France: Minister, Pension Reform Needed for Public Accounts
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 6 — “Without pension reform, it is completely unrealistic to think that we can balance public finances. Pensions represent 1.2% of the structural deficit and 10 points of less debt on the horizon for 2010,” said Budget Minister Francois Baroin during an interview with economic daily Les Echos. “What is not negotiable,” he explained, “is the objective of bringing the public deficit to 6% of the GDP by next year. We will make adaptations if necessary, even with extra efforts over and beyond what has already been planned.” “We will first act on spending,” concluded Baroin, who was asked about a possible VAT hike, “and not on direct and indirect taxes.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Zapatero Announces Savings Bank Reform
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 8 — Spanish Premier Jose’ Luis Zapatero announced that tomorrow he will approve an “urgent and broad reform” to the country’s savings bank regulations in order to “strengthen capitalisation” and to “professionalise” the savings banks, the veritable weak link in the Spanish financial system. This was announced by the premier at the end of a meeting with savings bank confederation CECA, which was held at the Moncloa Palace. The reform will make it possible for private investors to acquire “stakes” that will give them the right to sit on the management bodies of the savings banks and will allow them to increase their capitalisation. The stakes can be up to 50% of the capital to avoid “denaturing” the role of the savings banks, said Zapatero. On the other hand, the new law “will place strict limits” on the presence of politicians on the Board of Directors of the savings banks. The reform, which will be approved tomorrow in a law by decree, is part of the restructuring plan for the sector, which began last year with the creation of a state assistance fund for the savings banks (FROB), and continued with the mergers of various entities in the last months. The Spanish savings banks, often directly tied to the regions (the presidents of the regional government are often also the presidents of the savings banks), are the weakest link in the system because they were much more exposed than the banks to the Spanish real estate bubble and had much less reserves on hand to deal with a possible crisis. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Progressives’ Legacy of Bankruptcy
The roots of our current crisis.
There is a growing sense in the minds of Americans that we, as a nation, are reenacting the dramatic climax of Thelma and Louise: The pedal’s to the metal, the car’s gaining speed, and we are about to plunge into the abyss. The abyss is not the Grand Canyon, of course, but its fiscal equivalent — national bankruptcy. Americans are finally waking up to the fact that our government has been — and still is — on an unsustainable spending spree. According to the International Monetary Fund, our gross debt — which passed the $13 trillion mark in June — is now at 92.6 percent of GDP, and is projected to surpass our GDP (meaning the debt-to-GDP ratio will exceed 100 percent) by 2012.
As bad as that seems, however, even the gross-debt figure does not capture just how serious the situation is, for it does not include the growing costs of our three largest entitlement programs — Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. It is the costs of these three programs, and not the bailouts, wars, stimulus, etc., that are the primary cause of our exploding deficits and debt. “Under current law,” the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) explains, “the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. . . . Almost all of the projected growth in federal spending other than interest payments on the debt comes from growth in spending on the three largest entitlement programs — Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.” Our debt crisis is thus essentially an entitlement crisis. When the unfunded liabilities of these programs are added to the gross debt, the figure rises from $13 trillion to a mind-blowing $60 trillion. So grossly underfunded are these programs that the CBO estimates Congress would have to raise the lowest marginal-income-tax rate from 10 percent to 26 percent, the 25 percent rate to 66 percent, and the 35 percent rate to 92 percent, to close the gap.
Who has driven America to this precipice? Certainly part of the blame belongs to the politicians, primarily Democrats, who created and enlarged these entitlements without imposing taxes anywhere near sufficient to sustain them, and otherwise seriously mismanaged the programs’ finances. On a deeper level, however, the blame belongs to the late-19th- and early-20th-century Progressive movement. Despite recent claims that the Progressives had little impact upon the development of liberalism in the New Deal and beyond, including in the realm of social insurance, the Progressives were in fact the founding fathers of social insurance in America. Far from making a break with Progressivism, accordingly, the enactment of these programs during the New Deal and Great Society represents the clear policy fruit of the philosophical revolution as to the end of government, and the fundamental conception of morality underlying it, that the Progressives fought so vigorously to effect.
Of course, persuading many Americans that Progressivism initiated a struggle over the soul of America is a hard sell. For decades, liberal scholars and politicians have attributed the 20th-century growth of government to changes in the mere material circumstances of American life. The Progressive era’s progressive reforms, we have been told, were the necessary and inevitable response to problems created by the closing of the frontier, the rise of huge corporations and a transition to large-scale factory production, population shifts out of the countryside and into the city, large waves of immigration, etc. The New Deal, in turn, was simply a response to the economic hardships caused by the Great Depression. By attributing these periods’ reforms to America’s changing material circumstances, the orthodox view implies that there was no change of philosophical or moral import likewise under way. More to the point, it implies that the Progressives’ reforms were guided by the principles of the American Founding.
And yet this is demonstrably false.
In its own self-understanding, the late-19th- and early-20th-century Progressive movement was a reform movement in the fullest sense of the term. Growing especially, but not exclusively, out of the efforts of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of budding American social scientists who matriculated in German universities between 1820 and 1920, the largest wave of which occurred in the 1890s, the movement consciously sought to supplant the authority of the principles of the American founding with a new conception of Freedom, History, and the State inspired by early-19th-century German idealism. The Progressive refounding of America thus had both a destructive and a constructive aspect…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Congressman Etheridge: You Better Ask “Who is Dr. Berwick?”
By Renee Ellmers
When Congressman Etheridge asked the student who are you, he asked the wrong question. He should have asked, “Who is Dr. Donald Berwick?”
He’s the man Obama has appointed to implement the half trillion dollars in Medicare cuts under the Obamacare plan Congressman Etheridge voted for.
The good doctor will be the health care rationer for seniors. In his own words, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”
And Dr. Berwick is open about his desire to deny health care to some and give it to others. “Any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized, and humane must, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional.”
In other words, it’s not about good health care for everyone. It’s about taking from some to give to others.
And Great Britain’s National Health Service is the model for the new Obama/Etheridge Medicare Chief. He says “I am romantic about the NHS; I love it.”
In the system he loves, cancer patients are routinely denied cutting edge drugs because the lives they help aren’t considered worth the cost.
A quote from a document I received in the mail from Congressman Etheridge (published and mailed at taxpayer expense, with the union label firmly in place), reads: “Strengthens Medicare. Reduces average cost for Medicare beneficiaries by $400 and extends the life of the trust fund by a decade so beneficiaries get the benefits they were promised.”
At the top of the same document the following appears, “I proudly stood with the working families for North Carolina to vote in favor of health insurance reform, because it will save lives and money. When families are hurting, doing nothing is not an option for me. — Bob Etheridge.”
The reason Donald Berwick is so dangerous as Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is because in that position he will control whether doctors and hospitals get paid by Medicare. If you don’t cooperate, you don’t get paid. That will force doctors and hospitals to unwillingly participate in rationing of care.
The Medicare cuts Congressman Etheridge voted for have consequences. The cuts may save money, but Congressman Etheridge is wrong when he says those cuts save lives. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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NASA’s Mission to the Muslims
Perverting and defunding NASA’s mission is evidence of Obama’s commitment to Islam
The news that NASA administrator, John Bolden, had been dispatched to the Middle East to fulfill what he said was its “foremost” mission, “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science…and math and engineering” was so appallingly stupid that it defied any legitimate reason for NASA to exist.
The other mission objectives Barack Obama charged Bolden with were to “re-inspire children to want to get into science and math” and to “expand our international relationships.”
You need a bit of history to lend some clarity to this. NASA was the direct result of the Cold War scare when the Russians put Sputnik into orbit over the Earth in October 1957, thereby demonstrating they had missiles powerful enough to launch a nuclear attack on the nation. It galvanized the U.S. government into passing the National Defense Education Act in order to get more young Americans to go into the fields of science and math, and it prompted the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the purpose of demonstrating American scientists and engineers could create bigger and better missiles.
Muslims had nothing to do with it then and nothing to do with it now.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tancredo’s Remarks Rain on Senate Candidate Buck’s Party
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck learned all over again Thursday why handing over the microphone to Tom Tancredo is often a perilous choice.
[…]
Then former U.S. Rep. Tancredo got hold of the mike and flashed his usual flair for controversy. Tancredo listed a series of historical threats to the United States, from terrorism to the Great Depression to world wars, then said:
“I truly believe this . . I believe this with all my heart, that the greatest threat to the United States today, the greatest threat to our liberty, the greatest threat to the Constitution, the greatest threat to our way of life, everything we believe in, the greatest threat to the country put together by the Founding Fathers, is the guy who is in the White House today.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Obama is a Cultural Muslim
By Jeffrey T. Kuhner
President Obama is betraying the Jews. He is a cultural Muslim whose sympathies lie with the Islamic world in its life-death struggle against Israel. Unless American Jews wake up and speak out against Mr. Obama’s pro-Arab, anti-Israel policies, the Jewish state faces a possible nuclear war — and even annihilation.
Mr. Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week. The goal: to repair the public rift in relations between Washington and Jerusalem.
“The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable,” Mr. Obama said. “It encompasses our national security interests, our strategic interests, but most importantly the bond of two democracies who share a common set of values and whose people have grown closer and closer as time goes on.”
Don’t believe him. In front of reporters, Mr. Obama may praise the Jewish state. But behind the scenes, he is selling the Jews down the river…
| — Hat tip: SF | [Return to headlines] |
Mississauga Man Charged With Hate Crime
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have charged a Mississauga man under a seldom-used section of the Criminal Code governing hate crimes.
At a news conference today in Malton, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino and members of the Provincial Operations Intelligence Bureau’s Hate Crimes Extremism Unit outlined details of the charges against Salman An-Noor Hossain, 25.
A five-month investigation revealed that a website and blog operated by the former University of Toronto Mississauga student contained information that, among other things, willfully promoted hatred and advocated genocide of the Jewish community.
Hossain is charged with three counts of willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group and two counts of advocating or promoting genocide against an identifiable group.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service started investigating Hossain at least three years ago.
Hossain is believed to be hiding out in an unspecified east Asia country, where he continues to advocate racist violence on his United States-based website.
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Britain’s Sovereignty and Security Are Reduced
Telegraph View: The European Convention on Human Rights hamstrings Britain’s efforts to protect its citizens.
In their election manifesto, the Conservatives promised to repeal the Human Rights Act and introduce a British Bill of Rights. This pledge was kicked into the long grass by the Coalition, yet the issues it sought to address remain. Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights blocked the extradition to America of Abu Hamza, the radical Muslim cleric, and several other suspects who were set to stand trial for alleged terrorist offences. This judgment relied upon Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which prohibits “inhumane or degrading” treatment. Lawyers argued that Abu Hamza, currently serving a jail sentence in Britain, and the others might end up the victims of an overly draconian penal regime, or facing a life sentence with no prospect of parole, in breach of their rights. This same provision has previously prevented the UK deporting suspected foreign terrorists who are considered a threat to national security.
Since two British courts have already approved these extraditions, the intervention of the European Court is a clear infringement of our sovereignty. It is the first duty of government to protect its citizens and defend the realm — yet the UK and other countries often find their attempts to do just that constrained by extra-territorial judicial authorities. We know that a balance must be struck between security and individual freedoms — and that the last government got it wrong. In terms of the Coalition’s actions, the Home Office’s decision yesterday to modify the stop-and-search powers of the police, again following a European Court ruling, was probably correct, provided it does not compromise legitimate anti-terrorist inquiries. On the other hand, we have misgivings about the inquiry into the alleged complicity of MI5 in torture, because it risks making the country less secure.
The Government appears to have concluded that tackling the ECHR is not an immediate priority. But the issue will not go away while the terrorist threat remains. We suggest that a special high-level committee is established to see what might feasibly be done to ensure that Britain meets its obligations under the convention, without being hamstrung while trying to protect its citizens. The operation of the European Court might be a useful place to begin. Last year, Lord Hoffmann, a former law lord, criticised the Strasbourg-based institution for continually second-guessing national courts. The British Government could also take the lead by trying to convince other European countries that the convention, drafted in 1948, might usefully be brought up to date, to reflect the different circumstances of today. One thing is clear, however: doing nothing is not an option.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
France: Bettencourt, Investigation Over Illicit Sarkozy Funds
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 7 — The French justice system opened an investigation this morning following statements made by the former accountant of L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who yesterday spoke about a bribe handed over in 2007 to Eric Woerth, the former Ump treasurer and current Budget Minister, that was meant to finance the electoral campaign of presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. According to reports from judicial sources in Paris, the preliminary investigation was assigned to the Financial Brigade and the anti-delinquency Brigade. The decision was adopted by Nanterre prosecutor Philippe Courroye, who is looking into the matter after yesterday’s statements by Claire Thibout, Liliane Bettencourt’s former accountant. The woman, among other things, spoke about a bribe worth 150,000 euros delivered to Eric Woerth, the then treasurer of Nicolas Sarkozy’s electoral campaign. President Sarkozy, who was also asked to speak in public by his majority to defend himself, will speak on July 13, when the Cabinet will present its pension reform plan. The Elysium made the announcement without specifying whether on the day the head of State will comment on the Bettencourt case. Meanwhile today Sarkozy appealed to the government — during the Cabinet meeting — asking it to “check its nerves” and focus on work without paying attention to the mess raised by the Bettencourt-Woerth case. “The government is working, continues to act and follows its timetable. This is the president’s message”, stated government spokesperson Luc Chatel, who emphasised that during the Cabinet meeting Sarkozy again “paid homage” to minister of Labour Eric Woerth. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fury as UK Envoy Hails Terror Chief: Hague Faces Calls to Sack Our Woman in Beiruit
William Hague was under pressure to sack Britain’s ambassador to the Lebanon last night after she heaped praise on the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah.
In an extraordinary ‘personal statement’ on the Foreign Office website, Frances Guy paid tribute to Sheikh Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, who inspired a string of terrorist attacks against Israel and the West.
Fadlullah, who died last weekend at the age of 74, became infamous in 1983 amid claims he had personally authorised the truck bombing of two barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French paratroopers.
He was also behind the kidnapping of dozens of hostages, including Terry Waite, John McCarthy and Brian Keenan. He recently issued a fatwa legitimising suicide bombing.
He died on Sunday at the age of 74 after a period of bad health. Thousands attended his funeral on Tuesday and Lebanese authorities declared it an official day of mourning.
Under the headline ‘The passing of a decent man’, she wrote: ‘If I was sad to hear the news (of his death), I know other people’s lives will be truly blighted.
‘The world needs more men like him, willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace.’
Earlier this week the American news network CNN sacked its Middle East editor Octavia Nasr for voicing similar sentiments about Fadlallah.
Miss Guy’s comments have now been removed from the Foreign Office website.
Foreign Office sources said Mr Hague was ‘deeply unimpressed’ by her actions.
Last night the Foreign Secretary was under mounting pressure to remove Miss Guy from her post following an outcry in Israel over her views.
In a statement Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to London, said: ‘In 1983, the Holocaust-denying Sheikh Fadlallah murdered almost 300 American and French servicemen in Beirut.
‘It is surprising that the British Ambassador believes that, “the world needs more people like him”.’
Many countries designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, and claim it is funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former adviser on terrorism to Tony Blair, said Miss Guy’s position was probably untenable.
‘The Foreign Secretary should consider whether she is a suitable person to remain in such an important and sensitive post,’ he said.
‘As a minimum she should be required to issue a full apology. Hezbollah have other political and social functions but they are above all a terrorist organization.
‘Hezbollah carry out terrorist acts on behalf of Iran. They are responsible for helping to train and equip extremists in Iraq who attacked and killed British soldiers.
‘They are potentially even more dangerous than Al Qaeda.’
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘The ambassador expressed a personal view on Sheik Fadlallah. This did not fully reflect Government policy and the blog has been taken down.
‘While we welcomed his progressive views on women’s rights and inter-faith dialogue, we also had profound disagreements — especially over his statements advocating attacks on Israel.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sicily Most Popular for Low Cost Lovers
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, JULY 5 — The most popular Italian destinations for low-cost tourism are the Sicilian cities, with Catania in first place and Palermo second. The details have emerged from the 2010 report on low-cost travel compiled by Assolowcost. Sardinia also proved very popular, with Cagliari in third place and Olbia fifth. Lampedusa finished fourth. This year too, Italians will use the internet to book their holidays, with an increase of over 12% compared to the same period of last year. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Jewel-Island in Sardinia to be Auctioned
(ANSAmed) — CAGLIARI, JULY 6 — The Island of Spargi, one of the natural beauties of the Maddalena Archipelago in Sardinia, will be auctioned. One of the Mediterranean jewels, famous for its crystal-clear sea, will be sold in October for a “bargain” price, the newspaper La Nuova Sardegna reports today. It is unlikely that the island will be bought by a private person however, because the Sardinia Region, the Park of Maddalena and the Ministry for the Environment have pre-emptive right. From Cala Bonifanzicca to Punta Banditi, on the side of Corsica, Spargi has always been a popular tourist destination. Since the formation of the national park however, the island, which has a surface area of 176 thousand square metres, is subjected to environmental restrictions and is classified in Zone H, ‘complete protection’. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Defends Wiretap Bill
Premier says alleged gag ‘sacrosanct’ ahead of press blackout
(ANSA) — Rome, July 8 — Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday defended a bill restricting pretrial reporting and the use and publication of police wiretaps.
Speaking ahead of a media black-out against the bill Friday, the premier said the law was “sacrosanct” in its aim of defending privacy.
The premier, who has accelerated the bill’s passage after recent scandals involving wiretapping, argued that an original version had been “overwhelmingly” approved by the centre left during its previous term in power from 2006 to 2008.
“For the Left, democracy and freedom only exist when they’re in power,” he said. Berlusconi also denied centre-left opposition claims the bill would hurt the fight on the Mafia.
“The exact opposite is true. The bill does not change investigations. Not one crime has been removed from the wiretapping list. Indeed, we’ve even added one, stalking”.
The premier added his government had done more in combating organised crime than any previous one.
The wiretapping bill would curb reporting of cases before they reach the trial stage, a process that takes years in Italy.
It would also ban the publication of wiretaps and bring in stiff fines for journalists and publishers.
Journalists have called the measure a gag on press freedom and some newspapers have for months been highlighting articles on probes which would not have become public knowledge if the law had been in force.
On Friday newspapers will not be on the stands and TV and radio news programmes will not be aired.
News agencies will also strike against the bill, which is expected to become law before parliament goes on holiday in early August.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: France; Security Council Meeting Needed for UNIFIL
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 7 — France plans on calling a specific YN Security Council meeting as soon as possible on the UN interposition mission (Unifil 2) in Lebanon, that currently also sees the participation of many Italian soldiers. During a meeting yesterday with Lebanese premier Saad Hariri, who was on a private visit to Paris, French Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner emphasised the “need for strict application of resolution 1701 and respect of Unifil’s freedom of movement”, as reported today in Paris by the spokesperson of the Quai d’Orsay, Bernard Valero. In light of recent incidents against French blue helmets in southern Lebanon, this respect “is an essential condition for the evolution of the UN’s peace operations”. In this context, in occasion of the meeting with Hariri, Kouchner reported that France will ask for an urgent meeting of the Security Council so that the latter may “express its support for Unifil troops”, the spokesperson concluded. In recent days the residents of certain villages in southern Lebanon held street demonstrations to protest against a Unifil training session. More specifically, stones were thrown against a French military vehicle. Last Monday Paris asked for the freedom of movement of the Blue Helmets in the Country to be respected. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia-Compliant Banking Products a ‘Huge Flop’ In Britain
ISLAMIC bank accounts and other financial products have failed to take off in Britain, according to industry insiders.
This is despite hopes that the UK would become a pioneer in a new growth market.
New banks that were set up to appeal to the UK’s nearly two million Muslims and Sharia-compliant products created by the existing high street lenders have failed to make much of an impact, critics say.
Junaid Bhatti, part of the team that set up Islamic Bank of Britain, the first Sharia-compliant bank approved by the Financial Services Authority, says that the sector has been a big disappointment.
“As we now approach the sixth anniversary of IBB’s launch, I’m sad to finally have to admit that Islamic finance in the UK has been a huge flop,” he said. “IBB may still be limping on as probably the last bastion of the cause, but it’s difficult to imagine it holding out for much longer.”
Competitors have fared even worse and many had closed or scaled back their operations significantly, Mr Bhatti said.
Established banks that launched Islamic banking products are also believed to have fared poorly. HSBC and Lloyds were seen as having made the biggest efforts to make inroads, but without much success, Mr Bhatti said.
“Lloyds, which made a half-hearted stab at Sharia-compliant products in 2004, doesn’t seem to have promoted its offering for years,” he said in an article for MuslimPolitics.com.
“Even HSBC Amanah, probably the most credible and efficient provider of halal banking in the UK, has dramatically reduced its dedicated Islamic banking staff in Britain, and its marketing volume has been turned way down.”
Neither Lloyds nor HSBC would give customer figures, but HSBC said that its accounts were growing at 10 per cent to 15 per cent a year. Lloyds did market its Islamic products but is no longer doing so.
An official said that they were detailed on its website.
Anyone visiting a branch could ask about its Islamic personal and business current accounts but would not see an adviser with specialist knowledge.
HSBC has launched several Islamic products since it got into the market in the UK in 2003 and has a dedicated salesforce in branches in areas with large Muslim communities.
The main aims of Islamic finance include the avoidance of riba, or usury, and making sure that money is not used to support industries considered to be unethical, such as alcoholic beverages, pornography and gambling.
Mohammad Qayyum, the director-general of the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance in the UK, said that there had not been “a concerted campaign by banks to make people aware” of available products. Another hurdle is that banks often price their Islamic products more expensively than alternatives, he said.
However, there could be some improvement with legislative changes designed to make it easier for banks to offer Islamic products, which should reduce their price.
The Treasury has made changes in the tax law to accommodate Sharia products, Mr Qayyum said, and the FSA is consulting on a new framework for the issuance and regulation of sukuk, or Islamic bonds.
| — Hat tip: ICLA | [Return to headlines] |
UK Envoy Eulogizes ‘Great’ Fadlallah
The tweet in praise of Hizbullah spiritual mentor Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah that cost CNN senior Middle East editor Octavia Nasr her job on Thursday is nothing compared to a tribute to him that Britain’s ambassador to Beirut posted on her blog. Under the headline “The passing of decent men,” Frances Guy wrote Monday that “one of the privileges of being a diplomat is the people you meet; great and small, passionate and furious.”
She said Fadlallah was the politician in Lebanon she had enjoyed meeting most. “When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person. That for me is the real effect of a true man of religion; leaving an impact on everyone he meets, no matter what their faith. Sheikh Fadlallah passed away yesterday. Lebanon is a lesser place the day after but his absence will be felt well beyond Lebanon’s shores.”
Guy said she felt lucky having had the opportunity to meet Fadlallah. “The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace,” she wrote. Guy’s post of a tribute to the man who strongly influenced Hizbullah, praised and endorsed suicide attacks inside Israel, said Zionists “inflated” the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust “beyond imagination,” and was on the US terrorist blacklist raised eyebrows in the Foreign Ministry.
“Sheikh Fadlallah was behind hostage-taking, suicide bombings and other sorts of wanton violence, but Ambassador Guy said he was a man of peace, and Ambassador Guy is an honorable woman,” quipped ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
It was not clear Thursday whether Israel would lodge a formal protest with the British government over the matter.
British Embassy spokesman: ‘Guy’s views were hers alone’
A spokesman at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv said the views in Guy’s blog were hers alone. He said that the Foreign Office had released a statement saying that Fadlallah’s “progressive social views” had sparked vigorous debate in the Shi’ite community, and “we very much welcomed the discussion we had with him concerning the position of Muslims in Europe.”
The spokesman said Britain had had profound disagreements with him, “especially over his statements advocating attacks on Israel, but could agree with him when he opposed the call to jihad by al- Qaida’s leader Osama bin Laden. “The British government does not condone terrorism,” the spokesman said, reading from a statement issued by the Foreign Office after Fadlallah’s death on Sunday. “All parties in Lebanon should adhere to US Security Council Resolution 1701, including Hizbullah, who should renounce violence and give up their weapons.”
The spokesman had no comment when asked whether Guy would face disciplinary action for her blog post. On Sunday, Nasr wrote in her tweet that she was “sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hizbullah’s giants I respect a lot.”
Fadlallah was known to have held relatively progressive views on women’s rights issues.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Britain’s Lebanese Ambassador Praises Hizbollah Founder
Frances Guy, who has been ambassador since 2008, wrote a blog marking the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah who died last week. She described the ayatollah as a “decent” man who ranked as the person she most admired out of all those she had encountered.
Hizbollah has been proscribed by the UK as a terrorist organisation since 2008.
Ayatollah Fadlallah was a hugely divisive figure in the Middle East. He help found the Hizbollah movement that fought the American intervention in Lebanon and then went on to take dozens of foreigners as hostages, including Terry Waite, John McCarthy and Brian Keenan.
Fatwas or religious instructions issued by Fadlallah authorised suicide bombers who attacked American troops or Israel. Hizbollah carried out the 1983 suicide bomb attacks that killed more 300 people at the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.
“If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted,” she wrote. “The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace.”
The Israeli government said it was astounded that an official representative of the British government had not remembered the devastation caused by fighters loyal to Fadlallah.
Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman denounced the ambassador’s comments.
“Fadlallah was an inspiration to the hostage takers, suicide bombers and warmongers of Hizbollah,” Yigal Palmor said. “But the British ambassador thinks he was a man of peace and the world needs more of him, and the British ambassador is an honourable woman.”
Israeli groups representing terror victims, including relatives of those who died during Hizbollah rocket strikes on northern Israel and attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, were equally outraged.
“Hizbollah is a gang of murderers,” said Yehuda Poch of the One Family Fund. “There is no moderation there. They are taking over the government (of Lebanon) and neither Europe, nor the UN, nor England is doing anything about it and the fact that the British ambassador has to praise terrorists — if that doesn’t make her an accessory after the fact, I don’t know what does.”
Foreign policy experts said Miss Guy’s comments showed blatant disregard for the Foreign Office’s traditional allies in the Middle East.
“It is very surprising that a representative of HMG would take such a controversial stance. Hizbollah, to put it mildly, is not on the side of the British government’s interests or values in that part of the world,” Alan Mendoza, of the London think-tank, the Henry Jackson society, said. “We know from experience that interventions like this only emboldens Hizbollah.”
The Foreign Office is believed to view the remarks as personal comments that reflected the moderation of Ayatollah Fadlallah’s views in recent years. “The ambassador expressed a personal view on Shiekh Sayyid Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah describing the man as she knew him,” a Foreign Office spokesman said last night. “We welcomed his progressive views on women’s rights and interfaith dialogue but there were also areas where we had profound disagreements, especially over his statements advocating attacks on Israel.”
Hizbollah is a part of the Lebanese government but it remains on the US list of terror organisations. Until he died Ayatollah Fadlallah was officially designated as a terrorist by Washington. The UK government has been more open to meeting with Hizbollah than other governments.
Miss Guy has met with Hizbollah on several occasions.
Octavia Nassr, an editor on the US news channel CNN, was sacked yesterday after she praised Fadlallah on Twitter.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: British Diplomat Eulogizes Fadlallah
Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon surprised many people in London and Beirut Thursday by venerating Hezbollah’s recently deceased spiritual leader. In her personal blog, Frances Guy wrote that Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah was “a decent man”. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in response later that Fadlallah is “unworthy of praise”.
Ayatollah Fadlallah passed away on Sunday, at the age of 74. He was one of Shiite Islam’s most influential clerics, and a harsh critic of both Israel and the US.
“One of the privileges of being a diplomat is the people you meet; great and small, passionate and furious. People in Lebanon like to ask me which politician I admire most… I usually avoid answering by referring to those I enjoy meeting the most and those that impress me the most,” Guy wrote in her blog.
“Until yesterday my preferred answer was to refer to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, head of the Shia clergy in Lebanon and much admired leader of many Shia Muslims throughout the world.”
The ambassador explained why she admired the spiritual leader. “
When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person. That for me is the real effect of a true man of religion; leaving an impact on everyone he meets, no matter what their faith,” she wrote.
Guy also recounted her first meeting with the ayatollah.
“I remember well when I was nominated ambassador to Beirut, a Muslim acquaintance sought me out to tell me how lucky I was because I would get a chance to meet Sheikh Fadlallah. Truly he was right,” she wrote. “If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted. The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace.”
Earlier, CNN editor Octavia Nasr also praised the ayatollah in a tweet that ran, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”
A Foreign Ministry official told Ynet in response that seeing as the US news channel decided to dismiss Nasr, it would be “interesting” to see how the British Foreign Office reacts to the newest praise of the terror group’s spiritual leader. “Between the phrase: ‘Hezbollah spiritual leader’ and ‘decent’ lies a moral and political ocean. We believe that the spiritual leader of a terror group such as Hezbollah, which publicly calls for Israel’s annihilation, kidnaps people, fires thousands of missiles at women and children, and carries out murderous terror attacks in Lebanon, the Middle East, and the entire world, is unworthy of any praise or eulogizing.. If Hezbollah was firing missiles at London and Glasgow, would this leader still be called ‘decent’?” official asked.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Britain’s Ambassador Gushes Admiration for a Godfather of Terror
by Melanie Phillips
Frances Guy is the British ambassador to Lebanon. On her blog on the website of Her Majesty’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, she wrote this about Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, head of the Shia clergy in Lebanon who died of old age a few days ago (hat tip: Elder of Ziyon):
One of the privileges of being a diplomat is the people you meet; great and small, passionate and furious. People in Lebanon like to ask me which politician I admire most. It is an unfair question, obviously, and many are seeking to make a political response of their own. I usually avoid answering by referring to those I enjoy meeting the most and those that impress me the most. Until yesterday my preferred answer was to refer to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, head of the Shia clergy in Lebanon and much admired leader of many Shia muslims throughout the world. When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person. That for me is the real effect of a true man of religion; leaving an impact on everyone he meets, no matter what their faith. Sheikh Fadlallah passed away yesterday. Lebanon is a lesser place the day after but his absence will be felt well beyond Lebanon’s shores. I remember well when I was nominated ambassador to Beirut, a muslim acquaintance sought me out to tell me how lucky I was because I would get a chance to meet Sheikh Fadlallah. Truly he was right. If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted. The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace.
Sheikh Fadlallah was a wicked enemy of civilisation, life and liberty. He was the ‘spiritual’ leader of the genocidal terrorist organisation Hezbollah, and was classified by the US State Department as a terrorist. As Con Coughlin wrote in the Daily Telegraph:
One of Fadlallah’s last acts before he died was to issue a fatwa authorising the use of suicide bomb attacks. The mystery here is why he waited so long. For as a founder member of Hizbollah — he sat on the organisation’s ruling council — Fadlallah gave his personal approval to the massive suicide truck bomb attacks that levelled the American Embassy and Marine compound in Beirut in 1983, killing more than 300 people, including the then CIA station chief. Fadlallah gave his personal blessing to the suicide bombers before they left for their deadly mission.
Hezbollah constitute Iran’s unofficial terror army around the world. Thousands of its rockets are pointed at Israel, against whose citizens and soldiers it has mounted countless rocket assaults, bombing and kidnap attacks. Its operatives are positioned around the world in ‘sleeper’ cells, waiting for a future signal from Iran to attack American, Jewish and other western interests.
CNN have just sacked their Middle East editor Octavia Nasr after she tweeted that she ‘respected’ Fadlallah. Idiots and moral cretins may have written up Fadlallah as ‘progressive’ or (my favourite) ‘complex’, for heaven’s sake, because he supported Muslim women’s rights and abortion. But how can Britain employ an ambassador to Lebanon who gushes her devotion to a spiritual godfather of global terror, jihad and Jew-hatred?
For good measure, here is Guy — formerly head of the Engaging with the Islamic World Department at the FCO — blaming Israel’s behaviour as a ‘real grievance’ which helped provoke British Muslims to carry out the 2005 London tube and bus bombings (approx 43 minutes in); taking the side of the Arab and Muslim world over ‘Palestine’ against Israel; justifying HMG’s policy of talking to fanatics of the Muslim Brotherhood such as Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who endorses the murder of Israelis and the killing of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; and regretting that Britain is not talking to Hamas and Hezbollah, while stating that it is ‘looking for a way to formalise’ the contact made by HMG with Hamas over the kidnapping of BBC correspondent Alan Johnson in Gaza because ‘it was recognised there were benefits to that exchange’.
Just whose side is Britain now on in the war to defend civilisation?
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: British Ambassador’s Praise for Hizbollah Cleric
Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon has called Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, believed to be the spiritual leader of Hizbollah, her “favourite politician”. The Shia cleric, who died on Sunday, was known for praising suicide bombers and calling for war against Israel and the West.
Ambassador Frances Guy has written an obituary for Fadlallah. She wrote: “People in Lebanon like to ask me which politician I admire most. Until yesterday my preferred answer was to refer to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, head of the Shia clergy in Lebanon and much admired leader of many Shia Muslims throughout the world.
“When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person. Sheikh Fadlallah passed away yesterday. Lebanon is a lesser place the day after but his absence will be felt well beyond Lebanon’s shores. I remember well when I was nominated ambassador to Beirut, a Muslim acquaintance sought me out to tell me how lucky I was because I would get a chance to meet Sheikh Fadlallah. Truly he was right. If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted.”
The Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor responded: “In 1983, the Holocaust-denying Sheikh Fadlallah murdered almost 300 American and French servicemen in Beirut. It is surprising that the British Ambassador believes that, ‘the world needs more people like him.’
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Ambassador expressed a personal view on Sheik Sayyed Fadlallah, describing the man as she knew him.
“We welcomed his progressive views on women’s rights and interfaith dialogue. But also had profound disagreements — especially over his statements advocating attacks on Israel.”
Fadlallah had called on Palestinians to target Jews, saying: “All of Palestine is a war zone and every Jew who unlawfully occupies a house or land belonging to a Palestinian is a legitimate target. There are no innocent Jews in Palestine.” During the civil war in Lebanon, he supported the bombing of the US embassy in 1983 where 260 Americans died. He said after the bombing: ““When one fires a bullet at you, you cannot offer him roses.”
CNN Middle East editor Octavia Nasr was sacked by the US TV station after expressing her admiration for the cleric. She later clarified that she supported his relatively liberal attitudes to women.
[JP note: I admit to a personal interest in this story as I used to work with her (sorry, that should be against her) when she was the head of the Engaging with the Islamic World Group unit at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I confirm that even then she gave every appearance of being a moral cretin (I am using the word ‘cretin’ here in its formal, scientific sense). More importantly, I would disagree with the FCO’s spokesman who stated that the ambassador’s views were hers alone — this is simply not true as she was given the position she holds precisely because of these repulsive views, and her appointment only confirms the institutional anti-semitism of this organization. The FCO is staffed to the rafters with professional Jew-haters of her sort, and only a fundamental review, a sort of South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee, has any hope of addressing this problem.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bin Laden’s Son and British Wife Split After He Heard ‘Osama’s Voice in His Head’
The fourth eldest child of the Al Qaeda mastermind was admitted to a psychiatric hospital last week with drug-induced schizophrenia.
Omar Bin Laden and his wife Zaina, from Cheshire, revealed last month that they’d been hoping to have a baby with surrogate mother Louise Pollard from Bristol.
Mrs Pollard was had fertility treatment in an attempt to conceive using the sperm of 29-year-old Omar and the eggs of his 54-year-old wife Jane Felix Browne — who changed her name to Zaina when they married.
After the third attempt, Mrs Pollard, 29, vowed to try again. It was unclear last night whether or not the fourth round of IVF treatment had been a success.
Bin Laden has had several visa applications to live in Britain rejected. A British son may help his case, although Home Office officials said he would not automatically be granted a visa.
The couple split after weeks of erratic behaviour which saw Bin Laden racking up £3,000 of motoring fines and going on wild shopping sprees.
His wife told the Sun she was heartbroken but couldn’t cope anymore.
She said: ‘Our wedding vows said “in sickness and in health” but if this goes on any longer I could end up dead.’ The couple met in Egypt in 2006 and enjoyed a whirlwind romance before getting married.
Zaina, who had been married six times before, revealed she knew Bin Laden had bipolar disorder when she met him. She said: ‘He’d have manic periods when he was very enthusiastic about everything.
‘Then crashing lows when he would be quiet and subdued, staying in bed all day and not going to sleep until late at night.’
The grandmother of five blames her husband’s troubles solely on his father and the terrorist atrocities he inspired.
She said: ‘There’s no one else responsible for this. Omar loves and hates Osama at the same time.
‘He loves him because he is his father but hates what he has done. I think he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after 9/11. Seeing what his dad done ruined Omar’s life.’
She also claimed that the row over his visa combined with Bin Laden family pressures led to her husband’s mental state worsening.
He had been living in Qatar and keeping in touch with his wife by phoning and emailing her daily at her home in Moulton, Cheshire.
Ten days ago, concerned at the condition he was in, Zaina flew to Qatar where she took her husband to a doctor. He was immediately referred to a psychiatric unit. But after three days he checked himself out and his bizarre behaviour continued.
The final straw came when he took the car out and was driving erratically when Zaina was with him. She said: ‘It was as if he had drunk ten pints. I was trying to lean over and grab the wheel, I didn’t want to die in a crash.
‘When we got back I told him I wanted a divorce and returned to England on Monday.
‘I still love him with all my heart but I just can’t be with him until he is better.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fury as British Ambassador Praises Terror Supporting Hezbollah Cleric
Britain’s Ambassador to Lebanon was clinging to her job last night after praising the late spiritual leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah. Frances Guy’s comment on a blog drew a sharp rebuke from Israel and shocked her superiors in London. A source close to William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said: “The Foreign Secretary is really not impressed. It may be fair comment but it is insensitive.”
Another British official said that Ms Guy had “gone off-piste” after she wrote of Sheikh Fadlallah’s death this week that “Lebanon is a lesser place the day after but his absence will be felt well beyond Lebanon’s shores”.
In her blog, entitled “The Passing of a Decent Man”, Ms Guy wrote that she respected Fadlallah, a Shia cleric who endorsed suicide bombings in his lifetime, describing him as a man she respected the most in the country.
Ron Prosor, the Israeli Ambassador to Britain, said that “in 1983 the Holocaust-denying Sheikh Fadlallah murdered almost 300 American and French servicemen in Beirut. It is surprising that the British Ambassador believes that the world needs more people like him.”
[…]
[JP note: subscription required to read full story]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mother Held for Five Hours and DNA Tested for Refusing to Give Children Their Ball Back to Teach Them a Lesson
When a cricket ball belonging to her neighbours’ children kept landing on her property, Lorretta Cole gritted her teeth and handed it back.
But when it damaged her car, she decided enough was enough.
To teach them a lesson, she refused to return it — and promptly found herself under arrest.
The mother of four was detained for five hours while she was questioned and had her photograph, DNA and fingerprints taken.
Yesterday Mrs Cole, 47, said: ‘I asked police whether if I gave the ball back, I would be given a reassurance that they would speak to the parents.
‘But I wasn’t given an assurance.’
Mrs Cole retrieved the £3.99 ball from land in front of her home in North Baddesley, Hampshire, and refused to give it back when the father of the three children came calling.
She was then visited on three occasions by officers from Hampshire Police who tried to persuade her to return it.
They warned her she could be arrested for theft, but she continued to hold on to the ball.
Police arranged a date for her to be arrested and interviewed at Lyndhurst police station.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Schoolboy, 15, Jailed for Murdering Ex-Girlfriend and Her Older Sister in House Fire
An obsessed schoolboy who killed his ex-girlfriend and her sister in a house fire because she broke up with him was jailed for at least 23 years today.
Akmol Miah was only 14 when he targeted 15 year-old Maleha Masud and her family in revenge when she ended their three-month relationship.
When she refused to get back together and told her mother he was trying to blackmail her, Miah ran a Google search on ‘how to burn someone’s house down’.
Miah and his cousin Shihabuddin Choudhury, 21, then poured petrol through the front letterbox as the family slept at their home in Tooting, south London.
Maleha’s mother Rubina, 55, and older brother Zain, 24, managed to jump to safety from a window and brother Junaid, 18, was lucky to survive after being rescued by firefighters.
Both Maleha and her sister Nabiha, 21, were also pulled from the blaze but later died in hospital.
Miah, who is now 15, celebrated his success by using a picture of the burnt house as his computer screensaver.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Passing of Decent Men
by Frances Guy
One of the privileges of being a diplomat is the people you meet; great and small, passionate and furious. People in Lebanon like to ask me which politician I admire most. It is an unfair question, obviously, and many are seeking to make a political response of their own. I usually avoid answering by referring to those I enjoy meeting the most and those that impress me the most.
Until yesterday my preferred answer was to refer to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, head of the Shia clergy in Lebanon and much admired leader of many Shia muslims throughout the world. When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person. That for me is the real effect of a true man of religion; leaving an impact on everyone he meets, no matter what their faith. Sheikh Fadlallah passed away yesterday. Lebanon is a lesser place the day after but his absence will be felt well beyond Lebanon’s shores.
I remember well when I was nominated ambassador to Beirut, a muslim acquaintance sought me out to tell me how lucky I was because I would get a chance to meet Sheikh Fadlallah. Truly he was right. If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted. The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace.
[JP note: this eulogy is no longer available at the FCO website — reproduced here from Harry’s Place bog — a left-of-centre British political blog.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican ‘To Crack Down on Women Priests’
Ordination of women will join three top ‘crimes’ — sources
(ANSA) — Vatican, July 8 — The Vatican is set to crack down harder on the ordination of women priests, making it one of the most serious crimes under its canon law, unofficial Catholic sources said Thursday.
According to the sources, a new version of the 2001 document Delicta Graviora (“major crimes”) will add the ordination of women to the three gravest offences punishable by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, heir to the Inquisition.
Those three are “attacks against the Eucharist”, “attacks against the sanctity of Confession” and sexual abuse of minors.
Ordaining women has been punishable by automatic excommunication since 2008 but inclusion among the Delicta Graviora would be seen as an extra deterrent, religious experts said. The updated list is due for publication next week and will also include heresy and apostasy as formal crimes for the first time, the sources said.
“More restrictive procedures” on paedophilia will also feature in the update, they said.
The Vatican has staunchly opposed women priests under the late pope John Paul II and the current pontiff, Benedict XVI, while many Anglicans have ‘returned to Rome’ after the Anglican Communion OK’d the ordination of women in 2008.
Despite the Vatican ban, a number of organisations of Catholic women have named ‘women priests’ in recent years, with the United States and northern European countries like Germany and Switzerland leading the way.
These associations argue that Vatican dogma about Jesus not wanting women to be priests or deacons is wrong.
They also say women played a much more prominent role in the early Church than is acknowledged by Rome.
This view has been supported by several religious historians, including some Catholic ones.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands Chant Tony Blair’s Name as He Receives Hero’s Welcome on Two-Day Visit to Kosovo
Former prime minister Tony Blair today received a hero’s welcome in Kosovo, the eastern European nation he helped to make into a state.
Thousands of people chanted his name and waved Kosovar and British flags as he walked on to an improvised stage in the main square of the capital Pristina.
Mr Blair met Kosovar leaders during his two-day visit and today shook hands with nine Tonibler’s and Toni’s — ethnic Albanian children named after him.
He supported NATO’s decision to launch a 78-day air war against Serbian forces in 1999.
The capital’s main roads were covered with billboards and posters welcoming Mr Blair.
Many streets in Kosovo have been renamed in his honour after his decision to back NATO’s involvement in the conflict.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Azhari TV to Cater to Wider Audience in 4 Languages
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 7 — In a bid to bridge cultural gaps and clear misconceptions about Islam, Azhari TV is reaching out to a wider audience and is now available in English, French, Urdu and Pashto in addition to its original Arabic language programming. Azhari TV was first launched following US President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim World in June 2009 where he called for a dialogue based on mutual respect and understanding between people of different faiths. One year later, Azhari TV, the educational and entertainment satellite channel created to promote moderate Islam, has decided to expand. “[Through Azhari TV] we’re trying to show the people in the west and the rest of the world that the problem isn’t in Islam but it’s the misinterpretations by certain people that’s the problem,” said Hassan Tatanaki, chairman of Azhari TV, in an interview with Daily News Egypt. The satellite channel was founded with the aim of promoting a moderate interpretation of Islam and intends to counter extremist rhetoric which they saw dominating the debate. Operating on a new channel, Azhari TV 2, the dub of the Arabic language channel’s original content into four additional languages, will enable the station to reach homes across Europe and Asia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: ‘Frozen’ Verdict on Second Marriage for Divorced Copts
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 7 — The Egyptian Constitutional Court has temporarily ‘frozen’ the ruling with which the High Administrative Court, this past May, ordered the Coptic Church patriarch Shenuda III to authorize the remarriage of a divorced follower. The Coptic ‘Pope’ submitted the question to the Constitutional Court after the High Administrative Court had rejected his appeal regarding remarriage after divorce, which found him opposed to several divorced church members who , wanting to remarry, had sued Shenuda III for having refused to give authorisation. According to the Patriarch, various rulings by the highest courts of Egypt have, in the past, established that within the realm of family law, the canonic law of respective confession is valid for non-Muslims. For Shenouda the question of marriage is not administrative but purely religious. For this reason he announced that Coptic priests who remarry divorced church members will be excommunicated. In Egypt, a country where Muslims are in the majority, divorce is permitted, but for Christians, less than 10% of the population, the Coptic Church allows it only in the case of proven adultery or in the case of conversion to another religion or branch of Christianity. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Tripoli: Eritreans Tortured? Lie, Treated Humanely
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 8 — Libya denies that the Eritrean refugees held in the south of the country have been tortured, and claims that all immigrants in Libyan “temporary shelters have been treated humanely and have been considered to be our guests”, announced the Libyan Foreign Ministry. Despite the high number of immigrants that come to Libya, a long statement reads, the Libyan authorities have “opened the doors of centres for humanitarian organisations” to show that the immigrants are “treated humanely”, “despite the lies that are written in some media that want to damage Libya’s name”. Regarding the situation of the Eritreans in particular, Libya “has taken several decisions, respecting human dignity, for the integration of these immigrants, offering them a dignified life and a job that is in line with their skills”. “In applying international agreements”, the statement continues, “Libya has informed the Eritrean ambassador of these decisions”. Now the Eritrean embassy in Libya must give immigrant from Eritrea “identification documents so that they can get a residence permit” in Libya. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Press: Mubarak’s Health Seriously Deteriorating
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JULY 7 — The health condition of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is getting worse. According to the Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published in London, Mubarak may have a tumour. In the article, quoted today by the newspaper Haaretz, the daily claims that the exact nature of the disease from which Mubarak (83) suffers is yet unclear. The Egyptian President underwent medical examinations during his unannounced visit to Paris on Monday, on the sidelines of his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri. In March Mubarak underwent “complicated surgery” in a German hospital. No further details have been supplied on the operation. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bibi and King
After last night’s interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, Larry King’s interminable panel discussions about self destructive celebutards just won’t be mesmerizing anymore. Larry’s sixteen remaining viewers enjoyed not only a vital history lesson, but the satisfaction of watching a Jiu-Jitsu master in action.
Foregoing his traditional journalistic styling—”So tell me, do they have American Idol in your country?”—King started out by trying to provoke Netanyahu into affirming that his relationship with Barack Obama is something less than optimal. Asking and re-asking the same question approximately thirty-seven times, Netanyahu held steady with his insistence that America and Israel are allies and have been for a long time and will continue to be in the future, irrespective of regime changes in either country. And Bibi didn’t get kicked out via the Dali Lama Door.
Finally ditching this entirely futile line of questioning, King moved in for what he hoped would be the superlative gotcha: will you meet with the Palestinians?:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Fit for the New York Times
Two important statements this week shed a light on the nature of the Palestinian conflict with Israel. Both were barely noted by the media.
On Saturday the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave US mediator George Mitchell a letter detailing a number of concessions that he would make towards Israel in a final peace treaty. These included a willingness to accept permanent Israeli sovereignty over the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City and over the Western Wall. The Al Hayat report received enthusiastic and expansive coverage in the Israeli media and in media outlets throughout the world.
What was barely noted was that just hours after the report hit the airwaves, Abbas’s chief negotiator Saeb Erekat categorically denied the story. In an interview with Israel Radio, Saeb Erekat said the story was untrue.
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Environment: Greenpeace Boards Coal Ship, 3 Arrests
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JULY 8 — Three activists for Greenpeace, the international environmental organisation, today boarded a South African coal barge off the coast of Israel. They were then arrested by the Israeli maritime police. The three environmentalists were protesting against the construction of a coal-fired power plant in the nearby city of Ashkelon, considered very damaging for the environment and public health. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Blockade Softening Not Enough, More Needed
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 7 — France was pleased by Israel’s decision to soften the blockade on the Gaza Strip but asked it for “complementary measures” such as increasing the capacity of border passes. The statement was made in Paris by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bernard Valero. “We view positively (…) the recent adoption of measures to facilitate the entry of civilian goods and, under certain conditions, construction material in the Gaza Strip. This is a step in the right direction”, stated Valero, who emphasised that however to really improve the living condition of the Palestinian people there is the need for “complementary measures”, such as increasing the capacity of border passes, renewal of exports from the Gaza Strip, and deregulating the conditions of freedom of passage to and from the Gaza Strip”. Meanwhile Israel’s Ministry of Defence specified that the softening of the land blockade only concerns goods or materials and will not ease the transit of people. The specification was included in an official statement issued in reply to a request for explanations made by an Israeli humanitarian organisation after the repeated rejection opposed to a Gaza university student who, through Israel, was asking to move to the West Bank to complete her studies. The measure, issued by the Netanyahu government in the wake of international pressure that followed the bloody blitz on May 31 afainst the flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists, does not even lift the naval blockade. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Start of Cooperation Between Telecom Italia and Israel
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV — The collaboration between the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour and Telecom Italia has started. Based on an industrial collaboration agreement in the research and development sector that was signed by the parties, chief scientist of the Israeli Ministry, Eli Opper, will assist the multinational in selecting Israeli technologies that satisfy Telecom’s needs. At the same time Telecom will receive economic support to finance its development project. The Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Tel Aviv reports that Telecom, from its side, will support the joint project with an equivalent sum as the one allocated b y the chief scientist, through an economic investment, technological consultancy or the supply of equipment for development. Thanks to this agreement, the statement concludes, the telephony giant will contribute to the growth of the Israeli market, opening the door to foreign markets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
How Can a Nation That Could Soon be a Nuclear Power Still Legally Stone Women to Death for Adultery?
We see a patch of open ground in front of a low building. A crowd of men stand and stare as two figures, shrouded from head to toe, are carried into their midst.
Some of the spectators produce spades and begin to dig with a febrile enthusiasm.
Soon there are two holes into which the trussed figures are planted upright, as far as their waists. Then the diggers fill in the space around them; they are trapped.
An older man has the ‘honour’ of throwing the first of a large pile of stones which a truck has deposited close by. Then everyone joins in; stooping, hurling and stooping again, as though at a coconut shy.
But their targets, only a few metres away, are the heads of the two helpless human beings buried in the dirt.
Within minutes, the white cloth swathing them is soaked red with blood. Gore spreads across the ground as the writhing figures slump into merciful unconsciousness amid the mob’s continuing fusillade of small rocks.
I watched this sickening film yesterday morning. Posted on the internet by a human rights group, it shows the execution in Tehran of two Iranians convicted of adultery.
There was a confusion among sources about the pair’s gender. But the depth at which the victims were buried suggests they were males — after all, the law states that women should be buried up to their necks before having their heads smashed to pulp.
So much for the barbaric niceties of detail beloved of the ayatollahs ruling the Islamic republic of Iran.
Death by stoning, enshrined in the Iranian penal code, has been condemned by human rights groups both there and abroad since its introduction after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
This week, the proposed execution by stoning of a mother-of-two called Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani once again put the Iranian regime on collision course with Western opinion.
Mrs Ashtiani, 43, has spent five years in jail and endured 99 lashes for alleged adultery. But apparently she was not punished enough.
The British and U.S. governments were trenchant in their criticism.
Yesterday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was ‘appalled’ by reports of the imminent execution.
‘I think stoning is a medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world, and the continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates a blatant disregard for human rights,’ he added.
Last night, in a dramatic development, it appeared that the Iranian authorities had backed down in the face of such international criticism.
They announced that the stoning would not now go ahead. However, Mrs Ashtiani may still be executed by other means.
She would have gone to her death unnoticed outside Iran if it hadn’t been for her son’s desperate actions.
At no little risk to his own life and liberty, Sajad Ghadarzade, 22, brought his mother’s plight to international attention by appealing to human rights groups and publicising letters he sent to the Iranian judiciary.
In one he declared: ‘There is no justice in this country.’ Recent events in Iran have suggested as much.
‘The deaths of scores of pro-democracy demonstrators last year and the imprisonment and sometimes torture of thousands of others were shocking.
To the great embarrassment and anger of the regime, the image of 26-year-old student Neda Agha Soltan dying in the street after being shot by security forces became a global symbol of its brutality.
Mrs Ashtiani’s case somehow seems even more disturbing. Her life is in the hands of a regime that aspires to be a nuclear power.
Yet it also appeared to countenance the stoning to death of a middle-aged mother from one of its own provincial cities.
Significantly, it is widely held that stoning has no basis in the Koran. Yet it is there in black and white in the Iranian penal code.
Article 83 says: ‘Adultery in the following cases shall be punishable by stoning: (1) Adultery by a married man who is wedded to a permanent wife with whom he has had intercourse and may have intercourse when he so desires;
(2) Adultery of a married woman with an adult man provided the woman is permanently married and has had intercourse with her husband and is able to do so again.’
Article 102 sets out the depths at which men and women should be buried before stoning, as already mentioned.
Article 104 is horrifically specific about the size of stones to be used: ‘Not to be so large that a person dies after being hit with two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles.’
In other words, the stoning must last long enough for the victim to suffer grievous pain before losing consciousness. The mob must have its pious fun.
It is difficult to estimate how many have met this fate since the Iranian revolution, but there is considerable documentary evidence that stonings were a regular occurrence in the Eighties and Nineties, with at least 50 women executed in this way over a ten-year period.
Amnesty International has stated in a recent report on stonings in Iran: ‘Women suffer disproportionately from such punishment.
‘They are particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because they are more likely than men to be illiterate and therefore more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit.
‘Discrimination against women in other aspects of their lives also leaves them more susceptible to conviction for adultery.’
Indeed, a woman’s testimony is considered to be worth only half that of a man in an Iranian court, as witnessed in Penal Article 74 concerning the number of witnesses needed to prove adultery.
It requires for proof the evidence of ‘four just men, or three just men and two just women’.
There are a number of gruesome accounts of Article 83 being enforced.
In August 1994, a woman was stoned to death in the city of Arak. Her husband and two children were forced to watch her barbaric punishment.
The woman was blinded by the stoning, but remained conscious and even managed to free herself from the hole and stagger away. To no avail.
She was reportedly caught and shot.
Such stories, and smuggled videos such as the one I watched yesterday, heaped embarrassment on even the hardline ayatollahs.
In 2002, a moratorium was declared on execution by stoning. There are now moves to remove the punishment from the penal code.
And yet judges continue to sentence men and women to such a death, and the Iranian Supreme Court continues to ratify the decisions.
Mrs Ashtiani, a widow, was first arrested five years ago and convicted of having an ‘illicit relationship’ with two men, for which they were all flogged. That punishment was witnessed by her son, then aged 17.
But the authorities had not finished with her. A ‘review’ of her case led to her being charged, along with one of her alleged lovers, with the murder of her husband.
She was also charged for a second time with adultery. Mrs Ashtiani denied any wrongdoing.
At trial she was cleared of murder. But three out of the five male judges decided she was guilty of adultery. Death by stoning was the sentence.
Since then, she has languished in a prison in the northern city of Tabriz, along with at least two other women, one aged only 19, who are awaiting similar executions.
Meanwhile, her son lobbied the highest authorities in Iran for his mother’s conviction to be thrown out.
They have included Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Ahmadinejad and the chief judge Ayatollah larijani. Her son says they took no notice of his entreaties. So he widened his protest to the world.
In an open letter to his country’s leaders, he stated: ‘There is no justice in this country.’ He also asked of his mother’s second trial: ‘Why has an accused . . . been twice prosecuted on the same charge. . .(when) . . . even according to the Islamic criminal law a convict should be prosecuted for a crime once and not more than once?’
He and his sister, Farideh, 17, wrote another open letter to the international community in which they said: ‘We stretch our hands to the people of the world. No matter who you are or where in the world, save our mother.’
This open defiance of a harsh regime — and the cultivation of support from its enemies abroad — was a desperate gamble for an Iranian citizen. But up to a point it has worked.
Progress is often built on self-sacrifice, and the courage of this woman and her children could be another step towards ending the tyranny of the ayatollahs.
It could also lead to a new low in Iran’s relationship with the West.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Constitutional Reform, Some Articles Voted Down
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JULY 8 — A not-entirely expected cold shower was had for the reformist hopes of Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday evening when Turkey’s Constitutional Court annulled some of the articles of the constitutional reform package presented by the AKP which — according to the government — is necessary to bring the country into line with the EU membership requirements. According to opposition groups, however, the constitutional reform package wanted by the government aims to severely limit the power of the judiciary and drastically reduce the influence of the armed forces, both institutions considered by the constitution as bastions of Turkey’s secular state. The articles which have not been annulled are in any case to be put to a referendum set for September 12, which may also be called off. At the end of a 9-hour debate, High Court Judge Hasim Kilic said that among the articles annulled was the one concerning a modification of the structure of the largest judicial organisms, including the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Judges and Public Prosecutors (HSYK, the equivalent of Italy’s Magistrates Governing Council). According to AKP, the stated aim of the reform is to “restructure” the judiciary in order to ensure a more democratic process for selection and career paths which would be subject to government control. However, opposition groups claim that the reform proposal has the sole aim of reducing judges’ power. Whether or not the referendum will be held is also by no means to be taken for granted. On May 14, the People’s Republican Party (CHP, a party inspired by Kemal Ataturk) submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Court to block the referendum on the constitutional reform which had been approved two days previous by President Abdullah Gul. The request to set in motion the appeal procedure was signed — as provided for by law — by 110 deputies: 97 from CHP, 7 independents, 6 from the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and one from the Democratic Party (DP). The CHP is against the reform because it believes that, were it to be approved, the AKP would further consolidate its power to the detriment of the judiciary and the armed forces, traditional bastions for the defense of the secular nature of the Turkish state founded by Ataturk. The High Court’s decision on the CHP appeal concerning the holding of the referendum is now awaited. If the latter were not to be held, and given the uncertain climate which would result, Premier Erdogan would have little choice but to call early elections.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
China: Christian Group Targeted, Building Destroyed
‘If a church is growing too large, it could be perceived as a threat’
In what human rights advocates are calling an unusual move, officials in Yichun, China, have demolished an officially registered church that is part of the communist-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
Annee Kahler, an analyst with the non-profit group China Aid, says there is no known motive for the Chinese government’s actions.
[…]
Kahler said the move is “not unheard of.”
“There is a sense that if a church is growing too large, or it’s becoming too strong in a community, it could be perceived as a threat by the local officials,” she said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Immelt Blasts China
THIS week’s plain-speaking prize goes to Jeff Immelt, the boss of General Electric.
He argued that China is increasingly hostile to foreign multinationals; he also gave warning that his company, the world’s biggest manufacturer, is actively looking for better prospects in other emerging markets. “They don’t all want to be colonised by the Chinese”, he said, going rather further than was prudent. “They want to develop themselves”.
Mr Immelt’s broadside was undoubtedly significant. It reflects a growing mood of disillusionment with China among big Western companies. It came from the mouth of one of China’s biggest boosters, a man who praised the Chinese leadership, only last December, for doing exactly what they say they will.
Is Mr Immelt right about the changing mood in China? The Chinese are certainly unusually self-confident at the moment, thanks to the financial meltdown. They have flexed their muscles against a succession of companies, including Rio Tinto and Google.
But the Chinese have always driven a hard bargain, and they have always made it clear that they will give only to get. The American Chamber of Commerce reported in 2008 that three-quarters of the foreign companies that they surveyed were finally making money in China, a big increase on the historical average. Many Western companies, notably Yum! Brands, have finally cracked the China code, and are becoming ubiquitous across the country.
It will be interesting to see how Immelt’s comments play out in China, a country which puts a great store on “face”, and which does not take kindly to even gentle criticism, let alone talk of “colonisation”.
Google seems to be retreating, with its long tail between its legs, from its bold challenge to Chinese authoritarianism.. It will therefore also be interesting to see if, sometime in the near future, Mr Immelt finds himself delivering a speech with a rather different message.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Korea: Frigate Attack Earns U.N. Condemnation
Security Council brushes off warnings of ‘retaliation’
Despite strong warnings of “retaliation,” the United Nations Security Council, under U.S. and South Korean pressure, adopted a non-binding presidential condemning the sinking of a South Korean naval frigate by North Korea in March.
The attack, one of the worst since the Korean War, left 46 South Korean sailors dead.
The issue of reaction had turned into a background battle between the U.S. and South Korea at one end and North Korea on the other.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Burqa: Spanish Village Without Immigrants Refuses Ban
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 7 — Today the municipality of the tiny Catalan village of Tarres, with 109 inhabitants, none of whom are foreigners, rejected the proposal to ban the burqa in public buildings. The proposal was approved in the past weeks by about ten Catalan municipalities, including Barcelona and Tarragona, El Pais reports. The wave of bans in Catalan municipalities started two weeks ago when the People’s Party presented a motion in Senate (which was approved), in which it asked the government to “introduce the necessary regulations” to ban the use of the full Muslim veil in public spaces. Today the Senate approved another motion in which the government is requested to ask the State Council to issue a verdict on the use of full veils like the burqa or the niqab in public spaces. Socialist senator Patricia Hernandez has protested against this move, accusing the parties of populism. In Barcelona the law firm Abocam has offered its services for free to Muslim association Watani, which wants to appeal against the decision taken by the municipality of Lleida to ban the use of full veils in public spaces. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cops Accused of Erasing Street Preacher’s Evidence
Video disappears when University of Pennsylvania officers halt speaking on public street
A Christian missionary who preaches the Gospel message in public places across the nation says officers from the University of Pennsylvania illegally arrested him and tampered with evidence about their actions during a preaching mission on public walks in front a Philadelphia mosque.
The accusations come from Michael Marcavage of Repent America, who along with another Christian was arrested by university officers while preaching and speaking in front of the Masjid al-Jamia mosque in Philadelphia over the 4th of July holiday weekend.
[…]
“The video camera was not brought into the police station with the evangelists’ other belongings,” the report continued. “After the evangelists were released from jail and their belongings were returned, they discovered that police destroyed their video evidence by completely recording over the footage that had been captured.“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One Giant Leap (Backward)
According to contemporary liberalism, the government is the control room of society, where problems get solved, where institutions get their marching orders, where the oceans are commanded to stop rising. Each institution must subscribe to the progressive vision, all oars must pull as one. We are all in it together. We can do it all, if we all work together. Yes, we can.
In my book, “Liberal Fascism,” I called this phenomenon the “liberal Gleichschaltung” Gleichschaltung is a German word (in case you couldn’t have guessed) borrowed from electrical engineering. It means “coordination.” The German National Socialists (Nazis) used the concept to get every institution to sing from the same hymnal. If a fraternity or business embraced Nazism, it could stay “independent.” If it rejected Nazism, it was crushed or bent to the state’s ideology. Meanwhile, every branch of government was charged with not merely doing its job but advancing the official state ideology.
Now, contemporary liberalism is not an evil ideology. Its intentions aren’t evil or even fruitfully comparable to Hitlerism. But there is a liberal Gleichschaltung all the same. Every institution must be on the same page. Every agency must advance the liberal agenda.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |