Central Banking vs. The Republic and the World
A couple of days ago in Japan, Ben Bernanke said that the benefits of low interest rate policies that politicians want “are not sustainable and will soon evaporate, leaving behind inflationary pressures that worsen the economy’s long-term prospects…thus political interference in monetary policy can generate undesirable boom-bust cycles that ultimately lead to both a less stable economy and higher inflation.”
[pause inserted so you have time to pick your jaw up off the floor]
We are now in the midst of one of the biggest boom-busts in history, all under the Fed’s watch, caused by its multi-decade low interest rate policy among other things, yet that is the scenario he says government oversight would cause! So what’s really going on here beneath Ben’s Harvard veneer?
He is trying to scare us with a fabricated boogie man—the idea that your elected leaders might do in some imaginary future what the Fed has already done in the unimaginable present. He wants you to be scared of this republic’s legislature reclaiming some power back from the financial empire that runs the global corporate system, and the US government from behind closed doors (article: Wall Street Empire). In other words, he wants you to continue submitting to financial dictatorship rather than rediscovering the principles of freedom, distributed power, and effective government. Will you choose submission or discovery? As more and more people are realizing, we are now in one of the most critical moments “in the course of human events.”
[…]
The problem with this pro is the first con of the Fed’s form of central banking—it puts currency control in private hands. Rather than the Fed having power over the banks, its structure actually gives the primary dealer banks (mega firms like JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and many foreign banks) significant power to tell it what to do. Entrenched powers behind these firms working together in cartel groups like the New York Fed and CFR have far more leverage than the president, i.e. an individual with no financial experience who rotates into office for a short period of time completely surrounded by bankers and their allies. The entire purpose of the Constitution and having a republic, despite its flaws, was to put power in the hands of the public vs. a concentrated private oligarchy. But the Fed system creates such an oligarchy, as many Americans now see since the crash of 2008.
[…]
So how can we get the one pro of a central monetary authority regulating the value of the currency without any of the cons above? Do precisely what Ben says we shouldn’t do—reestablish the republic by putting currency regulation in the hands of public officials as the Constitutions says. If a country doesn’t have a sovereign currency, it doesn’t have a sovereign government. We are learning that painful lesson now as we see Greece being attacked and taken over by financial institutions.
[…]
However, the change is not as simple as ending the Fed. Without a transition plan, that would cause a disaster since it is the basis for the money supply. The key is to nationalize the Fed, and possibly its primary dealers during the transition phase, to keep them from holding us hostage with the threat of collapse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Judges and Prosecutors Oppose Austerity Measures
Rome, 26 May (AKI) — Italy’s judges and prosecutors are planning to protest the 24 billion euro austerity package including public sector pay cuts approved by the government. The planned pay cuts to the judiciary are “unconstitutional and blatantly punitive” they said in a statement on Wednesday.
In the Italian judicial system, judges and prosecutors are all part of the same professional body, the Italian Association of Magistrates (ANM).
“Magistrates’ pay is being penalised three times over: our pay is being cut, we will no longer be eligible for periodical pay rises; and our national contract is being frozen.”
“These are unconstitutional and blatantly punitive measures,” said the ANM statement.
Italy on Tuesday announced 24 billion euros of austerity measures including public sector pay cuts, a recruitment freeze and greater efforts to clamp down on tax evasion in 2011-2012. The austerity plan follows similar moves by other European Union members who aim to bring down their public debt levels to avoid a repeat of Greece’s near debt-payment default.
It warned that cuts to equipment and other overheads and the freezing of staff training and new hirings would damage the functioning of the Italian judiciary
The ANM criticised the exclusion of public sector directors’ pay from the government’s austerity cuts.
“These are what has bloated public sector expenditure in recent years,” said the ANM.
“These measures come in a climate of constant aggression towards judges and prosecutors from politicians and institutions, and amid a media campaign aimed at portraying us as overpaid, leftwing loafers and laws which are clearly aimed at stopping inquiries and trials.
Italy’s trials are notoriously slow and inefficient, and it typically takes several years to exhaust all three stages of appeal leading to frequent calls for an overhaul of the justice system.
In April, a controversial law was passed allowing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and other cabinet ministers to skip court appearances in two pending trials if they had other engagements.
The law and another measure making its way through parliament would would cap the length of trials. The were presented after two trials against the premier were reactivated last October by a Constitutional Court ruling that quashed a 2008 immunity law putting the trials on hold while he was in office.
Opponents of the legislation claim it is aimed at “timing out” Berlusconi’s tax fraud and corruption trials due to Italy’s statute of limitations.
Media mogul Berlusconi has long claimed that he is being persecuted by “leftist” judges and prosecutors.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Declining Euro Boosts Business Confidence
Rome, 27 May(AKI) — Italy’s business confidence rose to its highest level in nearly two years in May after a decline in the value of the euro increased exports, the Institute for Studies and Economic Analyses said on Thursday.
Isae’s manufacturing-sentiment index climbed to 96.2, the highest since June 2008, from 95.9 in April.
The latest business confidence data was released after Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi outlined 24 billion euros in cost-saving measures.
Berlusconi said the euro’s decline would bolster exports while the austerity measures would help save the euro.
“Europe has called for the measures and we will keep our commitment,” Berlusconi said at a media conference late Wednesday.
“Defending the euro means saving our country, this is the challenge.”
The euro currency, used by 16 countries in the European Union, has fallen 14 percent against the dollar this year.
The decline in the currency makes Europe’s manufactured goods cheaper for American and other foreign consumers.
The dollar early Thursday traded at 1.2277 to the euro.
The euro has been pressure because of concern about rising debt levels in European countries.
The European Union has asked its 27 members to implement measures to curb public spending in a bid to prevent a repeat of the Greece’s debt crisis. Italy is the latest country to introduce savage spending cuts after similar cuts were announced in Germany, Spain, Portugal and Greece.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Employers Want ‘Structural Changes’ To Back Spending Cuts
Rome, 27 May (AKI) — Italian employers are demanding “structural changes” to accompany the 24 billion euros in government spending cuts. Emma Marcegaglia, president the country’s largest business trade lobby, Confindustria, said on Thursday business welcomed the cuts but more action was needed to promote development in Italy.
“What’s missing are structural changes that would leave an imprint on the way public spending works,” Marcegaglia told Confindustria’s annual assembly in Rome on Thursday.
“There needs to be reform to relaunch development,” she said.
Italy’s economic output fell 5.1 percent last year in the worst recession in more than six decades.
Europe’s fourth-largest economy experienced fragile growth between January and March this year after contracting in the final quarter of 2009.
But unemployment rose to 8.8 percent in March, from 8.6 percent in February.
The government plan proposes a public administration hiring freeze, wage cuts for politicians and more aggressive tax collection in a bid to cut government spending.
Italy’s measures follow similar moves by France, Germany, Spain and Portugal after Greece’s near default which has caused the euro currency’s value to fall by 14 percent this year.
The European Union has asked its 27 members to implement measures to curb public spending in a bid to prevent a repeat of the Greek crisis.
“This increased discipline is not simply a political choice, it has been reached with vision and a sense of responsibility,” Marcegaglia said.
“Putting public accounts in order is not enough and the move won’t last unless there is structural reform.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Caja Madrid to Merge With Four Other Savings Banks
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 28 — Caja Madrid, the second-largest savings bank in Spain after La Caixa, has today confirmed that it is in negotiations to merge with Caja Insular delle Canarie, with Caixa Laietana and with the two La Rioja savings banks, Avila and Segovia. Notification of the planned merger has been given to Spain’s market regulator, the National Commission of Asset Markets. This concentration in one institutional system of guarantees under the approval of government bodies, the five financial watchdogs, and the relevant authorities, will create a group with assets of 35.4 billion euros with Caja Madrid — whose balance sheet would then boast 227 billion, continuing as Spain’s second largest savings bank after Catalan’s La Caixa. The latter has also confirmed today that it is in merger talks with Caixa Girona. If these two operations go ahead, the present number of 45 savings banks in Spain will be reduced to 22, of whom ten are yet to begin with their merger process. In order to speed up the process of restructuring its financial system, on Wednesday the Bank of Spain sharpened its regulations concerning real-estate assets acquired by banks through bankruptcy proceedings, raising the amount that has to be set aside on reserves from 20 to 30% of their value. This raising of the reserve fund level on so-called ‘toxic’ loans has made it necessary for many financial institutions to embark on fusion or restructuring processes in order to guarantee their survival. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
8th State Says Guns Beyond Feds’ Control
Alaska governor signs Firearms Freedom Act into law
Alaska has become the eighth state to declare that firearms made, sold and owned in the state are beyond the reach of the federal bureaucrats along the Potomac, with Gov. Sean Parnell’s signature on the plan today.
“The Alaska Firearms Freedom Act frees Alaskans from overly bureaucratic and restrictive federal firearm regulation, and allows our state to assume the responsibility for regulation,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, the lead sponsor on the plan endorsed by lawmakers in the recently closed session of the Alaska Legislature.
“The Interstate Commerce Clause is used by the federal government to regulate firearms that cross state borders. The Alaska Firearms Freedom Act makes it clear that Alaskans will be responsible for firearms that are made in Alaska, for use in Alaska, and have ‘Made in Alaska’ stamped on them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama Declares the ‘War on Terror’ Is Over
President Barack Obama has rejected George W. Bush’s doctrine that placed the “war on terror” at the centre of American foreign policy.
The US president has instead replaced it with a softer approach stressing “new partnerships” and multilateral diplomacy.
“Our long-term security will not come from our ability to instill fear in other peoples but through our capacity to speak to their hopes,” Mr Obama said in a message introducing a new national security strategy.
In the 52-page document, drawn up after 16 months of deliberations, Mr Obama outlines a much broader set of priorities and methods than Mr Bush’s tightly-focused determination to eradicate Islamism by any means possible and alone if necessary.
“We will always seek to delegitimise the use of terrorism and to isolate those who carry it out,” it states. “Yet this is not a global war against a tactic — terrorism — or a religion — Islam.
“We are at war with a specific network, al-Qaeda, and its terrorist affiliates who support efforts to attack the United States, our allies, and partners.”
Mr Obama distances himself from Mr Bush’s concept of pre-emptive wars to prevent emerging threats, instead citing the national security implications of global economic crises and climate change.
American global leadership, the document argues, depends on a strong economy and a determination to progress in the areas of “education, clean energy, science and technology, and a reduced federal deficit”.
It highlights home-grown terrorists who become “radicalised” on American soil. “Our best defences against this threat are well informed and equipped families, local communities, and institutions.
“The Federal Government will invest in intelligence to understand this threat and expand community engagement and development programs to empower local communities.”
It does note that for more than a decade, the United States has been involved in a struggle against a “far-reaching network of violence and hatred”. Military superiority will remain “a cornerstone of our national defence and an anchor of global security”.
But also important will be “new partnerships with emerging centres of influence” and a “push for institutions that are more capable of responding to the challenges of our times”. American innovation is “a leading source of American power”.
The document presents the Obama administration as realist in nature, an implicit rebuke to the neoconservatives who hoped to reorder the world based on American values. “To succeed, we must face the world as it is,” it states.
There should be tough engagement “without illusion” with foes like Iran and North Korea but isolation would be the result of their continued intransigence. In his last national security strategy in 2006, Mr Bush declared that “the war on terror is not over”.
In a preview of the document, John Brennan, Mr Obama’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, said that there was a “new phase” in al-Qaeda tactics in which terrorists who did not fit the “traditional profile” would carry out attacks.
These included Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who attempted to explode an underpants bombs on a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day, and Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani American accused of leaving a car bomb in New York’s in Times Square this month.
“As our enemy adapts and evolves their tactics, so must we constantly adapt and evolve ours, not in a mad rush driven by fear, but in a thoughtful and reasoned way that enhances our security and further delegitimises the actions of our enemy,” Mr Brennan said.
It was wrong, he added, to “describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists” because that would “play into the false perception” that al-Qaeda and its allies were “religious leaders and defending a holy cause, when in fact, they are nothing more than murderers”.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Netanyahu, Obama’s Newest Prop
Bibi is returning to the White House —- and not for a “beer summit”. Indicators suggest that the Israeli prime minister may be weakening. He better not
The Democratic Party is feeling the heat for US President Barack Obama’s hostility towards Israel. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 earlier this month, Democratic Party mega-donor Haim Saban characterized the Obama administration as ideologically aligned with the radical Left and harshly criticized its treatment of Israel.
Both Ma’ariv and Yediot Ahronot reported this week that Democratic congressmen and senators as deeply concerned that the administration’s harsh treatment of Israel has convinced many American Jews not to contribute to their reelection campaigns or to the Democratic Party in the upcoming mid-term elections. They also fear that American Jews will vote for Republican challengers in large numbers.
It is these concerns, rather than a decision to alter his positions on Israel specifically and the Middle East generally that now drive Obama’s relentless courtship of the American Jewish community. His latest move in this sphere was his sudden invitation to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to visit him at the White House for a “warm reception” in front of television cameras next Tuesday.
It is clear that electoral worries rather than policy concerns are behind what the White House has described as a “charm offensive,” because since launching this offensive a few weeks ago, Obama not changed any of his policies towards Israel and the wider Middle East. In fact, he has ratcheted up these policies to Israel’s detriment.
Take his goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. On Friday, the UN’s month-long Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is scheduled to adopt a consensual resolution before adjourning. According to multiple media reports, Israel is set to be the focus of the draft resolution that will likely be adopted.
The draft resolutions being circulated by both Egypt and the US adopt Egypt’s demand for a nuclear-free Middle East. They call for a conference involving all countries in the region to discuss denuclearization. The only difference between the Egyptian draft and the US draft on the issue is that the Egyptians call for the conference to be held in 2011 while the US calls for the convening of the conference in 2012-2013. The draft resolution also calls for all states that are not members of the NPT — Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea — to join the NPT as non-nuclear powers.
So while Iran is not mentioned in the draft resolution — which must be adopted by consensus — in two separate places, Israel’s purported nuclear arsenal the target of an international diplomatic stampede.
In 2005 Egypt circulated a draft resolution that was substantively identical to its current draft resolution. But in stark contrast to today’s conclave, the NPT review conference in 2005 ended without agreement because the Bush administration refused to go along with Egypt’s assault on Israel.
Particularly in light of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and the Iranian regime’s expressed goal of destroying Israel, the Bush administration preferred to scuttle the conference than give any credence to the view that Israel’s purported nuclear arsenal is a greater threat to global security that Iran’s nuclear program — which, as with today’s draft, wasn’t mentioned in Egypt’s resolution five year ago. The Obama administration has no problem going along with Cairo.
Obama’s willingness to place Israel’s nuclear program on the international agenda next to Iran’s nuclear program is par for the course of his utterly failed policy for contending with Iran’s nuclear program…
| [Return to headlines] |
Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as ‘Legitimate Tenet of Islam’
The president’s top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a “legitimate tenet of Islam,” arguing that the term “jihadists” should not be used to describe America’s enemies.
During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of “political, economic and social forces,” but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should not be described in “religious terms.”
He repeated the administration argument that the enemy is not “terrorism,” because terrorism is a “tactic,” and not terror, because terror is a “state of mind” — though Brennan’s title, deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security, includes the word “terrorism” in it. But then Brennan said that the word “jihad” should not be applied either.
“Nor do we describe our enemy as ‘jihadists’ or ‘Islamists’ because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one’s community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children,” Brennan said.
[…]
But Brennan argued that it would be “counterproductive” for the United States to use the term, as it would “play into the false perception” that the “murderers” leading war against the West are doing so in the name of a “holy cause.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Fatwa on Your Head?’ Controversial Adverts That Help Muslims Abandon Islam Appear on New York Buses
A conservative activist has sparked controversy after running a series of adverts on New York buses offering information to people who want to leave the Islamic faith.
The adverts, entitled Leaving Islam?, points readers to a website called RefugefromIslam.com and will run on at least 30 city buses for a month.
Pamela Geller, who leads an organisation called Stop Islamization of America, said the adverts were meant to provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith.
She said: ‘It’s not offensive to Muslims, it’s religious freedom.
‘It’s not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn’t say “leave”, it says “leaving” with a question mark.’
Ms Geller said the adverts cost $8,000 (£5,500), which was contributed by the readers of her blog Atlas Shrugs and other websites.
Similar adverts have run on buses in Miami and she said more were planned for other cities.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) officials said the adverts were reviewed and did not violate the agency’s guidelines.
Spokesman Kevin Ortiz said: ‘The religion in question would not change the determination that the language in the ad does not violate guidelines.’
All adverts which feature on New York buses are screened by the MTA.
Last month, Miami-Dade Transit removed them from 10 buses after deciding they ‘may be offensive to Islam’, according to the Miami Herald.
But the agency decided to reinstall them after a review by the county attorney’s office.
Transit spokesman Clinton Forbes said: ‘Although they may be considered offensive by some, they do not fall under the general guidelines that would warrant their removal.’
Courts have ruled that the First Amendment requires Americans to put up with ‘a lot of unenlightened and objectionable messages’, according to Glenn Smith, a professor at California Western School of Law.
Eugene Volokh, an expert of constitutional law at UCLA School of Law, said the adverts could leave some Muslims reluctant to ride the bus.
There could also be a risk that some extremist groups might bomb the buses, although that possibility wouldn’t limit free speech rights, he said.
The agency has received no complaints since the adverts went up on May 14, the MTA said. The buses with the posters on pass through all five boroughs of the city.
Council member Robert Jackson, himself a Muslim, said: ‘I think this is a campaign by the extreme right, those that are against the Muslim religion.
‘Quite frankly I would think the average New Yorker would take it for what it’s worth.’
Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said they were based on a false premise that people face coercion to remain with Islam.
She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief.
‘Ms Geller is free to say what she likes just as concerned community members are free to criticise her motives,’ she said.
Ms Geller has a history of speaking out against Muslims, and the adverts are ‘a smoke screen to advance her long-standing history of anti-Muslim bigotry,’ she added.
Ms Geller denied she had a problem with Muslims, and said she was working to ‘maintain the separation of mosque and state’.
She is among those speaking out against the building of a mosque and Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero.
| — Hat tip: Reinhard | [Return to headlines] |
Government-Funded Jihad
Posted By Ryan Mauro
Rep. Darrel Issa (R-C.A.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-M.E.) are demanding [1] answers following the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s discovery that taxpayer money is going to the radical Dar al-Hijrah mosque of Falls Church, Virginia. The revelation is an unsettling reminder of how jihadists are using America’s freedoms and ineptitude of the government to their advantage.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism has found [2] that the Census Bureau has been paying Dar al-Hijrah about $23,000 per month since November 2008 to rent space in one of its buildings. The State Department has used the mosque in its videos about America’s Muslim community and sent [3] students from its Foreign Service Institute to Dar al-Hijrah this month.
Dave Gaubatz, a former Special Agent with the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations, and author of Muslim Mafia [4], described Dar al-Hijrah to FrontPage as “Wahhabi quarter,” in reference to the oppressive form of Islam practiced and promoted by Saudi Arabia. He said that when he investigated the mosque, he found that its library included “very, very violent materials” that advocated physical jihad and sedition, and that extremism was promoted during the week but not during Friday prayers when they are most likely to be caught.
Gaubatz also says that the mosque immediately reaches out to people that have arrived in their area from Iraq and other places. Like in Iraq, he says, “the mosques are being used as safehouses with which to spread violent ideology.” This is dangerous because mosque attendees and leaders are “fond” of extremists like Ali al-Tamimi, a preacher who has been convicted of preparing young Muslims to wage jihad through the use of paintball guns.
Another section of that same building being rented by the government is also used by the Muslim American Society [5], a front [6] for the extremist Muslim Brotherhood organization. The Brotherhood and its affiliates have proven to be skillful in portraying themselves as “moderates” so as to wage jihad using more effective means than the reckless violence of Al-Qaeda.
The renting of some of its property to the Muslim American Society is just one small part of Dar al-Hijrah’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and extremism in general. Its imam from 1995 to 1999, Mohammed al-Hanooti, defended [7] a senior Hamas official named Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook. Another Dar al-Hijrah founder, Ismail Elbarasse, was an assistant to Marzook and later found [8] to be part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee in the U.S.
Al-Hanooti was labeled [9] as a possible unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and supported a Muslim who refused to testify about the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al-Hanooti argued that Islam “gives him the right to abstain from giving testimony in case it hurts him or it hurts any other Muslim.” He was an open supporter of Hamas.
Another former imam is Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al-Qaeda leader who currently lives in Yemen and has been involved in terrorist plots including the Fort Hood shooting and the Christmas Day underwear bomb plot. Two of the 9/11 hijackers and the Fort Hood shooter attended al-Awlaki’s sermons there. Al-Awlaki’s preaching also inspired Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who recently tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square.
The mosque was also attended by Abdulrahman Alamoudi, who was later convicted for his illegal dealings with Libya related to a plot to kill Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Alamoudi was a Muslim Brotherhood member who publicly supported Hamas and Hezbollah, and was integral to the Brotherhood’s efforts [10] to influence the political process.
One of Dar al-Hijrah’s founders, Sheikh Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh, became the imam in 2003 and left in 2005. He also helped found the Muslim American Society and was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in Sudan. In 2004, he spoke [11] in support of Palestinian suicide bombers since “they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means.”
One of the mosque’s board of directors is Esam Omeish, who ran for the Virginia House of Delegates and is the former President of the Muslim American Society. He has called [12] the Muslim Brotherhood “moderate” and admits that he and the MAS have been influenced by them. In 2004, he described [13] the founder of Hamas as “our beloved Sheikh Ahmed Yassin” and has praised Palestinians who knew “that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land.”
A trustee of Dar al-Hijrah, Abdulhaleem Al-Ashqar, took part in a secret Hamas meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they discussed the need to use front organizations that appear more moderate. Al-Ashqar was later convicted [14] for refusing to testify about the terrorist group’s efforts to raise money in the U.S. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [15],a camp counselor and teacher at the mosque, has been convicted of supporting Al-Qaeda and planning to kill President Bush.
In February, a fundraiser [16] was held at Dar al-Hijrah for the legal costs of Sabri Benkahla, who was convicted for lying to the FBI and in court about his terrorist links. Benkahla traveled [17] to a training camp run by Lashkar-e-Taiba and when he returned, helped train Muslims from the mosque using paintball guns.
The mosque’s current imam is Shaker Elsayed, a former secretary-general of the Muslim American Society. He praised Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2004, saying [18] that his teachings as “the closest reflection of how Islam should be in this life.” In 2002, he spoke [19] in support of suicide bombers and said that when Muslims are attacked, they must fight jihad with whatever “they can get in their hand and if they don’t have anything in their hand then they can fight with their hand without weapons.” Sheikh Elsayed gave [18] the opening prayer for the Virginia House of Delegates in March.
Dar al-Hijrah’s Director of Outreach, Johari Abdul-Malik, has gone to great lengths to denounce Anwar al-Awlaki, but he is a radical himself. He has supported [9] attacks on Israelis, and pushes 9/11 conspiracy theories. He also incorrectly denies that al-Awlaki preached extremism while he was the mosque’s imam.
Dave Gaubatz also ties Dar al-Hijrah to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, another Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that was labeled by the federal government as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation trial. The HLF was found in court to have acted as a front to raise money for Hamas and was part of the Brotherhood apparatus in the U.S.
“CAIR and Dar al-Hijrah are one-in-one,” Gaubatz told FrontPage. “Very little happens with CAIR where they don’t consult with Dar al-Hijrah’s board members and leaders.”
Government documents also support the conclusion that the mosque is a jihadist front. The IPT has one report from 2002 from a Customs and Border Protection database that said that Dar al-Hijrah is “operating as a front for Hamas operatives in the U.S.” Two other reports from December 2007 confirmed that the mosque was under investigation for potential criminal and terrorist activity. One said that people connected to the mosque were involved in financing terrorism and has been “encouraging fraudulent marriages.” WorldNetDaily.com reports [20] that an investigation into credit card fraud has led to the mosque, “following reports of mysterious Dar al-Hijrah line-item charges appearing on the statements of local individuals not even connected to the mosque.”
The mosque’s ties to radical Islam and terrorism are so numerous they hard to keep track of. A basic Internet search would have yielded this information for the government officials that decided to do business with Dar al-Hijrah. The mosque should not be operating, and it is a disgrace that the American people are paying them tens of thousands of dollars without even knowing it.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Head of Marxist-Led Institute Joins Obama Team
Soros-funded group urges more government control of media
NEW YORK — The policy director at a George Soros-funded, Marxist-founded organization calling itself Free Press has just taken a key State Department position, WND has learned.
Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott has been named a policy adviser for innovation at the State Department.
“We will miss Ben’s leadership, wise counsel, and strategic brilliance — for Free Press and the overall movement for media and technology policy in the public interest,” said Free Press President Josh Silver.
Free Press is a well-known advocate of government intervention in the Internet.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Intimidation Nation
As I illustrated in a recent column, “Why I’m ‘worse than Joe McCarthy,’“ the left has long relied on one paramount tactic for advancing its cause: intimidation.
But it’s not just the left that bullies and ridicules opponents in order to bring about its glorious “hope and change.” Almost every destructive agenda being promoted in America today is being advanced, not through logical argument, but intimidation.
Take the Obama crowd. The president, a disciple of Saul Alinsky, and his administration rely heavily on ridicule, which is very intimidating. (Remember rule No. 5 from Alinsky’s magnum opus “Rules for Radicals”: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”)
[…]
As I have often explained, expansionist Islam advances its agenda the same way. Each of its two modes — violent jihad/terror and stealthy subversion — relies entirely on intimidation. Terrorism, of course, is an extreme form of intimidation. But even the more “peaceful” Islamist subversion of our nation (taxpayer-funded imams recruiting jihadists in our prisons, Saudi-funded mosques teaching hate, terror-tied groups like CAIR masquerading as moderates, etc.) depends on bullying any and all critics into submission by attacking them as bigots and “Islamophobes.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Leader Seeks to Make Canada a Model for the World
As Aga Khan visits Toronto to lay foundation for major Islamic centre, local Ismailis welcome the man who told them, ‘Make Canada your home’
He is a jet-setting billionaire, owner of one of the world’s renowned horse-racing stud farms, and an admired philanthropist who briefly called Rita Hayworth his stepmother.
He is also a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed and the spiritual leader of 15 million Ismaili Muslims around the globe.
The Aga Khan, a beloved figure who is both the spiritual guide and secular role model for Canada’s 100,000 Ismailis, is in Toronto on Friday to lay the foundation for an Islamic museum and cultural centre. The construction on Canadian soil of the largest Islamic museum in the English-speaking world marks a significant milestone for a community that arrived here, nearly destitute, 38 years ago. In the last four decades, Ismailis have emerged as a remarkable success story. Their smooth integration is seen as one of the reasons the Aga Khan, a keen admirer of this country, promotes Canadian-style pluralism as a model for the world.
It was not long before Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda in 1972 that the Aga Khan first called prime minister Pierre Trudeau to plan a possible escape route for his people. The two leaders were friendly with one another, and the Aga Khan recognized that the situation for Ismailis in East Africa was growing more precarious by the day. When the axe fell and Mr. Amin began appropriating Ismaili businesses and property, Mr. Trudeau didn’t hesitate to offer safe haven, according to his biographer, John English.
About 5,000 Ismailis came to Canada in that initial phase, and a further 5,000 Ismaili Asians from other East African countries arrived not long after. The community has since grown across Canada as members of the Ismaili diaspora from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere have relocated here. In a short time, Ismailis have become leading figures in politics, business and the professions, with prominent people including Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed and Senator Mobina Jaffer.
Ali Shallwani, who owns a teaching-supply store in Oakville, Ont., came to Canada from Pakistan in 1976. He said one of the most influential moments of his life was when, in the early 1990s, he heard the Aga Khan say to Canadian Ismailis, “Make Canada your home.” Mr. Shallwani had just been granted a U.S. work permit, but returned to Canada within a year.
“His saying played a significant role in my decision to return,” Mr. Shallwani said. “I think [the Aga Khan] finds Canadian society to be more tolerant, which I agree with.”
That command, to make Canada home, is a phrase many other Ismailis describe as resonant, according to Shamir Allibhai, producer of a documentary about the spiritual leader. The Aga Khan encouraged Ismailis to engage with their new society, to emphasize education, integrate into the community and volunteer for the common good. They attribute much of their success in Canada to his leadership, he said.
“His emphasis on Canada is not found anywhere else in the Ismaili world,” Mr. Allibhai said. “The Aga Khan sees Canadian civil society as one that can be exported to other countries.”
The Ismailis belong to a relatively small Shia Muslim sect, one that for the last 150 years has had fairly close ties with the West. The Aga Khan’s grandfather passed the Imamat directly to the current Aga Khan in 1957, when he was just a 20-year-old undergraduate at Harvard University. His father, who had married film star and sex symbol Rita Hayworth a few years before, was bypassed because it was felt that a young leader was needed for the atomic age.
Thrust into the spotlight, the Aga Khan emerged as both a moderate, thoughtful leader and a charismatic figure of some international celebrity. He skied for Iran in the Olympics and, though he devotes most of his attention to his foundation and development projects, he also owns one of horse racing’s most successful breeders. His greatest horse, Shergar, valued at close to $20-million, was kidnapped from a farm in Ireland in 1983 and never seen again.
Shafique Virani, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Toronto, describes the Aga Khan as “one of the very forward-looking leaders of the Muslim world.”
“He’s very much involved with the concept of pluralism,” Prof. Virani said. He added that the leader’s fascination with Canada stems from the impression that the country, thanks in part to its policy of official multiculturalism, has created a society where people of different backgrounds can get along, and where that ideal is taught, absorbed and passed on.
The tensions of the post-9/11 world, with its often oversimplified and false impressions of Islam, have been an ongoing concern for the Aga Khan. He has also been heavily involved in development projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where much of the violent fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks is still unfolding.
“Our world is really torn apart right now, and there’s this concept of the clash of civilizations,” Prof. Virani said. “He’s put forward a thesis that says it’s not really a clash of civilizations that we have, but a clash of ignorance.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Amsterdam: Sharia Court Session Now Open
This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog — islamineurope.blogspot.com
The De Balie center in Amsterdam is organizing a Sharia court session for the public as part of their ‘Justice for All’ series. The court is supposed to give people insight into the workings of Sharia law.
From their site:
Sharia courts in the Netherlands are a nightmare for many Dutch. Meanwhile, they’re already popping up in the UK and Canada. Is it possible that Sharia would be introduced in the Netherlands? And are Sharia courts really so undesirable or do they deserve a place next to our existing justice system?
On June 8th, De Balie will produce a real Sharia court. You could bring cases before the court. The case would then be settled by authorized Sharia judges.
| — Hat tip: Reinhard | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: Anti-Papal Protesters Warned Off
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, MAY 28 — Cyprus’ police do not have specific information regarding mass demonstrations opposing Pope Benedict’s visit to the island next week, police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday as reported by local press. Nor do investigative authorities have information that fanatic Greek Orthodox demonstrators will descend on the island en mass from Greece to join forces with local protestors, he said. However any bad behaviour would internationally expose the island, he added. Katsounotos’ comments were made following statements by Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides with respect to the Pontiff’s visit. According to Paschalides organised demonstrators were planning to fly to Cyprus from Greece to protest Benedict’s three-day visit. According to reports the Greek-Ortodox Church is also concerned about information regarding fanatics from Greece preparing to descend on Cyprus to react against the Pope’s visit. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
English Defence League: New Wave of Extremists Plotting Summer of Unrest
Forged on football terraces and targeting Muslim communities, rightwingers return to the streets in an increasingly violent form
In the back room of a sparsely decorated pub in Bolton a man with a shaved head and a tattoo poking out above his shirt collar hands out what look like wraps of cocaine to his friends. It is just after 11am but behind him the pub is already packed with young, mainly white, men. Suddenly it erupts.
“We want our country back. We want our country back … Muslim bombers off our streets.” The chants ring out as tables are thumped and plastic pint glasses are thrust into the air.
“It is going to be a good ‘un today,” says the shaven-headed man, leaning across the table towards me to make himself heard. “We’re going to get to twat some Pakis — I can feel it.”
The pub, a few hundred yards from Bolton railway station, is the latest gathering point for the most significant rightwing street movement the UK has seen since the heyday of the National Front in the 1970s.
For the past four months the Guardian has joined English Defence League demonstrations, witnessing its growing popularity, from protests attracting just a few hundred hardcore activists at the end of last year to rallies and marches which are bringing thousands of people on to the street — and into direct conflict with the police and local Muslim communities.
The EDL plans to step up its campaign in coming weeks, culminating in marches through some of the UK’s most high-profile Muslim communities, raising the spectre of widespread unrest.
With the British National party beset by infighting and recriminations after its poor showing in last month’s local and national elections, the UK is facing the prospect of rightwing activists turning away from the ballot box and back to the street for the first time in three decades.
The English Defence League sprang up in Luton last year in reaction to a demonstration by a small extreme Islamist group during a homecoming parade by the Royal Anglian Regiment.
Since then this chaotic organisation — based largely around existing football groups and hooligan networks — has mobilised thousands of people against what it terms “Islamic extremism”.
In telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings, members of the EDL’s secretive leadership team repeatedly told the Guardian that the group is not racist and just wants to “peacefully protest against militant Islam”.
But at each demonstration I attended while making an undercover film for the Guardian’s investigative film unit, Guardian Films, I was confronted by casual — often brutal — racism, a widespread hatred of Muslims and often the threat of violence.
It was only possible to film some of the most alarming scenes with a hidden camera. Inside a pub in Stoke in January about 3,000 EDL supporters gathered for the first demonstration of the year. They had spent the past four hours drinking. The balcony around the top of the cavernous pub was draped in flags bearing the names of different football clubs — Wolves, Newcastle, Aston Villa — and the chants “We all hate Muslims” and “Muslim bombers off our streets” filled the air. The atmosphere was tense, and not just because of the growing anti-Islamic rhetoric. The pub was packed with rival football gangs from across the Midlands and the north of England. Twice, fighting broke out as old rivalries failed to be subdued by the new enemy — Islam. “They’re just kids,” said one man. “That is not what we are here for today.”
As we moved outside for the EDL protest — during which supporters became involved in violent clashes with the police — a woman asked me for a donation to support the “heroes coming back injured from Afghanistan”. I put a pound in the bucket. “Thanks love,” she said. “They go over there and fight for this country and then come back to be faced with these Pakis everywhere.” She paused, before adding: “But to be honest it is the n**** I can’t stand.”
This kind of casual racism is not hard to find on EDL demonstrations. The Guardian has also identified a number of known rightwing extremists who are taking an interest the movement — from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups. The EDL says it is doing what it can to keep them away but acknowledged their influence.
“At previous events, we have had far-right groups like Combat 18 turning up,” the EDL’s self-proclaimed leader, who uses the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, said in a local newspaper interview. “It’s naive to guarantee no violence.”
Nick Lowles, of the anti-fascist group Searchlight, says these groups have a growing — and dangerous — influence.
“What we are seeing is more organised fringe elements — the National Front, old networks of Combat 18 people and members of the BNP — who are getting involved specifically to try and use the EDL to spark serious disorder,” says Lowles. “This is a serious development; we just need one of these demonstrations to go wrong — for there to be a serious incident — and it won’t just lead to disorder in Dudley, Bolton or wherever, it will spread to towns and cities across the country.”
Strange coalition
But the EDL is not a simple rerun of previous far-right street groups. On each demonstration there is a smattering of non—white faces and one of the group’s leaders is Guramit Singh, a British-born Sikh. The organisation’s core support appears to be young white men who are often fuelled by drink and sometimes drugs. But its Islamophobic message seems to have acted as a lightning rod for a strange coalition — from rightwing Christians who see it as being on the frontline in the “global fight against Islam” to gay rights activists.
At the front of the EDL demonstration in Bolton in March, among the banners decrying Islam, was a man holding up a pink triangle. He looked nervous when I asked him what he was doing there. “This is the symbol gay people were made to wear under Hitler,” he said. “Islam poses the same threat and we are here to express our opposition to that.” It turns out he is a member of the EDL’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender division, which has 115 members.
Many of the people I met said they had never been involved in rightwing politics before. “I finished my night shift at 5am and we got on a coach down from Wigan about six,” says Steve as the Victoria line tube train rattles along towards Pimlico and the EDL’s London demonstration a few weeks later. “Reckon I should be back in time for it to start again at 10.”
The carriage is packed with around 50 EDL supporters who set off from the north-west that morning. They launch into one of the EDL’s favourite songs: “There were 10 Muslim bombers in the air.” Steve explains over the din how his factory is being “overrun by immigrants”. Like others on EDL demonstrations, he exudes a sense of excitement that “something is happening”. “We have had enough, no one is taking us seriously … about anything — but they are going to have to listen now.”
But the EDL is not only attracting disaffected working-class men. On a chilly evening in early March, Alan Lake settles into his seat in a cafe in central London. This smartly dressed man in his mid-40s has emerged as a key figure in the organisation and is quickly into his stride — warning that the UK will have Sharia law in the next 40 years “unless something is done”.
A London-based IT consultant, Lake has spoken at several EDL rallies and sees himself as one of the organisation’s thinkers. “The middle-class intellectuals are coming forward and also American speakers — some of them quite famous, although I can’t give you names yet … they love the fact that we can have people that can go on the streets.”
Addressing a far-right anti-Islam conference in Sweden last year, Lake told delegates it was necessary to build a united “anti-Jihad movement” and spoke of the need for “people that are ready to go out in the street”, boasting that he and his friends had begun to build alliances with “more physical groups like football fans”. Lake says he is opposed to violence or confrontation but regularly returns to the importance of the EDL’s physical presence.
“The EDL has a lot of support and is growing quickly and crucially what it has done is deliver an activist movement on the streets,” he tells me subsequently. Pressed on the levels of violence at the demonstrations, he replies: “These people are not middle-class female teachers … if they continue to be suppressed it will turn nasty in one way or another … We have put bodies on the street, writing letters to the Times does not work … if we are going to have a mess that is so much grist to the mill.”
Lake says he is exploring a political future for the EDL — and argues it should consider throwing its weight behind the UK Independence party. He later introduces me to Magnus Nielsen — a Ukip candidate in the general election — who has agreed to speak at forthcoming EDL rallies. Nielsen describes Muhammad as a “criminal psychopath”, “the first cult leader” and “psychiatrically deranged”. Lake says there is “some synergy” between the two groups.
A few weeks later Lake tells me that he is no longer an EDL spokesman. “I am really working on the Ukip thing so we can offer people an alternative,” he says.
A spokesman for Ukip said it would not form any alliance with the EDL or any other “extremist” group.
However, these efforts appear to be part of tentative steps by the EDL to expand its reach beyond its street demonstrations. In March a delegation of activists travelled to Berlin to take part in an anti-Islam rally in support of far-right anti-immigrant Dutch politician Geert Wilders. It is also forging tentative links with the US anti-Islam group Stop the Islamification of America, whose New York demonstration was advertised on the EDL website in April.
Growing unrest
The upshot appears to be a movement that, although chaotic and beset by infighting, seems to be growing in scope and sometimes violence. At a protest in Dudley last month, demonstrators threw missiles at the police before ripping down barriers and rampaging through the town in an attempt to confront anti-racist protesters and local Asian youths. In Aylesbury a few weeks later they again clashed with police.
And despite the group’s protestations to the contrary, the prospect of serious unrest is growing. The list of towns the EDL plans to hit this summer is lengthening — Newcastletomorrow, Cardiff, Dudley and Bradford over the next few weeks. According to Lowles the stakes are high. “What we are seeing now is the most serious, most dangerous political phenomenon that we have had in Britain for a number of years,” he says. “With EDL protests that are growing week in, week out there is a chance for major disorder and a political shift to the right.”
But the appeal of the EDL is not just down to the extreme opinions expressed by people such as Lake and Nielsen. In Stoke a group of teenagers who were on their first EDL demonstration said they had come after reading reports that “the Muslims” were planning to march through Wootton Bassett with 500 coffins. The proposed march was called by Anjem Choudary and his small extremist group Islam4UK. The group is reviled by the majority of Muslims and the demonstration did not go ahead. But this was lost on the outraged teenagers who turned up in Stoke and subsequently travelled to two of the next three EDL events.
Outside the Morpeth Arms on the banks of the Thames in March supporters gathered for the EDL’s London demonstration. One who had travelled down from Blackburn was eager to know who had seen a television documentary that he thought showed how a Muslim group were taking over politics in east London. The EDL had carried a link to the film on the front of its website and most of the supporters drinking in the sunshine knew about it.
For Matthew Goodwin, an academic who specialises in far-right politics at Manchester University, this is a crucial difference between the EDL and previous far-right street movements.
“The reason why the EDL’s adoption of Islamophobia is particularly significant is that unlike the 1970s, when the National Front was embracing antisemitism, there are now sections of the media and the British establishment that are relatively sympathetic towards Islamophobia,” says Goodwin. “It is not difficult to look through the media and find quite hostile views towards Islam and Muslims. That is fundamentally different to the 1970s, when very few newspapers or politicians were endorsing the NF’s antisemitic message.”
“The point for your average voter is that if they see the EDL marching through their streets shouting about how the neighbourhood is about to be swamped by Muslims or how the UK is going to be Islamified by 2040, they are also receiving these cues from other sections of British society … the message of the EDL may well be legitimised if that continues.”
The people on the sharp end of the EDL’s message echo this view. Mujibul Islam, chair of the youth committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, says the foundations for the growth of the EDL have been laid not just by extremists but by countless political speeches and newspaper articles. “It simply would not be acceptable to say the things that are being said on these demonstrations about any other group — black people, Jewish people. But we are now in a position where it seems almost acceptable to say these things about Muslims.”
He said the growth of the EDL was having a real impact on the way ordinary Muslims were being treated. “A woman I know got on to a tube train which had a lot of EDL supporters on recently and was really badly abused; another man was attacked as he made his way home on the train. These are the consequences of what we are seeing now. It is not just a theoretical debate about freedom of speech.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
France: Priests Take Communication Lessons
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MAY 25 — In a society submerged by communication and by constantly increasing shock tactics designed to capture attention, even priests need to learn to sell. To sell religion. And they must “always think of Obama, who is constantly looking intensely at the audience, making everyone feel involved”. This is the secret of a good sermon. The quotes come from the organisation ‘Catholic Sermon Optimisation Service’, which was created in 2007 as part of a continuous training programme for priests in the Paris diocese. “Do not hesitate to use shocking formulas, think of Barack Obama, never read the text of the speech unless you have the talent of a famous actor,” is the advice given by laymen to a group of priests in a parish in the suburbs of Lyon during a four-day seminary on communication techniques aimed at improving the quality of sermons. “I remind you of the importance of the beginning, the most delicate moment because you need to capture attention, banish monotonous, boring voices that lead the faithful to think of other things, play on the variation of tones and animated eyes,” says the course leader, Louis-Marc Delosme, an amateur actor and theatre director. One of the men in charge of the association, Gerard Faure-Jarrosson, points out the charisma of Obama, what he sees as “inspecting the onlookers with his eyes”. After the theory course comes the practice. The “pupils” train, the teachers give advice on gestures and tones of voice. In the end, priests must learn to talk like managers. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Study Uncovers 205 Cases of Jesuit Abuse
At least 205 children suffered sexual or physical abuse at Jesuit-run German institutions in recent decades, often with those in charge aware, according to a study released Thursday.
About 46 Jesuit priests, lay teachers and other educators are suspected of being responsible for the abuse, lawyer Ursula Raue told a press conference in Munich after looking into the cases at the Jesuit order’s request.
Twelve priests, of which six are now dead, and two laymen were singled out by more than one victim or witness for acts of sexual abuse, violence or both, Raue said. The other 32 “suspects” were each accused by only one person.
The lawyer added that she learned about some 50 other cases of mistreatment at non-Jesuit Catholic institutions during her investigation.
Nearly all of the cases occurred too long ago to be pursued before the courts, Raue said, adding that the statute of limitations, which currently runs from 10 to 20 years depending on the crime, should be reconsidered.
She also sharply criticised the Jesuit order, stating that in numerous cases authorities in charge of an institution were aware that abuse was going on but did nothing about it.
In common with other European countries, Germany has been rocked in recent months by revelations that children were physically or sexually abused in religious institutions, the vast majority run by the Roman Catholic Church.
The scandal has badly damaged the standing of the Church in Germany, and also of the German-born Pope Benedict XVI, five years after his appointment as leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics was a source of great national pride.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Give US This Day Our Really Cheap Bread
Bakers in Athens have decided to lower the price of bread to 50 cents. The initiative could soon be imitated in other sectors in the country, where the decline in consumer spending has even affected the market for basic grocery items.
A few days ago, 81 market gardeners and green grocers in the Thessalonika region announced that from 1st June, as a gesture of solidarity to large families and the unemployed, they will mark down the price of fruit and vegetables sold after midday by up to 50%. Now the bakers have decided to follow suit with an announcement by their Athens union, which has pledged to reduce the price of fresh bread for a period of two hours a day. “We proposed that our members reduce prices by whatever amount they saw fit, so as to help the underprivileged,” explains union president Andréas Christou. During the special offer, which will be available from 2pm to 4pm every day, 350-gram loaves of bread will be on offer for 50 cents instead of the usual 80 cents or one euro. “It’s a fair price,” adds Christou. No specific details were available on the type of bread concerned, or on the duration of the offer, which aims to help the poor who are already feeling the effects of the crisis.
Some bakers did not wait for the union decision before cutting prices, which they slashed at the beginning of the year in a bid to hold on to customers and fight off competition from supermarkets. The current period of hard times has led Greeks to cut back on their consumption of basic foodstuffs and to content themselves with the bare minimum. Bread consumption has fallen by 20% since last year, and there are 30% fewer shoppers visiting the country’s food markets.
Cutting mortgage payments by 70%
Consumer associations are hoping that the example of the bakers will inspire other trade associations to launch similar initiatives in Athens, where consumers earning basic wages which are among the lowest in Europe have to cope with some of Europe’s highest prices. With one in four Greeks living below the European poverty line, there has been no shortage of comment on the urgent need for organised campaigns to reduce the cost of living.
Hoteliers, bakers and market gardeners are not alone in cutting prices in the country, where the banks have also been forced to restructure large numbers of loans. Some of them have cut their customers’ monthly mortgage payments by as much as 70% in a bid to ensure that they do not default. A few years ago, the same banks were doing all they could to encourage Greeks to take advantage of consumer and property loans, and credit card spending. But now that the economy is in the throes of crisis, they are increasingly worried about their own solvency. While new mortgages are now virtually impossible to obtain, everything is being done to save existing ones. The figures are alarming. Almost 13.4% of Greek mortgages are verging on default. In response, the banks have adopted a policy of reducing payments, which they hope will limit the number of foreclosures.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Priest Arrested for Alleged Child Abuse
Fresh blow to Church after series of scandals
(ANSA) — Rome, May 26 — An Italian priest has been arrested for alleged child abuse in a fresh blow to the Catholic Church, which has been shaken by a series of paedophile scandals.
Domenico Pezzini, 73, was detained by police in Milan earlier this week on suspicion of having sexual relations with a boy, who was 13 at the time of the alleged abuse. He is now 16 and living in a home for children needing special care and protection.
Child pornography was found in the home of the priest, who lives and works in Milan even though he answers to the Dioceses of the northern city of Lodi, police sources said.
“We are deeply saddened by the news of Don Domenico Pezzini’s arrest, which took us completely by surprise,” Lodi Bishop Monsignor Giuseppe Merisi said. “We are waiting for more details to help us clarify the nature of the affair, which we will look into with rigorous respect for Canon law and with faith in the criminal prosecutors”.
Pezzini is well known on the local gay scene, having been involved in groups of homosexual Catholics since the 1980s. The Catholic Church does not view having homosexual impulses as wrong, but it does believe it sinful to act on those impulses. The news is another big knock after child sex abuse scandals hit the Catholic Church in the United States, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Germany and Italy.
Critics have accused Pope Benedict XVI of failing to take proper action when he was head of the doctrinal office that deals with paedophilia cases.
The Vatican has said Benedict, on the contrary, made it easier to punish offenders as well as preventing paedophiles from becoming priests.
The pontiff has met with victims of paedophile priests in the US, Australia and, most recently, Malta where he is said to have wept as he prayed with them.
At Easter he sent a pastoral letter to Ireland expressing his “shame” over decades of abuse and cover-ups there.
The Vatican recently published the guidelines it has been using since 2003, stressing all cases are reported to the police as soon as possible.
It has also said that Benedict will be able to defrock paedophiles immediately.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Teen Complains to Police About Arranged Marriage
Macerata, 27 May (AKI) — A Pakistani schoolgirl living in southern Italy complained to police after her family allegedly forced her into an arranged marriage with her 34-year-old cousin. The 17-year-old girl told police in the town of Corridonia she received death threats from relatives after she refused to live with her cousin-husband in France.
The schoolgirl lives with her parents and siblings in Corridonia in the southern Basilicata region, where there is a community of around 600 immigrants.
The teenager telephoned police on Monday, the day before the family had arranged for her to leave for France.
Carabinieri military police went to the girl’s family home in Corridonia and took her to the town’s mayor, Nelia Calvigionia.
Under Italian law this is the first step in cases involving the alleged abuse of minors.
The girl has now been placed in a shelter. In January this year, another Pakistani teenager was abducted by her estranged father in northern Italy after she was placed in foster care.
The girl’s father, an immigrant street hawker father had savagely beaten her for being “too westernised” in her style of dress and friendships.
The issue of the cultural integration of Muslim immigrants in Italy has been brought into stark relief after several “honour” killings in recent years.
In September 2009, a Moroccan girl, Sanaa Dafani was murdered in northeastern Italy, allegedly by her father. She had a relationship with an older Italian man.
In 2006 a 20-year-old Pakistani girl, Hina Saleem, died after her throat was slit by male relatives in the northern town of Brescia.
Her ‘crime’ was to wear jeans, work in a pizzeria and go to live with her Italian boyfriend.
After the case, Italy’s previous centre-left Italian government issued a ‘charter of values’ for immigrants.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Jailed Imam’s Lawyer ‘Amazed’ At Asylum
Milan, 27 May (AKI) — The Italian government’s decision to grant political asylum to convicted terrorist Abu Imad has astonished his defence lawyer. “I am very surprised, in fact amazed, considering the crime for which he has been convicted,” said Carmelo Scambia.
The former imam at Milan’s central mosque was jailed in April and will have to serve the first eight months his sentence in prison before being allowed to do community service, Scambia said.
Imad has since 12 May been held in Benevento jail in southern Italy, Adnkronos has learned. He was initially detained in Milan’s San Vittore prison.
A former preacher at Milan’s central mosque, Imad was arrested in April after Italy’s top appeals court upheld a previous sentence and jailed him for three years and eight months.
“A press and political campaign has been going on for years against the viale Jenner mosque,” said Scambia, referring to Milan’s central mosque.
The mosque has been linked to Islamist terrorism several times but has so far managed to avoid closure.
Imad was granted asylum two weeks after Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation on 28 April upheld a previous prison sentence imposed on Imad by a Milan court in December 2007.
Imad and 10 other defendants had allegedly set up a Salafite cell that was active in Milan and elsewhere in the northern Lombardy region. Imad’s co-defendents were also jailed.
The cell’s mission is believed to have been recruiting suicide bombers, trafficking illegal immigrants and responsible for indoctrination.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lleida First City in Spain to Ban Veil in Public Place
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MAY 28 — Today, the City of Lleida in Catalonia approved a ban on wearing the full Islamic veil and niqab in public educational, cultural, sports and municipal buildings and structures. With the measure, approved with support from the CiU, PSC and PP parties, and voted against by ICV-EU-EPM parties, while the two ERC party’s councillors abstained, makes the city the first in Spain to ban the burqa and the Muslim veil in public places. The City of Barcelona rejected a proposal from the PP last week to ban the burqa in the Catalonian city. In a comment on the ban in Lleida, Religious Affairs official in the Catalan Generalitat, Monserrat Coll, called the measure ‘disproportionate’ and ‘counterproductive’. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Navy: Ships to Taranto After ‘Phoenix’ Exercises
(ANSAmed) — TARANTO, MAY 28 — Between May 31 and June 3 several foreign ships that have participated in the military exercises ‘Phoenix Express 2010’ in the Mediterranean, which started on May 10 and will end next Sunday, will stop over at the Mar Grande naval base in Taranto. “The exercises organised by the United States of America” Maridipart Taranto announced in a statement, “are an important occasion for the development of the role of the Navy of the main Mediterranean countries and North Africa regarding the fight against illegal trafficking, carried out by terrorist and criminal organisations”. The ships that will be moored in Taranto will be the Italian patroller Foscari, the Turkish frigate Zafer, the Spanish patroller Cazadora, the Moroccan frigate Mohammed V, the Algerian corvette El Chihab, and the frigate John L. Hall and the landing craft Lsd Gunston Hall of the US Navy. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope: Cyprus Visit; Archbishop, Those Contrary Out of Synod
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, MAY 28 — The Primate of the powerful Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrisostomos II, is determined to restore order among other prelates making up the Holy Synod (the Church’s governance body) who have declared their opposition to the imminent visit to the Island by Pope Benedict XVI. To achieve this, Chrisostomos has threatened them, none too lightly, saying that those who miss the festivities to welcome the Pope and do not attend the ceremony in Pafos, in the afternoon of June 4, will be expelled for a year from the Holy Synod. The Primate spoke of his drastic decision with widespread local newspaper “Phileleftheros”, which underlines how this is the first time since the election of Chrisostomos to the high seat (in 2006) that the Church of Cyprus is so divided over an issue as to reach the point of putting the very cohesion of the Holy Synod to the test. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Stop Circumcising Boys, Say Dutch Doctors
Dutch doctors organisation KNMG has called on parents not to have their sons circumcised unless there are medical grounds to do so, Nos tv reports.
The organisation says parents should be made aware there are no medical benefits to circumcision and that the operation contravenes a child’s rights.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 Dutch boys — mainly Jewish or Muslim — are circumcised every year and the operation is not without serious complications, the KNMG said.
The KNMG is not in favour of a ban, which it says would drive the practice underground.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden:23-Year-Old Convicted Over Car Park Killing
A 23-year-old man has been found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 22 months imprisonment in connection with the death of a 78-year-old woman who was assaulted during a parking lot dispute in southern Sweden in March.
Lund district court convicted the man of assaulting the woman outside a supermarket in Landskrona. The attack caused her to fall over and sustain injuries to the back of her head that led to her death in hospital two days later. The 23-year-old was also found guilty of assaulting the woman’s 71-year-old husband.
The 23-year-old was also ordered by the court to pay 61,944 kronor ($8,000) in damages to the 78-year-old’s husband and her estate.
The Lund court said the 23-year-old would have faced a slightly longer sentence of two years had he not suffered from psychological problems. An examination carried out by the National Board of Forensic Medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket) found the he had long suffered from a form of constant anxiety and related stomach complaints which made him less well-equipped for jail than the majority of prisoners.
The court found that the 23-year-old punched the 71-year-old man in the head and back in an unprovoked attack. He also punched the 78-year-old woman in the head when she intervened to help her husband.
The 23-year-old was fully aware that he was hitting an elderly woman, the court found.
The 23-year-old’s credibility in the case was damaged by the fact that he left the car park immediately after the attack and did not make himself known before the police arrived at his home to place him under arrest. When questioned by police, he denied having been at the scene of the crime.
The 71-year-old on the other hand provided the court with consistent information from the outset. The court also took into account the fact that a man who witnessed the attack from a nearby restaurant provided a different account than the 23-year-old as to why the woman fell to the ground.
Details provided by the 23-year-old’s 9-year-old niece were of very limited value, the court said, since the perpetrator had four days to exert his influence on the girl before his arrest.
The 23-year-old’s lawyer Leif Silbersky immmediately anounced his intention to appeal the verdict.
“I don’t agree with the district court’s evaluation of the evidence,” he said.
Name and address details of the 23-year-old and his family were posted on several websites after his arrest. Because of the heightened threat level, the man and his lawyer hesitated before appealing an earlier remand ruling as they considered it “safer” for him to remain in custody.
The 23-year-old comes from a family of immigrants and his arrest led to ethnic tensions in Landskrona. The right-wing extremist National Democrats called a public meeting in the town square to “protest against anti-Swedishness”. Seeking to counter a rising tide of racial antagonism, organizations including the Church of Sweden and the local Islamic society held their own anti-violence demonstrations.
“But this isn’t a problem specific to Landskrona,” said Urban Jansson, the 23-year-old’s original defence lawyer.
“This incident could have happened anywhere and most of the comments on the internet probably weren’t written from here.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Experts Mull Foreign Impact of Minaret Ban
Six months on, tensions over the ban on new minarets seem to have eased, but the issue has not gone away and the country’s image abroad has been tainted, say experts.
Swiss voters’ decision to ban the construction of minarets on November 29, 2009 sparked worldwide criticism from Muslim groups, governments, the United Nations and the Council of Europe — and praise from the European right wing.
After the initial wave of international condemnation, the Swiss vote has continued to come in for official criticism — albeit sporadic.
In March the US State Department annual report on human rights cited it as an example of anti-Muslim discrimination in Europe.
Later that month the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council backed a resolution, proposed by the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), calling the ban a “manifestation of Islamophobia”.
But there are signs that tensions have slackened off. Erwin Tanner, a top official with the Swiss Bishops Conference who recently travelled to Syria and Lebanon for inter-religious talks, felt the issue was “part of the past”.
And the European Court of Human Rights, which is considering six appeals against the ban, said it had received only two letters of complaint in April, compared with 50 per day at the end of January.
Six months on, initial fears about a violent backlash or an economic boycott by Muslims, similar to that experienced by Denmark after the Mohammed cartoons affair in 2006, have not been realised.
“The reactions to the ban by Muslim countries and Islamic organisations were very critical in tone, but mostly moderate, and with only a few exceptions, there were no calls for boycotts by government officials or politicians,” Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Adrian Sollberger told swissinfo.ch, adding that Switzerland’s global image remains “good and stable”.
He pointed to a recent poll by St Gallen University, “Swissness Worldwide 2010”, that suggests that the minaret ban has had little impact on Swiss products and services.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) confirmed the limited economic impact.
“We have no hints of any problems involving Swiss companies in Muslim countries as a result of this vote,” said Seco spokesperson Rita Baldegger.
“ The international image of Switzerland, which presented itself as a human rights role model, has been dented. “
Damage-limitation
Sollberger claimed the largely moderate reactions were thanks to an “active” information campaign by Swiss diplomats to their counterparts, religious leaders and civil society groups in Muslim countries before the vote.
This was followed by intensive contacts between the Swiss government and OIC member states and European foreign ministers, which continue.
Former Swiss ambassador François Nordmann felt this damage-limitation exercise seemed to have successfully reduced tensions.
The nomination of former Swiss cabinet minister Joseph Deiss as candidate for the office of president of the 65th UN General Assembly, and Switzerland’s re-election to the UN Human Rights Council, were key indicators of the absence of diplomatic hostility towards Switzerland, he said.
“But it’s obvious that the international image of Switzerland, which presented itself as a human rights role model, has been dented,” he told swissinfo.ch.
“It’s forced us to become more modest.”
Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World, agreed tensions had abated but felt this was more due to time than Swiss diplomatic efforts.
More worrying, he said, was that the average person in the Arab world did not comprehend the vote.
“I’ve just come back from a tour of the Gulf states and every time we talk about Switzerland people say they don’t understand why the Swiss voted in that way,” he said. “Switzerland’s image has taken a real battering.”
Pioneer
Yves Lador, a Geneva-based human rights specialist, felt the international impact of the “pernicious” vote was mixed six months on, but it was likely to have negative consequences in the long run.
“It’s like an infection that is there and hurts but still enables us to function,” he said. “But it could suddenly develop into something big and weaken us.”
While Switzerland continues to enjoy European support, certain countries will not hesitate to bring out the minaret “trump card” during future bilateral discussions, said Lador.
Both experts were concerned about the foreign perception of the Swiss vote and the way it was influencing the debate about Islam in other European countries.
“When you read in the Arab press about anti-burka campaigns in Belgium or France they all talk about Switzerland as the pioneer that dared try something before the others,” said Abidi.
Belgium’s lower house of parliament voted in April for a law that would ban women from wearing the full Islamic face veil in public; the law now goes to the Senate. In France a similar bill is due to go before parliament in July.
In the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia two rightwing groups this month called for a ban on minarets, heavily inspired by the Swiss People’s Party’s campaign and posters.
The northern Swiss canton of Aargau passed an anti-burka proposal earlier this month and on Tuesday the Geneva-branch of the Swiss People’s Party launched a new proposal calling for a cantonal ban on burkas. A constitutional committee will examine the question next year and if it passes, local residents could vote on the issue in autumn 2012.
“We are contaminating each other,” said Lador. “A ban on burkas in Geneva would destroy tourism from the Middle East. If that happens the impact would be worse than for minarets.”
Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch
Muslims in Switzerland
The Muslim community in Switzerland accounts for about 4.5% of the population.
Most Muslim immigrants came from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey. The community includes up to 100 nationalities.
The number of Muslims doubled between the censuses of 1990 and 2000, largely boosted by an influx of refugees and asylum seekers, including from the war in the former Yugoslavia.
There are about 200 mosques and prayer houses in Switzerland, but only four have a minaret.
On November 29, 57 per cent of voters supported a people’s initiative to ban the construction of new minarets in Switzerland. This was in the wake of heated debates and legal battles at a local level about requests by mosques to build more minarets.
In recent years, both mosque and minaret construction projects in many European countries, including Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Slovenia have generated protests, some of them violent.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Left is Trying to Take Back Centre Ground in Europe
Many social democrats in Europe are looking at the Dutch election battle with high expectations, hoping Labour leader Job Cohen could reverse the electoral disasters of the last years.
By Marc Leijendekker
The mood on the left in most European countries is gloomy. The British labour party has been voted out of office after thirteen years. Last September, the German SPD booked its worst results since the Second World War. In France the Parti Socialiste has regained confidence after the good results of the regional elections in March, but the internal division remains great and history shows that presidential elections (due in 2012) are a very different game. Across Europe the centre-left suffered a painful defeat during the elections for the European Parliament last June.
The left is also a struggling with its message. “Social democracy now has less appeal than at any time since the Second World War, while political conservatism is ‘social democratising’ itself,” said German sociologist and economist Alfred Pfaller.
The French political scientist Philippe Marlière reckons the social democrats have lost ground in Europe almost constantly over the past 50 years, apart from a resurgence in the 1990s. Social democracy is in such crisis that it must fight for its survival, he said. “Has social democracy anything distinctive to say about many of the problems we currently face? No.”
The refrain of ‘the vacuum on the left’ is heard in many places. It has often been observed how paradoxical it is. The financial crisis has laid bare the faults in an economic model in which free market thinking takes centre stage and the state plays a supporting role. But virtually nowhere in Europe has this crisis led to a shift to the left among the electorate. In some countries centre-right parties have embraced policies that traditionally belonged to the left. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said last year: “The idea that the markets are always right was a ridiculous idea (…) The laissez-faire attitude is over.” German chancellor Angela Merkel has been pushing for hedge funds to be curbed, something even the British Conservatives no longer reject out of hand.
Neo-liberal
Another explanation of the paradox is that, in a number of countries, is has been the left that was pushing for the neo-liberal model of ‘more market and less state’, and therefore for more individual responsibility. When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, he promised a ‘third way’. There have been endless theoretical discussions about its ideological meaning. Inpractice it meant that left-wing politicians — who between 1997 and 2002 were in power in 12 of the then 15 EU member states — carried out an economic policy traditionally deemed right-wing.
The price for these policies has been growing social inequality. As Blair’s minister Peter Mandelson famously said: “We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, as long as they pay their taxes.”
Now Labour is out of 10 Downing Street and the third way has finally been buried. All over Europe, social democrats are trying to formulate a 21st century update for it. An internet website called Social Europe debates ‘the Good Society’. Think-tanks affiliated to the Dutch and British Labour parties are collaborating on a long-running discussion programme called the Amsterdam Process, that aims for ‘ideological renewal of European Social Democracy’.
Of course, there are differences between countries. In Spain, the socialists are still the modernisers, compared with the right-wing opposition. In Sweden and Denmark, the social democrats are dealing with a feeling of superfluousness because no one is openly questioning the social system. In Italy, the centre-left is in a permanent state of disarray.
Inequality appears to be the key in the contemporary interpretation of social democratic ideology. “The focus has narrowed,” said the German sociology professor Helmut Wiesenthal. “Today’s issues are social justice, income inequality and the changes on the labour market.”
Division of wealth
“The main issue in the coming years will be the division of wealth,” confirmed his colleague Marlière, ignoring the cutbacks being prepared by socialist governments in Greece, Spain and Portugal. “There is wealth enough. It’s just that, in the last 15 or so years, governing social democrats have accepted that that wealth was increasingly unequally divided. A growing portion has gone to financial capitalism, where it’s never enough. Look at the unrealistic salaries and bonuses in that sector. We know how to create wealth. We now need a much better division of the wealth. For that, more regulation is necessary.”
Related themes often mentioned are the revaluation of the state, limiting market thinking and a wider understanding of wealth, in which not just growth and production are considered.
An influential figure in this debate is the British historian Tony Judt. Despite a terminal muscle disease, he published a much-discussed pamphlet in March: Ill Fares the Land. In it he wrote: “We have long practised something resembling social democracy, but we have forgotten how to preach it.”
Judt too puts the fight against inequality first and couples this with a plea for a revaluation of the public sector. He accuses the left of a “marked reluctance to defend the public sector with a call for collective interests or principles”. This must change, he argues. Let social democrats consider in depth whether society is better served when public transport, post, healthcare and other public facilities are privatised.
Political philosopher Rutger Claassen, who is involved in the Amsterdam Process, supports Judt’s criticism of market forces. But he warns against a return to old reflexes. “Social democrats must not narrow their vision to just social inequality. There are other important themes: environment and sustainability, further democratisation, immigration. I don’t hear enough about these issues.”
Opinion polls show things are going well for social democracy in the Netherlands, where a new parliament will be voted in on June 9. And there may be some good months to come. For elections in the Czech Republic (May 28 and 29), Slovakia (June 12) and Belgium (June 13) electoral prospects look good for the centre-left. In Sweden ‘red-green’ has a good chance of taking over from the current centre-right government in September.
Perhaps electoral successes will give an impulse to the ideological debate. But the looming austerity measures may thwart a social democratic recalibration. With huge cutbacks in the making, it is difficult to plead a larger role for the state.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Rethinking Islamic Reform’ In Oxford
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Tariq Ramadan’s presence promised much, but these scholars never got down to the nitty-gritty
Can Islam be reformed? What role, if any, should government play in bringing about reform? Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, a charismatic white California-based American who converted to Islam in 1977, and the equally charistmatic Egyptian/Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan, tip-toed elegantly around the subject on Wednesday night without setting off any of the fire alarms.
They’re certainly a draw: Hamza with his links to the White House — the Muslim with whom presidents like to be seen; and Ramadan whose links with the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (he is Hassan al-Banna’s grandson) renders his new Oxford professorship of contemporary Islamic studies tre’s piquant.
They managed to pack out Oxford’s 17th-century Sheldonian Theatre for a suitably hyped event that many were prepared to pay £110 a ticket for — though that included an “exclusive networking reception” at the Divinity School together with a “sumptuous” buffet afterwards. Muslims, male and female, students and elder statesmen, the long-bearded and the sharp-suited were prepared to pay this vast sum to hear credible scholars take on the elephant in the public square: can Islam be reformed while side-stepping the need for innovation (bida) — which is heresy? Can it adapt to the claims of the modern world and remain true to its own authentic inheritance?
Well, the crowd (and writers like Yahya Birt) were to be disappointed. Both men stressed their commitment to the fundamental texts and beliefs of Islam. Both emphasised that the critical issue is knowing how to interpret the texts, the Qur’an in particular, in ways which are faithful but relevant to modern contexts. Yet neither was prepared to give specific example. It was impossible therefore to assess the implications of their ideas, or understand their reasoning. Neither was it possible to guage the significance of this event, given the protagonsists’ failure to address specifics while being deeply complicit in western culture. The debate is already raging among less high-profile Muslim progressives around the globe, so here was nothing new.
Although we held our breath, Tariq Ramadan kept things frustratingly general. Simply repeating his usual line about the need and the possibility of connecting texts with current contexts is not the same as actually telling us how. For example, in traditional Islamic law, if the husband of a Muslim couple decides to leave Islam and apostasise, he must be divorced from his wife, since a Muslim woman married to a non-Muslim man is regarded as unacceptable. A Muslim friend said to me recently that in an otherwise happy marriage, demanding that the couple separate is just inappropriate today. But isn’t this to bend sharia law out of all recognisable shape? Such issues — and hundreds like them — facing modern Muslims are dynamically alive today, and crying out for attention in a public forum like this.
But attention is what they did not get.
Tariq Ramadan stressed that he wants to reform the way Muslims think, not to reform Islam itself. This highlights a crisis of authority that Yusuf himself referred to when he spoke of Sheikh Google and Weekend Muftis dishing out fatwas — legal rulings — without the proper training. Both speakers emphasised how most Muslims are blissfully unaware of the vast riches of the Islamic intellectual tradition: Hamza Yusuf citing Ibn Taymiyya (d 1328) who allowed a woman to lead ritual prayer for a mixed gathering — as long as she did so from the back of the group. But the really interesting question, left unspoken, is how you decide whether to promote this type of unusual view over other more restrictive views on women’s leadership of mixed prayer. Are these so-called “reformist Muslims” serious, or are their blandishments a smoke screen? Who are they really addressing on what, and why?
On some of today’s big issues there were some tantalising nuggets. Don’t get too close to governments: advise them if your intentions are faithful to Islam, but recognise that this may taint you in the eyes of other Muslims.
Hamza Yusuf stated at the very end of his talk that Islam is a peaceful faith, and that Muhammad disdained war. No doubt he has thought-through responses on how this fits with the rapid spread of Islam through conquest in the hundred years after the death of Muhammad. It just would have been good to hear them.
Likewise Tariq Ramadan mentioned that the word “jihad” has nothing to do with holy war. So what are we to do with the more military interpretations of jihad, both classical and modern? Were they always a mistake, or have they just been overtaken by changing circumstances, and become irrelevant?
Hamza Yusuf commented that Muslims lack the intellectual tools to navigate modern situations, even though the tradition itself has all the necessary resources, he says, for reform — or, as he calls it, “renovation”.
As the Oxford don might say, in summary of one of those essays to which those eager-eyed students will now be returning: “Some interesting ideas, but more examples and explanation needed.”
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brown’s Timebomb
A RECORD 417,000 immigrants were given the right to live in Britain permanently last year, figures showed yesterday.
Of those, 203,000 were handed a British passport and full citizenship in 2009 — around one person every three minutes.
The number rocketed from 129,375 — a 58 per cent rise — in just a year.
Another 214,000 were given the right to settle in the UK — the first step to full citizenship.
This figure soared by 40 per cent over the 12 months.
The Home Office figures showed 29 per cent of those given a passport last year were from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Another 27 per cent came from Africa and 17 per cent from Asia, including China and the Philippines.
Last year’s total was the highest since the figures were first published in 1962.
Immigration minister Damian Green said the dramatic increases exposed the timebomb left by former Labour PM Gordon Brown and his party’s failed policies.
Mr Green said: “What is significant is that grants of settlement, the right to remain in this country, and grants of British citizenship have gone up hugely to record levels.
“So it shows the long-term effect of the fact that the immigration system was out of control for so long under the previous government.
“I believe immigration has been far too high in recent years, which is why we will reduce net migration back down to the levels of the 1990s — to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands.”
But the Home Office statistics also showed the number of new arrivals dipped last year as the UK was clobbered by the recession. Just over half a million immigrants came — a drop of nine per cent. This included 45,000 from Eastern European countries like Poland, down 55 per cent.
Net immigration — the number arriving in Britain minus the number leaving — dipped from 160,000 to 142,000.
David Cameron has vowed to cut this figure to “tens of thousands” by imposing a cap on immigrants from outside the EU.
And Mr Green promised new limits on work permits and a crackdown on marriage and foreign students. Campaign group Migrationwatch said the citizenship and rights of settlement increases were worrying.
Chairman Sir Andrew Green said: “These massive increases are the legacy of 12 years in which Labour has lost control of immigration.
“It leaves a huge task for the new Government but it is a task that must be achieved if the public’s concerns are to be met.” Other figures predicted that England’s population will soar by nearly four million in the decade from 2008 to 2018 — with Colchester, Essex, the fastest-growing area.
The number of people in England will shoot up from 51.5 million to 55.3 million between 2008 and 2018.
Garrison town Colchester will see its population rise by 33,000 to 207,000 — an increase of nearly 20 per cent. Westminster in London, Bristol and Norwich will all see their populations rocket by more than 16 per cent, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics.
The East of England will be the country’s fastest-growing region, with nearly 600,000 more people — a ten per cent increase.
It is also the region which has seen some of the biggest influx of immigrants over the last decade.
In contrast, the smallest rise will be 3.5 per cent in the North West.
The Office for National Statistics said the increases are being driven by migration as well as rising birth rates and people living longer.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Paedophile Postman Used Facebook and Bebo to Groom Up to 1,000 Children for Sex
A paedophile postman used Facebook and Bebo to groom up to 1,000 children for sex.
After creating at least eight fake ‘ profiles,’ Michael Williams targeted youngsters he met on his post round, on school runs as a taxi driver, and in his role as secretary of a local football club.
He dyed his hair different colours to hide his identity and pretended to be a young boy called ‘James’ and a teenage girl called ‘Gorgeous Charlie’ to meet children aged between 11 and 16.
Many of his victims were tricked into performing sex acts on a webcam but he convinced others to meet him in parks, on beaches and at his home where he abused them.
Williams, from Penryn, Cornwall, today admitted 27 charges at Truro Crown Court including grooming, sexual activity with a child and inciting children to engage in sexual activity.
But he asked for another 460 offences to be taken into consideration — including voyeurism, sexual assault and child pornography.
Police have identified around 500 victims he carefully groomed or abused but believe there could be up to 1,000 youngsters in total because hundreds are too scared to come forward.
Detectives described 28-year-old bisexual Williams — who kept newspaper cuttings about child killer Ian Huntley — as a ‘predatory, manipulative and prolific offender ‘ who was caught ‘ before his offending escalated.’
| [Return to headlines] |
Science: Serbia-Spain Cooperation Accord Signed
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MAY 28 — Serbian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European integration and Minister of Science and Technological Development Bozidar Djelic signed an interstate agreement with Spain’s Science and Innovation Minister Cristina Garmendia in Madrid today, which refers to cooperation between Serbia and Spain in the field of science and technology. Speaking to Tanjug news agency, Djelic underlined that this is the first agreement of the kind between the two countries, which will focus on four issues — agriculture, biomedicine, materials science and information technologies. Minister Djelic called on the scientific community in Serbia to propose projects, which, as he pointed out, the Ministry of Science and Technological Development will support. “Cooperation has been agreed with the Materials Science Institute and the Spanish National Centre of Biotechnology, one of the world’s most renowned institutions of the kind,” Djelic said. He added that on the occasion, it was noted that the young scientists from Serbia who are currently in Spain will represent a bridge between the institutions. During his three-day visit to Spain, Djelic called on the local officials to back Serbia’s EU pathway, so that the country could be given the green light for submitting its application for EU membership, and that the process of ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) could begin.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Chinese to Buy Pancevo Glass Factory
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MAY 28 — Glass factory Industrija stakla Pancevo (ISP) has received an offer for strategic partnership from a Chinese state-owned company, reports BETA news agency. The Chinese are willing to invest USD 110 million in the building of a new flat glass factory. The factory would directly employ 500 new workers, and approximately 500 tonnes of raw materials would be melted in it on daily basis. Indirectly, the new factory would open 1.000 workplaces in companies which would provide it with raw and other necessary materials. The offer was submitted to the Privatization Agency and Serbia’s Ministry of Economy.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: PharmaSwiss to Build New Plant in Belgrade
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MAY 28 — The Swiss pharmaceutical company PharmaSwiss will build a new medicine manufacturing unit in the Zemun municipality, Belgrade, and this greenfield investment will amount to 20 million euros, the company representatives told journalists on the occasion of marking the 10th anniversary of the companies presence in the Serbian market. The total size of the complex will be 20,000 square meters, while the production section is planned to employ 200 new workers, Production Development Director of the PharmaSwiss Serbia Goran Stojanovic stated at the press conference, reports Tanjug news agency. The construction work is planned to start in the last quarter of 2010, and all necessary equipment is expected to be installed by the end of 2011 when the factory will launch production, he said. Stojanovic underlined that PharmaSwiss has an important position in Serbia’s pharmaceutical market, adding that according to estimations, the company holds a 10 to 12 percent share of the Serbian market. PharmaSwiss was established in Switzerland in 2000 and currently does business in 19 countries, Executive Chairman and Founder Petr Nemec stated, adding that the company has 300 employees in Serbia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Directorate of Mediterranean Regulators Elected
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 28 — Algerian Nadjib Otmane has been nominated in Valletta today at the head of the Mediterranean Association of Electricity and Gas Regulators (Medreg). Otmane, who chairs Algeria’s regulatory commission for gas and electricity was elected in the ninth general assembly of Medreg. The meeting was attended by fifteen energy-sector regulators from around the Mediterranean basin. Medreg (a project co-financed by the European Union), unites energy regulators from Albania, Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, the Palestinian Authorities, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Frattini Slams ‘Anti-Israel Fruit Boycott’
Cooperatives deny stopping produce from Territories
(ANSA) — Washington, May 26 — Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Wednesday slammed an alleged boycott by two Italian supermarket chains of Israeli fruit produced in the Palestinian Territories.
Speaking on a visit to Washington, Frattini called the reported move by the two left-wing cooperatives Conad and Coop “dangerous” and “racist”.
The foreign minister pointed out that many Palestinians work for the Israeli fruit exporter Agrexo and the economy of the Territories would be hurt.
Conad and Coop have denied joining a worldwide campaign to boycott Agrexo because it allegedly mislabels produce from the Territories.
In the face of cross-party criticism of its reported move, Conad said it had only stopped stocking the company’s grapefruit because they were out of season and would resume selling them when they were “once more available”.
Coop, on the other hand, said it had merely “suspended” the arrival of produce “potentially grown” in the Territories to see if the labels were correct.
It said it would then be “up to the individual consumer” to decide whether to buy the fruit.
The cooperative called the alleged incident “a case of media hype with no foundation in reality”.
Agrexo says the labelling and sourcing of its products comply with European Union rules.
Anti-Israel campaigners around the world believe the boycott will put pressure on Israel to stop building settlements in the Territories as a condition for a revival of the peace process.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: NGO Fleet, Turkish Ship Sails From Antalya
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 28 — A Turkish ship, the “Mavi Marmaris”, today left the port of Antalya, on the southern coast of Turkey, headed for the island of Cyprus where eight other ships of the “Fleet for Gaza” are waiting for it. Together they will head for the Gaza Strip, to deliver humanitarian aid, press agency Anadolu reports. Many reporters and MPs from various countries are on board of the ship. Meanwhile the police of Cyprus this morning kept a group of Italian politicians and members of humanitarian organisations from reaching the “Fleet”, anchored in international waters off Cyprus, ANSA learned from sources of the mission. The sources specified that the police justified the blockade by referring to “heavy international pressure”. Israel has announced, despite the appeal made by the Turkish authorities, that it will send the humanitarian convoy back. The “Fleet” transports tonnes of medicines, construction material, power generators, electric wheelchairs and school material for the people of Gaza.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Lieberman, We Will Stop the Propaganda Fleet
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV/GAZA, MAY 28 — Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman today called the multinational fleet of non-governmental pro-Palestinian organisations of ‘Free Gaza’, which intends to break the blockade on the Hamas-controlled enclave, “violent propaganda against Israel”. The fleet is not expected to arrive in the area before tomorrow. “There is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip” said Lieberman in an ad hoc meeting during which he stressed that his government will not allow the ships to reach their destination. “Israel” he added, “is being as humanitarian as possible and lets thousands of tonnes of food and materials through to Gaza, despite the war crimes and the rocket launches by Hamas”. The initiative of the NGOs is “only a violent propaganda attempt against Israel”, to which Israel will respond “by not allowing any violation of its sovereignty: on sea, in the air or on land”. According to press speculations, Israeli security forces have already installed systems to jam communications around the Gaza Strip — to which Israel has limited access of goods and people since the rise to power of the Muslim extremists of Hamas in 2007 — and have put up tents and services around the port of Ashdod (in the south of Israel), where the fleet will be routed. From there, the activists will be forced to return to their countries and the aid goods will be put on land under Israeli control. Israel’s warnings so far have failed to discourage the leaders of the convoy, organised by NGOs registered in Turkey, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland and Algeria, with participation of some Italian leftwing activists as well. Despite some delays in the schedule, the ships — which yesterday grouped off the coast of Larnaca — are expected to continue their voyage in the coming hours. The fleet is expected to reach the Israeli blockade (around 20 miles off the coast of Gaza) “tomorrow or Sunday”, as Jamal al-Khudari, founder in the Gaza Strip of the ‘Committee against the Blockade’ and coordinator of communications with the fleet from the Palestinian enclave, told ANSA today.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Top Level Islamic Extremists Linked to Gaza Flotilla
The launching ceremony for the part in the flotilla to the Gaza Strip was attended by several Islamist extremists in Istanbul.
While the flotilla organizers present themselves as human rights advocates whose sole goal is to assist the people of Gaza, a new report reveals the groups cooperation with radical human rights violators. According to a report by the Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, senior Islamic extremists attended the launching ceremony in Istanbul of a boat participating in the flotilla. Among the participants were Mahmad Tzoalha and Sahar Albirawi, both top Hamas terrorists who today operate in Great Britain, and Hamam Said, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.
Bolant Yilderim, the chairman of the IHH, a Turkish based pro-Palestinian organization that is spearheading the Gaza flotilla, delivered a radical speech at the ceremony to the applause of Turkish politicians and radical Islamic activists. “Israel behaves like Hitler did towards the Jews. Hitler built concentration camps in Germany, and today the Zionist entity is building concentration camps in Palestine,” said Chairman Yilderim.
The rally was also attended by Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, who praised the attitude of the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and asked leaders of the entire Arab world to follow his example.
Salah has previously admitted in an Israeli Court to conferring with foreign agents and assisting unauthorized organizations, after it had become known that he was in contact with Hamas. He often voiced anti-Semitic hate messages that are based on the most ancient blood libels: “We are not the ones who eat a meal based on bread and cheese in children’s blood,” he said in one of his speeches, and at another event he stated that the Jews are “butchers of pregnant women and babies… Thieves, you are the bacteria of all times… The Creator meant for you to be monkeys and losers… Victory is with the Muslims, from the Nile to the Euphrates.”
“If the goal of the flotilla was humanitarian, they would have let Israel transfer the aid through, and would not have attempted to infiltrate the Gaza Strip in an illegal way,” explains Col. (res.) Reuven Ehrlich, a former member of the Israeli Intelligence Corps who currently heads the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. “Their only goal is to generate a provocation aimed at embarrassing Israel and the IDF, and to aid Hamas and the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.”
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Australian Political Leader Talks About Christian Persecution in Iraq
The Rev Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, gave the following address in the NSW Upper House on Christian persecution in Iraq.
“Tonight I refer to the persecution of Assyrian Christians in Iraq. It is a tragedy that many members of religious minority groups continue to be persecuted and murdered. Many refugees have fled to the neighbouring countries of Syria and Jordan. Thankfully, many thousands have been able to come to Australia and to settle in Sydney’s western suburbs. Recently I met with many refugees, in particular at the recent Assyrian New Year festival held at Fairfield showground. In July 2009 the Assyrian International News Agency released its updated report entitled, “Incipient Genocide: The Ethnic Cleansing of the Assyrians of Iraq.” It is an understatement to assert that that report makes for dire and disturbing reading. It details the systematic and consistent persecution of Assyrian Christians in Iraq, including gruesome murders, extortion and violence,” said Rev Fred Nile.
“Most disturbing is the fact that religious institutions such as churches and church buildings, and symbols are being targeted, in particular, through bombings, inflicting terror and insecurity on the remaining Assyrian community. In December 2008 the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that Iraq be designated as a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act in light of the ongoing severe abuses of religious freedom and the Iraqi Government’s apparent toleration of these abuses, particularly abuses against Iraq’s smallest and most vulnerable religious minorities. Commission chair Felice D. Daer described Iraq as “among the most dangerous places on earth for religious minorities”. The commission’s report states:
“The situation is especially dire for Iraq’s smallest religious minorities, including the Chaldo Assyrian and other Christians, Sabean Mandaeans, and Yazidis. These groups do not have militia or tribal structures to protect them and do not receive adequate official protection. Their members continue to experience targeted violence and to flee to other areas within Iraq or other countries, where the minorities represent a disproportionately high percentage among Iraqi refugees. Marginalised legally, politically, and economically, they are caught in the middle of a struggle between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central Iraqi government for control of northern areas where their communities are concentrated.”
There is no indication in that report of any improvement or change to the situation. The Governor of Mosul, who was unable to protect Christians in that city, said:
“… the city’s Christians are victims of a political conspiracy designed to get them out of Mosul and put them in the “Nineveh Plain”, referring to the beneficiaries of this issue, points related to Kurdistan region, describing them as “responsible” for the suffering of the Christians of Mosul campaigns targeting persistent.”
He said that the attacks “reveal the involvement of army officers of the Iraqi Kurds in the process”, in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the city of Mosul. On 2 May buses carrying Christian Assyrian university students from Qaraqosh, Baghdida, 40 kilometres east of Mosul, were attacked with bombs. That resulted in 140 students being injured and a Christian shop owner being killed—another indication of the ongoing terrorist attacks and persecutions in Iraq aimed at Christians. An article from the Assyrian Universal Alliance states:
“Attacks on monasteries and churches, looting and seizing of property by force, kidnappings, and forced conversions into Islam are happening under the watchful eyes of the coalition and Iraqi security forces …”
Even though Australia has been assisting, things have not improved for Christian Assyrians who should be remembered and supported in their plea for peace and freedom”, Rev Nile stated.
Christian Democratic Party, Australia
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Hezbollah Using ‘Compounds in Syria’ For Arms
Damascus 28 May (AKI) — Hezbollah has secret depots with surface to air missiles and other weapons in Syria that is allowing the group to arm itself in neighbouring Lebanon, according to unnamed security sources and satellite images shown to The Times, the UK newspaper said in a report on Friday.
Satellite images of a site near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus, shows a compound where militants have their own living quarters, an arms storage site and trucks reportedly used to ferry weapons into Lebanon, according to the article.
“Hezbollah is allowed to operate this site freely,” said a security source. “They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them.”
The United States, and many of its western allies worry that Syrian president Bashar Assad has become too close to Hezbollah and Iran.
Most of Syria’s overt support of the armed group has been in Lebanon, rather than on Syrian soil.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 (photo). There are fears that a repeat could directly involve Syria.
Israel reportedly planned recently to bomb one of the arms convoys as it crossed the border into Lebanon, but the operation was called off at the last minute, according to The Times.
Jihad Makdissi, the spokesman for the Syrian Embassy in London, insisted that all military sites in Syria were exclusive to the Syrian military.
“Syria and Israel remain in a state of war as long as Israel refuses to implement UNSC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions to end the occupation of Arab lands; therefore if these military depots really exist it would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian Army to defend Syrian soil, and it is definitely nobody’s business,” he told The Times.
Arming Hezbollah was banned by a United Nations resolution that ended the 2006 conflict.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Kiarostami Film Banned by Tehran
Teheran, 27 May (AKI) — Celebrated Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s new film has been banned by Tehran amid the government’s rumbling censorship row with the Cannes Film Festival. French actress Juliet Binoche won Cannes’ best actress award last weekend for her role in the film, Certified Copy, a soul-searching tale of love and marriage.
But Iran’s deputy culture minister Javad Shamaq claimed Binoche’s “attire” made the movie unacceptable.
“If Juliette Binoche were better clad it could have been screened but due to her attire there will not be a general screening,” Shamaq said, quoted by local media.
Both Kiarostami and Binoche criticised Iran’s hardline government throughout the Cannes festival for the imprisonment of Jafar Panahi, another Iranian filmmaker who was to sit on the Cannes jury.
On picking up her prize, a tearful 46-year-old Binoche brandished a sign with Panahi’s name. He was released on bail on Tuesday.
Kiarostami won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or prize with his film ‘The Taste of Cherries’.
DVDs of Kiarostami’s movies are reportedly available on Iran’s black market.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Amnesty Urges Probe of MP’s Killing
London, 26 May (AKI) — Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the Iraqi authorities to investigate the killing of secular MP Bashar al-Ageidi in the northern city of Mosul. The politician was shot in the chest by armed gunmen outside his home on Monday and his driver was also reportedly injured in the attack.
The MP was recently elected to parliament with the Al-Iraqiya bloc of former prime minister Iyad Allawi, which narrowly won elections in March, beating incumbent prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance.
“The Iraqi authorities must investigate this killing and bring those responsible to justice in conformity with international law and without recourse to the death penalty,” said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa programme.
“More must be done to protect the hundreds of civilians who are being killed or injured in increasing attacks by armed groups, as the ongoing uncertainty over when a new Iraqi government will be formed continues.”
According to reports, one of the attackers has been arrested by police. Al-Iraqiya has criticised the government for failing to protect al-Ageidi.
Iraq’s president Jalal Talabani condemned al-Ageidi’s killing and accused “the forces of terror” of being behind the attack.
An unnamed al-Iraqiya MP was quoted as telling Iraqi daily ‘al-Sabah’ on Wednesday that police investigators believed Al-Qaeda was behind al-Ageidi’s murder.
No group has so far claimed the attack.
More than two months after Iraq’s election, there are still no certified results and no new government has been formed.
“This political and security vacuum is being exploited by armed groups fighting against Iraqi and US forces who have intensified their suicide bombing campaign,” Amnesty said.
Before and since the elections, hundreds of civilians, including political activists, journalists, women and members of ethnic and religious minorities, have been killed by armed groups b.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Chinese CNPC Buys 35% of Shares in Shell Facilities
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, MAY 28 — China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), one of the biggest Chinese energy-sector companies, according to data reported by the ICE (Italian Trade Commission) in Damascus, has decided to buy 35% of the share portfolio of SHELL’s facilities in Syria. The agreement is valued at about one and a half billion US dollars. As referred by CNPC sources, the agreement will also contribute to promoting the cooperation with SHELL in joint ventures abroad and to strengthening its presence in Syria and in the Middle East. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Before the Endgame: America’s Fatal Flaws in Afghanistan
By Ahmed Rashid
Taliban fighters in Afghanistan: The insurgents have stated privately that they want direct talks with Washington and NATO.
When Washington starts withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan in July 2011, its NATO allies in Europe will quickly rush to the exits. A power-sharing arrangement between Kabul and the Taliban is a less than ideal solution, but it is the only realistic option if the West pulls out.
No matter how many times President Barack Obama and his senior officials tell the world that the Americans will not be pulling out of Afghanistan in just 13 months time, most Afghans believe that the US endgame is already well under way. The same is true for governments of neighboring countries known for their interference and influence-seeking in the Hindu Kush.
That means everyone from Afghan warlords to Taliban and al-Qaida commanders to intelligence agencies in neighboring states have upped their game to undercut rivals, achieve their aims and further their influence. The danger is that Afghanistan will once again become, in the words of Lord Curzon, the 19th century British imperial figure, “the cockpit of Asia.”
Obama himself gave the game away when he said last December that even though 30,000 more US troops would be deployed to Afghanistan this year in a large military and civilian surge to drive back the Taliban, by July 2011 US forces will start withdrawing from the country and handing it over to the Afghans. By this October there will be 100,000 US and more than 40,000 other troops — mainly from other NATO countries in Afghanistan — and by next July they will start withdrawing.
Illiterate, Undertrained and Irresponsible
More than $25 billion has been poured into efforts to rebuild the Afghan army and police, but they are still largely illiterate, undertrained and irresponsible and nowhere near ready to take over nation-building tasks. Of the 5,200 Western military trainers that the US and NATO agreed were needed to mentor Afghan forces, only half have been deployed. And despite numerous promises, only 300 of those are Europeans.
For Afghans and powerful neighbors such as Pakistan, India and Iran, it is abundantly clear that the first American soldier to leave will be followed with a rush to the exit by European NATO countries, where the war has lost legitimacy and popularity. The Dutch have already declared their intentions to leave the critical southern province of Uruzghan this summer, the Canadians will leave Kandahar province next year followed possibly by the Danes. And the British have been asked by the Americans to leave Helmand province and redeploy to Kandahar.
Obama’s surge was a well-considered notion except for the self-imposed time frame that has frustrated US commanders. On a positive note, the surge coincided with a new counterinsurgency strategy now embraced by NATO that puts an emphasis on protecting the people and pushing forward with development rather than killing insurgents. But that, too, requires time and not a 12-month deadline.
The US first applied its new military strategy in Marja, a small town in southern Helmand and center of the drugs trade. And yet the 15,000 Western and Afghan forces have still been unable to prevent the Taliban from returning to the town at night to lay mines in the roads, intimidate the population and prevent an Afghan administration from running the city.
Now US and NATO forces plan to launch the biggest offensive of the war this summer when over 20,000 troops will deploy to clear Kandahar city and adjoining Taliban-controlled districts before handing security over to Afghan forces. US General David Petraeus warned the population of Kandahar on a visit there on April 30 that the Taliban would retaliate and take “horrific actions” to disrupt the US-led offensive. The Taliban have since launched a wave of assassinations in broad daylight in the city, killing a dozen top Afghan officials including the deputy mayor of the city.
Three Continuing Crises
There are three ongoing crises that the international community has still failed to square up to. The first is the lack of a consistent Afghan partner. A new Pentagon report to the US Congress states that only 29 out of 121 key districts support President Hamid Karzai. Most Afghans are still sitting on the fence. Recent US pressure on Karzai to improve governance in Afghanistan and eliminate corruption continues to fall on deaf ears.
For the past nine years, American governments have been naive and inconsistent in their dealings with Karzai. During that time, the Afghan president has never considered good governance to be a serious issue — why should he suddenly be expected to do so now? Meanwhile, the lack of trust between Karzai and the Americans has grown. The US first accused Karzai of rigging last year’s presidential elections, then accepted the results only to fight with him again over governance issues, finally making up with Karzai so he could conduct an all important visit to Washington the week before last.
The second problem is that even if the US maintains a troop presence in Afghanistan for another five years, as it is likely to do, the Europeans will certainly decline to do so. According to recent polls, 72 percent of Britons want their troops out of Afghanistan immediately, as do 62 percent of Germans. Polling across Europe — from Spain to Sweden — shows that over 50 percent of Europeans have had enough and want their troops to come home.
Thus Afghanistan’s immediate crisis is also in the corridors of NATO in Brussels and European capitals because no European government can afford to sustain a foreign policy that is so deeply unpopular at home and costs so much in terms of blood and treasure for very long. So it was not surprising to see US and European leaders agree at the April 23 NATO meeting in Tallinn to start transferring control of some provinces of Afghanistan back to the Afghan government by the end of this year. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s statement that “increasingly this year the momentum will be ours” seemed overly optimistic and hollow. Many Afghans would call such a move a retreat rather than an advance.
Part 2: Germany Has Its Head Stuck in the Sand
Germany has deployed 4,500 troops in northern Afghanistan and Kunduz, but when it comes to explaining its strategy, intentions or aims to its citizens, the country’s head has been stuck in the sand — even more so than most other European nations. The degree of subterfuge pursued by Berlin in front of its own people has been remarkable.
Chancellor Angela Merkel herself has shown little interest in Afghanistan or Germany’s deployment there and only recently attended her first funeral for a fallen German soldier. Soon, roughly 5,000 US troops will be deployed in the north to support the Germans in launching a major offensive to drive out the Taliban.
A Proxy Force
The third problem is that the Afghan Taliban and other extremist groups are still able to find sanctuary in Pakistan. The Pakistan military allowed the Taliban and its allies to relaunch their campaign against US forces in 2003. Bush ignored the issue as long as Pakistan went after al-Qaida, which the military did. Obama has pushed Pakistan harder with both carrots and sticks, but Pakistan insists on keeping the Afghan Taliban option open because of its perceived but exagerrated threat from India, which has strengthened its influence in Kabul. Now, with the US intent to withdraw and Pakistan a key player in the end game for influence in Kabul, the military sees it as all the more important to keep the Afghan Taliban in reserve as a proxy force for pursuing the army’s interests in Kabul.
In the meantime, Pakistan’s army also allowed the growth of the Pakistani Taliban — Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen who originally appeared as helping hands for the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida in the tribal areas. Since 2007, the Pakistani Taliban has emerged as a challenge to the state that is wreaking havoc with suicide attacks across Pakistan. Late last year, the army began to pursue Pakistani Taliban, but it has only done so in six of the seven tribal agencies. The army refuses to enter the seventh agency, North Waziristan or deploy further south in the border region of Balochistan where the Taliban and their allies, like Jalaluddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, operate from.
With its obsession with India, the army also refuses to go after Punjabi extremist groups who have been used in the past by the military to fight Indian troops in Kashmir. Lying idle for several years, these groups have not been disarmed and many of their fighters are now fighting for the Pakistani Taliban or have bases in the tribal areas.
Al-Qaida and a number of Central Asian groups also have training camps in North Waziristan. These include half a dozen would-be bombers of various nationalities, who have tried to attack the American mainland, as well as several dozen German militants. The latest case of Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born American citizen who tried to explode a car bomb in Times Square in New York, has finally riled up the Obama administration sufficiently to demand that Pakistan take action in North Waziristan. Pakistan is now under serious pressure to do something, but the army has so far never been forced to do anything it considers to be counter to its strategic interest.
The Tug-of-War over Afghanistan
Obama’s promise last year to bring the region together in a kind of pact that would prevent neighboring countries from interfering in Afghanistan has gotten nowhere. Relations between the US and Iran and between India and Pakistan are worse than they have ever been. Afghanistan’s six direct neighbors — Iran, Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — and its near neighbors India, Russia and Saudi Arabia all want a degree of influence in a post-US Afghanistan. It is Pakistan, however, which holds most of the cards with its grip on the Afghan Taliban leadership.
With the West tiring nine years after Sept. 11, Afghanistan and Pakistan will continue to deteriorate until there is an acceptance by the US, NATO and all the neighboring states to support negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Karzai is keen to gain international support for such talks, which he has already secretly continued for nearly a year in venues such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia. The Taliban have privately said they want to talk directly to the Americans and NATO.
The US demands that the Taliban must cut off all ties with al-Qaida and militarily be beaten into a state of submission before such talks begin are looking more and more impossible to achieve. Other insurgencies have ended by talking and fighting at the same time. But the conditions the West would like to impose on the Taliban can only be done through dialogue. Sharing power with the Taliban is not the best of solutions, especially for the Afghan people, but it is the only realistic option if the West starts withdrawing its troops and Afghanistan remains a weak and fractured nation with rapacious neighbors.
Pakistani journalist and book author Ahmed Rashid is one of the most knowledgeable experts on the region. He wrote a world-renowned book about the Taliban and recently published “Descent Into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India — Enough With Fatwas That Betray the Spirit of Islam, Islamic Expert Says
After a fatwa is issued, saying that women must wear a veil in public places, a debate on Islam and Qur’anic laws begins in India. Ashgar Ali Engineer, of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, tells AsiaNews that Islam needs its own Renaissance.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Being tied to a medieval conception of religion will not help the Islamic world or the world in general. Rather than looking at Islam through the lenses of Sharia and hudud rules, we should undertake a cultural and religious revolution. This way, we can avoid useless fatwas and dangerous misunderstandings, said Ashgar Ali Engineer, of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, as spoke to AsiaNews about a recent fatwa (non-binding religious ruling) issued by a religious scholar in Uttar Pradesh.
In one of his latest edicts, Sharif Mohd Ayyub Alem Rizvi, mufti of Darul Iftah, said that women could work in institutions under “certain conditions”, one of which is wearing the veil. Furthermore, “Muslims,” the Islamic legal expert said, “cannot work in banks because interests (a bank’s profit) are contrary to Qur’anic law.”
This fatwa comes a few days after the Darul Uloom Deoband (Islamic School in Deoband) announced that the income women earn working in public offices alongside men is haram (prohibited).
Both fatwas share a literalist approach to Sharia and both appeared in the Times of India, raising a storm in India.
“Why apply these shar’i hudud only to women?” Ali Engineer said. “Who will define their limits? For these ulema, any mixing of men and women is an act of fitna (mischief). For them, a woman’s character and integrity has no meaning or significance at all. If she lifts the veil from her face in a mixed gathering, she is transformed into a fitna”.
Yet, “There are several instances in the Holy Prophet’s life when men and women came together,” he said. “Hazrat A’isha even led the Battle of Jamal (aka Battle of the Camel) and hundreds of sahaba (companions) were around her. No one told her not to venture out of home to take part in the battle. Shifa bint-e-Abdullah, a leading woman, was appointed by Hazrat Umar as market inspector and no one protested. What was she doing as a market inspector? Dealing with women alone?”
However, for Engineer, things get more complicated when it comes to the veil. “The Qur’an, which is the primary source for Sharia, does not refer to hijab (veil) for ordinary women at all. On the other hand, it advises women not to display her zeenah (adornments) publicly (Qur’an, 24:31) but refrains from defining what constitutes zeenah or adornment.” Instead, the latter “has been defined by various commentators depending on their cultural environment.”
The fact is, “The Qur’an does not even say whether they should cover their heads, let alone their faces. It says, on the other hand ‘except what appears thereof’ leaving space for interpretation. There is near agreement among commentators that face and hands should remain open.”
What is more, this “verse is preceded by advice to both men and women,” telling them that they “are responsible for lowering their gaze. Instead, the entire responsibility is put on women that they should cover themselves including their faces, lest they should become source of fitna (mischief).”
Actually, the Qur’an requires “both men and women to restrain themselves. It is unfortunate that when it comes to women we totally ignore even what can be called maqasid al-shari’ah (the intentions of Sharia) and only women are held responsible for her behaviour.”
For Ashgar Ali Engineer, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) “has to be thoroughly revised in keeping with the true spirit of the Qur’an. One needs to develop a proper methodology and framework to understand Qur’anic intentions in [their] totality, not in pieces, as our commentators have been doing.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Train Derailed in West Bengal: At Least 65 Dead. Maoists Suspected
At least 200 injured, some still trapped in wreckage. The Church of Bengal condemns violence and calls on the Maoists and government to keep dialogue open. The Maoists claim to be defenders of the peasants and ethnic minorities. But according to Mgr. D’Souza, the poorest are the victims of violence. Maoist Resistance — present in 20 of the 28 Indian states — has launched a “black week” to counter the government’s campaign against terrorism.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) — A high-speed train derailed in north-eastern India overnight and collided with a freight train, killing at least 65 people. There are also hundreds of wounded. Some are still trapped in the coaches and rescue teams are unable to release them because of the crumpled metal of the carriages.
Government and people suspect that the accident is the result of a Maoist attack, who have a strong presence in the area. The Gyaneshwari Express train was travelling from Kolkata to Mumbai. The disaster occurred at 1 .30 a.m in the district of West Midnapore (West Bengal), between the stations of Khemasoli and Sardiya.
The Maoists control large areas in India, especially rural areas that have benefited little from the great economic development that is transforming the country. According to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Maoist rebellion is the greatest threat to internal security in India. Months ago the government has launched a vast operation against Maoist guerrillas. This operation, called “Green Hunt” — because it takes place mainly in the Jungle — has led to some police victories, but also to hundreds of deaths, victims of attacks.
The Maoists had promised to launch a “black week” today to condemn the “atrocities against villages” and to stop the armed campaign against them.
In a statement to AsiaNews, Mgr. Thomas D’Souza, secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Bengal, said that “the Church condemns all violence and offers prayers and condolences to the families of victims who were killed in the incident.”
Questioned on whether the incident is a Maoist attack, the bishop said: “Violence must be condemned in all forms. Our desire is that all parties come to the dialogue, although there is still a long way to go. “
“This issue [the Maoist resistance-ed] is long standing, but certainly, this is not the way — by blowing up railway tracts- violence can never ever be condoned- and in this entire process, it is always the poor who are the worst affected and suffer the most”.
It is estimated that they are between 10 and 20 thousand guerrillas, who claim their armed struggle is in defence of landless peasants and local ethnic minorities. At least 20 of the 28 Indian states have pockets of Maoist resistance. Last year the Maoists caused at least 600 deaths. Since 2009 the government has branded them as “terrorists.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: French Journalists Deported After Filming Protest
Jayapura, 26 May (AKI/Jakarta Post) — Two French journalists have been deported from Indonesia after they filmed a protest in Papua province. The journalists were reportedly employed by a Paris-based production company to make a documentary about Indonesia’s rise as a modern Muslim-majority state for France’s Arte TV channel.
Indonesian officials said their action violated the terms of their visas.
Head of the immigration office Robert Silalahi told Antara state news agency that Baudouin Koenig, 54, and Carole Lorthiois, 27, left Jayapura early Wednesday for Jakarta, from where they would be deported.
He said the two French nationals had no reporting permit in Papua and were caught filming a demonstration outside the Papua legislative council on Monday.
The official added that Koenig only had a permit to film documentary footage on cultural activities in Aceh, Jakarta, Bali, Gorontalo and Sorong in West Papua, while Lorthiois only had a tourist visa.
“The rally they covered had nothing to do with the documentary they were working on,” Robert said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Bank Officials Grilled Over ‘Bribery’ Case
Jakarta, 27 May (AKI/Antara) — Bank Indonesia deputy governor Budi Rochadi said an internal audit team had questioned four officials for their alleged involvement in a bribery case over the printing of 100,000 Indonesian rupiah bills in Australia.
“The internal audit team has summoned four people from staff to director levels for questioning over the printing of the Rp 100,000 bills,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by the state Antara news agency.
Budi said several others still had yet to be questioned in the same case.
“There is a little problem with the team because its members have all retired and so it takes time to invite them to come,” he said.
He said a tender for the printing of bills was done by the directorate of money circulation and did not involve the board members.
Australian daily The Age earlier reported two BI officials were alleged to have been involved. The two officials are known by their initials as S and M.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Is Stoning to Death Islamic?
Harris Zafar — Portland Muslim Examiner
Last week, the Indonesian province of Aceh approved an anti-adultery law, which imposes the death penalty by stoning. The controversial law was approved just a few weeks before the end of the current legislature. In October, a new legislature is set to be sworn in and changes to the law are likely. The law is now under strict review, and Indonesia’s Home Minister, former General Mardiyanto, said it could be suspended or repealed because of legal flaws. He added:
“Aceh is part of Indonesia, so it must respect the Constitution and the laws of the country. And remember, Aceh should not be issuing bylaws that are detrimental to its people.“
Luckily, it looks like the law will be rejected and will not go into effect. This incident, however, has created a new wave of anti-Sharia and anti-Islamic sentiment. So it is only fair to ask if Islam instructs (or even permits) death by stoning for an adulterer.
And the answer is a resounding NO.
Stoning is not prescribed in the Quran.
Nowhere in the Quran (Holy scripture of Islam) has stoning to death been laid down as punishment of adultery, or any crime for that matter. Some people try to cite references to Islamic history in which the Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered a Jewish man and woman to be killed by stoning when they were brought before the Prophet for having committed adultery.
What needs to be kept in mind is that it was the practice of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to abide by the law of the Torah in deciding cases until a new Commandment was revealed to him. If he had not received direct revelation about something in particular, he would always default back to the Mosaic Law found in the Torah, which states:
“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife.” (Deutoronomy, 22:22-24)
The Torah also speaks of a woman who is proven not to be a virgin on her wedding night and instructs that such a woman should be brought “to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house“ (Deutoronomy, 22:21).
This is the Mosaic Law concerning punishment for adultery that the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) would defer to in the absence of any newly revealed law. But once the specific Law of the Quran was revealed, the ancient traditions were replaced.
It is so sad to see Muslim groups who actually advocate for death by stoning. Do they not even know their own faith? I know Islam and understand that this punishment is unfounded in its teachings. If anything, God tells us in the Holy Quran that adulterers can live on and even get re-married. While warning believers to not marry those guilty of adultery or fornication, God says:
“The adulterer (or fornicator) shall not marry but an adulteress (or fornicatress) or an idolatrous woman, and an adulteress (or fornicatress) shall not marry but an adulterer (or fornicator) or an idolatrous man. That indeed is forbidden to the believers.” (Quran, 24:4)
If the adulterer or adulteress were truly to be stoned to death in Islam, how could God then instruct them on whom they can marry? This alone is enough to dispel this ancient belief that those guilty of adultery are meant to be put to death by stoning.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Armed Attack on Two Ahmadi Mosques in Lahore
The terrorists entered during Friday prayers, where 1500 people had gathered, and continue to shoot and fight the police. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. The Ahmadis are considered heretics and subject to violence in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Today in Lahore armed groups attacked, two mosques belonging to the Ahmadi sect during Friday prayer. The sect is considered heretical by main-stream Islam. One of the mosques are located in an area of Model Town and the other in the crowded area of Garhi Shahu.
The battle is still ongoing with gunfire and grenade attacks. Police report that there are deaths and injuries and that the gunmen have taken hostages and have barricaded themselves inside the mosque. Some armed men are on the roof of one of the mosques and engaged in a shoot-out with police.
An unofficial source said there are at least nine people killed and 10 injured. The terrorists entered the mosque where at least 1500 people were gathered in prayer. According to these sources, the Punjab section of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the terrorist organization of Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility.
The Ahmadis claim to be Muslims, but do not recognize Muhammad as the last prophet and for this are considered heretics, and suffer heavy violence and ostracism by the fundamentalist Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The Ahmadi community in Pakistan is composed of approximately three million members, mostly residing in Punjab.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Taliban Claim Lahore Attacks as Death Toll Rises
Islamabad, 28 May (AKI) — By Syed Saleem Shahzad — The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for violent attacks on two Lahore prayer halls in which at least 17 people were killed and several others were injured on Friday. Gunfire and explosions caused chaos at the mosques of the minority Ahmadi Islamic sect in Garhi Shahu and Model Town as security forces moved in to cordon off the area.
Several high profile people, including Retired Lt. General Nasir Ahmed and Malik Mubarak, the chairman of the State Life Insurance Corporation, were feared to be among the dead worshipers.
Around 1,500 worshippers were freed from the prayer hall in Model Town but another 1,000 were still being held captive by militants in the mosque in Garhi Shahu late Friday as militants demanded the release of scores of prisoners.
Around 25 police officers were injured in the attacks as security forces and police moved in to cordon off the area.
“We had information from the security agencies that militants would carry out the attack so we were prepared and without the help of police we have overwhelmed over the militants,” one worshipper from the Model Town prayer hall told Adnkronos International (AKI) on condition of anonymity.
The militants have demanded the release of 160 prisoners in various prisons in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab before they release the hostages in the mosques of the minority Ahmadi sect.
The militants entered the places of worship during Friday prayers. armed with grenades, AK-47s and pistols.
Spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Muhammad Umar claimed responsibility for the attack and told AKI the attack has been carried out in a bid to free prisoners from Pakistani jails.
“The concerned authorities have been informed that if they want the safe and sound release of hostages, they should immediately release the prisoners,” Umar told AKI.
Ahmadi Muslims also known as Qadyanis were unanimously declared non-Muslim by the Pakistani legislative assembly in the mid-1970s under the Bhutto government.
Their places of worship have been randomly attacked in the past by extremists but Friday’s siege and the taking of hostages is the first incident of its kind.
The Ahmadis call themselves Muslims but believe that Muhammad was not the final prophet — a view that contradicts a central tenant of the Islamic faith.
The government has declared them a non-Muslim minority and they are prohibited from calling themselves Muslims or engaging in Muslim practices such as reciting Islamic prayers.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Japan: Activist Against Whaling Risks 15 Years in Prison
Peter Bethune attacked a Japanese ship in Antarctic and wounded a sailor. Japan continues to hunt about 900 whales a year for “study” purposes. The meat is then sold to restaurants and school canteens. The International Commission on Whaling proposes a middle ground between environmentalists and traders.
Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Peter Bethune, an activist belonging to the “Sea Shepherd “ group who fight whaling, has pleaded guilty to various charges before a court in Tokyo, in what is the first lawsuit of this type in Japan against an ecologist.
Bethune pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a knife and obstruction of business, and that he boarded the the Shonan Maru 2 in Antarctic, throwing a butyric acid stink bomb, wounding a sailor. If convicted, Bethune risks 15 years in prison.
The process arises from the existing conflict between the “ Sea Shepherds “ and the Japanese fleet allocated to study whales in the Antarctic. The fleet — claiming purposes for study — has the right to hunt up to 900 specimens annually. The scientific and commercial reasons are mixed: the whale meat is later sold it to restaurants and school cafeterias in Japan.
Last January, Bethune’s catamaran — a futuristic and modern vessel — was cut in two by a whaler. The following month, the activist sought revenge by attacking the Shonan Maru 2. According to the Sea Shepherds, Bethune wanted to arrest the captain for attempted murder of activists and ask for compensation for the catamaran. But he was arrested on the Shonan Maru for damaging property, injuring a sailor, obstruction of business, assault and taken to Japan.
In 1986 the International Commission on Whaling (IWC,) established a moratorium on the killing of marine mammals, but Japan, Iceland and Norway have managed to wrest some concessions “for study”, which are contested by activists. Last month, the IWC proposed a middle ground between those for and against hunting, allowing the hunting of whales, but under a strict control of quotas allowed for commercial purposes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Singer-Songwriter Yusuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Should be Denied Entry to Australia Next Month Unless He Repudiates Threats Against Author Salman Rushdie, A Victorian MP Says.
State upper house MP Peter Kavanagh has written to Immigration Minister Chris Evans asking that he refuse Yusuf a visa unless he denounces violence or threats of violence against a person for the expression of their views.
“He said that Salman Rushdie should be killed,” the Democratic Labor Party MP told AAP on Friday.
“He later said that he was just expressing the Islamic law, not his own views.
“He said he would like to see Salman Rushdie burned, and not just an effigy of him.”
Yusuf has denied calling for Rushdie’s death or supporting the fatwa against The Satanic Verses author issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
“If Australia stands for anything, we stand for freedom of expression and democracy and the peaceful resolution of differences,” Mr Kavanagh said.
“If someone wants to come here and make a lot of money, like Mr Yusuf does, then they should be required to denounce threats against people on the basis of their opinion.”
Yusuf, who changed his name from Cat Stevens after converting to Islam in 1977, is scheduled to play shows in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane in June.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Minister Announces New Immigrant Detention Centres
Rome, 26 May (AKI) — The Italian government is planning to build four new detention centres for illegal immigrants, interior minister Roberto Maroni said on Wednesday. The detention centres will be built in the central Tuscany and Marche regions, the Campania region in the south and in Veneto in the northeast, he said.
“There are currently 13 immigrant detention centres located in nine Italian regions. We want to ensure that every region has one by the end of this legislature,” Maroni told MPs in Rome.
“We will start building the new centres this year in Tuscany, Marche, Campania and Veneto,” he said.
The sites for the new detention centres have already been identified and they will be located some distance from towns and cities and near to airports, in consultation with the presidents of each region, Maroni stated.
The sites are disused state buildings such as military barracks, which will be refurbished, Maroni said.
Italian authorities have deported over 42,000 illegal immigrants since the current government took office in May 2008, he noted.
“To make progress with this policy we need to build up our detention facilities,” said Maroni, who belongs to Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League party.
Under Italian law the length of time for which immigrants can be detained has increased from 2 to 6 months, making the 1,811 places available in detention centres “insufficient” he noted.
The Northern League is a coalition partner of the ruling conservative People of Freedom Party, which has pledged to crack down on illegal immigration to Italy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Majority of Finns Opposed to More Immigrants
Nearly two thirds of Finns say Finland should not encourage more foreigners to move here, according to a YLE survey. Supporters of the right-wing True Finns Party were the most opposed to more immigrants. However, Centre Party and Social Democratic supporters were not far behind.
According to the survey, 63 percent of respondents said Finland should not try to entice foreigners to live here. A whopping 82 percent of True Finns backers were of the same opinion. For Centre Party supporters the number was 70 percent, while 68 percent of Social Democratic backers felt the same way.
Supporters of the Green League were the most receptive to more immigrants. A total of 65 percent of Green respondents said that Finland should work to attract foreigners here.
Meanwhile, 45 percent of backers of the conservative National Coalition Party said they supported more immigration while 53 percent were opposed.
One third of respondents said that immigration would play a significant or very significant role in their voting decisions in the next elections.
A total of 2,399 people responded to the survey carried out by pollster Taloustutkimus.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Trying to Deport ‘Son of Hamas’
Feds see ‘terrorist’ in Christian convert who spied for Israel
The Department of Homeland Security is trying to deport the son of a Hamas founder who told of his conversion to Christianity and decade of spying for Israel in a New York Times best-seller.
“Son of Hamas” author Mosab Hassan Yousef revealed on a blog hosted by his publisher he is scheduled to appear June 30 before Immigration Judge Rico J. Bartolomei at the DHS Immigration Court in San Diego.
Yousef said the DHS informed him Feb. 23, 2009, he was barred from asylum in the U.S. because there were reasonable grounds for believing he was “a danger to the security of the United States” and “engaged in terrorist activity.”
An incredulous Yousef said the U.S. government’s belief he is a terrorist is based on a complete misinterpretation of passages of his book in which he describes his work as a counterterrorism agent for the Israeli internal intelligence service Shin Bet.
Yousef said he’s not so much worried about himself as he is “outraged” about “a security system that is so primitive and naive that it endangers the lives of countless Americans.”
“If Homeland Security cannot tell the difference between a terrorist and a man who spent his life fighting terrorism, how can they protect their own people?” he asked in his blog post.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Migrants to Swell Southern Towns by 20% in 8 Years as a UK Passport is Handed Out Every Three Minutes
Towns in southern England will see their populations swell by nearly a fifth over the next eight years, official predictions revealed yesterday.
Among them the fastest-growing will be Colchester in Essex, which will have to accommodate 33,000 extra people by 2018.
The projections from the Office for National Statistics set out in detail just what England’s fast-rising population means for local areas.
Official figures also showed 203,790 were naturalised last year, the most since data was first published in 1962. It means a British passport was handed to a foreigner every three minutes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: Government Moves to Legalise Incest
Zagreb, 27 May (AKI) — Croatia is drafting a bill to legalise incest between consenting adults in the predominantly Catholic country, local media said on Thursday. Under the draft bill, adult sexual relations between brother and sister, father and daughter and mother and son would no longer be a criminal offence if they are entered into voluntarily.
A group of prominent jurists, professors and lawyers were working on the bill, but it was too early to say whether, or when, it would be tabled in parliament, Zagreb daily Vecernji reported.
“It is an open question whether the time is ripe to free adults from criminal responsibility for such behaviour,” said doctor Velinka Grozdanic, a member of the task group.
But Ksenija Turkovic, a Zagreb University law professor and head of the group, said that legislation in many European countries was moving towards legalising incest.
She said incest has been legal in France for over 200 years, but recent legalisation moves in Germany have failed.
“If an adult brother and sister willingly indulge in sex, who is the victim that should be protected,” Turkovic asked.
“There is no victim, only public morality is violated.”
Prominent Catholic commentator Zivko Kustic said that the abolition of punishment was not necessarily tantamount to approval.
“One should make a distinction between punishment and approval,” Kustic said.
“If the state decides not to punish something, it doesn’t mean that it considers it good or decent.”
The Catholic Church allows marriage between relatives who are more distant than first cousins, who need a special dispensation to wed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Gates Funds Covert Vaccine Nanotechnology
(NaturalNews) The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is gaining a reputation for funding technologies designed to roll out mass sterilization and vaccination programs around the world. One of the programs recently funded by the foundation is a sterilization program that would use sharp blasts of ultrasound directed against a man’s scrotum to render him infertile for six months. It might accurately be called a “temporary castration” technology. Read more about it here: http://www.naturalnews.com/028853_u…
Now, the foundation has funded a new “sweat-triggered vaccine delivery” program based on nanoparticles penetrating human skin. The technology is describes as a way to “…develop nanoparticles that penetrate the skin through hair follicles and burst upon contact with human sweat to release vaccines.”
The research grant money is going to Carlos Alberto Guzman of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany and Claus-Michael Lehr and Steffi Hansen of the Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research.
These are both part of the Gates Foundation’s involvement in the “Grand Challenges Explorations” program which claims to be working to “achieve major breakthroughs in global health.”
….breakthroughs like mass sterilization and nanoparticle vaccines that could be covertly administered even without your knowledge, it turns out. These nanoparticles could be used in a spray mist that’s sprayed on to every person who walks through an airport security checkpoint, for example. Or it could be unleashed through the ventilation systems of corporate office buildings or public schools to vaccinate the masses. You wouldn’t even know you were being vaccinated.
This technology is potentially very dangerous to your health freedom. Using it, governments or drug companies (which are all the same thing these days) could create a vaccine skin cream that’s handed out and described as “sunscreen.” But when you put it on, you’re actually vaccinating yourself as the nanoparticles burrow underneath your skin and burst, releasing foreign DNA inside your body.
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