As a lacuna in today’s Christmas cheer, consider this article from Sezession about the ascendancy of Lebanese and Kurdish criminal gangs in parts of Germany. The criminal “youths” are able to act with near impunity, with the police and society at large almost helpless in the face of their violent criminality.

Many thanks to Hermes for the translation:

Germany: a “society of prey” — Kurdish-Lebanese clans and the helplessness of the constitutional state

While the federal government and the opposition in the Bundestag adamantly regard immigration as an indispensable contribution to Germany, the intensity of the conflicts between some groups of immigrants and German society is steadily increasing.

One example of this are many social problems caused by members of Kurdish-Lebanese clans in Berlin, Bremen, and Essen, cities which according to declarations from judicial authorities are out of control. As a consequence, the state and the society may face helplessly phenomena associated with this, such as violence and crime.

Regarding Lebanese clans, hierarchically organized groups meet strong ethnic self-awareness and a strong family cohesion which is supported by a large number of young men ready to fight a modern society composed of small families and with liberal institutions that can hardly assert themselves when facing this challenge.

An employee of the LKA Berlin had already pointed out the problem in detail in 2002. The Berlin youth court Judge Kirsten Heisig accused the Lebanese clans of “unrestrained degradation of society”, while the Berlin chief public prosecutor Roman Reusch warned in connection with them of “civil war-like conditions” in the city. An anonymous crime investigator mentioned that this group considers Germans to be “a society to be looted, both as born victims and losers,” and the sociologist Ralph Ghadban sees their behavior as a “threat to social peace.” A confidential report of the Conference of Interior Ministers stated several years ago that any attempt of integration regarding this group had failed and that the dismantling of these criminal structures with a corresponding ethnic background would be possible in the best of cases “only in certain areas”. The chairman of the Police Federation in Berlin, Eberhard Schönberg, spoke in this regard about “the state’s complete loss of authority”.

The police often meet aggressive groups of men while patrolling the streets, men who are part of families in which ten children per woman is not a rarity, who are available in large numbers and can be quickly mobilized because of an unemployment rate of 90% and the culturally-conditioned tendency of men from these groups to remain in the streets all the time. The police must more and more frequently retreat and even traffic stops against members of these families can be made only with extra police presence.

According to the Commissioner for Integration of Neukölln, the male members of the Lebanese clans are generally prone to a special level of aggressiveness. The children in these families increasingly realize that no German can be in a position to set limits for them. The mere mention of their family name would be enough to force others to give them money and other goods. An admonition in the school or a mere criticism of a neighbor is seen as an attack against the collective honor of the community, to which one is ready to respond with violence. Individual members of a clan can always count on the support of many male relatives. For example, in March 2012, when the German Sven N. fatally injured a Lebanese in Neukölln in self-defense, he had to leave the district after receiving threats from the Lebanese clan. The attacker who died was, however, considered by many of his relatives as well as by Arabs and Turks in Berlin as a martyr and buried in a ceremony in which several thousand Muslims were present.

At their main centers in Berlin and Bremen, members of these clans appear as a group strongly prone to criminal activities. According to the central police department in Bremen, 1000 out of the approximately 2,600 Lebanese in Bremen (mostly men) are registered as suspects of having committed crimes. The statistical result is that almost every male Lebanese in Bremen was at least once a potential subject of a legal proceeding. In Berlin, the crime rate among Lebanese youth in cases of aggravated robbery is about 16 times higher than among ethnic Germans. The overall incarceration rate is 14 times higher than the average of the male population in the same age. Even amongst heavy offenders, Lebanese are strongly overrepresented. The former Berlin Attorney Roman Reusch spoke of “proper training for professional criminal activities” in some Lebanese clans. Police sources reported similar information. Male family members would often begin committing crimes as early as elementary school age. Imprisonment would be understood in their environment as a kind of an initiation rite.

Hostility to Germans is extremely blatant among many members of the Lebanese clans, who according to a report from the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “despise everything that is not part of their culture, first and foremost the Germans.” According to information from the media, an internal report made by the Berlin police described the situation of the Germans in places with strong Lebanese presence as follows:

“For German youths residing in districts that are dominated by ethnic gangs, the situation, according to the criminal police experts, has already become dramatic. Their withdrawal with defensive behavior was perceived as weakness, which meant a loss of honor — and also danger: The number of German teenagers being beat up or robbed because they were an easy target was significant in ethnically dominated conflict-ridden neighborhoods”.

The Integration Commissioner of Neukölln reported a typical case of intimidation by a Lebanese family:

“Not long ago Arnold Mengelkoch received a phone call from a couple. They lived in a rented house in which one of the infamous Kurdish-Lebanese families also lived. They said they would not reveal their names out of fear, but that they were being harassed on the sidewalk by the youngsters from that family. ‘We wanted to go out with our bicycles, but they did not move theirs away, so we picked them up and put them to one side. Then the youngsters jumped up and spat at us, kicked, insulted, threatened us saying “We know where you live!”‘ — Because they live in the same house. And they trembled, and they said they did not want to file a complaint and reveal their names in the document, because then the family would turn rabidly against them. Things cannot go this way; this is not a lawless place, and those families have to stop this!”

The mayor of the district of Neukölln, Heinz Buschkowsky, had in this context pointed to different cultural conditions that hinder self-assertion on the German side:

“The enemy is the hated Germans, they are the target of their aggression, and they have nothing to counter the flash mob which gathers in a few minutes via a circulated SMS, a group of people who immediately display a threatening attitude. Germans are considered easy prey… We raise our children to be non-violent. We reject violence at these encounters and teach this attitude to our children. Others teach their boys to be strong, brave and ready to fight. The starting situation is simply not equal.”

Government employees are being increasingly threatened and intimidated, too, and therefore they avoid conflicts with the clans. There were also examples reported in Bremen in which the police no longer investigated complaints made by Germans in cases involving Lebanese clans. Judges and prosecutors who are involved in cases against them are under police protection due to threats from members of those Lebanese clans. The Berlin youth court Judge Kirsten Heisig said she had been threatened by a clan after she sentenced some of its members to prison. Shortly afterwards she committed suicide under circumstances that have not been fully clarified. According to the head of the department of Organized Crime in the Berlin public prosecutor’ office, it is possible for the clans to “clearly exercise any kind of influence on evidence” due to their capacity to threaten. Video recordings document the disproportionate behavior of Lebanese against legal personnel, who do not dare to oppose them. A judge allowed herself to be insulted in court for nine minutes without even daring to contradict the accused person. Many Lebanese criminals receive remarkably mild punishments, and if they have to go to prison, they enjoy privileges and continue their illegal activities from behind bars, while acquittals are hailed as victories over the German state.

Wherever measures are taken against crimes committed by the Lebanese clan, the court and the authorities often face a lost cause and are left in the lurch by official policy. The former Berlin chief public prosecutor Roman Reusch was removed from his post by the Senator for Justice after he publicly called for stronger action. Instead of fighting Lebanese gangs, the policies are aimed apparently at involving their members more intensively in police activities: The senator for integration in Berlin called on immigrant youngsters to promote these policies inside their gangs. A CDU member of parliament was also demonstratively in proximity with a prominent person associated with criminal Lebanese gangs.

Being under pressure from all sides as they are, the police cannot even count on the support of large parts of society. Pro-immigration activists either deny the problems exist, or judge Germans to be responsible for them and mention the phenomena described by the police as “criminalization of minorities” and “institutional racism”, while associations of immigrants manifest themselves similarly and demand a “de-nazification” of the police and less “racist” pressure on suspects with an immigrant background. Social workers often see themselves as opponents of the police in any case. Meanwhile, leftists try to mobilize Arab youngsters as allies against the police, and the liberal journalist Malte Lehming explained the problems as an expression of social progress and said of Lebanese and other youth gangs:

“They are young, brave, mobile, hungry, willing to take risks, initiative. The country needs such people.”

Viable solutions are not in sight, and a further escalation of conflicts is to be expected, since the number of Lebanese is growing rapidly and the next generation is less well-integrated than that of their parents.

According to the police in Bremen, well-integrated Lebanese from important clans are an “absolute exception”. It is too late for deportation, as most of the younger Lebanese have German citizenship. Sooner or later, the observed development of the situation will therefore reach a point where the constitutional state must either take decisive action or make the embarrassing admission that it has failed.

I have two computers, the old one and the new one. Truth be told, neither is really new — the old one is positively ancient, while the other is simply middle-aged.

Earlier tonight a fan gave out on the old one, forcing me to shut it down as fast as possible, before it could overheat. All the essential software is duplicated here on this machine, but the news feed database — all 300MB of it — is kept on the old machine, and only backed up here occasionally.

In other words, because the articles collected for tonight’s news feed are locked away in the shut-down machine (which I hope can be resurrected before too long), there will be no news feed tonight. I can start tomorrow’s feed from scratch on this computer, but for tonight we shall have to do without.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Canary Islands are an autonomous province of Spain, and also the westernmost outpost of the European Union. Like the rest of the EU, the islands are facing a crisis brought on by years of open-ended immigration.

Many thanks to our Spanish correspondent Hermes for his translation of this article from Alerta Digital:

Canary Islands: there is no room for more immigrants. The Canarian president warns that the Canarian economy cannot provide solutions for more people.

The Canarian president, Paulino Rivero, asked last Sunday for a “calm and scaremongering-free” debate to be held on the number of inhabitants in the archipelago, because in his opinion, the economy of the islands is unable to manage the population growth and reduce unemployment.

Paulino Rivero states in his blog that the figures speak “loud and clear” regarding the almost 180,000 foreigners who arrived in the last 10 years, and the 23,000 newcomers registered in 2011 due to migratory flows.

The population in the Canary islands has grown by 388,178 in almost 10 years, and the reality confirmed by the statistics “must force us to calmly reflect on the archipelago’s carrying capacity”, the president explains. He asks for carrying out an analysis on how many jobs the Canarian economy can create, and to detect the impact of this unstoppable population increase in the islands and in the delivery of public services.

“I think it’s rather evident that the Canary Islands cannot grow indefinitely and expand without end, a demographic growth which began in 1960,” Rivero reflects.

A debate with a “mature approach”

That is why he asks for a debate “with a mature approach and without delay” on the capacity of the islands to provide solutions in terms of employment, health care and education to this kind of population growth.

“We should not brush away a debate by contaminating it with gratuitous and unjustified accusations of promoting attitudes of rejection towards people coming here. It is not about marginalizing those who are different, but about establishing certain limits that allow our economy to supply jobs for all who are now in need of one, and to offer a proper level of public services,” he explains.

He warns that it is very difficult to accommodate the public system of basic services to such a huge population growth, and he adds that above all it is materially impossible for the Canarian labor market to accept so many job-seekers.

Paulino Rivero points out that it is not possible to “stand idly by” nor make cuts to the funds for educational policies “just as the Popular Party did” by reducing from 42 to 10 million euros the funds for the Canarian Integral Employment Plan, thus leaving thousands of Canarians in an unfair and unacceptably vulnerable position.

A Christmas Message
by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff

About two weeks ago, a dedicated platform of solidarity for persecuted Christians worldwide tried to bring the plight of Christians worldwide to the attention of the busy holiday shoppers rushing through the streets of Vienna.

I say tried, because — as is the case every year this has taken place — the ignorance of the greatest persecution currently underway worldwide is drowned by the constant whining of members of the Muslim faith. One would even think that jackboots roam the streets of Vienna and Berlin, searching for Muslims, in order to deport them or worse. Nothing could be further from the truth: members of the Muslim faith are coddled, while it is the Christians (and the Jews, I might add) who fear for their lives, and rightly so.

Not only are the so-called hate crime statistics quite clear on the matter, but even a cursory glimpse at the daily headlines relates the obvious: the number of burned-down churches, of murdered Christians, of Christians driven into exile, is staggering. In comparison, mosques are in general not targeted, other than the lone slab of bacon here and there.

This is a tragedy of truly epic proportions. It is taking place not only in Islamic countries, but also in China and North Korea.

However, the greatest persecutions do happen in sharia-compliant countries. The rule “The more sharia, the less freedom (for other religions or none)” is strictly enforced. One need not look far in this case: Tunisia — which prior to the “Arab Spring” was quite a tolerant country with respect to non-Muslims — is now harassing atheists, while Islam’s blasphemy laws are choking the hard-fought for freedoms not only in Pakistan but around the world. Reading the monthly reports about Muslim persecution is reserved for those with stable mental health.

However, there is a light shining from above, almost literally. It is, after all, Christmas. And for this reason I will now talk about a very Christian matter: visions of Christ in the Muslim world.

I personally have been aware of staggering numbers of conversions to Christianity in Iran for quite some time. The reports coming out of Iran seem to corroborate this. Many of the previously mentioned visions are taking place in Iran, but most astoundingly also in the heart of Islam, Mecca!

By chance, I came across a book called Dreams and Visions. Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World? by Tom Doyle. A pastor, he has spent more than a decade as a missionary in the Middle East, where he has encountered countless stories of Muslims who converted to Christianity after visions and/or dreams in which Jesus appeared. In the introduction, Doyle tells the reader that

… the stories [in this book] are about real people I know personally or are known by my family’s closest friends in the Middle East. If we couldn’t verify the experience, we left it out — no Christian fairy tales here.

The entire book is filled with truly amazing stories, but two stood out: finding converts in Mecca, and a group of imams huddling together in the middle of the night to read the Bible.

It is common knowledge that the cities of Mecca and Medina are strictly off-limits for non-Muslims. As a result, it is impossible for missionaries, or even archeologists, to enter the cities. But it appears that God found a way by sending a lapsed Lebanese Christian by the name of Amir on business to Saudi Arabia. By pure chance, the passport official stamps the word “Muslim” in Amir’s passport, opening Mecca to him. Amir is a cynical man, full of sarcasm and disdain for Islam and its followers, which changes dramatically when one night in his hotel room he receives a visit by an angel, commanding him to pray for them (the Muslims). But not just anywhere! He is commanded to go to Mecca: “Go and pray for them in Mecca. Do not be fearful, Amir.” After an appearance by Jesus the next night, Amir buys Islamic clothes and takes the bus to Mecca, where he joins millions of Muslims circulating the black meteorite known as the Kaaba. Later, as he watches in horror Abu Badr, the executioner, amputating the limb of a thief, he thinks of nothing but his new-found love for Jesus. On his way back to hotel, he is startled to overhear the following conversation: “It is the third dream since I have been here. But what does it mean?” Later, he is joined by a man trailing him. He fears that he will end up in Abu Badr’s hands. But the man stops and says: “I am your friend. I am Muhammad.” And then he disappears, only to come to his rescue when the authorities are nearly successful in their search for Amir. “Are you all right, brother?” Muhammad asks Amir. Amir is surprised to find out that Muhammad received visions of Jesus when he was on the hajj. He remained in Mecca as per Jesus’ instructions “to pray for them”.

Tom Doyle says that the birthplace and spiritual capital of Islam, Mecca, is not only the most controlled and revered spot on the planet (p. 45). In addition, Mecca is 100% Muslim and has been so for many centuries. And despite this hostile environment, Jesus is at work, for the number of sightings reported from Mecca by pilgrims like Amir and Muhammad are impressive. These pilgrims report that “I went to the hajj to get close to Allah, but I kept having dreams about Jesus. Every night he would visit me. He told me to follow Him.” And since the new believers cannot legally change their religion on their ID cards, they can return to Mecca anytime they want or are sent. A gift from God.

Qom, in Iran, is the world’s largest training center for Shiite clerics. The seminaries there host more than 40,000 students. A city filled with fanatics — it is not a welcoming place, in particular for Muslim clerics discovering Jesus. Meet Ali, who was “a celebrated scholar-in-the-making” (p. 88) and who had memorized the Koran very early in his studies. None of this prevented Jesus from appearing to him. At first, Ali is very confused: “Why is this prophet appearing to me? What is the meaning of His messages about salvation?” (p. 88). So he plans to check the writings of the Bible, a quest that leaves him startled, because how will get a Bible in Qom? He doesn’t. But a Christian friend in Tehran does, and for the next six years, Ali scrutinizes the Bible, teaching himself how to cross-reference. In his dreams, he takes his questions to Jesus, who then answers him. He graduates a Shia imam in Qom despite his late Bible studies.

A similar story then takes us to Syria, where Jamal is the son of the feared Grand Mufti of the Gaza Strip. Despite his family’s deep devotion to Islam, Jamal is a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ. One day there is a knock on his door. He opens, fearing that he is found out by the authorities, and in front of his door there are two men asking him to let them in. One is Sheikh Imam Ali, who sits down and reaches beneath his robes to pull out …. not a dagger, but a Bible! He declares, “This book is the truth! I have been reading it privately for six years now.” And pointing to the Koran, he says, “And this book is a fairy tale. It is make-believe like a Disney movie.”

Read more about this and many other fascinating encounters in Tom Doyle’s highly recommended book. Whatever your religion (or non-religion) may be, these accounts are similar throughout the Muslim world. How else would a non-Muslim be able to enter Mecca without meeting the sword? How else would a Shiite cleric in Qom be able to find a Bible and survive his clandestine studies? Something is happening here. Whatever it is — it is heart-warming and heartening.

After another very tough year, we all deserve some magic. Whoever does the magic is irrelevant at the end of the day. What is relevant is the number of Muslims deciding to side with freedom and love, leaving behind darkness, despair and hatred.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Three churches were set on fire this morning at more or less the same time in the Austrian town of Amstetten, which has a population of 21,000. Police released a description of the suspected arsonist’s clothing and height, but neglected to mention his skin color. Amstetten has a large Muslim population.

In other news, South Korea erected a large Christmas tree-shaped tower with lights just inside its border with North Korea, raising fears that it will provoke a violent response from the North, which considers it “psychological warfare”.

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

Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Salome, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

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The following essay by Henryk Broder was published in Deutsche Mittelstands Nachrichten on December 16th. Many thanks to Hermes and JLH, who collaborated on the translation.

“The EU does not solve any problems, it is a problem.”

Henryk Broder: “We are witnessing the last days of Europe”

For writer Henryk Broder, the EU is the most massive attempt to de-democratize a society since the downfall of the Soviet Union. Therefore he sees no chance of survival — even if the passengers on the Titanic do not want to notice the iceberg the old continent is approaching. Deutsche Mittelstand Nachrichten documents Broder’s angry speech.

Dear Europeans,

An old Russian proverb says that: “There are no ugly brides, only insufficient vodka.” But this does not apply to the economy. The bad mood cannot be turned good with a feast, even if the firm’s party is held in a Hungarian brothel. What is lousy, remains lousy. Nor can one remain in peace and comfort singing “Merry Christmas!” when one knows that one’s neighbor’s home is in flames. Because one can guess that fire will spread to either one’s own home, or that one will have to feed and accommodate the homeless neighbors. It is hard to say which one of these scenarios is worse.

We are witnessing the last days of Europe. Not at the physical, but rather the philosophical and metaphorical level. Just as Karl Kraus foresaw it in his monumental work published in 1922 “The Last Days of Mankind”, so are we just witnessing “The Last Days of Europe”. No, they are not only here. They literally leap at us.

Last Monday, thanks to the ARD TV, I watched the live broadcast of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the award being given to the European Union. I had just taken an overnight flight from Washington to Frankfurt and I still felt a little dizzy. But this kind of dizziness sharpens the senses. Although one sees everything a bit obscurely, one also hears the subtle nuances much clearer. I suppose that I’m the only one in this room who watched this celebration. Because it took place at a time when ordinary people are working and only single mothers, royalty and members of the Brussels bureaucracy can afford to sit in front of the television without having to decide how to pay the GEZ fees [fees of the “fee collection center of public-law broadcasting institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany”].

So, I followed the handing over of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU and did not know whether to laugh or cry. Awarding it to the EU because they have kept the peace in Europe is as silly as awarding the Salvation Army because it has not engaged in dealing with alcohol, drugs, prostitutes and weapons. Or as honoring the International Red Cross on grounds that it does not engage in the running of concentration camps. Moreover, a peaceful Europe is not the guarantor of peace, but rather the result of a military intervention, without which today we would not sit together so comfortably, and if we did, then it would be probably only to celebrate the recent successful operation of the Condor Legion.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU reminded me of something that was stored deep in my memory. And because I was tired, it took a while until the memory had made its way to the surface. Yes, that was it! It was just in this way that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union celebrated itself! They awarded each other medals and confirmed to themselves that they had made an extremely important contribution to peace and security in Europe and in the world.

Being myself a person who had spent the first years of his life in Poland, I have a slight allergy to the word “peace”. Not because I’m for the war, but because “peace” is the general alibi with which each and every barbarism can be justified. The Berlin Wall was also presented to us as an inevitable — today one would say: “without alternative” — peace-making and peace-keeping measure. And when I now look at the actions of the peace movement, which is passively watching the massacre in Syria, but does not hold back at protesting against the deployment of German soldiers in Afghanistan and against the deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey, then I arrive at the conclusion that pacifism and cretinism are close relatives.

One day after the ceremony in Oslo, the capital of a country whose population has twice rejected joining the EU, I read an article in Die Welt about the Brussels “Vanity Fair”, in which disputes over who should speak at the ceremony and who should accept the prize lasted till the last moment. The President of the European Commission Durao Barroso, President Van Rompuy, and the President of the EU Parliament Schulz allegedly had, despite their busy schedule, argued like tinkers and tried to brush each other away. As usual in Brussels, a compromise was found in the last moment. Van Rompuy and Barroso together received the document, whereupon Van Rompuy was allowed to touch it first. He was also presumably allowed to take it home, take care of it and finally put it under his pillow. Martin Schulz had to be satisfied with being able to introduce his head through the neck chain holding the medal. But in the end there was a group photo which suggested unity and oneness — and this is another parallel to the morals in the CPSU Central Committee.

If you are looking for an explanation to this Vanity Fair of the alpha males of Brussels, I recommend that you visit their respective websites.

Jose Manuel Barroso has in any case studied economic and social sciences and lectured at several universities. His Social Democrats are a conservative party which belongs to the European People’s Party fraction in the European Parliament. He was Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Portugal before being appointed as President of the EU Commission in 2004.

Herman van Rompuy, the first permanent president of the European Council, began his political career as deputy chair of the youth organization of the Flemish Christian Democrats, and, due to his unremarkable and reserved demeanor, earned the nickname “the sphinx.” During his time as Belgian prime minister, he was also unknown to most Belgians. It is just as puzzling what function he fulfills as the permanent president of the European Council.

His appointment calendar — to be found on the homepage of the European Council — shows the following for Thursday of last week:

• 1700 hours, meeting for exchange of views with the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz.
• 1730, group photo
• 1745, first working session.
• 2000 hours, dinner discussion, followed by press conference.

What an exciting, fulfilled existence in the service of the European idea!

Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, is a jolly Rhinelander, with whom one might like to spend every week celebrating Women’s Carnival. In his previous life, he was mayor of the community of Würselin near Aachen and as such responsible — we read in Wikipedia — “especially for the construction of the leisure-time pool Aquana.” In regard to the budgetary situation of the town, this decision was later “seen critically.” That is to say, the leisure-time pool weighed heavily on the community’s pocketbook. But it qualified Schulz for an important position in the EU. In his cabinet, he employs a an office manager, a deputy office manager, a number of assistants and advisers, also an adviser for the assistants and the assistants of the advisers, four press spokespersons, a spokesperson, a speech writer, an appointments administrator, an interoffice messenger, a valet de chambre and a driver. All in all, 38 employees who travel with him between Brussels and Strasbourg. The royal household of a Eurocrat.

As Comrade Chance would have it, Hamed Abdel-Samed and I recently visited Martin Schulz, to interview him for a follow-up of our Europe Safari. During that interview, he said, among other things: “If the EU were a state and making application to join the European Union, it would be rejected. Lack of democratic substance.”

For instance (he said) the EU Parliament has no right to initiate laws, but merely consecrates the decisions of the European Commission.

One of the representatives we met spoke of a “protocol parliament” and was reminded of the conditions in the People’s Parliament of the German Democratic Republic.

A commissioner explained to us why there is no contradiction in the EU subsidizing the growing of tobacco and simultaneously financing campaigns about the dangers of smoking. That, after all, is a win-win situation and everyone will profit, both the tobacco industry and the smoker. And besides, a commissioner for tobacco subsidization and another for the anti-smoking campaign are both permanent.

Since our visit to Brussels and Strasbourg, I have no more illusions. The EU does not solve any problems, it is a problem. Since the end of actual socialism — to which in the opinion of its adherents there was no alternative — the EU is the most massive attempt to deprive citizens of the right to judge for themselves, and to de-democratize society. We hear over and over that there is no alternative to the EU, because the disintegration of the Union would not only mean the end of prosperity, but also the revival of old conflicts, including class warfare in individual countries and warlike confrontations between them.

In practice, this means that we are being asked to trust unconditionally those who have driven the car into the side wall of the house and are now assuring us that they are capable of repairing not only the totaled car, but the damaged house.

But would we give a second chance to a surgeon who had removed our appendix instead of our tonsils? Would we trust a money manager who had blown our money? Would we check into a hotel again where we had once been robbed because the alarms did not function? No, we would not. But when it is about Europe, we do it because we have no choice. The matter is alternativeless.

So we keep on, not because we are convinced that it is right, but because we have passed the point of no return.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I really did not intend to destroy your Christmas spirit. But I did not want to miss the opportunity to call your attention to the disaster we are heading towards.

In conclusion, allow me to ask: Who among you believes that the EU will exist in its present form in three years? Show of hands, please.

It seems to be a bare majority.

That is how a vote among the passengers on the Titanic would have turned out, shortly after sailing out of the harbor at Southampton — I wish you all a pleasant trip.

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

Henryk M. Broder works as a reporter for the Welt-Gruppe. This speech was given at a private Christmas party in Berlin.

Back in October and November we posted a series of articles about the actions of a team of Counterjihad activists at Human Dimension meetings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The efforts of these seven hard-working volunteers bore ample fruit, as can be seen in the official documents published by the OSCE after the events, notably the Consolidated Summary.

Below is Aeneas’ overview of what went on at OSCE meetings in 2012. It was originally published at at the ICLA website.

ICLA’s OSCE Mission In 2012 — Reflections
by Aeneas

The month of December is a useful time to reflect on the year that is about to pass into history. 2012 has been a year in which human rights in Western countries have suffered sustained attack. ICLA has been at the forefront of bringing such abuses to public attention. This does not make ICLA popular with the governments that are presiding over such activities. Its activists may suffer unwanted attention from those with power. However, as an organisation and as individual activists we are willing to be unpopular in the eyes of the powerful. Even if, as individuals, we have our lives turned upside down we will continue to speak out for what is right.

ICLA is keen to participate in civil society institutions and in 2012 we have continued our mission at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). ICLA activists working tirelessly at the OSCE to ensure that important human rights issues get the attention that they deserve.

The on-going efforts of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to undermine freedom of expression has been the focus of much of our efforts. Its quest for a global blasphemy law is one of the principal threats to human rights in the world today. Since it is freedom of expression that guarantees the right to freedom of religion and not the other way around religious freedom is also in grave danger if the OIC’s ambitions are realised. The connivance of Western governments with the OIC will be something that we will need to monitor closely in 2013.

ICLA’s work at the OSCE has been done in partnership with members of a number of courageous organisations. We would like to take this opportunity to salute our colleagues at Act for America 5280 Coalition, Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa, Stresemann Foundation, and Association NONALI for the constructive working relationships that we developed at the OSCE (a list of document submissions can be found HERE). Together we drew attention to a number of important issues in relation to human rights (submitting organisation in brackets at end of each point) including:

• Brought attention to interference by British authorities with the right to freedom of assembly at a demonstration against Islamist extremism in Walthamstow on 1 September 2012. (BPE).
• Highlighted the incompatibility between the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam of 1990 (CDHRI) and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. (BPE).
• Drew attention to the incompatibly of Islamic laws relating to apostasy and norms established in the OSCE region. (BPE).
• Use of labels such as “Islamophobia” to undermine freedom of expression. (Act for America 5280 Coalition).
• Called for the rejection of the CDHRI and for OSCE member states to participate in the 2012 Brussels Process. (ICLA).
• Called for precise definitions of key words used in OSCE documents in order to facilitate sincere and constructive dialogue and cooperation.
• ICLA helped to expose possible US Government pro-sharia and anti-Israel intentions at OSCE
• Asked for a concise legal explanation of the difference between “anti-Muslim discourse” and criticism of Islam as well as a definition of the term “Islamophobia”
• Urgently called on the British Government to take measures to ensure that the Rotherham grooming scandal that was arguable caused by political correctness never happens again.
• Highlighted many examples of politically motivated discrimination in supposedly liberal democracies.
• Reminded the OSCE of its commitment to guaranteeing freedom of artistic creation with reference to the case of German professor Armin Geus. (BPE). (BPE). (The trial of Prof. Geus was shut down shortly afterwards).
• Recommended that Austrian authorities demand a certified German copy of the Koran to check whether Islamic teachings are indeed compatible with Austrian laws.
• After citing numerous examples of interference with the right to freedom of assembly and association ICLA called for international monitors for political protests in Western Europe. (ICLA).

ICLA was mentioned in the official OSCE consolidated summary of the conference that was held in Warsaw from 24 September — 5 October 2012. The consolidated summary can be found HERE, but some of the references to ICLA can be found below:

“International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA)

The ODIHR could therefore greatly help participating States ensure that their legislation concerning freedom of religion and belief is and remains in compliance with their commitments by:

• Inducing state members to demand the abrogation of the Cairo Declaration, or at least to reject it, so as to prevent the duplicity of language that has appeared in the international agreements and within the OSCE;
• Inducing state members to join the Brussels Process launched by the International Civil Liberties Alliance on July 9, 2012 in the European Parliament. The Brussels Process aims to assist governments and civil society in protecting civil liberties and freedoms, and more specifically to defend the freedom of belief against attempts to implement Sharia regulations;
• Helping to create bi- or multilateral partnerships among OSCE members in order to optimize the implementation of the Brussels Process, to contribute to its growth and evolution and to the expansion of its field of application.” (page 86)

And:

“International Civil Liberties Alliance

Recommendations to ODIHR:

• To allow sincere and constructive dialogue and cooperation between state members, NGO’s and exterior participants, ICLA ask ODIHR to systematically provide a precise definition of both the expressions “Islamophobia” and “religious hatred” each time they are used in a document and, in absence of precise definitions, to adopt a by default non-receivability rule for all document containing one or both of those expressions.” (page 94)

Distributed documents submitted by ICLA can be found on page 157 of the report.

In 2013 we will continue our mission at the OSCE. Inevitably it will be a key year in which the OIC tries to close the deal for a global blasphemy law. Western governments will continue their own efforts to undermine fundamental rights and freedoms. ICLA will be there to expose such threats to freedom.

If you run an organisation that shares the values outlined in our Mission Statement then we would be thrilled to be in contact with you. Those that challenge freedom are powerful and have access to huge resources. Our work can therefore only move forward in partnership with others.

Previous posts about the OSCE and the Counterjihad:

The imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney issued a fatwa instructing faithful Muslims not to have anything to do with Christmas celebrations. The same message was posted on the mosque’s Facebook page. After a public outcry, the message was removed, and the Lebanese Muslim Association said the fatwa was not valid, and had been posted in error. Later on, in a conciliatory gesture, the LMA arrange to have a skywriter spell out “Merry Xmas” in the sky over the mosque.

In other news, a German economic think tank predicts that the unemployment rate in Greece will reach 30% by 2014.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Nilk, The Observer, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

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

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Remember the Oslo rape wave? The one whose perpetrators are almost entirely the product of cultural enrichment?

The Norwegian authorities have come up with a solution: this Christmas season, young ladies who are three sheets or more to the wind are encouraged to take a free girls-only taxi home in the wee hours, and thus avoid unwanted attention from the opposite or alternate gender. These new chick-wagons are painted pink and have eyelashes on their headlights to make them easy to spot in dark and stormy conditions.

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated an article on the topic, and includes an introductory note:

This new scheme in Oslo has introduced ‘girls-only taxis’ in an attempt to curb the enormous number of rapes taking place in that city.

I’m not going to be vicious here — the drivers in question are probably decent people — but I couldn’t help but notice that they are Muslim males…

Trying to reduce the numbers of rapes is a positive thing, but the scheme also tells us something about the situation in Oslo, and other Norwegian cities for that matter. What’s next, a new scheme where women are encouraged to be accompanied by male relatives when out on the town in order to avoid being raped?

The translated article from Groruddalen.no:

‘Girls-only taxi’ — a safer alternative for girls

Two ‘Girls-Only Taxis’ will drive Oslo girls home from town every Wednesday through Sunday until Christmas Eve, free of charge. This will contribute to a safer capital over the Christmas holiday.

By Cecilie Dokka

SpareBank 1 Oslo Akershus and P5 are behind the project “girls-only taxi” through their social responsibility project, “We care”. They have joined forces with Natteravnene [Adult volunteers walking the city streets on weekends] and Christiania Taxi. The capital now has two free girls-only taxis, which will contribute to a safer community during the Christmas holiday.

The two girls-only taxis will be on the streets of Oslo from November 21 to December 23, between 10pm and 5am and drive as many girls as possible home from town free of charge.

“We want the city to become a safer place for our girls. This year we’ve added another car, which will make a big difference during the Christmas party period,” says Monica Belinchon, the local manager of SpareBank 1 Lambertseter.

Lars Norbom, the head of Natteravnene, predicts that hundreds of girls are going to get home safe during this period.

“I believe that the addition of an additional taxi this summer is going to be a success. More girls are going to get home safely during the busy Christmas season,” says Norbom.

How to find a “girls-only taxi”?

“Girls-only taxis” will be on the streets of Oslo and focus on those areas where girls normally try to get a lift home from unknown cab drivers. Females may even hail the two taxis wherever they see them. The cab drivers will also publish their location on the project’s Facebook page, so that girls can keep track of them at all times and they don’t have to worry if there are already passengers in the pink-colored car. The taxis can take several passengers at the same time. In the city Natteravnene can also contact the two cars and arrange to have the girls picked up wherever they want in order to bring them home safely. The members of Natteravnene wear yellow reflective vests so they are easy to spot in the dark streets of Oslo. However, it is not possible to pre-book the taxis, and males cannot avail themselves of the taxis.

The bright pink color of taxis makes them easy to recognize. They are also equipped with eyelashes on the headlights, and the cars also have “girls-only taxi” and “We care” logos printed on them. Consequently they are fairly easy to recognize in Oslo on a late December evening.

“We have chosen to highlight the taxis by painting them pink so it should be easy to spot the cars in the city,” says Belinchon.

Very popular

“We have received very positive feedback, and we have noticed a significant increase on our Facebook page. We want to continue with this project and we encourage others to do the same — care about the girls,” says Belinchon.

Belinchon and Norbom want others cities to follow their example. They want more people to care about their cities and get the girls home safe in an inexpensive manner

“The scheme appears to be very effective and any measure that can reduce the risk of rape is an important one,” says Lars Norbom, the head of Natteravnene. He has noticed in recent years that girls tend to get separated from their friends when they are out on the town. Thus they are often alone and without money after a night on the town in Oslo.

“There are a lot of things happening in the city during the Christmas season and with such scheme as the ‘Girls-Only Taxis’ we send them home safe and free of charge,” says Norbom. In the past year the numbers of reported rapes have declined slightly, but it still constitutes a big problem which we have to continue to fight against, he says. He encourages girls out in Oslo to look for Natteravnene so that they can contact the pink taxis for them and help them get home safely.

Too good to be true

Natteravnene have cooperated closely with the two cab drivers operating the “girls-only taxi”. Both Waqar Ahmed and Naveed Khawar have enjoyed the cooperation with Natteravnene.

“We have attended a course where they gave us hints on how to spot girls who are on their own and in a poor condition. This has helped us as drivers for the ‘girls-only taxi’,” the boys say.

Waqar tells a story about a girl who was alone and who had lost her wallet. She was on Carl Berner Plass, visibly intoxicated and without any money. The girl did not believe Waqar when he stopped the pink car and asked if she needed a free ride home. The girl told him that nothing in the world is free, but when Waqar helped her into the car and drove her all the way home to Årnes the girl was very grateful and praised the scheme.

The right decision

The taxis only operate in Oslo and Akershus, but the drivers are able to make a snap decision there and then and in this particular case the decision was a correct one. Waqar is very happy that he got the chance to drive the poor girl all the way home to her front door.

“The most frequently users of the ‘girls-only taxis’ are girls between 20 and 30, but the scheme is intended for girls of all ages,” the boys say.

The service started this summer and it has so far helped more than 2,000 girls reach home safely. During the Christmas season that number could potentially double. The project’s Facebook page has so far receive over 8,000 likes, and Belinchon, the cab drivers and Norbom encourage everyone to use the taxis this Christmas.

Some facts about the Girls-Only Taxi:

• The cabs transport girls in Oslo to their homes free of charge
• The scheme runs from November 21 to December 23 every Wednesday through Sunday between 10pm and 5am.
• The girls can find out the whereabouts of the taxis on Facebook.
• Natteravnene can contact the cab drivers for vulnerable girls.
• Approximately 2000 girls arrived home safely with the taxis this summer.
• Approximately 7000 people followed ‘girls-only taxi’ on Facebook this summer.
• SpareBank 1 Oslo Akershus, P5 and Christiania Taxi are behind the project through the social project “We care.”

Hanne Nabintu Herland has published guest-posts in the space several times in the past, most recently, an essay on the failure of Multiculturalism.

Her latest is a translation of an article written by her and published last Thursday in Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten. The author sends this introductory note about the piece:

This is a protest against the Islamists’ harsh persecution of any minority in the Middle East — Christians, Jews, gays, anyone whom they don’t like, which is everyone who is “not sufficiently Islamist”. Not to mention Muslim minorities such as Alawites, Amadiyyah, etc.

The article also voices sharp criticism against the current Radical Leftwing Norwegian Government and its continuous friendship and dialogue with these terrorist groups in the Middle East whose goal is to eradicate unwanted minorities in the region. I was recently myself in the Middle East and held lectures and met with leaders for the Christian groups, diplomats, ambassadors and leading professors as well as a number of activists. What I saw, the degree of persecution against minorities, shook me very much.

Remembering that the intolerant Islamist movement also has a goal to push the religion and dominance in Europe (and the USA), we should examine what they are actually doing in the Middle East as they gain power there. I watched the leaders of the Christian church in Syria prepare for the Christians there to be slaughtered as Islamists enter city after city.

Below is Ms. Herland’s article, as translated by Lisa Bostwick:

Norway in bed with the enemy
by Hanne Nabintu Herland

Over the course of the last years Norway has developed an international reputation as a staunch supporter of several organizations despised by the international community.

This is a result of adhering to the proposition that the best way to counteract terrorism is to enter into a “dialog”. However there is every reason to question our mild-mannered conversations and generous monetary gifts to Islamists who promote religious ideologies that, among other goals, aim to eradicate minorities in the Middle East.

According to the September 19^th edition of the International Herald Tribune, the former president of Egypt, the secular-moderate Hosni Mubarak, warned that the alternative to an authoritarian system would release radical religious forces and result in chaos. He was correct, at least from the minorities’ point of view. The Arab spring has become an Arab winter. According to, among others, the September 24^th issue of Time Magazine, the region is far more unstable since Islamists assumed power in nation after nation. Conditions for human rights have worsened, and democracy fares poorly as well.

The belief that the introduction of democracy would automatically solve ethnic, religious and social challenges has in reality legitimized support of intolerant extremists whose goal is to use democracy itself to abolish democracy. Unfortunately, such disposable democracies flourish in Africa, where the first free election is often the last. Even so Norway presumed that Islamists would become secular when they assumed power.

Just one month after Tahrir Square, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr-Støre expressed a definitive analysis in the New York Times. According to Gahr-Støre, it was essential to actively counter any perception that the rebellion could promote Islamist views, views that might lead to a new Iran 1979 or provide fruitful soil for Al-Qaida. The article stands as a symbol of Norwegian naïveté and as a memento mori over politicians more concerned with ideological control over the description of reality than dealing with actual reality.

What we see now is a significant increase in attacks on minorities throughout the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of Coptic Christians have fled Egypt. In addition, Druze, Sufis, Assyrian Christians living in Iraq for two thousand years, Kurds, Turkmens, homosexuals — in Iraq alone nearly a thousand homosexuals have been killed since 2004, according to the September 13^th edition of The Observer. It is worth noting that homosexuality was not criminalized under Saddam Hussein. Huge numbers of Jews, another minority that has lived in the Middle East for several thousand years, have emigrated from Arabian countries. Today it is estimated that there are only 18,000 Jews left in these countries, and absolutely no Jews in Libya, according to Standwithus.

And finally, what of the Christians in Syria? I recently returned from a trip to the Middle East where I gave several lectures, had an audience with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and had discussions with several diplomats, ambassadors and leading professors. I also visited the Golan Heights and spoke with one of the top leaders of Christians in Syria. This conversation provided an unpleasant confirmation. Tens of thousands of Christians are fleeing in the wake of Islamic rebel armies supported by the West. These rebels assume control of cities and villages proclaiming “Christians are not welcome in the new Syria.” Rebels go from door to door killing people because they are Christians. Inhabitants of the region are preparing for yet more carnage. Many millions of people in Syria belong to minorities. Should the present regime fail, where the President himself is Alawite, an Islamic minority, the danger for genocide is imminent.

A quick glance at, for example, the bylaws of Hamas reveals a litany of illiberal, anti-democratic and minority-hostile ways of thinking: outright genocide of the Jewish minority is encouraged and civilians are urged to commit suicide for the sake of Allah. Sharia law must be introduced in all countries that Muslims have conquered, and every suggestion from the international community for peaceful solutions should be rejected. Secular solutions are not acceptable and it is the duty of all other religions to bend to this decree without opposition.

Thus Norway’s present official policy acts as an ideal cooperative partner for Hamas. Little or no protest is expressed from our flank. Hamas and other groups hostile towards humanity have successfully obtained political support in the West while they persecute minorities at home. We attempt to influence extremists from within, but we are silent about known facts: innocent people are being killed. And our silence acts as consent.

Norway’s foreign policy is a checkbook diplomacy. Over the last years Norway’s uncritical financial contributions have amounted to billions. We were the first Western country to invite Hamas in from the cold, and we have consistently refused to follow the condemnations of this organization by the USA, the EU and the UN. Delegates from Hamas regularly visit Oslo to partake in festive dinners and receive “democratic training”. All for an organization that has definitively stated that they will never agree to peaceful solutions from the secular international community. Gahr-Støre has scurried from Islamic group to Islamic group, relishing secret conversations with Hamas’ leader, Khaled Meshaal. Gahr-Støre later denied these conversations on TV2 and was forced to admit to them when confronted with the facts by the journalist. The number of friends Norway’s money has managed to buy is impressive indeed.

We are in bed with the enemy, and proud of it. Here hatred of Jews and anti-Israelism stroll hand in hand while studies show ever-increasing anti-Semitism. The use of photographs in the last conflict between Israel and Gaza illustrate unilaterally biased media coverage. Nearly all the photographs show wounded in Gaza. There are few photographs from Israel, of people killed and wounded, of heavily damaged houses. Thus far this year Hamas has fired over 2200 rockets into Israel. We see no photographs of the many “spies” that Hamas summarily executes without trial. Influencing Western journalists and photographers is, according to the November 19^th edition of The Wall Street Journal, a conscious public relations strategy on behalf of Hamas, accomplished by the placement of military infrastructure below and in proximity to the civil population. Hamas is internationally recognized for using the civil population as living shields by locating militant jihadists and weapon stores in densely populated areas. Of course Israel is then perceived as “evil”, and this is exactly what Hamas and others want to achieve — the demonization of the liberal democracy of Israel, the only country in the Middle East that offers Christians and Muslims equal rights and religious freedom, and the only country where religious minorities are increasing, according to the Jewish Virtual Library. In nations like Norway biased media coverage leads to hate, as exemplified by the recent statement of a Hamar AUF politician: he wished that Hitler could return and continue the Holocaust.

Norway’s international reputation as a trustworthy and fair-minded peace negotiator in the Middle East has unfortunately lapsed into history. The Oslo Accords of 1993 represented one of the few really great events that established Norway on the international map. During the Oslo Accords Norway played a leading role in guiding the negotiations towards a two-state solution. The agreement states specifically that the two parties together will agree on borders and the division of land areas. No other country is referred to in the agreement, not even the USA. But only a few years later the Oslo Accords were impatiently tossed aside and promises and commitments abandoned. Palestinians were encouraged to sidestep the agreement and, based on the boundaries that existed prior to 1967, apply directly to the UN for observer status. An interesting fact is that Norway was selected to negotiate the Oslo Accords in place of a more probable actor — Sweden. However, Israel reacted to Sweden’s pro-Palestinian bias by denying Sweden a place at the table before the negotiations even began.

Today Norway has forfeited any role as a credible peace negotiator by judging Israel and Islamists according to two different scales. We have silently accepted the Islamist persecution of Christians, Jews and homosexuals. This is a disturbing fact.

^{Fig. 1. Estimated unconstrained structural equation model. Coefficients displayed in the following order: German-Turks/French-Maghrebis/British-Pakistanis; †p p p p}

The mysterious diagram above is not something I made up. It is not a product of the fetid fervor of my imagination. It is in fact part of the latest research in one of the most cutting-edge disciplines in the Social Sciences: the study of Perceived Islamophobia.

Not surprisingly, this new field was incubated in the intellectual hatcheries of the Norwegian fjords. The authors of this paper on Perceived Islamophobia are Jonas R. Kunsta, of the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, and David L. Samb and Pål Ulleberga of the Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen.

Islamophobia is possibly the single most pressing problem facing the world today, so these scientists’ research is timely indeed. It will supply a solid base of empirical data to help guide policy planners and lawmakers throughout the nations of the West. I’m certain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu will be among the first to express their gratitude to these three esteemed scholars, whose efforts lay the groundwork for new national anti-defamation laws, as required by the United Nations in its struggle to combat the defamation of religions.

Below are excerpts from the abstract of the article. The complete paper is available here.

Perceived islamophobia: Scale development and validation

by Jonas R. Kunsta, David L. Samb, and Pål Ulleberga

Abstract

“Islamophobia” has been used as an umbrella term capturing different types of religious stigma towards Muslims. However, the operationalization of the term for research purposes varies greatly, where little attention heretofore has been paid on how islamophobia affects Muslim minorities’ lives.

Against this background, we aimed to develop and validate the Perceived Islamophobia Scale (PIS). In the first study (167 German-Arabs, 184 German-Turks and 205 British-Pakistanis), exploratory factor analyses of a preliminary item pool gave support of a three-factor scale in all samples. Subscales were computed for each factor (i.e., perceptions of a general fear of Islam and Muslims, fear of islamization, and islamophobia in the media), which were reliable across the samples.

In all samples, the PIS was positively related to psychological distress and in two samples this relation remained significant, after controlling for experiences of discrimination. In Study 2 (262 German-Turks, 277 French-Maghrebis and 249 British-Pakistanis), confirmatory factor analyses supported the structural equivalence of the scale’s three-factor solution. The PIS was positively related to perceived stress and discrimination. Lastly, PIS predicted higher levels of religious and ethnic identification, controlling for discrimination.

The PIS seems to be a valid and reliable measure across different Muslim minority groups. The fact that perceptions of islamophobia in two samples negatively predicted psychological distress after controlling for experiences of discrimination, suggests that anti-discrimination laws may be insufficient in protecting Muslim minorities of the negative effects of stigma on psychological well-being.

Highlights

• We develop and validate the Perceived Islamophobia Scale (PIS).
• The scale measures perceptions of societal islamophobia among Muslim minorities.
• Three subscales: general fear, fear of islamization and islamophobia in the media.
• PIS positively relates to psychological distress, stress and discrimination.
• PIS is positively related to Muslim participants’ ethnic and religious identities.
• The scale seems to be a reliable and valid measure across cultural groups.

Keywords

• Islamophobia
• Islamization
• Psychological health
• Muslims
• Identity
• Perceived islamophobia
• Discrimination
• Well-being

Imran Firasat, the Pakistani ex-Muslim who collaborated with Terry Jones on the recently-released movie The Innocent Prophet (watch it here), has now been served with official documents revoking his status as a political refugee in Spain. As an apostate from Islam, if Mr. Firasat is deported to his native Pakistan, he will likely face the death penalty for his “blasphemy” against Mohammed.

Below is the press release that was just sent out by Stand Up America Now:

Imran Firasat has been served the official documents by the Spanish government confirming that his residency status has been revoked.

The authorities quickly hand-delivered the official revocation documents to Imran on Friday evening, December 22nd, giving him no chance to consult his lawyer or plead his case. Through these actions, Spain has proven to the world that it holds Islamic law in high regard, even above its own laws.

Firasat is an ex-Muslim from Pakistan who has taken a radical stand against Islam since his conversion to Christianity. He has received many death threats from Muslim individuals and groups in various Islamic countries for seven years because of his criticism of Islam.

Spain, a free western nation, had given Imran welcome asylum to protect him from these violent and radical Islamic groups.

Imran has been involved in the co-production of the Youtube, The Innocent Prophet, with Terry Jones and Stand Up America Now. The Innocent Prophet was released to the public on Youtube on December 15, 2012.

Imran officially backed out of the project when the Spanish government threatened to revoke his protected residency status and have him deported to Pakistan where the death penalty is waiting for him because of his criticism of Islam. Firasat did his best to cooperate with Spanish authorities by presenting documented proof to them that he had backed out of the project. Despite this, Spain quickly revoked Imran’s protected asylum status during a period of approximately ten days. This would normally take the government about six months to process.

Imran has not committed any crime according to Spanish law. He has only exercised his right of free expression concerning his views on Islam. Nevertheless, his residency status has been revoked and he faces imminent deportation to a Muslim nation where the penalty for blasphemy against Islam or Muhammad is death.

Well, it’s official: the world didn’t end on December 21, 2012. The Mayans were wrong. This wipes an entire industry devoted to selling stuff to apocalypse suckers enthusiasts — maybe the federal government will step forward and create a new program, Assistance to Victims of the Mayan Long Count Scam (AVMLCS). One more bailout fund won’t hurt anything.

In other news, Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, resigned after his agency was found wanting by the official report on last September’s fiasco in Benghazi. Two other lower-ranking officials also resigned.

Meanwhile, an Italian branch of the Greek nationalist party Golden Dawn is preparing for the upcoming elections in Italy. Members say they are inspired by Mussolini’s policies, and hope to make a good showing at the polls.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, JP, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

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

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

Mohamed Shaheen is a secular-minded Muslim who was elected to the People’s Assembly of Egypt in the 2011-2012 election. He is opposed to President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and believes the Ikhwan is well on the way to establishing a Salafist dictatorship in Egypt.

Last month Alain Wagner of the International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) interviewed Mohamed Shaheen in France. Jean Maher acted as an interpreter, translating from Arabic to French during the interview. The French text was later translated by Bear, and Vlad Tepes has now subtitled it in English:

As Vlad Tepes reported earlier, the day after this interview was filmed, Mohamed Shaheen was beaten up and sent to the hospital by President Mohamed Morsi’s thugs.

Interview transcript: