SS Division Handzar Revived in Bosnia

Handzar logoThe association of Bosnian Muslims with Hitler’s Nazi regime is well-documented, and we have reported several times in this space on the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, who collaborated with the Nazis and helped organize a division of the Waffen SS made up of Bosnian Muslims. Al-Husayni was a respected leader of the Arabs, and was revered by Yasser Arafat — who is rumored to have been the cousin of the Grand Mufti.

Handzar soldierThe Handzar (or Handschar) Division of the SS was deployed mainly in the Balkans to help keep control of occupied Yugoslavia, which was not easily pacified. Along with the Croatian fascist Ustasha, the Handzar Division launched extremely brutal operations against the Serb partisans who were resisting the Germans.

Everything has changed since then, and now the Serbs are the evil ethnic cleansers of the Balkans, and the Muslims are their innocent victims. All that Handzar Division stuff is ancient history, and has been forgotten.

Or has it?

According to an article by Carl Savich in Serbianna, the Handzar Division was deliberately and explicitly revived during the 1990s during the fighting in Bosnia:

Handzar magazine coverDescription of the magazine cover depicted at right (click to enlarge): Bosnian Muslims in Sarajevo threatened to reform and to revive the Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division Handzar and to cut off the heads of Serbian leaders. The cover of Novi Vox magazine, October, 1991 with the headline: “The Handzar Division is ready!”

Bosnian Muslim Government Reformed the Nazi SS Division Handzar in 1993

The Bosnian Muslim Government and Army of Alija Izetbegovic reformed and revived the Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division from World War II. This startling fact was first revealed by British journalist and military analyst Robert Fox in the Daily Telegraph news report from December 29, 1993. The report was entitled “Albanians and Afghans Fight for the Heirs to Bosnia’s SS Past” and was reported from Fojnica in central Bosnia. This was one of the most remarkable stories to emerge during the Bosnian civil war. The Bosnian Muslim Government and Army had reformed a Nazi SS Division right under the eyes of the U.S. and Western media. And only Robert Fox caught it. That is a remarkable example of media censorship and collusion to cover-up the facts. And this was accomplished the U.S. and Western media.

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This story started when Robert Fox went to investigate the horrific murder of two Roman Catholic priests in Fojnica. Bosnian Muslim Army troops had executed two priests, Nikola Milicevic, 39, a parish priest, and Mato Migic, 56, a vicar, were Franciscan priests who had been murdered by Bosnian Muslim soldiers at the Holy Spirit monastery, execution-style. While investigating this war crime, Fox soon discovered that the Bosnian Muslim Army had reformed a Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division from World War II, the 13th Waffen SS Division Handzar or Handschar, “dagger”, which is derived from the Arabic word khanjar, the term for a curved, double-sided Ottoman knife prevalent in Arabic and Muslim countries.

This is how Fox described his encounter with the reformed Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division:

“‘DOCUMENTS!’ shouted a man in a beret with an insignia in green Arabic script outside the UN house in the Bosnian mountain town of Fojnica. He was hostile and demanded our presence at the police station.

“Later the police chief apologised, but made clear that authority had passed to the men with the Koranic texts hanging from their fatigues…

“These are the men of the Handzar division. ‘We do everything with the knife, and we always fight on the frontline,’ a Handzar told one UN officer.

“Up to 6000-strong, the Handzar division glories in a fascist culture. They see themselves as the heirs of the SS Handzar division, formed by Bosnian Muslims in 1943 to fight for the Nazis. Their spiritual model was Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who sided with Hitler.”

Fox personally observed that Albanian Muslims were part of the recreated Handzar Division, which was also made up of veterans, mujahedeen, from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fox regarded the presence of Albanian Muslims in the division as evidence that the conflict would spread to Kosovo, which Albanian Muslim separatists sought to detach from Serbia and to create a Greater Albania.

How was this event missed by the mainstream media? Why was Robert Fox the only Western journalist to report on the reformed Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division? What does this cover-up and media censorship reveal about the U.S. and Western media?

The Bosnian Muslim faction had threatened to reform and to recreate the Handzar Nazi SS Division. In October, 1991, the Bosnian Muslim magazine Novi Vox in Sarajevo, in issue no. 3, well over half a year before the civil war broke out in 1992, published a front-cover illustration showing a Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS officer in the Handzar Division stepping on the decapitated and bloody heads of Serbian leaders, including Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. The caption read: “The Handzar Division is ready!” Another headline announced: “The Fourth Reich is coming — Welcome!” This revival of Bosnia’s Nazi and SS genocidal past was censored, suppressed, and covered-up in the U.S. and the Western media. But the Bosnian Serb population got the message very clearly.

The Bosnian Muslims were reviving the Handzar Nazi SS Division which they had formed in World War II and they were planning to decapitate Bosnian Serb Orthodox Christians. This was hardly a reassuring message about a supposed secular, multi-ethnic society and religious and ethnic tolerance and pluralism. In fact, the message was an incitement to genocide and to racism and racist and religious hatred and enmity. The Bosnian Muslim Government and Army proved good on these threats. The Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division Handzar was indeed reformed and recreated and was made a part of the Bosnian Muslim Army.

The original news account by Robert Fox in the Daily Telegraph was dismissed and rejected by the mainstream media. The news account was de-emphasized, not totally censored. Everyone missed the story. Marko Attila Hoare even argued that there was no evidence for the recreation of the “Balkan Islamofascist Division” in “Monty Python and the Balkan Islamofascist Division.” Hoare claimed that evidence for the reformed Nazi SS Division was “based entirely on Fox’s article” and dismissed the story about the “alleged reincarnation” of the Handzar Division. Hoare heaped scorn and ridicule on Fox and anyone who gave credence to the news report and maintained that “Monty Python is a much better source for accurate historical information.” Hoare used terms like “it is conceivable” and “alleged” and “supposedly recreated Handzar division.”

In short, the alleged recreation of the Handzar Division is merely “a popular myth of the anti-Muslim lobby.” Hoare then stated that “no other journalist or anyone else seems to have noticed the existence” of the reformed Handzar division, implying that it was untrue and that the recreated Nazi SS formation did not exist. Fox was merely retelling hearsay, second-hand rumors and nonsense. Hoare implied that no evidence or corroboration existed for the reformation of the Handzar SS division. The only evidence was “a single newspaper article written by Robert Fox” according to Hoare.

But is this really the case? Is there no factual evidence or corroboration to substantiate the existence of a reformed and recreated Nazi SS Division by the Bosnian Muslim Government of Alija Izetbegovic? Is Monty Python’s Flying Circus and a comedy sketch from 1970 about “Mr. Hilter” and “Heimlich Bimmler” and “Ron Vibbentrop” a much better source for accurate historical information and scholarship and factual analysis?

Instead of relying on dated Monty Python reruns from 1970, what if we analyzed the transcripts from the war crimes tribunal at the Hague, the ICTY? What do the transcripts from the ICTY reveal?

During the trial testimony in the war crimes trial of Bosnian Muslim military commander Sefer Halilovic in 2005, the factual existence of a reformed Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division was confirmed and proved beyond any doubt. Everyone knew about the existence of the reformed and recreated Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Handzar Division except Marko Attila Hoare.

Read the entire article at Serbianna for all the detailed documentation — drawn from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia — on the updated version of the Handzar Division.

Here’s Carl Savich’s conclusion:

This evidence confirms conclusively that the Bosnian Muslim Government of Alija Izetbegovic and the Bosnian Muslim Army recreated and reformed the Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division from World War II. They did not wear the fezzes and uniforms of the original Handzar Division from 1943 to 1945 and “Heimlich Bimmler” was no longer their commander. But as Robert Fox noted, they reveled in a revival of Nazi and fascist culture, a glorification and continuation and resurgence of Bosnia’s Nazi and SS past.

It appears as though the existence of the reformed Handzar Division was not much of a secret. It was only a secret to the befuddled, lost, and delusional Hoare. This is what occurs when Monty Python’s Flying Circus is the source of your historical research. Hoare should spend more time on analyzing the war crimes trials at the Hague and less time on watching dated TV reruns. Moreover, for history to have any value or merit, objectivity and neutrality must be the goals. Delusional fantasy and ideological propaganda constructs have no place in serious scholarship and history. Monty Python should not be the source for historical information on the civil wars in Bosnia-Hercegovina.



Hat tip: TB.

The Making of a Fuehrer

A brief note from Fjordman:

I got this story via AntiJihad Norge. The Iranian ex-Muslim Ali Sina, who is the author of the book Understanding Muhammad, comments on the dark sides of Obama’s personality.

From Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer by Ali Sina:

I must confess I was not impressed by Sen. Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was It is surreal to see the level of hysteria in his admirers. This phenomenon is unprecedented in American politics. Women scream and swoon during his speeches. They yell and shout to Obama, “I love you.” Never did George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt. Martin Luther King Jr. or Ronald Reagan arouse so much raw emotion. Despite their achievements, none of them was raised to the rank of Messiah. The Illinois senator has no history of service to the country. He has done nothing outstanding except giving promises of change and hyping his audience with hope. It’s only his words, not his achievements that is causing this much uproar.

When cheering for someone turns into adulation, something is wrong. Excessive adulation is indicative of a personality cult. The cult of personality is often created when the general population is discontent. A charismatic leader can seize the opportunity and project himself as an agent of change and a revolutionary leader. Often, people, tired of the status quo, do not have the patience to examine the nature of the proposed change. All they want is change. During 1979, when the Iranians were tired of the dictatorial regime of the late Shah, they embraced Khomeini, not because they wanted Islam, but because he promised them change. The word in the street was, “anything is better than the Shah.” They found their error when it was too late.

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Khomeini promised there would be separation between religion and state. He lied and they did not care to look into his past to see whether he actually meant what he said. Had they done that they would have seen that he always believed in caliphate and the rule of Islam. People gobbled everything he told them uncritically. They wanted to believe and therefore closed their eyes so they did not see what they did not want to see. Eyes welled when he spoke. Masses poured into the streets by the millions, screamed and shouted to greet him. People kissed his pictures. Some saw his portrait reflected on the Moon.

Listening to Obama… it harkens back to when I was younger and I used to watch Khomeini, how he would excite the crowd and they’d come to their feet and scream and yell.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/17/2008

Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/17/2008Once again it’s a night for immigration stories.

First of all, read about Lampedusa and the Greek islands, places that are being overwhelmed with unprecedented numbers of illegal immigrants. They arrive in little ramshackle boats, often starving and dehydrated. Sometimes they are thrown into the water offshore by the traffickers, who know that humanitarian considerations will force the European coast guard units to rescue the migrants. Lampedusa and Malta have long since maxed out their detention facilities, but the new arrivals keep landing.

Then — in the “Mediterranean Union” section — read about the plans to expand the EU to include Morocco. When Turkey and Morocco become part of the EU, what will that do to the rate of immigration?

Thanks to Amil Imani, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Holger Danske, Insubria, JD, Lawrence Auster, Marathon Pundit, Steen, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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USA
All the One’s Men
Farrakhan Announces a New Beginning for the Nation of Islam
 
Europe and the EU
Disclosure Angers Security Chiefs
Islam: Tariq Ramadan to Attend Segrate Mosque’s 20th Year
Italy: North-South Wealth Divide Widening
‘Little Baghdad’ Hosts US Relocation Fair
Mortgage Crisis: Solbes, in Spain No Need for Capitalisation
Mosque Opening Sparks Protests in Germany
Switzerland Announces Bank Bail-Out Plan
UK: Let-Off for Knife Thug Who Almost Killed a Schoolboy
 
Balkans
Italy-Albania: President Topi, Criminality Now in Past
 
Mediterranean Union
Expanding the EU to Include Morocco
 
North Africa
Terrorism: Algeria; Attacks in Several Regions
 
Middle East
Dubai: 1.3 Mln Euro-Fine for Executive
Emirates: Sex on Beach Couple Found Guilty and Expelled
Islamic Scholars: Iran Should Prevent Religious Conflict Among Muslims
Lebanon-Syria: Press Reports Casualties in Border Clashes
The Future of the Christian Community in the Middle East
 
South Asia
Pakistan: Rupee Weakens to Record Low
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
Machete Gangs Bring Fear to South Africa as They Carry Out Mutilations for Traditional Medicine
Sudan: International Court Asks Prosecutors for More Info on President
 
Immigration
Emergency Shelter Prepared for Asylum Seekers
Greek Islands Become the EU’s New Front Line on Immigration
Immigration: 105 Illegal Migrants Arrested in Aegean
Immigration: Immigrant Landed in Tenerife Yesterday Dead
Immigration: Lampedusa Now Almost Under Siege, 778 Arrivals
Italy: Minister Welcomes EU Leaders’ Approval of Migration Pact
 
Culture Wars
College Student Charged With Making False “Hate Crime” Report
Shocking Frieze Which Will Greet Visitors to London’s Eurostar Terminal
 
General
From Arabic to English
Qur’an References Delay Sony’s ‘Little Big Planet’
The Freedom of Historical Debate is Under Attack by the Memory Police

USA


All the One’s Men

By Amil Imani

Decades ago Marshall McLuhan observed, “The medium is the message.” As the print and electronic media penetrate more and more every aspect of life, their influence increases greatly in shaping the views and behavior of the public. The power of the media is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it can serve to expose injustices, wrongdoings, and flaws. On the other, it is able to propagate misinformation and outright disinformation.

Manipulation and control of the media is of critical importance to the rule of totalitarian states. Free societies, although less subject to laundered information, are still at considerable risk of being selectively informed or misinformed outright. The public can be deceived more easily by the overlords of the media when political correctness is used as subterfuge for promotion of certain ideas or certain people.

These are indeed trying times for the American people. Free people must decide their priorities with foresight and wisdom and shy away from shortsighted simplistic solutions. We live in a Democracy and Democracy, by its accommodating and benign nature, is susceptible to corruption and even destruction by forces from within and from without.

The Democrats have not gotten over the last two elections in which President Bush won. The left felt the presidency was stolen from Al Gore and John Kerry. Those losses caused most everyone on the left into a hate spiral, so severe is this hatred that Charles Krauthammer (who is also a trained psychiatrist) was compelled to diagnose it and give it a name: BDS — or Bush Derangement Syndrome. Now that they believe they have found their Messiah in the person of Barack Obama. Now they want “social justice,” they want revenge…

           — Hat tip: Amil Imani [Return to headlines]



Barack Obama’s Campaign of the Lie

[…]

Barack Obama may be the most radically-left major-party presidential nominee in our nation’s history. A recent analysis of voting records — not words but actions — showed that the senator owned the most left-wing record in the Senate in 2007, placing him ahead of even that body’s one avowed socialist, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. Now, if Sanders proclaims himself a socialist, and Obama is to the left of Sanders, what do you call Obama?

Of course, some question the methodology of the study, and, true enough, a different one might yield slightly different rankings. But if Obama is within a sickle-length of socialist Sanders, does it really matter if he is a couple of spots above or below? This is an instance where we definitely should remember second place.

Yet accusations of socialism are, well, just so hard to believe. But a damning revelation just came to light that should leave no doubt about Obama’s sympathies. The blog “Politically Drunk On Power” (PDOP) just discovered documents showing that the senator was a member of the “New Party,” which is, the blog explains,

“. . . a political party established by the Democratic Socialists of America (the DSA) to push forth the socialist principles of the DSA by focusing on winnable elections at a local level and spreading the Socialist movement upwards.”

Now, listen to this. The New Party tried its best to obscure Obama’s ties to the organization — I’m guessing with the complicity of the senator’s campaign — and had scrubbed the relevant documents from its website; however, PDOP was able to find them at a non-profit Internet Archive Organization. Quoting from the October 1996 New Party update, the blog reveals:

New Party members are busy knocking on doors, hammering down lawn signs, and phoning voters to support NP candidates this fall. Here are some of our key races . . .

Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).

PDOP then cites the November 1996 issue of Progressive Populist magazine, which reported on the results of the general election, writing:

New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago [emphasis mine].”

Providing further evidence, PDOP provides an excerpt from the DSA’s July/August Edition of New Ground 47 Newsletter…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]



Farrakhan Announces a New Beginning for the Nation of Islam

(CHICAGO — FinalCall.com) — The history of the Nation of Islam in America is the history of a movement that has been unswerving in its defense of Blacks in America, challenging injustice and confronting the forces of White supremacy in the country.

The Nation’s strident defense of Blacks and unapologetic language employed to break up the mindset of White supremacy led to a mischaracterization of the movement, said Min. Louis Farrakhan, in an October 13 private meeting with Black journalists and media professionals at his home. But there is a universal aspect to the teachings of the Nation of Islam and its patriarch, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad the needs to be understood and appreciated, said the Minister, who plans to delve into the broader understanding of teaching October 19 at the re-dedication of Mosque Maryam, the Nation’s headquarters located at 7351 S. Stony Island Avenue.

The speech will take place at 2 p.m. and doors will open at 12 noon. The event is free, open to the public and marks the 13th anniversary of the historic Million Man March.

The “new beginning” for the Nation of Islam represents an expansion of its mission, but its role as a champion for freedom, justice and equality for Blacks will not be diminished. God wants to use Blacks, who have experienced the worst suffering in human history, to call the world back to order, said Min. Farrakhan…

           — Hat tip: Holger Danske [Return to headlines]

Europe and the EU


Disclosure Angers Security Chiefs

Confirmation of investigation infuriates agents on trail of terror

LONDON — Chiefs of the British intelligence Services are infuriated the Home Office’s counter-terrorism minister, Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, publicly disclosed that the MI5 and MI6 agencies are tracking “another great terrorist plot building up again,” according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The claim was made in the House of Lords debate over new terrorism powers last week.

Both MI6 chief John Scarlett and Jonathan Evans, director of MI5, have expressed their “deep concern” that Lord West could have wrecked the biggest anti-terrorist operation the two services, together with the Government Communications Headquarters and the Scotland Yard Anti-Terrorism Command, have mounted since the plot to blow up seven American airliners in 2006…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]



Haider Got Drunk in a Gay Bar Hours Before Car Crash…

…and may have been targeted by saboteurs

Austrian far-Right leader Jorg Haider’s car may have been sabotaged before he crashed, it was claimed.

Haider died when his Volkswagen Phaeton veered off the road in the early hours of Saturday morning last week after a boozy celebration party for Austria’s right wing leaders.

As throngs of right-wing crowds gathered for his funeral today, makers of the VW Phaeton limo he was driving insist their car is one of the safest in the world and should have survived the crash.

VW spokesman Peter Thul claimed that someone with access to Haider’s car key could have manipulated the car’s electrics.

The car giants have sent their own experts to examine the wreckage and search for signs it may have been sabotaged.

It has also been revealed that on the day of his death, Haider spent part of his last night drinking in a gay club called ‘Stadtkraemer.’

Police have told Haider’s family he had a blood alcohol level of 1.8 pro mille — nearly four times Austria’s 0.5 limit.

Thul told The Sun: “It is a fact that Haider was going too fast, but such a speed on that curve is not a problem for the car’s physics.

“The Phaeton and Audi A8 are the safest of all. You’d need the key to manipulate the electronics, so someone at a garage would have to tamper with it.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]



Islam: Tariq Ramadan to Attend Segrate Mosque’s 20th Year

(ANSAmed) — MILAN, OCTOBER 16 — The internationally renowned Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan will be among those present to celebrate the 20 years of the Al-Rahman mosque in Segrate (Milan) — for a long time the only place in Italy with the minaret and cupola. Between today and 30 October the Milan and Lombardy Islamic Centre, which runs the religious site, has organised numerous events to mark its twenty year anniversary. Amongst the events is a dinner that will see priests from the Milanese suburbs and Lombard imams speak as family, an inter-religion football tournament, the possibility of guided tours of the mosque and Islamic Centre, plus round-tables, discussions and meetings on Islam and dialogue. The heavyweight cultural event of them all will certainly be the Tariq Ramadan conference however, scheduled for 20 October in the Palasegrate. The intellectual, it has been pre-announced by the Centre, will speak on how conflict between civilisations “has no reason to exist”. The director of the Cenre, Abu Shwaima has stated that: “we were the first, and we are the mother of many Islamic centres in Italy. Many guides trained here.” Today, he continued to explain, for normal Friday prayers several hundred faithful arrive from all over the suburbs, many have come here for a long time, but there are also new people and Italian converts. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: North-South Wealth Divide Widening

Italy’s richest town in Valle d’Aosta, poorest in Calabria

(ANSA) — Rome, August 18 — The wealth divide between Italy’s prosperous northern regions and the impoverished south is widening, a new survey showed on Monday.

According to a report on tax returns in the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, average earnings for 2007 in all northern regions stood above 17,000 euros, while in the south they remained below 13,000.

While the southern region of Calabria clocked average earnings of just 10,200 a year (a 14% drop between 1999 and 2007), in the northern region of Valle d’Aosta earnings were up 11% in eight years to an average of 18,490 euros a head.

The two regions are home to the poorest and richest towns in Italy respectively.

Ayas in Valle d’Aosta came in first in the rankings with residents earning an average of 66,000 euros a year.

The small mountain town has less than 1,500 residents but earnings were boosted because it is also the home of Silvio Scaglia, founder of telecommunications giant Fastweb.

At the other end of Italy, residents in the small Calabrian town of Plati’ earned an average of 4,000 euros each last year.

The sole exception to the north-south divide is the town of Val Rezzo near Como.

Earnings dropped by 31% between 1999 and 2007 to an average of 4,330 euros, making Val Rezzo the second lowest earner in Italy after Plati’.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



‘Little Baghdad’ Hosts US Relocation Fair

A Swedish town with a large concentration of Iraqi immigrants played host on Thursday to a unique fair designed to provide information about the United States to prospective job seekers.

US Ambassador to Sweden, Michael M Wood co-chaired the event, the Södertälje Opportunity Fair ‘USA 2009’ with Södertälje Mayor, Anders Lago.

Speaking to a packed audience of foreign immigrants, schoolchildren and journalists, Wood explained the drive behind the fair:

“When I visited Södertälje back in April, I was impressed by the economic situation and the amount of refugees the town has taken in.

“I was subsequently challenged by Lago to provide 1,000 new green cards. Obviously I couldn’t achieve that, but I got his point.”

As a joint effort between the US Embassy and the Södertälje council, the Opportunities Fair aims to provide information and advice to young locals, especially Iraqi immigrants, on options for studying and working in America.

Since the military invasion in 2003, Sweden has taken in more Iraqi refugees than the United States and Canada combined and Södertälje has seen itself at the forefront of this influx.

Located on the outskirts of Stockholm and with a population of just over 80,000, Södertälje has taken in more Iraqis per capita than any other Swedish municipality.

Dubbed ‘Little Bagdad’, the town’s infrastructure is under serious strain: “It is impossible for us to create 1,000 new jobs every year only for the refugees in Södertälje,” Lago told The Local.

Over recent months Lago has publicly raised concerns over the unrelenting flow of immigrants into the town, highlighting the need to find long-term resolutions to the issue.

Talking the The Local, Lago suggested that relocating Iraqi immigrants away from Södertälje may be the only solution:

“It could also be an idea for some of them to go to the United States or another country. We also have connections with other municipalities within Sweden — for immigrants to settle down elsewhere in the country.”

“This fair today is an opportunity for young people in Södertälje, both from Iraq and other Swedes, to go to the States. It’s to give them inspiration and information on how to do that,” said Lago.

Ambassador Wood admitted that “it’s true that we were very slow in the US to ramp up the acceptance of Iraqi refugees.”

“But in the last year the US has taken in 12,000 Iraqi refugees, in the next 12 months we aim to accept 17,000. So you can see that the trend line is headed up.”

In 2007, Sweden admitted approximately 15,200 immigrants from Iraq. Though it has a population more than 30 times smaller than that of the United States, Sweden has taken in a greater number of Iraqi refugees, despite taking no part in the US-led invasion.

When asked if the US planned to replicate Swedish immigration policy, Ambassador Wood replied that, although “Sweden’s immigration policy is admired all over the world”, the United States would not be taking similar measures.

“The situation in the US is obviously much more complex; the volume of people coming to the US is much higher, the concerns about terrorism require additional steps.”

But could the fair not be viewed as merely a PR exercise aimed at rebuilding the US public image amid criticisms of its restrictive admittance regulations?

“I hope not. The proof will be when we determine how many of the people here today end up going to the United States either to work or to go to school,” replied Wood.

“Three or six months from now, if we can check back and determine that 100 or 150 of the people here ended up with success, then I would say that the Opportunity Fair was much more than just a sweetener.”

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Mediterranean: Lombardy, Sicily Drive Italian Export

(ANSAmed) — MILAN, SEPTEMBER 25 — After the excellent performance in 2007 the growth of the Sicilian export towards the Mediterranean continues with an increase by 22% in the first quarter of 2008 which makes the island pass from the fifth to the second place, behind Lombardy, in the ranking of the regions which drive the export made in Italy to the south coast. The data is revealed by a survey of the Milan Chamber of Commerce on Istat data relative to the import-export of Italy with 13 countries of the Mediterranean basin (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territory, Jordan). If Sicily with a share of 753 million euro represents currently 11% of the Italian export to the area, the real driving power with a share of 26% of the total remains Lombardy; in the period January-March Lombardy sold goods for 1.685 billion euro with an increase by 28% compared to the first quarter of last year. The north-south tandem is also registered in the field of import, where Lombardy and Sici ly maintain the first positions, despite a decrease respectively by 32% (to some 1.8 billion euro) and by 12% (1.2 billion euro). (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Mortgage Crisis: Solbes, in Spain No Need for Capitalisation

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 13 — Spanish banks “are solvent and do not need a capitalisation plan” confirmed Minister for Finance and Economy, Pedro Solbes in Washington, in a statement to the media. The minister confirmed that the plan which allows an injection of 30 billion euros, rising to 50, agreed by the Spanish Government does not put taxpayers’ money at risk. “We are buying high-quality mortgages which have a high monthly return, and we will give all the money in one go to the companies so that they will have the finances they need”. In other words, “we will lend money that they will pay back with interest and expenses”. According to Solbes, Spain is moving away from the UK model adopted by other countries, saving the banks through the direct purchase of shares by the state. This is also because the Spanish Government’s intervention is based on the fact that “Spanish banks have been much more selective” than the US in evaluating the ability to pay by customers weighed down by mortgages. This is the reason why the Government believes that the Spanish financial system has no need to extend the intervention plan approved on Friday by the CDM, which is based on the creation of a fund to buy “quality shares” from financial businesses, and guarantee deposits up to 100,000 euros per clients and companies. The fund of 30 billion will be dependent on the Treasury. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Mosque Opening Sparks Protests in Germany

About 200 people chanting anti-Muslim slogans demonstrated on Thursday as members of the Ahmadiya Muslim minority inaugurated eastern Germany’s first mosque after years of controversy over its construction.

As German officials and members of the Ahmadiyah community gathered for the ceremony at the Heinersdorf mosque, demonstrators held banners reading “Stop the Islamization of Europe” and “Stop the Abuse of Religious Freedom”.

“ We have a big problem with sects that put religion above everything else, allow the beating of women and deny equal rights.”

The structure symbolizes “religious and cultural tolerance in our town,” said Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, who was among the people attending the gathering.

The 1.6 million-euro ($ 2.15 million) mosque has a 12-meter (39-foot) high minaret and can hold up to 500 worshippers — far larger than Berlin’s 200-strong Ahmadiyah community which financed its construction.

Opponents of the Heinersdorf mosque had called for a protest against its inauguration, and a petition against its construction gathered some 20,000 signatures.

A few black-clad young men with shaved heads, a trademark right-wing style, joined the protest but the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) called off a march.

Supporters say the mosque will foster better ties.

“The mosque will be a hub of social activity, not just for praying,” said Ijaz Ahmad, spokeswoman for the Ahmadiya mosque.

“It will play a role in boosting integration and promoting dialogue with politicians and other religious groups.”

“Racist views”

The building of mosques and minarets has sparked controversy in Europe, with opponents criticizing growing Muslim influence in the region and foreign funding that sometimes bankrolls the construction.

The local citizens’ group said Ahmadiya is a sect with racist and discriminatory views.

“We have a big problem with sects that put religion above everything else, allow the beating of women and deny equal rights,” the group said on its website.

“Our opposition is directed at this sect’s ideas and in particular its ideas about women,” it said.

The Ahmadiya movement, whose slogan is “Love for all, hatred for no one”, was founded in India in the 19th century. It defines itself as Muslim but is not recognized by mainstream Muslim groups because of different beliefs.

Germany is home to about 2,500 mosque communities and has 2,250 active imams. Most of its Muslims are of Turkish origin.

Plans for another mosque in Cologne have been on the cards for more than a year, with the project becoming a lightning rod for far-right groups in particular.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Switzerland Announces Bank Bail-Out Plan

The government has announced a rescue package for the country’s financial system that will inject cash into its biggest bank, UBS.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has agreed to put SFr6 billion ($5.23 billion) into UBS, in a move that aims to strengthen the bank’s capital base and reduce its balance sheet.

In return, Switzerland’s central bank will take a 9.3 per cent stake in UBS.

The surprise move by the cabinet, the SNB and the Swiss Federal Banking Commission was announced on Thursday morning.

Based on an agreement with the SNB, UBS will transfer up to $60 billion of assets to a newly created fund entity and will capitalise the fund with equity of up to $6 billion.

The SNB will finance the fund with a loan of up to $54 billion, secured on the assets of the fund, taking over control and ownership of the entity.

The move follows a cabinet meeting on Wednesday — the first in two weeks — and is the latest in a series of high-profile reassurances from governments in the United States and Europe attempting to pacify volatile markets.

The country’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, also announced that it is raising SFr10 billion from private investors including the Qatar Investment Authority.

The bank however said it had “decided not to participate at this time” in the stabilisation programme, basing its decision on the relatively low level of affected assets in its portfolio and its good access to capital markets.

Credit Suisse announced a SFr1.3 billion third quarter loss while UBS made SFr296 profit in the same period.

Accountholder protection

In a media conference on Thursday morning, the acting finance minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, argued strong banks would be the best measure of protection for accountholders.

“I have said that we in the government are, as before, of the understanding that the best protection for bank accounts is a solid basis for our banks — a capital base — and behaviour that inspires confidence,” she said.

The government would, however, act quickly, the minister added, to follow in the footsteps of other European governments in raising the accountholder protection in all Swiss banks above the current SFr30,000 threshold.

“We see now — and we cannot detach ourselves from these developments — that internationally, savings protections are being strengthened and we want to do this too,” Widmer-Schlumpf said.

Cabinet will begin working to prepare recommendations so that parliament can make a decision in its December session, she added.

Toxic assets gone

Thursday’s move has allowed UBS to rid itself of virtually all of its “toxic assets” while significantly boosting its cash safety net against future risks. The bank’s chief executive, Marcel Rohner, said: “This transaction gives us comfort.”

“The extremely difficult market environment led us to accelerate our risk reduction with a definite move. Our aim is to protect our clients form the impact of the crisis to the fullest extent possible and to provide our shareholders an opportunity to renew confidence in the bank,” he added in a statement.

UBS is expected to call an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in November to get approval for the refinancing.

“The cabinet is confident that this package of measures will contribute to the lasting strengthening of the Swiss financial system,” said a finance ministry statement.

“The resulting stabilisation is beneficial for overall economic development in Switzerland and is in the interests of the country as a whole.”

The economics ministry on Tuesday had rejected accusations in the media that the government had been slow to respond to the crisis, and cabinet minister Moritz Leuenberger said his colleagues were keen to not add “fuel to the fire of speculation”.

President Pascal Couchepin reiterated on Thursday that the cabinet’s message had consistently been to observe, reflect and then intervene when necessary to consolidate the financial system.

Shares in UBS and Credit Suisse slumped on Thursday morning before climbing toward the afternoon.

BAILING OUT

At the start of the week the Swiss government said that it did not need to follow the example of many other countries, which had raised massive amounts of taxpayers’ money to bail out stricken banks.

Following the United States’ $700 billion (SFr790 billion) rescue package earlier this month, Britain announced a £37 billion (SFr73 billion) cash injection while Germany was poised to prop up its ailing financial system with a €470 billion (SFr724 billion) hand out.

Spain said it would provide up to €100 billion of guarantees for new debt issued by commercial banks in 2008. Norway and Portugal have also followed suit with their own bail out cash packages.

Germany, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates are the latest countries to guarantee all bank deposits.

Iceland is close to bankrupcy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



UK: Let-Off for Knife Thug Who Almost Killed a Schoolboy

AND his curfew is lifted to play football

With a jubilant thumbs up, a 14-year-old criminal gives his verdict on British knife-crime justice.

The boy struck the defiant pose as he walked free from court despite having stabbed a schoolboy, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

In an unprovoked attack, he had plunged an 11in blade into the 16-year-old’s back, rupturing the boy’s windpipe and lung.

As doctors desperately fought to save the victim’s life, his heart stopped three times.

Despite being found guilty of malicious wounding, the attacker was let off with a paltry 12-month supervision order.

Incredibly, magistrates also removed the boy’s curfew imposed while on bail — so that he could attend evening football practice.

And rather than make an example of the thug, the bench refused to let the media identify him.

The lenient sentence makes a mockery of the Government’s recent drives to get tough on the perpetrators of knife crime.

Last night, the mother of the victim — who was stabbed near his home in Crawley, West Sussex, in March — expressed her ‘utter disgust’ at the sentence.

‘This gives anyone the right to go around and stab someone, knowing they will get off with a slap on the wrist,’ she said.

‘My son died on the way to hospital and it was only the quick thinking of the medics that saved him.

‘Is his life worth so little? I thought they were supposed to be clamping down on these sorts of crimes.’

During the trial at Lewes Crown Court, East Sussex, the attacker, who was 13 at the time of the stabbing, refused to admit his guilt.

Instead he chose to laugh and smirk as he sat in the dock.

When he was sentenced at Crawley youth court, magistrates said he would not need to pay any legal costs because his family has no money and he would not have to pay any compensation.

His victim, now 17, said: ‘I was so lucky to survive, I’m just so grateful to the doctors and paramedics. It took five minutes for them to reach me — I’d have died otherwise.’

He added: ‘This boy can go to football training and have an active life, while the damage done to my lungs has meant that I’ve been unable to ride my bike or take part in the sports I want to play. It doesn’t seem fair.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Balkans


Italy-Albania: President Topi, Criminality Now in Past

(ANSAmed) — TURIN, OCTOBER 16 — “These days the Albanian community is very well integrated in Italy and the problems linked to criminality should be considered as episodes belonging to a past that will not return”. This was stated by the president of Albania, Bamir Topi, during a meeting today in Turin with the president of the Piedmont regional government, Mercedes Bresso. Bamir, who has a connection to the Piedmont capital that goes back to his studies at the veterinary faculty at the university of Turin, responded to journalists’ questions, assuring them that “today the situation is completely different from the past”. “Emigration towards Italy”, he emphasized, “is becoming healthier every day. This was also emphasized by the president of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, who I met in Rome on Tuesday. And the good integration achieved is positively influencing the relationship between our two countries, which have close commercial and economic ties”. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Mediterranean Union


Expanding the EU to Include Morocco

Morocco has been granted an “advanced status” in preparation for a gradual integration into the European Union. Jeune Afrique has a long report. Here are a few excerpts:

The Moroccan Foreign Minister, Taïeb Fassi Fihri (photo), welcomed the “advanced status” offered his country by the EU on Monday, and stressed that Rabat would henceforth benefit from “all” the advantages of the EU, “except the institutions.”

This status, long desired by Morocco, implies a strengthening of EU-Moroccan relations in the political realm and a gradual integration of the kingdom into the internal markets of the Union.

“This European commitment is first of all a sign of confidence in Morocco’s efforts in terms of political reform, consolidation of the rule of law, social cohesion and the fight against poverty,” declared the minister to reporters.

“We fulfill the definition of Romano Prodi: ‘everything except the institutions,’“ continued Fassi Fihri, referring to the 2003 declaration of then president of the European Commission Romano Prodi who had said that the countries south of the Mediterranean could share with the EU “everything except the institutions.”

“We’re getting close to the ‘everything’“, insisted the minister.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

North Africa


Terrorism: Algeria; Attacks in Several Regions

(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, OCTOBER 16 — Three municipal guards were killed and two others seriously injured yesterday when a bomb exploded in the Setif region, 300 kilometres east of Algiers, while a young police cook was assassinated in Boudouau, in Kabylia near the capital. The head of the boy taken hostage two days ago has also been found alongside railway tracks, according to Liberté. It is a macabre action which, said the newspaper, is a clear sign that the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC, now Al Qaeda for the Islamic Magreb) has adopted the gruesome methods used by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). Having become the GSPC in 1997, the GIA is well-known for its massacres of civilians in the 1990s. The patrol of the municipal guards, according to El Watan, was attacked near the Babors mountains, 50 kilometres north of Setif, a calm area since 2004 when a massive sweep-up operation by the army eliminated several members of Islamic armed groups. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Middle East


Dubai: 1.3 Mln Euro-Fine for Executive

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, OCTOBER 16 — An exemplary fine has been slapped on the CEO of an electromechanical company employing 94 illegal workers. The tribunal for immigration sentenced the man to two months in jail and a fine of over 1.3 million euro (6.4 million dirham). “It is a historic, unprecedented verdict,” said public prosecutor Ali Humaid Bin Khatim, and it is one which reflects the stance held by the sheik of Dubai Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktum, who in 2007 called those employing illegal workers “traitors”. The Dubai labour market indubitably relies for the most part on foreign professionals and workers, equal to 97% of the entire work force of the Emirate. In any case, the illegal workers themselves did not get off much better, either: coming from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the 94 were sentenced to time in jail of between three and six months and pecuniary sanctions of between 600 and 800 euro. All of them, including the executive, will be deported. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Emirates: Sex on Beach Couple Found Guilty and Expelled

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, OCTOBER 16 — Three months imprisonment, a 200-euro fine and banishment: such was the sentence handed down this morning by Dubai Court on two British citizens, guilty of having had sexual intercourse on a beach. The couple, said Emirates Radio, denied having copulated in public, but admitted to the illegal consumption of alcohol on the sea shore. Michelle Palmer, (37), and Vince Acors, (34), having checked in to a luxury hotel in Dubai last July, then went down to the beach where they were seen in an intimate embrace. This sentence comes shortly after that given to two women, one Lebanese and another Bulgarian, also found guilty of committing indecent acts and consuming alcoholic beverages among the dunes of a beach on the border between the Emirates of Dubai and Sharjah. In that case, too, the Court sentenced expulsion following a prison term. Dubai, which is notoriously liberal and flexible with regard to the customs and wonts of the cultures of foreigners, who make up over 80 pct of the population, is less tolerant of demonstrations of these in public. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Islamic Scholars: Iran Should Prevent Religious Conflict Among Muslims

Doha (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The International Union of Muslim Scholars has asked Iran to prevent religious conflict between Sunnis and Shiites. The request is contained in a statement made public at the end of a closed-door meeting of the organization, held in Qatar with the participation of Iranian ayatollah Mohamad Ali Tashkiri, vice president of the union, which is headed by the Sunni sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi.

The “Islamic republic of Iran” is asked to “assume its responsibilities to stifle sectarian sedition and extinguish the flames of this sedition.” The reference follows a controversy that Qaradawi himself, an Egyptian, joined last month. In addition to calling the Shiites heretics — a charge that the two Islamic movements level at each other — he accused them of “invading” Sunni societies.

The Sunnis are the majority Islamic movement in the Middle East, while the Shiites are in the majority in Iran and Iraq, and have a significant presence in Lebanon. Concerns about Shiite proselytism in traditionally Sunni territories have been expressed by various political representatives. And on the occasion of the meeting in Doha, according to Qaradawi, he responded to the criticisms of Tashkiri and of another Shiite representative, Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah of Lebanon, concerning his remarks about “invasion.” Now the union is affirming “the need for mutual respect,” and is calling for an end to any attempt to “spread one faith across regions dominated by the other faith.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Lebanon-Syria: Press Reports Casualties in Border Clashes

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 16 — Two persons have been killed and another three injured during a shoot-out between alleged smugglers and Syrian security forces along the southern Syria-Lebanon border. The report appears in today’s Beirut daily, an-Nahar. The story runs: “eye-witnesses and sources on the southern border: two persons are dead and another three have been injured in a violent shoot out in the night between Tuesday and yesterday near al-Mushayrfa, a Syrian border town”. The paper does not name the casualties, but adds that al-Mushayrfa, a Syrian village partly inhabited by Lebanese from the frontier region of Wadi Khaled, was also scene last week to another gun-fight, this time between smuggler bands, with two persons killed. Syria this morning stepped up checks along its southern frontier and brought hundreds of soldiers to within the frontier area. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



The Future of the Christian Community in the Middle East

Unlike Africa, the future of the Christian community in the Middle East looks rather bleak because they face dhimmitude, terrorism, persecution, inequality via the legal system, a demographic time bomb, marginalization, and so much more. Also, history tells us that they do not count in the eyes of major Western powers and of course most Western governments are pro-Saudi Arabia, despite this nation not allowing one single Christian church.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

South Asia


Pakistan: Rupee Weakens to Record Low

Karachi, 17 Oct. (AKI/DAWN) — The Pakistani rupee weakened 2.3 percent to a record low of 84 rupees to the dollar in early trading on Friday after reserves fell by 570 million dollars under pressure from import payments, dealers said.

The rupee was being quoted at 83.50/75 to the dollar at 11:09 am local time dealers said. It closed at 82.05/10 on Thursday.

‘There is sudden panic after the reserve numbers were released last night,’ said a currency dealer.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell 570 million dollars to 7.75 billion dollars in the week that ended on 11 Oct., the central bank said. Analysts said that was enough to cover less than two months of imports.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s own reserves fell to 4.34 billion dollars from 4.87 billion dollars a week earlier.

Reserves are at their lowest since August 2002 when they were 7.56 billion dollars.

The rupee has lost 26.7 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year. Dealers said the global financial crisis had added to pressure on the currency.

Analysts say Pakistan, a nuclear-armed United States ally, urgently needs 3 billion to 4 billion dollars.

President Asif Ali Zardari is in China seeking economic help and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao China on Thursday pledged cooperation in confronting Pakistan’s financial crisis.

The Washington Post said on Thursday Pakistan was seeking up to 3 billion dollars from China. The Financial Times reported earlier that Zardari hoped to secure concessional loans of between 500 million dollars and 1.5 billion dollars.

Pakistan is facing a balance of payments crisis, inflation running at close to 25 percent and heavy government borrowing from the central bank to cover a budget deficit.

In Beijing, Premier Wen pledged to help Pakistan overcome its economic troubles, Chinese state media reported, although details of the assistance were not disclosed.

China agreed to provide 500 million dollars in a concessional loan to help Pakistan meet balance of payment needs in April.

Zardari is wooing Beijing at a time when his country’s relations with the United States, its biggest aid donor, are strained after US forces in Afghanistan carried out cross-border raids on militants in Pakistan.

The Asian Development Bank announced loans of 500 million dollars this month but those were wiped out by import payments.

A World Bank official said on Monday the bank could provide 1.4 billion dollars in support during the next nine months, but its disbursal required board approval.

Pakistan is spending about 1 billon dollars a month on imports and debt payments and without help it could default on a 500 million dollar Euro Bond debt obligation maturing in February, analysts say.

Dealers said the rupee was expected to remain under pressure in the short- to medium-term as there were no scheduled foreign inflows.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Sub-Saharan Africa


Machete Gangs Bring Fear to South Africa as They Carry Out Mutilations for Traditional Medicine

Machete-wielding gangs in South Africa are mutilating young people to provide body parts for the traditional medicine market, an investigation has found.

The practice has brought terror to parts of South Africa, where it is estimated that at least 300 people are killed each year for the medicine, known as muti.

One victim was Fortune Khumalo, a boy of nine, who was attacked as he relieved himself in bushes.

His attacker sliced off his penis and testicles to sell to a traditional healer in Johannesburg, where body parts can fetch £250 and a human head up to £500, according to the research for Channel 4’s Unreported World.

Fortune survived the attack but is in constant pain because his family cannot afford the reconstructive surgery he needs. His assailant was caught with the boy’s genitalia wrapped in a towel in his pocket.

Thomas Khumalo, Fortune’s father, said: “The killings are driven by greed. People believe using human body parts in medicine can make them rich.”

Special superintendent Gerard Labuschagne, an expert on ritual killings, said traditional healers are behind the killings, prescribing body parts to patients and hiring men to go out and find them.

Human genitals are the most prized parts and can be used to attract wealth and increase fertility. They are cooked and ground down for use with herbs and other ingredients.

Children’s body parts are thought to be the most potent and victims are often tortured first as the pain is believed to add to the power.

In the town of Bizana in Eastern Cape 18 people were murdered by a muti gang in nine months.

Vigilante gangs now patrol the area at night because they are concerned the police are not catching the culprits.

Bongani Danga, who leads the vigilantes, said: “People are really scared. Even with a police presence here, the killings continued so we decided we had to act to protect ourselves.”

Many muti murders go unreported but Supt Labuschagne admitted that even those which are reported may not be fully investigated.

“An investigative officer tasked to deal with this might be a bit hesitant because of his own traditional beliefs,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



Sudan: International Court Asks Prosecutors for More Info on President

The Hague, 17 Oct. (AKI) — International Criminal Court judges have asked prosecutors for more information on an arrest warrant application for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to face charges of genocide in Darfur.

The ICC judges have given prosecutors one extra month to submit additional materials related to their request for an arrest warrant for al-Bashir (photo).

In July, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented evidence against al-Bashir for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed by him though public officials, the army and militiamen known as the Janjaweed in the strife-torn Darfur region..

Some 300,000 people are estimated to have been killed across Darfur, an impoverished and arid region of western Sudan, as a result of direct combat, disease or malnutrition since 2003.

Another 2.7 million people have been displaced because of fighting among rebels, Government forces and the Janjaweed.

ICC judges issued arrest warrants in May 2007 for Ahmad Harun, former Sudanese Minister of State for the Interior and now the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed leader.

Last month, Moreno-Ocampo urged international leaders to better protect civilians in Darfur and allow the ICC to successfully prosecute crimes committed in the war-torn Sudanese region.

“We presented a solid case. The evidence shows that crimes against Darfurians continue today,” Moreno-Ocampo said.

Sudan’s President “has complete control of his forces, and they are raping women today, they are promoting conditions in the camps to destroy complete communities and they are still bombing schools,” he added.

The African Union, Arab League and other alliances have urged the United Nations Security Council to block moves to charge al-Bashir to avoid shattering the fragile peace process

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Immigration


Emergency Shelter Prepared for Asylum Seekers

A sharp rise in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Switzerland has prompted the authorities to arrange new emergency shelter.

The Federal Migration Office announced on Thursday that an army shelter in central Switzerland would temporarily be made available to take up to 100 people in November.

Since June there has been an upsurge in the number of people fleeing conflict areas like Somalia, Eritrea, Iraq and Sri Lanka, which has created a shortage of accommodation in existing reception centres.

Emergency beds have been made available since September near various border cities where the asylum seekers can be registered. The idea is to give the different cantons time to expand their own facilities.

The Bern cantonal authorities said on Thursday that the canton’s 18 transit centres were full, and said they would have to demand that local authorities put bunkers at their disposal.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Greek Islands Become the EU’s New Front Line on Immigration

Agathonisi ‘overwhelmed’ by thousands of arrivals; most are smuggled, many die en route in Aegean.

For as long as anyone can remember on the remote isle of Agathonisi, the biggest event has been the trickle of tourists who annually make the long trek to its shores. Their arrival, after the appearance of electricity and the telephone, has been the most momentous thing to alter the idyllic island’s way of life.

Until this year, that is, when groups of bedraggled men, women and children from as far away as Afghanistan and Iraq also began arriving on Agathonisi. The Aegean island’s 150-strong population has been overwhelmed as it tried to cope with an influx of immigrants that by last week had surpassed 4,100 in number.

Without exception, they had been dumped on Agathonisi by smugglers ferrying human cargo from nearby Turkey.

“We’re a warm-hearted people and at first we welcomed them with open arms,” said Evangelos Kottoros, who heads the tiny community. “We gave them food, we gave them clothes; but we don’t have the infrastructure, and then scepticism set in. Some days 180 would arrive.”

When last month, in the space of 10 days, some 700 migrants clambered out of rickety boats onto Agathonisi’s shores, local authorities issued an urgent appeal for help. “Where were we going to put all these people? In stables?” asked Kottoros. “We had always sent them on to Patmos, but then it said it wasn’t going to take any more, and we were really stuck.”

This week, as Greece’s overstretched coastguard dispatched high-speed craft to patrol the isle, officials were asking which far-flung island would be next.

No day now passes without migrants desperate to flee poverty and conflict illegally entering Greece, according to the interior ministry, which estimates that more than 11,000 have arrived this year. Most slip through along the country’s craggy coastline.

“Greece is taking more punishment in terms of the numbers arriving than other EU states where border controls have been tightened,” said Martin Baldwin-Edwards, who runs the Mediterranean Migration Observatory at Panteion University in Athens. “It’s the remote islands that will most suffer, but it’s the central state that should deal with the problem, not the poor people who live on them.”…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



Immigration: 105 Illegal Migrants Arrested in Aegean

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 16 — The port authorities of the islands Lesbos, Samos and Chios in the eastern Aegean have taken in 105 illegal immigrants, none of whom had any identity papers. All of those arrested, 64 on Lesbos, 28 on Samos and 13 on Chios, were coming from Turkish coasts according to the Greek newswire service ANA-MPA. Those arrested — including 11 minors — will be taken to hospitals on the island as a precaution, where they will undergo medical testing. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigration: Immigrant Landed in Tenerife Yesterday Dead

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 16 — One of the 69 migrants who landed yesterday afternoon on the southern part of the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, died at dawn today. The craft with all sub-Saharan African immigrants on board, landed on the San Blas beach where the illegal immigrants were aided by the Red Cross. Three of the immigrants, with serious conditions of hypothermia and dehydration, were transferred to the Candelaria hospital, and checked in to the intensive care unit. Health care sources have informed that today that one of the immigrants who was seriously dehydrated, suffering from acidosis and muscular failure, died at dawn. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigration: Lampedusa Now Almost Under Siege, 778 Arrivals

(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 16 — The arrival of boats loaded with immigrants in Lampedusa continues without signs of respite. In just a few hours, beginning late yesterday evening, there have been five arrivals and disembarkations (aided by the Navy and the Coast Guard), bringing 778 illegal immigrants to the island. The last two of the boats — guided in from a few dozen miles from Lampedusa — had almost 150 people on board, including at least 40 women and many children and newborn babies. The situation on the island is once again quite dramatic because the Centre for the reception of new arrivals is only set up to host 700 people, whereas it is now having to deal with over 1,300 people. However, the plan to lighten the island’s load is already under way: more than 300 new arrivals will be transferred to other facilities by tomorrow evening. Once the immigrants have arrived, they undergo identification procedures and then there are investigations to try and identify the people-smugglers. Today, Agrigentòs police team has sent detained seven people under the accusation of being the people-smugglers which organised the “consignments” which brought tens of immigrants to Lampedusa on 29 September on two boats. The accused men are Somali, but their identities have not yet been officially confirmed. The seven are accused of “facilitating illegal immigration”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Minister Welcomes EU Leaders’ Approval of Migration Pact

Rome, 16 Oct. (AKI) — Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has welcomed the approval on Thursday by European Union heads of state and government of a pact to better manage legal migration in the bloc.

“I am satisfied,” said Maroni. “This new instrument will enable EU rules to be passed to tackle illegal immigration,” he added.

The pact seeks to tighten controls on illegal immigrants and to forge a common asylum policy.

Italy’s conservative government has pledged to clamp down on illegal immigration, drafting legislation to make this a criminal offence and to allow the immediate explusion of migrants without permits of stay.

Its policy of carrying out a census of Gypsies in Italy, including fingerprinting, has drawn criticism from the Catholic Church, the opposition and from rights groups.

A recent move to introduce separate classes for immigrant schoolchildren has also sparked controversy.

Italy’s CGIL trade union said as many as 5,000 immigrants staged a demonstration on Thursday in the Sicilian city of Palermo to protest the government’s immigration policies, which the union claims are stoking illegal migration and racism.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Culture Wars


College Student Charged With Making False “Hate Crime” Report

Elmhurst police arrested a 19-year-old Elmhurst College student Friday who claimed last week to be the victim of a hate crime.

Safia Z. Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook, was charged with one felony count of filing a false police report and released on $10,000 bond.

Jilani told police she was attacked about 8:30 p.m. Oct. 9 after entering a bathroom in the Schaible Science Center by a gunman wearing a mask who made racial slurs. The Muslim student had spoken hours earlier at a diversity rally on campus.

Police found anti-Muslim graffiti written in marker in the bathroom.

Deputy Chief Jim Doherty, though, said on Friday that “there was no gunman and no attack.”

Police are continuing to investigate her claim that a week before the alleged attack she found anti-Muslim slogans and a swastika written on the inside of her locker. That episode helped spark a campus-wide call for a diversity rally that promoted tolerance. Jilani read a poem there advocating peace and understanding despite the actions against her.

Hours later she reported walking into the bathroom in the science center and being confronted by a gunman wearing a mask who attacked her and struck her twice in the head with a pistol.

Despite earlier reports she was injured, Doherty said there were no signs of injuries “that were obvious.”

He said officers quickly heard from people around campus that the event might not have occurred. While they did investigate the possibility an attacker existed, they later ruled it out.

Two detectives worked on the case full-time for the past week.

Filing a false police report is a Class 4 felony, punishable by up to one to three years in prison.

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NOTE: CAIR still lists this as a “hate crime”; its site has not been updated. See:

http://www.cair..com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=25551&&name=n&&currPage=1&&Active=1

           — Hat tip: Marathon Pundit [Return to headlines]



Shocking Frieze Which Will Greet Visitors to London’s Eurostar Terminal

From next summer, travellers stepping off the train at St Pancras International will be greeted with an artwork that sums up modern Britain.

But it might not be the Britain we’d like them to see.

A copulating couple. A vagabond carrying a bottle. And a hoodie expressing himself with his middle finger.

All these are ‘concept’ designs for the bronze frieze which is to be installed in the station.

The frieze will sit around the base of the towering Meeting Place statue of an embracing couple, which was unveiled last year.

Designs in clay by the sculptor, Paul Day, were unveiled on Friday at the station.

London and Continental Railways, which commissioned the piece — thought to have cost half a million pounds — admits that the images will be ‘bold and edgy’.

However, a spokesman for the company said the image of a man ‘giving the finger’ was an early concept and would not be in the final work.

The frieze will wrap right around the plinth at the base of the existing statue and will depict different journeys on a railway theme.

The images of contemporary life will be punctuated by historical flashbacks, some that echo the station’s past and others that reflect how railways have defined modern society.

Last night Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said he thought some aspects of modern life should not appear in such a high-profile piece of public art.

He voiced particular concern about one image, a skeleton at the wheel of a train, given the number of tragedies on the Underground.

He said: ‘I think public art should be in good taste. Some of these images seem to be in poor taste and likely to cause offence.

‘I think the skeleton is in particularly poor taste considering the number of people who perished in the King’s Cross fire.’…

[Return to headlines]

General


From Arabic to English

By Alan Pimm-Smith

Hundreds of English words derive from the Arabic language. The author traces the origins of many technical, as well as common, terms. Alan Pimm-Smith is a free-lance writer who worked as a teacher and journalist in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries for many years. He now lives in Turkey.

How many words in the English language can you think of that are derived from Arabic? The immediate answer is, “Quite a few”: mosque and minaret, bedouin and sheik, caliph and sultan, to name a few. Whether or not one knows any Arabic, it is safe to assume these words come from Arabic because they refer to Arab things as, of course, do the words camel, wadi, and dhow.

In some cases the English version of the word is as good as identical to its Arabic original, though others diverge in sound or meaning. Mosque doesn’t sound much like masjid, and though we can use bedouin in the singular, it is in fact taken from bidwan, a plural form of bedawi. Dhow comes from dawa, though if you ask any of your Arabic-speaking friends, you’ll find they don’t know the word, as it’s no longer in common use.

           — Hat tip: Lawrence Auster [Return to headlines]



Qur’an References Delay Sony’s ‘Little Big Planet’

LittleBigPlanet has been delayed worldwide due to the inclusion of quotes from the Qur’an, reports VideoGaming247.

In a forum thread, a Muslim user commented that he listened carefully to some of the licensed music and caught the Qur’an references, and respectfully requested that they be removed. As a Muslim, the mixture of a holy book with pop music was offensive, leading Sony to pull the game despite it already being on retail shelves in some areas.

In response, Sony issued the following statement:

“During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused.

We’ll confirm the new launch date shortly.”

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



The Freedom of Historical Debate is Under Attack by the Memory Police

Well-intentioned laws that prescribe how we remember terrible events are foolish, unworkable and counter-productive

Among the ways in which freedom is being chipped away in Europe, one of the less obvious is the legislation of memory. More and more countries have laws saying you must remember and describe this or that historical event in a certain way, sometimes on pain of criminal prosecution if you give the wrong answer. What the wrong answer is depends on where you are. In Switzerland, you get prosecuted for saying that the terrible thing that happened to the Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman empire was not a genocide. In Turkey, you get prosecuted for saying it was. What is state-ordained truth in the Alps is state-ordained falsehood in Anatolia.

This week a group of historians and writers, of whom I am one, has pushed back against this dangerous nonsense. In what is being called the “Appel de Blois”, published in Le Monde last weekend, we maintain that in a free country “it is not the business of any political authority to define historical truth and to restrict the liberty of the historian by penal sanctions”. And we argue against the accumulation of so-called “memory laws”. First signatories include historians such as Eric Hobsbawm, Jacques Le Goff and Heinrich August Winkler. It’s no accident that this appeal originated in France, which has the most intense and tortuous recent experience with memory laws and prosecutions. It began uncontroversially in 1990, when denial of the Nazi Holocaust of the European Jews, along with other crimes against humanity defined by the 1945 Nuremberg tribunal, was made punishable by law in France — as it is in several other European countries. In 1995, the historian Bernard Lewis was convicted by a French court for arguing that, on the available evidence, what happened to the Armenians might not correctly be described as genocide according to the definition in international law.

A further law, passed in 2001, says the French Republic recognises slavery as a crime against humanity, and this must be given its “consequential place” in teaching and research. A group representing some overseas French citizens subsequently brought a case against the author of a study of the African slave trade, Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau, on the charge of “denial of a crime against humanity”. Meanwhile, yet another law was passed, from a very different point of view, prescribing that school curricula should recognise the “positive role” played by the French presence overseas, “especially in North Africa”.

Fortunately, at this point a wave of indignation gave birth to a movement called Liberty for History (lph-asso.fr), led by the French historian Pierre Nora, which is also behind the Appel de Blois. The case against Pétré-Grenouilleau was dropped, and the “positive role” clause nullified. But it remains incredible that such a proposal ever made it to the statute book in one of the world’s great democracies and homelands of historical scholarship…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

On Swedish TV, a Muslim Woman Supports Stoning Adulteresses

The following material is drawn from articles on the websites for Sveriges Television (SVT, Swedish state television) and Kvällstidningen Expressen. The translation is a joint effort by our Swedish correspondent LN and a Swedish reader who comments here occasionally as “Derailed Cluetrain”, and who is a regular contributor at Falkblick.

Derailed Cluetrain gives us some background on the principal figure in this controversy:

Cherin AwadCherin Awad is a “professional Muslim” who has made a career out of representing her faith in Swedish media and establishment venues, with a resumé that includes writing for Svenska Dagbladet (national Swedish daily), the “Ramadan blog”, holding lectures about multiculturalism and Muslims for police students at the Växsjö University and the Swedish state department, frequent appearances as a guest on Swedish talk shows, and now finally as a host for the SVT (Swedish Television, the national broadcaster) program “Halal-TV”.

Since this issue became public after bloggers raised it, SVT has removed from their web site the program description text described in the translation below, without any explanation of why they chose to do so. It should be noted that Ms. Awad was 19 years old, a law student, and already a well-established talking head representing the Muslim population in Sweden at the time, which makes the efforts by her defenders to portray her statement as “youthful exuberance” dubious at best.

And LN summarizes the “Ramadan Blog”:

A diary of three young Muslims writing a lot of uninteresting stuff under captions like these:

  • First Day of Eid
  • Joy and gratitude
  • An unforgettable day
  • Happy Eid
  • Now it’s Eid!
  • Take the custom where you come
  • Muslim for a day
  • Thank you for yesterday
  • Some questions are more than just stupid
  • Succeed in convincing yourself about who you are

…etc.

Now for the translation from Expressen:

Cherin Awad takes back her declaration that it is OK to stone unfaithful women

Halal-TV kvinnorCherin Awad, Dalia Azzam Kassem, and Khadiga el Khabiry are three Swedish Muslim young women who look at Sweden and Swedishness on Halal-TV, shown here together with Mona Sahlin.

Recants her opinion on death penalty

One of the participants in a new venture called “Halal-TV” on Swedish Television (SVT) show, has said that it is right for women who have been unfaithful to be stoned to death.

Three weeks before the start of the series, Cherin Awad is backing away from her statement.

– – – – – – – –

“It’s regrettable that I expressed myself in that way,” she tells Expressen.

In November, SVT starts broadcasting the program “Halal-TV”, in which three Muslim women give their perspectives on Sweden. One of them is Cherin Awad, a lawyer, lecturer and writer on the “Ramadan blog” of Svenska Dagbladet.

“She is one of three leading ladies. There is no host, just three women doing a travelogue on their country,” says Gunnar Hofverberg, the project leader for “Halal-TV”.

Stoned to death

In December 2003, Cherin Awad appeared on SVT’s program “Existens”, which deals with lifestyles and social issues, that particular show being dedicated to an unmarried women in Nigeria who risked being stoned to death because she gave birth to a child.

After the feature a studio debate followed, in which the host asked Cherin Awad if she thought it was right to stone an unfaithful woman.

She replied that it was “virtually impossible” to be sentenced to stoning, because juridically it requires so much evidence for such a penalty to be imposed. Such evidence must be that the woman confesses, or that there are four witnesses to the infidelity.

Capital Punishment is Right

But she did not answer the question about whether the punishment is right or wrong.

“The penalties are harsh, because God shows us human beings that it is incredibly appalling to behave in such a way,” said Cherin Awad.

The host followed up with another question:

“But if the criteria are met, if you have four witnesses, if a woman or a man confesses to adultery, according to you, would it (stoning to death) be the correct punishment?

“Yes,” Cherin Awad responded without hesitation.

SVT’s own description on the program schedule, which SVT recently removed from its website, described her position:

“According to her, the evidence requirements are so strict that the sentence can never be applied in practice. But if she has to choose, God’s law always precedes man’s law. And the penalty for adultery is death.”

“Regrettable”

But according to Gunnar Hofverberg, the schedule text is unfair.

“It’s been spun fairly hard,” he says.

When Expressen contacted Cherin Awad, she said she regrets her statement, explaining that she felt pressured by the situation.

“It’s regrettable that I expressed myself that way. I am against capital punishment, and was even then. But unfortunately I expressed myself in a manner that I regret,” she said.



Hat tip: Fjordman.

Who is a Sellout?

This is an interesting debate between two black men, James T. Harris and Shelley Wynter, who refer to themselves as conservatives. One of them supports John McCain, and the other supports Barack Obama. The Obama supporter calls the McCain supporter a “sellout”, and says that Obama is the great leader that our country needs, like “FDR, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, and John F. Kennedy.”

Hat tip: DJ.

[end of post]

The Last Hours of Jörg Haider

According to the latest reports from Austria, Jörg Haider got quite drunk at a gay bar in Klagenfurt in the hours just before his fatal car accident.

Österreich has photos and an article, as translated by Henrik from Europe News:

A Bottle of Vodka, and Then He Started the Phaeton

Klagenfurt, October 17 2008

After all, things were a bit different. Before his death drive, Haider visited a local bar, and in company of an unknown person drank vodka.

The riddle of the last hours of Jörg Haider’s life has largely been solved. This also answers the question of where the leader of the Kärntern province got so drunk that he lost control of his VW Phaeton with 1.8 promille of alcohol in his blood.

Haider was in the Klagenfurter bar “Zum Stadkrämer” and it appears that he, in company of a young man, got drunk quite fast. Haider entered the room in company of the man, and was sitting with him at the table, as shown by the photos that ÖSTERREICH is now able to publish:

[Picture here]

When Haider left the room shortly after 1 AM, the 58-year BZÖ leader appeared to be visibly drunk, not able to walk straight. So worrisome that another guest had offered him a ride home, which Haider turned down.

Haider’s last drive:

[Map here. The text items from the map points are given below.]

1)   4:30 PM Haider leaves “Hotel Moser Verdino” and goes to his apartment.
2)   7:30 PM Haider arrives at the opening of Bem Vindo” in Klagenfurt.
3)   9:45 PM In “Le Cabaret” in Velden is the last of his public programme for the evening.
4)   10:30 PM Haider leaves the garage of Casino Velden for an unknown destination.
   
? Where was Jörg Haider in the time interval between 10:30 PM and 11:15 PM ?
 
5)   11:15 PM Haider appears with company at “Zum Stadkrämer” and stays until shortly after 1:00 AM.
6)   1:18 PM With an alcohol contents of 1.8 parts per thousand Haider drives to his death at a speed approaching 170 km/h.

The would-be helper has reported details to the leading state official Gottfried Kranz, who confirmed this on Thursday.

Volkswagen, which manufactured the Phaeton in which Mr. Haider died, has not ruled out sabotage. The company is anxious to demonstrate that the car should have negotiated the curve successfully, even at such a high speed.

According to The Daily Mail:
– – – – – – – –

As throngs of right-wing crowds gathered for his funeral today, makers of the VW Phaeton limo he was driving insist their car is one of the safest in the world and should have survived the crash.

VW spokesman Peter Thul claimed that someone with access to Haider’s car key could have manipulated the car’s electrics.

The car giants have sent their own experts to examine the wreckage and search for signs it may have been sabotaged.

[…]

Thul told The Sun: “It is a fact that Haider was going too fast, but such a speed on that curve is not a problem for the car’s physics.

“The Phaeton and Audi A8 are the safest of all. You’d need the key to manipulate the electronics, so someone at a garage would have to tamper with it.”

This story gets curiouser and curiouser. What will emerge next?



Hat tip for the Daily Mail article: JD.

The Iranian Death Ship

This story is an example of the Demonic Convergence in action: nuclear weapons, the Iranian effort to destroy Israel, Chinese complicity in international terrorism, and the Somali pirates, all rolled into one.

Remember the Iranian ship that was hijacked off the coast of Somalia a few weeks ago? Pirates who came into contact with the unidentified cargo of the ship became seriously ill, and since then sixteen of them have died of what appears to be radiation poisoning.

Now an account of what happened has been patched together: the Iranian ship was loaded with radioactive sand from China, and was en route to the Suez Canal and then the Mediterranean. The goal was to blow it up off the coast of Israel and send a lethal radioactive cloud over the Jewish state during Yom Kippur. Had it not been for the Somali free-lancers, there’s no telling what might have happened.

Here’s the account from Shirat Devorah, via Pat Dollard:

Hijacked Iranian Ship was a Dirty Bomb Meant for Israel on Yom Kippur

On August 21st, 2008, the MV Iran Deyant, 44,458 dead weight bulk carrier was heading towards the Suez Canal. As it was passing the Horn of Africa, about 80 miles southeast of al-Makalla in Yemen, the ship was surrounded by speedboats filled with members of a gang of Somalian pirates who grab suitable commercial ships and hold them and their cargos and crews for ransom. The captain was defenseless against the 40 pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades blocking his passage. He had little choice other than to turn his ship over to them. What the pirates were not banking on, however, was that this was no ordinary ship.

The MV Iran Deyanat is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) — a state-owned company run by the Iranian military that was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on September 10, shortly after the ship’s hijacking.

According to the U.S. Government, the company regularly falsifies shipping documents in order to hide the identity of end users, uses generic terms to describe shipments to avoid the attention of shipping authorities, and employs the use of cover entities to circumvent United Nations sanctions to facilitate weapons proliferation for the Iranian Ministry of Defense. The MV Iran Deyanat departed Nanjing, China, July 28, and, according to its manifest, planned to sail to Rotterdam, where it would offload 42,500 tons of iron ore and “industrial products” purchased by an unidentified “ German client”. The ship has a crew of 29 men, including a Pakistani captain, an Iranian engineer, 13 other Iranians, 3 Indians, 2 Filipinos, and 10 Eastern Europeans, stated to be Albanians.

The MV Iran Deyanat was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates — 50 onboard and 50 onshore. The Somali pirates attempted to inspect the ship’s seven cargo containers but the containers were locked. The crew claimed that they did not have the “access codes” and could not open them. Pirates have stated they were unable to open the hold without causing extensive damage to the ship, and threatened to blow it up. The Iranian ship’s captain and the engineer were contacted by cell phone and demanded to disclose the actual nature of the mysterious “powdered cargo” but the captain and his officers were very evasive. Initially they said that the cargo contained “crude oil” but then claimed it contained “minerals.” Following this initial rebuff, the pirates broke open one of the containers and discovered it to be filled with packets of what they said was “a powdery fine sandy soil”…

Within a period of three days, those pirates who had boarded the ship and opened the cargo container with its gritty sand-like contents, all developed strange health complications, to include serious skin burns and loss of hair. And within two weeks, sixteen of the pirates subsequently died, either on the ship or on shore.

News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. and they witnessed some of the deaths due to exposure to ‘something on that ship.’

The Somali pirates initially set the ship’s ransom at $2 million and the Iranian government provided $200,000 to a local broker “to facilitate the exchange.” The $2 million dollar ransom agreement, which was supposedly secured on September 6th, never took place for reasons unknown. After September 10th, sanctions on IRISL were applied specifically because the company was said to engaged in illicit operations on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Serious negotiations were broken off completely. Iranian authorities subsequently denied that it agreed to the price nor had paid any money to the pirates. Nevertheless, after sanctions were applied to IRISL on September 10, Osman says, the Iranians told the pirates that the deal was off. “They told the pirates that they could not come because of the presence of the U.S. Navy.” The region is patrolled by the multinational Combined Taskforce 150, which includes ships from the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. Subsequently, it was disclosed that the U.S. government had offered to pay $7 million to the pirates to “receive entry permission and search the vessel.” Officials in the Pentagon and the Department of State have consistently refused to comment on the situation.

The exact nature of the cargo remains officially a mystery but officials in Puntland and Baidoa are convinced the ship was carrying weapons to Eritrea for Islamist insurgents. “We cannot inspect the cargo yet,” Osman said, “but we are sure that it is weapons.”

The article goes on to say that warships from Russia, the USA, France, and other countries are waiting off the coast of Somalia to make sure that the ship doesn’t resume its travels without a close inspection.

Russian intelligence does not believe that the ship was bound for Eritrea, however:
– – – – – – – –

Although American intelligence and government sources are maintaining a strictly observed silence, the same does not apply to the Russians and so it is that we learn the real story of the MV Iran Deyanat. She was an enormous floating dirty bomb, intended to detonate after exiting the Suez Canal at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in proximity to the coastal cities of Israel. The entire cargo of radioactive sand, obtained by Iran from China (the latter buys desperately needed oil from the former) and sealed in containers which, when the charges on the ship are set off after the crew took to the boats, will be blasted high into the air where prevailing winds will push the highly dangerous and radioactive cloud ashore.

Given the large number of deaths from the questing Somali pirates, it should be obvious that when the contents of the ship’s locked cargo containers finally descended onto the land, the death toll would be enormous. This ship was nothing more nor less than the long-anticipated Iranian attack on Israel. Not the expected rocket attacks (which could be intercepted by the Israelis) but an even more deadly and unexpected attack by sea. It is very interesting to note that the Israeli government has in the past few weeks, been loudly demanding that the United States establish a naval blockade of Iran.

If all this is true, Israel (and the rest of the West) has been extremely lucky so far. One of these days our luck is going to run out, however, and a murderous plan like this one will be successfully executed.



The Shirat Devorah article was written by Brian Harring.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/16/2008

Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/16/2008A woman will lead Muslim prayers in Oxford. The EU bans incandescent bulbs. The FBI launches an investigation of ACORN.

But the story about the subduing of the drunken hijacker on an airliner bound from Turkey to St. Petersburg is my favorite, because of this quote:

“Surprisingly this hooligan was not British,” said an official at Pulkovo. “I understand he was from Uzbekistan where they also like to drink but cannot control themselves so well as Russians.”

Thanks to Abu Elvis, ACT for America, C. Cantoni, Diana West, DJ, El Inglés, Gaia, Insubria, RRW, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, TB, Transatlantic Conservative, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – –

USA
Candidate Banners Can Leave Clients, Businesses Bruised
Officials: FBI Investigates Acorn for Voter Fraud
Robert Spencer: Muslim Extremists Want to Invade Europe, U.S.
Somali Conflicts in Meatpacking Towns Make the New York Times
US Fears the Emergence of Shariah Banks
What if McCain Had Been Palling Around With a Terrorist?
 
Canada
Quebec Man Urges Al-Qaeda to Attack Canada
 
Europe and the EU
‘Al-Qaeda’ Terrorists Who Brainwashed Exeter Suicide Bomber Still on the Run
Credit Crunch : Irish Politicians Lead With Pay Cuts
EU Bans Incandescent Light Bulbs
First Woman to Lead Muslim Prayers Angers Traditionalists
Ganley: the Lisbon Treaty is Dead
Haider: the Death of a Populist
Link Between Child Porn and Muslim Terrorists Discovered in Police Raids
Sweden: Activists Break Into Bofors Weapons Plants
Terrorism: Spain, 13 Members of Islamic Group Arrested
UK: Anti-Burglar Device Banned, Safety of Thieves Cited
UK: Muslim Postal Workers Demand 3 Extra Breaks a Day
UK: Teach Children What Muslims Did for Us, Says Minister Jim Knight
 
Israel and the Palestinians
Hebron, Troops Blow Up Palestinian Tunnel
Mideast: Italian Health Project for Palestinian Children
 
Middle East
Acceptable Behaviour in Dubai
Energy: EU Urges Turkey to Get Serious About Nabucco
For Saudi Human Rights Association Death Penalty is Lawful
Kurds and Arabs Exchange Accusations Over Attacks on Christians in Mosul
Lebanon: Government Finances Industries Damaged by 2006 War
UAE: Beach Sex Case Lands Britons in Jail
 
Russia
Energy: Syria, Russian Stroytransgaz Starting in November
Passengers Overcome Hijacker on Turkish Airlines Flight
 
South Asia
Afghanistan: German MPs Approve Extra Troops and Extend Mission
Execution Date for Bali Bombing Defendants to be Announced in a Few Days Time
Lahore, Ulema Council: Suicide Attacks Are “Un-Islamic”
Makkah Hotels Too Expensive for Nepali Muslims
Malaysian Government Bans Hindu Movement
 
Australia — Pacific
Airport Admits ‘Strip Search’ Body Scanners Will Show People Naked
 
Latin America
Spain-Cuba: Madrid Studies Aid Plan for 400 Mln Euro
Venezuela’s Government Looking to Establish New 6-Hour Workday
 
Immigration
Immigration: Maroni, 27,417 Arrivals in 2008
Immigration: Landings on Lampedusa, 650 in Only a Few Hours
Italy: Separate Classes for Immigrant Pupils ‘Discriminatory’ Says MP
 
General
China: Contaminated Milk, Lebanon Bans Imports
Contaminated Chinese Products Found
Orhan Pamuk: ‘I’m for Europe, Democracy and Freedom of Opinion’
Terrorism and Scandinavia: Quo Vadis?

USA


Candidate Banners Can Leave Clients, Businesses Bruised

The sign went up Sunday evening, bold black letters against the stark white background of the marquee at the Colony South Hotel & Conference Center in Clinton: “Country First. McCain/Palin.”

By daybreak, pandemonium had broken loose all across heavily Democratic Prince George’s County. Many local supporters of Democrat Barack Obama, jolted by the message as they headed down Branch Avenue on their Monday morning commutes, grabbed cellphones and BlackBerrys to notify friends. Operators of neighborhood e-mail group lists cried foul to their memberships. The NAACP logged calls. Community leaders demanded boycotts of the hotel, a common venue for Democratic events.

“Businesspeople have to be mindful of the sentiments and sensibilities of their market trading area, and Prince George’s County is overwhelmingly for Obama,” said community activist Arthur Turner of Kettering, who was among those advocating a boycott. “People I have talked to look at the sign as a slap in the face. They feel it was blatant disrespect. . . . I have heard people say they will no longer patronize Colony South because of that disrespect.”

The outcry over the hotel marquee tapped into the passion — and sometimes anger — that has characterized this fall’s presidential campaign. Supporters of Republican candidate John McCain have vented their rage at rallies this week, applauding thunderously as McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists.”

Prince George’s, though, is clearly Obama Country. As the nation’s wealthiest mostly black community, where about 77 percent of registered voters are Democrats, residents have Obama placards in their yards, bumper stickers on their cars and the candidate’s visage on their T-shirts.

The marquee supporting the GOP ticket in “an area that is strongly African American was like putting a stink bomb in the middle of the living room,” said University of Maryland political Professor Ron Walters. “What it does show is the emotions that are around this campaign and this election.”

Colony South General Manager Alan Vahabzadeh said that the hotel, one of several Washington area businesses that has dared to venture into the political thicket, got the message after about 100 phone calls and three dozen e-mails. The sign came down Wednesday afternoon.

“I didn’t even realize it was going to be like this,” he said in an interview. The last thing “we want to do is lose business,” he added…

           — Hat tip: Transatlantic Conservative [Return to headlines]



Officials: FBI Investigates Acorn for Voter Fraud

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating whether the community activist group ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election. A senior law enforcement official confirmed the investigation to The Associated Press on Thursday.

A second senior law enforcement official says the FBI was looking at results of recent raids on ACORN offices in several states for any evidence of a coordinated national scam.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Justice Department regulations forbid discussing ongoing investigations particularly so close to an election.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, says it has registered 1.3 million young people, minorities and poor and working-class voters — most of whom tend to be Democrats.

Republican accusations about the group were raised during Wednesday’s presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and GOP candidate John McCain.

Some ACORN employees have been accused of submitting false voter registration forms — including some signed ‘Mickey Mouse’ or other fictitious characters.

Those voter registration cards have become the focus of fraud investigations in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri and at least five other states. Election officials in Ohio and North Carolina also recently questioned the group’s voter forms.

ACORN has said the “vast majority” of its workers are conscientious, but some might have turned in duplicate applications or provided fake information to pad their pay. Workers caught submitting false information have been fired, ACORN officials say.

ACORN says laws in a number of states require it to submit all registration cards it collects even dubious ones, so its workers segregate applications with missing, suspicious or false information and flag them so state election officials can quickly check them further.

           — Hat tip: DJ [Return to headlines]



Robert Spencer: Muslim Extremists Want to Invade Europe, U.S.

Muslim extremisms have threatened to “invade Europe and America,” a right wing pundit told University of Wisconsin community members Wednesday.

Robert Spencer, who has written several books on the topic of Islamic extremism, discussed why certain sects of Islam are a threat to the West in an event sponsored by UW College Republicans.

In his lecture, Spencer highlighted the Muslim Brotherhood as an example of Islamic Extremism, paraphrasing a 1991 mission statement of the group.

“The Muslim brotherhood must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad on eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within … so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions,” Spencer said.

The goal of many of these Islamic groups, Spencer said, is to make Shariah — or Islamic law — the law that governs all Western nations.

Shariah encompasses most aspects of life, which Spencer said takes away from freedoms of speech and religion.

He said it is the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood to get a Muslim in the White House to begin enacting Shariah.

“I don’t think it’s likely that they’re going to succeed,” Spencer said. “But I think it’s likely they could erode many of the freedoms that we enjoy in the United States at some point if their movement is not opposed.”

After his lecture, the floor was open to questions. Spencer was asked about the current efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said efforts were “doomed,” since democracies in both countries still have Shariah as the highest law in the land.

“You’re never going to have a representative pluralistic democracy that allows for the religious minorities to be fully represented in those countries while those provisions stand,” Spencer said.

Several members of the Muslim Student Association were present at the event and could be seen shaking their heads and scoffing throughout Spencer’s lecture.

Rashid Dar, MSA public relations chair, was the first to pose a question. He and several other MSA members ridiculed Spencer for not being informed on the topic and for not being fluent in Arabic.

“It is only you who truly understands how to distort the balance,” Dar said, speaking over commotion in the room and Spencer himself.

Spencer blasted the MSA members for speaking over him and spreading their “propaganda.”

“This lack of courtesy and this kind of arrogance is indicative of an unwillingness to engage in these things honestly,” Spencer said.

CR Chair Sara Mikolajczak said she thought the event went well overall but called the outbursts by MSA “absolutely ridiculous.”

“It’s one thing to ask a question. I mean, that’s perfectly legitimate — that’s why we open it up to Q-and-A,” Mikolajczak said. “But it’s a completely different thing to talk over a speaker and not to adhere to the rules.”

Attendees were asked to follow several rules, including keeping a conversational tone and not intimidating or threatening the speaker.

Those who did not follow the rules were subject to removal by CR members or UW Police.

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



Somali Conflicts in Meatpacking Towns Make the New York Times

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this link at the Religion of Peace blog this morning. It is from the New York Times of all places and it’s a pretty thorough discussion of the tension growing in small town America over the arrival of Somali refugees. The article entitled, “Somali influx unsettles Latino meatpackers” begins:

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Like many workers at the meatpacking plant here, Raul A. Garcia, a Mexican-American, has watched with some discomfort as hundreds of Somali immigrants have moved to town in the past couple of years, many of them to fill jobs once held by Latino workers taken away in immigration raids.

Mr. Garcia has been particularly troubled by the Somalis’ demand that they be allowed special breaks for prayers that are obligatory for devout Muslims. The breaks, he said, would inconvenience everyone else.

“The Latino is very humble,” said Mr. Garcia, 73, who has worked at the plant, owned by JBS U.S.A. Inc., since 1994. “But they are arrogant,” he said of the Somali workers. “They act like the United States owes them.”

Read it all, it is choke full of all sorts of interesting information. The only thing missing is any discussion about the US State Department’s role in bringing all the Somalis here in the first place…

           — Hat tip: RRW [Return to headlines]



US Fears the Emergence of Shariah Banks

America, which is renowned for its extremism towards Islam and being like a grouchy granny she was lately, is now talking incoherent again by warning its citizens about institutions and banks which claimed to be managing finances in accordance with the Islamic shariah.

The ailing US claimed that such an institution or bank posed danger to the national security of the US, because they are supporting as well as financing all forms of violence. The same call was also made by conventional banks in the West. They charged that those institutions could threaten the economy of Europe and the West.

They alleged that Islamic institutions and banks were having a part in financing violence acts, always referred to as “terrorism”. The organizations of The Right Alliance of the USA which is notorious for being radical, also called for a formation of a special congress to debate and express the danger of those institutions and banks…

           — Hat tip: ACT for America [Return to headlines]



What if McCain Had Been Palling Around With a Terrorist?

by Diana West

We interrupt regular column writing to … imagine John McCain ahead in the polls.

Imagine that McCain had spent the last 20 years in the pews of a white supremacist church that supported an apartheid-like separationism from black people, and also that, until a few months ago, McCain had proudly claimed the church’s white racist pastor as his “friend, mentor and pastor” — even taking the title of his best-selling 2006 memoir from one of this man’s sermons. Imagine further that, in the 1990s, McCain had directed foundation funding toward a white-separatist educational program supported by this same pastor.

Now imagine McCain — this same imaginary McCain whose polls indicate imminent victory — had only lately left this church, brushing off his relationship with the racist pastor by pleading ignorance of the man’s vile views.

All of these McCain hypotheticals, of course, are mirrored in Barack Obama realities related to his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah “G— d—- America” Wright. The foundation funding I refer to, detailed in a recent scoop by Stanley Kurtz, is the $200,000 that Obama, as chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge foundation, approved for a local organization that promoted black separationism as taught by such Afrocentric theorists as Jacob Carruthers, who, Kurtz writes at National Review Online, sought to use “African-centered education to recreate a separatist universe within America, a kind of state-within-a-state.” Carruthers, and many others from his organization, the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC), which, Kurtz writes, “takes as its mission the need to ‘dismantle the European intellectual campaign to commit historicide against African peoples,’ were featured speakers at Wright’s church.

Interesting, no? Worth a question or two into Obama’s more or less political relationship with Wright, no? Or views on Afrocentrism, no? Or into his media-honed reputation as the candidate of post-racial integration, no?

No.

Let me demonstrate why not by harkening back to our McCainian world of pretend for an unreality-check…

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]

Canada


Quebec Man Urges Al-Qaeda to Attack Canada

A Quebec man has posted messages on the Internet encouraging al-Qaeda to attack Canada, the latest in a series of similar sentiments that are worrying counterterrorism officials.

The author of the messages, who uses the pseudonym Altar, praised terror leader Osama bin Laden and asked why al-Qaeda was focusing its efforts only on Europe instead of Canada. “Allah is great and may Allah bless Sheikh bin Laden. That the sword held by the hand of al-Qaeda hits not only Europe, but that is hits all our enemies. Wherever they are,” he wrote in a Sept. 25 posting.

“Me, I live in Canada and the Canadian government supports the Americans. The government of Canada supports Israel. Canadian soldiers are sent to Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Now it’s Canada’s turn.”

A copy of the message, posted to a French-based Internet forum called Minbarsos, was found by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorist Web sites. In his online biography, Altar writes that he is a Sunni Muslim who lives in Quebec and that: “I want to chase the non-Muslims from Canada. Only their deaths will make Islam triumphant. God is Great.”

The message concludes: “May Allah guide us to always defend our religion. That the Crusaders whether in Iraq or in Ottawa, the sword of Islam will fall on their head. God is Great.”

This kind of rhetoric has been appearing increasingly on the Internet, often the work of young radicals who join online forums that promote al-Qaeda.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]

Europe and the EU


‘Al-Qaeda’ Terrorists Who Brainwashed Exeter Suicide Bomber Still on the Run

The al-Qaeda extremists who brainwashed an autistic Muslim convert into launching a failed suicide nail bomb attack in a family restaurant are still on the run, it can be disclosed.

Nicky Reilly, 22, tried to detonate a series of nail bombs, mixed in soft drink bottles with caustic soda, paraffin and aluminium foil, in the Giraffe restaurant at Exeter’s Princesshay shopping centre in May this year.

But when he attempted to assemble one of the bombs in the lavatory cubicle of the restaurant it exploded in his hands. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to attempted murder and preparing of an act of terrorism.

Police sources have told The Daily Telegraph he was groomed by two men on the Youtube website who claimed to be living on the Afghan-Pakistan border and to be in touch with al-Qaeda.

“We believe these men were living abroad but we are still investigating whether they were who they claimed to be,” the source said.

The men discussed with Reilly, who called himself Mohammad Abdulaziz Rashid Saeed Alim, whether to attack police officers and civil servants or the general public, in the end persuading him it should be an attack on the public.

Reilly left a typed suicide note at the flat he shared with his mother which referred to “Sheikh Osama” and said “We love death as you love life.”

His mother, Kim, said: “He is a vulnerable person who’s been radicalised and that is like an easy target, easy prey for them. Someone has brainwashed him — he has done the work and they are walking free.”

Investigations are also continuing into radicals in this country who may have played a part in encouraging Reilly, who has a low IQ and suffers from Aspergers syndrome, to become a suicide bomber.

[Return to headlines]



Banks: Santander Acquires 100% of Sovereign for 1.4 Bln Euro

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 14 — Santander bank has agreed the acquisition of 100% of the shares of the American deposits and loans bank Sovereign Bancorp, in a share exchange valued at 1.4 billion euro, USD 1.9 billion, according to reports in the Spanish media today. The main banking organisation in the Euro zone, headed by Emilio Botin, which already held 24.3% of the United States credit institution, will pay one of its own shares for every 3.42 Sovereign shares, whose shares are valued at 3.81 dollars each, according to listings on the New York stock exchange last Friday. In 2006, Santander paid 3.3 billion dollars for its share in the institution, whose headquarters is in Philadelphia, thus becoming the major shareholder. Over the last months, Sovereign has lost most of its stock market value, hit by the sub-prime crisis. Because of this, Santander had run up a capital loss of two billion euros by the end of September compared to the initial investment. Santander expects to complete the acquisition in the first quarter of 2009. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Credit Crunch : Irish Politicians Lead With Pay Cuts

Hopefully this is another Irish example that will be followed here. The Irish President Mary McAleese has announced that she will be taking a 10% pay cut in light of the current budgetary troubles. The finance Minister Brian Lenihan says he and his ministerial colleagues will also take a 10% wage cut. The opposition leader has instructed his party’s parliamentarians to take a 5% cut. The governor of the Irish Central Bank and Financial Services Authority has volunteered to also surrender 10% of pay. RTÉ’s top six executives are taking a “significant reduction” in pay. This follows the government’s announcement of a round of spending cuts as recession bites.

           — Hat tip: Gaia [Return to headlines]



EU Bans Incandescent Light Bulbs

Beginning in 2010, the light bulbs in European sockets will be doing a lot less incandescing and a lot more fluorescing.

Meeting last week in Luxembourg, European Union energy ministers agreed to ban filament light bulbs across all 27 member states. The decision comes just a few days before the EU will lift duties on energy-efficient bulbs imported from China, a move that is expected to bring down their prices.

Last year, Australia became the first country to enact an outright ban on incandescents, which will take effect in 2010. They were followed by Cuba, who apparently sent youth brigades into people’s homes to swap out the bulbs for more energy-efficient ones, and the Philippines, which announced plans to phase them out by 2010.

In the United States, the Energy Independence and Security Act, passed in June 2007 requires roughly 25 percent greater efficiency for light bulbs, phased in from 2012 through 2014. This effectively bans incandescent bulbs.

[Return to headlines]



First Woman to Lead Muslim Prayers Angers Traditionalists

Islamic history will be made in the heart of Oxford today when a woman Muslim scholar leads Friday prayers and delivers the khutba, or sermon, for the first time in Britain.

Professor Amina Wadud, visiting scholar at the Starr King School of the Ministry, Berkeley, California, received death threats after she led a service in New York three years ago. That event was held at an Anglican church after mosques refused to host it.

At 1pm today on Oxford’s Banbury Road, Ms Wadud will deliver a sermon at the start of a conference on Islam and feminism at the University’s Wolfson College. Organised by the Muslim Educational Centre Oxford (Meco), the event has attracted fierce criticism from traditionalists, who claim that the Koran insists on men leading prayers.

Police will be on hand to ensure protests do not spill over into violence…

           — Hat tip: El Inglés [Return to headlines]



Ganley: the Lisbon Treaty is Dead

Ahead of a conference of presidents meeting this morning to discuss the funding of Irish anti-Lisbon group Libertas, its founder, businessman Declan Ganley, puts his case to MEPs.

“It has been interesting to note the response of some MEPs to my country’s overwhelming rejection of the anti-democratic Lisbon treaty. It seems some of them were surprised, which only goes to prove just how removed they are from the real world in which we citizens of Europe occupy.

On 2 September, I had the honour of visiting the European parliament. I made the trip for several reasons, the most important of which was to do my small part as a private citizen in driving home the message that my own government has seemingly not had the courage to do. That is to firmly remind the institutions of Brussels that under the rules of the EU, the Lisbon treaty is dead.

Again, for clarity, in case anyone is unsure, the Irish people, who in my country are sovereign, have made their decision and the decision is no. If Brussels is to hold on to any pretence of holding democracy among its most cherished principles, it must accept the Irish people’s decision as final. It is the third rejection of the anti-democratic formula of Giscard d’Estaing’s European constitution. First the French said no, second the Netherlands, and now the Irish.

Of course, we all know that if there was a full and open debate and referendum on the Lisbon treaty in any of your member states, it would be roundly defeated in most, and not just by the usual suspects. As an ardent pro-European, I would point out to you that the Irish people are amongst the most pro-European people in Europe.

Most EU citizens do not hold the union in such high regard. The defeat in other referendums would be greater than in Ireland, which, of course, is why there were not any other referendums…”

           — Hat tip: Gaia [Return to headlines]



Haider: the Death of a Populist

by Srdja Trifkovic

Jörg Haider , the best known Austrian politician, was killed in a car crash on October 11. His death marks the end of a colorful career untypical for a “far-Right” figure. Armani-clad fitness fanatic, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pal with a permanent tan, Haider cut a figure vastly different from the bland establishmentarians who have ran Austria for decades. Villified by the European elite class as a neo-Nazi anti-Semite, he was a talented man of uncertain principles, great ambition, and dubious judgment.

Haider died only weeks after his Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ) won an impressive 11 percent of the vote in the general election, while the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) — which he had led from 1986 until 2000, and from which he split in 2005 — gained 18 per cent. It was the best result for Austria’s opponents of rampant immigration and EU integration in the history of the Republic

Born in 1950 to a lower-middle-class family in Upper Austria, Haider never forgot various indignities that his parents suffered after the war for alleged Nazi sympathies. Common folks like they took the rap for the “really big Nazis,” he later complained…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]



Link Between Child Porn and Muslim Terrorists Discovered in Police Raids

Paedophile websites are being used to pass information between terrorists

A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.

Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.

British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists’ methods and mindsets. Concerns within the Metropolitan Police led to a plan to run a pilot research project exploring the nature of the link. One source familiar with the proposal said that this could eventually lead to the training of child welfare experts to identify signs of terrorist involvement as they monitor pornographic sites.

Concerns have already been expressed at Cabinet minister level about the risk of vulnerable Muslim youths being exploited by older men.

Officers have noted that child sex abuse images have been found during investigations into some of the most advanced suspected plots. However, it is understood that the proposed research project was never implemented because the AntiTerrorism Branch was overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases it was having to deal with.

It is not clear whether the terrorists were more interested in the material for personal gratification or were drawn to child porn networks as a secure means of sending messages. In one case fewer than a dozen images were found; in another, 40,000…

           — Hat tip: Abu Elvis [Return to headlines]



Racism: Spain, ‘Romanians Out’ Competition on Web

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 15 — He created on the internet a xenophobic competition which, with the call “Romanians Out”, would have chosen its winner based on whoever managed to physically assault and beat up the largest number of citizens coming from Eastern Europe. M.F.M. a young man of 18, was arrested by police before his macabre farce could take place. It was the mobilisation on behalf of the internet user community, according to sources of the Spanish Guardia Civile in Seville, which was able to warn police. The racist ‘happening’ was called for in the town of Aznalcazar (Seville) for the night of October 4, through an internet forum frequently used by young people. Under the orders of “Romanians Out”, members were to unite in the town and assault as many citizens of Romanian origin as possible in the streets. Naturally, sources say, the winner would have been the one who assaulted the most people. Warned by some of the online forum’s users, police agents from the judicial unit specialised in internet crime implemented an operative plan. Twenty or so investigators disguised as civilians went to the location indicated and waited for the author of the racist initiative to show up, who was then handcuffed. Accused of crimes against the fundamental rights and public liberty and as an instigator to racist violence, the young man was booked but remained free, he risks, however, according to the Penal Code, a sentence of up to three years of prison. The mayor of the city of Anzalcazar, Dolores Escalona, of the PSOE party, explained that “for over twenty days a hundred Romanian citizens implanted itself on two agricultural establishments in the towns of Las Torres an El Barrero, to take part in the olive harvest” and admitted that there were tensions because of the new arrivals. The mayor excluded, however, at the same time the xenophobic reaction on behalf of the areas inhabitants. In the meantime, police closed down the webpage with the “criminal” forum. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Sweden: Activists Break Into Bofors Weapons Plants

Activists broke into two facilities associated with weapons manufacturer Bofors in the early hours of Thursday morning and claim to have damaged up to 20 grenade launchers.

Two people forcibly entered a BAE Systems Bofors facility in Karlskoga in central Sweden, setting off an alarm at around 3:00am Thursday morning. A guard later discovered the pair after they had broken into a locked building.

According to Sveriges Radio, the activists vandalized the facility and hung up a banner.

Two other activists were arrested after they broke into the Saab Bofors Dynamics plant in nearby Eskilstuna.

The activists belong to Ofog, a Swedish network devoted to a nuclear disarmament and demilitarization.

In a statement, the group claims that 20 Carl Gustaf-type grenade launchers were damaged by Thursday morning’s actions

“To disarm weapons which otherwise risk being used to kill people and worsen conflicts ought to be self-evident,” said Anna Andersson, one of the Ofog activists arrested, in a prepared statement published on the group’s website.

Police in Örebro and Eskilstuna couldn’t confirm how many weapons may have been damaged.

“So far the number is unknown and the technical investigation will reveal how many,” said Eskilstuna police spokesperson Owe Andersson to the TT news agency.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Terrorism: Spain, 13 Members of Islamic Group Arrested

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 16 — At least thirteen people suspected of being part of an organization for the recruitment and the financing of Islamic terrorism have been arrested today in Spain as part of a wide-ranging operation, still underway and led by the Audiencia Nacional judge Baltazar Garzon. Some of those arrested, according to the delegate from the central government in Catalonia, Joan Rangel, have been accused of belonging to a cell which covered for and supported al Qaeda terrorists, including some of those alleged to have had a hand in the 11 March 2004 attacks in Atocha. Most of the operation was conducted in Catalonia, though searches and sequesters were also carried out in Madrid and Andalusia. The investigation by the central foreign information unit of the national police, coordinated by Garzon, is a continuation of the Tigris operation set in motion in 2005, which was brought to a close by the officers of the Geo and Tedax corps, the latter specialized in bomb defusing. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Terrorist Linked to Stockholm Mosque

Abu Qaswara, the Swedish citizen killed by US forces in Iraq in early October and thought to be a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda’s Iraq operations, has been connected to a Stockholm-area mosque.

The incident, which took place on October 5th in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, makes Qaswara the fourth Swedish citizen suspected of engaging in terrorism abroad to be killed or jailed.

Qaswara, who was born in Morocco and became a Swedish citizen in the 1990s, has been linked to a mosque in the Brandbergen district of the Stockholm suburb of Haninge.

The same mosque has also been connected to Ahmed Essafri, another 55-year-old naturalized Swede from Morocco, who is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in the country of his birth after he was convicted of terror-related crimes in June of this year.

Essafri has since appealed his case and Sweden’s foreign ministry expects the new trial to begin some time this autumn, according to TT.

The picture of Qaswara’s activities which has emerged is in line with repeated assessments made by Sweden’s security police, Säpo, in their annual reports about Islamic terrorism in Sweden.

According to Säpo, operations in Sweden focus primarily on fund-raising and attracting volunteers to fight abroad.

Terrorist expert Magnus Ranstorp from the Swedish National Defence College (Försvarshögskolan) said it was “no surprise” that there were terrorists active in Sweden.

“This is not unusual, almost every country has some sort of problem. Sweden doesn’t stick out in comparison with other countries. And what we are dealing with are support operations, as we have seen examples of previously,” he told the TT news agency.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Torture Suspect: Girl Asked for Abuse

The boyfriend of a teenage girl who was tortured by him in November has pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse

A 20-year-old Lebanese-Danish man charged with imprisoning and torturing his girlfriend in November allegedly told his accomplice that the girl had asked for the abuse in order to demonstrate her love for him.

In a Frederiksberg municipal court on Wednesday, the accomplice told how the suspect locked the 19-year-old girl in a shed for over a week, subjecting her to various forms of violence, including cutting off one of her fingers.

The 18-year-old accomplice has already confessed his role in the crime and is testifying for the prosecution. He told the court that the suspect said the girl’s finger had to be cut off ‘to prove her love for him’.

The accused has been declared mentally ill and will likely serve time in a treatment facility if convicted.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



UK: Anti-Burglar Device Banned, Safety of Thieves Cited

A gardener who put up barbed wire to protect his allotment from thieves has been ordered to take it down in case intruders hurt themselves.

A man in Worcestershire, England put up the three-foot fence to ward off thieves who had stolen his tools and ransacked his vegetable garden.

Bill Malcolm says he was told by the council to remove the barbed wire fence so the city couldn’t be held liable if a thief were to be wounded and brought a lawsuit.

[Return to headlines]



UK: Muslim Postal Workers Demand 3 Extra Breaks a Day

The list of demands by Muslims goes on and on and on. This time Muslims in the United Kingdom have demanded that the Royal Mail postal service give them three extra breaks a day, to accommodate their Islamic prayer schedule. The Muslims who speak no English at all, quickly dropped their case after being told by their legal representative that they had no shot at winning the case. What will their next demand be, how about not having to deliver the mail to the houses of kafirs, because the Muslim workers are offended by them?

[Return to headlines]



UK: Teach Children What Muslims Did for Us, Says Minister Jim Knight

Children should be taught about the contribution Muslims have made to civilisation in order to combat the threats of extremism and discrimination, according to a Government minister.

Jim Knight, the schools minister, claimed lessons in the scientific and cultural innovations of Islam over the centuries would give young Muslims a sense of worth and reduce their risk of becoming alienated and falling under the spell of radicals.

He said it could also bring divided communities closer together, by teaching children from other backgrounds about the debt we all owe to Muslims — from coffee and pinhole cameras to the three-course dinner and advancements in maths.

Mr Knight spoke at the launch of an exhibition in Parliament about Islamic innovations, which has been developed by an education group dedicated to improving knowledge about Muslim history in Britain.

The Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation has also made packs for secondary school teachers to include provide teaching on Islamic inventions in a range of lessons, following a relaxation on the rules governing the National Curriculum last month.

           — Hat tip: Gaia [Return to headlines]

Israel and the Palestinians


Hebron, Troops Blow Up Palestinian Tunnel

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, OCTOBER 15 — The threat of “explosive tunnels” dug up in the Gaza strip by Hamas in the past has now arrived also in the West Bank with the goal of striking Israeli targets by surprise. The Israeli Army Radio reported military engineers blew up a 100-meter-long tunnel at Hebron in the West Bank today. The tunnel was excavated by Palestinians for still unclear purposes. It was the first time, the radio said, the Israeli military found such a tunnel in the West Bank. Local Palestinian sources pointed out the tunnel was spotted by security officials of the Palestinian National Authority and they added they thought the tunnel might have been dug for profit, for instance, in the hope of finding archeological objects in the area. Yet the Israeli Army went ahead and dynamited it right away without further investigations, also becuase the tunnel was very close to a military outpost. The radio reported strict secuirity measures were imposed in the area because thousands of Israelis were expected to visit Hebron on the occasion of the Sukkot (Feast of the Tents) holiday. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Mideast: Italian Health Project for Palestinian Children

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 15 — The Italian govenrment has undertaken a new and important project for Palestinian Territories: an Implementing Agreement was signed in Rome between the Foreign Ministry — Directorate General for Cooperation for Development — and the Tuscany Region government relating to the “Support Children in Palestinian Territories. Medecine in the service of Peace” project. This project — the Foreign Ministry recalled — was the object of a personal commitment toward its implementation by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini during the visit he made to the Palestinian Territories in July. The project has an overall cost of 5.7 million euros, equally shared by the Foreign Ministry and four Regional governments: Tuscany, in the leading role, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Umbria. The project will be carried out by two NGO’s, Israel’s “Center Peres for Peace” of Tel Aviv and the Palestinian “Panorama” of Ramallah. This is the first health assistance project for the Palestinian people envisioning the direct cooperation of Palestinians and Israelis, even if not at the government level. Thanks to it, Palestinian children suffering from serious illnesses will be taken to and treated in Israeli health structures. “This initiative — the Foreign ministry note said — fits into the activities that the Italian Cooperation carries out in the Palestinian Territories in the health sector, a field in which Italy has been acknowledged by the international Community of donors to have a leading role. The project is also valuable in that it helps to strengthen cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and Italian regional governments in cooperation projects”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Mideast: Hebron Tunnel, Hamas Protests, Threatens PNA

(ANSAmed) — GAZA, OCTOBER 15 — There is a risk that the cooperation underway on the West Bank between Palestinian and Israeli security forces will spark a revolt by the Palestinian people against the PNA of Abu Mazen (Mahmud Abbas). This warning was issued by Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, following the destruction of a tunnel in Hebron. A political spokesperson for Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, observed that the cooperation between Israel and the PNA in the demolition of that tunnel shows how Abu Mazen’s security forces “are committed to preventing any attack against the Isrealis”. The spokesperson for the military wing, Abu Obeida, added that this behaviour of the Palestinian security forces shows a form of “moral deterioration”. At this point, therefore, a revolt by the people against them cannot be ruled out. Moreover, Hamas protested about the demolition, which took place yesterday on the border between Gaza and Egypt, of seven tunnels, presumably used for smuggling of weapons and other things. The collapse of that tunnel, says Hamas, happened while Egyptian security forces were working on it. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Middle East


Acceptable Behaviour in Dubai

[Video]

A British man and woman have been found guilty of having sex on a beach in Dubai and sentenced to three months in prison.

Christian Fraser explains what people can and cannot do when visiting the Muslim state of Dubai.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Energy: EU Urges Turkey to Get Serious About Nabucco

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, OCTOBER 13 — The European Union said Turkey should waste no more time and negotiate seriously over the Nabucco gas pipeline while the U.S. reiterated its support on the USD 12 billion project, as daily Hurriyet reports. The project is designed to bring central Asian gas to Europe via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Supporters say it is vital to wean the region from over-dependence on Russian energy. “I encourage my Turkish friends to engage now seriously in the discussions in view of making Nabucco operational as of 2013,” said Olli Rehn, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner. Analysts have criticized Turkey for dragging its feet at the bargaining table to try to secure higher transit fees and rights to trade gas going through the pipeline, due to supply an annual 30 billion cubic meters of Caspian or Middle Eastern gas. But some observers say hopes of construction are quickly fading, especially after the conflict in Georgia increased doubts about the security of investing in the turbulent region. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



For Saudi Human Rights Association Death Penalty is Lawful

Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The death penalty in the kingdom is not carried out until after “an exhaustive examination of the relevant” evidence with “enough guarantees for the defendant” and especially in accordance with Sharia or Islamic Law, Zuhayr al-Harithi, the Saudi Human Rights Association spokesman, said in response to criticism from Amnesty International which in its annual report slammed “the process in which the death penalty is taken and implemented [because it] is harsh, secret, and largely unfair.”

The London-based human rights association said that Saudi Arabia is “executing convicted persons at an average of more than two a week and that around half of them are foreigners from poor countries.”

The number of executions carried out last year rose to 158 up from 36 in the previous year.

For Al-Harithi international organisations are unable to understand that “each country has its own penal system and judicial rulings which should be respected.”

Saudi Arabia applies the rules of Sharia law which imposes the death penalty in cases of murder, sexual violence, drug trafficking and witchcraft.”

But for Al-Harithi the death penalty in the kingdom is not carried out until after an “exhaustive examination of the relevant” evidence is conducted by 13 judges before it is endorsed by “the highest authority in the kingdom, the king.”

The judicial system in Saudi Arabia also allows victims’ families to pardon convicted killers, saving their lives.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Kurds and Arabs Exchange Accusations Over Attacks on Christians in Mosul

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Who is behind the attacks on Christians in Mosul? The Iraqi government says it does not believe that this is al Qaeda, while media sources note that most of the people struck lived in the area controlled by Kurdish militias. The Kurdish regional government denounces the “malign efforts” of those who want to “conceal the truly guilty,” denounced as “religious fanatics,” and “orders” all ministers to help those who have been struck.

The exchange of accusations over responsibility for the attacks against Christians in Mosul seems to confirm the at least predominantly political nature of what is taking place in a city that is at the center of Kurdish and “Arab” claims, in addition to being a region extremely rich in oil reserves. Condemnation of the attacks against Christians on the part of the highest Shiite authority, grand ayatollah Ali Sistani, seems to point in the same direction.

The spokesman for Baghdad’s interior ministry, Abdulkarim Khalaf, says “I do not think al-Qaeda is behind the attacks against Mosul Christians.” One of the leading Iraqi newspapers, Azzaman, in reporting the statements by the spokesman, notes that “Most of the victims and the fleeing refugees lived on the left bank of the city where Kurdish militias are in control as it is mainly a Kurdish-inhabited area. Most of the Christians on the right bank of the Tigris River, a predominately Arab sector, are reported to have preferred to stay. Anti-Christian violence has concentrated in areas where Kurdish militias exercise almost full control. But residents say an explosive charge placed at the entrance of an ancient church in the Arab quarter went off on Tuesday, inflicting some material damage but causing no injuries.”

For its part, the Kurdish regional government accuses “religious fanatics and terrorists groups,” and, the news agency AINA says, “has ordered all ministries, departments and relevant parties to assist and help the victims as much as possible.” The Kurdish government also “forcefully condemns” the attacks and those who accuse the Kurds, and “we reiterate our support for the full rights of the Christians in provincial councils, under article 50 of the provincial election law.” This is the norm that reserved representation at this level for the minorities, and which parliament, at the moment of approving the law, struck down. In the face of the protests of Christians and international criticisms, the president of the republic promised that the principle will be reintroduced.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Lebanon: Government Finances Industries Damaged by 2006 War

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 13 — The Lebanese Ministry for Industry has financed industrial equipment for a value of 350,000 dollars to the benefit of 10 businesses in the southern area of Beirut (and one in south Lebanon) that were damaged during the war of July 2006. A total of 800,000 dollars, explains the Beirut ICE office, will be distributed to 75 industrial businesses through a partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Middle East: Calò Livné, We Can’t Give in to Extremism

(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSA) — ROME, OCTOBER 15 — “This is one of the most difficult moments in the history of the Middle East, because extremists on both sides are building strength. But extremism can achieve nothing”, said Angelica Calò Livné, the Italo-Israeli who has lived in Israel for 20 years and is in Italy — at the invitation of the Premio Fondazione Carical Grinzane Cavour — with teenagers from her Rainbow Theatre, made up of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Arabs and Druse. A workshop on co-habitation between different ethnic and religious groups, the young company, a mirror on the multiplicity of races which makes up the State of Israel but which children from Palestine have still not been able to join. “Unfortunately we are not in a position to put them together” said the artist who considers herself an “educator for peace through the arts”, founding the Beresheet Foundation. “But I hope that soon, all those who make an effort to send funds to the territories will instead help to create an economy and an organised State, with laws and welfare capable of rooting out the extremism”. In the meantime, she stressed “there is a current which is trying to keep us apart, Arabs and Jews in Israel and abroad. Hamas is conditioning the Muslim identity in a negative way, and there are also extremists amongst us”. The Israeli Left is in crisis, she highlighted, a crisis which comes from the fact that things have got worse since the departure of the Israeli army from Lebanon in 2000 and from Gaza. “Our soldiers had to strip away whole families from there, and soon after the Kassam rockets arrived, and Hamas and Fatah massacred each other. Obviously they are asking us, what peace are you looking for? This is the dilemma of the Left”. But Angelica Calò Livné has no doubts about the historic function that Israel is witnessing: “we are the human barrier blocking integralism, which otherwise would be flooding. It is not true that integralism is fed by the lack of solution to the Palestinian question, We like them are victims of those who want us to kill each other”. Her personal response to this destiny of hate is theatre, involving hundreds of children of different races and religions, creating a permanent place for shows and workshops with them. “If the children are able to be together, overcoming their differences, it means that it can be done”. Despite the evidence of what has happened recently in Akko, the vandalism and clashes between Jews and Arabs which also caused the suspension of the annual Festival of alternative theatre which usually attracts thousands of visitors. “It cannot be stopped like this, the culture of a country which is the biggest racial workshop in the world”. The only way to get out of all this is to guarantee the Palestinians the means for constructing a State and an organised economy: guaranteeing water — which Israel does not take away from neighbouring territories — with help in education, with economic projects which involve the Palestinians as well. Like the project for the canal between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea which along with water for Palestine, Jordan and Israel would also provide work for 300 thousand Palestinians. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Property: Emirates; New City, Project of 70 Bln Euro

(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI, OCTOBER 6 — Even facing the international financial storm the property market of the United Arab Emirates is moving more and more. Meraas Development, the new property holding owned by the government of Dubai, has announced a renovation and urban reconstruction project for 70 billion euros. The announcement was made on the opening day of Cityscape 2008, the most important construction fair in the world, extra important this year to test the robustness of the regional market in the light of the global economic crisis. The project, called Jumeirah Garden City, will rise on the rubbles of a large part of Satwa, the historic district on the coast of Dubai which has been in decay for years, and will be a kind of extension of the present Jumeirah, a trendy district on the sea which also harbours Burj al-Arab, the hotel in the shape of a sail. Demolition of the old villas has started a few weeks ago, but it will take 12 years to complete the project. Meanwhile local giants Nakeel and Emaar are competing to build ever bigger and audacious urban structures and today Nakeel scored with the presentation of a project which includes the highest skyscraper in the world, the first one higher than one kilometre. It will take at least ten years to build, requiring 500,000 cubic metres of cement and many kilometres of reinforcement rod, stretched out on the ground enough to connect Dubai with New York, the architects explain. Nakeel that way is getting more attention than its sister Emaar, which constructed Burj Dubai which though not yet finished at them moment is the highest building on Earth with its declared 688m and 160 habitable floors. Its final height, though top secret, is said to be close to 900m with the spiral placed on top of the building in glass and cement, much less therefore than the planned height of its rival. The ‘Tower’ will have 200 floors, causing the existence of 5 different microclimates between floor and top. In the heart of the ‘Harbour’ a structure formed by four skyscrapers will come together. The quarter will be built south of the city between the shopping centre dedicated to Ibn Battuta, the Marco Polo of the East, and the Arabian Canal, a mega-project, also of Nakeel, which will take sea water through a canal over 75km long between Jebel Ali and Palm Jumeirah Island. The Harbour (270 hectares) was designed to give space to 19.000 residential units and 55.000 people, as well as 45.000 commuting workers. All around the tower, between parks, canals and ten kilometres of promenade 40 more buildings will rise of 20 to 90 floors, while 25 square kilometres will be dedicated to restaurants and hotels, one of which very luxurious of course, will be situated on the higher floors of the Tower. Nakeel’s skyscraper anticipates Saudi Arabiàs ambition of building one of a mile high, four times the Empire State Building. The problem would have come to a temporary standstill due to technical problems transporting construction material that high. Despite this setback, Meraas Development of Dubai would already have the design for a structure 2.4km high, which should be built in the heart of the future Jumeirah Garden City. The news hasn’t been confirmed however. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



UAE: Beach Sex Case Lands Britons in Jail

Dubai, 16 Oct. (AKI) — A British couple on Thursday was sentenced to three months in jail by a Dubai court after being convicted of having sex on the beach.

Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors were caught at Jumeirah beach on 5 July after an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch. Reportedly they were warned by a police officer about their behaviour, but when he returned he found them having sex.

They were accused of sex outside marriage, public indecency and drunkenness.

Palmer and Acors were fined 1,000 dirhams (200 euros) and issued a deportation order after their sentence is completed, reported Dubai-based TV network al-Arabiya.

Both of the accused deny the charges, saying they were only kissing and hugging.

Judge Hamdi Abul el-Khair of Dubai’s Court of First Instance handed down the sentence early on Thursday. Neither of the accused were present in court.

However, Palmer and Accors’ lawyer, Hassan Matter said they will appeal the sentence.

Dubai, considered the most liberal of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, is struggling to balance an Islamic identity and conservative laws, with the lifestyles of millions of western expatriates.

Dubai’s expatriate population makes up at least 85 percent of the population. Authorities have recently launched a crackdown on what it calls indecent behaviour such as topless sunbathing and nudity.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Russia


Energy: Syria, Russian Stroytransgaz Starting in November

(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, OCTOBER 7 — Russian Stroytransgaz will start in Syria, the production tests of the South Middle Area Gas Processing Plant this November. The initial production will be 1.5 million cubic meters of gas per day, according to what was communicateD by the Oil Minister in Syria and reported by the Italian Trade Commission. Normally the production will be 2.2 million cubic meters of purified gas, 23,000 metric tons of liquefied propane-butane and 233,000 metric tons of condensate. The contract should have a value of 210 million dollars. The plant will be operating in June of 2009 and is one of the four plants for gas extraction under construction in Syria. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Passengers Overcome Hijacker on Turkish Airlines Flight

Passengers and cabin staff aboard a Turkish airliner bound for St Petersburg wrestled an inebriated holidaymaker to the floor after he claimed to have a bomb strapped to his waist and tried to storm the cockpit.

The would be hijacker, who had reportedly consumed a considerable quantity of alcohol, passed a barely legible note to an air hostess threatening to blow up the plane.

“I have bomb,” he wrote in the message. “If you don’t take me in I will blow up.” The man was then overpowered as he attempted to force his way into the cockpit.

This unfolded as the Airbus A-320, en route from the Turkish resort of Anatalya to St Petersburg, flew over Belarus. There were 167 passengers on board, most of them Russian tourists returning from a holiday on the Turkish Riviera.

Police arrested the man shortly after the aircraft landed at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport. Details on his identity were scant, although officials confirmed that he had not been carrying explosives.

“Surprisingly this hooligan was not British,” said an official at Pulkovo. “I understand he was from Uzbekistan where they also like to drink but cannot control themselves so well as Russians.”

Tens of thousands of Russian tourists head for Turkey’s Anatolian province ever month, where many spend their holidays in an alcohol induced daze. Drinking and boisterousness on flights too and from Turkey are common.

[Return to headlines]

South Asia


Afghanistan: German MPs Approve Extra Troops and Extend Mission

Berlin, 16 Oct. (AKI) — Germany’s lower house of parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to increase by 1,000 the number of troops it can send to Afghanistan and extended the mission’s mandate by 14 months.

Under a previous parliamentary mandate, Germany was allowed to send up to 3,500 troops to Afghanistan. Thursday’s vote increases that number to 4,500.

Germany is one of nearly 40 countries that have deployed troops to Afghanistan within the 50,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping mission (ISAF).

But the move by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition to extend Berlin’s participation in a NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan is unpopular with German voters, who are mindful of the rising violence in the war-torn country.

Morale among German soldiers is at a record low as they face mounting attacks from a resurgent Taliban. During the past year, the security situation has deteriorated across Afghanistan, including the north, where German soldiers are stationed.

German soldiers in northern Afghanistan daily run the risk of “being caught in an explosion or being shot at,” said an unnamed officer, quoted by Germany’s DPA news agency.

At least 18 civilians were killed in an air strike carried out by foreign forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, reports said on Thursday.

ISAF did not confirm the civilian casualties but said it was investigating the incident.

In separate incident on Thursday, an Afghan policeman reportedly killed a US soldier on a foot patrol in the eastern province of Paktia.

A total 230 international soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year fighting the Taliban insurgency, according to the Associated Press news agency.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Execution Date for Bali Bombing Defendants to be Announced in a Few Days Time

by Mathias Hariyadi

Attorney general says that date and place of the execution will be announced before 24 October. Islamic extremists continue their pressure to have sentence postponed.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Attorney General Hendarman Supandji will announce before 24 October the date and place of the execution of Amrozi (pictured just after learning of his death sentence), Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron, sentenced to death for their role in the 12 October 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, Attorney General Office’s spokesman Jasman Sinanjutak said today. In the statement the latter refused to give any further information about the execution, rejecting allegations that the process was being delayed as a result of pressure from Islamic extremist groups, especially by the Islamic Lawyer Team (TPM).

The death sentence became final in September 2007 but since then the execution has been postponed several times. This stands in contrast, as many have pointed out, to the swift execution of other defendants like Christians Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu who were put to death despite not having exhausted all legal recourse at their disposal.

Under Indonesian law defendants can meet close relatives and their attorneys before they are moved to a secret location for execution. In this case the authorities might even allow them to meet close friends.

In the meantime their health continues to be closely monitored since executions can be postponed indefinitely if defendants are found to be mentally or physically unfit.

In its actions on behalf of the Bali bombers the TPM has called for changes to the procedures of execution. But the chief of the Constitutional Court, Prof Mahfud of the Islamic Indonesian University in Yogyakarta, said the group’s appeal has no bearing on this case.

“The Indonesian Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) has been ready to discuss the matter” but “our schedule has nothing to do with the schedule of the execution,” said Mahfud. In his view there is no reason to wait for the Court’s decision.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Lahore, Ulema Council: Suicide Attacks Are “Un-Islamic”

Lahore (AsiaNews) — A conference that unites accredited Pakistani Islamic scholars, meeting in Lahore, declared yesterday that suicide attacks are “un-Islamic, and forbidden,” recalling that only the state has the authority to proclaim jihd (holy war), not individuals or groups.

The Muttahida Ulema Council, during the conference in Jania Naeemia, also unanimously issued a fatwa (edict) against the recent wave of suicide bombing attacks that have killed hundreds of people in the country.

Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha, president of the Pakistani Catholic bishops’ conference, applauds and supports the decision. He explains to AsiaNews that “no religion approves of terrorism or suicide bombings.”

Malik Rehman, an adviser to the interior minister, has also praised the fatwa, and expresses his hope that it will discourage suicide attacks.

But the clerics are more critical of the government, which, they say, is pursuing the objectives of the United States, under the pretense of the war on terror. They are asking the government to suspend its military operations in tribal areas, and to seek negotiated solutions with the population there. They have also decided to send a delegation to the civil war areas of Bajaur and Swat, in order to get a more precise idea of the situation.

The group Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan and various politicians have asked that the alleged terrorists be allowed to speak in parliament, to explain their point of view.

The request has been criticized by Archbishop Saldanha, who does not believe that statements from people accustomed to spreading extremist ideas, and asserting their ideas through violence, would be useful.

The prelate says that he is “optimistic” that “this present secret session of the parliament would allow the politicians to make some good policies for the country.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Makkah Hotels Too Expensive for Nepali Muslims

The demolition of low-cost pilgrims’ hostels in the holy city will prevent Nepali Muslims from performing the traditional hajj pilgrimage. Finding a solution is proving difficult and is generating tensions between Prachanda’s Maoist-led government and some Nepali Muslim leaders.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Nepali Muslims might not make it this year to the traditional Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah. The gates to the city might be closed after Saudi authorities decided to shut down the more dilapidated buildings in Kawasaripha, accommodation hub for visiting pilgrims, in order to build new ones. The decision is aimed at improving crowd controls for the millions of pilgrims who come, but it has a negative impact on low-income pilgrims who can only afford cheap accommodations.

Hajj, the once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Makkah, is the fifth pillar of Islam, a duty for every practicing Muslim. For would-be hajjis the cost of finding lodgings in the holy city would top US$ 800. Accustomed to spending US$ 200 at most, Nepali Muslims can hardly afford the new prices.

Still pilgrim safety in Makkah remains a top priority, especially at pilgrimage time. Last year, at least 345people were killed in a stampede during the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual.

In Nepal Muslims represent 3.5 per cent of the population of 24 million. In 2007 405 of them left Kathmandu for the holy city. This year that number might drop to only 33.

Nepali authorities have tried to find a solution with their Saudi counterpart but no solution has been forthcoming yet and there is little time left. This year the month of Dhu l-hijjah when hajj takes places starts on 30 November.

The Saudis rejected a proposal to house Nepali pilgrims in accommodations farther from Makkah. In view of the situation the former chief of the Nepali Hajj Committee, Izharul Haq Mikrani, sarcastically said that “not all Nepali pilgrims can afford to live in five-star hotels.”

Nepal’s domestic situation is also complicating matters. Under the country’s Maoist leader, Prachanda, Nepal is trying to follow more secular-oriented policies, far from Muslim leaders’ guidelines.

Some Muslim leaders have complained that the government appointed (on 25 September) the wrong man, Taj Mahammad Miya, to head the Hajj Committee.

According to Nazrul Hasan Falahi Ameer, chairman of the Islamic Sangh Nepal and assistant secretary general to Inter-religious Council, the “Hajj Committee should be headed by a person who adheres to a true Islamic ethos.”

“I disagree with how the government proceeded to select committee chairman and members,” he said before complaining that the selection process “is all based on nepotism, favouritism and political affiliation.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Malaysian Government Bans Hindu Movement

The Hindu Rights Action Force has been declared illegal, because it “threatens social stability” in the country and “constitute an obstacle to relations between the Muslim majority and the ethnic minorities.” The accusations are rejected by the Hindus, who defend their “peaceful struggle.”

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Malaysian authorities have banned an ethnic Indian group that, in the past, has repeatedly promoted campaigns on behalf of human rights for minorities. Government officials have declared the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) illegal because it threatens “social stability in the country.”

Interior minister Syed Hamid Albar has declared that the association is “an illegal group,” effective immediately, because it is “harmful” for public order, peace, security, and morality. The minister says that Hindraf has been responsible in the past for repeated “unauthorized demonstrations,” and has damaged the image of Malaysia by calling for “international support for its activities.” He also specifies that the group “was not even registered,” and constitutes a threat “to the fragile relations between the Muslim majority in the country and the Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities.”

Leaders of the Hindu movement have replied curtly by defending their “peaceful struggle against discrimination toward the Indian minority,” and say they have never “broken the law or committed crimes.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Australia — Pacific


Airport Admits ‘Strip Search’ Body Scanners Will Show People Naked

New ‘strip search’ full body scanners being trialled in Australia will show people’s private parts, officials have admitted.

But to spare their blushes, the faces of passengers will be blurred.

Domestic travellers leaving Melbourne airport over the next six weeks will be asked to test the new security scanners that can see through clothing.

The X-ray backscatter body scanner has been described by critics as a “virtual strip search.”

The scanner is similar to one that was trialled at Paddington station in London in 2006 in direct response to the tube bombings in July 2005.

Similar systems have also been tested at Gatwick airport.

The new scanner is designed to show people concealing weapons — but it will show a lot more than that, airport chiefs have admitted

Cheryl Johnson, general manager of the Office of Transport Security, said:’ It will show the private parts of people, but what we’ve decided is that we’re not going to blur those out, because it severely limits the detection capabilities. ‘

‘It is possible to see genitals and breasts while they’re going through the machine, though,’ she admitted

However, Ms Johnson said there were a number of measures in place to tackle concerns about privacy.

“The faces are automatically blurred and … it’s only a chalk-style outline, it’s not as invasive as some of the other equipment that we’ve got,” she said.

The scanner uses a low energy X-ray to reveal any objects, metal or otherwise, under a person’s clothing, including body features.

The testing will be entirely voluntary during the trial, which is being undertaken to test how the new scanners would affect the flow of passengers through the security point.

“It does see through clothing, but it’s not a photographic image, it’s a low-energy X-ray that reflects off the skin,” added Ms Johnson.

“The security officer that’s looking at it is located away from the screening lane, so there’s no comparison of the person walking through and the image.

‘The images are not saved, you literally walk through, the screener hits a button to say clear and the image goes.”

The new scanners will be tested at Melbourne Airport alongside ‘next generation’ baggage X-ray machines that can detect explosives in luggage.

[Return to headlines]

Latin America


Spain-Cuba: Madrid Studies Aid Plan for 400 Mln Euro

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, 15 OCTOBER — A reconstruction plan for the Cuban regions which were devastated by hurricanes Ike and Gustav and credit for infrastructures and consumption goods for a total of 400 million euro: this is the plan the Spanish government is examining in support of Cuba, presented yesterday by Spanish Foreign Minster Miguel Angel Moratinos and his Cuban colleague Felipe Perez Roque, after a meeting in Madrid, as reported today in the press. The Spanish government has shown “a positive attitude” towards Havanàs request, though the details of the plan will be discussed with a Cuban delegation which will visit Madrid in the coming weeks. A “blank cheque of confidence” in the Cuban government, according to El Pais, which also reports Roqués uncompromising position expressed in his reply to the question if the timid measures of liberalisation adopted by Raul Castro will lead to a democratisation of the regime. “If by reform you mean a process in which Cuba gives up socialism” said Roque “then the response is no”. Moratinos, in turn, announced that Premier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has accepted an invitation of Raul Castro to visit Cuba in 2009. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Venezuela’s Government Looking to Establish New 6-Hour Workday

CARACAS, Venezuela — The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is planning to establish a six-hour workday.

Labour Minister Roberto Hernandez says he will propose a bill this year to reduce the workday, improve employee benefits and establish “more forceful” penalties for businesses that violate labour laws.

The president’s allies hold a majority within the National Assembly and most bills proposed by Chavez’s administration are approved.

Chavez presented the same proposal as part of a constitutional reform package that voters rejected last December.

Before the vote, some business owners warned that reducing the workday would force them to cut jobs or close down.

[Return to headlines]

Immigration


Immigration: Documentary You Won’t Find in Movie Theatres

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 9 — The hell — arrests, violence, connivance between police and traffickers — suffered in Libya by migrants (more than 95,000 between 2006 and 2007) coming from other parts of Africa with the dream of Europe or further, is relived through stories, testimonies, interviews in the documentary ‘Come un uomo sulla terra’ by Andrea Segre, Riccardo Biadene and Dagmawi Yimer, Ethiopian immigrants who came to our country in 2007. The film (sponsored by the Associazione Asinitas Onlus, and filmed by the group Zalab), which blames Italy indirectly for the situation in Libya, won the Salina doc Fest in September and is currenly looking for distributors. “We have contacted RAI, Istituto Luce, Lucky Red, Fandango” explained Andrea Segre in Rome where the film was shown at the Cinema Aquila “it is not easy, for political reasons”. Among the film’s themes are the illegal immigration agreements between Libya and Italy from 2003, leading to the latest agreement signed by Berlusconi and Gheddafi. “Myopia is the Italian government’s biggest crime, for small political events, we are assuming a responsibility which will prove very serious.” It is Italian money for example which paid for the building of the Kufrah prison where migrants are detained, and victims of deprivation, physical, and in the case of women, sexual violence. “We are asking Italy to put into practice respect for human rights regarding the agreement with Libya” explained Dagmawi “but this country which I love and where I want to stay is dispensing with this responsibility. Just giving money to stop the flow of immigrants is not the behaviour of a democracy.” Dagmawi, 24, a law student in his country and now an Italian teacher in Asinitas where he met Segre and Biadene, recounts his journey in the film. From his departure from Ethiopia in 2005 (“I left without saying goodbye, I was scared of displeasing my father”) to his long journey on a crammed lorry in the desert, to the terrible months in Libya where he was arrested several times, sold to traffickers for 30 dinars and rearrested, to his departure finally for Italy in July 2006. “My arrival in Lampedusa was the end of a nightmare. It was my moral duty to make this documentary, to give a voice to all those who no longer have one, those whose rights are still being trampled on.” Fikirte, Senait, Negga tell similar stories. “Here the politicians wave the landings at Lampedusa to create panic about immigration — even though 18,000 people arrive there every year, a tenth of Italy’s quota for immigration which is 180,000 units” said Segre “but I am really happy about the interest which different parts of Italy is showing in the film. We have already booked at least 20 showings up to February. It is a sign that an Italy which wants to face this reality exists. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigration: Maroni, 27,417 Arrivals in 2008

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 15 — 27,417 illegal immigrants arrived in 2008 (figures updated on 9 October): there were 17,200 in the same period for 2007, while in the whole of 2007 the figure was 20,450, said Interior Minister Roberto Maroni during a hearing at the Schengen Council. The reasons for the increase, according to Maroni were the search for “good climate conditions and fewer controls by Libya, despite two agreements (last December with the Prodi government and 30 September with Berlusconi)”. With the enforcement of the agreement signed on 30 August by Silvio Berlusconi and Muhammar Gheddafi, the arrivals from Libya should fall to zero. “Until Libya gives the go-ahead it is as if the agreement didn’t exist and I was expecting more commitment on their part”. In 2008, said the Minister, a good 306 out of 325 of the boats landing in Sicily came from Libya. And out of 27,417 immigrants, 22,454 arrived on Lampedusa. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigration: Landings on Lampedusa, 650 in Only a Few Hours

(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 16 — After an Italian police patrol vessel has intercepted a dinghy with 120 illegal immigrants on board, including 40 women, 8 miles south of the isle of Lampedusa, two more rafts carrying illegal migrants landed this morning. About 300 of the people onboard were stopped on land near Cala Croce by port authorities. The non-EU migrants have been taken to temporary detention centres, where identification procedures are underway. In addition, 239 others, including 51 women and 4 children, have been stopped by the Minerva corvette of the Military Marine, after being found travelling on a large raft 25 miles south of the island. They are all in good condition and are soon to be taken onto a coastal guard patrol boat which will be bringing them to land. O ver the night 132 other migrants, including 49 women, were taken in by a Financial Guard patrol boat when they were found on a rubber dinghy drifting at sea eight miles south of the island. (ANSAmed).

(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 16 — After an Italian police patrol vessel has intercepted a dinghy with 120 illegal immigrants on board, including 40 women, 8 miles south of the isle of Lampedusa, two more rafts carrying illegal migrants landed this morning. About 300 of the people onboard were stopped on land near Cala Croce by port authorities. The non-EU migrants have been taken to temporary detention centres, where identification procedures are underway. In addition, 239 others, including 51 women and 4 children, have been stopped by the Minerva corvette of the Military Marine, after being found travelling on a large raft 25 miles south of the island. They are all in good condition and are soon to be taken onto a coastal guard patrol boat which will be bringing them to land. O ver the night 132 other migrants, including 49 women, were taken in by a Financial Guard patrol boat when they were found on a rubber dinghy drifting at sea eight miles south of the island. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: Separate Classes for Immigrant Pupils ‘Discriminatory’ Says MP

Rome, 15 Oct. (AKI) — An MP for the ruling People of Freedom party, on Wednesday slammed a newly approved government measure that will allow schools to have separate classes for immigrant children who fail admission tests for Italian state schools.

“I say no to such classes because I consider them discriminatory towards immigrant children,” Moroccan-born Souad Sbai, told Adnkronos International (AKI).

She abstained from a vote by MPs on Tuesday in favour of the measure, which was put forward by the People of Freedom party’s coalition partner, the anti-immigrant Northern League.

The separate classes for immigrant children who fail language and ‘general evaluation’ tests for admission to mainstream schooling will will help them integrate and will counter racism, the Northern League claims.

It also wants mainstream classrooms to contain a ‘proportionate’ number of Italian and immigrant pupils.

“As woman with foreign origins, who has for years fought against Muslim extremists’ plans for separate Islamic schools, I could not vote for a measure that will divide immigrant schoolchildren from their peers.

“We do not agree with the creation of separate classrooms for immigrant pupils because it means splitting up the children and creating ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams,” Sbai said.

She said would prefer to see extra lessons after school or during the summer holidays to help immigrant children who need to catch up with their classwork.

Sbai, who is the leader of Italy’s Association of Moroccan Women, said she has already received negative feedback on the move to create separate classes from female cultural mediators who help immigrant pupils in Italian state schools.

She and another conservative female MP, Alessandra Mussolini, intend to discuss the issue with Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini, Sbai said.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

General


China: Contaminated Milk, Lebanon Bans Imports

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 13 — The Lebanese Minister for Agriculture has banned imports of milk powder and its derivatives from China following the discovery of contaminated products in the country. The news was reported by the Beirut ICE office, adding that the products containing the adulterated Chinese milk have been withdrawn from the Lebanese market. According to Lebanese customs statistics, imports of Chinese milk powder amount to 380 tons for a value of 1.5 million dollars. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Contaminated Chinese Products Found

Three samples of milk and yoghurt positive for melamine

(ANSA) — Rome, October 16 — Three cases of Chinese dairy products contaminated by the toxic chemical melamine have been found in Italy, Welfare Undersecretary Francesca Martini said Thursday.

Two samples of milk taken from a Chinese food shop in Modugno, near Bari, and a sample of yoghurt from a similar shop at Poggio Marino, near Naples, both tested positive for melamine, Martini said.

Health police had been checking businesses that import or distribute Chinese foods in the wake of the contaminated milk scandal that broke in China in September, when thousands of babies fell ill and at least four died after drinking melamine-tainted formula.

Italian health police commander Cosimo Piccinno said the levels of melamine in the samples found in Italy were between 3 and 22 milligrams per kilogram, while the limit for acceptable levels had been set at 2.5 milligrams.

‘‘These aren’t lethal quantities, but they are harmful,’’ Piccinno said, adding that the fact that the products could have been consumed by children was of particular concern.

Melamine, which is used in making plastics, makes products appear to have a higher nutritional value.

It can cause kidney stones and renal failure, particularly among children.

Silvio Borrello, the welfare ministry’s food safety chief, stressed that there had been no reports of melamine-related ailments from citizens.

The three Italian samples brought the total number of cases in which Chinese food has tested positive for melamine in the European Union to 26.

When news of the scandal broke the EU took steps to ban the entry of Chinese baby food containing milk powder and to otherwise reduce consumption of Chinese milk products.

Martini said all three of the contaminated samples were ‘‘the consequence of illegal imports of Chinese food products destined for ethnic shops’’.

‘‘The situation is under control, but the government will stay on high alert and continue checks,’’ she said.

Martini added that the government was planning to limit access points for Chinese food entering the country to four — the ports of Genoa and Naples as well as Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino airports — to facilitate controls.

Police have checked 855 businesses that import or distribute Chinese products and have taken 127 samples, although results for only 48 samples have been processed so far.

In a separate case, Italian police on Thursday confiscated a tonne of Chinese milk and 300 kilograms of Chinese mozzarella from a warehouse in Naples thought to have entered the country illegally.

Martini said tests for melamine contamination would take 10 days.

Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said that while the Chinese community should not fear being discriminated against, there would be ‘zero tolerance’ against people who adulterated food.

‘‘Everyone should know that anyone who breaks the law and tries to poison Italian consumers will be severely punished,’’ he said.

Around 15,000 cans of Chinese spaghetti were confiscated from a warehouse in Florence on Wednesday after police discovered live insects inside them.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Orhan Pamuk: ‘I’m for Europe, Democracy and Freedom of Opinion’

Turkish novelist and Noble laureate Orhan Pamuk speaks with SPIEGEL about his new novel “The Museum of Innocence,” memory, Turkey’s longing to be part of Europe and the price he pays for championing Europe and democracy in his country.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Pamuk, in your most recent work, you describe the joys and sorrows of the son of a businessman in the 1970s. While describing the love that your protagonist, Kemal, has for a young relative, you are also drawing a critical portrait of Turkey. With more than 500 pages, “The Museum of Innocence” is by far your largest work. Do you also consider it your most important work, your magnum opus?

Orhan Pamuk: My ex-wife, with whom I’m very friendly, had also read the book. She made a comment I agree with. She said: “Oh, you wrote everything you knew about.” She’s right.

SPIEGEL: You describe the milieu in which you grew up, the upper class of Istanbul.

Pamuk: The book covers 50 years of a portrait of the upper classes. There are also the lower classes, but it is prominently a portrait of Turkey’s ruling bourgeoisie. There is a sort of broken, hesitating, strange bourgeoisie in Turkey — half suppressed, half victim, half aggressively arrogant. It’s a very little group of people; it’s their portrait. Through them, I had a glimpse of the spirit of the nation, so to speak, of the big cultural problems of Turkey…

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Terrorism and Scandinavia: Quo Vadis?

The current conventional wisdom is that the unfolding global financial crisis will shift the political priorities agenda away from international terrorism concerns.

Make no mistake. Both of these plagues will continue to afflict humanity in the coming months and years. No community, nation or region is immune from their dire economic and strategic implications, including Scandinavia.

Consider the marked deterioration of the security situation during the past several years in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Since Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and subsequent bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, radicalization, extremism and violence in the region have intensified.

Two major trends have contributed to this development. First is the branching of al-Qaida — the most dangerous international network aiming to establish a worldwide Sharia government under the rule of the Caliphs — into Scandinavia.

This framework has continuously provided for formal and informal collaboration with various affiliate organizations present in the region, such as Ansar al-Islam, Ansar al-Sunna, al-Aqsa, Hizbut-Tahrir, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic combatant groups, Islamic Jihad, and Chechnyan ‘freedom fighters.’

The modus operandi utilized by the network consists of theological alliances, propaganda programs, recruitment efforts, fundraising activities, arms purchasing, training, intelligence missions, operational planning and execution, and safe-haven sanctuaries.

Another contributing factor that contains an escalated risk of Scandinavian-based violence is the decentralization trend the jihadist movement is currently undergoing; that is, ‘homegrown’ terrorist groups are developing everywhere in the region consisting predominantly of second and third generation Muslim immigrants with foreign affinity theological and strategic ambitions.

These indigenous bodies are indoctrinated by inspirational communications through jihadist chat rooms and Islamic Web sites employing anti-Western and anti-Semitic propaganda, radical preaching in some mosques, and wide distribution of militant videos and hatred-based material.

It is the existence of these two trends that fostered various terrorist activities in the region and beyond. In Denmark, two individuals are currently on trial charged with planning an attack involving explosives in Copenhagen. Danish courts previously convicted three men for plotting a bomb attack and a Danish citizen for involvement in a terror scheme uncovered in Bosnia. In addition, a Danish citizen born in Morocco was found guilty of terrorism incitement.

Moreover, as a result of the Mohammed cartoons controversy in late 2005, Denmark became a target of worldwide radical Islamist propaganda. These events culminated with attacks against its embassies in Syria, Libya and Iran, mass demonstrations, and consumer boycotts against Danish products in several Middle Eastern countries. In June 2008, the Danish embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, was also destroyed in a bomb explosion.

Unlike Denmark, apparently there is a lower risk of terrorism directed at Sweden. The concern there is about the potential radicalization of immigrant communities and refugee populations. Suffice to mention that a Bosnian-born Swede conspired to commit terrorist acts against Western targets, a Lebanese-born Swedish national planned to establish an Islamic training camp in the United States, and a Moroccan-born Swedish citizen was involved in a recruitment network for foreign jihadis in Iraq…

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]

Who Lost Pakistan?

That question is likely to bounce around the buck-passing corridors of power in Washington D.C. over the next four years. No matter whether it’s President McCain or President Obama doing the blaming, George W. Bush will likely be held responsible, as he will for so many bad things in the next quarter-century or so.

Our Pakistan policy has been flawed for decades, but in defense of Mr. Bush and all the others who have had to deal with it, it’s conceivable that there was nothing that the United States could do to improve the situation. Since 1947 Pakistan has been a failed state in the making, and now that failure is finally upon us:

Intelligence Report: U.S. Antiterror Ally Pakistan ‘On the Edge’

WASHINGTON — A growing al Qaida -backed insurgency, combined with the Pakistani army’s reluctance to launch an all-out crackdown, political infighting and energy and food shortages are plunging America’s key ally in the war on terror deeper into turmoil and violence, says a soon-to-be completed U.S. intelligence assessment.

A U.S. official who participated in drafting the top secret National Intelligence Estimate said it portrays the situation in Pakistan as “very bad.” Another official called the draft “very bleak,” and said it describes Pakistan as being “on the edge.”

The first official summarized the estimate’s conclusions about the state of Pakistan as: “no money, no energy, no government.”

This not-yet-completed NIE is so top secret that it has already been leaked to the press:

Six U.S. officials who helped draft or are aware of the document’s findings confirmed them to McClatchy on the condition of anonymity because NIEs are top secret and are restricted to the president, senior officials and members of Congress. An NIE’s conclusions reflect the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

[…]

The findings also are intended to support the Bush administration’s effort to recommend the resources the next president will need for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan at a time the economic crisis is straining the Treasury and inflating the federal budget deficit.

In other words: there might not be a whole lot of money left over for Pakistan.

If you were looking at a drastically reduced budget and doing triage for the NSC, which would you choose to focus on: North Korean nukes, Iranian nukes, Pakistani nukes, containing Hugo Chavez, brinkmanship with the Russians, propping up Nouri al-Maliki, or propping up Hamid Karzai? I’m betting on Karzai, because Afghanistan is where all the heroin is coming from.

But then, I’m cynical.

And Pakistan may be about to descend into chaos:
– – – – – – – –

The estimate says that the Islamist insurgency based in the Federally Administered Tribal Area bordering Afghanistan, the suspected safe haven of Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, is intensifying.

However, according to the officials, the draft also finds that the Pakistani military is reluctant to launch an all-out campaign against the Islamists in part because of popular opposition to continuing the cooperation with the U.S. that began under Pervez Musharraf, the U.S.-backed former president, after the 9/11 attacks.

Anti-U.S. and anti-government sentiments have grown recently, stoked by stepped-up cross-border U.S. missile strikes and at least one commando raid on suspected terrorist targets in the FATA that reportedly have resulted in civilian deaths.

The Pakistani military, which has lost hundreds of troops to battles and suicide bombings, is waging offensives against Islamist guerrillas in the Bajaur tribal agency and Swat, a picturesque region of the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan. U.S. officials said insurgent attacks on Pakistani security forces provoked the Pakistani army operations.

[…]

However, the ruling coalition, in which President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, holds the real authority, has been preoccupied by other matters, according to the draft NIE.

These include efforts to consolidate its power after winning a struggle that prompted its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, to leave the ruling coalition.

Moreover, widespread anti-U.S. anger has left the coalition deeply divided over whether to unleash a major military assault on the Islamists, the U.S. officials said.

The government is also facing an accelerating economic crisis that includes food and energy shortages, escalating fuel costs, a sinking currency and a massive flight of foreign capital accelerated by the escalating insurgency, the NIE warns.

The Pakistani public is clamoring for relief as the crisis pushes millions more into poverty, giving insurgent groups more opportunities to recruit young Pakistanis.

Osama is trapped up there in Waziristan. But how long will he stay trapped, given the current situation?

We may be closer to an Al Qaeda nuke than we think.



Hat tip: Steen.

The Sultan of Rotterdam

I wrote last year about the fact that a majority of the members of the ruling party (Socialists, naturally) on the Brussels city council are Muslims, giving the Religion of Peace effective veto power and a large say in how the city is governed.

But the most powerful political office in a Dutch city — as in most European cities — is the mayor. He does not gain his office by direct election, but is appointed by the local ruling party. In the case of Rotterdam it’s the PvdA (Socialists again), who have just announced that the next mayor of the city will be a Muslim.

The PvdA says the appointment of Ahmed Aboutaleb as mayor is part of a “tradition of anti-polarisation”, but those of a more dyspeptic disposition might consider it part of the creeping Islamization of the Netherlands.

According to NIS:

Muslim Aboutaleb to be Mayor of Rotterdam

ROTTERDAM, 17/10/08 — Rotterdam is getting a Muslim as mayor. Social Affairs State Secretary Ahmed Aboutaleb will succeed Ivo Opstelten in the Netherlands’ second-largest city.

Aboutaleb is a member of Labour (PvdA). The PvdA-dominated local council of Rotterdam nominated him yesterday. Home Affairs Minister Guusje ter Horst has yet to appoint him but her approval is a mere formality.

Aboutaleb, like all Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands. has both Dutch and Moroccan nationality. He combines his Muslim faith with a political style that is typically Dutch: consensus and dialogue are paramount.

Some Muslims consider him too ‘white,’ some ‘whites’ find him too soft. In reality, Aboutaleb is in the Labour (PvdA) tradition of anti-polarisation.

– – – – – – – –

Aboutaleb was born in Beni Sidel, Morocco on 29 August 1961. His father was an Imam. He came to the Netherlands aged 16.

[…]

Aboutaleb’s election is in two ways remarkable. Of course his Islamic faith makes the appointment unique. But also, a tradition has been broken of the established parties each claiming certain cities.

It is a public secret that the procedure of electing mayors, at least in the big cities, has been a closed circuit of agreements between the established parties. According to this logic, Gerd Leers should have emerged the winner. That is because he is a member of the Christian democrats (CDA) and the CDA was going to claim Rotterdam.

Rotterdam had to go to the CDA, because The Hague went earlier to the VVD. In the third-largest city, Jozias van Aartsen (VVD) recently took over the chain of office from CDA Mayor Wim Deetman. Insiders were convinced that CDA and VVD had swapped Rotterdam and The Hague.

Amsterdam and Utrecht, the biggest and fourth city respectively, already belong to the PvdA. Now that party, struggling in the polls, will be holding the mayoral position in three of the ‘big four’ cities.

The choice for PvdA’s Aboutaleb might have been pushed by a poll conducted recently by Algemeen Dagblad. The newspaper reported Rotterdammers wanted State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak as their mayor. She was not a candidate, but like Aboutaleb, she is a Muslim, a faith that many Rotterdammers share with her.

So it was the CDA’s turn to get Rotterdam, but the Muslims are so numerous in the city that their opinion outweighed an age-old corrupt political tradition.

Actually, I’ve changed my mind: “creeping” is not the right word to use in conjunction with the Islamization of the Netherlands. The process is up to a brisk walk now, and “galloping” will become the preferred descriptive before this decade is through.



Hat tip: TB.

The Information Jihad

We’ve written frequently in this space about the importance of the information war in the struggle against the Great Jihad. One of our main problems is that the enemy is way ahead of us in that department, at least as far as decentralized, distributed networks and the internet are concerned.

There has been a notable increase in the last few months of hacker attacks on major anti-Islamist websites. The sophistication of the radical Islamic hackers has grown in recent years, and anyone who runs a Counterjihad site has to take that fact into consideration.

Now comes the news that a Koranic justification for hacker attacks has been discovered. A fatwah on the topic has been issued by no less than the highest Islamic theological authority, Al-Azhar University. According to AKI:

Sunni Scholars Sanction ‘Electronic Jihad’

Cairo, 16 Oct. (AKI) — Attacking American and Israeli websites by hacking and sabotage is allowed under Islamic law and is a form of ‘Jihad’ or holy war, top Muslim scholars have decreed.

The religious edict (fatwa) issued by a committee from the highest authority in Sunni Islam, Egypt’s Al-Azhar University in Cairo, was published on the website of the Islamist Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement on Thursday.

“This is considered a type of lawful Jihad that helps Islam by paralysing the information systems used by our enemies for their evil aims,” said the fatwa.

“This Jihad is not different from the armed one. In fact, it might be more important if you consider the global dimensions of the Internet.

They’ve got that right: it is more important. The mujahideen are using the internet very effectively, especially at the local amateur level.

The article continues:
– – – – – – – –

“Whoever wins this war will become the strongest in the realm of information,” the fatwa continued.

The Muslim Brotherhood praised the fatwa, which comes in response to dozens of questions from radicals asking to be allowed to destroy Israeli and United States websites.

What this demonstrates is that anything can be justified by the Koran, as long as it furthers the spread of Islam.

Remember: these are the same people who would forbid ice cream because it didn’t exist at the time of the Prophet.

But, hey — AK-47s, RPGs, nuclear weapons, and DDOS attacks: no problem.



Hat tip: Insubria.

Convicted for Racism

I’ve said many times that Denmark is a country which practices true freedom of speech. However, this latest news makes me wonder if I was a bit hasty in my judgment.

The woman mentioned in the article below was convicted for making derogatory remarks about members of another race on her own personal web page. Unfortunately for her, the Public Guardians of Political Correctness found out about it, and she was charged and convicted.

According to Politiken:

Denmark: Cop Sentenced for Racism

A 33-year-old woman police officer has been found guilty of racism after publishing derogatory remarks on her personal home page on the internet. The woman immediately appealed the verdict and sentence of a DKK 4,000 fine.

In her explanation to the court, she said she had been tired of having her weekends off suspended and being unable to take her planned mountain bike tours. As a result she let her frustrations run away with her on her personal home page.

– – – – – – – –

Anonymity

It was in February this year that groups of youths of immigrant origin set light to vehicles, garbage containers and educational establishments across the country.

The PC told the court that she did not think that items on her web page could be found unless the precise URL of her domain was known. As a result, she said, she did not believe that anyone would see what she had written.

It often seems that Denmark has more freedom of speech than we do here in the USA, but it’s now evident that the country does possess the constitutional and legal mechanisms necessary to crack down on PC heterodoxy.

In America, the same kind of prosecution would have trouble gaining traction because of the First Amendment. That may change after The One takes office and applies the standards used in campus speech codes to the country at large. But for the time being, legal action for such an opinion is unlikely here.

What happens in this country is usually more a form of self-censorship, a milder version of the Swedish model. Ostracism, public censure, and social pressure are brought to bear on anyone who violates the Multicultural norms of expression, so that political incorrectness is mostly absent from the mainstream. That’s why almost none of our newspapers published the Motoons.

But to see the State clamping down on a forthright Dane for airing her opinion — that’s discouraging.



Hat tip: TB.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/15/2008

Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/15/2008Tonight’s important stories are about the Mediterranean Union. I wanted to blog on these, but never got the time. Look at the “Mediterranean Union” section below the fold.

The most ominous one says this:

The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) has asked the foreign ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) for more powers as well as the legal basis to sanction its role as their political arm. At a special meeting of the EMPA in Amman, representatives of the parliaments from both sides of the Mediterranean have approved a document to submit to the Euro-Med foreign ministers, who will meet in Marseille on 3 and 4 November: “we will ask ministers to make EMPA an integral part of the UfM, in terms of its parliamentary dimension”…

To our European readers: Make sure you read this stuff. It’s important. It’s a further power grab by Eurabia.

Watch out for the responses by the foreign ministers of your countries. This is how what little remains of your national sovereignty is being quietly taken away.

Thanks to Abu Elvis, BP, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, JF, KGS, Steen, TB, Tuan Jim, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – –

USA
Did Biden Get it Wrong? You Betcha
Obama Raised $1 Million for Foreign Thug’s Election
The ACORN Never Falls Far From the Tree
The Left’s Big Blunder
The O Jesse Knows
US Communists Say Their Time Has Come
 
Canada
Former CSIS Man Explains Islamic Infiltration of Canadian Politics
 
Europe and the EU
“Swede” Killed by US Forces in Iraq
A Turk at the Top
BBC Boss Says Islam Should be Treated More Sensitively Than Christianity
Berlusconi’s Popularity Up Again
Confrontational Architecture
France to Halt Games When Anthem is Booed
Marseillaise Booed at French Soccer Match
Norway: National Hero Led Double Life
Sweden to Consider Tougher Sentences for Violent Crime
UK: Footballer Mido Defends Islam After Racist Chants
 
Balkans
Albania: Dones, My Virgin and Her Companions
Balkans: Italy Prepares Eulex Mission to Kosovo
Kosovo: Stefani and Giorgetti, UN Declaration Reopens Issue
Kosovo: Slovakia, Hague Has to Sanction Secession
Kosovo: Serb Villagers Bleak About Future
 
Mediterranean Union
EU-Morocco: New Cooperation With Advanced Status to Begin
Med Union: EMPA Asks Foreign Ministers for More Powers
Mediterranean: Burgos Forum, Euro-Maghrebi Youth Proposals
 
North Africa
I Did Not Convert: Son of Egyptian Sunni Preacher
 
Israel and the Palestinians
40% of Arab Gazans Want to Leave
 
Middle East
Cardinal Delly: the Situation in Iraq is Disastrous, Tragic, and Worse by the Day
Emirates: Residence for Property Buyers in Ajman
Iranian Security Forces Destroy Villages in Baluchistan
Lebanon: Terrorists Planned Attacks on Security Forces
Saudi Arrests Jordanians for ‘Pleasure Unions’
Turkey: Islamic Militant Convicted of Plot
 
Russia
Iran’s Nukes Getting Russian Help
 
Caucasus
Russia and Georgia Hold Peace Talks
 
South Asia
“Not Repentant and Never Will,” Say Three Bali Bombers Whose Execution is Near
Pakistan: Suicide Attacks ‘UN-Islamic’ Say Muslim Clerics
 
Far East
Courts Blocking Lawsuits in Melamine-Tainted Milk Scandal
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
Danish UN Observers Cannot Enter Sudan
 
Immigration
Immigration: Greece, 59 Migrants Blocked in Aegean
Immigration: Tunisia, Three Youths Arrested
Immigrants: Boat Adrift, 80 Assisted South of Lampedusa
Immigration: Algeria, 18 Arrests Off Coast Near Annaba
Italy: House OKs Classes for Foreign Kids
Netherlands: Committee Appeals for Asylum Reception Near Country of Origin
 
General
‘The Third Jihad’: Documentary ‘Exposes the War the Media is Not Telling You About’
UK: Kebab Boss Prepared Food as Worker Lay Dead Nearby
Video: Wafa Sultan and Yaron Brook Speak on Islamic Totalitarianism at Uc Irvine

USA


Did Biden Get it Wrong? You Betcha

By John R. Lott, Jr.

When you interview for a job, here is a hint: make sure you know what the job is. Joe Biden failed that test last Thursday. He couldn’t even get right what a vice president does, but the media didn’t notice.

The media is all over itself about how smart and experienced Biden is. Political analyst Charlie Cook is quoted in the Washington Post on Saturday as saying “Biden is clearly so much more knowledgeable, by a factor of about a million.” Saturday Night Live does a skit about Biden being smart, if slimy. Meanwhile, Governor Sarah Palin is treated as being nothing more than a simpleton.

Yet, take Biden’s statement from the debate on the role of the vice president:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive, and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

One should be careful when throwing around terms such as “most dangerous” and “bizarre.” But Biden is confusing which part of the Constitution covers the Executive Branch (it is Article II, not Article I). More importantly, the notion that the vice president can preside over the Senate only when there is a tie vote is simply wrong. Nor is it true that the only legislative involvement the vice president has is to break tie votes. The vice president is the president of the Senate, where he interprets the rules and can only be overridden by a vote of 60 senators…

           — Hat tip: BP [Return to headlines]



Obama Raised $1 Million for Foreign Thug’s Election

Democrat joined Libya’s Gadhafi among top contributors to Odinga

NEW YORK —Sen. Barack Obama, with a donation of nearly $1 million, and a son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi were among the biggest contributors to the presidential campaign of controversial Kenyan leader Raila Odinga, according to an internal document obtained by WND.

The memo was prepared by the head of Odinga’s campaign finance accounting section, Shakeel Shabbir, as an official report delivered to the national treasurer for Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement party, or ODM.

Among the 72 individuals and organizations that contributed money to Odinga’s 2007 presidential run in Kenya, Shabbir lists “Friends of Senator B.O.” as having donated 66,000,000 Kenyan schillings, about $950,000.

Saif el-Islam Gadhafi, the Libyan strongman’s second oldest son, reportedly donated 53,450,000 Kenyan schillings, about $765,000.

According to several highly credible ex-ODM sources WND interviewed in Kenya, the $950,000 raised for Odinga’s campaign came from a series of private meetings arranged for Odinga by Mark Lippert, a foreign policy adviser in Obama’s U.S. Senate office. The meetings with top-dollar Obama fundraisers and donors took place during Odinga’s 2006 trip to the U.S….

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]



The ACORN Never Falls Far From the Tree

Since 2004, the radical, far-left Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now [ACORN] admits it has registered over 1.7 million voters. Several States are now looking at the tactics being used by ACORN on behalf of the Obama Campaign to register new voters to vote for Democratic nominee Barack Hussein Obama. Using the Motor Voter Law which was created specifically to shelter from scrutiny people whose legal right to vote should at least be challenged, ACORN registered voters without scrutiny who simultaneously cast their vote by absentee ballot before their eligibility to participate in this election could be verified or challenged. The question before the nation today is: how many of those new voters were actually legally eligible to vote in those elections? On Oct. 10, 2008 CBS News reported that it was investigating allegations that ACORN was registering dead people.

“Voting the dead” is a practice that was introduced in presidential election politics by Chicago mayor Richard Daley in 1960. Historians learned after the election that Kennedy carried both Texas and Illinois only because of the votes cast by deceased people…

“Voting the dead” works only if your party controls the voting precincts. At the local level, in the elections of 2000 and 2004, almost 80% of the voting precincts nationwide were controlled by Democrats. While Democrats claimed that Republicans were committing vote fraud in Florida, allegations of voter fraud committed by Republicans cannot have validity if the Democratic party controled the county Canvas Boards since the Canvas Boards control the precincts and the balloting and vote counting process. It would be almost impossible for the party not controlling the voting precincts to commit voter fraud.

As we learned in the Election of 2000 when the Democratic Party attempted to engineer “Gore votes” in three solidly Democratic counties that Al Gore, Jr. had won handily and therefore could not legally challenge the ballots cast in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties to find enough votes to impact Statewide totals. The Gore Campaign and the DNC decided to discern what voters who did not vote for anyone at the top of the ticket were thinking, and recast their vote for Gore to make sure everone’s vote counted. The excesses of vote manipulation by the Canvas Boards were too much as Gore tried to steal enough votes to win the Election of 2000. The US Supreme Court was ultimately forced to step in and settle the case of the dancing chads.

There is a simple reality in American politics. The socialist far left that needs the cultural misfits to win, simply cannot muster more than 35% of the vote since that’s the sum total of far left ideologues. Adding swing voters who vote societal issues over fiscal responsibility and the rule of law, or who erroneously believe that Democrats stand for lower taxes for the middle class, the Democrats can squeak 42% of the vote…

The balance of the votes the far left wins at the top of the ticket comes from discouraged, low voter turnout on the right, vote fraud (voting the dead, giving illegals the key to ballot box and, of course, registering felons, children, and a few household pets.). On Oct. 2, Sean Cairncross, a lawyer for the Republican National Committee reported that ACORN’s voter registration affiliate, Project Vote, hired seven felons as voter registration workers in Milwaukee…

[Return to headlines]



The Left’s Big Blunder

The disastrously counter-productive strategy of Obama’s supporters

[…]

A substantial portion of the Left’s strategy during this campaign is to create the perception that as many people as possible are supporting Obama. They strive to not simply show that he has a lot of supporters (which, obviously, he has), but to purposely inflate or exaggerate the numbers in order to make his support seem larger than it really is. The drive to do this seems almost automatic; it is assumed by Obama’s supporters to be the most effective campaign strategy. It’s so automatic that they perhaps are no longer even aware that it is a strategy. But why? What purpose is possibly served by this behavior? Has anyone on the Left ever paused, stepped back, and asked, “Wait a minute — why are we doing this? Are we sure it’s the correct course of action?” Doing everything possible to inflate the perceived support of Democratic candidates has become so de rigueur that the Left has long ago forgotten why they’re even doing it.

This essay examines the underlying faulty assumptions of this strategy — and shows why it’s not only counter-productive, but could backfire disastrously…

           — Hat tip: Tuan Jim [Return to headlines]



The O Jesse Knows

Jackson on Obama’s America

PREPARE for a new America: That’s the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at this French lakeside resort last week.

He promised “fundamental changes” in US foreign policy — saying America must “heal wounds” it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the “arrogance of the Bush administration.”

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where “decades of putting Israel’s interests first” would end.

Jackson believes that, although “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” remain strong, they’ll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

“Obama is about change,” Jackson told me in a wide-ranging conversation. “And the change that Obama promises is not limited to what we do in America itself. It is a change of the way America looks at the world and its place in it.”

Jackson warns that he isn’t an Obama confidant or adviser, “just a supporter.” But he adds that Obama has been “a neighbor or, better still, a member of the family.” Jackson’s son has been a close friend of Obama for years, and Jackson’s daughter went to school with Obama’s wife Michelle.

“We helped him start his career,” says Jackson. “And then we were always there to help him move ahead. He is the continuation of our struggle for justice not only for the black people but also for all those who have been wronged.”

Will Obama’s election close the chapter of black grievances linked to memories of slavery? The reverend takes a deep breath and waits a long time before responding.

“No, that chapter won’t be closed,” he says. “However, Obama’s victory will be a huge step in the direction we have wanted America to take for decades.”

Jackson rejects any suggestion that Obama was influenced by Marxist ideas in his youth. “I see no evidence of that,” he says. “Obama’s thirst for justice and equality is rooted in his black culture.”

But is Obama — who’s not a descendant of slaves — truly a typical American black?

Jackson emphatically answers yes: “You don’t need to be a descendant of slaves to experience the oppression, the suffocating injustice and the ugly racism that exists in our society,” he says. “Obama experienced the same environment as all American blacks did. It was nonsense to suggest that he was somehow not black enough to feel the pain.”

Is Jackson worried about the “Bradley effect” — that people may be telling pollsters they favor the black candidate, but won’t end up voting for him?

“I don’t think this is how things will turn out,” he says. “We have a collapsing economy and a war that we have lost in Iraq. In Afghanistan, we face a resurgent Taliban. New threats are looming in Pakistan. Our liberties have been trampled under feet . . . Today, most Americans want change, and know that only Barack can deliver what they want. Young Americans are especially determined to make sure that Obama wins.”

He sees a broad public loss of confidence in the nation’s institutions: “We have lost confidence in our president, our Congress, our banking system, our Wall Street and our legal system to protect our individual freedoms. . . I don’t see how we could regain confidence in all those institutions without a radical change of direction.”

Jackson declines to be more concrete about possible policy changes. After all, he insists, he isn’t part of Obama’s policy team. Yet he clearly hopes that his views, reflecting the position of many Democrats, would be reflected in the policies of an Obama administration…

           — Hat tip: JF [Return to headlines]



US Communists Say Their Time Has Come

NEW YORK (AFP) — A rare bird in the political world, the US Communist Party is feeling rather smug in these days of capitalist turmoil.

At the party’s New York headquarters on 23rd Street in Manhattan, regional party chairman Libero Della Piana, 36, laid out why he thinks Marxist-Leninism’s time has finally come.

“We are very excited, we feel that we are at a turning point,” Della Piana, an imposing half-Italian, half-African American with a pony tail, told AFP.

“We can afford to be less on the defensive for the first time since Ronald Reagan, and we can say our word in rebuilding America on a new basis, rebuilding a better world, instead of one based on the greed of the few.”

The US Communist Party was founded in 1919 and never really took off. It was ostracized during the Cold War and members faced discrimination, even firing from their work, during the anti-Communist drive of the 1950s.

Today, the party claims to have 3,000 to 3,500 members — seemingly not a threat to the giant Democratic and Republican parties contesting next month’s White House election.

But American communists think that the collapse of Wall Street and huge disillusionment among the public with the economy has put them on a roll.

“We receive more and more phone calls, we have more inquiries from people, we see an increase in interest,” Della Piana said. “We hope to be part of the discussion. I can see a role for the Communist Party in this next period.”

“The crisis’ number one lesson: the market cannot regulate itself,” he said. “Otherwise it goes out of control.”

Communist youth coordinator Erica Smiley, 28, said “the major issues for the young are: peace, jobs, health care, education, and we provide them with answers.”

Whether the communists will be able to deliver remains open to question.

One plus is that their recently renovated New York headquarters, featuring the obligatory tomes of Lenin and Marx, is prime real estate — a serious and very capitalist nest egg.

But few people were about during a visit by AFP on Monday and the atmosphere was collegial and slightly sleepy, rather than revolutionary.

“They are all out working to get people to vote,” explained Bill Davis, 65, who has been a faithful member for 37 years.

There is no communist running for the White House and the Communist Party does not endorse Democrat Barack Obama.

Yet many staff here wore his picture on lapel buttons, while Republican John McCain was relegated to a box of tissues — the tissues being pulled through his mouth.

           — Hat tip: KGS [Return to headlines]

Canada


Former CSIS Man Explains Islamic Infiltration of Canadian Politics

Canada’s awakening to radical-Islamist penetration of its political, bureaucratic and social infrastructure, reached a watershed moment this month.

Quebec’s new French-language anti-Islamist website, Point de Bascule — “tipping point” — sponsored a dramatic press conference in Montreal Oct. 2 on the dangers of hard-line Islamist penetration of Canada. But this was consciousness-raising with a powerful difference.

All three panelists were moderate Canadian Muslims. All three face death fatwas. And all three spoke unsparingly — some giving names and startling specifics — of the Sharia surge and stealth jihad in Quebec and the rest of Canada. Indeed, detailed allegations were heard about Islamist inroads into the federal New Democratic Party (NDP), Canada’s social democratic party, and about infiltration of a government commission with power to define and silence “hate” speech. These were momentous claims in the context of Canada’s national election campaign — the national vote takes place today. As evidenced by the number of journalists in attendance, the Quebec media were galvanized.

India-born Dr. Salim Mansur of the University of Western Ontario opened by calling on Canadians to end the political correctness and self-censorship that has muffled efforts to debate the stealth jihad — the gradual radical-Islamicizing of Canadian society. Like other speakers, he distinguished between moderate Muslims and Islamists, and warned of accelerating fundamentalist efforts “to establish a parallel society within Quebec and within Canada, as they are doing in Europe, that will be administered on the basis of Sharia.”

Mansur cited Islamist demands, “in our multicultural society,” “for gender exclusion … for legal arbitration on the basis of Sharia in Ontario and Quebec, the promotion of Sharia finance.” He pointed to demands for the right to have “veiled voting” in elections, complete with male-free zones in voting stations and female-only government cadres to verify veiled-voters’ identity.

Professor Mansur warned stirringly of increasing radical penetration of Canada’s political and social infrastructure…

[Return to headlines]

Europe and the EU


“Swede” Killed by US Forces in Iraq

A 43-year-old Swedish citizen has been killed by US forces in Iraq. The man died at the beginning of October and is suspected of having led an Islamist network, according to the Swedish Security Service (Säpo).

The foreign ministry was made aware of the incident on Tuesday night and is currently looking into the circumstances surrounding the man’s death. .

“We are making contact with the American authorities,” foreign ministry spokesperson Miriam Mannbro told The Local.

The ministry was reluctant to release any further details until the family of the victim has been informed.

“But this could be difficult because they are probably abroad,” said Mannbro.

Sweden does not have any troops posted in Iraq.

According to Säpo, the man died in a fire fight with American forces when they tried to capture him in northern Iraq.

“We’ve known about the man since the 199s. He’s suspected of having led an Islamist network which has supported terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq, and North Africa,” said Säpo spokesperson Tina Israelsson to the TT news agency

Among other activities, the network is believed to have sent jihadist volunteer fighters to Iraq, with the man having used Sweden as a base of operations.

“He came to Sweden in the middle of the 1980s, became a Swedish citizen in the mid-1990s and was here until 2006. In May 2006 he traveled to Iraq and hasn’t returned since,” said Israelsson.

           — Hat tip: KGS [Return to headlines]



A Turk at the Top

Politician Cem Özdemir is set to soon become Germany’s first national party leader of Turkish descent. As head of the Green Party, he will break through a glass ceiling that still persists for most of the country’s estimated 2.5 million ethnic Turks.

Cem Özdemir raises his vodka-orange and winks.

“Serefe .”

He seems to relax. There was a crowd outside the bar, packed into Berlin’s KulturBrauerei for the mid-September Radio Multikulti festival, and the way to the small upstairs table had been full of random greetings and handshakes.

Özdemir became a political cult hero in 1994, when, at 28, he became the first person of Turkish descent to enter Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag. Now an influential member of the European Parliament in Brussels with three books and countless public appearances under his belt, the charismatic politician recently acquired the aura of a future titan within the country’s influential Green Party…

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]



BBC Boss Says Islam Should be Treated More Sensitively Than Christianity

Islam should be treated more sensitively by the media than Christianity, according to the director general of the BBC.

Mark Thompson claimed that because Muslims are a religious minority in Britain and also often from ethnic minorities, their faith should be given different coverage to that of more established groups.

His comments come after the comedian Ben Elton accused the BBC of being scared of making jokes about Islam, while Hindus have claimed it favours Muslims over other religions.

But Mr Thompson, speaking at the annual public theology lecture of the religion think-tank Theos, insisted the state broadcaster would show programmes that criticised Islam if they were of sufficient quality.

The director general, whose corporation faced accusations of blasphemy from Christians after it allowed the transmission of the musical Jerry Springer -The Opera, also said his Christian beliefs guided his judgments and disclosed that he had never watched the Monty Python film Life of Brian which satirises the story of Jesus.

In his speech last night, Mr Thompson claimed there are now more programmes about religion on BBC television and radio than there have been in recent decades, whereas coverage has declined on ITV.

But asked whether it was correct that the BBC “let vicar gags pass but not imam gags”, as Elton claimed, he admitted it did take a different approach to Islam, which has 1.6million followers in Britain, compared to its approach to the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Berlusconi’s Popularity Up Again

Approval rating hits 62%, government stable

(ANSA) — Rome, October 15 — The popularity of Premier Silvio Berlusconi continues to climb and after breaking the threshold of 60% last month, his approval rating in October climbed to a new record of 62%, according to the monthly poll by IPR Marketing for the website of the Rome daily La Repubblica.

The approval rating of Berlusconi’s government remained stable this month at 54%.

The current financial crisis gave the approval rating of Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti a healthy boost from 58% to 63%, the highest among government ministers.

Last month’s most popular government member, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, held on to his approval rating of 62% and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini stayed at 60%, where he was joined by Civil Service Minister Renato Brunetta who climbed up from 58%.

Compared to September, the IPR poll found that eight out of 21 ministers saw their approval ratings rise including Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini, up four percentage points, and the ministers for transport and agriculture, Altero Matteoli and Luca Zaia respectively, who each gained three percentage points.

The ministers making gains, IPR noted, were the ones most in the news and on TV.

This also appeared to be the case of Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna whose recent TV appearances are believed to be responsible for her reversing a downward trend and recovering two percentage points in one month, leveling out at 44%. This month’s IPR poll added four new categories for evaluating ministers: sincerity, competence, ability to communicate and determination.

The results showed Tremonti on top for competence while Brunetta was first for sincerity and determination and Maroni was viewed as the minister who communicated the best. In regard to Italy’s political parties, IPR said the approval rating of the fledgling government People of Freedom party (PDL) — a union of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, the right-wing National Alliance and conservative ex-Christian Democrats — rose another percentage point to a new high of 54%, while ally the Northern League’s rating was stable at 30%.

The opposition centrist UDC climbed five percentage points in one month to its highest rating ever of 25%, while the Democratic Party (PD), the biggest opposition force, saw its popularity fall for the first time below 30% to 29%, its worst ever.

Former Clean Hands prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro’s Italy of Values party (IDV), the most vocal opposition party in parliament, saw a turnaround from last month and climbed two percentage points to 46%.

IPR Marketing pointed out that the approval ratings were not the same as voter intention.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Confrontational Architecture

Europe’s Mosques Move from Back Alleys to Boulevards

There are plans to build several hundred new and often magnificent mosques throughout Europe — particularly in Germany. Architecture has become the field of a fierce ideological battle about the visibility of Europe’s 16 million Muslims.

Just a few minutes ago, Mubashra Ilyas was still standing on her dusty construction site. Now the 30-year-old architect is striding through a gallery in the back courtyard of a building in Berlin’s Mitte district in elegant black boots. As the room slowly fills up, Ilyas continues to stand out: She’s the only woman wearing a headscarf.

PHOTO GALLERY: NEW MOSQUES IN GERMANY

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



France to Halt Games When Anthem is Booed

PARIS (AFP) — Any football match in France before which the country’s national anthem is booed will now be “immediately stopped”, French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot said Wednesday after meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The dramatic move followed the booing of “La Marseillaise” during France’s 3-1 friendly win over Tunisia at the Stade de France in Paris on Tuesday.

“Any match when our national anthem is whistled will be stopped immediately,” Bachelot said after talks with Sarkozy and French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes.

“Government members will immediately leave the arena where our national anthem has been whistled.

“When whistling of our national anthem happens, all friendly games with the country concerned will be suspended for a period yet to be determined by the federation president.”

“The president has committed himself to seeing that measures are taken,” said Escalettes, who said the authorities had to think of the security implications if such behaviour were allowed to pass.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



France’s War With Jihadis

While one of Europe’s largest democracies is heading toward winning that battle of words by actually using them and understanding them, the most powerful democracy in the war on terror has abandoned one of the most efficient tools to “see” the enemy, and to educate its own public about it.

Note that the French minister uses these terms in a very precise way. She used “Islamists” when needed and Salafists when she wanted to be more specific about the doctrine.

In France, as I noted through my discussions this summer and as we can read widely in the media and academia, the terms jihadists, Islamists and Salafists are used with confidence and on solid academic grounds.

Furthermore, French-Muslim intellectuals and officials use these terms very naturally as these words are well understood in the Muslim community of France, the largest in Europe, unlike what some apologists claim in the United States: that these words, allegedly, touches the sensitivities of the community. However, the French use of these words is very focused and avoids the hyphenations and generalizations, which can indeed have a negative impact on the cultural dialogue.

In conclusion, the French battle with Salafist jihadism is widening, though not well publicized overseas. In the next months and years, it is expected that escalation would covers the areas mentioned by the French minister: Afghanistan, Sahel and North Africa as well as France itself.

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



Marseillaise Booed at French Soccer Match

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leading political figures reacted with shock and anger Wednesday after the country’s national anthem was booed in Tuesday’s friendly win over Tunisia.The Elysee Palace announced that the president had summoned French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes following the “scandalous incidents which occurred at the Stade de France.” He told reporters he was scandalised and hurt by the affair, which he slammed as “intolerable.”

“Let’s stop the hypocrisy — let’s just stop doing these matches,” “We cannot tolerate our Marseillaise being jeered.” Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Front, opined the jeering was proof of the failure of multiculturalism. Le Pen said he concluded that as those who jeered the anthem might have French papers but clearly did not identify with France he believed the “integration of foreign masses to our culture culture is a failure as it is a utopia.”

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



Norway: National Hero Led Double Life

Jens Christian Hauge continues to rank as one of the great Norwegian heroes of World War II, but a new book reveals another side of the Resistance leader who went on to play powerful roles in Norway’s post-war years.

The biography of Hauge by Olav Njølstad describes Hauge as a great strategist and “gigantic” leader. It also notes that Hauge lied and bluffed his way to power, and consciously misled both the Norwegian Parliament and important government commissions.

He was active in building up a post-war surveillance system, for example, and contributed to the illegal surveillance of communists. He denied this, however, even while addressing Parliament. He also lied about his surveillance involvement 40 years later when interviewed by the Lund Commission, which was investigating the illegal surveillance…

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Red Brigade: Violante, Petrella Case, Abel Has to Speak

(AGI) — Rome, Oct 14 — “We were surprised” by the measure taken by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, now “we want to listen to Abel” because “Cain has spoken too much”. This is what Luciano Violante, president of the Borsellino award, commented about the decision taken by Sarkozy to deny extradition for Marina Petrella. “We believe and think that there was an excess of self-promotion by Cain — explained Violante — we would like to therefore let Abel speak, restoring a hierarchy of values”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Sweden to Consider Tougher Sentences for Violent Crime

Sweden needs to have tougher punishments for violent crime and recidivism, and make changes to the range of sanctions for serious cases of abuse and blackmail, according to a new report from a government commission.

The investigative commission on sentencing levels, led by prosecutor Anders Perklev, presented its finding to justice minister Beatrice Ask on Wednesday.

Ask is satisfied with the findings and sees the commission’s recommendations as a way for the government to fulfill one of its campaign promises.

“I think the suggestions are very much in line with the Alliance government’s ambitions and the directives we gave to the investigator,” said Ask.

She believes that implementing the commission’s proposals is important for maintaining public confidence in the justice system.

“It’s important that the sanctions handed down by the courts are proportional the severity of the crime and there the investigator states that we undervalue to some extent violent crime and the serious effects it has for people and society,” said Ask.

The report also proposes that during trials, prosecutors should always submit a formal proposal regarding an appropriate punishment for a crime.

“According to the commission, there are several reasons to judge violent crimes more harshly than they are at present. One such reason is that society’s acceptance of violence had been decreasing steadily,” said the commission in a statement.

As a part of its work, the commission compared sentencing in Sweden with the guidelines in place in the other Nordic countries, as well as Germany, France, and the UK.

“Sweden, if you look in aggregate and also look at the guidelines for conditional release, has a sentencing level which isn’t lower than other countries,” said Perklev.

One of the commission’s experts, Uppsala University law professor Petter Asp, writes in a special appendix that he agrees with most of the body’s findings. However, he regrets that the commission’s directive didn’t provide scope for it to explore other solutions.

He writes that he would have rather seen a wider overhaul “which isn’t only based on increasing repressive measures”.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Sweden: Gun Threat Against Doc Over Baby Sex Test

A father-to-be from Hallstahammar in central Sweden has been sentenced to pay 4000 kronor ($555) in fines after threatening to put a gun to a doctor’s head if he didn’t tell the man the gender of his unborn child.

The father to be and his wife had requested an amniocentesis test last November with the understanding that the test would reveal the child’s sex, reports the Vestmanlands Läns Tidning newspaper.

Already parents to more than one daughter, the couple didn’t want to have yet another girl.

During previous pregnancies, the couple had learned of their child’s gender automatically through the test, which is administered primarily to determine whether the fetus has any birth defects.

Since then, however, the testing procedures have changed and information about the child’s gender is only recorded upon a special request from a doctor.

But no one had informed the couple of the change, so when the test results came back without any indication as to whether they would be having a boy or a girl, the couple became very upset and the man immediately contacted the doctor.

During the subsequent conversation, the man explained that the only reason the couple requested the test was to learn about their child’s gender.

When the doctor said that amniocentesis is not a reason for checking the child’s gender the man shot back, “Well what if I come over and put a gun to your head?”

The doctor later received a call on his personal mobile phone from the man, who told the doctor he knew where he lived and demanded that the doctor help the couple determine their unborn child’s gender.

In court, the man admitted to asking the question involving the gun, but denied that he was issuing a threat towards the doctor.

But the district court sided with the doctor’s interpretation of events, finding that the man’s words and actions were obviously threatening.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



UK: Footballer Mido Defends Islam After Racist Chants

The English Premier League’s Egyptian striker Ahmed Houssam, better known as Mido, has spoken out against racism in football in a new documentary movie called “Islamophobia.”

In the movie, which was produced by the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ charity, Mido criticized racism that frequently prevails in English stadiums and defended Islam, stressing that terrorism completely contradicts the religion of peace.

The documentary was screened at Newcastle United’s St James Park stadium, where last season the Middlesborough striker was subject to racism as fans began chanting “Mido’s got a bomb” after he scored the first goal.

The film discussed the racism Muslims have been exposed to in England, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and the July 7 underground bombing in London, Saudi paper Al Watan reported.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]

Balkans


Albania: Dones, My Virgin and Her Companions

(by correspondent Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — COSENZA, OCTOBER 14 — They still live in the mountains to the north of Albania, the cursed Mountains, “and there are at least thirty, even though a true census has never been taken”. They are the companions of Hana Doda, the Sworn Virgin whom Elvira Dones describes in her book of the same name (Feltrinelli), victims and heroes of the ancient code of honour, the ‘Kanun’, where a woman is brutally submissive but who can regain pride and dignity if she decides to change into a man, destroying her femininity and taking on the clothes and behaviour of the dominant male world. “Most of them are now in their 80s, the youngest is 30-35”. For the book, Elvira Dones — originally from Valona, who lived in Switzerland from 1988 to 2004 and now lives in the USA — went to the mountain to film a documentary of their lives (which RAI has expressed interest in): an adventure where she tells how she had access to the life of crime and arms trafficking which dominates the area, and where she gathered the stories of these women “separated from me by five centuries of history”. Women who — perhaps to submit like Hana to an arranged marriage without muddying the clan’s name, or to stand in for a son who was never born — they smoked, drank raki, shot and drove lorries. They gave up themselves, their own bodies and their women’s feelings, but they managed to play the part of those who are free to move and act, those who do not have to wash the feet of all the men in the family, those who are not just a womb to inseminate. She tells the bitter but proud tale of one woman in particular, Sanie, almost 50 years old. “It’s true that she accepted the denial of herself” says the writer, in Cosenza to receive one of the prizes by the Fondazione Carical Grinzane Cavour per la Cultura euromediterranea — “but she also performed an act of rebellion. The sex she renounced was just an act of five minutes, which other men, feeling her ‘equal’ told her.”. Sanie could still have a future, if she could go abroad, maybe to Italy, as Elvira Dones hopes to help her to do. As happened to Hana who, in the book, gets to America, to Washington where she fought another tiring battle, once again with herself and her identity, to try to rediscover the body and femininity she had denied. “I tried to understand what happens to the soul of these women” says the author — “in the absolute solitude in which they find themselves because they cannot confide even in women without breaking the code of honour, while their flesh dries up and they torment themselves with their self-abuse. However, Albania has changed in recent years, stresses the author, and although change is slower in the mountains “even men in the north have softened. Mobile phones, television, satellite have played their part”. But in Albania as in all the Balkan coutnries, there is still a lot to do about the condition of women. “They need to ‘feminise’ a society which is still too masculine. Balkan men are chauvinists, women are still under-represented, not just in politics.” (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Balkans: Italy Prepares Eulex Mission to Kosovo

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 14 — A “reconnaissance mission” to the Western Balkans to evaluate the situation surrounding Kosovo and the relations with countries ajoining Pristina and Belgrade, in preparation for the deployment of the European Eulex mission. This is the main goal of the diplomatic tour of Foreign Undersecretary Alfredo Mantica, in Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia today and tomorrow, for institutional meetings. The independence of Kosovo continues to cause tension and political crises in the area, as shown in yesterday evening’s clashes in Podgorica, and Serbiàs reaction to the recent recognition by Montenegro and Macedonia governments of its controversial independence. For its part, Italy has recognised the new Balkan Republic, but has also assured Belgrade — in a recent visit by Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, — of its support for integration in Europe. It remains to be seen though, explained Mantica, what will happen after the decision of the International Court of Justice in Hague, which last week was asked by the UN General Assembly to give an opinion on the legitimacy of Kosovòs declaration of independence. In any case, maintained the Foreign Undersecretary, the Eulex mission, which will substitute that of the UN in Kosovo (UNMIK), and which Italy will participate in with 200 troops, is now “a compulsory route which should however be taken with caution: on one hand without irritating the Serbs, on the other, without cheating the Kosovans”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Kosovo: Stefani and Giorgetti, UN Declaration Reopens Issue

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 9 — “The declaration of the General Assembly of the United Nations shows that as an issue, Kosovo cannot be considered a closed chapter after their unilateral declaration of independence last February”. For Stafano Stefani, president of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the Lower House, the fact that the UN has decided to legitimize the request of a declaration of the Court of Justice on the legitimateness of the unilateral succession confirmed the move by Pristina represents another element that needs to be verified by international law. At this point, added Giancarlo Giorgetti, president of the Balance Commission and representative of the Northern League, “needs to ask if the recognition of Kosovòs sovereignty was proceeded upon too quickly by European and international capitals, after UN resolution 1441, that guaranteed the territorial integrity of Serbia. “We have sustained since the beginning — added Giorgetti — that the Kosovo issue was managed too quickly, was not coherent and was not far-sighted; in light of the declaration made by the General Assembly of the UN, it is now opportune that the recognition process and bilateral relations with Kosovo are suspended in anticipation of the Court’s declaration”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Kosovo: Slovakia, Hague Has to Sanction Secession

(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, OCTOBER 13 — Slovakia believes that the unilateral independence declared by Kosovo on February 17th occurred “in contrast to international law” and is confiding in the International Court of Justice of the Hague to sanction it once and for all. This was confirmed today in Belgrade by the premier of the Slavic country (one of the EU members hostile to the recognition of the secession of Pristina), Robert Fico. “If a minimum amount of justice exists in the world, the Court will have to express itself in this way”, underlined Fico after a meeting with his Serbian counterpart, Mirko Cvetkovic. Words that confirm the full support of Bratislava towards Belgrade — in the confrontation against the independence of the Albanian majority ex-province-, as well as recent Serbian diplomatic initiatives resulting in a favourable vote from the majority of the countries of the Assembly General of the UN for the request of a declaration from the Court of Justice on the contested legitimacy of February’s split. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Kosovo: Serb Villagers Bleak About Future

Velika Hoca, 14 Oct. (AKI) — By Vjekoslav Radovic — Just 600 Serbs now live in Kosovo’s Velika Hoca enclave and many houses now stand empty after their owners moved to Serbia in search of a more secure and better life.

The isolated 12th-century village lies some 60 kilometres southwest of Kosovo’s capital Pristina, amid rolling hills that are dotted with vineyards.

“My family roots here are centuries old, and I want to remain and raise my children in this place, but it’s not going to be easy,” Marko Spasic, 24, told Adnkronos International (AKI).

An elementary school art teacher in Velika Hoca, Spasic is one of some 200 young people who decided to stay in this isolated remote village when the Serbian army and police pulled out of Kosovo after NATO’s airstrikes in 1999 and it was placed under United Nations control.

Even Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in February has not weakened the determination of Spasic and others to stay.

“Apart from security, though, the key problem here is what to do and how to survive economically. There are no jobs. We can cultivate only about 20 percent of our land and we can’t move far away from the village,” Spasic told AKI.

To make things worse, electricity and water shortages are a part of every day life. “We measure time here by the hours when there is electricity, and when there is not,” Spasic added.

But Spasic finds encouragement in the fact that there are 64 pupils currently attending the local elementary school. For high school, they will have to move from the isolated village to Serbia, or the ethnically divided northern Kosovar city of Mitrovica.

“Only God knows how many will return and decide to seek their future here,” said Spasic.

The nearby city of Prizren was the seat of the Serbian medieval state, founded by Stefan Nemanja. Wine growing in the area dates back to the same era and is a Serb tradition.

Neglected vineyards are a sure reminder that there is no one to tend them and that their Serb owners had fled.

Three Serbs were killed while working their vineyards in Velika Hoca and Swiss peace-keepers from the international peacekeeping force (KFOR) stationed in Kosovo are now guarding the area from a hilltop above the village.

Before 1999, Kosovo produced some of the best wines in the former Yugoslavia, deriving mostly from area around Velika Hoca and from Suva Reka in the Prizren district of southern Kosovo.

Now, the villagers produce delicious, full-bodied, dry, red wine for their own use, although there is more wine than can be consumed.

“We live here like Martians,” says 67-year-old Dimitrije Micic, the head of the village office.

“No one can come to visit us, nor can we go out without police escort.”

Driving through Kosovo with Serbian number plates is very risky and Velika Hoca’s villagers are escorted by KFOR peacekeepers when they take a bus to the Serbian part of Mitrovica for supplies.

About one half of Kosovo’s 100,000 remaining Serbs are concentrated in the north of Mitrovica, next to Serbia, and they have barely felt the effects of Kosovo’s independence.

But the rest are dispersed in isolated enclaves throughout Kosovo protected by peacekeepers.

Last week an escorted bus was stoned in the nearby town of Malisevo. Some Serbs have acquired Kosovar automobile licence plates and travel unescorted.

“But what do you do if you get stuck in a hostile Albanian village? You may just vanish,” says Novica Savelic.

Three thousand Serbs have been killed or have disappeared since since 1999, according to the Red Cross.

“There are still some good Albanians,” says Bogoljub Stosic, sipping his exquisite home-made grape brandy rakija with his visitors. “There are good and bad people everywhere.”

His pre-war Albanian friend from nearby town of Orahovac calls at least once a week and asks if he needs anything. “Occasionally he drops in and brings supplies,” says Stosic’s wife Vida.

Their two sons have immigrated to Norway and started a new life there. They had paid 1,200 euros each to mediators to get visas. Thousands have emigrated over the past several years, villagers said.

“There is no life here, just bare survival,” says Micic. Serbia is fighting a diplomatic battle to retain Kosovo under its control and is paying each family in the enclaves an equivalent of 150 euros per month in Serbian dinars to help them stay.

In the enclaves much trading is still done in dinars, although euros are the official currency throughout Kosovo. But the help from Belgrade is not enough — even to survive economically, Micic said.

“The future here is very bleak,” Micic, a retired economist, said. “As long as there is any Serbian state presence here, there is some hope. But if that vanishes, the village will simply die away.”

Apart from wine, Velika Hoca is famous for its 13 churches, some dating back to the medieval time, dedicated to various Serbian Orthodox saints. But there are no longer enough parishioners to fill them.

Last weekend Velika Hoca celebrated its patron saint St. Cyriac the Ascetic. Serbs from other enclaves came escorted by the KFOR to join the celebration, which lasted until the small hours.

Kosovo’s Archbishop Artemije held a special outdoor mass (photo), local youngsters performed traditional folk dances and children sang old Serbian songs

A young French diplomat who came from Pristina, felt uneasy about France’s recognition of Kosovo independence.

He referred to the long-standing friendship between Serbs and the French, pointing out that France was “always on the side of the oppressed.”

“In 1999 it seemed to be the ethnic Albanians, but now the situation is completely reversed,” he said.

“The killing had to stop, but now the only hope for the future of Kosovo is that ethnic Albanians treat Serbs correctly,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Mediterranean Union


EU-Morocco: New Cooperation With Advanced Status to Begin

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 13 — The two shores of the Mediterranean are even closer, thanks to a political step taken today by the European Union which granted an “advanced association status” to Morocco, a recognition from Brussels for the reforms carried out in the past years by the north-African kingdom. The agreement, the first special association status granted by the EU to a third country, was ratified today by the EU Foreign Affairs Council of Ministers, with the presence of French Foreign Minister Bernerd Kouchner, and the Moroccan plenipotentiary, Taieb Fassi Fihri. What will be the concrete changes for Morocco after this important step forward, which Rabat has been waiting for since 2004? First of all, from a political perspective, EU-Morocco summits will be organized and the two sides will put together an agreement in which the Moroccan government will be able to collaborate in European crisis management operations. Morocco will be admitted to participate in some of the meetings of EU institutions (for example, the EU Foreign Affairs Council of Ministers) and various European agencies: Europol, Eurojust, the European agency for air safety and the observatory on drugs and drug addicts. From the EU’s perspective, it will be able to increase its economic aid to Rabat, which is already the top beneficiary of European funds for neighbouring countries with 657 million euro in the period of 2007-2010. The special association establishes the objective of creating a common economic space between Europe and Morocco that respects the same rules as the common European space (EU plus, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), in order to arrive — in the long term — to the progressive integration of Morocco in the internal market of the EU. Relations between Europe and Morocco have been regulated up until now by the association agreement signed in 1996 and enacted since 2000. Pleased with the strengthening of the partnership was the European Commissioner of External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. “Morocco is committed in a vast series of reforms in all sectors — the Commissioner stated in a message — and has asked for stronger ties to Europe to consolidate the progress made and to give impulse to the process of modernization and democratic transition”. Israel is also a candidate to obtain a special association status. (ANSAmed)

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Med Union: EMPA Asks Foreign Ministers for More Powers

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 13 — The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) has asked the foreign ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) for more powers as well as the legal basis to sanction its role as their political arm. At a special meeting of the EMPA in Amman, representatives of the parliaments from both sides of the Mediterranean have approved a document to submit to the Euro-Med foreign ministers, who will meet in Marseille on 3 and 4 November: “we will ask ministers to make EMPA an integral part of the UfM, in terms of its parliamentary dimension”. The ministers of the UpM must provide the deputies of EMPA — led by the President of the EU Parliament, Hans Gert Poettering — with “a legal basis, setting the nature and the timescale of meetings between the two institutions”. EMPA intends to carry out “the role of consultant”, which is not binding, but obliges the ministers and heads of state of the UfM to take note of their resolutions and recommendations on the agenda of their meetings. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Mediterranean: Burgos Forum, Euro-Maghrebi Youth Proposals

(ANSAmed) — BURGOS (SPAIN), OCTOBER 13 — The fourth Euro-Maghrebi Youth Forum, organised by the Euro-Maghrebi Youth Union (UJEM), concluded in Burgos, Spain, after being host to delegations from European and Maghrebi countries and their efforts in addressing concrete problems, above all in light of the current global crisis. In the final document released by the forum, the youth members claim “the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean area, and in particular, the Euro-Maghrebi area as a place of common roots from which to redeem a system of shared values in order to avoid compromising the future”. The young people who participated in the meeting formulated, in particular, five “concrete proposals”. In the first, they ask for “the creation of the ‘Maison des Alliances’ in Naples: a symbolic place where managers and decision makers of institutions and international bodies can meet systematically and periodically to achieve common action in order to avoid the duplication and waste of resources. The creation of the project was entrusted to the Mediterranean Foundation”, and therefore also, “the organisation in Naples, near the ‘Maison de la Mediterranee’, the offices of the Mediterranean Foundation, of the next Euro-Maghrebi Forum on the Mediterranean’s northern coast”. Moreover, they will be entrusted with the organisation, in 2010, of the “Euro-Maghrebi Caravan for the free exchange of youth”, in partnership with the Mediterranean Foundation. The objective of the ‘Caravan’ will be the promotion of “youth’s social and human capital” through: the “adjustment of university diplomas to the employment market”; “youth training in the country of origin”; and the “development of employment opportunities in the country of origin through new technology”. The last two proposals regard the creation of a Euro-Maghrebi radio in the Moroccan city of Oujda and the acceptance of the Euro-Maghrebi Youth Union to the Mediterranean Foundation network. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

North Africa


I Did Not Convert: Son of Egyptian Sunni Preacher

Poet Abdul-Rahman Yusuf, son of prominent Egyptian preacher Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, denied rumors circulating on several websites that he had converted to the Shiite faith.

In a poem entitled “Too Much for You,” published Tuesday in the Egyptian independent al-Dostor, Yusuf called for the unity of the Muslim nation in the face of a common enemy that does not distinguish between sects and which strives to destroy both Sunnis and Shiites while they are busy fighting each other.

Some websites attributed to Lebanese preacher Ali al-Kourani statements indicating that Qaradwi lashed out at what he called “the Shiite infiltration” because of his indignation at his son’s conversion to the Shiite faith.

This allegation was followed by a denial from Qatari sources close to Qaradawi and from Mohamed al-Derini, leader of Egyptian Shiites. But Yusuf’s silence stirred more controversy, especially after a statement he posted on his website denying that he had talked to the press about the rumors…

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]

Israel and the Palestinians


40% of Arab Gazans Want to Leave

(IsraelNN.com) 40 percent of the Arab residents of Gaza would leave Gaza if they were only given the opportunity to do so, according to an Arab poll.

62 percent said have not enjoyed freedom of speech in the past year. 87 percent said that they are suffering greatly as a result of a shortage in food and medicines.

           — Hat tip: Abu Elvis [Return to headlines]

Middle East


Cardinal Delly: the Situation in Iraq is Disastrous, Tragic, and Worse by the Day

The head of the Chaldean Church, speaking at the synod of bishops, describes a country in which “life is a Calvary,” “everyone is afraid of being kidnapped,” and the number of deaths caused by car bombings and suicide bombings is on the rise. Commemoration of Archbishop Rahho and Fr. Ganni.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) — The dramatic situation of the Christians in Iraq echoed today in the hall of the synod of bishops, at the Vatican, described in strongly dramatic terms by Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, head of the synod of the Chaldean Church. It is a situation that has brought support, among political circles both inside and outside of Iraq, for the idea of creating a sort of Christian enclave in the province of Nineveh. But the idea has received scant support among the bishops and clergy of the country — the cardinal made no mention of it — in that it is contrary to the evangelical concept of the Church’s mission. “The situation in some parts of Iraq,” Cardinal Delly said, “is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security, just as there is a lack of daily necessities. There are continuing shortages of electricity, water, gasoline, telephone communications are increasingly difficult, entire roads are blocked, schools are closed or always in danger, hospitals are on short staff, the people are afraid for their safety. Everyone is afraid of kidnapping, frightened by the intimidation. And what can be said of the unjustifiable kidnappings that take place on a daily basis, harming entire families and often depriving them of their loved ones, even though they have paid tens of thousands of dollars for a release that never happens? Not to mention the increasing number of deaths caused by car bombs and suicide bombings.”

“Living the word of God,” he continued, “for us means bearing witness even at the cost of our own lives, as has taken place and is still happening with the sacrifice of bishops, priests, and faithful. They remain in Iraq, strong in faith and love of Christ, thanks to the fire of the word of God. For this reason, I beg you to pray for us and with us to the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, and to share our concerns, our hopes, and the pain of our wounds, so that the Word of God made flesh may remain in his Church and with us as good news and as support. Sixteen of our priests and two of our bishops have been kidnapped and released after an extremely high ransom. Some of them belong to the ranks of the new martyrs who today pray for us in heaven: the archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, Fr. Raghid Ganni, two other priests, and six more young men.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Emirates: Residence for Property Buyers in Ajman

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, AUGUST 14 — The emerging emirates of the north, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, play the card of residence in exchange for construction investments: one house one visa, this is the new policy adopted by the authorities of Ajman, ready to generously give guarantees in written to safeguard the investors. Dubai which has advertised so far the same policy has recently made a step back, freezing all rights to residence obtained through the acquisition of a property and drafting new criteria of selection, still in a stage of definition. Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in turn allows the foreigners to own property in leasing for 99 years in certain areas, the way the emirate of Umm Al Quwain does. There are no easy terms for foreigners in Fujairah, where full property and rights to residence are given only to citizens of the emirates and to the citizens of the states part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Oman. Ajman has also envisaged some requirements: the residence will be given only after the property of the real estate is transferred and the green light of the builder and will have an annual duration with an option to be renewed. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Iranian Security Forces Destroy Villages in Baluchistan

According to reports from the Baluchistan People’s Front, part of the Sunni minority in Iran, dozens of villages in northern and western Baluchistan, in southeastern Iran, have been destroyed in wide-scale shelling by Iranian security forces.

The shelling followed a random clash between security forces and members of the Baluchi resistance movement.

The Baluchis say they have killed 50 security force personnel and destroyed an Iranian military base in Sarjangal, in eastern Baluchistan, with heavy weapons fire.

The regime has imposed a blackout on the details of the incident and the number of wounded from the security forces.

Gen. Barham Norozi, an Iranian who commands the Baluchistan police, said that armed bandits belonging to the Sunni-Baluchi Jondollah organization who had planned “terror operations” were killed in a clash with Iranian security forces, and that in clashes of the past day 10 “members of this terror organization” who had infiltrated into Iran via Pakistan were killed.

           — Hat tip: Abu Elvis [Return to headlines]



Lebanon: Terrorists Planned Attacks on Security Forces

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 14 — The Lebanese army and other security forces were the target of terrorists, presumed to be Islamic extremists inspired by al-Qaeda, ready to add to the list of dynamite attacks in the country: this was the scenario described by Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ziad Barud. The Beirut press dedicated space to Barud’s words and also to the “confessions” of several of the five members (four Lebanese and one Palestinian) of a “terrorist cell” based in Tripoli (90 km north of Beirut) who were arrested in the last 48 hours as part of investigations into three attacks between May and September in the northern port of Lebanon. 24 people died during the three incidents, mostly soldiers. The ‘brains’ of the group, still at large, is Abd al-Ghani Jawhar, originally from Bebnin, a city in Akkar, the poorest province in Lebanon between Tripoli and Syria. Minister Barud has for the moment excluded any link between al-Ghanìs men and other Islamic extremist groups in the region, while yesterday, security sources confirmed that the ‘Tripoli cell’ was linked to Fatah al-Islam, a group of Islamic extremists inspired by Al-Qaida, whose founder, a Lordanian-Palestinian, went into hiding in Lebanon in 2005 after mysteriously managing to escape from a Syrian prison. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Saudi Arrests Jordanians for ‘Pleasure Unions’

Saudi Arabia’s religious police arrested a Jordanian woman residing in Jeddah for arranging pleasure marriages and facilitating meetings between the opposite sex, local press reported Wednesday.

The Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice stormed the woman’s house after receiving reports about her alleged activities. Informants said she facilitated meetings between men and women under the pretext of arranging pleasure marriages, reported the Saudi newspaper Shams.

Such unions do not meet the requirements of a legitimate marriage contract in Saudi Arabia, which include having a marriage registrar and witnesses.

Three other women and a man were also arrested and confessed under interrogation, but refused to describe the activities as illegitimate.

According to statements by the accused, they were justly involved in the facilitation of a type of marriage, which is legitimate in other sects.

The offenders were referred to the prosecution, which in turn transferred the case to the penal court where a trial date will be set. In his statement, the prosecutor general called for applying a “deterrent” penalty.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]



Turkey: Islamic Militant Convicted of Plot

ANKARA, Turkey: An Islamic militant has been convicted for a second time of planning to crash a plane into the mausoleum of the founder of modern Turkey.

Metin Kaplan was also convicted of attempting to overthrow Turkey’s secular regime following a retrial in Istanbul Wednesday. His life sentence was reconfirmed.

Kaplan was extradited from Germany and sentenced to life in prison in 2005, but an appeals court overturned the decision, citing insufficient investigation and procedural errors.

Kaplan had previously lived in Cologne, Germany. He led the group the Caliphate State, which wants to replace Turkey’s secular regime with an Islamic state. The group has been outlawed in Germany and Turkey.

           — Hat tip: Abu Elvis [Return to headlines]

Russia


Iran’s Nukes Getting Russian Help

LONDON — Just as the Kremlin is releasing new confirmation it has tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles that “perfectly hit their targets,” officers for Britain’s MI6 intelligence service say a key Russian scientist working on the missile program also has helped Iran in its weapons development, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The Kremlin confirmation came just last weekend.

Intelligence agents in Moscow and Tehran confirmed the Russian rocket scientist helped Iran design advanced detonators whose “only possible use would be in a nuclear weapon,” stated John Scarlett, the head of MI6, in a report to Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee…

[Return to headlines]

Caucasus


Russia and Georgia Hold Peace Talks

The European Union remains divided over how to deal with Russia’s incomplete withdrawal after the August war.

Tbilisi, Georgia — At his checkpoint along the road from Tbilisi to Akhalgori in South Ossetia, Russian Senior Lt. Boris Federov has orders to search cars and check passengers’ papers. He waves most locals through, but when an SUV full of European Union civilian monitors arrives, he politely tells them they can’t enter.

Lieutenant Federov chuckles as he watches the EU monitors awkwardly turn around on the narrow road.

Russian forces were supposed to leave South Ossetia by Oct. 10, and the checkpoint Federov commands is now one of the key issues being discussed at talks that began on Wednesday in Geneva. They are the first direct talks between Russians and Georgians since their five-day war in August over Georgia’s two breakaway provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The EU delegates, however, still remain divided over how to deal with Russia over what’s seen as a less-than-complete withdrawal. Russia may try to exploit these divisions, say some regional analyts, even holding its energy resources over dependent European countries to prevent any substantive resolution.

“For Russia the best-case scenario is to delay any concrete decision that could be not in their favor,” says Zeyno Baran, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Eurasian Policy in Washington.

[Return to headlines]

South Asia


“Not Repentant and Never Will,” Say Three Bali Bombers Whose Execution is Near

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — On the sixth anniversary of the Bali bombing that killed 202 people on 12 October 2002, the relatives of the victims (mostly foreigners) and Indonesian public opinion are wondering when the three men sentenced for the crime will be executed. They are Amrozi (see photo after the death sentence was pronounced), Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron. According to unconfirmed reports the three men underwent a medical check-up, a preliminary stage before they go before a firing squad.

Buyung Nasution SH, a well-known lawyer and legal adviser to the president, said that the Attorney General’s Office has no legal grounds to further delay the execution after the last legal manoeuvre by the three convicts was rejected. As Muslims they asked to be beheaded as recommended by Islamic law rather than by a firing squad.

“Foreign diplomats often ask me why Indonesia is so slow in carrying out the sentence,” Buyung said. “Why non Muslim convicts (like Christians Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu) were quickly executed even when they were still filing appeals?”

By contrast, the Bali three’s last recourse was rejected in September 2007 and since then the only step remaining is execution.

For Bantarto Bandoro, a political expert at the University of Indonesia, the government might be delaying the execution to curry favour with voters ahead of the 2009 elections. Extremist political circles are in fact hoping that the passage of time might play in favour of the convicted terrorists with public opinion.

However, last week many Indonesians were incensed by arrogant statements made by Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron who said they were “not repentant and never will. . . . The Bali attack was necessary. Their destiny [to be killed because of the attack] has been decided from above (God).”

Parallel to this Amrozi said that his supporters and friends will immediately avenge his execution with an attack in Indonesia.

Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri is taking such threats seriously. He said that security forces will go on maximum alert as soon as the execution preparations get underway.

Indonesia’s Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said he delayed the execution until after the holy month of Ramadan which ended on 30 September. He explained that the execution will be carried out before the end of the year but did not specify the date.

Press sources have reported that Amrozi is set to meet his family, which might indicate that the execution is near.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]



Pakistan: Suicide Attacks ‘UN-Islamic’ Say Muslim Clerics

Lahore, 15 Oct. (AKI/DAWN) — Pakistani Muslim scholars or ulema, have declared suicide attacks ‘haram’ or forbidden.

“It is a unanimous decree of the ulema that suicide attacks in Pakistan are haram and illegitimate,” said a joint declaration released to the media by exponents of Pakistan’s major schools of thought.

“But it seems as if the government is covertly backing these attacks so that patriotic citizens may not assemble and launch a mass drive for the defence of the country.”

It endorsed a decree earlier issued by religious scholars in the southern city of Karachi. It alleged that a US agenda was being pursued under the cover of terror acts.

The meeting called for convening an all-party conference, including representatives of parties outside parliament, for devising a joint strategy to steer the country out of the crisis.

It called upon ulema across the country to condemn the US policies in their sermons on Friday and prepare the people for a mass movement.

It pledged to send a delegation of ulema to the areas of Bajaur and Swat for bringing the ‘facts’ to light.

The ulema called upon the nation not to leave the survival of the country to the rulers and parliament alone and to play a role in this regard.

It asked the government to take along ulema and other notables in every area in efforts for apprehending criminals, anti-state elements and foreign agents.

It also urged all Muslim countries to de-link their currencies from the US dollar and float their own common currency.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Far East


Courts Blocking Lawsuits in Melamine-Tainted Milk Scandal

Courts keep on hold or reject lawsuits claiming damages. Some lawyers are threatening class action suits. China’s justice system is geared to meet the needs of the Communist Party, not that of its ordinary citizens. In Shanghai a man on trial for murder becomes poster boy for the fight against the daily injustice inflicted by the system

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — China’s courts have thwarted attempts by victims to claim compensation for the damages suffered by their infant children poisoned by melamine-tainted milk. In Shanghai people have taken to the streets on behalf of a convicted multiple police killer. Increasingly in China’s “harmonious society” more and more people cannot stand Communist Party-styled justice.

The parents of Yi Kaixuan, a toddled who died at the age of six months from melamine-tainted Sanlu powdered milk, filed a lawsuit in court demanding 1.1 million yuan (US$ 146,000) as compensation. Their attorney Dong Junming however said it is not yet certain whether the court will admit the suit.

Powdered milk by Sanlu and other companies contained high levels of melamine, a toxic chemical substance that killed at least four infants, causing kidney stones in 54,000 children, many now in serious conditions.

Some legal actions against Sanlu were taken in Henan on 22 September and in Guangzhou on 8 October, but so far no court has admitted any lawsuit even though under the law they have to decided whether to hear a case or not within seven days from the application. Many parents are complaining that their lawsuits have been thrown out of court as inadmissible.

Last week Premier Wen Jiabao urged everyone to learn a “deep lesson” from the melamine-tainted scandal, and pledged tough penalties for anyone who broke the law. But for many experts the Communist Party is trying to find a “political” solution to the crisis to avoid handing out compensation for 54,000 children.

In view of the inaction by the legal system, some like attorney Na Jun in Lanzhou said “either the government will handle the compensation at the policy level, or we will have to consider class action.”

At the same time exasperation over court injustice has driven many ordinary citizens into the street to protest.

Frustration and resentment against the authorities blew up in Shanghai where the appeal trial against a death row inmate is underway. On 1 July Yang Jia went inside a police station and with a knife killed six policemen, injuring another three. Since then he has become a sort of popular “hero” after allegations surfaced on the Internet claiming that he was beaten for no apparent reason by police in 2006 and then arrested and beaten again in October 2007 for allegedly stealing a bicycle.

Now people are up in arms saying that Yang’s trial was rife with irregularities, that his original defence attorney was first “consulted” by district authorities in Zhabei (where the incident took place) and for the fact that serious doubts have been raised with regards to the psychiatric examination that found him fit to stand trial.

Yesterday hundreds of people protested in front of the courthouse, tapping into the anger generated by police violence and unfairness. Some protesters sported T-shirts with Yang’s face; others chanted “Long live Yang Jia” and “Yang Jia is a hero”.

In one incident outside the court police pushed to the ground a man who was waving a banner claiming supporters had donated 200,000 yuan to pay for Yang’s defence, then took him away to the angry shouts of the crowd (photo: police stopping a protester).

“We are just ordinary people concerned about Yang Jia’s fate,” said Liang Yin, one of the protesters. “We want to know the truth but they were shutting off every access” to the courtroom.

In fact the trial is already underway behind closed door despite attempts by tens of people to attend the proceedings.

Huang Xuemin complained police beat her when she tried to enter the court premises.

“You see how police were treating us! You can imagine how badly Yang Jia must be treated,” she said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Sub-Saharan Africa


Danish UN Observers Cannot Enter Sudan

Danish UN representatives cannot get Sudanese entry visas

Six Danish officers who should have travelled to Sudan in August as UN observers, still cannot get entry visas.

The Danish armed forces said there have been many problems getting Sudanese visas for Danes since President Omar al-Bashir declared during the latest Mohammed crisis that ‘not a single Danish foot will soil Sudan’s land.’

The defence minster, Søren Gade, explained that new visa procedures were introduced by the UN in the spring that allow the Danes to travel as international representatives rather than as Danish employees.

However, despite having Danish diplomatic passports and UN travel documentation the six observers are still unable to enter Sudan. The armed forces were unable to give further information on the case.

The Danish People’s Party has called on the government to issue a formal protest to the Sudanese, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]

Immigration


Immigration: Greece, 59 Migrants Blocked in Aegean

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 14 — 59 illegal immigrants, all without documents, have been blocked by the Greek Coast Guard in the sea close to the islands of Farmakonisi, Samos and Corfù. According to Vice-chief of the Coast Guard, Admiral Teodoros Rentzeperis, the people arrested in the Aegean came from the Turkish coast on board small boats, while those who landed on Corfu, in the Ionian sea, arrived from Albania on motorboats. Official figures from the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry, 10,659 illegal immigrants and 173 traffickers were stopped by the Coast Guard between January and September 2008. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigration: Tunisia, Three Youths Arrested

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, OCTOBER 15 — Three young Tunisians, who had planned their illegal emigration to Italy, have been arrested by the police. The three were taken by surprise when, at night, they were trying to steal an outboard motor from a boat in the harbour of El Haouaria (Cape Bon); their plan was to mount it on another boat, in which they wanted to attempt the crossing. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigrants: Boat Adrift, 80 Assisted South of Lampedusa

(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, OCTOBER 15 — Eighty immigrants, including 15 women, received assistance at sea 80 miles south of Lampedusa late yesterday, after having called for help by means of a satellite phone. The boat was going adrift and was first spotted by a motor trawler. Then, a patrol boat of the local port authority arrived, embarked the immigrants and took them to the island, where they arrived at around 10.30 p.m. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Immigration: Algeria, 18 Arrests Off Coast Near Annaba

(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, OCTOBER 15 — Eighteen Algerians were arrested last night off the coast near Annaba, 600 km to the east of Algiers, as they attempted to reach Italy on board a small homemade boat. According to a communication from the Algerian coastguard issued by APS, the young people, all between 18 and 32 years old and originally from the east of Algeria, were intercepted 4 miles from the coast. Last week, another 34 illegal emigrants were arrested, also off the coast of Annaba, from where boats leave in the direction of Italy. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy-Albania: Napolitano, Risks Forestalled for Immigrants

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 14 — “At the time of the disorderly inflow of immigrants from Albania there was also the risk of wornd reactions by the Italian public opinion. Today the Albanian community is one of the best integrated communities, away from all risk”, Italy’s President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano said on Tuesday after meeting Albania’s President Bamir Topi. “Relations between our two countries — Napolitano added — are warm and friendly, born out of events we faced together in years not too far away. In the second half of the Nineties, a hard time for Albania, we overcame that period with firm relations. Italy — Napolitano went on — supported and keeps supporting the closing-in process of Albania to the European Unione and to NATO. The support by Italy is a steady feature also by different governments. President Topi and I discussed about the Balkans and we fully agreed on the fact that all problems in that area, including those connected with Kosovo’s independence, are to be dealt with in the framework of European cooperation”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Italy: House OKs Classes for Foreign Kids

Opposition slams ‘xenophobia’

(ANSA) — Rome, October 15 — A controversial government proposal to create special classes for immigrant children instead of allowing them to enter directly into Italian schools won approval in the House on Tuesday evening.

The measure, proposed by the Northern League and passed by 265 votes to 246, would require foreign children to pass a specially designed entrance test before being admitted to schools.

While those who passed would be able to join ‘normal’ classes, children who failed would be placed in so-called ‘bridge’ classes, where they would follow Italian language, law and citizenship courses as well as a basic curriculum until they could pass the test.

The measure would also require schools to ensure a ‘‘proportionate’’ distribution of foreign students in normal school classes ‘‘to facilitate full integration and prevent the risk of forming classes of foreign pupils alone’’.

‘‘The spirit of the measure voted yesterday is to guarantee equal opportunities to foreign students and facilitate integration,’’ said League House whip Roberto Cota.

‘‘We want a society in which people who arrive here have full rights, but respect our law and learn our language and our rules’’.

But the motion came under fire from opposition politicians, with Democratic Party senator Vincenzo Vita describing it as ‘‘an act of the worst xenophobia’’.

‘‘How is it possible to vote for such a text? It takes us back to the racism and hatred towards diversity that existed three centuries ago. This is a black page (in parliament’s history) that must be withdrawn immediately’’.

Italy of Values House whip Pierfelice Zazzera said rather than moving towards integration the measure ‘‘creates other walls, divides, excludes and segregates’’.

‘‘Today we create separate classes for foreign pupils, tomorrow for the disabled, the day after for homosexuals, and then separate classes for political affiliations,’’ he said.

The motion also drew concern from two members of Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party.

Alessandra Mussolini, who heads the Parliamentary Children’s Committee, and fellow MP Souad Sbai said they ‘‘felt the duty to ask for an urgent meeting’’ with Education Minister Maria Stella Gelmini.

‘‘While we are aware of the problems of language and cultural diversity when introducing foreign students into schools, we maintain that the exchange of knowledge is fundamental for real integration,’’ they said.

Separate bridge classes ‘‘would risk transforming susceptible students into socially unequal citizens,’’ they added.

Cota hit back at criticism, saying that ‘‘people who maintain there is any wish to discriminate either haven’t read the text or are acting in bad faith’’.

The measure will have to be passed by the Senate before coming into effect.

According to the Italian Association of Italian Municipal Councils (ANCI), there are currently 690,000 foreign students from 190 different countries in Italian schools.

Earlier this year the government pledged to ensure that minors in the country’s Roma gypsy camps were sent to school.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]



Netherlands: Committee Appeals for Asylum Reception Near Country of Origin

THE HAGUE, 15/10/08 — The Advisory Committee on Aliens Affairs (ACVZ) is pleading that asylum seekers be received in a country near their country of origin. In addition, the committee is advising against measures to take away the second passport of Dutch people with dual nationality.

ACVZ chairman Teun van Os van den Abeelen is pleading for measures to stem the flow of asylum seekers. For example, an asylum seeker should not go through the asylum procedure in the Netherlands but in a country near their country of origin. “This would save enormous sums of money that could be spent on the countries where most of the refugees end up and on surrounding countries”, as the chairman stated in free newspaper De Pers yesterday.

The plan will form part of a recommendation to the cabinet which the ACVZ is currently working on, according to the chairman. The advice also states that the Netherlands should become more liberal towards people with dual nationalities.

Critics complain that the Netherlands is already liberal enough towards immigrants holding both a Dutch and a foreign passport. Even Prime Minister Balkenende’s government has two foreigners: a Moroccan (State Secretary Aboutaleb) and a Turk (State Secretary Albayrak).

ACVZ is however rejecting suggestions that loyalty conflicts might arise. “The Netherlands is an exception in its tendency to be increasingly strict about this issue. Throughout the world you can see this policy becoming more liberal and this is also the tenor of our recommendation. There are no indications whatsoever that a dual nationality affects a person’s loyalty”.

In his advice, Van Os van den Abeelen also returns to the ‘circular migration’ plan previously announced by State Secretary Albayrak (Immigration). Labour migrants should be granted entry for four years and then return to their country of origin with a bonus.

           — Hat tip: TB [Return to headlines]

General


‘The Third Jihad’: Documentary ‘Exposes the War the Media is Not Telling You About’

From Breitbart TV, an excerpt from the new documentary:

“The Third Jihad exposes the war the media is not telling you about. It reveals the enemy our government is too afraid to name. One person who is not afraid to tell you the truth is Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim American and former physician to the US Congress. After the FBI releases a radical Islamist manifesto describing how to destroy America from within, Dr. Jasser decides to investigate.”

Our tipster watched the twenty minute excerpt and says:

The film features Zuhdi Jasser, a self identified moderate Muslim, Bernard Lewis, Walid Phares, Rudi Giuliani, Senator Lieberman, Tom Ridge, Reverend Eugene Rivers/Pastor Aziza Christian Community@ Boston, Melanie Philips, Ray Kelly/Police Com. NYC, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and clips from the Glenn Beck program on CNN.. . .along with a list of who’s who in global jihad.

The following are two quotes from the film:

• Tawfik Hamid, Former member of Jamma’a Islameia Terror Group : “The real war is not a war against a bunch of terrorists. It’s a war between the values of freedom and democracy.

Democracy permits demographic shifts in societal politic — so I’m not seeing this as promising.

Responding to video of Palestinian mother Um Nidal,

• Manda Zand Ervin/founder President Alliance of Iranian Women:”When you have Muslims who are willing to kill their own children for political advantages, strap bombs on them and send them out — if you can kill your own children, what prevents you of killing my children, or prevents you killing millions of children of other people?”

           — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness [Return to headlines]



UK: Kebab Boss Prepared Food as Worker Lay Dead Nearby

The boss of a Wolverhampton catering company was caught making kebabs while a dead body lay on a sofa just a few yards away in the same room.

Jaswinder Singh carried on cooking in a fly-infested prep room at Pappu Sweet Centre & Catering despite the sudden death of one of his workers.

The 45-year-old was banned from working with food again at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday.

District Judge Martin Brown said: “The facts in this case are extraordinarily serious, they are about as grave as one might get in such a case.”

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]



Video: Wafa Sultan and Yaron Brook Speak on Islamic Totalitarianism at Uc Irvine

[see linked post for video]

She spoke at UC IRvine yesterday alongside Yaron Brook at a discussion panel on Totalitarian Islam and threat to Western Civilizatrion. I decided to show up considering I covered the same group (plus Daniel Pipes) last year at UCLA See my previous post here and more video from the event at UCLA here.

Funny, this time around, the usual protesting Islamists must not have heard about the event, because there were none. That’s quite unusual for UC Irvine, considering the history of Islamist support from student groups and faculty. But anyways, it was a pleasure to attend an un-interrupted event.

I must say, after hearing Wafa speak in person for the second time now, I now see the fear that she posesses in her daily life. While I’m used to her blasting Islamists on Al Jazeera, this time she spoke with a much more vulnerable tone in her voice.

There was a striking moment when she explained how she lives under a constant threat of death and that people email her on a daily basis threatening her and her family. When she spoke about the threat, like they know where she lives and where her kids go to school and how one day she and her family would suffer the consequences, her voice trembled as she spoke. She was genuinely afraid. She then said how this was her purpose, her mission, her responsibility.

I cannot describe the chills that went down my back when I heard her speak these things. She is one helluva brave woman and one that I’ll admire the rest of my life…

[Return to headlines]

Western Suicide

Below is a guest-essay from Queen, a regular reader and commenter at Gates of Vienna.



The West is Destroying its Most Valuable Financial Asset: Political and Social Stability
by Queen

The Ravening BeastWhy is the West deliberately destroying its most valuable financial asset? With little raw materials left to exploit in much of the West, and in other developed nations such as Japan, we have to wonder why it is that the developed nations are considered “rich”? What do we have that other, more truly resource-rich nations don’t have? Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, has vast stores of diamonds, gold and oil, but it is the poorest region in the world.

The answer is simple. Our most valuable financial asset today is political and social stability, painstakingly built up at the cost of several centuries of blood, sweat, toil and tears. And yet, with mass immigration and multiculturalism, we are busily throwing away our most valuable financial asset as if it were so much worthless trash.

Investors do not invest in politically or socially unstable countries. Real estate developers do not build office complexes or housing developments in politically or socially unstable countries. Political and social stability is the reason why a tiny studio apartment in London or Manhattan is worth much more money than a palace in Bangladesh.

Many liberals and progressives state that poverty causes crime, but there is evidence that the opposite is true: Crime (and violence, a symptom of political and social instability) causes poverty. Mexico is a poor country, yet it shares the same dirt and two oceans as wealthy, technologically advanced Canada and the US. Tellingly, Mexico also has the sixth-highest homicide rate in the entire world, and the second-highest kidnapping rate. Much of the country is under the de facto political control of vicious drug gangs.

Today, even the wealthy and comfortably middle-class people of Mexico are fleeing the country because of the insecurity created by violence, corruption and political instability. Foreign companies that invest in factories in Mexico often pull up their stakes and move away in just a few years, because the political corruption and constant need to provide bribes to corrupt Mexicans officials (and protection pay-offs to criminal gangs) has made the cost of doing business too high for any ethical commercial entity. This, of course adds to the country’s poverty and joblessness, which in turn adds to the political instability and violence. An endless negative feedback loop is created by a nation’s lack of political and social stability — a feedback loop that becomes extremely difficult if not impossible to halt.
– – – – – – – –
As we all know, the West is busily heaping up its own funeral pyre in an orgy of irrational self-destructiveness. Our cultural heritage and our grandchildren’s peace of mind won’t be the only victims, however — our primary source of wealth is also being tossed, willy-nilly, into the flames as well. A Balkanized, conflict-ridden West full of competing and eventually warring ethnic groups will be poor and undeveloped, just like Mexico, the Middle East, Latin America, and tribally conflicted Sub-Saharan Africa.

Peshawar crowdFor those of the global elite who support mass immigration of culturally incompatible Third-Worlders into the developed nations, because they do not care about the survival of Western civilizations, values, cultures, traditions, historical peoples or heritages, I pose a question: Okay, what about financial stability, then? Where will you put your precious money or build your lucrative real estate complexes when the West finally loses its most valuable financial asset? What happens to all of those million dollar condos in London or Manhattan when those cities become culturally, politically and socially indistinguishable from Karachi or Mexico City?