Italy: Cinema: Knightley, Mendes Back Rome Red-Carpet Spoilers
Protestors angry at government cuts to culture
(ANSA) — Rome, October 29 — Hollywood stars Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes have backed the protestors who ruined their red-carpet appearance at Thursday’s opening night of the 2010 International Rome Film Festival.
Around 1,500 cinema-sector workers, included highly regarded directors Ettore Scola, Carlo Verdone, Paolo Sorrentino and Marco Belloccio, occupied the red carpet to express dismay at cuts in public financing and tax breaks for culture.
But rather than being miffed at the disruption, Knightley and Mendes, in Rome for the screening of Last Night, which is in the running for the Gold Marcus Aurelius top prize, went to meet the demonstrators and expressed solidarity.
“We aren’t here for a premiere, we’re here as colleagues and artists,” said Massy Tadjedin, the Iranian-American director of the story of love, sex and jealousy.
“We happily went without our red-carpet moment to show solidarity with you”.
Italian Culture Minister Sandro Bondi, however, described the demonstration as “unjustified and partisan”.
The cuts were part of an austerity package the government approved in the summer in a bid to rein in Italy’s public deficit. Oscar-winning American director Martin Scorsese is also coming to the Festival, which runs until November 6, for Saturday’s maiden screening of the restored La Dolce Vita to mark the 50th anniversary of Federico Fellini’s masterpiece.
American actress Julianne Moore and French diva Fanny Ardant will be in town to present films too. photo: the cast and director of Last Night express solidarity with protestors.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Maher Doesn’t Want West ‘Taken Over by Islam’
Bill Maher, no fan of organized religion, isn’t thrilled with news out of Britain that Mohammed is the most popular baby name there. “Am I a racist to feel alarmed by that?” he asked on his Real Time show last night, reports Mediaite. “Because I am. And it’s not because of the race, it’s because of the religion. I don’t have to apologize, do I, for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam in 300 years?”
To which conservative guest Margaret Hoover responded, “If you’re with NPR, you’d be fired,” referring to the Juan Williams flap. When she claimed that sharia law was gaining ground in Britain, Maher said, “Then I’m right. I should be alarmed. And I don’t apologize for it.” At another point in the show, comedian Zach Galifianakis appeared to light up a joint during a discussion on Prop 19, notes PopEater. Click here for more on that. Videos of both are in the gallery.
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Halal Food Hits the Shelves of Whole Foods
Shopping in the local grocery store is a daunting task for many Muslims Americans who normally tend to buy their produce in one market and purchase their meat from another. Eating halal meat slaughtered in a manner following Islamic law is part of the religion that most Muslims follow, which means that the meat has to be purchased from an Islamic butcher. Now, however, a grocery market hopes to ease the hassle by introducing a line of frozen foods that are “100% natural, antibiotic and hormone-free, certified halal and certified humane.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Lackawanna Council Delays Action on Land for Muslim Cemetery
The Lackawanna City Council decided this week it needs more time to consider a request from representatives of a local mosque to buy a vacant 6.5-acre site on South Street to use as a cemetery for the city’s Yemeni Muslim community.
The Lackawanna Islamic Mosque, at 154 Wilkesbarre St., is offering $5,000 for the property, currently assessed at $20,000.
In a Sept. 14 letter to Council President Charles Jaworski, City Assessor Frank E. Krakowski described half of the parcel as being unusable but recommended that the city sell the property to the mosque.
Monday, however, Jaworski said the property is too small for a cemetery because the city code requires at least 20 contiguous acres for such a use. Initially, 1st Ward Councilman Abdul Noman, the city’s first and only Yemeni American on the Council, objected to the decision to table the matter pending consultation with the city attorney and city assessor.
“You’re making a big mistake today not to vote on selling this property to the Lackawanna Islamic Mosque,” Noman said. “This law . . . it’s easy to change it.”
Second Ward Councilman Geoffrey Szymanski said that the City Council remained bound by the code until it was amended.
“We’re not only lawmakers, we also have to follow it,” Szymanski said. “It clearly states it’s for a cemetery. That’s in the application. And in our laws, it says [a cemetery] has to be 20 acres. This is not 20 acres. It’s 6.5 [acres], and it’s adjacent to toxic [chemical concerns].”
Muhammad Ali Saleh, who submitted the application on behalf of the Lackawanna Islamic Mosque, said the land is not contaminated.
“The land is clean and pure . . . for graves,” Ali said.
He added that a Muslim cemetery in Niagara Falls is, perhaps, less than half the size of the one proposed by his organization.
“When you’re talking about 6z 1/2 cre 1/3 , this is plenty for us as a community and Arab-Americans for three to five centuries,” Ali said.
In the end, Noman joined the rest of the lawmakers on the Council, which voted unanimously to table the request until lawmakers consult with the city attorney and city assessor.
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Moderate Islam?
Every time anything even marginally critical of Muslims or Islam appears in the media apologists, Muslim or otherwise, respond by saying ‘moderate voices must be heard’ or ‘misconceptions about Islam are widespread’ or ‘Islam is really a religion of peace and tolerance’ or other such platitudes.
These pronouncements are dead wrong. What we must look at is how and why Islam manifests itself the way it does and what we must listen to are the cries of its victims, those that are still alive that is. If we did we would realize that Islam is not a religion of peace and tolerance and that Muslims constantly commit heinous acts in its name everywhere on earth, the United States and Canada included. We would realize that it is in fact not merely religion, it is a completely proscribed way of life which requires true believers to act in ways that are fundamentally at odds with free, democratic, secular, Judeo-Christian, Western societies like ours. We would realize that Islam is expansionist and demands that non believers submit to its imperatives, with horrific consequences if they don’t. We would realize that the Koran is full of hatred and intolerance and misogyny, that Islam really hasn’t changed since its inception, that its very nature makes change virtually impossible and that the term ‘moderate Islam’ is complete hogwash.
Let there be no mistake. The vast majority of Muslims in the West are every bit as peaceful and tolerant in their daily lives as you or I, but they are not true believers or practitioners even if they think they are. They couldn’t be because if they were every single one of them would be out to conquer us and bring us under Islam’s sway. Moderate, peaceful, tolerant, integrated Muslims-absolutely. They are all around us. Moderate, peaceful, tolerant, integrated Islam — no such thing. Every day all over the world people are murdered, maimed, raped, attacked, vilified and humiliated under its aegis and according to its precepts and dictates. We have had 1400 years of this behavior and the evidence is overwhelming and beyond dispute…moderate Islam simply does not exist and never has.
Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for ordinary citizens to gain an accurate picture of Islam because the mainstream media is unwilling or unable to show its true colors, out of ignorance, political correctness, fear of retaliation or any number of other such reasons. The media would do us all a huge favor if it did however. Islam is a direct and serious threat to Western civilization in general and must be seen for what it is if we are to keep it from destroying our way of life and forcing us all to live as it requires us to. Including moderate Muslims.
With horrific consequences if we don’t.
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Suspect’s Anger Stood Out
The Loudoun County man accused of conspiring to blow up Metrorail stations — was a firebrand whose conservative views sometimes clashed with others at the Sterling mosque where he worshiped, leaders there said Friday.
Ahmed, 34, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, went only occasionally to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) center to pray, and he rarely lingered or socialized. But he was not shy about making his beliefs known, leaders said.
He objected to the fact that men and women prayed together and demanded, without success, that women be relegated to an upstairs room, mosque officials said. Many still remember a nasty shoving match with a boy who he felt was too noisy and was dressed inappropriately for prayer.
“He was very angry and tried really to fight with him,” said the deputy Imam, Abdur Rafaa Ouertani. Ouertani pulled Ahmed off the boy, took him aside and admonished him. “I noticed a lot of anger,” he said. “ For most of the people at the center, this is what they remember about him. This ‘show.’ It was unfortunate.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Unrequited Muslim Outreach
A new international poll shows the folly of Washington’s strategy of winning Muslim “hearts and minds.” Despite all our help, Muslims still hate us.
Titled “The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other,” the new Pew study reveals that Muslim countries generally view Westerners as violent and immoral. Large majorities of even British Muslims think Westerners are “selfish” and “arrogant.”
Above all, foreign Muslims hate American foreign policy, which in a disturbingly large share of their minds justifies terrorism. Fully 57% of Jordanians think it’s OK to attack civilians in jihad. A simple majority of Egyptians agree.
Even so-called moderate leaders are against us. “Yes, Muslims are against the West,” responded Adnan Abu Odeh, 73, former political adviser to Jordan’s King Hussein. “Why? Western foreign policies, especially on two issues: the Palestinian issue and now Iraq.
“These are the issues people talk about day and night. And which the news focuses on day and night. And they come to the eyes and ears of the Muslims who have been surveyed, daily in the bloodiest way — it’s killing, women screaming and yelling, and soldiers frowning. So what they hate is American foreign policy.”
Muslims also blame us for their lack of prosperity. Nearly half of Turks, among the better educated of Mideast Muslims, say Western policies rob them of wealth. This Jordanian pharmacist is typical of respondents:
“There is no prosperity because the United States has seized all our products, all our oil and all our wealth. All of it goes to the United States and the West,” Hassan Omar Abdel Rahman said. “It is not about the internal politics. Look at Saddam, you see what happened to him — did he come out with anything?”
Agreed Mohsen Hamed Hassan, a Cairo doctor: “I believe the American foreign policy is responsible for the greedy image. They support dictatorships because they want their oil.”
A majority of Americans more accurately blame Muslim government corruption and a lack of education for chronic Muslim poverty.
Though they are beneficiaries of $10 billion in direct U.S. aid since 9/11, Pakistanis still hold us in contempt. Pew found that most think we are “selfish, immoral and greedy.” “The West has an expansionist policy and they want to get hold of this portion of the world,” said Sadia Omar, a 34-year-old housewife from Rawalpindi. “They will never be friends with us.”
Laughably, majorities of Muslims in Pakistan and the Mideast think we are less “respectful” of women than they are. But perhaps the biggest divide comes over who’s responsible for 9/11.
Americans overwhelmingly blame Arab Muslims, while Muslims abroad, including 56% of British Muslims, insist someone else carried out the attacks. Denial, as they say, is not just a river in Egypt.
We suspect Pew would find similar hostility among the American Muslim community if it had included it in its survey. A recent Gallup poll of U.S. Muslims found that, despite herculean outreach efforts and remarkable tolerance toward them, “Muslims are the most likely group to report feeling anger compared with the overall population.”
America has gone trillions in debt and sacrificed thousands of its sons and daughters saving Muslims from tyrants and terrorists in Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. And this is the thanks we get?
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Cardinal Koch Says, “German Politicians Have Fearfully Underestimated Islam-Problem”
The Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch is the new Official heading the Vatican Office for Ecumenism. A discussion about Christian in the Holy Land, Minarets in Europe and the current Islam-Debate.
Rome (kath.net/DieWelt) As the successor of the Curial Cardinal, Walter Kasper, the former Basel Archbishop Kurt Koch will become the next President for the Papal Adviser for the Promotion of the Unity of Christians — a kind of “ecumenical minister” of the Vatican. Koch was born in 1950 in Emmenbrucke in the Canton of Luzern. As his first challenge was a two week Synod in the Vatican on the situation of Christians in the Middle East. Paul Badde of Die Welt interviewed him.
Die Welt Hardly in office, you were confronted with the extremely difficult Middle East Summit. How would you describe your idea of the situation?
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Islamic Fanatic on Hate Tour of Britain
ISLAMIC fanatic Abu Izzadeen is going on a hate tour of Britain.
The Brit-born radical, whose real name is Trevor Brooks, announced yesterday he is planning a nationwide tour, even though he has only just been released from prison for terror offences.
The Muslim convert said he plans to spout his hate-filled rants on websites like Facebook and YouTube to reach millions more Muslims across the globe.
Izzadeen, 35,has just spent four years in jail for inciting terrorism.
He said: “I will start up north, because there is a higher Muslim population, and then travel around the rest of the country.”
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Moroccan Girl ‘Sorry’ Over Party Probe
Protests about Berlusconi ‘phone call to free her’
(ANSA) — Milan, October 28 — A 17-year-old Moroccan girl at the centre of fresh allegations concerning purportedly sexy parties held by Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday said she was sorry for all those involved.
“I’m sorry about what is happening. I’m especially sorry because I see that people who helped me without asking for anything in return have been involved,” Ruby told ANSA on the telephone.
Speaking from an undisclosed location outside Milan, Ruby said she had taken herself off Facebook, where she appeared as Ruby Rubacuore (“Heartbreaker”), as soon as the allegations his the press Thursday.
She said she “felt bad” and her lawyer, Luca Giuliante, told ANSA: “she needs to be left alone because she’s a very young girl involved in an affair that is bigger than her”.
Berlusconi sparked protests from the centre-left opposition Thursday when he appeared to admit phoning a Milan police station in May to have Ruby released after she was arrested on suspicion of stealing from an acquaintance of hers.
Some MPs even said he should resign.
The Milan prosecutors office has yet to issue an official confirmation of reports that Ruby is at the centre of a probe involving Berlusconi news anchor Emilio Fede, 79, and two others on suspicion of abetting prostitution.
According to news reports, Ruby said she went to three parties, one of which ended in an “erotic ritual”, and stressed she never had sex with the 74-year-old premier.
The person who allegedly picked Ruby up from the station in May, Berlusconi’s former dental hygienist and current Lombardy councillor for his party, Nicole Minetti, said she was “not a friend of Ruby’s nor did I ever put her up at my house”.
Minetti declined to conform or deny whether she went to the station to get Ruby, allegedly at the premier’s behest.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 60% of Wind Farms Located in Southern Italy in 2009
(ANSAmed) — BARI, OCTOBER 29 — In Italy, most wind farms are located in the South, with Apulia, Campania and Sicily, which together accounted for 60% of the total in the country in 2009. The number of wind farms in Calabria increased from 2.9% in 2008 to 4.4% in 2009. According to a report, “Renewable energy installations”, regarding the power produced by wind farms, Apulia comes in first with 23.5%, followed by Sicily with 23.4%…
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Dismisses New Escort Claims as ‘Trash’
Milan, 28 Oct. (AKI) — Italy’s flamboyant prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday dismissed as “media trash” allegations of sexual antics with various women including a 17-year-old Moroccan girl called Ruby at his Milan villa during what he called “Bunga Bunga” nights.
Berlusconi replied to a question about the news reports during a news conference on the ongoing garbage crisis in the southern Italian city of Naples (which he said would be over in three days).
“I have a big heart and I try to help people in need,” Berlusconi said in comments broadcast live by Italy’s Sky TG24.
“But I’m here to talk about real trash, and I’ll leave the media trash to all of you.”
Italian newspapers Il Fatto Quotidiano and La Repubblica have carried stories in the last two days based on claims by Ruby, an aspiring showgirl, who said she visited 74-year-old Berlusconi’s villa in Arcore near Milan three times when she was 17.
Ruby, now an adult, claimed she and other women, who included escorts and several cabinet ministers, were at Berlusconi’s villa when the “Bunga Bunga” sex game was played. Berlusconi allegedly said Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi had taught him the game.
She claims he showered her with gifts of Rolex watches and Bulgari, Damiani and Dolce&Gabbana jewellery and clothes as well as over 150,000 euros in cash. He said he would buy her a beauty parlour and told Ruby to say she was the niece of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the newspaper reports cited her as saying.
Ruby was part of a circle of aspiring models and actresses who were allegedly introduced to Berlusconi by a prominent show business agent, Lele Mora, and by prominent TV host Emilio Fede. Fede is 79.
The undocumented Moroccan teenager was picked up several times by police, suspected of theft and burglary. But each time, she was allegedly released after police received a call from the Italian cabinet offfice saying she was Mubarak’s niece.
Magistrates cautioned that the Moroccan woman’s claims might be with foundation and could be part of a plot to blackmail the premier or an attempt to launch herself into the media spotlight.
Prosecutors are reported to be probing Mora, Fede and Berlusconi’s former dental hygienist, Nicole Minetti, for abetting prostitution.
Minetti was elected aged 25 as a councillor for the northern Lombardy region surrounding Milan.
Berlusconi’s lawyers Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo said in a statement on Wednesday that the allegations reportedly made by Ruby were “unfounded”.
Berlusconi was previously linked to teenage Naples lingerie model Noemi Letizia, whose 18th birthday party he attended in 2008 and whom he gave a 6,000 euro gold and pearl pendant.
She said she called him ‘Papi’ meaning ‘Daddy’ in English.
Escort Patrizia D’Addario alleges she had sex with Berlusconi at his residence in Rome in November 2009. She released tapes of their encounter to media. Berlusconi has said he is “no saint” but has never paid a woman for sex or had “improper” relations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: University: “I’m Leaving Italy for Nice, There’s No Future Here”
Giovanna Tissoni is a researcher at Insubria University. She studies “laser physics” and other cutting edge subjects in the scientific field; this talented scientist, from these parts, is escaping to France.
“My childhood dream was never to become a university researcher. It all happened by chance, during my graduation thesis. At that time, I discovered a passion for studying things in depth, for doing research. I then decided I would continue on that path.” But in Italy, that path has become one of the most difficult to follow. It is no surprise, then, that many decide to leave halfway, and choose another path to reach their destination. Like Giovanna Tissoni, a researcher at Como’s Insubria University site, who will shortly be finishing her work in Italy, and continuing it at Nice University. The path she has undertaken so far is typical: “I graduated in physics and then I did my doctorate at Milan University. First, I obtained a four-year-contract as a researcher for the National Research Centre, then as a university researcher. I’ve worked at the Faculty of Science in Como for ten years. Now, I’m considering my future and I can’t see any opportunities of growth.” As she herself confirms, the faculty where Dr. Tissoni works is full of talented people. For example, she is in charge of laser physics in the field of quantum optics, a cutting edge subject in the science field. But she is not the only one; just a few months ago, a colleague of hers, Professor Daniele Faccio, was in the international press thanks to his sensational demonstration of Hawking’s Black Hole Theory. However, Dr. Faccio is also not going to stay in Italy; the scientist has chosen the Scottish lochs over Lake Como.
But what spurs a person on to look for new opportunities, to leave everything, even though they know they have a lot to give to their country?
“It’s not only a financial choice, I’d like to make that clear,” said the researcher from Como. “In France, I’ll initially have the same position, and I don’t expect any great differences in terms of salary. What is most important is my future. With all the best will in the world, I couldn’t aspire to anything in Italy in the next few years. In Nice, I can expect a long-term career; furthermore, there are far fewer short-term contracts there. On the matter of leaving Italy, I have to say that I also had personal reasons to do it, so I had a number of reasons for doing so. The future of research in Italy is not encouraging.”
What do you think about the Gelmini reform, and what experience did you have of the researchers’ protest in the last few months?
“I should start by saying that a university career is not easy, and neither should it be. It has to be selective, but this doesn’t mean impossible. I think I’m an investment for my country, one that is built up a little at a time. But this isn’t acknowledged. There isn’t even the slightest planning for the future. Current regulations, and those planned, that govern the university inhibit a strategic approach. The freeze on recruitment and turnover, and the cuts in research funds are all limits that compromise our future. Universities are short of the money they need to work, for research, and for recruiting staff.”
It is natural, however, that a researcher should gain experience abroad; it is part of his training.
“Sure. But it should be just one way. Our system isn’t attractive. It prevents access to foreign brains. Of course, it’s natural for anyone that does research to move about, but nobody’s going to come from abroad to take my place when I’ve gone.”
Your faculty has great potential, so it should be seen as a strategic factor, for the country, as well. Do you agree?
“It’s a centre of excellence with extremely qualified people. But the fact that many are leaving should make us reflect in a broader way: the situation at Insubria is unusual, because it’s small, and the intention behind the Gelmini reform seems to be to make cuts in the small universities. I hope the Faculty of Science in Como can continue its work, because it’s full of people who deserve it.”
Did you also protest?
“Yes, with my colleagues, because I agree with the ways and the means of the protest. We only did what was allowed by our contracts. We said we weren’t available for teaching. It was the first real protest at our university, as because of this, in July, when the dissatisfaction was expressed, some deans and lecturers underestimated us. Today, even the associate professors have taken sides, and many of them have joined the protest.”
Translated by Claudia Gorla (Reviewed by Prof. Rolf Cook)info@ssml.va.it
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: PP Petition Over Constitutionality of Bullfight Ban
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 28 — The announced court action over Catalonia’s animal protection law which bans bullfighting in the region from January 2012 has been presented by the country’s Popular Party to the Constitutional Court. In a statement to the media, PP Spokesperson to the Senate, Pio Escudero, claimed that the law contravenes a dozen or so articles of the constitution, including the rights to education, to free enterprise and to free artistic creativity. Signed, as is legally required, by fifty senators, the appeal claims that the law passed by Catalan’s parliament “harms the rights and freedoms of citizens,” including their freedom to enjoy cultural events. The 38-page petition “is exclusively based on legal principles,” Escudero said. He stated, “one cannot ignore the fact that the bull festival is a national, cultural, historical, social, economic and industrial phenomenon”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Police Investigate Gothenburg Bomb Threat
Gothenburg police are investigating a bomb threat in the city that has been forwarded by a “reliable source” but remained short on details.
“We are working frenetically to try to clarify it,” said police spokesperson Björn Blixter.
There is currently no identified suspect and the threat has not been considered immediate enough to cordon off areas of the city.
“We are not advising against anyone visiting central Gothenburg,” said Blixter.
The police learned of the bomb threat on Friday. The warning came, according to police, from a reliable source.
“We are in a situation where we can not rule out the threat being carried out,” said Carina Persson at Gothenburg police.
Persson also said that there were no established connections to terrorists or terrorist organizations, information which has also been confirmed by the Security Service (Säpo).
The Security Service raised the terror alert in Sweden to “elevated” due to an increased threat level.
“We then spoke of a specific threat as a reason for why we raised the terror alert. At the moment we have no information which connects this threat to the information regarding a bomb threat in Gothenburg,” said Patrik Peter at Säpo on Friday.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Businessman’ With a Taste for Supercars Facing Jail After He is Revealed as Multi-Million Pound Drug Smuggler
A self-styled ‘businessman’ with a taste for Italian supercars is facing a long jail sentence after heading a crime gang which ran a multi-million pound drug smuggling operation.
Mohammed Farid flashed his cash and drove a Ferrari and Lamborghini.
He masqueraded as a legitimate, hard-working businessman with a cafe, car hire firm and kitchen company.
He owned a large, luxuriously-furnished detached home and had other houses around Oldham, Greater Manchester.
In reality he was the boss of a gang dealing in hard drugs.
When police smashed the operation they recovered £2.5million worth of drugs and almost £40,000 in cash. Eight members of the gang have now been jailed for a total of 46 years.
Farid, 37, of Oldham, who admitted conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis, will be sentenced at a later date, along with three others.
His assets have been frozen and police are working to recoup money the group made from selling drugs.
Chief Supt Tim Forber, divisional commander for Oldham, said: ‘Farid effectively glamorised the drug trade by flashing his cash and driving his expensive cars.
He recruited his gang and offered them what appeared to be large amounts of cash for relatively little effort.
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Cure for Our National Amnesia
by Michael Nazir-Ali
It is both rare and welcome to hear an educating and educated speech by the Secretary of State for Education at his party conference. Michael Gove’s at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, particularly the section on the curriculum in our schools, repays careful study. He is generally right in his emphasis on the rigorous study of traditional subjects rather than wasting time on what he calls “pseudo-subjects”. We would expect him, as a student of English, to focus on the teaching of language and literature — as he does. His choice, though, of the “greats” — Dryden, Pope, Swift, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Austen, Dickens and Hardy — could have been expanded to include Herbert, Donne, Newman, Hopkins, Eliot, Chesterton, Greene and Belloc.
It is, however, his comments about the teaching of history that are the most telling. He reminds us of that sundering of our society from its past which I have called “national amnesia”, and asserts that until we understand the struggles of the past we will not be able to value our hard-won freedoms. All of this, and more, is music to my ears, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
We must ensure that the teaching of history is not just about a number of significant events and personalities and that there should be a connected narrative. But how is this to be achieved and what is the “golden chain of harmony” that can provide the connection? Surely, this has to do with a world-view that underlies the emergence of characteristically British institutions and values: the Constitution itself (“the Queen in Parliament under God”); a concern for the poor; a social security net, based on the parish church, which goes back to the 16th century; and personal liberties as enshrined in the Magna Carta.
The world-view that made these fundamental national building-blocks is the Judaeo-Christian tradition of the Bible…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Christina Patterson: You Can Tell the Truth as You See it. But You’ll Pay a Heavy Price
It isn’t much fun being monstered. Poor Katharine Birbalsingh, the former Marxist who was hailed as a messiah at the Tory party conference, has returned to liberal London as Judas.
Bad enough, one might think, to have the surreal experience of being clutched to the matronly bosom of Middle England, and to have photos of one’s pupils met with the kind of braying you might expect in a zoo, or perhaps in a parliament, but then to get back to find that you’re suspended, and then sacked, and that your name, in the metropolitan liberal circles you move in, is now mud — well, that’s what one of your new friends might call a jolly poor show.
Birbalsingh is, apparently, black. This is not immediately evident from her photo, but in a country in which a perma-tanned former prime minister is categorised as white, and many pretty pallid mixed-race people, including a friend of mine I always thought was white until she told me she was black, are always categorised in line with their darker parent, it’s regarded as important. It means you can’t go round saying “as a white woman”, which people tend not to anyway, but you can go round saying “as a black woman”, though Birbalsingh, as far as I can gather, doesn’t.
It also means that the so-called BME (black and minority ethnic) representation at the Tory conference was massively increased, though Samantha Cameron happened to be filmed sitting next to a nice-looking Asian couple and there may, as well as the Indian dancers brought on for the occasion, also have been David Cameron’s black man.
But Birbalsingh, perhaps because she is black, and therefore much more likely to end up in prison, committed a crime. She mentioned black underachievement, which you’re allowed to mention, because it’s the kind of thing you can put on a form, but then she said something terrible. She said that black underachievement wasn’t due to institutional racism, which you’re also allowed to put on a form, but, at least in part, to “accusations of racism”, which you’re not. She said that when lawyers argue against the exclusion of a black boy in a school, and succeed in getting him re-admitted, then all the other black boys “look to this invincible child, and copy his bad example”. Black children underachieve, she said, “because of what the well-meaning liberal does to him”.
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fear Over Islamist Tower Hamlets Mayor
Senior Jewish figures have raised concerns over the election of a controversial Muslim politician as mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Lutfur Rahman was dropped as the Labour Party’s official candidate after evidence was produced of irregularities in the nomination process and links to the radical Muslim group Islamic Forum Europe. He then stood as an independent and last week trounced Labour rival Helal Abbas, although only a quarter of the electorate turned out to vote. He will now preside over the Olympic borough’s £1 billion budget.
Islamic Forum Europe, which actively supported Mr Rahman’s election, has been accused of promoting a Muslim supremacist agenda. Its official blog, Between the Lines, is virulently hostile to Israel, which it describes in one post as the “Zionist terrorist state”. Regular contributor Azad Ali, a prominent IFE figure, wrote earlier this year: “We are working our socks off, in different ways, for the resurgence of the Khilafah [the Islamic state]”. He added that his vote for head of state would go to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Another, Bint Khan, suggested there was a “hidden war” of Jewish propaganda in the British media after the release of the film The Reader and the TV dramatisation of the Anne Frank Diary. However, in a statement issued after the election, IFE denied charges of extremism: “IFE believes that British Muslims must be model and active citizens, and has been promoting a balanced message of Islam, often finding itself at loggerheads with fringe and extreme groups.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MPs’ Dislike of Andrew Mitchell is Making Aid Toxic for Cameron
Andrew Mitchell was supposed to rescue the Department for International Development from being a parody of a 1980s student union. But, as Guido reports, the department is still under the sway of hard-Left ideologues, for example hosting an event on “putting gender at the heart of climate change adaptation and mitigation”. Many Tories see the department’s ever-expanding budget as an ego-trip for Mitchell, who has a cushy job with lots of free travel to far-flung countries. It’s an especially easy position because the effectiveness of his work can only be seen overseas, hidden from British taxpayers.
Some colleagues have always regarded Mitchell as a bit of an Alan B’Stard character, but many are amazed at just how quickly he made friends with the Left. In certain circles, dislike of him has become so intense that it is making his department an increasingly toxic subject for Cameron, who only committed himself to increasing aid so he wouldn’t get attacked by churches and charities.
It’s worth noting that the mother-in-law of Cameron’s strategist Steve Hilton is Linda Whetstone. She is the founder of the most fervently aid-sceptic campaign in the world, the International Policy Network. So it is hard to believe that David Cameron would be ignorant of the disastrous record of Mitchell’s department. Yet if the PM feels he no choice but to stick with the madly wasteful aid programme, he surely needs a development secretary with the warmth of personality to gain the acquiescence of Right-wing MPs. Mitchell doesn’t have this: instead, he seems worried that people are plotting against him, or not showing enough respect.
Then again, perhaps some of his fears are justified. One day in 2006 I was in Mitchell’s office, waiting for him to arrive. There were rumours flying around that David Cameron wanted to sack him and give his international development job to Ed Vaizey, a brilliant young MP who was helping to chair the Tories’ globalisation policy group. “Does Andrew know about the rumours?” I asked. “Oh yes. He knows,” one of his staff said. “It’s driving him mad.” Cameron apparently dithered and left Mitchell in the job. That was a mistake, because Tory backbenchers actually like Vaizey.
Even Team Cameron bitch about DfID, which they describe as annoyingly difficult to deal with. Such grandeur won’t help the department in the long run: overseas aid has become a totemic issue for Tory backbenchers, and Mitchell’s handling of their complaints is giving the PM a headache.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Was the Emperor of Exmoor’s Death Quite What it Seemed?
It was Jim Naughtie, on the Today programme on Tuesday, who set the nation’s moral tone. “It is an appalling thing,” he said, throwing all BBC impartiality to the wind, “if you like wild animals.” Naughtie was reporting the death of the Emperor of Exmoor, a huge stag. The Emperor’s reign was brief. He was so named by a photographer, Richard Austin, and introduced to the public in the current rutting season. The picture sold everywhere. Then, three weeks ago, the beast was shot. For some reason, the news took a long time to break. When it did so, we heard a lot from Johnny Kingdom, a sort of Crocodile Dundee of Exmoor, who has a television series on the way. A trophy-hunter “from abroad, probably Europe”, might have paid £10,000 for the head, apparently. The evil deed was quickly denounced across the world.
By Thursday, however, people were beginning to ask questions. Early stories had been full of those phrases we journalists use when we don’t know what we are talking about — “it is claimed”, “rumours have been circulating”. Slightly more rigour now entered the reporting. Would any named person say that he had seen the beast shot? No. You cannot easily cart away a 300lb corpse. If the stalker had left the body and escaped with the head, the smell of the carcase would have made its presence felt. So there is, as yet, no body. Perhaps there was no death. Is the Emperor, like King Arthur, not dead, but somehow occulted, waiting to return?
Some other things have been said that do not quite stand up. The Emperor is “certain”, according to Mr Kingdom, to be the son of Bruno, another famously fine beast from the district, shot 12 years ago. In fact, it is impossible, without DNA testing, to tell who is the father. The Emperor was also said to be the largest wild mammal in Britain. This is not true.. There are bigger stags in Thetford Forest. Nor is it true that His Imperial Majesty, if indeed he was assassinated, was taken much before his time. Devonian deer managers tell me that, by the look of him, he might have lasted one more season before “going back”. And although the Emperor was/is a magnificent specimen, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, one of the nation’s great red deer experts, assures me that, judging from photographs, the “points” on his antlers are “fairly weak” and do not have the balance between “brow, bay and tray” of the perfect specimen. Nor, by the way, is the Emperor even from Exmoor. He was killed — if he was — near Rackenford, several miles outside the national park. In short, the story is an inverted pyramid of piffle.
Whose interest, then, did it serve, apart from helping sales of Mr Austin’s photographs and ratings for Mr Kingdom’s programmes? The answer, I suggest, is the desire, deep in the puritan character, to get self-righteously angry about animals. Let us assume that the Emperor is, indeed, no more. What, exactly, was, as the Rev Dr Naughtie put it, “appalling” about shooting him?
It is not wrong, in general, to kill a deer. They are wild animals with no natural predators in these islands. If they are not shot, they die of natural causes, most commonly of starvation. Their welfare is served by killing a percentage of them, because if they grow too numerous, their quality declines and they do too much damage to agriculture, forestry and habitat. If you do not kill a few, there will come a time when you will need to kill a lot.
So you are left with the “How could you…?” line. “How could you be so cruel as to kill such a beautiful thing?” As someone who has shot stags quite often, I have sometimes felt sad about it, a feeling which tends to grow as one gets older. But it is not crueller to kill a stag, which is beautiful, than a rat, which isn’t. This is a matter of human taste, not of kindness to animals. The person with the fine head on his wall will believe himself to be conferring an honoured immortality on the beast shot. Personally, I am not interested in trophies, but I cannot see that he is morally wrong.
Is it down to money, then? Opinion polls suggest that people agree that “professionals” should be paid to put down wild animals, but that it is wicked for amateurs to pay to do so. But why is human pleasure in the hunt so frowned on? Men’s relationship with wild animals is complex. Throughout history, many of those who have known and liked them the best have enjoyed killing them. This is a fact worth thinking about.
It is particularly illuminated by the case of Exmoor. There, unlike in Scotland, where stalking is part of the rural economy, shooting deer is frowned on. This is because of the hunt, which has long been seen as a “social compact”. Farmers, often people with very small amounts of land, have consented to have deer managed by hunting with hounds, not by shooting. It is mutual: they let the hunt go on their land; in return, the hunt keeps the deer numbers in balance. Money does not change hands.
Exmoor’s — dare I call it — “Big Society” approach has come under strain with the hunting ban. Under that preposterous law, the hunts can go out with only two hounds. This has reduced their scope. As a result, the social compact has weakened. Farmers have become more likely to take money to shoot the deer (and sell the meat) instead. Such people are known as “poachers” on Exmoor, even when they are shooting legally, because they are seen as breaking the social compact. The number of the stags in the district is falling (408 this year, compared with 462 in 2003, just before the ban). It is the hunting ban that makes the shooting of beasts like the Emperor more likely.
The most moving novel about the life and death of a wild animal is The Story of a Red Deer, by J. W. Fortescue. In its final scene, the great stag is chased by hounds into the river. The reader longs for him to escape. The stream sings to him, inviting him to its waters: “Nay, raise not your head, come, bury it here;/ No friend like the stream to the wild Red-Deer.” He obeys, and drowns nobly. You might think that Fortescue hated the hunt. No. In his preface, he says he is telling the story “even as the deer have told it to me in… many a stirring chase, and as they have told it to all others that would listen”. Somewhere behind this muddled tale of the Emperor lies something to which more people should, indeed, be listening.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ICJ: Mladic, Reward Raised to 10 Milion Euros
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, OCTOBER 28 — Serbia’s government has decided to raise the reward it is offering to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of Ratko Mladic, to ten million euros. The former military leader of the Bosnian Serbs is accused of crimes of genocide and of crimes against humanity by the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
According to a report by the Tanjug press agency, at the same time the reward for information leading to the arrest of Goran Hadzic has been raised from 250,000 to one million euros. The former political leader of the Serbs in Croatia faces similar charges.
Mladic and Hadzic are the last two remaining Serb war criminals being requested of Belgrade by the International Court of Justice. There is a further reward of five million dollars on the head of Mladic, offered by the US State Department.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Army: First Generation of Women Officers in 2011
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, OCTOBER 28 — The Serbian Army (VS) will have its first generation of women officers in 2011, the Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac said emphasizing that it was very important for the defense system, reports VIP Daily News Report.
Sutanovac said that the VS’ priorities also were equipment and modernization, adding that it would depend on funds and active participation in Partnership for Peace program.
“Intensifying of regional cooperation, participation in peacekeeping missions of the UN and the EU, joint training and intensifying of bilateral military cooperation are also priorities of the VS”, he added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Taming the Wild East: Arab Honor Killings in Israel
by Phyllis Chesler
The Arab and Muslim world are, by nature, chronically violent. In addition to tribal and family feuds, religious and political wars are ever-constant, as are slavers, gun-runners, pirates, tyrants, torturers, and garden-variety thieves and gangsters. Add the routine and savage persecution of non-Muslims and Muslim dissidents, the savage subordination of women, the rise of jihadic terrorism and foreign wars to this mix, stir, and you’ve got the modern Middle East.
What can it mean when civilians demonstrate against “violence” in such a setting? Are they talking about petty crime waves—or about honor killings? Can such demonstrations even take place in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, or Pakistan?
Not really—but they can and do take place in Jewish Israel. For example, on October 22, 2010, in Lod, a well-orchestrated demonstration, ostensibly about the rising rate of community violence, drew serious media and political attention. The signs were in both Arabic and Hebrew and read: “The police are the main suspect”; “No to racism, yes to freedom”; “Enough with house demolitions! Yes to solving murders”; “Ilan Hariri [the Jewish mayor of Lod]: Enough! Go home!”; “No to violence in all its forms.”
What were these demonstrators really protesting? Were they actually blaming the Israeli government for not being able to crack down more effectively on the 20 percent of the population which is Arab and which is, ostensibly, committing the violence?
On October 28, 2010, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed that Lod “will not become the Wild West.” He might as well have said that he plans to tame the far wilder East. Nevertheless, Netanyahu pledged 130 million NIS ($36 million) “to save crime-ridden Lod.” He stated that the government has also sent in large numbers of Border Policemen and “municipal inspectors” to crack down on the crime wave in Lod…
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Cargo Plane Bombs Were Wired to Explode, Officials Say
In Yemen, a woman is arrested in connection with the two parcels bound for the U.S.
The two bombs concealed in U.S.-bound packages found on cargo planes in Britain and the United Arab Emirates were wired to explode, at least one via a cellphone detonator, and were powerful enough to bring down an aircraft, U.S. and British officials said Saturday.
A Yemeni official in Washington said a woman was arrested in Yemen in connection with sending the packages and that a relative, whom the official identified as either her mother or sister, was being interrogated.
“The woman was arrested based on a tip from foreign intelligence,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “Her name and phone number were provided.”
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in a short news conference Saturday that Yemeni forces acted on a tip from U.S. officials, who had passed along a telephone trace.
The two bomb packages, addressed to Jewish organizations in Chicago, were intercepted Friday in airports in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and East Midlands, England, after a detailed tip from Saudi intelligence that included package tracking numbers, U.S. officials say. The Dubai package was sent via FedEx, and the package to England went via UPS. Initial reports had said that both were UPS parcels and that both had been found late Thursday.
A search of 15 other suspicious packages from Yemen turned up no bombs, a U.S. law enforcement source said.
U.S. officials are still trying to piece together the intent of the plot, which they suspect was carried out by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist network’s affiliate in Yemen.
It’s unclear how the Saudis were clued in, but this month a leader of the Al Qaeda branch in Yemen, Jabir Jubran Fayfi, turned himself in to the Saudi government. Picked up by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2001, he had been held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before being turned over to Saudi Arabia. He went through a rehabilitation program for militants and was released, only to rejoin Al Qaeda in 2006.
But Fayfi contacted Saudi authorities from Yemen to express his regret and readiness to surrender, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement Oct 15.
On Saturday, authorities were investigating whether the plot sought to blow up the cargo planes in midair or upon landing — or whether the bombs were intended for the Chicago addresses on the packages.
British Home Secretary Theresa May said Saturday in London that the target of the bomb found in her country may have been an aircraft, though “we do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode.”
As President Obama campaigned this weekend, he kept tabs on the investigation. He discussed the plot in phone calls Saturday with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Saudi King Abdullah.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), after briefings from Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, said in an interview that the bombs were fashioned out of the chemical explosive PETN, the substance used in the attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.
“But this was 10 times bigger,” said a federal law enforcement official, who said the packages contained “about a pound each” of PETN.
“The fact that PETN was used in this plot is worrisome,” said a U.S. intelligence official not authorized to speak for attribution. “PETN is hard to detect and lends itself to being concealed. It is not hard to make, but it takes some sophistication to conceal the explosives in the right way. It packs a punch. You don’t need that much of it to blow a hole in an aircraft.”
U.S. officials have said that the Christmas Day bomb was built by Ibrahim Hassan Asiri, who also reportedly built a PETN device in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the top Saudi counter-terrorism official last year.
One of the bombs found Friday was wired for remote detonation via cellphone, Harman said, and the other was linked to a timer but lacked a triggering device. The remote detonation setup “leads me to speculate that … people had [detonators] on the ground somewhere in Chicago,” she said…
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Jordan: Florence University Project for Shobak Castle
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, OCTOBER 28 — The historical value of the southern city of Shobak, with its impressive castle dating back from the crusades, has not been appreciated by locals and tourists alike, said archeologist’s from the university of Florence as they kicked off a project to unearth the historical jewels the city possesses.
Situated on the road to the famous Petra, Shobak has been overlooked by tourist agencies who prefer to send their clients to the rock-engraved city of Petra a few miles away. Experts say the city does not have to compete with the over exhausted Petra, but could become a part of Jordan’s tourism mosaic.
The project carried out in association between the EU, university of Florence and the local community could put Shobak on the tourism map, said Michele Nucciotti, archaeologist from University of Florence and project leader in Jordan. “Shobak once played a significant role in bringing the two religions of Islam and Christianity together. It has touristic and historical value that has been overlooked. Our job is to sustain the city and prepare it to become the place it deserves,” he said, noting that the castle of Shobak is one of the best kept castles left behind the crusaders centuries ago. “This is a marvelous place, very unique in term of location, environment and ruins that have been left here,” he told ANSAmed on the sideline of a ceremony to announce the project.
Local residents are expected to receive proper training on hospitality and houses will be given a face lift to reflect the deep historic value of the place, which currently lacks sufficient infrastructure to sustain tourism, he concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Robert Fisk: Lebanon and Iran Make Uneasy Bedfellows
I think it should be a Beirut Diary this week. Deep background, you understand. The truth. Believe me, it is.
When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad entered the palace dining room to eat with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri last week — Saad being the son of ex-premier Rafiq who was murdered by … we’ll come to that later — Saad made sure that Beethoven was on the public address system. It was the Ninth Symphony, the “Ode to Freedom”. The moment the Iranian President sat down, he turned to Saad and said: “Let’s skip the lunch. Let’s have sandwiches and go to southern Lebanon together.”
Now here was a problem. Saad is a Sunni Muslim; Mahmoud, of course, is a Shia, and the Iranian President was inviting a Sunni Prime Minister of Lebanon to visit the Shia south of Lebanon where he (Mahmoud, that is) would declare that southern Lebanon — he was speaking less than two miles from the Israeli border — was Iran’s “front line” against Israel. Saad politely declined the invitation and Mahmoud went on to Bint Jbeil to rally his lads and lassies on his own. Lucky that he was even in Lebanon. The Beirut air traffic control boys (they are, indeed, all lads) had already expressed their concern when the Iranian President’s Boeing 707 aircraft made its final approach. Wasn’t there a ban on ancient 707s arriving at Beirut’s ultra-modern airport? Ban overruled.
[…]
Nonsense. Wasn’t it supposed to be the Syrians who killed Hariri (or so The New York Times and the London Times would have us believe) that blew Hariri’s motorcade up — along with the 21 others whose names we have all forgotten — on St Valentine’s Day of 2005? Nope. Since the Syrians offered their assistance to the United States in Iraq, it’s been the pesky Iranians (courtesy The New York Times and The Times of London) who, through their Hezbollah allies, have been blamed for the mass slaughter Notice, by the way, how the Syrians and Iranians were blamed for Lockerbie and then, post-Syrian help in the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, the Libyans?
Anyway. Amadinejad poured scorn on the UN’s Hague tribunal which may — or may not (watch this space) — accuse Hezbollah of killing Rafiq (son of Saad) on Syria’s behalf? And lo and behold, on Thursday morning this week, two officers of The Hague tribunal turned up in the southern suburbs of Beirut to examine the records of a gynaecological clinic.
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Sanctions 37 Iran Front Companies in Europe
The U.S. Treasury Department has identified and sanctioned 37 companies deemed to be fronts for Iran. Treasury said the companies were based in Germany, Malta and the Republic of Cyprus and acting for Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. “We will continue to expose the elaborate structures and tactics Iran uses to shield its shipping line from international scrutiny so that it can continue to facilitate illicit commerce,” Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.
On Oct. 27, Treasury announced sanctions on 37 front companies as well as five Iranians. All of them were accused of aiding Iran in the transport of military equipment and components for weapons of mass destruction.
Officials said Iran has established front companies throughout Europe as well as in Muslim states. They said the fronts were meant to evade sanctions on IRISL imposed by the United Nations and United States. The Iranian shipping line first came under sanctions in 2008.
“Following its September 2008 designation by Treasury under E.O. 13382 for its provision of logistical services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, the arm of the Iranian military that oversees its ballistic missile program, IRISL has increasingly created and relied upon a series of front companies and has engaged in deceptive behavior to assist efforts to evade the impact of sanctions and increased scrutiny of its activities,” Treasury said.
Officials said Treasury has so far identified and sanctioned nearly 70 fronts for IRISL. The U.S. agency was also said to have identified more than 100 ships as belonging to IRISL or its fronts.
Thirty of the Iranian fronts were reported to be located in Germany, including 11 companies that share the same address in Hamburg. Mohammed Talai was identified as the manager of the 11 Hamburg-based firms and a representative of IRISL Europe.
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Borneo: Rare Scaled Mammal Threatened by Traditional Medicine
An unprecedented haul of records from wildlife smugglers in Borneo has revealed the scale of the illegal trade in pangolins. They show that between May 2007 and December 2008, the smugglers bought at least 22,200 endangered Sunda pangolins, or spiny anteaters, and nearly a tonne of their scales, for export.
By contrast, local police seized only 654 illegally shipped pangolins between 2001 and 2008. A report on the smugglers’ records from Traffic, the group that monitors wildlife trade for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), says that this “raises serious concerns for the continued survival of the species”.
“Most of what we know about the trafficking of pangolins is from seizures, and it has always been recognised that this is probably the tip of the iceberg,” says Elizabeth John, a Traffic spokesperson in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The smugglers’ records reveal the size of the iceberg. “This is why these logbooks are so valuable. It shows you what enforcement agencies are grappling with.”
Pangolins, the only scaled mammal known, are prized for their scales: according to Chinese traditional medicine, they boost circulation and treat a plethora of illnesses including asthma, menstrual and lactation disorders, and arthritis. “Scales are ground into a powder or worn like a locket, as a talisman,” says John. The animal’s meat is also supposed to have medicinal properties.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘More Immigrants Should Work for the State’: German Chancellor Angela Merkel Adds to the Country’s Roaring Immigration Debate
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has risked causing further outrage by saying that more immigrants should work for the state.
The country has been in the grip of a tense debate about the integration of Muslims for several weeks.
Fuelled by divisive comments about Turks and Arabs by central banker Thilo Sarrazin, Germany has been debating how to balance an economic need for more workers with growing public concern over integration of immigrants.
Merkel spakred controversy earlier this month when she said that multiculturalism had ‘utterly failed’ in Germany.
Her latest comments are now likely to cause more anger among citizens who feel alienated by the influx of immigrants to the country.
Interviewed by a 31-year-old Berlin policeman of Turkish origin for her latest internet podcast four days ahead of an integration summit at her chancellery, Merkel said: ‘Today, people with a migrant background are under- represented in the public sector, and that needs to change.’
However, Merkel conceded that this was not always easy.
‘I’ve also noticed that if someone has a name that doesn’t sound German they can often have trouble being taken on at all in some professions,’ she said.
Since Sarrazin inflamed opinion by asserting Turks and Arabs sponged off the state and refused to integrate, some of Merkel’s conservatives become more critical of Muslims, who make up an estimated 4 million of Germany’s 82 million population.
[…]
| — Hat tip: DF | [Return to headlines] |
Bonding With Mom: Why Day Care May Harm Fussy Tots
Day care may prevent certain children from establishing a healthy relationship with their parents, a new study suggests. The results show the more time fussy, irritable infants spend in day care, the less likely they are to develop a so-called secure attachment with their mothers. A secure attachment means babies are at ease exploring their surroundings, but can still seek comfort from their mom when they need to — they are not clingy or aloof. From a glass half-full perspective, the findings also mean irritable infants do better when they’re mostly cared for by their parents or other family members.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Did Life Begin With a Bolt From the Deep Blue?
LIFE may really have been created by a spark, one that came as a bolt from the deep blue.
Hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor are believed by many to be the cradle for early life. Now a team led by Ryuhei Nakamura at the University of Tokyo in Japan have uncovered evidence that such vents can generate electrical currents. They say these currents could have helped generate the complex carbon-based molecules that came together to produce life, as well as provide it with a handy power supply.
Vents bring minerals containing iron, copper and sulphur from deep inside the Earth’s crust to the seabed. The minerals possess an excess of electrons, so Nakamura’s team wanted to find out whether these electrons could generate an electric current in the vent.
To do this, they carried out the first lab-based electrical experiments on a type of sulphur-rich chimney known as a black smoker. The chimney was extracted from a hydrothermal vent in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.
First, the team passed a current through the chimney wall to show that it could conduct electricity. Next, they simulated the conditions at a hydrothermal vent by pumping hot, sulphur-rich water past one side of a chimney wall, and cold, salty water past the other. This generated a weak but steady electrical current across the chimney wall.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sharp Stone Age Spearheads Were Cooked Then Flaked
If you want to make really sharp stone spearheads, do like Stone Age cave dwellers did and cook them first.
Palaeoanthropologists have discovered that this two-step trick was invented 50,000 years earlier than they previously thought. The findings add to evidence that Africa’s southern tip was a centre of technological and cultural development during the middle Stone Age.
The key technique, known as pressure flaking, was used to make finishing touches to stone spearheads. Pushing a narrow tool against one side of the spearhead releases a thin flake of material from the other side. This allows for very fine control, producing narrower and sharper tips. It was previously thought that pressure flaking was invented around 20,000 years ago.
Paola Villa of the University of Colorado at Boulder and her colleagues have spent years analysing artefacts found in the Blombos cave near Still Bay in South Africa, including some 75,000-year-old spearheads made of a cement-like substance called silcrete they had found there. The team looked for evidence of pressure flaking on the spearheads, but concluded that they could not have been pressure-flaked as the material would have come away in chunks rather than flakes.
Then last year another team discovered that some of the artefacts had been heat-treated. This makes silcrete much easier to work with.
Make your own
Villa went back to the spearheads and noticed that the scars where layers had come off were smooth and glossy, which is characteristic of heat-treated silcrete. If heat-treating had not been used, the scars would have been rough and dull, which lead them to believe that the cave dwellers must have cooked their spearheads before flaking them.
To check that pressure flaking really was used, the team tried to make spearheads themselves. They collected silcrete from the local area and heat-treated some pieces while leaving others untouched. When they tried to shape the pieces, the heat-treated silcrete could be pressure-flaked, producing spearheads exactly like the ones found in Blombos cave, but untreated silcrete could not.
The finding is yet more evidence that the Blombos cave humans were modern in their behaviour, says Bruce Bradley of the University of Exeter, UK. They also produced bone tools and carved jewellery from mollusc shells. It is thought that other groups of humans may have learned the techniques from them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Think Again: A Double Standard for Islam
Hate speech laws are applied in West against those critical of Islam, but never against Muslim imams who mock Jewish, Christian infidels.
Islamists everywhere demand respect for Islam, the prophet and the Koran, and threaten murderous mayhem should that demand not be honored. At the same time, they do not hesitate to express their contempt for other religions and their adherents, as well as the system of democratic rights protecting the freedom of religion.
Nor are those threats to be taken likely. More than 50 people died in violence triggered by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s 1989 edict against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and all those connected with its publication or distribution. Dozens of Europeans are now in hiding or under police protection because of death threats from Muslims.
Sadly, the West has to a shocking degree acquiesced in this double standard. The Washington Post removed from its website a cartoon including the words “Where’s Muhammad,” even though it contained no depiction of him; South Park’s producers edit episodes mentioning Islam but not those ridiculing Christianity; Yale University Press deleted all the actual cartoons from a book on the Danish cartoon controversy. Australian preachers were fined for quoting the Koran, and leading Dutch politician Geert Wilders was put on trial for his strident criticism of Islam.
Hate speech laws are applied in Europe against those critical of Islam, but never against Muslim imams who mock Jewish or Christian infidels. Even here, Tatiana Susskind was sentenced to two years in jail for posting a cartoon of the face of Muhammad on the body of a pig, but preachers from the Islamic Movement can broadcast what they want about Jews and Judaism.
The double standard conveys to the Islamists two dangerous messages. First, violence works; the West is terrorized. Second, Islam is the one true religion: Behold, even Westerners treat it with a deference not shown to Christianity or Judaism.
INTELLECTUALS AND cultural elites have played a major role in fostering the West’s acceptance of voluntary dhimmitude by manipulating the level at which the debate takes place whenever it touches issues of Islam. In part, intellectual attitudes are motivated by fear; in part by a refusal to acknowledge a civilizational struggle between the West and expansionist Islam. For some, the frisson of seeing their own bourgeois society under attack contributes to the fun.
The recent uproar over the threat of an obscure Florida pastor to burn the Koran provides a classic example of the different ways the debate is framed depending on whether Islam is perceived as the “aggressor” or the “victim.”
The Koran burning would undoubtedly have been protected “symbolic speech” under settled First Amendment doctrine. Burning the American flag, another highly charged act, has been protected by the Supreme Court. At the same time, it must be conceded that the Koran burning is highly offensive to Muslims and has no purpose other than to offend.
Let’s compare the response to the threatened Koran burning to another recent hot-button issue: the Ground Zero mosque…
| — Hat tip: SF | [Return to headlines] |
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