Barnabas Fund udsender løbende bulletiner om forfølgelse af kristne i Syrien, mange tusind er flygtet. Der meldes konstant om dræbte, – mindst 10.000 mennesker er omkommet siden marts 2011, siger FN ifølge BBC. Bilbomber, mortergranater, raketter og anden saliggørende islamisk fred. Våben til regimet strømmer ind bla. fra Iran og Rusland, skriver The New York Times. USA hjælper derimod oprørerne med materiel, kan man læse i Time Magazine. Og Syrien har i forvejen verdens største arsenal af kemiske våben, fortæller The Washington Times. The National Review Online beretter, at det ikke var Assad-regimet, der stod bag den grusomme massakre i Houla og Homs. Der var derimod sunnimuslimske oprørere, der gjorde det. Ofrene var shiamuslimer, alawier og kristne. Borgerkrig i fuld skala, mener højtstående kilder i FNs fredsbevarende styrker - Herve Ladsous, the U.N.’s peacekeeping chief - i et interview i New Zealand’s Rhema Radio. Hizbollah, Al Qaeda, Det Muslimske Broderskab med flere, – de er der allesammen. Der kan blive brug for mange hvide rosiner til de fromme jihadister fra Syrien, men det siger Fogh Rasmussen ikke noget om. Alex Thomson fra Channel 4 har derimod interessante oplysninger:
Syrian Rebels tried to get Alex Thomson Channel 4 Reporter killed to boost anti-Assad Propaganda
From New Zealand’s Rhema Radio: The United Nations says Syria is now involved in all-out civil war, after their own UN Monitors were shot at by rebel forces. As we’ve heard, there are terrible tales of children being used as human shields, tortured and killed and increasingly, calls for other nations to take some sort of action. Now Russia’s giving the Syrian regime attack helicopters — and it’s clear the rebel forces are also being armed from somewhere.
Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum and a fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and he shares on the issue.
NATO: Anders Fogh Rasmussen & Annette Young – Syria similar to Bosnia – June 13, 2012
France 24: A growing number of people are starting to compare Syria to the situation the world faced with Bosnia during the mid 1990s. Among them is NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who talks to Annette Young about the lessons that should have been learnt from the Balkans.
Opdatering – Mange af Pipes’ artikler oversættes til dansk. Et par af de nyeste:
Vi skal også lige høre, hvad Barry Rubin siger om præsident Obama:
What to Say When You’re Handed the Obama-Is-Good-for-Israel Talking Points
June 1, 2012 – by Barry Rubin
Many Americans, and particularly Jews, are starting to receive mailings encouraging them to vote for President Barack Obama or donate to his reelection campaign of by arguing that he is pro-Israel. Several readers have asked me to provide them with responses. Here is a brief answer.
These emails and mailings, though designed to look as if they were written by concerned individuals, clearly draw their texts from talking points posted on the Obama reelection site. The arguments are very thin and selective but are presented as if they represent the totality of Obama policy.
Guest: Geert Wilders, author of, “Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me.”
Sandheden om hvad der udløste det hollandske valg den 15. september 2012, er omsider kommet frem. Statsminister, Mark Rutte, angreb Geert Wilders på det groveste - midt under budgetforhandlingerne - og sagde, at han ville ødelægge Frihedspartiet, som Wilders er formand for. Derfor udvandrede Wilders fra forhandlingerne og opsagde aftalerne om at fungere som støtteparti. Wilders’ modstand imod alt for drastiske besparelser på statens budgetter har ellers hidtil fået hele skylden. Nis News skrev den 15. maj 2012:
Premier Mark Rutte’s reputation as the good-humoured gentleman has been dented now that it has emerged that he made a fierce attack behind the scenes on Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders.
Rutte was confronted on TV programme Pauw&Witteman last Friday evening with a rumour that he threatened to “decimate” the PVV if Wilders did not sign up to an accord for 14 billion euros in budget cutbacks for 2013. Rutte confirmed that he “may have said something like this”.
Wilders said Saturday evening on TV programme EenVandaag that Rutte’s words had been even stronger. According to the PVV leader, the premier told him “I will break that little party of yours down to the last seat.”
“I cannot explain to anyone that these parties signed a blank cheque of 40 billion euros for Greece and perhaps for Spain, Italy and other countries while we demand 12 billion euros from the Dutch citizens,” Wilders told TV station RTL 7.
Og der er mere uenighed:
Hvis Holland skal tilslutte sig EUs stabilitetspagt, European Stability Mechanism, ESM, skal vælgerne spørges først. Det siger Geert Wilders, der nu anlægger sag ved de hollandske domstole. Den afgående regering har ikke handlet lovligt ved at underskrive aftalen, som i følge Wilders er suverænitetsafgivelse. Det skriver flere kilder, blandt andre Expatica.
Opdatering 5. juni 2012: Wilders tabte retssagen, skriver flere kilder blandt andre The Irish Times og Expatica. Wilders overvejer at anke sagen, skriver Reuters.
Jeg har lavet et lille overblik over noget af Wilders rolle i hollandsk politik det sidste halve år:
Bill Gates, Desmond Tutu og Bob Geldof følte sig kaldet til at blande sig i den politiske debat i april. De synes ikke om Wilders Frihedspartis (PVV) forslag om at skære i bistandshjælpen til udviklingslande. Det er som bekendt EU, der har krævet voldsomme stramninger i det offentliges udgifter. Tutu og Geldof har haft læserbreve i hollandske aviser og Bill Gates har ringet til en tv-kanal, skriver Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Avisen Volkskrant modtog også en opringning, fortæller DutchNews. Gates har desuden inviteret Wilders på besøg i Afrika for at se på udviklingsprojekter, fortæller The Irish Times.
I april 2012 viste en Klout-undersøgelse, at Geert Wilders ligger på top 10 over de mest indflydelsesrige hollændere på Twitter.
Wilders protesterede over den tyrkiske islamist og præsident Abdullah Güls tre dage lange besøg i Holland. Af en eller anden urimelig grund har hollænderne valgt at markere 400 året for diplomatiske forbindelser mellem de to lande. Fra Expatica den 18. april 2012:
“The Turkish president described Mr Wilders as an Islamophobe in an interview with popular daily De Telegraaf. He said the Freedom Party leader expressed extremist views that fostered radicalism.”
Og Wilders svarede via Twitter – fra armenske Panorama:
“Islamist Gul, who persecutes the Christians, attacks the Kurds and is in friendly relations with Hamas, complaint of intolerance. Typical Turkish humor.”
“Turkey has a number of shortcomings – imprisonment of journalists covering criticism, denial of Armenian Genocide, pressure against national minorities. However, due to Kemal Ataturk’s advanced visions Turkey managed to become a strategic ally of the West and shared military and diplomatic cooperation with Israel for so long.”
Holland bør droppe euroen og reintroducere hollandske gylden, synes Wilders, der i marts måned plæderede for en folkeafstemning, fremgår det af Bloomberg. En analyse lavet af det britiske Lombard Street Research viser, at den hollandske økonomi er alvorligt hæmmet af euro-medlemsskabet, fortæller The Independent.
Wilders Frihedsparti har oprettet en hjemmeside og en hotline, hvor hollændere kan indrapportere de problemer, de oplever med østarbejdere, skriver Deutsche Welle. Hjemmesiden hedder “Meldpunt Midden en Oost Europeanen“. EU, Polen, Bulgarien, Rumænien, Ungarn, Tjekkiet, Slovakiet, Slovenien, Estland, Letland, Lithauen, - har klaget over denne “hadetale”. Tilsidst blev den hollandske regering presset til også at lægge afstand til initiativet. Som man kan regne ud, handler det først og fremmest om østeuropæernes ofte meget kriminelle adfærd. Wilders vil heller ikke have Bulgarien og Rumænien med i Schengen. Midt i februar havde PVVs site mere end 40.000 kommentarer. Da havde det kun været åbent i en uge. Wilders har da også svaret kritikerne med et “Mind your own business”, skriver The Global Post. EU-Kommissionens danske cheftalskvinde, Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen, udtalte i følge NYDailyNews, at hjemmesiden muligvis kunne være et brud på EUs hade-tale-love. Jojo.
I januar foreslog Wilders, at den hollandske regering undskylde deportationen af landets jøder under anden verdenskrig. Mere end 100.000 jøder blev deporteret til dødslejre i Tyskland og Polen. Den hollandske stat solgte de ejendomme, de myrdede jøder var tvunget til at forlade, skriver World of Judaica. I dag bor der kun 30.000 jøder i Holland. Mark Ruttes regering har svaret, at de vil overveje forslaget. Der er til dato ikke kommet noget svar på Wilders anmodning.
Den hollandske regering bør arbejde på at få Tyrkiet ud af Nato, mener Wilders’ Frihedsparti i følge The Jerusalem Post, som skrev om det allerede i december 2011.
Den egyptiske regering protesterede allerede i november 2011 over Geert Wilders nye bog, skriver Wilders på sin blog. Egypterne anklagede Wilders for at bagvaske islam og den hollandske ambassadør i Egypten blev kaldt i samråd i det Egyptiske udenrigsministerium. Ingen kan imidlertid have læst sig til den antagelse, – bogen er som bekendt først udkommet for få uger siden.
Der ligger et ret godt interview med Geert Wilders hos The Daily Caller. Jeg har linket til det en gang før og nu gør jeg det igen:
Apparently Christopher Dickey, who for many years had a photograph of Yasir Arafat hanging on his Newsweek office wall in Paris, thinks that “someone could get hurt” if Geert Wilders continues to say what, for the well-informed, is obvious: that what is in Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira, if taken to heart, makes every Believer a menace, in posse and, whenever the spirit moves him, in esse, to all non-Muslims. Apparently Christopher Dickey has not noticed the 2.5 million black African Christians killed in the southern Sudan by northern Muslims, never noticed what happened to the Igbo and other Christians before, during, and after the Biafra War, has not noticed what has been happening to Christians in Iraq and in Pakistan and in Indonesia [...]
Mere HER i The New English Review. Fitzgerald kommenterer på denne ignorante artikel i The Daily Beast:
Den dødbringende fortælling om Det Arabiske Forår spiller på den vestlige kulturs gode ønsker for alle. Det forekommer langt mere anstændigt at håbe, at folk, der så længe har været undertrykt, omsider vil kunne ånde frit, end at erkende, at de simpelthen er blevet trætte af den gamle kalif og vil have en ny.
Mere HER hos Sappho. Kan også læses på engelsk hos The New English Review her.
Bevis jeres værd, IMR
Klumme af Kit Louise Strand – 11. maj 2012
Efter årtiers politisk korrekte udmeldinger er der bevægelse i Institut for Menneskerettigheder, men direktøren har stadig ikke forstået, hvad menneskerettigheder går ud på.
Russia Today har uploadet denne video den 4. maj 2012. Jihadister på Balkan. Vesten tier og samtykker:
Kosovo terror training camps re-open for Syrian rebels
Syrian rebels have reportedly begun to undergo guerilla warfare training in Kosovo. They’re alleged to be using the same training camps built for the anti-Serb Kosovo Liberation Army – a group previously designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and even the UN. RT talks to Srdja Trifcovich, foreign affairs editor for the US-based Chronicles magazine.
Der følger en artikel med fra Russia Today, som man kan læse her.
Geller har selv uploadet denne video fra 7. maj 2012:
Pamela Geller on Sean Hannity show on FOX News
I debated Michael Ghouse. I wish every Muslim were like Mike Ghouse, but most aren’t, and Mike himself knows that these are devout, observant, knowledgeable Muslims. He cannot pretend they are not Muslim. If they are “extreme,” it is only in their piety and devotion.
We also discussed Obama’s failed Afghan strategy. The Obama adminsitration is throwing in the towel on the war on terror. The Washington Post reported today that Obama has been secretly releasing high level jihadists from GITMO in a stunning capitulation to the Taliban.
The Taliban has already been declared to be not the enemy, and Obama administration officials including Biden have talked about dealing with the “moderate Taliban,” a concept the Taliban have derided. The Administration has no plan, no focus, no enemy in Afghanistan, and we’re wasting lives and money being there. Obama even just promised Karzai that it would not carry out any more raids like the one that took out OBL. A bipartisan committee has found the Taliban stronger than ever. The administration is actively aiding the stealth jihad in legal cases at home and has effectively surrendered in Afghanistan. He hasn’t just thrown in the towel on the war on terror — for all intents and purposes, he has switched sides.
Omtalte artikel:
Secret U.S. program releases high-level insurgents in exchange for pledges of peace
By Kevin Sieff, Published: May 7
The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks.
As the United States has unsuccessfully pursued a peace deal with the Taliban, the “strategic release” program has quietly served as a live diplomatic channel, allowing American officials to use prisoners as bargaining chips in restive provinces where military power has reached its limits.
Det er egentlig imponerende, at man kan tale så længe uden at sige noget. Vores tidligere statsminister er blevet en sjælden gæst i de hjemlige medier. Sådan er det ikke udenfor Danmarks grænser. Man kan eksempelvis finde masser af videoer på YouTube – nu blogger jeg en af dem. Fra 23. – 25. marts 2012:
A Conversation with the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Det hed den konference, der fandt sted i Chicago den 10. marts 2012. Jeg har plukket lidt ud – først den meget sympatiske Cynthia Farahat:
Faith Under Fire: Cynthia Farahat
Faith Under Fire: The Global Threat to Religious Freedom conference took place in metro Chicago on March 10, 2012.
Please join us for this eye-opening Chicago-area conference on the worldwide crisis in religious freedom. We will examine the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Islamic countries as representatives of these communities offer riveting testimony. Key members of the U.S. Congress will discuss the latest legislation and actions intended to prevent genocide. Recognized international and national experts will offer insightful analysis of policy issues and the global threat to religious freedom.
Cynthia Farahat is an Egyptian political activist, writer and researcher. She co-founded the Liberal Egyptian Party (2006-2008) and served as a member of its political committee. In 2008-2009, she was program coordinator and program officer at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in Cairo, a multi-national free market think tank. She was a founder of the Masr El-Om (Mother Egypt) Party and was a member of its political committee (2004-2006). She has published in National Review, Middle East Quarterly, and in other publications in both English and Arabic. In December 2011, Ms. Farahat testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the US House of Representatives on the roots of the persecution of the Coptic Christian minority in her native Egypt. She is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and the Center for Security Policy. (edit)
Næste tale med Ashraf Ramelah kan man evt. se på YouTube. Derefter Juliana Taimoorazy:
Faith Under Fire: Juliana Taimoorazy
Faith Under Fire: The Global Threat to Religious Freedom conference took place in metro Chicago on March 10, 2012.
Please join us for this eye-opening Chicago-area conference on the worldwide crisis in religious freedom. We will examine the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Islamic countries as representatives of these communities offer riveting testimony. Key members of the U.S. Congress will discuss the latest legislation and actions intended to prevent genocide. Recognized international and national experts will offer insightful analysis of policy issues and the global threat to religious freedom.
Juliana Taimoorazy is the founder and President of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, an organization that raises awareness about the persecuted church in Iraq and helps Assyrian Christians resettle in Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts and Arizona. Through her activism and media appearances, Taimoorazy has worked tirelessly to promote the cause of Assyrian Christians in the U.S. While volunteering for Catholic Charities, she has mentored young women arriving in the U.S. She has also volunteered with Operation Homefront in Illinois, an organization that provides emergency financial and other assistance to the families of our service members and wounded warriors.
Taimoorazy was smuggled into Switzerland in 1989 to avoid religious persecution in her native Iran. After spending seven days in a monastery in Zurich, she was smuggled into Germany where she sought asylum in the U.S embassy. In 1990 she immigrated to the U.S with the refugee status. As an Assyrian Christian living in Iran, Taimoorazy learned to be multi-lingual at a young age, and is fluent in English, Farsi, and Assyrian. She obtained her Masters degree in Instructional Design from Northeastern Illinois University. In addition to being an entrepreneur, she has also worked as a journalist for a local television station in Chicago. As a child, she would take her sister’s hairbrush and stand in front of the mirror and act as a news reporter — even before she learned how to read and write. She currently is a radio host for Nineveh Radio.
Faith Under Fire: Q+A Background Testimony on Indigenous Communities
Panel: Testimony from the Region and Background on Indigenous Communities
-Cynthia Farahat Egyptian political activist – Ashraf Ramelah founder and President of Voice of the Copts – Juliana Taimoorazy founder and President of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council
Moderator: Hon. Fred Grandy
Please join us for this eye-opening Chicago-area conference on the worldwide crisis in religious freedom. We will examine the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Islamic countries as representatives of these communities offer riveting testimony. Key members of the U.S. Congress will discuss the latest legislation and actions intended to prevent genocide. Recognized international and national experts will offer insightful analysis of policy issues and the global threat to religious freedom.
Paul Marshall var udmærket:
Faith Under Fire: Paul Marshall – Blasphemy, Apostasy and Free Speech
Faith Under Fire: The Global Threat to Religious Freedom conference took place in metro Chicago on March 10, 2012.
Paul Marshall — Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide
Faith Under Fire: The Global Threat to Religious Freedom conference took place in metro Chicago on March 10, 2012.
Please join us for this eye-opening Chicago-area conference on the worldwide crisis in religious freedom. We will examine the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Islamic countries as representatives of these communities offer riveting testimony. Key members of the U.S. Congress will discuss the latest legislation and actions intended to prevent genocide. Recognized international and national experts will offer insightful analysis of policy issues and the global threat to religious freedom.
Paul Marshall is Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, Washington, D.C.
He has spoken on religious freedom, international relations, and radical Islam before Congressional committees, the U.S. State Department, the Helsinki Commission, INS and DHS Asylum Bureaus, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. He has also lectured in Canada, England, Israel, Cyprus, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Greece, India, Switzerland, Spain, Lebanon, Korea, Nigeria, Belarus, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
In November, 2011, Oxford University press published his Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide co-authored with Nina Shea
His co-edited work Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion, was published by Oxford in early 2009 and was awarded the Wilbur Prize by the Religious Communicators’ Council and given the “Book of the Year 2009″ Awardfrom the Religious Communication Association.
Marshall is the author of the best-selling survey of religious persecution Their Blood Cries Out (1997). In speeches introducing the International Religious Freedom Act in the U.S. Senate, Senator Nickles described the book as “a powerful and persuasive analysis” and an “exhaustive survey,” “which simply cannot be ignored” and Senator Lieberman described it as “the manifesto of the religious freedom movement.”
Faith Under Fire: Q+A Paul Marshall and Keith Roderick
Faith Under Fire: The Global Threat to Religious Freedom conference took place in metro Chicago on March 10, 2012.
Paul Marshall — Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide
Very Reverend Keith Roderick — Strategy for the Future
Please join us for this eye-opening Chicago-area conference on the worldwide crisis in religious freedom. We will examine the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Islamic countries as representatives of these communities offer riveting testimony. Key members of the U.S. Congress will discuss the latest legislation and actions intended to prevent genocide. Recognized international and national experts will offer insightful analysis of policy issues and the global threat to religious freedom.
Nu må det være nok. Vi har forsøgt og det virkede ikke. Afghanerne vil ikke have civilisation i vestlig betydning. Vi skal ud nu. Secure Freedom Radios Frank Gaffney interviewede Diana West den 15. marts 2012:
At War With The Constitution
Part of the new Afghan strategy is to not just minimize civilian casualties, but also completely eliminate them. Obama focuses more on civilian deaths at the hands of US troops than civilian deaths at the hands of the Taliban. US forces account for 7% of civilian deaths while the Taliban are responsible for 93% yet no one talks about this. Diana West tries to explain why the US government only focuses on American faults instead of triumphs and why they hold their own troops accountable while giving the Taliban a pass to do as they please.
Startes HER - åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed godt 10 minutter.
We’ll hear Afghan thanks when hell freezes over
Diana West on why WWII Dutch appreciation for U.S. won’t be replicated in Kabul
by Diana West – 15. March 2012
I am looking at a heartwarming 1945 photograph of a Canadian-liberated town in the Netherlands, all joyous spontaneity and relief as townspeople (two wearing wooden shoes) celebrate their liberation from Nazi Germany. Nearly 70 years later, this snapshot in time is relevant to events currently swirling around a tragic, aberrational incident in which a U.S. Army staff sergeant apparently walked off base and killed 16 Afghan civilians.
Nazi liberation was a costly liberation. Allied air raids on German-occupied Rotterdam alone killed 884 citizens and wounded 631. Such losses were negligible next to the millions of civilian casualties during World War II caused by Axis and Allies alike.
Mere HER hos WMD eller her hos The Register-Mail. Næsten identisk version her hos Diana West.
Han skulle have været henrettet i stedet for Hvidsten Gruppen
09. marts 2012 – interview af Katrine Winkel Holm
Modstandsmanden Jørgen Kieler overvejede at sende sin Ebbe Munck pris tilbage, da Tøger Seidenfaden fik den. Læs interviewet med modstandsmanden, der sad i Vestre Fængsel med Hvidsten Gruppen.
Den nye censur – Ole Hasselbalch svarer sine kritikere
11. marts 2012 – interview af Lars Hedegaard
Aviskampagnen mod den private forening ORG bygger på løgn og opspind og er udtryk for det rene bølleuvæsen, mener professor Ole Hasselbalch. Han har aldeles ikke tænkt sig at lægge bånd på den vrede, som flere anmeldere af hans netop udkomne bog om “Politiken-affæren” har kritiseret ham for. Et af ofrene for smudskampagnen har opnået erstatning.
Han er på al-Qaedas dødsliste, og i haven sidder efterretningstjenesten og passer på ham døgnet rundt. Alligevel tager den svenske Muhammed-tegner Lars Vilks sin skæbne med ophøjet ro. Sappho har besøgt manden, der nægtede at gå under jorden.
Michael Coren & Bruce Bawer: Persecution Of Conservatives In Norway
Og lidt håndpluk fra Bawers seneste:
Love and Hate in Norway
by Bruce Bawer on Mar 2nd, 2012
“If you hate Norway so much,” read the email in my inbox the other day, “why don’t you go back to America? Why don’t you go back to the Midwest or the Southern states where you can live with your beloved Tea Party friends?”
The email was in Norwegian, and the sender had a Norwegian name. This is far from the first such e-mail I have received in my thirteen years in Norway. A few years back, in a piece for the New York Times about the Norwegian economy, I made what I thought was a harmless remark in passing about the matpakke, the wrapped-up homemade sandwich that many workers in Norway, including high-ranking executives, chow down at their desks at lunchtime because it’s just too expensive here (Oslo is the world’s priciest city) for most people to go out for even a modest lunch. After that article, I got several hundred outraged text messages, e-mails, and phone calls asking me why I was living in Norway if I hated its beloved traditions so much and ordering me to go back to America. I even got a couple of death threats.
It’s always refreshing when mainstream-media bigwigs are actually honest about the prejudices that guide their institutions. So one could only applaud when Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, admitted the other day something that is already obvious to anyone who watches or listens to the Beeb – namely, that the folks who run the shop are as quick to broadcast works that mock Christianity as they are to forbid the mockery of, shall we say, certain other faiths, and that the main reason is, quite simply, fear.
Thompson actually gave three reasons for the BBC’s all-religions-are-not-created-equal policy. First, he said that the BBC treats Christianity differently from other faiths because, as “an established part of our cultural-built landscape,” it is “pretty broad shouldered” – whatever that means. Second, certain other religions have a “very close identity with ethnic minorities” who may feel that an attack on their beliefs is “racism by other means” – whatever that means. Third, and obviously most decisive in determining the Corporation’s policy, Christians and adherents of at least one of those “other” religions have, shall we say, rather divergent ways of reacting to insults to their religion. “Without question,” Thompson said, “’I complain in the strongest possible terms’ is different from ‘I complain in the strongest possible terms and I am loading my AK47 as I write.’”
Mere HER i FrontPageMagazine. Kan også læses her hos AINA.
The Vicious Cycle of Western Apologies and Muslim Violence
by Bruce Bawer on Feb 28th, 2012
A newspaper in a small European country publishes a few cartoons of Muhammed, and millions of Muslims erupt in outrage – or in what we have become accustomed to seeing described as outrage. An obscure pastor of a tiny church in Florida threatens to destroy a Koran, and millions of Muslims erupt in that selfsame outrage. Some NATO soldiers inadvertently burn a few copies of the Koran, and millions of Muslims erupt, yet again, in outrage.
And the next thing you know, large numbers of people have been killed, Western embassies have been vandalized, mischief and mayhem of every imaginable kind has taken place. And meanwhile, the air is thick with apologies.
Mere HER i FrontPageMagazine. Kan også læses her hos Ruthfully Yours.
Party Like It’s A.D. 632
by Bruce Bawer on Feb 10th, 2012
Recently the Partij voor Moslim Nederland (Party for Muslim Netherlands), which already enjoys a significant presence in various municipal governments in that country, announced that it intended to run candidates for the Dutch Parliament. An article in Forbes listed the party’s major principles, which included limits on “offensive” speech about religion; the criminalization of blasphemy and of the destruction of religious texts; immediate admission of Turkey to the EU; an end to support for Israel; and the free and unimpeded importation of Muslim brides from abroad.
Mere HER i FrontPageMagazine. Free Republic her. Norge er ved at gå tabt. Sverige om igen:
Lessons from North Korea
by Bruce Bawer on Feb 21st, 2012
One of the many interesting aspects of living in Norway is that one is frequently exposed to pro-Cuban propaganda. As I wrote in my book While Europe Slept, the Norwegian media routinely depict Cubans as “an unusually happy people who, in a world of bland, cookie-cutter materialism, have taken a different path, retaining their magnificent, vibrant uniqueness and staving off the influences of the vapid ‘McDonald’s culture’ that reigns only sixty miles from their shores.”
Mere HER i FrontPageMagazine. Desuden denne artikel i FrontPageMagazine om et stort, naivt fæhovede:
The Tundra Tabloids publishes the following review at Fjordman’s request.
Book Review: The New Quislings
The American author Bruce Bawer, who has lived in Norway for over a decade, in early 2012 published the ebook The New Quislings: How the International Left Used the Oslo Massacre to Silence Debate About Islam. It deals with the aftermath of the terror attacks in the Oslo region on July 22, 2011 where Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in cold blood, first with a bomb in central Oslo and then with a shooting spree at the island of Utøya outside of the city. Relative to its population size, Norway lost more of its citizens in these attacks than the USA did during the Islamic Jihadist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Der er endnu en ny audio fra ABC – Jon Faine on the Conversation Hour. Det er en panel-debat om australsk politik med Lyn Allison, Mark Steyn og George Megalogenis. Den kan høres på ABCs hjemmeside HER. Og artikler:
‘Die, Die, Foreigners!’
We have everything in Afghanistan except strategic purpose.
By Mark Steyn – March 3, 2012
Say what you like about Afghans, but they’re admirably straightforward. The mobs outside the bases enflamed over the latest Western affront to their exquisitely refined cultural sensitivities couldn’t put it any plainer:
“Die, die, foreigners!”
And foreigners do die. USAF Lieutenant Colonel John Loftis, 44, and Army Major Robert Marchanti II, 48, lost their lives not on some mission out on the far horizon in wild tribal lands in the dead of night but in the offices of the Afghan Interior Ministry. In a “secure room” that required a numerical code to access. Gunned down by an Afghan “intelligence officer.” Who then departed the scene of the crime unimpeded by any of his colleagues.
They’re now gifts that a benign king graciously showers upon his subjects.
By Mark Steyn – February 25, 2012
CNN’s John King did his best the other night, producing a question from one of his viewers:
“Since birth control is the latest hot topic, which candidate believes in birth control, and if not, why?”
To their credit, no Republican candidate was inclined to accept the premise of the question. King might have done better to put the issue to Danica Patrick. For some reason, Michelle Fields of the Daily Caller sought the views of the NASCAR driver and Sports Illustrated swimwear model about “the Obama administration’s dictate that religious employers provide health-care plans that cover contraceptives.” Miss Patrick, a practicing Catholic, gave the perfect citizen’s response for the Age of Obama:
Mere HER i National Review Online. Kan også læses her i The Orange County Register.
When it comes to nukes, who has them matters a lot more than how many there are.
By Victor Davis Hanson – February 21, 2012
Given the worrying over nuclear Iran, it is timely to review the rules of nuclear proliferation.
Nuclear Cred
Otherwise insignificant nations and failed states gain credibility by shorting their own people to divert billions of dollars to acquiring a bomb. Take away that fact from Pakistan, and the United States would probably have reduced aid to such a de facto belligerent long ago. Without the ongoing appearance of possessing nukes, North Korea would probably earn about as much foreign aid as Chad or Niger. What makes France a world player, in a way that the much larger and richer Germany is not, is not just the burdens of German guilt, but also the fact of a nuclear France. The bomb sometimes achieves what even GDP, population, strategic location, or natural resources cannot.
Mere HER i National Review Online. Kan også læses i Victor Davis Hanson’s Private Papers her.
Please, A Little Honesty about Illegal Immigration
It’s time to take out the hysterical rhetoric.
By Victor Davis Hanson – February 16, 2012
President Barack Obama recently assured El Salvador that the United States would not deport the more than 200,000 Salvadorans residing illegally in the United States. As the election nears, and the president looks to court Hispanic voters, he has also created a new position of “public advocate” for illegal immigrants, whose duties would appear to be advocating that millions circumvent, rather than follow, current federal law.
The administration has also said it will focus its enforcement only on those who have committed crimes — with the implicit understanding that it is no longer a crime to illegally enter and reside in the United States. Obama has caricatured those supporting completion of a fence on the border as wanting to place alligators in the Rio Grande.
Mere HER i National Review Online. Orange County Register har artiklen her. Townhall her. The Washington Times her.
Europe in the Rearview Mirror
February 12, 2012 – by Victor Davis Hanson
The Dream and the Nightmare
The European Union was always a paradox. Its existence was predicated entirely on the notion of German guilt, translating into massive cash transfers east and south. Just as Versailles was supposed to have restrained Germany, then a divided, postwar Germany, then NATO integration and the common Soviet enemy, and then the EU — and now what next?
There was quite a EU veneer placed over the politically incorrect “German Problem.” Most of us listened in disbelief as we were lectured that veritable disarmament, subsidized windmills, reach outs to a Syria or Libya, easy anti-Americanism, and sermons about cradle-to-grave socialism were the way of the new Europe. And always came the grating condescension, that a self-appointed bureaucratic class in Brussels might lecture Neanderthals what was good for them, without worry over democratic checks and balances.
Germany’s financial dominance may be worrisome, but is it a threat to European peace?
The first Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the sober and judicious British Lord Ismay, famously remarked that the purpose of the controversial new postwar alliance would be “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
Over the next sixty-six years of NATO’s existence, most in the Atlantic Alliance assumed that the first commandment was obvious, the second one was taken for granted, and the third would soon be irrelevant. No longer.
Om det amerikanske præsidentvalg, USAs udenrigspolitik, Mellemøsten og mere. Fra BlogTalkRadio 1. februar 2012 – spol 10 minutter frem:
Victor Davis Hanson Enters the RINO Pit
You’re not going to want to miss tonight’s special edition of The RINO Hour of Power. Joining Jazz Shaw and Rick Moran for the hour will be NRO contributor, author, scholar, and cultural commentator Victor Davis Hanson.
Dr. Hanson will discuss several of his most recent writings on America, the world, and the 2012 election from his unique perspective.
You won’t want to miss our discussion with one of the most fascinating and brilliant commentators on the right today. We stream live 8:00-9:00 PM eastern time.
Startes HER – åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed 1 time.
Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide
The 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie awakened many westerners to the danger of being charged with blasphemy in the Muslim world. Charges of “blasphemy,” “apostasy,” and “insulting Islam” are increasingly used by authoritarian governments and extremist forces within key Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states to acquire and consolidate power. These codes have proved effective in intimidating not only converts and heterodox groups, but also political and religious reformers.
In their newly released book, Silenced (Oxford University Press, 2011), Paul Marshall and Nina Shea provide the first survey of such accusations in the contemporary Muslim world, in international organizations, and in the West. These charges traditionally carry a punishment of death but are contested within Islam today, as described by the late Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid in the foreword to Silenced. Nevertheless, as Marshall and Shea describe, hundreds of victims, including political dissidents, religious reformers, journalists, writers, artists, movie makers, and religious minorities in many countries. They also document the political effects in Muslim societies of blasphemy and apostasy laws, as well as non-governmental fatwas and vigilante violence. And they examine in the West the move toward importing new blasphemy standards through bans on purported hate speech and Islamophobia, aggressively promoted by the OIC, and the increasing threat of violence to stifle commentary on Islam even in the absence of law.
Jeg fandt lige denne video. Den er fra 3. august 2011, men EU flytter sig jo ikke det mindste, så den er lige så aktuel, som da den blev lavet:
Sceptic at Large: Lifting the Lid on the European Union
In Sceptic at Large, Roger Helmer lifts the lid on how the European Union really works. A Conservative Member of the European Parliament since 1999, he offers a potent potpourri of politics and polemic, enlivened by irony, and amusing anecdotes. He provides a personal perspective of the major events during his odyssey through the corridors of Brussels over the past decade and documents his long battle against creeping European integration.
Helmer tells the tale of how Brussels is making Britain poorer, less democratic, and less free. He also conveys the tragic saga of the euro currency. Having predicted problems for the single currency since the mid 1990s, Helmer describes how it has now become a “slow-motion train wreck.”
“Helmer tells the tale of how Brussels is making Britain poorer, less democratic, and less free. He also conveys the tragic saga of the euro currency. Having predicted problems for the single currency since the mid 1990s, Helmer describes how it has now become a “slow-motion train wreck.” Our national debate is the richer for a sceptic at large. Roger puts establishments on their mettle, challenges politicians to think about their preconceptions and offers challenging views to the public.” – The Rt. Hon. John Redwood MP, from the Foreword of Sceptic at Large
Den mand blogger jeg næsten dagligt for tiden. Herlig fyr. Fra 15. november 2011:
“We Eurosceptics”
Nigel Farage responds to David Cameron’s mansion house speech
Ligeledes fra 15. november 2011:
Nigel Farage offering a “Quarter Million Dollar” Solution to the Euro
The eurozone is still a danger zone. Italian bond yields reach seven percent. Remember that’s the threshold that broke the bank for Greece and Ireland last year. Italy’s largest bank by assets and one of the more weakly capitalized in Europe, Unicredit, announced it’s going to try to raise $10 billion in capital and cut thousands of jobs. The European Union is going after credit ratings agencies to allow investors to sue them and to warn bond issuers of a change in rating ahead of publishing it. The task at hand according to Angela Merkel is to “build political union in Europe, which “means more Europe,” not less. Au contraire says European Member of Parliament Nigel Farage. To call him a Eurosceptic is to put it lightly and we talk to him about Europe, the UK, and the US.
Og fortsættelsen:
Nigel Farage “the Day of Reckoning is Nigh” for US and UK
The eurozone is still a danger zone. Italian bond yields reach seven percent. Remember that’s the threshold that broke the bank for Greece and Ireland last year. Italy’s largest bank by assets and one of the more weakly capitalized in Europe, Unicredit, announced it’s going to try to raise $10 billion in capital and cut thousands of jobs. The European Union is going after credit ratings agencies to allow investors to sue them and to warn bond issuers of a change in rating ahead of publishing it. The task at hand according to Angela Merkel is to “build political union in Europe, which “means more Europe,” not less. Au contraire says European Member of Parliament Nigel Farage. To call him a Eurosceptic is to put it lightly and we talk to him about Europe, the UK, and the US.
I denne artikel udtaler Farage sig specifikt om engelske forhold. Det handler om overvågning, – aflytning af almindelige menneskers samtaler:
Taxi CCTV story sparks UK debate
16th November 2011
PLANS to install CCTV cameras recording sound and video in all Oxford’s taxis have sparked a civil liberties debate.
The plans, as revealed in Monday’s Oxford Mail, will see all conversations recorded as well as video footage from the moment the key is turned in the ignition until 30 minutes after the car is switched off.
Ikke ligefrem et spørgsmål, pressen, Al Reuters, Al Ritzau med flere bekymrer sig om. Disse to artikler tager emnet op:
The Vanishing Little Star of Bethlehem
by Rabbi Dr. Daniel M. Zucker – November 6, 2011
News coming out of the Middle-East in the last few months has focused on two principal areas: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the so-called “Arab Spring”. The headlines have been restricted to these two topics. Buried deep within the bodies of such prestigious papers as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, if covered at all, are stories of the on-going destruction and persecution of millennia-old Christian communities within the cradle of Christianity: the Middle-East. The phenomenon is not exactly new; it’s been going on for decades if not centuries, but the growth and spread of Islamic fundamentalism within the last decade and the overthrow of Western-oriented Arab dictatorships has set in motion a rising tide of anti-Christian behavior that threatens to wipe out Christianity in the Middle-East in what amounts to a repetition of what has occurred to Jewish communities throughout Islamic nations within the past six decades since the creation of the Jewish State of Israel.
Five nations that demonstrate the ongoing obliteration of Christianity in the region will serve to illustrate the point: Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iran.
Mere HER hos Human Events. International Analyst Network her. Omtalte artikel er denne, som egentlig er spærret inde bag paywalls. Den var nogle dage om at sive ud:
Where have all the Christians gone?
Dr. Elwood McQuaid – November 05, 2011
Christians are being killed by radical Islamists because of their beliefs. Why then, while the world celebrates revolution in the Arab world, are we standing silently while these atrocities are taking place in these democratically-liberated lands?
Israel has long been like the canary in the mineshaft. If the canary succumbs to the odorless, lethal gases of the depths below, the miners know it’s time to get out of the mine. Anti-Semitic militancy, like the canary in the mine, warns the rest of the world of what lies ahead. Now, however, there is strong evidence that there are two types of “canaries” in the mine. Long-suffering Christians in the Middle East are being ravaged by merciless assaults that threaten their very existence.
Mere HER hos Prophesy Today eller i The Jerusalem Post her.
The FP Interview: Condoleezza Rice on Obama, “Leading from Behind,” Iraq, and More
The former secretary of state dishes on what the current administration gets right – and what it gets wrong.
By Josh Rogin | November 3, 2011
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sat down for an extensive interview with Foreign Policy as part of the rollout of her new book, No Higher Honor. Rice criticized the notion of “leading from behind”; called for a return to a focus on human rights in foreign policy; lamented the downfall of democracy in Russia, calling Putin’s likely return to power a “terrible turn of events”; and contended that George W. Bush’s administration, despite avowals by the current White House to the contrary, had always intended to negotiate an extension to the agreement that required all U.S. troops to exit Iraq by the end of this year.
On the contentious subject of Middle East peace, Rice fully endorsed the U.S. decision to withdraw from any U.N. organization that grants full membership to the Palestinians, as UNESCO did this week. “If the U.N. wants to go down this road, let them see how well they do without U.S. support,” she said. Rice also said that by initially pressuring the Israeli government to accept a settlement freeze, Barack Obama’s administration had “put the Palestinians in a position of having to be less Palestinian than the United States,” forcing them to adopt more extensive demands.
Et klart mønster tegner sig. Konservative medier får etiketten ‘højreorienteret’, hvorimod venstreorienterede får ‘uafhængig’, ‘velanset’ eller ‘troværdig’.
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