understand your point of view on how we can act more effectively,” said Allan, quoted by Italian media.

He said that he would be willing to organised a telephone conference or organise a trip from London to Rome to discuss the issue.

Schifani on Friday welcomed Facebook’s initiative calling it an “extremely constructive step”.

On Thursday, Schifani which holds the country’s second highest office said that Facebook is more dangerous than the terrorist groups of the 1970s.

Regarding Facebook, Schifani said “you can read real and proper anthems to the instigation to violence”.

He also said that Facebook had the potential to “feed the hate that flourishes in some fringe groups”.

The Berlusconi attack created a fierce debate among thousands of supporters and opponents on the social networking site Facebook and the government has blamed it for being a factor in the attack against the premier.

After the attack on Berlusconi on Sunday, Italy’s interior minister Roberto Maroni signalled tighter legislative measures to control Internet sites in a bid to reduce what it says is a “climate of violence” that caused Sunday’s attack.

Critics have compared the move to those by totalitarian regimes.

“Schifani thinks like Ahmadinejad, Hu Jintao and Al-Bashir, the presidents of Iran, China and Sudan, where Facebook is banned,” said an opposition party chief whip in the lower house of parliament, Massimo Donadi, of the Italy of Values party.

Facebook has also responded to Italy’s threats to introduce legislative measures against the social networking site.

“Facebook is widely used to sustain noble causes and many people all over the world use it to improve society,” said Facebook’s spokeswoman Debbie Frost, quoted by Italian daily La Repubblica on Thursday.

“When opinions expressed on our site are turned into declarations of hate or threats against people, we remove the contents and we can also close the accounts of the people responsible. However, unfortunately, ignorance exists inside and outside of Facebook and this will not be defeated hiding it, but facing it,” she said.

The attack on Berlusconi occurred only a week after several hundred thousand people took to the streets of Rome for a protest entitled “No Berlusconi Day”.

It was largely organised mainly online through internet social networks.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Klaus: Global Warming No Science But “New Religion”

New York, Dec 19 (CTK) — Global warming is a “new religion,” not science, Czech President Vaclav Klaus has said in an interview with the news server FoxNews.com.

Simultaneously with the end of the Copenhagen U.N. climate conference Klaus said mankind should not be dictated how to live on the basis on “irrational ideology” that is a product of political correctness, the server writes.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Sarkozy Demands Eurostar Restart Tuesday

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the head of the French train authority to get Eurostar traffic moving again by Tuesday.

Eurostar has suspended traffic between Paris and London pending tests to determine what caused five trains to get stuck inside the Channel Tunnel late Friday, trapping more than 2,000 people for hours.

On Monday, Sarkozy called in SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and ordered him to get traffic moving again by Tuesday and present measures to assure such incidents don’t happen again.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

PARIS (AP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the president of the French train authority to get hobbled Eurostar traffic moving again by Tuesday.

Eurostar has suspended traffic between Paris and London pending tests to determine what caused five trains to get stuck inside the Channel Tunnel late Friday, trapping more than 2,000 people for hours.

On Monday, Sarkozy called in SNCF President Guillaume Pepy and ordered him to get traffic moving again by Tuesday and present measures to assure such incidents don’t happen again.

— Hat tip: Henrik

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Spain: Telecinco and Cuatro Merger Forms Biggest TV Group

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 18 — The first radio television giant has been formed in Spain with the merger of the TV chain Telecinco, the Mediaset company, and Cuatro, of the Prisa group, publisher of Pais and owner of the digital platform Digital Plus. The announcement was done today in a joint statement from the two groups at the closing of the Madrid stock exchange after the Spanish SEC suspended trading in shares of the two companies in the run up to the agreement. The agreement includes for Mediaset the control of 22% of Digital Plus, the pay for view platform of Sogecable, a subsidiary of Prisa, in turn owner of 20% of the new holding made by the merger between Telecinco and Cuatro. The green light came yesterday from the respective boards with the signing of the three party agreement for the entry of Mediaset in Digital Plus shareholders, in which Telefonica purchased 21% at the end of November for 470 million euros. Mediaset will control 78% of the new holding and Prisa the remaining 22%. A successive capital increase for 500 million, completely underwritten by Mediaset will futher dilute Prisa participation to 18.3%. Prisa will receive new shares issued by Telecino valued at around 550 million euros and another 500 million in cash. The company born out of the merger will have a joint management even though the two television chains, Telecinco and Cuatro, will maintain their respective brands. According to sources cited by ABC, the company will be headed by Alejandro Echevarria, president of Telecinco, with two managing directors, Paolo Vasile, currently Telecinco managing director, and Giuseppe Tringali, head of publicity for the same chain. Prisa will get two advisors and the vice presidency. With the deal Telecinco becomes the first Spanish television company, going from one to two channel free to air, and with Digital Plus, the road to digital landline television opens up. But the big manoeuvres in the Spanish television market also include Antena 3, the network 44% controlled by a joint venture between Agostini and Madrid based Planeta, is one step from an agreement with the Mediapros La Sexta network.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Corridas on the Decline, Catalonia Votes Tomorrow

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 17 — On the eve of the vote on the people’s bill for the abolition of the corridas (bullfights) in Catalonia the for and against factions are closing ranks, while statistics point to a growing social indifference for a declining tradition that is not only due to the recession. Pro-abolition people, spurred on by the Prou! (Enough!) movement that sponsored the initiative with the support of 180,000 signatures, view the vote in Catalonia as the first step towards the elimination of bullfights. They surveyed 135 members of Catalonias parliament who tomorrow will have to express their views on the two full amendments to the proposal presented by the Socialist party (Psc) and by Convergencia i Union (CiU). Should they be approved, the people’s initiative will be forfeited, but in the opposite case the amendments will pass through the exam of parliament for a final decision (which at that point will be expected) that will be taken in May 2010. The vote will revolve around a handful of votes: in favour, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and IVCs eco-communists; against, the Peoples Party and Ciudadans; Psc and CiU instead will allow their members to vote freely. The anti-bull front adopted icons of the animal rights movement such as Brigitte Bardot and Pamela Anderson, while the pro-bull people who are sponsoring the defence of a tradition and a cultural asset chose José Tomas, the matador who returned to Barcelonas plaza de toros La Monumenal in 2004, and achieved a ticket sell-out in the same year that Barcelona turned anti-corrida. It also sponsored the Manifesto de la Mercé por la Libertad, undersigned by more than 280 celebrities of working in the world of culture, economy and education, including painter Miquel Barcelò, singers Joan Manuel Serrat and Joaquim Sabina, and philosopher Felix de Azua. It also found unexpected support in 133 politicians from the south of France which includes senators, mayors and MPs who signed a letter submitted to Catalan MPs which invites them to reject the people’s bill in the name of freedom and tradition. However, abolition or no abolition, it seems that the decline of bullfights in Spain is unstoppable. According to a survey carried out in 2006 by the Gallup institute which was quoted today by El Pais, 81% of those under the age of 21 is not interested in bullfights, and the same goes for 2 out of 3 Spaniards under the age of 34 and 78% of those in the 35 to 40 age range. Only 41% of those older than 65 are still interested. The scarce social appreciation is also shown by the increasingly smaller number of bullfights that are being held: 891 in 2009, according to figures provided by the ministry of the Interior, including normal bullfights and ‘novilladas’, fights with young bulls and picadores’, in other words 354 bullfights less than in 2008. The actual bullfights are growing increasingly shorter also because of the recession, which has to deal with a 16% VAT tax on such forms of entertainment and prevents the payment in full of the high wages requested by the bullfighters. To the point that the people who breed the fighting bulls report an excess of at least 2,000 bulls that are practically out of the market, since the bullfighting rules provides that the bulls must fight between the ages of 4 to 6. Juan Sanchez Fabres, owner of one of the traditional breeding houses, complains that “In any case, we will be forced to send bulls to the slaughterhouse”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Mosques: State Aid to Stop Radicalism

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 21 — Islam in Spain will receive more aid from the state, initiatives that have been implemented in order to stop the more radical currents of Koranic teaching and to favour an integration that avoids social friction, like the protests in Catalonia against the construction of mosques. The primary mosques of Spain, the M-30 in Madrid, that of Marbella and that of Malaga, depend on the Saudi capital and are a breeding ground for Wahabism, the most fundamentalist Islamic teachings, according to research published by El Pais. In Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, there is important Moroccan influence and the presence of the Tablig movement, a sect of preachers considered to be very close to Salafism. It is the preaching of Malequi school Sunni Islam, which is practiced in the Maghreb country, influenced also by the Spanish Federation of Islamic Institutions (FEERI), one of the two associations that represents Spain’s Muslims before the state. The doctrinal inspiration of many places of worship and their financing mainly comes from abroad, in spite of the progressive metamorphosis taking place in Europe’s Muslim communities. According to the Andalusian Observatory in 2008 the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain, which with FEERI and Spain’s Federation of Muslims (FEME), formed recently, represent this group of people, 37% of Muslims living on the Iberian Peninsula are already Spanish, including those who have converted and nationalised immigrants, and second and third generations. Greater ideological and financial independence from the league of the Islamic world, of Saudi origin spreading Wahabi doctrine in the world, does not coincide with this transformation. Among the activities financed in 2009 is an edition of Islamic religious texts, but also training courses with imams at the Uned university in Madrid and Arabic and Spanish lessons for imams and Muslim women, as a part of the Civil Alliance, launched by the Zapatero government. The funds will come directly from the financial bill, which in 2008 allocated 5 million euros to this end. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Christmas More Lay, Only 10% of Youths at Church

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 21 — Christmas is an increasingly lay holiday is Spain, where almost Spaniards (94.4%) will celebrate the holiday, but over 7 out of 10 (70.3%) will not attend a religious ceremony connected with the holiday. According to the survey published by the daily Publico, the phenomenon of secularisation in society is most evident among those aged 18-29, as 99% will celebrate the holiday, while 85% does not plan to participate in a religious ceremony. Even if Christmas continues to be the most celebrated holiday (86.7%), in the majority of cases within the boundaries of the home (58.2%), followed by the festival of San Silvestro (78.4%). Some 91% of youths will celebrate both the festivities of Christmas and New year’s Eve. More people will celebrate, but with fewer gifts due to the austerity imposed by the economic crisis, even if 8 Spaniards out of 10 (6%) will not give up on putting gifts under the tree. Only 13.9% will not be giving Christmas gifts and 15.5% does not plan on receiving any, above all those over the age of 60. For the exchange of gifts, Spaniards confirm preferring Epiphany, or Reyes Magos, (71.7%) to Santa Claus (36%) even if the tradition is slowly changing. Last year the percentage of the former was 73.6%. As always, children are the kings of the festivities, receiving 49.4% of the gifts, followed by (42.4%); while among youths a large portion of gift giving is reserved for sweethearts (44%). The crisis is most felt in the workplace, given that the old custom of colleagues exchanging gifts is on its way to extinction, having a residual presence in 1.3% of those interviewed. From the lay tradition to the religious one, rapidly in decline, given the data on faith revealed by the survey. If in 2007 80.2% of Spaniards declared themselves to be religious, today the percentage is reduced to 78.3%. In the same way, that the percentage of those who declare themselves to be practicing Catholics has decreased from 30 to 26.2%. Again in this case, the age group in which the church loses the largest number of believers is that of 18-29 years of age: practicing Catholics in this group passed from 15.2% in 2007 to 10.4% today. Along the same lines, those who define themselves as atheists or non-believers has increased, passing from 16.5% in 2007 to 18.9%, above all among the young (31.7% currently). Catalonia is the region with the highest number of atheists, against Andalusia which has the largest number of believers. Along with the decline in Catholics there is the increase in the number of sceptics on the fundamental beliefs of Christianity: in two years those who believe that Jesus is God or the Son of God has decreased from 47.1% to 44.4%; those that believe he was born of a virgin from 40.7 to 37.2%; and those that believe in his resurrection from 42.6% to 40.1%. The drop in Christian beliefs is directly proportional to the increase in pagan superstitions, with an increasing number of Spaniards believing in astrology (more than 5 points in 2 years), or the existence of witches or evil powers (+3 points). (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Sweden Boasts Record High Population Growth

The Swedish population grew more in 2009 than it has in any year since 1946, according to new figures from Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån — SCB). The increase is attributed to high birth and immigration rates, as well as sharply reduced emigration and fewer deaths.

At the beginning of 2010, Sweden’s population will be 9.34 million.

Emigration has decreased by 15 percent compared to 2008, with 38,000 residents moving abroad. The number of Swedish citizens relocating to Norway and Finland remained the same, but emigration to the US and UK decreased somewhat.

Immigration also contributed to the marked population growth. SCB estimates that 102,000 immigrants moved to Sweden in 2009. The largest group of immigrants are returning Swedish citizens, followed by Iraqis and Somalians. The number of Iraqi immigrants has dropped by about 30 percent compared to 2008, while the number of Somalian immigrants has increased by 50 percent.

Over the last decade, the number of births in Sweden has increased every year. In 2009, 54,000 girls and 57,000 boys were born, a total increase of 2 percent compared to 2008. At the same time, SCB estimates that the number of deaths has decreased by approximately 1 percent.

SCB also estimates that 14 percent of the Swedish population were born abroad. The largest group is made up of 173,000 people born in Finland, followed by 117,000 born in Iraq. Almost 400,000 individuals born in Sweden have two parents who were born abroad.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Sweden’s Population Grows With Full Speed

The population of Sweden has increased with a record speed during 2009. Sweden has already passed 9.3 million and is expected to pass 9.340.000 by new year. This shows preliminary statistcs from Statistics Sweden.

During 2009, the population has grown with 84.000. This big increase in such a short time has occured only once before and this was in 1946. This year is still known for creating the new great generation who have come to dominate Swedish economic, political and cultural life the last twenty years.

The reason behind the strong increase is a continuing high birth rate and a strong flow of immigration. But also reduced emigration and a decrease in the number of deaceased.

Sweden continues to be by far the most populated country in the Nordic region. Iceland continue to be the smallest. See comparison below:

Table: Population of countries in the Nordic region 2009. Source Wikipedia.

Country Population

Sweden 9.3

Denmark 5.5

Finland 5.4

Norway 4.8

Lithuania 3.6

Latvia 2.2

Estonia 1.3

Iceland 0.3

— Hat tip: Steen

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Swiss Minaret Vote Was a “Lesson in Civic Spirit”

Two weeks after voters approved a ban on minaret construction, the rightwing Swiss People’s Party deputy Oskar Freysinger gives his reading of events.

In French-speaking Switzerland Freysinger became the voice of the yes side. He recently defended the minaret ban, accepted by 57.5 per cent of voters on November 29, in a debate on the Arab television channel al-Jazeera.

Freysinger rejects outright the argument that the yes vote stemmed from fear and ignorance and he deplores the fact that people have used the result to attack direct democracy.

swissinfo.ch: The anti-minaret vote has provoked a huge amount of comment and criticism both in Switzerland and abroad. What struck you most from what has been said and written on this subject?

Oskar Freysinger: What stays with me, is that the focus slipped very quickly from minarets to direct democracy. Two camps emerged: the elite who said that direct democracy was anti-democratic and against human rights, which is a total paradox, and the defenders of popular rights, who, while recognising that it is not ideal, nonetheless think that the system is the best possible, because it allows people to feel involved and to have an outlet of expression.

In Europe, people envy us. I’ve received a huge number of emails from France and elsewhere. People regret that they do not have the instruments to allow them to express their will. In fact Switzerland, at the heart of Europe, has just given an incredible lesson in civic spirit, against the politically correct, against the elites, against the media and against the monumental pressure of uniform thought. That could give ideas to the people who surround us, and that is feared by the European intelligentsia.

swissinfo.ch: But are the people truly always right? Can they not also make mistakes?

O.F.: Let’s say it’s like the dogma of papal infallibility: the pope is always right in questions of faith, not in the absolute. The people are always right because the system makes them right. Determining who is right and wrong is always complex.

As a politician I have lost plenty of votes with the electorate. You have to accept it and deal with the situation, even if that is extremely difficult, as with the free movement of people [between the EU and Switzerland] today.

swissinfo.ch: A lot has been said about this being a vote based on fear. What is your take on that?

O.F.: Based on the thousands of messages and reactions I received, I can detect the tendencies. Throughout the campaign, it was not fear that dominated but a cool reflection, relatively specific and neutral in tone about what Islam is and its doctrinal incompatibility with our state based on law. On this subject I also received some information that was useful to me during the debate. It is not therefore a purely irrational and ill-informed vote, as has often been said.

As for the yes voters, some of them are proponents of self-determination who believe that our identity should be protected during this time of open borders which make it impossible to regulate migration flows. There was also the yes vote of the Catholics who did not follow their leaders, as well as a yes vote by women. Many of them told me that they never vote for the People’s Party, but that on this subject, they felt the threat of a particularly patriarchal religion.

swissinfo.ch: Several recommendations have been made, the creation of a constitutional court, a new article on tolerance, in a effort to “correct” this vote. What do you think of that?

O.F.: The decision of the people acts as law. If we want to change this article in a few years’ time because Islam no longer presents a problem, the people alone will be able to modify the situation. Replacing the vote by an article that covers everything, which would have the disadvantage of penalising all religions would be superfluous because tolerance is already enshrined in the Constitution and Swiss laws.

As for a constitutional court, it is a system imaginable in a country where the parliament alone determines the laws. But in Switzerland the people are sovereign. Introducing a system like that would go back to muzzling the people. In any case, what makes lawyers better able to distinguish what is for the best or worst for the citizens?

swissinfo.ch: What would you say to those who reproach you for having taken the risk, with this initiative, of destabilising the peaceful integration of Muslims in Switzerland, most of whom are non-practising, and making them turn inwards to their community?

O.F.: This complaint does not hold up. I distinguish three categories among Muslims. The non-practising, who, by definition, are free from religion and therefore indifferent to the presence or not of a minaret or even a mosque. Then there are those who live the religion as a personal choice and a private affair. These are the ones who pay today for the damage inflicted by the third category, that is those who do not accept that civil law should be placed above religious dogma. Financed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, this fringe, the most demanding, also bears a responsibility in this vote.

swissinfo.ch: The day after the yes vote, several extreme right parties in Europe welcomed your initiative. What are your ideological affinities and differences with these movements?

O.F.: I’ve heard this confusion with the extreme right and fascism for a long time. But the differences are substantial. The first is that the People’s Party defends democracy and the state of law absolutely without restriction. Another difference, we do not believe you should reject the other simply because he is different, that is racism and xenophobia.

On the contrary, the behaviour of a person who comes to Switzerland is not irrelevant. What gets us branded as racists is that we attack the dysfunctional behaviour imported through immigration. But it is the behaviour that we denounce, and not the colour of the skin or where the person comes from.

Carole Wälti, swissinfo.ch (translated by Clare O’Dea)

— Hat tip: TV

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UK: Brussels Rules Cost UK £18bn a Year

The cost of European Union regulations — ranging from restrictions on working hours to limits on the noise at which orchestras can play — is costing Britain more than £18 billion a year, a report has found.

The most expensive law is the working time regulation, passed in 1998. According to the research by the think tank Open Europe, this costs £3.5 billion annually. The regulation has also been blamed by an official inquiry for contributing to unnecessary hospital deaths.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: EU ‘Threat’ To Election

The EU could rule next year’s General Election ILLEGAL if prisoners are denied the right to vote.

Britain has dithered since the European Court of Human Rights said in 2005 that its 63,000 jailbirds must get postal votes.

Now the European Council of Ministers wants Britain to comply. “The whole election could be declared illegal,” warned ex-chief prisons inspector Lord Ramsbotham.

Legal challenges from prisoners could also see the poll declared void.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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UK: Thug Walid Salem Boasts He is Untouchable as the Householder He Tormented is Jailed

A career criminal who violated a man’s home with two other knife-wielding thugs boasted that the law could not touch him.

Walid Salem, 57, was set free by a judge while Munir Hussain, the householder, was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

In court Munir’s wife Shaheen, 49, who has recently suffered a stroke, described her ordeal.

— Hat tip: JD

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Defence: Croatia Has Problems Controlling Air Space

(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, DECEMBER 18 — Croatia may entrust the security of its air space to another country to resolve the technical problems it is experiencing as a consequence of its obsolete fighter planes and the impossibility of monitoring its own air space. The announcement was made by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic during the celebration of the Croatian Air Force. At present the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Zagreb points at, Croatia doesn’t have sufficient resources to buy new fighter planes. The country’s priority is the development of its economy and the creation of jobs, to create the necessary income to modernise its army. Italy and Hungary are reportedly among the candidates to guard Croatia’s air space. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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EU: Serb Citizens in Brussels After Schengen Opening Tomorrow

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 18 — As of tomorrow the people of Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia will no longer need a visa in the Schengen area (all EU Member States except for Great Britain, and Ireland, plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland). For the occasion a delegation comprising 50 Serb citizens will catch a flight for Brussels immediately after midnight to mark the event. The group will be accompanied by Serbian deputy prime minister Bozidar Djelic. Today EC spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj Tardio explained that “The delegation of citizens, in the context of the ‘Europe for everyone’ initiative, will be received in the European Parliament”. The guests will be met by a video message made by Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, and by vice-president Silvana Koch-Merin. The delegation of Serb citizens will then meet Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Enlargement.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Serbia to Submit Bid to Join EU

Serbia will apply to join the European Union tomorrow, hoping that improving relations with the bloc will open a fast track for its candidacy by the end of 2010.

The Balkan country of around 8m people — still weighed down by the legacy of the 1990s wars — seeks EU candidate status despite lingering questions about its co-operation with the United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

But a largely positive report from UN prosecutors earlier this month has brought greater flexibility, even from the most sceptical EU members.

“We see new momentum and would like this to continue,” said Bozidar Djelic, Serbia’s deputy prime minister. “By making our application now, we will unequivocally demonstrate the central strategic goal of Serbia is to join the EU and nothing else.”

Economic stabilisation and the successful busting of Balkan drug-trafficking networks have also boosted Belgrade’s credibility nearly a decade after the overthrow of wartime leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Boris Tadic, president and main pro-EU party leader, said: “No one can doubt the road that Serbia has taken. Serbia is going towards European integration.” *Low-cost airlines are lining up to add Belgrade and other Serbian airports to their routes after the EU relaxed visa rules for three ex-Yugoslav republics at the weekend.

Citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia will now be able to visit much of the EU without a visa.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Serbs Walk on Eggshells in Meeting With Dutch FM

Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen visited Belgrade and dampened hope he has completely opened the door for Serbia’s EU entry.

By Marloes de Koning Mark Kranenburg in Belgrade

He said it himself: there is probably no country in the world where Maxime Verhagen makes more headlines than Serbia. The Dutch minister of foreign affairs visited Belgrade on Wednesday, where he took the time to answer questions from young representatives of NGOs. “Some of you may think I am the guy keeping you out of the European Union, or that I have a personal feud with Ratko Mladic. Neither of those assumptions are true,” he told them.

Being the sole person barring Serbia from the EU is actually a reputation Verhagen long cherished, with the support of Dutch parliament. But last week he gave up resisting closer ties with the former Yugoslavian republic. He approved a trade agreement that had been put on ice for two years because the Dutch refused to ratify it. Verhagen acknowledged Serbia has stepped up its cooperation with the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. However, Verhagen still wants Serb authorities to find and arrest Ratko Mladi?, the chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb army in the 1990s, who is held responsible for the Srebrenica massacre. Dutch UN soldiers stood by while Mladic’s men killed more than 7,000 Muslim boys and men near what was supposed to be a UN-protected safe haven in Bosnia, in July 1995.

The main goal of Verhagen’s visit to Serbia appeared to be the managing of expectations, after the Serbian euphoria that followed last week’s news. While he has approved the trade agreement and lifted visa restrictions for Serbs, he still refuses to discuss the real gateway to EU membership, the so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement, for at least another six months. Only the extradition of fugitive Mladic can speed up this process, Verhagen repeated Wednesday.

His audience quietly listened to his speech before it cautiously asked questions. If Verhagen’s does not have it out for Mladic personally, why doesn’t he recognise economists and statistics say Serbia is much more developed than Romania and Bulgaria were during this phase of their accession to the EU, asked 23-year old Tanja Kuzman, who does economic research for an American government agency. Verhagen’s answer was longwinded and left room for interpretation. Entry into the EU is about European standards, he explained. “Not just about meeting criteria, but about the proven sustainability.”

Not so fast, was his underlying message. After the meeting he told Dutch reporters: “We won’t accept any short cuts.” Kuzman, nonetheless, was left thinking the Dutch resistance really is related to one man, she said afterwards.

Meanwhile, the Serbian government seems to have gotten the message. Ministers who had hinted to filing an application for EU membership before the end of this month are now saying they will do so “when the time is right.” Serbian media claimed last week they had laid their hands on a memo from president Boris Tadic in which he called on his cabinet not to present thefinal ratification of the trade agreement as a Serbian victory. They now realise they have to be careful not to get on the wrong side of the Dutch again.

The Dutch message that it is in Serbia’s best interest to confront its war record and cooperate with the tribunal, however, does not fly with the Serbian public. The large majority of the population is convinced the West sees them only as villains, while they too are victims of the wars that tore up Yugoslavia. They consider the The Hague tribunal a political instrument of victor’s justice.

But while Serbs think the location of the tribunal and the need for it to be successful play a part in shaping Dutch attitudes, many feel they have fallen victim to Dutch domestic politics. “Why should we pay the price for your guilt over Srebrenica,” said Bosko Jaksic, a commentator on foreign affairs for Politic daily. Everybody in Serbia “including myself” has had it with Mladic and the tribunal, said Jaksic. “It is a frustrating story. I honestly believe our current leaders would like nothing more than to find him and extradite him, just to get rid of the whole problem.” The analyst said he doesn’t believe the Netherlands is helping by constantly reminding them in public.

But Verhagen showed he has no intention to stop beating them up about it. “Our tough stance has helped,” he said. Last year, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was arrested after 13 years on the run and delivered to the tribunal.

Serbian president Tadic has promised his country will continue to fully cooperate with the tribunal. “But we can’t just take his word for it,” Verhagen said.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood, Conservatives Win Party Vote

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 21 — The conservative faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, the executive commission that has to elect the new Supreme leader of the movement after the dismissal of Mohamed Mahdi Akef, has won the election of the Brotherhood’s political office, pan-Arab newspaper Al Ahyat reports. One of the reasons Akef was dismissed, is his support to the reformist and spokesman of the movement, Essam Al Eryan. Eryan has been elected as member of the political office (one of the 16) though, together with other members of his group. Meanwhile, the movement’s consultative council, banned in all Egypt, has appointed five candidates for the new elections of the Supreme leader, expected mid-January. One of them is the favourite, Mohamed Habib. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt Bans a Protest March Into Gaza

Egypt has rejected a request to allow activists to march across the border into the Gaza Strip to mark the anniversary of last year’s conflict.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said the march could not be allowed because of the “sensitive situation” in Gaza.

Over 1,000 activists from 42 countries had signed-up to join “the Gaza freedom march” planned for next week.

Egypt warned that anyone attempting the crossing from Egypt would be “dealt with by the law”.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the violence between 27 December and 16 January, though Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

The UN’s Goldstone report has said both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during fighting.

Egypt has begun constructing a huge metal wall along its border with the Gaza Strip as it attempts to cut smuggling tunnels.

When it is finished the wall will be 10-11km (6-7 miles) long and will extend 18 metres below the surface.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Tunisia: First Day of Hegira, Also With Traditional Food

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 18 — The first day of the new Hegira year (1431) which Muslims celebrate today December 18 will also celebrate food, with helpings of a number of traditional plates such as ‘mloukhia’, which comprises large pieces of meat or entrails flavoured with garlic and laurel leaves and is very green in colour because of the powdered leaves of the tree which lends its name to the dish. The colour green represents a good omen for happiness, prosperity and fertility. Then there are dishes which can be considered as regional. In the island of Djerba, for example, people serve “mhammess au kadid”, which is garnished with coloured eggs and especially dedicated to children. In Nabeul little girls are gifted with small multicoloured sugar dolls, while little boys are given small multicoloured sugar horses or eggs. The tradition states that eating the little statues defeats pagan beliefs. As for the adults, on the eve it is traditional to have a sugared and spicy plate of couscous.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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How the Auschwitz Sign Claiming That “Work Makes Free” Embodies Current Western Thinking and Policy

by Barry Rubin

We invite you to reprint this timely article with a link to the GLORIA Center website, where it originally appeared:

The theft and then recovery of the famous sign at the entrance of Auschwitz-Arbeit macht frei, work will make you free-has brought that artifact of the Holocaust to international attention once again. Merely dismissing the sign as “cynical,” few understand the meaning of the sign in context and its underlying implications for Jewish thought and Israel today.

At the time—and this was very clear in Eastern European towns like that of my grandparents in Poland— Jews were used by the Germans for forced labor. While many were involved in road repair (an extremely important task during the war when highways were heavily used by the Nazis for military purposes), tree cutting, or other manual labor, others labored in their usual professions.

The Germans, of course, wanted to win the war, which they were waging, despite their victories, against difficult odds. Even after the French were defeated and the British retreated across the Channel, the combat was ferocious against the Soviets and the United Kingdom fought on. In pragmatic terms, the Germans needed Jewish labor. After all, too, they could hardly be receiving it under better circumstances. The Jews were not paid for the work, they were denied consumer goods, and their food rations were minimal.

In short, the German strategy toward the Jews-focusing on forced labor-made sense in pragmatic terms. And Western civilization is governed by pragmatism. One does what is beneficial to one’s material self-interests. The German behavior made sense.

It was not hard to explain, for the overwhelming majority of the Jews under German occupation as well, the killings of Jews that they knew about. Here, it was a reprisal for Germans killed by partisans; there, it was a pure act of cruelty or the deeds of a sadistic officer. Or it could be perceived by the pragmatic German goal of keeping the Jews intimidated or to appeal to local anti-Semitic Christians themselves under occupation or actions against Jews who were known for anti-Nazi views.

Whatever it seems to those looking back from a time of much greater knowledge, this pragmatic understanding did make sense in terms of all past history (including Jewish history) and the events people knew about. True, Hitler had written about the extermination of the Jews but this was considered to be just ideology. In Western society, people had become cynical about ideology or at least of ideas that went against immediate self-interest. This was just rabble-rousing.

Thus, it could be expected that if Jews really did work hard and did not cause too much trouble, they would survive, at least the great majority, as had happened during so many previous persecutions. That was their life experience and their historical experience. Of course, it was richly supplemented by wishful thinking, sometimes a wishful thinking that promoted blindness to events that were clearly visible, but this line of reasoning gave an ample logical basis to that wishful thinking.

And so, work makes free. It was not just a sarcastic act of derision but an actual control measure. If the Jews believed they were in Auschwitz to work hard in exchange for their lives, they would be more docile and far easier to manage. The sentiment was meant to be taken seriously, and almost always, at least until late in the war, it was.

To understand all of this is of vital importance for historical reasons. The Jews who became victims were not just cowards or fools or sheep but people who often believed they were using their wits to survive once again a terrible but ultimately passing pogrom…

— Hat tip: Barry Rubin

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Israeli Military Admits to Organ Harvesting

Following diplomatic tensions over an August article published in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet accusing the Israeli army of illegally harvesting the organs of Palestinians, Israel has admitted its forensic pathologists removed organs from dead bodies without consent from their families, reports the Associated Press.

Over the weekend, a 2000 interview carried out by an American anthropology professor with Dr. Jehuda Hiss, the then head of Israel’s Abu Kabir forensic institute, was broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 TV.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Israel Harvested Organs in ‘90s Without Permission

JERUSALEM — Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without permission of their families.

The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head of Israel’s Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge.

Parts of the interview were broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 TV over the weekend. In it, Hiss said, “We started to harvest corneas … Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family.”

The Channel 2 report said that in the 1990s, forensic specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

In a response to the TV report, the Israeli military confirmed that the practice took place. “This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer,” the military said in a statement quoted by Channel 2.

In the interview, Hiss described how his doctors would mask the removal of corneas from bodies. “We’d glue the eyelid shut,” he said. “We wouldn’t take corneas from families we knew would open the eyelids.”

Many of the details in the interview first came to light in 2004, when Hiss was dismissed as head of the forensic institute because of irregularities over use of organs there. Israel’s attorney general dropped criminal charges against him, and Hiss still works as chief pathologist at the institute. He had no comment on the TV report.

Complaints against the institute, where autopsies of dead bodies are performed, at the time of Hiss’ dismissal came from relatives of Israeli soldiers and civilians as well as Palestinians. The bodies belonged to people who died from various causes, including diseases, accidents and Israeli-Palestinian violence, but there has been no evidence to back up the claim in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians for their organs. Angry Israeli officials called the report “anti-Semitic.”

The academic, Nancy Sheppard-Hughes, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley, said she decided to make the interview public in the wake of the Aftonbladet controversy, which raised diplomatic tensions between Israel and Sweden and prompted Sweden’s foreign minister to call off a visit to the Jewish state.

Sheppard-Hughes said that while Palestinians were “by a long shot” not the only ones affected by the practice in the 1990s, she felt the interview must be made public now because “the symbolism, you know, of taking skin of the population considered to be the enemy, (is) something, just in terms of its symbolic weight, that has to be reconsidered.”

While insisting that all organ harvesting was done with permission, Israel’s Health Ministry told Channel 2, “The guidelines at that time were not clear.” It added, “For the last 10 years, Abu Kabir has been working according to ethics and Jewish law.”

— Hat tip: Vlad Tepes

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Palestinians “Disgusted” And “Disappointed” By Bickering Between Hamas and Fatah

For journalist Samir Qumsieh, “no one knows where we are going” and “every day many things happen but nothing changes.” We seem to be “in a blind alley.” The Christian community suffers the most from this paralysis.

Bethlehem (AsiaNews) — “People are tired and disgusted by this ridiculous if not tragic situation,” said Samir Qumsieh, the Catholic editor and director of private broadcaster Al-Mahed Nativity TV, as he described to AsiaNews the state of mind of most Palestinians today. Qumsieh refers to the situation as one of “paralysis” that “will not end any time soon.”

On the one hand, there is the confrontation between Hamas and Fatah, postponed elections, the extension of Mahmud Abbas’ presidency. On the other, talks with Israel are at a standstill whilst Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank continue and talks over the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange of Palestinian prisoners are at a standstill.

“It is clear that Israel has an interest in seeing Palestinians tear at each other to justify its opposition to a two-state solution,” the director of Al-Mahed Nativity TV said, “but the same is true for Hamas for whom avoiding reconciliation with Fatah means doing whatever it wants in Gaza.”

For Qumsieh, extending Abbas’ presidency is the “only way possible to avoid a power vacuum, but it does not offer any prospects for the future. Every day many things happen but nothing changes,” he said. “There is too much bickering and the future looks bleak.”

Christmas is coming and New Year celebrations are just around the corner, but most people in the Territories feel “disgusted” and “resigned”.

“We have so many needs and the same problems continue, with more being added. The wall, joblessness, restricted movement are even heavier burdens to carry in a situation of uncertainty.” People are suffering “because no one knows where we are going. We are in a blind alley,” he lamented.

The Christian community is suffering the most from this “situation of paralysis.” Indeed, according to Qumsieh, recent anti-Christian graffiti in Jerusalem (see ““Death to Christians”: Hebrew graffiti next to Upper Room in Jerusalem,” in AsiaNews 12 December 2009) are but the latest example of something that is almost a daily occurrence.

“Let us not forget that for the Israelis we are Arabs, and that for the Arabs we are Christians,” the journalist explained. “We are always something else and are caught between the two main groups, exposed to their most extremist fringes.”

If obscene Hebrew graffiti are written in Jerusalem against Jesus and Christians, he said, in Gaza the community is getting smaller and smaller “and not only because of Israel’s embargo against the Strip.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Shalit: Netanyahu Resumes ‘Marathon’ Talks

(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, DECEMBER 21 — Today Israeli premier Benyamin Netanyahu has resumed the lengthy sessions of talks with six of his closest ministers to decide whether to agree to the proposal by a German mediator for a prisoner exchange with Hamas which would secure the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, prisoner in Gaza for over three years. Yesterday Netanyahu spoke to ministers in three different sessions, with three ministers in favour of the proposal (Ehud Barak, Ely Ishai and dan Meridor) and three against (Avigdor Lieberman, Benny Begin and Moshe Yaalon). In exchange for Shalit, Hamas has demanded the release of thousands of prisoners, including ones behind the most serious terrorist attacks during the first years of the intifada. Expecting today to be a critical one, Shalit’s parents have arrived in Jerusalem where they will be received by Netanyahu during the day. In front of the prime minister’s offices a demonstration in support of the Shalit family is in the process of being organised. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Trial Begins: Olmert Pleads Not Guilty

(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM — Former Israeli premier Ehud Olmert (Kadima) pleaded not guilty at the beginning of the trial against him in the Jerusalem district court. The charges against Olmert include him having accepted envelopes filled with dollars (in cash) from the US businessman Morris Talansky when he was mayor in Jerusalem. He is also accused of having received multiple reimbursements from several institutions (including the Holocaust Museum Yad Va-Shem) for expenses incurred in trips he took abroad to raise funds, as well as having granted favours to friends while Industry Minister. Alongside Olmert also his personal secretary Shula Zaken is on trial, who according to charges managed slush funds for him. Olmert resigned from his position as prime minister in September 2008 after a number of police investigations began against him. He remained in the position until March 2009 (at the end of three years in the government) when his place was taken by Benyamin Netanyahu. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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140 Million Arabs Live in Poverty: UN

CAIRO — Nearly 140 million Arabs live below the poverty line, according to a report published on Sunday by the United Nations Development Programme and Arab League.

The joint report stressed “there has been no decrease in the rates of poverty in the Arab region over the past 20 years,” with some countries actually showing an increase.

“Overall poverty remains high, reaching up to 40 percent on average, which means that nearly 140 million Arabs continue to live under the upper poverty line.”

Outrage at Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi’s £2m bank account

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/outrage-at-lockerbie-bomber-abdul-baset-ali-al-megrahis-2m-bank-account/story-e6frg6so-1225812358319

CAMPAIGNERS opposed to the release of the Lockerbie bomber have expressed outrage at the disclosure that Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi held almost £2million in a Swiss bank account during his trial.

Last night the Crown Office confirmed that a “substantial sum” had come to light in 2000, with one source estimating the figure at £1.8million. Evidence of al-Megrahi’s riches was passed to prosecutors by the Swiss authorities in 2000, but was deemed inadmissible because legal proceedings had already begun.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Defence: Turkey to Buy US Military Heavy Lift Copters

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 18 — U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has agreed to sell 14 CH-47F heavy-lift transport helicopters worth up to $1.2 billion to the Turkish military, and has formally asked for Congress’ permission, Hurriyet daily newspaper reports. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA, the Pentagon body coordinating weapons sales, last week notified Congress of the potential sale in a letter. “The government of Turkey has requested a possible sale of 14 CH-47F Chinook helicopters, 32 T55-GA-714A turbine engines, 28 AN/ARC-201E Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems, 14 AN/APR-39A(V)1 Radar Signal Detecting Sets, support equipment, special tools and test equipment, spare and repair parts, publications and technical documentation, site survey, personnel training and training equipment, ferry services, U.S. government and contractor technical and logistics support services and other related elements of logistics support,” the DSCA wrote. “The estimated cost is $1.2 billion.” Turkish procurement officials welcomed the move. The CH-47F Chinook is produced by the Boeing Company’s plant in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. The DSCA said Congress was notified Dec. 7. Unless members of the Senate, Congress’ upper chamber, formally object to the sale within 15 days, permission will be automatically obtained. Such objections are extremely rare after a notification is given by the DSCA. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Lebanon: Bus With Syrian Workers Under Fire

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, DECEMBER 21 — Damascus has asked Beirut to find and trial the people who are responsible for the armed attack on a bus in the north of Lebanon, in which early this morning a 17-year-old Syrian boy was killed, the Syrian press agency SANA reports. A man raked the bus with gun fire using a Kalashnikov, in the town of Deir Ammar, near Tripoli. The bus was transporting 25 Syrian labourers. Initial reports on people that have been injured have not been confirmed yet. According to SANA, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Muallim called his Lebanese counterpart, Ali Shami, this morning, to ask “to be informed with the results of the investigations carried out by the Lebanese authorities to identify those who are behind the attack”. The attack comes the day after the meeting in Damascus between Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri and the president of Syria, Bashar al Assad, to end a 4-year period of worsening relations between Lebanon and Syria. In this period anti-Syrian sentiments among many Lebanese increased, including Premier Saad Hariri who has repeatedly accused Syria of being behind the murder of his father, former premier Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a devastating attack in Beirut in 2005. Speaking on LBC television, a local network, the Lebanese Minister of State, Youssef Saadeh, accused “those who are not happy with the rapprochement between Lebanon and Syria” of this morning’s shooting, without supplying further details. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turkey-Syrian Military Manoeuvres Worry Barak

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, APRIL 27 — Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak described the imminent combined military manoeuvres to be carried out by Turkey and Syria as “a worrying development” for the Middle Eastern region. The two countries, both Muslim, represent a strategic ally and a historic enemy of Israel. The combined manoeuvres, completely unprecedented, were announced yesterday from Ankara and will take place, with units from both armies, in Turkey in a sensitive border area that has been the theatre for repeated clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish separatists for the last 25 years. “We are witnessing a worrying development,” Barak commented, adding that he considers “the strategic alliance between Israel and Turkey will permit a solution” to this problem. Israel has noteworthy trade and close technical and military relations with Turkey, which is a NATO member and with whom Israel has recently conducted combined naval manoeuvres. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turkey: Ergenekon Party to be Founded

The Ergenekon Party, or ER Party, will be the next organization in Turkey’s political scene if the group’s application is accepted, an Ýzmir lawyer said Tuesday. The group aims to be an official political party by Oct. 29, which is the anniversary of the day Turkey was declared a republic.

When asked why they chose the name, lawyer Tarcan Tülük said, “To show that it is wrong to name a law case and terror organization after such a great heroic myth of the Turks.”

Tülük said the group was inspired by the structure of the Pirate Party in Sweden and that they will model their organization accordingly; instead of working in big buildings and huge offices, the party will operate primarily through the Internet and in small offices.

“The ER Party is the solider of Atatürk’s spiritual legacy,” Tülük said.

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Karzai: Better if Dutch Troops Remain in Afghanistan

Kabul — President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that his war-torn country would benefit if the Netherlands maintained its military and civilian presence in Afghanistan, rather than withdrawing as planned.

About 2,000 Dutch troops are deployed in the province of Uruzgan, one of the most insurgency-hit regions in southern Afghanistan.

The deployment is set to end next year.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Beijing Prepares New Law on Expropriation

Houses and land are stolen indiscriminately by local governments, which because of the construction boom and major international events increase in value. The central government seems to want to stop the phenomenon, which causes hundreds of violent clashes every month. The Shanghai Expo and Asian Games in Guangzhou mirror the case of the Beijing Olympics.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Chinese central government is ready to change the highly controversial law on the forced demolition of homes and the displacement of citizens, which over time has become a source of violent (and sometimes fatal) conflict among homeowners and real estate speculators often aided by police. This was announced by the Office of Legal Affairs of the State Council, the Chinese Cabinet, who met on 16 December to discuss the matter.

The civil servants are studying a draft law providing for new rules for the purchase of homes and the fees that the state must pay in compensation to the displaced. The draft should abolish the current law, introduced in July of 2001, which besides having gaping voids in legislation, has been defined (even by the state press) as “unfair to the people.”

The Beijing news agency, Xinhua, has interviewed the deputy director of legal affairs Hao Fengtao who argues: “the draft regulation would usher in a profound shift in housing-demolition policy”. Hao declined to give a timetable for the approval of the text, but stressed that this provides “compensation first before demolition begins “.

The text currently in force stipulates that local governments can decide at their discretion how much and when to pay, and this has increasingly created social tensions. Among other things, the explosion of the housing market and the major international events hosted by China have multiplied the number of forced expropriations.

The case of the Olympic Games held in Beijing in the summer of 2008 was sadly notorious. In order to build new stadiums and the Olympic Village, the local government evicted more than 1.5 million people, forcing them to move to rural or suburban districts of the capital. There were hundreds of violent clashes to protest against these injustices, and several who defended their home were sentenced to years in prison.

The situation could be repeated at the 2010 Shanghai Expo and the Asian Games to be held the same year in Guangzhou. The capital of the rich southern province of Guangdong has already been the scene of violent clashes: in November, hundreds of police in riot gear destroyed homes, chased residents and cleared land. According to residents, “these things happen too often.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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North Korean Jeans Label Opens Pop-Up Shop in Stockholm

After PUB department store in Stockholm yanked NoKo Jeans from its shelves at the beginning of December, the North Korean jeans label opened its own pop-up shop on Saturday.

“There has been a constant flow of shoppers,” Tor Rauden Kaellstigen of company NoKo Jeans told AFP.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Mexico City Backs Gay Marriage in Latin American First

Lawmakers in Mexico City have become the first in Latin America to legalise gay marriage.

City legislators passed the bill 39-20, with five abstentions. The city’s mayor is now widely expected to sign the bill into law.

Gay marriage is only allowed in seven countries and some parts of the US. Certain parts of Latin America allow civil unions for same-sex couples.

The Catholic Church and conservative groups had opposed Mexico City’s move.

The bill calls for a change in the definition of marriage in the city’s civic code — from the union of a man and a woman to “the free uniting of two people”.

Regional differences

Lawmaker David Razu had proposed the change to give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples regarding social security and other benefits.

Mexico City’s legislature is dominated by the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, which has already legalised abortion and civil unions for same-sex couples.

Spokesman Oscar Oliver told AFP news agency that city legislators were now taking up a measure in the bill that would allow married same-sex couples to adopt children.

A handful of cities in Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia permit gay unions.

Uruguay alone has legalised civil unions nationwide and allowed same-sex couples to adopt children.

Last month, an Argentinean court narrowly blocked what would been the continent’s first gay marriage.

In a last-minute challenge, a court referred the case to the country’s Supreme Court, which is due to rule on the issue.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Egypt: Promised Visas for Italy Not Obtained, Protests

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 17 — Visas promised for legal immigration never arrived, and have reportedly been used to legalise illegal immigrants already present in Italy. These are the claims of some Egyptian workers, according to the independent newspapers Al Shourouk and Al Dostour, who participated in a training course in order to immigrate legally to Italy, and who have decided to report the event to the prosecutor’s office against the Minister of Labour and Immigration in Egypt, Aicha Abdel Hadi, the ambassador of Italy in Cairo, and the director of the Don Bosco Institute where the courses, a couple of years ago, were held. According to the charge, the Egyptian minister opened the possibility to immigrate to Italy and work in the construction and agriculture sectors, as a part of an agreement between the two countries entitled ‘International Action for Labour’, offering 8,000 permits. The same minister, again according to the accusations, accepted the candidacy of those who presented themselves and asked to follow the language and labour law courses. After having paid for the courses and following the 200 hours of lessons, the report claims, the participants never received a response on the issuing of the visas or a date for the trip. The ministry reportedly informed them that the visas that were to go to them were used to naturalise Egyptians who were already present on the Italian national territory. No notification reached the seat of the Salesian Institute in Cairo, stated director Don Renzo Leonarduzzi. “In any case”, he added, “we do not have any responsibility, we only hosted the courses, for some 220 people and supplied some teachers. There were Italian lessons, but also lessons on job safety and Italian law, as well s welding. Then I heard that there had been complaints because time passed with no indication of anything, while some others managed to depart. Some of the attendees left their old jobs to be able to attend the courses”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

France: Immigration, 20,000 Registrations This Year

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, DECEMBER 21 — In 2009 France regularised more than 20,000 immigrants. The claim was included in a survey by Paris newspaper Le Monde, based on figures provided by the Ministry of Immigration. According to official statistics, in 2008 some 2,800 workers gained their papers and that number, according to Le Monde, should remain the same for 2009. But this form of regularisation covers only a small part of granted residence permits”. We have to add the so-called extraordinary residence admissions, in other words regularisations for humanitarian reasons, and family regroupings. Permits for humanitarian reasons are not officially accounted for, but again Le Monde calculated that they amount to approximately 3,000 every year. The numbers for family regroupings are instead much higher, and have been constantly increasing in the past decade: from 3,314 in 1999 to 15,858 in 2008, with a peak of more than 22,000 in 2006. The trend was also confirmed for 2009, which in September already registered 10,917 persons that had been regularised for personal and family ties”. The newspaper commented that the number of granted residence permits is thus equal, if not greater, than the number of expulsions, the pride of the unwavering policy followed by minister of Immigration Eric Besson, which in 2008 amounted to 19,724 and in 2009 should be just as many. Nonetheless, the number of irregular foreigners on French soil should range between 200,000 to 400,000. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Governments vs the People: Replacing the Population by Another One

Conspiracy theorists can easily explain the conduct of the Belgian government. They will say it is an attempt to replace the Belgians by another population. For those who do not believe in this theory, it is harder to explain why Mr. Van Rompuy declared an amnesty which he knew to be unpopular, which will drain the Belgian welfare budget and which is, moreover, unlawful because the government usurped the prerogatives of Parliament. For those who do not believe in the population replacement theory, it is hard to explain why the Belgian government, despite a court ruling, stubbornly sticks to its decision.

For those who do not believe in a conspiracy theory, it is equally hard to explain why on 15 December, George Papandreou, the Prime Minister of Greece, announced that one of the measures to reduce his country’s crushing budget deficit will be to “bring illegal immigrants into the social security system.” It is true that some illegal aliens work in the country illegally and do not pay taxes and contributions, but it is equally true that many others do not and will, if “brought into the system,” be net consumers rather than net contributors.

Those who do not believe that Europe’s ruling establishment has engaged in a conspiracy against it own people will also have a hard time explaining the recent decision of the appeals chamber of the Bar Association’s disciplinary council in the Netherlands. On 12 December, it acquitted a Muslim lawyer of contempt of court. The Muslim lawyer, who wears a Muslim head covering during court sessions, refuses to rise when the judge enters the courtroom. He says that his religion maintains that everyone is equal and that, hence, he cannot rise for the judge. Though everyone is equal, however, the same lawyer refuses to shake hands with women. Nevertheless, the Muslim lawyer is getting away with behavior which the ruling establishment would not tolerate from indigenous Dutch lawyers, and, more importantly, which the majority of the Dutch people does not wish to tolerate from newcomers.

Europe’s ruling establishment is currently engaged in policies which go so radically against what ordinary Europeans want that a dangerous rift is growing between the people and those who govern them. If this situation is not remedied, Europe’s governments risk losing their legitimacy in the eyes of the people. One does not need to be a conspiracy theorist to realize that this can only contribute to the potential for a revolutionary explosion of violence and anger somewhere down the road.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Philippines: International Migrants Day: For Filipino Church, Emigration Destroys Families

Separation from wives and husbands working abroad deprives children of education and work. More than 10,000,000 Filipinos live overseas. So far this year, they have sent home US$ 14.3 billion.

Manila (AsiaNews) — “Remittances by our migrants keep the economy afloat, but more emigration destroys society,” said Fr Joaquin F. Valdes, OP of the Catholic University of Santo Tomas, Manila. For him, the lack of values and separation of husbands and wives tend to break up marriages and have devastating effects on new generations, who without a family tend to emigrate on their own without a proper education and preparation for work.

The Philippines is the Asian country with the highest proportion of citizens living abroad, 10,000,000 in all, or about 9 per cent of the total, spread in about 190 countries, 70 per cent women.

Unemployment is the main cause for this exodus, a problem that is growing. In 2009 alone, about 2.72 million Filipinos lost their job at home.

Experts note that about 2,000 Filipinos leave the country every day, mostly young people with little education or working experience. In a few years, this will mean that overseas Filipino will constitute about 11.7 per cent of the population.

The main countries of destination are the United States, home to about 3,000,000 Filipinos, but many are also reaching Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and the Middle East.

Often migrants face human rights violations in their host country. This is especially true in Arab world where women are often segregated in the homes of their employers for the duration of their contract.

Despite such problems, little or nothing is being done to stem the flow. One reason is that foreign remittances by Filipinos are a key component of the national economy. Just in the first ten months of this year, Filipinos sent home a total of US$ 14.3 billion. In October, they sent home US$ 1.2 billion; that is 6.7 per cent more than in previous months.

The Church has been actively involved in helping Filipino migrants since 1955 through the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI), which provides assistance to those in need.

The Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC) in Manila is an example of what the Church is doing. It offers programs to educate and train young people who emigrate and missionary priests who go abroad to minister to Filipinos. Another example is the Child and Migrant Parents in South East Asia Programme, which provides spiritual support to children and parents of migrants.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

There’ll be Nowhere to Run From the New World Government

The dangerous idea that the democratic accountability of national governments should simply be dispensed with in favour of “global agreements” reached after closed negotiations between world leaders never, so far as I recall, entered into the arena of public discussion. Except in the United States, where it became a very contentious talking point, the US still holding firmly to the 18th-century idea that power should lie with the will of the people.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

For a long time any criticism of Muslim immigration in the Netherlands — especially when voiced by Geert Wilders and other members of the PVV — was considered unwise, because it would tend to radicalize impressionable young Muslims and push them farther away from integration into Dutch society. So the reasoning went, anyway.

However, a new report by the Dutch intelligence service indicates that the growth of Salafism — fundamentalist Islam — in the Netherlands has slowed. And what is the cited reason? Public discussion of and resistance to Islamization, as led by Geert Wilders and the PVV.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated an article on the topic from De Volkskrant:

Wilders deserves a little thanks

by Amanda Kluveld

The real reason for terrorists to see us as a legitimate target is that the Netherlands has not yet been conquered by Islam

In the recent AIVD report “Weerstand en tegenkracht” (Resistance and Counterforce)^[1] on current trends and developments one may read that the growth of Salafism in the Netherlands has stagnated. That is good to know, because according to the AIVD, Salafism is an important basis for Islamic terrorism and serves as an essential binder for the Islamist terrorist networks, organizations and individuals. There is no cause for joy though, because a stagnation of such growth does not mean that the in recent years the increasingly growing Salafists’ group in the Netherlands has become smaller.

But why the sudden stagnation of growth? The AIVD points at the public debate as one of the causes. This is a remarkable turnaround from previous reports by the service. In 2004, the Islam-critical contributions to the public debate were seen as a major cause of the fact that Muslims are turning away from Dutch society and are attracted to Salafism, radical jihad, and terrorism.

In a note on jihad recruits, the then Minister Johan Remkes (VVD, center-right) said: “Of interest is the fact that a growing number of Muslims feel unfairly treated by opinion makers and opinion leaders in society. Adding to this is that in their view the government does not — or fails in an attempt to — act as impartial arbiter. This idea reigns within a small group of politically radical Muslims but also within a large proportion of Muslims who themselves have do not feel obliged to — and bound to — the principles of constitutional democracy.”

That public debate caused youngsters to drift into the arms of jihadists. And now that same public debate is suddenly causing the Salafism in our country to stop growing, and making moderate Muslims increasingly speak out against radical dawa. How does this work, exactly?

– – – – – – – – –

The AIVD does not say much about that, and just gives a few examples, including the controversy on dress codes between Ahmed Marcouch and Imam Fawaz Jneid of the as-Sunnah mosque. I still remember this debate. It was so weak that I can hardly imagine that it would have had such an impact on Muslim youth that they suddenly found Salafism to be less attractive. But I may be wrong. It would therefore be pleasurable if the AIVD would actually show the relationship between the halt in the growth of Salafism and the controversy.

Yet it is remarkable that the public debate according to the AIVD suddenly is no longer the problem but part of the solution. With the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism such a change of thinking has not yet occurred. The Eleventh progress report of the NCTb suggests that the Netherlands remains a ‘legitimate target’ in the eyes of international jihadist groups.

A major reason is supposedly “the tone of the debate on Islam” in the Netherlands. Perhaps the NCTb empathizes a little too much with the jihadists. It may be that these violent Muslim terrorists point at the debate on Islam in the Netherlands, but it goes too far to immediately believe that this is an important reason to consider attacks on our country.

With more credibility, one might conclude that terrorists use the Dutch debate Islam as an excuse. The real reason why they consider our country to be a legitimate target is their irrational and hypocritical ideological hatred against the West, and the simple fact that the Netherlands has not yet been conquered by Islam.

Because Islam is intent on conquest. It was not without reason that Pope Benedict XVI quoted the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos in his Regensburg speech: “Show me what kind of new things Muhammad has brought about, and you’ll find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread the faith he preached with the sword.”

In 2007 the then National Coordinator for Counterterrorism Tjibbe Joustra did not want to know about it. He said: “The tone that people like PVV leader Geert Wilders take may lead to the radicalization of Muslims. […] Such radical statements may give the final push to individuals who are on the brink of violence.” The responsibility of the individuals who are likely to become violent was therefore completely taken away form such persons and placed on the plate of Wilders.

The AIVD and the NCTb are not doing that now. They do not need to, because Wilders will be prosecuted for his contributions to the public debate about Islam. Wilders is indicted for his “radical statements” about Islam and even because of quoting from or agreeing with statements made by others on this issue. For instance, Wilders is accused of stating that he agrees with the Regensburg speech by the Pope.

And also because he quoted the statement by Oriana Fallaci: “Moderate Islam does not exist. And it does not exist because there is no such thing as Good Islam and Bad Islam. There is Islam and that’s all. And Islam is the Koran. Nothing but the Koran. And the Koran is the Mein Kampf of a religion which has always aimed to eliminate the others… which calls non-Muslims infidel-dogs, meaning inferior beings. Read it over, that Mein Kampf. Whatever the version, you find out that all the evil which the sons of Allah commit against us and against themselves comes from that book.” ^[2]

Wilders is also charged with the fact that he cited the former chief of the Mossad, Ephraim Halevy. Halevy says that World War III has begun. “Those are not my words, but it is true,” Wilders said.

In brief: when the AIVD is right, and the public debate has contributed to the stagnation of the growth of Salafism in the Netherlands, there can be no conclusion except that Wilders deserves a little thank-you. His contributions to the public debate have not gone unnoticed. And even if the AIVD is not right, there still is no reason to charge Wilders with anything.

Wilders is not the first to state that the pope is right. He also is not the first to agree with the vision of Oriana Fallaci. But he is the first to be prosecuted for that reason [with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff and Roger Köppel unfortunately probably next in line — translator]. Where are the human rights organizations to take it up for them? Where are the opinion leaders? Where is the public debate?

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Notes:

[1] AIVD Report: ‘Weerstand en tegenkracht’

The growth of the Salafist movement in the Netherlands is stagnating due to increased resistance. With this a part of the breeding ground for radicalization also disappears. This is shown by the AIVD report “Weerstand en tegenkracht” (Resistance and Counterforce). This report is a follow up to the publication “Radical Dawa in Transition”, which was published in the autumn of 2007. Because Salafism is a movement that can have a polarizing effect on society, it remains important to fully monitor developments. By making a careful assessment of the threat we needs must avoid both an underestimation and an overestimation of the problem.

The report states that resistance has increased due to publications about the risks of Salafism and initiatives by local government. This contributed to the increasing resistance within the Dutch Muslim community against the radical dawa. Moderate Muslims increasingly dare to speak out at the local and national level against the anti-integrationist and intolerant isolationist message of the Salafist preachers. The AIVD has the past two years visiting several mayors and a dozen regional colleges to inform them about the nonviolent radical dawa.

Download the report [in Dutch] here.

[2] (Oriana Fallaci, The Force of Reason, post-script, p.305, February 2006. Citation from a speech by the Italian writer Oriana Fallaci which she gave in New York on November 28, 2005, when she was awarded a prize for her heroic resistance against Islamofascism and for her battle for freedom [taken from Geert Wilders’ website].

Last month’s referendum in Switzerland — which banned further minaret construction — generated vehement opposition and disapproval from the usual suspects on the Left and among Muslims.

But it wasn’t just the OIC and the European transnational clique that objected to the ban; the ruling elites in Switzerland itself were appalled by the “racism” of their benighted countrymen, and have signaled their willingness use any available legal pretext to overturn the results of the referendum, if they can.

In a case that is reminiscent of the “hate speech” charge brought against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff in Austria, a magazine editor in Switzerland has been indicted for “denigrating Islam” in his “racist” utterances on television. This quasi-legal farce is an obvious reprisal for his support of the minaret ban.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated an article from Het Vrije Volk on the case:

Swiss leftists want to silence magazine-editor

The editor-in-chief of the Swiss magazine Weltwoche, Roger Köppel, has been indicted by Socialists in Zurich. The reason: he violated an anti-racism law. On talk shows, according to the Socialist thought-gestapo, Köppel “systematically denigrated and vilified members of the Islamic religion and thus crossed the borders of racism.”

The guardians of political correctness subsequently filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor in Zurich.

The Young Socialists (Jungsozialisten, Juso) in Canton Zurich have indicted the editor-in-chief of Weltwoche Roger Köppel due to violations of the anti-racism penalty statute. Köppel made racist statements in several articles and a television interview, the accusations asserts.

According to a statement of this on Thursday, it concerns the TV show “Talk Täglich” [Daily Talk] of the local broadcaster “Tele Züri” and comments in several editions of Weltwoche. Thus it was about the minaret-referendum and the Islam.

[…]

With such statements intentionally vague fears would be fueled, discrimination in Switzerland would be instigated, and the Muslims and Muslimas would be stigmatized. In their indictment, the Young Socialists want to send a signal against intolerance and exclusion.

To blame Roger Köppel for racism — who, unlike left-wing barkers, always knows how to behave and always argues with well-grounded reasoning — can hardly be surpassed in absurdity. In any case the leftists themselves inflame “vague fears” by trying to nip any criticism of Islam in the bud with the ultimate death-club of racism or fascism. Good for those people, who due to lack of arguments always show their undemocratic face and try to suffocate any opposing view.

The Jungsozialisten proudly announce:

– – – – – – – – –

Roger Köppel, editor and editor-in-chief of the Weltwoche, with numerous statements in the comments in the editions 43 and 47 of Weltwochehas made it clear that the people of the Islamic faith who live in Switzerland are a fundamental threat to security and order of the country due to their religion, from his perspective, and that one therefore would not need to be tolerant towards them. He ascribes to the Muslim women and Muslims in general an “unfulfilled nostalgia for the political coup”, because they “right up to today have not got over the loss of their empire.” The present Islam wants to be “a political domination system”, even a “political-religious ideology of conquest”, that is “hostile towards the current order” and seeks “extension, subversion and conquest.

In the above-mentioned television broadcast “Tele Züri” he made similar statements, and included the matching opinion that Muslim women and Muslim men living in Switzerland should be considered members of “a hostile army”.

With these statements Roger Köppel has clearly violated article 261bis of the Criminal Code, because he systematically denigrated and vilified the members of the Islamic religion.

Thereby Roger Köppel has exceeded the boundaries of racism. With such statements, deliberately vague fears are fueled, discrimination in Switzerland is instigated, and Muslims are stigmatized. This can and will not be accepted by the Young Socialists. With their indictment they want to give a signal against exclusion and intolerance, because for them it is clear: racism in Switzerland, no matter by whom and against whom, will not be tolerated.

Probably the lefties are just bad losers and can not forgive Roger Köppel for being on the side of the winners since the start of it. When they lose, democrats shows their true face…

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Original sources: PI-News and Het Vrije Volk.

Email address of the Young Socialists (Jungsozialisten, Juso) in Kanton Zürich: info@juso.org

The German defense minister says he thinks it’s time negotiate with the Taliban. He believes that not all Taliban are hard-core terrorists and would-be totalitarians, and recommends that the NATO coalition in Afghanistan negotiate with the “moderate” Taliban.

In other news, Zhu Min, the deputy governor of the People’s Republic of China, warned President Obama to stop his runaway deficit spending. Meanwhile, the Islamist al-Shabaab rebels in Somalia are forcing men to grow their beards, shave their moustaches, and wear short pants, so that they will be in accord with the tenets of sharia law.

Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Esther, Gaia, Insubria, JD, JP, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	China Warns Obama Deficit Spending Must Stop
	Common Currency Questioned by Leading Economist
	Government’s ‘Cure’ Worse Than ‘Disease’
	Swiss Banks Should Step Up Islamic Wealth Drive
	USA
	L.A. Neo-Nazis Protest at Riverside Synagogue
	Laughing at the Left
	‘Tis the Week Before Christmas …
	Understanding the Global-Warming Jihadists
	Europe and the EU
	Cyprus: 125:000 Foreigners Live on the Island
	Sweden:300 Demonstrate for Christian Convert
	Switzerland: Of Minarets and Massacres
	UK: ‘Low-Ranking Airline Worker’ Al-Megrahi Had £1.8m in Swiss Bank Account Before Lockerbie Bomb Conviction
	UK: Bah! Humbug! A Christmas Ghost Story in Downing Street
	UK: Christian Teacher Lost Her Job After Being Told Praying for Sick Girl ‘Was Bullying’
	UK: Muslim Police Chef Defeated in ‘Bacon Roll’ Tribunal Faces £75,000 Legal Bill
	UK: Police Expect Mumbai-Style Terror Attack on City of London
	UK: The Michael Powell Case Shows How Charges of Racism Hobble the Police
	North Africa
	Egypt Boosts Security at Gaza Border After Firing
	Tunisia: Archaeological Finds Trafficking, Italians Arrested
	Middle East
	Analysis: Suddenly, The Arab World Wakes Up to Yemen’s Rebellion
	First Woman to Open Bank Account in Lebanon
	Iranian Troops No Longer Control Oil Well: Iraq
	Plot Targeting Turkey’s Religious Minorities Allegedly Discovered
	Turkey Slams Orthodox Chief’s Crucifixion Remark
	Turks Threaten to Kill Priest Over Swiss Minaret Decision
	Yemen:12 Al-Qaeda Suicide Bombers Dead, 5 Foreigners Killed
	South Asia
	A Thousand Islamic Extremists, Including Women and Children, Storm a Church Near Jakarta
	Indonesian Theology Students Withstand Threats, Illness
	Let’s Talk to the Taliban, Says Guttenberg
	Migrants of Bangladesh: A Vital Resource for National Economy
	Pakistan: Zardari ‘To Lose Control of Party’ Following Amnesty Ruling
	Sri Lankan Military ‘Sexually Abused’ Tamil Girls in Refugee Camps
	Tens of Thousands Flee as the Army Faces the Taliban in Swat
	Far East
	China: Shaolin: Kung Fu Monks Become a Money Making Brand
	Gas Pipeline a Symbol of China’s Power: Analysts
	N. Korea Capable of Miniaturizing Nuclear Warheads: Source
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	African Christians Fear Own Government on ‘Jihad’
	Somali Rebels Force Men to Grow Beards
	Immigration
	Swedish Police Produce Pepper Spray at Refugee’s Wedding
	Switzerland: Guantánamo Detainee Wins Asylum Appeal
	Culture Wars
	Analysis: How Nelson-Reid Compromise Allows Abortion Funding in Health Care
	Defense Launched for Kids Sex Books
	Dissident Lutherans: Bullying Over Gays
	U.S. Army Major: Lose Evangelical Christian Beliefs
	General
	Islamic Plan to Criminalize Gospel Message Crumbling

China Warns Obama Deficit Spending Must Stop

Beijing reluctant to keep bankrolling president’s belt-buster budget

One day after the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao snubbed President Obama at the United Nation’s Copenhagen Climate Summit, the Chinese warned the United States that China’s ability to continue buying U.S. Treasury debt was limited.

Zhu Min, the deputy governor of the People’s Republic of China, told the Shanghai Daily that it is getting harder for the People’s Bank of China to buy U.S. Treasuries because the shrinking U.S. current account is reducing the supplies overseas.

[…]

“The United States cannot force foreign governments to increase their holdings of Treasuries,” Zhu said. “Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible.”

Zhu’s warning was clear.

“The world does not have so much money to buy more U.S. Treasuries,” he said.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Common Currency Questioned by Leading Economist

London, 18 Dec. (AKI) — A leading economist and Middle East expert from the London based think-tank Chatham House has questioned the likelihood that some Arab states will create a single currency modelled on the euro. Paola Subacchi, research director of the organisation’s international economics department reacted with scepticism when interviewed by Adnkronos International (AKI) on Friday.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar this week announced plans to launch the first phase of a single currency next year, creating a Gulf Monetary Council to evolve into a fully-fledged central bank.

“From an economic point of view it makes sense for a monetary union. A big problem is that here we have Saudi Arabia and three smaller partners,” Subacchi said.

“It is like having Germany with Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. It doesn’t make sense,” Subacchi said.

Subacchi, who is Italian, specialises in international monetary systems, capital flows and other issues.

“We have seen so many kinds of declarations of intent, this is another one. It is an empty declaration,” Subacchi said.

She said it made sense to form a common currency in the region.

“There is commonality of institutions so it makes a lot of sense,” she said.

“But the whole process has been so slow that many people have lost confidence in this project.”

Earlier this week, the United Arab Emirates declined to join the move for a common fund, apparently irked that the central bank will be located in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on the insistence of the Saudi King Abdullah, rather than in Abu Dhabi.

Between them the Gulf countries amount to a regional superpower with a gross domestic product of $1,200 billion some 40 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.

The Gulf states remain divided over the wisdom of anchoring their economies to the US dollar. The Gulf currency — dubbed the “gulfo” — is likely to track a global exchange basket and may ultimately float as a regional reserve currency in its own right.

“The US dollar has failed. We need to delink,” said Nahed Taher, chief executive of Bahrain’s Gulf One Investment Bank.

The project is inspired by Europe’s monetary union, seen as a huge success in the Arab world.

Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, said the project would not work unless Gulf countries break down basic barriers to trade and capital flows.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Government’s ‘Cure’ Worse Than ‘Disease’

As we count down to the final Senate vote on a government-mandated health plan that will cripple and then bankrupt the American health-care system, we must reacquaint ourselves with the results of past government intervention in the health-care system and in other areas, such as the financial meltdown.

Recently, the president met with bank executives in an attempt to increase their lending to small and mid-sized businesses, the very businesses that will suffer the most under the proposed health plan. Mr. Obama is demonstrating very clearly that he does not understand the constitutional role of the presidency. Additionally, he either misunderstands the way government has attempted to drive the United States into third world status, or else he desires this result.

Our Dear Leader still seems oblivious to the fact that the government was the cause of the financial meltdown in the first place. How can we more easily understand the process by which the government caused the financial crisis? I explained in an earlier article that undesired consequences result when the government gets into the game as opposed to restricting itself to its intended role as referee.

[…]

Government is the cause of the high cost of health care in the United States, and like the mortgage crisis the health-care cost “crisis” cannot be cured by its very cause. Medicare was the first public option, made mandatory because those not enrolled in Medicare are ineligible to receive Social Security benefits. Government options are never optional because the goal of government is to increase dependence on itself.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Swiss Banks Should Step Up Islamic Wealth Drive

Switzerland faces a bigger threat from the developing private banking system in the Middle East than reaction to the minaret ban, according to one finance expert.

However, the controversial vote and subsequent condemnation should serve as a warning for the Swiss finance industry to better serve the needs of Islamic clients, observers believe.

Switzerland is waiting to see how far November’s referendum decision to ban the future construction of minarets will damage the country’s image and business interests.

So far, only Turkey has reacted with concrete retaliatory proposals by suggesting that its citizens withdraw assets held in Swiss banks. But the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) is not expecting outflows of the estimated $200 billion (SFr208 billion) held by mainly Arabic clients in Switzerland.

“Muslim clients are very canny investors and appreciate the competence, quality of service, good advice and good performance they get from Swiss banks. Money knows no religion,” SBA spokesman James Nason told swissinfo.ch.

John Sandwick, head of Geneva-based group Islamic Wealth and Asset Management, told swissinfo.ch that the vote had stirred up resentment in the Middle East, but not enough to spark organised financial reprisals from wealthy Muslims.

“Switzerland did something really offensive against people who could really hurt us, but on this occasion it looks like it will not have a big impact on Swiss private banking in the long run,” he said.

Local competition

Having suffered setbacks in the United States and Europe in a bruising battle over tax evasion, Swiss banks are increasingly turning their attention to the Middle East, Asia and developing markets.

Switzerland is not the only European country to have identified lucrative prospects in the region and has long faced stiff competition from London, and to a lesser degree, from Paris to attract petro-dollars.

However the main threat in future may come from local banks setting up their own wealth management services, with a much wider array of Sharia compliant services.

“Lots of local private banks [in the Middle East] are starting up their own private banking businesses,” Sandwick told swissinfo.ch. “The domestic wealth management programme is already in the process of destroying the Swiss private banking model. It is not there yet, but it will not take too long.”

Sandwick believes the Swiss are taking too long to offer Middle Eastern clients a full range of private banking services that are compliant with Islamic legislation known as Sharia.

Sharia law, for example, prohibits the charging or payment of interest and investments associated with gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pornography or pork production.

Time is ripe

Despite Swiss banks being present in the oil rich region for many years and producing a steady trickle of Sharia compliant services — such as the recent wealth management offering by Bank Sarasin — Sandwick thinks they have barely scratched the surface of Islamic finance.

“All the locals are saying that they want Islamic financial products, but Swiss banks do not appear interested in doing anything,” he said. “These clients do not have access to plain vanilla [standard] wealth management with Fatwa [approval from Islamic clerics].”

Sandwick insisted that the time is ripe for Swiss private banking to make serious inroads into one of the few global regions to come out of the financial crisis with a steady supply of new wealth.

And he believes that Muslim clients would in future seek safe, conservative refuges for their assets after taking a battering with the recent fad for investing in complicated products. Switzerland’s reputation for solid, safe banking has lost some of its sheen after becoming entangled in the subprime crisis, but it still retains much of its private banking credibility.

“Right now is the time to penetrate further into this market because others have lost credibility,” he said.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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L.A. Neo-Nazis Protest at Riverside Synagogue

The demonstration outside Temple Beth El is the third in recent months, rabbi says. It occurred during a Hanukkah celebration attended by members of local churches and other groups.

Congregants at Temple Beth El who had gathered to celebrate the last night of Hanukkah were met by a group of neo-Nazi demonstrators who waved red-and-black swastika flags outside the Reform synagogue in Riverside on Friday evening.

Rabbi Suzanne Singer said the demonstration was the third such protest at the temple in recent months. She said she thinks it was connected to a counter-protest held in September by members of the synagogue and others responding to a neo-Nazi protest at a day labor site.

[…]

“All this does is bring people closer together,” Gilman said. “The message that they’re trying to send isn’t the message people in Riverside want.”

Singer said her synagogue, a local Islamic center and several area churches would be raising banners outside their respective buildings next month declaring, “We value diversity. Unity in love.”

— Hat tip: Esther

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Laughing at the Left

If the consequences for this great nation of ours weren’t so serious and the policies preferred by the left weren’t so dangerous, one would really laugh, almost uncontrollably, at the beliefs and (il)logic of American liberals. Based on things they have actually said or done, here are some of the things they really, truly seem to believe.

They believe we can spend our way out of debt. They believe taking money from one part of the economy to give to another part somehow makes the economy bigger. They believe people who have never run a business can run a business better than people who have spent their whole lives running businesses. They believe that what appears to be a 20-year spike in global temperatures (a spike itself that hundreds of scientists dispute) can mean doom for a planet whose temperatures have swung much more widely for 6 billion years — but that an eight- or ten-year flattening or even drop in temperatures can be ignored because it doesn’t comport with the “models” based largely on the previous 20 years. They believe that punishing “developed” nations for carbon consumption is a good idea even if it means that developing countries without the same environmental controls will take over the production/manufacturing forced away from the developed countries. So, somehow, in the name of saving the environment from carbon emissions, they would create even more carbon emissions (and other, real pollution) elsewhere — and call it progress.

— Hat tip: JD

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‘Tis the Week Before Christmas …

America’s great experiment in freedom was designed by our founders to create a new kind of government consisting of the very people for whom the government was made. The first purpose of this new government was to protect the freedom of the people against all enemies both foreign and domestic, and especially from governmental tyranny. To keep the federal government under control, the designers limited the power of the new federal government to those very specific areas set forth in Article I, Section 8.

These limitations are now routinely ignored by both the House and the Senate.

The one mechanism in our system of government designed to rid our government of those who abuse the Constitution is the biennial elections.

America stands at the brink of a Marxist abyss because Americans have elected a majority of officials who do not honor the Constitution, who do not respect the value of individual freedom, and who crave personal power and perks more than the prosperity produced by free people operating a free market.

[…]

Victory in 2010 is not necessarily determined by party label. There are Democrats who believe in the constitutional limitation of congressional power, and Republicans who do not. The challenge faced by voters is finding candidates — regardless of party affiliation — who are strong advocates of the U.S. Constitution, as demonstrated by deeds, not rhetoric. Sadly, many of these candidates labor fruitlessly in third-party campaigns.

— Hat tip: JD

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Understanding the Global-Warming Jihadists

Here is the lowdown in a nutshell: Governments have used billions of dollars of our money to fund fraudulent science, which, in turn, is used to justify policy that would steal untold billions more from us through taxation and the handicapping of the private sector. This will, of course, stifle the creation of wealth, but it will also be a transfer of it. But this would not be so much from the rich to the poor; it would be from the poor and middle class to the rich and well-connected. Carbon-credit con men such as Al Gore will add to their many millions, while subtracting from the many millions some of the latter’s few dollars. It would move us toward a situation in which we’d have two Americas, as John Edwards might say. One would be a lying, covetous ruling class of John Edwardses. The other would be the masses, who would be perpetually mired in serfdom.

[…]

So forget about icebergs; the meltdown the climate con artists fear is that of their reputations, egos, finances and faith. Scientists or not, to admit error is not merely the alteration of a hypothesis to them; it is the loss of religion and meaning, the end of empire, the fall of Rome. It is complete and utter personal destruction.

Yet destruction is precisely what the climate-change con men would visit on the economies of nations in their delusional grip. Other lands, such as China and India, will never yield to such insanity. They may pay lip service to it, though, especially if doing so will encourage us to more thoroughly handicap ourselves. Then they can laugh and rise to prominence while we become the most recent great civilization to descend into backwater status.

— Hat tip: JD

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Cyprus: 125:000 Foreigners Live on the Island

(ANSAMED) — NICOSIA, DECEMBER 18 — The number of foreigners living in Cyprus on a permanent basis has shot up according to new figures, showing 125,000 residents are non-Cypriot (15.9%). According to the data, 81,000 foreign citizens in Cyprus were from EU member states and 44,000 from third countries. On 1 January 2008, 30.8 million foreign citizens lived in the EU27 member states, of which 11.3 million were citizens of another EU27 member state. The remaining 19.5 million were citizens of countries outside the EU27, of which 6.0 million were citizens of other European countries, 4.7 million of Africa, 3.7 million of Asia and 3.2 million of the American continent. Foreign citizens accounted for 6.2% of the total EU27 population. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Sweden:300 Demonstrate for Christian Convert

From Swedish: 300 people demonstrated in Stockholm in support of Adiba öde (37) whose asylum request was rejected by the Swedish authorities. Adiba is a Jordanian-Muslim who converted to Christianity. She came to Sweden fleeing honor murder, and now says she’s persecuted for her new religion. Adiba was attacked recently, apparently by somebody sent by her Jordanian family, and has gotten death threats.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Switzerland: Of Minarets and Massacres

The surprise Swiss vote last month to ban new minarets triggered the expected gnashing of teeth from those who believe Islam, the least tolerant of faiths when administered by autocrats and absolute monarchs, should not only be tolerated, but encouraged. “It is an expression of intolerance, and I detest intolerance,” commented French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. “I hope the Swiss will reverse this decision quickly.” Commenters expressed similar thoughts on blogs—”Deeply ashamed to be Swiss,” wrote Stephanie of Zurich—while voices sympathetic to the vote also quickly flooded the blogosphere. “Google ‘Archdiocese of Mecca,’“ one poster from Arizona acidly suggested.

Forgive me if I, too, do not weep that 57.5 percent of the Swiss, now hosts to a largely moderate Muslim population of Turks and former Yugoslavs, want to keep their country a quiet car among nations. I am still busy weeping for the Armenians, the first people in their corner of the world to officially adopt Christianity, almost eliminated from history due to regular massacres by the Muslim Turks among whom they lived for centuries.

Is bringing in the Armenian genocide too big a stretch when contemplating an electoral act about urban design rather than a state policy to implement ethnic cleansing? After all, the ban doesn’t involve violence (so far), or suppression of religious worship (mosques remain OK). What is the appropriate context when reflecting on such a ban? One little-pondered aspect of Web commentary on the news these days is how it has tremendously widened the spectrum of “context” in intellectual debate. Examine remarks on the minaret ban and it’s easy to feel that no one short of a walking encyclopedia could properly tackle the subject.

What about the Crusades? The Inquisition? America’s genocide of Native Americans? Church bells and belfries? Jordanian denial of citizenship to Jews? Nineteenth-century European colonialism in the Mideast? Islamic discrimination against gays, Jews, women, Christians? Serb persecution of Muslims in Bosnia? The Battles of Tours (732) and Lepanto (1571)? Wahhabi fundamentalism? Swiss collaboration with the Nazis? Swiss protection of Jews from the Nazis? It’s enough to make one’s head swim.

Perhaps we’ll all need “Advanced Context” as a required liberal-arts course once the anarchy of cybercommentary takes over all intellectual debate. Allow me, then, in this amorphous, pluralistic environment, to return to the Armenians. Because it may well be that persuading people about appropriate context in large moral matters can’t be done a priori, but only, so to speak, pragmatically—you juxtapose the context you think relevant with the issue at hand, and see whether it makes a difference to what anyone thinks. It may also be, in moral matters involving tolerance, that proper context can be sought by connecting it with a concrete, powerful notion in everyday life: apology.

It’s an unfortunate modern truism that all genocides aren’t equal in their impact. As Richard Bernstein noted recently in the International Herald Tribune, the just-finished trial of a key Khmer Rouge figure in Cambodia stirred little attention in America. Yet the morally impoverished reaction over decades to the Turkish government’s massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians that began in 1915—bookended by earlier and later massacres that killed hundreds of thousands—still stands apart because it once stood as the best-known genocide in modern history.

As early as 1895, The New York Times ran a report headlined, “Another Armenian Holocaust.” In 1915, the Times ran multiple reports with such headlines as, “Wholesale Massacres of Armenians by Turks” and “800,000 Armenians Counted Destroyed.” In 1918, Theodore Roosevelt declared that “the Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and failure to act against Turkey is to condone it.” British Prime Minister David Lloyd George decried the Ottoman state as “this inhuman Empire.” Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who coined the term “genocide” in helping to establish the United Nations Convention on that crime, first used the term in regard to the slaughter of the Armenians.

Thankfully, the quality and extent of scholarship about the Armenian genocide continues to grow, though it still falls short of that on the Holocaust. Last spring saw the momentous, long-overdue publication by Peter Balakian, the American conscience of the Armenian genocide, of his great-uncle Grigoris Balakian’s Armenian Golgotha (Alfred A. Knopf), an immensely moving, harrowing memoir that instantly takes its place as a classic alongside Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and Elie Wiesel’s Night. This fall brought Michael Bobelian’s resourcefully reported Children of Armenia (Simon & Schuster), which focuses not on the genocide itself but the disgraceful history of how the U.S. government, which once trumpeted Armenian demands for justice, has repeatedly sold Armenians down the river for cold-war solidarity, oil contracts, and strategic cooperation from Turkey.

Precisely because the Armenian genocide remains unfamiliar to many, it’s necessary to at least sketch what happened. In 1908, the original Young Turks, officially the Committee of Union and Progress, or CUP, began their takeover of the collapsing Ottoman Empire by forcing Sultan Abdul Hamid II to re-establish the empire’s constitution, leading many to see the CUP as a reformist movement. The supporters of the Sultan, who himself saw Armenians as “degenerate” infidels, fought back, spurring massacres of Armenians in 1909, before the CUP deposed him. But as the Ottoman Empire lost most of its European territory during the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, and Muslim refugees flooded into what is now Turkey, anti-Christian sentiment and Turkish nationalism both intensified.

In 1913, three extreme nationalists among CUP leaders who would become the architects of the Armenian genocide—Ismail Enver, Ahmed Jemal, and Mehmed Talaat—staged a coup that gave them complete government control. As World War I ensued, the CUP leaders, in a military alliance with Germany, increasingly bristled at the 1914 Armenian Reform Agreement that granted European powers the right to inspect the empire’s treatment of Armenians.

In response, Talaat and his colleagues formulated a policy of eliminating the empire’s Armenians once and for all—a policy postwar evidence showed he expressed directly to Germany’s ambassador, Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim. In November 1914, the Sheik-Ul-Islam of Constantinople issued a jihad against Christians, and the looting of Armenian and Greek businesses in Western Turkey—a kind of Ionian Kristallnacht—began. In 1915, the CUP arranged for the release of some 30,000 criminals from Ottoman prisons to form chetes (mobile killing units) that would become the storm troopers of the genocide.

In April 1915, the deportations, executions, and rapes of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire began. On April 24, the day on which the Armenian genocide is memorialized worldwide, the CUP arrested some 250 of Constantinople’s Armenian leaders and intellectuals, including Grigoris Balakian, and imprisoned them in the east—most would subsequently be killed. (When Lenin exiled many of Russia’s leading intellectuals in 1922, he explicitly contrasted his generous decision in letting them live with how the Ottomans treated the Armenians.)

That year, 1915, saw the awful crescendo of the genocide as the CUP government forcibly deported Armenians eastward, tortured, massacred, and starved them on death marches, confiscated their property, killed almost all of the arrested 250 leaders, and resettled Muslim refugees on Armenian land. The United States knew all about it as Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, a hero of the era who eventually lost his position for trying to protect the Armenians, reported to Washington that “a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.”

By August, U.S. diplomats estimated that more than a million Armenians had been killed. In 1916, Interior Minister Talaat ordered the massacre of Armenian refugees still surviving in the desert town of Der Zor, which came to be known as the Auschwitz of the genocide. It is now believed the Turks slaughtered up to 400,000 Armenians there. Grigoris Balakian’s memoir, like other accounts, achingly details the astonishing, grisly savagery of the killings—the beheadings, disembowelments, and mutilations to which Armenian men, women, and children were subjected. He also acknowledges the existence of righteous Turks who saved Armenians. Indeed, Taner Akçam, the brave Turkish historian whose A Shameful Act (Metropolitan Books, 2006) is a monument in this field, dedicated his book to Haji Halil, a courageous Turk who, at the risk of being hanged, protected eight members of an Armenian family by hiding them in his home.

After World War I ended, when the victorious Allies set out to dismember the Ottoman Empire, it looked for a few years as if Armenians, like Jews after World War II, might see justice done by international powers and institutions. The three chief perpetrators of the genocide—Enver, Jamal and Talaat—fled Constantinople for safety abroad. The American King-Crane Commission, and a fact-finding mission led by General James Harbord, confirmed the extermination. For a brief period in 1919-20, Ottoman courts, under pressure from the British, prosecuted some of the perpetrators and sentenced the CUP leaders to death in absentia. (Armenians seeking revenge assassinated Talaat and Jamal, who had escaped arrest, within the next few years.) The prosecutions produced hundreds of pages of evidence that remain key to showing the genocide issued from official government policy.

But then, as Bobelian relates, the Armenian struggle for justice derailed. President Wilson’s push to expand the tiny 900-day Armenian Republic that emerged from World War I along borders that would be promised in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, collapsed when he suffered a stroke in 1919 and Mustapha Kemal (later “Atatürk”) forcibly began the establishment of the future nation of Turkey. (Kemal recaptured lands meant for Armenia as European powers dithered.) In 1921, Turkey and the Soviet Union divided historic Armenian lands among themselves. A truncated Armenia survived only as Soviet Armenia. After Kemal drove the Greek Army out of Turkey in 1922, getting in one more Turkish massacre of Armenians and Greeks in Smyrna (now Izmir), the European powers signed the shameful 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, recognizing the Republic of Turkey as the successor to the Ottoman Empire without even mentioning Armenia.

Bobelian ably covers the sorry story from then to the present. Repeated efforts by Armenian activists to enlist world powers in support of Armenian claims fell on deaf ears. After World War II, U.S. cold-war aims drove an almost 180-degree turn in U.S.-Armenian policy from Wilson’s idealism, dictating a realpolitik alliance with Turkey against the Soviet Union. Bobelian thoroughly reports how Turkey has continued to obstruct Congressional resolutions and any serious U.S. or world action to hold it responsible for its virtual annihilation of the Armenians.

On the eve of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to the White House on December 7, the AP reported: “Breaking a campaign pledge, Obama has refrained from referring to the [1915] killings as genocide, a term widely viewed by genocide scholars as an accurate description.” The same week, The New York Times reported that “Ottomania,” or nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire, is a hot new trend in Turkey.

Now let’s talk again about voting against two new minarets in Switzerland.

The Swiss vote is a signal rather than an endorsement of intolerance. The Swiss, while facing only a sort of creeping, minor Islamicization of their society—requests for girls to be excused from swimming classes, or separate cemeteries of the sort Swiss Jews already have—are aware of the gargantuan intolerance shown by some Muslim societies against minority Christians. While they may not seriously fear such a consequence, many of them plainly want to draw a line in the sand and say: We will not become a Muslim-dominated society, and we will stop that process early.

Swiss Muslims may protest that it is unfair to burden them with the worst sins of fellow Muslims. But isn’t that sociological fix the precise reason groups of believers historically split off from their brethren, forming sects or new religions? So long as Muslims anywhere keep their place in the House of Islam everywhere, they bear some responsibility for the actions of their fellow believers. That’s particularly so when they don’t powerfully denounce evil acts, or acknowledge the fear and hostility such acts evoke. That is where apology comes in.

The explosion of Net criticism of the Swiss for their vote recalls the last major moment in which the cry for Christian apology to Muslims rose up alongside the usual silence about the need for Muslim apology. That was Pope Benedict XVI’s bizarre magical military tour of Turkey in 2006, protected by helicopters overhead and Turkish SWAT teams deployed on every flank in case someone decided to nail him on his first visit to a Muslim land. The pope, who has his own problems in regard to personal and institutional behavior in World War II, had, after all, said unkind things about Islam.

There he was in the NATO republic whose foremost motto remains: Those who forget the past sometimes don’t want anyone to remember it, thank you very much. One might recall, in this regard, the remark famously attributed to Hitler, speaking to his generals, eight days before invading Poland in 1939: “Who, today, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Benedict played along. He largely kept quiet about arriving in a land whose predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire—many of whose leaders became central figures in the Turkish Republic—committed the largest genocide in history against Christians. To this day, the Turks have never apologized, never offered a lira of reparation, never returned stolen property or land. Turkish newspapers, astonishingly, kept asking whether the pope would offer yet another, fuller apology for his remarks on Islam. News reports from elsewhere kept mentioning that Turkey was “99-percent Muslim.” They didn’t say why.

By contrast, how intolerant is it to deny a religion a minor aspect of its ritual behavior, as the Swiss are doing by banning minarets? How intolerant is it not to apologize? Whether we owe tolerance to the intolerant is one of the great logical challenges within ethical theory. Simply declaring that we do, as so many commenters on the minaret vote urge, fails to convince if one believes tolerance, like some other ethical duties, arises out of implicit or explicit social contract, and should be reciprocal.

I, for one, find that context, apology, and intolerance matter in the following way. If you steep yourself in the atrocities of the Armenian genocide, not to mention the many intolerances exhibited by majority-Muslim societies toward Christians, Jews, women, gays, and other non-Muslims, one’s conclusion is not an absolutist moral judgment, but a decision on who owes a greater apology to whom, a decision on how to allocate one’s moral energy.

The day that Turkey apologizes and pays reparations for the Armenian genocide, that Saudi Arabia permits the building of churches and synagogues, that the Arab world thinks the homeland principles it applies to the Arabs of Palestine also apply to the Armenians of Turkey—on that day, I will find time to commiserate with the generally kind and hard-working Muslims of Switzerland.

Carlin Romano, critic at large for The Chronicle Review, teaches philosophy and media theory at the University of Pennsylvania.

— Hat tip: JP

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UK: ‘Low-Ranking Airline Worker’ Al-Megrahi Had £1.8m in Swiss Bank Account Before Lockerbie Bomb Conviction

Scottish prosecutors admitted last night they refused to grant bail to terminally-ill Megrahi in November last year because of concerns he might try to gain access to the money.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was said by the Libyan government to be a low-ranking airline worker.

Yet he had a bank balance of £1.8million when he was found guilty of the murder of 270 people in the Pan Am bombing, which happened above the Scottish town of Lockerbie 21 years ago today.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Bah! Humbug! A Christmas Ghost Story in Downing Street

With apologies to Charles Dickens, Gordon Brown is visited by three spirits and the chain-clanking spectre of Tony Blair

Once upon a time — of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve — old Brown sat busy in his counting house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather. The door was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, Darling, who in a dismal little cell was copying figures and then erasing them again as soon as he had set them down. Brown had a small fire of smouldering parliamentary expenses’ claims. The clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal.

“A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” cried a cheerful, rather posh voice. It belonged to the old Etonian who owned the toy shop next door. “Bah!” said Brown. “Humbug!”

Master Cameron had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog that he was all in a glow.

“Out upon Merry Christmas!” snarled Brown. “What’s Christmas time but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for trying to balance your books and finding every item in ‘em presented dead against you.”

“I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time,” returned young Cameron. “The only time I know of when men and women think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. Naturally, they may not be bound on any journeys of any nature if they are booked to fly with British Airways.”

“I say of Christmas, God bless it!” cried the cheerful Tory. “For it brings the election closer.”

The clerk involuntarily applauded.

“Let me hear another sound from you,” Brown barked at Darling, “and you’ll keep your Christmas by losing your situation.”

The old Etonian departed. As he did so, he let two other gentlemen in. Said one of the gentlemen: “Brown and Blair’s, I believe.” “Mr Blair has been dead these three years,” replied Brown. The gentleman took up a pen: “At this festive time of the year, Mr Brown, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many are in want of common necessities: plasma TVs, champagne flutes, chandeliers, massage chairs, silk cushions, bath plugs, patio heaters. Since the reports of Sir Christopher Kelly and Sir Thomas Legg into their expenses, hundreds of MPs are in want of these comforts, sir.”

“Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?” asked Brown. “Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, “in which some of these benighted creatures may yet rest.” He went on: “A few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the poor MPs some meat and drink, and means of warmth to keep out the chill of the opinion polls. What shall I put you down for?” “Nothing!” Brown replied. “I don’t myself make merry at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. Good afternoon, gentlemen!”

At length, the hour of shutting up the counting house arrived. Brown walked out with a growl and went home. He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. Brown, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker not a knocker, but Blair’s face. It looked at Brown as Blair used to look: with a ghostly smile turned up upon its ghostly mouth. Though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless. That made it horrible. As Brown looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again.

“Humbug!” said Brown. He closed the door and locked himself in; double-locked himself in. The door flew open with a booming sound. “It’s Balls still!” said Brown. “I won’t believe it.” His colour changed when it passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying flame of the candle leaped up, as though it cried: “I know him! Blair’s Ghost!” and fell again. A chain was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail. It was made of cash-boxes, deeds to houses, invoices for appearance fees, dodgy dossiers and body bags. Though he looked the phantom through and through, though he felt the chill of its death-cold eyes, he was still incredulous and fought against his senses.

“You don’t believe in me,” observed the Ghost.

“I don’t,” said Brown. “I never did.”

At this, the spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with a dismal and appalling noise. “Mercy!” said Brown. “Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?” “You will be haunted,” said the Ghost, “by Three Spirits.” Then the spectre floated through the window and out upon the bleak, dark night. Brown, desperate in his curiosity, looked out. The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither, and moaning as they went. Many had been personally known to Brown in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one ghost, Sir Fred, known as the Shred. Whether these creatures faded into mist, or mist enshrouded them, he could not tell.

Brown was returned to his bed when the hour bell sounded with a deep, dull, melancholy One. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside and Brown found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them. It was a strange figure. What was light one instant, at another time was dark, so the figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness.

“Are you the Spirit whose coming was foretold to me?” asked Brown. “I am!” The voice was smooth with a sinister yet fruity flavour. “What are you?” Brown demanded. “I am the Ghost of New Labour Past,” replied the pale face of Peter Mandelson. It put out its hand. The grasp, though feline as a woman’s hand, was not to be resisted. They passed through the wall and across space and time until they stood amidst a crowded House of Commons on Budget Day.

“Good Heaven!” said Brown. He saw himself as he was five years ago. Labour MPs were waving their order papers and cheering as his younger self boasted of the longest period of growth since records began and promised unprecedented increases in public spending. “No return to Tory boom and bust!” bragged the figure at the Dispatch Box.

“Spirit!” cried Brown. “Why do you delight to torture me? Show me no more!”

“I told you these were the shadows of the things that have been,” said the Ghost. “That they are what they are, do not blame me!” “Leave me!” Brown exclaimed. “Haunt me no longer!”

The hour struck again and with it came another phantom. “I am the Ghost of Labour Present,” said the Spirit. “Look upon me!” From head to toe, the phantom was clothed in plastic; red, green, blue, black, gold, silver and platinum plastic. “Touch my robe!” commanded the spirit and whisked Brown to a city street. They stood in a pound-stretcher shop where the people made a rough but brisk kind of music at the tills. Soon the steeples rang with the call to church and chapel — but the people simply carried on shopping.

The spirit led on to the dwelling of Brown’s clerk. In came Alistair, his threadbare clothes darned up. Diddy David was upon his shoulder. “And how did little David behave?” asked Mrs Darling. “As good as gold,” said Alistair. “Somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much at the Foreign Office, and thinks the strangest things you’ve ever heard.”

“Spirit,” said Brown. “Tell me if Diddy David will live?”

His clerk proposed a toast: “I’ll give you Mr Brown!” “Mr Brown indeed!” cried Mrs Darling, reddening. “I wish I had the odious bully here. I’d give him a piece of my mind to feast upon.” “My dear,” Alistair hushed her. “The children.” Brown was the ogre of the family. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party. Diddy David drank the toast last of all, but he didn’t care twopence for it.

The clock struck another hour. Brown asked: “I am in the presence of the Ghost of Election Yet To Come?” The Spirit answered not, but pointed downward with its hand. “Ghost of the Future!” Brown cried. “I fear you more than any Spectre I have seen. Will you not speak to me?” The still silent Spirit conveyed him to Downing Street. “I see the house,” said Brown. “Let me behold what I shall be in days to come.” Brown hastened to the window of his office, and looked in. It was an office still, but not his. The figure in the chair was the old Etonian.

A churchyard. The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed to one. Brown crept towards it, trembling as he went. Following the finger, he read upon the stone of the neglected grave: Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, 2007-2010.

“No, Spirit! Oh no, no! Why show me this, if I am past all hope!”

Holding up his hands in one last prayer to have his fate reversed, the phantom vanished. Brown scrambled out of bed, resolved to change his future. Running to the window, he put out his head and called downward to a boy. “Hello, my fine fellow,” he cried. “Do you know the Poulterer’s at the corner? Go and buy the prize Turkey that hangs up there.” The boy was off like a shot. “I’ll send it to the Darlings,” whispered Brown, rubbing his hands with merriment.

He got dressed in his best, went downstairs to open the street door, ready for the coming of the Turkey.

The boy returned, empty-handed. “Where’s the Turkey?” demanded Brown. The boy shrugged: “They say you’ve not the money to afford it. The only Turkey you will see this Christmas is yourself.”

“Bah,” groaned old Brown. “Humbug!”

— Hat tip: JP

[Return to headlines]

UK: Christian Teacher Lost Her Job After Being Told Praying for Sick Girl ‘Was Bullying’

A devout Christian teacher has lost her job after discussing her faith with a mother and her sick child and offering to pray for them.

Olive Jones, a 54-year-old mother of two, who taught maths to children too ill to attend school, was dismissed following a complaint from the girl’s mother. She was visiting the home of the child when she spoke about her belief in miracles and asked whether she could say a prayer, but when the mother indicated they were not believers she did not go ahead.

Mrs Jones was then called in by her managers who, she says, told her that sharing her faith with a child could be deemed to be bullying and informed her that her services were no longer required.

Her dismissal has outraged Christian groups, who say new equality regulations are driving Christianity to the margins of society.

They said the case echoed that of community nurse Caroline Petrie, who was suspended last December after offering to pray for a patient but who was later reinstated after a national outcry.

Coincidentally, Mrs Petrie lives nearby and has been a friend of Mrs Jones for some years. Mrs Jones, whose youngest son is a Royal Marine who has served in Afghanistan, said she was merely trying to offer comfort and encouragement and only later realised her words had caused distress, for which she is apologetic.

The softly spoken teacher, who has more than 20 years’ experience, said she was ‘devastated’ by the decision to end her employment, which she said was ‘completely disproportionate’.

She said she had been made to feel like a ‘criminal’, and claimed that Christians were being persecuted because of ‘political correctness’.

Speaking at her home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, she said: ‘Teaching was my dream from the age of 16. It is as if 20 years of my work, which I was passionate about, has gone. It is like a grief.

‘I have been sleeping badly and been in a daze. I haven’t even got around to putting up a Christmas tree or decorations. So much for Christmas cheer.’

Mrs Jones shares her comfortable four-bedroom house with her husband Peter, who is also a teacher and heads the maths department at a local state secondary school.

The house provides few clues about her strong beliefs. There is a small wooden cross on one wall, a few plaques carrying religious texts, and some Bibles in the sitting room which she used in her studies for a diploma at the Pentecostal Carmel Bible College in Bristol.

She is a regular churchgoer, attending her local Church of England church most Sundays, but she also occasionally opts for more lively evangelical worship at the college.

After training to be a teacher at Aberystwyth University, where she met her husband, and a period bringing up her children — student Rob, 24, and soldier James, 23 — she returned to teaching in state secondary schools and sixth-form colleges.

Wanting to concentrate more on family life, she began a part-time job more than four years ago at the Oak Hill Short Stay School and Tuition Service North, which caters for children with illness or behavioural difficulties.

She had no formal contract but was scheduled to work to a timetable for about 12 hours a week at the school in a converted bungalow and one-storey prefabricated block in nearby Nailsea.

She prepared lessons, taught and marked work for about six children between 11 and 16 who had problems ranging from leukaemia to Attention Deficit Disorder. In reality, however, pupils were frequently unavailable for lessons, and she says she often found herself working as little as 20 hours a month.

As she was technically a supply teacher, she was paid £25 an hour plus mileage and had to submit a timesheet. While she was working, she was paid about £700 a month before tax and pension contributions by North Somerset Council, and received payslips.

Occasionally she would teach one or two sick children at their homes, and from September she made half-a-dozen visits to one child in a middle-class area who she was tutoring in GCSE maths.

On the fourth visit the girl stayed in her bedroom because she did not feel well enough for lessons, so Mrs Jones chatted to her mother and raised the subject of her faith, saying she believed God had saved her life.

The teacher said when she was a teenager she had been driving a tractor on the family farm near Carmarthen in Wales when it slid down a slope but came to a halt just before tipping over.

‘I shut my eyes and thought I was going to die,’ said Mrs Jones. ‘Then there was a sound of a rushing wind, like that described in the Bible, and then total stillness.

‘I was convinced it was a miracle. I shared my testimony to encourage the mother to believe that there is a God who answers prayer. I believe I have a personal relationship with God, who is a constant source of strength.’

Unbeknown to Mrs Jones, the mother complained about her comments to health authorities in the mistaken belief that they were her employers. It appears, however, that these criticisms were not passed on to Mrs Jones.

Unaware that there were any problems, Mrs Jones’s fifth lesson with the child passed without incident, but when she returned for her sixth session towards the end of last month, things went awry.

She said that although the girl came downstairs in her dressing gown, she could not face a lesson, so the three of them chatted over cups of tea about books they were reading. Mrs Jones once again referred to the incident involving the tractor and spoke about her belief in Heaven.

‘I told them there were people praying for them, and I asked the child if I could pray for her,’ said Mrs Jones.

‘She looked at her mother, who said, “We come from a family who do not believe”, so I did not pray.

‘I asked the mother if she wanted me to cancel the next lesson as her daughter had not been feeling up to maths, but she said no.’

She left on what she thought were good terms and returned to the unit to do some more work, but within a few hours she was told that the head of the unit, Kaye Palmer-Greene, wanted to see her in her office.

‘I suspected it must be serious as Kaye did not normally see people without an appointment,’ said Mrs Jones. ‘When I got to her office I was told to wait outside.

‘Then the unit co-ordinator Karen Robinson came out and said I would have to come back later. I could tell by her face I was in big trouble.

‘I asked her if I was being sacked but she refused to comment. I drove to a Tesco car park and sat in the car and called a few friends to ask them to pray.’

About an hour-and-a-half later she was told she could go back to the office, and she went in holding a Bible. ‘You could feel the tension in air,’ she said. ‘I was so frightened I could hardly breathe.

‘I was a total wreck. I was shaking and in shock. I had never experienced anything like this before. I had a faultless record. It was horrible, one of the worst experiences of my life.

‘They were very strict and firm. Kaye was mostly silent while Karen read comments from the parent from a sheet of A4 paper. One thing the parent said was that I had demanded a cup of tea, which I hadn’t.

‘Then she said that my testimony and mention of prayer had distressed her and her daughter, and she didn’t want me to tutor in their home again. Obviously, if I had known she was upset when I had first mentioned my testimony I would never have brought it up again. But I had no idea.

‘I don’t push my beliefs down other people’s throats, and I apologise for any unintentional distress I may have caused.’

Mrs Jones said that during the meeting Ms Robinson told her that talking about faith issues in the house of a pupil could be regarded as bullying.

Ms Robinson also asked Mrs Jones why she had ignored her advice not to pray or speak about her faith at work, a reference to an occasion three years ago when the teacher had prayed for a girl with period pains.

The girl appears to have complained and Ms Robinson had told Mrs Jones to be more professional, but Mrs Jones said there had been no written warning.

‘Karen then said I had been an exemplary maths teacher, but my services were no longer required. As I had no contract, they could tell me to go just like that.

‘They also told me that had I been on a contract, I could be facing disciplinary proceedings. But they never told me the grounds for that.’

Mrs Jones was advised by a friend to contact the Christian Legal Centre, an independent group of lawyers funded by public donations that defends Christians in legal difficulties.

‘I am not angry with my bosses, as they are trying to interpret new equality and diversity policies,’ she said. ‘But I am angry with the politically-correct system and about the fact that you can’t mention anything to do with faith to people who might find it of use.

‘My main concern is the interpretation of the policies concerned, which seem very ambiguous.

‘An atheist may think that you shouldn’t speak about anything to do with faith to students if it is not your specialist area, but it is not really clear.

‘It is as if my freedom of speech is being restricted. I feel I am being persecuted for speaking about my faith in a country that is supposed to be Christian.

‘I feel if I had spoken about almost any other topic I would have been fine but Christianity is seen as a no-go area. It felt as if I was being treated as a criminal. It is like a bad dream that had come true.’

She said that although she was clear that she had been sacked, she had recently been approached by a senior education official who had said the complaint was still being investigated and had suggested a meeting.

She said she believed the approach had been triggered by the involvement of the Christian Legal Centre, and she was now taking legal advice about how to proceed.

Andrea Williams, a lawyer and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘The story of Olive Jones is sadly becoming all too familiar in this country. It is the result of a heavy-handed so-called equalities agenda that discriminates against Christians and seeks to eliminate Christian expression from the public square.

‘Olive Jones had compassion for her pupil and finds herself without a job because she expressed the hope that comes with faith. It is time for a common sense approach to be restored in all these matters.’

She said that although Mrs Jones was not on a contract and had occasionally taken time out from her teaching duties during term time, the Centre would argue that she had effectively worked continuously for the unit for nearly five years and should have had some protection under employment law.

Mrs Williams said the human rights lawyer Paul Diamond — who represented Heathrow check-in worker Nadia Eweida, who in 2006 was banned from wearing a cross around her neck — had been instructed in the case.

Nurse Caroline Petrie described Mrs Jones, whom she met through her church more than four years ago, as a ‘caring, honest and lovely person’ whose gentle voice and manner were perfect for dealing with sick children.

She said she had been shocked that the teacher had been dismissed without being allowed to consult a lawyer first.

Nick Yates, a spokesman for North Somerset Council, said: ‘Olive Jones has worked as a supply teacher, working with the North Somerset Tuition service. A complaint has been made by a parent regarding Olive. This complaint is being investigated.

‘To complete the investigation we need to speak to Olive and we have offered her a number of dates so this can happen. At the moment we are waiting for her to let us know which date is convenient for her.’

— Hat tip: Gaia

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UK: Muslim Police Chef Defeated in ‘Bacon Roll’ Tribunal Faces £75,000 Legal Bill

A Muslim chef who lost a claim of religious discrimination against Scotland Yard after complaining he was forced to cook sausages and bacon faces a legal bill of more than £75,000.

Hasanali Khoja accused the Metropolitan Police of failing to consider his Islamic beliefs when he was asked to handle pork products as a catering manager at a police station.

The £23,000-a-year chef claimed suggestions by his bosses that he should wear gloves and use tongs left him ‘stressed and humiliated’. Muslims are banned from eating pork under Islamic law.

But Mr Khoja, 62, lost his claim in May after a police employee told an employment tribunal how she saw Mr Khoja eat bacon rolls and sausages.

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) has now won a ruling ordering Mr Khoja to pay its costs, which total at least £76,200. In its costs claim, the Met said Mr Khoja ‘knew that he had asked for a bacon roll two or three times for personal consumption before bringing his claim and throughout the conduct of his claim’.

‘The fact that he had knowingly come into contact with pork products before bringing the claim shows that the claim had no reasonable prospect of success from the outset.’

Judge Michael Southam agreed and ruled Mr Khoja should pay costs, though these would be determined at a later date at a county court.

Mr Khoja, from Edgware, North London, who is still employed by the Met, claimed at a hearing in Watford that he could afford to pay only £80 a week as he has little income, lives in rented property and is struggling with £30,000 legal bills of his own.

But the court discovered he had sold another home last year, splitting profits of almost £200,000 with his wife and two sons.

The decision is another setback for the police chef, who believed he was on course for a large settlement when he launched his case in 2007.

Mr Khoja, who sits on a Foods Standards Agency advisory committee on Muslim issues, decided to take action after Scotland Yard chiefs placed him on unpaid leave for a year after his refusal to work with pork.

He said he was then given work in a different building but his role was downgraded.

But his case fell apart when another caterer, Mary Boakye, told the court she served him bacon rolls ‘two or three’ times at the Met canteen at Heathrow in West London.

When she told him she was surprised because his religion banned him from eating pork, Mr Khoja allegedly replied: ‘I eat them once in a while.’

Another chef said he saw Mr Khoja once happily eat a sausage dish and told the court ‘he was not as strict as some Muslims’.

Judge Southam also heard how Mr Khoja had made ‘wild and baseless’ allegations about a human resource manager, allegedly making racial facial gestures.

Mr Khoja is one of several ethnic minority staff to launch racial discrimination claims against Scotland Yard. The most high-profile was former Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who last year accused Sir Ian Blair of excluding him from the upper echelons of the force because of his skin colour.

Mr Ghaffur retired after receiving an out-of-court settlement and dropped the allegations.

— Hat tip: Gaia

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UK: Police Expect Mumbai-Style Terror Attack on City of London

Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital.

In a briefing in the City of London 12 days ago, a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Mumbai is coming to London.”

The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”.

The warning — the bluntest issued by police — has underlined an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: The Michael Powell Case Shows How Charges of Racism Hobble the Police

The inquest into Michael Powell’s death cost a million pounds to prove racism was not to blame, says Alasdair Palmer

It is more than a decade since the Macpherson report branded the Metropolitan Police as “institutionally racist”. Ever since, policemen everywhere in Britain have struggled to convince ethnic minorities that their actions are not racist — or at least that they do not have to be.

There are, of course, many occasions on which the police fail to protect those whom they should, or to catch those responsible for terrible crimes. There are also many causes of such failures, including incompetence, laziness, cowardice, stupidity and simple bad luck. It was not Sir William Macpherson’s intention, but the principal effect of his report has been to persuade many people that whenever the police deal with someone from an ethnic minority, and the result of the interaction is less than perfect, there is in fact just one explanation: racism.

There was a classic example of that syndrome last week, at the inquest into the death of Michael Powell, a black man from Birmingham who died in police custody six years ago. Mr Powell had a history of mental instability and had been a user of crack cocaine. His terrified mother called the police when he started smashing his car windows with a hammer on the night of September 7, 2003. The police turned up quickly and tried, but failed, to subdue Mr Powell: their use of CS spray backfired, disabling the officers who deployed it rather than Mr Powell.

In the end, it took several additional policeman to overpower Mr Powell and bundle him into the back of a police van. But during the journey to the police station, he died. Three pathologists conducted two separate post-mortem examinations. They concluded that his death was not due to any injury caused by the police. An inquest was started, and then abandoned because 10 officers were charged with a number of offences relating to Mr Powell’s death. They were all acquitted. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) then investigated the officers, and concluded that there were no grounds for disciplining them.

Were all of those investigations sufficient to convince Mr Powell’s friends and family that police racism was not the cause of his death? They were not. The family’s team of lawyers managed to re-open the inquest, get their case funded by legal aid and argue that, had it not been for police racism, Michael Powell would still be alive today.

After six weeks of hearing evidence, the jury decided that Mr Powell did not die because the police treated him in a way they would not have treated a white man. But although they rejected — after deliberating for two days — the allegations that the way officers restrained him had caused his death, it took the inquest a month and a half, and at least a million pounds in lawyers’ fees, to come to a conclusion already reached by two post-mortem examinations, a trial, and an investigation by the IPCC.

Repeated investigations of the kind seen in Mr Powell’s case are justified on the grounds that they reassure the public that “the system is not institutionally racist”. But they do not have that effect. They merely publicise the convictions — some might call them prejudices — of groups that insist that the police are institutionally racist, as are all the bodies that acquit them of that charge. No one, therefore, should be surprised that police recruitment of ethnic minorities is down, or that many ethnic minority organisations now advise against co-operating with the authorities.

There are racists within the police, just as there are everywhere, and when individual racism is identified it must be investigated and punished. But the result of labelling entire organisations “institutionally racist” has been to make it harder for ethnic minorities to believe they will be treated fairly which has made it harder to police our multi-ethnic society. That development, like the inquest into Mr Powell’s death, serves neither justice nor good sense.

— Hat tip: JP

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Egypt Boosts Security at Gaza Border After Firing

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) — Egypt is stepping up security on its border with the Gaza Strip after earth moving equipment came under fire from the Palestinian side for three days, a security source said on Saturday.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Egypt was installing an underground metal barrier between 20 and 30 meters (70 and 100 feet) deep along the short border strip where Palestinians have dug tunnels to circumvent an Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Egyptian officials say authorities have been installing steel tubes in the ground at several points on the border, but their purpose has not been specified.

Egypt had stationed about 200 policemen and increased armored vehicle patrols along the length of the border and in areas where excavating is under way, the security source said.

“We have sent new forces from the police to the border with Gaza after repeated shooting from the Palestinian side,” the source told Reuters.

Shots had been fired from the Palestinian side of the border at equipment in the area since Thursday, the source said. No injuries were reported.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Tunisia: Archaeological Finds Trafficking, Italians Arrested

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, DECEMBER 18 — There are Italian nationals (the exact number has not been released) as well as British and two Tunisians among the 26 arrested in Tunisia as part of an inquiry into a vast network for the international trafficking of archaeological finds. Carried out by the Tunisian National Guard in collaboration with Interpol, the inquiry has made it possible to recover about 7,000 finds, many of which considered invaluable, according to the French-language daily Le Temps. Concerning the Italians arrested after the issuing of international arrest warrants, the daily paper reported that the individuals “have criminal records, having already been arrested in Italy for similar crimes”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Analysis: Suddenly, The Arab World Wakes Up to Yemen’s Rebellion

by Jonathan Spyer

The 30th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, meeting in Kuwait this week, expressed its solidarity with Saudi Arabia in its fight with the Shi’ite Houthi rebels in northern Yemen. The Kuwaiti emir noted that Saudi Arabia is facing “flagrant aggression that targets its sovereignty and security by those who have infiltrated its territory.”

The formerly little-noticed conflict between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government is now taking on the coloration of an additional hot front in an ongoing region-wide cold war. The conflict in northern Yemen reveals the ongoing Iranian regional effort to convert Shi’ite populations into assets enabling it to apply pressure on neighbors and rivals.

The Arab response, meanwhile, shows the very great trepidation felt by the Gulf Arabs in the face of Iranian regional ambitions and expansion.

The term “Houthi rebels” refers to members of the Houthi clan, who have been engaged in an insurrection against the government of Yemen in the Saada district in the north of the country since 2004. The Houthis are members of the Zaidi Shi’ite sect of Islam. (Zaidi Shi’ites venerate the first four Imams of Islam, in contrast to the Twelver Shi’ites dominant in Iran). Led by Abd al-Malik el-Houthi, the rebels are fighting to bring down the government of President Ali Abdallah Saleh, which they regard as too pro-Western.

Thousands on both sides have died in the rebellion. The fighting includes the use by both sides of tanks and armored personnel carriers. It has resulted in the displacement of around 150,000 people.

The situation escalated in November, when Houthi rebels clashed with Saudi forces in the Jabal Dukhan territory straddling the border. In the ensuing firefight two Saudi border guards were killed and another 10 were wounded. The Saudis responded in force. Saudi aircraft and helicopter gunships carried out a series of attacks on rebel held areas of northern Yemen in the following days, killing around 40 rebels. Saudi forces remain on high alert…

— Hat tip: Barry Rubin

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First Woman to Open Bank Account in Lebanon

“I’ve been trying to open a bank account for my two sons for 10 years now, but I was continuously told that only my husband could sign the papers,” Lebanese-American Barbara Batlouni told AFP.

“It’s unfair. They’re my children too and I don’t see why I cannot, as their mother, teach them to manage their finances,” she said at the headquarters of Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (BBAC).

Her move came after Lebanon’s bank association altered its own rules on December 9, following a campaign to press for the change led by the Institute of Progressive Women and other groups.

A smiling Batlouni signed the first papers at BBAC for an account that named as beneficiaries her two sons, 16-year-old Samer and 14-year-old Jad.

“I’m glad that Lebanon is improving its laws,” said Samer, who along with Jad will become the official holder of the account once he turns 18.

The bank also gifted her a 1,000-dollar (790-euro) cheque as a token of their appreciation for her “fight against discrimination,” BBAC general manager Ghassan Assaf said.

While the boys’ father is Lebanese, Batlouni, the Lebanon country director of the non-profit organisation Amideast, said she insisted on opening the account herself on principle.

“Lebanese women excel in all fields, and yet they do not have their basic rights,” she said.

— Hat tip: TB

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Iranian Troops No Longer Control Oil Well: Iraq

Ali al-Dabbagh said a small group of Iranian troops who had taken over an oil well in a remote region along the two countries’ border last week were no longer in control of the well, which Iraq considers part of its Fakka oilfield.

“The Iranian flag has been lowered. The Iranian troops have pulled back 50 meters, but they have not gone back to where they were before. The Iraqi government asked for the troops to go back to where they were,” Dabbagh said.

On Friday, global oil prices climbed after Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Co. in the southeastern city of Amara said that an Iranian force had arrived at the field and taken control of the Well 4.

Baghdad demanded that “Tehran pull back the armed men who occupied Well No 4” and condemned the incident as “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.”

Iran rejected allegations it had occupied an Iraqi oil well.

The border flare-up kicked off a storm of emergency meetings and bilateral phone calls, with Baghdad calling for an immediate withdrawal yet also seeking to contain damage to its important relationship with neighboring Iran.

In a phone conversation on Saturday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari underlined the need for a meeting of officials “with the intention of enforcing bilateral border agreements”, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported.

The two countries have a long history of border feuds, including one that escalated into a bloody eight-year war in the 1980s. The relationship warmed after 2003, when fellow Shiite Muslims took over in Baghdad and the countries’ trade and religious tourism ties began to deepen.

Dabbagh said a joint committee would begin to look at demarcating the border in the desert region.

Fakka is a relatively small field, and currently produces about 10,000 barrels per day, Iraqi officials say.

— Hat tip: TB

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Plot Targeting Turkey’s Religious Minorities Allegedly Discovered

CD indicates naval officers planned violence against non-Muslim communities.

Chilling allegations emerged last month of a detailed plot by Turkish naval officers to perpetrate threats and violence against the nation’s non-Muslims in an effort to implicate and unseat Turkey’s pro-Islamic government.

Evidence put forth for the plot appeared on an encrypted compact disc discovered last April but was only recently deciphered; the daily Taraf newspaper first leaked details of the CD’s contents on Nov. 19.

Entitled the “Operation Cage Action Plan,” the plot outlines a plethora of planned threat campaigns, bomb attacks, kidnappings and assassinations targeting the nation’s tiny religious minority communities — an apparent effort by military brass to discredit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The scheme ultimately called for bombings of homes and buildings owned by non-Muslims, setting fire to homes, vehicles and businesses of Christian and Jewish citizens, and murdering prominent leaders among the religious minorities.

Dated March 2009, the CD containing details of the plot was discovered in a raid on the office of a retired major implicated in a large illegal cache of military arms uncovered near Istanbul last April. Once deciphered, it revealed the full names of 41 naval officials assigned to carry out a four-phase campaign exploiting the vulnerability of Turkey’s non-Muslim religious minorities, who constitute less than 1 percent of the population.

A map that Taraf published on its front page — headlined “The Targeted Missionaries” — was based on the controversial CD documents. Color-coded to show all the Turkish provinces where non-Muslims lived or had meetings for worship, the map showed only 13 of Turkey’s 81 provinces had no known non-Muslim residents or religious meetings.

The plan identified 939 non-Muslim representatives in Turkey as possible targets.

“If even half of what is written in Taraf is accurate, everybody with a conscience in this country has to go mad,” Eyup Can wrote in his Hurriyet column two days after the news broke.

The day after the first Taraf report, the headquarters of the Turkish General Staff filed a criminal complaint against the daily with the Justice Ministry, declaring its coverage a “clear violation” of the laws protecting ongoing prosecution investigations from public release.

Although the prime minister’s office the next day confirmed that the newly revealed “Cage” plot was indeed under official investigation, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Taraf’s public disclosure of the plan as “interfering” and “damaging” to the judicial process and important sectors of the government.

But when the judiciary began interrogating a number of the named naval suspects and sent some of them to jail, most Turkish media — which had downplayed the claims — began to accept the plot’s possible authenticity.

To date, at least 11 of the naval officials identified in the Cage documents are under arrest, accused of membership in an illegal organization.. They include a retired major, a lieutenant colonel, three lieutenant commanders, two colonels and three first sergeants.

The latest plot allegations are linked to criminal investigations launched in June 2007 into Ergenekon, an alleged “deep state” conspiracy by a group of military officials, state security personnel, lawyers and journalists now behind bars on charges of planning a coup against the elected AKP government.

Christian Murders Termed ‘Operations’

The plot document began with specific mention of the three most recent deadly attacks perpetrated against Christians in Turkey, cryptically labeling them “operations.”

Initial Turkish public opinion had blamed Islamist groups for the savage murders of Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro (February 2006), Turkish Armenian Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink (January 2007) and two Turkish Christians and a German Christian in Malatya (April 2007). But authors of the Cage plan complained that AKP’s “intensive propaganda” after these incidents had instead fingered the Ergenekon cabal as the perpetrators.

“The Cage plan demanded that these ‘operations’ be conducted in a more systematic and planned manner,” attorney Orhan Kemal Cengiz wrote in Today’s Zaman on Nov. 27. “They want to re-market the ‘black propaganda’ that Muslims kill Christians,” concluded Cengiz, a joint-plaintiff lawyer in the Malatya murder trial and legal adviser to Turkey’s Association of Protestant Churches.

In the first phase of the Cage plot, officers were ordered to compile information identifying the non-Muslim communities’ leaders, schools, associations, cemeteries, places of worship and media outlets, including all subscribers to the Armenian Agos weekly. With this data, the second stage called for creating an atmosphere of fear by openly targeting these religious minorities, using intimidating letters and telephone calls, warnings posted on websites linked to the government and graffiti in neighborhoods where non-Muslims lived.

To channel public opinion, the third phase centered on priming TV and print media to criticize and debate the AKP government’s handling of security for religious minorities, to raise the specter of the party ultimately replacing Turkey’s secular laws and institutions with Islamic provisions.

The final phase called for planting bombs and suspicious packages near homes and buildings owned by non-Muslims, desecrating their cemeteries, setting fire to homes, vehicles and businesses of Christian and Jewish citizens, and even kidnapping and assassinating prominent leaders among the religious minorities.

Lawyer Fethiye Cetin, representing the Dink family in the Agos editor’s murder trial, admitted she was having difficulty even accepting the details of the Cage plot.

“I am engulfed in horror,” Cetin told Bianet, the online Independent Communications Network. “Some forces of this country sit down and make a plan to identify their fellow citizens, of their own country, as enemies! They will kill Armenians and non-Muslims in the psychological war they are conducting against the ones identified as their enemies.”

No Surprise to Christians

“We were not very shocked,” Protestant Pastor Ihsan Ozbek of the Kurtulus Churches in Ankara admitted to Taraf the day after the news broke.

After the Malatya murders, he stated, Christians had no official means to investigate their suspicions about the instigators, “and we could not be very brave . . . Once again the evidence is being seen, that it is the juntas who are against democracy who [have been] behind the propaganda in the past 10 years against Christianity and missionary activity.”

Patriarch Bartholomew of the Greek Orthodox Church also openly addressed the Cage plot, referring to recent incidents of intimidation against Christian and Jewish citizens in Istanbul’s Kurtulus and Adalar districts, as well as a previous raid conducted against the alumni of a Greek high school.

“At the time, we thought that they were just trying to scare us,” he told Today’s Zaman. Several of the jailed Ergenekon suspects now on trial were closely involved for years in protesting and slandering the Istanbul Patriarchate, considered the heart of Eastern Orthodoxy’s 300 million adherents. As ultranationalists, they claimed the Orthodox wanted to set up a Vatican-style entity within Turkey.

Last summer 90 graves were desecrated in the Greek Orthodox community’s Balikli cemetery in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul. The city’s 65 non-Muslim cemeteries are not guarded by the municipality, with their maintenance and protection left to Greek, Armenian and Jewish minorities.

As details continued to emerge and national debates raged for more than a week over the Cage plan in the Turkish media, calls came from a broad spectrum of society to merge the files of the ongoing Dink and Malatya murder trials with the Ergenekon file. The Turkish General Staff has consistently labeled much of the media coverage of the Ergenekon investigations as part of smear campaign against the fiercely secular military, which until the past two years enjoyed virtual impunity from civilian court investigations.

According to Ria Oomen-Ruijten, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, the long-entrenched role of the military in the Turkish government is an “obstacle” for further democratization and integration into the EU.

— Hat tip: VH

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Turkey Slams Orthodox Chief’s Crucifixion Remark

“We regard the use of the crucifixion simile as extremely unfortunate…. I would like to see this as an undesired slip of the tongue,” Davutoglu told reporters here when asked about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I’s comments in an interview with US television network CBS.

“We cannot accept comparisons that we do not deserve,” the minister added.

He rejected criticism that the Islamist-rooted government in Turkey was discriminating between its citizens on religious grounds.

“If Patriarch Bartholomew I has complaints on this issue, he can convey them to relevant authorities who will do whatever is necessary,” he said.

In an excerpt from the interview, which will be broadcast in full on CBS on Sunday, Bartholomew I says that the tiny Greek minority in Turkey is not treated equally.

“We are treated… as citizens of second class. We don’t feel that we enjoy our full rights as Turkish citizens,” says the patriarch, who represents the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians.

He ruled out the option of leaving Turkey. “This is the continuation of Jerusalem and for us it is equally holy and sacred land. We prefer to stay here, even crucified sometimes,” the patriarch adds.

The CBS website quotes Bartholomew I as saying that the Turkish government “would be happy to see the Patriarchate extinguished or moving abroad, but our belief is that it will never happen.”

The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire, which collapsed in 1453 when the city fell to the Ottoman Turks.

Though Ankara does not interfere with the patriarchate’s religious functions, it withholds recognition of Bartholomew’s ecumenical title, treating him only as the spiritual leader of some 2,000 Orthodox Greeks still living in the country.

Turkish authorities also keep closed a theological school on an island off Istanbul, depriving the church of a means to train clergy.

— Hat tip: TB

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Turks Threaten to Kill Priest Over Swiss Minaret Decision

Slap to religious freedom in Switzerland leads to threat over church bell tower in Turkey.

In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy group.

Three Muslims on Dec. 4 entered the Meryem Ana Church, a Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir, and confronted the Rev. Yusuf Akbulut. They told him that unless the bell tower was destroyed in one week, they would kill him..

“If Switzerland is demolishing our minarets, we will demolish your bell towers too,” one of the men told Akbulut.

The threats came in reaction to a Nov. 29 referendum in Switzerland in which 57 percent voted in favor of banning the construction of new minarets in the country. Swiss lawmakers must now change the national constitution to reflect the referendum, a process that should take more than a year.

The Swiss ban, widely viewed around the world as a breach of religious freedom, is likely to face legal challenges in Switzerland and in the European Court of Human Rights.

There are roughly 150 mosques in Switzerland, four with minarets. Two more minarets are planned. The call to prayer traditional in Muslim-majority countries is not conducted from any of the minarets.

Fikri Aygur, vice president of the European Syriac Union, said that Akbulut has contacted police but has otherwise remained defiant in the face of the threats.

“He has contacted the police, and they gave him guards,” he said. “I talked with him two days ago, and he said, ‘It is my job to protect the church, so I will stand here and leave it in God’s hands..’“

Meryem Ana is more than 250 years old and is one of a handful of churches that serve the Syriac community in Turkey. Also known as Syrian Orthodox, the Syriacs are an ethnic and religious minority in Turkey and were one of the first groups of people to accept Christianity. They speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, a language spoken by Christ. Diyarbakir is located in eastern Turkey, about 60 miles from the Syrian border.

At press time the tower was standing and the priest was safe, said Jerry Mattix, youth pastor at the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church, which is located across a street from Meryem Ana Church.

Mattix said that threats against Christians in Diyarbakir are nothing out of the ordinary. Mattix commonly receives threats, both in the mail and posted on the church’s Internet site, he said.

“We’re kind of used to that,” Mattix said. He added that he has received no threats over the minaret situation but added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we do.”

Mattix said the people making threats in the area are Muslim radicals with ties to Hezbollah “who like to flex their muscles.”

“We are a major target out here, and we are aware of that,” Mattix said. “But the local police are taking great strides to protect us.”

Mattix said he also has “divine confidence” in God’s protection.

The European Syriac Union’s Aygur said that Christians in Turkey often serve as scapegoats for inflamed local Muslims who want to lash out at Europeans.

“When they [Europeans] take actions against the Muslims, the Syriacs get persecuted by the fanatical Muslims there,” he said.

The threats against the church were part of a public outcry in Turkey that included newspaper editorials characterizing the Swiss decision as “Islamophobia.” One Turkish government official called upon Muslims to divest their money from Swiss bank accounts. He invited them to place their money in the Turkish banking system.

In part, the threats also may reflect a larger and well-established pattern of anti-Christian attitudes in Turkey. A recent study conducted by two professors at Sabanci University found that 59 percent of those surveyed said non-Muslims either “should not” or “absolutely should not” be allowed to hold open meetings where they can discuss their ideas.

The survey also found that almost 40 percent of the population of Turkey said they had “very negative” or “negative” views of Christians. In Turkey, Christians are often seen as agents of outside forces bent on dividing the country.

This is not the first time Akbulut has faced persecution. Along with a constant string of threats and harassment, he was tried and acquitted in 2000 for saying to the press that Syriacs were “massacred” along with Armenians in 1915 killings.

In Midyat, also in eastern Turkey, someone recently dug a tunnel under the outlying buildings of a Syriac church in hopes of undermining the support of the structure.

At the Mor Gabriel Monastery, also near Midyat, there is a legal battle over the lands surrounding the monastery. Founded in 397 A.D., Mor Gabriel is arguably the oldest monastery in use today. It is believed local Muslim leaders took the monastery to court in an attempt to seize lands from the church. The monastery has prevailed in all but one case, which is still underway.

“These and similar problems that are threatening the very existence of the remaining Syriacs in Turkey have reached a very serious and worrying level,” Aygur stated in a press release. “Especially, whenever there is a problem about Islam in the European countries, the Syriacs’ existence in Turkey is threatened with such pressures and aggressions.”

— Hat tip: VH

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Yemen:12 Al-Qaeda Suicide Bombers Dead, 5 Foreigners Killed

YEMEN — A total of 12 al-Qaeda men were confirmed dead after a security operation went down against a training camp in al-Majalah, Abyan, south of Yemen, said a security official Saturday.

The Mohammed Saleh al-Kazimi, Mukbel Abdullah Awadh Shiekh, Ahmed Abdullah Awadh, Methak al-Jalad, Abdullah Awadh Shiekh were confirmed dead in al-Majalah area, an unnamed official said in statement published by state-run media.

Two Saudi nationals, Ibrahim al-Najdi, Mohammed Rajeh al-Tharan were among a group who were buried in Sairah Cemetery, Mudiah district, Abyan, said the official.

Five more foreigners, with unknown identities, were buried in Zarah Cemetery in Lawdar district, Abyan, added the official.

— Hat tip: Esther

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A Thousand Islamic Extremists, Including Women and Children, Storm a Church Near Jakarta

by Mathias Hariyadi

The building was near completion and was to be used for Christmas Mass. Local Catholics are afraid that more attacks could take place during the festive season. Police and local authorities urge Catholics to celebrate the service anyway.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Last night a crowd of angry Muslims, including women and children, attacked the Church of Saint Albert, in Bekasi Regency, about 30 kilometres east of Jakarta. The situation is now under control but the local Catholic community is afraid of an escalation before Christmas.

Kurniadi is a member of the committee charged with the church’s construction. He told AsiaNews, “Suddenly, a bunch of bikers arrived in the area where the church stands.” They had banners and kerosene tanks. “We don’t know why we were attacked,” he said.

Kristina Maria Renteana, who was present when the Church was attacked, said, “The mob had about a thousand people,” not only men, but “women and children” as well.

Running around in cars and motorbikes is a tradition for Indonesian Muslims during “national celebrations.”

Last night was the first day of the Islamic New Year, the start of the month of Muharram. Local sources told AsiaNews, on condition of anonymity, that the “crowd was made of people from Tarumajaya and Babelan”, two villages in North Bekasi where Islamic extremists are a majority.

Saint Albert’s Church, a chapel that is part of Saint Arnold’ Church in Bekasi, was not yet finished. Started on 11 May 2008, it had the required building permit for places of worship and was 80 per cent complete. Workers had finished the walls and the roof. Only ceramic floor tiles had to be laid.

Although not yet finished, it was set to host Christmas Mass for the local Christian community.

Now it is damaged but police and government authorities have urged the parish priest, Fr Joseph Jagadwa, to go ahead with the Mass anyway.

— Hat tip: VH

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Indonesian Theology Students Withstand Threats, Illness

JAKARTA, Indonesia, December 1 (CDN) — Some 1,000 seminary students are resisting efforts to evict them from the former municipal building of West Jakarta where they have taken refuge after Muslim protestors drove them from their campus last year.

On Oct. 27 officials began evicting about 300 students of Arastamar Evangelical Theological Seminary (SETIA) from blocks I and II of the former mayoral building, but those in blocks III, IV, and V chose to remain.

The students, some of whom had sown their mouths shut as part of a hunger strike, asserted that new quarters offered by the Jakarta Provincial Government are not yet fit for occupancy — dirty and unkempt with broken windows and doors. They said the property offered, the North Jakarta Transmigrant building, has not functioned since 1999, and its five buildings accommodate only 200 to 300 students.

The seminary students told Compass that unidentified mobs have threatened them, telling them to leave the former municipal complex immediately..

“They threaten us and tell us that if we do not move, our safety cannot be guaranteed,” said SETIA’s Yulius Thomas Bilo.

The Rev. Matheus Mangentang, rector of SETIA, confirmed that the threats had been made. Asked about the identity of the mobs, he said he knew only that they appeared daily to intimidate and threaten students.

“We are going to move as soon as possible — Dec. 31 at the latest,” Mangentang said. “If we don’t, the place is no longer safe.”

He added, however, that they would not move until their new location was clear.

“We have not wavered in our desire to return to our own place, because we actually have our own campus in Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta,” Mangentang told Compass.

The Jakarta Provincial Government has not allowed the students and staff to return to their campus, citing fear of more violence.

“It is not permissible for them to return to Kampung Pulo; conditions are not conducive,” the Jakarta area secretary who goes by a single name, Muhayat, told Compass.

In July 2008 hundreds of protestors shouting “Allahu-Akbar [“God is greater]” and brandishing machetes forced the evacuation of staff and students from the SETIA campus in Kampung Pulo village. Urged on by announcements from a mosque loudspeaker to “drive out the unwanted neighbor” following a misunderstanding between students and local residents, the protestors also had sharpened bamboo and acid and injured at least 20 students, some seriously.

Water and Electricity Crisis

Conditions for the 1,000 students living in the former West Jakarta mayor’s complex are worsening.

“Since the end of October, we have had no electricity and no water,” said Alexander Dimu, head of the student senate. “We have to depend upon our own resources and donations to buy water. We need about US$100 per day for water.”

Compass noted hundreds of students lined up to obtain water for bathing and drinking. They used old buckets to carry water to the bathrooms, which were badly in need of repair.

As a result of such living conditions, many students have diarrhea and hemorrhagic fever.

“So far, six have fever and 17 have diarrhea,” Dimu told Compass.. “Those who are ill have been taken to a nearby hospital.”

A number of students have quit school, according to Mangentang, as their parents were worried about the health conditions. The average SETIA student is from outside Jakarta. They come from Nias Island, East Indonesia, Borneo and other areas. Their families are largely farmers.

“The parents have millions of expectations as to how they can help the children of their home villages after graduation,” said Mangentang.

The ultimate destination of the students is still unclear. The Jakarta Provincial Government has stood firm in ordering them to move to Cikarang, West Java, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Jakarta. At the same time, the SETIA Foundation has requested the government find a new campus venue within Jakarta to avoid the difficult process of obtaining permits in the new provincial jurisdiction of West Java.

After SETIA staff and students met on Nov. 16 with several members of Parliament at the former mayoral office, the MPs led by Education Committee Vice Chairman Heri Ahmadi promised to ask Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo to return them to their campus at Kampung Pulo with the necessary security.

Mangentang said that he was still waiting for the members of Parliament to make good on that pledge.

The visit by the parliamentarians brought an end to a hunger strike by five students who had sewn their mouths shut at the former mayoral complex on Nov. 9. They were identified only as Yanisar, Leonardo, Mutari Unang, Demas and Epy. That act followed a protest by the student council from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3.

Two units of heavy machinery had begun tearing down part of the main building where the 1,000 students are housed. Some of the students staying there were previously evicted from the Bumi Perkemahan Cibubur (BUPERTA) campground.

SETIA spokesman Yusup Agustinus Lifire told Compass the seminary is awaiting word from the Jakarta governor’s office about their returning to their campus at Kampung Pulo.

“We submitted an official letter to the governor, the police chief of Greater Jakarta and the military chief of Greater Jakarta on Oct. 28, but so far there is not any reply for us,” Lifire said. “We would like to leave this building if we could find a new place. It is not certain if the students began to attack and throw stones at police officers on Oct. 27-28 when they began demolishing one of the buildings. There were some provocateurs who started to throw some stones at police officers, then the officers threw the stones at the students and vice versa.”

Lifire also said the Jakarta governor’s office should take responsibility for the crisis. SETIA has asked the governor to guarantee security for a return to their original campus or else prepare or provide a new venue, he said.

A female student of Christian Education said there is a banner at the original campus that reads in Bahasa, “If you dare to return, we will wipe you out.”

— Hat tip: VH

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Let’s Talk to the Taliban, Says Guttenberg

Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg called on Sunday for greater dialogue with moderate Taliban where possible, as part of a reassessment of Germany’s strategy to stabilise Afghanistan.

In an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guttenberg said he supported keeping open channels of communication with moderate tribes and communities in the war-torn country, as long as it didn’t mean backing oneself into corner.

While keeping open the possibility of a troop boost after the international Afghanistan summit scheduled for January, Guttenberg stressed Germany would not be giving the United States or NATO a blank cheque.

On the matter of dialogue with the Taliban, Guttenberg said it was important to distinguish diehard global insurgents from Taliban fighters who did not pose a threat to the West.

“Not every insurgent is a direct threat to Western society,” he said. “There is a difference between groups who have the goal of fighting our culture out of a radical rejection of the West and those for example who see culture as connected to the place where you live.”

Cutting off all communication was at this stage of the conflict not a wise approach, though he stressed that “criteria had to apply” in talking to the Taliban.

Guttenberg ruled out unconditionally boosting Germany’s troop levels in Afghanistan as per the wishes of US President Barack Obama.

“I would be careful about the phrase: ‘You have to follow Obama.’ Our standard ought to be that we aim for a strategy that incorporates our own experience.”

“The first logical step for a new strategic approach is not to say: ‘We take more soldiers and then follow the strategy.’ We put together the strategy now and then from that follows how many soldiers and civil forces we need. It’s still open as to whether we need more soldiers or will make do with the existing framework.”

Guttenberg fired off an attack on Social Democrats chairman Sigmar Gabriel’s announcement on Saturday that his party would not support a troop boost, describing it as “commitment ahead of strategy.”

— Hat tip: TB

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Migrants of Bangladesh: A Vital Resource for National Economy

An estimated 5.5 million migrants contribute 12% of Gross Domestic Product. Dhaka emphasizes the contribution to the growth of the country, but fails to promote effective policies to protect them. Deaths in the workplace and clandestine conditions the most urgent problems to solve.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Around 5.5 million migrants from Bangladesh are currently abroad in search of fortune. Of these, 33% are qualified, 15% semi-qualified and 48% belong to low unskilled workers. In conjunction with the United Nations International Migrants Day, scheduled for today, president Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have stressed the “vital role” expatriates play in the national economy. But in many cases, the price is violence and abuse, or their very lives.

The Middle East and South-east Asian nations are the main destinations for Bangladeshi migrants, who thanks to their work account for 12% of gross domestic product (GDP). From 1976 to 2008 over 6 million people emigrated to 21 different countries — including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Britain, Italy, Egypt — producing total remittances to the state coffers of over 56 billion dollars, a constantly growing trend.

Zillur Rahman, President of Bangladesh, says that “Migrant workers play a vital role in our economy” for both the capital returned to the country and for the professional knowledge acquired abroad. The prime minister Sheikh Hasina adds that they “help build the nation and we are all grateful.”

But the contribution of migrant workers often hides abuse and deaths at work and the government over the years has not been able to promote policies to protect them. Many expats work in the Middle East without receiving wages. About 8 thousand deaths have occurred in recent years, another constantly growing trend: 788 in 2004, 1248 in 2005; 1402 in 2006, 1673 in 2007; 2237 in 2008.

Migrants also have to invest substantial sums of money to move abroad. According to a World Bank report 28% of the expatriates take the money needed to start from savings fund, 21% receive money from relatives and friends, 12% sell all their worldly goods.

With the risk, once they have left, of not obtaining working visas. Several sources indicate that there are 5 million illegal Bangladeshi workers in India. From 2000 to 2006 there were 86,681 expulsions, with an annual average of more than 12 thousand.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Pakistan: Zardari ‘To Lose Control of Party’ Following Amnesty Ruling

Islamabad, 18 Dec. (AKI) — Uncertainty over the future of Pakistan’s president Ali Asif Zardari is continuing to mount after the Supreme court this week dismissed a controversial amnesty protecting him from prosecution for corruption. Whether he is reduced to a ceremonial presidential role or a court orders him to stand down, he will lose control over the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, unnamed sources close to the military told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Friday.

Despite opposition calls for his resignation following the historic Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday, neither the Pakistani army nor opposition parties want to destabilise the government, sources said.

However, several current members of the PPP leadership, including former senator Anwar Baig and ports and shipping minister Nabeel Gabol, have urged members of the cabinet to resign who enjoyed immunity from protection under the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

The Supreme Court struck down the NRO amnesty on Wednesday.

Two founder members of the PPP, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Mubashir Hasann were the original driving force behind the petition brought against the NRO.

Zardari once again faces several pending court cases against him in Pakistan since the historic Supreme Court ruling but under the country’s constitution is protected by presidential immunity.

However, any private citizen may file a petition against the eligibility of the president, which if successful would result in a court order forcing him to resign.

Zardari convened a meeting on Friday with key cabinet members from the PPP to forge a strategy following the top court’s annulment of the controversial NRO amnesty.

Wednesday’s court ruling re-opened 8,000 corruption and criminal cases against Zardari, defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar, and interior minister Rehman Malik and other cabinet ministers which they faced before the amnesty came into force in 2007.

A Pakistani court on Friday issued arrest warrants against Malik, DawnNews reported. The arrest warrants are for alleged misuse of authority and allegedly accepting two cars from Toyota Motors as a bribe.

Malik and Mukhtar are among politicians who have been barred from leaving Pakistan. Mukhtar was on Friday stopped from flying to China on an official visit. He is among around 250 officials now being being probed for corruption.

The NRO decree resulted from a political deal between former president Pervez Musharraf and Zardari’s late wife, slain former prime minister and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in October 2007. The deal agreed to scrap pending corruption cases against civil servants and politicians.

Pakistan’s opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, backed by the army, has called for the 17th amendment of Pakistan’s constitution to be cancelled.

The amendment gives the president the power to dissolve the parliament and appoint the head of the armed forces.

The army has also called on the PPP to sack all cabinet ministers facing corruption charges, and not to interfere in the workings of the country’s Supreme Court, parliament, armed forces and intelligence agencies.

Sharif is the leader of the country’s second largest party, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz group. He left the country shortly before the NRO ruling.

Siddiqul Farooq, spokesman for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said after the ruling that Zardari should resign on “moral grounds”.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Sri Lankan Military ‘Sexually Abused’ Tamil Girls in Refugee Camps

LONDON: In what may bolster the claims of human rights organisations, Tamil women in refugee camps in Sri Lanka were “sexually abused” by their military guards while many suspected of links to LTTE were taken away and not seen since, a British medic of Asian-origin has alleged.

According to 25-year-old Vany Kumar, who was locked up in a refugee camp for four months, along with many who escaped the horrors of the civil war, not only military guards traded sex for food with Tamil women but prisoners were also being made to kneel for hours in the sun, ‘The Observer’ reported.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Tens of Thousands Flee as the Army Faces the Taliban in Swat

At least 40 thousand people have fled the area where sporadic clashes take place. The pact between the government and Islamic extremists appears close to collapse. Today Zardari and Karzai meet Obama. The fight against the Taliban in Pakistan is essential for victory in Afghanistan.

Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) — At least 40 thousand people are fleeing the Swat Valley as it becomes increasingly evident that the agreement between the Taliban and the government is over. The pact had already been criticised by many in Pakistani society as Islamabad selling out its’ sovereignty to the Islamic extremists. The Pakistani Army accuses the Taliban of having broken the deal by seeking to infiltrate other areas of the nation.

Over the past few days the Taliban and army have been clashing in the main regional city Mingora, once a renowned destination for skiers which now lies devastated by two years of Taliban warfare. Swat’s top official, Khushal Khan, confirms that the radical militants are infiltrating strategic points and mining the territory. According to authorities 500 thousand people are seeking refuge. The army is preparing 6 camps to shelter them.

The crisis has worsened on the eve of direct talks between the US President Barak Obama and the Pakistani and Afghan Presidents, Asif Ali Zardari and Hamid Karzai.

Obama is expected to urge Zardari to put a stop to Taliban who are using Pakistan as a base from which to launch their attacks in Afghanistan. According to US presidential advisor Richard Holbroocke, without Pakistan’s help the United States cannot win the war in Kabul.

The pact between the government of the North West Frontier Province (Nwfp) and the Taliban foresaw the introduction of Sharia the area, as of February 16th last, in exchange for a ceasefire. On April 13th last Zardari signed a decree validating the deal. As the Taliban began summary executions for adultery, public lashings for ‘immoral behaviour’, the closure of girls schools and banned women from appearing in public, in public society particularly among women’s groups criticism of Zardari has grown.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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China: Shaolin: Kung Fu Monks Become a Money Making Brand

The government is negotiating with a tourism giant to transform the monastery of Dengfeng into a rich joint venture for tourism. Abbot indicted, considered a ruthless business, who kick-started the selling off of the cradle of Zen.

Dengfeng (AsiaNews / Agencies) — China Travel Service (CTS, Chinese tourism giant) has announced it has opened negotiations with the city of Dengfeng, Henan, to transform the ancient monastery of Shaolin into a successful brand. The meeting was confirmed by municipal leaders, who have stressed, however, they “have not yet signed any contract with the company.” The Hong Kong branch of the CTS is responsible for ongoing negotiations.

According to available details, the monastery does not form part of future joint ventures and its abbot, Shi Yongxin, has been kept in the dark regarding negotiations. However, many Buddhist faithful in the area have accused him of being the true promoter of the initiative: the expensive tastes of the abbot are well known, who at the beginning of 2009 “accepted” a garment woven with gold worth of 160 thousand yuan [16300th euro] from a private firm.

The first meeting for the new company took place December 9: according to Bejing News, rights of entry into the monastery and the exploitation of suggestive scenarios of Mount Song — where there religious site is located — are around 49 million Yuan [approximately 5 million Euros]. The government of Dengfeng is entitled to 49% of the total. The deal, however, seems to be decreasing: last year, in admission tickets alone, the monastery grossed 10 million Euros.

However, the deal has not gone unnoticed in atheist China: the Shaolin monastery, 1,500 years old, is considered a place of national interest and therefore should not enrich anyone in particular. Home and birthplace of kung fu and Zen Buddhism, it has evolved into a tourist attraction and movie set. Its turnover includes even the production of medicines, apart from the famous monks who often travel the world giving performances of their martial art.

Many believe that the abbot Shi is behind this mutation of the monastery, from a place of prayer to an amusement park. He hit headlines after accepting some 20 thousand Euros from businessmen who sought his blessing and an ultra-luxury SUV, worth 100 thousand Euros, given to him by the local government for his contribution to the local economy.

For his part, the cleric denies all the charges. After 11 months of controversy, he returned the robe of gold (but not the SUV). In an interview with Hunan TV he said he has no intention of selling off the monastery, which “houses a priceless cultural heritage.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Gas Pipeline a Symbol of China’s Power: Analysts

China has quietly rewritten the geopolitical landscape in Central Asia in recent years, breaking Russia’s monopoly over the export of the region’s e nergy resources also coveted by the West, experts say.

The proof came last week when Chinese President Hu Jintao travelled to the region for the inauguration of a natural gas pipeline snaking from Turkmenistan through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan into China’s far western Xinjiang region.

— Hat tip: Esther

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N. Korea Capable of Miniaturizing Nuclear Warheads: Source

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s state-run defense think tank has concluded that North Korea is capable of achieving the technology needed to miniaturize its nuclear warheads, an informed military source said Sunday.

In its report on 2009 military trends in Northeast Asia scheduled to be published next month, the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses (KIDA) concluded that the North at the moment does not have the technology to fit a nuclear weapon on a missile, according to the military source who asked to be unnamed.

— Hat tip: Esther

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African Christians Fear Own Government on ‘Jihad’

Sudan on brink of civil war, as south seeks freedom from Islamic law

The chief diplomat of the autonomous Government of South Sudan says that war between his region and the country’s central Islamic government is unavoidable unless the world presses Sudan to keep the terms of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement that formed the nation’s current structure.

International Christian Concern reports that South Sudan government chief diplomat Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth made the statements in a Washington interview with the human rights agency.

The ICC’s Jonathan Racho, however, says the cause of the civil war goes beyond Sudanese President Oman al-Bashir’s failure to implement the peace accord.

Racho says it’s a jihad campaign.

“This campaign will be another jihad in Sudan between the Muslim government in the north and the predominantly Christian and animist south. In Sudan when we say Muslims, we mean the government of the President Omar al-Bashir,” Racho explains.

“And when we say jihad in this situation, it’s not an Islamic extremist group;” Racho adds, “it’s the government of Sudan itself.”

— Hat tip: JD

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Somali Rebels Force Men to Grow Beards

Somalia’s Islamist al-Shabaab rebels on Saturday ordered men to grow long beards, shave their moustaches and wear their trousers above the ankle.

It is the first time in the lawless Horn of Africa country that the insurgents, who seek impose a strict form of Islamic Shariah law, have focused on men’s appearance, having previously ordered women to cover their entire bodies, and banned bras.

“In order to ensure the complete implementation of the Islamic Shariah law in the region, we call upon all men to grow their beard and shave their moustache,” Sheik Ibrahim from the Shabaab group told reporters in Kismaio.

“Anybody found ignoring the rules or breaking it will be punished accordingly.”

He said the order will be implemented in three days in the port town of Kismaio.

“People already started practicing the Shariah as the Shabaab ordered and with the new rules, every adult is keen to grow beard in order to avoid punishment”, Mohamed Sakiin, a resident told AFP by phone.

“You must look like them otherwise you are likely to be in trouble”, another witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Previous rulings

The group, which Washington says is an al-Qaeda proxy, has already banned musical ringtones, dancing at weddings and playing or watching soccer.

Shabaab has carried out executions, floggings and amputations to enforce its rulings, mainly Kismayu.

The group is battling the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed for control of Mogadishu, and is fighting another Islamist militia—Hizbul Islam—in the provinces.

Shabaab also ordered men to wear their trousers above the ankle. “They have 15 days to follow the order,” Garweyn said.

A two-and-a-half year insurgency has killed more than 19,000 civilians, displaced 1 million people, allowed piracy to flourish offshore and spread security fears in the region.

Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since 1991. Its transitional government controls little more than a few blocks of Mogadishu, with the rest carved up between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

Fighting near Kenya border

In a separate incident on Saturday, fighting between Shabaab and Hizbul Islam fighters near Dhobley close to the Kenyan border killed six people.

“I have seen dead people near Dhobley, two young men, al-Shabaab fighters. Also there are another four from the other side,” said a resident who asked not to be named for security reasons.

Residents said Shabaab fighters had dug trenches in the town in what appeared to be defence lines against possible attacks from Kenya.

Kenya closed its border with Somalia in 2007 and has boosted patrols in recent months.

— Hat tip: TB

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Swedish Police Produce Pepper Spray at Refugee’s Wedding

A wedding on Saturday in Malmö in southern Sweden came to an abrupt halt as police arrested the 24-year-old groom at the city hall, using pepper spray on him in the process, according to Sydsvenskan newspaper.

The man, who is a refugee from Afghanistan, was wanted by the police after his application for asylum was rejected. He had remained on the run to avoid deportation.

But the police received information that the 24-year-old was to be wed.

“We knew that they were going to the city hall. We had to act before they managed to perform the ceremony,” Anders Kristersson of the Malmö police department told Sydsvenskan.

He said that pepper spray was used because the Afghan man resisted arrest. The man remains in the custody of the Malmö police.

A representative of the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) said that preventing the wedding was unnecessary as marriage to a Swedish citizen wouldn’t have any effect on the man’s deportation as the decision had already been made.

Migration Board communication manager Jonas Lindgren said that police had abused their authority. “You shouldn’t be able to use your power in this way,” he said.

— Hat tip: TB

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Switzerland: Guantánamo Detainee Wins Asylum Appeal

An Algerian Guantánamo detainee has been given a second chance to have his asylum request considered by the Swiss authorities.

The Federal Migration Office must now re-examine the file after the Federal Administrative Court accepted the man’s appeal.

The Algerian, who has been held at the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002 after being detained in Pakistan, submitted an asylum application to Switzerland in July 2008.

US investigators accuse the man of having been active within an armed group linked to Al-Qaida. However the accused claims he was undertaking voluntary work for a humanitarian organisation.

A complaint against the legality of his detention is currently before the American courts.

The Federal Migration Office gave insufficient grounds for its refusal of the Algerian’s initial application, the administrative court judges in Bern found.

Earlier this week an Uzbek national, currently being held in Guantánamo, was granted asylum by the Swiss authorities. Two other cases are still being considered by the Swiss court.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Analysis: How Nelson-Reid Compromise Allows Abortion Funding in Health Care

The language is not similar to the Stupak and Nelson amendments approved by the House and defeated in the Senate.

Instead, Section 38 adds a provision allowing states to opt out of providing abortion coverage through the exchange and adds further layers of accounting requirements that pro-life groups are calling gimmicks to hide abortion funding.

The result remains the same and, contrary to longstanding policy, the federal government will subsidize private health insurance plans that cover abortion.

— Hat tip: JD

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Defense Launched for Kids Sex Books

Library group official: Jennings critics ‘undermining’ democracy

The chairman of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee has launched a defense of Kevin Jennings and the sexually explicit books recommended for children by the homosexual advocacy organization that Jennings started, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.

— Hat tip: JD

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Dissident Lutherans: Bullying Over Gays

A decision to ordain actively gay clergy has caused deep fissures in the nation’s largest Lutheran church group, with some traditional Lutherans saying they have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away.

Several disaffected members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) say the decision made at the church’s national convention in Minneapolis in August could prompt a major exodus from one of America’s biggest Protestant denominations.

“I wouldn’t even begin to tell you how many thousands [of calls] I’ve gotten,” said Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, or CORE, a national coalition based on traditional values. His group said last month that it cannot remain inside the 4.7-million-member ELCA and will form a new synod.

[…]

The Rev. Mark Gehrke, of Faith Lutheran Church in Moline, Ill., said that “if you do not agree with the direction of the ELCA, you are … bullied or ostracized or threatened. The threat has been to even remove me and suspend me from ministry,” he said.

— Hat tip: JD

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U.S. Army Major: Lose Evangelical Christian Beliefs

‘American strategists incorrectly rely on generalizations cast as good, evil’

A research paper written by a U.S. Army major for the School of Advanced Military Studies in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., calls for Americans to lose the evangelical Christian belief of pre-millennialism because of the damage it does to the nation’s foreign interests.

“As a result of millennarian influences on our culture, most Americans think as absolutists,” Maj. Brian L. Stuckert wrote in his 2008 course requirement at the school for military officers.

“A proclivity for clear differentiations between good, evil, right, and wrong do not always serve us well in foreign relations or security policy,” he said. “Policy makers must strive to honestly confront their own cognitive filters and the prejudices associated with various international organizations and actors vis-Ã -vis pre-millennialism.

“We must come to more fully understand the background of our thinking about the U.N., the E.U., the World Trade Organization, Russia, China and Israel. We must ask similar questions about natural events such as earthquakes or disease.”

He warns against the Christian beliefs espoused by many that the end times will involve Israel as God’s chosen nation, a final 1,000-year conflict between good and evil and an ultimate victory for God.

[…]

Others were more blunt in their assessments of Stuckert’s work. Blogger John McTernan, for example, called it “the most dangerous document to believers that I have ever read in my entire life.”

“After reading this document, it is easy to see the next step would be to eliminate our Constitutional rights and herd us into concentration camps,” he said.

“The last third is an interpretation of Bible belief on world events. This report blames all the world evils on believers! World peace would break out if it were not for Bible believers in America,” he said.

[…]

McTernan said he had contacted Col. Stefan Banack, listed on the monograph as the director of the School of Advanced Military Studies, who defended the writing.

“The conversation was extremely heated between us, and he hid behind the freedom of speech to produce it. He refused to let me write an article to refute this attack on Bible believers. He refused to tell me what this study was used for and who within the military was sent copies. I believe that it represents an official military view of Bible believers as Col. Banack said there was no study or article refuting this one,” McTernan said.

— Hat tip: JD

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Islamic Plan to Criminalize Gospel Message Crumbling

U.N. vote shows ‘continuing pattern of growing opposition’ to proposal

Support for a United Nations proposal that critics contend would be used to ban criticism of Islam, censor the message of Jesus Christ and attack and kill Christians and members of other faiths is plunging, according to the newest vote totals.

A resolution has been pending in one form or another since 1999 and originally was called “Defamation of Islam.” The name later was changed to “Defamation of Religions,” but Islam remains the only faith protected by name in the proposal.

It is being sought by the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to “protect” Islam from what OIC members perceive as “criticism,” which could include anything referencing Christianity since that could be considered a challenge to the beliefs of Muslims.

[…]

Open Doors President Carl Moeller recently published a commentary describing what could happen under the proposal.

[…]

He said the OIC is the driving force behind the plan and noted, “The OIC’s goal is anything but peaceful.”

He cited Leonard Leo of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, who described the resolution as an attempt to create a “global blasphemy law.”

“From the right to worship freely to the ability to tell others about Jesus Christ, the Defamation of Religions Resolution (previously called the ‘Defamation of Islam’ resolution) threatens to justify local laws that already restrict the freedom of Christians [and other religious minorities],” Moeller said.

When such laws are adopted locally, he said, they are used to bring criminal charges against individuals for “defaming, denigrating, insulting, offending, disparaging and blaspheming Islam, often resulting in gross human rights violations.”

— Hat tip: JD

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It’s a general rule of Islamization in the West that as the number of Muslims in the population increases, the demands for special treatment of Muslims become commensurately more extensive and insistent.

Since France has the largest percentage of Muslims of any Western country, it’s no surprise that the boldest and most strident demands come from French Muslims. Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated an article from Nieuw Religieus Peil detailing the latest workplace requirements laid down by French Muslims:

Staff demand separate Muslim canteens

Segregated canteens for men and woman and “appropriate outfits” for the female canteen staff — these are just some of the demands made by Muslim workers according to Carl Pincemin, a personnel consultant who works for large French companies.

Pincemin also told the French National Assembly that some Muslim workers reject the idea of halal meat in canteens being offered next to “normal” meat, because this would be “unclean”. They want separate canteens and not to have to sit next to people who eat pork.

– – – – – – – – –

Other demands of Muslim workers are the recognition of Islamic holidays as days off, and prayer rooms at business locations. According to the anthropologist Douina Bouzar, author of Allah at-il sa place dans l’entreprise? (“Does Allah have a place in the company?”), certain companies give in to the demands of their Muslim employees, out of fear of being seen as Islamophobic.

Some of them have even agreed that Muslim workers will not have their annual performance reviews with their female superiors.

Original sources:

• Le Figaro, 15 December 2009
• Tagesanzeiger, 16 December 2009

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