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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/what-about-the-arab-apartheid.php
March 16, 2010 5:00 AM
by Khaled Abu ToamehWhat About The Arab Apartheid?
How come the Lebanese students who recently talked about Israel's "war crimes" in the Gaza Strip during Israel Apartheid Week on many North American college campuses had nothing to say about the fact that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been massacred in Lebanon over the past four decades?
Dozens of refugees were killed and hundreds wounded in the three-month offensive that also destroyed thousands of houses inside the refugee camp. Reporters said it was the worst internal violence in Lebanon since the civil war that hit the country between 1975-1990. And just three years ago, the Lebanese Army used heavy artillery to bomb the Nahr-al-Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon.
Yet who has ever heard of a United Nations resolution condemning Syria or Lebanon for committing horrific atrocities or discriminating against the Palestinians?
The Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian students and professors who took part in the anti-Israel events on campuses have clearly "forgotten" that their regimes probably have more Palestinian blood on their hands than Israel. In the early 1970s, the Jordanians slaughtered thousands of Palestinians in what has become known as Black September. Can somebody point to one United Nations resolution condemning that massacre?
And where was the United Nations when Kuwait and several Gulf countries expelled more than 400,000 Palestinians in one week? The exodus took place in March 1991, after Kuwait was liberated from Iraqi occupation. Ironically, the first week of March is being celebrated on university campuses as Israel Apartheid Week with no reference to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the Gulf.
Although there are more than 400,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon in twelve refugee camps -- which human rights organizations and Palestinians say have the worst living conditions of all the refugee camps in the Middle East -- as in most of the Arab countries, these Palestinians have been assigned the status of "foreigners," a fact which has deprived them of health care, social services, property ownership and education.
Even worse, Lebanese law bans Palestinians from working in many jobs. This means that Palestinians cannot work in the public services and institutions run by the government such as schools and hospitals. Unlike Israel, Lebanese public hospitals do not admit Palestinians for medical treatment or surgery.
Can somebody imagine the outcry of the international community if Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed a law today prohibiting Arabs from working in certain professions or receiving medical treatment? Ironically, the Arab citizens of Israel enjoy more rights in the Jewish state than their Palestinians brothers do in any Arab country.
The same applies to Palestinians living in most of the Arab countries.
While Israel has never stripped its Arab citizens of their citizenship, Jordan has begun revoking the...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/why-is-it-that-only.php
March 16, 2010 4:30 AM
by Michael YoungJust what does Barack Obama stand for?
Judging from the Obama administration's performance recently, it's hard to tell. If we take a random selection of values or principles that might be guiding the US in the region, we enter a policy fog, the frequent over-reliance on style at the expense of substance. One can say many things about George W. Bush's years in office, positive and negative, but he never sinned through ambiguity. A year into Obama's term, however, ambiguity and disorientation are presidential trademarks in the Middle East.
Does the administration stand for democracy, for example, or more broadly has it made human rights principles a centerpiece of its policy? Not really. During his campaign Obama consciously played down that...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/iran-thugs-in-clerical-dress-vs-the-sufis.php
March 15, 2010 5:00 AM
by Stephen Suleyman SchwartzIran: "Thugs in Clerical Dress" vs. The Sufis
Iran is locked in a stalemate between its clerical rulers, represented by the fanatical Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his puppet, the demagogic president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on one side, and the protesting masses, calling for "death to the dictatorship," on the other. The standoff, for an oppositional movement that appeared ready to sweep the Tehran usurpers aside, became visible on February 11, the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Islamic Revolution.
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/a-twenty-page-healthcare-bill-in-plain-english.php
March 15, 2010 4:45 AM
by Betsy McCaugheyA TWENTY-PAGE HEALTHCARE BILL IN PLAIN ENGLISH
REDUCES PREMIUMS AND HELPS LAID-OFF AMERICANS
THIS BILL IS NOT DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH OR YOUR FREEDOM
CONTAINS NO MANDATES ON INDIVIDUALS OR STATES
This bill recognizes that states have regulated health insurance for over six decades, consistent with the McCarran-Ferguson Act (1945). Some states have taken smart approaches to lowering costs and expanding access, especially to people with pre-existing conditions. This bill copies what works, not what has failed.
Title 1: Liberates consumers to buy policies from other states, and puts consumers on notice that the products they buy out-of-state may have different consumer protections than those imposed in their own state. This title also imposes federal consumer protections on plans sold interstate, ensuring that those plans prohibit rescission and protect consumers who have paid their premiums from being dropped.
Title 2: Provides federal incentives for states to establish medical courts, ensuring quicker, fairer verdicts in medical liability cases and at the same time preserving every litigant's right to trial by jury. Medical courts will be presided over by a judge who knows the issues, has the experience, can identify honest expert witnesses and reduce the impact of those who are not honest. Tort law has always been a matter left to states. This bill does not mandate that states establish medical courts or attempt to federalize tort law. It does provide block grants to states to impose caps on damages and, more importantly, to establish medical courts. "Why just cap unjust damage awards when you can eliminate them by having expert judges?" asks McCaughey.
Title 3: Provides federal incentives for states to establish or improve subsidized high risk pools to help consumers with pre-existing conditions and poor health. This concept is similar to what is also proposed in the Patients' Choice Act, supported by Senator Tom Coburn. No state is required to establish these pools.
Title 4: Extends the current 65% COBRA subsidy, established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The President's fiscal 2011 budget also contains such an extension. Republicans are likely to find this an important common ground. COBRA subsidies are not a permanent entitlement but rather a temporary helping hand to those who have been laid off. The average COBRA annual premium for a family of four is $13, 322, a big price tag when you've lost your job. "For over half of uninsured Americans legally in this country, being uninsured is a temporary problem. They find another job and are insured again in less than a year. We need to help them in between jobs," says McCaughey.
The ten year cost of Titles 1, 2 and 3 of this bill is $27 billion (or $2.7 billion per year). The COBRA extension is already included in the President's fiscal 2011 budget. Funding this COBRA subsidy could cost $24 billion per year and provide coverage for an estimated 7 million people.
---------------------------------------------------- A TWENTY-PAGE BILL IN PLAIN ENGLISH TO REDUCE PREMIUMS AND HELP LAID -OFF AMERICANSTHIS BILL IS NOT DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH OR YOUR FREEDOM
CONTAINS NO MANDATE ON STATES OR INDIVIDUALS
DEFINITION: SHORT TITLE; PURPOSE.
(a) Short Title. - This Act may be cited as the "Mandate Free Act for Reducing the Number of Uninsured Americans..
(b) Purpose. - The purpose of this Act is to make health insurance more affordable and dependable without imposing mandates on states or individuals.
Table of Contents
Title 1: Promoting Free Market Competition and Consumer Protections Across State Lines
Title 2: Incentives for States to Reduce Medical Liability Costs
Title 3: Incentives for States to Establish or Improve High Risk Pools
Title 4: Helping Industrious Americans Buy Coverage Between Jobs
This bill is limited to twenty pages in length to ensure that it is accessible to the public and readable by Members of Congress before they vote on it.
TITLE 1 - PROMOTING FREE MARKET COMPETITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTIONS ACROSS STATE LINES
SEC. 101. INTERSTATE PURCHASING OF HEALTH INSURANCE
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/behind-the-burqa-debate-in-europe.php
March 12, 2010 5:00 AM
by Valentina ColomboEurope: Behind the Burqa Debate
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, talking in an ornate chamber of the Palace of Versailles last June, 2009, started a new controversy when he said: "In our country we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity. The burqa is not a religious sign. It is a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic"
This followed the 2004 ban on "religious symbols" -- among them, the hijab or simple head-cover, in French public schools.
The ban, however, is not a matter of bias against Islam as some Islamists say, but of...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-euro-we-give-you-cash-you-give-us-corfu.php
March 11, 2010 5:00 AM
by Paul BelienThe Euro: "We Give You Cash, You Give Us Corfu"
Does the crisis over Greece and the euro mean that the European Union (EU) member states should be brought under central "economic governance"? Yes, say the European institutions and France. No, says Germany, the EU's paymaster who refuses to keep paying the expenses of others.
The creation of a central "European economic government" is one of the pet projects of French President Sarkozy. On Friday Yves Leterme, the Prime Minister of Belgium, proposed a common Eurozone finance ministry and the creation of a European Debt Agency. "The EDA would take over the existing debt instruments and issue new ones," he said. Belgium is often used as a spokesperson by France, one of the EU's heavyweights, when Paris wants to launch new ideas.
Chancellor Merkel, however, is reluctant to "integrate" Germany's economic policies under centralized EU governance. For many Germans the lesson from the current euro crisis is that it was wrong to give up Germany's monetary instruments and exchange the Deutsche Mark for a common currency with countries such as Greece, Portugal and Spain. Contrary to Messrs. Barroso, Sarkozy, Van Rompuy and Leterme, the Germans do not see the Greek crisis as an argument for more European economic centralization, but rather the opposite.
Chancellor Merkel is confronted with a public opinion that is unwilling to pay the debts of other countries out of "solidarity." The Germans are exasperated with the Greeks. When Greece joined the eurozone in 1999, it had to promise to adhere to the EU's budget rules. It failed to do so, but covered this up, falsifying the official figures which it submitted to the EU. A recent re-examination of the Greek budget reports shows that Athens has not met the standards in any year except 2006.
Last Thursday, Greece managed to borrow €5 billion from investors. This was done in ten-year bonds against a high interest of 6.4 percent. The bond issue was oversubscribed, indicating that the markets reacted positively to the Greek austerity plan presented earlier last week. The danger, however, of a bankruptcy of the Greek state, which risks dragging down the euro, the currency which Greece shares with 15 other EU member states - the so-called eurozone - has not been averted. The euro's problems are far from over.
Greece needs another €15 billion to pay the interest on...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/baghdad-surprise-maliki-advance-over-allawi-reduced-to-4-seats.php
March 11, 2010 4:30 AM
by Pierre AkelBaghdad Surprise: Maliki Advance Over Allawi Reduced to 4 Seats
US sources in Baghdad revealed to our Baghdad correspondent that the difference between the number of seats obtained by the list headed by PM Nouri el Maliki and those obtained by his nearest competitor, Iyad Allawi, has been reduced to 4 or 5 seats only. M. Nouri el Maliki shall obtain a maximum of 86 seats in Iraq's coming parliament while Iyad Allawi shall be at the head of a group of around 82 deputies.
The list of the Supreme Council headed by Ammar el Hakim is expected to obtain 45 seats, while the Kurds shall total 62 to 65 seats.
In detail, and from US sources:
In Mosul: Maliki 0, Allawi 21 seats
In Anbar:
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-female-jihad-1.php
March 10, 2010 5:00 AM
by Alexander Meleagrou-HitchensThe Female Jihad
As the United States and Europe have slowly come to terms with the grim reality of the Islamist terror threat, comment and analysis on how to deal with it have almost invariably concentrated on angry young males. What has frequently been overlooked is the role played by females on the peripheries of many terror plots in the West. Their involvement has ranged from encouraging their jihadi relatives, ensuring that their will to carry out the operation remains strong until the end, to withholding information from the authorities. Although the West has yet to see its first female suicide bomber, recent developments suggest that such an incident is likely, perhaps even inevitable.
Osama bin Laden prescribed a role for women in jihad in his 1996 declaration of war against America and its allies:
Our women had set a tremendous example for generosity in the cause of Allah; they motivate and encourage their sons, brothers and husbands to fight for
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-european-lobby-in-israel.php
March 10, 2010 4:30 AM
by Seth J. FrantzmanThe European Lobby in Israel
The EU, realizing it cannot get Israel to change its laws through diplomatic means, has resorted to creating an internal lobby - through lavish funding of NGOs -- to get Israel to bend.
Ever since the publication of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's The Israel Lobby there has been much talk of the "lobby." In England mainstream and respectable Channel 4 aired an entire program entitled Inside Britain's Israel Lobby which claimed the "lobby" "owns" the Conservative Party. Amidst all the talk of an Israel lobby in the West, people have ignored the growth of a lobby located in the Holy Land itself, the European lobby in Israel.
The European Parliament adopted the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) in 1994. This was part of the European Union's broader belief that "democracy and human rights are universal values that should be vigorously promoted around the world." The initiative was supposed to promote democratization through the promotion of "fair and free" elections and mainstreaming "democratic values" through "accountability, transparency and equality."
In 2007, a subtle change in the name of the EIDHR was made. The word "initiative" was changed to "instrument." This seemingly banal change may be a result of semantic arguments among EU staffers but it puts in words the increasingly meddlesome way the EU has chosen to work within Israel.
The EU may have realized...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/for-israels-arabs-it-is-not-apartheid.php
March 9, 2010 5:00 AM
by Khaled Abu ToamehFor Israel's Arabs It Is Not Apartheid
An Arab member of the Knesset who goes all the way to the US and Canada to tell university students and professors that Israel is an apartheid state is not only a hypocrite and a liar, but is also causing huge damage to the interests of his own Arab voters and constituents.
If Israel were an apartheid state, what is this Arab doing in the Knesset? Doesn't apartheid mean that someone like this Knesset member would not, in the first place, even be permitted to run in an election?
Fortunately, Arab citizens can go to the same beaches, restaurants and shopping malls as Jews in this "apartheid" state. Moreover, they can run in any election and even have a minister in the government [Ghaleb Majadlah] for the first time.
In this "apartheid" state, the Arab community has a free media that many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip envy. Ironically, an Arab newspaper in Nazareth or Haifa that is licensed by Israel enjoys more freedom than the media controlled by Hamas and Fatah, as well as most corrupt Arab dictatorships.
Ironically, this Knesset member who is complaining about apartheid enjoys more privileges than most Jews and Arabs in Israel. As a parliamentarian, he is entitled to do many things that an ordinary citizen cannot do, thanks largely to the immunity he enjoys as an elected official.
His parliamentary immunity allows him to enter areas that ordinary Jewish and Arab citizens do not have access to. This Knesset member, for example, travels to the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories which, for many years, have been off-limits to ordinary Israeli citizens.
This Knesset member also can sometimes even break the law by visiting "hostile" countries like Syria and Lebanon and holding public meetings with Hamas and Hizbullah leaders.
True, the Arab community inside Israel has long been facing real problems that need to be dealt with urgently. The main problem was and remains discrimination by the establishment, especially when it comes to employment, infrastructure and allocation of public funds and lands.
Nonetheless, the Arab citizens are not struggling for separation from Israel. Rather, they are fighting for...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/spain-co-who-teaches-anti-semitism-to-kids.php
March 9, 2010 4:40 AM
by Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhurySpain & Co.: Who Teaches Anti-Semitism to Kids?
Israel's ambassador in Spain, Rafi Shotz, received dozens of postcards -- hand-written, with messages such as "Jews kill for money," "Evacuate the country for Palestinians," and "Go to someplace where someone will be willing to accept you."
Israel's foreign ministry officials told the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, that the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years old.
"Apparently there are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel individuals who get permission to operate within schools," the official said. "Each time, the embassy has received several dozen postcards from a different school. And it seems as though whoever is doing this is moving from school to school."
Israeli government lodged a formal complaint with Spain on February 28, charging that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are being instilled in elementary students across parts of the country.
According to sources in the Foreign Ministry, this is an organized campaign by officials outside the education system in Spain who have been given permission to...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-trouble-with-deterrence-three-scenarios.php
March 9, 2010 4:30 AM
by William KatzTHE TROUBLE WITH DETERRENCE: THREE SCENARIOS
Unless conditions change drastically, Iran will have the atomic bomb. Maybe sooner, maybe later, but the Iranians will have it.
It doesn't matter, say some analysts. Iran can be deterred, as was the Soviet Union. Some say it might even be easier to deter Iran as the Soviets had a vastly greater military capability. The trouble with this argument is that rests on assumptions about deterrence as old as the concept itself, assumptions that often don't hold up.
Let's assume that the Iranians are completely rational. Under the theory of deterrence, this would mean they'd never use nuclear weapons out of fear that the United States would retaliate and destroy Iran.
But would we? Consider this scenario:
The likeliest Iranian target is Israel. If Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel,
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/uk-politicians-even-conservatives-embrace-islamists.php
March 8, 2010 5:00 AM
by A. MillarUK: Politicians (Even Conservatives) Embrace Islamists
David Cameron, has made it clear that the Conservative party, of which he is the head, has changed. Win or lose the upcoming election, there is no going back. The Tory dinosaurs" are out. The party is now "progressive," "bold" and "radical" - a party of "ideas."
Yet, its ideas were mostly thought up by Tony Blair's New Labour party. Issues of importance are off the table:
- In his Spring conference speech last Sunday, Cameron failed to mention uncontrolled immigration even though the island nation (smaller then the state of Oregon) is on track to hit 70 million by 2030.
-There was no mention of the damage done to society by political correctness.
- No mention of the European Union, which makes 75-80 percent of laws enacted in Britain.
- And the "bold" and "radical" Cameron did not address the issue of political Islam in Britain - an issue that is hardly out of the news these days.
Only the day before Cameron"s speech, the Telegraph published an article revealing the Islamic Forum of Europe's infiltration into Britain's governing Labour party, especially in...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/an-egyptian-court-in-the.php
March 8, 2010 4:30 AM
by BlogSpotEgyptian Court Acquits Muslim Who Beheaded Christian
An Egyptian court in the southern city of Assuit acquitted this week four Muslims accused of killing 61-year-old Farouk Attallah on October 19, 2009. In broad daylight and in full view of witnesses, the killers fired 31 bullets to his head before beheading him, in the busy village market place of Attaleen, near Dairout, 313 kilometers south of Cairo. The dead body was then dragged in the street, accompanied by shouts of victory. Free Copts website published a video of the disfigured body (warning, violent graphic content: video).
The judge presiding over the court on February 22, said that he was not satisfied that the testimony of the witnesses established that the imprisoned men were the killers. After the acquittal of Mohamad, Ashraf, Osama and Ahmad Hassouna, there was jubilation in the court room, with shouts of 'Allah is Great' and congratulations from all Muslims, including members of the state security forces who were present.
Christians were enraged over the acquittal, since similar cases would result in life imprisonment or execution for a Copt if the victim was a Muslim.
The verdict came as another wake-up call to many Copts, according to Peter Sarwat, the plaintiff's attorney. "It sends a clear message that Coptic blood is extremely cheap." he told Mariam Ragy of Katiba Tibia Coptic site. "This acquittal will make permanent the present culture of impunity enjoyed by Muslim aggressors against Copts.".
Sarwat said the ruling was inadequate, as it acquitted the accused but did not say who the perpetrators are. "If these men did not kill, so who killed? The ruling should have referred the case to the general prosecution to present the perpetrators."
The Court based its ruling on quasi non existent proof, as well as the absence of "positive evidence" testimony versus the presence of "negative evidence" testimony. "The judge refused to take into consideration the testimonies of the dead man's daughter who said she only saw one killer and not four, as well as the testimony of the Muslim man who was wounded in the shootings," said Sarwat. According to media reports, most people who witnessed the shootings in the market place refused to come forward for fear of vengeance from the assailants' family. There were false witnesses who confirmed that the killers were present at work.
"It is not enough to get a conviction based only on police reports which are full of legal loopholes and weak prosecution investigations," said Sarwat. Legal observers have always claimed that the police purposely deliver to prosecution reports full of inadequacies and loopholes, thereby getting from the courts acquittals for Muslims.
What prompted the killing of...
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http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/what-did-the-usa-get-in-return-read-and-watch-the-arab-media.php
March 5, 2010 5:15 AM
by Youssef M. IbrahimWhat Did the USA Get In Return? Read and Watch the Arab Media
I agree with Israeli peace advocate Uri Avnery that George Mitchell, America's Middle East peace envoy, should stop wasting his time and our American taxpayers money. (see Uri's article below).
As an Arab-American , I disagree on everything else with my friend Uri
.Primarily, the notion that the USA ''owes'' anything to the Palestinians, the Arabs or for that matter Israel is wrong.
We tried for decades and succeeded in mediating two peace treaties between Egypt, Jordan and Israel.
For that America is owed gratitude, but it has no further obligations to do more.
If anything, we overpaid Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians and Israel and continue to shell out $ 5 billion a year in aid to those countries, money that we should put to better use in America.
Furthermore, it's patently false to repeat the empty refrain that unless the Arab-Palestinian conflict is resolved nothing else in the Greater Middle East-- from Iraq to Afghanistan can be resolved. The problems of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan , indeed the whole Muslim world, have nothing whatsoever to do with Palestine or the Palestinian-Israeli problem.
Most Muslim people are fighting their own terrorists, their own...
http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/behavioral-profiling-detect-bombers-not-bombs.php
March 5, 2010 5:00 AM
by David NordellBehavioral Profiling: Detect Bombers, Not Bombs
pAlmost two months after the failed attempt by the Nigerian ‘underwear bomber,’ Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, to blow up the aircraft in which he has flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, government officials and security experts around the world are still scurrying to find ways to tighten up airline security to prevent another would-be suicide bomber from succeeding.The most popular response has been to demand that airline passengers all be screened by full-body scanners that use radar to ‘see’ through their clothing to detect explosives or weapons that might be hidden; these scanners are already being deployed, especially in US airports.
Prompted by the fact that Abdulmutallab spent time studying Arabic in Yemen and was apparently trained and equipped by al-Qa’eda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAB),
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-wilders-surge.php
March 4, 2010 10:07 AM
by Paul BelienThe Wilders Surge
Yesterday's local elections in the Netherlands resulted in a victory for the Freedom Party (PVV) of opposition leader Geert Wilders. On June 9th the Dutch will again be called to the voting booths for the general elections. Yesterday's outcome reinforces the PVV's momentum, which may result in a political landslide next June, with repercussions all over Europe.
Geert Wilders is currently the most interesting political phenomenon in Europe. He is an anti-establishment politician who has a good chance of becoming a leading member of his country's next government. Wilders defends Dutch national sovereignty and opposes the European Union's centralizing policies. He also defends Dutch national identity and opposes the Islamization of the Netherlands. Wilders's themes appeal to people in other European countries as well, where they are equally concerned about the loss of national sovereignty and identity, and feel that Europe's traditional parties no longer speak for them.
From the center-right to the center-left, Europe's establishment parties share the consensus that Islamization and EU centralization are inevitable and must be facilitated if the parties want to survive and hold on to power.
On international issues Wilders adopts positions which also go against those of Europe's ruling political and intellectual establishment. He is an opponent of Turkey's entry into the EU, an outspoken defender of Israel and an advocate of stronger American-European relations. This makes him unpopular with the media, but has not harmed him with the electorate.
During the past three years, Wilders has been...
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/lets-have-a-real-apartheid-education-week.php
March 4, 2010 9:38 AM
by Alan M. DershowitzLet’s Have a Real Apartheid Education Week
Every year at about this time, radical Islamic students--aided by radical anti-Israel professors--hold an event they call "Israel Apartheid Week." During this week, they try to persuade students on campuses around the world to demonize Israel as an apartheid regime. Most students seem to ignore the rantings of these extremists, but some naïve students seem to take them seriously. Some pro-Israel and Jewish students claim that they are intimidated when they try to respond to these untruths. As one who strongly opposes any censorship, my solution is to fight bad speech with good speech, lies with truth and educational malpractice with real education.
Accordingly, I support "Middle East Apartheid Education Week" to be held at universities throughout the world. It would be based on the universally accepted human rights principle of "the worst first." In other words, the worst forms of apartheid being practiced by Middle East nations and entities would be studied and exposed first. Then the apartheid practices of other countries would be studied in order of their seriousness and impact on vulnerable minorities.
Under this principle, the first country studied would be Saudi Arabia. That tyrannical kingdom practices gender apartheid to an extreme, relegating women to an extremely low status. Indeed, a prominent Saudi Imam recently issued a fatwa declaring that anyone who advocates women working alongside men or otherwise compromises with absolute gender apartheid is subject to execution. The Saudis also practice apartheid based on sexual orientation, executing and imprisoning gay and..
...March 3, 2010 5:00 AM
by Dr. Irfan Al-AlawiFemale Genital Mutilation: "Such Hadiths Are Not Confirmed To Be Authentic"
The repellent and, in too few countries, prohibited, practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is believed by some Muslims and many non-Muslims to be an Islamic procedure. As the Centre for Islamic Pluralism has shown in our study, "A Guide to Shariah Law and Islamist Ideology in Western Europe, 2007-09," FGM has been assimilated into Muslim societies and has been legitimized by Islamic jurists.
FGM is a pre-Islamic practice. Abuse of women and children under the color of religious law cannot be ascribed to Islamic religious inspiration per se. But the example of Saudi Arabia, which considers itself the leader of the Muslim world and where so-called "honor" crimes, FGM, forced marriage, forced divorce, and related customs are institutionalised, shows that their adoption in Islamic cultures, and the complicity of Muslim religious leaders in enabling them by failing to oppose them or assist victims, must be recognized.
Examining the four recognized Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence, we find that FGM is now considered obligatory by...
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/an-intelligence-agency-misused-passports-omg.php
March 2, 2010 2:38 PM
by Alan M. DershowitzAn Intelligence Agency Misused Passports: OMG!
The complaints leveled against Israel by European countries and Australia, regarding the alleged misuse of passports by the Mossad in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, ring hollow and smack of blatant hypocrisy. Whoever did kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh--whether it was the Israeli Mossad or someone else--clearly did have their agents use stolen or forged passports. Big deal.
Every good intelligence agency uses stolen and forged passports. The British have been especially adept at this means of spycraft. No country that uses fake passports in their intelligence operations has the moral authority to complain about the alleged misuse of passports in this case. The only ones that have a legitimate grievance are those individuals whose passports may have been misused without their knowledge.
I guess it's the job of foreign ministries to complain publicly when other nations do what they themselves do secretly. Hypocrisy is, after all, the homage that vice pays to virtue. I'm reminded of the famous scene in Casablanca, when officer Renault declares, I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here." A croupier then approaches Renault, and hands him a roll of currency: "Your winnings, sir."
The hypocrisy in this case seems even more blatant than usual. Is it because Israel is the alleged offender, and the world has gotten accustomed to singling out Israel for double standard condemnation?
Shortly after the terrorist attacks in Bali, which killed a...
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/palestinian-authority-direct-the-heat-toward-israel.php
March 2, 2010 5:00 AM
by Khaled Abu ToamehPalestinian Authority: Direct the Heat Toward Israel
The Palestinian Authority is once again trying to divert attention from its problems at home, and the best way to do this is being escalating tensions with Israel - the Palestinian Authority's policy since its inception after signing the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993.
To distract attention from charges of financial corruption and embarrassing sexual scandals, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has stepped up its anti-Israel rhetoric. Allegations of "ethnic cleansing," destruction and desecration of Islamic religious sites," "apartheid," "racism," "land theft" and "conducting medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners" are directed every day toward Israel by Abbas and his top officials and spokesmen.
These charges are often backed up by threats to launch a "third intifada" or to resume suicide bombings against Israel.
Given Abbas's growing predicament, the likelihood of a new wave of violence in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip seems to be more realistic than ever.
Yasser Arafat was the first to employ this policy to divert attention from the fact that his regime was stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of international aid to the Palestinians. Almost each time that the issue of financial corruption and bad government was raised, Arafat and his aides would step their rhetorical attacks on Israel under various pretexts. The incitement, which in the beginning led to periodic outbursts of violence against Israelis, finally saw the eruption of the second intifada.
Now Mahmoud Abbas and his administration in the West Bank are employing the same policy.
In recent months, Abbas has been...
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/europe-protects-terrorists.php
March 1, 2010 5:00 AM
by Paul BelienEurope Protects Terrorists
There is terrorism and there is Islamophobia. Of these two the latter is apparently the more serious offense. Europe is introducing draconian measures to monitor the internet for so-called "racism," but at the same time the European Parliament has decided to deny The United States access to servers with international banking data that relate to terrorist organizations.
While Europe hopes that America will assist it in its crackdown on "racist" websites and blogs, it is less keen to assist America in its battle against terrorism. In this context, civil-liberties and privacy concerns are invoked to deny the U.S. continued access to financial information from SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), an international banking consortium, headquartered in Brussels, which processes inter-bank data. SWIFT processes millions of transactions daily between banks and other financial institutions worldwide. It holds the data of some 8,000 banks and operates in 200 countries.
Tracking the funding of terror groups globally has been a priority for Washington since the 9/11 2001 attacks. So far, access to the SWIFT data has produced more than 1,500 reports and countless leads for U.S. and European security services, according to the U.S. State Department. Data from SWIFT helped capture the mastermind of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that killed 202 people, and helped prevent a similar attack in Bangkok in 2003. It also helped thwart...
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2010/03/the-politics-of-grievance.php
March 1, 2010 4:00 AM
by Herbert I. LondonThe Politics of Grievance
There is a shift occurring in the United States that is imposing statism in a land predicated on limited government.
In the not very distant past, there were buffers that served as barriers against managerial despotism. But these buffers have been under assault for decades and are showing signs of weakness and decay.
The family structure has been undermined by divorce and illegitimacy. Schools have eroded rigor and standards. Churches resemble social institutions more than religious centers. And associations like the...
...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-american-jewish-committee-deserves-better-leadership.php
March 31, 2009 2:56 PM
by Philippe KarsentyAmerican Jewish Group Deserves Better Leadership
If ever an issue begged for the intervention of a Jewish organization of international stature, it was the Mohamed al Dura affair. This notorious blood libel accused Israeli soldiers of shooting to death an Arab boy in Gaza on September 30, 2000. Though the event was actually a staged hoax, it was broadcast the same day on French public television station, France 2. Mohamed al Dura became an icon for all Muslim children. The story triggered rioting, terrorism and mayhem throughout the Muslim world; unleashed the Second Intifada; was the pretext for Daniel Pearl's beheading, and was referenced in Osama bin Laden's recruitment tapes prior to 9/11. For seven years a few of us worked to expose that hoax; I was sued for my efforts. The American Jewish Committee is one of the world's most active Jewish institutions. It would have been entirely consistent with its mission to have stepped forward to aid me in my efforts to counter a libel that dishonored every Jew. But under its current executive director ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/iran-and-venezuela.php
March 31, 2009 6:30 AM
by Anna Mahjar-BarducciVenezuela: Iran's New Best Friend
When Hugo Chavez took power in Venezuela, he was exactly the partner Teheran was looking for. This may sound contradictory, as Venezuela has indeed a democratic Constitution whereas Iran has a theocratic one; besides, Chavez is influenced by the Socialist and Communist ideology. But the new Bolivarian leader was as revolutionary as the Iranian regime. Furthermore, Chavez and Teheran had as a goal the “destruction” of the same enemy: the United States. Hence, ever since 1999-2000 the relations between the two major oil producers started. Since then, the two countries gave birth to the emergence of a new worrying phenomenon that we may call Marxist-Islamism, where atheist communist ideology lives along with the Islamist one. Iranian dissidents state that Khatami had no interest in pursuing an alliance with Venezuela; this was the policy of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who keeps the foreign policy of his country under control. The reasons for seeking links with Venezuela were multiple. At the time, Iran, under international pressure, was looking for new alliances particularly among the so-called non-aligned countries. In the Middle East, Iran could count only on Syria and Qatar, but it did not have any base close to the United States, a place from which Teheran could threaten the “imperialistic enemy”. A witness of the starting of the Iranian-Venezuelan relations is ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/obama-eyes-wide-shut-on-foreign-policy.php
March 31, 2009 6:00 AM
by A. MillarObama: Eyes Wide Shut on Foreign Policy?
In May 2008 then presidential hopeful Barrack Obama spoke to a fundraiser of US ex-patriots in Britain via telephone link. The “special relationship” between the two countries needed to be “recalibrated,” he told the audience. “We have a chance to recalibrate the relationship and for the United Kingdom to work with America as a full partner,” Obama said. Britain’s “poodle” status would end, and in this new equal partnership that Obama would bring about, there would be times when Britain would lead and the US would follow, and vice versa. Britain has been the US’s staunchest ally since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Its support leant moral weight to the “war on terror.” And its soldiers were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan after the attacks on the US, even though Britain itself had not then been attacked. More than 300 British soldiers have been killed and many others have been seriously wounded since. So, Obama’s overtures made sense, even if they were unnecessary - President Bush’s relationship with Britain’s administration had nearly always been positive. But, then something happened. The first sign came in January 1, 2009, when The Times of London revealed that the British government was ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/saudia-arabia-61-young-women.php
March 31, 2009 5:00 AM
by BlogSpotSaudi Arabia: 61 Young Women
61 Young Women Started Cases Against Their Fathers for NOT Allowing Them to Get Married Usually fathers don't let their working daughters get married; they want to continue taking their salaries. ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/g-20-disunity.php
March 30, 2009 1:05 PM
by Gordon G. ChangG-20 Disunity
Will the world come together this Thursday at the critical G-20 summit in London? The prospect for a coordinated rescue of the global economy is not good, especially after China attacked the dollar last week. Zhou Xiaochuan, the chief of the country’s central bank, suggested (http://www.pbc.gov.cn/english//detail.asp?col=6500&ID=178) a “super-sovereign reserve currency,” based on the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights, to replace American money in global commerce and for other purposes. So include one more contentious issue for the G-20 agenda. It’s not as if there weren’t other things to talk about. The Europeans want ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/morocco-takes-a-stand.php
March 30, 2009 6:35 AM
by Anna Mahjar-BarducciMorocco Takes a Stand
At a time when America extends its hands to the Islamic Republic of Iran, one country in the Arab world seems to be going in the opposite direction. On March 6th, 2009, Morocco announced that it was cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran in the wake of an outcry in the Sunni Muslim world - - over a statement by an Iranian official that questioned (Sunni) Bahrain’s sovereignty. Rabat also criticised Iran for its efforts to spread its Shi’ite brand of Islam in Morocco, a move that Moroccan authorities see as a threat to the North African country’s moderate Sunni religious identity. The crisis between the two countries sparked when ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/warfare-through-misuse-of-international-law.php
March 30, 2009 6:00 AM
by Elizabeth SamsonWarfare Through Misuse of International Law
There is a new kind of warfare being waged across the globe. The antagonists in the struggle are employing the weapon of their adversaries - the rule of law - in a strategy called “Lawfare” which involves the misuse of the law to achieve objectives that cannot be achieved militarily. Lawfare can be undertaken by any group of actors of any nationality or religion, but presently Lawfare is being pursued largely by Islamic ideologues, their supporters, and their financiers who sympathize with the actions of Islamic militants. Lawfare is exponentially effective because...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/post-racial-america.php
March 30, 2009 5:30 AM
by Herbert I. LondonPost Racial America?
There is little doubt that the French are enthralled with President Obama. The presumption is that a new era in French American relations has been launched. Since it is too early to assess the president’s policies, I have asked my French friends what accounts for their enthusiasm. Although the comments vary, there is a central theme: a man of color will lead us forward. Despite the sincerity of this claim, I find it curious. On the one hand, commentators on both sides of the Atlantic argue that Obama has ushered in a post-racial period in which racial attitudes are irrelevant. Yet they also suggest that the color of his skin is critical in the assessment of his presidency. Needless to say, contradictions are not restricted to the Obama presidency. However, black ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/remembering-the-americans.php
March 27, 2009 6:30 AM
by Nibras KazimiRemembering the Americans
The sojourn of the Americans in Iraq is coming to a close, and as an Iraqi—who is grateful for what has been accomplished—I worry about how those I take to be liberators will be remembered in my country. When looking back at the last six years, I must admit that there’s a haze of disappointment and disillusion in my head, yet it quickly lifts when I recapture images of a tyrant facing the gallows, and a nation standing in line to vote. One willfully chooses what one remembers: I choose to remember what really matters at the end. Others may recall the flash and dust of a bomb, a humiliation, a graveside wail; for war is a terrible thing, and terrible things happen, even against the backdrop of a noble cause. It is up to the victors to leave indelible reminders of their victory, and their benevolence, so that future generations can remember why a war was fought, and why unavoidable suffering had to be endured. Human nature is such that even when the culprit is clearly a ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-value-of-understanding.php
March 27, 2009 5:30 AM
by Leslie J. SacksThe Value of "Understanding"
Now that appeasement is back in vogue, the post-9/11 notion that we must "understand" the terrorists - their unique motivations, their sad backgrounds - has re-emerged among the talking heads and diplomatic elites. The presumption is that such understanding will grant us insight and empathy, confirming our inherent similarities and bringing us reconciliation, compromise and resolution. The terrorists are merely aggrieved - not evil. Therefore, they are eminently capable of negotiation. Is it not strange that the victims are pleading for ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/war-crimes-tribunals.php
March 26, 2009 6:30 AM
by Benny Avni"War Crimes" Tribunals
By obsessively pursuing alleged Israeli atrocities in Gaza, the worldwide institutions violate one of the most basic tenets of the international justice system: its need to bow to local jurisdiction. The top international player in Gaza, the UN Relief and Works Agency, was forced to admit last month that during a January incident in its Jabalyia camp, a local school was never hit by the IDF. Nevertheless, UNRWA’s earlier assertion - that Israeli artillery shells hit the school, and that the IDF may have deliberately targeted the civilians who sought refuge there - already made the headlines. The outrage was so universal that even America was forced to sign on to a Security Council demand to investigate all incidents of Israeli targeting international installations in Gaza. The outcome of the investigation ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/france-when-things-get-hot.php
March 26, 2009 5:30 AM
by Nidra PollerFrance: When Things Get Hot
France, we are told, is not an anti-Semitic country. We would expect, then, a public outcry, high profile arrests, and severe punishment when a total of 350 anti-Semitic acts ranging from insults to life-threatening physical attacks were registered in France in the first six weeks of this year. Moreover, there are at least 10 unreported incidents for every reported one, according to Sammy Ghozlan, director of the BNVCA [National office of vigilance against Anti-Semitism]. If the perpetrators of these acts are arrested and punished, it is a well-kept secret. How about the outcry? When the new intellectual magazine, Revue internationale des livres et des idées [International Review of Books and Ideas], made its début this month with a full-panel ad on corner news stands, the lead article, boldly announced in all-caps on the cover, it promised an exposé of the MENSONGES D’ISRAEL [Israel’s lies] by ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/pakistan-sleepness-nights.php
March 26, 2009 5:00 AM
by Amir MirPakistan: Sleepness Nights
LAHORE: Both Pervez Musharraf and Asif Zardari might be having sleepless nights nowadays given the fact that both had apparently given unannounced indemnity to each other in two phases - firstly by Musharraf before the elections and secondly by Zardari after the elections to cover up each others’ wrong doings. As Musharraf had introduced a presidential ordinance before the 2008 elections to help Zardari get rid of the corruption charges pending against him without facing a court trial, the latter had returned the favour by rejecting Nawaz Sharif’s demand to proceed against Musharraf on treason charges under Article 6 of the Constitution for having staged a military coup in 1999 against an elected government. Well informed circles close to Justice Chaudhry say once he resumes his duties as Chief Justice ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/licensed-to-terror---bangladesh-style.php
March 25, 2009 6:30 AM
by Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhuryLicensed to Terror - Bangladesh Style
Remember the James Bond 007 movie named Licensed to Kill? In Bangladesh, right after installation of an elected government at the end of 2008, partisan hoodlums and terrorists have been allowed to continue various forms of crime, which is tolerated by influential figures in the government and is silently watched by the members of the law enforcing agencies. It is already over one month since my newspaper office was attacked by ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-dark-horse-enters-the-race.php
March 25, 2009 5:30 AM
by Amir TaheriThe 'Dark Horse' Enters the Race
For 20 years, Mir-Hussein Mussavi Khamenehi was mentioned as the "dark horse" in successive Iranian presidential elections. In 1989, he was expected to enter the race to prevent Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani from becoming president. He didn't. Eight years later there was some buzz about his candidacy among those who expected him to represent the radical faction of the establishment. Again, he decided to remain at the ringside, giving tacit support to Muhammad Khatami, a mid-ranking mullah who went on to become president for two terms. Last winter, when Mussavi's name began circulating as a possible challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, few believed he would actually throw his hat into the ring. This month, Mussavi surprised many by doing precisely that. This time, however, he is presented as the ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/on-campus-the-pro-palestinians-real-agenda.php
March 24, 2009 6:45 AM
by Khaled Abu ToamehOn Campus: The Pro-Palestinians' Real Agenda
During a recent visit to several university campuses in the U.S., I discovered that there is more sympathy for Hamas there than there is in Ramallah. Listening to some students and professors on these campuses, for a moment I thought I was sitting opposite a Hamas spokesman or a would-be-suicide bomber. I was told, for instance, that Israel has no right to exist, that Israel’s “apartheid system” is worse than the one that existed in South Africa and that Operation Cast Lead was launched only because ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/sharia-banking-conquers-europe.php
March 24, 2009 6:15 AM
by Thomas LandenSharia Banking Conquers Europe
All over Europe Islamic banks are establishing branches, Western banks are offering Sharia-compliant financial services, and European governments are trying to out compete each other in welcoming them. Proponents of banking along the lines of Sharia (Islamic law) claim that the Islamic banking system is “more ethical” than the West’s capitalist system. This is not true. Unfortunately, however, in our age of crashing financial markets, many Westerners...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/iran-strategic-rebuffs.php
March 24, 2009 5:00 AM
by William KatzIran: Strategic Rebuffs
The president "reached out" - that awful term - to Iran this week, sending a video message to the Iranian government and people. The first reviews are in from Iran, and they are less than raves. It seems that no one in the mullah regime is buying tickets to the negotiations with America. Instead, Iran's leaders have lectured the president, insisting that Washington must change its policies before there can be any progress in reconciling the two nations. It would appear that the Iranian regime's eagerness for mutual warmth is limited - unless we abandoned Israel, stopped objecting to Tehran's support for terror, and went easy on this nuclear-bomb business. In other words, when the mullahs can inspect the towel we've thrown in, they'll smile. Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, Iran's supreme leader, was particularly ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/what-assad-really-wants.php
March 23, 2009 6:30 AM
by Olivier GuittaWhat Assad Really Wants
Syrian President Bashar Assad has become the hottest ticket in the world, from Washington to Paris and from Riyadh to Cairo. Everybody wants to meet him, be seen with him and get on his good side. That is an amazing turnaround from three years ago where he was shunned and viewed as a pariah. Syria has suddenly become the key to solving the insoluble problems of the Middle East. And in a way it is true, but the question remains: what does...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/freemasonry-in-the-mind-of-the-islamist.php
March 23, 2009 6:30 AM
by A. MillarFreemasonry in the Mind of the Islamist
At the center of contemporary Islamism is an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, the roots of which lead back to Europe at least a century ago. The basic theme (i.e., that the Jews control, or are attempting to control, the world’s governments and media, and generally work to promote Zioism, Israel, etc.) is well known, and is often referenced in regard to the statements and actions of Hamas as well as other Islamist organizations. However, that the Jews are linked to the Freemasons (often regarded as a “secret society”) [i] in this conspiracy has gone largely unexplored by observers of Islamism, even if this connection has long been noted. In an article entitled ‘The New Islamic Fascism’ published in November 2001 The Jerusalem Post, for example, Neuberger Professor of Modern European and Jewish History at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Robert S. Wistrich, observed that: “This Middle Eastern radicalism is a distinctly modern movement, though it also has indigenous Islamic roots. The conspiracy theory at its heart, which links plutocratic capitalism, international freemasonry, Zionism, and Marxist Communism, is almost identical with the mythical structure of Nazi anti-Semitism. For contemporary jihadists, a "Judaized" America and Israel, together with heretical, secular Muslim regimes are the godless spearhead of these dark occult forces that seek to destroy Islam and undermine the cultural identity of Muslim believers.” [ii] The Islamist conception of Freemasonry, and its place in the Zionist conspiracy theory, deserves to be examined at this time when Islamism is becoming more emboldened in the West. One Islamist terrorist group has already attacked a ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-obama-doctrine.php
March 23, 2009 5:00 AM
by Herbert I. LondonThe Obama Doctrine
Roger Cohen, writing on the pages of the International Herald Tribune has arrived at the conclusion based on President Obama’s recent comment that “the war on terror is over.” As he notes “the with-us-or-against us global struggle… in which a freedom-loving West confronts the undifferentiated forces of darkness… has been terminated.” The presumption is that we are not fighting a war - which we refuse to acknowledge - we are merely engaged in “a strategic challenge.” Goodbye Bush Doctrine; hello Obama rapprochement with the Muslim world. Obama argues “the language we use matters.” Of course it does, but actions speak louder than words. If the recent language of respect is to be taken seriously, arms will be converted into plowshares and good-will may seize the globe. The only problem with this analysis is Al Qaeda doesn’t buy into Obama’s rhetoric and most in that organization do not read the Herald Tribune. Mr. Cohen tells us that Obama understands the need for respect and self critical analysis, something omitted ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/tehran-to-obama.php
March 20, 2009 12:41 PM
by BlogSpotTehran to Obama
According to Agence France Presse from Tehran, in reaction to president Obama's Norooz message, Ahmadinejad's spokesman said: "The Islamic Republic of Iran welcome's Obama's message, however demanded practical shifts in the U.S. conduct in order to demonstrate a sincere attempt to redeem past mistakes." Ali-Akbar Javan-Fekr said: "The U.S. must atone for its past mistakes toward the Islamic Republic of Iran and must make fundamental changes in its policy. Differences between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to exist for as long as Washington continues to blindly support the evil regime of Israel." Ahmadinejad's spokesman also added: "The United States must discontinue it's violent behavior, it must stop arresting Muslims and must stop supporting terrorist groups around the world!"...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/islam-on-campus-columbia-university.php
March 20, 2009 6:00 AM
by Joshua GleisIslam on Campus: Columbia University
In recent weeks, Columbia University has played host to an astounding number of anti-Israel activities. The university has become inundated with a biased and one-sided perspective to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the form of meetings, online petitions, posters, “teach-ins” and opinion letters. Surveying these activities, one might think that Israel was the single greatest abuser of human rights in the world today, and that its policies were developed in a vacuum—void of any security obligations for its civilian population. One might believe that the disturbing picture being painted by a minority of Columbia University students and faculty is an accurate one. The truth is that certain groups are attempting to turn one of the most complicated foreign policy issues in recent history into a black-and-white campaign, wherein Israel is the sole wrongdoer. Don’t worry—there is plenty of ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-worlds-worst-places-to-work.php
March 20, 2009 5:30 AM
by BlogSpotThe World's Worst Places to Work
1. Lagos, Nigeria 2. Jakarta, Indonesia 3. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-jihadists-respond.php
March 19, 2009 12:01 PM
by Nibras KazimiThe Jihadists Respond
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the jihadists have seized on the word ‘victory’—their own victory, that is—to describe the outcome of the Iraq War, especially since official Washington is so keen on avoiding it. In this vein, the head of the self-styled ‘Islamic State of Iraq’, the pseudonymous Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who considers himself America’s Public Enemy No. 1 in that theatre of war, issued a proclamation on Tuesday that a new era of jihad has started now that “the black [man] of Washington” had delivered his “implicit admission of defeat.” Al-Baghdadi is referring to Obama’s recent speech about withdrawing from Iraq. He doesn’t refer to Obama by name, but rather by epithets such as “black negro”, “house slave”, “new criminal” and the standard “ruler of the Crusader state and ally of the Jews.” Clearly, al-Baghdadi is not impressed or even mildly intimidated by Obama, who began his first act as a wartime president by calling it quits in Iraq. By contrast, al-Baghdadi used to refer to President Bush by name in past speeches, despite the vitriol. Setting aside al-Baghdadi’s delusions about who actually won this war and what’s to come (he thinks the jihadists will be able to topple the Iraqi government after the Americans leave), what struck me most was ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/bangladesh-militants-taliban-connection.php
March 19, 2009 6:30 AM
by Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhuryBangladesh: Militant's Taliban Connection
The Bangladesh government, for the first time, officially endorsed a fact that, a hidden link between the local militants and Taliban terrorists has been established during the past several years. The Government also said that a large number of militants were recruited in the country’s law enforcement agencies and the armed forces during the past BNP-Islamist Coalition government. Earlier, the Commerce Minister, retired Lieutenant Colonel Faruk Khan, told reporters that militants ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/if-politicians-are-taking-notice.php
March 19, 2009 6:00 AM
by A. MillarU.K. Dissolving?
If politicians are taking notice of concerns over immigration, they continue to ignore the philosophy that underlies it, and are content to allow it to quietly dissolve British society. That ideology, cooked up by the country’s politicians and left wing intellectuals, meant that immigrants were to be encouraged not to integrate - which led to the creation of ethnic and Muslim ghettos. It meant that British culture, British law, etc., was - as Cameron’s example shows - to be equated with White British, and thus to be denigrated as non-inclusive or “racist.” Hence citizens have been threatened with arrest for flying the English flag, deemed a “racist” emblem. And those demanding ‘one law for all’ and equal rights for Muslim women have been denigrated as “racists.” Values are no longer the bedrock of the nation, holding its citizens together, but relative, depending on which group is being addressed. Moral ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/china-intellectuals-released-after-eight-years-in-prison.php
March 19, 2009 5:30 AM
by BlogSpotChina: Intellectuals Released After Eight Years in Prison
(Mar 12) Beijing intellectuals Yang Zili (杨子立) and Zhang Honghai (张宏海) were released from prison after completing their eight-year term on March 12, 2009, Yang from the Beijing No. 2 Prison, and Zhang from the Qiaosi Prison in Zhejiang Province. They were imprisoned for activities as members of the New Youth Study Group (新青年学会), which focused on issues of political reform and rural democratization. Both are subjected to...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/jihad-intimidation.php
March 18, 2009 6:30 AM
by Nidra PollerJihad Intimidation
Wouldn’t you want to be warned of a clear and present danger? Where would you look for protection if an enraged mob were bearing down on you, armed and murderous? If you answered Yes and the police, then ask yourself why you haven’t seen video footage of the record crowd that affronted the Israel-Sweden Davis Cup match in Malmö Sweden on March 7th. The Malmö incident can be seen as a blueprint of an extensive ongoing intimidation project. Chanting Khaybar Khaybar ya yahoud / Jaish Muhammad sa yaoud [Khaybar Khaybar O you Jews/ The army of Mohamed is on its way]. The mob correctly situated the 7th century origin of its genocidal intent.[1] Mob actions of this type were repeated throughout Europe and in the United States in January. Hundreds of thousands of “demonstrators” stood shoulder to shoulder, echoing or passively accepting the chants, flags, and slogans promising death to Israel, death to the Jews. Society at large did not protest this outrage. Citizens have not been warned that this apparently acceptable Jew hatred is serving to mask broader intentions against their nations. Thugs throwing paving stones against Swedish police cars were, of course, furious at the police for keeping them from smashing the heads of Jewish Israeli tennis players. But that is just one small chapter of their gripe against Sweden, the country that took them in and now submits to their will. Their anger is directed against the whole free world, against the very democratic societies that allow that rage to materialize under cover of “peaceful demonstrations.” Local authorities had already stigmatized the event by...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/europes-war-on-free-speech.php
March 18, 2009 5:30 AM
by Soeren KernEurope's War on Free Speech
The Amsterdam Court of Appeals has ordered the criminal prosecution of a Dutch Member of Parliament for criticizing Islam. The court’s ruling overturns a previous decision by Dutch public prosecutors, who had determined that there was not enough evidence to charge Geert Wilders, leader of the conservative Freedom Party, for hate crimes after he produced a hard-hitting film that says Islam promotes violence. In a written judgment, the appeals court said that “by attacking the symbols of the Muslim religion, [Wilders] also insulted Muslim believers.” The ruling will please the Dutch Muslim immigrant groups who asked the appeals court to force the justice department to prosecute Wilders for expressing his opinions. But many others say the prosecution is an alarming attack on free speech by politically correct activist judges who are trying to silence criticism of the growing power of Islam in Europe. Wilders, who frequently speaks out against the “Islamization” of the Netherlands, said “the judgment of the court [is] an attack on the freedom of expression.... Participation in the public debate has become a dangerous activity. If you give your opinion, you risk being prosecuted.... Who will stand up for our culture if I am silenced?” Of course, Wilders is only the latest in a line of ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-politics-of-demonization.php
March 17, 2009 6:30 AM
by Thomas LandenThe Politics of Demonization
When the media keep repeating that someone is beyond the pale, some people are bound to believe them. Recent events show that radicals will even try to kill people who have been demonized in this manner. Perhaps that is the goal behind the policy of demonization: to neutralize one’s potential adversaries and to remove the people’s democratically elected representatives. Recently, we are being confronted with the bizarre phenomenon of defenders of Western freedoms, including Jews, being demonized as “Nazis,” while subsequently Nazi methods are used to eliminate them. The authorities, meanwhile, do not come to the aid of the victims since the latter are “Nazis.” On the contrary, sometimes the authorities even praise the aggressors for their vigilance and their “intolerance” in the fight against “Nazism.” The Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn fell victim to this, so has his successor Geert Wilders and the Vlaams Belang party in Belgium, as has the German civil movement “Pro,” and many others. As people generally tend to believe the media and mainstream politicians, events in Europe show how easy it is for violent activists to gain general approval for their use of Nazi methods against enemies whom they first demonize as “Nazis,” “racists” or “far-right extremists” who are “beyond the pale.” In this context the word “Nazi” no longer has any real meaning, so that the term is now also used against Jews wearing skullcaps and against the State of Israel. Indeed, the Israeli flag has already been compared to the ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/islam-and-the-west-lines-of-demarcation.php
March 17, 2009 5:30 AM
by Roger ScrutonIslam and the West: Lines of Demarcation
What it is about our civilization that causes such resentment, and why we must defend it. The West today is involved in a protracted and violent struggle with the forces of radical Islam. This conflict is intensely difficult, both because of our enemy’s dedication to his cause, and also, perhaps most of all, because of the enormous cultural shift that has occurred in Europe and America since the end of the Vietnam War. Put simply, the citizens of Western states have lost their appetite for foreign wars; they have lost the hope of scoring any but temporary victories; and they have lost confidence in their way of life. Indeed, they are no longer sure what that way of life requires of them. At the same time, they have been confronted with a new opponent, one who believes that the Western way of life is profoundly flawed, and perhaps even an offense against God. In a “fit of absence of mind,” Western societies have allowed this opponent to gather in their midst; sometimes, ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/why-palestinians-prefer-hamas.php
March 16, 2009 6:30 AM
by Khaled Abu ToamehWhy Palestinians Prefer Hamas
The Americans and Europeans have poured billions of dollars on the Palestinian Authority in the past three years with the hope of "empowering the moderates and undermining the radicals" among the Palestinians. The move came in the aftermath of Hamas's rise to power in the January 2006 parliamentary election and its subsequent takeover of the entire Gaza Strip a year later. The hope in Washington and a number of European capitals was that the money invested in West Bank areas that are under the control of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority would dissuade the Palestinians from supporting Hamas. But this week the international community was once again reminded that the policy of financing moderates with the goal of undermining radicals is no longer relevant in this part of the world. The latest public opinion polls published in the West Bank and Gaza Strip show that Hamas's popularity has sharply increased despite the transfer of funds to ...March 16, 2009 6:00 AM
by BlogSpotAfghan Journalist Spared Death - Will Serve 20 Years in Prison for Speaking Out for Women's Rights
(Mar. 9 Gateway Pundit) - - Afghan student-writer Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh was sentenced to death for insulting Islam. The 23 year-old student and writer downloaded an anti-Islamic report from the internet in 2007 relating to the role of women in Islamic societies and handed copies out to his friends. For this, an Afghan court sentenced him to death for the crime of blasphemy. After the international...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/a-new-deal-on-iran.php
March 16, 2009 5:30 AM
by Herbert I. LondonA New Deal on Iran?
The buzz at Foggy Bottom is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in serious negotiation with her Russian counterparts to squash the deployment of an anti-missile system in Eastern Europe. In return for this non-deployment - which the Putin led government regards as an incitement even though this system is aimed at thwarting a possible Iranian attack - the United States wants Russian diplomats to urge Iranian cessation of its nuclear weapons ambition. On every level this negotiation is foolhardy. It should be clear to everyone by now that the benefit of nuclear weapons for Iran far exceeds the pain the West can inflict for their development. Nuclear weapons immediately give Iran hegemony in the Muslim Middle East and inspires its imperial aspirations. President Ahmadinejad has already noted that the program “has no brake and no reverse gear.” Moreover, even the so-called moderates in Iran, Khatami and Rafsanjani, have promoted the nuclear weapons program. Despite ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/why-italy-is-staying-away-from-durban-ii.php
March 13, 2009 2:29 PM
by Andrea Loquenzi HolzerWhy Italy is Staying Away from Durban II
The March 12th conference, organized by the Italian-Israeli friendship association at the Senate, represented the Italian way to say no to the “anti-Semite conference against democracy” that is Durban II. The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, was among the speakers and explained why our country is staying away from the preliminary works of the conference, while all the other European countries are participating. Our foreign Minister has made clear that “Italy cannot negotiate what is not negotiable” and explained why. The first reason being anti-Semitism: “We believe in the dignity of the UN and we cannot contemplate a document headed ‘United Nations’ including a paragraph defining Israel as a threat to international peace.” The second main reason for ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/newsweek-and-radical-islam.php
March 13, 2009 6:30 AM
by Valentina ColomboNewsweek and Radical Islam
The appalling sentence “Radical Islam is a fact of life. How to live with it,” appears on the green cover of the present issue of Newsweek magazine (international edition). You can read it either in Arabic or in English. The title refers to a worrisome article written by Fareed Zakaria, editor of the magazine. Islam is complex reality. Nearly one and a half billion Muslims live on our planet; they cannot be the same and no doubt only a minority is radical and linked to terrorism. However it was astonishing to read that we do not have to generalize even when it comes to radical Islam because “it’s time to stop treating all Islamists as potential terrorists.” It was March 2007 when I last felt the same kind of disappointment while reading in “Foreign Affairs” Robert Leiken and Steven Brooke’s article, “The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood.” Their aim was to demonstrate that inside the Muslim Brotherhood along with an extremist wing there is a “moderate” group of new leaders. The American scholars totally trusted what they were told personally by some members of the movement. Unfortunately they forgot that the Muslim Brotherhood’s members are allowed to dissimulate, that is to tell lies if necessary to their survival. Fareed Zakaria goes many steps further: he admits ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/dissident-watch-tariq-biasi.php
March 13, 2009 6:00 AM
by Gideon SpitzerDissident Watch: Tariq Biasi
On June 7, 2007, Syrian military intelligence arrested blogger Tariq Biasi on charges of "undermining national sentiment" and "publishing false information."[1] Biasi, a 23-year-old computer technician from Banyas, Syria, who suffers from liver disease, is just the most recent in a slew of arrests targeting Syrian bloggers. Tariq Biasi Reporters Without Borders reports that Biasi was accused of blogging against the government on a computer shared by six other people including an Internet café.[2] After his arrest and questioning by Syrian military intelligence, Biasi was held incommunicado at the Palestine Security Branch in Damascus;[3] Syrian authorities did not lodge official charges against him for more than six months.[4] Biasi's blog comments reportedly criticized Syrian military intelligence for focusing on civilians instead of foreign military targets.[5] On May 11, 2008, the Syrian security court in Damascus sentenced Biasi to ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/defeating-freeman-a-patriotic-duty.php
March 12, 2009 3:42 PM
by Alan M. DershowitzDefeating Freeman: A Patriotic Duty
Those who successfully challenged the nomination of Charles W. Freeman, Jr. to become chairman of the National Intelligence Council should be praised for an act of high patriotism. It would have been disastrous for the United States to have, as the person responsible for overseeing “policy-neutral intelligence assessments” for the President, a zealot who is anything but policy-neutral when it comes to two of the most important areas of international conflict. Freeman not only has extremist views regarding the Middle East and China, but he has been beholden to lobby groups that are anxious to influence intelligent assessments regarding Saudi Arabia and China. Freeman bowed out when ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/bluff-and-blackmail.php
March 12, 2009 6:30 AM
by Nibras KazimiBluff and Blackmail
‘To engage Iran’ was once a controversial campaign issue, now it is imminent policy. Its proponents envision a grand bargain at the end of the diplomatic rainbow that somehow ties up all the regional loose ends of Hamas, Hezbollah, Afghanistan, Iraq and a regional race for nukes whose threads lead back to Tehran. I’d like to offer a few Iraq-related questions that the ‘Iran-engagers’ should ponder: 1-What does Iran have to bargain with in Iraq? What can Iran offer the United States? No one disputes that ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/a-sham-engagement.php
March 12, 2009 5:30 AM
by Anne BayefskyA Sham Engagement
Engagement — the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s foreign policy — is currently making its debut in the heart of the U.N. human-rights world in Geneva. And U.S. diplomats have become sitting ducks on a firing range. U.S. representatives are participating, for the first time, in a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. This is the second half of a policy decision that the administration unveiled a week ago: The U.S. would attend the Council, but remain on the sidelines in the U.N.’s Durban II “anti-racism” conference. Obama’s real agenda is to join the Council as a full member. Elections take place in May, and the campaign to get the U.S. to run has now reached fever pitch. Rooting for this is a motley crew of current Council members and human-rights lowlifes pining for good-guy credentials, together with U.N. personnel, State Department officials, U.S.-U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, and NGO representatives. The Council is the U.N.’s lead human-rights ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-talibanization-of-bangladesh.php
March 11, 2009 6:30 AM
by Dr. Sami AlrabaaThe Talibanization of Bangladesh
If what happened to Salahuddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor in chief of the Bangladeshi Weekly Blitz and peace activist, and his colleagues, happened in Tibet or Burma, for instance, the international media would rush to these regions and report about them meticulously, and human rights activists worldwide would take to the streets and demonstrate against the oppressors. Mr. Choudhury is fighting radical Islam in one of largest Muslim countries of the world (150 million). If the West does not support Choudhury’s struggle, a whole society will increasingly drift to Islamism. Bangladesh is being Talibanized day after day. Choudhury was assaultedhttp://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/letter-from-shoaib.php
March 11, 2009 6:00 AM
by Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhuryLetter from Shoaib
Things are real serious with me in this country. As you know, I am a person either still in prison or already killed by the Islamist government in Bangladesh. As you know, my office was for the fourth time attacked on February 22, 2009 by a group of armed thugs belonging to the ruling party. It may be mentioned here that a person named Shamim claiming to be an officer of DGFI [Directorate General of Intelligence Forces] also co-led the entire gang of thugs and abused me with words, “Agent of Jews”, “Agent of Israel” etc. He kicked me at my lower abdomen and punched on my chest. The gang looted my laptop, where I was having two complete manuscripts of my books titled, ‘Inside Madrassa’ and ‘Reportage’. ‘Inside Madrassa’ is a book describing the breeding of Jihadists inside the Madrassas, as well as many of the unknown and untold facts of Islamist militancy. Moreover, they smashed ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/dubais-dramatic-drop.php
March 11, 2009 5:30 AM
by Daniel PipesDubai's Dramatic Drop
As the Muslim world settled into ever-deeper decline over the past decade, mired in political extremism, religious sickness, economic irrelevance, WMD, anarchy, dictatorship, and civil wars, Dubai stood out as a happy anomaly. Burj Al Arab claims to be the world's only 7-star hotel. Under the leadership of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai (one of seven polities within the United Arab Emirates) invited peoples from around the world to come make money and they did; about 83 percent of its population of 1.4 million is foreign. The emirate intelligently exploited the energy boom surrounding it and had the ambition not just to globalize but to become a leader at globalization. Dubai became renowned for the world's only tropical desert ski slope, the world's only 7-star hotel, and the world's very highest building, all done with a new-agey twist. (Publicity for the skyscraper, for example, presents it as "an unprecedented example of international cooperation" and "a beacon of progress for the entire world.") But if Dubai seemed to be an exception to the general Muslim trajectory, it was only temporary. In three distinct arenas - economics, culture, and sports - very recent developments show how much the statelet has in common with the impoverishing and separating Muslim ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/choices-for-the-middle-east.php
March 10, 2009 6:30 AM
by Bernard LewisChoices for the Middle East
Two things I shall not attempt to do: one is to predict the future and the other is to offer advice. What I shall try to do is what I think may be more legitimately expected of a professional historian - that is to say to try to identify the factors, the elements in the situation which will define and delimit the choices that we have; to try to look at these as far as they are visible, ascertainable and describable, and to see what these factors are and where they may lead; what the possibilities are. What actually happens of course is another matter and I leave that to a higher authority. Let me begin by reviewing the outside factors, that is to say factors not actually in the Middle East-factors outside the Middle East which will in a sense, as I said before, define and delimit the choices. One turns naturally, in the first instance, to Europe, to Europe which has played a prominent, sometimes a dominant role in Middle Eastern affairs for almost two hundred years. But that phase has ended. I see little possibility of Europe playing any sort of role in Middle Eastern affairs in the immediate future; the more interesting, the more relevant question is what role will the Middle East play in European affairs. I turn now to the second external factor, and that is America. There is a great deal of talk nowadays ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-money-myth.php
March 10, 2009 5:30 AM
by William KatzThe Money Myth
A few words about money. It's clearly on everyone's mind, and people are understandably concerned about their financial future. They're also concerned about their country's financial future. Financial crises have, of course, political implications, the most important being the reordering of priorities. The people of a nation are told that they can no longer have this, or that, but instead must take something else. Or, they're told that they must do this, or that, to get out of the financial straits and produce a better society. One thing Americans are being told today, and have been told in the past, is that we can no longer afford large defense budgets, and must cut accordingly. We're being assured, at least by some, that this places us in no danger because potential adversaries are also in the midst of financial crises and can therefore not act against us. Iran's economy, we're told, depends on the price of oil, and look what's happened to that price? This reasoning is false. It's worse than false. It's dangerous, and can provoke ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/engagement-strike-one.php
March 9, 2009 6:30 AM
by Benny Avni"Engagement": Strike One
President Obama’s foreign team, headed by Secretary of State Clinton, is so far running on a single buzz word: “engagement.” The concept does not quite add up to real policy - let alone an Obama Doctrine - but engaging with enemies, competitors, allies and friends is the organizing principle around which the new president’s foreign policy is conducted. Washington is now either engaged or plans to engage with Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Palestinians in Gaza and the most backwards organs of the United Nations, to name but a few entities that were either ignored or publicly snubbed by former President Bush. Mr. Obama and his team also promise to deal more amicably than Mr. Bush did with Western European allies, as well as with Russia, China, Pakistan and Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whose concerns are now sure to resonate louder in Washington. The jury is out on all this engagement activity, with the exception of one clear failure: a vain attempt to mollify United Nations human rights organs and try to stop them from promoting anti-Israeli and anti-American agenda. Ever since the ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-voice-of-america-silenced-on-radical-islam.php
March 9, 2009 6:00 AM
by Daniel PipesThe Voice of America, Silenced on Radical Islam
For the past year, there's been a concerted push within the U.S. government to ban frank talk about the nature of the Islamist enemy. It began with the Department of Homeland Security, then moved to the National Counter Terrorism Center and the departments of State and Defense. Already in May 2008, I heard an excellent analysis of the enemy by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Thomas Mahnken in which he bizarrely never once mentioned Islam or jihad. I've been wondering how this change in vocabulary actually occurs: is it a spontaneous mood shift, a group decision, or a directive from on high? Jennifer Janin, head of the Urdu service at the Voice of America. The answer just arrived, in the shape of a ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-obama-plan-for-americas-future.php
March 9, 2009 5:30 AM
by Herbert I. LondonThe Obama Plan for America's Future
In President Obama’s address to the joint houses of Congress on February 24th, he said that we should not impose a debt on the next generation it cannot pay. Yet there are undeniable facts that go beyond rhetoric. Although Mark Twain once noted, “There are lies, damn lies and statistics,” there are statistics worth noting in the context of present conditions. In order to meet the demands imposed by the so-called stimulus bill, we, the American people, must ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/engaging-with-muslim-communities-around-the-world.php
March 6, 2009 5:34 PM
by Zeyno BaranEngaging with Muslim Communities Around the World
Thank you very much for the opportunity to share with you my ideas about how to engage more effectively with the many and varied Muslim communities around the world. There are huge expectations that the Obama administration will undo some of the damage to the perception— and influence—of the United States within Muslim societies that has accrued during the past decade. I hope my brief presentation will contribute to this effort. I will begin by describing the biggest challenge facing the US today: the problem of “us” and “them.” While it is clear to us, in Washington at least, that our foreign and security policies are not directed against Islam or any other religious community, it is not so readily understandable to many Muslims who see themselves as being part of “them.” In order to engage more effectively, our first step is to develop an accurate understanding of just who “we” and “them” are— otherwise the US may continue to alienate Muslims and strengthen the Islamists. I will then suggest some “do’s and don’ts” that should guide US policy going forward, before in closing emphasizing two priorities that the President and his administration should adopt: liberal democracy and the empowerment of women. Engagement: With whom and for what purpose? I believe the biggest challenge in outreach programs has been the inability to identify what it is that America wants from Muslims; in other words, what is the purpose of engagement? Is it merely to stop terror attacks against Americans and allies? Is it to ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/tareq-vs-tariq.php
March 6, 2009 6:30 AM
by Valentina ColomboTareq vs. Tariq
“I am fully ready to have a public debate with Tariq Ramadan to make it patently clear that the man does not know 1% of what a world-class scholar must know.” The challenge comes from another Tarek, the Egyptian intellectual Tarek Heggy. When you tell Heggy about the expansion of Islamic extremism in Europe, but most of all when you pronounce Ramadan’s name he wonders why Europe keeps on listening to people like him and why many European intellectuals and politicians consider him the best Islamic intellectual. This is the reason why I asked Heggy to comment some quotes from Ramadan’s speeches, books and videos. Here you find the result that should teach us something very important: we cannot trust Tariq while we can trust Tarek. Tariq Ramadan: “For years I have heard people saying: "Be careful with Tariq Ramadan because he has one message in French; and a different one for when he speaks Arabic in the suburbs." Go and try to speak Arabic in the suburbs of France and you won’t have an audience because they don’t know Arabic”. Tarek Heggy: Like a number of Muslim Brothers, Mr. Ramadan has two messages: one for the non-Arabic speaking audience (such as his views about the physical punishments) and different messages in Arabic. The difference between the spirit of these messages is enormous ... one would realize the dangers of this ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-economy-broken-windows-and-hard-choices.php
March 6, 2009 6:00 AM
by Will CathcartThe Economy: Broken Windows and Hard Choices
Back in September, the journalist Jim Pinkerton picked up one of Mallory Factor’s ideas for an alternative bailout and discussed it extensively online and on Fox News. Factor is a financier, financial writer, and founder and co-chair of The Monday Meeting, a nationally-recognized monthly gathering of elected officials, journalists, writers and conservative leaders in New York City. Although not a proponent of bailouts, Factor believes that this plan—to bail out homeowners to get the credit markets and housing markets working again—would be better for America than the bailouts proposed by Congress. Factor proposes that any qualified buyers who want to buy or refinance a house could get...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/iraq-withdrawal-wishful-thinking.php
March 5, 2009 6:30 AM
by Nibras KazimiIraq Withdrawal: Wishful Thinking
Forgotten in the rounds of self-congratulation following President Barack Obama’s presentation of his timetable for withdrawal from Iraq that was delivered last Friday was that the United States is already committed to a different timetable on which the Iraqi people will have the final say. The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed during November 2008 between America and Iraq, was only ratified by the Iraqi parliament after a clause allowing for a national referendum on the document was included. This referendum is supposed to take place by July 30 of this year. By that time, all U.S. forces would be garrisoned outside of heavily inhabited areas, however, that will not be the benchmark by which SOFA will be judged by the Iraqi public, who may judge the agreement solely by the odiousness of having foreign troops on their soil. Parliament has yet to specify whether ...March 5, 2009 5:30 AM
by Olivier GuittaSharia's Inroads in Europe - Italian Court: 'Beaten Up for "Her Own Good"'
(Mar. 2) - - Pakistan recently gave in to the pressure of Islamist militants. Indeed to buy off peace, Pakistani authorities allowed the imposition of Sharia (Islamic law) in the Swat valley. How long the cease-fire Swill last is anyone's guess. But Pakistan has allowed a precedent that could extend to other provinces; in fact the Swat valley is only about 100 miles away from Islamabad, the capital. But Sharia is not just making inroads in Pakistan but actually creeping in the West - particularly in Europe. One area especially touched by this phenomenon is the judicial system in Europe. Two recent cases ...March 5, 2009 5:00 AM
by BlogSpotSaudi Judge Sentences Pregnant Gang-Rape Victim to 100 Lashes for Committing Adultery
"She is still pregnant and will be flogged once she has had the child."...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/lebanon-resistance-redefined.php
March 4, 2009 6:30 AM
by Jean-Pierre KatribLebanon: Resistance Redefined
Despite the retreat of Israeli and Syrian forces from Lebanon in 2000 and 2005 respectively, much work remains to be done toward consolidating Lebanon’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. The presence of armed, non-state actors (Hezbollah, in particular) who are beholden to regional powers—primarily Syria and Iran— and who are operating outside the legal authority of the state continue to pose a threat to Lebanon’s security and sovereignty. Armed groups operating beyond the control of the state effectively prevent the central government from exercising its mandated authority, and thereby continue to directly contravene United Nations Security Resolution (UNSCR) 1559 (2004) which unequivocally calls for the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon. The continued existence of these militias, coupled with tense relations both internally and externally, is a stark reminder of the precarious security situation that could easily ignite into a severe and devastating conflict should any group miscalculate. The impunity of such actions is ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-pakistan-taliban-legitimized.php
March 4, 2009 6:00 AM
by Amir MirThe Pakistan Taliban Legitimized
LAHORE: The Pakistan government’s decision to sign a peace agreement with Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the ameer of the defunct Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, who is well known for his constant defiance and innate inclination to challenge the writ of the state, has clearly revived the lost glory of this terrorist of the past besides legitimizing his TNSM which was banned by the Musharraf regime on January 12, 2002 for its alleged involvement in anti-state terrorist activities. Generally referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, primarily to distinguish it from the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Omar, the Sufi-led TNSM or the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws is a militant Wahabi organization which had fast as a private army to reckon with. Known as a pro-Taliban jehadi organisation, the TNSM had been founded by the Sufi way back in 1989. While quitting the Jamaat-e-Islami, Sufi Mohammad had issued a decree, declaring that the religious political parties and electoral politics were unlawful and contrary to the Islamic principles. "There is no room for vote in Islam and the concept of democracy, which some religio-political parties are demanding, is wrong", he added. Ideologically, the Ammer Sufi Mohammad is dedicated to transform Pakistan into a Taliban style Islamic state. The motto of his organization is ’Shariah ya Shahadat’ (Islamic laws or martyrdom) which rejects all political and religio-political parties for following western-style democracy, and openly condones the use of force in jihad. The members of the group ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/hillary-in-israel.php
March 4, 2009 5:30 AM
by Tom GrossHillary in Israel
TEL AVIV - - Hillary Clinton arrives in Israel on her first visit since becoming Secretary of State, at a time when many influential people in America and beyond are clamoring for the Obama administration to pressure Israel into making major concessions. Before she succumbs to those pressures, she might want to bear in mind the pain Israel suffered the last time it was forced to make such concessions -- when Mrs. Clinton's husband was president. It is a pain that has many names and faces. One of them is Kinneret Chaya Boosany. At the very moment that Barack Obama was delivering his historic victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park in the early hours of Nov. 5, a small miracle was happening over 6,000 miles away in Israel when Kinneret gave birth to her first child. Six years earlier, Kinneret, then 23, was blown up as she worked as a waitress in a coffee shop in Tel Aviv. Her injuries were so horrific that the doctors ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/new-palestinian-tv---to-broadcast-what.php
March 3, 2009 6:30 AM
by Khaled Abu ToamehNew Palestinian TV - To Broadcast What?
American and European taxpayers are now being asked to fund a new TV station that will broadcast from Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians that is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The new satellite station is intended to serve as a mouthpiece for Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction. At a recent meeting of Fatah leaders in Ramallah, they decided to establish their own TV station to “counter” Hamas propaganda. Hamas has at least two TV stations that operate out of the Gaza Strip. This is in addition to a number of radio stations, and media Web sites. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which is completely dependant on American and European financial aid, has already approached a number of countries to seek their support for setting up the TV station. Fatah says that the station is badly needed in light of what appears to be a rise in Hamas’s popularity among the Palestinians. It hopes that the new station will help Fatah regain the confidence of the Palestinians in the continued (and bloody) power struggle with Hamas. But Fatah already has a TV station and it’s called Palestine TV. The faction also has its own radio station (Voice of Palestine), three daily newspapers and several radio stations in different parts of the West Bank. Fatah, in addition, has at least 13 Web sites that provide its leaders and spokesmen with a platform to launch daily attacks on Hamas and other rivals. So Abbas and his Fatah companions want to tell the Palestinians through the new TV station how ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/the-limits-of-engagement.php
March 3, 2009 5:30 AM
by Gerald M. SteinbergThe Limits of Engagement
The Obama administration's decision not to attend the Durban Review Conference, scheduled to open in Geneva on April 21, is a very significant step toward ending the obsessive "soft-power attacks" against Israel and restoring the moral foundations of human rights. If Washington's conclusion leads the Europeans to a similar move, the conference might be cancelled, or, if it is held, it will be seen as a farce, with participants limited to Iran, Libya, their Muslim allies and some marginal states. At first, the announcement that the US would send ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/geert-wilders-and-moral-equivalence.php
March 3, 2009 5:00 AM
by Andrew BostomGeert Wilders and Moral Equivalence
[2]This past week I had the great pleasure of meeting and hearing Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders several times . At each event, Mr. Wilders spoke either before or after a presentation of his harrowing, but realistic [8] film, “Fitna [9].” Just this week, consistent with the understandings, and plaintive appeals by both Mr. Wilders and the Pakistani scholar Ibn Warraq (earlier here [10], and most recently here [11]), these reports emerged: A World Public Opinion.org/ University of Maryland poll [12] released February 25, 2009 indicated the following about our erstwhile Muslim ally nations of Egypt and Pakistan—81% of the Muslims of “moderate” Egypt, the largest Arab Muslim nation, desire a “strict” application of Shari’a, Islamic Law; 79% of the Pakistan’s Muslims—one of the most important, and sizable non-Arab Muslim populations—want this outcome. Moreover, 70% of Egyptian Muslims and 69% of Pakistani Muslims desire the re-creation of a “..single Islamic state or Caliphate.” Earlier, I detailed the totalitarian impact of these fulfilled Islamic desires [13]—based upon their ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/hampshire-administration-does-the-right-thing.php
March 2, 2009 6:17 PM
by Alan M. DershowitzHampshire Administration Does the Right Thing
A substantial majority of students at Hampshire College, as well as a majority of the vocal faculty, apparently still believe that Israel is the only country in the world from which Hampshire and other universities should divest. They seem not to care about the great abuses of human rights that are occurring in Iran, which routinely hangs children and dissidents; in North Korea which tolerates no dissent; in Zimbabwe which imprisons opposition candidates; in China which occupies Tibet; in Russia which engages in brutality against Chechnya; in Venezuela and Cuba which are ruled by dictators; in Belarus which is a throwback to Stalin’s time; in Saudi Arabia which practices gender apartheid; in Egypt, Jordan and the Philippines which routinely practiced torture against dissidents, and in so many other countries around the world. This is not surprising coming from ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/free-speech-behind-bars.php
March 2, 2009 6:30 AM
by Geert WildersFree Speech Behind Bars?
(Feb. 23) Thank you very much for inviting me to address the Hudson New York Briefing Council. And - to the immigration authorities - thank you for letting me into this country. It is always a pleasure to cross a border without being sent back on the first plane. Today, the dearest of our many freedoms is under attack all throughout Europe. Free speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural element of our existence, our birth right, is now something we once again have to battle for. As you might know, I will be prosecuted, because of my film Fitna, my remarks regarding Islam, and my view concerning what some call a ‘religion of peace.’ A few years from now, I might be a criminal. Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue; I gave up my freedom four years ago. I am under full-time police protection ever since. The real question is: will free speech be put behind bars? And the larger question for the West is: will we leave Europe’s children the values of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem, or the values of Mecca, Teheran and Gaza? This is what video blogger Pat Condell said in one of his latest you tube appearances. He says: “If I talked about Muslims the way their holy book talks about me, I’d be arrested for hate speech.” Now, ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/a-struggle-for-equality.php
March 2, 2009 6:00 AM
by Taslima NasreenA Struggle for Equality
I was born to a Muslim family in a small town called Mymensingh in what then was East Pakistan. Now, after it gained its independence, this country is Bangladesh. It is a nation of more than 140 million, one of the most populous countries in the world, where 70 percent of the people live below the poverty line and more than half the population cannot read and write. There is insufficient health care, and infant mortality is high. Nearly 40 million women have no access to education nor do they have the possibility of becoming independent. My childhood was not much different from that of other ...http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/03/transformative-change.php
March 2, 2009 5:30 AM
by Herbert I. LondonTransformative Change
As a candidate, President Obama promised change, formidable change, a break with the past. Little did anyone appreciate how committed the president is to transformative change. With the $787 billion bill now the law of the land, more money will be transferred from one group to another than any point in American history. The government will emerge as the central architect in the economy and the notion of limited government as the premise for this “new nation” has become history. Newsweek editors claim ...
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