Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Soeren Kern • May 5, 2018 at 5:00 am
Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed — The Economist, citing the Moroccan newspaper Al-Ousboue. Nearly two-thirds of "child" refugees who were questioned about their real age after coming to Britain were found to be adults. — Report by David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. In 2017, there were 620 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) just in Birmingham and environs. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985, but there has still not been a single successful prosecution for the offense.
In the city of Rotherham (pictured), the council, police and social services turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of at least 1,400 children by gangs of men of Pakistani origin. Local officials kept silent about the abuse for more than a decade, apparently due to a fear of being charged with racism. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
April 1. National Union of Teachers (NUT) delegates condemned efforts by Ofsted, the chief regulator of British schools, to ban the hijab, a Muslim head covering, in primary schools. Ofsted said the measure was aimed at promoting the integration of Muslim pupils. Teachers blasted the policy, announced by Ofsted director Amanda Spielman, as "racism dressed up as liberalism." Kauser Jan, a Muslim activist and teacher in Leeds, described the hijab policy as "Islamophobic" and said she would not comply: "We have taken regressive steps where our children are now being made to feel that must leave their cultural and linguistic and religious identity at the door. I know Muslim girls and men that have shaved off beards, taken off their hijabs so they can anglicize themselves, so they can fit in and not feel they are part of the problem."
Continue Reading Article
by Josef Zbořil • May 5, 2018 at 5:00 am
It is becoming increasingly evident that immigrants from Muslim countries do not spontaneously integrate. On the contrary, there has been a controlled Islamization of integration, rather than the other way around. The fear among Czechs is that such a trend will lead, within a few decades, to a dangerous demographic shift and ultimate theocratic totality in Europe as in the Middle East. The government of Singapore controls the interpretation of Islam and Muslim finances, to prevent them from being used for violence and jihad.
Pictured: European populist politicians at the "For a Europe of Sovereign Nations" conference in Prague in December 2017, including Czech-Japanese Tomio Okamura, Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen from France. (Image source: Josef Zbořil)
If polls are to be trusted, one of the next countries most likely to follow Britain's lead and exit the European Union is the Czech Republic. In 2016, after the Brexit referendum, a mere 25% of the Czech public said it was satisfied with membership in the EU. There are three main reasons for this dissatisfaction. The first is the unsustainable long-term political and economic functioning of the current system, as described, among others, by the economist Petr Kostka:
Continue Reading Article
by Ahmed Charai • May 5, 2018 at 2:00 am
The US president, branded as "unpredictable," has received the fiercest criticism; but a foreign policy is measured by its results.
Trump and Macron at the White House. Emulating his French counterpart, the US president kept repeating: "I do what I say." Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
The last Trump-Macron Summit was a masterpiece of communication. The two men multiplied their signs of complicity and intimacy in front of the cameras. To indicate the strength of their relationship, The French president even declared, "We are two Mavericks." In addition, both criticized the difficulties imposed by the political system, while emphasizing that they have never been politicians to be used, nor were they part of a partisan machine.
Continue Reading Article
by Malcolm Lowe • May 4, 2018 at 5:00 am
What the assorted apologists for the Iran nuclear deal have failed to grasp is a simple distinction: the difference between suspicions and confirmation. The IAEA based its assessments on "over a thousand pages" of documents; now we have a hundred thousand. Moreover, these are in effect a hundred thousand signed confessions of the Iranian regime that it intended to create nuclear weapons and load them on missiles manufactured by itself. The miniature minds of the apologists are simply incapable of grasping the historic magnitude of the Mossad's discovery.
Pictured: Two images from Iran's secret nuclear archive, as presented publicly by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on April 30, 2018. In possibly the greatest coup in the history of espionage, Israel's Mossad acquired over 100,000 documents from the archive of Iran's program to create nuclear weapons. (Photo by Israel GPO)
The picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing before two displays, one of file folders and one of compact discs, symbolizes possibly the greatest coup in the history of espionage: the Mossad's acquisition of the archive of Iran's program to create nuclear weapons. A runner up for that title might be the advance information about Operation Overlord, the Allied landing in France at the end of World War II, supplied by Elyesa Bazna from Ankara and Paul Fidrmuc from Lisbon.
Continue Reading Article
by Burak Bekdil • May 3, 2018 at 5:30 am
Anyone who freely thinks for himself regarding Turkish President Erdoğan's one-man rule, at home or abroad, can get the label "terrorist." On April 25, a Turkish court sentenced 14 staff members of the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet to prison on charges of "terrorism," and handed down sentences ranging from 2½ years to 7½ years. When Erdoğan is not fighting hundreds of millions of "terrorists," including almost the entire European continent, the U.S. and probably half his own nation, he is busy cultivating deeper ties with countries such as Russia, Sudan and Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Sochi, Russia, on November 22, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
Many Middle East despots have historically accused the free world of being terrorists. For Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, for instance, the entire Western civilization is a terrorist machine programmed to spill Muslim blood. Turkey's strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is no exception. In an April speech Erdoğan, evidently overcome with amnesia regarding Turkey's invasions of Northern Cyprus and, a few weeks ago, Syria's Afrin, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "terrorist." Erdoğan told party loyalists: "We don't have the shame of invading on us, Netanyahu. You are an invader and right now are present in those lands as an invader. At the same time, you are a terrorist."
Continue Reading Article
by Ruthie Blum • May 3, 2018 at 4:30 am
"President Trump's peace through strength policies are working and bringing peace to the Korean peninsula. We can think of no one more deserving of the Committee's recognition in 2019 than President Trump for his tireless work to bring peace to our world." — 18 Members of the US Congress to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, May 2, 2018.
US President Donald Trump and President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2017. (Image source: White House/Shealah Craighead)
US President Donald Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a group of 18 members of Congress. In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, dated May 2, Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) and 17 other House lawmakers -- including Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and Steve King (R-Iowa) -- wrote that Trump has worked "tirelessly to apply maximum pressure to North Korea to end its illicit weapons programs and bring peace to the region." The letter further stated that the Trump administration
Continue Reading Article
by Khaled Abu Toameh • May 2, 2018 at 5:00 am
The Rafah border crossing is the Gaza Strip's single opening to Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. That border crossing is where the real suffering of the Palestinians has been taking place. The Gaza Strip could be a livable environment if the Egyptians opened the Rafah terminal to allow the world to come and help the Palestinians living there. As Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other organizers of the campaign have clearly stated in recent weeks, the Palestinian protests are aimed at thwarting US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East.
In 2017, Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip (pictured above) for just 29 days. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The weekly demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, which are scheduled to enter their sixth week this Friday, will undoubtedly continue to attract the attention of the international community and media. Meanwhile, no one will pay attention to what is happening on the Gaza Strip's other border with Egypt, which has been closed for most of the past 10 years. The demonstrations near the border with Israel are being organized by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip as part of the "March of Return" -- a six-week campaign of protests that is expected to reach its peak on "Nakba Day" ("The Day of Catastrophe"), the term used by Palestinians to describe the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Continue Reading Article
by Judith Bergman • May 1, 2018 at 5:00 am
Russia's aggression into Ukraine came in direct violation of its obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. "After four years of war, Russia has at least 260,000 troops deployed along the Ukrainian border," ready to advance. — Oleksandr Turchynov, Chairman of Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council, April 13, 2018. The First Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Security Service, Viktor Kononenko, recently reported that Russia might be planning another attempt to destabilize Ukraine in the fall "under the pretext of protecting the Russian-speaking population".
Pictured: A Russian-backed rebel observing Ukrainian army positions near Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, May 17, 2015. (Image source: Mstyslav Chernov/Wikimedia Commons)
This April marks the fourth year of the ongoing war in Ukraine between the Ukrainian military and Russian backed separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in eastern Ukraine, also known as the Donbas region. Prior to the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine in April 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. Russia's aggression into Ukraine came in direct violation of its obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Under the memorandum, in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons, Russia reaffirmed its "obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine" and promised that none of its weapons would ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
Continue Reading Article
by Maria Polizoidou • April 30, 2018 at 5:00 am
In principle, the idea is no different from George Soros's 220-page guide seemingly to create a permanent voting majority for the Democratic Party by "enlarge[ing] the U.S. electorate by 10 million voters by 2018." Greece's ruling Syriza coalition appears to be adopting a strategy of garnering votes from immigrants by expediting their naturalization process. It will be easier to obtain Greek citizenship than a fishing license. A total of 800,000 immigrants -- almost one-tenth of the native Greek population -- will soon become citizens. Transposed to the United States, that would be the equivalent of 32,000,000 new voters.
Pictured: Recently-arrived migrants in Lesbos, Greece wait to board a ferry to Athens, on November 10, 2015. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
As Greece struggles with accelerating economic decline and an increasing lack of public faith in the political leadership, the ruling Syriza coalition appears to be adopting a strategy of garnering votes from immigrants by expediting their naturalization process. According to a recent report in the Greek daily Parapolitika, Interior Minister Panos Skourletis is laying the groundwork to enable hundreds of thousands of immigrants to become citizens and vote in the next elections. Although the mandate of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ends in September 2019, some analysts have been predicting a call for elections by the end of 2018.
Continue Reading Article
by Uzay Bulut • April 30, 2018 at 4:00 am
Given Turkey's inhospitable treatment of non-Muslims throughout the ages, it is the height of hypocrisy for its foreign minister to complain about Europe's attitude towards Muslims, which has been the opposite of Islamophobic. To refresh Çavuşoğlu's memory, a review of Turkey's record is in order. By proposing to block all criticism of Islam on the grounds that it is "extremist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic and Islamophobic," Çavuşoğlu is revealing that he would welcome banning free speech to protect a religious ideology.
The faces of many of the victims who were murdered in the 1993 Sivas massacre of Alevis are featured on this poster, used in a 2012 commemoration in Germany. (Image source: Bernd Schwabe, Wikimedia Commons)
At an event held on April 11 to unveil the 2017 European Islamophobia Report -- released by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu called on EU governments to criminalize Islamophobia. "There is no ideology or terminology called 'Islamism'; There is only one Islam and it means 'peace,'" he declared -- incorrectly: salaam means peace; Islam means submission. He also claimed that populist politicians are "increasingly engaging in extremist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, and Islamophobic rhetoric to get a few more votes," and that "centrist politicians are... using a similar rhetoric to get back the votes they have lost."
Continue Reading Article
by Stefan Frank • April 29, 2018 at 5:00 am
Marlene Weise was banned from Facebook for 30 days, for posting a set of two pictures: One showed the Iranian women's national volleyball team from the 1970s, wearing t-shirts and shorts; the other, the current Iranian team, wearing hijabs and clothes that cover arms and legs. "Does a law- and contract-abiding user have to acquiesce to companies like Facebook or Twitter deleting his content or banning him for it? The ruling is an important stage victory for the freedom of speech." — Joachim Nikolaus Steinhöfel, attorney and anti-censorship activist.
Joachim Steinhöfel (right) is a lawyer, journalist and anti-censorship activist. He runs a website where he documents cases in which Facebook deleted content or banned users. (Steinhöfel image source: Hilmaarr/Wikimedia Commons)
A court in Berlin has issued a temporary restraining order against Facebook. Under the threat of a fine of 250,000 euros (roughly $300,000 USD) or a jail term, Facebook was obliged to restore a user's comment that it had deleted. Moreover, the ruling prohibited the company from banning the user because of this comment. This is the first time a German court has dealt with the consequences of Germany's internet censorship law, which came into effect on October 1, 2017. The law stipulates that social media companies have to delete or block "apparent" criminal offenses, such as libel, slander, defamation or incitement, within 24 hours of receipt of a user complaint.
Continue Reading Article
by A. Z. Mohamed • April 29, 2018 at 4:30 am
Pope Francis fails to differentiate between violence motivated by religious faith and violence committed by followers of all religions, but motivated by reasons having nothing to do with religion. Among the main duties of the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church is to protect the Church's followers, be empathic and understanding of their needs, and not deceive them into a condition of subjugation.
Pope Francis attends the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on March 30, 2018 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
In his prayer during the Good Friday, Via Crucis ("Way of the Cross"), at the Colosseum in Rome, Pope Francis said that for many reasons, Christians ought to express shame for choosing power and money over God, and for the actions of those who are leaving future generations "a world shattered by divisions and wars, a world devoured by selfishness."
Continue Reading Article
by Amir Taheri • April 29, 2018 at 4:00 am
Ahmad Shah Massoud demonstrated his genius for analysis by insisting that a war never ends by one side declaring victory but by one side admitting defeat. The Soviet experience in Afghanistan is not the sole example of winning a war in military terms but losing it politically. The French in 1962 in Algeria and the Americans in Vietnam in 1974 -- in both cases, the loser lost because it pursued an impossible political agenda: trying to impose minority rule on an unwilling majority.
Pictured: A Soviet military unit in 1989, prior to their withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Image source: RIA Novosti/A. Solomonov/Wikimedia Commons)
"With the defeat of terrorist forces, the situation in (...) is stabilized, the legitimate government is in control of the country." Sounds familiar? No surprise. For this is the mantra that Russian propagandists keep repeating with reference to Syria: Assad has won! The above statement, however, was made in 1983 about Afghanistan, three years after the Red Army had invaded to prevent the fall of the "legitimate government" dominated by local Communists. Since, contrary to the adage, history doesn't repeat itself, one should not conclude that Syria today is what Afghanistan was decades ago. Afghanistan is almost three times larger than Syria and much more difficult terrain for military operations. At the time of the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan had the same size of population as Syria today, with the difference that anti-Communist forces could draw on a vast demographic reservoir in Pashtun-majority parts of Pakistan.
Continue Reading Article
by Giulio Meotti • April 28, 2018 at 5:00 am
We no longer replace our numbers; instead we rely on immigration to compensate for the shortfall in births. This immigration is for the most part Muslim; the effect of our demographic decline is, therefore, the Islamization of Europe. The response of members of the political class, at least in Italy, is to shrug their shoulders, and say, "So what?" European elites believe that religion is private. However, most Muslims do not believe that religion is private, and some are working hard to create a state in which Islamic law is the legal foundation for everyone. The effect of this is already being felt across the European continent. We have more Islamic veils and mosques, and fewer cartoons of Mohammed. Without the courage to insist on safeguarding our values, and passing our inheritance on to our children, we Europeans will simply disappear -- as many groups have before. With us, however, will disappear the most enlightened civilization the world has ever known.
Migrants wait to be rescued by crewmembers from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel on June 10, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
"We have to decide if our ethnicity, if our white race, if our society continues to exist -- or if it will be wiped out." This observation was recently made by Attilio Fontana, a politician with the anti-immigrant Northern League, who is running to govern the Italy's northern region of Lombardy. Fontana's remarks sparked quite a political storm. He may not have chosen the most delicate words, but he was right in pointing out the potential suicide of Europe. Italy's problem, in fact, is not the word "race", but the empty cradles and the crowded boats which have brought in 500,000 African migrants in a relatively short time
Continue Reading Article
by Denis MacEoin • April 27, 2018 at 5:00 am
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) itself has become a prime motivator and enforcer of the rejection of human rights. The other charters of human rights are to be found exclusively in the Muslim world. Anything that falls within Islamic shari'a law is a human right; anything that does not fall within shari'a is not a human right. "For us the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is nothing but a collection of mumbo-jumbo by disciples of Satan". — 'Ali Khamene'i, Iran's current Supreme Leader. "The underlying thesis in all the Islamic human rights schemes is that the rights afforded in international law are too generous and only become acceptable when they are subjected to Islamic restrictions". — Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics.
Pictured: Eleanor Roosevelt holding a Universal Declaration of Human Rights poster in Spanish, in 1949. (Image source: United Nations/Flickr)
The history of human rights, albeit fragmented, is a long and often honourable expression of religious and civic endeavour. The scriptures of most religions refer to the ways in which we should treat our fellow man, from the Bible in antiquity to the broadly liberal Baha'i scriptures written in Persian and Arabic in the late nineteenth century. Religious precepts have served to protect human beings from arbitrary mistreatment in Hinduism, Buddhism, and other faiths. Modern human rights declarations and legislation developed in a secular context, above all as an expression of democratic values, and informed by Judaeo-Christian ethics. The earliest formulations of secular human rights legislation are to be found in the 1789 French Declaration on the Rights of Man and the Citizen and the 1791 US Constitution, the first 10 amendments of which form the Bill of Rights.
Continue Reading Article
|
