The bullshit just goes on and on.
The rise of Muslim fundamentalism got the greatest boost in its history when that knee-jerk anti-communist boob, Republican and conservative hero Ronald Reagan, gave the Taliban to the world in order to mess things up for the Russians in Afghanistan.
Russians in Afghanistan would be bad?
Oh, please.
Nowhere near as bad for us, for Afghanistan, or for the entire Muslim world as us handing that country to the Taliban.
That gave us, well, the Taliban, a much-strengthened Al-Qaeda, the attacks of 9/11, an endless war in Afghanistan, a huge rise in terrorism and jihad all over the region, ISIS, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the ongoing wastage of trillions of dollars.
Yes, Reagan gave us that, with Bush fils not far behind him.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Meanwhile, Democrats to a man (or woman) are shocked, shocked, that Russians would subsidize military operations against US forces by enemies whom we once subsidized to carry out military operations . . . against the Russians!
A lot of Russia owns Trump claptrap, for day and days.
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Resurgent nationalism
We are told it's about racist and ethno-nationalist reaction to mass immigration from outside Europe and the lesser migrations of Europeans among the nations of the EU.
The ethno-nationalist right believe they can do a better job maintaining national identity - and that's not just about keeping out the blacks - outside the EU than in.
That's a big part of it.
And they are probably right.
We are told that, in most European countries where nationalism is resurgent, it's about the right believing they can keep economies more business-friendly out of the EU than in it.
That's part of it.
But it's all a bit dicey, since some of the left notably think exactly the opposite, that they could take their societies further left outside the EU than in.
And anyway the whole trade picture makes it all a bit foggy; broadly speaking, free trade among the states of the EU is better for business than dealing with a lot of real borders and the various forms of trade restrictions that accompany them.
Last, a really big part of it that seems under-reported is resistance to the cultural revolution taking place in all Christian and post-Christian lands, perhaps only excepting Africa.
The soft spot in the heart of the American right for Putin is all about that.
So it's about abortion, yes, but also gay marriage and other offences against the traditional European morality, which is, of course, the traditional Christian morality.
It's about lots of people believing that they can keep their laws and their culture more in tune with traditional European morality out of the EU than in it.
And how far that is true may vary considerably by country.
PS. Didn't the left media used to rage it was all about Islamophobia?
There was truth to that, too, though it's not as though there wasn't plenty of reason to fear Islam.
Haven't heard much about that in a while, at least in the US.
The ethno-nationalist right believe they can do a better job maintaining national identity - and that's not just about keeping out the blacks - outside the EU than in.
That's a big part of it.
And they are probably right.
We are told that, in most European countries where nationalism is resurgent, it's about the right believing they can keep economies more business-friendly out of the EU than in it.
That's part of it.
But it's all a bit dicey, since some of the left notably think exactly the opposite, that they could take their societies further left outside the EU than in.
And anyway the whole trade picture makes it all a bit foggy; broadly speaking, free trade among the states of the EU is better for business than dealing with a lot of real borders and the various forms of trade restrictions that accompany them.
Last, a really big part of it that seems under-reported is resistance to the cultural revolution taking place in all Christian and post-Christian lands, perhaps only excepting Africa.
The soft spot in the heart of the American right for Putin is all about that.
So it's about abortion, yes, but also gay marriage and other offences against the traditional European morality, which is, of course, the traditional Christian morality.
It's about lots of people believing that they can keep their laws and their culture more in tune with traditional European morality out of the EU than in it.
And how far that is true may vary considerably by country.
PS. Didn't the left media used to rage it was all about Islamophobia?
There was truth to that, too, though it's not as though there wasn't plenty of reason to fear Islam.
Haven't heard much about that in a while, at least in the US.
Saturday, June 8, 2019
The Saudi government is fine with this?
And the Jordanians?
U.S. Ambassador Says Israel Has Right to Annex Parts of West Bank
Trump and Israel, enemies of Shiite Iraq and Shiism in Iraq and Shiite terrorists or political groups in the Levant and quiet enablers of the corrupt Saudi despotism that imposes barbaric Wahabbist Sunni savagery at home and exports it abroad, meet with quiet acceptance of Greater Israel by the regime in turn.
U.S. Ambassador Says Israel Has Right to Annex Parts of West Bank
Trump and Israel, enemies of Shiite Iraq and Shiism in Iraq and Shiite terrorists or political groups in the Levant and quiet enablers of the corrupt Saudi despotism that imposes barbaric Wahabbist Sunni savagery at home and exports it abroad, meet with quiet acceptance of Greater Israel by the regime in turn.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
The American Taliban up for release
At the time I regarded his punishment as absurdly draconian, and it very possibly has pushed him back into a Jihadism he seemed very much to regret and perhaps to be abandoning when tried.
John Walker Lindh, Known as the ‘American Taliban,’ Is Set to Leave Federal Prison This Week
When he ran off to join the Islamists he had no way of knowing the US would choose to fight a war against the Taliban, whom he had joined when the US was at peace with them and the Afghanistan they controlled.
As an American citizen, he was tried in federal court, unlike citizens of other countries who were also picked up in Afghanistan and Pakistan but who ended up in the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
At his sentencing in October 2002, he condemned “terrorism on every level, unequivocally,” said he made a mistake by joining the Taliban and denounced Osama bin Laden’s terrorist attacks as “completely against Islam.”
But two leaked United States government intelligence counterterrorist assessments first published by Foreign Policy magazine in 2017 cast Mr. Lindh in a different light.
A 2017 report by the National Counterterrorism Center titled “U.S. Homegrown Violent Extremist Recidivism Likely” said without elaboration that as of May 2016 Mr. Lindh “continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremist texts.”
A 2017 Federal Bureau of Prisons intelligence assessment, which included a photograph of Mr. Lindh with a shaven head and a bushy brown beard, said he had earlier made supportive statements about the Islamic State.
. . . .
Johnny Spann, the father of the C.I.A. operative who was killed in Afghanistan, remains bitter about the Lindh case and said he is distrustful of the decision to let Mr. Lindh go.
His son is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, about eight miles from the Alexandria courthouse where Mr. Lindh was charged.
“We’ve got a traitor that was given 20 years and I can’t do anything about it,” said Mr. Spann, a real estate dealer in Winfield, Ala.
“He was given a 20-year sentence when it should’ve been life in prison.”
Mr. Spann’s son, who went by Mike, was killed at the start of an uprising by prisoners inside a mud-walled 19th-century fortress at Qala-i-Jangi in northern Afghanistan after he questioned Mr. Lindh, videotapes at the time showed.
But even before Mr. Lindh’s guilty plea to two charges — to providing support to the Taliban and to carrying a rifle and grenade — the government offered no evidence that he participated in the revolt.
. . . .
Karen J. Greenberg focused on the Lindh case in her 2016 book, “Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State.”
“He devoted his years in prison to becoming a student of Islamic texts,” said Ms. Greenberg, who is the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law.
“I think the best you can hope for him is that he finds a way to live a quiet life, along those lines, doing whatever it is he wants to peacefully do.”
John Walker Lindh, Known as the ‘American Taliban,’ Is Set to Leave Federal Prison This Week
When he ran off to join the Islamists he had no way of knowing the US would choose to fight a war against the Taliban, whom he had joined when the US was at peace with them and the Afghanistan they controlled.
As an American citizen, he was tried in federal court, unlike citizens of other countries who were also picked up in Afghanistan and Pakistan but who ended up in the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
At his sentencing in October 2002, he condemned “terrorism on every level, unequivocally,” said he made a mistake by joining the Taliban and denounced Osama bin Laden’s terrorist attacks as “completely against Islam.”
But two leaked United States government intelligence counterterrorist assessments first published by Foreign Policy magazine in 2017 cast Mr. Lindh in a different light.
A 2017 report by the National Counterterrorism Center titled “U.S. Homegrown Violent Extremist Recidivism Likely” said without elaboration that as of May 2016 Mr. Lindh “continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremist texts.”
A 2017 Federal Bureau of Prisons intelligence assessment, which included a photograph of Mr. Lindh with a shaven head and a bushy brown beard, said he had earlier made supportive statements about the Islamic State.
. . . .
Johnny Spann, the father of the C.I.A. operative who was killed in Afghanistan, remains bitter about the Lindh case and said he is distrustful of the decision to let Mr. Lindh go.
His son is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, about eight miles from the Alexandria courthouse where Mr. Lindh was charged.
“We’ve got a traitor that was given 20 years and I can’t do anything about it,” said Mr. Spann, a real estate dealer in Winfield, Ala.
“He was given a 20-year sentence when it should’ve been life in prison.”
Mr. Spann’s son, who went by Mike, was killed at the start of an uprising by prisoners inside a mud-walled 19th-century fortress at Qala-i-Jangi in northern Afghanistan after he questioned Mr. Lindh, videotapes at the time showed.
But even before Mr. Lindh’s guilty plea to two charges — to providing support to the Taliban and to carrying a rifle and grenade — the government offered no evidence that he participated in the revolt.
. . . .
Karen J. Greenberg focused on the Lindh case in her 2016 book, “Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State.”
“He devoted his years in prison to becoming a student of Islamic texts,” said Ms. Greenberg, who is the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law.
“I think the best you can hope for him is that he finds a way to live a quiet life, along those lines, doing whatever it is he wants to peacefully do.”
Friday, April 26, 2019
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. - Asimov quoting Schiller.
Polio Vaccinator Is Shot and Killed in Pakistan
Two gunmen on motorcycle shot and killed a polio vaccinator in the southwestern Pakistani city of Chaman on Thursday, bringing the death toll among vaccinators working in the country’s anti-polio drive to at least three this week, officials said.
. . . .
Polio vaccination teams have suffered several attacks since a countrywide vaccination drive began on April 23.
Aga
Polio workers, volunteers and their guards are frequently targeted in the South Asian country.
Islamist militants and hard-line clerics say the vaccination drive is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children and a cover for western spies.
. . . .
Hayat Khan, a resident of a tribal area bordering Afghanistan who runs a shop, said he is skeptical of the polio vaccine.
Neither he nor his parents have taken the vaccine, which can be delivered orally as drops, and they are living a healthy life, he said.
“We have doubts in our minds about this western vaccine,” he said.
“Tribal people are not sure what they are giving to our children and what information they are collecting for spying. It’s a Western agenda, indeed.”
Two gunmen on motorcycle shot and killed a polio vaccinator in the southwestern Pakistani city of Chaman on Thursday, bringing the death toll among vaccinators working in the country’s anti-polio drive to at least three this week, officials said.
. . . .
Polio vaccination teams have suffered several attacks since a countrywide vaccination drive began on April 23.
Aga
Polio workers, volunteers and their guards are frequently targeted in the South Asian country.
Islamist militants and hard-line clerics say the vaccination drive is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children and a cover for western spies.
. . . .
Hayat Khan, a resident of a tribal area bordering Afghanistan who runs a shop, said he is skeptical of the polio vaccine.
Neither he nor his parents have taken the vaccine, which can be delivered orally as drops, and they are living a healthy life, he said.
“We have doubts in our minds about this western vaccine,” he said.
“Tribal people are not sure what they are giving to our children and what information they are collecting for spying. It’s a Western agenda, indeed.”
Monday, April 22, 2019
Trump, Bolton, Pence do NOT propose sanctions on Brunei
Brunei’s Royal Barbarity and Hypocrisy
The Times calls for action by "governments and multinationals that do business with the wealthy sultanate".
Besides the barbarity of the penalties, there is the danger that the law could nudge neighboring Islamic giants Malaysia and Indonesia toward tightening their own national or regional versions of Shariah laws targeting homosexuals.
Conservative Muslim politicians in both countries were quick to voice their support for Brunei’s law.
Beyond that, there is the fact that Sultan Hassanal enjoys his absolute dominion and his obscene treasure, including a gold-plated Rolls-Royce and a 1,788-room palace, because the world outside buys his oil.
That gives his clients — including Britain, Brunei’s former colonial master — a measure of responsibility and leverage.
That celebrities are taking action is good, but governments and multinationals that do business with the wealthy sultanate have an obligation to look for ways to persuade Sultan Hassanal and other beneficiaries of Brunei’s oil riches that they best quickly bring their laws into compliance with their human rights obligations and abandon vicious punishments for blameless behavior.
The Guardian calls for state action by the UK
The Times calls for action by "governments and multinationals that do business with the wealthy sultanate".
Besides the barbarity of the penalties, there is the danger that the law could nudge neighboring Islamic giants Malaysia and Indonesia toward tightening their own national or regional versions of Shariah laws targeting homosexuals.
Conservative Muslim politicians in both countries were quick to voice their support for Brunei’s law.
Beyond that, there is the fact that Sultan Hassanal enjoys his absolute dominion and his obscene treasure, including a gold-plated Rolls-Royce and a 1,788-room palace, because the world outside buys his oil.
That gives his clients — including Britain, Brunei’s former colonial master — a measure of responsibility and leverage.
That celebrities are taking action is good, but governments and multinationals that do business with the wealthy sultanate have an obligation to look for ways to persuade Sultan Hassanal and other beneficiaries of Brunei’s oil riches that they best quickly bring their laws into compliance with their human rights obligations and abandon vicious punishments for blameless behavior.
The Guardian calls for state action by the UK
Brunei defends killing gays by stoning them to death
Brunei defends death by stoning for gay sex in letter to EU
Brunei has written to the European parliament defending its decision to start imposing death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex, claiming convictions will be rare as it requires two men of “high moral standing and piety” to be witnesses.
In a four-page letter to MEPs, the kingdom’s mission to the EU called for “tolerance, respect and understanding” with regard to the country’s desire to preserve its traditional values and “family lineage”.
The cheek of the bastards, asking the EU to show tolerance, respect, and understanding to them regarding their decision to deny both to gay men in the most violent manner possible.
The new penal code, which also provides for the amputation of thieves and whipping of people wearing clothes associated with the opposite sex, was brought in on 3 April, despite international condemnation.
But in the letter, the kingdom claimed the outcry is due to a misconception that it wanted to clarify.
“The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women,” it said.
“The penal sentences of hadd – stoning to death and amputation – imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy, have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses, to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.”
. . . .
The letter was sent before a vote last week in which MEPs backed a resolution by a show of hands strongly condemning “the entry into force of the retrograde sharia penal code”.
The parliament also called on the EU to consider asset freezes, visa bans and the blacklisting of nine hotels owned by Brunei Investment Agency, including the Dorchester in London, Beverly Hills hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Celebrities including Elton John and George Clooney have called for the hotels to be boycotted.
. . . .
Homosexuality has been illegal since the country broke from British rule, but before the recent move to a more conservative interpretation of Islam, it was punishable by jail.
Britain, France, Germany and the UN are among those who have condemned the hardening of the kingdom’s laws.
Brunei has written to the European parliament defending its decision to start imposing death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex, claiming convictions will be rare as it requires two men of “high moral standing and piety” to be witnesses.
In a four-page letter to MEPs, the kingdom’s mission to the EU called for “tolerance, respect and understanding” with regard to the country’s desire to preserve its traditional values and “family lineage”.
The cheek of the bastards, asking the EU to show tolerance, respect, and understanding to them regarding their decision to deny both to gay men in the most violent manner possible.
The new penal code, which also provides for the amputation of thieves and whipping of people wearing clothes associated with the opposite sex, was brought in on 3 April, despite international condemnation.
But in the letter, the kingdom claimed the outcry is due to a misconception that it wanted to clarify.
“The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women,” it said.
“The penal sentences of hadd – stoning to death and amputation – imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy, have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses, to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.”
. . . .
The letter was sent before a vote last week in which MEPs backed a resolution by a show of hands strongly condemning “the entry into force of the retrograde sharia penal code”.
The parliament also called on the EU to consider asset freezes, visa bans and the blacklisting of nine hotels owned by Brunei Investment Agency, including the Dorchester in London, Beverly Hills hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Celebrities including Elton John and George Clooney have called for the hotels to be boycotted.
. . . .
Homosexuality has been illegal since the country broke from British rule, but before the recent move to a more conservative interpretation of Islam, it was punishable by jail.
Britain, France, Germany and the UN are among those who have condemned the hardening of the kingdom’s laws.
It looks like the EU and the UN are leading on this.
The only reference I find to US reaction is some no name State Department fellow wagging a finger.
Trump, Pence, and the other heavies are conspicuously quiet.
The only reference I find to US reaction is some no name State Department fellow wagging a finger.
Trump, Pence, and the other heavies are conspicuously quiet.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Don't count those chickens quite yet, but it's looking good
In Indonesian Election, President Joko Widodo Leads in Voting Returns
President Joko Widodo of Indonesia led by a comfortable margin in unofficial returns in his re-election bid on Wednesday, as he appeared to fend off a challenge by a four-time presidential candidate supported by hard-line Islamists.
Mr. Joko, who is seeking a second five-year term, has made expanding social programs and building roads, airports, seaports and transit lines high priorities, and his approach appeared to be paying off with voters across the sprawling archipelago.
His opponent, Prabowo Subianto, tried to win popular support by attacking “evil elites” who he said had undermined the country.
Mr. Prabowo was once married to a daughter of Suharto, the dictator who ruled Indonesia for three decades up to 1998, and he was dismissed from the army decades ago for ordering his troops to kidnap activists.
Unofficial vote counts had Mr. Joko leading by roughly 10 percentage points.
President Joko Widodo of Indonesia led by a comfortable margin in unofficial returns in his re-election bid on Wednesday, as he appeared to fend off a challenge by a four-time presidential candidate supported by hard-line Islamists.
Mr. Joko, who is seeking a second five-year term, has made expanding social programs and building roads, airports, seaports and transit lines high priorities, and his approach appeared to be paying off with voters across the sprawling archipelago.
His opponent, Prabowo Subianto, tried to win popular support by attacking “evil elites” who he said had undermined the country.
Mr. Prabowo was once married to a daughter of Suharto, the dictator who ruled Indonesia for three decades up to 1998, and he was dismissed from the army decades ago for ordering his troops to kidnap activists.
Unofficial vote counts had Mr. Joko leading by roughly 10 percentage points.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
You don't say.
Facing Uproar, Brunei Says Stoning Law Is Meant to ‘Educate’ and ‘Nurture’
The foreign minister of Brunei has defended his country’s new penal code — which made adultery and gay sex punishable by death from stoning, and allows for the amputation of limbs for theft — saying the laws are meant as a deterrent.
The United Nations and international rights groups have denounced the punishments, saying they amount to torture and a violation of human rights.
The foreign minister of Brunei has defended his country’s new penal code — which made adultery and gay sex punishable by death from stoning, and allows for the amputation of limbs for theft — saying the laws are meant as a deterrent.
The United Nations and international rights groups have denounced the punishments, saying they amount to torture and a violation of human rights.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
ISIS on trial in Berlin
German Woman Goes on Trial in Death of 5-Year-Old Girl Held as ISIS Slave
Devoted followers of the Islamic State, a man and woman bought a 5-year-old Yazidi girl in Iraq to use as a slave, then let her die of thirst in the scorching heat, the German authorities contend in the trial of the woman, which began on Tuesday — one of the highest-profile cases against a female member of the terrorist group.
. . . .
But the Yazidi girl’s mother, whose identity has not been released, is expected to testify, providing both key evidence and the emotional heart of the case.
The mother, who says she was also held as a slave by the German woman and her husband, is serving as a co-plaintiff in the trial but was not in court for the opening proceedings.
“Our client would like to see justice served, as well as the opportunity to finally give a full account of her suffering and that of her daughter,” one of the woman’s lawyers, Natalie von Wistinghausen, said in a statement.
The girl’s mother is also represented by Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer.
When ISIS overran northern Iraq in 2014, thousands of Yazidi women and girls were abducted and sold to ISIS members as slaves.
They also became victims of brutal sexual assault.
According to the indictment, Jennifer W. and her husband “bought a 5-year-old girl in summer 2015 from a group of prisoners of war and kept her in their home as a slave.”
“After the girl fell ill and wet her mattress, the defendant’s husband punished the girl by chaining her up outside in the searing heat and leaving her in great agony to die of thirst,” prosecutors said.
“The defendant let her husband do as he liked, and took no action to save the girl.”
. . . .
Germany is struggling with how to handle dozens of women who left the country for Syria and Iraq, many of whom married ISIS fighters, and now have children who are German citizens.
While they are legally allowed to return home, many Germans do not want to see them allowed back without being tried for their roles in supporting the terror organization.
But German law requires concrete proof of wrongdoing, so without evidence like photos showing them posing with weapons, or social media accounts where they spread propaganda or sought to recruit others, it can be difficult to bring charges against them.
In the case of Jennifer W., prosecutors were helped by her own eagerness to tell the man who offered to drive her as far as Turkey about her life in ISIS.
American intelligence officials had tipped off their colleagues in Germany about the woman, allowing the Germans to set her up with a driver, whose car was bugged, German news media reported.
She told the driver about leaving her home in northwestern Germany in August 2014, and making her way through Turkey and Syria to Iraq.
Once she arrived, prosecutors said, she joined the Islamic State and swiftly rose through the ranks, becoming a member of the Hisbah, the morality police, patrolling the parks of Falluja and Mosul, Iraq.
“Her job was to make sure that women were upholding the terror organization’s dress and behavior codes,” they said.
“To intimidate them, she carried an AK-47 machine gun, a pistol and an explosive vest.”
Devoted followers of the Islamic State, a man and woman bought a 5-year-old Yazidi girl in Iraq to use as a slave, then let her die of thirst in the scorching heat, the German authorities contend in the trial of the woman, which began on Tuesday — one of the highest-profile cases against a female member of the terrorist group.
. . . .
But the Yazidi girl’s mother, whose identity has not been released, is expected to testify, providing both key evidence and the emotional heart of the case.
The mother, who says she was also held as a slave by the German woman and her husband, is serving as a co-plaintiff in the trial but was not in court for the opening proceedings.
“Our client would like to see justice served, as well as the opportunity to finally give a full account of her suffering and that of her daughter,” one of the woman’s lawyers, Natalie von Wistinghausen, said in a statement.
The girl’s mother is also represented by Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer.
When ISIS overran northern Iraq in 2014, thousands of Yazidi women and girls were abducted and sold to ISIS members as slaves.
They also became victims of brutal sexual assault.
According to the indictment, Jennifer W. and her husband “bought a 5-year-old girl in summer 2015 from a group of prisoners of war and kept her in their home as a slave.”
“After the girl fell ill and wet her mattress, the defendant’s husband punished the girl by chaining her up outside in the searing heat and leaving her in great agony to die of thirst,” prosecutors said.
“The defendant let her husband do as he liked, and took no action to save the girl.”
. . . .
Germany is struggling with how to handle dozens of women who left the country for Syria and Iraq, many of whom married ISIS fighters, and now have children who are German citizens.
While they are legally allowed to return home, many Germans do not want to see them allowed back without being tried for their roles in supporting the terror organization.
But German law requires concrete proof of wrongdoing, so without evidence like photos showing them posing with weapons, or social media accounts where they spread propaganda or sought to recruit others, it can be difficult to bring charges against them.
In the case of Jennifer W., prosecutors were helped by her own eagerness to tell the man who offered to drive her as far as Turkey about her life in ISIS.
American intelligence officials had tipped off their colleagues in Germany about the woman, allowing the Germans to set her up with a driver, whose car was bugged, German news media reported.
She told the driver about leaving her home in northwestern Germany in August 2014, and making her way through Turkey and Syria to Iraq.
Once she arrived, prosecutors said, she joined the Islamic State and swiftly rose through the ranks, becoming a member of the Hisbah, the morality police, patrolling the parks of Falluja and Mosul, Iraq.
“Her job was to make sure that women were upholding the terror organization’s dress and behavior codes,” they said.
“To intimidate them, she carried an AK-47 machine gun, a pistol and an explosive vest.”
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Imagine Mike Pence got the Congress to enact the Pentateuch into federal law
And the wingnuts on the Supreme Court went along with it.
Well, Brunei.
Brunei Invokes laws allowing stoning for gay sex, adultery
New Islamic criminal laws that took effect in Brunei on Wednesday, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death, have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation's shores.
The penalties were provided for under new sections of Brunei's Shariah Penal Code.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah instituted the code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim.
Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years.
The first stage of the Shariah Penal Code included fines or jail for offenses such as pregnancy out of wedlock or failing to pray on Fridays.
But under the new laws — which apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim — those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped.
Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second.
Well, Brunei.
Brunei Invokes laws allowing stoning for gay sex, adultery
New Islamic criminal laws that took effect in Brunei on Wednesday, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death, have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation's shores.
The penalties were provided for under new sections of Brunei's Shariah Penal Code.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah instituted the code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim.
Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years.
The first stage of the Shariah Penal Code included fines or jail for offenses such as pregnancy out of wedlock or failing to pray on Fridays.
But under the new laws — which apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim — those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped.
Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Life in an Islamic Republic
Iran Rights Lawyer Sentenced to 38 Years in Prison and 148 Lashes, Husband Says
Iran has faced international condemnation after one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers, detained for eight months, said she had been sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, according to her husband.
Security agents arrested the lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, at her home in June last year.
Iran has faced international condemnation after one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers, detained for eight months, said she had been sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, according to her husband.
Security agents arrested the lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, at her home in June last year.
The government offered no explanation, but at the time Ms. Sotoudeh was defending women who had been arrested after removing their hijabs, or head scarves, in public protests.
She received the European Union’s most prestigious human rights award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, in 2012, while serving a previous prison sentence.
Ms. Sotoudeh, held at Evin Prison in Tehran, told her husband about the latest sentencing during a brief telephone conversation, the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a monitoring group, said in a statement on Monday.
She received the European Union’s most prestigious human rights award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, in 2012, while serving a previous prison sentence.
Ms. Sotoudeh, held at Evin Prison in Tehran, told her husband about the latest sentencing during a brief telephone conversation, the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a monitoring group, said in a statement on Monday.
. . . .
Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, called the sentence “utterly outrageous” on Tuesday, and said on Twitter that the European Parliament stood with Ms. Sotoudeh.
Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s foreign secretary, also condemned the decision on Twitter.
“Shocked to hear reports that dedicated Iranian women’s rights campaigner and human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to years in prison and 148 lashes,” he wrote.
“Human rights should be defended, not prosecuted,” he added.
Ms. Sotoudeh was not the only member of her family to be sentenced to prison this year.
Mr. Khandan, her husband, was sentenced to six years in January for illicitly posting updates about his wife’s case on Facebook[.]
Thursday, November 1, 2018
It depends on which cherries you want to pick
The Qur’an insists that Synagogues and Churches be Preserved and Respected
Juan Cole picks cherries tasty to children and liberals in mixed company.
Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and others have picked other cherries tasty to those interested in understanding the connection between texts in the Koran and the politics - and political violence - of various Muslim fundamentalists and their organizations.
And it remains undeniable that Muslims interested in finding textual support for horrific politics and political violence have a far easier time rooting in the Koran than Christians rooting in the New Testament for like support for like politics and violence.
Historically, Christian churchment trying to show textual support for their violence against their enemies have commonly resorted to tortured and blatantly arbitrary readings.
Not so, the Muslims.
But that does not mean there is not abundant textual support in the NT as well as the OT for the most egregious misogyny and the claim by some Christian ministers that "God hates fags".
And slim to none to the contrary.
Juan Cole picks cherries tasty to children and liberals in mixed company.
Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and others have picked other cherries tasty to those interested in understanding the connection between texts in the Koran and the politics - and political violence - of various Muslim fundamentalists and their organizations.
And it remains undeniable that Muslims interested in finding textual support for horrific politics and political violence have a far easier time rooting in the Koran than Christians rooting in the New Testament for like support for like politics and violence.
Historically, Christian churchment trying to show textual support for their violence against their enemies have commonly resorted to tortured and blatantly arbitrary readings.
Not so, the Muslims.
But that does not mean there is not abundant textual support in the NT as well as the OT for the most egregious misogyny and the claim by some Christian ministers that "God hates fags".
And slim to none to the contrary.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Trying his best to convince us? Or to convince the Believers?
ISIS and al-Qaeda theological authorities - the kind who validate the idea that Islam is the preeminent religion of war - , are you reading this guy?
The essence of the Qur'an is compassionate love
The essence of the Qur'an is compassionate love
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Not the Islam that spreads by the sword
And that is more the historical norm than the peaceable Islam he writes of.
Net result: whitewash.
Or gaslight, depending on your generation.
Top 5 Reasons for Americans to Admire the Prophet Muhammad
Net result: whitewash.
Or gaslight, depending on your generation.
Top 5 Reasons for Americans to Admire the Prophet Muhammad
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Sisi vs. the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Trump has publicly admired the strong man currently in power in Egypt for his authoritarian rule and for the ferocity of his efforts against Islamism, of which the Muslim Brotherhood could almost be said to have been the creator, back in the day.
The Society of the Muslim Brothers (Arabic: جماعة الإخوان المسلمين Jamāʻat al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood (الإخوان المسلمون al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn), is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928.
The organization gained supporters throughout the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups such as Hamas with its "model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work", and in 2012 sponsored the elected political party in Egypt after the January Revolution in 2011.
However, it faced periodic government crackdowns for alleged terrorist activities, and as of 2015 is considered a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Quran and the Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ... ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state".
For many years the movement was supported by Saudi Arabia, with which it shared some enemies and some points of doctrine.
Today, the primary state backers of the Muslim Brotherhood are Qatar and Turkey.
Trump has also expressed admiration for Erdogan's strongman rule in Turkey.
As a Pan-Islamic, religious, and social movement, it preached Islam, taught the illiterate, and set up hospitals and business enterprises.
The group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965, and 2013 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered.
The Arab Spring brought it legalization and substantial political power at first, but as of 2013 it has suffered severe reversals.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was legalized in 2011 and won several elections, including the 2012 presidential election when its candidate Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first president to gain power through an election, though one year later, following massive demonstrations and unrest, he was overthrown by the military and placed under house arrest.
Egyptian court sentences 75 people to death over 2013 demonstration
An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 75 people to death for participating in a 2013 demonstration in support of then-President Mohamed Morsy, and referred their cases to the country's Grand Mufti for a final decision, according to state-run news agency Ahram Online.
The defendants, which included members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested and tried for participating in a sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo, to protest the removal of Morsy, a former Brotherhood leader and the country's first democratically elected president.
The month-long protest culminated in mass violence, when Egyptian security forces -- under the command of now-President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi -- attempted to clear thousands of demonstrators by using automatic weapons, armored personnel carriers and military bulldozers.
The government's actions were widely condemned by international rights organizations.
A 2014 report by Human Rights Watch found at least 817 people were killed in the violence.
The Egyptian government has since banned the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring it a terrorist organization.
And yet nobody would say Sisi's Egyptian government is entirely secular.
The 75 defendants sentenced to death on Saturday are accused of "attacking citizens, resisting authorities, destroying public property and buildings, and possessing firearms and Molotov cocktails," according to Ahram Online.
Among those sentenced are Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and prominent members Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagy and Wagdy Ghoneim, Ahram reported.
The government is prosecuting 739 people for participation in the protests.
Before the verdict can be finalized and death sentences carried out, Egypt's penal code requires the Grand Mufti, the country's leading Islamic authority, to issue a religious opinion on the matter, according to Ahram.
The Grand Mufti's opinion is non-binding but rarely ignored.
. . . .
A criminal court will issue its final verdict on the death sentences on September 8, Ahram reported, but defendants will have the right to appeal.
The Society of the Muslim Brothers (Arabic: جماعة الإخوان المسلمين Jamāʻat al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood (الإخوان المسلمون al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn), is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928.
The organization gained supporters throughout the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups such as Hamas with its "model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work", and in 2012 sponsored the elected political party in Egypt after the January Revolution in 2011.
However, it faced periodic government crackdowns for alleged terrorist activities, and as of 2015 is considered a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Quran and the Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ... ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state".
For many years the movement was supported by Saudi Arabia, with which it shared some enemies and some points of doctrine.
Today, the primary state backers of the Muslim Brotherhood are Qatar and Turkey.
Trump has also expressed admiration for Erdogan's strongman rule in Turkey.
The group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965, and 2013 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered.
The Arab Spring brought it legalization and substantial political power at first, but as of 2013 it has suffered severe reversals.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was legalized in 2011 and won several elections, including the 2012 presidential election when its candidate Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first president to gain power through an election, though one year later, following massive demonstrations and unrest, he was overthrown by the military and placed under house arrest.
Egyptian court sentences 75 people to death over 2013 demonstration
An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 75 people to death for participating in a 2013 demonstration in support of then-President Mohamed Morsy, and referred their cases to the country's Grand Mufti for a final decision, according to state-run news agency Ahram Online.
The defendants, which included members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested and tried for participating in a sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo, to protest the removal of Morsy, a former Brotherhood leader and the country's first democratically elected president.
The month-long protest culminated in mass violence, when Egyptian security forces -- under the command of now-President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi -- attempted to clear thousands of demonstrators by using automatic weapons, armored personnel carriers and military bulldozers.
The government's actions were widely condemned by international rights organizations.
A 2014 report by Human Rights Watch found at least 817 people were killed in the violence.
The Egyptian government has since banned the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring it a terrorist organization.
And yet nobody would say Sisi's Egyptian government is entirely secular.
The 75 defendants sentenced to death on Saturday are accused of "attacking citizens, resisting authorities, destroying public property and buildings, and possessing firearms and Molotov cocktails," according to Ahram Online.
Among those sentenced are Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and prominent members Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagy and Wagdy Ghoneim, Ahram reported.
The government is prosecuting 739 people for participation in the protests.
Before the verdict can be finalized and death sentences carried out, Egypt's penal code requires the Grand Mufti, the country's leading Islamic authority, to issue a religious opinion on the matter, according to Ahram.
The Grand Mufti's opinion is non-binding but rarely ignored.
. . . .
A criminal court will issue its final verdict on the death sentences on September 8, Ahram reported, but defendants will have the right to appeal.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Gorsuch pays off
Supreme Court upholds Trump's travel ban
The congressional GOP refused to confirm O's last nominee to save the seat for the next president, hoping Trump would win.
He did, and he put up Gorsuch, whom they quickly confirmed.
And Trump got his Muslim ban, 4 conservatives plus Kennedy to 4 liberals.
It looks like the court avoided the question whether the US constitution guarantees foreigners seeking to travel here against religious or other forms of discrimination in immigration law or policy or in policy regarding visas, accepting the administration's claim that it was all about national security and inadequate vetting of applicants in the countries affected.
That is, they accepted it was not a Muslim ban per se.
How Trump’s immigration ban threatens health care, in 3 charts
But these dissenters addressed that issue, claiming the First Amendment does apply and prohibits the ban.
Sotomayor, Ginsburg Issue Strong Dissent of Travel Ban Decision
While the court’s opinion stated the president had “sufficient national security justification” to order the travel ban, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a scorching dissent calling attention to Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign road.
“The United States of America is a Nation built upon the promise of religious liberty,” they wrote.
"Our Founders honored that core promise by embedding the principle of religious neutrality in the First Amendment.
"The Court’s decision today fails to safeguard that fundamental principle.
"It leaves undisturbed a policy first advertised openly and unequivocally as a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States’ because the policy now masquerades behind a façade of national-security concerns.”
Rulings Are a Victory for G.O.P. Tactics on Gorsuch
The consequences of President Trump’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court — and the Republican blockade of President Obama’s nomination of Merrick B. Garland in 2016 for that seat — reverberated powerfully on Tuesday as the court’s conservative majority handed down major decisions on Mr. Trump’s travel ban and on abortion rights.
Social conservatives cheered the court’s ruling that a California law requiring “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide abortion information likely violates the First Amendment, their latest win to advance their anti-abortion cause since Mr. Trump has taken office.
Some conservatives also viewed the ruling as another opportunity for them to energize their base ahead of the November elections.
. . . .
For many social conservatives, the court’s support of their anti-abortion cause justifies their decision to vote for Mr. Trump in 2016, despite widespread misgivings.
For many liberals, the decisions underscored their worst fears about the audacious Republican tactics in 2016 to block President Obama’s more progressive nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Garland, following Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.
The Republican majority in the Senate refused to convene a hearing or a vote on Judge Garland’s nomination, insisting that the next president should fill the seat — a highly controversial move that some legal scholars called unprecedented.
The congressional GOP refused to confirm O's last nominee to save the seat for the next president, hoping Trump would win.
He did, and he put up Gorsuch, whom they quickly confirmed.
And Trump got his Muslim ban, 4 conservatives plus Kennedy to 4 liberals.
It looks like the court avoided the question whether the US constitution guarantees foreigners seeking to travel here against religious or other forms of discrimination in immigration law or policy or in policy regarding visas, accepting the administration's claim that it was all about national security and inadequate vetting of applicants in the countries affected.
That is, they accepted it was not a Muslim ban per se.
How Trump’s immigration ban threatens health care, in 3 charts
But these dissenters addressed that issue, claiming the First Amendment does apply and prohibits the ban.
Sotomayor, Ginsburg Issue Strong Dissent of Travel Ban Decision
While the court’s opinion stated the president had “sufficient national security justification” to order the travel ban, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a scorching dissent calling attention to Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign road.
“The United States of America is a Nation built upon the promise of religious liberty,” they wrote.
"Our Founders honored that core promise by embedding the principle of religious neutrality in the First Amendment.
"The Court’s decision today fails to safeguard that fundamental principle.
"It leaves undisturbed a policy first advertised openly and unequivocally as a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States’ because the policy now masquerades behind a façade of national-security concerns.”
Rulings Are a Victory for G.O.P. Tactics on Gorsuch
The consequences of President Trump’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court — and the Republican blockade of President Obama’s nomination of Merrick B. Garland in 2016 for that seat — reverberated powerfully on Tuesday as the court’s conservative majority handed down major decisions on Mr. Trump’s travel ban and on abortion rights.
Social conservatives cheered the court’s ruling that a California law requiring “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide abortion information likely violates the First Amendment, their latest win to advance their anti-abortion cause since Mr. Trump has taken office.
Some conservatives also viewed the ruling as another opportunity for them to energize their base ahead of the November elections.
. . . .
For many social conservatives, the court’s support of their anti-abortion cause justifies their decision to vote for Mr. Trump in 2016, despite widespread misgivings.
For many liberals, the decisions underscored their worst fears about the audacious Republican tactics in 2016 to block President Obama’s more progressive nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Garland, following Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.
The Republican majority in the Senate refused to convene a hearing or a vote on Judge Garland’s nomination, insisting that the next president should fill the seat — a highly controversial move that some legal scholars called unprecedented.
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Europe sinking into the stupid
Italy: Populists in power
For those who read French.
Bavaria's new rule uses the cross to stoke divisions
A good CNN piece on populist nationalism in Germany.
For those who read French.
Bavaria's new rule uses the cross to stoke divisions
A good CNN piece on populist nationalism in Germany.
Read it all.
But here is the first part.
It's easy to see when a politician is playing games, but it can be difficult to stop him -- even when he's violating the constitution and sowing divisions to win votes.
Most Germans reject the so-called "Kreuzpflicht," or crucifix mandate, but in Bavaria, where over 75% identify as Protestant or Roman Catholic, the new rule seems to be an attempt by the Christian Socialist Union, or CSU, to hold on to power in the October elections.
Populism today is all the rage, and the reason is easy to detect: It wins votes.
Bavaria is particularly vulnerable to the divisiveness of populism.
State Premier Markus Soder, of the rightist CSU, moved into the top job in Bavaria last March and within two weeks introduced the Kreuzpflicht in a transparent move to stem the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, the AfD, which runs on an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim platform.
The top religious authorities in Germany rejected the rule.
But Soder, who met with the Pope as the decree went into effect, has reason to be optimistic that his play will pay off.
It's easy to see when a politician is playing games, but it can be difficult to stop him -- even when he's violating the constitution and sowing divisions to win votes.
That's most transparent today in Germany, where the local government has ordered that every public building in the southern state of Bavaria hang a cross on a visible location near its entrance.
Most Germans reject the so-called "Kreuzpflicht," or crucifix mandate, but in Bavaria, where over 75% identify as Protestant or Roman Catholic, the new rule seems to be an attempt by the Christian Socialist Union, or CSU, to hold on to power in the October elections.
Populism today is all the rage, and the reason is easy to detect: It wins votes.
Bavaria is particularly vulnerable to the divisiveness of populism.
It is one of Germany's most conservative states, and it lies along a preferred route taken in recent years by more than a million migrants, many of them Muslim, who settled in Germany.
State Premier Markus Soder, of the rightist CSU, moved into the top job in Bavaria last March and within two weeks introduced the Kreuzpflicht in a transparent move to stem the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, the AfD, which runs on an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim platform.
The AfD has been eating into support for the CSU, which had its worst performance ever in last fall's election.
The rise of extremist parties erodes moderation even among centrists.
The rise of extremist parties erodes moderation even among centrists.
The right-of-center CSU, partner of Angela Merkel's CDU, is moving further to the right.
If that means violating the constitution's demand that the government remain neutral on religion, Soder has some wordplay to fight back.
The cross, he said, is not a religious symbol but a cultural one.
Christian leaders rolled their eyes.
The top religious authorities in Germany rejected the rule.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and president of the German Bishops' conference, said if Soder thinks the cross is not a religious symbol, then he doesn't understand it, accusing the premier of using it to foment, "division, unrest and animosity."
The head of Germany's Catholic organization, Thomas Sternberg, said the crucifix should not be used "for election purposes," and countless religious scholars and clerical leaders rejected the move as a patently political one.
But Soder, who met with the Pope as the decree went into effect, has reason to be optimistic that his play will pay off.
A national poll showed just 29% of Germans support his Kreuzpflicht.
But in Bavaria, approval has reached 56%. And among supporters of Soder's nemesis, the AfD, 77% liked the rule.
Oh, about AfD
12 years of Nazi dictatorship are a mere blot of bird droppings on a thousand years of successful and glorious German history, said a leader of Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland) at a recent party meeting.
Oh, about AfD
12 years of Nazi dictatorship are a mere blot of bird droppings on a thousand years of successful and glorious German history, said a leader of Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland) at a recent party meeting.
Not that he doesn't have a point.
Le co-dirigeant du parti allemand d'extrême droite AfD, Alexander Gauland, a estimé samedi qu'Adolf Hitler et les nazis n'avaient été qu'une "fiente d'oiseau" dans un millénaire allemand glorieux, selon des propos rapportés par la Deutsche Welle.
"Hitler et les nationaux-socialistes (le parti NSDAP du Führer, ndlr) ne sont qu'une fiente d'oiseau en 1.000 ans d'histoire allemande à succès", a affirmé le responsable politique qui est aussi le co-président du groupe parlementaire Alternative pour l'Allemagne (AfD).
"Oui nous reconnaissons notre responsabilité pour les 12 années" de la dictature nazie, a-t-il ajouté, également cité par l'agence dpa.
Le co-dirigeant du parti allemand d'extrême droite AfD, Alexander Gauland, a estimé samedi qu'Adolf Hitler et les nazis n'avaient été qu'une "fiente d'oiseau" dans un millénaire allemand glorieux, selon des propos rapportés par la Deutsche Welle.
"Hitler et les nationaux-socialistes (le parti NSDAP du Führer, ndlr) ne sont qu'une fiente d'oiseau en 1.000 ans d'histoire allemande à succès", a affirmé le responsable politique qui est aussi le co-président du groupe parlementaire Alternative pour l'Allemagne (AfD).
"Oui nous reconnaissons notre responsabilité pour les 12 années" de la dictature nazie, a-t-il ajouté, également cité par l'agence dpa.
"Nous avons une histoire glorieuse et celle-ci, chers amis, a duré plus longtemps que ces 12 fichues années", a-t-il jugé lors d'une réunion à Seebach, en Thuringe (est), de l'organisation des jeunes de l'AfD.
La secrétaire générale du parti conservateur CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, proche d'Angela Merkel, a promptement réagi sur Twitter: "50 millions de victimes de guerre, l'Holocauste et la guerre totale ne sont qu'une 'fiente d'oiseau' pour l'AfD et Gauland. Voilà ce qu'est ce parti derrière le masque civil".
. . . .
Première force d'opposition à la chambre des députés, l'AfD a fait une entrée fracassante au Bundestag, avec plus de 90 députés, et remis en cause le consensus mémoriel des Allemands sur leur passé nazi.
Née en 2013 d'une opposition à l'euro, le parti est devenu, à la faveur de la "crise" des réfugiés en 2015, un parti anti-migrants, anti-islam et anti-Merkel.
Il a notablement durci son discours, notamment contre les musulmans.
La secrétaire générale du parti conservateur CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, proche d'Angela Merkel, a promptement réagi sur Twitter: "50 millions de victimes de guerre, l'Holocauste et la guerre totale ne sont qu'une 'fiente d'oiseau' pour l'AfD et Gauland. Voilà ce qu'est ce parti derrière le masque civil".
. . . .
Première force d'opposition à la chambre des députés, l'AfD a fait une entrée fracassante au Bundestag, avec plus de 90 députés, et remis en cause le consensus mémoriel des Allemands sur leur passé nazi.
Née en 2013 d'une opposition à l'euro, le parti est devenu, à la faveur de la "crise" des réfugiés en 2015, un parti anti-migrants, anti-islam et anti-Merkel.
Il a notablement durci son discours, notamment contre les musulmans.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Some, at least, seem to oppose the Iranian republic's specifically Islamic character
Rouhani urges calm
Widespread and sometimes violent demonstrations that began days ago as peaceful protests against economic conditions are now, at least sometimes, aimed at a different target.
After four days of rare protests in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani tried to calm the nation on Sunday, saying that people had the right to protest and acknowledging public worries over the economy and corruption.
But local news reports said he also exhorted Iranians not resort to violence, after reports of protesters attacking banks and municipal buildings across the nation, including a local government building in Tehran.
Video shared on social media showed the police in Tehran firing water cannon to try to disperse demonstrators in Ferdowsi Square, Reuters reported. The footage could not be independently confirmed.
Two protesters were reported killed in recent days in the city of Dorud, and there have been reports of dozens arrested across Iran.
The unrest began as a protest over rising prices and other economic difficulties, and quickly grew into a nationwide outpouring of anger against the government, including over corruption.
. . . .
The unauthorized protests have challenged the authorities, with crowds turning revolutionary slogans against the government of the Islamic Republic, which took power after a revolution in 1979.
Protesters in Tehran and elsewhere have called for the resignation of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as witnesses have described crowds chanting “Death to the dictator” and “Clerics should get lost.”
Postings on social media showed what the posters said were demonstrators in Dorud, including bonfires in the street and graphic images of people with bloody wounds.
At least one of the videos was verified by BBC Persian.
Meanwhile, the president who endorses torture, the third degree, the murder of the families of terrorists, and police brutality warned Iranian authorities about human rights abuses - imagine Himmler pretending such concerns - and missed the evolution of the protests from pocket-book issues toward political radicalism.
President Trump, who as the protests spread had tweeted, “The world is watching!” doubled down on his criticism of the Iranian government on Sunday.
He posted on Twitter: “The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!”
Widespread and sometimes violent demonstrations that began days ago as peaceful protests against economic conditions are now, at least sometimes, aimed at a different target.
After four days of rare protests in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani tried to calm the nation on Sunday, saying that people had the right to protest and acknowledging public worries over the economy and corruption.
But local news reports said he also exhorted Iranians not resort to violence, after reports of protesters attacking banks and municipal buildings across the nation, including a local government building in Tehran.
Video shared on social media showed the police in Tehran firing water cannon to try to disperse demonstrators in Ferdowsi Square, Reuters reported. The footage could not be independently confirmed.
Two protesters were reported killed in recent days in the city of Dorud, and there have been reports of dozens arrested across Iran.
The unrest began as a protest over rising prices and other economic difficulties, and quickly grew into a nationwide outpouring of anger against the government, including over corruption.
. . . .
The unauthorized protests have challenged the authorities, with crowds turning revolutionary slogans against the government of the Islamic Republic, which took power after a revolution in 1979.
Protesters in Tehran and elsewhere have called for the resignation of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as witnesses have described crowds chanting “Death to the dictator” and “Clerics should get lost.”
Postings on social media showed what the posters said were demonstrators in Dorud, including bonfires in the street and graphic images of people with bloody wounds.
At least one of the videos was verified by BBC Persian.
Meanwhile, the president who endorses torture, the third degree, the murder of the families of terrorists, and police brutality warned Iranian authorities about human rights abuses - imagine Himmler pretending such concerns - and missed the evolution of the protests from pocket-book issues toward political radicalism.
President Trump, who as the protests spread had tweeted, “The world is watching!” doubled down on his criticism of the Iranian government on Sunday.
He posted on Twitter: “The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)