Thanks to C. Cantoni, Henrik, Insubria, JD, KGS, LS, Nilk, Steen, TB, Tom, Wally Ballou, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Illegal Electioneering by Obama Campaign at ISNA Convention?
UPDATE (9/5/08): Dave Gaubatz is reporting that ISNA made an illegal official endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama at last week’s convention and has a video recording of such. We will link to it as soon as it is online. [HT: Northeast Intelligence Network]
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a 501c3 tax exempt organization. As is true for any 501c3 entity, especially a religious organization, ISNA is prohibited from hosting or supporting any partisan political activity. And yet at their national convention here in Columbus last week, ISNA hosted an Obama campaign booth in their exhibitors’ area as this picture taken on Friday night shows:
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Michelle’s Boot Camps for Radicals
Election ‘08: Democrats’ reintroduction of militant Michelle Obama in Denver was supposed to show her softer side. But it only highlighted a radical part of her resume: Public Allies…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Palin-McCain Bumper Sticker
“Palin McCain 08”
| — Hat tip: Wally Ballou | [Return to headlines] |
Britain: Three Muslims Convicted of Terror Plot to Kill Hundreds
London, 8 Sept. (AKI) — A court on Monday convicted three Islamist extremists of plotting to murder hundreds of people using homemade liquid explosives.
London’s Woolwich Crown Court convicted ringleader Abdullah Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, of planning to detonate homemade liquid bombs.
After a five-month trial, Ali, Sarwar and Hussain were found guilty of planning to kill “persons unknown”.
The jury did not find that they had planned to carry out the attacks on transatlantic passenger aircraft as the prosecution had alleged.
Sentencing will take place at a later date.
The three men pleaded guilty to plotting to cause an explosion. Ali claimed he did not plan to injure anyone and that he, Sawar and Hussain planned to detonate a small device at Heathrow’s terminal three, because it was used by US airlines.
In his defence, Ali said he wanted to make an Internet documentary, protesting against British foreign policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
He claimed the apparent suicide videos he and his co-defendants made were spoofs to make the documentary more provocative.
A total eight men had been accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airlines with an ingenious form of hydrogen peroxide disguised as soft drinks.
The court failed to reach a verdict on four of defendants, who were accused of making martyrdom videos.
The remaining man, Mohammed Gulzar, was found not guilty on all counts.
During the trial, the jury heard prosecutors allege that the eight defendants were planning to carry liquid explosives onto planes at London’s Heathrow airport, knowing the devices would evade security checks.
Prosecutors said the Al-Qaeda inspired terrorist cell also considered attacks on national infrastructure targets including gas terminals and oil refineries.
Police said the plot was hatched in Pakistan with detailed instructions passed on to Ali, identified as the ringleader, during his frequent trips to its lawless regions bordering Afghanistan.
They believe a mystery Al-Qaeda bomb-maker was responsible for the bomb design, which concealed the explosives in 500 ml soft drinks bottles.
The case was brought to trial after a huge terrorism inquiry which led to sweeping restrictions on passengers at airports and high security (photo).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Failed Asylum Seekers Soon Face Deportation
Denmark and Iraq are close to reaching a deal that would allow the forced deportation of failed asylum seekers
Hundreds of failed asylum seekers have been living Danish asylum centres for more than six years, having refused to return to Iraq. The Danish government cannot force them to leave without a repatriation agreement from the Iraqi authorities.
The Danish ambassador in Baghdad has confirmed that a deal is being hammered out and an agreement to return the asylum seekers to Iraq could be finalised within weeks.
Ambassador Mikael H. Winther said the Iraqi government is very interested in getting a deal put in place and the Danish authorities are expecting to get a revised draft of the agreement in the next couple of weeks.
Winther would not reveal the exact details of the agreement, but said that it will deal with the ‘return of denied Iraqi asylum seekers’.
Once an agreement is reached, it could be only a matter of days before the Iraqis are sent home, as was the case with the deportation of 12 Iraqis earlier this year. The denied asylum seekers had criminal records and were sent back a couple of days after the bi-lateral agreement was finalised.
Denmark hopes to secure an agreement similar to that of Sweden, which introduced forced deportations of failed Iraqi asylum seekers earlier this year.
The 323 Iraqis have been living in a political no-man’s land in Denmark, where whole families have been living at the Sandholm and Avnstrup centres. Many have lived there for six or seven years.
Carsten Isaksen, head of the Avnstrup centre said that he hoped the repatriation process would not be rushed.
‘This announcement will cause their world to fall apart. They don’t see this as an opportunity to travel home,’ said Isaksen.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Fuel is Added to French Debate Over Separation of Religion and State
PARIS: A decision by a French court to postpone a robbery trial involving a Muslim defendant until the end of the holy month of Ramadan has set off a new fracas here about whether France’s fiercely secularist institutions are bending to religious demands.
The court in the western city of Rennes did not cite the period of religious fasting as the reason for rescheduling the trial, which was due to begin Sept. 16. It stated only that the decision was made to ensure “a good administering of justice.”
The prosecutor in the case, Léonard Bernard de la Gratinais, responded to the protests by saying at an impromptu news conference Friday that Ramadan had nothing to do with the postponement. “That could be contrary to the principles of the republic,” he said.
But several observers argued that the request to reschedule the trial had been filed by the Muslim defendant explicitly on the grounds that he would be fasting and therefore at a disadvantage during the proceedings…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: Manual on Good Manners Published in France
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 8 — French writer Corinne Maier has come back with a new book — ‘Manuel de savoir-faire en cas d’invasion islamiqué — probably meant to trigger more controversies, after the ones brought about by the previous two international bestsellers, both published by Bompiani in Italy: ‘Hello Laziness’, in which art and the necessity to work the least possible in the company are dwelt on, and ‘No Kid’, forty reasons not to have children. The new book, which has just came out in France, published by Michalon, is “a bit crazy, a bit serious” and deals with humour with a topic considered a taboo, Islam, and offers “indispensable tips” for “the good manners in case of invasion of the Muslims”, who are already over five million in France. Will the Eiffel Tower shine in green — Islam’s sacred colour — and the coffee break be replaced with the break for prayer? And also how to dress, what to eat, what programmes will be broadcast on television. The book, which Maier wrote together with Frank Martin, polyglot and math fanatic, includes information on the good manners to adapt to the new Islamic regime. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Muslims Attack Three Bnei Akiva Youths
Three counselors from the Bnei Akiva youth movement were attacked not far from the organization’s central branch in Paris on Saturday afternoon.
The boys, aged between 17 and 18, had just finished the minha prayer when they were attacked by a group of Muslims, the head of Bnei Akiva’s French desk, Binyamin Tuati, told The Jerusalem Post Sunday.
According to a statement released by World Bnei Akiva spokesman Tzvika Klein, the youths were initially approached by a group of three Muslim/African immigrants who began to throw chestnuts in their direction. When one of the counselors asked them why they were being attacked, the assailants began shouting anti-Semitic remarks.
Ten to 12 attackers wearing brass knuckles joined the original three and beat the three Jews until police arrived.
The victims, Dan Nabet, Kevin Bitan and David Buaziz, had all been released from hospital by Sunday afternoon, sporting several wounds, including a broken nose, a broken jaw and stitches.
According to Tuati, the victims’ families filed a complaint with police. The incident has already been recognized as an anti-Semitic attack by local authorities. So far, police have identified three suspects.
Bnei Akiva is concerned that the incident occurred in a central area for its members, in the 19th arrondissement in northeast Paris. The area, said Tuati, was close to a school and was visited by roughly 150 children every Shabbat.
It was the second anti-Semitic attack near the Bnei Akiva branch in two months.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees in Norway Under Foreign Surveillance
Several states are carrying out surveillance of refugees to Norway, and exposing them to threats. This is confirmed by the Security Service of the Norwegian police (PST).
It is in particular refugees who have taken part in various forms of dissident and/or religious activities in their homeland who have been exposed to threats and other pressure by secret agents, Aftenposten writes.
Secretary General John Peder Egenaes of Amnesty International Norway knows of several incidents of surveillance of refugees.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Clashes Between Gipsies, Africans in Almeria
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 8 — A suburb of Roquetas de Mar, near Almeria, in southern Spain, inhabited mostly by Spanish people of Gipsy origin, became scene of violent clashes with African immigrants over the weekend after the murder of a young Senegalese man stabbed to death on Saturday in what appears to be a settling of accounts over drugs issues. Five security agents were injured, two houses were burnt down and eight people, all of sub-Saharan origin, were arrested during the clashes in the last two nights that, according to the media, laid waste the neighbourhood known as the “200 Houses” on the outskirts of Roquetas, where 25% of the population are immigrants. The spark that lit the fire was the murder of O.K., a Senegalese man aged 28, married and father of two, who was stabbed to death around 2130 local time on Saturday by a Spaniard of Gipsy origin in an alleged settling of accounts, sources of the deputy prefect’s office said. The victim, who was working in a local greenhouse, had lived in the area for at least three years and according to some of his fellow countrymen had nothing to do with illegal activities, but only intervened in an attempt to help settle an argument. The spontaneous mobilisation of the African immigrants in front of the house of the victim in the night between Saturday and Sunday deteriorated in a wave of violence that devastated the neighbourhood. The mob set fire on two blocks of houses in the area where the alleged murderer, who escaped in the meantime, lives. Then, after building barricades, the immigrants set fire on several cars and cut the access of the forces of the order and the fire brigades, who became targets together with the passers-by of stones and bottles thrown by the immigrants. Only after seven hours of tumults and after the mobilisation of the public order units and some twenty Guardia Civil patrols, the security forces managed to put an end to the violence. Numerous local citizens were injured. The clashes expanded throughout the entire neighbourhood, which according to many eyewitnesses became scene of a series of pitched battles between Gipsies and Africans with racist insults and shouting from both sides. The same scenes happened again last night when — despite being surrounded by a security line set up by the police — “200 Houses” once again became scene of clashes when a group of sub-Saharans started throwing stones and bottles against an ambulance that came to help an injured local citizen. Only at 0200 local time the forces of the order managed to restore order in the neighbourhood. A civil guard agent was injured and four other Africans, originally from Guinea Bissau and Senegal, were arrested in the second night of clashes, according to sources from the deputy prefect’s office. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Prostitutes Want to Pay Taxes
More and more Swedish prostitutes want to pay taxes in order to receive the social welfare benefits that come with doing so.
“So far this year I’ve spoken with several women who want to make things right,” said Pia Blank Thörnroos, a legal expert with Sweden’s Tax Authority, to the Göteborgs-Posten (GP) newspaper.
While it remains against the law to purchase sex in Sweden, selling sex is perfectly legal according to Sweden’s unique prostitution law, which came into force in 1999.
Moreover, prostitution has been considered a business activity in Sweden since 1982 and as a result proceeds from the sale of sex subject to taxation just like any other form of income.
“You have to keep track of all your income and expenses; all compensation should be accounted for,” explained Blank Thörnroos.
“One should really have accounting records. And in actuality [customers] should write out a receipt, because the transaction is considered a private operation which is subject to value added tax. But customers’ names need not be on the receipt.”
Income recorded on prostitutes’ tax returns gives them the right to sick-leave pay, parental leave benefits, and a pension.
“It’s important to pay taxes if you want to live a normal life,” said ‘Lisa’, a prostitute who spoke with the newspaper.
But Christian Democrat Riksdag member Désirée Pethrus Engström thinks that legitimizing prostitution by collecting taxes on the proceeds sends the wrong message.
“Economic security is something which makes a situation permanent. And that in turn can encourage prostitution, which is wrong,” she tells GP.
“It’s indirectly illegal to be a prostitute because it’s illegal to buy sex. But it’s a tough question to which there isn’t a simple solution.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Vandalism and Shots in Copenhagen
Car windows, shop windows and door smashed in Nørrebrogade district. Shots also fired.
Some 100 young immigrant men went on the rampage yesterday evening in Jægersborggade in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, smashing car and shop windows and wrecking an entrance door.
“This was random vandalism, they were not going for particular vehicles,” says Duty Police Inspector John Hansen, adding that 25 car windows, two shop windows and an entrance door were wrecked.
Patrols
By the time police arrived at the scene, the young men had disappeared again and inhabitants were able to clear up the street, which is known as a biker cannabis-sales hangout.
“ We have been there in large numbers and had contact with the various social services and parental groups in the area,” Hansen said.
Shots
Apart from the trouble on Jægersborggade, shots rang out in another street nearby, although police say these did not appear to have been directed at anyone in particular, but were probably shot into the air.
Police have no indication that the shots fired on Heimdalsgade were directly connected to the unrest in Jægersborggade.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Albania Seeks Solutions to Its Blood Feud Problem
By Jeffrey White in Bathore, Albania
It’s a centuries-old tradition, but even modern-day Albania is still plagued by blood feuds. Thousands in the country don’t leave their homes for fear of falling victim to revenge murders. But reconciliations are on the rise.
The small picture of two grim looking men in suits is the only adornment on the white wall of the family’s living room.
The two were Mr. Puci’s brothers — and they were murdered four years ago. Revenge was taken, and as a result, Puci and his family, including the five children of his dead brothers, are unable to leave their two-storey home here in this bleak suburb just outside the Albanian capital, Tirana.
“The children cannot go to school,” says Puci, 52, a former construction worker who asked that his full name not be published. “We will run out of money soon. Somebody needs to work, but if they go to work they’re going to be killed. The other family will be watching everything we do. They’ll wait for their chance.”
‘How Will This End?’
In 2004, a member of the neighboring Ferhati family stabbed the two Puci brothers to death in front of their wives and children as they worked in their nearby market. The motive was a minor property dispute, but police never caught the killer. So this past January the 75-year-old patriarch of the Pucis murdered a male and female member of the Ferhati family. He is in now in jail, but the Ferhatis have vowed to take revenge. The Pucis have not left their home in six months.
“Tell me, how will this end?” Puci implores.
The centuries-old custom of gjakmarra, or blood feud, banned during four decades of communist rule, has plagued this Balkan country in recent years, locking away hundreds of families like the Pucis who say they cannot go out in public for fear of a bloody settling of scores. But only in the last 12 months has the government here, prone to downplay the issue, begun to tackle blood feuds head-on…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Embassies in Malta, Greece Helped Rescue Immigrants
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 3 — Egyptian embassies in Malta and Greece helped rescue a boat carrying illegal immgrants in the Mediterranean, off the Greek coasts, with 75 Egyptians on board, according to a senior Egyptian diplomat. Ambassador Rifaat al-Ansari, the director of Information and General Diplomacy department with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said that the Malta embassy received a phone call on August 31 from an Egyptian citizen from al-Arish that his brother and 74 others were stranded in a boat off the Greek coasts. Contacts were promptly made with the Egyptian embassy in Athens and rescue efforts were made to salvage the travellers who turned to be illegal immigrants, he added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Milan Chamber Organises First Trade Mission in Libya
(ANSAmed) — MILAN, JULY 7 — The bilateral exchange between Italy and Libya exceeded 15 billion euro in 2007 and represents 30% of the total Italian exchange in the Mediterranean. Italy’s imports from the North African country, worth 14 billion euro, represent 43% of the total, while Milan and Lombardy account for 27% with 3.8 billion imports, being the first among the Italian regions. In this framework of positive trade relations Promos, the special company for internationalisation of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan, will organise by 2009 its first business mission in the country, announced today at the “Libyan Business Workshop” held in Milan. The objective of the mission will be to intensify the relations between Milan and Lombardy-based and Libyan small and medium enterprises, through projects for collaboration and exchange in various strategic sectors, including fashion and design. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Fatwa in Favour of 9-Year-Old Girl Marriage, Polemics
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, SEPTEMBER 8 — “A nine-year-old girl has the same sexual capacities like a woman of twenty and over”. Thus reads a fatwa issued by Skeikh Mohamed Ibn Abderrahmane Al-Maghraoui, according to Moroccan daily ‘Aujourd’hui Le Maroc’. This immediately sparked off a hot debate, with most of the public opinion absolutely against this stance which is a permit for paedophilia, many say, among other things. Among the various stances against the fatwa (in the Islamic culture, a decree of religious character issued by Islamic experts which regulates issues of topical character), the daily reported those of extremist MP Abdelbari Zamzami and the president of association ‘No one touches my children’, Najia Adib. Zamzami, referring to the fact that Al-Maghraoui wanted to make his fatwa unassailable reminding that Muhammad “married Aisha who was nine”, reiterated that the sheikh used the event as a pretext for this “scandalous practice”. “The era of our Prophet is completely different from ours,” he said on the issue. “These days a marriage of the kind would be a true injustice towards the girl. A true aberration.” “Aberrant” was also the judgement of Najia Adib (‘No one touches my children’), according to whom “this sheikh is simply encouraging paedophilia. If he is so deeply convinced of what he thinks, let’s tell him to get his daughter married”. But perhaps, she explains, this unknown sheikh was searching a little media attention. And concluded her interview with the Moroccan daily: “This type of people look at Islam from the point of view which is convenient for them. It is a restrictive vision of Islam. And it is bad. Fatwas like these show the lack of reasoning from those who issue them. I cannot understand via what intellectual road or for what mental construction they come to such aberrations”. The law in Morocco envisages the minimum age for getting married at 18 years for both men and women. Marrying below this age requires the consent of the parents and of a judge. But it refers to teenagers not children. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Desecrate, Urinate in Judaism’s 2nd Holiest Site
JERUSALEM — Muslim worshipers at Judaism’s second holiest site this past weekend reportedly urinated next to Torah scrolls and strewed Hamas flags throughout the structure.
The desecration occurred at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is believed to be home to the resting place of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. The tomb is located in the West Bank city of Hebron, site of the oldest Jewish community in the world.
The tombs of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah and Leah are open to Jews year round, whereas the tombs of Isaac and Rebecca are designated for Muslim worship only. Once a year for 10 days, usually on the Islamic Ramadan holiday, the Jewish sections are opened exclusively for Muslims. The Muslim sections are also opened for Jews once a year for 10 days, which usually includes the Jewish Passover holiday.
Muslims last week had exclusive access to the tombs of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah and Leah. Jewish worshipers who returned to the site this weekend reported a foul smell in a synagogue on the Jewish side coming from the area of an Ark containing Torah scrolls.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Education Alarm in Arab World, 95 Million Illiterate People
(By Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 8 — With 95 million illiterate people, of whom 75 million aged between 15 and 45, the Arab world confirms itself on the first place in the global ranking of the countries whose citizens do not know either to read or write. These are the merciless data presented in Rome this morning during the conference titled ‘‘Literacy in the Mediterranean’’, organised at the Chamber of Deputies as part of the celebrations for the International Literacy Day, called by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. ‘‘One out of three citizens is illiterate’’, Arab League Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ALESCO) director Mongi Bousnia reminded. This is double the world average (16%). Women are the most affected by the phenomenon, actually 46.5% do not know either to read or write.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Iran Ready to Use Rockets if Attacked
(ANSAmed) — TEHRAN, AUGUST 27 — Iran could answer with rockets in case of Israeli attack and could also count on its allies in the region, Mehr news agency reported, quoting the commandant of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. “Our strategic calculations show that if the Zionist regime makes even the smallest move against our interests, independently or with the United States, in short time all the territories under control of the Zionist regime will become insecure,” Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief commandant of the Islamic Guard, independent from the regular forces, said. Israel “is completely in the range of the rockets of the Islamic Republic”, in support of which the Lebanese militants of Hezbollah and the Palestinian guerrillas of Hamas will also come. Previously Iran said it is ready in case of an attack to also revenge on USA objectives present in the region. The presence of USA troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the presence of ships in the Gulf will allow Iran, according to Jafari, to affect “the interests of the United States in different ways even without benefiting from its rocket capacity”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Iran Under Attack in New Al-Qaeda Video
Dubai, 8 Sept. (AKI) — Iran is accused of “collaborating” with the US in its occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, in a new video message released by the media arm of Al-Qaeda.
The video entitled, ‘Assessment of Seven Years of Crusades’ was produced by the media arm, Al-Sahab, and features messages from Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, and other commanders.
Released three days before the anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, the 90-minute video also attacks Lebanese, Pakistani and Afghan leaders.
According to the Arab television network, Al-Jazeera, al-Zawahiri speaks of the particular role of Iran and what he calls “the crusade campaign against Muslim countries” and the “Iranian-Crusade” alliance that enabled the US to occupy Iraq…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
The OIC Secretary General Received the Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation
On September 6, 2008, the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu received in his office Mr.Tun Musa Hitam, the Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation (WIEF) and his accompanying delegation.
The Chairman of the WIEF informed the Secretary General about the objective and activities of the Foundation in promoting economic and commercial cooperation in the Muslim world through providing a platform to gather business sectors together.
On his part, the Secretary General underlined the role of the OIC in fostering economic and trade relations among its Member States. He further emphasized that the WIEF can be one of the main fora in Islamic world for bringing together business communities from the Muslim and non-Muslim countries, as well as disseminating the Islamic values.
During the meeting the perspectives of the establishing the partnership relations between the OIC and WIEF were also discussed.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Russia’s Restless Muslim Republics
Although Russia is celebrating the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it still has its own problems in the region as its Muslim republics are drifting toward a partisan war.
Last Monday, an eerie funeral procession passed through the center of Nazran in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. Hundreds of people silently crowded around the coffin of Magomed Yevloyev. The 37-year-old lawyer and founder of a Web site ( www.ingushetiya.ru) that was critical of the government was killed in police custody. The authorities said that he was shot in a police car “inadvertently” — though the bullet was accurate enough to enter his temple.
A cordon of police wearing black masks and wielding shields and rubber truncheons pressed against the mourners. The state was apparently afraid of the dead man and his relatives, who announced that they would carry out a blood vendetta, as is customary in the Caucasus.
Yevloyev’s Web site was the last free medium in this tiny, restless realm, which is only slightly larger than the US state of Rhode Island and has fewer than 500,000 inhabitants. What particularly irked the rulers there was that only a single letter (“Y”) differentiated the online address from the republic’s official Web site.
Ingushetia is ruled by Murat Zyazikov, a former general in the Russian security services, who resides in an extravagant palace in the virtually deserted new capital of Magas. Zyazikov’s mission is to create jobs and stability, as he once told SPIEGEL, adding that enemies must be “put to the torch.” In private, Zyazikov likes to admit to his love of “German order and cleanliness.”
But, when it comes to order, there’s not much of it to be found in Ingushetia these days. While Zyazikov has his heart set on transforming Ingushetia into a “Caucasian Switzerland,” Russian security agencies view this tiny republic as the most problematic patch of turf in Russia, especially after Moscow’s military offensive against Georgia.
In response to Russia’s recognition of the breakaway Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, US presidential candidate John McCain said that after Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Western countries ought to think about “the independence of the North Caucasus and Chechnya.” That would definitely be pouring oil on the fire…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
The West is Strategically Wrong on Georgia
Sometimes small events can portend great changes. The Georgian fiasco may be one such event. It heralds the end of the post cold-war era. But it does not mark the return of any new cold war. It marks an even bigger return: the return of history.
The post cold-war era began on a note of western triumphalism, symbolised by Francis Fukuyama’s book, The End of History. The title was audacious but it captured the western zeitgeist. History had ended with the triumph of western civilisation. The rest of the world had no choice but to capitulate to the advance of the west.
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesian Hardliner Protests Playboy Evidence
An Indonesian Islamic hardliner on trial over an armed attack on a rally for religious tolerance objected Monday when a police officer introduced seized copies of Playboy magazine as evidence.
Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab said the magazines had no connection with his trial.
He is accused of being behind the June attack by hundreds of his stick-wielding followers.
“It has nothing to do with the case. Why should it be used here?” Rizieq, wearing a turban, told central Jakarta district court.
“It’s about my reputation. The prosecutors have tarnished my good reputation.”
The police officer testified for the prosecution that he seized the magazines and a photograph during raids on Rizieq’s home and the Jakarta headquarters of the FPI…
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Camden: Catholics Welcome, Muslims Not
IT IS the tale of two schools. The Camden residents’ group that fought a Muslim society’s proposal for a school in rural Camden has welcomed a Catholic organisation’s plans to build a school nearby because “Catholics are part of our community”.
The president of the Camden/Macarthur Residents’ Group, Emil Sremchevich, said the Catholic school plan “ticked all the right boxes”, even though he is yet to see its development application.
“Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone. We have to welcome them,” Mr Sremchevich told the Herald. “To become part of a community, you need to live in the community. You can’t just turn up.”
The Quranic Society said Mr Sremchevich’s comments were racist but he rejected that tag. “Why is that racist? Why is it discriminatory? It’s very simple: people like some things but don’t like other things. Some of us like blondes, some of us like brunettes. Some of us like Fords, some of us like Holdens. Why is it xenophobic just because I want to make a choice? If I want to like some people and not like other people, that’s the nature of the beast.” Mr Sremchevich was among those who applauded a Camden Council decision in May to reject the Quranic Society’s application to build a 1200-student school at Burragorang Road, Cawdor. The council said it was refused “on planning grounds” but one resident, Kate McCulloch, said Muslims would not fit into the Camden community.
“The ones that come here oppress our society, they take our welfare and they don’t want to accept our way of life,” she said then, when she had hoped to follow Pauline Hanson into politics.
Now the Catholic Education Office of Wollongong has bought the 150-student Mater Dei special needs school in Macquarie Grove Road. It wants to retain Mater Dei and build a 1000-student high school on the same plot. It is less complicated than the Quranic Society application, which would have required rezoning. The Mater Dei site is already zoned for a school.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Sudan: Convoy Attacks May Force UN to Suspend Food Aid
New York, 8 Sept. (AKI) — Relentless attacks on truck convoys may force the United Nations’ World Food Programme to end relief operations in Darfur, which feed over three million every month in the impoverished region of western Sudan.
The agency said at the weekend it had recovered three hijacked trucks and four fleet staff after the latest attack in South Darfur, but nearly 70 trucks and 43 drives were still missing.
Since the start of the year, over 100 vehicles carrying WFP food aid have been hijacked in Darfur and many others have been subjected to violent attacks.
Drivers are now refusing to travel on certain routes, leading to a marked slowdown in the delivery of food to those who need aid.
“Repeated and targeted attacks on food convoys are making it extraordinarily difficult and dangerous for us to feed hungry people,” said Monika Midel, the agency’s Deputy Representative in Sudan, adding that WFP was deeply concerned about the welfare of its staff who were facing increased risks.
“Should these attacks continue, the situation will become intolerable — to the point that we will have to suspend operations in some areas of Darfur.”
The WFP warning follows a recent decision by the non-government organisation German Agro Action to cancel food distribution to 450,000 people in North Darfur because of security concerns.
The UN organisation began reducing its rations in May when trucks could no longer deliver enough food due to the deteriorating security situation.
Meanwhile, at the weekend rebel groups claimed that the Sudanese government troops launched attacks on two towns in Darfur.
Rebels said the troops, backed by militias, helicopters and planes, attacked Disa and Birmaza in North Darfur state early on Saturday.
In July, nearly 50,000 people in need of aid could not be reached because of attacks on convoys.
September is the ‘hunger gap’ period when the rural population typically runs out of food from last year’s harvest.
“We urge other groups who have seized trucks and drivers to release them, unharmed. At stake are thousands of people in Darfur, who are reliant on the food lifeline the relief truck convoys province,” Midel stated.
The five-year conflict in Darfur has led to the deaths of more than 300,000 people and the displacement of two million others, according to UN estimates.
The violence began in 2003 when rebel groups complaining of discrimination against black Africans began attacking government targets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Unidentified Ship Captures 14 Somali Pirates
Attacks at sea have boomed as lawlessness has increased in Somalia
BOSASSO, Somalia — An unidentified warship off pirate-ridden Somali waters captured 14 pirates and destroyed their boat, a minister of the northern Puntland region said on Sunday.
Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, fisheries minister for the semi-autonomous region said the pirate vessel met a warship “that we think could be American” and all the pirates on board were captured and their boat destroyed.
However, the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said there was no American involvement in the operation.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
We Can’t Incite Murder of Jews?
By Israel Today
Muslim students at the University of Southern California are enraged by the school’s recent decision to remove from a student group’s website an Islamic text that encourages the murder of Jews.
Until recently, the website of the now-defunct Muslim Student Association, which is hosted on the university’s servers, had featured the full text of the hadiths, the words of Mohammed that are not found in the Koran.
One of those hadiths calls on Muslims to “fight against the Jews and…kill them,” and promises that even the stones and the trees will assist Muslims in that gruesome task.
A statement issued by the Muslim Student Union at USC suggested that the hadith was being taken out of context, and called the school’s decision to remove it from the website “unprecedented and unconscionable.”
The Muslim Student Union accused the USC administration of practicing unfair censorship.
| — Hat tip: Tom | [Return to headlines] |
Commercial for the Honda Hybrid: Stop the Terror!
[video]
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
The Envy and Hope of the Arabs
Amara Lakhous
The borders between Algeria and Morocco have been closed since the early nineties. Every time I cross into the Schengen area I cannot hide my envy as I pass from one country to another without having to show any document at all. Why have Arabs failed in creating an Arab Union, whilst our European neighbours managed to create the EU out of the extremely tough aftermath of the Second World War? Founded in 1945, the Arab League is still an ineffective organisation. The essence of the problem is not the people but their leaders and the fact that we always revert back to the same issue: a lack of democracy in the Arab world…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
3 comments:
Michelle Obama said it was the first time she could be proud of her country when Obama was chosen.
What about the Civil rights and many other events?
I guess some Jew could take a piss on a holy Muslim site to even the score? Oh yeah. Us infidels cant get within 100 yards of those sites. Whats good for the goose?
Re: Obama/Ayers/Alinsky. Ran across this yesterday:
“Education of the people will never come to an end, and this education includes the...youth, the labor service, the party, and the Army,, as well as books, newspapers, theaters, and films.”
Adolph Hitler, Berlin, Reichstag—Speech of January 30, 1937
http://www.hitler.org/speeches/01-30-37.html
Tom
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