Libya: EU recognizes rebel council, offers its support

A delegation of Libyan rebels, led by the leader of the National Transitional Council (NTC), has met with NATO and EU officials to discuss the ongoing situation in Libya.

For a long time, European governments treated the NTC with caution, as they did not know what it was or what its members wanted.

However, the NTC has now been recognized by several countries as the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people, and in recognition of this, its leader Mahmoud Jibril was received in Brussels on Wednesday.

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Jibril held talks with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at NATO headquarters, and Rasmussen expressed the importantance of the visit.

“They [the NTC] have a great responsibility for the smooth transition to a democratic and inclusive future in Libya,” said Rasmussen.

via EU recognizes Libyan rebel council, offers its support | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 14.07.2011.

Related articles

• Libyan rebels deny talks with Gadhafi (ctv.ca)
• Tripoli to prosecute NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for “war crimes.” “1,108 Libyans killed in NATO attacks” (xkorpion.wordpress.com)
• Three more EU nations recognise Libya rebels (expatica.com)
• Frattini: Al-Qaeda is profitting from Libyan situation (teaandpolitics.wordpress.com)
• Libya: ‘Only’ 15 Percent of Rebels Are Islamic Extremists(teaandpolitics.wordpress.com).
• Libya: Rebel Commander says AQ jihadists are helping them(teaandpolitics.wordpress.com)
• Libya: Rebels come from pro-Jihadist Areas (teaandpolitics.wordpress.com)

Chomsky: "Europe won’t accept Turkey because of racism"

Chomsky: EU won’t accept Turkey because of racism:

European racism is the main reason why Turkey will not be accepted into the EU, says Noam Chomsky according to Turkish newspaper, Today’s Zaman.

“Europe can claim with some justification that Turkey has not satisfied all of the human rights conditions. On the other hand, I don’t really think this is the reason. …I think it is plain racism,” Chomsky said in an interview with the newspaper on Sunday.

…Chomsky added that there are worse human rights violators among European countries and pointed to Britain which participated in the war in Iraq.

“Has Turkey done anything like that? On the contrary, it refused to participate in the invasion. That’s a much higher level of observance of human rights and even international law…I always felt Europe was more racist,” he said.

The MIT professor visited İstanbul on Friday to participate in an international conference on the freedom of expression, and said he had seen great improvements in Turkey’s approach to human rights, especially in its treatment toward the Kurds.

So, now it results that after 500 years of Ottoman dominion over the Balkans (with the mixture of races and physical types that causes), Europe lets Balkan countries enter the EU and not Turkey but the problem is racism. It’s amazing this guy can sell books…

European Union: Nigel Farage on "The state of the Union"

Found at A Arte da Fuga:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7HB_L1cnCqs&hl=pt_PT&feature=player_embedded&version=3

Somalia: Expansion of AU Force studied at Madrid meeting

We’ll see what results this meeting has. Expatica:

Representatives of 45 nations and international bodies met in Madrid Monday to consider plans to strengthen an African Union peacekeeping force in war-torn Somalia.

The AU force, known as AMISOM, comprises about 7,200 troops, and the meeting of the UN-backed International Contact Group on Somalia, which is to conclude on Tuesday, will “look into a possible reinforcement,” Spain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Stepping up the fight against maritime piracy in waters off the coast of Somalia and finding ways to boost support for the country’s transitional government will be among the other topics discussed, it added.

Delegates from 45 nations and international organisations, including the United States and the European Union, are taking part in the meeting which was closed to the press.

Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the top United Nations envoy to the country, Augustine Mahiga, are among the participants.

Ahmed warned in a speech before the UN General Assembly on Saturday that Somalia is “a weak link” in the fight against international terrorism and urged nations to continue to assist in training its forces and supporting the AU peacekeeping contingent.

Gaza: 100,000 children attend radical Hamas summer camps

100,000 children attend radical Hamas summer camps and another 10,000 children, the ones opened by the Islamic Jihad:

“Hamas continued to gain strength this past summer as about 100,000 youngsters underwent radical anti-Israel indoctrination at dozens of summer camps run by the terrorist group – which also attacked United Nations camps, its main competition – according to a report released on Tuesday by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

According to the report, more than 100,000 children and teenagers participated in the Hamas camps, which included paramilitary training and military parades. The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization also opened 51 different summer camps for over 10,000 children.

In contrast to the Hamas camps, the United Nations has been running summer camps throughout the Gaza Strip for 250,000 children. These camps, run by UNRWA, are being held at over 150 locations in Gaza. The participants engage in arts and crafts, sports and other cultural activities, and are mostly between the ages of six and 15.”

I haven’t listened to any important leader protesting this as they did with the Qu’ran burning. And this is nothing more and nothing less than children’s exploitation and abuse….

Meanwhile, the European Union has ruled illegal to freeze assets from Al-Aqsa, Hamas’ supporters. The  evidence, presented by Dutch Government, that linked the supposedly humanitarian actions of the Dutch branch of the Al-Aqsa Foundation in funding the terrorist group, cannot be considered as a “good reason” to black-list the whole Foundation. A court speaker have said that, the State Members should present “better reasons” to black-list it or remove it.

Turkey: Erdogan succeeds in reforming Constitution

Erdogan Nears Big Win as Turkey is Close to Passing Constitutional Changes – WSJ.com:

“TRT1, the state television broadcaster, reported that with almost 90% of the ballots counted, 59% of Turks voted ‘Yes’ to a package of constitutional amendments that would restructure the judiciary and increase civilian jurisdiction over the military, which has deposed four governments since 1960.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote suggested the result would be much closer, with a majority of surveys predicting the amendments would scrape through with just over 50% of the vote. Analysts said that if early polling holds, it would be a ‘major boost’ to the government heading into national elections expected to take place next summer.

‘This is an overwhelming result, given opinion polls had pointed to a marginal ‘Yes’… Clearly the undecided voters have come out and voted in favor of the continuation of the reform process,’ said Simon Quijano-Evans, head of emerging-market strategy at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux SA in Vienna.

Many of the proposed amendments would improve individual liberties and protections, and those enjoy wide support.

But the package is controversial because it also would greatly expand the Constitutional Court and Turkey’s top judicial body, until now bastions of secularist opposition to the government. As recently as 2008, the Constitutional Court came within one vote of shutting down the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP, on grounds that it was a threat to Turkey’s secular foundations. Opponents of the government worry Ankara would be able to pack the courts if the package passes, transforming the balance of power within the country.

“A vote for ‘Yes’ is a vote for the Islamists. They plan to change Turkey in a negative way,” said Onur Sagunc, a 26-year old retail assistant. He said he voted “No” as soon as polls opened at 7 a.m.”

…The amendments also would expand membership of the Constitutional Court to 17 judges from 11, and the powerful Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors to 22 members from seven. Given that new appointments would be made at a time when the AK party controls Parliament and President Abdullah Gü also is a member of that party, the political tenor of the courts could change dramatically.

Investors are looking to the poll for clues as to whether Mr. Erdogan’s party will secure a third-term majority government at next year’s national elections.

But MSM are really joyous after hearing the result. For example, El Mundo says: “The “yes” to the reform reinforces the pro-European direction of Erdogan“. And the Guardian says: “Turkey on course for changes to constitution after referendum. Early results indicate support for amendments described by government as key step on path to full democracy“.

To full Islamism, installed in every corner of the Judiciary. I’m curious how the Army is going to react to this results.

But if there is an article supporting Erdogan that is Should Turkey’s Erdogan worry the West? @Newsweek:

Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy have made clear their antipathy toward Turkey’s full membership of the European Union. The rejection has hit Erdogan hard, say people close to him. Having invested so much political capital to implement EU–dictated reforms, Erdogan now “feels a deep sense of personal betrayal,” says the longtime backer. The prime minister himself recently told diplomats: “If the motivation of the Turkish people for full membership in the EU decreases, it’s because of EU policies toward Turkey.”

Erdogan, says Byford, “seeks a fundamental change in [Turkey’s] relationship” with the West, to “an ally but not a subordinate.” He takes pride in the fact that Turkey has emerged stronger than ever from the economic crisis, says the former AKP M.P. Now his No. 1 goal is to make the people rather than generals the real arbiters of Turkey’s future. Those people will doubtless in time vote him down for arrogance and for his clumsy attempts to silence opposition. But if by that time Turkey is more at peace with itself and with its neighbors, then Erdogan’s gamble will have paid off handsomely.

Of course, being condemned by religious hate, supporting Ahmadinejad and accusing Israel of “state-sponsored terrorism” aren’t important things. Just trivial details…

"EU, Maghreb share "common interests" on migration, security"

Image via Wikipedia

Lesueur, a general delegate at the Thomas More Institute, said the EU had a role to play in putting an end to the conflict between Morocco and Algeria over Western Sahara, a 266,000 square-kilometre territory that has been a bone of contention between the two countries.

According to him, the new distribution of portfolios within the European Commission should accelerate progress, as several commissioners are concerned by the issue. He also proposed to appoint a coordinator.

“We urge the EU to reinvest itself in the region and place its relations with the Maghreb at the top of its agenda,” he said.

Moreover, “the EU should help projects and business development,” he said, stressing the importance of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), launched in 2008 under the French EU Presidency.

On migration, Lesueur explained that Morocco had problems similar to those faced by Europe in dealing with its southern neighbourhood. As sub-Sahel migrants move north to reach Europe, “Maghreb countries are transforming themselves into transit countries, and are also slowly turning into host countries,” he said, remarking that thousands of Senegalese are currently living in Algerian capital Tangiers.

This, he argued, highlights the common challenges faced by Europe and the Maghreb, as he says the countries in the region may soon start experiencing ethnic tensions and even racism.

To deal with such problems, Lesueur says the EU’s Frontex agency should open offices in the South Sahel region and work in close cooperation with Maghreb countries. “It is not sufficient to return illegal migrants from Spain to Morocco,” he stressed.

In reality, he said the EU’s migration policy “is being played out in Nouakchott [Mauritania] and Dakar [Senegal],” not on the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily. “Lampedusa represents the failure of the EU’s migration policy,” he said.

Similarly, he said European security and anti-terrorism policy is not being played out at the EU’s southern borders, but 3,000 kilometres away. “In the anti-terrorism area, Algeria and Morocco have pretty well cleared Al Qaeda off the ground,” he remarked. But the organisation has now retreated further south to Mali, Cameroon and Senegal, he said.

So the EU is beginning to act protecting countries which are not inside the EU. I think we have enough problems inside our borders which are not solved by now, to defend countries which are not inside those borders. But I’m sure this is just the next step after the “United Economic Space”, negotiated with Morocco.

There are a lot of people worried about Turkey entering EU. Morocco should also worry every free citizen: a theocracy with no possibility of changing into a democracy, expelling Christians for “proselityzing”, mistreating homosexuals, opponents to the regime (specially Saharauis) or who demonstrate against fasting in Ramadan and shutting down (or banning) MSM for insulting Islam or the King. An ideal partner…

Of course, Algeria has also a growing problem with Islamism and has condemned people to three years in prison for owning a Bible. So, I don’t think it’s an ideal partner either.

Besides, if Islam/Shariah is the Law’s source in these states, I’m sure the measures taken will be different. Or not?

 

Switzerland: the "Alliance of Civilizations" will analyse the "minarets’ crisis

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The ministerial conference of the Alliance of Civilizations, to be held in Cordoba on 3 and 4 May as part of the Spanish EU presidency, will address the impact of the crisis provoked by the Swiss decision to ban the construction of minarets in mosques.

The meeting will take the title Religious freedom in democratic societies and with the participation of some 300 people, including ministers, religious scholars and leaders of EU countries, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for organizing the event.

Among the guests will have a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, who will present the impact it is having the measure in his country on the minarets in the Muslim worship centers.

Most Swiss citizens approved the ban on building minarets in a referendum held on 29 November.

The Swiss Government has been saying that this decision should not be interpreted as an attack against Islam or its adherents, although it has caused great unrest in Muslim countries and has encouraged far-right parties in other European countries to go in the same direction.

A meeting of delegates will attend Córdoba candidate countries for accession to the EU, the EU institutions and the Council of Europe.

Also invited to the bishops of the eight cities of Andalusia and the representatives of the major religious communities.

The conference will feature several panels, which will discuss issues such as pluralism of faiths, the role of religious leaders and combating radicalization and religious extremism.

It is not yet confirmed attendance of Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos s deputy for Córdoba.

Moratinos organized in the capital of Córdoba in October 2007 a meeting to discuss a religious intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in Western countries. It was held on that occasion by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Alliance of Civilizations was initiated by Spain and Turkey in 2004 to help foster understanding between religions and cultures.

The group of friends of the Alliance, integrated into United Nations, has around one hundred countries.

Why religious freedom is not analysed in un-democratic societies, for example, in Islamic societies? Why always democratic countries should under the microscope, while huge Human Rights violations are taking place in other parts of the world, without anyone caring about them because the place they are happening are not democratic countries?

Really fed up of hypocrisy…

Somalia: Spanish frigate Victoria destroys pirates’ mother ship

Spanish frigate Victoria.

The Spanish frigate is participating in the so-called Operation Focus inside the Operation Atalanta, the EU operation to control and monitor the pirates from theSomali ports in which they operate. This morning, a helicopter from the Victoria located a whaler, who was used as the mother ship, and several suspicious skiffs. Upon reaching the area to inspect the boats, the military have seized the frigate weapons and other material for acts of piracy. Aftwerwards and following the instructions of command of Operation Atalanta, they went to destroy the mother ship.

Photo: Telecinco.

Estonian president: "Europe must think about Turkey’s membership"

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Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Friday Europe must think about Turkey‘s membership from a global and strategic perspective and approve Turkey’s membership.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Friday, Ilves said that he was pleased to be in Turkey.

“I had visited Mr. Gul while he was the prime minister. I have warm feelings towards Turkey and have made statements in the past in support of Turkey,” Ilves said.

“Relations between Turkey and Estonia began a long time ago. Turkey had recognized Estonia as a new country at a time of occupation by the Soviet Union and rejected the Soviets’ occupation of Estonia. Turkey has always had great support for Estonia,” Ilves said.

“Turkey has the right to be present in the EU. Europe must look at Turkey’s membership from a strategic perspective,” Ilves said.

“There are Turcology departments in Estonia’s universities and many Estonians know how to speak Turkish. It is crucial for the peoples of our two countries to get to know each other. Estonians come to Turkey as tourists and we expect to see Turkish tourists in Estonia,” Ilves also said.

If it’s so important for Estonia, just let Mr. Ilves sing: “Let’s get together and feel alright“. But don’t try the rest are going to accept his ideas, specially when Turkish president was condemned for religious hate. Turkey is a democracy, so a majority of Turks didn’t consider important that fact when they voted for him.

Related:

1. Erdogan calls Israel “principal threat” to peace in the Middle East.
2. Germany: Merkel calls for “biligualism and integration” of Turkish immigrants.
3. Merkel against Erdogan’s initiative of Turkish schools’ net.
4. Turkish constitutional reform angers judges.
5. Erdogan seeks influence through Turkish emigrants.
6. Saudi King awards Erdogan.
7. Erdogan’s double standards.

Morocco: "Christian proselitism is terrorism", ulemas say

Image via Wikipedia

Read at El País:

7,000 Moroccan ulemas (Islamic scholars) rejected in a common message the Christian proselitism in their country and considered it even like a “moral rape” and “religious terrorism” that “tries to divert Moroccan children from their faith”.

The collective text released this weekend is the last episode of the campaign by the authorities in Rabat against foreign Christians who settled in Morocco accusing them of proselytizing and trying to shake the faith of Muslims, a crime in the Moroccan criminal code.

Throughout the month of March about 70 Christians have been forced to flee the country, as calculated by the different churches, but the Moroccan Interior Ministry acknowledged only the expulsion of 16 who ran a small orphanage in Leuh Ain, in the Atlas Mountains .

The Christian victims of the decision of the Interior are all Protestants except a Franciscan who lived in Larache. It is the first Catholic ever expelled from northern Morocco, as the Archbishop of Tanger has said. He also denies that they had been proselytising, while attending the small community of foreign Catholics in that city.

The message of the ulemas expressed “full support and great pride” of those who subscribe to “the relevant historic decisions taken by the government to abort the hypocritical  part by a Christian group of proselitizing” in the country. Their performance with the children, the message continues, is “a moral violation, a form of religious terrorism and is equivalent to the abduction of innocent children.”

“These tough decisions,” the statement concluded, “reassure us about the future of the national faith protected by Divine Providence that watches and by His Majesty Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, as defender of the faith (…)” . The text of the scholars of Islam was spread by its highest hierarchical body, the Supreme Ulema Council chaired by the monarch (NOTE: speaking about division of State and Religion).

The Archbishops of Rabat and Tangiers, the apostolic nuncio in Rabat and the official representative of Protestant churches in Morocco have demanded an explanation to the authorities on the wave of expulsions, but so far they have obtained none. Some Moroccan converts to Christianity have been the victims in March apparently of police harassment.

At least two governments, the U.S. and the Netherlands, have criticized the measures taken by the Moroccan authorities, but not the Spanish that is currently chairing the European Union. The bulk of the expulsions were carried, however, during the first weekend of March. At that time it was held in Granada the first summit between Morocco and the EU supported by Spain.

So, ehhm, our dear President stopped from critisizing Morocco because they were negotiating the “united economic space”. Hasn’t he sooo marvellous a relationship with Moroccan King? Weren’t this Govt staunch defenders of Human Rights?

Oh, wait, the expelled ones were Christians…

http://www.youtube.com/v/I72sNX-Bg5M&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_GB&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

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• In Morocco, a Crackdown on Christian Aid Workers (time.com)

2 ex-GITMOs received in Portugal

The ex-prisoners arrived last Friday in Portugal and their identities won’t be published due to security reasons.

Interior Ministry reported that the ex-GITMO “haven’t any charges laid against them, are free people and will live in appartments given by the State”, who will work “for their integration in Portuguese society”.

The two Syrian nationals will need a visa to travel through European Union countries, according to Justice and Foreign Affairs Ministers in their meeting last June in Luxembourg.

Well, it was announced some weeks ago that they will be sent to Portugal. I keep on asking myself why on earth they have not been sent back to Syria.

Before:
Serbia: Embassy in US Offers to Take GITMO Detainees.
US: Closing GITMO makes possible military-civilian terror prison within US soil*.
Spain: examining new GITMO inmates.
GITMO: Spain probably will shelter 4 Tunisians and a Yemeni.
USA: GITMO detainees say they planned September 11.
The Taliban praise Obama for closing GITMO.

Iran: the mass trial and crackdown on dissidents and people from other faiths continue

This is an update on this story:

Some 25 people have gone on trial in a Tehran revolutionary court over their alleged involvement in provoking the unrest that erupted after the disputed June 12 presidential election.
The identities of the protesters and opposition supporters were not disclosed as the trial opened on August 16. They are the third such group to face prosecution in a mass trial since the postelection unrest.
According to the IRNA new agency, some of the detainees were accused of moving toward overthrowing the Islamic system, participating in illegal demonstrations, vandalizing public property, and using handmade bombs and grenades during the protests.
The proceedings have been criticized by Iranian opposition and the international community as “show trials.”
Over 110 people, including many political activists, journalists, and lawyers, have appeared in two previous court trials, most of them facing charges such as acting against national security.

Iran Begins Another Mass Trial Over Postelection Turmoil – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009

Clotilde Reiss has already been freed (don’t know what has France done about this France has had to pay a bail of several hundreds of thousands euros).

But the French student has only been released on bail and can’t return to France by now. Her father has said that she seems to be in good health after speaking with her on the phone.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad has condemned Europe for not congratulating him on his “victory”:

“You have clearly interfered in Iran’s internal affairs and were naïve enough to think that you can damage the system but with God’s help you failed,” Ahmadinejad said.

The EU and US have not acknowledged Ahmadinejad’s re-election. They have also decried the country’s harsh response towards the protests that took place over the alleged election fraud as well detained dissidents.

“You (world powers) will be held accountable for this ballyhoo you made in the world,” the president said. 

Of course, no one speaks about the Christian crackdown (not even Christians form other parts of the world):

Authorities crack down on Christians in Iran

Shahnam Behjatollah
Photo from Compass Direct

More than 30 Christians were arrested in recent weeks in Iran, according to an August 11 report from Compass Direct. In the city of Rasht, eight Christians were detained after two separate rounds of arrests on July 29 and 30. Seven of the believers have since been released. On July 31, police raided a meeting of approximately 24 Christian converts from Islam in the village of Amameh, north of Tehran. Officials confiscated books, CDs, computers, cell phones and passports and arrested all of the believers present. While most were released the same evening, seven of them — Shahnam Behjatollah (34) and six others identified only as Shaheen, Maryam, Mobinaa, Mehdi, Ashraf and Nariman — were still being held in an unknown location at last report. Police have questioned their families and have told them to prepare to pay bail. The detained believers have not been allowed contact with their family members. On August 7, some of the same Christians who had been earlier detained and released were re-arrested and interrogated by authorities.

No one speaks either of the last Baha’is trial in Iran but a lot of MSM have reported that he has named three women to be Ministers on his Government (wow, this is truly supportive of women’s rights, isn’t it?). What they have failed to underline is that he has also named this other guy:

He also said Heydar Moslehi, now an adviser to Ahmadinejad on clerical affairs, would be nominated as new intelligence minister.

Heydar Moslehi is what Western MSM call a “hard-line” or an “ultraconservative”:

Ahmadinejad has already taken de facto control of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry after purging it of officials deemed insufficiently loyal. On Sunday, he nominated Heydar Moslehi, a mid-ranking cleric, to lead the ministry, which controls a vast trove of data on Iranians as well as an extensive human and electronic surveillance infrastructure. Moslehi served as an advisor to Ahmadinejad on clerical affairs and is close to Khamenei.

 Is this (another) attempt to whitewash the regime, after everyone has seen its evil?

Regarding Kharroubi, the regimen has banned his newspaper after it “printed claims that some election protesters were raped or tortured in custody”.

European Commission refuses to congratulate re-elected Ahmadinejad

The European Commission made its stance on the disputed election win of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clear when it released a statement saying that it had not congratulated the Iranian president and had no intention of doing so.

(…) Sweden also defended its decision to send a high-ranking diplomat to Ahmadinejad’s swearing-in ceremony.

Thank God. At least we, Europeans, have the consolation that European Commission this time has behaved better than Ban Ki-Moon… We’ll see how much time they maintain this attitude.

Russia, Europe and Turkey: the story of the pipeline

It’s the story of a competition between Europe and Russia for the gas pipeline across Turkey. And Russia is winning:

Russia and Turkey have agreed on the construction of a gas pipeline under the Black Sea soon after the EU signed a deal with Ankara on the Nabucco pipeline. The Russian project is ahead at the moment.

The Russians will be the first to begin construction and they can probably more easily afford the estimated 20 billion euro ($28 billion) costs with their state-run Gazprom. A private consortium is to build the EU pipeline for around 10 billion euro ($14 billion).

The Nabucco project has to be run as a business whereas Gazprom can afford massive losses.

Interesting, isn’t it? European need for energy is a great danger. And each day that politics spend speaking about the merits and pros of “new energies”, without really speeding the development of other sources of energy and the possibility of using the nuclear one (at least, till other one is discovered or we’re able to use it) or this is going to be absolutely devastating for the continent.

Technorati Tags: Russia, Turkey, Europe, Nabucco_project, gas_pipeline

Portugal: Interior Ministry announces the country will lodge 2 GITMOs

Portugal has agreed to take two Syrian detainees from Guantanamo prison, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The pair will be accepted on humanitarian grounds and granted special visas, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site. The ministry did not provide details on the detainees’ identities.

Portugal is the third EU nation, after France and Ireland, to make a firm commitment to take specific prisoners. Many European states have been cool to the idea of taking Guantanamo prisoners off American hands.

The foreign ministry statement said the decision “safeguards aspects related to security (and) the prospects for the successful integration of the chosen former inmates.”

So, these guys, Syrian Nationals (why aren’t they taken back to Syria?), are going to be given “visas” on humanitarian grounds to move freely through Portugal? Because in that case, their movements will be free throughout the whole European Union (have the rest of the countries being asked about this?).

And why didn’t they give their names?

technorati tags: Syria, GITMO, European_Union, France, Ireland, Portugal, Socrates

MSM: Newsweek gets it wrong

I am not truly convinced about conspiracy theories related to European politicians’ alliance with islamists and all that. But this article is not realistic:

But all this obscures a simple fact: the rise of a Eurabia is predicated on limited and dubious evidence. A much-cited 2004 study from the U.S. National Intelligence Council outlines a number of possible scenarios. Its most aggressive is that the number of Muslims in Europe could increase from roughly 20 million today—about 5 percent of the population—to 38 million by 2025. But that projection turns out to be attributed to “diplomatic and media reporting as well as government, academic, and other sources.” In other words, it’s all speculation based on speculation—and even if it’s accurate, it would still mean the number of Muslims will represent just 8 percent of the European population, estimated by the EU to be 470 million in 2025. Indeed, if there is a surge ahead, its scale looks overstated. “There is a quite deliberate exaggeration, as has often been pointed out—but the figures are still being cited,” says Jytte Klausen, an authority on Islam in Europe at Boston’s Brandeis University.

via Dispelling the Myth of Eurabia | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com.

There are two important facts this article is ignoring:

1. if Turkey is admitted in the European Union, the 70 million Turks, Muslims in its great majority AND suffering a creeping Islamization, will make that number rise, at least in 65 million. So that “aggresive” predictions are not realistic, because a European Union with Turkey, even if I don’t like very much that prospect, is not so difficult to imagine.
2. The second fact is that Islamists don’t need, to get what they want, to be the majority in a given territory or to live there in great numbers. In Thailand, Muslims (not Islamists) are only 4.5% of the population and yet: “In fact the government, to try to overcome this moment of crisis (the existence of Muslim separatists), gives a lot of support to the Islamic schools and Islam. What Muslims want they get. (…) “This is not the case for our tribes. Christianity is considered a foreign religion, even if now there are few foreigners: our priests and nuns are almost all local. “.

So, 38 million people out of 470 million (38/400=0,08) are 8% (nearly doubling the amount Thailand has nowadays). But if we add 65 million (35+65= 100) their amount would be of 21.27% of the total population. Thailand has been a traditional Buddhist country with only a very little Islamic sultanate in the south (Brunei was part of that tiny sultanate). But parts of Europe (specially Spain, Greece, southern Italy or the Balkans) have had Islamic rule for centuries in the past, and Islamists consider that every land which has been Islamic in the past, should go back to Islamic rule.

Just compare numbers and reach your own conclusions.

EU: Ireland to hold fresh EU treaty referendum on Oct 2

Ireland will hold a second referendum on the European Union’s Lisbon reform treaty on October 2, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said on Wednesday.

Cowen won legal guarantees from his EU partners last month to address concerns of voters who last June opposed the treaty, designed to streamline EU decision-making and give the 27-nation bloc a greater say in world affairs.

via Ireland to hold fresh EU treaty referendum on Oct 2 | Top News | Reuters.

Irish Election has the amendments done to the Lisbon Treaty to present it to this referendum. The main point is 6:

No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State, before, on or after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, that are necessitated by the obligations of membership of the European Union referred to in subsection 5° of this section or of the European Atomic Energy Community, or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by—
i the said European Union or the European Atomic Energy Community, or by institutions thereof,
ii the European Communities or European Union existing immediately before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, or by institutions thereof, or
iii bodies competent under the treaties referred to in this section, from having the force of law in the State.

A new euro-esceptic group has been launched for the new referendum:

The Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group – the new eurosceptic party formerly known as the Independence-Democracy Group – announced its party name and political programme on Wednesday (1 July).

The new party of 30 MEPs also intends to campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in the second Irish referendum likely to be held this October, with the party’s co-president, Nigel Farage of UKIP, laying down a strong marker at the party’s first meeting in the European parliament.

“We will do our damndest in the second referendum to make sure that the people of Ireland understand that these so-called ‘guarantees’ that they were given at the recent European summit, frankly are not worth the paper that they were written on,” he said.

China, Russia, new Mohammed's cartoon, Islamism in US, Sarko & Merkel, France regarding Turkey in EU and other items

From Financial Times h/t China Daily:

China criticised Taiwan’s ruling party on Sunday for mobilising its supporters in a rally demanding United Nations membership for the island.

A day after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in two rival marches in support of UN membership, the Taiwan Affairs Office – the Chinese government’s policy body – said that the Beijing authorities were “preparing for a serious situation” without giving any further detail.

China has a standing threat to take military action against Taiwan if the island were to declare formal independence.

Chinese don’t like democracy:

Chinese values exist in a parallel universe, one in which our white is their black and their black our white. The United States and China can form a symbiotic relationship, one that benefits mankind and stabilizes the rest of the century, but only if the U.S. rejects cultural absolutism. When we open our eyes to how they perceive things, we will not like what we see. But we have no choice, unless we prefer conflict to co-existence.

China is not evolving towards democracy in the Western sense (i.e., one-man-one vote, not merely distaste for corruption). Even more unsettling to Americans is that “new generation” Chinese, in some ways so much “like us,” do not want democracy. Advertising folk fancy themselves as quasi-anthropologists, perched at the intersection of Commerce and Culture. During my nine years in Shanghai, I have learned how to sell Nikes to mainland teenagers (avoid brash, U.S.-style rebellion) and HSBC Premier accounts to the nouveau riche (alchemize superior service into life advancement). By probing minds for “insight” – i.e., deep motivations that explain behavior – we can sell more Kellogg’s cold cereal and Lipton milk tea. But we can also, almost inadvertently, uncover riddles that lie at heart of China’s surging, irrepressibly dynamic economy.

Hmm, interesting defense of relativism. If we consider that our values are the best, why on earth are we not going to defend them?

If we assume that we have no choice but to recognise our values are not universal, that our values are not natural to human beings, that they are not given by birth to each and all human beings just because they are such, then we are recognising that we consider that not all human beings are equal. And that we can divide them between 1st class ones and second class ones.

And that would be against human dignity and, as such, totally unjust.

Whatever this professor says about China -and knowing that the reality is that Chinese are both very nationalistic and have a culture of more than 3000 years-, Western countries must stick to our values, and defend them wherever they can be defended. The rest of the world is not going to do it. If we value our civilization and its values and consider that they are worth the effort, that is.

At the same time, China does not want an open conflict with the Vatican and is going to install the new Vatican-approved Catholic Bishop.

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From Russia: after Putin, is going to be another ex-KGB in the Kremlin?

The Russian wanted by Britain on suspicion of killing Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko said on Monday he would stand for election to parliament and would like to become president of Russia.

Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB security service officer, said he would represent the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), which is headed by ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. (that moron who wanted to oblige single Russian women to marry in polygamy with Russian men, because that way Russian blood was not mixed with foreign people and Russian single women would marry at last... and supported Chechen #@€#@€ Kadyrov in polygamy. I repeat: WHAT A MORON! -un badulaque total – ).

He denied seeking immunity from prosecution that election to parliament would give him. Russian prosecutors have said there was no basis for a criminal case against him, he said.

When asked by a reporter what other political aspirations he had beyond being a member of parliament, Lugovoy said with a smile: “Like any other citizen of the Russian Federation, I would like to be president.”

😯

You get the picture. 😡

American Thinker Blog compares Lugovoy with Catherine de Médici. 😆

Interview (very interesting) to Rostislav Vylegzhanin, the founder of Real.info news, the first Russian citizen journal in the internet:

Can you tell me about your Citizen Journalism activities? How did it get started? How is it doing? How does traditional media view what you are doing?

If it is ok, I will quote my report for OhmyNews International Forum 2007. [Shel note: I did some extracting and condensing to the following portion-SI]

Practically all Russian TV is state-owned and “censored” (I use quote marks because censorship is Constitutionally prohibited but exists de facto). Most Russian national newspapers are also controlled by authorities. Most regional media is controlled by regional governments.

There are only a few independent national radio stations, as well as a few national independent newspapers. Some regions have independent media, but practically all of them are under pressure.

Freedom of press has been gradually worsening since 2000, when Vladimir Putin took office.

I have to state that we have no freedom of expression and freedom of press in today’s Russia. It means that mass media doesn’t play a watchdog role for democracy and doesn’t serve public interest as they must.

Only the Internet still remains as an absolutely free mediasphere in Russia where all viewpoints can be expressed, where all political leanings are represented. [well, this is familiar to me… in Spain happens more or less the same… ).

I don’t know why authorities haven’t tried to control the Internet yet. Maybe because only one-third of Russians use it, so the Internet is less influential than TV.

Thus, it’s not surprising that blogs became popular for hosting public discussions on topics t
he traditional mass media ignore and for spreading information that cannot be published or broadcast by Big Media.

The American blog-hosting service LiveJournal.com has become especially popular in Russia. Today it hosts about one million Russian blogs who come form intellectual elite, journalists, politicians, active citizens and so on. LiveJournal represents Russian civic society as it is. That’s why the roots of citizen journalism and citizen reporting in Russia are in LiveJournal.

Until last November, there were no citizen journalism sites in the Russian part of the Web, ones like OhmyNews and many other sites that attract user-created news stories just weren’t here.

I graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations in summer of last year. My diploma work was about blogs and citizen journalism. Being inspired by successful examples of citizen journalism sites in the US and, of course, by OhmyNews, I had strong desire to launch the first Russian site that would attract citizen reporting and become a mass-medium without any kind of censorship that affects traditional media.

[…] 3. So, is there a future for citizen journalism in Russia?

What makes me optimistic is the speed of growth in the Russian blogosphere.

But still, there is a long way to go before we can bring the culture of citizen journalism to Russia. Because citizen journalism isn’t only blogging.

Realno.info will continue work in this sphere. Now we’re preparing the second Moscow conference on citizen media, which will take place in Moscow next spring. I hope, we’ll be able to invite some of you to this conference to speak about your own experiences in citizen journalism.

Real.info news (in Russian).

And both China and Russia are spying heavily on US:

– China and Russia are spying on the United States nearly as much as they did during the Cold War, according to the top U.S. intelligence official.

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says in testimony prepared for a Tuesday congressional hearing that a law passed last month expanding the U.S. government’s eavesdropping power is needed to protect not just against terrorists but also against more traditional potential adversaries, such as those two Cold War foes.

“China and Russia’s foreign intelligence services are among the most aggressive in collecting against sensitive and protected U.S. systems, facilities and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels,” McConnell says in his testimony. “Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security.”

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I have written about the new Mohammed cartoons, Muslims have protested about. Al-Qaeda has menaced the cartoonist “with slaughtering him like a lamb“, peaceful and merciful and … way of expressing dissent. Now the cartoonist has been obliged to go into hiding.

The Swedish cartoonist at the centre of a row over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad says police have taken him to a secret location for his own safety.

Lars Vilks said he was only able to pick up a few things when he returned from Germany at the weekend before police escorted him from his home.

The purported head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has offered $100,000 (£49,310) to anyone who kills Mr Vilks.

Muslims regard visual representation of the Prophet as blasphemous.

Several Muslim countries have protested against the cartoon.

Mr Vilks said the Swedish secret services considered the threat against him as “very serious”.

“The police guard was non-existent before this. It’s 100% now,” Mr Vilks said in a telephone interview with Associated Press agency.

“I can’t live in my home, I’ve only been allowed to pick up some things.”

Makes me feel wonderful…. 😡 Mr Fundamentalist/Muslim/ whatever you want to call yourself, look quietly and directly into my eyes: It is only a cartoon. Don’t you think that Allah, if he was really angry, would not kill him immediately, without any of you meddling in the affair?

From Counterterrorism Blog: there are some questions to make about this affair:

1. Why would al Qaeda Iraq and not another branch offer such a bounty? The Cartoonist is Swedish and the al Qaeda Iraq fights against the US in Iraq. Where is the link here? Many voices in the debate on the War on Terror have been saying that al Qaeda came to Iraq just because the US invaded the country. What about Sweden? (No, Sweden is not in Iraq 🙄 ).
2. Why is al Qaeda-Iraq offering a bounty for the killing of an editor in Scandinavia? Why offering money for Jihad? Well, when a Jihadi group begins to offer financial rewards, it means that the ideological reward isn’t enough. Hmmm….
3. Will such a call be heeded in Sweden? Does al Qaeda have cells -dormant or not- that far north? Reports tells us that the Salafists are propagating this ideology across Scandinavia. Very few realized that an assassination of a film maker in Amsterdam was imaginable before Theo Van Gogh was killed.

4. Will al Qaeda or other Jihadists attack Swedish companies or individuals worldwide? In fact orders were given but it depends on whom would consider themselves the “infantry” and actually take action. It will also depend on what the Swedish Government and Multinational Corporations would state in public or do in private. Sweden has had decades of neutrality regarding many challenges in international relations, and its foreign policy wasn’t comparable at all to NATO countries in their struggle against Terror. However, this is the greatest litmus test yet to be addressed.

We will see how this evolves.

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American Thinker blog writes about US swifting slowly into the Umma (my goodness):

One small step at a time, America is joining the umma, the global community of nations dominated by Islam.
The latest example comes from Indianapolis, where the new billion dollar-plus airport terminal will include foot bath facilities designed specifically for the use of Muslim cab drivers performing ritual ablutions.
The blog Advance Indiana raises the right questions about this misguided enterprise:

If the foot baths are for everybody’s use, as [airport spokesman] Dawson contends, why aren’t they being installed in all of the bathrooms at the new airport? And if they are being installed to accommodate Muslim taxi cab drivers as is obviously the case, then why aren’t similar accommodations being provided for Muslim airline passengers who patronize the airport? It looks like a slippery slope to me. What do you think?

[…] While it may seem harmless to some to enable Muslim cab drivers to perform this ritual, the fact is that similar accommodations would never be tolerated for other religious groups (how about Holy Water founts for Catholic passengers praying for safety prior to boarding flights?). This is evidence that will be understood by Muslims seeking to establish the Global Caliphate that America lacks the will to oppose their domination, so long as it takes one step at a time. Treating Islam more favorably than other religions is demanded by Muslims and accommodated whenever they attain a critical mass. It is a sure indicator of Dhimmitude.

As Dumb OX says “We’re surrounded by idiots. Defend yourself“.

Jihad against schools: Jihad Boom Postcards with threatening cartoons sent to nine schools h/t Pamela:

Investigators in Marion County, Fla., are searching for the author of nine postcards sent to different schools on the same day with the words Jihad-Boom and handwritten cartoons of a building apparently exploding with people inside.

Investigators released the postcards with the threatening drawings on them Monday in hopes of generating leads in the case. Officials said that the postcards are made up of various and traditional themes, and each one has a distinctive hand-drawn cartoon on it. Several of the threats arrived on postcards featuring Walt Disney World. Detectives said the threat-maker crossed his or her No. 7s and attached a suffix to the address. Six of the nine postcards spell the word “Jihad” correctly, while the others are incorrect.

Go and read her post.

Related post: Could US suffer a new Beslan?

This would be a slight modification from the plan…

And no, nothing has been said of this in Spain.

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Sarko offers nukes to Germany but Merkel refuses citing Non Proliferation Treaty h/t I think therefore I err:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t mention the bomb right away. Instead, he took a little detour by way of atomic energy: Whoever is serious about averting global warming should build more nuclear power plants, he told Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during last week’s informal meeting in Meseberg palace (more…), the German government’s guest residence north of Berlin. Then came the surprise offer.

Seeing as they were discussing the benefits of all things atomic, the French president continued, he had another suggestion as well: Because the French nuclear umbrella protected France’s neighbors as well as La Grande Nation itself, perhaps the Germans would consider taking a political stake in the French atomic arsenal?

Both the chancellor and her foreign minister were speechless. The idea of possessing nuclear weapons is taboo in Germany. Sarzoky’s predecessor Jacques Chirac cautiously brought up the issue 12 years ago, but he quickly realized it was pointless to pursue it.

Steinmeier was the first to regain his composure, explaining that Germany did not seek to become a nuclear power, which is why the country had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1975. Merkel offered a friendly smile and backed up her foreign minister.

Hmmm, don’t know what to make of this really…

From Gallia Watch:

An article in Le Figaro brings us the not-unexpected news that France may be actively aiding and abetting the entry of Turkey in the EU. Until now, article 88-5 of the French Constitution required a referendum before a new candidate country could be officially admitted to the body. However that may be changing:

During a meeting of Edouard Balladur’s committee on institutional reform, secretary of State for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet’s suggestion that article 88-5 of the Constitution be eliminated came as a bolt out of the blue.

The referendum had been sought by Jacques Chirac, then voted on by French parliamentarians at a convention in 2005 in Versailles, and is supposed to apply to all new memberships following that of Croatia in 2010, hence Turkey in particular. “Is it necessary to keep this requirement, or should we eliminate it?” asked Jean-Pierre Jouyet, who quickly added that it would be rather “delicate” to go back on a commitment that lies at the heart of the Constitution. The secretary of State declared that he was expressing his own personal opinion. Huh!

😯

Related news: Kouchner, French FM, says world must be prepared to go to war over Iran’s nuclear program. The ayatollahs answer:

“The occupants of the Elysee (the French presidential palace) have become the executors of the will of the White House and have adopted a tone that is… even more inflammatory and more illogical than that of Washington,” IRNA news agency said.
On Monday Mr Kouchner said even in the absence of UN action, the European Union should prepare its own sanctions against Iran.
Following talks in Paris, his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen said his government would be willing “to apply EU sa
nctions in common with the United States sanctions“.
Mr Kouchner later travelled to Moscow, where he is to hold talks with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.
Russia has a UN Security Council veto over any new sanctions, and its support is seen as vital for any new approach to try to force Iran to give up enrichment.

But, hey, from Deustche-Welle:

In a bid to play down the controversy, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Monday, Sept. 17, that tensions with Iran were “extreme” but insisted there was still room for diplomacy in the nuclear stand-off.

“Everything must be done to avoid war,” Fillon told reporters. “The Iranians must understand that tension has reached an extreme point.”

While saying that Kouchner was right to call the situation with Iran dangerous, Fillon added that a confrontation was “the last option that any political leader would want.”

The French foreign minister called on the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Tehran outside of those imposed by the United Nations.

“These would be European sanctions that each country, individually, must put in place with its own banking, commercial and industrial system,” Kouchner said.

And now, the hilarious part, considering that Iran keeps on menacing Israel (and please take a look at the photo in the link ):

Iranian Vice-President Reza Aghazadeh, who is also the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Western countries “have always chosen the path of confrontation instead of the path of understanding and cordial relations.”

Of course Ahmi has ever chosen the peaceful way with Israel….

And lastly, two photos. A lady reciting a poem to Ahmadine-jihad (how many whiskies, ehh, well, you understand me, has she had before that…):

Uuuyyyyyyyy, Ahmi, what a smile….  You must be careful: Do you remember Khatami shaking hands with a young lady in Italy and the following scandal? Well, he has a legal suite awaiting for him at court. 😆

And now the ayatollah (I think it’s Rafsanjani…), learning to use a computer:

Hmm, take care, it’s a Western computer. What are you going to search with that?

Both pictures thanks to Kamangir.net.

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About Syrian-North Korean affair, read this entire post by One Free Korea, because it analyses the different theories about the Israeli strike on Syria last week. I’m only reproducing an excerpt which is interesting enough about what we really know:

North Korea is believed to be the source of North Korea’s SCUD-C missiles and precursors for its chemical weapons, but the transfer of nuclear weapons, equipment, or technology would be a major escalation of that relationship. Diplomats have noted considerable escalation in the cooperation betweent the two nations recently. Both the Times of London, quoting Israeli sources, and Fox News, quoting American sources, note increased sightings of Syrians moving in and out of North Korea by air and by rail, via China . It wasn’t all whispers and surveillance, either:

On August 14, the North Korean minister of foreign trade, Rim Kyong Man, was in Syria to sign a protocol on “co-operation in trade and science and technology.” His delegation held the fifth meeting of a “joint economic committee” with its Syrian counterparts. No details were disclosed. [Times of London]

We had previously heard that Iranians were present at the July 4, 2006 missile tests in North Korea. The Times now reports that Syrians were present, too (you can’t help wondering how they know that). Readers may even recall that after the Ryongchon explosion, one theory had it that the explosive substance was Syrian-bound missile fuel, and that the explosion killed several Syrian scientists.

Finally, the Times claims that Syria has served as a transshipment conduit for missiles components and technology headed from Iran for Syria. IMHO, that one just defies logic. Iran has plenty of perfectly fine seaports, while Iran and Syria don’t even share a land border. (doesn’t seem very logical, no… )

The world’s going nuts… And what suprises are in the making?

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Other news:

1. Augean Stables wants you to sign this petition.
2. Instapundit: GOOD THING WE HAVEN’T abandoned them yet. “American commanders in southern Iraq say Shiite sheiks are showing interest in joining forces with the U.S. military against extremists, in much the same way that Sunni clansmen in the western part of the country have worked with American forces against Al Qaeda.” 😆

Dialogue with Al-Qaeda?, EU Dhimmi Franco Frattini, Six Taliban Killed, AQ in Islamic Maghreb recruiting teenagers, Pakistani lawyers threaten w/ suicide bombing and NYT reporter freed in China

Some “experts on negotiation“, that Spanish Reuters edition qualifies as “cautious“, are asking why we don’t negotiate with Al-Qaeda (in Spanish), because “history shows that the extremist movements are better neutralised using negotiation and not force“.

Specially dedicated for them this video:

See how Hitler answered to negotiations?? This is what Annakin Skywalker, in Chapter II: The Attack of the Clones, before being Darth Vader, calls “aggresive negotiations“, so aggresive that in fact was WWII.

The article also states:

1. “There are also rational ingredients in Al-Qaeda, but it also attracts psycos” (Of course, every rational and normal human being is inclined to commit suicide bombing… ).
2. The negotiator, Jan Egeland, is a reknown anti-Israeli Norwegian, who claims having taken part in secret negotiations between Israel and PLO, Colombian “guerrilla leaders” (that is, FARC) and in Uganda (Lord’s Resistance Army: 20,000 children abducted to serve as soldiers or as sex toys, 12,000 killed directly by war, plus the non-accounted by desertification, illnesses…). All conflicts have been solutioned as you see.
3. “Al Qaeda is not an organization, it’s an idea“. You see? That’s why thinking is not good for your health, because ideas can kill you.
4. “Al Qaeda wants to restore the Muslim Global Caliphate“. How on earth can be restored something that has never existed before?

In the end they have to recognise that there are serious difficulties in negotiating with Al-Qaeda because of their goals (creating an Islamic Global Caliphate and convert everyone -including USA- to Islam) which of course is not very realistic and would imply that all the world’s Governments had to agree on the plan.

There is no place for another moonbat in this world…

Just this day AlQaeda has menaced Iraqi Sunnis…:

An al-Qaeda front group warns it will hunt down and kill Sunni Arab tribal leaders who cooperate with the U.S. and its Iraqi partners in the wake of the assassination of the leader of the revolt against the terror movement.

In a separate statement, the Islamic State of Iraq announced a new offensive during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting that began this week. The statement said the offensive was in honor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in June 2006.

But hey, just put a little flower power in your life … And let’s dialogue!!

New cartoon of Mohammed the Dog: VH writes Mo’s Days of Summer. Al Qaeda has offered a bounty of $100.000 to kill artist (in their words, to “slaughter him like a lamb“). Let’s dialogue….

Stop this world; I’m getting out of it (Groucho Marx).

“War cannot be avoided; it can only be postponed to the other’s advantage“. Niccolo Machiavelli (I’m not a fan of him, but he was really a bright guy).

_____________________________

But there are other idiotic moonbats around. Take for example EU Dhimmi Vice-President Commissioner Franco Frattini, the one who, in the midst of the Mohammed’s cartoons’ furore, stated in an interview to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, that EU will be writing down a code of conduct which “would encourage the media to show “prudence” when covering religion“. And he added:

“The press will give the Muslim world the message: We are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression,” he told the newspaper. “We can and we are ready to self-regulate that right.”

Afterwards, he repented:

Mr Frattini thinks I misconstrued what he said. He has issued a stern press release, putting his side of the story….

Eeh, no, he just blamed the journalist.

Well, now he doesn’t want you to use Internet to search for “dangerous words, like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorist“… h/t Ignacio and la Frase Progre.

Internet searches for bomb-making instructions should be blocked across the European Union, the bloc’s top security official said on Monday.

Internet providers should also prevent access to any site giving instructions on how to make a bomb, EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said in an interview.

“I do intend to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector … on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism,” Frattini told Reuters.

The EU executive is to make this proposal to member states early in November as part of a raft of anti-terrorism proposals.

So, if I search for “Armenian genocide” that means I want to make one myself. And if I search for “Islamic/Islamist terrorist” is that I am also one of them…. And searching for “Sex bomb” (remember the Tom Jones hit?) will also be forbidden.

Do they really think that someone who is in a terrorist cell doesn’t have any other preparation so he/she has to search in Internet how to do a bomb?

But it continues:

The Internet has taken on huge importance for militant groups, enabling
them to share know-how and spread propaganda to a mass audience, as well as to link cell members.

Oh, yeah, and also it has a huge importance for anti-EU groups. Or more accurately to anti-this EU group, hasn’t it? So today we block terrorist and bomb and tomorrow we block information that we don’t want the people to know.

He is so damned politically correct that he does not use “terrorist” but “militant“…

________________________________

In France Rights groups slam plans for immigrant DNA tests h/t Hodja:

French rights groups and left-wing politicians Thursday slammed an amendment to a new immigration bill that would introduce DNA testing for would-be immigrants seeking to join their relatives in France.

The National Assembly’s legislative committee Wednesday approved an amendment that would offer long-term visa applicants the option of a DNA test to prove their family ties.

The amendment’s author Thierry Mariani, a deputy from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, says it aims to root out bogus visa requests, arguing that in parts of Africa up to 80 percent of identity papers submitted by applicants were fake.

He says the tests would be a voluntary way to speed up visa procedures for immigrants’ relatives.

But Socialist deputy George Pau-Langevin, the only black MP from mainland France, called the plans “unacceptable.” “This is a significant and unacceptable step in the violation of the right to a private family life, out of all proportion with the goal of fighting paperwork fraud,” she said. “Would we consider doing the same for French people?”

Right to a private family life??? This is just a measure whose aim is to prevent that people who do not belong to the same family, come to Europe claiming the right of reagroupment.

And what is more: the test is OPTIONAL. If you want, you do it and the process ends quicker. If you don’t, well, everthing is slower… Just your own decission, mate.

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Remember the South Koreans who were kept as hostages by the Talibans?

Afghan and US-led troops on Friday raided the hideout of a Taliban commander linked to the July abduction of 23 South Koreans, killing six militants, police said.

Taliban commander Abdullah Jan however escaped the raid in the southern province of Ghazni, provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai told AFP.

The US-led coalition confirmed there had been an operation in the province but said only that “several suspected militants” had been killed and one arrested.

“Abdullah Jan fled the raid but six of his associates were killed and an unknown number were detained by the coalition forces,” Ahmadzai told AFP.

The bodies of three of the dead were left at the site, he said.

The coalition said one person was detained in the operation in the Qarabagh district, the area where the South Korean aid workers were abducted on July 19.

Troops kill six Taliban linked to alleged SKorean abductor – Yahoo! News

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Some days ago I wrote that Al Qaeda had recruited teenagers for the suicide attacks and that they were educated to be like “little A-Zarqawis“. Well, over 50 have been recruited and trained by now:

The al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb between December and April recruited over 50 children aged under 16, the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper reported on Friday, quoting Algerian intelligence sources.
Police were alarmed that a 15-year-old suicide bomber carried out a deadly attack earlier this month in the Algerian port city of Dellys. The boy managed to pass unnoticed through security checks.
Radical imams have recruited to al-Qaeda around 15 under-16s from poor districts of the capital, Algiers, to join its fighters hiding in the mountains of Algeria, police said.
Police said the US-led war in Iraq was being used as pretext to radicalise youngsters in Algeria and persuade them to join militants. They said many had been given training in carrying out suicide attacks either in Iraq or in Algeria.
The al-Kalitius neighbourhood of the village ofBourama on the outskirts of southern Algiers is a particular ‘hotspot’ for Jihadi recruiters, according to police.
After being taken into the mountains, the youngsters have come into contact with Tunisian and Libyan militants and have been trained alongside them to carry out car and truck bomb attacks, police said.

Speaking of children abuse…. What outrage in the MSM and in NGO’s there is after knowing this?

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And seeing that the suicide attacks are feared, what do you think Pakistani lawyers plan to do if colleagues are tortured? Exactly…

Peshawar High Court Bar Association President Abdul Latif Afridi on Thursday warned intelligence agencies and the army to avoid torturing lawyers or “face suicide attacks by lawyers at forces’ headquarters”.
At an emergency meeting, the PHCBA passed a resolution denouncing a report that intelligence agencies arrested Advocate Ghulam Nabi on Thursday night and tortured him at a detention cell. Afridi said that if the army and spy agencies did not change their attitude towards lawyers and citizens, the people would “ban the entry of military and agencies personnel to bazaars and main roads”. He said the lawyers would charge secret agencies under sections 6 and 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act as
“they tried to terrify the entire lawyers’ community by torturing a lawyer”. The lawyers later staged a protest outside the corps commander house in Peshawar.

I do not like torture, but I also don’t like suicide bombings…

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NYT reported freed:

A Chinese journalist jailed while working for the New York Times has been released. Zhao Yan had been sentenced to three years in prison for fraud in August 2006. He was detained in 2004 on charges that included leaking state secrets. International human rights groups had severely criticised his imprisonment, saying the Communist Party was using secrecy laws to stifle news.

For a retrospective on Zhao Yan, see HRW:

July 2004
Zhao Yan writes a four-line note for the New York Times sketching out a reported conflict between President Hu Jintao and ex-President Jiang Zemin over senior military appointments.
September 7, 2004
The New York Times publishes an article predicting that former President Jiang Zemin will step down from his position of head of the military. A reference to political jockeying between Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao is included as background material in one of the final paragraphs of the article.

[…] October 5, 2005
The Washington Post reveals that Zhao’s case relies almost entirely on a copy of an internal New York Times memo obtained by the State Security Ministry, according to a confidential ministry document urging prosecutors to indict the researcher. It is unclear how the agents gained access to the memo, of which a copy is included in an inventory of evidence collected in the case. [Who gave that copy then? ]

But at the same time detains other two AFP reporters h/t Status of Chinese People:

The arrest of two Agence France-Presse reporters on 12 September is the latest in a string of cases of foreign journalists being obstructed in their work. They show that the less stringent regulations introduced in January are being applied erratically and only when less sensitive issues are involved. At least 32 foreign journalists have been detained or prevented by police from doing reports since January.

“The way the authorities have treated journalists from Agence France-Presse, the BBC World Service and other international news organisations in recent weeks do not bode well for the ability of the foreign media to work during the Olympic Games,” the press freedom organisation said.

“These are not unfortunate blunders,” Reporters Without Borders continued. “They are the result of a clear lack of goodwill on the part of the police, who refuse to let reporters travel and investigate freely. We call on the International Olympic Committee to intervene with the Chinese authorities to ensure that the rules introduced in January are finally respected.”

Just keep waiting…

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Sri Lanka kills Tamil tigers:

Sri Lankan soldiers killed 15 Tamil Tiger rebels in a clashes in the north and east of the island while six military personnel were also killed, the military said on Saturday.

The latest spike in violence in the country’s long-running civil war follows the launch of a new offensive by government forces to drive guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the northwesterly Mannar area.

Just in case, Tamil Tigers are the “inventors” of suicide bombings. It’s said that Bin Laden copied them.

In 1987 the LTTE established the notorious Black Tigers, an elite unit of the LTTE responsible for conducting suicide attacks against political, economic and military targets,^[9] and launched its first suicide attack against a Sri Lanka Army camp, killing 40 soldiers, still its not conformed.

Of course, they are only “militants”…

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Other news:

1. Selling and drinking alcohol is still legal in Iraq, but since the rise of religious parties in this predominantly Muslim country, the trade has come under severe pressure. Aside from legal restrictions, many liquor shops have been bombed in the past four years. But the people still but it…
2. Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Austria for a three-day pilgrimage, saying Christianity was not just the legacy of Europe’s past but “the way to the future.”
3. Japanese Shinzo Abe’s resigned. The main reason of his decission is that the Liberal party’s candidate had different views about the way to conduct negotiations about the continuation of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force’s refueling operations in the Indian Ocean in support of the Global War on Terrorism. The front-runner to become Japan’s next prime minister vowed Saturday to extend his nation’s support for U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. Ruling party veteran Yasuo Fukuda also said he would take a softer line with North Korea over its past abduction of Japanese nationals, a row that has threatened to upset negotiations over the communist country’s nuclear weapons.
4. Putin, again: British and Norwegian jets intercepted Russian military aircraft Friday after they breached NATO airspace close to the U.K. and Finland, defense officials said. So far!!! Surprise, surprise: Putin does not rule out presenting himself to 2012’s elections. But this is not hurting his sucessor’s perspectives… No…
5. After I wrote these last days about the Deobandi sect in Britain and its overwhelming influence there, we have some fresh ne
   ws about Tablighi Jamaat and their London’s mega-mosque: “The mega-mosque complex would become a flagship for Tablighi Jamaat’s mission to indoctrinate Muslims with a hatred of the West and the kuffar [non-Mulims].” But wasn’t the Mega-mosque cancelled? But there is more: Irfan al Alawi, international director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, says the missionary work of Tablighi Jamaat acts as “a recruitment agency for jihad” in Afghanistan, the occupied territories and Iraq. “They go around deprived areas of British towns and cities, knocking on doors and urging young Muslims to come to their gatherings,” he said.

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