Climate change started falling early yesterday afternoon at Schloss Bodissey, and continued falling heavily all night.

When I woke up this morning and opened the back door, this was what awaited me.

We now have about fifteen inches (forty cm) of global warming on the ground, with more coming down hard.

Does this mean I get to cash in a lot of carbon credits?

Seriously — I haven’t seen this much snow before Christmas since I was a kid.

Back in the late fifties and early sixties we had five or six white Christmases in row, sometimes with eight or ten inches on the ground. Then the sunspot cycle kicked in, and we went decades without seeing snow on Christmas Day.

I assume we have returned to the same level of sunspots that we had forty-five years ago. I wonder how many winters like this it will take before “global warming” becomes a stale old joke?

[Post ends here]

The Copenhagen Climate Circus is drawing to a close, and the most recent reports indicate that there will be no grand agreement, which much be a disappointment to those with ambitions for a New World Order.

In other news, a feminist political party in Sweden has launched a promotional campaign featuring the slogan “Feminists have better sex”. Doesn’t that make you want to run right out and vote for them?

Thanks to 4symbols, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Esther, ESW, Gaia, Insubria, JD, KGS, Lurker from Tulsa, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	Abu Dhabi’s Sway Over Dubai Increasing at Tehran’s Expense
	Oklahoma Schools Will Fail to Make Payroll Due to Budget Cuts
	Tulsa Mayor Bartlett to Decide on Budget Cuts on January 7th
	USA
	Congressman: Why is Obama Stifling Hasan Investigation?
	Terrorists, Crooks Allowed to Keep FAA Pilot’s Licenses
	Europe and the EU
	Anthrax Found in Glasgow Heroin Users
	‘Feminists Have Better Sex’: Swedish Party
	Italy: Cabinet Mulls Controversial Web Bill
	Itlay: Stealing Love Pest Phone ‘No Crime’
	Lord Monckton Barred From Copenhagen Conference — Pushed to the Ground by Security
	Most Czechs, Slovaks Would Ban Construction of Minarets
	Poland: Auschwitz ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ Sign Stolen
	Spain: Basque Priests Rebel Against New Bishop
	Spain: Arrested for Damage to Roig Sculpture, ‘Was Disgusted’
	Tuscany in War-Crimes Trial With Germany
	UK: Judge Condemns ‘Sex Ring’ Charges Delay
	UK: Keighley Woman Spat at and Punched in Keighley Attack
	UK: MP Condemns Plan to Build a ‘Muslim Eton’ For Girls
	UK: Supreme Court: London Jewish School Discriminated
	UK: Tulay Goren Murder: ‘Honour’ Crimes Doubling Every Year, Figures Show
	UK: Tinsel Taliban Strikes as Court Service Ban Staff From Decorations to Avoid Offence
	Vatican: Beatification of John Paul II Progresses
	Balkans
	Serbia: Dutch Minister Backs Belgrade’s EU Bid
	North Africa
	Al Aswany: Fundamentalism Can’t be Defeated Without Democracy
	Algeria: Ten Arrested in Anti-Terror Operation
	Martial-Arts Trained ‘Lady Guards’ Latest Security Craze in Egypt
	Israel and the Palestinians
	Arab Agents to Join Police in January
	CIA Working With Palestinian Security Agents
	Gaza: Shots From Gaza on New Barrier Construction
	Nationalist Rabbis Attack on Barak
	New Banknotes: Sharett is Out, Begin and Rabin Are in
	Obama Policies to Create Hamasland?
	Palestinian Christians Urge Boycott
	UK-Livni: Knesset Petition Threatens Boycott
	Why Can’t H. Clinton Bring Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Look at What B. Clinton Offered Which the Palestinians Rejected
	Middle East
	Global Corporation Supplying Iran Missiles?
	Iran Troops ‘Seize Iraq Oil Well’
	Pentagon: Insurgents Intercepted Drone Spy Videos
	Saudi to Launch TV Channels on Koran, Sunnah
	Zawahiri’s Wife Releases Statement, Tells Women They Can be Suicide Bombers
	Russia
	Moscow’s Arrogance Leads to Turkmen Gas Flowing Towards China
	Russia Accuses US of Last-Minute Obstacle to Nuclear Arms Treaty
	South Asia
	Ex-UN Afghan Deputy Denies Conspiracy
	Norway: No People to Kabul
	Far East
	Japanese Whalers Using ‘Military’ Sonic Device: Activists
	N. Korean Hackers May Have Stolen US War Plans
	Obama Told China: I Can’t Stop Israel Strike on Iran Indefinitely
	Australia — Pacific
	A Woman Was Impaled on a Steel Fence for an Agonising 47 Minutes Waiting for an Ambulance.
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	Controversial African Bishop Defrocked
	Latin America
	Rash of Public Lynchings Hit Guatemala
	Immigration
	Illegal Workers on Elmendorf AFB
	Italy: Immigrant Population Up to 4.8 Million in 2009, Study
	Spain: 11.6% Residents Are Foreigners, Double the EU Average
	Turks and Moroccans Most Numerous in EU
	Culture Wars
	Jennings ‘Credited’ With ‘Heterosexism’ Questionnaire
	General
	Obama: We Are Running Short on Time for Climate Deal
	When Reds Go Green

Abu Dhabi’s Sway Over Dubai Increasing at Tehran’s Expense

The first plan to rescue the debt-ridden emirate is proving insufficient for many investors, but it is bringing Abu Dhabi back into the fold of the emirate federation. It is also increasing the distance with Iran, which hitherto used Dubai as a trans-shipment point to break the embargo and export its goods.

Dubai (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee, has begun a trip to London, New York and Washington to reassure investors about Dubai World’s plans to restructure its debt and explain how it will use the US$ 10 billion loan from Abu Dhabi.

Businessmen and contractors that fuelled Dubai’s real estate boom are still waiting for their money. And many economic experts believe that the injection of capital by Abu Dhabi will not solve all of its problems.

Dubai is now using US$ 4.1 billion of the US$ 10 billion loan to pay Dubai World’s liabilities; the rest will go to other debtors.

A Dubai World spokesman said the funds would help contractors, but sought to manage expectations given that the restructuring of Dubai World and its two property arms, Nakheel and Limitless, is just starting.

For analysts at National Bank of Kuwait, the Dubai World’s debt restructuring could trigger a further 25 to 30 per cent decline during the next six months.

In fact, much of the debt needs to be settled in 2010 and 2011. Altogether, Dubai must repay at least US$ 55 billion in the next three years.

Geopolitically, the rescue plan for Dubai unveiled on Monday gives Abu Dhabi greater sway over Dubai’s affairs and could force Abu Dhabi’s independence-minded leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, back into the fold of the United Arab Emirates.

For many, the sheikh has acted a bit too independently vis-à-vis federal authorities, engaging in reckless financial operations whilst contributing less than 3 per cent to the US$ 12 billion federal budget.

Abu Dhabi’s control could take two forms. First, its emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan could put a stop to Dubai’s bad financial habits by asserting control over key pieces of Dubai’s corporate empire as compensation for its bailout, pieces like Dubai’s state-owned Emirates Airlines and its port operator, DP World Ltd. Secondly, control could be more political. Abu Dhabi often works in league with Saudi Arabia on foreign policy matters, whilst independent-minded Dubai has favoured instead Ahmadinejad’s Iran, thus gaining large amounts of cash by serving as an embargo-busting trans-shipment point for Iran’s trade.

If US-ally Abu Dhabi does assert its control, Washington could gain a platform from which to exert significant pressure on Iran.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Oklahoma Schools Will Fail to Make Payroll Due to Budget Cuts

OKLAHOMA CITY — Scary was the word repeatedly being passed around the State Board Of Education meeting Thursday in response to the recent state budget cuts.

“Prior to this week we have been careful about saying whether or not there would be layoffs. I can now say without a doubt that we’re going to lose teachers from our workforce,” said State Superintendent Sandy Garrett.

James White is the Assistant State Superintendent and said, “25 schools will not be able to meet payroll by the end of the year.”

“Schools are looking at annexation, going to another school, closing. Some schools look to possibly to go to judgment, which means their district will take responsibility of the debt. If it is not able to pay people, people will take them to court, sue and taxpayers of the district will have to pay the debt of that school for the remainder of the year,” White said.

There is worry that many of Oklahoma’s teachers will leave for good and others won’t want to come to Oklahoma because of the poor and falling funding.

Oklahoma schools have lost $43 million in the last five months, and now there are worries state budget cuts will cut deeper because insurance costs will rise in January.

“We’ve got really topnotch people scared, I mean frightened and they should be,” said Tim Gilpin, State Board Of Education member.

See how the state’s budget cuts have impacted Oklahoma’s school

The 8 percent rate increase will cost the state an additional $33 per insured employee. It will be part of what contributes to a $21 million shortfall for health insurance for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Education leaders are hoping the Rainy Day fund will be used to help alleviate the problem.

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

[Return to headlines]

Tulsa Mayor Bartlett to Decide on Budget Cuts on January 7th

TULSA, OK — Mayor Dewey Bartlett said he is not sure how many city employees will lose their jobs and says the decision won’t come until the first of the year.

The head of each department has made a plan to handle the cuts. They will turn those over to the mayor Friday.

While cuts are looming, the mayor says other cuts made previously might be soon restored.

Mayor Bartlett personally briefed the council for the first time Thursday night. He repeated his prediction the city might have to cut spending by $10 million over the next six months.

That kind of cut would mean layoffs for employees in every city department, including police officers and firefighters.

Bartlett says he’s waiting on specific recommendations from each department.

“We haven’t asked any department to that, we just asked please give us your best recommendation on how you would revamp, handle your department if we end up with five or ten million dollars less in the budget,” Bartlett said.

At the same time,the mayor says he’s pursuing new plans to get the police helicopter unit flying again, and through stimulus money might be able to turn the lights back on along expressways.

Mayor’s Chief of Staff Terry Simonson announced a plan to use an existing stimulus grant to buy new streetlights.

“By employing the energy efficient street lamps, not only will it hopefully lower the cost down to something we can afford, but we also become eligible for the PSO model cities program, meaning we pay less per kilowatt, so there’s another savings to it,” Simonson said.

There is no timeline for the lights or the helicopters but both projects are not quick turnarounds.

As for the job cuts, the mayor says he will make that decision around January 7th.

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

[Return to headlines]

Congressman: Why is Obama Stifling Hasan Investigation?

Member of House intelligence committeee wants reports to prevent another attack A member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is wondering why President Obama apparently is suppressing information assembled by an investigation into the Nov. 5 attack at Fort Hood by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “Allah is greatest,” while killing more than a dozen soldiers and civilians.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., expressed his concern in a recent commentary, saying, “There has been a troubling refusal by Obama officials to acknowledge that the shooting likely was an act of homegrown terrorism.”

[…]

But Jamal Ware, a spokesman for the GOP members of the intelligence committee, told WND that the problem is while the investigation apparently has produced a report about Hasan, it’s being suppressed by the White House.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Terrorists, Crooks Allowed to Keep FAA Pilot’s Licenses

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has asked the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inspector General to investigate why suspect individuals — including terrorists and drug kingpins — have been able to retain their Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pilot’s licenses.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Anthrax Found in Glasgow Heroin Users

Health agencies across Scotland have been placed on alert after a drug user who died in a Glasgow hospital tested positive for anthrax.

A woman who injected heroin is also being treated for the effects of the infection.

Tests are also being carried out on a third drug user and a number of other cases are being investigated.

Health officials believe the two may have taken contaminated heroin and an outbreak control team has been set up.

The woman is being treated at the Victoria Infirmary, where the man died two days ago and doctors are waiting for the results of tests carried out on a third drug user at the city’s Royal Infirmary.

At the moment, the cases are not being linked, though it is known all three had infections in areas of the body they had injected with heroin.

Police and health officials are investigating whether contaminated heroin or a contaminated cutting agent may be responsible.

Dr Syed Ahmed, consultant in public health medicine, said: “I urge all drug injecting heroin users to be extremely alert and to seek urgent medical advice if they experience an infection.

“While this section of the community need to be on their guard the risk to the rest of the population — including close family members of the infected cases — is negligible.

“It is extremely rare for anthrax to be spread from person to person and there is no significant risk of airborne transmission from one person to another.”

‘Extremely rare’

The health board said it would investigate cases of drug injecting heroin users with serious soft tissue infections now or during the last four weeks.

Strathclyde Police said it was vital that if there was a contaminated batch of heroin on the streets that it was traced and recovered.

A spokesman added: “Our number one priority is the safety and wellbeing of everyone in our communities.

“We would appeal to drug users to come forward if they have any information that may enable us to trace its source.

“We would like to reassure people that our purpose is to recover this substance in the interests of public safety. It is not about targeting drug users.”

Anthrax is an acute bacterial infection most commonly found in hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats.

It normally infects humans when they inhale or ingest anthrax spores, but cannot be passed from person to person.

The last death from anthrax in Scotland was in 2006 when Christopher Norris died after inhaling the spores.

The 50-year-old craftsman, from Stobs, near Hawick, made drums with materials such as untreated animal hides.

Last November, drum-maker Fernando Gomez, who is thought to have inhaled anthrax spores while handling imported animal skins, died in hospital in London.

The 35-year-old Spanish folk musician had been in the intensive care unit for several days.

Five people died and 17 others were ill in a series of anthrax attacks in the US in 2001.

— Hat tip: 4symbols

[Return to headlines]

‘Feminists Have Better Sex’: Swedish Party

Sweden’s feminist political party is hoping logo items featuring a bold claim about their supporters’ supposed prowess in the bedroom will raise awareness about the party during the holiday shopping season.

“Feminists have better sex,” the Feminist Initiative (FI) political party claims in its recently launched line of logo items.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Cabinet Mulls Controversial Web Bill

Unruly demonstrations also considered in new legislation

(ANSA) — Rome, December 17 — Bills imposing stiff penalties for threatening web content and unruly demonstrations caused a stir on Thursday when it was presented before the cabinet.

The draft laws were presented by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni in reaction to clashes between protestors and police at student demonstrations last week, in addition to groups on Facebook applauding last Sunday’s attack on President Silvio Berlusconi.

Over 50,000 people signed up for the groups hailing a man with mental health problems who hit the premier in the face with a statuette on Sunday, breaking his nose and two of his teeth.

Facebook administrators said Wednesday they would take down any groups with overtly violent content, but leave up any that were merely “controversial or offensive”.

Government sources said the bill dictates protocol for acting against Web content constituting offences like “incitement to commit a crime”.

The law would reportedly give users 24 hours to remove the offending content or face a fine.

When users can’t be identified, responsibility would pass to Web administrators who would have three days to remove the material or risk sites being closed down for as long as a month.

Another bill would make counter-protests and sit-ins against the rallies or opposing groups a felony punishable by up to two years in prison.

Throwing objects at demonstrations would also become a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years in jail.

Following the meeting, Infrastructure Minister Altero Matteoli said “we have a basic agreement about the bills, but still need to work out some of the finer points”.

Cabinet insiders said a number of ministers were reluctant to make website administrators liable for content their users published, while others, such as Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, wanted to take an even harder line against troublemakers at demonstrations.

Matteoli added that the government would seek the opposition’s support for the bills, but didn’t rule out ramming them through with a decree if it met resistance.

Leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Pier Luigi Bersani said he would “read anything they send us” but that he couldn’t make any promises.

“We’re very, very concerned about some of the restrictions being discussed here,” he said. The proposed bills have drawn stern criticism from digital freedom advocates in Italy who fear the legislation could pave the way to censorship.

The head of the online rights group Agora’ Digitale, Luca Nicotra, said “there’s no need for new laws specific to the Internet just to enforce old ones already in place”.

Nicotra said his group was ready to lead an online protest against the bill through many of the channels it might conceivably target, such as Facebook.

The social networking website was the main tool behind the demonstration this month which brought thousands of anti-Berlusconi protestors into the streets of Rome.

Senate Speaker Renato Schifani said the government had an “obligation to keep these websites from turning into odes to violence”.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Itlay: Stealing Love Pest Phone ‘No Crime’

Boyfriend ‘entitled’ to take texting rival’s mobile says court

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Stealing the cellphone of someone texting love messages to your girlfriend is not a crime, Italy’s highest appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Cassation Court, whose rulings set precedents, turned down a prosecutor’s appeal against the acquittal of a Romanian immigrant, Cristian N., who discovered that compatriot Sorin D.

had been courting his girlfriend with text messages.

In their appeal, Ancona prosecutors argued that the theft of Sorin’s phone had been “a full-fledged robbery”.

The Cassation Court rejected the plea, saying that Cristian had been “entitled” to take the phone because it was being used to “bother” him with the messages.

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Lord Monckton Barred From Copenhagen Conference — Pushed to the Ground by Security

This was the scene yesterday in Copenhagen. As you can see the scene is rather agitated with lots of police action, including use of billy clubs. As of this writing, no pictures or video is available of Lord Monckton’s account below. Hopefully somebody in the crowd will post some. I wish him well. I’ll also be glad when this conference is over. It has shown government at its worst.

From The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in Copenhagen at the SPPI blog:

Today the gloves came off and the true purpose of the “global warming” scare became nakedly visible. Hugo Chavez, the Socialist president of Venezuela, blamed “global warming” on capitalism — and received a standing ovation from very nearly all of the delegates, lamentably including those from those of the capitalist nations of the West that are on the far Left — and that means too many of them.

Previously Robert Mugabe, dictator of Rhodesia, who had refused to leave office when he had been soundly defeated in a recent election, had also won plaudits at the conference for saying that the West ought to pay him plenty of money in reparation of our supposed “climate debt”.

Inside the conference center, “world leader” after “world leader” got up and postured about the need to Save The Planet, the imperative to do a deal, the necessity to save the small island nations from drowning, etc., etc., etc.

Outside, in the real world, it was snowing, and a foretaste of the Brave New World being cooked up by “world leaders” in their fantasy-land was already evident. Some 20,000 observers from non-governmental organizations — nearly all of them true-believing Green groups funded by taxpayers — had been accredited to the conference.

However, without warning the UN had capriciously decided that all but 300 of them were to be excluded from the conference today, and all but 90 would be excluded on the final day.

Of course, this being the inept UN, no one had bothered to notify those of the NGOs that were not true-believers in the UN’s camp. So Senator Steve Fielding of Australia and I turned up with a few dozen other delegates, to be left standing in the cold for a couple of hours while the UN laboriously worked out what to do with us.

In the end, they decided to turn us away, which they did with an ill grace and in a bad-tempered manner. As soon as the decision was final, the Danish police moved in. One of them began the now familiar technique of manhandling me, in the same fashion as one of his colleagues had done the previous day.

Once again, conscious that a police helicopter with a high-resolution camera was hovering overhead, I thrust my hands into my pockets in accordance with the St. John Ambulance crowd-control training, looked my assailant in the eye and told him, quietly but firmly, to take his hands off me.

He complied, but then decided to have another go. I told him a second time, and he let go a second time. I turned to go and, after I had turned my back, he gave me a mighty shove that flung me to the ground and knocked me out.

I came to some time later (not sure exactly how long), to find my head being cradled by my friends, some of whom were doing their best to keep the police thugs at bay while the volunteer ambulance-men attended to me.

I was picked up and dusted me off. I could not remember where I had left my telephone, which had been in my hand at the time when I was assaulted. I rather fuzzily asked where it was, and one of the police goons shouted, “He alleges he had a mobile phone.”

In fact, the phone was in my coat pocket, where my hand had been at the time of the assault. The ambulance crew led me away and laid me down under a blanket for 20 minutes to get warm, plying me with water and keeping me amused with some colorfully colloquial English that they had learned.

I thanked them for their kindness, left them a donation for their splendid service, and rejoined my friends. A very senior police officer then came up and asked if I was all right. Yes, I said, but no thanks to one of his officers, who had pushed me hard from behind when my back was turned and had sent me flying.

The police chief said that none of his officers would have done such a thing. I said that several witnesses had seen the incident, which I intended to report. I said I had hoped to receive an apology but had not received one, and would include that in my report. The policeman went off looking glum, and with good reason.

To assault an accredited representative of a conference your nation is hosting, and to do it while your own police cameramen are filming from above, and to do it without any provocation except my polite, non-threatening request that I should not be manhandled, is not a career-enhancing move, as that police chief is about to discover to his cost.

Nor does this incident, and far too many like it, reflect the slightest credit on Denmark. We must make reasonable allowance for the fact that the unspeakable security service of the UN, which is universally detested by those at this conference, was ordering the Danish police about. The tension between the alien force and the indigenous men on the ground had grown throughout the conference.

However, the Danish police were far too free with their hands when pushing us around, and that is not acceptable in a free society. But then, Europe is no longer a free society. It is, in effect, a tyranny ruled by the unelected Kommissars of the European Union. That is perhaps one reason why police forces throughout Europe, including that in the UK, have become far more brutal than was once acceptable in their treatment of the citizens they are sworn to serve.

It is exactly this species of tyranny that the UN would like to impose upon the entire planet, in the name of saving us from ourselves — or, as Ugo Chavez would put it, saving us from Western capitalist democracy.

A few weeks ago, at a major conference in New York, I spoke about this tendency towards tyranny with Dr. Vaclav Klaus, the distinguished economist and doughty fighter for freedom and democracy who is President of the Czech Republic.

While we still have one or two statesmen of his caliber, there is hope for Europe and the world. Unfortunately, he refused to come to Copenhagen, telling me that there was no point, now that the lunatics were firmly in control of the asylum.

However, I asked him whether the draft Copenhagen Treaty’s proposal for what amounted to a communistic world government reminded him of the Communism under which he and his country had suffered for so long.

He thought for a moment — as statesmen always do before answering an unusual question — and said, “Maybe it is not brutal. But in all other respects, what it proposes is far too close to Communism for comfort.”

Today, as I lay in the snow with a cut knee, a bruised back, a banged head, a ruined suit, and a written-off coat, I wondered whether the brutality of the New World Order was moving closer than President Klaus — or any of us — had realized.

— Hat tip: KGS

[Return to headlines]

Most Czechs, Slovaks Would Ban Construction of Minarets

Prague, Dec 16 (CTK) — Most people in the Czech Republic and Slovakia would ban a possible construction of minarets, the daily Lidove noviny (LN) reports Wednesday, referring to a poll conducted by the NMS agency simultaneously in both countries.

The poll has reacted to the recent controversial referendum in Switzerland in which most people voted against the construction of more minarets, tall spires with onion-shaped or conical crowns used for the call to prayer, in their country.

According to the NMS poll conducted on 424 voters in the Czech Republic and 502 in Slovakia, 78 percent of Czech respondents and 70 percent of Slovaks would vote against minarets in a referendum.

Moreover, 54 percent of Czechs and 56 percent of Slovaks would ban the construction of both minarets and new mosques, Tomas Dvorak, from NMS, told LN.

The poll also shows that Czechs and Slovaks mind new mosques less than minarets. Only one-third of the polled strictly oppose mosques, others do not want them only in “their surroundings.”

Nevertheless, Muslims in the Czech Republic are not considering building minarets for the time being, LN writes.

Muneeb Hassan, from the Islamic community, said minarets are rather a pretext. “Those who mind Islam and Muslims are against minarets,” he told LN.

Muslims in the Czech Republic and Slovakia face more serious problems with the construction of their houses of prayer.

In the Slovak capital of Bratislava, for instance, they bought a plot ten years ago but they have not obtained a building permit yet, LN writes.

The first mosque in the Czech Republic is in Brno where Muslims are planning another one, but many people have protested against the project. The Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and representatives of the extra-parliamentary ultra-right National Party (NS) have disagreed with it.

In addition, a decree to regulate the maximal height of buildings in various parts of the city is being prepared in Brno, which could affect the construction of minarets, LN writes.

The paper recalls that there is only one minaret in the Czech Republic, in the UNESCO-listed Lednice-Valtice chateau and park complex, south Moravia, that has actually nothing to do with Muslims. The minaret with quotes from the Quran on the walls was built in 1804 to house exotic collections of the Liechtenstein noble family.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Poland: Auschwitz ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ Sign Stolen

OSWIECIM, Poland — The Nazis’ infamous iron sign declaring “Arbeit Macht Frei” — German for “Work Sets You Free” — was stolen Friday from the entrance of the former Auschwitz death camp, Polish police said.

The 5-meter-long (16-foot-long), 40-kilogram (90-pound) iron sign at the Holocaust memorial site in southern Poland was unscrewed on one side and torn off on the other, police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said.

The theft from the entrance to the camp — where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II — brought condemnation worldwide.

“The theft of such a symbolic object is an attack on the memory of the Holocaust, and an escalation from those elements that would like to return us to darker days,” Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a statement from Jerusalem.

“I call on all enlightened forces in the world who fight against anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and the hatred of the other, to join together to combat these trends.”

The sign disappeared from the Auschwitz memorial between 3:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., Padlo said.

Police deployed 50 police, including 20 detectives, and a search dog to the Auschwitz grounds, where barracks, watchtowers and ruins of gas chambers stand as testament to the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

Police said they were reviewing footage from a surveillance camera that overlooks the entrance gate and the road beyond, but declined to say whether the crime was recorded.

Auschwitz museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt said it might have been too dark for the camera to have captured images.

He said the thieves apparently carried the sign 300 meters (yards) to an opening in a concrete wall. That opening had been left intentionally to preserve a poplar tree dating back to the time of the war.

Four metal bars that had blocked the opening were cut. Tire tracks and footprints in the snow led from the wall opening to the nearby road, where police presume the sign was loaded on to a vehicle.

Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he had trouble imagining who would steal the sign.

“If they are pranksters, they’d have to be sick pranksters, or someone with a political agenda. But whoever has done it has desecrated world memory,” Schudrich said.

— Hat tip: ESW

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Spain: Basque Priests Rebel Against New Bishop

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 16 — Priests in the Basque diocese of Guipuzcoa are rebelling against their new bishop, José Ignacio Munilla: even before he takes up his new post on January 9, 85 out of 110 curates in the San Sebastian area have signed an open letter in which they warn that the new prelate is in no way the right person to be the shepherd of our diocese. The revolt of the Basque priests is on the front page of todays newspapers in Spain. This is an unprecedented event in the Spanish Church. El Mundo points out that the only event which comes close was in 1967, during the Franco dictatorship, when “Volem bisbes catalans” (we want Catalan bishops) was how Catalan parishioners greeted the new archbishop of Barcelona, Spaniard Marcelo Gonzalez Martin. After four troublesome years on Catalan soil he left for Toledo. The attack in Guipozcoa is directly aimed at the new prelate appointed by Benedict XVI on the proposal of the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Cardinal of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela. Claimed to be anti-nationalist and a conservative, Mons. Munilla was parachuted into a diocese known for being radical and a supporter of Basque nationalism. Thus 77% of curates in the diocese took up pen and paper and publicly disassociated themselves from the choice of the new bishop, who takes over from radical Juan Maria Uriarte. The priests protest follows another from the Basque nationalist party the PNV, the main political group in the Spanish Basque country. The Basque priests expressed pain and deep concern over the appointment of Munilla, whose trajectory has so far been deeply marked by dissatisfaction and an absence of communion with the diocesan lines. Munilla, who is close to conservative Rouco Varela, in a message following his appointment, told the 700,000 faithful of Gupozcoa that he wants to be the bishop of all. But in a recent interview he warned that the Church must contribute towards depoliticising Basque society, which is suffering from an excess of politicisation. According to El Mundo, the new bishop is known for being a hard man, a militant to the core, and they way that he never backs down. And the Basque priests, writes El Pais, are now concerned that with his appointment, conservative Rouco Varela wants to deactivate the line of a diocese renowned for its social commitment, co-responsibility with the lay community, support for dialogue to end the violence with Eta in the Basque Country. The saga has now also become the subject of political controversy: the leader of the Basque Partido Popular, Arantza Quiroga, today accused the 85 dissident priests of being guided by the hand of the Basque nationalist party.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Arrested for Damage to Roig Sculpture, ‘Was Disgusted’

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 17 — In Valencia, a 32-year-old man has been arrested for seriously damaging a fountain-sculpture by the Majorcan artist Bernardi Roig exhibited in the clearing before the Valencia Museum of Modern Art (IVAM) as part of the show “Shadows Must Dance” underway at the contemporary art centre. According to police sources quoted by the EP agency, the incident occurred on Sunday when the man, whose identity has not been disclosed, was caught on video by security cameras outside the museum as he used his hands and feet to attack the sculpture, a life-size human figure with water spurting out of its mouth, until the sculpture fell to the ground and broke. The work of art has an estimated value of 80,000 euros. The vandal, originally from Tenerife and who was released after being charged with damage to artistic heritage, holds a Fine Arts degree. In statements to the daily paper Levante, he said that on Sunday after a beer out with some friends, he noticed the sculpture in front of IVAM and went closer to touch it. However, after having seen that it moved, was overwhelmed by a sense of disgust and shoved the sculpture to the ground. Bernardi Roig, the creator of the work of art, is currently in New York and has been informed of the incident. According to museum sources, on his return he will give instructions as to how to proceed with the restoration work on the sculpture, with has in the meantime been withdrawn from the exhibition. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Tuscany in War-Crimes Trial With Germany

Region joins victims’ suit for reparations

(ANSA) — Rome, December 18 — The region of Tuscany joined a civil suit against the Federal Republic of Germany on Friday in what is likely to mark the last major Nazi war crimes trial in Italy.

Six German soldiers were arraigned by an Italian court in October for the 1944 massacre of over 350 people in an area known as the Vallucciole in the mountains of eastern Tuscany as a reprisal against raids by local partisans.

According to the few remaining survivors, most of the victims were women and children. By now in their 80s and 90s, witnesses to the killings will testify in both the criminal trial and a civil suit seeking reparations from both the culprits and the German government.

Tuscan Governor Claudio Martini noted in an official statement that it was “the first time a region of Italy has ever taken part in a trial against both war criminals and the Federal Republic of Germany”.

“These crimes were committed with total disregard to even the most basic principles of human decency,” he explained.

“As the representative of an area devastated by those crimes, the Tuscan regional government joins the victims’ plea for justice”.

None of the defendants, identified over the course of a lengthy investigation by Italian war crimes prosecutors, will be present for the trial, in which they face life sentences for mass murder.

Karl Winkler, 87, Friz Olberg, 88, Wilhelm Karl Sark, 89, Ferdinand Osterhaus, 90, and Gunther Heintroth, 84, are the living officers of the Fallschirm Panzer Division who allegedly ordered the killings.

Another officer, Gustav Brandt, was struck off the list of defendants who recently died in Berlin at the age of 95.

Even if they were to be extradited to Italy, none of the defendants would face actual jail time given their old age.

But Marini said the trial, perhaps the last of a long series for war crimes committed during the German occupation of Italy, had “great symbolic importance” in establishing what happened and who was responsible.

Tuscany’s part as a plaintiff in the civil suit follows a landmark 2008 ruling by the Italian Court of Cassation requiring Germany to pay damages to the families of those killed in Nazi massacres.

Germany appealed the ruling to the International Court of Justice arguing that Italy breached a 1961 war crime treaty.

The two countries have set up a panel to review WWII issues.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UK: Judge Condemns ‘Sex Ring’ Charges Delay

A JUDGE has comdemned an eight-month delay in bringing charges against an alleged sex ring accused of attacks on girls as young as 13 as “absoluttely scandalous.”

He said it was a “lamentable failure” on the part of the Crown Prosecution Service, who had waited since March to bring the men to court following their arrest.

Members of the alleged eight strong sex ring were arrested in March in a series of early morning raids after being linked to a year-long series of sexual offences, committed around Rotherham, involving three 13-year-old girls and one adult.

But they were later released on police bail and had not been brought to court until their appearance at Rotherham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

District Judge John Foster strongly criticised the eight month delay in bringing the men—charged with a total of 16 rapes—to court.

Addressing CPS prosecutor Mark Hughes, Mr Foster said: “The complainants are 13 and 14 years of age and you are telling me that it’s acceptable to conduct an eight month Crown Prosecution review of the case before bringing these men to court? I can’t believe it.

“These are children who are going to have to give evidence about these allegations.

“They face the prospect of being cross-examined, assuming not guilty pleas are entered by one or more of the defendants. Someone has to explain this to me, it’s absolutely scandalous.”

The accused men are:

• Adil Hussain (20), of Nelson Street, Rotherham, charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl.
• Saeed Hussain (28), of Hatherley Road, Eastwood, Rotherham, charged with inciting a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.
• Shaizaad Hussain (21), of Clough Road, Masbrough, Rotherham, charged with two counts of rape against a 13-year-old girl.
• Mohsin Khan (21), of Haworth Crescent, Moorgate, Rotherham, charged with five counts of rape including four against a 13-year-old girl.
• Zafran Ramzan (21), of Broom Grove, Broom, Rotherham, charged with four counts of rape, including one involving a 13-year-old girl.
• Razwan Razaq (29), of Oxford Street, Clifton, Rotherham, charged with two counts of rape against a 13-year-old girl.
• Umar Razaq (23), of Oxford Street, Clifton, Rotherham, charged with rape of a girl aged over 16 and engaging in sexual activity with 13-year-old girl.
• Shazad Akbar (22), of Shirecliffe Lane, Shirecliffe, Sheffield, charged with rape.

The men lined up in the dock at Rotherham Magistrates’ Court to face the raft of charges on Wednesday after answering bail at the town’s Main Street police station on Tuesday.

Many of them had answered bail more than seven times since their arrests in March.

All eight applied for bail at Wednesday’s hearing as solicitors argued that all had completed regular visits to Main Street police station as their bail conditions required.

But Mr Foster denied all eight their liberty by detaining them in custody prior to an appearance at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, citing charges which could attract life sentences in some cases as a reason why they may not submit to bail in future.

Mr Foster added: “This has been a lamentable performance by the CPS in the delay which has been occasioned by their complete failure, it seems, to take any positive action in relation to this case since March this year.”

— Hat tip: Gaia

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UK: Keighley Woman Spat at and Punched in Keighley Attack

A young woman motorist was spat at and punched in a racial attack as she sat in her car in Keighley town centre.

The 23-year-old victim was left distressed by the incident, which happened as she waited at traffic lights with her window wound down.

Police say the “disturbing” assault was racially motivated and are appealing for help to trace the “cowardly” gang responsible.

The woman, who is white, had pulled up at the lights in North Street, at 5pm on Saturday when she was approached by a group of Asian men.

They began to racially abuse her and spat at her through the open window.

One of the males punched her while trying to grab her car keys.

After a short while the victim managed to wind up the window and drive away from the scene.

She was not seriously hurt but was left distressed. The group of men then left the area, heading up Devonshire Street.

The main aggressor is described as Asian, in his late teens, 5ft 5ins, and of skinny build.

He had brown eyes and was wearing a plain grey hooded top.

Detective Inspector John Mountain, of Airedale and North Bradford CID, said: “This was a disturbing racial assault and attempted robbery on a young woman in her own car who was minding her own business and appears to have done nothing to provoke it.

“The attack happened at a busy time of the day in the town centre and I am appealing for anyone who saw what happened, or may know the identities of any of this group, to come forward.

“Fortunately incidents such as this are rare and I now appeal to residents from all sections of the community in Keighley to assist us in finding those responsible for this cowardly attack.”

Anyone with information should contact PC Al Towers, of Airedale and North Bradford CID, on 0845 6060606, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

— Hat tip: TB

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UK: MP Condemns Plan to Build a ‘Muslim Eton’ For Girls

The college for 1,500 pupils would be both the largest Muslim faith school and the biggest boarding school in the country — larger than 1,330-pupil Eton.

Yesterday Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, near the school site in Burnley, warned that it could damage existing schools and colleges in the area and stoke community tensions.

‘The last thing we need is single-sex, single faith schools for girls,’ he told the Times Educational Supplement.

‘It pulls against community cohesion. It makes me weep to think so much time, energy and effort has gone into the community to get people to mix together. [This] goes against all public policy.’

The blueprint emerged after a proposal for a 5,000-place girls’ boarding school in Pendle was dropped amid public opposition.

The Islamic charity behind the Burnley project, the Mohiuddin Trust, insists its aim is to ‘strengthen inter-community relationships’.

It is in the process of setting up Mohiuddin International Girls’ College after purchasing the former Burnley College site for £2million.

The college would cater for girls of 16 and over and teach mainstream qualifications and faith studies.

The trust wants the school to cater initially for 500 students, expanding to 1,500.

Dr Mohammed Iqbal, a Mohiuddin trustee, said: ‘At this moment it’s difficult to offer a detailed response about the courses to be offered as we are still in the preliminary planning stages.

‘We do, however, expect to offer a variety of skills and courses.

‘A-levels are being considered but may not be available as soon as the college starts.

‘Our objective is to offer young women the opportunity to empower themselves with better qualifications with the aim of improving chances of securing better employment.’

Afzal Anwar, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Pendle, said he understood that the school would be open to girls of all faiths, and would offer optional lessons in Islamic studies.

He said the plans for a 5,000- place school in Pendle were dropped after attracting ‘overwhelming local opposition’ from all communities, including a majority of Muslims.

He added: ‘There should be provision for faith schools if parents want to send their children there.’

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: ‘We have not yet been approached by the promoters of the school, so we do not know what their proposals are.

‘Any application will be scrutinised closely before the school can open.’

— Hat tip: Gaia

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UK: Supreme Court: London Jewish School Discriminated

LONDON (JTA) — A Jewish school in London discriminated against a child denied entrance because his mother was not recognized as Jewish, Britain’s Supreme Court said.

The court on Wednesday narrowly rejected an appeal by the Jewish Free School against an earlier ruling stating that its admission policy was illegal and that the North London school broke the Race Relations Act.

— Hat tip: Esther

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UK: Tulay Goren Murder: ‘Honour’ Crimes Doubling Every Year, Figures Show

“Honour killings” are now running at the rate of one a month, it has emerged, following a shocking rise in violent crimes committed in Britain in the name of religion.

The number of murders, rapes and assaults on people who dare to break strict religious or cultural rules is doubling every year, police figures show, with up to two violent “honour crimes” being committed every day.

But charities which help victims of honour crimes say the true extent of the problem is far worse than the statistics show, as every year hundreds of vicitms — normally women — are too frightened to report attacks or to give evidence in court.

The escalating problem was highlighted yesterday as an Old Bailey jury convicted Mehmet Goren, 49, of the cold-blooded and premeditated murder of his 15-year-old daughter Tulay after she fell in love with someone from the “wrong” branch of Islam.

Miss Goren disappeared 10 years ago after telling a friend she might be pregnant but justice caught up with her father after his wife “courageously” testified against him and lifted what was described as the “cloak of secrecy” which surrounds honour crimes.

A prosecutor said the case was a “wake-up call” to the authorities over the extent of the problem in this country, which campaigners say is growing because of the rise of religious fundamentalism.

Miss Goren and her family had nine contacts with police in the days before her death, during which they complained of violence by Goren, but officers had little understanding at the time of the concept of honour crimes and she was left at the mercy of her father.

The court heard that Miss Goren, whose Turkish Kurd family are Alevi Muslims, was drugged, tortured and then killed by her father after she fell in love with a Sunni Muslim twice her age. Her body has never been found.

Goren, who adhered to what one police officer described as “outdated feudal beliefs”, was sentenced to serve a minimum of 22 years in jail as the trial judge condemned the “hideous practice” of so-called honour killings.

Miss Goren’s sister Nuray Guler told the court, the teenager had been “caught in the middle of two clashing worlds” and pleaded with police to stop other women falling victim to “this primitive custom”.

She expressed fears for the safety of her mother Hanim, whose evidence against Goren had put her own life in danger. “No one should fail to realise what this means within our culture,” she said.

“These people do not forget.”

Figures released by the Metropolitan Police show that in London alone there have been 129 honour-based crimes between April and October this year, compared with 132 in the whole of 2008/09, which in turn was double the number of the previous year.

The Home Office has estimated that there are an average of 12 honour killings each year in England and Wales.

But Diana Nammi, director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, described the official figures as “the tip of the iceberg” and suggested there are more than 500 honour crimes each year nationwide.

She said: “It’s not just the detection of honour crimes which is increasing, but the number of crimes which are committed. The rise of fundamentalism is the reason these crimes are increasing. The Government has also been turning a blind eye to the problem, which only makes things worse.

“We need to change the mindset of the communities where these crimes are happening — mainly people from South Asia, the Middle East and Muslim communities — and hopefully the religious leaders will think about how we can stop this.”

Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley, near Bradford, who has campaigned to raise awareness of honour crimes, said local councils in areas with large ethnic minority populations remain reluctant to confront the problem because it is such a politically sensitive issue.

She said: “It is a real struggle to get this issue out in the open because instead of looking after the human rights of vulnerable young women you get accused of doing down the Asian community.

“One of the difficulties is that you have very large extended families in places like Bradford, which are very influential, and local councillors are afraid of upsetting them because they think they will lose votes. As a result local authorities are reluctant to talk about this issue.

“But I know from experience that for every male vote you might lose for speaking out you will gain a female vote, and I just wish politicians would realise you don’t need to fight shy of this.”

Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell, of the Metropolitan Police, said officers were now trained to recognise potential honour crimes, and that awareness of the problem has “significantly improved”, though he insisted the force was not “complacent” about the ongoing problem.

— Hat tip: Gaia

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UK: Tinsel Taliban Strikes as Court Service Ban Staff From Decorations to Avoid Offence

The ‘Tinsel Taliban’ have struck in Britain’s courts.

The Tories claim court officials have been banned from putting tinsel around front office-counters amid fears it will ‘offend other religions’.

Tinsel and other Christmas decorations have been outlawed at the Warwickshire Justice Centre in Nuneaton, where people pay fines.

But last night the Government denied the charge that the ban had been put in place to ensure Muslims were not offended.

They said it was because they would be insensitive for criminals to have to pay fines in a room surrounded by tinsel.

However, one courts worker wrote to community cohesion minister Sayeeda Warsi to say he had been told the ban had been imposed because tinsel would ‘break the Court Service Diversity Policy’.

This commits court service managers to ‘creating a culture where equality and diversity forms an integral part of everyday working life’ and ‘incorporating equality and diversity into day-to-day management activities’.

Baroness Warsi spoke out after receiving a letter from a worker at the centre who said: ‘I work as an admin officer in the county court and we have been told that we can’t put tinsel around our counter window as it might offend other religions, according to HMCS diversity policy.’

The Warwickshire Justice Centre houses police officers, the Crown Prosecution Service, four magistrates courts, the probation service, the local youth offending team and witness support services.

The Court Service is headed by justice minister Bridget Prentice, who is spearheading a campaign to ban pink toys being sold because they are not sufficiently ‘progressive’ and ‘funnel girls into pretty, pretty jobs’.

Baroness Warsi said: ‘First toys; now tinsel. Labour’s PC killjoys are determined to kill off Christmas.

‘This has nothing to do with diversity; it’s about the very opposite — a stultifying grey conformity.

‘Non-Christians don’t want to see Christmas banned, and they’re fed up of being patronised by Labour.’

Last night a source at the Ministry of Justice admitted that tinsel had been banned at the front-office counter at the Nuneaton office.

‘Over the counter, yes, where sensitive business like fine payments takes place,’ he said. ‘For that reason. Otherwise there is tinsel and stuff elsewhere.

‘Nothing was removed for religious or diversity reasons.

‘One piece of tinsel was removed from a counter where it was getting in the way. The rest of the tinsel remains there as festive as ever.’

And he claimed: ‘I have it on good authority that the court is one of the most festive places one could go, perhaps outside Lapland.’

The Conservatives have long accused Labour of bowing to PC concerns over Christmas — such as the famous example of Birmingham rebranding the religious festival as ‘Winterval’.

But two weeks ago, David Cameron faced embarrassment when it emerged the Tory website was selling Christmas cards with the PC message Season’s Greetings.

This is despite the fact he has in the past derided such cards as being ‘insulting tosh’.

— Hat tip: Gaia

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Vatican: Beatification of John Paul II Progresses

Vatican City, 16 Dec. (AKI) — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday is expected to authorise a decree which would pave the way for the beatification of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005. The decision would move the pontiff one step closer to canonisation and full sainthood.

The pontiff is due to receive the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Angelo Amato, who will ask Benedict for final approval regarding decrees for the ‘heroic virtues’ and the miracles of ‘God’s servants’, a decisive move in the process of beatification.

‘God’s servants’ refers to John Paul II and Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest who was kidnapped, tortured and assassinated by Poland’s communist regime in 1984.

John Paul II had prayed at his tomb several times.

Because Popieluszko’s case is considered ‘martyrdom’, there is no need for recognising a miracle by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Officials in the Polish capital Warsaw are already planning a ceremony for Popieluszko in June 2010.

For John Paul II, however, there still needs to be approval of a “miracle” which should be approved in the next months.

The late pope is believed to have performed a miracle when he cured a French nun of Parkinson’s disease in 2005.

Pope John Paul II (photo) died on 2 April 2005. Moves to beatify him received a boost when Benedict waived the usual five year waiting period for him in May 2005.

There is speculation his beatification will be approved in Rome in October 2010.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Serbia: Dutch Minister Backs Belgrade’s EU Bid

Belgrade, 16 Dec. (AKI) — Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said on Wednesday his country supported Serbia’s drive to join the European Union. But he stressed that Belgrade must arrest the remaining two fugitives wanted by the United Nations War crimes tribunal (ICTY).

After meeting president Boris Tadic, foreign minister Vuk Jeremic and other officials, Verhagen said the Netherlands strongly believed in a European future for Serbia.

However, he said his country would continue to be “strict, but just” in demanding full cooperation with the tribunal.

The Netherlands has been instrumental in blocking Serbia’s progress with the EU and Verhagen said it was essential that Serbia did everything possible to cooperate with the tribunal and arrest the remaining fugitives.

Serbia has handed over to the ICTY more than 40 indictees over the past several years, but two others remain at large — wartime Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, and Goran Hadzic, wartime leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia.

The Netherlands agreed this month to abolish visas for Serbian citizens and the unfreezing of an interim trade agreement with the EU, but is still blocking the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which is a key step towards EU membership.

Tadic and Jeremic assured Verhagen that Mladic and Hadzic would be arrested and handed over for trial as soon as they were located.

Serbian authorities claim they have no knowledge of the fugitives’ whereabouts and police minister Ivica Dacic said on Wednesday he had no idea when they might be located.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Al Aswany: Fundamentalism Can’t be Defeated Without Democracy

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 17 — “There are two battles in course in Egypt: one, the most visible, is for democracy, the other, no less important, is a cultural battle in which the country defends its free interpretation of religion against that of ‘the desert’. They are two battles connected to each other: if we get close to one we will be successful in the other”. These were the words of Alaa Al Aswani, author of ‘Yacobian Palace’, ‘Chicago’ and ‘Friendly Fire’. The Egyptian writer is also very active in the political debate through the ‘Kefaya’ (Enough) movement, that is now supporting the presidential candidacy of Mohamed El Baradei, and another one against the inheritance of the power of Hosni Mubarak. The battle for democracy and fundamentalism are connected to one another, he explained in an interview with ANSAmed, “because a dictatorship has a similar mentality to that of religious fanaticism, even if there can be a conflict over power between them”. But the culture of the Egyptian people “leans naturally towards democracy. From 1882 to 1953 the people fought against British occupation”. Moreover, Al Aswany went on from his dentistry office, “we Egyptians have our own interpretation of Islam based on the thought of Muhammad Abduh, who became the Mufti of Egypt in 1899: a liberal man, in favour of art, music, education for women and democracy”. All of this meant for Egypt “progress before that of the rest of the Arab world”, because for us “religion was not a barrier, but a motivation”. All of this finished in the 1980s, after the Iranian revolution in 1979, seen as “a threat by some Arab regimes, including Saudi Arabia. Regimes that spent billions of dollars to promote another interpretation of Islam, Wahabism”. Interpretations from which also Egyptian society, he complained, has ended up being influenced by, when, because of “poverty and the failure of the government”, many have emigrated to Saudi Arabia. But it is truly down to the deep religiosity of the Egyptian people, Al Aswany observed, that “it is difficult to see the difference between religious people and Muslim brothers: if many women wear veils, it does not mean that there are any more votes for the movement”. For which the adherents, he calculated, are no more than 400,000 compared to the million claimed by the leaders. The story is different for the Islam that has spread into Europe, the writer went on, which is often influenced by “an extremist vision, because the majority of mosques are supported by Saudi Arabia or one of its organisations. For example, covering the face of a woman has nothing to do with religion, it is a tradition that comes before Islam”. But it is on this extremist vision that the current fear of Islam is based, pushing the Swiss to ban minarets in a recent referendum. “I was the first to write about it on October 27”, he reminded, quoting one of his weekly articles in the independent newspaper Al Shourouk, “suggesting some ideas that were not welcomed by the Egyptian government. I proposed that a delegation of teachers of Islamic culture and religious scholars go to explain that a minaret is an architectural trait and not a symbol of war”. Because in this historic moment even Islamic intellectuals “have a responsibility: if we knew more about each other, there would not be fanaticism. And in this literature too can have an extraordinary mission”.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Algeria: Ten Arrested in Anti-Terror Operation

Algiers, 16 Dec. (AKI) — Algerian authorities have arrested ten suspected members of an Al-Qaeda cell in an anti-terrorism operation in the past two days, news reports said on Wednesday. The suspects were arrested in separate raids in the Algerian capital, Algiers, and in the east of the country, according to reports.

In the anti-terrorism operation in Algiers, police arrested six suspected members of cell linked to the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb — the terror network’s African branch.

The suspects allegedly gathered “large” sums of money for Al-Qaeda which they had extorted from small businesses on the outskirts of Algiers.

Four more suspects were arrested in Stif, 300 kilometres east of Algiers. They face charges of providing logistical support to armed groups.

The four suspects arrested in Stif are originally from Boumerdes, east of Algiers and from Bouira, southeast of the capital, and do not not have previous police records, according to Algerian daily El Khabar.

Algeria’s national security directorate has put the country’s anti-terror units on high alert and ordered security to be stepped up at checkpoints following intelligence reports that Al-Qaeda is planning terrorist attacks in the capital, El Khabar said.

Al-Qaeda claimed twin bombings in Algiers in December, 2007 that killed that killed 41 people and injured close to 200.

The bombs exploded outside Algerian government offices and the office of the United Nations refugee agency in Algiers, killing at least 11 UN employees were killed in the attack.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Martial-Arts Trained ‘Lady Guards’ Latest Security Craze in Egypt

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — In a slightly musty gym in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, three young women in head scarves are learning how to defend themselves.

Their teacher, a huge man in loose black trousers and a white tunic, is instructing them in the finer points of Aikido, a Japanese martial art.

The women, among them 21-year-old Dawlat Sami, are learning to become “lady guards.” That’s what Sami’s employer, Falcon, an Egyptian security company, calls its growing army of female bodyguards.

It is a profession that seems somewhat out of place in conservative Egypt.

“At first, my father objected,” Sami told CNN. “But when he came with me and saw what we did, he changed his mind.”

When they’re not practicing Aikido or pumping iron under an old black-and-white poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bodyguards get classroom instruction. The emphasis is on staying alert, maintaining a professional demeanor, and not getting too cozy with clients.

In the last three years, Falcon, one of Egypt’s leading security companies, has trained more than 300 female body guards. Demand for the service is growing, according to Falcon Managing Director, Sharif Khalid.

“In our society women don’t want to be searched or have their bags inspected by men,” Khalid told CNN. Falcon’s clients include movie stars, foreign visitors and patrons Khalid refers to as “society women.”

People say women can’t work as bodyguards, but I want to change that idea

—Randa Mohamed, trainee lady guard

RELATED TOPICS

Egypt

Martial Arts

Women’s Issues

Lady guards do not carry weapons. They defend clients first through diplomatic means but, if all else fails, they can disable attackers.

Female body guard training emphasizes quick thinking above all.

“The body isn’t so important,” said Khalid. “What matters is that [female body guards] can pick out suspicious people and react quickly, because with security, if you delay just a moment, things can go very wrong.”

The women who join Falcon know, however, that the skills they learn may well come in handy outside of work. “If I have any problems, or somebody bothers me, now I know how to defend myself,” Amani Mahmoud, another trainee female body guard told CNN.

Sexual harassment is a growing problem in Egypt.

According to a 2008 poll conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR), 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign female visitors polled have experienced sexually harassment.

Egypt has made some efforts to crack down on this problem: Last year a court sentenced a man to three year in prison for groping a woman on the street. But that was the exception. For the most part, Egyptian police — under paid and in many cases poorly educated — shrug off complaints from women.

So, it should come as no surprise that some women are starting to take matters into their own hands: “It’s also about making a point,” trainee Randa Mohammad told CNN.

“People say women can’t work as bodyguards, but I want to change that idea. I want to show that women can defend themselves, and defend others,” said Mohammad.

Falcon isn’t the first in the Middle East to come up with the idea of female bodyguards — Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi has been using them for years.

Gadhafi often appears in public with a phalanx of hefty “Amazons,” who are armed and aggressive. In fact, back in the 1980s, a Libyan body guard rifle-butted a CNN producer who got too close to Gadhafi.

Falcon’s lady guards, I’m happy to report, were nothing but polite and courteous with this correspondent.

— Hat tip: TB

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Arab Agents to Join Police in January

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 17 — Israel is planning to enrol, starting in January, a few hundred police agents and officers of Arab ethnic origin into the national police forces. The media announced today that the initiative was taken by Yitzhak Aharonovich (Israel Beitenu, lay radical left wing) minister of Home Security. This represents an absolute first for the State of Israel. A first pilot enrolment plan will start on January 25. The minister stated that the idea is supported by the mayors and local administrations of the Israeli main Municipalities with an Arab majority, which deem it a useful move for the consolidation of public order and a feeling of greater confidence in their areas. Even when, officially, the same administrators would rather hold on to a low profile, as reported by newspaper Haaretz. There are more than 1.5 million citizens of Arab origin living in the country (compared to a total population of approximately 7.5 million), but they are almost all exempted from military service and in effects have no police representation, except for a few coming from the Druse and Bedouin minorities. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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CIA Working With Palestinian Security Agents

US agency co-operating with Palestinian counterparts who allegedly torture Hamas supporters in West Bank

Palestinian security agents who have been detaining and allegedly torturing supporters of the Islamist organisation Hamas in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the Guardian has learned.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Gaza: Shots From Gaza on New Barrier Construction

(ANSAmed) — RAFAH, DECEMBER 17 — Some Palestinians opened fire towards the construction of, on the part of Egypt, the new barrier to hinder the digging of new tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Work on the barrier, made of steel and laid underground as confirmed by an Egyptian government newspaper today, was temporarily suspended. The shots, which occurred yesterday evening, did not cause damage or injury to the personnel on the scene. The episode was reported by official sources, but also by witnesses and the workers. According to the same sources, a new group of security forces was sent to the area to protect the works in course. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Nationalist Rabbis Attack on Barak

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 17 — A fierce personal attack on Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, the man who boasts the title of the most decorated soldier in the history of the country, was launched today by a group of ultra-orthodox rabbis close to the settlement movement and the ideology of Jewish radical nationalism. The criticism follows a recent decision by Barak to cut off all relations between the armed forces and a yeshiva (rabbinical college) run by a rabbi who refused to condemn the blatant insubordination committed by several settler-soldiers — students at the religious schools — who went against orders to dismantle settlement outposts in the West Bank. An official response to the decision is expected on Sunday from the whole college of directors of the yeshivots. But ahead of this response the spokesman for the rabbis, Eliezar Melamed, spiritual (and political) guide of the Har Bracha yeshiva, wanted to begin his challenge today. Barak thundered rabbi Benny Kalmanson on behalf of everyone has made a whole series of mistakes, as a person and as a leader…and he has laid himself open to repugnant episodes of corruption and hedonism. So he is therefore an outcast, against whom his brother Melamed must become a symbol of resistance for all the hesder yeshivots united. The hesder rabbinical colleges (agreement in Hebrew) have agreements with the armed forces, whereby their students can carry out military service while continuing their religious studies for some of the time. In recent years they have become a reservoir for Israeli fighting units: precious, but often sensitive to ideological impulses, to the cult of Israel the Great, and the precepts of the rabbis rather than the orders of their commandants. The situation is something which an old general like Barak wants to bring back into line, but not without igniting a confrontation over the uncertain outcome. Even more, against the background of the spirit of rebellion which is spreading throughout the settlement movement — his field of reference — after the moratorium imposed by the government on settlements in the West Bank. Rebellion — warns the chief of police, Dudi Cohen — is now at the point of overstepping the red line. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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New Banknotes: Sharett is Out, Begin and Rabin Are in

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 17 — New banknotes that will be issued by Israel will include the faces of two of Israels most historically important prime ministers, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin, who for most of their political careers were at the extreme opposite ends. Newspapers today reported that the decision was definitively taken by Stanley Fischer, governor of the Central Bank. This is the first round of fresh faces on banknotes since the birth of the Israeli shekel. Begin and Rabin (respectively leader of the Israeli right wing and Labour prime minister responsible for the Oslo peace agreements, before being killed by a radical Jewish right-winger in 1995) will feature on two of the most widespread banknotes and will join icons such as the ideologist of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, and the founder of Jewish State, David Ben-Gurion: both still in place on their respective banknotes. The people who instead will disappear are former presidents Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Zalman Shazar, writer S.Y. Agnon, and Moshe Sharett, the prime minister who followed Ben-Gurion: one of the greatest pacifists, if not the greatest, in Israeli history, who is by now little known by the general populace. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Obama Policies to Create Hamasland?

Terror group plotting takeover of strategic, biblical territory

The Hamas terrorist organization is working to establish a military wing in the strategic West Bank, according to Jordanian intelligence officials speaking to WND.

The Obama administration has backed a Palestinian Authority-led state in the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month announced a 10-month freeze of Jewish construction in the territory in an attempt to jumpstart talks aimed at creating a West Bank PA state, a move that would first see an Israeli retreat from the area.

— Hat tip: JD

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Palestinian Christians Urge Boycott

Condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Christian leaders call on their brethren worldwide to rise up in action

Palestinian Christian leaders, representing churches and church-related organisations, have launched a “landmark campaign” aimed at enlisting Christians worldwide in proactive efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, reports Khaled Amayreh in Bethlehem. The unprecedented initiative, called “Kairos Palestine-2009: A moment of truth”, appeals to churches worldwide to treat Israel in the same way they had treated the erstwhile South African apartheid regime.

— Hat tip: Esther

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UK-Livni: Knesset Petition Threatens Boycott

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 17 — A possible boycott of British products in Israel in response to legal actions taken by the UK judiciary against Israeli political leaders has been proposed in the Knesset (the parliament in Jerusalem) in a petition signed by 40 representatives of all political parties so far, though for the moment of symbolic value only. The petition arose after the incident — similar in kind to others before it — in which Kadima (opposition — centrist) leader Tzipi Livni was forced to call off a trip to London due to an arrest warrant for war crimes was issued against her, submitted by citizens of Arab origin in relation to Operation Cast Lead — the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter when Livni was Foreign Minister, in which a total of 1,400 Palestinians were killed. The signers of the proposal condemn the initiative of the British judiciary and have asked that the UK government make amends. They also see the UK’s intention to include on the labels for West Bank products whether they were produced by Palestinians or Israeli settlers as oppressive, and have requested that the Israeli government “look into” suitable counter-responses in trade with the UK. Included among the latter may be customs duties on British products imported by Israel or the boycotting of British Airways. The Livni case has set off diplomatic tensions between Jerusalem and London, which on Tuesday resulted in the summoning of the British ambassador in Israel and the suspension — confirmed by Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon — of all reciprocal visits by official delegations. The state of tension relaxed somewhat yesterday after the UK government promised to revise its legal system to prevent the repetition of similar incidents, and the personal telephone call with which prime minister Gordon Brown assured Livni that she would always be “welcome in Great Britain”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Why Can’t H. Clinton Bring Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Look at What B. Clinton Offered Which the Palestinians Rejected

by Barry Rubin

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an interview to al-Jazira television, December 10, which reminds us of something exceptionally important for any discussion of the Israel-Palestinian conflict: what her husband offered the Palestinians-the last time a comprehensive deal was proffered-and was turned down almost exactly nine years ago.

How does Clinton explain the lack of a peace agreement? She blames it on George W. Bush:

“I regretted that there was a lull in it after my husband left office because we were poised to make such progress, and if we had been able to get it over the goal line, there would have been a Palestinian state for nearly a decade now.”“

When her husband left office there wasn’t just a “lull.” Bill Clinton had spent two terms working hard to achieve a peace agreement and he failed because the Palestinians rejected every offer he made and then launched a massive terrorist-based war on Israel that lasted five years. The beginning of understanding the issue is to admit that the reason there hasn’t been a Palestinian state for nearly a decade is because the Palestinian leadership turned it down.

Until that admission happens, all of this running around is a wasted effort…

— Hat tip: Barry Rubin

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Global Corporation Supplying Iran Missiles?

Program causes ‘concern’ for U.S. defense secretary

A German company that worked with Iraq in the development of its weapons of mass destruction under Saddam Hussein now may be concentrating its technology and efforts in assisting Iran in its ballistic missile program, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Engineering giant Siemens is under investigation for allegedly violating export control laws on two separate shipments of components to Iran.

— Hat tip: JD

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Iran Troops ‘Seize Iraq Oil Well’

Iranian troops have entered southern Iraqi territory and taken control of an oil well, reports say.

An Iraqi official played down the incident, saying the area was abandoned and right on a disputed border section.

Iranian soldiers crossed the border and raised an Iranian flag over the Fakkah oil field, a US military spokesman told the AFP news agency.

But an Iranian oil company spokesman denied the accusation, saying no troops had taken control of any oil well.

“The company denies Iranian soldiers taking control of any oil well inside Iraqi territory,” the National Iranian Oil Company spokesman was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Confirmation

Iraq’s Deputy Interior Minister confirmed the Iranians stayed in Iraq and were in control of the well.

Earlier it was reported that they had withdrawn back across the border.

Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji initially told the Reuters news agency the reports of the Iranian incursion were not true.

But Mr Khafaji later confirmed the incursion had taken place, and said 11 Iranians had dug-in at the oil well and had not left.

“At 3:30 this afternoon, 11 Iranian soldiers infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and took control of the oil well. They raised the Iranian flag, and they are still there until this moment,” he told the Reuters news agency.

He said there had been no military response from Iraqi forces..

“We are awaiting orders from our leader,” he said.

The incursion is one of several that have occurred in the last few days, he said.

The well is about 500m from an Iranian border fort and about 1km from an Iraqi fort, US Colonel Peter Newell told AFP.

— Hat tip: 4symbols

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Pentagon: Insurgents Intercepted Drone Spy Videos

WASHINGTON — Insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have hacked into live video feeds from Predator drones, a key weapon in a Pentagon spy system that serves as the military’s eyes in the sky for surveillance and intelligence collection.

[…]

Shiite fighters in Iraq used off-the-shelf software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The interception, first done there at least a year ago, was possible because the remotely flown planes had unprotected communications links.

Within the last several months, the military has found evidence of at least one instance where insurgents in Afghanistan also monitored U.S. drone video, a second defense official said. He had no details on how many times it was done in Afghanistan or by which group.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Saudi to Launch TV Channels on Koran, Sunnah

(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 16 — Four new television channels will be launched in Saudi Arabia, the Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja has announced. Two channels will be broadcast from Makkah and Madinah and dedicated to the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah, while the others will focus on economic and cultural issues, the daily Arab News reported. The channels will start broadcasting at the beginning of the next Hijrah year, the paper reported. “The new channel for culture will be a venue for academics and intellectuals to air their views on various issues,” the minister told the paper. Khoja also announced the launch of five new FM radio stations. Fifteen companies have already been shortlisted including, Saudi Specialized Publishing Company, an affiliate of the Saudi Research & Marketing Group, Rotana Audio Visual Co, owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and Arab Radio and Television Network, run by Saleh Kamil, the paper said. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Zawahiri’s Wife Releases Statement, Tells Women They Can be Suicide Bombers

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, has been a regular presence on Islamic web sites for years , releasing statements and videos via al-Qaeda’s propaganda arm that blast the West and urge Muslims to wage holy war. Now his wife may have joined the family business.

In what is thought to be her first public statement, Omaima Hassan published a statement on Islamic web sites Thursday that encouraged “Muslim sisters” to assist with jihad, but only in suitably feminine ways. She called supporting jihad “an obligation for all Muslims, men and women.” ABC News could not independently confirm the authenticity of the statement.

— Hat tip: JD

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Moscow’s Arrogance Leads to Turkmen Gas Flowing Towards China

The new gas pipeline will bring natural gas to Xinjiang. It represents a slap in the face of Russia’s approach to energy politics in Central Asia. For months, Turkmenistan and Russia were at loggerheads over gas prices. China is the big winner.

Ashgabat (AsiaNews) — The Kremlin is in a tight spot and must rethink its approach to Central Asia energy, this according to some Russia newspapers that commented Monday’s inauguration of the new Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline. The new facility is crucial to the geopolitics of the Caspian Sea and more broadly Asia. It reinforces China’s presence in the region at the expense of Russia, which hitherto had held a stranglehold over gas exported from the former Soviet republics.

Once it is in full operation in 2013, the US$ 20 billion pipeline will stretch 1,883 kilometres. It will have a capacity to deliver 40 billion cubic metres a year to China’s Xinjiang province, through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. A deal between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and KazStroyService will however allow Kazakhstan to keep 10 billion cubic metres.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, as well as the Presidenta of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, and Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, were present at the inauguration ceremony of the Trans Asian Gas Pipeline (TAGP) in Saman-Depe.

This structure is a very important element in Asia’s energy equation, especially since it is the first to bypass Russia.

For Turkmen President Berdymukhamedov himself, the pipeline is more than about economics, it is a signal to Russia that Turkmenistan wants closer ties to China, one of the guarantors of global security.

Why did Moscow’s relations with its former satellites sour? Its arrogance. In July 2008, Gazprom signed an agreement to buy Turkmen gas at higher, European prices, but in April of this year, the Russian energy giant shut down Turkmen supplies after a gas pipeline exploded in that country.

For the Turkmen, Moscow was behind the incident because it reduced pressure in the pipeline, causing the explosion. This came after Turkmenistan increased gas prices and threatened to ban its resale, which would have made the gas deal worthless from Gazprom’s perspective.

After months of tensions, Moscow relented and allowed the gas to flow again, but the atmosphere between the two countries was no longer the same.

China is taking advantage of Russia’s arrogance, profiting from a softer but more incisive diplomacy. Beijing gave Ashgabat a US$ 4 billion loan this year.

The CNPC is the only foreign company with exploration rights in Turkmenistan’s gas fields.

Russia’s Gazprom has failed to invest in the country, choosing instead to get cheap Turkmen gas in order to resell it at a higher price. Now however, Moscow’s approach is showing its limits, Vitaly Bushuyev, head of the Energy Strategy Institute, said.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Russia Accuses US of Last-Minute Obstacle to Nuclear Arms Treaty

Washington and Moscow have repeatedly claimed to be close to signing a deal that would slash their nuclear arsenals by a third and substantially cut the number of missiles, submarines and bombers they maintain to launch a nuclear strike.

But the initial Dec 5 deadline for replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty came and went without a result and now it looks as if there is a real risk that the new end-of-the-year deadline will also be missed.

[…]

The Kremlin is anxious to water down what it believes to be a humiliating verification regime that in the past saw US inspectors based at a ballistic missile factory deep inside Russia. “It is high time to get rid of excessive suspiciousness,” Mr Lavrov said. As the US attempts to “reset” its relations with Russia, the Kremlin believes its negotiating leeway is growing.

— Hat tip: JD

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Ex-UN Afghan Deputy Denies Conspiracy

KABUL — The former deputy U.N. chief in Afghanistan said Thursday that he had proposed replacing the Afghan president with an interim government to avert a constitutional crisis if a fraud-marred election could not be resolved in time. He denied the suggestion that it was a plot against President Hamid Karzai.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Norway: No People to Kabul

From Norwegian: The Norwegians are having trouble finding diplomats who are willing to work in Kabul. The job is difficult as the embassy employees live and work there and cannot leave. Most of the Norwegian aid money goes to Afghanistan.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Japanese Whalers Using ‘Military’ Sonic Device: Activists

SYDNEY — Anti-whaling activists accused Japanese fishermen Friday of using a military-type sonic device and water cannon against their helicopter as risky skirmishes in Antarctic seas escalated.

The Sea Shepherd animal rights group said the whalers used a Long Range Acoustical Device (LRAD) to repel the activists’ helicopter, and then blasted the aircraft with water after it landed back on the anti-whalers’ ship.

— Hat tip: Esther

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N. Korean Hackers May Have Stolen US War Plans

South Korea’s military is investigating a cyber attack in which North Korean hackers may have stolen secret defence plans outlining Seoul and Washington’s strategy in the event of war on the Korean peninsula.

The highly sensitive information, codenamed Oplan 5027, may have found its way into hostile hands last month after a South Korean officer used an unsecured USB memory stick to download it.

It reportedly contained a summary of military operations involving South Korean and US troops should North Korea conduct a pre-emptive strike or attempt to invade.

According to the Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, the document outlines troop deployments, a list of North Korean targets, amphibious landing scenarios and how to establish a post-war occupation.

The Yonhap news agency said the plan allowed for the deployment of 700,000 US troops in the event of a full-scale war.

— Hat tip: JD

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Obama Told China: I Can’t Stop Israel Strike on Iran Indefinitely

U.S. President Barack Obama has warned his Chinese counterpart that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer, senior officials in Jerusalem told Haaretz.

They said Obama warned President Hu Jintao during the American’s visit to Beijing a month ago as part of the U.S. attempt to convince the Chinese to support strict sanctions on Tehran if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program.

The Israeli officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the United States had informed Israel on Obama’s meetings in Beijing on Iran. They said Obama made it clear to Hu that at some point the United States would no longer be able to prevent Israel from acting as it saw fit in response to the perceived Iranian threat.

After the Beijing summit, the U.S. administration thought the Chinese had understood the message; Beijing agreed to join the condemnation of Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency only a week after Obama’s visit. But in the past two weeks the Chinese have maintained their hard stance regarding the West’s wishes to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The Israeli officials say the Americans now understand that the Chinese agreed to join the condemnation announcement only because Obama made a personal request to Hu, not as part of a policy change.

— Hat tip: JD

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A Woman Was Impaled on a Steel Fence for an Agonising 47 Minutes Waiting for an Ambulance.

The 34-year-old received no pain relief while her body was supported by volunteer emergency services workers during the ordeal at Yarrawonga, in Victoria’s north.

Ambulance Victoria has launched an investigation into the delay.

It was contacted at 9.42pm on Tuesday and told Kim Broadbent had been impaled through the groin in a fall. A crew did not arrive until 10.29pm.

There was no paramedic available in the border town that night and sources said a graduate officer was refused permission to attend.

A crew was sent from Wangaratta, 55km away, but was not cleared to travel over the speed limit or with lights and sirens.

By then, Ms Broadbent had spent more than 47 minutes seriously injured, lapsing in and out of consciousness.

— Hat tip: JD

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Controversial African Bishop Defrocked

Vatican City, 17 Dec. (AKI) — The Vatican has defrocked the controversial African archbishop Emmanuel Milingo after he continued to ordain bishops after being excommunicated from the Catholic church. In a statement released on Thursday, the Vatican said it had taken what it called “extraordinary action” because of Milingo’s “regrettable conduct”.

Milingo outraged the Catholic Church in 2001 when he married a South Korean woman. He has also practised exorcism and faith healing.

The archbishop, who comes from Zambia, was excommunicated in 2006 after installing four married men as bishops.

He had been threatening to illegally ordain bishops as part of a breakaway church that would allow priests to marry, according to a Vatican spokesman.

In the statement, the Vatican said Milingo had committed “grave crimes” which were proof of his stubborn refusal to comply with church regulations.

“The Holy See has therefore been obliged to impose upon him the further penalty of dismissal from the clerical state,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The Vatican said that in spite of efforts by the late pope John Paul II and by Pope Benedict XVI, Milingo had shown “no sign” of repentance.

“Rather, he has persisted in the unlawful exercise of acts belonging to the episcopal office, committing new crimes against the unity of the Holy Church,” said the Vatican statement.

“Specifically, in recent months, Archbishop Milingo has proceeded to several other episcopal ordinations,” the statement added.

Under canon (or church) law, Milingo will no longer be allowed to officiate as a priest or to dress as a priest, the Vatican said. Its statement referred to him as “Mr”.

Milingo, who has been an outspoken critic of the Vatican’s celibacy rule, will still be obliged to be celibate, the statement said.

A former archbishop in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, Milingo stunned the Vatican in 2001 when he married Maria Sung, a 43-year-old South Korean woman at a mass wedding presided over by South Korean-born evangelist, Sun Myung Moon.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Rash of Public Lynchings Hit Guatemala

The young blonde woman and three men were allegedly intent on robbing a bus in Guatemala City. But they were thwarted when passengers rose up against the gang.

The men escaped, but the woman, Alejandra Maria Torres, was captured and then subjected to local justice. She was stripped to the waist, savagely beaten by a lynch mob, and then doused in gasoline.

Luckily, police arrived and arrested her before she was badly burned, according to press reports.

Tuesday’s violence was the latest incident of mob justice in Guatemala where lynchings — which include hangings, beatings, stoning and dousing with petrol — are common. This year, 219 people have been lynched and 45 have died.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Illegal Workers on Elmendorf AFB

A contractor hired for a major construction project on Elmendorf Air Force Base broke both state and federal law.

At issue: the illegal immigrants that were granted access to the base to help construct the Air Force’s new F-22 hangars.

This summer the Air Force started a multi-million dollar effort to build new F-22 hangars on Elmendorf Air Force Base. The contractor hired for the steel work was Steel System Erectors out of California.

An investigation has reviled the company employed undocumented workers and allowed them access to a national security site.

A “critical infrastructure site essential to national security.” That is how the federal government describes Elmendorf Air Force Base.

— Hat tip: JD

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Italy: Immigrant Population Up to 4.8 Million in 2009, Study

(ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 14 — Italy’s official immigrant population grew to 4.8 million by January 2009, up by half a million from the year before, according to a new report released Monday. The study by multiethnic research foundation, ISMU, showed that while the number of foreign residents in Italy continues to grow, the number of illegal immigrants has begun to decline. The foundation estimates that the 651,000 illegal immigrants in Italy at the beginning of 2008 had fallen to 422,000 by January this year. ISMU General Secretary Vincenzo Cesareo said “we can predict from this data that the number of immigrants in Italy will total over ten million by 2030”. Some 968,000 Romanian residents make up the largest foreign community in Italy, followed by 538,000 Albanians and 497,000 from Morocco. Moroccans, however, account for the largest number of illegal immigrants (59,000), followed by Albanians (54,000) and Ukrainians (28,000). Islam remains the leading religion among immigrants, with over 1.2 million foreign-born Muslims in Italy, nearly one third of the country’s immigrant population. Catholics came in second, accounting for 860,000 non-native residents or 23% of the total. The number of foreign school children is also on the rise from 574,000 enrolled last year school year to 627,000 in 2009, around 7% of all grade-school students in Italy. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: 11.6% Residents Are Foreigners, Double the EU Average

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 16 — Spain’s foreign resident population is 11.6% of the total, more than double the EU average of 6.2%, according to data published today by Eurostat for the International Day of Immigrants, cited by news agency, EFE. In Spain, there are 5,262,000 residents from foreign countries, compared to 30.8 million according to EU census numbers from January 1, 2008, which includes 11.3 million Europeans who have moved to other member states, while the remaining number come from outside the EU. Of the resident foreigners in Spain, over 2 million come from other EU member states. The Romanian community is the largest (14%), followed by Moroccans (12.3%), and Ecuadorians (8%). Spain is second only to Germany, which has 7 million foreigners, in terms of total immigrants, followed by the UK, France, and Italy. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turks and Moroccans Most Numerous in EU

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 16 — In 2008, 12% of foreigners in the European Union coming from countries outside of the 27 Member States were Turks, with 2.4 million immigrants, followed by Moroccans (1.7 million), in other words 9% of non-EU foreign citizens. Third place belongs to the Albanians (1 million citizens), which represent 5% of foreign residents coming from non-EU Countries. This is the scenario painted by a report published by Eurostat, the European statistics office, which states that 6.2% of the EUs population is made up of foreigners. Still in 2008, EU Member States with the highest presence of foreigners coming from a single Country were Greece, with 64% of immigrants coming from Albania, followed by Slovenia (47% from Bosnia Herzegovina), Hungary (37% from Romania), and Luxembourg (37% from Portugal). The report claims that 37% of foreigners which in 2008 lived in one of the Member States were citizens of another Member State: the most numerous came from Romania (1.7 million, equal to 1.5% of the EU total) followed by Italian (1.3 million, equal to 11%) and Polish (1.2 million, 11%) emigrants. Turks represented one fourth of foreigners present in Germany (25,2%), 13.6% in Holland, 9.7% in Denmark and 8.4% in Romania. Overall, the highest number of foreigners was reported in Germany (7.3 million), Spain (5.3 million), Unite Kingdom (4 million), France (3.7 million) and Italy (3.4 million).(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Jennings ‘Credited’ With ‘Heterosexism’ Questionnaire

Researchers cite appearance of document under ‘safe schools’ czar’s byline

It’s a document that has appeared over the last decade or so in most public and many private schools, and it essentially undermines the basic building block of civilization, the family, by raising questions such as, “What do you think caused your heterosexuality?”

Now its authorship has been attributed by an organization of pro-family researchers to Kevin Jennings, President Obama’s choice to be the chief of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools.

— Hat tip: JD

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Obama: We Are Running Short on Time for Climate Deal

Copenhagen, Denmark (CNN) — Delegates at the U.N. Climate Change Conference are “running short on time” to reach agreement on a deal, U.S. President Barack Obama told them Friday.

“There is no time to waste,” he said. “Now I believe it’s the time for the nations and the people of the world to come behind a common purpose. We are ready to get this done today, but there has to be movement on all sides.”

Obama sounded impatient with the progress of the two-week conference so far, saying the scope of climate change discussions over the years have produced little more than talk.

“These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades, and we have very little to show for it other than an increased acceleration of the climate change phenomenon,” Obama said. “The time for talk is over.”

The president said that the “pieces” of an accord have become clearer in the past fortnight in Copenhagen, but that countries must now decide to sign on, even if they feel the framework is imperfect.

“No country will get everything that it wants,” he said.

Without mentioning China specifically, the president challenged that country’s reluctance to allow transparency in international review.

“I don’t know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and ensuring that we are meeting our commitments,” Obama said. “That doesn’t make sense. It would be a hollow victory.”

Amid signs that climate talks could be falling apart at the critical stage, Obama arrived in the Danish capital Friday morning and immediately ripped up his planned schedule in a desperate attempt to salvage a global deal to cut carbon emissions.

He abruptly canceled a ceremonial one-on-one meeting with the Danish prime minister in order to jump into an emergency meeting with almost 20 key leaders — including representatives from China, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India.

China’s involvement is critical because it has been holding up a climate deal over whether the United States and other wealthy nations should pay to help developing countries deal with the cost of global warming.

Obama met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for 55 minutes Friday, a White House official said.

The meeting was a “constructive discussion that touched upon all of the key issues,” the official said, including the three major points Obama touched on in his speech: mitigation, transparency, and financing.

Obama and Wen directed their negotiators to work on a bilateral basis and with negotiators from other countries to see whether an agreement could be reached in Copenhagen, the official said. It means the U.S. negotiators have now split in two, divided between the Chinese negotiations and the ongoing multilateral negotiations, the official said.

The meeting between Obama and Wen was a “step forward,” the official said, without providing details.

Speaking at the plenary session ahead of Obama, Wen sought to reassure delegates that China takes the issue of climate change seriously.

“It is with a sense of responsibility to the Chinese people and the whole (of) mankind that the Chinese government has set the target for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “This is a voluntary action China has taken. … We have not attached any condition to the target, nor have we linked it to the target of any other country. We will honor our word with action.”

He said it was unacceptable to “turn a blind eye to historical responsibilities” or undermine the efforts of developing countries to work their way out of poverty and deal with climate change.

Ahead of his arrival, Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the conference to reveal that the United States will pay into a $100 billion-plus global fund to help poorer nations.

But the money comes with two big caveats: The nearly 200 nations gathered here must sign on to a global deal to cut emissions, and China must provide more transparency to show it is complying with the new commitment.

Wen urged the conference to “pay attention to the practicality of the targets” they set. A long-term perspective is important, he said, but so is a focus on the present.

“It is necessary to set a direction for our long-term efforts, but it’s even more important to reach near-term targets,” he said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez objected to Obama’s arrival only on the last day of the summit, calling him “the emperor who comes in the middle of the night, in the darkness in an anti-democratic way, and cooks up a document. … We will never accept it.”

Chavez complained that he had been waiting several days to take the floor but that Obama had turned up, been invited to speak immediately, and then left.

“We don’t have first-category presidents and second-category presidents,” Chavez said. “We are all equal here.”

Chavez also criticized Obama for spending so much money to bail out failing banks when he could have spent some of that money on the environment.

“If the climate was a bank, it would have been saved already,” he said.

Environmental lobbyists close to the talks, who had been optimistic about a deal Thursday, said Friday the negotiations got “rocky” after key officials met through the night and made very little progress.

The state of play may best be summed up by a White House official who told reporters: “Everything’s fluid.”

In his speech, Obama laid out the quandary that nations find themselves in at the conference.

“There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and no obligations with respect to transparency,” he said. “They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. I understand that.

“There are those advanced nations who think that developing countries either cannot absorb this assistance, or that they will not be held accountable, effectively, and that the world’s fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.”

But America is already on board with a global deal, Obama said, and he laid responsibility for signing it at the feet of his fellow world leaders.

“We have made our commitments, we will do what we say,” he said. “Now, I believe that it’s the time for the nations and the people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.”

— Hat tip: TB

[Return to headlines]

When Reds Go Green

Divisions between the advanced countries and the Third World developing countries at the Copenhagen Climate Summit are revealing an underlying agenda to redistribute wealth globally that gives impetus for the United Nations goal to impose a cap-and-trade tax on the United States and Europe, for the benefit of China, India and the rest of the developed world.

“Save the planet, scrap capitalism,” a protester in Copenhagen at a socialist and communist protest, highlighted by red communist flags displaying the hammer and sickle of the former Soviet Union, told a reporter from the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, or CFACT.

The U.N. Climate Summit in Copenhagen this week increasingly appeared to be on the verge of collapsing as the United States engaged in increasingly bitter exchanges with China and India, while the African Nations walked out.

The crux of the issue is that the developing world, led by China and India, want the developed world, led by the United States and Europe, to pay to developing nations hundreds of billions of dollars in what amount to reparations for emitting carbon.

[…]

Basically, the United Nations and leftist-oriented climate alarmists want to produce a two-tier global carbon-tax system in which manufacturing will be punished for remaining in the United States and the European Union and rewarded for relocating to an emerging economy such as China or India.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

The latest essay in Takuan Seiyo’s “From Meccania to Atlantis” series has been published at the Brussels Journal.

The current installment is called “Part 13 (2): Harpo, Gekko, Barko, Sarko”, and describes how the Democrats are deliberately breaking the USA as the final opposition to the New World Order. Here are some excerpts:

All Body Snatchers who have access to a microphone crow about this coming epiphany, but the most instructive gloating comes from Janet Napolitano. In a typical inverse reality mode of Snatcher State, Ms. Napolitano is in charge of domestic security for the United States, tasked among others with protecting its borders and enforcing its immigration laws. “ Timing is everything in the arts of war or politics “, said Ms. Napolitano in her speech on the blessings of busting the United States for good with a demographic bomb too, on top of all the other heavy petards.

The art of war — if only the foggy “conservatives” had a clue.

It’s within the same time bracket that the Barko people chose to unleash the Cap-and-Trade economic catastrophe on their country, under the risible pretext that their failure to do so would lead to a catastrophe. It’s in this time bracket that Mr. Obama chose to appoint an Afrocentric Black Communist, Van Jones, as “Green Jobs” Czar, and a Socialist International operative, Carol Browner, as “Energy and Climate Change” Czar. And that confluence of Third-worldism, socialism and climate change hokum provides the clue as to what the monetary bonfire of hokum stimulus is about too.

Mikhail Gorbachev, no stranger to Trotskyite thinking, has reportedly said that the threat of environmental crisis will be the “international disaster key” that will unlock the ‘New World Order’ (6). But even without Gorbachev’s decryption, that key is on plain view every day during the United Nations-staged Copenhagen climate commedia dell’arte.

The idea is to transfer wealth from the rich to the poor — on a scale undreamt of even by Karl Marx himself. All in the name of equality. No longer the equality of a German coal-mine owner and a German coal miner, but the equality of a German surgeon and a Gambian porter. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need, globally. Or, to paraphrase Charles Krauthammer, taxing hard-working citizens of Western democracies in order to fill the treasuries of Third World kleptocracies.

This is the biggest heist in the history of the world, and the Holy Grail of socialists everywhere, not the least at Socialist International. And the United States is the one obstreperous territory that has stood athwart the road to this progressive progress, starting with George W. Bush’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

That’s why the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize went to Barack Hussein Obama. Thorbjørn Jagland, who presided over this travesty, had been, among his other socialist posts, a vice president of the Socialist International. And Barko with his crew steer America’s ship now, with an intention that presidential candidate Obama hinted to the knowing so vividly.

– – – – – – – – –

America’s backbone is its middle class of mainly white, Christian anti-socialists. The last such backbone remaining in the world, with the possible exception of Australia. Crush it, and you have shattered the last obstacle standing before The New World Order. Break it, and you have changed the course of history as profoundly as the French Revolution has, in the same Jacobin direction.

That’s what the spending has been all about, and that’s why they stuffed so many back-breaking projects into the same impossible time frame. That’s why Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s majordomo, said that no serious crisis should go to waste.

And that’s why the next chapter in our contrarian cogitations will bear the title Requiescat in pace. The key to ending this nightmare is not in putting one’s electoral faith in a Sarko to replace a Barko while Harpo is running around in the background, but in recognizing that the whole enterprise is a mad circus decayed beyond redemption. The only true choice left is to get up and walk out of the circus tent.

Read the rest at the Brussels Journal.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated several articles featuring the latest culturally enriched news from the Netherlands. First, an article from Elsevier concerning corporal punishment administered to children in mosques:

Children physically punished in the mosque

By Marlou Visser

The city council in the Hague this week found that many children are punished physically during Koran lessons in the mosque. According to the “Partnership of Moroccan Dutch” [Samenwerkingsverband van Marokkaanse Nederlanders, SNM] this is also common elsewhere in the Netherlands.

The GGD [health department] in The Hague wants to investigate the alleged child abuse.

Since April of this year 49 tips about child abuse in the mosque were received. The municipality filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor

We know from our own network that it happens more often that children receive corporal punishment,” Farid Azarkan, Chairman of the Interest group of Moroccans in the Netherlands [belangenvereniging van Marokkanen in Nederland], said on Wednesday to the Dutch newswire ANP.

The SMN writes in a press release that corporal punishment violates the rights of the child. It calls on the Boards of the mosques to punish the teachers responsible for the violations.

In addition, Ahmed Marcouch, the Moroccan-Dutch [Socialist] District Chairman for Slotervaart in Amsterdam had already indicated that during the Koran Lessons and Arabic lessons children are physically punished.

According to Marcouch, integration is thus severely damaged. Marcouch then recommended Koran lessons in public schools.

This idea was not well- received by the Amsterdam PvdA [Socialists, who have ruled Amsterdam for decades].

Note from VH:

Marcouch is very likely a closet Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood infiltrator in Dutch politics. For example, he has openly shown great admiration for Sayyid Qutb and the Islamo-Nazi Al Qaradawi, whom he wanted to invite as a bridge-builder after the murder of Theo Van Gogh.

Also from Elsevier, an opinion piece about the growing trend towards swimming pools that are segregated by sex:
– – – – – – – – –

Segregated swimming is supported apartheid

“Muslim women do not swim with men.”

by Paul Lieben

Splash! It is rather ironic that almost to the day that segregated swimming is abolished in The Hague, Amsterdam is planning to introduce it.

It is also significant for the (self-chosen) struggle of administrators and politicians with the increasingly inappropriate demands of the Islam.

All sorts of fallacies are again invoked to keep or to introduce segregated swimming. It was also common in the Netherlands in the old days. In the old days, yes, but we are past that stage.

And if there are young Moroccans harassing girls and women (which is less often mentioned in the debates), they should just ban those little creeps from the pool.

Another interesting argument against abolition: otherwise the Muslim women who want to swim become isolated, so this is just the prelude to integration. This is really a laughable argument for anyone who knows what goes on in such an apartheid-hour

The shutters were literally down in the swimming pool “De Houtzagerij” [The wood mill]. There was obviously no man allowed, but also no male staff. What a celebration of integration that was! And ineffective: moving on to regular swimming hours was out of question.

Unreal wishes

Municipal pools are expensive, and there is often a shortage of opening hours. It is then not done to cut up the publicly paid hours on absurd people and their wishes. If they absolutely have to swim separated, then they may go to the hammam or any gym that offers that, assuming that they are not publicly funded.

Socialist MP (PvdA) Pierre Heijnen complained on his blog that in his time as alderman and when Wim Deetman (CDA, Christian Democrat) was mayor of The Hague, that would never have happened… the stopping of segregated swimming hours.

What he as a progressive (in name at least) should ask himself is: why did that never happen, and why did I never tried to put and end to that as an alderman?

The Hague

And oh yes, the issue of separate swimming in The Hague has been put on the agenda there by me personally. I once noticed it and put it into the Integration Note. Alderman Sander Dekker and others have now made good use of that.

Thanks for your support still, boys and girls! Go for a swim!

Finally, from RKnieuws.net:

Halal Christmas dinner at Catholic school in Weert

The Roman Catholic Odaschool in Weert will serve Christmas dinner this year with halal-only meat for the approximately 400 students. This is primarily to address the concerns of a dozen Muslim families.

Christmas dinner at the school is organized every year in cooperation with the parents’ association. According acting director Margo Janssen, the Odaschool, with a dozen Muslim students, decided for practical reasons to serve the children only halal meat (meat from animals slaughtered according to Islamic requirements).

Christian thought

“In previous years we took into account the Muslims and therefore we had to separate the meat for them. Now everyone gets halal meat, so we don’t have to do that.” Furthermore the action, according to the acting director, fits with Christian thought, for it is good to take account of others.

Eight complaints received

Jean Paul van der Donk, chairman of the parents’ association, said that eight complaints have been received from angry parents. According to him it is important that parents understand the consideration for the Muslim-friendly meat was not for religious reasons, but purely for practical reasons. “As an aside, it is also not forbidden for Catholics to eat halal meat, while opposite is the case for Muslims.”

VH adds this note, a comment from GeenStijl:

We are not talking about a public school here that really should apply the “drop dead with your filthy religion”-mentality, but with a specifically Roman Catholic Christian school. Serving halal-only meat is also explained in the “ it is good to take account of others, a very Christian thought” way. Right. Well, we do know a few more that way. Those Catholics are simply in a pragmatic process to hedge themselves, in case the Muslims are later found to be right, and they see those 72 virgins pass by their noses. Muhammad 1-0. Bon appetit!

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Fjordman has posted a review of Avatar in the Brussels Journal. Some excerpts are below:

Since I am a certified sci-fi geek and most science fiction movies are quite bad this habit unfortunately forces me to watch a large number of bad movies. It’s one of my little perversions. I have just watched the most expensive B-movie ever made, the US$ 237 million Avatar by director James Cameron, famous for having produced films such as The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens and Titanic. Briefly summed up I would say that while it is visually spectacular, as is everything Mr. Cameron makes, Avatar has to be one of the most anti-Western and especially anti-white Hollywood movies I have seen in a long time.

The hero is the U.S. Marine Jake Sully who has been sent to the planet-like moon Pandora because humans desire the mineral resources found of Pandora, which is inhabited by a race of tall, blue-skinned aliens, the Na’vi. They have a non-industrial civilization technologically inferior to ours but apparently spiritually richer and in perfect ecological harmony with the natural environment. The hero predictably falls in love with the native culture and connects with a native girl.

– – – – – – – – –

“Going native” is in itself not an original theme; it resembles Dances with Wolves, only with aliens instead of Sioux. Neither is the preference for pre-industrial civilization, which was after all shared by a good man such as Tolkien in his The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien had personally experienced the meaningless horrors of trench warfare during the First World War and this naturally affected his view of industrialized society. What is different about the movie Avatar is how it portrays whites as a bunch of raging monsters, something which Tolkien never did.

Basically, the white characters are portrayed as brutal, greedy and insensitive beasts who rape the environment and destroy other cultures with a smile in the search for profit…

Read the rest at the Brussels Journal.

Think of it as a virus that spreads from one hateful mind to another, doing far more damage than anything the Taliban can inflict. In fact, you could eliminate the Taliban tomorrow and the Jihad would continue unabated.

A confluence of two pieces of information.

The first is an op-ed from The New York Times, linked above. The author calls the phenomenon www.jihad.com – good name. I’ll bet someone has it set up and running by now.

As I was reading the essay, Fjordman was sending us an email about the specifics of the www.jihadists.

Let’s look at what Mr. Friedman says, and then what Fjordman found. Mr. Friedman first:

Let’s not fool ourselves. Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat. The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against America and the West. Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge – by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders – against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan.

This underlines the point many have made before. These folks don’t invent or create anything. They’re parasites who use what the West has made in an attempt to destroy us. Muslims have only ever been interested in the West for whatever kinds of mayhem they could cut out of the pattern of our culture. They’re selective, these destroyers are.

For example, the printing press wasn’t permitted into Iran until the 19th century. And then it was only permitted to be used for running off copies of the Koran. As usual, the limit didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean Islam ever stops trying to use and abuse without contributing anything back to those it steals from.

Prairie Pundit has a typical example of their derivative ingenuity in a story from the MSM about the interception of information gathered by predator drones. He has the how and the what at his site. The point is this, though:

The drone intercepts mark the emergence of a shadow cyber war within the U.S.-led conflicts overseas. They also point to a potentially serious vulnerability in Washington’s growing network of unmanned drones, which have become the American weapon of choice in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[…]

The stolen video feeds also indicate that U.S. adversaries continue to find simple ways of counteracting sophisticated American military technologies.

U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year when they apprehended a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files of intercepted drone video feeds. In July, the U.S. military found pirated drone video feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to conclude that militant groups trained and funded by Iran were regularly intercepting feeds.

As Prairie Pundit points out (and the MSM omits to say) this problem can be solved by tweaking the programs in use. The Jihadists can only run behind, playing catch-up with Western technology. It proves they’re smart enough to do that, but are missing the brain chip that supplies original, creative thinking. This missing piece has kept Muslims poor, dumb, and angry and resentful because they know their world view is second-rate.

It didn’t have to be that way, but if you’re not permitted to think for yourself, if your reason for being is Submission, then you’ll always be running behind, full of anger and hatred at those you are programmed to attempt to destroy.

Mr. Friedman continues in his op-ed:

Last week, five men from northern Virginia were arrested in Pakistan, where they went, they told Pakistani police, to join the jihad against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. They first made contact with two extremist organizations in Pakistan by e-mail in August. As The Washington Post reported on Sunday: “ ‘Online recruiting has exponentially increased, with Facebook, YouTube and the increasing sophistication of people online,’ a high-ranking Department of Homeland Security official said. […] ‘Increasingly, recruiters are taking less prominent roles in mosques and community centers because places like that are under scrutiny. So what these guys are doing is turning to the Internet,’ said Evan Kohlmann, a senior analyst with the U.S.-based NEFA Foundation, a private group that monitors extremist Web sites.”

[NOTE: NEFA does a lot more than just monitor these “extremist” sites. See here for the home page and look at Target America. This is a series of power point presentations going all the way back to June, 2007. Some featuring KSM, the soon-to-be star of our questionable Attorney General’s trial in New York City. – D]

The Obama team is fond of citing how many “allies” we have in the Afghan coalition. Sorry, but we don’t need more NATO allies to kill more Taliban and Al Qaeda. We need more Arab and Muslim allies to kill their extremist ideas, which, thanks to the Virtual Afghanistan, are now being spread farther than ever before.

Only Arabs and Muslims can fight the war of ideas within Islam…

As Mr. Friedman says, they need a civil war because they have a violent minority with murderous ideas about the rest of humanity:

What is really scary is that this violent, jihadist minority seems to enjoy the most “legitimacy” in the Muslim world today. Few political and religious leaders dare to speak out against them in public. Secular Arab leaders wink at these groups, telling them: “We’ll arrest if you do it to us, but if you leave us alone and do it elsewhere, no problem.”

He notes, as we have and as our readers and contributors have said over and over —

Where was the outrage last week when, on the very day that Iraq’s Parliament agreed on a formula to hold free and fair multiparty elections – unprecedented in Iraq’s modern history – five explosions set off by suicide bombers hit ministries, a university and Baghdad’s Institute of Fine Arts, killing at least 127 people and wounding more than 400, many of them kids?

Not only was there no meaningful condemnation emerging from the Muslim world – which was primarily focused on resisting Switzerland’s ban on new mosque minarets – there was barely a peep coming out of Washington. President Obama expressed no public outrage. It is time he did.

Don’t count on it. President Obama is a chum of the Muslim Brotherhood and it is they who start most of the violence in one form or another, and keep it going. And when they murder our own troops in our own bases, President Obama can’t even stand up to that. He’s a puppet, as are our military brass.

Friedman puts the problem succinctly:

A corrosive mind-set has taken hold since 9/11. It says that Arabs and Muslims are only objects, never responsible for anything in their world, and we are the only subjects, responsible for everything that happens in their world. We infantilize them.

– – – – – – – – –
It’s our p.c.-gagged leaders who do this. The average citizen finds the behavior of these people intolerable. The average citizen finds the bland “Religion of Peace” mouthings of our leaders despicable.

In fact, look for real problems when Obama’s decision to move some of the Gitmo terrorists to Illinois bears fruit. That poor town will be a Lone Ranger terrorist magnet. I feel so sorry for the people who live there. My guess is that those who can leave will do so. Not easy in this economy, though. But wait till they find out the promises that a federal prison will improve the local economy are empty and deliberately misleading.

Just one more reason to kick the Democrat can down the road in 2010 and 2012.

Meanwhile, Fjordman sent on some related material he found on line. He is quoting from a site called “Half Sigma” which claims to be unfettered politically (scroll down for the quote). This long comment is from one reader in particular, who has been monitoring one of the hate sites:

Unfortunately much of the world still IS in the dark ages, with all thought controlled by Islam. I recently stumbled upon a website frequented by Pakistanis in the west, or at least who have been educated in the west, judging by the fact it is mostly in English, and most of the writers seem to be native English speakers. The tone of the posts at this site is truly shocking. I have read “While Europe Slept”, but hearing this stuff coming straight from the Muslims themselves is rather stunning. The Muslims who post at the Pakistani site (it seems only Muslims post there) are probably more progressive than a lot of other Muslims, yet many of their views are right out of the 6th century. One of the most surprising things is how racist they are. Not only do they regularly make racist remarks about Jews and white people, but also about Indians and Arabs. The SWPL’s who regularly defend these folks, and say we are Eurocentric colonizers for not appreciating their culture, REALLY need to read this stuff.

As an example, here are some comments about an incident where a Muslim woman in France was not allowed in a public pool wearing a full body swim suit, a “birkini”. Here are some comments:

—————————————–

President Nicolas Sarkozy wants all the muslims to naked like the kufar…

and the king of arab allow French Military in UEA

what the hell is going on???

This is a sign Al-Qiyamah is comming

————————————

..the burqini is made of swimsuit material, which is allowed in the very same swimming pool. And I’m someone who believes in “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. But France is now a country where, basically, secularism has become the official religion, they are enforcing it upon those that aren’t secular.

———————————————-

I doubt it is unhygienic since it’s made to be used in water as a body costume. The real krux of the matter is: This is probably the first time in many years that someone has been punished for trying to not be a prostitute in public (IMG:style_emoticons/PDFEmotionIconsv10/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/PDFEmotionIconsv10/laugh.gif) But this isn’t entirely surprising, as homosexuals and feminists are highly touted in USA/UK and this diseased way of thinking is spreading

——————————————–

Swiss are banning construction of citadels in Geneva where over 400,000 muslims stay mainly Turks, Bosnians and Albanians

dont forget these flithy white European people are the same evil sadistic crusaders who will always try to dominate and fight war with muslims and islam

they tried to stop islam for centurys and removed islam from spain to turkey, but this time we have one up on them!!! we have immigration in such larges numbers in Europe mashallah

muslims in Europe number over 55 million set to double by 2025 inshallah

—————————————-

agreed.

not just immigration bro. we make babies, their women are infected with a feminist, self serving lifestyle which has destroyed the family system in Europe. Europe is in a demographic death spiral. show me one European country where the birthrate is at the required 2.2 for a replacement population? No economic model can deal with a falling population. thats why immigration is needed. and where will these immigrants come from? either Africa or Asia. that means a good majority will be muslim. watch the next 50 years.

——————————————

thats why i hate europe they are racists and filthy

——————————————-

It is all western hypocracy and nothing more…

The burkini allows Muslim women to go out and swim, where as the bikini deters them.

The burkini is a reconsiliation of Islamic laws and modern lifestyle–allowing a Muslim woman to follow her passions, while maintaining her dignity and religuous rights.

Banning it on the grounds that its unhygenic, or pulls the swimmer down is rubbish.

As fro those who say that if muslims have so much problem living there, then why dont they move elsewhere…..Do they have to? They are not living there for free..If they have invested so much money, energy, youth and effort into the land, and if the country has given then citizenship, then they deserve to live with their dignity.

I wonder why the people in the west are very touchy about the right of a woman to dress in the tiniest of clothes or nothing at all, but frown upon the her right to cover up, or take on a hijab.

They want to respect the right of even holding incestous relationships, prostitution etc, yet hell breaks loose if a Muslim man marries twice.

———————————————–

But one reason for this double standards is that Muslim population is growing at a much higher rate in european countries, and if the secular europeans fail to secularize the new Muslim generation, they risk losing their lifestyle..

——————————————–

exactly. in 25 years there will be tens of millions of muslims in Europe. That is their worst nightmare. France doesnt include religion on its census form but estuimates of the French Muslim population range between 7 and 10 million.

——————————————–

The person who found these remarks says:

The comments come from here: http://forum.pakistanidefence.com/index.php?showtopic=84064 (no, I’m not going to link to it; you can cut and paste if you want to put on your Wellies and wade through the

sludge – D)

Gagdad Bob at One Cosmos would say that these people suffer from mind parasites. He’s right. These mental encrustations are passed down from one unholy generation to another. They prove how strong evil is, that men can be so attracted to killing and subjugation. On the other hand, they show a fatal weakness, at least so far. Even with all the hundreds of years of slaughter as their version of statecraft, the Islamic fringe still hasn’t subverted its mortal enemy. And to think it can do so by breeding is a sad fallacy, especially with financial Armageddon facing us.

Who is going to feed all those breeders? It sure won’t be the ethnic Europeans, who will be turning inward to survive the horrible damage done by greedy elitists who thought they could “plan” something as dynamic and unstable as an economic system.

Yes, there is a greater evil than Islam, and we participated in its creation, however unwittingly. Will the coming implosion of evil greed go faster than the Muslim breeding machine, thereby making their population gains moot?

I think so…

…Either way, it is going to be rough sailing.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promised that the United States will contribute towards an international fund that would amass $100 billion every year to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change.

In other news, Islam is the growing religion among Native Mexican tribes in the restive state of Chiapas.

And don’t miss the report from New Zealand on the semi-lascivious holiday billboard of Joseph and the Virgin Mary that aims to “challenge stereotypes” about the birth of Jesus Christ…

Thanks to C. Cantoni, CSP, Esther, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, KGS, Lurker from Tulsa, Sean O’Brian, TV, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	Jobless Jordanians Exploited by Organ Traffickers
	USA
	20 Senators Demand Probe of Health-Care Vote ‘Threat’
	Air Force Academy Says Religious Climate Improving
	Less Health Care for More Money: What’s the Catch?
	Muslim Congregation to Sue Lilburn Over Mosque, Attorney Says
	Pepsi Not Advertising in Super Bowl Next Year
	US Would Contribute to $100bln Climate Fund: Clinton
	Europe and the EU
	Blizzard Dumps Snow on Copenhagen as Leaders Battle Warming
	Brussels Stays Out of Crucifix Controversy
	Church of Sweden Pastor Accused of Rape
	Dutch Muslim TV Recognises Ahmadiyya Sect
	France: Halimi’s Photo Used for Muslim Dating
	Ireland: Bishop Resigns Over Child Sex Abuse
	Italy: Bomb Explodes at Top Milan University
	Italy: Proposed Web Bill Sparks Censorship Row
	MEPs to Receive Extra £32,000 a Year on Top of Pay Rise
	Minaret Appeal Filed With Strasbourg Court
	Muslims Mull Mosque Debate After Swiss Vote
	Netherlands: Koran School Beating Claims Investigated
	Severely Cold Across Europe
	Spain: Nine Arrested in Tarragona for Ordering Woman Executed for Adultery
	Spain: Sharia Law in Tarragona
	Sweden: Diplomat and Wife Jailed for Smuggling Cigarettes
	Sweden: Half-Naked MP Makes Indecent Christmas Party Proposal
	Switzerland: “National Muslim Body is Not a Priority”
	Switzerland: Linguists Unite Against English Invasion
	UK: 3,000 Victims of Home Snatchers: Record Numbers of Elderly Are Forced to Sell Their Homes to Pay for Care
	UK: 4,000 Prisoners Given ‘Absolutely Revolting’ Perk of Having Satellite Television in Cells
	UK: Climategate Goes Serial: Now the Russians Confirm That UK Climate Scientists Manipulated Data to Exaggerate Global Warming
	UK: Council Snoopers Watch US on 60,000 CCTV Cameras
	UK: Father Found Guilty of Honour Killing of Daughter, 15, After She Fell in Love With Man From Different Branch of Islamby Daily Mail Reporter
	UK: Identity Minister Forgets ID Card
	UK: Met Office ‘Manipulated Climate Change Figures’ Says Russian Think Tank Linked to President Putin
	UK: Once a Crook, Always a Crook: 12 Years on, Canal Boy Jailed as Serial Burgler
	UK: Tulay Murder ‘A Wake-Up Call’ Over ‘Honour Killings’
	UK: You’re Not Worthy: Council Snubs Move to Honour British Army’s Most Decorated Regiment
	Balkans
	Bosnia: Council of Europe, Warning Over Lack of Reforms
	North Africa
	Algeria: Ten Arrested in Anti-Terror Operation
	Drugs: Moroccan Hemp Fields Cultivation -60%
	Egypt: Exorcism and Apparitions in Cairo’s Poor Areas
	Egypt: Algerian Artist Complains Exclusion From Biennial
	Minarets: Egypt, Swiss Banks Could Lose Fund if Ban Enforced
	Morocco: Italy Commemorates Elisa Chimenti in Tangiers
	Israel and the Palestinians
	Christmas: Gaza Christians to Bethlehem, Israeli Go-Ahead
	PNA: PLO Extends Abbas Mandate, Elections Off
	Rare Gender Identity Defect Hits Gaza Families
	UK-Livni: A Blunder for Peres But Storm Settling
	Middle East
	A Policy of “Ethnic Cleansing” Against Christians Under Way in Mosul, Mgr Sako Says
	Dubai: Wife of Qaeda Number 2 Urges Women Not to Join Jihad
	Dubai: Teachers Urged to Adopt Modern Methods
	Dubai Records 6,000 Offences on Its Beaches
	In Baghdad, Hemlines Rise as Violence Falls
	Insurgents Hacking U.S. Drones
	Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones
	Iran Test-Fires Advanced Missile
	Iran: Tehran Tests ‘Long Range Missile’
	Lebanese Woman Opens Bank Account in Rights Precedent
	Plot Targeting Turkey’s Religious Minorities Allegedly Discovered
	Saudi Arabia: Mosques Told to ‘Ease Off’ Mayor
	Yemen: Up to 34 Al-Qaida Militants Killed
	Caucasus
	Azerbaijan: Discontent Over Mosque Demolition Continues in Baku
	Muslim Revival Brings Polygamy, Camels to Chechnya
	Suicide Bomber Wounds 18 People in Russia’s South
	South Asia
	Christian Members of Heed Bangladesh Accuse Director of Corruption
	Club Promotes Polygamy in Indonesia
	Faisalabad: Two Christians Imprisoned for Blasphemy Released
	French, US Troops in Major Operation East of Kabul: Military
	Get Out of Afghanistan Now
	India: How Christian is Sonia Gandhi?
	India: Muslim Leaders Exhort Youth to Join Civil Services
	Pakistan: Code Broken, Al-Qaida Attack Feared
	Sarkozy Accused of Corruption in Karachi Bomb Scandal
	Far East
	Socialist Kim Jong-Il Bans ‘Capitalist’ Hairstyle
	Australia — Pacific
	Bias Denied as Swan Valley Mosque Rejected
	New Zealand: Poor Joseph. God Was a Hard Act to Follow
	New Zealand: Semi-Nude Mary and Joseph Spark Outrage
	New Zealand: Christians Outraged by Poster Showing Mary and Joseph After Sex
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	‘Somali Pirates’ Held by Dutch Freed: Defence Ministry
	Latin America
	Islam is the New Religion in Rebellious Mexican State Chiapas
	Nicole Ferrand in the Americas Report: Pro-Iran Chavista Daniel Ortega Overturns Term Limits
	Venezuela’s Chavez Sees US Threat in Dutch Islands
	Immigration
	International Deal to Resettle 78 Tamils in Several Countries
	Shock for Worthing Day-Trippers After Illegal Immigrant Found
	UK: A Gaping Hole in Our £1.2bn ‘Eborder’ Net: Crackdown is Hopelessly Diluted to Meet EU Law
	Culture Wars
	College Prof: Christian Crosses Like Swastikas
	Thousands Demand Obama Dump ‘Safe Schools Czar’
	General
	Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Cooling Dramatically
	Jihad Forbidden for Women
	Real or Fake? “White People Stole My Car” Is Big on Google
	Reuters Plans Islamic Finance Portal
	Sea Rose Eight Metres in Warmer Age: Study

Jobless Jordanians Exploited by Organ Traffickers

So he flew to Egypt earlier this year, had a kidney removed, and was paid 5,000 dollars. But it was a Faustian bargain.

“I regret it with all my heart. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Ali told AFP. “I got all 5,000 dollars after I donated the kidney, but I did not see or know the person I gave my kidney to.

“Now I know I made a bad mistake out of ignorance. I don’t have a job, and poverty and hard conditions blinded me to what I was doing.”

Ali was just one of dozens of cash-strapped people in Jordan who sold a kidney to brokers who prey on the poor.

Mohammed, 29, said he too was promised 5,000 dollars for a kidney, but after the operation he was given less than half of the money in late 2008.

“I couldn’t do anything about it. They told me ‘take it or leave it’,” said the father of two.

“I still can’t find a job, I’m still poor and now all the money is gone. My life did not improve.”

Ripped off and deceived

Mohammed said he was deceived into thinking he would “still have a normal life” after the operation.

“I’ve been feeling exhausted since my kidney was removed. I know I am not well but I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t see a doctor because I hear police are looking out for people like me,” he added in a hoarse voice.

“My life has changed. I can’t even sit and talk comfortably with my wife and children. This is always on my mind.”

Reliable data on organ trafficking is not available, but Jordanian officials insist it is not a pressing issue. Organ trafficking is banned, with penalties of up to five years’ jail and 28,000 dollars in fines.

In September, 11 Jordanians were extradited by Cairo and charged in Amman with trafficking in human organs, mainly kidneys, and selling them illegally in Egypt for up to 30,000 dollars each.

Other suspects are being interrogated and seven more are on the run, police said.

In the tiny desert kingdom, official figures show that 70 percent of the nearly six-million population is under the age of 30 and that unemployment is running at 14.3 percent.

However, independent estimates put the jobless figure more than double, at 30 percent.

In 2007, a year in which more than 80 cases of trafficking were uncovered, Jordan created a National Commission to Promote Organ Donation in a bid to end illegal trafficking and encourage people to donate their organs.

Everything is for sale, including human organs

“Traffickers work on commission, preying on poor people to convince them to sell their kidneys and then facilitating their travel to a third country for the operations,” said state coroner Momen Hadidi, the commission’s rapporteur.

“More than 800 people die every year in Jordan in road accidents. We should be encouraging the relatives of these victims to donate the organs of their loved ones. That way we can begin to reduce the demand,” he said.

According to a recent government study of 130 cases in which kidneys were sold, nearly 80 percent of “donors” were Palestinians from Baqaa in northwest Amman, the largest refugee camp in the country.

Most were under the age of 31, lived in absolute poverty and had no criminal record.

The study said operations to remove the kidneys used to take place in Iraq, but since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, young men are now sent to Egypt, India and Pakistan.

A senior doctor and scientific adviser to the queen played down the extent of the problem.

“There is no organ trafficking problem in the kingdom. Such things are simply small scale improprieties,” nephrologist Mohammed Lawzi said.

“Most people who sell their kidneys cite poverty as a reason but they don’t use the money to improve their financial situation.”

Lawzi advises King Abdullah II’s wife Queen Rania, who heads the Jordan Society for Organ Donation.

“Many donors are drug addicts seeking an easy way to get money,” he said. “This happens all over the world, not just in Jordan.”

A problem and a crime

But University of Jordan sociologist Seri Nasser disagreed.

“It’s a problem and a crime in Jordan, just like it’s a problem and crime all over the word,” he said.

“Materialism rules these days and everything is for sale, including human organs, and for some people that means profit,” said Nasser, who felt that tackling unemployment and poverty would help in the fight against such trafficking.

“People sell their organs mostly because they are poor and jobless. They think ‘it’s my kidney and I can sell it’,” he said.

The World Health Organization believes that organ trafficking is increasing, with brokers reportedly charging wealthy patients between 100,000 dollars and 200,000 dollars for a transplant.

Donors, often impoverished and ill-educated, may receive as little as 1,000 dollars for a kidney although the going price is more likely to be about 5,000 dollars, it said.

A recent joint study by the United Nations and the Council of Europe called for a new international convention to stop trafficking in organs, tissues and cells.

The study pointed to a high number of unreported cases of trafficking because of low risks and huge profits for perpetrators.

It stressed the need to collect reliable data and called for an internationally agreed definition of trafficking in human body parts.

Between five and 10 per cent of kidney transplants performed annually around the world are estimated to be the result of organ trafficking.

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20 Senators Demand Probe of Health-Care Vote ‘Threat’

Did White House say it would close Air Force base if Nelson didn’t play?

Twenty senators are demanding an investigation into reports the Obama administration threatened to close Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska if that state’s Democratic senator, Ben Nelson, didn’t join other Democrats in voting for health-care reform.

The group of 20, all Republicans, today called for a hearing in a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the committee’s top Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

— Hat tip: JD

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Air Force Academy Says Religious Climate Improving

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — The Air Force Academy says religious tolerance has improved dramatically since allegations five years ago that evangelical Christians harassed cadets who didn’t share their faith. Even the school’s most vocal critic agrees.

“This is the first time we feel positive about things there,” said Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which battled the academy in court over claims that evangelicals at the school were imposing their views on others.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Less Health Care for More Money: What’s the Catch?

The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof recently wrote a column about John Brodniak of Oregon, who developed a cavernous hemangioma, causing him great pain as blood leaks into his brain.

According to Kristof, Brodniak can’t get medical help because we don’t have universal health care. Senators who vote against Obamacare, Kristof said, are morally equivalent to someone who would walk past a man “writhing in pain on the sidewalk.”

In another article in the Times, William Yardley wrote about Melvin Tsosies — also of Oregon — who ended up with $200,000 in medical bills after having a heart attack.

As of March 2008, Yardley reported, Tsosies was waiting to find out if he would win the Oregon lottery for health insurance. But with 600,000 uninsured state residents and a “universal” health care program with only enough money to pay for about 24,000 of them, Tsosies is more likely to win a Powerball lottery.

How can this be happening? Oregon already has “universal health care”! (Probably just a coincidence, but isn’t Oregon also the only state with physician-assisted suicide?)

Once again forgetting about the existence of the Internet, the Times neglects to mention its own erstwhile enthusiasm for Oregon’s universal health-care plan, introduced back in 1990.

Back then, the Times published an editorial titled “Oregon’s Brave Medical Experiment,” hailing this technocratic monstrosity as an example of “hardheaded compassion” designed to make “health coverage available to many more families.”

Ron Wyden — then a congressman from Oregon, now a U.S. senator at the forefront of pushing “universal health care” onto the nation — said: “This is a strong dramatic step toward universal access of health care.” He predicted, “this is going to be copied everywhere.”

No wonder Wyden is such an ardent proponent of national health care — it will force states that didn’t adopt these idiotic universal health-care schemes to bail out the ones that did.

— Hat tip: JD

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Muslim Congregation to Sue Lilburn Over Mosque, Attorney Says

The attorney for a local Muslim congregation said he will file federal and state lawsuits on Thursday against the Lilburn City Council after it rejected plans for a giant mosque in a city neighborhood, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.

Doug Dillard, who represents the congregation of Dar-E-Abbas, said he will appeal under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and four constitutional amendments in lawsuits against the Gwinnett County municipality.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Pepsi Not Advertising in Super Bowl Next Year

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pepsi will not advertise its drinks in next year’s Super Bowl, ending a 23-year run so the company can focus on a new marketing effort that will appear mostly online.

Pepsi beverages have been advertised in the Super Bowl since 1987. Frito-Lay, a unit of parent company PepsiCo Inc., will still advertise.

The company, which is based in Purchase, N.Y., wouldn’t say how much it spent last year on Super Bowl ads, but it was one of the biggest advertisers, buying several minutes of commercial time. Ad time last year cost about $3 million for 30 seconds, on average.

The Feb. 7 NFL championship game will be televised on CBS. Package delivery company FedEx also said Thursday it will not advertise again in the Super Bowl due to costs, the same reason the company gave last year for sitting it out.

Pepsi recognizes Super Bowl ads can be effective for marketing, spokeswoman Nicole Bradley said, but the game doesn’t work with the company’s goals next year.

“In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event and more about a movement,” she said.

Notable Super Bowl ads from Pepsi over the years have included celebrities such as Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears and Will.i.am.

The nation’s second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing marketing dollars into its “Pepsi Refresh Project” starting next month as its main vehicle for Pepsi. The project will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to “refresh” communities.

A Web site will go live Jan. 13 where people can list their projects, which could range from helping to feed people to teaching children to read. People can vote starting Feb. 1 to determine which projects receive money.

Pepsi estimates the effort will fund thousands of projects and says other businesses will pledge money, too.

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

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US Would Contribute to $100bln Climate Fund: Clinton

COPENHAGEN — The United States would contribute towards a fund worth 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to help poor countries cope with climate change, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday..

She said the contribution would be “in the context of a strong accord in which all major economies stand behind meaningful [greenhouse-gas] mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to their implementation.”

In such circumstances, “the United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs,” she said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Blizzard Dumps Snow on Copenhagen as Leaders Battle Warming

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.

“Temperatures will stay low at least the next three days,” Henning Gisseloe, an official at Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, said today by telephone, forecasting more snow in coming days. “There’s a good chance of a white Christmas.”

Delegates from 193 countries have been in Copenhagen since Dec. 7 to discuss how to fund global greenhouse gas emission cuts. U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive before the summit is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Denmark has a maritime climate and milder winters than its Scandinavian neighbors. It hasn’t had a white Christmas for 14 years, under the DMI’s definition, and only had seven last century. Temperatures today fell as low as minus 4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit).

DMI defines a white Christmas as 90 percent of the country being covered by at least 2 centimeters of snow on the afternoon of Dec. 24.

— Hat tip: KGS

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Brussels Stays Out of Crucifix Controversy

The European Commission yesterday steered away from the controversy over the Italian crucifix issue, saying it had no competence to give its opinion or challenge a decision of a court outside its jurisdiction.

The Commission’s position was made clear by Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot in reaction to a resolution in the European Parliament calling on the EU to challenge the recent judgment handed down by the Council of Europe’s Court of Human Rights.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Church of Sweden Pastor Accused of Rape

A 60-year-old Church of Sweden pastor faces a remand hearing this Friday for the alleged sexual abuse of two children during an overseas trip with a group of candidates for confirmation.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Dutch Muslim TV Recognises Ahmadiyya Sect

A Dutch Muslim broadcasting company which applied for airtime has recognised the Ahmadiyya sect as a major current in Islam. Such a recognition is unique in the world.

Ahmadiyya is a sectarian movement within Islam which is not recognised as Islamic by the main institutions of orthodox Islam. Many Dutchmen of Surinamese origin belong to Ahmadiyya.

Its recognition by the aspiring broadcaster (SMO) was revealed in a leaked e-mail message of which Radio Netherlands Worldwide possesses a copy. In the message SMO expresses its willingness to share its hoped-for broadcasting licence with another company, provided that it too recognises Ahmadiyya.

The Dutch public radio and tv system allots time to one religious broadcaster per denomination. The previous Muslim licence holder is to cease transmissions after internal strife between groups representing differing approaches to Islam.

SMO is one of five broadcasters having applied for the Islamic airtime slots. It is expected that the Dutch broadcasting authorities will announce next week which of them will be licensed and hence subsidised.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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France: Halimi’s Photo Used for Muslim Dating

From French: The Qiran.com site used a picture of Ilan Halimi — a French Jew tortured and killed by Muslims in 2006 — in its Google AdSense advertising. A British surfer discovered the picture on news sites, most notably France Soir. Qiran.com acknowledges the error and said the ad was immediately removed. The site sends it most sincere apologies to Ilan Halimi’s family. According to Qiran.com, the photo was used by one of the members, and the company uses member photos in it advertisements.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Ireland: Bishop Resigns Over Child Sex Abuse

Msgr Donal Murray cited in Irish ‘cover-up’ report

(ANSA) — Vatican City, December 17 — An Irish bishop resigned on Thursday after being criticised in a report that found the Irish Catholic Church covered up the sexual abuse of children in Dublin for decades.

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray, former auxiliary bishop of Dublin, the Vatican said.

Msgr Murray, 64, who came to the Rome last week and offered his resignation, is the first official to resign since the publication last month of the Murphy report.

In a statement to his parishioners, Murray said: “I know full well that my resignation cannot cancel out the pain that the surviving victims of abuse suffered in the past and continue to suffer every day”.

“I humbly ask for forgiveness once more from all those who were abused when they were little children”. The Murphy report, released November 26, found that four former archbishops of Dublin failed to report child sex abuse to the police from the 1960 to the 1980s.

It listed 320 people who complained of abuse between 1974 and 2004 and said a further 130 complaints against priests in Dublin had been made since May 2004.

The archdiocese only started notifying civil authorities in 1995, it found.

The pope discussed the Murphy report last Friday in the Vatican with Cardinal Sean Brady, head of the Irish Church, and the archbishop of Dublin, Msgr Diarmuid Martin.

There had been speculation that Murray, currently bishop of Limerick, would resign at the meeting.

Instead he stayed on in Rome as the Vatican weighed his fate for shunting around a paedophile priest, Father Thomas Naughton, instead of reporting him in the 1980s.

Naughton, 78, was jailed Wednesday for three years for abusing a boy at least 70 times between 1982 and 1984. The Murphy report found that Msgr Murray, who tendered his resignation as archbishop of Limerick earlier this month, had acted “inexcusably”. After his meeting with the bishops and the heads of the relevant Vatican departments on December 11, Benedict vowed to get to the bottom of the scandal and make sure abuse can never happen again.

In a statement issued by the Vatican, he noted that one of the crucial aspects of the report was the role played by the leaders of the Irish church, “who bear the ultimate responsibility for the pastoral care of children”.

Speaking out for the first time in the wake of the report, the pope said he was “shocked and anguished”.

He expressed his “deep regret for the actions committed by some members of the clergy who betrayed their solemn promises to God as well as the trust placed in them by the victims, their families, and society in general”.

“The Holy Father shares the sense of outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland.

The pope asked Catholics in Ireland and around the world to pray for all those affected by these “hateful crimes”.

He vowed “to find the best way to develop effective and sure strategies to prevent (such events) recurring”.

In the wake of the report, the head of the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse group urged Benedict to go to Ireland and apologise for his clergy’s behaviour.

The Murphy report was the second of two detailing abuse this year.

In May the Ryan report published records of 70 years of abuse at orphanages and industrial schools run by Catholic religious orders across Ireland.

Ireland, a nation that once looked to the Church for leadership, has seen increasing numbers turn from it.

Calls for criminal cases against priests have been made by the country’s top politicians including President Mary McAleese.

YEARS OF SCANDAL IN FOUR COUNTRIES.

Since the mid-1990s the Catholic Church has been hit by child abuse scandals in the United States, Australia and Canada as well as Ireland.

The Church says some 80% of the estimated 5,000 priests involved acted in the US, where huge settlements have been made to victims.

In April 2008 Pope Benedict made a six-day tour of the US, visiting Washington and New York but not Boston, the epicentre of America’s clergy sex abuse scandal. However, he met and prayed with six Boston victims in Washington, saying “no words” could convey his shock and regret.

During the visit, victims’ groups reiterated their criticism of the Church’s treatment of former Boston archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law who resigned in December 2002 when unsealed court records revealed he had moved paedophile priests among church assignments without notifying parishioners.

After his resignation, he was transferred to Rome where he now holds several authoritative posts including archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.

The abuse scandal led to the bankruptcy of several US dioceses including Washington, Arizona and California.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Bomb Explodes at Top Milan University

Milan, 16 Dec. (AKI) — A partially exploded bomb was found at a university in the northern Italian city of Milan on Wednesday. Early reports say the bomb was left by an anarchist group at Bocconi University just outside the city.

The anarchist group, which calls itself “Sisters of Freedom” claimed responsibility for having placed the bomb in a corridor with a timer, after making an anonymous phone call to Italian daily Libero.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Italy: Proposed Web Bill Sparks Censorship Row

Online fanclubs for Berlusconi attacker ‘show new law needed’

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Proposed legislation against hate speech on the Internet sparked a heated debate about censorship and the freedom of expression on Wednesday amid controversy over online groups applauding the attack on Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

The proposal, by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, came amid outrage over a dozen or more groups on the popular social networking site Facebook praising a man who hurled a statuette at the premier, breaking his nose and two of his teeth.

A number of the groups contained overtly violent messages directed at the premier, prompting the interior ministry to demand the California-based website take the groups down.

Facebook administrators agreed saying the content would eventually have been removed anyway as a violation of the website’s user agreement.

But Maroni said the incident demonstrated the need for legal guidelines “allowing prosecutors and police to intervene when online content constitutes a crime”.

The statement caused alarm among free speech advocates on both sides of the political divide who feared the measure could pave the way for online censorship.

The interior minister promised that was not what he had in mind.

“Right now, prosecutors can identify a crime on the Internet, but they can’t do anything about it,” he said.

“What we need is a legal framework for enforcing Italian laws online”.

Maroni said he would welcome input from the opposition, where most of the criticism for the initiative has come, “to arrive at a bill we can both agree on in parliament”.

The interior minister added that the government would abstain from rushing the law through as a decree law, provided the opposition agreed to put it on the fast track.

He said he would discuss the issue during a visit later in the day with President Giorgio Napolitano, and that more details about the proposal would become available after the government’s cabinet meeting on Thursday.

But the leader of the Catholic-centrist opposition group UDC, Pier Ferdinando Casini, said “any attempt to censor the Internet is absurd and undemocratic”.

“It’s like wanting to stop people from using the telephone, because they might say ugly things to each other,” he said.

“The Internet is a means of communication and the government needs to understand that people use it today just like they used to use the telephone”.

But Telecom Italia CEO Franco Bernabe’ said “I don’t think the government wants to censor the Internet so much as prosecute people for using it to commit crimes like slander and instigation, which are already against the law”.

Public response to the news included an online petition on Facebook asking the government “not to gag the Web”.

The largest online community in the world with over 350 million users, Facebook was the center of a prior free speech controversy in October over a group called “Let’s Kill Berlusconi”.

The group agreed to change its name under pressure from Facebook administrators, but was eventually removed altogether when users tried to change it back.

As of Wednesday, the website said its European office had already removed a handful of groups espousing violence against the premier.

But it said a number of “non-threatening” pages dedicated to his attacker would be left up, “because controversial and even offensive content isn’t reason enough to remove them”.

According to a recent study, one in four Italians has an account on Facebook making it the second most visited website in Italy.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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MEPs to Receive Extra £32,000 a Year on Top of Pay Rise

MEPs are to receive an increase to their staff allowance that will see it climb to £220,000 a year to help them implement the EU Lisbon Treaty.

The European Parliament was forced to clean up the rules over the payment of staffing expenses last February following press exposure of MEPs misusing or abusing the allowance.

Despite the high-profile scandals, an internal document seen by The Daily Telegraph has proposed a nine per cent increase in the parliamentary assistance allowance “following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty”.

“With more power comes more work,” said a parliament official.

Marta Andreasen, a UKIP MEP and member of the European Parliament’s budgetary control committee, said: “It is disgraceful that MEPs have just awarded themselves an extra 1,500 euros per month. When the political class is held in such contempt to be awarding themselves extra money is incomprehensible.”

MEPs can use the extra cash to employ extra staff or increase the salaries of existing assistants. The increase, which comes at a time of swingeing cutbacks and austerity in national public sectors, will take the annual allowance to £203,000 in 2010.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Minaret Appeal Filed With Strasbourg Court

An appeal against the decision by Swiss voters to ban the construction of minarets has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

It was lodged on Tuesday afternoon, said Pierre de Preux, a lawyer acting for Hafid Ouardiri, the former spokesman of the Geneva mosque.

Ouardiri wants the Strasbourg court to rule that the ban is incompatible with the European human rights convention.

De Preux told the AP news agency that a letter had been sent to the federal government and to all the members of the Council of Europe to inform them of this step.

The chairman of the Strasbourg court, Jean-Paul Costa, earlier this month described the case as “legally complicated”. Plaintiffs must have exhausted the legal system in their home country before going to Strasbourg, but Switzerland’s highest court cannot hear cases that result from a popular vote.

In a national vote at the end of November, 57.5 per cent of those taking part voted in favour of an initiative to ban the construction of minarets.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Muslims Mull Mosque Debate After Swiss Vote

The Swiss vote to forbid the construction of mosques with minarets has sparked calls for a similar ban in Germany. Robert Rigney samples the mood of the country’s Muslim community.

Most people wouldn’t consider Switzerland a very trendy place, but Meho Travljanin worries the small, alpine nation’s xenophobia could soon become fashionable throughout much of Europe.

“My fear is that the discussion has spread from Switzerland to all of Europe,” says Travljanin, referring to the country’s controversial referendum in November banning the building of mosques with minarets.

An official at the Bosnian Cultural Centre in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, Travljanin believes other countries including Germany could now attempt similar bans as the Swiss vote helps fan fears of a growing Islamification of Europe.

“Over time of course mosques will be built,” says Travljanin. “The fact is that there are more and more Muslims in Germany and in Europe. And it is also a fact that that these people are here to stay and that these people are going to want their places of worship.”

Prior to the Swiss referendum, Germany was already in the midst of a debate about the nearly 200 mosques which are currently being planned. If all are built, they would double the existing number of Muslim houses of worship in the country.

Although Germany has had a sizeable, mostly Turkish, Muslim community since the sixties, the building of mosques in Germany is a relatively new phenomenon. Up until now most Muslims in Germany have prayed hidden from view in old factory buildings, basements, converted offices and garages.

“We say that one should not be afraid of a minaret,” says Ender Cetin, spokesman for the Turkish —Islamic Union. “We ask the question is it better to have a courtyard mosque where the normal citizen might be afraid to enter? Or is it better to have a familiar mosque with dome and tower?”

Cetin’s office in the Sehitlik mosque in Berlin, a four-year-old traditional Ottoman style construction complete with marble façade, dome, and twin minarets. It is located on land that has been linked to Turkey for 140 years, since the Ottomans were present in Prussia.

He sees the Swiss vote and reactions by some German politicians as putting considerable pressure on the Muslim community.

“It pushes us into the corner a bit,” says Cetin. “Of course a minaret is not necessary. We don’t need a minaret for prayer. It just shows that we have arrived.”

The mosque that has garnered much attention in Germany recently is being built in Cologne. A 2,000-capacity building with twin minarets that will reach 170 feet high, the house of worship was designed by German architect Paul Böhm, who is not Muslim. Construction on the mosque began last year, causing an outcry among locals who described the structure as too big and affront to the city’s Christian traditions. One critic went so far as to describe the mosque as a “declaration of war” culturally.

In response to the vehement opposition encountered in Europe, some Muslims in Germany are rethinking how a mosque should look.

Alen Jasarevic is a Bosnian-German architect of a critically acclaimed new mosque in the town of Penzberg in Bavaria. At first glance it doesn’t look like a mosque at all: it is modest, unassuming, disarming, modern, transparent and discreet.

The façades, which are clad in pale sandstone, give a little indication of the building’s function. But the entrance features two concrete slabs that swing out of the wall like open gates, inviting visitors into the house in German and Arabic script. Most remarkable is the minaret, a tall column illuminated from within with words in Arabic calling the faithful to prayer visually.

“I want to show the society here that we can keep up, that we can be innovative, that we understand our faith as not merely something from the past, but rather something that continuously develops and which can create such buildings,” says Jasarevic.

He explains he wanted to create a building that could be accepted by the German public, something that was open to everyone, “not like an Ottoman mosque which lands like a UFO” in Germany.

Travljanin from the Bosnian cultural centre agrees innovation could be the answer to Europe’s mosque debate.

“I think that Muslims, no matter where they live in Europe, of course have to try to fit in with the architectural structure of cities,” says Travljanin. “And this is in keeping with Islam. There were no minarets in the beginning of Islam.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Netherlands: Koran School Beating Claims Investigated

The Hague city council has launched an investigation into a number of cases of alleged physical child abuse during Koran lessons at the city’s mosques.

The claims came to light during the routine health check on 10-year-olds and child social workers have drawn up a list of 49 potential cases. Sources within the Moroccan community have also told officials that children have been beaten, the city council says.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Severely Cold Across Europe

A severely cold day to come across Europe with temperatures will below freezing all day across central and eastern parts of Europe. An area of snow is forecast across England, northern France into Belgium, Holland into Denmark and Sweden and some of this will be heavy.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Spain: Nine Arrested in Tarragona for Ordering Woman Executed for Adultery

The woman managed to escape after an Islamic Sharia court sentenced her to death

December 6 — The Catalan autonomous police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, have revealed details of an operation in Tarragona where nine men were arrested for kidnapping and plotting to kill a woman who an Islamic Sharia court had found guilty of adultery. The suspects were arrested last month after a lengthy investigation, and seven were remanded to custody, charged with kidnapping, attempted murder and illicit association.

The woman in question was kidnapped in March and held in a house in countryside outside Valls, to the west of Barcelona, and told police that she would have been executed if she had not managed to escape her captors.

The police investigation resulted in raids on three properties in Reus and Valls in the early hours of 14th November. It’s understood from El País that the suspects taken into custody are from the Maghreb area of North Africa and are followers of the ultra-conservative Salafist movement. As leading members of the local community, they are believed to have set up the Sharia court when the woman was accused of adultery by her husband’s family after she was seen in the company of another man.

Sources quoted by El País said the local community had accepted the Sharia court’s decision to order the woman’s execution.

— Hat tip: VH

[Return to headlines]

Spain: Sharia Law in Tarragona

A woman was sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery

December 11- A TARRAGONA court has sent seven man to prison without bail and released two others with charges, accused of judging a woman according to Sharia law and planning to kill her for adultery.

They are charged with illegally holding the woman, criminal association and attempted manslaughter. The nine men were arrested in November after a secret operation which began in March and saw several homes in Valls and Reus searched. They were taken to different police stations so they had no way of communicating with each other.

They are believed to belong to a Salafist movement, an orthodox sector of Islam which has a great following in the area. The detainees had created an Islamic Tribunal and illegally tried the woman for adultery, which according to Sharia law is punished with death by lapidation.

They were keeping the woman, who is married to a Moslem man and had fallen pregnant by another man, in a local farmhouse, from which she was able to escape and call the Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, who made her a protected witness. They had previously kidnapped her from her home in Tarragona. If they are found guilty at trial, they could face more than 23 years in prison.

The two who have been released with charges have had their passports taken away, are forbidden from leaving the country and have to appear in court twice a month. The victim has been taken to an unknown location to prevent attacks from her husband’s relatives

— Hat tip: VH

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Sweden: Diplomat and Wife Jailed for Smuggling Cigarettes

A North Korean diplomat and his wife have been sentenced to eight months in prison by a court in Stockholm for attempting to smuggle more than 230,000 cigarettes into Sweden.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Sweden: Half-Naked MP Makes Indecent Christmas Party Proposal

A Social Democrat member of the Swedish parliament awoke shamefaced this week after making lewd advances in a state of undress to a female colleague at a Riksdag Christmas bash.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Switzerland: “National Muslim Body is Not a Priority”

Better ties between Muslims and the Swiss population should be a priority, and not the creation of a national Muslim umbrella organisation, says an Islamic expert.

The idea of a single body representing the country’s diverse Muslim groups is one of a number of hot topics doing the rounds in Switzerland, which is still reeling from the surprise anti-minaret vote two weeks ago.

For Stéphane Lathion, head of a research group on Islam in Switzerland at Lausanne University, focusing on a national Muslim umbrella organisation right now would be like “putting the cart before the horse”.

“The priority is building ties on a daily basis between Muslim associations and the Swiss population at the local level; not just annual open-door events or inter-religious dialogue, but getting people to talk together more and for associations to take position on specific Muslim issues as well as on social issues regarding the whole of society,” Lathion told swissinfo.ch.

Hafid Ouardiri, general secretary of the Geneva-based interfaith foundation Entre-Connaissance, echoed this sentiment.

He felt a Muslim umbrella organisation in Switzerland “was a dream shared by many”, but said “you can’t put in place an umbrella organisation without working on the grassroots and communal ties in order to become credible”.

On Sunday Hisham Maizar, president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, one of the largest groups, called for the creation of a single umbrella organisation in an interview in the French-language Le Matin Dimanche newspaper.

“We would all benefit by being united at the national level,” he said, but admitted that it was a “slow and difficult” ongoing process.

The alpine country of nearly seven million people is home to 350,000-400,000 Muslims, mainly from Bosnia, Kosovo and Turkey, but also from North Africa and the Middle East.

They are represented by a myriad of diverse organisations, from secular to conservative, which are mostly present at the cantonal level. But uneasiness about exactly what they all do — providing Arabic or Qur’an lessons, or other things — needs to be overcome via greater transparency, said Lathion.

Post-vote talks

In the absence of a national body, Ouardiri and Maizar will be two of a handful of Muslim representatives taking part in post-vote talks with Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf on December 22. The groups already had a discussion in September about integration.

In the wake of the minaret ban, the former spokesman for the Geneva mosque felt both the Swiss authorities and the Muslim community now had a “huge task” before them.

“The authorities are aware of the delays that have occurred,” Ouardiri said. “We kept drawing their attention to integration problems, but we were forced to focus on security issues.”

Ouardiri said whether they liked it or not, both groups now faced an emergency situation that would last for some time and would be difficult to manage.

“We have to retake control of the debate, reassure people and move forward; we have to live together,” he said.

Peaceful rally

On Saturday a peaceful rally in front of parliament in Bern against the “false perception of Islam in Switzerland” attracted around 700 people. The rally was not endorsed by any of Switzerland’s main Muslim groups.

“It’s not the best way to reach those who think differently or to reduce their fears and prejudices,” Taner Hatipoglu, president of the Zurich Association of Islamic Organisations, told Swiss television.

But Melanie Muhaxheri, president of the Organisation of Muslim Women in Switzerland, who was present at the rally, disagreed.

“As a Muslim I intend to stand up for my rights,” she said. “First minarets, then talk about burkas. What next?”

“I am a Swiss citizen and this is my home, so I want the same religious freedoms as Christians, Jews and Buddhists.”

Muhaxheri felt an umbrella group was a sensible but difficult idea to achieve: “They have always talked about it, but nobody could ever agree.”

For Lathion the next steps are clear: “Muslims need to continue their explanatory work, to try to explain to people that their fears are ill-founded and that they are Swiss citizens and not dangerous.”

“And Swiss politicians need to make a public mea culpa, admitting they did not do their work correctly.”

But he is concerned as this hasn’t happened over the past two weeks.

“I thought that after the salutary vote Swiss people would wake up and we would finally have a real debate on the issue, but in fact we are witnessing extremely dangerous populist one-upmanship by pseudo-centrist parties.”

Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch

————————————————————————————————————————

Muslims and minarets in Switzerland

Switzerland is the first European country to forbid the construction of minarets.

On November 29, 57.5% of votes cast were in favour of a people’s initiative entitled quite simply: Against the construction of minarets.

Several plans for building minarets in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were the catalyst for the initiative. Local residents collected signatures against the planned towers.

They were supported by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party and the Federal Democratic Union, which coordinated efforts.

The Muslim community accounts for about 4.5% of the Swiss population.

There are about 200 mosques and prayer rooms in Switzerland, but only four have a minaret.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Switzerland: Linguists Unite Against English Invasion

Largely unnoticed by English speakers, our fellow Europeans are sullenly suffering the colonisation of their native languages by Anglo-American terms.

Linguistics experts met in the Swiss capital Bern on Tuesday to share ideas on how to deal with the growing language divide within French, German and Italian-speaking communities.

Who can get by these days without knowing the meaning of whistleblower, laptop, roaming or task force? They are all words that have entered into common usage in Swiss national languages.

Behind the laughter at the many comic examples of pseudo-English which have popped up, there is dismay at the unstoppable stream of borrowings and fear for the very survival of the continent’s languages.

Guest speaker Alfred Gilder, terminology chief at the French finance ministry, captured the mood of the conference with the battle-cry “modernise or die!”.

“If a language is not capable of creating new words to describe new advances, it will die,” he warned.

Gilder summed up his philosophy of linguistic integrity by using a drinking metaphor. “I like Bordeaux very much and I like whisky too but I would never mix the two!”

Beginning of the end

A point echoed by several speakers was that English has become so dominant in certain fields, such as finance and science, that courses in some disciplines are now exclusively being taught in English in some countries. The beginning of the end, as Gilder sees it.

The conference, attended by some 200 delegates, was organised by the Swiss Federal Chancellery.

Vice-chancellor Thomas Helbling told swissinfo.ch that Switzerland, with its tradition of language diversity had possibly less to fear from the influence of English. But he stressed that the home languages needed to be preserved.

“I definitely think that we should learn a second national language before English. It is part of our tradition and culture to speak to each other, as you can see at today’s conference where three languages are in use on the floor.”

Global dominance

Of course borrowing words and expressions from other languages is a natural function of language development and English itself has absorbed countless influences in its history — from Latin, French and Hindi, to name but a few.

What is different about the current dominance of English is that it is the first truly global language and it is spewing out words at a pace that other languages have no chance to compete with.

This rapid evolution favours those who can ride the English wave but creates a language divide, akin to the digital divide, for those who are poor in English.

Germanic expert Jürg Niederhuaser illustrated this problem neatly by quoting the head of a research department in a Basel pharmaceutical company, who said:

“In the section I lead, people like to joke that without English you won’t get so much as a cup of coffee.”

“ What must be avoided is that the lingua franca becomes lingua unica. “

Bénédicte Madinier, French Ministry of Culture

Uniformity

Bénédicte Madinier, another guardian of the French language who works for the French Ministry of Culture, spoke of the linguistic uniformity that is fast becoming established worldwide.

“It is not a question of denying the interest, the necessity of an international language of communication, a lingua franca, …. What must be avoided is that the lingua franca becomes lingua unica,” Madinier said.

Madinier has a role in the French establishment’s complex system of screening new English words and either approving them for adoption into French or coming up with a new French form.

The French can boast to have possibly the only language on the planet which put forward its own version of the word computer which is still in popular usage — “ordinateur”. But such victories are few and far between.

False friends

The English influence is so pervasive now that languages are cobbling together words that either exist in a different form or mean something quite different in English.

So you want to get your hair done? In French-speaking Switzerland you have to ask for a “shampooing” followed by a “brushing”. Those crow’s feet bothering you? It might be time for a “facelifting”.

Or perhaps you want to order an overhead projector for your speech? That will be a “beamer” to your Swiss hosts. And if you happen to point out a vintage car to a German-speaker, don’t forget to call it an “oldtimer”.

Last but not least is “last but not least”, the most overused English expression among the Swiss, which pops up without fail in every speech and presentation, as any English speaker living here will testify.

Clare O’Dea, swissinfo.ch

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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UK: 3,000 Victims of Home Snatchers: Record Numbers of Elderly Are Forced to Sell Their Homes to Pay for Care

The scale of Labour’s betrayal of pensioners was laid bare tonight as it emerged that every year at least 3,000 elderly people are forced to sell their homes to pay for residential care.

The scandal of Britain’s crumbling care system has reached such proportions that a third of all those paying the cost of their care end up without their house.

Critics say it is appalling that, after more than a decade of Labour promises, a record number of people who have saved all their lives are still having to put their houses up for sale, while those who have squandered their money get free care.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

UK: 4,000 Prisoners Given ‘Absolutely Revolting’ Perk of Having Satellite Television in Cells

More than 4,000 prisoners are being allowed to watch free satellite television in their cells.

Robbers, burglars and other criminals are able to tune in to their favourite shows in return for ‘good behaviour’, with one in 20 prisoners having access to Sky TV from their bed.

Tory MP Philip Davies, who uncovered the figures, said: ‘No end of my constituents would love to have Sky TV but they cannot afford it, so it is a bit galling for them — through their taxes — to be paying for prisoners to be watching it in their cells.

[…]

The news will fuel concerns that prisons are too soft. Earlier this year, the Prison Officers Association warned that conditions in jail were so good many inmates did not want to leave.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

UK: Climategate Goes Serial: Now the Russians Confirm That UK Climate Scientists Manipulated Data to Exaggerate Global Warming

Climategate just got much, much bigger. And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world’s leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to discuss ways of carbon-taxing us all back to the dark ages.

Feast your eyes on this news release from Rionovosta, via the Ria Novosti agency, posted on Icecap. (Hat Tip: Richard North)

[…]

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

[…]

What the Russians are suggesting here, in other words, is that the entire global temperature record used by the IPCC to inform world government policy is a crock.

As Richard North says: This is serial.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Council Snoopers Watch US on 60,000 CCTV Cameras

The number of town hall-controlled Big Brother CCTV cameras has trebled in a decade, it emerged last night.

There are now 60,000 cameras trained on members of the public by council snoopers — one for every 1,000 people in the UK.

The huge increase has cost hundreds of millions of pounds, including at least £170million in Home Office grants — although there are doubts over whether the cameras actually help catch criminals.

[…]

Director Alex Deane said CCTV was seen as a ‘cheap alternative to policing’ but its ‘ability to deter or solve crimes is sketchy at best’.

‘The quality of footage is frequently too poor to be used in courts, the cameras are often turned off to save money and control rooms are rarely manned 24-hours-a-day,’ he added.

‘We would all feel safer with more police on the beat, there would be fewer crimes and those crimes that do occur would be solved faster.‘

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Father Found Guilty of Honour Killing of Daughter, 15, After She Fell in Love With Man From Different Branch of Islamby Daily Mail Reporter

Mehmet Goren murdered 15-year-old Tulay for her doomed ‘Romeo and Juliet’ romance with Halil Una, an older man from a different branch of Islam.

After the teenager lost her virginity to her lover she was viewed as a ‘valueless commodity’ by her father — and had to be killed to restore the family’s reputation.

Mr Unal was a Turkish Sunni Muslim but the Gorens were from the Alevi branch of the faith and an Alevi-Sunni relationship ‘would not have been tolerated’, the Old Bailey heard.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Bean, said Goren’s attempts to appear a ‘thoroughly modern and enlightened family man’ failed to deceive the jury.

‘The reality is that your enigmatic smile conceals a violent and dominating personality,’ he told the killer, who showed not a flicker of emotion.

‘Your wife Hanim has finally had the courage to break free of the domination and reveal what she knew of what you did in January 1999.’

He said Goren planned the murder of his daughter with ‘considerable care’, even forcing her to write a letter relating a false account of what had happened to her to try to throw police off the scent.

Goren disposed of the schoolgirl’s body ‘with such ingenuity that it has never been found’, he added.

‘You did all this simply because you regarded it as unacceptable that she, rather than you, should choose the man she wanted to marry.

‘The term “honour killing” is a convenient shorthand, but it is a grotesque distortion of language.

‘There is nothing honourable about such a hideous practice or the people who carry it out.’

The judge made clear Goren would not be eligible for parole until 2030, when he will be nearly 70.

The Old Bailey had heard how Tulay — who had told a friend she might be pregnant — vanished from the family home in north London in January 1999.

The day before she disappeared, her mother Hanim returned home to find her daughter trussed up so tightly her hands and feet had turned purple and black.

In harrowing evidence, Mrs Goren told the court how she had tried to untie Tulay but her daughter told her ‘Mum don’t untie me, I want to die.’

The case ground to a halt for several moments after the anguished mother, 45, screamed across the court at her husband.

‘Look at my face. Tell me what you did to Tulay,’ she demanded, adding in Turkish: ‘Tell me where her bones are.’

Jurors also heard how Goren, 49, ordered his eight-year-old son Tuncay to kiss Tulay goodbye as he would never see his sister again.

The day afterwards she vanished. Police believe she was drugged, tortured and stabbed to death by her father who then temporarily hid her body in the back garden.

The jury cleared Goren’s two brothers Ali, 56, and Cuma, 43, of Tulay’s murder. All three men were also found not guilty of conspiring to murder Tulay’s boyfriend.

Thirteen days after Tulay’s murder, Goren attacked Mr Unal — who reported Tulay missing — with an axe in a pub car park in Leytonstone.

He recovered from his injuries and Goren — who was described as a ‘psychotic bully’ — was jailed for GBH.

It emerged that Goren had once tried to gas his whole family to death and on another occasion to inject his wife with rat poison.

The attack and Mr Unal and Tulay’s disappearance were treated separately and it was two months before detectives began to suspect Tulay had been murdered.

Police submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2000 but on advice from a senior prosecution barrister no one was charged over her death.

Goren, of Woodford Green, had been arrested shortly after his daughter’s disappearance but was arrested again in 2008, along with his two brothers, after a review.

All three were charged and brought to trial.

But it was the bravery of Mrs Goren, who had endured 30 years of torment at the hands of her husband, which eventually led to his conviction.

Breaking the conspiracy of silence which has often thwarted honour cases, she took the stand to give damning evidence.

Police and lawyers praised both her and Tulay’s sister Nuray and lover Halil Unal for their courage in speaking out.

Scotland Yard and the CPS today admitted past gaps in their knowledge and understanding of domestic violence in British Muslim families.

But a senior detective today pledged: ‘No victim will be turned away on the basis that honour-based violence is nothing to do with the police.’

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC described the murder as ‘truly shocking’ and ‘a wake up call to the British authorities.’

Police had become involved in the weeks leading up to the murder when Mehmet beat up Mr Unal, then complained about the relationship to officers and demanded his daughter take a virginity test.

Tulay ran away and told them he had beat her, and that she would rather be taken into care than return home, before being persuaded to go back by her mother.

After the case, Nuray Guler, Tulay’s older sister, called on her father to tell the family where she was buried.

She said: ‘For my father, I have only one request. I ask that he finally discloses the whereabouts of my sister.

‘I wake up at night wondering where Tulay may be. In quiet moments during the day I ask myself if she suffered or knew what was in store for her.

‘I ask that he put an end to the nightmares that haunt us and allow us to retrieve Tulay in order that she may rest in peace alongside her sister Hatice.’

Hatice died in a car crash seven years after her sister went missing.

— Hat tip: Gaia

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UK: Identity Minister Forgets ID Card

Identity minister Meg Hillier arrived at a photocall to promote identity cards, but then realised she left her own at home.

She travelled to Liverpool to announce a further roll-out of the controversial identity cards across the North West.

Ms Hillier checked her handbag for the card before putting the slip-up down to the demands of looking after her baby.

Residents of Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Cumbria can now apply for the ID card.

The cards cost £30 each and enable the holder to travel across the EU without their passport.

Passport offices

They were made available to people living in Manchester at the end of November.

After Ms Hillier realised she was without her card she posed empty-handed in front of the Liver Building.

The MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch made the journey from London to Liverpool by train on Monday, ahead of an official announcement made by the Home Secretary.

Applications for the cards will open on 4 January. From February, applicants will be able to enrol at passport offices in Liverpool and Blackburn.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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UK: Met Office ‘Manipulated Climate Change Figures’ Says Russian Think Tank Linked to President Putin

An explosive new claim that the Meteorological Office in Britain ‘manipulated’ climate change figures has come from a leading Russian think-tank founded by a former adviser to Vladimir Putin.

As the Copenhagen summit comes to a climax on Friday, it was alleged that Siberian weather statistics were selected in a way that masks evidence not showing global warming.

The think tank strongly disputes the use of data from the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Change which were released in a bid to diffuse the recent row over hacked emails from the Climate Research Unit in East Anglia.

The emails were seized upon by global warming sceptics as evidence that academics were massaging the figures.

The Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) claimed the Hadley Centre used statistics from weather stations in Russian and Siberia that fitted its theory of global warming, while often ignoring those that did not.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Once a Crook, Always a Crook: 12 Years on, Canal Boy Jailed as Serial Burgler

It was 12 years ago when social workers sent teenager Clinton Bowen on a three-month canal holiday in an effort to wean him from a life of crime.

Not surprisingly, the ‘punishment’ caused a furore. Even less surprisingly, it doesn’t appear to have worked very well.

Now 28, he’s grown up to be a serial burglar who specialises in raiding the homes of the old and vulnerable.

Canal Boy, as he became known, has just been jailed for five years after targeting the elderly in a series of burglaries to fund his drug addiction.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

UK: Tulay Murder ‘A Wake-Up Call’ Over ‘Honour Killings’

Mehmet Goren, the father of 15-year-old Tulay Goren, has been found guilty of murdering her after she fell in love with the wrong man. Tulay’s death serves as a “wake-up call” over the issue of such “honour killings”, a jury at the Old Bailey heard.

[…]

Tulay’s case is far from being an isolated incident, however. Police believe that about 12 women a year are the victims of “honour killings” in the UK. Many more suffer violence.

Honour killings have mostly occurred in families of South Asian and Middle Eastern origin. None of the world’s major religions condone honour-related crimes.

[…]

“In every case we have looked at, there’s always a conspiracy,” said Commander Steve Allen, the Association of Chief Police Officers’ lead on honour-based violence and forced marriage.

“There will be a meeting of the family, potentially involving other members of the community, to discuss and decide when the killing is going to be carried out, where, how and by whom,” he told the BBC.

In Tulay’s case, the Old Bailey jury also heard from Professor Yakin Erturk, a sociology professor at Ankara University and expert on “honour killings”. She was the first to give expert evidence at a case of this kind in the UK.

She said it was only in the past 15 years that such killings had become a recognised problem in Turkey, although there are an estimated 200 cases a year.

Prof Erturk, who is also the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women, described a culture where a cousin slit a woman’s throat in the street for requesting a song on a radio station.

Since Tulay’s death 10 years ago, police have made “remarkable” progress, said Cdr Allen.

Officers are now taught to recognise the risks of “honour-based violence” from the moment a report is made.

There is an awareness that some victims may be taken abroad, that the risk of violence against other family members exists and that some families will go to considerable lengths to find those who “escape”.

But the need to challenge “perverted” notions that a woman can compromise the “honour” of a family or community because she keeps the “wrong company”, has a boyfriend or is “too Western” in her dress or appearance remains, said Cdr Allen.

“There’s an absolutely crucial issue about the need for leadership within affected communities. There’s no middle ground here, you either condemn these practices or you collude with them.”

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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UK: You’re Not Worthy: Council Snubs Move to Honour British Army’s Most Decorated Regiment

They have fought bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan and count Victoria Cross hero Johnson Beharry among their number.

But the troops of the most decorated regiment in the British Army are the victim of an extraordinary snub by a council in Surrey, which says they are not ‘appropriate’ recipients of a public honour.

More than 2,000 people in Epsom have signed a petition to hand the freedom of the borough to the soldiers of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, which has won 57 Victoria Crosses in its 350-year history.

But a furious row has erupted after Liberal Democrats and independent councillors united to block the move — which would not cost taxpayers a penny — because the regiment, based in nearby Guildford, is ‘not local enough’.

The regiment said it would be a ‘huge honour’ to have the freedom of the borough and march through the streets of the town when they come home from fighting the Taliban.

More than 30 other councils have bestowed the same honour on the regiment, including Tunbridge Wells in Kent, 50 miles away.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Bosnia: Council of Europe, Warning Over Lack of Reforms

(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG, DECEMBER 17 — The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly at the Council of Europe launched a warning today over the lack of progress by Bosnia Herzegovina in carrying out the constitutional reforms necessary for giving stability to the country. Commenting on the report approved today by the Committee, which will be discussed and voted on during the next Assembly session (January 25-29 2010), the parliamentarians charged with drawing up the document said that because of the lack of reforms the country is not able to keep step with the neighbouring countries in the process of integration into the EU and NATO, and is less able to fulfill the commitments undertaken as a member of the Council of Europe. Because of the continued conflict and obstructions put in place by various bodies and political parties, the gap between Bosnia Herzegovina and its neighbours is growing day by day, says the report. A strong warning is made in the document, with an invitation to introduce the necessary reforms in time for them to go into effect before the elections set for next October. The Committee also believes that broad dialogue should be begun immediately over the challenges that the country must face in order to gain stability. This dialogue must also include the other local players in the European Union and neighbouring countries. Lastly, the report strongly condemns the statements and actions of politicians in the Republika Srpska who are undermining the institutions and placing the authority of the High Representative in doubt. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Algeria: Ten Arrested in Anti-Terror Operation

Algiers, 16 Dec. (AKI) — Algerian authorities have arrested ten suspected members of an Al-Qaeda cell in an anti-terrorism operation in the past two days, news reports said on Wednesday. The suspects were arrested in separate raids in the Algerian capital, Algiers, and in the east of the country, according to reports.

In the anti-terrorism operation in Algiers, police arrested six suspected members of cell linked to the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb — the terror network’s African branch.

The suspects allegedly gathered “large” sums of money for Al-Qaeda which they had extorted from small businesses on the outskirts of Algiers.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Drugs: Moroccan Hemp Fields Cultivation -60%

(ANSAmed) — RABAT, DECEMBER 17 — In 2009, the total surface area on which hemp was grown in the country dropped by 60% from 134,000 to 56,000 hectares, according to Khalid Zerouali, head of emigration and border control for the Moroccan Interior Ministry. Saying that he was satisfied with the results achieved, Zerouali cited the case of Larache in north-western Morocco, which has been declared “hemp-less city” for the fifth year in a row, as well as the 18 town councils of the Chefchaouen (north-west) province in which hemp growing has been entirely eradicated. According to Zerouali, also the struggle again trafficking networks is one of the main pillars of the Morocco’s strategy against drugs. He added that in 2009 a total of 1,345 people had been arrested, 50% of whom foreigners, and 180 tonnes of hashish seized.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt: Exorcism and Apparitions in Cairo’s Poor Areas

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 16 — Exorcisms and alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary are occurring in Cairo, in two of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods, and the two phenomena are drawing in throngs of the faithful, mostly Christian Copts but Muslims as well. The most recent event is the one which occurred last Friday in the El Waaraq neighbourhood, located in the Giza area. The Egyptian Gazette reports that many claim to have personally witnessed the Virgin Mary on the roof of St. Michaels church with her arms opening in their direction, while the smell of incense and a flock of doves surrounded the area. This event allegedly occurred at least twice, but a Church appointee was unable to capture it on video. People are now awaiting for the return of Copt pope Shenouda III to return to Cairo from the USA on the day after tomorrow. He is expected to set up a committee that will look into the alleged apparitions, and to decide on the now sizeable amount of money offered by the faithful. Independent newspaper Al Masri El Yom reports that the hundreds of people that gather in front of the church every night have now been joined by street vendors who sell food, drinks and cigarettes, while a nearby bar has taken advantage of the situation to offer its chairs for the price of five liras (slightly more than 50 cents). Some people are even lighting fires for warmth, seeing that the temperature at night drops down to 9 degrees. Another independent paper, Al Dostour (which speaks of thousands of Copts drawn in by the alleged apparitions) pointed out that even Muslims worship the Virgin Mary insofar as mother of the prophet Jesus. It also revealed that president Nasser, coming out of the heavy defeat during the 1967 Six-Day War, personally showed up to witness another apparition of the Virgin Mary that occurred in the Heliopolis area the following year. Daily News Egypt reported that exorcisms have instead been taking place for some time every Thursday in the Copt monastery of St. Simon on Moqattam Hill, in the squatter settlements area of Mansheryet Nasser. The exorcisms are carried out by father Ibrahim, who draws in many Christians and Muslims who are eager to receive his help. The ritual is apparently similar to the classic one provided by the Catholic church in such cases, and the possessed apparently behave as stated by tradition: forceful attempts to escape exorcism, screams and inhuman sounds, loathing of the holy, words spoken in other languages. In other words, the repertoire which repeatedly occurred through the centuries in the West until positivist psychiatry made its appearance, and which still occurs and is certainly not foreign to the Muslim culture. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt: Algerian Artist Complains Exclusion From Biennial

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 16 — Algeria is not among the countries included in the Biennale opening in Alessandria tomorrow. At fault are the political and diplomatic tensions with Egypt following that fateful World Cup qualifying football match. It is the artists who bear the brunt, and in this specific case Zineb Sedira, who, as AFP reports, has expressed “consternation” at being caught up in theis “soccer-based affair” between the two countries. During the hottest days of the crisis — following acts of violence on the part of Egyptian fans, which were met in more than ample measure by their Algerian counterparts to the cost of Egyptian businesses in that country — even the union organisations representing artists and musicians took nationalistic stances, announcing that there would be no more collaboration with their foreign colleagues. And the person in charge of fine arts, Mohsen Shaalan, who also chairs the Alexandria Biennale, announced on November 21 that Algeria’s attendance had been cancelled. “It was my opinion that we shared the same values,” the artist wrote in an open letter to the high commission of the Biennial for Mediterranean Countries, “and that we celebrated the same artistic virtues in overcoming national barriers other nationalistic trivia”.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Minarets: Egypt, Swiss Banks Could Lose Fund if Ban Enforced

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 17 — A joint committee of religious affairs, human rights and foreign relations of the People’s Assembly has recommended forming a parliamentary delegation to head for Switzerland to meet members of the Swiss parliament to warn of the gravity of a referendum held weeks ago on banning new mosque minarets. During a meeting on Wednesday, the committee called on Arab and Muslim businessmen to withdraw their assets from Swiss banks if the ban becomes law, MENA reports. MP Moustafa el-Feqi called for legislating an international law prohibiting any form of prejudice against religions, especially Islam, after the result of the recent referendum. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Morocco: Italy Commemorates Elisa Chimenti in Tangiers

(ANSAmed) — RABAT, DECEMBER 17 — Forty years after her death, yesterday evening in Tangiers Italy commemorated Elisa Chimenti, the writer who — alongside her doctor father — lived her entire life in Morocco and Tunisia. The evening in honour of ‘Elisa Chimenti, Mediterranean Woman’ was organised by the Italian consulate in Casablanca by the Casa Italia association in Tangiers, and was a chance to illustrate the plan for a foundation dedicated to the writer with offices in the Italian Institutions building, where she taught for many years. Re-launching the figure of Elisa Chimenti is intended as a way to analyse the relations between those living on the two shores of the Mediterranean while moving beyond existing stereotypes, and to show Italians and Moroccans how Mediterranean they are. It is significant that this happens in Tangiers, a cultural crossroads in which Elisa Chimenti highlighted Arab, Jewish and Berber roots. Ileana Marchesani and Karine Joseph, heads of the publishing houses Senso Unico and Sirocco, have announced an upcoming publication of an anthology on the writer’s works. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Christmas: Gaza Christians to Bethlehem, Israeli Go-Ahead

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 16 — According to reports in the country’s media, Israeli authorities have today announced their intention, during the Christmas period, to open the passes from the Gaza Strip to its tiny Christian community to allow them to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, which lies in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has been under an Israel blockade since the fundamentalist party Hamas seized power there. The decision also bears the hallmark of the urging of the Catholic hierarchy, as of other Christian churches. The Palestinian Christian minority, while sizeable in the West Bank, number no more than a few hundred in the Gaza Strip (which has a total population of around one and a half million). In all their numbers there are estimated by different sources at between 300 and one thousand. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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PNA: PLO Extends Abbas Mandate, Elections Off

(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH, DECEMBER 16 — As widely anticipated, the Executive Committee of the PLO has decided to extend the mandate of Mahmoud Abbas as President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), reaffirming its decision indefinitely to postpone the presidential and political elections called for January 24. The news has come on the margins of the two-day meeting underway in Ramallah. Speaking to ANSA, Nemer Hammad, a member of the executive committee and advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, said that the postponement also affects the Legislative Council (the parliament) and will hold until it is once more possible to call the elections which were cancelled due to the lack of an agreement with Hamas, the fundamentalist faction in control of the Gaza Strip. The election have been informally set for June 28 20120, but on condition that “national reconciliation” is achieved in the meantime. The Executive Committee also outlined a document approving the policy line presented by Mahmoud Abbas himself just yesterday: this subordinates a re-start of the peace process with Israel to a complete freezing of building activity in the settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. At the same time, any “return to violence” as an arm in political struggle was renounced. The PLO decision in effect deepens the split between Al Fatah (the lay party under Mahmoud Abbas which dominates the executive committee, but whose sway does not extend beyond the West Bank) and its Hamas rivals, who today confirmed through their leader in Gaza, Mahmud A-Zahar, that they do not recognise the legitimacy of decisions taken by the PLO, nor the role of the President of the PNA, “in the absence of a popular vote”.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Rare Gender Identity Defect Hits Gaza Families

There are an unusually high number of male pseudohermaphrodite births in the Gaza neighborhood of Jabalya, where Nadir and Ahmed live.

Dr. Jehad Abudaia, a Canadian-Palestinian pediatrician and urologist practicing in Gaza, says he has diagnosed nearly 80 cases like Nadir’s and Ahmed’s in the last seven years.

“It is astonishing that we have [so] many cases with this defect, which is very rare all over the world,” Abudaia says. He attributes the high frequency of this birth defect to “consanguinity,” or in-breeding.

“If you want to go to the root of the problem, this problem runs in families in the genes.” Abudaia says. “They want to get married to cousins… they don’t go to another family. This is a problem.”

— Hat tip: Esther

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UK-Livni: A Blunder for Peres But Storm Settling

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 16 — The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, today added his voice to the wave of protest coming from Israel at the arrest warrant issued, and then retracted by a UK court, for the former Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. Its agreement to the proceeding, which was issued on the basis of a statement made by a pressure group of Arab origins, accusing Israel of war crimes in connection with last winter’s offensive against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, “was one of London’s worst political blunders of the past years”, Peres stormed. The co-founder of the centrist Kadima party, which is currently in opposition, was speaking to Israeli media before leaving to attend the climate summit in Copenhagen. On its breaking yesterday, the affair sparked off a minor diplomatic storm between Israel and the United Kingdom, leading to the summoning of the UK Ambassador to Tel Aviv, Tom Pillips, although the government of Benyamin Netanyahu today shows signs of softening its tones. A spokesperson for the Israeli foreign office told ANSA, that no “further comments” are expected following yesterday evening’s reassurances by the British foreign minister, David Miliband, on the desire of Gordon Brown’s cabinet to introduce reforms in the justice system of England and Wales which would exclude a repetition of episodes such as this. Livni was indeed forced to postpone a planned visit to London: reforms would allow “political leaders of a friendly country” to visit the United Kingdom freely. The spokesperson also confirmed the telephone clarifications that have come in the past hours from Miliband to his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, as well as with Livni herself. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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A Policy of “Ethnic Cleansing” Against Christians Under Way in Mosul, Mgr Sako Says

The archbishop of Kirkuk says security measures will be strengthened during Christmas for fear of new attacks. Two attacks are carried out in Mosul yesterday; two churches are hit, one baby girl is dead and 40 people are wounded. Source tells AsiaNews that the Christian community is “destined to die” in the city.

Kirkuk (AsiaNews) — A policy of “ethnic and religious cleansing” is underway in Mosul; in fact, it has worsened as Christmas approaches, Mgr Louis Sako told AsiaNews. For the archbishop of Kirkuk, this means that “security measures must be strengthened or the holiday season”. Meanwhile, tensions and fear are palpable in the city, made worse by a new attack against two places of worship, killing one person and wounding 40 more. A Christian source, anonymous for security reasons, said that the “community is destined to die”.

In the late morning, a car bomb exploded in front of the Church of the Annunciation in the al- Mohandiseen neighbourhood, damaging walls and windows. The attackers also threw grenades against the nearby Christian school, killing a baby girl and injuring 40 more people, including five high school kids. Saad Younes, father of the 8-day-old child, said that the blast occurred when his daughter and sister-in-law were leaving the nearby hospital.

A second attack targeted the Syro-Catholic Church of the Immaculate in al-Shifaa, a neighbourhood in northern Mosul. An explosive device went off in the street in front of the building’s gate. No one was killed or injured.

Yesterday’s attacks are the latest episodes in a series of violence against Christian places of worship. On 26 November, terrorists razed to the ground the Church of Saint Ephrem and the Mother House of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine. A source told AsiaNews that most nuns left; only a few have remained but “are afraid of going out”.

Such attacks are a “warning” for Christians to leave en masse. Many “families have fled north, into Kurdistan, but are jobless and have no hope for the future. The Christian community is destined to die,” the source said.

Mgr Louis Sako shares this concern. For the archbishop of Kirkuk, “ethnic and religious cleansing” is underway in Mosul. The central government and parties are concerned only about the elections, scheduled for 7 March 2010, especially about “sharing the oil”.

The city’s political situation is complex. Arabs control local power; Kurds do not participate in the municipal council; and there is a strong presence of fundamentalist groups and members of Saddam Hussein’s old regime.

“The situation is very tense,” Mgr Sako said. “Just last week to Christian brothers were killed and two more were abducted. Where was the local government? And the Central government? Where are the representatives of the ruling parties?” the prelate asked.

Nevertheless, he said he hopes to see the Christian community achieve greater cohesion within to build a “strong power base” that can reject violence.

For the prelate, one possible response is for “Churches and Christian parties to make a strong statement, reiterating their steadfastness, and their commitment to Iraq, peace and coexistence between ethnic groups and religions. [. . .] To destroy this mosaic is to destroy Iraq,” he said. (DS)

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Dubai: Wife of Qaeda Number 2 Urges Women Not to Join Jihad

DUBAI — The wife of Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has appealed to Muslim women not to join the jihad themselves but to support their menfolk in holy war, US monitoring groups said on Thursday.

In a letter released by Al-Qaeda’s media arm As-Sahab entitled “A Message to the Muslim Sisters,” Omayma Hassan Ahmed Mohammed Hassan also called on the female faithful to resist Western pressure to shun the hijab, or headscarf, the monitors said.

The SITE group said that Zawahiri’s wife discouraged women from pursuing an active role in fighting, calling on them instead to support their husbands and male mujahedeen, and properly rear their children.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Dubai: Teachers Urged to Adopt Modern Methods

DUBAI — His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has urged education officials and experts to have students as the focus of the process of education as well as to avoid dictation in the teaching process.

He made these remarks at a two-day workshop organised by the Ministry of Education at Bab Al-Shams resort to develop a long-term education plan for the country’s schools. Present at the meeting was Minister of Education Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qattami.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Dubai Records 6,000 Offences on Its Beaches

More than 6,000 people have been stopped by the police for offences on Dubai’s beaches, records show.

Infractions range from ogling women, to kissing, to people swimming fully clothed or in their underwear.

Dubai’s authorities have stepped up their policing of what they regard as offensive behaviour.

The Gulf emirate is popular with tourists and Western expats. But most of the people stopped are workers from developing countries.

The police records detail offences logged in the first 10 months of 2009.

[…]

The country might have boomed on the back of it foreign workers and tourists, but many locals resent their behaviour.

Undercover police patrols of its packed beaches were initiated several years ago. Floodlights expose misbehaviour at night.

Couples kissing or touching, men watching women or taking photographs, and topless sunbathers can be stopped, questioned and even charged if they are repeat offenders.

The police say they have taken legal action against people accused of drinking, taking drugs and homosexuality.

But police statistics also reveal that the majority of those caught are from developing countries. The people who have largely built Dubai — but remain unwelcome on its beaches.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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In Baghdad, Hemlines Rise as Violence Falls

At the height of Iraq’s sectarian violence, being covered up in public was a matter of life and death for women. The dangers from Islamist fanatics were too great for women to dare to go without a headscarf or wear tight jeans or a short skirt. But times are changing in some parts of Baghdad. Some say it is a sign of greater freedom and security.

The hot fashion items for this season? Short skirts, tight jeans with long boots, and short jackets for cold days.

That may not sound exceptional, or even very trendy, but this is the fashion forecast from Baghdad, where the climate for more revealing women’s wear has been steadily improving. Many Iraqi women say it is a sign of returning security and freedom after years of war and sectarian tensions.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Insurgents Hacking U.S. Drones

[Translated by VH]

Shi’ite insurgents in Iraq have managed with cheap software to intercept video images transmitted from unmanned U.S. aircraft, known as predator drones. The rebels may therefore be better able to predict attack plans of the Americans and know which routes are under strict surveillance.

The successful hacking by insurgents is reported by The Wall Street Journal. High placed Americans have stessed to the newspaper stressed that the insurgents did not manage to take over the control of the unmanned aircraft. But the action does show that the strategy whereby the Americans in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq increasingly rely on drones is coupled with great risks.

The hacked video images prove that the insurgents by simple means already are able to formulate a response to the advanced American technology. The video images were hacked with software programs like SkyGrabber, that are sold for $25. The Americans were alarmed after a video from the drones was found in computers of Shi’ite insurgents. There is evidence that Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan have managed to hack video from the drones.

The Americans increasingly rely on unmanned aircraft, in an attempt to reduce casualties among their troops. Over a third of the budget for the U.S. Air Force is reserved for drones.

— Hat tip: VH

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Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones

WASHINGTON — Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.

Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.

U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants were able to take control of the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights. Still, the intercepts could give America’s enemies battlefield advantages by removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under U.S. surveillance.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Iran Test-Fires Advanced Missile

TV pictures showed the launch of the Sajjil-2 rocket, which experts say has the range to be able to hit Israel and US bases in the Gulf.

Correspondents say it is not the first time this missile has been tested, but the timing is likely to add to current tension over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The West says Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.

The US said the test “undermined Iran’s claims of peaceful intentions”.

— Hat tip: JD

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Iran: Tehran Tests ‘Long Range Missile’

Tehran, 16 Dec. (AKI) — Iran has successfully test fired its longest range missile, according to state television. The Sajjil-2 missile test fired on Tuesday has a longer range than previously tested missiles which could travel 2,000 kilometres, Iran’s Arabic language satellite channel said.

The missile would put be capable of reaching targets in the Middle East as well as Israel and US bases in the Gulf.

The latest test came on the same day that Iran’s judiciary announced it had evidence against opposition leaders claiming that they had stoked anti-government tension on the streets after disputed elections in June.

The announcement by judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani may be a sign that opposition leaders are about to be arrested.

“We have enough proof about the leaders of this plot against the system,” Larijani said.

The announcement of the test came only hours after the US approved legislation to impose sanctions on foreign companies that help to supply fuel to Iran.

In September Iran was heavily criticised after testing its Sajjil and Shahab missiles.

At the time, the White House called them “provocative”, and reiterated demands that Iran come clean on its nuclear programme.

Neither Israel nor the United States have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve their differences.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Lebanese Woman Opens Bank Account in Rights Precedent

A Lebanese woman opened a bank account in the name of her underage children on Thursday, setting a precedent in a country where females often face legal discrimination.

“I’ve been trying to open a bank account for my two sons for 10 years now, but I was continuously told that only my husband could sign the papers,” Lebanese-American Barbara Batlouni told AFP.

“It’s unfair. They’re my children too and I don’t see why I cannot, as their mother, teach them to manage their finances,” she said at the headquarters of Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (BBAC).

— Hat tip: Esther

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Plot Targeting Turkey’s Religious Minorities Allegedly Discovered

CD indicates naval officers planned violence against non-Muslim communities.

ISTANBUL, December 16 (Compass Direct News) — Chilling allegations emerged last month of a detailed plot by Turkish naval officers to perpetrate threats and violence against the nation’s non-Muslims in an effort to implicate and unseat Turkey’s pro-Islamic government. Evidence put forth for the plot appeared on an encrypted compact disc discovered last April but was only recently deciphered; the daily Taraf newspaper first leaked details of the CD’s contents on Nov. 19.

Entitled the “Operation Cage Action Plan,” the plot outlines a plethora of planned threat campaigns, bomb attacks, kidnappings and assassinations targeting the nation’s tiny religious minority communities — an apparent effort by military brass to discredit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The scheme ultimately called for bombings of homes and buildings owned by non-Muslims, setting fire to homes, vehicles and businesses of Christian and Jewish citizens, and murdering prominent leaders among the religious minorities.

Dated March 2009, the CD containing details of the plot was discovered in a raid on the office of a retired major implicated in a large illegal cache of military arms uncovered near Istanbul last April. Once deciphered, it revealed the full names of 41 naval officials assigned to carry out a four-phase campaign exploiting the vulnerability of Turkey’s non-Muslim religious minorities, who constitute less than 1 percent of the population.

— Hat tip: JD

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Saudi Arabia: Mosques Told to ‘Ease Off’ Mayor

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has warned imams and those giving Friday sermons to refrain from apportioning blame over the Jeddah floods and to instead concentrate on “consoling bereaved families” in this and coming Friday sermons.

“A lot of families of victims are going through a terrible time at the moment because of the disaster and the emotional, physical and financial tragedies it has left in its wake, so the ministry has advised that sermons keep to consolation and care from the aspect of Shariah,” said the Manager of the Ministry’s Endowments and Mosques in Jeddah, Sheikh Faheed Al-Barqi..

“This is part of the ministry’s continuous program of the state’s involvement in helping the public tackle problems of all types, as the Friday sermon is the pulse of the people,” Al-Barqi said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Yemen: Up to 34 Al-Qaida Militants Killed

SAN’A, Yemen — Security forces struck several al-Qaida hideouts and training sites in Yemen on Thursday, killing up to 34 suspected militants, including four would-be suicide bombers who planned attacks at home and abroad. At least 17 suspected militants were arrested.

The operations against al-Qaida in the San’a area and a southern province came as Yemen is under U.S. pressure to act more vigorously against the terror network on its territory.

An impoverished nation in the Arabian Peninsula’s southwestern corner, Yemen has struggled in its efforts to deal with al-Qaida’s growing presence as well as its homegrown Islamic extremism.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Azerbaijan: Discontent Over Mosque Demolition Continues in Baku

After last week’s clampdown of demonstrations in Baku to object a bid which allows the demolition of an iconic mosque, Azeri intellectuals have condemned the government.

Residents of the Azeri capital of Baku took to the streets last week after Baku’s Second Economic Court, in what is widely believed to be a politicized verdict, ordered the Fatemeh Zahra Mosque in Baku to be razed.

To break up the demonstrations, police and security forces attacked protesters with clubs and batons, leaving some in a critical state.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Muslim Revival Brings Polygamy, Camels to Chechnya

GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) — Adam, 52, keeps his three wives in different towns to stop them squabbling, but the white-bearded Chechen adds he might soon take a fourth.

“Chechnya is Muslim, so this is our right as men. They (the wives) spend time together, but do not always see eye to eye,” said the soft-spoken pensioner, who only gave his first name.

Hardline Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov is vying with insurgents for authority in a land ravaged by two secessionist wars with Moscow. Each side is claiming Islam as its flag of legitimacy, each reviles the other as criminal and blasphemous.

Wary of the dangers of separatism in a vast country, Moscow watches uneasily as central power yields to Islamic tenets. It must chose what it might see as the lesser of two evils.

Though polygamy is illegal in Russia, the southern Muslim region of Chechnya encourages the practice, arguing it is allowed by sharia law and the Koran, Islam’s holiest book.

By Russian law, Adam is only married to his first wife of 28 years, Zoya, the plump, blue-eyed mother of his three children, with whom he shares a home on the outskirts of the regional capital Grozny.

His “marriages” to the other two — squirreled away in villages nearby — were carried out in elaborate celebrations and are recognized by Chechen authorities.

The head of Chechnya’s Center for Spiritual-Moral Education, Vakha Khashkanov, set up by Kadyrov a year ago, said Islam should take priority over laws of the Russian constitution.

“If it is allowed in Islam, it is not up for discussion,” he told Reuters near Europe’s largest mosque, which glistens in central Grozny atop the grounds where the Communist party had its headquarters before the Soviet Union fell in 1991.

“As long as you can feed your wives, and there’s equality amongst them, then polygamy is allowed in Chechnya,” he added.

Islam is flourishing in Chechnya which, along with its neighbors Dagestan and Ingushetia, is combating an Islamist insurgency which aims to create a Muslim, sharia-based state separate from Russia across the North Caucasus.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Suicide Bomber Wounds 18 People in Russia’s South

NAZRAN, Russia — A suicide car bomber struck a group of policemen in Russia’s restive North Causasus on Thursday, killing himself and wounding at least 16 officers and two civilians, officials said.

The bomber attacked the group of policemen at a checkpoint in the city of Nazran in the province of Ingushetia, said Madina Khadziyeva, a spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry’s branch in the province. Ingushetia neighbors Chechnya to the west.

The explosion wounded 16 officers and two civilians, many of whom are in critical condition, said Svetlana Gorbakova of Russia’s top investigative body.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Christian Members of Heed Bangladesh Accuse Director of Corruption

More than US$ 300,000 has been embezzled. Employees sound the alarm. Projects to benefit 8.5 million poor are in jeopardy. Elgin Saha is said to have turned NGO set up to “bear witness to the Christian message” into a “family business.” Donations from around the world dry up.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Christian members of Heed Bangladesh, an NGO involved in healthcare, education and economic development, have accused Elgin Saha, the organisation’s executive director, of turning the charity into a “family business”, putting more than US$ 300,000 of donations in his own pockets.

Speaking at a press conference held on Monday in Dhaka, employees of the NGO said they want to see “justice” done and have the money returned. They supported their claim with evidence of illegalities in how the organisation’s funds were managed.

The charges are very serious indeed. Elgin Saha (pictured here with his family) is accused of placing his wife Teresa Saha, son Timon Saha, sisters and other relatives in key positions within the association in order to siphon money donated by Christians around the world.

Between July 2007 and June 2008, Heed Bangladesh received about 53,000,000 taka (US$ 770,000) from Christian-based donor associations in Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands and Great Britain.

One of the employees, David Biswas, said that the NGO was created in order to “bear witness to the message of Christ before the nation.” However over time, it has become a “family business” for Elgin Saha, and this is jeopardising projects that would benefit “8.5 million poor people.”

Another employee said that “some projects have [already] been cancelled” after donors began complaining.

“Christmas is coming and our future is in danger. We could end up in the street,” he said.

Elgin Saha has denied the allegations of corruption, blaming instead the employees of being involved in a “conspiracy” against him.

Meanwhile, the NGO Affairs Bureau is looking into the case after receiving formal complaints alleging corruption, saying that the government will take proper action shortly.

In order to make their point, Heed Bangladesh employees began a protest outside the organisation’s offices, which they say would continue until “justice is done.”

“Let us hope that Jesus will bring us good news for Christmas and save our lives,” they said.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Club Promotes Polygamy in Indonesia

It is a scene of peaceful serenity. Rows of men kneel in deep prayer inside a large hall on the outskirts of Jakarta. The women sit just behind them, their heads bowed in quiet contemplation.

It could be afternoon prayers anywhere in Indonesia, a vast Muslim-majority archipelago, but this scene happens to be inside the sprawling headquarters of Jakarta’s newest club — the “Global Ikhlwan” polygamy club.

Tucked away in a leafy suburb a few hours out of Jakarta, the club was set up in Indonesia earlier this year, but has its origins in Malaysia.

It says it has more than 1,000 members worldwide — as far away as Australia and the United States.

In Indonesia, the law allows men to marry more than one woman — but only under strict conditions, which makes the practice of polygamy less common here than in other Muslim nations.

But that could change if the controversial new polygamy club is a success.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Faisalabad: Two Christians Imprisoned for Blasphemy Released

Gulsher Masih and his daughter Sandal were indicted for allegedly ripping some pages of the Koran. The story fabricated by a group of extremists, incited by mosques in the village. Human rights activist: discriminatory laws and the mentality of people need to be changed.

Faisalabad (AsiaNews) — Gulsher Masih and his daughter Sandal, from a village near Faisalabad, indicted and arrested on charges of blasphemy against Islam in October last year, were released on December 14. Khalil Tahir, Gulsher and Sandal’s lawyer, confirmed the ruling of the court in Faisalabad to AsiaNews.

The two Christians were accused of blasphemy under Article 295 paragraph B of the Pakistan Penal Code October 9, 2008. They were charged with having torn some pages from the Koran in the village of Tehsil Chak Jhumra, located in the district of Faisalabad.

Some Muslims who were walking near the Gulsher home accused Masih and his daughter Sandal of “having torn pages of the Koran and thrown them on the street”. The story spread among the mosques of the village, sparking the revolt of an angry mob. Residents of neighbouring villages also took part in the assault, marching with torches to the village, shouting “Death to blasphemers”.

The crowd began throwing stones at the walls of the Gulsher house and hit doors and windows with sticks. They also hurled rocks at an adjacent Protestant church. After months of suffering, the two Christians were declared innocent: the judge Raja Mohammad Ghazanfer dropped all charges and ordered their immediate release.

Khalil Tahir, a Christian MP and lawyer, told AsiaNews that “although it is very difficult to defend Christians accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, thank God I was able to successfully demonstrate their extraneousness to the facts. All charges against them were groundless, because based on personal disagreements. “

Tahir is the director of Action Against Discriminatory Laws (Adal), non-governmental organization that provides free legal assistance. He adds that “the problem is not only the discriminatory laws,” but also “the use of the norm for personal purposes, we must work hard — he concludes — in both directions, to eliminate discriminatory laws and to change people’s mentality”.

According to data collected by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Church of Pakistan, from 1986 to August 2009, at least 964 people have been charged under the blasphemy law: among these 479 were Muslims, 119 Christians, 340 Ahmadis , 14 Hindu and 10 of unknown religion. There have been at least 33 extra-judicial killings, committed by individuals or angry crowds. Last on this sad list is Fanish, who died last September, for whom Christians are still waiting for justice.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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French, US Troops in Major Operation East of Kabul: Military

UZBEEN VALLEY, Afghanistan — More than 1,100 soldiers, including 800 French legionnaires as well as US and Afghan commandos, launched a major operation Thursday east of the Afghan capital, military officials said.

Five US special forces were wounded, in the fighting in the Uzbeen Valley, a Taliban stronghold where 10 French soldiers were killed in an ambush in August 2008, the officials said.

The operation, codenamed “Septentrion”, was aimed at “reaffirming the sovereignty of Afghan security forces in the north of the Uzbeen Valley,” Colonel Benoit Durieux of the French Foreign Legion said.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Get Out of Afghanistan Now

I’ll say it, again.

It’s time to bring all U.S. soldiers home from Afghanistan now.

I don’t know where Code Pink is these days.

I don’t know where that anti-war movement went.

I don’t understand why the escalation of a war by leadership that cannot define victory is not a problem for more Americans.

This week WND reported the details of America’s new rules of engagement in Afghanistan. The situation is much worse than I imagined.

In effect, the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban has deteriorated into a police action not much different than the one cops in America wage every day against common criminals at home.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

India: How Christian is Sonia Gandhi?

Hindu extremists accuse her of being a “Vatican spy,” but the chairperson of the ruling UPA party coalition is very reserved about her religion. Unlike other women who were widowed by terrorism, she has rejected vengeance against those who killed her husband Rajiv; like Gladys Staines who forgave Dara Singh, the extremist responsible for burning her husband and two children to death.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — To ask how Christian is a person is surely a provocative and impertinent question. First of all, because nobody has the right to judge another person and second, because there are hardly any criteria to measure the religiosity of a person. Nevertheless, recent and past events give us a chance to look into this question.

Sonia Maino, born and grown up in Italy, a Catholic country, met in England her future husband, Rajiv Gandhi, student and the first son of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. While she was simply one of the daughters-in-law of the Prime Minister, nobody bothered to remark her origin and her religious connections. However, when Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, after the assassination of the mother in1984, then the Sangh Parivar started worrying about the possible religious connections of Sonia and her influence on Indian affairs. They called her the spy of the Vatican and saw in her the beginning of the conversion of the whole India. This aggressiveness made her over-conscious of the implication of her Italian and Catholic origin and she never appeared practicing any Christian devotion in public or making any religious statement. Also at the state funeral of Mother Teresa, when Communion was offered to all the Catholics, she abstained.

On the contrary, LK Advani, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), freely proclaims his esteem of Jesus Christ. Invited in November for the Golden Jubilee of the Archdiocese of Delhi he said, “I revere Jesus Christ for his message of universal peace and brotherhood. I deeply value the contribution of our Christian brethren”

The situation of Sonia became more difficult after the assassination of her husband by the Tamil terrorist in 1991. Immediately after that, she refused to enter the political arena and left the government in the hand of Narasihma Rao, a Congress leader, which was followed by the government of opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Then she accepted the chairmanship of the Congress Party and was able to bring it back to govern India in 2004.

Rajiv and Sonia got two children: Raul, that seems to be the natural political heir of the dynasty, he is still bachelor, and Priyanka who got married to a Protestant Christian and they have two children.

The recent events that can make us think happened on the anniversary of terror attack in Mumbai. Three days before the first anniversary, Kavita Karkare and Smita Salaskar, wives of the slain Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar respectively, met UPA (United Progressive Alliance, the coalition at the government) chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence. After the meeting, the two widows told the media that Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving captured terrorist, should be hanged.

“It was difficult to overlook the paradox of that meeting, wrote Monobina Gupta. Here were three widows — wives of two policemen and Sonia Gandhi herself- each had been a victim of unbridled violence fuelled by revenge. Each had suffered tragically. Karkare and Salaskar said the conversation was personal and they reiterated to Gandhi that ‘families of the victims and those of the martyrs wanted Kasab hanged’.

Few will forget how Sonia Gandhi, after losing her husband in a cold-blooded terrorist assassination, granted clemency to Nalini, the assassin. She had Nalini’s death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Like Kasab, Nalini was the sole surviving conspirator of the five-member squad responsible for the Rajiv Gandhi’s murder. Compassion for Nalini’s five-year-old daughter had clearly taken precedence over Sonia’s personal longing for retributive justice.

Priyanka Gandhi was in her teens when her father was blown up. Seventeen years on, treading in her mother footsteps, she went to meet Nalini in the prison to “come to term with the violence haunting the entire family”. Later she said, “I don’t believe in anger, hatred and violence. And refuse to allow it to overpower my life.”

Another beautiful example of Christian forgiveness is the one of Gladys Staines who forgave Dara Singh, the man who torched to death her missionary husband Graham Staines and their two young sons while they were asleep in the jeep.

“Was it her religious faith or her gender that made her so brave?” asks Monobina Gupta. Gladys gave the answer on several occasions, saying that Christians can be recognized when, like Jesus on the cross, they forgive their tormentors.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

India: Muslim Leaders Exhort Youth to Join Civil Services

MUMBAI: Muslim community leaders are trying to inspire the youth to aim for the civil services. Three days after the Haj Committee of India launched its coaching centre for civil services exams at Haj House near CST, another initiative kicked off on Wednesday. The community leaders presented some IPS officers as role models.

The officers, who lauded the efforts of civil society in motivating youth, asked students to shed their defeatist mentality and try to crack the civil services exams.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Pakistan: Code Broken, Al-Qaida Attack Feared

Terrorists reportedly use wedding invitations to deliver instructions

LONDON — Officers for Britain’s Security Service, MI5, have discovered that a top al-Qaida terrorist in Pakistan has been using invitations to Muslim weddings as a code to launch attacks, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

It’s feared that recent references to a “wedding” could refer to a forthcoming attack in the United Kingdom, even though no actual location is specified in the message.

— Hat tip: JD

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Sarkozy Accused of Corruption in Karachi Bomb Scandal

A lawyer has accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of being “at the heart of the corruption” which allegedly led to the deaths of 14 people in a bomb attack in the Pakistani city of Karachi in 2002. Families have started legal action against former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur in the case.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Socialist Kim Jong-Il Bans ‘Capitalist’ Hairstyle

[translated from the Dutch by VH]

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has banned silly hairstyles. The idea for the ban arose because Jong-il had was annoyed by the “capitalist style” hairdo of one of his employees.

“Is she a real Korean woman? Why has she traded in our traditional beauty for bad foreign habits of capitalists?” the leader of the Socialist police-state Kim Jong-il said. From now on men have to wear their hair short cut, women may have long hair but it must be tied up.

The new rules for the Korean population are not only confined to the hairstyle of the men and women. Western clothing like short skirts, tight trousers and wide pant legs are not allowed to not be worn anymore.

— Hat tip: VH

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Bias Denied as Swan Valley Mosque Rejected

PLANS to build a mosque for the Bosnian Muslim community of Perth’s Swan Valley have been almost unanimously rejected by the local council on the grounds it would not fit in with the area’s rural character.

The proposal for the two-storey mosque with a 21m-high minaret had been strongly opposed by the community, with the City of Swan receiving 139 objections from 143 submissions during a public comment period last year.

Opposition to the building also drew support from the anti-immigrant Australian Protectionist Party. Eleven out of 12 councillors present at a meeting on Wednesday night voted against the development.

— Hat tip: Esther

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New Zealand: Poor Joseph. God Was a Hard Act to Follow

An unholy row has broken out in New Zealand over a church billboard aimed at “challenging stereotypes” about the birth of Jesus Christ.

The mischievous biblical bedroom billboard was defaced just over five hours after it was erected. The controversial billboard, erected by St Matthew-in-the-City Church about 11am, shows Joseph looking down dejectedly and Mary looking sad. Underneath is a caption, “Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow.” The church has said it erected the billboard to inspire people to talk about the Christmas story. The church’s archdeacon said its mischievous biblical bedroom billboard had provoked support and disapproval in about equal measures. Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the church had received emails and phone calls since it made the public aware of the billboard yesterday.

The billboard has already raised the wrath of the traditional values pressure group Family First. “The church can have its debate on the Virgin birth and its spiritual significance inside the church building, but to confront children and families with the concept as a street billboard is completely irresponsible and unnecessary,” Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said. “The church has failed to recognise that public billboards are exposed to all of the public including children and families who may be offended by the material.” Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said the image was inappropriate and disrespectful.

The archdeacon said the plan behind the billboard was to lampoon the literal interpretation of the Christmas conception story.

— Hat tip: VH

[Return to headlines]

New Zealand: Semi-Nude Mary and Joseph Spark Outrage

Anglican church defends Christmas billboard campaign showing couple in bed together

A New Zealand church has sparked outrage by erecting a billboard depicting Mary and Joseph lying semi-nude beneath the sheets.

In an unorthodox take on the Christmas tale, the billboard depicts a forlorn Joseph and Mary looking to the sky with a caption which reads: “Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow.”

The St Matthew-in-the-City church said it wanted to inspire people to talk about the Christmas story.

But within five hours of the billboard going up in downtown Auckland a man was standing on his car roof painting over the raunchy image.

Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the church meant to challenge a fundamentalist interpretation of Christ’s birth.

“What we’re trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about. Is it about a spiritual male God sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?”

Cardy said one person had threatened to tear down the billboard but that of the 20 odd emails and phone calls he had received “about 50% said they loved it, and about 50% said it was terribly offensive”.

The Catholic church joined those on the attack, accusing the Anglican church of disrespect.

“It’s flying in the face of our 2,000-year-old beliefs,” a Catholic church spokesman, Lyndsay Freer, said.

The conservative Family First organisation said the Anglican church could debate the Bible story away from the public eye. “To confront children and families with the concept as a street billboard is completely irresponsible and unnecessary,” Family First’s national director, Bob McCoskrie, said.

A complaint has been lodged with New Zealand’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Authority, but Cardy was unrepentant.

“I don’t see why one person’s protest should deny other people the enjoyment of the billboard.”

[Return to headlines]

New Zealand: Christians Outraged by Poster Showing Mary and Joseph After Sex

A risque church billboard showing the Virgin Mary and Joseph in bed apparently after having disappointing sex has caused outrage among Christians in New Zealand.

The large poster depicts a dejected-looking Joseph lying next to Mary, whose eyes are turned heavenwards, under the words: “Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow.”

Both figures, painted in classical fresco style, appear to be naked.

Within hours of the billboard being erected outside the Anglican church of St Matthew’s in the City, in central Auckland, it had been attacked by a man who clambered on to the roof of his car to smear brown paint over it.

— Hat tip: Esther

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‘Somali Pirates’ Held by Dutch Freed: Defence Ministry

THE HAGUE — A band of suspected Somali pirates captured by the Dutch navy after a failed attack on a cargo ship are to be freed after no country would agree to prosecute them, Dutch officials said Thursday.

“The European Union has decided… that the (Dutch warship that captured the pirates) Evertsen must let the 13 Somali pirates go,” the Dutch defence ministry said in a statement.

“The European Union has tried in vain since their arrest to find a country which would agree to prosecute them,” the statement added.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Islam is the New Religion in Rebellious Mexican State Chiapas

More and more Mayan and Tzotzil people in the Mexican state Chiapas are becoming Muslims. It’s fifteen years since the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas and the region has undergone some profound changes. One of them is the emergence of Islam as a new religion in the state. The Muslim community, dominated by converted Mayans and Tzotzils , is slowly gaining ground.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Nicole Ferrand in the Americas Report: Pro-Iran Chavista Daniel Ortega Overturns Term Limits

In recent years, we have been witnessing a pattern in Latin America, where Presidents are elected democratically and then abuse their powers to extend their time in office. Coincidently, these new caudillos are all leftist populists and followers of Hugo Chavez from Venezuela, who started the trend. After 10 years in power, the controversial leader won a referendum in February that abolished term limits for presidents — a move he says is critical to carrying out his “Bolivarian Revolution.” His allies Evo Morales in Bolivia and Rafael Correa in Ecuador have followed suit, each winning the right to consecutive reelection through constitutional reform, after illegally appointing people of their own political parties to key justice positions.

Most recently, former Honduran President and Chavez’s ally, Manuel Zelaya, was close to securing an indefinite time in power, when he was stopped in his tracks by a resilient opposition who, in spite of being pressured by the OAS and the United States to reinstate the former leader, has stuck to its democratic principles. This loss was almost too much for Chavez, who wants to have control over Latin America to carry out his “Revolution of the XXI Century.” Luckily for him, Daniel Ortega from Nicaragua whose first five-year term began in 1985 has stepped to the plate and has won a Supreme Court ruling last month that paves the way for his reelection in 2011. And he did it in the right moment too, just when the focus of the US administration and the OAS has been on Honduras. Few have paid attention to Nicaragua’s alarming situation that affects both regional and US national security…

— Hat tip: CSP

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Venezuela’s Chavez Sees US Threat in Dutch Islands

COPENHAGEN — Hugo Chavez accused the Netherlands on Thursday of allowing the United States to use Dutch islands off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast to prepare a possible military attack against his country.

The Venezuelan leader said the U.S. military, to prepare for a possible offensive, has sent intelligence agents, war ships and spy planes to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which are self-governing Dutch islands.

“They are three islands in Venezuela’s territorial waters, but they are still under an imperial regime: the Netherlands,” Chavez said during a speech at a climate change conference in Denmark. “Europe should know that the North American empire is filling these islands with weapons, assassins, American intelligence units, and spy planes and war ships.”

— Hat tip: Esther

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International Deal to Resettle 78 Tamils in Several Countries

AUSTRALIA is on the verge of clinching a deal with New Zealand, Canada, Norway and possibly the US to help resettle the 78 Tamil asylum-seekers rescued by the Australian Customs vessel the Oceanic Viking.

The Australian understands a number of countries have indicated a willingness to take some of the Sri Lankans, who were rescued in October after their boat foundered.

However, while sources say “a significant” number of the Sri Lankans are expected to be resettled in third countries, Australia is still set to take the majority.

News of the expected breakthrough came as a boat carrying 55 people was intercepted off Ashmore Reef on Tuesday night.

The interception — the 54th this year — will push the immigration detention centre on Christmas Island to a boatload from breaking point.

According to an Immigration Department spokesman, there are currently 1443 detainees on the island.

But when the 55 intercepted on Tuesday arrive the number will jump to 1498, just 62 shy of the centre’s current capacity of 1560.

There is a growing expectation the government will begin transferring asylum-seekers to detention centres on the mainland, possibly as early as next week. At least three countries — New Zealand, Canada and Norway — are believed to have indicated to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees a willingness to take some of the 78 Tamils.

The US is also understood to be interested, although it is not clear if a formal offer has been made.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Shock for Worthing Day-Trippers After Illegal Immigrant Found

WORTHING day-trippers received a shock when a would-be illegal immigrant was found hiding in the wheel arch of their coach. Around 40 passengers on a Worthing Coaches trip to Cite Europe, in Calais, France, were left stunned when immigration officers at the ferry port found the hidden man, believed to be an Afghan national, during routine checks.

After the coach drivers were questioned by port officials for around an hour, the group were allowed to continue on their way.

Passenger Rod Melling, from Worthing, said the man was believed to have hidden on the coach when it was parked at Cite Europe.

He added: “The drivers said they could be in serious trouble for having not spotted this person when they left Cite Europe and that they had been told by the officials they could be liable for a fine of up to £2,000.

“However, after further delay they were apparently told they would not be prosecuted, at which news the passengers all applauded, as we liked the drivers and would not have wanted them to be held responsible for this incident.”

Paul Barringer, sales director of Lucketts Travel, the parent company of Worthing Coaches, said: “The drivers were spoken to by the authorities.

“They checked the circumstances and were perfectly satisfied the drivers and us had followed the normal procedures.

“Our coaches make the trip several times a week and it’s the first time in my three years with this company I’ve known it happen. It’s a very rare occurrence.”

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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UK: A Gaping Hole in Our £1.2bn ‘Eborder’ Net: Crackdown is Hopelessly Diluted to Meet EU Law

Labour’s £1.2billion ‘electronic borders’ scheme to protect Britain from illegal immigrants and terrorists descended into a shambles last night.

The project’s success depends on logging every passenger movement in and out of the UK so police, border guards and the security service know who is here.

But, in order for the scheme to be ruled legal by EU bureaucrats, the Government has been forced to make a raft of concessions to Brussels.

These include EU citizens and their relatives — regardless of nationality — being allowed to enter the UK even if they refuse to hand over their personal details in advance.

Effectively, the crucial compulsory element of the eborders scheme has been stripped away for millions of people.

Even non-EU citizens will be entitled to fly to Britain without providing the details in advance to eborders so they could be scrutinised. They could, however, then be refused entry.

— Hat tip: JD

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College Prof: Christian Crosses Like Swastikas

Student: ‘I felt humiliated and that my spirituality was being demeaned’

A student says a Dallas public community-college teacher compared crosses to swastikas while explaining a school ban on religious items made in ceramics classes.

[…]

Mitchell said she then asked him if he considered a swastika offensive.

He responded, “Of course.”

“She then proceeded to compare the cross to a swastika,” his complaint states. “She stated that many individuals view the cross as an offensive symbol in the same was that many people are offended by swastikas, and that his crosses would therefore not be fired by the department.”

Another student identified only as E.D., claims the department told her to “expand her horizons” when she constructed a cross in ceramics class. She said the adjunct professor teaching the course specifically said she could make any item except a cross.

E.D. said Watral phoned her and told her to “pick up her damn crosses” from the school. But she said when she went to retrieve them, they were destroyed.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Thousands Demand Obama Dump ‘Safe Schools Czar’

Jennings accused of promoting ‘explicit and vile sexual content’

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following includes descriptions of adult themes and objectionable subject material.

Demand for the removal of homosexual advocate Kevin Jennings from his position as chief of the Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools is growing, with the Washington Post saying the appointment was wrong and thousands joining a petition.

— Hat tip: JD

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Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Cooling Dramatically

SAN FRANCISCO — When the sun is relatively inactive — as it has been in recent years — the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere cools dramatically, new observations find.

The results could help scientists better understand the swelling and shrinking of our planet’s atmosphere, a phenomenon that affects the orbits of satellites and space junk.

The data, from NASA’s TIMED mission, show that Earth’s thermosphere (the layer above 62 miles or 100 km above the Earth’s surface) “responds quite dramatically to the effects of the 11-year solar cycle,” Stan Solomon of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., said here this week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Knowing just how the energy flowing out from the sun naturally impacts the state of the thermosphere also will help scientists test predictions that man’s emissions of carbon dioxide should cool this layer. (While that may seem to contradict the idea of global warming, it has long been known that carbon dioxide causes warming in the lowest part of the atmosphere and cooling in the upper layers of the atmosphere.)…

— Hat tip: Fjordman

[Return to headlines]

Jihad Forbidden for Women

[Translated by VH]

Muslim women must stay home, support their husbands and take care of their children. It is not the purpose that they join fighting in the Jihad against the West. Says [one of the wives] of Ayman al-Zawahiri in a “press release” from al-Qaeda.

Al-Zawahiri’s wife encouraged Muslim women, despite everything, to continue to wear headscarves. They must resist attempts by Western countries to ban wearing the hijab.

The call is a setback for Hamas. The Palestinian terror organization regularly sends women on suicide missions.

— Hat tip: VH

[Return to headlines]

Real or Fake? “White People Stole My Car” Is Big on Google

For the past week, the phrase “white people stole my car” has been Googled like crazy.

Perplexingly, though, there were few results yielded by this popular search and most links lead to some fairly nasty malware. Finally, the above screenshot surfaced, which seems to at least solve the mystery of why the phrase was so popular on Google. As the screenshot above implies, Googling the term “white people stole my car” results in the search engine asking if black people stole my car. Well that’s… really not cool, Google!

But is it real or fake? As of now, Google does not correct the phrase in a racially insensitive way. And while it does appear that at one time Google did, it’s entirely possible and plausible that someone misspelled “black people stole my car,” got the correction shown, and altered the search text as a prank.

I tried to re-fake a screenshot, but it seems that Google is not correcting any searches to say “black people stole my car” anymore. Bummer.

— Hat tip: TV

[Return to headlines]

Reuters Plans Islamic Finance Portal

CAIRO — Realizing its importance and potentials, the international financial services information company Thompson Reuters is planning to launch a news portal covering information about the Islamic financial industry in early 2010.

“At present there is no global connectivity for the industry and this platform will be able to connect up players from across the globe,” Rushdi Siddiqui, Thomson Reuters global head of Islamic finance, told Gulf Daily News on Wednesday, December 16.

“It will help to increase work flow in the industry with real time news across developments in all asset classes as well as provide data and analytical tools.”

— Hat tip: Esther

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Sea Rose Eight Metres in Warmer Age: Study

Sea levels were likely eight metres higher around 125,000 years ago when polar temperatures were 3-5 degrees C warmer, says a new study published Wednesday to show the effects of global warming.

The research by the US universities of Harvard and Princeton was released in the journal Nature as the world’s nations met in Denmark to forge a strategy to head off harmful effects of global warming blamed on greenhouse gases.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Some nasty right-wing extremists recently vandalized the war memorial in Burton, East Staffordshire.

At least that’s the opinion of the chairman of East Staffordshire Racial Equality Council. After all, who else but the far right is likely to deface a war memorial?

Here’s the report from The Burton Mail-News:

Vandals deface the town war memorial

A ROYAL British Legion boss says vandals have “dishonoured those who have given their lives for our country” by defacing Burton’s war memorial.

Roy Whenman, vice-chairman of the town’s Legion branch, received calls from members saying an extremist message had been written on the statue. Having been informed at 9.20am, borough council chiefs had cleaned the graffiti from the relic, situated outside Burton College, in Lichfield Street, by 9.40am.

If you open the linked article and look at the photo, there’s no sign of any graffiti visible. The only evidence we have of it is the eyewitness reports.

Mr Whenman, of Birches Close, Stretton, has described whoever committed the offence as “diabolical”.

He said: “There’s nothing worse, in my eyes, than discrediting a war memorial. It dishonours those who have given their lives for our country.

[…]

“What I would say to them is there are other ways of expressing your anger about certain issues.”

Aha! What might be those “certain issues” be? The article doesn’t specify, but there are theories of who the diabolical vandals might have been:

Dennis Fletcher, chairman of East Staffordshire Racial Equality Council, said he suspected someone from the far right was responsible.

He said: “My reaction is one of horror. Just two nights ago at our general committee meeting we were talking about the harmony between communities in the borough.

“I suspect members of the far right have done this to stir things up and there are generally very good inter-cultural relations in East Staffordshire.”

OK, the far right was involved. So what did the graffiti say? “Wogs go home”, perhaps? Or “Down with the Pakis”?

In any case, based on what Mr. Fletcher said, racism was definitely involved:

“Graffiti of any type is terrible but when it includes racist material it has to be considered utterly unacceptable.”

Alas, no information about what was actually written on the memorial.

Significantly, at the bottom of the report is this tantalizing disclosure:

The Mail has manipulated the main picture to remove some of the content of the message.

It seems the message was so horrible that it had to be cropped out or painted over to spare the tender sensibilities of the Mail‘s readers. At that point I was fairly salivating to catch a glimpse of the horrible extreme right-wing racist xenophobic hate screed that was written on the memorial.

Fortunately, other photos are available, and Kim at Uriasposten has found one of them. Take a look at his post; the graffiti is quite legible:
– – – – – – – – –
Islam will dominate the World

To the right of that sentiment is something about “Osama”.

Oh, those diabolically clever right-wingers — mimicking Muslim extremists just to give Islam a bad name!

How could the BNP stoop so low?

You realize what this means, of course: whenever somebody spray-paints “Pakis go home” on a wall, then Labour Party activists must be responsible. Or maybe the communists. Or the anarchists. Someone on the “far left”, in any case. I mean, it stands to reason, doesn’t it?

No?

It doesn’t work that way, you say?

Funny about that.

Hat tip: TB.

I’ve written recently about Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, the Austrian anti-jihad activist who is facing a “hate speech” charge for her outspoken informational seminars about Islam. Last week I posted Elisabeth’s account of a meeting in which she was heckled by Muslim women who took offense at what she had to say.

The Austrian newspaper NEWS.at, which instigated the “hate speech” charge when it published an article about one of Elisabeth’s presentations, is leading the campaign against her “xenophobia”.

It’s interesting to note that the Muslim women mentioned in the article define themselves as Muslims first, and Austrians second — if, in fact, they consider themselves Austrians at all.

Here’s the article from NEWS 51/09, page 38 (unavailable online), as translated by AMT:

Round Two of Defamation of Islam

Defamation Seminars. Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff continues her seminars for FPÖ. Now the public is fighting back.

For a short moment one could have thought that Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was the victim of big misunderstanding. NEWS reported about the defamatory seminars she holds for the FPÖ political academy, where she teaches about “Muslims who kill and rape because of their religion” and where she equates Muslims with terrorists. However, her radical attitude appeared much weaker when she gave an interview in the magazine Profil. “I believe my democratic are rights are being taken away from me,” she complains, and argues with seeming repentance. “Of course I know the difference between Muslims and Islamists.”

A sudden catharsis? Not at all. ESW showed her true opinion on the internet even before the article in Profil was published. She had the entire interview published in right-wing blogs and websites and was admonished and criticized by other critics of Islam for having been too mild in her answers and for her liberal views. She promptly defended herself: “Did you consider that I might have chosen my words carefully? That I might have followed a strategy with what I have said? I do know the difference between a Muslim and an Islamist.”

Next Seminars

– – – – – – – – –

She shows her Islam-hating world view just as publicly during her seminars as she does online. Last week FPÖ Pinkafeld invited the “expert” to the town of 5,400 in order to speak about Islam. All “interested people of all parties and religious affiliations” were invited. The call was heeded by a few Muslim women. Already after the first seminar in October they had voiced their concerns to the SPÖ-mayor of Pinkafeld regarding the content of the seminar. Now, at the second seminar, these concerns became larger. “I was shocked by what this woman said about Islam,” says Mrs. S., who out of fear does not want to give her full name. “I am very hurt by the lies that are told about Muslims. I was born in Austria, I speak the language and I am Muslim. Austria is my home, and I will not have it taken away from me.”

Citizens’ Movement in Pinkafeld

Mrs. S. is now planning an information evening with seven other Muslim women in order to inform the public about the daily life of a Muslim. “Apparently there is a great need for information. We are all mothers and want to be part of the decision-making process about which kind of society our children grow up in.”

This seminar will be open to all those interested, unlike the FPÖ-seminar. The NEWS-photographer was rudely asked to leave the room. He was not even allowed to listen to the defamations presented by Sabaditsch-Wolff without a camera.

Previous posts about the hate speech case against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff:

2009		Dec		5		Fighting a Hate Speech Charge in Austria
				11		Heckling the Counterjihad
				14		Whose Law?

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated a couple of Belgian articles concerning Vlaams Belang.

First, from Filip Dewinter’s website:

Rap singer and co-author of threat against Dewinter sentenced

In the trial in the criminal court in Antwerp of the members of the rap group “The Cicatris”, the singer and co-author of the rap song, Kevin VanBrabant, was sentenced to 80 hours of autonomous community service and must pay compensation of 800 euros. If the community service is not completed, this will be converted into a prison term of 8 months. Because the court, due to technical reasons, chose a split treatment in the judicial process, there is no ruling yet on the other offender, Samir Belasri.

Filip Dewinter: “Strict sentencing is a strong message that death threats and calls for violence are not tolerated.”

Together with 23-year-old Samir Belasri (28-1-1986) of Wielsbeke, 27-year-old ex-Hotelschool Hasselt student Kevin VanBrabant from the city of Peer was the co-author and singer of the rap song in which Filip Dewinter in gross terms was threatened with death. The text of the rap leaves nothing to the imagination: “*** racist with a big mouth, you will die by a fatal gunshot wound”. It further states that “The decisions you make will be paid for with your life, on one day or night they will decline you”, “you will certainly become familiar with a bullet in your head and you cannot help it “, “It is time for riots, time for revolution, death to Filip Dewinter, the words of Cicatris”, and “Shot in the dark, a knife in your back […] Have you learned nothing from Theo Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn?”

[..]

Filip Dewinter is satisfied with the severity of the punishment. “The clear verdict of the court ensures that a strong signal that is sent that death threats and calls for violence will not be tolerated. Obviously, it is the announced intention of such death threats to silence all those who hold politically incorrect opinions. On the other hand, through such calls to violence unstable people are given incentive to add deeds to the word. Creating an environment in which in the long run it is legitimate to murder a controversial politician has nothing to do with free speech, but everything with a call for violence, “said Filip Dewinter.

VH adds this background material:

Samir Belasri in 2005: “In recent years we have been thrown out of almost ten schools’’. Samir Belasri and Karim Ben Ammar: “We once even seized teachers and threw chairs! That we cannot explain away, but on the other hand, we have been constantly challenged by the teachers.” He was then student “Sales” at the Free trade Institute (professional education) in the East Flanders city of Deinze, where the board advocated refraining from traditional sanctions, and sent the culprits to do little jobs in factories for punishment instead. Belasri is member of the immigrant football club Isobar.

Rap critic Leclerc: “I think the lyric goofs by calling the leader of Vlaams Belang “a hypocritical bastard”. You can say a lot about the man, but not that he is hypocritical. Typically a label that fits better with the ruling elite. […] Cicatris of course ultimately remains a little obedient commoner, and kicking against the VB and its leaders is scoring relatively easy in a country where the anti-VB ideology simply seems the obligatory political discourse as imposed from above.”

[See also: “Death Threats for Dewinter”.]

And from the Vlaams Belang website, concerning the continuing immigration into Brussels:
– – – – – – – – –

Demographic explosion in Brussels

Last week VB wrote that partly because of marriage, immigration flow into this country continues unabated, despite the official halt to immigration.

The weekly magazine Le Vif / L’Express wrote in May of this year that the number of cases of family reunification in 2008 has increased by up to 20%. In a subsequent issue Le Vif quoted from a report by demographer Nicolas Perrin, who had calculated that 49% of the inhabitants of Brussels are immigrants or of foreign descent.

In its latest issue the magazine further examines our capital under the microscope. According to the Federal Planning Bureau, the population of Brussels between 2000 and 2060 will increase by up to 38%. In 2020 Brussels will already have added 150,000 new inhabitants. “A phenomenon that is due to the birth rate of citizens foreign descent in Brussels, and the flow of international migration,” Le Vif wrote, and adds that immigration indeed increases even with accession to the European Union. Poland is cited as an example, which since accession has seen five times as many of its nationals move to Brussels than before. So now we know what awaits us if Turkey becomes a member of the EU…

The Vlaams Belang proposals on immigration issues can be read here.

A brief note from Fjordman:

The notoriously Islamophile Council of Europe, which cooperates closely with the EU and the Islamic world, wants to ban Europeans from opposing the Islamization of their lands:

Statement by Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland

Strasbourg, 30.11.2009 – “Bearing in mind that it is a fundamental right of democratic States to debate and vote on issues of importance to their societies, the referendum held yesterday on the construction of new minarets in Switzerland raises concerns as to whether fundamental rights of individuals, protected by international treaties, should be subject to popular votes.

The ban on the construction of new minarets is linked to issues such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion and prohibition of discrimination guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. Therefore it would be up to the European Court of Human Rights to decide, should an application be submitted to the Court, whether the prohibition of building new minarets is compatible with the Convention.”

[Post ends here]

Stephen Bosworth, President Obama’s envoy to North Korea, delivered a letter from the president to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il while visiting Pyongyang. The administration has acknowledged that a letter was delivered, but declines to divulge any information about its contents.

In other news, the leaders of the oil-producing countries of the Persian Gulf have moved a step closer to creating a common currency, thereby displacing the dollar as the preferred currency to denominate oil contracts.

Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Esther, Insubria, JD, Lurker from Tulsa, REP, Sean O’Brian, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	Gulf Petro-Powers to Launch Currency in Latest Threat to Dollar Hegemony
	Michele Bachmann Warns: Financial Bill Worse Than Healthcare Measure
	To Congress: Your Loan Has Been Called
	Wamu Asks to Probe Fed Over Collapse
	USA
	‘Chilling’ New Video: How to Slit Throats
	Could Hillary Clinton Replace Biden as Obama’s Vp?
	Feds Bug Chicago Terror Suspects
	Millions of ‘Lost’ Bush Emails Recovered
	Paying Off ‘La Raza’
	Senator Tom Coburn Slows Health Care Bill With Read-a-Thon
	‘Sinister Muslim’ Stereotype Fades
	Swine Flu Shots for Children Are Recalled
	Europe and the EU
	Analyst Warns EU Against Admitting Turkey
	Berlusconi Attack a ‘Wake Up Call’ For Italy
	France Set to Compromise Over Burka Ban by Only Outlawing Them in Public Buildings
	France: UMP MPs: Law Banning Wearing Burqa on the Street
	Germany: Police Union Moots European Database for Violent Protesters
	Germany: Severed Pig’s Ear Sent to Muslim Organisation
	Italy: Cuneo Prosciutto Wins EU Label
	Italy: Video Game Invites Players to Attack PM
	Italy: High-Speed Trains Spark Commuter Fury
	Mosque Madness: German Group Hopes for EU Referendum on Minarets
	Refugees Hijack Polish Train in Protest Over Living Conditions
	UK: March of the Wardens: Town Hall ‘Enforcers’ With Police Powers Increase by a Fifth in a Year
	UK: Natwest Handed Al Qaeda Terrorist 100% Mortgage to Buy £93,000 Home He Turned Into a Bomb Factory
	‘We Will Sue Terrorists in Britain’
	Balkans
	Croatia: Presidential Election, Leftwing Candidate Leads Polls
	Serbia: Vojvodina Parliament Adopts New Statute
	Mediterranean Union
	Gaza: Euromed Human Rights, EU Must Turn Words Into Action
	North Africa
	Agriculture: Morocco, 40bln Euros From France for Irrigation
	British Officials Speak to Lockerbie Bomber, Thought to be Missing
	Egypt: Court Overturns Niqab Ban in Universities
	Haidar: Tension Algeria-Morocco After Rabat’s Accusation
	Law Must ‘Protect Egypt’s Women From Harassment’
	Mystery as Lockerbie Bomber Goes Missing From Home and Hospital
	Stakelbeck: Former Radical Muslim Now Supports Israel
	Israel and the Palestinians
	Gaza-Egypt Tunnel Collapses, Three Dead
	Israel Attacks UK Over Livni Arrest Warrant
	Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA Appeal to Arab Nations
	Restoration-Conservation, Italy Offers Know-How to Israel
	The Palestinians Tell the World Their Strategy: Why Make Peace With Israel When We Can Get Everything From You Instead
	Middle East
	Brown Warns of Further Sanctions After Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile
	Gulf: Treaty for Common Currency Enters Into Vigour
	Human Rights: Lebanon, Domestic Worker Abuse Punished
	Iranian Official Says 70 Per Cent of University Students Against Ahmadinejad
	Two Killed in Kurdish Demo in Turkey
	Russia
	Has Russia Outplayed the US in Nukes Deal?
	Caucasus
	World’s Smallest and Largest States Have Recognized Abkhazia
	Far East
	Envoy Delivered Obama Letter to N. Korea Leader: Report
	North Korean Plane Leased by UN
	Taipei Smugglers Facilitate Iran Nukes
	Wei Jingsheng: Traitor West, Bewitched (By Money) From Russia, China and Vietnam
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	S. Africa Gets Halal Hotel
	Somali Refugees ‘Forced to Join Yemen Rebel War’
	Immigration
	Austria Eyes Language Tests for Migrants
	Netherlands: Minister wants to make it easier to reject refugees
	Over 1.1 Million Dutch People Have Two Nationalities
	Sweden: Easier Asylum for Iraqi Minorities
	General
	NATO: Reducing Emissions is a Security Imperative

Gulf Petro-Powers to Launch Currency in Latest Threat to Dollar Hegemony

The Arab states of the Gulf region have agreed to launch a single currency modelled on the euro, hoping to blaze a trail towards a pan-Arab monetary union swelling to the ancient borders of the Ummayad Caliphate.

“The Gulf monetary union pact has come into effect,” said Kuwait’s finance minister, Mustafa al-Shamali, speaking at a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait.

The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world’s proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar are to launch the first phase next year, creating a Gulf Monetary Council that will evolve quickly into a full-fledged central bank.

The Emirates are staying out for now — irked that the bank will be located in Riyadh at the insistence of Saudi King Abdullah rather than in Abu Dhabi. They are expected join later, along with Oman.

The Gulf states remain divided over the wisdom of anchoring their economies to the US dollar. The Gulf currency — dubbed “Gulfo” — is likely to track a global exchange basket and may ultimately float as a regional reserve currency in its own right. “The US dollar has failed. We need to delink,” said Nahed Taher, chief executive of Bahrain’s Gulf One Investment Bank.

The project is inspired by Europe’s monetary union, seen as a huge success in the Arab world. But there are concerns that the region is trying to run before it can walk.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

[Return to headlines]

Michele Bachmann Warns: Financial Bill Worse Than Healthcare Measure

A Republican congresswoman, who has been in the forefront of the fight against the healthcare bill, the climate control bill and other contentious measures, warned in an impromptu interview on Breitbart.tv Thursday evening, that a fast-tracked, under-the-radar mega-bill by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., designed to overhaul the regulation of the entire financial services industry — and headed at the time for passage by the House — is “even worse.”

“I know that’s hard to believe, but it is worse in the sense that every American makes financial transactions,” said Michele Bachmann, who represents the people of Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District. “We all use credit cards, we all write checks. This will all now be controlled by government, and government will ration credit. You can’t have capitalism without capital, and government will decide who gets capital and who doesn’t.”

[…]

According to Bachmann the bill makes bailout permanent and gives the president the authority to make future bailouts at his own discretion.

“He never again has to come back to Congress to get money,” she said. “He can just go straight to the Treasury, pull out all the money he wants for a favored industry. … His [credit] czar could place a private business on the systemic risk list — doesn’t have to be a failing business, could be a healthy business — and the president can bail out anyone that he wants to.”

Bachmann noted that the financial services sector represents 15 percent of the nation’s economy, and some analysts have estimated that since Obama took office, 30 percent of the economy has been brought under federal control and essentially nationalized.

Said Bachmann: “If President Obama gets his way and has government take over healthcare, that’s another 18 percent — 48 percent of the economy the government will have been taken over. The financial services sector is another 15 percent of the economy. If they succeed in [passing H.R. 4173], and if they succeed in taking over the energy sector with the national energy tax, that’s 69 to 70 percent of the economy they will have taken over in less than 18 months.

“So it isn’t that socialism has occurred in our lifetime, it’s in the last 18 months!” she exclaimed.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

To Congress: Your Loan Has Been Called

Leaders are considering a hike of roughly $300 billion to the nation’s $12.1 trillion deficit, though the final figure has not been nailed down, congressional aides said on condition of anonymity.

Democratic leaders had previously hoped to raise the limit by at least $1.8 trillion, enough to take care of the government’s debt needs through the November 2010 congressional elections.

What was your first hint the former $1.8 trillion increase attempt was a bad idea? Perhaps this?

Or was it China buying a literal zero of Treasury debt in October?

Or was it the TIC report this morning (which I’m sure you had “early”) that showed a near-zero appetite for foreign funding of our idiotic spending proclivities?

Or was it the fact that this morning PPI numbers came in hot, especially in crude goods, strongly implying that we’re in for a nasty bout of either cost-push price inflation or collapsing corporate profits?

Perhaps it is the numerous anecdotes of “seasonal help” already being laid off, stacks of “Black Friday” merchandise still in the stores, and Best Buy’s earnings report this morning in which they disclosed margin compression in the 4th quarter — which promptly hammered their stock for 7.2%.

None of this should be a surprise.

We have fixed nothing in the last two years. We have not forced bad debt to default yet worse, despite the incessant pumping and attempted “forcing” of credit into the system via government borrowing the pump has now officially failed, as the new Z1 data shows.

Note that despite all the Federal Deficit spending — $1.4 trillion last fiscal year (ending in September) and $300 billion more in the last two months — approaching two trillion dollars — the total credit outstanding in the system — including the new Federal borrowing — went negative in the third quarter of this year.

The bottom line:

Your attempt to play “pump prime” over the last two years has FAILED.

For the first time in the modern era you have run into the mathematical realities of too much debt for the amount of payment capacity in the private sector.

You can either stop now, or you can stop when the government’s ability to borrow is cut off forcibly by radical increases in the bond interest-rate curve.

You WILL stop gentlemen. The only question remaining is whether it will be voluntary or whether the market will force an involuntary cessation of Treasury Coupon issuance.

Attempting to avoid this by monetizing debt, as Bernanke has done while being your handmaiden (while lying about his actions to The American People AND in sworn testimony before Congress) forced currency devaluation which in turn (as expected) cuts off foreign debt demand.

That in turn, as you are now seeing, causes the coupon increase to happen anyway.

You’re trapped folks, exactly as I predicted you would be two years ago.

I stand impressed that you got away with this for as long as you did, but I also stand behind the view I expressed in 2007 — that the root problem is an excessive level of debt in the system at all levels, a level of debt that exceeds capacity to pay, and as a consequence any and all attempts to restart the credit-driven consumption economy would fail, and if pressed too far the government will fail.

The evidence strongly suggests that you are getting awfully close to your last chance to stop being stupid before the market hands you a lesson that has the potential to destroy both our economy and government.

You would do well to listen.

— Hat tip: REP

[Return to headlines]

Wamu Asks to Probe Fed Over Collapse

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) — Bankrupt holding company Washington Mutual Inc (WAMUQ.PK) asked a federal court to compel the U.S. Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury and more than a dozen others to turn over documents relating to its collapse in 2008.

The company wants to investigate discussions between JPMorgan & Chase Co (JPM.N), regulators, competitors and rating agencies it said led to the seizure of Washington Mutual, or WMI, according to a filing in bankruptcy court on Monday.

It said the alleged misconduct includes JPMorgan “disclosing confidential information, in violation of the confidentiality agreement, to government regulators, ratings agencies, media and investors in an effort to harm WMI by driving down WMI’s credit rating and stock price.”

Washington Mutual said it needs to determine if it has valuable claims against regulators and others that could be pursued on behalf of its creditors.

The company was the largest U.S. savings and loan when it was seized by the government in September 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, and sold for $1.9 billion to JPMorgan in what Washington Mutual has called a “fire sale.”

The company has been investigating possible claims against JPMorgan since the middle of 2009 and cited some of the documents provided by the bank to justify expanding its investigation.

It cites an internal JPMorgan email it said shows that a week before Washington Mutual was seized, the bank’s executives were contacted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp regarding their interest in Washington Mutual.

The request to expand its investigation also relies on information from a suit filed by American National Insurance Co, which is suing JPMorgan for its losses on its investments in Washington Mutual securities.

American National said in its suit that JPMorgan used former JPMorgan executives who went to work for Washington Mutual as part of a long-term plan to acquire the savings and loan.

JPMorgan declined to comment.

The case is In re Washington Mutual Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington), No. 08-12229.

— Hat tip: REP

[Return to headlines]

‘Chilling’ New Video: How to Slit Throats

Jihad maneuvers taught at New York compound

A new video released by the Christian Action Network shows Muslim women at a compound in New York state practicing throat-slitting techniques and assault weapons attacks.

The video was distributed by the makers of the movie “Homegrown Jihad: The Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.,” which documents how a jihadist group has developed dozens of training camps across the nation.

WND reported at the time how Jamaat ul-Fuqra has built 35 compounds — mostly in the northeastern corridor of the U.S.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Could Hillary Clinton Replace Biden as Obama’s Vp?

The hot rumor in Washington: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could replace Vice President Joe Biden on the 2012 Obama re-election ticket. It would be a reward for her work at State and ready her for a 2016 run, as some strategists think Biden would be too old then to run for president.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Feds Bug Chicago Terror Suspects

Unaware they were being secretly recorded on a long car ride, two Chicago men spoke openly in September of how they knew about plans for the terror attacks that killed nearly 170 people last year in Mumbai, India, federal investigators alleged for the first time Monday.

In a conversation about a month before one of them was arrested on his way to Pakistan, the two men are alleged to have chatted about how they had known that the terror spree, in which 10 gunmen ran between hotels and other public places shooting people indiscriminately, was about to begin.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Millions of ‘Lost’ Bush Emails Recovered

Millions of White House emails that went missing during the Bush administration have been recovered following an extended court battle.

Around 22m messages spanning more than 90 days were declared missing in 2007, shortly after a scandal arose over the decision to fire nine federal prosecutors who had not toed the White House line.

The Obama administration said that its computer technicians had successfully recovered the lost data, in what campaigners called a victory in the attempt to clear up the “electronic data mess” left behind by Bush officials.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Paying Off ‘La Raza’

If you were president of the United States, would you hire an alleged former spy for Fidel Castro to be ambassador to El Salvador, a country teetering on the brink of hard-core socialism?

President Obama just did.

On Dec. 9, Obama nominated Mari Del Carmen Aponte to be ambassador to El Salvador, despite the fact that in the late 1990s, the FBI discovered that she was working with Cuban intelligence officers. According to Insight Magazine, “When the FBI eventually questioned her about her involvement with Cuban intelligence, she reportedly refused to cooperate.”

Why would Aponte escape the Obama administration’s scrutiny? Because she is a former board member of the National Council of La Raza, or NCLR, the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States, with 300 affiliated community-based organizations, many of which run like local ACORN offices. In fact, the day before Obama nominated Aponte, NCLR-affiliate Chicanos Por La Causa, or CPLC, was raided by the Phoenix Sheriff’s Office, which was investigating a kickback scheme between CPLC and indicted Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. CPLC allegedly gave Wilcox $297,000 in undisclosed loans in exchange for her votes to award over a million dollars in county contracts to CPLC.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Senator Tom Coburn Slows Health Care Bill With Read-a-Thon

WASHINGTON — The Senate is in health care gridlock after a Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn forced the clerk to read aloud a 767-page amendment.

Coburn, a Republican, had sought approval to require that any amendment considered by the Senate must be offered 72 hours in advance and with a full cost report.

When he was rebuffed by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Coburn invoked his right to require that an amendment by another Democrat be read aloud. That sent the Senate into limbo, since the amendment by Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders is 767 pages long.

“It’s unfortunate that Senator Reid waited until the last minute to introduce his bill and now wants to rush it through the Senate,” said Senator Tom Coburn. “This reading will provide a dose of transparency that has been lacking in this debate.”

It’s unclear how long the procedural standoff will continue. Democrats are struggling to pass their bill by Christmas

— Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa

[Return to headlines]

‘Sinister Muslim’ Stereotype Fades

In film and on TV, Hollywood eases away from its terrorist standard

Muslim voices are finally being heard by and from Hollywood, and it’s in Tinseltown’s best interest to listen.

Negative stereotypes of Muslim characters date to at least the black-and-white era, but by the 1990s and the end of the Cold War, one-dimensional Muslim terrorist characters were the generic “bad guy” in countless movies and television shows, including True Lies (‘94) and Executive Decision (‘96). Even the cartoon Aladdin (‘92) portrayed villains with Middle Eastern accents while the hero and heroine had standard American voices.

Such repeated portrayals have colored public perceptions of Muslims and Middle Easterners. The events of 9/11 crystallized and, for some, affirmed the stereotype. But nearly a decade later, Hollywood seems to be changing its tune toward Muslims and Arabs.

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Swine Flu Shots for Children Are Recalled

Slight decrease in potency is called safe, still protective

Vaccine-maker Sanofi Pasteur announced Tuesday a voluntary recall of 800,000 doses of a children’s swine flu shot — about 10,000 of which have been distributed in Maryland — after tests showed the vaccine had lost some of its strength.

The recall is an issue of potency, not safety, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials are urging parents not to worry if their child received a recalled shot. The vaccine still works against the virus since the reduction in strength was slight and not found to be “clinically significant,” according to the CDC.

“This is a hiccup, but it’s not a hiccup in terms of vaccine safety,” said Frances Phillips, the state’s deputy secretary for public health services. “Parents whose children got the one-time syringe don’t need to call their pediatrician. There’s no particular action that parents need to take in connection with this recall, which is a really good thing.”

— Hat tip: Esther

[Return to headlines]

Analyst Warns EU Against Admitting Turkey

Increasing Islamic influence could spread jihad

Turkey’s increasingly militant Islamic influence should prompt the European Union to reject its efforts to join the organization out of hand, according to Jonathan Racho, an analyst with International Christian Concern.

He says, bluntly, admitting Turkey would present a danger to other EU nations, because the jihad move there then could transfer freely to other nations.

“There’s been an increasing Islamization of Europe through immigration of Muslims from Muslim nations. If Turkey joins, then the EU rules would allow the free movement of Turkey’s Islamists throughout Europe,” Racho said. “This possibility is a clear reason for Europe to deny Turkey’s admission into the EU.”

[…]

Concern also comes from news that three Muslim men broke into the Meryam Ana Syriac Orthodox Church in the eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir and threatened to kill the priest if he didn’t tear down the bell tower.

The three men say their move is in retaliation for the recent Swiss vote prohibiting any further minarets being built on mosques in the country.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Berlusconi Attack a ‘Wake Up Call’ For Italy

With their prime minister recovering from his injuries following Sunday’s violent attack, Italians are reflecting on just how divisive politics have become in their country. German commentators hope that a more reconciliatory tone will result.

Two days after being wounded in a rally in Milan, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is recovering in the city’s San Raffeale hospital. Outside the hospital, an already polarized populace is reacting to the attack with a mix of glee, shock and even some soul-searching.

The attack came Sunday evening after Berlusconi finished delivering a speech in front of Milan’s Duomo, the city’s massive Gothic cathedral. Video footage of the attack shows Massimo Tartaglia, 42-year-old man with a history of mental illness, hurling a souvenir statue of the cathedral at Berlusconi’s face, leaving the prime minister with a fractured nose, two broken teeth and cuts on his lips and face.

For months, Berlusconi has denounced the “climate of hate” he believes he is enveloped by. Indeed, the prime minister is having to juggle a number of problems on numerous fronts: His wife has filed for divorce citing his fondness for young women; the country’s highest court ruled in October that he was not immune from prosecution while in office and could therefore stand trial in three ongoing cases, including one for corruption; there are rumors about his consorting with prostitutes; and a Mafia turncoat recently alleged that he had ties to the country’s criminal underworld. Furthermore, on Dec. 5 — which was unofficially designated “No Berlusconi Day” — tens of thousands of protesters marched in Rome demanding his resignation.

In Tuesday’s newspapers, German commentators see the attack as a distressing indicator of just how low political and public discourse has sunk in Italy. They are hopeful, though, that the attack will get people to rethink the situation and prevent more violence.

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“We now know that what happened in Milan was the relatively spontaneous act of a mentally ill man acting alone. Likewise, there is no real proof that the tenor of the political debate in his country encouraged him to this outburst of violence.”

“Nevertheless, the man’s act has once again set in motion a discussion about the state of political conflict in Italy. The political climate is heated up — and it’s mostly Berlusconi’s fault. And that’s not just because his personality is strongly polarizing. It’s also because whenever he is feeling pressure — which he currently is from many sides — he attacks his opponents and state institutions with very sharp words, which enrage many people. Recently, he even went so far as to say that there might be a ‘civil war’ if certain judicial reforms (that were very important to him) should fail. Still, it would be inappropriate to claim at this point that the prime minister has himself to blame for being attacked.”

Conservative Die Welt writes:

“The man who gravely wounded Italy’s prime minister has been in psychological treatment for 10 years. Thus, you could dismiss his act as that of a crazy person and only question whether Berlusconi’s security detail failed to do its job. But in truth — and this is something that most Italian commentators on both the left and the right agree upon — this act was the culminating point of Italy’s political crisis. This is the expression of the climate of hatred that has characterized political conflict in the country for some time now and that has split the political environment, which is worse than it ever has been, into two irreconcilable camps.”

“Both sides have played a role in poisoning the atmosphere. In recent years, the left has hardly pursued any other issue as intensively as it has its demonization of its rival, Berlusconi. And, for years, in the context of his legal problems, the prime minister and his followers have not shown prosecutors, judges and sometimes even the president the respect they deserve as representatives of legal and democratic institutions. However, this of course in no way makes it right for someone to violently attack the prime minister.”

“Thus, in recent months and years, political debate in Italian has become increasing less compromising and contained while, at the same time, nothing has been done to resolve the country’s pressing problems. The doctors are estimating that Berlusconi will need 24 days to get better. The country’s political class should take advantage of this period to reflect on how they tone down public debate. If political polemics exceeds all boundaries once again and ignores the limits of both propriety and good taste, the next unstable soul will soon turn hate-filled words into action. The silver lining is that the prime minister’s wounds are not life-threatening. But this wake-up call will be heard and understood.”

— Josh Ward

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

France Set to Compromise Over Burka Ban by Only Outlawing Them in Public Buildings

France is moving towards outlawing burkas in some public buildings — but will stop short of the complete ban that President Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested.

A parliamentary inquiry is likely to rule against full Islamic veils on the basis of sexual equality and public safety laws, it emerged today.

But an outright ban of either the burka or niqab is doubtful due to fears it would violate the right to religious freedom and could be legally challenged.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

France: UMP MPs: Law Banning Wearing Burqa on the Street

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, DECEMBER 16 — Banning Muslim headscarves, or burqas, by law not only in public places but also on the street has become a possibility with a draft law put forth by a group of representatives of the right-wing majority party, UMP, in the name of “security and the values of the Republic”. With an exception for the Carnival period, explained one of the MPs, Francois Baroin, “everyone must have their face uncovered in public. The visibility of one’s face is one of the conditions of living together.” Those who continue to wear burqas must be punished, according to the proposed law, with a fine ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 euros. In the meanwhile, today the parliamentary mission charged with reviewing the use of the burqa and niqab will meet for the final time in front of government ministers, Brice Hortefeux (Interior), Xavier Darcos (Family and Social Relations), and Eric Besson (Immigration). A report will be published by the end of January, less than two months from a regional vote in March. “A total ban on wearing burqas would be difficult to defend in front of the European Court of Human Rights,” commented a government advisor to Le Figaro, even though Besson is certain of the need to ban this sort of clothing in order to defend “the dignity of women”. A position also supported by UMP President to the National Assembly, Jean-Francois Copé, who considers a law banning headscarves covering the face to be “indispensible. Wearing burqas, stressed the UMP group promoting the draft law, “is a radical practice of the Muslim religion, which is incompatible with the values of the French community and equal rights principles.” Communist André Gerin is also in favour of a “broad law” banning individuals from being “masked” while among the public: “this is not about condemning women, it has to do with fighting a medieval ideology.” (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Germany: Police Union Moots European Database for Violent Protesters

A German police union on Wednesday called for the creation of a European database of violent demonstrators following incidents on the fringes of the UN global warming talks.

Danish police have detained 1,500 people at protests around the climate change conference in Copenhagen since it began on December 7, though most have been released without charge.

On Monday night officers made 210 arrests after storming a giant squat in the city, using tear gas and dogs to quell protesters who threw petrol bombs and started fires in the street.

Rainer Wendt, the head of German police union DPolG, said on Wednesday that a database would help combat serial agitators who travelled to major events simply to cause trouble.

“We need a European database of troublemaking demonstrators to stop fight tourism,” Wendt told daily Bild.

This would allow police to stop known troublemakers going to major events such as the climate talks or meetings of the G8 group of industrialised nations, Wendt said.

He said it was “incredible that German fight tourists can travel to Denmark to protest violently against climate change.”

The Danish authorities have deported four Germans arrested on Sunday for violence against police and weapons offences.

Police in Copenhagen have been given powers to preventatively detain potential troublemakers.

Some campaign groups have accused the police of heavy-handed tactics, but Wendt said he thought the approach had been “appropriate.”

Security measures have been gearing up as around 115 heads of state and government arrive in Copenhagen for the climax of the talks on Friday.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Germany: Severed Pig’s Ear Sent to Muslim Organisation

A package with a severed pig’s ear was delivered to a Muslim organisation in Cologne on Wednesday by unknown perpetrators, the group’s leader said.

The gruesome delivery was accompanied by a note calling it a “precious relic of all Muslims” and a piece of the Prophet Muhammad, Ali Kizilkaya from the Islamic Council of Germany said.

Below this was the phrase, “Greetings from Michel Friedman — Jews in Germany,” likely in reference to the TV talk show host and former vice-president of the German Jewish Council. Both Muslim and Jewish religious customs consider pigs to be unclean animals and consumption of pork is forbidden.

Kizilkaya speculated whoever sent the package likely only wanted to “offend the Muslims” and start a row between them and Jews in Germany.

He said the Islamic Council had received an increasing amount of hate mail recently, but decided to involved the police following the incident.

Kizilkaya also accused “some politicians” were stoking prejudices against Muslims in the wake of Switzerland’s vote last month to ban the constructions of mosques with minarets.

“We Muslims and our mosques are a part of Germany,” he said.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Italy: Cuneo Prosciutto Wins EU Label

Italy stretches lead in quality-food standings

(ANSA) — Brussels, December 15 — A ‘prosciutto crudo’ made in a northern Italian mountain valley on Friday increased Italy’s domination of the European Union quality-food rankings.

The Crudo di Cuneo, made according to traditional methods handed down for centuries in an Alpine valley near the city of Cuneo, earned the EU’s most prestigious laurel, a Protected Domination of Origin (PDO) certificate. The cured ham, which needs the valley’s unique microclimate to prosper, is the third Italian food product to get a PDO in less than a week.

On Friday a chestnut from the Tuscan village of Caprese Michelangelo and the Piennolo tomato from the slopes of Mt Vesuvius also won the coveted seal.

Earlier last week real Neapolitan pizza was awarded a long-awaited Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) label.

Before the most recent recipients, in late October, a traditional sour cherry jam produced near Modena, ‘Amarene Brusche di Modena’ was awarded a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) seal.

‘Ciauscolo’, a large sausage from the Marche region, got a PGI in August.

Some 850 European products have been awarded one of the EU’s three protected-origin laurels.

Italy far outdistances France and Spain for the number of its products which have qualified for one of the three EU quality seals, about 180.

Other recent additions have included Sicily’s ‘Pagnotta del Dittaino’ bread with a PDO label; Roman suckling lamb, abbacchio romano, which earned a PGI label; and Modena’s balsamic vinegar with a PGI label.

Italian culinary glories like Parmigiano, buffalo mozzarella, mortadella, lardo di Colonnata, Ascoli olives, pesto sauce and Pachino plum tomatos have been protected for some time but lesser-known munchies like Mt Etna prickly pears and Paestum artichokes have also swelled the ranks along with saffron from San Gimignano and L’Aquila.

A range of salamis, rices, honeys and nuts are also on the protected list.

Several up-and-coming regional wines have earned TGIs.

PDO identifies a product whose characteristics are exclusively dependant on a geographical origin and whose productive phases all take place in the specified area.

PGI defines a product whose characteristics can be connected with its geographical origin and that has at least one productive phase located in the specified area.

TGS distinguishes a product, whose raw materials, composition or recipe, production method or transformation, are of a traditional type.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Video Game Invites Players to Attack PM

Rome, 15 Dec. (AKI) — A video game has surfaced on the Internet challenging players to strike Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi as many times as they can with replicas of the northern Italian city of Milan’s Cathedral. The game appeared just two days after Massimo Tartaglia made headlines around the world for striking Berlusconi in the face with a small alabaster souvenir statuette of the Milan landmark ..

The Brasilian video game invites players to manoeuvre Berlusconi’s head into the firing line as replicas of the gothic landmark and the world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa fall down on him.

Each time one of the replicas hits Berlusconi’s head, his smiling countenance turns into a bloody grimace. The 90-second game invites players to improve their score.

The 73-year-old premier was on Tuesday still recovering in hospital after the attack in which he suffered a broken nose and two broken teeth, heavy bleeding and cuts to his face.

He is expected to be discharged from Milan’s San Raffaele hospital on Wednesday but doctors have said he will take three weeks to recover from his injuries.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy: High-Speed Trains Spark Commuter Fury

Sit-ins at Bergamo and Florence, petition at Cremona. “Ready for a fight”. Greater inconvenience and new increases, say commuters. Railway company denies downsizing services

MILAN — The Italy of rail-borne protest has two faces. One belongs to the executive on the Milan-Turin Frecciarossa high-speed train, which left Turin’s Porta Nuova station 20 minutes late as passengers crowded into the restaurant car in search of somewhere to sit. The other is that of the office worker, shivering in an unheated carriage on the Genoa-Livorno Frecciabianca (also late), who sent a disappointed text message to the Ligurian commuters’ committee: “I’m on the train. The Frecciabianca is exactly the same, only more expensive”.

Some stops have been cancelled, some Eurostar City and Intercity services have been withdrawn and local services are running slower to give high-speed trains priority. But ticket prices have also gone up. Three days after Trenitalia’s new timetable came into force, commuter grumbles are getting louder in Piedmont, Veneto, Lombardy and Puglia among users of regional services, and particularly among medium and long-distance travellers.

The protests have taken various forms. Signatures have been collected to defend the Bergamo-Cremona-Roma Pendolino service and the stops at Follonica and Cecina. The Piedmont regional authority, which has lost direct connections to the north east and south of the country, has written to the government. There have also been sit-ins on the tracks, organised by commuters on the Florence-Orvieto-Rome route, and in the stationmaster’s office at Bergamo, as well as heated arguments at the ticket counter over the new refund system (25% for delays of between 60 and 119 minutes; 50% for more than 119 minutes). Meetings have been convened at the prefecture to stop, as one long-serving campaigner puts it, “the protest from becoming a question of public order”. On Monday, protesters asked the prefect of Turin to “give us our trains back”. Trenitalia replies: “Commuter trains, regional trains and subsidised services have hardly been affected at all. For the other services, operating in a free market, there are more trains and faster journey times that justify the new prices, which are still among the lowest in Europe”.

Yesterday, protesters went into action on the 7.40 am Frecciarossa from Turin. The train was packed, first and second class. One reason, as Altroconsumo reports, is that the difference between the two tickets is just one euro. “Since you get a free newspaper and coffee, first class is better value. It’s actually cheaper than second class, which has gone up by 30%”. The train was so busy that passengers invaded the restaurant carriage to find somewhere to sit. “Everybody out or I call the police”, warned the guard. The railway police duly arrived and the train stayed where it was for 20 minutes. When it finally departed, the restaurant carriage was full and, according to Trenitalia, “there were plenty of seats free in the last carriage”. On Monday, 98 passengers had to stand on the Milan-Turin service. “Guariniello, help us”, commuters implored the assistant public prosecutor, who was on board the Frecciarossa. That morning, there were protests from commuters in the unheated carriages of the 6.05 am Intercity service, which also departed late. Cesare Carbonari, the spokesperson for Turin-Milan commuters, was scathing: “They’ve replaced the Eurostars with broken-down Intercity rolling stock and reduced the number of carriages. There are 210 fewer seats per train. They’ve stopped all direct services to the north east and Puglia. It’s to encourage people to use the high-speed trains”. His words chime in with the report sent to the transport minister, Altero Matteoli, by the Piedmont regional authority’s councillor for transport, Daniele Borioli. A total of 22 Eurostar City services have been eliminated, there are no direct trains for Venice, Trieste, Bari or Lecce and trains no longer stop at Verbania or Arona.

Like Piedmont, Liguria feels “isolated and abandoned”. “Abandoned like the many regions and towns without a high-speed rail service”, says Sonia Zarino, spokesperson for the Ligurian commuter committees. The new timetable: “Genoa has gained some services with Milan and Rome but has lost the direct service to Florence, as well as nine trains to and from Turin. The Tigullio area is more isolated than ever”. Fares: “Take the Rome-Chiavari route. A second-class Eurostar City ticket has gone up from 45.60 euros to 50.50 euros and the journey time has been cut by five minutes. That’s almost one euro a minute”. On services to France: “A disgrace. The two railway companies failed to reach an agreement so you have to change at Ventimiglia. You can’t consult a single timetable or buy a ticket for Nice. Is this the railway of a civilised country?”

Alessandra Mangiarotti

English translation by Giles Watson

www.watson.it

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Mosque Madness: German Group Hopes for EU Referendum on Minarets

Last year, a right-wing group called Pro Cologne tried to prevent the construction of a mosque in the western German city. Now, a related group wants to ban minarets in Europe.

Just weeks after Swiss voters banned minarets in the country, a German right-wing group is hoping to use a new European Union law to hold a minaret referendum across the 27 member bloc.

Last month, the Swiss voted to ban minarets. Now, it may be Europe’s turn.

Just a few weeks after Swiss citizens decided in a referendum to ban the further construction of minarets, a right-wing group in Germany is running a similar anti-mosque campaign to gain votes ahead of the state election in May 2010. According to an article in the German daily Die Welt, the North Rhine-Westphalia group Pro NRW — an outgrowth of the anti-Muslim right-wing group Pro Cologne — hopes to unite other European right-wing associations behind the campaign against Muslim prayer houses.

“We will run a state election campaign that is decidedly critical of Islam. We will use the posters from the Swiss minaret ban,” Markus Wiener, general secretary of Pro NRW, told Die Welt. “We see the construction of mosques as an aggressive and powerful symbol of a Muslim conquest,” he added.

To be sure, Wiener said the campaign is directed “not specifically against Islam,” but instead at the “problem of non-European immigrants who come from predominantly Islamic cultures.”

A Little Help from their Friends

Pro NRW is even getting a little help from the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the masterminds behind the Swiss vote. Wiener says SVP has granted Pro NRW permission to use its posters in the campaign. In addition, SVP politician Andreas Glarner has become a member of Pro NRW.

The right-wing group is hoping force a European Union-wide referendum on the issue. The Lisbon Treaty, which has now entered into force, contains a provision for referenda subsequent to the collection of one million signatures in favor of the measure in question. Just how such a process might work, however, has yet to be sufficiently established.

Wiener plans to discuss a possible referendum at an anti-minaret conference planned for early next year.

Pro NRW stems from Pro Cologne, which is under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. Pro Cologne staged a 2008 effort to block the construction of a Cologne mosque, which, when completed, will be Germany’s largest. The project was eventually approved.

Pro NRW has seen some modest success in this year’s municipal elections, increasing their number of seats in various city councils from 15 to 46. The group is currently preparing for state-wide elections to be held on May 9.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Refugees Hijack Polish Train in Protest Over Living Conditions

About 230 refugees from Russia and Georgia hijacked a train in West Poland on Tuesday protesting against life conditions in refugee camps and bad attitude of the local population.

None of the refugees traveling on Wroclaw-Dresden passenger train had a ticket. Polish conductors offered them to buy tickets but they refused to do so and did not leave the train.

The protesters said they wanted to take the train to Strasbourg, but polish police made them disembark as the train approached the border with Germany.

— Hat tip: Esther

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UK: March of the Wardens: Town Hall ‘Enforcers’ With Police Powers Increase by a Fifth in a Year

The number of town hall snoopers and private security guards armed with sweeping police powers has rocketed by a fifth in only 12 months.

There are now 1,667 park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards permitted to hand out fines for ‘crimes’ such as littering, dog fouling and criminal damage.

They may take photographs of the people they have fined, and demand names and addresses. A further 478 civilians have been given the power to stop vehicles to check for out-of-date tax discs.

The hope is that the army of civilians will free police officers from having to perform these unpopular tasks.

But critics said the so-called Community Safety Accreditation Scheme amounted to ‘state-sanctioned vigilantism’.

[…]

‘Councils are completely unequipped to police the pretend policemen they are licensing.

‘Even worse, the number of these officers is rising because councils want to send them out to collect the ludicrous fines for regulations we shouldn’t have imposed on us in the first place.’

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Natwest Handed Al Qaeda Terrorist 100% Mortgage to Buy £93,000 Home He Turned Into a Bomb Factory

A bank has sparked outrage by handing over a 100 per cent mortgage to an Al Qaeda terrorist who smuggled himself into Britain.

Albanian Krenar Lusha, 30, was given £93,000 after NatWest failed to complete full checks on his UK status.

He used the cash to buy a house in Derby, where he stored bomb-making equipment and information on how to carry out attacks.

The illegal immigrant also managed to get a UK driving licence, secure a £30,000-a-year engineering job and was even offered a second mortgage — which he declined.

— Hat tip: JD

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‘We Will Sue Terrorists in Britain’

(IsraelNN.com) The Almagor terror victims group says it will file charges in Britain for the arrest of Arab terrorists who visit the country, under the same laws used to take aim at Knesset Member Tzipi Livni of the Kadima party.

Almagor director Meir Indor said the group will also sue British officials over the country’s cooperation with Arab terrorists during the Mandatory period, when Britain failed to prevent Arab mobs from murdering Jews. He announced that it has begun to collect information from families of terror victims from the pre-State days, as well as background information on the top officials of the Palestinian Authority.

The charges will mirror those that were brought against the State of Israel for failing to prevent the massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon during the 1982 Peace for Galilee Operation, also known as the First Lebanon War. At that time, the Lebanese Forces Christian militia entered the camps, populated by Palestinian Arabs and some Lebanese civilians, and slaughtered hundreds. This had followed the recent assassination of their Christian Phalangist leader and president-elect, Bashir Gemayel. The IDF, which at the time surrounded Beirut’s Palestinian refugee camps, had allowed the Lebanese Forces militia to enter the two camps in order to clear out PLO terrorist nests — and Israel was blamed for the massacre.

Not the First Time

Indor noted that his group has a great deal of experience in the European public court system. For instance, Almagor once filed a lawsuit in a Belgian court against then-PLO terrorist chairman Yasser Arafat, who had filed criminal charges against Israeli statesman Ariel Sharon. Indor said this prompted a legislative process that led to the end of both cases. “Belgium took advantage of the charges against Arafat in order to close both of them,” Indoor said.

Indor is also convinced that Almagor’s efforts in Spain helped stymie a similar effort against Israeli security personnel. In that case, the group began to open an investigation in Yugoslavia on a NATO bombardment that had allegedly involved Spanish troops.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Croatia: Presidential Election, Leftwing Candidate Leads Polls

(ANSAmed) — ZAGREB, DECEMBER 15 — The candidate of the social-democrat left (SDP), Ivo Josipovic, should encounter no problems in the presidential election on December 27, with the battle for second place still undecided, according to the polls released today by the country’s main newspapers. Josipovic, professor of law and member of parliament for the SDP, the biggest opposition party, has been stable for months at 30% of preferences of interviewed voters. For the first time on second place, with 14.3%, is Nadan Vidosevic, centrist and manager and president of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, expelled after the announcement of his candidature from his party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). On third place, with 11.8%, stands the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, also a dissident of his party, the SDP, for deciding to run against the will of the party leadership. On fourth place, with 10.6% in the polls, another HDZ dissident, former minister of education Dragan Primorac, followed by the left-wing liberal (HNS) Vesna Pusic (8.2%). The small differences, all within the statistical margin of error, show that the Croatian diaspora, particularly those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, may in the end decide who will go to the second ballet against Josipovic on January 10. This group traditionally votes rightwing and represents around 5% of the electorate. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Serbia: Vojvodina Parliament Adopts New Statute

(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, DECEMBER 14 — The Parliament of Vojvodina approved today a new statute which provides greater autonomy to the region, according to the Tanjug news agency in Novi Sad, district capital of the region. The document was passed by 86 out of 120 parliamentarians. Members of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS, ultra-nationalist) and the Serbian Party for Progress (SNS — moderate nationalist) boycotted the vote, saying that the new statute would lead to secession by Vojvodina. The draft law was approved by the Serbian parliament at the end of November. By adopting the law, Vojvodina will get back the autonomy which it enjoyed until former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic took it away in 1990. Milosevic applied the same measures to Kosovo, which led to the armed revolt and unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008. In the new statute, Vojvodina will be able to sign agreements with foreign regions, but not with the states. The Vojvodina Assembly will not be permittted to dismiss texts which have the force of law. Novi Sad has been designated an administrative centre for the region, rather than its capital. Finally, the region may set up a bank for development. Vojvodina, with 2 million inhabitants, is one of the most prosperous regions in Serbia. It includes 25 different ethnic minorities, the largest of these being Hungarians (350,000 people). (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Gaza: Euromed Human Rights, EU Must Turn Words Into Action

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 15 — One year after operation ‘Cast Lead’, the European Union remains powerless against the dramatic situation in Gaza, and has failed to turn words into action. Despite attempts by the 27 members to actively promote the solution of two independent States, it is at the same time condoning systematic violations of international law and human rights by Israel. This was the message which the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) sent to Brussels today as the anniversary of the offensive carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip between December 27 2008 and January 18 2009 approaches. The network, which consists of around 80 groups, says that the impunity of those responsible for the violations of international law constitutes an obstacle to any real possibility of peace. And so far the EU has not worked hard enough to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, even while calling for investigations on the part of the Israelis and Palestinians. The EU as a whole has failed to actively support an independent investigation, and to search for the people responsible for the violations carried out by Israelis and Palestinians, said Miri Weingarten, from the Israeli NGO B’Tselem. In addition, the member States were seen to be divided when it came to supporting the recommendations of the Goldstone report to the UN. This report is considered extremely credible from the legal point of view by human rights groups. In terms of pressure, from a diplomatic point of view the EU, in its conclusions, has still not declared that the blockade of Gaza is collective punishment, which is illegal under international law, said Nathalie Stanus of Emhrn, while noting an increase in the tones of the declarations made on December 8. Again, despite the fact that the siege of Gaza continues, and that Brussels has blocked a decision to move relations with Israel to a more advanced stage, the attitude towards Tel Aviv is still business as usual. For example, they signed an agreement on November 4 to liberalise trade in agricultural produce, explained Maysa Zorob from Al Haq, a Palestinian NGO. This has led to an appeal to the EU to put the issue of human rights at the centre of its policies towards Israel and the Palestinians. One of the recommendations is an appeal to Israel, Hamas and the PNA to begin independent and credible investigations into human rights violations, as well as supporting checks into violations of international law on the part of the UN. The network of Euro-Med NGOs is calling on the 27 member States to help the Palestinians without releasing Israel from its obligations. In effect the EU must raise its voice, adding a clause that a continuation of relations between the EU and Israel are conditional upon an improvement in human rights conditions in Gaza, including an end to the blockade, in the West Bank and in particular East Jerusalem too. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Agriculture: Morocco, 40bln Euros From France for Irrigation

(ANSAmed)) — RABAT, DECEMBER 15 — The French development agency AFD has granted Morocco a loan of 40 million euros to finance agricultural irrigation projects. The accord was signed in Rabat by Morocco’s Economy and Finance Minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, and the Director General of AFD, Michel Severino, in the presence of the French Ambassador, Bruno Joubert. The project envisages the construction of an irrigation network which should benefit 20,000 farmers in a further step towards a more rational management of water resources. The Moroccan minster pointed out that AFD has advanced loans worth 1.5 billion euros to Morocco over recent years and that the money has gone to education, healthcare, agricultural and solar energy projects. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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British Officials Speak to Lockerbie Bomber, Thought to be Missing

Fears over the whereabouts of the Lockerbie bomber have been put to rest after British officials spoke to him at his home in Tripoli.

Local authority staff from the East Renfrewshire Council had been concerned after attempts to contact Abdel Baset al-Megrahi failed yesterday.

There were also reports that mystery surrounded the bomber’s whereabouts after he could not be contacted either at his home or in hospital.

Earlier this year Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was granted compassionate release from the life sentence he was serving in a Scottish jail.

Criminal justice social work staff from the council are charged with monitoring him, and usually call Megrahi in Tripoli every two weeks.

They had not been scheduled to contact Megrahi this week but they tried to contact him yesterday after The Times of London had been unable to speak to the bomber.

Those attempts failed but today council staff were able to speak to him.

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Egypt: Court Overturns Niqab Ban in Universities

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 14 — The battle over the niqab, the veil that covers the face, leaving only the eyes visible, continues to rage in Egypt. The administrative courts have in fact overturned the ban imposed on wearing the garment on university property and examination halls, but the Minister for Higher Education, Hani Helal, is not throwing in the towel yet: “I’m going on anyway”, he says. “We will follow all the procedures which the law provides to overturn this decision”, he told ANSA. Helal is in Rome for the closing ceremony of the Italy-Egypt Year of Science and Technology. “I am concerned only with universities and higher education institutions, I am not involving myself with issues of a religious nature”, he added. Security and justice are the principles which are guiding his decisions: the niqab is a private matter, while the safety of universities is the issue in question. Last year, the Minister pointed out, there were over 30 cases of boys entering womens dormitories in disguise, and during exams, the teachers need to know who is answering their questions. The legal battle — which is separated into several parts and is therefore not yet over — was begun in recent days by a dozen women students wearing the niqab at the Ain Shams University, the second-largest public university in Cairo. The same case was established at the largest as well, the University of Cairo, which allowed protests to take place, as well as several girls refusing to take their exams. The minister is not respecting peoples rights said Nizar Ghorab, a lawyer acting on behalf of the students. She is basing their case not on religion, but on constitutional principles. The sentence by the Administrative court should be respected, she added, and does not permit referral to the Court of Cassation. As an employee of the State, the Minister is obliged to apply this sentence, otherwise he risks trial, a prison sentence, and the loss of his post. The students case involves the highest religious authorities as well: the grand Imam of Al Azharm, Sayyed Al Tantawi, the grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, and the Minister for Religious Affairs, Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq. The issue of the niqab exploded in October, when the Imam of Al Azhar ordered a student to remove her niqab, because it had nothing to do with religion, and it was banned from schools linked to the highest Sunni theological authorities, although only in women-only places. Minister for Education Yustri El Gamal also banned the niqab in public schools, while Ali Gomaa e Zaqzuq — who banned it in the offices of his ministry — also maintained that the niqab is simply a tradition. The lawyer says in any case that the verdict of the State Council affects only the University of Aim Shams for the time being.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Haidar: Tension Algeria-Morocco After Rabat’s Accusation

(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, DECEMBER 15 — After the declarations of yesterday from Rabat which defined the Aminatou Haidar affair, the Saharoui activist currently on hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport, as an “Algerian plot”, has reignited the controversy between the two countries over Western Sahara that have divided them for the last 30 years. While the serious health conditions of Haidar are worrying the world’s governments, the Algerian press reacts against the accusations of the Moroccan Communication Minister, Khalid Naciri. “Rabat plunges into the ridiculous”, reads the front page of Le Quotidien D’Oran, “Rabat looks for scapegoat to avoid responsibility for the planned death”, writes La Tribune. The same tones were used in all the press in both French and Arabic, while for the moment Algerian authorities are keeping quiet. “Algeria is in a weaker position”, stated Naciri, “in light of the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco for Western Sahara”. “The case of Haidar is a hateful manipulation” and “Algeria believes to have found the road to attracting international public sympathy”. Rabat “cannot assume responsibility for the dossier, a systematic plot, ordered by Algeria. Too much is too much”, it concluded, “Morocco and Spain are victim of a Machiavellian plan”. “The Western Sahara revolutionary”, as Haidar is defined by the world’s press, 43, is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony occupied by Morocco since its independence in 1975. The activist was pushed back on November 14 by Moroccan authorities at the airport of her hometown, Laayoune, on a return trip from the United States. The woman was put on board a plane for the Canary Islands. She began a hunger strike at the Lanzarote airport, asking to be able to return home and refusing political asylum and Spanish citizenship. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Law Must ‘Protect Egypt’s Women From Harassment’

Egypt’s deputy parliament speaker said women needed a law to protect them from sexual harassment which had reached “savage” levels in the country, Al-Destour newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“There must be a law to protect Egyptian society from collapse,” the newspaper quoted Zeinab Radwan as telling a conference on sexual harassment on Monday.

“There is a savage attack on Egyptian women with sexual harassment on the streets. It has gone beyond all limits with the harassment of children,” she said.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Mystery as Lockerbie Bomber Goes Missing From Home and Hospital

Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.

Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance. Richard Baker, Labour’s justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland’s reputation at risk. “This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi’s conditions of licence,” he said.

Eliot Engel, a New York congressman, said: “I think it was a tremendous mistake to let him out in the first place. I don’t think a convicted terrorist has any integrity to abide by any type of agreement.”

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Stakelbeck: Former Radical Muslim Now Supports Israel

As a young man in Egypt, Tawfik Hamid was a member of the Islamic terrorist group, Jamaa Islamiya. One of his cohorts in that group was none other than Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently Al Qaeda’s second-in-command.

Luckily, Tawfik realized the error of his ways, left JI, and became a fierce and courageous critic of radical Islam.

He is also an outspoken supporter of Israel, a stance that has seen members of his Arab Muslim family disown him.

I recently sat down for an extended interview with Tawfik in which he gave a passionate defense of Israel from an Egyptian perspective.

Click on the link above to watch Tawfik on Israel. And stay tuned to see our entire interview, which will air early in 2010.

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Gaza-Egypt Tunnel Collapses, Three Dead

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 15 — Three Palestinians were killed today when a tunnel connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt caved in. The news comes in a report by Egyptian security services. One of the three bodies has been recovered and the search for the remaining two is still under way. Tunnels dug by Palestinians on the Egyptian border are used for smuggling. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Israel Attacks UK Over Livni Arrest Warrant

Tel Aviv, 15 Dec. (AKI) — Israel’s foreign ministry has attacked a move by a British court to issue an arrest warrant against former foreign minister Tzipi Livni. The warrant was issued by a London Court on Saturday over her role in alleged war crimes during Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip in which 1,400 Palestinians were killed.

It was revoked on Monday when it was found Livni was not visiting the UK. Livni was foreign minister post during Israel’s controversial Gaza assault last winter.

“Israel rejects the cynical legal move made in the British court against the head of the opposition, MK Tzipi Livni, at the behest of radical elements, and wishes to point out that Israel and Britain are both engaged in a common struggle against the forces of international terror,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

Livni cancelled her trip to the UK after a warrant was issued for her arrest on 12 December.

The arrest warrant was rescinded once it was discovered that she was not going to the country.

Livni’s office said she would not travel to the UK due to scheduling reasons.

The foreign ministry also called for the UK to take action to rectify relations between both countries.

“The absence of immediate, determined action to correct this abuse harms relations between Britain and Israel.”

Israel warned Britain that unless action is taken, it would compromise its role in the so-called Middle East peace process.

“If Israeli leaders cannot visit Britain in proper, dignified fashion, this will, quite naturally, seriously compromise Britain’s ability to play the active role in the Middle East peace process that it desires,” said the statement.

On Tuesday, Livni said she would not accept any accusation that compared Israeli Defense Forces soldiers to terrorists.

“I have no problem with the fact that the world wants to judge Israel,” said Livni, quoted by Israeli daily Haaretz.

“We are part of the free world. The problem starts when the world judges us in a way that gives no value to the region.”

In late September, a group of Palestinian families living in the UK sought to obtain an international arrest warrant against Israel’s defence minister Ehud Barak, also for alleged war crimes committed during the Gaza operation.

During the Israeli offensive, termed ‘Operation Cast Lead’, more than 50,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed by the Israeli army, as well as 29 mosques, two churches and 200 schools.

The 22-day Israeli military operation, launched with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, killed some 1,400 Palestinians and injured more than 5,400 others, according to UN figures.

Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by cross-border rocket fire were killed in the conflict.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA Appeal to Arab Nations

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 14 — An appeal was made today by UNRWA to Arab countries in the headquarters of the Arab League for greater support to the United Nations organisation to help Palestinian refugees in the territories, in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The UNRWA reserves are nearly exhausted, said representatives of the organisation, but the number of refugees being given aid increases 3.5% every year and the amount needed for 2010 is over 323 million dollars. An amounted necessary, explained Commissioner General Karen Abu Zayd, for a series of projects to create jobs, education, emergency health care and mental heath initiatives for the communities. If these new resources are not forthcoming, underlined Abu Zayd, UNRWA will be painfully forced to cut services. The Arab states contributed only 1% of the 2009 budget, according to statements, while the percentage expected from the Arab League was fixed at 7.8%. Some Arab states have not increased their contribution for ten years, although others, it was pointed out, have guaranteed significant contributions, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Restoration-Conservation, Italy Offers Know-How to Israel

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 15 — A mission of Italian businesses and professionals specialised in architectural conservation and restoring historical buildings to broaden the spectrum of cooperation with Israel, a land that is rich in opportunities in this sector, also with economic prospects in mind. This was the initiative promoted over the past two days in Israel by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) as part of the events leading up to the mega-government summit between Italy and Israel set to take place in the beginning of February in Jerusalem. The mission, explained the head of the ICE office in Tel Aviv, Marina Scognamiglio, will allow Italy “to demonstrate and make their know-how, experience and technology in the field of conservation and restoration of historic buildings available,” a sector in which the peninsula (which contains almost two-thirds of the historical and artistic works on the planet) can boast “a position of world leadership.” A position that offers undeniable opportunities in a country like Israel, where innumerable historical sites that are associated with the traditions of all three great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are located, as well as other interesting sites. Starting with the white modernist Bauhaus architecture of Tel Aviv, which is at the centre of a renewed wave of restoration projects in 2009, due to the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the city that is a symbol of the Zionist achievements. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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The Palestinians Tell the World Their Strategy: Why Make Peace With Israel When We Can Get Everything From You Instead

by Barry Rubin

If you want to understand what’s really going on in the alleged Israel-Palestinian peace process-beyond the babble that progress is being made, it’s all Israel’s fault, and everyone is working hard on it-here’s what you need to know.

For the present, the Palestinian leadership isn’t interested in pursuing negotiations with Israel because it has a different strategy: get everything it wants from others without making any concessions.

First, the Palestinian Authority (PA) came very close to obtaining a European Union (EU) resolution which made it sound like the Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem is an accomplished fact. The rejection of the Swedish-sponsored proposal by more moderate European states staved this off, along with a U.S. reminder that this kind of issue was supposed to be resolved by a negotiated agreement between the PA and Israel.

Nevertheless, the PA no doubt drew hope-albeit erroneously so—from this experience that with a little more time the EU will back its position completely and give it a state on a silver platter.

The other front is the UN. On December 15, a meeting of the Fatah leadership will discuss and probably endorse a plan to seek UN recognition of their state, with no preconditions.

In the words of one Council member, Munib Masri:

“We will ask the UN Security Council to endorse a two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, to compensate Palestinian refugees and affirm their right to return to their homeland.”

There is a very interesting phrase at the end of that statement. Masri was referring to the Palestinian demand that all refugees and their descendants can go live in Israel if they want, a formula for massive violence, chaos, and civil war in Israel. Of course, that’s precisely what the PA wants—and will never get. The idea is that the “two-state solution” it is thinking about is merely a transitional step toward wiping Israel off the map, the real goal and the reason why there isn’t any peace.

By defining Israel as the Palestinian homeland, or at least a part of it, Masri shows the two-state solution is not a serious Palestinian goal. If it were, a West Bank-Gaza Strip-east Jerusalem state would be defined as the homeland.

Of course, he adds:

“If Israel remains steadfast in building settlements, then we will seek a one-state solution that is based on a timetable.”

Masri and others in the PA don’t give any credit for Israel’s settlement freeze. Like all Israeli concessions, it is pocketed and then denounced as insufficient, certainly not as warranting any reciprocal Palestinian gesture.

What Masri himself represents is the friends-of-Yasir-Arafat faction which still dominates both Fatah and the PA. This is the mainstream of both institutions and the base on which PA leader Mahmoud Abbas depends to stay in power.

The attractiveness of unilateralism is understandable. Why make a deal with Israel that might require recognizing it as a Jewish state, taking a bit less territory on the West Bank or having to swap some pieces of land with Israel, providing Israel with security guarantees, giving up the dream of total victory and Israel’s elimination, and accepting limits on your military forces when you can just demand, and possibly get, everything you want from the United States, Europe, the UN, or the international community in general?

This is also an ideal strategy in domestic terms since any concessions are unpopular. If Fatah and the PA want to make up with Hamas, avoiding any concessions is vital. And if they don’t want Hamas to make political capital out of their “treasonous moderation” the same point applies.

Of course, that means the conflict will continue, people will die, Palestinians will continue to be (or at least will be perceived as) suffering, and everything can be blamed on Israeli intransigence. There would be no peace and no Palestinian state, but that better suits the PA’s current strategy and again would largely be blamed on Israel.

Is it really so hard to understand that this is what is really happening?…

— Hat tip: Barry Rubin

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Brown Warns of Further Sanctions After Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile

Gordon Brown today called for fresh sanctions against Iran after it successfully tested a missile capable of striking Israel.

The Prime Minister described the testing of the Sajjil-2 missile as a ‘provocative act’ which raised fresh concerns about Tehran’s intentions.

A senior British official said the missile test suggested progress on persuading Iran to pursue peace was ‘going backwards’.

— Hat tip: JD

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Gulf: Treaty for Common Currency Enters Into Vigour

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, DECEMBER 15 — The agreement on the common currency for the countries of the Gulf became effective during the Gulf Cooperation Council summit currently in course in Kuwait, announced the finance minister of the oil emirate, Mustafa Al Shimali. “The governors of the central banks of the GCC will now define a calendar for the institution of a central bank before reaching the objective of a common currency”, he declared to the Kuma press agency. The four states of the oil block to adhere to the project are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. Oman renounced participation already during the primary phase of the project while the United Arab Emirates revoked their participation in May, in protest for the decision to make Riyadh the seat of the Gulf’s Central Bank.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Human Rights: Lebanon, Domestic Worker Abuse Punished

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, DECEMBER 15 — A historic decision in Lebanon: a civil tribunal sentenced a Lebanese woman for repeatedly beating the Filipino domestic worker she employed until 2006. According to the Beirut press today, the woman was sentenced to fifteen days in jail and payment of about 5,000 euros in compensation to Jonalin Malibago, the Filipino maid who found the courage in July 2006, while recovering in the hospital, to report the abuse she had suffered. As pointed out by Nadim Houry, manager of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) office in Beirut, domestic workers in Lebanon are victims of verbal and physical abuse, excruciating working hours, are completely forbidden to leave the home where they’re employed, have their passports confiscated, and earn extremely low salaries. According to the HRW, at least one domestic worker dies every week, and more than one is injured in the attempt to flee from the home of their employer. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Iranian Official Says 70 Per Cent of University Students Against Ahmadinejad

A rising wave of student protest shows that government militias are losing control over university campuses. President supporters are unable to hold rallies or speak without being interrupted. Government official wants the authorities to confront firmly young people and professors.

Tehran (AsiaNews) — About 70 per cent of university students would vote against Ahmadinejad, this according to Mohammad Mohammadian, who is not a dissident but the head of the supreme leader’s Office of University Affairs.

The admission is further evidence of the growing dissatisfaction among young Iranians who led protests in recent days, a sequel to demonstrations that followed the controversial re-election of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on 12 June.

Rooz, a dissident Iranian webzine, the recent wave of protests that swept the country’s university campuses is a sign that the regime and its militias have lost control of students.

Even before last 7 December celebration of Student Day, Ahmadinejad supporters were unable to hold rallies on campuses. Their speeches were drowned out by other students shouting.

In order to put a stop to the unrest, Mohammad Mohammadian wants “firmer confrontation” against professors and students guilty of weakening the regime.

Speaking at the 62nd annual conference of university chiefs, he sounded the alarm bell. According to the existing data, “70 per cent of students would vote against Ahmadinejad,” he said.

Recent protests are thus but the tip of the iceberg of widespread dissatisfaction. Government officials have lost control on many campuses; universities in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan and Hamedan, just to name a few, have been hit by the “green tsunami”, the protest movement that is close to the opposition. The deployment of Basiji militiamen and Revolutionary Guards has been of little consequence so far.

For Mohammad Mohammadian, university professors are the culprits; they are the ones responsible for weakening the regime and must be firmly confronted.

However, as a sign of the tense times, professors at Tehran University’s technical campus demanded an immediate halt to the security forces’ presence in universities.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Two Killed in Kurdish Demo in Turkey

BULANIK, Turkey — Two people were shot dead and several were wounded Tuesday during a Kurdish demonstration in southeastern Turkey on the fifth day of unrest triggered by a court ban on the country’s main Kurdish party.

The violence in Bulanik town, in the mainly Kurdish province of Mus, came after protestors attacked shops during a march to denounce the banning of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the town’s mayor Ziya Akkaya told the NTV news channel.

A shopkeeper, armed with an assault rifle, opened fire on the crowd after the windows of his shop were broken and his vehicle was torched by the protestors.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Has Russia Outplayed the US in Nukes Deal?

A Russian newspaper claims a new nuclear arms reduction treaty will put Moscow in a stronger position than the 1991 deal with Washington, which expired on December 5th.

Both sides say they expect the deal to be sealed by the end of the year..

A Russian diplomatic victory or a triumph of common sense? As details on a new US-Russian nuke pact are leaked to the press, experts in Moscow are finding more and more reasons to celebrate.

— Hat tip: Esther

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World’s Smallest and Largest States Have Recognized Abkhazia

The tiny Republic of Nauru, the world’s smallest island nation, in the South Pacific, has entered the spotlight of international politics by recognizing the independence of the former Georgian Republic of Abkhazia.

An agreement to establish diplomatic relations was signed by Abkhazia’s Foreign Minister and his Nauruan counterpart in Sukhum.

The Republic of Nauru is the fourth country to recognize Abkhazia’s independence, following Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The Abkhazian Foreign Minister noted that since his country is recognized by the biggest and the smallest nations, the agreement may pave the way for those in the middle.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Envoy Delivered Obama Letter to N. Korea Leader: Report

US envoy Stephen Bosworth delivered a letter from President Barack Obama to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il during his visit to the country last week, the Washington Post reported.

The White House and State Department confirmed the existence of the letter but declined to detail its contents, the daily said.

“We do not comment on private diplomatic correspondence,” the Post quoted US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer as saying.

— Hat tip: Esther

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North Korean Plane Leased by UN

From Swedish: Hugh Griffiths of SIPRI told Swedish news agency TT that the North-Korean weapons plane was leased by the UN for humanitarian shipments for one year starting March 2003. His report from May of this year shows that 90% of cargo plane companies identified as working in arms shipments were also used by the UN, EU and NATO, as well as leading aid agencies, such as Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Taipei Smugglers Facilitate Iran Nukes

Key pieces of equipment purchased from Europe, shipped to Tehran

LONDON — British MI6 intelligence agency investigators have discovered Iran has set up a new smuggling network in Taiwan to obtain specialized equipment used for the production of nuclear weapons, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Insiders report Iran has established companies to buy the equipment on the world markets and then smuggle it into Tehran.

[…]

The companies are fronted by local Chinese businessmen, and MI6 officers believe some of them have worked in China’s own nuclear industry before moving to Taiwan. The intelligence officers have also traced bank accounts held by the businessmen to banks in the Cayman Islands.

— Hat tip: JD

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Wei Jingsheng: Traitor West, Bewitched (By Money) From Russia, China and Vietnam

The well-known Chinese dissident analyzes the fall of the Soviet empire, but also shows its rebirth in autocratic states allies of the West. For example China and Vietnam. The need to help young people re-establish a more genuine democracy.

Washington (AsiaNews) A democratic leader from the East Europe visited me recently. Our conversation was about how the current youth seem not interested in the “democracy” topic anymore, not as enthusiastic as the time when they signed the Charter 77. He is thinking of propagating democratic ideology from the universities, to resist the Communist black hand of Russia stretching toward East Europe, or, using the term by their friends in East Europe, the black hand of the KGB.

This black hand has not just helped Russia to restore a quasi-Communist government, in a way similar to the current Chinese Communist Party’s autocratic rule. Its control and influence in the East European countries has also grown rapidly, more and more close to what it had under the former Soviet Union. Many anti-Communist democrats feel that the society has gone backwards, that the Communist Party was not defeated there; instead it was simply transformed into a new style Capitalist autocracy. Yet, behind this Capitalist autocracy are still the old Communist Party and the Lenin-Stalin style autocratic Communist system.

I always felt that the revolution of 1980’s was not really successful, that the happy Westerners are too naive. In the past 2 decades, people’s thought has just completed a circle. Our way of thinking when we were young — those democrats in China, as well as the East European dissidents such as Havel & Sakharov — was to worship the West: from its ideology to its political and economic strength. All were a part of Western democracy. We thought that the West was the only correct model; to copy the Western world would be to solve all the problems. This was not wrong at the time; it was a necessary way to oppose the Communist model.

However, the reality of the last two decades has inspired the people in a new way. The Western world did not help those people in the Communist countries build and strengthen a democratic social system.

The West simply cheered that they had defeated their adversary and finished the Cold War. Instead, the Western world is most fond of the so-called “economic cooperation” with the Communist countries and former Communist countries, to make a lot of money. The efforts for the democratization of China and the building of democracy in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries are totally out of the interest scope of the Western countries. After the events that happened in both Georgia and the Ukraine, along with the weakened policy toward the Chinese Communists by G. W. Bush and Obama, people’s disappointment in the Western democracy went over the critical point.

Some thinkers and politicians in the West are also thinking the same: What are the problems of the Western democratic system? Is the Western democratic system going downhill?

So now the issue is not just limited to China, or East Europe, or Russia, but an issue of the world, and an issue of how a democratic social system is to develop. Just because the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union and East Europe collapsed, does not mean a diminishing of the Communist autocracy. The Communist countries such as China and Vietnam have successfully transformed into a new style autocracy of inclusion among “All the Capitalists of the World United”. They have been more and more successfully forcing the Western countries to surrender themselves, and thus set up examples for all the autocratic countries in the world. The old style Western democracy has lost more and more of its model function, as well as lost its attraction to the people of the backwards countries.

I see many people within the democrats of the older generation, who are still buried in the ideology that they built when they were young, and insist on accepting the democratic ideas and democratic system of the West completely. But this thinking is already not enough; it is lagging behind the era. Just repeating those advanced thoughts of 30 years ago to today’s youth will not likely convince them. The modern day Internet has greatly expanded young people’s scope. These young people know sufficiently, unlike the time when we were young, when we knew little. The existing problems of this era are all in the scope of their interest.

From my own contacts with the younger generation, if we keep trying to talk about that old democracy theory to them as out of a textbook, they would give a snort of contempt. Most of them have already known these ideas, and they also know the problems of the older democratic system. What they are most interested in is exactly the fresh topic of this era.

This fresh topic is that the autocracy has turned itself from defence to offense and has been rising after its transformation. What method could the democratic countries have in dealing with that? Is the democratic system in decline? Could the democratic society turn around the trend of this decline? Will the older democratic system need its own transformation, etc.? In discussing these topics with the youth, they are very interested and very sensitive. These discussions exactly prove that the young people are not a generation without hope. Instead, we should entrust to the care of these youth.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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S. Africa Gets Halal Hotel

CAPE TOWN — With a few months remaining to the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Dubai-based Coral Hotels & Resorts opens on Tuesday, December 15, the first halal hotel in Cape Town.

“We are proud to say Coral International Cape Town will be open as planned well in advance of 2010 FIFA World Cup,” Hamza Farooqui, Group CEO for Cii Holdings, a leading South African business house, told IslamOnline.net.

The hotel is located on the edge of the historic Bo-Kaap which is a recognized heritage site on the slopes of Signal Hill in Cape Town.

— Hat tip: Esther

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Somali Refugees ‘Forced to Join Yemen Rebel War’

Hundreds of Somali refugees are being forced at gunpoint to join rebels fighting in northern Yemen, a Somali diplomat in Aden has told the BBC.

Hussein Haji Ahmed said they were being intercepted in mountainous territory crossing into Saudi Arabia.

“The refugees have told me that those who refused to join the rebellion were executed,” he said.

Both the authorities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia have alleged that Somalis have been fighting with Houthi rebels.

More than 16,000 Somali refugees have fled to Yemen in recent years to escape the civil war in their country, making the dangerous sea crossing in fishing boats.

Correspondents say some try to make their way to Saudi Arabia in search of better opportunities, paying trackers to take them over the dangerous terrain.

Mr Ahmed told the BBC Somali Service that refugees who made it across the border into Saudi territory were sometimes turned back by security forces, leaving them vulnerable to the rebels.

The Houthi rebels are seeking greater autonomy for their Zaydi Shia community in northern Yemen, and have been fighting the government since 2004.

The Zaydi community are a minority in Yemen, but make up the majority in the north of the country.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Austria Eyes Language Tests for Migrants

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — The Austrian government is eyeing tougher immigration rules, including asking prospective new residents to learn German before arriving in the country, as is already the case in the Netherlands.

“Mastering German language is a prerequisite for successful integration,” a new action plan for immigration tabled on Tuesday (15 January) by the centre-right minister of interior, Maria Fekter, said.

Under the draft proposals, higher levels of German will be required from migrants already living in the country and for spouses or family members who want to join them.

Until now, a basic level — for instance being able to communicate with a doctor — was enough while applying for a residence permit . But if the new law goes through, language proficiency enabling the migrant to access the labour market will be mandatory, with the government empowered to expel people who do not come up to scratch.

According to the latest available figures, over 800,000 foreigners live in Austria, representing roughly 10 percent of the overall population.

The largest group of immigrants — some 300,000 — are refugees from the former Yugoslavia, followed closely by Turks, who form the largest ethnic minority.

One of the reasons Austria is resisting Turkey’s EU membership is fear that family re-unifications of resident Turks could one day see Turkish people outnumber natives.

Green politicians and civil rights groups have slammed Ms Fekter’s project as a “sharpening” of immigration policy, which is already a playground for far-right groups.

The Red Cross also said that mandatory language classes before entering the country were “expensive and not feasible in practice.” In some countries, people have to travel long distances to the EU embassies or even face danger to do so.

The right-wing opposition said the project was too soft and should be replaced with a “reduction policy” for migrants already in the country, however.

Last week, the government in Vienna decided to keep the quota for legal migration in 2010 at just 8,145 people, the same as 2009. Based on past trends, more than half of the new immigrants will come to Austria for family re-unification, while some 2,500 will be highly-skilled workers.

Similar language tests were introduced in 2006 in the Netherlands, another EU country with a high immigration rate.

— Hat tip: Sean O’Brian

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Netherlands: Minister wants to make it easier to reject refugees

Dutch deputy minister Nebahat Albayrak for immigration proposed significant changes in the way the Netherlands deals with asylum seekers last week. With the support of the cabinet, she presented her plans to speed up application processes for minors and promised to end the collective granting of residency permits to people from especially dangerous countries.

Underage asylum seekers are currently often left dangling in the bureaucratic application procedure for years before finally being deported back to their countries of origin. They are given temporary residency permits as long as they are underage, but these are mostly withdrawn after their 18th birthday.

Under current Dutch law only asylum seekers who can prove they are at serious risk of violence in their home countries qualify for a residency permit. This rule applies to underage asylum seekers as well, but they receive more lenient treatment because they are minors.

“This gives children false hope,” deputy minister Albayrak said explaining her plans last week. Unaccompanied underage asylum seekers, as they are known, can live in the Netherlands for years, attending school until they are suddenly cut off from all public services, including health care, education and foster care facilities, after they become adults. Many of these 18-year-olds disappear and remain in the Netherlands illegally, according to Albayrak.

Under her new plan, the temporary residency permits will be scrapped and all applications from minors should be processed within one year. Her policy dictates both the young asylum seeker and immigration services have three weeks to prepare for the procedure that should then be conducted within eight days. As soon as a child’s application has been rejected, their swift return will be arranged by the so-called Return and Departure Service, a government agency charged with making sure unwanted immigrant are sent back. The agency tries to seek out possible biological parents in the child’s country of origin.

Foster care organisation Nidos, the independent government body responsible for the welfare of underage asylum seekers, hailed the accelerated application time as an improvement. But, according to Tin Verstegen, managing director of Nidos, if children are still not deported within a year or two in spite of increased efforts, they should be given a permanent legal status. The current cut-off point is three years.

Albayrak, however, said she did not intend to reduce this period any further. “This would take away every incentive to cooperate with authorities. Any underage asylum seeker able to frustrate the application procedure for a year would be granted a residency permit automatically.”

Aid organisation Vluchtelingenwerk said it opposes the move, because the accelerated application procedure will be error-prone.

In a related policy shift, the minister wants to end collective protection for asylum seekers, underage and adult, who come from countries listed as extremely dangerous by the government. Currently asylum seekers from the Ivory Coast and Sudan qualify for this status and are given residency permits relatively easily. The automatic acceptance of people from Iraq and Somalia was recently terminated.

Because other European countries do not have a similar system, the policy draws people from these countries to the Netherlands in disproportionate numbers, Albayrak said. In the future, even asylum seekers from hazardous countries will have to prove they will be in serious danger if they return home.

This move has met with even stronger opposition from Vluchtelingenwerk. “This policy will lead to people being deported to life-threatening situations,” managing director Edwin Huizing said.

A majority in Dutch parliament supports Albayrak’s new policies.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Over 1.1 Million Dutch People Have Two Nationalities

A growing number of Dutch people have dual citizenship, according to figures released by the statistics office CBS on Monday. In spite of restrictive government policies, 1.1 million now have at least two passports.

There was a significant increase in dual citizens in the 1990s, when many immigrants chose to be naturalised while retaining their original nationality as well. In 1997 the government introduced the principle beetje vaag that people who become Dutch should renounce their previous citizenship, but some exceptions to this rule exist.

Some countries, including Morocco, don’t allow their citizens to give up there nationality. Naturalised citizens who might suffer financially if they give up their original nationality are not required to do so. Turkish people often qualify, since they stand to lose inheritance rights by giving up their old nationality. Most dual citizens have either Turkish or Moroccan roots.

Since 2003 most new dual citizens are under age. Children born to at least one parent with a Dutch and a foreign passport automatically get both nationalities. Minors whose parents are naturalised are allowed to keep their original passports alongside their newly-acquired Dutch ones. They have to choose which they want to keep at the age of 18.

In February 2007, anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders questioned the loyalty of politicians who hold dual citizenship. His Party for Freedom (PVV) tried to block the inauguration of two deputy ministers in the fourth Balkenende cabinet: Ahmed Aboutaleb, now the mayor of Rotterdam, and Nebahat Albayrak, currently still deputy minister of justice. Aboutaleb was born in Morocco and still hold that country’s nationality. Albayrak also has a Turkish passport.

“It is unacceptable that people with an allegiance to another country are members of our cabinet,” Wilders told NRC Handelsblad at the time. However, his party’s no-confidence motion against the Labour politicians got no support in parliament.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Sweden: Easier Asylum for Iraqi Minorities

From Swedish: the Swedish migration service is considering making it easier for Iraqi religious and ethnic minorities to get asylum, as is already the case for gay Iraqis.

— Hat tip: Esther

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NATO: Reducing Emissions is a Security Imperative

Some may wonder why NATO would be interested in climate change. To me, this is a bit like asking why a person would be interested in a change in gravity. While gravity does not dictate what you choose to do at any given moment, it does tend to push all your choices in a common direction — down. In a similar way, I venture, while climate change will not dictate what some nation-states choose to do, it will push them in a common direction: towards increased instability. For that reason, we must recognize that reducing emissions is not only an environmental imperative, but a security imperative.

— Hat tip: Esther

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This week’s Russia Profile Experts Panel takes a look at Russia’s new European Security Pact:

Last week, the Kremlin published its draft of the European Security Treaty, first proposed in June 2008 as President Dmitry Medvedev’s first major foreign policy initiative. Moscow has been criticized for offering few specifics of this proposal, and thus failed to move its European partners toward a meaningful discussion of its initiative. It has now taken this step by putting forward a draft treaty, consisting of 14 articles. […] Is it possible to imagine that this treaty could serve as a viable replacement of or a substitute for the existing security structures, particularly those offering specific security guarantees, like NATO or the Collective Security Treaty? Would it improve the efficiency of the existing conflict resolution mechanisms in Europe? Would it restrict NATO’s ability to operate in Europe? Would it increase Russia’s influence over security decisions in Europe? Will it receive a broader discussion among European and Transatlantic powers, or will it die the quiet death of many other grand plans for European security?

Srdja Trifkovic, the Director of the Center for International Affairs at the Rockford Institute in Rockford, Illinois, contributed this to the discussion:

Quite apart from its details and nuances, Moscow’s proposal can be taken seriously because it comes after a notable shift in U.S. rhetoric and behavior over the past year. This shift reflects U.S. President Barack Obama’s evolving strategic priorities caused in part by the ongoing crisis in Pakistan and the escalation of fighting in Afghanistan. The two key elements are his U-turn on missile defense deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the quiet acceptance on both sides of the Atlantic that there will be no NATO expansion along the Black Sea coast anytime soon.

The problem is still what to do about NATO, and the Russian proposal offers ambiguous guidance. The alliance has morphed into something it was never intended to be: a vehicle for the attainment of American ideological and geopolitical objectives outside the core area. It is necessary to halt and reverse NATO’s recently invented mission as a self-appointed promoter of democracy and humanitarian intervention and guardian against instability in strange and faraway places.

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Bill Clinton’s air war against the Serbs marked a decisive shift in that mutation. The trusty keeper of the gate of 1949 had morphed into a roaming vigilante in 1999. This event had a profound effect on Russian thinking. A decade later, the National Security Strategy approved by President Medvedev last May identified the two gravest threats facing Russia as Ukrainian accession to NATO and predatory Western designs on its energy and other natural resources. The paper explicitly called the United States a major threat to Russian national security.

Such a conclusion was unsurprising. By virtue of its location, Russia controls the crossroads of Eurasia and therefore access to its fabulous natural resource wealth. Washington craves cheap and easy access to that wealth, and under the presidency of George Bush, the United States had developed an ideology to complement such geo-strategic ambitions. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described it succinctly 18 months ago: in U.S. foreign policy there is no distinction between ideals and self-interest. U.S. foreign policy is its values, and America will stop at nothing to ensure that its values prevail. The world is divided into two camps: one is made up of states that share U.S. values; the other of states (implicitly Russia and China) which were consigned to a lesser status because their relations with the United States are rooted more in common interests than in common values. Washington has changed its tone since, and that change appears to be for the better. Obama now has an opportunity to execute a paradigm shift and inaugurate a process in which the East-West Security Pact would be just the first step on a long journey, not its conclusion.

In principle the Russian proposal is not ranged against NATO, but it could help the United States sort out the incoherent mess NATO has become by restoring the alliance’s proper legal mission as defender of the territory of its member states. The proposal’s shortcoming, however, is that it neglects the potential scope in Europe for a robust and independent EU defense capability under the auspices of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP).

To devise a more inclusive European security architecture — one that includes NATO, but more than just NATO — would require the establishment of an organization that would replace the moribund OSCE. A new security architecture embracing the main parts of North America, Russia and Europe, would allow for the collective reallocation of forces so as to counter threats emanating from outside: cross-border terrorism, drug trafficking, sex slavery, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and — most importantly — efforts to export jihad.

These threats, unconventional yet real, are a factor for unity from Vancouver to Vladivostok. That vast region is united above all by the moral, spiritual and intellectual values derived from the Judeo-Christian and Greek tradition, values that are far deeper than any issues which divide it. The real threat to the security of pan-Europa thus defined comes from Jihad, from the deluge of inassimilable immigrants, and from collapsing birthrates. All three are caused by the moral decrepitude and cultural decline, not by any shortage of soldiers and weaponry.

Strategy is the art of winning wars, and grand strategy is the philosophy of maintaining an acceptable peace. In considering Moscow’s proposals in good faith, Western powers would display an aptitude for grand strategy, an inspired grasp of the essential requirements of the moment which has been sadly lacking in Washington for the past two decades.

Muslims make up more than 10% of the population of France, the largest proportion in any Western European country. Not surprisingly, France has also experienced a dramatic surge in anti-Semitic incidents during the last decade or so.

Tundra Tabloids has posted an interview with Ami Cammarella, an Israeli-born French doctor, who talks about the reasons why more and more Jews are deciding to leave France.

Some excerpts:

TT:		Tell us a bit more about the French police.
Dr. Cammarella:		It wasn’t the Nazis that came during WWII to capture the Jews, it was the French policemen. France was a very anti-Semitic country. No one had to push them, really, they were very happy to collaborate with the Nazis, and they were very friendly with them. That’s the reality. But many Jews after the War immigrated to France and could forgive France. “Ok, it was a different era and now we’re friends and France is no longer anti-Semitic. At the end France is a good country to live in as Jews”. […] [one of the chief physicians of the department] told me “You Jews”, he was referring to Israel but he told me “You Jews, you are like the Nazis”. So you see, for him, Jews and Israelis are the same. You’re a Jew, so you are an Israeli, and all Jews are Nazis. Just today, I was listening to the radio, and there was a song of one of the more well known singers in France. In this song, about twenty years ago, it’s not a recent song, he was singing in particular about the Palestinians, living a genocide organised by the Israelis … […] That is why after I began going to Synagogue, not because I had some kind of revelation or became real religious but, I said to myself, OK, you are a Jew, go and see what they say about Judaism. So then I went to inform myself what is about Judaism and that’s how I came to know the friend of our mutual friend, and about Judaism and to be a part of the Jewish community in the north of France. But that wasn’t the first anti-Semitic reaction that I had, it was the only one that I had from someone not an Arab, he was an ethnic French with an old fashioned French name. After WW II it was difficult to express anti-Semitism because of all the horrible things that had happened. If you were to say anti-Semitic things you would be attacked by the law. But I think that anti-Semitism is not dead, not all the people are anti-Semitic of course, but it does exist.

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TT:		Do you know of other friends of yours that are Jews have left France, are there of any significant numbers who have left for example, Israel or for elsewhere in the last 3-4 years, or you have no knowledge of anything like that?
Dr. Cammarella:		Yes I know of some people who have left for Israel due to anti-Semitism, yes. Just recently, because only recently I became a part of a big Jewish community, before I didn’t know of anyone. So little by little my identity became a Jewish identity and little by little things changed for me… […]
TT:		Was this doctor [an anti-Semitic Arab] very religious or what?
Dr. Cammarella:		He was not a religious man, he was secular in thinking concerning Islam, no problem with a Christmas tree and such like. But he couldn’t be seen with Jews, and that was anti-Semitic. You probably know that in Algeria they hate Jews, and they hate Israel. I recently read that they are probably only ten Jews left in all of Algeria. At the end of the WWII, there were more than 165,000. This French Jewish singer I spoke about, Enrico Macias, tried to go to Algeria many times, and every time the Algerian government told him that no, he cannot enter their country. […] Well the Gaza war is another wake up, what happened in Europe and what happened in France, the reaction was really strong. After that I was sure, absolutely sure that I had to leave France, because for me, France is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe. In particular during the Gaza war there were about 400 anti-Semitic attacks. Three Synagogues were attacked with Molotov cocktails, about ten Jews were beaten (at least officially). I know of one guy, not personally, who was from Paris and he was beaten by ten Arabs in January of this year, in particular his nose was broken and he spent three days in the hospital…and that just because he was a Jew! He was interviewed by YNET, an Israeli internet website, in which he stated that there is no longer a place for Jews in France and prepared for his immigrating to Israel. I don’t know if he has left already or not. All my friends, my Jewish friends didn’t want to believe what they saw, they said, “Well that’s the way it is, Jews being beaten because they are Jews, that’s the history of the Jews through the centuries, no? It doesn’t happen every day, and it’s not Auschwitz so, you have to live with it.” It’s no problem if you hide your identity, to take off very quickly your kippa, immediately when you go out from the synagogue. And why I wish to leave France, to answer your question, it has to do with the politics. In France they are very against Israel in the news, and for me, these very anti-Zionist positions are only anti-Semitic positions. Now since the birth of Israel, it’s a new way of being anti-Semitic and very politically correct. If you are anti-Israel then you are for the poor Palestinians who are said to be very oppressed by the very bad Israeli people. So that’s really what I feel with politics in Europe, and with France in particular. I can’t stand anymore all this almost daily propaganda. My grandmother was killed because of French people who gave her away to the Nazis. And today I can’t stand to see Synagogues being attacked with Molotov cocktails and to listen to them say bad things about Israel and the Jews. 400 anti-Semitic attacks in France, like the one guy beaten up by ten Arabs just because he was a Jew, I can’t take that any more. It’s indefensible. That’s my position of why I’m leaving France.

Read the rest at Tundra Tabloids.