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| Recent Publications by New English Review Authors |
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The New English Review Symposium 2009 Booklet - Understanding the Jihad in Israel, Europe and America |
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Geert Wilders: Why I Am In America Fighting For Free Speech |
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Not With a Bang But a Whimper: The Politics and Culture of Decline
by Theodore Dalrymple |
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In Praise of Prejudice: The Necessity of Preconceived Ideas
by Theodore Dalrymple |
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Defending The West:
by Ibn Warraq |
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Nations, Language and Citizenship:
by Norman Berdichevsky |
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Romancing Opiates
by Theodore Dalrymple |
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Which Koran?
by Ibn Warraq |
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Our Culture, What's Left of It
by Theodore Dalrymple |
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What The Koran Really Says
by Ibn Warraq |
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Life at the Bottom
by Theodore Dalrymple |
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The Origins of the Koran
by Ibn Warraq |
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Why I Am Not Muslim
by Ibn Warraq |
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Spanish Vignettes: An Offbeat Look Into Spain's Culture, Society & History
by Norman Berdichevsky |
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Leaving Islam
Edited by Ibn Warraq |
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The Danish-German Border Dispute, 1815-2001: Aspects of Cultural and Demographic Politics
by Norman Berdichevsky |
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These are all the Blogs posted on Tuesday, 22, 2009.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
U.S. Charges Obama Fund-Raiser in $290 Million Fraud
 Reuters has an update on the story Hugh posted earlier when it was thought Nemazee had only defrauded Citigroup out of a mere $74 million.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.
The announcement follows last month's indictment of Nemazee, head of a private equity firm and an Iranian American Political Action Committee board member, on one count of defrauding Citigroup's Citibank.
The new indictment adds allegations that he defrauded two other banks, Bank of America and HSBC Bank USA, in a similar fashion by falsifying documents and signatures to purportedly show he had hundreds of millions worth of collateral.
The office of the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI said he used the proceeds of his scheme to make donations to election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates, donations to political action committees and charities.
He bought property in Italy and paid for maintenance on two properties in New York.
His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
As of August 2009 Nemazee owed Bank of America about $142 million and owed Citibank about $74.9 million, the indictment said. He drew on a line of credit he fraudulently obtained from HSBC to pay the Citibank loan.
Nemazee, 59, typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates. He is listed as one of the top "bundlers" of contributions to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics research group.
"For more than 10 years, Hassan Nemazee projected the illusion of wealth, stealing more than $290 million so that he could lead a lavish lifestyle and play the part of heavyweight political fundraiser," United States Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement... Posted on 09/22/2009 7:06 AM by Rebecca Bynum
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Riot Cops Begin Clearing Immigrant 'Jungle'
Breaking news on Sky
French police have begun an operation to clear a notorious immigrant squatter camp on the outskirts of Calais.
Police public order teams gathered at local barracks in the French port, ahead of an operation to detain illegal immigrants and demolish the makeshift camp, known as 'the Jungle'.
As the first dozen officers entered the camp a small group of rights activists formed a human chain trying to bar access to the migrants, shouting "no border, no nation, stop deportation" As we don't want them in Britain the French can keep them.
The makeshift tent city grew up after France closed a large Red Cross centre at nearby Sangatte in 2002 under pressure from Britain, which saw it as a magnet for illegal immigrants.
The main focus is on an area about half a mile south-east of the main port, known as the 'Pashtun jungle' due to the fact it is largely populated by Afghan migrants.
Other migrant dwellings in Calais have already been hit by police raids, including a Sudanese 'jungle' to the west of the port, and another Afghan dominated area on the dune land to the East, known as the 'Hazara jungle'.
A row of houses closer into the main town that is dominated by Africans, largely from Eritrea, has also been targeted.
According to aid agencies, the immigrants were being taken in buses to police stations to be processed. From there they will be sent back to the countries where they entered European Union. It was thought that many will end up in Greece, one of the main points of entry for the immigrants. But aid agencies have predicted that many will end up back on the streets.
Fifteen-year-old Sail Pardes, from eastern Afghanistan, had been at the camp for six months and was hoping to make his way to England. He added: "Most of the time we're tired. The most important thing is to get to England. I want to go to school and become a better person."
Taken at face value that statement is hard to resist. Unfortunately experience shows that too many of those other boys and young men who have come to England have not become 'better people' in the sense that English adults understand it.
The Telegraph reported last night on a specific aspect of this clearance.
While most (of the immigrants) are resigned to seeing their tarpaulin and wooden shelters torn to the ground, they are determined to preserve the mosque.
"It is a holy place where we pray night and day. The police must not harm it,' said Rachid, a 21-year-old Afghan. "We are expecting the worst when the police arrive, but we will defend our mosque at all costs."
The makeshift structure is the best built in the camp. Young men, prostrate in prayer, can be seen inside. Yesterday, it was surrounded by fresh flowers.
(Said) Mansoor, 32 and also from Afghanistan. "We do not want any trouble, but fighting sometimes breaks out because of the way we are treated. If they show disrespect to our mosque then we will respond accordingly."
The French authorities have waited until the end of the Muslim feast of Ramadan before tearing down the jungle, which has become a magnet for people from all over the world who want to get across to Dover, where they claim asylum or disappear into Britain's black economy. Posted on 09/22/2009 1:58 AM by Esmerelda Weatherwax
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Vera v Anne
Posted on 09/22/2009 2:17 AM by Esmerelda Weatherwax
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
White Cliffs of Dover Quiz - Second Chance
A second chance to answer this question: what is wrong with the words of White Cliffs of Dover? Clue - in the first line.
Posted on 09/22/2009 4:26 AM by Mary Jackson
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Police priorities
If ever there was a case for applying the Public Order Act, this is it. From The Telegraph:
Could there be a more desperately sad story than the tale of Fiona Pilkington, the mother driven by the action of bullies apparently to kill herself and her daughter in a burning car? What made it worse was the utter failure of the police to protect this family despite their pleas for help. The mother contacted her local constabulary more than 20 times over a seven-year period but officers failed to respond because there were "not enough resources". No doubt had she told them she had bought a gun to protect her home and family, dozens of armed officers would have been there in no time – to arrest her.
Her house was routinely surrounded by baying yobs. Her son was locked in a shed at knifepoint and beaten with a metal bar, and her daughter, who had severe learning difficulties, endured the sound of stones thrown at her bedroom window as she went to bed, accompanied by shouts demanding that she lift up her nightdress.
[...]
If the mother herself did not want to give evidence, was it beyond the wit of the police to observe what was going on and provide it themselves?
Apparently so. And police forces are overstretched, as we know, arresting peaceful Christians who have the temerity to express an opinion on Islam.
There is nothing wrong with the law on public order; it is simply being abused by an increasingly politicised police. Forced to recruit more Muslim officers to make up the numbers, they can only get worse. Posted on 09/22/2009 5:09 AM by Mary Jackson
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Dennis Potter, Vladimir Nabokov, Bert Ambrose: Only Connect
Yesterday Vera Lynn, and today a note on Vera Lynn and Anne Shelton, but mostly on Anne Shelton, appeared at NER.
Anne Shelton has been mentioned in a previous posting at NER, and a link posted to her 1956 hit "Lay Down Your Arms":
Friday, 30 May 2008
A Cinematic Musical Interlude: Lay Down Your Arms (voc. Anne Shelton, from Lipstick On Your Collar)
This is the last bit of "Lipstick On Your Collar." The song, sung by Anne Shelton, was an English hit in 1956 and, since the characters in Dennis Potter's television series either work ,, or are related to those who work, at the War Office at the time of the Suez Crisis, it was a perfect choice. But even without knowing this, and even without having seen the series which this scene brings to an end, a viewer can enjoy this song, in this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8TQ4MqzTGc&feature=related
Esmerelda -- that third "e" drives me to Distraction, Oregon -- has noted
Esmeralda! now we rest
Here, in the bewitched and blest
Mountain forests of the West.
Here the very air is stranger.
Damzel, anchoret, and ranger
Share the woodland’s dream and danger.
And to think I deemed you dead!
(In a dungeon, it was said;
Tortured, strangled); but instead –
Blue birds from the bluest fable,
Bear and hare in coats of sable,
Peacock moth on picnic table.
Huddled roadsigns softly speak
Of Lake Merlin, Castle Creek,
And (obliterated) Peak.
Etc. -- but I digress --
in her posting, that Anne Shelton sang with Bert Ambrose ("Ambrose") and his band. In 1940 Vera Lynn married Harry Lewis, a member of that Ambrose band, and they stayed married.
Bert Ambrose is all over the place. As is Dennis Potter. And Vladimir Nabokov. You just have to see those connections.
Tout se tient.
Only connect.
Posted on 09/22/2009 9:15 AM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Is Present-Day Jihad Caused By Spontaneous Combustion?
“The temporary lull in Islamic ambitions after the fall of the Ottoman caliphate has now spontaneously recombusted into nuvoIslamic [sic] ambitions for a world caliphate ala Al Qeda, Iran’s Ayatollahs, Saud supremacy, etc” — From a reader’s comment on my article here.
It was not “spontaneous combustion” that brought back, in a big and most dangerous way, the pursuit of Jihad, which by now has gone beyond such original local victims of the post-war period as Israel and India. It now targets non-Muslim peoples all over, both in the Muslim-ruled lands, where they have steadily been persecuted, humiliated, and their numbers have declined, and in the lands of Dar al-Harb, where the Muslims who have innocently and far too negligently been allowed to settle in large numbers have taken advantage of every benefit the generous Infidel nations provide. These include the kind of education and medical care unobtainable in the Muslim lands. Muslims have also taken advantage of the edifice of human rights guarantees in order not to promote but rather to subvert the very legal and political institutions that gave birth to those rights, and have helped to maintain and even expand them.
The Return of Jihad is a result of the fact that Muslims became both more powerful, and more aware of their power and their ability to spread the message of Islam more fully to fellow Muslims — and to disrupt, and demoralize, and confuse, and even bully non-Muslim peoples and states that remained, militarily, far more powerful.
Three developments that very largely explain this. I have gone over them many times before, but there is always a need to repeat the theme, until it sinks in.
The first is the tremendous transfer of wealth to the oil-and-gas-rich Muslim countries, almost all of them Arab — more than twelve trillion dollars since 1973 alone. That Money Weapon, the Jihad of Wealth, has paid for mosques, madrasas, campaigns of Da’wa, campaigns of propaganda by Western hirelings who are supposed to protect Arab and Muslim interests, and do so, not only by conducting insidious campaigns against obvious targets of Jihad (for example, Israel), but also in targeting individuals who show a willingness to stand up against Islam (e.g., Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali).
These campaigns also promote the continued power of these same Arab and Muslim states by trying to prevent a serious effort to curtail the use of oil. The Saudis hate the phrase “energy independence” — it happens to be a politically useful phrase for those who wish to encourage the use of other forms of energy and energy conservation — and are paying everyone and his brother to write Op/Eds about what the Saudi shills sweetly call “energy interdependence.” This latter phrase is a sly way to insinuate the idea that 1) it will be impossible to get off oil and 2) don’t even try and 3) Saudi Arabia is your friend and don’t tell anyone otherwise or there may be hell to pay.
That is an idle threat, by the way, for the Saudis are hopelessly dependent on the sale of oil, and hopelessly dependent for the running of their economies, and for their political survival, on the West itself. The reverse is not true, no matter how many well-connected Western hirelings tell us otherwise — including former American diplomats and C.I.A. agents (think of the likes of Raymond Close and James Akins). And Saudi money not only pays for thousands of mosques, and imams of the most extreme Wahhabi bent, but it also pays for madrasas, and teams of lawyers to help expand both in the face of local opposition from zoning boards or a worried populace. It also pays for tame journalists, and for academics of the venal esposito sort, and for chairs named after King Abdul Aziz, and whole departments or even centers, for “Islamic Studies” of one phony sort or another. For more on that, see Esposito’s fiefdom, which he continues to connect, shamelessly, to Georgetown. Or see the “Centers” at Exeter and Durham in Great Britain.
For especially delicate matters, however, the Saudis have learned to stand back and let more acceptable-sounding Arab countries be the front men, offering the financial support. Take the case of Tariq Ramadan. A full-time propagandist for Islam, Tariq Ramadan in colubrine fashion pretends there is some brand-new never-seen-before “European” Islam that will somehow develop in Europe, but the contents of which, and the difference between “European” Islam and the Islam to be found everywhere else, is never made clear, because no such difference exists. This “European” Islam is supposed to quiet the growing disquiet of Europeans at the Muslim immigrants who have turned out, in their attitudes and their behavior, unsurprisingly, to be akin to invaders in their midst.
When his contract in Geneva was not renewed, and when the jig in France and Switzerland was up, thanks to such studies as Caroline Fourest’s “Frere Tariq,” Ramadan knew it was time to move on, one step ahead of the Infidel posse. He tried to move to America, having convinced the Interfaith Racketeers, the Peace-and-Justice boys, Scott Appleby and company, spending that endowment of BigMac Money like there was no tomorrow, to invite him. But the American government, in a fit of actual intelligence (two kinds), prevented Ramadan from entering the country. So he moved on to two places. He somehow persuaded the good burghers of the Netherlands to give him a paid position and also landed at St. Antony’s College, Oxford — a college for graduate studies only, and one with a perfectly legitimate operation in East European and Russian Studies, along with a perfectly illegitimate operation in Middle Eastern Studies, at least as long as Albert Hourani was alive and running things, with no courses and no waiting. That’s the D.Phil., not to be confused with the American or continental Ph.D. All kinds of Arabs, especially those working on such fascinating topics as “the construction of a ‘Palestinian’ identity — see Rashid Khalidi for one good example — picked up their degrees from what was, in many ways, a unique diploma mill, undercutting the prestige that, many decades ago even an “M.A. Oxon.” once commanded.
Keep firmly in mind that the vast wealth from oil and gas that the Arabs and Muslims received was not the result of their own efforts. In fact, without the accident of geology, and the discovery of such oil wealth and of the means to transport and distribute and then use it — all done by the Western Infidels — the Arabs and Muslims would still be economically weak. That is their natural condition, because of Islam itself. And only the bonanza of oil helped them to become rich.
It is Islam itself that, absent the bonanza of natural resources such as oil, virtually ensures Muslim underdevelopment. There are a handful of exceptions, that is, Muslim-ruled states where some economic development does take place. There are a few places without oil where a non-Muslim minority — Chinese and Hindus in Malaysia, Chinese in Indonesia, Christians in Lebanon — serves as a catalyst and engine for the economy, helping local Muslims to act in ways that without such a non-Muslim presence would be far more difficult to achieve. For Islam discourages hard work. The Arabs, in particular, were used to living by raiding, the razzia (and where there were non-Muslims, on the Jizyah). But the Islamic work ethic is non-existent not only because of the traditional reliance on such raids, one Muslim tribe or group against another or all Muslims against all non-Muslims, but because inshallah-fatalism discourages hard work.
The second major development, mostly unrelated to the first but overlapping with it in time, is that the countries of Western Europe, for different reasons, allowed different populations of Muslims into their midst. They did this, in West Germany, with Turks who were supposed to come, earn money, send those earnings home, and eventually voluntarily be repatriated to Turkey. In Great Britain, in the late 1940s, a bill was passed that made it easier for members of the Commonwealth countries to enter Great Britain. And in the late 1950s a trickle of Pakistanis came, and then more, and then more, with the results we all see. In France, after the end of the Algerian War in 1962, hundreds of thousands of Muslim harkis arrived, that is, Arabs who had fought with the French and who would suffer greatly from FLN reprisals if not rescued. But then, following that, the French allowed in single Algerian males, for the same reason that the West Germans had allowed in single Turkish males. And just as the Germans changed that policy to allow in wives (sometimes “wives” meant “plural wives”), so too did the French, under Giscard d’Estaing, decide to deal with the perceived anti-social or even seemingly sociopathic behavior of some Algerian males by allowing in their wives, and their children, and then other wives. And the result is grim history.
And in Spain there were predominantly Moroccans, and in the Netherlands Moroccans and Turks, and in Scandinavia Arabs and Kurds, and in Italy Somalis and Egyptians and assorted maghrebins, and so on. And everywhere it was the same story, the same impossibility of integration, the same deep hostility, on the part of the Muslims, no matter how much solicitude was shown them, how many benefits made available to them. And no matter how much access they had to a more advanced, more generous, more just, better-ordered society, they did not exhibit, because they did not feel, any gratitude to the Infidels and the Infidel nation-states that made all this possible. Instead, they felt resentment — resentment that they, the Muslims, the “best of peoples,” were not on top, that they, the Muslims, “the best of peoples,” did not have the position that Allah so clearly intended them to have, that they, the Muslims, the “best of peoples,” did not have their demands met, did not have their commands obeyed, and their prohibitions observed.
And while the very first generation of largely-illiterate, and possibly still a little scared, immigrants sometimes worked, that very temporary work ethic soon went by the board. The level of Muslim unemployment rose. It was caused not by discrimination but because Muslims have found ways to easily go on the Western dole, and to receive free education, free medical care, free or subsidized housing. They supplement, where necessary, such benefits with crime. Nearly 60% of French criminals in prison are Muslims, and similar, or even higher percentages, can be found in some other European countries. And for some crimes — such as rape — Muslims constitute 70-80% of the rapists, even in Scandinavian lands where they represent 2-3% of the population.
They have made demands, and they will continue to make demands, for all sorts of changes in what is done. Sometimes it is for single-sex municipal swimming pools. Sometimes it is for prayer-rooms in schools and airports, or footbaths in both, or guaranteed times off of work. Sometimes it has to do with demands for the building of huge mosques and madrasas, or for speaker systems to broadcast the muezzin’s call to prayer. Sometimes it is for changes in school curricula, so that Muslims will not have to endure lessons on, say, the Infidel Kings of France, or the history of Christianity in Europe, or about European anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, or to be asked to read important writers if those writers — say, Victor Hugo (at this website’s search box, insert “Victor Hugo” and “Hugh” for more) — or Voltaire. And of course Muslims try to influence each country’s foreign policy, to make it more distant from America, more hostile to Israel, and more compliant with the demands of Muslim polities and peoples.
The third change that has made the Jihad possible is that of technological advances, the fruit of the advanced non-Muslim countries, both West and East, that have then been appropriated by Muslims and used to advance the cause of Islam. The illiterate villager in a remote part of Afghanistan learns, when the village acquires a radio transmitter, more about the message of Islam, and is possibly whipped up against the Infidels. That is one example. The villager — or urban dweller — in the Shah’s Iran, could listen to audiotapes of the Ayatollah Khomeini, audiotapes that he recorded during the months he lived in France, at Neauphle-le-Chateau. Then his loyal followers made hundreds of thousands of copies for distribution all over Iran. There are recruitment tapes for Al Qaeda that proudly show beheadings, of Nick Berg or Daniel Pearl, or British or Italian or American soldiers. There are the tapes that show, with equal glee, to the monotonous Arabic intoning of Qur’anic verses, American soldiers in tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles making their way along a road when suddenly, as in a comic book, BLAM!, and the vehicle hits an I.E.D., and the scenes of mayhem and death that follow are registered by some Muslim who has been ready to record the whole scene. Then that scene, and many others, go onto videotapes, or onto the Internet, to be seen by many other Muslims who are not offended, but inspired, by the gory displays of Infidel anguish and torment at the hands of those Muslim “warriors” — including the “warriors” who slit the throats of helpless, often completely innocent captives, such as Nick Berg. Berg went off naively to Iraq to help the Iraqis, having been raised with one kind of nonsense from his father, and having further believed another kind of nonsense about the wonderful “Iraqi people” whom we were helping, that was being put out early on by the American government, hellbent on misunderstanding the nature of the people of Iraq (not the same as “the Iraqi people.”)
All of these things — audiotapes, videotapes, the Internet, satellite television (see Al-Manar, see Al-Jazeera) — have been products of the advanced non-Muslim world. But the primitive Muslim world has money, from an accident of geology, and that money helps the funding of those who participate directly or indirectly in violent Jihad, as well as those who conduct Jihad through other, non-violent, often more effective means.
And that is the answer.
Not “spontaneous combustion” — which is merely a lazy getting-out of the duty to study, and to comprehend. That kind of phrase is of a piece with such expressions of frustration and unwillingness to figure out the causes of things, as “well, the Arabs and the Jews have been killing each other for centuries, so I guess they always will” or “no one can figure out why the Middle East is the way it is, I guess, so let’s forget it” or “I’m just getting sick and tired of the Arab-Israeli problem,” or, from a well-known commentator who becomes unaccountably lazy when he senses that the topic at hand requires a more attention and understanding of Islam than he, at least, is prepared to acquire, this remarkable and telling expression of peevish frustration on the part of one who refuses to do the work necessary for intelligent analysis and understanding: “Does anyone else feel, as I do, an almighty weariness with the Levant and its intractable problems, its immemorial rancors, its savage rivalries, its unappeasable grievances?” (He makes no mention of Islam, nota bene, a knowledge of which would, if intelligently brought to bear, explain that Levant, with its “intractable problems” and “immemorial rancors” and “savage rivalries” and “unappeasable grievances.” Now you can find, and place Your Very Own Example Here.
Leave “spontaneous combustion” to that lawyer and landlord in Dickens’s “Bleak House,” the deeply alcoholic Mr. Krook, who is among the bit characters embroiled in the coils of that endless case in Chancery, Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, that goes on until the last farthing in the legacy has been used up on legal fees. The poetic license of Dickens — which has been renewed every year since his death — allows him to indulge, for the sake of fiction, in such things.
The rest of us do not possess that license, and are in other lines of work, and have different kinds of understanding. Here, we are devoted to understanding what makes certain large masses of people, in thrall to a primitive ideology, tick. Then we wish to discover what threats result from their beliefs and their newly-acquired powers, financial and military and demographic, and what we must consider as alternative ways of containing — not finding a “solution,” which is not the right way to think about the matter, but lessening the threat — the power of Islam, and limiting its presence in the Western world, or indeed in the non-Western, but non-Muslim world as well.
To simply attribute such a world-shaking menace as the Return of Islam and the revival of Jihad to something one breezily calls “spontaneous combustion” does not further the common understanding. Leave that phrase to Dickens. He can handle it. He can make poetic use of it. We others, we imperiled mortals, at least right here and right now, can’t.
Posted on 09/22/2009 9:31 AM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Aucune?
From Le Monde:
Le président iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a de nouveau lancé, mardi 22 septembre, une mise en garde contre toute velléité d'attaque militaire contre l'Iran, appelant les puissances étrangères à retirer leurs troupes de la région. "Aucune puissance n'osera développer dans son esprit l'idée d'agresser l'Iran", a déclaré M. Ahmadinejad lors d'un discours à l'ouverture d'un défilé militaire annuel.
"Nos forces armées couperont n'importe où dans le monde la main de quiconque voudra tirer une balle en direction de l'Iran avant même qu'il appuie sur la gâchette", a-t-il affirmé, ajoutant que la capacité militaire de l'Iran était uniquement "défensive".
Le premier ministre israélien Benyamin Nétanyahou n'a jamais écarté l'option d'une frappe militaire contre l'Iran, insistant sur le fait qu'Israël ne permettrait pas que le régime de Téhéran, qui affirme vouloir rayer l'Etat hébreu de la carte, puisse disposer de l'arme atomique. Cette année, l'armée iranienne a fait défiler des systèmes antimissiles et des missiles Shahab-3 et Sejil, d'une portée proclamée d'environ 2 000 kilomètres. C'était la première apparition du missile Sejil, à deux étages et utilisant du combustible solide, alors qu'une escadrille d'avions de combat Saegheh, de fabrication locale, volait au-dessus du parcours.
Faisant allusion au programme nucléaire controversé iranien, M. Ahmadinejad a assuré que "le monde devait savoir" que l'Iran défendrait "avec force ses droits et son territoire". Le renforcement des capacités militaires de l'Iran, en particulier le développement du programme balistique, inquiète les grandes puissances. M. Ahmadinejad a ensuite quitté Téhéran pour New York, afin de participer à l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies, où il prononcera mercredi 23 septembre un discours.
L'Iran et le groupe 5+1 (Etats-Unis, Russie, Chine, France, Royaume-Uni et Allemagne) doivent se retrouver le 1er octobre pour parler des propositions iraniennes sur le dossier nucléaire. Téhéran est soupçonné par les puissances occidentales de vouloir acquérir la bombe atomique sous couvert d'un programme nucléaire civil, ce qu'il nie. Revenant sur les négociations avec les puissances du groupe 5+1, le ministre iranien des affaires étrangères, Manouchehr Mottaki, a déclaré que l'Iran espérait bâtir une "confiance élargie" avec ces puissances lors des négociations du 1er octobre, selon l'agence iranienne IRNA.
Pour sa part, le principal négociateur du nucléaire iranien, Saïd Jalili, a déclaré que l'Iran "entrait dans les négociations avec puissance, logique et initiative", a rapporté la télévision d'Etat. Dans le même temps, l'Iran a souligné sa détermination à poursuivre son programme nucléaire en annonçant la construction d'une nouvelle génération de centrifugeuses.
"Nos scientifiques ont fabriqué une nouvelle génération de centrifugeuses et des cascades de 10 centrifugeuses chacune sont actuellement à l'essai", a déclaré le chef de l'Organisation iranienne de l'énergie atomique (OIEA), Ali Akbar Salehi, cité par l'IRNA. Selon lui, ces nouvelles centrifugeuses sont en mesure de multiplier par "plus de cinq" la capacité iranienne à enrichir de l'uranium et Téhéran a pour "objectif de parvenir à décupler" au total cette capacité. Il a aussi ajouté que poser "des conditions préalables pour entrer dans les négociations n'était pas logique". Jusque-là, les puissances du groupe 5+1 demandaient à l'Iran de suspendre son enrichissement d'uranium pour commencer des négociations. Cette condition a été abandonnée. Posted on 09/22/2009 9:34 AM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
A Musical Interlude: You Want Lovin' And I Want Love (Ambrose Orch.)
Posted on 09/22/2009 9:39 AM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Has Islam "Shaped The World For The Better?" (In Italian)
Fitzgerald: L'Islam avrebbe "contribuito a migliorare il mondo"?
Da Jihadwatch, editoriale di Hugh Fitzgerald:
Secondo alcune fonti, Obama ieri avrebbe detto che l'Islam ha "contribuito a migliorare il mondo".
Forse, il "dono degli Arabi" all'Iran avrebbe contribuito a rendere la civiltà Iraniana migliore? Non è forse più corretto dire che è stato nonostante l'Islam, che poeti Iraniani come Sa'adi, Hafiz, Firdowsi, Omar Khayyam, sono riusciti a cantare poco Islamicamente di vino e di donne? (e hanno cantato di donne non come bottino, non come schiave, non come inferiori, ma come oggetti di desiderio ed affetto in un modo che i non-Musulmani possano comprendere). Sono forse riusciti a opporsi all'imperialismo linguistico e culturale degli Arabi, di cui l'Islam è stato e sarà sempre il mezzo?
Forse l'arrivo dell'Islam nell'Africa del Nord, e la conseguente scomparsa della ricca cultura Cristiana (ricordate che sia Agostino che Tertulliano provenivano dal Nord Africa, e Monica, la madre di Agostino, era Berbera), ha "contribuito a migliorare" questa parte del mondo, che in passato era Cristiana?
Forse le ricchezze artistiche di Bisanzio, di Costantinopoli (per migliaia di anni la città più importante del mondo Cristiano), molte delle quali sono andate distrutte, altre vandalizzate oltre qualsiasi possibilità di recupero quando i Musulmani le hanno conquistate, sono cambiate "in meglio" quando l'Islam ha conquistato i Greci Bizantini?
Forse il patrimonio ed il bagaglio artistico e culturale del Buddhismo nell'Asia Centrale, con i suoi artefatti e monumenti, gli stupa e le steli della cultura Greco-Battriana nel posto che è l'odierno Afghanistan, tutto questo è fiorito o piuttosto è sparito per sempre quando l'Islam ha "contribuito a migliorare" questa parte del mondo?
Forse i complessi templi Indù, la civiltà Indiana e i tempi dei Jains, sono migliorati quando arrivarono i conquistatori Musulmani? Forse l'India è cambiata "per il meglio" a causa dell'arrivo dell'Islam? Quando i Musulmani hanno ucciso tra i 60 e i 70 milioni di Indù, e costretto altri a convertirsi se volevano evitare la morte sul posto, o gli orrori di una vita da, al meglio, dhimmi sotto il giogo Musulmano, ha tutto questo costituito un "miglioramento"?
Forse la ricca civiltà Indù e Buddhista nelle Indie dell'Est -- pensiamo a Borobudur, per esempio -- rimpiazzata quasi ovunque dall'Islam, con il conseguente impoverimento estetico e mentale che, insieme alla limitazione dell'espressione artistica e dell'indagine libera e scettica, che costituiscono caratteristiche ricorrenti dell'Islam, forse la civiltà Indù e Buddhista è cambiata "per il meglio" sotto l'Islam?
Forse la Grecia, la Bulgaria, la Serbia, il resto dei Balcani sono cambiati "per il meglio" quando sono arrivati i Turchi Ottomani, portando alcuni a convertirsi per il semplice desiderio di proteggere se stessi? Cosa sono i Musulmani Bosniaci se non i discendenti dei Serbi che si sono convertiti, proprio come i Musulmani Pakistani e Indiani sono i discendenti degli Indù che hanno cercato di sfuggire alle oppressive condizioni di vita per i non-Musulmani durante i secoli di governo Islamico? Forse il rapimento sistematico di bambini Cristiani o Ebrei, il sistema del "DevÅŸirme" in cui i giovani erano strappati alle loro famiglie per servire nell'esercito Ottomano come Giannizzeri, è stato un cambiamento "per il meglio"?
Forse l'arrivo dell'Islam nella Siria/Libano è stata per i Cristiani che vivevano colà -- Maroniti ed altri -- un cambiamento "per il meglio"?
Forse l'arrivo dell'Islam nell'Africa Nera, attraverso i trafficanti di schiavi Arabi che cominciarono il loro crudele lavoro, rapendo giovani ragazzi Africani neri, castrandoli sul posto e quindi portandoli in catene ai mercati di schiavi dell'Islam, fu un cambiamento "per il meglio"? L'Islam legittima in qualsiasi epoca storica, per mezzo dei suoi testi immutabili, la giustizia ed equità della schiavitù. La schiavitù è stata abolita tra i Musulmani attraverso l'intervento dei poteri Europei (della Francia in Marocco ed Algeria, o della Marina Reale Inglese che ha soppresso il traffico Arabo di schiavi con l'Africa nel tardo 19esimo secolo) mediante pressioni internazionali, come quando in Arabia Saudita, solo nel 1962, ha abolito formalmente la schiavitù -- anche se questa naturalmente continua, informalmente, ancora fino ad oggi. Ha forse l'ISlam, che permette la schiavitù, e che non ha mai sperimentato un Wilberforce Musulmano, cambiato le cose "per il meglio"?
L'arrivo dell'Islam ha forse reso l'espressione artistica più libera? L'arrivo dell'Islam ovunque ha reso più probabile il perseguimento di indagine e ricerca libera e scettica? L'arrivo dell'Islam, e la sua visione degli uomini come "schiavi di Allah" che devono acquisire l'abitudine della sottomissione mentale, ha da qualche parte portato ad una fioritura culturale che non era presente prima di esso, o che non era il prodotto di Cristiani, Ebrei e Zoroastriani di lingua Araba, o che erano appena una generazione di distanza dall'essere Cristiani, Ebrei e Zoroastriani, e quindi ancora educati, o grandemente influenzati, da ambienti non-Musulmani?
Ci dica dove, e ci dica in dettaglio, come l'arrivo e la rapida diffusione dell'Islam, laddove esso si sia diffuso e non sia stato resistito, abbia reso il mondo "un posto migliore"?
Ci dica.
Siamo tutti orecchi.
Translated by Herbrand for www.faithfreedom.org Posted on 09/22/2009 10:40 AM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Where would Jesus shop?
From The Times:
The Church of England must shed its middle-class “Marks & Spencer” image and become more akin to Aldi, a bishop has warned.
The Bishop of Reading, the Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, described his frustration that the established Church is regarded as the option for the highly educated or “suited and booted” only.
Jesus, he said, would probably have shopped at Aldi and Asda.
Well, he certainly wouldn't need to go to Berry Bros. & Rudd for his fine wine. Just take twenty gallons of water and Bob's your uncle. And he'd put the fish and loaf merchants out of business in no time.
What about Mohammed? Harrods Food Hall, no doubt, but he'd just rob the place, as is his right. Posted on 09/22/2009 11:10 AM by Mary Jackson
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Banda-Banta Banter
There is the Banda Osiris, punningly named after the comically down-the-staircase famous Wanda Osiris whom Alberto Sordi catches sight of in Polvere di Stelle.
There are Disney's Beagle boys who in Italian become the Banda Bassotti. Practically the original, and nothing like the transformation of Gyro Gearloose into Archimede Pitagorico.
There is Hastings K. Banda, who ruled over Malawi and always wore a suit.
There is Syester v. Banda, a case that often appears in first-year Contracts casebooks, on the subject of mistake and misrepresentation -- in this instance, about the result for a lady who signed up for thousands of hours of lessons at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios, including several life-time memberships, at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios.. Let me see if I can find the cite for you.
Oh dear. I've just discovered, I should have checked, I surely meant to write, sorry for the mistake and the misrepresentation -- that the full cite is, properly, Syester v. Banta, 257 Iowa 613, 133 N.W.2d 666 (1965), a case that often appears in first-year Contracts casebooks, on the subject of mistake and misrepresentation -- in this instance, about the result for a student who signed up for thousands of hours of lessons, including several life-time memberships, at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios.
Posted on 09/22/2009 12:16 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Nig Banda and the Ozalids
The seminal rock band that never was.
During the 60s and 70s the copying firm Ozalid moved to Loughton. They had already acquired two similar companies, Nig and Mason Ltd which they merged to form Nig Mason. Then they acquired Block and Anderson Ltd which they further merged with Nig Mason to form Nig Banda. Or so the Competition Commission website tells me.
You could see the backs of the adjoining factories in Loughton from the M11 which ran behind them, in the days when the M11 was newly built.
My friend's boyfriend decided that Nig Banda and the Ozalids was a wonderful name for the band he dreamed of forming.
Sadly his friends were busy elsewhere that month, what with Tooting to liberate, final exams to pass, beer to drink, that sort of thing and the project came to nothing. Posted on 09/22/2009 1:06 PM by Esmerelda Weatherwax
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Pseudsday Tuesday
Edith Sitwell on Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock:
That miracle of summer air, airy and glittering as the nets of the summer light and early dew over the strawberry beds—a poem so airy that it might have been woven by the long fingers of the sylphs in their dark and glittering Indian gauzes, floating like a little wind among the jewelled dark dews on the leaves of the fruit trees.
A little wind is a dangerous thing. Keep yer 'air on, especially with those light-fingered sylphs around. Posted on 09/22/2009 2:54 PM by Mary Jackson
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
White Cliffs of Dover Quiz - the answer
I'm not sure whether Regular Reader Reactionry and Prolific Poster Paul got the right answer, as their answers are rather subtle and convoluted. But all you need is a quick Wiki (tautology?):
"The White Cliffs of Dover" is one of many popular songs that use a "Bluebird of Happiness" as a symbol of cheer. However, there are no bluebirds in Britain; they are an American species and so it is quite impossible that there will ever be "bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover"!
Or perhaps there will be, but they will swoop in at the last minute, bearing nylons and chocolate. Posted on 09/22/2009 3:11 PM by Mary Jackson
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Philly cop with cornrows pulled from street duty
From Philadelphia Daily News:
PHILADELPHIA - To get booted off the street, a police officer has to do something pretty serious - like shoot a suspect or be accused of brutality.
But in the 35th District, which covers Logan, Olney and adjacent neighborhoods, apparently a hairdo will do it.
A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said.
While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white. So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle, it didn't take long for his colleagues - or his bosses - to notice.
[...]
The policy prohibits "unnatural" hair colors such as blue, purple or green but doesn't ban specific styles, such as cornrows, mohawks, dreadlocks or bouffants.
[...]
This isn't the first time an officer's appearance has caused commotion in the 35th District.
Officer Kimberlie Webb in 2005 sued the city and the police department after she was barred from wearing a hijab, or Muslim head scarf, on the job. A federal appeals court last April upheld the department's policy, saying religious garb imperils the department's appearance of "religious neutrality."
She lost her case.
I want to get excited and stand up for his rights to wear cornrows, but can't for some reason.
Update: For those readers who may be unfamiliar with the cornrows hairstyle, here is a photo of the officer in question.
Posted on 09/22/2009 3:33 PM by Artemis Gordon Glidden
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Uighurs want dignity
And they want the Chinese government to give it to them. From Arab News:
[...]
The Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group who account for nearly half of Xinjiang’s population of 20 million, protested in the streets demanding justice after clashes between Uighur protesters and riot police officers.
Ah yes, takes me back to the protests of the 1960's.
"What do we want?"
"Dignity!"
"How do we get it?"
"By beating old women to death in their stores and setting their bodies on fire!"
The initial protest was held to address the killing of two Uighurs at a factory in southeastern China. Uighurs wanted the culprits that incited a Han Chinese mob to kill Uighur factory workers brought to justice.
In the violence in Urumqi, at least 197 people were killed and 1,721 injured. According to state officials, it was the deadliest ethnic riot in China in decades. In the days that followed, Han mobs armed with butcher knives and axes taped to sticks went into Uighur neighborhoods to seek vengeance. Uighur residents say soldiers headed them off, but not before they had terrorized the neighborhood and destroyed storefronts.
Uighurs, 197. Han, 0.
[...]
As he finishes speaking, three military trucks full of soldiers in full riot gear roll by the crowded Uighur roadside café we are sitting at. The soldiers were holding up massive shields and pointing their weapons outwards at an invisible enemy while loudspeakers on top of a truck boomed out a message that translates roughly as: “Don’t do anything illegal, to hurt the national unity of the country. There are foreign elements among you, trying to make trouble, report them. National unity must be protected.”
I believe the Chinese have a very strong impulse towards "national unity," surely a much stronger impulse than for freedom or individualism. They are hoping to appeal to the patriotic inclinations of the Uighurs, not realizing that the Ummah's loyalty will always be to the Ummah, and to Allah. This campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Uighurs will fail.
[...]
A merchant selling used books explains: “There are strict checks on Uighurs. Signs outside mosques say government employees, children, and women and working people are all banned from entering or praying. And the government fines those who break the ban heavily. "
Of course the Chinese government is just as repressive on Christians, Falun Gong, Buddhists, and all other religions, and that is wrong. But only one religion responds with murderous rampages.
"The government allows Uighurs to have two children, but if Allah wills you have five children, then the other three don’t get passports or the right to go to school, unless you pay expensive tax.” In a warren of passages typical of Uighur neighborhoods, on mud wall that opens into a courtyard, someone has scrawled the word “dignity” in a cursive script that could well be Arabic, Persian or Urdu. What Chinese authorities may not understand is that what Uighurs want is a return to a life with dignity rather than the touted “return to normalcy.”
The Uighurs are allowed to have two children, not five; but Han are allowed to have only ONE child. The Uighurs, as an "ethnic minority", are given LESS restrictions than the majority Han. And the same fines and punishments for going over the one-child policy apply to the Han. Posted on 09/22/2009 4:23 PM by Artemis Gordon Glidden
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
NER's Ibn Warraq to appear at Launch of Former Muslims United
Ibn Warraq, a senior editor at New English Review, will appear as a co-founder with Nonie Darwish of Former Muslims United at the Longworth House office Building on Capitol Hill, Thursday, September 24th. We are proud of our courageous colleagues in pressing the plight of apostates to gain both national and international attention. This launch and press conference comes in advance of Islam on Capitol Hill Day that may see 50,000 at a Jummah prayer. Rebecca Bynum and I will attend the news conference as well as speak at the launch of Stop Islamization of America organization on Friday, September 25th in the Rayburn House office building. That date commemorates the 220th anniversary of Congressional ratification of the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. Both events are already causing a wave of interest in the blogosphere.
FORMER MUSLIMS CALL ON MUSLIM LEADERS, DOJ, US COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS TO INVESTIGATE HATE CRIMES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST APOSTATES FROM ISLAM
WASHINGTON, DC (September 21, 2009) - Prominent former Muslims-apostates from Islam- will hold a press conference Thursday, September 24 to announce the launch of a new civil liberties organization - Former Muslims United – and the start of a national campaign to educate the American public and policymakers about the threat from authoritative Shariah - Islamic law - to the religious freedom and safety of former Muslims.
At the press conference, Former Muslims United founders Nonie Darwish and Ibn Warraq will release letters calling on the Department of Justice and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to investigate possible hate crimes and civil rights violations against apostates from Islam, including the circumstances of the current Florida case of 17-year old Rifqa Bary, a former Muslim. The letters are also signed by Former Muslims United founders Mohammad Asghar, Wafa Sultan and Amil Imani.
Darwish and Warraq will release the text of Former Muslim United’s groundbreaking “Muslim Pledge for Religious Freedom and Safety from Harm for Former Muslims,” copies of which will be received in the offices of dozens of Muslim leaders across America by September 25, the 220th anniversary of Congress passing the Bill of Rights. They will also distribute a list of the names of this first group of Muslim leaders to be asked to sign the Muslim Pledge. Additional Muslim leaders will be sent the pledge in the next month as the national campaign gets underway.
Security at the press conference will be tightly maintained, and photo identification will be required of all attendees.
EVENT: Launch of Former Muslims United
PLACE: Longworth House Office Building, Hearing Room 1334
DATE: Thursday, September 24, 2009
TIME: 2:00 p.m.
All Former Muslims United founders are available for interviews. For more information, contact Former Muslims United director Nonie Darwish at 818-314-3972 or email info@formermuslimsunited.org .
Posted on 09/22/2009 6:19 PM by Jerry Gordon
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Farouk Hosni Admits He Helped Achille Lauro Hijackers Escape
Hosni Farouk, who as Egypt's Minister for Culture endorsed the burning of books (Israeli books, all Israeli books found in Egypt) has also been noted for his crackdowns on Egyptians whenever the Mubarak Family-and-Friends regime felt threatened.
But just today, in the Corriere della Sera, came the startling admission by Hosni Farouk that he had helped three of the Achille Lauro hijackers escape from Italian justice.
Here is the story in Italian. If I find a translation, I'll post it here too.
Hosni ammette: «Aiutai i dirottatori»
E l'Unesco sceglie la bulgara Bokova
Nel 1985 l'attuale ministro della Cultura egiziano ha coperto la fuga dei 3 palestinesi dell'Achille Lauro
MILANO - La candidata bulgara, l'ex ministro degli Esteri Irina Bokova, sarà la nuova presidente dell'Unesco, prima donna alla guida dell'organizzazione Onu per l’Educazione, la Scienza e la Cultura. Bukova quindi si aggiudica il posto a cui era candidato anche il ministro della Cultura egiziano, Farouk Hosni. Sul politico egiziano si sono sollevate in questi giorni grandi polemiche, con accuse per il ruolo avuto nel 1985nella protezione dei dirottatori palestinesi della nave Achille Lauro. E oggi lo stesso Hosni ha ammesso di avere avuto una parte in quella vicenda, raccontandone i particolari. All'epoca dei fatti Hosni era direttore all'Accademia d'Egitto a Roma «in veste di diplomatico». Citato oggi dal sito di notizie panarabo , il ministro ha affermato che l'11 ottobre 1985 «i servizi segreti egiziani attuarono un piano diversivo» per sottrarre all'autorità italiana tre dei dirottatori, tra cui il loro leader Abu Abbas, arrivati a Roma a bordo di un aereo egiziano diretto a Tunisi ma intercettato da caccia Usa e costretto a tornare a terra.
«PRESI TEMPO CON IL PROCURATORE» - «I servizi segreti dissero di voler ospitare i passeggeri in accademia e io detti ordine di preparare 17 stanze, mentre giunsero solo 14 persone - ha raccontato Hosni -. Poi venne da me il procuratore italiano, che voleva a tutti i costi mettere in imbarazzo l'Egitto, e chiese di interrogare i (passeggeri) non egiziani, ma risposi che in accademia c'erano solo ospiti egiziani». «Sentii allora che avevo inconsapevolmente commesso un errore - prosegue - così mi consultai con l'ambasciatore egiziano, ma per fortuna avevo detto al procuratore italiano che in accademia c'erano solo egiziani». Il ministro della cultura aggiunge: «I servizi segreti avevano invece lasciato i tre palestinesi a bordo dell'aereo e mi fu chiesto di prender tempo fino a fine giornata con il procuratore, che chiedeva che gli consegnassi i passaporti (dei passeggeri ospitati in accademia)». Grazie a questo stratagemma, conclude Hosni, «l'aereo decollò indisturbato dall'aeroporto di Roma. E solo quando quest'ultimo si trovava ormai al sicuro, consegnai i passaporti al procuratore italiano che però non trovò nulla». Posted on 09/22/2009 7:13 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
"There Can Be No Peace As Long As The Turk Remains In Europe"
Read in the left-hand column here. Posted on 09/22/2009 7:32 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Irina Bokova Elected Head Of UNESCO
At last, something to cheer us up. The antisemite, vulgarian, and aider-and-abetter of Muslim murderers (the Achille Lauro hijackers) Hosni Farouk -- or is Farouk Hosni? -- lost in his attempt to become the head of UNESCO, and Irina Bokova, the Bulgarian ambassador to France who knows both French and Russian, and has not helped Muslim terrorists,and is most unlikely to be an antisemite, has won.
Among the ghosts cheering this are those of Wladimir Weidle, who in 1949 published a short book on Goethe sponsored by UNESCO, and of Salvador de Madariaga, who also worked with the early, impressive, intelligently run UNESCO, and possibly also the ghost of the once well-known Bulgarian political figure Stambuloff, murdered by his opponents, who was so well known at the end of the 19th century that he even had a volume in the "Leaders of To-Day" series devoted to him in 1895 (I own the book, and have read around in, but not straight through, it), though today he is almost everywhere forgotten, and only dimly recalled -- so I am told -- even in Varna, in Plovdiv, in Sofia. Posted on 09/22/2009 7:17 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Who Has A History Of Bribing Delegates At The U.N.?
Apparently, in the last stages of the voting on the next head of UNESCO, those supporting one of the candidates tried to bribe delegates to vote for a certain candidate. The news reports do not specify which candiate: the Bulgarian Bokova, or the Egyptian Hosny.
Which do you think?
Here's the story, excerpted from a longer one here:
"Whatever the outcome, the winner must be validated at the UNESCO general conference planned for Oct. 15, the organization’s press office said.
Hosny was considered the favorite for the job, despite his past comments about burning Israeli books and Egypt’s contentious record of cultural censorship under his watch. But he has been unable to win a majority of votes from the 58 delegates at UNESCO’s executive board.
Seven of the original nine candidates have dropped out of the race after four rounds of voting since last week, leaving him in a tie with Bokova, now Bulgaria’s ambassador to France.
Both had 29 votes in the latest round of secret balloting on Monday. If Bokova wins, she would be UNESCO’s first woman director-general and the first from the former Soviet bloc. Hosny would be the first from the Arab world.
Suspicions of fraud have risen as the unexpectedly intense race unfolded at the agency’s Paris headquarters.
A UNESCO delegate told The Associated Press that at least one person was ejected from the agency’s building by UNESCO security staff for trying to bribe delegates on Monday. The official said several UNESCO member states had complained to the director general about the bribery attempts.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the eviction had been reported by senior members of UNESCO’s administration.
Elizabeth Longworth, executive director of the office of UNESCO’s director-general, refused to discuss the issue on the telephone, saying she was too busy.
A UNESCO spokeswoman denied there was hard evidence of bribery.
“There have been rumors to that effect,” but no formal complaint has surfaced, said spokeswoman Sue Williams.
She said reports that someone was ejected Monday for unethical behavior had been investigated and found to be groundless. The agency disclosed no further details and UNESCO security service refused to discuss the matter."
Posted on 09/22/2009 8:14 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Who Should Pay For The Lords Of Misrule In Yemen -- The Western World, Or Yemen's Fabulously Rich Arab Neighbors To The North?
Humanitarian crisis looms in Yemen - Oxfam
Tue Sep 22, 2009
SANAA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The international aid group Oxfam warned on Tuesday that Yemen could soon face a humanitarian crisis as a result of the escalation of fighting in August between government forces and northern rebels seeking autonomy.
United Nations groups say around 150,000 people have been made refugees since the fighting began in 2004 and thousands are living in official and makeshift camps.
The situation has worsened since Sanaa launched Operation Scorched Earth last month in an attempt to crush rebels of the Shi'ite Zaydi sect in Saada and Amran provinces.
"The conflict-driven emergency in Yemen could soon ignite into a full-blown humanitarian crisis unless immediate action is taken to stop the fighting," Oxfam said in a statement, asking for safe passage for refugees in the mountainous region.
"The agency calls on all parties to the conflict to implement an immediate and lasting ceasefire to the fighting that started on 11 August, and for the international community to intervene diplomatically to that end," the statement said.
A report earlier this month by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace warned that a combination of events could weaken government authority and destabilise the whole region.
"Any single event -- or more likely a confluence of worst-case events beyond the ability of the Yemeni government to control -- could lead to a further erosion of central government authority in Yemen and destabilisation of the region," it said.
"A major humanitarian crisis, triggered perhaps by severe famine or crop failure, could, for instance, result in a large refugee emergency in which the government would be unable to provide even rudimentary relief services," the report said.
CIVILIAN DEATHS CONDEMNED
Last week two army air raids were reported to have killed dozens of civilians, and were condemned by aid organisations and Yemeni rights groups. Media have had difficulty reaching the conflict zone and ceasefire offers by each side have come to nothing.
Yemeni state media reported dozens of deaths on the rebel side over the three-day Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday this week, despite the announcement of a two-week suspension of military operations for the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
The situation in Saada province remains volatile after weekend clashes, the U.N. refugee agency said.
"This is the second failed ceasefire in less than a month," UNHCR (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees) spokesman Andrej Mahecic told a news briefing in Geneva, adding that 1,600 people were received in Saada after a recent lull in the fighting.
Families are still arriving at the Al Mazraq camp in Hajjah province, which now holds some 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), Mahecic said.
"Some walk for days through the desert before reaching the site. People in the camp are struggling to survive daily hardships as well as brutal weather," he said.
The government says the rebels, known as Houthis after their clan leaders, want to restore a Shi'ite state that fell in the 1960s and accuse Shi'ite power Iran of having contact with them.
The rebels say they want autonomy and accuse President Ali Abdullah Saleh of despotism and corruption in a drive to stay in power, and of introducing Sunni fundamentalism via his alliance with Riyadh.
Instability in Yemen, including renewed attacks on foreign and government targets by al Qaeda over the past two years, has alarmed Western powers and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest oil producers Posted on 09/22/2009 8:21 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
An Uplifting Bulgarian Interlude
Posted on 09/22/2009 8:35 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Europe Delighted And Relieved At The Victory Of Irina Bokova
Posted on 09/22/2009 8:38 PM by Hugh Fitzgerald
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