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

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

Specially dedicated for them this video:

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

The article also states:

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

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

There is no place for another moonbat in this world…

Just this day AlQaeda has menaced Iraqi Sunnis…:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Afterwards, he repented:

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

Eeh, no, he just blamed the journalist.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it continues:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NYT reported freed:

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

For a retrospective on Zhao Yan, see HRW:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just keep waiting…

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Sri Lanka kills Tamil tigers:

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

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

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

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

Of course, they are only “militants”…

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Other news:

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

Sent to Open Trackbacks by Dumb Ox.

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Another Christian tortured to death in Eritrea, AlQaeda kills Sunni leader, Saudi Arabia vs Syria, Algerian bomb (3rd in 1 week), ex-Jihad speaks against Al-Qaeda and other items

More and more keep dying in Eritrea. The deaths are going up. Eritrea is located south of Saudi Arabia, in North Africa. The people who are imprisioned there, are placed in train like karts, in the desert. The believers imprisioned there are dying of the heat, and starvation. More than 10% of the believers in the country are in jail. On 9-11 another Saint got her crown of Matyrdom, and the headline doesn’t show anywhere. Another imprisoned Christian in Eritrea has been martyred. Voice of the Martyrs’ Canada’s Bernie Daniels says, “Nigsti Haile, aged 33, was tortured to death by Eritrean authorities in the Wi’a Military Training center in Massawa.”

She died September 5 after refusing to sign a letter recanting her faith, according to a report from Open Doors USA. Haile, an active member of the Rhema church, was one of ten Christian women who were arrested at a church gathering in Keren eighteen months ago and who have been under severe pressure to deny Christ.

Arabs for Christ – Another Christian tortured to death in Eritrea

RIP.

How many newspapers are going to publish this??

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Al Qaeda group claims killing Iraqi Sunni leader and, instead of asking for justice to be done upone the killers, mourners vow revenge at sheik’s funeral.

Some 1,500 mourners called for revenge Friday as they buried the leader of the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida, who was assassinated by a bomb after meeting with President Bush earlier this month.

[…] “We will take our revenge,” the mourners chanted. “We will continue the march of Abu Risha.”

The sheik was buried one year to the day after he organized Sunni Arab clans into an alliance to drive al-Qaida in Iraq from sanctuaries in Anbar province where the terror movement had flourished since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the second-highest ranking U.S. officer in Iraq, and several high-ranking government officials attended the funeral, including Iraq’s interior and defense ministers and National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie.

“We condemn the killing of Abu Risha, but this will not deter us from helping the people of Anbar — we will support them more than before,” al-Rubaie declared. “It is a national disaster and a great loss for the Iraqi people — Abu Risha was the only person to confront al-Qaida in Anbar.”

So, instead of confronting Al-Qaeda for a change and to really continue his march, they are going to take revenge.

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Oops, you know, Saudi Arabia is not very happy with Syria about the new US-hosted Israel-Palestine talks:

Saudi Arabia is showing increasing signs of displeasure as Palestinian-Israeli preparatory discussions on a US-hosted multinational peace conference in November meander on without apparent achievements.

According to Agence France Presse (AFP) Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal warned Wednesday, “If this conference does not tackle the key issues such as Jerusalem, the borders, the Palestinians and other issues that were clearly stated in the Arab peace initiative, then the conference will be pointless.”

With time running out for the establishment of a firm basis for the conference, a deepening crisis in relations between Syria and the Saudis is throwing a pall over the upcoming discussions and Lebanese presidential vote.

Frosty relations

Fraught Syrian-Saudi relations plumbed new lows this week with the announcement Tuesday that a scheduled visit by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem to Riyadh had been called off.

Al-Mouallem was scheduled to meet Saudi King Abdullah II and other Saudi officials during a visit designed to ease tensions between the two regional powers in the wake of a public falling out last month.

Ties between Syria and the Saudis have been troubled for some time, with the kingdom feeling that its role in seeking to reconcile Lebanese and Palestinian factions has been undermined by Damascus. [Could it be because Syria is not interested in having peace between its neighbours?? What is gaining Syria with this confrontation?].

Nadim Shehadi from the UK-based think tank Chatham House told ISN Security Watch , “There has been a break in Saudi-Syrian relations for two years, which were sort of restored during the Arab [League] summit in March when President Assad was invited to Riyadh.”

But what do you know? There is also Iran-Iraq question between them:

Both Syria and Saudi Arabia are deeply involved in Iraq, where the correspondence or dissonance between their interests are far from clear, despite Syria’s close relationship with Iran.

Asked if there are differences between the Saudis and Syrians over Iraq, a source close to the situation told ISN Security Watch on the condition of anonymity, “Probably, but it is harder to say because neither of them has very transparent policies […] To the extent that Syria has a relationship with Iran it creates a problem for Saudi Arabia, but it doesn’t seem that in Iraq Syria has been backing the same parties as Iran.”

[…] Saudi Arabia saw the July-August 2006 Lebanon war and subsequent Lebanese political meltdown as opportunities to expand its sphere of political and economic influence in Lebanon, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into government reconstruction funds controlled by the rump anti-Syrian Fouad Siniora administration.

A leaked October 2005 draft report of the UN probe into the murder of al-Hariri fingered prominent Syrian officials with close ties to the Syrian president as involved in the murder plot.

According to the anonymous source, “Saudi Arabia was extremely close to the former Lebanese prime minister who was assassinated. They suspect a Syrian hand, if not more, in his assassination […] And I think that was a turning point in their relations with the Syrians.”

The fight for Islamic rule is back…

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After the two attacks which took place last week, another bomb attack in Algeria:

A bomb has exploded in front of a police compound in Algeria, killing three people and wounding five others, officials say.

The attack happened in the town of Zemmouri, about 50km (31 miles) east of the capital, Algiers.

It is the latest in a series of bombs attacks in Algeria that have killed more than 50 people in the past week.

The militant group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said it was responsible for the earlier blasts.

In the latest attack, the bomb was placed in a plastic bag at the entrance to the compound where police officers and their families live, Algeria’s security forces say.

They said two people had to have their legs amputated after the incident. [INCIDENT!!! You’re a bunch of stupid morons. Three people get killed and five others wounded, including the two which have had their two legs amputated and you call that an INCIDENT???  ]

So far no group has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

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Speaking against Al-Qaeda from Saudi Arabia:

Ahmad al Shayea today.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Ahmad al Shayea is the rarest of truck bombers — he survived his suicide mission in Iraq even though the blast from his bomb was strong enough to kill 12 bystanders.

Ahmad al Shayea survived his truck bomb attack, but not without scarring to his face and hands.

Al Shayea, who was disfigured during the attack, claims al Qaeda tricked him into becoming a bomber by asking him to deliver a tanker truck, which they had rigged with a bomb.

“They told me to take it to an address in Baghdad. As soon as I got there the truck exploded,” said the native of Saudi Arabia. He survived by jumping out of the truck.

Al Shayea renounced terrorism and returned to Saudi Arabia, where he works to convince would-be insurgents and terrorists to give up their deadly ways. [At least that is something…].

“I think God took me out of death to show others what can happen,” he told CNN. “If you join al Qaeda, they will use you, and maybe you will die.” 

 Hear why al Shayea turned his back on al Qaeda »

Al Qaeda propaganda videos glorify so-called foreign fighters in Iraq like al Shayea. It has recruited them from countries all across the Middle East.

Ahmad Al Shayea just after the bombing as he appeared in the Iraqi TV.

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Other news:

Alexander Pichushkin has confessed to killing at least 62 people, with the goal of marking all 64 squares on the chessboard. He has been charged with 49 murders, most committed over the course of five years in a sprawling park on the edge of Moscow. Pichushkin’s first victim was his school friend, whom he strangled and threw into a sewage pit in 1992 because he was “upset” by the friend’s refusal to kill people together with him, said Moscow Chief Prosecutor Yuri Syomin.

Even if the Muslims are challenging the Orthodox Church, Patriarc Alexei is worried about Russia being proselytised by Catholic Church.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II has repeated his insistence that a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) should only take place after adequate preparation– and after the Vatican has complied with demands from the Moscow patriarchate to curb Catholic “proselytism” in the historically Orthodox countries of eastern Europe.

[…] Catholic officials have repeatedly denied such a goal. […] Catholic Church leaders explain that missionary workers aim not to convert Orthodox believers, but to attract the vast majority of Russian people who are not currently active in any church. But the Moscow patriarchate takes the stand that the Russian people are Orthodox, even if they do not attend any church servives.

So, instead of confronting the real danger, he is just quarrelling with other Christian denomination. Just work, Patriarc! If you believe your religion is the best, promote it, instead of groaning every year several times about it…

This is dedicated specially to blablablabla Chávez, than man…

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas has urged the Venezuelan government to show respect for critics of constitutional changes proposed by President Hugo Chavez.

Cardinal Urosa insisted that “no persons of groups should be disregarded or execrated simply because they disagree with the proposal.” He said that the proposed constitutional amendments deserve serious discussion, and encouraged a respectful hearing for all reasoned points of view.

In an implicit criticism of Chavez, who has charged that the country’s Catholic hierarchy is stirring up opposition to his government, the cardinal said that dissident political views should be heard without rousing “the ghosts of insurrection and destabilization.”

 Eat that Chávez, you, moonbat!

Remember the F1 scandal?

McLaren received a systematic flow of information from a spy within rivals Ferrari for nearly three months this year, the FIA has revealed.

Drivers Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa were aware of the information.

Hey, what a coincidence!!! Only the Spanish drivers were aware of the information. Why not the rest of them?? Oh, yeah, there’s Hamilton “I’m-calling-my-father-to-defend-me-from-Fernando-Alonso“…

Hmm, this does not smell very good to me…

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Islamism round-up: Russian Muslims vs. Orthodox Church, USA in African horn, UK mosques, praising 11-9 suicide bombers, a bath at the sea, a courageous Catholic Bishop (+) and another Pakistani Buddha nearly destroyed

Oopssssssssss, the seeds planted by Orthodox Patriarc Alexis weren’t fruitless. After defending the Iranian-Russian relationship as a way to build a new multipolar world and stating that “it is only adherents to traditional religions, first of all the Orthodox and Muslims, who can give ‘an appropriate response to the challenges of the time“, now the Orthodox Church is confronting a new challenge by … Muslims.

The Government wants to introduce a new optional subject about Orthodox culture. The no. 2 of the Orthodox Church, Kirill, has said that “In URSS there were a lot of people who was taught atheism. They were professional atheists. This people did not disappear. As there are also ultraliberals. But the overwhelming majority of the Russian people is backing this new subject“.

But the religious Muslim authorities have united themselves with the laicists, to prevent the introduction of this subject in the Russian teaching system. The VP of the Russian Muftis’ Council has accused the Orthodox Chruch of “clericalising” the Russian society. One of the most known teologians of the Russian Orthodox Chruch, Father Andrei Kurayev, has proposed the expulsion of the Mufti to the Gulf Persian States, where they practise the secularism that he likes so much.

But the curious thing is that, while the Muslim religious authorities want to prevent the teaching of this optional subject of Orthodox Culture, in the Russian republics where Islam is majority, as Chechenya, the Muslim traditions are taught in schools. What is more, the Muftis consider that some ethnic (!!!! Isn’t this racism???) groups like Tartars, wherever they live, have a right to receive Muslim education, because historically they have belonged to Muslim religion.

ACTUALIDAD » Los musulmanes rusos se oponen a que se enseñe en las escuelas la religión cristiana

Related news: Putin dissolves Russian Government. h/t Kate.

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America is quietly expanding its fight against terror on the African front. Two years ago the United States set up the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership with nine countries in central and western Africa. There is no permanent presence, but the hope is to generate support and suppress radicalism by both sharing U.S. weapons and tactics with friendly regimes and winning friends through a vast humanitarian program assembled by USAID, including well building and vocational training. In places like Chad, American Special Forces train and arm police or border guards using what it calls a “holistic approach to counterterrorism.” Sgt. Chris Rourke, a U.S. Army reservist in a 12-man American Civil Affairs unit living in Dire Dawa, in eastern Ethiopia, says it comes down to this: “It’s the Peace Corps with a weapon.”

Let’s hope this is not like Somalian campaign.

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Almost half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect, whose next possible leader loathes Western values and calls on Muslims to “shed blood” for Allah, reports The Times of London.

Riyadh ul Haq, who supports armed jihad and preaches contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus, is in line to become the spiritual leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain.

The ultra-conservative (yes, you know, it’s a mixture between Bush, Aznar and Sarkozy What a moron!) movement, which gave birth to the Taleban in Afghanistan, now runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques, according to a police report seen by The Times.

Ul Haq, 36, was educated and trained at an Islamic seminary in Britain and is part of a new generation of British imams who share a similar radical agenda. He heaps scorn on any Muslims who say they are “proud to be British” and argues that friendship with a Jew or a Christian makes “a mockery of Allah’s religion”.

Seventeen of Britain’s 26 Islamic seminaries are run by Deobandis and they produce 80 percent of home-trained Muslim clerics. Many had their studies funded by local education authority grants. The sect has significant representation on the Muslim Council of Britain. It is strongest in the towns and cities of the Midlands and northern England.

Marvellous…

Richard has posted about it here, where he underlines that in US more than 80% of the mosques (2002) were funded by Saudi Arabia and were preaching Wahabbi ideology.

Now a question: how many Spanish mosques are in this situation?

Cult of Death h/t Eursoc:

Gathering what we can from the works of such thinkers as Sayyid Qutb, Abul Ala Mawdudi, and Abu Bakr Naji (the author of The Management of Savagery), and from various pronouncements, fatwas, ultimatums, death threats, and suicide notes, we may compare radical Islam with the thanatoid political movements we know most about, namely Bolshevism and Nazism (to each of which Islamism is indebted). Of the many affinities that emerge, we may list, to begin with, some secondary characteristics. The exaltation of a godlike leader; the demand, not just for submission to the cause, but for utter transformation in its name; a self-pitying romanticism; a hatred of liberal society, individualism, and affluent inertia (or Komfortismus); an obsession with sacrifice and martyrdom; a morbid adolescent rebelliousness combined with a childish love of destruction; “agonism”, or the acceptance of permanent and unappeasable contention; the use and invocation of the very new and the very old; a mania for purification; and a ferocious antiSemitism.

“But these are incidentals. Thanatism derives its real energy, its fever and its magic, from something far more radical. And here we approach a pathology that may in the end be unassimilable to the nonbelieving mind. I mean the rejection of reason – the rejection of the sequitur, of cause and effect, of two plus two. Strikingly, in their written works and their table talk, Hitler and Stalin (and Lenin) seldom let the abstract noun reason go by without assigning a scornful adjective to it: worthless reason, craven reason, cowardly reason. When those sanguinary yokels, the Taleban, chant their slogan, “Throw reason to the dogs”, they are making the same kind of Faustian gamble: crush reason, kill reason, and anything and everything seems possible – the restored Caliphate, for instance, presiding over a planetary empire cleansed of all infidels. To transcend reason is of course to transcend the confines of moral law; it is to enter the illimitable world of insanity and death.”

Eursoc has also some thoughts about the Committee of Ex-Muslims I posted about yesterday.

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From Red Alerts:

The Jihad Fields are Calling has a post up celebrating the terror attacks of 9/11 and lavishing praise on the attackers and Osama bin Ladin. It’s long and as tedious as anything else Mujahid writes, so I’ll excerpt the only part that will interest you:

On the 6th Anniversary of the Blessed Attacks of September 11 it is our message to all the Americans and their allies. The Blessed Attacks of September 11 was just the beginning, by these blessed attacks we drag you to your graves in Afghanistan and Iraq, your countries and governments faced in these lands the worst humiliation in their history. But all what is happened to your countries yet is nothing.

But “The Jihad Fields are Calling” has been erased. No more calls. Why the authors deleted the blog? I’m just wondering…

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And now, a photo: “Sea-bathing”

What a perspective!! Don’t know what this commenter would say about this photo, but I just can only say about dressing like that: She is even wearing GLOVES… for sea-bathing….

Both burqa and niqab produce severe health problems, as you can see here, here, here, here .

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Catholic Bishop urges to defend Europe and avoid Euroarabia:

Warsaw, Sep. 11, 2007 (CWNews.com) – During a Mass celebrated on September 11 to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US, the head of the Polish military chaplaincy appealed for a defense of Christian culture, particularly in Europe.

Bishop Tadeusz Ploski, the head of the military ordinariate, said that the Christian heritage of the European continent should be preserved and warned against the development of “Euroarabia.”

With representatives of the Polish military leadership in attendance along with Orthodox and Lutheran chaplains, Bishop Ploski issued a reminder that September 11 is also the anniversary of the Battle of Vienna, which he described as “Islam’s greatest defeat.”

Thank God, Muskens is not the only Catholic Bishop…

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Fausta posts about the attack on one Pakistani Buddha.

Suspected pro-Taleban militants have tried to blow up an ancient carving of Buddha in north-west Pakistan.
…
The area has seen a rise in attacks on “un-Islamic” targets in recent months.

Are we listening, UN??? Are we going to do something this time?

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German terrorist plot, Jihad, China, Thompson runs, demonstrations on Muslim world, Chávez, scandal in F1 and Pavarotti

So, after 8 Islamist terrorists were arrested in Denmark (in 11 raided locations), now the target were US nationals in Germany:

THREE men arrested in Germany had formed a terror cell to carry out “massive” bomb attacks, among the biggest on German soil, authorities say. “They were planning massive attacks,” federal prosecutor Monika Harms told reporters today. She said the suspects had amassed vast amounts of the chemical needed to make the bombs used in the suicide attacks in London in 2005 which killed 56 people.

They planned to attack Frankfurt’s international airport along with the Ramstein Air Base, a key US military hub, Harms said. They also planned to hit and nightspots popular with Americans. “As possible targets for the attacks, the suspects named discotheques and pubs and airports frequented by Americans,” she said.

The trio had trained at camps in Pakistan run by the Islamic Jihad Union, and had formed a German cell of the group, officials said. They had procured some 700kg of hydrogen peroxide for making explosives. Officials said the 35-per cent solution of hydrogen peroxide, stored in a hideout, could have been mixed with other additives to produce a bomb with the explosive power of 550kg of TNT. “This would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid bombings,” Joerg Ziercke, the head of Germany’s Federal Crime Office, told reporters.

Frankfurt airport terror plan ‘massive’ | Herald Sun

More about the plot in Yahoo.com:

The men — two German converts to Islam and a Turkish citizen who prosecutors said shared a “profound hatred of U.S. citizens” — allegedly obtained military-style detonators and enough chemicals to make bombs more powerful than those that killed 191 commuters in Madrid in 2004 and 52 in London in 2005.

[…] Security experts said the two purported plots are a reminder that Muslim extremists are not driven just by anger at the United States and its policies.

Islamic radicals “treat the whole Western world as their enemy,” said Tadeusz Wrobel, an analyst of military and security issues in Warsaw.

Bob Ayres, a former U.S. intelligence officer who is an analyst at Chatham House, a London think tank, said the radical ideology embraced by Islamic militants outweighs national loyalty, noting that many of those arrested in alleged European terror plots in recent years grew up here

A fourth man has been arrested in Lebanon in connection with the German plot to bomb trains and the Lebanese authorities have filed preliminary charges against another five Lebanese and a Syrian.

One of the three suspects (of this September’s plot) was arrested for spying on a U.S. military base in December but was released soon afterwards, federal police Chief Joerg Ziercke said. 😡

[…] German federal prosecutors in June charged a suspected mastermind behind a failed plot to bomb two passenger trains using bombs packed in suitcases last year which failed to explode because of faulty detonators.

Six Lebanese men are currently standing trial in Lebanon over the plot, which  targeted trains in western Germany.

[…] Germany’s elite GSG-9 anti-terrorist unit arrested two of the suspects at a vacation home in Oberschledorn, a town of some 900 people in central Germany, officials said. The third suspect fled out a bathroom window but was caught about 300 yards away, they said.

The suspects were taken before a judge in closed sessions Wednesday at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe and ordered held pending trial.

Prosecutors said the three — identified only as Fritz Martin G., 28; Adem Y., 28; and Daniel Martin S., 21 — first came to the attention of police when one or more of them carried out surveillance of U.S. military facilities in Hanau, near Frankfurt, in late 2006.

Officials said that during the first part of this year, the men acquired 12 containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide solution, which can be combined with other material to make explosives — as did the four London suicide bombers who blew up three subway cars and a bus on July 7, 2005.

In diluted form hydrogen peroxide is commonly used in hair coloring and as a disinfectant, but the more than 1,500 pounds obtained by the suspects could have made a bomb with the explosive power of some 1,200 pounds of dynamite, officials said.

😯 /irony on/ But no, you’re thinking very wrongly of these bastards peaceful and loving and caring guys. They perhaps wanted to begin a hairdresser’s business, so they needed a lot of hair coloring… /irony off/ 😈

But that is not the only news coming from Germany today:

German technology has made it into an Iranian nuclear power plant despite an export ban. Prosecutors are investigating the case and the German Foreign Ministry is concerned about the damage to Germany’s credibility.

Dmitry S. is one of those Russian businessmen with a knack for quick deals. A native Uzbek and Russian citizen, he has just completed a major deal in Moscow for beef shipments from Brazil. In his last deal, he supplied half of Siberia with CD players and TVs from Berlin.

But Dmitry S.’s deals are not always so trouble-free. A deal involving industrial equipment attracted the attention of prosecutors and customs investigators to S., who has been doing business in German for more than a decade. The electromagnetic brakes, switchgear, spring elements and special cables that the 46-year-old businessman bought up in Germany between 2001 and 2004 were bound for the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr — a central project in the nuclear program of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Dmitry S. case has since evolved into more than just an ordinary criminal case. Indeed, it touches on highly sensitive international political issues. Proliferation experts working for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have shown a keen interest in the investigations by prosecutors in Potsdam, near Berlin. And this is not just because, once again, a number of German companies, working hand-in-hand with foreign dealmakers, are suspected of circumventing export bans.

This is marvellous, hein? And the control on weapons, on materials of double use (military and non-military) or their components, where it is???

And by the way, is there any liaison with Putin?

The case’s true political explosiveness lies in the structure of the business relationships it involved. The Potsdam prosecutors now believe that they can prove that Dmitry S. and his now-liquidated Berlin company, Vero Handels GmbH, were involved in the acquisition of illegal material from Germany on behalf of the partially state-controlled Russian nuclear company Atomstroiexport (ASE) — material intended for export to Iran. “It looks as if Putin’s nuclear firm deliberately violated German law,” says one investigator.

Hmm, this does not look any good. Chinese Army hacking computers AND Russian public corporations lying to the same hacked Government about deals with Iran… It puzzles me extremelly… 

Anyway, read this post by Debbie about the link between China, Russia and Iran.

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The Jihad’s objectives: Jihad demands the killings of infidels or their subjugation under Islamic law. Read it all.

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Anyway, in China they are very worried about the bath houses and massage parlours, because of the “growing sex trade“. But, well, they should be happy about it, because the abortions focused mainly on female fetuses (and infanticide on girls) have saved the Chinese environment. [Well, no, not really, China has one of the most poluted atmospheres in the world h/t China Digital Times…].

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And, at last, ex-Law and Order Fred Thompson is running. 😆 I would like to see the expression in Zapatero’s face if he wins… Dumb OX has written a very funny post about this. 😆

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The Hillary Clinton’s fundraiser, Mr. Hsu, has failed to appear in court after the Judge set him for bail reduction hearing. An extraordinary judicial decision, as Fausta notes, considering that he has been a fugitive from the law these last fifteen years:

Hsu turned himself in to authorities last week after more than 15 years on the run from a felony conviction of grand theft. He admitted to defrauding investors of $1 million in a bogus investment scam.

He failed to appear in court for sentencing on that 1991 conviction, a revelation that prompted high profile Democrats — including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — to return thousands of dollars donated by Hsu.

Hmmm,  I would like to see what would have happened if this would have been made by any republican. You know, I haven’t seen this very underlined on Spanish press, but the Craig’s scandal… oh, yeah…

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Yemen: You could be punished by a slogan:

Demonstrations that began in May are continuing in Yemen as the regime takes increasingly repressive and violent measure to quell dissent.

Security forces made mass arrests of demonstrators, prompting more demonstrations. A new law criminalizes slogans. A newspaper is facing terrorism charges for reporting war news in the Sa’ada War. A top member of the Yemeni Socialist Party has been “seized” by security forces.

Interesting development. Normal people in Yemen -don’t think at first it’s the most developed society..- are demonstrating

demanding the release of more than 200 veterans and their sympathizers detained for protesting earlier this month, a police official said.

The protesters are mostly southern Yemeni veterans who lost their jobs after a defeat by northern forces in a civil war 13 years ago.

So, basically they have been jobless for 13 years because they lost a civil war. And now they are detained for demonstrating!! And when others protest that, they are also imprisoned!! 😯

Don’t know what happens today with the demonstrations:

Prominent Saudi reformist Abdullah Al Hamed and his brother brother have been ordered to appear in court on charges including inciting protests by women.

Wow, what a danger, eh? Women demonstrating… by themselves. Oops…

But the best is why they were demonstrating -well, trying to…-: because they want a man to be tried or released from prison. Charges? After the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, he was imprisoned for calling for a constitutional monarchy in Saudi Arabia!

Yes, that’s right. Saudi bombers spreading everywhere, but people calling for democracy are imprisoned on terrorist charges. Pfrrrrrrrrrrrtttttt!

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“Chávez is a danger for democracy“, Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa says. Link in Spanish.

He stated that [Chávez] has a “messianic vocation” and blamed his attitude on the petrodollars, which he uses in an irresponsible manner to spread his bolivarian phylosophy, de-stabilising a Hispanic-American democratic Governments“.

He also distinguished between the nearly-dictatorial (or fully-dictatorial as @€#€@# Castro’s brothers) and the democratic left in the area.

But Chávez maybe also a danger for another freedom (yeah, one more, looks impossible… but ): the freedom to name your children as you wish. Now they are going to obliged to choose between 100 names if a new law passes through Parliament. Yeah, I know some of the names are a little bit critizable:

Software searches of the voter registry find more than 60 people of voting age with the first name Hitler, including Hitler Adonys Rodríguez Crespo; eight Hochiminhs, among them Hochiminh Jesús Delgado Sierra; and six Eisenhowers, including Dwight Eisenhower Rojas Barboza.

Who can name Hitler to his son? I would be horrified…

But this measure is a little idiot. I mean, you can forbid that people name their children after famous people. But you cannot impose a list to choose from there.

Another thing is the discrimination this future law makes: the Indians and the foreigners are excluded from the measure. I understand about foreigners -they normally are ruled by the laws of their own country-. But Indians? What happens?? Are they different from the rest?

Then they would say that they have been discriminated and bla, bla, bla…. So, now they are discriminating the non-Indians. 😯

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A little bit of motor sport:  (in Spanish here)

It began innocuously enough with what looked like a patch of soap powder sprinkled across the floor below the two Ferraris awaiting Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa for this year’s Monaco grand prix. From this unlikely starting point it accelerated into arguably the biggest scandal in recent formula one history, possibly blighting Lewis Hamilton’s efforts to win his first British grand prix at Silverstone on Sunday [poor guy who has to ask for help to his daddy against Fernando Alonso… :twisted:, well, if you’re English, err, well, I’m Spanish, 😆], potentially jeopardising the careers of two respected engineers and forcing the McLaren-Mercedes team into such a humiliating corner that they offered up their world championship-leading MP4-22 to a detailed examination by the FIA ruling body in an effort to prove that no element stolen from Ferrari had been incorporated into its design.

The crisis reached its peak on Tuesday morning when Ferrari sacked their British engineer Nigel Stepney on suspicion of industrial espionage and a few hours later McLaren suspended their chief designer, Mike Coughlan, after hundreds of drawings and other technical data relating to this year’s Ferrari F2007 were allegedly found at his home in Surrey. It is understood that Coughlan acquiesced in the search and no legal compulsion had to be sought.

😯

(By the way, in Iran the racing Queen Sedigh has been banned from entering the stadium for the national competitons. What happens, ayatollahs? Do you think she was going to win again? Well, yes… 😡 ).

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Pavarotti has died.

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Beslan, China on hacking, 100th birthday for helicopters, Nike campaign, Ireland, Martyrs’ Monument, Iran and other items (+)

I forgot to write about the Beslan’s anniversary. So I’m linking to Pastorius’ post at IBA about it.

Chechneyan Muslims (with connection to Al Qaeda) stormed an elementary school in Beslan, Chechneya, taking over 1,100 teachers and students hostage. During the ensuing standoff with police, the Jihadis raped young girls, shot teachers, strung the entire school with explosives, and forced children to drink urine.

From the comments:

Beslan is not in Chechya, but in Ingushetia. It is a small autonomous district populated by related but different people, chrystian by their faith.

RIP. And let’s see if Putin learns something…

Infidels are Cool has also another very good post on the subject.

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China denies hacking Pentagon’s computers:

“Some people make groundless accusations against China” that its military attacked the Pentagon, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news briefing.

“China has all along been opposed to and forbids criminal activities undermining computer networks, including hacking,” she said. “China is ready to strengthen cooperation with other countries, including the U.S., in countering Internet crimes.”

The Financial Times report said the Pentagon was still investigating how much information was stolen, but cited an unnamed person as saying that most of it was probably unclassified.

[…] The Pentagon warned earlier this year that China’s army is emphasizing hacking as an offensive weapon. It cited Chinese military exercises in 2005 that included hacking “primarily in first strikes against enemy networks.”

The Associated Press reported in July that the State Department was trying to recover from large-scale network break-ins affecting operations worldwide. The hackers appeared to target the department headquarters and offices dealing with China and North Korea, it was reported.

However, experts have said that China is home to a large number of insecure computers and networks that hackers in other countries could use to disguise their locations and launch attacks.

Well, it’s a good way to disguise an attack from other people, such as terrorists… BUT for China is a golden oportunity: not only they can claim they are innocent, but they can do it and blame others! AND they have been trained for that…

Also UK has complained because the caring and loving and peaceful Taliban are using Chinese-made weapons. This is the most laughable line in all the article: The authorities in Beijing have promised to carry out an investigation. Bet they will say they are sold without permission?

(+) It appears that UK computers have also being hacked from China. What is happening here???

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This year helicopters are 100 years old. See the image gallery from CNETNews.com. The first helicopter was something like this:

In 1907, only a few years had passed since the Wright brothers’ first flight, and automobiles had yet to make much headway against horse-drawn carriages. In France, a number of tinkerers were trying out another novel mode of mechanical locomotion: the helicopter. Well, something vaguely resembling modern helicopters, anyway. But the contraptions did count as the first successful steps, however brief, along the way to manned flight powered by rotary wings. And that makes 2007 the centennial of the helicopter.

Designs by Maurice Leger, Jacques and Louis Breguet, and Paul Cornu all got off the ground in 1907–just barely, and for just a very few seconds. These earliest machines also tended to require steadying from people on the ground. Cornu’s craft, shown here, got airborne in November of that year for as long as 20 seconds at an altitude, if you can call it that, of somewhere between knee-high and eye level. It featured two rotors at opposite ends of the airframe that turned in opposite directions to balance out the torque.

Caption text by Jonathan Skillings, staff writer, CNET News.com Credit: Branger/Getty Images

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New Nike’s marketing campaign. “Being Spanish is not an excuse, it’s a responsibility“.

Just wait and see: all the nationalists from all the autonomous Communities, which call themselves “historic“, are going to boicot Nike…, calling it a “remnant of imperialistic Spain“. 😈

[the man in the picture is Spanish tennis-player Rafael Nadal…]

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Ireland to allow police to wear turbans?

If the uniform requirements of the Garda Reserve were to be waived for a Sikh officer, then they would have to be waived for everyone else who pleaded cultural or religious custom. Male Jewish officers would be allowed to wear the yamulke instead of the cap; female Muslim officers (if their husbands allowed them out) would wear the veil instead of the cap; some might even cover their uniforms with a burqa. Buddhist members (although I’m not sure if their beliefs would allow them to join a force which might be required to use even limited violence against violence) would be able to wear a yellow robe. The possibilities are numerous, and while they might make for a more colourful air around the Phoenix Park and Harcourt Square, it would be the end of uniformity and the discipline it both implies and requires.

Even more to the point, it would further endorse our skewed version of multi-culturalism. The idea of having people of various cultural traditions and ethnic minorities in our defence and garda forces is to ensure integration, not reinforce difference.

I hope they are not revising their previous policy about the uniform…

As Steve says:

Britain opened that Pandora’s Box many years ago when Sikhs were first allowed to ride motorbikes without crash helmets and to work on building sites without hard hats. Their heads are no harder than anyone else’s but health and safety, it seems, took second place to religious feeling.

This reflects our peculiar attitude to cultural minorities which, as I have said before, is a legacy of the Empire. The British establishment would prefer to do deals with the leaders of minority groups than ask them to integrate.

The Met, with its fourteen different minority pressure groups and its concessions to religious demands, is hardly a model to emulate either.

Bad thing altogether. A uniform, as its name says, is to make everyone being the same, to uniform, make all of them of one form, whaever their background. 👿

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from the Persecution Blog: the Martyr’s monument:

More than 70 million Christians have been martyred for their faith since 33 AD. This year an estimated 160,000 believers will die at the hands of their oppressors and over 200 million will be persecuted, arrested, tortured, beaten or jailed. In many nations it is illegal to own a Bible, share your faith, change your faith or allow children under 18 to attend a religious service.

Here is a photo of the monument:

1. See more photos of the monument here.

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More on Iran: Haleh Esfandiari leaves Iran. by Vicki. But as she says:

Continued prayers for the other Iranian-Americans still detained in Iran: Ali Shakeri and Kian Tajbakhsh, who are still imprisoned, and Parnaz Azima, who is free on bail but is being prevented from leaving Iran.

From FFDB:

Iran President Ahmadinejad states he has “PROOF” that the United States will NOT attack Iran.

But, not to be seen as WEAK, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls the United States and West names – “drunken and arrogant” and says that Iran would never yield to Western pressure over its nuclear program.

And this is how Iran could inflict pain on Western countries:

Other interesting fact: new Head of the Revolutionary Guard IS one of the Iranian who kidnapped US Nationals on Nov 4th, 1979.

The appointment of somebody who was involved in taking US hostage, as the commander of a 200,000 strong military force can be interpreted as a provocation in the current cold war between Tehran and Washington. The important question to ask is: how long before such provocations turn into open confrontation? With the massive breakdown in communications and trust between both sides, one could be forgiven for fearing the worst.

Some quotes from Jafari here. Just read them: peaceful, loving guy…

Meanwhile, the former Head of the Revolutionary Guard has stated: “There are 200,000 vulnerable American forces in the region and we have information about all their bases”. 😯

Ayatollah Mojtahedi. “I wish I was a chick“. 😯 He says that then, all the taxis would stop when he wants one.

Ahmadinejad:

“Iran’s telecommunication service should transfer the message of our revolution across the whole world….He said it’s vital that we complete this network of communication and from inside these networks, love, hope, faith and modesty should be suggested and the message of Islamic revolution should be transferred througout the world.”

😯

Do you remember Khatami shaking hands with a young lady in Italy and the following scandal? Well, he has a legal suite awaiting for him at court. 😀

And lastly, a link to laugh about Ahmadinejad:

Hi, my name is Mahmoud Admadinejad. I know it is hard to pronounce so you guys can just call me “Spanky.” After all that is what my Iranian school yard chums nicknamed me.
Listen, I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I’m not all that bad of a guy. Sure the Bush administration is out to paint me as a tyrant and a fascist, but hey, we all know he is really the evil one. Right? Good, now that we have the pleasantries aside, I have some important things to talk about with you, the American people.
If you’ve been too busy ogling scantily clad women in the streets of your American cities you might not have noticed that I’ve been spending some time with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But our alliance isn’t about taking over the West or usurping America’s place in the world, and it isn’t even about how good “Vladi” looks without his shirt off.
Umm, not that I’ve noticed or anything…I just…err…we were just attending this Democratic debate and well…don’t ask, don’t tell.

😆 Just read it all…

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Other interesting posts to read:

Terrorist attack hits Pakistan. by Sheik Yermami.

5000 new rifles, but no milk from Venezuela. by John Lilyea.

The Dying Soar of a Syphilitic Hunchback. by Scipio. About Russian situation. A very interesting post, really.

Danish police arrest suspected terrorists. by Astute Bloggers.

Abortions on demand in the UK. by David Vance. “in some cases, with the procedure just being carried out by a nurse“. 😯 And the health of the mother how is protected is these cases? -the unborn, well, I even don’t mention that little detail. But as abortions are mostly done to protect the mothers’ health…-.

His “Crime”? He wasn’t a Muslim. by Jeremayakovka. WARNING! Extremely graphic image of this slaughter in Southern Thailand. 😦 😡

Last but not least, to laugh a bit, read this post by Kate. 😆

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North Korea, Iraq’s PM Maliki vs H. Clinton, Rosa Regás on Chávez, Egypt, Greek fires were a terrorist attack?, Turkey, Afghanistan and "Modestly Yours" blog (+)

There has been 600 people killed or dissapeared in North Korea as a result of the floods. There are also thousands of hurt people.

Iraq’s PM Maliki vs. H. Clinton:

Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin are democrats but they don’t respect democracy. They speak about Iraq as if it were their property”, Malike said in a press conference. He added that both senators “have never lived controversies like the ones we are knowing in Iraq. When they speak, they don’t know what reconciliation means”.

Maliki reacted like that to some statements made by Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton -favourite of his party to the 2008’s presidential career in USA- who asked the Iraqi MPs to choose another person to leader a national unity government, after the extinction of the Iraqi coalition government.

He also critisized Bernard Kouchner, French FM, who visited Iraq some days ago, and whose visit was considered a success at first.

Bernard Kouchner had also advised him to resign. But he has said France is ready to make an apology about this:

Last week Mr Kouchner said the Iraqi government was “not functioning” and was quoted saying he had told the US that there was strong support in Iraq for Mr Maliki to resign and he “has got to be replaced“. 😯

In an interview with RTL radio on Monday, Mr Kouchner said: “I think that he [Mr Maliki] misunderstood, or that I was not clear enough that I was referring to comments I heard from Iraqis I talked to.” [Do you really think he was misunderstood???].

“If the prime minister wants me to apologise for having interfered so directly in Iraqi affairs, I’ll do it willingly,” he said.

Mr Kouchner visited Baghdad last week to promote France’s role in efforts to solve the Iraq crisis and mend relations with Washington damaged by France’s opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

So what do Iraqis think about the intervention? h/t Desde el Exilio.

America should finish what it started.

Spanish National Library’s President, old Rosa Regás, is now a fan of Chávez -well, err, not now, this is something which we have known in Spain for so long-:

Her article is compulsory. Her analysis is a panegyric to Chávez, with numbers very far from reality, which nowadays does not belong to the Venezuelan people as it never happened in the last 50 years, sunk in the most cruel misery, where a citizen dies each half an hour killed by gangs, with a record of being one of the most corrupt places in the world, no.170 these days, according to the Corruption Perception’s index. An expert regime in manouvring to sell lies, while at the same time it’s proclaiming himself the poors’ saviour.

[…] When Rosa Regás tells us “Why against Chávez?” with the conviction that she does it, with a bad tempered arrogance, it looks like, with Zapatero, the Spain of democracy and progress is menaced. I’m convinced that she does not wish this country to be reflected in Venezuela’s mirror.

I should say that depends on who was going to exert power… I really believe some of them, at least, think, that just as Franco was 40 years in power, they have a right (non-written one) to be another 40 years, whatever the means for that. I’m not saying even that all Socialists think that, not even that the majority of them think it, but some of them do -of course, they never say that publicly…-.

At the same moment, two world maps of 1482 have been stolen from the institution she is in charge. 😡 And she has presented her dimission because she “does not feel the new Minister of Culture, César Antonio Molina, trusts her“. 😈 These are good news, indeed…

In Egypt the dictatorship creeps each day to a more frightening stand h/t Desde El Exilio:

On Aug. 8, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights reported that it had confirmed more than 500 cases of police abuse since 1993, including 167 deaths — three of which took place this year — that the group “strongly suspects were the result of torture and mistreatment.” The organization previously found that while Egypt‘s population nearly doubled during the first 25 years of Hosni Mubarak‘s regime, the number of prisons grew more than fourfold and that the number of detainees held for more than one year without charge or indictment grew to more than 20,000.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have corroborated chilling accounts of torture in Egyptian prisons. The independent daily Eldestour recently published two important facts: that the annual budget for internal security was $1.5 billion in 2006, more than the entire national budget for health care, and that the security police forces comprise 1.4 million officers, nearly four times the size of the Egyptian army. “Egypt has become a police state par excellence,” the paper’s editor noted.

For the people who uses bloglines, there is a new beta version for you to try.

More about Iranian Government’s savages, go and see the photos that Stephania has posted.

Al Fatah uses now the Lion King to attack Hamas. And Disney still says nothing about this.

The new cause of anger in Aghanistan: a ball with the Saudi flag. You know, the one with the Islamic declaration of faith?

A demonstration has been held in south- east Afghanistan accusing US troops of insulting Islam after they distributed footballs bearing the name of Allah.

The balls showed the Saudi Arabian flag which features the Koranic declaration of faith.

The US military said the idea had been to give something for Afghan children to enjoy and they did not realise it would cause offence.

Last news from Venezuela: now Chávez wants to move the country’s time zone to “offer a more equitable distribution of sunlight“. The socialism of XXIth century also distributes the sunlight in a more equitable way… This sounds like the Galizian Nationalist Party asking to change the time zone of Galizia as if Spain was the USA and had huge need of several time zones… 😈

A very interesting post: On “racial” profiling:

Islamism, Islamist militancy, and Islamist militant terrorism are very adept at converting people to Islam and to Islamist terrorism. And so not only do we need to worry about the usual suspects, so to speak, but also those who have been converted. Our obliviousness to this is exploited by Islamist terrorists, as can be seen by a number of the people involved in the plot by Britons to attack American and British trans-Atlantic flights from London. One was even a white (that is, British) pregnant woman, someone who would not register on anyone’s counter-terrorism radar.

[…] My suggestion is that while focusing on the usual suspected ethnicities or people of suspected ethnic origins (Arab, especially Saudi, and South Asian, especially Pakistani), we need to watch for suspicious behavior by any and all people. Besides, Islamist terrorism is not the only threat: some people are simply deranged and up to no good. We should, thus, be able to stop not only Islamist terrorist attacks but also attempts by anyone, for any reason, to conduct lethal attacks of any sort. And, who knows, maybe by cracking down on people who show an inordinate interest in information and data regarding our infrastructure, we might be able to help counterintelligence efforts as well. Preventing Iran, Russia, China, or any of the host of our enemies from getting intelligence will help The Republic.

Well, in my case, I do not think this is a problem of ethnicity nor do I consider this an ethnic problem. It’s an IDEOLOGICAL one: it’s based on an ideology that wants to rule the world, using a religion. I’m not going to discuss now if this is the religion in itself or it’s being used, but clearly not all Muslims are terrorists or want to rule the world. The problem, as I have said before, is that if the extremers are supported -as it’s happening in most of the West-, the people who are not, do not feel supported at all, in the end, that’s going to cause a surge in support for extremism in both sides.

And when I say Westerners are supporting several madnesses/extremisms, it’s because it’s true:

Academia’s fixation on cultural sensitivity is changing the debate around female genital mutilation, with a growing number of professors and women’s rights activists becoming hesitant to condemn the practice.

Where feminists rallied against the operation from the pages of Ms. magazine in the 1970s, today’s critics are infinitely more cautious, with most suggesting that the Western world butt out until Muslim African communities are ready to reconsider what they are doing to their daughters.

The shift in attitudes about the practice– which in the worst of cases involves the carving out of a woman’s clitoris and inner labia and can cause lifelong urinary tract infections, sterility and even death — comes at a time when high-profile victims of the operation such as writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali and model Waris Dirie, both Somalis, have launched very public campaigns against the practice.

To know more about this practice, click here. It’s a shame someone cannot or doesn’t comdemn that practice.

A reward is offered in Greece to capture the culprits of the fires which were provoked and which had already killed at least 60 people.

Fire in the countryside and smoke surrounding Athens.

Statue of Victory at Olympia surrounded by smoke.

Map of the fires.

More about the Greek fires by Paolo. Impressive the NASA’s satellite image of the fire he has posted. Last news are that there are two possibilities: the first being it was caused by organised criminality, the second being it was international terrorism to influence in Greek elections, in which the center-right’s margin has been slightly reduced these last weeks. So a prosecutor on Monday ordered an investigation into whether arson attacks could come under Greece’s anti-terrorism and organized crime laws. (CNN).

An update about the fires: From Infidels are Cool, I reach this post from a Greek blogger:

There were at least a couple of instances where the ones trapped called the TV and radio stations, got on the air, said their final goodbyes to their families, and then were burned alive. While the stations were doing their best to send aid, the fact that the emergency reponses are streched so thin made rescue efforts near impossible.

My grandmother’s village was completely burned down. It was one of the worse hit and there is nothing that remains. The local authorities say that it’s completely erased off the map.

[…] There is a video of two men setting one of the fires. That is now fishy since we now know that the fires were started remotely via cell phone bombs.

More here by Pastorius.

How affects Jewish self-criticism to the actual view of International affairs:

I have dealt with the problem of hyper-Jewish self-criticism repeatedly in the past, including issues concerning the Alvin Rosenfeld Controversy. Among other things, I emphasized the role of a kind of “prophetic” criticism that uses high rhetorical excess to “whip” the Jews/Israelis into the right path. When combined with a desire to “please” fellow, non-Jewish progressives by showing how “non-tribal” one is, this produces a lethal combination, documented by Rosenfeld, that makes some Jews willing to confess to anything (racism, apartheid, Nazism, the illegitimacy of the State). They do this not only to urge their fellow Jews to mend their ways, but also to pursue a kind of “therapeutic” dialogue where, if they are sufficiently magnanimous in accepting blame, then maybe their enemies, say, the Palestinians, might also respond by being a bit more self-critical.

Hmm, yes, I understand this very well. And I mean it. Well, the result is just the opposite: whatever the Israelis do in this direction, is not going to grant them anything but even more problems.

Read it all: another great post from Richard Landes.

Private clinics are profiting from abortions in Spain:

In response to the refusal by gynecologists of the public health care system of Andalusia to perform abortions, a considerable number of women are being sent to private clinics that have agreed to collaborate with the Council for Health Care.

I wrote some months ago about a platform whose objective is to send Aznar to the International Criminal Court because of “his support to the illegal Iraqi war”. Another platform, called “Aznar for ICC” is preparing a “hot autumn“, as United Left’s MP from Andalucia’s Autonomous Community Antonio Romero has said. He added:

Neither Aznar, nor Bush nor Tony Blair can go away without punishment after causing an illegal and immoral war, which has produced the death to 700.000 Iraqis, the majority of which were civil, more than 2 million of people in exile, the complete destruction of the country’s infraestructures, of its historical and cultural heritage and the absolute looting of its natural resources, specially, of oil”.

For you to consider the personality of this man: he was condemned some years ago, because in a strike, he beat, insulted and menaced an old man, owner of a little cafeteria, and one of the clients because he did not want to go on strike. He shouted at both: “fascist, son of a bitch, asshole”, after yelling at them “you’re going to shut whether you like it or not, or you’re going to shut por cojones“. You know, a peaceful, respectful and calm guy… But the best is what he said: “I only wanted to defend their rights -whether they liked it or not-, telling him how marvellous it was to close all the shops for Andalucia’s rights“.

Gül has been elected Turkish President. Oh, my!!! 😦 He was elected in the third round as was predicted some weeks ago. The Turkish military has spoken: Secularism is under attack:

“Nefarious plans to ruin Turkey’s secular and democratic nature emerge in different forms everyday,” Buyukanit said in his statement. “The military will, just as it has so far, keep its determination to guard social, democratic and secular Turkey.”

Russian man detained in Afghanistan carrying 500 kilos of explosives and, in a rapture of manliness, wearing a burqa. His two other companions were also wearing a women’s clothes. If they like so much being a woman, why they do not change their sex? Yes, I think that, for these chavinist male … individuals, that would be a good punishment. Imagine Bin Laden … 😈 There was a joke here some years ago: the worst fate for Bin Laden would be to catch him -US SEALs could be employed for that-, transport him to a clinic, change his sex and then set him loose in Saudi Arabia. Je. With an inside camera to see his reaction: “Hey, I’m Bin Laden”.

Gordon Brown will not allow a referendum about the EU Constitution, after he promised to do so. He faces 120 Labour MPs who have rebeled against him, although David considers that Brown will not allow it, “as he knows he can lose it“.

Read also this post by Angel: A planned Ar-abic-themed public school in Brooklyn has prompted polarized reactions. Critics warned Monday that students could be “indoctrinated” with radical Is-lamic beliefs and supporters called such statements “racist”.

Some weeks ago I discovered a very good blog called Modestly Yours, entirely written by women (where I discovered a book I would like to read…, when I have finished reading all I have to read now, but the title is promising: “Girls gone Mild. Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find that it’s not Bad to be Good“). Well, just read about the “Sexy Crazy Cancer” movie:

The film itself actually looks quite interesting. As described on her website, the idea for the documentary came about in 2003 after the “31-year-old actress/photographer…was diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer. Weeks later she began filming her story. Taking a seemingly tragic situation and turning it into a creative expression, Kris shares her inspirational story of survival with courage, strength, and lots of humor.”

As the author says, I don’t know how the sexy thing fits in there.

There is another very good blog post called: “The War on Vulgarity“. Thank God, someone is saying this loudly. Looks like it’s better to be vulgar and really there is no need. There are people who consider that to be manly (I must be tough), to speak out better the truth (that is, to be more sincere) or just because it sounds much more direct. For me, that is only foul language… 😈

Lastly, after the scandal surrounding Sarkozy about his lack of fitness, look at this cartoon. 😆

Looks like Sarkozy is menacing Iran: Either Iran suspends the uranium enrichment or will be bombed! Well, this is unexpected… Will be continued!

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Zapatero, A Photo you would never find on MSM, Hibz ut-Tahrir, Al-Qaeda and Syria, Ahmadinejad and the armed clerics, female circuncision, Flight 93 memorial and Russian repression

Zapatero is the Shrinking Man and is shrinking the whole country with him. From IHT thanks to Barcepundit. 👿

This little Iraqi girl’s entire family was executed. They intended to execute her also and shot her in the head, but they failed to kill her.
She was cared for by John Gebhardt’s hospital and is healing, but has been crying and moaning The nurses said John is the only one she seems to calm down with, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both sleep in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing

Theo Spark: Pic of the day…..

The hardline Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir has started posting professionally produced propaganda video clips on YouTube.

The clips, some lasting almost 10 minutes, posted on the internet video-sharing site depict Muslims being attacked by Western forces and asks “for how much longer?”

Produced by the group’s Malaysian branch, the clips call on Muslims to “arise and shake off the dust” of European colonialism and show members marching in support of Palestinians to the commentary “O armies of the Muslim world, we wait for your help.”

I wrote about them here.

Recently declassified American intelligence reveals just how much al Qaeda in Iraq is dependent for its survival on the support it receives from the broader, global al Qaeda network, and how most of that support flows into Iraq through one country — Syria. Al Qaeda in Iraq is sustained by a transnational network of facilitators and human smugglers, who replenish its supply of suicide bombers — approximately 60 to 80 Islamist extremists, recruited every month from across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and sent to meet their al Qaeda handlers in Syria, from where they are taken to Iraq to blow themselves up to kill countless others.

Well, this is is something not very rare considering what role Syria has been playing.

To continue with the Global Caliphate:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Tuesday that rule of Islam on mankind is the only way for salvation of human beings.

“There is no truth on earth but monotheism and following tenets of Islam and there is no way for salvation of mankind but rule of Islam over mankind,” said Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Afghan Sunni and Shiite ulama at Iranian Embassy in Kabul.

By the way, we were the other day watching Anastasia and it struck me how much the bad guy, Rasputin, resembles Ahmadinejad:

Both of them very attractive… 😈

One Ahmadinejad is attractive (for his mother maybe). But not as attractive as a lot of armed clerics marching:

Read more in Winds of Jihad. And read also Kamagir about the words of the Teheran’s Public Prosecutor to the detained students’ families: “Torture? We haven’t started torture yet. The confessions have not being made under pressure“. Despite

CAIRO – Egyptian police are holding a woman who conducted a near-fatal circumcision on a young girl, a widely-condemned practice the authorities are trying to stamp out, the press reported Friday.

The victim, Naglaa Khamis, went into a coma and suffered severe hemorrhaging after the removal of part of her genitals, but was saved after being taken to hospital by her parents.

Police took the woman who carried out the mutilation in Minya, south of Cairo, into custody.

The health ministry said, last week, that a law to toughen penalties against female circumcision will be put to parliament when it reconvenes in the autumn, after two young girls died during such operations in recent months.

 To know what FGM is about click here. Egypt legalised this practise 10 years ago.

Really unbelievable news from David Drake:

Tom Burnett, Sr., from Minnesota – whose son Tom, Jr. died on Flight 93 – and others continue criticizing the design of the memorial (and I agree with them), for its structural designs which appear to honor Islam and the terrorists instead of the all the passengers on Flight 93.

Nearly two years after the design of the United Flight 93 Memorial was changed to eliminate any perceived Islamic symbolism, the father of one of the people killed in the crash has asked that his son’s name be withheld from the monument.

But true… 👿

Lastly, from Russia, thanks to Mike and Molten Thought, comes this terrible story:

Six weeks ago Ms. Larisa Arap, a 49 year old Russian journalist, went to the doctor’s for her annual physical. While there her doctor discovered that she wrote an article entitled “Madhouse” that exposed the alleged child abuse at the Murmansk Regional Psychiatric Hospital. So, as any normal paranoid freak would do, the doctor summed the police and had Ms. Arap committed to a psychiatric hospital herself.

“[The doctor] said, ‘It’s not possible to write such things. It’s forbidden.'” Doctors also told Taisiya Arap that her mother needed “long term treatment and might never leave the clinic,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

The fact that an independent panel of three psychiatrists have found Ms. Arap to be of sound mind and should be released has made no impression on the state doctors.

Read it all.

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Russia, the missiles and Livinenko

The situation is heating up between Europe and Russia. After months of diplomatic conflict between Russia and USA because of the missile defenses -the last episode was the announcement of the Russian missiles moving to Kaliningrado, a portion of Russian land, strategically situated between Germany and Poland, the independence of Kosovo and the Russian energetic policies-, now Russia has also announced that it is suspending the Russian participation in the treaty that limits the amount of Armed Forces in Europe. According to Yevgeny Volk, chief of the think-tank Heritage Foundation has stated that it’s probable than the Russian menaces will rise.

The Kremlin announced that Putin have signed it because of “reasons of national security“.

As I said some days ago -in the Spanish blog-, United Kingdom has asked for the extradition of the murder of Litgovoi, the alleged killer of Russian ex-spy Litvinenko but Russia has denied it, considering the International Law principle by which a country is not obliged to extradite its own nationals. United Kingdom is angry about this and has announced it is going to expell several Russian diplomats, although BBC considers more probable they are intelligence officers.

Como ya dije también entonces, el Reino Unido ha pedido la extradición del asesino del ex-espía ruso Litvinenko y Rusia se lo ha negado, basándose en el principio de Derecho Internacional de no entregar a nacionales. El Reino Unido se ha enfadado y ha expulsado a varios diplomáticos rusos, aunque la BBC piensa que seguramente son oficiales de inteligencia.

Mr Miliband said Moscow’s refusal to extradite Mr Lugovoi had been “extremely disappointing” and said both the UN and EU had reported concerns that the law in Russia was applied selectively.

Co-operation reviewed

He told MPs the four diplomats would be expelled and said international agreements had been reached that would allow Mr Lugovoi to be extradited to the UK if he travelled abroad.

Mr Miliband added: “We shall review the extent of our cooperation with Russia on a range of issues, and as an initial step we have suspended visa facilitation negotiations with Russia and made other changes to visa practice.”

The British embassy in Moscow later said that the visa process would only change for applications submitted by the Russian government, not those from ordinary Russians.

The foreign secretary denied it was a “rush to judgment”, but said: “A UK citizen has suffered a horrifying and lingering death.

Also read La Russophobe and Siberian Light.

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Sunday Post

Well, I have to say that being in the coutryside, I am not going to have much time to post these days. Anyway, I will manage to post something everyday.

Today the most horrible news I have read -I confess I have not read much- comes from Always on Watch blog:

The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11 years old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family...

Yes, in case you have not taken care of what this people are doing, Al-Qaeda served baked and stuffed 11-year-old boys to families they wanted to convert into their way of thinking.

Repulsive and beastly. And yet there are people who wants to negotiate with these beasts… What? The taste of the sauce your boy is going to be cooked??? Excuse me if I sound not very moderate, but this is really disgusting.

And by the way, if they choose that way to convince me, I think they would succeed… in convincing exactly to do the contrary they would ask me to.

Also FT published yesterday an article about Al-Qaeda linked to operations from Iran:

Evidence that Iranian territory is being used as a base by al-Qaeda to help in terrorist operations in Iraq and elsewhere is growing, say western officials.

It is not clear how much the al-Qaeda operation, described by one official as a money and communications hub, is being tolerated or encouraged by the Iranian government, they said.

Anyway, Iranian diplomats have visited the Iranian captives in Iraq, accused of belonging to the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

I also have to point you to a blog post in Pajamas Media which describes the situation in Spain nowadays. Basically, it says that while we are beginning to consider the danger, we are stuck because we do not know what to do. My own experience has taught me that 3 years ago when I talked of these things to people here, they looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Now those same people just tell me they are trully worried. We have to be realistic: the threat is real and is great. And people are not prepared that their comfortable lifes with their home, their cars, their apartment at the beach and their winter holidays skiing are menaced. And yet to discover how to fight and counterrest it at the same time.

No, I really think there are improvements. Where I really do not see much improvements are in the politicians’ ideas. They are afraid of what is coming -or just do not look farther than their noses-. Europe cannot live on past glories: we should and must evolve into the future. And we must do it, without fear but also being realistic. We cannot being stuck on the past, because then we are going to be destroyed as a civilization.

Other news include:

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Russia to move missile forces to Kaliningrado

BBC:

Russia has raised the idea of moving new missile forces to Kaliningrad, close to Poland and Lithuania.

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov linked the possible move to US plans for a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russia has already threatened to hit back by targeting missiles at Europe.

Mr Ivanov said there would be no need to move extra forces to Kaliningrad if the US agreed to use Russian facilities instead of the Polish and Czech bases.

Russia says the US plans for a limited missile defence shield, including bases close to Russia’s borders, represent a threat to its security.

If our proposals are not accepted… an asymmetrical and effective response has been found

Sergei Ivanov
First deputy prime minister

It has proposed that the US should use a radar facility in Azerbaijan, and another installation currently being built in southern Russia.

US President George W Bush has described the idea as “innovative” but indicated that the US will press ahead with the plans for a radar station in the Czech Republic, and a missile base in Poland.

The US says its missile shield is not directed at Russia, but at what it considers “rogue states” such as Iran.

Also Russia has won the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Russia has refused to extradite Litvinenko suspect. Whatever MSM say, it’s true there is a principle of International Law which forbids an State to give away nationals, whatever the crime they have committed.

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China and North Korea: more violations of Human Rights

China is not respecting the Refugees’ Statute UN Convention h/t Aquiles [in Spanish]. As North Korea is not precisely heaven on earth, they try to escape from their countries to the neighbouring ones as I have already being treating here. The phenomenon is on the rise as the North Koreans want to leave in the past the chronic food shortages and political oppression.

The entry into South Korea is really hard to achieve mainly because of the de-militarized zone and because the North Korean beaches are closed.

So this poor people only have another possible way of fleeing: entering China. And what China does with them? Chinese authorities send them back to North Korea:

Now those returned by China are often sentenced to prison for several years, and repeat offenders or Christians can be sent with their entire families to labor camps for life.

Some North Koreans told me that their government now holds regular sentencing rallies, at which the punishments are publicly announced — or in extreme cases, such as those who became Christian evangelists while in China, the accused are executed in front of the crowd by firing squad.

North Korea would not be a poor country -as it is- if it would not be because of its Government, who is now spending UN Funds to buy property in France, Britain and Canada. Even the UN has conceeded North Korea has violated UN rules:

About $3 million in United Nations money intended to help impoverished North Koreans was diverted by the Pyongyang government toward the purchase of property in France, the United Kingdom and Canada, according to a confidential State Department account of witness reports and internal business records. Millions more, the department reported, went to a North Korean institution linked to a bank alleged to handle arms deals.

Ban Ki-Moon as ever kissing the ass of North Korean Kim Il Sung (something which is not new):

Ban said a follow-up visit to North Korea is required in order to get more detailed information. But the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has already rejected such a visit, and critics of the UN said they doubted it would happen. 

Of course, a visit. That’s what i call a truly good solution. And what is going to do Kim Il-Sung? To present documents accusing him of diverting money?

And do you know who have also behaved like China with North Korean refugees?

SEOUL: In 1999, a group of seven North Koreans fleeing their country was intercepted in Russia. The Russian authorities, rejecting appeals from the United Nations and human rights groups, sent them to China. China returned them to North Korea.

In the ensuing uproar in South Korea over the government’s failure to rescue them, the foreign minister had to step down. And then, the seven were largely forgotten. Those who remember them may have recalled their frightened faces on Russian television, where they said they feared death if sent back to their Communist homeland.

Now, two of them have escaped again and arrived in South Korea, contradicting what the North Korean government told United Nations officials about the group’s fate – that most had been returned to their homes and jobs. One brought with him accounts of life and death at North Korea’s infamous prison camp No. 15, known to the outside world as Yodok.

“Until the last minute, until the Russians blindfolded us, loaded us into a truck and handed us over to the Chinese at a border bridge on Dec. 31, 1999, we believed the United Nations could save us,” said Kim Eun Chul, now 27, in an interview. “We were naive about real-world politics.”

At least five of the seven languished in Yodok, where inmates toiled 15 hours or more a day on rations meager even by the standards of the impoverished North for such deeds as criticizing the government

or fleeing the country because of famine, Kim said.

[…] Moscow said it was honoring its border treaty with Beijing, and Beijing said it was doing the same with Pyongyang. Pyongyang accused Seoul of trying to kidnap its citizens.

Read all the article.

Jang Ho Young -right- was one of a group who fled North Korea, but was returned and jailed at Yodok, a prison camp. [Photographs by NKHR]

The pressure is so great that North Koreans are now fleeing on boat to Japan (here, here and here). Japanese authorities have doubted if the 4 were spies (they had wristwatches, an important amount of fuel and the younger son was having methamphetamines to keep him awake and to be able to manage the jobs) although there are other considerations which lead to consider them only as refugees. South Korea has accepted them and Japan will transfer them there.

North Korea has also used political prisoners from a concentration camp to prepare for its underground nuclear test h/t One Free Korea.

But that is not at all interesting for China.

Related news:

1. “Slaves” rescued from China firm. Many workers had extensive burns from the hot bricks -they were obliged to carry them even they have not been properly cooled-. Eight workers were so traumatised by their experiences that they were only able to remember their names. The labourers had to work unpaid for 20 hours at a time, and were only given bread and water in return. The brickworks, in the poor inland province of Shanxi, is owned by the son of the local Communist Party secretary.  […] the rescued workers had been duped into working at the factory. Once there, they faced a harsh regime. One man was even reported to have been beaten to death with a hammer, because he did not work fast enough. When police raided the brickworks they discovered foul-smelling workers who had been wearing the same clothes for a year. […] Local people said the brickworks, near Linfen, would have been closed down a long time ago had it not been for the protection of the party secretary. In Spanish in El Mundo. In a whole year, they couldn’t get out of the brickworks. They were also obliged to walk barefoot in the oven. Even the existence of a Chinese civil registry, which controls the movements of all Chinese, has not stopped the peasants from migrating to other areas. They are foreigners in their own country and become illegal workers, accepting jobs for 60€/month and no contract, security or right to protest.
2. Well, do you know what is Le Monde worried about? The attacks against French Marks in China multiply: Milk bottles for children and feeding bottles, mineral water Evian and seafood are the targets of denigrating campaigns in the MSM. More than 118 tons of Evian’s mineral water have been blocked, Feb 2007, in the customs duty in Shangai, because of an alleged “very high level of bacteries“. And they continue: “Must we long for the time when China was asleep? When it is awaken, it has a apetite that makes anyone feel anxious”. Hmm, life is good. The only problems with China are related with our firms… But French products are not the only ones who have faced this kind of blocking. Also US products. I wonder if Spanish products have faced something similar…
3. China has increased its trade with North Korea, despite nuclear conflict and missile launching -again on Jun, 7th-. Or thanks to it? h/t NoKorea Economy Watch.
4. From China e-Lobby: Chen Yonglin talks about Communist espionage and the Long Arm of Lawlessness in Canada: The former Communist consular official who defected to Australia in 2005 “brought with him a portfolio of Chinese documents” (Toronto Star, h/t Between Heaven and Earth) detailing Communist China’s espionage network in Australia, and in particular its targeting of exiled dissidents and other anti-Communists (dubbed “The Long Arm of Lawlessness” by yours truly). Chen further ” says that Canada likely has a comparable amount (of Communist spying) within its borders” (Globe and Mail, h/t BH&E).Human rights activist sentenced in Beijing; family and lawyer still know nothing about it: The cadres were so determined to send Hua Huiqi to jail that they refused to let his family or his attorney into the courtroom for the sentence (Epoch Times). Hua was arrested for “accompanying his mother who tried to hand-deliver materials of complaint letters to representatives of the ‘two conferences (i.e. the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference).'” His mother is serving a two-year jail term.

More about NKorea Human Rights, here.

China has put economy before environment (more here: 16 out of 20 of the more polluted cities are Chinese). But if there is something very surprising is:

Ma, however, stressed that the bulk of responsibility for battling climate change still lay with industrialized countries, which “are in a better position to cap emissions.”

He said they also have the obligation to provide financial and technical support to developing nations — like China — whose “overriding priority at the moment is still economic development and poverty eradication.”

And the result of Chinese policies: From Phastidio.Net:

Prosecutors have charged environmental activist Wu Lihong with extortion from industrial plants that he accused of polluting Taihu Lake in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, state media said on Wednesday. The prosecutors in Jiangsu’s Yixing city accused Wu, who was once nominated as one of China’s top 10 environmentalists, of extorting 55,000 yuan (6,875 dollars) by threatening to expose the plants’ pollution, the official Xinhua news agency said. The agency quoted prosecutors as saying Wu’s diary listed “blackmail targets and showed amounts of money he had planned to extort from each factory or enterprise.”

The Yixing court had not set a date for the trial of Wu, 39, who had fought for years against the pollution of Taihu.
Water supplies from the lake had to be cut to 2 million people in nearby Wuxi city in late May because excessive pollution had promoted the growth of a pungent blue-green algae.

Sent to Open Trackbacks to: 123 beta, A Blog for All, Blue Star Chronicles, Dumb Ox, Pirate’s Cove, The Amboy Times, Woman Honor Thyself.

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And they discover this now…

Well, this was one of things that has worried me more since the first time about Iran. And being the Middle East a very unstable part of the world -perhaps the most- this is more than worrying. If they have used chemical weapons in the past in the wars between them, why are they going to refrain from using nuclear power? Those countries are among the ones which respect less -in fact, which do not respect at all- Human Rights.



Eye on Iran, Rivals Pursuing Nuclear Power – New York Times

Turkey is preparing for its first atomic plant. And Egypt has announced plans to build one on its Mediterranean coast. In all, roughly a dozen states in the region have recently turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for help in starting their own nuclear programs. While interest in nuclear energy is rising globally, it is unusually strong in the Middle East.

“The rules have changed,” King Abdullah II of Jordan recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Everybody’s going for nuclear programs.”

The Middle East states say they only want atomic power. Some probably do. But United States government and private analysts say they believe that the rush of activity is also intended to counter the threat of a nuclear Iran.

By nature, the underlying technologies of nuclear power can make electricity or, with more effort, warheads, as nations have demonstrated over the decades by turning ostensibly civilian programs into sources of bomb fuel. Iran’s uneasy neighbors, analysts say, may be positioning themselves to do the same.

“One danger of Iran going nuclear has always been that it might provoke others,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, an arms analysis group in London. “So when you see the development of nuclear power elsewhere in the region, it’s a cause for some concern.”

Some analysts ask why Arab states in the Persian Gulf, which hold nearly half the world’s oil reserves, would want to shoulder the high costs and obligations of a temperamental form of energy. They reply that they must invest in the future, for the day when the flow of oil dries up.

But with Shiite Iran increasingly ascendant in the region, Sunni countries have alluded to other motives. Officials from 21 governments in and around the Middle East warned at a meeting of Arab leaders in March that Iran’s drive for atomic technology could result in the beginning of “a grave and destructive nuclear arms race in the region.”

Remember that Morocco has voiced its intention for going nuclear.



Tigerhawk looks on this subject. Also Right Truth, NoisyRoom.Net,Town Commons, and Clarity and Resolve.



And who is amid all the Muslim would-be nuclear countries?

More in IHT.

___________________________

 

La carrera de Irán hacia ser una potencia nuclear produce, a su vez, el deseo de los países de alrededor de seguile. Turquía o Marruecos así lo han hecho así como Arabia Saudí, en casi todos los casos ayudados o prometiendo la ayuda necesaria Rusia.

La decisión de producir energía nuclear ha sido cuestionada por analistas y diversos países que ven bastante extraño que las mayores productores de petróleo y gas precisen este tipo de energía.

El rey de Jordania, Abdullah II, reconoció a la revista israelí Haaretz que las cosas habían cambiado y que todos estaban buscando la energía nuclear.

Related news:

Editor’s Note – A Disarming Election: Iran and Syria lead the U.N. Disarmament Commission

On April 9, 2007 there was a United Nations believe-it-or-not moment extraordinaire. At the same time that Iran’s President Ahmadinejad declared his country was now capable of industrial-scale uranium enrichment, the U.N. reelected Iran as a vice chairman of the U.N. Disarmament Commission.



Yes Ripley, the very U.N. body charged with promoting nuclear nonproliferation installed in a senior position the state that the Security Council recently declared violated its nonproliferation resolutions.

Iran announces “industrial” nuclear fuel work – Yahoo! News

Iran announced on Monday it had begun industrial-scale nuclear fuel production in a fresh snub to the U.N. Security Council, which has imposed two rounds of sanctions on it for refusing to halt such work.

The announcement marks a shift from experimental atomic fuel work involving a few hundred centrifuges used for enriching uranium to a process that will involve thousands of machines. Western nations fear this will bring Tehran closer to what they say is its aim of building atomic bombs.

Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, insists it only wants the fuel for generating electricity so it can export more of its oil and gas.

Gateway Pundit and Sweetness and Light commented about this.

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En español: Florentino Portero: Irán, más cerca de la bomba.

Un Irán nuclear representa un grave problema que no siempre somos capaces de valorar. La violación del Tratado de No proliferación por Corea del Norte e Irán a un coste diplomático y económico asumible es la señal que algunos otros están esperando para dar el paso. El régimen de no proliferación funciona mediante un doble mecanismo de persuasión y disuasión. Si el segundo elemento falla todo se viene abajo. Los países vecinos de los nuevos socios del club nuclear se sentirán forzados ellos también a dar el paso, con el objetivo de establecer un principio de disuasión o, si se prefiere, para restablecer el equilibrio. Egipto, Turquía o Arabia Saudí no podrán quedarse de brazos cruzados. El actual rearme japonés y su renovada alianza militar con Estados Unidos no pueden entenderse sin tener en cuenta el programa nuclear y de misiles norcoreano. Si fracasamos en Irán y Corea del Norte el régimen general de no proliferación entrará en crisis, lo que nos abocará a un entorno donde un conflicto nuclear será más probable que en la actualidad. El trabajo de años tratando de hacer un mundo más seguro quedará convertido en papel.

Que un estado como Irán, que nos ha declarado su hostilidad por mucho que no queramos enterarnos, acceda a la bomba nuclear implica que debemos establecer nuevos mecanismos estratégicos: disuasión nuclear y escudos antimisiles. La disuasión tiene un valor limitado cuando la otra parte está dispuesta al martirio y ese puede, en un momento dado, ser el caso de Irán. Lo esencial, por lo tanto, es dotarse de un escudo antimisiles capaz de explosionar la cabeza nuclear enemiga cuando se encuentre en las capas superiores de la atmósfera. No hace falta decir que, aunque el problema se veía venir desde hace mucho tiempo, lo único que hemos hecho los europeos es criticar las iniciativas norteamericanas. De ahí que ahora volvamos, una vez más, a depender de sus capacidades militares y de su buena voluntad. Más carnaza para el resentimiento.

En Oriente Medio el efecto será mucho más directo, favoreciendo el intento de los ayatolás chiíes por hacerse con el liderazgo en el Islam y dando cobertura a sus actividades terroristas -Hizbolá, Hamás…- y desestabilizadoras -Líbano, Palestina, Irak…-

“The only thing Europeans have done is to critisize US. So now we are going to depend once more on their military capacity and their good will. More fuel for resentment”. (Florentino Portero, Spanish analist for GEES). Ejem…



Similar idea in CUANAS.



But now looks like that several US Senators have met with Iranian UN ambassador because US Dems wanted to talk with Iran.



Winds of Change.NET: (Thirty) Two Short Articles About Iran

it’s difficult for me to sit down and accept the authoritay of someone who is a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign relations and author of ‘Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic’ when he tells me that Iran is an unstoppable force in the Middle East and doesn’t deal with the reasons why Iran may either be a hollow power – or why it may be motivated to be aggressive within a specific window of time. If this is what the leading experts are doing – heaven help us all.

Bushehr power plant to be inaugurated in Nov 2007: Russia – Irna



At a Glance | Deutsche Welle |

Iran seeks bids for two nuclear reactors Iran says its launching tenders for the construction of two new nuclear power plants in the southern city of Bushehr, where Russia is currently helping to build a nuclear power reactor. The Iranian leadership has unveiled plans for a network of power plants with a capacity of 20,000 Megawatts by 2020.

Also Reuters.



More in MNM.

ExtremeCentre.org » L’Iran persiste et signe ..:

Tehran Times: “A Country That Has… Uranium Enrichment Is Only One Step Away from Producing Nuclear Weapons; This Step Is Not a Scientific or a Technical [One] – But a Matter of Political Decision”

O Insurgente » Blog Archive » Coisas peculiares e fascinantes da democracia persa

While Iran’s international opponents have been distracted by the row over the country’s nuclear programme and the British naval hostages, Teheran has taken the opportunity to tackle reformers targeted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since he came to power.

As part of a wider crackdown, Iran’s parliament has also passed laws enabling security organisations – including the Revolutionary Guard, which was responsible for kidnapping the 15 Britons – to detain suspects for months for the purposes of interrogation.

Technorati Tags: Iran, nuclear crisis, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ahmadinejad,

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Morocco wants to go nuclear

From Le Figaro.fr:

Une délégation du groupe public russe Atomstroyexport était à Rabat cette semaine. Elle y aurait fait avancer sa candidature dans le projet de construction d’une centrale à l’ouest du pays, à Sidi Boulbra, entre Safi et Essaouira. Atom­stroyexport est le bras armé du Kremlin pour mettre en musique les accords politiques de coopération nucléaire. Le groupe russe construit des centrales en Chine, en Inde, en Iran et en Bulgarie, à un coût très compétitif par rapport à ses concurrents occidentaux.

Plusieurs dirigeants d’Atom­stroyexport avaient d’ailleurs déjà accompagné Vladimir Poutine lors de sa visite de septembre dernier au Maroc. Pour l’heure, aucun appel d’offres n’a été lancé par le gouvernement. « Les groupes français et américains tels que Areva et General Electric ne sont pas disposés à laisser les Russes leur souffler un joli contrat et les gouvernements de ces pays ne voudront pas laisser le Maroc entrer dans la zone d’influence du nucléaire civil ­russe », fait valoir un observateur marocain.

La presse espagnole s’est émue ces derniers jours de l’éventualité d’avoir une centrale nucléaire à quelques encablures des îles Canaries. Les commentateurs y doutent de la capacité du pays à assurer le niveau de sécurité nécessaire à de telles installations et rappellent que la menace terroriste est bien réelle dans le pays.

Autre inquiétude, entendue il y a dix jours à Rabat : les partis islamistes, dont le PJD (Parti de la justice et du développement), pourraient fort bien remporter les élections législatives de septembre. « Si les barbus ont le pouvoir, le nucléaire sera un sujet central, voire une priorité », affirme un chef d’entreprise.

Mais, pour l’heure, la situation est plus simple. Le Maroc a un besoin urgent de répondre à la demande croissante d’énergie de sa population et de ses entreprises (+ 8 à 10 % par an). Le pays dépend à 97 % de fioul, de gaz et de charbon venant de l’étranger et ne dispose pas dans son sous-sol de réserves naturelles. Il ne veut pas non plus se mettre sous la dépendance du voisin algérien.

So, a Russian firm is possibly going to build a nuclear reactor for Morocco, just at the same time when Zapatero’s Government has announced that Spanish nuclear energy production will be ended in 30 years’ time and when the position of the Government about the rightly independence of ex-Spanish Sahara has changed, as FM Moratinos has already recognised (also here; both links in Spanish), as it was very clear since they first recognised that Western Sahara could belong to Morocco with an “autonomy statute”, which had been rejected even by UN.

As ever, UN has now changed its own views: Ban Ki Moon considers “flexible” the proposal made by the Moroccan king. I was -an still am- a fierceful critic of this man, forged in the appeasement towards North Korea. Of course, now he is more interested in satisfying France -a very good ally of Morocco- than justice. But well, that is normal in Un, isn’t it?

The reasons that Morocco is basing the building of this nuclear facility are basicly, that Morocco does not have enough resources and that they do not want to be dependent from Algerian neighbours.

Of course, Le Figaro is not worried about the reactor security nor abour Islamists. It just says, “nowadays the situation is much more simple”.

Other things to read: “Rodríguez Zapatero: another treason to Saharaui people“.

Related posts: Morocco-Sahara-Spain update, France-Spain-Morocco-Sahara update, Online Jihad, Argelia raises the gas as Zapatero supports Morocco about Western Sahara.

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Al parecer una empresa rusa va a construir una central nuclear en Marruecos, cerca de las Islas Canarias. Marruecos basa su intención en que no tiene suficientes recursos energéticos y no quiere depender de Argelia, con la que ya se lleva mal como consecuencia -entre otras razones- del contencioso sobre el Sáhara español. La empresa es la misma que está construyendo centrales nucleares, entre otros países, en Irán y que se considera el “brazo armado del Kremlin” en cuestiones nucleares.

Ban Ki-Moon, el nuevo Secretario General de la ONU, del que nunca he sido una admiradora, ha dicho, después de recibir a una delegación marroquí, que el plan del rey de Marruecos sobre el antiguo Sáhara español, es “flexible“, contradiciendo otra vez la justicia y no haciendo caso de sus propias resoluciones…

Es curioso que Le Figaro, después de enumerar las causas por las que es peligroso que Marruecos tenga una central nuclear (básicamente, el peligro islamista y la falta de seguridad), dice “pero por ahora, la situación es mucho más simple”. ¿A que no se nota cuál es la relación entre Francia y Marruecos?

Por cierto, que esta revelación se hace cuando Zapatero acaba de anunciar que tiene un plan para suprimir la energía nuclear en 30 años y cuando Moratinos ha reconocido lo evidente: el cambio de política respecto de Marruecos.

Technorati : Ban Ki-moon, Morocco, Saharauis, Spain, UN, Western Sahara, Zapatero
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Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2006

One of my preferred South-American blogs is Argentinian Blogbis (in Spanish) because of their innate irony and realistic approach. I really read it nearly everyday.

So yesterday I found this:

Today was released a report from the State Department that assures that the Bolivarian Venezuela has been transformed into the main country for the transport of drugs to Western countries, and adds that the main cause for this is that there is a “frail justice” and a “corrupt atmosphere”.

Bolivia, at the same time, confirms its position as 3rd world producer of cocaine, raising its production, as they have lowered the goals of elimination of producer fields.

Even if you do not believe the State Department, UN decentralised body International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), has released its annual report (English, Español), in which they state their worries about Bolivian intention to raise the “legal” production of coca and confirms the Venezuelan role as the distributor and logistical expert.

And guess what?:

In Colombia, despite eradication efforts, the total area under illicit coca bush cultivation in 2005 increased by 6,000 hectares to 86,000 hectares. That represents a decline of 47 per cent compared with the peak annual estimate of 163,300 hectares in 2000. Illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia spread rapidly to areas where it had not been detected before. The most significant increase was noted in two areas bordering Ecuador and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). A total of 170,070 hectares of coca bush were eradicated in Colombia in 2005, mainly through aerial spraying. The intensive eradication efforts in Colombia continued also in 2006. By mid-September 2006, 150,600 hectares of illicitly cultivated coca bush had been eradicated in that country.

Now search for Venezuela and:

In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, following the use of a satellite monitoring system for the detection of illicit crop cultivation, 80 hectares of coca bush were eradicated at the country’s northwestern border with Colombia during Operation Sierra, conducted in November 2005.

Yes, I know, Colombia has huge drug plantation but Venezuela only has 80 hectares?

But let get on with it:

According to the European Police Office (Europol), every year almost 250 tons of cocaine enter the European Union, the second largest market for cocaine after the United States. Most of the cocaine is transported by sea from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Suriname and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) to the main European seaports. Sizeable amounts of cocaine are also smuggled into Europe by air courier.

[…] 407. In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the total volume of cocaine seizures increased in 2005 by 87 per cent, to 58.4 tons; a further 23 tons of cocaine were seized in the first nine months of 2006. Most of the intercepted cocaine shipments were destined for Spain and the United Kingdom.

And:

Heroin seizures have been reported in recent years in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). The most significant increase in the volume of heroin seizures has been recorded in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: in that country, heroin seizures rose steadily from 196 kg in 2000 to a record 658 kg in 2004.

What they are not saying is an estimated number of the drug that actually they could not seize. Normally, for what I know -I am not an expert ;)-, if the captures rise so severely is not only because police is more effective, but just because there is much more drug quantity passing through.

The cocaine smuggled into the United States is derived from coca produced mainly in Colombia but also in Bolivia and Peru. Mexico continues to be used as the principal trans-shipment country for cocaine entering the United States. Cocaine abuse is increasing in Mexico.

So this morning I was searching on the Internet and I discover this (HT Castro Death Watch):

Venezuela does not plan to sign an anti-drug accord with the United States, local media quoted Venezuela’s top anti-drug official as saying on Saturday, days after Washington criticized Caracas for failing to crack down on drug traffickers.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Cuba who has promised to fight U.S. “imperialism,” cut off cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005, accusing the group of spying on him.

The South American nation had promised to renew the accord on different terms but repeatedly postponed signing it.

What timing, eh? Venezuela is considered the logistic center for drug distribution and about the same time they declare they are not interested in signing an anti-drug agreement… Curious, isn’t it?

Continuing with the report. About Bolivia:

The situation in Bolivia, which for many years has not been in conformity with that State’s obligations under the international drug control treaties, continues to be a matter of particular concern to the Board. Bolivia is a major producer of coca leaf, and national legislation allows the cultivation of coca bush and the consumption of coca leaf for non-medical purposes, which are not in line with the provisions of the 1961 Convention.

172. In addition, some of the coca leaf produced in accordance with national legislation in Bolivia is diverted and used for the illicit manufacture of cocaine. There is also information indicating increase in the illicit manufacture of and trafficking in cocaine base and cocaine hydrochloride in recent years, as well as an increase in trafficking in precursor chemicals used in cocaine manufacture.

173. The Government of Bolivia has indicated its intention to review existing national drug control legislation, with a view to using coca leaf for a wide range of products, some of which might be exported. The Board has followed closely the developments in Bolivia and has communicated to the Government its concern that some of the measures that the Government is about to take are not in line with the provisions of the international drug control treaties, particularly the 1961 Convention. The Board is also concerned that policy developments in Bolivia could have repercussions in other countries in South America.

Attention, Spanish colleagues:

African countries are being targeted for transshipment of cocaine. The smuggling of cocaine from South America into Europe through Africa continues unabated, with countries in Western and Central Africa being used as transit and storage areas for cocaine destined for Europe. Cocaine is trafficked from South America in large shipments along maritime routes leading predominantly to the countries surrounding the Gulf of Guinea, where it is re-packaged and smuggled by air by couriers into Europe or dispatched via parcel post. The most affected countries are Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Togo, while Ghana is serving as a major trans-shipment area and logistics base. Increasingly, Guinea-Bissau is being used by criminal groups from Latin America for the trans-shipment of cocaine. In September 2006, police in Guinea-Bissau seized 674 kg of cocaine and arrested two suspected smugglers, together with arms and radio and other equipment. Senegal has also become a transit country. Another matter of concern is that criminal organizations from South America involved in cocaine trafficking are reportedly linking with criminal groups involved in cannabis trafficking in Morocco and Spain.

Does it have something to do with the huge illegal immigration Spain had last year, especially from Senegal? In the report it is said that they are not only using the ships to transport the drugs but also people. I am not saying this is the only cause, though. But are drug mafias using this poor immigrants to transport the drugs and help them to pay for the trip in the cayuco?

Also: relationship of Turkey, Russian Federation, Afghanistan and Iran in world production and distribution of heroin:

Most of the heroin found in Europe comes from Afghanistan. According to the World Drug Report 2006, in Europe seizures of opiates rose by 49 per cent in 2004 to 29 tons, the highest figure ever recorded. The increase in seizures of opiates in Europe was mainly attributable to the fact that such seizures doubled in South-Eastern Europe, especially in Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. Record seizures of opiates were also made in the Russian Federation. Most of the heroin continues to be smuggled in trucks. The heroin on the illicit market in Europe is mainly smuggled from Turkey along the Balkan route, via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. In addition, a southern branch of the Balkan route has developed: heroin and other opiates from Turkey are smuggled via Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia into Albania, Italy, Austria and Germany. There have been reports of shipments of opiates from Afghanistan to the Islamic Republic of Iran being smuggled through the Caucasus into Ukraine and then into Romania before reaching their final destinations in Western Europe. The northern route through Central Asia is increasingly being used to transport heroin to other major illicit markets for heroin, such as the Russian Federation and countries in Eastern Europe. A new route for smuggling heroin from East Asia into the United Kingdom was recently uncovered, resulting in the interception of heroin consignments at ports in the United Kingdom.

Has someone from the Euroweenies (he, he, I love this term) reflected about the enlargement of EU, the freedom of circulation of goods and people and the easier it is to transport this kind of goods? No control of frontiers, huge number of illegal immigrants of whom we do not know even their real names, no real cohesion… and lots of mafias controlling huge profitable and illicit products…

Marvellous…

Technorati : Afghanistan, Bolivia, Europe, Iran, Russia, Senegal, Spain, USA

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Some links

Good news from Darfur as the International Criminal Court has begun naming the ones who had been committing attrocities in Darfur (Counterterrorism Blog).

Luis Moreno-Ocampo singled out Ahmad Muhammad Harun, now a state minister for humanitarian affairs who was state minister of the interior, along with Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb), a leader of the Darfur militia known as the Janjaweed, in a total of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes. The filing marked the first accusations against named individuals as a prelude to a trial.

Anyway, Sudan has already said they are not giving this people to the Court.

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Also the situation in Afghanistan begins to worry a lot of people -about time!- (Thanks to Epaminondas):

We know now that allowing al-Qaeda a safe haven can have terrible consequences for U.S. homeland security. And yet the Bush administration appears to be letting the threat develop again. For several months U.S. intelligence officials and independent observers have been telling journalists — most recently at the New York Times — that al-Qaeda has established several camps in the Pakistani territory of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border. Those camps are populated by Pakistani, Afghan and foreign militants; some may be Westerners who are being trained for attacks in Europe or the United States.

The camps have operated unhindered since at least September, when Pakistan’s military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, agreed to a separate peace deal with local Taliban leaders. Since then, cross-border attacks by the Taliban into Afghanistan have tripled, according to the U.S. military. Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders in Waziristan have developed a “complex cooperative relationship,” Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, testified before the House Armed Services Committee last week. Yet no action has been taken, either by the United States or by Pakistan, its nominal ally in the war on terrorism.

Spanish on-line newspaper Nuevo Digital, as brave and unprejudiced as ever, writes about the use of human shields by Taliban and insurgent forces in Afghanistan and Iran.

First in Iraq:

Boys on bikes cycle backwards and forwards on a footbridge over a small canal lined with houses and groves of date palms. Women in headscarves look anxiously in groups from windows. Men walk with shopping bags. A gunman, clutching an AK-47, bobs his head around the corner of an alleyway close to a school. Once. Twice. On the third occasion a child, a boy seven or eight years old, is thrust out in front of him. The gunman holds him firmly by the arm and steps out for instant into full view of the Bradley’s gunner to get a proper look, then yanks the boy back and disappears.

“That is really dirty,” says Specialist Chris Jankow, in the back of the Bradley, with a mixture of contempt, anger and frustration. “They know exactly what our rules of engagement are. They know we can’t fire back.” A few minutes and a few hundred metres later the performance is repeated. A woman and three small children emerge uncertainly from behind a building, little more than a shack. They stare at the approaching armour. After a few seconds they retreat from view; then the process is repeated. The third time they emerge, a fighter is crouching behind them with a rocket-propelled grenade aimed at Jankow’s Bradley. The group disappears.

Secondly in Afghanistan:

Taliban fighters used children as human shields to flee heavy fighting this week during an operation by foreign and Afghan forces to clear rebels from around a key hydro-electric dam, NATO said on Wednesday.

The Taliban have used human shields before, but never children, local residents say.

[…] “During this action … Taliban extremists resorted to the use of human shields. Specifically, using local Afghan children to cover as they escaped out of the area,” Colonel Tom Collins, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told reporters in Kabul.

So, what is going to say now the anti-war crowd??? Are they going to demonstrate against these brave warriors?

He links to some interesting news: how Human Shields are preparing themselves to go to Iran and protect sewage plants and power stations -bet they’ll be around Iranian peaceful nuclear sites?- and how Spanish Socialists blamed Israel for civilian losses when Hizbollah were using them -both children and women- to protect the armed men?

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In the West Bank there is a campaign of rapes against Jewish women, according to the police who has detained already 6 suspects (Thanks to Fausta and Pamela). The rapes are a vengeance to the “deeds of the IDF in Palestinian territories“. The women -more teenagers- were raped at bus stops or in designated hitchhiking points.

This is no importance for Putin, that now wants International Community to lift the embargo on the Palestinian Authority whatever the situation and the ideas of Hamas on Israel.

Opinion Journal wrote about the relationship between Europe and the Iranian mullahs.

In the absence of an official embargo against Tehran, private EU companies have sought commercial opportunities in Iran. But the real story here is that these businesses are subsidized by European taxpayers. Government-backed export guarantees have fueled the expansion in trade. That, in turn, has boosted Iran’s economy and–indirectly by filling government coffers with revenues–its nuclear program. The German record stands out. In its 2004 annual report on export guarantees, Berlin’s Economics Ministry dedicated a special section to Iran that captures its giddy excitement about business with Tehran.

Coalition against terrorism is asking Egypt and Saudi Arabia to stop broadcasting terror.

“Removing the vile al-Zawraa broadcasts which incite violence against innocent Iraqis and those trying to build a peaceful democracy was a good first step by Egypt,” said Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the coalition and chief operating officer of FDD. “But Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two of our supposed allies in the war on terrorism, must also pull Hezbollah’s and Hamas’s equally dangerous programming, roll back the Iranian regime’s propaganda efforts and disavow all terrorist controlled media outlets that use their satellites to recruit followers and incite violent attacks.”

About time, too.

So Israelis have overwhelmingly voted for “Push the button“, a song which is seen as an answer to lovely and peaceful Ahmadinejad.

First peacekeepers have entered Somalia. But I do not know how 30 Soldiers are going to change the bad situation that the country is living.

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If yesterday I wrote about the re-arming of Venezuela, looks like Chávez is buying MORE weapons. El Diario Exterior reports that Venezuela is going to buy 9 diesel submarines. The doubt is whether they are going to be Scorpene (French-Spanish production) or Amur (Russian). And then Venezuela will have the greatest Navy in South-America.

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US has detained some criminals (66) from a drug-related network. Mr Gonzales said the ring – allegedly run by Victor Emilio Cazares Gastellum – distributed cocaine, marijuana and other drugs throughout the United States.

El Tribunal Penal Internacional ha comenzado a determinar quiénes son los causantes de la masacre de Darfur y de la creación de los Janjaweed: entre otros, se señala como culpables, a Ahmad Muhammad Harun, ahora el Ministro de Estado para las Cuestiones Humanitarias, que era entonces el Ministro de Estado De Interior, junto con Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, líder de las Janjaweed, de un total de 51 crímenes contra la Humanidad y otros crímenes de guerra. Sudán ya ha dicho que no va a entregarlos y que, al no haber firmado el tratado de constitución del Tribunal, no va a reconocer ninguna resolución que dicte al respecto.

También los periodistas -incluso el New York Times y el Washington Post- comienzan a preocuparse por la situación en Afganistán. Precisamente, después de que diversas fuentes señalen que este país se está convirtiendo en un paraíso seguro para Al-Qaeda y los Talibanes, que han desarrollado una relación compleja de cooperación según el General Eikenberry, el saliente comandante de las tropas de EEUU, en su declaración ante el Comité de Servicios Militares del Congreso. A pesar de eso, no se ha tomado ninguna acción.

The Guardian ha publicado un reportaje en el que muestra cómo usan los Talibanes y los insurgentes iraquíes a niños y mujeres para proteger a los bravos combatientes. A ver si nuestros queridos amigos de Telecinco y los del “No a la guerra“, Sí a la Kultura y a la Manipulación para que me den más subvenciones y No a EEUU aunque sí a sus premios que son muy glamurosos, se manifiestan en contra de este tipo de comportamientos que también practica Hizbollah contra Israel y los Tigres Tamiles en Sri Lanka.

Se está produciendo una campaña de violaciones en la Franja Oeste. Las víctimas, en su mayoría adolescentes, fueron violadas en paradas de autobús o en puntos para realizar auto-stop señalados. ¿La razón? La venganza por lo que las Fuerzas Israelíes están haciendo en la Franja de Gaza. Muy bien: o sea, que como no puedo ganar la guerra, simplemente violo a unas cuantas mujeres…

Esto no parece importarle a Putin que quiere levantar las sanciones a la Autoridad Nacional Palestina, aunque continúe teniendo Hamas los mismos objetivos.

Mientras los europeos seguimos subsidiando al régimen iraní. Resulta que a los Gobiernos se les nota a la legua la ambición de hacer negocios con Irán, país con el que no existe un embargo por parte de Europa. Así, empresas con garantía de los Gobiernos Europeos están llevando a cabo florecientes relaciones comerciales. Alemania, por ejemplo, tiene una sección especial de su Ministerio de Economía dedicada exclusivamente a hacer negocios con Irán… que considera a Europa un escudo protector frente a EEUU.

La Coalición contra el terrorismo ha iniciado una campaña para que Egipto y Arabia Saudí dejen de promover el terrorismo a través de la radio y la TV. Ya lo han conseguido con otras cadenas, pero quieren que dejen de emitir en estos países Al-Manar, la tele de Hizbullá, y Al-Aqsa, la de Hamas. A ver si lo consiguen-

Así que los israelíes no se han cortado un pelo y han votado masivamente una canción que se titula “Da al botón” para ir a Eurovisión. La letra es la siguiente:

El mundo está lleno de terror, si alguien comete un error, nos va a explotar hacia el reino que viene.

Hay algunos mandatarios locos, que se esconden y tratan de volvernos locos, con deseo demoníaco y tecnológico de hacer daño.

¿A quién me recuerda?

Los primeros “pacificadores” han entrado en Somalia. Claro que, con el alarmante número de 30, creo que por el momento, no van a hacer mucho…

El Diario Exterior informa de que Chávez va a comprar 9 submarinos Diésel, bien de marca Scorpene (fabricación franco-española …) o bien los rusos Amur.

Resumen: menuda mierda de mundo.

Technorati : Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Darfur, Egypt, Eurovision Contest, ICC, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Taliban, Venezuela
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