UN: COW FARTS INCREASE GREENHOUSE GASES MORE THAN MAN-MADE CO2

Xinhua (China):

Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, according to a new United Nations report released on Thursday. "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official Henning Steinfeld was quoted by the Ghana News Agency as saying on Thursday.

"Urgent action is required to remedy the situation," he said in a statement released by the UN Information Centre in Accra. According to the report, smarter production methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions, are urgently needed. ...

"With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year," the report notes.

Cow Farts. Not SUV's.

So now, will the Left and the eco-nutsies attack cattle ranchers, dairy farmers and McDonald's, and pass laws forcing us to eat chicken or become vegetarians? I bet they try.

AND GET THIS, Lefties and eco-nutsies in some places - in an effort to reduce livestock flatulence actually passed TAXES on cow farts! Er um, how do they collect it?! Heh. Seriously: I feel that subconciously, most post-modern Leftists and eco-nutsies wish all people were poor, ate no meat, drove no cars, used no electricity. But had free healthcare and pensions. I wish they'd just STFU.

A REAL CIVIL WAR MIGHT BE BREWING, MUCH CLOSER TO HOME: MEXICO ON THE BRINK

While the "lamestream" drive-by media are preoccupied with the raging propaganda debate, over whether the intersecting armed conflicts in Iraq constitute a "civil war," and while many of the pundits of the partisan blogosphere consider whether a Blue State-Red State "civil war" could erupt in these United States, a real live civil war may actually be brewing just South of the Border - in Mexico.

As blogger "Mark in Mexico" is reporting, the situation in Oaxaca has degenerated into open rioting, and some of the supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) are openly promising to use violence to prevent the newly elected president's inauguration, and then to make Mexico completely ungovernable.

As the Washington Post reports, this year there have been thousands of brutal drug-related killings in a widespread gangland war, and many citizens feel their country has become lawless.

An ungovernable Mexico degenerating into a chaotic civil war would pose grave problems for the United States.

You think 1,000 illegal border crossings a day is a problem?

What will you do when hundreds of thousands of refugees from a Mexican civil war crush the border crossings at Tijuana and El paso, clamoring for a humanitarian rescue?

Can we absorb one million next year? Two? Stay tuned . . .

[Note: All the photos link to related news items. From top left to right: Leftist legislators attempting to prevent Calderon from taking the oath of office; defeated Leftist, Obrador, at his "alternative" swearing-in ceremony; Calderon - the legally elected president of Mexico; Panhco Villa.]

UPDATE: Here's a link to YOUTUBE/CNN report on the brawl in the Mexican Congress before today's swearing in.

EVIDENCE THAT FORMER RUSSIAN SPY, LITVINENKO, WAS LIKELY POISONED BY PUTIN'S AGENTS, AND DOUBLE-AGENTS, FROM MOSCOW

INDEPENDENT:

Detectives have discovered when the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko came into contact with the radioactive material that was to kill him. After retracing the route taken by Mr Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, anti-terrorist officers believe the ex-KGB agent was poisoned in or very close to the sushi bar in central London that he visited to meet an Italian contact on 1 November.

... Scotland Yard pinpointed the sushi bar when they traced Mr Litvinenko's movements after he left his home in Muswell Hill, north London. By using information from his mobile phone records, Oyster travel card and CCTV footage, detectives plotted his route to Piccadilly Tube station. Locations where he stopped along the way were tested for radiation contamination, but all proved negative.

... In a further development it was disclosed that extremely low-level radioactive contamination has been discovered in nine buildings, two British Airways planes which flew to Moscow [umph added], and a car used to take Mr Litvinenko to hospital. A third BA aircraft is being examined in Moscow.

As part of the inquiry detectives are testing aircraft used by several people that met Mr Litvinenko on 1 November to discover if any of them brought in radioactive material, or left Britain contaminated.

Three Russian businessmen, employees of a security company in Moscow, who met Mr Litvinenko at a hotel after he had been to the sushi bar had yesterday gone to ground. It is not clear if they were in hiding, or were being questioned by the Russian authorities.

One of the men, former FSB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy who had known Mr Litvinenko for 10 years, was in charge of security for the former Russian prime minister, Yegor Gaidar [umph added], who was last night being treated for suspected poisoning after falling ill in Dublin.

It seems to me that Lugovoy is probably a double-agent actually working for Putin. And it seems to me that Putin agents used polonium to make sure the murder sent a powerful messaage to all former agents and would be foes. And I find it fascinating that Gaidar retuned to Moscow for treatment, instead of going to London or Paris or NY or anywhere else. Perhaps he actually returned for a secret antidote - given to him only after Putin's agents extracted a secret or a promise.

[NOTE: Here're a few reasons why I put a jpeg of Machiavelli next to that weird one of Putin kissing a boy's stomach (quotes from The Prince):

"If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. ... Politics have no relation to morals. ... The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all."]

Putin is a Prince.

CAMERON'S RESPONSE TO CRIME AND FATHERLESSNESS IS ENTIRELY INADEQUATE

Great Britain is suffering from many of the same social deficiencies that plague the U.S. In brief, as illegitimacy and the Platonic socialist state which facilitates it increase, more and more fatherless boys raised by single mothers supported by the dole become sociopathic criminals.

At the Corner, Iain Murray was apparently impressed by David Cameron's response:

Cameron Gets It Right [Iain Murray]

It's only fair to say when David Cameron gets things right, and I suspect his comments today on crime and fatherlessness are pretty much in tune with Conservative and popular thought.

Gets it right? Go to the linked Conservative Home "Tory Diary" and see what David Cameron actually had to say:

"I hope the men who left those boys’ mothers to bring them up alone are reflecting on their own responsibility this week."

Very good, David. That's the way the leader of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should respond to the two remorseless teenagers who are believed responsible for 150 muggings in addition to the knife murder of a young lawyer for his cell phone: "hope" that their fathers are "reflecting on their own responsibility this week."

What do you think the chance of that is? And what good will it do, now?

The murdered man's father wrote in the Times, that "a lot more work needs to be done," and that's certainly true.

A Conservative leader worth the title would offer more than hand-wringing and platitudes.

Kim Du Toit described the problem here.

BBC: ANCIENT JEWS HAD MONSTER BITE!

OOPS. ANCIENT JAWS. Sorry. Nevermind. Heh. I guess they can't blame the Jews for this one. NOR THIS:

An Ethiopian military convoy in Somalia has been ambushed by fighters loyal to the powerful Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), witnesses said on Thursday. It happened on Tuesday 35km south-west of Baidoa, seat of the weak interim government, who deny it took place. Eyewitness said a truck was blown up and there was an exchange of fire. The UIC claim about 20 Ethiopians died.

Neither anicent jooooze, or the "GREAT SATAN", or Bush can be blamed for this jihadist violence. Not here. Not in Thailand either - where nearly 2000 have been murdered by islamisis since 2004, and wher the killing continues despite offers of detente and appeasement from the junta.

SO HOW WILL WE STOP IT?! Hmmm... how 'bout we send James Baker and Jimmy Carter to engage in dialog with the enemy. That'll do it. Yeah. Sure. Heh.

(Which reminds me: I LOVE how the Left simultaneoulsy believes we DESERVED 9/11 and it was an inside job, and we can dialog with an enemy which would perp such an act. THE LEFT IS SO SO SO SO SO EFFED UP!!)

MORE PROOF THAT THE IRANIAN MULLAHS ARE EVIL

BBC:

One of Iran's most senior clergymen has issued a fatwa on an Azeri writer said to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The call on Muslims to murder Rafiq Tagi, who writes for Azerbaijan's Senet newspaper, echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie.

And then Muslims wonder why we think that Islam is sick!? Or they DARE to call us prejudiced when we are ESPECIALLY suspicious of them!? Sheesh. The folks ordering this MURDER are not a bunch of know-nothings; they're the freakin EXPERTS in an Islamic state! They know that are not disobeying Islam when they order murders like this. They are being devoutly Islamic. And simply EVIL.

IT'S OFFICIAL: SARKOZY THROWS HIS BERET INTO THE RING

BBC:

France's Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has declared his intention to run for the presidency next April. ... Mr Sarkozy has been dubbed the French Margaret Thatcher, someone who will shake up the country, says the BBC's Clive Myrie, in Paris.

I SURE HOPE SO!

UN SEX-KEEPERS - ER... UM, I MEAN PEACE-KEEPERS - ARE ALSO CHILD-RAPISTS

BBC:

UN troops face child abuse claims

Liberian teenager who claims she was raped by UN peacekeeper This Liberian teenager claims she became pregant following abuse Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found. Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.

A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible.

PROVING ONCE AGAIN: The UN is a freakin cesspool of corruption and anti-Semitism. BTW: Kofi ran this part of the UN before becoming the worst UNSG ever.

IS EUROPE WORTH SAVING?

Some question whether we should care if Europe succumbs to either homegrown fascism or islamofascism. (OR BOTH: Europe might just as easily divide into nations which become dominated by islamofascism and nations dominated by nativist-fascism.)

The people who feel that Europe is doomed and "good riddance", are in my opinion, victims of post-modernism - that vile, corrosive and ultimately anti-rational ideology which has ruled the Western academy since WW1, and which propounds that Western Civilization in general, and Europe in particular, have been largely a scourge on the planet, and to the rest of the people on it. This is bullsh*t; [see post below.]

Western Civilization - our Judeo-Christian values, our modern, rational, and enlightened use of science, engineering, technology and industry - has lifted most of humanity out of the bonds of slavery and the degradation of tyranny, and into polities which have afforded us all more liberty and ever imporving standards of living. As the Third World has adopted Western Civilization's UNIVERSAL principles and free markets and capitalism and industrialism, (all products of the West), they have lifted themsevles out of bondage and poverty.

Yes, yes, yes, we know: The struggle has been very costly. All the more reason to protect our gains, our hard-won gains - hard-won over the last 1000 years. If we want the next thousand to be better we must NOT let Europe turn back the clock - or rather the calendar! Not to ANY form of fascism.

Besides, a free and Western European continent is worth fighting for (despite the wars) because Europe has produced some truly great, beautiful, and transcendent works. Works which not only justify Europe, but humanity.

Need some examples? Here's one. Here's another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And so on. So YES, YES, YES: I think Europe MUST be saved, because if the enemy wins, then these works will go the way of the Alexandrian Library. And the West will vanish. It's light will fade. Darkness will return. As Churchill said:

"The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.

If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age ..."

We didn't let it happen then; we mustn't let it happen now.

WHAT THREATENS THE WEST: POST-MODERN LEFTISM FROM WITHIN AND JIHADISM FROM WITHOUT

Dr. Sanity:

Multiculturalism and political correctness are two of the fundamental pseudo-intellectual, quasi-religious tenets-- along with a third: radical environmentalism--that have been widely disseminated by intellectuals unable to abandon socialism even after its crushing failures in the 20th century. These tenets have been slowly, but relentlessly absorbed at all levels of Western culture in the last decade or so--but primarily since the end of the Cold War.

All three have been incorporated into most K-12 curricula and all other learning environments. They have been at the forefront of attempts by leading academics and academic institutions to rewrite most of history and undo thousands of years of Western cultural advancement. And further, as the culture has been completely saturated with this toxic brew, any attempt to question the tenets' validity or to contest their value is met with hysterical accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, imperialism, bigotry, or--worse of all --intolerance or insensitivity.

It just so happens, that these tenets represent three of the four pillars that are the foundation of an evolving epistemological, ethical and political strategy that the socialist remnants in the world have developed and are using to prevent their ideology from entering the dustbin of history.

... The rise of neoconservatism represents the only modern intellectual counter and the only known antidote to the infection of postmodernism and its resultant toxic effects on philosophy, rehtoric, and politics.

... By disgarding reason and reality; by abandoning the past and embracing moral and cultural relativism, the left has brought us to this place where we are morally and physically paralyzed and cannot distinguish between the deliberate targeting and killing of innocents and the accidental killing of innocents despite herculean efforts to avoid it; between waging war to give people a chance at freedom and democracy; and waging war for domination and imperialism; between standing up for what is right and accepting the consequences, and abandoning one's values and surrendering with "honor" to the scum of the earth.

... by equating Bush with Hitler; or the behavior of the Palestinians with the behavior of the Israelis; the actions of the U.S. military with the actions of the Islamofanatic terrorist thugs-- the left is desperately trying to numb the mind of the West. Who are we to judge? they scream, desperately trying to prevent history from judging their own unbelievable and pathological destructiveness, their own morally repugnant behavior and ideology.

... Just as the Saudis have let the wahabbi religious fundamentalism genie out of the bottle, inflicting it on Islam; so too has the political left let loose the genie of postmodern moral relativism onto Western civilization. The two genies have much in common since both work in tandem to destroy the human mind and spirit. Islamic fundamentalism is actively destroying millions by its soul-murdering ideology; while postmodern nihilists apologize and enable the barbarians at the gate , even as they destroy the very ideas that built the gate in the first place and which offers the only hope for liberating those millions from the boot of fanatical oppression. [Umph added!]

... The left must be held to account for their malignantly narcissistic behavior. Envy is their dominant emotion; mediocrity and dragging humanity down to the lowest common denominator is their goal; tyranny and oppression is their modus operandi; and the greatest threat to their ideology is human freedom.

And those are precisely the reasons why neoconservative philosophy can rescue the West from the quagmire of moral and cultural nihilism that paralyzes us and limits our ability to fight the enemies of civilization.

The Doctor diagnoses the problem, perfectly: Modernity and the West are under assault on two fronts, by two pernicious, amoral foes. We can help defeat them both. We must if we want our modern Judeo-Christian Western civilization to persist. If we fail, our civilization will vanish from the earth.

THERE IS MUCH MUCH MORE IN THIS BRILLIANT POST. AND IT HAS MANY FINE LINKS. GO THERE, RTWT!

ACCORDING TO LEAKS, BAKER'S ISG REPORT GET'S IT EXACTLY "BASS ACKWARDS"

Baker's ISG report evidenty recommends we go easier on our enemies, and get tougher with our allies. That's a recipe for failure. And it's immoral. T.A.T.:

More worrisome than Baker's tete a tete with Iran's Ambassador is the apparent fact, also disclosed by the Washington Post, that Ray Close, a former CIA hand, has been one of the "experts' the ISG has relied upon in formulating its recommendations. Anyone familiar with the ways of Washington (as Baker surely must be) would be aware that Close has a very checkered past regarding his opinion of our ally Israel, and has made comments regarding American Jews that can be characterized as anti—Semitic.

RTWT. More HERE. This "strategy" is tantamount to surrender. (Previous post HERE.) More HERE.

AL-SADR TELLS MALIKI: "DON'T MEET BUSH" - MEETING IS CANCELLED

And, I think the White House is spinning it now. You be the judge.

This morning the report came out that al-Sadr had threatened to pull his members out of Maliki's Parliamentary coalition (via Washington Post):

AMMAN (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to Jordan for crisis talks with President Bush on Wednesday, prompting a radical Shi'ite faction to suspend participation in his government in anger. Iranian-backed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who leads the Mehdi Army militia, was making good on a threat to boycott parliament and Maliki's coalition if the premier met the U.S. president.

And this afternoon, the story is being told this way (via AP):

AMMAN, Jordan - President Bush's high-profile meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday was canceled in a stunning turn of events after disclosure of U.S. doubts about the Iraqi leader's capabilities and a political boycott in Baghdad protesting his attendance. Instead of two days of talks, Bush and al-Maliki will have breakfast and a single meeting followed by a news conference on Thursday morning, the White House said.

The abrupt cancellation was an almost unheard-of development in the high-level diplomatic circles of a U.S. president, a king and a prime minister. White House counselor Dan Bartlett denied that the delay was a snub by al-Maliki directed at Bush or was related to the leak of a memo written by White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley questioning the prime minister's capacity for controlling violence in Iraq.

No, I don't think Bush did snub Maliki. I think Maliki snubbed Bush. What do you think?

Reliapundit adds: If these reports are true - and that's a big if - then it means that Iran effectively controls the Iraqi federal government. If this is not reversible, then it means we should support the Kurds seceding - and declaring an independent republic, and then we should reposition our troops there - at their invitation. We can use these troops and bases - along with our bases in Afghanistan, and our fleet in the Gulf nearby - to attack and demolish the military, industrial, and nuclear assets of Iran. And we must do this no later than December 2008.

Why the rush? Well, LGF's interpretation of Ahmadinejad's letter to American citizens is correct: this is clearly a jihadist threat and indicates that they intend to destroy the USA - the Great Satan - and Israel AS SOON AS THEY CAN. If we do not preempt, then we will be attacked. I believe we should therefore preempt. This will demolish Iran's ability to project power, and thereby neutralize Syria, and Hizballah, and thus save the entire Middle East. YES: ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST. The entire Middle East has long been targeted by the jihadists: Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and even Turkey have long been targeted. A failure in Iraq will aid the enemy everywhere else.

What will Bush do? I DON'T KNOW. Bush's words have been fine:

In Riga, Bush said he'd be flexible with his strategy in Iraq, changing it as conditions there change, but that U.S. troops would stay as long as needed.

"There's one thing I'm not going to do: I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," he said during a speech at Latvia University's Grand Hall. "We can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren."

But now it's time Bush backed these words up with actions. If he doesn't, then I must conclude that "Dubya" stands for wobbly and wimp and waste; (MORE ON THIS LATER - AFTER THE POTUS RETURNS TO THE STATES).

Or - as RICK BALLARD asks: "I wonder when Grant and Sherman will be brought in to replace Casey and Abizaid? Soon, I hope."

HAMAS HAS MISSILES STORED IN SAMARIA

If you thought that the Hamas only had rockets stored in Gaza, think again:

As Hamas wins a ceasefire from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert despite the group’s continued firing of Kassam missiles, the Fatah group has announced it also has missiles, in Samaria.

Fatah’s Al-Aksa Brigade displayed the new missiles, which the group calls Jundalla (meaning Allah’s soldiers), at a press conference held for the foreign wire services Tuesday.

Rockets in Judea and Samaria would potentially put cities in the coastal plain, Israel’s International Airport, as well as Jerusalem, all within striking range (illustrative photo above). The Fatah terrorists, located in Palestinian Authority-assigned Shechem (Nablus), said that they were prepared to begin firing the rockets at Israeli towns.

At the press conference, to which Arab correspondents working for Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse were invited, twenty members of the terrorist group brandished at least four of the new rockets. The five-foot long rockets have a range of more than two miles and carry at least 6.6 pounds of explosives, the terrorists claimed.

Well. What's Ehud Olmert got to say about that?

OUR COUNTER-ATTACK AGAINST GLOBAL JIHAD: WEAK AND OFF-THE-MARK

PJM links to a thoughtful article at VARIFRANK, who suggests that:

“People often point to our nations inability to tolerate losses on the battlefield as one of the decisive factors in warfare in the modern age that is defeating the western world; but few take the time to think that we are also being defeated because we have chosen a strategy of not inflicting losses on the enemy.”

I'd only add that we have also not inflicted enough loss on the RIGHT TARGETS: Hizballah, Hamas; Syria; and IRAN. Especially Iran. Iran has not paid a penny for their support for their proxies or their illegal nuclear efforts. It's passed time they did. In spades.

AQUITTAL IN HONOR KILLING TRIAL

The patriarch of a pakistani family was aquitted of ordering the murder of his daughter. But the group of men who beat the patriarch's son with cricket bats were convicted of perpetrating the violent assault. And the 72 year old patriarch received a 6 month sentence for planning that attack. Why does a 72 year old man demand that his own son be beaten to near death? The son claimed in court that he was punished because he refused to kill his sister as his father demanded. Now thats what I call Family Values!!!

JIMMY CARTER IS STILL A FOOL!

Former Peanut Farmer Jimmy Carter is quoted in the press as predicting that the present invasion of Iraq will go down as one of history's greatest failures - at least as far as Presidential decisions are concerned. Don't you just love the way some people believe they can already tell you how history will be INTERPRETED before it has even TRANSPIRED?!?! Sort of reminds me of the teachings of a German Philosopher that have been used by fanatics and academics alike to tell us what the social fabric of the world will be like in the future.

From a historical perspecitve, one thing already is clear: If Jimmy Carter had just one of Lady Thatcher's Testicles the world would be far more safer today. Iraq will only be a failure if the west abandons the field and allows the enemy to assume power. And Jimmy: the enemy is the same bunch of fanatics that you backed down from in 1979! (you should recognize him in the photo above left...)

BAGHDAD'S MILITIA VIOLENCE: "CIVIL WAR"; "SECTARIAN STRIFE"; JIHAD; "SELF-CLEANING OVEN"; OR GWOT?

Most of the violence in Iraq is in Anbar and Baghdad. I think the violence in Baghdad is organized and retributory and as old as Islam itself; FACT: Shias and Sunnis have been killing each other since their prophet died. And it's a FACT that al Qaeda deliberately blew up the Golden Mosque in order to ignite this strife and inflame this old schism. Intercepted al Qaeda communiques prove this.

And I ask: SHOULD WE CARE? After all, the worst elements in Iraq are mostly killing each other, and in a way, this is what a Richard Price character described as a "self-cleaning oven." (Price's character was describing a crime-ridden city in New Jersey. Others have used the term to desribe how AIDS was killing all the criminal intravemous drug addicts in the Bronx some years ago.)

But sadly, in Iraq many innocent people are being killed too. And so too may die the nascent democracy in Iraq - which was, after all, the goal of al Qaeda when they ignited this violence. Which proves that stifling the sectarian strife is merely one battle, one campaign in the global war against jihadism. A war which will last generations. These are the only reasons we must care.

The solution rests with us and the Iraqis: in how well and how soon the Iraqis clamp down; and in how we deal with Syria and Iran - who are stoking the flames in Iraq in order to prevent us from dealing with their misdeeds and their hegemony.

The Iraqis will have a better chance if we help them, so we must stay and fight. But ultimately, we must CONFRONT Iran, who also backs both Syria and Hizballah. These three together are seeking to do to regionally - in Lebanon and Israel (and soon again in Jordan and Egypt) - what they are trying to do in Iraq.

There is no more critical battle in this war. Nor any more critical moment. We mustn't blink. We must keep fighting. The only way we can lose the war is if we lose our resolve. The enemy is counting on the Left and the MSM to demoralize us and cause us to lose resolve. So, in addition to confronting the jihadists in Tehran, we must confront the Left and the MSM at home. Confront them and defeat them. As I've been saying for a long time: To defeat the jihadist enemy abroad we must defeat the Leftists at home.

THIS NEWS HELPS. AS DOES THIS.

ENCLAVES OF SHARIA LAW IN BRITAIN

On the heels of news that the French Government has identified 751 urban neighborhoods where the police are no longer expected to go, comes a report in the Telegraph that enclaves of sharia law are developing in areas of Britain where Her Majesty's Government no longer commands respect.

In his book Islam in Britain, Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, says there is an "alternative parallel unofficial legal system" that operates in the Muslim community on a voluntary basis.

"Sharia courts now operate in most larger cities, with different sectarian and ethnic groups operating their own courts that cater to their specific needs according to their traditions," he says. These are based on sharia councils, set up in Britain to help Muslims solve family and personal problems.

Although these courts operate at the present time "on a voluntary basis," a precedent is being established.

If (or when) gangs of violent youths make it impossible for representatives of the British Government to intervene in Muslim neighborhoods (as it is now impossible for French police in 751 "zones urbaines sensibles," or for Swedish police in some areas of Malmo), then sharia law will be the only law.

In effect, these neighborhoods are no longer part of Britain, but rather, as Daniel Pipes puts it, the more precise name for these zones would be Dar al-Islam, the place where Muslims rule."

A large proportion of the tens of millions of Muslims who have moved to Europe in the past 25 years were not immigrants after all; they are settlers.

UPDATE/10:20PM: Relipaundit adds: This was posted here BEFORE it was posted at the GREAT LGF! Proving once again that the place to be is T.A.B.!

POPE BENEDICT SURRENDERS TO ISLAM

Pope Benedict has reversed himself on Turkey's entrance to the EU; NYTIMES:

Pope Benedict XVI came to Turkey on Tuesday carrying a surprise gesture of goodwill aimed at blunting Muslim anger toward him: he blessed Turkey’s long-stalled desire to join the European Union, reversing his position of two years ago.

This is dhimmitude, pure and simple and tantamount to surrendering. So, it seems to me that only Sarkozy stands between a Western and modern Europe and a post-modern Europe overrun by Muslims, (and he may lose to Segolene Royal).

This time, the Muslim horde will just emigrate and colonize Europe instead of assaulting Europe with war and terror - as it did the past. Soon - in our lifetimes - all of Europe might very well resemble the banlieues of Paris. Notre Dame might go the way of the Hagia Sophia - and become a mosque, and Paris ... Paristanbul. Islam is already the most widely practiced religion in much of atheistic, post-modern Europe. This will only increase after Turkey's admission to the EU, when Turks have free reign to resetlle ANYWHERE in the EU.

SARKOZY (Expatica/AFP):

French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy said Turkey's entry into the European Union would "be the end of political Europe" and suggested it would worsen the "problem" of Muslim integration in the continent, in an interview to be published Thursday.

"It would be the end of political Europe" if Turkey joined the European bloc, Sarkozy, France's interior minister, told the magazine Le Meilleur des Mondes, calling instead for a "privileged partnership" with the EU's southeastern neighbour. ... "We have a problem of integration of Muslims which raises the issue of Islam in Europe. To say it is not a problem is to hide from reality. If you let 100 million Turkish Muslims come in, what will come of it?" the magazine quoted him as saying.

The minister, who heads the ruling right-wing UMP party and has declared he will run for president in next year's elections, also expressed concern that shifting Europe's border southeast would bring it closer to violent conflicts in the region.

"Turkey is in Asia Minor... I will not explain to little French school children that the frontiers of Europe are Iraq and Syria," Sarkozy said, naming two of Turkey's southeastern neighbours.

Bravo! Obviously, this man knows his geography, his history, AND his current events! BRAVO! I wish the Pope was as courageous as Sarkozy.

(ASIDE: Fallaci - may she Rest In Peace - was an atheist who had faith in Ratzinger/Benedict; I hope she was right and I am wrong about him!)

BLACK LEADERS IGNITE DEBATE ON USE OF "N-WORD"

The CBC:

Rev. Jesse Jackson, congresswoman Maxine Waters and other black leaders in the United States have challenged entertainers — including rappers — to stop using the "n-word."

"We want to give our ancestors a present … dignity over degradation," Jackson said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday. He and a group that included Waters, a Democrat legislator from Los Angeles, and comedian Paul Mooney have begun a campaign against the racial slur that they plan to take to TV networks, film companies and musicians over the next few weeks.

The Stalinists are back! You just knew when Michael Richards handed Jackson the ball he would run with it. Jackson is also calling for a boycott of Seinfeld Season 7. I don't approve of Michael Richards said at the Laugh Factory, but free speech is free speech, and if Jesse Jackson says not to buy something, you better believe I'll be buying it.

WHAT BETSY AND SOWELL WRITE ABOUT TODAY, WAS POSTED ON HERE TWO WEEKS AGO

THE ASTUTE BLOGGER IS - ONCE AGAIN - AHEAD OF THE CURVE: 11/17/06: PHILANTHROPY EXPERT: CONSERVATIVES ARE MORE GENEROUS!

This isn't going to go over well at NPR:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right in America -- and it's making him nervous. The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income. ...

Another popular misconception quashed. *******UPDATE - 10/18/06: Instapundit posted on this 18 hours after us. Not the first time you read it here first. SPREAD THE WORD!

Betsy has a GREAT post on this today, because the effin brilliant Thomas Sowell wrote a column on it. RTWT. Thus proving - once again - that TAB is the place to be!

WHAT THE MINNESOTA IMAMS WERE REALLY UP TO

Nobody really thinks those Imam-provocateurs in Minneapolis were simply engaging in the nervous pre-flight prayers that are probably common to many airline passengers, particularly since September 11th. But the idea that they were merely trying to cause a ruckus and garner publicity for the claim that Muslims are being unfairly targeted is also, I think, incorrect.

Today the Washington Times described what they actually did:

Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials.

Specifically:

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin. "That would alarm me," said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. "They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane." A pilot from another airline said: "That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry."

By engaging in patterns of behavior which they evidently knew were considered by airlines and federal air marshals to indicate an imminent terrorist operation, the imams were inviting their removal from the flight. Their purpose in then claiming discrimination is to make it impossible, or at least much more difficult, for the airlines to remove Muslim passengers who do the things that terrorists are expected to do.

In other words, the imams took an action calculated to make it more difficult for the airlines and the TSA to prevent another terrorist attack on American airliners.

One of the six imams, Omar Shahin, has publicly stated his "opinion" that Muslims did not commit the September 11th atrocities, and admitted that he had ties to Usama Bin Laden. He is connected to a so-called charity that provided funds to Hamas, before the Treasury Department froze its assets.

Al Qaeda and its ilk still desire to commit another mass-murder atrocity involving American airliners. These six imams were helping to lay the groundwork for that attack. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

WHAT'S IN A WSJ EDITORIAL TODAY, WAS HERE AT THE ASTUTE BLOGGER LAST YEAR!

WSJ - TODAY :

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez is an ally of the Iranian mullahs, a supporter of North Korea, a close friend of Fidel Castro and a good customer for Vladimir Putin's weapon factories. Now he's also a business partner of Joseph P. Kennedy II. ...

Massachusetts Democrats seem especially eager to help. In a September 29, 2005, "confidential memorandum" addressed to "President Hugo Chávez" and uncovered by a Congressional committee, William Delahunt (D., Mass.) gushed that it was a "pleasure" to have met with the strongman "to discuss your generous offer." The Democrat advised Mr. Chávez to steer his oil through Mr. Kennedy's nonprofit and declared that "from a public relations perspective" the discount oil scheme "is an extraordinary opportunity to address urgent needs of people living in poverty, while showcasing the compassion of your nation."

THE ASTUTE BLOGGER (T.A.B.) - JUST OVER A YEAR AGO:

[UPDATE: BUMPED UP] - This "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" routine might become a running series. Earlier in the week I posted about the Vonnegut/Kerry flock. Now it's CHAVEZ AND KENNEDY; WASHPOST:

"... Venezuela's state-owned oil company will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices. It will be distributed by two nonprofit organizations, Citizens Energy Corp. and the Mass Energy Consumer Alliance. ... U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., met with Chavez in August and helped broker the deal. ... Joseph P. Kennedy II is chairman and president of Citizens Energy Corp. ... The agreement gives President Hugo Chavez's government standing as a provider of heating assistance to poor U.S. residents."

There was a time when another Kennedy - a noble NEO-CON Kennedy known as president JFK - FOUGHT central American and Carribean dictators, just as Reagan would two decades later. Now the LEFT-WING REMNANTS of the once proud Kennedy clan is reduced to being PR tools of dangerous socialist tyrants. JFK AND RFK MUST BE SPINNING IN THEIR GRAVES!

This says something important about NOT ONLY the state of the Kennedy clan, but of the American Left they lead; it says they have jumped the shark. They equate the Sunni jihadoterrorists with our "Minutemen" and help tyrants get good PR. Shameless. What a pity. More HERE and HERE and (on a regular basis) HERE.

Pastorius, a regular commenter, earlier noted this: "Isn't it amazing that Leftists can't pull their head up out of the sand, once in awhile, and look around, and see who their friends are?" I agree: The Left should look around and see who they stand with: when it comes to withdrawing from Iraq they stand with ZARQAWI; one of their biggest HOLYWOOD supporters - Michael Moore, and another literary one - Kurt Vonnegut openly LAUD AND APPLAUD the jihadoterrorists; and now, their prized aristocracy - the Kennedy's - openly and unabashedly do PR for the hemisphere's most dangerous tyrant - Hugo Chavez. YUP: the Left should look around, and then look in the mirror!

THEN AGAIN, maybe I shouldn't be surprised; after all, this comes from the folks who fear AshKKKroft more than Binladen! Heh! UPDATE: MORE HERE. More HERE from the great ECONOPUNDIT.

This proves once again that T.A.B. is the place to be!

BTW: This post was the first of my "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" POSTS. Each post relates to a news event which reveals the convergence of Leftism and Jihadism. They now total about 31!

DEMOCRATS: "DON'T ENFORCE LAWS AND FIRE ILLEGALS"

According to a November 28, 2006 article in the Washington Times, firing illegal immigrants is discriminatory:

A Mississippi Democrat in line to become chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee has warned the nation's largest uniform supplier it faces criminal charges if it follows a White House proposal to recheck workers with mismatched Social Security numbers and fire those who cannot resolve the discrepancy in 60 days.

Rep. Bennie Thompson said in a letter to Cintas Corp. it could be charged with "illegal activities in violation of state and federal law" if any of its 32,000 employees are terminated because they gave incorrect Social Security numbers to be hired.

"I am deeply troubled by Cintas' recent policy change regarding the Social Security Administration's 'no match' letters," Mr. Thompson said in the Nov. 2 letter. "It is my understanding that hundreds of Cintas' immigrant workers have received these letters. I am extremely concerned about any potentially discriminatory actions targeting this community."...

Complying with immigration laws and regulations is discrimination?

[Hat-tip to Raven for calling my attention to the above article in the Washington Times]

HUGE PROTEST AGAINST CHAVEZ IN VENEZUELA

It looks like there may be hope for Venezuela. A colossal protest came out against Chavez in Caracas. Venezuela News & Views has a video, and V-Crisis has some news too (Hat tip: Gateway Pundit). Despite Chavez's roadblocks, it did not stop the turnout. With any luck, Iran won't be able to rely on Chavez as an ally in evil.

ENGAGING WITH IRAN AND SYRIA REGARDING IRAQ WILL BE AS FRUITFUL AS ENGAGING WITH THEM ON ANYTHING ELSE

HOW HAS THE WEST'S ENGAGEMENT WITH SYRIA GONE REGARDING THE HARIRI AFFAIR?

Awful. They've even continued to assassinate their Lebanese foes.

HOW HAS THE WEST'S ENGAGEMENT WITH IRAN GONE REGARDING NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION?

Awful. They continue to violate the NPT and thumb their noses at the UN, the IAEA and everyone else.

Engaging with Syria and Iran on Iraq will be just as awful. There isn't a rational reason to even try. It's worse than an exercise in futility; it will actually embolden them to be even more destabilizing and dangerous.

There hasn't been an idea this dumb since the last time Rangel opened his mouth. Or Hagel. Or Kerry. Sheesh.

SEGOLENE ROYAL: AS ANTI-SEMITIC AS THE FRENCH LEFT

I blogged HERE that the French Left and the Socialist Party was anti-Semitic, and that this would help Segolene Royal win the socialist nomination.

I have argued for a long time that Jospin's loss in the last election was caused by the splintering of the Left caused by critical comments he made about Hizballah (while in Israel) - and support he expressed for Israel. And I argued that Royal would defeat here two rivals in part because they were both Jewish. NOW COMES THIS, (from the left-wing Israeli daily HAARETZ) :

... the heads of the French Jewish umbrella organization, CRIF, invited Segolene Royal to appear before members of the organization. An appearance before the organization has to this day been considered an event that must not be missed ...

Nearly five months have elapsed since the first invitation was sent, but she still has not come. ... "This is unprecedented," an Israeli diplomat who is serving in France admitted. "That's right," agreed CRIF director Chaim Musikant. "All the French leaders apart from Royal have already appeared before us. We have offered her whatever setting she would like, but to my regret, until now, we haven't heard from her."

Royal, apparerently, isn't about to make the same mistake that Jospin made. But now, French Jews seem to have taken notice:

"Sarkozy is the natural candidate of Jewish voters," Deputy Interior Minister Christian Estrozi told Haaretz. Most of the Jews, or so it appears at this time, are likely to vote for the candidate of the right.

There are several reasons for this: Sarkozy's Jewish roots, the fact that he is considered a friend of Israel and the fact that he appears to be the only politician in the French leadership who has evinced sensitivity to French Jewry's distress. He has gone to every place where Jews have been attacked, and at every opportunity, he has condemned and attacked and threatened and asserted that any harm to Jews is tantamount to harming the heart of the Republic. "He has honestly earned the Jewish vote," said a Jewish doctor this week, who revealed that for the first time in his life, he is planning to defect from the Socialist camp. "And it's not just me, but also most of my Jewish friends."

France will be making an important choice in their next election: choosing either to revert to the failed policies of socialism and to appeasement of jihad, or ... Sarkozy. The future of Europe may depend on what France decides. I'm praying for Sarkozy.

EXPOSED: THE EXTREMIST AGENDA

From The Glenn Beck Show, approximately 40 minutes:

FROM MELANIE PHILLIPS'S DIARY

Melanie Phillips, author of Londonistan, had this to say on November 27, 2006:

Those who know President Bush say that alarm over Baker and Gates should not be overdone, since Bush is a man who means what he says and is unlikely to retreat from his stated positions over seeing it through in Iraq and not tolerating Iranian nuclear weapons. Against that, however, is the fact that he does rely on Condoleezza Rice; and no less disturbingly, that he requires his people to present him with a consensus for action. This means he does not hear rival proposals, and instead gets served with proposals which are forced to embody the lowest common denominator. This is not the leadership required for the defence of the free world.

The above was Ms. Phillips' commentary to this piece by Carolyn Glick. Excerpt:

…The most pressing question today then is whether Bush will give in to Baker and the Democrats and agree to capitulate to Iran and Syria in Iraq, Lebanon and indeed throughout the world. Unfortunately, things look bleak given that Bush relies most heavily on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice has been blocking US action against Syria and Iran for the past two years. She was the primary architect of UN Resolution 1701 this summer, has been pushing for dangerous Israeli concessions to the Palestinians and is known for her good relations with Baker.

I've got the sinking feeling that the famed "W Resolve" is going down the tubes.

THE MESSAGE IS "DON'T HAVE CHILDREN, THEY'RE A PAIN IN THE ASS"

A relative of mine, who lives in Europe, sent this ad to me, because he thought it was funny.





The message isn't, "Be a better parent." No. Instead, it is, "Don't have children."

Too bad our European brothers and sisters no longer understand the blessings of life. There is no major Western European country that is producing enough children to replace the current population. Instead, they are replacing their population with Muslim immigrants. Here are the birthrates for various European countries:

Remember the birthrate for a population that is neither increasing nor declining is 2.1 babies per woman of childbearing age.

Ireland - 1.87

Germany - 1.3

Austria - 1.3

Italy - 1.2

Russia - 1.2

Spain - 1.1.

At a replacement rate of 1.1, Spain is at half the stable population replacement rate. This means Spain's population is halving every generation. The magnitude of the numbers is difficult to comprehend. In 2000, the total population of Europe was 728 million. By 2050 at the present rate of births, it will be less than 600 million, a loss of a staggering 125 million Europeans.

Are children really just a pain in the ass, or are they hope for a future?

Japan Freezes $10 Billion Loan To Iran

While Bush and Blair mull over asking Iran to help us out in Iraq, Japan is actually behaving in a sane manner and prepping for sanctions and possible war:

Tehran, 23 Nov. (AKI) - The Japanese government, apparently convinced that international sanctions against Iran are imminent, is gradually disinvesting there. Having already relinquished control of Iran's Azagedan oilfield project, Tokyo has frozen a 10 billion dollar loan that Japan Bank for International Cooperation was due to transfer to the Iranian government in the next few days. The bank's director general has stated that "only in the event that negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme lead to an agreement that is acceptable to the international community, can these 10 billion dollars be released."

This is a very positive development. I hold no hope that sanctions will work against Iran. However, I do think sanctions might drive Iran to do something stupid, like attack Israel, or a Western nation. Because I think war with Iran is inevitable, I welcome any provocation.

WE HAVE WAYS OF FINDING OUT WHAT YOU THROW AWAY: BRITAIN SPIES ON RUBBISH DUMPS

In Britain, the government has set up cameras at local rubbish dumps to ensure that their citizens are recycling properly:

Unbelievable. Britain continues to lurch towards totalitarianism with the news that SPY CAMERAS have been installed at household rubbish dumps to check what residents are throwing away and to fine those breaking recycling rules. The sophisticated CCTV systems are capable of reading and storing car number plates to identify who is using the dump, how often, and what they are disposing of. Big Brother IS watching you.....but we're too busy watching reality TV shows to care.

UPDATE: Britain is now considering using high-powered microphones to monitor conversations on the street.

FIRST FRUITS OF THE NEW GAZA 'HUDNA' - VOLLEYS OF ROCKETS

The Olmert government is already reaping the whirlwind. Hard on the heels of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, according to Amy Teibel and Ibrahim Barzak of the Associated Press, are volleys of anti-personnel rockets fired into what the Palistanian terrorists consider a free fire zone:

Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as a last-minute cease-fire deal took hold Sunday morning, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel. The ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad tempered hopes for a lasting truce, which was meant to end five months of deadly clashes. The rockets landed in open fields and caused no injuries.

Olmert's response:

"Even though there are still violations of the cease-fire by the Palestinian side, I have instructed our defense officials not to respond, to show restraint, and to give this cease-fire a chance to take full effect," he said during a ceremony at a high school in southern Israel.

This is all part of the game. Fund, equip, and arm semi-autonomous groups whose actions you can disavow. Ask for a "Hudna' and then continue the war.

DEMOCRAT CAMPAIGN PROMISE TO GO UNFULFILLED?

Looks as if the Democratics' pie-in-the-sky plan to "fix" the Medicare prescription-benefit program might not be so feasible. From the Sunday, November 26, 2006 edition of the Washington Post, "Success of Drug Plan Challenges Democrats" :

It sounded simple enough on the campaign trail: Free the government to negotiate lower drug prices and use the savings to plug a big gap in Medicare's new prescription-drug benefit. But as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, they are struggling to keep that promise without wrecking a program that has proven cheaper and more popular than anyone imagined. [UMPH ADDED.]

House Democrats have vowed to act quickly after taking power in January to lift a ban on Medicare negotiations with drugmakers, which they hope will save as much as $190 billion over a decade. But House leaders have yet to settle on a strategy and acknowledge that negotiation is, in any case, unlikely to generate sufficient savings to fill the "doughnut hole," the much-criticized gap in coverage that forces millions of seniors to pay 100 percent of drug costs for a few weeks or months each year....

"This is going to be much more of a morass than people think," said Marilyn Moon, director of the health program at the American Institutes for Research and a former trustee of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Negotiating drug prices is "a feel-good kind of answer, but it's not one that is easy to imagine how you put into practice."

The Medicare drug benefit, one of the Bush administration's signature domestic programs, was created in 2003 and took effect in January....The cost of the program has been lower than expected...

Tell the AARP, staunch supporters of the Democratic Party, that they've been had on this one.

CALM 2006 HURRICANE SEASON SILENCES THE ECO-NUTSIES, FOR NOW...

Many eco-nutsies claimed that Katrina was a result of man-made global warming, and that because of MMGW we were gonna get more frequent and worse hurricanes. (A few links here and here and here and here. And here, too. I could link forever - since there is seemingly no end to the eco-nutsies hysterical analyses and prognostications. And let's not forget fat jet-setter Al Gore and his inconvenient truth.)

Well, er um... it just effin' didn't happen, now, did it! The current hurricane season was pretty effin mild. And since man-made global greenhouse gases increased last and this year - like the year before that and the year before that, and so on - that must mean that THERE'S NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INTENSITY OR FREQUENCY OF HURRICANES AND MAN-MADE GREENHOUSE GASES. Period.

Al Gore's tirade turns out to have been nothing more than convenient demagoguery. The forecasters were ALL EFFIN WRONG WRONG WRONG!

So... ya think fat Al and the eco-nutsies will STFU?! YEAH: but only until there's another NATURAL disaster they feel they can blame on free markets, industrialization and the USA. SO: Let's enjoy the silence while we can!

UPDATE: OH NO! They're all ready predicting that 2007 will be worse! SHEESH!

11/27/06 - UPDATE #2 : TWO DAYS LATER: DRUDGE follows our lead, making this past QUIET hurricane season the lead story on his webpage today, with this link - proving once again that T.A.B. is the place to be!

UPDATE #3 / 11/28/06 - THE DOCTOR IS ON THE CASE: Dr. Sanity expounds on The Elders of the Protocols of Kyoto - with some great links!

YET MORE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT IN THAILAND

When the Muslim Thai general, Sonthi Boonyaratglin, seized control of the Thai government in a military coup in September, he announced that the new government would take a far softer line towards the jihadist terrorists in the southern part of the country. [Reliapundit adds: The junta claimed they were adopting this softer-line in the hope that this would appease the jihadists and end the religious strife.]

Previous entries at The Astute Bloggers have documented how appeasing the terrorists has only added fuel to the fire. Now there's this: in reaction to the recent incendiary murder of a school principal in Pattani province, the Pattani Teachers Federation has decided to close all 322 schools in the province until further notice. And more attacks are in store, according to the Bangkok Post:

In Narathiwat's Rangae district, many business operators have decided to yield to insurgent demands to close their businesses every Friday and Sunday. Small businesses in the district have closed their stores on Fridays due to similar threats in the past. But yesterday, business operators received a letter signed by ''Terrorist Group,'' telling them to also close their shops on Sundays.

The letter says all businesses in Rangae district's Tambon Tanyongmas municipality must acknowledge that Sunday is also a holiday as well as Friday. Any business operators failing to comply with the announcement would have to bear the consequences on their lives and property, the letter threatened.

A grocery shop owner in Tambon Tanyongmas said the letter had been placed at her door yesterday. After reading the letter, she and her fellow grocery shop operators agreed to comply with the instructions in the letter for fear of attacks. The letter was handed to state officials for further investigation.

In Yala province, an insurgent group clashed with a unit of military rangers yesterday near a railroad in Yala's Muang district, a military source said. Insurgents ambushed the rangers at their operation base near Tambon Taseh railway station, prompting an exchange of gunfire for about 10 minutes. There was no report of casualties at press time when reinforcements from nearby police and military units were sent to the scene of the fighting.

Earlier last night, three Buddhists were killed and three others wounded in three separate gun attacks in Yala's Muang and Yaha districts. One of the injured was a 78-year-old woman.

Police said the attacks were believed to be the work of insurgent groups. An intelligence official in the deep South predicted possible simultaneous, coordinated attacks against state officials and public facilities by separatist groups in villages where members of militant groups are living. The militants are believed to be planning bombing attacks on local electricity generating facilities in the villages before hitting other targets.

Closing down the schools seems to be a prime goal of the terrorists; in the last 3 years, 59 school teachers and officials have been killed. By depriving children of an education, they will plunge this region of a modern, vibrant, 21st-century country back into their hellish 12th-century dystopia.

And is it too far-fetched to believe that facilitating the secession of Pattani province is part of Sonthi Boonyaratglin's plans for Thailand? After all, he was the military commander responsible for the southern part of the country during 2005, when the insurgency dramatically escalated, and he once improbably claimed that communists, not jihadists, were responsible for the insurgency. The local governors thought that was nonsense. [Reliapundit adds: Which means the junta's efforts are either ill-fated appeasement or treachery. Neither are any good.]

We should all pray for the safety and well-being of the Thai people, and for their King, Rama IX, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is an accomplished agronomist, a philanthropic humanitarian, a firearms enthusiast, and the proud biographer of his rescue-dog "Tongdaeng."

WHAT IS A 'HUDNA'?

Now that the Olmert government has agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas, it seems apropos to examine the concept of a "Hudna" in Islamic jurisprudence- particularly since Hamas recently offered a 10-year "Hudna" to Israel. Just what is a "Hudna" anyway? To start off with a relatively middle-of-the-road definition, we can use the Wikipedia article, which notes:

According to Umdat as-Salik, a medieval summary of Shafi'i jurisprudence, hudnas with a non-Muslim enemy should be limited to 10 years: "if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary, for the Prophet made a truce with the Quraysh for that long, as is related by Abu Dawud" ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16).

The key to understanding the significance of the "Hudna" is in the phrase "if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary."

You have understood the "Hudna" when you realize that the problem it solves is not a problem for both parties in a conflict, but a problem unique to Muslims engaging in jihad. If jihad is truly a religious obligation incumbent on all Muslim believers, than to desist from continuing a jihad war, once commenced, would be a significant offense.

But what can the mujaheddin do, if the jihadis are in a weak military situation, and carrying the battle forwards would mean their destruction? Why, offer a "Hudna," of course! Once a "Hudna" is agreed upon by both parties, the jihadis are relieved of their pressing and immediate obligation to engage in warfare, and can rebuild their military strength while using diplomatic and propagandistic means to undermine their enemies. When that strength is renewed, and after a duration of no more than ten years, the jihad must be started up again.

The "Hudna" is not a cease-fire to which both parties agree, with the intention of ultimately and eventually resolving their differences in peaceful and binding negotiations. The "Hudna" is a one-sided cease-fire, the only purpose of which is to relieve military pressure on the jihad, when the jihad is in an untenable situation.

When Islamist fanatics such as Hamas offer a "Hudna" you can be certain that they understand that they are losing the war, and that they intend to regroup and re-arm while gulling their enemies into a false sense of security.

Hamas previously offered a "Hudna" in 2003, during which some 180 terrorist attacks occurred anyway. [The cartoon to the left is from 2003.]

In a recent op-ed in the New Duranty Times, a Hamas spokesman claimed that "a hudna extends beyond the Western concept of a cease-fire and obliges the parties to use the period to seek a permanent, nonviolent resolution to their differences."

That is clearly an example of taqqiya, or dissimulation.


As the moderate Muslim commentator Dr. Tashbih Sayyed points out:

Those who understand the Islamist ethos know that for political Islam, disengagement, a cease-fire, or a pull back on the part of the "enemy" is a sign of its weakness.

That is so because:

Political Islam finds a number of examples in the life of Prophet Muhammad that sanction the use of treaties as a tactical necessity. In explaining why he signed the Oslo Accord, Yasser Arafat cited a truce signed by Prophet Muhammad with the Meccan tribe Quraish at Hudaybiyah in 628 C.E. According to the PLO leader, Prophet Muhammad had signed the truce when he was not strong enough to win a war and it was to last for ten years. But when, within two years of the signing, the Muslims felt that they have gained enough strength to defeat the Quraish, they broke the truce, attacked the Quraish and captured Mecca.

A prominent Saudi sheikh, 'Abd Al-Muhsin Al-'Obikan, also referred to the same treaty while condemning Hezbollah's actions in Lebanon. He issued the edict against Hezbollah's actions not because he considered them wrong but because in his view Muslims, at the moment, are not strong enough to defeat Israel. He said that since the Muslims have no chance of winning this campaign against the Jews, a temporary solution is necessary - a truce similar to the temporary truce of Hudaybiyya.

According to the Saudi Sheikh, Islamic laws (Shari'a) also "place preconditions and constraints on the declaring of jihad, which must be considered in order to ensure the greatest gain for the nation and spare it loss - [that is,] in order to ensure the minimum possible damage and avoid greater damage.

One of the preconditions regarding jihad [states] that the [the jihad fighters] must have [sufficient] capability to inflict harm on the enemy and to repulse its evil, so as to ensure the lives, the property, and the honor of the Muslims and to safeguard them from aggression or harm, that is, [from] destruction of property, from violation of honor, and from bloodshed."

Accepting a "Hudna" from a committed Islamist adversary is inviting a viper into the nursery. If the West intends to defend itself from an unrelenting jihad, it must learn to recognize that when jihadis offer a "Hudna" is precisely when they must be pressed even harder.

Reliapundit adds: According to TIME, Hizballah (with the help of Syria and Iran) is using the HUDNA they received (courtesy of Bush and Rice and the UN) to rearm. As the song says: "WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN? WHEN WE WILL EVER LEARN?"

THE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT IN THAILAND

The German Press Agency reports:

Insurgents shot a school director Friday afternoon in southern Thailand, then set his vehicle on fire, killing him in the flames, the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper website reported.

Police said the director of a school in Pattani province, 750 kilometres south of Bangkok, was shot in his pickup truck while driving out of school. He was wounded but not killed in the shooting before insurgents set his pickup truck on fire. He was burned alive inside the truck.

Thailand's three predominately Muslim southernmost provinces have been increasingly restive the past three years, but no insurgent groups are claiming responsibility for the violence or making demands in exchange for stopping it.

Bangkok's new military-installed government has apologized to the people in the southern provinces for past injustices and is making a new approach to ending the violence peacefully a top priority.

It doesn't seem to be working out that way, does it?