Some of the backlog of news tips is included in this batch, so not everything in tonight’s news feed is part of the steaming pile of up-to-the minute news.Also, there may be duplicates in here. If Dymphna didn’t delete everything she used, it may pop up again.
Notice the story from Pittsburgh about the disturbed young woman who charged that a man beat her up and carved a “B” in her face after he found out that she was a McCain supporter. I was suspicious as soon as I saw the photo, which shows that the “B” on her face was backwards. It turns out that, as reported in a later article, she actually disfigured herself, and is now in jail.
Thanks to Abu Elvis, Archonix, C. Cantoni, CSP, DJ, Gaia, Insubria, JD, Steen, TB, turn, Yaacov Ben Moshe, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Ayers’ Group Foresaw Genocide of Capitalists
Informer says communist U.S. envisioned, re-education centers, 25 million ‘eliminated’
[See link for video]
While many defenders of Weather Underground co-founder William Ayers have sought to minimize his bomb attacks on the U.S. Capitol and other landmarks because they purportedly did not target people, a former FBI informant who penetrated the group claimed he witnessed a meeting in which members discussed a future communist takeover of America in which some 25 million “diehard capitalists” would need to be killed.
Larry Grathwohl recalled his experience in the 1982 documentary “No Place to Hide,” noted the weblog Confederate Yankee.
In a session with members of the radical group, founded in 1969, Grathwohl said discussion centered on a future in which the communist nations of Cuba, North Korea, China and the Soviet Union would occupy various parts of the U.S., with “re-education centers” established in the Southwest to prevent counterrevolution.
“I asked, ‘Well what is going to happen to those people we can’t reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?’ And the reply was that they’d have to be eliminated.”
Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign has made Ayers an issue, charging Obama has had ties to an unrepentant domestic terrorist, including service together on two nonprofit boards. Critics also maintain Obama’s political career was launched at the home of Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, also a former Weather Underground leader. Ayers, now a college professor, has said in interviews over the past decade he has no remorse for his 1970s terrorist activities, saying he only wished he could have done more.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat: Obama’s Grandma Confirms Kenyan Birth
‘This has been a real sham he’s pulled off for the last 20 months’
The Pennsylvania Democrat who has sued Sen. Barack Obama demanding he prove his American citizenship — and therefore qualification to run for president — has confirmed he has a recording of a telephone call from the senator’s paternal grandmother confirming his birth in Kenya.
The issue of Obama’s birthplace, which he states is Honolulu in 1961, has been raised enough times that his campaign website has posted an image purporting to be of his “Certification of Live Birth” from Hawaii.
But Philip J. Berg, a former deputy attorney general for Pennsylvania, told the Michael Savage talk radio program tonight that the document is forged and that he has a tape recording he will soon release.
“This has been a real sham he’s pulled off for the last 20 months,” Berg told Savage. “I’ll release it [the tape] in a day or two, affidavits from her talking to a certain person. I heard the tape. She was speaking [to someone] here in the United States.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Markets Vote No Confidence in Obama
by Judith Apter Klinghoffer
An Obama Panic? Pollsters tell us that the world is enamored with Obama but the markets certainly are not. The closer an Obama presidency comes to materializing, the lower the markets drop. The phenomenon has become so obvious that pundits can no longer avoid mentioning it even if only to downplay it importance as the WSJ editorial does:
Credit markets have started to thaw, yet stocks and the larger economy keep sliding. What’s going on? Among the problems are the reality of recession and the uncertainty over Barack Obama’s policies.
US News and World Report blogger muses that The Barack Obama Discount May Be Real Indeed it may. Not only are his Socialist “spread the wealth” policies bound to depress an already depressed economy but the prospect of another world crisis so candidly predicted by Joe Biden is sure to add fuel to the depression fire. If there is anything that is bound to rattle markets more than predictions of an upcoming international crisis, it is a prediction of a crisis involving directly the US, another 9/11.
Why are world governments unable to contain the market tsunami regardless of the huge sums of public money they are throwing at it? Because prospect of an inexperiened radical American president during these troubled times leaves them jittery and rightly so.
| — Hat tip: Yaacov Ben Moshe | [Return to headlines] |
Pittsburgh: McCain Supporter Robbed, Assaulted
A knife-wielding man robbed a McCain-Palin campaign volunteer and etched a “B” into her face after he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the woman’s car, Pittsburgh police said.
Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street in Bloomfield just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her, put a knife to her throat and demanded $60, police said.
Todd handed the man $60 she had in her pocket and stepped away from him, investigators said. The man then noticed the bumper sticker on the woman’s car, which was parked in front of the ATM. The man became very angry, made comments to Todd about John McCain and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, police said.
“He continued to kick and punch her repeatedly and said he would teach her a lesson for supporting John McCain,” said police Chief Nate Harper.
The man then carved the “B” into Todd’s right cheek.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pittsburgh: Woman Admits Making Up McCain Sticker Attack, Police Say
Police say the 20-year-old has a history of mental problems
(CNN) — Bail was set at $50,000 Friday night for a GOP campaign worker who made up a story about being attacked by a man angered by a John McCain bumper sticker on her car.
Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, has been charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, a police report said.
Todd, who is being held at the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, did not enter a plea when she appeared in court Friday night. She did not post bail.
She is scheduled to appear in court again October 30, when she is expected to enter a plea.
If she posts bail, Todd must be evaluated at a behavioral clinic.
“This has wasted so much time. … It’s just a lot of wasted man hours,” Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said at a briefing.
Todd was a volunteer for a John McCain phone bank in Pittsburgh, the campaign said.
| — Hat tip: DJ | [Return to headlines] |
Possible Future?
[…]
“ And the prospects for the future look even bleaker. When people still talked about Professor Bill Ayers a couple of years ago, they didn’t realize that he wasn’t just an Obama ally; he was an allegory. He represented the thousands of Gramscian fellow travelers in academia and elsewhere who were waiting in the left wings for a sympathetic president. Many of these people have now been appointed to governmental positions, and many others have the Chosen One’s ear. They are the type of social engineers who authored speech codes in colleges and corporations and hate-speech laws (designed to stifle politically-incorrect dissent) in Canada, and now this import from the Great White North is in the White House… and beyond.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Red Herring: the Depression and the Communist Party
by Dr. Paul Kengor (professor of political science, and executive director of the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College)
Given the current economic turmoil facing America and the world, the Great Depression is suddenly back in the headlines. It goes without saying that the Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in American history, and no doubt one of the worst crises ever to face the nation—wars included. Beginning in 1929, intensifying through the 1930s, and arguably not fully recovering until as late as 1954—when the stock market at long last returned to its pre-depression level—the nation witnessed soup lines and employment lines, dust bowls and closed shops everywhere, a plummet in national morale and the response by the New Deal. The nation’s unemployment rate reached an unprecedented 25%.
Anything so severe was bound to have numerous consequences, foreseen and unforeseen. The rise of the New Deal and its historic expansion of the federal government was one such consequence.
Today, pundits, economists, and historians jockey to inform modern Americans of the causes and results of the Great Depression.One such result, we are told, was the rise of domestic communism in the United States. Or so we are told. And that is the subject of this paper…
| — Hat tip: turn | [Return to headlines] |
Republican HQ Manager’s Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs
‘Democrats Far More Aggressive in Seminole County,’ Victim Says
LONGWOOD, Fla. — The home of a Central Florida Republican headquarters manager was shot up and damaged over his support of Sen. John McCain, the man told police.
Rog Coverely said several pellets pierced his Longwood home. Coverely showed several spiderwebbed-holes in the front windows of his home.
The Republican manager said he is convinced he was targeted because of new McCain signs he added around his home.
“All I can tell you is this, I have a very good relationship with my neighbors,” Coverely said. “I mow my lawn. The only thing that has changed is I have two McCain signs in my front yard.”
Coverely said he has taken about 300 calls concerning stolen or vandalized McCain signs in the area.
“It says this campaign is getting vicious,” Coverely said.
Coverely said it appears Democrats are becoming more aggressive in the county.
“I wouldn’t say slipping, but I would say the Democrats have become far more aggressive in Seminole County because it is such a heavy Republican area,” Coverely said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Won’t Obama Talk About Columbia?
The years he won’t discuss may explain the Ayers tie he keeps lying about.
Despite all manner of stonewalling by Obama, Ayers and their allies, these commentators have doggedly pursued information about the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. That’s the $150+ million “education reform” piggy bank substantially controlled in the nineties by Ayers and Obama, who doled out tens of millions of dollars to Leftist radicals — radicals who, like their patrons, understood that control over our institutions, and especially our schools, was a surer and less risky way to spread their revolution than blowing up buildings and mass-murdering American soldiers. As Diamond observes, in a 2006 speech in Venezuela, with Leftist strongman Hugo Chavez looking on, Ayers exhorted: “Teaching invites transformations, it urges revolutions small and large. La educacion es revolucion!”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn on the Lights?
By Orson Scott Card
I remember reading All the President’s Men and thinking: That’s journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.
This housing crisis didn’t come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.
It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.
What is a risky loan? It’s a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.
The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can’t repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can’t make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.
They end up worse off than before.
This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.
Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It’s as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)
Isn’t there a story here? Doesn’t journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren’t you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?
I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. “Housing-gate,” no doubt. Or “Fannie-gate.”
Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christians in Kabul Are Warned: You Are Being Watched by Taliban Agents
Kabul’s Christian community is on high alert amid claims that their congregations are under surveillance by Taliban agents after Monday’s killing of Gayle Williams, the Christian charity worker shot dead in the street on her way to work.
Afghan intelligence officials have warned Christians they may be followed home from church. Investigators close to the murder inquiry said yesterday they were considering the possibility that Ms Williams knew her killers.
Friends revealed that Gayle had asked to be buried in the Christian cemetery in Kabul. Her body is being kept in a makeshift morgue at Kabul University until her London-based mother, and her sister who lives in South Africa, arrive for the funeral.
Speaking to The Independent yesterday, her mother Pat Williams said: “I am still trying to cope with what happened and it is very hard. The only thing that gives me comfort is knowing that she was doing what she loved most when she was taken from us. I have heard that Gayle was thinking of coming to see me for Christmas, but she did not tell me that so it must have been meant as a surprise. I say to myself that at least Gayle is with Our Lord.”
Yesterday, police were patrolling the road where Ms Williams lived and the street where she was shot. A regular churchgoer in the same neighbourhood said his staff had been warned not to walk outside because of threats against Christians. He said: “All of us are having to be careful about what we do, where we go and what we say.” Sayed Ansari, a spokesman for the secret police, said officials would try to protect Westerners, but he warned: “People need to be vigilant when they leave their homes, especially if they are on foot.”
A coffee shop close to where Gayle was killed, which was popular with Christians, was closed yesterday “until further notice”. Staff at the cafe said they did not want Westerners congregating in one place while security was sketchy.
The Taliban said they murdered Ms Williams because she was converting people from Islam, a capital offence under Afghan law. The South African aid worker, who had moved to Britain, was volunteering for Serve Afghanistan, a UK-based Christian charity. Staff insisted she was running a project to help disabled children and had never tried to proselytise. At the spot where Gayle died friends left flowers, ribbons, a photograph and prayers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Coup D’Etat!!!! Sarkozy to Renew His European Presidency for Another Year
Le Monde has the real story of Sarkozy’s speech to the European Parliament we all missed yesterday, which is that Nicolas Sarkozy effectively suggested to continue as EU president for the euro zone for another year. The logic behind the argument is as follows: Russia’s invasion of Georgia and the financial crisis led to a common understanding that the EU currently needs a strong leadership. The Irish No vote to the Lisbon Treaty means that there is no quick fix for this in the near future. The altering presidencies are to be replaced, by what is subject to a roadmap to be worked out by Sarkozy’s presidency in December. One option would be an elected president, the far more easier option is to let Sarkozy continue to preside but at the euro zone level. It would circumvent the (widely feared) Czech and the Swedish EU presidency in 2009 until the next eurozone country, Spain, takes over in 2010. In principle Jean Claude Juncker, the current president of the informal Eurogroup, would also qualify for the job, but the proposal of a Eurogroup presidency is seen as a de facto coup d’etat by Sarkozy against the Ecofin, writes Wolfgang Proissl in the FT Deutschland. France did (obviously) not coordinate this subject with Germany, awaiting now the verdict of Angela Merkel.
Le Monde editorial argues that this is nothing but a method to extend his own influence in Europe beyond the French EU presidency. Apart from this presidency, he also suggested a European wealth fund and a new European industrial policy. Sarkozy knows too well that not all of his proposals get through but believes that some proposals will survive in the end. Le Monde warns that this tactic worked well in the crisis but when the calm sets in Europe might as well return to its traditional working method of moderation and compromise.
Jean Quatremer reports that the European Parliament favours by a large majority Sarkozy’s proposal of a euro area governance. In a resolution adopted yesterday by 499 against 130 votes and 69 abstentions the MEPs consider that the first eurozone summit held in October calls for further development. Quatremer also clarifies that Sarkozy’s proposal is not to institutionalize the eurozone governance but to preserve the initiative for a Eurogroup summit to euro area members during times when the EU presidency falls on a non-eurozone member. The French would thus pass on this role to Spain in 2010.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Women Molested at Asylum Centres
The Red Cross says that single women at asylum centres are sexually molested and need a special centre.
Single women at asylum centres are subjected to unwanted sexual advances and abuse by male residents , according to a report in Berlingske Tidende.
The Red Cross Asylum Department says that the 150 single women in the centres are at risk, and police have received four reports of rapes and indecent exposure in the past year.
Fear
All of the cases reported took place at the Sandholmlejr asylum centre.
“Divorced women are particularly at risk because men think that they are simply available. Some of the women are extremely scared,” says Red Cross Asylum Department Head Jørgen Chemnitz. Chemnitz wants to set up a centre solely for women.
The Socialist People’s Party and the Social Democrats say they plan to discuss the issue with the Minister for Integration Birthe Rønn Hornbech
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Unrest in Greve
Police were called out during the night to disturbances at the Askerød Estate in Greve.
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Large numbers of police officers were called out to the Askerød Estate during the night where a group of young people had set fire to tires and other objects and set off fireworks.
“We arrested three people and spread the rest of the group,” said Duty Officer Bent Stavad Andersen.
Throughout the night
Eyewitnesses told police they had seen young people running around carrying petrol cans. Police remained in the area throughout the night to ensure unrest did not start again.
The three young people detained were charged with disorderly conduct, and were released after being taken down to the police station.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Torture Accused Sent to Psych Hospital Indefinitely
A mentally ill man found guilty of torturing his girlfriend will be indefinitely held in a psychiatric hospital
A Frederiksberg court has found a young man guilty of torturing his girlfriend and will place him in a psychiatric hospital indefinitely.
The 21-year-old Lebanese-Danish man was found guilty on all charges in the extensive case, including rape, imprisonment and torturous abuse. His defence team is now considering whether to appeal the case to the High Court.
The man, who was declared to be mentally ill and showing signs of schizophrenia, will be placed in the secure unit of the Nykøbing hospital in Zealand.
An experienced medical examiner testified yesterday that he had never seen such extensive injuries as those sustained by the 19-year-old female. She was locked in a shed for more than a week last year and subjected to various forms of torture, including having one of her fingers cut off.
The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges, telling the court he had never wanted to cause her any harm. He maintains that the two are still in love with each other.
The teenage girl has been awarded compensation in the amount of 678,000 kroner, to be paid by her attacker.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Haider Widow Believes Death ‘Not an Accident’
The widow of Joerg Haider believes the far-right Austrian politician’s death in a car crash may not have been an accident and has saved his body from cremation for a second post mortem, a Vienna newspaper has reported.
Today cited senior members of Mr Haider’s party as claiming that his widow Claudia had doubts about the official explanation of her husband’s death and wanted a further examination by a coroner, possibly in Italy.
The paper suggested that Mr Haider’s body was abruptly withdrawn from a planned cremation on Saturday. It said Mrs Haider feared her husband may have been drugged.
Theories that the charismatic politician, 58, was assassinated have simmered in Austria since the crash on Oct 11.
Party sources pointed to the fact that there were no tyre skid marks as evidence Mr Haider was unconscious when he crashed, Today said.
Last week, a Volkswagen spokesman said the speed at which Haider was driving — 88mph — although nearly double the speed limit, should ‘‘not have been a problem for the car’s physics’’ on the curved road.
Mr Haider’s car, a VW Phaeton, struck a pillar and flipped near the city of Klagenfurt. The governor of the state of Carinthia, was nearly four times over the legal blood alcohol limit.
Stefan Petzner, his protégé, has been linked to Haider romantically by Austrian media after Mr Petzner said: “We had a relationship that went far beyond friendship. Me and Jorg were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life.”
Mr Petzner briefly succeeded Mr Haider as leader of the Alliance for the Future of Austria but was sacked after his tearful revelation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Iranian Dissident Leader Visits Rome
Rome, 23 Oct. (AKI) — A prominent Iranian dissident leader, Maryam Rajavi, was in the Italian capital Rome on Thursday to appeal for support for her resistance movement. Rajavi’s visit coincided with a crucial legal victory that could see her resistance group the People’s Mujahadeen Organization of Iran legitimised.
Rajavi is the the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the PMOI, which is banned in Iran.
A European Union court ruled in Brussels on Thursday that European governments illegally froze the funds of the Iranian opposition group with which she is affiliated.
While the money belonging to the People’s Mujahadeen Organization of Iran will remain frozen, the decision by the EU’s second highest court, the Court of First Instance, could eventually see it removed from a terrorist blacklist.
On her organisation’s website, Rajavi described the court ‘s decision as an acknowledgment of the Iranian people’s right to resist against dictatorship and religious fascism, and a triumph of justice over politics, economic dealings and interests.
The case was brought after a British court decided last year that the group should be removed from London’s list of banned terror groups, concluding it had not conducted any military activity in Iran or anywhere else since August 2001.
After a visit to the Italian Chamber of Deputies or lower house of Parliament, she received a warm welcome from supporters who greeted her on the streets outside
She visited France and Italy in July in a bid to generate support for her cause from European MPs.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Plunges in Ranking Order for Press Freedom
THE HAGUE, 24/10/08 — The Netherlands has in two years’ time plunged from the first to 16th place in a ranking of countries with the most press freedom drawn up by press organisation Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF).
Last year, the Netherlands came 12th, while the year before, it was still the joint leader. Now it is sharing 16th place, below 15 other European countries.
The first 20 places on the list are taken by European countries, led by Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway. Languishing at the bottom are Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
The criteria used by RSF to assess to what degree press freedom obtains in a country include the number of people active in the media, how many of them are murdered, arrested or abducted and the degree to which the state influences what the media publishes. According to RSF, war is the leading factor that restricts press freedom.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Moroccan Teen Crime Summit Yields Nothing
THE HAGUE, 24/10/08 — A top-level meeting between the government and mayors on Moroccan teenage crime has failed to produce concrete proposals for tougher action.
‘Nuisance’ caused by Moroccan youngsters in Gouda prompted the top meeting between ministers Guusje ter Horst (Home Affairs), Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Justice), Ella Vogelaar (Integration) and Andre Rouvoet (Youth and Family) and the mayors of the major cities and other ‘Moroccan municipalities’ such as Gouda, Ede, Eindhoven and Nijmegen.
Ter Horst claimed after the meeting that most mayors indicated that problems with Moroccan youngsters have recently been reduced. She did say the seriousness of the nuisance has increased. “A small hard core is increasingly causing serious problems.”
Hirsch Ballin announced that the Gouda police region will receive six extra temporary detectives to process 400 robberies and assaults that are still in police station drawers. The meeting produced no other results, apart from pleas for more ‘care’ for the ‘deprived youngsters.’
The cabinet, municipalities, police and justice are together looking for instruments to combat the nuisance by youngsters effectively, said Vogelaar, the widely criticised integration minister who was appearing in the media for the first time in many weeks. She said the cabinet wants to accelerate the introduction of a number of measures already announced, such as obligatory child-rearing support and more powers for mayors. But what the content of this is remained unclear.
Generally, it has recently been recognised by media and politicians alike that young Moroccans, sometimes no older than 8 or 9, are increasingly causing nuisance in the towns. The debate was sparked weeks ago when bus-drivers in Gouda refused to drive through the Oosterwei immigrant district any longer. Gouda’s Labour (PvdA) Mayor Wim Cornelis initially criticised what he saw as a hype, but then asked for 10 million euros to solve the problem.
If the cabinet should opt for the tougher action it has been promising — most insiders believe the government parties want to continue with their dialogue strategy — then it will run up against objections by the Council of State, the government’s highest advisory body on legislative proposals.
A number of mayors want to be able to impose ‘child-rearing support’ on unwilling families without the intervention of the courts. The Council of State has looked at this possibility at the cabinet’s request, but says this would violate international human rights treaties protecting the right to an undisturbed family life, said Minister Rouvoet. He will therefore “look for other options.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
‘Swastika’ Flower Arrangement Causes Consternation
Residents of the small town of Aneby in southern Sweden reacted angrily this week to a floral display on a roundabout in front of the town hall that appeared to depict a swastika.
The council’s head gardener was dispatched to the scene on Wednesday to rearrange the flowers in a more appropriate manner.
“We got reactions at lunchtime yesterday and immediately went out and changed it,” council spokesman Bo Davidsson told Sveriges Radio.
“People thought it looked like a swastika but I didn’t really think it did. It was more like a wheel with twisted arms,” he added.
The head gardener said he had been inspired by a similar traffic roundabout in Helsingborg. But the pattern looked somewhat different when scaled down to fit the smaller Aneby roundabout.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Swedes Cool Towards Ethnic Diversity
Greater numbers of Swedes are expressing hostility towards ethnic diversity, according to a new study.
According to the annual diversity barometer carried out by researchers at Uppsala University, the percentage of the Swedish population with extremely negative attitudes toward ethnic diversity has increased by 50 percent since 2005.
“The extremely negative attitudes are increasing, and we believe it’s in line with what’s happening in Europe. It’s not only older, but also younger who are negative,” said Orlando Mella, a sociology professor from Uppsala University, to the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
However, Mella added that in comparison to the rest of Europe, Sweden is generally quite positive toward diversity.
Overall, 5.7 percent of the population in Sweden indicated they have extremely negative attitudes toward diversity, up from 3.8 percent in 2005.
Among men, the instance of negative attitudes has increased from 5.3 to 7.5 percent since 2005.
Unexpectedly, however, the prevalence of negative attitudes toward ethnic diversity among Swedish women has nearly doubled from 2.3 percent to 4.1 percent.
“It’s surprising for us that there are more women in the group [expressing negative attitudes]; that’s not something we expected. Swedish women tend to be quite positive toward diversity,” said Mella.
Despite the growth of unfavourable views towards diversity in Sweden, Mella believes the country is better equipped to integrate immigrant groups than other European countries and that public perceptions of social exclusion among immigrants in Sweden is exaggerated.
“The large number of immigrants are on the way to or currently are being integrated,” she said.
Nevertheless, Mella said that continued growth in the number of Swedes expressing hostility toward ethnic diversity has the potential to affect Swedes’ attitudes more widely, noting that rising unemployment presents a challenge for politicians.
“But we should remember that there aren’t deep ethnic conflicts in Sweden like there are in France or Great Britain,” she said.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
The Netherlands: Dumping Brides Could Become Illegal
The Dutch government is going to get tougher with the dumping of immigrant women and children in their lands of origin. Every year, dozens of women and girls are left behind in countries such as Morocco, Turkey or Egypt by their husbands or parents. In a parliamentary debate on the issue, Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak (pictured right) pledged to deal with the offenders.
In 2001, legislation designed to improve integration was introduced denying Dutch residence rights for the first three years to women brought to the Netherlands from abroad for marriage. Exceptions were made for women who were the victim of violence which was documented by a doctor and reported to the police.
Powerless
A foundation supporting returned migrants recorded 40 cases of wife dumping during holidays in 2006, and 36 women failed to return home to the Netherlands in 2007. Sometimes, men bring a new bride back to the Netherlands, using their wife’s passport. The women are left behind without any rights. They have no papers, and their families are too ashamed to do anything about the situation.
Statement
Now politicians want to introduce measures to change all this. Labour MP Khadija Arib (pictured below) thinks that girls who are threatened with arranged marriages should be able to sign a statement voicing their opposition. The idea comes from Great Britain.
“I’m heartened to see how they are dealing with this kind of problem there. The government tries to get girls left behind back to Britain. Something like that should be possible in the Netherlands.”
Arib has strongly advocated a helpline, so that teachers can phone in if a girl does not return to school after the summer holidays. The helpline could also be available to the girls themselves. Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak is looking into how best to set up the helpline.
Dumped
Thirty-eight-year-old Myriam Menehb is pleased with the political initiative. Her husband dumped her in Morocco a number of years ago. Now she helps women in the Netherlands who fear the same might happen to them. Ms Menehb says the main problem for these women is that they don’t know how to get back to the Netherlands:
“I think there should be a special desk at the Dutch embassy for these women and girls, which can tell them exactly what to do. That would be the ideal solution.”
In her own case, Ms Menehb was told that there was nothing the Dutch consulate could do.
Legal process
Meanwhile the government has decided that in some cases women will receive a residence permit more quickly. If a woman is the victim of domestic violence for example the chance is greater that she can remain in the Netherlands. The deputy justice minister does not just want to focus on the victims. During the debate, she said the perpetrators should be dealt with too:
“I think you can use the little information you have to prosecute the men. For example if a man takes his wife’s documents so that she cannot return to the Netherlands, he is deliberately restricting her freedom. You can consider using criminal law.”
The Lower House is pleased with the deputy minister’s statement.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Rai Mediterraneo; Sarajevo, the Birth of European Islam
(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, OCTOBER 24 — Modernity and tradition together. Prayer following the rules of the Islamic religion and daily life according to western ways. Sarajevo, the capital of the Bosnia Herzegovina, is an ever growing European capital in which religious fundamentalists and freedom to worship live side by side. There have been episodes of intolerance, but the city is transforming into a place in which European Islam is developing. With a story filmed among children and their friends and in more traditional Muslim zones as their protagonists, the episode of “Mediterraneo” will open, the weekly show of the Regional Newspaper realised in Palermo by the Rai network — France 3 — Rtve Spain with Entv in Algiers, on the air tomorrow at 13:20 on Rai Tre and at 21:00 on Rai Med. From Bosnia “Mediterraneo” will move to Spain to tell the story of those in exile on the losing side in the second civil war who looked for shelter in France. Protagonists will speak about this dramatic chapter in Iberian history. Then to France for Bebelmed, a musical demonstration, which collected 1,700 musicians and workers in the sector from both shores of the Mediterranean. Together they managed to create a fresh, diverse, and multiethnic style. The magazine will also deal with the experience of workers in the marine sector, which in the recent exposition in Genoa, presented initiatives of economic collaboration with entrepreneurs from the Mediterranean shores. They aim at the growth of a sector that is in continuous expansion, despite the crisis of the markets. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Pro-European Party & Milosevic’s Ex-Party Make Peace
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, OCTOBER 20 — Serbiàs Democratic Party (DS) led by the pro-European President, Boris Tadic, and the socialist party of the (now dead) Slobodan Milosevic which govern the country in coalition, have signed an official agreement of reconciliation. The document, which emphasises how the two parties have “a shared responsibility for the construction of a Serbia that is democratic, free, and equipped with a developed economy and equable social justice”, was signed by the leaders of the two parties: Tadic for the DS and the Minister of the Interior and vice-premier, Ivica Dadic, for the SPS. “We intend to propose a platform for a national reconciliation which will reunite all those who hold the future of Serbia dear”, continues the document, which brings to a close the political crisis that has lasted since the day after the general election of May 11. The two parties have always seen themselves as opposed. The DS, when it was run by Zoran Djindjic, the premier that was assassinated in March 2003, had a decisive role in the arrest and extradition of the former dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, who died in jail in Aja in 2006 where he was being tried by an international court for war crimes in former Yugoslavia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Asma Assad, No More Excuses for Poverty
(ANSAmed) — RIMINI, OCTOBER 20 — “By now we live in a globalised world: we grow together, we suffer together, we are all connected. We must raise the poverty threshold, so that nobody has to live in extreme poverty. There are no more excuses, there is no more time”. The first lady of Syria, Asma al-Assad, said this when receiving the golden medal yesterday from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in the context of the international day of the Pio Manzù Centre, dedicated this year to poverty. “Poverty is a disease” the wife of Syrian president Bashar Assad added. “This is the reason why we have wars and terrorism. Terrorists, fundamentalists find in poverty a reservoir on which to hit, where to find followers. We Arab we say that one hand cannot applaud without the other. Therefore the work of the Pio Manzù Centre is important, it must be supported by all of us. We need a coalition of consciousness, of justice, for humanity. This is the right moment to act”. The Pio Manzù Centre has awarded Asma al-Assad “For her approach to dialogue, for her open and communicative vision, for her tireless activities in social work”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Expects Oil Price to Fall to USD 60 Per Barrel
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, OCTOBER 20 — Egypt’s Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy said he expected oil prices to fall to $60 per barrel in the medium term because of the international financial crisis. US crude closed at about $72 a barrel on Friday while London Brent crude settled at about $70. “The international financial crisis will lead to a decline in the price of oil to $60 a barrel in the medium term, said Fahmy. The Egyptian government will not now reduce the subsidies it pays on fuel sold inside Egypt, he added. Egypt is a medium-sized producer of oil and gas and a net export of energy. The Egyptian government spends more than LE 50 billion a year on subsidizing petrol, gas and other fuels. The subsidies bill makes a major contribution to the government’s budget deficit. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Oil: Libya Favourable to Reduce Production
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, OCTOBER 21 — Libya said that it was favourable for a reduction in oil production of more than 1 million barrels a day, from the crude oil producing countries (Opec) which will meet in an extraordinary meeting on October 24th. A reduction in production of 1 million barrels a day is not sufficient to re-stabilize equilibrium on the markets”, said Libyan Oil Minister, Chokri Ghanem to the Afp. “A million barrels is not much. Supply exceeds than demand by more than 1 million barrels”, added Ghanem who is also president of Libyan oil company Noc. “Our scope is that of reaching equilibrium”, he explained saying that he was against a lowering of production for in phases as suggested by the Iran representative to Opec Mohammad Ali Khatibi. The cartel at the moment produces 28.8 million barrels of oil a day. In front of the fall in oil prices, Opec has decided to hold an extraordinary meeting on October 24th in Vienna. The price of crude oil, which reached 147 dollars a barrel last July, settled in at 70 dollars a barrel last week due to the international financial crisis which has provoked an economic slowdown and a lowering of demand. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel & the Palestinians: Ending the Stalemate (PDF File)
by Caroline Glick
Originally published in The Journal of International Security Affairs (Fall 2008-No. 15)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s July 30, 2008, announcement of his intention to resign from office and the recent upsurge in internecine violence between Hamas and Fatah operatives in Gaza has thrown a monkey wrench in the Bush administration’s goal of seeing Israel and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority sign a peace treaty laying out the borders and powers of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008. But even in the unlikely event that such an agreement is reached, far from stabilizing Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians, it will likely have either no impact on the Palestinian conflict with Israel, or a profoundly negative one.
Indeed, even if the outgoing Bush administration and the lame duck Olmert government manage to sign a peace treaty with the increasingly powerless remnants of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, that achievement is liable to be quickly eclipsed by violence that will follow the signing ceremony. The likely upsurge in Palestinian violence against Israel, in turn, will demonstrate that the Administration’s stated aim of establishing a Palestinian state-an aim which is supported by the Israeli government-has little relevance to the nature of the Palestinian conflict with Israel. Moreover, seeking such a state today will likely exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, the conflict. Indeed, the aftershocks of such an agreement will make clear that both Israel and the United States are basing their policies towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on false assumptions about the nature of that conflict.
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Economy Facing ‘Perfect Storm’
For the past three years, he has been the lucky president.
Everything seems to have fallen the right way for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
There was international disarray over his country’s nuclear programme; Israel’s ill-thought-out attack on Lebanon in 2006 that spurred support for Hezbollah and the president; and the perhaps fortuitous capture of a group of British troops off its coast last year.
Above all, record oil prices have enabled Mr Ahmadinejad to go on an unprecedented spending spree at home and abroad, including buying support, according to his critics.
But now his luck may be turning. In fact, in a few months Iran could face an economic “perfect storm”.
Budget deficit
The maths is simple. For every dollar on the price of a barrel of oil, Iran earns approximately a billion dollars a year.
The real trouble for the president is that the crunch will probably come just a couple of months before he stands for re-election in June next year
In the past few weeks and months, the price of Iranian oil has dropped between $50 and $60 a barrel.
The head of the Central Bank of Iran has warned that revenues could be cut by $54bn, effectively halving the country’s income from oil, which accounts for the vast majority of both its export earnings and government revenue.
Petropars, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NOIC), has even warned that it could go into bankruptcy.
As the effect of those lower oil prices works through, Iran will face a growing budget deficit. The International Monetary Fund said in August that Iran would face unsustainable deficits should prices for its oil fall below $75 a barrel.
Mr Ahmadinejad will have the choice of cutting spending or printing more money. But with inflation already over 25% and unemployment around 10%, neither is an attractive option.
Election concern
The real trouble for the president is that the crunch will probably come just a couple of months before he stands for re-election in June next year.
Mr Ahmadinejad has been working on a scheme to replace subsidies on basic items with a system of cash payments to the poor. It is a change most orthodox economists would support, but the idea has a distinctly Iranian twist…
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: US Hands Back Control of 12th Province
Baghdad, 23 Oct. (AKI) — The US military on Thursday relinquished control of the Iraqi province of Babil, near Baghdad, to local security forces.
The southern province includes Sunni areas once known as the “triangle of death”. It is the twelfth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to be handed back to Iraqis.
The handover came as at least 10 people were killed in a devastating bomb blast that targeted Labour and Social Affairs Minister Mahmoud Jawad al-Radi in Baghdad on Thursday.
The attack occurred during the morning rush-hour in Baghdad’s central Bab al-Sharji district when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into al-Radi’s convoy.
While control of Babil has been handed over to Iraqi troops, US forces will remain in the region to support local security forces.
At a ceremony held near the ancient city of Babylon, Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the number two US commander in Iraq, said security gains had been remarkable — with the number of attacks down by about 80 percent from an average of 20 per week a year ago.
Babil was once at the centre of sectarian violence. One of the worst incidents was a suicide attack in Hilla, the provincial capital, which killed more than 100 Shia pilgrims in March 2007.
Anbar province, once the centre of a revolt by Sunni Muslims, was handed back to Iraqi control in September.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: Poet Arrested for “Insulting Islam”
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, OCTOBER 21 — A Jordanian court has ordered the arrest of a Jordanian poet on charges of blasphemy after he allegedly depicted verses of the holy Quran in one of his poems, according to a judicial source. In his poems, Grace like a Shadow, Islam Samhan likened his suffering to that of prophet Youssef when incarcerated in Egypt, as mentioned in the Quran. The poem has been in the market since six months, said the source who requested anonymity. But the case was brought to public attention after the grand mufti of the kingdom said his action represents “mutiny” against Islam, prompting officials from the government run press and publication department to file charges against him. The court sentenced him for two weeks and order his immediate arrest as prosecutor general prepares other charges against him, said the source. A recent amendment to press and publication law in 2007 has banned the arrest of journalists in press related cases, but the court used provisions in the penal code that allows arrest of individuals who insult religious sentiments, said the source. Press activists called on authorities in a letter published in local press on Tuesday to release Samhan saying press freedoms has been greatly jeopardized by his incarceration. (ANSAmed).
2008-10-21 15:24
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Oil: OPEC Ready for Big Cut, Even Two Mln Barrels
(ANSAmed) — ROME OCTOBER 20 — The “important” thing will be how oil producing Countries will react to the fall of oil prices, which plunged from a high of 147 dollars a barrel in July to about 72 dollats at the end of trading last Friday. Algeriàs Chakib Khelil, the Chairman of OPEC, said it in a very straight way: in the extra-ordinary meeting summoned in Vienna on October 24 the Organization will decide “a production cut”. And it “will have to be a major reduction to balance demand and supply”. There will be nop hesitaytion. “If the reduction is to be of 1.5 million barrels a day, it will be 1.5 million barrels. If it is to be two millions it will be two millions”. The oil price dropped below 70 dollars a barrel last Thursday, the lowest since June 2007, and then recovered ground the next day on strong buying on expectations of a production cut. Opec now confirms. Pressures by several producer Countries will bear fruit, worries concerning wildly swinging prices (down some 50 pc in four months with a reversal of trend after a strong surge upward) will lead to a production cut to balance demand and supply. Prices have been falling on fears demand may shrink owing to the slowing down of economy triggered by the financial market crisis. Iran might lose more than 50 billion dollars in the wake of falling oil prices, the country’s Central Bank head Mahmud Bahmani has said. “Iran’s proposal to the extraordinary Opec meeting is for oil suplly to be reduced by the same size as shrinking demand. Global oil demand has fallen, so supply should be reduced to safeguard balance and stability in the market”, said Iran’s delegate to OPEC in Vienna Mohammad Ali Khatibi, who described the oil price fall as “disquieting”. Iran is the second largest crude producer among OPEC members, behind Saudi Arabia. The oil cartel whose members account for 40% of global oil output, moved ahead to October 24 the extra-ordinary meeting previously scheduled on November 18 to debate the effects of the world financial crisis and its imapct on oil demand. OPEC, said the Organization’s President Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeriàs oil minister, regards an oil price ranging from 70 to 90 dollars a barrel as a minimun threshold . (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Man Decapitated for Killing Wife
(ANSAmed) — RIYADH, OCTOBER 21 — A Saudi Arabian condemned to death for having beaten his wife to death was decapitated with an axe today in Gedda on the western coast of Saudi Arabia. This was announced by the Interior Minister. “Omar Ben Abid Wakdani beat his wife to death during a family argument”, specified the minister in a message. This decapitation brings the number of known executions in Saudi Arabia to 81 this year. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: Saudi Arabia, Almost 1,000 on Trial
(ANSAmed) — RIYADH, OCTOBER 21 — The Saudi minister of the interior, Prince Nayef ben Abdel Aziz, announced that 991 people have been arrested and will be brought to trial for crimes of terrorism. ‘‘We began bringing to justice 991 people involved in terrorism cases, after the accusations were formalised’’, the Minister said yesterday in a quote from the Saudi agency SPA. All of these suspects have been accused of crimes of terrorism dating back as far as May 12, 2003, when attacks began in the kingdom. ‘‘The cases will be examined in stages’’, the Prince said, without specifying the date that the trials will begin, the first of its kind since the country was victim to bloody attacks, all attributed to al Qaeda in 2003 and 2004. These attacks — Nayef said giving the most complete balance ever by a Saudi official — killed 74 and left 657 wounded among security forces and 90 killed and 439 wounded among civilians, both Saudi and foreign. More than 160 terrorist attacks were thwarted. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Erdogan Involved in Anti-Secular Activities
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, OCTOBER 24 — The Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that the Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, together with members of his party (Akp — Islam in power), including the Minister of Education, Huseyin Celik, were involved in anti-secular activities. The Constitutional Court, the highest court in Turkey, published today the motivation behind the sentence and the decision last July not to close down Erdogan Ak’s party for Islamic activity, cutting, however, half of the public funding allocated to it. ‘‘The party had become the focal point for anti-secular activities due to the decision to change some of the constitution’s articles’’, reads a document released by the Court referring to the attempt to abolish the ban on wearing the veil at university, blocked by another court ruling in June. The criticism that has emerged after the sentence against the Premier, that according to recent polls is still the most popular politician in Turkey, risks inflaming the tension in the country together with the consequences of the world financial crisis. In the motivation for the sentence, released today, the Minister of Education, Huseyin Celik, is cited as having taken part in anti-secular activities. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: 86 Defendants Stand Trial in Ergenekon Case
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, OCTOBER 20 — A criminal court in Istanbul decided today to continue hearing the Ergenekon case in Silivri prison, as reported by Anatolia news agency. “The court has decided to hear the statements of suspects who are under arrest and who are not under arrest in separate sessions,” Koksal Sengun, the head of the court delegation, said. Sengun also said that the suspects under arrest would make statements first, each defendant would be represented by only three lawyers. Some 86 defendants including retired Gen. Veli Kucuk, Labor Party (IP) Chairman Dogu Perincek, journalist Ilhan Selcuk and former rector of Istanbul University Kemal Yalcin Alemdaroglu are accused of attempting to remove the Turkish government by force. Some 46 of the defendants are under arrest. An alleged criminal network that came to be known as Ergenekon was revealed after police seized 27 grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12, 2007 and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into weapons. Police waged operations in several provinces and detained a number of people, including retired senior army officers, journalists and businessmen, for their alleged involvement in the network. So far, 68 people were arrested in the probe, 46 of them are standing trial now. The remaining will appear in the court later. The 2,455-page indictment regarding the Ergenekon probe carried out by prosecutors Zekeriya Oz, Mehmet Ali Pekguzel and Nihat Taskin charges 86 people for attempting to overthrow Turkish government of premier Tayyip Erdogan by force and inciting murder. The trial is to continue on Thursday. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Says Gas Cartel Would Force Rethink
Superficially it’s about the EU flailing around tyring to create a coherent energy policy, but the key point is:
“Russia, Iran and Qatar made the first serious move toward forming a cartel with a meeting Tuesday. Together, they account for 60 percent of the world’s gas reserves.”
| — Hat tip: Archonix | [Return to headlines] |
In Malaysia Fatwa Condemns Tomboys
Young women are told not to crop their hair or walk, dress and act like males. Last year Muslims were told not to go and see a movie in which the leading actress sported a shaved dome.
Kuala Lumur (AsiaNews/Agencies) — In an unusual move Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council issued a fatwa or edict banning tomboys. At a meeting Thursday in northern Malaysia, the Council ruled that girls who act unlady-like violate the tenets of Islam.
One of the members who attended at the meeting, the mufti of the northern Perak state, Harussani Idris Zakaria, slammed such behaviour saying it showed little respect for the faith.
Harussani, who chaired the meeting, noted that the behaviour and dress of this growing number of “disrespectful” young women can turn some of them to homosexuality.
Whilst not explicitly banned in Malaysia, homosexuality is effectively illegal under a law that prohibits sex acts “against the order of nature.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a law or not. When it’s wrong, it’s wrong. It is a sin,” Harussani told said. “Tomboy (behaviour) is forbidden in Islam.”
Under the fatwa girls cannot sport short hair and dress, walk and act like boys, Harussani said. Boys too must respect social norms.
For Harussani everyone has a duty to respect God and act according to nature.
The tomboy fatwa comes after recent cases in which scenes of young women bullying and carousing showed up online.
A well-known Malaysian Muslim actress caused uproar last year when she shaved her head bald for a film.
At the time Harussani and other muftis urged Muslims not to watch the movie, harshly chastising the actress for violating Islam by making herself look like a man.
Muslims make up some 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people, and are subject to Islamic laws and the council’s edicts, even if the rulings have not been enshrined in national or Sharia law.
It was not immediately clear what kind of punishment awaited those who violate the tomboy fatwa, unless the edict is incorporated into national or Sharia law.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Rejects ‘America’s War’ on Extremists
Serious doubts multiplied yesterday about Pakistan’s commitment to America’s military campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban after parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for dialogue with extremist groups and an end to military action.
The new strategy, backed by all parties, emerged after a fierce debate in parliament where most parliamentarians said that Pakistan was paying an unacceptable price for fighting “America’s war”. If implemented by the government, support for Pakistan from international allies would come under severe strain, adding further instability to a country facing a spiral of violence and economic collapse.
“We need to prioritise our own national security interests,” said Raza Rabbani, a leading member of the ruling Pakistan People’s party. “As far as the US is concerned, the message that has gone with this resolution will definitely ring alarm bells, vis-a-vis their policy of bulldozing Pakistan.”
The resolution, passed unanimously in parliament on Wednesday night demanded the abandonment of the use of force against extremists, in favour of negotiation, in what it called “an urgent review of our national security strategy”.
“Dialogue must now be the highest priority, as a principal instrument of conflict management and resolution,” said the resolution. “The military will be replaced as early as possible by civilian law enforcement agencies.” It also said Pakistan would pursue “an independent foreign policy” and, in a pointed reference to US military incursions into Pakistani territory, proclaimed that “the nation stands united against any incursions and invasions of the homeland, and calls upon the government to deal with it effectively”.
The force of the resolution was unclear last night, with differences in interpretation between the ruling People’s party and opposition. The document is not binding on the government even though it was party to it. The army remains the ultimate arbiter of security policy. Some analysts believe that differences between the parties will see a tussle over implementation that could temper the resolution’s thrust. The US response was muted, with officials saying they considered it rhetoric for domestic consumption.
But the intense American pressure on Islamabad to take on the militants was underlined yesterday by another US missile strike inside Pakistani territory, an instance of the heavy-handed intervention that parliament railed against. The attack came in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan, at an Islamic school being used by suspected extremists, killing 11. The madrasa was linked to Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, who has an extensive network in Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Christians Slam Violence in India
A human rights activist and lawmaker condemns anti-Christian violence by Hindu fundamentalists and calls on the United Nations to intervene. The National Christian Party organises demonstration in front of the Karachi Press Club to raise awareness in the media about the problem.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) — Pakistani Christians last Sunday expressed their solidarity towards their brethren in India. They strongly condemned the anti-Christian violence perpetrated by Hindu fundamentalists.
In a statement released from the headquarters of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) in Islamabad, National Assembly Member and APMA Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti condemned the mistreatment of religious minorities in India and called on the United Nations to protect the lives and properties of minorities in India.
The Catholic lawmaker condemned attacks on Christians and their places of worship and said that religion is being used to discriminate in India, ostensibly a secular state, yet scene of acts of persecution that have left many people dead and injured, churches set on fire, places of worship desecrated, and more than 50,000 Christians forced into refugee camps.
“While violence continues in Orissa, [. . .] anti-Christian extremists have unleashed another wave of attacks on Christians in Karnataka” and “in Jharkand and other states,” he said, adding that this violence against minorities in India had surged as fanatic Hindu extremist elements go unpunished.
He expressed fear that violence against vulnerable minorities could escalate and urged the Indian government to take stringent action against those elements that are causing harm to ethnic and religious minorities in the country.
Bashir Shafqat, leader of the National Christian Party, on Sunday staged a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club to raise awareness in the media about the genocide of Christians by extremist Hindus in India.
Speaking to protesters, Mr Shafqat slammed the atmosphere of insecurity that surrounds Christian places of worship and the flight of thousands of people who have become homeless.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Liaoning: 1,500 Dogs Killed by Melamine-Tainted Feed
A dog feed scandal comes on top of the powdered milk affair in which four children died and tens of thousands got sick. China’s Health Ministry pledges greater controls.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — About 1,500 dogs have died in the last two months in Liaoning after eating animal feed tainted with melamine.
The revelation comes at a time when the government is trying to reassure the population and limit the effects of the crisis over dairy products tainted with melamine that has been linked to the deaths of four infants and caused kidney stones in 54,000 newly-born mainland children.
The dogs, known as raccoon dogs, were raised for their fur to trim coats and other clothing and died of kidney failure.
“First, we found melamine in the dogs’ feed, and second, I found that 25 per cent of the stones in the dogs’ kidneys were made up of melamine,” said Professor Zhang Weikui, a veterinary professor at Shenyang Agriculture University.
Last year, wheat gluten, a pet food ingredient made on the mainland that was tainted with melamine, was blamed for the deaths of dozens of dogs and cats in North America.
According to the local press, the firm that produced the feed tried to hush the whole affair by trying to compensate breeders.
The Health Ministry pledged to increase its inspections on feed companies but many of them are small and operate illegally and can thus bypass controls and rules.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mauritania: Junta Refuses to Bow to EU Ultimatum
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, OCTOBER 21 — General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, head of the military junta which seized power in Mauritania on August 6, has responded to the EU ultimatum to return to constitutional order within a month, saying that “Mauritania cannot go backwards, the democratic process continues, the people support us”. The current French presidency of the EU has threatened the junta with sanctions from Brussels in a meeting between the EU and a Mauritanian delegation led by their nominated prime minister, Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf. “If there is no change in the situation within the month — reads a note that was released by the EU at the end of the meeting — the talks will be closed and appropriate measures will be proposed to the decision making elements of the Union”. The Cotonou Accord, which ties the EU to the countries of the Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, states that sanctions can include a freeze on cooperation, stopping short of affecting humanitarian aid. The EU has accused the junta of continuing to ignore calls for the immediate and unconditional freedom of the legitimate president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, elected in March 2007 in the country’s first democratic elections. General Abdel Aziz has said that the resolution of the crisis “is the internal business of Mauritania and States General of the democracy scheduled for the end of November will be significant”, affirming that “only a few will boycott them for personal reasons”, and that he does not intend “to go backwards”. Shortly before this, the French Secretary of State for Cooperation, Alain Joyandet, said that he was optimistic about the situation, indicating that the meeting in Paris had taken place in an atmosphere of “talks between partners and not the interrogation of one country by another”. There does, however, remain a block on the constitution and the junta, said Joyandet, insists that it has “made an amendment”, while the EU continues to call the action of the junta a ‘coup’. Joyandet is favourable to a constitutional compromise however and claimed on Friday that “even in Mauritania, human rights linked organisations are not requesting outright that the President Abdallahi returns to complete his mandate, which runs until 2012”. This claim was however denied by the Mauritanian National Front for the Defence of Democracy (anti-coup) which has instead asked the EU to return the legitimate president to power, defining the States General of the democracy, a “farce”. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Arizona Voters: Don’t be Deceived!”
by Tom Tancredo
The opponents of immigration enforcement have stooped to a new low in Arizona with their latest attempt to undermine the state’s workplace verification laws. After exhausting their usual tactics, they are resorting to outright and intentional deception of the voters. This November, Arizonans will vote on Proposition 202, which will be described to them as such:
“Stop Illegal Hiring” Act is an initiative designed to crack down on unethical businesses who hire illegal immigrants. This initiative targets employers who hire workers and pay under-the-table in cash, which fuels illegal immigration in Arizona. It revokes the business license of employers who knowingly or intentionally hire illegal immigrants. This initiative increases penalties for identity theft, as illegal immigrants often use stolen identities to conceal their undocumented status. ?
If this were all I knew about Prop 202, I’d wholeheartedly support it; and the initiative backers are hoping that voters won’t learn anything about the initiative beyond the title.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: 41 Migrants Rescued Off Lampedusa
(ANSAmed) — LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), OCTOBER 21 — A vessel with 41 migrants on board was intercepted 15 miles off the coast of Lampedusa. The migrants, including four women and as many children, were rescued by the Coast Guard, the Guardia di Finanza (financial police) and an Italian Navy vessel. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: City MP in Racial Tension Warning
THE economic slowdown could lead to racial tension in Birmingham unless immigration is cut, a city MP warned today.
Rising unemployment will mean Britain needs fewer workers from overseas, Roger Godsiff (Lab Sparkbrook & Small Heath) said.
Speaking in the House of Commons, he said he represented one of the most ethnically diverse parts of the country.
But he told Ministers: “We must be careful that we do not undermine the excellent community relations that we have built up in that city.”
The MP warned that refusal to have a serious debate about immigration had helped the BNP.
Ministers also heard demands for men who marry under false pretences to gain residency in the UK, to be deported.
Rob Marris (Lab, Wolverhampton South West) said a constituent had come to him for help after marrying a man from Pakistan who then demanded a divorce after gaining British residency.
The debate took place after Immigration Minister Phil Woolas launched a stinging attack on the Government’s own record on managing migration.
He said: “Our failure to resource the asylum processes has caused untold human misery and division within our communities.”
Although he insisted he was attacking previous Conservative governments as much as Labour ones, the comments amounted to a criticism of his predecessor in the immigration job, Liam Byrne MP (Lab, Hodge Hill).
Mr Godsiff told the House of Commons: “The constituency I represent — Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath — is probably the most diverse and multi-cultural in the country.
“We must be careful, however, that we do not undermine the excellent community relations that we have built up in that city. The spectre of rising unemployment poses the greatest threat to multi-cultural cohesion because it is self-evident that if unemployment rises, we need fewer people coming to the country, especially when in parts of my constituency, in Sparkbrook, the unemployment rate has remained above 15 per cent.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hapless Immigration Minister is Hit With a Custard Pie as He Repeats Pledge to Keep Uk’s Population Below 70 Million
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas was hit with a custard pie at Manchester University in a protest against plans to eject more asylum seekers.
The Labour MP was speaking at a debate on environmental issues when a female member of the crowd raced onto the stage and slammed a pie in his face.
The Oldham East and Saddleworth MP looked stunned and was taken away and cleaned up — but he returned a short time later to continue the debate.
Mr Woolas hit the headlines earlier this week after making a string of controversial remarks about his new role.
He appeared to call for a limit on immigration to keep Britain’s population under 70 million and criticised the failure to spend enough on asylum removals.
Members of the group ‘No Borders’ claimed responsibility for the stunt. The pie thrower rushed up and threw what what was described as a ‘vegan pie’ at Mr Woolas from a distance of 1-metre and scored a direct hit on his chin.
The group say they believe in free transport regardless of borders and say their actions were a response to the Minister’s recent comments.
Gaffe-prone: Phil Woolas denies he has been gagged by his party and defends his controversial promise to keep UK’s population below 70 million
Outspoken Mr Woolas has risked further controversy by reviving his promise that the population will not rise above 70million.
Mr Woolas, who has come under fire following a recent series of gaffes, insisted his pledge did not amount to a ‘numerical cap’ but said Britons had to be reassured that immigration would be controlled.
He added that he was responding to predictions that the UK population will soar from 61million to 70million.
He also insisted that he had not been gagged by his bosses.
There were reports that he had been pulled from the BBC’s political flagship Question Time.
The minister has barely been out of the headlines since his appointment in this month’s reshuffle.
Last weekend, he suggested the population of Britain could be capped at 70million, only to backtrack 24 hours later.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Felony ‘Hate Crime’ Against Christian Dropped
Student pushed homosexual who got ‘in his face’
A Christian college student who was accused of a felony hate crime and faced up to three years in jail after a confrontation with a homosexual who got “in his face” has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count and the hate crime has been dropped.
According to a report in the Champaign, Ill., News Gazette, Parkland College student Brett Vanasdlen, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to two years of court supervision.
WND reported when it happened Peter LaBarbera of the activist group Americans for Truth said it appeared it was a confrontation between two students: one hollering at the second, and the second pushing the first away.
According to reports, on April 12 Vanasdlen and a friend saw two homosexuals leaning on each other and holding hands, walking toward them on the sidewalk. Vanasdlen commented on “two guys holding hands.”
Then, reports said, one of the “two guys” grabbed Vanasdlen by the shoulder and shouted at him. Brett told him to go away, then pushed him away, the reports said. The homosexual fell to the ground and called police.
Vanasdlen not only was the only one arrested, he was accused of a felony because the alleged victim is homosexual, reports said.
| [Return to headlines] |
Spain’s Ex-Prime Minister Blasts ‘New Religion’ of Climate Change
“In these times of global cooling of the international economy … the
standard bearers of the climatic apocalypse demand hundreds of billions of
euros” to combat global warming, said Aznar, who was conservative prime
minister from 1996 to 2004.
“They want to throw onto the bonfire anyone who, like Vaclav Klaus,
questions the new religion,” he said.
“The slightest doubt on the man-made origin of climate change is cause of
automatic ex-communication.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stop Climate Hysteria
by Geert Wilders
Global climate change is often subject to heated debate, not just in the scientific community but also in the political arena.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by the United Nations, says that there is overwhelming evidence that recent climate change is caused by human activity and will have catastrophic effects in the future.
Critics believe that the underlying data of climate models used by the IPCC are unreliable, since temperature data from historic times were reconstructed through secondary sources like ice-cores and tree rings and have been compared with accurate
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Economic Crisis: OPEC Cuts Oil Output by 1.5 Million Barrels
Vienna, 24 Oct. (AKI) — The price of oil fell to 64 dollars a barrel on Friday — its lowest level in 16 months — despite a move by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut oil production.
Oil ministers from the 13 OPEC nations agreed on Friday to reduce output for the first time in two years by 1.5 million barrels a day at an emergency meeting in Vienna.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in an interview after Friday’s meeting that the cut in output would take effect from 1 November.
The cut will be from the existing quota of 28.8 million barrels a day.
Crude oil has fallen 57 percent from a 11 July record of 147.27 dollars a barrel with the impact of the global financial crisis and a gloomy world economic outlook for 2009.
The International Energy Agency recently predicted that demand among industrialised nations would fall 2.2 percent this year, reducing overall world demand growth to 0.5 percent.
On Friday, US light crude — a standard benchmark — for December delivery was down 3.23 dollars and trading at 64.61 dollars a barrel in early trading.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Solution to Global Financial Crisis is in Quran Says Worldwide Islamic Leader
LONDON, October 24, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — — Head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Leads Prayers Following Historic Reception in Houses of Parliament
A worldwide Islamic leader yesterday addressed MPs and ministers in the House of Commons with a faith-inspired solution to the global credit crisis.
Before leading prayers in the seat of Parliament, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, voiced his fears to 40 MPs, Ministers, Peers as well as ambassadors of a number of countries, that a third world war was a distinct threat.
Political and economic injustice was at the root cause of this threat. The Khalifa said:
“If we survey the last few centuries impartially, we will notice that the wars were not really religious wars. They were more geopolitical in nature. Even in today’s conflicts and hostilities amongst nations, we notice that they arise from political, territorial and economic interests.
“It is my fear that in view of the direction in which things are moving today, the political and economic dynamics of the countries of the world may lead to a world war. It is not only the poorer countries of the world, but also the richer nations that are being affected by this. Therefore, it is the duty of the superpowers to sit down and find a solution to save humanity from the brink of disaster.”
He added that the solution to the global credit crisis was in religious texts including Quran bestowed to humanity thousands of years ago. Usury, he said, was a fundamental evil — akin to one that Satan had smitten with insanity.
“A major issue today is the economic crisis of what has been termed as the credit crunch. The Holy Quran guided us by saying avoid interest because interest is such a curse that it is a danger for domestic, national and international peace.”
Describing the community as ‘a standard bearer for the true teachings of Islam’ the Khalifa concluded that every Ahmadi Muslim was loyal to the host country, as per Islamic injunction. He condemned extremism and violence perpetrated in the name of religion as having no basis in Islam
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
13 comments:
re:
Democrat: Obama’s Grandma Confirms Kenyan Birth
&
Why Won’t Obama Talk About Columbia?
There is speculation that Obama won't release his Occidental/Columbia/Harvard records because it would reveal he was on a foreign student scholarship/visa.
That would be possible if he indeed possessed/used foreign identity documentation.
**************
From a comment posted at another blog:
When Jerome Corsi, senior WND investigator reporter, recently
traveled to Kenya to investigate several questions about the
candidate, he was told the records were sealed and would not be made available.
Why would Obama have ANY birth records in Kenya if he was born in Hawaii? Why would records be sealed in Kenya if they don’t exist? Why would there be any official records on Obama in Kenya if he never lived there?
If however, he used Kenyan or Indonesian documentation to attend either Columbia or Harvard . . .then this gets interesting.
From Obama Fight the Smears website:
Since Sen. Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor
sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship
automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982.”
Question?
How could it expire, if he never had it?
Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn on the Lights?
Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans.
In traditional legal vernacular—now considered a foreign language by the majority of American politicians—this is known as "a conflict of interest". Something the Bush administration has demonstrated a near-total immunity to.
Small surprise that democratic party members found themselves able to similarly engage in this clear violation of law. Remember, politicians are not only supposed to avoid any conflict of interest, they are also obliged to avoid even the APPEARANCE of conflict of interest.
Aren’t you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?
Only if "ethics" is more than a dictionary entry for you.
... it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed…
Which is something McCain should be beating like a cheap dime store drum. Instead, by not assailing the Democratic party for its predominant role in this scandal, McCain is doing his best to get Obama elected.
Assigning blame where it is richly deserved is not "negative campaigning", it is telling the truth.
heroyalwhyness: "When Jerome Corsi, senior WND investigator reporter, recently traveled to Kenya to investigate several questions about the candidate, he was told the records were sealed and would not be made available."
Is anyone willing to bet that the date on those sealed records corresponds with the timeline of Obama's visit to Kenya?
[crickets]
Denmark: Torture Accused Sent to Psych Hospital Indefinitely
The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges, telling the court he had never wanted to cause her any harm. He maintains that the two are still in love with each other.
If it doesn't hurt, it can't be love! [/sarcasm]
Netherlands: Moroccan Teen Crime Summit Yields Nothing
The meeting produced no other results, apart from pleas for more ‘care’ for the ‘deprived youngsters.’
While I'm sure these misguided wingnuts want to give the thugs in question some Tender Loving 'Care', they would probably benefit even more from some plain old-fashioned "tenderizing" (AKA "parking lot therapy").
The Netherlands: Dumping Brides Could Become Illegal
Nothing that couldn't be cured with a lecture tour by Lorena Bobbitt.
Syria: Asma Assad, No More Excuses for Poverty
“Poverty is a disease” the wife of Syrian president Bashar Assad added. “This is the reason why we have wars and terrorism. Terrorists, fundamentalists find in poverty a reservoir on which to hit, where to find followers.
I wonder if Ms. Assad has ever bothered to take a dekko at this map of global corruption.
The principal cause of her much bewailed poverty is corruption. Out of 163 countries ranked, Ms. Assad's beloved Syria is NUMBER 93, in the BOTTOM THIRD PERCENTILE (2.9 out of 10.0) and bracketed by such African cesspits as Tanzania and Swaziland.
All of which goes a long way towards explaining why Syria is a major source and sponsor of international terrorism. Methinks Ms. Assad should treat herself to a tall, cool, foamy, refreshing glass of STFU.
Israel & the Palestinians: Ending the Stalemate
Indeed, even if the outgoing Bush administration and the lame duck Olmert government manage to sign a peace treaty with the increasingly powerless remnants of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, that achievement is liable to be quickly eclipsed by violence that will follow the signing ceremony. The likely upsurge in Palestinian violence against Israel, in turn, will demonstrate that the Administration’s stated aim of establishing a Palestinian state-an aim which is supported by the Israeli government-has little relevance to the nature of the Palestinian conflict with Israel. [emphasis added]
Precisely none of which deters, in the least, any of our moron politicians from continuing to pursue the chimera of Arab-Israeli peace.
'Arab-Israeli peace' being almost as great of an oxymoron as 'Muslim integrity'.
Indeed, the aftershocks of such an agreement will make clear that both Israel and the United States are basing their policies towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on false assumptions about the nature of that conflict.
That is because the Palestinians are not engaged in any sort of conflict. Their sole intent is genocide of which nothing less is acceptable. A manifestly obvious notion that the vast majority of Western leaders wouldn't recognize even if it bit them on the neck.
Iran Economy Facing ‘Perfect Storm’
One word: Khodkafa'i
Netherlands Plunges in Ranking Order for Press Freedom
How many of the countries ranked above the Netherlands (apparently *all* European - what about the US or Korea or Japan?) - are ones that Bruce Bawer or Fjordman have previously referred to as "anything but free" - who merely parrot the party line, etc.
In Malaysia Fatwa Condemns Tomboys
It was not immediately clear what kind of punishment awaited those who violate the tomboy fatwa ...
They'll shave off their moustaches.
UK: Hapless Immigration Minister is Hit With a Custard Pie as He Repeats Pledge to Keep Uk’s Population Below 70 Million
The group say they believe in free transport regardless of borders and say their actions were a response to the Minister’s recent comments.
A very simple cure for this is to move in Muslim immigrants next door to every member of the 'No Borders' group. Problem solved.
Solution to Global Financial Crisis is in Quran Says Worldwide Islamic Leader
The Holy Quran guided us by saying avoid interest because interest is such a curse that it is a danger for domestic, national and international peace.”
Far be it from Mr. Ahmad to recognize how lack of profitable investment is what has rendered the entire MME (Muslim Middle East) an economic wasteland.
If one subtracts the MME's petroleum-based revenues, its entire annual industrial output is on the order of some $500 million. A figure that telecom company Nokia handily surpasses every year.
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