Mayor Bloomberg Eliminates Teacher Raises to Save Jobs
After warning of massive teacher layoffs for months, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced Wednesday morning that the city will eliminate planned raises for all New York City teachers for the next two years, which he said would “save the jobs of some 4,400 teachers.”
In a statement released to reporters, Mr. Bloomberg said he had spoken with Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, about his decision.
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Brentwood Muslims Withdraw Plans for Mosque Amidst Islamophobia
The Brentwood Mosque that was in the works for quite some time has been defeated, and though there were issues with zoning, the atmosphere surrounding the campaign against it was at the very least vitriolic, and at the most extremely Islamophobic.
Mosques have been, and are, increasingly becoming battlegrounds for those who wish to pitch their xenophobic and Islamophobic messages. A place of worship going up in a particular area is a complex issue and when fearmongering is added to the mix it can be a volatile cocktail.
The same thing is happening in New York with regards to the proposed mosque that will be a few blocks from ground zero. The crusade against that mosque is being led by Pamela Geller and her hate group SIOA (Stop the Islamization of America) which is patterned after a European fascist organization named SIOE (Stop the Islamization of Europe). The main strategy of SIOE is to stop the construction of mosques and we are already seeing the same from SIOA.
Brentwood Mosque not Alone in Defeat by Bob Smietana
The plan to derail a proposed mosque in Brentwood was simple but effective.
Through e-mails, blogs and word of mouth, opponents told friends and neighbors they were suspicious of the mosque and feared its leaders had ties to terrorist organizations. They encouraged citizens to write letters to the city commission expressing their concerns, including worries about traffic and flooding.
It worked.
On Wednesday night, the mosque’s organizers admitted defeat. They withdrew their application to rezone 14 acres on Wilson Pike for a house of worship. Community opposition and the $450,000 cost of building a turn lane made the project untenable.
“There comes a time when you have to say, ‘We can’t do this anymore,’ “ said Jaweed Ansari, a Brentwood physician and spokesman for the Islamic Center of Williamson County.
Every year, hundreds of new houses of worship are proposed around the United States. A growing number face resistance from neighbors and government officials who see places of worship as a nuisance because they don’t pay taxes, often ask for special exceptions to zoning rules and cause traffic congestion. But religious liberty advocates say these objections can trample the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
Ansari admits the mosque plan wasn’t perfect. Most of the 14 acres is on a flood plain, a problem exacerbated by Middle Tennessee’s recent storms. Only about 4 acres was needed for the mosque, so organizers didn’t see that as a problem. They also felt the site, which borders a park and has neighbors only on one side, would be fairly unobtrusive.
“We realized going into this that nobody wants anything in their backyard, regardless of whether it is a church or a Walmart or whatever,” he said.
To allay neighbors’ fears, the Islamic Center agreed to a series of restrictions on the site. The mosque would have been relatively small, with a prayer hall for about 325 people and a fellowship hall and kitchen for meals and gatherings. The mosque would not have had outside loudspeakers to broadcast a call to prayer and few outside lights.
“We started this in very good faith,” he said. “We had a neighborhood meeting, and we thought this would be a friendly thing. Instead of that, it turned out to be a very angry thing.”
‘No one can predict’
Matt Bonner, who lives in Nashville but is a member of Brentwood United Methodist Church, helped organize resistance to the mosque.
“Not enough people understand the political doctrine of Islam,” he said in an interview before the mosque project was withdrawn. “The fact is that the mosques are more than just a church. No one can predict what this one will be used for.”
Bonner said his suspicions about Islam were shaped in part by the writings of Bill French, a former physics professor who now runs the Nashville-based Center for the Study of Political Islam. The center is a for-profit book publisher run by French, who writes under the pen name Bill Warner. He argues that Islam is not really a religion. Instead, Warner says that Islam is a dangerous political ideology.
Bonner also accused the Islamic Center of trying to bully the city of Brentwood into accepting its proposal. During a May 5 meeting, the center’s attorney pointed out that federal and state law gives religious institutions special protections when it comes to zoning.
Ansari says the center’s lawyer was at the meeting to protect the rights of the families who were trying to organize the mosque. Bonner didn’t see it that way.
“The impression is that they are seeking special treatment,” he said. “What kind of neighbor is that who comes in threatening lawsuits?”
The accusations of bullying and ties to terrorism mystify Ansari. The organizers of the mosque are a small group of Muslims, who live in Williamson County, pay taxes and love their community, he said.
“We are trying to build a place where God’s name will be glorified,” Ansari said. “The same God that the Christians and Jews worship.”
None of the organizers has any ties to extremists and they are no threat to anyone, he said.
“We are a small group of 40 people, and no matter where we want to build, thousands of people can come in opposition,” he said. “What does that mean? Does that mean that minorities have no right? If they don’t want us to have the mosque, does that mean we can’t have a mosque?”
Despite the opposition, mosque organizers have no plans to sue. That would defeat the purpose of the mosque, Ansari said…
| — Hat tip: ICLA | [Return to headlines] |
Fiorina, Al-Mansour and the World Economic Forum
Fiorina is famous for her “Fiorina’s Folly” that got her tossed from Hewlett Packard. A disaster not yet fully realized. But to those who follow behind-the-scenes politics, she is famous for much more disturbing news. Fiorina has friends in LOW places…
Carly Fiorina (aka Cara Carleton Sneed) sat on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, which has observer status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
But congressional support for global governance will not wane on Carly’s watch. Agenda 21 and “sustainable development” are the new buzz words for “global socialism” through global governance and Carly sits on the Foundation Board at the mother ship.
This is by no means new for Fiorina though. Her affiliation with global activists dates back many years and includes some of our nation’s most nefarious characters.
An inquiring reporter worth his or her salt should be asking Carly to describe her long-term relationship with Dr. Khalid al-Mansour—aka Don Warden, Black Panther puppet master, Saudi Royal front-man and Obama education financier?
Fiorina sits on other Boards with al-Mansour, such as the African Leadership Academy. Al-Mansour, aka Don Warden, was the man behind the men of the Black Panther movement in the 1960s. He has long held hope for a “black nationalist” president, starting as far back as his relationship with Malcolm X. In fact, X died while speaking at one of al-Mansour’s college campus rallies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Charged in New Climate Fakery: Greenhouse Gas Data Bogus
Shocking new evidence of a NASA scientist faking a fundamental greenhouse gas equation shames beleaguered space administration in new global warming fraud scandal.
Caught in the heat are NASA’s Dr. Judith Curry and a junk science equation by the space agency’s Dr. Gavin Schmidt creating disarray over a contentious Earth energy graph
The internal row was ignited by the release of a sensational new research paper discrediting calculations crucial to the greenhouse gas theory. NASA in Internal Spat over Data
Hot on the heels of my recent scoop that the U.S. space agency may have suppressed evidence from the Apollo Moon landings that invalidated the greenhouse gas (GHG) theory, an internecine fury among NASA employees over fudged equations is set to further embarrass the current U.S. Administration’s stand on global warming.
Word is getting round that junk equations were threaded into the GHG theory to artificially inflate the heating effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by a factor of two.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nicholas D. Kristof Defends Islam
The New York Times 30.05.2010 (USA)
In the Sunday Book Review, Nicholas D. Kristof defends Islam against Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her new book “Nomad”: “To those of us who have lived and traveled widely in Africa and Asia, descriptions of Islam often seem true but incomplete. The repression of women, the persecution complexes, the lack of democracy, the volatility, the anti-Semitism, the difficulties modernizing, the disproportionate role in terrorism — those are all real. But if those were the only faces of Islam, it wouldn’t be one of the fastest-growing religions in the world today. There is also the warm hospitality toward guests, including Christians and Jews; charity for the poor; the aesthetic beauty of Koranic Arabic; the sense of democratic unity as rich and poor pray shoulder to shoulder in the mosque.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and Media Minions Inspire Violence
In case you have not realized that Obama and his media minions’ relentless playing of the “Race Card” could inspire violence, I have some news for you. The New Black Panther Party hosted a National Black Power Convention.
The following chilling quote is from the convention organizer and party chairman. “With the rise of the Tea Party, the white-right and other racist forces. With gun sales nationwide at an all time high amongst whites, with a mood that is more anti-Black than any time recent, it is imperative that we organize our forces, pool our resources and prepare for war!” Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz, Esq. Convention Convener and Party Chairman.
“…prepare for war!” — folks, this is crazy talk. I am black conservative, singer/songwriter and tea party spokesperson, Lloyd Marcus. I have attended over two hundred tea parties across America on three Tea Party Express tours.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck: DC-Area Islamic Store Sells Anwar Al-Awlaki Recordings
Anwar al-Awlaki released a videotape on May 23rd calling for the murder of American civilians.
The Al Qaeda cleric was in contact with the Ft. Hood shooter and the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber—not to mention two of the 9/11 hijackers.
Yet in the sleepy Washington, DC suburb of Falls Church, VA—where he once served as imam of a large mosque before fleeing to Yemen— Awlaki is still very popular.
So popular, in fact, that the largest Islamic supermarket in the DC area—called Halalco—has been openly displaying and selling CDs and DVD’s by Awlaki.
In an exclusive investigation—conducted just one day after Awlaki’s tape calling for the killing of US civilians was released—CBN News obtained footage of an entire display of Awlaki materials at Halalco.
We secured an exclusive on-camera interview with the store’s owner, who removed the Al-Awlaki materials after we confronted management.
But Awlaki was just the top of the iceberg at Halalco. We purchased other radical Islamic books, CD’s and DVD’s and a number of anti-Semitic publications, including The Protocols of Zion.
Bottom line: is Halalco serving as a gateway to radicalism, just minutes from our nation’s capital?
Watch my exclusive report at the above link.
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Survey: 80% of Utility Execs Unhappy With Obama’s Year 1 Energy Policy Results
In a survey of more than 100 North American electric and natural gas utility executives meant to identify key industry trends, Platts and Capgemini found that 80% of survey respondents were not satisfied with the Obama administration’s performance in the area of energy policy in President Barack Obama’s first year in office.
Frustrations focused on the amount of discussion of energy issues compared with the tangible solutions that have been produced.
“While utility industry executives are generally pleased that the Obama administration has stimulated conversation around energy and sustainability, and that they have invested in a number of initiatives through the economic recovery package, there is considerable dissatisfaction in the lack of tangible and actionable policy and legislation,” said John Christens, vice president of smart energy services at Capgemini. “Few utility executives consider the current solutions as satisfactory either in scale or feasibility.”
Similar to results in recent years, survey respondents said regulatory uncertainty, the environment, technology and finance were the four most critical issues facing the energy industry today. The survey was completed in March and released May 19 by Platts and Capgemini.
While regulation, the environment and technology are not exactly new concerns for utilities, the survey showed that respondents are much more focused on those issues this year than last. A total of 85% of respondents said they are more focused on environmental concerns this year than last, 77% say they are more focused on regulatory issues and 66% say they are more focused on technology issues.
Among regulatory concerns, survey respondents classified regulatory uncertainty around CO2 and other emissions as the single most important issue facing the power and gas industry in North America, lack of adequate national energy policy as the second most important single issue and regulatory uncertainty around transmission third. [emphasis added]
Among environmental concerns, respondents called increasing energy efficiency and conservation programs most important, building renewables generation and transmission second most important, and increasing renewable energy in the fuel mix third.
Automated metering infrastructure, smart grid technology and smart meters were the top three technology concerns for utility executives surveyed, showing the importance of the smart grid in the industry currently.
Among finance concerns, respondents ranked cost recovery as the biggest issue, access to capital and financing second, and maintaining liquidity third. About two-thirds of survey respondents worked for investor-owned utilities.
Incorporating many of those concerns in one comment, one respondent to the survey said utilities are “building out infrastructure to accommodate distributed generation, smart metering networks, so the cost of those are starting to be reflected in the rates the customers are paying, so that is putting upward pressure on ratepayers. In addition to that issue … the cost of the commodity continues to go up, so you’re seeing upward pressure on the commodity, especially as you incorporate more green energy sources in the mix.”
Concerns about end users, company work force, building new infrastructure, operational costs, fuel supply and reliability were the next most important to executives surveyed, according to Platts and Capgemini.
Looking to the future, 70% of surveyed executives believe that electricity prices will increase for end users in the next five to 10 years, 63% believe there will be an increase in environmental regulation, 51% believe there will be an increased implementation of advanced metering infrastructure, and 48% believe more wind and solar generation will be built.
More pessimistically, only 3% believed more LNG terminals will be built in North America, only 12% believed there will be greater collaboration among industry leaders and only 13% see more coal generation being built.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Intelligence Register China’s Technological Spying Attempts
Prague, June 1 (CTK) — The Czech military intelligence service (VZ) registered China’s attempts at technological espionage in the Czech Republic’s defence industry in 2009, the VZ says in its annual report released on its website.
Technological espionage can not only harm Czech security interests but also endanger the security of NATO. In addition, it threatens to harm the economic interests of the Czech defence industry, the report says.
The VZ pointed to China’s interest in advanced technologies designed for military purposes in its annual report for 2008 already.
The VZ report also highlights the Russian secret services’ activities in the Czech Republic, where they tried to draw sensitive information about the formerly planned installation of a U.S. missile defence radar base on Czech soil straight from the Czech military command.
The VZ says it thwarted the Russian espionage attempt. The Russian diplomats who showed interest in the information about the radar were expelled from the Czech Republic last year.
A few Czech diplomats were expelled from Russia reciprocally.
The VZ says in its report that the Russian intelligence’s activities in connection with the U.S. radar diminished in the second half of 2009 after the U.S. administration of Barack Obama scrapped the radar project.
Moscow was strongly opposed to Washington’s original plan to build the radar 90 km southwest of Prague and a silo with interceptor missiles in Poland as elements of its missile defence shield in Central Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Rat Poison Ban Will See Numbers Soar, Warn Pest Controllers
Britain would be ‘overrun’ by rats under an EU plan to ban a rodent poison on health and safety grounds, pest controllers have warned.
They claim the law will remove the most effective weapon against a soaring rat population.
Rising numbers would spread diseases and be disastrous for farmers.
Brussels says that anticoagulants — the family of rat poisons that includes warfarin — can be dangerous for humans, particularly pregnant women.
But Conservative MEP Julie Girling, who sits on the European Parliament’s environment committee which will vote on the ban, said: ‘I am very worried about this.
‘You have a spurt of the population and you could be overrun.’
Richard Moseley, of the British Pest Control Association, said: ‘It would mean a massive increase… you would have to go back to using traps and dogs.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Family Hides Egyptian Grandmother From Police
The family of Eveline Fadayel, who faces deportation by June 13, has taken their grandmother into hiding from the authorities. Relatives have not released any further details.
Popular feeling for both the Egyptian and Russian grandmothers appears to be growing. On Monday, a support group and other people demonstrated against the Supreme Administrative Court decision to uphold deportation orders against Russian Irina Antonova and Egyptian Eveline Fadayel.
“We are absolutely mentally exhausted; even the children wonder why grandmother is being forced out of the country,” exclaimed Tarja Gerges, the daughter-in-law of Eveline Fadayel.
Gerges said their grandmother was now in hiding from the authorities but did not reveal who was providing help. Earlier, she was granted sanctuary in a church in Vantaa.
Protest in Helsinki
Over a hundred people, including representatives from religious groups, took part in Monday’s demonstration in the city centre of Helsinki.
“Who rules the country: nameless officials or political leaders?” asked Katja Tuominen of the Free Movement network.
However, despite protestations, the Ministry of the Interior does not want to start any annulment of the Supreme Court decision.
Secretary of State Antti Pelttari told YLE it would be unusual if a minister intervened in a court judgment.
Legal Preparation Slow
He added promises given for speedy legal reform on the issue had been too optimistic.
Preparation of a legal reform to grant the issuing of a residence permit in some circumstances to non-immediate family members would take time, Pelttari noted, citing actual drafting of an amendment, its administrative handling and translation into Swedish.
This answer did not satisfy Monday’s demonstrators.
“The grandmothers will stay in Finland. That’s why we are taking to the streets,” observed Katja Tuominen of the Free Movement network.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Zollitsch Investigated for Abetting Sex Abuse
Prosecutors said Wednesday they were investigating Germany’s top archbishop on suspicion of abetting child abuse, in the case of a man who said he was molested in the 1960s with the clergyman’s knowledge.
Robert Zollitsch, the head of German Bishops’ Conference, is being investigated
for allegedly turning a blind eye to the abuse by a priest, public prosecutor Wolfgang Maier in the southern city of Freiburg said.
The Freiburg diocese said Zollitsch strongly denied the charges.
ARD public television reported earlier that the alleged victim said he was abused at the Birnau Monastery in the Freiburg diocese, where Zollitsch was employed.
Prosecutors said the man accused Zollitsch, who was responsible for human resources in the diocese, of learning of the abuse but nevertheless assuring that the priest was employed again at Birnau in 1987.
Maier told news agency AFP the case had been passed on to the state prosecutor’s office in Konstanz, southern Germany “without further review” because an investigation of the priest was already underway there.
“That is why I cannot comment on the substance of the accusations,” he said.
A spokesman for the Konstanz prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that the files had not yet arrived.
A Freiburg diocese spokesman said that Zollitsch had not ordered the priest to be employed at Birnau, saying the monastery operated “independently.”
“The accusations of criminal behaviour by Dr Robert Zollitsch in connection with the Birnau Monastery are without foundation,” he said.
Like other European countries, Germany has been rocked in recent months by revelations that hundreds of children were physically or sexually abused in 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, five years after his appointment as leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics was a source of great national pride.
Zollitsch, 71, had met with Pope Benedict XVI in April at the Vatican about the spreading scandal.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Three Killed as World War Two Bomb Explodes
Germany is mourning the loss of three bomb disposal experts killed yesterday by a 2,000lb World War II aerial mine.
Three others were seriously injured by the explosion which occurred when a bomb disposal team was cutting through the acid fuse of the bomb buried 24ft down in the university city of Goettingen.
Fire brigade spokesman Frank Gloth said, ‘Evacuation measures were far advanced for 7,200 people in a wide radius from where the bomb lay.
‘Work was proceeding with a water cutter to get through the fuse of the bomb when it went off. It was due to be defused at 10.30pm but detonated at 9.45pm.
‘Altogether, there were 13 bomb disposal workers in the area.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Forced Integration for Roma?
The Hungarian press is heatedly debating what to do about Roma, the main perpetrators — and victims — of the recent crime wave in Hungary. Essayist Eszter Babarczy makes a modest proposal in the weekly HVG: put the kids in boarding school to help them make their way in Hungarian society.
Eszter Babarczy
Amid the ongoing debate over the difficulties of integrating Hungary’s Roma, my editor-in-chief asked me to write the “politically correct” version of the story. “Piece o’ cake,” I said to myself. “No problem. If the racists would only stop blaming the Gypsies for all the wrongdoing, it would all be sorted out.”
Really? Of course not. The past 15 years go to show that this approach has not solved the problem: on the contrary, it has only fuelled racist invective in our society. The rise of Jobbik (right-wing extremist party) is largely due to this naiveté. The Roma who opt out of society and live in ghettos are not necessarily criminals. They live in a community divided up into clans and suffer more from the “bad families” in their village (who steal from everyone, including their fellow Romany) and the loan sharks (likewise Romany) than from discrimination. The vast majority will never even have an opportunity to experience discrimination because there is no way out of the village ghetto.
Education is a financial impossiblity
The question that divides Hungarian intellectuals is: who should pave that way out of the ghetto? I don’t believe ghettoised Roma are capable of doing it under their own steam. Gypsy organisations serve merely as a forum for their corrupt and power-hungry bosses. (Two Romany leaders were recently indicted for embezzling public funds.) These posts are the wages of hypocrisy and do not provide any solution.
In all seriousness, can we really imagine that people who are honest but unemployed can afford to send their children to high school? Those who think they can have never gone to see a Romany family. These families live in an economy devoid of liquid currency (unless they steal it). So outside of donations and whatever can be produced, built or jerry-rigged in situ, they have no access to anything that has to be paid for (petrol, school supplies, remedial instruction). Romany kids can knock themselves out at school, but they still don’t see where all that effort is going to get them: they won’t be able to leave the village since there is no money for boarding school, train fare, textbooks.
Prison is no deterrent
“Educating” Romany adults is also an impossible task. The families who lead an upright life in this culture of poverty are afraid of the criminal elements, but they know that in a pinch, they’ve no-one to turn to but members of their own family (among whom there is bound to be someone who has chosen a life of crime). To bring them back to the straight and narrow, prison is not a suitable punishment. It is not a deterrent. We middle-class whites do not know what would be an effective deterrent. To find out we’d need an anthropologist and an expert on Gypsy culture — and above all the cooperation of the Romany community.
Last but not least: no, the Romany are not going to be gainfully employed any time soon. It is unrealistic to expect them to land a job, seeing as however hard they look, they won’t find one. Not because they are discriminated against, but because there is no work in the Hungarian countryside at the moment. There is none for skilled workers, much less for the unskilled.
Send Roma children to boarding school
The gradual amelioration of the plight of American blacks began with the creation of schools offering scholarships to black children in poor areas. Michelle Obama attended a school like that. Unlike most sociologists, I would see nothing scandalous about placing Romany children in boarding schools. The Romany family that I know well was founded by young people educated in boarding schools who appreciate the opportunity they got to escape from the destructive forces of their milieu.
If we do not help 10-to-12-year-olds assimilate NOW, we middle-class Hungarians are re-creating social tensions through negligence and irresponsibility — as we’ve been doing for the past two decades, preferring to look away and hide our utter helplessness behind politically correct verbiage that doesn’t cost a thing.
Debate
Intellectuals divided over Gypsy question
For a year now Hungary has been hard hit by a crime wave whose main victims and perpetrators are Roma. Heti Világgazdaság (HVG) has launched a debate on its web site to try to find solutions to the “Gypsy question”. Among the participants, Romany sociologist Sándor Romano Rácz advocates a “patient, and necessarily long-term, dialogue” with the Romany people. Not only do Gypsies form a different ethnicity, he argues, but they have a different form of civilisation: that of marginalising themselves and remaining within the “reassuring cocoon of the group”. But in present-day Hungary, only the musicians can count themselves lucky to belong to this community — which is why more and more Roma are calling themselves musicians. At the same time, Romano Rácz finds that the autonomous Romany organisations are “not suited to their mentality.”
Economist János Stadler, for his part, contends that the preconceptions about Romany have grown up as a result of their “wild” way of life, which perpetuates their backwardness and poverty. Although now sedentary, they still live according to the customs of a nomadic people: “They plunder the kitchen gardens or suddenly show up at school and beat up the teacher.(…) We need to sit down with them and consider the reasons for all this delinquency,” writes Stadler. “Punishing them will not suffice: we have to change their mentality. And they need to seize the opportunity to assimilate — and stop playing the role of scapegoat and going on about how much society hates them.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fini: I Will Not Give Up My Political Role
(AGI) Rome, 31 May — The speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, said that, while respecting the independence of the Senate, he will not give up his political role. Commenting on a statement by Senate speaker Schifani, who had criticised his call for a careful consideration of the proposed reform of the wiretapping legislation currently being examined in the Senate, Fini said that Schifani “can’t pretend he doesn’t know that before serving as the lower house speaker, I contributed to founding the PDL of which he himself is a member”. “On issues concerning legality and national unity”, therefore “I will not give up my political role” Fini added.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Seif Al Islam, Computer Literacy for the Masses
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, JUNE 1 — Computer literacy for the masses, a Libyan Centre for Electronic Development, the introduction within 5 years of “e-government, e-management, e-learning, e-training, e-democracy” to create North Africa’s first “e-generation”. Such is the purpose of the first International Conference on the electronic society that opened up today in Tripoli with the presence of various international experts of the sector. The conference, named “Moving to computer literacy for the masses”, is promoted by Seif Al Islam Gheddafi, son of Libya’s Leader and president of the Foundation named after his father. Italy is the only European country to attend the meeting through its expert, Renata Pavlov, advisor for international affairs to Minister for Public Administration Renato Brunetta. During her speech the expert presented the example of e-governement in Italy and the initiative which Italy is promoting with the OECD which concerns “e-learning to innovate public administration”. The conference will end on June 4. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Squatting Becomes a Crime as Senate Backs Ban
The upper house of parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of a ban on squatting, ending a practice which has been part of the Dutch protest landscape for decades.
The ban was passed by the lower house of parliament last year when Geert Wilders’ PVV agreed to support the legislation, if the jail terms for squatting were increased.
Now senators have voted in favour of the ban, drawn up by MPs from the CDA, ChristenUnie and VVD. Left wing parties are opposed.
Legal
At the moment, squatting is legal if a property has been empty for at least a year and if the squat is registered with the police.
The new law means squatters face up to a year in jail if they take over an empty building, double that if violence is involved. It is also supposed to make it easier for local authorities to take over empty buildings which had been left over for long periods.
One Socialist Party senator said the ban meant ‘thousands of people have become criminals overnight.’
October
The bill may come into effect on October 1, but justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has already hinted this could be sooner.
However, he does not expect police to begin clearing squats immediately.
Tradition
Squatting has long been a part of the Dutch political scene. However, opponents say in recent years the movement has moved away from its old ideals of combating property speculation and homelessness and has become more violent..
Research by the VU University into the Amsterdam squatters movement earlier this year showed the city has between 200 and 300 squats and no more than 1,500 squatters. In the movement’s heyday in the 1980s, there were some 20,000 squatters in the capital.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nuclear Energy Found More Popular With Austrians Than Islam
Most Austrians like the term “safety” while the word “Islam” creates positive feelings with just three per cent, a new poll on word association has revealed.
Linz-based researchers IMAS said 69 per cent of the 1,055 people aged 16 and older they interviewed said they liked the word “safety”. The term “justice” drew the second-best result with 65 per cent followed by “order” (61 per cent) and “work” (56 per cent).
A meagre 17 per cent said the term “multicultural” has a positive meaning for them, while only 15 per cent have a positive opinion of the term “European Union”.
“Islam” was found to be the least popular term with a support of just three per cent.
Terms like “foreigners” (six per cent) and “nuclear energy” (four per cent) were found to be more popular. Austria has been one of the most outspoken opponents of nuclear energy in Europe for decades.
These findings come just weeks after IMAS found that 54 per cent of Austrians agreed with the statement “Islam poses a threat for the west and our familiar lifestyle”. Just 19 per cent disagreed with the claim, while 27 per cent were undecided.
The agency also found in April that 72 per cent of Austrians believed Muslims would “not stick to the rules” when it comes to living in Austria. Only one in ten of the Austrians IMAS spoke to said they disagreed with the allegation that Muslims were badly integrated in the country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Burqa: Tariq Ramadan and French Values
Marco Cesario
On April 2nd in Nantes, a 31-year-old woman wearing the niqab while driving her car was fined by the police for violating traffic laws. According to the policeman who stopped her, her attire did not permit her to ‘drive comfortably.’ The result was a very lively debate with an angry exchange between Tariq Ramadan and Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux. The government’s anti-burqa draft law, however, has been welcomed positively by the Association for the Defence of Women’s Rights “Ni putes, Ni soumises” (neither prostitutes nor submissive). Only a few days ago Belgium passed a law forbidding the full veil in all public places…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The UK and Islamist Terror: Conservatives Putting the Nation at Risk?
By A. Millar
Nearly a month into Britain’s new coalition government and perhaps the defining image of Prime Minister David Cameron shows him strolling casually along Westminster, without security, mingling with the crowd. At other times he has eschewed his motorcade, and sent away his police motorbike escort. We — and perhaps more especially those who despise Britain — are supposed to believe that he is a man of the people. He is like us, and we are like him. In the cold light of day, however, Cameron’s actions reveal only that he is disconnected from reality:
Lest we forget, Cameron is the leader of a wartime nation — a nation fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and facing terrorism at home.
Islamist terrorists have often stepped up their activity during the first twelve months of a new government, and there has already been some activity since the May 6 election. In what is now being treated as a terrorist attack, the Labour MP for East Ham, Stephen Timms, was stabbed by a Muslim woman, who had been “radicalized.” Since then, the names of four other MPs have been discovered on a terrorist hit list, and security for all MPs has been put under review.
The Conservative-led coalition government faces serious challenges, perhaps most especially in regard to Islamist extremism, which it seems intellectually ill-equipped to combat.
Pundits suggest that the coalition (“Con-Dem”) government will collapse, possibly within a year or two, and that the Labour party might even be swept back into office. With the Conservatives having abandoned their defining values, and having aligned themselves with the left-wing Liberal Democrats, another threat comes from the right, both from within and from without the party.
Three days before the election, the Conservatives issued their A Contract for Equalities — arguably their real manifesto — articulating how the party would make anti-discrimination “central” to a Conservative government. The problem is not that the Conservatives want people to be judged by their character rather than by the skin color, etc. That is entirely right and proper — as virtually everyone in Britain recognizes.
The problem is that this sort of “anti-discrimination” is ideological: those who openly reject cultural relativism, believe in Britishness, democracy, etc., constitute an oppressor class, that has, and that is, dominating various oppressed classes. This is not an ideology in which Whites are regarded as the exclusive oppressors of non-Whites, but, rather, one in which the West oppresses the non-Western. The Sikh that champions democracy and inveighs against radical Islam is also certain to be deemed a “racist” and lumped in with neo-Nazis.
Cameron believes that people become Islamists — and, perhaps eventually commit acts of terror — not because they are attracted to, and eventually believe in, Islamist ideology per se, but because they have been oppressed. Islamist ideology is not a factor, as attraction to it must be preceded by discrimination. The nation is to blame.
This was perfectly clear from his statements and actions in the lead-up to the election…
| — Hat tip: ICLA | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 12 Dead and 25 Wounded in Lake District Massacre
Cabbie, 52, goes on rampage after ‘petty row with colleagues’
Police today found the body of a gunman who shot dead at least 12 people after going on a bloody rampage in the Lake District.
Derrick Bird, a divorced father-of-two, was discovered in woodland near Boot, Cumbria, by police. The 52-year-old had shot himself.
Witnesses today described horrific scenes as the cab driver shot his victims in the head at point blank range and gunned down others at random through the shattered windscreen of his car.
It is understood he deliberately targeted three of his colleagues after arguing with them last night.
Bird began his murderous spree early this morning after driving to the taxi rank at the centre of the picturesque town of Whitehaven.
He is understood to have got out of his car to deliberately target the other cabbies, shooting at least one in the head at close quarters. The grandfather then returned to his vehicle to make his escape.
It as at that point that he began firing indiscriminately through the smashed windscreen as he careered through the town.
Terrified pedestrians were forced to dash for cover as he sprayed the streets with bullets. Others holed themselves up in shops, pubs and houses.
Bird then tore through the area in his Citroen Picasso. As he drove, he continued firing. There were fatalities in Egremont, Seascale and near Gosforth.
In the last location, Bird shot a young farmer, named locally as Gary Purdham, in a field where he was working with his uncle.
He is described as a father-of-two in his 30s.
The killer eventually abandoned his car in woodland near Boot before turning the gun on himself. The bloodbath took less than four hours and left four towns devastated. At least five people are dead and 25 injured.
Local landlord Rod Davies said: ‘The guy flipped for whatever reason. Whether it was pre-meditated, we don’t know.’
A Whitehaven cab driver said he understood a total of three taxi drivers had been shot, two fatally.
The man, who did not want to be named, claimed an argument broke out between Bird and the other three men last night at the Duke Street taxi rank.
He said: ‘All of the taxi drivers were friends. But I heard last night there was an argument on the taxi rank.
‘I don’t know what caused it, but something must have happened last night. Bird took off in his car and went home. I don’t know what time of night it was.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Row Over ‘Black Only’ Council Job Ad
A council today defended a decision to exclude white people from applying to join a management training scheme.
Bristol City Council is facing criticism after the two-year graduate placement, worth £18,000, was offered only to ethnic minorities.
The council — the city’s largest employer — said the process was legal and is addressing an imbalance in the ethnic mix of its workforce.
One potential applicant, who did not wish to be named, told the Bristol Evening Post: “I am a tolerant white person who has lived in Bristol for 27 years.
“I am currently searching for a job and stumbled across a job advertisement on Bristol City Council’s website that I see as totally racist.
“I feel the job itself would be an excellent opportunity for me to make use of the skills and qualifications that I have acquired. However, being white I am totally excluded from applying for the post.”
Seven per cent of the council’s 9,000 non-school members of staff are from ethnic minorities, compared to 12% of Bristol’s population as a whole.
The placement description, which does not guarantee a job at the end, reads: “You should have a strong interest in the delivery of local public services, be able to take the initiative and have the confidence to relate to people at all levels within the council.
“The traineeship will involve rotating placements in different services of the city council where you will be given ‘on the job’ training and undertake projects including policy and research work. The successful candidates will be offered a postgraduate diploma in management studies, a tax-free training allowance and mentoring and support throughout.”
The city council says it has other training schemes that are open to everyone.
A spokesman said today: “This is the third year of running the traineeship and it was started because of the marked under-representation of BME (black and minority ethnic) people in the council’s workforce. Seven per cent of our staff are BME compared to 12% in the city population and the figure for BME is even lower at management grades.
“The normal recruitment process was not rectifying this unacceptably low trend, so there was a strong case for this small positive recruitment traineeship for two BME graduates a year, as set out by section 37 of the Race Relations Act 1976. We have a total workforce of over 9,000 employees (excluding school staff) so this is a very small training programme.
“Graduates from any ethnic background are, of course, open to apply for the national graduate local government programme which we recruit from every year — we have just recruited two graduates in this way.
“We also run a successful apprenticeship programme for the under-24s — so far we have placed 62 to date. And of course there are a range of jobs advertised externally via our website, which graduates can apply for.
“It is also worth remembering that this is a training position — at the end of the two years there is no guarantee of work and the successful candidates would have to apply for a job with the council in the usual way on the open market.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The £18,000 Council Job You Can’t Apply for if You Are White
A council has been accused of discrimination after white people were barred from applying for two £18,000-a-year jobs.
Bristol City has created the management training posts for graduates in an effort to recruit more minority employees.
As a result the council will only accept applications from ethnic minorities for the two-year placements.
But this has prompted criticism from white graduates struggling to find work.
One jobseeker, who did not wish to be named, described the posts as ‘totally racist’.
He said: ‘I am a tolerant white person who has lived in Bristol for 27 years.
‘I am searching for a job and stumbled across a job advertisement on Bristol City Council’s website that I see as totally racist.
‘I feel the job would be an excellent opportunity for me to make use of the skills and qualifications that I have acquired but, being white, I am excluded.
[…]
The two jobs are described on BCC’s website as ‘open to black and minority ethnic graduates’ only, with applications closing on June 11.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Libya-Italy: Italian Week in Tripoli for June 2 Celebration
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, JUNE 2 — “We must deepen the cultural horizons between Italy and Libya”, said Libya’s Minister of Culture Nuri Daw El Hemedi while opening the “Italian Week” in Tripoli. The event started yesterday with a concert of Italian Bel Canto with artists of the Puccini Festival Foundation. The event was organised by the Italian embassy in Tripoli in collaboration with the Libyan cultural and archaeological organisation, in the context of the celebration of the Italian ‘Republic Day’. It was made possible by contributions of the main Italian companies active in Libya, including Finmeccanica, Eni, Unicredit Group and Alitalia. The Libyan minister said, in a preliminary meeting with the Italian ambassador to Libya, Francesco Paolo Trupiano, that he is “pleased with the positive development of bilateral diplomatic relations” between the countries. He confirmed “the profound interest of the Libyan people in Italian culture and language”. The ministers stressed “the need to resume the cultural dialogue, quoting the Bengasi Friendship Treaty in which the initiatives that must be taken by the parties are mentioned. These initiative are based on the principles of tolerance, cohabitation and mutual respect, inspired on historic and human relations”. The “Italian Week” will continue until June 4, the day when the ambassador will leave the mission after more than 5 years.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Satellite Surveillance of Gulf of Gabes
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JUNE 1 — A satellite system to monitor fishing fleets in the Gulf of Gabes has been carried out by Tunisia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fishing. Satellite surveillance will help to prevent and counter poaching and consequently to protect environmental resources. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty Calls for Probe Into Israeli Raid
London, 2 June (AKI) — Human rights group Amnesty International has called for an international inquiry into the deaths caused by the Israeli raid on the aid flotilla outside the Gaza Strip on Monday.
“Given the international nature of this incident and the continuing lack of credible Israeli investigations into violations of human rights in the context of the Gaza conflict, there is also a need for an immediate international investigation,” said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty’s interim secretary-general.
“The Israeli authorities have the primary responsibility to investigate the use of lethal force by its forces, as well as the claims by Israeli officials that Israeli forces were attacked with a range of weapons.
“But for full credibility and transparency, Israel should invite the relevant UN experts to carry out an investigation into the events of 31 May.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Barak: In the Middle East, There is No Mercy for the Weak
Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited the Shayetet 13 base in Atlit on Wednesday and praised the commandos who participated in the deadly raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Monday for carrying out their mission, Army Radio reported.
“You carried out the mission and prevented the flotilla from reaching Gaza,” Barak said. “We need to always remember that we aren’t North America or Western Europe, we live in the Middle East, in a place where there is no mercy for the weak and there aren’t second chances for those who don’t defend themselves. You were fighting for your lives — I saw it, and I heard it from your commanders.”
Barak was accompanied on the visit to the base by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Navy commander Eliezer Marom.
Nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed on Monday in clashes that occurred as naval commandos took control of the Mavi Marmara ship, one of six aid vessels intercepted by the IDF. Seven soldiers were wounded, two seriously.
Footage released by the Israeli military showed the activists attacking the commandos as they boarded the ships.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Gaza Blockade, EU Ready to Pressure Israel
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 1 — The EU is ready to step up its pressure on Israel to persuade it to lift its blockade on Gaza. So said the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton, while speaking in a telephone conversation today to Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad. According to a European Commission spokesperson, “Ms Ashton explained to Fayyad that the blockade has to stop and that the countries of the EU will discuss how this objective is to be attained as quickly as possible”. The EU High Representative also pointed out “the fundamental role of the Palestine National Authority in the normalisation of the situation in Gaza”, and expressed the hope that PNA President Mahmoud Abbas would be able to visit the Hamas-controlled territory.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: NATO to Israel, Set Prisoners Free
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 1 — According to a NATO report, NATO general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Israel to immediately set free the ships and civilians involved in the assault to the flotilla that was carrying humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. The request came after this afternoon’s special NATO meeting that was held to debate yesterday’s events off the shores of Gaza, with the Israeli blitz that caused the death of 9 civilians. The report stated that “There was an ample exchange of views between the allies on all aspects of this tragic event”. Rasmussen expressed his “deep regret for the loss of human lives and the other facts that followed the use of force during the incident which involved the flotilla that was sailing for Gaza”. NATO’s general secretary stated that “I condemn the acts which led to this tragedy, and I add my words to the UN and EU requests for an immediate, impartial, credible and transparent investigation on the incident”. Rasmussen then posed an urgent request, that of “immediately setting free ships and civilians seized by Israel” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Israel Ambassador to Euro Plmt, Pacifists Armed
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JUNE 1 — “It was not a peaceful humanitarian mission but a provocative mission that ended in tragedy”, according to Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Ran Curiel, who was speaking to European ministers today about the Israeli military blitz. Having been invited by the European Parliament to discuss the crisis that has been caused by Israel’s military action against the ships, Curiel showed pictures of Israeli soldiers being beaten with ropes and iron chains as they attacked the ship. The pictures also showed objects, some of them dangerous, that the Israelis are thought to have found on board. “Have you ever seen armed pacifists?” asked the ambassador. European MP’s were sceptical, not least on the veracity and accuracy of the pictures. Many said that Israel should demonstrate its collaboration by allowing delegations to enter Gaza, a trip that has recently been refused to a number of European Union officials. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Netanyahu and Barak Worked Alone, Ministers
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JUNE 2 — A climate of reproach reigns in the Israeli government for the repercussions of the raid carried out on Sunday by an elite unit on the fleet of pro-Palestinian activists headed for Gaza. According to some ministers, quoted by the press, Premier Benyamin Netanyahu and Defence minister Ehud Barak have managed the crisis by themselves, without consulting with the government and even without convening the defence Cabinet which includes the seven main ministries. In an outburst published by Yediot Ahronot, a minister (who preferred to remain anonymous) said that the plan of action worked out by the navy was presented to the Ministers on Wednesday, when everything had already been decided”. Immediately after that, Netanyahu left for a foreign mission. Another minister, also anonymously, said that he learned about the important details of the operation from television, after the raid. “Had I known the situation before, I would have made objections”, he added. Some ministers have expressed their astonishment about the inadequacy of the intelligence information that was in the hands of the military leaders that authorised the raid. Yediot Ahronot points out that the information did not mention the presence of tens of well-trained and well-equipped activists on the ship, ready to engage the troops. A source close to the Premier has replied that in the light of previous attempts made by pro-Palestinian activists to break through the Gaza blockade over sea, the Premier and Defence minister were authorised to stop the flotilla without further consultations with the ministers. But Israel is not comfortable with the result of the raid. Many have asked for an inquiry. According to a poll, almost half the Israelis want an inquiry. Yediot Ahronot adds that several Ministers have the same opinion. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Rafah Crossing Reopens, Turkey Acclaimed
(ANSAmed) — RAFAH CROSSING (GAZA) — Egypt has reopened its border with the Gaza Strip and Rafah. Hundreds of Palestinians have arrived, celebrating and acclaiming Turkey and its Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has taken a very tough stance on Israel in the wake of the bloody flotilla attack. Yesterday the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, had ordered the reopening of the crossing in order to ease the tension created in Gaza after the Israeli marine attack on the “Freedom Flotilla”, which was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Many are saying that if it had not been for the Flotilla and for Turkey, the Rafah crossing would not have been reopened. Transit was briefly allowed three weeks ago, but only for a few days. The crossing had previously remained closed for three months. Tough decisions await Hamas’ Palestinian Home Affairs Ministry in the next few hours, with priorities for entry and exit still to be established. Officials are hoping to avoid thousands of people grouping at the border, and the disorder that would follow. Priority has been guaranteed to students, to the sick in need of urgent medical treatment, and those who have work contracts abroad. The crossing will today remain open for about ten hours. Permission to cross has been given to hundreds of Palestinians, who are being ferried in buses provided by the Home Affairs Ministry. But one question yet to be answered, in Gaza at least, concerns Egypt’s intentions. The Hamas executive is trying to understand whether the opening of the Rafah crossing is to prove durable — as is hoped in the Gaza Strip — or simply a measure limited to the next few days. Another reason for doubt among Gaza’s inhabitants is the entry of goods from Egyptian Sinai, which until yesterday were unable to pass through Rafah. In the last few months, the issue has been a delicate one in the context of bilateral relations, especially since the building of an underground steel wall on the Egyptian side of the border, to prevent smuggling through a number of tunnels dug into the sand. Today, however, on the orders of President Mubarak, the Red Crescent was able to transport four electric energy generators into the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian organisation has said that another nine generators will arrive shortly, along with 110 tents and 2,300 blankets.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Dublin to Israel, Allow Irish Ship Through
(ANSAmed) — LONDON, JUNE 2 — The Irish government again asked Israeli authorities to allow the arrival in Gaza of an Irish ship (the Rachel Corrie) loaded with humanitarian aid that sailed from Ireland and was not with the rest of the humanitarian convoy when Israeli forces attacked the rest of the flotilla that was heading for the Strip. The Corrie was meant to arrive in Gaza today, but currently its arrival is scheduled for next Monday, according to Niamh Moloughney, who works for the Free Gaza Ireland organisation. According to the source, the ship is located “between Crete and North Africa”, and could load more passengers during the next stopovers. There are five Irish citizens on board, including Nobel peace prize winner Mairead Maguire, age 66. Yesterday Irish premier Brian Cowen warned Israel that “If something happens to our citizens, there will be grave consequences”, and asked that the Corrie “be authorised to complete its voyage without hindrance and unload its humanitarian assistance in Gaza”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Mubarak Orders Opening of Rafah Pass
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JUNE 1 — Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has ordered the opening of the Rafah pass to the Gaza Strip, the only pass not under Israeli control, to allow the passage of humanitarian aid and of the ill. The news appears on the Egyptian Mena press agency.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: 3 Militiamen Killed in Raid, 5 in Total Today
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, JUNE 1 — Three Palestinian militiamen were killed this afternoon during an air raid carried out by a pilotless Israeli aircraft over northern Gaza in response to previous attacks along the border. Local medical sources made the report, confirming that today’s total number of firearm and reprisal victims in the Strip grew to five. The episode occurred in the Beit Lahya area: according to the sources the three that were killed were all exponents of the armed wing of the Popular Front, one of the radical factions working in the area controlled by Hamas fundamentalists. The aircraft struck after the launch of two Qassam rockets from the town of Ashqelon (southern Israel). And after an RPG shot against a border post, missing the target. This morning another two Palestinian militiamen were intercepted and gunned down by Israeli forces while they were trying to sneak into the Gaza Strip close to the Nir Oz kibbutz, further south. The new wave of violence coincides with tension set off in recent hours by the Israeli special forces blitz against the multinational flotilla of pro-Palestine activists that was blocked yesterday while trying to reach Gaza, challenging the Israeli blockade, to deliver help and material to the Strip’s population. The blitz claimed the life of at least 9 members of the expedition and raised vivid reaction in the Palestinian Territories, both through street demonstrations and statements by the Hamas leadership, which accused Israel of “piracy” and “war crimes”, but also exploited the political situation to exert pressure on the international community, to embarrass the Palestinian National Authority’s moderate leadership in power in the West bank, and most of all to revive the campaign to loosen the Israeli (and Egyptian) blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Adds More Act of Civilian Bloodshed to Its Record
Today’s Zaman Istanbul
An explosion is seen as the Israeli military bombs an area around “Gaza’s lifeline” — - tunnels in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip — - in this Jan. 14, 2009, photo.
The Israeli military forces’ killing of at least 10 civilian activists sailing an aid convoy to Gaza, which has sparked worldwide outrage, has brought to mind Israel’s past actions of targeting civilians, including mass killings and attacks on hospitals, refugee camps and schools.
With the latest bloody attack, Israel, which many have accused of implementing state-sponsored terrorism, added one more black mark to its record, which consists of a number of mass killings of civilians.
One of Israel’s bloodiest attacks was during the 1982 assault on southern Lebanon, which was marked by the Sabra and Shatila massacres. On Sept. 16, 1982, under the watchful eye of their Israeli allies who had encircled the area, Lebanese Christian militiamen entered Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps bent on revenge for the assassination of their leader, Bashir Gemayel. There followed a three-day orgy of rape and slaughter. For days, the Israeli-allied militiamen raped, injured and killed a large number of unarmed civilians, mostly children, women and the elderly, inside the enclosed and sealed refugee camps. The estimated number of victims varies from 700, the official Israeli figure, to 3,500.
The Qana massacre, also occasionally referred to as the shelling of Qana, was another bloody Israeli act. The massacre took place on April 18, 1996, in Qana, a village in southern Lebanon, when Israeli artillery bombed a UN compound near Qana. Of the 800 Lebanese civilians who had taken refuge in the compound to escape the fighting, 106 were killed and around 116 injured.
The incident took place amid heavy fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbullah. A United Nations military investigation later determined it was unlikely that the Israeli shelling of the UN compound was the result of technical or procedural errors.
In 2006 Israel attacked the village of Qana for the second time. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) attacked a three-story building in the small community of al-Khuraybah near Qana on July 30, killing 64 civilians, including 37 children.
In March 2002, the Israeli army launched its biggest offensive since the 1982 Lebanon war as tanks and troops invaded Ramallah, the commercial hub of the West Bank, and other towns and cities in raids that left more than 400 Palestinians dead and many more injured. Ramallah was occupied by Israel in an operation codenamed Operation Defensive Shield, which resulted in curfews, electricity cuts, school closures and disruptions to commercial life. Many Ramallah institutions, including government ministries, were vandalized and equipment was destroyed or stolen.
Gaza assault marked by civilian killings, phosphorus shells
The aid convoy which was stormed by Israeli commandoes was carrying hundreds of civilian activists on an aid mission to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a punishing three-week campaign of air strikes and ground incursions on Dec. 27, 2008, saying the operation was meant to stop years of rocket attacks from Gaza. The offensive eventually left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including many civilians, and brought heavy international criticism upon Israel, including accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a United Nations investigation.
It emerged that Israel used cluster bombs and other controversial weapons, including phosphorus shells, in its assault on the region. Military analysts examining the video footage from the region confirmed the use of cluster bombs by Israeli forces. Cluster bombs scatter hundreds of smaller individual submunitions or “bomblets” that often remain undetonated after impact. Phosphorus bombs are extremely deadly weapons.
In January 2009, more than 40 Palestinians were killed after missiles exploded outside a UN school where hundreds of people were sheltering from the Israeli offensive. Two Israeli tank shells struck the school in the Jabaliya refugee camp, showering the people inside and outside the building with shrapnel. In addition to the dead, several dozen people were wounded, UN officials said. The bloody assault took place despite the school being clearly marked with a UN flag, the officials said, and its location had been reported to Israeli authorities.
Not long after the school attack, Israeli forces attacked the al-Dorra children’s hospital in Gaza, injuring three children, after the UN Security Council call for ceasefire.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, Israel has targeted several registered medical facilities, which were given assurances that they would not come under attack.
Israeli agents were allegedly involved in an assassination in Dubai earlier this year. Top Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in January in his hotel room in what Dubai police said was almost certainly a hit by Israel’s Mossad spy agency. The hit squad suspected of killing Mabhouh allegedly used forged passports from several European countries and Australia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Deports Jailed Aid Activists
Gaza City, 2 June (AKI) — Israel on Wednesday began deporting scores of foreign activists, arrested after a deadly raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla that was trying to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Around 250 activists have so far been deported — about 120 of them reportedly Algerian and Indonesian — were taken to Jordan.
Hundreds more, most of them Turkish, were due to be deported from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.
Ten activists were killed — nine of them Turkish — when Israeli naval commandos boarded the six vessels in the convoy early Monday.
Dozens more were wounded and more than 600 were detained and taken to Israeli prisons.
Israel has been widely condemned for the raids and the United Nations is expected to set up an inquiry into the incident.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed for the immediate release of those detained.
“We reiterate our call to all concerned to act with a sense of care and responsibility and for a satisfactory resolution and the United Nations has raised its concerns about this with international partners and with Israeli authorities and all parties should act in accordance with international law and avoid provocations at this sensitive time,” UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said in New York.
A few dozen Israeli diplomat families in the Turkish cities of Ankara and Istanbul were instructed to return to Israel on Tuesday after the raid provoked a crisis in Israel-Turkey relations.
Israeli media said some have already returned, and others were expected to arrive on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Looks at ‘Al-Qaeda Link’ To Aid Activists
Jerusalem, 2 June(AKI) — Israel has questioned whether up to 40 of the activists arrested in the raid on the Gaza aid flotilla may have had links to Al-Qaeda. According to the Israeli Defense Forces, a special meeting of the Security Cabinet late Tuesday heard that a group of 40 people on board the Mavi Marmara with no identification papers belonged to Al Qaeda.
“The terrorists were equipped with bullet proof vests, night-vision goggles, and weapons,” the IDF said on its website.
“On board the Mavi Marmara ship that arrived as part of the flotilla to Gaza was a group of approximately 40 people with no identification papers, who are mercenaries belonging to the Al Qaeda terror organisation.”
As international debate continues over Israel’s deadly raid on the humanitarian vessels, the IDF released a number of videos to show the military’s version of the raid during which soldiers shot and killed nine international activists bound for the Gaza Strip.
One video, published on Wednesday on several websites including the site of Israeli daily Haaretz, shows passengers on the Mavi Marmara hurling stun grenades and plates and spraying water at the commandos as they lowered themselves onto the ship.
The activists are also seen armed with iron bars and batons which they reportedly used against the soldiers.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nice Countries Finish Last
If Israeli soldiers had boarded the Mavi Marmara armed with assault rifles instead of paintball guns, would the Turkish Islamists on board have been just as eager to attack them? The odds are against it. In order to attack soldiers, you have to believe that they won’t be able to turn you into a smear on the deck. And it’s not hard to see why they would have believed that.
Not only did Israeli soldiers come on board armed with paintball guns, but the Islamists and their left wing allies had every reason to believe that Israel would retreat again. Because two weeks earlier, Israel had backed off and allowed Noam Chomsky in after a storm of left wing protest. That fateful decision made Israel look weak and easily maneuvered, which helped set the stage for what followed. The Islamists could reasonably believe that if Israel retreated before one elderly left wing academic, their accompanying elderly left wingers would be just as effective.
But the flotilla encounter is a useful model, not only of Israel’s own weak response toward terrorism, but that of the Western world toward Islam as a whole.
[…]
When dealing with enemies who want to kill you, one thing is certain—nice countries finish last. Totalitarian regimes and homicidal ideologies view “niceness” as an admission of weakness or guilt. And here’s the dirty little secret, often we tend to view it that way too. Backing down before enemies becomes learned behavior. The human mind rationalizes it by embracing pacifism and then finally the enemy’s point of view. Inaction in the face of terrorism becomes Stockholm Syndrome.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ten Deaths for an Inverted Truth
Il Giornale, 1 June 2010
With its deaths and wounded, last night’s episode on the Turkish ship, has diabolical elements. What is diabolical is the reversal, the lie that is being designed by International public opinion, as in the battle in Jenin and like the death of Mohamad Al Dura: the truth, apart from being tragic and regretful, has been inverted, flipping responsibility. Condemnations fly, and they all have a nominal character: who was on the ship is called “pacifist” or “civil” while the Israeli soldiers are depicted as having bloodily interrupted their path of a “rescue mission.” No one speaks about organizations that are pro-Hamas, none about provocations, which is really what was being transported by those ships. Besides of course the human essence that we are sad to see disappearing.
But it’s not enough to declare oneself a pacifist in order to be one. The Turkish organization IHH, the protagonist of the story, has always been pro-terrorist, an active friend of jihadists and of Hamas, itself linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Its members have been pursued and arrested, and its headquarters were closed by the Turks themselves for possessing automatic weapons, explosives and other violent acts. But now, because IHH was on the ship called Marmara, it became “pacifist”, like the other various NGOs who are militants travelling on the waves of the Mediterranean. It is no longer enough to declare oneself “civil.” In today’s wars, in fact, the use of civilians as human shields and as warriors at the frontline, is the most difficult novelty in a variety of scenarios. The uniform does not separate the good from the bad: we have seen the use of houses and Mosques as trenches of the “civil” militarized; at sea we were not accustomed, but it is an interesting new invention on behalf of jihad.
Before leaving, a woman on the ship declared: “We are waiting now for one of two good things: either to achieve martyrdom or to reach Gaza”. But who listens to a statement so revealing and uncomfortable when the siren of humanitarian enterprise sings? The flotilla leader said that his aim was to bring humanitarian aid. And it didn’t matter, on the contrary it pleased the warm souls of those who believe in human rights, that they were headed towards Gaza, a strip dominated by Hamas — a terrorist organization that not only persecutes Christians, but also has condemned all Jews to death: using children, objects, buildings, everything in order to fight Israel and the entire West. Regardless of the missiles and attacks, the ships continued to travel towards Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly made offers to the organizers of the fleet to inspect its goods at the port of Ashdod with the purpose of delivering them to its recipients. They refused, and this seems like a decisive proof of their scarce humanitarian vocation — just like when they said that they don’t care of dealing with Gilad Shalit, as his father asked them. Once again…
Therefore, the flotilla was directed towards Gaza. And Israel’s goal was that of avoiding unidentified cargo from falling into the hands of Hamas, an armed terrorist organization. Was Gaza’s population in need of urgent help? Israel states that this was an unjustified excuse. For example, in the week of 2-8 May, limiting itself to only a few goods from a long list, the following passed from the borders of Israel to the people of Gaza: 1.535.787 liters of gasoline, 91 trucks of flour, 76 of fruits and vegetables, 39 of milk and cheese, 33 of meat, 48 of clothes, 30 of sugar, 7 of medicine, 112 of animal food, and 26 of hygiene products. In addition, 370 sick people went to Israeli hospitals, etc., etc.
Therefore, it was not the hunger that put wind in the sails of the ships that came from Cyprus with the help of the Turks. From the start, it was the political pressure in order to legitimate Hamas and to morally delegitimize Israel, a pressure that surely never affects the Chinese for their persecution of the Uyghurs or the Turks for their persecution of the Kurds. And so the anti-Israeli aspiration of the Marmara ship has popped like a cork from a champagne bottle when the soldiers came down by helicopter in an attempt to control the ship so as to bring it to Ashdod.
At four in the morning, a firsthand witness Carmela Menashe, a military reporter who mercilessly uncovered many scandals in the Israeli army, declared that when soldiers from the Israeli Navy tried to get off the ship they were welcomed with gunfire. “There were firearms on the ship” of the pacifists; the soldiers that touched the bridge faced a lynching “like that of Ramallah” in which human limbs were thrown into the crowd. They used, with enormous impetuosity according to recounts, iron bars, knives and gas. The Israeli soldiers were thrown into the hold of the ship by the “pacifists” in an attempt to either kidnap or throw them into the sea. This explains why their mates fired. Of course, the sailors were not part of a military, they were civilians: but, by now, in asymmetric warfare civilians are used as human shields and combatants.
Israel should have tried to stop the Marmara ship; whether it did with little foresight, we do not know. But surely the soldiers were not the first to shoot, it is forbidden by Israeli military code, it’s not proper use of those soldiers. Now if the world wants to simply delight in its usual condemnations of Israel let them, but they must be aware that by lending their support to the forces that have provoked the carnage, it is preparing the next war.
And Turkey, of whose friendship Israel was proud and that supported this disaster as an homage to its alliance with Iran and recent Islamic militancy, it could now at least retreat from its extremist line, which brings nothing but trouble also to Ataturk’s country. Of course, it does not deserve applause for this show in which only Hamas wins. The conformism that animates the ordeal of condemnations against Israel now, does not temper the souls of extremists, but simply enhances them.
Translated by Amy K. Rosenthal
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UN: Italy Votes Against International Investigation
(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, JUNE 2 — Italy voted against the UN Human Rights Council decision which adopted a resolution asking for an international “investigation mission” on the Israeli blitz against the flotilla headed for Gaza. The report came from Foreign Ministry sources which emphasised that there was no “shared European position”. Italy was joined by the USA and the Netherlands. Nine abstained: Belgium, Burkina Faso, France, Hungary, Japan, UK, Ukraine, Slovakia, Korea. 32 voted in favour out of a total 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ankara’s Problems: The Veil, The Kurds and Foreign Policy
Marco Cesario
The challenges posed by globalisation, the AKP’s foreign policy, the Kurds and the Armenians. The 2010 Istanbul Seminars ended with a debate on Turkey, a country that in the immediate future will be called upon to face increasingly difficult challenges, not least that of the tricky process of joining the Club of 27. There are still a number of problems to be solved. There is Northern Cyprus, the Armenian and Kurdish issues, but also the completion of modernisation plans to prevent Turkey from drifting towards radical nationalism and religious extremism…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Erdogan Insists, Israel Must be Punished
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 1 — “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the Israeli attack, which is a bloody massacre deserving of all manner of condemnation. The Jewish state must absolutely be punished for its inhumane action.” These are the clear and uncompromising words of the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who today continued to speak out against the attack by Israeli marines on the Turkish ship “Blue Marmara”, which was carrying some 500 passengers and humanitarian aid to Gaza. As soldiers boarded the ship, some passengers are reported to have tried to resist, using knives and iron bars. Nine people were killed in the incident, of whom at least four were Turkish, the Foreign Ministry announced during the evening. Meanwhile, sources close to the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv have said that 368 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists are being held in Beer Sheva prison, in the Neghev desert, while 19 Turkish citizens have returned home. Speaking in Ankara during a parliamentary meeting of his Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan voiced the anger and dismay felt by his country, saying that “the Israeli attack was carried out against the conscience of humanity and against the philosophy upon which the United Nations is based”. “Turkey has always been on the side of those who want peace in the Middle East,” he continued, “but Israel, with such behaviour, is going against those who defend peace. For the international society, the time has now come to tell Israel to stop and last night’s statement of condemnation from the United Nations is not sufficient,” said Erdogan, who was due to have a telephone conversation with the US President, Barack Obama, later in the evening. Protests continued throughout today against the Israeli attack. In Istanbul, over 500 taxi drivers parked their vehicles in front of the Israeli consulate and sounded their horns at length in protest. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Turkish-Israeli Economic Relations
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 1 — Economic ties between Turkey and Israel, who have been strategic allies since 1996, are based largely on military cooperation, with both the sale and the maintenance of Turkish weaponry, but relations also exist in the fields of energy, tourism and culture. The volume of trade between Turkey and Israel was in the order of 2.5 billion dollars last year, most of in the military industry. A number of Israeli companies have the task of modernizing around a hundred Turkish F-4 and F-5 bombers for a figure close to 700 million dollars. Eight years ago, meanwhile, the Israeli military industry received a contract worth around 670 million dollars for the modernisation of 170 M60 tanks, the delivery of which was completed recently. Another 180 million dollar contract was signed by Ankara in 2005 with Israel’s aeronautical industry, for the building and delivery of 10 Heron spy planes (drones, or planes without pilots), equipped with sophisticated technology. The planes are able to fly for 52 hours non-stop at an altitude of 10,000 metres, taking pictures of the surrounding area that are sent back to earth in real time. Despite the latest crisis between the two countries, Turkey’s Defence Minister today said that there would be no problems regarding the delivery of the final planes. Turkey and Israel also collaborate in the energy sector and have prepared feasibility studies for the building of the Medstream pipe that is due to link the two countries, allowing the transport of natural gas, oil and water. But the deterioration in the relationship that began in January of last year has slowed the project. As part of the programme, the Turkish company Zorlu Enerji is due to build a gas-powered electric power station in Israel with a power of 800 megawatts. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai: British Air Hostess ‘Kidnapped and Raped in Dubai Desert’
A British air hostess was kidnapped and raped in the Dubai desert after accepting a lift from a salesman, a court heard.
The 25-year-old victim was with her sister in a nightclub when she got into an ‘emotional state’ and left alone, it is alleged.
She tried to hail a taxi when a 30-year-old Jordanian man offered to take her home from the plush Dubai Marina Hotel club at 3.30am, the court was told.
The stewardess accepted and sat in the passenger seat of his car.
However, he diverted from her normal route home, first driving around a car park.
When she asked him to stop the vehicle and let her go, he used the central locking system and drove off into the desert.
She said he eventually stopped the car and forced himself on her. She tried to kick the window to escape before the defendant, named as Mohammed Salem by the Sun, stripped and raped her.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Assault Jeopardizes Turkish Tourism, Defense Deals
Israeli military’s deadly assault against the Gaza aid flotilla is expected to have serious repercussions in economic and trade ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv. As Culture Minister Ertugrul Günay confirms thousands of reservation cancelations by Israelis, the Defense Ministry is pondering the annulment of joint military projects
The Israeli military raid on a Turkish aid ship headed for Gaza that left at least nine dead is expected to have serious repercussions in economic ties between the two countries.
As tourism seems to be the first area that will be hit by the unprecedented tension, defense deals could also be put under scrutiny by the Turkish government.
Speaking to journalists in Ankara on Tuesday, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Günay confirmed many Israeli tourists are canceling reservations.
“We have no problem with the people of Israel,” Anatolia news agency quoted Günay as saying. “There are cancellations. We understand this.”
Turkey has had problems about Israeli tourists “since Davos,” Günay said, referring to the Jan. 29, 2009, spat during a World Economic Forum conference that resulted in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan storming out of the hall at the Swiss mountain resort.
“This year, there were reservations and Israelis were coming. Turkey is a country that offers safe travel and holiday for Israel, near the Middle East. This won’t change. It will be the same after the Israeli people oust that intolerant government [of theirs],” he said.
Günay put the number of first cancellations at “between 10,000 and 20,000.”
However, Basaran Ulusoy, chief of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, said “a minimum of 70,000-80,000 tourists from Israel will be lost.”
“Turkey is the United Nations of international tourism,” Vatan newspaper quoted him as saying on Tuesday. “The safety of the lives of Israeli tourists is under the guarantee of the Turkish Republic. Everybody should continue their holidays without fear.”
Cruises changing course
Vatan reported Tuesday that cruises carrying Israeli tourists to destinations such as Alanya and Marmaris have changed course in the aftermath of the Israeli assault and are now heading toward Cyprus or Rhodes. The Mirage-1, which was carrying 420 Israeli tourists to Alanya, has changed course to Rhodes, while a total of 50,000 reservations have been canceled in Bodrum and Marmaris, the newspaper said.
Speaking to Vatan, Sururi Çorabatir, head of the Mediterranean Tourist Hoteliers Association, said another cruise carrying 850 tourists to Alanya is now heading toward Greek Cyprus.
The cancellations came after the Israeli Foreign Ministry advised its citizens not to travel to Turkey.
“In Bodrum, there were already few Israeli tourists due to political tensions,” Yüksel Aslan, the local director of Brontes, a travel company, told Dogan news agency. “According to our talks with Israeli agencies, two planes per week were to land at Bodrum, for reservations that start on June 20.”
“The Royal Iris, a cruise that was carrying tourists to Marmaris, has canceled its trip,” Dogan quoted Sükrü Tugay, the managing director of the Marmaris Port, as saying. “A total of 20 other ships that were to come throughout the year have also canceled their trips.”
Tourism is only one of the economic casualties of Monday’s assault. Roughly $20 billion of joint projects in energy, agriculture and water, including a pipeline to carry gas, electricity and fiber optic cables from Turkey via Israel as far as India, are at risk following the raid, Vatan newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said Tuesday that he foresaw no problems in the delivery of the unmanned surveillance aircraft Turkey is purchasing from Israel, according to the private CNBC-e channel. Nonetheless, the Undersecretary of Defense has begun debating the pros and cons of canceling the joint TARP project.
The $140 million project was planned as an enhancement of the capabilities of Turkey’s F-4 2020 and F-16 fighter jets.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Grotesque Theatre Succeeded Brilliantly
THIS may turn out to be a pivotal moment in the Middle East.
Not because of the loss of life, which was tragic, but alas not uncommon in the Middle East.
Not because of the public relations disaster for Israel.
The Jewish state was sucker-punched by demonstrators determined to provoke an ugly Israeli reaction and international PR disaster.
By beating Israeli sailors nearly to death as soon as they landed, the protesters made a violent reaction inevitable. You cannot attempt to kill armed soldiers without suffering casualties.
Nor is the real significance of this incident that there will be another global round of Israel-bashing. That happens all the time.
No, the real strategic significance of the violence off the northern coast of Israel lies in Turkey.
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It is in Ankara and Istanbul, and on the vast Anatolian plains, that we may be witnessing a profound reshaping of the Middle East strategic order, and therefore the global strategic order.
It’s too early to call it definitively, but the evidence is disturbing.
In the melee of the Gaza ships, real violence occurred on only one ship, the Marmara. It was a Turkish vessel and its activists came from the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).
The IHH is a pro-Hamas Islamist terror group implicated in numerous al-Qa’ida operations.
They took clubs, steel bars, knives and perhaps guns on board. But their object was not to kill Israeli soldiers — though they would have been happy for that to happen. The aim was a kind of grotesque theatre, which is what all terrorism is really about, in this case to carry out enough violence to ensure a violent Israeli reaction.
It succeeded brilliantly.
For weeks before the flotilla set off, the Israelis were constantly nagging the Turkish ambassador in Tel Aviv to help them manage the situation.
We can do nothing, the Turkish government said, adding the matter was being carried out by non-government organisations.
The flotilla never had any interest in getting aid to Gaza. The Israelis offered to route the aid through the Israeli port of Ashdod. Or the flotilla could have landed in Egypt and sent the aid in by road.
No, the flotilla existed only to make political theatre and the IHH activists were determined to make deadly theatre, for the more deadly the performance is, the bigger the theatre becomes.
The Turkish government seized on the incident to damn Israel in every way, to accuse it of piracy and banditry and murder.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to office in 2002. The AKP was formed out of old Islamist parties but it trod warily in its early years in office. Previous Islamist governments had been turfed out by the Turkish military, which sees itself as the guardian of Kemal Ataturk’s secular republic.
Over the years the AKP has neutered the military, silenced much of the independent media and slowly weakened secularism.
Recently it has hosted Hamas visits and its leaders make frequent visits themselves to Iran and Syria. Erdogan joined with Brazil in offering to reprocess Iran’s nuclear fuel to avoid UN sanctions on Iran.
Turkey is a member of NATO and it had traditionally been Israel’s only Muslim ally.
A decade ago, Turkey’s agenda was liberalisation, European Union membership and close military co-operation with Israel. Now its agenda is hostility to the West, denunciation of Israel and creeping Islamisation.
The way its government has used this incident to polarise its people against Israel is skilful and speaks of deep planning.
The flotilla tragedy reaped all kinds of other benefits for global Islamists as well.
It knocked off course the planned meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama. Such meetings are critical counters to the international effort to delegitimise Israel.
And it made a new intifada much more likely within the occupied territories.
This was a bad day not only for Israel, but for the collective West.
Hamas and its friends are sanguine about the loss of a few lives in pursuit of strategic gains.
| — Hat tip: Anne-Kit | [Return to headlines] |
MTV Using (Jeopardizing) Saudi Kids
Whether we’re talking about college professors encouraging students to go to the West Bank and lay in front of Israeli bulldozers or now MTV encouraging young people in Saudi Arabia to “Resist the Power” (potentially at great personal peril), there is a constant: liberals who manipulate children into engaging in protests are cowards.
The one-hour “Resist the power, Saudi Arabia” documentary was part of a program called “True Life”. The documentary was filmed in Jeddah, where the producers and cast met with a number of young Saudis who spoke about elements of the Saudi lifestyle that bothered them. The majority of Saudis who watched the video was offended and said it was a major insult to their traditions and customs.
The producers and crew contracted by MTV took their footage back to the U.S. for post production long before the program aired. The young Saudis in the show are now subject to whatever harsh punishments their countrymen come up with (including imprisonment and/or hundreds of lashes).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Raid: Turkish-Israel Economic Ties at Risk
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 1 — In light of the attack on a Turkish ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, which led to the deaths of Turkish citizens, the Ankara government may re-examine its economic relationships with the Israeli state. So said today Turkey’s Minister for Foreign Trade, Zafer Caglayan, according to whom, “the inhuman attitude and the state terrorism exercised by Israel may lead Turkey to give up the economic gains, no matter how profitable they may be”. The volume of Turkish-Israeli stood last year at around 2.5 billion dollars. Caglayan continued: “We are doing our best to step up our economic ties with every country, but nothing can come before our national and moral values”. The same line was taken by Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, according to whom Ankara is looking at the possibility of re-examining its energy relations with Israel. Turkey and Israel have embarked on feasibilty studies for the construction of a Medstream pipeline which was supposed to link the two countries for the transportation of supplies of natural gas, oil and water, but the deterioration in relations since January of last year have slowed up developments in the project. Specifically, Turkey’s Zorlu Enerji company is planning to build a gas-fed electricity power station in Israel with a capacity of 800 megawatts. As for Israeli arms supplies to Turkey, which make up a large slice of trade between the two countries, Turkey’s Defence Minister, Vecdi Gonul today said that the new crisis surrounding Gaza will not have any bearing on the planned delivery of the latest of ten drones commissioned from an Israeli defence company at the cost of 180 million dollars. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: The West, And the “Rest”
Fareed Zakaria’s best seller carries the title “The Post-American World and the Rise of the Rest.” The book, which is a fascinating read, is prescient. The Iran issue fits in perfectly here. The question is much more than Tehran’s nuclear ambitions now. The issue is turning into a standoff which points to a new division in the world.
This division can be characterized as “The West and The Rest,” to use Zakaria’s term. The growth of countries such as India, China, Brazil and Russia — in other words “The Rest” — is generating a new global landscape that does not suit the West.
Turkey, which is also growing fast, is showing increasing tendencies of going with “The Rest,” and less with “The West.” This is interpreted as “Islamicization of Turkish foreign policy” by some in Europe and the United States, but developments point to something much broader.
The emergence of this new world order is not a surprise, of course. It was foreseen by those who are competent enough to read the signs. Quite a few Western historians, economists, as well as political and social scientists have been pointing to what is going on for some time.
A few names that come to mind immediately include Walter Laqueur (“The last days of Europe: An Epitaph for the old Continent”), Joseph E. Stiglitz (“Globalization and its Discontents”), and Zakaria, whose book we mentioned above.
Even Timothy Garton Ash’s optimistic sounding “Free World: America, Europe and the surprising future of the West” is a cautionary tale as to what will happen if the Atlantic link is not reinforced in every way, something that is, of course, easier said than done, as Ash admits.
Meanwhile, anti-Americanism in particular, and anti-Westernism in general among Turks is increasingly palpable. Remaining committed to Turkey’s Western orientation in this climate is becoming a challenge for an elite minority. But Turkey’s drifting away from the U.S. and Europe is not something that worries mainstream Turks.
This attitude toward the West is not specific to Turks, of course. From Russia to India, from China to Africa there is a serious reaction growing against the West. Some are talking about a “post-colonial backlash.”
Roberto Fao, a doctoral researcher at Harvard University — who has written for the Financial Times, worked at the World Bank, and consulted for various government projects — has some interesting views on the matter.
In an opinion piece for EUobserver.com (May 25) Fao maintains that today, Europeans have to “ask themselves why they attract so little respect in the world.” He quotes Kishore Mahbubani, the dean of Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew School of International Affairs, who charges that Europe no longer understands “how irrelevant it is becoming to the rest of the world.”
Fao also recalls that Richard Haas, the president of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, has publicly declared “goodbye to Europe as a high-ranking power.” Fao does not believe, however, that this situation can be dismissed as mere “envy” on the part of non-Europeans.
“Instead, then, I would suggest a more inconvenient truth. Countries across the world have long resented Western meddling and moralizing, and have found the confidence to talk down a Europe whose global influence is no longer seen as secure” he declares.
In his book, Zakaria refers to the same “confidence” countries have found to talk down the U.S., and have something to show for as they do so.
“The tallest buildings, biggest dams, bestselling movies, and most advanced mobile phone are now all being made outside of Europe and the United States” he observes adding that “countries that previously lacked political confidence and national pride are finding them.”
Following the bipolar world, the unipolar world seems to be crumbling, also giving place to a multipolar one where options for “The West” are declining, while opportunities for “The Rest” are increasing incrementally.
So while Iran should of course be prevented from having a nuclear bomb, just as Israel and everyone else should be made to terminate their programs and give up their existing stocks of such weapons, the bottom line goes much beyond this.
It concerns a new order that is going to require very different responses to what we see today, if festering problems are to be prevented from leading to confrontations out which no one will come out the winner in the end.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Who the Hell Does Israel Think She is?
Mustafa Akyol
Two days ago, Israeli forces attacked a humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters. The whole purpose of the activists on the raided Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, and several others around it, were to bring aid and supplies, including playgrounds for children, to Gaza. They paid the price by being the targets of Israeli machine guns.
At least 10 unarmed civilians, most of whom are Turks, were killed. Dozens of others were injured.
There is no need to mince words in the face of this atrocity: Israel has committed piracy, barbarism and state terrorism.
Beyond doing all these shamelessly, Israeli spokesmen have also lied shamelessly. One of them, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon, was doing exactly that when he portrayed the ship, and the whole aid flotilla, as full of people “well-known for their ties with global Jihad, Al-Qaeda and Hamas.”
Damned lies
In fact, the 600 or so activists in the flotilla were a diverse group from 32 countries and many faiths. They included Christian priests and secular humanists. They included Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, the 85-year-old Nobel peace laureate from North Ireland, and Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor. They included children, including a 1-year-old.
Ayalon was also lying when he said, “we found weapons that were prepared in advance and used against our forces.” The Turkish authorities had checked the ships thoroughly before their departure, and there were simply no firearms on board. The only “weapons” that can be spoken of were the wooden or metal sticks that some of the activists had in their hands, apparently taken from the chairs or other ordinary materials on the vessels.
Yesterday, Israel released the photos of some other “weapons” on board, which were just knives taken from the ship’s kitchen.
The video footage we have seen on TV actually gives a sense of what happened: Israeli commandos raided the ships at dawn, sliding down from helicopters via ropes with machine guns in their hands. Some of the activists on board took this as an assault on their ship, which was, to repeat, in international, not Israeli, waters. (How could they take it otherwise?) Then they tried to resist the commandos with the sticks in their hands. The soldiers, in return, fired on the activists, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens.
From the Israeli point of view, everything is perfectly fine here: They have a policy of blockading Gaza, and those who defy it have to face the consequences.
The question is why in the world do people have to obey Israel’s dictates and recognize its inhumane blockade on Gaza?
Who the hell is Israel, in other words, to force 1.5 million people to live in an open-air prison for years?
The answer from Israel is that “Hamas fires rockets from Gaza.” Well, the last time those rockets were flying in the air, Israel was also firing rockets (and phosphorus bombs) into Gaza, killing a hundred times more civilians than Hamas did. According to a United Nations report, the actions of both sides equally amounted to war crimes.
So, if the war crimes on the Palestinian side legitimize a collective punishment of the Palestinian people, should the war crimes on the Israeli side legitimize a collective punishment of the Israeli people?
In other words, should we put a blockade on Israel as well, so that it won’t be able to kill more children in Gaza? And should we attack the civilian ships that aim to violate that blockade?
Right or might?
There is even a more fundamental question here, relating to the elephant in the Middle Eastern room: Who the hell is Israel to occupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, and to systematically steal these territories by building illegal settlements?
And how can she expect the Palestinians, and other nations like us, the Turks, to bow down to this unabashed theft of land?
When I asked that question to an Israeli hawk some years ago, I received a very revealing response: “Might,” he said, “makes right.”
Well, that might be a popular belief in Tel Aviv and Occupied Jerusalem, but not here in Istanbul. In fact our creed tells us that the exact opposite is true: Right, sooner or later, makes might.
The hundreds of heroes who sailed to Gaza last weekend had this faith in their hearts. Here in Turkey, 70 million more stand by them. We mourn for our fallen, but also know that they did not die in vain. Their sacrifice unveiled to the world not just the suffering of the innocents in the Gaza ghetto, but also the brutality of the rogue state that imposes it.
Read my lips: This spirit is really not going to die. We Turks will continue to stand for what is right, regardless of Israel’s might. None of her lobbying, bullying or killing is going to change that.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Press Unites Against Israel
Israel’s attack Monday on the humanitarian aid flotilla traveling to Gaza dominates the headlines of the Turkish print media Tuesday, competing only with a PKK assault on Turkish soldiers in Iskenderun. Every publication, from the extreme right to the extreme left, blames Israel for its unlawful act, while some posit a link between the two attacks
A Monday raid by Israeli commandos against a Gaza aid flotilla in the Mediterranean that resulted in the deaths of many civilians onboard elicited universal condemnation from the Turkish print media Tuesday.
The headlines of Turkish dailies all focused on the flotilla deaths, with many of the newspapers using similar language to describe the incident and the reaction to it.
While daily Hürriyet wrote, “The world on its feet,” daily Zaman chose “The whole world at its feet.” Daily Radikal’s “Bullets at humanity” resembled daily Cumhuriyet’s “Israel shot humanity.” Dailies Milliyet, Habertürk, Türkiye and Bugün all ran the exact same headline: “Government terrorism.”
Conservative and Islamist dailies were more extreme in their headlines, with Yeni Safak referring to the “The children of Hitler” and Vakit to “Zionist dogs.” Taraf, which is not conservative but is noted for its anti-military stance, wrote, “Make them regret it.”
Link to PKK attack
Nationalist dailies linked the incident to an attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, on a military base in the Mediterranean district of Iskenderun, with Yeniçag describing the purported link as a “Whorish alliance: Israel struck from abroad, PKK struck from within.”
Dailies Ortadogu, Vatan and Evrensel all referred to “villainy” in their headlines, with Evrensel writing, “Let this villainy not go unanswered.”
Opinions of columnists
While no column in any Turkish daily supported Israel’s action, some said the government was culpable for not providing diplomatic protection for the ships, while others accused the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or IHH, the Turkish group heading the flotilla, of being an Islamist organization.
Ahmet Hakan from Hürriyet, Ayça Sen from Radikal and Emre Kongar from Cumhuriyet all wrote that it was important that Turkish Jews not be the target of a backlash toward Israel. “Even causing the Jews with Turkish citizenship to feel bad about themselves is as inhumane as Israel’s raid on the ship,” Hakan wrote.
Around a dozen columnists from various dailies said they believed there was a link between the PKK attack and the Israeli intervention. The attacks occurring at the same time on the same day strengthened the suspicions about a connection, according to some columnists.
Cengiz Çandar, a columnist for Radikal and the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, defined the act as “piracy” and Israel as a “rogue state,” blaming the United States for Israel’s “audacity.”
Nazli Ilicak, a columnist for Sabah, said the incident was “the beginning of the end for Israel,” igniting “the first spark on the path that will lead Gazans to victory.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Blitz: Russia and EU Critical, Impartial Inquiry
(ANSAmed) — ROSTOV-ON-DON, JUNE 1 — There is complete agreement between Russia and the EU in their strong condemnation of the Israeli blitz on a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The first steps have also been made towards the much coveted partnership on economic modernisation. In a joint statement, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, asked for a “full and impartial investigation” into the event and “the immediate opening to the passage of humanitarian aid, cargo and people to and from Gaza”. The leader of the Kremlin, Dmitri Medvedev, also reasserted the need for a “meticulous” investigation, though he underlined that “in any case, the loss of human life is irreparable and absolutely unjustifiable”. The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy also chimed in. “The human losses are unexplainable. We are saddened, we condemn the violence and we request an immediate, complete and impartial investigation”. Van Rompuy also launched an appeal for a “durable solution in Gaza” to be found. “The continuation of a policy of closure is unacceptable and counter-productive,” he said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Taliban Militants Killed, Others Detained
Kabul, 1 June (AKI) — Four suspected Taliban militants were killed and 22 others detained in different parts of Afghanistan, the ministry of defence said on Tuesday. Citing the ministry, Afghan news agency, Pahjwok, said the deaths occurred during a clash between militants and Afghan National Army soldiers in Farah province, the ministry said in a statement.
Six rebels were detained with ammunition.
Sixteen suspected militants were arrested with arms in Paktika, Paktia, Logar and Laghman provinces. The detainees were behind disruptive activities and attacks on government buildings.
Al-Qaeda’s third highest ranking leader leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas, according to Maryland-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamic web sites.
Yazid, also known as Sheikh Said al-Masri, died along with his wife and three children, SITE said Monday. Islamic web sites quoted a statement from Al-Qaeda about Yazid’s death.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Al-Qaeda Loses Major ‘Link’ After Leader’s Death
Islamabad, 1 June(AKI) — By Syed Saleem Shahzad — When Mustafa Abu al-Yazid was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan, Al-Qaeda lost its most important link for co-ordinating activities between the organisation and the Afghan Taliban as well as other Pakistani militant groups.
Yazid, also known as Sheikh Said al-Masri, was Al-Qaeda’s third highest in command, and the only credible link between the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda before he was killed last month.
“Sheikh Said (Yazid) was both an ideologue and a leader for Pakistani militants from whom they learned a great deal about strategy in the light of his struggle from Egypt and the Afghan war against the Soviets,” a senior Pakistani militant who spent time with Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) by telephone on Tuesday.
As the key link, Taliban leaders would speak to the Egyptian born leader about strategy and coordinating their fight against NATO, Pakistan and Afghan soldiers.
Yazid was considered by many as the main conduit to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
His death will leave a vacuum in communication at the higher level between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda for some time.
The Al-Qaeda leader spent most of his time in Pakistan’s North Waziristan on the Afghan border, but he also travelled to other tribal regions especially to run Al-Qaeda activities.
In North Waziristan he used to issue orders not only concerning Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also for operations in Iraq, Yemen and Somalia.
Yazid’s presence in the region effectively made North Waziristan the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.
He was also a close associate of fellow Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s deputy. He is believed to have climbed to the number three Al-Qaeda position in 2007, when his predecessor, Abu Ubaida al-Masri, died of hepatitis in Pakistan.
Yazid has been pronounced death many times in the past, but this time Al-Qaeda militants and militant websites have confirmed his death.
US monitoring groups said an Al-Qaeda message posted on Internet forums on 31 May said the militant, his wife and three daughters, and several others were killed in a drone strike in May.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Woman Escapes From Forced Marriage
‘What happened is not isolated. It’s part of strategy pursued by Muslims’
A 33-year-old women has returned to her home in Pakistan following what she has described as weeks of “captivity and torture” that resulted when she allegedly was kidnapped and forced into a marriage.
According to Compass Direct, Sania James returned home recently but observers suggest that she — and her family — may be forced to leave Pakistan for their own safety.
James’ ordeal began April 5 when a band of armed men entered her family’s home in the rural village of Rawat, only a few miles from Rawalpindi. They took her to the home of Muhammad Shahbaz Ali, her father’s employer.
International Christian Concern’s Jonathan Racho says James was forced to marry Ali but refused to renounce her Christian faith.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘True Price’ of the Ipad
Die Tageszeitung 28.05.2010
Sven Hansen calculates the “true price” of the Ipad, which went on sale in Germany today. The gadget is produced by Foxconn in a Chinese warehouse where working conditions have driven ten members of the workforce to commit suicide this year alone. Foxconn subsequently introduced a number of anti-suicide precautions but when these failed to “prevent another 30 deaths, the electronics giant then forced employees to sign a contract which the Guangzhou Southern Metropoils Daily printed: ‘I promise never to cause grievous bodily harm to myself or others’. The contract also contains a clause which grants their bosses full authority to commit them to a psychiatric clinic “for the protection of themselves or others, should they find themselves in an ‘abnormal mental or physical condition.’“
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Group Plans Classes at Cecil Park
FAIRFIELD Council has received a development application for a school on the corner of Duff Road and Elizabeth Drive, Cecil Park.
The application has been lodged by the Ilim College of Australia, an organisation which has run a Muslim Islamic school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs since 1993.
The school’s business manager Abe Kuzucu said the college had been approached by community members.
Town planner Gary Peacock, of Outline Planning Consultants, has been working on the plans for the two-hectare site for the college.
“It is a modest-sized school proposed for the property,” he said.
“We’re looking at a maximum of 75 students, but the school is designed in such a way there is room for any logical expansion.
“It will be a slow start in establishing the school, we will set limits and perameters to reflect that. In the early days it will be shared classrooms.”
He said Ilim College was working with “local committees, local operators” on the project.
“Ilim College have assisted in procuring the site, and building the school, but they won’t be operating it. They’ll help get it all up and running,” Mr Peacock said.
He said all the “requisite studies” had been done in relation to infrastructure for the school.
“We have the best available expertise available to us,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
A Good Many Years Before Goodyear
Mesoamerican people perfected details of rubber processing more than 3,000 years ago, new MIT study suggests.
Spanish explorers encountering an advanced civilization in Mesoamerica in the 16th century had plenty of things to be astonished about, but one type of object in particular was unlike anything they had ever seen before: rubber balls. No such stretchy, bouncy material existed in the Old World, and they had to struggle to find words to describe it.
New research from MIT indicates that not only did these pre-Columbian peoples know how to process the sap of the local rubber trees along with juice from a vine to make rubber, but they had perfected a system of chemical processing that could fine-tune the properties of the rubber depending on its intended use. For the soles of their sandals, they made a strong, wear-resistant version. For the rubber balls used in the games that were a central part of their religious ceremonies, they processed it for maximum bounciness. And for rubber bands and adhesives used for ornamental wear and for attaching blades to shafts, they produced rubber optimized for resilience and strength.
All of these, according to the research by Professor Dorothy Hosler and Technical Instructor Michael Tarkanian of MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, were most likely achieved by varying the proportions of the two basic ingredients, latex from rubber trees and juice from morning-glory vines, which were cooked together. A paper describing the findings will be published soon in the journal Latin American Antiquity.
The research builds on a paper that Hosler, Tarkanian and Sandra Burkett, then an assistant professor at MIT, published in Science in 1999 that showed for the first time that the Mesoamerican people could have used the combination of two ingredients to produce rubber. The new work, which draws on a combination of laboratory experiments, recovered artifacts and the descriptions left by early explorers, demonstrates how varying the formula could fine-tune the rubber’s properties.
Although Hosler and Tarkanian’s research demonstrates that the Mesoamericans had the raw materials and the basic knowledge to make these different formulations, proving that’s what they actually did would require further evidence, either from contemporaneous accounts or from chemical analysis of samples used for different purposes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bahrain Offers ‘Amnesty’ To Illegal Workers
[Bahrain’s Idea of an Illegal Immigration Amnesty is a Little Bit Different From Those Offered by the US and European Countries. — Perla]
Labour and immigration authorities in Bahrain have launched a joint campaign to offer illegal workers in the kingdom a chance to leave without penalties.
The ‘pardon’ campaign is being carried out by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) and the General Directorate for Nationality, Passport and Residence (GDNPR).
It targets thousands of workers, including housemaids and other domestic workers as well as visitors who have overstayed their visas.
….
‘The campaign was not an amnesty to rectify illegal residence permit status, but a pardon from the penalties accumulated,’ said Radhi.
‘It is being carried out only to facilitate the voluntary departure of illegal workers from the country. We are not sure yet how long it will continue, it depends on the response we get.
‘The idea is to help as many people as possible to leave, who will be dealt in a humanitarian way.
| — Hat tip: Perla | [Return to headlines] |
‘Sex, Djihad Und Despotie’ (Sex, Jihad and Despotism)
Jungle World 22.05.2010
The paper prints an excerpt from Thomas Maul’s forthcoming book, “Sex, Djihad und Despotie” (sex, jihad and despotism), which looks at violence against women in Islam. Heavy abuse is haram, or strictly forbidden. “A woman with visible signs of abuse compromises the reputation of her husband, because she is proof of his lack of control over her. This also includes beatings which endanger a woman’s ability to be penetrated and bear children, or threaten the intactness of the hymen, the living nerve of the biological system of the Umma. Muslim husbands can learn more about emotionally-controlled beatings from the al-Jazeera preacher and chairman of the International Union of Islam Scholars, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, in his book “The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam” which enjoys huge popularity in Koran schools, and which calls for measured use of violence. In the case of extreme disobedience, the man should beat his wife ‘lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive areas’“.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vindication: There is an Unholy Alliance
…So it was a welcome email I received from a friend the other day containing an Iraq News Network interview with British Laborite, progressive, Saddam ally and hero of such letwing websites as Counterpunch.org and CommonDreams.org, which should settle once and for all whether there are large numbers of pro-terrorist leftists out there who consciously think of alliance with the jihadists:
Mohammad Basirul Haq Sinha: “You often call for uniting Muslim and progressive forces globally. How far is it possible under current situation?”
Galloway: “Not only do I think it’s possible but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already. It is possible because the progressi ve movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage capitalist globalization which is intent upon homogenizing the entire world turning us basically into factory chickens which can be forced fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to movies and TV culture. And whose only role in life is to consume the things produced endlessly by the multinational corporations. And the progressive organizations & movements agree on that with the Muslims.”
Otherwise we believe that we should all have to speak as Texan and eat McDonalds and be ruled by Bush and Blair. So on the very grave big issues of the day-issues of war, occupation, justice, opposition to globalization-the Muslims and the progressives are on the same side.
| — Hat tip: LT | [Return to headlines] |
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