Archive for July 27th, 2008
The Islamist branch of Ergenekon?
(…) now we even have reason to think that one does not have to be a secularist to join forces with Ergenekon. Last week, the “seventh wave” of arrests in the Ergenekon case took place, and among the detained were the editors of a marginal monthly called “Milli Çözüm” or, The National Solution. Based in the conservative city of Konya, this was clearly an Islamist magazine, but was also staunchly nationalist and militarist.
Few Turks would know that this magazine even exists, but I was among the privileged for a good reason: The print edition has been mailed to me for quite a while, although I never subscribed to and paid for it. If it were mailed to me, it was probably mailed to others as well. And that implies that somebody must have given some considerable amount of money to this publication. In Turkey, such magazines often hardly make ends meet. Having enough money to throw away for such a marginal periodical points out to some extra-journalistic source of finance.
The real gem is the content of Milli Çözüm. It is a very curious blend of anti-Western radical Islamism and Kemalist militarism. The cover of its current July issue presents a must-see cartoon: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a donkey and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is riding him. There is also a quote from Olmert, who is called “the arch-terrorist of Zionist Israel”. “I am thankful to Erdoğan” Olmert reportedly said, “He helps me a lot.”
The Islamist branch of Ergenekon? – Turkish Daily News Jul 26, 2008.
I wonder… this is interesting but could it be a way to discredit the Kemalists fighting against Erdogan’s AKP islamization?
Technorati Tags: Kemalism, Turkey, Milli+Çözüm, Erdogan, Ehud+Olmert, Islamization, Ergenekon, Islamism
The Scottish election
On Monday I wrote that Gordon Brown’s career as PM might be over if the Scottish National Party pulled off an upset in a by-election in a Glasgow East MP district. Early this morning news broke that the Nationalists pulled it off: “Gordon Brown’s premiership has been dealt a potentially fatal blow as Labour lost one of its safest seats in one of the biggest by-election shocks ever.”
The significance of the election goes beyond Labour/Tory politics. You see, Scotland has always been a strong hold of Labour. If they can’t hold a seat like this, where can they win? This bodes well for not only the nationalist party, but the entire nationalist movement, the goal of which is to declare Scottish independence and undo the 1707 Acts of Union.
The Devil’s Kitchen has more comments on the subject.
The cause, I think, is not only the political mismanegement done by Labour in Scotland, but also the rise in Scottish nationalism. If a national party is mismanaging everything, then the solution is independence. It’s a very stupid logic (the nationalists also mismanage things…) but a very “popular” one.
We will see what happens next…
Technorati Tags: Scotland, Great+Britain, SNP, Scotland+Nationalist+Party, Scottish, independence, Labour, Gordon+Brown
Iraqi teams banned from Beijing Olympic games
The IOC decision culminates a drawn-out internal feud in Iraq that many see as an extension of Shiite payback to Sunnis who once held a cozy niche in Saddam Hussein’s regime.
In May, the government dissolved the National Olympic Committee. Among the claims was it was illegitimate because it lacked a legal quorum — but four members of the committee, including its chief, were kidnapped two years ago and their fates are unknown.
There is also a potential sectarian rift. Iraq’s Youth and Sports Ministry is dominated by Shiites, while the NOC includes several holdovers from the Saddam-era Olympic Committee, once run by his feared eldest son, Odai.
The International Olympics Committee denounced the order as “serious interference” in what is supposed to be an independent body and demanded the government respect the NOC’s autonomy.
Iraqi teams banned from Beijing Olympic games – Yahoo! News.
This is not a good decision indeed. Iraq needs support now, not rejection. Is there another political reason behind it? Because as A Tangle Web says, Iraq is not the only country who has “influenced” the Nacional Olympic Committe. So why Iraq is punished with this measure specially?
Technorati Tags: Iraq, Olympic+Games, China, Beijing+2008, Iraqi+National+Olympic+Committee
France Steps Back from 35-Hour Work Week
French lawmakers took a step toward ending the country’s decade-long experiment with a 35-hour work week, passing a bill that gives companies greater latitude to extend working hours.
The new law, approved late Wednesday, retains the legal limit on working hours but allows companies to negotiate opt-outs with employees. It also lets companies increase the maximum number of working days for white-collar workers to 235 per year from 218 currently.
“In theory it’s the end of the 35-hour work week, but in practice it will take a while longer,” said Marc Touati, head of economic research at Paris-based brokerage Global Equities.
Since the new hours are to be negotiated on a company-by-company basis, “you can’t expect it to have a strong impact on French growth” in the short term, he said.
CNSNews.com – France Steps Back from 35-Hour Work Week.
This is extremelly important as other countries are also thinking of reducing the legal limit to the 35-hour stablished by French law.
Technorati Tags: Sarkozy, France, 35-hour+work+week
CAIR law suits: abandon counterterrorism training
The mainstream media has copped out on an important story that, post 9/11, is a threat to the counterterrorism effort. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Muslim Brotherhood (MB) front groups, cited by the U.S. Justice Department as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case to be retried in the Dallas Federal District Court in September, have thwarted federal, state and local counterterrorism training by objecting to it as ‘racist’ or as ‘religious hate’ and in many cases forcing discontinuation of such training. The result has been workplace harrassment of the important first responders charged with protecting us. Federal agencies like the FBI and DHS and local police departments in Los Angeles, New York, and Fairfax County Virginia have been intimidated by false charges by these MB groups. In some instances they have been forced under threat of civil law suits to abandon counterterrorism training. The result is that our front line in the war against radical Islamic groups looks like a deer frozen in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Worse yet, we are allowing the MB front groups to get away with this under the guise of ‘hate speech, religious profiling, civil rights’ and obsessive political correctness by federal, state and local political leaders and the department heads of these front line first responder agencies.
They have been forced to discontinue important intelligence gathering ‘community mapping’ programs, such as the one abandoned in November, 2007 under pressure from MB front groups by the LAPD.
jillosophy: CAIR law suits: abandon counterterrorism training..
Worrying perspective: if the police is not trained in counterterrorism, they are not able to fight terrorism. And they stop that training because of legal harrasment. Police does not go against Muslims because they hate Muslims, just because some of them (that “tiny” minority) are doing everything in their power to impose their own religious views on the rest of the people, using terrorism. Any other consideration is a lie, it’s just falsely claim they are persecuted for their “religious” views, while they are spreading an ideology of hate, murder and Islamic supremacy.
And that is extremelly more probable among Muslims than other religious beliefs, isn’t it?
Technorati Tags: Islamism, counterterrorism+training, terrorism, USA, LAPD
Spanish judge Garzón requested to examine President Chávez
Ramón Torregrosa, a Spanish citizen, asked National Audience renowned judge Baltasar Garzón to detain Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez during his visit to Spain next Friday.
The purpose would be questioning Chávez about the death of Torregrosa’s wife, Venezuelan Maritza Ron, during the riots in Plaza Francia, following a recall referendum on August 15th, 2004.
According to the request made to judge Garzón, the Venezuelan president could provide further information on the case of Ron, who was presumably reached by a bullet shot from Chávez’s followers at opponents.
William Cárdenas, a representative of NGO Democratic Platform of Venezuelans in Madrid, told Europa Press that the individuals responsible for the killing were “pro-Chávez armed gangs, financed and led by the President’s Office.”
Let’s hope this ends well: that is, with Chávez tried…
And some days afterwards:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his country will sell oil to Spain at 100 dollars a barrel in exchange for importing some goods.
In his visit to Madrid, Chavez finalized an agreement with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero based on which Venezuela would sell up to 10,000 barrels of oil per day to Spain.
“You will have oil supplies guaranteed for 100 years because Venezuela has oil for 200 years,” Chavez said on Saturday.
“This could allow us to create a new international financial architecture in the future,” Chavez said in an interview with Spanish public television TVE.
Press TV – Venezuela’s $100-a barrel oil for Spain.
Are both news connected?
Technorati Tags: Chávez, Venezuela, Spain, Zapatero, oil, Venezuela
UNHRC advises Britain
Britain was told yesterday by a United Nations committee to take firm action to combat ‘negative public attitudes’ towards Muslims.
[…]
The body, which is composed of legal experts, said it was concerned ‘ negative public attitudes towards Muslim members of society’ continued to develop in Britain.
The Government ’should take energetic measures to eliminate this phenomenon and ensure that authors of such acts of discrimination on the basis of religion are adequately deterred and sanctioned‘.
UN Human Rights Committee: Authors discriminating on the basis of religion should be adequately deterred and sanctioned. (read it all).
I wonder whn they are going to tell that to Muslim countries persecuting Christians. Actually KILLING them:
- More violence on Christains.
- Chad: after listening to an inflammatory sermon against atheists and Christians, Muslims go in wild rampage.
- Why Saudi King does not begin “inter-religious dialogue” in his own country?
- Persecution of Christians in Muslim countries: examples.
- Islam’s Global War against Christianity.
- More violence against Copts in Egypt.
- Another Muslim attack on Egyptian Copt monastery.
- Catholic Archbishop Rahho’s murder.
- “There is an effort underway to empty Middle East of Christians”.
You see, no partiality, no hypocrisy, no lies…
Related link: Islam is Killing Free Speech in the West by The Conservative Voice.
Technorati Tags: Christianity, United+Kingdom, Great+Britain, Islam, UNHRC, United+Nations+Human+Rights+Commission
