Germany: Merkel calls for 'bilingualism and integration' for Turkish immigrants

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Is assimilation the same as “bilingualism and integration”? Has Merkel really softened her stance as I feared some days ago?

She said both languages should be taught, highlighting the importance of bilingualism and the integration of immigrants into German society.

“What is unacceptable is for this to be an excuse for Turks living in Germany not to learn the German language. The language of the country one lives in is the precondition for good integration,” said Merkel, stressing that the goal was not assimilation.

“This is about everybody keeping their roots, their culture and their belief, but those of the third and fourth generation living in Germany should be able to participate in our social life.”

via Merkel calls for ‘bilingualism and integration’ for Turkish immigrants | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 29.03.2010.

Balkans: Times' Journalist Stands By Radical Islam Claims

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This is an update on this story:

The author of a disputed text published in the British newspaper The Sunday Times has told Balkan Insight that he did indeed speak with the head of the Macedonian Islamic Community, Sulejman Rexhepi, while Rexhepi’s office has claimed that the leader did not speak with the journalist and did not make any claims about the control of Skopje mosques by radical Islamists.

Bojan Pancevski, the author of the text about radical Islam that appeared in the British paper, said that he has the recordings of his conversations with three officials from the Macedonian Islamic Community, IVZ, including Sulejman Rexhepi.

“They all confirmed to me that four mosques were not under the IVZ control. I got the impression that they wanted this to be known in public,” Pancevski said.

via Journalist Stands By Radical Islam Claims :: BalkanInsight.com.

Two questions:

1. why doesn’t Pancevski publishes the most relevant parts of the recordings?
2. If those recordings are true, why that change in Mr Rexhepi’s statements? Has he been menaced by extremists?

Netherlands: Online Muslim sex shop launched

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Candid but demure, an online sex shop for Muslims has been launched in the Netherlands to tap into a demand for erotica that does not offend Sharia law.

“We had about 70,000 hits in the first four days,” founder Abdelaziz Aouragh told AFP of his site that went online last week and claims to be the world's first erotic webshop for Muslims.

The 29-year-old Dutch national said it targets married Muslim couples as an alternative to sites “that focus on pornography and the extravagant side of erotica” — things forbidden in Islam.

The home page of El Asira, which means “Society” in Arabic, is a sober black and grey street with a line down the center, inviting women to enter on the left and men on the right.

Once inside, clients can browse in Dutch, Arabic or English through more than a dozen products, mainly massage oils, lubricants and tablets that claim to act as aphrodisiacs.

All ingredients are halal, or “permissible under Islam”, said Aouragh, and conspicuously absent are dildos, vibrators and any type of pornography.

“Most of the other products out there have pictures of naked people or foul language — it was very difficult to find ones that I could use in my business,” he said.

Instead, the website shows only photos of boxes, tablets, tubes and bottles — mainly in pink or blue with the brand’s logo, a black flame.

via AFP: Online Muslim sex shop launched in the Netherlands.

I don’t have any opinion on this. If they don’t try to oblige non-Muslims to enter there or to transform other sex shops the ways this one is, I don’t mind whatever other people do inside their bedrooms.

Somalia: march against al-Shabab militants

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They protest the Al-Shabab’s move to destroy some clerics’ tomb:

Hundreds of Somalis have marched through the streets of Mogadishu, protesting against al-Shabab militants.

The protesters, mostly women and children and wearing traditional white clothes, chanted slogans denouncing the al-Qaeda-inspired group.

The BBC’s Mohammed Olad Hassan says this is only the second public demonstration against al-Shabab, which controls much of southern Somalia.

The protesters shouted their support for the UN-backed government.

Mohyadin Hassan Afrah, who helped organise the protest in one of Mogadishu’s few government-controlled districts, says people were upset at a move by al-Shabab to destroy the tombs of revered Sufi clerics.

via BBC News – Somalis in rare march against al-Shabab militants.

So, they don’t protest beheadings, floggings, stonings, etc., but Al-Shabab’s “move to destroy some clerics’ tomb”. Of course, a corpse’s exhumation without the necessary respect for the remains is something despicable, but it is not going to feel anything. But those acts of torture will certainly cause pain, suffering and in some cases, a terrible death.

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• Somalis protest against al Qaeda linked militants (ctv.ca)
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US: Republican candidate for Tennessee Vijay Kumar on Jihad

First, Islam was conceived as a world empire to govern all mankind. It teaches that all the world, and everyone and everything in it, already belongs to Islam–some people just haven’t been made to understand that. Until they have, according to Islam, they are considered “infidels” and inferiors. Put another way, the Islamic view is that all of us in the world are subjects of the Islamic Empire, and those of us who do not acknowledge our subjugation to it must be overcome and brought to submission, through conversion or force. No other religion in the world has such a purpose of world conquest and domination.

Second, Islam does not allow any introspection or self-criticism. It calls for total acceptance, total submission. The very word “Islam” means “submission,” and the word “Muslim” means “one who submits.” The other side of submission, of course, is domination. Islam seeks to dominate every individual and every nation into submission. In that, it shares a key element of slavery, which the civilized world has properly decried and abolished. Such submission is a political act. I am a freeman, and I refuse to submit to Islamic hegemony.

Third, Islam does not have any exit policy for its believers. The act of submission required to become a Muslim is held to be final, irrevocable, and permanent. So criticizing or questioning Islam or its teachings or leaders, or attempting to leave Islam, all are considered severe crimes against Islam, punishable by death.

In contrast, non-Islamic religions allow for dissenting views, introspection, and reasoned debate. In non-Islamic religions, if you so choose, you can leave the faith you were born into without being threatened with physical violence or death. In Islam, both criticism of the faith and apostasy are capital offenses.

All of that is what drives Jihad: Jihad is a permanent war against the unbeliever and his land to bring about his submission. It has been going on for fourteen centuries all over the world, which is why I coined the term “Universal Jihad.” Islam’s Universal Jihad is the single greatest threat to Western civilization and to the entire non-Islamic world in general. It is more dangerous than Nazism and Communism combined.

via The Wrong Way to Fight Jihad.

Anyone from Tennesse?

His page is here.

Iraq: Bomb placed outside Christian home kills 3-year-old

Terrorists on Mosul’s streets. Image via Wikipedia

The persecution continues and no one does nothing. Is Ban Ki-Moon going to do a little trip there to critizise the terrorists and the inaction of Iraqi Govt in protecting Christians there?

A bomb was placed outside a Christian family’s home in Mosul, killing a three-year-old child, injuring the other members of the family, and destroying the home. The bombing was the latest in a long series of murderous attacks on the city’s Christian minority.

via Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Mosul: Bomb placed outside Christian home kills 3-year-old.

Before:

1. Catholic student kidnapped, intimidation campaign continues.
2. Deacon wounded by gunfire in Mosul.
3. 75-year-old Christian shot dead in Mosul.
4. Church leaders plead for Govt protection in Mosul.
5. Mosul Christians protest demanding Govt action.

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• Iraq Christians protest at deaths (news.bbc.co.uk)

EXCLUSIVE: Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA 'Intelligence Coup'

Good news!

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, “an intelligence coup” in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran’s nuclear program.

A spokesperson for the CIA declined to comment. In its declassified annual report to Congress, the CIA said, “Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons though we do not know whether Tehran eventually will decide to produce nuclear weapons.”

Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early 30s, went missing last June three days after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, according to the Iranian government. He worked at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University, which is closely connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, according to the Associated Press.

via EXCLUSIVE: Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA ‘Intelligence Coup’ – ABC News.

Has the Saudi Govt collaborated in this defection? And if that’s the case, will that affect to Saudi relations with Iran?