Thanks to Abu Elvis, Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Dymphna, Holger Danske, Insubria, JD, Nilk, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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American Ramadan: Exploring Self-Restraint in Diversity
“IN America, Ramadan may feel more of a test for Muslims as the society around us is not fasting together. We continue our regular work hours, our classes in school, and so on,” said Anisa Mehdi to the Saudi Gazette. “It is a blessing to explore the extent of our “self-restraint” under these circumstances. To me victory feels very good,” she said.
Anisa Mehdi is an Emmy award-winning journalist specializing in religion, the arts and people. For more than 20 years she has reported, written, directed and produced television news and documentary programs for major American media outlets, including National Geographic, PBS, ABC News and CBS. Her commentaries are heard on NPR’s award-winning newscast All Things Considered. Mehdi writes perspective pieces for newspapers, magazines and Internet sites and lectures worldwide on Islam and the media. She also led several teams of photojournalists covering the Haj pilgrimage in February 2003.
Talking about the freedom to practice one’s religion in America, Mehdi said, “We have the freedom to worship. There are rare occasions when bigotry and violence interrupt our worship, but this holds true for people of all faiths since even Jews, Christians and others also suffer bigotry and violence from time to time.”
Interestingly, she said, she has found that over the past decade or so there is an increasing interest in Ramadan in America.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Making Peace, and Prayers
Mosque opens its doors as controversy fades
Every night since the start of Ramadan this month, hundreds of Muslims have been gathering for evening prayers at the mosque, now called the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. Officials of the Muslim American Society, which is overseeing the project, say they plan to gradually add activities throughout the fall and winter and hope to hold a formal opening of the building early next year.
The worshipers gathering at the mosque are ecstatic to finally be able to use the building, which has been delayed for years by fund-raising troubles, controversy surrounding various mosque supporters, and litigation. Last year they held three Ramadan services in the building, but it had no walls or concrete floors; now they are in the building nightly. Mosque officials say they have raised, through donations and noninterest loans, $15 million toward the $15.5 million they need to open the building, and the construction work is largely complete.
“This is such a happy occasion for the Muslim community — this has been a project in the making for decades,” said Hossam Al Jabri, president of the Muslim American Society’s Boston chapter, which has taken over management of the mosque from the Islamic Society of Boston, which runs a mosque in Cambridge. “It’s strange, but I’m thankful that we had to go through the difficulty, because it forced us to come out of an isolation that we were comfortable in, and helped us to see that we have a world out there that is interested to know who we are. And it helped us to make so many friends.”
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Meet Obama’s New Bill Ayers Associate
Ex-communist leader tied to terrorist eliminated from campaign website
JERUSALEM — The official campaign website of Sen. Barack Obama has completely scrubbed a series of user-generated blog postings on the candidate’s site by a former top communist activist who is an associate of former Weathermen terrorist leader William Ayers.
The move has raised questions regarding Obama’s relationship with the deleted blogger, Mike Klonsky, who runs an education organization that was founded by Ayers and that received a substantial grant from a group directed by Obama.
Obama’s official site allows registered users to form groups and post content in online “community” blogs. The site boasts tens of thousands of such community blogs. Obama’s spokesmen previously have stated the campaign does not monitor all content posted on the blogs, but it promptly removes any content brought to its attention that is deemed inappropriate or hateful.
Klonsky posted several blog pieces on Obama’s site on education policy that did not contain what can be described as hateful material, but his postings were entirely deleted in June after several independent bloggers noted Klonsky’s connections to Obama and Ayers.
Klonsky is director of the Small Schools Workshop, an outreach program founded in 1991 by Ayers with the stated goal of providing support for teachers who want to create smaller learning environments. Ayers reportedly recruited Klonsky to head the Workshop.
The Small School Workshop was originally associated with the University of Illinois in Chicago, where Klonsky previously taught in the education department alongside Ayers. The group was headquartered for a time inside the university’s department of education building.
In 1995, with Obama as its chairman, the newly formed Chicago Annenberg Challenge, or CAC, a school reform organization, gave the Workshop a grant of $175,000. The CAC provided another $482,662 to the Workshop over the next few years.
Ayers was one of the original grantees of the CAC and was co-chairman of the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, one of the two operational arms of the CAC…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Turn to Bus Ads in Seattle to Create Awareness About Islam
The Seattle chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America is sponsoring bus ads to stir conversation and steer people toward information about Islam.
Local Muslims contributed to the nearly $5,000 campaign to get ads onto the outside of six Metro buses and the inside of about 25.
Running on the sides of several Metro buses, they merely say: “Q: Islam. A: You deserve to know,” with a phone number and Web site.
For Bilal Aijazi, a Bellevue software developer, the ads are meant to stir conversation and steer people toward information on Islam.
As a Muslim, Aijazi sometimes fields questions about his faith. Especially during Ramadan, which began about two weeks ago, people ask Aijazi why Muslims fast during this Islamic holy month.
Then there are the questions he gets other times of the year: Why some women wear head scarves; whether Muslims condone terrorism.
“We feel often Muslims don’t have a voice,” said Aijazi, one of about six people who helped coordinate the local effort to get the ads onto the outside of six Metro buses and the inside of about 25. About 10 local Muslims contributed to the nearly $5,000 campaign.
“This is just a way to present the community with a source of information about Islam that comes from Muslims themselves,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
France: Ramadan, Marketing Takes Over Islam’s Holy Month
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 12 — From the halal foie gras, to be enjoyed with a glass of champagne Cham’Halal (without alcohol, of course), to the semolina for couscous, from dried fruits to brick pastry sheets, passing through the proposal, by Nokia, of ‘special Ramadan’ options, ranging from mobile phone religious hymns melodies to alarms warning about the time of prayers and fast break: Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Islam, has become a veritable business in France, the western country which hosts the largest number of Muslims, some 5 million, and where the consumption of halal food increases by 15% annually. Not only that, now Ramadan is a part and parcel of the Republican calendar and of the politicians’ agenda: Iftar, the meal which at sunset breaks the fast, has become a local consecrated ritual for cities like Lille, Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg, Roubaix. On the other hand, in colonial France, the occupying French authorities were the ones shooting the cannon to mark the hour of Iftar. And today the sharing of such an important moment is seen by the sociologists as a way to accelerate the integration of Islam in the modern society. The USA also understood that and on September 15 they will organize an Iftar at their Paris embassy. On the marketing and business level the supermarkets such as Casino and Leclerc opened at the end of August a ‘Ramadan’ section where you can find all the products consumed during the Muslim holy month and that up till last year were sold under the label of ‘Oriental tastes’. But in actual fact, the best strategy to attract clients, who in the month of fasting, despite the fact that it is a period of abstinence, spend much more than usual for Iftar, the family and very often neighbourhood holiday, has not yet been devised. Somebody had the idea to advertise the energy drink X35 as a remedy to avoid pupils falling asleep in class. Even the political scene is affected in this period: Interior Minister Michel Alliot-Marie is expected on September 16 at the Great Mosque of Evry, just outside Paris, built by the Islamic League. A woman, as well as a Minister, who will thus consecrate the growing influence of Moroccan Islam. And on September 13, Paris’ Mayor Bertrand Delanoe will organise ‘La Nuit du Ramadan’, with a big concert at the Palasport of Bercy, with Toure Kunda. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Shooting in Nørrebro Again
At least eleven shots were fired in Rantzausgade street in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen yesterday evening, hitting two young men who were hospitalized but not in danger of their lives.
Initial media reports that the shootings had been carried out by a biker support gang were criticized by the police.
“We have absolutely no indications that AK 81 was behind this. We have no information suggesting that bikers were responsible,” says Deputy Chief Superindendant Poul B. Hansen, adding that the conclusion cannot be drawn that the incident was yet another chapter in an ongoing battle between bikers and criminal immigrant groups.
The AK81 group is a support group for Denmark’s Hell’s Angels. The acronym AK81 stands for Altid Klar (Always Ready) with 81 as the alphabetical numbers for ‘H’ and ‘A’ — themselves an acronym for Hell’s Angels.
The shots were fired from a car at around 10 p.m. at two youths who were at the Surf and Play Internet Café.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Abortion, Vatican Wants Profound Dialogue on Reform
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 5 — The issue of abortion “is not merely political,” but “also a religious, cultural and social one, it concerns the roots of the human being and deserves a cordial, profound dialogue,” the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Roman Curia, Cardinal William Levada said at a meeting with the media in Santiago di Compostela, reported by agency EFE with regard to an announcement by the Spanish Government that it was planning to pass a new law on abortion. Levada said that he “was saddened” by the initiative of the Spanish Government and emphasised that it “is a sign” of the fact that the vision of life, “of the dignity of each person which begins with the conception is not in the basis of this project.” The Spanish Government in turn defends the reform of the law on abortion, claiming that the current one “has been overcome by the events and sometimes could result ambiguous”, as Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said today at a news conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers. De la Vega assured that a commission of experts set up for the elaboration of the new legal text, announced yesterday by Spanish Minister of Equality Bibiana Aido, will carry out a comparative legislative study in order to verify “what has failed and what has worked of the current legislation, in force for 25 years.” The new law “will better guarantee the rights of women who decide to have a legal abortion and the right of freedom of doctors,” the socialist government representative said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Merchants of Hatred
On the anniversary of 9/11 this terrifying investigation reveals the hatred of Britain’s enemies within
Their message was as disturbing as ever — and the date, September 11, was particularly symbolic.
On Thursday evening this week, at a packed meeting in London’s East End, two profoundly dangerous men urged the destruction of the British way of life.
I was there as the radical cleric and self-styled sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed proclaimed that this country — where he received state benefits for two decades — will soon be transformed into an Islamic state, or Khilafah, run according to the rules of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
Bakri’s black-robed right-hand man went one step further. Anjem Choudary, a 41-year-old militant and the leading light of a thriving new organisation called islam4UK declared: ‘There are already six or seven million Muslims here in Britain.
‘By the year 2020, we will be the majority.
‘In the streets of London — Whitechapel, Bethnal Green, Stratford — people are becoming Muslim in their droves. By sheer numbers, Britain will become an Islamic state.
‘We will never need to conquer this country. Our eyes are now on Downing Street,’ he added, with an excited laugh.
Alarmingly, at the three-hour conference called to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 atrocities, there were shouts of support from the 100-strong audience of men (some only boys in their teens) and women…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fini and Berisha: Zero Tolerance a Success
(AGI) — Tirana, 15 Sept. — The policies of ‘zero tolerance’ against criminality and for a legalised system of immigration has been hailed as success in the relations between Italy and Albania, according to the President of the Senate, Gianfranco Fini. At the conclusion of his meeting with Alabanian premier, Sali Berisha, during his visit to Tirana, Fini said that Albania is a country in which “legality and safety are guaranteed”. Berisha himself had demanded a ‘zero tolerance’ approach against “organised crime”. Fini delivered the recognition of the important steps that Albania has taken towards “modernisation and Europeanisation” since the fall of the Communist regime. Fini then declared that: “at a time when immigration is becoming even more important in Italy, what the Albanian authorities have done to guarantee a controlled immigration in the name of legality certainly represents an example to be followed”. Fini and Berisha also emphasised the tight economic links between Tirana and Rome and the Albanian premier confirmed his readiness to accept an Italian nuclear centre on his territory. “The modernisation of Albania”, concluded Fini, “is the road towards its full entry into the European family”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Over 3.8 Bln Euro Earmarked for Defence
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, SEPTEMBER 15 — In 2009, Defence again remains the biggest expenditure of Algeria, which has been covered in blood by armed Islamist groups for over 15 years. The draft of the 2009 budget, which after already being approved by the senate will also be put to vote in the Parliamentary Assembly over the next weeks, earmarks a total of 383.6 billion dinar (over 3.8 billion euro), up 10% than in 2008, for defence. According to APS, education is the second biggest expenditure with 374 billion dinar (3.74 billion euro) followed by the Interior Ministry with 368.7 billion dinar (3.68 billion euro). The 2009 budget is of 5.191 trillion dinar (some 51 billion euro), up some 7% compared to 2008. The revenues are estimated to 2.876 trillion dinar (27.86 billion euro). The budget is based on a crude oil price of 37 dollars per barrel and a 4.1% growth rate (6.6% of the hydrocarbons), inflation of 3.5% and import of 34 billion dollars. The financial law envisages budget for the administration of 2.594 trillion dinar (25 billion euro), up by 10% compared to last year. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Convert Refused Muslim Burial
Officials in the city of Sfax, southeast of Tunis, refused to burry a Muslim convert in the Muslim cemetery because she did not have a Muslim Arab surname.
The decision by to bury the woman in the foreigners’ cemetery stirred a legal and religious debate among city residents and is expected to extend to the whole country. The tribunal was to hold an emergency meeting Sunday to consider the case brought by the family, London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported on Sunday.
Relatives of the deceased insisted on suing the municipality to reverse its decision and allow her to be buried in the Muslim cemetery. The woman converted to Islam on August 2, 1955 with Ministry of Justice decree no. 5318 but was refused burial in the Muslim cemetery following her death on Sept. 6.
Born in Sfax in 1918 to Christian parents, the deceased woman converted to Islam in 1955 under the guidance of the city’s mufti, Sheikh Mohamed al-Moheiri. She adopted the name Asia.
Asia’s religion was also recorded in her marriage contract when she married a Muslim man in 1980.
When Asia’s family attempted to complete the paperwork required for burial, the Sfax municipality obituaries department insisted on directing the body to the foreigners’ cemetery because Asia’s surname was not a Muslim-Arab name, although her first name was.
Asia’s son-in-law, Sasi bin Younis, said he was surprised to hear the municipality’s decision despite her neighbors testimony that the deceased was Muslim and had been performing all Islamic rituals since her conversion more than half a century ago.
The problem could be complicated further if Safx church officials object to burying a woman who converted away from Christianity in the Christian cemetery.
Family members said that they expect a favorable verdict and that the court will order the body’s exhumation and transfer to the Muslim cemetery.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Free Gaza’s Halper Never Was a Professor
(IsraelNN.com) Jeff Halper, who has been described in international and Israeli media as a professor of anthropology at Ben Gurion University, never served in that capacity, according to university officials. He was an outside lecturer “for a total of two semesters” at Ben Gurion, several years ago, they said.
The university objected to the use of the term professor with his name and added that “he cannot claim he was a “faculty member of our institution, much less a tenured professor.”
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Media Covering for ‘Peace Partner’?
Fail to report announced responsibility for terror attack
JERUSALEM — Are the Israeli media failing to report responsibility for a terror attack yesterday for which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ so-called military wing publicly took credit?
While the Hamas terror organization has been enforcing a 3-month truce with Israel in Gaza, Abbas’ “military wing,” the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, took credit for firing a Qassam rocket from the territory aimed at nearby population centers.
“We will not respect the cease fire and will continue to launch attacks against the Zionist enemy,” stated a pamphlet faxed to WND by Fatah’s Brigades.
A top Fatah Brigades commander in Gaza said his group fired a Qassam rocket from Gaza along with the Islamic Jihad terror group.
The commander said his Fatah Brigades group faxed the pamphlet claiming credit for yesterday’s rocket attack to several news agencies, including Israeli media outlets.
But Israeli newspapers and television networks only reported Islamic Jihad fired the rocket.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Method in Their Madness
by Barry Rubin
One evening you’re walking down a street. A robber jumps on you to steal your wallet. You fight back and after a protracted battle you injure him enough so that he flees the scene.
The next day newspapers report that you assaulted a poor innocent man to mug him. From pulpits, religious leaders denounce you as a bad moral example that should be punished. Politicians urge that the forces of the law be deployed against you. Your attempts to defend yourself are ignored and dismissed as lies and excuses. Most people never even hear your version.
And then after all that, someone explains: “You know the reason why people don’t like you? It’s the way you behave; after all you assaulted that poor man.”
That, my friends, is another way for saying that your policy is the cause of your problems.
Of course, the parallel outlined above is too simple-deeds have been done, mistakes made, conflicts occurred—and yet it does convey something essential about the Middle East and the September 11 attacks, as well as being part of a much broader pattern of how much of the area deals with the United States, Israel, and the West in general.
For example, the most outrageous lies and exaggerations are told in the Arabic-language world about Israel. This material then serves as a basis for explaining that Israel is hated, under constant terrorist attack, and targeted for genocide because of what it does.
But the question remains: does according to whom?
Or consider this question: What’s the main lesson the Middle East has drawn from September 11? That terrorism is bad? Don’t mess with America? Radical Islamism is dangerous and irrational?
Surely, some have done so. Yet probably the dominant idea is that the United States is responsible for the attack on itself. The less “sophisticated” idea, though common among the well-educated, is that the event was a direct conspiracy; the more “educated” notion is as a response to U.S. actions. And this latter concept itself comes in two versions: the more radical (you had it coming to you) and the more moderate (regrettable but necessary).
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Israeli Tourists Leave Sinai, Anti-Terrorism Unit
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 15 — Israel’s entity for monitoring terrorism ‘Lotar’ published today an urgent appeal to the Israeli tourists in Sinai to return to their homeland. The news was reported by the local media according to which there has been intelligence information for some time on imminent attacks or kidnappings of Israeli tourists. Yesterday the army officials released in turn a ban to all Israeli military to go to Sinai, regardless of the reason. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Nuclear: Tehran ‘Still Refusing to Suspend Uranium Enrichment’
Vienna, 15 Sept. (AKI) — The International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday said that Iran is continuing to defy United Nations’ demands to halt its uranium enrichment programme.
“Contrary to the decisions of the Security Council, Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities,” said a report by IAEA Director-General, Mohamed ElBaradei.
A Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) is still operating at Natanz in central Iran and installation work has continued on four other units, the report claimed.
So far, the Natanz facility (photo) has produce a total of 480 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium, the report said.
It would take 1,700 kilogrammes for Tehran to be able to enrich the uranium further for use in an atom bomb, according to a UN official.
Iran is failing to cooperate with investigators, the report stated. It called on Tehran to provide greater access to investigators — something it has failed to do despite a request by the IAEA in May.
“Unless Iran provides such transparency… the Agency (IAEA) will not be able to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,” the report stated.
Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at civilian atomic energy, but Western nations claim Iran is seeking to develop an atomic weapon.
In May, the UN watchdog said Tehran was withholding information about projects to develop a nuclear warhead, convert uranium and test high explosives.
“Regrettably the agency has not been able to make any substantial progress on the alleged studies and other associated key remaining issues which remain of serious concern,” the report said.
Without greater transparency from Iran, the IAEA would “not be able to provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran”, it added.
Iran has said documentation on its alleged projects has been fabricated — even though according to the IAEA it has been shown electronic versions of the documentation.
The IAEA also said that Iran was continuing to install new cascades of centrifuges to enrich uranium in defiance of a UN Security Council order.
The report will be discussed by the IAEA’s board of governors next week.
The UN Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme and risks further sanctions for failing to give a clear response to a package of incentives offered by six world powers.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Secret Memo Reveals Khamenei Plan for Nuclear Arms, Says Report
Tehran, 15 Sept. (AKI) — Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly has a secret plan to accelerate nuclear arms production by simulating a breakdown at the nuclear reactor of Bushehr.
That is according to a memorandum circulated among several western intelligence services cited in the Italian daily, La Stampa.
The Khamenei initiative dates back to the day after 6 September 2007 when Israeli warplanes struck an alleged nuclear reactor that was allegedly being developed in northern Syria. (CHECK)
The effectiveness of that attack frightened Khamenei who feared the same could happen to Iranian nuclear plants.
A few weeks later in Iranian capital Tehran, Khamenei gathered a group of senior officials responsible for national security and nuclear power, including Mohsen Fahrizadeh, entitled Project III — the programme suspected of planning the development of nuclear arms.
On that occasion, according to the memorandum, Khamenei spoke of the need to accelerate the military project in such a way that it did not run the risk of breaching the rules of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
During the meeting several proposals were discussed and at the end of the talks, “Khamenei called for a plan to be drawn up to exploit the nuclear material of the Bushehr plant to obtain plutonium”.
According to sources cited in the document, there were moments of tension during the meeting because several of the officials there “warned Khamenei repeatedly” that if they took this course, Iran would “pay a serious political price”.
But Khamenei reportedly decided nevertheless to approve details of the plan that had been presented to him.
Under the plan submitted, options included heating bars of material for 300 days, producing plutonium but of an inferior quality to military fuel to produce 600 kilogrammes to make 75 bombs of low quality.
Under a second option, the reactor would be activated to its maximum power for two months to produce 120 kilogrammes of material for 15 nuclear bombs.
All would have been done in secret to coincide with a fake accident at the reactor — an incident that would justify to the international community why its normal activities had stopped.
The memorandum is in marked contrast to the many official pronouncements by the Iranian government that it only intends to use nuclear material for peaceful purposes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Tougher Measures Mooted for Clients of Prostitutes
Damascus, 12 Sept. (AKI) — Syrian authorities are considering a change of strategy in their fight against prostitution by easing the sentences given to prostitutes and punishing the clients.
According to a group of politicians and scholars studying the phenomenon, a woman who sells her body is a victim and is less guilty than the client.
“The new law will punish sexual exploitation of women, and will forbid the use of private houses for prostitution, as well as women and child trafficking,” said Ibrahim al-Dariji, a lecturer at the University of Damascus.
The group of scholars plans to present a proposal to government for a new law on prostitution. The executive in Damascus has responded by creating a commission headed by ministers and representatives of women’s rights groups, to analyse the problem.
Under the planned legislation, prostitutes will be treated as victims and not as criminals. Current laws criminalise prostitution and punish the woman only.
“It is important that the government has taken to heart the issue (of prostitution).
“We also need to ban advertisements for prostitutes that are found in newspapers,” said Syrian Islamic MP Mohammed Habash.
The study began last summer after Syrian police authorities shut down 36 brothels throughout the country.
The phenomenon has also increased in Syria after the war in Iraq, which brought thousands of refugees to settle in Syria and has forced many women to prostitute themselves due to economic hardship.
According to a study by the United Nations, there are 50 Iraqi women arrested in Syria every week for prostitution.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Russia Problem
By Natan Sharansky
As the free world tries to formulate an effective response to Russia’s recent incursion into Georgia, the focus understandably remains on how to ensure the withdrawal of troops from Russia’s democratic southern neighbor. But policymakers might want to consider for a moment how we got to this point.
The situation in Georgia is the culmination of a failed post-Cold War policy toward Russia. Central to this failure has been ignoring the inherent connection between internal freedom and external aggression. As democracy was rolled back within Russia, the world abandoned an approach that had been so effective during the later stages of the Cold War, when relations with the Kremlin were linked to the expansion of freedom inside the Soviet Union.
Linkage began in 1974 with the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which tied preferential trade terms with the United States to the freedom to emigrate from the Soviet Union. It continued with the Helsinki Accords in 1975, which helped shine an international spotlight on Soviet human rights abuses, and it reached its apogee with the remarkable moral clarity of President Ronald Reagan, who made the level of Soviet tyranny a barometer of superpower relations. This policy was a spectacular success, mobilizing world opinion to bring the Cold War to a peaceful end.
The establishment largely mocked the revolutionary notion that foreign policy pressure could be used to help to transform the U.S.S.R. from within. Fortunately, for me and millions of others, leaders such as Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a Democrat, and Reagan, a Republican, disagreed. They believed that such a transformation was not only possible but essential to their nation’s security. They correctly understood that regimes that do not respect the rights of their own people do not respect the rights of their neighbors.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Orissa, the Drama of the Refugees: Forced Conversion to Hinduism or More Violence
by Nirmala Carvalho
According to the government, the situation is “under control”, but it has delayed the elections, and has barred entry to the district of Kandhamal. A Christian activist denounces new violence against the refugees, while Hindu fundamentalists have drawn up a list of 140 Christians “guilty” of the murder of the Swami.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) — Despite the reassurances issued by the government of Orissa, which in a document submitted to the Indian supreme court calls the situation “under control”, Hindu fundamentalist violence continues against Christians. According to Sajan K George, head of the Bangalore-based Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), there is a climate of “tension” in the area, so much so that the local government has prohibited any “entry into the district of Kandhamal”, and has “delayed the administrative elections”.
The Christian activist denounces the drama of the refugees, who are caught between a rock and a hard place: “Many Christians”, says Sajan George, “are leaving the relief camps and returning to their villages because of terror of the Hinduvata extremists at the camps; intimidation to reconvert to Hinduism is just one of the many fears of the Christians. However, residents of Rupa village in Raikia area of Kandhamal where one Rasananda Pradhan had been burnt to death during the riots are reluctant to go back, fearing further attack”.
According to the leader of the GCIC, the heads of Sangh Parivar — an association of nationalist Hindu groups, including paramilitaries connected to the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) — have prepared “a list of at least 140 Christians guilty of the assassination of Swami Laxamananda Saraswat and five of his followers”, but without providing “any proof of their involvement”. The list has been distributed among the Hindu fundamentalists, who have been asked to “punish the Christians” in case the government “does not provide justice”. The threat has contributed to increasing the “panic” within the Christian community, already crushed by the violence in recent weeks and now facing the concrete possibility of new violence.
On Thursday, September 11, during a meeting at which some of the leaders of the main fundamentalist Hindu organizations, including the VHP, took part, there was a discussion of the future strategies to adopt after the assassination of the Swami and the spiral of violence that this led to. One of the groups present at the meeting is proposing a “social boycott” of those who work for peaceful coexistence among minorities.
Meanwhile, the list of violence against Christians in Orissa is growing longer. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians, four more corpses have been found, and Hindu fundamentalists are believed to have attacked six more villages in the area of Kurtamgarh, near Balliguda. The situation of tension is thought to have induced the government of Orissa to delay the elections. Ashok Singhal, president of the VHP, is also demanding, under threat, an end to the activity of proselytism on the part of Christians in India, and a return to the practice of Hinduism on the part of those who have embraced Christianity. On the night of September 11, some Christian families were attacked by groups of fanatics: they were able to save themselves, but their homes and possessions were destroyed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Police Gag Order Silences Sisters of Mother Teresa
by Nirmala Carvalho
Nuns are accused of abducting and converting children, but they regain custody after accusations are shown to be false. Sangh Parivar, which accuses them of “child trafficking,” plans a demonstration against the nuns for tomorrow. Insecurity spreads to the state of Karnataka where three Pentecostal churches are shut down despite having all the right papers.
Chhattisgarh (AsiaNews) — Police have imposed a gag order on the nuns from the Missionaries of Charity who were charged on 5 September with kidnapping and converting four infants. Radical Hindus are instead stepping up their campaign against the sisters whose convent is now under police protection.
“Police and Durgh (Chhattisgarh) district administration officials came to our convent, which is dedicated to Mother Teresa, and told us not to talk to anyone about the incident,” Sister Mamata told AsiaNews. “An administration official explained that the order was for ‘our own good’ because Hindu militants are trying to mobilise public opinion against us and our missionary work.” The convent itself is under around the clock police protection. But “the administration official told to continue our work helping children and the marginalised,” she added.
Last 5 September, anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death, four sisters, including Sister Mamata were attacked by Bajrang Dal activists at the Durgh railway station (Chhattisgarh).
The Hindu radicals forced them to get off the train, handing them over to police after accusing them of abducting and converting the infants they had with them. The children were placed in a government-run hospital under police protection.
Subsequently the nuns filed a complaint with the police, presenting the children’s identity papers. After being thoroughly checked the papers were found to be valid and authentic, and the children were returned to the nuns.
Frustrated in the attempt to smear the nuns, Hindu radicals and the Sangh Parivar (an umbrella group that includes various Hindu nationalist and extremist groups) are now organising a protest against what they call “child trafficking by the sisters of Mother Teresa”.
Social activist Kiran Dan told AsiaNews that the Sangh Parivar “has presented a memorandum to the district collector (administrator) calling for the nuns to be arrested and the inquiry re-opened.”
This episode comes amidst a new wave of violence against Christians, accused of forced conversions, that began in Orissa two weeks ago and has spread to other Indian states run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Anti-Christian sentiments are spreading to Karnataka as well,” said Sajan K George, from the Bangalore-based Global Council of Indian Christians advocacy group. “Hindutva groups are going around threatening Christian communities with media reports about the destruction and fires inflicted upon their fellow Christians in Orissa, telling Christians that they too would meet the same fate and forcing them to stop their prayer meetings.
In Davangere (Karnataka) the threats were made good. Three Pentecostal churches were shut down for allegedly being “unauthorised”. The ministers in charge of the three places of worship have rejected the accusation, making public all the relevant papers, but so far to no avail; their churches are still closed.
Sajan K George noted that every Sunday Sangh Parivar extremists invade Christian places of worship, shouting anti-Christian slogans and beating up the faithful. By and large police just stand by watching, silent.
Talking about the incident in which she was involved, Sister Mamata told AsiaNews that “Mother Teresa worked tirelessly to bring God’s love to the poorest of the poor. We are but her daughters and all we want is to continue her work even if it means suffering. Indeed we are ready to pay the price for being disciples of Jesus.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Six Guilty in Australia’s Biggest Terror Trialby Daniel Fogarty
MUSLIM cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika has become Australia’s first convicted terrorist leader after a marathon trial was told of his plans to cause mass casualties at landmark Melbourne sites.
Five followers have also been convicted of being members of his terrorist cell, which discussed bombing the Melbourne Cricket Ground on AFL grand final day and killing women and children in their pursuit of violent jihad.
Another four alleged members of the group were found not guilty and walked free from court today.
Benbrika, 48, displayed no emotion as a Victorian Supreme Court jury found him guilty of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organisation and of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
The jury also found five of his followers — Aimen Joud, 23, of Hoppers Crossing, Fadl Sayadi, 28, of Coburg, Abdullah Merhi, 22, of Fawkner, Ezzit Raad, 26, of Preston, and Ahmed Raad, 24, also of Fawkner — guilty of being members of a terrorist organisation.
The four cleared men — Hany Taha, 33, of Hadfield, Bassam Raad, 26, of Brunswick, Majed Raad, 23, of Coburg, and Shoue Hammoud, 28, of Hadfield — made no comment as they walked free from court in central Melbourne, flanked by their lawyers.
Australia’s biggest terrorism trial ran for 115 days. The jury deliberated for 21 days before returning its verdicts today.
But jurors have more work to do. They are yet to reach verdicts on charges against Shane Kent and Amer Haddara and will continue deliberations tomorrow.
The trial heard from more than 50 witnesses and was played thousands of hours of recordings captured by listening devices and telephone intercepts.
The jury heard that Benbrika, of the Melbourne suburb of Dallas, had told his followers it was “permissible to kill women, children and the aged” and that the group needed to kill at least 1000 non-believers to make the Australian Government withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He told one of his group: “If we want to die for jihad, we do maximum damage, maximum damage, damage their buildings with everything and damage their lives just to show them”.
In April, prosecution witness Izzydeen Atik told the court Benbrika spoke to him of a plan to blow up the MCG on grand final day in 2005, when the stadium would have been packed with almost 100,000 fans.
“He said the AFL grand final was the original target,” Atik told the court.
Outside court, Benbrika’s lawyer Remy van de Wiel was unsure whether there would be an appeal.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Mogadishu: African Union Peacekeepers Killed in Blast
Four soldiers of the African Union (AU) were killed this morning in a roadside bomb blast while on patrol in an area of north Mogadishu. Eyewitnesses referred that the blast occurred in the Hamarjajab district. According to some sources, cited by the Somali media, an elevated though unknown number of people were wounded in the explosion. This morning’s attack comes just 24 hours from the death of another Ugandan AU soldier killed in a bomb blast along the road that takes to the international airport of Mogadishu. The entire weekend was in fact characterised by fighting and violence. Baidoa, seat of the Somali transitional government in power thanks to support of Ethiopian troops, was hit by at least 10 mortar shells. The attack, attributed to one of the many insurgent groups that oppose the government and demand the withdrawal of foreign forces, reportedly left one woman dead, but without causing any casualties among the soldiers. Tension is high also in Beledweyne, in central Somalia: local witnesses said that the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops to a base outside the city consented the advance of “insurgents” on the streets of the last area before the border with Ethiopia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Europe, Do Not Leave Italy Alone, Sbai Says
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 11 — “Italy should not be left alone in facing the emergency of illegal immigration. Together with Malta, due to geographical reasons, we are the most affected countries. Considering the EU allocation of 5 billion euro for immigration, I would like to underline that Italy urgently needs financing and amplification of the power of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders, Frontex,” Souad Sbai, MP from the PdL party affirmed at a meeting at the EU Parliament. According to the MP, “we are a tolerant country which is doing everything to help the illegal immigrants off our waters and we never abandon them. Europe should not leave us alone; on the contrary, it should support us concretely in the signing of bilateral and partnership agreements with the countries of origin. I agree with the proposal of Barroso to create a common EU policy in the field of immigration and to set up a joint EU consulate”. “Considering the 700 million financing for women’s integration announced by the EU I propose to draft in Italy a literacy plan directed mainly to the more fragile face of the immigration, the women,” Souad Sbai added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migration:Greece; 9,000 Illegal Immigrant Arrests in 8 Months
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 8 — The Ministry of Merchant Marine announced today the statistics data regarding the arrests for illegal immigration and drug trafficking in the Aegean Sea and on the islands for the period January-August 2008. According to the ministry, the Greek coast guard registered 536 cases of immigrant trafficking and arrested 8,880 illegal immigrants and 153 traffickers while it seized 128 ships and 11 motor vehicles used for transport of foreign citizens. During the same period 209 cases of drug trafficking were registered which led to 270 arrests and seizing of many kilogrammes of prohibited substances, while in August 457 wounded people were assisted in 191 incidents happened during search and rescue operations. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Minister Moots Tougher Asylum Rules
Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has called for a tightening of asylum regulations as the number of applications rises.
She said Swiss embassies abroad should no longer accept asylum requests, and proceedings within the Federal Migration Office should be made more efficient.
Widmer-Schlumpf said the costs for such a system were too high and the number of requests lodged at Swiss embassies had risen from 980 to 2,652 over the past four years.
Spain and Switzerland are the only European countries which offer such an option, she said in interviews with Sunday newspapers.
Widmer-Schlumpf also criticised her predecessor, Christoph Blocher, known for his hardline stance on asylum, for ignoring reality. He based infrastructure needs on a total of 10,000 asylum requests per year, she said.
The projected annual total for 2008 is about 13,000 applications, while the eight-year average is 17,500.
Last week, the federal authorities announced they would open three additional asylum centres in response to a significant increase in new arrivals.
| — Hat tip: Dymphna | [Return to headlines] |
Speaking Out in Favour of Illegal Immigrants
An estimated 2,000 demonstrators have called on the authorities to grant illegal immigrants a temporary right to stay in Switzerland.
The protesters marched through the streets of the capital, Bern, on Saturday demanding an end to deportations of people without valid residence permits, including rejected asylum seekers.
The organisers, which are supported by the Green Party, said the policy of the government was not in line with the Council of Europe, which champions human rights.
The party also said illegal immigrants are a pillar of the Swiss economy but they have no possibility to integrate into society and have no legal protection.
There are at least 100,000 illegal immigrants — or Sans Papiers — who work without residence permits in Switzerland according to support groups.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Study: Swedish Men Sensitive and Lazy
While Swedish men are more willing to accept their role in raising children than men in other parts of Europe, they can’t seem to be bothered to do much about it, according to a new study.
Unsurprisingly, Swedish men rank the highest in Europe when it comes to equality between the sexes, with 78 percent agreeing that a man can raise a child just as well as a woman, reports the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper.
The results come from a study ordered by media company Discovery Networks in order to learn more about the attitudes of their male viewers and involved a survey of 12,000 men in 15 countries.
Nearly two-thirds of Swedish men also believe it’s more important for fathers to provide emotional support than economic support.
However, the study also reveals that Sweden’s sensitive, new-age men may have shed the Protestant work ethic behind the traditional stereotype of the stoic, hard-working Swede who puts his head down and does what is necessary to get complete the task at hand.
Only 63 percent of Swedish men said agreed that “The most important thing for me is to support my family”, the lowest figure recorded in Europe.
Furthermore, only 35 percent reported that staying in shape is a priority, again the lowest among men from other European countries included in the study.
And more Swedish men, 35 percent, also see going on holiday as an excuse to do nothing when compared to men from elsewhere in Europe.
The study also confirmed some broader trends that European men in the 25- to 39-year-old demographic are delaying the traditional milestones of adult life, such as having children, purchasing a home, and becoming economically independent from their parents.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Eating Veggies Shrinks the Brain
MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.
Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.
The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.
When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.
Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk.
Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories — was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.
And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Munajid: Mickey Mouse Must Die!
(MEMRI Video)
Excerpts:
Muhammad Al-Munajid: What is the position of Islamic law with regard to mice? The Shari’a refers to the mouse as “little corrupter,” and says it is permissible to kill it in all cases. It says that mice set fire to the house, and are steered by Satan. The mouse is one of Satan’s soldiers and is steered by him. If a mouse falls into a pot of food — if the food is solid, you should chuck out the mouse and the food touching it, and if it is liquid — you should chuck out the whole thing. Because the mouse is i-m-p-u-r-e!
According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today — after Tom and Jerry? Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children. Even mice. Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Vegetarian Driver Suffers Pig Nightmare on Motorway
The sight of a truckload of pigs headed for the sausage factory proved too much to bear for a German vegetarian woman who lost control of her vehicle as a result. Unfortunately, she crashed into another truck carrying pigs.
The sight of pigs proved too much to bear for a vegetarian motorist.
A vegetarian woman driving down a motorway in Germany was so traumatized at the sight of a truck loaded with pigs that she lost control of her vehicle and careered into another truck, which was also filled with pigs, police said.
“The woman found herself driving next to a large pig transport truck and the sight of the pitiful animals made her feel so sick that she jerked her steering wheel and started swerving,” police in the western town of Gütersloh said in a statement released on Thursday.
“The result of her swerving was that the woman’s van struck the side of another truck … which was also loaded with live pigs. The woman suffered little more than a fright but we were unable to ascertain anything about the state of the pig’s health,” police said.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
6 comments:
Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories — was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.
Typo? I hope the first sentence is the accurate one.
Well, I've been away from this blog from a while. That is, from commenting becuse I've been reading most of what've been posting.
I've been away due to some minor personal problems and also (mainly) because I am trying to set up my own dirty blog.
However I am shoked by the lack of information about what's happening in Bolivia. I am studying to form an opinion but unfortunateley all I can get is from Chavez eyes and Indians saying "The Americans and the rich are not our friends, their Bolivia is the Bolivia of fascism, classism, capitalism and coloured eyes..." It's icredible how difficult it is to find raw information. And I've been looking in English, Spanish and Portuguese...
Continue the good work people1
"The sight of a truckload of pigs headed for the sausage factory proved too much to bear for a German vegetarian woman who lost control of her vehicle as a result."
Were the pigs wearing lipstick?
Alfonso,
Off the top of my head, a couple fairly even-handed sources (from what I can recall) worth following are Bogota Semana (http://www.semana.com/home.aspx) and El Pais (http://www.elpais.com/global/) but I've only ever read translated transcripts, so I can't officially vouch for accuracy.
If I come up with any more later, I'll add them.
Ah to be in Seattle with a bunch of Jihadwatch.com bumper stickers.
The fun I could have.
Tuan Jim,
Thank you very much. And, by the way, it's AFonso, not alfonso. Well, I haven't found anything worth reading in the Spanish press but I am sure Bogota semana will do to an interesting reading.
Man, that's why I like GoV so much, thank you a lot Jim!
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