The Stunning Decline Of Barack Obama:

President Obama: In decline?

The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House. While the anti-establishment Tea Party movement has gained significant ground and is now a rising and powerful political force to be reckoned with, many of the president’s own supporters as well as independents are rapidly losing faith in Barack Obama, with open warfare breaking out between the White House and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. While conservatism in America grows stronger by the day, the forces of liberalism are growing increasingly weaker and divided.

Against this backdrop, the president’s approval ratings have been sliding dramatically all summer, with the latest Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll of US voters dropping to minus 22 points, the lowest point so far for Barack Obama since taking office. While just 24 per cent of American voters strongly approve of the president’s job performance, almost twice that number, 46 per cent, strongly disapprove. According to Rasmussen, 65 per cent of voters believe the United States is going down the wrong track, including 70 per cent of independents.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls now has President Obama at over 50 per cent disapproval, a remarkably high figure for a president just 18 months into his first term. Strikingly, the latest USA Today/Gallup survey has the President on just 41 per cent approval, with 53 per cent disapproving.

There are an array of reasons behind the stunning decline and political fall of President Obama, chief among them fears over the current state of the US economy, with widespread concern over high levels of unemployment, the unstable housing market, and above all the towering budget deficit. Americans are increasingly rejecting President Obama’s big government solutions to America’s economic woes, which many fear will lead to the United States sharing the same fate as Greece.

Growing disillusionment with the Obama administration’s handling of the economy as well as health care and immigration has gone hand in hand with mounting unhappiness with the President’s aloof and imperial style of leadership, and a growing perception that he is out of touch with ordinary Americans, especially at a time of significant economic pain. Barack Obama’s striking absence of natural leadership ability (and blatant lack of experience) has played a big part in undermining his credibility with the US public, with his lackluster handling of the Gulf oil spill coming under particularly intense fire.

On the national security and foreign policy front, President Obama has not fared any better. His leadership on the war in Afghanistan has been confused and at times lacking in conviction, and seemingly dictated by domestic political priorities rather than military and strategic goals. His overall foreign policy has been an appalling mess, with his flawed strategy of engagement of hostile regimes spectacularly backfiring. And as for the War on Terror, his administration has not even acknowledged it is fighting one.

Can it get any worse for President Obama? Undoubtedly yes. Here are 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in serious trouble, and why its prospects are unlikely to improve between now and the November mid-terms.

1. The Obama presidency is out of touch with the American people

In a previous post I noted how the Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime, extravagant, decaying and out of touch with ordinary Americans. The First Lady’s ill-conceived trip to Spain at a time of widespread economic hardship was symbolic of a White House that barely gives a second thought to public opinion on many issues, and frequently projects a distinctly elitist image. The “let them eat cake” approach didn’t play well over two centuries ago, and it won’t succeed today.

2. Most Americans don’t have confidence in the president’s leadership

This deficit of trust in Obama’s leadership is central to his decline. According to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, “nearly six in ten voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country”, and two thirds “say they are disillusioned with or angry about the way the federal government is working.” The poll showed that a staggering 58 per cent of Americans say they do not have confidence in the president’s decision-making, with just 42 per cent saying they do.

3. Obama fails to inspire

In contrast to the soaring rhetoric of his 2006 Convention speech in Chicago which succeeded in impressing millions of television viewers at the time, America is no longer inspired by Barack Obama’s flat, monotonous and often dull presidential speeches and statements delivered via teleprompter. From his extraordinarily uninspiring Afghanistan speech at West Point to his flat State of the Union address, President Obama has failed to touch the heart of America. Even Jimmy Carter was more moving.

4. The United States is drowning in debt

The Congressional Budget Office Long-Term Budget Outlook offers a frightening picture of the scale of America’s national debt. Under its alternative fiscal scenario, the CBO projects that US debt could rise to 87 percent of GDP by 2020, 109 percent by 2025, and 185 percent in 2035. While much of Europe, led by Britain and Germany, are aggressively cutting their deficits, the Obama administration is actively growing America’s debt, and has no plan in place to avert a looming Greek-style financial crisis.

5. Obama’s Big Government message is falling flat

The relentless emphasis on bailouts and stimulus spending has done little to spur economic growth or create jobs, but has greatly advanced the power of the federal government in America. This is not an approach that is proving popular with the American public, and even most European governments have long ditched this tax and spend approach to saving their own economies.

6. Obama’s support for socialized health care is a huge political mistake

In an extraordinary act of political Harakiri, President Obama leant his full support to the hugely controversial, unpopular and divisive health care reform bill, with a monstrous price tag of $940 billion, whose repeal is now supported by 55 per cent of likely US voters. As I wrote at the time of its passing, the legislation is “a great leap forward by the United States towards a European-style vision of universal health care, which will only lead to soaring costs, higher taxes, and a surge in red tape for small businesses. This reckless legislation dramatically expands the power of the state over the lives of individuals, and could not be further from the vision of America’s founding fathers.”

7. Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill has been weak-kneed and indecisive

While much of the spilled oil in the Gulf has now been thankfully cleared up, the political damage for the White House will be long-lasting. Instead of showing real leadership on the matter by acing decisively and drawing upon offers of international support, the Obama administration settled on a more convenient strategy of relentlessly bashing an Anglo-American company while largely sitting on its hands. Significantly, a poll of Louisiana voters gave George W. Bush higher marks for his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with 62 percent disapproving of Obama’s performance on the Gulf oil spill.

8. US foreign policy is an embarrassing mess under the Obama administration

It is hard to think of a single foreign policy success for the Obama administration, but there have been plenty of missteps which have weakened American global power as well as the standing of the United States. The surrender to Moscow on Third Site missile defence, the failure to aggressively stand up to Iran’s nuclear programme, the decision to side with ousted Marxists in Honduras, the slap in the face for Great Britain over the Falklands, have all contributed to the image of a US administration completely out of its depth in international affairs. The Obama administration’s high risk strategy of appeasing America’s enemies while kicking traditional US allies has only succeeded in weakening the United States while strengthening her adversaries.

9. President Obama is muddled and confused on national security

From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the War on Terror, President Obama’s leadership has often been muddled and confused. On Afghanistan he rightly sent tens of thousands of additional troops to the battlefield. At the same time however he bizarrely announced a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces beginning in July 2011, handing the initiative to the Taliban. On Iraq he has announced an end to combat operations and the withdrawal of all but 50,000 troops despite a recent upsurge in terrorist violence and political instability, and without the Iraqi military and police ready to take over. In addition he has ditched the concept of a War on Terror, replacing it with an Overseas Contingency Operation, hardly the right message to send in the midst of a long-war against Al-Qaeda.

10. Obama doesn’t believe in American greatness

Barack Obama has made it clear that he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, and has made apologising for his country into an art form. In a speech to the United Nations last September he stated that “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold.” It is difficult to see how a US president who holds these views and does not even accept America’s greatness in history can actually lead the world’s only superpower with force and conviction.

There is a distinctly Titanic-like feel to the Obama presidency and it’s not hard to see why. The most left-wing president in modern American history has tried to force a highly interventionist, government-driven agenda that runs counter to the principles of free enterprise, individual freedom, and limited government that have made the United States the greatest power in the world, and the freest nation on earth.

This, combined with weak leadership both at home and abroad against the backdrop of tremendous economic uncertainty in an increasingly dangerous world, has contributed to a spectacular political collapse for a president once thought to be invincible. America at its core remains a deeply conservative nation, which cherishes its traditions and founding principles. President Obama is increasingly out of step with the American people, by advancing policies that undermine the United States as a global power, while undercutting America’s deep-seated love for freedom.

Source Article August 12, 2010:- Daily Telegraph - Barak Obama

Spanish move toward restricting Burqa

MADRID – Spain's government on Tuesday said it favors barring the use of burqas in government buildings, joining other European countries considering similar moves on the grounds that such garments are degrading to women.

Total body-covering Islamic veils demean women and the restriction will be included in an upcoming bill on religious issues, Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said.

The minister said garments like the burqa are "hardly compatible with human dignity" or with identifying a person in public spaces such as town halls or public schools.

"In my judgment it is extravagant for a woman to wear a burqa as it in no way reflects a religious mandate, but if a woman wants to wear one, then why shouldn't she?" said Mansur Escudero, spokesman for Spain's Islamic Commission.

Escudero said wearing the burqa did not attack moral standards and should not be offensive, but most of all it was a personal choice — and to legislate against its use undermined civil liberties.

The so-called religious freedom bill would also prohibit religious symbols like crucifixes or statues in state-owned buildings including hospitals.

Authorities in several European countries have been debating regulating the use of body-covering burqas or face-covering niqabs.

Belgium's lower house has approved a ban on face-covering veils, though it must be ratified by its upper chamber.

The Netherlands debated banning burqas four years ago and may yet outlaw attire that is considered as demeaning to women.

Even Britain and France, home to millions of migrants from former colonies, are questioning their strong multicultural traditions, with the French government currently considering legislation.

Some countries have broadened the debate to cover other Islamic traditions. Switzerland recently banned the construction of minarets that broadcast Muslim calls to prayer following a national referendum.

Spain has a million Muslims in a total population of 47 million, but burqas are rarely seen.

Barcelona, the country's second-largest city, said Monday it will ban the use of burqas and niqabs in municipal buildings, joining a handful of Catalan towns that have taken similar steps.

Source Article June 15th, 2010:- Yahoo News

Iran raises Gaza threat by vowing to challenge Israel's blockade

Iran sought to push Israel into a potentially explosive confrontation in the Mediterranean Sea after a charity close to the Islamic regime announced plans to send two aid ships to Gaza.

A photograph supplied by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) shows Israeli sailors in the navy base in Haifa as they prepare to set sail into the Mediterranean Sea on 29 May in order to track and intercept the Free Gaza Movement flotilla.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said 8,000 volunteers had enlisted for an attempt break Israel's maritime blockade of Gaza. The latest challenge to Israel's hold over the enclave comes just days after its naval commandos shot dead nine pro-Palestinian activists on a Turkish vessel that attempted to run the blockade last week.

As Israel fought to fend off calls for an international investigation into the deaths, fears that militant groups in Gaza might launch reprisal attacks surfaced yesterday when an Israeli naval patrol shot dead four Palestinian fighters dressed in diving gear in the waters off the territory.

Israeli military officials claimed that the fighters, who were spotted in a small boat, were planning a terrorist attack, although an army spokesman declined to identify their target or to comment on whether the men were carrying weapons or explosives.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a once powerful Palestinian militant group that has largely broken up since renouncing violence some years ago, said the dead fighters were part of its Gaza-based marine unit. The movement insisted that the men were merely on a training mission and had no intention of launching an attack.

Iran's intervention added an additional and unwelcome complication for Israel.

A senior Iranian Red Crescent official insisted that the planned mission was purely peaceful and humanitarian in its goals.

"One ship will carry donations made by the people (of Iran) and the other will carry relief workers," Abdolrauf Adibzadeh said.

Yet there seems to be little doubt that the Iranian government is the real driving force behind the mission.

Although it is a member of the international Red Cross movement, the Iranian Red Crescent is widely viewed as a tool of the regime and even Mr Adibzadeh conceded that the decision to sail was taken in conjunction with the Iranian foreign ministry.

Over the weekend, Iran even suggested that its elite Revolutionary Guards force could escort aid flotillas to Gaza.

Such threats are widely seen as bluster and have even been criticised by Hamas, the Iranian-sponsored Islamist movement that controls Gaza.

Iran's sudden intervention appeared to reflect growing concerns that it is being eclipsed by Turkey as the Middle East's principal opponent of Israeli policies towards Gaza.

"The Turks are trying to rain on their parade," said Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli analyst of Iranian origin, adding that many in Gaza would prefer Turkey as their champion because it commands greater international respect and is dominated by fellow Sunnis.

Mr Javedanfar also suggested that Iran's motivations are prompted by a desire to distract attention from the first anniversary of its controversial presidential election last year. Opposition groups have staged a series of demonstrations, in which dozens have been killed, to protest Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in the poll.

It is unclear how the Iranian ships will reach Gaza. If they attempt to go through the Suez Canal, Egypt is likely to come under pressure to intercept the vessels and deliver their cargo through its border with Gaza. But there have also been suggestions that the Iranians could deploy chartered boats from Lebanon, which has a Mediterranean coastline.

Source - June 7th, 2010:- Telegraph.co.uk

Gaza humanitarian flotilla versus Israel’s evil navy

Gilad Atzmon argues that whatever way the Israelis decide to respond to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the humanitarian aid mission “is a clear signal to Israel that the game is over” and that “all that is left for Israel is to come to terms with its true nature: a shameless racist, murderous and terrorist state".

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports today that Israel will attempt to block the humanitarian Freedom Flotilla heading towards Gaza. However, according to the Israeli paper, the humanitarian cargo would then be unloaded, inspected and sent to Gaza overland via the United Nations.

Typical of Israel to try to win a lost battle. On the one hand, by stopping the flotilla Israel hopes to maintain its regional status as an omnipotent superpower that controls the land, the air and the sea. On the other hand, the Jewish state pathetically also wants to evoke sympathy for being “sensitive” to humanitarian issues and the plight of the Palestinians.

The Israeli government fails to understand that the tide has changed. We see them through. We all know what the Jewish state stands for. We all know about the devastation in Gaza, we know about the siege, the destruction and the crimes against humanity. We all watch the Israeli separation wall cutting through Palestinian families' houses and olive orchards. We also follow the racist ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem. The Israelis had better save us from their spins and manipulations.

In case the Israelis still fail to see it, they are dealing this time with an international flotilla that is sailing under Turkish and Greek flags, a fleet that carries 800 determined activists from all over the world. The Israelis are dealing with peace lovers who are determined to break through the siege and deliver medical aid, cement, paper and food. On the deck we have 35 European parliamentarians who must have decided to say NO to Zionist fundraisers. This flotilla is a clear signal to Israel that the game is over. Israel is now all but officially isolated. All that is left for Israel is to come to terms with its true nature: a shameless racist, murderous and terrorist state.

Militarily and politically, Israel has locked itself into a limbo. For the Israelis it is a no win situation. The Israelis may have the military means to stop the flotilla from accomplishing its humanitarian mission. The Israeli navy can easily block the flotilla's way and it can impose an electronic blackout around the ships, causing loss of communication with the humanitarian mission. Israel would then have to act militarily.

Yet, taking control of eight ships and 800 activists armed with iron will and backed by many cameras is not going to serve the Israeli interest. If Israel dares to use force, this will backfire. We also have to bear in mind that this time the Turkish government is closely monitoring the situation and openly supporting the mission. Israeli aggression at sea could lead to an evolving incident with unpredictable consequences. Israel had better give up on any attempt to stop the flotilla.

On a further note, the Israeli government and the Israeli people had better start to come to terms with the fact that the game will soon be over. The Zionist project and the Israeli state are in a state of moral bankruptcy. From that perspective the flotilla is not just a humanitarian mission; it is actually a reminder to all of us of the true meaning of humanism.

Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born musician, writer and anti-racism campaigner...

Source Article:- Redress

George Soros 'at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro'

The man who broke the bank of England, George Soros ...about to break the Euro?

The man about to break the euro? George Soros is said to be placing large bearish bets against the single currency

A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro.

Representatives of George Soros's investment business were among an all-star line up of Wall Street investors at an 'ideas dinner' at a private townhouse in Manhattan, according to reports.

A spokesman for Soros Fund Management said the legendary investor did not attend the dinner on February 8, but did not deny that his firm was represented.

At the dinner, the speculators are said to have argued that the euro is likely to plunge in value to parity with the dollar.

The single currency has been under enormous pressure because of Greece's debt crisis, plus financial worries in Portugal, Italy, Spain and Ireland.

But, it has also struggled because hedge funds have been placing huge bets on the currency's decline, which could make the speculators hundreds of millions of pounds.

The euro traded at $1.51 in December, but has since fallen to $1.34. Details of the secretive dinner emerged days after Mr Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management, warned in a newspaper article that the euro could 'fall apart' even if the European Union can agree a deal to shore up support for stricken Greece.

Hitting back: Greek PM George Papandreou blames 'speculators' for preying on the country's troubles

Mr Soros, who made more than $1billion by currency speculation when the pound was ejected from the Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in 1992, believes the structure of the euro is 'patently flawed'.

He said: 'Makeshift assistance should be enough for Greece, but that leaves Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland.

'Together they constitute too large a portion of euroland to be helped in this way.'

He believes that unless the European Commission is given sweeping powers over taxation and spending, the single currency will always be vulnerable to financial turbulence in individual states.

'If member countries cannot take the next steps forward, the euro may fall apart,' he added. Last night, Greek prime minister George Papandreou hit back at the 'speculators' who he blames for preying on the country's troubles.

Following a visit by EU economic inspectors and experts from the International Monetary Fund, he told the country's parliament that the worst fears about Greece's economy had been confirmed. Greece is desperate to restore the confidence of investors in its debt after revealing that the previous government understated its budget deficit by half.

Outlining the precarious nature of Greece's finances, Mr Papandreou said: 'There is only one dilemma: Will we let the country go bankrupt or will we react?

'Will we let the speculators strangle us, or will we take our fate in our own hands?'

The Greek leader also called for more help from the EU with its debt crisis. Until now, the EU has offered political support but no bailout.

Editor's Note: In view of the renewed and intensified pressure on the Euro, fell to a new low of $1.227 on May 17th. This article, written February 27, 2010 is apposite - Mailonline

Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull out of euro over Greece row

French president Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull out of the euro unless Angela Merkel dropped her hostility to the EU's safety net plan.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy warned of damage to Franco-German relationship if Angela Merkel opposed EU plan

Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to abandon the euro unless Angela Merkel dropped her hostility to the EU's €750bn safety net for the single currency, sources in Brussels and European capitals said yesterday.

In a confrontation between Europe's two most powerful politicians, the French president said he would walk out of the talks and warned of lasting damage to the Franco-German relationship unless the German chancellor backed the plans.

"It was a standup argument. He was shouting and bawling," said one official in Brussels. "It was Sarkozy on steroids," said a European diplomat. "He's always very energetic. This time he was very emotional, too." The French leader banged his fist on the table, according to yesterday's El País newspaper in Spain.

The showdown, late on Friday last week, kicked off a momentous week in Europe, raising fears – shared strongly in Washington and elsewhere – that the euro could collapse, wreaking untold damage on the world economy and also raising questions about the very future of the EU.

Merkel warned on Thursday that the single currency crisis triggered by Greece's debt debacle was about much more than money. "If the euro fails, it is not only the currency that fails. Much more fails," she said. "Then Europe fails. The idea of European unity fails."

Sarkozy's ultimatum came at a Brussels summit of leaders of the 16 countries in the single currency. It was called to rubber-stamp a €110bn rescue package for Greece, but was overtaken by events.

The financial markets were targeting Spain and Portugal and the Greek emergency had escalated into a full-blown euro crisis. After months of handwringing, the leaders had to come up with a much bigger deal to underpin the euro. By 11.30 pm, several sources said, the summit was deadlocked, with Merkel digging in against a rescue fund to which Germany would need to contribute at least €120bn.

Diplomats at the time reported that the summit was going very badly and would continue through the night.

But it ended half an hour later after Sarkozy abruptly announced he was leaving. "Sarko said: 'For me it's over. I'm stopping this if we can't agree,' " said a diplomat.

Sarkozy came downstairs and staged a triumphalist press conference, announcing a radical breakthrough, an agreement that was "95% French".

Source Article - May 14, 2010:- guardian.co.uk

By permitting fraud we betray democracy

The increase in postal-vote fraud is an urgent and dangerous issue.

A voter places a ballot paper in the ballot box at the polling station at Market Hall in Swadlincote, Derbyshire

At the European elections, less than a year ago, the electoral roll of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets contained 148,970 names. By January this year, it had shot up to 160,278. And in the past month alone, a further 5,000 new names have mysteriously appeared on the voting lists.

There are only two possibilities here. Either Tower Hamlets is growing twice as fast as the fastest-growing city in China, or it is the target of massive and systematic electoral fraud. We can have a guess at the answer from the fact that some three-bedroom flats in the borough appear to have 12 adults on the roll. The real occupants, when approached on the doorstep, have Elections in Tower Hamlets have always been a scandal. In 2006, an entire tower block had its postal votes stolen. But this time it's more serious. In a close election, Tower Hamlets – and other places like it – could help tip the balance of power. And there are now rather too many other places like it, with dozens of police inquiries under way in inner-city seats across the country. At the time of writing, I don't know how Britain has voted. But under some scenarios, the real and frightening possibility is that this election was decided by fraud.

There are local factors, too. As the Telegraph has documented, the Islamic Forum of Europe, a radical Islamist group based at the hardline East London Mosque, has been accused of secretly infiltrating the Tower Hamlets Labour Party – and is seeking to consolidate its control by having the borough run by a directly elected mayor. A referendum on the mayoral proposal was also held yesterday.

I have no evidence that the IFE is behind the fraud in Tower Hamlets. But its favoured candidates have done remarkably well lately. At the last London mayoral election, Ken Livingstone, for whom leading members of the IFE vigorously campaigned, saw his share of the vote in one ward rise from 29.6 per cent to a rather improbable 68.1 per cent.

The problem is simple. Panicked by falling turnout, Labour allowed postal voting on demand. But a postal vote is a thousand times easier to rig than a vote cast in person. At a polling station, you need a different body for each fake voter. With a postal vote, all you need is a different envelope, and perhaps not even that.

Non-existent electors are only the half of it. By all but abolishing the secrecy of the ballot, postal voting opens the door to threats, pressure and outright vote-buying. If you vote in a polling station, nobody can make you show them your ballot paper. Nobody can know if you've obeyed orders or not.

Worst of all, though, is that the authorities don't seem to care. Police inquiries seldom get anywhere. After the 2006 scandals, one minister said that allegations of electoral fraud risked "undermining confidence". In the most dishonest press release I have ever seen, the Islamist-influenced Tower Hamlets council claimed that an election tribunal had found "no evidence of electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets". Actually, the judge ruled that there was "clear, prima facie evidence" for it.

Our rulers have tiptoed round this subject because voting fraud is mostly a problem – for now – in Asian areas. But what they're actually saying, if you think about it, is that it's all right for Asians to have their votes stolen – not a view that most Asian voters would share.

To avoid "undermining confidence" in democracy itself, we need change. For future elections, postal voting on demand should be suspended in Tower Hamlets, in Birmingham, in the Northern mill towns and anywhere else where problems arise. Nobody in these places is more than a short walk from a polling station. If we do not act, we are effectively in league with the vote-stealers.

Source article:- Telegraph - 06 May 2010

Soldiers Level Mosque Near Rafah, Settlers Torch Mosque Near Nablus

Israeli soldiers invaded an area in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, leveled the Al Dahniyya mosque and uprooted farmlands on Tuesday at dawn. Local sources reported that the mosque was leveled to the ground after several armored military vehicles and bulldozers invaded Rafah.

Also in Rafah, soldiers uprooted farmlands near the Yasser Arafat Airport east of Rafah. Several military bulldozers and armored vehicles bulldozed farmlands and opened fire at random in Al Dahniyya area. The vehicles, originally stationed at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) military post, advanced 800 meters into the area and placed sand hills.

Also on Tuesday at dawn, a group of fundamentalist settlers torched the main mosque of the Al Lubban Al Shariyya village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The settlers attacked the mosque approximately at 3 A.M., rounded up several copies of the Holy Koran in one place and set them ablaze. The fire caused excessive damage to the property of the mosque, including its ceiling, its fans and walls. Its 450 square meters of carpet and eight air conditioners were burnt also.

This is the third mosque to be torched by the settlers this year as the settlers torched a mosque in Yasuf village near Salfit and another mosque in Huwwara town, near Nablus.

… According to the town’s mayor, Jamal Daragma, this is not the first time the village was targeted by settlers: “In the past they also smashed windows, uprooted olive trees, damaged houses and property. At least once a week settlers come in, riot and harm the village.”

The town is located next to three Israeli settlements: Shilo, Ma’ale Levona, and Eli. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli occupation army could not immediately confirm or deny the report.

On April 14, a mosque in Huwara near Nablus was desecrated by settlers who scrawled Hebrew graffiti and a Star of David over the walls. Two cars were also torched during the incident.

In December, settlers vandalized another mosque in the northern West Bank village of Yasuf, torching Muslim holy books and spraying hate messages in Hebrew. The incident triggered clashes between villagers and Israeli occupation troops. Israeli police arrested youths from the settlement of Yitzhar, but no one was charged.

Source Article:- Althonews - May 4, 2010

Testing the Limits of Freedom of Speech: Ernst Zundel Speaks Out

An exclusive interview with one of Europe's most well-known political prisoners

Ernst Zundel is a German author and historian who has spent seven years of his life behind bars as a result of expressing his controversial viewpoints and opinions. He is a revisionist who has denied the Holocaust as described by most historians. He has been one of the most prominent political prisoners in Europe and has been jailed in three countries on two continents. After his arrest in the U.S. in 2003, he was deported to Canada, where he was kept in prison as “a threat to the national security” for two years. After deportation to Germany in March 2005, he was convicted and sentenced in 2007 to five additional years of imprisonment on charges of holocaust denial. He was finally released on March 1, 2010. This is the first interview Ernst Zundel has given since his release.

Firstly, I would like to extend my congratulations on your recent release. Were you ever mistreated or subject to any type of mental or physical punishment in breach of international conventions?

Ernst Zundel in a courtroom in Mannheim, Germany on November 8, 2005

My entire treatment these past seven years by those arresting me, trying and convicting me, and keeping me in prison has been in brutal breach of international conventions. I was arrested in broad daylight on American soil by officials of the U.S. government who acted as hit squads for a nefarious lobby. There was no arrest warrant. I was not read my rights. I was whisked away in handcuffs without being allowed to get my wallet, to call my attorney, to be allowed to make my case before an American Immigration Judge or even hug my wife goodbye.

I was incarcerated in six different prisons on two continents in three countries—the USA, Canada, and Germany — without relief of any kind. In effect, I have had 10 percent of my life stolen from me – and for what “crime”? For having “overstayed my U.S. visa”?

Throughout my imprisonment, basic human rights principles were trampled underfoot repeatedly and with impunity. The worst prisons were the Canadian detention centers at Thorold, Ontario and at Toronto West, where I was held for two long years in isolation cells, ice-cold in the winter, no shoes or socks allowed. The electric light in these cells, bright enough to be able to read, was kept on 24 hours a day. Through a glass slot in the door I was checked every 20 minutes, and my activities were meticulously noted by the guards: one sheet for every day. No dignity, no privacy. My toothbrush was kept in a plastic bin in a hall. I was not allowed to speak to other prisoners. Bed sheets were changed only after three months. No pillows. No chairs. When I wrote to my wife or to my attorneys, I had to sit on a makeshift pile of my court transcripts. No radio, no television, not even an electrical outlet to sharpen my pencils. No ball point pens, only pencil stubs, cut in half with a saw. No spoons, forks, or knives were permitted; only a white plastic spoon with a fork called a “spork” that had to be returned every time at the end of the meal. With very few exceptions when furtive guards showed me some kindness away from the surveillance cameras, I was treated as though I was the worst of criminals. That’s Canada for you, where I have lived and worked without a criminal record for more than 40 years.

It was somewhat better, but not much, in the United States. In Germany, it was quite a bit better in terms of the basic necessities, but personal mail was routinely withheld – 1,700 letters for up to five years – even after I forced a court to order that it be given to me. My so-called trial in Mannheim was a political show trial in the Stalinist mode in that my guilt was a foregone conclusion. I requested that exculpatory exhibits be allowed as validation for what I believed and had written and said. No meaningful defense was allowed. I could not put on record any forensic evidence, any historical documents, or even expert witnesses, That very request to be allowed to offer evidence was held to be a new offense of criminal behavior and could have resulted in new criminal charges – as were, in fact, lodged against my lawyers during that very trial who tried to overcome these restrictions.

Along with the rest of EU members, Germany regularly criticizes other countries for violations of free speech and human rights. However, your case demonstrated the emptiness of such claims within Europe. What’s your take on that? Is Europe really a utopia of liberty and freedom of speech?

Most European countries have only selected free speech for officially approved and sanctioned views on history. Almost all EU countries have laws in place that restrict freedom of speech under the guise of one fig leaf or other, such as the prevention of racist or neo-Nazi activities. The state decides selectively who is and what is racist. These laws are hypocritical, in Germany’s case superseding even their own Basic Law.

Dissidents are allowed very little opportunity to be read or heard in the mainstream corporate media channels of the West. The control mechanisms of the press are many, often subtle but widely understood and obeyed – fear of loss of jobs, diminished circulation, the withholding of government advertisements etc. There is no longer unrestricted freedom in any Western country, not even in the U.S. with its wonderful Constitution and Amendments such as the Bill of Rights. Allow me here to point out to your readers the outline of a censorship practice known by its neutral term “rendition”, but more honestly defined as political kidnappings to force the silencing of dissident speech or alternate thoughts. Renditions in the West are ever more frequently practiced not only against alleged “terrorist suspects” but against ordinary political activists and writers whose viewpoints are frowned upon by such outfits as AIPAC and similar Zionist lobby and interest groups, B’nai Brith, the Canadian Jewish Congress etc.

In order to spell out what I can only describe to you in broad strokes, I’d like to briefly shed light on the period preceding my arrest in the U.S. and Canada, the conniving and the similarity in other cases like mine, where an innocuous or alleged infraction is used as a fig leaf to silence a political opponent.

Viet Dinh, a Georgetown University law professor and director of their Asian Law and Policy Studies Program who helped craft the Patriot Act, put it succinctly, as reported in an American publication called Wired that deals with freedom of speech on the net. That interview reads:

Wired News: An estimated 5,000 people have been subjected to detention since 9/11. Of those, only five — three non citizens and two citizens — were charged with terrorism-related crimes and one was convicted. How do we justify such broad-sweeping legislation that has resulted in very few terrorist-related convictions?

Dinh: I’ve heard the 5,000 number. The official numbers released from the Department of Justice indicate approximately 500 persons have been charged with immigration violations and have been deported who have been of interest to the 9/11 investigation.

It may well be that a number of citizens were not charged with terrorism-related crimes, but they need not be. Where the department has suspected people of terrorism, it will prosecute those persons for other violations of law, rather than wait for a terrorist conspiracy to fully develop and risk the potential that that conspiracy will be missed and thereby sacrificing innocent American lives in the process.

This is exactly what happened to me. The initial reason given was an alleged immigration infraction – namely a “visa overstay”. I was no terrorist; I was a dissident writer. My political detractors knew perfectly well that I was in America legally, awaiting adjustment of status due to my marriage to an American citizen. I was in Immigration Adjustment of Status proceedings, meticulously following all the prerequisite steps. I was living openly in a rural area in Tennessee and was listed by address in the local telephone book. The U.S. government had given me a Social Security number, a work permit, a document that allowed me to leave the country and return unmolested. I had undergone and passed an FBI check and a health clearance. The only last step missing was a personal interview by an immigration official to ascertain a valid marriage to my American citizen wife.

We had been notified in writing that this interview could take as long as three years, and that no status report would be given. We were patiently waiting for that last step, a routine interview with an immigration official. Our immigration attorney had requested such an interview in writing – twice! Under oath, he testified that he had written those letters. These letters have mysteriously disappeared from our immigration file. When I was arrested, it was claimed that I had negligently “missed a hearing” which gave them grounds for an arrest due to a visa overstay. In other words, a simple bureaucratic loophole was found or fabricated that has cost me seven years of my life.

What happened to me in the context of a deliberate state policy of deception has also happened to others. Similar ruses via false accusations were used in cases like Germar Rudolf, likefwise married to an American citizen, El Masri of Germany, Maher Arar of Canada, Gerd Honsik of Spain, Siegfried Verbeke of Belgium, David Irving, and now Bishop Williamson of England, to name only a few individuals who were caught between the grind stones of a criminal policy possible only under the Patriot Act in the U.S. and similar legal instruments in other countries. Embedded in that background of a widespread covert policy and practice to force political conformity, my case makes eminent sense. We are no longer dealing with an aberration. These extrajudicial renditions give 9/11 and the Patriot Act a new light as a global policy instrument of brutal censorship of unpopular thinkers and writers.

The thrust of a prestigious publication such as yours would normally deal with the policies of foreign governments, renditions, kidnappings, and incarcerations not only of foreign enemies but, as in the case of Vanunu, an Israeli-born-and-raised atomic scientist. He was no neo-Nazi, no racist, no Holocaust Denier, yet he was relentlessly pursued by the Mossad and ultimately kidnapped and jailed for 18 years.

The patterns of the breaking of international law and conventions, the use of false identities, and the brazen practice of breaking and entering by spy and intelligence agencies, etc. – these criminal activities are daily in the news. This sets the stage and makes my case a logical progression of an old, established policy, with this one difference: we are no longer talking about hunting and kidnapping alleged “Nazi war criminals” like Eichmann or stone-throwing Palestinians or even “Arab terrorists”, but instead the targeting of writers and other political dissidents in Western countries calling themselves “democracies”.

My story does not even end there. In my case, my “Holocaust Denier” profile was convenient, but passé. It was not even, as is so commonly and falsely claimed, “Denial of the Holocaust” or even more bizarre, my “visa overstay”! I was told what actually happened by a friend of ours with high-level UN connections. In his own words: “It was the Blue Booklet that did it! That’s when it was decided at the very highest level to take you out for good!” Here is what happened, briefly: In the early months post-9/11 my wife, an avid Internetter, discovered a compelling research document entitled Stranger than Fiction: An Independent Investigation of 9/11 and the War on Terrorism by Anonymous, 11-11-2. She gave it to me over breakfast. I read it, found it interesting, and ran a few copies off on my printer for people on my mailing list. I did not write that lavishly footnoted paper. I did not research it. I merely copied it. Somebody must have concluded that I, with my background of thorough forensic investigations in other areas, showed more than ordinary interest in 9/11 as a potential political false flag common in intelligence agency operations!

During my trial in Mannheim, ostensibly for “Holocaust Denial”, portions of my monthly newsletter, where I mentioned this booklet and the 9/11 topic, were referenced by the prosecution as criminal offenses. Only after it became clear that I welcomed the opportunity to have my attorneys present forensic evidence of a potential 9/11 cover-up were those portions of the accusation against me hastily dropped, and my trial became a “Holocaust Denial” show trial in the traditional Stalinist mode, “… accuse wildly but don’t allow a defense!”

As we later found out through various freedom of information requests in various countries, there was in place for years a deliberate, convoluted plan to arrest and detain me under false pretenses so as to take me out and put me behind bars. I mention this only as an overarching, logical example as to how diabolically clever my political opponents are in using the accusation of “Holocaust Denial” and persecution of Holocaust Revisionists as arrows in their arsenal of weaponry to shore up, consolidate, and protect their deceptively acquired power and influence.

What’s the reality behind Holocaust? Didn’t it happen at all? What about people such as Elie Wiesel, Thomas Blatt, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and Leopold Engleitner who are Holocaust survivors and describe their own accounts of those painful days, when they personally witnessed the heart-rending demise of their parents in concentration camps and bone-crushing machines. How should we resolve these contradictions?

I will not answer this question. I would risk five more years in jail if I answered these questions honestly and truthfully. However, in the age of the Internet, others less known than I am find ways to simplify a painful, multifaceted problem, as the cartoon below makes plain:

"Prevent Holocaust: BOMB IRAN" by Carlos Latuff

Many people of other countries have come to the categorical conclusion that the Western world is a beacon of liberty and unrestricted freedom of speech. But it sometimes seems that the reality is something else, and that people can be easily prosecuted merely for publishing views that are disliked. The booklet you published, Did Six Million Really Die?, is an example. What do you think?

Here is just one more example of what I already outlined above: We have faxes and other documents that prove on official embassy letterhead that the much vaunted and propagandized U.S. Judiciary has run interference for these kidnappers and renditioners via behind-the-scenes ex parte communication, thus engaging in a cover-up and whitewash worse than the ones practiced by those the U.S. government always blames for human rights violations in their hypocritical press campaigns, like against China in Tibet, Lukashenko in Belarus, Putin in Moscow and, of course, Iran during the recent so-called Green Revolution.

Many Zionist websites have introduced you as a white supremacist. Is that a fair characterization?

This claim is a convenient character assassination technique. I have never been a white supremacist and have stated so for decades, publicly, in countless interviews, newsletters, speeches, broadcasts, etc. It is my opponents’ modus operandi to broad-brush complex issues by politically expedient demonization.

You’re opposed to the regime of Israel because of its discriminatory and atrocious approach against the nation of Palestine. You consider yourself a pacifist who advocates stability and peace; aren’t these beliefs incompatible with your viewpoint regarding Hitler, who is internationally considered to be a notorious dictator and relentless killer? How can your peace-seeking stance come together with your approval of Hitler?

I cannot answer this question due to legal restraints. An honest and complete answer would land me in jail as a re-offender very quickly. Implicit in your question is the toxic image of me that my detractors would like you to have. To be called a Nazi is worse than being called a leper. For decades I have been on the receiving end of just such a targeted character assassination campaign. I have been jailed many times not for advocating an ideology but for expressing a dissident, alternative viewpoint on many topics, including Adolf Hitler’s role in history. Revisionism is not an ideology. It is merely a scientific method of re-examining historical events and of trying to understand the movers and shakers who made history a footnote to their personalities.

Let me answer your question this way: I have always abhorred any kind of violence in the pursuit of political goals. By anyone! Politically, I was and am a pacifist, much in the Gandhi style. I advocate a sober, neutral look at history, including the period known as the Third Reich. The peoples of the world, regardless of what system of government they live under, owe it to themselves to emancipate themselves of the simplistic images of propaganda and deceit posing as history. On May 1995, your Toronto residence was the target of an arson attack which resulted in $400,000 worth of damage. A few days later, some of your extremist opponents were caught trying to break into your property. Again a few days later, you received a parcel bomb which the Toronto police detonated. Have you ever tried to lodge a complaint against them? Have they ever been lawfully sentenced?

This is the flip side of some of the questions above. While I have never advocated or engaged in violence, egregious acts of violence have been repeatedly practiced on me, of which the political kidnapping in 2003 was merely the latest. As to the fire and the bomb, no, nothing was ever resolved. The police apprehended the bomb builders and senders, but the charges laid were stayed. There seems to have been no political will at the highest levels of the Canadian government. There was no political coin to be garnered by prosecuting Jewish arsonists, who even confessed to the deed.

Do you differentiate between the Zionists and Jews as the followers of a divine, monotheistic religion?

Yes, the two are totally different. Some Orthodox Jews who are united against Zionism, such as the Neturei Karta, believe that also. They know the godfathers of Communism and Zionism followed identical policies. The guiding spirit behind the two systems is the same. Neturei Karta rabbis attended the 2006 Teheran Conference sponsored by your President in an attempt to distance themselves from what they consider to be a dangerous atheist clique in the pursuit of illegal politics of conquest of which they want no part.

The mainstream corporate media, while having already vilified you, remained silent about your release. What do you think about this? Are you going to continue your ideological path or would you prefer to keep a low profile and forget about the intellectual activities?

Ironically, that was exactly what I intended to do when I moved to Tennessee and married Ingrid; keeping a low profile and turning to private endeavors such as my love for art and music. I felt that my revisionist outreach was finished, concluded to my inner satisfaction. Let others read both sides and then judge for themselves. All the arguments, all the information needed on the Holocaust is out there, on the Internet, in tens of thousands of websites, all for the taking. How often do you have to dig up an archeological site to find yet one more bone, yet one more implicating shard? My wife likes to say that you don’t have to eat a camel to know what a cutlet tastes like. I was quite ready to retire and satisfy my creative needs and desires. I could leave the political mopping-up activities for others to complete. But could my political opponents bring themselves, as rational people might have, to likewise call it quits? No; that is simply not in their nature. As you point out so cogently, a powerful vilification campaign is still going full blast. It keeps my name in the media for people to decide for themselves who I am. Upon my release, my wife has collected thousands and thousands of letters from readers, only three of which were negative! Not a bad record, of the millions of dollars spent and millions of words dispersed in an attempt to paint me as as a devil with horns.

Let me ask you – would your prestigious publication have cared to interview me if you thought that I deserved the label of Evil Incarnate?

[Editor's note: The views and beliefs of Ernst Zundel are his own, and not those of Foreign Policy Journal. It is the policy of FPJ to uphold the principle of freedom of speech, which means freedom to say things that others may find despicable. It is otherwise a meaningless principle. It is also the position of FPJ that both sides to a story deserve to be heard. It's up to readers to draw their own conclusions and make their own judgments.]

Source Article:- Foreign Policy Journal

Boy, two, left in tears as nursery staff confiscate his 'unhealthy' cheese sandwich

Say cheese: Little Jack Ormisher with a sandwich like the one that was confiscated

When little Jack Ormisher opened his packed lunch, he was delighted to find inside a cheese sandwich his mummy had made for him.

But before he could tuck into the meal, staff at the nursery he attended snatched it away - leaving him in tears

Apparently, the sandwich broke their 'healthy eating' rules. Instead, the two-year-old was offered fruit and vegetables.

Later when Jack's father arrived to pick him up from the Westfield Children's Centre in Pemberton, near Wigan, staff told him that if his son wanted sandwiches in future they must include lettuce or tomato.

Jack's mother, Dorothy Gallear, 32, was so incensed she has now enrolled him at a different nursery.

'I think it is absolutely pathetic and these people are playing Big Brother with people's lives,' she said yesterday. 'The attitude of the nursery was ridiculous. They were looking down their noses at me.

'When I told people at his new nursery what had happened all over a cheese sandwich some laughed with shock and others were horrified.'

Mother-of-two Miss Gallear said Jack started at Westfield in September last year, spending three afternoons a week there but she decided to make him his own sandwiches after he developed several stomach bugs.

'He was having what they prepared for him to eat.

'It was fruit mostly so I decided that I would prepare something for him at home to take in so I knew exactly what he was eating.

Staff at Westfield Children's Centre in Wigan claimed the cheese sandwich his mother made for him broke their 'healthy eating' rules

'This was the first time I'd sent in my food. They said it was fine as long as it was a healthy snack. He did have some veg and a piece of melon in his box.

'But my partner went to pick him up and they told him that if we were going to bring sandwiches in it had to have at least a piece of lettuce on it.'

The nursery's list of acceptable 'healthy options' includes various fruit and vegetables plus rice, pasta and potatoes.

Jack with his mother Dorothy Gallear: He has been pulled out of the Westfield Children's Centre over the incident

A spokesman for Wigan Council, which runs the nursery, said: 'The centre has a list of recommended healthy food, according to national guidelines, which children are encouraged to eat.

'A cheese sandwich would not feature on the list.'

Miss Gallear and her partner, Harry Ormisher, transferred Jack to a nursery in nearby Orrell. Westfield's manager, Aukje Clegg, said: 'The decision to remove the child from the centre was taken by the parents.

'We have informed them that a place is still available for their child at Westfield should they reconsider.'

Source Article - Daily Mail- 28th April 2010

Volcano crisis: Sense vanishes in a puff of ash

The closure of our airspace casts a highly disturbing light on the way we are governed, says Christopher Booker.

Last week, for the second time in a decade, a major crisis erupted out of the blue that cast a highly disturbing light on the peculiarly contorted way in which we are now governed. The Icelandic volcano shambles had striking parallels with the foot-and-mouth crisis of 2001.

Both episodes involved a massive system failure in a complex new structure of supranational governance which was being put to the test for the first time, Both were made much worse by over-reliance on an inadequate computer model, which ended up causing unnecessary chaos and misery for hundreds of thousands of people and costing not millions but billions of pounds.

What turned that shower of abrasive volcanic dust from a drama into a crisis was the central flaw in a new international system for responding to such incidents, which was put in place only last September. As everyone now recognises, the emptying of the skies which plunged Europe's airlines into chaos was a grotesque overreaction to the reality of the risks involved.

Within two days, the amount of ash over northern Europe was at barely one per cent of the official danger level. But the authorities were locked by international rules into a rigid bureaucratic system, based on a computer model, which gave them no alternative but to close down air traffic for days longer than was justified. The real flaw in the system was that it made no provision for testing that crude computer model against actual real-life data, which could have shown that the computer was vastly exaggerating the risk.

Responsibility for responding to the Icelandic eruption lay with a bewildering hierarchy of national and international authorities, starting at the top with a UN body, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), working down through the European Commission and Eurocontrol (which is not part of the EU), to national agencies, such as our own Civil Aviation Authority, the National Air Traffic Service and, last but not least, the UK Met Office, owners of the relevant computer model.

Under guidelines issued by the ICAO last September, as soon as the Met Office's computer simulation of air flows around Europe indicates that a particular wind-borne dust cloud might theoretically be a danger, it automatically triggers an exclusion zone for air traffic. What the computer cannot show is the density of the dust, and whether it thus poses a genuine hazard.

A properly designed system should have allowed for immediate sampling and monitoring of the ash cloud to see whether it was at the danger level. As a spokesman for the International Advisory Committee on Flight Safety put it, "military and transport aircraft should have been sent straight up to determine the nature of the ash cloud. The density and the make-up of the cloud is what matters, and that information has just not been available."

But somehow the need for this had been completely overlooked by all the international officials involved in devising the new system (which was endorsed on our behalf by the European Commission). Because no one had been made officially responsible for carrying out the relevant sampling, it then turned out that there were very few planes left in Europe specially equipped to do it (the only dedicated aircraft in Britain was sitting in a hangar being painted). It was thus left to the beleaguered airlines to carry out their own test flights, which they began to do last weekend, finding that the quantities of ash in the air were negligible.

With losses soaring towards £2 billion, the airlines, led by British Airways, acted to break the official blockade. BA's Willie Walsh told the authorities that he had 22 aircraft already in the sky, heading for Britain – and the serried ranks of officialdom buckled, rushing to explain that they had only been doing their jobs in acting by the rule book. It was, of course, that rule book which was at fault, because it gave exclusive authority to a computer model not up to the task.

This was reminiscent of what happened in 2001, when our Government tried to tackle the foot-and-mouth epidemic within a new straitjacket of EU directives. Instead of listening to those world experts who were urging it to contain the disease by vaccination, it handed over direction of the crisis to a computer modelling team with no experience of animal diseases, who came up with that truly disastrous policy of a "pre-emptive cull". The result was that millions of healthy animals were killed unnecessarily, the appalling damage inflicted on Britain's countryside was infinitely worse than it should have been, and the cost rose into billions.

It is especially ironic that a Met Office computer model was at the centre of this latest fiasco, and that, thanks to successive Government cuts over the years, it no longer has any aircraft capable of testing whether its model's data are reliable. Over the past 20 years, our Met Office has received some £250 million to allow its computer models to predict future climate change. If just a tiny fraction of that money had been spent on aircraft of the type that the Met Office used to have at its disposal to sample dust clouds, airlines and their customers might have been saved several times the sum the Met Office has frittered away on its obsession with global warming.

Source Article:- Telegraph.co.uk

German court orders Bishop Williamson to pay fine for denying Holocaust

BERLIN - A German court convicted ultraconservative British Bishop Richard Williamson on Friday for denying the Holocaust in a television interview.

A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg found Williamson guilty of incitement for saying in a 2008 interview with Swedish television that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II.

The court ordered Williamson to pay a fine of C10,000 ($13,544).

The Roman Catholic bishop was barred by his order from attending Friday's proceedings or making statements to the media.

His lawyer, Matthias Lossmann, told The Associated Press after the court ruling that Williamson has yet to decide if would appeal it.

Denying the Holocaust is a criminal offence in Germany.

The court last year ordered a fine of C12,000 for Williamson, without a trial. But the Bishop appealed that ruling, forcing his case to be tried publicly.

Lossmann said that Williamson had explicitly asked the Swedish television crew conducting the interview not to broadcast it in Germany.

In issuing her ruling, Judge Karin Frahm said the bishop could not have expected that the clip would show up on YouTube and be seen directly in Germany, which led her to reduce the fine, court spokesman Bernhard Schneider told the AP.

The journalists who conducted the interview also ignored a court order to attend the trial, Lossmann said, leaving the judge to rely on written statements as testimony.

"That does not do a case like this justice," Lossmann said.

The interview was conducted near Regensburg and was granted shortly before Williamson's excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI, along with that of three other bishops from the anti-modernization movement of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

The lifting of Williamson's excommunication sparked outrage among Jewish groups and in Israel. The Vatican's handling of the affair prompted criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The bishop had been forbidden by his order to attend the proceedings in Regensburg. The ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X has also forbidden him to make statements to the media.

Williamson lives in Great Britain, Lossmann said.

Source April 16th, 2010:- http://www.kbsradio.ca/news/56/1116962

SceinceMed:

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 27 - Thanks to the recovery and to the analyses described on magazine Nature, for the first time we can officially say that more than one million years ago Europe was inhabited by hominids. The discovery made in Spain marks for the moment the record of the most ancient human remains found in the European continent, even if the 'race' for which country hosted first the forefathers of the Europeans is still open. The 'Guinness Book of Records' archaeological site is located in northern Spain, in Sima de l'Elefante, in the Sierra de Atapuerca. In this area the researchers found several remains, sign of the ancient presence of man, mostly stone tools and animals with human traces, but also for the first time a fragment of jaw.

All the finds have been dated with different methods, from paleomagnetism, which exploits the magnetism of rocks, to the study of isotopes of aluminium and beryllium, which are formed through the contact of quartz with cosmic rays, and which decay at a regular rate. All the datings confirmed that the remains date back to a period comprised between 1,100,000 and 1,200,000 years ago, thus much before what was estimated for other similar finds, which date back to 800,000 years ago.

"There is a big debate about the colonisation of Europe but this is the first time that such important proofs are found; several sites contain finds which lead to think of a similar period for the presence of man in Europe, but all of these are based only on the recovery of stone handiwork and some of them have dating problems, while a human remain such as the jaw found in Spain, which constitutes an almost certain proof, was missing," Edoardo Martinetto, a paleontologist of the University of Turin, explained. Among the many competitors for the record there were also the Italian sites, first of all the one of Pirro Nord, near Foggia, where also the University of Turin carried out excavations: "The handiworks which we found there are even older then the Spanish one, maybe even from 1,500,000 years ago, but despite great campaigns, the last conducted last year, a human remain had not been found yet. The search is still on, anyway", the expert explained.

The bones found in Spain have been attributed by the researchers to the species 'Homo Antecessor', from which those closer to man, like Neanderthal, are supposed to have developed. What is certain from the discovered finds is that this ancestor was already able to hunt and to make small tools from stone. About the origin of these hominids there are no definitive theories but they probably came from the East, passing from Africa to Europe through the Middle East: "A proof of this is the existence of a very important site in the Caucasus, where remains which date back to 1,800,000 years ago have been found," Martinetto explained.

Source - March 27, 2010:-
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME07.@AM16222.html

Got your Lifeboat Ready?

Sovereign debt crisis at 'boiling point', warns Bank for International Settlements

The Bank for International Settlements does not mince words. Sovereign debt is already starting to cross the danger threshold in the United States, Japan, Britain, and most of Western Europe, threatening to set off a bond crisis at the heart of the global economy.

Bond investors are waiting for Governments to lay out clear plans for deficit reduction.

"The aftermath of the financial crisis is poised to bring a simmering fiscal problem in industrial economies to the boiling point", said the Swiss-based bank for central bankers -- the oldest and most venerable of the world's financial watchdogs. Drastic austerity measures will be needed to head off a compound interest spiral, if it is not already too late for some.

The risk is an "abrupt rise in government bond yields" as investors choke on a surfeit of public debt. "Bond traders are notoriously short-sighted, assuming they can get out before the storm hits: their time horizons are days or weeks, not years or decade. We take a longer and less benign view of current developments," said the study, entitled "The Future of Public Debt", by the bank's chief economist Stephen Cecchetti.

"The question is when markets will start putting pressure on governments, not if. When will investors start demanding a much higher compensation for holding increasingly large amounts of public debt? In some countries, unstable debt dynamics -- in which higher debt levels lead to higher interest rates, which then lead to even higher debt levels -- are already clearly on the horizon."

Official debt figures in the West are "very misleading" since they fail to take in account the contingent liabilities and pension debts that have mushroomed over recent years. "Rapidly ageing populations present a number of countries with the prospect of enormous future costs that are not wholly recognised in current budget projections. The size of these future obligations is anybody's guess," said the report. The BIS lamented the lack of any systematic data on the scale of unfunded IOUs that care-free politicians have handed out like confetti.

Britain emerges in the BIS paper as an arch-sinner. The country may have entered the crisis with a low public debt but this shock absorber has already been used up, exposing the underlying rot in the UK's public accounts.

Tucked away in the BIS report are charts and tables showing that Britain faces the highest structural deficit in the OECD club of rich states, with a mounting risk that public debt will explode out of control.

Interest payments on the UK's public debt will double from 5pc of GDP to 10pc within a decade under the bank's 'baseline scenario' before spiralling upwards to 27pc by 2040, the highest in the industrial world. Greece fares better, and Italy looks saintly by comparison.

The BIS said the UK's structural budget deficit will be 9pc of GDP next year, the highest in the advanced world. A primary surplus of 3.5pc of GDP will be required for the next twenty years just to stabilize the debt at the pre-crisis level.

The paper said that Labour's plan to consolidate the budget deficit by 1.3pc of GDP annually for the next three years is not nearly enough. Such a gentle squeeze will let public debt climb to 160pc of GDP by the end of the decade, accelerating to 350pc over the following twenty years as the compound interest trap closes in. "Consolidations along the lines currently being discussed will not be sufficient to ensure that debt levels remain within reasonable bounds", said the bank. While the comment covers a group of countries, it is clearly aimed at Britain.

The analysis bolsters claims by the Tories that markets will not wait patiently as Britain draws up leisurely plans for austerity-lite, relying on implausible turbo-growth to do the hard work of cutting the deficit.

Fitch Ratings has made the same point, asking why the UK thinks it has a longer grace period than peers in Europe. Spain has pledged to cut its deficit from 11.4pc to 3pc in three years in line with Maastricht rules.

Perhaps the most shocking detail in the BIS paper is that the UK's debt will rise to 300pc of GDP by 2040 under this moderate fiscal squeeze even if it is accompanied by a freeze on age-related spending. Britain -- unlike Greece -- can no longer rely on soft measures to cut the structural deficit, such as increasing the share of women in the work force. Such low-hanging fruit has mostly been picked already.

The BIS, in charge of monitoring global capital flows, said public debt has risen by 20pc to 30pc of GDP across the advanced economies over the last three years. Semi-permanent structural deficits have taken root. "Current fiscal policy is unsustainable in every country (in its study). Drastic improvements in the structural primary balance will be necessary to prevent debt ratios from exploding."

Average debts will exceed 100pc of GDP by the end of next year. The level was briefly higher in the US and the UK after World War Two. Japan is currently able to raise money cheaply at even higher debt levels thanks to its captive savings pool. However, the BIS said it would be foolhardy to assume that debt markets will tolerate this for long.

The BIS said the usual cure for budget deficits is a return to robust grown and lower nominal rates. Neither are likely for OECD economies this time. The West has slipped to a lower growth trajectory. Historical data shows that once public debts near 100pc of GDP they act as a ball and chain on wealth creation.

If countries do not retrench quickly, they will create a market fear of "monetization" that becomes self-fulfilling. "Monetary policy may ultimately become impotent to control inflation, regardless of the fighting credentials of the central bank" it said.

Some states may be tempted to carry out a creeping default by stoking inflation. "The payoff to do this rises the bigger the debt, the longer its average maturity, the bigger the fraction held by foreigners." The BIS said the danger that any government would consciously take this path is "not insignificant" in the longer run.

Of course, a brutal fiscal purge in every major country at once itself poses a danger. The result would be to crush recovery and tip the world economy back into crisis, making deficits worse again. Countries are damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

The BIS skips nimbly over this dilemma. Nobody has yet mastered our horrible Hobson's Choice.

Article Source - April 8, 2010:- Telegraph.co.uk

Israel police uncovers organ trafficking ring in north

Police on Tuesday arrested six men suspected of being involved in an organ trafficking ring in northern Israel. Among the suspects are an IDF reserves brigadier-general and two lawyers.

The department for fraud and misappropriation in northern Israel has been conducting an undercover investigation which began following a complaint by a 50-year-old woman from Nazareth, who replied to an advertisement in Arabic offering 100,000 dollars for a kidney.

The woman underwent medical examinations to ensure a match, and she was then flown a country in Eastern Europe where they extracted her kidney. The woman said that when she returned to Israel, she did not receive the money promised to her. Police say they have since received similar complaints.

Police also said that during the investigation they uncovered a large, very well-organized industry of organ trafficking. The ring includes organ traffickers, agents, and lawyers.

"The ring is operating throughout Israel and not only in the north, and appeals to the public through local media and internet," a police official said. "The organ traffickers somehow receive details about potential transplant candidates and they offer them their services," he said.

The investigators said that the traffickers usually demand around 120,000 dollars for a kidney transplant. While the donors, the majority of which are in serious financial troubles, are taken advantage of and receive around 10,000 dollars. Some of them get even smaller sums, and some do not receive any money at all.

The donors sign a contract and fill out fraudulent affidavits claiming a family connection between the donor and the recipient - a requirement in the countries where the surgeries take place.

Afterwards, the donors undergo medical examinations where they are categorized by blood types and other medical conditions, and are then flown to countries in Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and Ecuador.

There, the donors undergo surgery to extract their kidney, and shortly afterwards return to Israel without any medical documentation, many times suffering from medical complications.

During the investigation, police found out that a number of transplant candidates were on their way abroad to undergo surgery. Police located the donors and informed them that they were victims of fraud. Some of the donors were located at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport, right before their departure.

Investigators said that there are several more fraud victims located abroad who are due to return to Israel after they were notified that some of the traffickers were under arrest.

Source:- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1161405.html

Black Congressman Fears Island Will Capsize

I know it is customary in these columns to cite an actual text article, but we might as well get used to citing videos as well from now on, since the level of literacy among White people has now reached a point so low that many no longer even bother to read written articles on the internet any more, but instead view video clips. Our race is slowly regressing to the point our ancestors were at before they had any written language, and spent their days drawing animals on the walls of caves. Besides, this is simply too classic not to comment on.

The above cited YouTube video has "gone viral" and is well on its way towards becoming a classic. It shows negro Congressman Hank Johnson from Georgia--the same state and district that gave us the Queen Latifah-like Cynthia McKinney--interviewing some bemused White admiral from the Navy on some subject having to do with the island of Guam. At first I thought it was an April Fool's joke. Unfortunately, it is not, except insofar as the entire Congress is now an April Fool's joke lasting all year round.

The clip consists mostly of the either senile or drunken Johnson rambling on about how he is afraid that if a small island like Guam becomes overpopulated, the island will "tip over and capsize." The flustered White naval officer replies, "Uh, we are not anticipating that, sir."

This black man is one of the people who rule our lives and who just gave us socialized medicine in America, not to mention being collectively responsible for causing the worst economic crash in 80 years. He is paid a huge salary, well over $100,000, and gets benefits including full medical insurance which at least double the worth of his compensation, all on the taxpayer's dime. He has the power to vote for a declaration of war, if his fellow ****oid Obongo decides to be so old-fashioned as to ask for one from Congress (like when he attacks Iran). View this video and see for yourself what we are getting for our money.

Rush Limbaugh, apparently wary of exploiting this pathetic video and being called racist on his show, says that Johnson is suffering from Hepatitis C and it affects his mind. And this is supposed to make it better? Whether he's this bird-brained stupid because he's sick, or senile, or drunk, what on earth is someone like this doing in a law-making capacity?

We are supposedly the "greatest country in the world." (Restrain the guffaws and belly laughs, please.) This is the best we can do?

http://www.northwestfront.org

http://downwithjugears.blogspot.com

http://www.northwestrepublic.com

Utah Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Glenn L Pace Memo

On 19 July 1990, Elder Glenn L Pace, then a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, sent a memo to the "Strengthening Church Members Committee" on the subject of "Ritualistic Child Abuse."1

Pursuant to the Committee's request, I am writing this memorandum to pass along what I have learned about ritualistic child abuse. Hopefully, it will be of some value to you as you continue to monitor the problem.

You have already received the LDS Social Services report on Satanism dated May 24, 1989, a report from Brent Ward, [Utah State Attorney General] and a memorandum from myself dated October 20,1989 in response to Brother Ward?s report.

Therefore, I will limit this writing to information not contained in those papers.

I have met with sixty victims. That number could be twice or three times as many if I did not discipline myself to only one meeting per week. I have not wanted my involvement with this issue to become a handicap in fulfilling my assigned responsibilities. On the other hand, I felt someone needed to pay the price to obtain an intellectual and spiritual conviction as to the seriousness of this problem within the Church.

Of the sixty victims with whom I have met, fifty-three are female and seven are male. Eight are children. The abuse occurred in the following places: Utah (37), Idaho (3), California (4), Mexico (2), and other places (14). Fifty-three victims are currently living in the State of Utah. All sixty individuals are members of the Church. Forty-five victims allege witnessing and/or participating in human sacrifice. The majority were abused by relatives, often their parents. All have developed psychological problems and most have been diagnosed as having multiple personality disorder or some other form of dissociative disorder.

Ritualistic child abuse is the most hideous of all child abuse. The basic objective is premeditated to systematically and methodically torture and terrorize children until they are forced to dissociate. The torture is not a consequence of the loss of temper, but the execution of well-planned, well-thought out rituals often performed by close relatives. The only escape for the children is to dissociate. They will develop a new personality to enable them to endure various forms of abuse. When the episode is over, the core personality is again in control and the individual is not conscious of what happened. Dissociation also serves the purposes of the occult because the children have no day-to-day memory of the atrocities. They go through adolescence and early adulthood with no active memory of what is taking place. Oftentimes they continue in rituals through their teens and early twenties, unaware of their involvement. Many individuals with whom I have spoken have served missions and it has not been until later that they begin to remember. One individual has memories of participating in rituals while serving as a full-time missionary.

The victims lead relatively normal lives, but the memories are locked up in a compartment in their minds and surface in various ways. They don't know how to cope with the emotions because they can't find the source. As they become adults and move into another environment, something triggers the memories and, consequently, flashbacks and/or nightmares occur. One day they will have been living a normal life and the next they will be in a mental hospital in a fetal position. The memories of their early childhood are recalled in so much detail that they once again feel the pain that caused the dissociation in the first place.

There are two reasons why adults can remember with such detail events that happened in their past: First, the terror they experienced was so stark that it was indelibly placed in their mind. Second, the memory was compartmentalized in a certain portion of the mind and was not subjected to the dilution of experiences of ensuing years. When it is tapped, it is as fresh as if it happened yesterday.

The memories seem to come in layers. For example, the first memory might be of incest, then they remember robes and candles; next they realize that their father or mother or both were present when they were being abused. Another layer will be the memory of seeing other people hurt and even killed. Then they remember having seen babies killed. Another layer is realizing that they participated in the sacrifices. One of the most painful memories may be that they even sacrificed their own baby. With each layer of memory comes another set of problems with which they must deal.

Some have said that the witnesses to this type of treatment cannot be trusted because of the victim's unstable condition and because practically all of them have some kind of dissociative disorder; in fact, the stories are so bizarre as to raise serious credibility questions. The irony is that one of the objectives of the occult is to create multiple personalities within the children in order to keep the "secrets." They live in society without society having any idea that something is wrong since the children and teenagers don't even realize there is another life occurring in darkness and in secret. However, when sixty witnesses testify to the same type of torture and murder, it becomes impossible for me, personally, not to believe them.

I mention multiple personalities because the spiritual healing which must take place in the lives of these victims cannot happen without their priesthood leaders understanding something about it

The spiritual indoctrination which takes place during the physical abuse is one of the most difficult to overcome. In addition to experiencing stark terror and pain, the children are also instructed in satanic doctrine. Everything is completely reversed: white is black, black is white, good is bad, bad is good, Satan is going to rule during the Millennium.

Children are put in a situation where they believe they are going to die-such as being buried alive or being placed in a plastic bag and immersed in water. Prior to doing so, the abuser tells the child to pray to Jesus to see if He will save her. Imagine a seven year old girl, having been told she is going to die, praying to Jesus to save her and nothing happens, then at the last moment she is rescued, but the person saving her is a representative of Satan. He uses this experience to convince her that the only person who really cares about her is Satan, she is Satan's child and she might as well become loyal to him.

Just before or shortly after their baptism into the Church, children are baptized by blood into the satanic order which is meant to cancel out their baptism into the Church. They will be asked if they understand or have ever felt the Holy Ghost. When they reply that they have, they will be reminded of the horrible things they have participated in and will be told that they have become a son (or daughter) of perdition and, therefore, have no chance of being saved or loved by our Father in heaven or Jesus.

All of this indoctrination takes place with whichever personality has emerged to endure the physical, mental, and spiritual pain. Consequently, there develops within each of these individuals the makings of what I call a civil war. As the memories begin to surface, there are personalities who feel they have given themselves to Satan, and there is no hope for forgiveness. The core person is an active member of the Church, often with a temple recommend. As integration takes place, the civil war begins. Sometimes, in an interview, personalities of the dark side have come out. They are petrified or perhaps full of hate for me and what I represent. Eventually those personalities need to be dealt with spiritually and psychologically.

Most victims are suicidal. They have been brainwashed with drugs, hypnosis, and other means to become suicidal as soon as they start to tell the secrets. They have been threatened all of their lives that if they don't do what they are told their brother or sister will die, their parents will die, their house will be burned, or they themselves will be killed. They have every reason to believe it since they have seen people killed. They believe they might as well kill themselves instead of wait for the occult to do it. Some personalities feel it is the right thing to do.

The purpose of this detail is to stress the complexity of psychological and spiritual therapy for these individuals. Our priesthood leaders, when faced with such cases, are understandably at a loss of how to respond. Orthodox counsel is completely ineffective. For example, some victims have been told that this all happened in their past and that they should put it behind them and get on with their lives. This is just not possible. Part of the spiritual therapy necessary is for priesthood leaders to assist with the conversion process of the personalities who have been indoctrinated into Satanism. Victims must integrate their personalities so that they can function as whole persons and be able to deal with their problems and then get on with their lives. Often, some of the parts will begin to act out, perhaps promiscuously, and a good intentioned priesthood leader, following the General Handbook of Instructions, will disfellowship or excommunicate an individual. All this does is reinforce the satanic indoctrination of the victims that they are no good.

I'm sorry to say that many of the victims have had their first flashbacks while attending the temple for the first time. The occult along the Wasatch Front uses the doctrine of the Church to their advantage. For example, the verbiage and gestures are used in a ritualistic ceremony in a very debased and often bloody manner. When the victim goes to the temple and hears the exact words, horrible memories are triggered. We have recently been disturbed with members of the Church who have talked about the temple ceremony. Compared to what is happening in the occult along the Wasatch Front, these are very minor infractions. The perpetrators are also living a dual life. Many are temple recommend holders. This leads to another reason why the Church needs to consider the seriousness of these problems. In effect, the Church is being used.

I go out of my way to not let the victims give me the names of the perpetrators. I have told them that my responsibility is to help them with spiritual healing and that the names of perpetrators should be given to therapists and law enforcement officers. However, they have told me the positions in the Church of members who are perpetrators. Among others, there are Young Women leaders, Young Men leaders, bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers, and members of the Tabernacle Choir. These accusations are not coming from individuals who think they recognized someone, but from those who have been abused by people they know, in many cases their own family members.

Whatever the form of abuse our main concern is for the victims, but there are legal ramifications. We are disturbed to receive reports that a scoutmaster has abused the boys in his troop. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen if we learn that a bishop or stake president has participated in the abominations of ritualistic child abuse. Not only do some of the perpetrators represent a cross section of the Mormon culture, but sometimes the abuse has taken place in our own meetinghouses.

I don't pretend to know how prevalent the problem is. All I know is that I have met with 60 victims. Assuming each one comes from a coven of 13, we are talking about the involvement of 800 or so right here on the Wasatch Front. Obviously, I have only seen those coming forth to get help. They are in their twenties and thirties for the most part. I can only assume that it is expanding geometrically and am horrified at the numbers represented by the generation who are now children and teenagers.

Another reason for concern is that there are several doctrinal issues that need to be resolved. The Church and society in general are very skeptical as to whether the occult and its activities do exist. There is no First Presidency statement relative to some of the doctrinal issues: What does a priesthood leader tell individuals who come forward and say that they have participated in these rituals, which may include human sacrifice? Should they have a temple recommend? Will they ever be forgiven? There are questions regarding free agency and accountability. Is a person who has been raised in an occult from infancy accountable for things that take place in a dissociated state, even though those acts were committed after the age of eight? I have formed my own opinions to these questions and have done the best I can. However, I don't have the mantle to make these doctrinal and policy decisions. I have relied on the mantle of a bishop regarding discernment and being a common judge.

The few priesthood leaders who have had to face these issues are crying out for help because they don't want to give their own opinions and yet there is no place to go for an answer. A bishop will go to his stake president who says he doesn't believe it is happening and that the member is just crazy. The stake president might go to an Area Presidency who will react in a similar way. Most people are afraid to surface it to the First Presidency for fear of getting the same reaction and don't want to appear crazy themselves for asking the question.

I hope you will excuse me if I am being presumptuous, but I am concluding this paper with scriptures I feel support my belief that these activities are real and cannot be ignored. [...]

Source Article: moneyteachers.org

Primary schoolchildren in tears after they are told they will be removed from families as part of Holocaust 'game'

A group of stunned primary schoolchildren began crying when their teacher told them during a bizarre Holocaust game that they were to be taken away from their families.

The pupils, aged 11, became upset after a number of them were segregated and told they were being sent away or might end up in an orphanage.

The ordeal was meant to give the youngsters at the Lanarkshire school an insight into the horrors faced by Jewish children during World War II.

The exercise was intended to give the pupils at St Hilary's Primary School an insight into the horrors faced by Jewish children during World War II

But the exercise, which was sprung without warning on the children at St Hilary's Primary School in East Kilbride last Thursday morning, reduced several to tears.

Deputy head teacher Elizabeth McGlynn segregated nine pupils and told them they were to be sent away. After 15 minutes they were told it was all an act but that the role play would carry on up to lunchtime.

One angry parent, who has lodged an official complaint about the exercise, told how the 'barbaric' role play upset the children.

In a letter sent to council bosses, the unnamed mother said: 'Mrs McGlynn told the children they would probably have to be sent away from their families and that their parents had been informed about this and knew all about it.

'When one child asked if that meant they might have to go to an orphanage, they were told that might be a possibility.

'At that point many of the children became very distressed.

'One boy kicked his chair over, one was angry and demanded to speak to someone in charge but most were crying on a scale ranging from mildly to severely.

'Their ordeal lasted between 12 and 15 minutes before the children were informed that it was all an act but that the role play would continue until lunchtime.'

One girl said her classmates began crying when Mrs McGlynn told them she had a letter from the Scottish Executive saying nine children had to be separated from their classmates.

She told the shocked youngsters those who were born in January, February and March had lower IQs than other children, 'due to lack of sunlight in their mother's womb', and that they had to put yellow hats on and be sent to the library.

The mother added: 'When I asked why on earth they thought it was appropriate to deliver a role play situation to the children in this way, Mrs Stewart informed me that they didn't inform the children beforehand.

'This was because they wanted the children to experience an "accurate emotional response" to this scenario in order for it to be reflected in their story writing.

'Mrs Stewart then invited me to come up to the school and see the excellent work that had been produced as a result of the exercise.
'I declined and my position and opinion on the method used to extract emotive story writing from the children was cruel, barbaric, traumatic and totally, totally unethical.

'My daughter and indeed no child needs to feel the terror, fear, panic, segregation and horror that a child of the Holocaust experienced during one of the worst atrocities in history to be able to empathise with them in order to produce good story writing.'

A South Lanarkshire council spokeswoman, who confirmed that a role play activity took place, said: 'The council can confirm that a parent handed in a letter to Education Resources on Monday, March 8, 2010, and this will be responded to shortly.'

An estimated six million Jews died in the Holocaust. Jewish children in Nazi Europe had to wear yellow Star of David badges during World War II.

Jews also had to live apart from the rest of the population in ghettos.

Finally they were taken to concentration camps, where most were separated from their parents then killed.

Source Article - March 11th:- Dail Mail

Yet Another Political Show Trial: Why the Prosecution of Demjanjuk is Malicious

John Demjanjuk, who turns 90 next month, is on trial in Munich for having allegedly been an accessory to the killing of 27,900 people at a labor camp at Sobibor in Poland during the second World War. This trial is for the benefit of a group of obsessive Jews within the holocaust industry and as a shallow public relations stunt by the German government to “atone”, as it were, for having failed to prosecute known mass murderers many decades ago.

In a proper court case, the prosecution would have to prove that the numbers of people alleged were murdered at the camp during the period in question, that Demjanjuk was present there, and that he assisted willingly, in the sense of having had an option to simply refuse such activities.

The first point, the alleged murders, was not subject to challenge, even though much controversy and opaqueness surrounds the circumstances there at that camp.

The second point, that Demjanjuk was present there, has not been proven conclusively either because Demjanjuk denies having been at the location, and no affirmative corroboration has been presented.

Even if one accepts the first two points above, the court must present evidence that Demjanjuk was a willing participant. This central aspect is now unravelling. Yesterday and today, an expert witness associated with the University in Munich, who had written a doctoral dissertation on the circumstances during that period in Galicia, appeared at the trial to answer questions. This mainstream scholar has corroborated the following key arguments maintained by Demjanjuk and his defense for years:

The testimony from decades ago – by a man (now dead) claiming that he and Demjanjuk participated in the killing of prisoners – is unreliable because it is very likely, that it was coerced under torture.

Circumstances in the camps for Soviet red army prisoners, of which Demjanjuk was one, were so awful that millions (more than half of them) died, and that volunteering to assist the Nazis instead was a means of avoiding death by starvation or disease.

Prisoners from the Red Army who volunteered were not told what they would be required to do.

Once these prisoners were sent to other camps to work as guards, refusing orders or being caught after an unsuccessful attempt to escape would have likely resulted in death.

These key facts should not come as a revelation because this information was already known beforehand. The prosecution certainly must have know this too but decided to proceed nonetheless. That is why this case is another political show trial, just as a prior case Demjanjuk had to endure decades ago in Israel was also a propaganda show trial, for the sake of shamelessly perpetuating the Jewish holocaust narrative. Demjanjuk was exonerated on appeal in that case in which he had initially been sentenced to death.

It is rather interesting to note, that thus far there has still not been any independent report in the German news media about the proceedings during the past two days. Telling the public that the prosecution’s case has fallen apart in light of the expert testimony is apparently not “politically correct”.

As has already been suggested by legal experts before the trial got underway, Demjanjuk cannot be legitimately convicted of the charges brought against him. However, that does not mean that the court will not convict him anyway because, after all, this is a political show trial, where facts are secondary and propaganda is what matters.

Source Article March 17, 2010: Aletho News

The Poodle Gets Kicked

Actually, Joe set himself up. From the moment he set foot on Israeli soil, our vice president was in full pander mode.

First, he headed to Yad Vashem memorial, where he put on a yarmulke and declared Israel "a central bolt in our existence."

"For world Jewry," Joe went on, presumably including 5 million Americans, "Israel is the heart. ... Israel is the light. ... Israel is the hope."

Meeting Shimon Peres the next day, Joe confessed that when he first visited at age 29, "Israel captured my heart."

In Peres' guestbook, he wrote, "The bond between our two nations has been and remains unshakeable."

He then told Peres and the world, "There is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security."

As Peres spoke, Biden took notes. When Peres called him "a friend," Joe gushed, "It's good to be home."

Even at AIPAC, they must have been gagging.

Walking around the corner to Prime Minister Netanyahu's office, Joe called him by his nickname, "Bibi," declared him a "real" friend and said the U.S. relationship with Israel "has been and will continue to be the centerpiece of our policy."

Then the sandbag hit.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced construction of 1,600 new apartment units in Arab East Jerusalem. Stunned and humiliated, Biden issued a statement saying he "condemned" the decision.

He then retaliated by coming late to dinner at Bibi's house.

Netanyahu has apologized for the timing, but they are going ahead with the apartments. What are the Americans going to do about it? At this point, nothing but bluster.

Indeed, a day later, at Tel Aviv University, Joe was back at it: "(T)he U.S. has no better friend ... than Israel."

On his departure for Jordan, Ha'aretz reported that Israel plans to build 50,000 new homes in East Jerusalem over the next few years.

Biden may feel he was played for a fool, and Americans may feel jilted, but we got what grovelers deserve. And if we wish to understand why the Arabs who once respected us now seem contemptuous of us, consider that battered-spouse response to a public slap across the face.

Consider also the most remarkable statement of Biden's first 24 hours.

"Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel."

Biden is saying we are a more effective force for Mideast peace in a region where Arabs outnumber Israelis 50 to one if everyone knows we sing from the same song sheet as Israel and have no policy independent of Israel's.

How can America be seen as an honest broker between Arabs and Israelis if there is "no space" between America and Israel?

Even with the closest ally in our history, Britain in World War II, there was space between Winston Churchill and FDR on where to invade — North Africa, Italy, France, the Balkans? — whether to beat Stalin to Berlin, Prague and Vienna, who should be supreme allied commander, even whether the British Empire should survive.

Israel keeps its own interests foremost in mind, and when these dictate actions inimical to U.S. interests, Israel acts unilaterally. David Ben-Gurion did not seek Dwight Eisenhower's permission to attack Egypt in collusion with the French and British in 1956, enraging Ike.

Israel did not consult JFK on whether it could steal enriched uranium from the NUMEC plant in Pennsylvania for its atom bomb program.

Israel did not consult us on whether it could attack the USS Liberty in the Six-Day War, or suborn Jonathan Pollard to loot our security secrets, or transfer our weapons technology to China. They went ahead and did it, knowing the Americans would swallow hard and take it.

Ehud Olmert did not consult President-elect Obama on whether to launch a war on Gaza and kill 1,400 Palestinians. Nor did Netanyahu consult us before Mossad took down the Hamas minister in Dubai.

What Netanyahu and Yishai are telling Obama with their decision to keep building on occupied land is, "When it comes to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, we decide, not you."

And if Netanyahu has jolted Joe and others out of their romantic reveries about Israel, good. At least now we no longer see as through a glass darkly.

Israeli and U.S. interests often run parallel, but they are not the same. Israel is concerned with a neighborhood. We are concerned with a world of 300 million Arabs and a billion Muslims. Our policies cannot be the same.

If they are, we will end up with all of Israel's enemies, who are legion, and only Israel's friends, who are few.

And if our policy and Israel's are one and the same, the Arab perception will be what it is today — that America cannot stand up to Israel, even when her national interests command it.

Joe's performance before he got the wet mitten across the face only underscored the point: The mighty superpower is a poodle of Israel.

Source Article March 15th, 2010:- Pat Buchanan Blog

Abe Foxman’s League of Extraordinary Hypocrites

Did you hear about Abe Foxman’s racist tirade? Get a load of this: “We are shocked and stunned at the Administration’s tone and public dressing down of Israel,” Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman said in a statement. “We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States.” This was his response to Vice President Joe Biden’s condemnation of Israel’s plan to construct 1,600 more homes for Jewish settlers in disputed East Jerusalem.

Have you ever heard such racism directed at the administration of our first black President? My God, he practically called him the N-word. Maybe he forgot to read the opening paragraph of his own report entitled “Rage Grows in America” which states “Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence.”

Looks like dishonest Abe is guilty of the very same anti-Obama rhetoric that he levels against members of the Tea Party movement, “Birthers”, and so-called conspiracy theorists.

Hasn’t he been watching the news? Does he not know that all criticism of the Obama administration stems from a deep-seated anger and hatred of blacks? Perhaps he needs to be reminded of the accusations of the mentally ill actress Jeanine Garofalo who, during an interview with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, hatefully described town hall protestors as racist rednecks who hate black people. Or how about former president Jimmy Carter who stated that criticism of Barack Obama shows that there is an “inherent feeling” in America that a black man should not be President.

So what are we to think? Does Abe Foxman pose a threat to Obama and his administration? Far be it from me to level those charges. But if we are to believe the latest report issued by the Simon Weisenthall Center that equates those who question the government as racists and terrorists then I suppose we would be justified in coming to that conclusion.

But I guess everybody is a terrorist these days, aren’t they? Simply standing in the vicinity of someone espousing radical viewpoints is enough for someone to level the” guilty by association” charge at you. If someone visits your website and posts racist rants or attends your Tea Party function flying a Nazi flag, that is enough evidence for some to accuse you of sharing the same brain. Well, using that same criteria, I suppose we can level the same accusations right back at the ADL and Abe Foxman for their association with known racists and criminals. Consider this page from the ADL website: adl.org

It is an article by former Orange County (California) Sheriff Michael S. Carona. There is a flattering biography at the end of the page that exalts his achievements and concludes by stating:

In 2002 he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Emergency Response Senior Advisory Committee for the Homeland Security Council. Reporting to Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Sheriff Carona is one of only fifteen members from the United States and is the only Sheriff on the Committee.

What they don’t tell you is that this disgraced, racist scumbag is now a convicted felon who is staring down a five-year prison sentence for witness tampering. What they don’t tell you is that this former Bush appointee is on secret FBI recordings using the word “n***er” repeatedly and dubbing his penis as “The Little Sheriff”. And that’s not the only corrupt, racist ex-cop whom Foxman has ties. Tim Carroll, a former San Diego Sheriff’s detective was once in charge of security for the ADL’s annual convention. This is a guy who is on record for stating that he would like to see “all illegal aliens shot” and “all the n***ers sent back to Africa on a banana boat.” So, Mr. Foxman, if you would have us believe that you are known by the company you keep, then am I to assume that you too are a racist bigot? I’m sure you would deny the accusation. But don’t try to deny the fact that racism is something that can be found to exist in every single ethnic group in America—even your own. Want proof? Try these racist rantings on for size…

“Obama deserves to get shot!”

“White power! F*ck the N***ers!”

“We’re coming for you, Obama!”

Are these the declarations of white Christian Americans dissatisfied by Obama policies? NO! These are the hate-fueled anti-Obama slurs propagated by American Jews visiting Jerusalem in June 2009. Don’t believe me? See for yourself. The following link will take you to Max Blumenthal’s video entitled “Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem”: Largest Minority

But don’t pay any attention to those remarks Mr. And Mrs. law enforcement. You wouldn’t want to be accused of being an anti-Semite, would you? Besides, you’ve got more important fish to fry; like that soccer mom who lost her son in Iraq. You know, that woman hoisting a big sign that says “No More Wars for Israel”. That thing could be a dangerous weapon if not handled properly. It’s got very pointy corners and just might put someone’s eye out.

Source Article - March 17, 2010:- Rebel News

The Petraeus briefing: Biden’s embarrassment is not the whole story

On Jan. 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a team of senior military officers from the U.S. Central Command (responsible for overseeing American security interests in the Middle East), arrived at the Pentagon to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The team had been dispatched by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus to underline his growing worries at the lack of progress in resolving the issue. The 33-slide, 45-minute PowerPoint briefing stunned Mullen. The briefers reported that there was a growing perception among Arab leaders that the U.S. was incapable of standing up to Israel, that CENTCOM's mostly Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises, that Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region, and that Mitchell himself was (as a senior Pentagon officer later bluntly described it) "too old, too slow ... and too late."

The January Mullen briefing was unprecedented. No previous CENTCOM commander had ever expressed himself on what is essentially a political issue; which is why the briefers were careful to tell Mullen that their conclusions followed from a December 2009 tour of the region where, on Petraeus's instructions, they spoke to senior Arab leaders. "Everywhere they went, the message was pretty humbling," a Pentagon officer familiar with the briefing says. "America was not only viewed as weak, but its military posture in the region was eroding." But Petraeus wasn't finished: two days after the Mullen briefing, Petraeus sent a paper to the White House requesting that the West Bank and Gaza (which, with Israel, is a part of the European Command -- or EUCOM), be made a part of his area of operations. Petraeus's reason was straightforward: with U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military had to be perceived by Arab leaders as engaged in the region's most troublesome conflict.

[UPDATE: A senior military officer denied Sunday that Petraeus sent a paper to the White House.

"CENTCOM did have a team brief the CJCS on concerns revolving around the Palestinian issue, and CENTCOM did propose a UCP change, but to CJCS, not to the WH," the officer said via email. "GEN Petraeus was not certain what might have been conveyed to the WH (if anything) from that brief to CJCS."

(UCP means "unified combatant command," like CENTCOM; CJCS refers to Mullen; and WH is the White House.)]

The Mullen briefing and Petraeus's request hit the White House like a bombshell. While Petraeus's request that CENTCOM be expanded to include the Palestinians was denied ("it was dead on arrival," a Pentagon officer confirms), the Obama administration decided it would redouble its efforts -- pressing Israel once again on the settlements issue, sending Mitchell on a visit to a number of Arab capitals and dispatching Mullen for a carefully arranged meeting with the chief of the Israeli General Staff, Lt. General Gabi Ashkenazi. While the American press speculated that Mullen's trip focused on Iran, the JCS Chairman actually carried a blunt, and tough, message on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: that Israel had to see its conflict with the Palestinians "in a larger, regional, context" -- as having a direct impact on America's status in the region. Certainly, it was thought, Israel would get the message.

Israel didn't. When Vice President Joe Biden was embarrassed by an Israeli announcement that the Netanyahu government was building 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem, the administration reacted. But no one was more outraged than Biden who, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, engaged in a private, and angry, exchange with the Israeli Prime Minister. Not surprisingly, what Biden told Netanyahu reflected the importance the administration attached to Petraeus's Mullen briefing: "This is starting to get dangerous for us," Biden reportedly told Netanyahu. "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace." Yedioth Ahronoth went on to report: "The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel's actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism." The message couldn't be plainer: Israel's intransigence could cost American lives.

There are important and powerful lobbies in America: the NRA, the American Medical Association, the lawyers -- and the Israeli lobby. But no lobby is as important, or as powerful, as the U.S. military. While commentators and pundits might reflect that Joe Biden's trip to Israel has forever shifted America's relationship with its erstwhile ally in the region, the real break came in January, when David Petraeus sent a briefing team to the Pentagon with a stark warning: America's relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers. Maybe Israel gets the message now.

Mark Perry's newest book is Talking To Terrorists

[UPDATE 2--from Mark Perry: A senior military officer told Foreign Policy by email that one minor detail in my report, "The Petraeus Briefing" was incorrect: a request from General Petraeus for the Palestinian occupied territories (but, as I made clear, not Israel itself), be brought within CENTCOM's region of operation was sent to JCS Chairman Mullen - and not directly to the White House. My information was based on conversations with CENTCOM officials, who believed they were giving me correct information. It is significant that the correction was made, not because it is an important detail, but because it is was inconsequential to the overall narrative. In effect, the U.S. military has clearly said there was nothing in this report that could be denied.]

Source Article March 13, 2010:- Mid East - Foreign Policy

Israel: Nationalist group urges model Bar Refaeli to marry Jewish, dump Leo DiCaprio

Rumored wedding bells for Bar Refaeli and Leonardo DiCaprio may ring true or false, but these are already being muffled by controversy.

Israel-bar-refaeli-getty Supermodel Bar Refaeli is one of Israel's most successful "exports." But with fame comes responsibility -- and now an Israeli organization is beseeching Refaeli not to wed Leonardo DiCaprio -- out of a responsibility to future generations.

"It is not by chance that you were born Jewish," wrote Baruch Marzel in a letter he sent Refaeli through her mother (and that promptly appeared in the press). "Your grandmother and her grandmother did not dream that one of their descendants would one day remove the family's future generations from the Jewish people. Assimilation has forever been one of the enemies of the Jewish people."

Marzel, a well-known stalwart among Israel's ultra-nationalists, appealed to Refaeli on behalf of an organization named "Lehava." In Hebrew, this means "flame:; it is also the Hebrew acronym for "Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land."

The organization, according to its Facebook page (in Hebrew) provides assistance to Jewish girls in relationships with non-Jews, especially Arabs. There are other organizations in Israel that specialize in extricating Jewish women from marriages and other relationships with Arabs. Last month, Yad L'achim held an event for 100 women "rescued from Arab villages."

DiCaprio is not Arab, of course. But for those concerned with the cultural implications of assimilation, it's not what Leo is but what he isn't -- Jewish.

This isn't personal, wrote Marzel, who was careful to open his letter stressing that he "has nothing against Mr. DiCaprio, who I have no doubt is a talented actor." Still, he implores Refaeli: "Come to your senses, look forward and back too -- and not only the present. Don't marry Leonardo DiCaprio, don't harm the future generations."

Four years ago, Marzel sent a similar letter to Israeli beauty queen Linor Abergil, asking her not to marry non-Jewish Lithuanian NBA player Sarunas Jasikevicius (Sharas, as he was called in Israel) and thus divorce the Jewish people. They did marry -- and later divorced.

Photo: Model Bar Refaeli arrives at the 2010 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter, held at Sunset Tower on March 7, 2010, in West Hollywood.

Source Article:- LA Times

Iceland Rejects Icesave Depositors Bill in Referendum

Icelanders overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would saddle each citizen with $16,400 of debt in protest at U.K. and Dutch demands that they cover losses triggered by the failure of a private bank, first results show.

Ninety-three percent voted against the so-called Icesave bill, according to preliminary results on national broadcaster RUV. Final results may be published tomorrow morning.

The bill would have obliged the island to take on $5.3 billion, or 45 percent of last year’s economic output, in loans from the U.K. and the Netherlands to compensate the two countries for depositor losses stemming from the collapse of Landsbanki Islands hf more than a year ago.

“Ordinary people, farmers and fishermen, taxpayers, doctors, nurses, teachers, are being asked to shoulder through their taxes a burden that was created by irresponsible greedy bankers,” said President Olafur R. Grimsson, whose rejection of the bill resulted in the plebiscite, in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday.

Failure to reach an agreement on the bill has left Iceland’s International Monetary Fund-led loan in limbo and prompted Fitch Ratings to cut its credit grade to junk. Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s have signaled they may follow suit if no settlement is reached.

‘Obsolete’

Political leaders have already moved on and are trying to negotiate a new deal with the U.K. and the Dutch, making the bill in today’s vote “obsolete,” Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said on March 4.

“This referendum is very peculiar and without any parallel in Iceland’s history,” said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a professor of political science at the University of Iceland, in an interview.

The Icesave deal passed through parliament with a 33 to 30 vote majority. Grimsson blocked it after receiving a petition from a quarter of the population urging him to do so. The government has said it’s determined any new deal must have broader political backing to avoid meeting a similar fate.

Even so, signs of disunity across the political divide have emerged, prompting concerns that the government may be forging ahead without the backing of opposition parties.

“It’s extremely important that we try in full to complete the negotiations in harmony with the opposition,” Sigurdardottir said. “If that’s not possible, we will have to try to resolve this by ourselves.”

Outrage

Icelanders used the referendum to express their outrage at being asked to take on the obligations of bankers who allowed the island’s financial system to create a debt burden more than 10 times the size of the economy.

The nation’s three biggest banks, which were placed under state control in October 2008, had enjoyed a decade of market freedoms following the government’s privatizations through the end of the 1990s and the beginning of this decade.

Protesters have gathered every week, with regular numbers swelling to about 2,000, according to police estimates. The last time the island saw demonstrations on a similar scale was before the government of former Prime Minister Geir Haarde was toppled.

Icelanders have thrown red paint over house facades and cars of key employees at the failed banks, Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki and Glitnir Bank hf, to vent their anger. The government has appointed a special commission to investigate financial malpractice and has identified more than 20 cases that will result in prosecution.

Economic Impact

The island’s economy shrank an annual 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the statistics office said yesterday, and contracted 6.5 percent in 2009 as a whole.

Household debt with major credit institutions has doubled in the past five years and reached about 1.8 trillion kronur ($14 billion) in 2009, compared with the island’s $12 billion gross domestic product, according to the central bank.

Icelanders, the world’s fifth-richest per capita as recently as 2007, ended 2009 18 percent poorer and will see their disposable incomes decline a further 10 percent this year, the central bank estimates.

Grimsson, who has described his decision to put the depositor bill to a referendum as the “pinnacle of democracy,” says he’s not concerned about the economic fallout of his decision.

“The referendum has drawn back the curtain and people see on the stage the matter in a new perspective,” he said in an interview. “That has strengthened our position and our cause.”

Source- March 6th:- Bloomberg

That was a war council in Damascus

The three-party meeting that took place in Damascus on Friday gathering the Syrian president Bashar al Assad, the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was a war council to devise counterattack plans and assign tasks in the event of an Israeli offensive on one or all parties, wrote Abdelbari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds al Arabi.

“The timing of the meeting, the way it was undertaken and the ensuing press conference that was held at its conclusion, all point to a strategic coalition being reinforced. This is the build-up of a new front that will spearhead the confrontation with the US-Israeli alliance and whichever Arab countries that may, expressly or implicitly, be affiliated with it.”

The Iranian president said he expects war to break out somewhere between spring and summer of this year. Meanwhile, the Hizbollah chief vowed to strike the Israeli capital, its airports and power stations if Israel dared to attack Beirut’s critical infrastructure. “Indeed, we are being exposed to a new discourse here, an unprecedented sense of self-confidence and an unheard-of preparedness for retaliation.”

For its part, the Syrian leadership appears to have made up its mind to close off the US administration’s “trite and cheap” flirtation with Damascus and opted for bolstering its tactical partnership with Tehran.

Clatter over Iraqi vote is good news

It is a matter of several days before the Iraqi people go to the polls and have their say on their country’s political future. These national elections may bring Iraq great opportunities to thrive and develop, but they may also be the country’s last elections, commented Abdul Rahman al Rashed in the London-based newspaper Asharq al Awsat.

“The clatter we’re hearing and the heated media battles and polemics currently happening in Iraq in the lead-up to the elections prefigure a decisive outcome of the ballot polls. I don’t think that the past four years, during which an elected government was in power under Nouri al Maliki, will be reduplicated even if Mr al Maliki himself is reappointed prime minister.”

That’s because a number of factors on the ground will be changing as of next year. Most important of all, US troops will pull out of the country. And the US presence, besides the protection it offers to the opponents of the post-occupation regime, has had a political influence balancing out the competing forces. “Doubtless, the new foundations that were laid after the fall of Saddam’s regime won’t be easy to preserve in the absence of a US umbrella.” Still, whichever leadership ends up with the majority of the votes, the upcoming elections carry the hope that the rocking Iraqi ship will finally berth safely.

The uncertain fate of Arab Christians

Two months ago, Christians from Jerusalem, mostly clergymen from various sects, issued a statement about the dreadful conditions that Jerusalem and all Palestinian territories are facing under the Israeli occupation, wrote Redwan al Sayid, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Lebanon, in the UAE newspaper Al Ittihad.

Another statement then came from the Vatican diagnosing the status of “Eastern Christians”, as it labelled them, according to four main factors: the declining numbers of Christians in the Levant region due to intensive immigration; pressure Christians are subjected to in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Iraq; marginalisation and violence they are facing in other Arab states due to the rise of fundamentalist ideologies; and major schisms within the Arab Christian community resulting from the indifference of Christians of the western world.

A one-day conference was then convened under the theme of “Living Together: Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.” “I noted that Christians and Muslims in the Levant suffer from three main issues: the rise of fundamentalism, the perpetuity of the totalitarian state and the dreadfulness of the Zionist regime.” True, Israeli occupation has oppressed and humiliated Muslims and Christians alike, but Christians felt it most, precisely because they are a minority.

The effect of 10,000 detained Palestinians

“Israel holds in captivity more than 10,000 Palestinians as part of a scheme that no imperial power has undertaken before,” wrote Rimonda Hawa al Taweel in the comment pages of the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds. Locking up such a large number of Palestinians has multifarious implications. First, it bespeaks Israel’s ill will regarding any peace initiative.

“It seems that Israel wants to make peace with itself rather than with its ‘enemies’. For peace would cost it the critical foe that unifies it internally.”

Second, with so many of their loved ones in jail, Palestinians will quite naturally never stop their resistance or relinquish their struggle for freedom. Israel wrongly thinks those 10,000 Palestinians are “hostages” that will dishearten the resistance, but the exact opposite is true. These inhumane incarcerations rather sow the seeds of a deeper hatred for Israel in the next generations. If Israel doesn’t care about love because, as it claims, it can always command respect through intimidation, it can never root out abhorrence. “Let’s open the Palestinian prisoner files to the whole world, so it may read, learn and then decide.”

Source Article - March 01. 2010:-
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100301/OPINION/702289930/1006

Ernst Zundel released from German prison

MANNHEIM, Germany - Far-right German activist Ernst Zundel was freed after serving five years in prison for denying the Holocaust ever happened - something he wouldn't speak about Monday.

The 70-year-old had been extradited in 2005 from Canada, where he spent some additional time behind bars on the German warrant after having been deported from the United States for alleged immigration violations.

A crowd of 20 supporters on Monday morning clapped and shouted "bravo" as Zundel emerged from the prison in Mannheim. Some handed him flowers as he passed through the prison's steel gates.

"I'm back out after seven years, three weeks, three prisons and three countries," Zundel said, declining to comment when asked whether the Holocaust happened. He also served some time in prison in North America.

"It's kind of a sad situation; there's a lot to say. I'll certainly be careful not to offend anyone and their draconian laws."

Zundel was convicted on 14 counts of inciting hatred for years of anti-Semitic activities, including contributing to a Web site devoted to denying the Holocaust - a crime in Germany. The Web site's accessibility made it possible for German prosecutors to charge him.

Zundel and his supporters had argued he was exercising his right to free speech.

Ernst Zundel, Europe's most famous political Prisoner of Conscience, has been released from Mannheim Prison this morning, March 1st. Here he is with one of his defense attorneys, Dr. Herbert Schaller of Austria, both of them smiling broadly...

On Monday he gave no details about his future plans, saying only that he wanted to improve his health and would return to his home region in the Black Forest.

"Having spent the last seven years in a 'chicken coop,' I've gained a lot of weight. I have to lose that. I have to get checked out in a hospital," Zundel told reporters outside the Mannheim prison, though did not indicate that he was ill.

He said he was unsure if he would return to Canada, where he had lived in both Toronto and Montreal for years after emigrating in 1958. He was rejected twice for Canadian citizenship and moved to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, but was sent back to Canada in 2003.

In February 2005, a Canadian judge ruled that Zundel's activities were a threat to national security as well as "the international community of nations," clearing the way for his deportation to Germany later that year.

One of his lawyers on Monday criticized the five-year sentence in Germany as having been too severe, saying there had been a lack of justice due to the fact that the Holocaust is a sensitive subject in Germany.

"I'm happy that he made it," attorney Alexandra Rittershaus said. "It was a hard and frustrating time" during which she said he was initially not allowed to receive all of some 1,700 letters because officials feared it would "threaten his resocialization."

Supporters outside the prison called Zundel "a brave man" and "a victim of justice," while some maintained there still was no evidence that anyone was gassed to death at Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Meanwhile, another Holocaust disputer had his Austrian prison sentence reduced Monday from five years to four. Austrian author Gerd Honsik - who wrote "Hitler Innocent?" - was sentenced in April after being arrested in Spain, to where he had fled following his original 1992 conviction for writings that defended Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.

A Vienna court ruled Monday that Honsik's five-year sentence was too hefty.

Source article [the title has been changed to show our respect for Ernst, who is still subject to 'draconian' restrictions - editor]:-

Associated Press: Zundel

Note to Whites: Animals Aren’t Children, May Actually Kill You

Dawn Brancheau, the 40-year-old White woman killed by a (surprise) killer whale, was married and had no children. But “she loved the animals like they were her own children”, a family member says.

Allow for a moment my angle on this, which I realize isn’t shared by some White advocates: Dawn Brancheau represents a disturbing trend among Whites whereby puppies, kittens, dogs, cats, horses, orangutans and other beasts are considered their “children.” They collect them, work with them, hoard them, fawn over them and spend absurd amounts of money on them. Meanwhile, they have no actual children — and I’m betting it’s not often because they’re biologically unable.

My unclinical opinion is that this is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder, though possibly with a historical root in an evolutionarily-developed survival affinity for animals (unique to Whites) that can provide food and protection. The latter is understandable, but the former is a problem.

White women seem to be able to think of pretty much anything as their children — except natural children from their own wombs: adopted children from Africa, expensive houses, dogs, even killer whales. It has to stop. Dawn Brancheu was fit and attractive and probably would have borne great White children. Instead, she walked in front of nature’s moving train and got crushed. Can you hear the Black comedians joking about this one? (”Da lady got in the tank with killer whales. And guess what happened?”)

I’ll have to give them this one. Talk about survival of the fittest.

Christopher Donovan is the pen name of an attorney and former journalist

Source article:- The Occidental Observer Blog

Marrache law firm: once prestigious, now under scrutiny Ponzi Anyone?

GIBRALTAR -- The arrest of two of the three brothers who headed up the Marrache & Co law firm here has sent shudders through the financial services and legal sectors. The Financial Services Commission has withdrawn licences it had issued to Marrache, prompting the seizure of clients’ investment funds.

Whether lawyers at what was considered one of the best firms on the Rock had any inkling of what was afoot remains to be discovered. Last week, Benjamin and Solomon Marrache, the two brothers facing multi-million pound fraud charges, were refused bail and remanded in prison by the Magistrates Court. Stipendiary Magistrate Charles Pitto said there was a high risk of the two men fleeing Gibraltar as the police probe into the affairs of Marrache & Co intensified. Attorney General Ricky Rhoda, QC, said the scale of the alleged fraud appeared to be larger than investigators first thought. If convicted, the brothers could spend up to 10 years in jail. Supposedly if more wrong doing is discovered, their future lives behind bars may be extended.

Benjamin and Solomon appeared in court last week jointly charged with falsely accounting $5.6 million Canadian dollars and 2.1 million euros belonging to Malory Holdings and Remus Enterprises. That is in addition to the charges of falsifying documents to conceal 1.8 million euros of missing money belonging to another client they already face. Prosecutors claim they falsified ledgers to show that they held the clients’ money when in fact it was missing.

Initially they had been granted bail on hefty sureties but now Mr Pitto has sent them to a cell in the Moorish Castle instead. The defence lawyers had sought to highlight the defendants' strong local ties but that argument is weakened by the absence of the other senior Marrache partner – Isaac, brother to the jailed duo. He was out of the country when his siblings were arrested and seems reluctant to return. An international arrest warrant is probably in the offing. The case is similar to that of Marbella’s former deputy mayor Carlos Fernandez, who at the time of the ‘Malaya’ town planning corruption case arrests was walking the Camino de Santiago – and has kept walking to this very day.

The company’s and clients’ affairs are now being handled by a committee made up of the four senior partners of Hassans, Isola & Isola, Triay Stagnetto Neish and Triay & Triay – the Rock’s four other major firms. The committee is overseeing the distribution of live cases to other local lawyers in order to protect the interests of Marrache clients.

What I find strange about cases such as this was the certainty that they would be found out. If you were a fraudster you could set up a fake investment account, attract gullible investors, then make off with 1.8 million euros. However the Marrache’s have allegedly misappropriated nearly ten million in Canadian dollars and euros – their misdeeds covered by a few flimsy pieces of forged letters so assuring that sooner rather than later their legal house would come tumbling down.

Also a rogue father, son, mother or daughter has in the past often brought down or shaken the very foundations of the family concern. Here it appears we have three suspect brothers who if proved guilty presumably colluded in the fraud. This is behaviour more akin to the mafia. In which case one has to ask the question – are there other people in Marrache’s who were involved?

Once this case comes to court the proverbial will hit the fan and it will be spread over Gibraltar’s legal and financial sectors. Their very integrity will undoubtedly be questioned because if you can’t trust Marrache in Gibraltar terms who can you trust? What is certain is that future students of law and human nature will study the proceedings of the Marrache case with keen interest.

(The photograph here was sent to me last year by Marrache during fanfare announcing their sponsorship of this race car. Whether the driver behind the wheel is Isaac making a quick getaway I know not.)

Source: http://dscriber.com/

Bernard-Henri Lévy caught out by fake philosopher

Bernard-Henri Lévy

France's best-known philosopher, Bernard-Henri Lévy, has become the butt of intellectual ridicule after copiously quoting a leading authority on Kant who, it transpires, is a modern-day hoax.

Mr Lévy, who in France goes simply by his initials BHL, has been doing the media rounds to promote his new work, On War in Philosophy.

In his book, which has received lavish praise from some quarters, the open-shirted Mr Lévy lays into the philosopher Immanuel Kant as being unhinged and a "fake". To support his claims, he cites a certain Jean-Baptiste Botul, whom he describes as a post-War authority on Kant.

But the chorus of approval turned to laughter after a journalist from Le Nouvel Observateur pointed out that Mr Botul does not exist: he is a fictional character created in by a contemporary satirical journalist, Frédéric Pagès.

Alarm bells should have rung given that Mr Pagès, a journalist with Le Canard Enchaîneé, a satirical weekly, has penned one book under the Botul pseudonym entitled The Sex Life of Immanuel Kant.

He has even given rise to a school of philosophical thought called Botulism – a play on words with the lethal disease – and has created a theory of "La Metaphysique du Mou" the Metaphysics of the Flabby.

But Mr Lévy missed the joke, citing Mr Botul from a "series of lectures to the neo-Kantians of Paraguay" he supposedly gave after the war, in which he said that "their hero was an abstract fake, a pure spirit of pure appearance".

Aude Lancelin, the Nouvel Obs journalist who spotted the blunder, said it was tantamount to "a nuclear gaffe that raises questions on the Lévy method".

Mr Lévy took the humiliation on the chin last night in appearances in a series of evening TV shows. "I found the book astonishing," he said, adding that Mr Pagès was a "very good philosopher.

"Hats off to the this invented but truer than real life Kant whose portrait, whether signed by Botul or Pagès still seems in line with my idea of (the philosopher)," he told the Libération.

Mr Pagès kept up the joke last night, saying: "It has never been firmly established that Botul didn't exist and it cannot thus be ruled out that one day history will prove Bernard-Henri Lévy right."

Source Aricle - 09 Feb 2010: www.telegraph.co.uk

Bus Assault Pensioner

Thomas Bruso confronts the younger black man on the bus. He starred in a YouTube clip last year.

Bus assault pensioner, 67, starred in second YouTube altercation last August... when he was Tasered by police./

The 67-year-old man captured in a YouTube video beating up a fellow bus passenger was involved in another altercation that became an internet hit last year.

Thomas Bruso was Tasered twice by police last August at an Oakland A's baseball game.

The 6ft 1ins, 20 stone pensioner - who calls himself 'Tom Slick,' 'Vietnam Tom' and 'Epic Beard Man' - was confronted by stadium staff when he brought alcohol into the stadium.

When Bruso refused to leave, Coliseum security asked Oakland police officers working at the game to eject him.

Three officers verbally tried several times to get Bruso to leave, but he refused.

The situation quickly escalated after Bruso made a rude gesture at one of the two officers.

They then placed a handcuff on Bruso's left wrist.

A third officer arrived with a Taser, stunning the man in the left shoulder blade while another officer was placing the other cuff on Bruso's right wrist.

The third officer applied the Taser on Bruso again, this time near the middle of his back, which caused Bruso to fall forward into an aisle.

He was charged with resisting arrest and taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

The latest altercation involving Bruso began when a younger black man began yelling at him as the pair sat across from one another on the bus.

Bruso was taken to the John George Psychiatric Pavilion for an evaluation after he struck the male passenger several times and continued to rant about the incident, Alameda County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said.

[...]

Bruso stands up and takes a vicious swipe at the other bus passenger.

The young black man appears to throw the first punch, but the 67 year old retaliates  with a flurry of punches to his face.

The video footage of the men fighting has sparked a race row in the U.S after it became an internet sensation.

The 20-stone pensioner beats the younger man to the ground as other passengers look on.

A video of the brawl captured by a college student, Iyanna Washington, showed the two men speaking to each from across the aisle near the centre or rear of the bus.

Within minutes, an argument broke out and quickly escalated.

Bruso incensed the man by asking: 'How much you charge me for a spit shine?'

The younger man then ordered Bruso away from him, to the front of the bus.

Bruso angrily stalked to the front, followed by the younger man who continued to yell at Bruso.

The exchange continued with the goading of other passengers until finally the younger man struck him.

Bruso stood up and returned the blows, beating the man until he fell to the floor with a bloody nose.

Confrontation: The  unnamed bus passenger before the fight broke out.

AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson said the younger man's nose was broken. No one was arrested.

'He (expletive) hit me. He expletive) hit me in the face,' the enraged Bruso bellowed after the driver escorted him off the bus.

'I'm 67 years old and I'm not getting killed,' he screamed.

The video has had around 700,000 hits on YouTube, although many more will have seen the row after several blogs picked it up.

The woman who filmed the fight has also been accused of stealing the older man's bag, although she denies this and has posted her own video on YouTube to refute the allegations.

Several spoof versions of the bus fight have now appeared online, including one where the 67-year-old has been turned into a character from the video game Mortal Kombat.

The event even has its own Wikipedia entry.

Source Article: www.dailymail.co.uk