Un semanario marroquí apunta a una implicación del régimen en la masacre del 11-M

Madrid– El semanario marroquí en lengua árabe Alayam publica en su última edición un extenso reportaje sobre la investigación judicial en el 11-M, acompañada de una entrevista a Mohamed Haddad, presunto participante en los atentados y al que el régimen de Mohamed VI impide viajar a España.

Alayam plantea en su editorial si ello no significa que Marruecos estaría implicado en la masacre terrorista. El rechazo de otorgar el pasaporte a Haddad, actualmente en libertad en Tetuán, para que viaje a España, suscita serios interrogantes. «¿Qué esconde el régimen? ¿Por qué tiene miedo a las posibles declaraciones de Haddad en España?».

Es la primera vez que en el reino de Mohamed VI se apunta a la posible implicación oficial u oficiosa del régimen o de alguno de sus servicios secretos, en la masacre terrorista del 11-M. En declaraciones al semanario, el propio Haddad sostiene: «Me implicaron injustamente en estos atentados terroristas, y gran parte es culpa de los servicios de seguridad marroquíes que no actuaron con transparencia desde un principio».

El marroquí sostiene que regresó a Marruecos en enero de 2004, dos meses antes de los atentados, y que tiene «centenares de testigos» que le vieron en Tetuán en la mañana del 11-M. El presunto implicado, que no ha sido imputado por el juez Juan Del Olmo, revela por vez primera que fue detenido por la policía marroqui el 17 de marzo de 2004 y trasladado al cuartel de los servicios especiales en Temara, en las cercanías de Rabat, donde le interrogaron durante 45 días. «Si no hay acusaciones oficiales contra mí por parte española y no se ha encontrado ninguna huella mía en los escenarios de los atentados, ¿por qué no me dan el pasaporte para viajar a Madrid?».

Su abogado, M. Hajji ha presentado varias solicitudes a la dirección de la Seguridad nacional, al ministerio de Justicia, a la DST (Dirección de Seguridad del Territorio) y a los servicios militares, exigiendo una explicación. También informó al Consulado de España en Tetuán de que Mohamed Haddad está dispuesto a acudir a la audiencia nacional en Madrid para declarar. A Haddad le ha caducado su tarjeta de residencia española, y por eso ha solicitado un visado en el Consulado español. Su mujer y su hija viven en Madrid.

Encontrado en: Ciberterrorismo (e-Yijad)

Irán: Turquía debe enriquecer nuestro uranio

Europa Press

Irán ha propuesto a Turquía la realización en territorio turco del enriquecimiento de uranio iraní y del tratamiento del combustible nuclear del país persa, según informó hoy el diario turco ‘Yeni Safak’. «Nos da más confianza Turquía. Podemos discutir estas iniciativas. Para nosotros sería mejor que calquiera de ellas fuese llevada a cabo en el territorio turco«, declaró el embajador de Irán en Turquía, Firooz Dowlatabadi, citado por el diario. «También invitamos a las compañías turcas a participar en la ejecución de los proyectos nucleares en Irán», indicó el diplomático. Las autoridades turcas aún no han reaccionado a las declaraciones del embajador iraní.

Technorati Tags: Turquía, Irán, crisis nuclear

¿Guerra USA-Eurabia?

Del blog compañero en Ideazione-Right Nation, tomamos un artículo que au autor, Paolo de Lautremont, nos señaló ayer. Muy interesante su punto de vista, teniendo en cuenta lo que ya dijimos ayer sobre Eurabia.

Due eventi fondamentali infatti si verificheranno in quei giorni. Il 20 marzo a Teheran aprirà la prima borsa petrolifera prezzata in euro e sarà disponibile per tutti i produttori petroliferi della regione; il 23 marzo la Federal Reserve americana sospenderà la pubblicazione dei dati relativi all’offerta di moneta M3 (che è uno degli indicatori più affidabili per la stima dell’ammontare in dollari circolante nel mondo).
Il primo evento di fatto sancisce la fine del dollaro come valuta di riferimento e rifugio e ne comporterà con ogni probabilità una svalutazione. Gli analisti parlano di un rapporto euro/dollaro a 1,70 entro il 2007.
La sospensione della pubblicazione dell’indicatore macroeconomico M3, fortemente criticata dalla comunità degli economisti e degli analisti finanziari, farà perdere trasparenza all’evoluzione della quantità di denaro in dollari a livello globale. Se ciò poi avviene insieme al già citato probabile deprezzamento del dollaro, gli Stati Uniti cercheranno di “nascondere”, per il maggior tempo possibile la loro “monetarizzazione” del debito e si potrebbe assistere ad una massiccia vendita dei bond del Tesoro americani detenuti nei Paesi asiatici ed europei e in quelli produttori di greggio.

Como vemos, dos noticias de suma importancia: Irán, que ha confesado que ha estado engañando a Europa, va a abrir la primera bolsa petrolífera en euros y será disponible para todos los productores petrolíferos de la zona el 20 de marzo. Tres días después, la reserva federal americana suspenderá la publicación de los datos relativos a la oferta de moneda M3 (que es uno de los indicadores más fiables para estimar la cantidad de dólares que circulan en el mundo).

Si tenemos en cuenta que el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU se reunirá la semana próxima (7-13 de marzo), según Reuters, ¿no se está retrasando para que coincida con ese momento? Si eso es cierto -y sabiendo que seguramente sabían que Irán les estaba engañando- seguían negociando ¿para conseguir algún trato «favorable» más? Y lo más importante: ¿Por qué Irán prima de esa forma a la Unión Europa y castiga a USA? ¿Espera conseguir algo más de la Unión Europa que si negociara con USA? ¿Y qué es lo que quiere conseguir?

Y el autor señala esto:

Bruxelles che deve dare una direzione precisa alla sua politica: il conflitto con l’Iran -comunque evolva (speriamo pacificamente)- avrà la precisa funzione di inchiodare l’Europa su una scelta, e questa sarà napoleonica (con annesse le discendenze hitleriane e brezneviane), oppure atlantica (restando in Francia: La Fayette e De Gaulle oppure il collaborazionismo di Pétain?).

E’ evidente che, se l’Europa per ottenere un pur legittimo e autonomo «posto al sole» continua ad allearsi con i cani e porci del mondo invece che con le democrazie occidentali e orientali (Giappone, India, Taiwan, Sud Corea), allora siamo di fronte a bruttissimi eventi, anche se ci vorranno mesi e forse anni prima che i nodi vengano al pettine.

Il Muro di Berlino, crollando, ha solo spostato la sua linea più a Occidente. Oggi Eurabia è una realtà politica coesa da 35 anni di pratica, e ciò che ci fa davvero paura non sono più i Bin Laden o i terroristi (non solo e non tanto), quanto la strategia folle che ha reso il Mediterraneo «padre di tutti i conflitti».

Efectivamente, -traduzco- el conflicto de Irán deberá decidir dónde quiere estar Europa: si será napoleónica (y, por tanto, totalitaria) o atlántica. Si Europa sigue aliándose con los perros y cerdos del mundo (debería haber usado otros animales, que tanto los perros como los cerdos son muy buenos amigos del ser humano 😉  pero el significado se entiende), en vez de con todas las democracias occidentales y orientales (Japón, India, Taiwán o Corea del Sur -yo habría añadido Australia, Nueva Zelanda, etc.) , estaremos en unos momentos duros, como veremos en los próximos años y meses. Y, los más peligrosos NO son Bin Laden y los terroristas (no sólo y no tanto -a pesar de lo que son-) si no, la estrategia loca que ha hecho del Mediterráneo » el padre de todos los conflictos».

No me queda más que añadir….

Algunos apuntes sobre el asesinato de Ilan Halimi

De todas las cosas que más han sorprendido del caso Halimi, sin duda hay una que choca más que las demás y es el silencio de Israel al respecto. Cita Tel-Chai Nation un artículo en el que se dice lo siguiente:

In addition to the exterminationist anti-Semitism of Ilan’s murderers and the unwillingness of the French authorities to acknowledge the anti-Semitic nature of the crime until it was too late, there is one more aspect of the case that bears note. That is Israel’s reaction to the atrocity. In short, there has been absolutely no official Israeli reaction to the abduction, torture and murder of a Jew in France by a predominantly Muslim terrorist gang that kidnapped, tortured and murdered him because he was a Jew.No Israeli government minister, official or spokesman has condemned his murder. No Israeli official has demanded that the French authorities investigate why the police refused to take anti-Semitism into account during Ilan’s captivity. No Israeli official flew to Paris to participate in Ilan’s funeral or any other memorial or demonstration in his memory. The Foreign Ministry’s Web site makes no mention of his murder. The Israeli Embassy in Paris – which has been without an ambassador for the past several months – only publicly expressed its condolences to the Halimi family on February 23, 10 days after Ilan was found. This, when the French Jewish community considers Halimi’s murder to have been the greatest calamity to have befallen it in recent years; when aliya rates rose 25% last year; and when Ilan’s mother has told reporters that her son had planned to make aliya soon and was just staying in France to save money to finance his move to Israel. For its part, as Michelle Mazel pointed out in The Jerusalem Post yesterday, the French press has noted that the Israeli media has not given the story prominent coverage. Halimi’s murder has not appeared on the front pages of the papers or at the top of the television or radio broadcasts.Although appalling, the absence of an official Israeli outcry against Halimi’s murder is not the least surprising. Today, the unelected Kadima interim government, like the Israeli media, is doing everything in its power to lull the Israeli people into complacency towards the storm of war raging around us. Against the daily barrages of Kassam rockets on southern Israel; nervous reports of al-Qaida setting up shop in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; the ascension of Hamas to power in the Palestinian Authority; and Iran’s threats of nuclear annihilation, Israel’s citizenry, under the spell of Kadima and the media, appears intent on ignoring the dangers and pretending that what happens to Jews in France has nothing to do with us.

Pero como ya apunté en otro post anterior, otros dos crímenes anteriores son muy semejantes. De Militant Islam Monitor :

In the past two years an American and a French Jew were murdered by a Muslim who slit their throats in a ritual killing which are reminiscent of the practices of a shadowy group called Tafkir Al Hijah. Theo van Gogh’s killer, Mohammed Bouyeri is also suspected of being an adherent of this group, as was Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers. The Van Gogh case has been classified as an act of terrorism and 13 Islamists were arrested in the days following the murder, who were linked to an international terrorist network called the ‘Hofstad Groep’ (Capital City Group).

Tthe killings of the two Jewish men by Muslims who slit there throats in a premeditated yet seemingly ‘motiveless’ crime .The murders of Ariel Sellouk of Houston and Sebastian Selam of Paris, were classified as criminal acts. What is striking about the case in Houston is that both the prosecutor and defense lawyer admit to having no clue as to the motive. Sebastian’s Selam’s murderer was labelled «crazy’ and the murder was ascribed to the jealousy of the Muslim killer over Selam’s sucess as a popular disc jockey. In both cases the men had been on friendly terms with their killers and were lured to their deaths, never believing that the person with whom they had socialised with would savagely turn on them with knives and slit their throats nearly decapitating them. The murders of Ariel Sellouk and Sebastian Selam bear all the hallmarks of Takfir Wal Hijrah. The question remains as to if authorities either did not ask the right questions, or did not want to deal with the fallout which would have resulted if the murders of Ariel Sellouk and Sebastian Selam were labelled terrorist attacks. The fact that ‘ticking time bombs’ are walking around in the form of young Arab males ready to ‘go off’ without warning is something which must be investigated if more ritual killings like that of Theo van Gogh , Ariel Sellouk and Sebastian Selam are to be prevented.

Y aquí las circunstancias de las muertes de ambos:

Ariel Sellouk : The victim was a Jew, slaughtered in a Houston apartment, his throat slit so deftly with a 6-inch butterfly knife that he was nearly decapitated. The killer was an Arab, a newly minted religious Muslim and the son of a millionaire Saudi businessman. He had been bailed out of trouble by the Saudi consulate after previous scrapes with the law, and in the hours after the slaying, authorities said, he plotted to flee to his homeland. Alayed severed his relationship with Sellouk about the same time that he underwent a religious awakening and became an observant Muslim. It is entirely possible that the real motive behind the murder of Ariel Sellouk will never be known. ( También en Free Republic ).

Es preciso darse cuenta de que el asesino era hijo de un millonario saudí, o sea precisamente dinero no le faltaba

Sebastian Sellam , 23, was a popular disc jockey at a hot Parisian night club called Queen. At about 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday November 19, the young man known as DJ Lam C (a reverse play on his surname) left the apartment he shared with his parents in a modest building in of Paris’ 10th la Place Colonel Fabien, heading to work as usua. In the underground parking lot, a Muslim neighbor slit Sellam’s throat twice, according to the Rosenpress interview. His face was completely mutilated with a fork. Even his eyes were gouged out. (también aquí). «He said he killed a Jew «, the mother of Selam said. «it’s Allah who wanted him to do it. He had no regrets, no shame, nothing to hide. This is the official statement he made. It’s in the file».

La pregunta que surge es: ¿está el caso de Ilan relacionado con los disturbios de octubre y noviembre pasado? ¿se han investigado lo suficiente las conexiones entre el grupo «The Barbarians» que asesinó a Ilan y Hamas, de quien se encontró documentación en el piso que ocupaban?Como bien se dice arriba, es necesario investigar bien estos crímenes, si queremos prevenir los futuros.

UPDATE/ACTUALIZACIÓN: A través de Atlas Shrugs me entero de más detalles:

…In the days since the dying Halimi was discovered, some journalists have been making ugly discoveries. The gang of thugs (they called themselves «the Barbarians») had sequestered the young man in an apartment that had been rented by the doorman of the building. The doorman knew what had been happening but did nothing. Many other residents in the building had heard a man screaming, but had decided to mind their own business instead of calling for help, even anonymously. «When you live here, you think about yourself and only about yourself,» one of them said.

The screams must have been loud because the torture was especially atrocious: the thugs cut bits off the flesh of the young man, they cut his fingers and ears, they burned him with acid, and in the end poured flammable liquid on him and set him on fire.

Traducción:

Los gritos debieron ser altos porque la tortura fue espacialmente atroz: los matones cortaron trozos de carne del joven, le cortaron los dedos y las orejas, le quemaron con ácido y al final le echaron un líquido inflamable y le prendieron fuego.

Creo que no es necesario comentarlo.

Del Jerusalem Post :

The kidnappers «were just too happy to have a little Jew on their hands,» Didier Halimi said in an interview, his first, with the French daily, Le Monde, appearing in Wednesday’s edition…

HT: Solomonia.

Pero ha habido otro ataque:

The Paris Consistory, the main Jewish religious body in the capital, said the attacks in which three young Jews were beaten up and insulted were part of a spiral of violence that must be stopped immediately.Police said attackers broke the nose of a rabbi’s son and stole a mobile phone from his friend in the first attack on Friday evening. On Saturday evening, another Jew suffered a dislocated shoulder when four youths assaulted him.

A pesar de ello, Chirac ha dicho que el Primer Ministro Judío no es bienvenido en París, hasta que no explique la llamada de Sharon a que los judíos dejaran Francia. UPDATE/ACTUALIZACIÓN: Bueno, pues el artículo ha desaparecido. Hasta esta tarde aparecía lo que he anotado… ¿Qué habrá pasado?

Post relacionados:Joven judío secuestrado y torturado a muerte por una banda, en Francia . Más sobre la muerte de Ilan (1). Más sobre la muerte de Ilan Halimi (2). Más sobre la muerte de Ilan Halimi (3). La cobertura de la BBC sobre el asesinato de Ilan Halimi. Otro ataque antisemita en Francia y más datos sobre el bárbaro asesinato de Ilan Halimi.

Technorati Tags: Ilan Halimi, Terrorismo, Terrorism, antisemitismo, antisemitism

Blogueros egipcios denuncian la violencia sobre las caricaturas

The young Egyptian sitting in the garden of a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant here, smoking a hookah and talking politics, is known to most people as an investment banker. His other life is carefully concealed, even from family. Only trusted friends know his secret identity. He’s «Sandmonkey,» the Web blogger.

The name is meant to mock a slur against Arabs, adopted when he started his blog a year ago. With a warning to readers that he is «extremely cynical … pro-U.S., secular, libertarian, disgruntled,» the blog challenges the appeal of Islamic terrorists and the misperception of a solidly anti-American Middle East.

«The view they (Americans) are getting from the Arab world, which is one-sided, is that everyone hates them, which isn’t necessarily true,» he said. Many Arabs are free only to «scream and rant» against Israel and America, he said. Yet «ask any one of those protesters if they want a green card» enabling them to live and work in the United States, and «they would be all over you.»

The 24-year-old is one of a growing number of Arab bloggers speaking out — angrily, passionately, irreverently — on the region’s explosive issues. They also coordinate anti-government demonstrations and interfaith vigils, reveal human-rights abuses and explain the voting rights of Egypt’s 70 million people.

Fellow blogger «Big Pharaoh» ventured into cyberspace in April 2004 with encouragement from «Zeyad,» an Iraqi blogger. «I felt I was going to explode,» Big Pharoah, 26, said. «I had all these opinions in me, and I wanted to share them.»

Like Sandmonkey, he asked not to be identified because «we are in Egypt, and we never know what can happen.» Many Egyptians refuse to speak out publicly for fear of being charged with tarnishing the state’s reputation.

Lately, both bloggers have denounced the violence sweeping the Islamic world over the publication of Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. A «Buy Danish» notice appears prominently on Sandmonkey’s site.

«Boycotting and vilifying an entire nation for what these cartoonists did — it was so childish … so stupid,» Big Pharaoh said. Sandmonkey recounted how Egyptian diabetics panicked when a local doctors’ syndicate boycotted Danish insulin: «That was basically a death sentence for people.»

He has reported that an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Fagr, published the cartoons five months ago, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, without provoking any outrage.

After a Muslim Brotherhood rally against the cartoons Saturday, Big Pharaoh wondered anew on his blog «why they didn’t protest when an Egyptian newspaper published the cartoons last October.»

Sandmonkey’s blog has been noted in the Egyptian press. In the past two months, it received a half-million hits – 100,000 more than in the previous 12 months.

«They are starting to pay attention, which is kind of dangerous,» he said of his growing notoriety among his countrymen. «My main fear is the idiots on the street.»

He believes the new interest is due to his commentary on the cartoon furor, which he derides as «a fast-spreading epidemic that has a very good chance of getting an unspecified number of people killed, but is especially good at getting Muslims to kill other Muslims.»

Equally unafraid of controversy, Big Pharaoh has posted an open letter to Arab and Islamic media, religious leaders, government officials and the «Arab street,» entitled «Your Hypocrisy.» In it, he chastises them for not condemning terrorist attacks on Iraqi civilians, and he accuses Arab media of encouraging youths to be suicide bombers.

«You rationalize the murder of people in America, Madrid and London by referring to your political grievances in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan,» he wrote. «Yet … I find myself very puzzled and bewildered [by] your indifference (and sometimes joy) towards the daily killing of Iraqi civilians.

After bombs killed 67 people at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in July, both bloggers helped to coordinate a small anti-terrorism protest in downtown Cairo that was quickly dispersed by police.

«I pose a dilemma for them,» Sandmonkey said of the Egyptian government’s Internet monitors. «I am pro-U.S., I support the Iraq war. I am critical of Muslims who refuse to admit there are some things wrong. I mean, honestly, what’s up with this ‘culture of death’ thing?» he said, referring to jihadist calls for murderous suicidal attacks.

Both oppose the government’s repression, but also oppose its main challenger – the Muslim Brotherhood, the illegal but largely tolerated Islamist party that gained parliamentary seats in 2005’s national elections.

«I hate them with a passion,» Sandmonkey said. «I’m not a big fan of theocracy. It doesn’t work.»

Big Pharaoh calls the Brotherhood a «huge threat» that will not tolerate democracy if it seizes power.

«A leopard cannot change its spots,» he said, shaking his head.

De Pittsburgh Live (leedlo entero). HT: Free Thoughts.

4 musulmanes franceses piden que no se lea un libro de Voltaire

El libro en cuestión se llama «Fanatismo o Mahoma el Profeta»:

Voltaire, an 18th-century philosopher, famously said, «I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.» Now, 265 years later, in a letter to the mayor of Saint-Genis-Pouilly, four Islamic activists demanded that his play, «Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet,» which uses the founder of Islam to lampoon all forms of religious frenzy and intolerance, not be read – saying it was an «insult to the entire Muslim community.»

Leído en: UPI. HT: Hyscience.

Technorati Tags: Voltaire, Fanatismo o Mahoma el Profeta, libertad de expresión, freedom of expression

¿Están los medios ocultando actos radicales islámicos?

Esto es lo que señala Tony Blankley en el periódico digital Townhall.

While most of the world today not only is «in denial concerning the truly appalling likely consequences of the rise of radical Islam,» it more often than not refuses to even accept the «unambiguous evidence of its existence» and it’s ever-growing hold on the Muslim community: (…) British politicians who tell me that there is increasing radical Muslim street violence in Britain that is explicitly motivated by radical Islam but is not reported or characterized as such. Even in its cleansed versions, I am told, these incidents are being extremely underreported.

(…) In Antwerp last month, according to the reporter Paul Belien, rioting Moroccan «youths» went on a rampage destroying cars and beating up reporters, but the police were instructed not even to stop them or arrest them. According to an anonymous policeman, «An ambulance was told to switch off its siren because that might provoke the Moroccans.» This event, too, was under reported, or not reported at all in American media.

(…) And of course, last October in Paris and other French cities, hundreds of buildings were torched and tens of thousands of cars burned by Muslim «youths» through weeks of rioting, while both the French government and most of the «responsible» experts denied there was any radical Muslim component to the greatest urban violence to hit France since World War. It was all to do with poverty and teenage angst and alienation.

(…) Of course poverty and alienation can’t explain the Iranian student in North Carolina (también en The Counterterrorism Blog).  He has just received one of the finest educations available to a privileged American. He reportedly has received advanced degrees in philosophy and psychology from one of our top universities.

(…) The media has pointed out that there is no evidence he was connected to Al Qaeda or another terrorist cell. But that is exactly the point. As I discussed in my book last year, the threat to the West is vastly more than bin Laden and Al Qaeda (although that would be bad enough.)

(…) The greater danger is the ferment in Islam that is generating radical ideas in an unknown, but growing percentage of grass-roots Muslims around the world — very much including in Europe and, to a currently lesser extent, in the United States.

Mmm, Eurabia de nuevo.

HT: Freedom’s Zone.

Technorati Tags: Eurabia, terrorismo, terrorism, MSM, medios de comunicación

El atentado de Samarra, una obra muy bien hecha

De United Press International:

Iraqi experts have concluded that the destruction of the dome of the Golden Mosque in Samara that set off the current nationwide civic strife in Iraq was a careful and through professional demolition job that took half a day of uninterrupted work to prepare.

Egypt’s al-Ahram newspaper is reporting that Iraqi Construction Minister Jassem Mohammed Jaafar toured the al-Askariya shrine and after inspecting it concluded that the placing of the explosives to destroy the dome was a meticulous operation that must have taken at least 12 hours.

Jaaafar said, «Holes were dug into the mausoleum’s four main pillars and packed with explosives. Then charges were connected together and linked to another charge placed just under the dome. The wires were then linked to a detonator which was triggered at a distance.»

Initial media reports said that four men were responsible for the assault, taking five shrine guards hostage while they planted their munitions. However, al-Ahram reported that the shrine’s security detail is supposed include a contingent of 35 Iraqi Interior Ministry troops because of the mosque importance to the Shiite community.

On Feb. 22 explosions at Iraq’s al-Askariya shrine in Samara severely damaged the temple complex, where the bodies of the 10th and 11th Shiite imams, Imam Ali al-Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari are buried.

Samara is also where the 12th and last Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi disappeared, whom Shiites believe will return and restore justice to the world.

Samara itself is a predominantly Sunni city and the Askariya itself is governed by the government body Sunni Endowment. Prior to the bombing the Sunnis in Samara were proud of their care of the Askariya complex as a symbol of Shiite-Sunni brotherhood.

Sí, os engañamos ¿y qué podíais hacer?

Esto lo podría decir los dirigentes de Irán. En primer lugar, como ya dijimos el otro día, el negociador iraní, Hassan Rowhani, con la terna comunitaria admitió haberles engañado. Así que como señala EURSOC:

For the Europeans, it’s an embarrassing confirmation that their «Good Cop» policy has failed. The EU trio, for their own reasons, wanted to believe Iran, even if the evidence pointed towards the theocratic state’s sinister intent. Britain’s government fears another war; France supports a ‘multi-polar’ state, but has always mistrusted Iran; Germany wanted to polish its credentials as a global peace broker.

Rusia parece estar cooperando (a ver cuánto dura).

HT: Roger L. Simon.

Pero ¿sabían los europeos lo que estaba pasando? ¿Y por qué siguieron negociando?

The only weapon that the EU was willing to consider, as a last result, was an economic boycott that would harm Europe’s commercial interests more than Iran’s.

The mullahs also knew that the Troika couldn’t back up its threat of an economic boycott with the threat of military action. If the EU couldn’t muster the will to fight in its own backyard in the Balkans without America leading the way, it surely wouldn’t put any lives at risk beyond the frontiers of the Continent.

By contrast, Iran, ostensibly a democracy but in reality a religious tyranny, possesses a character trait that is almost nonexistent in modern Europe: Iranians, almost exclusively Shiite, are willing to suffer. This quality is deeply rooted in their religion. Ashura, one of the central Shiite rituals that marks the death of Imam Hussain at the Battle of Karbala in 680, celebrates flagellation, blood, pain. As Steven Vincent, the remarkable American journalist who tragically was murdered last August in Iraq, observed in his book «In the Red Zone»: «Eight-foot long white silk flags depicting crossed sword, the blades oozing with blood . . . pictures of severed hands, severed heads,  . . a fountain in front of Meshed Ali spraying geysers of blood-red liquid. . . . bloody swords flashing over the heads of milling crowds . . . men with blood-soaked bandages wrapped around their heads to stanch the bleeding from self-inflicted wounds . . . endless posters of the slaughtered innocents. This is an orgy of death imagery, I thought.»

Y así:

Iran has offered to suspend full-scale uranium enrichment for up to two years, according to an Associated Press report that cited comments from a diplomat in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency was holding a board meeting.
IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday that he’s optimistic that the crisis over Iran’s nuclear-research program could be resolved without U.N. Security Council intervention, according to news reports.

Ejem…

Las cosas se complican: la ABC ha hecho una investigación cuyos resultados han sido los siguientes:

U.S. military and intelligence officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border. They are a very nasty piece of business, capable of penetrating U.S. troops’ strongest armor.
What the United States says links them to Iran are tell-tale manufacturing signatures — certain types of machine-shop welds and material indicating they are built by the same bomb factory.
«The signature is the same because they are exactly the same in production,» says explosives expert Kevin Barry. «So it’s the same make and model.»U.S. officials say roadside bomb attacks against American forces in Iraq have become much more deadly as more and more of the Iran-designed and Iran-produced bombs have been smuggled in from the country since last October.
«I think the evidence is strong that the Iranian government is making these IEDs, and the Iranian government is sending them across the border and they are killing U.S. troops once they get there,» says Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism chief and an ABC News consultant. «I think it’s very hard to escape the conclusion that, in all probability, the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops.»

En este caso, ya no sería la «insurgencia«, si no la INJERENCIA de un país extranjero en el ataque a las instituciones al gobierno actual.

Sobre la relación entre la libertad y el terrorismo

Encuentro un excelente artículo sobre el particular en The Brussels Journal:

freedom as a principle does not oblige us to be limited to ineffective measures in its defense. The central purpose of terrorism is not chastisement for past “crimes.” Nor is its goal to redistribute wealth or secure for someone a better place under the sun. Islamist terrorism is directed against successful and free societies. The latter are seen by ideologues as representing a competing world order, while they can tolerate only one. It is therefore irrational to assume that terrorism will cease once an examination – conducted by well-funded “Peace Institutes” – finds its “root causes.” The assumption that this will be followed by “convergence” and “coexistence” (don’t we remember these terms from another context?) arises from a misconception. Just because those who argue this way are relativists who believe that everything is negotiable in an even-Steven deal, does not mean that those on the “other side,” the bin Ladens, do not believe firmly what they profess. It characterises the threat that their position is not a chip to bargain away and that they – just like Hitler and Lenin by the way – hold convictions that are not up for sale.

Our traditional freedoms were developed into a system of laws and commensurate sanctions under specific circumstances. Rightly, these reflect the assumption that those in conflict with a law of a state or society do so on account of their disagreement with the value that has been codified into a rule. The principled attempt to transgress in order to destroy an entire system and way of life was not foreseen by the 18th century rationalists. Hence they formulated rights assuming that normal persons who live in a good society concur, regardless of their differences concerning specifics, in wanting it to survive and prosper for the common good.

Fighting today’s “Terror, Inc.” means responding to a challenge that is new in several respects. The relativists’ admonition that the moves to counterterrorism must not interpret sacrosanct principles in terms of a new – albeit aberrant – situation, are understandable. On this level they demonstrate, if not practical common sense, then at least commitment to our shared values. Nevertheless, the problem resides in the phrase “practical common sense.” That there shall be no freedom for those who wish to use it to abolish liberty might be a commonplace since the eras of National Socialism and Communism. Nevertheless, frequent usage does not invalidate a truth, just as the repetition of a lie, even if it is ultimately believed by multitudes, does not make it true. Leaning in a measured manner a bit in the direction of security to the detriment of the scoundrels might be as disagreeable as it is sensible. The case for prudent cognizance of the case for “security,” understood as not being an antonym of “freedom,” rests on an unpleasant truth: if the system of free societies is overthrown the “rights” we wish to nurture will be nixed. Life in Islamist dominated territories shows how.

Es una excelente continuación del post que puse ayer: ¿Xenofobia en Austria?. No va dirigido a TODOS los musulmanes, si no a aquellos que de forma más o menos velada, por no haberse integrado dentro del mundo occidental, piensan en modificar las estructuras del mismo para convertirlo en Eurabia. Como ya dije otras veces, no estamos luchando contra las personas que vienen a Occidente con ánimos de escapar de los estados represores islámicos y con esperanza de una vida mejor, porque esos apreciarán la libertad que tienen aquí de practicar su religión -y de vivir como mejor entiendan- del mismo modo que hacemos los demás. Aquí se lucha contra una IDEOLOGÍA que trata de imponer su visión ya sea por modos pacíficos o violentos. Estos últimos, los terroristas son a los que se refiere el artículo, pero hay que tener en cuenta la ideología wahabista, de la que es partidaria la casa reinante saudí que no intenta -en principio- utilizar la fuerza PERO que sí persigue la institución del califato global  -de la que ellos se consideran como los futuros líderes- como queda bien claro Gustavo de Arístegui en su último libro, la Jihad en España (por cierto, ya pondré algunos posts sobre este libro). En un principio se consideraba que esos exaltados/intolerantes/radicales/fundamentalistas eran una minoría, pero como ya dijo este mismo autor, pronto serán mayoría. La pregunta es: ¿entonces tendremos alguna oportunidad para solucionar el problema? ¿No sería mejor tratar de controlar a los radicales mientras se pueda y no dejarlo mientras sea inevitable?

La persecución de los coptos en Egipto

Hace varios meses, nos quejábamos de la poca información que salía en prensa española sobre la discriminación que los cristianos coptos sufren en Egipto por los musulmanes. Hoy en Minuto Digital, nos relatan cómo el islam trata a esos 18 millones de personas que pertenecen a la minoría copta en esas tierras.

En todo el país, los permisos para la construcción de iglesias son acordados con cuentagotas, y se hacen esperar con frecuencia más de medio siglo, como en el caso de la nueva catedral de Assuán. Deben ser firmados por el Presidente de la República en persona. Lo mismo vale para la más mínima obra de reparación. Una iglesia contraída y reparada ilegalmente corre el riesgo de ser demolida inmediatamente por la policía o el ejército, y los responsables corren el riesgo de ser detenidos o torturados. Por el contrario, nada más sencillo para un particular que conseguir en algunas horas un permiso para construir una mezquita…

Se llega a casos incluso de ataque del ejército a recintos cristianos:

El año pasado, 19 de agosto, el gran monasterio de San Antonio, en el Mar Rojo, importante centro de la vida monástica de los Padres del desierto y uno de los primeros monasterios de la cristiandad, fue atacado por un ejército de varios miles de soldados, que destruyendo la muralla exterior. Los 150 monjes, salidos para formar una muralla con sus cuerpos, sólo fueron salvados por la presencia de numerosos turistas equipados de aparatos de vídeo y fotográficos.

O, todavía mejor, al secuestro de adolescentes cristianas para su posterior conversión al Islam:

Para colmo, el secuestro de jovencitas cristianas (de entre 14 y 15 años) se intensifica desde hace una decena de años. Se trata, de acuerdo con el testimono de las pocas que han conseguido escapar, de forzarlas a convertirse al Islam, de casarlas por la fuerza con un musulmán, y de enviarlas a la otra punta de Egipto, de forma que sus familias no puedan volver a encontrarlas.

Esto, como diría nuestro querídisimo presidente del gobierno ZP, es la esencia de la Alianza de las Civilizaciones. Acabar con el cristianismo a base de acoso y derribo, para imponer una única religión.