UK: Islam Channel under investigation for extremist views

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The Office of Communications (Ofcom) took action after an in-depth survey of the programmes on the Islam Channel by the Quilliam Foundation, a moderate Islamic think tank based in London.

After monitoring the output of the satellite channel for three months, the foundation reported: “The gravest concern regarding the Islam Channel is its failure in combating extremism.

“A number of presenters with extremist tendencies were regularly given the opportunity to air their opinions on the network without a challenge from more moderate Islamic voices.”

The report also condemned the channel, which is headquartered in London, for being demeaning to women, saying that programmes instructed women that they could not refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands.

via UK’s Islam Channel under investigation – The National Newspaper.

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• Viewing the Islam Channel critically | Maajid Nawaz (guardian.co.uk)

Balkans: Saudis fund Muslims spreading hate of the West

SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West and recruit fighters for jihad in Afghanistan.

According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the Balkans. Strict Wahhabi and Salafi factions funded by Saudi organisations are clashing with traditionally moderate local Muslim communities.

Fundamentalists have financed the construction of scores of mosques and community centres as well as handing some followers up to £225 a month. They are expected not only to grow beards but also to persuade their wives to wear the niqab, or face veil, a custom virtually unknown in the liberal Islamic tradition of the Balkans.

via Islamization Watch: Saudis fund Balkan Muslims spreading hate of the West.

Macedonia is monitoring more than 50 AQ terrorists in its territory and there are also several Islamic charities under scrutiny:

One of the groups under scrutiny is the International Islamic Relief Organisation from Saudi Arabia, which is on a United Nations blacklist of organisations backing terrorism. It did not respond to inquiries, but has previously denied involvement in terrorist activities, calling such claims “totally unfounded”.

Again and again. But then Islamic states complain about “the targetting of Muslims in some parts of the world“, passing a new resolution against the “defamation of religions” through the UNHRC.

Related:

1. Islamic Relief Organisation linked to terrorism (wikipedia.org).
2. The UN partners with terror (investigativeproject.org)

Before: Bulgaria imposing Wahabbi Islam by force.

Afghanistan: Taliban fighters are 'conditioned' to die in battle, says former insurgent

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Interesting:

A former insurgent in Afghanistan has claimed that Taliban fighters are conditioned to die in battle.In what is believed to be the first ever interview given by a former member of the Helmand Taliban, Abdul Mohammed, who is married with a young son, says he served as Taliban foot soldier in one of the most violent and battle-scared areas of southern Afghanistan.

“I expected to be killed in battle, but that didn’t worry me. I never thought about death. If I was told go on a suicide attack, I would have done so. I was a committed Taliban fighter, being with the Taliban was my life,” The Telegraph quotes him, as saying.

The former insurgent told The Sunday Telegraph, how he survived daily battles with British troops and why he decided to join the peace process.

via Taliban fighters are ‘conditioned’ to die in battle, says former insurgent.

Balawi: How Suicide Bomber Lured CIA Agents to Their Deaths

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So this was the way it was done:

In December, Balawi sent a coded message to his handlers that suggested he was getting close to a key CIA target: al Qaeda‘s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The message said that Zawahiri needed a change in the dosage of his medication, and that Balawi would be providing Zawahiri with the medicine through a courier. Officials briefed on the case said Balawi did not specify which illness Zawahiri was allegedly suffering, or what medication he was providing. The message made the agents think that Balawi might soon lead them to Osama bin Laden‘s chief lieutenant. The CIA agents wanted to meet their supposed mole in person for the first time.

Prior to the meeting, said the current and former intelligence officials, the Jordanian intelligence agent who was “running” Balawi told the CIA agents that the day of the proposed meeting was Balawi’s birthday and that they should have a cake ready. Balawi passed through three rings of security into a CIA’s base near Khost, Afghanistan without being checked. A group of as many as a dozen Americans waited with the birthday cake for Balawi to exit his car. Survivors of the blast, including the CIA’s second-highest ranking officer in Afghanistan, have told CIA officials that Balawi kept one hand in his pocket as he got out of the vehicle and began to recite a martyrdom prayer just before he triggered his suicide belt.

via Balawi: How Suicide Bomber Lured CIA Agents to Their Deaths – ABC News.

Of course, I am no one in the intelligence world. But isn’t it somewhat strange that an informant says someone has an illness and is not asked about what illness he is speaking about?

Before:

• CIA director confirms that 7 agents died in suicide bombing by Taliban at US base.
• Bomber at CIA was Jordanian national working for intelligence.
• The Blotter publishes face of CIA agents’ killer.
• An interview with Defne Bayrak, CIA agents killer’s widow.
• CIA Base Bomber: From Jihadist Blogger to Suicide Bomber.

EU-Lybia: appeasement on Schengen ban

Libya has lifted a visa ban on travelers from 25 European nations after the resolution of a diplomatic row that began with Switzerland.

Libya’s Foreign Ministry says it scrapped the measure after the European Union blocked a Swiss proposal for a visa blacklist against nearly 200 senior Libyan officials, including leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The Libyan ban was issued in February and caused particular concern in European nations with heavy oil investments in the country.

via Libya lifts visa ban on 25 European nations after resolution of dispute with Switzerland.

And how do you think this has been made:

“Spanish presidency of the EU “feels sorry and deplores” all “the problems” derived from the inclusion of Lybian citizens in the list of Schengen information system, whose names have all being erased”, according to Spanish FM Moratinos’ statement.

… In the press conference after the European Council in Brussels, Zapatero announced Moratino’s trip to the Lybian city of Sirte to take part in the Arab League meeting.

Oh, Lord… So Gadhaffi’s son assaults several maids on a Swiss hotel. He is arrested with his wife. Then they are both expelled from the country. Gadhaffi, instead of being reasonable (when has he been reasonable?), arrests Swiss citizens in the country and bans European citizens from entering the country. And Zapatero feels sorry and deplores that Switzerland included Gadhaffi and family in the Schengen list of banned citizens? 😐

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• Libya lifts visa ban on 25 European nations (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• EU and Libya lift bans on visas (news.bbc.co.uk)

Philippines: troops overrun Abu Sayyaf camp

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Philippine troops killed one Muslim militant and overran a rebel encampment after a two-day offensive on a southern island, a military commander said Sunday.

Two soldiers were also wounded in the assault on the camp of Abu Sayyaf rebels in Patikul town, Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, that began on Friday.

Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino, a regional military commander, said the seized camp was suspected to have been an encampment of Abu Sayyaf commander Radullan Sahiron and his men.

He said Sahiron, one of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf that is wanted by the United States for terrorism, was at the camp at the start of the offensive but was able to escape.

via Philippine troops kill Muslim militant, overrun rebel encampment : Asia World.

More here:

The fighting was part of the military operation to capture senior militant leader Radullan Sahiron, a former commander of the Moro National Liberation Front which signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996.

He really believed the peace agreement, didn’t he? 😈

It was unclear whether Sahiron was in the camp during the fighting or if he had escaped the offensive. But one of Sahiron’s aide was killed in the fighting and that his body was recovered at the weekend.

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• Philippine troops capture key Abu Sayyaf camp (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

UK: Labour more trusted on economy than Conservatives, a poll says

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Labour received a post-Budget boost yesterday as a poll suggested that voters trust Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling over David Cameron and George Osborne to steer Britain through the economic downturn.

via More voters trust Labour than Tories on economy – UK Politics, UK – The Independent.

Are they mad? Labour is not cutting expenditure and creating a new tax for 1st-time home buyers and they are trusted??? 😯

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• Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling regain economic lead over Conservatives (telegraph.co.uk)
• Brown, Darling More Trusted on Economy Than Tories in U.K. Poll (businessweek.com): The poll indicates Labour may be winning the battle to persuade voters its record on taking Britain out of recession means it deserves a fourth term in office in the general election due by June 3. Darling resisted calls from the Conservatives in his budget to cut spending more quickly and scrapped a house-purchase tax for most first-time buyers.

UN: Resolution on "defamation of religions" passed

Very silently… just in case someone knows it’s being passed:

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Some 20 countries voted in favour of the resolution entitled “combating defamation of religions”, 17 voted against and eight abstained.

Putting forward the resolution on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Pakistan’s ambassador Zamir Akram said that the specific references to Islam, the only religion mentioned in the text, “reflect the existing regrettable situation in some parts of the world where Muslims are being targeted.”

via Creeping Sharia.

Of course, non-Muslims are not targeted in the Muslim world, are they? HYPOCRITES…

No wonder US, EU and Japan voted against the initiative.