For the third night in a row, “youths” are rioting in the southeastern French town of Firminy. The casus belli was the death of a young Arab in police custody, which has been officially ruled a suicide. The “youths” aren’t buying it, hence the stone-throwing and burning cars.
In other news, teachers in the UK are being trained to spot the telltale signs of forced marriages among their female pupils.
Thanks to Gaia, Insubria, JD, KGS, Steen, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –
Brown Manure, Not Green Shoots
The June employment report suggests that the alleged green shoots are mostly yellow weeds that may eventually turn into brown manure. The employment report shows that conditions in the labor market continue to be extremely weak, with job losses in June of over 460,000. With the current rate of job losses, it is very clear that the unemployment rate could reach 10% by later this summer—around August or September—and will be closer to 10.5%, if not 11%, by year-end. I expect the unemployment rate is going to peak at around 11% at some point in 2010, well above historical standards for even severe recessions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cap-and-Tax: Government vs. America
There is still time to stop the legislative monstrosity known as the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill before the Senate approves it. But for that to happen, Americans must learn how bad it is.
Let’s briefly review the basics: the bill is ostensibly designed to curb man-caused carbon emissions (presumably without outlawing breathing) to retard global warming.
Even if we accept, for purposes of argument, the assumptions of radical, hysterical leftist environmentalists that man-caused global warming will destroy the planet if evil, rich capitalists don’t radically curtail their own contributions to the catastrophe, Waxman-Markey would not prevent this Armageddon.
Climate scientist Chip Knappenberger, of New Hope Environmental Services, calculates that the bill would only reduce Earth’s temperature by 0.1 to 0.2 degree Celsius by 2100. The Heritage Foundation’s Ben Lieberman says he’s found no “decent refutation of the assertion that the temperature impact would be inconsequential.”
Unfortunately, the bill’s negative impact on the economy would not be inconsequential. Lieberman says the bill would cause estimated job losses averaging about 1.15 million from 2012-2030, and the cumulative projected loss in gross domestic product would be almost $10 trillion by 2035. The national debt from this bill alone, disregarding the multiple bailouts, stimulus packages and health care “reform,” would increase by 2035 for a family of four by 26 percent, or $115,000.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
G8: Migrant Cash Transfer Cut OK
Italian proposal to halve commissions approved
(ANSA) — L’Aquila, July 10 — The Group of Eight summit on Friday approved an Italian proposal to cut by half commissions on money transfers by immigrant workers to their countries of origin.
The measure was contained in a package aimed at helping more vulnerable countries weather the global recession.
Wire transfer costs will be halved by improving transparency and competition among the intermediaries that handle the money, the final statement said.
Earlier, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called the commissions of up to 10% “an immoral and unjust profit” for banks and other operators.
He said the estimated annual $13 billion sent home by workers in foreign countries could be used to help poor countries.
The main topics on the third day and final day of the summit were Africa and food security.
As well as agreeing to fulfill past pledges, the G8 approved a $20 billion three-year food security programme. The leaders of the world’s biggest economies were joined on the last day by the heads of state of Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa, as well as the African Union commission on the impact of the global recession on the continent.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
How Obama’s Stimulus Violates Your Constitutional Rights
Lawsuit challenges government ‘guidance’ to doctors
A nurse has filed a lawsuit against the medical records provisions of President Obama’s stimulus bill alleging it not only gives government officials access to personal health records, it would open the door for bureaucrats to make health care decisions.
[…]
The lawsuit said the federal plan’s goal “is to reduce costs and ‘guide’ plaintiff’s doctor’s decisions.”
[…]
The result is that penalties that could be imposed against doctors that would “deter the plaintiff’s health care providers from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols should (a medical) condition become atypical,” the lawsuit said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Prices in Free Fall, June -1% on Year to Year Basis
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 10 — Prices in Spain are in a state of free fall with inflation that reached -1% on annually in June even it showed an increase of 4 tenths compared to the month of May, according to data released today by the Spanish national statistics office. The figure is a record low since 1961, the year in which research into the consumer price index began. The -1% rate is the fourth consecutive negative value and the eleventh consecutive decrease in inflation, beginning from the maximum of 5.3% recorded for the month of July last year. In total, inflation has showed a drop of about 6 points over the last year, however the government has excluded the hypothesis of deflation.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
N.Y. Times Creates Mythical America
On June 18, the New York Times published the results of its latest poll on President Barack Obama’s administration, that it conducted in conjunction with CBS News. What the Times failed to tell its readers was that its editors rigged the poll much like the Ayatollah rigged the Iranian election. A look at the poll’s sampling method reveals that the Times heavily weighted the poll in favor of Obama, showing the gap between his personal approval rating and the public’s approval of his initiatives to be much smaller than it actually is.
Specifically, the New York Times poll surveyed twice as many Obama voters than McCain voters, as well as a significant number of non-voters (48 percent Obama voters; 25 percent McCain voters; 19 percent non-voters; 5 percent voters who wouldn’t disclose their vote; 1 percent who voted for someone else; 1 percent don’t know if they voted or not — some of these folks might be Times’ editors). Sixteen percent of those surveyed by the Times are not even registered to vote.
In other words, the Times poll captured only 50 percent of McCain voters, while surveying 90 percent of Obama voters. The Times poll also surveyed one-fifth of the 40 percent of Americans who weren’t interested enough eight months ago to care who became the next president of the U.S.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama ‘Smear’ Site Vanishes From Web
Statements scrubbed on birth certificate, Bill Ayers, ACORN
A website aimed at combating so-called Internet “smears” about President Obama has disappeared from the Internet — including an alleged certification of live birth posted during his campaign — and archives for the website have been thoroughly scrubbed.
As The Obama File notes, even the Internet Archive Way Back Machine appears to have lost its archived copies of Obama’s “Fight the Smears” website.
A Google cache of the website still shows many of the “smear” topics the website addresses, but content for each posting is no longer available. The snapshot of the page from July 2, 2009, lists the following topics…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Read the Fine Print
The glow is off the rose. The euphoria is gone. The thrilled, awe-inspired crowds are no longer there. No, that’s not a reflection on the recent Michael Jackson media madness. Instead, it’s a summary of the Obama family outing to Russia, Italy and Africa. Other than a week’s respite from the deepening U.S. financial crisis, the collapse of constitutional government in Honduras, and staged photo ops, the trip yielded little to give the American people hope that the O-Team comprehends the dangers we face in this world — or what to do about them.
[…]
The O-Team also sought to enlist Russian help in pressuring Iran and North Korea to abandon efforts to develop nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. About the best they got was an acknowledgment from Medvedev: “We should make our utmost (effort) to prevent any negative trends there.” To reassure the dubious, he added, “We share the same attitude toward this problem.”
Whether the patently naive Mr. Obama believes this falsehood is unknown. We can only hope that those accompanying our commander in chief know better. In February, Moscow’s nuclear technicians helped their Iranian counterparts turn on the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant. Despite American overtures to the contrary, the facility still is scheduled to come fully on line — and therefore generate not only electricity but also plutonium that can be used in nuclear weapons — before the end of the year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Police Fear Fresh Riots in Firminy After Death of Arab Man in Police Custody
Police are bracing for violence in the southeastern French town of Firminy tonight after the death in custody of a 21-year-old Arab man sparked two nights of arson and car-burning.
The family of Mohamed Benmouna joined the authorities in calling for calm as youths from immigrant housing estates vented their disbelief of the official report that he had committed suicide.
The scene at Firminy, near the city of St Etienne, was calmer today after a post-mortem examination found that Mr Benmouna, who had been arrested on extortion charges, had hanged himself from the plasterboard wall of the cell and that there was no trace of other violence.
On Tuesday night, when Benmouna was in a coma, youths set fire to a community centre and a dozen cars. After he died on yesterday, they burnt another eight cars.
Mediators were sent to calm tempers in order to avoid a spread of violence of the type that erupted after the deaths of two teenagers in a Paris ethnic suburb in October 2005. The rampage spread across the country and thousands of cars were burned as youths from immigrant families fought police.
The last serious episode, in November 2007, was in response to the death of two boys in a collision with a police car in the northern Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel.On average, more than 100 cars are set alight by youths every night in French towns and suburbs.
France has been criticised by international organisations for the high rate of suicides in its overcrowded prisons and police cells. So far this year, 77 prisoners have killed themselves.
| [Return to headlines] |
G8: Gaddafi Pitches Tent at Summit
Libyan leader and Obama will both attend official dinner
(ANSA) — Rome, July 9 — Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has pitched a Beduoin tent in the grounds off the police barracks currently hosting the Group of Eight summit in the quake-stricken city of L’Aquila. Gaddafi, who has been invited to the summit in his role as current chairman of the African Union, is likely to have a more comfortable camping experience than the thousands of people left homeless by the April 6 quake now housed in tents around the city. The Libyan leader’s tent, which stands in the barracks’ football field, is equipped with all the luxuries, including a plasma screen TV and decoder, and is being guarded by several of his female ‘Amazon’ bodyguards. Gaddafi will also be the best situated world leader to cope should a major earthquake hit the city, which is still experiencing tremors. Italy has prepared a G8 evacuation plan if there is a quake of 4.0 on the Richter scale or above. The National Geophysics and Volcanology Institute currently rates that risk at about 30%. It is customary for Gaddafi to pitch a tent wherever he goes. Last month Gaddafi insisted on pitching a huge tent in a Rome park during his first official visit to Italy, during which he tried the patience of the authorities by standing up MPs from Italy’s Chamber of Deputies who had gathered to hear him speak.
He also embarrassed his hosts during his visit by saying the United States wanted “to colonise the world”, was not interested in people’s freedom and fought against anyone who “got in its way”.
Addressing Italian senators he compared the US bombing of his quarters in 1986, in which an adopted infant daughter was killed, to al-Qaeda’s attacks and claimed the invasion of Iraq had turned the country into “an arena for al-Qaeda”.
A White House spokesman meanwhile said United States President Barack Obama had no problem sitting down at the same table with the Libyan leader for the dinner scheduled for leaders on Thursday evening.
“President Obama wants to continue to give his contribution to what he already considers a very successful summit,” said Whitehouse spokesman Denis McDonough.
“He doesn’t intend to choose which leaders he’ll shake hands with and which he won’t: he’ll be very happy to greet everyone he meets”.
McDonough added that Obama would likely take the opportunity to discuss subjects of concern to the US.
“He wants to see cooperation with Libya continue in sectors such as Tripoli’s decision a few years ago to give up its nuclear programme, an absolutely voluntary decision that we consider positive,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
G8: Merkel to Meet Mubarak on Courtroom Murder
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 9 — Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel is to meet the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, during the G8 summit. Their talks will centre on the case of the Egyptian woman who was murdered in a Dresden courtroom last week by German of Russian origin who had accused her of being a terrorist. The case is being viewed in Egypt as one of Islamophobia, indeed, some sections of the Arab media have spoken of “a veiled martyr”, stirring up hostility to Germany among sections of public opinion. Germany’s ambassador in Cairo had issued a memo condemning the murder and expressing the hope that relations between the two countries would not suffer. Tomorrow’s meeting has been announced by a spokesperson for the Chancellor, Thomas Steg, according to the AFP agency and Al Arabiya. The murder victim was Marwa el-Sherbini, 32, and in her third month of pregnancy. She was killed on Wednesday by the man she had accused of slander. When the woman arrived in the courtroom to appear as a witness, the man pulled a knife and stabbed her several times. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Zoo Forced to Rename Primate Called ‘Obama’
Facing accusations of racial insensitivity, the Dresden Zoo has been forced to rename a baby primate called ‘Obama,’ according to information attained by The Local on Friday.
This spring the zoo in the eastern German city named a newborn mandrill “Obama” after freshly inaugurated US President Barack Obama. But an advocacy group for black Germans demanded that the primate be renamed this week, calling the zoo’s choice racist.
“It’s a catastrophe,” director of the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD) Tahir Della told The Local on Friday. “Black people continue to be confronted by associations with the animal kingdom and primitivity.”
The baby mandrill, which belongs to a species closely related to the baboon, was born on March 23, Manuela Collmar, zookeeper at the zoo’s “Afrika Haus,” told The Local earlier this week. Each year the zoo names all newborn animals beginning with the same letter.
“This year they all begin with ‘O,’ and one of the zookeepers chose ‘Obama’ — it was meant to be positive and an honour in light of his visit to Dresden in June,” Collmar said, adding that neither she nor her colleagues were aware of the history of using monkeys to caricature and ethnically stereotype black people.
In an email response to ISD director Della’s complaint about the mandrill’s name on Thursday, zoo director Karl-Heinz Ukena echoed her sentiments.
“The possible associations of this name choice were not considered, and the racist charicterisation — particularly with the background that the US president recently visited Dresden — was far off,” Ukena wrote, adding that the zoo had meant to express its “esteem” for Obama.
Ukena went on to apologise for any “irritation” the name had caused.
The ISD responded with a request for the zoo to take the issue seriously and rename the mandrill.
The request at first went unanswered, and calls on Friday to the zoo revealed that Ukena had left his office on holiday.
However, later the same day, the zoo told The Local it had reconsidered and would rename the baby primate.
The zoo director was contrite about any possible offence taken, his secretary Annette Heine said.
“We will change the name to ‘Okeke,’ which means ‘he who was born on market day’,” she said.
Munich-based Della said he was surprised by the zoo’s change of heart, calling it a “small miracle.”
He said he has made “countless” similar complaints that have been repeatedly brushed aside.
“Most people think it’s enough to qualify offensive content by saying they didn’t mean it that way,” Della told The Local. “For a long time racism has been associated with the Third Reich, but Germans need to understand that there are other forms. There are so few black people in the country, however, that they see it as a small problem.”
The Dresden Zoo’s choice of the name ‘Obama’ for the mandrill is a sign of what Della calls a “subliminal racism” that exists in the country.
Indeed, just last week the United Nations’ special rapporteur for racism Githu Muigai said Germany needs to do more to tackle the daily discrimination of ethnic minorities.
Living in a less diverse society than in the United States, Germans have often struggled to avoid racial pitfalls and cultural insensitivity. Earlier this year a company was criticised for selling chicken nuggets called “Obama Fingers,” in an apparent reference to African-American fondness for fried chicken.
But there have also been gaffes in America.
This February, The New York Post was slammed for running a political cartoon showing police officers shooting a chimpanzee while saying: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill,” just as Obama was having difficulty with the US Congress on efforts to boost the economy.
The paper said it had not intended to appear racist and was merely referencing a recent incident with a violent chimp in Connecticut.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s New Hatred
A Muslim woman is stabbed to death in a Dresden courtroom and nobody seems to care. Der Tagesspiegel’s Andrea Dernbach comments on Germany’s problematic relationship to Islam.
The tragic events in Dresden last week have left several unanswered questions: How can a defendant stab a witness 18 times in a courtroom without anyone stopping him? How can the only person apparently able to intervene — her husband — end up seriously injured? And how is it that the police officer coming to the scene ends up shoot directly at the Egyptian husband and not the attacker?
But there’s possibly already answers to two important questions: Why does the death of a woman wearing a headscarf — who wasn’t the victim of a so-called “honour killing” — spark so little interest in Germany? And why did the country’s politicians merely to shrug their shoulders for an entire week after the heinous deed?
Could it be that this death — which is now a murder investigation — did not fit the preconceived notions most Germans have of Muslims?
A young woman Muslim, an educated and employed pharmacist, refuses to accept outrageous insult such as “slut,” Islamist,” and “terrorist” from a xenophobic man and decides to defend herself in a court of law. After suing her tormentor he is convicted, but at a retrial he kills her.
Maybe most people simply chose to ignore this incident because it counters too many of our popular dogmas. For example, that education is the key to integration. In this case, a well-educated young woman, married to man working at the esteemed Max Planck Institute, died. Who knows, perhaps that enraged the unemployed racist murderer even more?
Or what about the claim that Islam and Western society simply don’t fit? Marwa al-Sherbini tried to defend herself not only in an extremely rational and civil way, but chose to do it in an extremely German fashion: instead of screaming back at the man she decided to sue him in court.
Another truth also hurts: the frequent German association that “Islam” means “Islamist” and “terrorist” only because someone has darker skin or wears a headscarf. Those are sentiments not only held by extremists, even if the murderer apparently sympathised with the far-right NPD party.
Ever since Germany joined the war on terror after September 11, 2001 by profiling anyone appearing to be a devout Muslim with a beard or headscarf, it’s not only extremists linking Islam directly with terrorism.
Anti-Semitism against Jews is at last widely condemned Germany, but now hatred of Islam is on the verge of becoming an acceptable form of racism. Fortunately the German Jewish Council has long made a point of trying to stem the rising tide.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel has remained silent and Geert Mackenroth, Saxony’s justice minister, apparently only wants to use the incident to push for closed courtrooms in the state — even though public access to trials is one of the most important pillars of a modern legal system.
Mackenroth, the former head of the German Association of Judges, once tried to justify police torture in Frankfurt. Perhaps proponents of the West’s liberal legal traditions have as much to fear from German justice ministers as they do from Islamic law dictated by sharia.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: French Commission to Decide on Veil Use
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 9 — To speak about the ‘complete veil’ and not the ‘burqa’ or the ‘niqab’: this is the first decision made by the French parliamentary commission in charge of evaluating the necessity of a law that prohibits the use of such a veil for Muslim women, after the first day of work. The commission will listen to various experts from the Arab world, representatives of Women’s rights associations, sociologists and anthropologists and will draft a final document by January 2010. André Gerin, deputy of the French Communist party and president of the commission, explained yesterday that their intention is to “define the complete veil and what it represents”. The words ‘burqa’, the name of the typical veil of Afghan Pashtun women, or ‘niqab’, the black veil used mostly in Saudi Arabia, will not be used. The anthropologist Dounia Bouzar, who spoke in front of the commission during the first day of meetings, has invited all members of parliament to think about the reasons that make young Muslim women in France take over the radical ideas of Salafists, who believe they incarnate original Islam. These young women are convinced to be part of an elite, the anthropologist explained, and they hide from the outside world which they consider impure and with which they don’t want to interact. Dounia Bouzar believes that “these girls don’t know Islam”, as the religion does not require them to wear the complete veil. The Koran, according to the anthropologist, requires the hijab, the headscarf only covering the hair. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
These Women Have Had it With the Mullah Run Thugocracy Called the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Swedish government refuses to meet with these brave women
Standing up for freedom and democracy, Neda, friends and colleagues stand with their signs and pictures, helping to spread the word in the streets of Stockholm about what’s really happening inside their country of Iran. What’s as depressing as the photos in their protest display, is the fact that the Swedish government has refused to meet with these women, or anyone else that have been demonstrating their support for the freedom fighters risking their lives in the streets of Iran.
This particular group of ex-pat Iranians have placed their signs just outside the Swedish King’s palace which sits at the entrance to the old city of Stockholm, as well as being just across the short bridge from the Swedish House of Parliament. They have been there since the beginning of the protests in Iran, and have no plan of leaving soon.
One of the women in the group, pictured in the center, stated what the Tundra Tabloids had been saying (as well as Pamela Geller from Atlas Shrugs) that there are a host of competing voices currently protesting against the Islamic regime. She also stated that many who have taken to the streets are not protesting in favor of a “softer Islam” to replace the highly corrupt religious regime, but to replace it with a secular government ruled by civilian law, which means no to shariah, or Islamic law.
They have had it up to their eyeballs with Islam, and these particular protesters are against it entirely, they are also anti-Communist, pro-Western, pro-Israel and philo-Semitic. They view Israel as a part of the civilized West and have contempt for Western politicians, feminists, and for a host of other “humanitarian stooges” who prostrate themselves before the “Palestinian cause”. Saying that “the West has wasted enough money on them already”. They see in the Palestinians (Fakestinians) the same totalitarianism displayed in Iran, Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Al-Qaida…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
UK Report: ‘White Flight’ Causes Growing School Segregation
White parents are pulling their children out of schools where they are outnumbered by ethnic minority pupils, according to a report that paints a picture of growing segregation in schools in some parts of England.
The Institute of Community Cohesion studied 13 local areas and questioned parents from places such as Bristol, Bolton, Sunderland, Oldham and Blackburn.
It found that where schools were more mono-cultural parents of all ethnicities preferred to send their children to the school where pupils were most like them.
“We heard strong evidence of ‘white flight’ in some areas,” the report said.
Middle class parents — who tend to be white — were also removing their children from schools with growing ethnic minority populations because they didn’t want them to stand out, the reports authors said.
The report concluded: “Despite the fact that most people we spoke to in focus groups wanted their children to have a mixed education. Parental choice tended to push people to what they saw as the safe option, where children with similar backgrounds went.”
Nick Johnston, one of the authors of the report and a policy director at the iCoCo said parents didn’t want their child to be the odd ones out. “People don’t mind a diverse school but what they do mind is their kid being in a visible minority in a school. This trend has increased in the last few years.”
Councils should consider using lotteries to increase school diversity, he added.
ICoCo was set up in 2005 to promote community relations and research cohesion.
In one school in Blackburn, once the number of non-white pupils rose above 60 per cent, white parents began saying they did not want their children to feel different.
At another unnamed school 85 per cent of the pupils were white British at the end of 2005. During the next two terms pupils from 15 to 20 Somali families joined.
“Many white parents reacted negatively, arguing that their children were being disadvantaged by large numbers of non-English speakers. By September 2006, 60 white children had been removed from the school … and the percentage of black and minority ethnic pupils rose to 45 per cent. But many white families stayed,” the report said.
Researchers found evidence of pupils of different ethnicities not socialising even when sharing classrooms and playgrounds.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bakri Lass in ‘No Veil’ Pose on the Web
HATE preacher Omar Bakri was facing fresh humiliation last night after another of his daughters defied his strict Muslim code.
His 15-year-old daughter Raya has posted a picture of herself on Facebook — without a veil and baring her arms as she holds a cuddly toy.
It comes after Raya’s 27-year-old sister Yasmin was exposed as a pole dancer by The Sun last year. Raya had been ordered to cover up from head-to-toe by Bakri, who is in exile in Lebanon.
A source close to the family said last night: “Raya’s pictures on Facebook will make her father explode with rage.
“He’s already been mortified by pictures of Yasmin half-naked.”
Bakri, 51, divorced his wife Hanah, who stayed in London with his six children after he was booted out of Britain in 2006. He has now married a woman of 26.
He sparked outrage by praising the September 11 terrorists. He then blamed the Government and the British public for the 7/7 blasts in London that killed 52 people.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pair Jailed for Web Race Crimes
Two men have been jailed after becoming the first in the UK to be convicted of inciting racial hatred online.
Simon Sheppard, 51, of Selby in North Yorkshire, received four years and 10 months, and Stephen Whittle, 42, of Preston, two years and four months.
The men printed leaflets and controlled websites featuring racist material.
They fled to the US after being convicted of race-hate offences at a trial at Leeds Crown Court last year, but failed in an asylum bid.
Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty of 11 offences and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was found guilty of five offences at a trial in July last year.
Sheppard was convicted of a further five charges in January 2009.
However, before the jury in the first trial could return verdicts, both men fled to Los Angeles International airport and attempted to claim political asylum.
Their bid was thrown out by a US immigration judge.
The men were charged with publishing and distributing racially inflammatory material, and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.
Leeds Crown Court was told Whittle wrote offensive articles that were then published on the internet by Sheppard.
The published material included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.
Judge Rodney Grant told the men their material was “abusive and insulting” and had the potential to cause “grave social harm”.
He added: “Such offences as these have, by their very nature, the potential to cause grave social harm, particularly in a society such as ours which has, for a number of years now, been multi-racial.
‘Groundbreaking case’
“These are serious offences. I can say without any hesitation that I have rarely seen, or had to read or consider, material which is so abusive and insulting… towards racial groups within our own society.”
It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.
The investigation into Sheppard began when a complaint about a leaflet, called “Tales of the Holohoax”, was reported to police in 2004 after it was pushed through the door of a synagogue in Blackpool.
Humberside Police later found a website featuring racially inflammatory material.
The force’s Adil Khan, head of diversity and community cohesion, said: “This case is groundbreaking.
“It involved Humberside Police along with our colleagues from other forces.
“Inciting racial hatred is a crime and one which seems to occur too regularly. This kind of material will not be tolerated as this lengthy investigation shows.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teachers Told How to Spot Forced Marriages
Teachers have been told how to spot cases of potential forced marriage as the summer holidays approach.
The guidelines, issued to schools, doctors and the police aim to to identify families in which girls are made to marry against their will while abroad in the summer.
Chris Bryant, the Foreign Office Minister, insisted that every school should be looking at the issue as he acknowledged some may have been “uncertain” about cultural sensitivities.
The summer break is a peak time for incidents of young people, usually girls, being taken to south Asia in particular and forced by their families to marry.
Seventy per cent of cases involve families of Pakistani origin, and 11 per cent from a Bangladeshi background, according to the most recent figures from the Forced Marriage Unit.
“It may be possible that some schools have been uncertain about the cultural issues here.
“But I should make it absolutely clear there is no culture and there is no religion in which forced marriage should be acceptable or indeed is acceptable.”
He also rejected any notion that it was an issue to do with the Islamic faith. “Marriage in every religion has to be freely consented to,” he told the BBC.
There have been 770 calls to the Forced Marriage Unit so far this year, a 16 per cent increase on the same period last year. But there is concern that many of those affected are frightened to come forward and make their plight known.
Mr Bryant said: “The most important thing is to spot the problem before it happens. There are key times of the year just as now when this is the case.”
Tell-tale signs can include self-harm or sudden lack of interest in academic work, he said.
| [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Seizes Explosives Linked to Terror Suspects
700 Kg found with terror suspects: Egyptian state security
Egypt has seized a cache of explosives in a mountainous area near its border with Israel, a security source said on Friday, one day after 26 people were arrested on suspicion of targeting the Suez Canal.
In the latest of crackdowns on terror cells, an unnamed Egyptian security source said 700 kg (1,540 lb) of explosives were on Thursday evening in a mountainous area south of el-Arish and was likely to be smuggled to Gaza.
The source added that residents had alerted security forces to the cache, which was buried two meters (6.6 feet) below the ground. No one was arrested, but there was evidence the cache had been used recently, the source said.
On Thursday, Egypt’s interior ministry said it had arrested 26 people suspected of plotting to target oil pipelines and foreign ships in the Suez Canal, which separates the Sinai Peninsula from the rest of Egypt.
Egyptian security found evidence that the group, some of whom were technologically savvy engineers, maintained communication with al-Qaeda abroad and other terror networks using complex devices as well as cell phones and the internet.
Abdul Rahim Ali, director of the Arab Center for Research and Studies, told Al Arabiya members of the cell caught Thursday had entered Gaza through the assistant of a Palestinian named Abu Gazar.
Ali said that the investigation remains in its infancy and that the links between the group arrested and the Army of Islam, a Palestinian faction in Gaza, remains unclear.
Egypt has taken a tough line again smugglers and migrants seeking to move goods and people across the borders with both Israel and the Gaza Strip. Police shot dead at least 28 African migrants at the border last year.
The government stepped up security measures against smugglers in April after prosecutors accused Lebanese group Hezbollah of planning attacks in Egypt through a group of 49 men.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Gulf Investors Have 35% Stake in Foreign Companies
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 8 — Arabian Gulf investors own a 35 percent stake in all foreign companies operating in Egypt, said Investment Minister Mahmoud Muhiddine. This means that they are responsible for one third of capital invested in the country, he told a group of Arab and Egyptian business people while addressing the first Egyptian-Gulf investment forum, organized by the Gulf Cooperation Council in tandem with the Egyptian General Authority for Investment. Over the first nine months of fiscal year 2008-2009, the value of foreign investments in Egypt reached Usd 5.2 billion, he said. In fiscal 2007-2008 they were 13.2 billion, constituting 8.5 percent of the gross domestic product, he said, attributing the marked drop to the global economic crisis and stressing the need for more inter-Arab cooperation to mitigate its impact on Arab economies. The forum offers a good chance for potential investors to make themselves familiar with the pro investment atmosphere in Egypt and know more about the economic and legal reforms and the basic infrastructure projects being implemented in the country, he said.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Al Qaeda Members Received Training in Gaza
An Egyptian newspaper reported this week that several European members of an Al Qaeda cell recently busted in Egypt received training and financing from Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
The Europeans — three Belgians, a man from France and another from the UK — stand accused, along with seven Arab Al Qaeda members, of planning to attack Israeli targets in Egypt and monitoring Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal.
Egyptian authorities involved in the investigation told Cairo’s Al-Masri Al-Youm daily newspaper that they had discovered shocking evidence of the massive degree of Al Qaeda activity in both Gaza and Egypt.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas for years denied that Al Qaeda was active in Gaza, but the territory’s Hamas rulers never hid their affinity for Osama bin Laden’s group and its accomplishments.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Human Rights: UN Asks Turkey Why it is Jailing Teenagers
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JULY 9 — In Turkey the children who throw stones at police or chant illegal slogans in favour of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) at street demonstrations are tried for being members of a terrorist organization, according to the law. In a letter to the Turkish Justice Ministry, the United Nations has asked a number of questions about the situation of children under age 18 who are charged under the anti-terror law, Hurriyet daily news reports. In addition to the number of these children and the definition of terrorist activities, questions about whether they should be judged by the civilian or military court, how their rights are protected, the number of children who were used by the terrorist organizations in conflicts, and the state’s measures to prevent this situation remain among the questions that must be answered by August 4. With an amendment made to the Turkish Penal Code in 2005, the scope of the anti-terror law expanded. Heavier punishments were brought for those who intentionally committed a crime on behalf of a terrorist organization, even if they were not members. Legal experts say over 1.000 children were taken into custody within the last two years for this reason. According to the Initiative for Justice for Children, there are currently 300 such children aged between 12 and 18 who are detained in prisons. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Gays Are Negative on Lifestyle, Research
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JULY 9 — Almost 40% of homosexuals consider their lifestyle choice to be “perverse” and 90% of people do not want their offspring to be homosexual, daily Hurriyet reports quoting the research by the Sexual Health Institution Society (CISED). Cem Kece, head of CISED, said the research was conducted by holding more than 5,000 interviews in the cities of Diyarbakir, Izmir, Adana, Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa and Mersin. Among those interviewed 48% were heterosexual women, 40% heterosexual men and the remaining 12% were gays, bisexuals, transvestites or transsexuals, collectively referred to as homosexuals for the research. According to the results 75% of heterosexuals and 40% of homosexuals interviewed said homosexuality is a “form of perversion”; 40% of heterosexuals and 60% of homosexuals said they believe homosexuality is a “conscious choice”. The research revealed that 55% of heterosexuals and 35% of homosexuals believe homosexuality can be cured. Among heterosexuals, 75% said they would end their friendship if a friend is gay. All heterosexuals interviewed and 90% of homosexuals did not want their children to be gay and 90% of homosexuals said they were subjected to discrimination. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Yon: Girl With No Future
It’s not the troops; it’s not the economy; it’s not that it’s mountainous and landlocked like Austria and Switzerland. It’s the society. I write these words from Ghor province, and it’s like the Jurassic Park in Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Nangahar … keep going. A person can tool around in towns like Kabul, Jalalabad or Mazar-i-Sharif and build up hopes, but to extrapolate beyond the tangible is folly. Iraq is 1,000 years more advanced than Afghanistan. Nepal is far more connected to and cognizant of the outside world.
After nearly eight years of war and billions spent, there is not a single Afghan soldier in this entire province. There is not a meter of paved road. There is a single television station that operates for maybe four hours a night when it has fuel.
[…]
Smiting warlords and terrorists is like cutting the grass, which is no revelation to U.S. and allied commanders. Yet many people at home, including some of the political elite, do not grasp the societal inertia, complexity and natural baffles to progress. Ten years from now — 18 years into the process — this will not be finished business.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Voices ‘Concern’ Over China Unrest
Iran has voiced concern over the recent clashes in China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang where up to 150 people have been killed.
The policies of the government in Beijing have encouraged an increase in the Han population in the northwestern Chinese territory of Xinjiang.
As a result of the policies, the balance of the population in the region has been upset and acts of violence have emerged against the Muslim Uighurs.
In a telephone conversation with Secretary General of the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki voiced Iran’s support for “the rights of Chinese Muslims”.
Mottaki is also expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi over the issue.
The clashes are thought to be the deadliest unrest of its kind to hit the country in decades.
Some 1,430 people have been taken into custody by Chinese security forces since the riots began on Sunday.
Opposition leaders in exile have accused police of firing rounds to break up the peaceful protests staged by Uighur groups in response to the policies of the Beijing government.
President Hu Jintao cut short his visit to a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Italy in a bid to resolve the crisis at home.
Hu has vowed to “severely punish” those behind the deadly rioting in the Muslim region.
| [Return to headlines] |
OIC Chief Urges China to Provide Protection for Civilians in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed, once again, his deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, in particular the loss of life in great number among the civilian and the loss of property.
He deplored the climate of fear that the Uygur people are obliged to live in. He called upon the Government of China to provide protection for the civilian population to allow them to return to their normal life.
The Secretary General expressed his belief that the chronic problem facing the Uygur people in the Autonomous Region in China could not be solved though security measure alone. They are a distinct people looking to assert their cultural and ethnic characteristic and Muslim identity and to enjoy their inalienable cultural and economic rights. This kind of problem can only be solved through dialogue.
He once again, expressed his readiness to carry out contact with the Chinese Government to help ease the tense situation through measures that respond to basic norms of human rights and the legitimate rights of the Muslim Minority in China.
He urged the OIC Member States enjoying closed relations with China to support his efforts in this regard.
He also declared that he will keep constantly monitoring the situation.
| [Return to headlines] |
Uighur Exiles in Munich: ‘The Reality is Far Worse Than Television Pictures Suggest’
Corpses litter the streets and hunger and chaos prevail in China’s Xinjiang province, claim members of Munich’s Uighur community, the largest such group in Europe. In constant touch with Uighurs back home, they allege the death toll is much higher than the official figures.
The headquarters of the World Uighur Congress (WUC) amounts to a couple of rooms, tucked in the attic of a 1960s-era block near Munich’s central train station. More than 500 Uighurs live in the capital of the German state of Bavaria, making it the biggest such community in Europe. Asgar Can, the organization’s vice president, sits between a German flag and a Uighur one, which resembles the Turkish banner, except it is blue instead of red.
[…]
Can says he is also appealing to the German government to accept the remaining 13 Uighurs still being held in the US Guantanamo detention center.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Honduras Outraged by Obama-Chavez Alliance
I continue to receive messages from Honduran citizens upset at the international media for their distorted coverage of the situation in the Central American country. The people support the ouster of Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, who is considered a puppet of Venezuelan Communist ruler Hugo Chavez. They are mystified that an American president would want to return this Chavez puppet to power in Honduras.
One Honduran wrote: “The recent action taken by our Congress is highly supported by several organizations in support of peace and democracy: the State General Attorney, the Supreme Court, the Armed Forces, the private organizations and especially many young people. Mr. Zelaya broke the law on several occasions even after the Supreme Court stated that it was illegal. He had no respect for our laws and our Constitution.
“It’s not a new fact to the international media what are Chavez intentions over Central and South America. And we in Honduras don’t want that. We don’t want to go back to socialism or communism. We still believe very strongly in our democracy and very strongly in our freedom…We should be an example to Central American countries as well as South American countries who have not yet been influenced by Chavez.
“May God bless our small but courageous country. And I hope the international media investigate very deeply. Send your people here and interview people from Congress and Supreme Court. Thank you again for reading our side of the story. We want a democracy, peace, freedom, and a president who doesn’t believe he is above the law.
“Many people don’t know where Honduras is, but after this, they shall remember that Honduras said no to socialism and communism.
“I’d also like to say that I am shocked by Mr. Obama’s comments. Doesn’t he know Mr. Zelaya is allied with Chavez? Doesn’t he know that Mr. Zelaya wants to do in Honduras what Chavez did in Venezuela, Morales has done in Bolivia, Correa has done in Ecuador, Ortega in Nicaragua, as well as what Castro has done in Cuba?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Seeking Honorable Hondurans for Hire
Vice President Joe Biden has been slightly more candid than his boss, confessing of late that he “and everyone else misread the economy.” For his “everyone else” refrain, or plain fib, Joe can be forgiven. Drawing comfort from “the warm smell of the herd” he surrounds himself with is slightly better than Obama’s way out. Beloved of the herd, Obama opts for sophistic statements ─ the kind that cannot be proved or disproved. To wit: sans stimulus, more jobs would have been lost.
Yes, jobs. Although Obama’s chief economic advisers promised that their “stim” would hold the unemployment rate below 8 percent, it has risen to 9.5 percent and is expected to exceed ten. This is the highest unemployment has been in almost 26 years, with employers cutting 467,000 jobs in June alone.
A few months back, when Obama passed his $787 billion of stimulus ─ consisting of politically directed projects that ballooned government at all levels ─ there was not a scintilla of uncertainly in the minds of his gurus and the patsy pundits who service them. This infusion of borrowed and counterfeited funds, they asserted, would pick up the slack in the languishing economy, to use one crazy Keynesian concept. (Keynes was to economics as Katrina was to New Orleans.)
[…]
Understand: government has no means to generate or create wealth. To sustain its projects and parasites it must feed off the private, productive economy. Contra the kook Keynes, government consumption is a zero-sum-game: the more plans and planners, czars and czarinas Obama adds to his ranks, the fewer you’ll be adding to yours.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Frontex: Illegal Immigration Down, -25% Expected in 2009
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 9 — In 2009 illegal immigration into Europe could fall by as much as 20 — 25% compared to 2008, says Gil Arias-Fernandez, deputy executive director of EU border agency, Frontex. Today he presented figures on illegal immigration in Europe regarding the first three months of 2009. Compared to the first quarter of 2008, there has been a 16% drop in the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Europe, and a 20% drop in Italy. Overall in this period 20,200 illegal immigrants are thought to have arrived in Europe, 2,586 (13%) of whom arrived in Italy. The amount of people entering Europe by land or air has fallen particularly, considering that 8% of illegal immigrants arrived by boat. The total number of illegal immigrants in the EU in January, February and March 2009 was 90,800 (11,080 in Italy), 16% fewer (12% for Italy) than in the first quarter of 2008. Last year 145 thousand illegal immigrants came to Europe. Italy had the greatest number of immigrants arriving by boat, 37 thousand, or 41% of the total. In 2009, Frontex is expecting to see trends change. “The trends of the last few months, along with forecasts,” the deputy director said, “show that illegal immigration could fall by as much as 20-25%. If sea routes change, it could remain stable at 16% or drop to 10%.” Arias-Fernandez believes that numbers have fallen due to the economic crisis and the fact that some countries have been repatriating illegal immigrants, as well as the agreements made between Italy and Libya. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sicily: Dedalus Project to Join World of Work
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, JULY 10 — They arrived on one of the many ‘wrecks’ which plough the Sicilian channel in the hope of a better future. Today they are learning a trade, thanks to the ‘Dedalus’ project, set up and funded by the Employment ministry to support the socio-economic integration of young foreigners resident in Sicily. Immigrants from Egypt, Tunisia and many other countries took part in yesterday’s meeting ‘The centrality of Sicily in welcoming immigrants’, which was organised as part of the project. 18-year old Mahmoud Marae from Egypt lives in the Casa Amica community in Agrigento, and is learning to be a blacksmith. “If I’m in Italy it’s thanks to Allah”, he says. “In my country I was exploited. I worked morning till night to earn a pitiful wage. This is why I decided to leave Egypt and seek my fortune in the West”. 17-year old Yousef, who is also Egyptian, is training to be a gardener. “I look after the green areas of Montevago, I like this work and being in contact with nature”. 21-year old Nisarin Lossaif from Tunisia is doing work experience in a large fish processing company in Mazara Del Vallo. “I was born in Mazara, and I graduated from the Ipsia college. My farther was a boat attendant but he lost his job. These are difficult times and I am busy learning a trade to find a job as soon as I can”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Episcopal Bishop: Personal Salvation ‘Heresy, ‘ ‘Idolatry’
Blames individualistic such views for ills plaguing church in U.S.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (ABP) — The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church called the evangelical notion that individuals can be right with God a “great Western heresy” that is behind many problems facing the church and the wider society.
Describing a United States church in crisis, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told delegates to the group’s triennial meeting July 8 in Anaheim, Calif., that the overarching connection to problems facing Episcopalians has to do with “the great Western heresy — that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God.”
“It’s caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus,” Jefferts Schori, the first woman to be elected as a primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion three years ago, said. “That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy, at the center of existence, as the ground of being.”
Jefferts Schori said countering individualistic faith was one reason the theme chosen for the meeting was “Ubuntu,” an African word that describes humaneness, caring, sharing and being in harmony with all of creation.
“Ubuntu doesn’t have any ‘I’s in it,” she said. “The ‘I’ only emerges as we connect — and that is really what the word means: I am because we are, and I can only become a whole person in relationship with others. There is no ‘I’ without ‘you,’ and in our context, you and I are known only as we reflect the image of the One who created us.”
Jefferts Schori said “heretical and individualistic understanding” contributes to problems like neglect for the environment and the current worldwide economic recession.
“The sins of a few have wreaked havoc with the lives of many, as greed and dishonesty have destroyed livelihoods, educational possibilities, care for the aged, and multiple forms of creativity,” she said. “And that’s just the aftermath of Ponzi schemes for which a handful will go to jail.”
She said in order to be faithful, “we need to be continually rediscovering that my needs are not the only significant ones.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is White House Coordinating Attack on DOMA?
Attorney Mat Staver is convinced the Obama administration is behind a federal lawsuit filed yesterday in Boston challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
[…]
In his race for the White House, Barack Obama vowed to overturn DOMA. But Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel believes that while yesterday’s lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts, there are some political strings between there and Washington, DC.
“That’s [Obama’s] political preference [that DOMA be overturned],” Staver says. “There’s no doubt in my mind, absolutely no question at all, that he and some of those in the Department of Justice are coordinating with individuals — and perhaps even the attorney general in Massachusetts — to literally bring these lawsuits and have a very weak defense so that the courts will ultimately overturn it without having the politicians and the president go on record showing that they are in favor of same-sex marriage.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Myth of Homosexual Oppression
As for Obama, his aforementioned shameless pandering goes back to the 2008 campaign. When he was running for president, he wrote a gratuitously endearing open letter to the Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community. He had an LGBT “Leadership Team.” Now, he has an entire subdomain on his website dedicated to LGBT issues.
It’s disgusting, and a sad statement as regards the American electorate, that a candidate for president could grovel, bend and scrape in such a manner and even come close to being elected.
[…]
More disgusting still is the fallacious premise for all of this, being that homosexuals are somehow oppressed in America. They are not. Equating the opposition of Americans toward gay “marriage” (an oxymoron anyway) with oppression, and labeling all who do not unconditionally embrace the gay political agenda as homophobes is beyond disingenuous. Yes, there was a time when gay people had a legitimate reason to be fearful for their safety, their jobs, and their reputations — but that time has passed.
At this juncture, neither I,, nor any other conscientious Americans, seek to disenfranchise gays; we are simply opposed to their lobby’s far-left entrenchment and their attempts to redefine morality, marriage and their Orwellian desire for universal “imposed legitimacy.” What’s going on now is nothing more than boilerplate far left intimidation and mass-scale brainwashing.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Guidebook on Muslim Spies Reveals Qaeda’s Fear
Qaeda paranoid and afraid of US anti-terror campaign: experts
A new book published by the Islamist group al-Qaeda reveals the group is paranoid and faltering under international pressure and in “deathly fear” of United States counter terrorism measures in Pakistan, analysts said Friday.
Al-Qaeda’s ‘Guide to the Laws Regarding Muslim Spies’, a 150-page book written by al-Qaeda senior commander Abu Yahya al-Lini and recently posted on jihadist websites, accused “Muslim spies” within its own ranks of spying for the U.S. forces and providing them with information on al-Qaeda camps and safe houses.
“It would be no exaggeration to say that the first line in the raging Crusader campaign waged by America and its allies against the Muslims and their lands is the network of spies, of various and sundry sorts and kinds,” says the book, translated by MEMRI, the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute.
The Guidebook also claimed “Muslim spies” aided the U.S. in its latest Predator drone campaign against al-Qaeda’s fighters in Pakistan.
In the guidebook al-Lini warned that even the old and sickly could be in essence Muslim spies working against al-Qaeda and causing “carnage, destruction, arrest and pursuit,” Lini wrote.
“Their effects are seen: carnage, destruction, arrest, and pursuit, but they themselves remain unseen, just like Satan and his ilk who see us while remaining unseen,” the book stated.
Paranoia and fear
Analysts in the U.S. said the book revealed a shift in al-Qaeda’s well known triumphant tone to a more worried and paranoid one that signaled a weakening among its ranks.
“In general, Al Qaeda speaks in a very triumphant tone but in the new book Al-Libi speaks of the group’s dire straits and serious problems,” said Daniel Lev, who works for MEMRI. “I haven’t ever seen this kind of language from senior Al Qaeda commanders before,” he added.
“Such an admission of distress on the part of a senior Al Qaeda commander makes this a very unique book in terms of the author,” he explained. Ayman Al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s the second man in command after Osama Bin Laden, wrote the introduction to the book.
Analysts also said that a deep seated paranoia of hidden enemies was the main preoccupation of Lini’s book which claimed that spying knows no bounds and could be the occupation of even the imam of a mosque.
“The danger of these spies lies not only in the ability of these hidden ‘brigades’ to infiltrate and reach to the depths,” Lini wrote, but “include the decrepit, hunchbacked old man who can hardly walk two steps; the strong young man who can cover the length and breadth of the land; the infirm woman sitting in the depths of her house.”
“They are in deathly fear of airpower,” Tom McInerny, a military analyst at FOX News said, adding that the book was a “gold mine” for its clues on the success of the Predator strikes in Pakistan which al-Qaeda’s guidebook has singled out as the outcome of “Muslim spies” infiltrating its ranks.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |