Peace and Justice Post

Dr Maxtor’s Analysis, March 22, 2008

Another example of why the media cannot be taken seriously. “Pope baptizes prominent Italian Muslim” screamed Yahoo’s start page. Upon reading the article we find that the “prominent Muslim” is somebody called Magdi Allam, who has never practiced Islam in his life, nor does he have any links to the Italian Muslim community. So what makes the obscure Allam so “prominent”? He’s a Zionist, or better yet a shabbos goy on the payroll. Well, that would explain a lot, including why so many of the usual suspects are praising this sock puppet. I guess the neocon “Sheikh” Palazzi(self-proclaimed Zionist “Khalifah of Rome” with a MySpace account) will now have some company. The Jewish propaganda machine is sure getting desperate and sloppy, and I thought they hit rock bottom when they started carting Wafa Sultan around. Oh, and Pope Ratzinger, thanks for taking Magdi Allam, not that he was ever a part of the Ummah or anything like that but you’re not doing Catholicism any favors by adding a charlatan to its ranks.

Amnesty International, March 24, 2008

Over 400 people were arrested in Nepal on Monday as the authorities clamped down on peaceful demonstrations against Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet.

“Nepal is sending a message of no-tolerance of dissent by arresting peaceful demonstrators,” said Amnesty International, cautioning that the latest wave of repression extends beyond Tibet-related protests. “This is the latest in a series of clampdowns on peaceful demonstration as elections approach.”

In one incident in the capital Kathmandu, activists were detained ahead of an Amnesty International Nepal vigil on Tibet. At 13:55 local time, 17 activists were detained in Maitiyala Mandala and taken to Singha Durbar Police Station. No reason has been given for their arrest.

Continued . . .

Calls for the west to use force to restore its values in the face of radical Islam reveal a profound detachment from reality

Alastair Crooke | The Guardian, Monday March 24 2008

The French philosopher Michel Foucault notes that in all societies discourse is controlled – imperceptibly constrained, perhaps, but constrained nonetheless. We are not free to say exactly what we like. The norms set by institutions, convention and our need to keep within the boundaries of accepted behaviour and thought limit what may be touched upon. The Archbishop of Canterbury experienced the backlash from stepping outside these conventions when he spoke about aspects of Islamic law that might be imported into British life.

Once, a man was held to be mad if he strayed from this discourse – even if his utterings were credited with revealing some hidden truth. Today, he is called “naive”, or accused of having gone “native”. Recently, the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) marshalled former senior military and intelligence experts in order to assert such limits to expression by warning us that “deference” to multiculturalism was undermining the fight against Islamic “extremism” and threatening security.

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, in a recent interview with a German magazine, embellished Rusi’s complaints of naivety and “flabby thinking”. Radical Islam won’t stop, he warned, and the “virus” would only become more virulent if the US were to withdraw from Iraq.

Continued . . .

Source: Lew Rockwell

By Sam Baker

On May 14, 2005 the Associated Press reported Bulgaria’s announcement that it would provide three new military bases to the US. General James Jones, the top commander of US and NATO troops in Europe, said that he would propose to the US Congress “four or five Bulgarian military facilities for use by US forces.” More recently, the US announced plans for new bases in Romania.

Why does the US need new military bases in Bulgaria and Romania? According to Chalmers Johnson, in his book “The Sorrows of Empire,” America already possesses more than 725 overseas bases. This incredible estimate comes from two official sources: The Department of Defense’s “Base Structure Report,” and “Worldwide Manpower Distribution by Geographical Area.” Johnson claims that the figure is actually an underestimate, because many bases are “secret” or otherwise not listed on official books. As an example, Johnson quotes several sources who cite at least six US installations in Israel which are either operating or are under construction.

Continued . . .

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By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

Reuters, March 24, 2008

PARIS (Reuters) – The Easter baptism of an Italian Muslim by Pope Benedict was a provocative act that raises questions about the Vatican’s approach to Islam, a leading participant in Christian-Muslim dialogue said on Monday.

Aref Ali Nayed, a key figure in a group of over 200 Muslim scholars launching discussion forums with Christian groups, said the Vatican had turned the baptism of Egyptian-born journalist Magdi Allam into “a triumphalist tool for scoring points.”

He said the Vatican should distance itself from a searing attack on Islam that Allam published on Sunday in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, where he is deputy director.

Commentators in Algeria and Morocco echoed Nayed’s view, saying Allam’s conversion was a personal affair but his attacks on Islam and his headline-grabbing baptism by the pope strained relations between Muslims and the Catholic Church.

“The whole spectacle… provokes genuine questions about the motives, intentions and plans of some of the pope’s advisers on Islam,” Nayed, who is director of the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, said in a statement.

“Nevertheless, we will not let this unfortunate episode distract us from our work on pursuing ‘A Common Word’ for the sake of humanity and world peace. Our basis for dialogue is not a tit-for-tat logic of reciprocity.”

Nayed was one of 138 Muslim scholars who last October issued an unprecedented appeal entitled “A Common Word” that urged a serious dialogue between Christians and Muslims on the basis of the shared values of love of God and neighbor. Dozens more scholars have since signed the appeal.

Continued . . .

Associated Press, 24 March 2008

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb killed four US soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.

The grim milestone came on the same day that rockets and mortars pounded the US-protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shia extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.

A Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldier also was wounded in the roadside bombing, which struck the soldiers’ patrol vehicle about 10 p.m. in southern Baghdad, according to a statement.

Identities of those killed were withheld pending notification of relatives.

Navy Lt. Patrick Evans, a military spokesman, expressed condolences to all the families who have lost a loved one in Iraq, saying each death is ‘equally tragic.’

‘There have been some significant gains. However, this enemy is resilient and will not give up, nor will we,’ he said. ‘There’s still a lot of work to be done.’

Continued . . .

The Smirking Chimp, March 23, 2008

By Eric Margolis

The latest Tibetan rebellion against Chinese rule has captured world sympathy and horribly embarrassed China’s government just as Beijing has been pulling out all the stops preparing for its summer Olympic extravaganza.

But is there anything the world community can do besides issuing more platitudes?

First, some questions.

Is Tibet historically part of China, as Beijing claims? Yes and no. Tibet was spiritually linked to China from about 1370 in a “priest-ruler” relationship. Tibet’s Lamaist Buddhist theocracy recognized the ultimate temporal power of China’s emperor, while the emperor recognized Lhasa’s spiritual primacy and total autonomy. Lhasa became the Vatican for the Mongol Empire and its successor, China’s Ming Empire.

In 1913, while China was in chaos, Tibet, backed by the British Empire, declared independence. So it remained until October 1950, when the People’s Army invaded Tibet and declared it “reunited” to China. A year earlier, Chinese troops had invaded and crushed the independent Republic of East Turkistan — today called Xinjiang — whose Turkic-Mongol Uighurs, long fought Chinese rule and Han Chinese immigration.

Continued . . .

The Times, UK, March 24, 2008