“Islamists interpret Western society’s silence and soft approach as capitualtion to their demands.”
Hat tip: Steen.
[Post ends here]
Even though Iran and its nukes are still in the news, North Korea is heating up again. It has threatened a nuclear attack on South Korea if any sanctions are imposed on it, and South Korean intelligence thinks it has detected additional nuclear test sites in North Korea.
In other news, a Christian in Pakistan was murdered for drinking tea out of a Muslims-only cup.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, islam o’phobe, JD, KGS, TB, The Frozen North, The Lurker from Tulsa, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –
by Prof. Peter Morici
The United States now confronts its greatest economic challenges since the Great Depression. In addition to resolving crises in financial and housing markets, trade deficits with China and on oil must be addressed for the U.S. economy to achieve robust growth.
Fixing credit markets and energy policy are largely domestic challenges, whereas recalibrating trade with China requires cooperation from Beijing. However, such cooperation requires fundamental changes in Chinese industrial policies and a departure from maintaining an undervalued yuan to spur industrial development.
Chinese Industrial and Currency Policies
Since the late 1970s, China has transformed from a centrally-planned economy dominated by state enterprises to a public-private economy highly responsive to global market opportunities.
China has accomplished dramatic growth and modernization by empowering town and village enterprises, private businesses and foreign-invested enterprises, and delegating smaller, though still significant, roles to national state-owned enterprises. Exports are critical to this strategy.
In addition to exploiting comparative advantages in labor-intensive manufacturing, China has applied industrial policies and regulation on foreign investment to ensure the rapid development of priority industries where it may lack the resources, technology and a comparative advantage.
For example, China lacks adequate metallic resources to produce large amounts of steel competitively, and modern capital equipment and technology were initially purchased on global markets. Yet, China exports steel even when transportation costs to destination markets are greater than total labor costs in those markets. Similarly, China should be importing many more automobiles to meet its requirements, but Beijing encourages foreign automakers to assemble cars and source parts in China, and to transfer technology to indigenous firms.
China maintains an undervalued yuan that makes exports cheaper in foreign markets and imports more expensive at home. The Chinese government persistently purchases dollars and other currencies with yuan to suppress its value, rather than permitting market forces to determine its value…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Williams suggested that the fraud and theft losses from the roughly $787 billion stimulus package approved earlier this year could reach about $50 billion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI — Having been slowed down in recent months by the financial crisis and the consequent fall in oil prices, Gulf economies are on the up again. Contrary to predictions made at the start of the year, many Gulf countries will close the year with much better economic results than expected. The good news is shown in several analyses published in the last few days and seem to confirm the succession of positive signs seen in recent weeks: the rise in oil prices, the end of free-falling real estate prices in important cities like Dubai and renewed growth on the stock markets. Indeed, all the region’s stock markets yesterday closed out the week’s trading with positive results. Indexes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Kuwait were amongst the highest seen since the start of the financial crisis. Dubai — one of the most prominent and talked-about cities in the regional economic panorama, first applauded and then demonised — has been reported as a city on the brink of collapse, with many professionals fleeing to other destinations. However, the latest data from the UAE’s immigration department reveals that although 400,000 work visas were cancelled between October and March, 600,000 new ones were issued. “These are positive and reassuring figures, above all because they cover the toughest months of the crisis”, comments Philippe Daube-Pantanacce, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank which produced the report: “GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] — positive developments”. Indeed, after months in the doldrums, the real estate sector — the UAE’s economic motor over the last five years — is showing timid signs of growth. Having “touched bottom” with an average price fall of 30-40% over the last months, the sector saw a 4% increase in April, which was confirmed by a further 5% increase in May, according to reports from real estate agencies. The recovery has been pushed along by capital injections by the federal government and the end of price-slashed clearance sales which had further contributed to the drop-off in prices. Mercer, a research company, has also conducted studies which show further reasons to be cheerful: 42% of businesses involved — 67% among the biggest, regional and international firms in the six GCC countries — are planning to hire more workers by the end of the year. The report also reveals that 73% of these businesses are expecting to achieve equal or better operating results than in 2008. Standard Chartered Bank has also estimated that the price of crude oil will reach 75 dollars per barrel by the end of the year with an average rise of 42%. This increase, if sustained, would bring the countries of the oil bloc an extra 114 billion dollars in income. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 12 — The Spanish government has today approved a 16.9-billion-euro loan (around 2% of GDP) to be used to provide support for the unemployed, announced the Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernandez de La Vega, at the end of a cabinet meeting. The government decided to increase the budget deficit to provide special credit to unemployed people, guaranteeing their right to keep the subsidy. At the same time, the government announced an increase of tax on fuel and cigarettes, whose prices will rise 2.9 cents/litre and 2 euros/1000 cigarettes. According to de La Vega’s statement, Spain’s autonomous communities will receive an advance of 1.8 billion euros as compensation for the withholding of capital gains tax. Furthermore, the executive also revised its economic forecasts, claiming that the crisis would last into 2011 and will not end in 2010 as initially predicted. The government also said that unemployment will peak at 18.9%, with around 4.3 million people out of work, after ending 2009 at 17.9%. Unemployment is then expected to fall in 2011 to 18.4% and to 17.1% the year after. GDP growth forecasts were also revised, with initial expectations of a 1.6% loss in 2009 downgraded to a fall of 3.6%. The budget ceiling was also altered, with spending in 2010 to be 182.439 billion — 4.5% less than in 2009. The government is expecting a deficit of 7.9% of GDP next year, 0.9% more than previously forecast. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Golden Boy U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is having a hissy fit over a book, Triple Cross, How Bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI, a 2006 by Peter Lance. Lance had the temerity (and documentation) to question the fiction of Fitzie’s infallibility. Fitzgerald calls the book a “deliberate lie masquerading as truth.”
[…]
Notwithstanding the ire and angst of Fitzgerald to Triple Cross: that Fitzgerald mucked up handling a key FBI informant who doubled as an Al Qaeda spy; a bogus sworn affirmation dissing Intel from an inmate snitch; and an alleged cover up involving an FBI agent and a mobbed up player, there are two key overlooked elements to this soap opera: 1) Abuse of Power; and 2) Unintended consequences.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bill O’reilly: Farewell, War on TerroDid you notice in his Cairo speech to the Muslim world last week that President Obama did not use the word “terrorism”? Interesting in light of reports that some in the Obama administration no longer refer to actions against al-Qaida and the Taliban as the “war on terror,” instead calling them an “overseas contingency operation.” But why? What is the reasoning behind this?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Adam Brickley
An annual report issued by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) shows that the U.S. government imposed $1.17 trillion in new regulatory costs in 2008. That almost equals the $1.2 trillion generated by individual income taxes, and amounts to $3,849 for every American citizen.
[…]
“The costs of federal regulations too often exceed the benefits, yet these regulations receive little official scrutiny from Congress,” said CEI Vice President Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr., who wrote the report.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Obama administration is engaged in the most sweeping power grab in modern American history, but few people seem to care. In barely four months, we’ve witnessed the president and his minions taking over insurance companies, banks, and car companies, forcing private companies to sell off assets, appease unions, and stiff bondholders. Administration officials have insisted some companies take government handouts even if they don’t want them and told others they can’t pay back the money they’ve borrowed until the government gives them permission. Now, the president has decided he’ll appoint a “compensation czar” whose job it will be to decide what constitutes fair pay for corporate executives. Why stop there? And, of course, they won’t.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
According to a segment on the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News Channel, the EPA will institute new rules and regulations to control greenhouse emissions by farm animals. During this tough economic time, it is unfair and irresponsible to levy such a tax on family farms, according to conservatives. Under Title V of the Clean Air Act, farmers would pay a hefty permit fee for animals that emit 100 tons of greenhouse gasses annually, affecting the vast majority of the nation’s livestock operations.
[…]
“Control the food production and you can control the people. What they are doing is creating starvation of Biblical proportions,” said a farmer who wished to remain anonymous.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic “shrink to survive” proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.
The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.
Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.
Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.
Most are former industrial cities in the “rust belt” of America’s Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.
In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.
“The real question is not whether these cities shrink — we’re all shrinking — but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way,” said Mr Kildee. “Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity.”
Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective programme at the University of California, Berkeley, said there was “both a cultural and political taboo” about admitting decline in America.
“Places like Flint have hit rock bottom. They’re at the point where it’s better to start knocking a lot of buildings down,” she said.
Flint, sixty miles north of Detroit, was the original home of General Motors. The car giant once employed 79,000 local people but that figure has shrunk to around 8,000.
Unemployment is now approaching 20 per cent and the total population has almost halved to 110,000.
The exodus — particularly of young people — coupled with the consequent collapse in property prices, has left street after street in sections of the city almost entirely abandoned.
In the city centre, the once grand Durant Hotel — named after William Durant, GM’s founder — is a symbol of the city’s decline, said Mr Kildee. The large building has been empty since 1973, roughly when Flint’s decline began.
Regarded as a model city in the motor industry’s boom years, Flint may once again be emulated, though for very different reasons.
But Mr Kildee, who has lived there nearly all his life, said he had first to overcome a deeply ingrained American cultural mindset that “big is good” and that cities should sprawl — Flint covers 34 square miles.
He said: “The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there’s an assumption that all development is good, that if communities are growing they are successful. If they’re shrinking, they’re failing.”
But some Flint dustcarts are collecting just one rubbish bag a week, roads are decaying, police are very understaffed and there were simply too few people to pay for services, he said.
If the city didn’t downsize it will eventually go bankrupt, he added.
Flint’s recovery efforts have been helped by a new state law passed a few years ago which allowed local governments to buy up empty properties very cheaply.
They could then knock them down or sell them on to owners who will occupy them. The city wants to specialise in health and education services, both areas which cannot easily be relocated abroad.
The local authority has restored the city’s attractive but formerly deserted centre but has pulled down 1,100 abandoned homes in outlying areas.
Mr Kildee estimated another 3,000 needed to be demolished, although the city boundaries will remain the same.
Already, some streets peter out into woods or meadows, no trace remaining of the homes that once stood there.
Choosing which areas to knock down will be delicate but many of them were already obvious, he said.
The city is buying up houses in more affluent areas to offer people in neighbourhoods it wants to demolish. Nobody will be forced to move, said Mr Kildee.
“Much of the land will be given back to nature. People will enjoy living near a forest or meadow,” he said.
Mr Kildee acknowledged that some fellow Americans considered his solution “defeatist” but he insisted it was “no more defeatist than pruning an overgrown tree so it can bear fruit again”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Several cases of unsolved rapes in Tensta might soon be closed, according Stockholm police authorities. An 18-year old man has been arrested on suspicion of three rapes and is suspected of an additional five rapes in Belgium.
“This involves aggravated rapes, and moreover, he has also subjected his victims to excessive violence,” detective Manne Jönsson of the Stockholm police told TT.
“With all likelihood, he will be convicted of three rapes or attempted rape.”
Police are looking into his possible involvement in several other incidents, according to news show Rapport on Sveriges Television.
Police have had the man under surveillance for several weeks. He was arrested in southern Sweden on Thursday night.
“We were assisted by colleagues who took him into custody. Then we went down to get him and issued the search warrant. The arrest was entirely uneventful,” Jönsson said.
TT: Has he denied the charges or confessed to the crime?
“We haven’t been able to thoroughly question him. He has only been subject to very short interviews.”
Police believe that the man has only been in Sweden for a few months. A comprehensive investigation is expected, as well as establishing his actions and whereabouts during his time in Sweden.
“We will investigate every last detail, and answer all remaining questions. It may very well be that he has committed additional crimes that we are unaware of at this point in time,” Jönsson said.
The man has likely spent the last few years in Belgium. He is suspected of having committed his first rape as a 16-year-old.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
A Guantanamo Bay inmate said he wants to live in Germany because he has “good memories” of the country. So far, though, Germany’s Interior Ministry has no plans to accept a request from Washington to take two prisoners. Berlin fears the men, who allegedy trained at terror camps, could be dangerous.
Europe initially cheered US President Barack Obama’s pledge to close down the prison camp at Guantanamo which, for many, had come to represent the disrespect for human rights of the George W. Bush era. But when it comes to the thorny question of where the Guantanamo prisoners can resettle, the enthusiasm has faded.
Officials in the Czech Republic, currently the rotating president of the European Union, said earlier this month that the 27-nation bloc might admit “several dozen” prisoners, with decisions being left to each country. Germany, however, is digging its heels in. SPIEGEL reported over the weekend that, after reviewing information supplied about the former terror suspects by US officials, the German Interior Ministry has ruled out for the time being the possibility of taking in the men out of concern they might be dangerous. The German government, however, still hasn’t officially responded to the request to resettle the Syrian and Tunisian.
Meanwhile, US pressure for cooperation is running high and within Germany the discussion rolls on. The Financial Times Deutschland reported Monday that the Tunisian Guantanamo inmate Rafiq Bin Bashir al-Hami hopes to return to the country. “He has good memories of his times in Germany,” his lawyer Mark Denbeaux told the newspaper.
Hami reportedly lived in Germany under a false name between 1996 and 1999. During that time he said he worked for a restaurant and a cleaning company. A report in the newsweekly Focus claims he was known to the authorities in Frankfurt for drug crimes and attempted fraud in an asylum application.
Terror Camp Allegations
Following his time in Germany, Hami moved to Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to the files the US has collected, he attended a paramilitary training camp — a claim he disputes. They also state that he moved to Kandahar in Afghanistan in 2001 to study Islam. During interrogations at Guantanamo, al-Hami admitted to having received weapons training in the al-Qaida camp Khalden. Later, though, he retracted the statement, saying he had been forced to attend the camp by the Taliban.
Information in the US files indicate that the second man, a Syrian identified as Abd al-Rahim Abd al-Rassa Janku, had traveled to Afghanistan and, according to his testimony, was forced by the Taliban to take part in 18 days of weapons training at a terror camp. He claims that when he attempted to leave the camp, the Taliban suspected he was a US spy and stuck him in a prison in Kandahar where he claims he was tortured for months. He has been identified in a video found in the rubble of the house of al-Qaida military chief Mohammed Atef. There he appeared alongside Ramzi Binalshibh, who played a key role in planning the 9/11 attacks.
Berlin’s skepticism about the two men echoes its recent reluctance to take in a group of Uighurs, members of China’s Muslim ethnic minority. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble then outlined tough criteria for accepting the men, asking why the inmates couldn’t be taken in by the US or other countries. He also pushed for proof that they weren’t dangerous, and that they had a personal connection to Germany. Finally, he insisted that Germany was unable to accept people who couldn’t travel to the US on a simple tourist visa. Ultimately, the Uighurs are expected to be taken in by Palau and Bermuda.
But with about 250 detainees still held at the US base on Cuba — some without any charges held against them — the clock is ticking for Obama, who vowed to shut the controversial facility by January 2010. Many of the inmates have already been cleared for release, but US officials are struggling to find countries that will take them in. There is also considerable resistance at home to moving them to the US.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID — The winning formula has been discovered, the recipe for creating a best-seller, and he is guarding it as if it were the Holy Grail. After four million copies of his book ‘Cathedral of the Sea’ were sold worldwide, Spanish author Idelfonso Falcones, a 51-year old lawyer from Barcelona, is having another try with ‘The Hand of Fatima’, published in Spain by Grijalbo-Mondadori, which was launched yesterday in Cordoba, the city of three cultures, which was once the capital of the Caliphate. Falcones explained in a press conference that it took him three years to write the thousand-page account of Hernando-Ibn Hamid, of Christian and Muslim origins, who struggled between the two religions during a time of low tolerance, before the moors were driven out of Spain. Hernando-Ibn Hamid is the result of a rape by a priest with blue eyes and a Moorish woman, as the Muslims were known who stayed in Spain after the Catholic Kings of Spain decreed that they be driven out. They were forced to convert to Christianity and then thrown out once and for all in 1609. “He suffers his whole life from being disowned by the Moors and the Christians” explains the author. Just as in ‘Cathedral of the Sea’, the main character of ‘The Hand of Fatima’ “tries to go forward, to succeed in life”, and here too, the cathedral in Cordoba, built on the ancient mosque, is the scene of several key episodes in the novel. “It is Hernando’s hiding-place from the Inquisition, the place where he meets Italian painter Cesar Arbasia, who creates a Last Supper, which can still be seen today, in which Saint John is a woman”. Some 80,000 copies of Falcones’ first book were published initially, after being refused by a dozen publishers, to become the seventh best-selling novel worldwide, now half a million copies of the first edition of the latest novel will be printed. “My ambition is to write entertaining novels which excite the reader, like the ones I enjoy”. What are the winning ingredients? “Lively writing which is neither too lyrical or ornate, which says little but shows a lot, so that the reader can read quickly. Secondly, many things need to happen, continuously, because readers are excited by drama. And you should also learn something. I do not presume to teach anyone anything, but a tale which reflects real history is an added bonus”. Narrative fiction is mixed wisely with a faithful reconstruction of the facts and customs of the age, since Ildefonso Falcones has researched the subject, reading 200 books, including the chronicles of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Luis de Marmol Carvajal, and in his many trips to Cordoba. Falcones has said that he is not intimidated by the expectations generated by half a million copies printed. “I already suffer from high blood pressure in my life as a lawyer” he confesses. “If I was distressed by literature I would stop writing”. Anyway he is ready to beat more records. The only Spanish writer to compare with him in terms of numbers of sales is Carlos Ruiz Zafon. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Once shied away from by the left, the oldest flag in Europe is seeing a resurgence as a political symbol
As the nation celebrates Valdemar’s Day today, recent trends show that the popularity of the ‘Dannebrog’ as a political symbol is on the rise.
The national flag day commemorates the legendary descent of the Danish flag in 1219 from heaven upon the troops of King Valdemar the Conqueror during the Battle of Lyndaise, in modern-day Estonia.
More than just a national symbol, the Danish flag is an essential decoration at birthdays, Christmas and other festive occasions. But following the rise of the nationalist Danish People’s Party in the 1990s, many in politics, and particularly those on the left wing, sought to disassociate themselves from it as a symbol of the Danish nation.
But that trend, according to Michael Böss, a nationalism expert at the University of Aarhus, is coming to an end.
‘The flag has become a symbol that can unite us,’ ‘Because we use flags on a lot of different occasions, it can be used by the entire nation.’
He cited examples such as Social Democrat MP Mette Frederiksen calling for the Dannnebrog to be ‘taken back’ from the right wing, and members of the centrist Social Liberals bearing Dannebrog lapel pins — most recently during the European election earlier this month.
The increasing interest in the flag, according to Professor Uffe Østergaard, of the Copenhagen Business School, is a sign that ‘nationalism’, has lost its negative tint.
‘Some draw a difference between the slightly negative “nationalism” and the more acceptable “national identity”, but they mean the same — that feelings the nation, if they are kept in check, have a lot of benefits for national cohesion.’
The Danish Society Association, whose goal is to promote respect for the Dannebrog and Danish culture, reports that over the past two years its membership has doubled and now stands at 1000. Members include individuals, associations, companies and a local council.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Geert Wilders, well-known for his anti-Islam stance, spoke to a packed gathering at parliament
Outspoken Dutch politician Geert Wilders spoke at the city’s Free Speech and Islam Conference at Christiansborg Palace amid high security in the parliament buildings on Sunday.
The conference was organised by the Danish Free Press Society after the government’s own free speech and anti-racism conference was repeatedly delayed until this autumn.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen had previously said that Wilders, who heads the Dutch right-wing Party for Freedom, was not welcome at the autumn conference as he ‘associates an entire religion with hatred’.
Accompanied by a large number of Danish intelligence service agents, Wilders did not mince his words on the topic of the day.
‘Islam is not a religion, it’s a threat against everything we stand for,’ said Wilders, pointing to the spread of Islam in other countries to back up his argument.
According to Wilders, 40 percent of British Muslims want to introduce Sharia law, while half of all Dutch Muslim students look favourably upon the terror attacks of 9/11 in the US.
Wilders said the essence of Islam is a ‘totalitarian ideology’ and that there is no such thing as moderate Islam. He urged attendees to adhere to a number of proposals, including boycotting the UN’s human rights council and abolishing all hate speech laws in Europe.
In addition, Wilders said he wants to see all Muslim schools and mosques closed, as well as any future mosque building outlawed.
Naser Khader, founder of the Democratic Muslims political movement and current Conservative MP, said that Wilders’ speech painted a bleak picture for the future.
‘It’s important to make a distinction between Islam as a religion and Islamism as a political ideology. He’s not the only one who sees there is a problem. But I believe his solutions are far too narrow-minded. I completely disagree that the Koran should be banned — that is not consistent with freedom of speech,’ said Khader to Berlingske Tidende newspaper.
The Party for Freedom was founded just three years ago and has since become the second largest Dutch party in the European Parliament. Wilders said that the rise in popularity of his party could result in his becoming prime minister within two years.
‘Then your prime minister can no longer avoid meeting with me,’ said Wilders.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
LUXEMBOURG — The European Union agreed on Monday to help the administration of President Barack Obama “turn the page” on Guantanamo, saying individual EU nations will take detainees from the American prison in Cuba.
The EU and the U.S. issued a joint statement saying some EU nations are ready “to assist with the reception of certain former Guantanamo detainees, on a case-by-case basis.” It did not name the countries or how many detainees would be resettled across the 27-nation bloc, but that Washington was ready pay toward the costs of their resettlement.
Several hours later, an aide who traveled with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi to Washington for the leader’s meeting with Obama on Monday said Italy is open to taking at least three detainees from Guantanamo.
The United States seeks a home for those cleared for release from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility without trial but who cannot go to their own country for fear of ill-treatment.
About 50 of the 240 or so detainees left on Guantanamo fall in that category. At one point there were 778 detainees at Guantanamo. The first arrived in early 2002 as the United States widened its global war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington.
Some EU nations have already accepted their own nationals from Guantanamo, while Albania, France, Sweden and Britain have also accepted non-citizens.
Germany is assessing a request to accept two after having refused at least nine. It will only accept people who pose no security risk and have some “connection” with Germany, German officials said. Berlin also wants Washington to say why they cannot be resettled in the United States.
Daniel Fried, the Obama administration’s special envoy for closing Guantanamo, is in Europe this week to discuss detainee transfers. He plans to visit Spain, Portugal and Hungary, a State Department official in Washington said on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the negotiations.
The EU-U.S. declaration states “the primary responsibility” for closing Guantanamo and resettling detainees rests with Washington and that accepting ex-detainees and resolving their legal status is up to EU governments.
It commits EU governments to share any data on incoming detainees with other EU governments and forces Washington to share “confidential and other intelligence and information.”
Referring to Obama’s bid to develop “a new, more sustainable approach” to security issues, the joint statement said “the EU and its member states wish to help the U.S. turn the page” on an issue that has caused deep trans-Atlantic divisions.
EU official Jonathan Faull said he saw it as “a new beginning” in EU-U.S. relations with “a resounding commitment on both sides to the rule of law and the respect for fundamental rights in the fight against international terrorism.”
Last week, Thomas Hammarberg — Europe’s top human rights official at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France — urged European governments to take in ex-Guantanamo detainees.
He said there were 50 or so — from Algeria, China, Libya, the Palestinian territories, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan — who cannot go home for fear of ill-treatment there..
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 12 — Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has today said that in the Arab and Islamic worlds women are “like a piece of furniture that you can change whenever you like and nobody will ask why you have done it”. Gaddafi was speaking at a meeting with about a thousand women from the world of business, institutions and politics at the Parco delle Musica in Rome, with Italy’s Minister for Equal Opportunities, Mara Carfagna. “There is a need for a women’s revolution in the world, based on a cultural revolution”, said Gaddafi. With regard to Italy, “if the family continues to be treated as it is now”, with the number of young people falling and the number of pensioners on the rise, “could disappear in 2050”, said the colonel, quoting an unidentified report which should raise awareness of the need to “take care of the family and of women”. Gaddafi moved on to speak about child soldiers, saying that the family is so inexistent in Africa that “children are lost and picked up by warriors” who give them rifles and some food. This, he said, is the way that children and adolescents are recruited into the paramilitary outfits active in many conflicts in Africa, particularly around the Great Lakes and in the Horn of Africa. “I have presented a plan to the African Union”, added Gaddafi, “because in Africa the family should be respected, marriage must be based on a contract, divorce must be consensual and documented and those who bring children into the world must be responsible for them”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 12 — Italy is working alongside countries from Africa and elsewhere on an initiative to condemn female genital mutilation practices, which will be brought to the attention of the UN General Assembly. The news was announced today by Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities, Mara Carfagna, during her speech in front of Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, at Rome’s Parco della Musica. The minister, who highlighted the violence and abuse that women are subject to, particularly during conflicts, also paused for thought on the violation of rights in the home. “You think of genital mutilation, one of the most serious and systemic violations of human rights because it affects babies and really young girls who are forced to undergo such practices in the family. This is a custom which still affects many, many African children and then through immigration we have come to know it at home as well”. Carfagna was insistent in talking about violence against women, an issue which Gadaffi did not actually touch on. “Speaking for the Italian government, I can assure you that we will continue to pay the highest attention to women in Africa and we will commit to advancing all the intitiatives for the full recognition of their rights. African women can count on us and on our support. I am certain, and I will ask the president officially, that from today African women can also count on our commitment”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
****note: the following is a political blog entry — not a news link
Earlier this morning, it was reported that Jobbik would seek to revise the terms of the Treaty of Trianon within the European Parliament,
Hungary’s radical nationalist Jobbik party plans to fight for the toppling of borders set by the 1920 Trianon treaty, newly elected MEP Csanad Szegedi said on Saturday.
Jobbik considers it one of its main targets that “the Trianon borders should be dropped within a few generations or as soon as possible,” Szegedi told a Trianon memorial meeting organised in Budapest by the Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement.
The three elected Jobbik MEPs in Brussels will first of all demand the abolition of the Benes decrees on the expulsion of Germans and Hungarians from Czechoslovakia after WW2, Szegedi said. German and Austrian MEPs will be invited to work towards the abolition of the decrees, he added.
Jobbik will demand territorial autonomy for Szekler land in Romania and will also press for Transcarpathia in Ukraine to become an independent Hungarian district, Szegedi said.
The Trianon memorial meeting was attended by around 250 members of the paramilitary Hungarian Guard and more than 500 supporters on a square near Budapest’s City Park.
The Trianon Treaty was signed by representatives of the Allies of WWI and Hungary on June 4, 1920. Under the treaty, Hungary’s territory was cut from nearly 283,000 square kilometres to 93,000, and its population dropped from 18 million to 7.6 million.
among some other things not to their liking. First off would be to overturn the Benes Decrees, ostensibly with German and Austrian support. The only problem with this idea is that the Germans have no far-right MEPs (not to mention they’ve not been so favorable toward the far-right since World War II didn’t end well for them), and the Austrian Freedom Party only has two members. Five MEPs do not a movement make, assuming the Freedom Party even cooperates with Jobbik, nor are Jobbik expected to get far in their plan to overturn the borders set up by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, considering no other nation backs them in this endeavor.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has spoken to key EU leaders in recent days in an effort to get an agreement that will allow the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to be held in late September or early October.
Mr Cowen spoke by phone to German chancellor Angela Merkel, and Czech prime minister Jan Fischer during the consultations on the legal guarantees being sought by Ireland before a second referendum can be held.
Mr Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin are engaging in intensive consultations in advance of the EU summit in Brussels later this week at which a decision on the wording and status of the guarantees will be made.
Mr Cowen is expected to talk to British prime minister Gordon Brown before the summit begins on Thursday in an effort to reassure him about the detail and the implications of the Irish guarantees. The Taoiseach has also briefed Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore and will meet Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny before travelling to Brussels.
The Government is hoping to hold the referendum in the last week of September or the first week of October. The legislation to enable the referendum to take place is expected to be passed by the Dáil before it adjourns for the summer recess in early July.
The referendum will only go ahead if all other 26 countries agree to the legal guarantees for Ireland covering the issues of abortion, neutrality, tax and workers rights.
Some other EU countries have concerns about the wording of the guarantees but the main concern relates to the legal mechanism that will give them effect.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the legal guarantees at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting today in Luxembourg. The issue was taken off the agenda of the meeting last week but ministers from several EU states are expected to raise the issue.
“We haven’t seen a draft text yet from the Irish so obviously there is some nervousness around,” said an EU diplomat.
The Government wants its 26 EU partners to provide legal guarantees to Ireland in the areas of taxation, neutrality, abortion, family life and education. It also wants member states to agree to a text outlining the high importance the union attaches to the issue of workers rights and the maintenance of public services, which is a controversial issue at EU level due to differences of opinion between member states.
Irish officials are hopeful that the guarantees can be signed off at ambassador level tomorrow before EU heads of state meet on Thursday and Friday.
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Rome, 12 June (AKI) — Antonello Zappadu, the photographer whose controversial photos of the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appeared in a Spanish daily last week, claims to have 5,000 other “politically embarassing” pictures. There has been widespread speculation recently about the prime minister and his activities at his exclusive Villa Certosa on the island of Sardinia.
Zappadu, a Sardinian photographer, had tried to sell his photos of the prime minister and his guests to an Italian magazine for 1.5 million euros. But Berlusconi successfully sought legal intervention to block publication of the photos in Italy to protect his privacy and many photos were seized.
“The 700 photos that were confiscated are not the only ones that I took,” Zappadu said in an interview with Italian daily, La Repubblica.
“If I had to tell you the truth, between 2006 and 2009 I took 5,000 photos. At the airport in Olbia (in northeast Sardinia and inside Villa Certosa,” said Zappadu.
“Let me say there is nothing compromising. But I would say the images are politically embarrassing.”
Zappadu said one of the photos included a “fake wedding” that took place between Berlusconi and a young girl in September 2008.
He said there was a bouquet of flowers and a group of other girls around him clapping happily.
Zappadu also talked about the controversial use of state aircraft, allegedly used by Berlusconi to fly personal guests to his villa in Sardinia.
“I have other photos where you can see about ten girls getting off a helicopter,” he said.
Rome prosecutor Giovanni Ferrara is currently conducting an investigation to clarify whether state aircraft were used to ferry guests to the villa and if there were any irregularities.
Some of Zappadu’s controversial pictures were taken during New Year’s Eve festivities in January 2009, when the 18-year-old lingerie model and aspiring actress Noemi Letizia linked to Berlusconi was reportedly among the guests.
Berlusconi has consistently denied claims he had a sexual relationship with the Naples teenager since news broke that he had attended her 18th birthday party at the end of April.
His wife Veronica Lario announced her intention to divorce Berlusconi after photos of her husband were published at Letizia’s birthday party.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pavia, 8 June (AKI) — It was not quite a crime of passion but a case of sexual betrayal which has made the headlines in Italy. Police were called to investigate an intrusion at the home of a university professor in the northern town of Pavia and were surprised at what they found.
Instead of finding a thief inside, police officers reportedly discovered a half-naked man who was surprised to see them.
When the man came out of hiding police soon realised the man was not a thief, but the lover of the professor’s wife.
The professor had returned home for his keys and discovered his wife’s indiscretion.
He apologised to police and no charges have apparently been laid.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
(AGI) — Brescia, 12 Jun. — The State Police is currently carrying out an important investigation, in Brescia and other central and northern Italian cities, that has allowed them to locate and dismantle a transnational structure, which, thanks to sophisticated hacking techniques, broke into the computer systems of multinational telecommunications companies to acquire PIN numbers allowing them to make international phone calls, which were then re-sold in other countries, including Italy. According to the accusations, part of the profits from the criminal scheme contributed finances to Islamic fundamentalist groups in south-east Asia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Il Giornale, 3 June 2009
He should go more slowly, demonstrating that he understands that what is at stake is not his popularity. Instead, Obama seems to walk towards the road to Cairo in love with his own goodness, with his own innovative words, which go at full throttle before he has first looked in the eyes a world in which often courtesy appears as weakness. The president seems to be at this time in search of consensus estimates, blatant, his words before departure seem to repeat those of a bizarre gesture of deep reverence towards the King of Saudi Arabia, which have left even his greatest admirers perplexed.
Obama has spoken against the danger of trying to impose “our culture” on those who have a “different history and culture.” Dangerous, difficult as it can be. Surely, but when Obama says that “democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and freedom of worship are not just the values of the West but are universal values” and are therefore embedded also within non-Western cultures, one comes to laugh (we hope that is the desired outcome) in relation to the ingenuousness of the statement in which one notices superficiality or cynicism; especially this ingenuousness sympathizes with dissidents, those condemned to death, oppressed women, those tortured by genital mutilation and homosexuals persecuted. The America that has always sought to save the oppressed, from Europe under the Nazis to the former Soviet Union and more recently Iraq, is tarnishing. It seems to retreat from the great race to establish worldwide freedom. Obama has declared simply that he will serve by passive example and ignores instead that the Islam perceives itself as an extreme, aggressively active example in a stage of expansion. It seems that the vision, which he has repeatedly expressed of the West, is that of a substantially oppressive world, that should make amends and therefore, be transcended, is winning out in the expression of his opinions.
On the eve of his departure to Cairo, Obama has asked U.S. embassies to invite Iranian diplomats to their July 4th celebrations. A significant concession without exchange to one of the most threatening countries in the world, one that looks upon our culture with disdain while it violates human rights and prepares the bomb. Will the U.S. be as useful example for Iran? We doubt it. Another very important point: Obama departs towards the Arab world after having deepened the gap with Israel. He starts after some prominent voices from the White House, later denied, reported that the U.S. would stop supporting Israel at the UN by using the right to veto. But in his trip there is already an original flaw: the choice of confronting the Middle East without a stop in Israel. He goes to visit the moderate Sunni Arab countries thus breaking the link between their good will for a peaceful future for the Middle East by the natural relationship of contiguity with Israel. So, he will give strength to those who place all the blame and responsibility on Israel, deferring the problems of democracy, of accountability. In fact, a great rise in anti-Israeli shields that Egypt, for example, hasn’t dreamed of for some time, mark the visit. Obama has taken care, just before his departure of using many harsh words: he has told Israel that “part of friendship is to be honest…and that today the current trajectory in the region is profoundly negative not only for Israeli interests but also for American interests. The U.S., in short, will be hard on you. I have already said that Netanyahu must now freeze all settlement construction and block the natural growth of settler communities. Start doing it.” Here Obama reaps applause from the Arab world, while he knows (we hope) that the settlements, 500 thousand people, are a difficult, long process in which Arab guarantees are very different from those at present. All the UN resolutions say it, as well as the various agreements, which have always been rejected by the Palestinians (that of Oslo, that with Olmert and Livni): they are the starting point of negotiations, after the Palestinians accept the end of violence and recognize a Jewish state, without the right of return for refugees, on which instead you have two loud “no’s” from Abu Mazen.
The feeling is that the great publicity machine surrounding Obama’s travel insists on settlements and on excellent relations with the moderate Arab world at Israel’s expenses, in order to blanket the difficulty of addressing the issue of Iran.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
ROME — Italy’s interior minister defended plans Monday to allow citizen patrols to beef up security amid outrage over a new right-wing guard that has put Fascist and Nazi-like symbols on its uniforms.
The Italian National Guard was launched at a news conference over the weekend, sparking outcry from the center-left opposition, Jewish groups, police unions and others that it evoked Italy’s fascist-era paramilitary Black Shirts.
The guards’ uniforms feature an imperial eagle, a symbol often associated with Fascism. In addition, on the armband is a black-rayed sun, or Sonnenrad, an image found in a castle used by the Nazi’s paramilitary SS.
The guard was introduced by the right-wing fringe Italian Social Movement at a Milan party conference during which at least two speakers gave the straight-armed Fascist salute.
Party leaders said the guard’s creation was made possible by recent legislation — still to be approved by the Senate — allowing citizen patrols to help beef up security in Italian cities and towns.
The legislation, passed by the lower Chamber of Deputies last month, was pushed through by the conservative majority in parliament amid polls indicating most Italians link crime to illegal immigration.
The conservative government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has made the fight against illegal immigration a priority, recently signing a controversial new accord with Libya to send back migrants intercepted at sea in a bid to stem the flow of thousands of would-be migrants who set sail for Italian shores from Libya each year.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigrant Northern League, defended the new legislation Monday but insisted that such “do-it-yourself” groups wouldn’t be permitted once the bill becomes law.
“There is a clear and precise process” for citizen patrols to be registered with local government prefects, he told private Radio 24. “All the rest is either folklore or political maneuvering.”
Maroni, however, has long been a fan of such local citizen patrols. In 1996, he inaugurated a similar regional security force backed by the Northern League, the Padania National Guard. Those so-called “green shirts” are the model for the new Italian National Guard, organizers said.
The Italian National Guard says it is a nonprofit, apolitical organization of volunteers. However, its president is Gaetano Saya, who also is leader of the Italian Socialist Movement, and the guard was introduced at the party’s general conference, complete with a uniformed officer.
In a video message on the guard’s Web site, Saya says he is just a patriotic Italian — not a Fascist. He lambasted a reported investigation by Milan prosecutors into alleged violations of a law that makes it a crime to apologize for fascism.
“We aren’t Black Shirts, we aren’t Fascists, we aren’t Nazis,” he said.. “We are Italian patriots and we want freedom.”
Organizers also have defended the use of the eagle on the uniforms, saying it stems from Rome’s imperial, ancient past — not its Fascist one.
The opposition, which has denounced the citizen patrols as paving the way for vigilante justice, said the new guard clearly evoked fascist and Nazi paramilitary groups.
“The idea that security could be granted to militant groups that are identified with a political group is a strike to the heart of the principles of every free democracy,” the ANSA news agency quoted Marco Minniti, head of security matters for the main opposition Democratic Party, as saying.
The police union Sil-Cigl said such patrols not only wouldn’t help improve security but would increase problems by creating confusion, Apcom news agency said. And Jewish groups said they were prepared to create “counter-patrols” to ensure such security forces don’t commit any crimes themselves.
Benito Mussolini inaugurated his Black Shirts in 1919. They were mostly ultranationalist former soldiers who violently attacked communists, socialists and other progressive groups, breaking up strikes and attacking trade union headquarters. Their famous march on Rome in 1922 brought the fascist dictator to power
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
ROME — Italian and U.S. authorities have broken up an international group that hacked into long-distance phone lines and may have provided funds to terrorists in Southeast Asia, officials said Monday.
Police conducted raids across Italy on Friday to arrest five Pakistanis linked to a hacking operation in the Philippines. On the same day, Federal authorities in New Jersey charged three people living in the Philippines in connection with the case.
The group electronically broke into the systems of international telecommunications companies and sold the access codes in several countries in a multi-million-dollar fraud, Italian police and the FBI said in separate statements.
By routing conversations from the call centers onto the hacked networks the suspects stole 12 million minutes, worth $55 million, from companies including AT&T, the FBI said.
Italian authorities shut down 10 call centers in various cities, according to police in the northern city of Brescia, where the probe was centered.
Two of the Pakistanis, a husband and wife, were arrested in Brescia, while three more were found in the central town of Macerata. Italy has also issued a sixth warrant for a Filipino citizen.
The six are accused of fraud for illegally accessing and selling the codes to the call centers — stores that are widely used by immigrants in Italy to phone home.
Much of the proceeds were sent to the Philippines and may have been forwarded to Islamic extremist groups in the region, including the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, said Carlo De Stefano, head of Italy’s anti-terrorism police unit.
“There are strong suspicions and some clues, but nothing concrete,” De Stefano told The Associated Press on Monday. He did not elaborate.
De Stefano said officers from the FBI office in Newark, New Jersey, had helped the Italians in the investigation and would take the lead in probing the destination of the money.
Authorities in Spain, Germany and Switzerland were also conducting investigations as groups similar to the one uncovered in Italy are believed to have operated in those countries, he said.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
REUTERS — French prosecutor on Monday recommended a Paris court should dissolve the Church of Scientology’s French branch when it rules on charges of fraud against the organisation.
Registered as a religion in the United States, with celebrity members such as actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, Scientology enjoys no such legal protection in France, where it has faced repeated accusations of being a money-making cult.
The Church’s Paris headquarters and bookshop are defendants in a fraud trial that began on May 25. Summing up her views on the case, state prosecutor Maud Coujard urged the court to return a guilty verdict and dissolve the organisation in France.
The Church of Scientology denies the fraud charges and says the case against it violates freedom of religion.
A ruling is expected within months.
French state prosecutors had previously resisted the idea of an outright dissolution of Scientology in the country.
If the court follows the prosecutor’s recommendation, Scientology could appeal and the verdict would be suspended.
The trial centres on complaints made in the late 1990s by two former members who spent huge sums on Scientology courses and “purification” sessions.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Britain is becoming a safe haven for war criminals and those funding genocide, according to a new report.
The Aegis Trust says that war crimes suspects who come to the UK are escaping justice because of “legal loopholes”.
It found that suspected war criminals could not be deported easily because of human rights laws.
The Human Rights Act prevents them being sent home if they could face torture or an unfair trial.
Head of research Nick Donovan said: “This report shows that this not a hypothetical issue.
“It’s about individuals suspected of the most heinous crimes anyone can commit; individuals that this country needs to bring to justice if we do not want to remain a safe haven for war criminals.”
He added that some suspected war criminals could not be prosecuted if the acts were committed before 2001.
Similarly, anyone who comes here as an asylum seeker, student or tourist cannot be prosecuted.
The report names Felicien Kabuga, who is accused of financing the Rwandan genocide, and Liberian Chucky Taylor, who was convicted of torture by the US.
Both came to the UK, but were not brought before the courts.
Other suspects are alleged to have come here from Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Afghanistan.
Around 300 individuals screened by the UK Border Agency since 2004 have faced further action by immigration officials.
But in 22 investigations by the Metropolitan Police in the last four years, only one has resulted in successful prosecution.
The report calls for changes to the International Criminal Court Act 2001 to allow prosecutions when war crimes suspects arrive in the UK
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
The inquiry into the Iraq war will be independent but evidence will be given in private, Gordon Brown has announced.
The Prime Minister told the Commons it must hear evidence in private so witnesses can be “as candid as possible”.
It will look at events between the summer of 2001 and July of this year, but will not report back until after the next general election.
It will be a privy councillor inquiry, headed by Sir John Chilcot who was a member of the Butler review of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
Other members include Baroness Usha Prashar, Sir Roderick Lyne, Sir Lawrence Freedman and Sir Martin Gilbert.
Gordon Brown Announces Inquiry Into The Iraq War
Tory leader David Cameron said he welcomed the report but that there was a danger people would think the inquiry had been “fixed” because it would not report until after the next general election.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the decision to go into Iraq was Britain’s worst ever foreign policy mistake and questioned the decision to take evidence in private.
“I am staggered that the Prime Minister today is seeking to compound that error, fatal for so many people, by covering up the path that led to it,” he said.
“He has taken a step in the right direction but missed the fundamental point.
“A secret inquiry, conducted by a clutch of grandees, hand-picked by the Prime Minister, is not what Britain needs.”
The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, Rose Gentle, said: “We have fought and fought for this but it will be no use and it could all be for nothing behind closed doors.
“We will be lobbying parliament to make sure this is all transparent.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
by Free Hal
Many writers are openly baffled by European Society’s self-loathing, currently manifesting as multiculturalism and political correctness. And resentment at the fierceness with which these orthodoxies are enforced.
Some more-or-less random examples:
You can find similar stories most weeks, usually accompanied by “How did our elites get to be so witless?” commentaries. To say nothing of the comments section when these reports are published online.
Politicians ignore this frustration at their peril, perhaps in the belief that only eccentrics comment on news stories. But things are reversing: those not baffled by such stories are now the unusual ones.
In this essay I try to trace how such wretched attitudes arise in the first place, and why the wider population tolerate them…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christian wanted new religion recorded on Egypt ID
An Egyptian court refused Saturday a request by an ex-Muslim convert to Christianity to officially recognize his conversion and change his religious affiliation and name on his identity card.
Cairo’s Administrative Court dismissed Maher al-Moatassem Bellah al-Gohary’s request for a new national identification card listing his new religious affiliation and his new name, Peter Ethnasios. The court also ordered him to pay all legal fees.
Ethnasios, 57, converted to Christianity 34 years ago and has unofficially changed his name to match his new religious identity. He filed the request for official recognition in August of 2008 when his defense attorney presented to the court a baptism certificate issued by Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church as proof of his client’s conversion.
“This certificate resolves the entire problem and proves beyond doubt that my client converted to Christianity,” the attorney told the court. “It thus gives him the right to change his religion in official documents.”Ethnasios first presented in April a certificate from the Roman Orthodox Church in Cyprus, where he was baptized, but the court asked for one issued by the Egyptian Coptic church to prove its endorsement of his conversion. The Coptic Church complied with the court request and granted Ethnasios a certificate, adding that it could not reject anyone wanting to convert to Christianity. There is no Egyptian law against converting from Islam to Christianity, but neither is there any legal precedence for officially recognizing such conversions. Converting from Islam to another religioun is considered apostasy under many interpretations of Islamic law, but Egypt has never prosecuted ex-Muslims on grounds of apostasy.
And while there is no legal precedence for officially recognizing Muslims who convert to Christianity, in the past the administrative court has recognized the re-conversion of Coptic Christians who revert back to Christianity after converting to Islam for a period of time. Ethnasios is the second Christian convert to demand official recognition. In 2008 Mohamed Hegazy, who changed his name to Bishoy, filed a similar request and was also rejected. Despite the unfavorable precedent, Ethnasios insisted on filing for official recognition, stressing that he would never give up Christianity “even if the Church itself ordered him to do so.” Gohary claimed his conversion has been the cause of much harassment, vandalism and death threats he received from strangers and family members alike, and that he plans to leave Egypt but only after he is officially recognized as a Christian.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JUNE 12 — A 37-year-old Tunisian man who has been trying to pass the Bac’ high school exam since 1990, is to re-sit the test for the 19th time. The issue appears to be very close to Abdullah Souleiman’s heart and, as ever, he turned up punctually for the test, determined to emerge victorious this time. The results are not yet known, but however it goes, Abdullah could find a place in the Guiness Book of Records anyway. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
In a major speech today at the Begin-Sadat Center of Bar-Ilan University, Binyamin Netanyahu laid out his vision to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. In brief, it’s a fine speech, making many needed points, but it fails on the critical point of prematurely accepting a Palestinian state.
Here are some of the high points, important statements eloquently articulated…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Whether construction continues on Jewish settlements in the West Bank or not right now is, in my opinion, a very secondary question. If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to say that he would suspend new building starts for three months this might be a reasonable way to prove his eagerness for peace and to establish cooperation with the new U.S. administration.
But that’s not quite the situation. There are four factors which really define the problem right now and which are generally ignored in media coverage and public debate…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims outraged by “racist” jokes against them Outraged Palestinians have called for legal action against a prominent Israeli comedian after a guest on his talk show launched a scathing tirade against Muslims and compared them to cockroaches.
In an attempt at humor, a guest on Israel’s “Tonight with Lior Shlein” mocked the way Muslims pray and to the audience’s delight likened the way they looked when in prostration to a penis.
The guest continued his jibe to cheers and applause and went on to compare Muslims to cockroaches.
But for some, the jokes were not so funny as Muslim MPs and activists threatened to file a lawsuit against the host of the show Shlein for allowing his guest to make the comments shown on Israel’s Channel 10, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported.”Muslims and Christians alike should boycott Israel’s Channel 10 as it deliberately and systematically derides religion and the prophets,” said Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, the chairman and chief judge of the Palestinian Higher Council of Islamic Courts.”These insults are done on purpose to hurt the feelings of Muslims and Christians,” he said in a statement. “This proves that Channel 10 is racist and demonstrates how low they can stoop and how they can go against all religious and ethical values.”Shleim has been under fire before for slurs against religion and in February he outraged Christians when he labeled the Virgin Mary “promiscuous” and joked that Jesus was probably extremely obese so he couldn’t have walked on water. In other Channel 10 controversies, a website affiliated with the channel, called Nana 10, posted a clip of the Israeli version of the reality show Survivor where one of the contestants calls his shoes Muhammad, probably a dig at Islam’s prophet.
“Free” to insult religionTamimi also slammed anyone who regards slandering religious symbols as freedom of expression and called for an international law that penalizes those who disrespect any religion.Masud Ganaim, Knesset member for the Islamic Movement, called for an end to making fun of religion under the pretext of entertainment or comedy. “It looks like Shlein is now addicted to swimming in contaminated media water stained with the worst ethical offences,” he said in a statement. “And now he is giving us more of his filth.”Ganaim said he was surprise that no measures had been taken against Shlein despite constant complaints of his mockery.”In a country that claims it promotes freedom of faith, this blasphemy should have been a disaster. If the same had happened with Judaism, the reaction would’ve been totally different,” Ganaim said.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
by Barry Rubin
In a much-awaited speech about his new government’s foreign policy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained Israel’s situation, experience, and views. Other countries, especially those which think they have all the answers for making peace, should pay close attention. They might actually learn something.
In a recent interview, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated:
“We do have a view about Israel’s security. We see historical, demographic, political, technological trends that are very troubling as to Israel’s future.”
This was a most peculiar thing for a secretary of state to say. In effect, she claims that the United States knows best for Israel. I cannot imagine an American secretary of state saying such a thing about any other country in the world in this manner.
But the truth is that this administration doesn’t know best for Israel. (Whether it even knows best for the United States is still a very doubtful proposition.) It simply doesn’t understand the realities of the region, the nature of Palestinian movements and their goals, and lots of other things.
Lots of European countries say the same thing. Indeed, in the current American administration there seem to be two competing strains of thinking that amount to the same thing: Israel is so strong that it can afford to make huge concessions; Israel is so weak that it must make huge concessions.”
This is the massive misunderstanding-compounded by hostility and divergent national interests-that Netanyahu set out to address.
First, he tried to explain the Iranian threat, and his timing-immediately following an intensification of that country’s dictatorship and hard-line regime-showed that he and others in Israel who have been warning about the government in Tehran have been (unfortunately) quite correct.
“The greatest danger confronting Israel, the Middle East, the entire world and human race, is the nexus between radical Islam and nuclear weapons.”
The greatest danger confronting Israel, etc., is not the Palestinian problem, nor is it Islamophobia, nor an insufficient supply of American apologies and empathy.
Netanyahu stresses that he agrees with President Barack Obama on “the idea of a regional peace that he is leading….I share the President’s desire to bring about a new era of reconciliation in our region.” He also stressed the importance of economic cooperation in the region.
By the way, conscious of the disastrous, albeit well-intentioned, proposal by then Prime Minister Shimon Peres for a “new Middle East” sounding as if Israeli technology would combine with Arab labor and money, Netanyahu phrased the idea in a much more modest way, making clear that Israel could learn from Arab developmental successes in the Gulf.
Regarding the Palestinian issue, Netanyahu made the following points…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Leaving aside the merits of the issue which I discussed here and here, the fact that U.S. Middle East policy seems to hinge on whether or not Israel builds around 4000 apartments this year in West Bank settlements is bizarre in a number of respects.
First, let’s assume that after six months or so of back and forth, the Israeli government refuses to freeze construction. What is the United States going to do about it?
The problem is that the administration has already foreclosed the most obvious “punishments” since it isn’t going to do these things any way. After all, the biggest leverage the U.S. government has would be, for example, not to take a tough anti-Iran policy on nuclear weapons, not to intensify the isolation of Syria, not to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority unless it fulfilled its commitments more, and—well you get the picture.
So since it is already clear that Washington isn’t going to give Israel more help regardless of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does, this gives Israel less incentive to freeze construction. Indeed, since the administration has made it amply clear that there will be no reward or what Netanyahu has called reciprocity for an Israeli unilateral concession this further reduces any motivation for complying.
This brings us, then, to the possibility that there will be punishments for not giving the administration what it wants. But what is the U.S. government going to do? The most talked about possibility is that the United States won’t veto UN anti-Israel resolutions.
Yet the problem with this approach is that the more the United States does against Israel the more it undermines its leverage in advancing any peace process…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
For a flavor of the political atmosphere in Tehran, Iran, last week, I quote from a young Iranian comrade who furnishes me with regular updates:
I went to the last major Ahmadinejad rally and got the whiff of what I imagine fascism to have been all about. Lots of splotchy boys who can’t get a date are given guns and told they’re special.
It’s hard to better this, either as an evocation of the rancid sexual repression that lies at the nasty core of the “Islamic republic” or as a description of the reserve strength that the Iranian para-state, or state within a state, can bring to bear if it ever feels itself even slightly challenged. There is a theoretical reason why the events of the last month in Iran (I am sorry, but I resolutely decline to refer to them as elections) were a crudely stage-managed insult to those who took part in them and those who observed them. And then there is a practical reason. The theoretical reason, though less immediately dramatic and exciting, is the much more interesting and important one.
Iran and its citizens are considered by the Shiite theocracy to be the private property of the anointed mullahs. This totalitarian idea was originally based on a piece of religious quackery promulgated by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and known as velayat-e faqui. Under the terms of this edict—which originally placed the clerics in charge of the lives and property of orphans, the indigent, and the insane—the entire population is now declared to be a childlike ward of the black-robed state. Thus any voting exercise is, by definition, over before it has begun, because the all-powerful Islamic Guardian Council determines well in advance who may or may not “run.” Any newspaper referring to the subsequent proceedings as an election, sometimes complete with rallies, polls, counts, and all the rest of it, is the cause of helpless laughter among the ayatollahs. (“They fell for it? But it’s too easy!”) Shame on all those media outlets that have been complicit in this dirty lie all last week. And shame also on our pathetic secretary of state, who said that she hoped that “the genuine will and desire” of the people of Iran would be reflected in the outcome. Surely she knows that any such contingency was deliberately forestalled to begin with.
In theory, the first choice of the ayatollahs might not actually “win,” and there could even be divisions among the Islamic Guardian Council as to who constitutes the best nominee. Secondary as that is, it can still lead to rancor. After all, corrupt systems are still subject to fraud. This, like hypocrisy, is the compliment that vice pays to virtue. With near-incredible brutishness and cruelty, then, the guardians moved to cut off cell-phone and text-message networks that might give even an impression of fairness and announced though their storm-troop “revolutionary guards” that only one form of voting had divine sanction. (“The miraculous hand of God,” announced Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had been present in the polling places and had announced a result before many people had even finished voting. He says that sort of thing all the time.)
[…]
Mention of the Lebanese elections impels me to pass on what I saw with my own eyes at a recent Hezbollah rally in south Beirut, Lebanon. In a large hall that featured the official attendance of a delegation from the Iranian Embassy, the most luridly displayed poster of the pro-Iranian party was a nuclear mushroom cloud! Underneath this telling symbol was a caption warning the “Zionists” of what lay in store. We sometimes forget that Iran still officially denies any intention of acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet Ahmadinejad recently hailed an Iranian missile launch as a counterpart to Iran’s success with nuclear centrifuges, and Hezbollah has certainly been allowed to form the idea that the Iranian reactors may have nonpeaceful applications. This means, among other things, that the vicious manipulation by which the mullahs control Iran can no longer be considered their “internal affair.” Fascism at home sooner or later means fascism abroad. Face it now or fight it later. Meanwhile, give it its right name.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Dr. Zakaria Al Sheikh, the Chairman of the “Fact International” Media Group, demanded that all Arab countries which have borders with Israel ‘to open their borders for the people of the Islamic world in order to overcome the Zionist State.’
Dr. Sheikh said that, “the Zionist state is based on a great lie” and it’s systematic forging of history by “distorting facts for the purpose of justifying its illegal presence.”
Israel resorts to “a history and forged Old Testament references that were written by devil hands, which adopted terrorism and criminality as a way of life.”
Last Sunday, immediately after the ‘deceptive’ speech of Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the terrorist Zionist state, Dr. Zakaria Al Sheikh, in an exclusive statement, told Fact International that “Arab and Islamic countries must not be deceived by the initiative of this criminal, who expressed his willingness to visit your capitals. He has the blood of the children, women and the people of Palestine — both young and old — on his hands. There is a smell of the destruction of Mosques in his hands. Arab and Islamic countries must clearly announce that they will ‘use their financial, human, and oil capabilities to liberate Palestine.”
Dr. Al Sheikh demanded that Arab countries, which have borders with Israel, must open their borders immediately for the people of the Islamic world to liberate the ‘First Qiblah’ and the ‘Third Holiest Mosque’ as a direct response to Netanyahu’s speech.
Dr. Al Sheikh said “Palestine is Arab and Canaanite before the arrival of our Prophet Abraham, (the Chaldean), peace be upon him, from the Iraqi city ‘Owr’ in the 21st Century ‘Before Christ.’ The folks of ‘Israel’ appeared only in the 18th Century before the Christ, when our Prophet Jacob (Israel), peace be upon him, was born with his twelve sons. Judaism as a religion came in the 13th Century before the Christ.”
He said that Netanyahu’s claim that ‘Palestine is a Jewish land for the Jewish people’ is “a forging of history and the three heavenly books, because the Palestinians (the Canaanites) have been inhabiting the blessed land of Palestine for tens of centuries, long before the Israelis, the murderers of the Prophets, who disobeyed God and spread corruption.”
Dr. Al Sheikh said that statements of the ‘terrorist’ Netanyahu are clear. Netanyahu stated that ‘Palestinian refugees are not allowed to return, there will be no Palestinian State but a Zionist colony with weapons, a ‘unified’ Jerusalem will be the eternal Capital for the Zionist State and historical Palestine is a Jewish land.’
Dr Al Sheikh said that Arab and Islamic countries are required to adopt a clear attitude to challenge the words of the ‘terrorist’ Netanyahu. He demanded the Arab countries to immediately announce that “Palestine is an Arab and Islamic Land. It must be protected. The peace process should be buried, because it does not exist.
The liberation of Al Aqsa must start immediately by establishing an Islamic army, which is financed and provided by the Islamic countries to ‘smash’ the Zionist State.”
Dr. Al Sheikh emphasized that the Palestinian Platoons should be unified. “The Palestinian rifle must unify its Arab and Islamic brothers against the threats of the real enemy (the Zionists).”
Dr. Al Sheikh said that according to the ‘Prophetic Hadeeth’ one of the parties, which will liberate Palestine and Al Aqsa Mosque, has been completed in the western part of Jordan River.
‘The Zionist criminal gangs have gathered behind fortified villages and at the western area of the river walls.’
He said that “the ball, now, is on the pitch of the Muslims to complete the second part of the ‘Great Battle.’ The battle of liberating Al Aqsa and destroying the Zionist State of injustice and terrorism, by preparing armies of Muslims east of the River and facilitating the mission of the Islamic people to carry out their sacred duties for the liberation of Palestine.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Mossad chief ‘really worried’ about president’s ‘learning curve’
TEL AVIV — President Obama’s “learning curve” regarding his policies toward Iran might buy Tehran enough time to produce nuclear weapons, Shabtai Shavit, former chief of the Mossad intelligence agency, warned in an exclusive WND interview today.
“I do know that Obama is taking a very long learning curve experience in order to reach a conclusion about whether his thinking of diplomacy with Iran was right or wrong. I am really worried there will be a heavy price for us,” Shavit said.
“Until Obama is convinced personally that his policies may not work and until he has undergone the whole experience, it may be too late,” said Shavit.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CAIRO — How do you count almost 40 million handwritten paper ballots in a matter of hours and declare a winner? That’s a key question in Iran’s disputed presidential election.
International polling experts and Iran analysts said the speed of the vote count, coupled with a lack of detailed election data normally released by officials, was fueling suspicion around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory.
Iran’s supreme leader endorsed the hard-line president’s re-election the morning after Friday’s vote, calling it a “divine assessment” and appearing to close the door on challenges from Iran’s reformist camp. But on Monday, after two days of rioting in the streets, he ordered an investigation into the allegations of fraud.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s reformist challenger, claims he was robbed of the presidency and has called for the results to be canceled.
Mousavi’s newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, or the Green Word, reported on its Web site that more than 10 million votes were missing national identification numbers similar to U.S. Social Security numbers, which make the votes “untraceable.” It did not say how it knew that information.
Mousavi said some polling stations closed early with voters still in line, and he charged that representatives of his campaign were expelled from polling centers even though each candidate was allowed one observer at each location. He has not provided evidence to support the accusations.
His supporters have reported intimidation by security forces who maintained a strong presence around polling stations.
Observers who questioned the vote said that at each stage of the counting, results released by the Interior Ministry showed Ahmadinejad ahead of Mousavi by about a 2-1 margin.
That could be unusual, polling experts noted, because results reported first from Iran’s cities would likely reflect a different ratio from those reported later from the countryside, where the populist Ahmadinejad has more support among the poor.
Mousavi said the results also may have been affected by a shortage of ballot papers in the provinces of Fars and East Azerbaijan, where he had been expected to do well because he is among the country’s Azeri minority. He said the shortage was despite the fact that officials had 17 million extra ballots ready.
Interior Ministry results show that Ahmadinejad won in East Azerbaijan..
The final tally was 62.6 percent of the vote for Ahmadinejad and 33.75 for Mousavi — a landslide victory in a race that was perceived to be much closer. Such a huge margin also went against the expectation that a high turnout — a record 85 percent of Iran’s 46.2 million eligible voters — would boost Mousavi, whose campaign energized young people to vote. About a third of the eligible voters were under 30.
Ahmadinejad, who has significant support among the poor and in the countryside, said Sunday that the vote was “real and free” and insisted the results were fair and legitimate.
“Personally, I think that it is entirely possible that Ahmadinejad received more than 50 percent of the vote,” said Konstantin Kosten, an expert on Iran with the Berlin-based German Council of Foreign Relations who spent a year from 2005-06 in Iran.
Still, he said, “there must be an examination of the allegations of irregularities, as the German government has called for.”
But Iran’s electoral system lacks the transparency needed to ensure a fair election, observers said. International monitors are barred from observing Iranian elections and there are no clear mechanisms to accredit domestic observers, said Michael Meyer-Resende, coordinator of the Berlin-based Democracy Reporting International, which tracked developments in the Iranian vote from outside the country.
He noted that the election was organized and overseen by two institutions that are not independent, the government’s Interior Ministry and the Guardian Council, a 12-member body made up of clerics and experts in Islamic law who are closely allied to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s Interior Ministry released a breakdown of votes by province and city, but Meyer-Resende said that to be sure of the results, it must release data all the way down to the level of each polling station.
One of the central questions was how 39.2 million paper ballots could be counted by hand and final results announced by authorities in Tehran in just over 12 hours. Past elections took at least twice as long.
A new computerized system might have helped speed the process in urban centers, where most Iranians live, though it is unclear if that system was extended to every small town and village. And each ballot — on which a candidate’s name was written in — would still have to be counted by hand before any data could be entered into a computer, aggregated and transmitted to the Interior Ministry in Tehran.
“I wouldn’t say it’s completely impossible,” Meyer-Resende said. “In the case of Iran, of course, you wonder with logistical challenges whether they could do it so fast.”
Susan Hyde, an assistant political science professor at Yale University who has taken part in election monitoring missions in developing countries for the Carter Center, agreed that would be uncharacteristically fast.
“If they’re still using hand counting, that would be very speedy, unusually speedy,” she said.
The Interior Ministry released results from a first batch of 5 million votes just an hour and a half after polling stations closed.
Over the next four hours, it released vote totals almost hourly in huge chunks of about 5 million votes — plowing through more than half of all ballots cast.
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor of Middle East politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said a major rigging process would require the involvement of powerful advisory bodies, including those in which one of the other candidates and a key Mousavi backer are prominent figures.
“Given that Mohsen Rezaei, one of the other presidential candidates, is the head of the powerful Expediency Council, for instance, it is highly unlikely that he wouldn’t have received any information of such a strategic plan to hijack the election,” Adib-Moghaddam said.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 9 — “The European Parliament must keep all its promises on Turkey’s entering the European Union”, Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, said at a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), CNN reported. “Turkey has implemented a lot of reforms and will continue this way. We have a right to ask the European parliament to keep its promises related to Turkey’s membership in the organization”, he said. According to Erdogan, “Christian Democratic Party’s winning in elections to the European Parliament will not change the policy of the European Union and the issue on Turkish membership will remain open”. “The issue on Turkey’s EU accession will not go into the background. Turkey will not stop but will continue to work in this direction”, Erdogan said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 12 — A Turkish prosecutor ruled against launching proceedings into three politicians accused of spreading Kurdish propaganda by conducting campaign speeches in the language ahead of the March 29 local elections, Hurriyet daily reported today. The Digor district police department in the eastern province of Kars filed a criminal complaint against the three executives from the pro-Kurdish Democratic and Society Party, or DTP, claiming they broke laws by speaking Kurdish at the opening ceremony for the party’s regional election office in February. Turkey’s election laws do not allow election campaigners to use any language other than Turkish during their campaigning efforts. Digor Public Prosecutor, Omer Tutuncu, ruled against launching proceedings into the three, saying “the related provisions of law do not retain any applicability after Turkey’s state-run television and radio network started broadcasting in Kurdish on January 1, 2009.” “Even senior officials and bureaucrats have addressed Turkish citizens of Kurdish descent in Kurdish,” he added when handing down his ruling. Politicians have been charged for promoting separate Kurdish public service and disseminating Kurdish propaganda in election campaigns in the past. Turkey has recently taken steps to boost the cultural and democratic rights of Kurds, including the January 1 launch, attended by the prime minister, of state-run TRT-6, a TV channel that airs in Kurdish 24-hours a day. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ISTANBUL — After conducting an investigation, the Turkish military declares that the alleged plan to dismantle the AKP as part of an effort to fight fundamentalism and stop religious movements is a fabrication. Meanwhile, politicians and observers express conflicting levels of trust in the army’s statements about the document
The Turkish military announced Monday that none of its units prepared an alleged action plan to finish off the ruling party, but government officials were unsatisfied with the army’s statement and experts remained divided on the issue.
“In line with the evidence we received in the investigation, we have concluded that no units of the General Staff prepared the alleged document,” the General Staff said in its statement Monday morning, adding that an investigation to understand whether the document is fake was ongoing. The document bears the signature of an on-duty colonel who has been accused of preparing a memorandum keeping records on many non-governmental organizations.
The General Staff launched its investigation last week after daily Taraf led with a story on an alleged clandestine action plan targeting the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the religious “Gülen movement.” Allegedly drafted by the General Staff’s operations division, the plan is said to have contained efforts to fight fundamentalism and end the activities of religious movements G particularly the AKP and Gülen’s group G that are accused of trying to undermine Turkey’s secular order and establish an Islamic state.
However, ambiguity in military’s statement led the General Staff to make a second statement Monday afternoon emphasizing that the Turkish military depends on the rule of law and the principles of state of law, noting that the investigation was ongoing. The General Staff also said it would not allow personnel who are against the rule of law and democracy to work within the military.
“The alleged document was demanded both by daily Taraf and the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on June 12, but no document has arrived yet. It is deemed that a final conclusion on whether the document is fake or real could solely be reached as a result of the forensic examination of the alleged document, which is expected to be sent to the military prosecutor,” said the statement. “If it is proved to be false, the Turkish Security Forces [TSK] will employ every effort to uncover the individual and aim behind the preparation of this document.”
AKP officials expressed their dissatisfaction with the TSK’s statement Monday, a day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was looking into the matter and would launch a legal case if necessary.
The AKP’s deputy parliamentary group leader, Bekir Bozdag, told reporters that the military’s statement should have clearly rejected or accepted the existence of the document.
“It is meaningful that the army did not make any statement for four days,” Bozdag said. “The prosecutors should find those involved in this crime and begin legal proceedings immediately. This investigation is under the mandate of civil prosecutors, not the military. The statement strengthens the doubts.”
Columnist Ali Bayramoglu is among the observers who are also unsatisfied with the statement. “It is not the first time that kind of documents has broken out,” he said, noting that since Feb. 28, 1999, the beginning of the process by which the military strongly warned the government against anti-secular activities, which led to the resignation of the government, “tons of memorandums became public, the military denied the documents but neither the public nor us was satisfied. We know that military interventions are done this way, regardless if this document is real or not.”
Skeptical of plan
Journalist Saygi Öztürk, on the other hand, is a skeptic not of the military’s statement, but of the alleged plan. “I thought that the military’s statement should be believed,” he said. “It is an important institution. It is impossible to underestimate their statement.”
When asked about the AKP’s dissatisfaction with the statement, Öztürk said there are question marks about the process of seizing the alleged plan from the Ergenekon suspect.
“According to the court testimony of the suspect, he has had no gun since 1997, but 250 bullets were found in his office,” he said. “Although he has all blue flies in his office, these documents are found in a white one. Although he has no CDs in his house, car and office, one CD was confiscated. These are all question marks.”
Columnist Mehmet Altan, speaking to private news channel HaberTürk, said the worries were increasing due to the military’s statement being unclear, although the identity of the person who is alleged to have written the document was clear. “There is the signature [of the person] who also prepared a memorandum,” he said. “Is it that difficult? They say they ‘were convinced’ [that it was not prepared within the military]; this increases the worries.”
Military statement not aiding clarification
Journalist Fatih Altayli disagreed, saying since the military said the document does not belong to the institution, for now there is no choice other than believing that statement. “For instance, an AKP member makes a critical statement, then the AKP says it is not the institutional statement of the party. This is like that,” he said.
“Either this document is fake, or it is independent from the chain of command prepared within the military,” Altayli said. If the second option were correct, this would not stay as an individual action of a colonel, Altayli said.
“It is a terrible mistake that the colonel dared to prepare this. If the military discharges officers because of fundamental religious movements, it should discharge officials because of this too.”
The military’s statement has made no contribution toward clarifying the situation, said author Semih Hiçyilmaz. “If this document is true, it is so important. If it is not true, it is again so important,” he said. “Those who are struggling for political power are trying to blur the minds of the masses.”
Some experts also focused on the fact that, regardless of whether the document is fake or not, it exists. “If this is a slander against the military, it is critical that this slander suits the military. I hope we will see the days that people would say the military will never do that,” Altayli said.
Bayramoglu agreed that what is of critical importance is establishing whether such a document exists since that is the main concern generated in this situation.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
BRITISH soldiers claim a Taliban fighter killed in Afghanistan was found with an Aston Villa tattoo on his body.
The unnamed Muslim insurgent lost his life following clashes with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces.
Details of forensic investigations on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters are normally top secret.
But a British military source said that the terrorist had an Aston Villa tattoo — showing he could be from the West Midlands.
The claims follow news that RAF radio spies picked up Birmingham accents while listening in to Taliban ‘chatter’ over the airwaves.
The military source said: “It’s been well-known for some time among soldiers in Afghanistan that at least one Aston Villa fan was fighting for the Taliban.
“A body of one of the men was found to have an AVFC tattoo on it.
“We’ve known for a long time that foreign fighters, many with thick Birmingham accents, have been recruited to fight against us for the Taliban.
“Some of the linguistics specialists have picked up West Midland and Manchester accents too.
“But it was a shock to hear that the guys we were fighting against supported the same football clubs as us, and maybe even grew up on the same streets as us.
“I’m not sure if the army uses the story to try and stir up a bit of passion in us when we get into fire-fights with them.”
The British Foreign Office said they were working with governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan to stop British-born Muslims going abroad to “wage Jihad”.
But the claims about the Villa tattoo and Midland accents could indicate that a growing number are turning their backs on the West to fight for the Taliban.
A Government official, who wished to remain anonymous, added: “There will always be a number of people who are radicalised in this country and want to leave the UK.
“The details of Aston Villa fans in the Taliban does not shock or surprise me.
“We have never had any hard and fast evidence to tie all of these snippets of information together, but we are sure they equate to a wider ongoing radicalism in the UK.”
RAF radio operators, listening to the conversations from Nimrod planes flying above the lawless Afghan provinces, are previously said to have heard young Taliban fighters speaking in clear West Bromwich and Bradford accents.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Wherever there is any firm evidence of Brits going abroad to wage Jihad, we work with governments overseas to stop them.
“There is a long-term set of work with the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to look at issues of radicalisation, both in the UK and abroad.
“It is important that British Muslim communities make clear that they reject this kind of activity.”
Incredibly, brave British soldiers said they harboured no ill-feeling against British mercenaries recruited by the Taliban.
But they admitted that it was almost impossible to understand their motivation.
Bombardier Mark Leinster, of 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, who was injured during an operation that led to the death of a key Taliban leader earlier this month, said: “It’s baffling.
“Why would these people leave Britain, where you have all the freedoms of a democracy, to stop Afghan people having the same benefits that are enjoyed in the UK?
“I don’t think squaddies have any hatred for these people.
“But it’s definitely difficult to understand why they would do it.”
| — Hat tip: The Frozen North | [Return to headlines] |
TALBOZANG, Afghanistan — Fifty-year-old Abdul Wadud walked for two hours across Afghanistan’s remote northern mountains to hear a police commander give yet more promises of aid for those who turn their backs on growing opium.
Wadud does not grow drugs. But if no money comes soon, he will.
“The government told us several times they would help us and they didn’t,” he said, crouching barefoot on the ground in traditional Afghan loose shirt and trousers and explaining he feeds a family of 15 on occasional work as a day labourer.
“If the government or the aid organizations don’t help us — yes we will have to start growing opium,” he said.
“If they build us schools and roads we promise never to grow opium.”
Wadud and around 30 other village elders from the area had gathered on a hillside deep inside the Hindu Kush mountains, to attend a “shura,” or meeting, organised by provincial authorities to dissuade the men from growing the drug.
Their Badakhshan province in remote northern Afghanistan has been a showcase for government efforts to battle the drugs trade, which accounts for nearly all the world’s heroin.
Until 2006 Badakhshan was one of the main opium growing areas in Afghanistan, producing the country’s second biggest crop.
But last year its output fell by 95 percent, to a mere 200 hectares under cultivation, close to being declared ‘poppy free’ by the United Nations, which credited government information campaigns and eradication programs for the success there.
The United Nations has warned, however, that last year’s improvement may not hold without more aid for poor farmers.
“Badakhshan may bounce back to opium cultivation if the government fails to deliver promises made to farmers for alternative development activities,” the U.N. drugs agency said in its opium survey report last August.
“DISGRACE”
Sayed Musqin Wafaqish, a police commander sent in from Kabul to head counter-narcotic efforts in the area, told the bearded men seated on rolled-out plastic carpets that the aid is coming, as long as they do not revert to growing opium.
“We know you are poor and because you are poor you want to grow poppy,” he said. “It is bad for Afghanistan. It is a disgrace. It gives a bad name for Afghanistan because we are growing poppy. I promise you in the near future you will get some help. Your village is on the top of the list.”
Despite a marginal drop in production, Afghanistan last year still produced more than 90 percent of the world’s opium, a thick paste from poppies which is processed to make heroin. But the overall numbers hide wide variations from province to province.
As a result of improvements in areas under government control in recent years, most of the production is now concentrated in southern provinces such as Helmand, in areas partly or wholly controlled by Taliban militants.
Fighters use the trade to fund their insurgency, and it also breeds corrosive government corruption. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this year Afghanistan was in danger of becoming a failed “narco-state.”
The government and its Western backers say the drop in production in northern provinces under their grip, like Badakhshan, is a sign they can fight drugs in areas they control.
Afghan and Western anti-narcotics officials tout “alternative development” projects such as providing wheat seeds to farmers. But locals at the shura say they have yet to see the benefits.
Sayed Amir, 60, an elder from the village of Talbozang, shook his head when asked if he has received any government help.
“No, no, no. Never,” he said. “The government promised us seeds but we never received them.”
Officials in the peaceful north say they have received far less international aid than in the violent south, where donors spend money to win over hearts and minds from insurgents.
“We hear in radio broadcasts that the international community is helping our country. Where is the help?” said Sayed Ayub, head of Talbozang’s development council, as U.S. military and State Department officials who travelled to the shura looked on.
“We are ready for any cooperation with the government. If the government asks us not to grow poppy, they should help us.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — – Malaysian police on Monday fired several rounds of tear gas to break up a noisy protest held by Iranians residing here against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s controversial election victory.
Earlier more than 200 people gathered at the city’s United Nations building to hand over a protest note demanding the world body nullify elections the Iranian opposition allege was rigged.
“We want all the countries in the world not to recognise Ahmadinejad as Iranian president. The election was fraud. The actual winner is (Mir Hossein) Mousavi,” Ali Bozrgmer, a 28-year-old student told AFP.
He said the protest lasted for about one hour during which they shouted slogans such as “Where is my vote?” and “Ahmadinejad go to hell”.
The protesters, who were mainly students from the local Iranian community of some 9,000 people, then continued their march along a busy road outside the UN building, he said.
Witnesses said the police warned protesters to end the demonstration before firing tear gas.
“The police gave us warning to disperse. But they suddenly fired several rounds of tear gas. We ran away,” Bozrgmer said, adding that they plan more protests.
Mousavi has lodged a formal protest calling for an annulment of the result of Friday’s presidential election, which he lost to hardliner Ahmadinejad, complaining of vote-rigging.
Iranian opposition supporters worldwide have staged demonstrations to protest at the election which returned Ahmadinejad to another four years in power.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
A Christian woman recognises her husbands assassin after meeting him at the market. The police intervenes and arrests the man, but immediately Hindu fanatics protest in front of the police station for his release.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — Tensions and clashes between extremists and police following the arrest of a leader from the Sangh Parivar, guilty of the murder of tribal Christians and officers from the Central Reserve Police Force (Crpf). That is what has taken place in the village of Sirsapanga, Kandhamal district (Orissa).
On June 6th, the widow of a tribal Christian killed in October by Hindu extremists recognised her husbands assassin while she was at the market. Kalia Pradhan, the murderer, had been in hiding for over 9 months but had recently been seen in public places in the village.
Eye-witnesses report that the woman, as soon as she recognised the man, began screaming: “My husband’s killer is here” greatly agitating the crowds. Reached by AsiaNews, Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (Gcic) tells that “she went to the police who were initially reluctant to arrest the man, however, her brother telephoned the Superintendent of Police, who immediately ordered the local police to arrest him”.
Following the security forces operations, supporters of the Sangh Parivar immediately began protesting outside the Raikia police station demanding the assassins release. Officers dispersed the crowd of protesters and immediately alerted priests and Christians in the area, for fear of fresh tensions.
Sirsapanga village became the theatre of fresh violence when the government decided to withdraw the Crpf force on May 31st last. Coinciding with the demobilisation of the soldiers, sent to the area to protect Christians, the homes of three Christians were set on fire.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
WASHINGTON, June 12 /Christian Newswire/ — International Christian Concern (www.persecution.org) has learned that radical Muslims running a tea stall beat a Christian man to death for using a cup designated for Muslims on May 9. The young man, Ishtiaq Masih, had ordered tea at a roadside stall in Machharkay village, Punjab, Pakistan, after his bus made a rest stop.
When Ishtiaq went to pay for his tea, the owner noticed that he was wearing a necklace with a cross and grabbed him, calling for his employees to bring anything available to beat him for violating a sign posted on the stall warning non-Muslims to declare their religion before being served. Ishtiaq had not noticed the warning sign before ordering his tea.
The owner and 14 of his employees beat Ishtiaq with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbed him multiple times with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.
The other bus passengers and other passers-by finally intervened and took Ishtiaq to the Rural Health Center in the village. The doctor who took Ishtiaq’s case told ICC that Ishtiaq had died due to excessive internal and external bleeding, a fractured skull, and brain injuries.
Makah Tea Stall is located on the Sukheki-Lahore highway and is owned by Mubarak Ali, a 42-year-old radical Muslim. ICC’s correspondent visited the tea stall and observed that a large red warning sign with a death’s head symbol was posted which read, “All non-Muslims should introduce their faith prior to ordering tea. This tea stall serves Muslims only.” The warning also threatened anyone who violated the rule with “dire consequences.”
A neighboring shopkeeper told ICC on condition of anonymity that all Ali’s employees are former students of radical Muslim madrassas (seminaries).
Ishtiaq’s family said that they immediately reported the incident to the police and filed a case against Ali. However, the murderers are still freely operating the tea stall.
When ICC asked the Pindi Bhatian Saddar police station about the murder, the police chief said that investigations were underway and they are treating it as a faith-based murder by biased Muslims. When asked about Ali’s warning sign, police chief Muhammad Iftikhar Bajwa claimed that he could not take it down. However, the constitution of Pakistan explicitly prohibits such discrimination.
The public is encouraged to call the Pakistani embassy of their country to protest this heinous crime.
Pakistan Embassies:
USA: (202) 243-6500, info@embassyofpakistanusa.org
Canada: (613) 238-7881, parepottawa@rogers.com
UK: 0870-005-6967, hoc@phclondon.org
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
KABUL — Al-Jazeera called for the immediate release of two of its Afghan producers after they were arrested by Afghan intelligence agents. The network said it has been unable to contact them.
Qais Azimy and Hamedullah Shah, who work for the network’s English and Arabic services, have been held by Afghan authorities since Sunday, the station said Monday in a statement.
“Al-Jazeera is officially requesting information from the Afghan authorities and is calling for Qais and Hamedullah’s immediate release,” it said..
It was unclear why the two were arrested.
In a news report over the weekend from the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, Al-Jazeera showed Azimy meeting with Taliban fighters and interviewing a Taliban commander who said that he was in charge of hundreds of men and had 12 suicide bombers waiting to strike.
Afghan authorities may have been angered by the report, Al-Jazeera correspondent David Chater said in a statement.
“We don’t know why they’ve been taken. We don’t know what they’ve been charged with, if they’ve been charged at all. We don’t know why they’re being interrogated, if indeed they’re being interrogated,” Chater said.
Afghan officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment late Monday.
Northern Afghanistan had been one of the few peaceful regions in the country. But Kunduz province, where about 3,500 German soldiers are stationed, has seen a sharp rise in violence in recent months.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
BEIJING (AFP) — Foreign direct investment in China dropped 17.8 percent year-on-year in May for the eighth straight monthly fall, the commerce ministry has said.
China attracted a total of 6.38 billion dollars of foreign investment last month, the ministry’s spokesman Yao Jian told reporters.
The decline compared with a fall of 22.5 percent in April from the same month in 2008, according to previously released statistics.
Foreign direct investment in the first five months was down 20.4 percent from the same period last year to 34.05 billion dollars, the spokesman said.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Five people have been arrested in China for digging up the corpse of a young woman to be a “ghost bride” for a man killed in a car crash.
The suspects included a grieving father who allegedly paid his four accomplices around £2,700 pounds to find a female to be his son’s companion in the afterlife.
The men were caught after unearthing the remains of a teenage girl who had poisoned herself after failing her university entrance exams last year, a newspaper in Xianyang in China’s Shaanxi province reported.
In rural China, superstitious villagers have for centuries sought out the bodies of recently deceased woman to be ghost brides for young men who die single.
Marriage ceremonies are conducted for the two corpses, and the bride is placed in the same grave as her husband.
Under Chairman Mao’s rule, officials made strenuous efforts to stamp out the ghoulish practice but it has since resurfaced in some rural areas.
Last year, a gang in southern China was arrested for strangling young women to sell as ghost brides when the supply of female corpses in their area ran short.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea may have built more underground nuclear test sites in the northeastern district where it staged its first two tests, a news report has said.
South Korean intelligence sources quoted by Yonhap news agency said the North could have built two or three such sites in and around Punggyeri in Kilju district near the coast.
US intelligence sources quoted by American TV networks said last week the North intends to respond to new UN sanctions with a third nuclear test.
“There are no signs yet of preparations for a third test,” a source told Yonhap.
News of the hardline Stalinist state’s nuclear developments come as South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak left for talks with US President Barack Obama on growing tensions with North Korea, with Obama expected to reassure the US ally of security commitments.
Trade and economic issues will also figure in Tuesday’s summit.
In further developments on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear programme JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, quoting intelligence sources, said South Korean and US officials have intensified satellite monitoring of 11 underground facilities for a possible test.
It said some sites are in the north of the country and include Kumchang-ri in the northwest, which came under suspicion back in 1998 as a possible hidden atomic facility.
The United States gave the North 600,000 tons of food aid in return for permission to inspect the site but US visits in 1999 revealed only empty tunnels.
An intelligence source told AFP that the North’s activities are being closely monitored but it was not true that 11 sites were being watched.
“It’s not easy to pick a multiple number of possible nuclear test sites and closely monitor all of them,” one official told Yonhap.
“In 2006 we made a list of suspected North Korean nuclear facilities for possible verification. But we cannot just conclude that these facilities are all possible nuclear test sites.”
The National Intelligence Service declined to comment on the media reports.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
AP — The U.S. and South Korea have pinpointed 11 underground sites in North Korea where it could conduct a third nuclear test, a newspaper reported Monday ahead of a summit between the two allies on the communist regime’s growing atomic threat.
Tension on the Korean peninsula spiked after the North declared Saturday it would accelerate its nuclear bomb-making program by producing more plutonium and uranium, two key ingredients.
The North also threatened war with any country that tries to stop its ships on the high seas as part of new Security Council sanctions passed in response to Pyongyang’s May 25 nuclear test. It conducted its first test in 2006.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak departed for summit talks in Washington on Tuesday with President Barack Obama that are expected to be dominated by the North’s nuclear and missile programs.
In Pyongyang, a massive crowd of North Koreans packed the capital’s main square in a rally to condemn the U.N. resolution, footage from APTN in North Korea showed. The isolated, totalitarian regime often organizes such rallies at times of tension with the outside world.
APTN North Korea estimated the crowd at about 100,000.
“We strongly condemn and wholly reject the U.N. Security Council’s resolution on sanctions, fabricated at the instigation of U.S. imperialism hell-bent on its attempt at stifling” the North, Kim Ki Nam, a top Workers’ Party official, told the crowd.
Participants clapped and chanted “Condemn! Reject!” in unison, pumping clenched fists into the sky.
The North is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs, and a U.S. government official said last week that Pyongyang may be preparing for another nuclear test, its third.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the unreleased information and provided no details.
Also Monday, Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified intelligence official as saying the North may have already built two to three underground test sites near its known Punggye-ri site in the remote northeast, where it conducted its first and second tests.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry and National Intelligence Service said they could not confirm the reports.
A news report from Moscow quoted an official in the Russian military general staff as saying there has been a decrease in visible activity around North Korea’s nuclear facilities in recent days.
This could either indicate that the North has prepared for a new underground nuclear test or is taking a break, according to the state-owned RIA-Novosti news agency. It did not name the official, and the general staff could not immediately be reached for comment.
North Korea has also been preparing to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the United States, U.S. officials have said.. The North says the nuclear and missile programs are a deterrent against the United States.
Washington fears that cash-strapped North Korea will sell its nuclear technology to rogue nations, spreading the atomic threat.
The regime has also warned it cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean and U.S. navy ships sailing near the disputed western sea border, raising the specter for a maritime confrontation. The area is the scene of two bloody maritime skirmishes between the Koreas in 1999 and 2002.
South Korea’s navy chief of staff said a maritime skirmish could occur “at any time” and that his forces were prepared.
“We will cut off the enemy’s wrist even if they touch the tip of our finger,” Jung Ok-keun said at a ceremony marking a deadly naval clash with North Korea in 1999.
But the Defense Ministry said Monday it has spotted no unusual moves by the North’s military.
The strong ties between South Korea and the United States are a thorn in the side of wartime foe North Korea, which accuses the two countries of plotting an attack to topple the communist regime. The allies deny harboring any such intention.
But President Lee said his country’s ties with the United States are “key” at a time of “intensifying” security crisis because of North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
“I will use this summit to reconfirm the strong Korea-U.S. alliance,” Lee said in a radio speech before his departure for Washington.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953, and they remain divided by a heavily fortified border. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea.
The two Koreas signed an accord to ease military tensions and promote economic cooperation nine years ago Monday. However, ties have significantly frayed since Lee, a conservative who advocates a hard-line approach, took office last year. The North responded by cutting off ties and halting joint business projects.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic weapons programme in defiance of new UN sanctions.
Today’s Rodong Sinmun, a state-run North Korean newspaper, claimed the US has 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea. Another state-run publication claimed that America had been deploying nuclear weapons in Japan as well.
North Korea “is completely within the range of US nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world”, the Tongil Sinbo said.
A spokesman at the US military command in Seoul dismissed the claims as “baseless”, saying Washington had no nuclear bombs in South Korea. US tactical nuclear weapons were removed from the country in 1991 following the cold war.
Yesterday, Pyongyang threatened war on any country that dared to stop its ships under the new sanctions approved by the UN security council on Friday.
Pyongyang’s sabre-rattling presents a growing diplomatic headache for Barack Obama as he prepares for talks on Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart on the North’s missile and nuclear programmes.
President Lee Myung-bak told security ministers at an unscheduled meeting today to “resolutely and squarely” cope with the North’s latest threat, his office said. He leaves for the US tomorrow morning.
South Korea’s unification ministry today demanded that the North stop stoking tension, abandon its nuclear weapons and returned to dialogue with the South.
It is unclear whether North Korea’s statements are simply rhetoric. But they are a setback for international attempts to rein in the country’s nuclear ambitions following its second nuclear test on 25 May.
In yesterday’s statement, Pyongyang said it has been enriching uranium to provide fuel for its light-water reactor. It was the first public acknowledgment that the North is running such a programme in addition to its known plutonium one.
Today, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported that South Korea and the US have mobilised spy satellites, reconnaissance aircraft and human intelligence networks to obtain evidence of the programme.
North Korea says its nuclear programme is a deterrent against the US, which it routinely accuses of plotting to topple its regime. Washington, which has 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea, has repeatedly said it has no such intention.
The latest UN sanctions are aimed at depriving Pyongyang of the financing necessary for its nuclear programme. The UN also authorised searches of North Korean ships suspected of transporting illicit ballistic missile and nuclear materials.The new sanctions
The UN penalties provided the necessary tools to help check North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, said the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton yesterday.
They show that “North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver those weapons through missiles is not going to be accepted by the neighbours as well as the greater international community”, she said.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
A Cuban exile blogger from Miami says he used a female internet alter ego to gain access to a member of the usually impervious family of Fidel Castro.
Luis Dominguez says he used the character to begin an online relationship with 40-year-old Antonio, the son of ex-leader Mr Castro.
He refused to apologise for the deception, saying he wanted to show the “opulent lifestyles” of the Castros.
Cuban authorities have not confirmed or commented on the online chats.
Daily life
Many internet users have engaged in a series of flirtatious chats only to find the person they have met online is not who they say they are.
As anyone who covers Cuban politics and the Castro family knows, gaining access of any sort is far from easy.
The Castro family has had a massive security cordon around it for decades — in large part due to the many attempts to remove the island’s communist government from power.
Mr Dominguez used Antonio Castro’s alleged weakness for young women and sports.
Mr Dominguez created Claudia, a 27-year-old Colombian sports journalist.
Claudia made contact with Antonio and they chatted on and off for an eight-month period.
Antonio shared details of his daily life in Cuba and his trips around the world with his uncle Raul, the Cuban president, but did not reveal any state secrets.
However, Mr Dominguez says that by showing what he describes as the opulent lifestyles the Castros live in a communist country like Cuba he has achieved his aim.
Mr Dominguez has published pictures and documents of his chats with the younger Mr Castro on his blog.
He refuses to apologise for violating Antonio Castro’s privacy and says he has no regrets about what he did.
“I’m a Cuban and I’m a Cuban American and I have not been able to go back to my country since 1971 when I left.
“I use whatever tools I have to be able to get back at these people. In Cuba people are put in prison for no reason at all.. Their rights are violated… So, why can’t I do the same thing to them? I have no remorse whatsoever.”
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
By Roy Beck
Informed sources are telling our Capitol Hill Team that the Obama Administration plans to announce today or tomorrow new orders and rules that will gut most of the improvements in fighting illegal immigration at the end of the Bush Administration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
OKLAHOMA CITY — A law passed by Oklahoma’s Legislature will allow the state to deport illegal immigrants who already are serving prison sentences for nonviolent crimes.
The Oklahoma Criminal Illegal Alien Rapid Repatriation Act passed both houses of the Legislature with only one vote against it.
Its author, Rep. Randy Terrill of Moore, says the law, which will take effect on July 1, could save the state at least $4 million in its first year.
He says the goal of the law is to return responsibility to the federal government for paying to house illegal immigrants.
Under the law, an offender who is in the country illegally can be considered for deportation if that person has been convicted of a nonviolent crime and has served one-third of his or her sentence.
Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the central region of the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, says that the federal government must issue any deportation order. He says that if an offender has pending federal charges, he or she cannot be deported.
| — Hat tip: The Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Millions of files containing detailed information about U.S. immigrants -including their spouses’ names, as well as personal photographs and letters — will soon become available to the public through a federal facility in suburban Kansas City.
Preservationists had been worried that the documents providing an important picture of immigration after 1944 would be lost because the federal government considered them temporary and could have destroyed them after 75 years.
But a deal signed this month between the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the National Archives and Records Administration preserves all 53 million files. About 21 million will be sent to the National Archives and made available in batches to genealogists, families and others.
“It’s a big deal because basically at this point they could have just incinerated them all,” said Jennie Lew, a spokeswoman for Save Our National Archives, a San Francisco-based group that worked to preserve the files. “And these give a fuller picture of those that were allowed to immigrate later in American history.”
The U.S. has been “very good at preserving the records of the Puritans and western Europeans … but you’d miss the whole history of those” who came to the U.S. later if the A-files weren’t kept, she said.
Some files contain items such as Chinese wedding scrolls or the locations of family homes, said Jeanie Low, another SONA spokeswoman.
“We’re not just talking about European immigrants. We’re talking about Africans, war brides, southeast Asians, every political struggle you have had,” she said. “All we have before these files was immigrants coming through Ellis Island, and that is not representative of the U.S. anymore.”
The first batch of about 135,000 files is expected to be available to the public this fall at National Archives’ storage facility in Lee’s Summit.. People also can ask the archive to mail them copies of records.
Immigrants will continue to be able to get copies of their own files under the Freedom of Information Act.
The files will not be open to others, however, until 100 years after an immigrant’s birth.
Lists of documents contained in A-files had been previously available to the public with a FOIA request. But the files themselves were not open for viewing or copying.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
I don’t trust the results of opinion polls conducted in countries with repressive and authoritarian regimes.
No matter how careful the independent pollsters are, people who live under a despotic government cannot be expected to give a stranger an honest dissenting opinion. If you have lived for decades with official deceit, intimidation, coercion, and spying, you are unlikely to trust a polling service, no matter how independent it purports to be. Why should you?
So the following article in The Washington Post should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it’s food for thought:
The Iranian People Speak
The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday’s election.
While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portrayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad’s principal opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran’s provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead.
Independent and uncensored nationwide surveys of Iran are rare. Typically, preelection polls there are either conducted or monitored by the government and are notoriously untrustworthy. By contrast, the poll undertaken by our nonprofit organizations from May 11 to May 20 was the third in a series over the past two years.
What makes this particular poll interesting is that it showed Ahmadinejad in the lead by an even wider margin than he “won” the actual election with. If the balloting was as rigged as the opposition claims, why wasn’t the electoral margin higher than in this poll? Does the balloting process in Iran give voters a greater assurance of privacy than they would expect from a telephone poll? Or is there another reason for the discrepancy?
In any case, if you believe the poll, Mad Jad was very popular with Iranian voters:
– – – – – – – – –
The breadth of Ahmadinejad’s support was apparent in our preelection survey. During the campaign, for instance, Mousavi emphasized his identity as an Azeri, the second-largest ethnic group in Iran after Persians, to woo Azeri voters. Our survey indicated, though, that Azeris favored Ahmadinejad by 2 to 1 over Mousavi.
[…]
The only demographic groups in which our survey found Mousavi leading or competitive with Ahmadinejad were university students and graduates, and the highest-income Iranians. When our poll was taken, almost a third of Iranians were also still undecided. Yet the baseline distributions we found then mirror the results reported by the Iranian authorities, indicating the possibility that the vote is not the product of widespread fraud.
So the strongest opposition to Ahmadinejad came from the young people who have been so prominent on the streets of Tehran for the last few days. Given the lack of reliable independent media which could provide them with trustworthy information, it’s hardly surprising that they consider the election illegitimate, and their votes stolen.
But were the results really all that far from the true level of support for President Ahmadinejad?
The article is at pains to emphasize how the pollsters controlled for honesty in the answers people gave:
Some might argue that the professed support for Ahmadinejad we found simply reflected fearful respondents’ reluctance to provide honest answers to pollsters. Yet the integrity of our results is confirmed by the politically risky responses Iranians were willing to give to a host of questions. For instance, nearly four in five Iranians — including most Ahmadinejad supporters — said they wanted to change the political system to give them the right to elect Iran’s supreme leader, who is not currently subject to popular vote. Similarly, Iranians chose free elections and a free press as their most important priorities for their government, virtually tied with improving the national economy. These were hardly “politically correct” responses to voice publicly in a largely authoritarian society.
Indeed, and consistently among all three of our surveys over the past two years, more than 70 percent of Iranians also expressed support for providing full access to weapons inspectors and a guarantee that Iran will not develop or possess nuclear weapons, in return for outside aid and investment. And 77 percent of Iranians favored normal relations and trade with the United States, another result consistent with our previous findings.
The idea that Ahmadinejad is the Persian equivalent of “Nixon going to China” I find somewhat hard to swallow:
Iranians view their support for a more democratic system, with normal relations with the United States, as consonant with their support for Ahmadinejad. They do not want him to continue his hard-line policies. Rather, Iranians apparently see Ahmadinejad as their toughest negotiator, the person best positioned to bring home a favorable deal — rather like a Persian Nixon going to China.
Allegations of fraud and electoral manipulation will serve to further isolate Iran and are likely to increase its belligerence and intransigence against the outside world. Before other countries, including the United States, jump to the conclusion that the Iranian presidential elections were fraudulent, with the grave consequences such charges could bring, they should consider all independent information. The fact may simply be that the reelection of President Ahmadinejad is what the Iranian people wanted.
In any case, it’s a possibility that we ought to consider: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — even if his 66% win is hogwash — is popular in enough in Iran to win an unrigged election.
As an analogy, consider Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler was very popular in 1938, and a free, fair, and secret ballot would likely have returned a resounding victory for him. And bear in mind that at that point he had had only five years with full control of the state media and the apparatus of government repression.
The people of Iran have been living under the iron fist of the ayatollahs for thirty years.
It would not be at all surprising if they really do love Big Brother.
Check out boston.com for some amazing photos of the demonstrations in Tehran. What you’ll notice over and over again is unarmed young people of both sexes being beaten and roughed up by riot police.
[Post ends here]
From the PVV website, here is the text of the speech given by Geert Wilders yesterday in Copenhagen (Note: I corrected a few typos in this version):
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you, Danish Free Press Society, again for inviting me to speak to you here in Copenhagen. It is good to be back in Denmark. Thank you, my friend, Lars Hedegaard.
And last but not least, I thank the Danish border police for having allowed me into the country.
Ladies and gentlemen, last week was a tremendous week. My party, the Dutch Freedom Party, came second in the Dutch elections for the European Parliament!
In many cities, including Rotterdam and The Hague, we even managed to become the largest party!
Meanwhile here in Denmark, the Danish People’s Party again performed very well, which is excellent news for Denmark. I congratulate Pia Kjærsgaard and Morten Messerschmidt on their party’s victory. Marvellous news!
There is more good news these days. In Europe the socialists — or social democrats, as they prefer to call themselves — lost nearly everywhere: in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in Germany, in Austria, in France, in Spain, in Italy and, perhaps best of all, in the United Kingdom. The greatest coward in Europe, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, suffered a tremendous blow at the hands of the British electorate. Serves him right!
I will not terribly miss Jacqui Smith, the British cabinet member that worked so hard to have me refused in the UK because of my film Fitna. It is rather ironic that her career-ending was somehow film-related, as it turned out the British taxpayer had to pay for the porn-movies her husband rented. At least, we cannot say she is a movie-hater as such. Just her taste is a little bit selective.
– – – – – – – – –
Why is it good news that the socialists lost by such a margin?
Let me answer this myself. It’s good news because socialists are the most inveterate cultural relativists in Europe. They regard the Islamic culture of backwardness and violence as equal to our Western culture of freedom, democracy and human rights. In fact, it is the socialists who are responsible for mass immigration, Islamization and general decay of our cities and societies. It are the socialists who are responsible for the fact that cities such as Rotterdam, Marseille and Malmö seem to be situated in Eurabia rather than in Europe. And they are even proud of it.
Our Western elite, whether it are politicians, journalists or judges, have lost their way completely. All sense of reality has vanished. All common sense has been thrown to the wind. They take all efforts to deny the things that take place in front of our eyes, and deny everything that is so obviously seen by everyone else.
They won’t stand firm on any issue. Their cultural relativism affects absolutely everything up to the point where they no longer see the difference between good and evil, or between nonsense and logical common sense. Everything is pushed into a grey area, a foggy marsh without beginning or end. The only moral standard they still seem to apply is the question whether or not it is approved by Muslims. Everything Muslims disapprove, they disapprove too.
And so, the voters have had enough. Because they of course realise that Europe is going in the wrong direction. They know that there are enormous problems with Islam in Europe. They are well aware of the identity of those who are taking them for a ride, namely, the Shariah socialists.
As for those present here today, I’m sure everyone knows how intractable the problems with Islam are in Europe, given that Muslims are over-represented in crime rate figures as well as in social benefit statistics. Of course, this is not to say that there aren’t many Muslims of good will who are decent, law-abiding citizens. But facts are facts.
According to the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, mass immigration has to date cost the Dutch taxpayer more than one hundred billion Euros. According to the Danish national bank, every Danish Muslim immigrant costs the Danish state more than 300,000 Euros. A Swedish economist has calculated that mass immigration costs the Swedish taxpayer twenty-seven billion dollars annually. In Norway a warning has been issued to the effect that the proceeds from North Sea oil will have to be spent entirely on mass immigration, while in France official figures have been published suggesting that mass immigration is reducing growth in the French economy by two-thirds. In other words, mass immigration, demographic developments and Islamization are certainly partly causes of Europe’s steadily increasing impoverishment and decay.
Ladies and gentlemen, you may know of the Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels, who recently said that Muslim integration in the West is simply impossible. Now, that is not a novel idea. A certain Frenchman said pretty much the same thing in 1959. I quote, “Those who recommend integration must be considered pea-brained even if they are scholars and scientists. Just try mixing oil and vinegar. Then shake the bottle. After a moment the two substances will separate again. Do you really believe French society could absorb ten million Muslims, who would be twenty million tomorrow and forty million the day after? In fact, my own village would no longer be Colombey-les-deux-Églises but would rather come to be known as Colombey-les-deux-mosques.”
This quote, you guessed it, is from none other than the former French President Charles de Gaulle.
Now, I do not know whether Sennels and De Gaulle were right in their conclusion that Muslims are incapable of integrating into other cultures. I think in reality we do see Muslims on individual level assimilating into our societies. But what I do know is that very many Muslims do not want to integrate. Again, the facts don’t lie: four in ten British Muslim students want Sharia law to be implemented, while one-third of British Muslim students are in favour of a worldwide caliphate. Seven out of ten Spanish Muslims consider their self a Muslim first, instead of a Spanish citizen. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks, half of Dutch Muslims admit to ‘understanding’ the 9/11 attacks. Seven out of ten youth prisoners here in Copenhagen are Muslim. In 2005, 82% of the crimes in Copenhagen were committed by immigrants, many of them Muslim. More than half of the Danish Muslims think that it should be forbidden to criticise Islam and two out of three Danish Muslims think that free speech should be curtailed.
Some time ago an interview was held in France with the French Muslim student Mohamed Sabaoui, who said the following, and I quote:
“Your laws do not coincide with the Koran, Muslims can only be ruled by Shariah law.
We will declare Roubaix an independent Muslim enclave and impose Shariah Law upon all its citizens.
We will be your Trojan Horse, we will rule, Allah akbar.”
End of quote.
Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: Islam has always attempted to conquer Europe. Spain fell in the 8th century, Constantinople fell in the 15th century, even Vienna and Poland were threatened, and now, in the 21st century, Islam is trying again. This time not with armies, but through the application of Al-Hijra, the Islamic doctrine of migration and demography.
Unfortunately, the Al-Hijra doctrine is very successful. For the first time in world history there are dozens of millions of Muslims living far outside the Dar al-Islam, the Islamic world. Al-Hijra may be the end of European civilization as we know it: The second Dutch city, Rotterdam, will have a non-Western majority within 3 years. Europe has now more than 50 million Muslims, it is expected that this will be doubled in just 20 years. By 2025, one third of all European children will be born to Muslim families.
As I said, many of those Muslims in Europe would like to implement Shariah Law in our judicial systems. As you know, Shariah law covers all areas of life, from religion, hygiene and dietary laws, to dress code, family and social life and from finance and politics to the unity of Islam with the state. For some crimes, horrific, barbaric punishments are prescribed, such as beheading and the chopping off of opposite limbs. In Shariah Courts no woman may become judge. Shariah Law does not recognize free speech and freedom of religion. Polygamy and killing an apostate are ‘virtues’, but the consumption of alcohol is a crime. This is the sick Shariah Law in a nutshell, and it is unbelievable and unacceptable that the cultural relativists allow Shariah banks, Shariah mortgages, Shariah schools and unofficial — and in Britain even official — Shariah tribunals in Europe.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are of course shocking facts, figures and statements. However, they are not particularly surprising to anybody who has some knowledge of the Koran and knows who Muhammad was.
In this connection, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to very briefly discuss the essence of Islam, and let me come straight to the point: Islam is not so much a religion as, first and foremost, an ideology; to be precise, like communism and fascism, a political, totalitarian ideology, with worldwide aspirations.
Of course, there are many moderate Muslims. However, there is no such a thing as a moderate Islam. Islam’s heart lies in the Koran. The Koran is an evil book that calls for violence, murder, terrorism, war and submission. The Koran describes Jews as monkeys and pigs. The Koran calls upon Muslims to kill the Kaffirs, the non-Muslims.
The problem is that the injunctions in the Koran are not restricted to time or place. Rather, they apply to all Muslims, in any period. Another problem is that Muslims also regard the Koran as the word of Allah. Which means that the Koran is immune from criticism.
Apart from the Koran, there is also the life of Muhammad, who fought in dozens of wars and was in the habit of decapitating Jews with his own sword. The problem here is that, to Muslims, Muhammad is ‘the perfect man’, whose life is the model to follow.
This is why Jihadists slaughtered innocent people in Washington, New York, Madrid, Amsterdam, London and Mumbai.
Now is clear why Winston Churchill, in his book ‘The second world war’, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, compared the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’. Now is clear why the famous Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, in 1936 said, and I quote, “It is impossible to understand national socialism unless we see it in fact as a new Islam, its myth as a new Allah, and Hitler as this new Allah’s prophet.” Now is clear why Heinrich Himmler was an admirer of Islam. And now is clear why President Obama, who last week, in Cairo, said that Islam has a tradition of tolerance, should be sent back to school.
Just like communism, fascism and nazism, Islam is a threat to everything we stand for. It is a threat to democracy, to the constitutional state, to equality for men and women, to freedom and civilisation. Wherever you look in the world, the more Islam you see, the less freedom you see. Islam is a threat to the Europe of Bach and Michelangelo, Shakespeare and Socrates, Voltaire and Galileo.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is one Western country that has been forced to fight for its values since the very first day of its existence: Israel the canary in the coal mine. Let me say a few words about that wonderful country.
Like Bosnia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Sudan, the Caucasus, Kashmir, southern Thailand, western China and the south of the Philippines, Israel is situated exactly on the dividing line between Dar al-Islam, the Islamic world, and Dar al-Harb, the non-Islamic world. It is no coincidence that it is precisely this dividing line where blood is flowing. All those conflicts concern the Jihad, Jihad in the spirit of the barbarian Muhammad.
Islam forces Israel to fight. The so called ‘Middle East conflict’ is not at all a conflict about land. It is not about some inches of land in Gaza, Judea or Samaria. It is a conflict about ideologies, it is a battle between freedom and Islam, a battle between good and evil, to Islam the whole of Israel is occupied territory. To Islam Tel Aviv and Haifa are settlements too.
Israel is the only democracy in the entire Middle-East. Israel is an oasis of enlightment, whereas the rest of the Middle-East is covered by the black veil of the night. This is no coincidence, in 1939 Winston Churchill said about the Jews in what is now called Israel: “They have made the desert bloom”.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am very much in favour of a two-state solution. One Jewish state called Israel including Judea and Samaria and one Palestinian state called Jordan.
Ladies and gentlemen, wherever Islam and cultural relativism, advocated by Shariah-socialists, come together, freedom of expression is threatened. In Europe in particular, freedom of expression is at risk. As you may know, I am being prosecuted in the Netherlands for expressing my opinion, while being banned from the United Kingdom for the same reason. But, of course, this whole matter is not only about me. There is an ongoing Jihad against free speech in the whole of Europe. In Austria, for example, a lady politician was prosecuted for having spoken the truth about Muhammad. The truth, mind you! We have also had the Danish cartoon crisis; not to mention the threats and/or killing of people as Salman Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Pim Fortuyn, Theo van Gogh, Oriana Fallaci and my brave friend Wafa Sultan. In the Netherlands a cartoonist was arrested by no fewer than ten policemen for having made some drawings! I could go on, but I won’t because it would make you sick.
Ladies and gentlemen, I strongly suggest that we should defend freedom of speech, with all our strength. Free speech is the most important of all our many civil rights. Free speech is the cornerstone of our modern free societies. Without free speech there is no democracy, no freedom. It is our obligation to defend free speech. It is our obligation to preserve the heritage of the British Magna Charta and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. It is our obligation to defend the American Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Human rights protect the freedom of individuals but they do not protect ideologies. I propose two things:
I propose a boycott of the UN Human Rights Council. Annually this Council adopts resolutions that attempt to kill free speech and the concept of human rights. Let there be no mistake about it, the UN Human Rights Council is a threat to free speech in the West.
I propose to repeal all hate speech laws in Europe. These laws enable radical Muslims to silence those critical of Islam. Free speech should be extended instead of restricted in Europe. We should consider laws comparable to the American First Amendment.
Unfortunately, however, if we really wish to combat the Islamization of Europe effectively, we will have to do more than guard or extend freedom of speech. In this regard it is my firm conviction that we will have to take the following measures:
First, we will have to end all forms of cultural relativism. For this purpose we will need an amendment to our constitutions stating that our European cultural foundation is Judeo-Christian and Humanistic in nature. To the cultural relativists, the Shariah-socialists, I would proudly say, “Our Western culture is superior to Islamic culture.” Or to quote Wafa Sultan when she compared the Western culture with Islam: “It’s not a clash of civilizations, it’s a clash between barbarity and reason”. I fully agree with her.
Second, we will have to stop mass immigration from Muslim countries and promote voluntary repatriation.
Third, we will have to expel criminal foreigners and, following denaturalisation, criminals with dual nationality. I have a clear message to all Muslims in our societies: if you subscribe to our laws, values and constitution you are very welcome to stay and we will even help you to assimilate. But if you cross the red line and commit crimes, start thinking and acting like jihad or sharia we will expel you the same out of our countries.
Fourth, we will have to close down all Islamic schools for they are fascist institutions, to prevent any further indoctrination of young children with an ideology of violence and hatred.
Fifth, we will have to close down all radical and forbid the construction of any new mosques, there is enough Islam in Europe. Besides that, as long as Christians in Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia are treated in the scandalous ways they currently are, and as long as no permission is given for churches to be built or bibles to be sold in, for example, Saudi Arabia, there should be a mosque building-stop in the West.
Sixth, last but not least, we will have to get rid of all those cowardly so-called leaders. We enjoy the privilege of living in a democracy. Let’s use that privilege by replacing cowards with heroes. Let’s have fewer Chamberlains and more Churchills. Lets elect real leaders.
In short, ladies and gentlemen, my main message of today is that we have to start fighting back. No defence, but offence. We have to fight back and demonstrate that millions of people are sick and tired of it all and refuse to take any more. We must make it clear that millions of freedom-loving people are saying ‘enough is enough’.
Ladies and gentlemen, Europe is at the crossroads once again. We either choose the road to darkness or the road to freedom.
My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. My generation does not own this freedom, we are merely its custodians. We cannot strike a deal with Mullahs and imams. We cannot surrender and give up our liberties, we simply do not have the right to do so.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the winning mood! Cultural relativists and Shariah-socialists are losing, freedom loving people are winning. Things are changing for the better.
Ladies and gentlemen, and I leave you with this: We will never give in, we will never give up, we will never surrender, we have to win, and we will win!
Thank you very much.
Here’s the latest rap music sensation, TheYoungCons, performing the “Young Con Anthem”:
Serious C:
Yo this one’s for all the young conservatives.
I rep the Northeast and I’m still a young con,
Let your voice release, you don’t have to be obamatrons.
I debate any poser who don’t shoot straight,
Government spending needs to deflate,
Your ideas are lightweight,
Ya careers in checkmate
I frustrate. I increase the pulse rate
I hate when,
government dictatin, makin, statements, bout how to be a merchant,
How to run a restaurant, how to lay the pavement
Bailout a business, but can’t protect an infant
Deficiencies are blatant, young con treatment
I stand one man, outnumbered at my college
Thank you Miss Cali for reminding us of marriage
Can’t support abortion, and call yourself a Christian
I support life, you’re a puzzled politician
Terrorists were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay,
Now they’re in our neighborhoods, planning out doomsday
No such thing as utopia,
no government can control ya, baby ya,
Reap the benefits hard work, self reliant
Listen to Stiltz, my dude’s a lyrical giant
Yo Stiltz… make it two time… please
Stiltz:
I’m 6’9” head and shoulder above the rest
Liberals playin checkers, I’m playin chess
My conservative view is drill baby drill
You can say you hate me but
I’m praying for you still
My dislike for thee most def is not hyperbole
Taxes are the subject and I will spit them verbally
I’m just livin life a conservative philosophy
Sorry Hilary not a right wing conspiracy
We need more women with intellectual integrity
I’m talkin Megyn Kelly not Nancy Pelosi
My main motto is you best work hard
It’s not the hand you were given, but how you lay down your cards
I don’t speak lies but I spit the facts
28% the new capital gains tax
Porkulus bill lacks a few stats
The more money we spend, the more mine is worth Jack
The Bible says we’re a people under God,
Usin radar for radical Jihad
AIG was hooked up by Chris Dodd
A classy gift ain’t an Ipod
The standards of my crew ain’t republicans dude
I’m reppin Jesus Christ and conservative views
Study history and true conservative moves
Every single time they refuse to lose
I’m starting to see a modern day Jimmy Carter
When really nothin but a Reagan era starter
Serious C:
Yo, We americans son
Hit ya with some knowledge
The movement has begun
Everyone can succeed
Because our soldiers bleed, for us
I said it in the verse,
now I’ll say it in the chorus
Stiltz:
We young conservatives son
Hard work is our motto
The movement has begun
EVERYONE can succeed cause our soldiers bleed, daily
My views are rock solid, no chance you can break me
Serious C:
Phase me, make me, into something that ain’t me
Serious c… can’t nobody shake me
great like the Gatsby, poppin posers like acne
Don’t matter if you’re gay, straight, Christian or Muslim
There’s one thing we all hate, called socialism.
It’s loathsome, and America ain’t the outcome,
Raise taxes on the people,
And you’re gonna feel symptoms, problems
I gotta message for a young con:
superman that socialism,
waterboard that terrorism
Stiltz:
I fulfill the role that’s inherently mine
Teaching politics through my rap and my rhyme
I’m signing off this track with a question in mind
How will this country get its precious change in time?
Three things taught me conservative love:
Jesus, Ronald Reagan, plus Atlas Shrugged
Saving our nation from inflation devastation
On my hands and my knees praying for salvation
Serious C:
Yo, We americans son
Hit ya with some knowledge
The movement has begun
Everyone can succeed
Because our soldiers bleed, for us
I said it in the verse,
now I’ll say it in the chorus
Stiltz:
We young conservatives son
Hard work is our motto
The movement has begun
EVERYONE can succeed cause our soldiers bleed, daily
My views are rock solid, no chance you can break me
Join Young Conservatives on Facebook.
Check out MySpace and Twitter.
Young Cons is not attempting to force their religious beliefs onto anyone, but rather encourage discussion among the American youth. They do not claim to have all the right answers, but merely try to express their views through music. Their goal is not to pursue a rap career, but rather get young Americans involved in politics.
Fjordman’s latest essay, “Britain: From Parliament to Police State”, has been published at Democracy Reform. Some excerpts are below.
I am aware of the fact that some British people speak of Europe as “somewhere else,” to which they do not belong. In my opinion, Britain is very much a part of European civilization whether they want to admit so or not, but I am willing to grant them a special place within the European tradition. There is a reason why English became the first global lingua franca. While I focus mainly on the history of science in my essays these days, let us have a brief look at some of the political ideas and concepts championed by the British in the modern era.
England was by the seventeenth century emerging as a great power whose influence increasingly stretched far beyond Europe. It was also one of the most intellectually creative regions in the world. After Isaac Newton had published his Principia in 1687, probably the single most influential text in the history of science, the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), a friend of Newton, in 1690 published his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, proclaiming the doctrine eventually known as the tabula rasa, where humans come into the world as blank slates. This was perfect for a world in which reason ruled and everything was possible. Human nature itself could be improved by applying reason, and history could take the direction of eternal progress. Locke published his Second Treatise of Government, stating that government is the servant of men, not the other way around, and that men possess natural rights, expanding on Thomas Hobbes’ concept of the social contract.
– – – – – – – – –
In the early 1700s, England’s combination of economic prosperity, social stability and civil liberties had no equivalent anywhere in Continental Europe, at least not among the larger states; smaller states such as Switzerland is a different matter. The French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) lived in England for several years in the 1720s and knew the English language well. He preferred British constitutional monarchy to French absolute monarchy. Voltaire praised England’s virtues in Letters on the English from 1734 when he returned to Paris. This caused great excitement among French intellectuals for the ideas of Newton and Locke and the plays of Shakespeare, but their own philosophies went in a different direction.
The sad part when writing this is that while Britain was once admired for its political system and was rightfully hailed as a beacon of liberty, today Britain is one of the most politically repressive countries in the Western world, which is saying a lot given how bad Politically Correct censorship is in the entire Western world these days. Britain today is a Multicultural police state where sharia, Islamic law, is quite literally treated as the law of the land. I suppose there is a strange sort of symmetry in this: Britain was one of the first countries in the West to embrace political liberty and is now among the first to leave political liberty behind.
Read the rest at Democracy Reform.
Below are videos of Geert Wilders’ speech yesterday at Trykkefrihedsselskabet (the Free Press Society) in Copenhagen. Thanks to Erenicus for making these available.
Part 1:
The big news tonight comes from Iran. Ahmadinejad has been declared the winner, but a large number of Iranians are protesting a rigged election. Opposition leaders have been arrested, and there is violence in the streets. It’s still too early to venture an opinion about how this will turn out.
In other news, Brazil, Russia, India, and China (now known as the BRIC group) have decided not to try to establish a new reserve currency, at least for the time being.
Thanks to Amil Imani, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, islam o’phobe, JD, Jewish Odysseus, KGS, Rolf Krake, Zenster, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –
MOSCOW (Reuters) — Leaders of Russia, China, India and Brazil do not intend to discuss new global reserve currencies at their first summit in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on Monday, a top Kremlin aide said on Sunday.
“We will hardly be discussing the new reserve currencies,” Sergei Prikhodko told reporters. “As far as practical issues are concerned, we will speak more about the possible ways to reform international financial institutions.”
Brazil, Russia, India and China are trying to strengthen their clout as the producers of 15 percent of global output by building up their BRIC grouping into a powerful world player.
Russia, holder of the world’s third largest foreign exchange reserves, has called for the world to become less dependent on the dollar and suggested that the yuan and the rouble could become reserve currencies in the future.
Concerns that dollar’s role as the dominant reserve currency has contributed to global financial instability has been discussed by BRIC’s top security officials, who met in Moscow last month to prepare the summit.
Brazilian Strategic Affairs Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger told Reuters last month the summit was due to discuss the role of the U.S. dollar, strengthening the G20 group, reshaping the world trade regime and reform of the United Nations.
“We don’t want a European-style central bank made global. We don’t want a global Brussels,” he said, adding that the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights were an option as long as the issuer’s powers were limited.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Saturday the dollar’s role as the world’s main reserve currency was unlikely to change in the near future
“It is hard to say that in the next few years this system will change significantly,” Kudrin told reporters after a meeting of finance minister of the G8 (Group of Eight) leading economies in Italy.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 12 — Tensions are high in Spain over planned labour market reforms requested by the country’s main industrialists’ association, COEOE, and the Partido Popolare (PP), but opposed by the Zapatero government. Now, around 600 left-leaning intellectuals, economists and employment law professors have drawn up an essentially neo-Keynesian manifesto, which will be presented on June 19 by the Chancellor of Madrid’s Complutense University, Carlos Berzosa, reports today’s La Vanguardia newspaper. The manifesto, brought to fruition through the May 1 Foundation led by Rodolfo Benito, the president of Spain’s trade union federation (Comisiones Obreras), is very close in spirit to the model proposed by Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Zapatero. It is also seen as a response to a manifesto issued a few days ago by a hundred economists, including the Secretary of State for the Economy, Juan Manuel Campa, which demanded labour market reform including the introduction of a standardised, single contract. The single contract has been the object of the industrialists’ association’s proposals and also coincides — albeit to a lesser extent — with PP policies. The manifesto outlines the signatories’ opposition to anti-crisis measures which hide labour market reform of the type proposed by the industrialists, which include a cut in contractual guarantees and make it easier for employers to fire workers. The signatories also highlight the origins of the crisis and the inability of the economic authorities to control Spain’s excessive growth. The manifesto calls for greater state regulation and whilst highlighting the decent regulation of the banking sector in Spain also point out the lack of control over the housing market. Among the recommendations contained in the document is the extension of unemployment subsidies to all those without work and increasing the amount of time that this subsidy can be claimed. It also calls for a contained increase in public spending to give consumption and investment a kick-start, as well as reviving the market and helping SMEs and the country’s most dynamic sectors. The intellectuals also propose a change to the country’s economic model, saying that it should be based on innovation and high-quality labour, including changes in industrial, energy, education and environmental policy and better training for workers. That the workers should pay the biggest price for the crisis is, according to the signatories, “politically indecent”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 12 — The number of new homes in Spain which remained unsold by December 31, 2008, reached 613,512 units, 45% of which concentrated on the Mediterranean coast — according to the first report published by the Housing Ministry on new housing stocks. An estimated 70% of the unsold homes were intended to be primary residences, while the remaining homes were to be vacation residences. By province, Barcelona holds the record with 55,315 lodgings; followed by Madrid (51,034); Alicante (46,366); Valencia (30,038); Murcia (27,279) and Malaga (21,092). The average for unsold houses stands at 13.3 for every one thousand inhabitants. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Barack H. Obama will forever be known as the first black president of the United States. This fact will likely be the least impressive item about him in tomorrow’s history books. The first four months of his administration strongly suggest that he will most likely be known as the president who transformed America’s system of government.
The U.S. Constitution provides for a system of representative government with a degree of checks and balances. This system has been tested, twisted and tormented over the years, but has always survived the abuses inflicted upon it. Obama brings a new threat, in a new era, to a new generation.
Obama is creating a system of government that is beginning to look much like an “Administrator” form of government that will ultimately have no checks and balances, and little need for legislators.
This form of government was the fantasy of Col. Edward Mandell House, the “alter-ego” of President Woodrow Wilson, a designer of the League of Nations, and author of “Philip Dru: Administrator.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — CIA director Leon Panetta says it’s almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the “harsh interrogation” of terrorism suspects.
“I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue,” Panetta said in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine’s June 22 issue.
“It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.”
Cheney, who was a key advocate in the Bush administration of controversial interrogation methods such as waterboarding, has become as a leading Republican critic of Obama’s ban on harsh interrogations and his plan to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In a blistering May 21 speech, Cheney said Obama’s reversal of Bush-era policies were “unwise in the extreme” that would make the American people less safe.
Panetta called Cheney’s actions “dangerous politics.”
He told The New Yorker he had favored the creation of an independent truth commission to look into the detainee polices of former President George W. Bush. But the idea died in April when Obama decided such a panel could be seen as politically vindictive.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
President Obama’s war on the truth.
In the first six months of the Obama administration, we have witnessed an assault on the truth of a magnitude not seen since the Nixon Watergate years. The prevarication is ironic given the Obama campaign’s accusations that the Bush years were not transparent and that Hillary Clinton, like her husband, was a chronic fabricator. Remember Obama’s own assertions that he was a “student of history” and that “words mean something.. You can’t just make stuff up.”
Yet Obama’s war against veracity is multifaceted.
Trotskyization. Sometimes the past is simply airbrushed away. Barack Obama has a disturbing habit of contradicting his past declarations as if spoken words did not mean much at all. The problem is not just that once-memorable statements about everything from NAFTA to public campaign financing were contradicted by his subsequent actions. Rather, these pronouncements simply were ignored to the point of making it seem they were never really uttered at all.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rush Limbaugh calls action illegal, ‘bigger’ than Alberto Gonzales fray
Former Inspector General Gerald Walpin filed two reports exposing gross misappropriation of federal AmeriCorps funds by a prominent Barack Obama supporter and was shortly thereafter fired by the White House, circumstances he told WND are likely linked and others have called an outright illegal action by the administration.
“I think you have to look at the facts and the circumstances and reach your conclusions,” Walpin said in a WND interview. “I will tell you that [my firing] came only after we had issued those two reports to Congress, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
Further, Walpin said, “I am convinced that I and my office are not guilty of any impropriety. In essence, I was fired for doing my job.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘It seems likely that there’s some partial melt down there’
IS A supervolcano brewing beneath Mount St Helens? Peering under the volcano has revealed what may be an extraordinarily large zone of semi-molten rock, which would be capable of feeding a giant eruption.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Manfred Gerstenfeld
There are an estimated 1,300 Jews in Norway.[1] This means that for every ten thousand Norwegians, there are three Jews. The Jewish community constitutes a tiny fraction of West European Jewry. Norway’s overall population makes up slightly more than 1 percent of that of Western Europe.
The book Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews, which I edited, was published in August 2008.[2] (As it sold out rapidly, it is now available for free on the Jerusalem Center’s website.[3]) It analyzes anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli attitudes at various levels in the Nordic countries. The book also indicates why Norway’s place in any history of postwar anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in Western Europe should be “disproportionately” larger than its population size or number of Jews seems to warrant.
The book also gives examples of some pioneering impacts of Jew- and/or Israel-hatred emanating from Norway. Proof keeps surfacing of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli attitudes mainly among parts of Norway’s elite and immigrant populations.
The future of the Jews worldwide as well as the state of Israel is threatened by a variety of forces. In increasingly uncertain times, details of the ongoing global anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli defamation and hostility should be documented. As events unfold, this will make it more difficult in future for those promoting hatred, their accomplices, and the bystanders to deny their role in the process of demonizing Israel and the Jews. Even in a country with a small population such as Norway there is a significant number of these.
In the new century there have been a number of physical, and verbal, anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in Norway. Norwegians often stress that much of this aggression is committed by Muslim immigrants who hold Norwegian citizenship, and that one should not hold Norwegian society responsible. This attitude has an underlying racist implication, as if some Muslims are second-class citizens whose personal responsibility for their acts is different from that of “real,” that is, ethnic Norwegians…
| — Hat tip: Rolf Krake | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 12 — The ‘Turkey Season” cultural event in France could be postponed because of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s strong opposition to Ankara’s bid for full membership in the EU, daily Hurriyet reported quoting Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan also said he might not travel to France for the event. “Mr. Sarkozy will regret what he has been doing sooner or later”, the prime minister told private channel NTV, adding that “we had contacts with former French President Jacques Chirac for a long time, but we have not seen such an approach from him”. It was not clear whether Erdogan meant to postpone his trip to France or call off the entire Turkey Season event. President Abdullah Gul and Sarkozy were expected to launch the event which aims to introduce Turkish culture to France through 400 activities in 40 different French cities on 1 July. The “season” is scheduled to continue through March 2010. Gul recently said he would travel to France to kick off the events with the French leader. Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is also set to travel to France to participate in one or two activities, his spokesman said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Until last week, the Bernard family had the normal concerns of any middle-class Dutch family — putting their teenage children through university, living a greener life, and paying the mortgage.
But that has all changed since the European election — and the triumph by Geert Wilders, the right-wing populist and outspoken critic of Islam who in February was banned from entering Britain as a threat to “community harmony”.
To many abroad Mr Wilders, a Dutch MP, appears an old-fashioned racist whose views put him on a par with other far-Right politicians elsewhere in Europe.
Yet in its first ever test of national electoral support among the normally tolerant Dutch, his anti-immigration Party for Freedom which he founded in 2006 won 17 per cent of the votes — making it the second biggest party. That has shaken the country to its core — opening up the real possibility that, through the Dutch coalition system, Mr Wilders could win power at the next general election.
Now, like many others in the Netherlands, the Bernards are desperately worried. “This has the feeling of what happened to Germany in the 1930s,” said Alfred Bernard, 52, a lawyer. “Wilders blames foreigners for everything. People are disoriented because of the economic crisis. Everywhere there is dissatisfaction with mainstream politicians.
“After this I really believe that Wilders could become prime minister in the 2011 parliamentary elections, or at least set the political agenda.”
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Wilders, 45, was frank about that ambition. Asked about the prospect of taking power in two years’ time, he said: “That is our biggest job. We had an enormous success last week and our biggest task is to keep up momentum. I am very confident that we will have an excellent result.
“If my party becomes the biggest party, I would be honoured to be prime minister.”
Sitting in his office in the Dutch parliament building in The Hague, protected from the threat of assassination by 10 armed secret service bodyguards, he summed up his antipathy to the religion of many immigrants to the Netherlands.
“Islam wants to dominate our society,” he said in fluent and only slightly accented English. “It’s in opposition to freedom.
“If people are offended, that’s not my aim. I don’t talk about Muslims but about Islam. Everything I say is against the fascist Islamic ideology.”
To the charge that to many his views appeared to be racist, he responded: “If that was true, we would never have been the second biggest party in the European elections.”
Why, then, did Moroccans and Turks living in the Netherlands so fear him? “As long as they don’t commit crimes, it’s a baseless fear,” he said. “If you adhere to our laws, if you act according to our values, you are free to stay. We will help you to integrate.
“But if you cross the red line, if you start committing crimes, if you want to do jihad or impose sharia, we want you to be sent out of the Netherlands and we will get rid of your permits to stay.”
An admirer of Churchill and Lady Thatcher, he is charismatic as well as combative. Holland’s conventional politicians — mostly dull men in suits — have no idea how to counter his politically incorrect taunts, which outrage the parliamentary chamber but delight his supporters.
He has come a long way since the days when he could be lightly dismissed as an eccentric fringe politician with an extraordinary blond quiff, known mainly for baiting Muslims.
“Half of Holland loves me and half of Holland hates me. There is no in-between,” Mr Wilders said. “This is a new politics, and I think it would have a great chance of success in other European countries. We are democrats. On economic and social issues we are centrist. We want tougher laws on crime and we want to stop Holland paying so much money to the European Union.
“We would stop immigration from Muslim countries and close Islamic schools. We want to be more proud of our identity.”
He admitted that he is frustrated at his image abroad, especially in Britain, a country which he admires. He claimed to believe in freedom above all else and pointed out that he is despised by Holland’s Neo-Nazis, who dubbed him the “blond Zionist” because of his links to Israel — a country which he has often visited and where he counts politicians among his friends.
He is still angered at being banned from entering Britain, where he had been invited to show his controversial 17-minute film linking the Koran with the September 11 terror attacks. Muslim groups were among those who campaigned against his admission, and he dismissed the Home Office ruling as an attempt at “appeasement” of Islam.
Dutch liberals groaned when the British Government refused entry, because they knew Mr Wilders would milk the decision to generate massive publicity at home. He is also being prosecuted in Holland for promoting hate crimes, a case which is thought unlikely to succeed but which has allowed him to pose as a martyr.
In the European Parliament his four MEPs will not ally with the British National party, he said, claiming he had never met a BNP Member. “I understand they talk a lot about blacks and whites. This is disgusting,” he said.
Then a dreamy look of a man convinced of his own destiny came into his eyes as he launched into a fresh tirade about the threat to Western civilisation from Islam. “Samuel Huntingdon was being too positive when he talked about a clash of civilisations,” Mr Wilders said. “It is civilisation against barbarity.”
His conviction explains why families like the Bernards, who know what happened next door in Germany during the 1930s, find Mr Wilders so unsettling.
In the past, the Bernards always had confidence in the post-war Dutch dream of equality and tolerance. But now Mr Bernard and his librarian wife Marjina, also 52, have been forced to ask whether their country is fundamentally changing.
The day after the results were announced, Mrs Bernard joined a mainstream political party for the first time in her life because she thinks that if Mr Wilders is to be opposed, ordinary politics must first be revived.
“It is getting scary,” she said. “He is becoming more extreme. He has made it respectable to speak out against Muslims.”
They live in an airy ground-floor flat in a neat suburb of Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest port with a population of 580,000, about four out 10 of whom are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. On current birth rates, the city is expected to become Europe’s first with a Muslim majority in about 2020. That has put it firmly at the centre of Holland’s anguished debate about race, immigration and Islam — a debate which is apparently being won by Mr Wilders.
The young watch his irreverent attacks on YouTube, relishing the novelty of a politician who can make them laugh. His older supporters are fiercely loyal to a leader who is bold enough to voice what they think, but for years dared not say.
“I voted for him because immigration isn’t working here in Holland any more,” said Ben De Reus, a 40-year-old bus driver from Rotterdam.
“He wants to get rid of the Turks and they don’t belong here,” said an elderly woman supporter in a prosperous southern suburb — wrongly, since Mr Wilders says he would “encourage” repatriation but wants the expulsion only of immigrants convicted of crimes.
Some 15 per cent of the Dutch population of 16.5 million are from ethnic minorities — many from Morocco and Turkey.
Most of the Party for Freedom’s 17 per cent of the vote was cast in Holland’s four big cities, where the immigrants live and where white voters grumble about high crime rates, chaotic foreigners who don’t understand orderly Dutch ways, and Muslim families who refuse to learn the language and fit in.
But it did well in parts of rural Holland too. It polled highest — 39.8 per cent — in Volderdam, a picturesque, overwhelmingly white town surrounded by windmills and tulip fields, where there are no burkhas but tourists queue up to take photos of women in clogs.
His rhetoric has delighted many voters, the ones who fear that their beloved Dutch values are under attack from an alien way of life.
Dutch tolerance has shaped the Party of Freedom to be quite unlike most European Right-wing movements: its election campaigning championed the victims of gay-bashing gangs of Moroccan youths, and Mr Wilders talks often about the threat from Islam to women’s rights.
His success is a sign of how the political landscape has changed. Even Dutch left-wingers now have to admit that there is a problem with Moroccan street gangs are a problem, and liberals wring their hands about the failure of immigrants to integrate since the first were admitted during the 1960s and 70s — many from Morocco and Turkey.
“Everybody assumed that immigrants would go home once they had finished their work here. But instead they stayed and brought their families,” said Rita Van Der Linde, a spokeswoman for the Rotterdam municipality.
The city’s large Moroccan population have found jobs harder to come by in recent years. Unemployed, and often feeling unwelcome, they have become more Islamic and retreated to the security of the mosques in their communities, in the older, scruffier parts of the city where they are isolated from mainstream Dutch life.
“This development has made white Dutch people nervous of them, especially since September 11th 2001,” Ms Van Der Linde said.
Hopes for harmony on the streets have been invested in a new mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, a member of the Dutch Labour Party whose parents came from Morocco.
He has broken with multiculturalism by urging immigrants to learn the language and fit in, or get on a plane out. He has also pledged to crack down on Moroccan criminals, using language which Right-wingers say would get them branded as racists if they used it.
But in office he has tried to remain aloof from the fray, leaving the field almost clear for Mr Wilders to argue against immigration, which in reality has slowed to a trickle.
Not everyone believes there is enough substance to the Party of Freedom for it to have a chance of achieving real power.
In a little café in Rotterdam which proudly serves only traditional Dutch dishes, owner Martin Voltuees, 46, said of Mr Wilders: “He has a lot of good one-liners but no solutions. We have always been a culture of immigrants ever since the Jews arrived. The difference is that in the past people brought their skills, but now we have immigrants who just bring their poverty.
“Twenty years ago there were plenty of jobs in Rotterdam in the shipyards, and we needed them. That’s gone now. But you see in Holland black and white, Muslims and Christians, intermarrying, so perhaps these problems are solving themselves.”
Others are less sanguine — not least the Dutch citizens who feel themselves to be under fire.
Omar Kirac, 19, an engineering student at a Rotterdam university whose Turkish parents moved to the Netherlands before he was born, said: “Wilders hates people like me, and of course I hate him. I voted against him — it was the blond people who voted for him.
“We think he could become the prime minister and that would be dangerous for us, and dangerous for the Netherlands.
“Politicians need to focus on the economic crisis, not blame Muslims for everything.”
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Employment commissioner plans visit to win over trade unions on treaty
VLADIMIR SPIDLA, the EU commissioner for employment, is to visit Ireland as part of a charm offensive to secure the support of the trade union movement for the Lisbon treaty, writes Mark Tighe.
Spidla’s visit forms part of a plan by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to convince trade unions that did not support last year’s Lisbon referendum that ratification will not have a negative effect on labour standards. A number of unions opposed Lisbon following a series of European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings, such as the Laval and Viking cases on the right to strike.
The government has proposed a “solemn declaration on workers’ rights” which would reaffirm the commitment of all member states to the “high importance of workers’ conditions”. This, together with other guarantees proposed by the government, will be discussed at a European Council meeting this week.
According to briefing documents on the second referendum released under the Freedom of Information Act, the Department of Enterprise believes there is “an emerging consensus” among EU governments despite “strident trade union arguments” that the solution to the problem of workers’ rights does not require a revision of the Lisbon treaty.
Instead, according to the department, countries are agreed that an existing 1996 directive on the Posting of Workers can be “substantially improved” by member states. Further implementation of this directive would eliminate “some of the kind of problems that prompted the kind of cases to be referred to the ECJ”.
Unions said they would welcome further legislation that would clarify the employment standards of employees of non-Irish companies based here.
Spidla will visit Ireland next month. The commission is carrying out an analysis on work mobility in Europe in the aftermath of the ECJ rulings to develop “concrete initiatives”.
Spidla’s spokeswoman said the commission was “well aware” of the concerns of Irish unions. “We don’t agree that the Lisbon treaty would weaken workers’ rights,” she said. “On the contrary, it marks a real improvement, in particular because it enshrines the social charter. Negotiations around the so-called ‘Irish guarantees’, including workers’ rights, are ongoing.”
Jimmy Kelly, the regional secretary of Unite, which told members to reject the treaty, said he had heard nothing to change his union’s stance.
As Irish unemployment has doubled since the referendum, he believes a second Lisbon vote is more likely to be passed. “People are fearful and believe we should firm up our EU membership with Lisbon II, as having the euro means we don’t face as much difficulty as countries like Iceland,” he said.
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The daughter of a Finnish industrialist was released this weekend following a two-and-a-half-week kidnapping ordeal after payment of a 10 million euro ($17.23 million) ransom, police reported on Sunday.
Minna Nurminen, 26, was released in a forest near the city of Turku on Saturday after the payment. Police said she was in good health. She had been reported missing on May 27.
She is a daughter of Hanna Nurminen, an heir to the Herlin family and owner of elevator manufacturer Kone. The mother is considered to be Finland’s richest woman.
Minna Nurminen’s parents had cooperated with police in their contacts with the kidnappers, including on the decision to pay the ransom.
Shortly after the payment, one of the alleged kidnappers lost several thousand of the euro notes, which were picked up by a passer-by and returned to police. Officers later arrested a 44-year-old female suspect in the kidnapping.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 11 — “We cannot accept living under the threat of intercontinental missiles and nuclear weapons and this is why we decided to change our course”. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, speaking in Rome at Palazzo Giustiniani, defended his country’s choice to give up its power as a nuclear country and accused those that have not made the same choice, like North Korea. “We would have wanted Libya to set an example for other countries”, said the Colonel. “We had the chance to develop nuclear weapons and instead we made this decision, but the world did not reward us for it”. Being reintegrated into international institutions such as the United Nations and the fact that Libya has regained its status as a player on the world stage is not enough, according to Colonel Gaddafi. “We would have wanted Libya to set an example for other countries”, he repeated once again. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rome, 12 June (AKI) — The speaker of Italy’s lower house cancelled a top-level conference in honour of Muammar Gaddafi in Rome on Friday after the Libyan leader failed to arrive.
“The conference with Gaddafi has not been held due to the delay by Libyan (leader) Gaddafi,” said Gianfranco Fini, a senior ally of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. “The two-hour delay is not justified.”
Gaddafi was scheduled to meet Fini late Friday and take part in a conference with the speaker and former Italian foreign minister Massimo D’Alema.
Gaddafi had failed to arrive two hours after the agreed time and at 6.30 p.m. in Rome Fini called off the meeting.
Earlier on Friday Gaddafi pledged to give greater priority to Italian companies doing business in his country, but warned business leaders against “corrupting” the Libyan people.
“Italian companies will have priority in Libya,” said Gaddafi in a speech to 600 Italian business leaders organised by Confindustria, Italy’s largest private employer body. “Libya will not favour other countries at Italy’s expense.”
Libya has earmarked spending of 11.8 billion euros to attract foreign investment to the North African country.
But Gaddafi also warned that any company which took advantage of the Libyan people would have to leave the country.
“There are companies that are wrong, thinking they can work by buying (or taking advantage) of the Libyan people. But if we discover this practice, these companies will have to leave the country,” said Gaddafi.
“The company which succeeds will be the one which benefits the Libyan people. Do not say you didn’t know about it, I have warned you.”
“We carried out a revolution not just against colonialism, but also against corruption. We are very sensitive to this issue,” Gaddafi said.
In regard to Italy’s energy needs, Libya said Italy would have preferential treatment.
“Libya will not favour other countries at the expense of Italy, said Gaddafi.
“More than 75 percent of Italy’s energy needs comes from abroad, and most of it from Libya. If Libya sent gas and oil to other countries, it would cause serious damage to Italy. Libya should not do such a thing.”
The controversial leader launched an attack against Italy’s centre-left and praised prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for providing greater business opportunities.
“If the left was heading the government in Italy, the profits of the companies would be lower. As long as Berlusconi governs Italy, the opportunities for companies will be higher.”
On Friday Italy’s farmers’ association, Coldiretti, reported that the export of Italian agricultural products to Libya rose by 51 percent to total a record 105 million euros in 2008.
Gaddafi and his 200-member entourage have been given a warm welcome by Berlusconi and other senior government officials on his first visit to Rome.
But on Thursday students at Rome University staged a noisy protest against the Libyan leader.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rome, 4 June (AKI) — Italy’s oil and gas giant Eni should sell some of its storage sites to other companies to promote competition, according to the country’s energy watchdog and the anti-trust body. The Italian Anti-Trust Authority (AGCM) and the Italian Authority for Electric Energy and Gas (AEEG) said that Eni’s upgrade of gas storage had been “totally marginal” and insufficient to guarantee Italy’s energy security.
Eni should sell to third parties part of its assets to encourage rivals to enter the market and to reduce its dominance of the sector, the regulators said.
The two bodies said the oil and gas sector was of “critical relevance” and there was a need for a “significant reinforcement of storage capacity, essential to reinforce the level of security”.
Eni’s Italian gas storage capacity is held by Stogit SpA. Earlier this year, Eni agreed to sell Stogit to Snam Rete Gas SpA (SRG.MI), Italy’s biggest gas transmission network by pipes. Eni controls Snam Rete Gas.
Eni, which controls 97 percent of stocks through its Stogit unit, has made “absolutely marginal” improvements to guarantee greater security to the system and increase competition, the authorities said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Second rounds in Florence and Bologna
PDL and Northern League wrest 15 provinces from Centre-left. Democratic Party (PD) hangs on in Emilia and Tuscany but loses ground in Umbria and Marche MILAN — The Centre-right has emerged victorious from the administrative elections. The People of Freedom (PDL) and Northern League forged ahead, winning a number of Centre-left strongholds. Voting for 4,281 municipal and 62 provincial authorities reflects the wider picture in Italy. Fifteen provinces switched from the Centre-left to the Centre-right but there were no shifts in the opposite direction. The Democratic Party (PD) did reasonably well, if not brilliantly, in its traditional strongholds but had to suffer the indignity of dropping to second place in Umbria and Marche. In the municipal elections, the Centre-right was equally successful. The Centre-left lost six administrations, almost all in the north of Italy, and a further seven up and down the country will go to a second ballot. The key battles are in Florence and Bologna, where a second round will be needed to elect the new mayors. In Florence, the Centre-left’s Matteo Renzi failed to see off Giovanni Galli in the first ballot, partly because of the good result obtained by the leftwing list supporting Valdo Spini. In Bologna, the Centre-left’s Flavio Delbono failed by a whisker to reach the 50% threshold so the contest with Alfredo Cazzola will be resumed on 21 June. The provincial election in Milan will also go to a second round. The Centre-right’s Guido Podestà could manage only 48.8% while the outgoing president, Filippo Penati, garnered 38.8%. But the PDL took Naples, where Luigi Cesaro picked up 53% against Luigi Nicolais’ 35%. Second rounds will also be needed in Bari and Padua for the municipal elections and in the polls for the provinces of Venice and Turin. In the Piedmontese capital, the Centre-left’s Antonino Saitta obtained 44.33% against 41.5% for the Centre-right’s challenger, Claudia Porchietto. A dramatic result in the Venice provincial election leaves the Centre-left’s outgoing president Davide Zoggia facing a second ballot against the Northern League’s Francesca Zaccariotto.
LOMBARDY — The advance of the Centre-right looks to have been brought to a temporary halt by the second ballot for the province of Milan but provincial authorities changed hands at Lecco, Lodi and Sondrio. The newly created province of Monza and Brianza went to the PDL’s Dario Allevi, who beat the Centre-left’s Pietro Luigi Ponti. Pietro Pirovano is the new president of the province of Bergamo, having won 58.99% of the vote. Pirovano, who was backed by the PDL, Northern League, Pensioners’ Party (PP) and others, defeated Francesco Cornolti. The municipality passed to the Centre-right. Franco Tentorio was elected as mayor with 51.44% against the 42.35% received by his opponent Roberto Bruni. Sondrio, too, saw a clear victory for the Centre-right. Massimo Sertori scooped up more than 60% of the vote in the first ballot, leaving the Centre-left’s Giacomo Ciapponi struggling in his wake. Daniele Nava is the new president of the province of Lecco, where he won 54.31% of the vote, defeating the outgoing president, Virginio Brivio. In Brescia, the Centre-right’s Daniele Molgora outdistanced Diego Peli, the contender from the Centre-right. The Centre-right’s Massimiliano Salini saw off Giuseppe Torchio in Cremona but the province of Lodi went to the Centre-right for the first time. In the first round, the Northern League candidate, lawyer Pietro Foroni, 33, made sure of the presidency. Foroni won 54.2% of the vote against the 38.2% picked up by the Centre-left candidate, the outgoing president Lino Osvaldo Felissari. The municipal authority of Pavia also went to the Centre-right, Alessandro Cattaneo finishing ahead of the Centre-left’s Andrea Albergati.
PIEDMONT — The second round in Turin will, as we said, pit the PD’s Antonio Saitta against Claudia Porchietto (PDL) but change is in the air elsewhere in Piedmont at Novara, where the Centre-right’s Diego Sozzani won the provincial presidency, and Cuneo, where Gianna Gancia secured the provincial authority for the Centre-right with 54.1%. The provincial and municipal elections in Biella, and the elections in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossio, saw the Centre-right take over from the Centre-left. The Centre-right’s Massimo Nobili won the provincial election with 57.5% against the 39.5% of the Centre-left’s Paolo Ravaioli. The municipal authority of Verbania passed to the Centre-right, Marco Zacchero becoming mayor with 54.1% against the 45.9% of the Centre-left candidate, Claudio Zanotti.
VENETO — Attention here focused on the Northern League, although there will be a second round to decide the provincial presidency in Belluno. The PDL continues to be the leading party, as the provincial elections confirmed. Barbara Degani emerged victorious in the poll for the province of Padua and it was a similar story in the province of Verona, where Giovanni Miozzi (PDL-Northern League) triumphed. The provincial election in Rovigo goes to a second round between Antonello Contiero (PDL-Northern League) and the Centre-left’s Tiziana Virgili, as does Belluno, where Gian Paolo Bottacin (PDL) and Sergio Reolon (PD) are the contenders for the provincial presidency.
FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA — The Centre-right emerged victorious from the provincial elections at Pordenone.
EMILIA ROMAGNA — Up to now, no province in the region had ever been led by the Centre-right but last weekend’s vote saw the PDL and Northern League take the province of Piacenza. The Centre-left’s Beatrice Draghetti overcame the PDL-backed candidate, Enzo Raisi, in the battle for the province of Bologna. Emilio Sabattini’s victory in the ballot for the province of Modena was less emphatic. The Centre-left took Reggio Emilia, where Sonia Masini ended ahead of the Centre-right’s Giuseppe Pagliani, but both provincial and municipal elections will go to a second round at Ferrara.
TUSCANY — The wind of political change was also blowing in Florence. The Centre-left’s candidate in the provincial ballot, Andrea Barducci, held off the Centre-right’s Samuele Baldini and at Pisa, Andrea Pieroni won 53.1% of the vote to fend off challengers for his provincial presidency. That pattern was confirmed by Simone Bezzini’s victory in the province of Siena, where the Centre-right’s Donatella Santinelli lagged behind. But there is still everything to play for in the province of Arezzo, which goes to a second round. Against all the forecasts, there will be another ballot in the province of Prato but at Pistoia, Federica Fratoni’s 51.3% for the Centre-left was enough to see off the Centre-right’s Ettore Severi.
UMBRIA — In Umbria, the municipality and province of Perugia, and the province of Terni, went to PD candidates.
MARCHE — Ancona will choose its next mayor in the second ballot on 21 June, as will the municipality of Fermo and the province of Ascoli Piceno, but the PD’s Luca Ceriscioli took the municipality of Pesaro for the PD in the first round of voting.
ABRUZZO — The Centre-right’s star was shining bright in Abruzzo, where the PDL clinched the provinces of Pescara, Teramo and Chieti, and the municipalities of Pescara and Teramo.
MOLISE — Campobasso was another municipality that went over to the Centre-right. Outgoing mayor Giuseppe Di Fabio had resigned on two occasions only to withdraw his resignation because of internal problems in the Centre-left majority. Gino Di Bartolomeo, a former president of the Molise regional authority, cruised to a first-round victory with 56.72%.
CAMPANIA — Campania, too, saw power changes hands in the provinces of Naples, Salerno and Avellino, which passed into Centre-right control. There will be a second ballot for the municipality of Avellino between the PD’s Pino Galasso and challenger Massimo Preziosi, who is supported by the PDL and UDC.
PUGLIA — It’s a two-horse race between Michele Emiliano and Simeone Di Cagno Abbrescia for the Bari municipal authority while Enrico Santaniello, backed by civic lists, is ahead at Foggia. Provincial elections at Taranto and Lecce will go to a second poll while the province of Bari was secured by Francesco Schittulli for the PDL.
BASILICATA — The Centre-left ran out winners at the elections for the provinces of Potenza and Matera, where Piero Lacorazza and Francesco Stella held off their respective challengers from the PDL. At Potenza, the PD’s outgoing mayor Vito Santasiero is ahead of Giuseppe Molinari, formerly of the Daisy Alliance, who has the support of the PDL. The UDC’s Emilio Libutti is in third place.
CALABRIA — There will be a second ballot for the presidency of the province of Cosenza, despite the substantial advantage the Centre-left’s Mario Oliviero has over his Centre-right opponent, Pino Gentile. The destiny of the Crotone provincial authority will also go to a second vote.
SICILY — Another ballot will be needed to decide whether Fiorella Falci of the Centre-left or the Centre-right’s Michele Campisi will be installed in the municipality of Caltanissetta.
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
IDV and Northern League forge ahead. UDC on 6.5%. Radical left shut out of European parliament. Overall turnout 65% (7% abroad)
MILAN — The People of Freedom (PDL) made gains over the previous European elections but failed to reach the benchmark 40% it was hoping for before the poll, losing ground with respect to the last general election. The Democratic Party (PD) lost votes but managed to stay in sight of the psychologically important threshold of 27%. The Northern League and Italy of Values (IDV) made clear gains, as did the Christian Democrat UDC. The radical left was squeezed out of the European parliament, having already disappeared from Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate after last year’s general election. With returns from about 900 polling stations still to come in (results are in from 63,442 out of the 64,348 stations in Italy plus the stations abroad), the PDL is on 35.24%, the PD has 26.14%, the Northern League has 10.25%, IDV 7.98% and the UDC 6.51%. The European Left-Communist Refoundation (PRC)-Italian Communist Party (PDCI) coalition took 3.37% with the Left and Freedom-Green alliance picking up only 3.11%. Neither radical left grouping reached the 4% threshold that would have secured a seat at Strasbourg and Brussels. The same fate befell the Radicals, who scraped only 2.42%, as well as the PDA Autonomists with the Pensioners Party and The Right, on 2.21%. None of the other parties obtained more than 1%. On the basis of these figures, the PDL should have 29 MEPs and the PD would have 22. The Northern League would have eight MEPs with seven for IDV and five for the UDC.
REACTIONS — As they wait for the final figures, the political groups have started to give their evaluations of the results, obviously with all due caution. The PDL is striving to play down the significance of a poorer than expected performance, pointing out that the PD’s percentage drop was higher and blaming the poor turnout. Among the opposition parties, the IDV’s exultant reaction to the poll is particularly striking. The Northern League is very happy, ascribing the vote mainly to efforts made to combat illegal immigration. The UDC’s Pierferdinando Casini sees in the result the electorate’s rejection of the two-party system. The divided parties of the left are out of Europe. PRC secretary Paolo Ferrero talked about “one split too many”. The Radicals also complained about their effective exclusion from publicly owned TV current affairs programmes, engaging in a spat on air with presenter Bruno Vespa during the special edition of the Porta a Porta talk show.
TURNOUT — One point to have emerged already is the significant fall in turnout. Overall in Europe, a lowest-ever turnout of 43.02% was recorded. In 2004, the comparable figure was 45.47%. Numbers in Italy were more encouraging but voter interest also fell in the Bel Paese, where 65.04% of the electorate cast a vote (66.46% in Italy and only 7.1% abroad), compared with 73.9% in the 2004 European poll. This is a drop of 8.87%: top of the class if we look at the average turnout in Europe but the worst-ever figure for voting habits in Italy. The poll “confirmed the higher turnout in constituencies in the north west, with 72.75%, the north east with 71.89% and central Italy with 72.13%”, said the minister of the interior, Roberto Maroni, commenting on figures that were still provisional at the time. Mr Maroni continued, saying that “turnout was lowest in southern Italy (64.21) and very, very low in the islands (47.33% compared with 64.75% in the last European elections)”. He then pointed out that “this year for the first time, all the figures are online and updated in real time, including those relating to the turnout. They can be consulted by anyone”.ADMINISTRATIVE ELECTIONS — In contrast, turnout for the election of new municipal administrations was 76.70%, in comparison with 79.33% in the preceding poll. Final figures from the ministry of the interior put the fall in voter numbers at -2.63%.
EVERYTHING SMOOTH — “The poll went smoothly. There were no significant incidents of any kind”, said the interior minister, Roberto Maroni. “Counting is also proceeding without problems”, he added. Stations were open from 7 am (voting on Saturday took place from 3 pm to 10 pm) as Italians went to the polls to choose the the country’s 72 MEPs, the presidents and councils of 62 provincial administrations and the mayors and councils of 4,281 municipalities, including 30 provincial capitals. More than 49 million electors were eligible vote in Italy at the European election whereas fewer than 33.5 million voters were involved in the administrative polls.
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Victor meets the newly elected MEP Nick Griffin — and asks why the British National Party wants to throw him out of the country
Nick Griffin: MEP elect, BNP mouthpiece, convicted Holocaust-denier and would-be deporter of black people invites me into the back seat of his car. He jokes that there is no egg on his jacket as I move it and climb in: last Tuesday he was pelted with eggs as he tried to give a victory press conference after Sunday’s election results.
On Thursday morning, a sunny day in Shrewsbury, Griffin makes small talk as we drive in his Mondeo estate to a garden centre: “Normally we’d do this in a pub but it’s too early for that.” From the moment we meet, there is an unspoken compact: he has never met me before but does not flinch or blanch when he does. I refuse to be shocked or angered, regardless of how sweeping or wild his claims about race.
At Dobbie’s Garden Centre, less than five minutes’ drive out of Shrewsbury, the BNP leader and I share a table. I sip black coffee, he swigs from a bottle of James White’s apple juice. We talk about the BNP’s election to two seats — North-West England for him and Yorkshire and Humberside for Andrew Brons — in the European Parliament; about being pelted with eggs; racism; whether his party deserves to be ignored because its views are abhorrent, or whether non-supporters should be told what he stands for and make up their own minds.
Is he a racist? The denial is out of his mouth before I finish the question. Does he have a problem personally with me because I am black? “None at all.” So why does he want to give me £50,000 to leave Britain? “This country is the most overcrowded in Europe.”
He argues that by paying non-whites to go away he is actually working to preserve racial diversity. So, why are people throwing eggs at him? He laughs, nervously…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Gordon Brown was facing an angry backlash last night over the Government’s long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq War.
Families of soldiers who died in the conflict and MPs from all main parties warned the Prime Minister it would be ‘completely unacceptable’ to hold the probe largely in private.
There was also widespread concern that the findings appear unlikely to be published until after the General Election, which is expected to next May.
The Prime Minister will attempt to reassert his battered authority and win over Labour MPs and voters who have deserted the party this week by giving the go-ahead to an inquiry. An announcement is expected as soon as today.
Mr Brown’s political fightback is being hampered by continuing ructions over the failed coup attempt to oust him from Downing Street last week.
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott launched a savage attack on Foreign Secretary David Miliband for revealing he considered joining a ministerial exodus from the Government in an attempt to topple Mr Brown.
And Schools Secretary Ed Balls, one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies, was forced to dismiss claims that he had told MPs he would wield the knife against Mr Brown if Labour’s position does not improve by the autumn as ‘ridiculous and completely true’.
A poll suggested more than half of voters — 51 per cent — think Mr Brown staying on as Prime Minister is harming Britain..
The YouGov poll for the Sunday Times also found 74 per cent said Mr Brown was doing badly as Prime Minister and 60 per cent said he should step down now or before the next general election.
After surviving the attempt to oust him from Downing Street, Mr Brown hopes the Iraq inquiry announcement will help draw a line under the most controversial decision of 12 years of Labour government.
For years, ministers have resisted demands for an inquiry, insisting it must wait until all British troops have left Iraq.
Now the process of withdrawal is almost complete, Mr Brown will announce a probe with a ‘similar but not identical’ structure to the Franks inquiry into the 1982 Falklands War, according to Government sources.
That raises the prospect of the Iraq investigation being conducted by a group of Privy Councillors, with many hearings held behind closed doors.
While there may be some opportunity for the public and media to hear discussions, this is expected to be strictly limited.
It falls far short of the full-scale public inquiry which families and campaigners have demanded.
Relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq said they would march on Downing Street if any of its deliberations are kept secret.
Rose Gentle, whose teenage son, Gordon, was killed in Iraq in 2004, said: ‘What is the point of an inquiry behind closed doors? No family would be happy with that.
‘We already feel that we have been lied to by the government. We don’t want any more lies. We would be prepared to go to Downing Street if the inquiry is not transparent.’
The Conservatives accused Mr Brown, who as Chancellor supported and finances the conflict, of dragging his heels in order to ensure that critical findings are delayed until after the next election.
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: ‘An announcement of an inquiry is long overdue.
‘The Government has dragged its feet on this for months to try to ensure that an inquiry will only be concluded after the latest date for the general election.
‘Given that many key decisions and events were back in 2002 and 2003 it is vital that an inquiry starts work with all possible speed.
‘If this inquiry is to have the confidence of the public at the moment, it is vital that it holds sessions in public when possible.
‘It is crucial that it has access to all government papers, and that it is able to report on what went wrong with the planning and co-ordination of the occupation of Iraq as well as the decisions about the war itself.’
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said his party would not cooperate with the inquiry unless it reported within months and had the power to summon witnesses under oath.
‘If it does not have this kind of remit, my party will not back it or participate,’ Mr Clegg said.
‘We are talking about the biggest foreign policy mistake since Suez. To lock a bunch of grandees behind closed doors in secret and wait for them to come up with a puff of smoke, like the election of the Pope, would be an insult.
‘This inquiry is an acid test for all of Gordon Brown’s talk of reforming British politics.’
Labour MP Alan Simpson, chair of the campaign group Labour Against the War, said Mr Brown’s attempt to rebuild his authority with the announcement risked backfiring spectacularly.
‘If it is done secretively, it could be the final nail in his coffin,’ Mr Simpson said.
‘We need no less rigorous an examination on this than we had on the far less important issue of MPs’ expenses. A secret examination would be worthless.’
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
The revised EU constitution will not be torn up if it has been implemented by the time the Tories win power, Kenneth Clarke declared yesterday.
The Conservative business spokesman angered Eurosceptics in his party by insisting that the Lisbon Treaty would survive if all 27 member states succeed in forcing it into law before the next election.
The intervention of Mr Clarke, who has always been fervently supportive of the EU, appeared to rule out categorically the possibility of a referendum on the treaty if it has already been ratified when the Tories win power.
The party has pledged to hold one if the ratification process is not complete across all 27 member states, but been deliberately vague about what it would do if it is concluded.
Mr Clarke’s remarks enraged Eurosceptics who believe Mr Cameron should go ahead with a vote and then tear up the treaty even if it means having to leave the EU.
Gordon Brown has ditched Labour’s manifesto promise from the last election to hold a referendum seeking public approval. He insists that the constitutional element of the treaty has been abandoned, making a vote unnecessary.
But most other EU leaders admit that it is virtually the same as the original version, which was rejected by voters in France and Holland in 2005.. Ireland voted against the latest version last year.
The blueprint will create the first full-time EU president and foreign affairs chief, give the EU its own legal personality like a nation state, and do away with Britain’s right to reject EU proposals in more than 40 policy areas.
It appears increasingly likely the Lisbon Treaty will be implemented before the next election, with the Irish expected to vote ‘yes’ in a rerun referendum this autumn.
Yesterday Mr Clarke told BBC1’s The Politics Show: ‘If the Irish referendum endorses the treaty and ratification comes into effect, then our settled policy is quite clear that the treaty will not be reopened.’
But he added: ‘I think we will want to open negotiations with the EU about a return of some responsibilities, particularly in employment law, to individual nation states.’
Mr Clarke pointedly said he did not think ‘anybody in Europe, including me, is in the mood for any more tedious debates about treaties, which have gone on for far too long’.
But Eurosceptic Tory MP Bill Cash said: ‘It appears Kenneth Clarke has reinvented unilaterally Conservative Party policy on Europe. It is essential we have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty irrespective of the Irish vote, and this is supported by a very substantial number of Conservative MPs.’
UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said: ‘Ken Clarke has let the cat out of the bag. The Conservatives have no intention of holding a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.’
A Tory spokesman said: ‘There is no change to Conservative policy. As Ken Clarke explained, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and in force across the EU by the time of the election of a Conservative government, we have always made clear that we would not let matters rest there.
‘We would regard political integration as having gone too far. We have consistently made clear, for example, that the return of social and employment legislation to UK control would be a major goal for a Conservative government.’
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
After news that a Labour MP wants to ban the Red Cross, because the symbolism is offensive to the Middle East, Michael Deacon wonders if we shouldn’t go further.
By Michael Deacon
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP for the Rhondda, told the Commons last week that the Red Cross should become the Red Some Other Symbol. The charity’s logo might cause offence in the Middle East, he said, because the cross was “a reference to the Crusades”.
It would be easy for cynics to scoff at this valiant man. They could point out that the Red Cross has nothing to do with the Crusades, that it’s merely the Swiss flag with the colours flipped. They could observe that it isn’t the shape of a Christian cross, in which the vertical beam, if that’s the word, is longer than the horizontal. They could even remark that, upon the arrival of an ambulance, the first thought of a person bleeding to death is unlikely to be revulsion at the logo emblazoned on the vehicle.
Ambulance drivers told to forget sat nav and use maps insteadWell, let the cynics sneer to their shrivelled hearts’ content. For I am right behind Mr Bryant in his heroic campaign (not crusade, of course, let’s be clear about that) to avoid upsetting people thousands of miles away who, in order to take offence at the logo of selfless humanitarians, would have to be thunderingly unintelligent. Indeed, I call on Mr Bryant to dedicate his energies to the eradication of all possible references to the symbol of a religious conflict that ended several centuries ago.
We must, at the very least, ban the following:
+ The flags of England, Northern Ireland, Georgia and Tonga. All brazenly feature a red cross on a white ground. It’s not known why Tonga, a tiny Pacific archipelago, feels the need to taunt the Middle East about the Crusades, but it must be stopped, if necessary by force.
+ Batteries. These ostensibly innocent power sources are adorned near their tips with a small cross, clearly in tribute to that murderous Christian tyrant, Richard the Lionheart.
+ Addition. Multiplication, subtraction and division are blameless mathematical functions. Addition, however, requires the use of a symbol that is unmistakably reminiscent of the Crusaders. Adding numbers to other numbers should be prohibited in all schools.
On top of these measures, all books of crossword puzzles exported to the Middle East should be renamed “Empty Boxes Word Challenge”. Only then can we hope for the rift between Christian and Islamic cultures to close.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, JUNE 12 — French Ambassador to Serbia Jean Francois Terral said that the general impression of all the members of the French business delegation which had recently visited Serbia was that the visit was very successful and that it represented a new beginning in the relations between Serbia and France, reports Tanjug news agency. He assessed that all conditions had been provided for Serbia to make significant progress on its European pathway. Summing up the impressions at the end of the visit of the high-ranking French MEDEF (Movement of the French Enerprises) delegation, Terral told a news conference that the image of Serbia had been changed significantly, especially after the last parliamentary and presidential elections. Head of the MEDEF delegation, Charles Paradis, said that Serbia’s European orientation, as expressed by Serbian President Boris Tadic, as well as the announcement of important infrastructural and other projects in the country, represented a guarantee of future investments and the engagement of French businessmen in Serbia. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rabat, 12 June Ibadi and others at the meeting were arrested by police and charged with organising a public event without the necessary permits, the newspaper said.
Police raided the home on Wednesday and the women were detained for six hours and interrogated before they were released.
It was not clear whether the group had convened to discuss administrative elections being held in Morocco on Friday. The outlawed group is not allowed to participate in elections.
Police have reportedly been following members of the group for three years.
According to Al-Masa, police have reportedly detained 5,733 members of the group, of which 899 were women.
Al-Adl Wal Ihsan is committed to the creation of an Islamic state that follows a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and the replacement of the monarchy in Morocco.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority media outlets continue to blame Israel for problems caused by wild boars in Samaria, despite Israeli efforts to cull the animals. On Thursday, PA farmers near Ariel complained that “Israeli settlers” had engineered a wild boar attack that destroyed agricultural produce.
The farmers’ claims were repeated by the head of the regional PA farmers’ union, who accused Israelis living in Ariel and nearby towns of planning the attacks. The union head did not explain how Israelis allegedly trained the pigs to destroy only Arab crops.
Arab residents of Samaria have made several similar claims over the past three years. The claims have been backed up by PA armed forces, whose officers have been quoted as confirming to PA media that Israel is behind wild boar attacks.
Media outlets have also lent credence to the claims, with the PA-based Ma’an news agency stating, “The wild boars are being released by Israeli settlers in order to destroy the plants and crops of Palestinians.”
The claims of malicious Israeli control of the wild animals have continued this year despite Israel’s efforts to cull the wild boar population in areas under its control. The Nature and Parks Authority has worked to control the boars since May of this year, due to damage caused by boars in the Haifa district.
Israel is unable to cull the boar population in Arab villages in Samaria, as those areas are entirely under PA control.
| — Hat tip: Jewish Odysseus | [Return to headlines] |
In a much-anticipated foreign policy address Sunday night Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called for the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel, but only if the Palestinians recognize Israel’s nature as a Jewish state.
Netanyahu said that he embraced President Barack Obama’s vision, adding, however, that the Holocaust was not the reason for the establishment of the Jewish state.
The prime minister said that the descendants of the Palestinian refugees must not be resettled within Israel borders and that Jerusalem must remain united. Israel, he said, would not build any new settlements or expropriate new land for existing settlements.
“Peace has always been our objective,” Netanyahu began. “Our prophets always envisioned peace; we bless each other with Shalom; our prayers end in peace.”
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JUNE 12 — 56% of Israelis are against the total freeze on building in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians, the Obama Administration in the US and the international community support fervently. These were the results that came out of a survey from the Maagar Mohot Polling Institute quoted today on the newspaper Haartez’s website. According to the majority of those interviewed, Premier Benyamin Netanyahu should not back down on this point, in particular on the building projects justified due to “natural growth” in the population of the settlements, during the speech that is set to take place in Tel Aviv Sunday June 14 in response to Obama on the issue of peace and security. Just 37% were favourable to a total and immediate stop. Moreover, according to the survey, 36% of Israelis declared themselves contrary to retreat from the settlements (considered illegal by the international community) even in the case of a definitive peace agreement with the Palestinians, while 30% would accept only a partial clearing out and relocation. A recent survey, from another institute, also credited a hostile majority (52%) to extended defence of the settlements in the long term. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Issue highlights jihadist infiltration of American-backed forces
JERUSALEM — An officer in a U.S.-trained militia of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization was arrested yesterday after he was caught training militants from the rival Hamas terrorist group, according to information obtained by WND.
The officer, from Fatah’s national guard units, was arrested when he was caught training a Hamas cell in the northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya, Palestinian security sources said. Five Hamas members, all in their early 20s, were arrested along with the officer, who lives in the West Bank city of Jenin, the security sources said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — BEIT JALA — The first Palestinian breast cancer prevention centre, funded by ‘Cooperazione italiana’ (Italian Cooperation) with 500,000 euros, was opened this morning in Beit Jala (Bethlehem), in the West Bank. The centre has been operational since January and is equipped with a breast screening machine, an ultrasound scanner and X-ray material. It will be used by people living in Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron, practically the whole southern area of the West Bank. “So far patients had to go to Israel for this kind of breast screening, with all the related problems of going there. That’s why people here are grateful for this project” said Nida Khalil, one of the centre’s X-ray technicians. The centre has been visited by 615 since January; breast cancer was found in seven cases. “Cancer is the second cause of death among Palestinians, after cardiovascular diseases, and breast cancer is much more widespread than in Europe” explained Angelo Stefanini, head of the health programme of the Italian Cooperation Office in Jerusalem. “But the most worrying figure” he added “is the age at which women get breast cancer: in Italy the average age is 49, here it is 39. Yesterday a 25-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease. That’s why” he concluded “prevention is crucial”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Many Western analysts and journalists are treating the stolen election in Iran as something of no international significance. After all, they say, it is only an internal matter. Why should it affect Western attempts to engage with the Islamist regime?
If we hadn’t been previously conditioned by so many crazy ways to view Middle East politics this alone would be a shocker. True, in international affairs one has to deal with many dictatorships and national interests sometimes require putting aside one’s repugnance at repression.
(Though, by the way, are we now going to see efforts at academic boycotts and nonstop human rights’ denunciations of Iran in the manner apparently reserved for democratic Israel?).
Let me put it this way. I certainly expected Ahmadinjad to win but figured the regime would play out the game. He’d either genuinely gain victory in the second round or they’d change just enough votes to ensure his victory. What no one expected is that the regime would tear up the whole process like this. Their brazen way of doing so—if you don’t like it you can go to hell, we’re going to do whatever we want, and we don’t care what anyone thinks—signals to me that this ruling group is even more risk-taking and irresponsible than it previously appeared.
This is the key point: the problem with Iran’s regime isn’t just that it is a dictatorship, it’s that it is such an extremist, aggressive dictatorship.
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
A senior EU official has for the first time held talks with a politician from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Hezbollah official Hussein Hajj Hassan at the Lebanese parliament building in Beirut.
Mr Hajj Hassan is one of Hezbollah’s 11 members of parliament, following recent elections which were won by a rival Western-backed alliance.
Hezbollah is regarded by the United States as a terrorist group.
The EU has previously rejected public contacts with Hezbollah, which also controls Lebanon’s most powerful military force.
But Mr Solana said: “Hezbollah is part of political life in Lebanon and is represented in the Lebanese parliament.”
Mr Hajj Hassan described the meeting with Mr Solana as a “goodwill gesture from the European Union towards Hezbollah.”
He said it was an attempt by the EU to “get to know” Hezbollah.
Britain said earlier this year it favoured re-establishing links with Hezbollah’s political wing.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Mousavi Spokesman Says President’s Re-Election Is ‘Coup D’Etat’
A spokesman for Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says his camp will keep pushing to change the results of Friday’s election that gave incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad a landslide win.
“We are going to stay in the streets and ask the mullahs to give fatwas that Ahmedinejad is not our president. We are going to ask the Leader, through the will of the people, to change his mind,” said Mostafa Makhmalbaf, who is speaking to the foreign press on Mousavi’s behalf from his home in Paris.
“I don’t think we can do a total Revolution in Iran but we can make some change,” he told ABC News, describing what would be an unprecedented reversal for the Islamic Republic.
Mousavi’s campaign claims the announced outcome, which gave Ahmedinejad 63 percent of the vote, was fraudulent.
Iran Opposition Says People ‘Feel Betrayed’
Mousavi, a former prime minister of Iran during the 1980s, ran as a pro-reform centrist. He launched a campaign known as the Green Movement that attracted young supporters, especially women drawn to a platform of equal rights.
“Most of the people are trying to have their vote … for peace in the international relationship, for changing the economy, more freedom for the young generation,” he said.
“The Iranian people are angry that their vote was changed,” he said. “They feel betrayed.”
Ahmadinejad’s victory has caused the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade as protestors battled police in the streets and shouted from the rooftops..
Seemingly unfazed, Iran’s president likened the riled crowds’ outbursts to “passions after a soccer match.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Sitting on vast untapped oilfields, the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has the natural resources to become one of the wealthiest places in the Middle East. But a standoff has developed between local Kurdish leaders and Baghdad over rights of ownership. And in Kirkuk itself, ethnic tensions are rising
In mid-2003, as Baghdad fell, Simzad Saeed, 39, returned to Kirkuk to build a house on land he did not own and to stake a claim in a new homeland.. He did not mean Iraq. Ever since the Iraqi central government has paid Saeed’s salary but, like roughly 200,000 other returned Kurds, he pays his dues to ‘Kurdistan’.
“I feel at home,” he said from his new lounge. “I was forced to leave after the first Gulf war [in 1991] and we didn’t return to our original home six years ago because my father still lives there.”
Across town in a ramshackle suburb built on a dried-up swamp, Faisal Mathor Mohammed, a 69-year-old Arab retired army officer from Baghdad, sat sweating in his mud-brick house, which he says was promised to him 22 years ago. He laid down his roots with a government grant.
“I went to the mayor in my town and asked him,” the former Iraqi army officer said. “They gave me land in Kirkuk and 10,000 dinars ($30,000) — enough to buy a house outright and furnish it fully in 1987. I have lived here ever since.”
Strewn across the landscape between both neighbourhoods are rows of shooting flames, roaring like Roman candles from the desert plain. Shifting winds send an oily film in both directions, letting no one in town forget what lies beneath their feet and what will soon shape their collective destinies.
Over the past six years of violence in Iraq, oil has been the flashpoint in Kirkuk, a city forever home to a combustible mixture of races. Kurds have always claimed Kirkuk as a homeland; Turkomans, Assyrians and Arabs have at various times based empires here. The resulting melting pot of races and clans has never mixed comfortably.
Since the US declared its invasion a success in mid-2003, Kirkuk has seen its biggest population shift in centuries, with Kurds capitalising on a power vacuum in Baghdad and Arabs rushing to reinforce their foothold. Kurds have been accused of ethnically engineering Iraq’s most divided city to lay the foundations for a nascent Kurdistan. Arabs have been accused of doing anything — including bombings — to stop the city from escaping their grasp.
All along, Kirkuk has had the feel of a boom-town-in-waiting, sitting on a subterranean lake of fabulous wealth that would one day create fortunes.
“That day is closer than ever,” said Sharlet Yohana, 50, an Assyrian woman who works in the Iraqi government-owned oil extractor, the North Oil company. “The real conflict here is about oil,” she said from the sitting room of her middle-class home in an Assyrian Christian neighbourhood. “Oil may well provide our future wealth and comforts, but it will also be our damnation.
“We will never have peace until the political problems surrounding the oil are solved. Everyone will suffer, far more than we are now: Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Christians. Already we have a curfew from midnight to 5am, and many Christians are blown up or assassinated. They are bringing this to a head now, before the foreign contractors come in.”
Later this month, Baghdad will announce the results of a tender for service contracts to start oil extraction. Last week Hussein al-Shahristani, the oil minister, announced a shortlist of companies in the running, among them BP, BG International and Premier Oil.
Foreign companies have circled Kirkuk since the fall of Saddam. Earlier this month, Norwegian and Turkish companies helped one large crude oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan, Tawke, to come on stream for the first time in Iraq since 1972. Kurdish leaders cheered like football fans as live footage was beamed back to Irbil of tankers unloading at an export facility nearby, which will eventually pipe the oil north to Turkey.
A Norwegian engineer stood at the site in the Kurdish foothills where tankers will cart their cargo away, alongside a drawling Texan computer programmer in a straw hat, a Canadian drilling expert and a Turkish site manager. A Kurdish employee pointed to the straw-coloured nearby ranges that border Turkey and said: “This is the land of Saladin, the great Kurdish warrior. He wanted to make peace with everyone, the Crusaders included. But in the end he knew where his home was and how to protect it. And so do we.”
Tawke is a relatively new oilfield, the first to be developed since the invasion. Its inauguration was backed by Baghdad despite the central government’s anger at a series of production-sharing agreements between the Kurdish government and private companies. This deal, Baghdad says, is acceptable because revenue will be piped back to central government coffers, which will in turn distribute 17% of the proceeds to the Kurdish administration.
To Baghdad, this is how it should be: it runs the show and the provinces pocket their share. The Kurds, however, are celebrating the symbolism of oil dollars flowing from fields they control. The Kurdish government’s separate deals have not been nearly as well received by Baghdad, which is withholding up to $400m in revenue that it deems the Kurds have made through contracts they struck that steer profits away from their rightful place in the national coffers.
Iraq’s oil minister said last week that Baghdad would not pay any firms who signed deals with the Kurdish regional government. In return, the Kurds are threatening to veto any oil deals signed by the Iraqi government that they don’t like.
All sides have been watching the posturing with great interest. “What they do up there will be very instructive for us,” said Ahmed al-Othman, 71, a Kurdish native of Kirkuk. Othman goes round town in the traditional Kurdish shirwal (baggy trousers) and says his closest friends are Arabs. “I’ve never left and I have never thought to leave,” he said. “Until recently.
“Last year, my brother was killed by an explosion in the market and so were two shopkeepers I drank coffee with for years. Since then, things have not been the same. Arab eyes don’t always look at me now and the marketplace is not what it was. The greed surrounding all the oil may change this place.”
Marketplaces were for centuries the one place that locals of all sects would meet. Fruit, falafel and Iraqi bread are still sold alongside butchered lambs dripping blood on to rubbish-strewn pavements.
Locals still mix there, but so, too, do suicide bombers. Kirkuk until recently was a killing field of the Sunni insurgency. But security officials, among them US officers, suggest Kirkuk’s militants have long had a Ba’athist flavour. “This was a city that Saddam long tried to orientate towards his regime and to Arab Iraq,” said one local intelligence official, a Turkoman. “There was a strong al-Qaida presence and there are still sleeper cells, but the Ba’athists were stirring the pot more than anywhere else in Iraq except Tikrit.”
Major-General Jamal Bakr, the regional police chief, said security had improved about 80% since mid-2007. He confirmed that militants had regularly tried to blow up oil pipelines: “But what we have seen here is similar to the rest of Iraq. Al-Qaida trying to cause havoc, no more, no less.” Sunni extremists were foiled in their most recent terrorist attempt when a Syrian youth wearing a suicide vest was tackled trying to enter the Shia al-Hussein mosque.
One of Bakr’s officers showed photographs of sappers cutting the suicide vest off the would-be bomber. “He was skinny, and looked unusual with this bomb strapped to him,” the officer explained. “That’s the only reason we don’t have a new sectarian war here. The bomb was enormous.”
From his office in a heavily guarded compound at the centre of town, Kirkuk’s mayor, Abdul Rahman Fatah, conceded that oil was a major obstacle to progress in Kirkuk, but claimed it was secondary to the continuation of a central government-funded project that pays for Kurds to return to Kirkuk and offers Arabs money to leave. It is this law that funded the return of Simzad Saeed, who has since started work at the agency that paid for his return.
“The real conflict is between the politicians,” said Fatah. “It is not really a conflict between the ethnic groups and religions. The issues here are not new; they are historical and well known. Even the Arabs who came here as part of Arabisation were victims. They were sent here by the previous regime and most came from the south of Iraq. Kirkuk was a much better option for them.”
Nearby, in an office set up to facilitate the Kurdish and Arab movements, the director, Tahsen Ali Weli, said 92,000 families displaced by Saddam had applied to return, all Kurds or Turkomans.
A total of 28,000 families has so far been allowed to return, most to homes built on new land. Each family has been given 10m dinars (£5,000). The precise number of Arab families who relocated to Kirkuk under Saddam is not known, but 14,700 have applied to leave: they will get 20m dinars (£10,000) each.
Advocates of the Arab claim to Kirkuk, among them an outspoken Sunni MP, Osama al-Najafi, insist the programme, which is authorised by article 140 of Iraq’s constitution, is no longer relevant, because it has expired. “The UN in its final report said article 140 was not suitable to solve this problem in its present form,” al-Najafi said.
The UN report was released in April after two years of searching for a solution for Kirkuk. The UN recommended a jointly administered region and a referendum to decide the city’s future racial complexion. But with the population and mix having changed so markedly and with Baghdad fearing it is now on the wrong side of the ledger, it is highly unlikely to endorse such a ballot.
“The report was unjust and one-sided,” al-Najafi complained. “They dealt with the Kurdistan province and Iraq as distinct areas, not one country. And they compared the situation to Northern Ireland and the UK. And when they dealt with the Arab perspective, they put inside quotes and added question marks.
“The Kirkuk problem comes down to oil,” he said. “The Kurds want the funds to finance the proposed state of Kurdistan. It is enshrined in the constitution that oil and gas is for all Iraqis. But they have signed a range of contracts from those that are without agreement from the central government.
“This situation cannot continue for long. The tensions are growing and there is no agreement about the shape of the future Iraqi state. There are deep divisions and they are not drawing any closer.”
To many Kurds, the divisions are indeed becoming more entrenched. “We don’t see this so much as Northern Ireland as a new Jerusalem,” said one senior member of the Kurdish parliament. “This is a conflict with a history and we are prepared to play a long game on it. The oil is bringing things to a head rapidly and Baghdad feels it is starting to lose significant ground..
“The Turks remain uneasy in the north, but we will do nothing to provoke them. Time is on our side.”
Perhaps realising this, some small-scale rearguard actions are taking place. Several of the Arab families who applied for and received their £10,000 grant to leave took the money and then stayed, prompting claims from Turkomans and Kurds that the article 140 project is now about consolidating the remnants of Arabisation.
Among the hangers-on is retired army officer Faisal Mohammed. “I got the money from the government, but I’m not leaving and I won’t be leaving. My sons are here and they won’t leave and so, too, our families. If both governments leave the future of the city to the residents, I’m sure we can do a better job of sorting this mess out.”
The Kurds of Iraq claim Kirkuk as part of their ancient homeland, which takes in about 40,000 sq km to the Turkish border in the north, Iran to the east and Syria to the west.
Successive empires of Babylonians, Assyrians, Arabs and Ottomans rose and fell, while Iraqi Kurdish nationalism failed to take root.
The post-Ottoman British mandate saw many revolts which inched the region towards autonomy.
Oil was first discovered near Kirkuk in 1927, and has underwritten eight decades of tensions.
Iraq, Iran and Turkey all felt threatened by this tide of nationalism and, throughout the 1970s, Kurds were squeezed into areas near Iran or deported elsewhere inside Iraq.
In the late 1980s, Saddam used chemical weapons against the Kurds of Halabja.
In 1991, Saddam attacked them again for co-operating with the US military during the Gulf war.
After the 2003 invasion, moves towards autonomy gained strength and the Kurdish regional government runs much of Kurdish Iraq with central government influence.
Kurdish elections are set for 25 July.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 12 — Documents recently discovered as part of the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government, have revealed plans to defame the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) through claims of reactionaryism, to weaken the Gulen movement and to support individuals arrested on charges of Ergenekon membership, daily Taraf reports. The documents, according to Taraf, revealed that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had a systematic plan to damage the image of the AK Party government in the eyes of the public, to play down the Ergenekon investigation and to gather support for members of the military arrested as part of the probe. So far, dozens of people have been arrested in the Ergenekon operation, launched after the existence of the gang was discovered in June 2007, when police found a house full of ammunition in Istanbul. The neonationalist Ergenekon gang, suspected of having ties to various individuals and groups within the State bureaucracy and the military, is accused to work to create a chaotic atmosphere in Turkey in which people would welcome a military coup against the ruling AK Party. Gen. Metin Gurak, the head of the Communication Department of the General Staff, said today that the military will conduct “immediately” an enquiry on the matter. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
TEHRAN — The Iranian authorities detained more than 100 prominent opposition members, and on Sunday unrest continued for a second day across Iran in the wake of the country’s disputed presidential election.
The leading opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, issued a fresh statement calling for the election results to be canceled, as his supporters skirmished with a vast deployment of riot police and militia members on the edges of a victory rally organized by the government in central Tehran.
A moderate clerical body, the Association of Combatant Clergy, issued a statement posted on reformist Web sites saying the election was rigged and calling for it to be canceled, warning that “if this process becomes the norm, the republican aspect of the regime will be damaged and people will lose confidence in the system.”
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the opposition’s allegations of large-scale election fraud, saying his landslide victory had given him a bigger mandate than ever. He hinted that Mr. Moussavi — who remained at home Sunday with the police closely monitoring his movements — might be punished for his defiance.
“He ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said of his rival, during a news conference at the presidential palace.
Those arrested were from all the major opposition factions and included the brother of a former president, Mohammad Khatami. Some were released later in the day.
Calling the opposition protests “unimportant,” Mr. Ahmadinejad suggested that they were the work of foreign agitators and journalists. But he also seemed to throw down the gauntlet to other nations, saying, “We are now asking the positions of all countries regarding the elections, and assessing their attitude to our people.”
But Mr. Ahmadinejad’s electoral rivals appeared to be holding firm in their protest against the vote.
Mr. Moussavi issued a statement saying he had asked Iran’s Guardian Council, which must certify the election for it to be legal, to cancel the vote. He also said he was being monitored by the authorities, and was unable to join his followers. His campaign headquarters have been closed down, he said.
Another candidate, the reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, echoed Mr. Moussavi’s demand for the election to be canceled.
“I am announcing again that the elections should not be allowed and the results have no legitimacy or social standing,” Mr. Karroubi said. “Therefore, I do not consider Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the republic.”
Mr. Ahmadinejad also spoke at a square in central Tehran, surrounded by thousands of flag-waving protesters in what was clearly intended to be a show of popular support for his election victory. But the smell of tear gas and smoke drifted over the cheering crowds, and only a few blocks away, groups of protesters chanted their own slogans against the government, and bloodied people could be seen running from baton-wielding police officers.
As night fell, chants of “God is great!” could be heard from rooftops in several areas of the capital.
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The alleged top al-Qaeda financier in Yemen has been arrested, security officials say.
He has been named as Hassan Hussein Bin Alwan, a Saudi Arabian national.
Reports say he was detained two days ago in Marib province, east of the capital, Sanaa, and is facing charges of forming an armed group.
Yemen has been combating Islamic militants suspected of links to al-Qaeda since the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
The family of Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is originally from Yemen.
Officials have expressed fears that Yemen might be used as a staging post for attempts to destabilise Saudi Arabia.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
For years, Russia’s state-owned energy company held a quasi-monopoly position. During this time it failed to invest in technology and innovation, restricting itself to signing high price contracts to maintain its stranglehold over the market. Now it is backing away from contracts it signed with Central Asian nations whilst its pipeline network is aging and becoming increasingly dangerous.
Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Times are tough for Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom, the third most profitable company in the world in 2008 when it was worth US$ 350 billion. Now, it has shrunk by two-thirds to about US$ 120 billion, dropping to become the world’s 40th-largest company, this according to The Moscow Times.
For years the company’s fortunes soared, pushed up by rising oil and gas prices and Russia’s pipelines which are the only ones that allow Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to get their own gas to market. At home the company also enjoys a near monopoly.
However, Gazprom failed to profit from its dominant position. Instead of investing in technology and innovation to improve its position, it tried to gain control over foreign energy sources even at the cost of high prices.
Gazprom has also suffered from deals it worked out last year with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan when the price of gas was rising. At the time Gazprom agreed to pay the three Central Asian states “European” prices for their gas as a way to head off moves by European Union countries to reach an agreement on a rival pipeline project that would have brought Central Asian gas by a route that avoided Russian territory. Now the “European” prices that were at one time approaching US$ 400 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, have fallen to below US$ 300 and are expected to drop further.
Turkmenistan, for one, has insisted that Gazprom pay European prices as agreed, something Gazprom refuses to do because they are now too high and because its supplies meet Russia’s domestic needs.
Since Central Asian gas was always meant for Europe, current prices are no longer of interest to Gazprom. But for Turkmenistan the issue is more important since gas is its main source of government revenues.
However, Central Asian oil and gas producers have another card up their sleeve. In addition to Europe they are being courted by mainland China which is willing to pay good money for their energy.
Energy demands in Europe have also dropped in the first quarter of this year because of Gazprom’s inflexible pricing policy
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) gas consumption in the European Union has in fact decreased by 2-3 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, whilst gas imports declined by about 12 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2008.
In the same period, Gazprom’s supplies to Europe fell by 39 per cent (50 per cent in the case of Germany and Italy).
Gazprom is also facing another major problem: its aging pipeline network. Some of its sections date back to Soviet times when the network was built to ensure that gas and oil went through Russian territory. Now they are in a state of disrepair and prone to frequent breakdowns and explosions.
In the meantime other powers are making their presence felt in the region. China for instance is building an oil pipeline from Kazakhstan, and both Pakistan and India have expressed an interest in building gas pipelines from the Central Asian nation. At the same time the European Union wants to build pipelines that bypass Russia.
Ultimately Gazprom has lost credibility, creating enemies, when it got involved in the Russo-Ukrainian crisis of the beginning of this year, when it allowed itself to be used as a tool of blackmail.
Even in Russia Gazprom has lost some ground as a result of a ruling on 2 June by Russia’s antimonopoly authorities which forces the company to share its export pipelines with independent gas producers.
Some analysts point out that Russian leaders like current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have never liked the company’s leadership position.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In 1959 Catholics took to the streets of the Indian state to protest against the Communist government. Clashes caused the death of 15 people and more than 170,000 arrests. The confrontation was sparked by a state law that would have effectively taken over Catholic education facilities. Fifty years on the memory remains alive since the underlying causes have not been resolved.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — On 13 June the Catholic Church in the State of Kerala along with the Nair Hindu community will mark the 50th anniversary of what has come to be known as the Vimochana Samaram, the liberation struggle against the then ruling Communist government, something which still remains current today.
For the occasion Card Varkey Vithayathil, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and major archbishop in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, made public a letter urging the faithful to remember what happened 50 years ago and pray for the ‘martyrs of Angamaly’, the seven Catholics who were killed protesting the Communist government’s policy.
Fr Paul Thelakat, editor-in-chief of the Satyadeepam weekly and a spokesman for the Syro-Malabar Synod spoke to AsiaNews about the events of 1959.
“Police opened fire in four different places, killing 15 people. In 248 places they resorted to lathi sticks to push back the crowd. Altogether some 177,850 arrests were detained, including 42,745 women. But after 28 months the state government fell (pictured, Kerala’s first Communist Chief Minister Namboodiripad, first to right, after his resignation). Ever since the liberation struggle has been an important moment in the history of Kerala.
In 1957 the Communist Party came to power. Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad became the first and only democratically elected leader who did not belong to the ruling Indian National Congress. Once in power he began policies meant to discredit the Catholic Church and eliminate it as the only obstacle on the path to building a Marxist society.
Unrest followed when the new state government introduced an education bill that would remove the administration of educational institutions from the control of Church or the Nair Service Society, an organisation that manages education and health care for the Nair Hindu caste.
Catholics and Nairs took to the street in protest. Opposition parties did the same. In the following clashes people were arrested and killed. Only the intervention of then Union Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru brought the protest movement to an end.
“Invoking Art 365 of the constitution Nehru dismissed the state government. And in the following elections in 1960 the Communists lost badly, seeing their seats drop from 60 to 29,” said Father Thelakat.
Today the Vimochana Samaram continues to be controversial. The Communists, who are now in power at the state level but lost badly in last May’s federal elections, called it a “political game.”
For this reason Cardinal Vithayathil wrote the aforementioned letter and it is also why the Catholic Church in Kerala plans a remembrance Mass and symposium on the struggle and its victims.
P. Thelakat said that the Vimochana Samaram “must be remembered if for no other reason that it taught the Communist that they cannot be part of a multiparty system without respecting the democratic values of the constitution.”
This is still important today since the Church and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are still at loggerheads.
Their attempt to nationalise the school system and the country’s rigid class system are still source of discussion today.
For Father Thelakat the struggle in 1959 at least “forced the Communists to understand that violence cannot succeed in India. It forced them to actually accept the democratic process if they wanted to get into power.”
For some commentators the results in India’s recent elections to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, which saw the Communist lose represent a silent version of the Vimochana Samaram.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Family: Christian man raped, killed for refusing to convert to Islam
A young Christian man was raped and brutally murdered in Pakistan for refusing to convert to Islam, and police are doing nothing about it, the victim’s brother and minister told FOXNews.com.
Pakistani police reportedly found the body of Tariq “Litto” Mashi Ghauri — a 28-year-old university student in Sargodha, Pakistan — lying dead in a canal outside a rural village in Punjab Province on May 15. He had been raped and stabbed at least five times.
“They have sexually abuse him, torture him with a knife on his testicle and genitals,” Ghauri’s brother, 24-year-old Salman Nabil Ghauri, said. “They have tortured him very badly, and after that they have stabbed five times with a knife and killed him.”
The family believes Litto Ghauri was murdered by the brothers of his Muslim girlfriend, Shazi Cheema, after they found him in a compromising sexual position with their sister.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One clue may come from President Obama’s early upbringing in Indonesia, where different monotheistic religions are tolerated under the banner of a state ideology known as pancasila. More Muslims live in Indonesia than in any other nation, and most Indonesian Muslims view their Islam through the prism of these five principles of tolerance and social justice first enunciated in 1945 by Indonesian independence leader Sukarno. The moderate Islam with which President Obama has firsthand acquaintance is not the extremist Islam of al-Qaeda.
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COME Friday, the world’s most famous prisoner of conscience will turn 64. But there is no cause to celebrate.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest gift from the government of Myanmar was another farcical trial designed to extend her detention. On May 14, she was moved from her home on University Road in Yangon, where she has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years, to Insein prison.
The court’s argument was that, by allowing American John William Yettaw to enter her lakeside residence, she had violated the terms of her house arrest.
Suu Kyi’s plea was that she felt sorry for Yettaw after he swam across Lake Inya to visit her.
This recent travesty is yet another tribulation the Nobel Peace Prize winner has had to endure in her long struggle to bring democracy and freedom to her native country (called Myanmar by its military rulers, but still known as Burma internationally).
Despite a thumping win in the 1990 general elections, Suu Kyi has never been allowed to take office as her country’s rightful leader. During her extended detention, her British husband, Dr Michael Aris, died, and she has barely seen her two sons, Alexander and Kim.
What does this woman really mean to the people of Myanmar today? Is there still purpose in her struggle, or is hers a futile effort?…
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
ONE of Australia’s major banks is planning to introduce “Muslim-friendly” loans that do not charge interest, to comply with Sharia law, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
Instead, the National Australia Bank will structure an Islam-approved line of finance to make money from alternative methods.
These include profit-sharing on the transaction, joint-ventures or leasing-type arrangements.
For example, to get round the Islamic ban on usury — or unfair lending — a Muslim mortgage often works by the bank buying the property, then selling it to the customer at a profit, with the customer then repaying the entire sum in instalments.
In this way the profit margin is built in from the start. It also has the advantage of making the loan immune from future interest rate rises.
NAB said the loans, which will start out small, will have to be cleared by a Sharia Advisory Board to ensure they meet strict criteria before they can be made available to the public.
“We are dipping our toe in the water with this scheme and thought we may be able to offer this product in high-density Muslim areas,” said Richard Peters, head of community finance and development at NAB.
“We suspect there is demand out there, but we don’t know how big it is, so we will trial a few products first.”
For the trial’s purposes NAB will pump $15 million from its not-for-profit finance division into the program, which will distribute the funds through various community finance schemes around the country.
The bank will monitor the take-up and assess potential demand.
Interest-free loans of up to $1000 will be available to help finance household items, such as washing machines and fridges.
The loans would also be available to non-Muslims.
The news comes just days after federal Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen said that Australia could exploit international demand for Islamic finance to create more jobs.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Investigators’ conclusion based on discovery of 2 trails of bodies 50 miles apart
THE Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic with 228 people on board broke apart before it hit the water, throwing out some passengers at high altitude, investigators believe.
Their conclusion is based on the discovery of two trails of bodies more than 50 miles apart, suggesting that the Airbus split in two after going out of control in bad weather and turbulence during its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A burst of last-minute automatic messages sent by Air France Flight 447 included one about a problem with a rudder safety device but that did not explain what sent the jet plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation expert said.
The industry official, who has knowledge of the Air France investigation, said that a transcript of the messages posted on the website EuroCockpit was authentic but inconclusive.
The flight was carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on May 31 when it ran into fierce thunderstorms.
One of the 24 automatic messages sent from the plane minutes before it disappeared points to a problem in the “rudder limiter,” a mechanism that limits how far the plane’s rudder can move. The nearly intact vertical stabiliser — which includes the rudder — was fished out of the water by Brazilian searchers.
“There is a lot of information, but not many clues,” the official said..
Jets like the Airbus A330 automatically send such maintenance messages about once a minute during a plane’s flight. They are used by the ground crew to make repairs once a plane lands.
Martine del Bono, spokeswoman for the French investigative agency BEA, which is in charge of the crash probe, and an Airbus spokesman declined to comment on the transcript.
If the rudder were to move too far while travelling fast, it could shear off and take the vertical stabiliser with it, which some experts theorise may have happened based on the relatively limited damage to the stabiliser.
The industry official, however, said the error message pertaining to the rudder limiter did not indicate it malfunctioned, but rather that it had locked itself in place because of conflicting speed readings.
Investigators have focused on the possibility that external speed monitors — called Pitot tubes — iced over and gave false readings to the plane’s computers.
“The message tells us that the rudder limiter was inoperative,” said Jack Casey, an aviation safety consultant in Washington, D.C. “It does not give you any reason why it is not working or what caused it, or what came afterward.”
Unless the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders — the black boxes — are found, the exact cause of the accident may never be known.
A French nuclear submarine is scouring the search area in the hopes of hearing audio pings from the black boxes’ emergency beacons.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
The doomed Air France plane in which 228 people died broke in two before it hit the Atlantic Ocean, investigators believe.
They think the aircraft split in the air because of where the bodies of victims were found in the water.
Two trails of bodies were discovered, more than 50 miles apart, which suggests the jet broke up before impact.
Bodies discovered off the north-east of Brazil also support the theory passengers were dead before they were plunged into the ocean.
Their clothes had been stripped off, presumably in the rush of air as the plane fell from as high as 35,000ft, according the Sunday Times.
Some 50 bodies have been discovered. The post mortems done on 16 show they had no water in the lungs — which would have indicated drowning.
Investigators have also not yet found any traces of an explosion, burn marks or smoke which backs up the idea the accident was not the result of a blast.
It is thought it might have started with the blocking of the plane’s speed sensors — called the pitot tubes, which are prone to getting clogged up.
One possibility is that they started to malfunction leading to confusing speed readings which in turn knocked out the automatic pilot.
This would have left the crew trying to fly the plane by hand, which would have been very difficult given the difficult weather conditions.
The same pattern of events has happened in six cockpit emergencies on Air France jets since February 2008, it has emerged.
Leaked documents from the airline say the incidents involved ‘a rather incoherent cocktail of alarms’ and ‘severe breakdowns’.
They appear to have started with problems in the sensors during bad weather, according to the Sunday Times.
Pilots in all six cases managed to regain control of their planes, although in one flight the problem did cause the auto pilot to disengage.
Air France advised its pilots last year about the problem of the sensors confusing the autopilot.
The firm replaced the speed sensors last week after the pilots’ union threatened to boycott its long-distance craft.
Chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said at the time: ‘We do not deny that there is a problem with the sensors. But we cannot say that this is the cause of the accident. We do not know that.’
Investigators including a French submarine are still combing the Atlantic for the black box flight recorders in the hope they will reveal the truth about the accident.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(AGI) — Rome, 11 Jun. — “I was threatened some Libyan men who were amongst the students”. The quote is from Amina, a 47 year old woman who was amongst the students from Rome’s La Sapienza University together with the movement for Casa Action. Men speaking only Arabic have been amongst the students and demonstrators: “They asked me why, though I was wearing my veil, I had come to protest against a Muslim leader — and they told me they had photos of me with posters against Gheddafi”.
The students, on their part, are trying to distance those they see as “provokers” — though when asked to leave, the men responded only in Arabic. When an Arabic language and culture major tried approaching them, they refused any response.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
You won’t believe how children as young as 12 years old partied
Note: This story contains material that readers might consider graphic and offensive.
Family advocates are outraged by a prom held at Boston City Hall that was open to children apparently as young as 12 featuring crossdressers, homosexual heavy petting, suspected drug use and a leather-clad doorman who teaches sexual bondage classes
[…]
“Why would 22-year-olds be mingling with 14 and 15-year-olds?” Camenker asked, troubled by the details of the event. “As we saw, they pay no attention to any age limit at all. It was full of all of these strange adults.”
[…]
“As a young person who has been exposed to many disturbing things within today’s youth culture, I believed I was prepared to deal with what I saw at the 2009 BAGLY Prom,” Max wrote.
“Minutes after entering the event, I discovered that I was not.”
Camenker agreed that the affair was shocking.
“This stuff doesn’t happen by accident. You don’t have these kinds of really weird people around these kids by accident. These guys actually think that this is what these kids should be experiencing,” he said.
“This movement has an obsession with kids, and there are no boundaries. It’s worse than anybody thought.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What is a demagogue? According to the encyclopedia, a demagogue is a politician skilled in oratory, flattery, and invective, evasive in discussing vital issues, promising everything to everybody, appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public, and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices.
History tells us that personal liberty is most often the demagogue’s first victim, particularly when popular sentiment is whipped up against some internal or foreign enemy. In other words, liberty and demagogues cannot coexist. The ancient Greek word “demagogos” means simply a spokesman for the people or, more pejoratively, a leader of the mob. “Modern usage implies rhetorical gifts and the ability to arouse an audience, usually with the promise of radical change.”
| — Hat tip: Amil Imani | [Return to headlines] |
Photo-sharing website Flickr has teamed up with Getty Images to let users sell their pictures.
One of the biggest photo libraries in the world is hoping the work of amateur photographers can reinvigorate its collection and help to create an edgier persona.
Getty Images, the world’s largest distributor of still imagery, has teamed up with Flickr, the photo-sharing website, to allow keen photographers around the world the chance to make some money out of their regular, everyday snaps. Over the past 12 months, Getty has had 30 art directors scouring Flickr’s archive of three billion images to find the ones that will “sell” and have commercial appeal.
So far, the team has identified 100,000 images it would like to add to the “Getty Flickr” collection, which can be accessed by consumers and customers alike via www.gettyimages.com/flickr. There is also a supportive Facebook application called “PictureMe”. This allows Facebook users to attach photos from the collection to their status updates to help them visually express their mood.
The collection contains only 20,000 images at the moment, as the team is still waiting to hear back from the photographers responsible for the other 80,000 cherry-picked photos, or for rights clearance. Flickr users can “opt in” to have their photos considered by the Getty art directors by clicking on a designated tab once logged into their accounts.
The rest is up to Getty, which will then email the Flickr users who have a minimum of five photos which interest them. If they consent, a contract follows and the photographer has to set about ensuring each that any photo that includes a person or piece of property has the appropriate permission from all concerned parties. Once all the formal processes are completed, Getty can go about selling the images.
One person who received such an email is Anna Creedon, a digital collections developer at the London Transport Museum by day, and an avid amateur photographer in her spare time.
“I only joined Flickr last October, after doing an Open University photography course. Someone on the course set up a supportive Flickr group and I progressed from there,” she explains.
“I opted in to be seen by Getty and one day I received an email from them asking me to upload seven of my images … one of which [a close-up abstract shot of an iris] has now been bought for use in a brochure. It’s given me a new zest for taking photos.”
Creedon specialises in macro photography, which means taking extreme close-up shots and she usually only uses a compact hand-held camera. Her choice subjects are flowers and nature.
However, there is no pattern as to what the Getty team are looking for..Often the chosen photos are very regular daily scenes: a baby playing in a swimming pool or a someone smoking a cigarette. But it’s more the spirit and the way these imagesare taken that attracts Getty.
However, not every Flickr user views the “Getty email” as a prime opportunity to gain market exposure. There is a big debate going on across the photo-sharing site about whether Getty’s plan is compromising people’s artistic integrity and just another example of a big market player abusing user-generated content for mass gain.
The man in charge of bringing Flickr content to Getty customers is Andy Saunders, Getty’s vice-president of creative stills and footage. His job is to try to introduce new content to the Goliath collection and keep it fresh. He recognises that commercialising a personal photograph collection isn’t for everyone and admits some people have refused Getty’s offer.
“I understand that when you reach out to a community whose original intention was not to sell content, but simply to share images and experiences, there will be some negative feedback, but that’s up to the individuals. They can opt in or opt out.”
Getty Images decided to sign the five-year exclusive deal with Flickr expressly because it wanted photos that hadn’t been taken with a commercial purpose in mind.
“It is because the Flickr images haven’t been taken with a view to being sold, that a lot of passion and emotion comes through in the shots.They can be more original than traditional photography and offer that emotional connection which our customers really value,” Saunders explains.
Users take, typically, a 20-30 per cent cut on any images that are sold; how much a user can hope to make varies, Saunders says, from as low as $10 a shot to as much as $100,000. So you won’t know what publication or campaign your pictures of your grandmother snoring or your baby swimming could end up being part of, but you do become elevated to the same status as a professional photographer just by clicking a tab. And you get paid, too.
Five tips to get your pictures noticed
Keep your approach original and fresh.
Think about whether you will be able to contact any people in your photo again in case you need to obtain their permission. Possibly take down their contact details at the time, just in case.
Regionality is always attractive — especially in areas such as the Far East, where the economy is booming. Photos of your travels which show off an area’s culture are very useful to us — this is something which we hope to build upon in the future.
Humour always sells and is something to bear in mind.
Don’t get into stale patterns. Keep snapping only what matters to you and not what you might think will sell.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
In a recent article entitled “The Age of Middle East Atonement”, Victor Davis Hanson analyzes Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo in order to highlight the absurdities of our government’s policies towards the Muslim Middle East.
In his address to the “Muslim World”, Mr. Obama used the classic rhetorical tactic of false equivalence. To him, the West and Islam are roughly the same — “They launch terror attacks against us, but we launched the Crusades against them.” This device places the two camps on an equal but opposite footing, and their antagonisms must thus be surmounted by deft compromises negotiated by a skilled mediator such as — surprise! — Barack Hussein Obama.
In his deconstruction of the Obama Doctrine, Dr. Hanson points out the futility of any attempt to placate Islam. The countries that refuse compromise and act in the most brutal fashion towards Muslims are those that suffer the least from Islamic terrorism:
Today, Russia and China are much harder on Muslims than is the West. (Consider Russia’s actions in Chechnya and China’s treatment of the Uighurs.) Neither country pays any attention to Muslims’ grievances, and therefore Muslims respect and fear Russia and China far more than they do the United States.
What’s more, the geopolitical positions of the West and Islam are not symmetrical. If such comparisons were not “judgmental” — and therefore off-limits — it would be easy to demonstrate that Western Civilization is superior to Islam politically, socially, culturally, and scientifically. But in our hyper-tolerant age, such distinctions are not allowed. We’re obliged to view ourselves and Muslims as basically the same, even if they do dress funny, live in hovels, treat women as chattels, and are governed by violent and corrupt despots.
But privately the world knows that Muslims are treated better in the West than Christians are in Muslim countries. That Muslims migrate to the lands of Westerners, and not vice versa.
Not only do Christians treat Muslims better than vice versa, they treat Muslims better than Muslims treat each other. Here in the West Muslims are not only free of political oppression while they engage in their customary behaviors — cousin marriage, polygamy, pederasty, and the oppression of women, just to name a few — but they do so while supported by the infidel welfare state.
No wonder they escape to the West by the millions.
So why are Muslims unhappy with us?
[The world knows that] disputes over a border between Palestinians and Israelis do not explain the unhappiness of the Arab masses, suffering from state-caused poverty and wretchedness. That American military assistance to Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Somalia, direct aid to Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians, and moral condemnation of Chinese, Russian, and Balkan treatment of Muslims, coupled with a generous U.S. immigration policy, are not really cause for apology or atonement.
But for some reason, none of this VIP treatment makes Muslims grateful, friendly, or respectful to the United States, nor to any of their other host countries in the West. On the contrary, the second and third generations of Muslim immigrants are the most violent and jihad-oriented of all.
Or are they in fact largely spared by the jihad precisely because of their ruthless strategies towards any outbreak of jihad within their borders?
– – – – – – – – –
Now we’re entering territory that all well-intentioned PC-indoctrinated people recoil from in horror. The internal logic of the situation leads inexorably towards the hard questions that none of us really want to ask. After all, who wants to respond to terrorist threats in the manner of the Russians or the Chinese?
Consider what happened in Chechnya: the Russian Federation faced an Islamically-based terrorist separatist movement, and dealt with the problem by indiscriminately leveling much of Grozny, the Chechen capital.
By American logic, as described above by Victor Davis Hanson, Russia should be Islam’s Public Enemy Number One. You would expect Al Qaeda and other groups to react with repeated mass terror attacks against Russian cities, schools, and public transportation, on the model of the frequent and deadly terrorist incidents in India. By all rights there should also be high-profile attacks on Russian targets abroad.
But almost none of this occurs. Why?
Islamic terrorists are often described as deranged or insane. And one suspects that the actual shahids — the guys who drive trucks or strap on bomb belts to blow themselves up along with as many infidels as possible — must register quite high on any scale of psychological abnormality.
But there’s no evidence that the directors of these “martyrdom operations” are madmen. They are shrewd, self-serving, calculating, careful, and ruthless servants of a demonic ideology, but they are not nuts — when they see how the Russian government reacts to Islamic terrorism, they scale back their operations on Russian territory, and concentrate on places where they can continue their customary activities with relative impunity.
In other words, they prefer the soft underbelly of the West: the Muslim-placating dhimmocracies of Europe and North America. There they can plan jihad and get paid by the infidel governments while they do so. No wonder they prefer Malmö and Finsbury Park to Moscow!
So is the “Grozny Option” the only option?
Are we doomed to act like the Russians?
Do we have to choose between massive brutality and total submission, or is there another way?
A hundred years ago we might have taken a different path. If the United States had reacted forcefully to the nationalization of the Saudi oil fields — if we had re-established our commercial hegemony in the Arabian Peninsula, using military force if necessary — subsequent events might have taken a different course.
If we had not dumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the coffers of despotic Middle Eastern regimes, while demanding virtually nothing in return, then we might not be held in the same contempt that we are now.
Unfortunately, a long-established pattern is in force today, and only a dramatic and brutal turnaround will be likely to convince the Muslim world that we are anything but the biggest jizyah milk-cow that Islam has ever seen.
Europe will shortly begin a battle for its very survival, and the United States may not be that far behind. After all, if you believe what our president says, America is “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” So whatever hard options confront the Europeans will also be ours in just a few years’ time.
As Fjordman wrote earlier today:
It is pretty obvious by now that we are facing a huge structural, economic and ideological collapse throughout the entire Western world in the near future. The crash can no longer be avoided, since our so-called leaders are doing everything in their power to ensure that we will indeed crash. We need to focus on surviving this crash, on regrouping and creating the seeds for the third generation of European civilization out of the leftovers from the coming collapse. We need to think and act like colonized people because that’s in many ways what we are now. We must reclaim our own histories and destinies.
[…]
As we know from history, things that may appear unthinkable today will appear inevitable tomorrow. We will do this or we will perish.
The more unpleasant of tomorrow’s options cannot be publicly discussed because the very structure of our political discourse makes them unthinkable. I can get away with what I say here only because this is an unimportant venue with just a few thousand readers and no advertisers to bring pressure to bear.
But no one in academia, politics, or the major media can speak frankly about the choices we will have to make in just a few short years. Being honest about such topics tends to truncate one’s career, or even one’s life.
As Fjordman and El Inglés have been at pains to point out, the options we describe here aren’t what any of us want. They’re simply what will inevitably face us if we continue to punt the hard choices and pretend we can go on living the way we have for the last sixty years.
But change is on its way. It’s unavoidable, and all the attempts to postpone it will only make it more catastrophic.
And when the future gets here, the Grozny Option may well seem a bucolic utopia in comparison.
Update: Steen has some photos and a live-blog of today’s events (in Danish).
Mr. Wilders appeared on Danish television yesterday. After being pressed by the interviewer, he acknowledged that millions of Muslims — those who support jihad and shariah, and oppose the democratic societies that they live in — will have to be deported from Europe.
He says, “There’s only one solution.”
The video below is in English with Danish subtitles:
[Post ends here]
Palestinian reaction to Obama’s speech in Cairo has been favorable. According to Palestinians interviewed for the Jerusalem Post, they are very pleased and consider him to be the best friend they have ever had in the White House. Obama-Hu Akbar!
In other news, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in Iran’s presidential election, amidst protests by supporters of his principle opponent. Also, a major Australian bank is trial-marketing shariah-compliant loans.
Thanks to Brutally Honest, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, islam o’phobe, Judith Apter Klinghoffer, The Observer, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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It would be illuminating if the NYCLU suggested what the proper percentage of stops should be for the various racial and ethnic groups. Doing so might force it to acknowledge the following facts about crime in New York: Blacks commit about 68 percent of all violent crime in the city, according to police records, though they are just 24 percent of the city’s population. According to data from victims and witnesses, blacks commit about 82 percent of all shootings and 72 percent of all robberies. Whites commit about 5 percent of all violent crimes, though they make up 35 percent of the city’s population, and commit 1 percent of shootings and about 4 percent of robberies
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Remember that classic Beatles riff of the 1960s: “You say you want a revolution?” Imagine this instead: a devolution. Picture an America that is run not, as now, by a top-heavy Washington autocracy but, in freewheeling style, by an assemblage of largely autonomous regional republics reflecting the eclectic economic and cultural character of the society.
There might be an austere Republic of New England, with a natural strength in higher education and technology; a Caribbean-flavored city-state Republic of Greater Miami, with an anchor in the Latin American economy; and maybe even a Republic of Las Vegas with unfettered license to pursue its ambitions as a global gambling, entertainment and conventioneer destination. California? America’s broke, ill-governed and way-too-big nation-like state might be saved, truly saved, not by an emergency federal bailout, but by a merciful carve-up into a trio of republics that would rely on their own ingenuity in making their connections to the wider world. And while we’re at it, let’s make this project bi-national—economic logic suggests a natural multilingual combination between Greater San Diego and Mexico’s Northern Baja, and, to the Pacific north, between Seattle and Vancouver in a megaregion already dubbed “Cascadia” by economic cartographers.
Devolved America is a vision faithful both to certain postindustrial realities as well as to the pluralistic heart of the American political tradition—a tradition that has been betrayed by the creeping centralization of power in Washington over the decades but may yet reassert itself as an animating spirit for the future. Consider this proposition: America of the 21st century, propelled by currents of modernity that tend to favor the little over the big, may trace a long circle back to the original small-government ideas of the American experiment. The present-day American Goliath may turn out to be a freak of a waning age of politics and economics as conducted on a super-sized scale—too large to make any rational sense in an emerging age of personal empowerment that harks back to the era of the yeoman farmer of America’s early days. The society may find blessed new life, as paradoxical as this may sound, in a return to a smaller form.
This perspective may seem especially fanciful at a time when the political tides all seem to be running in the opposite direction. In the midst of economic troubles, an aggrandizing Washington is gathering even more power in its hands. The Obama Administration, while considering replacing top executives at Citigroup, is newly appointing a “compensation czar” with powers to determine the retirement packages of executives at firms accepting federal financial bailout funds. President Obama has deemed it wise for the U.S. Treasury to take a majority ownership stake in General Motors in a last-ditch effort to revive this Industrial Age brontosaurus. Even the Supreme Court is getting in on the act: A ruling this past week awarded federal judges powers to set the standards by which judges for state courts may recuse themselves from cases.
All of this adds up to a federal power grab that might make even FDR’s New Dealers blush. But that’s just the point: Not surprisingly, a lot of folks in the land of Jefferson are taking a stand against an approach that stands to make an indebted citizenry yet more dependent on an already immense federal power. The backlash, already under way, is a prime stimulus for a neo-secessionist movement, the most extreme manifestation of a broader push for some form of devolution. In April, at an anti-tax “tea party” held in Austin, Governor Rick Perry of Texas had his speech interrupted by cries of “secede..” The Governor did not sound inclined to disagree. “Texas is a unique place,” he later told reporters attending the rally. “When we came into the Union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.”
Such sentiments resonate beyond the libertarian fringe. The Daily Kos, a liberal Web site, recently asked Perry’s fellow Texas Republicans, “Do you think Texas would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America? It was an even split: 48% for the U.S., 48% for a sovereign Texas, 4% not sure. Amongst all Texans, more than a third—35%—said an independent Texas would be better. The Texas Nationalist Movement claims that over 250,000 Texans have signed a form affirming the organization’s goal of a Texas nation.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
PARIS (AFP) — A Saudi princess alleged to have run up unpaid bills worth millions of euros in a Paris shopping spree has agreed to settle a 125,000-dollar tab after bailiffs turned up at her hotel, a lawyer said.
Upmarket clothes store Key Largo filed suit in a Paris court this week against Maha al-Sudairi, wife of Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, over an outstanding bill of 89,000 euros (125,000 dollars).
Bailiffs turned up on Friday at the luxury George V hotel, which is owned by Sudairi’s nephew Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, after a court order authorised the seizure of her belongings, the store’s lawyer Jacky Benazerah said late Friday.
“The Saudi Arabian consul was called out in person,” he said.
French media reported the princess was holed up in her room at the four-star hotel just off the Champs Elysees while her staff wrangled with the bailiffs, although the George V would not confirm she was on the premises.
After three hours of talks, the princess’ aides had handed over a guaranteed cheque of 89,000 euros, with a pledge the money would be transferred by Wednesday, said the lawyer.
Benazareh said he was told the bills went unpaid due to an oversight by her staff.
But the Saudi princess is alleged to have left a trail of unpaid bills at top Parisian locations including one for 10 million euros at the Crillon hotel, according to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
Benazareh said Paris jewellers Chaumet has also taken legal action against the princess. The Journal du Dimanche says the store is owed more than 600,000 euros.
The manager of luxury lingerie store “Aux caprices de Lili,” which is just opposite the George V, told AFP the princess had run up a slate of 70,000 euros’ worth of designer underwear, silk bathrobes and swimwear.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 11 — The visit of Libyan leader Gaddafi to Rome’s ‘La Sapienza’ University was accompanied by the expected chorus of protest. A group of students greeted his arrival with boos and shouting, the setting off of red smoke-bombs and waving protest banners — some of them in Arabic. But he was given an ovation by a group of around fifty Kurds who awaited him with banners showing pictures of the PKK leader Ocalan. In the university’s main hall, while the Colonel was answering a question, a group of students interrupted him, shouting “Let us speak, let us speak”, after the microphone had been snatched away from a female student of the Onda movement by men of Gaddafi’s staff just as she was about to pose her question. When things quietened down, Gaddafi was beginning his reply to another question when a group from the Onda movement started whistling and shouting. Covered by his staff who started clapping to hide the sound of the booing, Gaddafi made his exit from the hall earlier than planned. Also at Sapienza University, some Maghrebi women claimed that they had been “threatened” by ten or so Libyan men in dark suits. “They asked us why we weren’t wearing our veils. Yoùre Muslims, aren’t you? Why are you protesting against our leader?”. The police moved the group of Libyans along. For his part, university chancellor, Luigi Frati, said: “There is no Inquisition at Sapienza and nor is there censorship: we guarantee everyone the opportunity to speak in a civil manner, to express their ideas, even if they go against the grain, on the model of the Greek agora”. In Frati’s opinion “those who give voice to a high legal status,” have a right to speak at Sapienza “as it is necessary to build bridges and knock down walls”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(AGI) — Rome, 11 Jun. — Muammar Gheddafi has made his entrance into the hall of the Academic Senate of Rome’s La Sapienza University followed by the institution head, Luigi Frati. “He is the leader of a great Nation,” stated Frati, and we believe “that culture, research and technology might be a bridge toward the future. With these feelings of friendship we welcome the leader Gheddafi”. In some minutes the Colonel will be given a chance to speak in La Sapienza’s ‘Aula Magna’, where he will be given a chance to debate with students.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jobbik chief MEP candidate Krisztina Morvai has written in a message to Hungarian Jews posted on an online forum that: “I would be greatly pleased if those who call themselves proud Hungarian Jews played in their leisure with their tiny circumcised d***s, instead of besmirching me. Your kind of people are used to seeing all of our kind of people stand to attention and adjust to you every time you fart. Would you kindly acknowledge this is now OVER. We have raised our head up high and we shall no longer tolerate your kind of terror. We shall take back our country.”
She made the remarks on the Deák Ferenc Civic Forum website.
Morvai’s wrath was unleashed by comments from Gábor Barát, finance manager of a New York radiology institute, who called her a psychiatric case and a monster. Barát, referring to himself as “a proud Hungarian Jew,” said Morvai foments hatred and said she should be banned from politics for her dangerous remarks.
Morvai did not deny that she wrote the message, but declined to comment further.
Antall-era foreign minister Géza Jeszenszky said in a message posted on the same forum that “this tone and style are astonishing, unworthy of Hungarian traditions and a woman. All decent Hungarian people can only condemn this contribution. Such words were not written even by Csurka”.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Amanda Knox blames testimony on police pressure
(ANSA) — Perugia, June 12 — American student Amanda Knox, on trial here with her ex-boyfriend for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, told the court Friday she had been pressured into “imagining” things during police questioning.
“Everything I said I said under pressure. It was suggested to me by the public prosecutor. They suggested the way,” she said, responding to the lawyer of Patrick Lumumba, a Perugia-based musician who Knox falsely accused of being the murderer.
“Under pressure I imagined lots of different things,” the 21-year-old Seattle-born student added.
Knox repeated claims she had been called a “stupid liar” when she was questioned a few days after the murder.
When Lumumba’s lawyer, Carlo Pacelli, asked Knox whether police had hit her to make her say that Kercher had had sex on the night of the murder, she answered “yes”.
Earlier in the trial Knox claimed she was “cuffed on the head” at a police station and told to “try to remember something else” before blaming the murder on Lumumba, at whose bar she worked.
Democratic Republic of Congo national Lumumba, 38, was arrested after Knox allegedly told police “he did it, he’s bad”, although she later withdrew her testimony.
Lumumba was released after 15 days in jail after an alibi confirmed he had been working in his city-centre pub on the night of the murder and police failed to find any forensic evidence linking him with the crime scene.
He is suing Knox for damages as a civil plaintiff as part of the murder trial.
As a defendant, Knox has the right not to answer questions, but took the stand Friday at the request of her defence team and of Lumumba’s lawyer.
Knox’s father, Kurt, said before the hearing began Friday that people would see “a new Amanda, not that dark angel that has been described so far”.
‘PERVERSE GROUP SEX GAME’.
Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, are on trial for murder and sexual violence as well as for simulating a crime to make it look like an intruder had broken into Kercher’s house.
Exchange student Kercher, 22, was found semi-naked and with her throat slit on November 2, 2007 in the house she shared in Perugia with Knox and two Italian women.
A third defendant, Ivory Coast national Rudy Guede, 21, was sentenced to 30 years for sexually assaulting and murdering the British exchange student at a separate trial last October.
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini has told the court that Kercher, who was found semi-naked in her bedroom with her throat slashed on November 2, 2007 was killed when Guede, Knox and Sollecito tried to force her to participate in “a perverse group sex game”.
In Mignini’s reconstruction of events, Sollecito and Guede held Kercher’s arms while Knox slashed her throat with a kitchen knife.
The public prosecutor said Guede had also tried to rape Kercher.
But Guede’s lawyers claim that the crime was carried out by Knox and Sollecito alone.
Guede has always admitted to being in the house on the night of the murder but says he was in the bathroom when Kercher was murdered.
The defendants deny wrongdoing and their defence teams claim their clients were not in the house and that the crime was committed by a single attacker.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 10 — Exports of arms from Spain were slightly up in 2008, and Morocco has become the third-largest customer of the country’s military industry, as well as its biggest non-European client. The figures were released in a report presented to Congress by Secretary of State for trade, and previewed today in El Pais. Some 40.7% of sales of Spanish weapons went to EU countries, and 70.5% to NATO member countries, including Norway and the USA — traditional purchasers of hunting weapons and pistols made in Spain. However, a significant portion of Spain’s arms exports went to Morocco, with supplies worth 113.90 million euros. The increase in export volumes is due to the supply of 1,015 off-road military vehicles, tanks and ambulances. There was also a significant increase in exports to Colombia: 31.7 million euros compared with 16 in 2007, including a transport aeroplane and military vehicles. One section of the report is devoted to sales to Israel, a controversial topic in Spain, given that the figures relating to the first six months of 2008 coincided with the Israeli bombing of Gaza. During the past year Spain sold a total of 2.4 million guns to Israel, 60% more than the 1.5 million of 2007. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A hardline feminist has been chosen as the Government’s new chief spokesman on families. Dr Katherine Rake, who wants to see men bring up babies, will head the Family and Parenting Institute, a heavily state-financed organisation set up by Labour to speak for parents and children. Dr Rake, who will take over from the Institute’s founding chief executive Mary MacLeod, has long declared her intention is not to support parents as they are, but to revolutionise their lives. Writing in The Guardian three years ago, she said: ‘We want to transform the most intimate and private relations between women and men. ‘We want to change not just who holds power in international conglomerations, but who controls the household budget. ‘We want to change not just what childcare the state provides, but who changes the nappies at home.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
LONDON (AFP) — Foreign Secretary David Miliband indicated in an interview Saturday he nearly quit in a wave of resignations which left Prime Minister Gordon Brown fighting for his job last week.
Highlighting the ongoing threat to Brown’s authority, Lord Peter Mandelson, effectively his deputy, predicted separately he would face another leadership challenge at the ruling Labour party’s annual conference in September.
Brown endured the worst week of his rocky premiership after Labour suffered historic losses in European and local elections on June 4 which saw the resignation of 11 ministers amid calls for him to quit.
But he managed to hold on to power as no alternative candidate put themselves forward. Some commentators say that had Miliband — reportedly behind a plot against Brown last year — gone, Brown would have had to follow.
“Sometimes you can make your decisions with great planning and calculation and sometimes you have to make them rather more quickly,” Miliband told the Guardian newspaper.
“I made my decision (not to resign) in good faith… we all have to live with our decisions.”
Meanwhile, Mandelson told the Daily Telegraph there was a “small group” of rebels who “won’t be reconciled to the prime minister’s leadership” but added that he would not “lose any sleep” over the threat posed by them.
Opinion polls suggest Brown’s government will be defeated by the main opposition Conservatives, led by David Cameron, in the next general election, which must be held by the middle of next year.
The Brown administration’s popularity has been hit hard by a scandal over lawmakers claiming generous expenses from the public purse for the upkeep of their homes, which has dominated news headlines here for several weeks.
In a sign of how the story has angered Britons, the country’s new poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy released her first verse in the job to the Guardian Saturday — and it seemed to be a bitter reflection on the expenses row.
The poem from the royal family’s official bard, entitled “Politics”, includes the lines: “How it takes/the breath/away, the piss, makes of your kiss a dropped pound coin/makes of your promises latin, gibberish, feedback, static”.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s body politic has been shocked to the core by this week’s election of two British National Party candidates to the European Parliament.
Their success is described as ‘the ultimate protest vote’. It has been attributed to public disgust with MPs of all parties following the expenses scandal.
Few, if any, Parliamentarians of any persuasion admit what is self-evident to the rest of us: that many thousands of voters back the BNP because it opposes further mass immigration to Britain.
We live in an age and a society allegedly committed to openness as the supreme virtue. Yet our politicians show themselves no more capable of frankness about the massive problems posed by immigration than about the future of an insolvent NHS, the absence of any sensible energy strategy for the future and the gradual collapse of pension provision which will soon start hitting the state sector as well.
In the face of deafening silence about migration from Tories, Labour and LibDems alike, some desperate people vent their bitterness by backing the only group they think willing to speak up for them, even though its character and attitudes are repulsive.
Polls show that most BNP voters are male and working class. More than one-third of them are manual workers. This means that they live among migrants, in a way that the liberal middle class does not.
Some 77 per cent of BNP voters believe that white people in Britain are now victims of discrimination. Many are former Labour voters and think their old party has betrayed them.
Only about half of BNP supporters explicitly admit to being racists. The rest are simply people who believe that their traditional communities are being destroyed, jobs lost or put at risk, by uncontrolled immigration.
Before considering how much of this is true, we should acknowledge that the perception is now widespread. It extends far beyond those who brought themselves to vote for the BNP.
The main parties, and especially the Tories, believe that by saying little or nothing about immigration, they escape the charge from the Left that they are promoting racial hatred, going back to their bad old Powellite ways.
Instead, however, there seems a powerful argument that they are thus failing in their duty as an opposition, to lay bare the failure of government policy.
They ignore a matter which deeply troubles voters. Some 80 per cent of people questioned in a YouGov poll for the independent think-tank MigrationWatch say that they are ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about levels of immigration.
Many thoughtful, educated people who would not dream of voting for the BNP nonetheless daily use such phrases as ‘It’s not our country any more’, and ‘I don’t feel I belong in the place where I grew up’.
Only a tiny handful of people, notably the brave and impeccably liberal figures of Labour MP Frank Field and Equality and Human Rights Commission chairman Trevor Phillips, have shown themselves willing publicly to acknowledge the huge social and political strains which immigration imposes on our society.
Scarcely one of Britain’s mainstream politicians is anywhere to be seen in a debate of vital concern for our national future.
The figures show clearly that this Labour Government has sanctioned and promoted a vast increase in migration, and thus in Britain’s population, without the most tenuous mandate for its policy from the nation.
For 20 years before Tony Blair became Prime Minister, immigration averaged 54,000 a year. It then rose steeply to 97,000 in 1999. In 2007, the last year for which figures are available, 333,000 more foreign nationals entered Britain than left.
In addition, there are estimated to be 725,000 illegal immigrants in the country, 518,000 of these in London.
On the Government’s own, almost certainly understated, numbers, our population will pass 70 million by 2028. It could reach 80 million in the course of the century.
We are the most overcrowded country in Europe, save Malta. Some 24 per cent of all births in this country are to foreign-born mothers.
Asylum-seekers now account for only 10 per cent of newcomers — though still 30,000 a year. Nor, contrary to popular myth, are most migrants East Europeans, the fabled Polish plumbers. Only 87,000 of the 2007 intake came from Eastern Europe, less than a quarter of the total.
Most new arrivals come from the Third World, at a rate which is increasing the national population by almost one per cent every two years.
How has this state of affairs come about? First, since 1997 the Government has quadrupled the number of work permits issued to foreigners. After five years here, permit-holders have a right to apply for permanent residence.
Second, Labour greatly eased restrictions governing the rights of anybody married to a resident to enter Britain. Numbers of those entering with a certificate of marriage, real or fixed for the purpose, have doubled.
Finally, there are students — 360,000 a year. There are no effective checks, first on whether they come to attend bona fide places of learning, and second upon ensuring their return home after completing their courses.
There were dramatic revelations last month about the major industry of phoney ‘colleges’ which teach nothing and exist solely to enable economic migrants, at a price, to enter Britain.
David Blunkett, as Home Secretary, was one of the villains of the piece. He is one of many New Labour standard-bearers who both proclaim the value of large-scale immigration to this country, and greatly eased the path of those seeking to come here.
In 2004, he asserted defiantly: ‘Migrants don’t just come to fill jobs — they also create jobs, helping our economy grow and giving us a more vibrant culture.’
These arguments were brutally dismissed last year in a report by the House of Lords’ Economic Committee, one of the very few political bodies to have dared to conduct a serious review of policy. The peers concluded that, contrary to New Labour propaganda, immigration has had ‘little or no impact’ on the economic well-being of Britain and offers ‘insignificant’ benefits to the existing UK population.
The argument that we need masses of immigrants to compensate for our ageing domestic workforce is nullified by the reality — obvious to all except Labour ministers — that immigrants, too, get old and become pensioners.
The social impact of migrants on existing communities is enormous, of course. Almost all choose to settle in England rather than the Celtic fringes. Anyone who walks the streets of London or any major English city today hears 20 languages spoken as readily as English.
This may be ‘richly culturally diverse’, as New Labour-speak puts the matter. But it causes many English people to feel deeply disorientated in their own home towns.
Because we are vastly less assertive than the Americans in imposing our own culture on migrants, many newcomers resist learning English.
Today, there are 300 primary schools in England where more than 70 per cent of pupils — nearly half a million children — use English only as a second language.
It is unlikely the virtuous liberals of any major political party send their own children to such schools. I doubt that they would be happy if they had to do so.
It is sometimes suggested that migrants offer useful cheap labour. But there is no really cheap labour in a welfare state. Each new arrival represents an additional burden on policing, health, education and infrastructure which must be paid for. Many police forces have expressed concern about the pressures and costs imposed by the huge influx of migrants.
Police officers in Cambridgeshire, for instance, must deal with cases in almost 100 languages. The county’s translation costs have risen from £220,000 in 2002-3 to £800,000 in 2006-7. Its drink-drive figures show a 17-fold increase in arrests of foreigners.
Of the 94,200 people predicted to move into Cambridgeshire by 2016, 69,000 are expected to be foreigners. And this is just one county.
There are also heavy health costs — which seem especially relevant in a week when new figures show the NHS heading for a major financial crisis by 2011.
A few years ago, tuberculosis was all but extinct in Britain. Today, there is a striking increase in reported cases, 65 per cent of them involving patients not born in Britain, with 21 per cent Africanborn. Hepatitis B cases have almost doubled in six years, to 325,000, 96 per cent of these involving patients born outside the UK.
Even the Government halfheartedly and unconvincingly acknowledges that too many migrants are coming to Britain. Yet nothing effective is being done to check to the flow.
Ministers have committed themselves to what they call ‘an Australian-style points system’ for assessing candidates for entry. Yet this will lack the indispensable feature of Australian policy — a defined upper limit on overall numbers.
Scrutiny of visa applications at British embassies abroad has become less rather than more stringent, because much of the work is now handled by local rather than British staff.
The Government lies again and again about its real commitment to address immigration. This is partly because it fears to tangle with its own Left-wingers, who are viscerally committed to the ideal of open borders.
The Government’s carelessness on this issue can scarcely fail to be influenced by the fact that ethic minorities vote pretty solidly for Labour.
In some constituencies, socalled ‘community leaders’ of minorities exercise significant influence, because they are able to deliver a block vote at elections which can amount to 2,000 or more ballots.
The Tories have raised the prospect of introducing a specified upper limit on migrants, but have given no hint of what this might be. Most Conservative front-benchers maintain a trappist silence on an issue which the leadership fears can be used by Labour to raise once more the spectre of themselves as ‘the nasty party’.
In a pitifully mute Commons, one of the boldest and most reasonable initiatives came last September from Labour MP Frank Field and Tory Nicholas Soames, who together published a pamphlet calling for a policy of ‘balanced migration’ — allowing into Britain each year no more people than leave — in 2007, some 96,000.
‘Our concern,’ they wrote, ‘is not the principle of immigration, but its scale. This rate of arrival is 25 times higher than any previous influx of immigration in nearly 1,000 years of our nation’s history. Nor is this influx due to globalisation. It is largely the result of government policies.’
Yet there is no evidence that, since the publication of Field’s and Soames’s report, the Conservatives are any more wiling than Labour to grasp the issue with conviction.
Sir Andrew Green of MigrationWatch, whose relentless, but calm and objective, barrage of statistics is often criticised but never plausibly disputed, says: ‘The Tories decline to discuss immigration at all. The LibDems have no policy except for an attack on illegal immigration. The Government gives an appearance of activity, but has not yet taken effective action.
‘We have been warning until we are blue in the face that if the major parties fail to address this issue, extremists would start to gain public support.’
And thus it was, this week, the repulsive BNP gained more votes in the European elections than Sir Oswald Mosley’s fascists dreamed of in the 1930s Depression.
Whether Britain’s mainstream politicians admit it or not, a major cause of public disillusionment is their bland, frankly craven refusal to address an issue about which a vast number of British people care deeply: the perceived alienation and transformation of their own society.
The latest YouGov poll shows that many voters feel ‘insecure’ in their own homeland. How could they not? The BNP will only be erased as a force from Britain’s political landscape, as we should all hope that it will be, when those parties which seriously aspire to govern Britain present coherent, realistic immigration policies; when they address an issue about which much of the country cares more than the recession, health, education, Europe — the cultural identity and population stability of the island in which we live.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Scrutiny of science policy is at risk, say MPs who have urged the government to establish a House of Commons science and technology committee.
The warning comes in a report by the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee (IUSS).
With science and business merged into the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, “science could be lost in a black hole”, they say.
They want the science committee, which was abolished in 2007, re-established.
The Science and Technology Committee was discontinued with the creation of the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills.
This recent merger appears to be the final straw for IUSS committee MPs, who fear that science could disappear in what committee chairman Phil Willis MP called the “all-encompassing ‘super department’ of Business, Innovation and Skills”.
Mr Willis said that the “desire to exploit the UK’s world-class science base in order to contribute to economic recovery” was “commendable, valid and not in dispute”.
But, he added, “establishing a science and technology select committee is critical both to reassure the science community that proper examination of science and engineering across government remains a priority, and to ensure MPs have an effective and transparent arena in which to hold the government’s science policy to account”.
The Campaign for Science & Engineering (Case) welcomed the IUSS report.
Nick Dusic, Case’s director, said: “The abolition of the Science and Technology Committee was a mistake that the government should rectify.
“Letting parliament re-establish the Science and Technology Committee would show that it is handing power back to the House of Commons.
“Incorporating science scrutiny within a business, innovation and skills committee would severely limit both the scope and frequency of inquiries on science and engineering issues within government.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — TIRANA, JUNE 10 — Efforts by Albanian authorities in their fight against corruption has achieved results. In its latest report, Transparency International (TI) reports that the Corruption Perception Index for Albania has improved. In 2008 the country ranked 85th in the world rankings of countries in terms of perceived levels of corruption, while over the past few years — as the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Tirana noted — Albania had climbed from 126th (2005) to 111th (2006), and then to 105th place (2007). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — BEGLRADE, JUNE 9 — Interior ministers of Serbia and Slovenia, Ivica Dacic and Katarina Kresal, respectively, signed a protocol on readmission in Ljubljana, reports Tanjug news agency. Dacic told Tanjug that Slovenia and its Interior ministry support abolition of visas to the EU countries for citizens of Serbia and its path towards European integrations. “We believe that such a stand will be important for the European Commission’s decision on the visa regime abolition for the citizens of Serbia by the end of the year,” said Dacic. According to him, Serbia has an excellent cooperation with Slovenia and its police. Dacic recalled that Serbia has an agreement with the EU on readmission but that it will sign protocols on the implementation of the process with each individual country. Minister Dacic also underlined that the process had so far been successful, adding that it is one of the prerequisites for the visa liberalization for Serbia and its European integrations.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JUNE 10 — According to the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), military expenses in Algeria have reached record levels of USD 5.2 billion in Algeria. “With Algeria’s 18% increase in military spending, they spend the most in all off Africa on their military,” was read in a report published by the Algerian press, and they are following a global trend. Since 2007, military spending globally has increased by 4%, exceeding 1.46 billion dollars, 2.4% of the world GDP. According to the SIPRI head of the sector, Sam Perlo Freeman, cited by Le Quotidien d’Oran, “Algeria’s increased military spending is due to the government’s choice to respond militarily to the fundamentalist insurrection”. “Algeria is the African country with the highest spending in the sector,” continued Freeman, “and they could attempt to increase their importance in the region by becoming a military power in the area”. Furthermore, “there are also public reasons,” he concluded, “soldiers have traditionally had an important role in the Algerian political landscape”. (ANSAmed).
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“We will try to topple him,” Arieh Eldad, head of the National Union party, a coalition member, told The Sunday Telegraph. “We will work to recruit all those who are loyal to the Land of Israel. He cannot lie to his voters.”
Against the backdrop of intense US pressure on Israel to make bold moves for peace, Dr Eldad’s comments underscore the opposing pressures on Mr Netanyahu.
Some aides have indicated that Mr Netanyahu does intend to give guarded approval for Palestinian statehood in a speech that commentators are describing as a “moment of truth” for the hawkish prime minister.
He met over the weekend Israeli president Shimon Peres, the former Labour leader who was condemned last week by right-wing coalition partners Jewish Home and National Union for calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The speech follows President Barack Obama’s sweeping address to the Muslim world in Cairo in which he made it clear the United States expected Israel to accept a Palestinian state — a development against which Mr Netanyahu has been an outspoken opponent throughout career.
Mr Obama also said Israel’s building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank — on land where the Palestinians plan to build their state — undermined peace efforts and must be stopped.
In his speech, Mr Netanyahu faces the task of both placating the new US administration while fighting to save his government whose survival is dependent on nationalist parties.
There are already indications that Washington is dissatisfied with what Mr Netanyahu plans to say. An Obama administration official said the message of the planned speech, the outlines of which they were informed of by US envoy George Mitchell, was”not adequate”.
Meanwhile in Israel there have been reports of secret outreach efforts with potential rebels from the opposition Kadima party, many of whom are former members of Mr Netanyahu’s own ruling Likud party but support Palestinian statehood, in the hopes they might break ranks and join his government.
One of the concerns among critics in Israel is even if Mr Netanyahu supports a Palestinian state, is that he might only do so only in what is perceived by them as the more sluggish framework of the U.S. and European-backed “road map” Mideast plan formulated in 2003 which calls for a gradual and conditional creation of a Palestinian state.
Avishai Braverman, a Cabinet minister and member Israel’s Labour party, said he has recommended that Mr Netanyahu act boldly and accept the time has come for a Palestinian state, despite opposition to the idea from not just more hard-line nationalist parties but his own Likud.
“The role of leader is to think what is right for future of our children and therefore what’s important is that he decides to embrace the Obama initiative and move forward. I think its an historic moment and if Israel does not move towards partitioning the Holy Land than it could be a call for one person, one vote and that could ultimately be the end of the Jewish state,” he said.
Nitzan Horowitz, a lawmaker representing the Left-wing Meretz party, agreed.
“There is a clear majority in Israel that supports the creation of a Palestinian state and the longer Netanyahu delays this and puts up obstacles, we all going to suffer. We expect him to acknowledge that and lead.”
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
‘For the first time, we feel we have a friend in the White House.” This is what a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah had to say this week, after listening to US President Barack Obama’s address to Arabs and Muslims from Cairo.
The official’s sentiments reflected those of many Palestinians who are beginning to talk about a “new era” in relations between the Arabs and the US under the Obama administration.
Words of praise for an American president are extremely rare in the Arab world. But Obama appears to be headed toward making history by becoming the first US president in modern history who is not being accused of bias toward Israel, and who is being hailed for his “balanced” approach to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
For some Palestinians, Obama may even turn out to be better than most of the Arab and Muslim leaders. As one woman in Ramallah put it, “When I heard Obama speaking [from Cairo], I felt as if I were listening to the head of an Arab or Islamic state. He’s really a great man.”
Like many in the Arab and Islamic world, the Palestinians are fond of Obama, first and foremost, because he’s not George W. Bush. As far as they were concerned, Bush was more pro-Israel than many Israelis, and that’s why he was reviled by most Arabs and Muslims.
“After eight years of Bush, anyone would be better received,” said As’ad Abu al-Hayat, a physician from Hebron. “Obama speaks in a different language, and is obviously more respectful of Islam and Muslims.”
Obama has apparently also won the hearts and minds of some Islamic fundamentalist groups. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal heaped praise on him, because he had refrained from calling “resistance attacks” against Israel “terrorism.”
“Obama is talking in a new language, one that is different from the voice we used to hear from the previous US administration,” Mashaal said in an interview with the Palestinian daily Al-Kuds. “Obama avoided branding our resistance operations terrorism, but he made a mistake when he compared the situation of the Palestinians to that of blacks in America.”
Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh also went on the record praising Obama’s “even-handed” approach. He said he was especially encouraged by the US administration’s position vis-à-vis settlement construction, the two-state solution and the continued blockade of the Gaza Strip.
According to sources close to Hamas, the Egyptians this week told Mashaal that the Obama administration would exert pressure on Israel to lift the blockade and launch indirect talks with Hamas, if the Islamic movement agreed to a long-term cease-fire, and ended its power struggle with the rival Fatah faction.
Mashaal, the sources added, was told by the Egyptians that calm in the Gaza Strip would make it easier for the Obama administration to put pressure on the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to make far-reaching concessions. Mashaal is reported to have expressed his movement’s readiness to pursue reconciliation talks with Fatah and maintain the relative calm in Gaza.
THE PA, too, wants to facilitate Obama’s mission. The recent escalation in anti-Hamas raids by its security forces in the West Bank is aimed at showing Obama that Fatah is serious about fulfilling its obligations under the road map, particularly with regard to fighting terrorism.
The anti-Hamas offensive — which resulted in the killing of four top Hamas militiamen in Kalkilya — coincided with Obama’s address, and came on the eve of a visit to Ramallah by US special Middle East envoy George Mitchell. PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, who met separately with Mitchell, are said to have heard words of praise for their recent measures against Hamas in the West Bank.
Under the Bush administration, the PA was under tremendous pressure to fight terrorism, end financial corruption and establish proper governing institutions. But now there is a sigh of relief among senior PA officials in Ramallah because, they say, they are no longer facing the same pressure as before.
The Obama administration knows that the ball is actually in the Israeli court and not the Palestinian court, remarked one of Abbas’s aides after this week’s meeting with Mitchell. “The Americans now understand that it’s Netanyahu who’s the obstacle to peace,” he added. “Netanyahu’s refusal to accept the two-state solution and his insistence on building in the settlements are the major threats to peace. We Palestinians, on the other hand, remain committed to the peace process, the two-state solution and to fulfilling all our obligations under the road map.”
FATAH AND Hamas appear to differ on almost everything — except when it comes to Obama. Both parties are pinning high hopes on the new American administration.
Hamas is desperate to end the state of isolation it has been in since the movement came to power in 2006. It feels there is a good chance that the Obama administration, through its conciliatory approach toward radical Muslims and Arabs, would assist it in winning recognition and legitimacy in the international arena. So far, the messages that Hamas has been receiving from Washington — through the Egyptians, Saudis and Qataris — are, as far as Mashaal and Haniyeh are concerned, very positive and encouraging.
Similarly, the PA leadership in the West Bank has every reason to be satisfied with the apparent shift in US policy on the Middle East. Some PA officials emerged from this week’s talks with Mitchell with big smiles on their faces. The Obama administration, one of them boasted, has almost entirely endorsed the Palestinian stance on major issues like settlements, the two-state solution and Jerusalem.
A number of officials in Ramallah predicted that the looming crisis between the Obama administration and Netanyahu would either force Israel to make radical changes in its policies or bring down the new right-wing coalition. The feeling among many officials in the Mukata presidential compound is that Netanyahu has no choice but to succumb to the American pressure or face new elections — in which case, they say, they would prefer to see Tzipi Livni and Kadima in power.
“For now, Obama is our man in Washington,” commented one official. “But if he fails to follow up on his nice statements with deeds on the ground, we and the rest of the Arabs and Muslims will turn against him very quickly.”
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(ANSAmed) — JENIN (WEST BANK), JUNE 11 — Italy is promoting the industrial area of Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, with “the strategic objective of focusing on the area’s potential for local economic development and to attract investment.” This is what the undersecretary to the Foreign Ministry, Stefania Craxi, stressed today at a conference of Italian and Palestinian entrepreneurs in the Haddad Centre in Jenin, to conclude a mission to the Palestinian Territories. The objective was that of favouring private sector contacts for Italian small and medium sized businesses with possible local partners, especially in the food, marble, construction and building sectors. Jenin is located in a “strategic position,” Craxi stated, “40 km from the port at Haifa, 30 km from the Jordanian border and 40 km from that of Syria.” It is another Palestinian city to be inserted into the EuroMidBridge, a logistical corridor that will connect Northern Europe and the Middle East, based around Verona’s freight village. Italy contributed 200,000 euros to initial research for the project. “None of us,” Craxi said, “intends to substitute the peace process with ‘economic peace’. We are convinced that the political dimension of the peace process must remain intact.” However it will be economic development to “make it last”, she repeated on more than one occasion to the people that accompanied her on the two day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Stefania Craxi also invited the Palestinian Premier, Salam Fayyad, to a presentation forum for investment opportunities in the territories that is scheduled to take place in Milan in November. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JUNE 10 — Episodes of violent and intolerant behaviour against the Palestinian population by radical groups of settlers in Jewish West Bank settlements are on the rise. The claim was made in a report by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organisation, published today by Ynet, an online newspaper. The report provides an account of all the episodes of aggression, marches and provocative raids made by Israelis into Arab areas, as well as other hostile incidents, all of which have been on the rise in recent months. This behaviour, partly fed by the international community’s growing firmness with Israel and the Obama Administration’s call for the freezing of the settlements, has however found political support from the National Union, a far-right nationalist opposition party in the Israeli parliament. Furthermore, the behaviour has given rise to tension, recriminations and, at times, threats to Israeli police and military. What Yesh Din particularly denounces, however, is the growing amount of attacks being made on Palestinian farmers and the farms, from which many draw their only form of support. Indeed, the recent destruction or burning of hundreds of fruit and olive trees has been noted. On the other hand, Ynet reports the news that a Jewish settler and his young son were recently rescued to by several Palestinians after they had a road accident near Bethlehem. Ahmad Allam, one of the men that came to the settlers’ rescue, has said that “Our sense of humanity showed itself, at that moment, to be far stronger than the sense of animosity that the Israeli settlements give rise to”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
TEHRAN — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei annointed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of Friday’s presidential race, triggering violent protests across the nation and allegations by his nearest challenger of widespread vote rigging.
The violence ratcheted up the stakes in the most contentious election since the founding of the Islamic Republic 30 years ago. Prolonged strife or a political standoff would heighten the uncertainty hanging over a country that is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and Washington’s main irritant in the volatile Middle East.
As night descended on Tehran, supporters of main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi clashed with anti-riot police and plain-clothed militia. The city resembled a military zone as thousands of Special Forces units and anti-riot police stormed streets waving their electric batons and hitting rioters and onlookers.
Military cars blocked large swaths of main throughways and instead of traffic police, the para-military Basijis—trained volunteers in plain-clothes—were directing traffic. Vali Asr, the long Tehran avenue where Mousavi supporters last week formed a giant human chain during presidential campaigning, was covered in smoldered black ash—from burnt campaign posters that had been ripped from walls—and shattered glass. Dark smoke hung in the air from garbage dumpsters that were set ablaze on many streets.
On Motahari Avenue, one of the major streets in central Tehran, three public buses were set afire by demonstrators. Syamak Izadi, 62 years old, said he was riding on the bus in central Tehran when a group of men, dressed in Mr. Mousavi’s trademark green, stopped the bus and told passengers to get off. They then doused it with gasoline and set it afire, he said.
Protestors played cat and mouse with the police. They gathered on corners throwing their fists in the air, then ran away when riot police descended. On Hafteh Tir square, several hundred people, including men and women, young and old, marched blocking traffic shouting “God is Great” and asking the public to join them. People gathered on pedestrian bridges and encouraged the protestors while drivers honked their horns.
There was unconfirmed shooting reported in northern Tehran with reports of one woman injured from stray bullets.
“The results are not acceptable to us, Mousavi needs to lead the crowd and depose this government,” said a 37-year-old biologist who gave his name only as Kasra.
Shouts of “Allah o Akbar” rocked Tehran, reminiscent of the revolution where residents take to their rooftops and shout God is Great in order to show their protest.
Mobile phone service was suspended across the capital. BBC’s Persian language service, which many Iranians listen to for news, was jammed. Social networking site Facebook, used by Mr. Mousavi’s young supporters to organize, was blocked. On Vali Asr, a pedestrian bridge was set ablaze near Mellat Park.
[…]
Mr. Mousavi said there was an organized effort to block his campaign staff from communicating with one another and the public on Friday. The Ministry of Telecommunications imposed a nation-wide block of text messaging from mobiles. Mr. Mousavi’s supervisors at polls were planning to report discrepancies by text messages.
Thousands of Mr. Mousavi’s volunteer supervisors were not issued credentials by the Interior Ministry, which runs the elections, and were barred from polling stations, Mr. Mousavi said. Internet speed was slower than usual all day and by noon nearly all Web sites affiliated with Mr. Mousavi were blocked.
The campaign said that a group of people, who identified themselves as intelligence officers, entered Mr. Mousavi’s campaign headquarters in northern Tehran on Friday evening demanding that the young strategists at the campaign, responsible for much of deploying new media techniques, leave the premises.
Mr. Mousavi’s campaign lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh, said in an interview that Tehran’s chief prosecutor informed Mr. Mousavi’s campaign lawyer that security agents would arrive Saturday morning with a court order to shut down all their communication operations.
Mr. Obama and many of his advisers had been voicing optimism in recent days that the U.S. president’s outreach to the Islamic world, including his speech in Cairo last week, was helping facilitate a more moderate trend in the Middle East. They cited the victory in Lebanese elections last week of a pro-Western coalition against a political bloc led by Hezbollah.
“We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran,” Mr. Obama said Friday at the White House before the dueling claims of victory came out.
U.S. and European officials involved in Iran policy fear Mr. Ahmadinejad’s re-election could raise the prospect of sustained conflict between the West and Tehran in the coming months.
| — Hat tip: Judith Apter Klinghoffer | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, JUNE 9 — Tomorrow Abu Dhabi will activate a new hydroelectric system able to compress waste below street level, the city’s high-tech response to the need to optimise costs and quality of its waste collection. There will be three ‘waste stations’ to start with and this number will gradually rise to 31 in several areas of the capital. The waste material will be thrown into new rubbish containers which are linked to the new underground containers in which it will be compressed. If the underground containers are full, a signal will be sent to the control centre. The compression of the waste means it will have to be collected only twice a week instead of every day, saving on the number of garbage trucks, on fuel and reducing traffic and pollution. Majdi al Mansouri, director of the waste management centre, also told the press agency WAM that the centre is studying the world’s first recycling system for paper with representations related to the Islam on it, which therefore is sacred. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI — Green is a symbolic colour of the environment, but also of Islam. In a program uniting the environment and religion, the Abu Dhabi waste management centre is preparing a new system, the first in the world, to collect and recycle sacred texts and all paper with religious content. Islamic tradition dictates that copies of the Koran, like other religious texts, should not be thrown on the ground or thrown away when they are worn out and must be burned. “We are preparing a system that will allow for these texts to be destroyed and reused according to Islamic law,” explained the manager of the Majdi al-Mansuri waste management centre to ANSAmed, “paying attention to Islamic and ecological practices”. Currently, in all mosques, there is a specific container for sacred texts, but the waste management centre is proposing to guarantee the complete separation of the text from all material starting with the initial phases of recycling. Mosques will be equipped with specific containers to deposit the materials. They will be closed from the outside and usable only by specific individuals, and will hold an internal shredder that will reduce the holy texts into thin strips. A sensor will go off when the container has reached capacity and a special mobile unit will collect the “sacred waste”, which will be recycled and reused, since it will be ‘uncontaminated’. Still in the planning stages, the project is making use of funds from about 250 mosques in the Abu Dhabi area, and will be discussed with the Religious Affairs Ministry. But the original ideas of the ‘green’ revolution, which with billions in investments, are transforming the working arrangement in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will not stop here. A pioneering group of young architects, led by Professor Ahmad Mokhtar of the American University of Sharjah, inspired by Masdar City, a self-sustaining and zero pollution city which is taking shape near Abu Dhabi, has developed a series of projects for ecological mosques. The first objective is to optimise the use of electricity and water in mosques, which, due to the requirement to carry out ablutions before each prayer, use large amounts of water. The mosques have also been studied to exploit the solar potential of the country, making use of solar panels and wind, by using “wind towers”. Older mosques, open on all four sides due the architectural style in the UAE, have allowed for cool air to enter naturally and for warm air to exit, keeping them cool for centuries. This style disappeared with the creation of air conditioners, the towers will be used in mosques in various ways, starting with the high minarets. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Angry crowds in Moseni Square in Iran’s capital Saturday night broke into shops, tore down signs and started fires as they protested the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to CNN employees at the scene.
They were yelling the name of Mir Hossein Moussavi, who the government says lost Friday’s presidential election by a wide margin.
Protests broke out in Tehran earlier Saturday after Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the vote.
The announcement brought thousands of Moussavi supporters onto the streets where they were met a strong police presence and the threat of violence.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said she saw riot police fighting “running battles” with protesters, who were shouting “death to dictatorship.”
The government said on Saturday that Ahmadinejad won Friday’s presidential election with 62.63 percent of the vote and Mir Hossein Moussavi received 33.75 percent of the vote.
Before the vote count ended, Moussavi issued a sharply worded letter urging the counting to stop because of “blatant violations” and lashed out at what he indicated was an unfair process.
Moussavi said the results from “untrustworthy monitors” reflected “the weakening of the pillars that constitute the sacred system” of Iran and “the rule of authoritarianism and tyranny.” Independent vote monitors were banned from polling places.
| — Hat tip: Brutally Honest | [Return to headlines] |
TEHRAN (AFP) — Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was on Saturday declared winner by a landslide in Iran’s hotly-disputed presidential vote, triggering riots by opposition supporters and furious complaints of cheating from his defeated rivals.
Baton-wielding police clashed with protestors in unrest not seen for a decade as thousands of supporters of main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets shouting “Down with the Dictator” after final results showed Ahmadinejad winning almost 63 percent of the vote.
Moderate ex-premier Mousavi cried foul over election irregularities and warned the outcome of the vote could lead to “tyranny,” as some of his supporters were beaten by riot police.
The interior minister said Mousavi had won less than 34 percent of the vote, giving Ahmadinejad another four-year term in a result that dashed Western hopes of change and set the scene for a possible domestic power struggle.
Iran’s all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed Ahmadinejad’s victory and urged the country to unite behind him after the most heated election campaign since the Islamic revolution,
The vote outcome appears to have galvanised a grass-roots movement for change after 30 years of restrictive clerical rule in a country where 60 percent of the population was born after the revolution.
The international community had also been keenly watching the election for any signs of a shift in policy after four years of hardline rhetoric from the 52-year-old Ahmadinejad and a standoff over Iran’s nuclear drive.
Mousavi protested at what he described as “numerous and blatant irregularities” in the vote which officials said attracted a record turnout of around 85 percent of the 46 million electorate.
“No one can imagine such rigging, with the world watching, from a government who holds commitment to shariah-based justice as one of its basic pillars,” said Mousavi said in a letter posted on his campaign website.
“What we have seen from dishonest (election) officials will result in shaking the pillars of the Islamic republic system, and a dominance of lying and tyranny,” he said in a separate statement.
In the heart of Tehran, thousands of Mousavi supporters voiced their disbelief and frustration at the results, with some throwing stones at police who struck back with batons.
Angry crowds first emerged near Mousavi’s campaign office in central Tehran, where protestors, including women, were hit with sticks as riot police on motorbikes moved in to break up the gathering, an AFP correspondent said.
There were no immediate reports of violence elsewhere in the county.
Reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who came a distant fourth with less than one percent of the vote after ex-Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai in third, also declared the result “illegitimate and unacceptable”.
“They have ruined the country and they want to ruin it more over the next four years,” shouted an irate mob outside Mousavi’s office.
But Khamenei hailed Ahmadinejad’s victory as a “feast.”
“The enemies may want to spoil the sweetness of this event… with some kind of ill-intentioned provocations,” he said. “The president elect is the president of the entire Iranian nation and… all should support and help him.”
Mousavi had been hoping for a political comeback on a groundswell of support among the nation’s youth, with pledges to ease restrictions particularly on women, and fix Iran’s ailing economy.
Ahmadinejad’s supporters had earlier taken to the streets in triumph, honking their horns and waving Iranian flags.
The election highlighted deep divisions in Iran after four years under Ahmadinejad, who had massive support in the rural heartland, while in the big cities young men and women threw their weight behind Mousavi.
The elite Revolutionary Guards had warned of a crackdown on any “velvet revolution” by supporters of the 67-year-old who was prime minister during the war with neighbouring Iraq in the 1980s.
Iran has long been at loggerheads with the West as Ahmadinejad delivered a succession of fiery tirades against Israel, repeatedly questioned the Holocaust and vowed to press on with nuclear work despite UN sanctions, denying allegations Tehran was seeking the atomic bomb.
“The results of the election show, now more than ever, how much stronger the Iranian threat has become,” said Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon.
US President Barack Obama, who has called for dialogue with Iran after three decades of severed ties, said he saw the “possibility of change” in relations with the regional Shiite powerhouse.
“Whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact that there’s been a robust debate hopefully will help advance our ability to engage them in new ways,” Obama said.
Former US president Jimmy Carter, who was in power during the Islamic revolution, said he believed there would be no change in US policy “because the same person will be there.”
Even if Mousavi had won, it was doubtful there would be any major shift in Iran’s nuclear and foreign policy as all decisions on matters of state rest with Khamenei who has been in the nation’s top job for 20 years.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 11 — The 100th hearing of the Ergenekon trial, where 88 suspects stand accused of membership in a clandestine organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government, was held today. With today’s trial, the court will have completed 100 sessions in seven-and-a-half months since the trial began in October of last year. Given how things normally progress move in Turkey’s higher criminal courts — on average four hearings are held annually per trial — the Ergenekon trial has, in relative terms, managed to complete 25 years worth of trial sessions in less than eight months. An alleged criminal network that came to be known as Ergenekon was revealed after police seized 27 grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12, 2007 and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into weapons. The first session of the Ergenekon trial being heard by the Istanbul 13th Higher Criminal Court at a courthouse inside Silivri Prison started on October 20, 2008. There are about 30 charges against the defendants, amongst them former generals, nationalist politicians, extreme right-wing sympathisers, show business personalities, writers, journalists and local mafia. The three most serious are: organising terrorist groups, incitement to revolt and attempting to overthrow the government. The public prosecutor says that they are all responsible in different degrees for trying to destabilise the country with anti-government protests, political murder and attacks against the forces of order with the aim of overthrowing the AKP government, in power since 2002. The controversial case, however, has divided Turkey, as many believe it has turned into a witch hunt targeting government critics. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
MOSCOW — A top Kremlin official said Thursday that Russia is ready to expand cooperation with the United States in combating international terrorism.
Anatoly Safonov, the Kremlin’s top envoy on the issue, said President Barack Obama’s visit to Russia in early July should help boost joint U.S.-Russian efforts to combat terrorism and prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
“The world is getting increasingly vulnerable and unsafe, and both Russian and U.S. leaders are worried about that,” Safonov said at a briefing. “We will preserve our achievements and move forward.”
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., Moscow and Washington traded information on al-Qaida and other terrorist groups and worked jointly to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction. Disputes over the war in Iraq, U.S. missile defense plans and other issues strained ties and hampered these exchanges.
Obama has moved to “reset” relations ties with Moscow which plunged to a post-Cold War low under George W. Bush’s administration.
Safonov said Moscow now is particularly concerned about the situation in Afghanistan, which has produced an increasing amount of drugs flowing into Russia.
“We are working together with our Western counterparts to find efficient ways to stem drug-trafficking,” he said.
Safonov said that Russia is also worried that terrorists who fought in Iraq would move elsewhere, including Russia. He said the war in Iraq served as “Harvard for terrorists,” who now may move to other areas, including Chechnya and other provinces in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus, where Islamic militants stage regular raids on police and other authorities.
Safonov said the U.S.-Russian cooperation has been hampered in the past by what he called “double standards,” and voiced hope that it would improve under the new U.S. administration. Russia in the past has been annoyed by Washington’s reluctance to brand Islamic militants in Chechnya as terrorists.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia on Thursday spurned an offer from the United States to participate closely in its planned European anti-missile system, instead urging Washington to drop its proposals and start afresh.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday he was hopeful Moscow might consider hosting either radars or a data exchange center as it recognized the growing threat from Iran.
But Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday that Moscow would not entertain any novel ideas until Washington dropped its intention to place ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic.
“Only a rejection by the United States of plans to create a … missile Defense system in Europe could lay the groundwork for our fully fledged dialogue on questions of cooperation in reacting to potential missile risks,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told reporters.
Moscow has protested against the anti-missile system, which it perceives as a threat to its own security and has also linked the scheme to negotiations on a new treaty to curb strategic nuclear weapons.
Nesterenko added that Moscow still hoped to find a way to reach a compromise with Washington.
U.S. officials have consistently stated that the planned deployment is aimed at preventing potential attacks from countries like Iran. Gates went further at a U.S. Senate hearing on June 9, saying Russia increasingly shared this view.
“The Russians have come back to us and acknowledged that (we) were right in terms of the nearness of the Iranian missile threat,” Gates told a senate appropriations hearing, according to the U.S. Federal News Service transcript.
“And we’ve made a number of offers in terms of how to partner, and I think there are still some opportunities — for example, perhaps putting radars in Russia, having data exchange centers in Russia,” Gates was quoted as saying.
Gates said he hoped there could be progress on this topic when U.S. President Barack Obama travels to Moscow from July 6-8, where he hopes to build on repeated calls from both capitals to ‘reset’ relations.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
By SHAMSUDIN BOKOV, Associated Press Writer Shamsudin Bokov, Associated Press Writer 2 hrs 29 mins ago
NAZRAN, Russia — Gunmen killed a former top government minister in Ingushetia as he stood outside his home in the violent southern Russian region Saturday, law enforcement officials said.
Bashir Aushev’s killing was the latest in a string of assassinations — and the second to hit Ingushetia this week — to highlight North Caucasus’ continuing turmoil.
Two gunmen sprayed Aushev with automatic weapon fire as he got out of his car at the gate outside his home in the region’s main city, Nazran, around 6:30 p.m. (1430 GMT), the regional Interior Ministry’s press service said.
He died en route to the hospital.
Aushev was vice premier under former Ingush President Murat Zyazikov, a KGB agent who was widely reviled by many Ingush for his repressive policies.
Aushev, who was responsible for relations with law enforcement agencies in the region, resigned from the government when Zyazikov was replaced by the Kremlin in October. Russian news agencies said he had not worked since leaving government.
While in office, Aushev was attacked several times, and his home was hit by mortars, according to the government’s service, but he was never wounded.
Ingushetia is home to hundreds of refugees from the wars in Chechnya, to the south, and is one Russia’s poorest regions. Like other North Caucasus regions, it has seen an alarming spike in violence in recent years. Much of it is linked to the two separatist wars that ravaged Chechnya over the past 15 years, but persistent poverty, corruption, feuding ethnic groups and the rise of radical Islam also are blamed.
On Wednesday, gunmen killed a deputy chief justice of the regional Supreme Court opposite a kindergarten in Nazran. Five other people were wounded in the attack.
On June 5, the top law enforcement of another North Caucasus region, Dagestan, was killed by a sniper as he stood outside a restaurant where a wedding was taking place.
That killing prompted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to travel to Dagestan to meet with federal and regional police officials and showcase the Kremlin’s campaign to bring calm to the North Caucasus.
Earlier this week, Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed president, Ramzan Kadyrov, said in an interview that the United States was to blame for the North Caucasus’ problems.
“It is precisely from the side of America that work is being carried out aimed at the disintegration of the sovereign Russian state. It is not terrorists, not Islamists,” he said according to transcript posted on his government Web site.
The Americans “are creating problems for Russia; they want to pull Russia down… They have such a system working — all sorts of social organizations created to spread rumors and gossip, to agitate people; they know that in the Caucasus the only way to create problems for Russia is on a religious basis,” Kadyrov said.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Only the Church “treats us like a family, without discrimination of any kind,” says Mgr Marampudi Joji. He leads a delegation from the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches to meet Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy. He calls on the authorities to defend religious freedom and the right to convert; he wants Christian Dalits to enjoy the same rights as other Dalits, whether Hindus, Buddhists or Sikhs.
Hyderabad (AsiaNews) — “I am the first Dalit bishop of India and I have a duty to ensure that most Dalit Christians can enjoy the same privileges on par with other Dalits,” said Mgr Marampudi Joji, Catholic archbishop of Hyderabad and executive vice-president of the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches (APFC). In speaking to AsiaNews he explained what he and Christians throughout the state must do to uphold the rights of Dalits.
Last Friday he led a 40-member APFC delegation to meet Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy who just started his second mandate.
The APFC called on Rajasekhara Reddy to defend freedom of religion and the right to convert so that Christian Dalits can enjoy the same rights as Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh Dalits.
The chief minister reassured them that he intends to discuss the issue with Union authorities in New Delhi, especially with the ministers of Law and Justice and of Social Justice and Empowerment
Rajasekhara Reddy also said that he would be available to lead a delegation of Churches to the Union capital to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19-20 June.
At the bottom of the problem is a 1950 presidential order which introduced a quota system to benefit Dalits in education and public service employment.
The same order denied Christian and Muslim Dalits or anyone who converted to those religions the right to claim any benefits that might accrue to them as members of scheduled groups.
For Archbishop Joji even a cursory reading of the order shows its discriminatory nature because it violates articles 15 and 25 of the constitution.
“By restricting the benefits to a particular religion, the order has divided the entire Dalit community on the basis of religion,” he said.
Christian Dalits are effectively denied the same protection and rights offered to other Dalits, and this constitutes a violation of religious freedom.
For the Indian Church APFC’s commitment to the Dalit community constitutes a cultural challenge in a country like India’s.
“When the Holy See announced my appointment as the first Dalit archbishop, there were a lot of rumblings in society,” the prelate said. But only Church “treats us like a family, without discrimination of any kind.”
“However, in Indian society this issue is also a socio-economic issue.” In fact, the Supreme Court has ruled “that a change of religion does not change caste and that the disabilities of the Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity continue even after conversion, on par with Dalits in other religions.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jakarta, 12 June (AKI/The Jakarta Post) — The global economic crisis has forced a greater number of Indonesian children into the workforce, particularly girls, many of whom are exploited for commercial sex, the United Nations specialised agency, the International Labor Organization said.
“Recent global estimates indicate the number of child workers had been falling. But the financial crisis that began in late 2008 is threatening to erode this progress,” Patrick Daru, chief technical adviser at the ILO’s Jakarta office, said Thursday at a media conference.
The crisis has exacerbated the income problems of poor families around the world, including in Indonesia, making them tend to send their children to work rather than to school.
“This is the supply and demand theory at work,” he added.
“Employers use child labour because they’re cheaper, while families also need additional income.”
ILO data from 2007 shows that of the 1.1 million Indonesian working children under the age of 14, 40 percent or 440,000 are girls. Of this number, an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 are victims of sexual exploitation.
“Girls are more likely to be the victims of trafficking into prostitution. Approximately 21,000 prostituted children, both boys and girls, are located in Java,” said Arum Ratnawati, the ILO Jakarta technical adviser.
Child prostitutes can be found easily in public places like streets and parks, or in “hidden” places of prostitution like beauty and massage parlours, discotheques, cafes and hotels, as well as karaoke lounges, leaving them vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS or forming a drug habit, Arum said.
Indonesia is also trying to solve the problem of child trafficking, which is rife in the areas of Indramayu and Karawang in West Java and Blitar and Banyuwangi in East Java.
Indonesia has a population of 235 million people and 90 percent of them are Muslim. Most practise a moderate form of the faith.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Today is the World Day against Child Labour. Despite government proclamations conditions for minors in the country remain difficult. The wound of child soldiers is added to a low level of education, violence and a lack of health care.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — In 2008 in Pakistan 6,780 cases of violence committed on minors took place: sexual abuse, targeted murders, abductions, forced labour and suicides are only some example of this, to which the exploitation of “child soldiers” in the war between Islamic fundamentalism and the army, must be added. The 2008 report on the “Condition of Children in Pakistan” —released by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) — underlines the governments failure to apply national and international law in protection of the rights of minors.
Today marks World Day against Child Labour. The Pakistani rights group report lists corporal punishment, the wound of street children, child brides and acid attacks, that mark the young lives forever. It urges a clamping down on child pornography and demands that the minimum age to marry is raised from 16 to 18.
The document reports that almost 30% of children under the age of five are malnourished. There are approximately 70 physicians for every 0.1 million people and a mere 1,000 government-run hospitals to cater to the entire population (circa 173 million). It claims that 30-40 percent of children of school going age across the country, are not attending schools; that 4,million babies are born in Pakistan every year but 40,000 die before reaching five.
The report cites a study by the Initiator Human Development Foundation in 2008, saying children from the lower strata of society studying at the madrasse religious schools also fall victim to sexual violence. The study claims seminary teachers sexually abused 21 % of sample students. The report says about 40% schools in the public sector are without boundary walls, 33 % without drinking water, over half without electricity or lavatories and 7 % without buildings. The tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan, the theatre of violence between the army and the fundamentalists, have the least infrastructure for education; the few remaining resources are targeted by the Taleban, who have destroyed hundreds of schools above all female institutes.
The SPARC report says the government, despite its claims, has not favour polices to protect minors. In 1988 funding for education was equal to 2.4% of the Gross National Product (GDP). In the two year period of 2007-8 it grew little, arriving at a miserable 2.9% of the GDP. Pakistan is still far from reaching the Millenium Development Goals (MDG): among which is the guarantee of education for all by 2015.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Hrcp) also warns of abuse and mistreatment of minors. The 2008 document on human rights reports that that at least 114 children were killed for various reasons, including for honour killings, and at least 221 girls and several hundred boys were reported to have been raped, gang-raped, subjected to sodomy or stripped in public. In the nations cities an estimated 700,000 children live and work on the streets; while in rural areas across Pakistan children are being recruited by armed militias and trained for terrorist attacks.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China’s economic crisis is hitting college graduates hard for the first time. For many job anxiety leads to depression, but what concerns the government is that too many unemployed graduates might cause street protests.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — A few months ago, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that about 12 per cent of last year’s graduates had still not found jobs. This year more than 7 million college and university graduates are facing grim employment prospects and will have to fight for jobs with the 1.5 million graduates from last year who are still unemployed. And for many, unemployment will be such a shameful burden to bear that they will descend into depression or even take their own lives.
In an export-driven economy like China’s plunging exports have led to thousands of plant closures and weaker contacts with foreign firms. This in turn has reduced the demand for new graduates.
Growing unemployment among new graduates is becoming a source of concern for the government, worried that a large number of jobless college students might lead to disaffection and social unrest; a fear that is compounded by the fact that 25 million migrant workers have also lost their jobs.
China’s leaders are also quite cognizant that the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square began when a large number of dissatisfied students took their grievances to the streets.For this reason the Communist Party has been trying to find them jobs.
The State Council has also issued a five-point guideline for helping graduates find jobs. These include urging provincial and lower-level governments do all they can to create more employment. For instance, in the city of Weifang (Shandong) local officials have been asked to use all their contacts and influence to find jobs for at least three graduates. In Beijing the city government has just announced a scheme to employ 1,600 graduates on three-year contracts as assistants to officials in the villages around the city.
During a visit in Shaanxi Premier Wen Jiabao told about 2,500 students that his government will make job creation for graduates one of its top priorities this year. On Sunday in a speech he delivered at Xian Jiaotong University he encouraged students to widen their employment search to include grass-roots jobs.
Chinese President Hu Jintao also urged students to work at the grass-roots levels instead in an address he made on Saturday at the China Agricultural University.
The Ministry of Education said last week that about 48 per cent of the mainland’s 6 million graduates had managed to land jobs.
But joblessness is not just about not finding a job. For students from poor areas whose families took on major financial burdens to fund their studies, it can cause a sense of dishonour. For years they dreamt of landing a great job so that when their aspirations are not fulfilled, unemployment becomes a reason to be ashamed.
Official figures indicate in fact that joblessness is the main cause of suicide among students.
At the same time the number of students who abandon their studies before completing their education is up from under 10 per cent in 1998 to 23 per cent.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
MARAWI, Philippines (AFP) — When American consumers dial a toll-free hotline for customer service support, they may not be aware they are helping bring an end to a long-running insurgency half way across the world.
Some of the calls are routed to a call centre in the Philippines’ southern Muslim heartland, the Southeast Asian theatre of the US-led war on terror where part of a new strategy is to smother the insurgency with job empowerment.
The US Agency for International Development through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) programme has teamed up with a business process outsourcing firm, known as a BPO, in a novel venture to train and employ youths in this Muslim stronghold.
The rationale is to teach them English and hire them for backroom jobs outsourced by American firms seeking to cut operational costs at home.
Those behind the scheme hope that with more money and improved living standards, many will be weaned away from violence and contribute to developing a region racked by 40 years of insurgency.
“We are hoping to give them stable, long-term employment,” said Rene Subido, a GEM official who helped devise the plan.
“By giving them a stake in the development here, they will have more to lose if the war continues.”
Subido said the Nevada-based BPO firm, the Hubport Group, had initially been apprehensive about setting up in the Muslim Mindanao but was won over by the talent and eagerness of the region’s youth.
They set up a 24-hour back-room operation at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) where 42 employees churn out web designs, software programmes and medical transcriptions for American clients.
Others specialise in technical support, guiding clients thousands of miles away as they trouble-shoot web pages.
No one had ever thought of setting up in the southern Philippines because of the violence, said Hubport chief operating officer Eric Manalastas during a recent tour of the facility by visiting diplomats.
He said the firm — which also has offices in Singapore, Canada, Britain, Japan and Saudi Arabia — believes the south has enough manpower “who if given the room to grow, can be harnessed into a highly efficient and competitive force that can match global standards”.
A large part of the manpower will come from MSU’s main campus in Marawi, an impoverished city on the shore of the picturesque Lanao lake where Arabic is widely taught and spoken.
It also is the heart of Islam in Mindanao, the Philippines’ main southern island where Muslim separatists have been waging a decades-long rebellion to carve out an independent state.
Militants with links to Al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) are also known to operate in the area, which intelligence experts consider fertile ground for recruitment.
A small room inside a brick building has been transformed into a speech and computer laboratory, where local tutors teach English..
For computer programmer Muhammad Husshan, 20, working for Hubport means he will be able to send money to his parents and seven siblings living elsewhere in the south.
“I hope more young people will be given jobs and will be trained in companies like this,” he said.
Like many here, Husshan believes that Muslims have been unjustly sidelined by the Manila government, but he added: “I think people would not pick up guns if they are busy with jobs.”
Small numbers of US troops have been rotating in the southern Philippines since 2003, when President Gloria Arroyo sought help to crush Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for high profile kidnappings and bombings.
Remnants of Abu Sayyaf still roam the south, while tens and thousands remain displaced by 10 months of fighting between troops and the main insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The US government meanwhile has given millions in development aid, with promises of more funds if insurgents signed a peace accord.
“I think that shift in policy is helping more in the anti-terror war than the fighting,” says Virgilio Leyretana, chairman of the Mindanao Economic Development Council.
“Of course, nothing can be solved overnight. And for as long as Mindanao is pictured as a troublesome place, businesses will shy away.”
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
EXCLUSIVE: FRONTLINE police will be forced to become “carbon cops” under the Government’s blueprint to cut greenhouse emissions.
The Herald Sun can reveal Australian Federal Police agents will have to prosecute a new range of climate offences.
But they are yet to be offered extra resources, stretching the thin blue line to breaking point.
“The Government is effectively saying to us, ‘Ignore other crime types’,” Australian Federal Police Association chief Jim Torr said.
The group had been trying for months, without success, to discuss the issue with Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, he said.
Interpol has warned the carbon market will be irresistible to criminal gangs because of the vast amounts of cash to be made. Possible rorts include under-reporting of carbon emissions by firms and bogus carbon offset schemes.
“If someone is rorting it by even 1 per cent a year, we’re talking about many, many millions of dollars,” Mr Torr said.
Ms Wong’s office said AFP agents would be expected to enter premises and request paperwork to monitor firms’ emissions reductions. They would act on the 30-strong Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority’s orders.
It said the authority could appoint staff members or police as inspectors.
She said the Department of Climate Change had spoken to the AFPA and the parties would talk again. Carbon trading involves carbon emissions rights buying and selling. Businesses can offset emissions by investing in climate-friendly projects, or carbon credits.
Ms Wong’s office said provisions had been made to ensure compliance. “Inspectors may enter premises and exercise other monitoring powers,” she said. “The inspectors may ask questions and seek the production of documents. There is provision for the issue of monitoring warrants by magistrates.”
The AFP’s 2855 sworn agents are involved in law enforcement in Australia and overseas, investigating terrorist threats, drug syndicates, people trafficking, fraud and threats against children.
Mr Torr said breaking carbon trading laws would be like breaking other laws. “These offences will constitute another federal crime type, along with narcotics importing, people smuggling and all the rest of it, that the AFP will be expected to police,” he said. “I can see very complex, covert investigations . . . a lot of scientific expertise required.”
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is facing Senate defeat unless it can secure the support of key cross-benchers or the Opposition.
Opposition climate change spokesman Andrew Robb said the scheme was problematic.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
ONE of Australia’s major banks is planning to introduce “Muslim-friendly” loans that do not charge interest to comply with sharia law.
Instead, the National Australia Bank will structure an Islam-approved line of finance to make money from alternative methods.
These include profit-sharing on the transaction, joint-ventures or leasing-type arrangements.
For example, to get round the Islamic ban on usury — or unfair lending — a Muslim mortgage often works by the bank buying the property, then selling it to the customer at a profit. The customer then repays the sum in instalments.
In this way the profit margin is built in from the start. It also makes the loan immune from future interest rate rises.
NAB said the loans would have to be cleared by a Sharia Advisory Board to ensure they met strict criteria.
“We are dipping our toe in the water and thought we may be able to offer this product in high-density Muslim areas,” said Richard Peters, head of community finance & development at NAB.
“We suspect there is demand out there but we don’t know how big it is, so we will trial a few products first.”
NAB will pump $15m from its not-for-profit finance division into the program, which will distribute funds through various community finance schemes around the country.
Interest-free loans of up to $1000 will be available, which are intended to help finance household items such as washing machines and fridges.
“It’s a small step but we are trying to raise awareness about the need for Islamic finance,” Mr Peters said.
The loans would be available to non-Muslims as well.
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
President Omar Bongo of Gabon died this week after nearly 42 years in power — who inherits his title as Africa’s longest-serving leader?
The BBC’s Peter Lewenstein has compiled a list — in reverse order, by length of continuous time in office — of the 10 African heads of state who have stood the test of time.
No 10: PRESIDENT ZINE AL-ABIDINE BEN ALI of TUNISIA
21 YEARS IN POWER
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali came to power in a bloodless coup in November 1987.
He took over from Habib Bourguiba amid claims the latter was unfit to govern owing to senility.
Mr Ben Ali marked the 21st anniversary of office by releasing 44 political prisoners.
No 9: PRESIDENT BLAISE COMPAORE of BURKINA FASO
21 YEARS
Mystery still surrounds the death of President Blaise Compaore’s predecessor and friend, Thomas Sankara.
But after he was shot dead by a group of soldiers in October 1987, Mr Compaore, as his number two, stepped into the breach.
President Compaore has since won three elections, scraping in last time round in 2005 with 80% percent of the vote.
No 8: KING MSWATI III of SWAZILAND
23 YEARS
King Mswati came to the throne in April 1986; as son of Sobhuza, he was heir to the Swazi throne.
But it took a three-year power struggle following his father’s death before he was crowned.
As an absolute monarch, elections are not really his thing — he has allowed people to vote for members of parliament, but political parties are not recognised.
No 7: PRESIDENT YOWERI MUSEVENI of UGANDA
23 YEARS
After years in the bush fighting a rebellion, ex-army officer Yoweri Museveni led his National Resistance Army into Kampala in January 1986 to seize power.
He toppled Basilio Okello, who had himself overthrown Milton Obote in a military coup six months earlier.
Mr Museveni has also won three elections, but only last time, in 2006, were candidates allowed to run on a party-political basis.
No 6: PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA of CAMEROON
26 YEARS
In November 1982, Cameroon’s first post-independence leader, Ahmadou Ahidjo, formally resigned due to ill-health, and handed the presidency to his Prime Minister, Paul Biya.
Since then Mr Biya has won five elections, which — say the opposition — is not surprising, given that the votes have always been overseen by senior ruling party figures.
No 5: PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK of EGYPT
27 YEARS
Hosni Mubarak took over after the assassination of President Sadat by Islamist militants in October 1981.
He was confirmed as president by a referendum.
In the last election in 2005, he squeaked through with 88% of the vote.
There has been plenty of speculation in Cairo that he is grooming his son Gamal to succeed him.
No 4: PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE of ZIMBABWE
29 YEARS
The world cheered when, after leading a long guerrilla war, Robert Mugabe led his Zanu party to victory at the elections in February 1980, after Zimbabwe had won its independence from Britain.
But he is no longer a global favourite and the opposition accuses him of destroying his country in a bid to stay in power.
He is now sharing power — but remains president.
No 3: PRESIDENT JOSE EDUARDO DOS SANTOS of ANGOLA
NEARLY 30 YEARS
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos assumed power on the death of Angola’s first president, Agostinho Neto, in September 1979.
But for much of the time after that, he ruled only over half the country, as his MPLA fought a civil war against Unita.
Now, with the war over, and Unita crushed at last year’s parliamentary elections, he is being called on to hold an election for the presidency. No firm date has yet been set.
No 2: EQUATORIAL GUINEA’S TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA
NEARLY 30 YEARS
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema came to power in August 1979 in classic style, deposing his uncle, Macias Nguema, who fled but was later captured and executed.
Despite its new-found oil wealth, 60% of the people of Equatorial Guinea live on less than a dollar a day.
But they clearly all love President Nguema, as he won 97% of the vote at the last election in 2002.
No 1: PRESIDENT MUAMMAR GADDAFI of LIBYA
39 YEARS
And finally, Africa’s undisputed newly crowned longest-serving ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, who was in office a decade ahead of his nearest rival.
Col Gaddafi led a coup by young army officers in September 1969, then set about establishing his own political system, as laid out in his Green Book; and he’s been there ever since.
Last year, he was named “king of kings” by a meeting of Africa’s traditional rulers.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
June 12 (Bloomberg) — The Air France plane that crashed June 1 may have partly broken up in the air before hitting the Atlantic Ocean, O Estado de S. Paulo reported, citing investigators it didn’t identify.
Most of the 16 bodies examined in preliminary stages of the probe into the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were found naked or with minimal clothing, suggesting the wind may have removed the garments, the newspaper said. The possibility of an explosion or fire in the jet is also unlikely because the bodies showed no sign of burns, Estado said.
Almost all of the bodies had multiple fractures, the paper reported. Investigators haven’t found water in the victims’ lungs, which would indicate drowning, Estado said. Bodies were found 85 kilometers (53 miles) apart, which may also indicate the Airbus A330-200 broke up before reaching the ocean, Estado reported.
Representatives from Brazil’s legal medical institute, which is conducting the body examinations in the northeastern city of Recife, weren’t immediately reachable when Bloomberg News called for comment before regular working hours.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSA) — ROME, JUNE 11 — “It is a difficult tide to stem — a form of immigration that forcibly imposes itself,” said Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on the ever increasing flow of immigrants departing from Libyan coasts trying to reach Italy and beyond. “There are strong attractions pulling them towards Europe,” said Gaddafi yesterday during a joint press conference with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. But in Africa, he added, “there are no political problems”, and the issue of asylum seekers “is a widespread lie”. “Millions of people are attracted by Europe, and are trying to get here. Do we really think that millions of people are asylum seekers? It is really a laughable matter”. “If you try to send them back,” he added, referring to the Italian government’s recent decision to send migrant boats back to Libya, “they accuse you of acting against human rights. Are we then going to leave all Europe’s gates open and let the whole of Africa sweep into Europe?”. The Libyan leader then talked about the population “living in the desert, in the forests, having no identity at all. Let alone a political identity. They feel that the North has all the wealth, the money, and so they try to reach it.” According to Gaddafi, this phenomenon is mostly linked to “organized crime, as well as drugs and terrorism”. “There are government officials being investigated on charges of conniving with criminal organizations. There are international networks behind it and we need to assess who is responsible. But please,” he asked once again, “do not see it as a political issue”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
(ANSAmed) — Rome, June 11 — Libya needs much more money from the European Union to help curb immigration from Africa, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said Thursday. “Many billions of euros are needed to stem the flows of immigrants into the Mediterranean,” Gaddafi told Italian Senators. He described the one billion euros the EU currently gives Libya to contain immigration as “insufficient”. Italy and Libya have recently started joint patrols and Tripoli has agreed to take back intercepted immigrants in a controversial policy criticised by human rights groups. Echoing Italian officials, Gaddafi said the two countries “could not tackle this problem alone”. He said the EU should do more because “the problem concerns the whole of Europe”. Gaddafi said immigration should be given greater attention by all international bodies including the United Nations and the African Union of which Libya is currently president. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
WITHIN five years internet users will have to pay to access content now free, according to Barry Diller, chief executive of InterActiveCorp in the United States, which runs about 30 websites and turns over $US1.5 billion ($A1.8 billion) each year.
“I absolutely believe the internet is passing from its free days into a paid system,” he told the Advertising 2.0 conference in New York this week.
Mr Diller said the paid model would include subscriptions, one-time purchases for access to sites and micro-payments.
But not all agree. “That’s quite a prediction,” said Neil Ackland, managing director of the Sound Alliance Group, the largest independent online publisher in Australia. Its niche music and lifestyle sites — such as FasterLouder, SameSame and Mess+Noise — attract 500,000 unique hits a month.
“We’ve been doing that for more than 10 years and manage to make a profit out of advertising as our model — why would we want to change that?”
Mr Ackland said people would be willing to pay for some content “but I think people are already paying for that content: finance, investment, dating, real estate information, high-end information. People already recognise that value.
“But a news story that is on 600 websites around the world simultaneously doesn’t have any value to the end user. It doesn’t have any exclusive value they can’t get elsewhere.”
Andrew Sims, general manager of marketing and products for Melbourne-based internet service provider iPrimus agrees: “If one of the big newspapers today wanted to make everyone pay for content, people would go elsewhere … there’ll be another two, three maybe five sites out there that’ll provide the services (free).”
The demise of respect for copyright on the internet plays a role. Canny consumers can find their way around information toll booths; once someone has access to content they can put it out there for others to access.
“We see that with all types of things,” said Mr Sims, “(such as) illegal downloads of video content and music.”
Companies must learn to survive on revenue via advertising on their sites, he said.
“Advertising companies are moving away from traditional media — print and TV — and putting their money online because they feel they get better bang for their buck. As that trend continues you’ll see more and more people spending online, which will certainly help websites whose ultimate goal is to deliver quality content.”
The shift in how young people, especially, found information was also a factor, said Mr Ackland.
“A lot of people now already get a lot of their news and information from forums and blogs — when they happen to stumble across news that’s been posted in forum threads …
“Twenty years ago there was a limited number of places where information could get published and distributed. Now there’s an infinite number … The idea of putting information behind a walled garden? I just don’t see it happening.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
As John Gribbin writes, “De Maupertuis had been a soldier before turning to science; his big idea is known as the principle of least action. ‘Action’ is the name given by physicists to a property of a body which is measured in terms of the changing position of an object and its momentum (that is, it relates mass, velocity and distance travelled by a particle). The principle of least action says that nature always operates to keep this quantity to a minimum (in other words, nature is lazy). This turned out to be hugely important in quantum mechanics, but the simplest example of the principle of least action at work is that light always travels in straight lines.” Euler, too, developed the idea of the principle of least action, and “This pointed the way for the work of Joseph Lagrange (1736-1813), which in turn provided the basis for a mathematical description of the quantum world in the twentieth century.”
Lagrange was born Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia in Turin, Italy, where he lived during the early years of his life. He replaced Euler when the great Swiss scholar left Berlin for Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1766 and spent twenty productive years in that city. By 1786 he moved to France, where he became known as Joseph-Louis Lagrange. According to O’Connor and Robertson he “excelled in all fields of analysis and number theory and analytical and celestial mechanics.” Lagrange was a better mathematician than de Maupertuis and provided the concept of least action with a more thorough mathematical foundation.
The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) is widely recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He was certainly the most productive measured in published pages, although the eccentric and prolific Hungarian Jewish mathematician Paul Erdos (1913-1996) beat him in the number of published papers. Erdos, too, was interested in combinatorics, graph theory and number theory and the “contributions which Erdös made to mathematics were numerous and broad. However, basically Erdös was a solver of problems, not a builder of theories.” The mathematical community was obviously much smaller in the eighteenth century than it is today; it would be difficult for even the most gifted scholar to have such a wide-ranging influence and dominate the entire, now very diverse field of mathematics as Euler did in his time, but his achievement is nevertheless impressive.
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Euler was born in Basel, Switzerland, and his career was connected to that of the Bernoulli family. He graduated with honors from the University of Basel and got a post in the newly formed St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, created by Tsar Peter the Great as part of his modernization efforts of the Russian state. He accepted the invitation of Frederick II of Prussia to join the Berlin Academy of Sciences, founded on the advice of Leibniz. Euler returned to Russia in 1766 at the invitation of Empress Catherine the Great, whose succession to the throne marked a return to the Westernizing policies. He made contributions in most fields of mathematics which existed in his day, including hydraulics, ship construction and artillery, but he was especially devoted to astronomy. The tremendous prestige of his textbooks settled forever many questions of notation on calculus and algebra. Lagrange, Laplace and Gauss followed Euler in their works, and Riemann knew his work well. Euler was able to dictate his articles and letters to his sons and others virtually until the day of his sudden death in 1783. As The Oxford Guide to the History of Physics and Astronomy states:
“Yet productivity was perhaps the least important of Euler’s claims to mathematical distinction. One of his great contributions was his clarity….He contributed to every branch of mathematics of his day except probability. He achieved much in the realm of number theory. He arguably founded graph theory and combinatorics when he solved the Königsberg Bridge problem in 1736….in addition Euler contributed to ordinary and partial differential equations, the calculus of variations, and differential geometry….Euler made major contributions to every branch of mechanics. The motion of mass points, celestial mechanics, the mechanics of continuous media (mechanics of solids and nonviscous fluids, theories of materials, hydrodynamics, hydraulics, elasticity theory, the motion of a vibrating string, and rigid-body kinematics and dynamics), ballistics, acoustics, vibration theory, optics, and ship theory all received something important from him. If Beethoven did not need to hear to compose music, Euler did not need to see to create mathematics. He began to go blind in one eye in 1738 and became totally blind thirty years later. This only increased his productivity, since total blindness relieved him of academic chores like proofreading and eliminated unwanted visual distractions. Euler did not miss eyes for another reason; he had a prodigious memory.”
Mathematics has historically been overwhelmingly created by men, often very young men. The French mathematician Évariste Galois (1811-1832) died from wounds suffered in a duel while still in his early twenties, yet he had already managed to leave his mark on the history of mathematics. In 1830 he developed group theory, which was to prove of great importance for the development of quantum mechanics a century later. The Norwegian mathematical pioneer Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829), too, died while still in his twenties. He suffered from tuberculosis, but continued to develop high quality mathematics as his health deteriorated. Dirk J. Struik writes in A Concise History of Mathematics, Fourth Revised edition:
“Abel proved the impossibility of solving the general quintic equation by means of radicals — a problem which had puzzled mathematicians from the time of Bombelli and Viète (a proof of 1799 by the Italian Paolo Ruffini was considered by Poisson and other mathematicians as too vague). Abel now obtained a stipend which enabled him to travel to Berlin, Italy, and France. But, tortured by poverty most of his life and unable to get a position worthy of his talents, Abel established few personal mathematical contacts and died (1829) soon after his return to his native land….Abel’s investigations on elliptic functions were conducted in a short but exciting competition with Jacobi. Gauss in his private notes had already found that the inversion of elliptic integrals leads to single-valued, doubly periodic functions, but he never published his ideas. Legendre, who had spent so much effort on elliptic integrals, had missed this point entirely and was deeply impressed when, as an old man, he read Abel’s discoveries.”
The Frenchman Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752-1833) was one of the leading mathematicians in Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century and made many personal contributions to the field, but some of his work was perfected by others, among them Abel, Jacobi and Galois. Carl Gustav Jacobi (1804-1851) was a German (Prussian) mathematician, born of Jewish parents, who studied in Potsdam and at the University of Berlin to be able to teach mathematics, Greek and Latin. In 1829 Jacobi met Legendre and other French mathematicians such as Fourier when he made a visit to Paris, and he visited Gauss in Göttingen. He became an influential and inspiring teacher and made contributions to the theory of elliptic functions.
The mathematician and astronomer Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865), who lived his whole life in Dublin, Ireland, could read Hebrew, Latin, and Greek at the age of five and learned many other languages during his lifetime. By 1822 his mathematical abilities had advanced to such an extent that he discovered a significant error in Laplace’s treatise Celestial Mechanics. In 1843 he introduced quaternions, algebra with hyper-complex numbers and “ the first noncommutative algebra to be studied.” He made major contributions to optics, and Hamiltonian mechanics helped shape quantum mechanics in the twentieth century.
According to scholar Alan Gabbey, “Pierre de Maupertuis’s principle of least action had sounded a new note. Reflecting on the controversy of the 1660s over Fermat’s least-time optical principle, Maupertuis argued (1744) that in all bodily changes, the ‘action’…is the least possible, a principle that for Maupertuis and Euler — though not for d’Alembert and Lagrange — pointed to the governance of all things by a Supreme Being….Maupertuis’s variational principle enjoyed an improved mathematical treatment by William Rowan Hamilton (1834, 1835), whose transformation of Lagrange’s equations was modified and generalized by Carl Gustav Jacobi in the form now known as the Hamilton-Jacobi Equation (1837). In turn, the Hamilton-Jacobi Equation found fruitful application in the establishment of the quantum mechanics of Louis de Broglie (1923) and Erwin Schrödinger (1926).”
Below is a translation by Rolf Krake of an article about former Danish prime minister Anders Fog Rasmussen that appeared in Politiken on May 12th. This was part of a pile of material that accumulated last month while I was in Copenhagen, but the content is not stale yet.
Note: in the article below, the phrase “cultural liberalism” can be taken to mean what is known as “classical liberalism” in the United States:
The New NATO Chief: Western values above all
There is one thing, which stands above all when Anders Fogh Rasmussen looks back upon his time as Prime Minister: Western values
There is almost something symbolic about Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s (Venstre: Classical Liberal) temporary office in the Foreign Ministry.
From the corner office in the State Ministry he is now back on the ground floor again — at eye level with the Danes. Precisely there, at the very place where one way or another the whole thing started.
Because when Anders Fogh Rasmussen today summarizes the project, for which he got the voters’ total support to bring to life in November 2001, it dealt with regaining the voters’ confidence in politicians, who for years had ignored the Danes’ concerns about increasing immigration, the sloppy justice policy, and the elite’s domination and know-it-all attitude.
Proud about the results
Fogh declares that he is proud about the factual results he now has entrusted to Lars Løkke Rasmussen [the new Prime Minister replacing Fogh]. A historically low unemployment rate, a considerable decrease in expanding immigrant family reunions, and a solid ceiling for taxation. Nevertheless it isn’t the “factual account” in Fogh’s administration which occupies him the most, but the bottom line in the battle of values he had put on the political agenda.
A battle which sent Danish soldiers into war in Iraq, divided the parliament and settled the debate with about the cultural radical influx (multiculturalism), that Western values of freedom are better than any other forms of governing.
“First and foremost I want to say that it was and is a values-based and a firm attitude project. One could summarize it in one word and say, what I would like to leave my mark on, is ‘cultural [classical] liberalism’ — And that you are welcome to perceive it as the opposite of cultural radicalism (multiculturalism),” says Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Free-spirited and a firmness on values
The coming Secretary General of NATO is busy putting the words on the project which a majority of the Danes has preferred three times in a row instead of a new Social-Democratic led government, which has been with but a few exceptions the tradition throughout the 20th century.
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“To be a cultural liberal is a combination of a free spirit and a firm attitude towards values. I feel a strong connection with the European tradition of enlightenment. The belief in the individual as a being of reason. The belief based on enlightenment and education. It concludes with the bottom-line attitude that one has to be critical towards the authorities — with that I am in the camp with the know-all expert. We deserve a society with the freedom to be different, a society with multiplicity, where we do not interfere with what people believe, what they eat, how they are dressed — yes, there has to be space for both the funny and ‘far-out’ people.”
Fogh often had to listen to talk about Denmark as just being a country without multiplicity, but he rejects it. Under his leadership the government on the contrary has shown openness in the face of international currents. Openness for active participation in international co-operation plus an engagement to undertake responsibility in the world, he says.
“The extroverted free-spirited attitude — and that combined with a firmness on values, wherein the first element is making demands and setting consequences”.
Demanding is to show respect
“You can’t just pay out money to young people — you have to say, if you don’t want to work, if you don’t want to educate yourself, then you close the wallet. You can’t just say that it doesn’t matter if you contribute or do not contribute. If you have that attitude, that it doesn’t matter, then it is the same as saying that nobody and nothing matters, and from you we can’t expect anything”
Because demanding is to show respect, he affirms.
“To make demands and show consequences is in reality to respect other people: this is so whether we talk about the social system or upholding justice,” says Fogh and turns the conversations towards his battle of values.
“The other part is the firmness of values. That is to say, that there exist as a matter of fact some absolutes in values in our society. That is why I strongly reject cultural relativism — according to which, that you cannot say if something is better than something else.
“Of course you can; freedom of speech is better than censorship and dictatorship. Equality between women and men is better than oppression of women. The separation between politics and religion is better than a so-called theocracy — that is, a society ruled by priests.”
Cultural radicals are deeply pessimistic
According to Fogh cultural liberalism is in sharp contrast to cultural radicalism; liberalism is founded on the belief in progress, believing in the future, whereas you often experience cultural radicals as “deeply pessimistic”. That is why the cultural liberals have taken over the national political agenda, and that is something Fogh isn’t ashamed off at all.
The Danish identity has played a central role in connection with the shift of power, and that is the way it should always be, he thinks.
“I don’t believe in the abstract human being — The abstract cosmopolitan, who doesn’t belong anywhere at all. We are all born into a certain community, an identity, from where our world begins. So a cultural liberal holds that at the same time we are open towards the rest of the world, we have got a clear foundation in our national identity, and are conscious of what it means to be Danish.”
“As a cultural liberal you have the belief that there has to be a strong national community, and a strong national identity. You have to take as a starting point that we are all born into a community. We Danes are born into a national Danish community — that is our identity. And it is my clear understanding, that the stronger the identity, the more you are ready to fight for those values, which is what our democracy is founded on”
Danish special forces in Afghanistan
As a newly appointed Prime Minister back in January 2002 Fogh decided to send Danish special forces into Afghanistan. A difficult decision, but in spite of that he was never in any doubt that it was the right thing. The same goes for the decision to send Danish soldiers into Iraq on a tight political mandate — a historical decision. But Fogh rejects the notion that it divided the Danish population.
“The very fact that I was elected to be the Prime Minister and re-elected twice since disproves that I divided the population. So we have to be careful to distinguish — what is the parliament and what is the people, and what is the media? All the polls are showing a broad majority in support of for example a policy based on [Western] values.”
But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stand for Fogh as natural offshoots from the battle of [Western] values, which he had made his project since 2001.
“It is about values and principles. When the Danes wish for freedom and peace, then we also have to contribute with efforts. We can’t just let it be something others have to fight for”
And principles, values and attitudes will always stand as the final difference between Fogh and his opponents, he thinks. Because since 2001 there has not been any tampering with the project’s foundation.
“The fact is, the case that we won the election with in 2001 is exactly the same when we won in 2005 and 2007. Because, when it comes to the economy, then we have got the tax ceiling, and when it comes to opinion-making, then we have got the immigration policies. Both elements were decisive in 01, 05 and 07.
“Was I at all surprised it would be so decisive? No, in 2001 we knew that we had two positions of strength. Whether these would get us to the point of taking office, we couldn’t know in advance. So in that regard I am positively surprised it has shown such strength,” says the former Prime Minister.
