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THE BEST OF A BAD SET OF CHOICES
By Avi Davis
 The outbreak of open hostilities between the State of Israel and Hamas this week should put to rest at least one notion: that no one should rely on the word and deeds of terrorists. During the period of a supposed six month truce (tahadiya), the group that others have called the legitimate representatives of the people of Gaza, had launched more than 329 rockets and mortar shells into Israel, most of them during the month and a half after November 4.
During the past week alone, over 300 rockets have been fired into southern Israel. That amount might seem modest by comparison with 10,000 rockets of the past five years. But it was enough to show that any deal or negotiation with the Palestinian group is a Faustian bargain, which will only reap a bitter harvest of broken agreements and continued hostility.
Given this reality, what then is the purpose of a ceasefire or truce, now being urged upon the Jewish state by Europe? The answer is that there is no purpose, other than to salve Europeans’ fears of riots by Muslim populations in their own countries. A ceasefire will only give Hamas increased legitimacy among its own people as having withstood Zionist aggression while adding to its stature in the wider Arab world. It will allow it to regroup, rearm and encourage further world aid in making the next contest far more deadly.
But on the other hand, an invasion of Gaza, which has been in the offing since the day the Israelis departed three and half years ago, is also problematic. In the cynical Hamas game plan, the more fiercely the streets of Gaza burn, the better – for world sympathy will be drawn to Palestinian suffering and Israel will be pushed even deeper into the swamp of moral obloquy in which many in the world media would like to see it sputter and drown.
So for Israel, the Gaza adventure will soon become a zero sum game – a series of bad alternatives from which it will need to select the least damaging. No one can predict what kind of price Israel will pay in such an invasion, either in human or public relations costs, but it frankly now has little choice: it must either crush the terrorist menace on its southern border or else come to grips with the realization that the long term survival of its polity is at deep risk.
That is bold statement to make about one of the most sophisticated military powers in the world and the lone democracy in the region. But without intervention, the range of Hamas’ rockets is only going to grow, well beyond 40 kms where one rocket landed on Tuesday morning and destroyed a Be’er Sheba kindergarten. Increased clout will bring further deadly equipment to the Hamas arsenal from IUDs to a version of the Fatah missile which Hezbollah has deployed in Lebanon and can supposedly cover all of Israel. Hard though it is to imagine, Israelis within a few years could experience a bombardment nightmare on the level of the London Blitz. With the coordination of the 15,000 strong Hezbollah rocket arsenal in the north, major population centers within Israel could be subject to short and medium range rocket assault on a daily basis. Between ceasefires, ordinary human activity in commerce, transportation and tourism would grind to a halt and the economy would be devastated. Life in the country’s central urban hub would become intolerable.
Such a scenario would be unimaginable in any other modern democracy and Israel should not have to contemplate it. An invasion which deals a knockout blow to Hamas as a military and political force, re-establishing a necessary Israeli military presence in Gaza and even, if necessary, civilian control, is the best of a bad set of options. While it might expose the country to the lashing of world opinion, it would nevertheless free it from the dangers of deadly southern front and allow it to concentrate its energies on defeating the menace in the north while preparing for a likely confrontation with Iran. It would also establish an example in defiance that other world democracies, beset by their own border threats, would be advised to follow.
And what of ordinary Gazans, caught in the cross fire between their terrorist operatives and Israeli troops? No one should forget that a majority of these same Palestinians and their ancestors have been continuous shuttlecocks, lobbed back and forth for a century by a series of brutal leaders. These leaders have willingly sacrificed their peoples’ security, livelihoods and welfare in the name of unabated armed conflict with the Zionists. Israel, a democracy at war, charged with the responsibility of defending its citizens and confronted with such an obvious threat to its existence, does not now have the luxury of exclusive concern for Palestinian life. That worry rightfully belongs to Hamas. Maybe the question then is not what the Israelis could do to further protect the lives of Palestinian non-combatants, but what the Palestinians have not done in the same regard.
The Bush Administration, until now, has been acquiescent in Israel’s drive to crush the Hamas threat. That sends the right message. To urge restraint now would be to create the conditions in which terrorists win important psychological and public relations victories – the kinds of triumph that will set the region on a road toward a conflagration of much graver proportions in the not too distant future.
Want to comment on this article? See Avi Davis’ new blog
SAMUEL P. HUNTINGTON AND THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA'S SOUL
By Avi Davis
In the world of political science, books come and go, make their mark for a week or two then disappear into the University stacks, rarely to be seen again.
Then there is the kind of book whose influence cannot be denied and whose intellectual resonance long outlives its shelf life. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington, who died this week at the age of 81, was such a work. Published in 1996, Huntington offered a riveting analysis of the shape of the post-Cold War world and the conflicts likely to consume the West in the future. His work has effectively framed the discussion of the West’s continuance as a unified civilization since then. The bookbegan its life as an article in Foreign Affairs attacking Francis Fukuyama’s equally influential piece The End of History? The latter article argued, in the Hegelian spirit, that in the wake of the Cold War, the struggles of the world would no longer be ideological but largely economic. Huntington’s stinging riposte to this was that the primary axis of conflict in the future would be neither ideological nor economic but along cultural and religious lines:
“The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations."
To read more go to Avi Davis’ blog
Avi Davis is the Executive Director and Senior Fellow of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. He can be contacted at isdev@ix.netcom.com
NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA
 Exclusive: What You Need to Know About Shariah-Complaint Finance-Andy Polk
Editor’s note: Our readers know of the good work conducted by Rep. Sue Myrick’s (R-NC) Anti Terrorism Caucus. Recently, the Anti Terrorism Caucus prepared a background information letter for Members of Congress that describes, in basic terms, Shariah Finance and how it is gaining a foothold in America due to capital investment needs and the desire by businesses to sell to Islamic markets. The letter lays out several problems with Shariah Finance and uses examples to help explain these problems in common business terms; we recommend it highly to our readers. (Familysecuritymatters)
Homeland Security forecasts 5-year threat picture-Eileen Sullivan
WASHINGTON (AP) — The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press. Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.The al-Qaida terrorist network continues to focus on U.S. attack targets vulnerable to massive economic losses, casualties and political "turmoil," the assessment said. (AP)
 Demonstrator burns policeman's cap as thousands try to storm Israeli embassy in London-Daily Mail Reporter
An anti-Israel protester snatched a policeman's cap and set it alight during a demonstration in West London last night. The man paraded the burning hat as thousands of demonstrators tried to reach Israel's embassy in Kensington. Others protested in Cardiff, Birmingham, Halifax and Sheffield. In London, some climbed the embassy gates and were restrained by police. Crowds chanted, 'Palestine must be free from the river to the sea.' Police cordons blocked off the road to traffic and the crowd surged against officers leading to minor clashes. (Dailymail.co.uk)
EXTREMISTS TARGET CHURCH
by TIM FLETCHER
ISLAMIC extremists have been condemned after plastering Burton streets with stickers bearing the slogan 'Jesus was a Muslim' - one day before Christmas. The stickers appeared on the morning of Christmas Eve on lampposts in the Horninglow and Shobnall areas of town, and outside religious buildings including St Chad's Church, in Hunter Street. The stickers - believed to originate from fundamentalist Muslim group Islam For The UK, as they included the group's website address - provoked an angry response from people living nearby. (Burtonmail.co.uk)
 Child 'slavery' being imported to U.S.-AP
One child's story speaks for the thousands locked in silent servitude
In Africa, children of the poor are commodities, often traded like cows or donkeys by adults who value their labor. This story on child maids is the third in an occasional series on the exploitation of African children. Each story stands on its own.
IRVINE, California - Late at night, the neighbors saw a little girl at the kitchen sink of the house next door.
They watched through their window as the child rinsed plates under the open faucet. She wasn't much taller than the counter and the soapy water swallowed her slender arms. To put the dishes away, she climbed on a chair. But she was not the daughter of the couple next door doing chores. She was their maid. Shyima was 10 when a wealthy Egyptian couple brought her from a poor village in northern Egypt to work in their California home. She awoke before dawn and often worked past midnight to iron their clothes, mop the marble floors and dust the family's crystal. She earned $45 a month working up to 20 hours a day. She had no breaks during the day and no days off.
(msnbc.msn.com)
Indulgence of Islam is harming society
Channel 4's decision to invite President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to deliver its "alternative" Christmas message may have been offensive to many people, but no one can say the station is neglecting its obligation to cater for minorities. Muslim fundamentalists were thrilled by the broadcast.-Damian Thompson
Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Britain: the number of Muslims has grown from 1.6 million to two million since 2000. Moreover, every major public institution has changed its policies to accommodate the demands of Islamic "community leaders". The Government, the Opposition, the police, schools, the Church of England, the BBC and now Channel 4 are all helping Muslims construct a parallel Islamic state.
Early next year, the think tank Civitas will publish a survey of 100 British Muslim schools. Entitled When Worlds Collide, it will argue that some of them are pushing pupils into ghettos. Young women, in particular, are forbidden to pursue career opportunities. "Every year, an incalculable number of Muslim young women are lost to the wider world," says the report. (Telegraph.co.uk)
Ethnic Justice-Baron Bodissey
In recent months Britain has taken several steps towards instituting a sharia court system, a separate and parallel legal structure designed to adjudicate complaints within Britain’s Muslim community. Not only the Archbishop of Canterbury, but also lawyers, judges, and members of the government are openly discussing the implementation of sharia in the UK. Now comes word that a social anthropologist in Switzerland is proposing the same thing for his country. According to an article entitled “Sharia courts in Switzerland?” in today’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Dr. Christian Giordano foresees a Swiss version of sharia. Our Austrian correspondent ESW sent us a working summary of the article: (Gatesofvienna)
Academic freedom
Teach the Controversy, Don’t Preach It-David Horowitz
[Address to the Annual Convention of the Modern Languages Association, San Francisco, December 29, 2008.] I want to thank Brian Kennelly, the MLA and its gracious president Jerry Graff for inviting me today. It has been five and a half years since I began my campaign for an Academic Bill of Rights and this is the first time any academic institution or professional association has invited me to discuss my agendas. It is not as though these agendas have not been a matter of academic interest. On the contrary, they have been the focus of faculty meetings, the subject of resolutions by professional associations like the MLA, and the inspiration for a statement on academic freedom by the American Council on Education, which represents 1800 colleges and universities. But this is the first time the instigator of all this concern has been invited to appear before an academic body to defend his views and explain his proposal. Before publishing the Academic Bill of Rights five years ago, I vetted an early version of the text with three prominent leftwing academics: Todd Gitlin, Michael Berube and Stanley Fish. The published version is the one that met with their approval. (Frontpagemag)
UK boycott supporters reach out to Israeli academics-Jonny Paul
Two major players in UK efforts to boycott Israeli academia are calling for dialogue with those they propose to shun. Earlier this month, the University and College Union (UCU) dropped a proposed boycott following a threat by members of the academic trade union to take legal action. The two boycott supporters - Israeli Haim Bresheeth, professor of film and media studies at the University of East London, and Jonathan Rosenhead, professor of operational research at the London School of Economics - sent a letter to Israeli academics who had signed a petition in March supporting Palestinians academic freedom. In the letter, they wrote they were "heartened" by the Israeli academics who were "willing to take a stand for their Palestinian colleagues and for their principles," and asked to work with Israeli academics. However, the Bresheeth and Rosenhead stressed that the issue of academic freedom was "only a small part of the problems resulting from the occupation and the associated policies of the Israeli government." (Jpost)
Media Bias
Did Israel Use "Disproportionate Force" in Gaza?-Dore Gold
• Israeli population centers in southern Israel have been the target of over 4,000 rockets, as well as thousands of mortar shells, fired by Hamas and other organizations since 2001. Rocket attacks increased by 500 percent after Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. During an informal six-month lull, some 215 rockets were launched at Israel.
• The charge that Israel uses disproportionate force keeps resurfacing whenever it has to defend its citizens from non-state terrorist organizations and the rocket attacks they perpetrate. From a purely legal perspective, Israel's current military actions in Gaza are on solid ground. According to international law, Israel is not required to calibrate its use of force precisely according to the size and range of the weaponry used against it.
(JCPA)
Groundhog Day For The Fifth Column Of Malice-Melanie Phillips
So there is indeed now a war. In Gaza. Actually, there are two wars going on: one involving rockets and warplanes, and the other involving the media, as Barry Rubin notes: Nothing is clearer than Hamas’s strategy. It gives Israel the choice between rockets and media, and Hamas thinks it is a situation of, ‘We win or you lose.’...The smug smiles are wiped off the faces of Hamas leaders. Yet they have one more weapon, their reserves, they call up the media. Those arrogant, heroic, macho victors of yesterday--literally yesterday as the process takes only a few hours--are transformed into pitiful victims. Casualty figures are announced by Hamas, and accepted by reporters who are not on the spot. Everyone hit is, of course, a civilian. No soldiers here. And the casualties are disproportionate: Hamas has arranged it that way. If necessary, sympathetic photographers take pictures of children who pretend to be injured, and once they are published in Western newspapers these claims become fact. accordance with international law. (Spectator.co.uk)
Freedom of Speech
 Prosecute them-MPACUK (This was posted on the radical Muslim Public Affairs Committee’s UK website calling for prosecution against those who criticise Muslims)
One of the things that Islamophobes and Zionists use besides accusations of ‘terrorism’, and ‘victim mentality’ to shut Muslims up is ‘paranoia’ whenever Muslims point out that someone has made an Islamophobic, anti-Islamic remark or whether Muslims make comments to defend themselves and anti-Zionists are often called paranoid (besides being accused of anti-Semitism of course). The Islamophobes at the Centre for Social Cohesion and the Zionists such as Melanie Phillips sure defined the meaning of the word ‘paranoia’ a couple of days ago when they were jumping up and down, like a three year old who has just been given a lollipop, buzzing with ‘important’ news. And what was this so ‘important’ news. Well it wasn’t anything more than Asghar Bukhari defending the rights of Muslims to defend their lands. Let’s take a look at what he said again shall we. "Muslims who fight against the occupation of their lands are mujahadeen and are blessed by Allah. And any Muslim who fights against Israel and dies is a martyr and will be granted paradise." So, Muslims who fight against the occupation of their lands are Mujahideen. Is there something wrong with fighting against the occupation of your lands? What would you do if your land or country was attacked today? Would you not fight against the occupation? Then why is it different when you hear someone else fighting against the occupation of their lands. Is it just that Muslims are not allowed to fight for their lands but anyone else can, especially Israel? How about if I substitute the word ‘Muslims’ for ‘Christians’ or ‘Hindus’? Would that make it more acceptable? As for fighting against Israel, anyone who cares about human rights and injustice will do so. Every pro-Palestinian organisation including MPACUK fights against Israel for that reason and that reason alone, the fact that Israel is illegally occupying and invading a land that does not belong to them, and imposing the worst forms of human rights abuses on the Palestinians. So how does fighting against Israel or fighting against the occupation of one’s land equate to ‘glorifying terrorism’ as Mel so ardently puts it? Is the definition of a terrorist one who defends his lands and fights against injustice and occupation? Well according to the Zionist Melanie Phillips and the Islam-haters at the Centre for Social Cohesion that is the definition of a terrorist. They don’t give a damn about the Palestinian people or justice, as long as they can push their own political agenda and 'glorifying terrorism' is just their way of trying to intimidate people, who expose them, into shutting up. They are Islamophobes, a dirty word, and hatred against Islam and Muslims seems to be spiralling out of control. The police need to put the law into practice to control it. Indeed if one looks at some of the individuals at the Centre of Social Cohesion such as Douglas Murray one understands exactly what hate against a religion is. Once his comments went as far as embarrassing his former employers, the Social Affairs Unit, who promptly removed them from their website to save themselves being associated with his extremist rant. And Melanie Phillips track record such as her book 'Londonistan' is no better which is nothing more than anti-Islam rhetoric. I for one am sick of being maligned for my faith. If Jew haters can go to jail then what about Muslim haters. Melanie Phillips and individuals at the Centre for Social Cohesion should be arrested for glorifying and inciting hatred against Muslims.
This is Exposer signing off. Always exposing the lies out there. (MPACUK)
Talk about surrender-Janet Albrechtsen
THE media took great delight in reporting the encounter between US President George W. Bush and a pair of flying shoes during his final visit to Iraq two weeks ago. But the great bastions of free speech missed the true significance of an Arab reporter throwing his shoes during a press conference in Baghdad.
Bush has long maintained that it would be a fine thing to see the emergence of some basic Western values in the Arab world. Values such as freedom of expression. Perhaps the return to Iraq of a bit of shoe-throwing as the ultimate sign of Arab disgust is a healthy sign of a democracy, warts and all, taking hold. Iraqis had to wait until Saddam Hussein was dead before they threw their shoes en masse at his toppling statue. Puerile as it is as a form of expression, Iraqis can now throw shoes freely at any leader, including the outgoing leader of the free world. So maybe Bush's final visit to Iraq is, after all, a healthy sign of democratic values taking root. What a shame those same values have, over a period of years, been uprooted in the West. If 2006 will be remembered as the year the West rolled over when tested on free speech - think the Danish cartoons, which large swaths of the media refused to publish for fear of causing offence - two years on, things are worse.(theaustralian)
ANTISEMITISM
As Gaza Fighting Continues, Egyptian Clerics Intensify Antisemitic Statements; Columbus, Ohio Muslim Scholar/Leader Dr. Salah Sultan: Muhammad Said That Judgment Day Will Not Come Until Muslims Fight the Jews and Kill Them; America Will Suffer Destruction-MEMRI
Following are excerpts from interviews with several Egyptian clerics, which aired on Al-Nas TV and Al-Rahma TV on December 28 and 29, 2008.
One of the clerics, Dr. Salah Sultan, is president of the AmericanCenter for Islamic Research (ACIR), a nonprofit organization registered in Ohio and located in Columbus. On his website, he states that the main purpose of the ACIR is to "serve Allah (God) in the best way possible through the principles laid out in the Quran and Sunnah," to address misconceptions and extremism, to build bridges with non-Muslims, and to issue fatwas. He also states on his website that his own mission is "to achieve Allah's consent and Paradise through the reformation of the soul, the family, the society and the nation according to the methodology of the Quran and the Sunnah," and that his vision is "To live happily. To die as a martyr." [1]
TO VIEW THIS CLIP AND OTHERS YOU MUST LOG IN BY SIGNING UP FOR A FREE MEMRI TV REGISTRATION [www.memritv.org ] To register for MEMRI TV, go to the MEMRI TV site and click "Register" at upper right hand side.
Al-Nas TV, December 28, 2008
"Take My Heart... And Use It to Stone All The Jews... Take My Skin, And Turn It Into a Fuse or a Slingshot for a Child or a Newborn Baby"
Egyptian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Al-Saghir: "I say to the people of Gaza: Take my heart, which has hardened like a stone. Take it, and use it to stone all the Jews. Take my soul, and it will give you shade, for no longer does it fly far away. Take my eye - by Allah, take my eye. Perhaps a handsome youth, who was blinded, could see again. Take my skin, and turn it into a fuse or a slingshot for a child or a newborn baby."
[...](MEMRI)
Yemen to build ghetto for Jews-Smadar Peri
President Ali Abdullah Saleh announces plan to build secured residential compound for Jews in capital of San'a
Two weeks after the murder of Moshe Yaish Nahari, the brother of Yemen's Jewish community's head, the country's president Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged to build a secured Jewish ghetto in the outskirts of the capital San'a. The new neighborhood will house the 300 Jews of the Umran province where the murder took place. Yemen's president has informed human rights organizations and the heads of the Jewish community in the country of his decision to allocate an area in Sana's northern suburb for the construction of a residential neighborhood for Jews on the state's expense. Any family who decides to move there from Umran will receive $10,000 in compensation. According to President Saleh, the Jewish neighborhood will be guarded by security forces at all hours. Since Nahari's murder dozens of Jews in Umran have reported receiving death threats and falling victim to violent harassment in the streets of the Umran province. A Yemeni judge on Monday ordered the man accused of murdering Nahari to go for a medical checkup to determine if he was competent to stand trial. At the opening of the trial, lawyers for defendant Abdel Aziz Yehia Hamoud al-Abdi appealed to the judge that he was mentally unfit to stand trial and asked for a medical examination. "Every one who knows him, knows he is insane," lawyer Khaled al-Shalali told the court, describing the defendant as a retired pilot in the Yemeni army. (Ynet) AP contributed to the report
The following Jew hatred was posted on the Hamas English forum website:
We have to kill al the jews,thats the only solution to peace!! Kill them how they kill us!! And let them burn in hell!! Jews are the poisen of the earth! Why you think Hitler wanted to kill them? He saw the treath,they are profesionels in making problems between people,countrys etc. Jews are harthless cowerds! May al jews burn in hell! And sad to say but its true,al the arab gouverments in the world at the moment are the dogs of USA and Israel! Nobody help! WHy???????? If al the moslim gouverments put there hands together they can fight the jews and win! But there all cowerds! Where is Islam??? Al the moslim are brothers and sisters right? We are 1 big moslim Ummah right? Ok why then nothing is happaning!! Is evryone sleeping or what???? I just spoke someone from gaza,He was like: My brother died....My cousin died....My uncle died...My neighbor died. What can you say????????? Im sorry? Harammmmmm Wake up! Al moslims have to do something,demonstrate,go on the street,kill Israelies wherever you can!! And by the way,Im half dutch half marocain,born and raised in Holland and this is the truth! ALLah oe Akhbar!!
TERRORISM, INTERNET, JIHAD
 Islamist Websites Call to Attack American, Israeli Interests
In response to the Gaza offensive, Islamist websites have posted many messages calling to attack Israeli and American interests worldwide. A member of the Shumukh Al-Islam forum, for example, called to attack American and Israeli embassies around the world, and asked for information about these embassies – especially in Europe, Asia and Arab countries – and for pictures of them. Fellow members explained how to find the embassies using Google Earth, and posted links to websites of U.S. embassies, among them the one in Maskat, Oman. A member of the Islamist forum Al-Fallujah urged Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to attack the Israeli embassy in Mauritania and the Israeli representations in Morocco and Tunisia.
Website of the U.S. embassy in Oman (one of the links supplied on Shumukh Al-Islam) (MEMRI)
Spain: Over 100 suicide bombers-El Pais
Spain has become a major European breeding ground for al-Qaeda and its associated groups, who recruit Jihadists and suicide bomber to Iraq. Since the US invasion in 2003 more than 100 youth, mostly North African immigrants, formed local cells which financed their trips with Zakat, the donations received in mosques, according to intelligence sources. "Los sin vicio de Occidente" (without the faults of the West), one of the most active cells in sending Mujaheddin to Iraq, operated in Catalonia and trained at least 9 candidates to suicide attacks. One of them murdered 28 people in Nasirirya. El Pais reconstructed with unpublished documents and testimonies the story of those who traveled this path, their route and secret contacts in Syria, the first stop in the sinister journey towards death. The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), linked to the March 11 attacks, created an extensive support network in Damascus for aspiring 'Spaniards' who traveled from the 'wedding' (suicide) to Iraq: hotels, residences, study centers and contacts to cross the border and join the cells of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the leaders of the insurgency. The unsuccessful Jihadis returned to Spain and became sources for the new aspirants from these and other cells in Catalonia and Madrid. The National Court extend the process against Mohamed Rabet, the alleged leader of Los sin vicio de Occidente, who's responsible for the deaths caused by his students in Iraq. An anti-terrorsim agent says that it's impossible to know how much damage they've caused, but it's many dead. The leader of this GICM network, a butcher in the town of Vilanova i la Geltrú, and some of the unsuccessful suicide bombers will be tried in the first hearing in Spain against the cells who nourish the Mujaheddin and the Iraqi insurgency. (IslaminEurope)
Taleban threaten to blow up girls’ schools if they refuse to close-Zahid Hussain in Isamabad
The Taleban have ordered the closure of all girls’ schools in the war-ravaged Swat district and warned parents and teachers of dire consequences if the ban is flouted. In an announcement made in mosques and broadcast on radio, the militant group set a deadline of January 15 for its order to be obeyed or it would blow up school buildings and attack schoolgirls. It also told women not to set foot outside their homes without being fully covered. “Female education is against Islamic teachings and spreads vulgarity in society,” Shah Dauran, leader of a group that has established control over a large part of Swat district in the North West Frontier Province, declared this week. Teachers said that they had little choice but to comply. The Taleban have destroyed more than 125 girls’ schools in the area in the past year. Swat, once a relatively liberal area and a popular tourist destination, has in the past few years become a heartland for Pakistan’s Islamic militancy, which fashions itself on the conservative Taleban movement in Afghanistan. Islamic militants led by the radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah have been fighting government forces since Pakistan launched a massive operation in the district late last year. More than 200 government soldiers have been killed but the militants are still well entrenched in the area. Mullah Fazlullah – also known as Mullah Radio for his sermons broadcast through his illegal FM radio stations – has long been exhorting people to stop sending their daughters to schools, which “inculcate Western values”. Hundreds of girls and women teachers have quit schools as a result. The militants have also prohibited immunisation for children against polio – claiming that the UN-sponsored vaccination drive is aimed at causing sexual impotence – causing a sharp rise in cases of the disease. Since the start of the government offensive, girls’ schools have been targeted increasingly by Islamic fundamentalists. The district has 842 boys’ and 490 girls’ state schools for 300,000 children aged 3 to 9; only 163,645 boys and 67,606 girls are actually enrolled at state and private establishments, according to official figures. According to the local authorities, 50 per cent of girls have stopped attending school because of the militants’ threats. Hazir Gul, a teacher, said that the inability of the authorities to provide protection against attacks had emboldened the Islamists. “Militants can burn the remaining schools whenever they want,” he said. In some areas state school buildings have been turned into madrassas, or religious seminaries. Attacks on girls’ schools are not confined to the Swat district. In the past two years another 100 schools have been burnt down in Waziristan and other tribal areas, leaving tens of thousands of children between the ages of 5 and 15 with no access to education. In many areas hardliners have established Sharia, or Islamic law, setting up their own courts and introducing public executions for those who break it. This month militants killed a pro-government cleric and hung his body up in Mingora, the main town of Swat, in full view of the Pakistani military and the local administration. (Timesonline.co.uk)
Globally Networked Anarchism (#Griot)-Roderick Jones
As 2008 draws to a close it is fair to say that the hype surrounding virtual worlds has dissipated. However, it is worth highlighting the continued utility of virtual worlds as not only immersive environments, but also as compelling communication venues. What continues to separate Second Life from popular gaming virtual environments such as World of Warcraft (WoW), is its ability to globally connect users. WoW is of course a multi-user environment but as any player will know the opportunities for globally connecting are limited by the local server you attach yourself to. Second Life remains a more international venue when used in creative ways – global networked protest is one such way. A recent article in the Economist highlighted the way in which the anarchist movement driving the riots within Greece has been able to connect internationally using the technology tools we are increasingly familiar with, YouTube (150,000 views), Blogs and Facebook. (metasecurity)
ENVIRONMENTALISM and Science
 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved-Christopher Booker
Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph.
The first, on May 21, headed "Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts" , reported that the entire Alpine "winter sports industry" could soon "grind to a halt for lack of snow". The second, on December 19, headed "The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation" , reported that this winter's Alpine snowfalls "look set to beat all records by New Year's Day". Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects. (telegraph.co.uk)
Walking in the countryside is good for the brain as well as the body-Louise Grey
Families setting off for a Boxing Day walk to burn off the over indulgence of Christmas can feel especially pleased with themselves this year as scientific research shows a tramp in the countryside is also good for the brain. After a full roast turkey lunch, it is traditional to try to work off the calories with a long walk in the great outdoors. Now scientists have shown that "interacting with nature", even in the middle of winter, boosts memory and concentration levels. In fact, just an hour strolling through countryside increases the brain's performance by a fifth – just in time for a family round of Trivial Pursuit on Boxing Day night.
In contrast a walk through busy streets, perhaps shopping for sales bargains, has no improving effect on the brain at all. The research was carried out at the University of Michigan. One group was sent out on a 50-minute walk through streets lined with office buildings and busy with traffic while the other took a secluded, tree-lined route. Afterwards the volunteers' mental skills were assessed in a series of tests, and compared to their performance before setting off on the walks. Results showed that those who took the "nature route" improved their short-term memory by 20 per cent. There were no improvements after walking down city streets. It is thought that the countryside is "restorative" because it allows people to switch off, while walking in towns and cities requires attention.
Marc Berman, a researcher at the University of Michigan, suggested a dose of nature can help cure mental fatigue. "I would highly recommend going away for a little break in the country or simply going for a walk in a park in a town," he said. "Our research has shown that this really is not subjective – the effects on memory and attention are real." The research, published in the journal Psychological Science, also found memory and attention improved after simply looking at pictures of nature rather than photos of built-up areas. Mr Berman added: "Interacting with nature can have similar effects as meditating. You don't hear people say, 'Well, I got really tired out looking at this beautiful waterfall'. Nature does not make any demands of you.'" (Telegraph.co.uk)
Society and CULTURE
 How Sahar Daftary's death fall exposed polygamy in Britain- Dominic Kennedy, Investigations Editor
Muslim marriage rules 'leave women at risk'
The death of a model who learnt that her husband was already married has shone a light into the murky world of Muslim polygamy in Britain. Sahar Daftary, 23, fell 150ft from the twelfth storey of a block of flats where she had gone to collect her belongings at the home of a businessman whom she had married in a religious ceremony last year. Her husband, Rashid Jamil, 33, was arrested on suspicion of murder but bailed by police after they found no evidence that the death was anything other than an accident or suicide. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the head of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, told The Times: “This story is very common, unfortunately. We have tried to plug some of the holes in the whole system, but unfortunately our clerics do not live on this planet. “They don’t understand. For them, controlling the sexuality of the woman is far more important than justice, so we have this problem.” Ms Daftary, a Sunni Muslim from London whose family comes from Afghanistan, was crowned Miss Face of Asia in a beauty contest last year. She was found critically injured by the apartment block in Salford Quays near the Manchester United football ground on Saturday. (Timesonline.co.uk)
Behave at school and you'll be given a PlayStation or plasma TV, pupils are told-Laura Clark
Pupils are being offered TVs, PlayStations and iPods in return for good behaviour as part of a reward points scheme expected to be operating in 1,000 secondary schools within two years. Tens of thousands of pounds are being spent on prizes to cajole pupils to turn up on time to lessons and behave when they get there.
Youngsters collect Vivo points as if they were shopping at a supermarket or making regular flights and trade them for desirable gifts from an online catalogue. Truants and classroom troublemakers can get in on the act simply by demonstrating improvements in attendance or behaviour. Schools taking part in the scheme insist that gold stars, house points and traditional incentives no longer influence children’s behaviour. But critics claim the prizes amount to ‘bribes’ and encourage pupils to play the system rather than learning the true value of turning up and working hard. Children are being led to expect prizes for good behaviour that would previously have been considered the norm, it was claimed. A school which is spending £15,000 on prizes had to fight objections from one of its own pupils that it was ‘paying students to learn’. The scheme is already operating at half a dozen secondary schools and the outfit behind it – Vivo Miles, a link-up between a teacher and technology experts – has been inundated with inquiries. At least 200 secondary schools are expected to be operating it by September next year and 1,000 by the end of that academic year. A version designed for primary schools is also in the pipeline. Pupils are given an online account, which allows them to check how many Vivos they have been awarded, and a credit-style card they can use to access their accounts at special kiosks. (Dailymail.co.uk)
 Country split over whether Daniel Craig is film hero or villain- Kamil Tchorek in
WarsawDaniel Craig crouches with his back pressed hard against the white trunk of a birch tree. Gripping an Erma MP40 submachine gun, he glares over his shoulder at a target in the forest. This is not a new James Bond film, but Craig playing the lead role as Tuvia Bielski, a real life Jewish partisan commander who waged guerrilla warfare against the Germans in Poland during the Second World War. Bielski’s and his fighters saved more than 1,200 civilians, mainly Jews, and their exploits are about to be celebrated in “Defiance”, a $50 million Hollywood film which premieres this week. Bielski’s extraordinary courage is meant to cast a new light on the Holocaust. After the Nazis murdered Bielski's parents and his first wife, that he and his brothers Zus, Asael and Aharon decided to fight back rather than accept their fate. The brothers transform fellow Jews from the terrorised, hopeless victims -- familiar in films such as Schinder’s List and The Pianist -- into ruthless fighters capable of taking on and beating the Nazis. But in Poland, the film has raised some uncomfortable questions about Bielski’s behaviour in his area of operations around Nowogrodek between 1943 and 1945. Some Poles fear that in telling Bielski’s story the Hollywood has airbrushed out some unpleasant episodes from the story. Historians say Bielski was affiliated with Soviet partisans directed by the feared NKVD, a forerunner of the KGB. He even named his unit ’Kalinin’, after Stalin’s crony Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin. Towards the end of the War, Soviet partisans terrorised ethnic Poles in Eastern Poland, including the region where Bielski’s Kalinin unit operated. Some Poles suspect that Bielski’s partisans were not only intent on driving the Germans out but opening the way for Poland to come under Soviet control. (Timesonline.co.uk)
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