Atatürk Turkish flag waves above freedom protests

The enemedia has falsely portrayed the initial riots in Gezi Park and Taksim square (largely symbolic of secular Turkey)  as a demonstration "against the removal of trees." (ie: Turkish police raid sit-in against tree removal - Yahoo! News, May 31, 2013) How insulting. More proof of the enemedia's contempt for freedom loving peoples. Who would pay attention to a tree protest? What it was, in fact, was world historic. The freedom loving Turks were protesting  a plan to build a new mosque (with amenities) in  Istanbul's Gezi Park. The new mosque complex with shopping centre sparked a wave of protests in the Turkish city and beyond.

BBC: An Ottoman-era military barracks will be rebuilt near the site, and the historic Ataturk Cultural Centre will be demolished.

JIN News: Protesters camping out in Istanbul's Gezi Park have taken as their symbol the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. Seventy-five years after his death, photos of Turkey's first president hang from trees and adorn tents. Demonstrators say they love him because he turned Turkey from Islamic rule into a secular state, something they believe Turkey's current prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to make them forget.

Islamic supremacist Recep Erdogan means to destroy and bury the successful, secular era of Ataturk.

BBC:  For some Turks, the proposed reconstruction of the barracks has a symbolic significance. According to some accounts, it was at the barracks that a (failed) mutiny by Islamic-minded soldiers was initiated in 1909 intent on bringing in Sharia law.

The barracks were demolished in 1940, and attempts to rebuild them are seen by opponents to have the ring of Islamism.

This protest has now become about more than just Gezi Park.

It has broadened into a wider expression of anger at what protesters see as the government's increasing authoritarianism - and also the heavy-handed tactics of police who used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a peaceful rally, resulting in scores of injuries.

Islam vs freedom:

.... Atatürk chose, instead, to modernize, Westernize, and secularize the country. He disbanded the Caliphate, secularized the education system, outlawed Sufi Islam, enforced gender equality, Westernized the Turkish alphabet, and famously banned the fez. [..]

Zakaria: 'It is a culture war'

Turkish police send tear gas into crowd

Fireworks amid protests in Taksim Square

Experts: Protests hurt Turkish economy

The decision to rebuild a symbol of Ottoman militarism, the Taksim Military Barracks, like the decision to name the new Bosphorus bridge after Sultan Selim I, conqueror of the Arab world, feeds this speculation. In popular Turkish culture, the Taksim Barracks are associated with the killing of Christian army officers in 1909, while the Alevis -- a large minority group in Turkey -- remember Selim I as the murderer of their people. Thus, both bridge and barracks pit one view of history against another.

But the Ottomans were not merely expansionary conquerors, nor were they generally devoted to Islamic purity.

Tom Gross:

THE MUSIC VIDEOS SPURRING ON THE PRO-WESTERN DEMONSTRATORS

Today has seen another round of vicious assaults by Turkish security forces on mostly peaceful demonstrators in central Istanbul. It has been a rough day and it looks like it will be a long night in the Turkish capital.

While Turkey's increasingly Islamist and dictatorial Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has called the protestors "looters," "pillagers," "layabouts" and "hooligans," they are in fact for the most part middle class pro-Western professional people � secular liberals, feminists, and environmental and gay activists.

Many protestors today have sustained serious head injuries, and at least 70 lawyers defending arrested protesters have themselves been arrested.

The protests are now spreading. Even supporters of Istanbul's three big rival soccer clubs (Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray) have now united, each wearing their teams colors, to join anti-government protests.

"DEMOCRACY IS A TRAM YOU RIDE AS FAR AS YOU WANT TO AND THEN GET OFF"

Another group participating in the demonstrations is the country's Alevi minority, that make up about 15 percent of Turkey's population.

Many are furious at Erdogan's plans to build a new bridge over the Bosphorus that will be named Yavuz Sultan Suleiman Bridge, after the Ottoman sultan, "Selim the Grim," historically known for his mass slaughter of Alevis.

Unlike, say Vladimir Putin, who some say is a mere autocrat, some commentators such as Peter Hitchens, fear Erdogan is far more worrying. As Hitchens points out "Erdogan is also a cunning and subtle Islamic fanatic, who knows he will get further if he pretends to be moderate, and in an unguarded moment said that democracy is 'a tram you ride as far as you want to and then get off'."

On the this link,  I attach several videos from what (in the aftermath of the so-called "Arab spring") is being dubbed by some the "Turkish summer", which you can view here: You may find interesting the way the young pro-democracy protestors have added Western music to the videos.

     

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Muhammad's favorite wife was Aisha whom he wed at 6 years of age. How could it be wrong?

Bring our boys home. Blood and treasure for what? Pedophilia, misogyny, and savagery. That's Obama's 'peace partners" the Taliban.

"Afghan parliament upholds right to marry children" Washington Times, June 10, 2013 (thanks to Krazy Kufir)

Afghanistan's parliament has rejected a measure that would have barred men from marrying girls younger than 16, saying the proposal ran counter to Islamic ideology.

The measure also would have banned “baad, [the] traditional practice of buying or selling women to settle disputes,” and outlawed criminal charges being imposed on rape victims, Breitbart reported. Rape victims in Afghanistan often are charged with fornication or adultery.

President Hamid Karzai reportedly supported the measures, but opponents said they “violate[d] Islamic principles,” Breitbart reported.

The failure of parliament to act in accordance with Mr. Karzai highlights a deep rift among the nation’s politicians. And it comes at a time when elections are set for April 2014 for a new president.

There is “a rift between conservative and more secular members of the community,” Sky News reported.

     

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Obama's fatherland ... As the jihad rages across Africa, Obama's silence is curiouser and curiouser. 

"Explosion in Attack on Church in Kenya Injures 15" Morningstar News

Two pastors among those seriously hurt in blast. By Our East Africa Correspondent

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 12, 2013 (Morning Star News) – Assailants on a motorbike threw an explosive device into a church compound in southeastern Kenya on Sunday (June 9), injuring 15 people.
 
Two pastors were among the wounded from the explosion at an evangelistic service of Earthquake Miracle Ministry Church in Mrima village, near the coastal town of Likoni, Mombasa District, said David Njoroge, pastor of the Worldwide Gospel Church. Both legs of Assistant Pastor Collins Maseno were broken in the blast and he was in critical condition, and Senior Pastor Dominic Osano sustained serious injuries to his hand and the back of his neck, Njoroge told Morning Star News.
 
“The Christians living around the scene of the incident are still in shock and are wondering as to the mission behind the attack, while several pastors looked demoralized,” Njoroge said. “But others said prayers will help them stand strong in sharing the Christian faith.”

The blast occurred at 7 p.m., he said, adding that the weapon appeared to be a home-made fuel bomb, though area press quoted police as saying it was a hand grenade. A 10-year-old boy, Dominic Maseno, was reportedly among the injured.

Islamic extremists from Somalia’s rebel Al Shabaab group have been suspected in previous attacks in the coastal areas of Kenya, and today 45 pastors met with government officials to discuss security. The provincial police commissioner, the officer in charge of police, the district commissioner and a county commissioner attended.

 
The officials accepted the pastors’ request that the government provide security during such Christian gatherings, Njoroge said. At the same time, the parties agreed that Christian meetings are to end before 6 p.m., he said, and the commissioner told the pastors that they are to keep watch for extremists and report suspected militia groups.
 
Mombasa police said they were searching for the assailants.
 
In Nairobi today, suspected Al Shabaab members reportedly tossed a grenade into a crowd in the Majengo area of the capital’s largely Somali-immigrant area of Eastleigh, injuring four.
 
Kenyan churches and other facilities have been the target of several bombings and shootings since Kenya sent troops into southern Somalia in October 2011 in response to kidnappings and other attacks by Al Shabaab rebels from Somalia. African Union Mission in Somalia forces have been battling the insurgents in Somalia, and northern and coastal areas of Kenya have become places of refuge for retreating rebels.
 
Many Al Shabaab rebels, said to have ties with Al Qaeda, have taken refuge in Garissa in northern Kenya. Chaplain Julius Mukonzi was killed and 11 others were injured on Nov. 4 when suspected Islamic extremists tossed an explosive device at a church in the Administrative Police compound in Garissa (see Morning Star News, Nov, 4, 2012).
 
At the same time, a separatist group known as the Mombasa Republic Council has also been accused of mounting attacks in Kenya’s coastal regions, according to Agence France-Presse.
 
On Sept. 30, 2012, suspected Al Shabaab militants threw a grenade into an Anglican church in Nairobi that killed 9-year-old Ian John Maina. Several other children attending a Sunday school class were seriously injured in the attack on the Anglican Church of Kenya St. Polycarp in the Pagani area, next to Eastleigh (see Morning Star News, Sept. 30, 2012).
 
Al Shabaab, which has been designated a terrorist organization by several Western governments, seeks to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on Somalia.
 
Kenya is nearly 83 percent Christian and 8.32 percent Muslim, according to 

     

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The police are saying that there was no disorder. Sure looks hot to me from this video. The Brits aren't going to take it anymore. If the police deny reality and refuse to protect the people, they will protect themselves.

This video takes place in Ashton-under-Lyne -- it shows a Muslim gang attacking young "white girls" at a bus stop.

Exclusive: Public Disorder in Ashton Greater Manchester, Manchester Gazette June 12, 2013 (thanks to Thomas Cook) 

 

A video was circulating social media websites last night which appeared to show youths in Ashton, Greater Manchester fighting in the Town Centre .

Greater Manchester Police Statement

There were rumours circulating last night (Tuesday 12 June 2013) about an alleged fight in Ashton town centre.

These reports were inaccurate and there was no disorder.

Earlier in the evening there were several groups of youths who gathered in Ashton. Four boys aged  were arrested for minor public order offences.

Superintendent Neil Evans from Ashton police station, said: “We are aware of the rumours on social media last night. A number of youths gathered in the town centre but there was no disorder or violence.

“A small number of teenagers were arrested for minor public order offences.

“We are aware and investigating the incident that took place in Ashton on Saturday 8 June 2013, involving two groups of youths.

“A 14-year-old boy was arrested in connection with this and has been released on police bail. Enquiries are ongoing.

“There will remain an increased police presence in Ashton town centre over the next few evenings to offer reassurance to the public and provide a deterrent to anyone potential trouble makers.

“We have been working closely with schools and the local authority to provide a joint up response.”

Anyone with any information or concerns is asked to call the police on 101.

     

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What a refreshing breath of fresh air. It is so rare to hear a politician with the courage and integrity to speak frankly about jihad and those who cover, obfuscate and sanction the horrific religious motives. Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas groups like CAIR will viciously attack Rep. Pompeo. Pompeo didn't get it all right, but it is a good first effort. There is plenty he got wrong but rightfully but condemning complicit  imams on the floor of the House? That's a first. We'll teach him the rest. Once Pompeo reads the Quran he will understand that it hasn't been "hijacked". Jihadists practice pure Islam, authentic Islam. You can email him here. - thank him for taking it on and gently explain all he got wrong. Encourage the man.

Huffington Post: Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) said Islamic leaders in America are "potentially complicit" in terrorist acts when they don't speak out against them.

Pompeo -- who cited the Fort Hood shooting and the foiled Times Square bomb plot, among other incidents -- made the remarks in a speech on the House floor Tuesday.

“Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow," Pompeo said. "Every Muslim leader must unequivocally proclaim that terror committed in the name of Islam violates the core tenets of the Prophet Mohammed, and they must do so repeatedly. Period.”

Pompeo isn't the first lawmaker to make statements condemning the Muslim community on terrorism. Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) tweeted that Muslims "honor killings, beheadings, suicide bombings" on Monday while condemning an column written by comedian Bill Cosby.

     

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Obama, the Muslim Brotherhood stooge in the White House, just sent these savages $1.3 billion. Autocrats of a feather plot together......

"With Cameras Rolling, Egyptian Politicians Threaten Ethiopia Over Dam" NY Times blog

Egypt’s Magdi Ahmad Hussein, chairman of the Islamic Labor Party, didn’t know the meeting was on live TV (Screenshot: MEMRI)

(The Blaze): Just last month, Secretary of State John Kerry quietly sent Egypt an additional $1.3 billion, even though Egypt has failed to live up to democracy standards. That largesse didn’t stop a prominent Egyptian politician from talking about Egypt’s “enemy” the United States in what some pundits are classifying as a classic and embarrassing “hot mic” moment.

President Mohammed Morsi gathered a group of politicians last week who thought they were speaking privately at a parliamentary meeting. But as seen in an Egyptian television video of the meeting — excerpts of which were later translated by the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) — they were actually on live television, cringingly discussing secret ways to stop Ethiopia’s Nile River dam project which threatens water flowing to Egypt.

The New York Times blog reports:

Unaware that their words were being broadcast live on a state-owned television channel, many of those seated around the table said the dam was in fact a secret American and Israeli plot to undermine Egypt that must be stopped at all costs.

The participants learned they were on live TV only after Magdi Ahmad Hussein, chairman of the Islamic Labor Party, suggested that all present vow not to leak any information to the media. Before being told he was on television, Hussein described the U.S. as an enemy [emphasis added]:

I’m very fond of battles. With the enemies, of course – with America and Israel, but this battle must be waged with maximum judiciousness and calm. Even though this is a secret meeting, we must all take an oath not to leak anything to the media, unless it is done officially by sister Pakinam [el-Sharkawy, a Morsi aide]. We need an official plan for popular national security, even if we…

The viewer sees him being handed a note, which presumably points out that his words are not confined to the room. Hussein laughs, then continues with the anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric: “Okay… Fine… The principles behind what I’m saying are not really secret… Our war is with America and Israel, not with Ethiopia. Therefore, engaging in a war… This is my opinion…”

President Morsi says out for the benefit of all in the room, “This meeting is being aired live on TV,” a comment which prompts laughter all around.

In damage control mode, as if he knew all along that he was on camera, Hussein followed up by saying, “I am not presenting a secret plan or anything. All the countries do what I am saying and what has been said by others. All countries with regional conflicts do that.”

“I say to the Egyptian people: Nobody can turn off your water supply – unless they want to turn the Egyptians into the world’s most extremist people. Imagine what this people would do if its water were turned off – what all 80 million of us would do to Israel and America if our water were turned off,” Hussein concluded [emphasis added].

According to the New York Times, someone afterwards could be heard off camera saying, “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

Morsi later appeared to try to send a calming message to Ethiopia, even though other participants in the parliamentary session were openly discussing sabotaging their southern neighbor, including via covert operations, supporting rebel groups or destroying the dam altogether.

“We have a lot of respect for the Sudanese people in the north and the south, and we respect their decisions, and the same is true with regard to the Ethiopian people. We are not about to start any aggression against anyone whatsoever, or affront anyone whatsoever,” Morsi said.

“But we have very serious measures to protect every single drop of Nile water – every single drop of water,” Morsi added.

The Ethiopian newspapers say that Egypt has no military option. They say that Egypt does not possess the capabilities – no airplanes, no missiles – and that Sudan would not allow this… Indeed, Sudan’s position is nauseating. It is much weaker than it should be. But we could leak intelligence information. We could leak that Egypt is trying to buy planes for aerial refueling, and so on. Even if this is unrealistic, it would bring results on the diplomatic track.

The water issue is so sensitive in Egypt, because the country’s agriculture is completely dependent on the Nile River. According to the New York Times, Ethiopian officials say the dam will not be used for agriculture, just for the production of electricity and therefore it should not substantially decrease the amount of water flowing to Egypt.

Here is video of the hot mic moment, courtesy of MEMRI:

     

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The idea that this would be disputed in a Western nation is sick enough -- faces must be uncovered. Anyone could come and go as someone else, not to mention the security implications. End of story.

As a woman, the burka is the most insulting garment on the face of the earth. Vicious, vile and misogynistic. Worse, I am admonished and told I must "respect" a cloth coffin that completely disrespects all women.

But the obvious question was never addressed, was the baby a girl? That would make complete sense.

"Islamic woman told she cannot wear full-face burqa in Brisbane court " Kay Dibben, The Courier Mail, June 12, 2013, thanks to Kenneth 

CONVICTED: The Saudi woman who appeared in a Brisbane court charged with leaving her baby in a car in direct sunlight for 45 minutes.Source: News Limited

A MAGISTRATE has questioned whether a Saudi woman appearing in court should have been allowed to wear "a full burqa'' or face covering, telling her "this is an Australian court".

Brisbane Magistrate John Costello was sentencing a woman who pleaded guilty to leaving her baby, four and half months, unattended in a car in direct sun for 45 minutes last year.

Mr Costello asked the woman's lawyer Peter Saggers if what she was wearing was "a full burqa'' and he indicated it was.

"I can only see the eyes of that defendant,'' Mr Costello said.

The magistrate questioned whether it was "appropriate'' for the full burqa to be worn in court, saying: "This is an Australian court'' and he queried "the validity'' of her wearing it in court.

But Islamic groups yesterday came out in support of Mr Costello, saying they supported magistrates asking women to remove their face covering if there was a reasonable question of security or identification.

Mr Saggers told the magistrate the woman, 27, was from Saudi Arabia and said: "I have not seen her dressed in any other way.''

Mr Costello then proceeded to sentence the female student, without requiring her to remove her face covering, more commonly called a niqab when it reveals the eyes.

Islamic Council of Queensland president Mohammed Yusuf said he opposed any blanket law requiring women wearing burqa or niqab to show their face.

But he said the Islamic council would not object to a magistrate asking a woman to remove her face covering if there was a reasonable question of security or identification.

Mr Yusuf said individual cases could be handled with sensitivity, with the woman taken into another room for identification by a female police or court officer.

Yasmin Khan, president of Islamic community festival Eidsfest, said magistrates should be able to ask women wearing a burqa or niqab to remove their facial covering in court.

"Where justice and security are an issue women should identify by at least showing their face, to identify the person who has been charged,'' Ms Khan said.

She said another person could falsely pose as an accused person by wearing a face covering.

Nearly three years ago a Perth judge caused controversy when she ordered a Muslim woman to remove a full burqa while giving evidence before a jury in a fraud trial.

"Judges and magistrates are acutely alive to the sensitivity of these situations. They respect the requirements of particular religions,'' Queensland Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said yesterday.

"They would request removal of a burqa only if necessary for the due determination of a proceeding - if, for example, the identity of an alleged offender were in issue.''

Deputy Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Neroli Holmes said the Anti-Discrimination Act did not apply to court directions.

She said it was not unlawful discrimination to respectfully ask someone to remove headwear if it was required "for purposes of reasonable legitimate public safety or identification''.

An Islamic woman should be asked to remove her headwear in a respectful way and not in the presence of men, where possible, Ms Holmes said.

A Brisbane Muslim teenager recently complained to Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Commission of being held against her will in a service station, after refusing to remove her full burqa.

In yesterday's court case Mr Costello sentenced the woman to a six-month good behaviour bond.

The court heard the woman and her husband, who also was charged, left their baby in the car, in direct sunlight with windows wound up, for 45 minutes. A nurse called police.

     

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"Outreach" is a euphemism for submission and appeasement. You'll notice that the sharia meeting we protested in Manchester, Tennessee, where a US attorney sought to criminalize speech offensive to Muslims, was called a "Muslim Outreach event." Every newspaper headline called it a "Muslim Outreach" event. None called it what it was or said why our rally had almost 2,000 great Americans in attendance -- Obama's DoJ seeks to criminalize free speech under the sharia (do not offend Islam).

Obama turning over Egypt to Muslim Brotherhood thugs is "Outreach." Libya is "outreach." Silence about the slaughter of religious minorities under the sharia in Muslim countries is "outreach."

Obama's reign will go down in the annals of history as the Muslim Brotherhood presidency.

Obama Outreach Overview by IPT News • Jun 12, 2013 at 3:11 pm

The Obama administration has an infamous history of questionable Islamist outreach, as noted here, here and here. These outreach efforts have been engaged by the highest levels of the Department of Justice (DOJ), resulting in decisions effecting potential prosecutions of Islamist leaders and closing ranks with other Islamist leaders in the name of civil rights enforcement.

More recently, a U.S. Attorney in Tennessee suggested that anti-Muslim inflammatory Internet postings might rise to the level of violating federal civil rights statutes. This caused an uproar of concern that such biased outreach may cross a line encroaching on First Amendment protected free speech.

Thanks to the revelation of an innocuous contract solicitation by the U.S. Department of Education, we know President Obama takes a direct interest in these outreach programs. On April 29, the Department of Education posted a solicitation bid titled "White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Annual Report." The principal purpose of the bid was listed as:

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of the Under Secretary requires a writer to prepare a comprehensive summary report of the activities and recommendations of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Commission) to the President covering the period October 14, 2009 through Fiscal Year 2013. The report must reflect the work and recommendations of the Commission, as well as the findings and recommendations gleaned from the Muslim Outreach Summits….

The Initiative, through the U.S. Department of Education, requests to enter into a firm fixed priced contract for a writer to write, document and produce a comprehensive summary report based upon the recommendations of the Commission, the Muslim Outreach Summits, and the Initiative to be presented to the President.

The federal contract solicitation indicated there are three upcoming Muslim Outreach Summits and those are June 15 in Chicago, June 22 in San Francisco and June 29 in New York.

The Department of Education reported the contract was awarded on May 23 from a bid list of 18 to Ignatius Bau, a San Francisco-based community activist and lawyer who was previously engaged with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Bau has been involved in immigrant rights and health care advocacy, and was so lauded in a YouTube video from January 2011 wherein, among others, former DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez, who has been responsible for much of the DOJ Muslim outreach effort, spoke on Bau's behalf.

With the issuance and publication of this taxpayer contracted report, we now know the president himself is interested in the results of his administration's longstanding special outreach programs to Muslims. The problem too often is on what elements of the Muslim community those outreach efforts have primarily focused.

     

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Dr. Ashraf Ramelah, President of Voice of the Copts and SION (Stop Islamization of Nations) Advisory Board Member, explains in no uncertain terms that jihad is the motive, the ideology behind the ongoing persecution and oppression of Christians under Muslim rule in Egypt.

Denial, obfuscation and dissembling only leads to more persecution and more death. The media and political elites must stop cowering before savagery. Silence is sanction.

The more you norm jihad and sharia, the more emboldened the slaughterers become. The idea that the world's leading Islamic university, Al-Azhar in Cairo, is demanding that Pope Francis declare Islam a religion of peace in the face of the unremitting slaughter of Christians in Muslim nations is monstrous, but typical of dictatorial Islamic supremacism and imperialism.

 "In Egypt, Muslim attacks on Christians are based on jihad" By Dr. Ashraf Ramelah Israel Today, June 12, 2013

Coptic Christians in Egypt continue to live with discrimination, oppression and persecution from the Islamic majority. Muslim attacks on Christians, random and unprovoked, are based on jihad and often sanctioned by the state. Coptic victims are often hauled off to jail for the crimes committed against them.

In 1,400 years, not one Egyptian Muslim authority – civic, social, or religious has apologized, denounced, or condemned these actions.

Recently, the grand imam of Al-Azhar University, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, and his diplomatic envoy, Mahmoud Abdel Gawad, requested that the newly installed Catholic head, Pope Francis, issue a public statement declaring that “Islam is a peaceful religion.” We wonder why the Pope would choose to use prescribed words or succumb to urgings for commentary. Will Pope Francis be influenced by the fact that Al-Azhar made their request a necessary condition to resume relations with the Vatican?

Voice of the Copts believes that the Al-Azhar grand imam instead should issue a formal, public statement directed to his followers in the Arabic language conveying an unequivocal message that Muslims attacking Christians in Egypt do not conform to true Islam and will no longer be tolerated. A clear denunciation of Muslim sectarian violence against Christians in Egypt by Sunni religious leaders would be welcomed as Al-Azhar seeks the Pope’s endorsement of Muslim non-violence.

Real peace comes from within

Favorable appraisals of Islam from leaders around the world, whether formulated out of pressure, denial or appeasement, will never repair Islam’s disreputable image -- one earned through a long history of aggression based upon a supremacy doctrine.

Islamic authorities at Al-Azhar must first be willing to acknowledge that progress for Islam begins with their own steps toward equality and peaceful co-existence.

A forced statement elicited from Pope Francis could never change the reality of Islam, but only, at best, cause recognition of Islam as something that in practice it is not.

     

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_{A protester raises her fist and shouts during a demonstration on June 9, on Gundogdu Square in Izmir. Turkey's defiant Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told supporters on June 9 that his patience "has a limit" as he went on the offensive against mass protests to his Islamic-rooted government's decade-long rule. As tens of thousands of protesters massed in Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the western city of Izmir, in unrest now in its 10th day, Erdogan staged his own rallies across three cities to fire up loyalists of his ruling supremaist Justice and Development Party.}

How do you call Turkey a democracy when you violently crack down on freedom demos? And why are the eurodhimmis rushing Turkey's entry into the EU when Prime Minsiter Erdogan embodies the very worst elements of Islamic supremacism?

And how disturbing is it that this Islamic brute is Obama's "favorite and most trusted ally"?

CBC foreign correspondents detained in Turkey

A protester is hit by spray from a water cannon during clashes in Taksim Square on June 11.

Riot police fire tear gas to disperse the crowd during a demonstration near Taksim Square on June 11 in Istanbul.

"Turkey: Erdoğan clears Taksim Square – live reaction" The Guardian

VIDEO: Amateur video purports to show protesters in Taksim Square, Istanbul, on Tuesday trying to escape teargas used by police to clear the demonstration. People are seen collapsing, coughing and with tears running down their faces in the chaos. Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, vowed to clear Taksim Square after almost two weeks of protest:

Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the continuing protests in Turkey.

• Taksim Square was largely deserted this morning after Turkish riot police using tear gas and water cannon battled protesters for control of the square in Istanbul overnight, hours after the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had demanded an immediate end to 10 days of demonstrations. The confrontation began just after dawn when hundreds of riot police on foot and in armoured crowd control vehicles approached the square, the start of some of the worst clashes of the current unrest. This morning it is raining in Istanbul and the square is strewn with the wreckage of bulldozed barricades. Taxis were able to cross it for the first time since the protests began.

• Several hundred protesters remain in an encampment of tents in Gezi Park, the green space next to Taksim Square that demonstrators are trying to save from being demolished to make way for a shopping centre; protests have since snowballed into a nationwide display of anger at Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian and Islamist style. It is not clear whether the protesters will attempt to return to Taksim Square today, as they have previously. Three people have died in 10 days of unrest, and according to the Turkish Medical Association almost 5,000 people have been wounded.

• Erdoğan is due to meet a group of public figures about the protests this afternoon, but the demonstrators do not consider themselves represented by this group. The prime minister has taken a consistently hardline stance towards the demonstrators, calling them “riff-raff”, warning he would not “kneel” before them and telling them yesterday: “This Tayyip Erdoğan won’t change.” He has blamed the protests on a foreign conspiracy and financial profiteers.

• Faced with a choice between engaging with this new, vibrant civil society movement or crushing it, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has picked the latter course, writes Luke Harding, drawing parallels between the Turkish prime minister’s reaction to his citizens’ revolt and another autocratic leader: Vladimir Putin.

 

Thousands of Turkish lawyers in black robes “stormed out” of their courthouses today, according to the Associated Press, in protest against their colleagues’ treatment by the police during the protests.

Yesterday more than 50 lawyers were dragged on to buses by police after staging a sit-in to support the demonstrators. They were later released.

"Lawyers can't be dragged on the ground!" the demonstrating lawyers shouted as they marched out of an Istanbul courthouse. Riot police stood off to the side, shields at the ready.

Turkey's Human Rights Foundation said the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's office had launched an investigation into allegations of excessive use of police force during the protests.

The foundation said 620 people, including a one-year-old baby, were injured during the police crackdown early this morning. Police detained some 70 people during the incidents.

Turkish lawyers march in support of anti-government protests in Ankara today. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

     

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It's all there, everything we warn of and are smeared for: applauding the recent fatal attack on a British soldier in London and a copycat stabbing of a French soldier in Paris. "There can be no peace with us," the devout Muslim said. The 20-year-old Muslim reportedly told police he had "hated the West" and  vowed to "die for Allah."

The jihadist, Anas El Abboudi, "was planning other attacks in other parts of Italy as well as France, police said. He and the recruits were 'united by a common hatred of Jews and a desire to fight against Western countries.'"

It is exactly what every other jihadist says, chapter and verse. How could so many millions of Muslims "misunderstand" the teachings of Islam in exactly the same way?

Islamist terror suspect held in Italy

Moroccan in Brescia 'planned jihad' By Denis Greenan, Gazzetta Del Sud, June 12, 2013

Rome, June 12 - Police in Brescia near Milan on Wednesday arrested the alleged head of the Italian branch of a Belgium-based Islamist organisation on suspicion of planning attacks in the northern Italian city.

Anas El Abboubi, alias 'Anas Abdu Shakur', born in Morocco in 1992 and living with his family near Brescia since 1999, had allegedly scouted out two targets on Google Maps, Brescia's train station and its main military barracks, police said. Police said they intercepted an email to foreign members of the organisation applauding the recent fatal attack on a British soldier in London and a copycat stabbing of a French soldier in Paris.

"There can be no peace with us," he allegedly said. The 20-year-old Moroccan reportedly told police he had "hated the West" since being "taunted as a member of the Taliban after the September 11 attacks in America" and recently vowed to "die for Allah".

El Abboubi was also becoming increasingly interested in Syrian Islamist fighting against the regime there and had recruited others to join him in supporting their cause, travelling to Syria if necessary. As well as Brescia, he was planning other attacks in other parts of Italy as well as France, police said. He and the recruits were "united by a common hatred of Jews and a desire to fight against Western countries," a police spokesman said.

"Via the Web, the Moroccan passed on translations of jihadist literature and acquired instructions on using explosives, weapons and fighting techniques," he said. Police seized papers written by El Abboubi "including verses in which he sings the praises of jihad against Italy and France and leaves a sort of spiritual testament containing a collection of his translations about the legitimacy of holy war," the spokesman said.

During the six months he had been under surveillance before his arrest, police said, he also reportedly made no secret of his admiration for a compatriot, Mohamed Jarmoune, arrested in March 2012 and sentenced last month to five years and four months in jail on terrorism charges.

El Abboubi recently set up the Italian chapter of the Web-based Sharia4 organisation, a movement started in Belgium in 2010 and inspired by the jihadist preacher Omar Bakri, police said. Sharia4 has been banned in several European countries.

El Abboubi was arrested at his home in the small town of Vobarno outside Brescia on suspicion of training terrorists and inciting religious and racist hatred, police said. Another two people are under investigation on suspicion of committing the same crimes. Police had been watching El Abboubi around the clock, and picked him up while he was on his way to take his school-leaving certificate. Anti-terrorism police also searched the homes of four Moroccans near Brescia, 100 km east of Milan, and around Pordenone, a city in northeastern Italy.

     

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Savages. You cannot make peace with savages whose very reason for existing is to annihilate you. When we raise the money, we will rerun these ads in every city in America.

Hamas celebrates 10th anniversary of Davidka Square bus bombing Elder of Ziyon (thanks to Religion of Peace.com)

The top headline on the Al Qassam Brigades (Hamas) webpage today is a celebration of the tenth
anniversary of the bombing of bus 14A in Jerusalem.

Hamas doesn't pretend that they were targeting the army, as they sometimes pretend to nowadays. They say explicitly that they targeted a passenger bus. This is a pure celebration of terrorism. They even include photos that show dead bodies.

Six of the dead were over 65 years old.

Hamas is also proud that some 100 people were wounded in the attack.

If anyone thinks for a moment that Hamas' bloodlust has lessened in the years since then, just read that article using Google Translate..

     

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Violent supremacism. It's one thing not to eat pork or pork products; it's quite quite another thing to force others not to, and therein lies the difference.

And that is the difference between Canon law, Jewish law and the sharia (apart from the obvious horror of the sharia). Canon law applies to Catholics, Jewish law to Jews, but the sharia asserts its authority over non-Muslims.

France: Attacked by two Muslims because he was eating a ham sandwich Jihadwatch

A few years ago, Muslim cabbies at the Minneapolis airport began to refuse to carry passengers who were carrying alcohol. It became a big controversy, as some counter-jihad activists began asking whether the cab drivers would soon begin enforcing other Sharia rules upon their non-Muslim customers. Would they, for example, refuse to carry a passenger who had a ham sandwich? Such concerns were dismissed at the time as hysterical exaggerations of what was presented as a completely innocuous attempt by the cab drivers to exercise their religious freedom. But now, with this incident, we see the next step that we predicted all those years ago: the violent enforcement of Sharia provisions on non-Muslims -- in what still is, for the moment, a non-Muslim country.

"France: Attacked By Two Muslims Because He Was Eating A Ham Sandwich," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, June 12 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

It sounds incredible but it is being treated with great seriousness by the police in Reims police station (Marne). A 23-year-old man filed a complaint on the 8th of June after having been attacked the previous evening at 9.30 pm in a city tramway by two strangers. They struck him several times on the face because he was eating a ham sandwich. The two attackers, who claimed to be Muslims, said they were offended by this consumption of pork in front of their eyes before attacking the young man. A witness, a friend of the young man who was present when the incident occurred, has been interviewed by the investigators and has confirmed the reality of the attack. The two attackers, who fled, have not yet been found. The CCTV tapes in the tramway are currently being examined.

Source: Le Parisien, Fdesouche.com

     

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