Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Imam Who Defected

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Ahmed Akkari is one of the notorious Danish imams who carried the Mohammed cartoons to the Middle East back in 2006. His actions helped inflame tensions that led to riots and resulted in the burning of two Danish embassies (and a Norwegian one, if I recall correctly).

After spending some years in Greenland, Mr. Akkari recently caused a sensation in Denmark by publicly apologizing for his actions and admitting that they were wrong. The Danish media have been buzzing ever since with speculation about whether the imam was sincere, or whether his repentance is being faked for tactical reasons.

Last night Ahmed Akkari was a guest of the Free Press Society in Copenhagen, and spoke at length about his “conversion”. The following article about the occasion was originally published at Dispatch International in a slightly different form:

The imam who defected: Extremists run all Danish mosques

by Ingrid Carlqvist

Finally he is there — on the podium of The Free Press Society. It is half past seven PM, Thursday, August 22, 2013, as the former Islamist imam and deadly enemy of the Free Press Society, Ahmed Akkari, faces his fiercest critics.

A tiny man with more than a hundred deaths and the burning of two Danish embassies on his conscience.

“Thank you for inviting me. I don’t know if I deserve all this, but perhaps my journey through life may be of use to you,” says Ahmed Akkari as he timidly surveys the packed hall in the heart of Copenhagen.

Since ex-Islamist Ahmed Akkari came out of the closet three weeks ago, he has been the man of the hour. On television shows, in newspaper articles and on radio, he has tried to explain what has happened to him. He went from being a hardened and fierce Islamist to a kindly and thoughtful person, filled with love and gratitude for Denmark.

The metamorphosis is difficult to explain and hard to believe. Is his conversion sincere or he is he applying taqiyya — the right of Muslims to lie and deceive in the service of Islam?

In 1985, when Akkari was six, his parents fled to Denmark from war-torn Lebanon. They chose Denmark because it was a safe country without too many immigrants — thinking that they would find a peaceful life here.

Ahmed Akkari attended public school as the only immigrant in his class. He had every chance in the world to adapt and become a normal Dane. But in his teens he was drawn to religious circles and before realizing what was happening, he had become poisoned by extremism.

He embarked on an education as an imam and suddenly he detested democracy and free speech. Allah and life after death became his only concerns. When the daily Jyllands-Posten published the famous Mohammed cartoons in September 2005, he was instrumental in condemning Denmark. Together with other imams he traveled to The Middle East in order to stir up a glowing hatred against the small northern country that had had the audacity to offend the prophet. The result: riots leading to the death of more than a hundred people, two Danish embassies burnt to the ground and a boycott of Danish products.

Vengefully, Akkari and his cohorts tried to force then Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to apologize for Jyllands-Posten’s cartoons. But the Prime Minister stood firm and explained that Denmark enjoys freedom of the press and that he neither could nor would apologize. That made no impression on Denmark’s boisterous cultural elite that just could not understand why one had to offend the country’s and the world’s Muslims this way.

But now Ahmed Akkari understands. He has undergone a metamorphosis. How did that happen? And can we trust him?

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/23/2013

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Major Nidal Hasan, the Killer Shrink of Fort Hood, was convicted today by a military jury on all 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The sentencing phase of the trial will begin on Monday.

In other news, a study in Norway has discovered that people who are afflicted by neurosis have smaller brains with fewer neural connections.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Frontinus, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, KP, LS, 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.

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.

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Boots on the Ground in Syria

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It appears that American military forces are now in Syria, and have been there since before the recent alleged chemical attack by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. As happened in Libya two years ago, foreign troops — in this case, Americans, Israelis, and Jordanians — have been secretly inserted into the country to train the rebels and assist them in overthrowing the regime.

This is the scenario put forward by Le Figaro, in an article translated from the French:

Syria: Anti-Assad operation has begun

By Isabelle Lasserre

According to our information, the regime’s opponents, supervised by Jordanian, Israeli and American commandos, have been moving towards Damascus since mid-August. This attack could explain the possible recourse to chemical weapons by the Syrian president.

If it is still too early to categorically rule out the argument put forward by Damascus and Moscow, who blame the massacre on the Syrian opposition, it is already possible to provide answers to a troubling question: What benefit would Assad have realized by launching an unconventional attack at the precise moment he had to allow UN inspectors — after being held up for several months — to investigate the use of chemical weapons?

First of all, operational logic. According to information obtained by Le Figaro, the first contingent of Syrian troops trained in guerrilla warfare by the Americans in Jordan have reportedly been sent into action since mid-August in southern Syria, in the region of Deraa. A first group of 300 men, undoubtedly supported by Israeli and Jordanian commandos, as well as by CIA operatives, crossed the border on August 17. A second was to have joined on the 19th. According to military sources, for several months the Americans, who do not want to put troops on the Syrian soil, nor arm any rebels controlled in part by radical Islamists, quietly assembled handpicked ASL fighters, the Free Syrian Army, in a training camp set up at the Jordanian-Syrian border.

Sense of impunity

During the summer their protégés have begun to push against Syrian battalions in the south, approaching the capital. “Their impact would now be felt in the Ghouta, where formations of the FSA were already at work, but really can make a difference on the outskirts of the fortifications of Damascus,” says David Rigoulet-Roze, a researcher at the French Institute for Strategic Analysis (IFAS).

According to this expert on the region, the idea proposed by Washington would be the possible establishment of a buffer zone separating the south of Syria, or even a no-fly zone, which would permit the opposition to train in complete security until the balance of power changes. This is the reason why the United States deployed Patriot batteries and F16s in Jordan in late June.

Recent military pressure exerted against al-Ghouta threatens the capital Damascus, the heart of the Syrian regime. In July the spokesman for President al-Assad publicly stated that the regime would not use chemical weapons in Syria “except in case of external aggression.” The intrusion of foreign agents into the south, for example…

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“Poland Should Remain a Slavic and Christian Country”

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The former East Bloc nations of Central Europe are to a large extent free of the suicidal multicultural urge that is destroying most of Western Europe. The current generation of politicians and civic leaders in the former Communist countries were raised under a much more virulent ideology than Political Correctness, and thus seem to have developed antibodies that enable them to resist the current multiculti fad.

Enthusiasm for immigrants and cultural enrichment is making its way slowly into the elite political culture of Poland, but it is being resisted by ordinary Poles, who are most emphatically not keen on changing the ethnic composition of their native country.

In the story below, you’ll notice that the push to resettle African refugees in Poland is coming from — where else? — the European Union, which is quite capable of making the Poles an offer they can’t refuse.

You’ll also notice that Somalis, when given a choice, mostly prefer to settle in Western Europe, where wages and welfare benefits are considerably higher than in Poland — no fools they!

Finally, note that the authorities are willing to pay to resettle totally alien ethnics in Poland, whilst refusing to make any effort to bring home the Polish diaspora that was deported East under Stalin. This policy is much the same as that of the Swedish government, which denied entry to its Swedish brethren from the village of Gammalsvenskby in Ukraine.

These two cases demonstrate that there is an agenda at work that goes beyond mere immigration and open borders. If freedom of migration were the only issue, the Swedes of Gammalsvenskby would be welcomed in Sweden, and the Poles of Kazakhstan would be brought home to Poland. Because this isn’t happening — and is even actively resisted — you know that more sinister motives must be at work. To consolidate the Polish nation in Poland or the Swedish nation in Sweden would hinder the Great Plan to destroy traditional European ethnicities and replace them with a rainbow hodgepodge that can be more easily manipulated and controlled by new systems of trans-national governance.

The following article about the resettlement of African refugees in Poland was sent in by Takuan Seiyo, who includes this brief note:

This article is from Gazeta Wyborcza, the “Polish New York Times”. It’s a quick Google translation with some tweaking from me to make it intelligible.

The translated article:

All-Polish Youth and ONR [National-Radical Camp] Want to Close the Border to Refugees From Africa

They demand to “immediately stop the immigration of alien civilizations.” They scare with (consequences of immigration like) killings in the name of Islam and Polish schools dominated by children of refugees. “This is a threat to the security of our continent, the future of our culture, religion and identity,” sounds the alarm from the National Movement. “Down with the niggers. No mixing of our fellow citizens with visitors from Africa,” echoed supporters on the Internet.

In early August, the Maltese newspaper The Malta Independent reported that by the end of the year Poland will take in 50 refugees from Africa who now reside in Malta. The implementation decisions were to take place during the August meeting of deputy head of the Foreign Ministry Henryka Mościcka-Dendys with Maltese parliamentarians in Warsaw.

The authorities on the Mediterranean island have been struggling for years with the influx of immigrants, who are often fleeing armed conflicts in their countries. Their stories are dramatic.

Last year, half a thousand refugees drowned in the Mediterranean. Another four thousand stay in Maltese shelters. Malta, with population of 400,000 the smallest state in the European Union, is asking for help from other countries.

“We are of the opinion that the EU should show solidarity towards Member States that are faced with the problem of immigrants,” said minister Mościcka-Dendys at a meeting with Maltese parliamentarians.

Information from the Maltese newspaper electrified the Polish extreme right. The National Movement created by the All-Polish Youth and the National Radical Camp announced on its Facebook page, “No to the immigrant. Yes to the repatriant.” In their appeal to the government they call for “an immediate cessation of immigration from alien civilizations and an active posture toward the repatriation of thousands of Poles from the East”. The appeal was signed by more than three thousand. people.

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/22/2013

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The United States, France, and Turkey all say that Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime has crossed the “red line” with its purported chemical attack. Russia, however, maintains that the attack was in fact a “false flag” operation staged by the Syrian rebels. Independent observers also question the timing of the event, which occurred just after international inspectors arrived in Syria, and was close to their base of operations.

In other news, hundreds of American Copts converged on Washington D.C. today to protest the Obama administration’s policy towards Egypt, and in particular its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and deposed President Mohamed Morsi.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to AR, C. Cantoni, ESW, Fjordman, Frontinus, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Kitman, KP, MC, Papa Whiskey, 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.

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.

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“It’s All in Plain Sight”

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It wasn’t a “Red Scare”. It was a Red reality.

Diana West appeared yesterday on Andrew Wilkow’s program on Blaze TV to talk about Socialism in America. She discussed her book, American Betrayal, which examines the penetration of the Roosevelt administration by Communist agents of influence:

Previous posts about the controversy over American Betrayal by Diana West:

2013   Aug   11   Diana West: On the Question of “Scholarship”
        13   Yet Another Circular Conservative Firing Squad
        14   Cordon Sanitaire: FAIL
        15   On Reading the Book
        16   Banishing the Cathars
        18   Form and Substance
 

The Iranian Infiltration of Latin America, Part 4

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Below is the fourth of several parts of a summary of prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s much longer report on the 1994 bombing of the AMIA center in Buenos Aires, which was released at the end of May. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies issued the 31-page summary (pdf) when the larger report was published. (Previously: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)

This section discusses the recruitment strategy of Iranian intelligence in Latin America, which includes the practice of sending zealous pupils to Qom in Iran for further religious instruction — that is, for indoctrination and training in violent jihad.

Qom schools

The proselytism developed by Iranian extremists is aimed at the recruitment and/or conversion of individuals to their principles. Its final goal is to co-opt those who are easily influenced by the regime’s interests, so they can be functional to perform activities required by the intelligence station. This has been stated by Abolghasem Mesbahi: “The religious activity of the Mullahs consists in doing infiltration work in the local communities, surveillance of dissidents and recruitment of people that will be used in the future and who may even kill in the name of religion“.

Thus, Rabbani distorted his role of religious educator in order to transmit extremists’ ideas to the students who attended his classes. This has been proved by the statements made by a witness who asserted: “… during the year 1990, three students told him that Rabbani had explained to them that they should export the Revolution and told them ‘everybody is Hezbollah’ […] Rabbani made these statements to his students as part of the indoctrination imparted during their study. The witness added that Rabbani carried out this indoctrination with all the students that attended the mosque. The meaning of the expression ‘everybody is Hezbollah’ was used by Rabbani as a way to make the students understand the violent meaning he granted to the export of the Revolution“.

This same duality was replicated in Guyana, as it has been indicated by the agent Addonizio: “… in the Islamic centers that he [Abdul Kadir] directed, propaganda about Islam was made and they tried to convert people so that they would join the Shia movement in Guyana. In that search, persons of adequate profile were sought after, that is to say, that had the necessary level of commitment to be sent to Iran to complete religious instruction…“.

The indoctrination itself does not only consist in the study of Islam in the students’ home countries but also its continuance in the city of Qom, for which the candidates have to be sponsored and also approved a rigorous selection in which it is examined their religious knowledge and mainly, their commitment to the principles of the Islamic Revolution. It is interesting to mention a concrete example whose main characters are precisely, Rabbani and Kadir. In a letter dated March 20th 1999, Kadir answered Rabbani about the “mission” that the last one had entrusted him. He had to assess the aptitudes and commitment of certain members of the local Muslim community.

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On Not Provoking Muslims

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Dymphna and I belong to a small rural Anglican congregation that worships in an old frame church not far from where we live. Despite the fact that it is an Episcopal church, and thus subordinate to the — gack! — ECUSA, it is not at all liberal. This is, after all, the remote countryside of Central Virginia. Most of our fellow congregants are older people who grew up around here, and are thus unafflicted by the PC disease that has infected the national church — as well as all the other mainstream Protestant denominations.

Yet our church is not what you’d call hidebound — we follow Rite 2 in the 1979 Prayer Book, sing from the 1982 hymnal, and accept the fact that women are now ordained priests in the Episcopal Church. We’re just average run-of-the-mill cultural conservatives. Our priest is a conservative, and sometimes even forwards me emails from tea party groups or the Blaze.

As a result, I don’t mind speaking up and revealing my political sympathies at church — it’s safe.

From time to time I pass on information acquired as part of my work here at Gates of Vienna, especially reports concerning the persecution of Christians in majority-Muslim countries. Other members of our church get their news mostly from the MSM, especially the television networks, which means they don’t hear much about the routine treatment meted out to Christians in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt.

At the service this past Sunday, the news about the mass destruction of churches in Egypt was fresh in my mind, so I stood up during the announcements and gave an account of the previous day’s reports, knowing that my fellow parishioners would have seen virtually nothing about the atrocities on their TV screens. I explained that in a space of just three days, fifty-eight churches and Christian schools in Egypt had been torched and looted by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, and I reminded them that the Brotherhood enjoyed the full support of the Obama administration.

An elderly lady in the third row snorted, and said, “Huh! He’s a Muslim himself, isn’t he?”

Which made me wonder:

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/21/2013

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The ongoing epidemic of violent crime in the French city of Marseille has prompted the interior minister and the prime minister to rush to the city to consult with local officials. The central government has promised to put 24 more police on the streets of Marseille in an attempt to stem the tide of crime.

In other news, advocacy groups associated with the Syrian rebels say that more than 100 people have been killed by nerve gas used by the Assad regime against rebel forces.

In immigration news, on Tuesday more than 600 illegal migrants landed on the coast of Italy or were rescued offshore. Prominent among the new arrivals were Syrians and Egyptians, but Pakistanis and Eritreans were also represented.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, DN, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, KP, 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.

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.

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A New “Right-Wing International”?

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[“ÖSTERREICH, Wednesday August 21, 2011 — Strache starting right-wing EU party — Controversial: FPÖ leader meets Dutch ‘Haider’ and now plans a Right-Wing International”]

As reported yesterday, Geert Wilders, the leader of the PVV (Partij voor de Vrijheid, Party for Freedom), traveled to Vienna to meet with the leader of the FPÖ (Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs, Austrian Freedom Party), Heinz-Christian Strache. The account below is adapted from reports on yesterday’s events provided by sources close to Geert Wilders.

Geert Wilders and Heinz-Christian Strache have both been ostracized for many years by the legacy media. Each has been demonized as “extreme-right”, “neo-fascist”, and even “neo-Nazi”, despite the fact that both are staunch champions of our traditional freedoms, civil liberties, and human rights. Both men agreed that instead of taking the media reports for granted, they needed to meet in person and become acquainted with one another

The meeting between Mr. Wilders and Mr. Strache follows Mr. Wilders’ one-on-one talks with Marine LePen, the leader of the French party Front National, Roberto Maroni of the Lega Nord (Northern League, Italy), and other freedom-loving parties in the European Union.

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/20/2013

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Culturally enriched “Belgians” who went off to Syria to join the jihad are being deprived of their welfare benefits by two Flemish cities. This includes an end to their unemployment payments. That’ll show ’em!

In other news, according to the official report on integration in Austria, 19% of the country’s population is of foreign origin, with 14% actually born abroad.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JLH, KP, McR, 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.

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.

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Guilt by (Remote) Association

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If you’re a Social Democrat in Sweden, and your cousin has a neighbor whose co-worker’s sister went to the same primary school as someone whose brother is sympathetic to the Sweden Democrats: beware! You may not be fit to be a Social Democrat.

That seems to be the standard applied by Nusreta Kurtanovic Nilsson, who resigned the party rather than associate with a colleague with a relative who loathes the Sweden Democrats insufficiently. Ms. Nilsson’s status as an immigrant to Sweden makes her sensitive to SD’s immigration-critical positions. Sweden is a tolerant country, but there are limits, you know.

Many thanks to The Observer for translating this article from Sverigesradio (Swedish State Radio):

After the resignation: “The party leadership has exhibited great cowardice”

The Social Democrat Nusreta Kurtanovic Nilsson is quitting politics and terminating her membership in the Social Democratic Party in Karlskrona. She says it is partly due to the fact that her party colleague Chatarina Holmberg has a relative who sympathizes with the Sweden Democrats. She’s not happy, and believes that there is cowardice within the party about raising certain issues, such as xenophobia.

Nusreta Kurtanovic Nilsson (S) explains that she resigned because she believes that the party has exhibited cowardice and that it does not wish to raise certain issues and that “some in the leadership have links to the SD.”

“This isn’t meant as criticism of any specific individuals per se, but the party is unable to deal with certain issues that I think we should address. The issue of Chatarina’s relative has been talked about in the corridors for a long time, but no one is willing to discuss it,” she says.

Cannot represent the party anymore

Nusreta Kurtanovic Nilsson says that as an immigrant she feels that Chatarina Holmberg cannot represent her in certain areas when taking into consideration that some of her family members sympathize with the Sweden Democrats.

“This does not mean that she is a bad Social Democrat, but bearing this in mind, she is the wrong person to work as a councilor.”

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Geert Wilders and Heinz-Christian Strache in Vienna

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As reported here earlier, Geert Wilders, the leader of the PVV (Partij voor de Vrijheid, Party for Freedom) in the Netherlands and Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the FPÖ (Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs, Austrian Freedom Party), met in Vienna today. It was a ground-breaking moment, and we will post a full report on the event tomorrow.

Meanwhile, below are six more photos taken in Vienna today by sources close to Geert Wilders. The tall blond-haired man is of course Geert Wilders, and the dark-haired man is Heinz-Christian Strache. The third man (on the left in the final photo) is David Lasar, a member of the Vienna city council and Mr. Strache’s confidant.

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