Update Iraq: Grim as Ever ... only Kidding!

Even before 'the surge' took hold, things were looking up. Not that you'd figure that from the reporting in what is collectively termed, 'the West'. Just how misleading the reporting by the politically biased mainstream press is, has already been published in a number of blogs, and by some critical journalists with a beating heart for the investigative side of the profession - those that haven't become part of the global conspiracy for the cultivation of the anti American consensus.

Michael Yon - an independent reporter who's been blogging from Iraq (at his own expense) since December 2004 - describes in "Resistance is Futile: You will be (Mis)informed" in no uncertain terms how the public is hoodwinked into believing that the war is long hopelessly lost. The Democrats have a vested interest that this perception takes hold if they want to win the next presidential elections, which they do, desperately.

Yon sums up the situation in a set of illustrative pictures, and in a few pointed words: "A gulf", "a gap", "a chasm", "a parallel universe". "All describe the bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq ... I was at home in the United States just one day before the magnitude hit me like vertigo: America seems to be under a glass dome which allows few hard facts from the field to filter in unless they are attached to a string of false assumptions."

"The situation in Iraq has drastically changed, but the inertia of bad news leaves many convinced that the mission has failed beyond recovery, that all Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence, or are waiting for us to leave so they can crush their neighbors. This view allows our soldiers two possible roles: either “victim caught in the crossfire” or “referee between warring parties.” Neither, rightly, is tolerable to the American or British public."

This is how bad the situation is! Osama bin Laden just released the fourth video this year, bitterly scolding "the laxness" of his Iraqi cronies (clients, appears to be the new neutrality term). Newsday reports that "in the brief tape played on Al-Jazeera television, the terrorist leader urged militants to "beware of division", lamenting the "fanatical" tribal loyalties. This is perhaps no wonder, as the news that even Sunni tribesmen have had their fill of being slaughtered by the death cult, may not yet have filtered through to the profound Waziri layer of rocks, under which these hirabahists live.

In an 'in their face' provocation "the U.S. military plans a "unification parade" today in Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital, to showcase the success of a tribal alliance with some Sunnis. Maj. Lee Peters, a military spokesman, said increased security will protect the celebration, which will include at least 200 Sunni sheiks and hundreds of other dignitaries in commemoration of Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, founder of the anti-al-Qaeda Anbar Salvation Council, assassinated by a bomb Sept. 13."

Even the shushing tones of "the enslavers of women, the killers of homosexuals, the beheaders of reporters, and the incinerators of men and women" - tut-tutting from a place beyond history so much raw, unsophisticated, direct cowboy brawn - cannot stop the advancement of the loathsome neocon dream of democracy for all.

Once it lets its civilizational influence felt, not only will Islam cease to be a hotbed and a justification for Hirabah (unholy war), it will also help foster a culture in which gruesome anti human practices as shown today by our friends at Muslims Against Sharia, will become a thing of the past (caution: the images are very graphic!).

Effectively Communicating Jihad: a spade is a spade

Our new political watering hole, flagship and article library Politeia feels honoured to have gained permission by the author to publish a highly important essay on how strategic communications against the War on Terrorism can be improved. These pages have adopted, effective immediately, his recommendations with regard to idiom pertaining to Jihad and terrorism. We heartily encourage the readership to follow suit.

The author, Sam C. Holliday is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a former director of Stability Studies at the Army War College, and a retired Army Colonel. He earned a Master's in Public Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate in International Relations from the University of South Carolina. Currently he is Director of The Armiger Cromwell Center, a small nonprofit Internet organization for thinking "outside of the box of conventional wisdom." By means of its online essays, the ACC seeks more effective foreign policies to achieve stability through equilibrium. He's got his work cut out for him.

His recommendation for more precise idiom with respect to terrorism or the ongoing Jihad against the West, coincides with the alleged renunciation of terrorism by Sayid Imam al-Sharif, the man who prescribed the "Third Jihad" for the Islamization of the world. In effect, this could potentially be the turning point in the War on Terrorism.

Al-Sharif is the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. His supporters assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981. He himself was with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, fighting against the Soviet Union. He was captured after 9/11 and has been in an Egyptian jail since 2004.

There have been several reports that Al-Sharif will soon publish a book in which he states that the use of terrorism, and the killing of innocent nonbelievers in the name of Jihad, constitutes a violation of the Koran.

Sam Holliday argues that our enemies have called their struggle for the global Caliphate "Jihad", which means "holy war", and refer to their practitioners as "mujahidin", meaning "holy warriors", or "Servants of Allah" or, most irritating of all, “martyrs”. The latter word harks back to the first Christians who were persecuted under the pagan laws of the Roman Empire; it is derived from the Greek word 'martyras', meaning witness. They'd rather be tortured to death as 'witnesses to God', than acknowledge the Emperor's genie.

The point is that this Islamic terminology of holy war and holy warriors has positive emotional and religious connotations in the Muslim world. Furthermore - and this has become almost conspiratorial in its Orwellian dimensions - the media, Western governments and their spokespersons, the appeasers, apologists and advocates, for fear of antagonising the bullies, are exerting through political correctness the use of highly euphemistic terminology, the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" have been tabooed altogether and placed on an index of politically incorrect P.R. terms.

Sam Holliday argues that this Orwellian Newspeak is both inaccurate and dangerous. The leaders of the Third Jihad have exploited this lack of moral courage to their advantage. Holliday presses upon our leaders the urgent need to make changes in their spasmodic approach not to offend Muslims, and capitalize on al-Sharif's new found humanity. His dissent can potentially remove the Koranic justification from the terrorists. By accurately stating that we are fighting against Evil and Evildoers - not holy warriors - we can ourselves obtain a strategic communication advantage.

The author describes the "Third Jihad" as an aggressive revivalist movement that is accepted, respected and supported by peaceful and naive Muslims. The holy warriors come in numerous organizations of many sizes and with various tactical agendas. "They are motivated by feelings of envy, frustration, greed, prejudice and hatred that are the result of manipulation by the leaders."

Holliday provides a chronological outline of the history of Islam and the First and Second Jihads, the conquests of Spain and Byzantium (Constantinople), upto the Iranian Marxist-Islamist Revolution that overthrew the Shah, which is considered to be the starting shot of the third endeavour to establish a global Caliphate.

"For its leaders, the Third Jihad is just another effort to spread Islam until everyone is governed by “the ways of the Prophet”—and to take down the Great Satan. For the foot soldiers, it is a way to express their feelings. In all three Jihads violence has been an accepted way to eliminate, or convert, non-believers (infidels)."

They aim to weaken the opposition against the establishment of the global Caliphate, and to push back the influence of the West. This cultural takeover was al-Sharif's original goal. Many Muslims however oppose the Third Jihad as they have become its prime victims. Yet they might be willing to condemn “terrorism”, but not the goal of a Great Caliphate itself, being so central to Islam.

There's an entire Western cohort that denies the threat of the Third Jihad: if we meet the enemy with pacifist overtures, or perhaps throw them a Zionist bone, the danger will dissolve as by a miracle. This is often followed by assertions that directly refute the trivialization of terrorism, namely that it is the result of Western Foreign Policies in Islamic countries. This argument thanks its popularity to the fact that it suits the Leftist political agenda. Alternatively the existential rivalry between Shiites and Sunnis is pointed out, which is neither here, nor there (or anywhere).

Then there's the hyper dangerous, counter democratic phenomenon that is currently undermining our very way of life: the 'hate speech', "Islamophobia - a term invented to shut down legitimate and vital debate about the threat of the Third Jihad - and narrow their focus to the personal, inner, nonviolent Jihad al Akbar. They are weary, and want to enjoy the good life without effort or worry."

Not to mention the amount of deflectors: the climate, the McCanns, the amoral exploits of Hollywood degenerates. It all serves to at least distract the attention, or put in a positive light, a political-religious movement "that under international law is considered aggression, and for the past 300 years has often been called imperialism."

Holliday argues however that the idiom Hirabah (unholy warfare) and hirabahists (evildoers who use terror and will incur Allah's condemnation on Judgment Day) allows the distinction between Islam as religion and Islam as basis for all out conquest. He stresses the fact that it is necessary for Muslims to be "convinced that this distinction can be made in accordance with authentic Qur'anic Islam. The conversion of al-Sharif allows this distinction to be better communicated to all Muslims. The struggle over whether such a distinction can be made illustrates why communications is the center of gravity in irregular warfare—the oldest form of conflict among humans: insurgents using any means available to them to weaken those in authority."

The new idiom will be understood by, and will have meaning, for those who speak Arabic. We must attempt to discredit aggressive, unholy warfare, the Koranic justification of violence: Warfare against Hirabahists rather than War on Terror or GWOT (Global War on Terror). "However, the changes needed are not primarily in semantics. They are primarily contextual: how the leaders and people of America and Europe view irregular warfare and what changes they are prepared to make to become more effective in this form of conflict."

He clarifies further that we need to condemn terrorists in Islamic religious terms, rather than in Western secular terms. "No longer should we adopt the language of those falsely claiming they are fighting a Jihad for Islam." "If used effectively the apparent renunciation of terrorism by al-Sharif can facilitate such a change."

~ The entire essay is published on the Politeia Articles Database ~

Of the Saddam Connection and Al Qaeda's Unraveling

The Press from Hell has really done it this time, or so it seems. Things are moving on the counter terrorism front you wouldn't believe! Or perhaps you do ... judge for yourself:

- American Thinker: "A Quiet Triumph May be Brewing" by Ray Robison - "There are signs that the global Islamic jihad movement is splitting apart, in what would be a tremendous achievement for American strategy. The center of the action is in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the very territory which is thought to harbor Usama, and from which Al Qaeda was able to launch 9/11. Capitalizing on existing splits, a trap was set and closed, and the benefits have only begun to be evident."

"This cannot be overstated: it is the most crucial development since the capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Cutting al Qaeda's support in Pakistan has been a massive coup, of which our media has no clue of right now. It is the exact sort of thing that the Democrats and their media accomplices always complain that we are not doing and then completely ignore when we do it."

"By way of correlation, you may remember that the German government recently arrested Islamic terrorists planning an attack on US targets. It turns out that those men were trained and controlled by Uzbek terror camps in Pakistan -- this time meaning actual Uzbeks. The stated purpose of the attack was to force the German military to cease operations at an Uzbekistan base which is supporting operations in Afghanistan. The German terrorists were part of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) which is an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Other recent reports have noted that the order to the terrorists to start the attacks stated it was crucial for them to "go now" and attack within days during early September."

"To cause the German public to demand an end to operations in Afghanistan just as the Madrid train bombings caused the Spaniards to demand an end to that government's involvement in the war on terror. Since the Germans are the only western forces allowed to operate in Uzbekistan this would help al Qaeda forces trapped in Tora Bora."

"The Bush Administration, most likely through the CIA and DIA, has pulled off a fantastic maneuver to split the global Islamic jihad movement at its base. This is the kind of stuff we may not hear about in detail for another fifty years. Congratulations to our President and our brave soldiers and intelligence assets for making this happen. Al Qaeda is losing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The fact is now inescapable that they have lost the ability to impose their political will on the West, athough this does not mean ...."

Here's a link to a 3D map of Tora Bora, Afghanistan which ran in Time Magazine in 2001.

Here's the entire article! It reads like a spy novel ...! >>>

Wait, there's more by the same author. We already touched the subject in yesterday's digest. The Saddam-Al Qaeda connection!


- American Thinker: "Al Qaeda's Man in Saddam's Iraq" - "As is widely known, Zarqawi was indeed moving between Iraq and Iran at this time but his links to al Qaeda and reasons for being in Iraq have been contested."

"As I explained in a previous American Thinker article, he was indeed al Qaeda and he was in Iraq to fight Americans instead of Saddam. In that article I detailed how the Jordanian population had become more radicalized by a “jihad stream” of Palestinian refugees who were kicked out of Kuwait by that government for collaborating with Saddam when Iraq invaded in 1990. Those Jordanians, like Zarqawi, were directed by an al Qaeda associate named al Barqawi."

"Zarqawi’s mentor Barqawi was a Saddam sympathizer and al Qaeda affiliate who sent these Jordanian-Palestinians to Iraq to fight the Americans. Clearly these Jordanian-Palestinians were not in Iraq to impose their own brand of regime change on Saddam; they were there to kill US forces."

"Now a man named Hamid Mir, who is an Executive Editor for Geo TV in Islamabad, Pakistan, writing for the popular India news website rediff.com, reveals his inside knowledge ... >>>

Of an Unholy Alliance of Another Kind: Terror, Crime and Gags

In "The War Against the Greek State" in relation to the 'asymmetric nature' of this summer's wildfires in Greece, reference was made to its close relation with crime. Ioannis Michaletos, Junior Analyst & Coordinator at the Southeastern Europe Office of the World Security Network Foundation described it as follows:

"... the all-pervading criminal networks have gained a lot of strength over the past decade due to the opportunities the globalization process provides for their communication, transfer of funds and recruitment. A combination of political aims, ill-aimed business strategies, and abundance of 'executive personnel', is a first clue of what might have caused the current situation and what lies ahead, not just for Greece but for the whole world."

"The only organizations having the logistics in place for the series of arson attacks are international criminal networks. "... only an internationally networked factor could have organized the whole scheme, preferably associated with illegal industries such as narcotics, trafficking and weapons smuggling."

I'll have more details in a few weeks' time, but the idea behind pyro terrorism is "why take the trouble of resorting to dirty bombing when you've got perfectly good, unconventional, asymmetric, large scale arson at your disposal?"

On 14th August Flanders Fields in "Stop Forum Shopping Terrorism" reported on the case of Dr Rachel Ehrenfeld, who was also Pamela Geller's guest at BlogTalkRadio. While the legal gagging of investigators takes on the dimensions of a strategy in itself, Dr Ehrenfeld in a recent article "Terror Criminal Links Growing" on Frontpage stresses that:

"... even if only a little (of laundered crime money) goes to terrorist groups, it's frightening ... not only that, but you see the convergence of organized crime and terrorism occurring. In May 2007, Los Angeles Sheriff Department Lt., John Sullivan, stated: "organized crime groups in Los Angeles County are supporting international terrorists."

"Jihad is not committed by the sword alone. While less transparent, economic and financial jihads are far more insidious aspects of the jihadist war to defeat the West, and especially the U.S." More on Rachel Ehrenfeld's site The American Center for Democracy.

Information on Dr Ehrenfeld's suppressed book "Funding Evil", as well as on a global conference call with the author scheduled for tomorrow September 16th, can be found on News Release Wire.

Dr Ehrenfeld is fighting Saudi oil money opponents on her own! Please consider making a donation to her legal funds! She is fighting for each and every one of us!




Update: Here's a link to a Pajamas video of Robert Spencer's take on the latest ObL missive on the event of "the sixth 9/11 anniversary."

Of the Cavalry, the Khalifate & Continents Full of Treason

Mayor Freddy 'The Toad' Thielemans owes Stop Islamization of Europe Organization, what can by now be termed, a Veritable Global Celebrity Status! Let's show him once more in full glory:

Here comes the U.S. Cavalry to the rescue of the brave men and women who are out there tomorrow, saving Europe from the clutches of the Marxist Khalifate of Brussels! Well, perhaps not the real cavalry, but a few pick-me-ups, anyway:

- Human Events: "European Leaders Not Protecting Society from a Muslim Culture" by Italian freelance columnist and blogger Stefania Lapenna. It's worth a quote or two. "... those supposed to protect our lives, liberties and security are doing just the opposite, including against the very people who voted them into office."

"The biggest and deadliest threat we now face is the willful blindness of the European bureaucratic leaders who run in fear at the thought of non-Muslims exercising their fundamental rights to free speech and assembly. Most recently Brussels' mayor, Freddy Thielemans, banned a peaceful demonstration organized by a non-political group of European citizens who decided to join forces to voice their discontent with appeasement and political correctness."

"That they've chosen the symbolic date of 9/11 is unexceptionable, as they intended to protest the war on civilization declared on September 11, 2001. The mayor deliberately censored the use of the 'M' word ... Neither he nor the European Court of Human Rights are willing to deal with truly hate-promoting, racist front groups like the Arab-European League (AEL), an Islamo-fascist gang inspired by Hezbollah ..."

"Eurocrats may well try to prohibit rallies, censor taboo words and all they deem a menace to their Eurabian project, but they will have sooner or later have to come to terms with millions of Muslims who are already conquering - silently but surely - the whole Continent and won't hesitate to subjugate even those who allowed them to assault an entire system of values ... >>>

- Cybercast News Service: "Anti-Shari'a 9/11 Protest Will Go Ahead Despite Hurdles, Organizers Say", by Patrick Goodenough, who - contrary to EP' Socialist Gruppen Leader Schulz - was good enough to visit the SIOE websites: "... they are continuing to appeal on their Web sites for participants to follow a set of simple rules ..."Racists and violent people or organizations are not welcome to join our demonstration ..." >>>

The officials' sensitivities of the date 9/11 don't extend to 9/9, a day which carries no symbolic significance whatsoever. Hence:

- While in Brussels the Troofers of the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories United were out in force yesterday - all 200 of them - for a spot of French style capitalist bashing, New York was the proud host of the Annual Islamists Day Parade - ah, the beauty of the free world! La Geller of Atlas Shrugs talks you through that: downtown Manhattan she's told to 'cover up'. I'm refraining from further comment. >>>

- Atlas Shrugs has an exclusive written by Dr Paul Williams: "Media Alter bin Laden's Message": "Real warning received no airing on major news outlets, leading Pakistani broadcaster charges ... 'We must sacrifice our lives to attack the enemy.' This statement ... is a call for suicide attacks ..." Osama's postscript under way ... >>>

- Update: Here's the deal offered by bin Laden: America converts to Islam, and in return pays an Islamic poll tax rate of only 2,5 percent ... plus, gets a free pass to Heaven ... howzat? Impossible to refuse, what?

Counter-Terrorist Blog Swarm Wanted!

Present blog swarm request was picked up from 1389 Mobile Blog in respect of a subject close to our hearts: Kosovo, and how the world was duped into believing they did the right thing, while in fact a sort of European Waziristan is in the making (remember Tora Bora?).

Earlier posts in this blog on the subject were:

- Quotes of the Day, History calling, and Yes to an Islamic State in the Balkans
- Tony's Canard, Bunkers and some darned thing in the Balkans
- Neo Totalitarianism (5): the Transnational State
- Transnational Progressivism: an Inexplicable Presumption

These posts contain further links with articles for perusal.

Reason for the blog swarm initiative is the continued journalistic and diplomatic black hole that is the Serbian province and Serb historical heartland of Kosovo. But now another unique, in-depth, comprehensive article by Julia Gorin "Ending the Balkan Quagmire at American Thinker" was published. An earlier article by Gorin can be found in "Radical Islam's Dupes".

Considering that Serb activists are not always acting in their own best interests, as well as the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the Balkans even at the best of times, I'm often very reluctant to rely on any sources that don't meet the highest possible standards. I can state without hesitation that Gorin is one of the most reliable around. She is impartial (if politically incorrect), always professional and of a dying breed: the incisive investigative journalist.

Although it would appear from some quarters that the fateful project may be shelved till the autumn, no time must be lost to inform the world of the impending diplomatic disaster in the heart of the Balkans and how the public is being hoodwinked into believing we are on the right side of history here, while in fact it is a historical and political scandal of the first order.

Further reading:

- Serbia Owed Justice in Kosovo by Gregory Clark (Japan Times)
- That Flapping Sound I hear by William Lind (Military.com)
- Former Kosovan PM goes on trial for KLA's cleansing crimes by Vesna Peric Zimonjic (The Independent on Sunday)
- Whistleblower: Kosovo 'Owned' By Albanian Mafia by Sherrie Gossett (NewsMax.com)
- Wahhabi Rules: Islamic Extremism Comes to Bosnia by Boris Kanzleiter (World {Politics Review)
- Wahhabi leader slain in gunfight; arrests made By Igor Jovanovic (Southeast European Times)

And the very lastest news just in: there seems to be a rather nebulous sort of 'summit' under way in Sarajevo of government leaders, NATO and NGOism who cannot stop repeating that Kosovo's independence is in the "interest of stability". Sedition or ... what?

The latest chapter in Operation Western Auto-destruct

Christmas 2006, Boxing Day and another conflict, a fresh war by proxy (or the second instalment of a rather stale one) ... not two days old and the Western press is already levelling the balance of power, or whatever it is they think they are doing in an attempt at "impartiality". In a so-called scoop they are appealing to the Western sense of chivalry, by which it is considered cowardice and generally bad form to attack someone whose back is turned. You might think it from a distant past, occasionally observed in outdated movies from a time when we were civilized, but apparently it is alive and well. Consider this head line:

"Ethiopian jets fire on retreating Somali Islamists"

The news
With the blessing of the African Union which has upheld its right to intervene the Ethiopia government launched attacks on Sunday against forces of the Council of Islamic Courts in Somalia and "foreign organizations" (terrorist groups) in a decision to protect the country’s sovereignty and in a back-up of the official Somali government. On Monday, Ethiopian jet fighters attacked another airport controlled by the Council of Islamic Courts in Somalia, a few hours after an air raid against the Mogadishu International Airport.
The Ethiopian government has asked for a surrender of the Islamist troops and promised no revenge would be taken. They called on the Islamists to surrender and promised them amnesty if they lay down their weapons and stop opposing the internationally recognized government. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said he does not intend to keep his forces in Somalia for long, perhaps only a few weeks. His goal is to damage the group's military capabilities so as to allow both sides to return to peace talks on an even footing.

A reminder
A reminder of U.N. and U.S. involvement in Somalia you might like to visit our Store Room, the place were we keep notes, clarifications, documentation, which might otherwise hamper easy reading here.

Back to the story
That Islamists, having taken power by force from the officially recognized government doesn't bother Reuters. That the Islamists have imposed strict sharia law (with all its excesses, corporal punishments, including stoning of adulterers and other violations of universal human rights) in the conquered areas, also doesn't bother them. That Bin Laden in a November 1996 press interview said that he had provided weapons to the warlords in Somalia during the relief operation and that his cadres carried out attacks against U.S. forces, stationed there in protection of said U.N. mission, doesn't bother them either. Nor that the U.S. government says four Al Qaeda leaders, believed to be behind the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, are now leaders in the Islamic militia.

The trick
Press agency Reuters, barely two days into the conflict, has already taken it upon themselves to restore the balance of power, or whatever it is they are doing, by creating an atmosphere against the "top dogs", the Ethiopian and the official Somali government, saying in effect: they are shooting innocent people in the back! What Reuters is doing is framing the situation in Muslim terms by opposing "we" being the kafirs (or infidels) to "them" being the Muslim faithfull; "they" are the under-dogs attacked by "us", thereby confirming what "they" have been saying for a long time. The Muslim perception has become the norm in the Western media. Or more correctly sometimes, it is how Western relativists/multi-culturalists think Muslims perceive it. It is a trick which is played out day after day in the news outlets, by which we are told the story of ourselves, re-framed in perceived Muslim terms. That is how Christianity and speeches by Pope Benedict are misportrayed, how news items are distorted and how policies are misrepresented.

The scoop?
What then is the meaning of such headlines? No other news outlet is carrying the story and the allegation is also not borne out by the story itself, except to say that "Ethiopian jets fired missiles on Somali Islamist fighters retreating on Tuesday ... "and that (thereafter, we must assume) an Islamist fighter commented that two planes attacked heavily in the last 30 minutes. "I can confirm three dead", he says in confirmation.

It is to be understood as a scoop of course by one of Reuters' people on the ground. I think it is just the latest chapter in Operation Western Auto-destruct under the banner of Down With Us. Now let's see if the story is picked up and/or followed by others ...

A bit for everyone: on conspiracy theories, fun and gay pride, babies and baggy garments

After a blissfully Islam-free day we are today back at it again. It is a sad fact. BBC's Newsnight on Tuesday revealed that even the Home Office has been infiltrated by an obscure group. Films and videos of staged torture sessions are circulating; these are purportedly smuggled out of Abu Graib prison and out of Camp X-Ray on Guantanamo Bay on Cuba. In fact, they are theatrical productions.
Of course the Middle East itself always has been been rife with political hear-say and conspiracy theories. It is a result of dictatorial, secretive government and "byzantine" palace intrigue.
But, rationality not being what it used to be in the West thanks to years of down-graded education, the most incredulous conspiracy theories are also surfacing here. Some are home-produced, copied and circulated by the Western media. Like this one on 9/11, which was not masterminded by Osama c.s., but on the contrary by the Americans themselves would you believe! Another alleges it's all their own fault, but that's the common fashionable view on the "European high street" anyway!
Of course all this bovine manure is lapped up like sweet tea by all kinds of credulous naives and people with agendas.

It goes without saying that there are many good willing people, like Senay Özdemir but campaigns such as hers are too little, too late, too few and more than a little naive. The title says it all ("Holland must be fun again"). Fun (leuk) isn't a category which even begins to cover the needs! It is as vague and relative as the patient itself. Like the nebulous attempt of the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan-Peter Balkenende to instill some morals and manners into the country. He talks a bit about norms and values without further specification, organizes a meeting with minorities (as if their lack of integration is the problem), and that's it. As if a new definition of "the done thing" or a contemporary book on etiquette could save the situation (although that still might have done some good in 1985)! The truth is, what is required now is a solid moral compass to set the dials by - in short, wat we need is a Restoration! P.C.s, pull up your panty-hose and strap on your aprons: beware of the return of the Brussels Sprouts**!

Here's yet another sad piece of evidence that the world could do with a bit of Science before Science! Embryos*, albeit in a frozen state are not considered unborn life and as such do not enjoy the protection of the Irish government, a judge has found. (I wouldn't be surprised if this is part and parcel of the E.U.'s liberal idea of Best Practice; the same one that treated Mr Buttiglione as a criminal, instead of the highly ethical Catholic and man of integrity that he is; but hey, of course only Leftists and Liberals can be trusted with the ability of separating their personal convictions from their political judgments). The Irish judge concluded, that everyone seems to agree that embryos are entitled to “special respect,” but what exactly that means from a legal point of view remains ambiguous; he proposes the matter to be resolved by parliament or in a referendum, as if that are the forums to weigh basic matters concerning ethics or morality. But more on that later on, in an essay I'm working on at present in re of the separation of Church and State and it's present misunderstandings on the subject.

Holland enjoys the existence dr Antoine Bodar, a "conservative", non-practicing homosexual, a Benedictine priest who has become a bit of a cult-figure lately. The other day he was in a town hall meeting with "Embrace Pink", an obscure organization of homosexual youngsters.

I would like to share with you the last paragraph of an article I just

read: "If the Church refuses to bless my (love) relationship it is heartless and stubborn", says one theology student (whom I hope will have a change of heart shortly and take up geology instead). And ... "The Church is about people, isn't it?" (you could have fooled me; that last time I checked the Church was about God).
"Isn't this intransigence (i.e. the refusal to wed homosexuals) the reason the churches are empty?" Goes Bodar: ,,No, the churches are empty due to hedonism and a liturgy that is so flat you might as well stay at home." Needless to say, I'm in his cult, every time!


STOP PRESS The Dutch cabinet has backed a proposal by the country's immigration minister Rita Verdonk to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa (a bag-like object which reduces women to a life as ghosts) in public. A bill to that effect was first tabled in Parliament by Geert Wilders.
The sacraficial lamb is this time the harmless crash helmet with vizor. In the U.K. it is a crucifix belonging to a British Airways employee. If ever it is found necessary to ban Muslim schools (which is well imaginable) also the Christian faith based schools will have to go (Egalite, remember?). As their education level is much higher than public schools, this sacrafice comes at a price, probably too high a price. Whatever's next to go?

* Pro-choicers are defending the practice of abortion by describing and thereby trivialising the very young embryo as "no more than a cluster of cells". If they had any idea of basic philosophy as dealt with in Science before Science they'd understand their mistake. Potential being, is being nonetheless. What they are saying here is "if it is very small, it is nothing" a premise demonstrably false.

** See post on Jan Pronk and note on the Insane Ida movement.

Jan Pronk is at it, again ...

Our national Charles Chaplin of high diplomacy has put his foot in it again.

http://www.janpronk.nl/index120.html

Kofi Annan's special envoy to Sudan has 72 hours to get packing. The government lot in Sudan, being under heavy pressure internationally to accept a real U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur instead of the toothless ragtag A.U. army which is presently in place (7.000 men for an area the size of France, more the government won't tolerate), has for some time now been looking for an excuse to suspend negotiations. Well, thanks Jan, you have just given it to them on a gold platter! Still cannot keep you emotions in check, eh? Still too much in touch with your Dolle Miena* side?

* Dolle Miena, lit. Insane Ida, the name of the activist group of women who in the sixties (and seventies? anyway the time of the Socio-Cultural Revolution of blessed memory) were on the barricades pro choice, pro pre-school for three year olds, pro D.D.R. (very good pre-schools for three year olds!), against 'Nam, nukes and cruise missiles even if they might have saved civilization as we know it; anti anyting American in general and any U.S. president in particular - and above all, against common decency (most still shudder with the very thought of it; some have even supernatural, extrasensorial experiences accompanying these terrible reminisces (for instance a sudden inexplicable smell of brussels sprouts! Yak ...).

Now that Osama and his entourage have been kicked out of Afghanistan they are apparently looking for another country to turn into a hell-hole and he'll be jumping up and down with joy that this one is once again becoming vacant. Hey, perhaps we can even open up a new front there in the war on terror!

Jan, Jan, in the past I've said so more than once when you'd yet again were given ministerial opportunity to unleash Keynesian economics on our poor country, but I bet right now even at the U.N. in New York City they'd wish you remained in Scheveningen, and had followed a blissful vocation aboard herring kotter m/s "Cornelia II", on the high seas, instead....