Turkish hackers have the brought down the internet server for the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, in an apparent attempt to punish the paper for allowing the cartoon of Mohammed the Pig to appear in its pages. Muslim taxi drivers also went on strike to protest the blasphemous cartoon.In other news, Israeli television has broadcast a secretly recorded video that may prove embarrassing to a top aide of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It seems that the aide was taped while trouserless, caught in the act of soliciting sexual favors from a woman in return for his political largesse.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Gaia, Insubria, JD, KGS, Sean O’Brian, TB, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Allen West Knows Jihad—the Enemy Ideology
by Andrew Bostom
Allen West for Congress…and Beyond?
Thanks to Hillel Stavis for extracting, and posting this video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGQmCZjJ0k&feature=player_embedded
Speaking at a Hudson Institute New York forum panel (Wednesday January 13, 2010) on national security, Lt. Colonel Allen West answered a Marine’s query about the jihad against Western civilization with singular clarity and consistency, elucidating the enemy’s motivating ideology.
Col. West explained that we are,
“…fighting a theo-political belief system that has been doing this since 622 A.D.—1388 years.
Furthermore, to understand this uniquely Islamic ideology and its historical consequences, past and present, he states plainly:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Reviews Avoid Word ‘Islamist’
Two new documents laying out the Obama administration’s defense and homeland security strategy over the next four years describe the nation’s terrorist enemies in a number of ways but fail to mention the words Islam, Islamic or Islamist.
The 108-page Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, made public last week by the Department of Homeland Security, uses the term “terrorist” a total of 66 times, “al Qaeda” five times and “violent extremism” or “extremist” 14 times. It calls on the U.S. government to “actively engage communities across the United States” to “stop the spread of violent extremism.”
Yet in describing terrorist threats against the United States and the ideology that motivates terrorists, the review — like its sister document from the Pentagon, the Quadrennial Defense Review — does not use the words “Islam,” “Islamic” or “Islamist” a single time.
Although the homeland security official in charge of developing the review insists it was a not a deliberate decision, the document is likely to reignite a debate over terminology in the U.S.-led war against al Qaeda that has been simmering through two administrations.
“There was not an active choice” to avoid using terms derivative of Islam, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Policy David Heyman told reporters on a conference call. President Obama had “made it clear as we are looking at counterterrorism that our principal focus is al Qaeda and global violent extremism, and that is the terminology and language that has been articulated” by Mr. Obama and his advisers, Mr. Heyman added. He declined to use the I-word.
The sensitivity to terminology is not new. In April 2008, during the George W. Bush administration, an official guide produced by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the multiagency center charged with strategic coordination of the U.S. war on terrorism, urged officials not to use the words “Muslim” or “Islamic” in conjunction with the word “terrorism.”
Such usage “reinforces the ‘U.S. vs. Islam’ framework that al-Qaeda promotes,” read the NCTC’s “Words That Work and Words That Don’t: A Guide for Counterterrorism Communication.”
Instead, the guide urges policymakers to use terms such as “violent extremists,” “totalitarian,” and “death cult” to characterize al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
The Obama administration has adopted “violent extremism” as its catchall phrase for terrorism.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Who is Influencing and Controlling Fox?
Most folks have believed that Fox TV and their many conservative shows is the last bastion of conservative safety left on TV. You have your Sean Hannity, Bill’ Reilly, Greta Van Susteren asking the hard legal questions and more. But with all the conservative, multi millionaire and popular conservative voices, did you also know that the second largest owner of Fox, parent corporation Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is Prince Ahwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia.
Prince Ahwaleed has been buying his anti Semitic and Muslim way right into American life. Let us review just how generous he is a moment. He purchased a 5.6% stake in News Corp. in 2005, second from the top now. He manipulated Islamic study departments into place by giving $20 million each to Georgetown and Harvard Universities.
Ahwaleed is a man who gave $500,000 to CAIR, Council on American Islamic Relations, and then there is the mother load of $27 million in 2002 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Naturally, he called them ‘martyrs.’
The prince is also rather close to James, Murdoch’s son who is known for his anti-Israel views and left wing radical environmental and global warming nonsense.
He is not a man of mystery in anyway. Before he jumped in bed with Murdoch and his son James, he revealed his true heart on Arab News. Just some of the things he said were: “Arabs should focus more on penetrating U.S. public opinion as a means to influencing decision making” rather than boycotting U.S. products….Arab news stated “Arab countries can influence U.S. decision making if they unite through economic interest, not political…We have to be logical and understand that the U.S. administration is subject to U.S. public opinion.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Promoters of Free Speech Introduce New Manifesto
To challenge what many people see as a growing trend towards self-censorship, a group of prominent Danes has founded a new organisation
A group of 19 important members of the media, press and law circles have joined forces to battle what they fear is a growing censorship on freedom of expression, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.
With their new ‘Fri Debat’ organisation, they have issued a ‘Manifesto’ which outlines their concerns as well as their perception of what free speech is — namely, that people should be allowed to say anything they want, with absolutely no legal, social or other barriers.
The 19 people come from all sides of the political spectrum in terms of their everyday views, but they are united on the idea that the new group will defend freedom of expression without further ado.
‘It’s probably the only thing we all agree on,’ joked Jacob Mchangama, one of the chief authors of the Manifesto and director of legal affairs for liberal thinktank Cepos.
But the group’s fears are certainly no joke, according to Mchangama who, like the other 18 Fri Debat members, has been worried about the trend of self-censorship expressed by many artists and media personnel in recent months.
‘Freedom of speech shouldn’t just be the right to say nice things that everybody agrees on,’ he said. ‘We will defend the right to be a Holocaust denier and a racist, while we will fight those opinions with words.’
The Manifesto does not mention free speech organisation Trykkefrihedsselskabet — where internal strife over the issue reached a head just prior to Christmas, when the organisation’s president, Lars Hedegaard, made numerous derogatory comments about Muslims. Several of the organisation’s leading members resigned as a result.
The Danish branch of literature-promotion organisation PEN had also indicated it believed there were boundaries on free speech.
Issues in the Danish media that have fuelled the debate most notably include the Mohammed cartoons and the burka/headscarf debates.
Two opponents of free speech are mentioned by name in the manifesto, however: Penal Code sections 140 and 266b, respectively relating to blasphemy and racism.
‘The absurd blasphemy clause has not been in use since 1938, but it’s worrying that Muslim countries in the UN use European blasphemy clauses as an argument for their own demands for protection from religious abuse,’ said Mchangama.
‘The state attempts to legislate morality, but you can’t change people’s attitudes through coercion,’ he said. Mchangama together with the other members have set a limit on freedom of expression through violence, insults and direct invitation to illegality.
Mchangama said it is not the group’s intention to let racist remarks go uncontested. He argued that they must be fought through open debate.
If you don’t have the fundamental confidence that a majority of the population is able and willing to address these opinions, then what we end up with is a type of guardian council, which must judge what is acceptable,’ says Mchangama.
Fri Debat will hold its first event on 1 March, when a debate on the penal code’s blasphemy and racism paragraphs will be discussed. The meeting’s panel will include Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten — the newspaper best known for its publication of the Mohammed cartoons. In addition, Erik Bjerager, editor of the Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper, law professor Henning Koch from Copenhagen University and Jacob Mchangama will be on the panel.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Four Wounded in Shootings
Four people were wounded in shootings in Copenhagen overnight.
There were two shooting episodes in the Copenhagen districts of Østerbro and Nørrebro overnight in which four people were wounded, but the two incidents do not seem to be connected.
Four hooded men were waiting for the owner of the Vinyl Bar in Kroghsgade in Østerbro and in the tumult that followed the owner was shot and wounded.
“Our initial view is that this was a robbery that went wrong,” says Amager Police Station’s Tommy Keil.
Nørrebro
Prior to that incident, several shots were fired in the area of Heimsdalsgade in Nørrebro. Two people were wounded and taken to the Rigshospitalet and Bispebjerg hospitals.
“Shortly afterwards we stopped a car with gunshot holes in it in Østerbro and two people were arrested,” Keil says.
Some time later four people arrived at Rigshospitalet, one of whom had a gunshot wound.
“We don’t know whether they were visiting the other victims or taking their wounded comrade to hospital, but they were all arrested too,” Keil adds.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Shootings Leave Four Hospitalised
An especially violent Thursday evening in the city and outlying areas left four men with gunshot wounds and another with a broken back
Three shootings last night in Copenhagen and the suburb of Herlev resulted in injuries to four young men.
Police believe two of the incidents may be related and likely part of a dispute between immigrant gangs. Several people have already been arrested in connection with the shootings.
The evening’s conflict began in Herlev, where a 22-year-old man was shot in the neck during what police say was a major confrontation between groups.
A few hours later, another incident took place on Heimdalsgade in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district, where several shots were fired. Two men aged 22 and 20 years were hit — one in the buttocks and the other in the groin.
In an unrelated shooting in the city’s Østerbro district, a 46-year-old man was hit by a bullet that grazed his chin. He had got in the way of four hooded men who were reportedly in the process of committing a robbery.
None of the injuries to the victims of the three shootings were life-threatening.
Tommy Keil, Deputy Police Inspector with Copenhagen Police, said that two suspects were arrested in Østerbro after their car, which was peppered with bullet holes, was stopped early this morning. Both were charged with possession of firearms and attempted murder and will face a preliminary hearing later today.
After the Nørrebro shooting, four comrades of one of the victims were arrested after bringing the 20-year-old to Rigshospitalet.
Police were only able to make arrests after the violent conflict that took place in Herlev when the victims were brought to Herlev Hospital. Besides the victim who was shot in the neck, another man in the conflict suffered a broken back.
When up to 10 of the shooting victim’s friends and family members showed up at the hospital —
where police determined it looked as if they had been in a brawl — several arrests were made.
Police said they thought the episode was probably gang related but could not be certain.
‘There’s no question that there was some kind of a showdown, but whether it was drug or gang-related, we don’t know,’ said an officer from Copenhagen West Police.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
French Warship Deal Opens Wound in EU and NATO
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — Lithuania and Latvia have said that France’s handling of an arms deal with Russia has breached good faith with its EU and Nato allies and may be in violation of an EU weapons code.
“We learned [about the deal] from media,” Lithuanian defence minister Rasa Jukneviciene told EUobserver in an interview on Thursday (11 February). “If our partners would have consulted about the intended sale of the Mistral within EU or Nato this would have certainly enhanced the spirit of solidarity within both organisations.”
Maris Riekstins, the foreign minister of Latvia, said: “We would love to have seen a different sequence of events. We would be in a much better position if we had been consulted beforehand and then there had been a public announcement.”
France on Monday revealed that it is in advanced talks with Russia to sell a Mistral class warship.
The vessel can deploy 900 marines, 40 assault vehicles and 16 helicopters, as well as acting as a floating command centre for 150 military staff. If the deal goes ahead, it would be the first major arms sale by a Nato country to Russia since World War II.
The French announcement comes after Russia last September held large scale war games in Kaliningrad and Belarus, described by one Estonian defence analyst as a simulated invasion of Poland and Lithuania.
Russian admiral Vladimir Vysotsky at the time said that if Russia had had a Mistral ship during the Georgia war in 2008 it could have won the conflict in 40 minutes.
Lithuania’s Ms Jukneviciene plans to raise the Mistral sale at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Mallorca later this month. Latvia’s Mr Riekstins denied that he is lobbying Nato to block the deal. But he also called for wider debate before it goes through.
“We haven’t given any particular instructions to our diplomats in Nato to enter into a specific campaign. But an exchange of views in the EU and Nato families, a clarification of the issues on the table, is what should be done,” he said.
There is no EU law governing arms sales by member states. But in 2008 the bloc adopted a political commitment not to sell weapons or components to countries which violate human rights, pose a risk to regional stability or hurt the security interests of EU allies.
The code was signed into life by the French EU presidency four months after the Georgia war.
“Every EU country is bound by rules regarding the control of exports of arms and dual use technology,” Mr Riekstins said.
“Our lawyers consider that such a sale would allow ambiguous interpretations in regard of compliance with several important criteria of this code,” Ms Jukneviciene said. “Having in mind the unpredictability of Russian politics, we cannot exclude that this military equipment may be used for illegitimate purposes inconsistent with our values and principles.”
Karl Kaas, an analyst at the International Centre for Defence Studies in Tallinn, noted that Austrian and Finnish-made sniper rifles have in recent years been used by Russian special forces in Chechnya and Georgia’s rebel region of South Ossetia.
Otfried Nassauer from the arms control NGO, the Berlin Information-center for Transatlantic Security, said: “Surely you could make such an argument [that the Mistral sale would violate the code]. But you would run into the problem of double standards. Germany has sold submarines to Pakistan which could theoretically be used to launch nuclear-armed cruise missiles.”
French diplomats and EU officials declined to speak on the record. But one French contact said that Russia “is not the kind of country which is the target of the code,” mentioning North Korea instead.
Meanwhile, Estonia, another small post-Soviet republic, which arguably has the worst relations with Russia of any EU state, has opted to stay out of the dispute for now.
“Technically speaking Russia is qualified as a partner for both Nato and the EU and there are no restrictions in force against arms sales to this country. Thus it could become only a moral or political issue,” Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet told this website.
“We are not excluding anything but this issue should not become a divisive factor for Nato and the EU.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: General Strike Nears; Papandreou, Apply Plan
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — Greek civil servants went on strike today, paralysing airports, schools and hospitals, and in February the private sector will join them in a general strike against the austerity measures announced by the socialist government. However, Premier Giorgio Papandreou says that there are no alternatives to his plan to get the country back on track, and with a majority of citizens, the markets and Europe behind him, the plan will move forward. The Adedy union, whose members went on strike today, announced that they will take part in the strike against wage and pension cuts called by the private sector confederation, Gsee, scheduled for February 24. Communist union Pame will also take part in the protest, which will make the initiative a general strike. Participation in today’s protest, according to Adedy, was 85%, taking place just before an extraordinary meeting of the EU tomorrow in Brussels and 24 hours after Athens outlined its measures on pay, taxes and pensions as part of the recovery plan that must bring the Greek deficit to below 3% by 2013. Such measures involve a general salary freeze for 2010, and reductions to supplemental pay of 10%, extended to pensions of over 2000 euros. A tax amnesty will be introduced to regularise incoming capital from abroad. Finally, the pension age will be gradually raised by two years and equalised between men and women. Today Papandreou confirmed in Paris that there are no alternatives to the austerity package and that he is ready to take “all necessary measures” to deal with the crisis. From recent surveys, it would seem that his plan has support, with over 60% of Greeks saying that they are in favour of wage cuts and believing that the government has an effective plan to save the country.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: 10,000-Hectare Reforestation Plan
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JANUARY 12 — The Greek Environmental Minister announced a four-year plan costing 45 million euros to reforest 10,000 hectares in Attica. This is an area that in recent years has been destroyed various times by fires. Deputy Environmental Minister Thanos Moraitis said that this will be the most ambitious project in Greece, and pointed out that previous initiatives have resulted in the reforestation of just 1,000 hectares of destroyed forests. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 2009 Industrial Output -17.4% Worst Since 1991
(ANSAmed) — ROME — Italian industrial output in 2009 was down by 17.4% compared with 2008, according to the Italian national institute for statistics ISTAT, which noted that the decline adjusted for number of working days was 17.5%: the worst drop since 1991, the first year of comparison for the historical series. In 2009, taking into consideration the data corrected for number of working days, the largest decline in output was in intermediate goods (-24.9%) and in instrumental ones (-21.2%). For consumer goods, the drop in output was more contained (-6.9%) due to a drop in non-durable goods of 4.3% and one in durable goods of 17.8%. Energy production dropped by 8.9% compared with 2008. Metallurgy was among the sectors seeing the sharpest drop in production (-28.1%) along with machinery production (-28.7%) and that of transport vehicles (-25.2%). The sector seeing the least decline was that of food products (-1.6%), while the only sector to see a rise in output was pharmaceuticals, with +2.8%. As concerns industrial production in December, there was a 0.7% drop compared with November and a 2.3% one compared with December last year. Also according to ISTAT, the annual decrease, corrected for number of working days, was 5.6%. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Civil Protection Chief Probed
Berlusconi rejects Bertolaso’s resignation
(ANSA) — Rome, February 10 — Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday rejected the resignation of Civil Protection chief Guido Bertolaso, under investigation in a wider probe into contracts to build the original site of last year’s Group of Eight summit.
Bertolaso, 59, resigned immediately after police searched the office of his civil protection department in Rome and handed him a formal notice that he was being investigated in a corruption inquiry into 327 million euros worth of contracts to build the G8 facilities on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena.
Judicial sources in Florence, where the probe is being coordinated, said that Bertolaso was being investigated on corruption charges. In a statement released by his department, Bertolaso said he was stepping down so “as not to create any complications for investigators”. He said he would also ask to speak to investigating prosecutors as soon as possible, “to give them any information I have”.
Bertolaso stressed that he had “absolute trust” in the judiciary and said his office had given police “all the documents we had available” while pledging “full support” in their investigation. Berlusconi, who has repeatedly praised Bertolaso for his handling of the Campania garbage emergency and his response to last April’s earthquake in L’Aquila, said he was “convinced the civil protection chief would be able to clear everything up”.
The premier announced recently he was planning to reward Bertolaso — one of the country’s most popular figures — by upgrading his department to ministry level and make him a minister. Cabinet Secretary Gianni Letta said Berlusconi told a cabinet meeting that Bertolaso was “only marginally connected to investigations involving other people”.
The premier said the civil protection chief needed to carry on and contribute, for the country’s good, with “his extraordinary intelligence, dedication and commitment”. Berlusconi’s decision was met with a round of applause from the cabinet, Letta said.
Later, the premier said he had spoken to Bertolaso who gave him the impression “he wants to stay on”.
Earlier in the day, police arrested the head of the state public works office, Angelo Balducci on corruption charges in connection with the same probe. Also arrested were Rome businessman Diego Anemone, 38; the Tuscany region’s public works contractor Fabio De Santis, 61; and state official Mauro Della Giovampaola, 44.
Judicial sources in Florence said later that Rome prosecutor Achille Poro was also being investigated.
Balducci, head of the state’s public works office, was tasked with reconverting a US submarine base on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena to host the G8 summit last July before it was moved to the quake-struck city of L’Aquila in central Italy.
Over 300 million euros were earmarked for Maddalena project which involved creating a convention center, hotel accommodations and port facilities, in view of its future use as a venue for major sailing events.
Balducci’s office is influential in decisions to award public works’ contracts and is connected to the infrastructure ministry.
He has never worked for the civil protection office. The G8 summit was originally slated to be held on La Maddalena but Berlusconi decided to move it to L’Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, to draw international attention to the region and its need of reconstruction aid.
The earthquake killed 300 people and left 70,000 homeless.
Bertolaso has become one of the country’s most popular figures following his department’s handling of a series of natural disasters and for overseeing the construction of homes for L’Aquila homeless in a record five months.
Last month, he created a minor diplomatic incident between Rome and Washington when, during a visit to Haiti, he criticized the United States’ response to the quake there.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: United States, Brazil. From the Vatican to the Conquest of the World
The ambitious captain is the cardinal secretary of state, with the help of “L’Osservatore Romano.” The objective is to subject the national Churches to itself, on the terrain of politics. But the bishops are resisting and reacting. The lesson of the Italian case
by Sandro Magister
ROME, February 11, 2010 — After more than two weeks of silence since the new explosion of controversy, the Vatican secretariat of state, with a statement issued two days ago, has flatly denied the accusations that began last summer against Dino Boffo but since then have changed targets, raising their sights to the director of “L’Osservatore Romano,” Giovanni Maria Vian, and to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone himself.
In the statement, reproduced in its entirety further below, it does not only deny that either of them had released or approved the fliers, later shown to be false, that had defamed Boffo and forced him to resign as director of the newspaper of the Italian bishops “Avvenire”; it does not only reject “a defamatory campaign that involves the Roman pontiff himself”; but it states that Benedict XVI “reaffirms his full trust in his collaborators.”
Rome has spoken; is the question closed? Not quite. The Boffo case has opened eyes to a reality of interecclesial conflicts that go beyond the mechanics of the affair. Conflicts and disorders that have not been addressed or removed by the denial of a few days ago. And of which the Boffo case is only one chapter, very Italian but ultimately global, whose key to interpretation was already there in the very first phase.
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On that day, August 28, the newspaper “il Giornale” directed by Vittorio Feltri published the first fatal broadside against the director of “Avvenire” at the time, who was accused, on the basis of legal charges presented as indisputable, of harassing “the wife of the man with whom he had had a relationship.”
But there was something else that morning: in “la Repubblica,” the leading secular and progressive Italian newspaper, the “theologian” Vito Mancuso accused Cardinal Bertone of sitting at table with Herod, meaning prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, with whom the secretary of state had in fact planned a meeting.
On the afternoon of that same day, “L’Osservatore Romano” showed right away which side it was on.
Gloves off, the newspaper of the Holy See defended Cardinal Bertone with a front-page editorial by its leading commentator, Lucetta Scaraffia. But it dispatched the bishops’ defense of Boffo with just three lines from a news agency, on one of the inside pages.
To those who asked about the reason for the uneven treatment, Vian answered that the Church’s real enemy is the one who attacks Bertone, “and therefore the pope,” not the one who goes after Boffo. According to Vian, “Il Giornale” was even too kind toward Boffo, writing about him with “exemplary moderation” and with “Anglo-Saxon style.”
Three days later, when the attack on Boffo was at its height, Vian became even less evenhanded. He not only didn’t defend Boffo and “Avvenire,” he criticized them for compounding the damage to the supreme Vatican authorities. He said so to “Corriere della Sera,” in an interview that, as he later made known, had “the approval” of Cardinal Bertone.
And what did Boffo and “Avvenire” represent, if not the project of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian bishops’ conference from 1991 to 2007, that “cultural project of Christian orientation” that Vian then mocked by comparing it to a “phoenix”?
The story continued with Boffo’s resignation. With Cardinal Bertone, who confided to a very talkative politician friend, “My biggest mistake was making Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco head of the CEI, in Ruini’s place.” With Feltri, who countered that the fliers accusing Boffo of immoral conduct were false, and retracted, blaming the “reliable informant, I would say beyond suspicion,” who had given them to him as true. And still further with Feltri, who specified that this source was “a figure of the Church who should be trusted institutionally,” describing him with details that made the Vatican, the director of “L’Osservatore Romano” and its editor, think that he was Cardinal Bertone: an identification denied by the statement from the secretariat of state on February 9.
*
The antagonism between the secretariat of state and the bishops’ conferences is a classic of the Church’s recent history. As soon as Bertone was appointed secretary of state, in September of 2006, he made no secret of the fact that he wanted to subject the CEI to his leadership. He maneuvered to have Cardinal Ruini replaced by a second-tier bishop, docile to the dictates from the other side of the Tiber. Then he turned back to Bagnasco, and as soon as he was instated, on March 25, 2007, he wrote to him in black and white, in an open letter, that the real head would be he himself, Bertone, “concerning relations with political institutions.” The CEI rebelled, beginning with its new president, and from that point on it interpreted each of Bertone’s actions with the suspicion that it concealed this presumption of command.
The current secretary of state is also isolated in the Vatican. The veteran diplomats won’t forgive him for not being one of them. And in fact, Bertone did not come from diplomacy, but from the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, where he was entrusted with the most thorny and turbulent cases, from the secret of Fatima to Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. And he flourished there with tireless ardor, except that, in the second case, he saw the bizarre archbishop whom he thought had been contained go off the deep end yet again.
Bertone compensates for his internal isolation with a profusion of external activities of every kind: celebrations, appearances, anniversaries, addresses, inaugurations, interviews.
His predecessor, Agostino Casaroli, a great diplomat in office from 1979 to 1990, gave a total of 40 speeches. In a little more than three years, Bertone has produced 365.
And then the travel. He has gone to Argentina, Croatia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Poland, Mexico, where he met and spoke with heads of states and bishops, ambassadors and professors, with an agenda similar to that of the papal voyages.
He hasn’t traveled a long time abroad for a year, and has dedicated himself more to governing the curia, which reports to him by statute. But the past year was also the most harrowing, in terms of the number and seriousness of disasters, from the Williamson case to the Boffo case.
*
Bertone’s only secure fortress is “L’Osservatore Romano,” with Vian as director. The bond between the two is very close, punctuated by the telephone call that they share each day, late in the evening. And the latter’s responsibilities are not limited to the historic Vatican newspaper.
Bertone has also entrusted Vian with the role that, at the time of John Paul II, had been filled by Joaquin Navarro Valls: that of orchestrating the Italian and global media from behind the scenes.
Vian does this successfully here and there. He is the Vatican pundit most consulted by “Corriere della Sera.” The proximity between Vian and “Corriere” is corroborated by his friendship with the editorialist Ernesto Galli della Loggia, husband of Lucetta Scaraffia, who is in turn a prominent writer for “L’Osservatore,” and with Paolo Mieli, who as the director of the most widely read Italian newspaper was in 2005 one of the most tenacious secular adversaries of Cardinal Ruini in the battle over the referendum on assisted reproduction.
Incredible but true: the most bitter moment in the clash between “L’Osservatore Romano” and “Avvenire,” before the Boffo case, was another great bioethical battle, over the life of Eluana Englaro, between 2008 and 2009. With the newspaper of the Italian bishops absolutely committed to keeping alive this young woman in a vegetative state. And with the Vatican newspaper much more taciturn, sometimes even opposing the “unconvincing” arguments and “exalted and showy” tones of Boffo’s newspaper. Beyond whom the ultimate target was again the Ruinian project of a Church highly present and active in the fields of culture and politics, a Church that is “better contested than irrelevant.”
*
The Vatican’s failed attempt to dominate the newspaper of the CEI is therefore one chapter in a struggle between much more than two newspapers: between two visions of Church governance, on a worldwide scale.
In addition to the Italian Church, in fact, the Vatican secretariat of state has put itself at odds with other national Churches, including some of the most vigorous.
The actors and the script are almost always the same: Cardinal Bertone, “L’Osservatore Romano,” a very lively national episcopate, battles in defense of the life and the family.
On a war footing with Rome today, among others, are the two most numerous episcopates in the world, that of the United States and that of Brazil.
In the United States, the combative wing of the bishops, headed by Chicago archbishop Cardinal Francis George, was first stirred up by an editorial in “L’Osservatore Romano” that, in evaluating the first hundred days of Barack Obama’s presidency, not only gave him a positive assessment, but acknowledged the new president for a “rebalancing in favor of motherhood,” which according to the American bishops was far from the truth, because the exact opposite had happened.
A second element of conflict was the decision of the University of Notre Dame, the most renowned Catholic university in the United States, to give Obama an honorary degree. About eighty of the bishops rebelled against the honor being given to a political leader whose positions on bioethics are contrary to Church teaching. And before and after the degree from Notre Dame, they manifested their disappointment at seeing their criticisms almost completely ignored by “L’Osservatore Romano.”
Other disagreements broke out between the United States and Rome over withholding communion from Catholic politicians who support abortion. Many of the American bishops refuse to compromise on this, and see the silence of the secretariat of state and of the Vatican newspaper as a discrediting of them, as well as a moral surrender.
The desire to have peaceful institutional relations with the established powers, of whatever shade they may be, is typical of Bertone. In this, he is applying a classic canon of Vatican diplomacy, which is traditionally “realist,” even at the cost of clashing with the national episcopates that are often critical of their respective governments.
But the effects often seem contradictory. Last March, an article in “L’Osservatore Romano” disowned the Brazilian bishop of Recife for condemning the authors of a double abortion on a child mother. But the Brazilian bishops saw this as a betrayal by Rome while they were fighting a tough battle with the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over the full liberalization of abortion.
The author of the article, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, had written it at Bertone’s request. And so to the protest of the Brazilian bishops was added a rebellion within the pontifical academy for life, of which Fisichella is president. A good number of academy members called for his dismissal, and some of them appealed to pope Joseph Ratzinger, who ordered the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to issue a note of “clarification,” in defense of the bishop of Recife.?
But Fisichella will remain in his place, as will Vian, and Bertone, who has just been reconfirmed.
In the Boffo case, Pope Benedict “knows.” And he personally sees things more the way cardinals Bagnasco and Ruini do, rather than like his secretary of state.
But the pope’s stride is that of the perennial Church. Long and patient.
______________
STATEMENT FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF STATE
Since January 23 there has been a multiplication, especially in much of the Italian media, of news and reconstructions concerning matters connected to the resignation of the director of the Italian Catholic newspaper “Avvenire,” with the clear intention of implicating the director of “L’Osservatore Romano,” even going so far as to impute responsibility to the cardinal secretary of state. These news stories and reconstructions have no foundation.
In particular, it is false that officials of the Vatican gendarmerie or the director of “L’Osservatore Romano” transmitted documents that are at the basis of the resignation, last September 3, of the director of “Avvenire”; it is false that the director of “L’Osservatore Romano gave — or transmitted or endorsed in any way — information about these documents, and it is false that he wrote under a pseudonym, or inspired, articles for other publishers.
It seems clear from the multiplication of the most incredible arguments and hypotheses — repeated in the media with a truly singular consistency — that everything is based on unfounded convictions, with the intention of attributing to the director of “L’Osservatore Romano,” in a gratuitous and calumnious way, an unprovoked, unreasonable, and malicious action. What is taking place is a defamation campaign against the Holy See, including the Roman Pontiff himself.
The Holy Father Benedict XVI, who has always been kept informed, deplores these unjust and injurious attacks, reaffirms his full trust in his collaborators, and prays that those who truly have the good of the Church at heart may work by every means available so that truth and justice may be affirmed.
From the Vatican, February 9, 2010
_______________
STATEMENT FROM THE ITALIAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE
The Presidency of the CEI welcomes the statement of the Secretariat of State inspired by the fundamental and fully shared desire to prevent the good of the Church from being compromised by news and reconstructions that have given rise to a defamation campaign against the Holy See.
Making this same concern our own, we hope that today’s statement of position may contribute to calming the climate, marked by a painful matter that in recent months has gone beyond its actual significance.
Still alive and comforting is the knowledge that the Church is upheld by the strength of her Lord, while we renew our commitment to work for the affirmation of truth and justice.
Rome, February 9, 2010
__________
English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Malta: Protesting Fishermen Threaten Port Block
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA, FEBRUARY 11 — Maltese fishermen, who have been hit hard by the economic crisis, in particular by the price of diesel oil, have announced a protest against Lawrence Gonzi’s government, threatening to block the port of Marsaxlokk for three days. In a press conference, the president of the fishing cooperative, Ray Bugeja, insisted that the Maltese fishermen are “fed up of unfulfilled promises by the government”, stating that no fisherman had yet received the due compensation which was announced by the government six years ago before the island became a member of the Eu. The port of Marsaxlokk, considered the most strategic for Malta after Porto Grande, hosts the largest fleet of Maltese fishing trawlers. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mandelson: Britain Should Join the Euro
LORD Mandelson provoked outrage and disbelief last night by calling for Britain to adopt the euro despite the financial chaos gripping Europe.
As European Union leaders grappled with the biggest crisis yet to hit the single currency, the Business Secretary repeated his long-held belief that the UK should scrap the pound.
DEBATE: SHOULD BRITAIN DITCH THE POUND FOR THE EURO?
“I think in the longer term it would be in Britain’s interests to be part of the euro zone,” said the former EU commissioner, who is Gordon Brown’s unofficial deputy.
He also described the euro as a “remarkable success” despite the crisis sparked by Greece’s debt chaos.
“It is strong and that is why it is going to remain intact,” he said. The outspoken support for British euro membership from such a senior Cabinet member sparked an angry backlash.
And it raised fears that Labour will attempt to achieve its long-term policy aim of scrapping the pound if it wins the General Election.
Tory Europe spokesman Mark Francois said: “What this whole episode has already shown is how right we were to keep the pound. We have not been tied into interest rates or exchange rates that don’t suit us.
“So it’s incredible that Peter Mandelson still thinks it’s a good idea for Britain to join the euro. It shows how Labour can’t help themselves putting ideology before what’s good for Britain.”
He added: “This is first and foremost a matter for the euro zone and, while the full details of what has been agreed have yet to emerge, we hope that Greece can successfully sort out its debt problems.”
Sarah Gaskell, of the Euro-sceptic think-tank Open Europe, said: “This recent crisis has proved beyond doubt that Britain was right not to join the euro. It is crazy to suggest there would ever be a good time to give up the pound, when we clearly need all the flexibility that comes with it.”
Tory Euro-sceptic Mark Pritchard said: “I am grateful to Mandelson for giving people yet another reason not to vote Labour. He has clearly been spending too much time in the Greek sun.”
Opponents of the euro argue that the Greek economic crisis has demonstrated the fundamental flaws with a single currency system.
They point out that the centrally imposed interest rates in the euro zone give member countries no control over their interest rates. And millions of their citizens in the euro zone face having to pay billions of pounds more in taxes to raise cash to bail out the Greek debt.
Earlier this week, Tory leader David Cameron told the Daily Express that Britain would “never” join the euro under his watch if he becomes Prime Minister.
Lord Mandelson was plunged into another row last night after appearing to suggest Labour would begin cutting public services this year if it wins the General Election. This appeared to conflict with claims from Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling that rapid spending cuts could damage Britain’s economic recovery from recession.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Turkish Hackers Down Dagbladet.No
Possible links to Prophet Mohammed caricatures.
Dagbladet’s Internet paper was hit by hackers yesterday, crippling the site for about 11/2 hours.
Suspicious
The denial of service (DDOS) offensive started at about 19:30, when several IP addresses from Turkey started downloading the paper’s front page about 5,000 times each in a short space of time.
“I got to know about this just before about 20:30 We used a long time to find out what the cause was, and our suspicions that we’d been subjected to a DDOS from Turkish hackers were confirmed just before 21:00,” Lars Helle, Dagbladet’s acting Editor in Chief tells NRK.
Connections?
Many Norwegian Muslims have reacted to Dagbladet’s decision to reproduce a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on the front page of their paper edition last week, portraying the prophet as a pig.
Dagbladet has also reprinted Danish Kurt Westergaard’s controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoon depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban. Westergaard was the target of a recent assassination attempt in his home.
Aftenposten reports that there were many theories yesterday evening on Twitter as to why the paper’s site was down, but Helle is discounting any link between the two for now.
“I don’t generally subscribe to conspiracy theories, though I understand why you’re asking the question,” he tells his paper.
Protests
But Dagbladet’s reprinting of the cartoon has had repercussions. Early on Saturday morning approximately 1,000 Muslim taxi drivers from Oslo and Akershus parked their vehicles in protest, causing traffic chaos in the centre.
“It’s an abuse of our freedom of speech. We want to show our opposition to the exploitation of our values,” Rashad Munir, one of the taxi drivers told VG.
And Arfan Qadir Bhatti has set up a Facebook group encouraging young Muslims to partake in a new peaceful demonstration in Oslo tomorrow.
Bhatti was placed in, but later released from preventative custody by police before Barack Obama’s recent Nobel Peace Prize visit to Oslo, after they overheard a phone call in which they allege he planned to buy explosives.
Last month, also Aftenposten was heavily criticised for reproducing Westergaard’s cartoon by the Pakistani Foreign Office, the country’s National Assembly, and Jamaat-ud-Dawa — a group on the UN’s terror list, believed to have links to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
VG’s site was down for about 45 minutes from about 21:00 yesterday as well, though it was later discovered this had nothing to do with the DDOS attack.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Imam Accused of Abusing 5 Children
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 12 — An imam from a small mosque in El Algar (Muria) is wanted by police throughout all of Spain. The man has been accused of sexually abusing minors, according to sources in the judicial system. A report was filed yesterday against the 47-year-old man of Moroccan origin by the parents of five children of a group of 12 who were in a Koran and religion class in the town’s mosque, which is 7 kilometres from Cartagena. According to testimony given by the children, the teacher reportedly abused them in a room adjacent to the classroom. The imam has disappeared and an arrest warrant has been issued for the man. The man arrived at the small mosque in El Algar in September as a substitute for the regular imam, who was absent during the period of Ramadan; he then remained there, continuing to teach religion classes. The court of Cartagena, which has imposed judicial secrecy on the case, has called for the Murcia juvenile court to intervene. Regarding the alleged abuse case, the secretary of the Islamic Communities Union of Spain in Murcia, Mohamed Reda el Qady, in statements to the media, said that he is indignant, like any Muslim, Christian or human being, for what has occurred in El Algar. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Sheikh Prepares TV for Muslims
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, FEBRUARY 12 — The press in Madrid reports that a private television channel for Muslims, which is financed by a Saudi Sheikh, should be broadcast soon. If it receives the necessary authorisation, the new channel will be based in Andalusia, either in Cordoba or Granada. According to El Mundo, the direction of the broadcaster’s programmes will be entrusted to the Moroccan journalist, Said Jedidi. “This television channel could be the best instrument to fight the distorted image of the Muslim population generated by the March 11 attacks’ in 2004 in Madrid,” said Jedidi. The broadcaster, which could be called ‘Cordoba TV’, will have programmes in Spanish that are intended for the Muslim population in Spain, but it will also broadcast in southern Europe where 38 million Muslims live, and towards North Africa. “It is set to be,” he added, “an instrument of dialogue” that will illustrate “the true peaceful and pacifist identity” of Islam. According to the daily newspaper 20Minutos, ultraconservative Sheikh Abdelaziz Al Fawzan, who is a relative of the Saudi royal family, is backing it. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Probe ‘Kill Jews’ Oxford Chant
University student shouts “Itbah Al-Yahud” at Danny Ayalon during lecture.
British police are investigating the verbal attack on Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon after an Oxford University student shouted “slaughter the Jews” during a talk he gave at the university on Monday night.
During the event, hosted by the university’s Student Union, a Muslim student, who had been heckling the deputy foreign minister, got up and shouted in Arabic “Itbah Al-Yahud” — “slaughter the Jews” as he was leaving the lecture hall.
The incident was referred to the police on Tuesday. Thames Valley Police confirmed on Wednesday that they had received a complaint and were considering a charge of racially aggravated public disorder.
A police spokesman told The Jerusalem Post they were taking the matter “very seriously,” that they were at the very early stages of investigation and that no arrests had yet been made.
The university has promised to look into the incident once the police have completed their investigation.
“Our policy is always to await the outcome of police investigations where criminal offenses are alleged, and to look at any internal disciplinary process after the police have finished their investigation,” an Oxford University spokesperson told the Post. “So we will await the outcome. We abhor racism but obviously now this is in police hands we cannot comment on the individual case.”
The Oxford University Student Union released the following statement condemning the disturbances at the event and distancing itself from the individual.
“Whilst the vast majority of the audience behaved in an orderly and responsible fashion, some members continually interrupted the speech and one individual in particular appears to have made a directly anti-Semitic remark. These individuals exceeded the principles of free speech that the Society upholds. They and their remarks are not representative of this Society, nor the vast majority of the audience. The Oxford Union will not tolerate this kind of behavior by its members.
“The president of the Student Union, Stuart Cullen, has launched an investigation to identify the members who disrupted the event.
“The Union will be taking disciplinary action against these members, in accordance with the Society’s rules. The president praised the work of the security and local police on the night and expressed his gratitude for their help, as well as that of the Israeli embassy, in coordinating the event.
“The Oxford Union believes in the rights of free speech and protecting our invited speakers’ ability to express themselves in an orderly and disciplined environment. We further believe that our members have the right to challenge and question the speakers in keeping with the Society’s expectations of good conduct.”
Ayalon had considered pressing charges before police began their investigation.
“This demonstrates our new policy on hatred and racism and we will have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, something that should have happened a long time ago,” said the deputy foreign minister.
Ayalon received a hostile reception at the university and was heckled throughout his talk by accusations of “war crimes” and racism. Another student carrying a Palestinian flag tried to approach the platform from which Ayalon was speaking and was led out by security staff.
At a demonstration outside the lecture hall, organized by the university’s Palestine Society, protesters chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Speaking to a partly hostile audience, Ayalon took a number of hostile questions and received applause at the end. Ayalon said that after the event, several students approached him thanking him for providing a narrative they said they had never heard before.
“Comments like these show proof that the narrative on campuses have been hijacked by those who have a hatred for not only Israel but also Jews,” said Ashley Perry, Ayalon’s media adviser. “The event also proved that if the Israeli narrative is explained in a calm matter, as the deputy minister did, then we can increase understanding among those who have not ever been exposed to another narrative.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Riot Police Raid £15m Mayfair Squat After 2,000 People Show Up to Facebook Party ‘Gone Wrong’
Riot police were called to evacuate 2,000 teenagers from a Facebook party organized by squatters in a £15million house over fears the roof would collapse.
The revellers allegedly turned violent as they left the five-storey property in Mayfair, west London, last night.
Police officers armed with shields and batons held the crowd back after some hurled bottles at ambulance paramedics and firefighters who were also called to the scene.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: University Slammed for Dropping Pre-1700 UK History From Syllabus Just One Week After Budget Cuts
Academics claim that Sussex University’s cutbacks ‘will deprive graduates of the mental furniture of educated Europeans’.
Among the periods that will no longer feature on the university curriculum under the new plans are the Civil Wars, the Tudors, the Anglo-Saxons and the Viking invasion.
The university has also decided to ditch studies into the history of continental Europe prior to 1900, meaning there will be no research into the Roman Empire.
The Government last week told universities across the country that their budgets will be slashed by £449million next year, with further cuts to come. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said colleges should focus their resources on their strongest areas.
Following a £3million cut in funding, Sussex University said it is ‘reshaping’ its curriculum.
But, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, 17 leading historians who studied at the institution have blasted its decision to abandon the research into English and European history.
They wrote: ‘To cut everything but the most modern puts in peril the public function of history, entrenching the arrogance of the present and making a mockery of the claim by the minister behind these cuts that “we also wish to keep this country civilised”…
‘For a university which has long prided itself on its European links to abandon the serious study of such pivotal areas of modern history as the French Revolution will mean depriving Sussex graduates of the mental furniture of educated Europeans.
‘The university risks damaging its reputation as a centre of knowledge for European culture and history more widely.’
The letter was signed by historians from universities including Nottingham, Southampton, Trinity College Dublin, Michigan, Sydney University and the University of London Institute in Paris.
They called on Sussex University to halt proposals to withdraw from ‘research, and research-led teaching, in English social history before 1700 and the history of continental Europe before 1900’.
Professor Paul Layzell, deputy vice-chancellor at the university, said: ‘The proposal put forward by the University of Sussex to withdraw from certain areas of research and specialist teaching in history reflects three factors.
‘First, a strategic determination to focus our research in areas of sustainability and strength; second, to align undergraduate provision with areas of demonstrable demand; and, thirdly, a need to reflect the Government’s financial policy for higher education.
‘The history degree at Sussex, as befits a programme offered by one of the top 20 departments in the country, will continue to be broad based and intellectually challenging.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Albania: Communist Regime Crimes, Agency for Missing Formed
(ANSAmed) — TIRANA, FEBRUARY 10 — The Albanian government intends to form a special unit that will be dedicated to finding and identifying Albanians that went missing during the communist regime of dictator Enver Hoxha, announced Premier Sali Berisha today. On Monday, near Tirana, a mass grave was discovered, with the remains of at least 19 bodies, probably prisoners of the former communist regime, killed with a single shot to the back of the head. Associations for former victims of political persecution believe that about 4,000 Albanians were shot or hanged without a trial and with no information on where they are buried. This is the first time in Albania that a government has decided to take these sorts of measures, although at this point 20 years has passed since the fall of communism. According to the testimony of many family members of individuals killed by the regime, most documents regarding the trials or executions of the opposition to the dictatorship have intentionally disappeared. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Serb Entity Parliament Approves Referendum Bill
Sarajevo, 11 Feb. (AKI) — The Bosnian Serb entity’s lower house of parliament has approved a law granting citizens the right to vote in a referendum on issues deemed to be of vital national interest. Muslim politicians have threatened to veto the bill in the upper house, as they fear it could pave the way for the Serb entity’s secession from Bosnia.
The bill was tabled by the ruling Alliance of Social Democrats (SNSD).
Muslim deputies boycotted the session, saying the law contravened the Bosnian Constitution and the Dayton peace accord that ended Bosnia’s bloody 1992-1995 conflict.
The lower house of parliament approved the bill late Wednesday with 46 MPs backing the bill, 16 against and six abstentions.
SNSD leader and Serb entity prime minister Milorad Dodik denied the referendum bill was the “first step towards independence.”
He told MPs it was aimed at giving people a chance to have their say on important issues.
Opposition leaders criticised the bill because under its provisions, the outcomes of plebiscites would not be binding on the government and parliament.
The bill was just a “marketing gimmick” ahead of parliamentary elections later this year, according to the opposition.
The International Court of Justice ruled in February 2006 that Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide in the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995, when up 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed.
The ruling prompted Muslim politicians to call for the Serb entity’s abolition as a “creature of genocide”.
Dodik responded by threatening to hold a referendum on independence, a move strongly opposed by the international community.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Croat Scientist Warns Ice Age Could Start in Five Years
A top scientist in Croatia has warned Europe to prepare for an ice age instead of talking about global warming.
Physician Vladimir Paar suggests one would not need to cross the sea when travelling from Ireland or UK to Croatia via the rest of Europe.
“A majority of Europe will be under ice, including Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Slovakia and part of Slovenia”, Paar said in an interview on Croatian news website Index.
“Ice ages in the past lasted about 70,000 years. That’s a fact, and a new ice age will occur. It is a question what will happen to people in Central European countries. They might migrate south or might stay put, but with a huge increase in energy spending”, the scientist said.
“What I am warning is that global warming is natural. Some 130,000 years ago, the temperature was the same as now, the level of CO2 was almost the same, and the level of the sea was four metres higher”.
Asked when the ice age would begin, he said: “That could happen in five, ten, fifty or a hundred years, or even later. We can’t predict it precisely, but it will come”.
Paar cited America as an example: “They keep talking to people about global warming, but 50 per cent of Americans do not believe it any more as they keep
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia Osiguranje Spent €15,000 on Luxury Tobacco Products
The board of state-owned insurance company Croatia osiguranje has spent 110,000 kunas or 15,000 Euros on cigarettes and cigars in fewer then two years.
The daily Novi list has reported the money was paid to Camelot tobacco company.
According to the daily, the main consumer was company board head Hrvoje Vojkovic.
Vojkovic quit smoking in December 2009 when the company ended its cooperation with Camelot.
The average clerk needs to work for three years at Croatia osiguranje to make an equivalent amount of money.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU: Berlusconi: We Support Croatia’s Entry Into Europe
(ANSAmed) — LESMO (MONZA AND BRIANZA)- “I have had an important meeting of the kind that one has with representatives of a friendly country, with which we want to strengthen relations”, said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the end of a meeting with Prime Minister of Croatia Jadranka Kosor, during a joint press conference at Villa Gernetto, which will become the seat of the Liberal University. “We spoke in our meeting about Croatia’s entrance into Europe, which we have supported, are supporting and will support”, explained Berlusconi. “The negotiations are at an advanced stage, and we think that the official declaration as candidate for European membership could arrive by the end of this year, and thus adhesion to the EU could happen by 2011”. Berlusconi then explained that themes of an economic and commercial nature were also discussed by the Prime Minister and the Croatian Economy Minister. A committee has already been set up which met in July in Rome and will meet shortly in Croatia, and will try to put forward initiatives for the energy, environment, transport and infrastructure sectors. Prime Minister Berlusconi then said that he appreciated the Croatian Premiers policy. “With regard to the policy, I expressed our appreciation for the moderation which the Croatian Government has always demonstrated and for the normalisation of relations with Serbia in particular, which I believe could be resolved once and for all with the entry of this country into the EU”. Berlusconi then emphasised the friendly relations between the two parties, the Italian PDL and that of the Croatian Prime Minister: “Our political formations are both members of the great family of democracy and freedom in Europe that is the European Popular Party”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Centre Collects Images of Terrorism Victims
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 9 — Dakhira, or “Memory”, is the new centre set up, with the assistance of the European Union, by the Djazairouna association to “fight against oblivion” and remember the thousands of victims of terrorism in Algeria. Cherifa Kheddar, president of the association of the relatives of the victims of terrorism named Djazairouna (“Our Algeria”) located in Blida (50 km west of Algiers), stated that “It is a sort of databank for future generations, so that they can know what happened and what the policy of ‘National reconciliation’ wants to erase from memory”. The initiative is part of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights programme set up in 2006 (in the context of EU initiatives for the Countries of the Southern shores) with a budget amounting to 5 million euros. To date Dakhira collected the portraits of 700 victims from the Blida region alone. Pictures, videos, writings, witness accounts on the circumstances of the killing, kidnapping or rape suffered by victims in the black decade that was the 90s, when Algeria was involved in a civil war and the blind violence of radical Islamic movements. Kheddar explained that at first “we will have to make public what really happened in our Country, the drama suffered by the victims, the violation of their rights in the region of Blida, to then expand the project to other regions”. Kheddar, who miraculously survived an attack by an armed group which in 1996 killed her brother and sister in front of her eyes, added that “Society must acknowledge their suffering and their resistance”. Aside from collecting data on the victims, Djazirouna is also putting together a report on all the “policies of impunity” started up by the State of Algeria in favour of armed groups. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Al-Qaeda Launches Middle-Class Recruitment Drive
Algiers, 11 Feb. (AKI) — Al-Qaeda has launched a new campaign to recruit university students, scientists and IT specialists in Algeria. “We appeal to undergraduates, chemists, doctors and IT specialists to join our ranks,” the terror network said in a statement published on jihadist websites on Thursday.
“Remember the massacres that take place every day in Palestine, in Cechyna, Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the statement signed by ‘Abu Muslim al-Jazairi’.
Al-Qaeda is seeking new bomb-makers and medics who can help treat fighters wounded in clashes with Algerian security forces, according to daily El-Nahar.
Currently, 80 pecent of young people recruited by Al-Qaeda in Algeria do not have a high-school diploma.
Algerian authorities put the country’s anti-terror units on high alert in December and ordered security to be stepped up at checkpoints following intelligence reports that Al-Qaeda is planning terrorist attacks in the capital.
Al-Qaeda claimed twin bombings in Algiers in December, 2007 that killed that killed 41 people and injured close to 200.
The bombs exploded outside Algerian government offices and the office of the United Nations refugee agency in Algiers, killing at least 11 UN employees in the attack.
In April 2007, 33 people were killed in Algiers in a triple suicide bombing.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Algiers Underground to be Guarded by 600 Agents
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, FEBRUARY 9 — The future underground system of Algiers will be guarded by a special police unit of 600 agents. The announcement was made by vice director of security Mustapha Ben Aini of the ‘wilaya’ (prefecture) of Algiers, in a press conference in Algiers. “The police agents have all had special training” Ben Aini explained. “This training is necessary, since the police are not prepared to monitor such important underground infrastructures. The agents will have to deal with situations that are completely different from their normal work”. Surveillance will be carried out in collaboration with the Underground Direction, Civil Protection and other authorities in charge of managing urban transport, the vice director added. The Algerian underground has been under construction for more than 20 years. The first line, between the centre of Algiers and Hai El Badr, should be ready this year, after many delays. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Al Khamissi, Noah’s Ark to Escape From Catastrophe
(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 9 — Noah’s Ark to escape from the “catastrophe” that is looming over an Egypt deprived of a “dream, a national project”. This is the topic of the new book of Khaled Al Khamissi, the author of ‘Taxi’, the bestseller in the Arab world that has been translated into English, Italian, Spanish, Greek and French. It paints an extraordinary picture of daily life in Cairo through the voices of its taxi drivers. “But only the poor people are talking in Taxi”, the writer specifies in an interview with ANSAmed. “In ‘Noah’s Ark’ all social classes are talking, united by their desire to leave the country”. Noah’s Ark is a novel on emigration, in which the ones who want to leave are “also the millionaires, trying to get a passport for the USA, in case the catastrophe should take place”. But what is this catastrophe that is threatening Egypt and its 80 million inhabitants? “It’s chaos” responds the writer in his house in a new quarter in the outskirts of Cairo, an island of green and silence far away from the capital’s traffic. This chaos is perceived differently by each person. For many it is the impossibility of making a living in Egypt, but also the absence of “a real democracy, real politics. Living in Egypt is like living in a theatre” Al Khamissi explains. “It looks like we are living in a stable democracy, working and being paid. In reality, for 90% of Egyptians one salary is not enough”. As a consequence, in the past 20-30 years, the Egyptians that were able to do so, have left for America, Australia, Europe, “and there are no families without at least one family member who has left the country. This is very sad, because Egypt is not like Lebanon, it’s a country of farmers. I have found much sadness in this country”. Besides, Egyptian cities have radically changed. In the ‘70s, the writer points out, life in Cairo and Alexandria was just as good as life in many Italian and other European cities. “But these cities have taken a train that has moved them forward, while ours have taken one that has moved them backward”. And the past cosmopolitism has been replaced by the reactonary “ugliness” of Muslim fundamentalism. But what else can people do than run away from catastrophe? “When I was writing ‘Taxi’, between 2005 and 2006” Khamissi responds, “something was stirring, a social movement I had never seen before, ready to demonstrate and protest. It was the start of a new era, a crucial start, the birth of a dream of change”. But this change will not take place through elections, not this year’s parliamentary election nor next year’s presidential election. We must “change the Constitution” Khamissi underlines, “and create new parties”. We don’t need candidates that have been “airdropped from the outside”, referring to former IAEA director Mohammed El Baradei, “and the opposition movements created by several intellectuals will not be enough”. What Khamissi — who is also reporter, director and producer — is thinking of is “the 250 thousand bloggers who are active in Egypt, the new radio stations and the internet news sites, the new writers, the 20 new publishers at least, and the 20-25 new bookshops”. A grass-root social movement, the only one “able to create real change in the end”, the writer concludes. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Dana Makes Second Gas Discovery Offshore Nile Delta
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEB 11 — In a statement published on its website Dana Petroleum of Egypte announced that it has made a second gas discovery in the West El Burullus concession, offshore Nile Delta, Egypt. To date, Dana and GDF Suez have drilled two wells in this concession and made two discoveries. Dana holds a 50% interest in the discovery and concession area, which contains numerous additional prospects at both shallow and deeper horizons. GDF Suez (operator) also has a 50% stake in the concession. A multi-rate drill stem test has been completed. The well flowed at rates of up to 33 million standard cubic feet per day with 442 barrels of condensate per day. The flow rates during the test were constrained by the drill stem test equipment and the downhole pressures remained high during the flow test. The data will now be fully analysed and the commerciality of this discovery, along with the previous WEB-1X discovery, will be discussed with EGAS. Dana and GDF Suez are currently evaluating concepts that would enable a combined early development of these two neighbouring gas discoveries. The Papyrus-1X well is being suspended for potential re-entry and future use as a gas production well. The drilling rig will then immediately move onto the Bamboo prospect in the same concession area. Bamboo is a large, Miocence channel and it is expected to take approximately 90 days to drill to top reservoir. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Shalit: Arabs Demonstrating for His Freeing
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 11 — An unusual gathering of Israeli Arabs, organised to call for the return of Corporal Ghilad Shalit, who has been held prisoner by Hamas extremists for more than three and a half years, took place by the Eretz pass on the border with the Gaza Strip today. The initiative, promoted by Malik Faraj, the founder of the Arab village of Kafr Qasim, which campaigns for co-existence between Palestinians and Israelis, was attended by around one hundred people, waving photos and placards. There were many chants in favour of Shalit’s freeing with the parallel release of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. And there was also political controversy, aimed by Faraj at the lack of interest over the issue he perceives on the part of the Israeli government and the Knesset s following the recent break in indirect talks with Hamas, with Egyptian and German intermediaries. The deal on offer had been the release of Shalit along with some hundreds of Palestinian detainees. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Gunfight Near Border
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 12 — Tensions along the demarcation line between Israel and Gaza are still running high. Military radio reports that an Israeli patrol today opened fire near the kibbutz of Kissufim in the direction of Palestinian militiamen who were behind the border fence on Palestinian territory. No other details are as yet known. Yesterday a Palestinian militiaman was killed and two of his companions were injured in an Israeli airstrike. In a previous incident, three young Palestinian girls were injured by fragments of an Israeli artillery shell, launched after a Palestinian mortar attack on the Neghev. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
PA Corruption: Secret Footage Shown on Israeli TV
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 11 — Corruption at the executive level of the Palestinian Authority has spread “like a tumour”, but its president Mahmoud Abbas abstains from intervening: this was the theory put forward yesterday evening by Fahmi Shabane al-Tamimi, a former official of the Palestinian secret services, on the Israeli private television broadcaster Channel 10. Ramallah has put pressure on Channel 10 to keep the latter from publishing the documents in its possession and secret video footage which the broadcaster claims would embarrass Mahmoud Abbas. Ramallah prosecutor general Ahmed Mueini has been quoted by the official press agency WAFA as saying that Channel 10 would be sued for defamation and forced to publicly apologise. Palestinian Authority secretary general Tayeb Abdel Rahim also accused Shabane of trying to blackmail high-level Palestinian officials and of having spread false information and documents, and added that the latter is therefore “wanted by Palestinian Authority police”. Despite the threats, Shabane has refused to back down. On the televised report the man, who for years worked under West Bank intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi, said that during Yasser Arafat’s presidency and in the following years huge amounts of money from Palestinian Authority funds ended up in the pockets of private individuals. He did not accuse current premier Salem Fayyad — internationally known as a good administrator — but said that there were a number of shady areas as concerns an important contract awarded to one of Mahmoud Abbas’s children in 2006. In the footage, which was shot two years ago on Shabane’s initiative, the head of Mahmoud Abbas’s office Rafiq al-Husseini is shown in compromising circumstances in an apartment with two women: his secretary and a woman hoping to receive a job from him. According to the Palestinian Authority, the footage may have been subjected to manipulation. On Channel 10 Shabane said that he had tried in vain to induce Mahmoud Abbas to engage in a clean-up operation as concerns his followers. He added that Arab media had refused to broadcast or publish the documents in his possession, and warned that in two weeks’ time there could be further revelations. Ramallah has reported that Shabane is known as a questionable individual, untrustworthy and possibly being used by Israel for its own ends at a critical moment, with Mahmoud Abbas under harsh international pressure to resume peace talks with Israel premier Benyamin Netanyahu.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
PNA: Italian and Palestinian Universities Sign Deal
(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH (WEST BANK), FEBRUARY 10 — Summer courses for Italian students in the West Bank and training programmes for Palestinian graduands, graduates and teachers in Italy. These are the main points of the letter of intent that was signed today in Ramallah (West Bank) by the representatives of seven Palestinian universities with the universities of Palermo, Pavia, Rome (La Sapienza) and Milan (Politecnico). Italian deputy consul Francesco Forte and Manuel Castello, professor at La Sapienza, were present at the meeting. “With this agreement we want to combine the Italian and Palestinian experience in scientific research”, said the representative of the Italian Foreign Office, Massimo Caneva, during the meeting. According to Caneva,the agreement will guarantee a high level of education for Palestinian teachers, will reinforce the dialogue and will lay the basis to create a specialisation for Italian students in subjects like environment, health, information technology and crisis management. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Raps Iran for Italian Embassy Attack
Violent protests prompt EU resolution for diplomat’s safety
(ANSA) — Rome, February 10 — The European Union on Wednesday rapped Iran over attacks on the Italian and other embassies by pro-regime demonstrators who hurled rocks and chanted violent slogans.
In a short note, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, “strongly condemned” the wave of aggressive demonstrations on Tuesday, which also targeted the French, German and Dutch missions to Tehran.
Ashton’s statement followed an appeal by Italian European Affairs Minister Andrea Ronchi for the EU to take a firm stance on the attacks.
Immediately following Ashton’s statement on Wednesday, the European Parliament passed a resolution demanding that Iran guarantee the safety of foreign diplomatic staff and protect them from intimidation.
The motion expressed “concern for the violent nature of the demonstrations” in addition to charges they had been orchestrated by members of the Basij, a pro-regime militia thought to serve as an auxiliary to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The European legislature also asked Iranian authorities to respect the rights of peaceful demonstrators on Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the country’s Islamic revolution.
It also called for a “serious debate” to discuss the option of economic sanctions in order to pressure Iran to cooperate with the international community over to its nuclear programme.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Houthi Rebels Open Fire After Yemen Peace Deal
A gun battle has broken out between Yemeni rebels and government forces hours after a ceasefire was declared between the warring sides.
At least one soldier and a government official were killed in the attack in the Iqab district, in northern Yemen.
A senior military officer told journalists he had narrowly escaped being killed by the Houthi rebels.
The attack comes soon after a ceasefire deal was announced and Houthi fighters had begun dismantling roadblocks.
Fears
“I escaped an assassination attempt by the rebels who opened fire on my car,” Gen Mohammed Abdullah al-Qussi told the news agency AFP.
The truce had officially begun only 12 hours before the attacks were reported.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Qawsi, whose car was shot at by rebels, told Reuters the truce was still intact because not all rebel fighters were aware of the deal.
There have been days of negotiations between the government in Sanaa and rebels on how to end the conflict.
The government had rejected a truce deal proffered by rebels several times because they feared the rebels were not serious about laying down their arms.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Companies Urged Not to Invest in Iran
Italy uses moral suasion on firms with nuclear technology
(ANSA) — Rome, February 11 — The government has been pressing Italian companies with nuclear technologies to end or avoid investments in Iran, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
“Firm and decisive moral suasion not to have dealings with Iran has been exerted by the government on those companies which have sensitive nuclear technologies,” Maurizio Massari said.
The spokesman added that there has been a “significant drop” in trade between Italy and Iran and that the Italian agency which insures foreign investments, SACE, put a freeze on coverage in Iran some time ago. Last Thursday, Italy’s national fuels group ENI confirmed that no new contracts would be signed with Iran but existing commitments would be respected.
Earlier that week Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy has been scaling back its trade ties with Iran, which he observed had been halved from 2001 to 2008 and in the first six months of 2009 decreased a further 30%.
And although the value of trade between the two countries in 2008 rose to over six billion euros, “this was still less than half of the value of Iran’s trade with Germany,” Frattini said.
Germany is Iran’s biggest European trading partner thanks to its exports there, while Italy is second and is Europe’s biggest importer from Iran, mostly oil.
Italy is seeking to reduce its economic ties with Iran due to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, in line with international sanctions, and its anti-Israel policy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Journalism: Samir Kassir Award for Press Freedom
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 10 — To promote the right to freedom of the press and expression in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf, regions where working as a journalist is considerably more difficult than elsewhere: this is the aim of the ‘Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press’, financed by the European Union and which has this year reached its fifth edition with a record number of participants. The initiative, restricted to print press and articles regarding the issues of human rights and the rule of law, takes the name of the Lebanese journalist, historian and intellectual who was assassinated in Beirut in June 2005. Since then, the local delegation from the European Union has decided to set up to an award, in collaboration with the Samir Kassir Foundation led by the famous and highly regarded journalist, Jisele Khoury, Samir’s widow. Whilst the competition was initially only open to journalists and researchers from the nine MEDA countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Palestinian Territories and Tunisia), since the 2008 authors from Iraq, Yemen and the seven Gulf countries have been admitted. In this same edition, it was also decided to restrict the award to journalists only, in order to give prominence to the profession, that is so often threatened in this area of the world, Sebastien Brabant, head of the initiative for the European delegation in Beirut and the observer member of the jury since last year, stated, speaking with AnsaMED. Any candidate, author of an article published in a European paper or a paper from one of the participating Arab countries, can choose to compete in one of the two open categories: the best investigative reporting article and the best opinion article. For the sixth edition, the competition deadline is March 30 and the prize (12,500 euros for each category put up by the EU) will be awarded, as is now traditional, on June 2, the anniversary of Kassir’s death. In 2006, added Brabant, there were some 20 contest applicants who were journalists and researchers, whilst this year we have reached over 150 participants, six times more than in the first edition. The jury is made up of eight members, one observer from the European delegation and seven with voting rights, who include Arab journalists who work in their own countries or abroad and two academics, as well as a member of the Samir Kassir Foundation. Last year Egyptian Mona Eltahawi was awarded the prize for the best opinion article, with a piece denouncing the various forms of racism present not only in Egypt but in a large number of the Arab countries. In the investigative reporting category, Lebanese Carole Kerbage won for a exhaustive article on the world of prostitution in Lebanon. They were chosen because, as well as being well written, they are two articles that deal with important issues which are at the same time taboo in Arab societies, said Brabant. Two pieces that touch a sore point. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Israel to Hariri, He is a Hostage of Hezbollah
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 10 — Saad Hariri “is just a hostage of Hezbollah,” was the reply today by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to the Lebanese Premier who, in an interview with the BBC, accused Israel of being behind “a dangerous escalation” of threats and announced a common purpose with radical Shiite militias of Hezbollah and with all people in Lebanon if new action is taken by the Jewish state. “Since he is the premier of a coalition government, Hariri is just a hostage of Hezbollah, which has veto power in his cabinet,” responded Lieberman, interviewed a few hours later by Israeli public radio. At the same time, the Foreign Minister ruled out that his country is planning another attack on Lebanon after the conflict in the summer of 2006, while warning that this does not mean that Israel is willing to suffer any other missile launches by Shiite militias without reacting.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
MEPs Condemn Nokia Siemens ‘Surveillance Tech’ In Iran
Euro MPs have “strongly” criticised telecoms firm Nokia Siemens Networks for providing “surveillance technology” to the Iranian authorities.
In a resolution adopted on Wednesday, the MEPs said the hardware was instrumental in the “persecution and arrests of Iranian dissidents”.
But Nokia Siemens said that the implication that it had provided censorship technology was “wrong”.
It has previously said that it had installed “lawful” technology in 2008.
“We will be clarifying any inaccuracy in their understanding of our business in Iran with the European Parliament,” Ben Roome of the firm told BBC News.
Nokia Siemens said the technology that it had installed was similar to that used “in all EU member states and the US”.
Mr Roome stressed that the technology not used to monitor, filter or censor the internet.
“When you set up a modern network — as an operator — if you want a licence to operate you have to have a standard surveillance capability in the network,” Christina Dinne, also of the firm, said.
Net benefit
Nokia Siemens told BBC News that it had provided “very basic surveillance” capabilities to Iran Telecom in 2008. The product is called Monitoring Centre and can be used to monitor local telephone calls.
“You can’t track keywords,” said Mrs Dinne.
Details of Nokia Siemens activities in Iran first came to light in June 2009 when media reports accused the firm of helping the Iranian government intercept communications.
Technology — such as mobile phones — were widely used in protests following Iran’s disputed election.
“We are, of course, aware of reports from Iran, and condemn any abuse of communication technologies that may have taken place,” said Mr Roome.
“We strongly believe that mobile networks enhance individuals’ lives, promote transparency, and empower citizens with effective means of feedback.
“In Iran they have clearly played a pivotal role in their ability to communicate, organise, and share their story with the outside world.
However, the MEPS called on the EU to ban similar exports to “governments and countries such as Iran”.
The statements were part of a wider resolution that included a call for Iran to “restore the transparency of its nuclear programme”.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Petrol Ofisi Gets New Chairwoman
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, FEBRUARY 12 — Turkish Dogan conglomerate witnessed yet another change Friday as Petrol Ofisi, the fuel retailing joint venture of OMV AG and Dogan Holding, appointed Hanzade Dogan Boyner as its new chairwoman. Dogan Boyner will replace her father, Aydin Dogan, who has stepped down, according to a filing with the Istanbul Stock Exchange Friday. Boyner is a graduate of the London School of Economics. Immediately after receiving her bachelors degree in economics in 1995, she joined Goldman Sachs London as a financial analyst, becoming involved in large mergers and acquisition deals. Later, she received an MBA in finance and marketing from Columbia University in 1999, moving to Turkey later that year. Boyner launched Dogan On-Line as an ISP and developed the firm into the countrys leading Internet company with various portals and commerce sites. She was later appointed as deputy chairwoman of Dogan Gazetecilik, a company with five major newspaper brands to its portfolio, including Milliyet, Radikal, Posta, Fanatik and Vatan. At the same time, she also served on the boards of Petrol Ofisi and Dogan Holding. She is currently the vice president at the World Association of Newspapers and a founding member of the Global Relations Forum. She is further a member of the Brookings Institute International Advisory Council, the Association of Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists, the Foreign Economic Relations Board, the Young Presidents Organization and the Association of Woman Entrepreneurs. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Valentines’ Day: UAE: Abaya Line Inspired by Betty Boop
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, FEBRUARY 11 — An abaya, the traditional, austere, black cloak that hides Muslim women inspired by the buxom Betty Boop? Why not, thought Lamya Abedin, a young designer in the United Arab Emirates, who found the ideal combination for a new line dedicated to the season of love and its main holiday: Valentine’s Day. Three single pieces, with a touch of irreverence, are on display at the Galeries Lafayette, the prestigious Parisian store, which was recently opened at the Dubai Mall. A large black leather heart with red borders styles a suggestive corset at the waistline of the abaya that is explicitly dedicated to Valentines’ Day, falling in an elegant drape to the floor. The neighbouring model moves explicitly towards the sexiest character of the 1930s, Betty Boop, reproposing a mini-apron application which is playfully coloured red with white polka dots, just like the long cuffs. The sleeves are coloured red for passion for the third sassy model. “Betty Boop represents femininity, a femininity that I’ve tried to recreate in all my work, so that they give women that wear them a great figure,” comments Lamya Abedin. Betty Boop, adds the owner of the fashion house, the Queen of Swords, “is a bit out of the ordinary. Just like my models.” Just under 30 years of age, Abedin has already grabbed the attention of women in the Gulf thanks to another revolutionary idea created with needle and thread: the trouser-based abaya. As a mother and businesswoman frequently on the move, Abedin maintains that comfort in fashion is a must. “I wanted something that made women’s lives easier,” she explains, listing the advantages of wearing it for the daily chores, and in sports and recreation activities. An idea which, for the moment, has caused more curiosity and compliments than raised eyebrows. Amongst the first women to wear these abayas, Abedin was often stopped by other ladies who asked where she had bought them, making her realise that she was definitely on the right track. Her abayas, which are still only produced in small numbers and are rigorously unique pieces, have been on the market for just a few months, and are selling like hotcakes. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ingushetia Operation Against Militants ‘Kills 20’
At least 20 insurgents have been killed in an operation by Russian security forces in the restive republic of Ingushetia, officials say.
Fighting erupted after troops surrounded a group of militants in a mountain forest near Chechnya’s border.
Russia’s interior and defence ministries and the Federal Security Service launched the sweep on Thursday.
Fighting by Muslim militants against Russian rule has stepped up in the past two years in Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Deadly conflict
Russian troops had sealed off a five sq-km-area blocking in the militants on Thursday, and the operation was said to be continuing.
“It was launched on a confirmed tip. A large base of [warlord Doku] Umarov’s men was spotted near the village of Arshty,” said an FSB official said.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
In Indonesia, Religious Freedom Only Exists on Paper
Strong protest Mgr. Pujasumarta, secretary of the local bishops’ conference, during a meeting between members of parliament and religious leaders. Complaints of frequent violations of religious freedom, with threats and churches closed by Islamist groups which go unchecked by local authorities.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Indonesia has failed to ensure its people religious freedom, as also envisaged by the Ministerial Decrees numbers 8 and 9 of 2006 on the duty of local authorities to secure the right and freedom to adopt any religion. In reality, the Muslim majority tyrannize the minority religions. This is the stark reminder of Msgr. Johannes Pujasumarta, Bishop of West Java and secretary general of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference.
Yesterday evening the bishop, with leaders of other minority groups, met with the Indonesian Parliament to present them with this difficult situation. Mons. Pujasumarta reminded the lawmakers of the many Christian and Catholic churches that have been burned or closed down by force from Islamic extremist groups and how the Muslim majority “exerts its pressure to create serious problems for minority groups to implement the right to practice of their religious faith”. He mentioned the most recent “incidents” in Belasi and Purwakarta in West Java and Sumatra Padang Lawas in northern Sumatra, where churches have been forcibly closed by from Islamic extremist groups and local authorities together with the pretext that the buildings were built without authorization (called: izin Mendirikan Bangunan, IMB).
Ministerial decrees numbers 8 and 9 of 2006 instruct local authorities to ensure interfaith harmony. But the bishop stresses that “many local authorities are easy targets for extremist groups … they asily succumb to their pressure and accommodate their demands”. How in October the chief regent Dedi Mulyadi revoked the previous IMB from Saint Mary parish church in the District of Purwakarta, , yielding to strong pressure from the Islamic Defender Front group.
The approval of two decrees in 2006 had been greeted, especially in Catholic circles, as a happy solution to the problem of religious intolerance. Years later, the bishop noted, “their non-application”.
The meeting was attended by Protestant groups, including the Synod of Christian Churches in Indonesia and the Synod of Protestant Churches Huria Batak, who have also witnessed frequent attacks by radical Islamic groups and a boycott of the authorities who do not protect them and sometimes do not even respond to requests for the release of the IMB. Their churches have also been closed, forcing the faithful to gather on the street.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Mgr. Pujasumarta insists that the country has the legal means to protect the rights of minorities, but that “in reality the norm is sometimes forgotten or even denied” by local authorities. “If I think of the latest violence against churches, I am concerned that this will increase sectarian spirit “, unhindered by weak and easily influenced local authorities.
Sugiarto, a member of the group that defends the rights of the church St. Mary of Purwakarta, noted that now the Christians are waiting for Parliament to concretely sees their rights are upheld.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Jakarta, Extremists Planning Attacks Against Yudhoyono With 183 Kilos of Explosives
The group is affiliated to the Malaysian terrorist Noordin Moh. The attack was revenge for the endorsement given by Yudhoyono for execution of Bali bombers. Targeted by terrorists in the private residence of the President Cikeas.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — An Islamic fundamentalist cell, linked to Malaysian terrorist Noordin Moh Top, was planning an attack on the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It was confirmed yesterday in court by Amir Abdillah, a clerk in a hotel in the capital and a prime suspect in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott, on 17 July, which killed nine people. The explosive charge, said the man was “at least 183 kg” and would have caused an explosion greater than the bomb attacks in Bali — in 2001 — which killed over 200 people.
The explosive material was found in a hideout used by terrorists in Jatiasih in Bekasi regency, about 7 km from the private residence of the President of Indonesia in Cikeas (regency of Bogor). When the judge asked if they were part of a plot to kill Yudhoyono, Amir Abdillah replied: “Inshallah [God willing, ed], it is true.”
The chief prosecutor of Jakarta, Chairuzl Fauzi, explains that “the terrorist group presented a detailed scenario on how to conduct this deadly attack against the president.” Amir Abdillah is affiliated with the extremist group headed by Malaysian terrorist Noordin Moh. Top. Two members of the cell were killed in a police raid on August 8, during the anti-terrorist operations launched in the aftermath of attacks on hotels in the capital.
According to the prosecutor’s reconstruction, Seafudin Zhuri Amir had entrusted the task of renting a house not far from the objective: Yudhoyono’s private residence in Cikeas. The sentencing to death of the President is due to his endorsement given by Yudhoyono for the execution of Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Gufron alias Mukhlas, the three authors of the massacre in Bali.
In the court debate it emerged that the preparation of the attack lasted two or three weeks, in the aftermath of the bomb attacks at the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott hotel in Jakarta. Amir Abdillah also had the task of overseeing the movement of the President and his escort, to trace the route used to move from the private residence of the presidential palace. If found guilty, the alleged terrorist risks the death penalty.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Questions for Pentagon: Why Was There a COP Keating, And Why Was it a “Kill Pit”?
Sorry, but this Washington Post headline — “U.S. commanders in Afghanistan face tougher discipline for battlefield failures” — misses the point.
The story concerns “failures” all right, but the three recently investigated incidents in question are not “battlefield” failures. No, these failures, whose names are Wanat, Ganjgal and Kamdesh, have their provenance in the climate-controlled conference rooms of the White House and the Pentagon. These are failures of U.S. military policy, and it is the top leadership of the current and last administrations, those who have formulated, approved and executed the policy, who are responsible for them — not the mid-level officers, the squadron leader or battalion commander, who, according to the Post story on the unreleased investigations, will be taking the official fall.
I refer, of course, to the policy of “counterinsurgency” warfare, particularly as promoted by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the supreme infidel commander now waging a popularity contest against the Koranically correct Taliban for the affections of the Islamic peoples of Afghanistan. The prize, booby at best, is supposed to enable the United States, at Treasury-breaking and military-wrecking cost, to tame wild Afghanistan into a non-dysfunctional, jihad-free society. Our main weapons: “population-protection,” cash and massive public works projects. (Sending troops so equipped into valleys of death like Wanat, Gankgal and Kamdesh is pure “counterinsurgency” negligence, I mean, doctrine.) The Taliban’s main weapons: the Koran, jihad and Sharia. After eight-plus years, the Islamic peoples of Afghanistan still can’t decide between us. Still, we keep trying, pursuing the unicorn of hearts and minds across Afghanistan even as the reality of Islamic law spreads unchecked across the West.
One place we tried too long is the Nuristan province village of Kamdesh. There, in August 2006, a foothold later known as Combat Outpost Keating was established on indefensibly low ground ringed by mountains as a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Whose criminally stupid idea was it to put an outpost there and leave it there? I doubt investigators asked.
The mission was “nation-building at a local level,” as Salon’s Matthew Cole reported in 2007. Under continual attack, however, the troops had switched from dispensing goodies to “simply securing the base” — and for three, pointless years until Oct. 3, 2009. On that day, the battle of Kamdesh left eight Americans dead over a piece of real estate that — and this is key — the United States had already planned to abandon. Whose negligence delayed the evacuation? I don’t think investigators asked that, either.
Fact is, Keating and some other outposts were scheduled to close in July 2009 — not, alas, in recognition of the futility of “counterinsurgency,” but of fighting it undermanned in remote areas. As Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti explained McChrystal’s outpost-closing order to the Washington Post, “This is all about freeing up some forces so I can get them out more among the people.”
But not so fast…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Rape Tapes: A ‘Muslim Abu Ghraib’
by Brad Thor
With breaking news out of Palestine today that a top aide to President Mahmoud Abbas has been literally caught with his pants down, rape tapes seem to be popping up all over the pious Muslim world. And some are
horrifically worse than others.
Last month on the FOX Business Network, Colonel Oliver North revealed a startling piece of information. Conservative mullahs and elements within the Haqqani terror network — known as the backbone of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Af/Pak theater — are working to take the Haqqanis down from the inside. Their key weapon is a disturbing video that shows the serial sexual assault of several young girls.
Colonel North explained that no one in American intelligence had yet seen this video. Here it is:
***STRONGEST POSSIBLE CONTENT WARNING. NOT SAFE FOR WORK***
When I travelled to Afghanistan to research my novel, The Apostle, contacts of mine introduced me to a mid-level Taliban commander in the Haqqani network. Over tea and considerable time talking together, he provided me with some very good, inside-baseball information on the Haqqanis and how their network operates.
I soon realized that he was part a burgeoning movement of disillusioned fighters, mullahs and commanders who have lost faith in both the network’s founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani and its Chief Operating Officer, Siraj Haqqani, Jalaluddin’s son.
Recently, this mid-level Taliban commander shared a chilling story with me. He told me it was a scandal that would rock the Muslim world like nothing before and that it would “devastate” the Haqqani network. “What Abu Ghraib was for you Americans,” he said, “this will be for the Haqqanis; only worse.”
A Muslim Abu Ghraib? Considering the horrific violence that the Haqqanis had perpetrated to date, I had trouble imagining what they could have done now that would suddenly have the power to enflame the Muslim world. After all, that kind of outrage is normally reserved for terrible insults by the West, like cartoons, operas, or free speech. Then, my contact told me his story. It made me absolutely sick to my stomach.
As Siraj Haqqani moved from village to village, rounding up the sons of poor Muslim families to fight for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, he offered the villagers free medical care. He even sent his physician, Dr. Hassan Duraz to conduct the clinics. There was a horrific catch, though. Duraz was a monster.
He arrived in each village with Siraj Haqqani’s uncle, Ibrahim, and Siraj’s cousin, Ishak, in tow. With them, the Haqqanis brought along their own very special tools of terror — a video camera and an eye for human flesh. You see, with Haqqani healthcare, you not only received a medical exam, if you were an attractive young girl, you also got a screen test. And heaven forbid you passed.
For those women and girls unfortunate enough to catch the good doctor’s fancy, it was show time. The Haqqani uncle and cousin would be brought into the exam room, they would set up their video equipment, and Duraz would drop his trousers and go to work.
The Haqqanis and Duraz sexually assaulted poor women throughout the tribal regions and captured every moment of their degradation and humiliation on video to enjoy over and over again.
Times were good for the Haqqani pornography ring. Their enterprise thrived until someone slipped up and word leaked out. In the blink of an eye, Siraj Haqqani was in big trouble…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
China: New ‘Cold War’ Gaining Steam
Intel report reveals China’s new tone
LONDON — A secret intelligence report warns a number of Western nations soon could be caught up in a new “cold war” brewing between China and the United States, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
The dispute apparently was sparked by a Washington decision to arm Taiwan with $6.4 billion of state-of-the art weapons systems. The deal includes 60 Black Hawk helicopters, 114 Patriot anti-missile missiles and 12 Harpoon missiles.
Now the impact could be felt in Britain as well as Germany, France and other European nations that have substantial trading relationships with China.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: 8 Illegal Immigrants Die in Shipwreck
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 11 — At least eight illegal immigrants have died in the wreckage of the boat that had departed from Turkey, according to the Greek authorities quoted by the media. The Greek coastguard discovered the bodies of the eight victims, including one woman and a baby girl, on the coast of Samos island after the sole survivor of the wreckage reported the incident yesterday. It seems that the boat that sunk was carrying 10-12 people. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Principals Warn of ‘Ghettoisation’
The principals of multi-ethnic schools say ‘ghettoisation’ is taking root among newcomer communities in Ireland.
They have warned of apathy and disengagement developing among the children of immigrants as a result of recent cuts in English language services in their schools.
Five school principals appeared before told the Dáil’s Joint Committee on Education this morning.
The committee heard warnings that children were becoming frustrated and developing a dislike for school as a result of the cuts.
The five school principals represent schools where up to 90% and more of pupils have immigrant parents.
They called for a range of additional measures to be targeted at multi-ethnic schools.
Top of their list and needed as a matter of urgency, they say, are more English language supports.
They were also critical of enrolment policies, which they said were making it difficult for the children of immigrant parents to find a school place.
However, out of 15 members of the committee just four attended fully to hear the principals speak. Fine Gael’s Ulick Burke said he was embarrassed by the low attendance.
Committee Chairman Paul Gogarty said the absence of Fianna Fáil TDs beggared belief.
Of seven Fianna Fáil members just one, Cecilia Keaveney, attended briefly. Ms Keaveney then returned after attention had been drawn to the low attendance.
Afterwards, one school principal told RTÉ News they were stunned by the low attendance.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Sex Valentines Issued by Planned Parenthood
Cards feature condoms, genitalia and ‘I love pro-choice doctors’
Planned Parenthood is giving out free Valentine’s Day cards — with depictions of pants on the ground, condoms and genitalia and special messages such as, “I like playing with you!”
“If Planned Parenthood’s honest goal is to help women control their procreation — to plan their parenthood — why does it expend so much energy promoting sexual titillation and promiscuity?” WND columnist Jill Stanek asked on her blog.
“Obviously the organization has become financially dependent on selling contraceptives and abortion, and what better way to increase sales than promote rampant sex?” Stanek added.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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Know and define your enemy - Hooah for Lieutenant Colonel Allen West.
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