|
THE OLMERT FACTOR
By Avi Davis
Thirty years from now, the name Ehud Olmert will not mean much to anyone. The history books will reveal that he served two and a half lack luster years as a prime minister of Israel - a little more time than his Labor predecessor Ehud Barak and a little less time than the Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu. He will be regarded as one more accident of history – and, much in the vein of Golda Meir and Shimon Peres, will have owed his ascendancy to the death or incapacitation of an existing leader and not necessarily to his own leadership abilities or political acumen.
But there is one important way in which Olmert’s limited tenure will reflect a turning point in Israeli history. It will be seen as the moment when Israelis finally realized that their system of government is producing leaders who feel no particular obligation to fulfill the needs of the citizenry. It will have revealed the stark, unassailable reality that Israel is no longer governed by men of vision, dedication and charisma but by carpetbaggers and salesmen, whose task is to maneuver the wheel of state to suit their personal needs and the special interests of their backers, regardless of the real life exigencies that threaten the Jewish state day by day.
The catalog of Olmert’s economic and social policy failures runs into many pages and others have ably documented them. But they are all overshadowed by the incalculably poor preparation Israel made for conflict with Hezbollah prior to the last Lebanon War and the continuing disastrous failures to protect the lives of Israeli citizens in the south from incessant rocket attack. Responsibility for these issues ultimately rests with Olmert. He was one of the prime instigators behind the move to dismantle the Gaza settlements and then to effectively toss the keys over the fence to an insurgent group dedicated to his country’s destruction. He was also notoriously ignorant of the collapse of Israeli deterrence prior to the Lebanon War (caused largely by the earlier retreat from Gaza) and the gravitas of an estimated 10,000 rockets poised against the north. Those rockets could not have been removed without military conflict – that much is true. But the fact that 1,000,000 people were either forced to leave their homes or scurry to bomb shelters for weeks on end, without any apparent preparation being made for their evacuation or provisioning- is misgovernment almost without parallel in the Western world.
Would any other contemporary leader of Israel- including Ariel Sharon- have been more effective or competent in addressing these challenges? Almost certainly not. The system of government, a system which pivots on party loyalty, does not encourage accountability to the citizenry. Party loyalty is the central motivating reality of Israeli politics and very little turns in the cogs of government without adherence to platform. This holdover from 1920s and 30s pre-State politics, when competing ideologies - from communist to socialist to revisionist – competed for dominance, has led to a calcified system where independence of action, belief or conscience is not encouraged. The survival of the tenuous coalitions upon which all Israeli governments are built, depends on a narrowed vision of government priorities since there are only a limited number of items that coalition members can ever agree upon. Israel’s security used to be the one unanimous point of accord. But even that has now passed up for barter between competing interests, resulting in incoherence and a collapse of effective strategic planning
But there is one additional element that must be understood. The extraordinary growth of Israel’s economy and the development of a super rich class of businessmen and entrepreneurs has produced a hidden aristocracy in the country whose influence on elections and policy is profound. Olmert’s Kadima - a party that has no natural constituency and has no substantive ideology, owes its entire existence to this covert oligarchy.
Two and half years ago an investigative report in Forbes Magazine, determined that 18 families own 60 per cent of the aggregate market value of all Israeli public companies -- which gives them inordinate control over Israeli’s economy, media and political system. Although there are differences in view between the leading families, their interests are primarily economic and fixed on ensuring Israel’s full integration into the West. Since they recognize that Israel's overall economic prospects may be adversely affected by persistent conflict with Palestinian, Lebanese, and Islamic terrorist groups, their emphasis has been to invest confidence in those leaders who can provide a vision of rapprochement with the Arab world and ultimate acceptance by the Western democracies. Putting aside the proven animus of most Arab countries to such an idea and endemic anti-Semitism in many Western countries, these same self-appointed tribunes also seem convinced that concessions – such as a retreat from the West Bank and the Golan Heights, the dismantlement of settlements and even a surrender of East Jerusalem, will finally open the doors of acceptance. Perceived bellicosity, such as punishing raids against Hamas in Gaza and active preparation for a renewed war against Hizbollah, are regarded, in such circles, as a surefire means of keeping the doors firmly shut. How they view the threat from Iran is still unknown, but there is no question that their influence on the strategy undertaken to contain that threat, will be telling.
The elimination of cartels and monopolies was a struggle waged and won in the United States more than 100 years ago. Its persistence in Israel is due to a weak, fractured political system that is unable to resist external pressure. The existence of the oligarchy accounts for why Israelis who believe they have elected a right leaning government, ultimately end up with one that rules from the left. For no matter who is able to cobble together a coalition, a government’s political survival is as much dependent on the obeisance paid to private economic interests as it is to internecine party politics.
What happens to security in such a situation? Torn between competing priorities, it becomes a irritating side issue that is too often disregarded by Israel’s civilian leaders. This is illustrated by the fact that there exist laser guided missile defense systems, produced by Northrop Grumann in the U.S., which, if deployed in strategic locations, could substantially contain the missile threats to both the north and south, but whose purchase has not been adequately explored by Israel’s Department of Defense. The idea of purchasing the system languishes in a bureaucratic backwater and is competing for attention with Israel’s own self- produced missile defense system, which is still years away from completion.
We might call it the Olmert Factor. But, in truth, he is only the latest in a series of leaders who have little control over the direction of their country. The next prime -minister will be the same. And so will be the one after that. Until Israel develops an effective political system that is truly representative and cannot be strangled by party politics or the influence of high rolling economic leaders, many of the mistakes of the past several years, will, sadly, only repeat themselves.
Avi Davis is the Executive Director and Senior Fellow of the American Freedom Alliance and is the coordinator of the upcoming European Freedom Alliance conference The Politicization of Human Rights and International Law, to be held in London in March, 2009.
NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA
Tyson Foods In Tennessee Quashes Labour Day And Replaces It With Muslim Eid al-Fitr
Tyson replaces Labor Day with Muslim Eid al-Fitr Chicken company: Workers wanted Islamic religious event recognized-Bob Unruh
 Food workers at the Shelbyville, Tenn., plant for Tyson Foods, which boasts on its corporate website that it strives "to honor God," will have time off for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday closing the month of Ramadan, instead of the American tradition Labor Day. Officials with the company told WND the labor union representing the 1,200 plant workers, including about 700 immigrants from Somalia who largely are Muslim, sought the holiday change in the new five-year contract, and the company agreed. Officials with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union issued a press statement about the new "contract [that] creates an additional paid holiday, [Eid al-Fitr,] a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan." A spokeswoman at the union's office told WND no one was in the office today who could comment on the request. To the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Gary Mickelson, Tyson's media chief, said there is no new holiday, but at the union's request the company agreed to discontinue the Labor Day holiday and implement Eid al-Fitr. (WorldnetDaily)
Lawlessness By Muslims Comes To Germany
Germany’s Intifada-Stephen Brown
First it was France, and now Germany.
German authorities are reporting that, within their cities, areas now exist where police fear to tread. In many German urban areas drug dealing, theft, brawls, and assaults on police officers are the order of the day. The problem is becoming so severe police scarcely dare enter some quarters except in strength, while in others they concentrate on their own safety first. But this is old news to French law enforcement officials. The 2005 riots woke France up to the fact that an anti-civilization had arisen in the “banlieues” (housing projects), which surround major French cities. Populated mainly by immigrants from North and West Africa, many with a Muslim background, they are known as places of anger and aggression towards anyone who represents “official” France. French police are sometimes attacked with Molotov cocktails when they enter such areas. Firemen and ambulance attendants are not treated much better. Police even had difficulty protecting a French president, Jacques Chirac, and his interior minister when they went campaigning in a banlieue. The two high-ranking politicians were also met with Molotovs and had to retreat. In all, the French housing projects have the look of scarred battlefields with burnt out cars littering the landscape. The extent of France’s lawlessness problem manifested itself last month when 592 cars were torched in France in the two nights surrounding Bastille Day, July 14 and 15, 150 in the Paris region alone. To make matters worse, Islamic fundamentalists have attracted many of the banlieus’ unemployed, uneducated and frustrated young men to their cause. These fundamentalists, it is suspected, were the ones directing the 2005 disturbances and their recurrence in 2007. In Germany, the problem neighbourhoods are often located within the city and not on the outskirts. Like in France, though, urban anti-societies have arisen, but in Germany they consist mainly of Turkish and Arab immigrants, many from Lebanon. In their districts, German laws and values now have little, if any, validity, while their culture of lawlessness does. (FrontpageMagazine)
Shariah MasterCard Launched
MasterCard Creates an Islamic Debit Card-Lara Wozniak
The credit-card company pairs with Eoncap Islamic Bank to launch a Shariah compliant debit card with ATM functions. MasterCard Worldwide and EonCap Islamic Bank (a member of Malaysia's Eon Bank Group) have jointly launched what they are billing as the world's first Islamic debit MasterCard—the EonCap Islamic Debit MasterCard. The EonCap Islamic Debit MasterCard is basically a debit card with ATM functions as well. It also works on PayPass systems, which enables a person to swipe it on a terminal without the card leaving the cardholder's hand. It is referred to as blending traditional purchasing power with modern technology and is Shari'ah compliant. "It is designed to appeal to both Muslim and non-Muslim individuals who prefer better financial control as the card ensures that purchases are automatically deducted from the cardholder's account and approved only if enough funds exist within the account. It helps track spending, comes with worldwide acceptance at more than 26 million locations and can be used at an ATM for e-banking," says Fozia Amanulla, chief executive officer of Eoncap Islamic Bank. "MasterCard is pleased to collaborate with Eoncap Islamic Bank in order to introduce this card to Malaysian consumers. The EonCap Islamic Debit MasterCard card is designed for individuals who prefer to spend what they have in their accounts, yet seek the same functionality and assurances of a credit card," said Shuan Ghaidan, head of product sales and delivery, Asia-Pacific at MasterCard Worldwide. (Businessweek)
Passports Can Be Faked In Minutes
‘Fakeproof’ e-passport is cloned in minutes-Steve Boggan
 New microchipped passports designed to be foolproof against identity theft can be cloned and manipulated in minutes and accepted as genuine by the computer software recommended for use at international airports. Tests for The Times exposed security flaws in the microchips introduced to protect against terrorism and organised crime. The flaws also undermine claims that 3,000 blank passports stolen last week were worthless because they could not be forged. In the tests, a computer researcher cloned the chips on two British passports and implanted digital images of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber. The altered chips were then passed as genuine by passport reader software used by the UN agency that sets standards for e-passports. The Home Office has always argued that faked chips would be spotted at border checkpoints because they would not match key codes when checked against an international data-base. But only ten of the forty-five countries with e-passports have signed up to the Public Key Directory (PKD) code system, and only five are using it. Britain is a member but will not use the directory before next year. Even then, the system will be fully secure only if every e-passport country has joined. Some of the 45 countries, including Britain, swap codes manually, but criminals could use fake e-passports from countries that do not share key codes, which would then go undetected at passport control. The tests suggest that if the microchips are vulnerable to cloning then bogus biometrics could be inserted in fake or blank passports. (TimesOnline)
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
The American History For Freedom Program Becomes Law
A Bill Becomes Law-Steven Balch and Peter Wood
Three years ago, under pressure from Congress, the American Council on Education (ACE) released a statement endorsing the concept of intellectual pluralism as a central principle of academic life. ACE speaks pretty much for American higher education’s prevailing sentiments, and it was no surprise that twenty-seven other major higher education organizations, including the AAUP, co-signed the statement. With the final passage of the Higher Education Act last Thursday, Congress took a big step toward bringing to life what, thus far, has been merely a paper pledge.
Deep inside the dictionary-sized Higher Education Act, are 130 lines of text, (Part E, Section 805) describing something called the “American History for Freedom Program.” Almost six years in legislative gestation, it gives the Department of Education statutory authority to make grants to postsecondary academic programs and centers that promote and impart knowledge of “traditional American history” (defined as the constitutional, political, intellectual, diplomatic, and economic history of the United States); “the history and nature of, and threats to, free institutions,” and– “the history and achievements of Western civilization.”
Not so long ago, the American History for Freedom Program would have been an anodyne addition to the abundance of federally-supported academic programs. Thirty years ago most colleges and universities were actuated by a conviction that America had been blessed with an extraordinary gift of freedom, and wished an appreciation and understanding of that gift to be transmitted to each rising generation. This conviction, of course, has faded during the era of political correctness and postmodernism. It is no longer a central proposition on campus and it no longer receives much institutional support.
Nonetheless, there remain many individual scholars throughout academe who embrace the idea that Western civilization in general, and American history in particular, have something important to teach us about the creation of free institutions. The American History for Freedom Program is a giant step towards recognizing the value of this scholarly work. The new program will lift these often isolated scholars out of their relative isolation and, by bringing significant new funding to their research, raise their profile on campus. (NationalAssociationofScholars)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Random House Drops ‘The Jewel Of Medina’ So As Not To Offend Muslims
You Still Can't Write About Muhammad-Asra Q. Nomani
Starting in 2002, Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones toiled weekends on a racy historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad. Ms. Jones learned Arabic, studied scholarly works about Aisha's life, and came to admire her protagonist as a woman of courage. When Random House bought her novel last year in a $100,000, two-book deal, she was ecstatic. This past spring, she began plans for an eight-city book tour after the Aug. 12 publication date of "The Jewel of Medina" -- a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet's harem. It's not going to happen: In May, Random House abruptly called off publication of the book. The series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world. Random House feared the book would become a new "Satanic Verses," the Salman Rushdie novel of 1988 that led to death threats, riots and the murder of the book's Japanese translator, among other horrors. In an interview about Ms. Jones's novel, Thomas Perry, deputy publisher at Random House Publishing Group, said that it "disturbs us that we feel we cannot publish it right now." He said that after sending out advance copies of the novel, the company received "from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." After consulting security experts and Islam scholars, Mr. Perry said the company decided "to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel." This saga upsets me as a Muslim -- and as a writer who believes that fiction can bring Islamic history to life in a uniquely captivating and humanizing way. "I'm devastated," Ms. Jones told me after the book got spiked, adding, "I wanted to honor Aisha and all the wives of Muhammad by giving voice to them, remarkable women whose crucial roles in the shaping of Islam have so often been ignored -- silenced -- by historians." Last month, Ms. Jones signed a termination agreement with Random House, so her literary agent could shop the book to other publishers. (WSJ)
Muslim Apostates In The West Fear Death Threats From Muslim Radicals
Fear Stalks Muslim Apostates in the West-David J. Rusin
Persuading Western Muslim leaders to repudiate Shari'a-sanctioned violence against apostates can be a frustrating exercise, as Prince Charles discovered in 2004. Troubled by the treatment of Muslims who convert to Christianity in Islamic nations, the prince convened a summit of senior figures from both religious communities. It ended in disappointment. The Islamic representatives failed to issue a declaration condemning the practice, which the Christians had requested; they also cautioned non-Muslims not to discuss such matters in public, arguing that moderates would be more likely to make progress if the debate were kept internal.
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the outspoken Anglican prelate of Rochester, attended the meeting but rejected their advice. While continuing to highlight the perils faced by those who leave Islam in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, he now has turned his focus to the harassment of apostates in the West. Last year the bishop warned that a convert could die in Britain unless prominent Muslims affirm the right of all people to change their faith. There have been few takers, despite the dire need for this message: a poll indicates that 36% of younger British Muslims believe death to be an appropriate punishment for renouncing Islam.
Their views are grounded in Shari'a law. All major schools of Islamic jurisprudence stipulate that a sane adult male must be put to death for abandoning Islam, though varying interpretations persist on whether females should be killed or merely imprisoned. Many Islamic states outlaw apostasy and seven list it as a capital offense. However, freelancers such as angry relatives present the greatest danger to ex-Muslims, as Sunni and Shiite scholars largely agree that Shari'a empowers individuals to punish converts. This tradition has followed Muslims to the Western world.
Salman Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and other high-profile apostates have brought needed attention to the risks that ex-Muslims encounter, even in liberal democracies. Pope Benedict XVI recently underscored the plight of this vulnerable population by baptizing the Italian journalist and former Muslim Magdi Allam on the most public of stages: Easter Vigil mass at the Vatican. Having suffered threats for opposing Islamic fundamentalism, Allam now speculates that he will endure "another death sentence for apostasy." (AmericanThinker)
‘By Dulling Its People's Instincts To Stand Up In Defence Of Their Own Society And Its Values, The West Is Committing Itself To Slow Suicide.’
Defend the individual and so the West-Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Thinkers of the Enlightenment, a set of new intellectual attitudes that remade Western culture in the 17th and 18th centuries, set out to understand the world and themselves through reason rather than religion. Their ideas led to massive advances in science, economics and commerce, the arts and human liberty, which underpin our present prosperity and social freedoms. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, Islam has often been seen as the chief threat to the Enlightenment's legacy. But is there also something internal to Western intellectual history that leaves us vulnerable to the enemies of reason?
The West has cultivated an ethos of individualism, reason and tolerance, and an elaborate system in which every actor, from the individual to the nation-state, seeks to resolve conflict through words. The entire system is built on the idea of self-interest. This ethos rejects fanaticism. The alpha male, in our societies, is pacified and groomed to study hard, find a good job, and plan prudently for retirement. "While we in America are drugging our alpha boys with Ritalin," writes Lee Harris, author of The Suicide Of Reason, "the Muslims are doing everything in their power to encourage their alpha boys to be tough, aggressive and ruthless."
By dulling its people's instincts to stand up in defence of their own society and its values, the West is committing itself to slow suicide. Sometimes the response to attacks on Western societies is one of rapprochement, of softening our insistence on respect for the individual and the primacy of reason in public life. At others it is the reverse - a suspension of the civil liberties and normal legal processes that exemplify Western cultural achievements. But the way to rescue Western civilisation from its present path of what looks like decline can never be to challenge its tradition of reason and individualism. (SydneyMorningHerald)
ANTISEMITISM
Holocaust Education Is Vital In Combatting Holocaust Denial
Expanding Holocaust Denial and Legislation Against It-Michael Whine*
 Over half the states of Europe now criminalize Holocaust denial. They accept the premise that deniers are extremists who use denial, among other means, to rehabilitate Nazism. Their legal rationale in doing so is usually that denial negates the historical facts established at Nuremburg in 1945 rather than that it constitutes offensive or threatening speech. International agreements take the same line and this was reinforced and given a legal basis in April 2007 by the EU Common Framework Decision, which requires European states to criminalize denial. Legislation, however, has not stopped extremists from continuing to promote Holocaust denial and they are now joined and invigorated by Iran, which promotes it as state policy. Nevertheless, states now accept that Holocaust education is vital and several intergovernmental initiatives offer hope for the future.
Holocaust deniers, and the media they use, are changing as a consequence of international political developments. It is necessary to update earlier analyses by this author of Holocaust denial in the United Kingdom.1 Those works noted, to begin with, that the media for promoting denial had been revamped in light of technological advances, just as the nature of the propaganda itself was changing. New forms of this propaganda encompassed pseudoscientific books and papers; crude denial material, usually published in leaflet form by small neo-Nazi groups; and what can be called political denial, which includes the most recent and increasingly potent source, namely, Islamists as well as Internet and television transmissions within some Muslim states.
Many of the pseudoscientific publications available internationally were published under cover of fictitious academic publishing houses. These works included, for example, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Arthur Butz, Did Six Million Really Die? by Richard Harwood, and The Leuchter Report. Historians challenged these and rebutted their false theses.
The very public destruction of David Irving's already tarnished reputation, as a result of his libel case against Deborah Lipstadt, effectively undermined the position of the pseudoscientific deniers, as did the more recent conviction of Germar Rudolf.2 Some years ago Fred Leuchter attempted to prove technically that Zyklon B was not used in the gas chambers. His lack of any engineering qualification was the subject of a successful criminal action in the American courts and his capacity to comment was curtailed. (InstituteForGlobalJewishStudies)
Furor Over French Satirist’s Jewish Quip Over Sarkozy Junior’s Jewish Fiancee
French satirist sparks uproar with Sarkozy son Jewish jibe-EJP
 PARIS (AFP)---A French newspaper satirist has sparked a feverish tug-of-war over free speech and anti-Semitism with a biting column on the engagement of President Nicolas Sarkozy's son to a Jewish heiress.
Published on July 2 in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the piece cost the 79-year-old Sine, a veteran cartoonist and anarchist writer whose real name is Maurice Sinet, his job after he refused to apologise.
Since then it has unleashed a torrent of op-ed articles, blog entries, petitions and counter-petitions as French writers, politicians and armchair commentators line up to vilify or defend him.
A lifelong provocateur whose previous targets have included Muslim fundamentalists and gays, Sine finally went to the police after a website published a call for him to be murdered, his lawyer said on Sunday.
In the incendiary article, he penned a sharp paragraph on the rising fortunes of the 21-year-old Jean Sarkozy, who was elected this year to local office in his father's political fief, the Paris suburb of Neuilly.
Sine wrote that Sarkozy junior "has just said he intends to convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancee, who is Jewish, and the heiress to the founders of Darty," a French retail giant. "He'll go far, that kid," he wrote.
Old stereotype
Charlie Hebdo editor and director Philippe Val said Sine was sacked for remarks that "could be interpreted as drawing a link between conversion to Judaism and social success", relaying the old stereotype linking Jews and money.
TERRORISM, INTERNET, JIHAD
AAFIA SIDDIQUI ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTING TO KILL UNITED STATES OFFICERS IN AFGHANISTAN
 NEW YORK – Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mark J. Mershon, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), and Raymond W. Kelly, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced today the arrest of Aafia Siddiqui on charges related to her attempted murder and assault of United States officers and employees in Afghanistan. Siddiqui arrived in New York this evening and will be presented tomorrow before a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. According to the Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court: On July 17, 2008, officers of the Ghazni Province Afghanistan National Police ("ANP") observed Siddiqui outside the Ghazni governor’s compound. ANP officers questioned Siddiqui, regarded her as suspicious, and searched her handbag. In it, they found numerous documents describing the creation of explosives, as well as excerpts from the Anarchist's Arsenal. Siddiqui’s papers included descriptions of various landmarks in the United States, including in New York City. Siddiqui was also in possession of substances that were sealed in bottles and glass jars. On July 18, 2008, a party of United States personnel, including two FBI special agents, a United States Army Warrant Officer, a United States Army Captain, and United States military interpreters, arrived at the Afghan facility where Siddiqui was being held. The personnel entered a second floor meeting room -- unaware that Siddiqui was being held there, unsecured, behind a curtain. The Warrant Officer took a seat and placed his United States Army M-4 rifle on the floor next to the curtain. Shortly after the meeting began, the Captain heard a woman yell from the curtain and, when he turned, saw Siddiqui holding the Warrant Officer's rifle and pointing it directly at the Captain. Siddiqui said, "May the blood of [unintelligible] be directly on your [unintelligible, possibly head or hands]." The interpreter seated closest to Siddiqui lunged at her and pushed the rifle away as Siddiqui pulled the trigger. Siddiqui fired at least two shots but no one was hit. The Warrant Officer returned fire with a 9 mm service pistol and fired approximately two rounds at Siddiqui’s torso, hitting her at least once. Despite being shot, Siddiqui struggled with the officers when they tried to subdue her; she struck and kicked them while shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans. After being subdued, Siddiqui temporarily lost consciousness. The agents and officers then rendered medical aid to Siddiqui. Siddiqui, a 36-year-old Pakistani woman who previously resided in the United States, is charged in a criminal Complaint filed in the Southern District of New York with one count of attempting to kill United States officers and employees and one count of assaulting United States officers and employees. If convicted, Siddiqui faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each charge.(FBI)
False papers are essential to terrorism-Sean O’Neill, Crime and Security Editor
A search officer, working his way through Abu Hamza’s mosque in Finsbury Park, North London, in January 2003, pushed up a polystyrene ceiling tile and dislodged a cache of documents. Forged French and Belgian identity cards, driving licences, credit cards and chequebooks fell on his head. So too did five blank Portuguese passports. False identity papers, especially passports, are essential to the successful functioning of international terrorism. They enable wanted men to stay on the run for years and allow terrorists to evade security watchlists and attend training camps, conduct reconaissance or plan attacks. Kamel Bourgass, the Algerian who murdered a police officer in Manchester, had gone there to collect a false passport. He is now serving a life sentence in prison, although no one is quite sure of his true identity. A leading al-Qaeda operative, recently released from jail and identifiable only as U, was first arrested in 2001 as he tried to flee Britain in possession of a false Saudi Arabian passport. Dhiren Barot, who rose higher in the al-Qaeda hierarchy than any other Briton, crisscrossed the globe on his missions using false passports and identities. The ease with which terrorists could travel – and the fact that several of the 9/11 hijackers used false documents to enter the United States – was the driving force behind the development of biometric passport technology. Authorities around the world were also alert to the use of fake identities in organised crime, from immigration rackets to international fraud. The US led the way with e-passports and insisted that the rest of the world follow. Britain, keenly aware of the close political and business relationships it enjoys with America, has been enthusiastic. The technology is also to be used in the Government’s controversial (and increasingly expensive) ID card scheme. (TimesOnline)
‘You Jews Should Be Aware: You Will Never, But Never Have Peace With Hamas.’
Hamas' Christian convert: I've left a society that sanctifies terror-Avi Issacharoff
A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates. It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says at the outset. Masab knows that he has little hope of returning to visit the Holy Land in this lifetime. "I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God." Nor does he attempt to hide his affection for Israel, or his abhorrence of everything representing the surroundings in which he grew up: the nation, the religion, the organization. (Haaretz)
UK Royal United Services Institute’s Report Calls Islamism A Major Security Threat To The UK
Risk, Threat and Security: The Case of the United Kingdom-Prins, Gwyn Salisbury, Robert
This article expresses the consensus of a private seminar series which met at intervals between May 2006 and January 2008. In addition to the authors those participating included Sir Mark Allen, Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham, Chris Donnelly, Field Marshal the Lord Inge, Tom Kremer, Lord Leach, Baroness Park of Monmouth, Douglas Slater, General Sir Rupert Smith, and Professor Hew Strachan.* The security of the United Kingdom is at risk and under threat. The mismatch between the country's military commitments and the funding of its defence moved Lords Bramall, Boyce, Craig, Cuthrie and Inge - five former Chiefs of the Defence Staff - to take the unusual step of raising their concerns publicly in a House of Lords Defence debate on 22 November 2007. A public forum - the Defence Association - has also been established to investigate and articulate the crisis they identify. Security is not only a question for Chiefs of the Defence Staff. It matters to every citizen of the United Kingdom. security is the primary function of the state, for without it there can be no state, and no rule of law. The former Chiefs of the Defence Staff have stepped outside their traditional reticence to speak on behalf of all. Anxiety about defence and security runs far and wide. This essay addresses the bases of that anxiety: the sources of risk and threat, both overseas and at home. It argues that weaknesses at home, particularly divisions in our attitudes to our defence, contribute to turning risks into threats. It proposes that positive steps to strengthen and update our defence and security efforts involve returning to long established constitutional arrangements of the Queen in Parliament. Thus we may meet the needs of today and tomorrow. Our proposal is not a finely detailed blueprint. It is more fundamental. It describes the operating principles and the dynamics of constitutional machinery with the necessary strength to match present threat and future risk. How to realign our defence effort to changing risks and threats is not merely a technocratic question to be answered internally by the defence and security establishments within government. Repeated assertions by ministers that all is well, that the matter is well in hand and can be safely left to them to manage in-house, no longer carry conviction. (MiddleEastAnalysis)
ZOG’s Nightmare
ZOG’s Nightmare (and the CT Analyst’s Dilemma)-Madeleine Gruen
 White nationalist and supremacist groups have been long known for their innovative inculcation tactics; such as their “White Power” music and their computer games that depict humiliation and death of minorities. One particularly aggressive example is the computer game “ZOG’s Nightmare,” a first-person shooter game in which the player must kill a certain number of Jews, homosexuals, African-Americans, and Hispanics in order to reach the next level of the game.
“ZOG” is an acronym for “Zionist Occupied Government;”white nationalist code to communicate their belief that Jews secretly control the government. "ZOG's Nightmare" suggests that Jews and other minorities will lose their power to whites after a bloody revolution. “ZOG’s Nightmare” is very similar in format and theme to other white supremacist computer games, such as “White Law” and “Ethnic Cleansing,” both of which depict the stabbing or shooting of minorities from a first-person perspective. What makes “ZOG’s Nightmare” stand out from the other games is the unvarnished language used by the game creator on the promotional video clips found on the main web site. Most white supremacists do not intend to conceal their hatred of minorities, but most do not express their desired method of how minority groups will be segregated from whites with the degree of blatancy expressed in “ZOG’s Nightmare." Most white nationalist and supremacist groups will only subtly infer violence because they are trying to develop a broader, more mainstream audience. Their violent aspirations are usually only clearly expressed through their computer games or through the lyrics of the “White Power” songs.
The “ZOG’s Nightmare” web site opens with an announcement that it is a “Whites-only Web site. No niggers, spics, faggots, Jews, or other mutts allowed”—the type of people, the game's creator says, “who follow Obama.” After entering the site, the visitor can find video clips of the entire game being played by its creator and full voice-over narration of the action taking place on the screen. As the player is stabbing an African-American police officer in the face, for example, the narrator says, “Die nigger pig.” After killing all the minority police officers, the player reaches the next level of the game in which minorities, who have invaded a Nazi office building, are shot. The player enters several storage rooms, one of which contains barrels of Zyklon B, which the narrator says is for “your favorite Jewie [sic].” Another room contains boxes of “nigger skin lampshades.” Another tier of the game features “The Good Jew Room,” in which, the viewer is told, Jews are used for medical research. “We have our ovens, electroshock devices, and we have our Jewish corpses.” (CounterterrorsimBlog)
Radical ENVIRONMENTALISM
Deputy Leader, Barbel Hohn Of The German Green Party, Speaks About Her Opposition To Nuclear Energy
'The Nuclear Industry Has Invented the Energy Shortfall'
Bärbel Höhn, 56, deputy leader of the German Green Party's parliamentary group, discusses her party's opposition to nuclear energy, the market power of the major energy companies, and why she rejects warnings of a shortfall in energy supplies.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Ms. Höhn, how much does a kilowatt-hour of electricity cost in Germany?
Bärbel Höhn: I pay 17 cents net for electricity from renewable sources.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: That was about the national average in late 2007. In France, a country that gets 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, they pay only 10.4 cents. In Italy, which gets by without nuclear power, it was 21.6 cents -- more expensive than anywhere else in Europe.
Höhn: Within Germany, (the state of) Baden-Württemberg derives the largest share of its electricity from nuclear power, and also has among the highest electricity prices.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: But the price of electricity is set nationwide at the Leipzig electricity exchange. Other factors are behind the regional differences.
Höhn: Electricity from nuclear power is highly subsidized in France. Besides, the French have done virtually nothing for renewable energy, which means that they also haven't created any jobs in this industry. We, on the other hand, have more than 250,000 jobs in these areas. I don't think that this is a policy that makes sense.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Nevertheless, you cannot ignore the fact that electricity is cheaper in countries with a stronger emphasis on nuclear power. In times of exploding energy prices, can the Green Party really expect consumers to pay the higher cost of electricity from renewable sources?
Höhn: But electricity from nuclear power isn't cheaper at all! According to studies by Greenpeace, about €80-100 billion ($124-155 billion) in subsidies have been pumped into nuclear power. In addition, the big corporations are still not required to pay taxes on their reserves for the permanent storage (of nuclear waste). That makes up around €800 million ($1.24 billion) a year. And if they had to insure their reactors, they wouldn't even be able to pay the premiums. (SpiegelOnline)
Eco-Terrorists Torch House And A Car Of 2 UC Santa Cruz Researchers
Firebombs Hit House and Car of 2 Santa Cruz Researchers in Separate Attacks-Sara Hebel-Chronicle of Higher Education
The home of a molecular biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a car parked in the driveway at the home of another of the university's researchers were damaged by intentionally set fires early Saturday in separate incidents that the university said appeared to be "criminal acts of anti-science violence." Santa Cruz police investigators have classified the house fire, which was set by a firebomb on the porch, as an act of domestic terrorism and are treating it as an attempted homicide. The home belongs to David Feldheim, according to newspaper reports. The scientist, whose research involves mice, was one of 13 university employees whose names, home addresses, and other personal information were listed on a threatening flier found last week in a Santa Cruz coffee shop. The flier listed the names of researchers who work on mice, fruit flies, and other animals. It read: "Animal abusers everywhere beware; we know where you live; we know where you work; we will never back down until you end your abuse." Mr. Feldheim and other family members, including two young children, were in the house when the firebomb ignited shortly before 6 a.m., according to the Santa Cruz police department. The police officials said some of the family members were injured as they escaped on a ladder from a second-story window. One of them was briefly hospitalized, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel and The Mercury News, in San Jose. The fire damaged the porch and front door, and filled the house with smoke. In the other incident, which occurred at about the same time as the house fire, a car parked in the driveway of a faculty member's home on the campus was ignited by a firebomb. The vehicle, which was destroyed, belonged to a university researcher but not one whose name was listed on the threatening flier, according to the newspapers. The owner of the car was not named. Steve Clark, a captain in the Santa Cruz Police Department who is assigned to handle news-media calls about the incidents, was out of the office on Sunday and did not respond to a telephone message seeking information. A spokesman for the university said on Sunday that the institution was not disclosing or confirming the names of either of the researchers in Saturday's attacks "out of respect for their privacy."
'Odious Assaults' on 'Free Inquiry'
George Blumenthal, chancellor of the Santa Cruz campus, issued a statement in which he called Saturday's attacks "odious assaults on individuals and on the principles of free inquiry by which we live." He noted that the incidents followed "earlier aggressive acts of intimidation, trespassing, vandalism, and a physical attack last spring." In February university students reportedly participated in an attack on the home of a scientist who studies breast cancer and neurological diseases and uses animals in research (The Chronicle, February 26). When six masked intruders banged on the door of the scientist, a family member answered the door and was struck by the protesters, who then fled. Authorities had characterized the February attack and several others at researchers' residences in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City as signaling an escalation in the violence of animal-rights extremists. Previous attacks had targeted research facilities (The Chronicle, February 27). On Saturday, Mr. Blumenthal urged heightened awareness on the campus and in neighborhoods of Santa Cruz and asked people to report any suspicious activities immediately. "The campus is taking this extremely seriously and is working closely with law-enforcement agencies and our own campus resources to identify and apprehend the perpetrators as well as taking major proactive steps to support researchers in the face of violence and intimidation," Mr. Blumenthal said. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are involved in the investigation. (ChronicleofHigherEducation)
|
