In the news - muslims......

[nChrist]

This teddy bear incident is incredibly juvenile and ridiculous. Islam DEMANDS respect and tolerance, yet they don't give anyone else any at all. If Christians had a mindset anywhere close to that of Islam, Islam wouldn't be here. Further, we wouldn't have fed and otherwise kept a large percentage of their population alive for so many years. We still are, even though there isn't minimum respect given in return.

One can easily think back to countless incidents of ZERO respect or tolerance. Let's look at Saudi Arabia as an example. While we were there to protect them from the barbaric hordes of Saddam, how much respect and tolerance was shown to our religion while we were saving their very lives? To make matters more ironic, we were saving them from the barbaric hands of people from their own religion.

Isn't there a last question of how much respect and tolerance is shown by members of Islam to other members of Islam? How about NONE - ZERO? How much reason is required for a Muslim to kill innocent Muslim women and children with suicide bombs? Is a whim or making a political statement sufficient? How about NO REASON or it was simply something to do that day? It's reason enough for them to kill each other when we slow down or stop or humanitarian support to keep them alive, so does anyone have their respect or tolerance? The answer is NONE - NOT even their own! Respect and tolerance are ONLY a political necessity for the given circumstances of hours, days, or however long that particular political necessity lasts. Everyone goes back to being cannon fodder when the need is over.

Let's ask one more question: what entity in the world treats Muslims the absolute WORST? THE ANSWER IS OTHER MUSLIMS!

[Soldier4Christ]

"MODERN" DUBAI SAYS MALE VICTIMS OF MALE RAPE ARE HOMOSEXUALS

The below horrific story of the kidnapping and violent rape of a young French man, a longtime resident of Dubai, is lengthy and concise so I will keep my comments to a minimum.

Aside from the crimes committed against this man what screams out from this article is both the refusal of Dubai to recognize homosexuality and to demonize it not only allows them to use it against a victim as in :

"They immediately reported the crime, going in person to the local police station. But Alex says the police doctor who examined him that night seemed intent on proving there was no rape, just a consensual sexual act between three men and a 15 year-old gay boy. "

but also as an Islamic means to inflict greater punishment on an innocent victim:

"Homosexuality is against the law in the UAE, where anyone found guilty of sodomy faces years in jail.... the French consul, was so worried a case was being built against Alex as an illegal homosexual he advised the boy and his mother to flee Dubai before he was arrested. "

Thus a male victim of male rape is deemed a homosexual and punished as such.

What perhaps is even more telling is the rationalizations and excuses, made by so called "moderate muslim" leaders living in Western societies, of this heinous crime and its Islamic punishment.

"Arab-American psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Hamden works in the Dubai courts and says it's important for foreigners to remember that while everything looks modern there, it is a young, developing city.

"It's no different than were we in America were a hundred years ago, right after or during the end of the Victorian era," said Hamden. "Even though we are seeing globalization, in the city that has defined globalization, were still seeing a value system that still looks like new Victorians."

Equating this travesty of justice to the Victorian period of Britain and early 20th century United States is so ludicrous no comments are needed. Such blatant lies are nothing more than fabrications used to mitigate the barbaric Islamic ideology.

To see Dubai as a thriving globalized skyscraper city is seeing nothing more than a facade that hides the culture and mores of a punitive pre-medieval religion and political ideology that seeks to demonize all non muslims and whose goal is to create a Global Caliphate.  Dubai may want to portray itself as a "modern country" but freedoms in Dubai, like most Islamic countries, are strangled by the Religion of Peace.

[Soldier4Christ]

French Teen's Rape Case Exposes Dubai's Dark Side
Alleged Victim Tells His Story of Violent Sex Crime in Modern Arab Metropolis

Dubai -- with its world famous luxury hotels and what will soon be the world's tallest building -- is the Arab world's most modern oasis. But beyond the sandy beaches and tourist attractions, the western dress and the bustling buildings, Dubai is struggling to modernize one aspect of its conservative Muslim culture: the taboos and treatment of sexual violence.

16-year-old French-Swiss Alexandre Robert and his mother Veronique were the perfect example of Dubai's cosmopolitan makeup. Alex was living in Dubai when he says he was gang raped at knifepoint, beginning an ordeal that has shed light on how Dubai's justice system treats victims of violent sex crimes.

What happened to Alex has thrown a worldwide spotlight on the dark side of a city where a victim can be treated as a criminal, where homosexuality is outlawed and where AIDS is buried under a layer of shame.

"Homosexuality is taboo, rape is taboo, and AIDS is taboo," said Veronique Robert.

Saturday July 14th of this year was just another summer day in paradise. Then 15-year-old Alex spent the day at the beach with his friend. When it was time to go home, a local teenager they barely knew offered to give them a lift when they couldn't find a cab. He called two older friends who had a car.

Alex and his friend accepted the ride and got in the car. Alex says the man behind the wheel drove past the turnoff to his house, beyond Dubai's landmark Mall of the Emirates, and into a desolate stretch of desert.

"So we keep driving and I see him taking an exit to go in the desert and I told him 'Where are you going?' And this is where I started to think and realize that something was wrong, you know, and they told me to shut up," Alex recalled.

First Alex says the driver secured the child locks on the doors, trapping the boys inside. Then they stopped along a desert road on the outskirts of the city.

"They asked my friend to get out of the car, he said no, so they pulled him out with violence and they started hitting, hitting him and they hit me. And after that -- I'm sorry…" Alex said, unable to continue.

"Alex started to scream," his friend told ABC News, adding that Alex tried to grab his hand. The friend spoke about the attack on the condition that his name be kept secret because he still lives in Dubai and fears retaliation.

"I was very afraid," said the friend. "I thought they wanted to kill me, me and Alex. So it was like the last minute of my life I was living."

Desperate for help, Alex says he tried to call 999 -- Dubai's version of 911 -- on his cell phone.

The local teen who brought them to the car overheard the police respond to the call, Alex says, and grabbed for the phone.

"I had the phone in my hands, I was screaming and shouting for help," said Alex. "He took my phone and he was hitting me. I started screaming and crying."

'I'm Gonna Kill You'

"He was saying, 'I'm gonna kill you, your mother, father. I know where you live. Don't do that any more,'" recalled his friend.

"He said to me right in the eyes, right in the eyes that if I, if I speak about this one day, he knows where I live, he'll go to my house, he'll burn my house, he'll kill my parents, he'll f*** them and he'll burn them," Alex said. "And it was hard."

"They will not touch us. Don't worry about that, it's done," said Veronique. "They will pay for that, they will pay for that."

As dusk settled in the desert, the friend says he was forced to walk behind a sand dune, where he couldn't see or hear anything. That's when Alex says the 36-year-old driver threatened his life.

"He took out a pool stick and a hunting knife. He told me that he wanted to f*** me and I told him no way, I told him this, you can forget about it. I won't let you touch me, I won't let you. And after this, I had no choice."

When he finished, the teenager who had first offered them the ride came back to the car, Alex says. "I told them, 'Listen, if you're going to kill us, just let me use my phone, just give me back my phone and let me, let me call my family, I won't tell them where I am, I'll talk in English, I won't tell them what's happening, but just…if you're going to kill me, just let me call them, tell them that I love them or something, just let me do this," said Alex." And they keep telling us to shut up."

In the end their salvation may have turned on something as simple as sand. Alex says the attackers' car got stuck and they had to call a relative, who drove to the scene.

"I got my head up and I saw this plate number…I still remember it today," said Alex. "And I think this, this plate saved my life."

'Homosexuality Is An Illegal Act'

Instead of killing them, Alex says their attackers brought them to one of Dubai's luxurious hotels, where they were thrown out of the car.

"They pushed us like, like we were nothing, you know, like if we were bags," he said.

Alex says he felt dizzy and passed out. He had survived a violent rape that could happen anywhere in the world, but the legal nightmare ahead would turn out to be a second tragedy, he says.

After the attackers left them on the curb Alex and his friend went to the first safe place they could think of. They took a taxi to a local shopping mall, hid in the bathroom, and called for help.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

They immediately reported the crime, going in person to the local police station. But Alex says the police doctor who examined him that night seemed intent on proving there was no rape, just a consensual sexual act between three men and a 15 year-old gay boy.

"He told me, admit it, you are a homosexual and everything," said Alex. "I got really angry, I told him, 'Listen, I just got raped by three guys.'"

And perhaps more damaging to Alex's case, the doctor asserts the examination "showed a history" of homosexual activity, according to the doctor's report obtained by ABC News and translated from the original Arabic.

"In their minds if I admit that I am a homosexual, the crime would be over, everything would be over," Alex believed.

Moreover, Veronique Robert says police and local authorities failed to tell Alex that one of the men was HIV positive for weeks after they learned of it.

Alex has so far tested negative for the AIDS virus. However, he can't know for sure until January, since the virus needs six months for definitive test results.

"I have to wait until January, and in January I'll know, so I cross fingers and I hope," he said.

Veronique Robert says the Dubai authorities twice assured there was no threat of sexually transmitted disease, even though there was a report identifying one of the attackers as being HIV positive in government files for years.

"I'm so furious, I cannot tell you how I'm furious, you know, and I said why they lie, they just play with the life of Alex," said Veronique Robert.

The Case Against Alex

Homosexuality is against the law in the UAE, where anyone found guilty of sodomy faces years in jail.

The Dubai government denies that the doctor accused Alex of being gay or that he was ever at risk of being charged with homosexuality. But Robert Jongeryck, the French consul, was so worried a case was being built against Alex as an illegal homosexual he advised the boy and his mother to flee Dubai before he was arrested.

"I think that if we had not reacted and asked the authorities to do something, probably Alexandre would have been charged," said Jongeryck.

A Victorian Value System?

Arab-American psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Hamden works in the Dubai courts and says it's important for foreigners to remember that while everything looks modern there, it is a young, developing city.

"It's no different than were we in America were a hundred years ago, right after or during the end of the Victorian era," said Hamden. "Even though we are seeing globalization, in the city that has defined globalization, were still seeing a value system that still looks like new Victorians."

Dr. Habib al-Mulla, an attorney and government spokesman, defends the social conservatism that makes homosexuality a crime in Dubai.

"Every country and every culture has…its own values, its own morals, and the laws and legislations reflect the way every society looks at those morals," Al-Mulla said.

"This is a conservative society. Homosexuality, conducted homosexuality is an illegal act. And we are not ashamed of that."

"So, when you invite people to come [to Dubai], are you inviting everyone but homosexuals?" ABC News' Jim Avila asked the spokesman.

"Everyone is more than welcomed to come," said al-Mulla. "However, no one is welcome to commit any illegal activity."

In an environment where homosexuality is a crime, can a victim of "forcible homosexuality," as the law calls it, be treated fairly under the law?

The trial is big news in Dubai. The two adult defendants, both of whom face the death penalty, have denied all charges. Veronique Robert says she was in juvenile court -- closed to the press -- when the local boy who first led Alex and his friend into the car pled guilty to charges of kidnapping, threatening, and rape. Because he is a minor he does not face execution.

"I'm sure the court will deal with this [verdict] in a fair and reasonable manner," said government spokesman Al-Mulla, leaving open the possibility that what happened to Alex would lead to some reforms in the handling of rape cases.

"We will look into the system, we'll see if there was anything deficient. And if we believe that there is any room for…improvement in that system of course we'll do that."

Armed with the promise that he would not be prosecuted, Alex returned to Dubai to testify against his alleged attackers, a moment he will never forget.

"You could read it in their eyes, they were saying like, if we go out, if we find you, my God, poor kid, run for your life, run for your life, if we get you, you're dead," he said.

As she waits for a verdict, Veronique Robert relentlessly warns anyone who will listen not to go to Dubai expecting a world-class justice system. She has even created a Web site called www.boycottdubai.com designed to hit the emirate where it hurts -- in the carefully cultivated image put forth to tourists and visitors.

"A part of me is really sad," she said. "I was loving Dubai, I was loving to come here to visit my child, [to] go to the beach with Alex…seven years of my life…it's gone. I think I will not come here…I will never see Dubai with the same eyes."

[Soldier4Christ]

France stunned by rioters’ savagery

IN retrospect, it was not a good idea to have left his pistol at home. Called to the scene of a traffic accident in the Paris suburbs last Sunday, Jean-François Illy, a regional police chief, came face to face with a mob of immigrant youths armed with baseball bats, iron bars and shotguns.

What happened next has sickened the nation. As Illy tried to reassure the gang that there would be an investigation into the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike had just collided with a police car, he heard a voice shouting: “Somebody must pay for this. Some pigs must die tonight!”

The 43-year-old commissaire realised it was time to leave, but that was not possible: they set his car ablaze. He stood as the mob closed in on him, parrying the first few baseball bat blows with his arms. An iron bar in the face knocked him down.

“I tried to roll myself into a ball on the ground,” said Illy from his hospital bed. He was breathing with difficulty because several of his ribs had been broken and one had punctured his lung.

His bruised and bloodied face signalled a worrying new level of barbarity in the mainly Muslim banlieues, where organised gangs of rioters used guns against police in a two-day rampage of looting and burning last week.

Not far from where Illy was lying was a policeman who lost his right eye after being hit by pellets from a shotgun. Another policeman displayed a hole the size of a 10p coin in his shoulder where a bullet had passed through his body armour.

Altogether 130 policemen were injured, dozens by shotgun pellets and shells packed with nails that were fired from a homemade bazooka. It prompted talk of urban “guerrilla warfare” being waged on French streets against the forces of law and order.

By the end of the week an extraordinarily heavy police presence in Villiers-le-Bel, where most of the rioting took place, appeared to have halted the violence: on top of public transport strikes and student protests against his reform plans, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, could not afford a repeat of 2005, when a similar incident involving the deaths of two youths provoked the worst French urban unrest in four decades.

Things were so tense in the suburbs, however, that the riots could easily erupt again with the prospect of deaths on either side setting off a much greater explosion and, conceivably, the deployment of the army to keep peace.

“Given the weapons being used, it was lucky that nobody was killed,” said a policeman. Nearby were the charred remains of the local constabulary. The nursery school was burnt down. So was the library.

Rioting two years ago was widely regarded as a protest against poor housing, racial discrimination and unemployment of up to 40% in the grim housing estates surrounding most big French cities.

But “Sarko” dismissed suggestions that nothing had been done to improve the situation, referring to the “Marshall plan” for the banlieues being drawn up by Fadela Amara, his urban development minister.

At the same time he argued that, far from reflecting difficult living conditions, the violence was a result of the “thugocracy” of the suburbs, where drug-trafficking criminals held sway.

“We shouldn’t try to excuse the inexcusable,” said the president in a television address to an anxious nation on Thursday, ridiculing the left’s vision of rioters as “victims of social injustice”. He pledged that those who fired at police would be tracked down, one by one, and tried on charges of attempted murder.

Lawlessness in the suburbs is an awkward issue for Sarkozy because he had promised to deal with it as interior minister, when he introduced “zero tolerance” policing, only to be accused of aggravating the problem by referring to trouble-makers as “thugs” and “scum”. Despite some successes, many of the suburban ghettoes remain a law unto their own and, like parts of New York in the bad old days, policemen do not like to set foot there.

“It felt like they were out to kill us,” said one of the officers in Villiers-le-Bel last week. “We knew that there were weapons in the suburbs, but they have never been turned against us like that. The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Sarkozy has ordered a full judicial inquiry into the teenagers’ deaths, even though all the evidence seems to support the police version that the boys were thrown from their unlicensed motorcycle when it accidentally collided with a patrol car. Friends and relatives of the victims dismiss the official account of the incident as fantasy.

As for Illy, he says he is not feeling vengeful but has identified one of his attackers from police photographs. He is certain to be able to pinpoint the rest. “Fortunately,” he said, “I’ve got a very good memory.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Teacher pardoned in teddy bear insult 
Was jailed for allowing students to name class toy Muhammad

A British teacher jailed for insulting Islam after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad was released Monday when Sudan's president pardoned her, a British Embassy spokesman said.

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, said she did not intend to offend anyone and had great respect for Islam.

"She is in British Embassy custody and is with the deputy British ambassador," embassy spokesman Omar Daair said. He would not give her exact location or say when she would leave Sudan.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, seen as a reference to Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Her time in jail since her arrest Nov. 25 counted toward the sentence.

The teacher's conviction under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons and many Muslims worldwide. It also inflamed passions among many Sudanese, some of whom called for her execution.

Gibbons escaped harsher punishment that could have included up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.

Earlier Monday, President Omar al-Bashir pardoned Gibbons after two British Muslim politicians from the House of Lords met with him to plead for her release.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, who met with al-Bashir along with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, said the case was an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and stressed that Britain respected Islam.

In a written statement released by the presidential palace and read by Warsi to reporters Monday, Gibbons said she was sorry if she caused any "distress."

"I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone," Gibbons said in the statement. "I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan."

Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser, said al-Bashir insisted that Gibbons had a "fair trial," but he agreed to pardon her because of the efforts by the British Muslim delegation.

It was unclear when Gibbons would leave Sudan. Earlier Monday, Sudanese presidential spokesman Mahzoub Faidul told The Associated Press that Gibbons would "fly back to England today." However, travel agents in Sudan said the first European-bound flights would not leave Khartoum until early Tuesday.

During her trial, the weeping teacher said she had intended no harm. Her students, overwhelmingly Muslim, chose the name for the bear, and Muhammad is one of the most common names for men in the Arab world. Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.

The conviction shocked many Britons, but the case was caught up in the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled in Sudan, a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was delighted by news.

"Common sense has prevailed," Brown said in a statement released by his office.

The case also sparked criticism from many Muslims in the West who said she should have never been arrested. On Monday, Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the pardon.

"It will be wonderful to see her back in the U.K. I am sure she will be welcomed by both Muslims and non-Muslims after her quite terrible ordeal at the hands of the Sudanese authorities," Bunglawala said.

There were concerns for Gibbons' safety in Sudan after thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution during a rally in Khartoum on Friday. She was moved from the Omdurman women's prison to a secret location after the demonstrations against her, her lawyer said.

There was no overt sign that the government organized the protest, but such a rally could not have taken place without at least official assent.

Sudan's ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, insisted Monday that the demonstrations "were an argument from the fringe."

[Soldier4Christ]

'Teddy Bear' teacher leaves Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A British teacher jailed for supposedly insulting Islam after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad flew home Monday after Sudan's president pardoned her, a British embassy spokesman said.



Gillian Gibbons' conviction under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons and many Muslims worldwide. Hard-line Muslim clerics in Sudan accused her of intentionally seeking to insult Islam's Prophet Muhammad, and the case angered some Sudanese, sparking a protest where demonstrators called for her execution.

Her release came after two British Muslim politicians from the House of Lords met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir early Monday to plead for her freedom.

Gibbons also sent a written statement to al-Bashir that she did not intend to offend anyone and had great respect for Islam.

Hours after al-Bashir's pardon, Gibbons left the country on a flight home. "I can confirm she has left Sudan," spokesman Omar Daair told The Associated Press. She was believed to be on an Emirates flight with a stopover in Dubai before heading to London early Tuesday.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad - a common name among Muslim men - in a class project on animals. The trial was sparked when a school secretary complained to the Education Ministry that Gibbons aimed to insult the Prophet Muhammad. Her time in jail since her arrest Nov. 25 counted toward the sentence.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, who met with al-Bashir earlier Monday along with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, said the case was an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and stressed that Britain respected Islam.

He hoped "the relations between our two countries will not be damaged by this incident," Ahmed told reporters at the presidential palace after Monday's meeting.

Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser, said al-Bashir insisted that Gibbons had a "fair trial," but he agreed to pardon her because of the efforts by the British Muslim delegation.

"We are very relieved and happy that she has been pardoned," said Robert Boulos, director of Khartoum's Unity High School, where Gibbons worked.

In the written statement released by Sudanese presidential palace and read by Warsi to reporters, 54-year-old Gibbons said she was sorry if she caused any "distress."

"I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone," Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday, said in the statement.

"I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan," the statement read.

The teacher escaped harsher punishment that could have included up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine. Her time in jail since her arrest last Sunday counted toward the sentence.

During her trial, the weeping teacher said she had intended no harm. Her students, overwhelmingly Muslim, chose the name for the bear. Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.

The conviction shocked many Britons, but the case was caught up in the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled in Sudan, a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was delighted by news.

"Common sense has prevailed," Brown said in a statement released by his office.

The case also sparked criticism from many Muslims in the West who said she should have never been arrested. On Monday, Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the pardon.

"It will be wonderful to see her back in the U.K. I am sure she will be welcomed by both Muslims and non-Muslims after her quite terrible ordeal at the hands of the Sudanese authorities," Bunglawala said.

A small group of about 40 protesters gathered briefly Monday in front of the British embassy in Khartoum and handed over a petition, spokesman Daair said, without describing the petition. But several cars of riot police arrived and dispersed the crowd.

On Friday during a rally in Khartoum, thousands of protesters, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution.

After the rally, there were fears for Gibbons' safety and she was moved from the Omdurman women's prison to a secret location, her lawyer has said.

There was no overt sign that the government organized the protest, but such a rally could not have taken place without at least official assent.

Sudan's ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, insisted Monday that the demonstrations "were an argument from the fringe."

[nChrist]

Has anyone noticed that a jungle mentality appears to be taking over? Nothing has to make sense, and it doesn't. UM? - Maybe I'm in error here. There is some common sense in nature, and that does include the jungle. What we are seeing with people is senseless violence, so many people really aren't as civilized as the animals in the jungle. The world is becoming more dangerous and evil by the minute. Only GOD can fix it now, and HE WILL at HIS appointed time. That time just might be near.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran-Mexico meeting deepens ties to Islam
President Calderon welcomes Khatami in effort to bypass confrontational West

In a little notice meeting reflecting growing ties between South America and the Islamic world, Mexican President Felipe Calderon welcomed former Iranian President Mohamed Khatami to Mexico City.

The two leaders met Wednesday at Los Pinos, Mexico's official presidential residence, to discuss deepening cultural bonds with the Islamic world in the face of Western notions of a "clash of civilizations.

The visit drew virtually no mention in the press outside of Mexico, even in Iran.

Khatami came at the invitation of the International Center for Dialogue between Civilizations, established in 2006 at the Colegio de San Luis in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

A notice on the Colegio de San Luis website said Khatami spoke at the center to oppose the main thesis of Harvard University professor Samuel Huntington's seminal 1996 book "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order."

In his speech, Khatami proclaimed a "Dialogue among Civilizations," a theme echoing a 2001 U.N. declaration.

Similarly, a statement by Calderon emphasized, in diplomatic language, that Khatami was promoting an exchange of opinions "concerning the roads available to promote peaceful co-existence among natures and cultures."

The Mexican newspaper La Jornada echoed the presidential statement: "The government of Mexico shares the conviction that dialogue and negotiation should be promoted as the preferred means to advance agreements."

The radical leftist La Voz de Aztlan in Los Angeles characterized the Khatami-Calderon meeting as "part of a growing alliance between Mexico, South America and Islam."

La Voz de Aztlan also noted, "President Calderon has been worried about the growing racist hostility against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the USA."

The online publication said the visit "may signal the beginning of a new international alignment that may bring into reality what Patrick Buchanan wrote in his new book, 'Day of Reckoning.'"

In July, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met in Tehran with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reflecting Tehran's recent campaign to develop closer ties with Latin America.

In September, Ahmadinejad met with Fidel Castro in Cuba, where the communist dictator endorsed the Iranian leader's efforts to further the goals of the Islamic revolution begun by Ayatollah Khomeini.

The International Center for Dialogue between Civilizations was opened in 2006 by Islamic Dawa of Chauen, a militant Shiite Islamic group originally formed in Iraq, and the radical Junta Islamica of Spain.

Chauen is a city in the Mexican province of Marruecos with historic ties to the Berbers in Morocco. The Junta Islamica derives from the descendents of the Moriscos, the Spanish Muslims expelled from Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group noted for aggressively promoting the rights of Hispanic immigrants, characterizes the Nation of Aztlan, publisher of La Voz de Aztlan, as a "tiny Chicano group that pushes racism and homophobia."

Aztlan is the name for the mythical place of origin of the Aztec people. In the politics of Hispanic immigration, Aztlan has come to represent the part of the southwestern United States, including a large part of California, sought by the Reconquista movement for Mexico.

[Shammu]

Iran completely stops selling oil in U.S. dollars
2007-12-08 19:40:27

    TEHRAN, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, has completely stopped selling its oil in U.S. dollars, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.

    "In line with the policy of selling crude oil in non-dollar currencies, currently selling our country's oil in U.S. dollars has been completely stopped," Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari was quoted as saying.

    "The dollar is an unreliable currency in regards to its devaluation and the loss oil exporters have endured from this trend," he added.

    "This is why Iran proposed to OPEC members that a currency (for selling oil) would be determined that would be reliable and would not cause any loss to exporter countries," Nozari said. He was referring to the November summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Saudi Arabia in which Iran proposed that it is necessary to replace the U.S. dollar with other major hard currencies in oil trading.

    Over the past months, Iran has massively reduced its dependence on the U.S. dollar in a bid to counter the United States' pressures on its financial system over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Iran completely stops selling oil in U.S. dollars

[Shammu]

They said they would, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now. This week the GCC voted to keep trading oil with US dollars, with the promoting of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The only other oil, Arab nation I know of, that has divested from the US dollar this year was Kuwait.

[Shammu]

Taliban 'hanged boy, 12, for spying for UK'

By Tom Coghlan in Kabul
Last Updated: 1:53am GMT 09/12/2007

Taliban fighters hanged a 12-year-old boy from a mulberry tree, claiming he was passing information on Taliban roadside bomb attacks to police and British forces, Afghan police have said.

The gruesome murder, which occurred in Sangin, an area held by British forces since driving out the Taliban in April, sparked outrage among politicians, who accused the al-Qaeda-linked militant group of atrocities against villagers. It was the second execution of a child attributed to the Taliban in three months.

"If this is true and the age is right it is an unforgettable crime," said Haji Mohammed Anwar Khan, the head of Helmand provincial council.

"If someone is a child their mind is not considered sufficiently mature to be held responsible under Sharia law. This is just a crime and we condemn it."

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, also accused the Taliban of hanging a 15-year-old boy above a gas stove and lighting the flame beneath him, burning him alive, but it was unclear if he was referring to the same incident.

"Does anyone believe a human being can be so savage as to burn alive a 15-year-old boy?" Mr Karzai said.

Gulam Ali, the Sangin police chief, said Taliban fighters arrived at the home of Abdul Wassee in the village of Haji Nizamuddin on Wednesday night.

"They took him to a small garden about 200 metres away," Commander Ali said. "There was a mulberry tree and he was hanged by the neck from the branches of the tree. The Taliban claimed the boy was a spy for the British."

The incident occurred in an area frequently rocked by roadside bomb attacks on British and Afghan forces.

"Often when the Taliban put the bombs, local people were informing us," the commander said. "We do have spies in the area and that is how we were able to clear the bombs.

"But this boy was not one of our spies. There was no trial of the boy. They just took him and hanged him. He was just a normal boy."

Commander Ali's account of the killing was corroborated by provincial officials in Helmand and senior police.

But Ahmad Muslim, a mullah and Taliban commander operating in Helmand, denied his men were behind the hanging.

"The case of the boy is completely untrue. Do you think that we would do such a thing?" he said.

"Under Sharia law he is not mature. He cannot be hanged. It is possible someone has been hanged because of local enmities and it is blamed on the Taliban. Everything is blamed on the Taliban."

In September, Taliban fighters were accused of hanging a 15-year-old boy from an electricity pole in Sangin, after finding him in possession of five $1 bills and accusing him of collaboration with Western forces.

Taliban 'hanged boy, 12, for spying for UK'

[Shammu]

Turkey Investigates Alleged Ties Between Police, Alleged Killers of Christians

Saturday, December 08, 2007



ANKARA, Turkey —  Turkey has launched an investigation into alleged collusion between police officers and at least one of the suspects charged with killing three Christians earlier this year at a publishing house that produces Bibles, an official said Saturday.

Two senior police inspectors will be assigned to investigate whether any officers provided assistance to the suspects, an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He did not provide further details.

The three Christians — a German and two Turks — were killed in the southern city of Malatya on April 18. The killings — in which the victims were tied up and had their throats slit — drew international condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can protect its religious minorities.

Five people were arrested and charged with murder. The trial opened last month, but was quickly adjourned until Jan. 14 because defense attorneys requested more time to prepare their arguments.

The Interior Ministry decided to open an investigation after several newspapers published stories Saturday alleging cooperation between police and at least one of the suspects.

Radikal newspaper quoted two of the suspects, Abuzer Yildirim and Salih Guler, as saying in their testimonies that a third suspect Emre Gunaydin told them that he had met with police officials and learned about the locations of Christian churches in the city.

"I asked him who are the police chiefs that you are speaking to, he said: 'Don't ask, take it easy,"' Radikal quoted Yildirim as saying.

Similar allegations have also emerged after the January killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who was detested by hardline nationalists because he described the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide.

Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, insisting those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

Critics have accused authorities of failing to act on reports of a plot to kill Dink but there has been no evidence that directly implicates any police or government officials in the slaying of Dink outside his office.

Many Turks are convinced that a so-called "deep state" — a network of state agents or ex-officials, possibly with links to organized crime — periodically targets reformists and other perceived enemies in the name of nationalism.

Christian leaders have said they are worried that nationalists are stoking hostility against non-Turks and non-Muslims by exploiting uncertainty over Turkey's place in the world.

The uncertainty — and growing suspicion against foreigners — has been driven by Turkey's faltering EU membership bid, a resilient Kurdish separatist movement and by increasingly vocal Islamists who see themselves — and Turkey — as locked in battle with a hostile Christian West.

Turkey Investigates Alleged Ties Between Police, Alleged Killers of Christians

[nChrist]

La Voz de Aztlan also noted, "President Calderon has been worried about the growing racist hostility against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the USA."

I find this fascinating but horribly false and hypocritical. There is no racial hostility or hatred involved at all, rather legal immigration versus illegal immigration. We are a melting pot of all races from around the world, and we came here legally.

If control of illegal immigration is somehow linked to racial hostility, MEXICO would be a thousand times more HOSTILE. In fact, they let in illegals when it serves their purposes, and those purposes would involve drugs and other criminal activity. However, illegals without prior approved criminal business to conduct with Mexico are dealt with very harshly. I wonder if Mexico considers itself to be racially hostile, especially considering the fact that their illegal immigration controls are a thousand times more harsh than ours is.

As far as I know, we've welcomed LEGAL immigrants from all over the world since the country was founded. I must add that many of them were from Mexico and were MOST WELCOME. We're all immigrants except the Native Indians, so what is all this racial hostility baloney?

UM? - I wonder if this is just a bunch of political baloney. YES! Dope, gun, and terrorist running might be getting difficult and effecting the incoming revenue to Mexico. Mexico doesn't have any guilt problems about enforcing their extremely harsh immigration policies EXCEPT FOR those involved in criminal enterprise. So, are we supposed to feel guilty for enforcing our puny immigration laws? NO!

[Soldier4Christ]

Web Site Sells Teddy Bear Muhammad

Cute and uncommonly cuddly, babies and parents alike will warm up to the adorable features of this cloud-soft plush, Muhammad, says the ad.

The controversial teddy bear Muhammad, which nearly cost British teacher Gillian Gibbons her life, has been put up for sale on the web site as the ideal Christmas gift for only US$9.95.

An Arizona businessman, Mark Bold, thought up how to use the holiday hysteria and publicity from a British teacher in Sudan who was nearly sentenced to death for allowing her students to name their teddy bear Muhammad. Bold founded the web site via which he is selling the first world’s teddy bear officially named Muhammad. He will soon offer other articles for sale, such as t-shirts and other items.

There are not many things that bring a smile to children’s faces such as the teddy bear and if a child, a teacher or anybody else wants one named Muhammad, now they can have one, says a media statement.

Fighting for freedom of speech?

The web site owner says “he’s not the silly, willy, nilly old bear”, but the first teddy bear that is forging world history, upsetting radicals and the intolerant worldwide. 

Although to the superficial observer it may seem that this businessman is earning money of the misfortune of others and using the holiday fever for profit, as the said price is valid only before the holidays, the project does have a noble purpose.

‘Kids and adults of all ages should have the freedom to have a stuffed toy bear that can be given a common name, such as Muhammad, without fear,’ Mark Bold says.

The slogan of the project is “Supporting the Right to Bear Names”. One dollar from every teddy bear sold will go to the USO organisation for the support of American troops worldwide.

‘Satisfaction guaranteed’

“Of course there is some satire in all of this, but there is a much bigger truth; because of the recent events, the Teddy Bear named Muhammad story teaches us to stand up against intolerance, injustice and bigotry; and this little bear reminds us of this importance”, Mark says.

“To be threatened of execution, caning, imprisonment or even standing in a corner over this, the most common name in the world, is ridiculous.”

Wishing that everybody owns at least one of the teddy bears that “makes a profound statement”, the owner is offering a discount on five pieces. The teddy bear comes with button eyes and a brown nose and the owner claims “satisfaction guaranteed”. What the British teacher, who narrowly escaped the death penalty because of Muhammad teddy, thinks of this endeavour, is as yet unknown.