Saudi Arabia yesterday rejected Libyan accusations that it had orchestrated a recent congress of Libya's exiled opposition in London. "A source at the Saudi Embassy in Britain denied allegations that the Kingdom funded or backed the congress of the Libyan opposition held in London last week," the Saudi Press Agency reported. The Kingdom is "committed to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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committed to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries,"
I love rantburg, it always makes me laugh. Whewie! That's a good one.
Frankly, not interesting (most of it is a pointless argument about islam's nature, damn), which is a real shame (Laurent Murawiec and Mohamed Ibn Guadi are two un-PC frenchmen), but still makes a good point in fine : the sickness of the muslim world compounds the sickness of the french society.
#1
No ticking bomb here: The french with time-honored bravery will just convert "en masse" to Islam and start speaking arabic. No problem. They did it with the the German-Nazis; they will do it with Islamo-Natzis.
The Basque region's prime minister said yesterday that the central Spanish government had started peace talks with the outlawed Batasuna party, which is considered to be the political wing of the violent separatist group Eta.
Unless they blow stuff up again, then you'll cave like a good socialist.
Representatives of Spain's ruling Socialist party have denied that talks are under way. Rodolfo Ares, a Socialist representative in the Basque region, said he "wasn't aware of any negotiations". The president of the Spanish senate, Javier Rojo, said Mr Ibarretxe should restrict his comments to his own actions, not "what he thinks others are doing".
Eta has killed more than 850 people in its three-decade fight for an independent state in northern Spain and southwestern France. But the organisation has been severely weakened by the arrest of hundreds of supposed activists. It has not murdered in two years.
And you're talking to them because ...
In May, the Spanish parliament voted to allow the talks with Eta, provided it renounced violence. However, opposition leaders say the only way to deal with terrorists is through police action. An association of terrorist victims says that previous ceasefires only allowed Eta to regroup and kill again.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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who can they capitulate to next? the Moors?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2005 11:01 Comments ||
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The Dutch parliament is currently debating a draft law presented by the government on radicalism combat, including a TV show to monitor sermons delivered by imams. The controversial measure drew rebuke from a prominent Dutch Muslim scholar who told IslamOnline.net it would deepen Muslim isolation in the country.
"If you know what we're hollering about we'll feel isolated! Youse guys know how sensitive we are!"
According to the 32-item measure, one mosque sermon would be televised each week without the prior knowledge of the imam. It would then be debated by the program's guests. Minister of Immigrants and Integration Rita Verdonk told parliament the aim of this program is to draw the attention of young Dutch of foreign origin to the grave consequences of religious extremism. She said mosques should open its doors to the Dutch, who wrongly believe that that the Muslim places of worship are meeting points for people working to undermine the West and coexistence.
"Yeah! We ain't doin' dat!"
"Then what are you doing?"
"Ummmm... Something else."
The measure proponents argue it would enable the Dutch to know firsthand the teachings of such imams and form their own judgment. The government has so far put forward 10 plans to qualify imams, seen by Dutch Muslim leaders as a ruse to interfere into Muslimsâ affairs.
"Ain't nobody interferes in our affairs! Whaddya think you are? The gummint?"
There are some 450 mosques, 1,000 Islamic cultural centers, two Islamic universities and 42 preparatory schools in the Netherlands, serving an estimated one million Muslim minority. Marzouk Abdullah Awlad, professor of Islamic Studies in the Netherlands-based Islamic University of Europe, warned that Muslims âwould feel targeted by this law.â
They're the ones with the mosques. They're the ones with the imams. They're the ones with the automatic weapons. I guess they're targeted.
Awlad, also the imam of Rotterdam grand mosque, cautioned that the muzzling measure would drive some imams to go underground.
"Yasss! Better to having them ranting in public, where they can reach a larger audience!"
He said the government should acquaint the Dutch with the moderate and tolerant face of Islam as much as it is enthusiastic about addressing the facets of radicalism and the threats it poses.
If it's all that moderate and tolerant, there shouldn't be any objection to having the sermons publicized, right?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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"Awlad, also the imam of Rotterdam grand mosque, cautioned that the muzzling measure would drive some imams to go underground."
An admission of guilt. Surely if there's nothing to hide, nobody would feel the need 'to go underground'?
#2
What secrets do they have? What are they saying that they will not say in public that they say in their sermons? Any other religion in the Netherlands would be happy to welcome outsiders in to see their religious services and read their religious texts. What does Islam have to hide if it is a "religion of peace." Of course we know the answer.
#3
I wish they would do that here,It would go along way toward showing the Ostrich inclined in this country the "Face of Islam".Ya' know,I'm sure Christian Tele-evanglists in the U.S. would just love to have thier tv preachin'paid for by someone else(other than the dupes who pay for it now).
#4
We HAVE to do this in the UK as well in light of Finsbury Park - pref. with a threat to close all mosques that don't participate. Instead we get laws to protect their right to spout hatred. Fan-f**kin-tastic.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/04/2005 7:23 Comments ||
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#5
This is a great idea. They want to abuse our freedoms of speech. We'll use our freedoms of speech to out them.
Brilliant. Alright, C-span. Let's see if you have any guts.
The Patriot Act, y'know the one that causes both the Moonbats and the Libertarians to go into ballistic fits of apoplexy, allows Law Enforcement to actually listen to the Friday Screech. Before, without it, that's no go territory and a free pass for the Muzzies to say anything, distribute any kind of material, etc.
Now if we could just shitcan the Fibbie Mgmt (and the new intel group forming now just might be the cure for this asshole Old Boy Network within the FBI) so we could hire NON-MUZZY translators, we might stand a chance of keeping up with these cretins.
The Patriot Act can actually work, if not crippled by the paranoid dipshits and the idiot toolfools.
There currently are four Arab Muslim men in Canadian jails under "security certificates," which allow Ottawa to detain suspects without public trial or evidence in the name of national security. All four suspects argue they face risk of torture if returned to their native Algeria, Morocco, Syria and Egypt. A fifth suspect, Adil Charkaoui, was granted conditional release in February but must wear an electronic tracking device and remain in Montreal. Human rights groups have condemned Canada for holding the men.
Canada adopted its Anti-Terrorism Act in the months that followed Sept. 11, yet only one man has been arrested under the act: Mohammad Momin Khawaja. Born in Canada to Pakistani immigrants, Khawaja was arrested in March 2004 on suspicion of participating in and facilitating terrorist activities in London and Ottawa, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Young men like Khawaja, 26, are representative of the type of recruits al-Qaida is after, CSIS said in a report recently made public by the Toronto Star. "There is a direct threat to Canada and Canadian interests from al-Qaida and related groups," CSIS said. "Converts are highly prized by terrorist groups for their familiarity with the West and relative ease at moving through Western society." The U.S. State Department has estimated there are 40 terrorist organizations with sympathizers or supporters in the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2005 15:09 ||
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TEHERAN - Iran said on Sunday it had lodged a formal diplomatic protest after a newspaper in Bahrain published a cartoon deemed insulting to the Islamic republicâs supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also warned countries in the region not to offend Iranâs ruling Shia clergy, saying that âour capabilities are incomparableâ.
Funny, the US says the same thing about you guys.
âAs soon the caricature was printed in the paper we sent them a notice, we summoned the Bahraini ambassador in Tehran, met with the one of directors of the Bahraini foreign ministry and their information minister there,â Asefi said.
Late last month the al-Ayyam newspaper published a caricature showing Khamenei next to a graph representing the presidential election, which was won by hardliner Mahmood Ahmadinejad. The supreme leaderâs long beard is growing on the graph in an upward zigzag -- in other words alleging he played a decisive role in the victory of the new ultra-conservative president.
Asefi said authorities in Sunni-ruled Bahrain had âaccepted that this was a major mistakeâ and had also âsummoned the newspaper managers to reprimand them.â
"Are you guys nuts? Stop prodding the big gorrilla with the stick!"
âThe countries of the region should know that it is them that will lose by doing these sort of things,â he warned. âOur capabilities are incomparable with theirs. We always stress friendship and cooperation with other countries, and they have to be more careful.â
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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Sounds like a threat. The question is, do they care to follow through?
(Reminder: Bahrain is the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet)
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/04/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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#3
As long as we are making fun of Ayatollahs here is a joke:
There was this drunk in Iran, he kept getting caught by the religious police who made him assume the position and give 15 lashes on his back side. This was a problem because he couldn't keep off the sauce. The owner of a tattoo parlor told him he had the answer. He would tattoo the portrait of Khomeini on one butt cheek and the portrait of Khamenei on the other. Since defaceing an official portrait of either was a capital crime the problem was solved!
The next day a religious policeman finds him drunk and demands he drop his pants. The policeman starts to "this cannot be, what is the meaning of this?" Then he really starts flogging away, the drunk yells"Isn't defaceing an official portrait a capital offense?"
The angry officer says,"Yes but this CANNOT be an official portait since it portrays AN ENOURMOUS GAP between our glorious leaders!"
Posted by: bruce ||
07/04/2005 13:31 Comments ||
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A Sunni Arab group called on Sunnis to take part in future elections on Monday and a leading Sunni hardline cleric condemned kidnappings, as police searched for a top Egyptian diplomat seized over the weekend. Sunnis boycotted the Jan. 30 vote, which went overwhelmingly to Shiites - an outcome that boosted the Sunni-led insurgency by convincing many Sunnis they would be marginalized in the new Iraq. We refused to participate unless we knew we would win.
Political efforts to encourage Sunni extremists to join in the building of a new Iraq received a boost Monday when Dr. Adnan Al-Dulami, spokesman of the General Conference for Sunnis in Iraq, called on Sunnis "to organize themselves to take part in the coming elections and to start to register their names at the offices of the electoral commission." He said Sunni clerics would soon issue a religious decree repeating the call. Clerics were at the forefront of boycott calls before the January election. We're getting tired of killing, and besides, we're not getting anywhere.
In what may be a hopeful sign, a hardline Sunni Arab cleric, Harith al-Dhari, condemned all kidnappings, calling them "a bad phenomenon that emerged after the occupation of Iraq by America and its allies." At least he didn't blame the U.S. for importing kidnapping.
Al-Dhari heads the Association of Muslim Scholars, which is believed to have contacts with some insurgent groups. Sunni Arabs are estimated to make up about 20 percent of Iraq's 26 million people.
In another sign of increased Sunni involvement in the government, however, Humam Hammoudi, head of the committee to draft a new constitution, said 15 Sunnis were approved Monday to join the committee and would begin work Wednesday. The inclusion of Sunnis on the committee had been delayed because majority Shiites and Kurds had accused nominees of links to Saddam's Baath party.You say you're a Sunni? You must have been linked to Saddam!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/04/2005 18:05 ||
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just think! we americans abandon Iraq tomorrow........our foes the sunnis would get slaughtered by the Kurds and the Shia...........
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's June 25-26 unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia has raised many an eye brow in Islamabad-based diplomatic circles which believe the visit was meant to seek the assistance of the Kingdom to circumvent the ongoing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigations into reports that the Saudis might have purchased nuclear technology from Pakistan
Posted by: john ||
07/04/2005 16:23 ||
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The 15 Sunni Arabs nominated to join a parliamentary committee drafting Iraq's new constitution will officially join Wednesday, clearing the last hurdle in bringing the minority sect into the process, a senior legislator said. The body was scheduled to welcome the new members Tuesday and they would officially begin their duties the following day, committee chairman Hummam Hammoudi was quoted as saying by The Associated Press on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2005 11:52 ||
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This sounds to me like the acid test to see if Iraq, as an entity, a particularly artificial entity, can hold together.
Since they're Arab Sunnis, lol, there is absolutely no way to predict the final answer. The only certainty is that the proceedings will be rancorous and full of pointless posturing and preening and seething from Tuesday forward. There's no track record to support anything less divisive.
We shall see, but this might be prime for an RB Futures item. Color me pessimistic. Sigh.
Saudi Arabia said yesterday it will resume diplomatic relations with Iraq even as Egypt's envoy to Baghdad was reported kidnapped. Dr. Saleh Al-Kohaimi, head of the Arab states department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the Kingdom was one of the four Arab states ready to send ambassadors to Baghdad. The two countries have decided to renew diplomatic ties after a break of 13 years. Al-Kohaimi said the ambassador to Baghdad would be named shortly. He said the Kingdom would welcome the return of an Iraqi ambassador to Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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They aough to roast his beard. Most of the Boomers being Saudi cvan't go down well with Iraq's current government.
Jordan Prime Minister Adnan Badran named eight new ministers yesterday in a major Cabinet reshuffle aimed at winning a parliamentary vote of confidence to gain a mandate for imposing reform and slashing oil subsidies. In an unprecedented move, Adnan was forced to change his lineup only three months after he formed his government in April, as the Cabinet came under attack from a group of 53 MPs in the 110-member Parliament. The deputies threatened a no-confidence vote unless the economic team was changed - in other words the deeply unpopular Finance Minister Bassem Awadallah. Awadallah, a controversial figure close to King Abdallah and the US administration, stepped down on June 15 paving the way for the government reshuffle. "Faced with unpopular decisions such as plans to raise oil products by five to 12 percent, the Badran government had to get rid of controversial ministers in order to win public sympathy," an official told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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It will be Bouteflikaâs second amnesty for rebels after a first one approved by a referendum in 1999 expired in 2001. The first amnesty saw the surrender of thousands of rebels.
Under the Constitution, General Musharraf cannot continue as president after 2012, Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, parliamentary affairs minister, told Daily Times on Saturday. He said the president could only serve the country for two consecutive terms. The first term of President Musharraf would end in 2007, he added. The parliamentary affairs minister said the General Musharraf could be re-elected after the 2007 general elections for a second consecutive term as president. He said Article 44 of the Constitution restricted a person to contest for a third consecutive term as the countryâs president. The Article 44 (2) says: âAccording to the Constitution, a person holding office as president shall be eligible for re-election, but no person shall hold that office for more than two consecutive terms.â
Unless they amend the constitution, of course. That's what most dictators do...
He said how long General Musharraf would continue as president of Pakistan was a matter of debate in political circles. The opposition wants General Musharraf to step down as president after next the general elections.
They also want him dead.
The parliamentary affairs minister stated there was no restriction on Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif becoming prime minister again. âThere is no law, including the Political Parties Order (2002), in Pakistan which prevents anyone from becoming prime minister for the third time.â He said the any MNAs could become the countryâs prime minister. âThere is no limit to the number of times a person can become an MNA.
That hardly seems fair...
For instance, I have been elected as MNA for four consecutive terms.â
See what I mean?
Dr Afgan accused the PPPP and the PML-N of fooling the people into believing that their leaders were not allowed to become prime minister for the third time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2005 00:00 ||
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No big deal anyway : according to the mayan calendar, the End-Of-The-Universe-As-We-Know-It is scheduled for the 21st december 2012. While Reality crashes down around them, pakistanis will hardly have the time to think about Perv's third consecutive term.
#2
I've passed by this story, and A5089's provocative comment, about 10 times - bothered by the comment (not the story, lol, nothing surprising there)...
And it hit me. If everything - or at least a fatal combination of things as in a Clancy novel - goes wrong, which might include shit like:
Hillary or similar asswit being elected in 2008...
The Mad Mullahs getting a nuke and delivery pkg...
PakiWakiLand coming unglued and focusing externally instead of just wanking each other most of the time...
Lil Kimmie throwing a 3-stage tantrum...
ChiComms making their play for Taiwan and backing their play with nukes...
Putty losing control - of everything...
Some jihadi dipshits getting their hands on WMD's and pulling off an attack in the West that pales the 9/11 loss...
Some completely mindfucked toolfool "ist" group like ELF actually succeeding in breaking into a bio-lab full of bad shit...
Well, you get the point, then the Mayans' 2012 date seems like it might be just about right.
Not for the Universe, hell - we're just an itch on a rock in an unfashionable neighborhood of a single galaxy - no, just for the dinky little mankind infection on the insignificant blue marble called Planet Earth. Hollyweird, being a nest of self-love / self-hate schizoids, would love it - except for the fact that there'd be no sequel... Lost box-office.
#4
Right on, Ship. I won't be here, so it's no skin off my fore. Just had that sudden realization that shit can, and sometimes does, enter into leveraged mode... magnifying, invoking, replicating like a rabbit, and surprising the hell out of everyone. :-|
#5
Indeed the poo poo can hit the prop big time, witness 1914.
But I'm optimistik. We got most of the worlds nukes and after two or five hits we will make this a peaceful planet. Safe for all gawds chillun to run and laugh and play and sing, longs them chillrun play by the rulz.
#6
Ima thankful the windstream won't affect Oz or the west Coast of the US with all that fallout, China, however, may get a rude awakening that flyash doesn't make a dam nuke-proof. Indonesia will no longer have the most muslims, either, so it'll be time to revise those CIA factbooks, boyz
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2005 15:49 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Basque region's prime minister said yesterday that the central Spanish government had started peace talks with the outlawed Batasuna party, which is considered to be the political wing of the violent separatist group Eta.
The Dutch parliament is currently debating a draft law presented by the government on radicalism combat, including a TV show to monitor sermons delivered by imams. The controversial measure drew rebuke from a prominent Dutch Muslim scholar who told IslamOnline.net it would deepen Muslim isolation in the country.
Under the Constitution, General Musharraf cannot continue as president after 2012, Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, parliamentary affairs minister, told Daily Times on Saturday. He said the president could only serve the country for two consecutive terms. The first term of President Musharraf would end in 2007, he added. The parliamentary affairs minister said the General Musharraf could be re-elected after the 2007 general elections for a second consecutive term as president. He said Article 44 of the Constitution restricted a person to contest for a third consecutive term as the countryâs president. The Article 44 (2) says: âAccording to the Constitution, a person holding office as president shall be eligible for re-election, but no person shall hold that office for more than two consecutive terms.â 
