Editor and Researcher Elisa Vandernoot

American Freedom Alliance Weekly Gazette

THE WEEK AT A GLANCE

This Week's Editorial

How the Dominoes Fell
By Avi Davis

Declaring the Vietnam War a just and necessary American war these days is about the equivalent of suggesting that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were humanitarians.  So seared into American consciousness is antipathy to that conflict and so convinced have we become of the  needless loss of life, that it has all but obscured the original purposes for which the United States consigned itself to defend freedom in Indo-China at all.

By the time the tanks of the People’s Army of Vietnam smashed through the gates of Saigon’s Presidential Place on April 30th, 1975, America had already long before given up the fight to save Vietnam.  Earlier in April, President Gerald Ford had urged Congress to provide aerial support for the retreating ARVN — the South Vietnamese armed forces, only to be rebuffed by a war weary and Democrat-controlled House.  Ford himself closed the books on the conflict when he announced, on April 23rd, that the Vietnam War was over.

Not many people at the time Ford made his announcement recalled the days when supporting Vietnam stood as a central plank in the effort to stem Communist aggression in South East Asia. Not many seemed to care that millions of people were about to be subjected to lives beyond endurance.

For within weeks the Viet Cong had depopulated South Vietnam’s cities of  intellectuals, professionals, political leaders, and military personnel and sent them to ” re-education camps.”  Over 250,000 were dispatched in this way, many to suffer torture and many never to return.

Worse than this was the unleashing of the most devastating refugee crisis the world had witnessed since the end of the Second World War.  Middle class Vietnamese citizens, desperate to escape fast enveloping North Vietnamese repression, boarded rickety boats that then plied the dangerous waters of the South China Sea.  Sinkings, piracy, rape by Thai pirates – of both women and children, were common occurrences during these years. Nearly one million Vietnamese are estimated to have fled Vietnam and hundreds of thousands of them perished in the process.

In Laos, the communist insurgency Pathet Lao, along with the Vietnam People’s Army and backed by the Soviet Union, overthrew the royalist Laos government, forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate on December 2nd 1975. A ruthless purge followed which reproduced much of the pattern already set in Vietnam.   Particularly hard hit were the Hmong, whose tapestries to this day depict the savagery of their Communist oppressors.

Perhaps the worst result of the American abandonment of Indo-China was the events that followed in Cambodia.  The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh in December 1975.  They immediately evacuated the cities and sent the entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They instituted an austere form of agrarian reform, eschewing Western medicine, subverting religion, burning libraries, and proscribing as decadent anything Western.  Over the next four years, the death toll from executions, overwork, starvation and disease spiraled into the millions as the trials of Cambodia, renamed the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea, and burned an indelible scar onto the consciousness of the West.

Was any of this foreseen in the 1950s when the U.S. government first set its sights on upholding fledgling democratic regimes in Indo-China in the wake of Communist threats?

Well, yes. In fact in June, 1956, a young East Coast senator, made the case quite convincingly:

” Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World in South East Asia, the keystone to the arch, the finger in the dike. Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam.   …..Vietnam represents a test of American responsibility and determination in Asia. And if it falls victim to any of the perils that threaten its existence – Communism, political anarchy, poverty and the rest, then the United States, with some justification, will be held responsible and our prestige in Asia will sink to a new low.”

Who was to know that the words of Senator John F. Kennedy would prove not only prophetic, but also far more dire than anything he could have foreseen?   Certainly not the burgeoning anti-War movement, for whom the bad guys had come to be represented by those wearing green berets; nor the U.S. media, who casually bought into the idea that a loss in Vietnam gave the United States a well deserved comeuppance.

But can we ever forget that during the 20th Century nearly 100 million people died as a result of Communist takeovers and another 30 million were annihilated through starvation, imprisonment and summary execution?  One has to wonder if those so vociferously opposed to the war still think today, in the light of what became of Indo-China, there never existed any good reason to fight for a free Vietnam.

In an age of cynicism and ideological retrenchment, when a new U.S. administration has repudiated any idea of involving this country in the struggle for freedom and democracy for other peoples, it might pay to learn the true lesson of Vietnam:  Abandonment of our allies’ quest for freedom may not just lead to their enslavement; it can lead to the betrayal of our own ideals and principles — a calumny that will corrode America’s very soul.

This article originally appeared in American Thinker.

Avi Davis is the President of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. His writings and blog entries can be found at The Intermediate Zone and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal Blog  On The Other Hand.

__________________________________________________________________

View the best of The Intermediate Zone from last week:

HERZL: A REMEMBRANCE Sunday, May 2, 2010
HOW THE DOMINOES FELL Saturday, May 1, 2010
WHO IS MISSING FROM TIME’S LIST OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE? Friday, April 30, 2010
THE WORLD’S RAGING GUSHERS Thursday, April 29, 2010
THE MYTHS AND MISTAKES OF THE VIETNAM WAR Wednesday, April 28, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, 1906 Tuesday, April 27, 2010
NEWS AS ENTERTAINMENT Monday, April 26, 2010

Avi Davis can be contacted at adavis@americanfreedomalliance.org

NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA

Officials increasingly see international plot in Times Square bomb attempt-Spencer S. Hsu, Anne E. Kornblut And Ellen Nakashima
The failed car bombing in Times Square increasingly appears to have been coordinated by several people in a plot with international links, Obama administration officials said Tuesday. The disclosure, while tentative, came as the White House intensified its focus on the Saturday incident in New York City, in which explosives inside a Nissan Pathfinder were set ablaze but failed to detonate at the tourist-crowded corner of Broadway and 45th Street. Emerging from a series of briefings, several officials said it was premature to rule out any motive but said the sweeping, multi-state investigation was turning up new clues. Separately, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs also characterized the incident for the first time as an attempted act of terrorism. "I would say that was intended to terrorize, and I would say that whomever did that would be categorized as a terrorist," Gibbs said, sharpening the administration's tone. Another U.S. official, recounting a conversation with intelligence officials, said, "Don't be surprised if you find a foreign nexus. . . . They're looking at some tell-tale signs and they're saying it's pointing in that direction." Officials cautioned that even if the investigation points toward an international link, rather than domestic or anti-government groups, that does not mean al-Qaeda or another terrorist organization is necessarily involved. The emerging picture came as police and federal investigators searched for a man in his 40s whom surveillance cameras caught changing his shirt in an alley and looking over his shoulder near where the car was parked about 6:30 p.m., and another person seen running north on Broadway from the area. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly also said detectives had spoken with the registered owner of the car but revealed no details other than that the man was not a suspect. (Washingtonpost)

Pakistan Taliban leader 'killed by CIA drone' surfaces on internet to threaten U.S.-Mail Foreign Service
Two new videos from the Pakistani Taliban appear to show their leader alive and refuting earlier American and Pakistani claims that he was killed in a U.S. missile strike The videos featuring Hakimullah Mehsud surfaced over the weekend after an attempted car bombing in New York City, and were the strongest evidence yet that he had survived the January missile attack. They underscore the patchy nature of intelligence gathering from the remote, isolated Pakistani tribal regions where Taliban, Al Qaeda and other militant groups have congregated. In the clips, both apparently dated in April, Mehsud promises attacks on major U.S. cities, but officials have played down any Taliban links to the scare in Times Square. One of the videos, broadcast on Pakistani television, shows Mehsud sitting in between two masked, armed men. In the background is a banner featuring crossed swords and an Arabic verse. Speaking in Pashto, but with English subtitles, Mehsud assures viewers he was not killed in a missile strike or any other way, referring to specific reports of his death as lies and propaganda. "(Praised be to God), on the 4th day of April 2010, I give good news to the Muslim (world) about being alive and healthy," Mehsud says in the nearly nine-minute clip. The second clip is two minutes, 19 seconds long, and has a still picture of Mehsud next to a map of the U.S. showing explosions in three cities coast to coast, according to IntelCenter, a U.S.-based militant media monitor. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Ahmadinejad Slams U.S. Nuclear Policy-Jay Solomon
UNITED NATIONS—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a speech Monday before the U.N., called for a vast remaking of the global institutions guarding the development of nuclear technologies, while denying his nation was seeking atomic weapons. Mr. Ahmadinejad demanded during his 35-minute address that the world's nuclear-weapons states agree to a clear timetable for the disbandment of their the arsenals, as well as to accept an independent body to oversee this process. Iran's leader also called for U.S. and other world powers to provide security assurances to the non-weapons states and charged that the U.S. itself should be banned from its roll in governing the International Atomic Energy Agency. He specifically cited the U.S.'s use of atomic weapons during World War II and the Obama administration's stated policy of maintaining a nuclear first-strike capability against countries like Iran and North Korea. "The possession of nuclear bombs is not a source of pride; it is disgusting and rather shameful," Mr. Ahmadinejad said, often imbuing his words with religious idioms and imagery. "And even more shameful it the threat to use or to use such weapons, which is not even comparable to any crime committed throughout the history." British, American and French diplomats walked out of Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech in quick successions about 10 minutes into its delivery. (WSJ)

Two Brooklynites accused of plotting to aid Al Qaeda by modernizing a cell in Yemen-James Gordon Meek, Kerry Burke and Alison Gendar
Two dapper Brooklyn professionals were accused yesterday of being homegrown terrorist agents who pledged allegiance - and technical help - to Al Qaeda. One is a computer engineer, the other an accountant. They sported French cuffs and polished shoes when they were hauled from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to the U.S. to face charges yesterday. They have degrees from Baruch, impressive résumés, wives and children - and neighbors who never suspected a thing. "There are people among us who are plotting with Al Qaeda," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said as charges were announced in Manhattan after a joint NYPD-FBI probe. A federal indictment charged Wesam (Khaled) El-Hanafi, 33, and Sabirhan (Tareq) Hasanoff, 34, with trying to modernize an Al Qaeda cell in Yemen. The vaguely worded court papers raise as many questions as they answer, but sources said the two were to act as technical attachés for Al Qaeda. "They wanted to bring Al Qaeda into the 21st century, to give them the most up-to-date technology," said a source briefed on the arrests. Among their duties: buying seven digital Casio watches to be shipped overseas. The indictment doesn't say why, but the timepieces have been used to make bombs. "They were high-tech guys, and would have wanted more high-tech solutions, but were told to buy Casio because they worked the best - nothing fancier," a law enforcement source said. The papers suggest they collected passports for their cohorts, bought encryption software for secret Internet communication and took a $50,000 payoff from an unnamed co-conspirator. (Nydailynews)

Denmark's KFC website targeted by Islamist hackers-Mail Foreign Service
Denmark's KFC website has been targeted by Islamist hackers.The hackers decided to gain access to the fast food site and post an educational video about their religion on the page. They also left instructions to the Danish government to introduce a new law to punish people who publicly insult religion. The hackers implied in their demands that if the law is not introduced, the hacking of Danish websites will continue. The hackers left a slightly cryptic message on the site, which read: 'If your Gov. don't make rules for Punishing anyone Insult Religions in the name of (Freedom of Speech ! ) or ( Freedom to Insult ) :) So, take this rule of Hacking ! in the name of '[ Hacking is a Knowledge and the Knowledge is Free ! ] It means [ Hacking Anyone I want !!!!] 'If your People can behave and Learn how to Respect , act rationally and stop to Insult Other Religions
'under the name of ( Freedom to Insult ) or ( Freedom of Speech )
'Then the Rule of Hacking will be stopped
'Finally , I would like to remind also with the decree which the Human Rights Agency in the United Nations adopted on the 12th of April 2005. This decree insisted on the ban of distortions and vicious attack against religions and especially Islam; which had been strongly attacked in the last few years !
'Don't worry .. No files deleted .. Just my Index* has been added to your lame bOx ;)
'Greets Go To: All My Friends in MSN :)' (Dailymail.co.uk)

Belgium MPs vote for nationwide ban on burqa and niqab-Matthew Champion
Belgium has taken a massive step towards becoming the first country to impose a blanket ban on Muslim women wearing the burqa or niqab in public after its lower house voted overwhelmingly in favour of such a proposal. Not a single MP voted against the ban, although there were two abstentions. Belgium's government is currently in turmoil given the resignation of prime minister Yves Leterme after the collapse of his ruling coalition, but the only hurdle to the ban becoming law is a review stage from the country's senate. About 400 of Belgium 280,000 Muslims are thought to wear the niqab or burqa, a veil worn by Muslim women that covers the entire face. Under the proposed law, a small fine or seven-day jail sentence can be imposed upon those found flouting the ban, which its proponent said was about fighting terrorism and not discrimination.
Daniel Bacquelaine said the law was "aimed at stopping people from not being identified". "It's not about introducing any form of discrimination," he added. France is also likely to introduce a similar ban in the coming months after its president Nicolas Sarkozy described the burqa and niqab as "not welcome". (Inthenews.co.uk)

South Park Muhammad joke won't air in Sweden-Peter Vinthagen Simpson
The Swedish affiliate of broadcaster Comedy Central has said it will not show two controversial episodes of US satirical cartoon show South Park depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a bear costume, Aftonbladet reports. "Comedy Central has decided not to air these two episodes of South Park. It is a decision we've made with great reluctance. Comedy Central believes strongly in creative freedom of expression; when unique and deeply insightful creative talents like those behind South Park are able to express themselves freely, we all benefit. "However, the safety of our employees is our unquestioned number one priority, and therefore we have decided to take these precautionary measures," the broadcaster explained in a statement released to Aftonbladet. Spokesman Peter von Satzgerl told the Svenska Dagbladet daily that the decision came as a result of "international directives" from the channel's parent network in the United States. The Muhammad joke formed part of a 200th anniversary episode screened in the US on April 14th, prompting threats of retribution from an Islamist group directed towards the notoriously irreverent show's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. (Thelocal.se)

Men to face £13,000 fine and jail for forcing women to wear burqas if new French law is passed-Ian Sparks
Men could be fined £13,000 and jailed for a year for forcing their wives to wear a burqa under tough proposed laws in France, leaked documents have revealed. Ministers hope to vote on a total ban on anyone hiding their face in public in July this year. The move comes after Belgium became Europe's first country to ban the burqa and other full Islamic face veils last week. There is also widespread support for a ban on burqas and niqabs in the Netherlands. In Switzerland, voters recently voted to ban the construction of new minarets. Now details of the stringent penalties that would be enforced under a French ban have been leaked to leading French newspaper Le Figaro. The law would create a new offence of 'incitement to cover the face for reasons of gender', the paper said. Le Figaro said it would state: 'No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face.' While men will face steep fines and prison sentences for forcing their wives to hide their face, women will face a much smaller fine of around £130 because they are ' often victims who are not given any choice', one of the authors of the law told Le Figaro. They would not be 'unveiled' in the street but instead taken to a police station to be formally identified, the draft law states.
The law would also apply to Muslim tourists - including the thousands of wealthy Middle Eastern visitors to the French capital every year. France's tough stance against face veils comes as a woman was pulled over and fined in April for wearing a burqa while driving. (Dailymail.co.uk)

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Profit vs. Proselytizing: Business Lore and Academic Practice-Herbert London
Samuel Johnson once noted that mankind is never more innocently occupied than when he is engaged in business activity. Having been involved in academic life for decades, and more recently, in the business world, I can attest to the veracity of this claim. Clearly generalizations are always faulty so let me state the obvious: there are malevolent businessmen and there are well-meaning academics who are genuinely interested in helping others. That said, let me get to the real theme in this article. The academic, who fancies himself an intellectual, is eager to reshape the world in the image of his untested ideas. As an instrument for this goal, he has enlisted students who he has proselytized with nostrums of a “better world.” As innocents, these students accept the ideas as if thirsty nomads in a desert oasis. They are the journeymen who spread the wisdom formerly locked in a Rosetta Stone found in the professor’s office. He possesses the key that unlocked the secrets of knowledge and, generously, he shares this secret with those fortunate enough to sit in his classroom. That his ideas may be naïve or dangerous is a matter never enjoined by student enthusiasts albeit there is usually that epiphany in adulthood when former students say “did I really believe that nonsense?” [nonsense is never the word used in this sentence]. And when criticism does arise, this professor so eager to be recognized hides behind academic freedom, a shield he mistakenly believes protects him from voices of disapproval. For this, the professor is handsomely compensated, works eight months a year and, most likely, three days a week. (NAS)

Excuses for Islamists-Eric Golub
A conference at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on April 16, 2010, offered “Critical Perspectives on the Criminalization of Islamic Philanthropy in the War on Terror [1].” Co-sponsored by the UCLA International Institute, the Critical Race Studies Program, and the UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law—and including speakers from UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES)—the conference proffered the usual apologist fare. It was also an echo chamber. Of the approximately 30 people in attendance, 20 of them were academics. Several students showed up, in addition to the usual assortment of aging leftist revolutionaries. The thrust of the conference was simple: The war on terror has led to a crackdown on Muslim charities, which has had a chilling effect on Muslims by rendering them unable to engage in Zakat (charity), one of the five pillars of Islam. Unmentioned throughout this eight-hour infomercial was that the majority of the charities that have been investigated for financially aiding terrorism were found guilty and that decent Muslims are capable of giving to charities that do not foment bombings and beheadings. Asli Bali, acting professor of law at UCLA, organized the conference and acted as one of the principal moderators. She responded to challenging questions from the audience by stating: “We will take three questions from presenters; others will have to wait.” Jennifer Turner of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Human Rights Program was the speaker over whom everybody seemed to be fawning. Her presentation was titled, “Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity,” and, in typical ACLU fashion, she made excuses for Islamists’ bad behavior while bashing America. (Frontpagemagazine)

Jews, Muslims Clash at Wisconsin University-Maayana Miskin
Jewish and Muslim students clashed Thursday at an event at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, according to the local paper Journal Sentinel. The clash left one Jewish student wounded and a Muslim student under arrest. University officials plan to investigate the incident. The story began as Jewish students held a celebration in honor of Israel's recent Independence Day outside the student union offices. A group of students from the Muslim Student Association came to the event and began yelling at those present, accusing Israel of mistreating Arabs. "We didn't go there intending to cause trouble, we just wanted to have a conversation,” Muslim Student Association president Yamin Masalkhi claimed said. Masalkhi said “hotheads” in his group were responsible for escalating the argument by flying a Palestinian Liberation Organization flag from a structure the Jewish students were using for their event. A Jewish student attempted to throw the flag in the trashbin , and was struck by one of the Muslim students. Jewish students were also upset over graffiti written on the campus plaza the day before the event. The graffiti included a swastika and obscene remarks. (INN)

MEDIA BIAS

The Origins of the Lapdog Media-Steve McCann
Noam Chomsky, a self-declared socialist, once said, "Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the US [mainstream] media." Never would he have imagined that his critique would apply more than ever to the present-day relationship between the mainstream media and President Obama. This march to the media's present role of being in league with the Obama administration is the culmination of the good-versus-evil narrative of modern journalism. The process of determining who are the righteous and who are the villains began almost half a century ago. The manufactured villain evolved to be: 1) the traditions and tenets espoused by the founding fathers and the present day-politicians and citizenry (i.e., conservatives) who stand for those values, and 2) the perceived "unfairness" within the free enterprise system. The righteous: all those claiming to oppose the fabricated villain and favor "equality." In the 1960s, a social revolution took place against historical and societal norms. An era of peace and prosperity unprecedented in the history of mankind was underway in the United States, allowing a new generation who had never experienced hardship on a massive scale to focus on hedonistic pursuits, self-aggrandizement, and a search for meaning in their lives.This movement was promptly seized by the true believers of the Left as a recruiting tool; Leftists proclaimed to the gullible that the United States was an unjust, repressive instrument of capitalism. The siren song of a classless society wherein all are treated fairly and there are no absolutes found eager ears. The protests against the Vietnam War and the very necessary civil rights movement, which achieved so much, were hijacked by many of the post-depression generation into a call to overthrow all of society's foundational standards. (Americanthinker)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Hirsi Ali wins rights award from Danish cartoon paper-AFP
COPENHAGEN - Somali-born rights icon Ayaan Hirsi Ali received a free speech award Wednesday from a Danish newspaper which sparked outrage by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch lawmaker who was threatened with death for criticizing Islam, was named by Jyllands-Posten newspaper as the winner of its Prize for Freedom of Expression. "The committee did not doubt for an instant that you deserved this award for your unshakeable faith that it was worth fighting for your points of view," editor Joern Mikkelsen said at the prizegiving ceremony in Copenhagen. He said he was "proud" to give her the award, saying that "Hirsi Ali's fight for the freedom of expression is also our fight". Hirsi Ali has been living under tight police protection since the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by an Islamic extremist in 2004. She is threatened with death for her role in writing the script of Van Gogh's film "Submission", about the treatment of women under Islam. A note targeting her by name was found on his body. Now living in the United States, she was in Copenhagen for the publication in Denmark of her new book "Nomad" (Montrealgazette)

Germany: Broadcaster cancels Westergaard interview
Jyllands-Posten don't mention it in this article, but Westergaard has meanwhile been forced to go on vacation from Jyllands-Posten for security reasons. Kurt Westergaard was supposed to appear Tuesday in an interview on ZDF's popular Markus Lanz Show, but the interview with the Danish cartoonist has come to nothing.nThe German media company decided to drop the footage due to fear for their employees lives and safety during and after the show, reports gallery owner Erik Guldager, who was also supposed to have participated in the program. "ZDF are supposedly under pressure by one or more groups. It's another example of censorship and self-censorship for fear of violent reprisals, which I deeply regret. The future looks darker than before in regard to openness, freedom and debate," says Erik Guldager of the Draupner Gallery in Skanderborg. He thinks that violence and threats are increasingly making an impression in the debate on censorship, self-censorship and freedom of speech. So much so that the debate is often silenced. Erik Guldager says that Westergaard was to talk about his life after the threats and he was supposed to talk about how it was to have Westergaard's cartoons in his gallery. "But yesterday an employee from ZDF called to say that filming was canceled. She said they couldn't guaranteed Kurt's safety and later admitted that they feared for their employee's lives and safety. This is further stigmatizing of Kurt". (Islamineurope)

America's disappointing reaction to South Park censorship-Alex Spillius
America's failure to rise up against the intimidation of cartoonist Molly Norris and South Park animators is a sad sign, says Alex Spillius.
The trouble with terror is that it can be terrifying. Just ask Molly Norris, a cartoonist from Seattle.
As far as we know, she hasn't been explicitly threatened by Islamic extremists, but evidently she feared she might be. Her error was to post on her website an illustration with many different household objects with speech bubbles all claiming to be the likeness of Mohammed, including a tea cup, a domino and a box of pasta. It was part of a mock campaign to dedicate May 20 as "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!"
Ms Norris pinged her cartoon to a few bloggers and talked to local radio, saying she it was "a cartoonist's job to be non-PC." Quite reasonably, the radio man asked her "are you sure you want to do this?"
Bold as you like, she replied: "Yeah, I want to water down the targets ..." Ms Norris had launched her pretend promotion in response to the treatment by Comedy Central of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, the satirical animated show. Its 200th anniversary episode featured a parade of celebrities and religious figures it had parodied over the years. Aware of the offence that depicting Mohammed could cause to Muslims, the show's characters debated how to represent the prophet, eventually deciding to hide him in a bear costume. (Telegraph.co.uk)

ANTISEMITISM

French Anti-Semites Tear Gas Elderly Man at Synagogue-Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Three men sprayed tear gas on an elderly Jew outside a French synagogue Sunday, the second violent attack on Jews in the country in three days. The attackers of the elderly man left behind an anti-Semitic slogan, according to the London Telegraph. The attackers, still at-large, launched the attack as the man, described as being in his 80s, was waiting outside to attend daily prayer services, Nimes Jewish community leader Paul Benguigui told the newspaper. Nimes is located in southern France.
Friday night, assailants brutally attacked a 42-year-old man in Strasbourg, hitting him across the back of the head with a metal rod and stabbing him in the chest. Authorities charged a 38-yer-old man, said to be mentally deranged, for attempted murder. Sunday's tear gas attack “triggered certain worries” in the Jewish community, Benguigi said. Three years ago, a Muslim gang tortured and killed Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew, in a Paris suburb. Approximately half a million Jews live in France. Local Zionist groups, along with the Jewish Agency, have been trying to encourage them to move to Israel as anti-Semitism rises throughout Europe and the rest of the world. During his tenure as Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon urged French Jews to immigrate to Israel "immediately.”

Anti-Israel demos at technology show-Marcus Dysch
Anti-Israel demonstrations took place outside the Scottish Parliament for three days this week as an exhibition promoting the Jewish state's technological achievements prompted mass opposition.
The small exhibit, Israel's contribution to medicine, science and technology, was organised by the Scottish Friends of Israel group and sponsored by MSP Ken MacIntosh. It opened on Tuesday at Holyrood. Protesters from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Scottish Friends of Palestine groups gathered outside the parliament building. Calls to cancel the exhibition were also backed by the Scottish Trades Union Congress which passed an emergency motion at its annual meeting in Dundee. Arguments over whether Holyrood should be the venue for the exhibition were also played out in the letters page of The Scotsman newspaper. Hugh Humphries, secretary of Scottish Friends of Palestine, last week wrote to Mr MacIntosh saying: "There is concern over the direction that acts such as your sponsoring of this exhibition takes Scotland and the Scottish people… public money is being used to assist the promotion of an odious regime."
But Mr MacIntosh said the exhibition was "simply a positive statement about Israel and the Israeli people and the contribution they have made to our lives here in Scotland. "I find much of the debate and the coverage of Israel to be one-sided, unremittingly negative and hostile. I also worry about the impact of such coverage on the Jewish community here in Scotland, who I know have to cope with direct and indirect attacks as a result."
Myer Green, of Scottish Friends of Israel, said: "The exhibition is intrinsically non-political. (Thejewishchronicle)

Strasbourg: Jewish man attacked by mentally ill Muslims
The Strasbourg prosecution will start a legal inquiry Sunday for 'aggravated attempted murder', following the attack on a man wearing a kippa Friday, in the heart of the Alsatian capital. The victim (42), was released from a hospital Saturday. His two attackers are still in custody. As he was exiting a tram on the Homme-de-Fer Friday, around 12:30, the forty year old was stabbed in the neck and was then hit in the face with an iron bar. Only one of the men heard by the court was responsible for the attack, the other played a "purely passive" role, according to Thierry Massa, deputy-prosecutor for Strasbourg. He says that the antisemitic character of the attack has been proven. During his interrogation, the main alleged perpetrator said he was the "object of a conspiracy of the Jews, all the misfortunes that happened to him in life, he says came from the Jews," said Thierry Massa. Aged 38, based on our information, the man broke from his family due to mental problems. He was supposed to get medical treatment for his problems. He accuses a Jewish doctor for putting him in the hospital. A Muslim, he does not go to the Grand Mosque of Strasbourg. His accomplice, of the same age, is also said to be suffering from a mental disorder. (Islamineurope)

New British Libel: Jerusalem Traffic Light Bias against Arabs-Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(Israelnationalnews.com) The widely-respected British Economist has come up with a new anti-Israel libel: Jerusalem traffic lights are timed to discriminate against Arabs. The pro-Hamas Al Jazeera Arab satellite network picked up the story and showed its readers one of the intersections in question. The CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) media watchdog group researched the claim and found it a total fabrication. At CAMERA’s request, The Economist provided it with a list of the intersections where Arabs allegedly have to wait a longer time than Jews. CAMERA said that its investigation “reveals that The Economist and Al Jazeera claims are absurdly false “and that the discrepancy between the timing is related to street size and traffic flow, as in every other city in the world.
The Economist claimed that cars approaching an intersection from two Arab neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem have only 18 seconds to proceed on a green light while motorists from the nearby Jewish areas of Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Yaakov have a 90-second light. However, CAMERA points out that the road from the Jewish neighborhoods is part of the major artery known as Highway 1, where traffic is much heavier than the road from the Arab neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina. (INN)

The Palestinian Authority Celebrates Terrorists Who Killed Israelis-Daniel Pipes
While the U.S. government has a faith in Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority that borders on the mystical, some of us see them merely as the "good terrorists" (good because willing to talk to Israel) as opposed to the "bad terrorists" of Hamas (bad because unwilling to talk). Along comes Palestinian Media Watch to make our point in spades, publishing today an eye-opening compendium of tributes by the PA to a long list of murderers. Titled "From Terrorists to Role Models: The Palestinian Authority's Institutionalization of Incitement," its summary explains that "The PA's policy of naming schools, summer camps, sporting events, streets and ceremonies after terrorists fundamentally undermines the chance for peace." Written by Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Barbara Crook and the PMW staff, it establishes in painstaking detail PA glorification of some of the most evil individuals in recent years. Take the example of Dalal Mughrabi, the 19-year-old woman who led the "Coastal Road massacre" in March 1978 that killed 37 civilians in a bus hijacking that killed more Israelis than any other Palestinian terror attack. (Danielpipes)

TERRORISM, security and policy

Pakistani Gunman Convicted for Mumbai Attacks- ARLENE CHANG and GEETA ANAND
MUMBAI—Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani man captured during the three-day terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008, was found guilty by a special court Monday of all charges, including murder, criminal conspiracy and waging war against India. He could face the death penalty at his sentencing on Tuesday. Mr. Kasab was one of 10 men trained in Pakistan who traveled to Mumbai by sea, armed with AK-47 rifles and explosives, and proceeded to kill 166 people at two luxury hotels, a hospital, a restaurant popular with foreigners, a Jewish center and the city's main train station. Mr. Kasab was the only attacker to be captured; the others were killed by Indian security forces. The drama of the terrorists holding hostages at the city's top two luxury hotels for three days played on televisions around the world. During the nearly yearlong trial, held in a special bomb-proof courtroom built into Mumbai's Arthur Road jail, Mr. Kasab pleaded not guilty, then later confessed, and subsequently retracted his self-incriminating statements, saying he had been framed and tortured. Special Judge M. L. Tahiliyani found Mr. Kasab guilty of all of the 86 charges levied against him. He can appeal to the Supreme Court; his defense counsel couldn't be reached for comment after the verdict. (WSJ)

German Jihadist Eric Breininger Killed in Pakistan, Group Claims-Yassin Musharbash
Eric Breininger, one of Germany's most wanted suspected terrorists, has been killed in a battle with Pakistani troops in the Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan, according to an unconfirmed statement by a jihadist group. Breininger had appeared in several Internet videos trying to recruit terrorists in Germany.
Eric Breininger, a German-born convert to Islam wanted by German police on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist cell, was killed on April 30 in a firefight with Pakistani troops, according to an unconfirmed claim by a Jihadi group on Sunday. Breininger, 22, was a member of the Islamic Jihad Union and had contacts with the homegrown group of terrorists who plotted to bomb US targets in Germany in 2007. Three of the members of that group, known as the Sauerland cell after the region of western Germany where it was based, were arrested in September 2007 as they were preparing to carry out bombing attacks. They were sentenced to long jail terms in March this year. A Turkish Islamist known as "Salaheddin," who was in charge of the Islamic Jihad Union's Internet site, is also reported to have been killed in the fight. German authoritities believe Salaheddin is Ahmet M., who was born in Germany and deported to Turkey 10 years ago. German authorities said they were checking the report. The written statement made by the group called Taifatul Mansura and seen by SPIEGEL ONLINE says the two men were attacked by "Pakistanis who have deserted their faith" near the town of Mir Ali. It is likely to be referring to Pakistani soldiers. Ahmet M. had killed four attackers by exploding a hand grenade even though he had already been severely wounded, the statement said. (Spiegelonline)

Al-Qaeda Engaged in Online Military Training-Francois Paget
This week, I’m attending the Francopol conference on cybercrime, in Montreal. Francopol is the international training network of French-speaking police forces. Several speakers greatly impressed me, especially Dominique Dudemaine, Canadian Crown Prosecutor, who presented “Does cyberterrorism exist in Canada?” The answer is Yes; several lawsuits for Internet-related terrorist activities have been filed in Canada since September 2001. One of the first concerned Momin Khawaja, a 30-year-old Canadian software engineer found guilty in a case known as the U.K. fertilizer bomb plot. The events occurred between 2002-2004. Khawaja reportedly experimented with remote-controlled detonation devices. On March 12, 2009, he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison. Next was the “Toronto 18″ case. Zakaria Amara, considered the ringleader of the Toronto 18 extremist Muslim group, planned Al-Qaeda-style bombings of Toronto landmarks in 2006. Amara stated he had learned how to construct a fertilizer bomb over the Internet and planned to use it on the Toronto Stock Exchange. On January 18, he was sentenced to life in prison. (Trustedsource)

Mumbai attack masterminds 'will never be brought to justice'-Dean Nelson in New Delhi and Rob Crilly in Lahore
The suspected masterminds behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attack will never face justice as they are being shielded by Pakistan's military, Indian officials and intelligence analysts believe. Their comments came a few days ahead of the expected verdict in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist gunman in the attack, on Monday. Kasab achieved worldwide notoriety after he was caught on film, smartly groomed and heavily armed, stalking railway commuters at Mumbai's Victoria Terminus railway station. The attacks, in which ten highly trained commandos sailed into Mumbai from Karachi, launched an audacious four day killing spree, and brought India and Pakistan close to war. Western diplomats feared an Indian retaliatory air strike would bring an immediate military response from Islamabad. Seven men, including Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged military commander of Lashkar e Taiba, were charged on the eve of the attack's first anniversary. Another of those arrested, Zarar Shah, is alleged to be the LeT's liaison officer for dealings with Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, while Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi is alleged to be the subject of American telephone intercept evidence. (Telegraph.co.uk)

German troops face pitched battles in Afghanistan as insurgency spreads-Tom Coghlan
German troops are fighting the first pitched battles witnessed by the Bundeswehr since 1945 in the face of a growing Taleban insurgency in the north of Afghanistan. Security has deteriorated in areas such as Badghis province in the northwest, Kunduz, Baghlan and some parts of Takhar and Badakhshan provinces. In April there was heavy fighting in Kunduz province during Operation Towheed, in which seven German soldiers were killed. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German Defence Minister, gave a warning last week of “new and greater risks” that German forces must bear. Recent opinion polls have put German public opposition to the country’s 5,000-strong Afghan deployment at 62 per cent. A spokesman for the German forces in Kunduz told The Times this weekend: “It was intensive fighting in April. The situation is not stable and not secure. It has been deteriorating for more than a year.” Since the Bundeswehr entered Afghanistan in 2002, 39 soldiers have been killed. The contingent is the third-biggest after the US and British forces. In a speech last month the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, tried to drum up support for the military mission in Afghanistan in an uphill battle against growing public resistance. She told the Bundestag that German troops will try to start handing over some responsibility to Afghan authorities in 2011 but added that the country’s soldiers will stay as long as necessary. When German troops first deployed in Afghanistan in 2002 the north was seen as the safest part of the country and Berlin has resisted Nato’s requests to send its soldiers to more volatile regions.
What is alarming for Western commanders and the Afghan Government are signs that the northern insurgency is gaining a hold outside the Pashtun ethnic community. Pashtuns are a minority in the Tajik-dominated north. General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander, is to send 5,000 extra US troops under German command to the north by September and announced last week that 56 helicopters would be sent to the area. Speaking in Germany, General McChrystal warned ten days ago: “The situation in the north will become dangerous, in parts very dangerous.” (Timesonline.co.uk)

The rise of the robo-fighters: Britain's new pilotless air force-Rob Waugh
The Mantis can fly for 24 hours without refuelling, do the surveillance job of four helicopters, acquire its own enemy targets and deliver a deadly payload - all without a pilot and crew. But should we be afraid of Britain's new robotic air force?
The aircraft is the size of a medium range bomber, with huge grey wings stretching 70ft across the hangar. It looks for all the world like any conventional aircraft - the wings, the nose, the wheels are all familiar. The engineers standing in front of it are dwarfed by its bulk. Modules beneath the wings can carry air-to-ground missiles and precision-guided bombs. Other racks on the nose can carry surveillance equipment so advanced it can decrypt and listen to mobile phone messages instantly as it flies over, at heights of up to 60,000ft. It takes a while for you to notice the most important fact - there is no cockpit. There are no windows anywhere on the craft, - and no doors. The Mantis carries no human crew - one of the reasons it can stay airborne for 24 hours. The plane is controlled by a set of computer components not that far removed from the chips and boards inside a high-end personal laptop. But unlike the American Predator and Reaper drones now flying over Afghanistan and Pakistan, this isn't flown by pilots via satellite control from a bunker outside Las Vegas. It flies itself. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Get Ready for a Nuclear Iran-John Bolton
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and others will surely follow suit. Negotiations grind on toward a fourth U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran's nuclear weapons program, even as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York to address the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference. Sanctions advocates acknowledge that the Security Council's ultimate product will do no more than marginally impede Iran's progress. In Congress, sanctions legislation also creaks along, but that too is simply going through the motions. Russia and China have already rejected key proposals to restrict Iran's access to international financial markets and choke off its importation of refined petroleum products, which domestically are in short supply. Any new U.S. legislation will be ignored and evaded, thus rendering it largely symbolic. Even so, President Obama has opposed the legislation, arguing that unilateral U.S. action could derail his Security Council efforts. The further pursuit of sanctions is tantamount to doing nothing. Advocating such policies only benefits Iran by providing it cover for continued progress toward its nuclear objective. It creates the comforting illusion of "doing something." Just as "diplomacy" previously afforded Iran the time and legitimacy it needed, sanctions talk now does the same. (WSJ)

Willful Blindness: Army Unprepared for Another Jihadist Attack-Patrick Poole
In January, I spoke before an audience of 350 top U.S. Army anti-terrorism and force protection officials from around the world. The seriousness of this event was punctuated by the Ft. Hood killings, committed by one of their own, and the killing six months earlier of an Army recruiter in Little Rock, Arkansas. My briefing on current jihadist threats and tactics was intended to give this audience — which included senior Pentagon commanders — an external perspective on what went wrong, how the threat to the military was evolving, and how to move forward in terms of identifying these threats, countering them, and preparing for the next inevitable attack. Days before this conference, the Department of Defense had issued the unclassified version [1] of the report on the Ft. Hood massacre, prompting members of Congress and media outlets of all political stripes to note that something was missing — namely, the killer’s motivation. The report failed to mention [2] the jihadist ideology that inspired the attack by Maj. Nidal Hasan. The report failed to even mention the killer by name [3]. That was a bad sign. I was grateful that I had been asked to speak at the conference, but I understood that I was coming in as the lone dissenter. Many in this audience, particularly in the front row, were the architects of and participants in the very system that had failed to address or ignored the obvious threat posed by Maj. Hasan to his fellow soldiers. (Pajamasmedia)

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM

Exclusive: How the Convention on the Rights of the Child Will Destroy Family Sanctity-Adam Raezler
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty commonly referred to as CRC, is one of the greatest threats to parental rights our country has ever witnessed. Fasten your seatbelts for the fight for ratification. The CRC’s devastating impact on American children and their families can be seen easily in the text of the treaty and its application in both foreign states and in recent U.S. court decisions. Do not be misled by the arguments of American legislators, legal scholars and transnationalists who say U.S. ratification of the CRC would prove our commitment to the protection of the world’s children and their rights to the international community. The CRC is in no way a harmless treaty; it is an instrument used by transnationalists for widespread social change, beginning right here in our own country. Similar to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) treaty, U.S. ratification will in no way provide the children of the world with any additional forms of protections they don’t already enjoy under United States law, just as CEDAW affords women no rights beyond what they currently enjoy under U.S. law.
The 54 articles within the treaty do not provide American children with any protection from any dangers that they do not already enjoy in the U.S. We have domestic legislation that prohibits children from being forced to serve in the military and that criminalizes child prostitution and sexual exploitation, but our nation has always left matters regarding the raising of our children to their parents. During the most recent presidential campaign and since his election, President Obama has, on numerous occasions, expressed his deep commitment to satisfying the desires of internationalists verses protecting Americans’ basic freedoms and sovereignty, disregarding all precedent set by former administrations on these issues. (Familysecuritymatters)

Terror suspects’ wives win European court ruling on state handouts-Frances Gibb, Legal Editor
Curbs on state handouts to wives of terrorist suspects were ruled illegal yesterday by European judges and may have to be relaxed. The European Court of Justice ruled that Britain was wrong to restrict social security payments to the wives of three men on a list of people with alleged links to al-Qaeda, the Taleban and Osama bin Laden. Suspects on the list, which was drawn up by a UN sanctions committee, have their funds and other assets frozen as part of attempts to cut off funding to terrorists. Under the Treasury rules, benefits such as income support, child support and housing assistance must be paid into a bank account and the spouse can draw only up to £10 in cash for each member of her household. All other payments from the account must be made by debit card. The spouses, all living in Britain with their husbands and children, must submit a monthly account to the Treasury, detailing all spending and including receipts for any goods bought and copies of bank statements so that officials can check that the purchases do not exceed “basic expenses”. The women challenged the conditions, claiming a violation of their rights, and the case was referred to the European Court of Justice by the House of Lords. The women argued that while their husbands were subject to an asset freeze, they themselves were not, and should continue to receive social security aid such as child benefit and housing support. The judges agreed yesterday, ruling: “The freezing of funds of persons with suspected links to bin Laden, al-Qaeda or the Taleban does not apply to certain social security benefits paid to their spouses. The regulation ordering funds to be frozen applies only to assets that can be used to support terrorist activities.” (Timesonline.co.uk)

From the Sanctimonious to the Ridiculous-Victor Davis Hanson
I think sometime this year elite radical environmentalism died. And at about the same time perished also the notion of the man in the mansion as the man on the barricades. Let me explain.Gorism We all know that Al Gore has become a near billionaire through tirelessly warning the Western world that our daily habits have ruined the planet and nearly doomed us. Gore argues that what we take for granted — the too large homes in which we live, the carbon-spewing cars that we drive, the superfluous vacations and energy-hogging appurtenances that we enjoy — are all pernicious to the environment, and unsustainable. That advocacy — expressed through investments, partnerships, advertising, movies, lectures, books, private companies, ads, and essays — has made Al Gore fabulously wealthy. The recent Climategate scandal concerning fudged science did not affect the religion of Gore, LTD. Nor did the horrendous natural ash cloud that blanketed Europe — and in unprecedented fashion shut down all European air travel for days — remind a humbled Gore that sometimes nature in a second has the destructive power to alter the very way we live in a way that man does not over decades. No, what ended the gospel of Gorism was Al Gore himself. (Pajamasmedia)

SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Learning from Israel about healthcare-Sharon Kanon
With President Barack Obama's health care bill finally passed in the US, top US medical groups are looking to the Israel healthcare model to learn about the country's success in ensuring that all its citizens receive quality primary medical care. The US-based Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) brought a group of physicians, health-policy analysts and insurers on a fact-finding visit to Israel as guests of the Myers-JDC Brookdale Institute, Israel's leading social and health-policy think tank. The purpose: To find out how Israel achieves universal coverage and excellent health care at low cost. A summary of the trip, titled 'Israel Does it Right,' has had a significant ripple effect. "Others have followed our lead and invoked Israel as a model of what a dedicated national commitment to universal coverage can yield," Karen Wolk Feinstein, president and CEO of JHF and the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, tells ISRAEL21c. According to Feinstein, the US healthcare system does not have high quality overall, and it is far and away the most expensive on earth. "Israel's per capita costs are half those of the United States and it provides better health care," she says. "Our system is very lean and efficient," said Eli Defes, CEO of Israel's largest health fund, Clalit Health Services, in an interview last month in Israel's financial daily, Globes. And Israeli statistics beat out those for the US, with longer life expectancy (79.7 years) and substantially lower rates of both death from cardiovascular disease and infant mortality. (Israel21c)

When Cancer Comes With a Pedigree-Melinda Beck
I started writing this column while lying on the floor with a golden retriever who didn't have long to live. All goldens are friendly and eager to please, but Cody was especially affectionate and goofy. He loved to sit on park benches and he seemed to think that everybody he met had nothing better to do than pat him. Most people agreed.
Cody was only seven, middle-aged for the breed, but a fast-moving cancer was filling up his lungs, making it harder and harder for him to breathe.
Cancer is all too common in dogs, especially golden retrievers: 60% of them die of it, more than twice the average rate for all breeds. That includes lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells; osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bones, and hemangiosarcoma, a particularly nasty cancer of the cells that line the blood vessels whose first symptom may be sudden death. "A dog can be literally chasing a ball in the backyard, come in for a drink of water and collapse and be dead within minutes," says Rhonda Hovan, research facilitator for the Golden Retriever Club of America. While it's tempting to see cancer as the Curse of the Golden Retriever, all breeds have their health scourges. Bulldogs have respiratory problems; dachshunds have back issues; Labrador retrievers have heart disease and diabetes and even with a much lower rate of cancer, die at roughly the same age as goldens. It's difficult to avoid the hereditary risks, but now that the canine genome has been sequenced, several research projects are under way to try to identify genes that predispose dogs to such issues in the hopes that selective breeding can avoid them. In the meantime, says Ms. Hovan, "The good news is that we think there are a number of lifestyle choices that can reduce the cancer risk." (WSJ)

Exposing hypocrisy, cant, falsehood- ISI LEIBLER
Melanie Phillips’s new book stuns readers with a ferocious exposé of the strains of insanity in political correctness.
Award-winning columnist Melanie Phillips, recipient of the Orwell prize for journalism in 1996 and author of acclaimed Londonistan, has written an explosive new book systematically exposing chapter and verse of the hypocrisy, cant and blatant falsehoods which currently dominate much of contemporary Western thought. The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle Over God, Truth and Power will leave readers breathless as they follow her perceptive and ferocious exposé of the strains of insanity inherent in the “correct” attitudes currently being promoted by politicians, pseudo-academics and much of the Western media. The book encompasses an extraordinarily wide range of prevailing public perceptions, which Phillips methodically demonstrates as not merely being utterly false but frequently deliberately fabricated as a vehicle to promote bizarre agendas. In addition to the author’s commendable writing skills, what makes this book particularly impressive is her almost renaissance mastery of a multitude of complex issues – combined with a knack for communicating them in a form that most readers are able to comprehend. In addition, she substantiates her assertions with research backed by meticulous documentation. Phillips strongly repudiates the commonly accepted view that faith and reason are incompatible, persuasively demonstrating that in many cases the opposite is true. Her central thesis is that the trivialization of religious belief, rejection of the Judeo-Christian heritage and post-modernism, have all combined to erode the foundations upon which our civilization is based. This in turn created a vacuum which opened the floodgates for the emergence of a host of irrational cults and weird, even insane conspiracy theories. (Jpost)

Dreaming of an Islamist Ireland-Ruth Dudley Edwards
It is a dispiriting business trying to convince the Republic of Ireland's politicians or liberal elite that trouble lies ahead if they fail to avoid the mistakes made in Britain regarding Islamism. Due to my well-known track record as a virulent critic of Sinn Fein/IRA, I am typecast as unhelpful. In most debates in Ireland, I am Cassandra to my opponents' Pangloss. "Why do you always have to be so negative?" they say when I speak of dodgy mosques, hidden agendas, dangerous fundamentalists and worrying precedents with headgear. "There's no problem. Our Muslims aren't like those Muslims you have in England. Our Muslims are lovely." This blithe belief is based on a vague assumption that homicidal Muslims in the UK are all illiterate unassimilated Pakistanis who have been understandably radicalised by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The perception has been that all our nice educated diverse domestic Muslims would understand that the Irish people as a whole were fervently anti-war and therefore remain content and anxious to integrate.
Radical Islam is producing a variation on Ireland's long history of being an unwitting pawn in Continental wars. Over the centuries, French, Italians, Spaniards and Germans have been dispatched for wholly cynical reasons to aid uprisings against English rule. Now Islamic jihadists are using the Republic as a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the West. Dublin is a centre of Muslim Brotherhood activity, zealots are pushing the familiar policy of exceptionalism to encourage the separation between Muslim and kuffar (non-believing heretics) that is a vital stage in Islamification. There is plenty of Arab money to finance Sunnis and promote Wahhabism, and niqabs and burqas are beginning to appear in public places. Shias number only about 5,000, and whereas a decade ago they were stressing a common faith with Sunnis, since an influx of Iraqis in the past decade there is a sectarian divide emerging which is reminiscent of the Irish Catholic versus Protestant past. (Standpointmag.co.uk)

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