This op-ed over at Al Jazeera reminds me of an awful lot of communist and fascist writings as published in Europe in the first (and communist / socialist; also second half) of the 20th century; radical idealism hiding behind a mask of intellectualism. (more…)

Islamists have threatened a Christian Bishop in the Philippines… (H/T: UP Pompeii)

Philippine bishop reports receiving threat to convert to Islam

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — A bishop in the southern Philippines reported receiving a letter threatening him with harm if he does not convert to Islam or pay “Islamic taxes.”

Such brazenness in a country where over 86% of the population is Christian, 9% is Muslim and the remaining 5% is divided among various groups such as: Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, animists and non-believers.

Even if those who sent these letters are no more than common criminals who use religion as a mere tool, the fact that they chose to represent themselves as Muslims is in itself significant. But Muslim brazenness does not stop there, unfortunately, this one is far from an isolated case! Remember the kidnapped and murdered Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Mgr Faraj Rahho? What about the plight of Assyrian Christians in Iraq? What about the Sabian Mandaeans? Or the plight of Christians girls kidnapped in Nigeria by practitioners of the Religion of Peace? What about the treatment of Christian Copts in Egypt? Ot the threats against Western politicians like Geert Wilders or Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi? The list, gentle reader, goes on and on ad nauseum…

You may read the rest at: Freedom’s Cost

Yes, gentle reader, believe it or not the Joo has no horns, no tail. We are as human as the rest of you, we bleed, we cry, we laugh, we suffer, we sing and we too can have our hearts shuttered… But… if you look at Jewish history… we were attacked by the greatest empires, they all even held us under their individual yoke for a while and then… they disappeared! Yet… while we Jooz were decimated by the millions, while the hatred of the world at our stubbornness never abated we cried, we prayed, we hoped and died with the word “Jerusalem” on our lips! And so in 1948 of the Current Era - symbolically, Abraham was born in 1948 in the Hebrew calendar - we once again got our own independent Jerusalem.

We will survive the MSM and their hypocrisy, even though the UN’s Human Rights Council will never bring itself to discuss the Jews’ cause. We will survive the IslamoFascists hatred as they will eventually burn up in the pyre of their own poison. Yes, gentle reader, if you prick us we do bleed, if you poison us we do die… but, like the mythical phoenix, we always rise from our ashes and accomplish the impossible! Look at Israel today, a prosperous garden in the desert, a center of science and technology where there was only sand and poverty!!!

You may read the rest on: Freedom’s Cost

I was away this past week I barely had any internet access, the week however was filled with disgrace!

Israel, has shown a new facet to the world… This is how the German perceived it according to Spiegel OnLine (H/T: IMRA):

The center-left daily Suddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“The macabre Israeli-Lebanese deal, which saw living Lebanese prisoners being swapped for the bodies of Israeli soldiers, is a major success for the Shiite militia.. The prisoner exchange shows who really has the power in Lebanon and who can force archenemy Israel to make concessions: It is Hezbollah, it is Nasrallah. That elevates the radicals’ image in Lebanon, inthe Arab world and in the Muslim world.”

[…]The new and obvious reality is that Israel has in fact rewarded and strengthened Hizbullah. Some in Lebanon refuse to cheer for Samir Kuntar,, since they perceive him as nothing more than the ruthless murderer he truly is. There is nothing heroic about killing an unarmed father and bludgeoning his 4 year old daughter to death with a rifle butt, after she witnessed her father savagely assassinated. And yet, Kuntar returned mostly as a hero, as someone worthy of admiration rather than contempt. I do not blame Hizbullah on this as much as I blame Allmerde and his entourage.

For the rest of this post, check out: Freedom’s Cost

“Killing is to continue until the unbelievers pay jizyah (subjugation tax) after they are humbled or overpowered,” the radical Pakistani cleric wrote in his book, “Islam and Modernism,” which in 2006 was translated from his native Urdu into English.Usmani advocates spreading sharia law in America and the West — the barbaric legal code that not only justifies holy war, but the stonings, floggings, amputations and even beheadings for petty crimes seen in Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan.The aim of Muslims, he wrote, is to “take out people from the rule of people and put them under the rule of Allah.”

You can be sure Usmani will make a case as being a victim of criminal Islamophobia. About his obvious Infidel-a-Phobia, however, no one will say a word! No doubt the multicultural crowd will claim that the capitalist Dow Jone has overreacted and will urge us all to be more understanding. At any moment I expect to see a statement from CAIR (although they seem to have their own little problem right now), and the various Muslim associations in the US, condemning Dow Jones move. While you are expecting the usual reactions… don’t hold your breath waiting for the UN Human Rights Council to condemn Infidel-a-Phobia, or to declare it a crime like they did in the case of Islamophobia.

Read the rest at: Freedom’s Cost

The Eurasia Monitor has published an excellent article about the campaign of disinformation and deliberate untruths waged by AKP sympathetic media outlets that was written by Gareth Jenkins of the Jamestown Foundation.  An interesting question is whether Ergenekon is a game, initially designed by the west, that is now craftily being played against them. (more…)

Authorities in Denmark have made several arrests in connection to a plot to kill one of the cartoonists that depicted the prophet of Islam. They were planning to murder 73-year-old Kurt Westergaard, the author of one of the most controversial cartoons (Mohammed with a bomb in his türban).

Secular societies also have sacred values. One of the most important ones  is free speech. Just another reminder of how eternally vigilant we have to be to keep this all-important right safe.

Gunmen have stormed an elementary school near Peshawar, in Pakistan, taking children and teachers hostage. There are conflicting accounts as to how many children are being held, with police reporting around 25, but others raising that number to 250. Apparently, the militants originally planned to kidnap a local health official, but were thwarted and in the process of escaping, went into the school and took the children.

Here’s hoping there isn’t a repeat of the Beslan tragedy, and all the children, and their teachers are safely released.

Update: The gunmen have released the children (final number around 200) and surrendered to tribal authorities. A happy ending, thank goodness.

Chanting “independence or death,” the shrouded women of the Persian revolutionary movement stormed the government building in Tehran. Demanding national independence and liberty, these women boldly unveiled, tossing their chadors to the ground in mass, public protest. Questioning the very manhood of the men who were an embarrassment to their fathers, these patriots threatened to take the lives of their sons, their husbands, in addition to their own, lest they live their remaining days in an occupied and stunted Persia.

This dramatic scene did not happen recently, nor did it occur during the more commonly understood Iranian Revolution of 1979. This happened during the waning days of a vibrant constitutional movement that would forever change the nation of Iran. From it they gained a parliament (or Majlis), and for the first time in Persian history, a set of rights and entitlements that didn’t flow from the crown or the cleric. Tradesmen, clergymen and secular intellectuals, men and women alike, desperately attempted to salvage the last vestiges of their young constitution from a despotic shah and his Cossack thugs.

(more…)

Pope Benedict XVI has no doubt invited more death threats and sanctimonious outrage upon himself following comments made on Thursday about the oppressive nature of political Islam:

Benedict XVI attacked Muslim nations where Christians are either persecuted or given the status of second-class citizens under the Shariah Islamic law.

He also defended the rights of Muslims to convert to Christianity, an act which warrants the death penalty in many Islamic countries.

His comments came almost exactly a year after he provoked a wave of anger among Muslims by quoting a Byzantine emperor who linked Islam to violence.

Yesterday, near Rome, the 80-year-old pontiff made a speech in “defence of religious liberty”, which, he said “is a fundamental, irrepressible, inalienable and inviolable right”. (more…)

Jeb has a good post today at Foreign Policy Watch on the democratic gains the Islamists have presumably made around the world.  Here’s the crux:

When put in positions of power, most Islamist parties have pursued an agenda of expanding political freedoms, increasing judicial power, and establishing stronger human rights laws. Put simply, they’ve worked to strengthen democracy, not undermine it. The two most clear examples of this are in Egypt and Turkey. In Egypt, when the Brotherhood won around 20% of the seats in parliament in 2005, they began a major push that, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, centered around achieving “genuine political reform in Egypt.” Indeed, rather than trying to establish themselves permanently in positions of power, or attempting to create a hard-line authoritarian state, Brotherhood parliamentarians have in the past few years worked to build up democratic institutions and establish human rights norms in Egypt. In Turkey, when the AKP party won big in 2002, they didn’t overthrow democracy either. On the contrary, they have generally worked to strengthen democratic institutions, and have actually made major inroads on expanding civil rights for women and Kurds.

To some extent, I agree here with Jeb.  I think it’s true that you’ll see Islamists move to use democratic institutions in order to gain power; however I must take issue with his three examples of ideal, Islamic democracy. 

Jordan is in fact a constitutional monarchy, wherein the king can veto laws and dissolve the courts as he sees fit.  The legislature can overturn his veto with a 2/3 vote, however the executive maintains stewardship over the constitutional foundation of the country.  Same goes for Egypt, where Mubarak has “governed” for over twenty-five years.  The elections of 2005 were marred by controversy, and human rights groups like Amnesty International and HRW have repeatedly condemned Mubarak’s regime for stifling unrest and demonstration, which often stems from the Islamists. 

Michael is far more qualified than I to speak on Turkey, but to my knowledge, Turkey has a longstanding legal foundation based on a mostly secular style of law and government.  This is why the recent elections have caused some unease throughout the country, fearing a reversion to a pre-Ataturk society.

In all three cases, you have a state apparatus protecting the foundation of a predominantly secular government, vis-a-vis coercion or law.  In other words, the Islamists are allowed to participate, while kept at an arm’s length.  Perhaps with good reason–a better example of truly Islamic “democracy” is probably the Gaza Strip, where spoon fed elections created an anarchic scenario in which the majority party’s armed wing imposed total control over its own government.

Peter Viereck once said, while writing on the conservatism of Count Joseph de Maistre, that constitutional institutions were ”rooted in hearts, not handwriting.”  The three examples provided by Jeb have in fact relied on the state in some capacity to keep the Islamists at bay, lest they be allowed to blur the lines between Qur’an and state.         

(Cross posted at my blog)