Karzai threatens to join Taliban

CBCNEWS…Afghan President Hamid Karzai twice threatened to quit politics and join the Taliban if the West continued to pressure him to enact reforms, legislators said Monday.

Karzai issued the threat during a private meeting with Afghan lawmakers on the weekend. People at the meeting said they thought Karzai’s comments were aimed at hardline members of parliament.

The comment is the latest in a string of outbursts that have drawn criticism from foreign backers. Last week, Karzai accused the UN and the international community of carrying out a “vast fraud” as part of a plot to deny him re-election.

White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs called the latest Karzai remarks troubling.

“On behalf of the American people, we’re frustrated with the remarks,” he told reporters on Monday.

The comments came to light as Karzai paid a visit to the Kandahar City area south of Kabul. It was his first visit to the volatile south in almost 15 months.

Karzai criticized for violence

The Afghan president toured one community where dozens of residents died in an explosion several weeks ago. Local residents said they lived in constant fear and sharply criticized him for not doing enough to stop the violence.

Later, community leaders told Karzai they were worried about NATO’s planned spring offensive, when troops are expected to launch the largest operation in the eight-year-old war against the Taliban.

But Karzai told the local leaders there wouldn’t be an offensive.

“Our partners are here to help, but we run this country as Afghans,” Karzai said.

A U.S. general who was with Karzai at the meeting remained silent.

NATO forces are under intense pressure to minimize civilian casualties, because the deaths of innocents undermine Karzai’s precarious hold on power and boost support for the insurgency.

On Monday, NATO confirmed that international soldiers were responsible for the deaths of five civilians in February, including three women.

NATO also announced Monday that its soldiers killed 10 militants in an early morning raid on a compound near the Pakistani border. No civilians were harmed, the military organization said.

Two police authorities killed, two injured in suicide bomb attacks in Russia’s North Caucasus

RIA Novosti… Two police officers were killed and another two injured in a series of two explosions, at least one of them caused by a suicide bomber, in Russia’s volatile southern province of Ingushetia, local police said on Monday.

It quoted an Ingush police spokesman as saying that the suicide bomber set off an explosive device when he was stopped by security guards at the gates of a police station in the town of Karabulak. A police source said the second blast occurred just minutes after the first, no one was killed or injured.

“He [the suicide bomber] arrived in a car and it was presumed the car was mined,” local police said. “All security measures were taken and as a result, the police’s fears were confirmed when the car exploded.”

Last week two deadly blasts occurred in two Moscow subway stations claiming some 40 lives and injuring dozens more. The attackers struck the Lubyanka and Park Kultury stations about 40 minutes apart during the morning rush hour.

Chechen militant leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the metro attacks, saying in a video message they were revenge for a special operation carried out by federal security forces on February 11, 2010, when 18 militants and four civilians were killed in Ingushetia. He threatened further attacks.

Two days after the Moscow subway blasts another two explosions occurred in the town of Kizlyar, in Dagestan near the border with Chechnya, killing12 people and leaving 29 others injured.

The Russian counter-terrorism committee said the organizers of the recent terrorist attacks in Moscow and Kizlyar and some of the suicide bombers have been identified.

President Dmitry Medvedev said the bombings were all links in the same chain, while Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said a single terrorist group carried out the attacks.

Russia has been fighting militants in the North Caucasus for almost two decades, including two brutal wars against separatists in Chechnya.

MOSCOW, April 5 (RIA Novosti)

Muslims Are Content Only With Victory; No Matter How it Was Obtained

Canadafreepress… In typical fashion; sneaky underhanded infiltration, then slow but steady rebellion against established authority, the always dangerous and always deceitful followers of Allah, are causing trouble once again in America, the country they love to hate.

In an American Vision article from posted by Gary DeMar on March 31, 2010 titled, “Muslim Students Want to Take Over Christian College, it was made known that these ever-complaining, never satisfied, ready to move in and try to take over where they’re not wanted; not welcomed because of their nasty habits and traits, these bad tempered malcontents were offended by seeing the words, “in the year of Our Lord” on their diplomas and they want them removed.

Ignorance and bad manners are surely at play here; well mannered guests do not make public displays or demands for changes in rock-bedded traditions that have years of standing.  Trinity University has been in existence for close to a century and one half and is a secular school belying its name that suggests perhaps a connection with a holy Trinity.

In this case the Trinity comes from the merging of three educational facilities that were facing grave financial difficulties following our Civil War and in similar fashion to our own national motto, ‘E pluribus unum’ – “out of many, one”; Trinity chose ‘E tribus unum’ – “from three, one” established in 1869.  Its secular status is the most probable attraction for the Muslims to come to the school.  Its small size, approximately 2,500 student body may have been another incentive.  Muslims prefer odds to be in their favor, as smaller campuses are easier to infiltrate and to practice ‘divide and conquer tactics.’
According to Gary DeMar, this rebellion against authority at Trinity began when a Muslim student, ironically not of Middle Eastern extraction, but from nearby Mexico and a convert to Muslim took exception after seeing the “our Lord” inscription while at the University bookstore.

As DeMar stated, “Muslims have been attacking Christianity since the inception of their religion. They’ve spotted a weakness in our system, the attempt to be diverse at any cost, even if it costs us the one thing that made this nation great—its Christian foundation.”  He goes on to explain, “Muslims understand this; many Christians don’t. Muslims call for diversity as a wedge to get in the door, open it wide enough for others follow behind, then once in pool their collective energies and force Christians out.”

So in typical American fashion, Trinity University accepted these Muslim student applicants for admission to their school unquestioningly and in good faith; those high ideals however, don’t apply equally in the reverse direction.  And again in typical Muslim fashion they seized upon the opportunity to become troublesome and disruptive in early and preliminary steps for eventual complete takeover and rule.

We in this country have witnessed such conduct before in what I consider repulsive and antagonistic behavior with the same goals in mind.  It also manifests itself in other arenas where the ultimate objectives are not as clear but it is unquestionable that they are not of a friendly nature.  Fort Hood is one example of this sort of treatment towards an American host where U. S. Army Major Malik Nidal Hasan, of Muslim faith, openly killed 13 American citizens.  The investigation is ongoing at this time.

Perhaps the Muslims do not need a reason to be so vicious and extermination-minded; just accomplishing the elimination of Christians is sufficient to placate their warped minds.  Their holy book calls for extermination of “infidels” and to them, all Christians are considered to be of that characterization.  So we should forever be cautious and on the alert for abnormal behavior patterns emanating from Islam/Muslims.

I could be very suspicious of, yet trust, an American Muslim; but I would be very suspicious of and NEVER trust a Muslim American.  The former is doing his inbred religious obligation of hating the United States, but the latter is nothing more than a treasonous traitor who has betrayed his country for selfishness.

Death penalty in India ‘honour killings’ case

BBCNEWS… Five men have been sentenced to death and one jailed for life over the 2007 murder of a couple who married against the wishes of village elders.

The court in the northern state of Haryana last week convicted the men of the murders of Manoj and Babli, who were killed a month after they eloped.

Elders said they violated local customs by marrying within the same sub-caste.

Observers say this may be the first time an Indian court has awarded such a penalty over an “honour killing” case.

The young couple were kidnapped while they were travelling on a bus in Haryana in 2007. Their bodies were discovered later.

Those sentenced to death are all relatives of the girl, Babli, and include her brother, two uncles and two cousins, Indian media reports say.

The head of the village council in Haryana’s Kaithal district, which ruled against the couple’s marriage, was given life imprisonment. A driver found to have helped abduct the couple was given a seven-year prison term.

The village council said that by local tradition people within the same sub-caste are considered to be siblings.

The case was brought by the family of Manoj, Babli’s husband. Unconfirmed media reports say that the couple had approached the police with their fears shortly before they were kidnapped and killed.

Campaigners hailed the verdict as a blow against “honour killings”, which are quite common in parts of northern India.

Correspondents say such killings have often not been reported or widely discussed in the past because families usually accept the verdicts.

Those found guilty in the case have the right to appeal. Death sentences in India are rarely handed down and even more rarely carried out.

Matt Gurney: Starve the hungry; feed the ethnically enlightened

National Post…The topic of campus racism has been much on my mind lately, ever since the latest eye-roller from Queen’s University. I’ve given Queen’s a rough time before, but I swear it’s not personal. I have nothing against the school, no grudge or axe to grind. But this is the third time in the last eighteen months that I’ve found myself writing about some politically correct insanity there.

The first was about the case of a female cabaret dancer being told she was oppressing women after appearing, dressed appropriately for the part, at a campus event. The next told the story of a young woman at an on-campus Halloween party being thrown out of the event because her feathered headdress was insulting to natives. The slutty nun holding a Pope on a dog’s leash and the priest with the enormous erection, however, were completely acceptable costumes.

The newest one takes the proverbial cake. Queen’s Alma Mater Society (AMS) last week cancelled a food-bank fundraiser that was going to include “sumo wrestler suits.” These rubber costumes turn even the slimmest, fittest wearer into a clumsy, waddling laughing stock — precisely the sort of thing that makes for good, harmless entertainment at fundraisers. Not so fast, says the AMS. Those suits are racist! Continue Reading →

Muslims try to pray in Spanish cathedral

FOX NEWS… MADRID (AP) — A group of Muslims tried to pray inside a Roman Catholic cathedral that was originally a mosque and then scuffled with security guards and police who tried to stop them, a Spanish official said Friday.

Two of the tourists were arrested after the incident Wednesday night in the southern city of Cordoba and a police officer and a cathedral security guard were slightly injured, National Police spokeswoman Rosa Ortiz told The Associated Press.

The Great Mosque of Cordoba was built after the Moorish invasion of Spain in the 8th century. Cordoba is known as the City of Three Cultures because Muslims, Jews and Christians lived there in harmony during medieval times.

The mosque was transformed into a cathedral in 1236 when King Ferdinand III captured the city from the Moors. Since then, except for rare exceptions, Muslim prayer rites have been forbidden inside.

The building still retains exquisite red and white arches and gleaming marble columns from the original mosque. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984, and is one of Spain’s most popular tourist sites.

Ortiz said a group of 120 Muslim tourists from Austria entered the mosque Wednesday evening and a handful of them — six or seven, she said — started to pray. Security guards told them to stop, but the small group insisted and argued with the guards, so National Police were summoned. 

Two of the people praying insisted even then, and got into a shoving match with officers, after which they were arrested for disobeying and threatening law enforcement officers, Ortiz said. 

She declined to name them saying only they were men aged 23 and 19. The detainees were to appear before a judge in Cordoba on Friday. Ortiz said had never heard of an incident like this before. 

The bishop’s office in Cordoba said the larger group had acted in a coordinated and aggressive fashion, but Ortiz downplayed that idea. 

Mansur Escudero, a Spanish Muslim leader, said he has been pressing the Catholic church for years to let Muslims pray in the mosque, but to no end. 

Over the past few decades exceptions were made, at the request of King Juan Carlos, and members of the Saudi royal family were allowed to pray in the mosque, Escudero, who is president of the Islamic Commission of Spain, told the newspaper El Mundo. 

Spain has a Muslim community of about 1 million, out of a total population of 45 million. 

The building’s official title is the “Mezquita Catedral de Cordoba” — the mosque cathedral. Escudero said the name should be changed to ex-mosque cathedral. 

“Or just cathedral. If it is not a mosque, they should not call it a mosque,” he was quoted as saying.

Russia: Dozens killed in Moscow subway blasts

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Moscow (CNN) — Explosions rocked a pair of central Moscow subway stations during morning rush hour Monday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 10 others, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said.

The first blast occurred about 8 a.m. at Lubyanka subway station. That explosion killed 14 people aboard the train and 11 on the platform.

The Lubyanka station is near the Kremlin and the nation’s intelligence service, the Federal Security Bureau.

Another blast happened about 30 minutes later at Park Kultury station, on the same train line. The Emergency Situations Ministry reported 12 dead in the second explosion. Russian TV said the blast killed 15 people.

Saudis fund Balkan Muslims spreading hate of the West

TIMESONLINE… SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West and recruit fighters for jihad in Afghanistan.

According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the Balkans. Strict Wahhabi and Salafi factions funded by Saudi organisations are clashing with traditionally moderate local Muslim communities.

Fundamentalists have financed the construction of scores of mosques and community centres as well as handing some followers up to £225 a month. They are expected not only to grow beards but also to persuade their wives to wear the niqab, or face veil, a custom virtually unknown in the liberal Islamic tradition of the Balkans.

Government sources in traditionally secular Macedonia (official title the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), said they were monitoring up to 50 Al-Qaeda volunteers recruited to fight in Afghanistan.

Classified documents seen by The Sunday Times reveal that Macedonian officials are also investigating a number of Islamic charities, some in Saudi Arabia, which are active throughout the Balkans and are suspected of spreading extremism and laundering money for terrorist organisations. Continue Reading →

Somalia rebels intensify tomb raiding

 TIMES LIVE… Somalia’s hardline rebels destroyed  more tombs of Sufi clerics as they intensified a drive to stop what they term “grave worshipping” by moderate Islamists.

On Tuesday, heavily-armed Shebab militia exhumed and took away the remains of a Sufi cleric buried in Mogadishu 30 years ago.

“The raids are continuing for the third day and we have excavated around seven graves so far,” said Sheik Said Karatay, the Shebab official in charge of the tomb raids.

“We take their remains and re-bury them in unidentified places in order to avoid them being recognised by people who continue worshiping them,” he told reporters in Mogadishu.

“The operations will go on until we eradicate the culture of worshiping graves.”

Witnesses said the Shebab militia chanted “God is great” as they dug up the and destroyed the graves using hammers and hoes.

Sufism, which is dominant in Somalia, emphasises the mystical dimension of Islam and includes practices considered as idolatry and innovations in the conservative Wahhabi current of Islam adopted by the Shebab.

The Shebab, who control much of the lawless Horn of Africa country, have set up a unit to destroy all tombs respected by Sufi Muslims.

Islamophobia is a threat to democracy

Muslims and thier allies respond

Those poor misunderstood Muslims

 GAURDIAN NEWS… We are concerned by the rise of Islamophobia, the negative coverage of Muslims in the media, the violent street mobilisations of extreme rightwing organisations like the English Defence League, and the rising electoral support for the British National party (The battle for Barking, Weekend, 13 March). Following Channel 4’s recent inflammatory documentary, Britain’s Islamic Republic, which saw concentrated attacks on the East London Mosque, the English Defence League marched through central London with placards including the demand “Close the East London Mosque now”.

The East End of London is not new to having its communities attacked by fascists and the media. The 1930s saw the Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts attempted to march into the Jewish community in the area. We cannot allow this terrible history to repeat itself. Further, the documentary, and articles since, have attacked the participation in politics by the Muslim community. We cannot stand by and watch this continue without remark or action.

In the runup to the general election, all parts of the population should be actively encouraged to exercise their votes. That is democracy. We welcome the work of organisations who work to this end. We call for solidarity and support for those organisations that work to encourage political participation from all sections of society, including Muslims, and condemn those who seek to undermine it. Continue Reading →

Israeli tanks ‘enter Gaza’ after deadly clashes

BBCNEWS… Israeli tanks are reported to have advanced into the Gaza Strip following clashes with Palestinians in which two Israeli soldiers died.

Witnesses in Gaza said tanks and bulldozers were moving towards the southern town of Khan Younis.

They also said there had been firing from the Israeli navy along the Gaza coastline.

It is the first time Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza since Israel’s 22-day offensive there more than a year ago.

Reports say at least two Palestinians have also been killed.

Israel says the fighting started when its troops crossed into Gaza after spotting militants planting explosives along the border.

Reports from inside Gaza say the militants then tried to capture an Israeli soldier.

Retaliation Continue Reading →

Britain’s Islamic Republic. Dispatches report in 5 parts

UN rights body narrowly passes Islamophobia resolution

GLOBALNEWS… GENEVA – The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution condemning Islamophobic behaviour, including Switzerland’s minaret building ban, despite some states’ major reservations.

The resolution, which was criticized by the United States as “an instrument of division”, “strongly condemns . . . the ban on the construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures.”

In a November referendum Swiss citizens voted to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew criticisms worldwide.

Such measures “are manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religions,” said the resolution.

Such acts would “fuel discrimination, extremism and misperception leading to polarization and fragmentation with dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences,” it charged.

Some 20 countries voted in favour of the resolution entitled “combating defamation of religions”, 17 voted against and eight abstained.

The resolution also “expresses deep concern . . . that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.” Continue Reading →

Hamas gunmen in deadly clash with Israeli troops entering Gaza

TELEGRAPH…Hamas gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops who crossed into Gaza on Friday, killing two as tensions escalated following the most violent week since Israel’s invasion of the coast enclave 14 months ago.

The clashes came as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, signalled for the first time since receiving a dressing down from US President Barack Obama on Tuesday that he would reject American demands to halt Jewish construction in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli army said two soldiers were killed and two were wounded in an exchange of fire near the Palestinian town of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. There were unconfirmed reports that two Hamas fighters were also killed.

After months of relative tranquillity following the end of Israel’s military offensive in January last year, there has been an upsurge in rocket attacks from Gaza over recent days, one of which killed a Thai immigrant working in a greenhouse north of the enclave last week.

In a development that will disturb Israel, Hamas admitted its forces were involved in yesterday’s clash. Responsibility for the rocket attacks of the past week has been claimed by Islamist groups largely opposed to Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007.

Shortly before Mr Netanyahu convened a secret session of his inner cabinet, a statement was released from the prime minister’s office indicating that Israel would give no ground on the settlement issue, which has caused the greatest chasm in its relations with the United States for many years.

“The prime minister’s position is that there is no change in Israel’s policy on Jerusalem that has been pursued by all governments of Israel for the past 42 years,” the statement read.

Enraged by an Israeli decision to build 1,600 Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War but seen by Palestinians as their future capital, Mr Obama called on Mr Netanyahu to reverse the move and make a series of confidence building gestures to restart peace talks.

While defying Mr Obama’s key demand, a spokesman for the prime minister said that he was prepared to take “additional steps to advance peace talks”.

But a powerful pro-settlement lobby group within the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, urged Mr Netanyahu not to go even that far.

An unwilling Afghan bride’s defiance leads to death

 Frashta didn’t want to marry her cousin, and she fled. In a land where tradition and family honor are everything, that sealed her doom.

Dal gazes at the unmarked grave of his niece outside Charikar, Afghanistan. "She kept saying, 'I can't marry my cousin. If my mother gives me away to anyone else, I will marry him,' " he said.

 LA TIMES… Reporting from Charikar, Afghanistan – A child of the provinces can never run far. She should have known this. Frashta, though, was headstrong. Two shots from a hunting rifle in the night, then they rolled her in cloth and tried to hide her, but some things cannot be hidden. She was found in the yard.

“A bad woman,” said the cop.

“So beautiful that no words could describe her face,” said her uncle.

No one had a photograph; a picture wouldn’t tell the story of who she was anyway. A young bride who betrayed her marriage for another man. Or a woman who spent her short life peering through the mesh of a burka until one day she defied family and tradition and ran away from home after refusing to wed her cousin. In this land, both are dark, dark sins.

What would end her life began when she was a few months old. Word came that her father, a mujahid, had been killed in a battle with Soviet troops in the late 1980s. As is custom, Frashta’s mother became the second wife of her husband’s brother, Abdul. To ensure clan harmony, a match was quickly arranged for Frashta: When the girl came of age she would marry Abdul’s son, her cousin. Continue Reading →