News about the bomb explosions at two hotels in Jakarta came in just as I was getting the news feed ready to post. One of the hotels, the Marriott, was the target of an earlier attack back in 2003.At least nine people were killed in the explosions. The blasts were almost certainly carried out by a local Al Qaeda affiliate. One expert believes that Jemaah Islamiah is probably responsible for them.
The Australian and Indian newspaper sites are likely to be the best places to watch for breaking news on this story.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, DK, Earl Cromer, ESW, Fausta, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, islam o’phobe, JCPA, JD, TB, The Lurker from Tulsa, Tuan Jim, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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“Thinly-Veiled Threats”? White House Suggests Arizona Republicans Put Up or Shut Up
In a coordinated response to comments made by an Arizona Republican senator calling for a the stimulus bill to be halted, the Obama administration this week coordinated a series of letters to the governor of Arizona, with the implicit message: put up or shut up.
Arizona Republicans responded that the White House was bullying their state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Higher Taxes, Anyone?
WASHINGTON — Economic policy, which became startling when Washington began buying automobile companies, has become surreal now that disappointment with the results of the second stimulus is stirring talk about the need for a … second stimulus. Elsewhere, it requires centuries to bleach mankind’s memory; in Washington, 17 months suffice: In February 2008, President George W. Bush and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who normally were at daggers drawn, agreed that a $168 billion stimulus — this was Stimulus I — would be the “booster shot” the economy needed. Unemployment then was 4.8 percent.
In January, the administration, shiny as a new dime and bursting with brains, said that unless another stimulus — Stimulus II wound up involving $787 billion — was passed immediately, unemployment, which then was 7.6 percent, would reach 9 percent by 2010. But halfway through 2009, the rate is 9.5. For the first time since the now 16-nation Eurozone was established in 1999, the unemployment rate in America is as high as it is in that region, which Americans once considered a cautionary lesson in the wages of sin, understood as excessive taxation and regulation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Economy Most Dependent on Construction in Eurozone
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 13 — The Spanish economy is that which among other countries in the Eurozone continues to be more dependent on construction, in spite of the serious crisis that has brought the sector to its knees over the last two years. Construction, which in March 2008 contributed to 10.9% of GDP, in the first quarter of this year carried 10.3% of GDP, double the 5.8% of GDP level that the sector occupies in other Eurozone countries, according to data released by Eurostat, quoted today in the Spanish press. In the face of the decline in the construction of new buildings and homes, the financial injection for public works supported by the central government, through financing to the autonomous regions, allows for the support of the sector, even if many analysts doubt whether this dynamism can continue once the projects have been completed. Both in the Eurozone and Europe at 27, the sector’s weight is at 5.8% of GDP, in spite of the many Eastern European countries that receive European structural funding, and is continually increasing. Only in Romania, which currently shows an authentic real estate boom, does construction have a weight on GDP comparable to that of Spain in Europe at 27 members. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
World Bank Warns of Deflation Spiral
The World Bank has given warning that global economy will fall into a “deflationary spiral” unless urgent action is taken to reduce high levels of excess capacity in industry.
Justin Lin, the bank’s chief economist, said factories running idle around world threaten to trap economies in a vicious cycle, risking further spasms of financial stress, requiring yet more rescue packages.
“Significant excess capacity has been built up and unless this issue is addressed, we will face a deflationary spiral and the crisis will become protracted,” he told an audience in Cape Town.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Affirmative Action President, Affirmative Action Judge
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is taking up the nomination of Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. In early June, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor to the Court to fill a vacancy being left by Justice David Souter.
The opening statements of Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings on Monday were enough to trigger projectile vomiting; these oligarchs made the nominee out to be a latter-day Helen Keller. Sotomayor is a Puerto Rican and a self-described “product of affirmative action” who was admitted to two Ivy League schools despite scoring lower on standardized tests than her classmates.
When affirmative action was in its nascent stage in the early 1970s, those who saw it for what it was and opposed implementation of related guidelines and policies were branded as racists. This standard operating procedure on the part of progressives (intimidation and invective directed at those who oppose them) is a technique that is still being used quite effectively today.
[…]
On July 14, Obama sent a mass e-mail to Americans (which he encouraged recipients to share) extolling Sotomayor’s virtues. Those segments addressing Sotomayor’s professional history and qualifications that were not patently fallacious were wholly subjective. Obama has called Sotomayor one of the most qualified nominees the Court has ever had. Upon examination, it is obvious that Sotomayor is one of the least qualified nominees the Court has ever seen. Twenty-five years after Orwell’s “1984,” we have achieved his dark vision of society: Lies are truth, simply because government says so.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Al Gore and Friends Create Climate of McCarthyism
DISCUSSIONS about global warming are marked by an increasing desire to stamp out “impure” thinking, to the point of questioning the value of democratic debate. But shutting down discussion simply means the disappearance of reason from public policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
American Idle: Stopping the “Prison Rape” Epidemic
A rash of articles has surfaced deploring pervasive rape among inmates in U.S. jails and prisons. The July 8 opinion piece in the Washington Times by Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International (formerly Stop Prisoner Rape) inadvertently highlighted two national disgraces: prison rapes and the U.S. rate of prisoner release, a shocking 95 percent of all inmates. If this statistic is even close to accurate, no wonder our nation’s streets are awash in violent crime by repeat offenders with long “rap sheets.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brent Bozell: PBS and Health-Care Hypocrites
Struggling to sell a “public option” of socialized medicine on America, the left needs demons. So here comes, right on time, the focus on all the “lies” that free-market “front groups” are pushing on the failures of nationalized health care in countries like Canada and Great Britain.
These leftists are shameless. Their intellectual dishonesty is boundless. One wonders if socialized medicine might include treatment for this condition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Can Obama Spell “Failure”?
Barack Obama is an urban rube. And he surrounds himself with likeminded —- or, I should say, like-impassioned —- urban rubes. Some fancy these people sophisticated, but while they give the illusion of sophistication, they possess none of its substance. They were simply raised wrong and rendered bereft of logic, as they never learned to subordinate emotion to reason so that the former wouldn’t cloud the latter…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dems Sneaking ‘Hate Crimes’ Through on Soldiers’ Bill?
Piggybacking controversial act onto military funding legislation
Democrats are expected to sneak the hate crimes bill through the Senate as early as tomorrow after they offered it as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill.
The Senate approved the same hate crime legislation last year as part of the military funding bill, but it was never reconciled with the House’s bill.
The current House version — H.R. 1913, or the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 — was passed April 29 and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Now the Senate is considering the military appropriations bill, or S.1390, and the Senate “hate crimes” act, or S. 909, may be passed as an amendment soon.
The “hate crimes” legislation now faces its best chance in years to become federal law.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Free Speech Plan Booted by House Committee
An amendment proposed to the Financial Services Appropriation Bill that would have protected free speech by preventing the Federal Communications Commission from restoring the so-called Fairness Doctrine regulations to U.S. airwaves has been rejected by members of a U.S. House committee.
“Unfortunately, Democrats on the Rules Committee decided that the freedom of speech, though enshrined in the Constitution, is not a right they were willing to afford their colleagues in the House,” said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who along with Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., sponsored the plan.
“I am profoundly disappointed,” Pence said.
The Rules Committee voted 8-4 along party lines to reject the amendment that would have halted any proposals by the FCC that would restore the Fairness Doctrine, which was abandoned in 1987 under President Reagan.
Pence explained in a website statement that the First Amendment “is not a partisan issue; the preservation of constitutional freedoms should be the paramount duty of every elected representative and should take precedence over partisan gamesmanship or heavy-handedness.”
[…]
Syndicated talk radio host Roger Hedgecock of San Diego, who was picked by members of the American Radio Free Speech Foundation to be the chief of its Don’t Touch My Dial campaign, has said censorship, racial quotas for radio stations and other new demands from the government are inevitable if Genachowski is confirmed.
Hedgecock said there are several reasons he’s worried:
1. “Genachowski will CENSOR talk radio hosts. 2. “Genachowski will CENSOR and REGULATE Internet speech.” 3. “Genachowski will force RACIAL QUOTAS on broadcast companies.”
“America is at a crucial crossroads,” Hedgecock said. “Our First Amendment rights are under attack on every front — from the Fairness Doctrine, to Net neutrality, to diversity and localism mandates for radio broadcasters. Our actions on these critical issues over the coming months will seal our fate for a long, long time to come.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Health-Care Competition
The statist establishment would love a single-payer health-care system like Canada’s if it were politically achievable. Barack Obama said that if we were starting from scratch, single payer is what he’d back. But, thankfully, Americans are still libertarian enough to cringe at turning the medical system entirely over to government.
So with single payer out of reach, the fans of government control have grabbed for second best: the “public option.” This would be government-run health insurance that would “compete” with private insurance. (It wouldn’t compete fairly because it could do something no private firm can do: milk the captive taxpayers.) But the public option is proving hard to get. Even some Democrats are nervous about it.
What’s a statist to do?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Obama’s Science Czar a Crackpot?
Does Obama’s science adviser advocate compulsory abortions and putting chemicals into the water supply to sexually sterilize human beings? Some well-known conservative bloggers and columnists have recently been repeating this information, based on revelations on a website strangely called Zombietime. But an analysis by Accuracy in Media has determined that some of the most sensational charges against Dr. John P. Holdren fall short of the mark. Still, he has a lot to answer for, including his belief in a “Planetary Regime” to manage the world.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man With HIV Says Fort Lauderdale Doctor Refused to Do Hair Transplant
FORT LAUDERDALE — A man with HIV is suing a Fort Lauderdale business he says refused to give him a hair transplant when they learned about his condition.
Diego Del Rio, 28, of Hialeah, said he met Dr. Brett Bolton at Age Defying Surgical Center in June and asked him for the procedure, but the center rebuffed him several weeks later because he was HIV positive.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Rewrites the Cold War
The President has a duty to stand up to the lies of our enemies.
There are two different versions of the story of the end of the Cold War: the Russian version, and the truth. President Barack Obama endorsed the Russian version in Moscow last week.
Speaking to a group of students, our president explained it this way: “The American and Soviet armies were still massed in Europe, trained and ready to fight. The ideological trenches of the last century were roughly in place. Competition in everything from astrophysics to athletics was treated as a zero-sum game. If one person won, then the other person had to lose. And then within a few short years, the world as it was ceased to be. Make no mistake: This change did not come from any one nation. The Cold War reached a conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, and because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe stood up and decided that its end would be peaceful.”
The truth, of course, is that the Soviets ran a brutal, authoritarian regime. The KGB killed their opponents or dragged them off to the Gulag. There was no free press, no freedom of speech, no freedom of worship, no freedom of any kind. The basis of the Cold War was not “competition in astrophysics and athletics.” It was a global battle between tyranny and freedom. The Soviet “sphere of influence” was delineated by walls and barbed wire and tanks and secret police to prevent people from escaping. America was an unmatched force for good in the world during the Cold War. The Soviets were not. The Cold War ended not because the Soviets decided it should but because they were no match for the forces of freedom and the commitment of free nations to defend liberty and defeat Communism.
[…]
Mr. Obama’s method for pushing reset around the world is becoming clearer with each foreign trip. He proclaims moral equivalence between the U.S. and our adversaries, he readily accepts a false historical narrative, and he refuses to stand up against anti-American lies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Puts Arms Control at Core of New Strategy
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has moved nuclear deterrence to the top of the national-security agenda — and in his dealings in the past month with Iran, North Korea and Russia, revealed the issue to be an organizing principle to his foreign policy.
[Comments from JD: End result will be a disarmed America; while the enemies of US will not be disarmed. This is the Communists’s dream. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Orders Soldier Fired for Challenging Prez
Army warrior terminated from job after questioning Obama eligibility
The Department of Defense has compelled a private employer to fire a U..S. Army Reserve major from his civilian job after he had his military deployment orders revoked for arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.
According to the CEO of Simtech Inc., a private company contracted by the Defense Security Services, an agency of the Department of Defense, the federal government has compelled the termination of Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook.
Cook’s attorney, Orly Taitz, wrote in her blog that Simtech CEO Larry Grice said he would try to find another position within the company for Cook, but nothing is currently available.
The Department of Defense does contracting in the general field of information technology/systems integration, at which Cook, a senior systems engineer and architect, was employed until taking a military leave of absence on July 10 in preparation for his deployment to Afghanistan.
“Grice told plaintiff, in essence, that the situation had become ‘nutty and crazy,’ and that plaintiff would no longer be able to work at his old position,” Taitz wrote.
Grice made clear that it was Defense Security Services that had compelled Simtech to fire Cook, Taitz wrote.
According to the report, Grice told Cook “there was some gossip that ‘people were disappointed in’ the plaintiff because they thought he was manipulating his deployment orders to create a platform for political purposes.”
The Simtech CEO then discussed Cook’s expectation of final paychecks, without any severance pay, and wished the soldier well.
Messages left with Grice’s office had not been returned at the time of this report…
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
State Alleges Educational Neglect Against Mom
But agency backs off because child isn’t old enough for school
A Wyoming mother found guilty of educational neglect because her daughter wasn’t registered in school and there were no records the family was homeschooling has been cleared after state officials discovered the daughter wasn’t old enough for school.
The woman first learned of her troubles with the state when she received a letter from the Wyoming Department of Family Services stating it already had investigated her and found her guilty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Suspect Arrested in Tulsa Bomb Threat
TULSA, OK — Tulsa Police have made an arrest in a bomb threat to the Tulsa Jewish Retirement Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Police say 22-year-old Christopher Stefanalli was arrested and booked into the Tulsa County jail Thursday morning.
On Tuesday, the Tulsa Police Bomb Squad was called to the center at 2025 East 71st Street after getting a bomb threat.
The police report states the caller said, “there is a bomb in the building.”
Police say Stefanalli made the call from his phone. He told officers he made the call after arguing with an employee of the center of with whom he had a relationship.
Stefanalli was booked into jail on a complaint of making a threat by phone.
| — Hat tip: The Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
What Obama Meant by ‘Change’
We all know Barack Obama’s roots.
We all know what he did to pave the way to the presidency
We all know the company he kept.
Obama was a Chicago “community organizer” who rubbed shoulder with some of the most radical and revolutionary socialists and communists of our time.
One of his inspirations was Saul Alinsky, author of the infamous “Rules of Radicals,” a book he actually dedicated in its original manuscript form to Lucifer.
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”
Alinsky is living in that kingdom now, eternally I trust — having died 14 years ago.
It was Alinsky’s Chicago disciples who took the young Obama under their wings. Though Alinsky was as subversive as they come, he believed in “working within the system” to achieve his Marxist-Satanist goals.
And this is what we need to understand about the way Obama is leading the country today. Many of us look around and wonder if America can ever recover. We wonder why he’s moving so fast toward his goals of killing the free-enterprise system. We wonder why we’ve never seen anything like this before.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will Republicans Expose the Two Sotomayors?
Sonia Sotomayor’s opening statement at her Supreme Court confirmation hearing was, to many ears, brief and boilerplate. But to Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans listening intently just a few feet away, Sotomayor drew a map for the questioning they hope will expose the fundamental flaws in her judicial views.
The theme Republicans will stress is this: Which is the real Sonia Sotomayor? The one testifying before the committee or the one who’s been giving speeches and writing legal opinions for nearly two decades?
“If you look at her opening statement, there are places where she is attempting, on the eve of her confirmation, to do a 180 on things she has said over the years,” says one senior Republican aide. “Should we believe what she’s said repeatedly in the past — long before she was nominated to the court — or should we believe what she said on the opening day of her confirmation hearing?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Stitch-Up at the European Parliament
IS political stability compatible with democracy? At the extremes, clearly not: you do not need a crystal ball to predict which party will control the National People’s Congress in China next year, or in 2012, and that is not a good thing. Anarchy is not great for democracy either. Between the two poles, the cursor slides around: but surely as a guiding principle one is entitled to be suspicious of politicians who call for a version of “stability” that just happens to suit their personal interests…and then turn round and declare they are acting to defend democracy.
That just happened here in Strasbourg, where I am at the first session of the European Parliament after elections in June. The first decision to be taken by a new parliament is to elect a president. I confess that to me, this seems a thankless sort of post. Not least it involves punishing hours of listening to dull debates in the main chamber. There is behind the scenes influence, but the prizes are mostly protocol-based. If official visits to Kazakhstan or Laos are your thing, with children holding bouquets of flowers at the foot of the aircraft steps and a wailing motorcade into town, then parliament president is for you.
But still, it is hotly sought after, and so—this being the European Parliament—the post has been subjected to a stitch-up. Before any MEPs had arrived, the EPP (the main centre-right group which had a good election) stitched up a “technical agreement” with the S&D group (the main centre-left group, who had a terrible election) to divide the presidency of the parliament between them, with the EPP taking the first two and half years, and the S&D taking the second two and a half.
The leaders of the EPP, S&D and Liberal groups today put out a “common statement to the press” before a single MEP had voted for the new president, indicating how that vote (nominally a secret ballot) would end: with the election of Jerzy Buzek, a former Polish prime minister:
“Stressing their common commitment to strong pro-European values, and willing to guarantee the stability of the European Parliament as the deepest expression of European democracy and integration, they have agreed that the European Parliament shall be chaired by Mr Jerzy Buzek from the EPP Group for the first half of the 2009-2014 legislature, and by a Member appointed by the S&D Group for the second half of the legislature.”
In other words, a week is a long time in politics, but in the European Parliament, two and a half years is not long enough to engender the slightest uncertainty. Mr Buzek was duly elected today, and thanks to the second half of the deal, the party that lost the 2009 Euro-elections will appoint a president to take over from him at the end of 2011.
This is a trick used before, and the theory is that it shows the parliament is going to be run by a grand coalition of left and right (with the centrist liberals joining in, in exchange for a couple of plum committee posts), to guarantee that big bits of legislation can be passed by absolute majority.
Why is it so important to achieve an absolute majority, as opposed to a simple majority, which the EPP could probably achieve most of the time by striking a deal with the Liberals and the breakaway British Conservatives? Well, it betrays a distinctive vision of what the parliament is for. An absolute majority (ie a majority of all MEPs, and not just a majority of the MEPs present when a vote is taken), is what the parliament needs to overturn the combined will of the European Commission and national governments of the EU (on a first reading vote) and to amend legislation against the will of the national governments (on a second reading vote). And for many people in this sprawling parliamentary complex, their dream is biffing and bashing national governments as much as possible: people like Martin Schulz, the socialist (S&D) leader never fails to attack the “Council”, which is the body that gathers together the national members.
The cost of seeking the power to bash national governments is ideological coherency. The Socialists, Liberals and EPP have pretty different views of how to regulate financial markets, for example. At the elections in June, they told voters that they stood for radically different visions of regulation and capitalism. Yet now, in order to maximise parliamentary power, they are happy to bury those differences and form a grand coalition, rather than form something closer to a centre-right/liberal majority, with a socialist opposition.
Or, rather, they seek a different sort of ideological coherency. One of the interesting new forms of rhetoric going around here is the idea that there must be a grand alliance of “pro-European” parties. That is code for minimising the clout of the (mostly British) Eurosceptics from the new British Conservative led grouping, the European Conservatives and Reformists, and to their right the anti-European/anti-immigration group that joins the United Kingdom Independence Party to the Northern League of Italy, and other angry nationalist parties.
The Times grabbed a revealing interview with the outgoing president of the parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, in which he said:
“I think it is very important that the pro-European MEPs co-operate well so the anti-Europeans cannot make their voices heard so strongly.”
By anti-Europeans, he presumably means British Conservatives and everyone to their right, plus the hard-left.
So to sum up, it is more important for Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists to be able to defeat the massed national governments, and to marginalise British Eurosceptics, than to defend a coherent ideological line.
Does that make the European Parliament wicked? No. But it surely undermines that glib assertion at the heart of the “common statement” put out today, that the parliament is the “deepest expression of European democracy.” Note that the statement did not claim that the stitch-up over the parliament presidency was an expression of democracy. It said that the parliament is an expression of democracy: that is a telling distinction. Basically, MEPs convinced themselves long ago that they are the answer to the problem of the EU’s democratic deficit, therefore everything that makes them stronger advances the cause of European democracy.
But that is not true. Real, democratic parliaments with lots of competing parties do not stitch-up their top jobs for the next five years like this. The European Parliament is not really an expression of democracy. Instead, the European Parliament is the deepest expression of a form of supranational elected representation that people here in Strasbourg think of as democracy.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Air France Airbus Jets Have Above-Average Crash Rate
Secret aviation industry calculations have raised uncomfortable questions for Air France: Airbus aircraft belonging to the French carrier have an above-average rate of crashes. An internal report obtained by SPIEGEL criticizes the company’s safety culture.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark Plans Forces for Arctic
Denmark plans to set up an Arctic military command and task force because the melting of the ice cap is opening up access to the region’s resources.
Denmark’s activities will be focused on its vast ice-covered island Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Details of the plan, for the period 2010-2014, have emerged in recent days. Danish MPs approved it last month.
The retreat of sea ice is fuelling rivalry between Russia, Denmark and other nations bordering on the Arctic.
Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US are staking claims to Arctic territory, based on geological and other data collected in the region. The sovereignty claims are being submitted to the UN.
The Danish plan said the increasing activity in the Arctic “will change the region’s geostrategic significance and thus entail more tasks for the Danish Armed Forces”.
Denmark will set up a joint-service Arctic Command and is considering expanding the military base at Thule in northern Greenland, which was a vital link in US defences during the Cold War.
Denmark will also create an Arctic Response Force, using existing Danish military capabilities that are adapted for Arctic operations.
The defence plan also speaks of using combat aircraft for “surveillance and upholding sovereignty in and around Greenland”.
Copenhagen has ruled Greenland for three centuries. But Greenland — with just 57,000 inhabitants — now has a large degree of autonomy. It is set to take a greater share of the revenues from its natural resources.
Russia expects the Arctic to become its main source of oil and gas within the next decade and in March it announced plans to set up a military force to protect its interests there.
And in 2007 Canada announced plans to build two military facilities in the far north in a bid to assert its sovereignty in the Arctic.
The Arctic is estimated to contain as much as 25% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas, and global warming is opening up new drilling possibilities.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland Mulls EU Membership Talks
The government of Iceland plans to submit an application to join the European Union following a vote in the country’s parliament late on Wednesday (15 July).
The 63-member parliament was forecast to approve the government’s plan by a slim majority, despite opposition from the centre-right Independence Party, as well as from within the ruling left-leaning coalition.
A spokesperson said that the government intended to submit the formal application at or before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 27 July. Ambassadors of the EU’s 27 member states are now likely to consider the question next Thursday (23 July).
EU officials suggested that membership talks could progress more quickly than with the current candidates, although Iceland will have to go through the same steps.
Iceland is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), which gives members of the European Free Trade Association — except Switzerland — access to the European single market. The country has implemented around two-thirds of EU law.
But diplomats and European Commission officials predicted tough negotiations on fisheries, a sector that is not covered by the EEA.
Icelandic fishermen are resistant to any opening of the island’s waters to Spanish and French trawlers.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Al-Qaeda Threat Against MP Sparks Muslim Support
Rome, 6 July (AKI) — Italian MP and Muslim women’s rights activist Souad Sbai has received the support of hundreds of moderate Moroccan immigrant and Muslim groups after she received threats in an Internet video message by an alleged Al-Qaeda supporter in Italy.
“In the last few months, we have seen an outbreak of aggressive, extremist and terroristic Islam which is particularly dangerous,” said a statement signed by numerous immigrant and Muslim associations in support of Sbai.
“To try and hit the PdL (People of Freedom) MP is the equivalent of hitting all of us. That is why today we want to express our solidarity, but make it known that we are all Souad Sbai.”
Souad Sbai, MP for the ruling conservative People of Freedom party, went to court in June to defend herself against death threats, after a ‘fatwa’ or religious edict was issued against her.
“The intention to intimidate, slander and put in danger Souad Sbai, represents an evident attack against all of us, Muslim moderates, who have been for years working for the assertion of a culture of dialogue,” said the statement.
Sbai is also president of the Moroccan Women’s Association in Italy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Young Muslims Condemn Woman’s Murder in Germany
Rome, 13 July (AKI) — Young Italian Muslims have joined an emotional international debate, condemning the murder of an Egyptian woman in Germany. Young Muslims of Italy, or Giovani Musulmani d’Italia (GMI), said the attack raised serious questions about whether Muslims were safe in Europe.
“The perception now is that Europe is not a very safe place for those who practice a different faith and for Muslims in particular who feel it more than ever,” said the group in a statement released on Monday.
“The association of Young Muslims of Italy denounces for the umpteenth time the spread of Islamophobia which is now found throughout Europe,” read the statement.
The GMI said that this kind of crime “sows the seeds of racial hatred” and provokes further misunderstanding about Muslims and Islam.
Thirty-two year-old Egyptian national Marwa Sherbini died when she was stabbed multiple times by a German man in a courtroom in the eastern German city of Dresden on 1 July.
She was four months pregnant and killed in front of her husband and three-year old son in a crowded courtroom.
Sherbini had accused the man of racism in 2008 for allegedly calling her a terrorist, apparently because she wore the Hijab, or Muslim headscarf.
She made a complaint to police and was taking legal action in court when the man murdered her.
The murder has provoked widespread protests in Egypt and elsewhere. Following Sherbini’s funeral, an angry mob gathered outside the German embassy in Cairo and called Western civilisation “brutal and anti-Islamic”.
In Iran there were protests outside the German embassy in Tehran at the weekend as Berlin’s ambassador to Iran was asked to step up efforts to protect rights of minorities in Germany.
The Dubai-based TV network, Al-Arabiya, has called her a “veiled martyr” or “Hijab martyr” following her death.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday blamed Sherbini’s murder on the German government of chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The judge, the jury and the German government are responsible in this case,” said Ahmadinejad cited by Iranian offical news agency, Irna.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: North- South Gap ‘Worsening’
Some 700, 000 fled Mezzogiorno in 11 years
(ANSA) — Rome, July 16 — Italy’s north-south gap is worsening with businesses struggling and more southerners seeking jobs in the north, according to an annual report out Thursday.
In 2008 some 122,000 people left the south, making a total of 700,000 in the last 11 years, said the Association for the Development of Industry in the Mezzogiorno (SVIMEZ).
Many of the internal emigrants were graduates boasting “excellent” skills, it said.
The exodus came chiefly from the three regions of Campania, Puglia and Sicily, which accounted for 87% of the outflow.
There was also a 15.3% rise last year in the number of southerners, “mainly well-educated under-40s”, who commute to jobs in the north.
Long-term job seekers or people who had given up on finding jobs have boosted unemployment in the Mezzogiorno to some 22%, compared to 7.9% nationally.
The South has the lowest level of youth employment in the European Union, with just 17% of southerners between the ages of 15 and 24 in work.
The south was harder hit by the global recession than the north, with GDP down 3.6% and manufacturing output down 6%, while the growth rate of bank lending to firms fell from 14.9% to 7.9%, compared to a contraction from 12.4% to 10.2% in the north.
“The banking sector is still highly dependent on banks in the north,” SVIMEZ said.
Commenting on the report, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said “the north-south divide must be corrected”.
Opposition parties accused the government of doing “nothing” for the south, with one Communist party saying “the situation is pitch-black,” while trade unions called for “a change of direction”.
Economy Ministry Undersecretary Nicola Cosentino said the south “risks becoming a land populated by ghosts” and called for “a valid and tested development project and a new class of administrators”, especially in Campania, where the situation was “apocalyptic”.
He found encouragement, however, in the way the government sorted out the trash crisis in Naples last year. Top film director Mimmo Calopresti, a Calabrian native, said: “There’s a sense of fearful abandonment in the south, a desperate situation. It’s like a piece of Italy thrown into the sea”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Outrage Over UK Police Move to Go Soft on Muslim Extremists to Prevent Further Radicalisation
London, July 11 : In a bid to stop Muslim extremists from becoming more militant, the UK Government is set to issue a guideline for police, directing them not to charge them in many hate crime cases, a move that has created outrage amongst critics.
Guidelines will tell forces to press for conviction only in cases of clear-cut criminal acts, and refrain from proceeding when evidence of lawbreaking is ‘borderline.’
Officers will be advised to turn a blind eye on crimes such as incitement to religious hatred or viewing extremist material on the Internet.
‘For instance, where there has been incitement or someone has been on the internet there can be a grey area where there is some discretion and it would be more sensible to avoid going down the criminal route,’ the Daily Express quoted a White Hall source, as saying
Critics, however, saw the move as a politically correct attempt to appease extremists who hate Britain, and warned that the move could mean Islamic radicals being give the freedom to encourage violence.
‘This sounds like abject surrender. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of the law. They should all face the same risk of prosecution. There should be no special favours or treatment for any section of the community,’ Tory MP David Davies said.
The move follows an updated Home Office counter-terrorism strategy announced earlier this year.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Preventing people becoming radicalised is a key priority for the Government. The police response needs to be proportionate to deal with crimes people commit while reducing the risk to public safety.’
The new strategy is likely to reduce the likelihood of prosecutions against Islamist extremists protesting against troops.
| — Hat tip: ESW | [Return to headlines] |
Readers Debate Iceland’s EU Bid
The Icelandic parliament has narrowly voted in favour of the small Nordic nation joining the European Union.
The bid must now go to the EU for approval, after which Iceland’s voters will be asked to decide on it in a referendum.
Here, readers from Iceland consider the benefits and drawbacks of EU membership.
[…]
THORUNN SLEIGHT, 54, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
“I, along with most people I know, am very weary of the idea of Iceland joining the EU.
We are very fearful of losing our independence.
In such a large body, a small country like ours would be overwhelmed by the multitude. We would be handicapped in working for our best interests.
In addition, there is the fishing issue, which, although fishing is no longer the mainstay of our economy, is very important to all of us.
Fishing is our past, the source of much of our culture and traditions, the bastion of our security. We regard ourselves as responsible and successful stewards of the ocean.
We do not trust the EU not to screw things up with all their red tape, reams of regulations, and need to pander to the demands of all the other members.
Despite the outcome of the vote in parliament, I doubt very much that the general population will approve of Iceland joining the EU.”
[…]
SIGVALDI ASGEIRSSON, 59, BORGARNES, WESTERN ICELAND
“I don’t think Iceland should join the EU. I don’t like its bureaucratic ways and the way smaller countries are bullied by bigger ones.
The Icelandic domestic fishing zone is an important landmark in our struggle for economic sovereignty. This would be jeopardised by EU membership.
Agriculture would probably be decimated, which is not a good thing when you live on an island which is thinly populated and would like to preserve the relative healthy state of the island’s livestock.
Most importantly, we would not be able to adopt the euro for years to come, probably at least 30 years, as our sovereign debt is now inching over 200% of GNP and will take time to be lowered to the 60% required for joining the eurozone, under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty.
I am not optimistic about our being able to go it alone, but I would rather have it that way than join the EU, even if it meant economic hardship on a scale we have not seen for about 70 years.
Besides, I am not convinced that our economic crisis would be lessened as a member of the EU.
After all, we are richer than Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the Baltic countries.”
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Migration Board Bans ‘Racist’ Lawyer
An asylum lawyer and local politician from Skåne in southern Sweden has been blacklisted by the country’s migration authorities following revelations about his personal blog on which he referred to Islam as a “psychosocial disease”.
Back in June, the local Sydsvenskan newspaper drew attention to the racist and anti-immigrant views espoused on the personal blog of Hans-Ola Mårtensson, a lawyer previously contracted by the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) to represent the interests of asylum seekers.
“Tear down Rosengård, Hammarkullen and Tensta and send those living there to Norrland and Lappland [in Sweden’s far north]. There they can be integrated, learn Swedish, be de-Islamified, and be happy,” wrote Mårtensson, referring to areas in Malmö and Stockholm with high concentrations of immigrants.
The post is one among many on his blog which feature racist and anti-immigrant overtones. Following the newspaper’s report, however, Mårtensson elected to take down the blog.
According to the Migration Board, the revelations about Mårtensson’s views have damaged his credibility.
“It’s important for our representatives to have the confidence of asylum seekers and we don’t think that he does,” said acting Migration Board director Mikael Ribbenvik to the TT news agency.
In a response to migration officials, he argues that he is capable of drawing a line between his professional responsibilities and his private views.
But Ribbenvik rejected Mårtensson’s reasoning.
“That doesn’t work at all. When he goes public with those opinions and they can be viewed by asylum seekers, it damages not only his, but also our credibility with asylum seekers,” he said.
The Migration Board decision means that Mårtensson’s name has been added to a list of lawyers deemed inappropriate for working with the agency as advocates for asylum seekers or others who require legal representation.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Wants Member States to Reduce Duplication of Trials
The Swedish presidency suggest that trials of suspects could be moved between EU member states.
The Swedish presidency of the EU wants to reduce the duplication of trials involving cross-border crimes.. It is proposing that cases could be transferred from one member state to another to avoid overlap. But civil liberties campaigners are alarmed.
The Swedish presidency proposal, which is backed by 15 other member states, is also aimed at moving cases where evidence would be more easily collected, if there is a need to visit a scene or to where witnesses or victims live. A case could also be transferred if it would “improve the prospects for social rehabilitation of the person sentenced”, the proposal says. The law could be used instead of transferring a suspect to another member state under the European arrest warrant.
There would be no obligation on member states to transfer a case. “The proposed action aims to achieve the better determination of the place of the criminal proceedings and the increased transparency and greater objectivity in the way in which the place for the trial is chosen,” says an explanatory report on the proposal. Scepticism
But some member states remain sceptical. The UK and Ireland do not see the need for it, since they can already stop criminal proceedings if another member state is bringing a case against the same suspect. Other member states, such as Germany and Poland, would have to change their laws before adopting the proposal since their authorities must pursue a case once a crime is reported.
Jodie Blackstock of Justice, a civil liberties group, questioned the purpose of the proposal and warned that it could lead to member states transferring cases to reduce costs on their justice systems. Member states might also transfer cases to other states where police powers to seize evidence are stronger. “It is very prosecution-centred,” she said.
The proposal would also highlight the difference between member states judicial systems and that there are still no minimum standards of rights for suspects across the EU. “Member states are geared up to fight crime, but not geared up to the differences between each others’ systems,” Blackstock said.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Man Attacked by Tattooed Girl Gang
Police in central Sweden are on the hunt for a gang of tattooed women who sexually molested a 50-year-old man as he was riding by on his bicycle.
The incident took place around 9pm on July 8th as the man was cycling down Vintergatan in central Örebro, the Aftonbladet newspaper reports.
Suddenly, someone grabbed hold of the rack on the back of the man’s bike, causing him to fall to the ground.
“The girls ran up to him and pulled the bicycle down so he fell,” Örebro police spokesperson Annika Haaster told the newspaper.
As the man was lying defenceless on the ground, the women proceeded to pull off his trousers and underwear and molest him sexually before fleeing the scene.
According to police, the 50-year-old was not otherwise beaten or physically assaulted by the gang of five girls.
The victim told police that the girl who actually pulled down the bicycle was about 175 centimetres (5 feet, 7 inches) tall and had tattoos on her forearms.
Authorities are hoping that tips from the public can help them apprehend the suspects responsible for the bizarre attack.
“It’s downright unusual for five girls [to do something like this]. Perhaps there are others who’ve had the same thing happen to them,” Haaster told Aftonbladet.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Extremist Should be ‘Re-Educated’
A CONTROVERSIAL councillor has urged Burton’s Muslim community not to ostracise an activist dubbed ‘an extremist’ for taking part in a protest which appalled the nation.
The Mail revealed on Thursday how Zakeel Abbas took part in a widely condemned extremist protest against British soldiers returning from Iraq during a parade in Luton.
The protesters had to be protected by police from an angry mob after they brandished posters and shouted abuse at the Anglian Regiment soldiers, calling them ‘baby murderers’ and saying they would go to hell.
The incident has sparked retaliatory protests against Islamic extremism and marches supporting the troops in Luton, one of which ended up in a riot after being infiltrated by extremist right-wing groups.
However, Khadim Thathall, who represents Shobnall on East Staffordshire Borough Council, said Mr Abbas was not representative of all Muslims in Burton.
He said: “Firstly, I would like to thank the Mail for exposing part of the extremist minority in the Muslim community.
“I can assure the people of Burton that 99.9 per cent of Muslims in this town are a peace-loving people who contribute to society.
“I would hate for people to tar all Muslims with the same brush as those who took part in that terrible protest.
“I’ve lived in Burton since the age of 10 and, until very recently, I have never known of any remotely extremist activity in the town.” Mr Abbas had claimed he was discriminated against on the grounds of his religion after being accused of erecting posters encouraging attacks on non-Muslims.
Police unsuccessfully raided the 32-year-old’s Sydney Street home in April, 2008, prompting him to set up a support group for those he claimed were being ‘persecuted for being Muslim’.
But Mr Abbas was subsequently pictured protesting with Islamist group Al Muhajiroun on May 5.
When questioned by the Mail, he first denied being present at the Luton protest — until being confronted with photographic evidence.
He then conceded he was there, but said he was protesting for the innocent Iraqi children killed in the war.
However, Councillor Thathall, who recently came under fire for failing to attend parish council meetings in his Shobnall ward, has urged his community not to ostracise Mr Abbas and his associates.
He said: “It’s important that these people are not excluded and isolated, or their views will become even more extreme.
“They need to be brought in from the wilderness and re-educated to become part of our peaceful, co-operative community.” Councillor Thathall has recently faced calls to quit his post after being found guilty of professional misconduct while working at a ‘cowboy’ law firm.
He was president of the Imam Jamia mosque, in Princess Street, between 1990 and 1999.
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Leeds Burglar Trapped by a Cut Finger
A BUNGLING burglar was caught after he cut his finger and left blood at the scene of his crime.
Ashraf Waliyat smashed a window to get into the student house in Headingley Crescent, Leeds, and made off with a £1,600 haul including four laptops.
But he left behind a smear of blood on a windowsill — a DNA “calling card” which allowed police to identify him almost immediately.
When he was arrested Waliyat maintained his innocence, offering up a bizarre story that his gloves had been stolen from his coat.
They just happened to have been soaked in his blood, he attested.
Brought before Leeds Crown Court, he pleaded not guilty to the burglary which took place on December 6 last year.
Vulnerable
However, just before his trial was due to take place, he changed his mind and admitted the crime.
Prosecuting, James Lake said when interviewed by police Waliyat had denied ever visiting the property.
He said: “Trying to account for the blood (Waliyat] said his gloves had been stolen from his coat and they had been soaked in this blood. He denied cutting his finger in the burglary.”
The court was told Waliyat, 38, from Autumn Terrace, Burley, Leeds, had a long history of offending including for drugs, theft and shoplifting.
In mitigation, Timothy Jacobs said his client was vulnerable and had contact with mental health services.
He was also on a drug intervention programme and was making progress, he added. Judge Mr Recorder Bernard Gateshill adjourning the case for a psychiatric report on Waliyat.
He told him: “It seems to me that the court would have benefit from a psychiatric report about you. Clearly you have had troubles in the recent past.
“The fact I am adjourning your case for a report shouldn’t be taken by you as any indication of what your sentence will be. It is quite likely to be a custodial sentence.”
Waliyat is expected to be sentenced next month.
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Charged Over Shooting
A MAN has been charged after a town centre shooting.
Khalil Mohammed, 27, of South Street, Rochdale, has been charged with attempted murder after a 26-year-old man was shot in the leg on Yorkshire Street at 12.50am last Friday.
He was due before magistrates in the town this morning.
The victim was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition.
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Girl ‘Gang Raped’ In Horror Attack on Playing Field After School Prom
A schoolgirl was ‘gang raped’ by six youths on a playing field after her college end-of-year party, it was claimed today.
The alleged assault happened on a village recreation ground behind Swavesey Village College, in Swavesy, Cambridgeshire, just hours after the teenager left the school prom.
It is believed she was seriously sexually assaulted multiple times over several hours between 1am and 4am on the morning of June 28.
Three 17-year-olds and three 18-year-olds have been arrested and questioned by Cambridgeshire Police following the incident.
The parent of a student at the college, which has 1,175 pupils aged 11-16, said pupils have been quizzed about a ‘gang rape’.
The father, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘My son said people at the school had been questioned about a “gang rape”. I was really shocked.
‘It is not what you expect your teenage son to come back from school and report.’
A spokesman for the Swavesey college said: ‘The school is aware of a police investigation that we are supporting fully.
‘It would be inappropriate to comment further while that investigation is ongoing.’
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the arrests.
She said: ‘Officers are investigating a serious sexual assault which took place at Swavesey recreation ground on Sunday, June 28.
‘Six men have been arrested and bailed in connection with the incident.’
The three youths and three men have since been released on police bail and are due to return to Parkside police station, in Cambridge, on Tuesday, September 1.
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: More Then 240 000 Pensioners on Poverty Line
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, JULY 14 — More than 240,000 pensioners in Serbia live with less than RSD11,100 (around EUR117) of income monthly, whereas the May pension cheques for 2,717 of elder citizens exceeded RSD72,300 (around EUR761), reports Tanjug news agency. According to the data of the Serbia’s Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance (PIO), a total of 183,986 pensioners, mostly farmers, live with pensions of RSD8,400 (around EUR88). Among the pensioners with income of RSD72,321 dinars (around EUR 761), pursuant to special regulations, are former employees of the Republic and Federal Interior Ministry (469), the World War ll participants and testimonial holders (378), academics (15) and former employees of the Foreign Ministry (13). A total of 1,587,413 pensioners make up one of the seven most jeopardized categories of population in Serbia, as their receivings are mainly on, or below the poverty line. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Moroccan Journalist Turned Back at Algiers Airport
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, JULY 15 — A Moroccan journalist working for the weekly ‘Assahra Al Ousbouia’ was refused entry to Algeria on arrival at Algiers airport yesterday and constrained to make the return trip to Morocco. The MAP press agency’s report of the story cites sources inside the paper. Yahya Ben Tahar arrived in Algiers yesterday to do a reportage on the invitation of several NGOs. He had already made a series of appointments to interview students at the university. The journalist was stopped at the airport and interrogated by police, who were interested most of all in his contacts in Algeria and the names of the persons with whom he had made appointments. A few hours later the journalist was forced to return to Morocco on a flight bound for Casablanca. The Western Sahara has been a bone of contention between the countries for decades now. Algeria backs the independence claims made by the Polisario Front. Rabat, while prepared to grant a large degree of autonomy, wants it to remain under Moroccan sovereignty. Talks leading to a fifth round of negotiations on the matter are lined up to take place in Vienna at the end of this month. Four rounds of talks that have been held since 2007 in Manhasset, not far from New York, under the aegis of the United Nations, have led to nothing with neither side budging from its position. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
No Islamic Attire by Pool, Egypt Tells Norwegian
A Norwegian Muslim woman has filed a complaint with her embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo after a beach resort banned her from swimming in the pool because she was wearing an Islamic bathing suit.
Caroline Boston has vowed to never return to Egypt after she went to spend her summer vacation in the Muslim country, where she says she was insulted and disrespected.
“When I was heading to the swimming pool with the headscarf, the hotel security stopped me,” she told Al Arabiya in a phone interview. “They said that according to the rules I was not allowed to be in the pool with the veil.”
Caroline, who was staying at the Carlos Hotel in the Mediterranean city of Marsa Matrouh, went to the hotel administration where she was told that the rules are from the Ministry of Tourism and that only women in Western style bathing suits are allowed in the pool area.
“It is very ironic that in Norway and Sweden I have no problem swimming with the Islamic bathing suit. How could they stop me in Egypt which is one of the most important Muslim countries in the world, the center of moderate Islam, and the place of al-Azhar?” she said referring to the world’s leading university of Sunni Islam.
“Animal’s cage”
Ali al-Morshedi, a Norwegian businessman of Egyptian origin, said Caroline is his friend’s daughter and his family is hosting her in Cairo.
“When she was about to enter the pool area, the security told her that there is a swimming pool for veiled women in the hotel. When we went to this other pool, she refused to swim there,” Morshedi told Al Arabiya.
“The pool was surrounded with brown glass and looked like an animals’ cage,” Caroline said. “This is against humanity and that is why I refused to swim in it.”
Caroline has vowed to never go back to Egypt after what happened.
“I was shocked and I feel insulted. How come Muslim women are free in European countries and are restricted in a Muslim country.”
Caroline added that the Islamic bathing suit she uses, which covers all the body, prevents bacteria and contaminated water from entering to her body.
Designed for Europeans
Morshedi said the hotel’s administration told them they were following the ministry’s rules, which force five-star hotels to ban veiled women from entering pool areas designed for Europeans.
“The hotel administration gave us an official document to submit to the Norwegian embassy,” Morshedi said. “We called the ambassador and he promised to discuss the issue with the Egyptian government.”
Morshedi expressed his surprise that in countries like France veiled women are allowed into the pool and some places even designate special ‘woman only’ days to cater to all.
“To ban the swimming of veiled women altogether is unacceptable, especially in a Muslim country like Egypt,” he said.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Carfagna at Yad Vashem, Holocaust Horror Never Again
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, JULY 15 — A brief message in the visitors’ book at the Holocaust memorial museum, Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, to express her “compassion” and her hope that everything possible is done so that “the horror” of the Nazi extermination of six million Jews “is never repeated”. This is the act that sealed Italian Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carafagna’s visit to Israel where she arrived yesterday to attend the premiere of La Scala’s Aida in Tel Aviv on behalf of the Italian Government as part of the city’s centenary celebrations, as well as several political meetings. Following a meeting with President Shimon Peres, who was invited as guest of honour to a G8 meeting on the fight against sexual abuse which Carfagna will shortly host in Italy, the minister laid a wreath of flowers in memory of the victims of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem and then visited the museum built to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. During the day she will also meet representatives from the Israeli community of Italian origin in Jerusalem before returning to Rome this evening. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Senate: Unanimous Yes to Shalit Liberation Motion
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 14 — The Italian Senate has unanimously approved a motion which commits the Italian government to work towards freeing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped in 2008 and who is still a prisoner of Hamas. The motion was presented by the extraordinary commission for human rights, which had heard Shalit’s father, Noam, on July 1. Noam had called on the government “to promote, in keeping with Italian foreign policy, any possible action which might free Gilad and encourage the peace process to move towards to a ‘two peoples, two states’ solution. There must be a reciprocal recognition of the suffering which both sides have been subjected to in all these years of conflict, and the high cost to human life.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Avinoam Sharon: Why is Israel’s Presence in the Territories Still Called “Occupation”?
(pdf file)
- When an armed force holds territory beyond its own national borders, the term “occupation” readily comes to mind. However, not all the factual situations that we commonly think of as “occupation” fall within the limited scope of the term “occupation” as defined in international law. Not every situation we refer to as “occupation” is subject to the international legal regime that regulates occupation and imposes obligations upon the occupier.
- The term “occupation” is often employed politically, without regard for its general or legal meaning. The use of the term “occupation” in political rhetoric reduces complex situations of competing claims and rights to predefined categories of right and wrong. The term “occupation” is also employed in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to advance the argument that Israel bears ultimate responsibility for the welfare of the Palestinians, while limiting or denying Israel’s right to defend itself against Palestinian terror, and relieving the Palestinian side of responsibility for its own actions and their consequences. The term is also employed as part of a general assault upon Israel’s legitimacy, in the context of a geopolitical narrative that has little to do with Israel’s status as an occupier under international law.
- Iraq was occupied by the Coalition forces from the spring of 2003 until June 28, 2004, at which time authority was handed over to the Iraqi Interim Government. At that point, Coalition forces remained in Iraq, but Iraq was no longer deemed occupied. If handing over authority to a Coalition-appointed interim government ended the occupation of Iraq, would the same not hold true for the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and Israel?
- Under the Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization of September 28, 1995, it would seem that at least those areas placed under the effective control of the Palestinian Authority, and from which Israel had actually withdrawn its military forces, could no longer be termed “occupied” by Israel. Moreover, since the continued presence of Israeli troops in the area was agreed to and regulated by the Agreement, that presence should no longer be viewed as an occupation. The withdrawal of all Israeli military personnel and any Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip, and the subsequent ouster of the Palestinian Authority and the takeover of the area by a Hamas government, surely would constitute a clear end of the Israeli occupation of Gaza. Nevertheless, even though Gaza is no longer under the authority of a hostile army, and despite an absence of the effective control necessary for providing the governmental services required of an occupying power, it is nevertheless argued that Israel remains the occupying power in Gaza…
| — Hat tip: JCPA | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Muslim: Attacks Against Christians in Iraq “Brutal Crimes”
Asghar Ali Engineer condemns the attacks in Baghdad against Christian churches. He emphasizes that violence “has nothing to do with the precepts of Islam” and is the work of “fundamentalists.” The scholar prays for the victims and families and hopes to promote a “peaceful and lasting co-existence.”
New Delhi (AsiaNews) — “I absolutely condemn the attacks on churches in the world. I am overwhelmed by feelings of sorrow and remorse at the news of attacks on churches in Iraq”. So says Asghar Ali Engineer, a Muslim scholar well-known in India for his struggles for human rights in Islam to AsiaNews commenting on the attack yesterday on the Christian community in Iraq. A series of car bomb struck seven Chaldean and Orthodox churches of the city of Baghdad, causing four deaths and about twenty wounded. The Indian scholar “as a human being and of Muslim faith” defines the attack as a “ brutal crime” “against the Christian religion, against humanity, that is not Islam, has nothing to do with the precepts of Islam. This is the work of fundamentalists. “ Here, below, the interview with Asghar Ali Engineer to AsiaNews:
How do you comment on the news of attack by al Qaeda to avenge the “martyr of the veil,” the pregnant Muslim woman killed in a court of Dresden by a German of Russian origin?
Terrorists have no law, they are people without a law. Whoever is behind al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, are extremist groups, which certainly do not represent the Muslim community. These terrorists act on their own, no law can govern them and revenge is something that has nothing to do with religion. A person with a religious sense, never seeks revenge, but forgiveness.
As a Muslim scholar, what would you like to say to Iraqi Christians?
As a human being, as a person of faith, and as a Muslim, with all of my being, I want to reiterate that this is a brutal crime. I pray for the victims, the dead and wounded, and I pray that Allah will console the families and relatives in mourning. I also pray for al Qaeda, because Allah grant them wisdom and ability to forgive.
How do you rate the conditions of the Christian minority in Iraq?
All minorities should be protected wherever they are in Iraq, India, Pakistan. The whole world should be aware of aggression against minorities, whoever they are: Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists … Their lives and their properties must be preserved and protected. The places of worship of religious minorities should be guaranteed.
Do you believe that this incident could undermine the Islamic-Christian dialogue?
The urgency of a peaceful coexistence is a matter of grave concern and as a result of these attacks it efforts to further strengthen the dialogue between Christians and Muslims at all levels becomes even more important: between spiritual leaders, as well as at a grass roots level. We must remove suspicion and distrust and work for a peaceful and lasting coexistence. All men of peace must seek dialogue and common understanding, we must also reject and condemn all forms of violence and work towards a society of peace , understanding and mutual respect.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Car Bomb Against Mosul Church as Mgr Warduni Calls Attacks in Baghdad Premeditated
In northern Iraq Our Lady of Fatima Church is hit; nearby Shia mosque is also damaged. Local sources warn of new attacks “against churches and monasteries”. A new Christian exodus is feared. For auxiliary bishop of Baghdad attacks were “organised”; he appeals for peace.
Baghdad (AsiaNews) — A car bomb exploded this morning near Our lady of Fatima Church in Mosul. So far no casualties have been reported but the building was seriously damaged. The incident is the latest in a wave of violence against Christian places of worship. Yesterday seven Chaldean and Orthodox Churches were hit in Baghdad.
The Chaldean Church of St Mary, in Sharaa Philistine, was the worst hit. It is where the patriarchal vicar of Baghdad, Mgr Sleimon Wardouni, officiates.
“The situation is serious. The attacks against churches were carried out in concert; a sign they were not random but premeditated and organised,” Mgr Warduni told AsiaNews.
For the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad the Church of St Mary was “heavily damaged” but “I am more concerned about the two young people who were killed in the blast. Damages can be repaired but the lives of the two young people who were coming out after Mass where they had prayed for peace . . . that is the saddest thing.”
“An atmosphere of mistrust and negativity prevails among Christians,” the bishop said. “What harm or misdeed have we done to deserve these attacks? Perhaps our fault is to want peace, to love everyone,” he added. “Let us pray that the world shakes off its apathy and firmly demands peace.”
This morning a car bomb also exploded in Mosul’s Faisalia neighbourhood. It hit Our Lady of Fatima Church as well as a nearby Shia mosque. For now the bomb’s target remains unclear.
However, a local source told AsiaNews that churches and monasteries have received threats and that police have warned about “new attacks.”
According to the source the new wave of violence could be connected to “the upcoming provincial elections in Iraqi Kurdistan” and be a warning “to the local Christian community about the vote.”
In Karakosh authorities have imposed a curfew, closing access point to and fro the town. In turn this might trigger another “Christian exodus from the city” after a period of relative calm that had convinced many families to return home.
For a source in Baghdad, who spoke to AsiaNews anonymously for security reasons, there is no connection between the attacks against churches, which have the hallmark of al-Qaeda, and the murder of a woman in Germany dubbed the “veil martyr”.
“There are many [unanswered] questions. I cannot exclude police complicity in the attacks against the churches,” the source said, since “Christian buildings are guarded by police and it is highly unlikely that anyone can get in them and place a bomb without anyone seeing him.”
In Baghdad there is talk about a “possible connection” between anti-Christian attacks and provincial elections in oil rich Kirkuk, an area that has become a major bone of contention between Arabs and Kurds.
“When elections are on the horizon Christians always become targets for attacks,” said the source.
This morning another car bomb exploded near the US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill as he travelled in a motorcade. The US diplomat was not injured and early reports indicate that no one was hurt.
According to the AsiaNews source, US presence in Iraq and support from the Christian world might provide another “possible explanation” for the attacks.
“Some fringe elements in the country view this close relationship as a betrayal of Iraq’s sovereignty or as taking a political position.” (DS)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Obama Administration Will ‘Talk Less and Do More’ About Democratization Than Bush Had Done
Commentary 01.07.2009 (USA)
After the disaster of George W. Bush’s politics of “encouraging Democracy”, in Iraq for example, which had the endorsement the neo-con magazine Commentary, political scientist Joshua Muravchik asks why the Obama administration seems to be eschewing goals of human rights and democracy. “Obama could have faulted the Bush administration for its ineffectiveness in promoting democracy and promised that his own team would do it better. Indeed, Michael McFaul, who handled democracy issues in the Obama campaign, declared after the election that the new administration would ‘talk less and do more’ about democratization than Bush had done. But when McFaul was appointed to the National Security Council staff, he was given the Russia portfolio rather than the job of overseeing democracy promotion. The latter task, which had been entrusted to senior staff during the Bush years, was given to no one.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: Hidden Enemy Working Through Facebook
‘Towards a secular Jordanian State’
Zionist and destructive Western elements that threaten Arab and Muslim society and Jordan in particular are on the rise. This view has been presented by a number of analysts to Fact International. Indications and warnings from these are that the “The Hidden Enemy” is being mobilized through the Facebook website.
The site has become a nest for people who intend to destroy the social fabric of Arab and Islamic states by seducing their people false attractions.
In Jordan, a youth movement activated through the Facebook calls for a secular Jordanian State. It is an attempt “To change and separate religion from the Jordanian State” for a purpose of “participation in international events and rejecting domination by the majority”.
The youth movement, which established a ‘group’ on Facebook, aims to reach the largest number of people who support secularism and its implementation in Jordan, in addition to attracting them into issues that will be solved by the secularism.
The total number of members, according to site is 160 members. According to the group administrators, they have attracted much support from Jordanian youth. The group received 100 members within a month of its establishment.
One administrator, Mansour Jaber, told Fact International, “Most members of the movement are Jordanian academics, university students and some from other professions.”
Jaber added, “Most of the topics that are being discussed are related to freedom in Jordan, especially the issues that are dominated by the religious laws and religious leaders. As an example, the subject of the poet Islam Sarhan, some members of the group supported the issue and others discuss the issue of religion in personal identification and the necessity to specify a person’s religion, while he is teenager, a period when he is not mature enough to make such a decision.”
The group also discusses the methods used by religious educators in the Jordanian school system who the members allege focus on creating an extremist religious generation rather than focusing on the educational values, the religious freedoms and freedom of expression. They believe that educators need to explore other issues, such as the domination of Islamists on some aspects of civil life and media.
Regarding the future projects of this group, Jaber said that the group “Towards a secular Jordanian State” aims to establish a new secular party in Jordan that works under sovereignty of the Jordanian law and constitution, the Jordanian regulations and laws. Nowadays, there is a discussion with some advocates by a person who has a good influence among the young people in Jordan and has external support to establish secular political party to be new in the Jordanian yard, which is willing to live.
Jaber added that the group is concentrating on Jordanian youth aged 15 to 24. He thinks that this group of the youth is capable of change from the beginning before their minds become filled with other thoughts of achieving illegal aims.
The hypothetical space
The activist in this group, Ahmad Al Ja’afreh said that the “gathering of the Jordanian secularists was established with appearance of the hypothetical space phenomenon that we live in nowadays”.
Al Ja’afreh added, “Most of the opinions and thoughts that had been dominating this region since the beginning of the history are rooted within Jordanian secularism.”
Al Ja’afreh believes that in the middle of the twentieth century, some political movements appeared which supported the concept of secularism, such as the Jordanian Communist Party, the democratic and popular Fronts. They worked together to spread these thoughts amongst the youth. Today, there are great thoughts of the secularism, which are represented by some Jordanian government and political personalities who have interests to support this method that will be road of the modern state, as he claims.
Al Ja’afreh told Fact International that it is possible to notice a focus by these personalities to open a voice for Jordanian secularists and stop pursuing them unless they are embarrassed by some Islamic streams. Some writers and thinkers who were attacked by the Islamic religious groups, who disagree with any concept, which is against their understanding of Islam. They encounter the concepts with every possible tactic, according to him.
This group, which calls itself “Towards Secular Jordanian State”, adopts a motto of “Jordan First”. It emphasizes on freedom of religion, freedoms of the civil personalities and grants the opportunity for any person to join in on its discussions. This assembly is opened to all people, and asks members to start up new and bold discussion threads without fear by adopting motto of freedom of the expression, which they missed.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Hezbollah Weapons, UNIFIL Cautious Confirmation
(by Lorenzo Trombetta) (ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JULY 16 — The explosion two days ago in an arms deposit in the south of Lebanon by Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah risked sparking off a new dangerous confrontation between the Party of God and its opponents, but it has been averted for the moment because of the visible climate of detente dominating politics ahead of the formation of the new government of ‘national unity’. The heads of Unifil, the UN force deployed at the provisional border with Israel, implicitly confirmed today that the munitions and weapons held in an “abandoned building” which exploded on Tuesday morning close to the general headquarters of the Italian UN forces belonged to the Shiite movement which is supported by Iran and Syria. In a statement, Unifil cautiously pointed the finger at the Party of God, considering “the incident a serious violation of UN resolution 1701”, which broke off hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel in summer 2006, and which imposed a ban on “unauthorised” weapons and armed men, among other things, in the area of southern Lebanon including the area between the Litani river and the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel. Until a few weeks ago, this kind of incident would have reopened the dispute between the Party of God and its Lebanese rivals, who are still formally make up the coalition majority, over the legitimacy of the arsenal belonging to the ‘Resistance’, another name for the Shiite anti-Israel militia. After being one step away from another civil war in May 2008, and despite the victory gained over the coalition dominated by Hezbollah at the recent elections, leaders of the majority have been repositioning for weeks in the search for a new equilibrium ahead of the formation of the new government, which ministers from the Party of God will also be part of. Since autumn 2006, Hezbollah has said several times that it has doubled its military capabilities. Lebanese newspapers confirmed yesterday that the weapons deposit which exploded in the south belonged to the Shiite militia, but the Party of God has so far not officially confirmed or denied this. A prompt and predictable condemnation arrived from Israel yesterday, saying that Hezbollah is the dominant military force in Lebanon, while in Rome today the concerns expressed by Tel Aviv were echoed in a warning issued by president of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs commission Stefano Stefani, who recently returned from a visit to Lebanon: the explosion of the arms deposit allowed him “to discover that Hezbollah, in contravention of the the UN resolution, has amassed an enormous quantity of weapons”.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Rape of Taraneh: Prison Abuse of Iran’s Protesters
The names and stories of the Iranians who have been brutalized or killed in the aftermath of the post-election protests are gradually seeping into a memorial vault of the faces of suffering and endurance in the name of sociopolitical reform.
One by one, the faces of protest are providing an essential yearbook of the individuals who comprise the protest masses, and a catalogue of the Iranian government’s treatment of political activists.
On Friday June 19, a large group of mourners gathered at the Ghoba mosque in Tehran to await a speech about the martyrs of the post-election protests by presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. According to one Iranian blog, 28-year-old Taraneh Mousavi was one of a group of people that was arrested by plainclothesed security forces for attending the gathering.
Taraneh, whose first name is Persian for “song”, disappeared into arrest.
Weeks later, according to the blog, her mother received an anonymous call from a government agent saying that her daughter has been hospitalized in Imam Khomeini Hospital in the city of Karaj, just north of Tehran — hospitalized for “rupturing of her womb and anus in… an unfortunate accident”.
When Taraneh’s family went to the hospital to find her, they were told she was not there.
According to another Iranian blog which claims to have original information about Taraneh from her family, Iranian security forces contacted Taraneh’s family after the hospital visit warning them not to publicize Taraneh’s story and not to associate her disappearance with arrests made at post-election protests, claiming instead that she had tried to harm herself because of feeling guilty for having pre-marital sex.
Witnesses have come forward to the various Internet sites who are covering Taraneh’s story, stating that she was mentally and physically abused in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and also that a person who matches her physical description and injuries had been treated at the Imam Khomeini Hospital, was unconscious when witnessed and was later transferred out of the hospital while still unconscious.
Taraneh’s is not the first allegation of brutal raping of a post-election protester — according to the UK Guardian, an 18 year old boy in Shiraz was repeatedly gang raped by prison officials while in detention after being arrested for participating in the protests on June 15. That boy’s father won’t let him back in the family home.
Despite its agitations for reform, Iranian society remains traditional, according to Iranian-British blogger Potkin Azarmehr, and it’s the stigma of rape that is being used as a weapon against the protesters. “By killing protesters, the government makes martyrs of them, but by raping them and allowing them to live, it makes them shunned in society,” Azarmehr said.
Not that the stigma of rape is exclusive to Iran and other more traditional societies. A friend of Azarmehr’s who is presently in Iran told him that he’s “sick of hearing that people like Taraneh are better off dead” from friends abroad, just because they “can’t handle the fact that she’s been raped.”
The psychology of threatening protesters and political activists is not a new science. The strategies and ultimate goals are the same for any kind of torture: to humiliate, disembody (through denying the victim authority over his/her own physical self), extract confessions (whether true or false) and ultimately permanently terrorize the victims to prevent further ‘disturbances’. The last part often fails spectacularly, as victims tend to feel even more antagonism toward the perpetrators, and even more of a ‘do or die’ mentality about agitating for change at any cost.
Prison abuse and torture is also about marking these victims as defiled human beings — it’s like a scarlet letter of social isolation against them, to deny them the community support and strength which they need to move past those memories and not be defined by them. This is where others can step in and change the very attitudes toward abuse which so many institutions count on when they commit these crimes.
The story of Taraneh’s condition is still unfolding and there are no certain confirmations of its details beyond the reports of bloggers who are obliged to remain anonymous for safety reasons — but the idea that political prisoners are being mistreated in this way is not new to Iran and is a significant element of a program of terror which has sustained the current system in Iran.
Taraneh’s story must be told and it must be heard. Perhaps her life can still be saved.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Afghansitan: Italy Confirms Mission
No repercussions from death of Italian soldier, govt says
(ANSA) — Rome, July 15 — The Italian government intends to maintain its commitment to the international peace force in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told Parliament on Wednesday during his report on the death of an Italian soldier there this week.
“Recent events, painful as they may be, will have no repercussions on our mission, except perhaps to bolster our conviction on the importance of Italy being in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s ISAF force,” the minister said.
“I can confirm that now, more than ever, the government intends to fulfill Italy’s commitment to the stabilization of Afghanistan,” he added.
Lance Corporal Alessandro Di Lisio, 25, was killed and three other Italian paratroopers injured while on patrol some 50km from Farah, located in the southern part of the western region where international ISAF forces are under Italian command.
According to La Russa, the explosive device used against the armoured car carrying the Italian soldiers “was made with 50-70kg of explosive, an unusually large amount for an improvised explosive device”. Because of this Italian armoured vehicles will be revamped to compensation for the danger, the minister added. The defense minister told the MPs that insurgents did not specifically target Italian forces when they attacked the patrol on Tuesday.
“There is no precise strategy against Italian forces. What we are dealing with is an attempt to keep Afghan and international forces from further expanding the control of the legitimate government over the country,” La Russa said.
“The situation is very dangerous everywhere in Afghanistan, from north to south, east to west. Attacks are increasing in view of the August 20 presidential elections in an attempt to destabilize the country,” he added.
The violence has also increased, the minister explained, “because of the growing role of the Afghan army which, with the support of international troops, is moving into areas previous controlled by terrorists, insurgents and drug traffickers”.
The current US-British-Afghan offensive in southern Afghanistan, La Russa continued, “is driving hostile forces out of the area and they are taking refuge in places like Farah”.
In his report to parliament, the defense minister said the four Tornado fighter jets that Italy has sent to Afghanistan will be used to give air cover to military missions the same way Italy’s Mangusta helicopters are being deployed. The three injured soldiers — Lieutenant Giacomo Donato Bruno, Lance Corporal Simone Careddu and Lance Corporal Andrea Maria Cammarata — are set to arrive in Rome early on Thursday and will be transferred to the Celio military hospital in Rome for treatment.
Careddu’s injuries are the most serious and it is probable that he will remain paralysed with a broken back, La Russa told the MPs. Di Lisio’s body will be flown back later on Thursday and taken to Campobasso, his home town in the southern Molise region, where a funeral will be celebrated on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Explosions Hit Two Jakarta Hotels
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Explosions tore through two luxury hotels Friday morning in south Jakarta, Indonesia.
Antara News, a state-run agency, said at least six people were killed and a number of others were wounded.
“Up to now, six people were killed, and tens of others were injured, but the number of the victims might change as identification process is still going on,” Senior Commissioner Chysnanda, a spokesman of the Jakarta police, said, according to Antara.
It quotes a witness as saying he saw four foreigners among the wounded.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel was to have accommodated soccer players from Manchester United of Britain, who are expected to arrive Saturday in Jakarta on Saturday.
The victims were taken to nearby MMC Hospital and Jakarta Hospital, the agency reported.
Police sealed off the area around both blasts, one of which occurred in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the other at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, about 50 meters away, about 7:50 a.m. (8:50 p.m. Thursday ET).
“There was a boom and the building shook, and then subsequently two more,” said hotel guest Don Hammer, who was leaving his room in the Marriott when the blast occurred.
“The shocking part was entering the lobby, where the glass at the front of the hotel was all blown out and blood was spattered across the floor, but most people were leaving calmly.”
Witnesses said they saw at least three people being carried away on stretchers.
Greg Woolstencroft had just walked past the hotels and had gone to his nearby apartment when he heard an explosion.
“I looked out my window and I saw a huge cloud of brownish smoke go up,” he told CNN in a telephone interview. “I grabbed my iPhone to go downstairs … and then the second bomb went off at the Ritz-Carlton, so I then ran around to the Ritz-Carlton and I was able to find that there had been a massive bomb that went off in this … restaurant area and the explosion had blown out both sides of the hotel.
“I found inside the body of of what appears to be a suicide bomber, it looked like someone who had been a suicide bomber or someone who had been very, very close to the explosion.
“I also noticed that there were a number of injured people being taken off to hospital, but I only noticed one dead person at this point and time, that’s all I saw. There has been extensive damage to both buildings, and at this point and time of course all the authorities are blocking up all the area and starting an investigation.”
He added, “It’s obviously targeted establishments where there are Westerners and expats … I can only assume it’s something to try and send a message.”
At the Ritz, windows were blown out on the second floor, as though the blast occurred from within.
The Marriott was the site of a terrorist attack in August 2003 that killed 12 people.
Friday’s attack “was not nearly as bad,” said John Aglionby, a reporter for the Financial Times who was at the site of both blasts.
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Jakarta Hotel Blasts: Marriott, Ritz-Carlton Targeted
BOMBS have exploded at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta, reportedly killing at least nine people and injuring more than 50.
A witness has told the Associated Press that he saw four bodies inside the Marriott, which was also the scene of a bombing in 2003 which killed 16 people.
It has been reported that all of those killed were foreigners.
At least one Australian has been injured in the attack.
An Australian man told local Radio 2UE his son had been hurt at the Marriott and was being taken to hospital, but apart from his leg injury, was “otherwise okay”.
“He was in the explosion and he was bleeding from the left leg, although from what I can gather the injury is not serious,” he said.
“He lost his hearing in one ear, but he thinks he will recover from that, and he’s on his way to hospital. He’s OK.”
Witnesses said the Marriott blast was the first, sending debris flying to the surrounding streets.
Minutes later, the Ritz-Carlton, directly across the road, was targeted.
Police are yet to confirm if the blasts were caused by bombs, but the sequence of the explosions bears the hallmarks of similar al-Qaeda attacks.
A security expert said Young JI rebels may have been behind the attacks.
Police had sealed off the area near the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott.
Witness Intan told TV One one of the explosions wrecked the lobby of the Plaza Mutiara building.
“I was having breakfast on level 16, I heard an explosion and went down to the first floor and it was a mess. I saw foreigners all bloody, about three to five of them, badly wounded,” she said.
The explosions rocked the area at about 8am (11am AEST) near the site of a 2003 bombing by Islamist militants of the JW Marriott hotel, which killed 12 people.
“I saw some people being carried into a Mercedes” a witness, who gave her name as Mery, told ElShinta.
“There was a lot of them in there, they were having trouble closing the doors.
The facade of the Ritz-Carlton was blown off and at least 15 people have been taken away for treatment.
“Some windows of the Ritz-Carlton building have been shattered, mostly on the lower section,” Myra Junor, who works at a nearby building said.
“I’m looking at it from my office.”
| — Hat tip: DK | [Return to headlines] |
Jemaah Islamiah Dissidents ‘May be Behind Blasts’
YOUNG dissident members of militant terror group Jemaah Islamiah may be behind a deadly hotel blast in Indonesia, a security analyst says.
Bombs have exploded at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, ripping the facade off the Ritz and killing at least six foreigners.
A small splinter group made up of dissident Jemaah Islamiah members may be behind the bombings, Australian Strategic Policy Institute national security project director Carl Ungerer said.
“The hardline splinter group were simply not accepting of the view … amongst some of the JI leadership that they move towards a consolidation phase,” Dr Ungerer said.
He said some dissident JI members may have been released recently from prison.
“And they believe that the continuation of a bombing campaign would be the only way that they would achieve their political objectives.
“The smaller splinter groups, who are intent on a violent bombing campaign, retain the capability to do this sort of thing.”
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Six Killed, Tens Injured in Explosions in Jakarta’s Hotels
Jakarta (ANTARA News) — Two Explosions in Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Hotels in Mega Kuningan area, Jakarta, early Friday, killed at least six people and injured tens of others.
“Up to now, six people were killed, and tens of others were injured, but the number of the victims might change as identification process is still going on,” Senior Commissioner Chysnanda, a spokesman of the Jakarta police, said here on Friday.
Policemen have already arrived at the scenes of the explosions and the victims have been rushed to the MMC Hospital at Kuningan and the Jakarta Hotel, Sudirman, Central Jakarta .
Meanwhile, Alex, an eye witness, said he saw four foreigners were seriously injured in the explosions.
Ritz-Carlton Hotel was supposed to accommodate footballers of the Manchester United (MU) of Britain, who are expected to arrive in Jakarta on Saturday (July 18).
The explosions in the two hotels at Kuningan area, were herd twice at around 7.50 am and 7.55 am local time.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo AS visited the scenes of the explosions.
The Marriott Hotel was bombed on August 5, 2003, killing 12 people, including a Dutch national, and injuring 147 others.
The Marriot bombing was believed to be masterminded by Azhari Husin and Noordin M Top, both Malaysian nationals.
Azhari was killed in a police raid in East Java in November 2005, and Noordin M Top is still at large.
Azhari and his fellow Noordin Mohammad Top, a terror coordinator of the Al-Qaeda linked in Southeast Asia of Jemaah Islamiyah militant network, are believed as the masterminds of a series of major terrorist acts in Indonesia, including the Bali bombings in 2002, JW Marriot hotel explosions in Jakarta in 2003, a deadly blast in Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004, and bombings in Bali in October 2005 that killed more than 220 people.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
UN: Billions of Dollars for Swat. Islamic Leader Announces a “Bloody Revolution”
A top UN official calls for “a generous response” from the international community for refugees affected by war between the army and the Taliban. The Red Cross launches an alarm: the monsoon is worsening the emergency of the evacuees. The leader of Red Mosque promises a “bloodbath” if Shariah is not enforced.
Islamabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The reconstruction of the valley of Swat and Malakand division, theatre of war between the Pakistani army and Islamist extremists, will cost billions of U.S. dollars. So says a senior UN official, who advocates “a generous response” in aid from the international community. In the country, meanwhile, the fundamentalist’s propaganda continues: the former preacher of the Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque in Islamabad, threatens a “bloodbath” if Islamic law is not introduced.
John Holmes, UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, warns that there is still no guarantee of security in some areas in north-west Pakistan — near the border with Afghanistan — even though the government has “started preparations for the return of some displaced persons”.
The introduction of Shariah in Swat, by the government of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in February, led to a bloody conflict between the fundamentalists — who sought further concessions and the application of Islamic law throughout the country — and the government army. The war has caused some two million refugees, many of whom still live in temporary shelters. The UN official calls “favourable conditions” for their return, including the guarantee of “basic services and security”.
The Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has thanked the United Nations for their work for the victims of war. He confirmed the return, Monday July 13, of a first part of the refugees to the area made safe by the army. The Red Cross, meanwhile, has launched a new alarm: the arrival of the monsoon could worsen the conditions of IDPs in camps and is seeking their transfer to more secure areas.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Islamic fundamentalism continues its propaganda campaign, announcing “bloodshed” if Islamic law is not introduced throughout the country. The new invective was launched yesterday by the religious leader Maulana Abdul Aziz, leader of the revolt at the Red Mosque in 2007. During the Friday prayer he demanded the “government introduce the Shariah through the National Assembly”, threatening a “bloody revolution” if the request is not accepted.
Yesterday the BBC sources in Pakistan reported that Maulana Fazlullah — the head of Taliban guerrillas in Swat — was “badly hurt” during the recent offensive of the Pakistan army and is “close to death.” Fazlullah is the founder of the Taliban movement which took power in the valley following the introduction of Islamic law, leading the revolt against the government. According to a witness he “does not have access to medical care and is dying.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Al-Qaeda Threats, Chinese Rely on Algeria’s Protection
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, JULY 15 — “We are certain that the Algerian authorities will do all they can to protect Chinese companies and citizens in Algeria,” a spokesman from the Chinese embassy in Algeria told ANSA, specifying that “all necessary measures have been taken” to guarantee the safety of the thousands of Chinese who live in the North African country. Yesterday Stirling Assynt, an intelligence network with headquarters in London, raised the alarm about a possible attack by al-Qaeda. According to Stirling Assynt, the North African wing of Al Qaeda is ready to attack Chinese nationals working in North Africa and the Middle East. Around 50,000 Chinese work in Algeria on the construction of large-scale public works in the country. “We have informed our nationals,” the spokesman continued, “of the message” from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The North African wing of Osama Bin Laden’s organisation has announced that it is ready to “avenge” the deaths of “Uighur Muslims” of the “Chinese oppression.” The embassy in Algiers has also published a statement on its website in which it urges “Chinese companies and employees to be vigilant about safety and to tighten security measures, due to the situation that has evolved after the criminal events of July 5,” the date of the clashes in Urumqi, capital of the Chinese Xinjiang region. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Couple Reunited in Death at Little Belt Strait
A World War II MIA pilot and his wife were reunited in death when the widow’s ashes were tossed into the waters off western Funen
An Australian widow was granted her final dying wish this week when her ashes were scattered into the Little Belt Strait between Funen and Jutland.
The unusual request was made by Peggy Nott-Slinn, who died in April at the age of 93. She married pilot Geoffrey Slinn in 1938, but the aviator went missing over the strait on 27 November 1944, while on a mission for the allied forces.
On Sunday evening, the Danish Marine Home Guard sent a ship out from the coastal town of Assens, carrying military personnel and some of the friends Nott-Slinn made during her two visits to Denmark. A ceremony was held and the woman’s ashes, along with a pilot wing medallion given to her by her husband, were scattered into the strait’s cold waters.
‘It was a sad day for all of us,’ said Alice Green, a friend who had kept in contact with Nott-Slinn until her death, to Fyens Stfitstidende newspaper. ‘But I hadn’t expected that the ceremony would be such a big thing. It’s too bad Peggy wasn’t here to have seen it. She would have loved it.’
Neither Geoffrey Slinn’s plane nor body were ever found, but the military believes the aircraft was shot down somewhere off the coast of Assens. There were also six other men on board the plane when it vanished over the strait.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Islamists ‘Share French Hostages’
Two French security advisers seized in Somalia this week have been split up and are now being held by two different hard-line groups, reports say.
The pair were snatched by gunmen from a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday and were being held by the Hizbul-Islam group.
But officials say the al-Shabab group wanted them and after a row, Hizbul-Islam handed one of the men over.
Al-Shabab has recently carried out several beheadings, amputations and stonings in the areas it controls.
They are allied with Hizbul-Islam against the UN-backed interim government and together control much of southern Somalia.
Both groups are said to have links to al-Qaeda and have been reinforced by foreign fighters.
‘Bear responsibility’
The BBC’s Somali Service editor Yusuf Garaad Omar says al-Shabab is known for being the more radical of the two groups.
He says the hostage held by al-Shabab fighters is likely to face greater problems because they care little for their public image and have carried out killings on camera.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Sudan: Christian Women Flogged for Wearing Pants
Ministry cites ‘outrageous’ attack by Islamics
An international Christian ministry is condemning Sudanese Islamic officials for arresting, fining and flogging several Christian women for wearing pants.
“Flogging women for wearing pants is both outrageous and against the dignity of the women,” said Jonathan Racho, regional manager for Africa and the Middle East for International Christian Concern, in a statement today.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mexico’s Midterm Elections
So, on the morning of July 5th, I accompanied my wife to the polling station and observed the voting. Of course, being an American, I was careful not to interfere in any way. It was not my first time to observe a Mexican election, as through the years I have observed several and written about them. And I have to say that I’m impressed with the Mexican voter registration system, which is superior to our rather slipshod registration system.
In Mexico, every registered voter has a an official ID card, complete with photograph, fingerprint and a holographic image . It’s not just the existence of the card that’s important, but how it is used.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
United by Hate
The uses of anti-Semitism in Chávez’s Venezuela
Claudio Lomnitz and Rafael Sánchez
On January 30, 2009 fifteen heavily armed men stormed the Tiferet Israel synagogue in the Mariperez neighborhood of Caracas. They held down two guards, robbed the premises, and desecrated the temple, throwing the Torah and other religious paraphernalia to the floor and painting graffiti on the walls: “Out, Death to All”; “Damned Israel, Death”; “666” with a drawing of the devil; “Out Jews”; “We don’t want you, assassins”; a star of David, an equal sign, and a swastika.
The event, though shocking, was neither isolated nor unprecedented. Over the past four years, Venezuela has witnessed alarming signs of state-directed anti-Semitism, including a 2005 Christmas declaration by President Hugo Chávez himself: “The World has enough for everybody, but some minorities, the descendants of the same people that crucified Christ, and of those that expelled Bolívar from here and in their own way crucified him. . . . have taken control of the riches of the world.”
In late 2004 the police stormed Hebraica, a Jewish social, educational, and sports center, ostensibly to search for guns and explosives. No weapons were found. But finding them may never have been the purpose of the raid: it coincided with the beginning of Hugo Chávez’s official visit to Tehran. Thus, Sammy Eppel, director of the Human Rights Commission of the Venezuelan B’nai B’rith, poignantly interpreted the event: “Chávez was showing Iran: ‘This is how I deal with my Jews.’“
According to the World Conference against Anti-Semitism that took place in London in February 2009, the Chavista media became noticeably more aggressive between October and December of last year. Aporrea, the principal Chavista online journal, published 136 anti-Jewish texts; and since the start of the year, the Conference counted an average of 45 pieces per month. In the 30 days between December 28, 2008 and January 27, 2009, coinciding with the Israeli invasion of Gaza, the number of pieces increased to an average of more than five per day…
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Barrot: Italy Must Respect EU-International Rules
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, JULY 15 — “Italy must respect not only the EU laws, but international ones too.” This is how EU Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot replied to a question on the written query sent yesterday by the Euro MP Rita Borsellino to the EU Commission, according to whom the crime of illegal immigration and immediate repatriation are in conflict with a European directive. “There is no possibility of repatriation,” added Barrot, “to countries where there is no guarantee of consular protection. We need to look carefully. I can’t make a judgement yet.” Barrot reported that “we have questioned the Italian government on illegal immigration and we are waiting to hear and then assess what Italy intends to do. At the right moment, we will make a judgement.” Barrot then announced that in September the EU Commission will make a proposal to Member States that some of the migrants that are currently in reception centres on Malta be redistributed in other EU countries. Barrot then pointed out how “Europe could be a model of solidarity”. According to Barrot, the EU has “a duty to help Malta because there are 10 thousand refugees on an island of 400 thousand inhabitants.” The proposal to redistribute citizens benefitting from international protection present in Valletta was approved by the heads of state and government at the EU summit on June 19, during the conclusion of which measures were requested in favour of the island. In closing Barrot repeated how immigration and the right to asylum will feature in the meetings of the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council scheduled for this autumn in Stockholm. (ANSAmed).
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Greece: UNHCR Alarm After Camp Dismantled
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 14 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed serious concerns over the fate of hundreds of thousands of irregular migrants, including those asking for asylum and refugees, who are in critical condition after the Greek authorities dismantled the camp which had sprung up in Patrasso. During yesterday’s operation 44 unaccompanied minors and 25 asylum seekers were identified and transferred to accommodation in Patrasso, and an unspecified number of camp residents, without documents, were arrested and taken to a nearby police station. The UNHCR has been saying for some time that the camp was unsuitable and repeatedly urged the Greek authorities to improve its reception conditions. In any case, says the UN organisation, Sunday’s action does not constitute a valid solution, since no alternative accommodation was provided by the authorities and a number of the camp dwellers, including women and children, are now homeless. The UNHCR has always recognised the high intensity of the migratory phenomenon in Greece, but says that it is more and more alarmed at the strategies put in place by the Greek authorities to combat immigration, not least that of decentralising the decision-making process related to initial requests for asylum to 50 police stations throughout the country. These new legislative procedures, says the UNHCR, risk access to protection in Greece becoming ever more uncertain. (ANSAmed)
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Importing the Uninsured
Immigration could trip up the Democrats’ planned health-care takeover.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has insisted the Senate will deal with immigration and health reform separately. And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) told the Dallas Morning News in May, “We’re not going to cover undocumented aliens, undocumented workers. That’s too politically explosive.”
But it’s hard to envision how health reform can avoid tripping the immigration booby trap. Approximately 15—22 percent of the 46 million residents of the United States without health coverage are illegal aliens. That’s about 9 or 10 million people. More generally, a third of the foreign-born are uninsured, Census data analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies show. That means something like 12.6 million people, or more than a fourth of the total uninsured, are immigrants, both legal and illegal. Since 1989, immigration is responsible for 71 percent of the rise in those without health insurance. The fact is, the problem of the uninsured would be a more manageable one if the U.S. were not admitting millions of uninsured immigrants.
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Italy and Greece Urge EU to Play Greater Immigration Role
Rome — The European Union should seek direct commitments from individual African nations for the repatriation of illegal immigrants, Italian and Greek leaders said Wednesday. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis made the remarks at a joint news conference following their talks in Rome.
The 27-member EU as a whole should take responsibility for dealing with the issue of illegal immigration, rather than “individual member states having to reach agreements with those on the African side of the Mediterranean coast,” Berlusconi said.
On Tuesday the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had criticised both countries for their treatment of asylum-seekers and refugees.
Earlier this month Italy sent back to Libya migrants from Eritrea even though they were in need of asylum, the Geneva-based agency said.
The UNHCR also voiced concern over Greek authorities’ decision to close a makeshift camp hosting hundreds of would-be immigrants in the city of Patros, without however, providing alternative accommodation.
On Wednesday Berlusconi and Karamanlis did not directly address the criticism.
Instead, Karamanlis said Italy and Greece would continue to “cooperate closely,” on illegal immigration and also seek ways to boost the EU’s external border security agency, Frontex, so that it may step up patrols in the Mediterranean.
In May, following the coming into effect of an agreement with Libya, Italy introduced a strict “push-back” policy, to prevent migrants from entering its territory illegally.
Through the agreement, Libya has agreed to prevent the use of its shores for such sea journeys and to accept would-be immigrants intercepted by Italian authorities in international waters.
Rights activists, United Nations officials and the Vatican have all condemned what they say are deportations by Italy done without determining whether the migrants qualify for political asylum.
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Ronchi: UNHCR Should be Ashamed of Itself
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 14 — The UNHCR “should be ashamed of itself” and “should apologise to Italy”. These the requests of Italian Minister for European Policies, Andrea Ronchi, who said he had read “with great astonishment the letter in which the UNHCR levelled serious accusations against the Italian government”. “What really was most puzzling,” Ronchi said, “was that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued an announcement, and it did so without first contacting the Italian government to verify the accounts it received. The accusations are hasty, false, demagogic, offensive and revolting and they are an insult to our Armed Forces, who demonstrate their morality, dedication, humanity, competence and sacrifice every day, all over the world”. (ANSAmed).
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Spain: With Greece New Opening for Dialogue
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 14 — Spain and Greece will try to find, over the next few months, a new “space for political dialogue” on illegal immigration coming from the Mediterranean area, because there is a need for “more resources and an increased effort by EU countries”, said Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, at the end of a meeting with Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis, yesterday in the Moncloa Palace. The struggle against illegal immigration, the economic situation and the development of the current crisis, bilateral relationships and the future Spanish presidency of the EU have been the main focus of the meeting, according to Moncloa sources. On the immigration issue, during the last European Council Greece has been amongst the promoters of a resolution which warns against the increase of illegal immigration towards the southern European shore originating from Eastern Mediterranean. During its term as EU president, Spain is aiming to strengthen three different aspects of political action regarding immigration, as Zapatero explained during a joint press conference at the end of the meeting: increase Frontex resources; define a permanent EU action for the readmission agreements with third-party countries; an immigration policy backed up by a diplomatic management, supporting EU presence and association in all countries serving as origin or transit of immigration. (ANSAmed).
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NEA Flexes ‘Political Muscle, ‘ Backs Same-Sex ‘Marriage’
The National Education Association has thrown its full support behind homosexual “marriage.”
The NEA recently held its annual convention in San Diego, California, where members voted on two issues of importance to those involved in the culture war. One of those issues was whether the union would support same-gender marriage. According to Jeralee Smith, co-founder of the Conservative Educators Caucus, the resolution passed by roughly a two-thirds majority.
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During the meeting, the organization’s retiring general counsel, Bob Chanin, complained that “conservative and right-wing bastards” are after the NEA and its state affiliates. Smith called that statement “refreshing honesty” on Chanin’s part about how he feels about conservatives.
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Could We be Wrong About Global Warming?
Could the best climate models — the ones used to predict global warming — all be wrong?
Maybe so, says a new study published online today in the journal Nature Geoscience. The report found that only about half of the warming that occurred during a natural climate change 55 million years ago can be explained by excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. What caused the remainder of the warming is a mystery.
“In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record,” says oceanographer Gerald Dickens, study co-author and professor of Earth Science at Rice University in Houston. “There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models.”
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