I am grateful to the excellent blog GalliaWatch, which translates a lot of French news of interest to all Western patriots into English.
Here is an interesting take on what is happening to France and how it is changing thanks to mass immigration - but if you changed some of the names, it could easily apply to any Western country. I reproduce it below with thanks:
Here is a text from the pen of René Servoise, former ambassador of France to Indonesia. It is posted at Bivouac-Id, Le Post and Terre d'Israel. Despite its length, I chose to abridge it only slightly:
A mutation of our nation is in progress. It is growing, it is profound but uncontrolled. In all likelihood, the immense majority of Frenchmen are unaware of it.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim families, from North Africa, the Middle East and black Africa - whose religion, aspirations and mores are radically different from ours - now live on our soil.
Their birth rate is higher than that of European families. What is the consequence? Within 30 years the population of Islamist culture could be in the majority among those 40 years old or younger. "
In France, we will have between 6 and 8 million Arabs by the years 2005 - 2010," said Edgar Pisani, honorary president of the Arab World Institute. We have been duly warned: this is a radical transformation (political, economic, cultural and social) of our society.
This mutation is in progress at the very moment when, to use Toynbee's expression, "an external proletariat" is forming on the southern and western shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
This army of reservists came about as a result of the birth rate of these peoples, and the absence of an economic policy capable of guaranteeing them a decent life in their homeland. In front of them lie France, Italy, Spain and Germany, lands of mirage, highly developed, with guaranteed employment, free social protection and education. Who could resist the call of this "promised land"?
At the same time, all over the world, roused by immense hopes, Islam is enjoying an unprecedented revival. It is awakening after a long night. It has renewed vigor, pugnacity and ambitions. From Morocco to Indonesia, from the Muslim States of Central Asia to black Africa, more than one billion two hundred million men - young compared to the aging populations of Europe - constitute a "community" (Umma).
It is transnational, motivated by spiritual aspirations, material demands and political ambitions, and (here and there) financed by revenue from oil. In France, the successive waves of Italians, Poles, central European Jews, Spaniards and Portuguese, had never posed comparable problems of integration. Why? Because they belonged to the European branch. Their religious traditions and their ambition to acquire more individual freedoms facilitated their assimilation. Finally - and this is far from the least important reason - these immigrants expressed a desire to share the destiny of the French nation. To meld into it. Integration cannot be decreed. In order for it to materialize it must be desired by two, this is obvious. And the two must converge. Today, the situation is different, radically different. An active and determined minority among the Islamists refuses integration. Deliberately.
In close communion with Islam (its matrix), it is receptive to orders from abroad, to spiritual counsel, ideology and financial support. And much more. Not only does it intend to keep its identity, but to re-Islamize the non-practicing, if not convert the natives of the host country to the true faith. Islam has never conceived of itself as a minority in a secular State, but necessarily as the majority religion. (...) Exalted by its renewal, propelled both by its demography and its absence of economic development, infiltrating wherever there is no resistance, Islam is advancing like a wave.
The French people can measure its vitality by the number of mosques multiplying on their territory (sometimes with the help of Catholic and lay leaders), mosques run by imams 96% of whom are from foreign countries. Also by the prospect of seeing - in the second half of the 21st century - the fall of Catholicism in France to second rank, leaving first place to Islam.
Thus two dynamics are developing: one inside our borders (...); the other outside (...) Concomitant and convergent, these changes are determining factors for Europe and for the French nation where the demographic stagnation is alarming.
Note: The map below shows the growth of mosques, with the dark green areas indicating more than 30 mosques. The years range from 1985 to 2008. Their growth is amazing.
Every nation expresses itself through a subtle, delicate and secret balance between dreams, ambitions and strengths, sometimes contradictory, transcended by a common aspiration to live together and to do great things together. This national identity is for some its soul; for others its genius. Each nation is a plant nourished by a land and a History, pride in its past. "Immediate to the heart of God," it is unique and therefore justified.How many centuries, wars, concessions, sacrifices and omissions were necessary for France, England, Spain and Germany to overcome - finally - their internal divisions and to become what they are!
If it is fitting - as Montesquieu recommends - to only touch institutions with a trembling hand, what can one say about the respect due the profound harmony of our nation, its internal composition - the measure of its permanence and of its performance?
To the lessons drawn from our past, the present adds new warnings about the future on a daily basis. How can we allow ourselves to be blinded to the point of not seeing the proliferation and the exasperation of ethnic and religious conflicts all around us, since the same causes produce the same effects?
He then lists some of the numerous ethnic conflicts in the world, including those in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Are we Frenchmen, after having overcome so many rebellions, insurrections and revolutions, after having liquidated our quarrels between Catholics, Protestants, Israelites and Free Thinkers; between nobles, bourgeois and proletariat, about to allow conditions that foster disintegration to take hold ?
Warning. If native Frenchmen fail to be the most numerous, we will see that our days are numbered. If we fail to limit the number of immigrants, we will be judged as wanting in the scales of History. If we fail to affirm our national ambition, we will set the stage for the bursting apart of our nation.Remember. One day, in Babylon, on the wall of his palace, Belshazzar saw letters written in fire, three warnings: MENE MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. The prophet Daniel translated them thus:
"God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end."
"You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting."
"Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians."
For us today the warnings come daily on our TV screens. But no prophet dares translate them.What kind of France, dear reader, do you hope to bequeath to your children?
The Pro-Köln movement's video about Islamisation in Germany, 'Is Pro-Köln Right?', was released a short while ago. Now, thanks to the efforts of others in the blogosphere, there is a version available with English subtitles, which I will display below.
The Pro-Köln movement arose in Cologne in recent years as a concerned citizens’ response to the Islamization of Cologne and the rest of Germany. The movement is particularly opposed to the construction of a mega-mosque in their city.
From its inception, Pro-Köln has been stigmatized as being “racist”, “xenophobic”, “Islamophobic”, “fascist”, and “neo-Nazi”. With the tacit approval of local authorities, supporters of Pro-Köln are routinely harassed, threatened, and beaten by gangs of leftists.
This persecution culminated with the events of September 20th, 2008, in which an anti-Islamization conference in downtown Cologne had to be cancelled, due to the violent opposition of “anti-fascists”. The leftist thugs were allowed by the police and the city authorities to attack the peaceful protesters with impunity.
It's being called 'the German Fitna', and I think it is well worth a watch.
If you are in doubt about any of these issues, clicking 'Germany' in the labels below this post will take you to related stories about the march of Islam in Germany.
To get an idea of what Pro-Köln members and supporters face for speaking out on these issues, watch the following video:
It shows municipal councillor Hans-Martin Breninek, 67, being brutally beaten to the ground and having his Pro-Köln information stand trashed. The full story:
In August 2008 several young people with a clear immigrant background, one of them with a fighting dog, attacked a Pro Köln information stand in the middle of downtown Cologne.The 67-year-old alderman Hans-Martin Breninek was beaten down and remained unconscious on the ground. He had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. After the turn of the year a shocking [new] video appeared of this brutal assault, which actually made a rapid identification of the perpetrators possible.
I'm sure these three videos can help any independently minded people decide who the real fascists are in this struggle.
Fraser Nelson of The Spectator has an excellent analysis of the G20 Summit and Brown's illusory promises.
I have reproduced it in full, because I have not seen a better picking-apart of Gordon Brown's spin and promises he knows cannot be kept:
Britain has as its Prime Minister a master of political illusion. He may not be much of an orator, but there is no one better at dressing up old money as new. If the G20 nations wanted to fake progress, to spin a $1.1 trillion figure while committing no new money at all, then Gordon Brown is their man. “This is the day that the world came together to fight the global recession, not with words but with a plan,” said our Dear Leader. Well, let’s have a closer look at this supposed plan…
1) “Making available an extra $1 trillion”. Ahh, those Brown verbal tricks. What does “make available” mean? Is it guarantees, promises, statement of intent? Real spending? Not a penny of cold hard cash has been pledged by anyone. The sum is concocted by taking the IMF’s pre-existing $500bn target for its bailout fund (a target it still hasn’t met), adding another $250bn to the target. And, then, we add a $250bn fund which the IMF would create by printing its own special money.
2) IMF Funds “treble to $750 billion”. Very fishy. We heard from the IMF on Valentine’s Day that it wanted double its rescue fund to $500 billion – then it said it wanted even more. So where has the extra $250bn come from? Who has stumped it up? No one, it appears - it's just a target. And then the IMF will print its own money, in its own pretend “currency” (called Special Drawing Rights or SDR), and then allow its members to swap this for real money. The idea was once rejected by US Congress, but Obama thinks he won’t need congressional approval now the limit is kept to $250bn. But to be clear: no one has stumped up any new cash. It’s a little quantitative easing for the world – aimed, I suspect, at Eastern Europe. China will be happy as it wants SDRs to replaced the US dollar as a reserve currency.
3) Old pledges dressed as new. Brown gave a breakdown of who had stumped up: Japan, he said, contributed $100bn to the IMF. Yes it did: in January. The EU has agreed to contribute $100bn, he added. We know: this was announced at the last EU summit. Brown said China has chipped in just $40bn, and this appears to be new. But given the size of Beijing’s $2 trillion piggy bank, that is a rather derisory amount (and won’t buy it a seat on the IMF board). The Brazilians had thought China was good for $100bn.
4) Double counting. The Dear Leader has good news. “We are going to act decisively to kickstart international trade” But how? “We will ensure availability of at least $250 billion over the next two years." Note that “over two years” means that this is $125bn, double counted. Why not make it four years, and whack up an extra $1 trillion? It’s just a joke. Nor is this real cash – it comes from trade insurance schemes to protect importers and exporters. It’s not money being spent by governments. Pure Brown-style fiscal conjuring.
5) Tax havens. “We have agreed there will be an end to tax havens that do not transfer secrecy on request.” This is a piggybacking on the long-running OECD campaign against tax havens – this is not a G20 initiative. Brown solemnly announced the OECD would publish a list of non-compliant nations, as if this were a breakthrough. It has been doing this for the last year – here is a list of the most recent such announcements.
6) “The Washington consensus is over”. A curious aside from Brown – and a dog whistle to the Soros/Naomi Klein school of economics. The so-called “Washington Consensus” doesn’t refer to any formal economic protocol. It is used by the likes of Soros to denote what he calls ‘free market fundamentalism’. The academic who coined the term talks about its abuse here.
7) Ban on new trade barriers. Yeah, right. They agreed this in November and, since then, 17 of the 20 countries have increased trade barriers.
8) Brown’s gold advice: “I’ve been proposing this to the IMF for ten years”. He was certainly proposing in 1999 that the IMF sold gold – then priced at $278 an ounce. Luckily, the IMF ignored Brown and gold is now $890 an ounce. Shame he didn’t take the IMF’s advice when it was warning his borrowing would end in tears.
9) “For the first time, we have come together to set principles for the global finance system.” As far as I can determine, all they have agreed is that banks and hedge funds should be regulated – but don’t say how. Ergo, it’s meaningless.
10) No fiscal stimulus. It’s mentioned twice in the 3,080 word document – there wasn’t one. Both Brown and Obama wanted the world to contribute new money. They failed. There was none of the big agreement that Brown led us to believe. There was a split, as evidenced by the Franco-German minority report yesterday. But still it’s a big summit, a deal was done (albeit a fairly nebulous one) and the threatre was fine.
On a presentational basis, this his has worked out well for Brown. I suspect the G20 will be written up well tomorrow, just as his Budgets are always written up well – “2p tax reduction!” – before we all realise we’ve been swindled. So look out for triumphant declarations of “$1.1 trillion to save the world” in tomorrow’s papers. Listening to Brown today, it was as if he were giving a Budget for the world. And I suspect the world is about to learn how illusory a Brown promise really is.
Yesterday Barack Obama and his wife Michelle met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Obamas presented Her Majesty with a specially engraved iPod containing video footage of her visit to the United States in 2007.
Many people are calling this another 'gaffe gift', but I beg to differ (unless of course the rumours are true and some of his speeches are on there); Her Majesty is known to be keen on technology and apparently already has an iPod which she uses to listen to the Proms.
Mr Obama did not bow upon meeting the Queen. That's OK - as another Head of State, he is technically her equal, unlike Gordon Brown, who is technically her employee.
There is much speculation in the press regarding the relationship between the Queen and Mrs Obama - the latter broke Royal protocol by putting her arm around the Queen (touching her apart from to shake her hand is a big no-no in terms of Royal etiquette) - and in an unprecedented move, the Queen was seen to reciprocate. My interpretation of this would be that the Queen saw Mrs Obama was nervous, unsure of Royal protocol, and sought to put her at her ease.
However, what interests me far more is how Barack Obama reacted to another monarch he met at the G20 summit.
Here is a Spanish news video of Obama meeting Saudi King Abdullah (pay attention at about 00:53):
So, he can't even allow himself a customary bow for the monarch whose country is hosting him, whose country and Subjects are amongst the greatest friends to his. But when it comes to a human rights breaching Muslim, it's time to kneel as close to the floor as possible.
Is it possible to bow and scrape any lower? My gut feeling is this action confirms where his priorities lie.
Somali pirates have been a problem off the Horn of Africa for some time now, taking their nation's violent lawlessness out to the high seas and spreading it far beyond their borders.
They capture foreign vessels, impound them with their crews, then demand an exorbitant ransom from the company which owns the ship or is paying for the goods to be transported.
Most attacks occur in the Gulf of Aden, but the pirates have been increasing their range, reaching the coasts of Kenya and Yemen.
In 2008, 111 vessels were attacked and 42 captured. 11 are still being held by the pirates as ransom negotiations continue. So far this year, another 7 ships have been seized, despite the efforts of an international naval task force.
So, as you can see, the pirates are running a pretty successful and lucrative operation for peasants from one of the most backward countries on earth. But it doesn't always go their way, and they are prone to rather amusing mistakes.
The best known of these incidents is that whilst collecting a ransom for the release of Saudi-registered oil tanker MV Sirius Star (loaded with $100 million of crude oil), five pirates overturned their boat and drowned, weighed down by the $3 million ransom which had been dropped from a plane.
However, I now have a new favourite in my 'How not to be a successful Somali pirate' section:
SAN'A, Yemen (AP) — 'Seven pirates opened fire on a German naval supply ship in the Gulf of Aden but were chased down and captured by an international anti-piracy task force, the U.S. Navy and European officials said Monday.
Meanwhile, Yemen reported that pirates killed a Yemeni fisherman and wounded two others in an attack on a fishing boat Saturday, also in the Gulf of Aden.
The expanse between Somalia and Yemen is one of the world's busiest waterways and the thousands of ships passing through each year have been plagued by pirate attacks.
In the attack on the German ship, pirates apparently mistook German FGS Spessart supply vessel for a commercial ship when they opened fire on it on Sunday afternoon, U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen said.
The German sailors returned fire and pursued the skiff while also calling in for support. Several naval ships — including a Greek and a Dutch frigate, a Spanish warship and the USS Boxer — sped to the area while a Spanish marine aircraft and two U.S. Marine Cobra helicopters joined the pursuit.
Five hours later, Greek sailors reached the pirate skiff, boarded it and seized the seven suspects and their weapons, including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the Greek navy said. The suspects were disarmed and transferred for questioning to the German frigate Rheinland-Pfalz where they remain Monday, pending a decision on whether they will be legally prosecuted, Christensen said.
Germany's Ministry spokesman Christian Dienst said no one was injured in the attack, the first on a German naval ship in this area.'
Piracy rule number one; do not open fire on a modern Western naval vessel. You will lose.
More madness to report from the world of Britain's immigration problems - this time literally from the front line.
Two Afghan illegal immigrants emerged from the luggage hold of a coach and found themselves in the middle of a high-security Army barracks - they had stowed away in a vehicle bringing British troops back from a training exercise in the Alps.
The Mail has more:
The man and teenager were found after the coach arrived at Hammersley Barracks, Hampshire, in the early hours of Friday, March 20.
They were Afghans fleeing the war against the Taliban and wanted to claim asylum in Britain, according to the UK Border Agency.
'As I understand it, the bus pulled up, people went to get their bags and these two guys just sort of popped out of the luggage hold,' said Army spokesman Rebecca Clark.
Security at the Hampshire barracks, which is home to the Army Physical Training Corps, is high, with armed guards at the entrance.
The Afghans were apprehended by security staff and taken to Aldershot Police Station.
UK Border Agency officers went to the police station, discovered one of the refugees was under 18, and placed him in the care of social services.
The older man, whose age is not known, applied for asylum after he was caught and was released on bail to accommodation in the Leeds area while his application is processed.
Asylum applications typically take at least 56 days to process but Sian Freestone-Walker of the UK Border Agency said the time it takes varies greatly.
'Each application is very different and we have to take time to consider its merits,' she said. ' It also depends on things like whether they appeal the decision.
'The man is in Leeds because applicants go to wherever there's a bed available.'
The youth's exact age had not been determined but he was in his late teens and would be allowed to remain in the country until he turned 18.
Then he would have to apply for asylum or leave the country.
Yes, and I wonder which of the latter it will be?
It seems absolutely mad that in another time and place, these soldiers might have been engaging these men in combat - then they're simply allowed to wander in to the country and stay. Who knows who they are or what they want?
It reminds me of another incident which demonstrated the insanity of current policies; in late 2008 it emerged that a family of Afghan asylum seekers were living in a 7 bedroom house worth £1.2 million - and the council were paying £170,000 a year in rent to keep them in such luxury.
Toorpakai Saindi, who has seven children, has been granted an estimated £400 a week in child and local tax benefits, while her landlord receives £12,458 a month because there is no other suitable property available.
Mrs Saindi, who has four sons and three daughters aged eight to 22, approached Ealing Council in west London in July after being made homeless. The authority has a legal obligation to find her a seven-bedroom home.
The mother, who came to England from Afghanistan seven years ago, said: "I always thought the housing benefit was a lot, but I'm told that is what it is for homes like this here."She added: "It's a lot of money, but the council pay it. This is their problem. I don't know why they pay so much."The council says both the benefit and rent payouts are set by the Labour government.
Her son Jawad Saindi, 20, said although it felt like they had won the lottery, his mother complains that the house is too big to clean.
"If someone gave you a lottery ticket would you leave it? No. You take what you get given," he said."It's not that we wanted this big house - my mum is not happy because she has to clean all of it. The first day we moved in here we got lost because it was so big."
Down the road, an Englishman who had served in the army for 12 years, including a tour of Afghanistan, was living rough in his car after being told his request for housing after being made redundant and homeless wasn't 'a priority'.
A British war hero who fought in Afghanistan is living in his car, while a migrant family of Afghans has been handed a £1.2million mansion.
According to the Sun, Corporal Marcus Kilpatrick, 31, who spends his nights in a sleeping bag in the back of a 12-year-old Land Rover, was told no council housing was available for him.
Marcus, who had served in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland, said: “I feel completely let down and unloved by my own country.”
Unemployed Marcus, originally from Norwich, sought help a week ago from Ealing Council in West London.
“I kept getting pushed from one person to another, or got told to come back the next day or the next, the paper quoted him, as saying.
“Eventually they just gave me a list of B&Bs, but each stipulated they wouldn't take anyone receiving benefits, he added.
Ironically, the report added, in the same neighbourhood a family of eight Afghan migrants were living in extreme comfort in a seven-bedroom £170,000-a-year mansion, which is paid for by the taxpayers.
Marcus, who served in the Army for 12 years and spent six months in Afghanistan with the 8 Close Support Company Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, said, “They told me it’s up to me to find my own accommodation and then return to their offices. But no one seemed capable of explaining to me how the system works. How can they justify giving a family of Afghan migrants a mansion and then say they cannot help me? It’’s not like I”m demanding a penthouse.”
I don't think 'insane' even covers it. What about giving Marcus a job in an elite, ex-army team of border guards?
Sky News reports that a man has gone on the rampage with an axe in the West Bank town of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion, killing a 13 year old Israeli boy and seriously wounding a child of 7.
The town, which has no security fence 'for ideological reasons', is now in shock as people are being advised to stay in their homes.
The murderer, believed to be a Palestinian terrorist, was fired on but escaped and is still on the run.
Please forgive me for using the Sky News article, for it is almost grotesquely biased. However this story is still breaking here, and it is one of the quickest services.
Let's do a quick 'bias count';
The attack is likely to heighten tensions between the Palestinians and the new hard-line Israeli government.
Condemning them for a response they have not yet made, whilst also implying that they're bound to over react.
It occurred about 12 miles from the settlement home of controversial new Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The British press can't resist a dig at Lieberman, describing him as an 'ultra-nationalist'. whilst failing to acknowledge that he is what you get when you abandon a nation to the mercies of terrorists and condemn them every time they react.
It is not confirmed that this attack was carried out by a Palestinian but Israeli emergency services are describing it as a "Palestinian terrorist attack".
Yeah, why would they do a thing like that? They're clearly just trying to besmirch the 'Palestinians' ' good name! Remember the recent bulldozer attack which was described in some quarters as a 'road accident'?
There is also the significance of the date - it was on this day in 2002 that Operation Defensive Shield flushed a hardcore of Palestinian militants from the West Bank - they then took shelter in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A month long stand-off ensued.
Israeli settlements are built on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank against international law. Their existence is one of the main obstacles to peace.
Well, that and the ongoing campaign of brutal Arab violence which began when no such thing as the West Bank or Israeli settlements existed.
But, as usual, those dastardly Israelis are to blame for putting their faces in the way of Arab fists.
I find it sickening that whilst reporting an attack in which a 13 year old boy died and another child was seriously injured, a supposedly mainstream media outlet can make space for these pointless, sly digs. I expect it from Al-Jazeera, but there is a limit.
There are two comments on the article so far:
these things happen when something is taken by force. LAND!. free palestine!. give them their land back!. Posted By :darryl mann Report This
Funny, that's exactly how I felt to a degree during the Gaza campaign - 'these things happen when you continually provoke a nation with a professional military'. I doubt Darryl saw it quite like that then.
In any case, shouldn't he be bleating about the unnecessary deaths of children? Or does that only work one way?
so it could have been an Israeli or do they only kill Palestinians and never each other. they should get the full story before saying this is a "terrorist attack".Posted By :GARY Report This
Yes, because Palestinian terrorist attacks are simply unheard of, aren't they? How dare they try to shift the blame from one of those prolific Israeli axe murderers!
I would also ask how a report of Palestinians killing innocent Jews warrants the response 'Jews are so busy killing Palestinians'. His mind must be pretty warped if he can't see through his own prejudices to apportion the blame where it belongs in situations like this - with the murderer.
The naivety and vindictiveness of such comments astound me. I'm sure what he meant to say is 'condolences to the boy's family, there is absolutely no excuse for attacking a young boy with an axe'.
***UPDATE 13:35 GMT*** Two Israeli sources now report the murdered boy was 16, not 13. However, for now, Haaretz still says 13. He has been identified as Shlomo Nativ.
As expected, there was a lot of trouble in London today as climate, anarchist and anti-capitalist protesters hit the streets en masse.
It didn't take long for violence to flare; paint, glass bottles, smoke bombs and metal barriers were thrown at police; one officer was injured when hit on the head by a masked anarchist wielding a pole.
Demonstrators were penned in for hours when they attempted to riot outside the Bank of England - and it's reported on some routes City workers leaned out of their windows, shouting taunts and waving £10 notes.
Hard-core Leftists stormed a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Threadneedle street, looting furniture, breaking windows and starting a small fire.
It was reported that at least 33 arrests were made, several police and protesters were injured, and at least one protester died.
The death apparently occurred at a 'climate camp' and was not related to scuffles with the police or other violence, although Sky News reported that police were pelted with bottles as they removed the man.
First, a couple of videos:
Here are some photographs of the day's events - the first from the Bank of England riot:
These are from the RBS riot on Threadneedle Street - more good pictures can be found here:
Yesterday it was reported that hundreds of illegal immigrants from Africa were feared drowned after an overloaded fishing boat capsized off of Libya.
I would like to make it clear that I have the utmost sympathy for those who died; I know they're desperate, and that's why they act as they do.
The BBC and the UN seized the opportunity to say that such tragedies will continue to occur whilst the EU has a 'closed door, Fortress Europe' policy, and the only solution is to relax immigration laws and pretty much let anyone who wants to come to Europe do just that.
I beg to differ. I don't think Europe's immigration policies are strict enough. Tying people in red tape once they arrive is not the same as effectively trying to prevent them reaching EU territory in the first place. We need to prevent as many illegals getting in as possible, then make sure we effectively and speedily remove any who do slip through.
This will send a clear message back, and take the pressure off these illegal routes. Why take all that risk to be returned?
The vast majority of the people who come are illegal, economic migrants who have the funds to pay people-smugglers in the first place. The vast majority think Europe is the land of milk and honey - and the more illegals there are, the more word gets back, the more come and want to come.
Our generosity keeps the smugglers in business, not our callousness.
Yes, many unscrupulous smugglers will 'defer' the debt and make the immigrant work it off when they're here, but when space is at a premium on these boats, cash up front is preferred - not all smugglers have the connections in Europe necessary to facilitate collecting the debt.
The problem is not going to go away; yes, the vast majority of these people are fleeing war zones and desperate economic conditions; but they can't all come. It is simply not possible for Europe to maintain its current stability and take in tens or hundreds of millions of people who are not in any way, shape or form culturally compatible.
Places such as Malta, the Italian island of Lampedusa, Sicily, Greece, the Canary Islands, the Spanish enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Meuilla and southern Spain itself are literally being invaded. 6,800 Tunisians, 6,000 Nigerians and 4,000 Somalis arrived in Lampedusa in 2008. It has a population of only 6,000 people.
This doesn't even take into account the overland migration routes through which people from Asia and the Middle East are smuggled in; this is just from Africa, by sea.
It's all very well for the UN to chastise us for our 'strict' immigration policies and claim we need these people to make up labour shortages; but these people live in a dream world.
In 2008, the UK issued 720,000 foreigners with national insurance numbers. That does not include the number of illegal immigrants (an estimated 725,000) and asylum seekers. Government figures predict that unemployment may hit the 3 million mark soon.
There are people here who were told to leave 9 years ago, but still fight on with taxpayers' cash. Almost all countries in Western and Northern Europe have a segment of the population from 5 - 10% which is entirely made up of Third World immigrants and their descendants. This is causing increasing tensions, yet whenever it does boil over, the hosts are automatically in the wrong.
So please tell me, by what stretch of the imagination do we have a 'strict' immigration policy?
'Fortress Europe' is a nonsensical term coined to appease a restless populace; it basically means the bigger countries pay for a few helicopters and boats for the nations at the frontline. If they catch migrants, instead of towing them back they're obliged to tow them to their own territory.
So what are we to do with all these people? Are the majority of them going to be helping the economy, or taking benefits which seems beyond their wildest dreams for doing absolutely nothing?
In parts of Sweden, 86% of the adult migrants are unemployed. Yet still the 'we need them to work!' propaganda campaign continues.
Here's what Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN's Refugee Agency, had to say:
UN aid agencies are suggesting wealthy industrialised nations should perhaps rethink their policies on immigration and asylum in the wake of the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean, writes the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.
Reacting to the news that at least 200 migrants were feared dead off the coast of Libya, after the smugglers' boat which was supposed to take them to Italy capsized, the head of the UN refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, said the barriers to legal migration had become too high.
"This is a tragedy that is multiplying itself, in the Mediterranean, in the Gulf of Aden, in south-east Asia. More and more people are trying desperately to move," Mr Guterres told the BBC.
While the trend towards globalisation was encouraging free trade, there were still lethal barriers to people, he added.
"I think it's important to recognise that in today's world where as we have seen, money moves so freely, and goods tend to move also more and more freely, there are still tremendous obstacles for people."
"People need to move because they can no longer live in their countries of origin because of war, because of environmental degradation, because of poverty, there are many reasons that force people to move."
There are many reasons increasing numbers of Europeans are leaving for Canada, Australia and America, however - their societies being changed beyond recognition by millions of Third World immigrants who are vastly incompatible with our way of life, and often simply bring the problems which blight their home countries with them.
In fact, the 'refugee' segment of the immigrant population is always statistically the most violent, most reliant on benefits, most prone to criminality and most likely to form ghettos because they come in large groups of individuals not screened for selection purposes.
Are we not entitled to stability, to our own culture, to control our own borders?
The only way things will ever get better is if the countries these migrants come from improve. Therefore, they need to keep their skilled workers, their dynamic young men - we need them far less.
The solution to the world's ills is not to overwhelm the only successful societies; it is for the rest to learn and improve.
I hope this doesn't sound callous; I am just sick and tired of being told how evil our immigration policy is when it barely exists, and how 'far-Right' I am because I think the Government should exercise one of the basic rights of sovereignty - control of the borders.
Is this likely? Well, in answer, here's more from the UNRA:
The UN refugee agency points out that of those who crossed illegally from Africa to Europe last year, a majority applied for asylum, and more than half of those were found to be in need of protection.
This proves, the agency says, that a significant number had legitimate reasons to come to Europe and should not have been forced to take the illegal smuggling route.
"Those people will take risks if the doors aren't open. They'll go in by the back window if the front door isn't open."
Ah. Soon it will be an unbearable immoral affront if we don't organise a Dunkirk style flotilla of little ships to bring migrants across ourselves.
The last quote simply sounds like a thinly veiled threat - and the tide is turning. If we don't defend Europe's borders soon, it may well be too late.
Who will help the Third World then? Or us, for that matter?
So, to continue from the last post, who is Yvonne Ridley, the woman we saw recently leading the 'Viva Palestina' convoy to Gaza? What is her agenda?
At the lecture I described in the first part, she was introduced to us as an ordinary, liberated, British woman and mother who had simply found the truth of Islam, with no political or other agenda. I will now expose this for the outright lie it is.
British-born, award-winning journalist Yvonne Ridley is well known in the Muslim world for her outspoken views and defence of Islam. She endeared herself to the Muslim community in Britain when she reverted to Islam 30 months after making international headlines when she was captured by the Taleban on an undercover assignment in Afghanistan. She was a senior reporter of the Sunday Express at the time, having spent nearly 10 years in Fleet Street working for several prestige titles including The Sunday Times, The Observer, Daily Mirror and Independent on Sunday...
I found an interview she gave to the BBC shortly after her conversion was announced. It confirms a few of the points she told us in the lecture which I described in my first post, including here first thought about the Taliban soldier capturing her being 'he's gorgeous'.
More on the Taliban:
"I couldn't support what they did or believed in, but they were demonised beyond recognition, because you can't drop bombs on nice people."
She says of reading the Koran and converting:
"I was absolutely blown away by what I was reading - not one dot or squiggle had been changed in 1,400 years.
"I have joined what I consider to be the biggest and best family in the world. When we stick together we are absolutely invincible."
She also described the Koran as 'a Magna Carta for women', and stated Islamic abuses of women stem from local cultures rather than Islam, as Islam 'makes it clear women are equal'.
One thing they miss, though - Ridley was 'defending Muslims' and radical Islamic causes long before she became a Muslim herself. Oh yes, indeed.
You could not make this stuff up. What is this individual, Daoud Zaaroura, up to these days? You may well ask - he is the chief executive of the North of England Refugee Service.
His biography:
"...Daoud Za'aroura is a Palestinian refugee, born in 1947 in a little town near Nazareth (Saffouri). In 1948 his family left Palestine to Lebanon with hundreds of thousands of other Palestinian refugees who have lived since then in Palestinian refugees camps. As a young Palestinian he joined the Palestinian resistance movement and was active within the Palestinian political groups. He left the Middle East in 1992 and arrived in Britain where he was granted political asylum. Since then he has been working with refugees and homeless people in a charitable refugee organisation in Britain. He continues to be involved in refugee issues and social justice research.
He and Ridley met in Cyprus whilst she was on an assignment; in 1992, they had a daughter together, so presumably that's what got him into the UK.
When they met, he was still an active officer in the PLO. I shan't comment on the wisdom of letting such a man run a 'refugee' service - you, the reader can make up your own mind about whether this is sensible or desirable. But please bear in mind that 'resistance movement' is a coy euphemism for 'terrorist organisation' - and one of the most vicious and violent the world has ever known.
However, these are the sorts of circles in which she has moved since her younger days. On this basis, I find it very hard to believe that she only troubled herself to find out about Islam after her release from Taliban captivity.
Don't most non-Muslim women who marry Muslim men have to convert? Wouldn't her daughter have been born and raised a Muslim? Even if she didn't convert, wouldn't she have been at least a little curious? Why does it seem she took on his politics but not his religion?
For the record, I recognise the PFLP is technically a secular, Marxist branch of the Palestinian terror tree. But to be accepted under the PLO umbrella, there must have been some recognition of the majority agenda - Islamic supremacy and Arab nationalism.
There is a conspiracy theory which suggests Ridley's capture was staged, part of a ploy to draw attention to various Islamic 'resistance' movements and rehabilitate the Taliban in the same vein as the PLO.
Frankly, I think the whole situation is bizarre enough, although I'm sure her ex-husband could have pulled some strings somewhere. Many believe that she would have been killed as a spy had it not been for her already impressive CV of militant Islamic connections.
After her release and conversion, Ridley's life becomes a murky stew of warped views, questionable motives and shady connections. You have to ask whether Islam can change someone totally - or perhaps like attracts like?
Soon after her conversion, she started insisting that the CIA and Mossad were conspiring to kill her in order to escalate the war in Afghanistan. No reason was given why they would do this or desire it - apart from the worldwide conspiracy against peace-loving Muslims, obviously.
Ridley supports the vast majority of the Muslims jailed for terror offences in the UK, no matter how extreme. Her website hosts poems and letters by jailed Babar Ahmad (who, as I reported earlier, also counts Sadiq Khan MP amongst his friends), awaiting extradition to the US for hosting terrorist funding websites.
Among the websites he hosted and ran was 'azzam.com' a site which raised funds for Mujahideen fighting British, American and coalition troops in Afghanistan. The organisation 'Stop Political Terror', formerly 'Stop Police Terror', is also heavily involved in the campaign to prevent his extradition - and Ridley was closely linked to this organisation.
A barrister friend assures me that Ahmad would not have been in jail for 5 years awaiting extradition unless the evidence was 'overwhelming enough to convict him here'.
In fact, comparing democratic Western leaders and institutions to the bloody, murdering, terrorist ones she supports and apologises for is a bit of a forte of hers. I believe the psychological explanation for this phenomenon is 'projection'.
She wrote an article on her website saying she wouldn't blame Iraqi terrorists for cutting off George Bush's head, or at least wanting to; she compared Tony Blair to Pol Pot, and calls Israel
"...that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East" and further that her party, the Respect Party, "is a Zionist-free party...if there was any Zionism in the Respect Party they would be hunted down and kicked out. We have no time for Zionists," while both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were "riddled with Zionists." [9][10]
Presumably, these would be the same 'Zionists' or, if we're being honest, Jews who want to kill her because she's just so important it would intensify a foreign war.
Despite claiming these organisations wished to kill her, she was allowed into the US for a university speaking tour. She mocked US intelligence services:
In an article about her conversion she taunted members of US intelligience agencies as "incompetant spooks"and joked about "opening a Madrassah for [al-Qaeda] recruits from my flat in Soho".
Ridley calls the PLO and the Taliban resistance to coalition forces in Afghanistan 'humanitarian organisations', and when asked about British Muslims found with footage of Western hostages being beheaded in Iraq, her response was thus (according to her own Wikipedia page):
At the "Muslimer i Dialog" conference in Copenhagen in September 2005, Ridley was asked if she didn't see it as a problem that militant Islamists distribute recruiting videos of Iraqi insurgents killing hostages. She replied that it was necessary for Muslims to have these videos at home as an alternative form of news to what she perceived as the propaganda of Western media. At the same meeting she compared British Prime MinisterTony Blair with Pol Pot.
As far as I can tell, the 'Yvonne Ridley' Wikipedia page many of these quotes come from is maintained by herself and her supporters - she is referred to as 'sister' throughout.
Now, the following is very serious, and reveals much about her character and her interpretation of Islam. Here is a set of quotes from radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, taken from his wiki page - please read them carefully:
"These missions would increase the number of satellites for military purposes. It would increase the slavery of governance of other countries by America. It is a punishment from God. Muslims see it that way. It is a trinity of evil because it carried Americans, an Israeli and a Hindu, a trinity of evil against Islam. The fact that the motor of the craft fell on Palestine [a town in Texas] – all these are messages from God. It is a strong message, for the Israeli, to be taken up there to space and he spoke about the Holocaust, to try to make religious advancement from it and gain some moral high ground, hence you have seen this message over Palestine."
"Killing of the kafir (non-believer) for any reason you can say it is OK, even if there is no reason for it." He called on his followers to poison, ambush and kill non-believers and added: "You must have a stand with your heart, with your tongue, with your money, with your hand, with your sword, with your Kalashnikov. Don't ask shall I do this, just do it."[16]
He suggested that people coined the term suicide attack to put others off it. "It is not called suicide - this is called shahada, martyring, because if the only way to hurt the enemies of Islam except by taking your life for that, then it is allowed," adding: "The person who hinders Allah's rule, this man must be eliminated".
In January 2006 while on trial, he accused the Jewish people of being "blasphemous, treacherous and dirty" and explained that this was "why Hitler was sent into the world".[18]
He also called for "a world dominated by a caliph, sitting in the White House".[16] Whilst under cross-examination Hamza claimed the Jews control the Foreign Office, the media and the money supply in Britain and the USA.[19]
OK. Nice chap, right? What does Yvonne think? He phoned her after news of her conversion broke:
He said, 'Sister Yvonne, welcome to Islam, congratulations'.
"I explained I hadn't yet taken my final vows and he said, 'Don't be pressured or pushed, the whole community is there for you if you need any help, just call one of the sisters.'
"I thought, I can't believe it, this is the fire and brimstone cleric from Finsbury Park mosque and he is quite sweet really.
"I was just about to hang up when he said, 'But there is just one thing I want you to remember. Tomorrow, if you have an accident and die, you will go straight to hellfire'.
"I was so scared that I carried a copy of the vows in my purse until my final conversion last June."
A sweet guy. Someone who believes Hitler was born to teach the Jews a lesson. You have to ask yourself at this point what sort of person would want to be associated with the religion of a man like him. What impressed Ridley most, however, was how generous he was in lending her Islamic texts.
Anyway, after her conversion Ridley became even more prominent in the Muslim world. She joined the Islam Channel, then al-Jazeera, then Press TV, all of them English-speaking Muslim backed channels with an agenda.
In fact, she was instrumental in setting up the English section of al-Jazeera and helping it spread, propagating the lie that Western media outlets were more biased than the Islamist shills she worked for.
On at least two of these channels she hosted programmes called 'The Agenda with Yvonne Ridley' - apparently without irony.
In 2005 she courted yet more controversy by backing the radical cleric Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his campaign of violence in Iraq and Jordan, describing the victims of the 9 November 2005 Amman bombings in Jordan, which saw 60 persons killed and 115 injured, as:
"Iraqi collaborators, Saudi, Indonesian and Chinese intelligence officers and the upper echelons of society." The outpouring of public outrage manifested in spontaneous demonstration she described as staged and the work of "Jordanian troops out of uniform" and "government lackeys" together with "Christian and Muslim Bedouins" who had all been commandeered or paid to demonstrate by the Jordanian government and the CIA."
Al-Zarqawi was denounced by his family after the bombings, a move that Ridley thought "cowardly." She said of al-Zarqawi himself that she would "rather put up with a brother like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi any day than have a traitor or sell-out for a father, son or grandfather" – a reference to Jordanian royal family. [13].
In 2006 she was active in the propaganda campaign against Israel in its struggle with Hezbollah, which had breached its borders and captured and killed a number of Israeli soldiers. Here is a video of her speaking outside the Israeli (or possibly American) embassy on 22/10/06:
To screams of 'Allahuakbar' and 'long live Hezbollah', Ridley mounts the platform. She launches into a rant - the people in the embassy are 'behind the wire', under siege. Hezbollah 'whupped the arse' of the world's fourth most powerful army. By that, I assume she's referring to the 121 Israelis who died in the 2006 Lebanon War, 44 of them civilians.
She then informs us that 'drinking Coca-Cola is the same as drinking the blood of Palestinian children' and 'shopping at Marks & Spencer is the same as giving bullets to Israeli soldiers to shoot into the backs of Palestinian schoolgirls'. She calls Israel an apartheid state, quoting the words of that well known authority on morality, leader of the Iranian Revolution Ayatollah Khomeinei.
After that, she blesses the 'Palestinian resistance movement' and the Second Intifada which was responsible for the deaths of 1,079 Israelis, 731 of them civilians.
But then, 2006 seems to be the year in which Yvonne sank further and further into extremism. In June 2006, this had occurred:
At a meeting of the Respect party on 6 June 2006, following a controversial police raid in Forest Gate, East London, on 2 June 2006, Ridley urged all Muslims in Britain to "boycott the police and refuse to co-operate with them in any way, shape or form until the boys are released," including "asking the community copper for directions to passing the time of day with a beat officer." Her comments were labelled as "sheer, undiluted madness" by Shadow Home SecretaryDavid Davis.
Yeah, David Davis usually hits the nail on the head, I find. But when George Galloway thinks your beliefs are too extreme, well, maybe the message should be heeded.
After the Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev (accused of the Moscow theater hostage crisis and blamed for the Beslan school massacre) was killed, Ridley wrote an article referring to Basayev as a "shaheed". She went on to refer to Basayev as leader of "an admirable struggle to bring independence to Chechnya". [17]
As you can see, with Yvonne Ridley there is no attempt to claim the middle ground - she is an unashamed extremist.
Now, last but not least, we will look at her recent activities in the 'free Gaza' movement, which she joined in August 2008. This movement took a flotilla of boats from Cyprus to 'break the Israeli blockade' around the Gaza strip and deliver aid and supplies.
They completed this mission, and Ridley was given a genuine Palestinian diplomatic passport by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who described her as 'an ambassador for Palestine'. Here you can see her pathetic attempts to reconcile her beliefs with reality at the Rafah border crossing:
Finally, it all came full circle with the setting up of 'Viva Palestina' and the £1 million, 100 vehicle aid convoy which drove from London to Gaza. After the 25 day journey, she wrote the following article for the 'Viva Palestina' website:
"I'VE never been a huge flag-waving fan of the Union Jack because to me it was largely a symbol of the old British Empire and all the bad things it once represented in terms of occupation, slavery, tyranny and imperialistic wars."
Yes, it must be nice to be part of a 'worldwide family', as you term your religion, that would never dream of being involved in any such shenanigans. Never mind the fact that Islam is synonymous with slavery, tyranny, occupation and imperialistic wars. Never mind the fact that Muslims would rather die and violently slaughter innocents around the world for a 20,770 / 22,072 km2 (151st in the world) 8,019 / 8,522 sq mi strip of land, Israel, because people who aren't Muslims dare to live there and run a successful, modern state - when they could be enjoying the 13,953,041 km2 (2nd) (5,382,910 sq mi) which is the Arab League alone.
Still, why would a little thing like reality intrude?
She continues:
"I can't really remember the urge to pick up the Union Jack again declaring to the world: "I am proud to be British".
As Leo Tolstoy once remarked, such patriotism in its simplest form is nothing more than a "means of obtaining for rulers their ambitions" as well as a sign from us lesser mortals as our "slavish enthralment to those in power".
So it was rather a peculiar feeling when I watched several members of Viva Palestina cloak themselves in the Union Jack for the final stages of our 5,000 mile journey from London to Gaza. In truth, the British flag was flown throughout our marathon journey across nine countries and the message was loud, proud and clear at each border crossing: "We are British, the convoy is British and we support the Palestinian people."
Clearly this woman is not familiar with the term 'irony'. She claims patriotism is a means of 'claiming for rulers their ambitions' - but what is her slavish love for the Islamic world and every Muslim-backed power struggle going?
The convoy was not 'British' - it was largely made up of Muslims and deluded idiots, with a few people who can't see beyond the goodness of their own hearts for good measure.
To finish, I would like to say something to Yvonne Ridley which I'm sure she'll be familiar with:
"Not in my name."
That's what she said about the struggle to remove the Taliban from power. I repeat it back to her now about her and Galloway's shameless attempts to pretend the British people are all duped dhimmis who can't see through the 'Palestinian liberation struggle'. It's nationalism and chauvinism in its purest, ugliest, most dangerous form, pure and simple.
You're not fit to hold the Union Flag Yvonne, let alone wax lyrical about the 'noble Desert Rats'. I had two relatives who served with the British army in North Africa, and I can assure you they didn't do it with the dream of a Muslim Britain or Europe - they were fighting against evil, oppressive beliefs, not for them.
Yesterday British troops began their withdrawal from Iraq, after six years and 179 casualties.
From the BBC:
Major General Andy Salmon has transferred authority for what will become Multi-National Division South to US Major General Michael Oates.
The generals' pennants were raised and lowered in a handover ceremony.
Most of Britain's 4,000 troops will leave by 31 May, the official end-of-combat date.
About 400 will stay after that, either in HQ roles or to train the Iraqi Navy.
A Royal Marine band from Plymouth played as the Marines' flag was lowered in the ceremony at Basra airbase and replaced with the standard of the US Army's 10th Mountain Division. Britain's Maj Gen Andy Salmon then shook hands with his American successor and embraced him.
In a speech at the handover ceremony, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the Chief of Defence Staff, paid tribute to the troops who had served in Iraq.
"This occasion is about the countless numbers of young men and women from the far flung corners of the US and and the various reaches of the British Isles, who have together striven here with such dedication, with such commitment, and such courage, over so long a period," he said.
"We remember particularly at such a time those who paid the ultimate price in this endeavour, those who suffered injury and disablement, in order that we might get to this point today."
Maj Gen Salmon says much has been achieved over the past six years. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the work of British forces had changed the lives of ordinary Iraqis.
"For those who are old enough to realise, and compare it with the past gloom of Saddam's era, they look back to 30 years ago and say 'We're seeing stability that we haven't had before; we're seeing levels of freedom that we haven't had before'," he said.
Indeed. Whatever the critics say, the British and US military personnel in Iraq have generally carried themselves with courage, honour and aplomb, many paying the ultimate price to make other people's lives better.
Here's to all of them - and wishing the US soldiers there a safe tour before their final withdrawal.
A Dutch couple have been kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen whilst driving in the capital, Sanaa. They are now being held in a remote part of the al-Siraj mountains.
Later, the leader of the al-Siraj tribe claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
"We talked to the mayor and the government and everyone important," Sheikh Nasser al-Siraj told AP.
"But no-one listens. So this way we will put pressure on our government and finally get justice."
Ah, a classic Muslim, Arab take on justice - 'do as we want, or we'll be very, very violent.'
The woman and her husband, who works for a water company, were apparently taken to exert pressure on the Yemeni Government over compensation for tribesmen injured in a shoot-out with police.
The Dutch woman spoke to AP reporters yesterday, saying:
"It was a very classical kidnapping situation," she said. "We were offered lunch and tea, and were allowed to take a walk and take pictures."
"It's such an adventure - that's the only way to cope with it," she added, predicting that they would be freed in a day.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed that two of its citizens had been kidnapped, but would not release any further information.
'Bit of an adventure' - she sounds like another Yvonne Ridley, although I suppose they have to get through it somehow.
Hopefully they will be released soon, as were a group of Germans seized in similar circumstances in December 2008.
However, violence has recently stepped up in the country, with suspected al-Qaeda militants murdering South Korean tourists.
A student of history and politics, teacher, sometimes writer, English patriot and unashamedly 'Eurocentric'.
A fan of truth, of our ancient liberties, of Western Civilisation - determined to defend them all in any way, at any cost.
I am working to overcome the double standards which now rule much of our life and conspire to silence us completely on certain issues.
A Dutch Perspective on the Meaning of the Westminster Quarters
During WWII and the occupation by the Nazis of the Netherlands, it was under occupation rule forbidden to listen to the BBC. (The fine was the death penalty). Still some people listened to the BBC.
Every BBC broadcast was introduced by the chimes of Big Ben. My grandparents lived under this awful Nazi occupation and listened to the BBC in the cellar. In those dark days the chimes of your Big Ben were their only promise and hope for democracy and freedom to this country of mine.
Happy birthday Big Ben. 150 years old. I dont know what your magic is. The promising sound of freedom and democracy, the amazing chimes of liberty?
But as an old tower you are still a gorgeous stone bloke with a beautiful voice.
“How dreadful are the curses which Islam lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund, Islam is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -the science against which it had vainly struggled -the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
— Sir Winston Churchill, The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
Churchill on Us
"We have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."
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