Mark Steyn has repeatedly drawn attention to Russia’s disastrous demographic trajectory, and this report drawn from Finnish sources supports his contentions.

According to Ashley Mote:

Russia Will be a Muslim Country

A Finnish national newspaper quotes a report from the Ministry of Defence in Helsinki, saying the profound demographic changes since the fall of the Soviet Union are having an increasing influence on Russia’s domestic and foreign policy.

Author Eeva Nikkilä-Kiipula, quotes a government report in the newspaper Aamulehti which claims Muslims are seriously changing the essential character of the Russian population. According to a report, these changes already represent a serious challenge to Russian internal stability and domestic policy.

The last 20 years have seen important demographic changes in Russia. At the beginning of the 1990s, 149 million Russians lived in the country. By 2007 the total was seven million less. Numbers are diminishing by approximately 400,000 per year.

The situation is completely different in areas with a Muslim majority. There the population is growing. Average life-expectancy is considerably higher than in traditional Russian areas. If demographic growth continues in the same way, by 2015 the majority of Russian army conscripts will be Muslims. Five years later 20% of all Russians will be Muslims. By mid-century, a majority of the Russian population will be Muslim.

– – – – – – – – –

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the self-confidence and identity of Russia’s 20 million Muslims has risen dramatically. In 1991 there were 300 mosques in the country. By 2007 there were over 8000. Most new mosques were built with foreign money, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey.

The 60 Islamic schools in Russia today educate approximately 50,000 pupils. There was not one Islamic school in 1991.

I have heard anecdotal reports in the last year or so asserting that the “birth-dearth” among ethnic (Christian) Russians is abating due to the influence of governmental child-bearing incentives and an improvement of the country’s standard of living.

Can our Russian readers point us to any statistical sources to counter the gloomy prognosis outlined above?

Hat tip: Fjordman.

Here’s the latest report from our Austrian correspondent ESW about the controversy over Islamic education in her country, and other related matters.

The News from Austria
by ESW

Following the now infamous study which “concludes Muslim teachers in Austria have largely anti-democratic beliefs and one in five is ‘fanatical’ as well as 22.6 per cent of the 210 Muslim teachers he had surveyed [who] had ‘fanatical attitudes’ and 21.9 per cent rejected democracy as incompatible with Islam,” the Austrian government forced reforms of Islam classes in Austrian schools upon the Islamic Faith community.

Even the Greens party, usually an avid supporter of Multiculturalism, i.e. Islam, “demand that Islam teachers should have a mandatory nationalized education before they start to teach young Muslims in Austrian schools. All courses of instruction and materials should be checked thoroughly.” It is interesting to note that both the ÖVP (conservative) and the FPÖ (Freedom Party) have so far been silent on these matters. The FPÖ merely blasted in its party newspaper that “We have said this all along, but nobody was listening!”

One positive aspect of this discussion can be seen in the fact that Islam as a whole and the Faith Community in particular are under closer scrutiny than ever before. Anas Schakfeh’s usual line “I have nothing to do with all this” is no longer sufficient as an explanation of what is not going well in the Faith Community. One case in point can be found below, from Islam in Europe:
– – – – – – – – –

Austria: Calls for resignation of Muslim community head

The dismissal of a progressive Muslim teacher by the IGGiÖ (Islamic faith community of Austria) Wednesday provoked an outcry among politicians, who criticized the conservatism of this institution.

El Ghoubashy was punished for publishing an opinion column in Der Standard Tuesday where he said that Islam classes, as they were planned, failed to integrate Young Muslims into society [Lernen für das Leben in der Isolation (Learning for life in isolation)]. The president of the IGGiÖ, Anas Schakfeh, justified this decision, stressing that these remarks deliberately caused considerable harm to the organization.

The Social-Democrat Party of Chancellor Werner Faymaan strongly condemned the dismissal. Punishing a religion teacher who says he supports internal reform is completely incomprehensible and contrary to the intention of the Education Ministry, they said. Unusually in agreement, the opposition Greens party, as well as FPÖ and BZÖ, both of the extreme right, called in the strongest terms for the resignation of Schakfeh.

In office since 1999, Schakfeh’s position weakened in recent weeks when he tried to prevent the publication of a study by the University of Vienna which showed 22% of Islam teachers interviewed in Austria rejected democracy. Moreover, in mid-February he was ordered by Education Minister Claudia Schmied to fire a teacher who distributed in class a list of “Jewish” multinationals to boycott.

Austria finances religious classes which, besides exemptions, are obligatory in schools. Appointing and inspecting teachers is, however, the responsibility of the different religious communities. Austria employs 294 Islam teachers for 50,000 Muslim students.

And also from Islam in Europe:

Vienna: Muslim community upset at teacher sacking

Vienna’s Muslim community has voiced its anger over the sacking of a Islamic religion teacher by the federal government for distributing anti-Semitic leaflets to pupils.

Social Democrat (SPÖ) Education Minister Claudia Schmied ordered the city school council yesterday (Thurs) to bar the teacher who had been teaching at the Cooperative Secondary School (KMS) on Brüßlgasse in Wien-Ottakring district. She said “delay would be dangerous.”

The leaflets contained a list of allegedly “Jewish” firms from which, the man told the students, they should not buy anything.

A Muslim Teachers Association spokesman claimed today the man had said: “Every form of racism and anti-Semitism contradicts the ethnics of Islam and my own ethical principles.”

The spokesman added the man felt bewildered, considered himself the object of persecution and had denied he had distributed such leaflets to his students.

The man had claimed the students themselves had drawn up the list of supposedly Jewish firms and sent them to one another as SMS, the spokesman said.

The banning of the man from teaching, the spokesman added, “without examination of the evidence and without having heard from both sides was an overreaction.”

The education ministry, however, said today the man had confessed to distribution of the lists, and school director Karlheinz Fiedler told ORF Radio Wien the students had told him the teacher had distributed the lists.

The city school council said today it had become aware of the teacher’s activity on 21 January after a district inspector and the school director had informed it the teacher had been engaging in political agitation in the classroom.

The council added the teacher had been informed in a document he might face disciplinary proceedings. The council said the teacher had returned the document with his signature on it, which, the council declared, constituted an admission of improper behaviour.

The Islamic Believers Denomination informed the teacher on 28 January it would take disciplinary action against him.

Source: Austrian Times (English)

The story below was briefly discussed during my most recent appearance on the Gathering Storm Radio Show, but I admit I do not know what to make of it. Local newspapers did not report on this other than a brief mention. Notice, however, how anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are linked. Again, from Islam in Europe:

Austria: Anti-Muslim graffiti at Holocaust memorial

[…]

The latest instance of right-wing extremism in Austria was the recent defacement of the outer wall of the former Nazi concentration and death camp at Mauthausen, Upper Austria.

The words, “The progeny of Muslims are for us what the Jews were to our fathers. Be on your guard. A third world war — an eighth crusade,” were spray-painted in 70-centimetre-high letters on the outer wall at the memorial’s entrance. The vandalism was discovered last Friday morning.

In response, Mauthausen Committee Austria Chairman Willi Mernyi called the defacement “a radical-right provocation” and said it constituted “a wholly new dimension of right-wing extremism.” He added the choice of words showed the perpetrators were familiar with Nazi hate language.

The Austrian Islamic Denomination appealed to politicians and to civil society to take “the frightening signal” seriously and to undertake measures to promote more public consciousness of the situation in Austrian society.

The organisation added the incident was closely linked to anti-Semitism and hatred of Muslims.

This story (based on ORF with additional material found in the print edition of Kurier) is worth reporting because it epitomizes the dire situation we are currently in. In the spring of 2008, a 28-year-old woman applied to become a trainee doctor at a well-known medical spa in the Austrian province of Burgenland. The interviews went well, until, it seems, the managing director, Rudolf Luipersbeck, conducted the final one. Sonia Z., apparently a convert, was told she could have the job if she took off her headscarf. She declined and contacted the equal opportunities commission. There was no charge filed because the spa paid €4,500 in compensation. She now works at the Vienna General Hospital — in a headscarf. This poses no problem because there are many doctors and nurses in headscarves catering to patients in hijab.

The brave managing director defended his actions as follows: “When I hire employees I do not ask about their confession. However, we do have a dress code and regulations, and they prohibit headscarves.”

This story is problematic, to say the least. This lady not only set a precedent, she is also forcing employers to hire staff they do not want to hire in the first place for fear of being sued. This reminds me of a story about a hairdresser, after interviewing a Muslim, headscarved girl who wanted to become a hair stylist, decided not to hire her. This wonderful girl then sued the store owner, who was accused of “direct and indirect” discrimination.

What will the Muslim future look like? A girl in hijab suing a model agency because she was not accepted as a model? Because she was discriminated against as she could not fulfill her dream to be the first veiled Vogue model? Another girl suing because she is discriminated against for not getting a job at a butcher’s because the meat is not halal and pork products are sold as well? Isn’t all this crazy? Hasn’t the world turned into a crazy place?

Speaking of crazy place: the US State Department’s latest human rights report blasts Austria for “some societal discrimination against Muslims”. It goes on, “Muslims complained about incidents of societal discrimination and verbal harassment, including occasional incidents of discrimination against Muslim women wearing headscarves in public. There was a public debate on the question of erecting minarets throughout the year. Zoning laws in two provinces, Carinthia and Vorarlberg, were amended to make it more difficult to build minarets that “conflict with the traditional appearance” of towns. There was also significant public opposition to the expansion of a Turkish Muslim center in Vienna.”

I will not comment further, other than quoting the prime minister of Vorarlberg, Herbert Sausgruber, “This criticism is exaggerated and unwarranted.”

Ever since the Mumbai terrorist attacks last November, India has asserted that Pakistani nationals inside Pakistan were part of the conspiracy to murder and wreak havoc among the population of Mumbai. Pakistan at first denied any connection, then acknowledged that there might be a few Pakistani “rogue elements” who conspired with the attackers. As the weeks wore on, deeper and deeper connections between Pakistan and the Mumbai terrorists were ferreted out and exposed in the Indian press.

Now India has identified two members of Pakistan’s army as conspirators in the case. According to Asia News:

India Says Two Pakistani Officers Among Mumbai Terrorist

Investigators present a list of 37 people involved in last November’s attacks; it includes Indian and Pakistani nationals. Trial should take several months. The 11,000-page charge sheet contains accounts by more than 2,200 witnesses.

Mumbai (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Two members of Pakistan’s military are among the organisers of the Mumbai attack. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam presented a list of 37 people charged with planning and abetting last November’s attacks in Mumbai that killed 179 people in India’s financial hub. Indians and Pakistanis are one list that already included Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker captured by Indian security forces during the attack.

The names and rank of the two Pakistan army officials mentioned were not given, but Rakesh Maria, chief Indian investigator in the case, said they took part in training the gunmen.

– – – – – – – – –

Those charged as key planners of the attacks included Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Indian wing of the militant Islamist Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) group, and senior Lashkar members Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah.

All three are accused of masterminding the attacks.

Looking beyond Mumbai to the rest of India, a recently-released report points the finger at foreign nations that are contributing arms to domestic insurgencies within India. When the Indian government refers to the nefarious activities of “foreign nations”, it’s generally understood that Pakistan heads the list, although others such as China may also be involved.

According to AKI:

India: Report Claims ‘Foreign Nations’ Fuelling Insurgency

New Delhi, 25 Feb. (AKI/Asian Age) — A report claims that insurgency in India is being fuelled by foreign countries, mostly developed nations, who are supplying high-end arms and ammunition to Maoists and insurgents operating in nearly a dozen states in India

Insurgents no longer depend on country-made guns and pistols and have to their disposal US-made carbines, Russian made AK assault rifles, Israeli guns and Chinese pistols which are frequently being used against security forces, according to latest inputs given by security agencies to the Indian home ministry.

The recovery of arms by security forces in 2008 has doubled from the previous year, posing a fresh security concern for security agencies grappling with left-wing extremism.

Russian-made guns are the most popular among insurgents, says the report, while Pakistan-made Pika guns, China-made pistols, as well as Belgium and US-made guns top the list of arms frequently being used by militants against Indian security forces in insurgency-hit Jammu and Kashmir.

The report says that Indian security forces seized 1714 arms from militants in 2008, double from the previous year.

Indicating a steep rise in Maoist activities in Orissa over the last two years, security forces recovered the highest 1040 arms in 2008 as compared to only 27 arms in 2007.

The report reveals that Maoists in Chattisgarh are also manufacturing arms locally, which include guns, bomb projector, pipe guns, mortar shells and revolvers.

Now that Islamabad has ceded formal control of the Swat valley to the Taliban, the subcontinent is teetering on the brink of a new — potentially nuclear — crisis. Two heavily-populated countries having nuclear weapons are facing off across a common border. In one of them there is a real possibility that Islamic fundamentalists will not just infiltrate the government, but seize control of it.

The government of Pakistan has very little room to maneuver. On one side it has the Taliban within a hundred miles of the capital, riding a wave of popular discontent and violence. On the other side is the government of India, pressing ever more strongly for an accounting of Pakistan’s involvement with Islamic terrorism inside India.

This situation is unstable. It cannot last. Something has to give.

Hat tip: C. Cantoni.

During the election (now thankfully over) we heard a lot about the plans Mr. Obama had for his administration.

Well, it’s been a month now, and Tony Blankley is looking past the rhetoric to attempt to glean some ideas regarding Obama’s management style. Reading Mr. Blankley’s analysis of the “priority items Obama claimed he was determined to address” one does not come away with any sense of confidence in the new administration. Or rather, the essay reinforced my sense of gloom about the new guy.

The important decisions, which Obama said would get his “personal attention” are almost embarrassing to point out, since he has tripped over every one of them. Here they are, in the order Mr. Blankley addresses them:

• Cabinet selection
• closing Gitmo
• the stimulus package, and
• bipartisanship.

Mr. Blankley says that Obama has admitted “screwing up” vis-à-vis his Cabinet selections, but observes that the President doesn’t really address this “screw up”. I noticed at the time he said it, that Obama’s rhetoric on this subject was vague, similar in style to the old cliché, “mistakes were made”. Any politician using that phrase is stonewalling and that would seem the case for Obama’s various picks for his Cabinet.

He has chosen tax cheats, Clinton re-treads, and incompetents. Some of his administration appointees are downright alarming from a security perspective.
– – – – – – – – –
Blankley pointedly inquires:

…But from a management perspective, the unanswered question is: How did he “screw up”? Did he actively design the failed vetting process and actively assess the various negative pieces of information and fail to see their significance? Or did he “screw up” by letting others design the failed system and assess the data inflow? The former would show poor substantive judgment. The latter would show he wasn’t paying sufficient attention to a presumably vital matter. We don’t know yet which kind of “screw-up” it was.

And we’re not likely to find out. It would appear sometimes that President Obama, like the Campaigner Obama, holds his cards so close to his vest that even he doesn’t know what he’s got in his hand.

Then there is Gitmo. That was a big issue for the Bush Derangement folks, who form a large section of his core support. They must be bitterly disappointed that Obama was not down in Cuba on Day Two, unlocking the cells himself.

What really happened was even more disturbing to those of us who were interested to see how he would handle this sticky situation. Turns out, all he did was plunge his presidential hand into that tar baby, and then ask what it was he’d done. So now he’s stuck with the same mess that plagued President Bush. The only difference is that the MSM will give Obama a pass on this, as they already have on so many of his missteps.

Gitmo looked so easy from the outside, but when the time came to sign the executive order, President Obama’s ignorance about what he was actually affixing his name to was embarrassing to watch. As Blankley observes, the main issue has always been what to do with these dangerous terrorists:

Thus, it was breathtaking that at the signing ceremony, President Obama didn’t know how — or even whether — his executive order was dealing with this central quandary. [my emphasis — D]

President Obama: “And we then provide, uh, the process whereby Guantanamo will be closed, uh, no later than one year from now. We will be, uh. … Is there a separate, uh, executive order, Greg, with respect to how we’re going to dispose of the detainees? Is that, uh, written?”

White House counsel Greg Craig: “We’ll set up a process.”

To be at the signing ceremony and not know what he was ordering done with the terrorist inmates is a level of ignorance about equivalent to being a groom at the altar in a wedding ceremony and asking who it is you are marrying.

In other words, not caring much who you are marrying, either, just so long as you’re married — or in this case, just so long as the cameras are flashing and your title is “Mr. President, sir”. Notice that both the President and his advisor call this a “process”. This seems to be a favored term in Obama’s lexicon.

Given the publicity stunt that Obama set up for signing this executive order, his behavior was sorely lacking in gravitas or wisdom. It was all about appearances and he certainly did look swell with all those American flags. But didn’t he or anyone else on Air Force One think he should be briefed in full on the flight from Washington to Denver? The man looked like a fool at the signing but he rode to power on the fumes of adoration, so the performance bar for him has been substantially lowered.

Blankley finds Obama’s lack of “personal involvement” in the crafting of the stimulus process “curious”. Given the two examples of his management style above (i.e., all style, no management) I think his failure to work with Congress on this — leaving Pelosi and the gang to pour on the pork — is congruent with the rest of his behavior so far. He strikes me as a person who is easily bored and heaven only knows that reading one thousand pages of bumf — even astronomically expensive bumf — is not something he’s likely to do. Unlike Bill Clinton, this president is not a policy wonk.

I find myself longing for the relative sanity of Clinton’s approach. At the very least, he knew what he was talking about, even when he was lying. At the time, I bemoaned the fact that we had a president who’d never done any real work, all he had for experience was public office. Now, he looks like a statesman in comparison. I repeat, in comparison.

Obama stayed on the sidelines, pushing the vote on the “stimulus process” (it remains to be seen what this “process” will actually stimulate). Blankley again:

Thus, as he has identified the stimulus as essential to the recovery process, his willingness to let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid design a bill that, even now that it’s passed, Mr. Obama has continued to criticize as needing improvement (on bank executive compensation) leaves one puzzled as to why he didn’t use his currently vast political clout with his own party allies to shape a bill more to his liking.

Mr. Obama is quickly becoming a mystery wrapped in an enigma, etc. And he is not going to make any friends on the Hill by criticizing the Dems.

The last item is that pesky little campaign promise about bipartisanship. What a joke. Not only did he sit out the game of crafting the stimulus package, but he did nothing to encourage inclusion of the Republicans in a huge appropriations process.

President Obama is the head of the Democrat Party. As such it is his duty to reach across the aisle and to encourage Senators and Congressmen to do likewise. However, as in the other three “promises” he’s been all talk and no walk. He has permitted disrespectful behavior by the Dems against the Republicans in Congress and thereby has aided in creating a contentious atmosphere on Capitol Hill. Is this some kind of divide-and-conquer plan or is the President merely a passive observer of the legislative branch?

Mr. Blankley sees four possible reasons for Obama’s detachment. [scroll down]

In my view, what we’ve seen so far is merely a logical extension of some of the more genuine moments we glimpsed on the campaign trail…remember the incident when Obama the Campaigner was approached during his breakfast in a Scranton diner? Instead of answering the reporter’s question, Obama complained, “why can’t I just eat my waffles?”

That little scene may be emblematic of the new President’s character. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but will Obama delegate all the boring stuff to his swollen White House staff while he continues to levitate above it all?

A brief aside: Some presidents are players. They love politics, the wheeling-and-dealing, the nitty-gritty details of political life. Others are more likely to let someone else decide the strategy and do the behind-the-scenes dirty work of making the engine of the Executive office manage to chug along.

In the first case, among the players you can count Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton as familiar examples. Their characterological make-up was such that they enjoyed the rough and tumble of the Presidency.

Those who were played, I think, include Jimmy Carter (had he ruled in earlier ages, along with “Ethelred the Unready” there would have been a “Carter the Clueless”), followed by both Bush père and fils. Carter relied heavily on Zbigniew Brzezinski for his foreign policy decisions. Bush and Reagan would also employ him, but not to the extent that Carter needed Brzezinski for speeches and policy. It was Brzezinski who dreamed up the covert support of the mujahideen in Afghanistan and we all know where that led. Can anyone say 9/11?

Bush 41 was played by his generals, particularly Colin Powell, which led to the Gulf War I debacle and a one-term presidency.

Just as the terms “BushRove” and “BushCheney” were used to describe the former President’s policies, you can expect to see “ObamaEmanuel” in the editorial pages any day now. Rahm Emanuel is the player that President Obama is not and Emanuel plays to win. No one argues that he plays dirty, or that he doesn’t enjoy it — that’s why he’s there.

Levitate on, Mr. President. It will be a talent you’ll need to keep your feet dry when the economy tsunami drowns the rest of us.

The screws are being turned on Israel in anticipation of Bibi. Hillary has promised $900 million to rebuild Gaza — and, mind you, we’re going to make sure that none of it gets into the wrong hands. Yup. Right.

Not only that, both the British Foreign Secretary and the Obama administration are pressing the Israelis to give up all settlements in the territories, and Milliband even insists on a two-state solution which confines Israel within its pre-1967 borders.

Thanks to Aeneas, C. Cantoni, CIS, ESW, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Mr P, TB, Tuan Jim, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	Asean: Global Crisis a ‘Hurdle’ to Economic Integration
	Egypt: Local Steel Producers Urge Gov’t for Import Duties
	Egypt: Crisis Takes Toll on Suez Canal Revenues
	Renewing the ‘Old Deal’?
	UK: Minority Groups to Get Extra Government Help to Protect Them From the Recession
	USA
	Communists: Obama ‘Best Opportunity in Decades’
	Leftists Worship at Altar of Death Cult, Says Book
	Obama + Congress = Economic Chaos
	Rule by Fear or Rule by Law?
	This Prayer Approved by the White House?
	What is Terrorist Travel?
	Canada
	Canada: Editorial: Take Off the Veil
	Canada: Campuses Awash in Tension Over Israel Apartheid Week
	Europe and the EU
	Austria: the Ghost of Haider Dominates Vote in Austria
	Denmark: City Shootings Leave Two Dead
	EU: Airbus Faces A400m Order Cancellations Due to Delays
	Finland: Call for More Tax Income Support for Finnish Lutheran Church
	Greece: From 2010 Obligatory Service for Army Only
	How UK Defence Firms Suffer for Mod Euro-Mania
	Islet Hit by Migrant Crisis
	Italy: Global Cultural Forum to be Held in North
	Italy: Colosseum Lit Up for Montana Vote
	Netherlands: Small Turnout for Wilders in the US
	Netherlands: Riot Police Take Action in Maastricht
	Netherlands: Eindhoven Builders Stoned
	New ‘Iron Curtain’ Will Split Eu’s Rich and Poor
	Norway: Norwegian Women Turn to Sweden for Gender-Based Abortions
	Report: Many EU Nations Do Not Track Anti-Semitism
	Spain: Bollywood Style Advert to Promote Catalan
	Spain: Garzon Calls Halt to D3m and Askartasuna for 3 Years
	Spain: Road Blocks Set Up Against Moroccan Tomatoes
	Spain: 1/3 of Judges Take Part in 1st Judicial Strike
	Strike: Fini, Don’t Suppress Right But Harmonise it
	Sweden: Demo Against Police Racism in Malmö
	Sweden: Volvo Pay Raise ‘Insulting’: Reinfeldt
	UK: Criminals ‘Laughing’ at Community Sentences Which Have Failed to Cut Prison Population
	UK: Soldiers Deserve Better
	UK: Yes, Big Brother Britain is a Menace. the Irony is, It’s the Civil Liberties Lobby Who Are to Blame
	‘Will You Open Fire on UK Citizens’ Army Personnel Being Asked
	Balkans
	Montenegro: Council of Europe Wants Electoral Modifications
	Mediterranean Union
	From Hammams to Ancient Theatres, EU Saves Med
	Italy-Egypt: Task Force of Italian Security Specialists
	Jordan: France to Lend Euro 200 Million for Water Project
	North Africa
	Nuclear: Algeria to Have a Power Station Every 5 Yrs, Minister
	Tourism: Tunisia Least Expensive Mediterranean Country
	Israel and the Palestinians
	Danish Foreign Minister: No Gaza Bill for Israel
	EU Ready to Monitor Gaza Borders With Egypt
	Gaza: Rocket Launching Intensified, Ashqelon Schools Closed
	Hillary Clinton Pledges $900 Million for Rebuilding Gaza
	Israel: White House Protests Jewish Construction
	Italy to Give $100 Million to Gaza
	Milliband: Palestinian State in Pre-1967 Borders
	Shalit: Press, Israel for Extended Contact With Hamas
	Middle East
	Any Criticism of Hamas Shouted Down in the Arab World
	Archbishop Hails Aziz Acquittal
	Hillary Clinton Offers Handshake of Friendship to Syria
	Jordan: US Grant USD 100 Million for Development Projects
	Jordan: Prime Minister Reshuffles Cabinet
	Lebanon: Hezbollah Changes Codes After Arrest of Israeli Spy
	Missing US Journalist Roxana Saberi ‘Arrested’ in Iran
	Saudi Arabia: Education Deters Militants From More Violence, Says Official
	Turkey to Implement Reforms With or Without IMF, Minister
	South Asia
	Afghanistan: Taliban Bomb, Not Canadians, to Blame for Three Slain Children
	Burmese Refugees in Malaysia Abused, Handcuffed, Victims of Profiteers
	Indonesia: Java Mudflow is Human Rights Threat, Says Key Body
	Malaysian Government Defeated by History: Christians Have Used the Word “Allah” for Centuries
	Thailand: More Beheadings in Troubled Muslim South
	Far East
	Philippines: Military: Reds Destroy P100m in Property
	Philippines: MILF Rebels Attack Coastal Villages
	S. Korea: [Editorial] ‘Terrorism’ in the Nat’l Assembly
	Australia — Pacific
	New Zealand: Change Bill of Rights, Says 3-Strikes MP
	Sub-Saharan Africa
	Mauritania: Girls Being Force-Fed for Marriage as Junta Revives Fattening Farms
	Immigration
	Immigration: El Piolin Interviews President Obama
	Italy: Immigrant Entrepreneurs Valuable Resource, Experts Agree
	Norway: President of the Norwegian Parliament (Storting), Torbjoern Jagland, Warns Politicians Against Creating a Heated Debate on Immigration.
	General
	Submission in Advance
	Yes We Can Means No You Can’t

Asean: Global Crisis a ‘Hurdle’ to Economic Integration

Bangkok, 27 Feb.(AKI/Jakarta Post) — The global financial crisis is poised to become a major hurdle for Southeast Asian nations and their ambitious plans for regional economic integration.

Several members of ASEAN have already undermined the common market spirit with calls to buy local products and bans on hiring foreign workers amid the global economic slowdown.

The economic crisis was expected to dominate the latest ASEAN summit of ten regional member states. The summit began in the beach resort town of Hua Hin in Thailand on Friday.

Indonesian industry minister Fahmi Idris recently called on civil servants to buy local products because of shrinking export demand.

The move came after trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu introduced import restrictions on 500 products last December, a move intended to crack down on illegal products.

The Malaysian government banned the hiring of foreign workers in factories, stores and restaurants in December, and this has had a big impact on 100,000 Indonesian migrant workers because they work mainly in the manufacturing industry. Kuala Lumpur has also ordered companies to lay off foreign employees first if they need to slash their workforce.

Although ASEAN leaders reiterated a commitment to a fully integrated free market by 2015 at a meeting of economic ministers in Thailand this week, the recent protectionist measures send signals that countries may refrain from action while economic uncertainty continues.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the integrated market plan would be harmed by the “protective” measures, saying they were only short-term mechanisms adopted to cope with the economic downturn.

“Short-term measures are necessary to cope with short-term shocks. But in the end we have to open up and aim for full integration to come online with the global economic system,” he said recently.

He said members were aware any short-term reaction would not solve their problems.

“In the final analysis, we have to export again. You have to compete again because you cannot seal off your economy when others are moving forward.”

Mari said recently ASEAN member states were still meeting targets for the integrated community, although each country was also under pressure to tackle its own domestic economic woes.

Among the targets adopted in 2007, countries must eliminate tariffs and other barriers in 12 priority sectors, including agricultural, rubber and wood-based products, automotive, electronics and textiles by 2010.

“We might have missed some deadlines but in general we are moving ahead with ASEAN economic integration,” she said.

The biggest victim of protectionism may be tiny but prosperous Singapore, a country with only 4.6 million people that relies on foreign trade for the lion’s share of its economic survival.

Singapore slipped into recession last year as its economy growth shrank to 1.2 percent from 7.7 percent in 2007.

“Singapore cannot call on people to buy local products because we import almost everything and our economy depends on foreign trade. We also cannot ban foreign workers because it would make Singapore as an international hub less competitive for foreign investors, who might prefer to have far broader choices in human resources,” said Alain Khaiat , a member of Singapore’s delegation to the ASEAN cosmetic committee, a forum under ASEAN cooperation.

Almost all 10 ASEAN members can rely on their own domestic markets at a time when foreign demand is slowing.

Thailand, which is predicted to have zero growth this year, has been trying to raise people’s purchasing power through cash initiatives to the needy.

Indonesia is expected to survive the turmoil better than other members because the country of some 230 million has a vast domestic market. Domestic consumption represents 65 percent of its gross domestic product growth.

Berly Martawardaya, an economic analyst at the University of Indonesia, said countries around the world would be more cautious about free trade and investment amid the global downturn.

However he said it should not put prolonged pressure on the integrated market plan because that would reduce the region’s competitiveness on a global scale.

“The crisis may last one to two years and the benefit of protectionist measures should not overwhelm the bigger advantage of a more integrated and open-market system,” he said.

In a recent report, the International Labour Organization warned that the economic downturn would increase the number of jobless in Asia by 7.2 million in 2009, lifting the region’s unemployment to 5.1 per cent from 4.8 per cent last year.

Thailand, the host of the ASEAN summit, has been hit particularly badly by the slowdown and was expected to post figures on Friday showing a sharp fall in overseas trade.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Egypt: Local Steel Producers Urge Gov’t for Import Duties

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, Feb 20 — Local steel producers are urging the Egyptian government to impose duties on imported steel from abroad, especially Turkey. Local producers say that many foreign steel producers have large backlogs of steel rebars reserves and the outbreak of the global crisis forced them to sell cheap in overseas markets. Egypt’s state-run Iron and Steel Company urged the government to impose more tariffs on imports of steel to protect local manufacturers, especially state-owned steel factories. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Egypt: Crisis Takes Toll on Suez Canal Revenues

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 18 — Suez Canal revenues fell 20% to $332.4 million in January, compared to $414.2 million in the same month last year. Revenues were also down from $391.8 million in December. The number of vessels using the waterway was 1,313 in January, down from 1,690 in January 2008 and from 1,560 in December, based on state figures, reportedly a five-year low. The government said last Tuesday growth of Suez Canal revenues fell sharply to 1.4% in the second quarter of the current 2008/09 fiscal year from 22% in the same period a year earlier. Egypt’s economy grew at an annual 4.1% rate in the second quarter of the 2008/09 fiscal year, compared to 7.7% in the same period a year earlier. The Suez Canal Authority said in early January it would leave unchanged its transit tolls for 2009 despite its expectations that the global financial crisis will reduce traffic. The waterway earned a record $5.4 billion in 2008, up 16.7% from 2007. On average each year the authority hikes tolls by 3%. However, last April rates were doubled to 7%. The economic slowdown has also pushed shipping rates down to around $18,000 a day from $163,000 before the crisis. The revenue in December was 6.7% down compared with the previous month.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Renewing the ‘Old Deal’?

Let’s examine the words, for instance of Henry Morgenthau, one of Roosevelt’s closest friends and confidantes. In 1939, he was serving as FDR’s treasury secretary — and he was growing weary of what he acknowledged were the failures of the administration’s efforts to spend their way out of the Depression.

[…]

“We have tried spending money,” Morgenthau testified before his fellow Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. “We are spending more than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. … I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. … And an enormous debt to boot!”

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Minority Groups to Get Extra Government Help to Protect Them From the Recession

Ethnic minorities could receive extra help during the recession following Government fears they will be hardest hit as the economy deteriorates. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell announced a controversial drive to ensure ethnic minority workers are not ‘left behind’. He warned that employment levels amongst ethnic minorities fell by ten percentage points in the 1990s recession, more than other groups. Mr Purnell, announcing the initiative in a speech to Labour’s Black Asian and Minority Ethnic annual general meeting in Leicester, said it was vital to ensure the mistakes of previous recessions were not repeated. ‘In the past too many were left behind in bad times. Ethnic minority workers suffered most in the Tory recessions,’ he said. ‘Employment levels amongst ethnic minority workers fell by 10 percentage points in the 1990s recession — much worse than rest of the country. ‘Just think of the waste of human potential. Whole communities were abandoned, families where no one then worked for generations.’

But the Government’s focus on minorities drew criticism from Conservative MPs, who warned it risked entrenching division. Shipley MP Philip Davies said: ‘This is simply outrageous. The Government should be targeting support at all who need it. ‘The Government should be colour blind when it comes to looking who needs help. Doing otherwise will only entrench racism, as far as I’m concerned. ‘The Government should be looking now to help the groups that have already been hit, like savers. ‘This is the sort of thing that gives politics a bad name — ministers talking to different groups and telling them what they want to hear. It drives me to distraction.’ A spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group said: ‘At a time when so many people are feeling the pinch, the Government should be allocating help on the basis of need. ‘Lots of people are suffering hard times in the recession. The last thing they need is for the Government to play politics with different ethnic minority and gender groups. ‘Instead, it should concentrate on an honest effort to help us all through the recession.’

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will assess the impact of unemployment on ethnic minorities, women, the disabled and older workers and advise ministers on steps to take. Business groups have warned that women may bear the brunt of the economic downturn, since they are more likely to be employed part-time or on temporary contracts and may be first in line when jobs are cut. Mr Purnell said in previous downturns, unemployment amongst older workers had also been deeper and more prolonged and said the talents of a generation of disabled people had been “squandered”. ‘Over half a million people were pushed onto incapacity benefit and forgotten about,’ he said. ‘But, as much as the Tories might have wanted them too they didn’t just disappear. We still bear the scars of those decisions in so many communities and households today. ‘In this recession evidence so far is that its effects, however painful, are being spread across the population more evenly. But we will not take any chances.’

Mr Purnell said EHRC chairman Trevor Phillips had agreed to work with the Government to assess whether any groups were suffering disproportionately in the recession. ‘When we identify particular problems, we will know we need to adapt our policies to make sure that no one is left behind this time,’ he said.

A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: ‘This recession has had a terrible impact for hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their job or are under threat — men and women, the old and young, white, black or Asian, students struggling to find a job, disabled people.

‘We want to understand the patterns that are already starting to emerge.

‘Are women more at risk than men? Are older workers more at risk than younger? Are disabled people more at risk than others? Are people in poorer parts of Britain more at risk than the wealthy? And, if they are, why and what can we do about it?

‘By developing a clear understanding of what is happening on the ground we can make a difference this time round.’

But shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said: ‘This is typical of Labour’s dithering response to the recession.

‘All James Purnell is promising is quarterly reviews and more reports. The recession is hitting all groups and all parts of the country.

‘The heart of the problem is still about getting credit flowing through to businesses to help them stay afloat and keep people in jobs.

‘That’s why they should adopt our £50 billion loan guarantee scheme and relax the rules to allow people on jobseekers allowance to take training courses immediately.”

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Communists: Obama ‘Best Opportunity in Decades’

Crowds plot next steps in ‘expansion’ of U.S. president’s victory

President Obama’s leadership is “one of the best opportunities that Americans have had in decades,” declared a civil rights activist addressing an overflow crowd at a gathering sponsored by the official newspaper of the Community Party USA.

The Peoples Weekly World last weekend held its 35th Annual African American History Month celebrations in Connecticut, drawing large crowds in both Hartford and New Haven, including high school students who participated in an arts competition with the theme “Dear President Obama, My dream is … .”

— Hat tip: JD

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Leftists Worship at Altar of Death Cult, Says Book

‘United in Hate’ author explains alliance between jihadists, self-hating Americans

In “United in Hate: The Left’s Romance With Tyranny and Terror,” author Jamie Glazov says there’s an unholy alliance between jihadists and people like Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Ted Turner and Noam Chomsky, and, at the heart of the mutual admiration is a willingness to accept massive numbers of deaths to achieve their objectives.

What’s bound to be most infuriating to those Americans and many other westerners mentioned in the book is the way Glazov uses their own words to make the point.

— Hat tip: JD

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Obama Eligibility Tops AOL News

Internet reports mock ‘Birthers’ who want constitutional proof

Internet giant America Online headlined its daily news coverage today with a story and polls covering the “Birthers,” a group of people it describes as “fringe conservatives convinced that Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because of supposed questions surrounding his birth status.”

— Hat tip: JD

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Obama + Congress = Economic Chaos

Ronald Reagan was right, “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

The political and financial math is easy to calculate. It doesn’t take an MBA or a rocket scientist to figure it out — just an honest assessment of Washington’s present landscape. Here’s how the equation pans out:

America’s political love affair with President Obama + The Democratic majority’s coercions in Congress = Trillions of dollars in new debt for Americans (or more economic chaos)

— Hat tip: JD

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Rule by Fear or Rule by Law?

Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of “an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs..”

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of “all removable aliens” and “potential terrorists.”

Fraud-busters such as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have complained about these contracts, saying that more taxpayer dollars should not go to taxpayer-gouging Halliburton. But the real question is: What kind of “new programs” require the construction and refurbishment of detention facilities in nearly every state of the union with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people?

— Hat tip: JD

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This Prayer Approved by the White House?

On the other hand, sign me up as an opponent of any prayer that is vetted by any government official or agency. For reasons having less to do with the Constitution and more to do with the nature of prayer, I cannot imagine that a Christian minister could in good conscience allow the government to edit or approve a prayer.

Gilgoff’s report contains some shocking details:

During Obama’s recent visit to Fort Myers, Fla., to promote his economic stimulus plan, a black Baptist preacher delivered a prayer that carefully avoided mentioning Jesus, lest he offend anyone in the audience. And at Obama’s appearance last week near Phoenix to unveil his mortgage bailout plan, an administrator for the Tohono O’odham Nation delivered the prayer, taking the unusual step of writing it down so he could E-mail it to the White House for vetting. American Indian prayers are typically improvised.

Though invocations have long been commonplace at presidential inaugurations and certain events like graduations or religious services at which presidents are guests, the practice of commissioning and vetting prayers for presidential rallies is unprecedented in modern history, according to religion and politics experts.

— Hat tip: JD

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What is Terrorist Travel?

Latest Installment in Video Series

WASHINGTON (March 2, 2009) — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s refusal to even use the word “terrorism” in remarks prepared for a congressional hearing last week underlines the fact that she has yet to commit to upholding the laws that derive from the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations on border security.

To highlight the importance of these measures, Janice Kephart has prepared the latest installment in her “Border Basics” educational video series, this one entitled “What Is Terrorist Travel?” Kephart, the Director of National Security Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies and former counsel to the 9/11 Commission, concludes that securing against terrorist travel is essential to eliminate the fraud that enables people to enter, stay, and work in this country for illegal purposes.

Among the laws based on 9/11 Commission recommendations which Napolitano is now responsible for are:

— Hat tip: CIS

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Canada: Editorial: Take Off the Veil

Another controversy has erupted over the question of when Muslim women should be required to unveil themselves for public purposes — and once again we see the painful, inexorable problems that this retrograde social convention presents in a civilization where these women are expected to live a formally independent existence.

The plain fact is that burqas and niqabs can only be considered normal in places such as Saudi Arabia, where women are subservient to men, and so there is never any need for females to exercise an independent human identity. All the elaborate bizarro-feminist defences of veiling, the claims we sometimes hear that they are actually a way of cherishing and elevating femininity, crumble to dust in the face of this simple fact.

Unfortunately, multicultural societies — such as Canada proudly professes itself to be — must have tolerance for some social conventions that most of us deem offensive. Should this category include the veil? That depends how the veil is categorized.

If the veil is merely an accoutrement of certain cultures, we have every right to expect our authorities to declare that we are not one of those cultures, and we can oblige its removal at certain times — at an electoral poll, in a driver’s-licence photo, in a courtroom and in other contexts where the wearing of a mask would be regarded as unacceptable.

On the other hand, if wearing the veil is regarded as an iron-clad obligation imposed by Islam (a premise that Tarek Fatah convincingly refutes), then its female adherents can make a theoretical claim to be exercising the freedom of religion that liberal democracies guard so fiercely. But that is a premise most moderate Muslims are rightly wary of supporting, because the implication would be that Islam’s core view of women is fundamentally dehumanizing, and therefore entirely incompatible with life in the West — in which case every instance of veil-wearing should be regarded as suspect.

Herein lies the irony: Those who seek to require the abandonment of the veil in certain urgent contexts are actually the tolerant ones — even though they are often cast as bigots by Islamists. That is to say, they are defending the right of Muslim women to live as Muslims within our culture, and, by extension, their right to wear the veil except in certain fleeting instances. It is a position that recognizes that a Western way of life and certain misogynistic (as we regard them) social customs can co-exist.

Various prominent Canadian Muslim women have recognized this corollary, which is why they are backing Ontario Justice Norris Weisman’s recent decision to require the key witness in a Toronto sexual-assault case to testify uncovered.

Judge Weisman was able to establish that the woman’s objections to doing so were not a matter of being afraid; such fear is an accepted part of sexual-assault trials, and can be accommodated without violating the accused’s essential right to be confronted with the witnesses against him. Instead, the witness stood on her Muslim “honour,” arguing that as a general rule she should not have to show her face to men eligible for marriage. Judge Weisman rightly dealt with this as a motive with no proper claim to recognition in a Canadian court of law.

The woman’s lawyer, David Butt, intends to appeal that decision. He must do his best for his individual client, but it will be a disaster if he can find an appeal court willing to uphold the dangerous and untenable proposition that religious freedom requires us to alter evidentiary standards for witnesses of Muslim faith.

Since the issue of “reasonable accommodation” flared up two years ago in Quebec, a great deal of energy has been expended in the discussion over what degree of special treatment for minorities is “reasonable” in a liberal democracy. In this regard, people of good faith can argue about what kind of ethnic headgear should be permitted on a soccer field or motorcycle. But the buck must stop when others’ basic rights — such as the right to a fair trial — are at stake. Equality before the criminal law is the one precinct where any hint of “un-reasonability” is most likely to alienate the majority, with fatal consequences for both social peace and the reputation of Islam within our society.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Canada: Woman’s Right to Testify in Veil a Religious Freedom?

TORONTO — The Ontario Human Rights Commission is arguing that a provincial court judge failed to recognize the religious freedoms of a Muslim woman when he ordered her to testify at a sexual assault trial without a veil known as a niqab.

The government agency is asking for special permission to be allowed to intervene at a Superior Court proceeding hearing an appeal of the lower court decision because of its 45 years of “expertise” in the area of human rights.

“The commission can offer the court assistance and expertise in the area of accommodation particularly in relation to discrimination based on creed or religious belief,” states an affidavit by Barbara Hall, chief commissioner of the human rights body.

The Superior Court hearing is scheduled to begin this morning in Toronto.

The hearing stems from a ruling last fall by provincial court Justice Norris Weisman.

He ruled that the woman must remove the veil that covers everything but her eyes while testifying at the preliminary hearing of two men accused of sexually assaulting her.

Lawyers representing the two men argued they should be permitted to see the demeanour of the woman while she testified, as part of their right to a fair trial. The defence suggested that demeanour would help determine the credibility of the woman.

The prosecution responded that the woman ought to be permitted to wear an article of “religious dress” if that was her preference.

While he observed that it was an “admittedly difficult decision,” Judge Weisman noted that the witness had a photo taken for her driver’s licence without a niqab. The photo was taken by a female employee, but “numerous males in modern society” might see the non-veiled picture.

“I find that the complainant’s religious belief is not that strong,” concluded Judge Weisman, who ruled that the woman should have to testify without her niqab.

The woman appealed the ruling to the Superior Court and last week

the Human Rights Commission filed documents seeking to be allowed to participate in the hearing.

“The court had a duty to accommodate her religious beliefs and failed, procedurally and substantively to do so,” the commission argues. Ordering the removal of the niqab was a “drastic measure” that was not necessary to balance the rights of the defendants, the human rights agency suggests.

The Superior Court hearing this morning before Justice Frank Marrocco will only determine whether the woman may wear the niqab at the sexual assault trial of the two accused, although it could be used as a precedent in other cases.

It is unusual for an outside party such as a government agency to be permitted to intervene in a criminal trial.

The commission says it can assist the court in interpreting the Ontario Human Rights Code and help explain issues of human rights.

“The commission’s intention, if it were allowed to intervene, would be to articulate the current state of the law in respect of the duty to accommodate religious beliefs and practices and to explain how Mr. Justice Weisman’s ruling is inconsistent with the current state of the law,” the government agency argues.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Canada: Campuses Awash in Tension Over Israel Apartheid Week

As hostilities in Gaza cooled off last month, campuses across Canada were actually heating up in preparation for “Israel Apartheid Week.”

On a dour Sunday afternoon at Toronto’s Ryerson University, left-leaning teachers and students hosted a conference called “Gaza: War? Occupation? Apartheid?”

The sparsely attended gathering held on Feb. 1 was low-key and not too fraught. The only tense moment was when a student awkwardly presented himself at the registration table, disdain flickering in his eyes. He did not take issue with a cartoon that portrayed a Gazan toddler with a teddy bear about to be blown to bits by an Israeli missile — an image that would later that month be banned from other campuses. Instead, he identified himself as a South African Jew and told the pro-Palestinians that he thought the apartheid comparison to Israel was inaccurate.

The two sides exchanged lukewarm arguments; they saw no future in further discussion, and the Jewish

student walked away. Elsewhere, though, the lead-up to Israel Apartheid Week

has been more tense, especially at Toronto’s York University.

At York, two police forces are investigating possible hate crimes.

As anyone familiar with a bachelor’s degree from the past 40 years can attest, Israel’s behaviour has been an inexhaustible hobby horse for activists. But the combined freight of the Gaza conflict and the emergence of Israel Apartheid Week has put unusual strain on free speech on campuses in the past month.

“It’s easier to make noise about something where no one has to come up with any solutions,” said Jeff Rybak, author of What’s Wrong with University. “You can just be angry.”

While Mr. Rybak said Canadian students are nowhere near as militant as the Greeks, for example, he frets over the opportunity costs of such distant, insoluble fixations. “It frustrates me when time is spent on this issue that can’t be solved, when they could be addressing issues where they have real power.”

An event that began four years ago in Toronto, IAW, as it is also called, kicked off on 40 campuses across the globe yesterday.

Though much of the rhetoric is familiar, the tactics used to attract attention to Israel’s alleged atrocities in Gaza has taken a turn for the shrill and, sometimes, threatening.

In early January at the University of Manitoba, the school’s Muslim Students’ Association put up a series of posters near a campus bookshop that drew irate complaints. One of them depicted a Jewish fighter plane targeting a baby stroller. Another featured a caricature of a hooked-nosed Hasidic Jew with a star of David, pointing a bazooka at the nose of an Arab carrying a slingshot; a third one showed an Israeli helicopter with a swastika on top, dropping a bomb on a baby bottle.

The school forced their removal the same day.

With outcries from pro-Palestinian groups and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the University of Ottawa has banned the poster that depicted the doomed Gazan boy with the teddy bear, as did its competitor across town, Carleton University….

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Austria: the Ghost of Haider Dominates Vote in Austria

Austrian right-wing populist Jörg Haider may have died last October, but his presence was impossible to ignore in a regional election in the Austrian state of Carinthia on Sunday. His party did better than ever before.

It was one of those rare, touching moments in politics. On Sunday night in the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt, Claudia Haider popped up on stage during Gerhard Dörfler’s election victory celebration. The widow was carrying a small gift for the newly re-elected governor of Carinthia, wrapped carefully in white paper. Dörfler turned away from the cameras to unwrap his present discreetly before holding it out for all to see: A silver framed photograph of Dörfler together with Claudia Haider’s recently deceased husband.

Jörg Haider’s presence was everywhere in Carinthia on Sunday. Prior to Haider’s death last October — after he crashed his car driving under the influence of alcohol at twice the legal speed limit — the right-wing politician was one of Austria’s most popular politicians. This weekend, his party, the Alliance for Austria’s Future (BZÖ), proved that it could survive without its charismatic leader. In state elections, Dörfler and his party received 45.5 percent of the vote, more than the BZÖ had ever received when Haider was still alive.

“I am surprised by the result,” said his widow Claudia. “I didn’t know that gratitude was a category in politics.”

The BZÖ, for its part, made it clear on election night that it saw the vote as a tribute to the party’s founder. There is a picture of Haider in a prominent place in the foyer of the state capital building in downtown Klagenfurt — framed in gold this time. Throughout the evening, party functionaries stood near the photo when the television cameras pointed their direction. He was a constant presence in the party’s campaign, and the BZÖ Web site has a prominent link to what they call “Jörg Haider TV,” a collection of videos featuring the beloved politician.

The strategy seems to have succeeded beyond all expectations. Even as opinion polls predicted a tight race between the BZÖ and the center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ), the SPÖ ended up with just 28.8 percent, well behind their right-wing rivals. Instead of returning to its pre-Haider dominance in Carinthia, the SPÖ ended up losing to Haider’s ghost.

“We really didn’t expect such a result,” said Reinhart Rohr, the SPÖ’s lead candidate in the campaign, complaining that the vote had been marked by “irrationalities.” “Apparently the Haider Factor played an important role.”

Haider burst onto the political scene in the early 1980s. His was a fresh, and loud, new voice within the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), a far-right grouping that fit well as a backdrop to Haider’s populist attacks on the country’s political establishment, represented by the SPÖ and the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). Haider’s occasional slip-ups — praising Nazi labor policies at one point in the early 1990s, for example — merely fuelled his reputation as a politician not afraid to attack the status quo.

His constant, often xenophobic, attacks on immigration and his vocal opposition to accelerating European Union integration earned him support from Austria’s largely EU-critical population. Indeed, for a time in the 1990s, Haider’s influence on the populist right extended far outside the borders of Austria.

Under Haider, the FPÖ rose to become a force in Austrian national politics, becoming part of the national governing coalition in 2000. But in 2005, he left the party to create one of his own. The BZÖ’s rise quickly proved that it was Haider himself that the voters wanted. On Sunday, the FPÖ, which won 42.4 percent of the vote in the state’s last elections in 2004, couldn’t even top the 5 percent hurdle required for representation in state parliament.

Whether the BZÖ will now be able to ride its popularity in Carinthia to nation-wide influence remains to be seen. Last September, just weeks before Haider died, the party received a surprisingly strong 11 percent of the vote in nationwide general elections.

The next time voters go to the polls, though, the BZÖ will likely be unable to rely on the posthumous charisma of the party’s founder. Dörfler, who likes to chop wood in his spare time, is now faced with the task of further solidifying his party’s hold on Carinthian politics while the beaming young followers that Haider surrounded himself with will look to extend the party’s influence.

But the Haider myth began to dissipate already on Sunday evening — at the Wienerroither restaurant in Klagenfurt. The joint was packed with BZÖ supporters, many of them young and dressed up in Austrian folk costume. Party head Uwe Scheuch took the floor. “We have become even stronger in the post-Jörg Haider era,” he yelled to the crowd. He then dedicated the “historic victory” to the party’s founder. And said it was time to “move on.”

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Denmark: City Shootings Leave Two Dead

City tension mounts as the most recent shooting outside Café Våren (pictured above) raises the weekend death toll to two more victims (Photo: Jason Heppenstall)

A frustrated city woke to yet more news of shootings in the escalating gang crimes that are fast becoming a feature of life in the capital

Three more shootings — on Friday, Saturday and one in the early hours of this morning — have left two people dead and four others injured.

The shootings are a further escalation of the gang violence that has become almost commonplace in the city over the past few months.

On Friday, a man was gunned down near the Mjølnerparken area in the city’s northwest quarter. He later died of his wounds at Rigshospitalet.

Witnesses say a silver-coloured van with 3-4 passengers drove away from the scene.

On Saturday night, a Faeroese passenger in a car was shot in the back by two young men on a bicycle. Police say the man had no gang connections and was on his way to a concert with the vehicle’s driver.

Medical reports listed the victim as being in a serious but stable condition at Rigshospitalet.

Another shooting at around 2:40 this morning completed the weekend of violence and was the most serious of the three. One man was shot outside Café Våren in the city’s Amager district, while three more were shot inside the bar.

According to police the first victim was forced down onto his stomach on the sidewalk outside the bar by two men, after which they shot him in the leg and buttocks. The two men then went into the establishment and sprayed the locale with shots from automatic weapons, injuring a man and woman and killing another man.

Police say all of the incidents are related to ongoing gang disputes. In addition, Café Våren is known to be a hangout for a Hells Angels recruitment branch.

Investigating officers indicated that the incidents on Saturday and Monday were carried out by young men with immigrant backgrounds, while they had no additional information as to the perpetrators of Friday’s shooting.

The newest wave of shootings has led to Copenhagen Police considering putting even more officers on the streets of the city’s Nørrebro district. On Tuesday an additional 35 officers were sent out to patrol the quarter after last week’s shootings.

— Hat tip: TB

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Denmark: One Man Was Killed on Sunday Night in Amager, Another Shot and Killed on Friday and Yet Another Shot and Seriously Wounded on Saturday in the Nørrebro District of Copenhagen as a Spate of Shootings in the Capital Continues.

Police remain without clues as to the attackers in all three cases, and three men who were detained in connection with Saturday’s episode were released again. The three, who were all wearing bulletproof vests, were driving near the scene of one of the attacks in a black Polo vehicle, but police said they could not be connected to the shooting.

Sunday In Sunday evening’s shooting, two masked men forced a man outside a café to lie on his stomach after which he was killed with two shots. The two then fired into the café, hitting three people all of whom are said to be in a stable condition.

“Two people were in front of the café and stopped a victim. He was simply laid on his stomach and shot twice,” Police Investigation Chief Tommy Keil tells TV2 News.

Saturday In Saturday evening’s shooting, two men coasting in a rented vehicle looking for a parking space prior to going to a concert, were accosted by three cyclists. Shots were fired and one of the two men in the car took a bullet in his back. His condition is described as critical but stable.

In Friday’s episode a 25-year-old man was killed when unknown assailants let loose a rain of automatic weapons fire.

Police say that neither of the victims of the weekend’s shootings in Nørrebro had any connection to an ongoing gang war between bikers and immigrant gangs, with police suggesting the attacks were a mistake.

Sunday’s episode appears less clear, as the café in question is close to a Hells Angels Club and is known to be a haunt of AK81 members. AK81 is a support group of the Hells Angels, but police have not released details of those targeted in the attack.

Task force The current gang war between bikers and immigrant gangs has been going on for several months and has prompted the Copenhagen police to set up a dedicated 35-man task force to attempt to stop open-street attacks.

But the extra patrols do not seem to have been enough, and the Copenhagen police is considering applying for reinforcements from other police districts.

“One of the first things we will be doing on Monday is to find out whether we should be doing things differently,” says Copenhagen Police Chief Superintedant Per Larsen.

But he adds that it can be almost impossible to find perpetrators.

“If you really want to do something as crazy as what’s going on at the moment, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. However many officers we put on the job, we cannot guarantee it won’t happen again,” Larsen says.

Rescue personnel afraid At the same time it seems that victims of shootings may have to wait longer for rescue services to attend to the wounded.

Inhabitants at the Mjølnerparken Estate in the Nørrebro district have complained that a medical ambulance waited up to ten minutes before attending to a victim. The ambulance waited until police arrived and secured the area.

But the police, fire and rescue services are in agreement that in cases of serious danger, ambulance personnel should wait for an area to be secured before attending a victim.

“If rescue personnel are hit, they are unable to help anyone,” says Parliamentary Health Committee Chairman Preben Rudegaard.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Denmark: Minister Calls for Urgent Anti-Gang Measures

Following yet another weekend of shootings in the Danish capital, Finance Minister Brian Mikkelsen is calling for an indication from police as to whether new legislation is necessary to stamp out the current gang war and armed attacks.

“The developments that we have seen in recent weeks are unacceptable and I fully understand the concern within the population. I have asked the National Commissioner and the Copenhagen police — who know where the problems are — to report back quickly as to whether there is a need for special initiatives, including legislation, in the current situation,” Mikkelsen says.

“I am open to all good suggestions from the police and will decide on them very quickly. We must do everything we can to stop this,” he adds.

Following Sunday night’s attack, during which one man was killed and three injured, Copenhagen police authorities have decided to deploy more officers on patrol to stem the gang war.

Sunday’s events came in the wake of armed attacks on Friday and Saturday during which one person was killed and another seriously injured. None of the random victims of Friday’s, Saturday’s or Sunday’s attacks appear to have had any connection to either immigrant gangs or bikers.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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EU: Airbus Faces A400m Order Cancellations Due to Delays

The project to develop the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft may collapse due to severe development delays. Germany may cancel its order for 60 planes by a March 31 deadline. If other European buyers follow suit, Airbus would face billions of euros in repayments.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus may be facing billions of euros in repayments due to potential order cancellations resulting from severe delays in the development of its A400M military transport plane.

The European military procurement agency Occar has reminded the countries involved in the A400M project that they can cancel their purchase contract on March 31 because a “critical milestone” hasn’t been achieved. The maiden flight of the aircraft, originally planned for January of last year, still hasn’t taken place.

Airbus parent company EADS says that due to many technical problems, it remains unclear when a prototype will be able to lift off.

If Airbus does not soon explain how and when it can solve the problems, the German Defense Ministry will consider ending the contract, according to sources in the ministry.

If German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung were to agree with the six other countries to exercise their right to cancel the deal, Airbus, which has been promised state aid by France for its civilian aircraft production, would face financial trouble.

According to a contract agreed on in May 2003, Airbus would have to repay billions of euros in down payments within 60 days. The German defense ministry expects that French President Nicolas Sarkozy will soon urge German Chancellor Angela Merkel to stick with the project, even if the A400M is delivered far later than planned, performs less well than expected and ends up costing more.

But that is precisely what Jung is so far refusing to do. He rejected calls from EADS for a change in the contract which also envisage high fines in the event of delivery delays.

Berlin has ordered 60 aircraft for more than €8 billion. Paris wants to buy 50. A total of 192 planes worth €20 billion have been ordered by nine countries.

Commissioned by seven European NATO countries in 2003, the A400M was at first hailed as Europe’s most ambitious cross-border arms procurement project. But problems have plagued the project almost from the start. The software controlling the steering mechanism has proven challenging, the propeller engines are too loud and the plane is still too heavy.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland early last month, Airbus CEO Thomas Enders hinted to SPIEGEL ONLINE that the project may eventually be cancelled. “We want to build the plane,” he said. “But not at any price.”

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Finland: Call for More Tax Income Support for Finnish Lutheran Church

[Comment from Tuan Jim: I’d be interested in a discussion on the general merits of maintaining national churches — specifically the use of public funds for these churches — do they not have the same tradition of offering/tithing — or are there just so few attendees to support any of these churches?]

Archbishop Jukka Parma of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has called on government to compensate the church for tax income lost as a result of the ongoing economic decline.

“The church should also be compensated, because municipalities are receiving support,” said Paarma in an interview published in the online version of the newspaper Kaleva. The online daily reported that the Archbishop’s request had been forwarded to Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.

Currently the church receives 1.75 percent of corporate tax income, compared to about three percent some ten years ago. State support for the church with tax revenue is based on its execution of social tasks, such as maintaining cemeteries.

The cost of maintaining cemeteries in Finland currently exceeds the church’s income from taxation, and last year the church spent 100 million euros on funerals. If the church’s tax income declines as expected, it will receive 70 million euros from government.

“Funeral expenses do not fall, even in the face of a recession,” said the Archbishop.

The creeping fall-off in church membership is leaching away at church finances more than the general recession, since it depends on its membership to gather much-needed church taxes. Corporate taxes contributed by government accounts for one-tenth of church income.

Paarma says the church has no intention of cutting back on its basic services, such as community outreach, education, church services or pastoral care. On the other hand, the church may have to red line areas such as management, finance, cemeteries and real estate.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Greece: From 2010 Obligatory Service for Army Only

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 16 — All troops due for call to service in Greece will only serve in the country’s Army from 2010, announced Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis. He added that compulsory military service for the Air Force and Navy will be progressively abolished. The minister also said that military service will possibly be shortened to nine months, and that the adjournment of military service for post-graduate studies will be abandoned. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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How UK Defence Firms Suffer for Mod Euro-Mania

There was much excitement last week when a trade union warned that, unless the Government stepped in, a British vehicle manufacturer would have to close its doors, putting 6,000 people out of work. When the big car firms all denied that this referred to them, it emerged that the firm in question was a Birmingham-based van maker LDV, hardly a household name, but still employing 850 workers, with 5,200 dealers and suppliers dependent on it staying in business.

What is truly shocking, however, is the story behind LDV’s plight, which arises from one of the greatest scandals in the murky saga of Britain’s defence procurement. In 1998, to compensate for Britain’s failure to join the euro, Tony Blair agreed with President Chirac at St Malo that we would play a central role in building a “European defence identity”, independent of the US. This led in 1999 to the Helsinki accords, committing Britain to integrating her defence effort with the EU.

The result was a dramatic shift in the Ministry of Defence’s procurement policy. Wherever possible, Britain would in future buy from European rather than American suppliers. Over the next few years contracts worth billions of pounds accordingly went to EU-based firms.

One of the MoD’s biggest projects was re-equipping the Army with 8,000 new trucks, the largest such contract in the Army’s history. Two of the three bidders were US-led consortia: that led by the US truck-maker Stewart & Stevenson also included three British firms, one of which was LDV. On paper the bid looked ideal. The vehicles were battle-proven, met all the MoD’s specifications, and the trucks would be built by LDV in Birmingham, creating thousands of new jobs.

To observers’ astonishment, however, in 2004 the contract, then worth £1.6 billion, went instead to a German-owned firm, Man-Nutzfarzheuge (which in 2000 had swallowed up Britain’s last major truck manufacturer, ERF). The Man trucks failed to meet the MoD specifications in two crucial respects — as was confirmed by the National Audit Office in 2006 — one being that they were unsuited to hot climate conditions like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore, the fact that they were to be assembled in Vienna meant that British taxpayers would be creating thousands of Austrian rather than British jobs. The loss of this contract was a body blow to LDV, which was eventually bought up by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The Man vehicles, however, were found to be so unsuitable that the MoD had to pay for extensive modifications, costing hundreds of millions of pounds. The exact additional cost has never been revealed, because the MoD says it is subject to “commercial confidentiality”.

Then, one after another, the projects awarded by the MoD to EU rather than US firms came unstuck. An Italian firm supplied 400 Panther command vehicles, for £166 million, which proved so useless that they have never been deployed. Had we bought US cruise missiles instead of 900 EU Storm Shadows at £1 million each, we could have saved £830 million. We committed £5 billion to buy five Type-45 destroyers, solely because these were equipped with EU-made missiles, when by buying US-designed Arleigh-Burke destroyers we could have got much more capable ships at a saving of £2 billion.

So it went on, with frigates, unmanned aerial vehicles, radar and sonar systems. In several cases the EU alternatives, such as the A400M transport aircraft, proved so flawed or late in delivery that we had to lease cheaper and more efficient US equipment to fill the gap. My colleague Dr Richard North, on his Defence of the Realm blog, estimated in 2006 that these blunders had cost British taxpayers at least £8.8 billion.

The MoD may belatedly have now reversed its “Europe-first” policy, but we are still paying the bill, as was evidenced when LDV executives recently attempted a management-buyout to save their firm from closure. Ironically, Stewart & Stevenson, the consortium leader in that 2004 bid. was bought in 2007 by BAe Systems, so that, as a British company, it might have qualified to win the truck contract after all.

When LDV last week pleaded for Government aid, the trade minister Ian Pearson loftily responded “the British taxpayer cannot be expected to pay for the company’s losses”. What he didn’t admit, of course, is that if it hadn’t been for his own Government those losses would never have arisen. And for the British taxpayer to pay up to £2 billion to keep Austrian workers employed is, it seems, perfectly acceptable.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Islet Hit by Migrant Crisis

Strong winds keep dozens of immigrants on Agathonisi and supply ships at bay Authorities on the tiny Aegean islet of Agathonisi have warned of a crisis situation, as dozens of illegal immigrants who have arrived there from neighboring Turkey cannot leave due to strong winds that are also keeping ferries at bay as provisions run out.

As winds reaching 8 on the Beaufort scale isolate the island and supplies dwindle, tensions have been rising as there is not enough food to go around, community leader Evangelos Kottoros told Kathimerini.

The migrants, from various countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, number around 75, exceeding the islet’s permanent population of 70. “They are not violently disposed but there is an issue of survival. When people are cold and hungry, they don’t think straight,” Kottoros said. He said migrants from different ethnic groups had been fighting over who should be able to sleep in a small storeroom authorities have provided for them. Also migrants have been knocking on residents’ doors, asking for help. “Everyone has made an effort to help these unfortunate people but we are people too and we have problems,” Kottoros said. The community leader said he and the three policemen stationed on the island had warned of a crisis situation two years ago when the island started coming under pressure from an influx of illegal immigrants from Turkey.

Sources said that Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos intervened yesterday and that efforts were being made to send a ship to the islet to remove the migrants.

According to Kottoros, strong winds have not stopped smuggling ships from arriving on the islet. He said 351 migrants have arrived so far this year, compared to 43 in the same period last year. “What will happen when the weather gets better? Smugglers have realized that Agathonisi is unguarded and keep sending people,” the community leader said. Last summer, when Agathonisi was deluged with hundreds of migrants, Kottoros called on the government to supply it with its own coast guard so it could keep smugglers at bay. Authorities on nearby Patmos blocked the island’s ports to migrants last summer, increasing the influx to the smaller islet.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Italy: Global Cultural Forum to be Held in North

Roma, 27 Feb. (AKI) — The northern Italian city of Monza will in late September host a global cultural forum that aims to rival the annual economic forum in the Swiss city of Davos, Monza’s mayor, Marco Maria Mariani told Adnkronos. The event will take place at Monza’s magnificent 18th-century Villa Reale on 26 and 27 September.

“The cultural world’s equivalent of the Davos forum will take place in our city,” Mariani said.

“It is a very important development for us, especially as we are becoming a province,” he stated. Mariani also noted that the art city of Florence had been one of the original competitors to host the event.

Monza, located in the region of Lombardy, is best known for its world-famous Grand Prix motor racing event. This year it will become the capital of the new province of Monza and Brianza.

Culture minister Sandro Bondi first announced that the government had proposed that Italy host a global cultural forum, during a visit to Adnkronos headquarters in Rome last December.

“We are working with UNESCO to create a global cultural conference in Italy,” Bondi said during a meeting with Adnkronos group president Giuseppe Marra (photo).

Bondi’s proposal was welcomed by culture ministers in the Middle East.

Egypt’s minister for culture, Farouk Hosni said Rome could play a “strategic role” in building a cultural bridge between Europe and the Arab world, and in particular with countries in the Mediterranean.

Iraq’s culture minister Maher Dilli al-Hadithi also welcomed the proposal.

“Italy is in a position to host such event, as it is the guardian or caretaker of arts and literature and the cradle of civilisation and the world’s cultural heritage,” al-Hadithi told Adnkronos International (AKI).

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Italy: Colosseum Lit Up for Montana Vote

US state abolishes death penalty

(ANSA) — Rome, March 2 — The Colosseum was lit up Monday night to celebrate a senate vote in the American state of Montana to abolish the death penalty, the Catholic Sant’Egidio community said.

The initiative, in collaboration with the city of Rome, is repeated every time a death sentence is commuted or capital punishment abolished anywhere in the world. The Sant’Egidio community has been actively campaigning worldwide against capital punishment and has collected over five million signatures in favor of this in 153 countries.

The signatures were handed over to the United Nations in November 2007.

Rome has become the symbol of the global movement A City For Life — A City against the Death Penalty, to which over 900 cities currently belong.

While the Montana vote was applauded as a humanitarian gesture, accordng to the New York Times it was also linked to economic reasons and the need to curb state budgets.

Aside from Montana, assemblies in New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Maryland are also considering abolishing the death penality as a cost-cutting measure.

According to the New York daily, prosecutions which carry a death sentence are much more expensive than those with a maximum life sentence.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Netherlands: Small Turnout for Wilders in the US

Geert Wilders, leader of the populist Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Dutch parliament, attracted a fair amount of media attention in the US last week. But members of Congress had little time for the man and his film.

Earlier in February the controversial anti-Islam campaigner was refused entry into the United Kingdom despite being invited by a member of the British parliament’s House of Lords. He flew to London anyway, accompanied by dozens of journalists, but was sent back at Heathrow airport on February 12. His visit to the US was a lot more tranquil.

No danger

Geert Wilders walked calmly towards the Capitol in Washington. There, in the heart of American democracy, he had an important appointment. His film Fitna was to be screened, at the invitation of the Republican senator Jon Kyl. Wilders’ bodyguards were relaxed last Thursday afternoon. There was no danger here.

Christine Brim of the Center for Security Policy (CSP) was waiting at the entrance to the Lyndon B. Johnson auditorium. The CSP had organised the screening. “We have invited all 535 members of Congress,” said Brim hopefully.

The CSP’s reputation has been better in Washington. It is headed by Frank Gaffney, a neo-conservative former staff worker with Ronald Reagan who still defends the invasion of Iraq. Another member is the ultra-conservative James Inhofe, who calls the effect of human activity on global warming a “hoax”. The reputation of senator Kyl, who invited Wilders and the CSP, has sufferered less damage over the recent past. The conservative Kyl is considered a hawk on defence but does not avoid compromise and is also respected by Democrats.

Strategic location

The Lyndon B. Johnson auditorium is strategically located. Most senators pass it on their way to meetings. On Thursday, former presidential candidate John McCain, a friend of Kyl’s, was drumming up some staff workers a few metres from the auditorium. Senator Inhofe rushed past — uninterested. Bob Bennett, a conservative from Utah — the same. And John Kerry, another former presidential candidate, walked dreamily by after leading a packed meeting on the improvement of America’s relations with Muslim countries.

It looked for a long time as if Fitna would only be seen by CSP people and staff workers of members of Congress. Five minutes before it was due to start there were around forty people there — not one of them a member of Congress.

Frank Gaffney arrived at the last minute. And just before the doors closed, Jon Kyl appeared. But a few moments later the doors reopened and he was gone again. The organiser of the event strode out into the hall. Kyl’s spokesman could not explain why the senator had missed the screening, but according to Brim it had to do with president Obama’s budget presentation. “The senator had to go to the White House.”

“Countless media”

On Friday morning, the CSP and Wilders repeated the screening in the National Press Club, now no longer behind closed doors. There were five camera teams — two Dutch and three American. Among the American journalists was David Frum, an influential conservative columnist, and Joshua Keating of Foreign Policy magazine.

Questions came mainly from Dutch reporters. Wilders’ supporters were unhappy with the line of questioning. They were treating Wilders unfairly. Wilders explained that “the Dutch press is left-wing”.

Wilders later talked up his trip. He had been on CNN twice, on FoxNews twice, had talked to the opinion editors of The Wall Street Journal, done an interview with The Boston Globe and made contact with “countless other media”. And of course there was Kyl’s “friendly invitation” which allowed Wilders to watch Fitna “with members of Congress”. Asked by the Dutch press which members of Congress had attended the screening, Wilders was lost for words.

“The names are secret,” said Brim after the screening. But Gaffney eventually came up with two: the unknown Roger Wicker (Mississippi) and Ed Royce (California). What did he think of the turnout? Members of Congress are busy on the day the budget is presented, he replied. “And this was literally the only time Wilders had to see us.”

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Netherlands: Riot Police Take Action in Maastricht

In Maastricht on Sunday, riot police stepped in to prevent a clash when 300 left-wing demonstrators attempted to disrupt a march by Voorpost, an extreme right group. The 200 Dutch-Belgian Voorpost members, who do not approve of drug use, came to the city to protest against its drugs policy. Adding to the confusion was a group of local football supporters who, says the city’s mayor Gerd Leers, only increased the “forbidding atmosphere.”

When the left-wingers attempted to cross a bridge across the River Maas to block the Voorpost march, the riot police prevented them from doing so. In the skirmishes that ensued, bottles and fireworks were thrown and a police van was vandalised. Police arrested ten demonstrators from both sides.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Netherlands: Eindhoven Builders Stoned

[Comment from Tuan Jim: Just out of curiosity — is this normal behavior for Dutch folks — or is this one of those *special* parts of town?]

Builders in Eindhoven were pelted with stones on Thursday night and Friday morning as they were driving pilings home beside the Philips football stadium. It’s thought the stones were thrown by angry local residents. The builders had been given permission to work until 6.00 p.m. but continued long after the deadline had passed. In addition, residents had just received a letter informing them that the building works would last an extra three weeks.

Dozens of residents say the pile driving has caused them health problems. Many say they are suffering from headaches and sleeplessness and are having difficulty concentrating. They have brought a legal action against the city council to put an end to the building work.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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New ‘Iron Curtain’ Will Split Eu’s Rich and Poor

Eastern European countries gave an apocalyptic warning yesterday of hordes of unemployed workers heading west as a new Iron Curtain divides rich from poor inside Europe.

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Western leaders were told yesterday that five million jobs could be lost in the “new” European Union countries of the East unless radical action were taken to bail them out.

— Hat tip: Fjordman

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Norway: Norwegian Women Turn to Sweden for Gender-Based Abortions

In Norway it is against the law to get an abortion based on the sex of the unborn child. However, The Local newspaper reports that some pregnant Norwegian women who are not happy with the gender are going to Sweden to have the child aborted.

This poorly kept secret has entered the public spectrum from new details that were uncovered by a medical ethics consultant based in Oslo. “We know that it happens as people have told us,” said director Sissel Rogne at the Biotechnology Advisory Board to the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.

These cross-border abortions are a well known fact confirmed by gynaecologists in Sweden, such as Lars Hamberger who works in Gothenburg. Some gynaecologists are sympathetic to the plight of the pregnant women, many of whom come from ethnic minority backgrounds.

“If they have three, four girls and are from Turkey the demands on them to produce a boy are strong,” Hamberger stated. Norway has a ban in place that prohibits women from identifying the gender of their unborn child before 12 weeks of pregnancy. Both Norway and Denmark will not allow an abortion after 12 weeks, but in Sweden the limit is 18 weeks so many women simply cross the border if the gender of their unborn child is the wrong one.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Report: Many EU Nations Do Not Track Anti-Semitism

VIENNA (AP) — Most EU countries fail to compile statistics on anti-Semitism, complicating efforts to gauge the level of animosity toward Jews within the 27-nation bloc, according to a new report.

Often, anti-Semitic incidents do not make it into official records because they are not labeled as such or because victims or witnesses do not report them, the Vienna-based European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights says in a report issued Monday.

“The agency’s data collection work shows that most member states do not have official or even unofficial data and statistics on anti-Semitic incidents,” the report says. The researchers noted that even when countries compile information, it often can’t be used for comparative purposes because it’s collected in different ways.

Reed Brody, a Brussels-based spokesman for Human Rights Watch, described anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents as serious and growing problems in Europe and said the lack of statistics was hindering efforts to effectively fight them.

“It’s difficult to develop an effective response when we don’t know the exact scope and contours of the problem,” Brody said.

Although the report notes recent examples of anti-Semitic incidents in other EU countries, it only breaks down country-specific data for nine countries — Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The agency says it did not have enough information to conclusively calculate an overall trend in anti-Semitic activity for the period between 2001 to 2008. But it notes that in the countries for which data is available there appears to be a decrease in such offenses in 2007 and most of 2008.

That follows an increase in anti-Semitic activity between 2001 and 2002, between 2003 and 2004 and again in 2006, according to the report. However, the report warns against making direct comparisons between countries since statistics are compiled in different ways.

The report also said a number of attacks against Jews and synagogues have been reported by the media in France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Britain since the Dec. 27 start of Israel’s three-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip, during which an estimated 1,300 Palestinians died. It also cited recent reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Cyprus, Spain and the Netherlands.

The report did not give a total number of incidents but said German authorities recorded 292 anti-Semitic offenses during the fourth quarter of 2008. In France, home to western Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, the Interior Ministry recorded 48 anti-Semitic acts and 65 threats between Dec. 27 and Jan. 26, according to the report.

“While it is too early to draw conclusions, there are indications that this rise could partly be affected by the situation in the Middle East, as well as by the global financial crisis,” said agency director Morten Kjaerum.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Spain: Bollywood Style Advert to Promote Catalan

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 17 — The ‘piece de resistance’ of a campaign run by the regional government of Catalonia, first broadcast on Catalan television and radio yesterday, is to be a Bollywood-style advert, intended to “foster” Catalan and to promote “the common language of Catalonia”. With the slogan “Encomana el catala” (promote Catalan), the campaign aims to encourage those who speak Catalan not to speak Spanish when talking with immigrants who would be able to understand them. The advert shows a young mixed race boy go into a bakery and begin talking in Catalan with the owner, just as the Indian-looking workers speak Catalan amongst themselves as the boy walks out, and as do passersby, and Latin-American waiters in a bar serving a group of young girls who sing in Catalan, dancing and creating a Bollywood-style joy. The campaign, which cost 230,000 euros, is part of a series of events and initiatives organised by the Consortium for Linguistic Standardisation. As Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, the councilor for linguistic policy to the Catalan government, presented the advert yesterday in Barcelona, he stressed that knowledge of Catalan is “an element of cohesion” which is as important as health or education. This is the “common language” in Catalonia, which “with 250 languages, is not a bilingual but a multilingual nation.” (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Garzon Calls Halt to D3m and Askartasuna for 3 Years

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 18 — Judge Baltazar Garzon has ordered Askartasuna and D3M (Democracia 3 Milliones), radical left-wing independence political parties, both believed to have close ties with the ETA, to suspend all activities for 3 years. The parties’ election list for the upcoming Basque elections on March 1 had previously been rejected by the Supreme Court. Sources in the judicial system say that Garzon upheld the arguments of the Public Prosecutor, who on February 6 asked for a precautionary order, considering the two organizations part of the “institutional front” of the ETA since they allegedly take orders from the armed group and under the direct protection of the Batasuna party (banned since 2005). The judge of the Audiencia Nacional has order Askartasuna and D3M offices closed, as well as the suspension of their right to “public, private, organizational, group, or any activity”, including calling for demonstrations, press conferences, electoral acts, or electoral posters. The precautionary order includes freezing Askartasuna and D3M bank accounts, and closing their websites to prevent any propagandistic activities. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Road Blocks Set Up Against Moroccan Tomatoes

(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRAUARY 19 — They have been warning they would mobilise for some days, and now they’ve taken to the streets: more than one thousand Spanish farmers have set fire to five thousand kilos of tomatoes and set up a roadblock on the Mediterranean motorway in Spain’s Almeria region to protest at Morocco’s ‘systematic violations’’ of export quotas for market garden produce. Called by farmers’ associations Asaja and Coag, protests are targeting a new EU agricultural agreement being negotiated with Morocco, allowing Maghreb countries to export increased amounts of produce. Clashes with the police have already been reported. The farmers, mainly tomato producers, have gathered at Nijar, in Almeria, setting up their roadblock at kilometre 471 of Spain’s Mediterranean motorway, one of the main arteries leading into southern Spain, interrupting traffic for hours on end. In a gesture of protest, around fifty demonstrators subsequently set fire to five tonnes of locally produced tomatoes. Police attempts to remove the roadblock led to clashes with the protesters. ‘This is not a matter of protectionism,’’ said the regional secretary of COAG, Andres Gongora, ‘but of defending ourselves from a mass onslaught of Moroccan tomatoes into the European market. There have been continual violations by Morocco of the agreement in place since 2001, which establishes minimum prices and conditions’’. The union representative went on to give a concrete example: ‘Moroccan tomato import quotas for January were set at 31 million kilos, but France’s market of Perpignan alone states that it sold 42,000 tonnes of Moroccan tomatoes”. On February 9, farmers associations and Spain’s fruit and vegetable producers and exporters federation, FEPEX, called for their rights to be upheld at the European level. Spain’s producers fear the effects of an increase in supply, which would lead to a fall in prices especially for produce such as tomatoes, beans, citrus fruits, pepper and strawberries. Acting in concert, Spain, Belgium and Poland have recently sent a letter to the European Commission expressing the concerns of farmers and asking ‘that the interests of the sector be borne in mind by the EU’’. The present agreement between the EU and Morocco fixes an initial export ceiling of 175,000 tonnes of tomatoes between the months of October and May, to which a further amount of between 25,000 and 45,000 tonnes per year may be added. Should these limits be exceeded, Morocco becomes liable to pay customs tariffs. In the re-negotiated agreement, which is nearing the completion stage, Morocco is attempting to increase the initial ceiling to 200,000 tonnes. Through their demonstrations in Nijar, Spain’s sector associations are also protesting against ‘inexistent border controls’’ on the entry of Moroccan produce into Europe. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Catalonian Govt. to Open ‘Embassy’ in Morocco

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 19 — The Catalonian government will have its own delegation in Morocco and Asia in 2010, after inaugurating delegations last year in Berlin, London, and New York, and will soon open others in Buenos Aires and Mexico. In Morocco, as announced today by the Vice-President of the Generalitat, Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, in response to a question in the Catalonian Parliament, the delegation that was closed in 2004 in Casablanca will be reopened. In the face of controversy in recent weeks due to the expenses associated with opening Catalonian embassies’ in the world during a time of crisis, Rovira underlined that the government, aside from executing the mandate of the Catalonian statue of autonomy, has the political “will to do exactly this” abroad. According to Carod, the Catalonian delegations do nothing other than “adequately channel” the actions of the various departments and councils of the regional government and other institutions promoting business and culture. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: 1/3 of Judges Take Part in 1st Judicial Strike

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 18 — About one third of the 4,400 Spanish judges will be taking part today in the first judges strike in the history of Spain, according to the two unions who called for the strike to demand pay increases and improved judicial structures after negotiations with José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government failed. The unions estimate that about 2,000 judges will participate in the strike. The protest was approved by the Minister of Justice, who did not recognise the judges’ right to strike, considering them as one of the powers of the state. The Spanish Superior Judicial Council also did not support the protests, doubting its constitutional validity. In a statement today to Cadena Ser, Spanish Superior Judicial Council spokesperson Gabriela Bravo said that “there is no legal coverage for the strike”, but avoided comments on possible sanctions against the judges that have abstained from work stating that “individual cases will be considered”. (ANSAmed).

2009-02-18 13:52

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Strike: Fini, Don’t Suppress Right But Harmonise it

(AGI) — Rome, 26 Feb. —The right to strike cannot be ‘‘suppressed’’, but it must be ‘‘brought in line’’ with ‘‘the other rights of all citizens in a balancing operation that must take social evolution into account’’. Gianfranco Fini, Speaker of the House, opened the session on the presentation of the annual report of the Authority on strikes and the day after the announcement of the government’s wish to reform the law on strikes in public services he underlines that the right to strike ‘‘cannot compromise other rights which are equally guaranteed in the Constitution, like the right to health, security, education, welfare, freedom of mobility and communication’’.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Sweden: Demo Against Police Racism in Malmö

Over one hundred demonstrators marched in Malmö on Saturday in protest against police racism.

Demonstrators carried banners calling themselves “Ape son’s of bitches army against racism”. Several of the demonstrators bore paper masks depicting ape faces.

The demonstration began with a short speech in Rosengård, a predominantly immigrant suburb of Malmö, by local resident Pia Ibarra who drew reference to recent revelations of racism within Skåne police.

“We have been attacked by the police for years. The frightening thing now is that they do not even try to hide it,” Ibara said.

The demonstration received a large police escort as it made its way to the police station on Excercisgatan in central Malmö. Three short speeches were made and the crowd then dispersed.

Some stone throwing and an incident of suspected knife crime were reported by police who otherwise confirmed that the demonstration passed off peacefully.

A series of revelations have emerged in recent weeks including a police video with officers making racist and threatening comments and the use of names such as Neger (Negro) Niggersson and Oskar Neger for internal training purposes.

Sweden’s national police commissioner, Bengt Svensson, has since launched an independent inquiry into racism within the police force in Skåne in a bid to restore confidence in the police.

“The investigator will examine whether there are deficiencies in the work to build an ethical system of values within the Skåne police and what can be done differently. This has never been done before and is incredibly important,” Svensson said on launching the enquiry on February 7th.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Sweden: Volvo Pay Raise ‘Insulting’: Reinfeldt

Volvo Group’s plan to raise the salaries of 250 top executives is “insulting” according to Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

“This is obviously provocative, given that the company has problems,” the Prime Minister said on Sveriges Television (SVT) Sunday night.

Volvo’s compensation committee wants to raise the ceiling for bonuses and for the company’s stock option programme.

At Volvo’s upcoming annual meeting on April 1st, the compensation committee plans to propose raising the ceiling for the “performance-based variable salary” of 250 executives from 50 percent to a maximum of 60 percent of their fixed salaries.

It also proposed raising the maximum allotment of shares to senior executives by 50 percent, it added.

Charges of greediness and bad timing have emerged as the company struggles with difficult market conditions.

At the same time as a pay raise is planned for Volvo Group executives, the company is planning to lay off 7,700 people in Sweden, where it employs a total of 30,000 workers.

Now Reinfeldt has added his voice to the chorus of criticism, pointing out that Volvo asked the state for economic support — and was turned down.

“Now we have yet another argument [against Volvo receiving state aid] — there are obviously resources available at the company,” he told SVT, adding he found the proposal “insulting”.

Christer Gardell, head of the Cevian venture capital firm, Volvo’s major shareholder, called Volvo’s proposed execute pay raise “totally crazy”.

“As the main owner it makes me angry to hear these arguments” for boosting executive pay, Gardell told SVT.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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UK: Criminals ‘Laughing’ at Community Sentences Which Have Failed to Cut Prison Population

Community sentences introduced four years ago to cut the prison population are failing, according to a new report.

Probation officers do not believe the new system deters crime and the community sentences are broken more often than the old ones, researchers were told.

Offenders are said to be ‘laughing’ at the sentences, seeing them as a soft option compared to jail.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Soldiers Deserve Better

A report today from the Healthcare Commission has praised the frontline care received by injured soldiers on the battlefield, describing it as “exemplary”. The Army has also been commended for taking seriously the mental traumas endured by young men and women exposed to the pressures and horrors of conflict. Problems for injured or traumatised soldiers have tended to arise when they leave the theatre of war and become the responsibility of the NHS; or when they retire from the Armed Forces and must rely upon civilian treatment.

At the weekend, Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC said it was “disgraceful” that veterans were not getting the care and help that they needed. He used his high profile as the recipient of the country’s highest honour for valour under fire to condemn the inadequacy of the NHS in coping with the special requirements of former soldiers. It needs to be said once again that military casualties are only being treated in NHS hospitals because successive governments sold off military hospitals to property developers to help raise cash, a scandalously short-sighted policy whose implications are now clear.

If there is no going back to the days of dedicated hospitals for soldiers then it is incumbent upon the NHS to ensure that the treatment is as good as it would have been if they still existed. They can learn much from today’s report, not just about how to treat soldiers but all emergency cases. L/Cpl Beharry’s concerns must also be taken seriously and acted upon, not just ignored once the immediate fuss subsides. If we expect these often very young people to put their lives on the line for their country, then the least their country can do in return is to ensure they are well looked after if they suffer physical or mental injury as a consequence.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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UK: Yes, Big Brother Britain is a Menace. the Irony is, It’s the Civil Liberties Lobby Who Are to Blame

Its claim that Britain is turning into a police state is clearly over the top (and reveals no small ignorance of what terrors a true police state inflicts). Its alarmism over closed-circuit TV and DNA profiling pays scant regard to their usefulness in catching criminals. And there’s more than a whiff of an underlying agenda to paint Britain as worse than the tyrannies and rogue states that threaten its interests, with a corresponding anxiety to downplay the terrorism threat against this country.

Nevertheless, we should, indeed, be concerned about some of the ways in which freedom is being compromised. Some local councils are making wholly inappropriate use of anti-terrorist legislation to snoop on citizens, while other public bodies — such as the Charity Commission, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the BBC — are able to make deeply questionable use of further surveillance powers.

[…]

It may be thought a curious irony that the Human Rights Act was introduced in 1998 to tackle precisely the concerns expressed last weekend of a slide into tyranny — and yet liberty has been seriously eroded in the past decade.

In fact, this isn’t curious at all. Although the campaigners would sooner cut off their hands than admit it, the one has followed directly from the other. The idea that human rights law expands freedom was always a serious mistake. It has the opposite effect.

One of the main reasons the State has resorted to gathering intelligence within Britain on such an alarming scale is the collapse of the ability to control our borders. And that was brought about by the systematic refusal by the courts, on human rights grounds, to keep out or deport a range of undesirables.

— Hat tip: JD

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‘Will You Open Fire on UK Citizens’ Army Personnel Being Asked

In a stunning conversation with a friend, who is a serving member of the Armed Forces, over the weekend, it was revealed that transfers to regiments and other units in the UK on home duties are being undertaken by the MOD based upon whether an individual was prepared to ‘open fire’ on UK citizens during civil disturbances.

I found this long and extracted conversation to be both bizarre and frightening. I will state at this point that he is someone that I have known for years, and trust implicitly. The fact that service personnel are actually being asked in special briefing sessions whether they would fire on their own nationals indicates that the rumours about the Army being put on standby are indeed very true.

As if to add weight to this, it was reported yesterday as a tag on a posting about UKIP by Richard North on EUReferendum that plans for Army involvement were well advanced…

— Hat tip: Mr P

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Montenegro: Council of Europe Wants Electoral Modifications

(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG, FEBRUARY 26 — “If there is the necessary political will, Montenegro will be able to hold elections in line with European standards on March 29,” was the conclusion of a parliamentary delegation of the Council of Europe that has just concluded its visit to Montenegro. The delegation, led by European Parliament member, Andreas Gross, also congratulated Montenegro for its active participation in the pre-electoral process of civic society and the media, and for the quality of work done by both. At the same time, however, the delegation expressed concern over the fact that Montenegrin authorities have not followed the recommendations made by the Council of Europe and other international groups after the latest elections. A particular concern of the EU is that party leaders can change up to 50% of the candidates on their lists until polls close, since this does not respect the standards of a democratic election or the principles of parliamentary democracy. It is necessary to outlaw this practice as soon as possible. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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From Hammams to Ancient Theatres, EU Saves Med

(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 26 — From hammans to ancient theatres, through the port cities and architecture in general, to the audiovisual heritage in the care of Italy’s RAI broadcasting. These and other treasures of Mediterranean culture are the 12 stars projects going through to the quarter-finals of Euromed Heritage, the regional programme sponsored by the European Union which has been funding experts and institutions from the countries in the region since 1998, for a total of 57 million euro. The Euromed Heritage programme has so far involved almost 400 partners from the two shores of the Mediterranean. The aim of the latest phase, which ends in 2011, is to give greater opportunities for the populations of the Mediterranean to regain their cultural identities, by financing twelve projects for three years, with a total budget of 13.5 million euros. So, lining up in the starting blocks is the Athena project for the protection of ancient theatres, coordinated by Jordan’s Ministry for tourism and antiquity, and including partner institutes such as the Department of Surveys, analysis, environmental design and architecture at Rome’s La Sapienza University. Another winner of the Euromed Heritage competition is the Hamamed project, which aims to draw attention to the common cultural tradition of the hammam, or the Turkish baths. The hammam is not only part of the collective memory of the Arab Islamic world, but it also represents an architectural heritage which is a feature of urban centres but is in danger of disappearing. The Mare Nostrum project is concerned with the protection of the historic heritage of the Mediterranean port cities, and is led by the Department of restoration and conservation of architectural heritage at the University of Florence, along the routes of the ancient Phoenicians The French national audiovisual institute is leading the Medmem project, partnered by RAI, which is working on sharing audio-visual material on the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean; the collection is being enriched by authors, teachers and researchers from several countries to bring more than 4,000 videos on one website in French, English and Arabic. Other initiatives deal with the value of traditional architecture as an element of cultural identity, as well as knowledge of water management in the Mediterranean regions, highlighting the importance and usefulness of the preservation of this expertise. All the projects are focused on safeguarding centuries-old cultural features such as the Medina in Tangier in Morocco, the Siwa Oasis in Egypt and another project (called Tangeri-Siwa) which will try to improve the conservation of the Berber language Siwi and the ancient architecture of the old city.(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy-Egypt: Task Force of Italian Security Specialists

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 24 — The Italian Employment Ministry will create a ‘task force’ of qualified Italian specialists to cooperate with Egypt in the following areas: controlling immigration; the intersection of supply and demand; training to encourage legal immigration; and the promotion of the establishment of a mixed group of specialists to look into issues relating to cooperation between the two countries. This is the announcement of “great political importance” that the Employment Under-Secretary of Work, Pasquale Viespoli, speaking to ANSA, examined with the Egyptian workforce and migration minister Aisha Abdel Hady, in a meeting prior to the launch of a working-cooperation project, within the framework of the partnership with the EU. “The Italian project that we are presenting today has won a competition in which other countries such as France and the Czech Republic competed, but the Italian project won through since it was the most reliable.” Ambassador Bayumi represented the Minister for International cooperation, who thought up the working project, and spoke of the “19 projects which have been planned and carried out in collaboration with Italy in Egypt”, quoting as an example a project relating to a water quality control test in the Nile and another relating to improving investment possibilities. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Jordan: France to Lend Euro 200 Million for Water Project

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, FEBRUARY 19 — France has approved a Euro 200 million financial aid package to Jordan as part of a funding to a vital water project to help the kingdom deal with its chronic drought, an official said today. French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Anne-Marie Idrac said the loan is part of the French government’s assistance to Jordan to face the growing water challenges. Idrac statement was made following meetings with Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and senior members of the government to discuss ties between the two countries including means to boost economic cooperation and French private sector investments in the Kingdom. The French diplomat was accompanied by several businessmen and investors, the minister met separately with Minister of Industry and Trade Amer Hadidi on bilateral ties. Jordan is one of the most water impoverished countries in the world. A long delayed project to pull water from the southern aquifer of Disi to Amman and central cities has hit a snag due to lack of finance. A Turkish company is scheduled to start building a pipe line of 250 km to Amman, where the capital and other cities would receive fresh water for the next 100 years. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Nuclear: Algeria to Have a Power Station Every 5 Yrs, Minister

(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 24 — After purchasing its first power station in 2020, “Algeria will have a nuclear power station every 5 years” said Algeria’s Minister for Energy and Mines, Chakib Khelil, on national radio. APS news agency reports that Khelil said “Towards 2020, Algeria will probably have its first nuclear power station and will have a power station every five years”. The Minister also pointed out that Algeria has signed agreements to develop nuclear energy with France, the USA, China and Argentina and is currently in negotiations with Russia and South Africa. A bill on nuclear energy is currently under government scrutiny and includes the creation of a national agency for nuclear security and a company for electro-nuclear research and development. Khelil said however that “more importance will be given to solar energy, which is less polluting”. There are two small experimental nuclear reactors in Algeria, in Draria, near Algiers, which was build by Argentina, and in Ain Oussera (250 km south of the capital) which was built by China. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Tourism: Tunisia Least Expensive Mediterranean Country

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, FEBRUARY 19 — Tunisia is the country on the southern shores of the Mediterranean where a tourist’s average expenditure is only 354 dollars, as against 970 dollars on average in Turkey, 950 in Morocco and 830 in Egypt. Experts in the industry report that the gap is due to the kind of visitors which the country attracts, particularly those who enjoy seaside holidays, and is mostly made up of the European middle classes. Another negative factor is the indebtedness of Tunisian hoteliers, who accept tour operator offers simply to “fill their tills.” In any case, the outlook for Tunisian tourism can be considered positive, due to the opportunities it offers for thalassotherapy, golf and tourism linked to medical treatment. And early results confirm this optimism, since overnight stays in 2008 cost an average of 96 dinars (around 50 euro), as against the 89 dinars recorded in the previous year. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Danish Foreign Minister: No Gaza Bill for Israel

The Danish foreign minister says that Israel will not be presented with a bill for reparations for the destruction of Gaza.

Denmark considers damages from Israel (13. jan.) Dutch-Danish Gaza proposal angers Egypt (20. feb.) Denmark and some 85 other countries are expected to donate millions of dollars to re-build Gaza, but Israel will not be presented with a bill for destruction in the strip, according to Denmark’s Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller (Cons.) who is taking part in a donor conference in Egypt.

“No — there will be no demands for reparations from Israel. It’s very difficult to provide the evidence necessary — it would require us being able to prove that Hamas did not fire rockets from the targets that Israel bombed,” says Per Stig Møller…

— Hat tip: TB

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EU Ready to Monitor Gaza Borders With Egypt

Gaza City, 27 Feb. (AKI) — The European Union is ready to resume its monitoring mission at the Rafah border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Friday. According to the Palestinian news agency, Maan, Solana said the EU would participate in the operation of the crossing when it had received approval from all the relevant parties.

Solana spoke to the media during a visit to the Erez border crossing in the north of the coastal strip, Solana also expressed the European Union’s support for the Palestinian reconciliation talks taking place in Egypt.

“We came to Gaza to express our solidarity with Gazans and to see what the recent Israeli war has caused in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Under a 2005 agreement with Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, the EU sent observers to monitor the operation of the Rafah crossing under Egyptian and Palestinian control.

The Border Assistance Mission was suspended when Egypt and Israel decided to close the crossing in June 2007.

Solana’s visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was his first since Hamas took full control of the territory in 2007.

He was not scheduled to meet any representatives of the Hamas-run de facto government.

Meanwhile, Maan said Israel unexpectedly closed the Kerem Shalom terminal, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid and commercial goods in Gaza on Friday.

Raed Fattouh, director of the imports department in Gaza, told Ma’an, “The Israeli side informed us that they closed the crossing without mentioning any reasons.”

Israeli military spokesman, Major Peter Lerner, said that the crossing was closed at the request of the Palestinians, who wanted to do maintainance work on the crossing.

More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,400 others were injured during Israel’s recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The military action ended on 18 January with separate ceasefires announced by Israel and Hamas.

Palestinian officials from Islamist Hamas movement and the moderate Fatah faction met in Cairo on Thursday for talks aimed at forming a unity government.

The Egyptian-brokered talks between 12 Palestinian factions began on Thursday after 18 months of disharmony between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Gaza: Rocket Launching Intensified, Ashqelon Schools Closed

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, MARCH 2 — Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israel has been stepped up in Gaza, with six rockets launched at the city of Sderot (Negev) during the night. Two buildings suffered damage, with yet another rocket being shot this morning. In the Israeli city of Ashqelon (with 120,000 inhabitants) north of the Gaza Strip, schools are closed today due to an initiative undertaken by parents. In their opinion, the buildings housing the schools are not able to provide sufficient protection against the rockets now being shot by Hamas. Yesterday premier Ehud Olmert threatened “a decisive and harsh” reaction to put an end to attacks from Gaza. However, no retaliation has yet been taken, apparently in part due to bad weather conditions. Some observers have said in today’s press that the Israeli government may have decided to postpone any military operations in Gaza to avoid negative fall-out on the international economic summit underway today in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt). Despite the high level of tension on the ground, border crossings for trade between Israel and Gaza will remain partially open today. According to Israeli military sources, about 200 lorries with humanitarian aid headed for the Palestinian population will be entering the Gaza Strip. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Hillary Clinton Pledges $900 Million for Rebuilding Gaza

Hillary Clinton began her first visit to the Middle East as US Secretary of State today by warning that the region must press ahead towards a peace agreement.

She was speaking at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, where donors are gathered to pledge billions for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

“We cannot afford more setbacks or delays, or regrets about what might have been had different decisions been made,” Mrs Clinton said. The United States would pledge $900 million (£638 million) to Gaza, she added.

Saudi Arabia has already earmarked £1 billion, and it looked likely that the conference would raise the $2.8 billion that it is estimated is needed to rebuild the homes, factories and infrastructure that were destroyed in the blistering Israeli offensive against Gaza in December last year.

Neither Israel nor Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, were present at the conference, leaving it unclear how aid will be channelled to the Gaza Strip, where thousands of families are homeless and living off survival rations because of an Israeli blockade that has lasted almost two years.

— Hat tip: Aeneas

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Israel: White House Protests Jewish Construction

Closely monitors building in capital areas intimately tied to Judaism

President Obama’s administration is carefully monitoring Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and has already protested to the highest levels of Israeli government about evidence found of housing expansion in those areas, according to informed Israeli officials speaking to WND.

The officials, who spoke on condition that their names be withheld, said in recent weeks Obama’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, oversaw the establishment of an apparatus based in the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem that closely monitors eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods, incorporating regular tours on a daily basis.

Said one Israeli official: “If the U.S. notices even one bulldozer on the region of E1, they immediately call us on the level of [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and ask Olmert what that bulldozer is doing there and whether we are planning anything in Jerusalem.”

— Hat tip: JD

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Italy to Give $100 Million to Gaza

Israel must ‘make sacrifices’ for peace, Berlusconi says

(ANSA) — Sharm el-Sheikh, March 2 — Italy will contribute 100 million dollars to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Premier Silvio Berlusconi told an international donors’ conference here Monday.

Berlusconi also reiterated Italy’s idea for a ‘Marshall Plan’ for the Palestinian economy, saying it would be one of the priorities of Italy’s term at the helm of the Group of Eight this year.

‘‘There can be no real peace between two peoples divided by such different living standards,’’ he said, urging leaders from 70 countries to help raise Palestinian living standards.

Berlusconi reiterated that major hotel groups and top multinationals had been contacted with a view to building infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank, including airports to boost tourism to the Holy land.

The Italian premier also proposed a connection between the Dead Sea, whose level is dropping, and the Black Sea, to expand arable land and provide energy.

He offered the Sicilian town of Erice as a venue for peace talks that would reaffirm a two-state solution.

Berlusconi urged Israel to make ‘‘sacrifices’’ for peace.

He said Israel should form ‘‘a government that wants peace and make the sacrifices that peace entails’’.

The Italian premier also urged the two Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, to reconcile under the leadership of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, ‘‘the right person’’ to push for peace and oversee Gaza aid flows.

So far Hamas has refused to accept Abbas, posing question marks about how much aid will actually get into Gaza.

Hamas, an Islamist militant group which periodically fires rockets into Israel, is boycotted by Israel and the Western powers.

In all, the donors pledged around some $3 billion to help Gaza after an Israeli offensive that killed 1,300 people, wounded many more and left some 16,000 homeless. Before the conference, Berlusconi met with Abbas and had a working breakfast with leaders including United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and host Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Milliband: Palestinian State in Pre-1967 Borders

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 25 — The security of Israel is important for the security and stability of the Middle East, and will only come about with the creation of a Palestinian State which can live next to Israel. ‘This is why we clearly state that the Israeli settlements are illegal, that the Palestinian State must be created within the pre- June 1967 borders and that Jerusalem must me the common capital of the two States. The British position is clear’’. British Foreign Minister David Milliband made this statement to journalists in Cairo following a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit. Milliband also stressed ‘the importance for the countries in the region to support the Arab initiative (of February 2002, ed.) and the commitments of this initiative which grants Israel security and normalization with all the Arab countries in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian State. Since the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, Saudi Arabia has proposed a peace plan for the Middle East by offering Israel recognition by all the Arab states — currently only Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Tel Aviv — in exchange for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the occupied territories in the war of 1967. With regard to contacts under way between Al Fatah and Hamas, Milliband said that the commitment of the European Union is one of support for the founding of a transitional Palestinian government which includes the factions and which is made up of technocrats, under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). The Palestinian government will be ‘the result of Egyptian efforts in sponsoring inter-Palestinian reconciliation” said Milliband. Today in Cairo talks are under way with the Al Fatah group, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, ahead of talks extended to include all the factions, due to start during the day. ‘We insist on the necessity for this future government to concentrate on humanitarian aid and reconstruction, apart from preparations for the elections. This government must re-establish the principle of a single Palestinian government and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) must have power over the West Bank and Gaza, because it is important to create one joint Palestinian State. This corresponds to our concept of the solution and the future of the Middle East’’, said Milliband. The conference for the reconstruction of Gaza, which takes place on March 2 in Sharm el Sheikh, and which Milliband will attend ‘must be centred around political and economic reconstruction’’ the British minister concluded. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Shalit: Press, Israel for Extended Contact With Hamas

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 27 — Israel desires to begin indirect and extended contact with Hamas in Cairo to agree on a prisoner exchange which will see the liberation of Israeli Corporal Ghilad Shalit who has been a prisoner in Gaza since 2006, affirmed the newspaper Yediot Ahronot. Yesterday an Israeli emissary, Ofer Dekel, arrived in Cairo with a list of 100 Palestinian detainees, all involved in the carrying out of serious attacks, who in exchange for Shalit, Israel could free together with another 100 prisoners held for more minor offences. Dekel, according to the paper, said that he was ready to return to Cairo next week if Hams shows the desire to close the negotiations. Israel, according to Yediot Ahronot, is proposing that Israeli and Hamas negotiators sit in separate rooms in Cairo with Egyptian officials going back and forth between them. (ANSAmed).

2009-02-27 10:09

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Any Criticism of Hamas Shouted Down in the Arab World

Al Ahram Weekly 12.02.2009 (Egypt)

Amr Hamzawy of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is sick to the teeth of hearing any criticism of Hamas shouted down in the Arab world. Criticism, so the argument goes, “constitutes an unhealthy departure from religious and national consensus and is at best an intellectual frivolity that must be put off until a later date. The danger of this position is that it carries totalitarian implications prohibiting the exercise of the intellect and any free expression of convictions when considering Hamas and its actions. The Arabs have long suffered the consequences of this type of silencing. After issuing a certificate exonerating Hamas of any responsibility for the war on Gaza and suspending rational enquiry into the movement’s choices and practices, the manufacturers of resistance narratives insist upon another type of exception, undermining freedom of thought and the right to differ.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Archbishop Hails Aziz Acquittal

Iraqi deputy PM ‘could not have acted differently’

(ANSA) — Rome, March 2 — The Catholic archbishop of Kirkuk on Monday hailed a decision by an Iraqi court to acquit Tareq Aziz, the Christian former Iraqi deputy premier under the Saddam Hussein regime, of crimes against humanity.

Msgr Louis Sako told ANSA that Monday’s ruling was just because Aziz ‘‘lived in a time and in a regime when he could not have acted any differently’’.

‘‘Aziz and other men in Saddam Hussein’s regime were working under an absolute, ruthless, totalitarian dictatorship in which anyone who opposed the leader was killed,’’ said Sako, describing Aziz as ‘‘a very educated man and a diplomat of great worth’’.

‘‘Tareq Aziz could not do any differently and now it is right that he is judged without the spirit of vendetta,’’ Sako said, calling for other Christians who collaborated with Saddam and who are awaiting justice should receive the same treatment.

Sako said Pope Benedict XVI ‘‘should be cheered’’ by the news of Aziz’s acquittal and called for an end to the death penalty in a democratic Iraq.

Aziz had been on trial along with 13 others for their roles in the killing and displacing of Shi’ite Muslims in Baghdad and the holy city of Najaf in 1999.

The Iraqi military was ordered to quash uprisings in the cities following the assassination of Shi’ite cleric Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr.

Three of the men on trial, including Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as Chemical Ali, were sentenced to death and four others received life imprisonment.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told ANSA that Aziz’s acquittal showed ‘‘the full independence’’ of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which was set up to deal with genocide and war crimes committed between 1968 and 2003.

Aziz, 72, met Pope John Paul II in Rome in February 2003 in a peace-brokering mission, weeks before an American-led military strike toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

He turned himself in to American soldiers the following April.

A Chaldean Catholic, Aziz was considered a protector of the Christian minority in Iraq and the only ‘presentable’ face of Saddam’s regime.

He is currently involved in two other trials.

In March, a ruling is expected on his role in the execution of 42 merchants and businessmen accused of manipulating food prices in Baghdad in 1992 when Iraq qas under United Nations sanctions.

On Monday, another trial began in which Aziz is accused of having a role in the killing and deportation of thousands of Shi’ite Kurds in 1983.

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Hillary Clinton Offers Handshake of Friendship to Syria

It was a brief but significant gesture: in the hubbub of the Gaza donor’s conference on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, Hillary Clinton shook hands and exchanged a few words today with her Syrian counterpart, Walid Mouallem.

In the Middle East, where even the slightest gesture is closely scrutinised, the brief encounter was seen as a sign that Washington was prepared to mend fences with Syria, whose leader Bashir al-Assad was treated as a pariah by the Bush Administration…

— Hat tip: Aeneas

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Jordan: US Grant USD 100 Million for Development Projects

(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, FEBRUARY 25 — The US agreed to provide Jordan with a total of USD 100 million in financial grants this year to help the kingdom carry out political and economic reform projects, an official said today. According to Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali two thirds of the finance will be utilized to lift the financial burden on the treasury stemming from external debt. It will also be used to funding several development projects of the executive programme of the ‘We are All Jordan’ initiative within the National Agenda,” Al-Ali said, during the signing ceremony with officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Additionally, around USD 9 million, will go for economic opportunities and boost the partnership between the public and the private sectors and USD 19 million for the youth sector and fight poverty. Around USD 2 million to be invested in good governance and democracy programmes, said the minister in a statement. US officials hailed the relation with Jordan saying the amount of financial assistance is one of the highest in the world. “The agreements reaffirm our commitment to working with our Jordanian friends as they strive to build a better future for themselves and their children,” said US ambassador to Jordan Stephen Beecroft, during the ceremony. The US last year agreed to a USD 660 million economic and military assistance programme for 2009. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Jordan: Prime Minister Reshuffles Cabinet

(by Mohammad Ben Hussein) (ANSAmed) — AMMAN, FEBURARY 23 — Jordan’s Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Monday changed Foreign, Interior and Finance ministers in a broad government reshuffle to bring harmony within his team and strengthen his mandate ahead of economically and politically tough year. Foreign minister Salah el Bashir has been replaced by former minister of Communication and Media, Nasser Judeh, an outspoken US educated technocrat. Influential Interior Minister, Eid Fayes who helped restructure security apparatus in the aftermath of 2005 Al Qaeda bombing in Amman, in which 60 people died and 100 injured, has been replaced by former Interior Minister Nayef al Qadi. The announcement put an end to weeks of speculations. The new cabinet is expected to be sworn before King Abdullah later on Monday, said the newly arriving minister of political development, Musa Mayta, former head of a leftist party. Mayta’s arrival is seen as an attempt by authorities to bridge the gap with the opposition, which has been overlooked in the past few years when forming governments. The opposition said the government is not fulfilling promises to implement political reform by amending crucial legislations such as elections and political parties laws. With the arrival of Mayta, dialogue could be initiated between the two sides in the coming months. The reshuffle comes against the back drop of a the war on Gaza and an the arrival of hardliner Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, whose approach to the peace is far from what Jordan would hope. At least 8 new ministers were replaced including Finance Minister Salem Khazaleh, who shouldered the responsibility of lifting the country from its current economic doldrums in light of the global economic recession. Khazaleh was replaced by Omar Razaz in the Finance Ministry after being accused of acting too late to carry out an emergency plan that could have cushioned the economy from the ripples of the crisis. Dahabi’s new government of technocrats and western educated ministers will face an uphill battle to turn the economic wheel on and handle an ever complicated file of security, triggered by regional conflicts, said a former prime minister who preferred to be anonymous. Jordan, a country that depends on foreign assistance to keep its anemic economy alive, has been caught in the midst of a global economic recession. Official forecast for this fiscal year looks everything but positive amid soaring budget deficit due to shrinking revenues and cancellation of major investment projects by foreign and local investors. Unemployment and poverty, both at 14.5%, remain the most vexing challenges to face Dhahabi, along with a heavy foreign debt. Dahabi, former head of Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZA) does not have to present his government to the parliament for a vote of confidence, according to the Jordanian constitution. But he consulted with senior members of the house before putting the final touches on his first reshuffle. Dahabi’s government is the sixth since Abdullah took over in 1999 after his father, the late king Hussein. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Lebanon: Israeli Spy “Head of Anti-Hezbollah Network”

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 18 — Reports from Beirut newspaper an-Nahar indicated that an alleged Lebanese spy, arrested and accused of working for Israel, had been managing a network with “more than 12 members” in southern Lebanon with the responsibility of pinpointing the operative centres of the anti-Israeli Shiite movement Hezbollah. “Well-informed” sources cited by the newspaper specified that Marwan F., a 40-year-old manager of a petrol station and car dealership in Nabatiye (about 60km south of Beirut) headed a spy network for the Israeli state and was attempting to monitor the movements of the Shiite militia, trying in particular to find the launch pads used for Hezbollah rockets. According to sources, Hezbollah secret services found the network headed by Marwan F. and notified the secret services of the Lebanese army. News of the arrest of an alleged Israeli spy was reported on Monday in the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, which has ties to the Shiite movement. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Lebanon: Hezbollah Changes Codes After Arrest of Israeli Spy

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 19 — The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has changed its security codes after the arrest of the alleged leader of a spy network who may have been active for years in the south of Lebanon, working for Israel collecting information on the armed wing of the Party of God, as reported by the Lebanese press this morning. The arrest was announced on Monday. Quoting a “source close to Hezbollah”, the Lebanese daily al-Balad pointed out that Marwan Faqih, alleged leader of a network of at least 12 spies and owner of a car dealership in Nabatiye (around 60km south of the capital), was arrested in January on indications from Hezbollah security services. The sources claims that Faqih was exposed “by accident”, when a car electrician found a small camera connected to a satellite communication device in one of the cars used by a Hezbollah member. After a more thorough search it was found that “dozens” of vehicles of the Party of God, purchased from Faqih’s dealership, had been equipped with the same device. According to the source, Faqih was considered to be a “trustworthy man” by Hezbollah. The Lebanese press has reported that the alleged spy had been working for Israel since the mid ‘90s. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Missing US Journalist Roxana Saberi ‘Arrested’ in Iran

Iran said today that an Iranian-American journalist whose family have not heard from for three weeks was arrested for engaging in “illegal” activities because she continued to work after the Government revoked her press credentials.

Roxana Saberi, 31, who has reported from Tehran for the BBC and other news organisations, called her father in the United States on February 10, saying that she had been arrested for buying a bottle of wine.

“She called from an unknown place and said she’s been kept in detention,” Mr Saberi said from Fargo, North Dakota, where her family lives.

“She said that she had bought a bottle of wine and the person that sold it had reported it and then they came and arrested her,” he said, adding that the wine purchase was just an excuse to arrest her.

Ms Saberi said that she had already been held for ten days, and called back moments later to say that she would be released in two more days. Neither her family in the US nor her friends in Tehran have heard from her since. Mr Saberi said that he was going public with the information because of fears for his daughter’s safety.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry, which confirmed Ms Saberi’s arrest, did not say why her press credentials had been revoked in 2006, or whether she was still being held…

— Hat tip: Aeneas

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Saudi Arabia: Education Deters Militants From More Violence, Says Official

Riyadh, 27 Feb. (AKI) — Only one in ten terrorists return to the Al-Qaeda terror network after completing re-education programmes in prison, a senior Saudi Arabian official has claimed. General Mansur Bin Sultan al-Turki, spokesman for the interior ministry, discussed the rate with the Arab daily, al-Quds al-Arabi.

He was interviewed after international concern about former Saudi detainees of the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba who have reportedly fled to neighbouring Yemen to rejoin Al-Qaeda terror cells there.

“Our re-education programme intends to give a new beginning to those who are stained by terror crimes in a way in which they can change their ideas and return to the straight and narrow,” he said.

“You have to say that attending this programme is not based on decisions by the authorities to free these terrorists from prison. Our programme continues once the former prisoners have left prison, and been reintegrated in society.

Saudi security officials have praised the methods used by the prisons in the country and their efforts to also force the prisoners to memorise Islam’s holy book, Koran.

A former detainee in the US military prison camp in Guantanamo who became an Al-Qaeda commander last week surrendered to the Saudi authorities.

Mohammed al-Awfi, who had been released from a Saudi centre for those returning from Guantanamo, appeared on an Al-Qaeda video last month to say he had joined the group’s regional wing in Yemen as a commander.

Awfi, was on a wanted list of 85 Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants issued by Saudi Arabia this month.

The announcement of the Saudi wanted list followed a move last month by Al-Qaeda’s branch in neighbouring Yemen to name Awfi and a fellow Saudi released from Guantanamo as commanders.

He reportedly contacted Saudi authorities before surrendering in neighbouring Yemen in February.

Saudi Arabia has put hundreds of militants through a rehabilitation programme which included education by clerics to “correct” their thinking and financial help to start a new life.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Turkey: USA Hopes IMF Deal Will be Signed, Ambassador

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 19 — The United States ambassador to Turkey expressed hope that a new agreement will be reached between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund, Hurriyet Daily reported. “This is a decision to be taken by Turkey and IMF, but as a friend of Turkey we hope that an agreement can be achieved”, James Jeffrey, US ambassador in Ankara, said at meeting held by the Turkish-American Business Association. Talks between the government and the IMF were suspended last month. Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the stall came after the IMF had “unacceptable demands”. Jeffrey, without elaborating further, noted that “U.S. believed the new IMF program could be beneficial to Turkey in this challenging environment”. “Turkey is a very attractive country for American investors, but there are a number of steps Turkey should take to make its economy more hospitable to foreign investment”, Jeffrey declared. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turkey: Corruption Fight at the Beginning, EU Head Delegation

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 19 — “Despite its efforts and progress, Turkey still has a considerable way to go to fight corruption and has to equip itself to cooperate at the EU-wide level”, Marc Pierini, Head of EU delegation in Turkey, said. “A transparent public administration, an efficient law enforcement system and an effective judiciary, as well as a strong and independent Council of Ethics are very important indicators of progress toward full application of the Rule of Law and ultimately of reinforcing democratic principles”, Pierini said during the conference on legislative and judicial ethics held in Ankara within the framework of a Council of Europe project. Pierini said corruption not only exists in Turkey but also in the EU countries. “This is why the EU has developed a large body of policies and instruments for the fight against corruption”, the official declared, assuring the European Commission’s support for Turkey in its fight against corruption. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Turkey to Implement Reforms With or Without IMF, Minister

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 20 — Turkey is set to establishing economic reforms with or without International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the aim of bringing Turkey to the point where it does not need international institutions funds is the main aim, Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek said todday. An agreement with the IMF would be meaningful if it is inline with Turkey’s interests and provides relief and assistance during such a period, Simsek told reporters in a conference in Ankara. However, he said that Turkey should take the required steps and establish reforms with or without an agreement with the IMF. “But, what we need to do in principal is to initiate these reforms with or without the IMF and bring Turkey to a point where it would not need international institutions. “Talks between the IMF and Turkish government for a loan agreement are yet to be finalized. The negotiations between the parties were suspended in late January when Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the Fund made two unacceptable demands, the details of which he did not elaborate. The Turkish government has been criticized over its reluctance to seal an IMF deal, after the latest USD 10 billion accord expired in May, ahead of the upcoming local elections due to the spending curbs imposed by the Fund. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Afghanistan: Taliban Bomb, Not Canadians, to Blame for Three Slain Children

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A Taliban improvised explosive device, possibly rigged from old Soviet munitions, is responsible for killing three young children and injuring another last week in a village southwest of Kandahar City, a Canadian investigation has found.

Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance said the children, thought to be 13, 10 and four, were likely foraging for scrap metal when they picked up the device and carried it to a nearby village where it went off. Their conclusions were based on the blast pattern, fragments found at the scene and eyewitness accounts.

Canadians do conduct firing ranges nearby, but Gen. Vance said they were not the cause of the explosion.

“Our ammunition did not and could not do this,” he said. “The results of the investigation are conclusive.”

The investigation was conducted by the military’s national investigation service in conjunction with the Afghan National Police.

Villagers had expressed anger about the firing ranges, saying they were too close to their homes, rattling windows and scaring women and children. Gen. Vance said Canadians conducted the range a safe distance away, but he understands their concerns.

“Out of respect for them we’ll move it somewhere else. It was a good spot to do a range. We’ll find another good spot.”

The Canadian findings contradict at least some accounts by villagers, who claim it was an incoming mortar round that killed the children.

The blast left a small crater in the sand near Mohammed Bin Rashid Village, a cluster of houses for disabled people, near the village of Salehan, about 15 kilometres southwest of Kandahar. The area is known both as a Taliban stronghold and one that is littered with landmines and unexploded ordinances.

The blast last week sparked a macabre protest in Kandahar City as angry villagers brought the mangled bodies of the dead boys to the front of a government office. Dozens of them yelled “death to Canadians” and other anti-western and anti-government slogans.

One man who lives close to Salehan said he’s still skeptical of the Canadian findings.

“I don’t believe Taliban planted the mine,” Mohammed Azim said. “The Taliban plant mines on the roadside or on routes officials and NATO troops use, but this wasn’t one of them — it was just a place where kids play, close to their homes.”

Collecting scrap metal to sell is a common way for people here to make money. Almost any time Canadian soldiers conduct a firing range they are followed closely by children and other villagers scrambling to pick up the bits of discarded shells.

Hajji Shah Baran, the Panjwai district chief said he is certain it was not the Canadians who caused the explosion.

“I have seen the fragments and they seemed old, perhaps left in the ground for long time,” Baran said. “I cannot say it was planted by the Taliban, I cannot say if it was brought by someone else, but I can say it was not fired or left by the Canadians.”

Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa confirmed the results of the investigation and said families will be compensated as a result of the blast.

Gen. Vance said he understands why villagers immediately assumed it was Canadians who were responsible for the deaths.

“I can’t imagine what goes through the mind of a parent who has just lost their children. Had it happened to me, if my daughter had died in such a way, I probably would have fired off in all directions too,” Gen. Vance said.

“I feel great sympathy for these people. The fact that it happened at all is the tragedy.”

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Burmese Refugees in Malaysia Abused, Handcuffed, Victims of Profiteers

Source talks to AsiaNews about visiting a refugee centre, describing its horrors: a hundred people living to a room without blankets to sleep; women humiliated and forced to strip; the canteen selling ordinary items at exorbitant prices; a profiteer who knows “everything about everybody.”

Yangon (AsiaNews) — Hundreds of Burmese are being held in remote Malaysian refugee centres, locked up and handcuffed in prison-like conditions. Relatives and friends are forced to be body searched and registered; unscrupulous merchants sell goods at exorbitant prices; women are abused, humiliated and forced to strip in front of guards. All of the refugees had to flee their homeland to escape abuses by the ruling military junta.

Without papers the refugees are treated like criminals, packed in rooms a hundred at a time without any basic human rights.

One source working for an NGO that is in touch with the refugees spoke to AsiaNews about one such centre, describing its horrors.

“It took us about four hours to reach there,” said the source, who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons. “It is situated in a very remote area where public transport is not made available. [. . . ] I gave my handset and identity card to the officers whereas my friends gave their passport and handset.”

This was followed by a body check by a female officer, and a statement to a counter officer that included “the name, sex and also body number” of the person visitors wanted to see.

During the “30 minutes” of waiting the source saw episodes indicative of the type of atmosphere that prevails in the centre.

“I saw one of the female detainees walking with a handcuff and that really caught my attention. I was very surprise and upset to see what was going on. I was just thinking to myself, why handcuff a female? How can she escape? Even if she escapes how could she get away because the detention centre is so isolated and far? It doesn’t make sense. She is not a criminal. Does she deserve this treatment just because she doesn’t have a proper document?

Talking to camp inmate is also prison-like. “We got a chance to speak to the detainees through a phone and see them through a glass,” the source said. “Each one is given an allocated time of approximately 15 minutes.”

“If we wanted to get something for them we had to buy it from the centre’s canteen. I was very surprised by the price of the things: it is so expensive. But we have no choice because we can’t bring in goods from outside.”

“When I commented about the price the shop owner said she had to pay RM 5000 for her monthly rent. That is why she has to charge more.”

A man in the canteen offered to sell airplane tickets, at a huge price that varied according to a prisoner’s ethnic background, Burmese or Vietnamese.

“Laughing while quoting” fares, the profiteer said that he was “so experienced that he could tell me how long an inmate had been detained. That shows how much he seems to know things in the centre; he seems to know everyone, from the officers to the detainees.”

“When I told him that prices were too high he told to keep quiet, otherwise prisoners might pays for my remarks.”

The stories refugees had to tell depict a world with harsh rules. Women are forced to “undress and squat”; are “humiliated and embarrassed”; forced to go topless like the men because not allowed to cover themselves.

“There are about 100 people to a room and not everyone has a blanket. Is that how we treat a person” who has fled his or her country without papers?

Lastly, the source launches an appeal on behalf of the refugees, that they not be forgotten: “For those of you out there doing your best to bring light at the end of the tunnel; please continue doing that. I believe the little light that we shine can make a difference. For those of you who are unable to do that, have courage. I believe it would make a big difference in others’ life.” (DS)

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Indonesia: Java Mudflow is Human Rights Threat, Says Key Body

Jakarta, 26 Feb. (AKI/Jakarta Post) — The displacement of thousands of mudflow victims from their homes in the East Java town of Sidoarjo by a mud volcano may constitute a human rights violation, Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights said.

Since May 2006, the volcano has been spewing out approximately 2,500 cubic metres of mud per day — equivalent to the contents of a dozen Olympic-size pools.

Levees have contained the mudflow since last November, but further breakouts are possible as the mud flow continues, experts have said.

The commission said it was highly unlikely the incident was a natural phenomenon and had instead been caused by PT Lapindo Brantas, a mining company owned by the family of coordinating welfare minister, Aburizal Bakrie.

The company should be held responsible for the devastating consequences of the disaster, the commission deputy head Hesti Amirwulan told journalists.

Besides displacing around 13,000 families from their homes, the mudflow also led to an explosion at a gas pipeline belonging to state-oil firm PT Pertamina, which killed 14 people (photo).

“There were deaths and injuries, and thousands of people were displaced from their homes, “ Hesti said. “The military was mobilised in the now-inundated areas to control the disaster. It is the commission’s task to see whether or not gross rights violations indeed took place.”

The commission on Tuesday called for the immediate establishment of an ad hoc investigation team to collect evidence related to the Sidoarjo case.

In its research it has found that violations of at least 15 economic, social and cultural rights of mudflow victims occurred during the displacement process.

Some of these included the right to settlement, food, health, education, security and to live and work.

The commission criticised the Indonesian government for issuing regulations that failed to protect the victims, while blaming local administrations for acting too slowly and showing negligence in dealing with victims and their rights.

It also accused central and local politicians of not paying sufficient attention to resolving the mudflow case early enough.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Malaysian Government Defeated by History: Christians Have Used the Word “Allah” for Centuries

On February 27, the diocese of Kuala Lumpur is going to court against the government, which has prohibited the use of the term for reasons of safety. But the Constitution and history are on the side of the Christians. The Minister of the Interior has given permission to use the word “Allah,” but only if the phrase “for Christians only” is printed on the cover.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) — Next February 27, the first hearing will be held in the lawsuit of the archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and the Catholic weekly Herald against the government, which has prohibited the use of the word “Allah” in Catholic publications. All of the Christian Churches of Malaysia are closely following the battle, which is creating problems for them as well, with bans and confiscations of books and catechisms. The prohibition comes from the ministry of interior security, according to which the use of the word “Allah” in a non-Islamic publication “could create confusion and harm public order.” The archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur is defending its right to use the word “Allah” by referring to article 10 of the Constitution (freedom of expression) and article 11 (freedom to practice one’s own religion). Without even mentioning that the archdiocese has on its side more than four centuries of documented history, in which the use of this term on the part of Christians has never created problems. In fact, Christians used the word “Allah” to refer to “God” even before the existence of the Malaysian state.

For more than a year, the weekly Herald has been the target of a press campaign and of criticisms on the part of Islamic associations and newspapers, which demand that the use of the word “Allah” be reserved only for Muslims. This is due to the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the country, but also to the ambiguity of the legal system, which is secular in the Constitution, but influenced by religious membership and Islamic on the legislative level.

The central government seems not to want to expose itself too much in resolving the question, and is trying to find some sort of piecemeal solution. After the security minister prohibited the use of the word “Allah” and was taken to court, last February 16, in the official Gazette, the interior ministry published an order according to which all Christian publications are permitted to use the word “Allah,” but only if the front page clearly states that the publication is “for Christians only.”

For all of the Christian communities, this decision is insufficient. First of all, because it is “an exception” to a domestic security Order, which by norm affirms the “prohibition” of the use of the word “Allah.” The second reason is historical. From extensive documentation compiled by the Catholics in recent months, it clearly emerges that Christians have used the word “Allah” for more than four centuries. A Malay-Latin dictionary printed in 1631 demonstrates that for the Latin word “Deus” (“God”), the Malay word is “Allah.” This means that use of the term was widespread well before the publication of the dictionary. According to some Catholics, “the word ‘Allah’ is not a new word in the theological vocabulary of the Christians since the time of the Sultanate of Malacca [16th century], of the Straits Settlements [1826], of the Federation of Malaya [1948], and later of Malaysia [1963].” It is only in 1992 that a Malay dictionary appears defining the word “Allah” as “the God of Islam.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Thailand: More Beheadings in Troubled Muslim South

Narathiwat, 26 Feb. (AKI) — Suspected Islamist rebels have decapitated three people in Thailand’s Muslim dominated south in the past week, police said on Thursday.

Three people were killed late on Wednesday in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat , and one of the victims was decapitated, police said.

Forty-seven people, often soldiers, have been beheaded in Thailand’s three Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani since 2004. An estimated 3,300 people have been killed in the conflict.

Experts say the region’s Islamic schools or ‘pondok’ are fomenting the Islamist rebellion.

Demands by Thai Muslims include the introduction of Islamic law and making ethnic Pattani Malay (Yawi) a working language in the region. They also want an improvement in the local economy and education system.

The conflict began in January 2004 and reflects the long-standing alienation of the area’s inhabitants who are predominantly Malay in ethnicity and language and practising Muslims.

During the 1970s and 1980s secular ethnic Malay groups such as The United Front for the Independence of Pattani (Bersatu) and the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) fought for a separate state in the region

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Philippines: Military: Reds Destroy P100m in Property

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines-At least P100 million worth of private property were bombed or torched by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels on Negros and Panay islands since last year, according to the military.

These included almost P70 million worth of communication facilities and heavy equipment owned by construction firms in the four provinces of Panay Island, according to Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Civil Relations Group in Western Visayas.

On Negros Island, about P32 million worth of farm equipment, four delivery trucks, communication facilities of Globe Telecom and facilities of sugar plantations were burned or bombed by rebels belonging to the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros, said Maj. Nathaniel Villasor, 303rd Infantry Brigade Civil Military Operations chief.

The reason for the destruction was the failure or refusal of the companies to pay the “revolutionary tax” demanded by the communist rebels, the two military officials said in a joint Army-police press conference at the Negros Press Club in Bacolod City.

The officers said investigation by the 303rd IB showed the NPA was charging sugar planters from P5,000 to P10,000 per hectare as revolutionary tax.

In terms of destruction to property, the hardest hit was northern Negros with more than P16 million in losses, they said.

“This only shows how desperate the NPA in Western Visayas is in getting funds to augment its logistical resources to sustain its armed struggle against the government,” Villasor and Marquez said.

Last week, suspected rebels raided for the fourth time since last year the farm of sugar planter Lope Consing in Cadiz City, burning two farm tractors estimated at P800,000, police said.

Villasor said they noted that the rebels stepped up raids in northern Negros after the pullout and redeployment of the Army’s 15th Infantry Battalion to Mindanao.

Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division yesterday said they hoped the arrival of the 62nd Infantry Battalion from Samar would minimize if not totally stop the NPA attacks.

Records of the 303rd IB showed that from 2002 to January 14 this year, 67 civilians, including barangay officials, had been killed by the NPA.

Sixteen soldiers, policemen and militiamen were listed in military reports as victims of summary executions.

The Philippine Army in Western Visayas and the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office have issued a joint statement denouncing the “anti-people, anti-development” activities of the NPA, citing the continued burning of farm equipment, vital installations, liquidation of civilians, and recruitment and use of minors in propaganda activities.

The statement also denounced the silence of human rights groups on rights violations committed by the rebels and what they said were fabricated accusations leveled against them by activist organizations.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Philippines: MILF Rebels Attack Coastal Villages

COTABATO CITY, Philippines-Residents of coastal villages of Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat province fled anew due to fear of more attacks from Moro rebels, civilian and military officials said on Monday.

As this developed, a clash between soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Maguindanao left two soldiers wounded on Sunday.

Kalamansig Mayor Rolando Garcia said by phone that the still undetermined number of residents had sought refuge in the town center and in nearby Lebak town.

Garcia said the exodus started late last week amid reports of a renewed MILF aggression.

He said the fleeing residents were not taking any chance because of previous experiences.

Asked what has been triggering the attacks, Garcia said some Moro residents were claiming lands titled to Christian settlers.

In December, at least six civilians were killed when MILF rebels raided several coastal villages of Kalamansig and Senator Ninoy Aquino towns.

In January, the attack was repeated, prompting the military to conduct a series of air raids. At least 10 rebels were reportedly killed in the air strikes.

Major General Alfredo Cayton Jr., commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, said he already ordered the deployment of additional troops to thwart any attempt by the rebels to attack Kalamansig villages.

Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military affairs chief, said the offensive by MILF rebels in Sultan Kudarat was not organizational in nature.

He said some members were indeed locked up in land disputes with some residents and this triggered the attacks.

“It’s personal in nature,” he said.

In Maguindanao, government security forces intensified the manhunt against the group of MILF leader Ombra Kato.

“Two government troopers were wounded in a clash Sunday in the marshland of Maguindanao and North Cotabato following the intensified offensive,” Colonel Jonathan Ponce, 6th ID spokesperson, said.

He said the military believed that Kato’s group also suffered fatalities during the mid-afternoon clash in the village of Muslim in Datu Piang town but “we have no body count.”

Kato carries a bounty of P10 million for allegedly leading attacks on civilian communities in North Cotabato starting in July 2009.

At least 10 civilians were killed in the attacks that were allegedly triggered by the government’s indecision to sign the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD).

The MOA-AD, which would have given the MILF larger territory under an autonomous government, was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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S. Korea: [Editorial] ‘Terrorism’ in the Nat’l Assembly

Ruling Grand National Party lawmaker Chun Yu-ok at the National Assembly yesterday was attacked by several of women affiliated with Minkahyup, a coalition of families advocating democracy. They grabbed Chun’s hair and beat her face and neck while swearing. As Chun said, this brutal act clearly shows the dismal state of Korean democracy.

The attack is apparent retaliation for Chun’s push for a revision bill on a re-trial of the 1989 incident at Busan’s Dongeui University. In 2002, dozens of Dongeui students found guilty of the deaths of seven police officers in a 1989 protest were recognized as pro-democracy activists by the Commission for Democratization Movement Activists’ Honor-Restoration and Compensation. Chun challenged the decision Tuesday by saying she will submit a revised bill on a law to compensate those who took part in pro-democracy movements. Police also said Chun’s assailants committed the attack out of anger over her legislative activities.

Those involved in the university case received 25 million won (16,300 U.S. dollars) in compensation along with a government decoration. They have been hailed as “pro-democracy activists” though they killed seven police officers. Chun has stepped forward to correct a wrong of the left-leaning commission, a group which has turned violent protesters who burned police officers to death into freedom fighters. The assault against Chun, therefore, is tantamount to a challenge to free democracy.

The legislative activities of a lawmaker are simply not a right granted by the public and the Constitution, but also an obligation. Assaulting a legislator who does his or her job is an anti-constitutional act that negates the value of the Constitution, and also constitutes treason. As such, the assailants should undergo strict prosecution. Those who orchestrated the attack should be also brought to justice. Law enforcement agencies should also identify the involvement of the association of those involved in the Dongeui incident and the Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement, which participated in a news conference to protest the revision in front of Chun’s office the same day.

Such a terrorist act that ignores law and order is closely related with the overall social atmosphere in which the public show little respect for law and order and law enforcement agencies. The lawmakers who took the lead in trampling on law and order by tearing down National Assembly facilities with hammers and power saws must first reflect on themselves.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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New Zealand: Three-Strike Law May Breach Rights

The proposed “three strikes and you’re out” law could lead to such severe punishment it would breach fundamental human rights of New Zealanders, according to the National Government’s own legal advice.

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has found the three-strikes bill has an “apparent inconsistency” with the section of the Bill of Rights protecting New Zealanders against cruel, degrading or “disproportionately severe” punishment.

Three strikes would see those convicted of a third serious offence sentenced to life imprisonment with a 25-year non-parole period.

It is a key Act policy and has been introduced to Parliament by National as a condition of the minor party’s agreement to support the Key Administration — with National reserving judgment on whether it will support the legislation further.

As Attorney-General, Mr Finlayson is required to report any bill that appears inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.

His concerns relate to the inconsistencies it would lead to, such as “the imposition of a life sentence for offences that would otherwise be subject to a penalty of as little as five years”.

Mr Finlayson said this could lead to a sentencing judge effectively being left with a choice between a sentence of less than five years or a life sentence.

It could also lead to sentencing judges having to impose significantly more severe sentences on an offender on his third strike than on a more culpable, but non-qualifying, offender who committed a similar crime.

Mr Finlayson said the bill did not reflect the differences between an offender whose previous offences happened in the “distant past” and one who committed three crimes in quick succession without gaining convictions that would make him or her eligible for the three-strikes penalty.

He pointed out the existing provision for preventive detention already allowed for certain offenders to be kept in prison forever and applied to almost all of the three-strikes offences.

Mr Finlayson said the legislation could result in “disparities between offenders that are not rationally based” and “gross disproportionality at sentencing”, which raised the apparent inconsistency with the Bill of Rights.

The minister drew the conclusion even after noting a Supreme Court ruling that the particular section of the Bill of Rights could be invoked only when the punishment complained of reached “the very high threshold of outrageousness”.

Mr Finlayson’s report was done in his capacity as Attorney-General and is not his opinion as a National MP and minister. It is based on advice from the Crown Law Office.

The three-strikes provision was included in National’s Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, which has gone to a select committee for consideration.

* Know your rights

What three strikes would do:

Criminals convicted for a third time of a serious violent offence will be sent to prison for life with a minimum non-parole period of 25 years.

What the Bill of Rights says:

Everyone has the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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New Zealand: Change Bill of Rights, Says 3-Strikes MP

The Act MP who designed the proposed “three strikes and you’re out” law says if it breaches fundamental human rights, the solution is simple — change the Bill of Rights.

David Garrett dismissed a report by Attorney-General Chris Finlayson that found three strikes had an apparent inconsistency with the section of Bill of Rights protecting New Zealanders against cruel, degrading or disproportionately severe punishment.

Mr Garrett had not read the report, but told of its findings yesterday said: “So what?”

“Alter the Bill of Rights Act. We’ve got too hung up on people’s rights.”

Three strikes would see those convicted of a third serious offence sentenced to life imprisonment with a 25-year non-parole period.

As Attorney-General, Mr Finlayson is required to report on any bill that appears inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. The report is not his views as a National MP or minister.

Mr Garrett said the Attorney-General’s report focused on three strikes being punishment, when it was equally a protective measure.

“It is saying you have blown two chances; despite two warnings you have come out and done this behaviour again and we are not going to allow you to remain in the community to become a killer.”

Mr Garrett, a former legal adviser to the Sensible Sentencing Trust, said the concerns were not Mr Finlayson’s personally but those of “some oik in Crown Law”.

Mr Garrett said the Attorney-General’s report only pointed out that it “may” breach the Bill of Rights.

He said a full determination would be made by the courts and would not be relevant until the the first “three-striker” complained, which would be at least 15 years away. If the offender was successful, Parliament could change the Bill of Rights.

“I’m actually more interested in a victim’s rights than a criminal’s rights. We are talking about the “rights” of someone who has served at least two sentences for violent offending and just been sentenced to a third lot.

“I’m not interested in that person’s rights quite frankly. He should have the rights to be fed adequately, to get medical care and not to get tortured — and that’s it.”

Mr Garrett said official figures he obtained last year showed there were 78 killers in jail, who at the time they killed had already served at least three sentences for violence. This meant if there had been a three strikes law at the time “their victim wouldn’t have been killed because the killer would have been banged up”.

Three strikes is a key Act policy and has been introduced to Parliament by National as a condition of the minor party’s agreement to support the Key Administration — with National reserving judgment on whether it will support the legislation further.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

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Mauritania: Girls Being Force-Fed for Marriage as Junta Revives Fattening Farms

Campaigners in Mauritania accuse the new military regime of turning a blind eye to a cult of obesity among young girls being groomed for suitors

Mauritanian women wait to vote, but since a coup last year their rights are being eroded and old customs such as fattening for marriage are back. Photograph: EPA

Fears are growing for the fate of thousands of young girls in rural Mauritania, where campaigners say the cruel practice of force-feeding young girls for marriage is making a significant comeback since a military junta took over the West African country.

Aminetou Mint Ely, a women’s rights campaigner, said girls as young as five were still being subjected to the tradition of leblouh every year. The practice sees them tortured into swallowing gargantuan amounts of food and liquid — and consuming their vomit if they reject it.

“In Mauritania, a woman’s size indicates the amount of space she occupies in her husband’s heart,” said Mint Ely, head of the Association of Women Heads of Households. ‘‘We have gone backwards. We had a Ministry of Women’s Affairs. We had achieved a parliamentary quota of 20% of seats. We had female diplomats and governors. The military have set us back by decades, sending us back to our traditional roles. We no longer even have a ministry to talk to.” Mauritania has suffered a series of coups since independence from France in 1960. The latest, in August last year, saw General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz seize power after the elected president tried to sack him.

A children’s rights lawyer, Fatimata M’baye, echoed Ely’s pessimism. “I have never managed to bring a case in defence of a force-fed child. The politicians are scared of questioning their own traditions. Rural marriages usually take place under customary law or are overseen by a marabou (a Muslim preacher). No state official gets involved, so there is no arbiter to check on the age of the bride.” Yet, she said, Mauritania had signed both international and African treaties protecting the rights of the child.

Leblouh is intimately linked to early marriage and often involves a girl of five, seven or nine being obliged to eat excessively to achieve female roundness and corpulence, so that she can be married off as young as possible. Girls from rural families are taken for leblouh at special “fattening farms” where older women, or the children’s aunts or grandmothers, will administer pounded millet, camel’s milk and water in quantities that make them ill. A typical daily diet for a six-year-old will include two kilos of pounded millet, mixed with two cups of butter, as well as 20 litres of camel’s milk. “The fattening is done during the school holidays or in the rainy season when milk is plentiful,” said M’baye. “The girl is sent away from home without understanding why. She suffers but is told that being fat will bring her happiness. Matrons use sticks which they roll on the girl’s thighs, to break down tissue and hasten the process.”

Other leblouh practices include a subtle form of torture — zayar — using two sticks inserted each side of a toe. When a child refuses to drink or eat, the matron squeezes the sticks together, causing great pain. A successful fattening process will see a 12-year-old weigh 80kg. “If she vomits she must drink it. By the age of 15 she will look 30,” said M’baye…

— Hat tip: ESW

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Immigration: El Piolin Interviews President Obama

President Obama was a guest on “El Piolin por La Mañana” (on of the nation’s popular radio shows that boast an enormous Latino following).

[…]

During the interview, Obama pledged his support of the Latino and immigrant community and his continuing commitment to fixing our broken immigration system. You can read the full transcript after the jump, but here is a good highlight:

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I’ve said every time I’ve been on the show, Piolin, we’re going to make sure that we begin the process of dealing with the immigration system that’s broken. We’re going to start by really trying to work on how to improve the current system so that people who want to be naturalized, who want to become citizens, like you did, that they are able to do it; that it’s cheaper, that it’s faster, that they have an easier time in terms of sponsoring family members.

And then we’ve got to have comprehensive immigration reform. Now, you know, we need to get started working on it now. It’s going to take some time to move that forward, but I’m very committed to making it happen. And we’re going to be convening leadership on this issue so that we can start getting that legislation drawn up over the next several months.

[…]

Well, you know, the key thing right now is obviously we’ve got to make sure that all the people who are involved in immigration reform issues, that they sit down together and they start thinking about how we’re going to approach this problem. Politically it’s going to be tough. It’s probably tougher now than it was, partly because of the fact that the economy has gotten worse. So what I’ve got to do is I’ve got to focus on the economy, I’ve got to focus on housing, and make sure that people feel a little bit more secure; at the same time, get the various immigrant rights groups together and have them start providing some advice in terms of what strategies we’re going to pursue in Congress.

— Hat tip: JD

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Italy: Immigrant Entrepreneurs Valuable Resource, Experts Agree

Rome, 24 Feb. (AKI) — The number of immigrant entrepreneurs is growing rapidly in Italy and they are making a significant contribution to the country’s growth and international development. That was the finding of several speakers who met in Rome on Tuesday as Italian Catholic aid groups, Caritas and Migrantes, presented the country’s first-ever report on the phenomenon.

“An important change is the number of immigrants who have set up their own businesses after working as employees for a number of years,” said the coordinator of the immigration report, Antonio Riccio.

Data from the Caritas-Migrantes dossier fed into the new ‘Immigrant entrepreneurs in Italy’ report, published with the Ethnoland Foundation.

“There are now 165,000 immigrants who own a company in Italy and the number is rising. This is a source of development for Italy and for immigrants’ countries of origin,” Riccio said.

The number of immigrant-owned firms has tripled since 2003 and is growing at a rate of around 20,000 per year — while the number of Italian-owned firms is declining.

Using data from the Bank of Italy, Riccio said immigrants now contribute 9.2 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product and the remittances they send back to their countries reached 6 billion euros in 2007.

For the Ethnoland Foundation’s president Otto Bitjoka, the fact that immigrants produce almost 10 percent of Italy’s GDP makes research on immigrant entrepreneurs “obligatory”.

“Immigrants have the same problems as other entrepreneurs, especially access to credit and training — without which there can be no growth,” Bitjoka stated.

The Ethnoland foundation was set up to give immigrants information on available business tools, to encourage entrepreneurship and to inform Italians, especially Italian trade associations and banks about them.

Most of the 83,578 immigrant-owned Italian companies currently operate in the industrial sector, and 65,549 are mainly Eastern European-owned building firms.

A total 77,515 entrepreneurs operate in services and 10,470 in the clothing, shoes and footwear sector, most of whom are Chinese.

Immigrant-owned firms generate employment for a total 500,000 people, a significant figure in the current economic recession, where joblessness is predicted to reach 8.2 percent this year.

Between 2003 and 2008, the number of companies owned by Romanian immigrants increased the most (61.2 percent), followed by Albanians (48.5 percent), Tunisians and Bangladeshis (38.5 and 38.0 percent respectively), Egyptians (32.2 percent) and Moroccans (27.4 percent).

The great majority of Moroccan entrepreneurs in Italy own trading companies, while Romanians and Albanians own building firms, and Chinese own manufacturing and trading businesses, according to the report.

The northeastern region of Lombardy has the greatest number of immigrant company-owners (30,000), followed by the centre-northern Emilia Romagna region (20,000), and the northern Piemonte and Veneto regions and central Lazio and Tuscany regions (with 15,000 each).

The concentration of immigrant entrepreneurs varies considerably from one region to another. The province of Milan and the province of Rome are those hosting the highest number (17,297 and 15,490 respectively), followed by the province of Turin (11,662).

Of the nearly 3.5 million foreigners who are legal residents in Italy, one in 21 is currently an entrepreneur, compared with one in ten Italians.

With the right assistance, the number of immigrant-owned companies in Italy could reach 365,000 employing over a million people, according to the Ethnoland Foundation.

Immigrant craftsmen (63,646) and female-owned businesses (27,000) are areas where there is particular potential for growth, Ethnoland noted.

Matilde Di Venere, the head of the Italian artisan association, Confartigianato’s Europe section said immigrant entrepreneurs were following in the footsteps of Italian small businesses of the 1960s and 1970s and said they were encountering similar problems.

“We are witnessing a very important phenomenon that needs to be monitored and met with policies and services,” Di Venere said.

“It is also a sign of integration in Italy because it means a network of contacts with institutions and the local community.”

Cumbersome Italian bureaucracy and poor legal knowledge, problems in obtaining and renewing permits of stay, non-recognition of academic and professional qualifications and access to credit are the main obstacles immigrant entrepreneurs face.

Di Venere and other speakers called for measures to help entrepreneurs who are among immigrants that have chosen “the legal route” especially as they are among the most vulnerable in a period of global recession and shrinking employment.

Italy’s Banking Association (ABI) is currently working to give immigrant entrepreneurs greater access to credit and take account of their evolving needs, in partnership with banks, firms and trade associations.

According to an ABI study, around 70 percent of immigrant entrepreneurs in Italy had banking facilities in 2006 and the figure has risen 12 percent in the past two years, the conference was told.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Italy: Immigrants Begin Street Patrols in Northern City

Padua, 27 Feb. (AKI) — Immigrants in the northern city of Padua were due late on Friday to begin street patrols, offering their own response to a recent wave of violent crime including rapes allegedly committed by immigrants against Italian women.

The patrols are the initiative of Egyptian-born journalist Ahmed Mohamed and the first ones were due to set off from the headquarters of local La9 TV station and head for Padova’s high-immigrant Stanga district.

Friday’s patrol was due to be led by representatives from the local Romanian, Bulgarian and Moroccan associations. Many of the rapes and other violent crimes against women that have recently shocked Italy have allegedly been committed by Romanians and Moroccans.

“It should be known that foreigners want the government to show zero tolerance to illegal immigrants and those who commit crimes — they damage the reputation of those of us who live respectably,” Mohamed told Adnkronos International (AKI).

“We are among immigrants who want more security and more of a sense of identity. We don’t just want rights but also a sense of duty towards our host country,” he added.

“Security must be guaranteed to all and crime does not have a particular skin colour. For this reason we want more safety on the streets and more legality,” Mohamed concluded.

In an tough emergency security decree issued last Friday, the conservative Italian government authorised unarmed patrols of ‘concerned citizens’. The controversial measure has stoked fears among the opposition that it will encourage gangs of vigilantes to roam Italy’s streets.

The emergency decree also provides for a mandatory life sentence for the rape of minors or attacks where the victim is murdered. It allows illegal immigrants to be kept in preventative custody for up to six months instead of two months previously.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Norway: President of the Norwegian Parliament (Storting), Torbjoern Jagland, Warns Politicians Against Creating a Heated Debate on Immigration.

Instead, he calls for what he calls a reflected debate.

– This is very often the way it goes when it comes to immigration issues in this country. People quickly burst out with provoking comments and create opposition and conflicts. I think politicians too often contribute to this instead of trying to lead a civil dialogue and reflected discourse, Jagland says.

– It think it would be wise to have a reflected debate on what is suitable and what isn’t, and what is best for the Norwegian society, the President of the Storting says.

— Hat tip: Tuan Jim

[Return to headlines]

Submission in Advance

20 years after the fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie, Islamism has the West more firmly in its grip than ever before. By Thierry Chervel

The Koran tells the truth — says the Koran. The Koran is just a story say “The Satanic Verses”. They blurt out the truth. They place the myth within a picaresque novel where revelation is constantly rearranging itself to conform to the vagaries of everyday politics. The “Verses” write themselves into historical conditionality, they tell how the myth was fabricated. The novel was written at the apex of the postmodern corrosion of the concept of truth. And that is recognisable in its tangled wilderness of miracles, versions and visions. But its goal is quite clearly blasphemy — at least, according to the administrators of that particular truth. Ayatollah Khomeini never read the novel, but he was quite clear about the challenge it contained and he acted accordingly — like the thunder god he is caricatured as in the novel.

Postmodern culture had not reckoned with the fury of the Ayatollah’s reaction. After all, was there ever a more peaceful time than the 1980s?

Yes, in 1968 left-wing intellectuals were still taking the run-up to a world-historical salto mortale, only to find themselves landing with bums in university chairs — pension entitlements included. But it was a cheerful awakening. The postmodern movement was an airy island of refuge for all those who no longer wished to believe in the “grand narratives.” In 1966 it had still been somewhat painful when Michel Foucault wrote off the dispute between Hegelians and Marxists as a tempest in a teapot. But now intellectuals were comfortably settling into a hammock of relative truths, reflexive constructions, ironic allusions. The theorists of world revolution, who had recently been so agitated, now divided the variegated world neatly into the pigeon-holes of systems theory, post-structuralism and gender studies. The situation seemed stable. Nothing was serious. Life was post-historical long before Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History.” Simulation theorists were having the time of their lives.

But today they are still nursing their bloody noses. Three reality shocks — the AIDS epidemic, the fatwa, and finally the collapse of the Wall — hauled them abruptly back down to earth. Or might they still be dreaming?…

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Yes We Can Means No You Can’t

The WORld Management System (WORMS) is good at creating slogans that encourage people to act without thinking. It is a “talent” that has been cultivated for decades, Professor Ross L. Finney’s book, A Sociological Philosophy of Education, published in 1929 explained to students and fellow sociologists that they needed short slogans in order to force-feed their new philosophy of life. He wrote:

Granted that the old sayings now current express as a rule an antiquated philosophy of life, that only means that we need a new set of sayings. It is only by the use of such shorthand symbols that the minds of socii can operate together; and if our old symbols no longer epitomize the philosophy by which we are living, then we need new proverbs, slogans, couplets, catechisms, epigrams, and witticisms that will express that new philosophy of life by which we are to operate the new society.

As rapidly as possible we must reduce our new philosophy of epigrams, and drill them memoriter into the memories of dullards. Of course the new coinage waits upon the smelting of the new intellectual bullion; but the bullion must be minted as fast as it is produced. In the fields of the new humanities, accordingly, the phrase maker has a real function to perform. If his coins ring true, are beautiful, and of convenient size, they will soon find their way into general circulation, there to predetermine collective thought and action. We need a new Poor Richard! And it is principally through the schools that this new coinage of the collective intellect should be paid into general circulation. It is not enough that we teach children to think, we must actually force-feed them with the concentrated results of expert thinking. P. 394-495.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

The Arabic word da’wa is variously translated as “call”, “summons”, or “invitation”. In most modern contexts it refers to Islamic outreach or proselytizing, what a Christian might call “mission work”.

But it has another meaning, one which most Muslims would rather not discuss. Da’wa also describes the call to an infidel enemy to surrender, to submit to Allah.

On July 14, 1683, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa sent a call for surrender to the Vienna garrison and the city authorities. According to John Stoye, in The Siege of Vienna, pp 95-96:

Kara Mustafa sent a summons to surrender, framed in accordance with the customary Ottoman demand on such an occasion. A Turkish officer rode up to the counterscarp with a document, handed it to a Croat soldier, and awaited a reply. “Accept Islam, and live in peace under the Sultan! Or deliver up the fortress, and live in peace under the Sultan as Christians; and if any man prefer, let him depart peaceably, taking his goods with him! But if you resist, then death or spoliation or slavery shall be the fate of you all!” Such, embroidered in rhetorical language, was the message. But [commander Ernest Rüdiger von] Starhemberg curtly dismissed the messenger and continued to wall up the gates. Kara Mustafa, says the Master of Ceremonies, bade the guns speak.

[Stoye’s reference note for this passage indicates that his account is based on G. Jakob, “Türkische Urkunden”, from Der Islam, vii. (1917), pp. 269-87. For those who can read German, the full text is probably available there.]

When the Grand Vizier issued his da’wa and promised the citizens of Vienna that they would “live in peace”, he meant the peace of submission, al-salâm, which is the peace that is promised to all Muslims. If the burghers of the city had chosen that route, there would have been some kind of ceremony in which they would have recited the shahada, touched their foreheads to the ground while facing Mecca, and thus declared their submission to the will of Allah.

From then on they would have been Muslims of the Ummah, and would have enjoyed all the rights and prerogatives enjoyed by other Muslims under shari’a — as well as the death penalty for any apostasy from their new faith.

The second possibility for “peace” would be to submit to the rule of their Muslim overlords whilst remaining Christians.
– – – – – – – – –
As dhimmis, their rights would be severely circumscribed, and they would have to pay a tax, the jizyah, simply for the privilege of remaining alive as an infidel. They would be second-class citizens, subject to abuse (and possible sudden death) at the hands of their Muslim neighbors, and forced to wear certain clothing and suffer other humiliating restrictions.

Their third alternative was to do battle with the hosts of Mohammed until they were killed or enslaved.

Kara Mustafa neglected to present the fourth alternative, which was the one that the Viennese actually chose: the city resisted the Turks, held out under siege for two months, and with the help of King Jan III Sobieski of Poland defeated the Ottoman forces. After thus humiliating his sultan, Kara Mustafa was garroted — not quite the outcome he expected.

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

In today’s context, da’wa as a call to surrender can be seen in masked form under various circumstances. Osama bin Laden has issued his da’wa several times to the nations of the West, calling for our leaders to convert to Islam in order to avoid a terrible fate. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has done the same thing.

For those who understand Islamic scripture and traditions, the meaning of such da’wa is clear: these Muslim leaders are planning violent jihad against the infidels of the West. Before launching a holy war against non-Muslims, the Koran requires its adherents to offer the unbelievers an opportunity to submit and become Muslims.

Robert Spencer points out the relevant hadith:

Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war… When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them… If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya [the tax on non-Muslims specified in Qur’an 9:29]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294)

If the infidel is invited to Islam and fails to convert or become a dhimmi, then the followers of the Prophet are justified under Islamic law to use any and all means to force his submission. His life and property become forfeit, and his wife and children may be raped and enslaved.

This, then, is what the dissipated and self-indulgent burghers of the modern post-Christian West can expect.

To anyone who pays attention, the meaning is clear and unambiguous.

But who’s paying attention?

NOTE: This post was delayed because the snow took out our internet connection. Then it took out the phone. But it can’t take the books or the kerosene lamp…

Larwyn had a feature recently on one of Don Surber’s posts.

I like Mr. Surber’s writing; he was a good choice by the Charleston Daily Mail for a blog. Generally I agree with his point of view. But I was disappointed this time. He sided with John McCain’s list of the ten worst pork projects. Mr. Surber can be forgiven for taking what was on the list at face value; Senator McCain cannot. He is overpaid to perform due diligence on the bills before the Senate. In this case, he ought to be docked a month’s pay for bloviating.

If what follows, compiled by Senator McCain and his staff, is the worst he can come up with, I am embarrassed for him and his office. I am angry at his cavalier dismissal of these projects. He gives no background to his top (or, rather, his bottom) ten pork sins. His negligence in providing any context for this list is akin to the failure of the MSM to adequately research its “news” items.

I will reiterate what I’ve said before: the Senator is to be congratulated on his insistence that he will never sponsor an earmark. I applaud his integrity. If only the rest of the Imperial Senate thought this way, we’d have a sane — and much smaller — government.

But there is so much waste and discrimination in the massive abomination which Congress just passed that I can’t help but wonder if Senator McCain’s methodology was not to simply pick a random page out of those 1,000+ measures and stick a pin in one, thus choosing his list. He would only have to grab every hundredth page or so, stick a pin somewhere, and write down the item before moving on to the next batch of pages. In fact that methodology might have produced a better list than he gave us.

There is certainly shock and awe on every single sheet in the Porkulus Proclamation; finding egregious spending projects on each page is not a difficult task. But Senator McCain is being paid well. The least he might have done is to perform due diligence on that prime slab of fat we just had rammed down our throats. We deserve better, much better, than the information the Senator provided. No wonder the Republicans are disappearing.

Let’s take a look at this list of Senator Mc Cain’s worst choices, but first a few points about the whole list:

• these are small potatoes compared to 99.9% of what is in the Porkulus
• notice that each of these projects actually has an end product of some kind
• some of these ideas will actually lower future outlays of government money and at least one or more will increase revenue.

Mrs. McCain, please buy your husband a clue bag.

Here’s the Senator’s top sin:

#1. 7 million for pig odor research in Iowa

To which I will say that McCain needs to get out of the Capitol and spend a bit more time in reality. In some places, the odor from the pig factories has affected real estate values of nearby houses and left people stuck in a highly unpleasant environment. Perhaps if he spent a bit of time talking to those affected by this problem then his next meal of, say, pork medallions, might not appear so appetizing.

Some commenters on Mr. Surber’s blog faulted the home owners for building their property near a pig factory, which shows how little they know about this problem. The homes were already there, sometimes for generations, before the large scale hog factories were established:

Preliminary studies have found that hog waste poses human health threats. The presence of pathogens (disease-causing organisms) in hog waste applied to land, antibiotic resistance, dust, and heavy metals in lagoon sludge are potential concerns. Despite the known and potential environmental problems associated with hog factories in North Carolina, hog production operations are insufficiently monitored. In fact, the extent of leakage of hog waste from lagoons into groundwater and the release of nitrogen into the air from hog waste are not inspected, measured, or monitored at all.

The dust from these spraying operations carries for miles in the atmosphere.

On the other hand, the corporations which are responsible for these factories bear a large responsibility in the harm caused. Local citizens can have some effect if they make enough noise. In our county, there is now a moratorium on future hog factories. The big corporations finally gave up after fierce citizen opposition and lots of contentious county supervisors’ meetings. I’ve never seen people so mad and so determined to bring a halt to the smell and pollution.

The corporations tried to pass these off as “family farms” when the reality was that they talked local farmers into partnerships and built the factories on those lands. The fact that they got away with it to begin with showed that we needed more land usage oversight from our municipal officials. We finally got it, but not without costs.

#2. $2 million “for the promotion of astronomy” in Hawaii

Obviously, the Senator is not familiar with the Mauna Kea Observatories. Click the link and move your cursor over the various international observation facilities maintained by Canada, France, Taiwan, Japan, the UK, and the Netherlands. In addition, the Gemini observatory is maintained by a consortium of seven countries. Cal Tech and the University of Hawaii also have observatories on Mauna Kea.

Obviously, agriculture is not his strong suit. It looks like science isn’t either…
– – – – – – – – –
#3. $332,000 for the design and construction of a school sidewalk in Franklin, Texas

This ought to be in a local school budget. Even better, it ought to be a volunteer program formed by the parents of children in the school. That might take some doing, considering that Franklin has a per capita income of $13,000.00 a year.

Franklin is building a new school and is probably over-budget with no money left for sidewalks…so you put down plank walks until you have the money for concrete and a construction supervisor.

Nonetheless, 332K is a small spot in those thousand pages. And at the end of it at least you have a sidewalk complex between the school buildings. Compare this to the millions being salted back into the D.C. bureaucracy — where the end result is just more bureaucrats at the trough.

Sorry, Senator, but a sidewalk linking schools — in a town whose income is so modest you and Mrs. McCain could probably buy the whole darn place just by selling one of your homes — just doesn’t make it as a mortal sin earmark.

#4. $2.1 million for the Center for Grape Genetics in New York

What, Senator you think that the wine you drink with dinner grows in bottles? If we don’t keep up with the research, we’ll lose the momentum we’ve gained in enology in this country. And if you think $2.1 million for Grape Genetics is sinful, read the rest of the list that the Honorable Mr. Hinchey from New York (and not coincidentally) on the Appropriations Committee, managed to snare for upper New York state: [emphases are mine — D]

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Congressman Michael A. Arcuri (D-NY) Thursday announced that they have secured final congressional approval of more than $7.18 million for the construction of a Grape Genetics Research facility at the New York State Agriculture Experiment Station in Geneva, ongoing apple and grape research programs at Cornell University, and other agricultural research projects at the school. The funds are included in the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009…

The funds Hinchey and Arcuri secured together are allocated as follows:

• $2.2 million Center for Grape Genetics, Geneva, NY: The funds will go toward construction of a $29.6 million USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) facility that will focus on research programs to help make the U.S. wine industry more competitive. The Center for Grape Genetic Research will replace the current outdated ARS facilities in Geneva with a state-of-the-art research building. Congress has now appropriated a total of $13.13 million for the center. ARS has completed planning, design, and site prep work. The agency is ready to commence construction as soon as the balance of construction funds is appropriated.
• $1.4 million Viticulture Consortium: The Viticulture Consortium (VC) is a multi-state special research grant that operates as a national competitive grants program to fund applied, mission specific research relevant to grape growing. The VC enhances research coordination and collaboration, improves efficiency, and eliminates duplication of effort. The consortium has now received more than $10.3 million to enhance grape production throughout the country. The wine and grape industry is a $7 billion industry in New York State. New York ranks third in national grape production, behind only California and Washington. Nationwide, the wine and grape industry is responsible for 1.1 million jobs and $33 million in wages paid. The Congressional Wine Caucus recently oversaw a national economic impact study which concluded that the wine, grape and grape products industries contribute over $162 billion to the American economy each year.
• $346,000, Apple Fire Blight Research: The apple fire blight research seeks to understand and manage the apple fire blight disease by investigating the molecular basis of disease resistance in apples and developing disease resistant apple varieties. Fire blight is the most damaging disease affecting apple trees in New York State and nationally. Crop and tree losses and the costs of control measures cost more than $100 million per year nationally. In a bad year, New York State losses can reach $10 million. All 60,000 acres of apples in New York State are vulnerable to the disease and may succumb when the weather favors the disease with rain, heavy dews, and high humidity. More than $2.6 million has now been appropriated for this project. Apple is the biggest tree fruit crop in New York, worth more than $2 billion annually. New York State produces 25 million bushels of apples each year (53 percent sold as fresh fruit and 47 percent for processing). New York’s 694 family apple farms create 10,000 agricultural jobs. Only Washington State grows more apples than New York.
• $131,000, Computational Agriculture: The Computational Agriculture Initiative funds a program to enable farmers to use high performance computational tools to make sound crop management decisions.
• $258,000, Environmental Research: The Environmental Research grant is administered by Cornell’s North American Nitrogen Center. The program seeks to gain a better understanding of the sources and sinks of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in a large rural watershed of mixed land use.
• $693,000, Food Safety Research Consortium: The Food Safety Research Consortium works with consumer groups, industry, and government to conduct food safety research and to facilitate the development and use of tools to help the food industry and regulatory agencies improve food safety.
• $377,000, Human Nutrition: The Human Nutrition Grant supports research to increase fundamental knowledge of human nutrition, with a special focus on nutritional requirements and nutrient dynamics during pregnancy in ethnically and genetically diverse populations.
• $693,000, Livestock and Dairy Policy: This program will help Cornell and Texas A&M evaluate policy proposals of national significance to the dairy and livestock industries. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Congress rely on this program for analysis of proposals that affect the dairy and livestock industries.
• $1.04 million, Beef Cattle Genetic Evaluation: Will help Cornell and other universities with work to develop sophisticated genetic evaluation techniques to assist beef producers in breeding cattle for select traits.

Those are all useful programs. What one can question is

(a) How much do these industries — grapes, apples, etc., — contribute to the research pot?
(b) How much does New York state contribute to programs on projects like “rural watershed of mixed land use”; in fact, how much responsibility are individual states assuming for this kind of research and how dependent have they become on the Feds?
(c) How much incentive does the Federal government supply to these industries and states in the form of tax credits (not deductions) and/or penalties?

For example, the hog industry ought to have just as much oversight and curtailment and badgering as the various coal and oil companies get. The meat producers are major polluters. Where is their cap-and-trade program? Same thing goes for the large agri-businesses and their overuse of land and fertilizers and the resultant runoff waste into streams, ponds and lakes. May we have more oversight here or has Archer Daniels Midland already bought out both parties?

It would seem so.

See this essay on the egregiously subsidized ADM. In fact, if your family makes $250,000.00 a year, print this out and chew on it while you do your taxes. Here’s the summary from the Cato Institute on this deplorable conglomerate:

The Archer Daniels Midland Corporation (ADM) has been the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history. ADM and its chairman Dwayne Andreas have lavishly fertilized both political parties with millions of dollars in handouts and in return have reaped billion-dollar windfalls from taxpayers and consumers. Thanks to federal protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, subsidized grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same period. At least 43 percent of ADM’s annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM’s corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30

One of the most politically charged debates in Washington revolves around business subsidies known as “corporate welfare.” A number of policy organizations have published studies examining the corporate welfare phenomenon: what qualifies as corporate welfare, how much it costs taxpayers, and how much it damages the economy. This study examines the dynamics of corporate welfare somewhat differently by investigating ADM as a classic case study of how those subsidies are obtained, how the welfare state encourages such “rent seeking,” and how such practices fundamentally corrupt the political life of a nation. Congress’s expressed desire to foster a free marketplace cannot be taken seriously until ADM’s corporate hand is removed from the federal till.

ADM is certainly the nation’s most arrogant welfare recipient. And it is one of the few welfare recipients that spend millions of dollars each year advertising on Sunday morning television shows populated and watched by politicians. Chairman Dwayne Andreas’s and ADM’s success in farming Washington represents the rational result of contemporary government policies that turn elections into “an advanced auction of stolen goods,” as H. L. Mencken quipped. Thanks to its multi-million-dollar hustling in Washington, a company that lives and dies on the generosity of the American taxpayer has managed to get itself revered as a great public servant. Although ADM is not the only corporation with its hand out in Washington, it is easily one of the most successful beggars on the block.

Andreas recently told a reporter for Mother Jones, “There isn’t one grain of anything in the world that is sold in a free market. Not one! The only place you see a free market is in the speeches of politicians. People who are not in the Midwest do not understand that this is a socialist country.”…

Want some high-fructose corn syrup with that? Guess who makes it?

At least this robber baron of agriculture is frank about his theft. The next time you hear one of the Archer Daniels Midland commercials on National Public Radio — you know, the commercial-free station that depends on your contributions — remember that this is the evil underbelly of capitalism combined with statism. It doesn’t get much worse than ADM, unless maybe you start naming some of the meat-packing companies. No…come to think of it, they are far behind ADM.

I’ve just about worn out my indignationometer. So I’ll save the other five for next time.

In Part II, I’ll deal with the other half of the “worst ten earmarks” as postulated by Senator McCain. The choices he made get more pitiful and picayune as we travel down the list.

I swan…by 2010, everybody is going to be in full “Throw the Bums Out” mode. Come to think of it, many of us are already there.

Regular readers of Counterjihad blogs and websites will notice some familiar names and URLs in this Dutch article from 925.nl about Geert Wilders’ trip to the USA. It was kindly translated for Gates of Vienna by our Flemish correspondent VH:

Wilders in Washington: Mission Accomplished

By Mark Maathuis

Geert Wilders spoke in Washington DC, at a symposium for 400 enthusiastic Americans. The visit provided a lot of attention, but presumably little money. His “welcome home” present, however, will help alleviate the pain.

As soon an Pamela Geller heard that Wilders was coming to America, she invited him to the meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee. At this annual symposium, conservative Americans meet to listen to speeches about the threat to the free possession of weapons, the degradation of family values and the dangers of socialism. Wilders’ story about the curtailment of freedom of expression should not be left out, according to Geller, who through her blog Atlas Shrugs warns against the advancing Islamic danger. “We are headed the wrong way and if nobody does anything we will all one day wake up in a concentration camp.” And Wilders — “the brave defender of Western values” — offers a good example, according to her.

The meeting, which Geller organized together with the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the website Jihad Watch, was Wilders’ third performance in Washington DC. Earlier he gave a speech in the National Press Club and in Capitol Hill, where he was invited by the Republican senator Jon Kyl to present his film. Coincidence or not, that performance happened to be on the same day of Senator John Kerry’s meeting on improving the relationship between America and the Muslim World.

– – – – – – – – –

Wilders went on stage while being loudly cheered at with yells like “Wilders for President” and “we love freedom”. He began his speech by thanking the U.S. immigration service — a reference to the British refusal to let him enter the UK. The room responded by booing. When he further talked about a speech that President Reagan gave in 1982 in the British House of Commons, it caused a wave of enthusiasm. To most visitors at the conservative CPAC conference, the 40th President is still the best.. Also when Wilders quoted the Wall Street Journal the audience responded with audible approval — that is a newspaper that at least they have confidence in, they seemed to be saying. “Freedom of expression in the Netherlands is according to ‘the Journal’ as large as in Saudi Arabia,” Wilders said, “and my lawsuit is called by the newspaper ‘no small victory for Islamic regimes that wish to export their censorship.’“

After the final standing ovation, organizer Pamela Geller called on those present to donate for Wilders’ lawsuit. “All amounts are welcome because it is ‘bloody expensive’.” How much they collected was not revealed, but it was probably not much. “But that was not the purpose for me. I have paid the rent for the room and all facilities myself. And anything we collect is wonderful.” Her website Atlas Shrugs, which attracts thousands of visitors daily, has now a link to Wilders’ fund.

Personally, the PVV leader also did not comment on the costs or benefits of the evening. But even without a major check, the visit to America, where Wilders says he feels at home, is a success. It earned him the necessary attention in the media where, as expected, opinions were divided. On the FOX talk shows of Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly, they were largely with him. The Washington Post compared Fitna in Congress with the screening of the pro-Ku Klux Klan film “Birth of a Nation” in the White House in 1915. The New York Times described Wilders as a fierce critic of Islam with controversial positions such as the plan to pay Muslims to leave the country.

Despite the “heartwarming reception” and “the American love of freedom of expression”, Wilders said he does not to want to come and live in the country. And why should he? The day he came home, a poll by Maurice de Hond showed that the PVV is now the largest party in the Netherlands. “Mission accomplished.”

Mark Maathuis writes from Washington, D.C.

Hat tip: Flyboy.

In the wake of “Geert Week”, Andrew Bostom has posted his observations on the cluelessness of certain American conservatives concerning the Islamic threat. Some excerpts from “Geert Wilders, Ibn Warraq, and Islamo-Realism” are below:

Ibn Warraq and Geert Wilders: Islamo-Realist Brethren

This past week I had the great pleasure of meeting and hearing Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders several times — Monday February 23, 2009 in Manhattan, at a luncheon in the Four Seasons Restaurant; Wednesday February 25, 2009 in Boston at the WTKK studios; Wednesday evening, again, during an inspirational lecture at a Stoughton, MA synagogue; Friday February 27, 2009 at The National Press Club in the morning, culminating in an electrifying event held for Mr. Wilders at CPAC Friday evening, by my indomitable colleague and friend Pamela Geller, hosted, in addition, by another dear friend and colleague, Robert Spencer, and myself. At each of these venues (with the exception of the Michael Graham Show interview at WTKK in Boston), Mr. Wilders spoke either before or after a presentation of his harrowing, but realistic film, “ Fitna.”

One particularly important event I did not attend was a Wall Street Journal editorial board luncheon for Mr. Wilders (in Manhattan) on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, between 12:00 and 1:30 PM. Fortunately, however, I did help arrange for my colleague and mentor Ibn Warraq to attend this luncheon. Sadly (but not surprisingly), as Ibn Warraq told me, Mr. Wilders — whom Warraq described as poised, informed, and unbowed — was confronted with the semi-belligerent, triumphantly uninformed attitudes of his WSJ editorial board hosts. As Warraq noted, aptly, some 7.5 years after the September 11, 2001 acts of jihad terrorism which decimated lower Manhattan itself, these board members (with, thankfully, one older and wiser female journalist emeritus exception), “Don’t know a bloody thing about Islam — about the Koran, hadith, sira, or the doctrine and history of jihad.”

– – – – – – – – –

The WSJ editorial board’s attitudes are pathognomonic of the devastating effects of cultural relativism and declining self-educational standards which plague modern journalism…

Dr. Bostom includes a quote from Ibn Warraq:

The doctrine of Moral Equivalence comes easily to a culture already infected with moral and cultural relativism. Other common characteristics of the apologists of totalitarianism include, denial of the evidence, of reality: leading to search for “real causes,” or “root causes,” which is bound to lead to conspiracy theories; contempt for Western institutions, but a willingness to exploit them for their own use; being ideologues they are immune to criticism, and contrary evidence, which they are able to explain away; masochism, since they are lacerated with feelings of guilt, ready to blame everything automatically on the West, take blame for all the ills of the world, and as a consequence wish to see the West punished, humiliated, denigrated, vilified and calumniated, the West deserves to be punished, we deserve to be punished, I deserve to be punished; exaggerations of the virtues of the Other, and the crimes of the West, denial the Other could be racist, imperialist, or colonialist, in short, evil; arrogance of the intellectuals who cannot be bothered to learn the facts, do the hard research in archives, and primary sources.

Read the rest at his blog.

March came in like a polar bear here at Schloss Bodissey. The snow started yesterday morning, continued sporadically throughout the day, and then fell heavily overnight. We woke to about seven inches (17.75 cm) of the white stuff this morning.

Below are our daffodils. They’re often in bloom by this time of the year, but these are just buds:

And for long-time readers, here is Dymphna’s nemesis, the Fig Tree of Doom, in snow:
– – – – – – – – –


Our phone is out as of this morning, but the satellite connection is working, so we’re not completely cut off from the civilized world.

Check out the news stories on China about the effects of the financial crisis. The Chinese military is preparing for an outbreak of riots due to hunger, and workers’ protests are intensifying.

In other news about the financial crisis, the euro is dropping against the dollar in the wake of an EU decision not to extend any further loans to the shaky economies of Eastern Europe, some of which are close to default.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JCPA, JD, Paul Green, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –

	Financial Crisis
	China: Shenzhen Workers Deprived of 102 Million Yuan in Wages
	Eastern Currency Woes Should Worry Euro Zone: Poland
	Euro Slides to One-Week Low as EU Rejects East Europe Aid Call
	France: Luxury Yacht Sales Plummet, Sales Down by 50%
	USA
	Carlos the Jackal to Obama: Help Me Find Terrorist Pal
	Transcript: Rush’s First Televised Address to the Nation: Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) Speech
	UK: Pentagon Hacker Faces 70 Years in US Jail — Because Cps Won’t Try Him in Britain
	Europe and the EU
	Despair Over Eastern European Provincialism
	From Immigrant to Designer, Halabi’s Dream Comes True
	Islamists Gain Ground in Sarajevo
	Italy: Dear Fini, This is Why You Are Wrong
	Italy: Cosenza, Two Men Arrested for Attacking Romanian Woman
	Lebanese Designer: A Wish Came True
	Spain: Moratinos in USA, to Meet Hillary Clinton on Tuesday
	Spain: EU Directive Threatens to Close Fiestas
	Spain: Hunting With Garzon, Minister Resigns
	UK: Motorway Cameras Let Police and MI5 Track All Car Trips Across the Country
	UK: Trade Union Chief Used £399-a-Night Waldorf Suite to Save Himself 35-Minute Journey Home
	Balkans
	Croatia: President Rebukes Slovenia Over EU and NATO Bid
	Serbia: Limit on Salaries of Managers of Public Companies
	Serbia: Italian Group Probes Depleted Uranium Use in NATO Bombings
	Mediterranean Union
	Mediterranean Union Runs Aground on Gaza, EU Deadlock
	North Africa
	Economy: North African Experts Want Increased UMA Trade
	Gaza: UK Convoy in Algiers, Moroccan Border Open
	Maghreb: Morocco Wants to Remove Differences With Algeria
	Morocco: Rights Group Demands to Know Activist’s Fate
	Israel and the Palestinians
	Cyprus-Israel Ferry Service Rings Alarm Bells
	Do the Palestinians Need More Space Than the Belgians?
	Gaza: Olmert Says Deal on Shalit to Become More Difficult
	Gaza: Hamas; Israel Moved Goalposts, Egypt Must Help US
	Vatican: Pope Invited to Gaza
	Middle East
	Averting Abuse of Universal Jurisdiction
	Call to Sue Zionists and End Diplomatic Relations With ‘Israel’
	Chaldean Intellectual: “the National Museum is the Heritage of All Iraq”
	Iraq: US Must Review Kurd Policies, Says Leader
	Iraq: Christian Leader Warns Against Security “Vacuum”
	Lebanon: UN Launches Inquiry Into Political Killings
	Saudi’s Coach Sacked After Winning Top Prize
	Syria: Ex-General Criticises Damascus for Blocking Visit by Nuclear Watchdog
	Caucasus
	Chechnya Leader Tells Why ‘Loose’ Women Deserved to Die
	South Asia
	Afghanistan: Resurgent Taliban Creates Alarm, Says MP
	Former Nepalese King Visits India: Meetings With Hindu Leaders Scheduled
	Nepali PM Urges Maoist Guerrillas to “be Honest” in Bringing About Peace
	Nepal’s Maoist Government Against Private Schools
	Far East
	China: Workers Clash With Police Over Pensions and Health Insurance
	China’s Government is Preparing the Military for an Outbreak of Hunger Riots
	Australia — Pacific
	Local Film About Lebanese Gang Violence Pulled From Cinemas After Brawls
	Immigration
	Libya: Course for Meeting Work Demand-Offer
	Libyan Spokesperson, Immigration Also a Problem for Us
	Culture Wars
	Abortion: Spain; Bishops, Major Drama of 20th Century

China: Shenzhen Workers Deprived of 102 Million Yuan in Wages

In 2008 local firms fail to pay 39,200 employees. More and more companies shut down without paying wages. Beijing seems unable to cope with growing unemployment, is trying to find ways to manage the inevitable protests.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Just in Shenzhen, 370 firms defaulted in 2008 on paying 102 million yuan (US$ 13 million) in wages to some 39,200 workers. The government for its part seems more interested in teaching public officials how to manage social unrest caused by the default than in protecting workers’ rights.

In the past it was not unusual for companies to shut their doors without paying their workers, but the current global crisis has made it worse.

In Shenzhen between October and December of last year, 48 companies went bust and their bosses absconded without paying wages for a total of 30 million yuan.

An estimated 5.6 migrant workers are in the city. Street protests are very likely if job losses and wage pilfering continue.

The city’s Labour and Social Security Bureau has begun monitoring firms with operational problems that are a month behind in paying workers.

Baoan District Labour Bureau has demanded firms submit detailed payroll records online and pay wages through banks, which notify the bureau two days after funds are transferred. The bureau can then compare the two sets of records to check whether firms have paid workers properly.

Firms that do not pay employees, or delay payments, are then excluded from government tenders. .

At the same time plans are underway in Beijing to train more than 3,000 public security directors by mid-June to improve responses to threats to public security in the provinces.

This is especially pressing since more than 20 million rural migrant workers have lost their jobs and many have few immediate prospects of finding another.

Layoffs have already led workers in some cities to take to the streets in protest at factory shutdowns.

These training sessions are “urgently needed for the heavy and difficult task of maintaining stability this year,” Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu was quoted as saying on the Ministry website.

Public security officials should work proactively to “explore new solutions to solving the people’s grievances [and] be deeply involved with the people,” he added.

Beijing also does not want public protests to be settled summarily by local authorities resorting to police intervention.

Pundits doubt however that warmth and courtesy will do much for people who need a job to earn a living.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

[Return to headlines]

Eastern Currency Woes Should Worry Euro Zone: Poland

BRUSSELS (Reuters) — Weak currencies in central and eastern Europe should concern the European Union, Poland said on Sunday after an EU summit on the financial crisis.

Neither Poland’s Finance Minister Jacket Rostowski nor Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who both spoke at a briefing after the EU meeting, elaborated as to exactly why this may be the case.

However, economists believe eurozone countries could be at a competitive disadvantage if weak central and eastern European currencies levels are prevalent when these countries come to adopt the euro — in essence their exports will be significantly cheaper than eurozone members.

Rostowski said the current level of exchange rates, which now is a burden for the region, might become a problem for the euro zone in the longer-term.

“We have felt the pain recently, but the current exchange rates will be not only our problem but also one for the euro zone,” Rostowski told a news conference.

Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania have seen their currencies plunge against the euro in recent weeks as investors trimmed exposure to the region on fears it might be hit especially hard by the global financial crisis.

Tusk said he reminded his counterparts from the 27-nation EU that paying attention to currency stability in the bloc was enshrined in EU treaties:

“Foreign exchange stability is in the interest of the whole EU no matter how many countries belong to the euro zone.”

[Return to headlines]

Euro Slides to One-Week Low as EU Rejects East Europe Aid Call

March 2 (Bloomberg) — The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar after European Union leaders rejected calls to back an aid package for eastern Europe, fueling concern the financial crisis will deepen the 16-nation region’s recession.

Europe’s single currency dropped for a second day versus the greenback as EU leaders vetoed Hungary’s proposals for 180 billion euros ($227 billion) of loans to ex-communist economies in eastern Europe. The dollar and the yen gained as declines in Asian stocks stoked demand for safety. New Zealand’s dollar slid to a 6 1/2-year low after its Treasury Department said the country’s economy may shrink more than expected this year.

“There’s disappointment that nothing really concrete came out of the EU’s weekend meeting and their failure to address eastern Europe’s problems,” said Tsutomu Soma, a bond and currency dealer at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The bias is for the euro to be sold” to $1.2528 today, he said.

The euro fell to $1.2587 as of 11:59 a.m. in Tokyo from $1.2669 late in New York on Feb. 27. It earlier reached $1.2562, the weakest since Feb. 20. It dropped to 122.83 yen from 123.61 yen. The currency traded at 88.49 British pence from 88.51 pence.

The yen traded at 97.58 per dollar from 97.57 in New York on Feb. 27. It climbed 1.2 percent to 48.29 against New Zealand’s dollar and gained 0.6 percent to 61.95 versus Australia’s dollar.

Japan’s currency rose as high as 16.16443 against South Korea’s won from 15.77687 late in Asia on Feb. 27, near the record high of 16.24257 reached on Feb. 23. The won weakened on concern that sliding exports will starve the nation of foreign exchange banks need to make payments on overseas debt.

‘Very Different Situation’

The euro declined for a second day versus the yen as EU leaders also told automakers such as General Motors Corp.’s European arm to look to national governments for help.

[Return to headlines]

France: Luxury Yacht Sales Plummet, Sales Down by 50%

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, FEBRUARY 17 — The crisis has struck the luxury market with Rodriguez, the world leader in luxury yachts, suffering a collapse in sales in the first fiscal quarter of 2008-2009 from last October until December, with sales down almost 50% compared to the previous year, from 84.6 million euros to 41.7 million euros. The company explained “Many clients who are feeling the effects of the crisis both financially and psychologically have preferred to postpone buying new boats”. Future forecasts look just as dark, with orders down 41% between February 2008 and 2009 and share values plummeting down over 90%, from 50 euros in 2006 to 3 euros today. Rodriguez, which lost 47 million euros in 2007-2008, announced in December that it will no longer be able to pay the banks, with whom they have been discussing the possibility of restructuring their 150 million euros of debt for two months. The empire founded 50 years ago by Gerard Rodriguez, who arrived from Spain with 300 pesetas in his pocket, and until yesterday was among the top 500 richest people in France according to Challenges magazine, is experiencing serious difficulties, including their prices: more than 20 million euros for a Mangusta 165 or a Leopard 56 (56 metres, able to hold a helicopter). According to the company, they have 103 thousand potential clients worldwide, but the crisis has also hit Russian oligarchs, and rich oil tycoons in the gulf. On the other hand, the entire pleasure boating market has been affected by the crisis. A few days ago, Beneteau, world leader in the sector, collapsed on the stock market after having announced that without an improvement in the spring, the market could decline another 40%. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

[Return to headlines]

Carlos the Jackal to Obama: Help Me Find Terrorist Pal

Letter: ‘As your grandfather would have said, Mr. President, Allahu akbar — God is great!’

Emboldened by President Barack Obama’s announcement he will close the Guantanamo facility housing suspected terrorists, one of the most notorious leftist terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s has written the president, asking him for help in finding a “former comrade-in-arms” missing for 14 years, and closing his letter with “Allahu akbar! … yours in revolution.”

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Transcript: Rush’s First Televised Address to the Nation: Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) Speech

Now, I have someone in back taking phone numbers. In fact, I would like to introduce to you my security chief, a man who runs all of my security. His name is Joseph Stalin. Joseph, would you please — [Laughter ] I am safe from any liberal attack, in public, because they would be afraid of offending Stalin. [Laughter] Now the opportunity here to address the nation, a serious one, it really is. And I want to take it seriously…

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

UK: Pentagon Hacker Faces 70 Years in US Jail — Because Cps Won’t Try Him in Britain

Gary McKinnon, the UFO-obsessed computer geek who hacked into the Pentagon networks, has received a massive setback in his fight against extradition to America.

Mr McKinnon, an unemployed 42-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome, faces up to 70 years in an American prison as a terrorist under a controversial extradition treaty.

He had hoped to avoid extradition to the US by being tried in the UK — but was dealt a huge blow last week when the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not bring charges against him.

[…]

He has always maintained he hacked in to find evidence of UFOs. He also told police that the US systems had been accessed by other hackers, many of Chinese origin.

— Hat tip: JD

[Return to headlines]

Despair Over Eastern European Provincialism

Nepszabadsag 14.02.2009 (Hungary)

Nepszabadsag publishes a conversation between the polish journalist and diplomat Bogdan Goralczyk and the Hungarian Laszlo Lengyel. The two intellectuals look back over the two decades since the collapse of the Iron Curtain which, both agree, is a long way off being a success. For Bogdan Goralczyk the most striking thing is the ideological, political, mental and material polarisation of post-Communist society. “The worst thing is the we still prefer to look backwards rather than forwards. Instead of clearly drawing out our image of the future and formulating a programme in a common Europe, we retreat into our own provincialism and tailor everything to our own horizons. This is the reason why the Central European cooperation is not functioning. […] Do I see a way out of this predicament? In spite of appearances, I have a very simple solution: More Europe, more empathy with the neighbours, more calm dialogue with one another. But I fear that we won’t even be able to get this minimal programme off the ground. If only I were a bad prophet…!”

Laszlo Lengyel is even more pessimistic: “Just remember, dear Bogdan, how many ‘political generations’ and how many different political cultures and styles have come out of the USA since 1989, in comparison with Hungary and Poland! The Polish elite has cut off its own supply lines, blocked the way for new faces, ideas, and institutions. Parliamentary democracy is an illusion. Complete dependency on the leaders, on party head quarters, on the prime minister and feudal favouritism has been reinstated. What we remember most from the world of Gomulka and Gierek and in your case, the world of Kadar, is the utterly undemocratic political selection procedure. While the system change and the Europeanisation of the top positions in business and culture, as well as at employee level, called for genuine hard work and adaptability, the Polish and Hungarian political elites demanded just the opposite: provincialism. Our leaders are not international politicians. They talk their own national election speak — even when translating it directly from English.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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From Immigrant to Designer, Halabi’s Dream Comes True

(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) — ROME, February 27 — In a country which appeared to have lost all propulsive power and where young people are often discarded for being still “inexperienced”, there are yet some people who succeed in having their dreams come true: to open a shop of fashion accessories in the very heart of the Italian capital. He isn’t yet well known, except amid Rome’s upper middle class, but as he says, he might soon set up a “small empire”. His name is Gilbert El Halaby, he is Lebanese and just 29 years old. “I arrived in Rome when I was 24”, the designer explained, “and I did all kinds of things to remain here. Here I found out who I am and what I really wanted to do with my life, create”. He was born in Dhour el-Choueir, a small village 30 kilometres away from Lebanon’s capital. After studying archaeology at Beirut University, and having worked as a tourist guide, in the catering sector and in the fashion world, Halaby tried and succeeded in setting up his own business in Rome. “Before setting up house in Rome I lived in Dubai”, a place where, he says, one who loves antiquity and the past times, suffers an awful lot. “I learned Italian in three months, living all the time around on the street. I bought the Porta Portese newspaper at six òclock every Tuesday and Friday and I was the first to call for premises offered to rent. Finally I made it”. Being a foreigner wasn’t a drawback at all, he says. On the contrary. “Rather they welcomed me very warmly. They kind of adopted me”. Even if he never attended a design school, Halaby designs jewels and bags and he’s trying his hands at clothing. “In the beginning it wasn’t easy to find a workshop willing to take the risk of producing the works of a young designer”. A safe job order is better than a meteoric customer. “After Florence I tried in the South, in Naples, where they believed in me”. Yet, he says, the craftsman working for him works also for Fendi, Furla, Marc Jacobs and Valentino. With sales totalling some 16,000 euro a month as an average, one can say business is booming for this young Lebanese designer. Now his products featuring an “Eastern Mediterranean and European” style — as he likes to describe it — are starting to gain appeal in Lebanon as well, a country where the fashion sector is on the move. “A new trend is spreading among people — he says — that of looking for articles by emergent designers. Many have got tired with the big brands, they no longer look for a name, but for a design.” Even shopping centres are starting to make room for little known artists. “The two most important malls in Beirut — Abc Dbayeh and Achrafieh — have set apart premises where young Lebanese designers can sell their creations. This might be a good start to make my name known”, Halaby says. What about going back and settle in Lebanon? “I left Lebanon when was 19. No doubt, everything has changed since then. But if I had stayed there, I would have become at the most a restaurant owner”. “I wouldn’t leave freedom in Italy for the world. By living here you can understand you can stage a university protest without having police shooting at you with a water cannon”. Then there is the mentality of his Lebanese contemporaries which holds him back, superficiality, ebullience, the love for luxury. “All this is not the true thing. There are those who pay their disco bills with IOUs, just to be able to say, I was there, too. You can see girls dressed like the characters on Sex and the City in the heart of the Middle East. There is an awful cultural vacuum”. The war is to be blamed. “It makes you think every day may be the last one and living every day as if it were the last one has become a true lifestyle”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Islamists Gain Ground in Sarajevo

Radical Muslim imams and nationalist politicians from all camps are threatening Sarajevo’s multicultural legacy. With the help of Arab benefactors, the deeply devout are acquiring new recruits. In the “Jerusalem of the Balkans,” Islamists are on the rise.

— Hat tip: JD

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Italy: Dear Fini, This is Why You Are Wrong

by Khalid Chaouki

In most Italian mosques the sermon is already translated into Italian. For this reason too, the proposal presented by Gianfranco Fini for all sermons to be preached in Italian in mosques is above all based on the false and dangerous assumption that sermons and preaching in mosques contain references and incitement to hatred, if not even pre-recruiting for terrorism of Islamic origin. Should this assumption be true, I would expect from the third most important representative of the state, not an appeal to Muslims, but one first of all to security forces. Do Muslims still have the right to pray freely, as sanctioned by the Constitution? Is Arabic a language authorised in our country or should it be banned?…

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Italy: Cosenza, Two Men Arrested for Attacking Romanian Woman

(AGI) — Cosenza, 26 Feb. — Italian Carabinieri arrested two men in Cosenza yesterday evening, a Moroccan and a Romanian national, who are accused of sexually aggressing a Romanian woman, beating her and kidnapping her. The woman herself, aged 44, went to the main police station in Cosenza to report the attacks. The woman was working for a family in San Benedetto Ullano (Cosenza), but on February 5 near to the bus station in Cosenza, she was approached by the Moroccan man, who was drunk, who threatened her with a knife to follow him to where he lived in a run-down warehouse in the city centre. Here he abused her and held her captive for several days. Later, the woman and the Moroccan were threatened by the Romanian national, who was subject to an official order to leave the country, who demanded to take the woman with him, then holding her hostage under a bridge in the middle of the old part of the city centre, alongside the river Crati, where the man slept with his brother, in conditions of extreme squalor. The Romanian then abused the woman for several days. Then yesterday afternoon the woman was able to escape and went straight to the Carabinieri.

Marshall Cosimo Saponangelo, assisted by Lieutenant Cosimo Portulano, immediately carried out a search operation in the city, and arrested the two men in the evening. The two, who have made partial admissions, are being held in jail in Cosenza. (AGI).

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Lebanese Designer: A Wish Came True

(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 24 — In Arabic her name means “wish”. And Lebanese Mona Mohanna, 38, a naturalised Italian (living in Milan), has made her professional wishes comes true: she has become a designer. Mona’s story, now the owner of her own brand of women’s clothing and accessories, is one of fifty in the Ethonoland Foundation’s report on businesses owned by immigrants. Stories of success and optimism. Mona came to Italy when she was 19, she completed a Masters in Fashion Design at the Domus Academy in Milan with money loaned to her from an aunt (25 million lira). Her entry into the world of work was not at all easy: “wearing the hijab, the Islamic veil, did not help me,’ ona recounted, but she did not give up. Her first collection came out in 1999. Today the designer has a turnover of around 200 thousand euros. Around twenty craftspeople work with her in Lebanon and Syria, and there are also a few craftswomen in Italy. Her collection is inspired by the Eastern world, but with western cuts: and, as she says proudly, “many of my clients are Italian women.” The majority of her lines are sold in Italy in a national network of 120 shops. But she also has contacts with other European countries, including mainly France, Spain and Germany. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Moratinos in USA, to Meet Hillary Clinton on Tuesday

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 18 — As a sign of the improving relation between Washington and Madrid, Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will have a meeting on February 24 with the new Secretary of State of the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton. The two will make a programme for the coming months. It is the first meeting, sources in the ministry say, of a representative of the Zapatero government with a member of the American administration after the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, which five years ago froze diplomatic relations between the two countries. The meeting is the start of the normalisation of dialogue between Washington and Madrid, after four years of the Bush administration. The situation in the Middle East and Spain’s on-duty EU presidency in the first half year of 2010 will be some points on the agenda of Clinton and Moratinos. Moratinos will arrive tomorrow in the United States for the visit of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia to Florida, for the 450th anniversary of Spanish education in Pensacola. Last Friday, in a telephone conversation with King Juan Carlos, President Omaba said he hopes for an improvement of the “close friendship” between the United States and Spain. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: EU Directive Threatens to Close Fiestas

(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 20 — The European directive on pyrotechnics risks shutting down the traditional Fallas in Valencia, which is celebrated every year from March 14-19, as well as influencing the fireworks that are a central ingredient to all Spanish fiestas. The EU directive, approved on 23 May 2007, regulating the sale of pyrotechnic material, will have to be observed by national legislation by next January. It contains, among other measures, precepts which directly threaten the traditional festivals on the Mediterranean coast, from Catalonia to Andalusia, but also those on the other side, in Sicily and Naples, even those of the island of Malta. The directive, quoted today in El Pais, raises minimum age for the use of light fireworks to 12, and imposes a distance of 15 metres for category 3 pyrotechnic products, those used by the Catalonian correfocs’, with the famous devils and demons animated by the public with Bengal lights and towers of fire followed by children. The same Fallas in Valencia, preceded by the mascletas’, the firecracker and firework shows in Plaza Ayuntamiento, with the Cabalgada del fuegò or correfuegò in the streets of the historic centre and the ninots’ thrown into the flames, all would be impossible with the new 15 metre regulation. ‘All of the Mediterranean has been united in the use of fire to celebrate legendary and historic scenes since Marco Polo’s arrival with gun powder and with the fire lighting at night in San Giovanni”, explains Joan Font, founder of the Comediants theatrical company who has spread the Mediterranean’s culture of fire for street festivities throughout Europe. Festivals that have centuries old roots, like that of Patum, in the town of Berga near Barcelona, which has been documented back to 1454 and considered a cultural patrimony by UNESCO since 2005; without the children who are the primary actors it would not be the same, say the defenders of the event, 10,000 of which gathered in Berga to protect the festival. According to the European Commission, the directive does not attack any tradition because it leaves the margins to the individual nations for the exceptions they deem necessary. The Spanish Minister of Industry, Miguel Sam Sebastian, has already responded to Brussels that he defence of the cultural patrimony is a government priority and that no cultural festival involving fire will be compromised. Yesterday the socialist group in Congress presented a motion for the adoption of the measure without ‘damaging the fundamental elements of our festivals, traditions and culture that, in different parts of our territory enrich and transmit a cultural patrimony that belongs to everyone’’. Among the few to celebrate the limits imposed by the EU were doctors, who hope to limit the number of injuries and burns, of the fingers and limbs that have to be amputated due to the explosions. Juan Pedro Barret, head of the Burn Unit at the hospital of Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona emphasised that only since the 1990’s with the introduction of stricter safety regulations approved by the European Community has the number of victims gone down and prevention increased. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Spain: Hunting With Garzon, Minister Resigns

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 23 — The Spanish Justice Minister, Mariano Fernandez Bermejo, announced his resignation today, after the controversy caused by his participation in a hunting party with the judge Baltazar Garzon, who is researching the network of corruption inside the Popular Party. During a press conference with no question time, Bermejo stated his decision, affirming that his resignation “was the best he could do”. Without directly making reference to the controversy surrounding the hunting expedition with the magistrate, object of criticism from the PP to the opposition, the Minister chose an indirect approach: “‘I cannot tolerate the use of facts noted by everyone against the ideals of the PSOE’’, Bermejo said. Last week the minister was the target of the first magistrates’ strike in the history of Spanish democracy, in which about half of the magistrates participated on Wednesday. In spite of having received public support from Premier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who responded negatively to the request for resignation put forward by the PP in Congress, Bermejo’s position became unsustainable by the PSOE, just seven days from the regional elections in Basque Country and Galicia. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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UK: Motorway Cameras Let Police and MI5 Track All Car Trips Across the Country

The police and MI5 have been given access to a network of infrared cameras that can track millions of car journeys across Britain.

The 1,090 cameras read numberplates of cars on all motorways and major trunk roads, recording the time, date and location of the vehicle and storing the data for five years.

The Highways Agency installed the bright green cameras to calculate journey times. But last week a senior agency official confirmed they are being linked to a police database.

— Hat tip: JD

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UK: Trade Union Chief Used £399-a-Night Waldorf Suite to Save Himself 35-Minute Journey Home

One of the leaders of Britain’s largest trade union has enjoyed the use of a £399-a-night hotel suite within yards of his office — to save a 35-minute journey to his £800,000 grace-and-favour home.

Derek Simpson, 64, the joint leader of Unite and a leading critic of ‘fat-cat’ banking bosses, has spent nights at the five-star Waldorf Hilton hotel in London, just 600 yards from his office.

— Hat tip: JD

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Croatia: President Rebukes Slovenia Over EU and NATO Bid

Zagreb, 20 Feb. (AKI) — Croatian president Stjepan Mesic has expressed concern over Slovenia’s moves to block his country’s entry into the European Union and NATO over an unresolved border dispute.

Slovenia is the only country of the former Yugoslavia that has joined the EU and NATO and Croatia is an official candidate for both organisations.

It has vowed to block Croatia’s integration into the two blocs unless a long-running border dispute is resolved.

“We have been put in an unfavourable position but it doesn’t mean that we should dramatise or give vent to negative emotions,” Mesic told Croatian television.

Croatia and Albania were invited to join NATO at a summit in Bucharest last year and were expected to join the alliance at a summit in Strasbourg in April.

But Mesic said Croatia might end up like Macedonia whose entry has been blocked by neighbouring Greece in a dispute over Macedonia’s state name.

Slovenia supported Croatia’s invitation at Bucharest but changed its mind as the border dispute worsened.

The Slovenian People’s Party leadership has initiated a drive for a public referendum which would block Croatia’s entry into NATO, after the Slovenian parliament refused to take a stand on the issue.

The party has to collect 40,000 signatures by 26 March.

Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader and his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor are to meet next Tuesday in the border town of Mokrice in an effort to break the deadlock, Croatian media said.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Serbia: Limit on Salaries of Managers of Public Companies

(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 27 — The Serbian government adopted a conclusion on measures for setting the upper limit of salaries of top managers of public enterprises, public agencies and other organizations founded by the Republic of Serbia, the corresponding state organ or the organ of management, reports Tanjug news agency. The conclusion also contains recommendations for limiting expense accounts and the distribution of profits in public companies, the Serbian government said in a statement issued after session. (ANSAmed)

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Serbia: Italian Group Probes Depleted Uranium Use in NATO Bombings

Belgrade, 18 Feb. (AKI) — An Italian non-governmental organisation is investigating consequences of NATO’s 1999 bombings of Serbia and the effects of the use of depleted uranium on the civilian population.

The ‘Un ponte per…’ NGO investigators Alessandro di Meo and Samantha Mengarelli arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday for talks with Serbian officials, eyewitnesses and victims of the NATO airstrikes.

They will tour several Serbian cities that were hardest hit during the bombings before submitting a report to the Rome-based NGO.

NATO has admitted the use of depleted uranium in the bombing campaign and Italian media has reported that 45 Italian soldiers who served in the international forces in Kosovo (KFOR) died after the bombing and 515 became ill with cancer.

Di Meo told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the international community was turning a deaf ear to the problem, because the use of depleted uranium is prohibited by international conventions.

“But ten years after the bombing, the world has the right to know what really happened and what the consequences are,” he said.

Menngarelli said the truth about military casualties was slowly sinking in in Italy after a surprising increase in deaths and cancers amongst soldiers who served in KFOR.

“But the civilian victims have been completely ignored and we want to shed light on this problem,” she said.

A Serbian NGO, ironically called ‘Merciful angel’ the name of NATO’s 1999 airstrikes, recently reported that cancer ailments have jumped about 200 percent in some parts of Kosovo and areas of Serbia that were most heavily bombed.

Serbia had decontaminated five areas the most affected by depleted uranium, but there remained 113 such locations in Kosovo, former Serbian minister for ecology, Miodrag Nikcevic, told Di Meo and Mengarelli.

Kosovo majority ethnic Albanians declared independence last year and Serbian authorities have no access to the area.

Nikcevic said even the decontaminated areas weren’t absolutely safe, “because you can’t find every bomb and the bullet”.

NATO’s airstrikes in 1999 drove out Serbian troops from Kosovo amid ethnic fighting and gross human rights abuses during a two-year war with guerrillas. Kosovo was placed under United Nations control the same year and in 2008 declared independence with the support of western powers.

“Ethnic Albanians did get independence, but they may suffer the consequences of the bombing health-wise for years to come,” Di Meo said.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Mediterranean Union Runs Aground on Gaza, EU Deadlock

(by Chiara De Felice) (ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 18 — It had seemed as if the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM) was offering a chance for peace in the Middle East, but the latter has stalled at exactly the same place as its previous partner, the Barcelona Process (established in 1995): soon overwhelmed by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it was prevented from making any progress. The union of countries which border the Mediterranean, brainchild of Nicolas Sarkozy, has currently ground to a halt in all areas: nominations for Secretary General and assistants have been put on hold, planning for ministerial meetings has been postponed indefinitely, and all EU activities involving cooperation from the sea’s southern shores have momentarily been shelved. Although no official announcements have yet been made, sources in Brussels say that Arab countries are asking that their partners on the northern shores to take part in a political discussion regarding events in Gaza before any normal UPM business can recommence. “We do not intend to discuss common projects with Israel when Gaza is in a state of emergency and people are dying,” a high-ranking Arab diplomat said in Brussels. Arab countries, which have repeatedly asked the EU to condemn Israel for its war in Gaza, seem to want to focus only on the political side of the union, and therefore have tried to bring up the issue whenever and wherever they can in an attempt to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the agenda at every Union meeting. But the union is not pleased with the situation, and has taken a “moment to think.” In any case, Arab representatives have already announced they will be waging a battle within the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA). The president of the Moroccan parliament, Mustapha Mansouri, one of two Arabs holding the presidency office at the EMPA, alongside the Jordanian Abdoul Hadi Al Majali, announced a few weeks ago to his European colleagues during the last meeting with the presidency offices that Arab delegations would be suspending their involvement in EMPA projects until the EU froze its agreements with Israel. And yet only last November, strong-willed mediation by France and Egypt (the two were then holding the presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean had initially managed to overcome this apparent impasse and convince the Arab League and Israel to come to an agreement, when previously the two groups had not even wanted to consider the possibility of working together on the same projects. However, by way of a delicate diplomatic operation, mediation won the day and the UPM was able to get down to work. But today it seems as if Franco-Egyptian diplomacy is no longer bearing fruit. Already several mediation attempts have been made at different levels (high-ranking officials, ambassadors and ministers), but none of these seem as yet to have been able to temper the Arab stance. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Economy: North African Experts Want Increased UMA Trade

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, FEBRUARY 19 — Trade between the five countries of the Arab Maghreb (Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania), though increasing, accounts for only 7% of the total. In view of this situation, North African sector experts meeting in Tunis for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Union of the African Maghreb (UMA) have stressed that, given the current global financial crisis, “it is imperative that countries of the Maghreb join forces to deal with the challenges of food security, climate change, and ever fewer water and fishery resources, as well as those of flora and fauna, in a context seeing ever greater competition.” An appeal has been made to lift customs and financial barriers, with the strategy for Maghreb economic integration aiming to create a free trade zone, a customs union and a common economic market. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Gaza: UK Convoy in Algiers, Moroccan Border Open

(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 23 — A British convoy made up of over 100 vehicles loaded with aid for Gaza is crossing Algerian territory after having crossed the Algeria-Morocco border on Saturday. The border had been closed since 1994 and was opened expressly for the occasion. The caravan for solidarity, promoted by the British Parliamentary representative Georges Galloway, reported the APS agency, arrived at the Akid Lotfi border post in Maghnia on Saturday morning in the province of Tlemcen (500 km east of Algiers). Welcoming it was the president of the Algerian committee supporting Gaza, Lakdar Bouragaa, representatives from the Red Crescent, Muslim Scouts and civilian society. Leaving on February 14 from Great Britain, the convoy crossed Spain and, after Morocco and Algeria, will pass through Tunisia, Libya and Egypt in order to reach Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on March 9. The border between Algeria and Morocco were closed in 1994 following an attack against a hotel in Marrakesh. Moroccan authorities accused the Algerian Secret Service for the attack and decided for the institution of visas for Algerians to enter Morocco. Algeria responded by closing the border, adding tension to the problems already caused by the western Sahara issue, the ex-Spanish colony occupied by Morocco in 1975. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Maghreb: Morocco Wants to Remove Differences With Algeria

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, FEBRUARY 19 — On the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), and as UN emissary for the Western Sahara Christopher Ross arrives in Rabat, Morocco has expressed its willingness to the Algerian authorities to end bilateral differences. Minister for communication and spokesman for the Moroccan Government Khalid Naciri stated in an interview on El Khabar that these differences do not help the interests of the AMU, which must “find a new momentum”. Greeting the Algerian people, whom he “respects and values”, Nacri hoped for a renewal in the fraternal relations between Algerians and Moroccans, confirming that Morocco will do everything possible to dispel the hatred between the two sides. “Here are my hands, I hold them out to the Algerians to turn a new page on the differences which have characterised relations between us” he said. The statements should be interpreted, according to website El Annabi, as an appeal to the Moroccan leaders, including King Mohamed VI, to reopen borders between the two countries, which have been closed since summer 1994 after an attack in Morocco which according to Rabat, was carried out by terrorists from Algeria. The western Sahara is the main obstacle to a total renewal of relations though: Morocco insists on a form of extended autonomy, under Moroccan sovereignty, for the former Spanish colony which Rabat annexed in 1975. Algeria continues to support the Polisario Front, which is demanding a referendum on self-determination. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Morocco: Rights Group Demands to Know Activist’s Fate

Casablanca, 19 Feb. (AKI) — Human Rights Watch has called on Moroccan authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of human rights activist, Chekib el-Khiari who has not been seen since he reported to the judicial police in Casablanca on Tuesday.

Early on Thursday, plainclothes police searched el-Khiari’s home in the city of Nador without a warrant and confiscated his computer and documents, family members said.

El-Khiari, 30, is president of the independent Human Rights Association of the Rif and has spoken out publicly on sensitive issues confronting this coastal region of northern Morocco, including illegal drug-trafficking and migration to Europe by Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans.

He also discussed major issues on a programme on Moroccan TV last month. El-Khiari often spoke publicly about the cultural rights of Morocco’s Amazigh (Berber) population.

“El-Khiari is a well-known and respected human rights activist in a region facing many challenges,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“Authorities should comply with Moroccan law and disclose immediately where he is being held. They should also release him quickly unless they charge him with a recognisable offense.”

El-Khiari received the summons from the national bureau of the judicial police on 16 February in Nador but it did not state its purpose or relationship to any charge or investigation, HWR noted.

Morocco’s code of penal procedure allows the police, with the approval of the prosecutor’s office to place a person suspected of non-terrorist offences in detention for up to 72 hours. However, the police are required to inform the suspect’s family immediately.

El-Khiari’s relatives have heard nothing about his whereabouts, said Amine El-Khiari, Chekib’s younger brother.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Cyprus-Israel Ferry Service Rings Alarm Bells

(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, FEBRUARY 20 — The Cyprus government is seeking urgent clarifications from the Israeli embassy in Nicosia after a Turkish Cypriot official announced the introduction of a new ferry service between the occupied areas of the island and Israel. Turkish Cypriot Tourism minister Savas Ugurlu made the revelation to a gathering of journalists in Tel Aviv, as Famagusta Gazette daily reports today. He said the new service would run between Haifa and occupied Famagusta and will be launched as soon as April. Speaking at the 15th Annual International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) which opened earlier this week, Ugurlu, gave few other details. Relations between Nicosia and Jerusalem have recently been frosty, especially in the light of Cyprus’ public support for the recent Gaza ferry aid missions. Last year the government failed to halt a service between Syria and Famagusta, which continues to operate twice a week. The government said that opening such a ferry operation was illegal, as the harbour of Famagusta is a declared “closed access point” to and from the republic of Cyprus. There was speculation in the local press last year that Syria made a deal with the north Cyprus after receiving assurances from Turkey that it would not let Israeli jets fly over Turkish territory to attack Syria. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Do the Palestinians Need More Space Than the Belgians?

The Guardian 14.02.2009 (UK)

Two weeks before the elections in Israel, Aida Edemariam paid a visit to the writer Amos Oz, and talked to him about a two-state solution:”‘My precondition for peace,’ he says, ‘is a comprehensive solution for the Palestinian refugee problem, on the soil of the future Palestine’ — which he sees as being the West Bank and Gaza, linked by a corridor, or underground tunnel, and cleared of almost all Israeli settlements. ‘And I would insist that this is my primary requirement for selfish reasons — for Israeli security reasons. As long as those people are rotting in dehumanising conditions in refugee camps, Israel will have no security, peace contract or no peace contract.’ Palestinians such as the novelist Samir el-Youssef, who grew up in a refugee camp, see things slightly differently. ‘Oz sees Palestinians as a problem which the Israelis ought to get rid of as soon as possible,’ he says. ‘His ridiculous suggestion that all Palestinians could be heaped up in the tiny space of the West Bank and Gaza shows that he sees Palestinians as nothing but old furniture which should be stored away.’ Oz’s answer is short: ‘If every last Palestinian refugee was settled in the West Bank and Gaza, it would still be less crowded than Belgium.’“

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Gaza: Olmert Says Deal on Shalit to Become More Difficult

(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 26 — Outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has urged Hamas to make an agreement for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit as soon as possible, since his designated successor, Benjamin Netanyahu (Right), will be less willing to free Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. “Hamas would like to get its prisoners (being held in Israel) released, and it knows that, if there is the chance to bring in an agreement, it will happen during my term in office,” Olmert said to the second largest private TV channel in Israel. “I am convinced that the next prime minister will do everything he can to secure Shalit’s release, but I also know that it will be more difficult to do what I am prepared to, due to the make-up of his coalition,” added the premier, clearing alluding to Netanyahu’s attempt to form a majority with five extreme right and religious parties. Olmert is willing to release hundreds of Palestinians held in Israel in exchange for the release of Corporal Shalit, taken hostage in 2006 by Palestinian militants near the border with the Gaza Strip. Hamas has demanded the release of 1,400 prisoners. On February 18, the Israeli security cabinet imposed Shalit’s release as a condition for a cease-fire agreement with Hamas and the opening of border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Speaking to journalists in Cairo after the Olmert’s interview was broadcast, Hamas leader Mahmud al Zahar reiterated the position held by the Palestinian Islamic movement. “We will not swerve from our path, and our vision is clear,” he said. Zahar warned that if Hamas were to become part of a national unity government, “it will not negotiate with Israel, nor recognize the state of Israel, nor make the same mistake that Arafat did. He was killed by Israel, which knocked the olive branch from his hand.” Yesterday Zahar took part in several meetings in Cairo between Hamas and Al Fatah in preparation for today’s talks, which are to focus on the reconciliation of all Palestinian groups. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Gaza: Hamas; Israel Moved Goalposts, Egypt Must Help US

(ANSAmed) — GAZA, FEBRUARY 18 — The spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, Fawzi Barhum, has repeated his ‘no’ to any direct connection between the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, including the reopening of the border crossings, and the freeing of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006. Following the official decision today by the Israeli government to make the agreements drawn up in Cairo dependent on the release of Shalit, Barhum spoke to ANSA and accused Israel of moving the goalposts and wanting “to impose new conditions with the sole aim of blocking negotiations which were at the point of conclusion”. The negotiations were mediated by Egypt for a lasting truce in Gaza and the reopening of crossings into the Strip. He also accused Israel of doing this for internal political reasons linked to the laborious formation of the new Israeli government following the February 10 elections. “The Zionist occupier does not want to make commitments to the Palestinians and does not want to let us live like human beings”, thundered the spokesman, accusing Israel of “using the problem of Shalit and the truce as part of its internal political games”. Hamas “remains firm on the point that the Shalit case (which the Islamic radical movement in power in Gaza wants to resolve as part of a prisoner exchange, ed.) must be separate from the question of the truce and the reopening of the crossings. The Arab world, and especially Egypt, must put pressure on Israel for a ceasefire agreement and the reopening of the crossings in the Gaza Strip,” said Barhum, warning that Israel “will have to take complete responsibility for its decisions.”(ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Vatican: Pope Invited to Gaza

(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, FEBRUARY 19 — Pope Benedict XVI has been invited to stop off in Gaza during his trip to the Holy Land in May, the parish priest in Gaza City told a Catholic magazine. Gaza’s ruling Hamas group has OK’d the invitation from Gaza’s small Christian community, Father Manuel Mussalam told the Vita Non Profit Magazine. Father Mussalam said he had written to the pope “on behalf of the Christians and Muslims in Gaza”. “I spoke to them, they’d be very happy if the pope came, even if only for a couple of hours and bring a message of peace to the whole population of Gaza, so tested by the war,” he said. Father Mussalam acknowledged there were “many difficulties” that might prevent the pope’s visit and said he already had a ‘Plan B’: a delegation of 300 Christians and Muslims could leave Gaza and attend a papal Mass in Bethlehem or Jerusalem. The schedule for the pope’s trip to the Holy Land has not been made official but unofficial Vatican sources have said it will take place May 8-15, with visits to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jordan. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Averting Abuse of Universal Jurisdiction

by Irit Kohn

• Right at the outset of Israel’s recent operation in Gaza, French pro-Palestinian organizations filed a lawsuit against the Israeli president, foreign minister and defense minister. Turkish prosecutors said in February 2009 that they were investigating whether Israeli leaders should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity over Israel’s offensive in Gaza, after Mazlum-Der, an Islamic-oriented human rights organization, filed an official complaint in Turkey. At the same time, a Spanish judge is currently investigating the role of Israeli soldiers and security officials in a bombing in Gaza in 2002 in which a top Hamas suicide bombing planner, Salah Shehada, and 14 other people were killed.
• Universal jurisdiction refers to the power of a state to legislate, adjudicate, and punish any individual for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide committed outside its borders, even when those crimes were not committed against that country or its citizens, and even if the accused is not its citizen. The idea is that anyone who commits such atrocious, internationally condemned crimes will not be able to find shelter or hide from judgment anywhere on the globe.
• Human rights organizations all over the world have been instrumental in the implementation of universal jurisdiction. This has contributed to the entry of politics into the universal jurisdiction process, as may be seen in many actions brought by NGOs that are supported financially by special interest groups or even states for the benefit of their own agendas. In 2005, Israeli Brig.-Gen. Doron Almog was warned not to leave his plane at Heathrow Airport in London after a UK court issued a warrant for his detention.
• It is important to remember that universal jurisdiction and the International Criminal Court are applied when a country does not or cannot act to prosecute. Yet Israel is a democracy with a well-developed judicial system and does not need external intervention to conduct any investigation.
• In fact, the Israeli military police reported that between 2000 and 2007, Israel’s military judicial system conducted 272 investigations of illegal firing of weapons, with 31 indictments and 17 convictions; 330 investigations of property damage, with 36 indictments and 36 convictions; 475 investigations of violence, with 37 indictments and 34 convictions; and 128 investigations of crimes in the Palestinian areas, with 20 indictments and 18 convictions. The case of Salah Shehada, mentioned above, has already been reviewed thoroughly by Israel’s Supreme Court, which is widely respected in the international legal community. What would a Spanish court have to add?
• Dr. Henry Kissinger wrote that we are witnessing an unprecedented movement to turn international politics into legal proceedings. International law does not require that the prosecuting country be neutral or politically impartial in order to exercise its jurisdiction in a given case. The purpose for which universal jurisdiction was created may be a worthy and noble one. However, its current execution is problematic, to say the least.

[…]

— Hat tip: JCPA

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Call to Sue Zionists and End Diplomatic Relations With ‘Israel’

“The Messenger of Allah Unites Us” Campaign urged the Islamic and Christian World to actively protest against the Zionists, after a tirade of insults were leveled against the Prophets on Tenth Israeli Channel.

The campaign is supported by leaders of Muslim, Christian, Arab and international organizations across the globe. It expressed outrage at all civil, legal, economic and political channels that contributed towards the systematic offense campaign against the Holy Prophets and Messengers (peace be upon them). The affront originated from the Zionist Entity State, through its media outlets.

In an urgent meeting called today, the Campaign said that Zionist terrorism did not stop at war crimes committed against the people of Gaza — using weapons that are internationally prohibited, such as white phosphorus “Dim” bombs, killing children, women and old men — but continued with arrogance in denigrating The Christ, Virgin Mary, and Master of Humanity, Muhammad (God’s blessings and peace be upon them).

The “Messenger of Allah Unites Us” Campaign blamed the International Society and International Criminal Court for being negligent regarding the Zionist Entity’s continual violation of international and human rights laws. It was perturbed that these bodies did not pursue the Zionists judicially as war criminals who provoke trouble and hatred between people of the world, especially after the crimes they committed in the Gaza Strip during their last invasion. It demanded the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court execute his responsibilities faithfully, and that he submit an international criminal complaint against the Zionists, and insist on the issuing of an international arrest warrant.

— Hat tip: TB

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Chaldean Intellectual: “the National Museum is the Heritage of All Iraq”

Today, the first guided tours for tourists are being conducted at the National Museum, inaugurated yesterday in the presence of Prime Minister al Maliki. The opening represents a further step toward “stabilization,” and will favor the “return of foreign tourists.” It is hoped that all traditions will be given due consideration, including that of Christianity. According to UNESCO estimates, 7,000 works of art are still missing.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) — The opening of the National Museum in Baghdad is another “step forward” for the stabilization of Iraq, and is a message from the government to foreign tourists: “you are welcome.” These are the comments of a Chaldean Catholic intellectual to AsiaNews, who expresses his “satisfaction” over the reopening of the museum, which was sacked soon after the American invasion in March of 2003, and had remained closed since then.

Yesterday Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki cut the ribbon at the official reopening. The prime minister said, “We have ended the black wind (of violence) and have started the reconstruction process.” This morning, the first tourists entered the museum: for now, only guided tours for groups are allowed; it will take time to reopen the museum to private citizens.

“Art,” says the Catholic source, “is a treasure for all of Iraq, which does not simply have oil underground. This should be encouraged, because it will be one of the main attractions for restoring the flow of tourists to the country.” He says that he visited the museum “before the fall of Saddam,” and that it constitutes a “point of pride” for all Iraq, even if Christian history and tradition were “hidden” from the eyes of Arab citizens. “The section dedicated to the Christian community,” says the Chaldean intellectual, “could be visited only by foreign tourists, it was not accessible to Arab Iraqis. The Christian presence is profound, deeply grounded, setting down roots over centuries; although Saddam Hussein protected it, he always concealed it from the eyes of ordinary citizens.”

He talks about a “black hole” corresponding “to the period in which Christianity flourished,” and expresses his hope that the new course of the National Museum “will take into consideration the presence and value of the Christian community, which played a leading role in the historical-cultural tradition of the country.” But the signs coming from the current parliament — still made up of imams and ayatollahs — do not bring hopes of “positive developments over the short term.” “The most striking work,” the Chaldean intellectual concludes, “are the winged bulls of the Assyrian period, dating back to around the first millennium B.C. (in the photo). They are huge and beautiful, a symbol of protection and defense against spies and the impure. They represent a national patrimony.”

The sacking of the National Museum perpetrated by vandals and art traffickers — before the indifferent eyes of the American army — was one of the signs of the failure of the U.S. post-invasion strategy. More than 15,000 works of art were destroyed or stolen by foreign collectors. Efforts by the international community have permitted the recovery of about half of the materials, but UNESCO estimates say that about 7,000 objects are still missing, 50% of which have immense historical and artistic value. But it must be emphasized that the most valuable pieces were stored away in underground hiding places before the United States army entered the country.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Iraq: US Must Review Kurd Policies, Says Leader

Mount Qindil, 23 Feb. (AKI) — The administration of US president Barack Obama should review its foreign policies in the Middle East, in particular in relation to the Kurdish separatist movement, a key leader said on Monday. Ramzi Kartal, one of the founders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) called for the change in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

“The Kurdish issue affects more than 40 million people and it is not possible to achieve security and stability in the region without resolving such a question in a just way,” Kartal told AKI by telephone from his base in Mount Qindil.

“The intention of the new administration of Barack Obama to move closer to Iran and seek a solution to the differences between the two countries should not be at a cost to the Kurdish people,” said Kartal.

“We believe that the decision by America to insert the Kurdish-Iranian opposition party, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) on a list of terror organisations is one of the compromises made by the US to please Iran,” he said.

He urged the White House to review its political and policy positions in the region.

“Without a solution to the Kurdish issue, we cannot have security and stability in the region,” he said.

Kartal and jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan were among the founders of the PKK. Ocalan has been the sole inmate on the prison island of Imrali since his capture in 1999.

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of inclusion when he visited the country’s southeastern Kurdish region on Saturday.

Erdogan said Saturday that Turkey’s Kurds — at least a fifth of this country’s population and long repressed by the Turkish state — had equal rights with other citizens and that his party would continue to fight for those rights.

The speech was part of a campaign tour ahead of nationwide elections at the end of March.

The PKK is committed to the creation of an independent Kurdish state in a geographical region comprising parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

Blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, the US and others, the PKK began its campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast in 1984. Around 44,000 people are believed to have died in separatist conflict.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Iraq: Christian Leader Warns Against Security “Vacuum”

Rome, 23 Feb. (AKI) — A prominent Iraqi archbishop on Monday warned foreign leaders against creating “a security vacuum” when allied troops withdraw from Iraq. “In Iraq it is important not to create a security vacuum also in regard to the process of reconstruction,” said Jean Benjamin Sleiman, the Latin-rite archbishop of Baghdad.

Sleiman was attending an event entitled, ‘The Value of the Church in the Middle East’, organised by the Italy-based rights group Comunita di Sant’ Egidio, in the Italian capital Rome.

According to Sleiman, the process of reconstruction in Iraq “even though it has begun, is still small”. He stressed it was important that the administration of United States president Barack Obama did not create a “vacuum” in Iraq.

For the Baghdad archbishop, the process of reconstruction is like therapy for the ill. “If they are not cured well and completely, the relapse will be even worse,” he said.

He said radical elements exist in Iraq, but the last elections have rewarded the moderates and secular candidates and this was a positive sign.

Sleiman said the Christian community in Iraq (photo), however, had to rediscover its true identity and not “always be overwhelmed by fear”.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee Iraq since the allied invasion of March 2003 to escape the violence and the economic crisis caused by the war.

Recent provincial polls were considered a key test of Iraq’s stability after years of sectarian strife, as 140,000 US troops are preparing to leave the country by the end of 2011.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Lebanon: UN Launches Inquiry Into Political Killings

New York, 27 Feb. (AKI) — The international tribunal established to try those responsible for political killings in Lebanon will begin its inquiries next week, the United Nations said.

“All the necessary measures have been taken for the special tribunal for Lebanon to commence functioning this Sunday,” UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council.

The tribunal is designed to try those accused of recent political murders in Lebanon, particularly the February 2005 assassination of Rafiq Hariri, (photo), who was killed in a massive car bombing in downtown Beirut with 22 others.

The probe into the killings is being carried out by the International Independent Investigation Commission, headed by Daniel Bellemare, a Canadian prosecutor.

According to the report, Bellemare will assume office as prosecutor of the special tribunal on 1 March and continue his investigations from The Hague in the Netherlands, where the court is based.

The judges of the trial and appeals chambers will assume their responsibilities on a date to be fixed and court hearings are expected to begin in early 2010.

UN legal counsel Patricia O’Brien will attend a ceremony in the Netherlands on Sunday to mark the start of the Tribunal.

Ban has pledged to ensure that the court is able to achieve its mandate in the most effective manner.

Hariri, a successful business entrepreneur, was prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation in October 2004.

Widely credited with reconstructing the capital, Beirut, after the country’s civil war, Hariri was assassinated on 14 February 2005 when explosives equal to 1000 kg of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove past a hotel in the centre of the city.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Saudi’s Coach Sacked After Winning Top Prize

The Romanian head coach of Saudi Arabia’s top soccer team was sacked and ordered to leave the country on Saturday for insulting the Saudi royal family a day after his team won the Crown Prince Cup.

Al-Hilal team announced that Cosmin Olaroiu had been fired, and the Saudi football federation ordered him to leave the country, one day after his team took the match in a 1-0 overtime victory over Al-Shabab.

After the game, Olaroiu threw his shirt picturing Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz onto the ground in front of the prince’s representative at the game, Riyadh Deputy Governor Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz.

“ The Saudi federation has decided to suspend Al-Hilal coach the Romanian Cosmin Olaroiu and not allow him to coach inside Saudi Arabia in the future “

Saudi Football FederationOlariou, 39, was reportedly angered that organizers did not invite the entire team up to the podium to celebrate their victory.

“The Saudi federation has decided to suspend Al-Hilal coach the Romanian Cosmin Olaroiu and not allow him to coach inside Saudi Arabia in the future due to his unacceptable behavior after the end of the final match of the Crown Prince Cup yesterday,” the federation said in a statement.

“The decision is based on the throwing of the shirt he was wearing that carried the picture of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, and his refusal to go to the main podium to be honored with greeting the patron of the match,” it said.

Olaroiu led Hilal to win last year’s championship and the Crown Prince Cup before shining again last Friday by winning the cup for the second year in a row.

The club enjoys a strong chance of winning this year’s professional league as it is tied 43 points with rival al-Ittihad but leads in the number of goals scored.

The crown prince is currently recuperating in the United States after undergoing an operation last week in New York for an unspecified ailment.

— Hat tip: TB

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Syria: Ex-General Criticises Damascus for Blocking Visit by Nuclear Watchdog

Damascus, 25 Feb. (AKI) — A retired Syrian general has criticised a decision by the country’s Atomic Energy Commission to refuse the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog access to inspect the al-Kibar supected nuclear research centre bombed by Israel in September 2007. Musa al-Zaabi, said the decision by Ibrahim Othman, head of the commission, was a “grave error”.

“Western countries and the International Atomic Energy Commission will interpret the Syrian refusal as proof that Syria is hiding something and is working on a banned military programme,” Zaabi told Adnkronos International (AKI).

“It would be right and proper for Syria to invite the IAEA, European countries and also the United States to have serious dialogue about this matter.”

The former general appealed to Syrian leaders in Damascus to “follow what Iran did with its nuclear programme paving the way for lengthy dialogue.”

“Thhere would be nothing bad about Syria asking western countries for technical assistance for a peaceful nuclear programme, if it really wanted to head in this direction,” Zaabi said.

Regarding scientific aspects of the programme, he said there was nothing to discuss. “Laboratories, analyses and scientific instruments exist that confirm or deny every doubt and hypothesis, and you cannot be skeptical about these results,” he stated.

“It would have been better for Syria to provide the IAEA with responses and realistic proof that would not have given rise to doubts or other accusations,”Zaabi said.

Syria has reaffirmed several times that the plant bombed by Israel at al-Kibar in the country’s eastern desert was a traditional plant, and denied that it was a nuclear facility under construction.

Last year, the IAEA said a “significant” number of particles of man-made uranium had been found at Al-Kibar.

And in a report last week, the IAEA said more unexplained man-made uranium had turned up in the samples taken from the site and Syria would need to explain how it got there.

An Israeli intelligence operation penetrated the suspected Syrian nuclear programme, which photographs appeared to show had been undertaken with North Korean assistance delivered by sea.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Chechnya Leader Tells Why ‘Loose’ Women Deserved to Die

GROZNY, Russia — The president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president, is trying to impose Islamic values and strengthen traditional customs in mostly Muslim Chechnya. At right, he danced with a Chechen girl in Grozny, Russia. Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had “loose morals” and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.

“If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed,” Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.

The 32-year-old former militia leader is trying to impose Islamic values and strengthen traditional customs in predominantly Muslim Chechnya, aiming to blunt the appeal of hardline Islamic separatists and shore up his power.

Some in Russia say Kadyrov’s attempt to create an Islamic society violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women and separation of church and state. But the Kremlin backs him, seeing him as the key to keeping the separatists in check.

Few dare to challenge Kadyrov’s rule in this southern Russian region of more than a million people, which is emerging from the devastation of two wars in the past 15 years. The fighting between Islamic separatists and Russian troops, compounded by atrocities on both sides, claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Kadyrov describes women as the property of their husbands and says their main role is to bear children. He encourages men to take more than one wife, even though polygamy is illegal in Russia. Women and girls must wear headscarves in all schools, universities and government offices.

Federal prosecutors in Moscow have contradicted Kadyrov’s version of the seven killings, saying that the victims’ relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made, and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov’s office refused to comment on the investigators’ conclusion.

— Hat tip: TB

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Afghanistan: Resurgent Taliban Creates Alarm, Says MP

Madrid, 27 Feb. (AKI) — NATO is facing “serious difficulties” in Afghanistan because it has too few troops stationed there, according to a prominent Italian MP. Margherita Boniver, former undersecretary for foreign affairs and president of the Schengen Committee, told Adnkronos International (AKI) of her concern during a visit to the Spanish capital, Madrid.

“There is growing alarm, because for many months now there has been an increase in attacks by terrorist groups,” she told AKI. “The Taliban in particular, have begun a really frightening offensive.

“The military strategy of the multinational forces in Afghanistan is in serious trouble.”

Boniver, a former Socialist who later transferred to prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative People of Freedom party, served as undersecretary of foreign affairs from 2001 to 2006.

“Afghanistan has always been described as ‘the graveyard for empires’ , it is a country that has never been tamed or conquered by foreign troops,” she said.

Boniver said the international presence in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001 was important.

“It is not about the conquest of Afghanistan, but an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans, to give that country and those people hope for a less bloody future amid the reality they face,” she said.

However, achieving this objective required a major commitment, she said, underlining that it was no comparison between the NATO military presence in Afghan of 55,000 men and what happened in Iraq in 2002, a region far smaller and more accessible that had 130,000 American troops stationed there.

She said obviously both countries presented very different situations but Afghanistan has been overwhelmed by the deteriorating security situation and now the militants were at the doors of the capital Kabul.

Boniver said the security issue was being addressed by Berlusconi, the minister for foreign affairs, Franco Frattini and the minister for defence, Ignazio La Russa.

“They have recently decided to increase the Italian presence in the country by around 200 to 300 troops and that will lead to the stabilisation and the maintenance of a security framework leading up to the presidential elections.

Boniver said the Italian government has given an assurance to continue its military and civil support in Afghanistan, which continues to be of primary importance among European countries.

She said after Britain, Italy was the most committed in relation to numbers, capacity and responsibility.

Margherita Boniver founded the Italian section of Amnesty International which she led from 1973 to 1980.

A former Socialist MP she served as an Italian senator from 1992 to 1994 and later as a member of the European Parliament from 1987 to 1989.

After joining Berlusconi’s conservative Forza Italia party, Boniver served until 2006 as undersecretary of foreign affairs in Berlusconi’s previous cabinets. She is now sits in the lower house of parliament, representing the prime minister’s People of Freedom party.

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed between five of the then ten member states of the European Community in 1985.

It was supplemented by the convention implementing the Schengen Agreement some five years late, and provided for the removal of systematic border controls between participating European countries.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Former Nepalese King Visits India: Meetings With Hindu Leaders Scheduled

For the first time since the end of the monarchy, Gyanendra has gone to New Delhi. It is possible that he will meet with Prime Minister Singh and members of the BJP. For the former Nepalese ambassador in India, the former monarch could ask for pressure on the Maoist government.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — The former king of Nepal has been visiting India since Wednesday. It is the first trip of Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (in the photo) since Nepal became a democratic republic in May of 2008.

Accompanied by his wife, some assistants, and his bodyguard, he flew to New Delhi as a private citizen, dressed in plain clothes, to attend a Hindu wedding: the former Nepalese royal house is connected by marriage to the Rajputs, once a family of Indian princes.

Gyanendra is scheduled to be in India for two weeks. Nepalese and Indian media reports that the former king is scheduled to meet with the prime minister of New Delhi, Manmohan Singh, and some political leaders, including representatives of the Hindu opposition parties.

Lokraj Baral, a former Nepalese ambassador to India, says: “We can’t say exactly what will happen after his visit in Nepal. But some sort of pressure regarding secularism may come to Nepal government.” Baral explains that “Nepal has already been declared a republic, so there is no chance to empower king but secularism is the concerned matter for world Hindu and Bharatia Janata Party (BJP).”

Among the issues that the former king of Kathmandu is expected to address in his meetings in India is the affair of the temple of Pashupati, where since the beginning of January the Maoist government has been trying to install monks of Nepalese origin to replace the Indian bhandari in charge of the place of worship since the early 1900’s.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Nepali PM Urges Maoist Guerrillas to “be Honest” in Bringing About Peace

PM Prachanda says his party is no longer in control of the People’s Liberation Army, urges its members to be “honest and sincere” in bringing about peace in the country. He confirms ultimate goal is their integration into the Nepali armed forces. But he also warns against the country’s reactionary forces.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda said that the Nepali Communist Party-Maoist is no longer in charge of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which was once its armed wing. He urged its members, which he led in the struggle against the monarchy, to be “honest and sincere” in bringing about peace to the country.

“I call on all members of the People’s Liberation Army and its commanders to be honest and sincere in bringing peace to the country,” the prime minister said.

“The Unified Nepal Communist Party-Maoist no longer exercises authority over the PLA. The responsibility for PLA (guerrillas) integration and rehabilitation falls with the Nepal government,” he reiterated.

His statement came on the 14th anniversary of the start of the “people’s war” and the 8th anniversary of the founding of the revolutionary army, both of which were celebrated yesterday in Nawalparashi, a district in the western part of the country.

The prime minister also mentioned the efforts made to “integrate the Maoist army into the country’s armed forces.” He stressed his desire to “draft a constitution within the expected time-frame” and bring to fruition “the peace process.”

On that same occasion Prachanda told his fellow Maoists to get ready “to fight right-wing forces that want to evict Maoists from the government,” warning that “reactionary forces want to prevent us from achieving our goals.”

Likewise he said “we are ready to sacrifice our lives in Balautar (the seat of government) in the service of the people. We shall never bow.”

Yesterday US Assistant Secretary for Central and Southern Asian Affairs Richard Boucher ended a two-day visit to Nepal in which he pledged to have the terrorist tag dropped from the Maoist party. He did not specify how soon that will happened, but assured his Nepali hosts that Washington was closely following the issue.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Nepal’s Maoist Government Against Private Schools

The government imposes a 5 per cent extra tax on private schools. Final exams will not be held unless schools pay up. Private school associations are up in arms against what they consider a “violation of the right to education.” Catholic schools are also affected but will pay the tax to allow students to complete their exams.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — The Maoist government of Nepal is boycotting the country’s private schools, many of which are institutions of excellence dispensing high quality education. The government has imposed a 5 per cent extra tax on such schools, also urging students to transfer to the public system.

The Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal (PABSON) and the National Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal (N-PABSON) are against the government’s new tax policy, calling it “unjustifiable and unscientific,” a “burden on the students” that violated their right to an education.

Under the new government policy schools that do not pay the tax will not be allowed to have final exams.

Speaking on the government’s education policy, Nepal’s Finance Minister Baburam Bhattrai said that no private school will be allowed to conduct School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams until taxes are paid.

Funds raised this way will be re-invested in education in “remote parts of the country,” the minister said.

However, if implemented the no exam provision will adversely affect thousands of students across the country, whose studies would thus come to a halt. The SLC is a key element in the country’s school system. This year exams are set to start on 25 March.

The two private schools associations have announced a protest campaign against the tax.

For Laxya Bahadur K.C. of PABSON, “students should not be deprived of their right to an education. The government should be cooperative with private schools and understand our problems.”

N-PABSON President Gita Rana said that the government tax violates children’s right to an education and could jeopardise the psychological state of students preparing for exams.

Catholic schools are among the educational institutions affected by the new tax. Set up under the previous monarchist government these non-profit organisations have excelled in delivering high quality education.

Father James, principal at St Francis Xavier School in Kathmandu, said that “the school will pay the 5 per cent extra tax. More is spent in education than we collect from students,” he added, “but our goal is to deliver the highest quality education for the lowest cost possible.”

“We are able to do so because of our donors whose support goes into projects that ensure the kids’ right to an education,” he explained.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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China: Workers Clash With Police Over Pensions and Health Insurance

In Chongqing some 800 workers take over an abandoned plant, slated for redevelopment. In Zigong (Sichuan) police and about a thousand laid-off textile workers clash.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Five workers from a silk factory in Tongliang (Chongqing) were detained for organising a sit-in in the factory. Tang Aimin, Hu Weimin, Li Taiyuan, Ou Hongyong and Wang Yu acted as representatives of about 800 laid-off workers demanding pensions and medical insurance after the plant’s closure.

In order to press their case the workers took over the plant. On 15 February police summoned the five representatives to “discuss the problem of the plant” but were instead detained on suspicion of “gathering crowds to disturb social order” and threatening public security, charges which could land them in jail for years. Police also warned the other protesters that if they “create problems,” they too would be arrested.

On 16 February, about 2,000 government workers surrounded the silk factory and ordered those workers at the factory to leave. When the protesters refused to budge, the authorities ordered a group to enter the factory, which had to withdraw after they were threatened with explosive oxygen containers

The silk factory went bust in 1996 and was sold in 1998. After losing their jobs workers looked into workers benefits in case of factory bankruptcy and found that they were entitled to pensions, medical insurance, or at least compensation appropriate to the number of years they worked in the factory. With that they petitioned the local government to do something, but got nowhere.

In 2008 all the plant’s machinery was sold and the building was slated for demolition in favour of a highly lucrative real estate deal.

At that point ex-plant workers took over the premises to protest their condition, preventing the demolition from going ahead.

After some months Tongliang city government called on the workers to pick some representatives for negotiations. Talks got no where and the workers representatives were arrested.

Elsewhere, police clashed between 20 and 23 February with about 1,000 workers from a textile factory in Zigong City, Sichuan Province, who have been demonstrating outside of the Zigong City government building. Six protestors were injured.

A rights group, Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), reported that protests are still underway, noting that article 35 of the Chinese Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly.

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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China’s Government is Preparing the Military for an Outbreak of Hunger Riots

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 14.02.2009

China’s government is preparing the military for an outbreak of hunger riots, reports Mark Siemons and explains in depth the desperate situation of the country’s twenty or so million unemployed migrant workers. Part of the problem is the archaic division of the population into rural and urban dwellers. “The law is still in force, that a person who has inherited peasant status is not eligible for a ‘Hukou’ or city pass, meaning they will never gain proper rights to live in the city and access the social insurance there. Despite mounting criticism the Communist Party has failed to revise the law out of fear that a mass exodus from the countryside would overstretch the urban social systems. The combination of tradition, Communism and the modern social method of muddling through, had allowed archaic elements to enter China’s capitalist system. To be a peasant is a blood-related social destiny and there is nothing the individual can do to change it.”

— Hat tip: C. Cantoni

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Local Film About Lebanese Gang Violence Pulled From Cinemas After Brawls

An Australian film about Lebanese gangs has been pulled from Greater Union cinemas in Sydney after violent outbursts at early screenings.

The Combination is the first Australian film release of the year and has been receiving rave reviews for its gritty portrayal of life in Sydney’s west.

The distributor for the film says they were informed of the decision by Greater Union last night.

Allanah Zitserman from Australian Film Syndicate says Greater Union has decided to stop screening the film after several brawls occurred at western Sydney cinemas after the movie was shown.

“I understand there has been some isolated incidents at the Parramatta Greater Union by a very small minority group that has forced Greater Union to make the unprecedented decision in the third day of its release to pull the film,” he said.

Ms Zitserman says the film’s cast and crew are devastated by the decision but can understand why it has happened.

— Hat tip: Paul Green

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Libya: Course for Meeting Work Demand-Offer

(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, FEBRUARY 18 — Managing the flow of migrants from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya with a new and coherent approach to the development of mechanisms that are able to create a meeting point between the demand and offer for employment from the countries of origin to the destination countries, to train on-site, to create opportunities before departure: theser are the key points of the “Information Workshop on the Development of Migration Policy Connected to Work”, for specialised Libyan and African personnel which will close tomorrow in Tripoli with the conferment of special certificates to participants. The course, organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the Libyan Secretary General of the People for Employment and contribution from the European Union and the Italian government, is the first experiment in Libya for awareness on the development of policies aimed at obtaining a flow of migrants that is more uniform to the employment needs of the destination countries. “This country has a key role in the management of migration because it is going through, unlike Europe, a moment of economic growth which attracts immigrants”, reported Lawrence Hart, head of the IOM mission to Libya, confirming the necessity to develop adequate policies to host them. Fatel Benjred, from the Libyan Ministry of Employment, recognised “the necessity to cooperate with humanitarian organisations and with the European Union to manage the flow of migrants” and reminded of the recent opening in Libya of a new office for cooperation on migration. Ugo Melchionda, from the IOM office in Rome, explained that the workshop is part of projects from the Italian Ministry of Employment and that his organisation is moving forward in other Mediterranean countries, like Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and now Libya, to “train local officials in the Ministries of Employment and create a common standard for all of the participating countries regarding the professional profiles offered and those that are requested”. Research from a recent publication was presented in the workshop by Professor Sofrani, from the Libyan university Al Fatah “International Migration Towards Libya”, and Melchionda brought up the example of Italy supplying data released by Unioncamere on legal migration in 2008, when employers received 168,000 workers in the industrial and service sectors, 4,100 in the agricultural sector and 171,000 seasonal workers. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Libyan Spokesperson, Immigration Also a Problem for Us

(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, FEBRUARY 23 — Illegal immigration “is not a problem only for Italy, it is also a problem for Libya”, given the thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants headed to Europe through the Northern African country, which “will do everything possible to resolve the problem as soon as possible”, said Abdul Majeed El-Dursi, director of the Foreign Press Department for Libya (foreign spokesperson for leader Muammar Gheddafi), while speaking to a group of Western journalists in Tripoli. “Libya will do everything possible, everything it is capable of doing”, said El-Dursi responding to questions about how the country intends to slow illegal immigration to Italy, “to resolve this problem. This is not just a problem for Italy, but also for us, since illegal African immigrants illegally pass through and stay in our country”. El-Dursi positively emphasised the signing of the Friendship and Collaboration Treaty on August 30 between Italy and Libya, which will also provide joint patrolling of the Libyan coasts, and recent meetings about the same issue during Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and European Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner’s visit to Libya. “I am sure”, concluded El-Dursi, “that this problem will be resolved as soon as possible”. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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Abortion: Spain; Bishops, Major Drama of 20th Century

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 9 — Society’s acceptance of abortion “is one of the major dramas of the 20th century”, said the Secretary General of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Monsignor José Antonio Martinez Camino in Madrid today. He was speaking the day after the presentation in Congress of a report by the Commission into reforms to the abortion law which decriminalises the voluntary termination of pregnancy. Martinez Camino explained that “the punishment of automatic excommunication” does not affect the legislator, but those who carry out such abortions or who are “necessary collaborators”. The bishops’ spokesman also said that there is no pronouncement by the bishops on the work of the commission which studied the reform, given that “we are not yet at the stage of a draft law”. However, the position of the Catholic Church has not changed, said the prelate: “It is one of the major dramas of the 20th century” he said, pointing out the solidity of the doctrine for the protection of life, from the moment of conception until its end, which has been declared by the Church throughout the world. Asked why Spanish bishops had demonstrated against gay marriage and not on the question of abortion, when life is the primary fundamental right, the assistant Bishop of Madrid said that permissiveness on voluntary termination of pregnancy “has been introduced in many societies worldwide” and the Church, with the support of organisations and societies, has for decades been defending the right to life. (ANSAmed).

— Hat tip: Insubria

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The newest rule about “profiling” Muslims: it’s OK, provided that it’s done in their favor.

At least that’s the case in Scotland, according to an article from the Scottish Daily Mail as posted by The Frozen North. When the Frozen Northman emailed us, he said that the article wasn’t available online:

The Scottish edition of the paper is sometimes different from the British (for British, read “English”) one, and it appears that the article doesn’t appear in the online version — the “English” edition. I’ve copied out the text though and taken a couple of photos to show that yes, it did appear in the paper, and unfortunately I didn’t just imagine this in a bloody nightmare.

Here are some excerpts from the transcribed article:

Police in Race Bias Outrage

Scottish forces ordered to give priority to crimes against Muslims

by Dean Herbert

Police in Scotland have been ordered to give special priority to crimes where the victims are Muslim.

In a move that last night sparked a fresh row over political correctness, a senior officer revealed that the race and religion of a victim has now become a crucial factor in how police respond to crime.

Inspector Tom Galbraith, of Lothian and Borders Police’s diversity unit, told a conference on tackling terrorism that it was important to stop Scottish Muslims feeling “vulnerable” in case they were driven towards radicalism.

Mr. Galbraith said the force encouraged officers to consider the religious or ethnic backgrounds of victims to assess their needs in dealing with hate crimes.

He said that both an attack and a perceived lack of action by police could turn Islamic youths into future terrorists.

Mr. Galbraith also revealed that police officers, Special Branch and BAA security staff were being given special lessons about Islamic culture after Muslims complained that being questioned when entering the country about whether they pray and attend mosques was offensive to their faith.

Speaking at a national security conference in Edinburgh on Thursday, Mr. Galbraith said, “It is not about treating everybody the same.

“If I have a young Asian man who has been subjected to a hate crime, I would rather put more resources into that than if it had happened to a white male because the white male is far less likely to end up becoming radicalised.”

He later confirmed that his remarks were in line with Lothian and Borders Police policy, saying that cases of hate crime were assessed “by need”.

He added: “You have to consider cases according to need. The idea of treating people all the same is a bit naive and we have to remember that there are vulnerable individuals who can be put on the path of radicalism.”

Last night, the police were criticised for being too politically correct in dealing with hate crimes.

– – – – – – – – –

[…]

During the conference, Mr. Galbraith also said that police officers and airport security staff were being given lessons in Islamic culture to avoid offending arrivals.

He said: “Sometimes they will be asked “Do you pray?” or “Do you visit mosques?” when they arrive in the country.

“This kind of thing is derogatory to the Islamic faith. A lot of people then wonder what is wrong with going to mosques in this country.

“It is about making an effort in learning about other cultures and faiths.”

He later confirmed that training in Islamic culture was now on-going among officers.

Go over to The Frozen North for the photos and the complete (and appalling) text.

“The riots in the Parisian suburbs and AEL-riots in Antwerp illustrate it: we are at the beginning of an ethno-religious civil war, having as its objective the future of Europe.”

Filip Dewinter, one of the leaders of the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang, has written a book whose publication is timed to coincide with the election campaign in Belgium. Our Flemish correspondent VH has compiled and translated some material from Dutch-language sources about Mr. Dewinter and his book.

VH includes this introduction:

This Monday Filip Dewinter, an eminent veteran Islam-critic, conservative, and chairman of the Antwerp chapter of Vlaams Belang will present his new book Inch’Allah? The Islamization of Europe.

Dewinter was amongst the very first in Europe to openly criticize Islam and multi-culture, nearly thirty years ago. In those days critics were regarded as lepers, heavily smeared and attacked (verbally and physically), pushed out of mainstream society, and sometimes even lost their jobs.

This violent and vicious opinion-terror full of lies and slander by the Left and Center-Left did not stop Dewinter from remaining steadfast in his warning calls against the Islamization of society, mass immigration, and political correctness.

The first translation is an interview with Filip Dewinter about his new book Inch’Allah? The Islamization of Europe in the Flemish newspaperGazet van Antwerpen (The Dutch text can be read here):

“Islamophobia is a duty for everyone”

By Lex Moolenaar, Gazet van Antwerpen

Filip Dewinter will present a new book this Monday, in which his tone is harder than ever before. His target: the Islam, that according to him is out on conquering Europe. We were the first to read Inch’Allah?.

A book about the dangers of Islam, three months before the elections: it looks like a stunt à la Fitna, the controversial film by the right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders. When Fitna was released it was an anti-climax: was that all?

“I seek to open the debate. I have great respect for Geert Wilders, but a book is different from a film,” says Filip Dewinter. “I have long studied Islamization. It is time to warn and to sketch the outlines of an alternative. I chose the form of a book, which is not the most spectacular medium. This is thus not meant to be provocative and is certainly not an electoral stunt.”

Does ‘Inch’Allah tell us anything we did not already know?

“It is a book that provides insight into the true nature of Islam. My message is: with mass immigration and Islamization we invite in a Trojan horse. It is an insidious poison, and nothing less than the third Islamic invasion in the history of Europe.”

Your description of the multicultural society is partly in line with that of the Dutch author Paul Scheffer [the author of The Multicultural Disaster]: first, there is alienation, then conflict. The third phase according to Scheffer is that of harmony.

“I do not agree with that. The aging island Europe is annually flooded with two million new Muslims, who want to live according to their own set of rules and laws. If we are not cured of our excessive tolerance and are not prepared to confirm the superiority of our European identity, then Europe is like a bird to a cat.”

Conservative Islam is reminiscent of the Catholic Church fifty years ago. But may Islam not also evolve that way?

– – – – – – – – –

“A moderate European Islam is a multicultural illusion, meant to soothe our own European conscience. There is no European Islam, but an Islamized Europe. Jesus Christ preached non-violence; Mohammed was a conqueror with a scimitar. If he were living in the current era, his followers would hail him as a freedom fighter, but others — including me — would call him a terrorist. Islam seeks world domination; it leaps like a predator on the weakest in the herd: Europe. Our problem is the “multi-culture”, which — like AIDS — weakens the resilience of the European body. During the Enlightenment in the 18th century, the Catholic Church committed itself to the principles of separation of church and state and the equality of men and women. A medieval, totalitarian religion like Islam will never accept those principles. Islam has no freedom; everything is about God’s will: Inch’Allah. Moreover, the Islam is not only like a religion but also a political ideology which even has its own legal system. That is what Europe is not prepared to grasp.”

Islam as described in your book is actually the radical wing of Islam. Most Muslims do not think like that at all.

“I am aware of that, but moderate, ‘cultural’ Muslims unfortunately have nothing to say. The radicals hold the majority of mosques in their grip. To them, violence and terrorism are legitimate means force the submission of the world under the universal umbrella of Islam. Most radicals carry out their jihad not by force but through conversions, immigration, and demographics. In Antwerp, for instance, more than one third of the youth in the schools are Muslim, and 17 percent of the total population is Muslim. This expansion must come to a halt; it has already gone too far.”

According to you, the Muslims in the Flemish municipalities are all playing a game?

“They are not seen as leaders by the Muslim population, they are “alibi-Muslims” who are necessary for political parties to lure the Muslim vote. The SP.a [Flemish Socialist Party] especially collaborates disgracefully with Islamists, an ideology that is at right angles to Socialism’s pretension of emancipation.”

Your ideas gain little support in Europe, and in Flanders there is the cordon sanitaire drawn around you. Are you not tilting against windmills?

“On the contrary, for thirty years we have been whistle-blowers and iconoclasts on these subjects. That is what the people demand of us, not that we should join governments without any power and leaving our principles behind.”

Your conciliatory statements from a few years ago now have completely disappeared. Has the broadening of the Vlaams Belang come to a halt?

“Different circumstances require different strategies. In those days the cordon sanitaire against us in Antwerp was on the brink of collapse — what would have happened if the murders by Hans van Themsche had not occurred? [Van Themsche shot two “immigrants” and a child in cold blood in revenge for the bullying by immigrants he supposedly had suffered from at school; this was immediately used by politicians and the print media to wrongly scapegoat Vlaams Belang for “having caused an anti-immigrant atmosphere in which this could happen”.] Now we have two “VB-light” competitors in the right-wing field [LDD (liberal conservative separatists) and N-VA (New Flemish Alliance, center-right separatists)], and thus we are more clearly profiling ourselves. Only in this way can the original outshine the copy.”

Do you agree that practicing a chameleon style of politics is honest towards the electorate?

“The packaging may change somewhat every once in a while, but the content remains the same. Our seventy-points program [see note below] of decades ago is of course no longer the issue these days. The VB is not a fossilized party, Karel Dillen [one of the founders of the Vlaams Belang] did not compose a “bible” that we have are not allowed to change in next eight hundred years, like the Koran. Positions evolve according to social circumstances, but the principles remain the same. For that is the way it works in politics.”

You attack Islam quite ruthlessly for its attitude towards women and gays. But where are the women at the top of your party? And is VB now suddenly pro-gay-marriage and -adoption?

“Equal rights for men and women are evident for us, but it is not so easy to find women who are willing to step into the macho world of politics. And as far as homosexuality is concerned, that should not be a reason to discriminate; we do not call for the stoning of gays or for having them exiled from society, like Islam does. But I do not agree on gay adoption. The exception should become the rule.”

You write: “Is Islam a backward religion, as Pim Fortuyn claimed?” But you answered that question with “no”.

“I consider the word ‘backward’ to be pejorative and insulting. The use of that term blurs the discussion. But there are plenty of rational arguments to correctly call the Islam medieval and petrified.”

You also refer to Kemal Attatürk, the founder of the secular state of Turkey. He called Islam “a rotting corpse which poisons our lives”. Do you agree with that?

“Attatürk was speaking from experience, wasn’t he? He was well aware of why he said that. We seemingly forget how Attatürk was once generally praised for his struggle to prevent Turkey from becoming an Islamic state again. It now risks becoming one anyway, with leaders like Erdogan, who state that integration is a crime against humanity.”

In your book you sketch a pitch-black future. Had you not better come forward with a positive project?

“At the end of the book I explain how Europe may turn the tide of this third Islamic invasion, such as Charles Martel did in 732 in Poitiers, and as happened again in 1683, in the battle of Vienna. I know that I am sticking my neck out, but we really need to stop the “multi-culture” and dare to communicate the superiority of our civilization. Europe is a continent of citadels and cathedrals, not of mosques and minarets.”

You call for a “civilizational offensive” in which you want to deny Muslims access to hate messages via their satellite dishes and the Internet. How do you propose to achieve that?

“Three quarters of the dishes are illegally placed. They are not there to watch Disney Channel. You can implement strict controls and a tax levy to discourage it. On the Internet you can attempt to remove radical Islamist websites. The message to the Muslim community should be clear: we want no Muslim community with its own shops, banks, schools and mosques. For this will only lead to apartheid.”

Apartheid? Did your party not have sympathy to that regime?

“That is comparing apples with lemons. The apartheid regime in South Africa is past history.”

How about the mosques, do they all have to be closed down?

“No, they don’t have to, but they do have to be supervised. We do not want radical imams, and the same goes for tall minarets that serve as a symbol of the conquest of a district. Islam as a social structure belongs to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, not here.”

“Islamophobia is a duty,” you say. And yet you say that you do not want to provoke. Do you really mean that?

“Again: I want to provoke debate. A recent study by the KU Leuven shows that the Flemish population has a very critical view of Islam. But those who openly express this criticism are immediately accused of racism and Islamophobia. While you receive an award for insulting the Catholic Church. The Left prefer a minaret in their garden over a crucifix in their kitchen. If this criticism by me is called Islamophobic, then I say: Islamophobia is a duty.”

VH adds this note on the seventy-point plan:

In the “70-point program for solving the immigration problem”, put together by Filip Dewinter in 1992, he stated that Islam was an “anti-Western and intolerant religion”. In Filip Dewinter’s view it had become increasingly obvious during the past several years that there was a “fundamental and irreconcilable antagonism between Islam and Western values”.

Therefore, it was of paramount importance to do everything possible to stop and reverse the expansion of Islam in Belgium, particularly by drastically reducing the number of mosques in the country. Given the fact that mosques served not only as houses of worship but also as community centers, they contributed to the formation of separate ethnic and cultural communities and thus to the “Maghrebization” (megrebijnisering) of whole districts in Belgian cities.

Putting a stop to the construction of new mosques was thus the best way to respond effectively to the formation of ghettos in the country’s cities. At the same time Dewinter warned of the growing danger posed by Islamic fundamentalism. As early as 1993, the party [then Vlaams Blok] maintained that fundamentalism was intrinsic to Islam, for a doctrine that “preaches holy war, assassination, forced conversions, oppression of women, slavery, and extermination of ‘infidels’ will automatically lead to what we now call fundamentalism.”

[Source: Christina Schori Liang; “Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right”; Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007; p.40]

Some brief quotes from the book Inch’Allah? The Islamization of Europe, as translated by VH:

Immigration is a Trojan horse

“Through immigration, family reunification, and import-marriages Islam constantly puts new cuckoo eggs in the European nest. We then hatch them and will sooner or later be kicked out the nest.”

Europe becomes an island full of elderly people

“The aging European island is surrounded by an ocean of young and poor third world citizens. We must therefore have a demographic policy that places the family in the center.”

A civilizational offensive is needed

“Immigration from Islamic countries must stop. And we have to cut off the Muslims in Europe from hate messages on radical fundamentalist TV channels and websites on the Internet.”

Islamophobia is a duty

“Criticism of Islam automatically leads to accusations of racism and xenophobia. As criticism of a political ideology is synonymous to Islamophobia, then I consider Islamophobia as a duty.”

The ethnic civil war has already started

“The riots in the Parisian suburbs and AEL-riots in Antwerp illustrate it: we are at the beginning of an ethno-religious civil war, having as its objective the future of Europe.”

The Koran is a ‘license to kill’

“Islam is only a religion of peace and tolerance for Muslims themselves. The Quran explains that all its followers have the obligation to perform jihad, to wage holy war.”

‘European Islam’ is a smokescreen

“There will not arise a softer, integrated, European Islam, because the Quran does not evolve and is not open to any interpretation. Most Muslims are moderate, but the radical fundamentalists are the deciding factor.”

Multi-culture is a politically correct dictatorship

“The multicultural society is similar to AIDS, it affects the resistance of the European identity. The establishment of the mono-cultural Eurabia will be the end of the European culture.”

Islam conquers Europe via the mother’s womb

“Algerian President Boumédienne said in 1974: ‘Victory will be decided in the womb of our women.’ Muslim women give birth to more children and create a demographic time-bomb in Europe.”

Islam uses a ghetto strategy

“In all European cities Muslim enclaves are growing. In a short while Brussels will be the largest Maghreb city outside the Maghreb countries. The ultimate goal is the Islamic domination of Europe.”

Filip Dewinter is of the opinion that Islam seeks to conquer the world with a holy war in three stages, which are described in the Koran:

Phase 1:		Dar-al-sul or “House of temporary peace.” Muslims swarm and feign tolerance.
Phase 2:		Dar-al-Harb or “House of war.” The jihad breaks loose in full force.
Phase 3:		Dar-al-Islam or “House of Islam.” The world is dominated by Muslims and the Sharia, the divine law of Islamic ideology.

And finally, VH’s translation of a report, also from Gazet van Antwerpen:

Dewinter declares war on Islam

“If Mohammed were living today, I would call him a terrorist,” Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter started his campaign for the Flemish elections. He accompanies this with his book ‘Inch’Allah?. In the book, Dewinter provides an insight in the true nature of Islam.

According to Filip Dewinter, the Islamization of Europe is ‘a time bomb’. “My message: with mass immigration and Islamization we bring in the Trojan horse.”

“Insidious poison”

“It is an insidious poison, and no less than the third Islamic invasion in the history of Europe. Islam is out for world domination and a moderate European Islam is an illusion.”

Dewinter says that of course he understands that the majority of Muslims do not adhere to the radical tendencies. “But unfortunately they have nothing to say in this, because the majority of mosques have long been in the hands of radicals,” Dewinter says.

“Superiority”

He sketches a black future of an Islamized Europe, and refers to the Battle of Poitiers and the Battle of Vienna in order to clarify how Europe can reverse “the third Islamic invasion”.

“We need to stop the ‘multi-culture’ and dare to communicate the superiority of our civilization. Europe is a continent of citadels and cathedrals, not of mosques and minarets.”

Frank Gaffney speaking at the National Press Club on February 27th


The recent events in Washington D.C. have brought to the forefront the International Free Press Society and Geert Wilders’ call for an International First Amendment.

Freedom of speech is under attack in Europe, Australia, and Canada, and there are ominous clouds appearing on the horizon here in the USA — witness President Obama’s insistence that we must not only respect Islam, but speak respectfully about it. To those of use who are familiar with the OIC, this sounds suspiciously like the program proposed by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

So a stout defense of press freedom throughout the West is in order. But is the quest for an international equivalent of the First Amendment too quixotic to be worth pursuing?

As El Inglés pointedly asked, who will enforce such a law? The UN, which is already the principal engine of the “defamation of religions” restrictions on free speech? The EU? How about the OIC?

No one is seriously considering an internationally enforceable initiative guaranteeing freedom of speech. The point is to draw attention to the threat to our liberties, and to build support for the protection of free speech in individual countries throughout the West. Geert Wilders is calling for the repeal of all existing blasphemy laws and other restrictions on speech and the press, so that they cannot be used as excuses by Islam to further undermine our countries.

In any case, an international First Amendment is not really necessary, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — one of the founding documents of the United Nations — already guarantees freedom of speech:

Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

And we all know how well the UN enforces the UDHR in places such as, say, Cuba.

You’ll also notice that Article 19 guarantees the right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. So Geert Wilders had a valid case against Britain based on Article 19.

The UN rushed to his defense, of course… didn’t they?

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

The International Free Press Society is the brainchild of Lars Hedegaard, the Danish author and historian. Drawing on the model of Trykkefrihedsselskabet, the Danish Free Press Society, he collaborated with a group of interested parties in the United States, Canada, and Europe to launch the IFPS. Geert Wilders, Robert Spencer, Mark Steyn, Roger Scruton, and Bat Ye’or are among the prominent freedom-loving writers on its advisory board.

Mr. Wilders strongly opposes the Islamization of his country — and the rest of the West — but the IFPS takes no official position on that particular goal. The organization is simply committed to a vigorous defense of Mr. Wilders’ right to speak out on this or any other topic.
– – – – – – – – –
Islam is inevitably mentioned in this context only because most Muslim countries resolutely oppose free speech, especially when criticism of Islam is involved. They have institutionalized their opposition to free speech via the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which now sets the agenda for the UN on human rights issues. In his talk on Friday, Geert Wilders correctly identified the OIC as the most significant danger to worldwide free speech.

We have chosen to fight Islam through the free press movement because that is where it is most vulnerable. Political Islam cannot stand up to close scrutiny. It is threatened by free and open inquiry, and that’s why it fights tooth and nail against any criticism of Islam, labeling it “Islamophobia”.

It’s “Islamophobia” for non-Muslims to quote the Koran, unless they stick to the approved suras, such as the one about there being “no compulsion in religion”. Fitna is “Islamophobic” and defamatory of Islam because it quotes the violent and hateful suras — of which there are many — and exposes the core doctrine of Islam for what it is: a totalitarian political ideology with a mandate from on high requiring it to be spread by murder, slavery, intimidation, and deceit.

To fight for free speech is to fight to tell the truth about Islam. This will force the West — which purportedly believes in liberty — to confront the magnitude of the threat it faces.

As Mr. Wilders pointed out, most Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding, and are also largely ignorant about the hateful doctrines that lie at the core of their faith. Allowing them to experience the unfamiliar benefits of free speech will reduce the appeal of Islam and encourage apostasy.

Salafist doctrine can only spread in the shadows. When it is exposed to the light, it scuttles back under the refrigerator and waits for the darkness to return.

Our job is to keep the light on.

Our duty is to call for free speech for everyone, everywhere, under all circumstances.

No matter how insulting and offensive the results, free speech and freedom of the press are the key.

Radical Islam will shrivel when we are free to confront it with the truth.

Fight for free speech!