Thanks to DC, Fausta, Steen, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Understanding Islam: a Challenge
Irshad Manji, New York
In the coming weeks, Americans will focus on who should lead the “land of the free and home of the brave.” But does the United States still deserve to be described in the language of conscience and courage? It’s increasingly questionable.
Random House, among the top publishers in New York, has canceled The Jewel of Medina, an historical novel about the Prophet Muhammad’s second and youngest wife, A’isha. Their reason: It might incite a violent backlash.
Might? That’s all it takes these days? According to whom?
Welcome to where things get interesting. Long before controversy arose, Random House sent an endorsement request to Denise Spellberg, a non-Muslim professor at the University of Texas. She found parts of the manuscript offensive and decided that Muslims should feel the same.
Reportedly judging the book to be “national security threat,” she depicted it as “more dangerous than the Satanic Verses.” Prof. Spellberg ought to know: She teaches Salman Rushdie’s notorious novel in her class. Clearly, she doesn’t back censorship.
Yet her lawyer warned Random House not to use Prof. Spellberg’s name in or on the novel.
Random House then consulted more “scholars of Islam.” In effect, the publisher invited post-colonial theorists with narrow specializations to rip apart a mass-market story. Also pulled in was the corporation’s head of security.
Meanwhile, a listserv of graduate students in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies learned of the still-unpublished novel. They heard about it through a Muslim website manager who claims to have received a “frantic” call from Prof. Spellberg. His postings got forwarded to various forums, ultimately reaching a blogger who circulated a protest strategy.
There’s no evidence that anybody paid serious attention to the blogger’s plan. Despite the resounding lack of threats, however, Random House announced that it would postpone publication for the sake of safety — including that of the author, Sherry Jones.
Mind you, she’s free to seek a fatwa: Random House has now terminated Jones’ contract so she may sell the manuscript elsewhere. “We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors,” its corporate statement reads. That’s one way to prove it…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
British Muslim Convicted Over Teen Floggings
A British court found a devout Muslim guilty of cruelty Wednesday for forcing two teenagers to flog themselves until their backs bled during a Shiite religious ceremony.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court convicted Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 44, on two counts of child cruelty over the incidents, during a ceremony in January to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein.
The victims, who were 13 and 15 at the time, were forced to beat themselves with a zanjeer zani, which has a wooden handle with chains and five blades attached. Zaidi, who denied cruelty, also beat himself during the ceremony.
A prosecution lawyer stressed that the case was not an attack on Islamic traditions.
“The Crown Prosecution Service wishes to make it clear that this prosecution was not an attack upon the practices or ceremonies of Shiite Muslims,” said Carol Jackson of the Greater Manchester CPS.
She noted that the prosecution relied in part on the evidence of the president of the local Shiite community centre.
“The law exists to protect the young from harm or being exposed to harm. In this case, both boys were made to take part in the ritual flagellation and suffered injuries to their backs.
“We are satisfied that, given the age of the children involved, the coercion employed by Syed Mustafa Zaidi, who did not accept that he was wrong, and the possibility of such an incident occurring again, the decision to prosecute… was the correct one.”
The two victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted they wanted to beat themselves, but not to be forced to do so, and not with Zaidi’s zanjeer zani.
They also acknowledged they had flogged themselves with a similar implement from the age of six, in Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
British Journalism Student Gang-Raped by Asylum Seekers in Calais Squatter Camp They Call ‘the Jungle’
Over a hundred asylum-seekers are being held tonight after a British student was gang-raped by illegal immigrants in Calais. The woman was writing a story on asylum seekers for her journalism course when she was attacked, police said.
Up to 100 men have been rounded up as potential witnesses to the crime, which is alleged to have taken place in a notorious squatter camp nicknamed ‘The Jungle’. Police said the attack was of a particularly ‘brutal nature’. The victim is still in Calais.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was described as ‘a London student who had travelled to France to highlight problems surrounding clandestine immigration’. Police confirmed tonight she was born in Vancouver and also carried a Canadian passport.
A police spokesman added: ‘She appeared to be working alone, which was clearly a very dangerous thing to do. ‘We fear that the men she was reporting on attacked her in the wood where they were staying.’
The woman, who is thought to be in her twenties or early thirties, told locals she wanted to spend time with would-be illegal immigrants who were attempting to reach Britain by stowing away on lorries.
The squatter camp is part of a disused an industrial zone called ‘The Dunes’ and is a short walk from the ferry port. Up to 500 men live there, supported by local charities. […]
The Home Office said the number of refugees caught entering Britain illegally from Calais has fallen to around 1,500 a year from 10,000 in 2002, when Sangatte closed.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Gang Leader Loses Right to Live in Sweden
The leader of the criminal network Original Gangsters has had his residence permit revoked by the Swedish Migration Board.
Denho “Dano” Acar fled to Turkey after he was accused of instigating an arson attack in autumn 2006. He has previous convictions in Sweden for a range of serious crimes.
“The decision was made on August 21st and I don’t know if he has received the message yet. But we based our decision on the fact that he no longer lives in Sweden. That is the most common reason for revoking a permanent residence permit,” Migration Board spokeswoman Marie Andersson told newspaper Göteborgs-Posten.
Acar, who came to Sweden with his family in 1985, remains a Turkish citizen. Turkey does not have an extradition treaty with the European Union.
The Migration Board first began looking into the matter after receiving a letter from police in Västra Götaland county.
“The Migration Board has reached a decision that makes life considerably more difficult for organized criminals in the country,” police spokesman Sven Alhin told Göteborgs-Posten.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Bill to Block Mosque Building
A far-right Italian party is planning to table a draft law that would effectively block the construction of mosques in the southern European country. The Northern League will present the parliament next week with a bill that requires regional approval and a local referendum for building mosques.
It would also mandate that mosques should have no minaret or loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer. The motion demands that mosques will have to be at least one kilometer away from any nearby church and that sermons be delivered in Italian, not Arabic.
The Northern League has four ministers in the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, including the interior ministry. The motion is only supported by the small, ultra-Catholic UDC party with no immediate support from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party or from the ex-Fascist National Alliance. […]
On August 8, Northern League MP Mario Borghezio burst into a church in the northern city of Genoa shouting anti-Islam statements. He vowed to “continue the fight of the Knights of the Order of Malta to defend Christianity.”
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta began as a Christian charity in Al-Quds in 1080 to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. It is now a state located in Rome and is recognized by 50 countries worldwide.
It is accused of conducting massive missionary work in troubled regions in Muslim countries like Sudan’s Darfur under the guise of aid and charity.
Its locals or members must take a solemn oath reading: “I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the church either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope.”
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Malta: Mintoff Wins Gaddafi Prize for Human Rights
The International Committee for the Al-Gaddafi Award for Human Rights has awarded its prize for 2008 to former prime minister Dom Mintoff, the Tripoli Post reported yesterday.
“In their appreciation of those honourable leaders of the North who have stood by justice and rights and who defended the causes of oppressed peoples, especially in Palestine and Iraq, the International Committee of Al-Qathafi Award for Peace of 2008 is awarded to the European leader and former Prime Minister of Malta,” the committee said.
The prize is awarded to “international personalities, bodies or organisations that have distinctively contributed to rendering an outstanding human service and have achieved great actions in defending human rights, protecting the causes of freedom and supporting peace everywhere in the world”.
Former recipients of the award, which carries a prize of $250,000, include Hugo Chavez, Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro.
The Al-Gaddafi Award for Human Rights is an annual prize founded in 1988 by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi together with Swiss globalisation critic Jean Ziegler. Mr Gaddafi initially granted U$10 million to the Swiss-based foundation North-South which awards the prize.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Council Chiefs Ban All Members From ‘Tea and Sandwiches’ in Meetings Which Take Place During Ramadan
Muslim council leaders have sparked outrage after trying to ban all councillors eating in meetings until sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. Politicians have hit out after the move to impose hardline Islamic rules on non-Muslim colleagues throughout September.
The bombshell has been dropped by Labour chiefs of the notoriously loony Tower Hamlets Council in east London. The storm was sparked by an email sent to all councillors this week highlighting arrangements for Town Hall committee meetings next month, which marks the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan.
The memo said that new council leader Lutfur Rahman and his deputy, Siraj Islam, had requested that meetings be kept to a minimum to accommodate fasting councillors. They have also urged all other councillors to resist eating until the breaking of the fast at sunset.
Cllr Stephanie Eaton, leader of the Lib Dem group on the left-wing East End authority, said she would be ignoring the new Ramadan regime. She insisted the new Labour leadership was favouring one religious group over others.
Cllr Eaton said: ‘The Liberal Democrats have enormous respect for the contribution of all faith groups and cultures to the life of the community of Tower Hamlets. ‘But we fervently believe that the rules of any one religion should not be imposed upon others.’
It is the first time such a request has been made and it comes as Ramadan falls earlier this year during the longer daylight hours.
Council bosses have also ordered that the town hall’s business agenda should be reduced, with only seven scheduled committee meetings for the entire month, to deal with the Ramadan restrictions. Officers have also been barred from arranging any more and been told to explore ways of dropping some of the scheduled seven.
[…] Normally tea, coffee and sandwiches are set aside for councillors to nibble at during evening meetings. But during Ramadan these will be reduced and complemented by special Muslim food packs containing chicken, lamb and vegetarian snacks. […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Fears for EU Relations With Russia
THE HAGUE, 28/08/08 — The Netherlands does not appear to want to take any high-profile position within the EU regarding the position of Russia on Georgia.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Tuesday signed a decree whereby Russia recognises the independence of the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The two regions have been operating as if independent for years, but are under the UN’s definition simply part of Georgia.
“For the Netherlands, the territorial integrity of Georgia within the internationally recognised borders, also earlier recognised by Russia, remains the basis for a solution to this crisis,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen. The one-sided recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia does not bring this solution nearer, he added.
Verhagen expressed on behalf of the cabinet his “great concern” about the Russian position. The relations of the country with the EU cannot as a result be “business as usual,” the minister said. But the Netherlands does not use the term “unacceptable” to describe the Russian step.
The developments will be discussed at a special summit of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. Verhagen holds it important that they determine a joint position.
Earlier this month, an attempt made by Georgia to subdue South Ossetia by a military attack provoked a violent riposte by Russian armed forces. A cease-fire was then concluded, but Russian troops continue to occupy positions in Georgia outside the two secessionist regions.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Willing to Talk With Osama Bin Laden
Norway has joined Switzerland in opening up for talks with terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. That doesn’t mean Norway is going soft on the fight against terrorism, though, said the country’s deputy foreign minister.
“You don’t make peace with your friends, but with your enemies,” said Raymond Johansen, state secretary in Norway’s Foreign Ministry and deputy foreign minister, on Wednesday.
Johansen told the website for newspaper Dagsavisen Wednesday afternoon that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also called for reconciliation among the various groups in Afghanistan. That would include Osama bin Laden’s followers.
“We support that,” Johansen said. “Engagement and dialogue have a lot going for them.” He also stressed that “negotiations are not the same as weakness.”
Johansen’s remarks come in the wake of a visit by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to Iran, and her call for dialogue with Osama bin Laden. She’s the first foreign minister of a democratic country who has promoted dialogue with bin Laden, saying Switzerland has no other alternatives.
“We have no military forces, we don’t have anything other than the power of the word to influence other states or to influence decisions in a multilateral setting,” she said Tuesday.
Johansen, who also was the first high-ranking Western official to meet with Hamas leaders last year, didn’t reject her call. He noted, though, that he has no illusions that bin Laden would sit down for negotiations.
“I don’t think Osama bin Laden or the forces around al-Qaida want dialogue,” Johansen said. “They prefer rather to take the lives of infidels.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Reducing the Fear of Islam, Increasing Love for Muslims
Prayer events and seminars from sunrise until midnight at St Aldates Church, Oxford
Around the world millions of Christians face persecution for their faith, many in Muslim societies. Brother Andrew, the founder of Open Doors, pioneered the way for Church in the West to reach out to its persecuted family in love, prayer and commitment. Brother Andrew advocates a fresh and dynamic approach to Muslims characterised by the acronym, I.S.L.A.M. — I Sincerely Love All Muslims.
By distinguishing between Islam as an ideology and Muslims as human beings, we seek to reduce the fear of Islam and increase Christians’ love for Muslims, for our Lord Jesus commands and enables us to love all people, and the Apostle Paul notes that ‘perfect love drives out fear’.
Sunday 31st August is the day before the beginning of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting). Take an honest look at some of the challenges posed by Islam today and join us as we seek to love, bless and pray for Muslim people in Britain and around the world.
| — Hat tip: DC | [Return to headlines] |
Robbery Wave Rolls Over Oslo
Three men were in police custody on Thursday after they allegedly carried out no less than six robberies or attempted robberies on the streets of Oslo during the night.
Two men aged 20 and 18 are suspected of knocking down an apparently random victim on Vogts Gate in Oslo’s Torshov district around 10:30pm. He was found unconscious on the sidewalk by a passerby who ended up chasing the robbers away.
While the victim was rushed to Ullevål Hospital, the robbers allegedly attacked two others in the Torshov area before they were apprehended by police about an hour later. Neither victim in the second and third assaults was seriously injured. The first victim was listed in stable condition on Thursday.
Meanwhile, on the west side of town in Oslo’s affluent Skøyen district, another man was being robbed at knifepoint. Police also received a call just after midnight that a woman walking with her husband in nearby Frogner was kicked and beaten in another robbery attempt at Skarpsno, home to several foreign embassies.
Twenty minutes later, a 29-year-old man was accosted by a man with a knife near Olaf Ryes Plass.
“The victims could give us good descriptions of the offender,” said Even Jørstad of the Oslo Police District. “Around 2am, police on patrol spotted a man at Skøyen who began to run when he saw the police car. He was apprehended and matched the descriptions.”
The offender is 18 years old and faces charges for the last three assaults.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Government Opposes Ban on Minarets
ZURICH: A ban on construction of new minarets in Switzerland would violate international human rights and the country’s Constitution, the Swiss government said Wednesday.
A group of politicians from the Swiss People’s Party and the Federal Democratic Union have gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the matter, saying minarets threaten law and order, but the government opposes the measure.
“The popular initiative against the construction of minarets has been submitted in accordance with the applicable regulations but infringes guaranteed international human rights and contradicts the core values of the Swiss Federal Constitution,” the Department of Justice and Police said.
“Such a ban would endanger peace between religions and would not help to prevent the spread of fundamentalist Islamic beliefs.”
The Swiss People’s Party has courted controversy, having previously run an anti-immigration campaign featuring three white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag, which was condemned as racist by rights groups and the United Nations.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Dutchbat Soldiers Offer to Witness for Karadzic [Translation]
At least fifteen Dutchbat soldiers offer to witness in favour of Radovan Karadzic in the Yugoslavia Tribunal. “Two of them have visited me this week and we have talked about their possible testimony,” said Milivoje Ivanisevic, a member of the defence team.
The two have told him that many ex-Dutchbat soldiers still walk around with a trauma because they are accused of not having defended Srebrenica against the army of the Bosnian Serbs.
The Bosnian Serbs army is accused of having murdered over 7,000 Muslim men after the conquest of Srebrenica in July 1995. This is one of the main points in the indictments against Radovan Karadzic and the remaining fugitive ex-General Ratko Mladic. One of the accusations against them is committing genocide.
“They (the ex-Dutch blue helmets) have told me that Dutchbat had to protect themselves against Muslims much more than to protect the Muslims against the Serbs. According to them, for example, the Bosnian Serb army brought food and water to the Muslim women and children,” said Ivanisevic.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Hijab Comeback in Bosnia
SARAJEVO — After being banned for decades by communist Yugoslav rulers, hijab is making a comeback to the streets of post-war Bosnia.
“Being headscarved, I could not study in France, where basic rights are being violated, while here it is possible and normal,” Alma, a student at Sarajevo’s Political Science Faculty, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday, May 17.
In 2004, France banned the wearing of the hijab at public schools and institutions. Since then the issue of hijab, as an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, has been thrust into the limelight with many Western European countries following suit. […]
Since the 1992-1995 war, hijab-clad women have become a common sight on the streets of the capital Sajajevo, which has a strong Muslim majority. [….]
Yet, in regions mainly populated by Christian Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats, the hijab is still frowned upon as it was in the communist era.
In the ethnically divided northern town of Brcko, the issue of freedom of choice surfaced in a conflict between a Serb teacher and a veiled Muslim psychologist in an elementary school. “My colleague refused my regular visit to his class because of my headscarf,” said psychologist Semsa Ahmetspahic. […]
Brcko and its surrounding region populated by Muslims, Serbs and Croats was proclaimed a special district in 2000 by the international community overseeing peace in Bosnia. […]
Milan Puric, a Serb deputy in the city’s council, wants regulations banning hijab in public institutions. He said the issue “once again highlighted ethnic divisions” in the country. “We haven’t reached that level of tolerance yet,” Puric told AFP.
“But if I’m wrong, then it should be all or nothing, without any discrimination,” he said, adding that would mean Orthodox Church icons and crosses should also be allowed into classrooms. […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Black List of Agricultural Dealers With “Israel” Soon
AMMAN- The Jordanian Agricultural Engineers Association, in cooperation with the National Anti-normalization Committee, has finalized preparations to identify areas of agricultural cooperation between Jordan and Israel, including the names of companies and businessmen dealing with the Zionist entity.
According to figures obtained by Fact International (FI), Jordanian tradesmen, during the first seven months of this year, imported from Israel, about 1465 tons of barley and 2183 tons of soya.
Sources, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said that 5610 tons of maize and about 1285 tons of silage, which is used for animal fodder, were also imported from Israel.
Sources said that about 99 per cent of mangoes in the Jordanian market are imported from Israel, although merchants claimed it is from Egypt. The Agriculture Ministry confirmed that documents do not show any deals for the importation of mangoes from Egypt, particularly during the first six months of this year.
The Jordanian Agricultural Engineers Association has contacted Jordanian companies doing business with Israel and has stopped them from trading with Israel. According to sources some importers were responsive and have submitted written pledges to the Association to cease transactions with the Israelis.
A recent Israeli report stated that Jordan is the ‘biggest Arab importer of Israeli commodities, even bigger than Egypt.’
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Hizbollah Training Us: Mahdi Army
Fighters from Iraq’s Mahdi Army have detailed how they are receiving training from Lebanese Hizbollah in advanced insurgency tactics to use against US troops, even as Washington continues to negotiate a pact that may see most American soldiers leave Iraq by 2012.
At least 100 militants from the Mahdi Army, a powerful militia that opposes the American presence in Iraq, went to Lebanon earlier this summer to receive the training, according to two fighters who claim to have taken part.
In a series of interviews, they described being instructed in leadership methods and religious indoctrination techniques, as well as how best to ambush US troops and evade American air strikes. Their claims have not been independently verified and Hizbollah denies any such link with the Iraqi group. […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Hizbullah Accuses Lebanese Church of ‘Interfering’ in Politics
Hizbullah on Wednesday accused the Maronite church of “interfering in politics.” Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, member of Hizbullah’s political council, made the remark in a television interview.
“It is obvious that Bkirki interferes in details of the political life. Whether this is its right or not, is another issue,” Abu Zeinab said.
He said Parliament would adopt the election law by Sept. 25, predicting that neither March 14 nor March eight would win the two-third majority of parliamentary seats. “The opposition would win the (simple) majority” in the new parliament, Abu Zeinab predicted.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq’s Clandestine Alcohol Business
BAGHDAD — When you approach, it just looks like an ordinary clothing for food shop. But if you are known to the owner, then you get to buy the “real” precuts on sale, which are always stored in backrooms away from public eyes.
“I use my food shop to sell the alcoholics because it provides a good incoming and help Iraqis forget the daily problems and dangers in our country,” Abu Hussein, a alcohol seller in the capital, Baghdad, told IslamOnline.net.
“I started to store and sell only for friends and now it has become a prosperous business. It is too dangerous if fighters discover my hidden place; however, I have to take the risk because it is a good way to get easy money.”
Clandestine alcohol sellers are gaining thousand of dollars offering the products at huge prices, sometimes with 400 percent of profit, for security issues.
Selling alcohol in a Non-Muslim Country
The business operates underground because of fears of being attacked by militants and resistance groups.
They sellers use food and clothes shops to hide their true business.
Using backrooms equipped with fridges, they keep the beverages stored and sell just to people they know that can thrust or someone sent by old clients.
“We didn’t have choice. It was supposed that Iraq had become a democratic country but fighter groups want to turn us into an Iran without choice or democracy,” claims Abu Hussein.
Islam forbids Muslims from drinking or even selling alcohol.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Seeks to Build Coalition Against Russia
Russia is facing increased Western pressure today as the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, arrives in Ukraine to build a coalition to counter Russia’s conflict with Georgia.
The United States, Nato and European powers condemned as unacceptable Russia’s recognition yesterday of two breakaway Georgian regions as independent states, and demanded Moscow recognise Georgia’s territorial integrity.
Mr Miliband is due in Kiev to meet the leadership of Ukraine, home to a large Russian-speaking population and a major Russian naval base. “I am holding talks today with international partners and will be visiting Ukraine to ensure the widest possible coalition against Russian aggression in Georgia,” Mr Miliband said.
Ukraine, like Georgia, has angered Moscow by actively seeking membership of Nato. But divisions within the pro-Western camp there may complicate Mr Miliband’s mission. […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Russia’s Not Afraid of a Cold War
by Geert Groot Koerkamp
Russia does not want a Cold War, but it’s not afraid of one either. And if NATO wants to break relations with Moscow, it should go ahead. It is all the same to Russia. The country isn’t worried about any delays in joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO). All commitments made by Russia in order to join which are detrimental to the Russian economy have been put on ice.
Those are just a few of the messages that Moscow has sent into the world in recent days. They are Moscow’s response to the growing criticism of the Russian operation in Georgia and its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The West should take a good look at itself, says Moscow.
Why should Russia recognise the territorial integrity of Georgia whatever the cost? Wasn’t Serbia a member of the UN, whose territorial integrity was recognised by everyone until Kosovo declared independence? No, the official view of Moscow is that Russia’s behaviour has been impeccable and its sole intention has been to “save human lives.” If the West refuses to see that, that’s the West’s problem…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Wins Backing From China
RUSSIA today won support from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict as the European Union said it was weighing sanctions against Moscow.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the “united position” of a summit of Central Asian nations would “serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white.” […]
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan voiced support for Russia’s “active role” in resolving the conflict in Georgia, according to the draft of a joint statement released by the Kremlin. […]
On a visit to Ukraine yesterday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned Russia not to start a new Cold War. But he also conceded that isolating Russia would be counterproductive because the West relied on cooperation with Moscow to tackle global problems like climate change and nuclear non-proliferation. […]
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia Can be Applied Without Making Indonesia an Islamic State
Fuad Amsyari of the Crescent Star Party, Partai Bulan Bintang [Crescent & Star Party, PBB], said in Jakarta on 21st August that the basic form of the state, Pancasila, did not need to be changed in order that sharia be applied. Instead, every law that was made could incorporate Islamic law.
It was a mistake to think that sharia application depended on an Islamic state, he said, and there was nothing in Pancasila that prevented sharia law from being applied in Indonesia. Every government policy and law could employ sharia, he said, and no discrimination against non-Muslims would occur.
There will be no discrimination because in Islam there can be no discrimination.
Another PBB leader, Sahar L. Hassan, agreed that sharia could be adopted without altering the constitution, and hoped that it could be applied at the level of the state, however, someone convicted of theft in an area for which the state was responsible would not suffer hand amputation, but in ordinary theft cases hand amputation would occur.
Meanwhile, in the interests of the further application of sharia law, the PBB is inviting clerics from throughout the country and well-known figures […] to attend a meeting in Bogor, 24-26th August.
During this meeting it is hoped that ways to apply sharia in all aspects of life can be discussed, as well as the means of bringing this about, and specific proposals that can be put to the government and parliament.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Hugo Chavez Gives “Red Ken” Livingstone a Job
Former London mayor Ken Livingstone has got himself a nice little earner — from his old friend and fellow socialist, Hugo Chavez (pictured right with Livingstone). The Venezuelan president has invited him to work as a consultant on policing, urban planning and transport in the country’s notoriously badly-run capital, Caracas, in the run-up to local elections in November.
“I believe that Caracas will become a first-world city in 20 years,” Livingstone told reporters on a surprise visit to Venezuela. “I have a very extensive network of contacts both domestically and internationally which I will be calling on to assist in this.”
It is two years since Livingstone and Chavez first attempted an arrangement between the two capitals with a deal to supply London with cheap fuel for its bus fleet in return for advice on city management. When Boris Johnson became Mayor in May, he made the cancellation of this agreement one of his first priorities, at the cost of £7m in compensation.
Yesterday, the mayor’s office said of Livingstone’s new arrangement: “Boris Johnson made it clear during his election campaign that he did not want to be on the payroll of Hugo Chavez and did not believe a poor South American country should be subsidising one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
“Ken Livingstone is free, as a private individual, to offer his advice and services to whomever he wants.”
Asked by journalists in Caracas what he was being paid, Livingstone said: “It depends to what extent we will be tapping into our individual resources. The whole cost of this trip has been paid for by the government of Venezuela and as an unemployed citizen I would not be able to pay for my own fare otherwise.”
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
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