For right now, I’ll continue to place all the headlines as well as the articles below the fold, and see how it works out.Thanks to Amil Imani, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JKD, spackle, TB, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details and articles are below the fold.
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Berlusconi Says Leaders May Close World’s Markets
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) — Stocks tumbled around the world, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its worst week on record, and commodities slumped amid growing concern international attempts to prop up financial markets will fail to avert a recession.
The S&P 500 fell 7 percent to the lowest level since the start of the Iraq War in 2003 while stocks in Europe and Japan staged the steepest weekly tumble in at least 21 years. Drops in Brazil and India pushed the MSCI emerging markets index to its worst week ever. Oil fell as much as 9.2 percent to $78.61, copper was poised for its largest weekly decrease in two decades.
“We have reached the panic stage,” said Espen Furnes, an Oslo-based fund manager at Storebrand Asset Management, which has the equivalent of $48 billion. “Fundamentals don’t count anymore.”
[…]
Stocks pared declines after Berlusconi said European Union and Group of Eight leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world’s financial markets. Berlusconi later said no such suspension was under consideration.
More than $25 trillion has been erased from global equities in 2008. Central banks from London and Frankfurt to Washington and Hong Kong this week were forced to cut interest rates after the yearlong credit-market seizure stoked concern banks will run short of money.
| — Hat tip: JKD | [Return to headlines] |
Can America Afford Another Jimmy Carter?
By: Amil Imani
The current presidential election is reminiscent of the presidency of Richard Nixon; one cannot help but be reminded of the Watergate Scandal, the biggest political scandal in American history. Watergate caused the American public to lose faith in the presidency and especially the Republican Party. As a result, in 1977 Democrats and some conservative Christian voters rushed to the polls to elect a virtually unknown political figure outside of Georgia and one of the most unqualified liberal presidents in the history of America, Mr. Jimmy Carter…
| — Hat tip: Amil Imani | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Youth Socialists Traveling to US to Campaign for Obama
Galien reports that a group of young Dutch Socialists will be flying here to campaign for Barack Obama:
… I received an e-mail I found quite interesting. The Jonge Socialisten asked me whether I would like to travel to America with them shortly before the U.S. elections in order to do ‘research.’
Now, before readers will think this would be a great opportunity for me to visit the country I write about so frequently, the trip had a specific partisan purpose despite it being described as ‘research’: They would travel to the United States to campaign for Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for the presidency.
In fact, one of the demands of potential applicants is that they need to have a “great affinity with the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.”
| — Hat tip: spackle | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s “Radicalism” a Growing Chasm on Road to Victory
by Diana West
I realized something after Tuesday night’s debate: If (big if) Barack Obama is not elected president next month, it will not be John McCain who defeats him.
McCain may be Obama’s official opponent, but he isn’t making the core case against him: namely, the case against Obama’s deep roots in radicalism, which the Democratic nominee has never pulled up and grown away from. This is why if Obama loses on Election Day, it won’t be McCain who defeats him. Like a flashy third-party candidate who ends up drawing just enough support from one candidate to put the other over the top, it is Obama’s connections to anti-American extremism — his incubation in a radical comfort zone home to ex-Weather Underground leader William Ayers, ex-PLO mouthpiece Rashid Khalidi, anti-white-and-anti-”middleclassness” minister Jeremiah Wright and others — that will doom his presidential ambitions.
McCain, Obama and, coming up on the outside, Obama’s radicalism: This three-way race has created a weird dynamic as the candidates turn into the final stretch. Blinkers on, McCain hobbles after Obama, who is now desperately trying to shake off the radicalism that could trip him up before the finish line. Again, no thanks to McCain, whose winks at Obama’s radicalism, Sarah Palin’s stumpside references notwithstanding, are not what has brought it to the fore. The fact is, Obama’s ties to radicalism are taking on a life of their own.
Such a “life” is in no way documented in the mainstream media (MSM). Just consider our leading journalists’ idea of professional responsibility when it comes to, for example, Obama’s connection to unrepentant Pentagon bomber William Ayers.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Court Blocks Judge’s Order to Release Chinese Muslim Prisoners
This is a follow up to yesterday’s story “U.S. Judge Allows 17 Muslim Prisoners to Roam Free on our Streets”. Which can be read here. With a show of common sense the White House and the Justice Department have come out against having them from being released here. The prisoners are pro-Sharia detainees, who have even admitted that they under went weapon training in Afghanistan. I have just one question for the judge who ordered the prisoners to be released in our backyard. What where you thinking? Apparently you were not.
U.S. court blocks judge’s order to release Chinese Muslims
Wednesday, October 8, 2008Associated Press
A U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a judge’s order to immediately free 17 Chinese Muslims imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay and allow them to settle in the U.S.
In a one-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued the emergency stay at the request of the Bush administration.
The three-judge panel said it would postpone release of the detainees for at least another week to give the government more time to make arguments in the case…
| [Return to headlines] |
Denmark ‘Has Failed Friends Too’
Case Study: Mohammad
There’s hardly enough furniture in Mohammad’s home for a studio flat, let alone for a four-bedroom house in the west of Denmark. The dated television that the former Iraqi interpreter uses to keep up with events at home is better at producing static than news.
As for the desktop computer mounted on a makeshift dinner table — in front of a faded brown leather couch better suited for outdoor furniture — well, it’s as temperamental as the television.
This is not what Mohammad expected when he was smuggled out of Basra after a string of death threats from al-Qaeda, who had already tortured and killed three of his colleagues.
He fled to Denmark with his family earlier this year under protection from the Danish military, whom he had served for 18 months.
Related Links
Iraqi translator is left to his fate in Basra
Mohammad, who is 40, expected job opportunities as an English teacher, schooling for his children and, perhaps, a modest home where necessities were a stroll away. Instead he was given a halfway house, granted an 8,000 kroner (£850) monthly government payment and told to sort out the rest of his affairs on his own. “If I had thought life was going to be like this, I would not have come here,” he said in an interview conducted in Arabic. “I would prefer to live in danger in Iraq than to live here.”
Mohammad, a former English teacher who also worked for three months as an interpreter for the British military in Basra in 2004, once wished that he had continued working with them — until he learnt that interpreters relocated to Britain were sent to one of the most deprived areas of Glasgow.
So far, 16 of the 96 interpreters relocated to Denmark since last year have returned home with their wives and children, citing integration difficulties, language barriers, no job or education prospects and, in a few cases, an improved situation in Iraq.
Mohammad is among the 20 per cent of interpreters who want to go home now because of their disappointment with the Danish Government. If they do leave, they won’t go home empty-handed and can return within a year if they feel that their safety is compromised, according to the Danish Refugee Council that advises Iraqi interpreters and their families wanting to return home. Each returning adult in the family is eligible for a one-off payment of £2,900, and each child £930.
Those returning will also have health insurance and access to necessary medical supplies for a year and will get £1,350 for computers or other work-related devices.
Birthe Rønn Hornbech, the Danish Minister for Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs, said in a statement: “The Danish Government has done everything to help the interpreters and their families who had worked for the Danish military in Iraq in order to help them create a new life in Denmark.”
But Mohammad feels let down by the system: “If it wasn’t for the interpreters they would not have gotten by. We wanted to work with the coalition forces because we felt they were people who came to help us and save us from the bad and repressive period we had gone through.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: Courses in France for Pilgrims to Mecca
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, OCTOBER 9 — They’ve called it the Hajj Academy after the Star Academy, but it isn’t a showcase for talent: it is a special Academy dedicated to the Hajj, those who go to Mecca to fulfil one of the five precepts of Islam, which offers seminars and training for the pilgrimage. It’s the idea of the SOS Pelerins association to protect pilgrims leaving France from the frequent swindles by travel agencies: just think that in 2007 more than 3,500 muslims were left stranded after paying their hard-won savings over years without even seeing a plane ticket, and hundreds returned disappointed by the travel conditions. “We need at least 400 Hajj Academies in France so that all pilgrims leave well prepared,” said President of SOS Pelerins Zakaria Nana who will inaugurate the first seminar, four half days (28 euros) where a trained lawyer will explain how to safeguard their legal rights and avoid traps by the travel agencies. Would-be Hajj students will also be taught tricks for not getting ill: a study by the association showed that 95% of pilgrims to Mecca get ill during their stay in Saudi Arabia, or on their return. So they will be told about vaccines and sanitary conditions to stay healthy, and they will learn the basics of first aid to help those who feel ill in the crowd. There is also a more delicate aspect: would-be Hajj need to be aware of the differences in the Arab world, that the Arabic spoken in Maghreb is different to that spoken in Saudi Arabia and the same regarding rules of social behaviour. The Hajj Academy will teach students how to avoid social gaffs. “There is a lot of work to be done in educating people”, says Nana, “especially among the elderly, who are often less cultured, have made sacrifices all their lives to go to Mecca, and few know exactly what to expect.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mortgage Crisis: Greece; Guaranteed Deposits to 100,000 Euro
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 8 — After the decision of the Economic and Finance Minister to bring the minimum limit for guaranteed bank deposits in the EU from 20,000 euro to 50,000 euro, the Greek Economic and Finance Minister, Giorgios Alogoskoufis, announced that the government will soon present in Parliament a new law to guarantee deposits in Greece up to 100,000 euro for a duration of three years. This was reported today by the Capital gr. Agency. “The current minimum of 20,000 euro — said the Minister — will be brought to 100,000 euro” and he also confirmed the political commitment assumed last week by the government to guarantee all deposits in Greek banks independent of the sum. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Syria Should be Included in E.U. Framework”
During his September 16-17, 2008 visit to Lebanon and Syria, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos praised “the positive and helpful role that Syria has played in Lebanon” and called on the E.U. to strengthen its ties with Syria. He added that Europe wished to play a role in the Middle East, alongside the U.S. and other countries, as part of a new, multipolar world order that will be taking shape over the coming years. He called the issue of Hizbullah’s weapons an internal Lebanese affair, and accused Israel of violating U.N. Resolution 1701.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Libya-Switzerland: Tripoli Withdraws Assets From Swiss Banks
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 10 — Libya has decided to ‘‘withdraw all of its assets from Swiss Banks, which amount to USD 7 billion’’. This was announced in the evening by the official Libyan press agency, Jana, in its on-line edition, confirming that Tripoli has furthermore suspended oil supplies to the Swiss Confederation, and it has also suspended ‘‘all economic cooperation’’. Jana, citing ‘‘a responsible source’’ in the Foreign Ministry and the international cooperation, explained that the step is a protest against ‘‘ill-treatment of Libyan diplomats and businessmen’’ by ‘‘police in the Geneva canton’’. The steps taken, added the source cited by Jana, ‘‘will remain in action until we do not see any more causes or reasons for such actions’’. The Swiss press agency, Aps, had announced on Wednesday, citing a spokesperson in the Libyan company Tamoil, Libya’s intention to suspend oil supplies to the Confederation, and Tamoil yesterday confirmed the interruption of supplies. Tripoli had already interrupted crude oil supplies for a few days last July after the brief detention of one of the sons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Hannibal, accused of mistreating his household staff. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Heavy Tension in Akko After Arab-Jew Clashes
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, OCTOBER 10 — A climate of heavy tension reigns this morning in the city of Akko (the ancient Acre) after the violent clashes yesterday and Wednesday night between Arabs and Jews, which broke out after an Israeli Arab drove into a Jewish area during the celebrations of Yom Kippur (where Jews fast and go by foot). In the city this morning, there was a consultation by the chief of police David Cohen with high-ranking officials and with citizens’ authorities, with the intention of preventing new outbreaks of violence. In the city (50,000 inhabitants), which has a mixed population of Arabs (a third) and Jews, the police was reinforced by about a hundred officers. In the meantime, dozens of people from the two communities have been arrested for the violence and the acts of vandalism committed during the clashes, which saw the destruction of dozens of shops and the damage of about a hundred cars. However, the tension also seems to extend to other areas and for this reason the police have also spread to other areas of the country such as in the Arab villages of Galilee where violent demonstrations could break out. Moreover, exchanges of pogrom accusations between Arab and Jewish political exponents, who on both sides are passing the blame for the disturbances on to each other, also seem to contribute to this tense climate. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: US Journalists “In Syrian Prison for 8 Days”
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 10 — Kidnapped by a taxi driver and kept in a Syrian prison for eight days. That was the fate of the two American journalists who disappeared in Lebanon on October 1 and were “detained” yesterday in Syria. This was told to ANSA this morning by the same Taylor Luck, who was reached by phone in Amman where he returned during the night with his colleague Holli Chmela. Syrian authorities accused them of illegally entering the country “with the help of a smuggler”, but Taylor and Chmela, 23 and 27 respectively, state that they “were kidnapped by a taxi driver and his accomplice” who intended to rob them. “On approaching the border”, continued Luck, “we were loaded into a military vehicle where soldiers took away our passports and mobile phones”. The young American stated “then we realised that we were in Syria, but we preferred to say we were tourists and not journalists. They took us to a prison close to Homs (160 km north of Damascus) where we were kept in separate cells from to October 1 to 8”. “While we were being transferred to a military prison in Damascus”, continued Luck, “an official identified Holli from photos shown on TV and we were recognised as ‘the two journalists who went missing in Lebanon’. Only at this point”, he concluded, “were we delivered to the American embassy in Damascus”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Card. Martino, Closing Borders Solves Nothing
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, OCTOBER 8 — The immigration problem cannot be resolved by closing borders. This warning was delivered by Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, President of the Papal Council for Care of Migrants of Itinerants, who was presenting a message from the Pope in the Vatican Press Suite on the occasion of the 95th Global Migrants and Refugees Day. “There are more than two hundred million people who live outside their home country, driven away by misery, hunger, violence, war, ethnic tensions, and by the desire for a better life”, explained the Cardinal. “They tend to want to head towards the richest parts of the world and this is why immigration is often seen as a kind of “invasion” with negative repercussions on questions of stability and security”, he added. “This closed climate makes the human experience of many immigrants sadder and more bitter, whilst also pushing them towards disorderliness. But the migratory phenomenon in a globalised world is actually becoming unstoppable. The problem cannot be solved by closing borders, but through States welcoming flows of migration, with just, balanced and united regulations”, underlined Cardinal Martino. “In fact”, he continued, “what is needed is to facilitate a gradual integration of migrants, with respect to their cultural identity and also that of the local population”. The “no” to any form of “discrimination, xenophobia and racism” with regard to immigration, refugees and displaced peoples was reasserted by Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the same Vatican department. Marchetto concentrated in particular on the problem of displaced peoples and asylum-seekers, denouncing once again the impression he has that “for many years refugees have been treated without consideration for the reasons which forced them to flee”. He continued to explain that “this has translated into attempts to impede their entry into host countries and the adoption of measures designed to make the procedure more difficult. Such measures are characterised by the erosion of humanitarian standards and the introduction of restrictive rules, such as the obligation to obtain entry visas, to say nothing of the publication of lists of so-called “Safe Countries”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Moslem Intellectuals, Listen to Church More
(ANSAmed) — ROME, October 8 — “At this time of increasing racism in Italy and in Europe, the Church appears to have the more enlightened position and should be listened to more”. The words came from Ahmad Giampiero Vincenzo, Chair of the Intellectual Moslems, in his comments on remarks by Cardinal Martino, who is in favour of the opening of more mosques in Europe as religious requirements arise. “In effect, there are some places of worship in Italy that are truly unworthy of the name”, contrasting with facilities for Christians in Moslem countries, “from Turkey to Africa, which are very dignified”. It is only in Saudi Arabia that there are no churches to be found, Vincenzo pointed out, “and this goes back to an ancient Islamic custom according to which the areas around Medina and Mecca are closed to churches”. This area of exclusion has only recently been extended to cover the whole of the country, he added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: 500 Immigrants to Leave Lampedusa Centre Today
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 8 — 500 immigrants are to leave the immigration centre in Lampedusa today, that in this moment is host to about 1,400 immigrants arriving from outside the European Union. Seventy have already been put aboard the Siremar ferry to Porto Empedocle this morning. Another two hundred will leave the island on two civilian flights, final destination the immigration centre in Crotone, while about 130 will be moved this evening via two military planes. The evacuation plan was pre-arranged by the Prefect of Agrigento who is still at work trying to find other available space in different Italian immigrant camps. The first contact immigration centre in Lampedusa has a capacity of about 700 beds, even if in recent months it has occasionally tipped the thousand mark. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Lampedusa, Four Presumed Smugglers Arrested
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 8 — Police in Agrigento have taken four presumed immigrant smugglers into custody accused of having carried out the voyage, with 67 illegal immigrants on board, that was intercepted by the Coast Guard off of Lampedusa on September 30. The men arrested, all of Somali origin, are Nune Mohamed, 25 years of age, Ado Albderahman Mohamed, 27, Abdi Mohamed, 31, and Liban Hedar, 22. Another two Tunisians were arrested for having re-entered Italy after deportation. They are Abdelaset Aboualkasem, 29 years of age, and Chokri Abrougui, 34. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: New Maxi-Landing in Lampedusa
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 10 — A large boat with some hundreds of immigrants on board was intercepted three miles off the South-Western coast of Lampedusa by the Coast Guard. The vessel, about 15 metres long, was adrift due to engine failure. Three Coast Guard patrol boats are currently working at the site of the interception. Yesterday, 400 non-EU immigrants landed on the island; another 81, who were not able to reach land due to the maritime conditions, remained on board the Italian Navy vessel ‘Sirio’. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: More Night Landings in Lampedusa
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 9 — The constant stream of landings in Lampedusa is continuing. Yesterday evening 20 migrants, two of whom were women, were caught as soon as they reached land at Cala Francese. A further 103 immigrants, on two ferries, were escorted from just off the island by the Sirio patroller of the Navy. In the centre there are now over 1000 people, despite yesterday’s transfers by airlift which will also continue today. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
4 comments:
The idea of President Obama becoming reality scares the hell out of me. it's obviously the financial meltdown that's put this guy at the gates of 1600. Just like the wall st crash of 29 did wonders for the nazis in germany.
He's a pal of a weatherman scumbag for christsake. And then there's Wright. Open you eyes America.
baron:
You said: (before you updated this thread)
"I can also cut the Obama stories by 80%, and most people won't mind."
fjordman drew attention to the fact that at this juncture the spread of Marxism is the main danger, far more pernicious than the Muslim thuggery.
He wrote a long essay on this subject not long ago on GoV.
Obama is the first step toward the Marxist takeover of the US and several corollary will follow according to the left political agenda. It will include the silencing of the Anti-Islamic voices in favor of the Farrakhan style Islamist movement and there will be repercussion on the European theater too given the US political weight: remember how Obama stoke up the Leftist fervor at the Berlin gathering.
It's not clear to me how could you advance your project by ignoring the nefarious direction the US - most likely - will turn under Obama and its effect on the world scene with the support of the American people.
Some posters on this forum are completely cut off from anything but their own writings and they live in a pure imaginary world which is the creation of their own fantasies.
fjordman great essay at Brussels Journals:
"Sweden: The Triumph of Cultural Marxism
From the desk of Fjordman on Thu, 2008-10-09 17:11
Mona Sahlin, leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, confirmed that her party and the Greens want to form a coalition government in 2010."
In this very cogent, concise article fjordman foretells the total collapse of the Swedish society with the approval of the Swedish people but for some the US is more of a danger than the Swedish establishment...
I strongly recommend fjordman's writing on the ridiculous if not sad Swedish societal landscape.
WARNING!
This is fjordman's essay not mine, so the habitual bashing individuals asked to get off of my back.
Bela --
First of all, it wasn't this thread, it was one from a day or two ago.
Secondly, I'm not going to ignore Obama. But 90% of the media stories about him are irrelevant trash, and not about what's significant. They concentrate on personalities, gossip, inside stories, the latest polls, and the negative campaigning. Not only that, there are usually 20 or more variants of the same basic story every day.
We can cover Obama fully with just a few articles here and there. I think we're doing OK.
OIL! POWER! What If it wasn't ARAB - MUSLIM BIGOTS who suck us to the bones at the pump
The Arab Muslim Control of the World
July 2008
A simple question, What if it was not the Arabs, not the Muslims (OPEC) that control the world's energy?
What if the oil tycoons were of a different background, say Irish Catholic or Jewish?
Could you imagine how they would be lynched [in the media and all tools of public opinion]?
But it's "only" Arabs, Muslims, and they can do whatever they want, limit or extend production of oil.
Worst is of course the immense unlimited power they enjoy in being permitted to continue "business" as usual... in the "field" of crimes against humanity... No one ever dares speaks out against the racist Arab mass-murder of the Africans in Darfur, slavery in Mauritania, or how they continuously demonize Jews, or cries out against the mainstream Muslim media that always finds the "victimhood" among 'Palestinian' thugs or 'seeing freedom fighting' in Al Qaeda in Iraq or potraying "heroes" out of the Hezbollah's criminals' lowlife acts of murder (via using Arab kids as shields) on Lebanese, all to facilitate in justifying the killing of infidels mainly Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., Don't think all of the above is not related, it's still about their unlimited "freedom" to oppress everyone else... no one ever dare says, acts against the Islamo Arab GOLIATH.
Now, you tell me who really is in control of 'world affairs'?
http://geocities.com/arabmuslimlobby
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