Opinion: “Geert Wilders’ trial has backfired in any way possible”

… The politically charged trial took another twist last week when one of Mr. Wilders‘ expert witnesses, the Arabist Hans Jansen, wrote on his website that a member of the judiciary had tried to influence him. He said that at a dinner party before he was supposed to testify, one of the appeals judges whose decision compelled the prosecutors to press charges tried to “convince me of the correctness of the decision to take Wilders to court.”

 

To further complicate matters, the trial judges then denied a defense request to question Mr. Jansen in court about his allegations. An oversight panel of jurists finally granted the defense’s request to dismiss the presiding judges, calling their colleagues’ refusal to hear the witness “incomprehensible.” The trial, which was supposed to end next month, theoretically must start over with new judges.

 

Prosecuting Mr. Wilders has backfired in every way imaginable, not least politically. The trial has seemed to confirm his charge that avoiding debate over the implications of Muslim immigration leads to the erosion of Western freedoms, most notably freedom of speech. Despite, or perhaps because of, the trial, Mr. Wilders’ Party for Freedom became the third-strongest parliamentary faction in last June’s elections. This allowed Mr. Wilders to become a political king-maker by backing the new center-right minority government.

via The Lost Cause Against Wilders – WSJ.com.

I didn’t know that one of the judges had tried to influence a witness. The doubt is how many more were called with the same objective.

Background:

New Dutch Government agrees to ban burqa, cut deficit.

Geert Wilders on trial.

Prosecutors call for partial acquittal.

Prosecutors seek Wilders’ acquittal on all counts.
Muslims tell court: “Wilders is dangerous”.
Netherlands: “Don’t be anti-Islam or else…”, Taliban tell new Govt.
Commentary: Geert Wilders and the Rise of Islamic correctness.

Restart for Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker’s hate speech trial.

Opinion: On French recent riots

the situation has worsened (since 2005). Approximately 700 “no-go zones” pepper France: enclaves ruled by gangs, drug traffickers and imams. Firefighters and doctors venture into these places rarely and only with extreme caution, when they have no other choice. Graffiti on the walls read: “French out!” or “jihad.”

 

Subjects like the Holocaust are no longer taught in many classrooms, and the word “Jew” has become an insult in many playgrounds. The burqa ban was passed, but will probably never be enforced. In a growing number of communities, young women without the Islamic veil risk assault or rape if they walk unaccompanied in the street.

 

France is a country in disintegration. A small minority of the population still lives comfortably in the more affluent neighborhoods, striving to maintain the property they purchased or inherited, while at the other end of the social spectrum, the ranks of those living in dire poverty are swelling fast. Fifteen percent of the population subsists exclusively on government welfare benefits. Unemployment has reached 25 percent among the 18 to 25 year old age group, while figures are far higher among segments of this group of Arab or African descent.

 

More than half the diplomas issued by higher education are worthless in the real world, offering no career path, no opportunity other than signing onto a long list of job seekers going nowhere. Many counter staff in fast food chains hold doctorates or masters’ degrees, yet prefer demeaning work to begging on the street. The French middle classes are disappearing and observe with anxiety the irrepressible growth of an underclass of immigrants increasingly marginalized and marinating in degrading frustration that’s highly conducive to all sorts of radicalization.

 

French education is in the hands of communists, socialists and greens who disseminate anti-capitalist doctrines and distorted views of history. The media echo these inept and fraudulent ideas, never offering a means to actually understand how the world works and the basic rules of economics. This encourages dangerously stupid and divisive slogans such as “The solution exists. The rich must pay,” to achieve wide support. More than twenty years ago, French jurisprudence was usurped by radical groups proclaiming that a criminal is primarily a victim of society, and that the duty of those who have more is to share with those who have less. Today, many French judges make rulings on ideological grounds, with little regard for the law.

via France\’s recent rioting and looting – Guy Millière – drzz .info.

A great perspective…

US: On GITMO detainee Omar Khadr

A psychiatrist says that Omar Khadr has been “marinated in radical jihadism” and so is much more radical now than was when he entered GITMO:

A Canadian who admitted he was a teen terrorist has grown more dangerous after being “marinated in radical jihadism” at the Guantanamo detention camp, a psychiatrist told a U.S. war crimes tribunal on Tuesday.
Toronto native Omar Khadr pleaded guilty on Monday to all five terrorism charges against him, including conspiring with al Qaeda to commit terrorist acts and murdering a U.S. soldier with a grenade during an Afghanistan firefight.
Now 24, he was captured at age 15 and has been locked up with adult prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba for more than eight years. At his sentencing hearing, the U.S. military jury heard from a forensic psychiatrist hired by prosecutors to meet with Khadr and assess his dangerousness.
The witness, Dr. Michael Welner, described Khadr as the angry and remorseless favorite son of a senior al Qaeda member, and as held in high esteem by other prisoners because he killed a U.S. soldier.
Welner said Khadr had been “steeped and marinaded in radical jihadism” among fellow captives at Guantanamo. Khadr memorized the Koran, grew more dangerous and devout and became a highly sought-after prayer leader, he said.
“He is the rock star at Gitmo,” Welner said, referring to the navy base by its nickname.
Khadr‘s guilty plea made him the first person since World War Two convicted in a war crimes tribunal for acts committed as a juvenile. His lawyers argued unsuccessfully that he was a child soldier who should be rehabilitated rather than prosecuted.

via Guantanamo made Omar Khadr more dangerous, doctor says – Yahoo! News.

Well, when he was arrested, back in 2002, he “wanted to kill as much Americans as he could” and that he was “happy he had killed an American”. Another peaceful guy…

“Europe should convert to Islam”, Gadaffi says

And of course, demands millions of euros to stop “Black immigration”. Heh, as if Blacks were a problem!

MUAMMAR Gaddafi sparked a backlash yesterday after calling on Europeans to convert to Islam, and demanding billions of euros to stop migration leading to a “black Europe”.

The Libyan leader leader returned home after a three-day visit to Italy to mark the anniversary of the 2008 signing of a friendship treaty designed to heal bitterness left over from Italy’s 1911 to 1943 colonisation of Libya.

But he left behind some bad feeling, managing to irk Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s allies and the country’s staunchly Catholic community with his comments on religion.

“Islam should become the religion of all of Europe,” he was quoted in the Italian press as telling 500 young women paid to attend a lecture that he delivered in Rome on Monday.

“Islam is the last religion and if we are to have a single faith then it has to be in Mohammed,” he reportedly told another lecture, according to a participant.

via Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says Europe should convert to Islam | Herald Sun.

By the way, this is the same guy that wants Turkey to enter the European Union as a “trojan horse of Islam” (comment).

This is not the first time he has called for those two things though…
“Every book that doesn’t mention Mohammed is false, so the Bible is false”.
Gadhaffi asks for compensations to stop immigration to Europe.
Gadhaffi asks for compensations for not going nuclear.
“Christianity is not a true religion”.
Arab League summit: pro-Israel Berlusconi kisses Gadhaffi’s hand. Everyone speaks about Obama kissing the ass the hand of Saudi Arabian king, but you see, this must be an epidemy.

Spain: pro-independency Catalonian entity wants to show the “bonds that historically have existed between Islam and Catalonia”

The Platform for the Language, pro-independence entity funded by the Generalitat (Catalan Autonomous Govt), claims that Muslim immigrants living in Catalonia should speak Catalan.To do this, they have published a guide called Salam al catalá which aims to bring the Catalan culture to the Muslims. Thus, they want to “show the bonds that historically have existed between both realities, and bring the country’s language to the Arabic-speaking Muslim population.”

The guide, published by the Directorate General of Religious Affairs, use “graphic and understandable” aspects of the Catalan language. For its part, the spokesman of the Islamic Council, Mohammed Halhoul, indicates that the Catalan “can open new horizons” to Muslims.

Egypt: Islamic fundamentalism rising, government suspends 12 TV channels

Egypt’s state-owned Nilesat has temporarily suspended 12 television channels for promoting religion hatred, violence and quack medicine, the information minister said on Tuesday. “This decision was taken after extensive study that indicated a near doubling of these channels over the past year and a recent spike of extremist religious discourse,” Anas Al-Feki said in a statement.

“Among the most egregious of these violations are repeated broadcast calls by extremist presenters for the excommunication, banishment and murder of Shiites and the promotion of so-called ‘herbal cures’ for cancer and hepatitis B and C,” he said.

An additional 20 channels were given citations. The move comes after Nilesat dropped five channels it said promoted religious intolerance.

Upcoming elections in November are contributing to a tense situation in terms of inter-faith relations.

US-based Coptic Solidarity noted an “alarming upsurge of significant anti-Coptic activities over the recent weeks”.

The Coptic rights group is concerned that daring incitements might turn into a wave of generalised violence.

via ISLAM – EGYPT Islamic fundamentalism rising in Egypt, government suspends 12 TV channels – Asia News.

Background:
Egypt: our friend Mubarak.
Al-Azhar’s “Statement to the Nation” reduces Copts to Dhimmi status.

Indonesia: 700 churches attacked in past decade

Some 700 Catholic and Protestant churches have been attacked in Indonesia over the past decade, according to the Indonesian Christian Communication Forum. Between October 12 and October 17, a Catholic parish was attacked, another was threatened with attack, and a Protestant church was burned down.

“The violence and attacks, against Christian churches of all denominations, has grown in recent years and now in the past several days,” said Bishop Johannes Pujasumarta of Bandung, secretary general of the Indonesian bishops’ conference. “Those responsible are small radical Islamic groups that are sowing panic among our people, especially in the Dioceses of Jakarta, Bandung, and Bogor. They are minority groups, but they should be stopped. The violence also increases the indifference of the civil authorities and police, who shrug off the violence. We demand more attention and protection for the Christian communities and that such acts may not remain unpunished.”

3% of the nation’s 224.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; 6% are Protestant and 86% are Muslim, making Indonesia the country with the largest Muslim population.

via Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Indonesia: 700 churches attacked in past decade.

The problem, then, is not that there are radicals (something that happens everywhere) but that the Govt does nothing to stop them.