Van Jones, President Obama’s infamous “Green Jobs Czar”, finally resigned after several weeks of damaging revelations, including the appearance of his name on a 9-11 “truther” petition and a video of him calling Republicans “a**holes”. These little tidbits were scarcely mentioned by the MSM; it was the blogosphere that turned up the heat, with Gateway Pundit leading the way.In other news, it has been revealed that Libya paid for three doctors to give their opinion concerning the medical condition of the Lockerbie bomber before he was released from prison.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, CB, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, KGS, LN, Steen, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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‘Green Jobs Czar’ Van Jones Resigns
WND’s 5-month series of expose’s leads to White House’s 1st casualty
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones quit late last night after pressure mounted over his extremist history first exposed in WND.
The last straw for Jones was being caught on tape in an expletive-packed rant, directly attacking Republicans in the Senate who he said abused their majority position in the past to push legislation through. He admitted after the statements were released that the comments were “inappropriate” and “offensive.”
“They do not reflect the experience I have had since joining the administration,” Jones said in the statement.
Jones was also linked late last week to efforts suggesting a government role in the Sept. 11 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
When the White House press corps grilled White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about Jones on Friday, a reporter asked how the administration could reject “conspiracy theories” about his birth certificate while employing someone who previously charged the U.S. government with masterminding Sept. 11.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pandemic Panic: Why [Are] Feds Pushing Flu Shot?
Some say agenda to incite health terror, pass Obamacare
Why is the White House trying to cause a panic over a possible H1N1 virus that could inflict massive illness and death on the American people?
Red Alert has received numerous e-mails arguing that the goal of the Obama administration is to use the pandemic panic to create enough fear that the American public will acquiesce to the passage of Obamacare, Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert reports.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pandemic, Inc., Government’s Sledgehammer Control
Say what you will, believe what you want, tell others of your deep “in the gut” support for Dictator-in-Chief Obama’s vision of change while you continue to wave good-by in the rear view mirror to the once really free America.
Keep rejoicing at the trillions of wasted and unaccountable dollars that have gone nowhere except in the deep pockets of bankers, social activist groups, radicals on the left who view entitlements as one of the eleven (you just thought their were ten) commandments of God Himself and of course do not dismiss the well-oiled police state environment that continues to arm and use every conceivable branch of government they can find or invent. Bureau of Land Management agents, US Forest Service Rangers, US Fish and Wildlife motorboat patrols, and of course the famous fugitive freakin’ chicken Poultry Inspectors have all been granted the authority to carry deadly weapons. WHY???
All laughter aside, it will soon be armed Federal Highway Crews, FAA Controllers and FCC personnel. CDC doctors would be next, except they just can’t figure out how to draw a gun with surgical gloves on.
During one of my recent in-field training seminars, a distinguished gentleman who was politically active said, “the current administration is in the cab of the snowplow, clearing away the last traces of your freedoms.” Another said that democrats at all levels are “crushing the final liberties in America with a sledgehammer.” These observations are absolutely correct.
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The Hunt is on for More Ammunition in Nevada
Supply can’t keep up with demand, a trend that began after election
With nationwide demand for firearm ammunition outstripping manufacturers’ supply, empty shelves in Nevada gun stores have some consumers sweating bullets.
On delivery days at the Bass Pro Shop in the Silverton, 20 to 30 customers will line up for the store to open, said Keith Rainey, an assistant manager in the hunting department.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White House Adviser Van Jones Resigns Amid Controversy Over Past Activism
White House environmental adviser Van Jones resigned late Saturday after weeks of controversy stemming from his past activism.
“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me,” Jones, special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement announcing his resignation just after midnight Sunday. “They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.”
He continued: “I have been inundated with calls — from across the political spectrum — urging me to ‘stay and fight.’ But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.”
Jones issued two public apologies in recent days, one for signing a petition that questioned whether Bush administration officials “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war” and the other for using a crude term to describe Republicans in a speech he gave before joining the administration.
His one-time involvement with the Bay Area radical group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), which had Marxist members and leanings, had also become an issue. And on Saturday his advocacy on behalf of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of shooting a Philadelphia police officer in 1981, threatened to grow as a fresh point of controversy.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) called on Jones to resign Friday, saying in a statement, “His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate.”
Senator Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) urged Congress to investigate Jones’s “fitness” for the position, writing in an open letter, “Can the American people trust a senior White House official that is so cavalier in his association with such radical and repugnant sentiments?” On Saturday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote on his Twitter account, “Van Jones has to go.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that Jones “continues to work for the administration” — but he did not state that the adviser enjoys the full support of President Obama, instead referring questions to the environmental council where he worked.
Jones, a towering figure in the environmental movement, had worked for the White House Council on Environmental Quality since March. He was a civil-rights activist in California before turning his focus to environmental and energy issues, and he won wide praise before joining the Obama administration for articulating a broad vision of a green economy Democrats could embrace.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs thanked Jones for his service Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “What Van Jones decided was that the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual,” he said.
“So the president doesn’t endorse, in any way, the things that Van Jones said before, the things he did?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“He doesn’t, but he thanks him for his service,” Gibbs said.
White House adviser David Axelrod, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he had not spoken with the president about Jones. “The political environment is rough, and so these things get magnified. But the bottom line is that he showed his commitment to the cause of creating green jobs in this country by removing himself as an issue, and I think that took a great deal of commitment on his part,” he said.
On FOX News Sunday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declined to criticize Jones directly, though Alexander did question why the Obama administration had appointed so many issue czars.
“I don’t think he’s the issue,” Alexander said. “I think the czars are the issue.”
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Jane Fonda Joins Anti-Israel Boycott of Film Festival
Among activists protesting spotlight on filmmakers from ‘apartheid regime’
Canadian and American filmmakers lashed back Friday at what they described as an “ outrageous” boycott of the Toronto International Film Festival by some filmmakers and writers in protest of the event’s spotlight on filmmakers from Tel Aviv.
Producer, writer and director David Zucker (“Scary Movie,” “Naked Gun,” “Airplane!” ) denounced as “left-wing crazies” the individuals who signed a letter called “ The Toronto Declaration” to protest Israeli government policies.
Mr. Zucker said he is “outraged” that actors such as Danny Glover and Jane Fonda, along with about 50 other activists, would sign a declaration that condemns Israel as an “apartheid regime” and dismisses the work of Tel Aviv filmmakers as “Israeli propaganda.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Semitism in Hungary Rises at Election Time — Survey
In the period of parliamentary elections in Hungary, every four years, anti-Semitism rises before falling back again, according to a new survey by Szonda Ipsos..
Besides this periodic variation, the ratio of anti-Semites in Hungary has remained stable at roughly 10 percent for the past few years, sociologist Andras Kovacs noted on Friday, commenting on the survey’s findings.
Whereas the ratio of anti-Semites in 1993 was around 14 percent, the latest survey conducted between June 27 and July 3 with a representative sample of 1,000 adults found 10 percent declaring feelings of rejection towards Jews.
Kovacs, a professor at the Central European University, talking to journalists at the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest, noted that 11 percent of extreme anti-Semites in Hungary did not deny the fact of the Holocaust. He said that Holocaust denial was not a “knowledge issue” but doing so was a way of “legitimising” anti-Jewish feelings. Holocaust denial has risen in the past two years, he said.
Kovacs gave warning that the rise in the number of Holocaust-deniers was connected to the increasing number of websites and other media reinforcing the prejudice.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
EU — I Will Raise Anti-Semitism Issue, Frattini Says
(ANSAmed) — STOCKHOLM, SEPTEMBER 4 — Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, “will raise” the issue of anti-Semitism today in Stockholm, in the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers. The announcement was made by the minister himself, when he arrived at the museum of modern arts, the location of the meeting. In the past days, Frattini announced that Italy would criticise the content of the article published recently by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, in which is claimed that the Israeli army has stolen organs of Palestinians killed in the Territories. Frattini told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he considers such articles to be “clearly anti-Semitic”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: 27 Divided Over Candidate for UNESCO Director General
(ANSAmed) — STOCKHOLM, SEPTEMBER 4 — The European Union is divided between three candidates for the nomination as the new General Director of Unesco, a situation that could favour the candidacy of Egyptian Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni. The matter has arisen on the sidelines of the informal discussions between the Foreign Ministers of the 27 held in Stockholm today, where the absence of a common line became apparent. Alongside the EU Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, are also the candidacies of the Lithuanian Ambassador to Unesco, Ina Marciulionyte, and the Bulgarian Ambassoder in Paris, Irina Bokova. There is scant chance that a common position will emerge amont the EU at the preliminary round of voting, as Ferrero-Waldner herself acknowledged, saying she can only “hope this will be possible in the second round”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Boom of New Students at Muslim School Decines
(ANSAmed) — DECINES (LYON), SEPTEMBER 4 — Opened in March 2007, the Muslim high school of Decines, near Lyon, is such a success that it needs more space to be able to welcome all this year’s students. The number of students in fact has increased from 20 in the first year to 200 in 2008 and 335 this year, divided in 19 classes. “We have received more than a million applications. We must construct prefabricated buildings in the park to welcome the new arrivals. Most students come from Lyon, but there are also families that have left Paris or Strasbourg to enroll their children here” said Hakim Chergui, president of the Al-Kindi high school. “I have been disappointed by the public schools, which don’t give enough attention to the children. I want my children to have good results and to learn the Islam, even if that means paying 1,200 euros per year” a mother explained. Al-Kindi is France’s largest Muslim high school, followed by the Averroes in Lille, created in 2003, and the Muslim school of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), in the outskirts of Paris, founded in 2001 and now in financial problems. Al-Kindi offers the programme of public schools, as well as courses in the Arabic, Turkish and Japanese language, courses in ‘Muslim culture’ and religious education, followed by “more than half of the students”, according to Hakim Chergui. The classes are mixed and the children “can dress as they want.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rioters Invade Budapest’s Jewish Ghetto
A crowd of 500 demonstrators, including neo-Nazis and skinheads, rampaged in Budapest’s Jewish district.
Hungarian riot police deployed tear gas and baton charges Saturday against the vociferously xenophobic crowd as it tried to disrupt Hungary’s annual Gay Pride parade.
More than 30 arrests were made on charges including possession of offensive weapons and riotous behavior. Heightened surveillance was enforced throughout the day to prevent a recurrence of the mayhem that ended last year’s parade, in which there were more than a dozen serious injuries, according to Éva Tafferner, press officer at Budapest police headquarters.
The rioters invaded the heart of the traditional Jewish Ghetto District, started a small fire, tore down signs and shouted threatening anti-Semitic vitriol. The attacks were witnessed by families of foreign Jews visiting the district for the current Budapest Jewish Cultural Festival.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘More Babies Should be Taken Into Care to Protect Them From Poor Parents’
More new-born children need to be taken into care to stop them being damaged beyond repair by poor parents, according to Martin Narey, chief executive of the children’s charity Barnardo’s.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jack Straw Admits Lockerbie Bomber’s Release Was Linked to Oil
Jack Straw has reignited the row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber by admitting for the first time that trade and oil were an essential part of the Government’s decision to include him in a prisoner transfer deal with Libya.
Documents published this week showed Mr Straw originally promised that a PTA would only be reached with Libya if Megrahi was excluded. But he later caved in to Libyan demands to include Megrahi. It followed a warning from BP that a failure to include the bomber could hurt the oil giant’s business interests.
When asked in the interview if trade and BP were factors, Mr Straw admits: “Yes, [it was] a very big part of that. I’m unapologetic about that… Libya was a rogue state.
“We wanted to bring it back into the fold. And yes, that included trade because trade is an essential part of it and subsequently there was the BP deal.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour’s Secret Plan to Send Overweight Children to NHS Fat Camps
Tens of thousands of overweight children — some as young as four — will be shipped off to fat camp, under a Government scheme to tackle obesity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UNESCO: Paris Support of Hosni Remains Muted
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 1 — Just a few days from the beginning of the UNESCO executive council which will have to chose its new general director from 9 candidates, Le Monde in a full-page article entitled Egyptian Campaign for UNESCO, highlights how Paris’ support for the controversial candidacy of the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, remains muted and that the French position is not yet entirely clear. “For Nicolas Sarkozy the election will take place in a delicate context which the French authorities will try to mask, all of Paris knows that the candidacy of Hosni is tarnished, but it is thought that commitments have been made”, the newspaper wrote, concerning which president Mubarak has been convinced since 2007 that the French government would support this move. It is not clear if the head of State made promises, but at the time they were committed to the Mediterranean Union project, conceived as an important instrument of French influence in the Arab-Muslim world, offering co-presidency to Mubarak. After the explosion of controversy over the candidacy of Hosni, accused of anti-Israeli declarations, in December 2008 “Sarkozy charged French Premier Francois Fillon to travel to Egypt to explain to Mubarak that the candidacy of his cultural minister was uncomfortable”. It was then thought to propose a French candidate, maybe Jack Lang, a project that was abandoned in order “not to provoke Mubarak, who he needed more than ever to save the Mediterranean Union after the war in Gaza”. It was Sarkozy’s councillor, Henri Guaino, according to the paper, to advise Egypt to respond with a debate in Le Monde to the article by Bernard Henri-Levy, Elie Wiesel and Claude Lanzmann against Farouk Hosni, and it is rumoured that he wrote the article himself. In the end, the moves took place behind the scenes, because a step back is difficult to make in the Euro-Mediterranean context. Paris will not express preferences during the executive council, according to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner; it will welcome the Egyptian candidacy “with benevolence” according to Guaino. Sarkozy has never spoken publically on the matter. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: Naturist Website Created
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 4 — Croatia’s tourism office has launched a website featuring naturist holiday offers in the country. There is a long tradition of naturism in Croatia and consequently the number of campsites providing for this kind of holiday is large. And so the website ‘Naturism on the Adriatic’, sponsored by tourist operators Valamar. Information is available in Croatian, English, Italian, German and Slovene. The portal offers information on naturist tourism, free-body culture and entertainment events on the Adriatic, with a blog offering a means of sharing experiences. There are around thirty naturist beaches and resorts in Croatia with the tradition of naturist tourism going back to the summer of 1936, when England’s King Edward VIII arrived on the Isle of Arbe in the company of Lady Wallis Simpson, both great naturism lovers.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Serbia: Visas Soon to be Liberalised, Frattini
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 3 — By the end of the year Serbian citizens will see the liberalisation of visas. So said Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, at the end of a meeting at the ministry with his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic. He added that Italy was “working very hard to foster and contribute to liberalisation”. It is a commitment, stressed Frattini, which could “make it possible to see by the end of the year, or at the beginning of the next, the invitation to Rome of Serbian friends without their needing a visa for the first time. It will be a symbolic event in celebration of this tangible consequence of European integration.” It is an idea that Jeremic called “fantastic”. Frattini also spoke on the issue of Serbia’s accession to the European Union. He said that “personally I strongly hope that Serbia will present its candidature to become a member state before the end of the year. If this happens, Italy will strongly support Serbian hopes.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Coptic Christians in Egypt Call for Strike to Protest Mistreatment
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — In the last week of July a Coptic rights movement dubbed “Copts for Egypt,” using the social network Facebook as platform, called upon all Copts in Egypt to stage a general strike on September 11, which coincides with the Coptic New Year.
In its communiquÃ(c), which first appeared on the Facebook site, the group stated the action is meant to express the resentment of all Copts over the Egypt’s position on the repeated attacks on the homes and property of Copts because some of them have been used for religious observance.
The group members, wanting to remain anonymous, describe themselves as “Egyptians, pained by the divisions among the Egyptian rows, and being the ‘the voice of the voiceless” (the oppressed). Members of the group are Muslims and Christians.”
The “Copts for Egypt” movement has asked Copts participating in the strike to stay at home all day on September 11, and if they leave their homes for any reason wear black.
The strike centers around the Copts’ demands for the Egyptian government to ratify the unified law for building houses of worship, and to abolish the unofficial “reconciliation sessions,” which takes place despite the presence of criminal suspicion, and to bring the perpetrators in sectarian strife to justice.
Many political analysts and human rights organizations argue that the tension between the Muslim and Coptic Egyptian communities is caused primarily by the issue of Christian places of worship.
The latest support for what the Coptic strike is calling for, namely the ratification of the unified law for building houses of worship came on 1st September 2009, from the government-funded National Council of Human Rights (NCHR). The NCHR welcomed a proposal made by some of its members on the possibility of President Mubarak issuing a decree for unified law for building houses of worship, citing Article 147 of the Egyptian Constitution which gives him this right when the People’s Assembly is not in session and when society needs such a law. This would be presented to the People’s Assembly 15 days after it reconvenes.
In its statement, the NCHR appealed to the President to speed up the issuance of this law since the government had for the fifth year running ignored the draft bills presented to it and disregarded its recommendations to this effect, despite its knowledge of the sectarian tension witnessed in most of the governorates of Egypt.
Soon after its launch, the general strike has had its supporters and detractors. Coptic activists and organizations have openly shown support by officially joining it. Among them were the prominent Attorney Ashraf Edward, Attorney Mamdouh Nakhla, chief of Al Kalema Centre for human rights and Attorney Haney el Gezeiry, head of ‘The Million Centre’ for human rights.
The organization “Youth Against Discrimination” (YAD), which calls for a secular society, also endorsed the strike. The Egyptian Liberal Party came out on 9/3/2009 in support of the right of the Copts to stage a strike to make known that they also have rights which have to be recognized and “should not be dependent on the good will of leaders or decision-makers.”
Al-Masry ElYom independent newspaper reported on 8/8/2009 that the Coptic Church has forbidden Copts to participate in this strike. This was later found out to be untrue. The Coptic Church, which has kept out of the issue, said through Bishop Marcos of Shubra el Kheima Diocese and spokesman for the Church that it is not connected with this strike, as “The church does not get involved in politics.” However, no reference was made to prohibition on Copts’ participation, as claimed by the newspaper.
El-Bashayer electronic newspaper reported on 8/27/09 that the Coptic Pope Shenouda III was watching closely all what the newspapers are writing about the strike, and a special team is compiling all the relevant news.
The semi-governmental Al-Gomhouriya newspapers came out on 9/30/2009 attacking the strike, calling the group “a bunch of boys and publicity seekers,” and the organizer of the strike an “obscure lawyer looking for fame.” None of the Coptic personalities interviewed by the reporter, Mohamed Zeineldin, were in support of the strike. Opinions expressed ranged between “a stab in the heart of citizenry,” “would lead to more sectarian strife,” “harming the Coptic Cause,” and “will tarnish the image of Egypt in the eyes of the world.” Surprisingly not one supportive opinion was quoted.
Yasser Arafat, an attorney also interviewed by Al-Gomhouriya, warned of the danger of supporting the strike, because it is potentially illegal. Paragraph 98 of the Penal Code, sets a prison term of between six months to five years for anyone “exploiting religion and promoting ideas that would damage national unity.”
In a communiquÃ(c) issued on August 31, the strike organizers said that they will keep their anonymity as “we are not looking for glory; our only goal is the Coptic Cause.” Besides, they said they believe the Coptic issue has to be solved from within Egypt, “so that no one can accuse us of being foreign agents, which is the usual accusation thrown at every Copt asking for his right.”
Faced with this media antagonism, a member of the group said “They even want to prevent us from using our right of peaceful expression. Is it not better for people to stay at home or wear black instead of holding machine guns and killing the innocent like some other people do?”
Reverend Mattias Nasr, chief editor of the influential Coptic website “Theban Legion” officially endorsed the strike on August 16. “Because we are also Copts for Egypt, we will join forces with you, but in Our Own Way.” Reverend Mattias declared September 11 to be a universal day of prayer. Copts of all walks of life are called to join in celebrating Holy Communion, followed by an evening of prayers.
Outspoken and popular, Reverend Morcos Aziz, priest of the Hanging Church in Old Cairo, who is currently residing in USA, gave his support to the general strike. He described it as the exercise of a legitimate right guaranteed by the Constitution and a form of protest against the injustices and abuses of the human rights of the Copts. He went on to warn that the Egyptian government should bear the consequences of what will happen by the explosion of minorities in Egypt. “The government is playing a deaf ear and using the policy of sectarian balances at the expense of minorities, which will lead to increased sectarian problems.” He told Copts not to be afraid of “the martyrdom of Christians to end the injustice.”
The liberal writer Mahmoud Zohairy believes that the Egyptian government is worried about a Coptic strike, as this would make Christians equal to the rest of the political and social forces in expressing their political and social demands and this poses a danger for the government. “Since the regime got accustomed to using the Christians as a security card at times, and as a political one at others, therefore this would endanger its survival and would ultimately speed up its collapse.” In his opinion the number of Christians in Egypt is not as small as rumored, hence the large number of Copts (estimated at 20,000,000 people) could line up in trade unions and associations to create a strong pressure lobby which would enable them to get their rights.
Highlighting the timing of the general strike, the organizers said that in view of the escalating incidents, where churches are being burnt and the suffering of Christians is increasing under the yoke of injustice, so speed and wisdom were required. The most appropriate day for the strike was the Egyptian Coptic New Year.
September 11, which falls this year on a Friday, the official weekly day off in Egypt, makes the strike “symbolic of the suffering and discrimination against Copts which no civilized constitution sanctions, peaceful and legal,” said Attorney and Coptic activist Ashraf Edward.
The Coptic New Year is the “Feast of Nayrouz,” when martyrs and confessors are commemorated. It is has been celebrated on September 11 of every year since 284 AD, the year Diocletian became Roman Emperor. His reign was marked by torture of Christians to force them to deny their faith, as well as by mass executions, especially in Egypt. The Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for Anno Martyrum or “Year of the Martyrs”). The feast is celebrated by millions of Copts globally every year.
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Three Doctors ‘Paid by Libyan Government to Say Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi Had Three Months to Live’
The Libyan government paid British doctors for medical advice which may have helped the release of the Lockerbie bomber, it emerged yesterday.
It paid eminent cancer specialist Karol Sikora and two others around £100 an hour to consider how long they believed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi had to live.
And Professor Sikora admitted that although he initially thought Mr Megrahi could live for as long as 18 months, he was ‘encouraged’ to conclude he would die from prostate cancer within three months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Massive’ Ancient Wall Uncovered in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (CNN) — An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.
Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut stones is a marvel to archaeologists.
“To build straight walls up 8 meters… I don’t know how to do it today without mechanical equipment,” said the excavation’s director, Ronny Reich. “I don’t think that any engineer today without electrical power [could] do it.”
Archaeologist Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority added, “You see all the big boulders — all the boulders are 4 to 5 tons.”
The discovered section is 24 meters (79 feet) long. “However, it is thought the fortification is much longer because it continues west beyond the part that was exposed,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a news release.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Calls Off Trip to Israel After Troops There Are Accused of Harvesting Organs From Dead Palestinians
Sweden’s foreign minister abruptly called off a visit to Israel this week, an Israeli spokesman said Sunday, amid a feud over a Swedish newspaper article and a growing gulf between Israel and the international community over West Bank settlement construction.
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has called off a trip to Israel planned for this Friday, according to Yigal Palmor, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Palmor, who would not comment on a possible reason for the move, said Sweden informed Israel’s embassy in Stockholm of the decision on Friday.
The Swedish decision came the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew international condemnation for deciding to approve hundreds of new apartments in West Bank settlements in defiance of U.S., European and Palestinian calls for a total settlement freeze. Sweden holds the rotating European Union presidency.
But the cancellation also followed a diplomatic feud between Israel and Sweden over an unsubstantiated article in a Swedish tabloid that accused Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs from dead Palestinians and suggested a connection with an international organ trafficking ring run by Jews. Israeli officials condemned the article as anti-Semitic and reminiscent of medieval blood libels against Jews.
Swedish officials denied a connection between the cancellation and the newspaper article, but offered differing explanations for Bildt’s decision not to come.
Anna Brodin, political officer at the Swedish consulate in Jerusalem, said Bildt has put off his visit in the hope Mideast peacemaking would progress during the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
‘It has been delayed until after the General Assembly in New York, when there might be more substance in the process,’ Brodin said.
Israel and the Palestinians have indicated that Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could hold a first meeting during the U.N. gathering.
But in Stockholm, Bildt spokeswoman Irena Busic denied the foreign minister had canceled a trip to Israel, saying a date had never been set. Now was not a good time for such a trip, she said, citing logistical reasons and the ‘situation in the peace process.’
Both Swedish officials denied the article in the Swedish daily Aftonbladet had anything to do with Bildt’s travel plans.
Netanyahu demanded that Sweden denounce the article, headlined, ‘Our sons are plundered for their organs.’ But the Swedish government rebuffed Israeli calls for an official condemnation, citing freedom of the press.
‘Freedom of expression and press freedom are very strong in our constitution by tradition. And that strong protection has served our democracy and our country well,’ Bildt, the foreign minister, wrote in his blog after the controversy erupted.
The article provoked a flap inside Sweden’s own Foreign Ministry after its ambassador to Israel published a condemnation of the article only to be reprimanded by her superiors for doing so.
The incident has drawn comparisons with the controversy over the 2005 publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons negatively depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which sparked protests and riots throughout the Islamic world.
Denmark’s then-prime minister distanced himself from the cartoons throughout the crisis but resisted calls to apologize for them, citing freedom of speech and saying his government could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark’s press.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish FM Cancels Israel Trip Amid ‘Organ’ Row
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt abruptly cancelled a trip to Israel this week, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday amid raised tensions over a controversial newspaper article.
Bildt postponed his Thursday visit after reports that Israeli hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had considered refusing to meet with him, according to a statement from the ministry that was reported in the Israeli media.
But an Israeli ministry spokesperson told AFP that the visit was cancelled over the weekend due to “a problem of timing.”
The Swedish Foreign Ministry could not confirm the cancellation and Bildt’s office did not return Al Arabiya’s request for comment.
Freedom of speech dispute
Israel had demanded Sweden condemn the article it labeled an anti-Semitic “blood libel.” Stockholm refused, saying that doing so would violate the country’s tradition of freedom of speech.
Israel had demanded Sweden condemn the article it labeled an anti-Semitic “blood libel.” Stockholm refused, saying that doing so would violate the country’s tradition of freedom of speech.
Sweden currently holds to rotating presidency of the EU, and sources in Jerusalem say the cancelation may have diplomatic consequences.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, whose country is scheduled to preside over the EU, was in Sweden on Saturday and is expected in Israel on Wednesday days after a controversial newspaper article sparked tensions.
Spanish daily El Mundo published an interview with famous Holocaust denier David Irving, which the FM’s office condemned and called “unfortunate.”
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Analysis: For Assad, Conflict is a Raison D’etre
by Jonathan Spyer
The Baghdad government’s assertion of Syrian responsibility for the explosions which killed more than 100 people in Iraq on August 19 has refocused attention to Syrian policy vis-a-vis its eastern neighbor. Syria’s approach in Iraq offers a prime example of diplomacy, Assad-style.
For this reason, among others, Damascus’s Iraq policy should be closely studied — particularly by advocates of the broader stance of engagement with the various elements of the Iran-led regional alliance.
The specific advantage of the Syrian relationship with Iraqi Ba’athists and jihadists lies precisely in its murkiness and ambiguity ( in contrast to Damascus’s relations with other local Islamist elements such as Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad). So the question of whether the bombings were committed by Iraqi Ba’athists, Iraqi Islamists or some combination thereof may never be known.
Iraqi officials believe that the late claim of responsibility by an al-Qaida-linked group was an attempt to divert attention from the Syria-Ba’athist link.
But the fact that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri alMaliki’s accusations could feasibly be asserted highlights a number of important facts…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Arabs Who Refuse to Spy for UAE Expelled, Press
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, SEPTEMBER 4 — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have essentially expelled several Shiite Lebanese and Palestinians because they refused to spy on the fundamentalist anti-Israeli movements Hezbollah and Hamas, Beirut’s al Akhbar newspaper writes today. The UAE authorities, the newspaper claims, in the past two months refused to renew the residence permits of more than 45 Lebanese businessmen and employees, all Shiites, after their rejection of a request to collect information on Hezbollah during their stays in Lebanon. The newspaper claims that the pressure “campaign” on Lebanese Shiites in the UAE intensified after the war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, reaching a climax in 2008. This situation, according to al Akhbar — a newspaper close to Hezbollah — last month led Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to send the head of his republican guard, General Wadih Gafari, to the Emirates to discuss the issue with the UAE’s security authorities. Last Wednesday, former Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniyeh asked the president of the UAE, sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, to reconsider a similar decision regarding at least 350 Palestinians from Gaza. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Preparing for Israeli Strike
Forces being prepared, attitude hardened
There are ominous signs suggesting Iran may be preparing for sanctions from the United Nations and possibly even an attack from Isreal over its developing nuclear program, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Just as the U.N. General Assembly is due to meet later this month to consider what to do about Iran’s insistence on enriching uranium as part of its nuclear development program, Tehran has announced that it is open to further discussions on the issue, but it will not be pressured to meet any September deadline.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan: Emirates, Instructions Aimed at Foreigners
(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI — In Bedouin tents set up in shopping centres between dates and coffee, in the form of articles in newspapers, among the rankings of ‘in’ places, in the graphics and comments of the most austere economics magazines: the ‘instructions’ for Ramadan are found everywhere. An investment in initiatives, words and images, that is just as bizarre as wanting to explain Christmas in Italy from the nativity scenes to Christmas cakes. Or maybe not. In the United Arab Emirates, an Arab country with strong Islamic roots, where 80% of the residents are foreigners, it is necessary to illustrate the meaning, etiquette, duties and pleasures of the Islamic month dedicated to sacrifice in order to guarantee respect for one of the most important collective spiritual moments for Muslims, as well as an occasion for the enormous multi-ethnic population of the country to meet with local traditions. Evocative illustrations from a thousand and one nights are now covering newspapers as well as mini-lessons on the history of Ramadan: holy, because it was during this month that the Koran was revealed by Allah to Mohammed and because two decisive battles were won that led to the conquering of Mecca. Photographs of the most important Islamic holy places run side by side with explanations of the five pillars of the Muslim religion; lunar phases frame the essential vocabulary to comprehend and share in the festivities, from the formulas for well-wishing, to the names of the prayers, from the names of the meals over the day, to common dishes served over the month. Lists of prohibited behaviour are not lacking: eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk, but also singing, whistling and dancing in public places. ‘No’ also to tight or scanty clothing, lies, bad words and chewing gum. The guide to manners also recommends listening to music at low volume, even in one’s car, and not to consume food or beverages in front of Muslims. It is a full-emersion course that is difficult to avoid and that has brought many foreigners to want to live, at least for a day, in the spirit of Ramadan. “The headache due to dehydration is very strong”, Daisy Carrington said, “but I don’t think that anything can compare to the sweet taste of the first date when the daily fast is over”. Some experience it individually, others share it with their Muslim neighbours, others still take advantage of the evening Iftar (the meal that interrupts the fasting) organised in Emirate homes by Sheikh Mohammad’s Center for Cultural Comprehension. This is the occasion to discover the traditions connected to Ramadan locally, like for example the purchase every year of new silverware to serve food to family and neighbours. Other traditions that are more common in the Arab world, like drinking and dining in ‘kheimes’ (Bedouin tents) smoking narghiles while waiting for ‘sohur’ (the light meal served before sunrise) have by now captivated attention and evenings of both Muslims and non-Muslims, moving from the desert into areas of super deluxe hotels or the wet sands of the most popular bars on the beach. But among the non-stop advertisements of pleasurable evenings between tradition and folklore, there is also space given over to activities closer in spirit to the holiday. There are many different occasions to volunteer: from helping the disabled to providing assistance to abused women, animal protection and food distribution in the mosques, all of which falls into the theme of sharing and charity that is peculiar to Ramadan, noted by the services rendered in all of the UAE that go beyond religious beliefs, from foreigners for foreigners. Religion here holds together the immigrants who make up almost the whole population, coming from 200 countries. But apart from the different religions and cultures comes a common adhesion to the principles of brotherhood and charity of Ramadan. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Technology: NATO Secrets to be Stored on Turkish Hardware
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 4 — The Western military alliance NATO will start using an encrypted USB flash drive developed by Turkey, the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology, or UEKAE, announced Thursday as Anatolia news agency reports. Turkey’s UEKAE presented the NOLCE1, the only encrypted USB drive approved by the NATO Military Council, at a press conference held in Kocaeli. The fifth Turkish product to make it into NATO’s inventory, NOLCE1 is capable of encrypting a variety of types of classified information and ensures secure storage of data. If the drive is lost, the data stored on it becomes inaccessible and any attempt to retrieve the data triggers automatic deletion. NATO initially placed an order for 602 NOLCE1 drives, which are no larger than a credit card, 14 millimeters thick and weighing 90 grams. UEKAE is an affiliate of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, or TUBITAK, that produces and applies scientific and technological solutions in the areas of information security, communications and advanced electronics. UEKAE works on joint projects with private-sector companies and government authorities through its TEMPEST, acoustics, common criteria and cryptographic algorithm design and test centers and its product development, electronic warfare, microelectronics and opto-electronics departments. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Un-Islamic’ University Curriculums Purged in Iran
Meanwhile, political pressure to further Islamize Iran’s higher education establishment has intensified in recent days, with more leading clerics warning about the danger of subversive and secular ideas.
Significantly, several clerics and high-ranking officials have taken aim at Islamic Azad University, which is based in Tehran and has branches around the country. The university is largely run by the family of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful moderate and leading opponent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“This university must once again be purified,” Ayatollah Muhammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, the president’s spiritual adviser, said during a meeting with new cabinet members, the Rouydad Web site reported. “This purification must occur at the management level and other levels. You see just how many who do not believe in religion, Islam and God have attended and graduated from this university.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Soldier Gets Life for Rape and Murder of Iraqi Girl
A US army soldier has received five consecutive life sentences for his role in the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the slaying of three of her family members.
[Comment from JD: WARNING: Graphic descriptions in article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Josef Stalin ‘Returns’ To Moscow Metro
The spirit of Josef Stalin has made a controversial return to the Moscow metro in the form of a giant Soviet-era decoration that lavishes fawning praise on the late dictator.
Liberal historians and politicians have condemned the adornment’s reappearance after almost half a century, suggesting it reflects a worrying Kremlin-backed trend to rehabilitate the Soviet leader for patriotic propaganda purposes.
The decoration is a huge gilt-edged slogan that takes pride of place beneath eight Socialist realist statues in the newly restored entrance hall to one of Moscow’s busiest metro stations: Kurskaya.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Missing Channel Pirate Ship Carried Russian Arms for Iran
A CARGO ship that vanished in the Channel was carrying arms to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to sources in both Russia and Israel.
The Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth GBP 1.3m, disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria on July 24. It was recovered off west Africa on August 17 when eight alleged hijackers were arrested. The Kremlin has consistently denied that the vessel was carrying a secret cargo. It claims the ship was hijacked by criminals who demanded a GBP1m ransom.
The official version was challenged by sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow who claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad.
Mossad, which closely monitors arms supplies to Iran, is said to have tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld.
The Kremlin then ordered a naval rescue mission which involved destroyers and submarines. Any evidence that the Kremlin had let advanced weaponry fall into the hands of criminals or be sold to Iran would be highly embarrassing, so military officials believe a “cover story” was concocted. “The official version is ridiculous and was given to allow the Kremlin to save face,” said a Russian military source. “I’ve spoken to people close to the investigation and they’ve pretty much confirmed Mossad’s involvement. It’s laughable to believe all this fuss was over a load of timber. I’m not alone in believing that it was carrying weapons to Iran.”
The alleged hijackers, four Estonians, two Russians and two Latvians, will go on trial in Moscow.
According to the Kremlin’s account, they boarded the Arctic Sea in the Baltic by claiming their inflatable craft was in trouble and then took over the ship at gunpoint.
Sources in Moscow suggested Mossad may have played a part in the alleged hijacking by setting up a criminal gang, who were unlikely to have known anything about a secret cargo. “The best way for the Israelis to block the cargo from reaching Iran would have been to create a lot of noise around the ship,” said a former army officer.
“Once the news of the hijack broke, the game was up for the arms dealers. The Russians had to act. That’s why I don’t rule out Mossad being behind the hijacking. It stopped the shipment and gave the Kremlin a way out so that it can now claim it mounted a brilliant rescue mission.”
According to Israeli military sources, Israel received intelligence that weapons bound for Iran were being loaded in Kaliningrad, a port notorious for gun runners. “A decision was then taken to inform the Kremlin,” said the source.
Had the S-300 missiles been delivered, Iran would have significantly strengthened its air defences. An Israeli air force source said that in the event of an attack on Iranian nuclear installations, such missiles could increase Israeli casualties by 50%.
Since the Arctic Sea was retaken, Russia has imposed a security blackout. The hijackers, the crew and two investigative teams were flown back to Moscow in three Il-76 air freight planes. For more than a week after being freed the crew were not allowed to talk to their families. The captain and three crew are still on board the ship, which has resumed its voyage to Algeria, but they have not been able to call home.
Last week Mikhail Voitenko, an outspoken piracy expert who disputed the Kremlin’s original version of events, fled Russia, claiming he had received threats from an official angered by his statements.
Admiral Tarmo Kouts, former commander of Estonia’s armed forces and the European Union’s rapporteur on piracy, has infuriated Moscow by saying the only plausible explanation of the mystery is that the ship was transporting weapons. A spokesman for the Finnish owners denied that missiles could have been secretly loaded onto the ship.
Sources who suspect Mossad’s involvement point to a visit to Moscow by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, the day after the Arctic Sea was rescued.
Peres held four hours of private talks with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president. Although the Israeli foreign ministry would not be drawn on the Arctic Sea, it confirmed that the two leaders had discussed the sale of Russian weapons to countries hostile to Israel. According to Israeli officials, Peres received verbal guarantees from the Russians that they would not sell advanced weapons systems to Iran or Syria.
“Clearly the Israelis played a role in the whole Arctic Sea saga,” said a Russian military source. “Peres used the incident as a bargaining chip over the issue of arms sales to Arab states, while Israel allowed the Kremlin a way out with its claims to have successfully foiled a piracy incident.”
| [Return to headlines] |
Russia Ship Mystery Editor Flees
A journalist has fled Russia after suggesting the Arctic Sea cargo ship that was apparently hijacked in July may have been carrying illegal weapons.
Mikhail Voitenko said he had been told to leave Moscow or face arrest.
The editor of Sovfracht, an online maritime journal, fled on Wednesday, saying he may not be able to return as his life would be in danger.
Eight men, mainly from Estonia, have been charged with hijacking and piracy over the case.
The men are suspected of seizing the ship and its 15-man Russian crew after raiding it disguised as police.
The alleged hijackers were taken to Russia after the ship was spotted 300 miles (480km) off the west coast of Africa on 16 August.
Secret shipment
Instead he suggested the ship may have been carrying a secret shipment of weapons as part of a private business deal by state officials.
Speaking to the BBC from Turkey, Mr Voitenko said he had received a threatening phone call from “serious people” whom he suggested may have been members of Russia’s intelligence agency, the FSB.
The caller told Mr Voitenko that those involved in the mysterious case of the Arctic Sea were very angry with him because he had spoken publicly, and were planning on taking action against him, he said.
“As long as I am out of Russia I feel safe,” Mr Voitenko told the BBC. “At least they won’t be able to get me back to Russia and convict [me].”
He also said Nato knew exactly what had happened to the Arctic Sea.
A Nato spokesman said the alliance had been in contact with Russia throughout the crisis, but would not say anything more.
The FSB refused to comment on the allegations.
Further inspection
The 4,000-tonne Maltese-flagged vessel vanished in July days after leaving Finland with an apparent cargo of timber worth $1.8m (£1.1m), destined for the Algerian port of Bejaia.
Observers have questioned why the alleged hijackers would risk seizing the Arctic Sea in one of Europe’s busiest shipping lanes for a relatively inexpensive cargo.
Russian authorities said nothing suspicious was found aboard the ship when it was found last month, but have said a more thorough inspection would be carried out when the Arctic Sea arrives in the Russian port of Novorossiisk.
| — Hat tip: LN | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh Destroys Hinduism and Buddhism
Islamization Blamed on UK for Partition of British India
The nation of Bangladesh is witnessing Islamization, just like Afghanistan in the distant past and currently now in Pakistan. It is clear that the Indian sub-continent flourished under both Hinduism and then Buddhism which came afterwards. Both faiths nurtured the very fabric of society but invading Islamic armies and the partition of India was one disaster after another. Therefore, just like Afghanistan, it would appear that one day you will have either complete Islamization or a very small minority which is on the margins of society.
Many stories are never told because of several factors. This applies to not being deemed important because of political factors and of course because of the abject failure of the mass media. Nearly everyone knows about the Palestinian problem or Tibet, but of course we have a deadly silence about the ongoing Islamization in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
However, the current crisis in Bangladesh should be headline news because minorities need to be supported and senior politicians in India must do more to raise this ongoing crisis. Also, the United Kingdom is responsible because the partition of India took place after the British colonial period and the Commonwealth should think about suspending both Bangladesh and Pakistan, on the grounds of failing to protect their respective minorities.
Before the partition of India took place you had sizeable minorities in what was to become Pakistan and Bangladesh. For example in modern day Pakistan the Sikh community is very small but prior to partition this community thrived in parts of what was to become Pakistan. Yet during partition many Sikhs were butchered and killed by Muslims, therefore, they had to flee from the outset.
Of course all religious groups suffered during partition and many innocents on all sides were murdered. Therefore, innocent Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and other minorities, fled in various directions because the situation was chaotic. However, if we look at events many decades later we see one clear reality and this reality is Islamization.
After all, the Hindu and Sikh communities of modern day Pakistan are very small and they face many hardships and it is clear that Islamization is in full swing. Also, in Bangladesh the Buddhist and Hindu minorities are dwindling rapidly and both communities have suffered greatly and the Christian community also faces many problems because of radical Sunni Islam. Yet in modern day India the Muslim population is still strong and vibrant.
Of course you have other minorities who also suffer enormous persecution, for example Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Also, in India some radical Hindus have attacked Christian minorities. Despite this, the nation of India is democratic and people from all faith groups can reach positions of power.
Also, the government of India believes in pluralism and Ahmadiyya Muslims have more rights in India than they do in Pakistan because radical Sunni Islamic zealots persecute the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in this nation. The same also applies to Shia Muslims in Pakistan, because often Shia Muslims are killed by Sunni Islamic extremists but in India they have much more freedom.
Therefore, Muslim minorities have greater freedom in India and other religious minorities like Jains and Zoroastrians can pray and worship freely in modern day India. It also must be remembered that Zoroastrians fled to India in order to escape religious genocide because Islamic fanatics destroyed Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia (modern day Iran) and other places in Asia where this faith had thrived before the rise of Islam.
If we look at the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan then it is clear that millions of Hindus have fled both nations because of systematic persecution. The consequences of partition are clear and the same applies to the nature of both dominant faiths. After all, the Islamic population remains vibrant in India because of the nature of Hinduism; however, the Hindu population is in freefall in both Bangladesh and Pakistan because of the nature of Islam and its theory of superiority, dhimmitude, and inequality in law which is sanctioned by Islamic Sharia law.
Clearly the growth of Hindu militancy is the legacy of countless Islamic invasions and many massacres throughout history; and the legacy of British imperialism which enabled partition to take place. Also, the ongoing de-Hinduization of Bangladesh and Pakistan is ongoing, therefore, Hindu militants are rightly worried that Bangladesh and Pakistan is following the Afghanistan scenario, whereby all non-Muslims turn into dust and even ancient monuments face destruction at the hands of radical Sunni Islamists.
Therefore, several years ago the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) held a major exhibition in America in order to highlight the continuing persecution of all minorities in Bangladesh.
Amalendu Chatterjee, HRCBM director, pointed out that the Hindu population was over 30 per cent in the 1940s in what was to become Bangladesh, however, today it is a mere 11 per cent. Given this, Amalendu Chatterjee comments that “It is time that the world should know what is happening with the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.” He also stated that the reasons for the decline of the Hindu population is “…..because of the atrocities perpetrated on the Hindus by the ruling class all these years.”
Utsav Chakrabarti, a member of the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT) stated that “All the representatives and their staffers reiterated the need to protect the rights of minorities and to deal with Islamic groups in a resolute manner.”
American political leaders gave their support and Ed Royce, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, wrote “The international community must take an action against these genocidal acts now before this culture is extinguished and the minorities forcibly killed, converted or exiled in the face of an underground jihad.”
Ed Royce also focused on the extreme “… persecution faced by Hindus, Buddhists and Christians due to the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh.” This threat, just like the systematic persecution and killings of Christians in Somalia is ongoing and it is based on the Koran, the Hadiths and the teachings of Mohammed.
Frank Pallone Jr. who is a Democrat member in the House of Representatives stated that “I was proud to be the Congressional sponsor of this important exhibition on human rights in Bangladesh. I believe it helped bring much-needed attention to the plight of minorities in Bangladesh who have suffered from increasing attacks over the past few years.”
Rape was also highlighted because some Islamists use rape in order to convert Hindus to Islam forcibly. It is also important to add that Islamists use this same method in Egypt because countless numbers of Coptic Christian women have been raped by Muslims and then forcibly converted to Islam.
Therefore, Rosalind Costa who is a social worker highlighted the case of two girls who were raped and then forcibly converted to Islam after being gang-raped by Muslim jihadists. This applies to Rita Rani Das and Purnima Shil who were both gang-raped by Islamists.
The current reality is simple, in Pakistan the Hindu population is in complete freefall because only around 1% of the population is Hindu and now Islamization is taking place in Bangladesh. At the same time the Muslim population in India remains strong and vibrant. Therefore, it is clear that state sanctioned policies, Islamic radicalism and persecution is to blame and once more we are witnessing the reality of Islam in action.
Today all minorities face persecution and alienation in Bangladesh and Pakistan because of the role of radical Islam and natural Islamization based on discrimination and persecution. After all, inequality and discrimination is part and parcel of Islamic Sharia law and the Hadiths.
Therefore, will the international community stand up and debate this issue seriously or will the international community remain shackled by fear and indifference?
What is clear is that Buddhism and Hinduism is in mortal danger in Bangladesh and Christian minorities and Ahmadiyya Muslims also suffer.
When the partition of India happened it was clear that the Hindu minority was sizeable in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, within a short period of time we are seeing the demise of Hinduism in Pakistan and now the same is happening to both Buddhists and Hindus in Bangladesh.
| — Hat tip: CB | [Return to headlines] |
Gates Blasts Ap Over Photo of Dying Marine
News agency publishes image of soldier fatally wounded in Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Robert Gates personally lobbied the Associated Press in an unsuccessful bid that the news agency honor a family’s wish that it not distribute a graphic photograph showing the final moments of their son’s life after the marine had been mortally wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan.
In a letter to Associated Press President and CEO Thomas Curley, Gates said he was asking the AP to reconsider its decision to distribute the photo “in the strongest of terms” and called the decision “appalling” and lacking in “common decency.”
Gates continued, “I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard’s death has caused his family. Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me. Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right — but judgment and common decency.”
[Comments from JD: This is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The Taliban try to hide their injured and dead whereas AP does this scummy action. AP, might as well be TAP — Taliban Associated Press. Note the weasel (appologies to weasels everywhere) way AP defends this. Why does the military allows these embedded enemies in their patrols? Such photos were never allowed to be shown during WWII.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Websites Seeking Users’ Names
Government requires logging on under true identities to post comments
BEIJING — News Web sites in China, complying with secret government orders, are requiring that new users log on under their true identities to post comments, a shift in policy that the country’s Internet users and media have fiercely opposed in the past.
Until recently, users could weigh in on news items on many of the affected sites more anonymously, often without registering at all, though the sites were obligated to screen all posts, and the posts could still be traced via Internet protocol addresses.
[Comments from JD: I like how Lou Dobbs always refers to China as “Communist China.” In this way, you get a constant reminder that China is Communist (amazingly many people refuse to see this aspect of China). So this action by the Government would not be a surprise at all.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Expels 17,000 Migrants
PARIS — FRANCE’S immigration minister says authorities have deported 17,000 illegal immigrants in the first seven months of 2009.
Eric Besson says that France is well on its way to meeting its goal of expelling 27,000 people over the year.
Speaking on Thursday on LCI television, Besson also defended the practice of detaining minors pending their expulsion. He said it was ‘relatively rare’ for minors to be kept in holding centers.
Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy has made the fight against illegal immigration a priority since taking office in 2007.
Pro-immigrant groups have decried his policy on immigration as heavy handed and insist the expulsions go against French values. — AP
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Islands Europe’s Magnet for Illegal Migrants
Greece’s waters and mountains has become Europe’s primary gateway for illegal immigration: Nearly half of European Union’s illegal immigrants are detected at the nation’s land or sea borders. Greece says it detained more than 146,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, a 30 percent increase from the previous year and a 54 percent jump from 2006
Afghan migrants lineup during a police operation in a camp in Patras. AFP photo.
By day, this lush island set in the Aegean Sea offers a sanctuary to tourists seeking clear blue seas and immaculate beaches. After nightfall, a grimmer reality takes hold. Bodies sometimes wash ashore at daybreak. Human traffickers ply the waters off the coast. Patrol boats set off in pursuit of dinghies crammed with desperate migrants.
Greece’s islands welcome millions of visitors every year, but they are also increasingly playing host to newcomers of a more unwelcome variety: undocumented laborers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In fact Greece’s waters and mountains had become Europe’s primary gateway for illegal immigration: Nearly half of European Union’s illegal immigrants were detected at the nation’s land or sea borders. Greece said it detained more than 146,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, a 30 percent increase from the previous year and a 54 percent jump from 2006. Greece now has the highest number of illegal entries in the EU, followed by Italy and Spain, EU authorities said.
On Samos alone, immigrants arrive at an average rate of 25 a day — a six-fold increase over the past two years — crossing by dinghy, jet-ski, or even swimming against fast sea currents. “This very serious problem has got worse… We fear that the numbers of illegal crossings will go up even more,” Samos Police Chief Panagiotis Kordonouris said. “We don’t have time to deal with any other police activities.”
A detention center built two years ago was already working at double capacity, now housing 500 people, Kordonouris said. Elsewhere, the problem was even more acute. The United Nations refugee agency complained to the government last week about conditions on the island of Lesvos, where it said 850 people, including 200 unaccompanied children, were being detained in “cramped and unsanitary conditions.”
Shortly afterward, more than 300 people — about a third of them children — were released from detention there, and arrived at a port near Athens Wednesday, forcing charities to scramble for temporary accommodation. On top of the sheer volume of migrants seeking a foothold in Europe through Greek waters, authorities are contending with increasingly ruthless, and sometimes ingenious, tactics by the smugglers who bring them in.
Coast guard officials said human traffickers tell migrants to tear up their identity documents so they can pose as asylum seekers from war-zones: most of the foreigners who turn up in Samos said they are from Afghanistan, Somalia or the Palestinian territories. The main sea route is from Turkey to the EU shores of Greek islands as close as a couple kilometers away.
“We are people, they are people — and we try to save them,” said Partsafas. “It’s difficult work.” He said Turkish smugglers typically charge each immigrant $1,400 for the boat ride to Greece. They work with “facilitators” living in Greece, who try to keep the immigrants hidden from police and buy them batches of ferry tickets to the mainland, Samos coast guard chief Stylianos Partsafas said.
The crisis had prompted the EU to send urgent help to overwhelmed local authorities — one of the biggest projects of Frontex, the bloc’s new border agency based in Warsaw, Poland. Members of the multinational team sent by Frontex describe the unusual challenges of fighting increasingly sophisticated smuggling operations.
Visiting officers from Frontex have arrest powers and can even carry guns. Twenty EU countries are currently helping Greece with personnel and equipment, Frontex spokeswoman Izabella Cooper said. They include translators and officers trained in recognizing the facial features of different ethnic groups. Greek coast guard patrols use radar, satellite navigation, and sophisticated night-vision equipment, helped by army observation posts on Samos’ mountains, in their efforts to stop the clandestine boats.
Immigrants typically held for several months and then released with a formal order to leave the country in three weeks. But many end up staying. Often, they end up living in crowded apartments in Athens and other cities, often in squalid conditions, generating fears of a social crisis with unemployment rising and Greece on the brink of recession.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Immigrant Scoops £100,000 on Swedish Lottery
Tesfaldet Tesloy, 28, from Eritrea in east Africa, appeared on Swedish TV on Saturday to collect his winnings, even though the authorities have been trying to deport him.
Mr Tesloy, who moved to Sweden six years ago, has so far been able to remain there because of his own country’s refusal to take him back. He is one of around 12,000 people awaiting deportation in Sweden, many of whom cannot be sent home because their own nations either ignore or refuse to co-operate with deportation orders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Landings Cut Drastically After Italy-Libya Deal
(ANSAmed) — TRIESTE — “After the government’s agreement with Libya, immigration from that country has stopped”. The announcement was made from Trieste by the general commander of Italian harbour offices, Raimondo Pollastrini. In an interview Pollastrini underlined “the strong commitment” to the issue of immigration. “In most cases” he pointed out referring to the sending back of migrants “these are efforts to save people’s lives.” “The number of immigrants from Libya,” Pollastrini added, “has been reduced to almost zero. This shows that immigration by sea cannot be ‘stopped’ at sea, but only through international cooperation agreements.” Pollastrini said that he doesn’t expect a “change of course” of illegal immigration. “Most people came from Libya” he explained, “they were no Libyans but people from central Africa. There are some signs of a flow from Algeria to the south of Sardinia” he added “but the numbers are still low.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Actress Fired Over Religious Beliefs?
‘One Life to Live’ star voiced objections to her character’s ‘gay’-friendly dialogue
If you tuned in to the soap “One Life to Live” this week, you may have noticed there’s been a change of character. One character in particular.
Actress Patricia Mauceri says she was fired and abruptly replaced for objecting to a gay storyline because of her religious beliefs.
Mauceri played the recurring role of Carlotta Vega on “OLTL” for the last 14 years. But when she objected to how the writers wanted her deeply religious character, a Latina mother, to handle a storyline involving homosexuality, she objected. And for that she claims she was fired.
Mauceri, 59, a devout Christian, told FOX News that character Vega’s gay-friendly dialogue was not in line with the character she helped create by drawing on her own faith.
“I did not object to being in a gay storyline. I objected to speaking the truth of what that person, how that person would live and breathe and act in that storyline,” she said. “And this goes against everything I am, my belief system, and what I know the character’s belief system is aligned to.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Church Bell ‘Noise’ Under Attack — In America
Three churches in Phoenix have brought a legal action against the city because one pastor already has been convicted and other churches are being threatened over the “noise” from their bells, some of which have rung out to the community for decades.
The lawsuit has been filed by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish, First Christian Church and Christ the King Liturgical Charismatic Church.
The dispute focuses on the city ordinance that even city officials have conceded is vague, according to the lawsuit. Nevertheless, on the strength of neighbors’ complaints and the existing statute, one pastor already has been convicted and sentenced for violating the city ordinance with church bells. The complaint alleges others now also are threatened.
[…]
The case documents that the bells at Painter’s church were recorded at 67 decibels from the nearest property line, while a whisper was measured at 30 decibels and a normal conversation ranged between 60 and 70 decibels.
“Ice cream trucks are allowed to emit up to 70 decibels at a distance of 50 feet under an exemption to the city’s ordinance, but no exemption exists for church bells,” the case writes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Men Lose Their Minds Speaking to Pretty Women
Talking to an attractive woman really can make a man lose his mind, according to a new study.
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4 comments:
O/T I love the way Americans call it "tidbits". So pure.
Sorry, James, but the American version of the word is more correct.
"Titbits" is a later variant of the "tidbits".
According to the OED -- the OED, mind you, and not some inferior slapdash American lexicon -- the earliest 17th century form of the word (in England, not the colonies) was "tyd bit", in which "tid" was a dialect word that meant "nice", and had roots in Old English.
So the word that we ignorant and prudish Yanks use is closer to the original English word than what you Poms say.
Next time, hit the dictionary before issuing yet another condescending and gratuitous swipe at us poor benighted colonials.
Love the way the Brits call it "titbits". So prurient.
I'm sure we get a giggle out of it. :D
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