Report: Iran pays top Afghan Karzai aid, Karzai admits it

One evening last August, as President Hamid Karzai wrapped up an official visit to Iran, his personal plane sat on the airport tarmac, waiting for a late-running passenger: Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan.

The ambassador, Feda Hussein Maliki, finally appeared, taking a seat next to Umar Daudzai, Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff and his most trusted confidant. According to an Afghan official on the plane, Mr. Maliki handed Mr. Daudzai a large plastic bag bulging with packets of euro bills. A second Afghan official confirmed that Mr. Daudzai carried home a large bag of cash.

“This is the Iranian money,” said an Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Many of us noticed this.”

The bag of money is part of a secret, steady stream of Iranian cash intended to buy the loyalty of Mr. Daudzai and promote Iran’s interests in the presidential palace, according to Afghan and Western officials here. Iran uses its influence to help drive a wedge between the Afghans and their American and NATO benefactors, they say.

The payments, which officials say total millions of dollars, form an off-the-books fund that Mr. Daudzai and Mr. Karzai have used to pay Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty, the officials said.

via Iran Is Said to Give Top Karzai Aide Cash by the Bagful – NYTimes.com.

Yesterday, Karzai actually said that they are “very grateful to Iran” and that everyone knew that they were receiving that money. Before that statement the Iranian embassy in Kabul have denied those claims. Liars.

South Korea: Taliban gaining foothold in the country, report says

Who would have thought this could be true:

The South Korean intelligence fears that Taliban members might be working secretly in the country, a local media reported on Friday.Intelligence officials, in collaboration with the Interpol, recently seized a vessel that was carrying strategic weapons to Palestine, Seoul Newspaper said.

The Taliban militants might have targeted South Korea due to its somewhat slack control on strategic weapons, it added.

via Taliban gaining foothold in South Korea: Report.

According to Concepts and Strategies, a man who was arrested when entering the country, said, during an interrogation that he was there to bomb US bases. But the problem is that the man had been entering 17 times during 5 years with a fake passport! They ask some pertinent questions, like if North Korea helped him in any stage of his endeavours.

Iran: Govt forbids universities from offering ‘Western’ subjects

“Expansion of 12 disciplines in the social sciences like law, women’s studies, human rights, management, sociology, philosophy….psychology and political sciences will be reviewed,” said Abolfazl Hassani, from the education ministry.

“These sciences’ contents are based on Western culture. The review will be the intention of making them compatible with Islamic teachings.”

Mr Hassani said Iranian universities will not be allowed to open new departments in these disciplines and the curricula for existing departments would be revised.
Iran’s hard-line rulers accuse the West of trying to harm the Islamic state by influencing the country’s young generation with “decadent” culture.

Pointing to the enrolment of some two million out of a total of 3.5 million university students in the humanities, Iran’s most powerful figure Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called in August for modification of these studies.

“Many disciplines in the humanities are based on principles founded on materialism disbelieving the divine Islamic teachings,” Mr Khamenei said.

“Thus such teachings will lead to the dissemination of doubt in the foundations of religious teachings.”

Access to the internet and illegal satellite television mean Western popular culture is king among young Iranians, a vital constituency in a country where 70 per cent of the population is under 30 and has no real memory of the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed Shah.

via Iran to forbid universities from offering ‘Western’ subjects – Telegraph.

It seems Iranian Govt doesn’t know anything besides “forbidding”.

Iran: Bolivian President Evo Morales on trade visit to “boost trade ties”

And, not surprisingly, after Chávez’s, Evo Morales also visits Iran:

Bolivian President Evo Morales planned talks Monday in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to boost trade ties, state media reported.
Morales, who arrived on Sunday night, is to discuss an earlier agreement on projects worth 1.1 billion dollars over the next five years, and another 287-million-dollar investment by Iran in Bolivia.
Morales’ second visit to Iran in two years was scheduled to last three days, the news network Press TV reported.
Iran plans to invest in Bolivia’s industrial, agricultural and housing sectors, including a cement factory built with Iranian and Venezuelan financial aid.
President Ahmadinejad has in recent years boosted Iran’s relations with leftist Latin American administrations in Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

via Bolivian President Evo Morales on trade visit to Iran | Earth Times News.

Background:
Bolivia-Iran relations: “I fund your hospital, your nurses don the hijab”.

Some notes on Wikileaks documents

First thing, a war is a war. It’s not a very loving and caring thing to do, specially when the other “team” is using children, women or elderly people, as spies or as suicide bombers. Or even persons whose intelligence level is disputable or who have psychiatric problems. In every war, since the beginning of mankind there have been episodes which any sane person would find disgusting if he had been told about them.

That said, and considering the insistence on Human Rights abuses on the Iraqi war (someone caring to see how many times Saudi Human Rights abuses in peaceful time are on newspapers and magazines’ main pages? Oh, no, please, these guys have oil!!), there are other things I would like to point out:

1. Firstly, the immediate consequences for Iraqi PM could be devastating. “There has been no evidence found in the documents that Mr. Maliki was aware of the grisly acts of torture and beatings. However, the timing of the documents’ release comes just as his Shiite bloc, known as State of Law, has made gains in securing the majority of parliamentary seats needed to form a new government“. Now, his opponents, Mr. Allawi and Haider Mulla, both want an investigation on the leaked documents, specially about some illegal detentions. Well, accountability is natural in any democracy, although let’s hope Islamist terrorists don’t profit from this information. As they are brutal by nature, they don’t care about publicity or accusations. Something which obviously make themselves a little different from “peaceful” politicians.
2. Secondly, the Iraqi WMD: there is an article in Wired (found) that speaks about how Wikileaks warlogs prove their existence: “WikiLeaks’ newly-released Iraq war documents reveal, U.S. troops continued to find chemical weapons labs, encounter insurgent specialists in toxins, and uncover weapons of mass destruction“. Of course, we have to wonder why these warlogs weren’t published to show their existence, something which would have ended a lot of speculations and ferocious critics on the subject.
3. And thirdly, the participation of Iran and Syria in the Iraqi war, supporting the so-called “insurgence“, is clear considering the content of the documents. Most of the people are speaking about Iran, that “provided paramilitary training to Shiite Muslim insurgents“, something not specially striking if we consider the good relationship between Al-Sadr, the Iraqi cleric in “charge” of the Mahdi militia, and Iranian Govt, among other data. But there were smuggling operations from Iraq to Syria documented in those documents, with Syrian guards’ support. But not only smuggled things were passing through the Syrian-Iraqi borders: “The WikiLeaks documents describe hundreds of “foreign fighters”, including dozens of Syrian citizens, using the country’s remote eastern desert as a transit point into Iraq. In June 2005, Iraqi border police engaged a group of men who crossed the border illegally to recover a disabled vehicle – which was “believed to be used in smuggling [operations].” The police came under fire – not from the men recovering the vehicle, but from Syrian border guards“.

I mention that “smuggling operations” because there were satellite photos that allegedly proved that Iraqi WMD had been smuggled to Syria. Will Wikileaks’ released documents provide more evidence about that claim?

UK: IFE supported Rahman Luftur wins on Tower Hamlets (III)

Livingstone might benefit from Rahman’s victory, as it has allowed him to resuscitate his ‘Red Ken the insurgent’ pose – and you can’t get much more cynically subversive than this latest stunt. Questions will and should be asked of his close association with an ally of the Islamic Forum for Europe, to say nothing of Rahman’s alleged campaign irregularities. Logically this should damage Livingstone, but the areas from where he will draw his support are not really like Tonbridge Wells. 

via The Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets | The Spectator.

The author is referring himself to the support “Red Ken” gave to Rahman before the elections. The question now is, if that support (after the Labour candidate, Red Ken recommended to vote for Lutfur so the Tories couldn’t win) could cause his expulsion from the party (don’t think that will happen). It also opens the question about what party in that case, would Red Ken choose to support.

Meanwhile, Labour will embark in an enquiry about what has happened (isn’t it obvious?) and Ed Milliband continues to be silent on the issue, despite being questioned on the issue.

(Gee. I love that cartoon ).

Background:
UK: Islamist organization receives funds secretly.
UK: Charity praised by PM and Prince Charles, linked to Hamas.
IFE supported Ratman Lutfur wins on Tower Hamlets: 1, 2.

Sweden: police detain Turkish man wanted by Belgium on suspicion of terrorism

Swedish police say they have detained a Turkish man wanted in Belgium on suspicion of terrorism.

Security police spokesman Patrik Peter says the man was arrested at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport on Friday after arriving on a plane from Syria.

It is unclear if the man planned to stay in Sweden or had tickets to continue his journey to another destination.

Peter said on Sunday that Belgium issued a European arrest warrant for the man several months ago, amid suspicions of terrorism and other crimes, but declined to give any more details and did not identify the suspect.

A Swedish court has up to 30 days to decide if the man, who is in his 30s, should be extradited to Belgium.

via The Canadian Press: Swedish police detain Turkish man wanted by Belgium on suspicion of terrorism.

UK: Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth converts to Islam after ‘holy experience’ in Iran

I sincerely hope her “holy experience” wasn’t with Ahmadinejad… Now, seriously, I really can’t take this woman very seriously:

Tony Blair’s sister-in-law has converted to Islam after having a ‘holy experience’ in Iran.

Broadcaster and journalist Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair’s half-sister – said she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.

She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.

‘It was a Tuesday evening and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy,’ she told The Mail on Sunday.

When she returned to Britain, she decided to convert immediately.

‘Now I don’t eat pork and I read the Koran every day. I’m on page 60. I also haven’t had a drink in 45 days, the longest period in 25 years,’ she said.

‘The strange thing is that since I decided to convert I haven’t wanted to touch alcohol, and I was someone who craved a glass of wine or two at the end of a day.’

Refusing to discount the possibility that she might wear a burka, she said: ‘Who knows where my spiritual journey will take me?

Source.

So this woman converts to a religion and haven’t read its “holy” book on its entirety. How can she tell then that she agrees with it?

And then, she refuses to deny the possibility of wearing a burqa. Poor daughters.

Iran: Multiple Reports of Secret Group Executions in Vakilabad Prison

Iran’s Judiciary should immediately institute a moratorium on all executions at Vakilabad Prison in Mashad and provide a transparent response to allegations of excessive numbers of executions at the facility, said the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today.

The Campaign continues to receive credible reports from former Vakilabad prisoners about repeated, unannounced group executions of inmates. Reliable sources indicate that numerous executions have taken place inside Vakilabad over the last year and more than 600 inmates remain on death row.

Authorities reportedly executed ten inmates in Vakilabad as recently as Tuesday, 12 October. The numbers of executions publicly announced by the authorities are considerably lower than the actual numbers. Amnesty International reports that at least 388 executions took place in Iran in 2009.

“These reports of Mashad executions indicate that Iran is executing even more people–dramatically more– than now estimated,” said Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign.

“Especially given the Iranian government’s lack of transparency concerning executions, the Judiciary needs to provide a full account of what is happening inside Vakilabad’s death row,” he added.

Source.

Nonetheless, despite this or other facts coming from Iran lately, like chopping robbers’ hands, arresting or expelling journalists who don’t agree with their sick theology, jailing filmmakers, bloggers and Human Rights activists and sentencing Muslims who convert to other religion to death, they are going to sponsor a conference about “Human Rights in the US“.

Certainly, they are not the more appropriate people to speak about any other country’s record of Human Rights. Anyway, would they dare to speak about Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Sudan’s Human Rights? I guess not.

The reason is clear: condemning US while Iranian record of Human Rights’abuses increases every day.

Opinion: Is Sarkozy ready to declare multiculturalism dead?

Is Nicolas Sarkozy ready to repeat the words of Angela Merkel on Saturday in front of the young Christian Democrats? The finding of a failure of multicultural system, according to the the Chancellor, is identical to that observed in France and throughout Europe and described in this blog regularly. “Multiculturalism has failed, absolutely failed,” Merkel agreed, driven by a view that is in the process of radicalization vis-à-vis immigration and especially of Islam. “We feel bound to Christian values. Whoever does not accept that has no place here,” she said. “We do not need an immigration burden on our social system,” she said, finding that training for the unemployed should take precedence over the recruitment of immigrant workers. She nevertheless considers it necessary to skilled immigration, adding that “Islam is part of Germany.”

Italy’s MP Fiamma Nirenstein:”Islam Does Not Like Christians”

Jewish Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein (pictured) was reconfirmed this week as Vice President of Italy’s Foreign Affairs Committee. In addition, she was also appointed an official consultant on Israel and the international Jewish communities by Italian Foreign Minister Frattini.

Earlier this week, Nirenstein commented on Christian leaders who criticize Israel yet ignore violence by Arabs. She pointed out that “Islam does not like Eastern Christians: it has forced them to flee and now they account for only 6% of the population in the Mideast“, and added that the only country where the number of Christians has grown is Israel, where 163,000 Christians live today, a number which is expected to grow to 187,000 by the year 2020. “In Muslim countries, on the other hand, Christians are on the wane, but the 50 churches present in the Holy Land seem not to notice. They prefer to dump on Israel, where they enjoy full freedom of worship and expression,” said Nirenstein.

via Italy’s MP Fiamma Nirenstein:”Islam Does Not Like Christians” – Politics & Gov’t – Israel News – Israel National News.

She is right: just listen to the Christians from those countries and it’s clear as water (1, 2, 3). It’s really shameful that there are so many “Christians” who spend so many time critizising the “Jooooossssss” instead of searching for viable solutions for the present “unhealthy situation“.

U.N.: Vote on ‘Religious Defamation’ Resolution to be held in December

For the sixth year in a row, the U.N. General Assembly will vote in December on a resolution presented by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that calls on governments to act against “religious defamation.”

Similar resolutions have been passed every year since 1999 by the U.N.’s main human rights body. However, in both the UNGA and the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the resolutions have drawn declining support in recent years.

Last December’s UNGA vote passed by 80-61, with 42 countries abstaining. The 19 vote margin was the smallest number yet; margins in the four previous years’ votes had ranged from 33 to 57.

Over the past five years, only seven countries have changed their position to “no.” The rest of the difference has been the result of non-Muslim developing countries shifting from supporting the measure, to abstaining.

Those who oppose the resolution, including religious freedom, freedom of expression, legal and humanist advocacy groups, believe that this trend will continue until the OIC measure fails altogether.

But the OIC is hoping that incidents over the past year, especially the Quran-burning and “Ground Zero mosque” episodes in the U.S. and the Swiss ban on the building of minarets, will help to rally supporters.

Although the OIC resolutions profess to cover all religions, only Islam and Muslims are cited by name. Last year’s text expressed concern that “Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism” and referred also to the “ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities.”

While the resolutions themselves are non-binding, they open the door for the OIC’s attempts to amend the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which is legally binding.

Christian ministries working among persecuted religious minorities are ramping up their lobbying of governments that have voted for the resolution or abstained in the past, and are calling for public support.

via Christian Web News – cwnewz.com – U.N. to Vote on ‘Religious Defamation’ Resolution.

Open Doors USA has launched an advocacy campaign against this UN Resolution, on the basis that it’s against freedom of religion.

Afghanistan: Taliban Attack Main UN Compound in Herat Dressed in Burqas

Reuters reports that four Taliban suicide bombers dressed as women and police attacke the main UN compound in Herat, in Western Afghanistan. Herat is the largest city in the area with a population of 3 million.

Herat is a commercial hub and violence by the Taliban and Islamist is usually less active. Herat is under control of the Italian NATO contingent.

There were no UN casualties. The attack was initiated with a car bomb at the gate and two suicide bombers blowing themselves up. The fourth insurgent was shot inside the compound before he could blow up his suicide vest.

“The incident is over and there are no U.N. casualties,” said Kieran Dwyer, chief U.N. spokesman in Kabul. The interesting fact in this attack is that the insurgents were dressed in all encompassing burqas. Others were in police uniforms.

Iran: Robber has his hand chopped after “allegedly committing 4 robberies”

An Iranian man convicted of theft had his hand chopped off in front of other prisoners in the Yazd province central prison, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported Sunday.

The sentence was carried out against 32-year-old “M“, whose full name was not revealed, after allegedly committing four robberies.

It is not clear whether this man is the same man dubbed the “chocolate thief” by some media outlets after he was sentenced to lose his hand for robbing a sweets shop. The punishment of hand amputation, while uncommon, is not unheard of, and has already been carried out at least once this year.

The sentence is usually given to repeat offenders. M’s sentence was upheld by the state supreme court after the judiciary’s amnesty committee rejected his appeal. News reports said the punishment was carried out in accordance with Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.

via IRAN: Man convicted of theft loses hand | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times.

Russia: Moscow Officials Decide Not To Build Mosque In Park

This is an update on this story:

Moscow’s Southeastern District has decided not to build a new mosque in a park after numerous complaints by local residents concerned about the potential increase in traffic and loss of green space, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.

“We have looked through the petitions sent by residents and came to the conclusion that there’s a possibility to relocate the [location of the planned] mosque,” Maria Yermakova, spokeswoman for Moscow’s Southeastern District, told RFE/RL. “There’s still no information about how and when — a final decision about the construction of the mosque will be made following public hearings.”

Yermakova said the decision on a new location for the mosque has been returned to the Moscow city administration for review, which includes the mayor’s office.

via Moscow Officials Decide Not To Build Mosque In Park – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010.

Report: US didn’t support Canada for UNSC

A former official with the U.S. delegation to the U.N. revealed recently a major reason why Canada lost its bid last week to gain a seat on the Security Council. Richard Grenell, a former press officer, said the American delegation deliberately sat on its hands during the run up to the vote that ended in a defeat for a staunch ally of Israel and America’s closest neighbour.

“U.S. State Department insiders say that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice not only didn’t campaign for Canada’s election but instructed American diplomats to not get involved in the weeks leading up to the heated contest,” Grenell reported on a Foxnews website.

If true, this would be just another manifestation of the Obama administration’s anti-Israel bias. The Canadian Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is known as Israel’s staunchest ally in the West and, as a strong, unabashed ally of the Jewish state, the Harper government has steadfastly refused to “water down” its foreign policy just to please the U.N.’s anti-Israeli petty dictators and tyrants and to win the seat. To prove its commitment to its principled stance, on the day before last week’s vote Canada announced it was strengthening its trading relationship with Israel.

via Abandoning our Closest Allies | FrontPage Magazine.

Then US will protest about other countries abandoning them…

Kuwait: “I understand European governments that ban the use of niqab”, Sheikh wife says

”I understand European governments that ban the use of the niqab [the veil that covers the whole of the face] or that want to introduce rules forbidding its use. The integral veil is unacceptable and is not even a religious precept”. These are the comments of the Kuwaiti female Sheikh Hussah Sabah Salem al-Sabah, who is currently in Milan for the launch of the ”Al Fann, the art of Islamic civilisation” exhibition, which is being held at Palazzo Reale until January 30.

”If a woman wants to cover her head with a hijab, she is free to do so. But the niqab is unacceptable. There is not a passage of the Koran in which it is written that a woman must cover her face,” the Sheikh told ANSAmed. It is, she says, ”religious fanaticism that has nothing to do with Islam”.

In response to a question on the sad story of Sakineh, the Iranian woman accused of killing her husband and sentenced to death by stoning, Sheikh al Sabah said that ”before being able to resolve a problem as big as stoning, we must remedy the issue of the veil”.

The wife of the Kuwaiti Prime Minister maintains that it is possible to ban the niqab by law. Indeed, it is the right thing to do. ”It is a question of national security. We must know who is behind the veil”. There then follows an equally important issue: communication between human beings. With a symbolic gesture, taking a sheet of paper and placing it in front of her face, Sheikh Hussah asks ”how can we communicate if in front of me there is a wall that separates us?”.

via ISLAM: KUWAIT SHEIKH, INTEGRAL VEIL IS UNACCEPTABLE – Lombardia – ANSAMED.info.

Syria has also banned both niqab and burqa at Universities.

Is anyone going to call this woman racist too?

US: New Dept. of Homeland Security Advisor is an Islamist

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s appointment of “de-radicalization” expert Mohamed Elibiary (pitured) to the Homeland Security Advisory Council earlier this month has thus far drawn little attention from Congress or the media, despite his record of criticizing successful terrorism prosecutions and praising Islamist ideologue Sayyid Qutb.

Elibiary recommended the writings of Qutb, who is credited with inspiring the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups like al Qaida and Hamas, as offering “the potential for a strong spiritual rebirth that’s truly ecumenical allowing all faiths practiced in America to enrich us and motivate us to serve God better by serving our fellow man more.”

Elibiary also criticized the indictment and subsequent convictions of the Holy Land Foundation and five former officials for providing more than $12 million to Hamas, depicting the case as a defeat for the United States. He suggested that the convictions were part of a U.S. government policy of “denying our civil liberties and privacy at home” while pursuing anti-terror policies that have “left thousands of Americans dead, tens of thousands maimed, trillions of taxpayer dollars squandered and our homeland more vulnerable than ever.”

… Elibiary, president and CEO of the Freedom and Justice Foundation, has also come under fire for allegedly threatening a Dallas Morning News columnist and speaking at a December 2004 conference in Dallas paying tribute to the Ayatollah Khomeini.

via New Dept. of Homeland Security Advisor is an Islamist.

Are they trying to “radicalize” or to “de-radicalize” Muslims?

UN Anniversary: “No more seats for oil”

UK:IFE supported Rahman Luftur wins on Tower Hamlets (II)

Rahman garnered 23,283 votes, as opposed to the 11,254 ballots picked up by Abbas. Another 1,700 votes were discounted as invalid; 10,448 others went to three other candidates, including 5, 348 votes that went to the Conservative Party, which vowed to become “the largest opposition party”.

Replaced by Abbas as the Labor Party’s candidate due to allegations of extremism, Rahman activists”heckled women on their way to the polls for their “immodest dress,”no doubt scaring many away from voting“, charged British blogger David Thomas in a column written for Cherwell.

“I won the vote of the membership,” insisted Rahman, who claimed he was the victim of a racist effort by the Labor party, despite a number of anti-Semitic remarks made by his own associates. “The imposition of Councilor Abbas in my place is an insult to the democratic process,” he told The Telegraph in an interview prior to the election.

“This is a sad night for those of us who want to build a better future and a united Tower Hamlets,” Abbas commented after the results were announced. Still, “as the party with the largest number of councilors (lawmakers) at Tower Hamlets Town Hall“, Abbas vowed to “hold the new Mayor to account and to stand up for all the communities of Tower Hamlets, not just one.”

via Britain Elects Islamic Mayor, Marks Increasing Muslim Influence – Defense/Middle East – Israel News – Israel National News.

A very predictable result: the Labour party did nothing to stop what was evidently happening there, until it was too late. So in the end, it really didn’t make any difference. Now, the IFE, which wants to implement Sharia Law, the Caliphate and so on, will have access to even more funds from the borough.

Background:
UK: Islamist organization receives funds secretly.
UK: Charity praised by PM and Prince Charles, linked to Hamas.
IFE supported Rahman Lufter wins on Tower Hamlets.