The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor accused Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of "exterminating" people in Darfur in an interview released on the BBC's website Saturday. Well, that's their religion, so who are we to judge?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Human rights will not be violated even if the BDR members involved in the Pilkhana massacre are tried by court-martial, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said yesterday. "I repeatedly said the trial process will be fair and transparent. The accused will be given chance for self-defence," the law minister told journalists after inauguration of a new coronary care unit at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital and Research Institute (ICHRI) in the capital.
The Army Act, 1952 could be used to restore chain of command in the paramilitary force, he said. "The government will finalise the mode of trial after getting the probe report on Pilkhana massacre," Shafique said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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North Korea today confirmed it is holding two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were in China working on a story about North Korean refugees and human trafficking. The detention of the two women is further straining an already tense relationship between the United States and North Korea.
The reporting Ling and Lee were doing took them all the way to the border between China and North Korean. It is a difficult, even dangerous trip. They got help planning the journey from Reverend Chun Ki Won, a Christian missionary from South Korea whose organization smuggles Bibles into North Korea through China.
The last time he spoke with Ling and Lee on the phone was the morning of March 17, when they were on their way to the border town, Dandong, he said. "It's hard to determine the border, that which is North Korea or that which is China because it is just frozen river," he said.
Chun said it's possible that the reporters inadvertently stepped onto North Korean territory, and that was likely when North Korean soldiers arrested the two women, accusing them of entering the country illegally.
However, the Nork border guards have a history of crossing into China to grab people, particularly people with cameras or Bibles.
Laura Ling works for Current TV, the San Francisco-based news program, founded by Al Gore, who is reportedly lobbying U.S. officials behind the scenes for the reporters' release.
Lobby? What exactly does he expect Bambi to do?
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is working official diplomatic channels, but it's a delicate mission.
One entirely unsuited to the Hildebeast ...
It's one that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson understands well, having visited North Korea several times and having negotiated the release of an American from North Korea in 1996. "If they release them in next few days, it means the North Koreans are interested in dialogue with the Obama administration," he said. "If they don't release them in the next few days, it means that they are rising stakes."
Brilliant, Bill, simply brilliant, thanks for that expert analysis.
Don Gregg, former ambassador to South Korea from 1989-1993, said North Korean officials are looking at the Obama administration's recent overtures to Syria, Russia, and Iran and they're interested in cultivating a similar kind of opening between their country and the United States. "Remember, North Korea is not the Taliban and it's not al Qaeda," Gregg said. "They want a better relationship with us and eventually we'll move in that direction."
Note who has to do all the moving.
Richardson said North Korea may see the arrest as a rare opportunity to exert some political pressure on the West. "They want sanctions lifted, they want respectability in the international community," Richardson said. "They want a one-to-one dialog with the United States."
They want respectability so they kidnap Americans. I'm sure that makes sense to Bill Richardson.
But as long as North Korea is detaining Americans, that conversation is likely to stop before it ever gets started.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
All they want is lots of talking that doesn't involve discussions of nuclear weapons development... or anything else substantial. What is the shape of the conference table?
#3
Isn't the border a river the entire length? I'm getting the vibe that they did cross into China AND the Chinese did nothing. The PLA has border posts every few hundred yards so a response would have been very possible.
North Korea will close two aerial routes through its controlled airspace from April 4 to 8 in order to launch what Pyongyang claims is a communication satellite, Japan''s transport ministry said Saturday. It was announced in a North Korean notification issued on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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MELBOURNE Muslim university students will protest on Monday, saying they are being sexually harassed and discriminated against due to a lack of prayer rooms.
How exactly does a lack of prayer rooms constitute 'sexual harassment'?
But RMIT University management deny this, insisting Muslim students are well catered for.
The RMIT Islamic Society want muslim only prayer rooms on the university's city campus. In late 2007, construction work on the building that contained a dedicated Muslim prayer room meant the facility was demolished.
The Islamic society said the university reneged on its promise to replace that with another room. "As a result, students and staff have been forced to pray outside in the heat of summer and the cold of winter,'' the society's website said.
It alleged females have been subjected to sexual abuse, harassment and religious vilification while praying. Probably from their fellow muslims who consider them uncovered meat.
They are now forced to pray two at a time in cramped women's rooms, corridors and empty classrooms.
The society said "enough is enough'', insisting it was sick of being given the run around and would hold a mass protest at the university on Monday afternoon. "No longer can we remain quiet and have students compromise between their safety and prayers, RMIT made a promise, it must fulfil it,'' the website said.
But the university described the action as "unfortunate and unnecessary''. There are already eight Muslim prayer rooms across the university's three campuses, Dr Maddy McMaster, Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) said. "The university's policy is that prayer rooms in its spiritual centre are multi-faith, open to bookings by members of all faiths,'' she said.
Muslims get preferential access to two of those rooms. And how much you want to bet they have monopolized the others with threats of 'outrage'??
"With space at a premium on our city campus, we have bent over backwards to find an amicable solution,'' she said.
Gestures of good faith have been rejected, she insisted. "Multi-faith spaces are commonly accepted as supporting a range of religious practices, including those of the Muslim faith.
"It is disappointing that the RMIT Islamic Society chooses to reject established multi-faith principles,'' she said. That's because Islam is the 'religion' of intolerence and war.
The society did not respond to AAP requests for comment.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/22/2009 13:39 Comments ||
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#2
Let them do what every other religious group does, and save their pennies until they can buy a small property near the campus to turn into a masjid. Of course, then they'll have to either hire a caretaker or find volunteers amongst themselves to do the work, but that's what all the other groups have to do, too. Equality requires work.
#7
As long as the complaints are considered, there will be more. And they will get more and more rediculous. The Aussies can stop it if they have the will. We can too.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/22/2009 18:07 Comments ||
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#8
In America, make it next to the navitiy room, problem solved.
A 22-year-old Somali man from Minneapolis believed to have been recruited by a terrorist group to travel to his war-torn homeland has returned to Minnesota, community leader Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said Saturday. He added that the recruit for jihad had a change of heart. Jamal wouldn't confirm the man's identity, saying that he and his family fear for their safety and are in hiding. Others identified him only as Kamal.
Jamal also wouldn't say why the man went to Somalia or how he financed the trip, but said he apparently returned because "his expectation was not what he wanted when he went over there. ... I think he simply didn't like what he saw over there." Jamal said the man who returned to Minnesota had been recruited by a group called al-Shabab, an Al-Qaida off-shoot, and left Nov. 4 for Somalia, where he expected vocational training and study Vocational training? For what, dry land farming techniques with a concentration in Israeli-invented drip irrigation design?
but encountered war and further indoctrination. "The mobilization of the jihad and what have you is different when they really go over there," Jamal said.
Jamal said the man has met with FBI investigators but is not in jail. No, he and his family have gone into hiding. I'll bet the FBI knows exactly where.
FBI special agent E.K. Wilson declined Saturday to comment about the development or the status of the travelers "because of the ongoing investigation," he said. Members of the Somali community were called to testify before Congress on March 11. Others have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Minneapolis. Farhan (Omar) Hurre, director of the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in south Minneapolis, said Saturday that he knows of at least 10 people within the Somali community who received subpoenas in the past two months. While FBI director Mueller never said where Shirwa Ahmed was influenced, much of the focus has been on Twin Cities mosques, and Abubakar specifically.
In late November, an imam and youth director from Abubakar were prohibited from boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia. At that time, an attorney representing the mosque, the largest in the Twin Cities, said they were put on a federal ''no fly'' list because they and the mosque were connected by rumor to the missing men. Sources close to the federal investigation have said that Ahmed, along with some of the other missing men, including Burhan Hassan and Mustafa Ali, 17, of St. Paul, spent time at or had ties to Abubakar. Hurre, the mosque director, has said that he did not know Shirwa Ahmed, but that others at the mosque knew him and were aware that he had spent time there.
Hurre said that mosque officials are still hoping to meet with the FBI to talk about the investigation and learn how they can help. I'm sure they are.
#4
Jamal said the man has met with FBI investigators but is not in jail.
tw: No, he and his family have gone into hiding. I'll bet the FBI knows exactly where.
I'm sure dear Kamal _________ has been telling the FBI all sorts of interesting things about the al-Shabab jihadi pipeline, Besoeker, and what made him give up that romantic life.
An intense, six-month campaign of Predator strikes in Pakistan has taken such a toll on Al Qaeda that militants have begun turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust, U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism officials say. OODA loop problems?
The pace of the Predator attacks has accelerated dramatically since August, when the Bush administration made a previously undisclosed decision to abandon the practice of obtaining permission from the Pakistani government before launching missiles from the unmanned aircraft. August. What else happened in August?
Since Aug. 31, the CIA has carried out at least 38 Predator strikes in northwest Pakistan, compared with 10 reported attacks in 2006 and 2007 combined, in what has become the CIA's most expansive targeted killing program since the Vietnam War.
Because of its success, the Obama administration is set to continue the accelerated campaign despite civilian casualties that have fueled anti-U.S. sentiment and prompted protests from the Pakistani government.
U.S. intelligence officials said they see clear signs that the Predator strikes are sowing distrust within Al Qaeda. "They have started hunting down people who they think are responsible" for security breaches, the senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said, discussing intelligence assessments on condition of anonymity. "People are showing up dead or disappearing."
The counter-terrorism official and others, who also spoke anonymously, said the U.S. assessments were based in part on reports from the region provided by the Pakistani intelligence service. That's one way to pop a balloon. Lots more at the link.
#1
An intense, six-month campaign of Predator strikes in Pakistan has taken such a toll on Al Qaeda that militants have begun turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust, U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism officials say.
Jeebus, the MSM sure did demonize GWB while he was in office.
Wonders never cease. The LA Times reports some good news.
#2
the CIA's most expansive targeted killing program since the Vietnam War
Are we missing anything? Wait a sec.... umm... how about...
the CIA's most expansive targeted killing program since the Nixon Administration's Vietnam War, the same war that saw the Kent State protests, the illegal Cambodian Invasion and bizzarely marked Neptunes full of proto-neo-cons doing bad things to good people.
#4
They need to bring this capability to bear against the cartels south of the border, if it were an option, and utilized as a surprise part of an escalating package, the snake could be rapidly decapitated.
#5
Predators were originally designed as video surveillance aircraft that could hover over a target from high altitudes. But new models are outfitted with additional intelligence gear that has enabled the CIA to confirm the identities of targets even when they are inside buildings and can't be seen through the Predator's lens.
The second season of the Indian Premier League will not be held in India. At the BCCI working commitee meeting today in Mumbai, a decison was taken to stage the tournament outside the country, due to extraordinary circumstances.
"It is a matter of great regret that, in the prevailing atmosphere, where the government is expressing concern for providing security to the IPL matches, the BCCI is left with no other option but to conduct the Indian Premier League in another country," the BCCI stated in a media release. The matches clash with the Indian general election.
England and South Africa have emerged as the frontrunners to host the event. "All 59 games will begin at 4:00 pm IST and the second game will begin at 8:00 pm IST as per schedule," said Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner. He also said there will be no changes made to the format or the schedule. An official announcement is expected soon.
#3
I mean seriously, I'd like to be Bowler just once, teach folks about crowding the wicket. A little head-huntery would liven up the sport considerbly IMHO.
#4
Shipman, one of my good friends thinks the batter in US baseball should be allowed to take the bat with him to first base after he hits the ball.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2009 16:36 Comments ||
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#5
A little head-huntery would liven up the sport considerbly IMHO.
In cricket it's a legal and common tactic to aim the ball at the batter's head or body (although the ball has to bounce first).
I watched a game last week where, in the space of an hour, one batter had a broken finger from trying to defend his body from the ball and a second went to hospital with a suspected broken jaw.
LAHORE: Chairperson Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Asma Jehangir has said poverty, unemployment and injustice are major causes behind increasing Talibanization and extremism in the country. We're back to that again. Poverty, unemployement, and particularly ignorance are the major drivers allowing those who are in charge of Talibanization to harvest their cannon fodder. The major causes of the extremism driving them are Islam and the doctrine of jihad.
She said this while addressing the concluding session of the international conference on religious freedom, minorities and supremacy of law here on Saturday. In Pakistain. Right. "Religious freedom." "Supremacy of law." Heh heh.
Asma Jehangir observed that situation in Swat has failed to improve even after the agreement on implementation of Shariah in Swat. No! Reeeally?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The minds lack of ability to see beyond one step at a time is genuine flaw in humans.
If they can see that poverty is a major cause of extremism, surely someone else in Pakistan can pick it up from there and ask what causes poverty?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/22/2009 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
It helps fuel and rationalize extremism, but it is not fundamental. The 9/11 terrorists weren't from 'poor' families any more than Ayers was. The ultimate goal of the new Caliphate isn't the image of middle class materialism.
#3
The reason the poor become cannon fodder is generally because someone is paying for them to do so. We've had reports out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan that jihadi wages are competitive with civilian wages, and jobs are actually available... unlike 2004-2007 in Iraq, or the past generation or more in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Still, I wonder how job availability is holding up now that the oil market is not what it was a year ago.
#4
As Obambi and his legion(s) of true believers continue to destroy our economy will it cause us to become extremist enough to really change things and get rid of these parasites? Just askin', ya'know.
(APP)- The Indian authorities have filed application in special sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday to postpone hearing of Ajmal Kasab case from March 23 to April 13 due to security reasons. Earlier, it was decided to initiate hearing of the case from March 23.
The application said the authorities have not yet completed the fortification of the court inside the Arthur Road jail where the case will be heard. The application filed by special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam in the court said the Public Works Department had sought time till April 12 to complete the fortification.
The application said the central paramilitary force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police has been assigned the duty for protection of Kasab and they have suggested certain constructions for fool-proof security. The government said threats have been received to kill Ajmal Kasab. I can't imagine why anybody'd want to bump him off.
This article starring:
Ajmal Kasab
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief Leon E. Panetta met with President Asif Ali Zardari here at the Presidency on Saturday.
During meeting the CIA Chief and President Zardari had an exchange of views on Mumbai attacks and the resulting situation in the region. According to the presidential spokesman, Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood "Wormtongue" Qureshi and the US ambassador in Pakistan Ann W. Patterson were also present on the occasion.
Earlier, the CIA chief Leon E. Panetta had meetings with with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and the chief of Pakistani intelligence agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken charge as the Chief Justice of Pakistan on early Sunday, Geo news reported. Remember, there was a reason Perv tossed him.
In a statement released by Supreme Court of Pakistan, it is said that justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken charge as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
CJP has approved the roster of Supreme Court right after taking charge following which, the roster has been issued, statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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An Indian minister claims Pakistan's "official agencies" were behind the last year's terror attacks on the port city of Mumbai. "Given the overwhelming evidence we have, I am entitled to presume that official agencies (of Pakistan) were involved," Home Affairs Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in an interview to be aired Sunday. He, however, did not elaborate on the evidence.
The remarks are the latest in a barrage of Indian criticism aimed at the Islamabad government. Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have sunk to a new low after militants, allegedly belonging to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, attacked several areas across the Indian port city of Mumbai in November 2008. At least 179 people, including nine militants, were killed and hundreds of others were injured in the incident.
Indian officials have accused the Pakistani army and the powerful Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of orchestrating the deadly attacks. Islamabad denies the charges.
The Indian police on Saturday pressured a court for death penalty for Ajmal Amir Qasab, the lone surviving gunman captured in the Mumbai carnage. Qasab, a Pakistani national, was arrested by Indian commandos during the November 26-29 raids and faces a string of charges including murder and terror acts against India.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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RAQ has sacked 62,000 employees accused of corruption and is dismantling sectarianism among its police - signs that it has turned a corner en route to eventual self-rule, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani wrote in a US newspaper.
He wrote in the Chicago Tribune newspaper that the firings occurred within his interior ministry, which employs a half-million workers. "We've tackled corruption by firing 62,000 employees and begun to dismantle sectarianism by prohibiting all political activity by police officers and creating a force made up of all Iraqis, Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurd,'' Mr Bolani wrote in his opinion piece in The Tribune.
"It is my hope that again the ministry will be a mirror of Iraq, only this time for a country united and at peace.''
Mr Bolani wrote that the Iraqi police service, the national police, the border patrol and other law enforcement agencies "continue to swell with new recruits, eager to maintain the stability necessary for Iraq to succeed''.
He said the inroads in security mark a dramatic turnaround from the years after Saddam Hussein was deposed by US troops. "During the first few years after Saddam Hussein's regime fell, Iraq was an unmitigated disaster. Corruption, sectarian conflict, agitation from outside forces and general mismanagement were pervasive, preventing us from rebuilding our infrastructure and returning a sense of normalcy to the country,'' the minister wrote.
But he said Iraq has succeeded in turning a corner in maintaining law and order. ``We now have a chance to be the first workable Arab democracy,'' he sad.
#1
I have to ask, were they sacked because they were corrupt, or because they did not pass the demanded cut of the corruption proceeds on up the political ladder?
#2
Glenmore, I don't have an answer, but the Iraqi people will pay the price/reap the reward of whichever is true.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/22/2009 18:10 Comments ||
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Gotta admit, my first thought on seeing that headline was "gee, wish CA or the USG could do something like that" (i.e. cut tens of thousands of employees in a snap).
On the substance of the matter, y'all are probably wise to keep hopes low - but let's not forget how spectacular even the possibility of a reasonably civilized Iraqi civil society is. This, of course, being mere gravy on top of the key strategic success of annihilating the most dangerous, ambitious, and resource-rich Arab adversary and likely global jihad backer.
One of the things that has boiled my blood (starting with remarks I saw Gen. Casey make in March '05 in the rotunda of the palace/embassy annex) have been the rhetorical retreats of both administrations WRT our timeline in Iraq. The strategic payoff of our investment of blood and treasure will likely be proportional to the duration of our effective presence. Esp. with something like the issue in question here. Dunno how things are these days, but the Hong Kong police emerged from the British colonial experience as probably the least corrupt and most professional police force in the entire eastern hemisphere. No accident.
To me it's hardly less of an outrageous squandering of so much noble sacrifice to cut short our effective presence following victory over the insurgency than it would have been to cut and run before we had victory in the bag. But I suppose that's one of the things that has put me on a different planet than most Americans and almost all of my former Beltway colleagues.
#4
I imagine at least some were Sons of Iraq make-work jobs to keep them out of Al Qaeda. That's not needed anymore, I think. And I strongly suspect that a good many of them were connected to criminal/sectarian groups like the Mahdi Army, and those have been cleaned up enough that their cronies needn't be tolerated in the security apparatus any longer. Finally, some are probably too corrupt or incompetent even by Iraqi standards. No doubt babies were thrown out with bathwater, but with the need for competent people they'll likely soon find themselves in an organization that can use their skills but where they better fit.*
*This opinion based on no actual data whatsoever, but
#6
He's talking about a period of time, not all at once. The Interior Ministry has made great strides and that is a very hopeful sign.
In that number are the folks that caved to Mookie in Basra, a bunch from Daiyla, and various other odds and sods.
In this case, most were sacked for the reasons stated. This is a minor success story when it comes to corruption, though there can always be improvements.
"A new language towards the region is coming from President Obama. The challenge for everybody is for this to be the prelude for a genuine change in U.S. and European policies. Regarding an official opening towards Hamas, it's a matter of time," [Kaled] Meshal Hamas political leader stationed in Syria and owned by Iran
told Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published on Sunday.
Meshal said Israel's 22-day offensive in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in December and January had not dented Hamas's influence.
"The great powers need us in order to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Our weight in the Palestinian problem comes from us being rooted in the society, in the population, which voted for us and will do it again," he said. Note the salute to "Realpolitics" - Obviously he would like Obama's para-appeasement to segue to real appeasement
#1
One of BO's mideast experts should clue him in on the muslim concept of "al-Taqiyya"--unless of course he doesn't care.
Look out Israel the bus is headed your way. Don't get run over. I never quite got that the American Jewish community tends to largely vote for American Presidents that are not particularly sympathetic to Israel. Must be the liberal thingee trumps common sense.
Hamas says it is willing to finalize an Egypt-brokered deal with Israel that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. "We are not here (in Cairo) on a trip just to leave our brothers in prison, where some of them have been for 25 and 32 years," Hamas deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk was quoted by Ynet as telling the Arab media on Saturday.
Hamas is "willing to continue talks with our mediating brothers in Egypt in order to try and bring to a deal to completion as quickly as possible, so as to release our brothers from prison," he added.
The Islamic movement had earlier blamed Israel for the failure of talks between the sides on a prisoner swap deal. The Hamas official said although some progress had been made during the negotiations, they were not enough to finalize an agreement.
Hamas and Israel have been negotiating a deal under which hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit was captured in a cross border operation by Palestinian fighters in 2006. Israel has been insisting that in case of a prisoner swap deal, high profile prisoners must be expelled from Palestinian territories after their release.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday called Jerusalem "the key for peace" and said justice and peace would not come to the Middle East without "an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A pic of this guy running in hamster wheel would be fantastic.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/22/2009 0:22 Comments ||
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#2
I thought killing all the Juice was the key to peace. Has something changed?
The Arab League is warning Iran not to harm the sovereignty or independence of any Arab state.
Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmad Bin Hali presumably this is what Egypt told him to say
accused Teheran of issuing provocative statements against Arab states.
Arab countries will not allow Iranian influence in Iraq on account of Iraq's sovereignty and stability, he said in an interview with an Egyptian television channel on Saturday.
He also said Iran's interference in Palestinian affairs Fatah controls the Palestinian seat in the Arab League
was not justified.
Palestinian factions in Lebanon accused the army on Saturday of contaminating Iranian food aid destined for a refugee camp by using sniffer-dogs to search the shipment. "Camp residents refuse to eat what the police dogs have soiled," several Palestinian factions in northern Lebanon, including the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said in a statement received by AFP. "Oh, yasss! In our religion, animals that can sniff out explosives or dope are very much forbidden! Bad, bad juju, y'know!"
It referred to a shipment donated by Iran for residents of the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, which was devastated by deadly battles between a fringe Islamist group and the army in 2007. A place that was coincidentally home to several tons of unauthorized explosives that nobody could say how they got there...
The Palestinian factions said they could no longer receive the aid and accused the army of delaying its delivery describing this as a "humiliating" act. "Take your charity and be off wit' yez!"
The leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was among the factions which signed the statement, said that 200 tonnes of aid had arrived outside the camp three days earlier and been held up for "security reasons."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Anyone who believes that Muslims can be assimilated into Western societies is in for a rude awakening, according to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Ali, who spoke at The Society of the Four Arts Tuesday, has reason to suspect Muslims' good will. She was born in Somalia, suffered genital mutilation as a child and was forced into an arranged marriage, according to her official biography. She rejected her Muslim faith and fled to The Netherlands, where she became a member of the Dutch parliament. She's been under protection since 2004, when a death threat against her was found pinned to the murdered body of Theo van Gogh, who directed her short movie documenting the suffering of women under Islam.
Today she lives in the United States and is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. She's written a memoir, titled Infidel, and co-founded the AHA Foundation, which works to combat the oppression of women by fundamentalist Islamic regimes.
In his introduction to her talk, Winston Churchill, a Palm Beach resident and the British prime minister's grandson, called her "quite the most courageous woman it's ever been my privilege to meet."
There are two schools of thought in the West regarding Islam, she said. One says that radicals have hijacked Islam and that peaceful co-existence is possible with adherents of the faith. Ali subscribes to the second point of view. "Islam is not a religion of peace," she said. "It's a political theory of conquest that seeks domination by any means it can." In her opinion, European society is in danger of being hijacked by a rapidly growing population of Islamic immigrants, who lack the means or the inclination to assimilate and are supported by Muslim nations in their efforts to undermine their host countries.
Islamic thought and practice is incompatible with that of the West, because in Islamic societies, religious law is supreme, she said. "All aspects of the life of a person in public and private, down to the most intimate details, are regulated," she said. "In liberal democracies, laws are not made by God." According to the prophet Muhammad, whose example is one of the foundations of Islamic law, associating with infidels is a sin; women should not be allowed to leave the house without their husbands or a guardian; polygamy and sexual intercourse with a child are permitted, and homosexuals should be executed, she said. "This is not my opinion," Ali said. "These are facts."
But John Ederer, imam of the Islamic Foundation of South Florida, said Ali is ascribing the teachings of fringe elements to all Muslims. "... I can say with certainty that poor Ayaan is a victim of some men who call themselves Muslims but are not in accordance with our 14-century-old legacy of authentic scholarship," he said in a statement. "It is their lack of knowledge of the 'fundamentals' of Islam that would have them interpret a few texts to hold such unorthodox beliefs and practices. Notice how these supposed 'refutations' don't really address the points that Hirsi Ali made earlier? First, a little smoke . . .
"No doubt Ayaan and the people who affected her thinking can bring you a few verses of the Koran or sayings of the prophet Muhammad to prove their point. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacy groups can do the same with the words of the Bible to convince a commoner of their ideology." . . . then some mirrors.
Many people believe that prejudice accounts for the high number of Muslims in Europe living on welfare, when the truth is that poorly educated Muslim women are ill-equipped to help their children succeed in school, and many Muslims use religious objections as an excuse not to work, Ali argued.
Negotiating with radical Muslims won't succeed, she said. "Every accommodation of Muslim demands leads to a sense of euphoria and a conviction that Allah is on their side," she said. "They see every act of appeasement as an invitation to make fresh demands."
Ali warned that European societies are in danger of being subverted by Muslim immigrants as European populations age and decline and the number of young Muslim immigrants explodes. "The most pressing question of our time is this: Is European society to be taken over by a radical invasion of Muslim immigrants?" she said.
Ali's views are disputed by many authorities, including Robert Rabil, director of graduate studies in the political science department at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Rabil teaches the school's Muslim studies courses. There are Islamic extremists in Europe who are trying to radicalize the Muslim population, he said. But "Islam is a monotheist religion embraced by 1.4 billion people," he said. "You don't lump all these people with the Islamic fundamentalists." The fact that all Germans weren't Nazis didn't make it any less of a problem, did it?
#2
The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacy groups can do the same with the words of the Bible to convince a commoner of their ideology."
The KKK is not celebrated as 'heros' of Christianity and their actions - and beliefs - are soundly denounced by just about every non-KKK church worldwide. They were (and are even more now) a small splinter group.
The jihadi's are celebrated by muslims worldwide and hardly ever denounced without many-a 'but...' or 'if..' thrown in. They are held up to young muslims as 'standards' and 'role-models'. They are often sponsored by Islamic nations (Saudi-Arabia, Pakistan, Iran) and/or major Muslim religious/political elements. They are, and are supported by mainstream Muslim elements.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea today confirmed it is holding two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were in China working on a story about North Korean refugees and human trafficking. The detention of the two women is further straining an already tense relationship between the United States and North Korea.
North Korea will close two aerial routes through its controlled airspace from April 4 to 8 in order to launch what Pyongyang claims is a communication satellite, Japan''s transport ministry said Saturday. It was announced in a North Korean notification issued on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
(APP)- The Indian authorities have filed application in special sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday to postpone hearing of 
ISLAMABAD: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief Leon E. Panetta met with President Asif Ali Zardari here at the Presidency on Saturday.
An Indian minister claims Pakistan's "official agencies" were behind the last year's terror attacks on the port city of Mumbai. "Given the overwhelming evidence we have, I am entitled to presume that official agencies (of Pakistan) were involved," Home Affairs Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in an interview to be aired Sunday. He, however, did not elaborate on the evidence. 
Hamas says it is willing to finalize an Egypt-brokered deal with Israel that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. "We are not here (in Cairo) on a trip just to leave our brothers in prison, where some of them have been for 25 and 32 years," Hamas deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk was quoted by Ynet as telling the Arab media on Saturday. 
Palestinian factions in Lebanon accused the army on Saturday of contaminating Iranian food aid destined for a refugee camp by using sniffer-dogs to search the shipment. "Camp residents refuse to eat what the police dogs have soiled," several Palestinian factions in northern Lebanon, including the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said in a statement received by AFP.
Anyone who believes that Muslims can be assimilated into Western societies is in for a rude awakening, according to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
