"Twenty Ten", by Lloyd Marcus

We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident

On America's Flag Day Europe honors the embodiment of the self-evident truths of Human Equality and Liberty. May your light shine for ever more ... from sea to shining sea ...! -



Hat Tip: Ironic Surrealism II

- Filed on Articles in "Americana" -

The Afghan Treasure Surviving the Dark Ages

Art Daily: "Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul at National Gallery of Art" (Washington)

Extraordinary artifacts uncovered in modern-day Afghanistan — once the heart of the Silk Road linking cultures from Asia to the Mediterranean — long thought stolen or destroyed during some 25 years of conflict until the dramatic announcement of their existence in 2003, begin their United States tour at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, May 25 through September 7, 2008.

- Caption: Unfired-clay sculpture (second century B.C.)
excavated at the site of Greek city of Aï Khanum -

The exhibition, co-organized by the National Geographic Society (recommended reading) and the National Gallery of Art, will travel to the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, October 24, 2008 through January 25, 2009; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 22 through May 17, 2009; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 23 through September 20, 2009. After its tour through Paris, Turin, and Amsterdam, the show was reorganized for the United States and accompanied by a new catalogue and a video documentary produced by National Geographic and narrated by the celebrated author, Khaled Hosseini.

Revealing Afghanistan’s multicultural heritage are some 228 objects ranging in date from 2200 BC to the second century AD. Drawn from four archaeological sites, they belong to the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul and include fragmentary gold bowls with artistic links to Mesopotamia and Indus valley cultures (modern-day Pakistan) from the Bronze Age site of Tepe Fullol; bronze and stone sculptures and a gilded silver plaque from the former Greek colony at Aï Khanum (“Lady Moon”); bronzes, ivories, and painted glassware that had been imported from Roman Egypt, China, and India, and excavated from ancient storerooms discovered in the 1930s and 1940s in Begram; and more than 100 gold ornaments from the “Bactrian Hoard,” found in 1978 in Tillya Tepe, the site of six nomad graves, and revealing a synthesis of Greek, Roman, Persian, Indian, Chinese, and Siberian styles. (...) >>>

Pricked by CassandraTroy with Nomao

Ideological Archeology: Rousseau (II)

Swiss-French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's (1712-1778) personal life is marked by traits sounding awkwardly contemporary. Self-pity and paranoia play see-saw with wrong choices and deflecting blame. Man is by nature good, it is society that is the cause of corruption and vice. Iconic for Rousseauian thought is the image of the noble savage, man in his natural state before his fall from Paradise.

There is nothing ambiguous about his ethics however: he believed his 'doctrine of two substances' to be the key to the absolute quality of good and evil [Jonathan I. Israel, Radical Enlightenment, 2001, p., 2001, p. 719]. In an example in a classical setting he saw in Athenian decadence the degrading influence of reason. He preferred the cruder, militaristic Spartans, an unspoiled and nobler tribe. Their callous practice of exposing babies to nature - now in dispute - may well have inspired Rousseau to expose his own five illegitimate children to the hardships of the Paris orphanage.

Although Rousseau died in 1778, before the French Revolution, his justification of violence to power was the source of inspiration of the Reign of Terror that the Jacobins unleashed during the latter part of the rebellion. In 1792 the French 'citizen army' faced the Prussian forces at Valmy. In a psychological victory they prevented them from marching on to Paris to restore the monarchy. Earlier in the capital a mob had stormed the Tuilleries Palace. In the massacres over a thousand political prisoners were brutally hacked to death. Fabre d'Eglantine declared: "In the towns, let the blood of traitors be the first Holocaust to Liberty, so that in advancing to meet the common enemy, we leave nothing behind to disquiet us!" [Wildmonk]

After "the first Holocaust to Liberty" many more would follow. It is a specific feature, typical of Rousseau's constellation of ideas. The chief ingredients as expressed in "Profession de Foi" are a sweeping rejection of tradition, Revelation, and all institutionalized authority. [Radical Enlightenment, p. 718]

In Roussea's ideas we find the source of every anti-Liberal, violent revolution ever since the French Revolution went off the Lockean track. Rousseau is ultimately the father of many noxious and lethal traditions besides: Romanticism, redistributive Socialism, philosophical agrarianism, conservative Communitarianism, Nazism, and more to the point, the Counter-Enlightenment and postmodernism. Cultures, adopting Rousseauian ideas found in them a mirror of some aspect of their own identity. [Wildmonk]

Many have descended into the abyss of collectivist hell. In France his radical egalitarianism led to The Reign of Terror, in Germany to Left and Right Socialism with known result, in Russia and the Far East to communism, starvation and slaughter on grandiose scales. In China Mao Tse Tung's Great Leap Forward resulted in the greatest mass murder in human history and in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge's extermination campaign to establish Rousseauian agrarianism resulted in the deaths of well over twenty percent of the population. [Wildmonk] If this is not evil, frankly I don't know what is.

Why Rousseau is different
Rousseau stands apart in many respects. He marks the fault-line in Western tradition between Anglo-American and Continental lines of thought, and forms the point of departure from the Enlightenment because he is essentially anti-modern [Wildmonk]. While loosely following the traditional path of Enlightenment thought, his radical stance differs notably on the crucial issues of anti-individualism [Isaiah Berlin, "Against the Current", 2001], anti-capitalism and against private property ("Radical Enlightenment", p. 273), anti science and technology, his radical egalitarianism, and the inherent mindset in which the means are justified by the perceived noble end.

Rousseau is often quoted as the iconic philosopher of the Enlightenment, but it is quite clear he fiercely rejected all its tenets and values. No doubt, here we have the ground zero of the Counter-Enlightenment.

He was certainly no believer in mutually beneficial interaction, or the beneficial effects on society of self-interest (Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733), "The Fable of the Bees"), asserting that "society hardly needs to feed man's love for himself and his desire to be first among men." ["Radical Enlightenment", p. 273].

His radical egalitianism is echoed in the notion that rational and industrious man with dehumanizing machines would replace royalty as an enslaver of the common man, being better and more ruthless on the aggregation of material goods. He argued that the separation of the progress and dissemination of science and art from political and religious control are hazardous for society and for the virtue of the people [Bloom, 1990]. But it gets worse."

Common will" instead of freedom
In Rousseau we see the first social contract at the price of freedom and the birth of a notion called the "common will". The latter is a concept that in Rousseau's approach requires state intervention. This should not be confused with the 'common good'. It is a far more developed conception which, and unlike the former, can only be realized in the context of civil society under the state ["Radical Enlightenment", p. 720).

For the creation of a society of common will, "freedom of all the people", they need only accept the dictates of the state. This was Rousseau's essence of "true civilization." The struggle between rich and poor would then rise to a moral experience of self-restraint. [Wildmonk] With the faculty of moral choice thus abdicated and forfeited to the state, people would be free from lowly - earthly desires and reach full - ideal potential. Man is thus divorced from the social and economic context in which he lives and interacts with others. The ideal state of heaven, separated from earthly considerations.

This totalitarian approach to freedom, an abomination in every sense, was later further developed by Marx, who wrote that "capitalist, individual liberty is the most complete suppression of all individual liberty and total subjugation of individuality to social conditions" [Wildmonk: Marx, "Grundnisse", pp. 131]. "Freedom can only consist in socialized man, the associated producers, rationally regulating their interchange with Nature, bringing it under their common control, instead of being ruled by it as by the blind forces of Nature; and achieving this with the least expenditure of energy and under conditions most favourable to, and worthy of their human nature." [Wildmonk: Marx, "Selected Writings", pp. 496].

In this way man's separation from his nature and morality began. Never in human history were their worse judges of human character than Rousseau and his followers: all seek some degree of formal control over individual freedom for the purpose of creating material conditions deemed necessary for "true freedom", moralectomy in precise equal measure. Rousseau's concept of "common will" became the most savage, bloody instrument of social engineering in the history of mankind.

The Atlantic Ridge
In the United States Thomas Jefferson was the most prominent supporter of the French revolutionary achievements. Nevertheless, property rights and Enlightenment liberties were set in stone in the spirit of Locke, Montesquieu and Adam Smith. The present Democratic Party is being diverted further and further from that tradition as the sway of the postmoderns intensifies. Rhetorical style and attitude betray their influence.

While National Socialist and Communist ideas have swept America to some extent in their haydays - notwithstanding the counter culture, a product of the latter - these Rousseauian inspired ideologies remained by and large a marginal affair. Rousseau entering Locke's territory by the back- door may come as a surprise to some Americans - the wrong brand of revolution is encroaching on its most basic principles.

In Europe the situation was markedly different, as we shall see. Locke's influence remained on the whole limited to the British Isles. France and Germany have both Rousseau traditions, not Lockean. Today of great long-term concern is a possible return to some form of Rousseau inspired extreme ideology. It is chilling to see the rise of an unelected governing body on the European continent. The post-democratic elitism, combined with postmodern ideological chaos understood in the philosophical context, is an even more disquieting prospect.

Counter-Enlightenment projection* is on the order of the day and may even be consciously used as a tactic. Rousseau's brand of radical and revolutionary ideas, combined with the notion that civilization is so corrupt that it must be considered beyond salvation, makes him the father of all violent struggle in the last two and a half centuries.

Americans, tending to confuse Locke's revolution with Rousseau's, occasionally fall into the trap of supporting the wrong causes: initially the Russian Red Terror, and more recently, the covertly Islam inspired call for independence in the middle of Europe's powder keg, the Serbian province of Kosovo in the heart of the Balkans, thus providing a foothold in Europe for similarly based and equally pernicious radicalism.

The zero-sum game approach to economics also originates with Rousseau, which is giving rise to the annual media talking point that "a new report is suggesting that today's rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer". This is incorrect propaganda, some reason requiring regular public re-affirmation, perhaps for that reason alone.

Rousseau and Religion
The great minds of the Enlightenment proper - Spinozists excluded - never saw Christianity as their mortal enemy. To them Church and the Enlightenment were natural allies. Rousseau was no exception, but he had only a passing acquaintance with the Christian political tradition. Therefore he dismissed the role of Christianity as a moderating force in society. He saw the faith as entirely a spiritual undertaking, occupying itself only with "heavenly things."

Rousseau's Christians are so detached from reality that they can hardly be recognized: a people so spiritualized that they display a profound disinterest if their earthly pursuits are successful or not. Rousseau's call for transcendent values to harness the energies of men towards the 'common will', coupled with the rejection of Christianity as a engine of these values, made it a central tenet of all the Rousseauian ideologies [Wildmonk].

To Rousseau religion was an imperative. "... the state cannot ... pursue a policy of toleration for disbelievers, or view religion as a matter of individual conscience. It absolutely must, therefore, reject dangerous notions of toleration and the separation of church and state." and "so fundamentally important is religion that the ultimate penalty is appropriate for disbelievers ..." [Stephen R.C. Hicks, "Explaining Postmodernism", Scholargy Press, 2004, p. 98].

Despite being so enamored with force-feeding religion, after the publication of his work "Emile" he was driven into temporary exile in Bern after a warrant for his arrest was issued. "Emile" was widely denounced as irreligious and seditious.

The Legacy
The loather of civilization Rousseau was nevertheless greatly admired by the early Counter-Enlighteners, as he is by today's postmoderns. His followers mostly selected from his work what they could use to prop up their ideologies. Marx accepted Rousseau's critique of Locke's economic man but stood solidly by the Enlightenment in his appreciation for science and technology. Marx even went so far as to describe his ideology as Scientific Marxism, basically a pseudo scientific rationalization of his aggregate of ideas.

Hegel as well as Rousseau inspired Marx' theory of dialectic materialism, in which the theme is the dichotomy of the Oppressor versus the Oppressed. Now clearly a tactic of this dialectic, Rousseau's vista of a noble, primordial world destroyed by man's egoism, might well also have sired the epidemic of Western self-loathing.

Irony
Ironically, while Rousseau was convinced that civilization was the cause of moral degradation, little did he know that his followers, by rejecting objective reality, would drop morality along with it. Despite two and a half centuries of genocidal legacy in pursuit of Rousseauian ideal society it enjoys considerable support among the Western intelligentsia, specifically in the humanities departments of academia, the media, all levels of education, contemporary arts, the political elite, advisory boards, government ministries and departments and what is loosely described as 'the corridors of power.'

The postmodern heirs remain committed to undermining free-market democracy, casting misty eyes upon the Rousseauean atrocities. 110 million dead are not vile enough to discredit 'the Party of Humanity' in the views of some of the most stubborn apologists. Considering that totalitarian societies are today's version of the tribal community he so admired, the Rousseau ideal society could well be described as an agrarian totalitarian state.

Another point of irony is that Rousseau's conviction, that reason engenders egocentrism has been falsified by every non-government sponsored humanitarian organization on the face of the planet, while Rousseau's faithful follower Hegel is responsible for the subjectivism that saw the birth of egocentrism gone mad, the 'Master of the Universe' syndrome (each individual creates his own personal version of reality: If I die overnight, will the sun still rise tomorrow?).

In France, Rousseau's ideal of small, intimate villages and a peaceful, agricultural society built on the consent of the common will has resulted in France becoming a by-word for centralized statism. Rousseau's tenet that reason caused man's fall from paradise may well be the basis of the later Counter-Enlightenment's political ideals, modelled on the re-creation of 'paradise on earth', Utopias which usually turn out to be dystopias instead.

Postmodernism or Rousseauism?
Rousseau can certainly be traced back as the source of all members of the postmodern coalition: environmentalists, third-worldists (Baran-Wallerstein), feminists, anarchists, 'gender, identity and sexual orientation' theorists, traditional socialists of various plumage, and 'classical' postmoderns. It is a true gathering of Rousseauians that has largely remained uninvestigated, underreported and certainly undeclared.

In the chaos of the total postmodern bankruptcy in the wake of mayhem, moralectomy and grandiose failure, there is but one purpose left. A resolve that brings these ideologies together with a tradition with which it has so much in common. We are witnessing a spontaneous feast of recognition with radical Islam.

It is truly remarkable that every prior held conviction and allegiance has by now been jilted in favour of furthering the causes of the intolerant: it's back to the Rousseau basics. The grant plan: a strategy to deconstruct Western, democratic, liberal capitalism by critical theory, and 'irrational means of the will.'

* If you think of yourself as a peaceful, loving person, while actually you are full of wrath and hatred, the psychological coping device of projection - as if by magic - transforms the object of that wratch into someone who is hateful, devisive, full of vitriol and bile, bigoted, intolerant and hatemongering.

The Wild Fires of Pyro Terrorism

With reference to the massive, cataclysmic wildfire situation presently unfolding in California, the Politeia Article Database has been updated with information on Pyro Terrorism.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been hit.

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!).

Exclusive: The Clinton Legacy, The Balkan Caliphate

Last Friday morning the traditional neoclassical building, today the Cultural Center of the University of Indianapolis - an architectonic jewel in the traditional old town of Athens at the foot of the Acropolis mountain - was the scenic theatre of the presentation of a book with the skin crawling title "The Coming Balkan Caliphate", written by the American author Christopher Deliso.

Deliso is director of Balkanalysis.com, a leading independent online news and analysis group.

The site utilizes a growing corps of writers and researchers from regional countries as well as from elsewhere in Europe and the United States. Amongst those Ioannis Michaletos, the intelligence blogger and Junior Analyst at Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) who has kindly provided this blog with unique background information on this summer's devastating wild fires, which - in all probability - were part of a pyro terrorism campaign against the Greek state, for which seventy people have been arrested, twenty of whom are described as 'foreigners'.

Deliso has lived and traveled widely in southeastern Europe and has a master's degree with distinction in Byzantine Studies from Oxford University (1999). Since 2001, he has published many articles on Balkan politics, economics, security issues, travel, history and culture in US and world newspapers, analysis firms such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, and in numerous magazines and websites.

The Balkans (link provides an excellent UN map) is the gateway between East and West, and historically Europe's soft underbelly. Presently organized crime and terrorism present a constant threat. Chris Deliso's eye-opening book details how fifteen years of misguided Western interventions, political scheming, and local mafia appeasement, compounded by a massive infusion of Arab cash, fundamentalist Islamic preaching and Wahhabi mosque building, have allowed radical Islamic groups to fill in the cracks between internal ethnic and religious schisms, and take root in key areas of the Balkans.

Deliso clarifies the situation as follows.

- Bosnia - During the 1990 Yugoslav conflict the Western powers conspired to allow Arab (Saudi, Wahhabi) mujaheddin, surplus of the Afghan resistance against Soviet occupation, to enter the territory as an easy way to counter the Serb attempts to keep the federation of Yugoslavia together, while countering internal Muslim harassment of local Christian populations.

Since the blow-back of this policy has become apparent, the US is pushing Bosnia to expel the radicals who've set up shop in the region. Belatedly, as by now they have gone underground. The present situation is said to be fluid.

There are however direct links between the Islamic radicals who were imported into Bosnia as a consequence of said Western policy, and the attacks of 9/11, the Madrid train bombings and the London attacks.

Another Bosnian connection that surfaced not so long ago was the foiled attempt on US Fort Dix and, just last week the scantly publicised matter of a Bosnian arrested in Vienna, Austria for a thwarted attack on the US Embassy in that city.

- Albania - Already historically a breading ground for lawlessness, tribalism and backwardness, this isolated rugged territory became a radical Islamist safe haven from the moment the old Stalinist regime fell. The US policy was to strengthen the fledgling democratic government. It is this blog's opinion that personal ties between Albania and the Clintons stem from these early years, as the US political order transited from the Cold War. Deliso: "The United States both cracked down on extremists and allied itself with Islamic leaders in the Tirana government, funding these radicals."

Albania became the scene of an influx of Wahhabi mujaheddin and Al Qaeda elements. Wahhabi mosque building is proliferating as we speak, as is Islamist social engineering: providing unemployed villagers with hand-outs to dress up as fundamentalists in an attempt at creating critical mass for the normalization of radicalism; call it the corrupt Islamist version of political correctness. This method is combined with a form of institutionalised thuggery: extortion, blackmail and intimidation. It is happening not just in Albania, but in all less affluent regions of the Balkans, of which there are many.

Albanian clan structure produces a social situation, ideal for the incubation of organised crime. The connection between terrorism and organised crime is by now well established; it is being monitored and documented by the various intelligence agencies.

- Kosovo - As was the case in Bosnia, Western policy has allowed mujaheddin to establish themselves in the territory, creating the conditions for radicalisation and Wahhabi mosque building. Also here the same pressurizing pattern of social engineering and intimidation emerges. (Tony Blair, rather shortsightedly, specifically encouraged mujaheddin who found themselves on UK territory, to join the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) so as to be rid of them).

Whether Kosovo, under American and European pressure, will become independent or not, is no longer really relevant as radical Islamization is concerned. The question is rather, will the matter of independence get sectarian dimensions or not.

Deliso was kind enough at this point to hand the audience a great scoop: there are Albanian-American radicals in Kosovo who had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attack. They were actively recruiting terrorists for 'the war against America'. The UN was aware of this fact, and did nothing.

Saudis and Pakistanis are making sincere efforts to take over the territory by means of (forced) conversions, proselytizing, charity hand-outs, entrenchment of Islamic banking structures, social engineering, intimidation, etc. Islamist functionaries are parachuted below the radar into minor positions, that are nevertheless of strategic interest. The word that springs to mind, is subversion.

Funds are pouring in. Donors are located in the Middle East, Malaysia and Birmingham (UK). The Islamic Heritage Foundation is another of the great Islamic charities exerting social pressure. The organization is banned in four countries, but is allowed to do their damnedest in the UN administered province of Kosovo.

The Bulgarian region of the Rodopi Mountains, bordering Greece, has pockets of radicalized villages, once again the result of Islamist import and social pressure, through charity, hand-outs, and intimidation.

There are tensions as a result of Christian versus Islamic animosity, but there's also competition over Saudi versus Turkish Islamic influence in the region.

While most Muslims - in the Balkans, or anywhere else - aren't fanatics at all, it must be stated that they profit from the situation in the sense that extremism offers them an opportunity to present themselves as the viable, reasonable alternative. Once in key positions, the moderates are threatened, intimidated and bullied into a more radical attitude. Their Islamist enforcers often take the shape of mafia style thugs.

- Intelligence failures - There has been a marked lack of intelligence sharing between countries, as well as between national or federal agencies. This has assisted in creating the current situation to a large extent. Various intelligence agencies per country are competing and fighting out turf wars over competence and jurisdiction. Given the EU's multinational dimensions this competition is even worse in Europe than it is in America. Terrorist groups of course have no such impediments.

The policies on Kosovo and Bosnia have assisted the nesting of foreign radical elements. The UN administration of Kosovo is inhabited by career diplomats whose attitude is to sit it out while pondering the next prestigious career move. Their motto consequently is "don't rock the boat", coupled with a mind set that prefers sweeping dirt under the carpet. Whistle-blowers are known to be stonewalled. There's high level corruption.


At this point Deliso voices concern over the US government's infiltration by spooks to an extent that is alarming. He also mentions there was a second failed attempt on Pope John Paul II's life, which is rarely publicised. I think I saw it reported once, but took it for a mistake. (Google produces no hits at all).

The threat of terrorism is also changing shape: an innovation are the so-called 'white devils', Caucasian converts who escape racial profiling. I think I predicted in these pages somewhere that this will likely be the face of terrorism in the future: a sort of Islamic Bader Meinhoff, just as fanatical, deluded, and radical Marxist as the Cold War set up.

Computer hacking is assisting terrorism by 'remote control', for example attacks on essential installations, such as power grids. The spate of pyro terrorism waltzing through Greece this summer may have been ignited 'remotely' by cell phones. Also in Greece some attacks were perilously close to power grids.

More attacks than we realise are being thwarted.

How's this for a coincidence ... on the morning that the former President Clinton is arriving in Athens to consult the local Socialist Party out of the crisis it finds itself in since losing the general elections - they cannot figure out how they lost it - Deliso is filling us in on some details of the Clinton legacy: "The Coming Balkan Caliphate".

Deliso stresses that he has spoken with high level US officials who have made plain that the 1990s failed policies were conscious decisions. The election of Hillary Rodham Clinton would in all probability bring back the same politicians who signed for the flawed policies of which we only now are experiencing the dire results: Wesley Clark, Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger, Richard Holbrooke, to name but a few.

The questionable method of rendition that got the Bush government into trouble, was first used in 1995 in Albania during the early Clinton years. Ray Robison commenting on a Front Page Magazine article by Julia Gorin, "Kosovo – The Epicenter of Islamofascism?" writes on this matter:

"... There are Islamic extremists in Kosovo. There have been for years as evidenced by the Clinton Administration’s germination of a controversial policy called "rendition". It was in Bosnia and Kosovo that the rendition of Islamic terrorists to nations like Egypt - which would obviously employ torture and in some cases murderous interrogation methods - began. The reason the U.S. rendition policy became necessary is because the Islamic terrorists were not from Kosovo. They were sent back to Egypt in most cases because they were Egyptians. Now an argument can be made that these Arab jihadists, veterans of the Afghan mujahideen were supported locally by some Albanian Islamic extremists."

The US, having currently concentrated their efforts on the Middle East and Afghanistan, have an intelligence deficiency in the region. In the past the US have outsourced information gathering to Ukrainian and Romanian agencies, but stopped doing so when a inordinate amount of disinformation ensued.

- Greece - Greece has of course always objected to the failed Western policies in the Balkans, but was forced to go along with more powerful allies. Foreign policy instead was concentrated on the minor issues, such as the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), or Skopje, on which matter Turkey seems to be very well informed.

Also in Skopje enclaves have been created that are virtual no-go areas for Westerners: ideal safe havens for terrorists and radicals.

Greece should identify and correct the intelligence hiatus. If more information would be available to combat the War on Terrorism, Greece would become a more valuable partner.

What stood out - and this is effectively the reason why Greece in the West is almost a white elephant - was Deliso's underlining specifically that the Greek governments, as well as the Orthodox Church 'have not allowed' and have 'prevented' Islamic radicals from establishing themselves in the country. The habitual means of establishment is through charity organizations.

But what Greece and the Greek Orthodox Church can achieve, can also be done by other countries! All we know is, that they haven't. Was that the result of active, but inapt policies as described here by Deliso, or a lack of political will? Or are we perhaps scratching the surface here of the very purposeful Eurabia doctrine as presented by author Bat Ye'or, of which we are to witness the latest instalment during the forthcoming Arab-European Dialogue on Human Rights and Terrorism, taking place in Copenhagen on 21-23 October?

This seems to be a good moment to go on record that a family member who worked for an intelligence service in the past, once disclosed that the Cold War ended at a good time, as resources would now become available for monitoring radical Islamist elements. This means that in government circles in 1990 there was known to be a threat from that area. Today it is widely forgotton that the problems didn't start on 9/11, 2001.

While many Western countries have severed their historical ties and suppressed national consciousness for ideological reasons, Greece is still a very free, traditional, Christian country, enjoying their historical roots and national identity and all that entails. While Western Europe is wallowing in decadence, and realing from its self-induced uprootedness, Greece is developing the first affluent middle class.

Deliso: "Many countries in the West, for example Germany and the UK, are in trouble through their multicultural policies." Greece on the other hand is still recovering from the historical black hole that was the blessing of being part of the Ottoman Empire. There are people alive today who remember, and there are those who know because their (grand)parents told them. Greece will have to be force-fed by the EU on multiculturalism, will it ever become a politically correct nation.

Deliso travels through the area extensively and has concluded, there are quite a few Western exiles who have found a home in the Balkans as well, the undersigned one of them. It would seem everybody is more or less adrift these days.

Finally, I'd like to remind the readership that the petition against the independence of the Serb province of Kosovo-Metohija, which would enhance the chances of the Balkan Caliphate even further, can be signed here.

Internet Anthropologist T.T.: USA readies for war Iran

How wide is the gulf between objective evil and ... this Al Guardian extract?

I do not even venture to comment.

Of Palestinian Pincers, Terror and Crime, again

Does anyone know a way out of this pincer movement?

Hamas:

- Haaretz: "Meshal: Upcoming Middle East conference is doomed to fail"- "The U.S.-sponsored international conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace is doomed to fail because it will serve only Israel's interests, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said in a CNN interview broadcast on Monday. >>>

Fatah:

- Jerusalem Post: "Summit failure may ignite new intifada" - "A failure in the upcoming US-sponsored Middle East peace conference would have more dangerous repercussions than the botched Camp David summit in 2000, Fatah officials warned on Tuesday. This was the first time senior Fatah officials hinted at a possible wave of violence if the conference - expected to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, next month - did not meet the Palestinians' demands. >>>

- Daily Mail: "Police raid finds £50m Da Vinci masterpiece in a lawyer's office"- "A stolen Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was recovered in a raid on a lawyer's office yesterday. Police officers interrupted a meeting during which it is understood a deal to buy the £50million painting was being negotiated. Four men were arrested and are due to appear in court today. The Madonna with the Yarnwinder, painted in 1501, was taken from a castle belonging to the 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Britain's largest landowner, four years ago. >>>

- Elsevier: "Saint Martin centre of global narcotics trade" - "The Caribbean island of Saint Martin is an important centre for international narcotics trafficking, and through it also money flows to terrorist organisations. This is the conclusion of the Dutch Ministry of Justice in a confidential report on 'Organised crime and law enforcement on Saint Martin'. The report, dating back to June, speaks of an 'important and multi-purpose role concerning (international) drugs trade'. The Antilles island functions as a port of transit not only for cocaine, but also for heroin, marijuana and synthetic drugs. Moreover, local law enforcement agencies mention a flow of funds to terrorist organisations through the island. Large sums of money, the proceeds of drugs and human trafficking, arrives on bank accounts of organisations connected to the Taliban and Hamas. According to American intelligence, on the island itself are terrorists who have been trained in Al Qaeda training camps and are barred from flying to the United States. The Ministry of Justice report cautions the credibility of the information, but does stress that American intelligence agencies are not optimistic concerning crime and law enforcement on the island."

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Moral Canary

Cacophony Redux, with only one person asking relevant questions ...

- Radio Netherlands: "Dutch parliament queries Hirsi Ali security cut" - "The Dutch Lower House has called for a written explanation from Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin on the provision of security for Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The former conservative MP has returned to the Netherlands, apparently because the government is no longer prepared to pay for her protection in the United States. ... Last year she left the Netherlands for the United States to work for the conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute."

- Expatica: "MPs want explanation on Hirsi Ali" - "Parliament will not be holding an emergency debate on Ayaan Hirsi Ali's return to the Netherlands but it does want a letter from the cabinet on the Ayaan Hirsi Ali's security. ... The justice department has refrained from comment thus far. ... Parliament also wants clarification on the agreements that have been made with the American authorities and with Hirsi Ali. The letter should also inform Parliament whether Hirsi Ali's security in the Netherlands is guaranteed. She is currently staying at a secret address."

- Monsters & Critics: "Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali back in Netherlands" - "The former legislator for the Liberal VVD party was allegedly forced to leave the US as American authorities had refused to finance the expenses of her personal security measures. So far, the Dutch government has paid all those expenses, but after more than a year of residency in the US, the Dutch allegedly said they were no longer willing to continue this arrangement."

- Elsevier Magazine - "The Netherlands must protect Ayaan, wherever she is": author Leon de Winter: "... What would be the value of her life in terms of the minister's budget? And on what basis would he come to such an estimate? These are the relevant questions of the sort that Margaret Thatcher never posed in relation to the life of Salman Rushdie, wherever he might might have been." Update: Here's De Winter's entire article translated on the site of German Magazine Der Spiegel.

An open, Western, democratic society is in trouble if nobody is asking themselves anymore why this witch hunt is going on in the first place! That's how accustomed we've become to intimidation by a group of pocket potentates who don't tolerate any vision, other than their own death cult.

The mentality is also creeping in, that it's the critics' own fault for getting into trouble. Very much like: yeah, that's what you get when you enter a house on fire! I mentioned the other day remarks made by Dutch Anti Terrorism czar, Tjibbe Joustra which amounted to: "Since it's well known that Muslims are easily inflammable, the Dutch have only themselves to blame, should terrorist attacks occur", as if it were an Act of God!

This is blaming the victim, coupled with a refusal to hold the perpetrators responsible for their actions! This impunity in turn is undermining the rule of law and confidence in the state and politics itself.

Society seems to be caving in, the moral compass being lost since some time. Ayaan is once again acting as the proverbial canary is the democratic coal mine.

Iran Update

Received following update dated 19th September from the Committee on the Present Danger:

Iran's Other Proxy War Against the West
Tehran's Troublemaking in Afghanistan

America’s leaders have focused much more intensely in recent weeks on Iran’s deepening role in Iraq, where U.S. officials say the Islamic Republic is helping expand the scope and lethality of the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition. In their testimonies before Congress last week, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker both delineated Iran’s malignant political and strategic role in the former Ba’athist state.

Increasingly, however, Iran is working its destabilizing magic on another front in the War on Terror as well. Quietly, and away from the public eye, Iran’s ayatollahs are attempting to subvert the fragile, pro-Western government of President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. Evidence of an Iranian hand in the former Taliban stronghold is mounting. >>>

- The Washington Times: "Ground Zero is not for crashing" - "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the well-armed fruitcake who is more or less in charge of the government in Iran, knows how to pull the chains of certain wimps in the West. The Iranian president will arrive in New York City on Sunday for a two-day visit to the United Nations, where he will deliver one of his entertaining rants against the United States, Israel and the West." >>>

- The Washington Post: "Columbia Won't Cancel Ahmadinejad Speech" - "Columbia University said it does not plan to call off a speech by Iran's president despite pressure from critics including the City Council speaker, who said the Ivy League school was providing a forum for "hate-mongering vitriol." >>>

Now this is a typical example of Pomo's redistributions of speech rights: whereas infidels are constricted by 'hate speech' handicaps, fiddles ... fidels' freedom of speech is exerted unrestraint by similar considerations!

- Monsters & Critics: "Thousands mourn slain member of parliament, Ghanem, in Beirut"- "Thousands belonging to the anti-Syrian camp Friday mourned slain MP, Antoine Ghanem, who was killed two days ago in a bomb blast in the Christian eastern sector of the capital. ... He was the eighth anti-Syrian figure to be slain since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. ... Ghanem's death has now reduced the number of the majority to 68 in the 128-member parliament against a Shi'ite-Christian opposition bloc that includes Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran. >>>

Trouble being in the opposition? Just kill the government! Where's the useless U.N. and their tribunal? Perhaps too busy fighting off the latest evidence of moral bankruptcy?

- The Wall Street Journal: "Yet Another UN Scandal" - "This might look like progress toward prosecuting one of the 20th century's most heinous genocides: the extinction of over one million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. Unfortunately, this optimism masks another U.N. corruption scandal in the making -- one so serious that it threatens the legitimacy of the entire process." >>> Here's more >>> The kickbacks payable to the Cambodian judges come out of U.N. funds.

Update: PJM: "Return to the Killing Fields" - "A monument to the victims of Pol Pot’s Regime, the Tuol Sleng Prison bore witness to the horrors and the unspeakable brutality of the Khmer Rouge. LDT Regent reports ... about one of the Asian Rousseau inspired returns to the simplicity and serenity of Agrarian Collectivist life ... >>>

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?

Socialists Lead Condemnation of Anti-Islam Demo on 9/11

While already in the process of 'fisking' captioned news item on the official website of The Socialist Group in the European Parliament to shreds, I concluded with a certain tired melancholy that one doesn't actually know where to begin.

As a supporter of the SIOE, personal insults on the basis of Socialists' "beliefs" aside, let's restrict ourselves for the moment to the main conclusions:

1. The European Socialists are claiming the lead in the "international support" for the SIOE 9/11 demo ban by their ideological colleague, the Mayor of Brussels. They do so by reaffirming their "belief" that "intercultural dialogue is the best way of dealing with the sources of fundamentalist terrorism" - a discourse they propose to conduct with a cultural and religious section of society (Muslims) who "have no relation whatsoever" with said "fundamentalist terrorism". Why then have the dialogue, about its "sources", in the first place? This circular reasoning doesn't make sense and begs for a rational clarification!

2. The Euro Socialists' claim to leadership of the condemnation and ban of the Stop Islamization Of Europe Demo has been well noted. They have now become the official political Owners of the subject, on the continent.

3. This week alone there were two thwarted terrorist attempts, one in Germany and another in Denmark, both of which were totally 'unrelated' to the Religion of Peace. In the face of such a seriousness situation, the Socialists seem to be leaning rather heavily on their "belief". Actually it's rather inadequate, considering authorities' first duty: assuring the safety of the population.

4. The Socialist Group leader's title wouldn't be unbecoming the Head Boy of a local Scouting Club, but that doesn't stand in the way of launching some serious investigations. Later in the letter, belief makes place for conviction: "Like you, we are convinced that the people behind this demonstration want above all to stigmatise a community for dark racist and xenophobic reasons as is proven by the readiness to lump Islam together with fundamentalist terrorism."

It's quite obvious how Mr Schulz has convinced himself of the above, but one thing is for sure: his vigorous research didn't extend to visiting the SIOE's websites or the reading of SIOE press releases. But then, he didn't have to, did he? 'Lumping' is all the proof required for vile accusations and the withdrawal of democratic rights. Hey, let's lump some more! All Socialists are paternalistic authoritarians!

- "Stop Islamization of Europe" HQ
- "SIOE England: No Sharia Here"

Sign the petition!

* Racism is the lowest form of stupidity! Islamophobia is the height of common sense!
* No Sharia Here!
* Democracy not Theocracy!
* Enough is Enough!

Update: Osama bin Laden has just issued another ultimatum to America, as is required by Sharia Law: convert or die. "There are two ways to end the war in Iraq: "The first is from our side, and it is to continue to escalate the killing and fighting against you. The second way, is to reject America's democratic system and convert to Islam." The stage is set for the next major assault. Let's face it: appeasing them (hope that word isn't too lumpy) won't help. Pretending the Islamic fanatics aren't a threat doesn't either, nor the belief that the American administration is at fault.

Of Free Range Porky & The Return of Talib's Mum

It's been some time since we've done loose niche noos. There are some worth the bother:

The MS (and not so MS) M:

- Military.com: "China's People's Liberation Army hacked into a computer network at the Pentagon in an attack that has US officials concerned about the growing regularity and sophistication of China's technological assaults" ... "two days before German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing last week (that) Chinese hackers had infiltrated German government computers with spy programs." >>>

- The BBC is reporting that the Mother of the Taliban is heading home: "Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto says she will return to the country "very soon", despite having reached no power-sharing deal with the government ... she would announce the date of her return on 14 September." >>>

- EUX: (N.B.!) "The European Commission ... on Monday outlined what it called "radical" changes to its relations with the countries that border on the union ... European Commission Vice President Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the Commission proposes to open up the European markets to workers, services and goods from the EU's neighbours." >>>

From Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE) Headquarters:

- SIOE HQ: There have been some rumours that different political parties and organisations have planned to hold several demonstrations in Brussels (on 9/11). This could not be further from the truth! ... we are brothers and sisters for this one day. ... No Sharia Here! Democracy not Theocracy! Enough is Enough! >>>

The Blogs:

- Flanders Fields: "The next step toward the dissolution of the USA was officially put into place on Saturday. The beginning of the NAU (North American Union) has now been officially established ... This is the American equivalent of the forcing of the EU constitution on the people of the formerly independent states of Europe ... The intent is ... to merge areas which were once sovereign into manageable regional authorities, and that there will be no cohesive group which has power to oppose the consolidation ... wait until you face the interjection of innumerable regulatory committees into the bureaucracy of such an entity. Europeans already face this ... The same fate is planned for the USA and it's citizens, of that I have no doubt. >>>

- A different take on dysfunction in Islamic societies, by The Truth Shall Set You Free's Justin Halter, Professor of comparative religions, a rare species in contemporary humanity, the Seeker of Truth: "Arabs formalized and guaranteed permanent polygamy through their religion, and thus introduced a powerful destabilizing element in their own societies ... This continual and perpetual shortage of women created a continual and perpetual surplus of warriors, fodder for the expansion of the society through conquest. >>>

- "Chimes of Freedom!" Let Liberty Reign! Let Freedom Ring! ... or A Real Live Example of Narcissistic Awe or Psychological Projection (probably both): if you think of yourself as a nice and peaceful person, while actually you are full of wrath and hatred, the psychological coping device of projection makes the object of your wrath the one that's hateful, divisive, full of vitriol and bile, bigoted, intolerant and hatemongering ... something like:

"BS! This blog is very much an incitement to racial hatred ... the cynicism of capitalist business organisations ... endorse fascist movements ... Fascists and racists are not so much birds of prey but scavengers ... should (not) be tolerated ... by allowing scum the freedom to publish, both Blogger and Google put themselves among the lowest and most vile company of the human species. ... the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low, parasites, viruses indeed, unworthy of living ... The sooner they are dealt with, prevented from spewing their venom, the better ... nothing but a lowly coward ... canaille are parasites, blood-suckers who feed like vultures ... devils like Bush, Blair & Co whose interest is ... to rape the Earth and its peoples. It is THEY who are the Evil Ones, the "forces of dajjal" as Islam calls them ... We remind these new chickenhawk fascists of the words of the Spanish Internationale: "¡No Pasaran! In this filthy game you dare to play, you will not win ... the phrase 'Peace be Unto Him' ... is "Hello, my friend, I respect you." Similarly PBUH." >>>

More from the Dept. of Information next time round. For those who - in the face of perpetual persecution by 'the voice of freedom' and his ilk - wish to join me in a request to Blogger to reinstate the publishing rights of the culprits, Le Blog de Cochon Hallal, go here.
Bees pee upon them all (BPUTA)!
Hat tip: Le Blog de Cochon Hallal

Updating throughout the day, as The News As We Like To Report It, presents itself.

Update: In Denmark and Germany four and three men were apprehended respectively in 'major terrorist threats'. Of the lot arrested in Germany, two were converts to Islam. I'd like to make a prediction here and now that within the foreseeable future most terrorist threats will come from converts, men and women. Sad, but true. They are certainly as fanatical as jihadis ("the fire of the convert" is proverbial) and about three times as pathological! Of course you have to be an insane totalitarian in the first place to resort to such practices.