Thursday, December 27, 2007

Dhimmitude and Freedom

SwordfishThe period between Christmas and New Year’s Day is traditionally the time to take stock of the year that has just ended while looking ahead to the year that is about to begin.

We’ll be honoring that tradition with here with a couple of articles. The first is a guest-post from Henrik Ræder Clausen of Europe News.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Dhimmitude and Freedom Status 2007
by Henrik Ræder Clausen


Time for an incomplete roundup of what took place this year, what’s good, what’s bad.

GoodBad
Blogs are becoming an increasingly important player in challenging the mainstream media for serious analysis.Various forms of Internet censorship are seen. One method is to tag Islam-critical material as ‘offensive’. Another is to attack the meager income by warning advertisers against having their banners shown on supposed ‘hate sites’. It’s tricky.
Demonstrations in Turkey against Islamization — with huge turnout. They can demonstrate; we in Europe may not.Turkey censors YouTube, WordPress and whatever else it fancies, and keeps crushing minorities. No firm protests from the EU.
No major terrorist attacks in the non-Islamic world. This is quite interesting. Last year we had the Mumbai bombings, and before that the London, then Madrid bombings. Many significant plots have been foiled, none executed. Pakistan suffered one of the worst ever. “The Land of the Pure” where they booby-trap babies in order to attack democracy. How low can you go? Security guards saved the life of Benazir Bhutto, but 130 of her supporters found sudden death on that day. Benazir herself succumbed to another suicide attack two months later.
 Many minor terrorist attacks. The counter at TheReligionOfPeace.com passed 10,000 attacks (since September 11th 2001). Worldwide Jihad is in action everywhere Islam meets other cultures.
No major assassinations except for Benazir Bhutto. Every year the icons of the Counterjihad stay alive is a discrete victory against violent Jihad.Many lesser known figures were assaulted or killed, the latest being a professor in Sweden who was researching the Turkish genocide against the Assyrians. Public outcry as well as the government action over these crimes against minorities have been tepid at best.
Israel is experiencing record economic growth, in spite of serious security expenses and attempts at boycotts in Great Britain etc. More people stand up for Israel in the media now.Our leaders have still not figured out that supporting the Palestinians is basically a Bad Idea when done without clear conditions. They put pressure on Israel for the simple reason that it has a better chance of working, not for the sake of justice.

- - - - - - - - -
 Hamas takes over Gaza, suspends freedoms.
 Pakistan, “The Land of the Pure”, descends further into chaos. Brutal dictatorship cracks down on brutal Islamists, and on the High Court, with strong from the US government. Money documentably spent on their own purposes, not to fight terrorism.
Demonstrations against Islamization of Europe took place in Brussels, then Marseille, without Muslims cracking violently down on the demonstrators.The fear that Muslims would make riots in the streets caused the mayor of Brussels to declare the demonstrators ‘criminals’ and had the police crack violently down on them.
Belgium seems to be falling apart. This will have interesting consequences for EU and Europe, both practically and symbolically. Leaders of the European Union adopted not only the Constitution Treaty, but also an ominous resolution against any kind of ‘extremism’, ‘xenophobia’ etc. Both of these are steps in the direction of the EUCCP, where dissent is not allowed. Cheating over referendums is no small issue.
 The Iranian president speaks at the UN. This is sick. He uses the platform to discreetly promote his vision of Islam ruling the world. Worse.
Our right to talk about Islam and Muhammad is intact. Bringing up the facts, while still considered hate-speech in some contexts, is largely considered legal. 
 Arabs with lawyers have turned into a bigger problem than anticipated. The concept is simple: Use the laws of one country to attack an author in another. Given enough billions in the back, it’s doable. This seriously impacts the willingness of publishers to print controversial books.
More focus on doing away with the oil habit. It is becoming clear that this dependency is causing us serious political and economical problems. ‘Global Warming’ jumps in and steals the limelight at a time where we have more urgent tasks at hand. The Nobel Committee disgraces itself by rewarding this with the Peace Prize.
The Counterjihad summit in Brussels with top of the line speakers. Lots of information, much good networking. Charles Johnson, blogmaster of the large American blog Little Green Footballs, showed its incomprehension of European politics and history by condemning several participants. This strife has been a drain on resources and unity.
 The Arabs have enough money to purchase vital parts of media, financial institutions and other parts of the economical infrastructure. This, combined with ‘Sharia banking’, is a large potential problem.
Denmark got away with comparing the Islamic headscarf to the Nazi swastika. It caused an outcry, but it remained an acceptable point of view to compare the Quran to Mein Kampf.Great Britain is sinking into dhimmitude. Appeasement is rampant, and the latest move is to declare the use of Union Jack ‘racist’. A much more assertive approach is needed.
Geert Wilders is creating a movie about the Quran. It has caused trouble already, but the bold guy is continuing. The Netherlands got rid of that troublesome Somali lady who keeps speaking up for women and human rights in face of reactionary religions.
The war in Iraq is showing surprising progress by the end of the year, with Al-Qaeda apparently significantly weakened by lack of spectacular successes decapitating infidels, which causes sponsors to invest elsewhere.Saudi Arabia still invests heavily in Wahhabi Islam everywhere. This is a subject with implications in just about every country where Muslims live.
Christian assertiveness seems to be rising. The pope stated that we have the right to defend our culture. Rumours of increasing conversions to Christianity in Turkey and Iran would be nice to substantiate. Mosque construction projects continue apace in many European countries. The depth of this is still unknown to many people. The discovery of terrorist propaganda and military equipment (weapons, explosives) and rabid racism in major mosques has not led to a general moratorium on mosque projects.
 The whole Kosovo thing. While the final decision has met delays, the likely outcome is that a mafia-run statelet will be created soon. This sets a bad example for dissolving nations on basis of religion.
Sarkozy symbolically told the Turks to forget about EU membership. While more moves are needed, this was a good one.Schengen enlargement. This will create the perfect Inner Market for everything mafioso. And a Perfect Storm for law enforcement.

Summing up, there’s no clear direction. We are facing a lot of challenges, large and small. Interestingly, physical terrorism seems to be waning, while we face a lot of trouble on the less visible institutional level. The weakening of the nation-state and the lack of willingness by our states and by the EU to defend our citizens’ rights are troublesome developments. Our leaders seem to agree to not take the required risks and to sacrifice national interests for the sake of ‘unity’ in the EU and non-offending behaviour towards our oil suppliers.

What can be done?

Lots of things. So many that it’s hard to create a meaningful to-do list of actions. Some items:

Read. All required documentation is readily available from Amazon and other shops. As for Islam proper, the life of Muhammad etc., the whole thing has been researched so extensively that feelings of deja vú easily come up with yet another critical book. One may read a handful of books by Spencer, Trifkovic, Bostom, etc. to get the whole picture, or save a thousand pages of reading by just getting Prophet of Doom. It’s all out there.

Get involved. Our leaders are getting away with their trips because of too little interest and challenge from the general public. This lack of the interest, on the other hand, makes it very easy for just a few individuals to make a difference.

Keep mockin’! As C. S. Lewis said: “The Devil cannot stand being mocked”. This can be done with simple means. Each one may not draw intense media coverage, but some will hit home.

Speak positively of Jesus and Christianity. Jesus was, in contrast with a certain false prophet, a great example for human behaviour. It’s quite uncontroversial to say something good about Jesus, and a little hint that quietly makes people compare with Muhammad should strike deep.

Challenge the EU. This overgrown organisation seriously hampers our possibilities of challenging immigration, Islam and other urgent issues. While I won’t advocate secession from EU (some in Denmark do, however), change is urgently needed, like a reduction to 10-15 % of its current budget. At the moment, the EUCCP is growing in the wrong direction, fast.

Reassert our nationalities by using our flags, requesting border control back, asking that we retain the right to rule our respective countries. Both EU and Islam have a vision of a large unitary state where national identity plays no role in politics, and diversity fades. Diversity is beautiful! While it may hamper multinational companies, it has always been one of Europe’s best resources and barriers against totalitarianism. We’re too unruly, and want to remain so.

Stick to our wallets. An interesting property of Islam is that it tends to be rather unproductive and require lots of monetary support for mosque construction, etc. Money going to support ‘multiculturalism’ will be the worst money ever spent! When politicians try to look good by supporting Palestinians or other violent racists, it’s time to take them to task for it. While it might seem miserly, protecting the principle of private property is effective against totalitarian trends in politics and religion.

Have fun :) All of this stuff can be enjoyable, as one gets to meet lots of interesting people, gets ones worldview challenged a couple times a year, hopefully travelling, and at least have a rich and meaningful life.

What is needed now is not so much grand icons like Robert Spencer or Ayaan Hirsi Ali. What we need is many more people taking the unspectacular tasks of attending public meetings, commenting on blogs, writing to the newspapers, standing up for human rights and national independence. Just bits here, pieces there, based on information and a humanistic attitude, a little or a lot, depending on what’s possible.

Happy New Year and good luck!

30 comments:

Charlemagne said...

Great post.

I don't recall which thread the idea of counter-jihadists taking over an island and expanding from there was discussed but I believe the island we need may already exist: Denmark. What if we developed a strategy to focus a good deal of our energy on Denmark alone to create an outpost of resurgent nationalism (desire to be Danish and not "European", desire to retain their culture, etc.) that could be a model for the rest of Europe? Instead of concentrating on all of Europe all at once and spreading ourselves too thin, can we help bolster the resistance in Denmark alone by contacting as many politicians as possible, posting to Danish blogs, writing to Danish papers, etc. to overwhelm the perpetrators of Islamization: MSM, politicians, and Muslims?
Thoughts on this strategy?

Ethelred said...

This was wonderful - something positive for a change.

Charlemagne's Denmark idea is very intriguing, and even makes sense militarily.

Works for me, but I am an American. The analogous thing here would be to create the counter-jihad city equivalent to San Francisco and its liberalism. Gee, imagine that.....

Charlemagne said...

The magic of the Internet makes you a citizen of the world! (tongue in cheek). You can write to anyone anywhere for any reason. Danish papers may, or may not, be interested in the opinions of external observers of their internal issues. Can't hurt to write and find out.

xlbrl said...

The infidel assasination of junior and mid-level Al Queda has been very effective in reducing that talent pool and therfore their effectiveness. This is much more extensive than realized.
No doubt this is a temporary state of affairs, but it is the single greatest reason terror has not gained greater traction in the West. We are not attacking the root.

Ed Mahmoud said...

OT

Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests behave in less than Christian manner in Bethlehem

Charlemagne said...

Reminiscent of the squabbling among the Christians in the Holy Land during the Crusades. This type of internecine warfare helped lose then and certainly isn't helpful now.

Ed Mahmoud said...

Both the Greeks and Armenians have had their share of persecution from the Turkish Muslims.

Henrik R Clausen said...

Charlemagne wrote:
"What if we developed a strategy to focus a good deal of our energy on Denmark alone to create an outpost of resurgent nationalism (desire to be Danish and not "European", desire to retain their culture, etc.) that could be a model for the rest of Europe?"

We're doing reasonably well. The Muhammad crisis did a lot of good for us standing up for basic civil liberties.

What we really need is one more outpost. Our experience from pulling strings concerning Turkey shows that two outposts are a *lot* better than just one. A single can be isolated as a 'nutcase', while two working in tandem is a much tougher nut to crack.

I suggest to look towards Flanders for the second one.

Asger Trier Engberg said...

Dear Henrik

With all due respect, I disagree with you - I think Denmark should be used as a hub for antiislamism.

Because there has to be a place where people can share ideas and find inspiration. And if you spread the ressources too thin, you do not get the maximum of result. And God knows, we need some results.

And somehow Denmark is the most natural spot right now, it is free, it relatively unbound by the EU, it has ressources, it has no bad history with the nazis.

The question is then - how? I think:

1. We should open up to the world, and share some of the discussions we have in Denmark.
2. We should create international academic institutions focused on democracy
3. We should create new media; blogs, newpapers, tv that has an distinct antiislamic focus

It will be difficult, but not impossible.

Cincinnatus said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
X said...

Yggdrasil, I actually agree with Henrik on this. Having a single hub makes you vulnerable by providing a single point of failure. A conflict like this needs to be fought by many redundant, networked groups which means having multiple "hubs" or islands, or what have you. As long as they coordinate closely and maintain strong communication links with each other they won't stray from the message.

Recent events have proven what can happen in an organisation with a single, tightly controlled hub. It happened on the web, without physical consequences but it should serve as an object lesson. We don't want to find ourselves dealing with that in the real world.

Baron Bodissey said...

Cincinnatus --

You were right.

Asger Trier Engberg said...

Well Graham,

I agree, from a strategic point of view - it is dangerous to mass all the ressources at one place.

And realistically, it will not happen - each country will try to define the opposition according to their own traditions, which is well off cause.

But then I think Denmark still should fight its way forward, and then perhaps drag the development of the western world i an antiislamic direction.

How things will end up on the long run, nobody knows - but focus is allways a good thing.

X said...

Ahh, I see, well getting one place up and running is a necessary first stage, so we're really in total agreement but just looking at different points in time.

Charlemagne said...

If we need a second "island" may I suggest Finland? From the Baron's recent article Finland is still relatively free from Islamic influence but is dangerously afflicted with WGS (Western Guilt Syndrome) and is therefore eager to join in on the self-destruction. We can work to counter this folly and thus establish two fronts.

Also, I took the liberty of contacting Geert Wilders via his website to let him know he has support beyond Denmark and asked if there were any actions in his opinion we on the outside can take to assist him. When/if he responds I'll post his reply.

. said...

Specific Comments:

Demonstrations in Turkey against Islamization — with huge turnout.

The problem with the "bad Islam" thesis in Turkey is that, in fact, Islam is good there, in the form of the competent and democratic government led by the Islamic party. One of the reasons Erdogan's party is so popular? The incompetence of the previous secular rulers and the dictatorial petty anti-Islamism of the military.

Many lesser known figures were assaulted or killed, the latest being a professor in Sweden who was researching the Turkish genocide against the Assyrians.

The investigation is ongoing - it has not been proven that the professor was killed by Islamic radicals or radical Turks. This article seems to presume a conclusion that cannot be reached yet.

Please provide names of any other European victims of Islamic radicals in 2007. I can't think of any immediately. Provide names to these "many lesser known figures."

‘Global Warming’ jumps in and steals the limelight at a time where we have more urgent tasks at hand.

This directly contradicts your "plus" statement about doing away with the oil habit. Focusing on climate change is an excellent way to do away with the oil habit, becaus it brings political liberals onto the anti-oil bandwagon with political conservatives concerned about funnelling money to Islamic regimes. You should be HAPPY Al Gore won the prize! Instead, you make a "disgraceful" attack on the Nobel Committee to gain a few political brownie points.

The Arabs have enough money to purchase vital parts of media, financial institutions and other parts of the economical infrastructure.

This sounds a lot like the Jewish conspiracy theories floating around Europe in the early part of the 20th century. It's dangerous stuff to play with.

This, combined with ‘Sharia banking’, is a large potential problem.

I would think that after being reamed by "Dennis the Peasant" you would have dropped this canard. There is absolutely nothing objectively wrong with what you call "Sharia Banking," which is just another way to structure financial transactions that rewards both borrower and lender. No one is giving away free money to Muslims (at least not EXCLUSIVELY Muslims ...).

The whole Kosovo thing. While the final decision has met delays, the likely outcome is that a mafia-run statelet will be created soon. This sets a bad example for dissolving nations on basis of religion.

Still allying yourself with Serb ethnic cleansers I see. The whole anti-Jihad movement has been hijacked by opportunistic Serb empire-builders. I notice that your spurious claim about a "mafia run statelet" does not even include the word "Islamic." Even you seem to backhandedly acknowledge that this is nothing more than another petty and murderous Balkan war, not a "bloody border."

Reassert our nationalities by using our flags, requesting border control back, asking that we retain the right to rule our respective countries.

Do you really want Germany "reasserting its nationality" like it did in the 1900's and 1930's? Do you really want France "reasserting its nationality" like it did under Napoleon? Do you really want Spain "reasserting its nationality" like it did under Ferdinand and Isabella? Do you really want the smaller European states "reasserting their nationality" as was done most recently in Serbia and Croatia in the 1990's?

Eliminating the EU is one of the stupidest things anyone could ever propose. Europe does not need a return or descent into murderous national and sectarian warfare that plagued it through most of the last thousand years. Reform the EU, don't dissolve it. The nations of Europe share a common Western heritage - if developed and defended it will provide an adequate barrier to an Islamic enemy without turning on itself. Reform the EU - don't destroy it.

Zenster said...

Being a first generation Danish-American, I can only like the notion of bolstering Denmark's resistance to Islam. However, as Fjordman has noted, the West needs to make itself "Islam unfriendly". That said, "Fortress Denmark", "Fortress America" or "Fortress Whatever" simply will not work. At some point, a nuclear armed Islam will come knocking and we must stop them before they clear their own borders. It is "Fortress Islam" that must come under siege. To date, we have been strafing its barracks to no great effect. As xlbrl suggests, shelling the king's chambers might be a tad more effective.

Zenster said...

exGordon: The investigation is ongoing - it has not been proven that the professor was killed by Islamic radicals or radical Turks. This article seems to presume a conclusion that cannot be reached yet.

Avoiding any presumption of guilt is only for courtrooms with their judges and juries. In the court of public opinion no such constraint applies. Given that:

... colleagues of Dr. Deniz ... have received threats

It's fairly safe to say that Dr. Deniz's murder is not a result of some disgruntled postal worked venting his frustration with management. Due to how consistently Muslims come across as skinless people in a sandpaper world, Occam's Razor pushes Islam straight to the top of this case's Christmas list. Especially so, seeing as how the man was killed with a knife. This is a preferred modus operandi of Muslim terrorists—think Theo van Gogh—wishing to communicate Islam's perpetual aggrievement with all things Kuffar.

Heloise said...

Poster formerly known as Gordon,
why do you keep bringing up Turkey?

Please read about the Turkish Islamic pogrom of 1955 where the Greeks of Istanbul were driven out of their homes, churches and businesses and then these buildings were totally destroyed while women and boys were raped and the men beat up. The pogrom was led by the Turkish nationalists and the emerging Islamist groups. Now, fifty years later, Erdogan and his jihadis are in control, and intellectuals like Orhan Pamuk can't publish their writings without being hauled into court and their lives threatened.

It took the Turks four hundred years to conquer Anatolia and Constantinople and another six hundred years to reduce the majority populations of Orthodox Christians to a handful of dhimmis.

Turkey is a tinderbox waiting for a spark to explode, not a light in the darkness of Islamic countries.

pela68 said...

TPFNA Gordon

Deary deary me. I really hope that was satire or else you are ....

"The problem with the "bad Islam" thesis in Turkey is that, in fact, Islam is good there, in the form of the competent and democratic government led by the Islamic party. One of the reasons Erdogan's party is so popular? The incompetence of the previous secular rulers and the dictatorial petty anti-Islamism of the military."

Are you serious? Has the sitting islamistic government done ANYTHING to improve the lifes of the Turkish citizens? Name one single thing! What they HAVE done is to bring the almost secularisised country to the brink of a full fled totalitarian islamistic nation- or should I say "umma". The fact that Erdogan's party is so popular (which can be discussed) is indeed the formaer governments corruption. But is Turkey less corrupt under Erdogans administration? I think not! The military forces is the only power that be that has held Turkey as a secular nation. Not exactly "democratic" by any means, but what do you think Turkey would look like under islamic ruling with implemented sharia law? Just take a look at other islamic model states as for example Pakistan or Iran...

"The investigation is ongoing - it has not been proven that the professor was killed by Islamic radicals or radical Turks. This article seems to presume a conclusion that cannot be reached yet.

Please provide names of any other European victims of Islamic radicals in 2007. I can't think of any immediately. Provide names to these "many lesser known figures.""

The investigation is ongoing... Right there, but would you bet a fiver? (Of course, considering the Swedish police's incompetence we will probably never find out). Still collegues of the professor in question has testified that not only him but also themselves has got numeral death threats from different sources. Want to bet a fiver that atleast some of them ended with allahu akhbar?

I ceartinly could provide you with the names of thousands or maybe 10:ths of thousands of lesser known people being killed during the past year by islamic radicals just given time- but I won't bother, you would'nt probably read through the list anyway. A wisit to www.thereligionofpeace.com should- or would- enlighten you!

"This directly contradicts your "plus" statement about doing away with the oil habit. Focusing on climate change is an excellent way to do away with the oil habit, becaus it brings political liberals onto the anti-oil bandwagon with political conservatives concerned about funnelling money to Islamic regimes. You should be HAPPY Al Gore won the prize! Instead, you make a "disgraceful" attack on the Nobel Committee to gain a few political brownie points."

I suppose you mean "alternative" energy resources like solar panels and wind mills and such. Here's a news flash. They are not being built with solar or windmill power! A few of them are being built with nuclear power and an even less percentage with hydro power!

Further more Gore must be one of the biggest bigots on the planet. The collected CO2 emissions from his way of living equals a small city.

So why should we be happy that Gore won the Nobel prize- other than the fact that it makes the Norwegian Noble prize commitee look even more ludicrious than they did before (awarding such upstanding citizens of the world as Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat in the past).

"This sounds a lot like the Jewish conspiracy theories floating around Europe in the early part of the 20th century. It's dangerous stuff to play with."

While it indeed can sound like a conspiracy theory, it doesn't make the fact less true! Arabs HAVE enough money to purchase vital parts of media financial institutions and other parts of the economical infrastructure. Whether or not they WILL is a whole other question.

[...]

"No one is giving away free money to Muslims (at least not EXCLUSIVELY Muslims ...)."

7.2 biljon € granted for the "palestinians" from EU alone (they asked for 5.2 B). Should not think that very many of those Euros is funneled out to the ever faster shrinking christians in Gaza... What do you think?

Do you really want Germany "reasserting its nationality" like it did in the 1900's and 1930's? Do you really want France "reasserting its nationality" like it did under Napoleon? Do you really want Spain "reasserting its nationality" like it did under Ferdinand and Isabella? Do you really want the smaller European states "reasserting their nationality" as was done most recently in Serbia and Croatia in the 1990's?

Eliminating the EU is one of the stupidest things anyone could ever propose. Europe does not need a return or descent into murderous national and sectarian warfare that plagued it through most of the last thousand years. Reform the EU, don't dissolve it. The nations of Europe share a common Western heritage - if developed and defended it will provide an adequate barrier to an Islamic enemy without turning on itself. Reform the EU - don't destroy it.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with nationalism as long as it does'nt take an expression as a totalitarian one, mostly known from different socialistic states as Hitler Germany, the Soviet Union an the totalitarian religious states existing today (and what do you know- THEY are all islamic).

If EU were the thing that was proposed from the beginning. A free trade union with capitalistic and globalistic trademarks, I would not complain at all. But what we have here is a super buerochratic, protectionistic socialistic wet dream!

Did you know that it is proposed to ban all ordinary light bulbs in the EU. Not to save energy as much as to protect Europeian manufacturers of low- energy light bulbs like Osram, and putting high protection tolls on LEL:s made abroad.

This is of course not good news for the Europeian manufacturers of LEL:s considering that all of their production of LEL:s are manufactured in China!

That's why no one so far want's to buy the dang things- they are to expensive! AND they contain Mercury, very environmentaly sound innit?

Since Sweden got granted membership in the EU, the total tax preassure has (under social democratic governments) risen from 45% to 56%- a part of it explianed with the fact that we are by far the largest milk cow per capita in the union and we get less kick- backs than any other nation.

The nations of Europe does indeed share a common Western heritage- YET! But the loosening up of the national borders is NOT! the way to cement our heritage (not to mention the 70 miljon Turks- almost all muslims that is nocking on our door.

"Reform the EU- don't destroy it" Wery well, but how do you propose we do that- before it's to late?

. said...

Heloise: I can't speak to the 1955 events, although I am aware that Orthodox Christianity is under threat in Turkey, and has been for many decades, since the founding of the Turkish Republic when Greece decided to invade Western Turkey and re-christianize it, only to find Kemal Ataturk and his men much tougher than the ineffectual forces of the Ottoman Caliphate.

As for how Turkey has improved economically and politically under Erdogan's government, I suggest you peruse this site: http://www.economist.com/countries/Turkey/. It includes the facts that Turkey's GDP growth per capita has been over 7% for the past five years, and is projected at over 5% for the next four years. These figures greatly outpace the growth under the previous secular economically incompetent governments, and speak of a rising tide of wealth for the people of Turkey.

Whether Turkey should be in the EU is another matter - I would say "No" at this time, but if the doomsayers of Islam are proven wrong, perhaps in twenty years
Turkey can be admitted.

Charlemagne said...

"While it indeed can sound like a conspiracy theory, it doesn't make the fact less true! Arabs HAVE enough money to purchase vital parts of media financial institutions and other parts of the economical infrastructure. Whether or not they WILL is a whole other question."

Actually Alaweed Bin Talal already bought 5% of Newscorp, the Fox News parent. This is BAD. I read, but can't verify, that Fox changed the news ticker at the bottom of the page to read 'youths' instead of 'Muslims' during the Paris rioting because of a call from ABT to Rupert Murdoch.

We need to keep a watchful eye on Muslim investment in our media. They are eager to control the messages the West receives.

. said...

pela68: The way to reform the EU is to reform the individual nations' governments. They still control the EU. I would suggest that having European nationalists take power in Germany, Britain, and France would be a good start.

Of course, you must recognize that a true EU with open borders among its nations means lots of Polish plumbers in Ireland and Romanian caregivers in Sweden. But these people are all Europeans, not Middle Eastern Muslims.

ole said...

Ex-gordon has,by accident aparently,found one relevant point:
No matter how much you want to womit in the face of Al gore (an old wiking way of concluding an argument) ,it is still stategicly important to cut down our dependance on oil.
The best and fastest way of doing this is a combination of Nuclear power and Agri-fuels.
It is important to remember ,that the same politicly -corect media heroes that invented the MYTH of Islaams peacefullness,also invented the myth of the EVIL NUCLEAR POWERSTATION.
From a tecnical point of vieuw ,the waste problem has been solved for at least 15 years.
Time has come for electrical cars AND nuclear power.
An interesting by-product of Agri-fuels is,that as foodprices goes up,it would be possible to make an OPEC-like foodcartel that might put political pressure on badly behaving oilproducers...

. said...

ole: as for nuclear power, I agree with you 100%. We need a lot more nuclear power plants in the West.

Zenster said...

Pela68: awarding such upstanding citizens of the world as Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat in the past

You left out Mohamed ElBaradei. Other than that, carry on.

Ole: An interesting by-product of Agri-fuels is,that as foodprices goes up,it would be possible to make an OPEC-like foodcartel that might put political pressure on badly behaving oilproducers...

Ole, you are far closer to the truth than you might imagine. Everyone here might benefit from a little research into Water Poverty. Along with China and India, the MME (Muslim Middle East) is rapidly outstripping its native hydrological resources. As populations rise, potable water previously used for growing crops is diverted increasingly into municipal reservoirs. Recently, Iran surpassed Japan as the world's largest importer of wheat. Left unchecked, all of the MME countries will eventually become entirely dependent upon imported grains. This does not even address the issue of livestock. While a person's average annual grain consumption of 300 kilograms requires some 300 tons of water, a typical American diet that includes livestock can require 800 kilograms of grain to support it.

Just as Islam relies upon the West's misplaced sense of humanity to protect it from otherwise well-deserved retribution for its unabated terrorism, so does it seem to ignore the looming implications of its endemic water poverty. Even as of now, were Western countries like American and Canada to withhold all grain shipments to the MME, mass starvation would be a likely result. Keep in mind that not even America's traditional enemies—as in Russia and China, both major grain importers—could triangulate against such punitive measures.

Do not be surprised if, in the very near future, there is assembled an agricultural cartel equivalent to OPEC which will squeeze billions of petrodollars from Arab pockets and back into the West's. Far less surprising is the reluctance of MME governments to spend any of their fabulous oil wealth building the incredibly expensive nuclear reactors and desalinization plants required to reverse this disturbing trend. That would require a degree of foresight and concern for their masses that Islamic leaders have rarely shown.

Henrik R Clausen said...

"perhaps in twenty years Turkey can be admitted."

Ex-Gordon, did you even read the history of the Ottoman Empire?

The answer is "NO".

X said...

More to the point, who's to say the EU will even exist in 20 years to admit them? It seems unlikely given the way it's starting to get subtly fracture. CAP is a mess, inflation is up, the Euro is singularly ill-equiped to deal with the coming recession, the toy parliament is falling apart at the seams and the whole edifice is looking very fragile in the face of the recent events in Italy.

Won't be there. There is no chance in h*ll I would support turkish entry, regardless, for their sake as much as ours. The last thing any country needs is to have the dead hand of EU bureaucracy dragging it down.

Engineer-Poet said...

Quoth pela68:

"I suppose you mean "alternative" energy resources like solar panels and wind mills and such. Here's a news flash. They are not being built with solar or windmill power! A few of them are being built with nuclear power and an even less percentage with hydro power!"

It would be good if you would qualify your claim as to the nation of origin.  Of course, all new goods, including new generators, will be built with the power sources operating previously.  In Denmark, the share of electricity from wind is up to 20%.  The USA's share is smaller because we are a bigger country and started smaller.  Nevertheless, wind power is growing at 30% per year and worldwide PV production is rising at 50% per year.  It won't take long at this exponential rate until you start seeing major effects; already, wind is on the order of 30% of all new generation in the USA, and much more in Texas.

The technical issues with broader use of wind power are beyond the scope of this blog.  Suffice it to say that we HAVE the means required, and we CAN take enormous chunks out of oil demand using technologies either available off the shelf or coming at breakneck speed.  Refusing to do so because it's "their" issue is just shooting yourself in the foot.

So is obvious hypocrisy.  Railing against jihad financing while driving a Suburban is hypocritical.  If you've gotta have something today, buy one of the 30+ MPG hybrids (meaning a Prius, Civic or Escape, not a Tahoe or Lexus SUV) and drive it gently.  If you have to wait, drive a beater econobox until you can get your hands on something like a Chevy Volt (or VentureOne or Aptera or Tango).  Set an example, make yourself oil-free and eliminate your contribution to jihad.

And what Ole said.

Henrik R Clausen said...

"More to the point, who's to say the EU will even exist in 20 years to admit them?"

Good point. My bet is against.

Still, the sooner we terminate the Turkey negotiations, the less diplomatic damage will follow.

Post a Comment

All comments are subject to pre-approval by blog admins.

Gates of Vienna's rules about comments require that they be civil, temperate, on-topic, and show decorum. For more information, click here.

Users are asked to limit each comment to about 500 words. If you need to say more, leave a link to your own blog.

Also: long or off-topic comments may be posted on news feed threads.

To add a link in a comment, use this format:
<a href="http://mywebsite.com">My Title</a>

Please do not paste long URLs!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.