Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/31/2008

• Obama (finally!) Reaching Out to American Muslims
• Syria: Iraqi Refugees Posing Destabilisation Threat
• Saudi Arabia: Women-Only Industrial Areas Called For
• Immigrants Wound Policeman At Egyptian Border
• Mohammed Case Heads for Supreme Court
• The EU is Slowly But Surely Moving Away From Democracy
• Olmert’s Suicidal Legacy
• Iranian Involvement in Shi’ization in Comoros Islands
• 23 Bombs Defused in Surat, India Remains on Edge
• Released Lebanese Terrorist Samir Al-Quntar Wants to Kill More Israelis
• Diplomatic Ice Age Between Libya and Switzerland
• Saudi Arabia: Man Arrested, Too Many Wives
• Immigration: Wave of Arrivals in Lampedusa, Over 500 People
• Immigration: Spain; New Arrivals in Alicante, Murcia
• Immigration: Lampedusa Besieged, Italy-Libya Accord

Thanks to Fjordman, Holger Danske, Insubria, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Obama (finally!) Reaching Out to American Muslims

After some major bumps along the way, there is finally a very encouraging sign in terms of the relationship between the historic Obama Presidential campaign and the six million strong American Muslim community.

The Obama campaign has had a complex relationship with Muslims. Muslims have loved Obama, but for long time the campaign hasn’t seemed to love them back. Part of the challenge of course has been that the corporate media, sadly combined with the Hilary Clinton campaign, has often sought to appeal to the worst qualities among many Americans by calling Obama Muslim. While these have been led by much of Right wing media, even the recent issue of New Yorker, which depicted the Obamas in “Muslim” garb dressed as terrorists contributed to this environment. In fact about 12% of Americans still believe Obama is Muslim. While stating the obvious (that Obama has been a committed Christian who got married in a church and has raised his family Christian), it took the Obama campaign far too long to come out and state the obvious about the “Muslim smear”…

           — Hat tip: Holger Danske


Syria: Iraqi Refugees Posing Destabilisation Threat

(By Elisa Pinna) (ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, JULY 30 — Between 40,000 and 50,000 Iraqi refugees have been arriving in Syria every month since 2003. Their groups cross the desert border, bringing with them despair, anger, fear. They are running from Iraqi violence: they include Muslims, Shiite and Sunni, as well as many Christians, Syrian Orthodox and Chaldean Catholics. So far in Syria they have found hospitality, more or less severe restrictions on visas and free healthcare assistance and guaranteed school for their children. However, the number of refugees, which has reached between 1.5 million and 2.0 million people, threatens to undermine the balance between the ethnic and religious communities, so far guaranteed by the regime of Bashir Assad, in Syria¿s population of some 19 million people.

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Egypt: No to Power Inheritance, Yes to Appointing Successor

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 30 — With the ambiguity typical for many stances of the Mediterranean culture, Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, stated that, if according to the Sharia (the Islamic law) the inheritance of power is “illegal”, however it is not prohibited to the governors to appoint their successor, Egyptian daily Al Masri El Yom reports. The opinion was expressed in answer to a request for ‘fatwa’ presented by a citizen to the ‘House of Fatwa’ (Dar El Iftaa), the political religious authority charged with deciding on very delicate issues.

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Saudi Arabia: Women-Only Industrial Areas Called For

(ANSAmed) — RIYADH, JULY 30 — A leading Saudi Arabian businessman and member of the country’s Shura Council has called for the creation of women-only industrial zones to generate more jobs for Saudi women. “Many Saudi women are now involved in small-scale industries,” the Arab News newspaper quoted Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil as saying. “Women can play a big role in light industries, such as gold, jewellery and foodstuffs,” he said. Stating that women should be given production areas within and near cities, Al-Zamil said women were usually recruited for light industries, and asked: “Why don’t we develop women-only industrial zones for this purpose?” In this connection, he cited the success of the country’s experience with women-only banks. “It created new job opportunities for Saudi women and helped them make important contributions to the banking and financial sector,” Al-Zamil said. According to him, the women-only industrial areas initiative would be crucial not only in terms of creating jobs for women but also boosting Saudi Arabiàs non-oil revenues. Al-Zamil said non-oil revenues amounted to around 122 billion Saudi riyals ($266.7 million) annually. “The amount represents about 20 percent of the value of the total production in different sectors,” he said. Al-Zamil said the Shura Council was studying an industrial strategy presented by the ministry of commerce and industry, which it would pass shortly. The Shura Council is an institution that allows Saudi citizens to participate directly in the country’s policy administration, planning, and follow-up of the performance of different government agencies. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Immigrants Wound Policeman At Egyptian Border

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 30 — A group of illegal immigrants who were trying to penetrate the Israeli territory from Egypt, instead of being wounded by the Egyptian border police as it often happens, shot at one of the policemen, injuring his legs. Then they managed to escape in the desert, throwing the police off the scent. The event happened not far from the Rafah Crossing, where policeman Mohamed Awad Mohamed was on duty when he saw the Africans trying to cross the border. At his shout to stop, one or two of the group fired at him, wounding with two shots both his legs. While the illegal immigrants were escaping the policeman was helped by colleagues and was taken to hospital. The porous border between Egypt and Israel, despite being guarded by both parties, is continuously a scene of attempts for infiltration in Israel and of gunfire in which the illegal immigrants are usually wounded, sometimes killed. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Mohammed Case Heads for Supreme Court

The seven Muslim organisations plan to bring their civil case against Jyllands-Posten newspaper for their printing of the Mohammed cartoons to the Supreme Court.

‘We have no doubt that we will continue with the case. We just need to have the legal procedure in place. Our lawyer Michael Havemann has begun by making an application for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court,’ said Bilal Assaad of the Islamic Faith Society.

Both the Århus Municipal Court and the Western High Court have found former editor-in-chief Carsten Juste and culture editor Flemming Rose not guilty of libel in connection with the 2005 publication of the 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.

The Muslim groups accuse the newspaper of likening the prophet to a terrorist as well as offending all Muslims. The two previous decisions found the cartoons were neither insulting nor an expression of contempt for Muslims.

They plaintiffs are calling for the courts to punish the two editors to the fullest extend, and have also made a claim for 50,000 kroner compensation.

Assaad said that if the organisations did not succeed with their Supreme Court case, they would consider an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman


The EU is Slowly But Surely Moving Away From Democracy

31.07.2008. “The European Union’s top court,” reports the BBC, “has ruled that non-EU nationals married to EU citizens are entitled to live in their spouse’s country.” Read more at EU Referendum.

HonestThinking comments: This appears to be part of a systematic attempt at preventing European nations from determining their own immigration policies. This issue is becoming a hot issue in Denmark, where authorities are now under pressure from the EU to abandon policies that have been in place since 2001. Scandinavian readers may e.g. want to consult this article: Åpen strid mellom Danmark og EU, indicating a fight or war is about to break out between Denmark and the EU.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman


Democrats v. Arctic Abundance

America is sitting on over 1,000 billion barrels of oil [there’s also about 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas]. Americans who feel squeezed by higher oil prices should know they have a stark choice: More oil and lower prices, or less oil and higher prices. And they should also know who’s to blame for this energy mess: the Democrat-led Congress.

Using a conservative estimate, let’s say we pump 3 million barrels a day after developing these Arctic resources. That would boost total U.S. crude output of 8 million barrels a day by 38%. It would shrink the trade deficit, saving us roughly $137 billion a year in money we now send to Mideast and South American oil potentates, some of whom use the money to train and equip terrorists.

In short, we’re not running out of oil, we’re swimming in it. Yet, Congress, bizarrely, refuses to allow more crude to be extracted from federal property, imperiling our economic future.

Knowing what we do today, those in Congress against drilling are derelict in their duty and don’t deserve to keep jobs in November.

           — Hat tip: VH


Olmert’s Suicidal Legacy

A joke in Israel has it that the Knesset, fed up with corruption among elected officials, passed a law. Every guilty official must walk into the Mediterranean to a depth consistent with the degree of guilt.

So Haim Ramon, accused of kissing a woman who merely wanted a photograph, goes out up to his ankles. Finance Minister Hirchson, guilty of financial shenanigans, goes in up to his knees. President Katzav, guilty of serial sexual harassment, goes in until the Mediterranean laps his chin. Someone walking by on shore calls, “Katzav, why are you only out to where the water is up to your chin?” The disgraced president replies, “I’m standing on Olmert’s shoulders.”

Since Olmert took over after Ariel Sharon’s stroke it seems as if with each passing day another abuse of the public trust was discovered. Till now he has not been indicted, reminding this observer of Big Julie’s line in Guys and Dolls, “I got a clean record, arrested 23 times—No Convictions.”

But when the Prime Minister’s legacy is written, it will not be about his tendency to run his political offices like a corrupt political hack, it will be his leading of Israel in a long march toward suicide.

           — Hat tip: VH


Scottish Islamic Foundation: a New Front for the Muslim Brotherhood (pdf)

In June, a new Muslim group called the Scottish Islamic Foundation is launched in Edinburgh in the presence of Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister. The leading members of the group, together with many of those who lead its events are closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist movement with regional branches which aims to re-create the global Caliphate. The Brotherhood’s motto is: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

The Scottish Islamic Foundation appears to be aiming to become the Scottish government’s default Muslim partner organisation, a role the Muslim Council of Britain previously fulfilled for the British government. They also have been cited in the Scottish parliament in respect to counterterrorism legislation as well as being consulted on issues such as whether halal slaughter amounts to cruelty to animals.

The SIF also hopes to get funding from the government: “There is hundreds of millions of pounds sloshing around in England for this sort of stuff but in Scotland, we are largely relying on volunteers. This is something that needs to be looked at.”

           — Hat tip: VH


Iranian Involvement in Shi’ization in Comoros Islands

Recently, Iran has been showing increased interest in the Union of the Comoros, the island nation off Africa’s east coast. Iran’s interest in the Union of the Comoros is supported by Comoros President Ahmad Abdallah Sambi, despite opposition from various elements in the country.

           — Hat tip: VH


23 Bombs Defused in Surat, India Remains on Edge

Just when Gujarat was returning to normalcy after 50 people were killed in Saturday’s serial bombings in Ahemdabad, 23 low-intensity bombs were recovered from Surat by Tuesday evening as cities across India remained on the edge.

In Ahmedabad, investigators were yet to get a fix on the perpetrators behind the torrent of 21 blasts that rocked the city Saturday evening and were still rummaging the blast sites and questioning survivors for vital leads.

Abdul Halim, a Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activist from Uttar Pradesh, was detained by the police for interrogation. [The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ from western materialistic cultural influence and to convert it into an Islamic society. It was banned in 2002 for its involvement in terror activities in India. Fears exist that it has been penetrated by Al-Qaeda].

Elsewhere, a middle-aged man, Mohammad Mustaq Ahmed, was arrested for his alleged connection with the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) from a southern West Bengal district.

           — Hat tip: VH


Released Lebanese Terrorist Samir Al-Quntar Wants to Kill More Israelis

Samir Al-Quntar [the Muslim monster responsible for killing three people directly, including smashing the head of a 4 year old girl, and one indirectly: a 2 year old girl]: “The weapon of a position that has been turned into a culture builds the homeland of the resistance. It has become the culture of the generations that will realize the dream of annihilating that plundering entity. Allow me to commemorate a great legendary commander, the martyred hero and mujahid ‘Imad Mughniya. I would like to say just one thing: Hajj ‘Imad, we will only be worthy of the blood you sacrificed when we force this enemy to long for your times.” […]

“There is a disease in this region called ‘the state of Israel,’ which we refer to as ‘the plundering entity.’ If we do not put an end to this disease, it will follow us, even if we flee to the end of the world. So it’s better to get rid of it.” […]

Interviewer: “What did you study [while in prison]?”

Samir Al-Quntar: “Social studies and humanities.”

           — Hat tip: VH


Roma: Berlusconi, Children’s Prints Not Restrictive Measure

(AGI) — Rome, 31 July — Submitting Roma children to identification via the gathering of digital fingerprints “is not a restrictive measure, it is a measure intended to guarantee that these children can go to school and to be able to really go,” stated President of the Council, Silvio Berlusconi, during a press conference at the Chigi palace at the end of the meeting with the Romanian President, Traian Basescu. “I assured the Romanian President,” added Berlusconi “that this was the aim of the measure.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Libya: Gaddafi Son Spreads Documents on Tortures on Opposers

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 31 — Son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al Islam, head of the humanitarian foundation of the same name, has recently spread in Libya video cassettes and CDs with interviews and statements of opposition members who accuse the rulers of tortures and violations of the human rights, pan-Arab daily Al Sharq Al Awsat (Middle East) reported. The daily explains that this act is apparently aimed at providing the world with a much more positive image of the regime which a few years ago gave up the so-called ¿weapons of mass destruction¿. The daily reveals that a few images, just loaded on YouTube where videos denouncing Libya have been already circulating, show members of the Libyan opposition who openly accuse with names and surnames people previously in charge of government offices and members of the popular committees. They “have represented the backbone of the regime”, according to Asharq Al Awsat, launched in Libya by Muammar Gaddafi since 1977 when he proclaimed himself Leader of the Green Revolution. Seif al Islam recently committed himself in public to disclose all the truths regarding the prisons and the violations of human rights regarding the opponents, Al Sharq Al Awsat observes. According to the daily, the make up activity launched by Seif al Islam is aimed at opposing the ongoing campaign of international organisations of civil rights to denounce the every-day violations attributed to the Libyan authorities. From abroad the opponents of Gaddafi play down the importance of these steps. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Italy-Libya: Desire to Close the Page of the Past, Economist

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 31 — “After years of embarrassing negotiations, Italy and Libya seem to be ready to settle the legacy, short but particularly bitter, of the Italian colonial adventure in the North African country, which fascist dictator Benito Mussolini liked to call the “fourth shore of the empiré”. This is the beginning of an article on the relations between Rome and Tripoli to be published in tomorrow’s issue of British weekly The Economist, of which ANSA obtained a preview.

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Diplomatic Ice Age Between Libya and Switzerland

When Swiss police arrested Moammar Gadhafi’s son in Geneva, the Libyan dictator vowed to punish the European country. Two Swiss nationals in Libya were arrested and oil supplies were threatened. It was the latest in a number of incidents involving Gadhafi’s eccentric brood.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman


Saudi Arabia: Man Arrested, Too Many Wives

(ANSAmed) — RIYADH, JULY 31 — A 56 year-old man was arrested in Saudi Arabia because he has six wives, two more than the Sharia, the Islamic law, allows, it was reported today by Saudi Arabian daily Al-Watan. The man, of Saudi Arabian nationality, who was arrested in the south-eastern Province of Jazan, at the border with Yemen, has three Saudi wives and three Yemenite wives. Al-Watan reported that the man, who is a member of the “Commission for the promotion of virtue and vice prevention (Moutwa)”, rejected the accusations, saying that he divorced from two of the wives. The governor of the Province of Jazan ordered to set up a commission to investigate the case. (ANSAmed).

2008-07-31 13:57

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Immigration: Wave of Arrivals in Lampedusa, Over 500 People

(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), JULY 31 — New wave of arrivals in Lampedusa: over 500 illegal immigrants have arrived in the past few hours on the island or have been sighted on four different boats. The most significant arrival was registered at around 04.00 in the morning, when a fishing boat managed to enter directly into the port with 339 non-EU citizens, including 47 women and four children. Another smaller boat, with 39 immigrants, landed at dawn on the beach of Cala Croce. A third boat with 47 people, including two women, was intercepted at some 50 miles off the southern coast of Lampedusa by a patrol motor boat of the Coastal Guard, heading towards the island. The latest intervention concerns a fourth boat with one hundred immigrants, rescued by a ship of the Military Navy, at 70 miles south of the island. The hospitality centre of Lampedusa, where yesterday there were some 700 illegal immigrants, with the latest arrivals now risks again to collapse. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Immigration: Spain; New Arrivals in Alicante, Murcia

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 31 — New wave of arrivals of Algerian illegal immigrants in Spain: over 91 people arrived on board 10 boats in the past 48 hours in Alicante and Murcia, according to sources from the Civil Guard, reported by the media. Seven boats were stopped a few kilometres far from Murciàs coast, while three managed to dock, avoiding police controls, in the bay of Torrevieja (Alicante). The presidency councillor of the autonomous community of Murcia, Juan Antonio de Heras, accused the central government of “total lack of forecasting skills”, stating that the arrivals “exposed the lies” of the executive power about the adoption of the Integrated External Vigilance System (SIVE) in the region, where it is expected to start working in 2009. Despite the increase of the past few days in the inflow of illegal immigrants from Algeria, the number of arrivals is below the one of 2007, according to sources from the Interior Ministry. The stay of the Algerian illegal immigrants in temporary detention centres is usually a few days long, given that the repatriation to the countries of origin are carried out by ferry, from Alicante to Orano and from Almeria to Ghazaouet, with almost daily frequency during the high season period. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Immigration: Deal With Libya to Stop Immigrants, Maroni

(ANSAmed) — CASAL DI PRINCIPE (CASERTA), JULY 31 — The landings on Lampedusa will be resolved almost a hundred percent when the agreement with Libya which envisages joint patrol of the Libyan waters enters into force, Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, said during a news conference in Casal di Principe. “Unfortunately the landings could not be avoided by a decree law, but through launch of the agreement with Libya which envisages patrol of the waters of the North African country, but this could not be done without the agreement of Libya; when we have its agreement there will not be landings on Lampedusa anymore,” the minister explained. Maroni also said that the government is committed in this direction. “Prime Minister Berluconi went to Libya a few days ago to speak about that with Gaddafi, Foreign Minister Frattini is very active, everything we could do we did it, we have been already examining the ports where to put the bases,” he reminded. If Libya gives a go-ahead in September, he added, “we must expect a very difficult August”. As regards the illegal immigrants who land, the minister continued, “we cannot do than welcome them and this is the first stage, but then there is a second stage, if they do not have the right to stay in Italy they will return at home”. (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria


Immigration: Lampedusa Besieged, Italy-Libya Accord

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 31 — A dramatic day in terms of illegal immigration, with Lampedusa and its first reception centre on the brink of collapse, for the almost 1,500 non-EU citizens who crowded a centre of maximum capacity of 600 people. The arrivals followed one after the other with an unusual rhythm so far: eight. Small boats full to the improbability which, thanks to the good conditions at sea, set sail from North Africa with the hope to find a landing in Italy. But, if this is news, the day also registered a new important political chapter. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni announced that an accord had been reached with the Libyan government which would solve the problem almost completely, allowing joint patrolling along the coasts of the North African country. But the agreement before entering into force asks for more time and therefore the arrivals at least for the next weeks seem destined to multiple. The latest one on Lampedusa happened late in the afternoon, 67 illegal immigrants including eight women have just arrived on the island after having been rescued by a patrol boat of the finance guard some seven miles south from the island. Hundreds of desperate people who continue arriving and who at the centre of Lampedusa have the first impact with the desired country even understanding that the travel in the sea can transform in a tragedy. Like the one of this morning when two women died off the coast of Malta. Lampedusa launched its desperate appeal: don’t leave us alone in dealing with this emergency. But there are already over thousand immigrants crowding the hangars of the old barracks in Imbriacola district (of them some 200 women, some 30 children and three newborns). (ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria