Greece is facing a crisis with its huge population of unassimilated Muslim immigrants. Now that the financial crisis in full swing, violent incidents between native Greeks and the immigrants have become more common.In other news, an American Indian chief visited Israel to declare her support for the Jewish state on behalf of Virginia’s Indians. It doesn’t say what tribe she’s from — I’m familiar with the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, but there are others.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Sean O’Brian, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Across Europe, The Embattled Left Loses Its Clout
VIENNA — Pity Europe’s Socialists. It’s getting lonely on the left.
Just when you might think capitalism’s global crisis would breathe new life into the left, it’s looking increasingly divided and tired. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s re-election a week ago is highlighting a conservative surge in her country and Europe’s other powerhouse economies — Britain, France and Italy — where the center-right is either firmly in power or about to get there.
What happened?
Much of the answer lies in the nature of modern European politics, where even the most ardent conservatives can still embrace social welfare policies that would seem leftist to Americans. And in recent years, European center-right parties have mastered a certain political alchemy in co-opting some of the left’s best ideas.
The result is that what would be hot-button issues in the U.S. — abortion, gun control, gay rights or state-guaranteed health care — have long ceased to rile voters in Europe.
Conservatives “have taken a page right out of Bill Clinton’s playbook, and that’s triangulation,” said Heather Conley, a Europe scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Clinton brought the U.S. Democrats toward more laissez-faire economic policies, as did Britain’s Tony Blair when his Labour Party ousted the Tories in 1997. Now European conservatives have done it in reverse — “taken the socialist agenda and claimed it as their own,” Conley said.
The left’s slide began well before the global recession discredited the right’s faith in free markets and light regulation. The surprise, to some, is that Europeans seem to have more faith in conservatives to solve the crisis.
“In times of insecurity, the right has credibility,” said Enrico de Bernart, a 43-year-old man window-shopping near the Pantheon in Rome. “People trust the right or center-right even if you don’t like their objectives.”
The Financial Times of London had another explanation: The left was in power for a decade in Britain and Germany, and it was then, voters believe, that the seeds of the financial meltdown were planted.
“Instead of being trusted to provide answers to the recession, they are seen as part of the problem,” it said.
The right has also profited by pounding hard on immigration and crime — popular in times of economic uncertainty — while sending out reassuring messages about preserving Europe’s generous welfare systems.
Analysts insist the social safety net isn’t in jeopardy. “The lesson that Europe has taken a year after the collapse of Lehman Bros. is that the safety net cushioned the most extreme effects of the recession,” Conley said.
“Our social system is not under threat at all,” added Ghislaine Robinson, a French national who is spokeswoman for the Party of European Socialists, the left-leaning bloc in the European Parliament.
The left can take some comfort from having been re-elected in Portugal last month, and it’s expected to win Sunday’s election in Greece. Socialists are also in power in Spain, a major European economy.
But conservatives have deposed the left in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. And in smaller countries where the center-left clings to power — Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands and Norway — its hold seems shaky at best.
Its most dramatic humiliation was its trouncing in Germany.
The Social Democrats were swept from government after 11 years — falling victim to Merkel’s studied pragmatism and a campaign that made vague promises of modest tax relief while taking care not to do anything that might scare voters.
Merkel “succeeded perfectly in shrouding in fog what she wants,” said Stefan Reinecke, a commentator for the left-leaning Tageszeitung daily.
The left, by contrast, had never really recovered from the labor reforms and welfare state cuts that ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pushed through in 2003 in his own experiment with triangulation. Like Blair, Schroeder had advocated a “Third Way” approach, only to be accused of dismantling the German welfare state.
Many Germans seem to think the conservatives, “because of their alleged or actual economic competence,” are more capable of fixing the economy, said Gero Neugebauer, a professor of political science at Berlin’s Free University.
Elsewhere, left-leaning politicians are caught in nasty party infighting and are up against populist conservatives.
In France, the once-powerful Socialist Party is in crisis for lack of a personality to rally around.
The party had its heyday under the 14-year presidency of Francois Mitterrand. But since losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 presidential elections, the Socialists have been unable agree on a program or a cohesive solution to the financial crisis.
Sarkozy has further undermined support for the Socialists by leaning left himself, talking of a more “moral” capitalism and leading a global push for tighter international regulations and limits on bankers’ bonuses.
“Socialism isn’t dead — that is an exaggerated idea,” said Ives Clemenceau, a 74-year-old Parisian retiree who worked in the hotel business and voted for Sarkozy. “But the party is flat now. They don’t have a plan.”
Italy’s left also is badly fractured and fairly feeble in its opposition to conservative Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Critics question the left’s ability to deal with the problems posed by modern society, such as rising immigration, urban insecurity and a changing labor market — issues Berlusconi has managed to tap into and stay on top in the polls despite sex and corruption scandals.
“The left governed three years ago and didn’t do anything. We saw no results of what they promised Italians,” said Costantino Alfredo, 46, an office clerk in Rome. “The right and the left are the same in Italy.”
The center-left can’t seem to catch a break in Britain, either.
The ruling Labour Party — foundering under unpopular Prime Minister Gordon Brown, suffered another indignity last week when Britain’s biggest-selling tabloid, The Sun, announced it was switching support to the opposition Conservatives after backing Labour for more than a decade.
“This government has lost its way,” the newspaper declared.
Most predict Labour will be voted out next year. David Cameron, the Conservative leader campaigning to become Britain’s next prime minister, said voters “see a regenerated, refreshed Conservative Party ready to serve.”
Labour, whose governments have been in the thick of the Iraq and Afghan wars, portrays the Tories as having no experience on the world stage — “a bunch of schoolboys,” in the taunting words of Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
“I think the right wing has stolen quite a few ideas from the left and is pretending to sell them better than we do,” said Robinson, of the Party of European Socialists.
“People are sick and tired of little battles between parties,” she said. “What they care about is how they are going to pay their bills and feed their families. That’s what matters to them.”
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Sued to Keep Out of State’s Gun Affairs
Complaint filed seeking affirmation of Montana Firearms Freedom Act
In the second major front in the war over gun rights that has developed in just days, a lawsuit has been filed against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder seeking a court order that the federal government stay out of the way of Montana’s management of its own firearms.
The action was filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Montana Shooting Sports Association in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont., to validate the principles and terms of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, which took effect today.
[…]
David Codrea, a Gun Rights Examiner writer, noted the federal government already has started attacking the move.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, he wrote, previously had written to Federal Firearms Licensees, warning that they could be prosecuted for following the state laws in Montana and Tennessee.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Josephine Baker’s Rainbow Tribe
Long before Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow and Madonna made headlines with their adoptive families, 1920s star Josephine Baker tried to combat racism by adopting 12 children of various ethnic backgrounds from around the world. Today the members of her “rainbow tribe” are still searching for their identity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Olympic Failure Will Only Add to Doubts About His Presidency
It was only the Olympic Games, the White House will argue — not a high-stakes diplomatic gamble with North Korea. It is always worthwhile when Mr Obama sells America to the rest of the world, David Axelrod, his chief political adviser, said today. But that argument will fall on deaf ears in the US. Americans want their presidents to be winners.
Mr Obama was greeted — as usual — like a rock star by the IOC delegates in Copenhagen — then humiliated by them. Perception is reality. A narrow defeat for Chicago would have been acceptable — but the sheer scale of the defeat was a bombshell, and is a major blow for Mr Obama at a time when questions are being asked about his style of governance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Secession Movement Spreads Well Beyond Texas
Rising public anger over the way Washington does business has produced a growing outcry for state sovereignty and strict adherence to the 10th Amendment, which says powers not specifically delegated to the federal government by the Constitution belong to the states.
Texas was an epicenter for this year’s “tea party” protests, in which thousands of Americans displayed their contempt for rising taxes and federal intrusion.
‘Unprecedented’ defiance
Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center in Los Angeles, a think tank that monitors states’ rights activity, said defiance of federal policy is “unprecedented” and cuts across the philosophical spectrum, ranging from staunch conservatives to anti-war activists to civil libertarians. Legislatures in 37 states, he said, have introduced state sovereignty resolutions and at least seven have passed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Extreme Makeover of Fox News Analyst Marc Lamont Hill
Fox analyst Hill has declared his belief that the brain aneurysm that claimed Muhammad’s life was somehow deliberately induced by outside forces and that Muhammad was “assassinated.”
[…]
The report includes some other controversial quotes. Muhammad is actually quoted as telling his supporters, “If I slip on a bar of soap in the shower, goddammit, the white man did it!”
The apparent attempt to sanitize the web pages of Marc Lamont Hill will not be successful. All of the offensive material has been retained. Indeed, Internet archives have produced some other revealing material about the Fox News Channel contributor.
On December 6, 2006, when reports indicated that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was sick, Fox News contributor Marc Lamont Hill declared on his blog that he was afraid the information might be true. “My fears about Fidel’s health are not only personal but political,” he wrote.
“This past week,” he wrote, “Cuba celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, as well as Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday. Despite the huge number of dignitaries, aging revolutionaries, and fellow citizens in attendance, El Comandante was not in attendance. While a no-show at this type of event is curious for any leader, it is unthinkable for Fidel, who thrives on such moments. In fact, the only thing that could keep him away is the very thing that scares me the most: Fidel was too sick to attend.”
The thought of this dictator dying was just too much for Hill to take.
[…]
One item has not disappeared from Hill’s web page. An entry on his curriculum vitae, under the heading of “Recent Conference Papers, Presentations, and Invited Lectures,” still includes “January 2006, The Importance of Ideological Training in the New Millenium [sic]. Invited Speaker at Polymathematic University (Political Education Progam for the Poor Righteous Communist Party).” Actually, the name of the group is the Poor Righteous Party of the Black Nation. It is a communist group of the Maoist kind, however.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Leader is Holding the Door Open for the UK to Sink Lisbon
Mr Klaus’s position is the stronger. I have known him for many years. He is probably the most intelligent senior politician in Europe today, combining a fine brain with an even finer political instinct.
He is popular, steely and determined — and he wants the Lisbon Treaty to fail. But it will be a cliffhanger. Last Tuesday, Mr Klaus received unexpected support from 17 Czech senators.
They lodged a fresh appeal against the treaty with the country’s Constitutional Court. An appeal lodged last November, on a series of particular points, failed even though Mr Klaus himself vigorously supported it.
This second legal suit is broader. The court has been asked to say exactly what powers can and cannot be transferred to Brussels. Logically, the court should need more time to give its ruling than last time, when it took five months.
A similar appeal was lodged in January in Germany. Opponents of Lisbon there argued that the treaty undermined Germany’s self-government and democracy.
The German Constitutional Court partly agreed, saying that Lisbon could be ratified only on condition that the German Parliament passed a special law reaffirming its rights to veto EU law. This has now happened and Germany finally ratified Lisbon last month.
But Euro-sceptics in the Czech Republic hope that their Constitutional Court might do something similar and that a new law would have to be passed in Prague, too. All this will take time — which is exactly what Mr Klaus wants.
For the Czech President is playing a political game while claiming that he is only following legal procedures. And the reason why he wants time lies in Britain.
[…]
Some people say the court could take six months to rule. Others point out that the judges will be lobbied hard to deliver a quick verdict to prevent Mr Klaus’s game from working. Last week, the German Ambassador in Prague met the president of the court — a highly irregular step — and presumably discussed the treaty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece’s Socialists Win Snap Poll
Greece’s opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) has won the country’s snap general elections.
Outgoing PM Costas Karamanlis has congratulated Pasok leader George Papandreou and resigned as leader of the conservative New Democracy party.
With some 40% of ballots counted, the socialists had more than 43% of the vote, to 35% for New Democracy.
Pasok needs 43% to win an absolute majority in parliament. It has been in opposition for more than five years.
Evangelos Venizelos, a senior Pasok member and former minister said the result was “a historic victory” which “means great responsibility” for Pasok.
Another senior Pasok member, Theodoros Pangalos, told Greek media the party had convinced voters “with the strength of our programme”, while party official Fofi Gennimata said it was “clear that the people are calling for a new course”.
Coalition
Mr Karamanlis called the election in early September, half way through his four-year term.
He said he wanted a new mandate to tackle Greece’s economic problems, but his opponents say he has failed to fulfil promises to clean up public office and to modernise the country.
The government has also been hit by a series of corruption scandals.
Mr Papandreou has promised he will build a green economy and bring in foreign experts to help Greece overcome its problems if elected.
The BBC’s Malcolm Brabant says voters seem to prefer Mr Papandreou’s promise of a 3bn Euro ($4.4bn:£2.7bn) stimulus package to the programme of austerity proposed by Mr Karamanlis.
Correspondents say the build-up to the election has been lacklustre. A recent poll has also suggested nine out of 10 voters no longer trust either party.
On Friday a small bomb exploded near Mr Karamanlis’s final campaign rally.
The blast, which caused no injuries and only minor damage, was claimed by a leftist group calling itself The Fire Conspiracy Cells the following day.
The opposition needs at least 43% of the national vote to be sure of an overall majority.
Forty seats are automatically awarded to the leading party and the remaining 260 are divided by proportional representation.
If no party wins outright, President Karolos Papoulias will ask the leader of the largest party to try to form a coalition government. If that fails, new elections will be called.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: So Our 1,000 Years of History Ends Like This
So, out of the smog of dishonesty that has long concealed it, we at last see the true shape of the thing that threatens us.
A great grey Tower of Babel reaches up into the sky over Europe, lopsided, full of cracks and likely to collapse in the fullness of time. But unlike the mythical original, it is complete — even though its builders neither understand nor particularly like each other.
The new European State finally exists and has given itself life — life of a rather Frankenstein sort, but life all the same.
It no longer needs to ask the permission of its member states to act. Ireland, for instance, will no longer be able even to hold a referendum on increased EU central powers.
It has what is called a ‘legal personality’, so will not need to make future changes by treaty but by acting as the superstate it now is.
Increasingly, the provinces of Europe, which until today were countries, will need its permission to exist at all.
That passport you hold is not British, but European. You are a European citizen. British Embassies abroad are European Embassies — as they already show by flying the EU’s meaningless and tasteless blue and yellow dishcloth.
Shouldn’t somebody have pointed out that in the recent history of the Continent, yellow stars call up only one dismal image, the mass murder of Europe’s Jews?
Anthony Blair, who wrecked his own political party and irreparably damaged Britain in the pursuit of global ideals, is considered a fit person to be the appointed President of this strange new superpower, precisely because he is unfit to lead his own country.
David Cameron claims that he is somehow able to exempt Britain from all these forces by holding a referendum on a treaty this country has already ratified.
But what will he do if we vote ‘No’? Does he think we are not subject to the forces that have compelled Ireland to hold the poll again?
Amid all the fuss about London’s grandiose new Supreme Court, nobody has seen fit to mention that Britain’s real Supreme Court, the European Court of Justice — now sits in Luxembourg.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: How an Eagle-Eyed Junior Policeman Ended Roman Polanski’s 30 Years of Freedom
For more than 30 years, film director Roman Polanski has defied justice, even winning an Oscar while a fugitive from the US, where he faced jail after having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
But his detention last week at Zurich airport was not the result of relentless pursuit by America — instead, it was sparked by the attention to duty of a junior Swiss policeman.
Sources close to Polanski, 76, and Emmanuelle Seigner, his French wife of 20 years, say that a regional officer noticed Polanski’s name on a database of wanted criminals.
Realising the director was due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival, he contacted the Swiss Federal Department of Police and Justice.
The Swiss phoned their US counterparts, who have had an arrest warrant out for Polanski since 1978, and they eagerly requested he be held as soon as he flew into Switzerland from France.
Now, as Polanksi languishes in a Zurich police cell, his wife, 43, has hired lawyer Lorenz Erni, Switzerland’s ‘master of the legal loophole’, to try to mastermind her husband’s freedom.
[…]
Mystery surrounds the compensation that Roman Polanski has paid to Samantha Geimer.
Court documents in California show he agreed to pay her £314,000 in 1993 to settle her law suit.
But the last court filing, in August 1996, shows Polanski owed her £380,000, including interest.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Politics of President Blair
Britain’s former Prime Minister would be a powerful figurehead for Europe. He shows the need for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty
In the crypt of the Pantheon in Paris are buried the ashes of a little banker from Cognac, an indomitable man who transformed Europe. And although dead these 30 years, he transforms Europe still. When the Second World War ended, Jean Monnet conceived a plan to banish war from the Continent. National governments would gradually yield power to supranational institutions. By sheer will and good contacts (his home was a salon for the lions of the US foreign policy establishment), Monnet helped to found Europe’s fledgeling bodies. But more than this, he provided a working method for European integration.
There were two parts to Monnet’s method — maintaining momentum and what he called “changing the context”. Integration would never be allowed to falter and the politics would continuously changed, with one reform being used to make the case for the next. The plan to make Tony Blair president of the European Council would have made Monnet proud.
Because many features of the Lisbon treaty are arcane, it has been easy to overlook its most potent feature. It creates a figurehead for the Union. If Mr Blair is appointed to this position it will become easy to overlook it no longer.
Politics is chemistry, not physics. The stature of the person holding the office is often more significant than the formal powers he or she has. Some of the possible presidency candidates might be small figures, little able to provide leadership. Mr Blair is emphatically not in that category.
If the European Council appoints Mr Blair it will be installing, without an election, an articulate, charismatic leader who will have a colossal impact on global politics. The future of European institutions, the conduct of foreign policy and, without question, the domestic political position of Gordon Brown and David Cameron, all would be changed by Mr Blair’s ascendancy.
This, of course, is the point of his candidacy. Those promoting him doubtless believe he will do a good job, and that Europe needs an Atlanticist free-trader. But they also believe, as Monnet would have done, that the Lisbon treaty’s creation of a presidency is an opportunity. The appointment of a major figure such as Mr Blair can help, they believe, to strengthen Europe’s political identity and pave the way for still further reform.
Mr Blair’s candidacy may be foiled. There are plenty of European statesman who do not want a British president, let alone one with Mr Blair’s attitude to the United States. But the very fact that Mr Blair’s appointment is a possibility makes the case for a British referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
There is plenty in the treaty that is technical, and which would make an eccentric subject for a national vote. It would also be a grave mistake for the United Kingdom to have a debate about its continued membership of the Union, something that it settled in 1975. But the creation of a strong European presidential figurehead, the sort of leader that Mr Blair would be, is a serious constitutional change, not some mere tidying-up exercise. And therefore it should be put to the British people.
The British Government is keen to emphasise that if the Irish vote “yes”, as seems likely, the debate on Lisbon is over because the treaty will have been approved by every government in the continent. Yet this is only the case because the British Government reneged on its promise to hold a referendum. In other words it is showing exasperation at other people’s failure to accept a situation it brought about itself.
Mr Blair may well make an outstanding president of Europe, but his authority would rest on a broken promise. He should not be installed before the British people have had a chance to decide if they like the very idea of his new office.
| [Return to headlines] |
Tony Blair, The EU President No One Really Wants
The reluctant vote in favour of further European integration by the Irish this weekend may usher Tony Blair into a new role as titular head of the European Union — despite most of Europe being reluctant to have him.
The former prime minister is the leading candidate to become the European Union president for a want of alternatives rather than any enthusiasm.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Jab as Deadly as the Cancer’
THE cervical cancer vaccine may be riskier and more deadly than the cancer it is designed to prevent, a leading expert who developed the drug has warned.
She also claimed the jab would do nothing to reduce the rates of cervical cancer in the UK.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, Dr Diane Harper, who was involved in the clinical trials of the controversial drug Cervarix, said the jab was being “over-marketed” and parents should be properly warned about the potential side effects.
[…]
Dr Harper, of the University of Missouri-Kansas, said she believed the risks — “small but real” — could be worse than the risk of developing cancer itself.
And she claimed: “All this jab will do is prevent girls getting some abnormalities associated with cervical cancer which can be treated. It will not decrease cervical cancer rates at all.
“Parents need to know this and that in a small number of cases there are serious side effects.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Can David Cameron the Builder Fix the Bodge Job Left by Labour?
David Cameron’s message at the Tory party conference will be of radical repair to a broken nation.
“You know, it wouldn’t be such a bad conference theme for us,” mused one of David Cameron’s closest allies last week as we discussed Gordon Brown’s idea of the “squeezed middle”: the mainstream middle class that subsidises greedy, incompetent bankers and welfare scroungers alike. But this Cameroon was engaging in pure hypothesis. The theme for the Conservatives’ final conference before the general election, which opens in Manchester tomorrow, is already quite explicit: it is radical repair.
In his article for The Sunday Telegraph today, the Conservative leader promises “massive change in the way we run this country, how we live our lives, and what we expect from government and each other”. And in Manchester he will posture as a sort of national repair man, a Bullingdon Bob the Builder. Tomorrow’s agenda is billed as “Fixing our Broken Politics”; Tuesday is “Rebuilding our Broken Economy”; Wednesday is “Mending our Broken Society”. You get the idea.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cameron vs Blair: It’s Game on
DAVID CAMERON might not want to pick a fight with the European Union. But yesterday it picked a fight with him.
The Eurocrats have bullied and bribed a ‘yes’ out of Ireland for the renamed EU Constitution. Next, they’ll seek to mop up remaining opposition. That means Britain. And this pits Cam against an enemy he thought vanquished: the back-from-the- dead Tony Blair.
Make no mistake: this is the last thing that Cam wanted as his party gathers in Manchester for a pre-election conference. When the Tory leadership hear the word “Europe” they think “mad Tory splits”. This doesn’t fit the party’s new fuzzy-green-tree image. Too bad. Like it or not the Tories, Labour and Brussels are, right now, in a three-way fight. They all want to govern Britain.
Blair, ever the professional, worked this out a long time ago. That’s why he’s planning a comeback as President of Europe. All he needs is for the Czechs and Poles to cave in, as the Irish have. Then, hey presto. Bullying complete. Time for an EU superstate. So instead of messing up the Tory conference, the Irish ‘yes’ tees things up perfectly. It’s the ideal campaign issue. Here’s why.
You may not have much of a clue about what the Tories stand for. And you’d be in good company (including many Tory MPs). But would you like a referendum? The chance to have that vote which Blair promised us at the last election — then cheated us out of? Me too. And what do you think about ‘President Blair?’ Flouncing around as if he were Europe’s answer to Barack Obama? Do you fancy living in some kind of neverending Blair-Brown era? A political Groundhog Day where Blair’s toothy grin is everywhere? Me neither. And the only way to stop it is to vote Conservative. They’ll deliver the referendum — and let the people have their say.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Rapist Strikes Again Days After Being Let Off Because Victim’s Christian Family Forgave Him
A top judge is at the centre of an investigation after he freed a child rapist who then kidnapped and raped another youngster just eight days later.
Judge Adrian Smith had spared the 16-year old sex attacker a jail term after his first victim’s family, who are devout Christians, forgave the teenager.
But just days after the boy was placed on a community order amid protests from prosecutors and police, he lured a five-year-old boy from the front of his home and raped him nearby.
[Comments from JD: Note the biased headline against Christians. It was actually the Judges decision to release the perp — the headline of the article doesn’t reflect this fact.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Christian Preacher Refused Entry to Britain Under Rules Intended to Fight Extremism
Christian evangelist Benny Hinn, from Texas, has been refused entry to Britain after falling foul of new rules drawn up to combat hate crimes and extremism.
Thousands who travelled to see Mr Hinn perform at a London rally have been were left disappointed after officials at Stansted airport would not let him in the country.
Border Agency officials turned back Mr Hinn, who landed by private jet, because he had failed to bring a valid sponsorship certificate from his church, required under rules introduced last November.
[…]
Mr Hinn has previously visited Britain without problems, but since November, under Home Office rules intended to combat extremism, all religious workers must obtain a valid certificate of sponsorship before they arrive in the UK.
One of the aims of the new points-based system was to prevent teachers of religious hate entering the country.
A Border Agency spokesman said the rules were designed to ensure that a legitimate sponsor is linked to any application to enter Britain for work purposes. He added: “These rules are applied objectively and clearly set out for travellers”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cherie Blair Demands Armed Police Protection… And it Will Cost the Taxpayer £500k
Scotland Yard has abandoned plans to scale down security around Tony Blair after his wife Cherie complained to the Home Office.
Metropolitan Police chiefs had drawn up detailed plans to reduce the size of the team guarding the Blairs’ London home.
Senior officers said the £500,000 bill for an armed police guard was an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer because the couple were often away from their £4.36million West London mansion.
[…]
The cost of guarding Mr Blair — who is being tipped to become the first president of the EU — has soared since he quit as Prime Minister in June 2007.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Facing Up to the Evil That Woman Do.
Female paedophila.
It is society’s last taboo — the very antithesis of our perception of women. Women are meant to be the nurturers, mothers, carers and protectors of children, not predators. None of the parents at Little Ted’s Day Nursery in Plymouth suspected Vanessa George was abusing their young children.
She was a woman, after all. How could anyone imagine that this seemingly bubbly nursery worker, described by one mother as “an angel”, could be sexually assaulting babies, taking photographs on her mobile phone and then exchanging them over the internet with her accomplices, Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard?
Society has come to accept that male paedophiles like Blanchard exist, but what makes a woman commit such heinous crimes against children?
Renowned forensic psychologist Dr Ian Stephen — the man who inspired the TV series Cracker — is one of the few experts who understand the profiles of sexually abusive women and why they are driven to molest children.
[Comments from JD: WARNING. Extremely disturbing descriptions.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Humiliation for Gordon Brown Over US Plan for G4 Elite Without Britain
Labour last night faced humiliation with the prospect of Britain missing out on a place in a new elite club of economic superpowers.
Reports in the United States claim President Barack Obama is keen to establish a top table of global economies which would leave Britain on the sidelines.
The proposal will put further pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Britain also faces dismissal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
[…]
The so-called Group of Four (G4) would comprise the biggest global economies: America, Japan, China and the Eurozone countries.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: I’m Harriet Harman — You Know Where You Can Get Me
‘I’m Harriet Harman — you know where you can get me…’ What Minister allegedly told witness as she left scene of accident
Labour’s deputy leader is being investigated by police for allegedly crashing into a parked car while talking on her mobile and failing to leave her insurance or registration details — an offence carrying a six-month jail term.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jack Straw ‘Too Close’ To Pro-Hamas Faction
A SECRET MI5 report on Islamic extremism in Blackburn has raised “potential concerns” about some radical Muslim factions known to Jack Straw, the local MP and justice secretary.
A senior security figure who has seen the report said it underlined concern among cabinet colleagues that Straw could be “too close” to the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), a prominent Muslim umbrella group. The government formally severed links with the group after a blazing row over extremism earlier this year.
“Jack’s a bit too close to the MCB — he sometimes appears to suggest they are the only game in town. There is a concern that proximity to them may colour [his] judgment,” the insider said.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mug a Hoodie
Tories promise they will put 100,000 in jail to clear Britain’s streets of thugs
Thousands of thugs will be locked up in a fresh crackdown on the horrific lawlessness that blights so many towns and cities in Britain if the Conservatives win power.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling is to introduce new laws to tackle violent crime — and he will ditch Labour’s policy of releasing prisoners because there are not enough cells.
Instead, the Tories will build 5,000 additional prison places, taking the capacity of the nation’s jails to 100,000 for the first time in history.
The Conservative proposals include:
- New laws to jail people who attack policemen.
- ‘Grounding orders’ to punish young thugs who terrorise housing estates.
- Sacking police chiefs who refuse to tackle families from hell.
- Cutting parole for badly behaved prisoners.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nursery Paedophile to Get New Identity — All Funded by Taxpayers
Convicted paedophile Vanessa George will get 24-hour protection in prison
Nursery paedophile Vanessa George will enjoy a life of anonymity at vast expense to the taxpayer when she leaves prison.
It is thought her notoriety will never allow her to return to a normal life — and she will use human rights legislation to secure a secret new identity and round-the-clock protection.
The 39-year-old former classroom assistant has become a national hate figure since the extent of her crimes emerged.
[Comments from JD: WARNING — Details of this case are disturbing.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Plan to Legalise Parakeet Shoots Branded ‘Racist’ By Wildlife Experts
Natural England yesterday announced that from January it will relax rules protecting the exotic birds.
The birds have been blamed for destroying crops and bullying smaller native species in the hunt for food and nesting space.
But London Wildlife Trust said there is ‘little evidence’ that a cull of parakeets — with their bright green plumage, red beaks and ear-piercing screech — is justified.
It added that parakeets, which originate from the Himalayas, are ‘as British as curry’ and represent the London’s cultural and historical diversity.
The trust said a cull was ‘misguided’ and feared the move put similar-looking indigenous birds, like the green woodpecker, at risk of being shot in error.
It added: ‘Descriptions of them as bullies and pests reflects more on attitudes towards ‘foreign species’ than any evidence to support these views.’
Mathew Frith, deputy chief executive of London Wildlife Trust: ‘The evidence is scant, and our view is that there are already existing licence arrangements that can be used if parakeets are damaging cherry trees, for example, in a farmer’s orchard. I think this is just jumping the gun.
‘We also know that green woodpeckers look like parakeets. They’re very bright green when they fly. This could be yet another reason for people to cull other birds.’
But he added: ‘I quite like ring-neck parakeets but I’m lucky I don’t have to live near a flock. When they fly they look like Spitfires.’
With up to 40,000 of the wild parrots thought to be in London and the South-East, in areas such as Richmond Park, it feared that they could soon outnumber native species in the way that the red squirrel population has been dominated by grey squirrels.
Matthew Heydon, Natural England’s licensing expert, said: “It’s true that at the present time the scale of this problem is relatively minor.
‘That is because the birds are relatively limited in their distribution, but as they spread out of London you can expect the problem to get more severe.
‘The closest example is the grey squirrel. Now there isn’t a hope in hell of removing the grey squirrel from Britain, and the red squirrel is hanging on by a thread.’
Mr Heydon warned it was not “open season” on parakeets and said the rules would be tightened if too many were killed. But he said one farmer in Cobham had lost enough grapes in a day to make 3,000 bottles of wine after they were eaten by parakeets.
‘If you left a flock of several hundred parakeets in a vineyard for a day, you would probably have no crop left,’ he said.
Because of their size, the parakeets bully smaller birds and damage trees.
Natural England has announced a new exemption from the Wildlife And Countryside Act 1981 allowing ‘owners or occupiers of land’ or their agents to kill or take the birds, provided it is done in a ‘quick and humane manner’.
About 40,000 parakeets are thought to be in London and the South-East alone. Legend has it the birds escaped from Shepperton Studios in Surrey, during filming of the 1951 movie The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
The rocker Jimi Hendrix is also said to have released two parakeets as an alternative symbol of peace in the 1960s.
Other species also added to the ‘general licence’ hit-list include the monk parakeet from South America, which can occasionally be found in the northern Home Counties, the Canada goose and the Egyptian goose.
All three are considered to pose a threat to native wildlife, public health or public safety.
They join gulls, crows and magpies on the list of birds that can be legally shot without special permission, if damage is being done.
Natural England chief executive Helen Phillips said there was a ‘vital’ need to control exotic and non-native species.
‘Non-native species are a major threat to global biodiversity and it is important that licences can operate as an effective tool in helping to tackle the problem,’ she said.
However, Matthew Heydon, a licensing expert at Natural England, warned homeowners could not shoot parakeets without special reason.
He said: ‘We don’t want people or kids going out with air rifles taking pot-shots at these birds. It has to be done humanely and for a proper purpose.’
DID YOU KNOW?
No one knows where the UK’s wild parrots come from. One theory is that a pair escaped from a container in Heathrow airport.
Since they started breeding in the wild in 1969, the ring necked parakeet has become London’s 15th most common bird.
They nest so early in the year — often in January — that they use up the good holes and nest boxes, driving away native species such as woodpeckers.
In Esher, Surrey, one roost has an estimated 7,000 noisy birds.
Also known as rose necked parakeets, they were kept as pets by the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
The birds originate from the foothills of the Himalayas — so can cope with the chilly British weather.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Queen ‘Appalled’ At Church of England Moves, Claim Vatican Moles
When Pope Benedict visits this country next year, he is expected to stay at Buckingham Palace as a guest of the Queen. The warmth of her welcome will come as no surprise to the Pontiff, if senior sources at the Vatican are to be believed.
According to informants quoted in The Catholic Herald, the Queen has “grown increasingly sympathetic” to the Catholic Church over the years while being “appalled”, along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England.
The usually well-informed newspaper adds that the Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the C of E, is “also said to have an affinity with the Holy Father, who is of her generation”.
In July, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that the Queen had told the heads of a traditionalist group, formed in response to the liberal direction of some parts of the Anglican Communion, that she “understood their concerns” about the future of the 80 million-strong global church.
One leading evangelical said: “We found the letters very supportive.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Smart Meters in Homes Could be Hacked
Plans to install gas and electricity smart meters in every home by 2020 pose a “national cyber security risk” because the devices could be hacked into, one of the government’s own data security consultants has warned.
Experts say the compulsory monitors, designed to reduce energy consumption, could be programmed to cripple the national grid or to steal valuable household data, breaching the privacy of millions.
The government wants every home in Britain to have the devices, which give users information on how to save energy and send real-time data direct to utility companies, eliminating the need for customers to stay at home for meter readings or to receive estimated bills.
They also pave the way for a national ‘smart grid’, backed by David Cameron’s Conservatives, which would use the data to manage national demand more efficiently and advise households when it is cheapest to switch on appliances.
However, smart meters can be infected with a ‘worm’, similar to the viruses that attack personal computers, which can spread from one smart meter to the whole grid.
Once hacked, the devices could infect Britain’s entire grid or cause individual customers to be cut off.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Secret Diary of the Saudi Princess Who Would be Stoned to Death if She Returned Home
On the surface, it resembles a fairy tale. A beautiful young princess is forced to marry a wicked old nobleman but falls in love with a handsome boy her own age, secretly bears his child, then goes into hiding — lest she falls into the clutches of her husband, who vows to execute her for adultery.
It sounds improbable, but this, in essence, was the story a Saudi princess told one winter morning last year in the unprepossessing surroundings of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal at Hatton Cross, near Heathrow Airport.
The princess, who we cannot name for legal reasons, said she was convinced that she and her daughter, whose father is British and once worked at Harrods, would be flogged or stoned to death if forced to return home to Jeddah.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Thirty ‘High-Risk’ Terrorists to be Released Early
UP to 30 “high-risk” terrorists — including some of the most dangerous men in Britain — are due to be released from jail in the next year.
More are being freed in the wake of a ruling by Britain’s most senior judges that long sentences for terrorist crimes could “inflame” rather than deter extremism.
An analysis of appeal court cases shows that of the 26 terrorism cases it has heard, 25 have led to men with terrorism convictions having their sentences reduced.
Others are being released because they serve only part of their term. In response, Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said the Tories were considering longer sentences for terrorists.
[…]
The judges stated: “Care has to be taken to ensure that the sentence was not disproportionate to the facts of the particular offences. If sentences were imposed which were more severe than the circumstances of the particular case warranted, that would be likely to inflame rather than deter extremism.” This was the green light for further sentence reductions in subsequent terrorist appeals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Girl Left Brain-Damaged After Receiving Cervical Cancer Jab
A teenage girl has been left brain-damaged after suffering epileptic seizures just days after being given the controversial cervical cancer jab.
Stacey Jones, 18, suffered her first seizure in March when she was 17, days after she had the Cervarix injection.
In the following weeks she had several more fits, causing such severe brain injury that she had to be admitted to a rehabilitation unit, where she is relearning simple tasks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Top Ofsted Job for Official Embroiled in Notorious Child Sex Scandal
The Government’s childcare watchdog has been heavily criticised after appointing to a senior post an official embroiled in a notorious paedophile scandal.
Ofsted has named John Goldup as its social care director — a job which gives him effective control of the protection of youngsters in care homes and nurseries across the UK.
At the time of his appointment, Mr Goldup said: ‘I am absolutely convinced that effective inspection and regulation are the key to driving up improvement.’
But during the Eighties and early Nineties, Mr Goldup was the second most senior figure in the children’s department at Islington Council in North London.
The council was savaged in a series of official reports after whistleblowers revealed how a child sex ring had operated throughout the borough’s care homes for a number of years.
An independent inquiry headed by Ian White — then director of social services in Oxfordshire — found that the council was in a ‘deplorable state’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tory Rift as Boris Johnson Demands EU Vote
Boris Johnson has insisted that British voters are entitled to a referendum on the European Union treaty, even if it has already been ratified by the time the Tories win power.
In an intervention that will anger David Cameron and risks plunging the Conservatives into another row over Europe, the London mayor said the public deserves to have a say on the constitution.
[…]
The Tory leadership has repeatedly refused to promise a referendum if the treaty is in force by the time of the general election. But Johnson said voters would be “very jealous” of the Irish if they were denied a referendum and insisted that a vote must be held irrespective of whether the treaty has been rubber stamped.
“I think the British people deserve a say on it. I think it would be right for such a debate to be held,” he said. The Lisbon treaty was ratified by parliament after Labour decided not to hold a referendum.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Yobs Are Running Riot, Say Family of Father Murdered in Vicious Street Attack
The family of a father of five battered to death by drunken louts yesterday said he was yet another victim of ‘yob Britain’.
Michael Eccles was walking home when confronted by Jordan Carroll, 16, and one-legged accomplice Carl Keatley, 21.
The misfits, on an all-day vodka binge, followed the 43-year-old nearly to his front door before launching their brutal attack.
They kicked, punched and stamped on his body, raining blows on the front, back and sides of his skull and leaving him unconscious on the pavement.
Jurors heard that factory worker Mr Eccles was left with a burst eye socket, 10 broken ribs and broken bones in his neck following the attack just yards from his front door, in the Dimbles area of Lichfield, on January 25.
He died of brain damage the next day.
The pair were given life at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday after being convicted of murder. Carroll must serve at least 11 years and Keatley 13.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Up to 64,000 Women in UK ‘Are Child-Sex Offenders’
After Plymouth case shocked the nation, police say number of women abusing children is rising
Child sex abuse by women is significantly more widespread than previously realised, with experts estimating that there could be up to 64,000 female offenders in Britain.
Researchers from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF), a child protection charity that deals with British female sex offenders, said its studies confirmed that a “fair proportion” of child abusers were women. Donald Findlater, director of research and development, said results indicated that up to 20% of a conservative estimate of 320,000 suspected UK paedophiles were women.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: NATO: Pre-Accession Application Presented
(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, OCTOBER 2 — The head of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, Zeljko Komsic, has today consigned to NATO General Secretary Andres Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels today his country’s formal application for the Membership Action Plan, the pre-accession accord for the Atlantic alliance, according to media reports in Sarajevo. Rasmussen expressed his support for this move by the Balkan country, pointing out, however, that Bosnia still has to carry through various reforms, especially that of its costitution, and other requirements made by the Peace Implementation Council, the group of guarantor nations of the 1995 Dayton peace accords which put an end to Bosnia’s civil war. The defence reform, which has been the most successful in the post-war period according to the international community, brought Bosnia into NATO’s partnership peace programme in 2006. The general consensus over integration into the Euro-Atlantic organisation has however recently been marred over past weeks in the Republika Srpska (the Serb-majority entity within Bosnia) whose leaders have voiced the idea of holding a referendum over NATO membership. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Report Finds Kosovo’s Secession to be Illegal
The EU-sponsored report on the war in Georgia has ruled that provinces do not have the right to secession, thus admitting that the unilateral secession of Kosovo from Serbia was a clear violation of international law.
The report by the International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, commissionned by the EU Council of Ministers, argues that “international law does not recognise a right to unilaterally create a new state based on the principle of self-determination outside the colonial context and apartheid”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Eulex: 3 Former UCK Leaders Sentenced
(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA, OCTOBER 2 — A court consisting of a Kosovar judge and two judges from the European mission, EULEX, presided by Italian, Francesco Flori, sentenced three former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), accused of torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners during the war in 1998-1999. The stiffest sentence, 6 years in prison, was issued to Latif Gashi, while the other two defendants, Rrustem Mustafa and Nazif Mehmeti, will spend 4 and 3 years in prison respectively. The three were part of the so-called Llapi Group, from a town about 30km from Pristina where crimes were committed against people arrested by the UCK. Rrustem Mustafa is the Vice-President of Premier Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party, while Nazif Mehmeti is an advisor for the party. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Abolition of Visas, Barrot Hopes for Dec. Go-Ahead
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 28 — The European Commissioner for Justice and Security, Jacques Barrot has expressed the hope that the final go-ahead to the abolition of visas on the part of the European Union will arrive at the beginning of December, allowing Serbian citizens access to EU countries from January 1. “I hope that ministers will propose the abolition of visas for Serbian citizens at the European Council on Devember 1”, said Barrot at a press conference today in Belgrade. Barrot, who spoke at a regional conference on combatting organised crime in the western Balkans, said that he had received the report from the authorities in Belgrade over the liberalisation of visa regulations for Serbia today. “A group of experts will examine this report in mid-October, and will evaluate the progess made by Serbia, to ensure that all the conditions set by the Union have been met” he said. “The future of Serbia is within the European Union, and we will be happy to welcome it. But the regulations adopted by Serbia must be put into effect” added Barrot. The Commissioner recalled the main provisions required by Brussels, conditions for the abolition of visas: an agreement between the Serbian Government and the European Eulex mission in Kosovo, a fierce battle against corruption and criminality, effective strategies to control migration and illegal immigration. “The battle against organised crime is a priority for us, because the existence of this in the Balkans could put the stability of the entire region at risk”, said Barrot. Last July the European Commission recommended the abolition of the visa requirement to the Council of Ministers starting from January 1 next year, for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
American Indian Chief: ‘Fight for Israel’
(IsraelNN.com) American Indians support the State of Israel and its G-d-given right to the Land of Israel. Virginia Native American leader Chief Annie Richardson made the statement to National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau at a meeting between the two on Sunday morning.
“We believe that G-d has given you this land and we want you to fight for it,” Richardson told Landau. She presented him with a traditional Native American headdress and a bow and arrow, as “a token of the affection of the Native American nations for Israel.”
Richardson asserted that her organization, which represents dozens of Native American nations in North America, is fully behind Israel. The minister thanked the Native American chief and presented her with a collection of ancient Judean coins.
Richardson is the founder of Restoring Nations International, organizer of the United Indians of Virginia, and the first woman elected Chief of a tribe in Virginia since the 1700s. She is a fourth-generation chief in her family.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Frattini: Palestinian State Soon, Within First Obama Mandate
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 2 — The Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is hoping to soon witness the birth of a Palestinian State, “before” the end of Barack Obama’s first mandate at the White House. The Minister spoke during an interview with Nile News, the first Arab satellite channel. “I believe we don’t have much time. I am convinced that President Obama is putting in a great effort and I think it would be of fundamental importance to finally see the creation of the Palestinian State, before the end of his first presidential mandate. This means that important steps forward must be made very quickly, by the end of this year or the beginning of next”. Frattini also stressed “Italy’s full support to the PNA President Mahmud Abbas” and called him “the one and only legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people. “We hope”, he added, “that the Palestinian reconciliation will take place under the seal of the President’s legitimacy”. On the Italian side, there is a strong will “to contribute, also on an economical level, to the recovery and development of the Palestinian territories”, the Minister said, and he will further explain the Italian position directly to the Palestinian President, who should arrive in Rome next Wednesday on an official visit. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Agriculture: Syria Third Among Arab Producers of Grapes
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, OCTOBER 1 — Syria came in third place for grape production in the Middle East after Egypt and Morocco (with 19% of the total) and at 28th place in the global rankings (with 0.4% of global production). These are the figures from the sector, according to what the newsletter from the Italian Embassy in Damascus reports. At the moment the grape is produced in all of the governorates of Syria. Aleppo, Damascus and Daraa produce roughly 53% of local production, while Suwayda, Homs and Hama produce about 33%. According to 2008 statistics, 63% of grape production is consumed as fresh fruit, 8% is used as raisins, 12% for molasses and 17% for beverages. Syria has 100 different grape varieties, but there are four most common ones that make up 85% of production. However, the cultivated surface is decreasing, as the largest holdings of terrain have been given over to more profitable crops like olives and apples. Moreover, lessening rainfall and rising temperatures have had a negative effect on the crops. Syrian grape exports amount to 9.076 million tonnes, 33% of which are exported to Saudi Arabia, 22.5% to the UAE, 16.4% to Kuwait, 12.3% to Jordan, 6.4% to Oman, 4.2% to Qatar and 3.5% to Bahrain. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Book Excerpt: Evidence Iran Building Nuclear Weapons
Temporary cessation of program a tactic borrowed from prophet Muhammad
What evidence is there that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program?
On June 17, the BBC reported that Mohammed ElBaradei, in an interview with the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, said, “It is my gut feeling that Iran would like to have the technology to enable it to have nuclear weapons, if it decides to do so.”
This was the first time ElBaradei had gone so far as to deny that the sole purpose of Iran’s nuclear program was to generate electricity.
[…]
Danny Yaalon, director general of Mossad from 1996 to 1998 and chief of staff for Prime Minister Ehud Barak from 1991 to 2001, unequivocally asserted that Iran is currently pursuing a nuclear-weapons program. Shabtai Shavit, director general of Mossad from 1989 to 1996, agreed. Shavit attributed Iran’s temporary cessation of the nuclear program to “hudna,” a word in Arabic that means “truce” or “armistice.”
The concept, Shavit explained, was that “hudna” is considered a tactical cessation of hostilities that Islamic law authorizes in times of stress such that the continuing world struggle can be resumed more aggressively once circumstances return to being more favorable.
[…]
Why did Iran suspend the program? “Because in 2003, the American strategy of the Bush administration after 9/11 was an offensive strategy of pre-emption,” he explained.
“Phase One was Afghanistan and Phase Two was Iraq,” he continued. “The main question among rogue leaders in the region was this: ‘Who might be next?’ At that point Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi decided to give up his nuclear project. And at that point Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei decided not to give any excuse to President Bush to attack.”
This, to Yaalon, made an important point that Iran was susceptible to international pressure, as long as the international pressure included a credible threat that Iran would suffer serious harm if Iran refused to comply.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Regime’s Charm Plus Western Credulity Equals “Diplomatic Success” In Geneva
by Barry Rubin
The United States—along with Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany—met with Iran in Geneva and officials, media, and experts proclaim it a success. Was its nuclear program what Iran defused or merely Western pressure?
It is widely claimed that the meeting in Geneva obtained three great achievements toward ending the long-running Iran nuclear arms’ campaign.
The first point is that the talks were conducted in a polite and civil manner. The Iranian delegates did not shout slogans and throw shoes at the Americans.
This is absurd. With typically short memories, observers forget that Iran conducted years of serious talks with all the participants except the United States. But of course these talks were used to stall for time and divide the foreign opposition. Any commitments made were promptly broken.
What is amusing about this point is that it reveals how behind the screen of Political Correctness and respect for all peoples, it is considered a revelation if Iranians don’t act like stereotyped savages. In fact, Iran has a long and successful history of diplomacy imbued in its political culture.
And of course the regime has a strong vested interest in not engaging in furniture-throwing at the meeting. After all, in every other venue it can continue its ideological extremism, repression, sponsorship of terrorism, and so on merely in exchange for a few hours of making nice in Geneva.
The second claimed success is equally hollow. Iran agreed to allow inspections of its hitherto hidden enrichment facility. Again, memories are short. In fact, the Iranian government announced that it would do so before the meeting in the same statement where it admitted the facility existed.
Let’s take a step back and consider the situation. For four years, Iran built and kept hidden the Qom enrichment plant. This is in complete violation of Iran’s treaty commitments and is one more definitive proof—as if one was needed? Well apparently it is—that the Tehran regime is seeking nuclear weapons as fast as possible.
At last, though, Iran got caught. So it basically said: in exchange for keeping this facility and for no punishment for building it we will allow you to do inspections. This is a clever maneuver, not a huge concession. Indeed, it is a victory for Iran.
The third point is the most significant and interesting…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Names Russians Helping Iran Build Nuclear Bomb
Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists believed by the Israelis to be helping Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. He is said to have delivered the list during a mysterious visit to Moscow.
Netanyahu flew to the Russian capital with Uzi Arad, his national security adviser, last month in a private jet.
His office claimed he was in Israel, visiting a secret military establishment at the time. It later emerged that he was holding talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev.
“We have heard that Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb,” said a source close to the Russian defence minister last week.
[…]
American officials said concern about Russian experts acting without official approval, had been raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a report more than a year ago.
“There has been Russian help. It is not the government, it is individuals, at least one helping Iran on weaponisation activities and it is worrisome,” said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who is president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
However, Israeli officials insist that any Russian scientists working in Iran could do so only with official approval.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report Says Iran Has Data to Make a Nuclear Bomb
Senior staff members of the United Nations nuclear agency have concluded in a confidential analysis that Iran has acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” atom bomb.
The report by experts in the International Atomic Energy Agency stresses in its introduction that its conclusions are tentative and subject to further confirmation of the evidence, which it says came from intelligence agencies and its own investigations.
But the report’s conclusions, described by senior European officials, go well beyond the public positions taken by several governments, including the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: 18% of Population Works in Agriculture
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, OCTOBER 2 — According to a report from the Department of Agricultural Planning and Reform in Syria, the percentage of workers in the agriculture sector amounts to 18% of the total population of Syria, or 3.493 million workers. This confirms that the agriculture sector is one of the most important to the Syrian economy both in terms of GDP and employment. Some 47 percent of the population that works in rural areas, a newsletter from the Italian Embassy in Syria reads, work in this sector. The private sector is the largest investor in agriculture, with a percentage of 98.5% of total investments. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ingushetia’s Cycle of Violence
Political violence and killings seem to be daily occurrences in the tiny mainly Muslim republic of Ingushetia in the Russian North Caucasus, which shares a border with Chechnya. Dom Rotheroe explains why.
“Don’t mention to our mother that he was tortured before he died,” one of the sisters of the late Batyr Albakov whispers to us before we interview his family.
“She doesn’t know about that and she has a weak heart.”
They came in the early hours of 10 July to take Mamma Albakov’s son away. Two carloads of security forces had barged their way into the family flat in Russia’s Caucasian republic of Ingushetia.
Eleven days later, Batyr’s family learned of his death through a report on the internet.
In that time, the 26-year-old aeroplane engineer had supposedly become an Islamic militant, acquired a gun and camouflage gear and been killed in a shoot-out with security forces.
Daily violence
The lie to this is given as soon as Batyr’s mother is out of the room, and his siblings show us the mobile phone photos they cannot let her know about.
The photos of their brother’s body reveal an array of gruesome injuries — multiple haematomas, knife wounds, an arm almost severed at the shoulder — that could hardly have been sustained in a gunfight.
Such incidents occur almost daily in Ingushetia. The territory with its 300,000 people has suffered for sharing a border with Chechnya during the latter’s two wars for independence from Russia.
After Russia finally took control of Chechnya, extremist rebels proclaimed an Islamic Emirate Of The North Caucasus and spread the fight into Russia’s other mainly Muslim republics, like Ingushetia.
Their jihadi ideology has not found much sympathy with the general population.
A few miles down the road from the Albakovs we meet another grieving family.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
On Afghanistan, US Military Puts Obama on the Spot
WASHINGTON (AFP) — By openly declaring their views on the Afghan war, US military leaders have placed President Barack Obama in a bind as he faces a fraught decision over the troubled US-led mission.
Obama has refused to quickly approve a request from his commanders for a major troop build-up in Afghanistan, insisting first on a full vetting of the current strategy.
But while a war council takes place behind closed doors at the White House, top military officers have made no secret of their view that without a vast ground force, the Afghan mission could end in failure.
“They want to make sure people know what they asked for if things go wrong,” Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense, told AFP.
As a result, if Obama chooses to change course in Afghanistan or decline a request for large numbers of troops, he will be rejecting the advice of the US military, raising the political stakes.
Commentators on the left say the military ought to keep its advice private without trying to influence public debate, with New York Times columnist Frank Rich accusing the generals of an attempt to “try to lock him (Obama) in” on Afghanistan.
Korb said the top brass is keen to avoid a repeat of the run-up to the Iraq war under former president George W. Bush, when military leaders bowed to White House demands for a small invasion force — with disastrous consequences.
Drawing on blood-soaked experience in Iraq, military commanders now fervently embrace counter-insurgency doctrine, which calls for large numbers of troops providing security and winning the trust of the local population.
Amid rising casualties and a spreading insurgency, skeptics in Congress and the White House have floated proposals to freeze or even reduce the 65,000-strong force.
But McChrystal and his superiors have dismissed such alternatives as half-measures.
“You can’t hope to contain the fire by letting just half the building burn,” McChrystal told Newsweek.
Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen and the head of the regional Central Command, General David Petraeus, have publicly endorsed the manpower-intensive strategy set out in a report by McChrystal.
The commander’s stark assessment of the war, which was leaked, has set off a flurry of counter-leaks in US newspapers with unnamed officials in the White House voicing skepticism about esclating the American commitment.
The heated debate over war strategy mostly pits hawks on the right demanding Obama promptly endorse the commander’s request for more troops against voices on the left who raise the specter of a quagmire akin to Vietnam.
Senator John McCain and other Republicans invoke Iraq, arguing the US military turned the tide there only after a “surge” of additional combat troops and tactics suited to irregular warfare.
McCain has praised Bush for approving the surge strategy in late 2006, a move that was opposed by most of the US military leadership at the time.
Dismissing calls by Democrats to hold off on a troop buildup until training more Afghan security forces, McCain said: “We’ve seen this movie before, it didn’t work in Iraq and it won’t work in Afghanistan.”
But the disputed election in Afghanistan, tainted by allegations of widespread fraud, has jolted the administration and renewed serious doubts about the credibility of the Kabul government.
“Nobody expected it to go this poorly and that I think that has got people thinking,” Korb said.
The White House meanwhile acknowledged some members of Obama’s team have been reading “Lessons in Disaster,” a book about flawed decision-making in the Vietnam war.
In the book, author Gordon Goldstein suggests the late president John F. Kennedy, if he had lived, would have rejected the military’s demand for combat troops in Vietnam — as he had lost faith in his generals’ advice after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba.
“Perhaps this is Obama?s JFK moment,” George Packer of the New Yorker wrote in his blog. “We?ll know in a few weeks.”
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Terrorists Could Seize Nuclear Weapons if We Fail in Afghanistan, Warns Army Chief
The new head of the British Army has given a stark warning to the public of the ‘terrifying prospect’ of losing the war in Afghanistan.
General Sir David Richards intervened by saying that if Britain and Nato failed in Afghanistan the risks to the western world would be ‘enormous’ and ‘unimaginable’, with the possibility of terrorists seizing nuclear weapons.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, the Chief of the General Staff said: ‘If al-Qaeda and the Taliban believe they have defeated us — what next?
‘Would they stop at Afghanistan? Pakistan is clearly a tempting target not least because of the fact that it is a nuclear-weaponed state and that is a terrifying prospect.
‘Even if only a few of those [nuclear] weapons fell into their hands, believe me they would use them.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Last Jew in Afghanistan: Caretaker of Kabul Synagogue Survives Conflict With Good Luck, Whisky and Donations From Friendly Muslims
Zebulon Simentov lives, eats and prays alone as he is the last known Jew in a country dominated by conservative Muslim culture.
Mr Simentov is the caretaker and sole member of Afghanistan’s only working synagogue. The last eight or nine Jewish families left after the 1979 Soviet invasion, he said.
Fond of whisky and aged about 50, Mr Simentov lives in the dilapidated two-story synagogue in Kabul and gets by on donations from Jews abroad and sympathetic local Muslims.
In the late 19th century, Afghanistan’s Jews numbered about 40,000, many of them Persian Jews who had fled forced conversion in neighboring Iran.
Beginning with an exodus to Israel after it became a state in 1948, the community has been in decline ever since.
Mr Simentov’s wife and children moved to Israel years ago, but he stayed even through the Taliban regime.
He was born in the western Afghan city of Herat in 1959 and says Afghanistan is home.
But having survived numerous beatings under the Taliban, he now only wears his yarmulke, or skullcap, in private.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa Found Dead
A former Japanese Finance Minister was found dead in bed yesterday beside packets of sleeping pills months after he caused an uproar for appearing drunk at an international press conference.
An initial examination found that Shoichi Nakagawa, 56, was suffering from circulatory disease and had traces of alcohol in his body. After the humiliation that he suffered after the drunken debacle at a G7 meeting in Rome in February, however, there will be speculation that he committed suicide.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
South African White Supremacist Demands Afrikaner State
A notorious white supremacist from South Africa’s apartheid era has revealed plans to rally far right groups and apply to the United Nations for a breakaway Afrikaner republic.
Eugene Terre’Blanche was the voice of hardline opposition to the end of white minority rule in the early 90s, but has been in relative obscurity since his release in 2004 after a prison sentence for beating a black man nearly to death.
He said today that he had revived his Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) after several years of inactivity and it would meet with like-minded groups on 10 October to discuss joining forces and pushing for secession from South Africa.
“The circumstances in the country demanded it,” he told South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper. “The white man in South Africa is realising that his salvation lies in self-government in territories paid for by his ancestors.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU’s ‘Fortress Europe’ Buckles Under Immigrant Siege
BRUSSELS — Each summer, European Union countries are overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of migrants struggling to their shores in search of a better life.
Scenes of French authorities evicting would-be immigrants from a makeshift camp near Calais that officials call a den of crime, known as “the jungle,” are highlighting the problem this week.
But it’s a problem that first hit European headlines a decade ago, so it may seem surprising just how little the EU has done to create an effective policy on immigration, asylum, or repatriation.
Now some countries are taking matters into their own hands: Italy has already begun summarily turning back immigrants caught at sea, and it’s raising protests by human rights groups.
Italy, Greece, and other southern EU countries bear the brunt of the wave of arrivals across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa, a passage fraught with danger. Hundreds die each year when their overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels capsize.
Still, more than 37,000 “boat people” arrived in Italy alone last year. This year, the Italian authorities took the unprecedented step of turning back boats with immigrants at sea before they land on shore. The measure has reduced by half the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Italy.
Italian officials deny they’re breaking the law, but the new policy has provoked an outcry from human rights group who say it breaches international obligations by denying immigrants the chance to apply for asylum.
Difficult Days
EU interior and justice ministers met in Brussels on September 21 to discuss another testing summer. Afterward, EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security Jacques Barrot — whose job is to ensure member states comply with international law — said the EU has asked Italy to explain its new policy.
“We are currently examining their response,” Barrot said. “We have reminded [Italy] of the principle that [immigrants] must not be returned to countries where there their lives are in danger. That said, what we want is to address the causes, resolve the problem.”
Images from Calais on September 22, when French authorities evicted migrants, most of them reportedly AfghansNews agencies report eight Italian maritime operations involving more than 700 would-be immigrants resulted in no asylum requests.
People fleeing violent areas such as Somalia and Sudan’s Darfur region would normally be eligible for asylum in the European Union. But migrants in search of a better life are usually denied the right to stay.
Human rights groups say migrants returning to their home countries often receive brutal treatment. A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says those forced by the Italian Navy to return to Libya — a transit country for asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa — are detained in “inhuman and degrading” conditions. It says returning migrants are beaten, robbed and kept in overcrowded conditions.
But Italy has received support from like-minded EU countries. Greece, flooded by tens of thousands of immigrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey, says it doesn’t have the facilities to cope. Malta and Cyprus have been overwhelmed by the number of immigrants arriving on their shores. Spain, which periodically amnesties illegal immigrants, is also straining.
French Immigration Minister Eric Besson has proposed urgent measures, including for the EU’s joint border management authority, Frontex, to follow Italy’s example by turning back immigrant vessels at sea.
More Than Just Border Controls
Commissioner Barrot said only that Frontex rules would be “clarified.”
Swedish Immigration Minister Tobias Bilstrom, who chaired the meeting as the representative of the current EU Presidency, said short-term responses must be accompanied by long-term solutions.
“The question is not just about border controls,” Bilstrom said, “it’s also about increased cooperation [within the EU and with transit countries].”
EU regulations stipulate that immigrants must be processed by the country in which they first set foot. That policy angers the southern EU countries that serve as transit routes for migrants bound for richer, northern EU countries. They say governments not directly affected by the Mediterranean migration should pay Italy, Malta, and other southern European countries compensation.
Among long-term proposals is a resettlement scheme for asylum seekers who’ve lodged applications outside the EU.
EU attempts to cooperate with transit and “source” countries in Africa have seen little success. Italy notably failed to get Libya to block what’s now the main southern route into the EU after Frontex cooperation with Tunisia and Mauretania largely closed off a popular route along Africa’s west coast. Turkey, which has a readmission treaty with the EU, often refuses to honor it.
Barrot said on September 21 that the only viable long-term solution for the EU is to start processing would-be immigrants on the “southern shore of the Mediterranean.” But the lack of cooperation inside the EU so far means that’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Experts Recommend ‘Turbo’ Naturalisation for Immigrants
Germany’s next government should speed up the process for granting citizenship to immigrants, according to a new report by a group of migration experts.
As the Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats begin to negotiate the framework of their new coalition on Monday, the report by the advisory board of the German Foundation for Integration and Migration could serve as an important road map for future German immigration policy, the magazine Der Spiegel reported.
“We concentrated on what is politically doable that the new government should absolutely go about doing in the next legislative period,” migration researcher Klaus Bade, who chaired the committee, told Der Spiegel.
The report recommends a “turbo” naturalisation process for especially well-integrated immigrants that would cut the time needed to acquire a German passport from six to four years. The committee says this option would help raise the falling number of immigrants who choose to apply for citizenship.
The experts also recommend revamping the highly criticised practice of forcing the children of binational couples to choose between German and another citizenship upon reaching adulthood. The panel called the current system unworkable and unnecessary in its present form.
In June, the Federal Statistics Office reported that naturalisations in 2008 had hit their lowest level since 1990, with just 94,500 foreigners taking the oath of citizenship, a drop of over 18,000 from the year before and nearly the half the number in 2000.
The report suggests the new CDU-FDP government build an immigration policy based on three pillars. Firstly, the government should enact a point system with qualitative criteria for immigrants.
Secondly, the point system should take into account labour market shortages and give bonus points to well-educated applicants whose skills are in high demand and expedite their work permits.
And lastly, the report recommends that companies in need of specialised labour be allowed to recruit abroad and bring the workers to Germany quickly and with as little paperwork as possible. To pay for the system and to discourage overuse, companies should pay a one-time fee equal to about 20 percent of the annual salary of the new foreign worker. The fee revenue would be used to train German workers.
“These new ideas would help everyone: the employers who struggle for months for work permits for urgently need specialised labor as well as the less qualified in Germany, whose job chances would climb by receiving more training,” Bade told Der Spiegel.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Marginalised Greek Muslims a ‘Time Bomb’
Thousands of Muslims from Arab nations, Africa and the Indian subcontinent now live and work in Athens, often scraping by with meagre wages and in squalid accommodation.
“We see no mosque, we see no cemetery, basically they are making fools of us,” says Abu Mahmoud, a Moroccan who has lived in Greece since 1985. “The situation in Athens is getting worse because of the economic crisis which is hitting foreigners the hardest, and the city centre has become a jungle as a result.”
After dark, the streets around central Omonia Square become a no-go zone where drug trafficking, prostitution and muggings are rife.
City authorities blame the problem on migrants who have moved into the area’s low-rent or disused buildings, while the few remaining Greeks say the police presence is limited to the occasional raid.
As public tolerance towards migrants wanes, violence against them increases.
In February, a grenade was thrown at the offices of a Greek immigrant support network.
Earlier this month, 14 people were injured in clashes between a neo-Nazi group, immigrants and police as the far-right militants tried to dislodge hundreds of migrant squatters from an old courthouse.
And on Saturday, assailants tried to burn a makeshift mosque in a basement, injuring five Bangladeshi men trapped inside.
“The emerging feeling is that Greece has too many migrants and that they need to go,” said Dimitris Levantis, head of the Greek chapter of anti-racism NGO SOS Racisme. “The authorities exploit this feeling and show little zeal to halt racist attacks.”
With the collapse of Communism in the early 1990s, Greece saw a surge of immigration from Eastern Europe and the Balkans — mainly neighbouring Albania.
This first wave was barely assimilated when thousands of refugees began to arrive from war-torn African and Asian countries.
The interior ministry says the number of migrants caught illegally entering or residing in Greece has surged and 146,000 were detained last year.
The nationalist party LAOS, whose popularity has steadily grown in the last five years and now has 10 seats in parliament, wants a migrant quota.
“We cannot absorb them, we don’t have the necessary management, hospitals, maternity wards, police, courts and prisons,” said LAOS leader George Karatzaferis.
“We see no mosque, we see no cemetery, basically they are making fools of us,” says Abu Mahmoud, a Moroccan who has lived in Greece since 1985. “The situation in Athens is getting worse because of the economic crisis which is hitting foreigners the hardest, and the city centre has become a jungle as a result.”
After dark, the streets around central Omonia Square become a no-go zone where drug trafficking, prostitution and muggings are rife.
City authorities blame the problem on migrants who have moved into the area’s low-rent or disused buildings, while the few remaining Greeks say the police presence is limited to the occasional raid.
As public tolerance towards migrants wanes, violence against them increases.
In February, a grenade was thrown at the offices of a Greek immigrant support network.
Earlier this month, 14 people were injured in clashes between a neo-Nazi group, immigrants and police as the far-right militants tried to dislodge hundreds of migrant squatters from an old courthouse.
And on Saturday, assailants tried to burn a makeshift mosque in a basement, injuring five Bangladeshi men trapped inside.
“The emerging feeling is that Greece has too many migrants and that they need to go,” said Dimitris Levantis, head of the Greek chapter of anti-racism NGO SOS Racisme. “The authorities exploit this feeling and show little zeal to halt racist attacks.”
With the collapse of Communism in the early 1990s, Greece saw a surge of immigration from Eastern Europe and the Balkans — mainly neighbouring Albania.
This first wave was barely assimilated when thousands of refugees began to arrive from war-torn African and Asian countries.
The interior ministry says the number of migrants caught illegally entering or residing in Greece has surged and 146,000 were detained last year.
The nationalist party LAOS, whose popularity has steadily grown in the last five years and now has 10 seats in parliament, wants a migrant quota.
“We cannot absorb them, we don’t have the necessary management, hospitals, maternity wards, police, courts and prisons,” said LAOS leader George Karatzaferis.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
USCIS Prepares to Legalize Millions of Illegal Immigrants
Under the direction of a Clinton official who orchestrated the pardon of a major-league drug trafficker, the federal agency that oversees lawful immigration is preparing to legalize millions of illegal immigrants.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is getting ready for the huge influx of applications that will bombard the agency when President Obama’s plan to legalize the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens becomes law, according to a major newspaper report.
The agency’s director, Alejandro Mayorkas, says his goal is to be ready to expand rapidly in order to handle the massive increase in visa applications under Obama’s comprehensive immigration reform plan. As the Homeland Security agency responsible for overseeing lawful immigration and granting visas, USCIS is equipped to handle applications from about 6 million immigrants a year.
If Obama’s amnesty measure comes to fruition USCIS could receive that many applications in just a few weeks, according to Mayorkas, who recently distributed $1.2 million in grants to help migrants adjust in America. In order to efficiently handle the increase, Mayorkas is implementing several measures to process applications faster. Among them is a method of receiving visa forms in the mail and another that allows illegal aliens to start the legalization process through a simple mail-in registration form.
[…]
A Clinton U.S. Attorney in California, Mayorkas resigned in shame after arranging the pardon of an Argentine drug dealer serving a 15-year prison sentence for operating a monstrous cocaine ring. The convicted felon, Carlos Vignali, is the son of a wealthy political donor (Horacio Vignali) who convinced influential community leaders—mostly recipients of his generous contributions—to advocate for his son’s pardon.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Complaint Leads to Special Area for Religious Signs at Georgia Football Game
A public high school in Georgia that recently banned banners containing Bible verses from being displayed at its football games will designate an area roughly 50 yards away from the field for cheerleaders, students and others to erect signs with religious themes, the school’s principal said Wednesday.
The decision comes after a group of cheerleaders were told they could no longer display the religious banners — a mainstay at the school for eight years — on the football field at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. The ruling caused an uproar in the community.
Jerry Ransom, the school’s principal, said he expects the newly designated area, on the school’s lawn, will see a large turnout.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Roman Polanski Sex Case Arrest Provokes Backlash in Hollywood
Led by a handful of outspoken female voices, a rising tide of opinion has instead applauded Polanski’s arrest for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old back in 1977. They have turned the focus on the crime itself, calling the director an accused rapist who abused a child.
That, they say, should be the focus of the story and of Hollywood’s ire, not defending an old man who pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a young girl then went on the run for 32 years to avoid prison. The backlash — not only against Polanski, but also against the Hollywood clan that rallied round him — has begun in earnest.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Women Boxers to Wear Hijab at 2012 Olympics
THE burqa boxers are coming. Young women are training in Afghanistan to fight in Islamic dress at the 2012 London Olympics.
Wearing hijabs beneath their headguards and clothes that cover their bodies, 25 female pugilists are preparing for their bouts in gruelling training sessions at Kabul’s Olympic stadium, once the scene of public executions by the Taliban.
The team, whose ages range from 14-25, were recruited by their coach, Fadir Sharify, a former professional boxer. He persuaded the girls’ families that it would not be inappropriate for them to take to the ring.
The 2012 summer Games will be the first time women have been allowed to box under the Olympic banner.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), which regulates the sport, said the women could observe religious dress requirements providing their faces were uncovered so the judges could record the number of punches they received. They must also wear breast guards beneath their outfits.
“At the moment there is nothing preventing women boxers from wearing full Islamic dress. Obviously, religious requirements should be taken into account and we want to be as inclusive as we can,” said an IBA spokesman.
The Afghan team is being sponsored by Oxfam as part of a project designed to promote peace and women’s rights. “In a country ravaged by 30 years of war and run by a conservative male-dominated society, these female boxers are Afghanistan’s most improbable ambassadors for peace,” Oxfam said.
“We are proud to support these athletes who challenge preconceived notions about Afghan women through peacebuilding.”
Mirwais Wardak, who runs Fighting for Peace, the Kabul boxing programme, said the team were challenging stereotypes in Afghanistan about how women should behave.
The women have also gained the support of Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, who lobbied for women’s boxing to be recognised as an official Olympic sport.
“The fact that these women have formed a boxing team in a country where women are routinely harassed for taking part in sport should be applauded,” said Jowell. “Their courage deserves to succeed.”
Other Muslim nations are considering sending female boxers. Egypt has established a women’s boxing team, although only some of them fight wearing hijabs.
Ahmad Nategh-Nouri, an Iranian MP and head of the Iranian Boxing Federation, said the country would begin training a women’s team as soon as suitable clothing could be found.
“So far we have not attempted to establish women’s boxing because of difficulties with their outfits,” he said. “The only impediment has been the sport’s clothes.”
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Shocked U.S. Olympic Delegate Urges Heads of State Ban
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) — The Olympic fiasco arising from U.S. President Barack Obama’s failed promotion of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Games should be avoided by keeping heads of state away from the process, a U.S. delegate said on Sunday.
Anita DeFrantz, one of two International Olympic Committee members from the U.S. said she was still in shock at Friday’s IOC vote which awarded the Games to Rio de Janeiro while Chicago finished fourth and last on just 18 votes — despite speeches in Copenhagen by Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
Rio also enjoyed head of state support in the Danish capital from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Madrid had King Juan Carlos of Spain on its team and Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatayama was backing Tokyo in person.
“I think it’s (visits from heads of state and political leaders) getting ridiculous. We should go back to the videos,” DeFrantz told Reuters.
“They (Barack and Michelle Obama) won and Chicago lost. They were clearly the most popular people there but it was not a contest of most popular heads of state, as you know.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
The most interesting and deep searching blog on my blog roll. Being European I enjoy catching up with what's going on over there.
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