T&P wants to wish you a truly Merry Christmas with one of the best animated films related with it: A Christmas Carol by Disney:

BE HAPPY! THE LORD HAS BORN!

Baby Jesus

Peace, Love and Freedom to all!

(Post sticked to the front page. For more updates, scroll down the page).

For the BBC, both are “rebels”…

Two of Colombia’s biggest rebel groups have announced they intend to unite to fight the country’s security forces.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) said they were “on our way towards working for unity”.

Farc and the smaller ELN have deep ideological differences and have fought each other in some regions.

Together they could be a significantly greater danger to the state, says the BBC’s Jeremy McDermott.

The surprise announcement was made on a website known for its links with the Farc.

“Our only enemy is North American Imperialism and its oligarchic lackeys,” the statement said, a reference to the US which supplies aid and training to the Colombian security forces.

via BBC News – Colombia rebel groups Farc and ELN agree ‘to unite’.

Yesterday, the corpse of Governor Luis Francisco Cuéllar was found beheaded by FARC. Uribe said “he was beheaded miserably”. But, of course, for BBC they are just “rebels”. It’s absolutely disgusting.

A Widow's Black burqa

Prominent religious leaders say social habit of wearing niqabs has no roots in Islamic law. ‘Any girl is free to wear the niqab as long as she understands that when asked to reveal her face she should do so accordingly,’ sheikh says…. Egypt’s three most prominent religious leaders have backed a government ban on the niqab, or full face veil, in dormitories and examinations, saying it had no basis in Islam.

…More than 13 religious scholars have found that the face veil has no substantial roots in Islam, but rather can be considered a “form of extremism”, the official MENA news agency cited Tantawi as saying.

via Curb on veil in Egypt backed by Islamic clerics – Israel News, Ynetnews.

I wonder if this is linked to the proposition made by Sarkozy’s UMP of banning the full veil in France…

There were cries including “Death to the Dictator” in displays of anger against Iran’s ruling establishment and, what’s more important, huge crowds mourning the opposition’s cleric and Basij thugs:

forced to cancel the post-funeral sacrament as the Islamic regime’s forces had invaded the A’zam mosque where the observance was to be held. Saeed Montazeri also added that the Montazeri residence has now been surrounded by various revolutionary guards, members of the Basij, intelligence agents, members of special force, etc.

The Iranian Govt has a really rare way of showing respect to the cleric who was once elected to be Ayatolah’s Khomeini’s heir.

Yesterday, the reformist website Norooznews.ir, has reported that:

Around 1,000 members of Iran’s Basij Islamic militia attacked offices of pro-reform cleric Grand Ayatollah Yusuf Sanei in the central shrine city of Qom, a reformist website reported on Tuesday.

Canadian-Iranian blogger Winston considers that:

The western governments’ concern about nuclear weapons in the hands of the current rapist regime in Tehran is truly understandable but there is no chance to disarm this regime by talking to them. It’s imperative that the current regime be prevented from having any nuclear weapons capability for the sake of international peace and safety. A brutal regime that doesn’t have mercy on its own people, can not be trusted with weapons of mass murder.

Sensible theory. BUt how on earth do we know that the present movement is not just a quarrel over Islamic factions within Iran? In the end, Moussavi is not really a supporter of democracy, he is just not a supporter of Ahmadinejad, but is not opposed to Islamic regime, as far as I know. I believe Western countries do consider the potential of an Iranian democracy’s influence in the Middle East, but they don’t see any real movement for democracy, just one against Ahmadinejad. Of course, I can be mistaken… it’s just a view from outside Iran.

Related: Ahmadinejad bullies the West, unrest grows in Iran @ The Washington Post.

According to analysts from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR), one intercepted communication, originating in North Africa, calls for “all the jihadist groups in Palestine to come out against the Egyptian forces on the border with Gaza, because they are trying lately to isolate Gaza from the rest of the world, and especially to build a steel 11-kilometer fence. …We invite all the jihadist groups in Gaza to use all possible methods against the Egyptian army, from sniper action from afar to firing RPGs.”

The jihadist claims that the fence Egypt is building between Gaza and Egypt is being constructed with Israeli funds and American support.

The planned fence is meant to cut down on above-ground smuggling and illegal migration between Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai. The fence will likely have little to no impact on the network of terrorist weapons smuggling tunnels operating freely between Egypt and Hamas-controlled Gaza. Another, below-ground-obstacle is reportedly being planned for hindering the digging of tunnels.

via Jihadists Call for Attacks Over Egyptian Security Fence – Defense/Middle East – Israel News – Israel National News.

I don’t see the same protests against this fence than those against Israeli fence. But are there any differences between then?

An update on this story:

The German sign, which reads “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”), was stolen from Auschwitz on Friday. Five male suspects were detained early on Monday, when the sign was also recovered by Polish authorities.Several Polish media sources cited involvement of a Swedish citizen, who reportedly offered the thieves between €10,000 and €30,000 to commit the crime, Aftonbladet reports.

It is unknown whether or not the Swede in question has been identified and if he or she will be arrested. There have been several media reports indicating that the sign was to be transported to Sweden.

via Swedish collector behind Auschwitz theft: reports – The Local. via BNI.

What kind of lunatic wants to buy a sign like this?

Barakat, a professor of political science at Yarmouk University, explained that the study asked party leaders to comment on the Kingdom’s present human rights situation, which only one party described as “very good”, while 10 parties called it “good” and four parties said it was “very bad”.

Barakat said the study classified human rights into four sub-categories: equality; civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and any relevant articles in the parties’ charters concerned with human rights in general.

The 102-page study showed that Islamic parties’ charters made the least mention of equality, accounting for only 13.64 per cent of all references to equality in party charters. In comparison, moderate parties accounted for 33.64 per cent of such references.

According to the study, which was compiled through direct questionnaires and interviews with the founders of each party, Islamic parties’ charters focus more heavily on socio-economic, cultural, civil and political rights, as well as on power sharing.

All parties’ charters call for freedom of expression, the study noted, while 13 out of 15, or all except one Islamist and one nationalist party, mention the right to a fair trial.

Barakat explained that the founding documents of leftist and Islamic parties do not include any references to the right to life, freedom of movement or freedom from torture and cruel treatment, whereas moderate and nationalist parties stress these rights in their agendas.

via Jordan Times.

I don’t think that anyone is surprised by this fact.

Hundreds of British schoolgirls are facing the terrifying prospect of female genital mutilation (FGM) over the Christmas holidays as experts warn the practice continues to flourish across the country. Parents typically take their daughters back to their country of origin for FGM during school holidays, but The Independent on Sunday has been told that “cutters” are being flown to the UK to carry out the mutilation at “parties” involving up to 20 girls to save money.

The police face growing criticism for failing to prosecute a single person for carrying out FGM in 25 years; new legislation from 2003 which prohibits taking a girl overseas for FGM has also failed to secure a conviction.

Experts say the lack of convictions, combined with the Government’s failure to invest enough money in education and prevention strategies, mean the practice continues to thrive. Knowledge of the health risks and of the legislation remains patchy among practising communities, while beliefs about the supposed benefits for girls remain firm, according to research by the Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development (Forward).

via Hot Air » Blog Archive » A Christmas story: wave of genital mutilation in the UK?. and The Other McCain.

This is not the first time there are alerts about the FGM’s numbers on UK. But I don’t think the police is the only culprit here. Normally, families are not going to tell anyone an operation like this has been carried out. And this operation can hardly be seen from the outside. An operation which is not normally carried out by doctors, but by “cutters” who are ordinally foreign. So, this is much harder than it seems.

But another measures should be enacted, specially against their parents. This is an operation which is carried our because their parents want. And a parent who gives permission to this kind operation, who lets his/her daughter be hurt this way, should lose any potestas over them.

Tipes of genital mutilation (or cliteridectomy) @ The Female Genital Mutilation Education and Networking Project.

And they say that both offices will be headed by women:

The Revival and Union Party (PRUNE, Spanish acronym), a political platform linked to Islam, will probably open its offices in all national territory before 2011 local elections. In January, it will open those of Madrid and Barcelona, with women as directors.

As of today, PRUNE only has representation in Granada and Asturias, the only two provinces in which there is already an office. But the organizers hope to open a lot more before 2011 local elections.

The next openings will be in Madrid and Barcelona, where there is already the necessary infrastructure. The actual day is not known yet, but it’s clear it will be on Jan. 2010.

El Confidencial Digital has known that those two offices will have women as directors. A main fact of the “openness” of PRUNE, as there is the popular belief that in Islam the men are the “bosses” (¿this is a belief or a fact!).
The party has been accused by several organizations of being a puppet of other Government’s interests -mainly Moroccan’s-, an statesment which has been denied by PRUNE: “We don’t belong to any Government nor are we anybody’s puppet“, says Mostafa Bakkach, party’s official speaker.

“We obey and respect deeply the Spanish Constitution, being our main objective the wellbeing of our country, Spain”, tells Bakkach, to this newspaper. The PRUNE wants to represent both Muslims and immigrants who live in Spain, “whatever they are Latins, Arabs, Asians, Africans or Europeans“.

In fact, the party’s structure is divided in etchnical areas focused to each minority. Each area will be headed by 5 people of each minority -ie. Senegalese-, who will analyse the social problems confronted by any group.

via El Confidencial Digital – Artículo – El PRUNE, partido político de inspiración islámica, se propone abrir en enero sus sedes en Barcelona y Madrid encabezadas por mujeres.

20minutos.es adds:

Although it’s not probable they win any town hall by now, the speaker of this party has stated that what’s really important is to listen to the minorities’ voices in the different town halls, although he is sure that in the future some of its supporters will reach important positions.

Among other aims, PRUNE wants to reach to the higest levels of participation of the Spanish citizenship in all areas of political decisions or to promote polices aimed at developing principles such as justice, equality, solidarity and freedom “without any other limitations than those that are natural” (Blablabla).

We’ll see when they present their actual political program. But no nationals, only minorities, and being not focused on nationals except if they are Muslims, are not really enchanting ideas.

From ABC News The Blotter thanks to Blasfémias. And of course, they are blaming US for the killing of civilians in the area (from Al-Jazeera aka Death to America! TV):

It is interesting to note though, that Yemen’s Govt has been doing regular attacks on Yemeni civilians, even with white prosphorus and no one in the international community has ever complained. Even when there were claims of Saudi Arabia using it on Yemen, there were no protests. It seems that people only complain when US or Israel are involved. Before there were only Muslims fighting, so if they do terrible things that is their problem, isn’t it? Specially in a country like Yemen, which nobody is interested in.

Finally, 4 AQ terrorists who were thought killed in strike, were found last Saturday in a hospital. About 30 AQ terrorists were killed and another 17 were arrested.

Ideal.es

(Translation T&P):

The Alicante-Almería-Granada axis is one of the main AQ’s logistical and recruitment basis in Spain. The evidence for that asessment is based on an official document from the National Court: the indictment against an alleged GSPC (now AQ in the Islamic Maghreb), broken up by Civil Guard nearly 4 years ago.

The public accusation considers that this alleged cell of terrorists wanted to “obtain materials to build explosive devices to commite terrorist attacks in the future”. More specifically, they consider as a reasonable possibility that they wanted to blew up El Corte Inglés department of store, located on Princesa St. on Spanish capital, Madrid. The prosecutor bases her accusations in some statements made by a protected witness, identified as A-1 in the indicment and who lives in Granada: “Bakel told me they had 100 kilos of explosive but needed more because they wanted to do a job” in the mentioned department store.

According to the Prosecution, this cell wanted A-1 to obtain explosives from two Granada residents, “Tito” and “Emilio”, who “had links with quarries in the area”. But they didn’t agree on the conditions and the alleged terrorists went back to explore “new contacts”. But on Nov 23rd, Civil Guard arrested 12 people, within the “Operación Gamo”. Of those 12, 7 has been freed, 2 of them being Granada residents. The prosecutor is asking now for 7-year prison terms for each one of the 5 indicted defendants.

And once again we have AQIM related to “jobs” in Spain, something not surprising considering this country as a basis for funding and recruitment. And yet they are speaking about Islamists’ imprisoned in Spain in connection to Spanish kidnapped by their own group in Mauritania.

There is no honor in killing

An Iraqi immigrant accused of slaying his daughter in an “honor killing” has been charged with first-degree murder and could face the death penalty, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Monday.Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, of Glendale, is accused of using his Jeep Cherokee to run over his daughter, 20-year-old Noor Almaleki, and another woman in a Peoria parking lot on Oct. 20. His daughter died of her injuries.

Almaleki was reportedly furious with his daughter for becoming “too Westernized,” police said.

… At Almaleki’s initial court appearance on Oct. 31, county prosecutor Stephanie Low said he admitted deliberately running down his daughter.

“By his own admission, this was an intentional act, and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family,” Low said. “This was an attempt at an honor killing.”

via Man charged with murder in ‘honor killing’.

Apparently, the girl had married in Iraq, but came back with another man. The father also tried to kill the lover.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, of Glendale, accused of running over his daughter, Noor Almaleki.

PS: I invite everyone of you, hating this “tradition” to join facebook’s group “NO HONOR IN KILLING“, from where I have taken the illustration above.

Photo @ azcentral.com.

Five American Muslim youth arrested by Pakistani authorities on suspicion of terror links have shown no remorse about their plans to commit terrorist acts and one has even said they should be hanged so that they could become martyrs, a senior police official said today.

“They have no remorse about their plans to commit terror acts. Rather, they regret that they could not lay their lives while also killing some ‘US imperialists’,” said Usman Anwar, the police chief of Sargodha district where the youth were arrested earlier this month.

Anwar quoted Ramy Zamzam, 22, one of the arrested youth, as saying, “Since our plan to embrace ’shahadat’ (martyrdom) could not materialise, we want to become martyrs in another way. Hang us.”

The other four youths did not disagree with Zamzam in this regard, said Anwar, who is part of the joint investigation team that is interrogating the youths in Lahore

via Arrested Americans show no remorse about their terror plans – dnaindia.com. Thanks to Free Republic.

And yet, CAIR has warned not to prosecute them as that “would alienate US Muslims”:

As U.S. officials consider whether to file criminal charges against the men and how aggressively to prosecute any potential case, some Muslim leaders are calling for leniency, saying the tough approach often used by the Bush administration would alienate a community whose relationship with law enforcement is uneasy.”Charging them and throwing them in jail is not the solution,” said Nihad Awad, national head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which approached the FBI on behalf of the families. “The government has to show some appreciation for the actions of the parents and the community. That will encourage other families to come forward.”

Their fathers.. hmm:

One of their fathers was also detained when police raided two locations this week in Sargodha, a city on the main road to the Afghan border region that is home to a major air force base and is known as a hotbed of militant activity.

… Javed Islam, a regional police chief in Pakistan, said the men wanted to join Islamist militants in the country’s tribal area before crossing into Afghanistan and said they met with a banned organization, Jaish-e-Mohammed in Hyderabad, and with representatives of a related group, Jamat-ud-Dawa (that is, Lashkar-e-Taiba, terrorist group responsible for Mumbai 2008 terrorist attacks), in Lahore.

“They were asking to be recruited, trained and sent on jihad,” Islam said.

…The men used the social networking site Facebook and the Internet video site YouTube to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan, said S.M. Imran Gardezi, the press minister at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. When they arrived in Pakistan, they took that effort to the street.

…Farooq’s father, Khalid Farooq, also was detained. Pakistan police officials say the elder Farooq had a computer business in Virginia and shuttled between the United States and Pakistan. Investigators are trying to establish what role if any he played in the men’s alleged activities, officials said.

The detained U.S. nationals admitted that Khalid Farooq brought them to Pakistan with a promise to help them hold meetings with Pakistani militant leaders, a U.S. intelligence official told NBC News.

A good example, hein? Despite the abscence of news about the other parents, it’s telling that Niqad Awad has mentioned the “parents”, while not referring to this father.

The South African Communist Party SACP gave its highest award, the Chris Hani Peace Prize, to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this week in recognition of Chavez’s leadership in the worldwide struggle against imperialism and for socialism.

Chavez was chosen to receive the award because he is “a principal fighter in the anti-imperialist struggle, the Bolivarian Revolution, and for his commitment to the struggle for the peace, solidarity, and socialism of the working class,” said SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande.

via South African Communist Party Gives Peace Prize to Venezuelan President | venezuelanalysis.com.

It’s telling they give Chávez a “Peace Price” award, while there’s no award for Chinese dissident Liu Xiao Bo, nor to FARC’s victims.

Mumbai terrorists caught in video surveillance (2008)

Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital.

In a briefing in the City of London 12 days ago, a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Mumbai is coming to London.”

The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”.

The warning — the bluntest issued by police — has underlined an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year.

via Police expect Mumbai-style terror attack on City of London – Times Online.

Let’s hope they don’t have this kind of plans for London 2012.

Mumbai terrorist attacks @ Wikipedia.

One of Germany’s most senior Catholic leaders, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, criticized on Sunday what he described as restrictions on Christians in Islamic nations. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Meisner, who is archbishop of Cologne, charged that this led to “an aversion against Muslims” among Germans.

The often outspoken cleric said he had been campaigning for the past two years for the Church of St Paul in Tarsus, Turkey to be permanently opened for worship by any Christian.

The Turkish government which treats the early medieval church at Paul’s birthplace as a museum granted access to Christian groups from mid 2008 to mid 2009 to use it, but restrictions are back in force.

“It’s a battle that is pointless. And then you get the feeling, this just is not right. And that is one of the reasons for all this aversion towards our Muslim fellow citizens,” Meisner said.

via German Catholic leader criticizes Islamic treatment of Christians : Religion General.

Despite the term (“aversion) which I think is somewhat over the edge (looks as if Europeans had something personal against Muslims), he is right in pointing out the problem: the extreme differences (and absolutely unjusrified ones) between the situation of Muslims in Europe and that of non-Muslims in Islamic countries.

Liu Xiaobo faces 15 years in prison, if convicted

Despite Liu’s trial coming shortly before Christmas, it is sure to receive widespread international attention. Political leaders in Europe and Washington have expressed concern about the case.Liu has been among his country’s best known critics of restrictions on citizens’ rights, and was detained late last year while helping oversee the launch of the “Charter 08″ petition for political change. [Note he was just asking for democracy]

Chinese authorities said last week they had decided to try Liu on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” for publishing essays critical of the ruling Communist Party and for his role in organizing the “Charter 08″ petition.

Liu’s lawyer Shang Baojun said on Sunday that a Beijing court had notified him the dissident would be tried on Wednesday. Shang said he had been notified by telephone and was awaiting formal written notice of the precise time of the trial.

via China to try prominent dissident on Wednesday: lawyer | Reuters.

Photo @ Ansa.it.

The “Arbeit macht frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz in southern Poland has been found (NOTE: it’s better to say it’s been recovered, isn’t it?) in the north and five men have been arrested, police say.

…Five men in their 20s or 30s were detained and were being taken to Krakow for questioning, a police spokeswoman said.

…”From the information we have, none of the five belong to a neo-Nazi group nor hold such ideas,” Andrzej Rokita said of the suspects.

via The “Arbeit macht frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz in southern Poland has been found in the north and five men have been arrested, police say. | eChurchWebsites.

Thanks to RightJuris.com.

Larijani told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Teheran is proud of its “moral” support for Hamas. He also denied that Iran is undermining Egypt’s efforts to reconcile between Hamas and Fatah.

via Iran parliament speaker: Proud of supporting Hamas | Middle East.

Anyone saying that Iran is not responsible for violence on the Middle East? Well, the cat tells it much better than me:

I've had just about enough of your bullshit...

He is not the first to propose this (1, 2), he won’t be the last:

In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guttenberg proposed opening up channels for dialog with certain Taliban groups, but warned of the pitfalls of such a strategy.

Describing his definition of ‘moderate’ Taliban, Guttenberg said “there were differences between the groups in Afghanistan, with some, which radically oppose anything western and whose goal it is to fight our culture, and those which are simply immersed in their own, local culture.” (NOTE: Yep, but for example in Pakistan, people who were not Talibans but who had an ultra-traditional view of Islam, are now turning to help the Talibans).

The defense minister said that he believed “cutting off every form of communication was no longer valid on the whole, although there must be criteria.”

via German defense minister considers dialog with Taliban | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 20.12.2009.

German blog Weblog Sicherheitspolitik writes (Babelfish translation):

Meaningful negotiations are not to be expected at this time, since the insurgent consider them as a sign that they will win anyway. The announcement of the US president to begin retreat in  2011 might have further reduced possible readiness for negotiations before this background. Also the kind of the German discussion over the tanker incident is suitable for waking with the insurgent doubt about whether  Germany poses a threat for them, something which would be necessary for a change of behavior as motivator.The lastingness of possible negotiation’s results besides this agreement will need effectiveness and visibility, but this won’t happen probably as it would give little reason for the insurgent ones to keep these agreements. The Pakistani example shows that agreements with Islamic militants, who are not based on clarified power balances are unstable.

The openly spoken desire for negotiations carries in addition a reduction of potential readiness of the other side to continue the negotiations further since such expressions in the present situation are understood as indications of weakness. Taliban speaker Qari Yusuf Ahmadi evaluated US president’s negotiation offers as a sign of exhaustion on the part of the USA.  Taliban leader Mullah Omar explained already with earlier Karzai’s negotiation offers, that Afghan Government’s readiness to negotiate  is a proof of their weakness.

Zapatero had the troops back from Iraq to (as he said) exclude Spain from AQ’s attacks. 5 years later we have 3 volunteers kidnapped by AQIM which will probably ask to free some Salafist imprisoned “brothers”, condemned on terrorism charges in Spain. After March 11th bombings, AQ left a message saying “we love death more than you love life“:

The West is so terrified of being charged with its old sins of racism, imperialism and colonialism that it makes oppression an automatic prism on the non-Western world, a politeness. But Islamic extremists don’t hate the West because they are oppressed by it. They hate it precisely because the end of oppression and colonialism — not their continuance — forced the Muslim world to compete with the West. Less oppression, not more, opened this world to the sense of defeat that turned into extremism.”

That extremism is, of course, absolutely consubstantial to the violence this people consider as justified, even to their own. Because 85% of the AQ’s total number of victims are.. Muslims.